This meeting was not just a social gathering attended by `ulama, professionals, academics and educators, but also one characterised by a heightened sense of intellectualism, emotion and the quest to cultivate dialogical partnerships among different Muslim higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa.
The Poverty of Fanaticism [based on article
We should not be expected to ingratiate ourselves to the extent that we avoid telling the truth about our concerns. Allah orders us to be truthful, even if it puts us into some difficulty.
In this time of happiness, when gifts are received, hugs are generously donated, and laughter sprinkles the tables, we must remember who gave this all to us.
The world is at present in the grip of fear. We fear an unknown absence that hides behind the mundanity of our experience; perhaps ubiquitous and confident, perhaps broken and at an end…
The parallels between the Palestinians’ 50 years of struggle for their own land and the anti-apartheid movement’s decades of military and civil campaigns for majority rule are seen as obvious in Southern Africa, where liberation wars successfully ended colonialism and racial oppression…
“We are the tangible link between Islam and the modern, secular world. In more than one sense, we are living in two cultures, two civilizations, at one and the same time…”
The path from this troubled awareness to my later ability to be critical of Israel has been long and complex. Over the years I have spoken with other Jews who have traveled this same path, and to many more who haven’t. In each of us I have detected mental obstacles that make it hard, sometimes impossible, for us to see what is there before our eyes…
