so the exodus of Christians from the Middle East is painful to one
Islamic scholar. “It
is a tragedy and a blow to the basic pride of Arab Islamic civilisation"
Robert
Fisk Independent/UK 23 February 2014
Tarif
Khalidi is a big, bearded bear of a man, the kind you would always choose to
play Father Christmas. But Tarif is an Islamic scholar, the most recent
translator of the Koran and author of a wonderful book of Muslim stories about
Jesus. I am thus surprised to hear how well this Palestinian from Jerusalem got
on with the Imam Musa Sadr, the Shia leader in southern Lebanon who did more to
lift his people from squalor than any I can think of – until Colonel Gaddafi
had him murdered in Libya in 1978.
“He
took on the Christians of Lebanon in an extraordinary manner,” Tarif says. “He
revived Islamic interest in Jesus and Mary. He was an extraordinary performer.
He almost embraced Christian theology. He would lecture in churches with the
cross right behind him!” But as we weave our way between religions, I realise
what is grieving this most burly of professors – he teaches at the American
University of Beirut – as he speaks slowly and eloquently of the almost biblical
exodus of Christians from the Middle East.
“It
is a tragedy and a blow to the pride of Arab Islamic civilisation. It is one of
the most horrific developments of recent years. If Islamic civilisation has
anything to show for itself, it is its record of pluralism and coexistence. I
said the other day that if the Nobel Peace Prize had existed hundreds of years
ago, it would be awarded to Islamic civilisation. But now the barbarians are at
the gates, Christians are killed, nuns are kidnapped” – Tarif is referring to
the nuns taken from the Christian Syrian town of Maaloula – “and bishops
disappear. This strikes at the very heart of what we stood for.”
I
ask him an obvious question. What did it feel like to translate the Koran? The
answer comes straight from the shoulder. “I feel a big difference in rhetoric
and eloquence. Some parts of it are very moving, very poetical. Other parts are
humdrum, prosaic, repetitive. It’s an uneven text.” He pauses, and then says that “there has not
yet been a higher criticism of the Koran. It may happen, but it hasn’t. Christians indulged in this higher criticism
of the Bible at the end of the 19th century. We need, for example, very
seriously to re-examine things between men and women. The implication of these
things have not been fully explored. Veiling, for instance. You need to
re-think basic human rights issues. And what does ‘revelation’ really mean?”
Tarif
is not criticising the Koran. Islamic scholars have endured much harassment in
the past for suggesting that it is time for Muslims to re-interpret their holy
book. I suggest – with some hesitation – that I find Shia Muslims readier to
discuss the meaning of the Koran than Sunni Muslims, and Tarif Khalidi agrees
at once. “Shiite clerics get a far more
rigorous education than Sunni clerics. They have a solid education in the
theological sciences. I think theology is much more alive in the Shia
community. Shiites are more theological, Sunnis are legalistic. And the Shiites
have their ‘passion story’ about Hussein and Ali. It is an invitation to
reflect on the need for justice.”
It
is almost a relief to turn to the Middle East today, although Tarif’s response
is unexpected. “I think the Middle East is part of a more general epidemic –
it’s happening in the Ukraine, in north Africa. It could be a kind of
contamination that runs through unstable societies. It’s extremely difficult to
differentiate what in each case is going to happen. It’s very sad, the cost is
very high in human life. And do you notice how these leaders haven’t said a
single word about the casualties among their own people? They talk about
reform, elections, a new constitution, but not a word about their own people’s
suffering.
Of
Egypt, Tarif is a little unkind, especially towards Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s
first elected president, who could be “described as a clown”. Morsi “was like a
man who felt himself parachuted into a job he had only dreamed about. He had
been in opposition so long, he didn’t know what to do when he got to power.”
Every Egyptian, Tarif suspects, wishes to be a Nasser. I can certainly think of
one army officer who would like to try on Nasser’s clothes.
Tarif,
I should add, doesn’t buy my line about Christianity dying out in the West. He
talks about Americans in the Mid-West and churches filling up because of Pope
Francis. Asked by another journalist whether he has taken heat from extremists,
Tarif replied that “nobody has challenged me, because most of these
fundamentalists are illiterate – so that’s a mercy”. [Abridged]
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