I want to write .
I woke up this morning and these are the words popping into my mind . Like a revelation . An idea which was deeply buried… I felt it was high time to speak out.
I want to write .
The little voice saying to me :You need to write.
Sounds silly . I am not that person with a well-organized routine leaving space and time for myself to write . How am I going to find time ?
I have things to say . I want to put on paper my thoughts even though nobody may never read them. I felt it could really help me some way.
It was like a necessity; a gasp for air . A desperate need to save myself because recently I have been out of breath.
Of course my first reaction was to go and see a doctor . How come I have been so often out of breath the last few weeks?
It happened before but not in this intensive and repetitive way .
After checking my lungs, my breast, my heart , my blood the doctor said maybe this is your body getting older…
No. It isn’t about age . It is about a lingering feeling . The need to spit it out.
The voice again: you need to say what you think .
I feel oppressed . Something must be said or you will keep it inside you and it will hurt you instead.
Yes I need to address some issues which have been bugging me for a while
A sudden realization that washed over me.
My double identity (French and Algerian)caught in the crossfire of the current battle over the question of secularism in France.
I was born in France and I feel my Frenchness deeply. I live in Paris now but I miss the rainy weather in Normandy , the countryside , the sea. More than that I feel French because I support the core principles of my country : freedom of speech and the strong attachement to secularism called ‘ laicité’ .
Algeria is the distant place where I go on holidays to visit relatives , a beautiful place, my parents’ place of birth but a place where I felt sometimes stifled because of the lack of freedom of movement for women and because of the restrictions put on individuals.
Secularism:As you know it is a very controversial issue right now . Cartoonists killed because they made fun of the Prophet Muhammad .A teacher killed just because he used them to discuss secularism in France and to explain core principles like freedom of speech and the right to mock extremists from any religion.
French secularism . We must understand why it is a core principle in France and a cherished one.Each nation has its specific history, years of battles and wars shaping the character of its people . The French fought against the tyranny of kings and against their religious leaders who selfishly deprived them of food and basic rights. The Clergy teaching Christianity(love others like you love yourself)but acting differently. Resentment and mistrust were natural feelings felt by a people who endured poverty and harassment from a privilege class: the clergy . All this led to the French Revolution and this desire to be free from any form of power. This is why some people are so attached to secularism. It is part of their identity. Their ancestors fought against the power of clergymen on the State, on the people, on their minds.Enlightment will free individuals . They will be free to choose their religion or just choose to be atheist.Freedom and Equality meant that nobody will be above the people and threaten their essential rights . kings, politicians,clergymen or any institutions will not get a special treatment nor will they be protected from criticism and satire.Mocking them is to make them less powerful,less threatening ,less untouchable and see them for what they really are human beings with weaknesses and who can be held responsible for any abuse of power.
If men want to be free they must be wary of any religious instructions and question traditional institutions . Though it is not religion itself that is criticized it is in fact the influence of these powerful institutions on the state and on the society that must be curtailed,kept in check.
However, a person can practice his, her religion freely, safely without fear of any persecution because all religions are equal in a secular state. Philosophers were against bigots not against faith or religion.We can even go further affirming that a secular state will serve religions since they are separated from each other’s influence and private interests .Two separate entities living together but in different pots. Social cohesion therefore is guaranteed through secular values and principles.
Schools reflect their ideas. They are places to make individuals free; To help pupils to form their own minds .
As a French muslim I get it . I never feel threatened or saddened by it . I saw schools as a safe heaven for individuals to be themselves without being constantly labelled as muslim or Jew or Christian or Atheist . A real chance to be ME. No box to check, no box to fit in . No label.
Going to school without wearing any religious signs was for me a chance to be seen as a person not someone attached to a confession, to a community, to a race . Being racialized all the time (like in the Anglo-Saxon countries)or being pigeonholed seems exhausting .Reducing someone to a religion or a race is a denial of our individuality . At school we can leave our differences aside and be just human beings, no labels attached. We can be explorers and discover the world together.
A chance to get along with people without knowing their personal beliefs regarding God . Everybody can practice their religion but in the private sphere. I get it . Believing in God is for me a very private matter and experience . Bringing the subject of religion at school or in any public sphere can provoke heated reactions and schools are the place where individuals need peace of mind to make their own minds .
First young minds need to learn about the world , need to know how to read properly and understand the weight of words , they need to discover art , its different forms and powerful messages .
Young minds need first to discover , to explore , to learn.They need to experiment ,to doubt , to make mistakes.They learn to be humble and to accept that they may be wrong.
They are young . They left the cavern of Plato a few years ago . They left their mother’s wombs and the circle of their family recently . Their horizon was limited . They need to leave the dark cavern and discover the world by themselves.
Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave": prisoner could escape from the cave and discover there is a whole new world outside that they were previously unaware of.
And it takes time for them to learn , to process information,to sharpen their minds .They are taught about the world , about science ,about art . Free from their personal beliefs , sometimes, deeply ingrained , they can put them apart for a while and give a fresh start to their minds .They can leave their religious luggage on the doorstep and take it back(or not) after their experiments .
Teachers show them the way, expose facts but do not influence their minds regarding opinions and personal beliefs. They teach them the art of listening and debating.They learn to be patient, tolerant and open-minded.
Pupils need to leave their homes , the comfort of their little world to challenge it or to shed a new light on it. After their journey they can go back home happy and fulfilled .
Knowledge brought to them at school must not been influenced by teachers’ personal opinions . Pupils must be presented facts . Facts about history. Facts about science . Facts about Art. later,Studying literature helps them to understand the different point of views and the power of words . They discover that their classmates did not understand a same text the same way they did. Several interpretations for a same text. They start thinking about the meanings of some novels and later they can even question religious texts written a long time ago. What was the original meaning ? Why are there so many interpretations for one single book ?
This helps me a lot to understand the world and to take some distance regarding religions in general. Wars of religions , wars of ideologies all these conflicts happened just because people believed they were right ,thought they were THE elected people the one to hold the ultimate truth . Nonsense.
People who fail to remember that one text equals several meanings . That one sentence can be interpreted differently .That one cartoon can have a double meaning.That the sentence pronounced by the caricatured Muhammad in the Charlie Hebdo newspaper was in fact harmless and meant that it is hard to be loved by dumb people (meaning by the extremists of any religion) because ruled by their uncontrollable passions they launch violent attacks in the name of God . The cartoon criticizes the extremists’ rigid minds, dangerous minds unable to understand God’s words and desires (no killings, no insane behaviors). One group is ostracized :The extremists not a whole community of muslims. But They want us to believe that it was against every muslim . They want us to be offended and to stop supporting democracies.
Did they forget about the plurality of interpretations ? Of opinions? And of the necessity to listen to one another without using violence? The necessity to read properly what is said, to read between the lines ?
Did they forget their lessons about satire which helped people to free themselves from tyranny or bigotry?
They probably never read a book seriously…or if they did they did not understand them…dumb people.. If our religion isn’t strong enough to withstand the weight of difficult or challenging — and even hateful or problematic — ideas, then something must be fixed in our religion. Banning caricatures is a shortcut that sends us to the wrong destination.
Although I understand people’s grief regarding caricatures of their dear prophets I do not understand their rage or the need to take revenge.Of course we want a right representation of the prophet who was against murder and who thought that coercion and anger were not the right tools to convince people. But God gave us language and intelligence to express our disagreements , our feelings.Prophets did not approve idols , statues representing many Gods but they did not kill the craftsmen who made them. Instead they tried to preach, to use words to invite people to think differently. For the success of their missions they had to master the art of speech and the power of words. Not the mastering of weapons .Those who did not want to waste their time reading and learning preferred the shortcut , the lazy way to address a different opinion . Killing. Killing is faster and save time for the lazy minds who do not want to spend time studying and exposing their views. But isn’t idleness one of the seven sins condemned by all religions ?Aren’t murder and ignorance condemned as well ? Isn’t idleness at the root, at the source of every evil? Idle hands are the devils’playground ,
The devil finds work for idle hands. We can see now what these proverbs mean…
So I think that using violence or threat against artists would mean that we are beings controlled by our worst instincts and our passions, closer to animals than to clever creatures made by God .
Besides, deeply religious people challenged the Darwinian theory suggesting that we may be animals among other animals and that each species has evolved and adapted according to its environment.For Religious people we can’t be descendansts of apes since the bible says ‘ God created man in his own image’ and give him intelligence and the faculty of discernement .
So if we are NOT animals and if we are NOT descendants of apes why on earth should we act without using what makes us different from animals:the use of discernment ?Supporting violence against cartoonists is in a way supporting the idea that we are animals and that God did not make us in his own image and that He doesn’t exist. An idea which will shock the extremists, the ones who kill in the name of God but behave like animals.
Whoever takes a life, it will be as if they killed all of humanity( Quran verse 32)
Believing that they will reach heaven slaughtering innocent men and women while invoking God’s name…for sure they must be illiterate…or fools.
Extremists are not good readers. They do not understand the word of GOD . In the Quran it is said that Knowledge is very important . God invites the believers to READ, to look for more information, to be enlightened . Our ancestors during the golden period of islam understood so well the scriptures that they sheltered books from the Inquisition , from extremists who wanted to burn Greek philosophical books because they challenged popular beliefs and tried to question further some traditions or ideas.
Knowledge . A key word in Islam.
People who teach or increase our knowledge, scientists who help curing diseases or make us understand better the world have a special mentioning in the Quran . They are somewhat way more important than religious people who do not participate in the enlightenment of a civilization.The more you learn the better you are .
Worst than the beasts are those who do not understand (do not apply mind) (Quran 8:22)
Only the learned know the secret of the universe(Sarah 30 V22)
The more you know the closer you are to Him (God)(Sarah 58;11)
