3/26/2023 0 Comments Ayaan hirsi ali unherdJewish tradition certainly recognises that link between music and the transcendent. In a Bach fugue, or to an almost suspect degree, in a Mahler adagio the immediacy of the transcendent, the wealth of felt meanings in the unsayable are manifest to us.’’(2) The fact that we can neither explain rationally nor verbalise coherently this reaching into ‘otherness’ points precisely to the limitations of all discourse. It is the musician who opens pointing to the limitation of language and appealing to music as the opportunity to reach beyond our empirical lives: ‘’Listen to the andante sostenuto of Schubert’s Opus 163. In the late polymath, George Steiner’s Tritones and the Three Majestic Tongues he sets out an imaginary conversation between a musician, a mathematician and a poet each defending their respective positions as to the greater claim to profundity. It would be unbearable to imagine a world without music. On that day, in that shul, for the congregation of Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, the music temporarily came to a halt. This weekend in London’s Barbican, two musicians, inspired by the traditional music of the region, perform an invigorating improvised collaboration in a concert to raise awareness for the plight of Afghanistan and its musicians, who now live in terror. As they did back in the 1990s once again the Taliban have effectively banned music across the country. Since the Taliban’s seizure of control in Afghanistan, its music has remained completely silent. As the columnist and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali has argued, it is unfortunately a sign that we have let our guard down and there is still a threat that looms large.(1) If this could happen in a synagogue in the United States then frankly it could happen anywhere. Whatever the conclusion, It would be all too simplistic to regard the event as some have done, as a triumph of humanity, a tale of bravery. The debate now rages as to his motivations whether it be fundamentalist Islamic ideology or his mental health. On this occasion, it was the terrorist, Malik Faisal Akram, who was the only person to lose their lives. The horrifying stand off with the attacker was brought to an end when Rabbi Charlie Cytron Walker threw a chair at the gun-wielding assailant and was then able to escape with the other hostages. As a result, Islamism in western institutions is spreading unchecked and has got a powerful ally for Dawa.It was extremely distressing to learn of the siege last Shabbat in the synagogue in Texas. Since these transactions happen under the veneer of charity, spirituality and religion, the western regimes, including the government in the United States, don’t give it much of a thought. The United States is one of the many countries where these murky and opaque donations have continued unabated. Dawa is about forging networks: international, regional and local, which is what makes it even more dangerous than the menace of violent jihad.įor instance, Saudi Arabia has pumped billions of dollars into Dawa in countries where it plans to expand the influence of Islam. The threat from Dawa is unsubtle, it is not as conspicuous as militant jihad, Hirsi Ali says. She further adds that Islamists achieve far more through promoting Dawa than manifesting their jihadist proclivities, which invariably involves the use of barbarity and violence to fulfil their objectives. In this context it may be mentioned that in India, too, a slew of Islamist organisations inspired by Muslim Brotherhood such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Popular Front of India are engaged in pushing dawa activities for converting non-Muslims. Western analysts are unaware of the potential of dawa which Muslim Brotherhood has effectively used. In practice, however, Islamists rely on dawa as a comprehensive propaganda, PR and brainwashing system designed to make all Muslims embrace an Islamist programme while converting as many non-Muslims as possible.” In theory, the term simply refers to the call to Islam, a kind of invitation Westerners would recognise it as part of a proselytising mission. Dawa means call to faith.Įxplaining the modus operandi of Islamists, Ali writes: “Nearly 20 years after 9/11, Westerners still remain unfamiliar with dawa. With the dream of establishing an utopian Islamic State having failed to materialise, Islamists have found a less violent (at least for now) to expand their base in the West through dawa, writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in her column in UnHerd website.
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