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The Voices of Islam: What Muslims Hear at Friday Prayers.

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What Muslims Hear at Friday Prayers

Is there really a clash of the cultures between Islam and the West?
SPIEGEL documents Friday sermons from mosques around the world. As
imams guide their congregations, they praise the delights of paradise,
sow the seeds of doubt in government authority -- and sometimes preach
hatred.

Egyptians celebrate Maulid al-Nabi, as a sort of Islamic Christmas. In
cities across the Nile delta, thousands take to the streets playing
drums and trumpets. Little girls receive dolls and little boys are
given horses made of sugar. It's Egypt's biggest religious festival.

In Pakistan, the faithful place a young boy, dressed as a Bedouin, on a
horse and parade him through the streets, representing the return of
the Prophet in the form of a child -- apparently not a violation of the
prohibition on displaying images of the Prophet the Muslim world often
defended so vehemently. But this year the return of Muhammad ended in a
blood bath, when a suicide bomber blew up himself and 57 others during
prayers in the southern Pakistani city Karachi.

Islam has many faces, and on the Friday before the Prophet's birthday,
SPIEGEL correspondents visited mosques from Nigeria to Indonesia to
listen to the sermons of the imams. They were there in part to look
into a suspicion that has taken hold in the West, especially since the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Have the mosques been transformed
from a place of prayer into a hotbed of extremism and center of
Islamist indoctrination? Is there truly a dangerous clash of cultures
underway, as so many people in Europe and America fear?

Radical preachers have actively contributed to this impression. In a
Berlin mosque, a television crew secretly recorded the sermon of a
Turkish imam who described the Germans as godless and railed against
their alleged stench. In London, hate preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri
called upon the faithful to murder female tourists in his native Egypt,
saying: "If a woman, even a Muslim woman, is naked and you have no way
of covering her up, it is legitimate to kill her."


Other agents of the Koran speak moderately when addressing Western
audiences, but their words turn decidedly more radical when directed
towards Muslims. In an interview with SPIEGEL, television imam Yusuf
al-Qaradawi, perhaps currently one of the most influential Islamic
scholars around, magnanimously conceded that there is also room in
heaven for devout Christians and Jews. But on his Arab-language website
a short time later, he made it clear that he believes that Christians
and Jews are ultimately nothing more than infidels.

Geopolitics and prayer

But surely such examples of narrow-mindedness can be found in any major
religion or creed. Are these words of hatred and discrimination really
representative of the thousands upon thousands of Friday prayers that
millions of Muslims around the world attend each week? And what about
those who occasionally oversleep and miss morning prayers or those
whose lives do not revolve exclusively around their religion? The
answers to these questions are highly varied, but generally speaking
the more devout Muslims see themselves threatened by the secular West,
the more zealous the region's imams are in calling the faithful to
fight in the name of Allah.


AL-AZHAR, CAIRO
The mosque and university was established more than a thousand years
ago by Fatimide commander Gauhar al- Sikilli, and is considered the
most important center of learning in Sunni Islam to this day. The
Friday preacher, Dr. Id Abd al- Hamid Yussuf, 65, is completely against
the use of Islam for political purposes.

The Prophet forgave those who committed injustices against him. He
pardoned the murderer of his uncle, Hamsa. He forgave his people when
they banished him from Mecca ... Islam spread throughout the world
through argument and conviction, but not through the sword, as the
enemies of Islam have claimed. Islam only used the sword when it was
attacked ... The Prophet forbade extremism and fanaticism. He said: "I
was sent to you out of the generosity of God. Night became day. Anyone
who strays from this path will fall victim to ruin." For some, religion
is like a maze. Enter it with caution, because whoever approaches
religion as an extremist will perish in his extremism.

Whereas imams in places like Istanbul and Jakarta tended to devote
their sermons to theological exegesis, Friday prayers in Pakistan, Iran
and the Gaza Strip were markedly more political. In these places,
religious scholars whipped their listeners into a holy frenzy and drew
a sharp line between the Dar al-Islam, or House of Islam, and the Dar
al-Harb, or House of War -- the two spheres into which schools of
Islamic legal thought have divided the world.

But at the same time, often in the same sermon, imams ask God for help
in confronting everyday woes, issue moral appeals to their own
political leaders and constantly return to the Islamic world's greatest
lament: a comparison between the gloomy present and the glorious past.

The news on the Friday before last contained all the key ingredients
for a dramatic political sermon. The Israeli army had just launched an
attack on two offices of the al-Aksa Brigades in the Gaza Strip, and
both the United States and the European Union had announced their
intention to halt financial aid to the Palestinians' Hamas-led
government. Ten people were killed that Thursday when a bomb went off
in the Iraqi city of Najaf, and another 70 died in Baghdad while
leaving the mosque after Friday prayers. Government officials in
Washington also made it clear that they were opposed to interim Iraqi
prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's ambitions to stay in office.

The nuclear dispute between Iran and the West escalated further when
Iranian religious leaders denounced as unacceptable United Nations'
demands that the country put an end to its uranium enrichment program.
On that weekend, The New Yorker then revealed that the White House has
developing plans for a military strike against Iran's nuclear
facilities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promptly upped the
ante by announcing that his mullah-led theocracy had successfully
enriched uranium and now counts itself a member of the world's nuclear
club.


But Didin Hafiduddin, the imam at Istiqlal Mosque in the Indonesian
capital Jakarta, made no mention of the precarious geopolitical
situation in his sermon, given in one of the world's largest houses of
prayer. Titled "Professionalism and Honest Trusteeship," it sounded
more like a presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland than fiery religious rhetoric. Hafiduddin told the faithful
in the most populous Islamic country about Joseph the Israelite, the
man charged with running the Egyptian pharaoh's economy. He drew
parallels between the story -- which is also mentioned in the bible --
and modern-day Indonesia's struggles with corruption.


Governments criticized

The moral appeal to one's own political leadership is a leitmotif in
the sermons of Muslim preachers -- but also a natural response to
strict autocratic conditions in many Islamic countries. It was almost
an understatement when Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Bakr Ramadan, an imam in the
Nigerian city of Kano, said that the "injustice emanating from our
leadership is the worst part of our society," in reference to President
Olusegun Obasanjo's efforts to amend the constitution so that he can be
reelected when his current term expires in 2007.

In Peshawar, Pakistan, Maulana Khalil Ahmad compared the world's
monotheistic religions and -- perhaps not surprisingly -- praised Islam
as being the most complete of them all: "Contradictions prevail,
especially in Christianity and Judaism, as well as in Communism." But
that was mild compared with the sermon his fellow local imam Abd
al-Akbar Chitrali gave in the same spot a week earlier, when he derided
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's claim to have given Pakistan
true democracy. Musharraf, the imam complained, is trying to introduce
the "Western secularism" of his idol, Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk. The founder of the modern Turkey, said Chitrali, was a man
who "turned mosques into churches and had religious scholars murdered.
Listen to me, Muslims! Kemal Atatürk is not our ideal. Musharraf is
not just attempting to placate the West and the USA, but also to remain
permanently in power."

This explains the tranquil nature of the sermon at al-Azhar University
on the evening before the Prophet's birthday. The speaker, Sheikh Id
Abd al-Hamid Yusuf, praised Muhammad as the most complete of all
prophets, saying: "We will never succeed in doing justice to his
memory."

To ensure that religious speech doesn't suddenly turn into political
invective, hundreds of police officers are stationed in the streets
around the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo every Friday during prayers. The
faithful have rarely staged demonstrations after prayers in recent
years, and when they have, many of the "demonstrators" were undercover
police officers. But such precautions are unnecessary on the Friday
before the Prophet's birthday. Indeed, Imam Yusuf warned his audience
against the excesses of religious fervor, saying that "the extremist
doesn't plow the earth, nor does he allow any flowers to grow."


There is no science without God. We see all the things that can happen
in the schools when children do not learn in the name of God. When
there are murders in the schools today, when an inhuman development
becomes a threat, we must ask ourselves what led to this development.
God says in the Koran: Murdering an innocent person is the same as
murdering all of mankind ... The Koran permeates our lives.

But there are problems with our attitudes to the Koran. We do not apply
it everywhere. Let us assume that we are running a supermarket. Are we
permitted to sell merchandise there that is prohibited in Islam, goods
that are not legitimate? No? But many Muslims are doing just that. The
goods must conform to the standards established in Turkey and the rules
of consumer protection, but not those of the Koran. Is the sale of
alcohol and pork allowed? What about the Koran? These, my fellow
Muslims, are all sins.

Emrullah Hatipoglu, the imam of Istanbul's Blue Mosque, does his best
to take advantage of the latitude he is given by the government's
Office for Religious Affairs. In his sermons, Hatipoglu argues against
the view of the country's secular elite that Islam is a
backward-looking religion that is opposed to science. The Koran begins
with the words "Read, in the name of your Lord, who has created," and
modern Islam, says Hatipoglu, should obey this exhortation to educate
oneself. "Physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy ... read that!" he
says. But he also believes that the faithful should read the Koran with
the same enthusiasm. "There is no excuse. No one can claim that he
cannot read the Koran. Don't you have computers and CDs?"

This is followed by a catechism that sounds like a campaign speech by
current Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during the 1990s, when he was
still mayor of Istanbul and crusaded against the serving of alcohol,
prostitution and Turkey's inexorable Westernization. Today, with his
sights set on EU membership, Erdogan has largely abandoned his Islamist
rhetoric, but the conflict between government-controlled Islam and
Turkey's secular establishment, especially the military, continues to
simmer.


NUR MOSQUE, GAZA STRIP
In this mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp with ties to the extremist
Hamas movement, Friday prayers ended with an appeal to Palestinians to
rise up against Israeli occupiers. The sermon was given by 38- year-
old Imam Talal al- Majdalawi.

When the Jews withdrew from the Gaza Strip, we thought that we had
gained all the freedom in the world. But then came the bombardment.
This is a sign, you faithful, that your battle with the Jews is still a
long way from coming to an end. It proves that the conflict is not
taking place among us and between us, but with the infidel Jews. This
is why you should say, whenever there is a rocket attack: God be
praised, there is no God other than the one God, and He is our
protector. We say to the Jews: "What you are doing to us today is
written in the book of God." There it is said: "Your will suffer fear
and hunger." But we too will sow fear and terror, as they have never
seen before, in the hearts of those who bring us fear and hunger today.
With the help of God, we should be afraid of nothing. We must not be
afraid whenever a bullet strikes its target or whenever we are
threatened ... This does not frighten us. This should make us strong in
our fight against the Jews.

The fronts are much more clear-cut in Palestine, even more so than in
Iran. In the Gaza Strip, Imam Talal al-Majdalawi spends 25 minutes
talking about the upcoming Prophet's birthday and the need to
constantly reflect on God and the holy Koran. He saves the last five
minutes of his sermon for his political message: "Two hundred bullets
were fired at us yesterday," says the imam. "What prevents us from
thinking about God each time one of those bullets strikes its target?"

His logic is the sort that has long determined the discourse of radical
Islamists: The harder the enemy strikes us, the more clearly tries to
present us with his supposed superiority, the more united and
determined to oppose him we shall become. Everything, including nightly
bombardment by the Israeli air force, follows a great, divine wisdom.
"Do not hate evil, because it could be God's gift to you," he says.
Such is the Islamist answer to the question of theodicy. If God is
omnipotent, why is there so much evil in the world?

Hojjatolislam Ahmed Khatami, speaking to thousands of Iranian Muslims
in the courtyard of the University of Tehran, is dealing with a similar
problem. He begins the political portion of his sermon with a mention
of the devastating earthquake in Iran's Lorestan province, praising the
"diligent Islamic regime for overcoming these difficulties." But the
congregation also wants to hear something else. When Khatami took to
the podium, the faithful chanted: "Death to America! Death to England
and its treachery! Nuclear energy is our natural right!" And Khatami
doesn't disappoint them. He mentions the controversy over Danish
cartoon's of Muhammad and calls upon Sunnis and Shiites to unite in the
face of "this insult to the Prophet." Quoting the Koran, he defends the
right of resistance. "Our resistance is what triggers respect for our
27-year-old revolution. They have prepared many crises for our great
nation, but we have left them behind with our heads held high." Then he
turns his attention to Iran's nuclear conflict with the West.


UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN
The Friday sermon at the University of Tehran is held exclusively by
high- ranking members of the country's ruling Shiite clergy. Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, personally appoints the
campus preachers, among whom Hojjatolislam Ahmed Khatami is a novice.
He preached to thousands of the faithful.

The Shiite and Sunni brothers find themselves facing a common enemy,
one whose goal is to attack Islam. This is not just about Shiites. Any
insult to the Prophet is an insult to the entire religion. For this
reason, the Shiites and the Sunnis must strive to achieve more
cooperation and unity of the hearts in this respect. Shiites and Sunnis
should live together like brothers ...

Our enemies are using the fairy tale about nuclear energy to bring
about a crisis. The Security Council of the United Nations has itself
become a factor of uncertainty and injustice, instead a forum for the
security of the world ... According to international custom, it is our
right to control the technology to obtain nuclear energy. The Security
Council wants to prevent us from mastering this technology. There is a
law of the jungle, and it says: The strong will prevail. But our nation
has made it clear that we want our right. We will stand up for our
right with our blood and until we breathe our last breath.

"They have given us one month to discontinue our research," he says,
referring to the UN Security Council. "One month or one year -- you can
give us as many ultimatums as you wish." Iran insists on its right and
that, says the imam, means "that we will stand up for our right with
our blood and until we breathe our last breath."

These words are reminiscent of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah
Khomeini's speeches. Khatami mentions Iran's recent navy maneuvers "in
the blue waters of the Persian Gulf," and then issues this threat: "If
you so much as dare to show even a sign of aggression against the
Islamic regime, we will strike your mouth with our fists." His sermon
ends with an appeal to God to protect his beloved Iran, grant its
worthy leader success and accept all Iranians as soldiers of the
Wali-e-Asr -- the twelfth, or hidden, imam. "Expedite his
resurrection," he beseeches the Almighty.

Throughout the world, Friday prayers are the high point of the week in
the life of a devout Muslim. It was a Friday when Adam entered the
Garden of Eden, and it was a Friday when he left it again. The faithful
believe that Muhammad said that the day of resurrection would also be a
Friday. Muhammad supposedly also said that "God commanded both the Jews
and the Christians to celebrate Friday as a day of worship but they
ignored His command." Muslims see the Koran as God's last and complete
revelation, and every Friday sermon serves as a reminder of that
belief.