It was a high energy performance that brought the audience to their feet, with loud cheers, and ecstatic dancing to an eclectic mix of music with origins in South Asia (Saleem Ahmad on tabla) and Central and Eastern Europe (Yale Strom with fiddle, and an accordionist).
Dubbed as "Unity Jam", the concert began with Salman Ahmad and Elizabeth Schwartz singing the poetry of Punjabi Sufi Saint Baba Buellh Shah (Punjabi: بلہے شاہ, ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ), and ended with the popular Jewish folk song of Hava Nagila (הבה נגילה in Hebrew), and John Lennon's "Imagine".
Baba Bulleh Shah's poetry carries the messages of romance, love and tolerance that constitute a solid foundation for any inter-faith efforts to resolve conflicts, and to bring peace and harmony to a world torn by hatred, terror and violence. For example, one of the poems chosen by Salman Ahmad for the concert goes like this:
Masjid dha de, mandir dha de, dha de jo kucch dainda
(Tear down the mosque and the temple; break everything in sight)
Par kisi da dil na dhain, Rab dilan vich rehnda..
(But do not break a person’s heart, it is there that God resides)
Another wise choice of Salman from Bullleh Shah's poetry:
Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun
(Bulleh! to me, I am not known)
Na maen momin vich maseet aan
(Not a believer inside the mosque, am I)
Na maen vich kufar diyan reet aan
(Nor a pagan disciple of false rites)
Na maen paakaan vich paleet aan
(Not the pure amongst the impure)
Na maen moosa na pharaun.
(Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh)
The Unity Jam was sponsored by Abraham's Vision, which says "it empowers future Jewish and Muslim leaders to reach their potential to transform deep-rooted conflicts through unique, experiential educational programs" and SSGWI that "is working to bringing relief to Pakistan's three million internally displaced refugees". The concert attracted a large number of young men and women of Islamic and Jewish faiths, some of whom spoke movingly about their fervent hopes for peace, and explained the reasons for their participation as fellows of Abraham's Vision program.
Salman Ahmad has been using his musical talent and writings to help Pakistanis deal with the growing Taliban threat. Last year, he joined Deepak Chopra in publishing an Op Ed titled "Pakistan's War is Cultural, Not Military" that was published in San Francisco Chronicle. The OP Ed piece said that "Pakistan is a war zone, but its battle is far more cultural than military. The whole country realizes this fact and is holding its breath, hoping that President Obama will come to the same realization. As long as the United States pursues the futile military policy of the Bush years, the situation in Pakistan will grow increasingly dire."
In another opinion piece published by the Washington Post, Salman Ahmad and Pakistani filmmaker Kamran Pasha condemned the Taliban as "the enemies of Pakistan and Islam". Salman and Kamran wrote as follows in their opinion:
Despite the distorted teaching of extremists like the Taliban, the truth is that the Holy Qur’an does not establish any form of government. Indeed, it is disputes over politics and leadership that split the Muslim community into two sects, Sunni and Shia. The very idea of imposition of religion on others goes against the heart of the Qur’an. In Surah 2:256, the Qur’an says forcefully: “There is no compulsion in religion.”
Even the notion of imposing “Islamic law” is nonsensical, as the very idea of a monolithic body of religious rules agreed to by the Muslim community has no basis in Islamic history. There is no unified notion of Sharia. Over the past 1,400 years, many schools of law have developed, each with its own doctrines and jurisprudence, and with contradictory rulings on many matters. Sharia is not a codified body of rules, but a dynamic interaction between scholars, jurists and the Muslim community.
In a recent book titled "Rock and Roll Jihad", Salman talks about his journey in an increasingly hostile environment, facing down angry mullahs and oppressive dictators who wanted all music to be banned from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He talks about his band Junoon, a "sufi - rock" group that broke boundaries and sold thirty million records. Salman's story begins in New York, where he spent his teen years learning to play guitar, listening to Led Zeppelin, hanging out at rock clubs and Beatles concerts, making American friends, and dreaming of stardom. That dream almost died when his family returned to Pakistan, and Salman was forced to follow the new rules of piety imposed by Zia's regime. But his persistence has paid off. As expected by his parents, he did finish medical school in Lahore, and then went back to his love of music, and he has stayed with it ever since. Along with his music, he has lent his celebrity and talent for various humanitarian causes, most recently focusing on helping a large number of internal refugees created by the ongoing conflict in Pakistan.
The book was offered after the concert, with Salman on hand to personally sign it. I bought my autographed copy after being told that the proceeds will go toward helping the refugees.
There is a lot of talk about the "clash of civilizations" in the Western media in the context of the US "war on terror", but little is reported about the fierce clash of ideas going on within the Islamic civilization. The polls continue to show distrust of the United States in the Islamic World, mostly based on the US policies that are perceived as unjust by the majority of the world's Muslims. The list of Muslim grievances against the United States is long, stretching from its support of the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine to its role in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In addition to the increasing drone attacks and rising suspicions about the role of the CIA, there are new and explosive revelations about the role and the strength of Blackwater contractors in the region. A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine have alleged that Blackwater chief Erik Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life." The number of US contractors working for the US military and the CIA in the region exceeds the total strength of the US troops and CIA personnel, according to estimates by Jimmy Scahill who has researched and written extensively about Blackwater. The presence of over 80,000 US military and intelligence contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes the level of privatization of war unprecedented.
However, it would be wrong to conclude from such reports that any more than a tiny minority of the followers of the Islamic faith support the terrorists inspired by al Qaeda's ideology of hate. In a recent International Republican Institute (IRI) poll, eighty percent of Pakistanis oppose Pakistan's cooperation with the United States on the "war on terror," a figure that shot up 19 points since March. At the same time, 86 percent agreed that Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants posed a problem for Pakistan and more than two-thirds supported a recent Pakistani army offensive on extremists.
The clash within the Islamic world is happening at all levels and in all spheres of life in Pakistan, from culture to academia, mass media, military and politics. It is best for the West to extend support and stop their hostility toward the Islamic world, and let the Muslims sort out their differences among
themselves.
Acknowledgment: Photographs by Nasreen Aboobaker
Here's a documentary on Islam narrated by Benazir Bhutto:
Related Links:
Taliban--Enemies of Pakistan and Islam
Pakistan's War is Cultural, Not Military
Rock and Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star's Revolution
Life Goes On in Pakistan
Alam Versus Hoodbhoy: The Clash Within Islam
Have a Murree with your Currie
CIA's Secret War in Pakistan
Pakistani-American Cultural Center, Silicon Valley
Junoon--Pakistani Rock Band
Pakistani Rock Music
Pakistani Entrepreneurs Survive Downturn
