A festival of coexistence and peace in Fez

Rabat - Fez, the intellectual capital of Morocco, hosted a significant spiritual music festival from 4 to 12 June, based on a message of coexistence, peace and purity of soul. According to its website, the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music “represents the spiritual heart of Islam – peaceful, pluralistic, generous and cheerful. It honours all the world’s spiritual traditions and it dissolves musical boundaries.” The festival provides people with a place to meet and discuss music, poetry and Sufism at well-known historic locations throughout the city — as well as listen to amazing music. Some of today’s most popular spiritual and religious music groups from around the world came together in Fez for the festival’s 16th annual celebration. Performances by musicians of different religions and nationalities accentuated the potential for openness and dialogue between people. The Fez Festival was begun by the Moroccan anthropologist Faouzi Skali in the aftermath of the first Gulf War to help people from different spiritual traditions learn from each other without prejudice. Today, it is considered one of the most significant festivals aimed at instilling peace, security and dialogue between civilisations, according to the United Nations. It is organised primarily by the Message of Fez, an organisation which provides the festival with financial and material support. This year’s theme was “Perfection in Purging the Soul”, coined by Ibn Arabi, a 13th century Arab philosopher. According to organisers, Ibn Arabi’s work represents the will to rid oneself from rigid, exclusive dogmatic beliefs and instead instil the principles of tolerance and mutual respect among civilisations, which the festival aims to do through music. This spirit of coexistence is evident, with the musical traditions of different religious communities and nationalities highlighted throughout. This year, the festival celebrated Jerusalem as the city of three faiths. The audience listened to a live music performance, "Jerusalem, the City of Two Peaces: Heavenly Peace and Peace on Earth", which presented the history of this diverse city through music played by Spanish, Iraqi, Armenian, Moroccan and Greek musicians, highlighting different musical genres to showcase different eras of the city’s history. The audience enjoyed a mixture of musical rhythms and compositions inspired by religion, the poetry of wisdom, African religious songs and religious folk music from Anatolia, Cambodia, Asia and America, as well as spiritual performances by major musicians, such as Jordi Savall, a Spanish Catalan viol player, composer and conductor, who presented the audience with a musical composition particular to the former Jewish community in Baghdad. Festival-goers were also treated to Persian classical music by icon Shahram Nazeri, a contemporary Iranian Kurdish tenor. In addition, the festival featured Sufi music from Zanzibar and Christian gospel music by US African Americans, as well as a classical acrobatic troupe of boys, the “Young Gotipuas Dancers”, from the Hindu temples of Orissa in eastern India. Several Moroccan Sufi musical groups also performed at the festival, including Gnawa Click, a very popular Gnawa band from Essaouira in southern Morocco. Gnawa is a musical genre from North Africa, particularly Morocco, and is a unique mix of sub-Saharan African, Berber and Arabic religious songs and rhythms, played with various drums and flutes. There were also other Sufi musical groups that performed, inspired by Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani, a Sufi imam in 12th century Baghdad who taught his followers to lead spiritual lives and promote goodness in their communities. The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music has become part of the core identity for Fez, always considered by intellectuals, poets, writers and musicians as a major cultural capital of the world. And the festival has helped shape Morocco’s image as a country that not only supports but actively encourages friendship and coexistence between people of all backgrounds and spiritual beliefs. ### * Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi is a Moroccan blogger (hindapress.wordpress.com) and journalist who participated in a Rabat-based workshop for bloggers organised by the international conflict transformation organisation Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 29 June 2010, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication। Article available in: arabic

Media should get Islam right

Rabat - Given the amount of violence and instability in countries with Muslim majorities, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, some people mistakenly assume the violence stems from Islamic teachings, when in fact Islam does not condone such actions। The media does not help the matter, often focusing on the activities of terrorists who claim to be Muslims, instead of identifying these individuals as criminals and shedding light on the true essence of Islam. The media shows Muslim terrorists with guns performing prayers but rarely associates terms like terrorist, fanatic and fundamentalist with any other religious group. For instance, the phrase “Hindu fanatics” or “Jewish terrorists” are seldom used even though in each faith there are people that do not represent the larger group. The vast majority of Muslims are peace loving and coexist harmoniously with those around them; they would say that the core of Islam is tolerance, co-existence and respect for all religions. In fact, Prophet Muhammad was known for his superior manners, merciful demeanor and tolerance toward all people, regardless of their race or religion. Islam is a universal religion, for all times and places. It encourages tolerance and respect for differences. As our world becomes a global village, with technology bringing cultures together and increasing interaction among civilisations, we must embrace religious tolerance as one of the basic principles behind flourishing democratic societies. There are many verses in the Qur’an that support this message of peaceful coexistence and harmony. Among the basic features of Islam is freedom of religion and non-compulsion: “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (2:256) and “If it had been the Lord’s will, they would all have believed – all who are on earth. Wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will to believe?” (10:99). When the Prophet Muhammad established the first Muslim community in Mecca, he guaranteed freedom of religion, the sanctity of the human soul, and the right to security for non-Muslims, including Christians and Jews – the “People of the Book”, as they’re referred to in the Qur’an. They were privy to the same rights and subject to the same duties as Muslims, and were granted protection from outside threats. In addition to recognising the right of freedom of religion for non-Muslims, Islam calls for respecting Jews and Christians and their faiths, noting that faith is a personal matter between the individual and his or her Lord. Most Muslims respect the idea of religious freedom established in the Qur’an. I see this idea lived out in my own country, Morocco, a Muslim-majority country where Jews have lived for centuries and practiced their faith freely. The Moroccan Jewish community has its own judges for family law, covering things such as inheritance, marriage and divorce, and demonstrating one way that religious tolerance can be lived out. The Prophet was keen on establishing relations based on respect, equality and justice with non-Muslims, and recommended that they be treated well. He said: “He who hurts [non-Muslims] is my enemy until Judgment Day” and “He who killed a person under a treaty shall never go to heaven.” This respect is also reinforced in the hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad) by the Prophet’s companion Jaber Ibn Abdellah: “A funeral passed by, and the Prophet stood up in respect. We said to him, ‘It is a Jewish man’s funeral.’ He said: ‘If you see a funeral, you shall stand up. Is it not a soul?’” The teachings of Islam encourage acquaintance and communication among all people, as well as the blending among societies: “O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another” (49:13). It is important today for everyone – and especially the media – to move away from discussing Islam only in association with terrorism, and toward spreading an understanding of Islam in all its diversity. ###

* Hind Al-Subai Al-Idrisi is a Moroccan blogger (hindapress।wordpress।com) who participated in a Rabat-based workshop for bloggers organised by the international conflict transformation organisation Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 27 April 2010, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication. Article available in:

arabic

أرضية مشتركة ..على أرض المغرب

تم تنظيم ورشة عمل تدريبية بالرباط عاصمة المملكة المغربية ودلك في منتصف شهر فبراير من السنة الحالية من طرف منظمة ‘البحث عن أرضية مشتركة’ وهي منظمة دولية غير ربحية وغير حكومية تم تأسيسها سنة 1982 لها مكاتب في عشرين دولة حول العالم من بين أهدافها الأساسية استبدال الطرق العدوانية التي يتعامل بها العالم إلى حلول تعاونية للمشاكل وإيجاد وسائل حضارية لتفهم الخلافات والعمل ضمن مجال مشترك بين أطراف النزاع. وقد استهدفت هده الورشة أصحاب المدونات والصحفيين من منطقة المغرب العربي-شمال إفريقيا- تونس الجزائر والمغرب, وتم إدارة هده الورشة من طرف أساتذة دوي كفاءات عالية, على رأسهم الصحافية البنانية المخضرمة ماجدة أبو فاضل وهي المديرة المؤسسة لبرنامج التدريب الصحافي في الجامعة الأمريكية في بيروت وهو برنامج مختص بالنهوض بالصحافة العربية بكل أنواعها, الأستاذة من اصل لبناني أيضا لينا العلي وهي مديرة برنامج شركاء في الإنسانية وهو برنامج يشجع على العلاقات الحيوية والبناءة بين المسلمين والغرب وهو برنامج تابع لنفس المنظمة- المنظمة للورشة, و الصحافي المغربي رشيد جنكاري مدون والمدير العام لشركة ” ميت ميديا” , و الدكتور المغربي محمد دعداوي استاد مساعد في العلوم السياسية بجامعة أوكلاهوما سيتي بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وصاحب مدونة مغرب بلوك. من أهم أهداف هدا التدريب تحسين مهارات المدونين كناطقين إعلاميين ليستطيعوا الكتابة بشكل بناء للوصول إلى حلول وأهداف وليكون دورهم ايجابي, التعرف على الإمكانيات التكنولوجية التي توفرها الانترنت لتحسين الأداء التقني والمعرفي . عرفت الدورة دقة و تنظيم عالي المستوى بتعاون مع مكتب الأرضية المشتركة بالرباط و مساعدة برنامج شركاء في الإنسانية ”لورنا ستركويردا” والسيدة لينا العلي, واهم ما لوحظ خلال هده الدورة الانسجام الكبير بين كل المشاركين من مختلف الدول والجنسيات رغم وجود اختلافات في وجهات النظر وقد كان أهم ما طرح خلال هدا التدريب أن يكتب كل مدون ويعبر بحرية تامة بدون أن يفكر في الرقابة و المنع فكانت النتيجة أن البعض استطاع التعبير بكل سهولة ويسر بينما البعض الأخر خانته الكلمات وغابت عنه الأفكار خاصة أن المدون بالعالم العربي مازالت سلطة الرقابة والمنع تتحكم به وقد صدم المشاركون من وضعية حرية التعبير المتدهورة جدا بتونس الخضراء والرقابة الصارمة على الانترنت ومنع الكثير من المواقع مثل يوتوب وغيره تليها الجزائر فيما يعتبر المغرب مقارنة مع هاتين الدولتين الجارتين الأفضل نسبيا ।

هند السباعي الادريسي