Censorship is intrinsic to the religion of Islam. This is often under the guise of “helpful brotherly correction”, but may also be the general idea of “da’wah” to the “ignorant” or of more mystical concepts of spiritual “ranks”, where one soul is conceived to be more developed than another. I suspect (though have no historical anthropological evidence) that stems from Islam’s martial roots and also the earlier caliphates that pre-empt (and are the origin of) our Western, value-driven world — societies formed around power, mastery and slavery, teachers and students, judgement orders, military, business, familial, spiritual ranks.
In response to numerous requests from Muslims and Sufis (the ummah gestapo), I have taken this blog off of Google search (seems to be taking a while for this to filter through) and removed my “What is Sufism?” video from youtube.
Besides links from other sites and direct recommendations, these appear to be the primary conduits of traffic into my site — numbers have dropped and hopefully will continue to do so as Google filters through.
I have also added a disclaimer to the site’s “About” tab. In response to further requests, I have also changed the subtitle slogan of the blog itself — from “Wear a righteous garment to prayer!” to “A non-denominational, non-Muslim, non-Sufi, unauthorized, strictly personal view of the Reading”. I hope these actions are sufficient to make clear my position.
My position is:
- I respect the gestapo’s cultural right to wear their leather and jackboots and to embody their tribal habitus of health and fitness regimes, marching up and down the square before the Führer, etc.
- I have no wish to dislocate them from this tribal habitus. If I thought I was a tailor before, selling clothes for the ummah: that was my grand delusion. That concept would be an act of colonial violence on my part and its final awful conclusion, in fact, ends in my joining their unit and putting on the Darth Vader mask. And I’d prefer not to go down like that.
- I have a personal reading of “my” scriptures — it is personal view, unauthorized by the discursive multiplicity of Islam — my reading is unrelated to any traditional order, school of thought, scholarship. It is completely unrepresentative of the “Straight Path” — if there is a resemblance it is accidental.
- I continue to make the blog public because it is awkward to password protect individual entries — when I want to read them from different devices and sometimes share particular posts with friends.
I’m not trying to teach/preach/disseminate information anything to anyone. I am not a teacher. I believe that education = a hidden power game, always = latent fascism.
I quit the teaching profession for the private sector and have no intention of returning.
And will your video be available elsewhere for those of us who do want to see it?
Sure, you can access it directly from this blog or by the URL.
It’s not like I’m bowing to the will of the Sufinazis, just trying to keep the riff raff away from this blog.
With google search on, for example, I’d get about 10 hits a day for folk searching for “salafi marriage” … Directly linking them to my numerological exegesis of Aisha’s marriage at 9 years … Imagine what kind of a shock they got!
The web seems to be becoming a more troubled place these days. A friend was asking my opinion the other day about cyber-bullying on Facebook, which she thinks is on the rise (which is a concerning development, because FB is not an anonymous medium). She thinks readers are increasingly willing to turn, en-masse, on someone whose remarks they don’t like. And don’t seem to be able to distinguish between arguing against the remarks and attacking the person.
Anyway, I’m glad that you’re continuing to publish, Musa. ‘A Tailor’s Doctrine’ remains one of the most stimulating, and original, reads on these subjects (‘these subjects’ being a pretty catholic category).
I hadn’t thought of it in the same league as cyber-bullying — actually I just thought of it as Muslims being Muslims at their finest — but I guess it has had a similar emotional effect on me as bullying.
It’s probably more complicated because, since I left Islam, the odd nasty word or email (particularly during Ramadan), has been my sole contact with the ummah. So there’s an unwanted flashback aspect — particularly to this ball of yuck that lies at the core of that religion …
I don’t get the sense that you have left Islam, only ‘islam’. And I can’t help but feel that this is something that is required of us, when we’re ready for it – to shed reliance on a community of interfering busybodies in favour of an intimate, and very private, communion with our own Essence.
And I’m not surprised that you have a problem with that ‘ball of yuck’ – it’s hard to see how your subtle apprehensions could ever be swallowed by people with literal interpretations and rigid beliefs (I do hope nobody has issued threats that you have to worry about). But unfortunately this is by no means confined to ‘islam’. And what is it with these nasty emails? It reminds me of those soap-opera actors who find themselves assaulted because people can’t differentiate between the person and the character. Why is it that we find it so difficult to distinguish the ideas from the thinker?
The Ummah Gestapo?
“My position is:
I respect the gestapo’s cultural right to wear their leather and
jackboots and to embody their tribal habitus of health and fitness
regimes, marching up and down the square before the Führer, etc.”
Do you ever wonder Mu what is driving this hostility towards you? And it seems that this hostility has been around for some time now.
Do you think this kind of response, ‘ummah gestapo’ etc etc, really does anything to appease those who seemingly persecute you? You imply you wish to appease them, then thrown what can only be described as petrol on the fire?! Hitler into the mix and all!
Like many intellectuals
, do you ever wonder how you are really perceived, especially IMHO, when dishing out this kind of patronising diatribe? And I suppose that ‘intellectual’ has little to do with it, apart from the feeling of superiority it seem to instil in some; and many who also use the word Sufi 
That ‘ball of yuk’ – the ball that is one the wuhdat in the wujud, those who choke on your ‘subtle apprehensions’ whatever in Beelzebub’s name they are, the ‘subtle apprehensions’ that is, not the ball of yuk. Maybe you should DELETE them as fast as you write them
Not to worry, another will be along soon to pat you on the back, and perhaps encourage you to throw more petrol on the torches of villagers who are set to storm the castle gates.
With respect to point 4 above, if it were your wish you could truly make this all a private affair – the blog the posts etc etc. I suppose a lot depends upon your objectives
You appear to be an intelligent man, what do you think?
TRB
Well, these are all good questions. Can’t offer a defense for the petrol on the flames/elitist diatribe. Going through a divorce – you have up and down days, feelings of anger, regret and reconciliation.
Remembering that my divorce from the religion was very much linked to a relationship with a particular muse. All documented in chapter 6 of my book. So I guess the ranting and so on relates to that relationship and surrounding culture of the education sector that I also divorced from. There’s always a personal aspect to these kinds of rants directed against general bodies.
I think the flames are dying out though, so it’s a rant to the air: google is shutting down links and I’m getting less traffic day by day. Not sharing on FB also enables me to be less of a professor, more of a banker. Less UEL, more RBS …
Mu, this is a time for reflection.
No defense needed.
I wish you peace and pray that your divorce may be resolved in an amicable manner for all those involved.
My sincere apologies, in my ignorance I may have appeared too harsh. It was just that your behavior was … what with your words … well now I understand.
Perhaps some breathing space online, yes, some distance, which you have already initiated.
Be Well, dear friend. And may the peace of our Lord be with you and yours.
Thanks TRB, appreciate your comment — but no need to apologize either, I’m good with all you write
Actually, funnily enough — I guess, inverting James’ comment somewhat — it’s not so much a case of folk confusing the soap opera actor with the soap opera character — it’s that “my” (confusion of) Islam WAS nothing BUT soap opera!