Strategies for Engaging Political Islam

A Middle East, U.S. and EU 'Trialogue'

While much attention has been paid to whether Islamists are becoming more moderate, or whether they are committed to democracy, far less effort has been devoted to developing a practical strategy for engaging Islamists. There are many obstacles to such engagement, including Westerners' disagreements with Islamists' political agendas, authoritarian regimes' tactics to exclude Islamists from the political process, and Islamists' suspicion of American and European motives. As a result, American and European government efforts to start a dialogue with Islamists in the Middle East are often divergent, uncoordinated and incompatible, where such efforts exist at all. Engagement is important, however, because Islamists are a major political force in most Middle Eastern countries - a force about which U.S. and European policymakers are generally unfamiliar. How do Middle Easterners believe that the U.S. and the EU can play a positive role in dealing with Islamists? Where do Americans and Europeans see shared opportunities to engage Islamists, and what types of programs can take advantage of these opportunities? How would engagement affect Islamists' attitudes towards the U.S. and Europe, and towards political reform in the region?
Please join us for a panel discussion with:
Ruheil GharaibehDeputy Secretary General, Islamic Action Front, JordanShadi HamidDirector of Research, The Project on Middle East DemocracyZoé NautréVisiting Fellow, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Berlin Mona YacoubianSpecial Adviser, Muslim World Initiative, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, United States Institute of PeaceModerated by Nathan Brown, Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies, George Washington University
Thursday, February 26, 200912:00 - 2:00 pmThe Henry L. Stimson Center1111 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036Twelfth FloorLunch will be served.

Please RSVP by email to RSVP@pomed.org

Wrong Fatwa By Sheikh Mohamed Al-Najimi it should be corrected

A prominent Muslim scholar in Saudi Arabia has warned that those using alcohol-based biofuels in their cars could be committing a sin.
The warning was issued by Sheikh Mohamed Al-Najimi, a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy, an institute that studies Islamic jurisprudence for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, an international group with a permanent delegation to the United Nations. According to the Al Arabiya News Channel, an international news outlet based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mr. Najim directed his warning to Saudi youths studying abroad.
Al Arabiya notes that Najimi stressed that this warning was not an official fatwa, or religious edict, just his personal opinion. Najimi added that the issue “needs to be studied by the relevant religious bodies.”
Ethanol, a common type of biofuel, is made of the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, and its production is similar to that of hard liquor. Plant matter is fermented using yeast, and the result is distilled to increase the concentration of alcohol.
Fuels with high concentrations of ethanol – the most common being E85, a gasoline blend with 85 percent ethanol – can be used in flex-fuel vehicles, which make up more than seven million of the roughly 250 million passenger cars and trucks on America’s roads. Most gasoline sold in the United States contains about 10 percent ethanol. The fuel is more common in many Latin American countries, particularly Brazil.
In addition to beverages and biofuels, ethanol is a widely used in industry for its properties as a solvent and an antiseptic. It’s a common component of perfumes and paints. The chemical is also necessary in the production of vinegar – one of the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite seasonings.
The Koran prohibits consumption of alcohol in three separate verses that were written over a period of several years. The first mention occurs in 4:43, in which Muslims are told that they must not pray while intoxicated. A verse written later – 2:219 – says that in wine and gambling “is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit.” Finally, in 5:90-91, intoxicants and gambling are called “an abomination” and “Satan’s handiwork”:
Satan’s plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?
This admonition is waived in the hereafter, apparently: Many passages in the Islamic holy book describe heaven as having rivers of wine.
Ironically, it was Muslim chemists who introduced distillation to the West. The process of distilling pure ethanol from wine was perfected by 8th- and 9th-century Persian chemists, who used it to create perfumes and eyeliner. Their writings were translated by European scholars in the 12th century, and the process was used to make potable spirits. The word “alcohol” is itself of Arabic origin.