When author and journalist Nonie Darwish came to the University of Cincinnati Thursday, Nov. 13, everyone in attendance seemed to be up in arms with members of the Campus Anti-War Network and the Muslim Students Association protesting Darwish’s presentation.
Darwish, who grew up in Egypt and Gaza, was invited to speak on campus by several Jewish organizations: The David Project, Zionist Organization of America, Stand With Us and Chabad House.
The seminar, Finding The Peace Within: A Story of Courage, A Challenge of Conviction, featured Darwish, who described her experiences growing up in the Middle East during the Arab-Israeli Wars (between 1948 and 1982).
“As an American woman of Arab and Muslim decent ... I treasure my freedom of speech that America has given me – a freedom that is too scarce in the Middle East,” Darwish said. “No religion or ideology should be beyond question. Ideologies or religions become stagnant and become a burden on their believers ... and nonbelievers [alike].”
Darwish emphasized the importance of religious self-regulation, to prevent fanatics such as Muslim jihadists or Christian Klu Klux Klan members from hijacking a religion.
“Every religion should monitor its own people,” Darwish said. “[Muslims] cannot sit and just try to educate Americans how to understand Islam ... they are sending us row after row after row of terrorists to kill themselves for some silly causes.
“Terrorism is not just hurting the Americans and the Jews and the children,” Darwish said. “With [every act of terrorism, terrorists] ... are destroying the goodness that I know exists in my culture.”
Darwish was quick to explain she doesn't place the blame with practitioners of Islam, but rather with what she feels is a broken system.
“I am not here to offend the good and peace-loving Muslims,” Darwish said. “I'm talking about an ideology ... that stands in the way of peace. There are mechanisms in the Middle East that stand in the way of peace.”
Darwish explained what she feels are problems with governments in the Arab world, governments which propagate and instill intolerant views.
“Most Arab countries are [dictatorships],” Darwish said. “Sharia Islamic law prohibits the separation of church and state ... the Muslim Khalifa must be obey, even if he is unjust ... It is a dictator's dream.”
In a series of lectures to the University of Southern California Muslim Student Association, Gharm Allah Al-Ghamdy defined the term “Khalifa” as literally “one who replaces someone else who left or died,” but in the religious context, the Muslim Khalifa is “the successor (in a line of successors) to Prophet Muhammad's position as the political, military and administrative leader of the Muslims” - or the head of the government of the Muslim state.
Sharia is “the most fundamental body of Islamic canonical laws derived from four sources: the Quran, the Sunnah (customs, everyday habits and religious practices of the Prophet Muhammad), the hadith or ahadith (recorded actions and teachings of the Prophet not found in the Quran) and the ijim or 'universal agreement' within the Muslim community that defines what the Quran and the Sunnah mean,” according to middleeast.about.com.
Sharia was codified in the 8th and 9th centuries.
“Sharia does not measure up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948,” Darwish said. “Human rights are sacred and more divine than scriptures. It is not human rights that must pass the litmus test of religion. It is religion that must pass the litmus test of human rights. Human rights are not negotiable, even in the name of Allah.”
Darwish called for all religions to strive harder to promote peace.
“It's time for my culture of origin ... to speak out if we want to be credible, if we want to live in peace,” Darwish said. “Peace is a responsibility from every side, responsibility for every ideology and religion.”
After Darwish's lecture, Gila Naveh, a literature professor in the departments of Judaic studies and women's studies, said she believes the opportunity is ripe to offer an academic discourse to expound upon the religious tensions rife in the audience.
“I think this is a wonderful opportunity to start an interdisciplinary course,” Naveh said.
Naveh called the seminar “a golden opportunity” to implement UC President Nancy Zimpher's goal of making the university as “student-centered” as possible.
“Those students who stick around are ready ... for more education,” Naveh said. “[Students from] all walks of life are here, and we need to offer a course or a series of courses [for them].”
Nick Israel, campus coordinator for Zionist Organization of America, said he was pleased with Darwish's presentation.
“It's never popular to stand up for the minority rights in the Middle East,” Israel said, “But as a minority, I feel good to know there are women like Nonie Darwish fighting [for human rights].”
While few students seemed willing to speak to The News Record, debate both at Darwish's lecture and on Facebook has been heated.
Check out the opinion page in Wednesday's edition of The News Record for students' comments on Nonie Darwish and her lecture, Finding the Peace Within. You can also check out an audio slideshow of the event online at newsrecord.org.
The News Record > Sections > News
Author Ruffles Feathers with Nov. 13 Lecture
Published: Sunday, November 16, 2008
Updated: Monday, November 24, 2008
 "Photo: Coulter Loeb | The News Record")
Coulter Loeb | The News Record
Members of the University of Cincinnati Muslim Students Association and the Campus Anti-War Network protested author Nonie Darwish's visit to campus Thursday, Nov. 13.
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- What benefit are Jewish organizations getting when they liberate the Muslim world from radicals? did the Zionist already hijack Palestine and attempted to hijack parts of Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon?
- When Nonie Darwish says: "It is the duty of Muslims to kill Jews according to the Muslim scripture. There are Muslim scriptures that tell u that if you are a Muslim you must kill Jews and if you do not, then you are violating the scriptures." Isn't that considered absurd and hateful?
- Do I need to go attend a lecture by Hitler to know what he will say?
- The Arabs cannot be anit-Semitism since the definition of the word includes Arabs and Hebrews alike.For your last paragraph, my only comment is this:
youtube . com/watch?v=0meAT6i3iNQ (take out the spaces)or maybe this is what u r talking about: youtube . com/watch?v=DaiUE-wkE4U (take out the spaces)
- What benefit are Jewish organizations getting when they liberate the Muslim world from radicals? did the Zionist already hijack Palestine and attempted to hijack parts of Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon?
- When Nonie Darwish says: "It is the duty of Muslims to kill Jews according to the Muslim scripture. There are Muslim scriptures that tell u that if you are a Muslim you must kill Jews and if you do not, then you are violating the scriptures." Isn't that considered absurd and hateful?
- Do I need to go attend a lecture by Hitler to know what he will say?
- The Arabs cannot be anit-Semitism since the definition of the word includes Arabs and Hebrews alike.For your last paragraph, my only comment is this:
youtube . com/watch?v=0meAT6i3iNQ (take out the spaces)or maybe this is what u r talking about: youtube . com/watch?v=DaiUE-wkE4U (take out the spaces)