Trumping hate through poetry and the arts

I wonder how founding fathers would have reacted to Trump declaring all Muslims should be banned from entering the US


Brianna Curran February 15, 2016
The writer is a graduate of American University, Washington DC, and her field of interest includes the Middle East and relations between civilisations

I sat in the second row of the theatre at the German Embassy in Washington DC. I had just had the privilege to watch Akbar Ahmed’s newly released documentary, Journey Into Europe, a study of Muslim identity in Europe, based on fieldwork, in the wake of the Syrian migrant crisis. I listened as a concerned German woman asked Ahmed about the “danger” Islam presents to Europe today. The concern in her voice was apparent as she pressed further, asking what Europe can do to accommodate Syrian refugees and how it would be possible to integrate two vastly different cultures. As Ahmed answered the question, I could see the woman’s concern ease. The answer to her question, which is so commonly asked across Europe and the US today, is simple.

While Ahmed’s ethnographic study presents a compelling academic argument detailing the steps Europe can take to ease religious tensions, his poetry reveals an even simpler explanation. “It is love, love, love,” Ahmed writes in his poem, What is it that I seek? There can be no boundaries in the embrace of love. Discussing and reading from his poetry on “The Poet and The Poem” with Grace Cavalieri recently at a prestigious podcast at the Library of Congress, Ahmed employed the world’s most universal language to express his views on the state of today’s turbulent political and religious affairs. From Shakespeare to Whitman, Rumi to Maya Angelou, poetry has been utilised as a tool for centuries to transcend generations and cultures to convey emotion and perspective. Though many know him as a diplomat, a political commentator, a filmmaker and an academic, few are familiar with his poetry. Cavalieri, host of “The Poet and The Poem” complimented the poet for his imagery, language and insights.

Ahmed described his first memory as a child in his poem, Train to Pakistan. Depicting a bloody scene of the “killing fields of the Punjab” in 1947, Ahmed writes of the first of his many encounters with religious violence. Through the horror and the tragedy, however, Ahmed’s perspective is unique as he recognised this violence as a “desperate need to love and be loved”. It is this raw, compassionate and human interpretation that is so often lacking in today’s attempt to understand one another in our current state of rapid globalisation. Perhaps this can be changed through unconventional means such as poetry and the arts.

I was personally struck by the distinct contrast between Ahmed’s unsparingly honest poetry and the rhetoric that is so often associated with Islam today. While American presidential candidates and media outlets commonly reject the notion that Islam is compatible with American society, Ahmed’s poetry argues the exact opposite. In his poem To my mother, he reveals his love for his mother. He pays tribute to her spiritual influence in his life. This particular poem resonated deeply with me, as I know that this relationship between a mother and child is one that is shared universally, regardless of culture or religion. This aspect of universality is incredibly widespread in Islam, though rarely ‘news’ for mainstream media outlets. Sufism, the mystical and loving dimension of Islam practiced by Ahmed and millions of Muslims worldwide, stresses the idea that we all share a uniquely human experience in this life, and seek love and knowledge through spirituality. This theme is beautifully woven throughout his poetry, and even exemplified by the Library of Congress in which the poetry was shared. Constructed to serve as a temple of knowledge, the Library of Congress is an architectural symbol of America’s founding fathers challenging people to seek knowledge and to grow understanding of one another. The spirit of one of our greatest founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, is reflected in the Library of Congress. His vision of creating a new nation based on knowledge and religious pluralism can still be seen in the work of people like Cavalieri.

As a young American recently graduated from university and determined to preserve and fight for the vision of my country as depicted by its founding fathers, I grapple with the best way to engage with the ideas of prejudice and intolerance that have been generated during this election year. I wonder how the founding fathers would have reacted to the leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump declaring that all Muslims should be banned from entering the US. I have heard talk of mosques being closed and even internment of the community. In this time of heated rhetoric and irresponsible expressions of hatred, I believe the answer has to be to reach into our souls and discover what is common to us. We are facing a crisis bigger than it seems and the answer must also be as effective as universal. Poetry reaches us at a primal and a human level, touching the love, hate, anger, joy and hope that each of us has felt in our lifetime. Ahmed’s poetry challenges the narrative that Islam is ‘inherently violent’ and instead shifts the focus to the human predicament that we find ourselves in today: the desire to love and to be loved.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2016.

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COMMENTS (5)

Rex Minor | 8 years ago | Reply @Jane Moran: I get the impression that young Americans are highly sensitive to the grievous mistakes of the past and are more likely than older generations to attempt some sort of acknowledgement and atonement. It all depends how one classifies the younger and the older generation. How many of the today population are aware through their political elites that their front runner Donald Trump and his fellow republicans are equaly against the migration of catholic christians across the strictly protected mexican border, who in total have entered into USA in recent years around 41 million, of whch 17 millions illegaly.. Rex Minor
Jane Moran | 8 years ago | Reply @Apoorv Swarup: Just because the author doesn't mention these things doesn't mean she's unaware of them, blissfully or otherwise. I get the impression that young Americans are highly sensitive to the grievous mistakes of the past and are more likely than older generations to attempt some sort of acknowledgement and atonement.
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