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All Theocracies are Potentially Dangerous, whether summoned by the Muezzin’s Chant or Bells

By Anita Mathias

Blue Mosque 


We are staying in the Sultanahmet Suites, Istanbul. The Gold Suites were next door to a mosque, but had 24 hour security. We chose them, well for the security, and someone to ask for help if the wifi died, anything in the apartment malfunctioned, we needed directions to shops, attractions, or the Bosphorus cruise I’d love to take.
But the muezzin’s call at dawn!! Goodness, how loud. How unbearably loud! Beautiful? Well, not to my ears which find Gregorian chant beautiful, but all aesthetic appreciation, of course, is an acquired taste.
But at 5.15 in the morning, to be rudely awakened, with sentiments which must seem platitudinous if you are awakened with them every dawn, and hear them at mid-day, mid-afternoon, at sunset and two hours after sunset besides….
And here a translation of the call, in a call and response form, possibly derived from Judaism and Christianity.

1 Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar 
— Allah is Great, Allah is Great

2-Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah – Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah 
— I bear witness that there is no divinty but Allah

3 Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah
— I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger

4 Hayya la-s-saleah – Hayya la-s-saleah 
— Hasten to the prayer, Hasten to the prayer

5 Hayya la-l-faleah – Hayya la-l-faleah 
— Hasten to real success, Hasten to real success,

6 Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar 
— Allah is Great, Allah is Great

7 La Ilaha ill Allah 
— There is no divinity but Allah

The most annoying part is that the chant—which originally required the muezzin to climb his minaret and sing–is now recorded, and for all we know the muezzin is snug in bed, his earplugs on. So, even the poetry of the singing muezzin, awaking the dawn from his minaret is lost!!
* * *
I endured what felt like 20 minutes of this at dawn and felt it was so dictatorial, so demanding for non-Muslims, non-practising Muslims, and Muslims who would rather sleep to be awakened to listen to this.
In a secular society, this would not be permitted. For instance, earlier this month a Nottingham church was fined £360 for praising the Lord too loudly. That’s apparently noise pollution.
There was a vigorous debate in Oxford about the Muslim community’s petition to be permitted to issue these five times a day call to prayers from their mosque in Cowley Road.
Charlie Cleverly, the Rector of the charismatic St. Aldate’s, Oxford (and someone I viscerally disagree with on many things) opposed it because it is “nuisance noise affecting the inhabitants that have to hear it. I feel it is un-English.”
Come on, Charlie, I thought. (Remember what I said about visceral uneasiness and disagreement?) They are here because you were there. If England hadn’t colonised Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, there would be no question of a mosque in the centre of Oxford. “English” is a racial term. Why should these Muslims behave like English people, for heaven’s sake!! Did the English behave like Indians in India or Nigerians in Nigeria?
Interestingly, I was corresponding with an Italian Twitter follower, Alberto Farina who works near the Vatican earlier this week. He wrote
 I work in fact so close to Vatican that each day there’s a deafening moment when I remember how the Bells always toll for me!
I answered that I hear bells throughout the day in Oxford, and think it’s magical.
To which Alberto Farina said, “I do love bells except when I can’t hear anything but! 😉
Amen.
Cleverly was asked whether bells aren’t similar noise pollution. He replied
“There is a world of difference. Bells are just a signal and have been around for 1,500 years. They are a terribly English part of our culture.”
Besides, “I don’t think the meaning of the Arabic in the call to prayer is neutral.
Well, okay, having 5 onslaughts of the call to prayer so recently has laid to rest any nostalgia for the early morning call to prayer I used to hear when visiting my grandparents in Bombay which competed with the rooster’s crow, and announced a day’s adventures and surprises.
I think I can do without it. I will stick to bells (which, incidentally,  I adore).
 * * *
And I do not think I would like to live in a theocracy, a Muslim or a Christian one. I read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale probably 25 years ago, but I don’t think her bleak, dystopian vision of a theocracy is entirely far-fetched. Once you’ve met a few power-hungry, stupid, religious bullies, you’ll agree!
What are the dangers of mixing God and statesmanship? Simply that one can make very stupid political misjudgements while believing that you are prompted to do so by God. George Bush rose before dawn to pray, read his Bible and Oswald Chambers, yet the misguided wars to which he felt led cost the US billions of dollars, thousands of lives, sowed the seeds of hatred in the Muslim world, and who knows what dreadful harvest will be reaped from it? And Tony Blair’s early morning Bible reading,  sadly, did not steer him out of Iraq.
Do I trust the conclusions politicians derive from their prayer and Bible reading? Do I want countries to be run, or foreign policy to depend, on what politicians think they hear in their sessions of prayer and Bible study?
No way! Hearing God accurately is an art. It takes a lifetime to master. Remember St. Francis hearing God say, “Rebuild my church,” and so rebuilding St. Damiano where he heard this with money purloined from his father? But, as usual, God was thinking much bigger than we dream.
I think I would rather be governed by people who use their spirits in conjunction with their heads, hearts and the advice of wise peers. Power often attracts the worst people, and I do not believe that power in the hands of very religious people, who believe they hear from God, would necessarily give us a better society than power in the hands of mildly Christian people (like Obama and Cameron) who are also highly intelligent, cool, level-headed and have good judgement.
I once worshipped in a charismatic church in which the Rector and his wife sometimes did foolish and abusive things—and blamed the Holy Spirit for them. “The Holy Spirit told us,” they’d say when embarking on a naked power play, or some patently advantageous, ambition-gratifying ploy.
Can you imagine a nation run like that? No, I guess I support the American Founding Father’s principle of the separation of Church and State.
I want to live in the Kingdom of God within me, and I would love to live in the Kingdom of God in Oxford, in England, in Europe.
And one way to bring this about is by establishing the Kingdom of God in the hearts and spirits of the inhabitants of these beloved places. And let it start with me!

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  • A Mind of Life and Peace in the Middle of a Global Pandemic
  • On Yoga and Following Jesus
  • Silver and Gold Linings in the Storm Clouds of Coronavirus
  • Trust: A Message of Christmas
  • Life- Changing Journaling: A Gratitude Journal, and Habit-Tracker, with Food and Exercise Logs, Time Sheets, a Bullet Journal, Goal Sheets and a Planner
  • On Loving That Which Love You Back
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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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