Art from the KGS era (PT 4)

One of my Favorites. I was watching my friend playing 'Snake' on the mobile. Popped a host of images into my head, but this was the clearest by far.

Art from the KGS era (PT 3)

Drawn in sociology class during a heated discussion on gender.

This rather odd drawing is based on a nightmare I had. To cut a long story short, the dream ended with my watching an old woman mould one of my classmates into a pot at the end of a dark alley I'd never seen before. I woke up drenched in sweat.

Art from the KGS era (PT 2)

Inspired by 'The Ebony Tower' a book by John Fowles. The first short story in the novel was about art and abstraction hence......

'Resign to the will of god'. A line from a poem by T. S. Eliot which inspired this piece.

Art from the KGS era (PT 1)

A double image - portrays a toilet bowl and the shadow of a hand holding a cigarette, while also being two businessmen in conversation.

The Wife of Bath...

Meme Theory as a critique of Islam

Cyprus International University,  Research Methods, (January 18^th 2007)

Jahanzaib Haque

In the case of evolutionary biology, the single-most important unit in terms of a scientific study of the field is the gene – a unity of heredity in a living organism. In terms of communication, the relatively new study of Memetics allows for the analysis of culture in a paradigm which closely resembles the methodology of biology. The ‘meme’ is a concept first introduced in Richard Dawkins, ‘The Selfish Gene’ (1976) which defined the meme as a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. In general terms, a meme can be any informational blueprint held in an individual’s memory or in an artifact (media of all forms) which is likely to be communicated or copied to another individual’s memory. In Dawkins own words,

“Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.” (R. Dawkins, 1976)

In this manner, the evolution of culture and ideas may be analyzed in much the same way that the evolution of living things may be observed. The passage of memes from one generation to the next parallels the transmission of genes from parents to offspring. Those genes (or memes) can serve to either ensure the survival of a species (humans in the case of culture) or deny their ability to compete in the environment. Memetic theory also allows for the observance of an idea fighting for its own survival among an environment of competing ideas. The ability for one culture to prosper over another or the ability for one ideology to dominate another is thus narrowed down to an observable process e.g. if one culture has an ideology which allows its population greater success in the environment, it is observable that the population will thrive over others and other populations will begin to imitate that ideology, shaping the design of cultural evolution for future generations.

The shaping of culture does not suggest that memes are exchanged in a passive manner. Using Darwinian models of mutation, it is observable that people create and modify memes continuously, via intrapersonal dialogue or other forms of communication. The shaping of a meme may result in a strain that is more successful at survival but that does not necessarily indicate that the new mutation is more beneficial to its host. In this way, memes (regardless of their success at survival, longevity, resilience etc.) may be observed in terms of how they help and/or harm the populations they infect.

This essay will use the new Memetic paradigm to analyze the nature of religion, with an emphasis on Islam and the impact of its common memes on the average Muslim in terms of shaping their reality. The focus will be on the harmful nature of religious beliefs as an inhibitor of the evolution/growth of culture and the instigator of violence and suffering internally, in the mind of the individual and externally, between groups in the human population. The first part of the essay will focus on the nature of memes, followed by an analysis of fundamental memes (unitary concepts) in Islam, ending with a critical look at the effects of such a meme structure in terms of cultural evolution.

While the scope of meme theory is large enough to extend to analysis of the spread of any cultural unit (from a musical melody to emailed chain letters), the nature of large ideologies, termed meme complexes lends toward a particularly poignant analysis of memes as a study of ‘viruses’ which infect the mind via self-referential rhetoric/dogma, psychological ploys and fallacious argument which contain the necessary instructions for propagation. Evolution demands replication and resilience as a forerunner to mutation and a virus is the best example of such activity. Religious ideology is directly analogous to such a process and just as a virus may be benign, or hostile to its host, similarly, religion may lie dormant within a human only to be triggered when it comes under attack or demands propagation, often with negative ramifications for its carrier – humanity. The hypocrisy and inconsistencies which occur in the wake of such an ideology and the extent to which the dominant viruses (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) have spread demands that critical appraisal of such memetic structures be necessary.

Memes connected to religious beliefs start at the most fundamental level of intrapersonal communication by molding the mind of the individual. To begin with, the meme must infect the mind of the individual, usually through the process of training in early childhood and then later perpetuation through the wider society. Theoretically the religious meme virus is a collection of ideas that acts as an independent life-form which struggles to propagate itself, even at the expense of its host; surviving simply because of its success at getting passed on. Islamic ideology tends to use the following structures (familiar to most other religions) to achieve this resilience:

• Eternal reward in Paradise for belief e.g. “(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits; and Grace from their Lord… (Muhammad 47:15).

• Eternal damnation in Hell for disbelief which uses intensive repetition of fear appeals e.g. “These two antagonists dispute with each other about their Lord: But those who deny (their Lord), for them will be cut out a garment of Fire: over their heads will be poured out boiling water. With it will be scalded what is within their bodies, as well as (their) skins. In addition there will be maces of iron (to punish) them. Every time they wish to get away therefrom, from anguish, they will be forced back therein, and (it will be said), ‘Taste ye the Penalty of Burning!’ “(Al Hajj 22:19-22).

• Claims to superiority over other religious memes via both positive and negative affirmations – positive affirmations declare Islam the best of religions, the completion of all religions etc. while negative affirmations are reserved for references to competing ideologies e.g. “O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.” (The Table 5:51). The religious meme thus maintains itself by boosting the ego of the infected individual. Unfortunately, such a meme results in inevitable conflict through ideological clashes and scapegoating others to avoid individual (or group) responsibility

• Claims to objective truth via self-referential, close-looped arguments is common in Islam e.g. the following format: we see Islam as the true religion because God deigns it so and God deigns it so because Islam says He does and as Islam is the correct religion what it says must be true because God says so ad infinitum. To protect such faulty logic, a safeguard against doubt, questioning and criticism is set up to allow the meme maximum longevity by claims that only, ‘true believers’ will understand the word of God and all others are those harboring ill-intent (in two categories of disbelievers and hypocrites) e.g.

“He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:” and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.” (Al-Imran 3:7)

The laying down of such rhetoric allows Islamic ideology to protect itself on two levels simultaneously. On the one hand, it establishes the fact that parts of the book are literal while other parts are allegorical without actually defining which parts are such (leaving the entire ideology safe, as criticism and doubt may be held back by arbitrarily applying both terms to passages), and on the other hand it encourages faith-based claims as a determinant of truth i.e. the meme essentially suspends the automatic immune response of reason. It also allows for the negation of any criticism from a third party that is instantly labeled, ‘disbeliever’ or even criticism from a member within the group labeled, ‘hypocrite’.

• Aggression (Jihad), discrimination and terrorism against unbelievers is the most common memetic message in religious ideology as it is the most effective form of control (via threats of violence) for the virus. Take the following passages into account:

“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” (Al-Tauba 9:29)

Whether the passage is literal, historical, or allegorical, the message is quite clear in terms of defining humans as either Muslims or, ‘others’. This is where the dangers of religious ideology become most obviously apparent as the drive to unite the world under one system and suppress the others is counter-evolutionary and encourages violence and subversive discrimination under the guise of religious duty e.g.

“They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks” (An-Nisaa 4:89)

The violence in this passage is barely masked and makes the same distinction of Muslim from unbeliever. The structure of religious ideology encourage a, ‘Us Vs Them’ attitude by shaping reality for followers as a battle between the, ‘others’ who actively ‘desire’ the end to the follower’s beliefs so everyone may be alike in ‘sin’.

• The necessary death of apostates i.e. those who convert away from the ideology is seen in the meme infection which resulted in all five schools of Islamic Jurispudence (Mazhab) declaring apostasy as a crime punishable by death[1]. The quote seen as evidence from the Quran is ambiguous yet used as proof, showing meme mutation in the population as the composite result of religious memes encouraging intolerance. This is further supported by Hadith (stories of the prophet)[2] resulting in a distortion of the original meme infection carrying from the passage stated here:

‘They ask thee concerning fighting in the Prohibited Month. Say: “Fighting therein is a grave (offence); but graver is it in the sight of Allah to prevent access to the path of Allah, to deny Him, to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque, and drive out its members.” Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can. And if any of you Turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be companions of the Fire and will abide therein.’ (Al-Baqara 2:217)

These examples extracted from the Quran are a tiny sampling of a larger context/reality of the propagation of Islam. When a meme complex such as a religious ideology is founded, it contains within it multiple memes which mutually support the survival of the entire system. The reality of a religion like Islam extends beyond the words of the Quran and lies in the hands of all its followers and their actions, attitudes and beliefs. This is especially important in observing the mutation of memes in order to survive and compete in the environment. Some contemporary examples maybe observed to hint at the functional mode of such cultural units.

The Publication of a number of caricature cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper in February 2006 as an expression of freedom of the press resulted in a controversy which demonstrated, in real terms, the effects of the Islamic meme complex. The threat in this case was against the Muslim belief that images of the Prophet Mohammed should never be created for fear of idol worship/mockery etc. The result however reflected the above-mentioned memetic warfare of Danish ideological concepts of freedom against the religious ideology of Islam. The nature of either ideology is visible in the reactions which followed the event.

Denmark Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen held a meeting with 76 foreign diplomats in talks aimed at debating the crisis, which ended with his statement that the government could not apologize on behalf of the press. 4  Other nations holding a similar ideological stance such as Norway, Germany and France supported the publication of the cartoons and the cartoons were re-published under some news printers within those nations.

In Islamic nations, violent protest was observed as a means of expression instead. In Pakistan, three people were killed in violent clashes across the country as foreign businesses were indiscriminately destroyed (a KFC was burned to the ground)[3]. In Afghanistan two people were killed when protestors attacked the U.S. airbase at Bagram although the U.S. had passed a statement declaring sympathy to the Muslim nation. In Iran petrol bombs were thrown into the Danish embassy. The Austrian embassy in Tehran was also attacked. In Damascus, protestors burned down the Danish, Swedish and Chilean Embassy. Countless numbers of arson and death threats were sent to Danish publishers. A sum total of the reaction towards the published caricatures is perhaps best captured in the words of Norwegian imam, Mullah Krekar,

“These drawings are a declaration of war”.[4]

In the study of meme complexes, this example serves as an indicator to both the strength of memes as a driving force of human action as well as showing the nature of the meme complex in question – in this case, Islam. From its seemingly benign form as words on paper (in the form of the Quran, hadith etc.) to its actual take-over of the mind via its viral properties, Islam has proved itself to be a dangerous ideology with leanings towards violence which completely defies any long-term evolutionary progress (in cultural terms) for its followers. The indiscriminate destruction of all things foreign (regardless of their neutrality and/or support for the Muslims) following the printing of the caricatures is a clear indicator that the memetic, ‘us VS them’ ideology is deeply ingrained in the minds of Muslims – a reality perpetuated and essentially created by the religion. The earlier outlined arbitrariness of the Quranic verses in their allegorical or literal nature leaves the ideology with a loophole which defies logic. This is then used to justify any form of violence a Muslim individual, or indeed a whole population chooses to embark on. While it may be true the Denmark caricatures were printed in order to spark a conflict, the resultant nature of the conflict serves as a vital indicator of the truth of the Islamic belief system. All notions of, ‘tolerance’ and ‘forgiveness’ are quickly replaced when the meme complex is brought under threat.

One unique property of Islam as a religious meme complex is its fundamental claim that it is not a religion but a ‘Deen’ as seen in the Quran in numerous surahs such as:

“This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (Al Maidah 5:3)

The Arabic term ‘Deen’ has a different context from the English word, ‘religion’. Deen has been uniformly accepted in the Islamic world as meaning, ‘way of life’ i.e. Islam forms a comprehensive system which deals with every aspect of human life and can therefore be applied not only to spiritual beliefs and actions but to all fields and institutions including law, education, governance, politics, healthcare etc. This concept of Deen allows the religion to extend itself (legitimately) into every aspect of culture, thus ensuring its survival unlike other religions such as Christianity which suffer from a lack of memetic dogma concerning the application of religion into all aspects of human life.

The consequences of such a claim by a religious ideology are profound. In Pakistan, the allowance of religion into the field of law paved the way for twenty eight years of the most extreme form of human rights violations in the form of the Hudood Ordinance – a composite of laws designed through the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah; applied in 1979 by General Zia Ul Haq.[5]

The Hudood Ordinance consists of 5 Ordinances which includes the offence of Zina Ordinance defined under Ordinance No. VII of 1979.[6] The term Zina is used to refer to the act of sexual intercourse between a man and a woman outside of wedlock – an act which is worthy of punishment in Islam. Within the Ordinance, the following clause is found:

6. Zina bil jabr

(1) A person is said to commit zina-bil-jabr if he or she has sexual inter-course with a woman or man, as the case may be, to whom he or she is not validly married, in any of the following circumstances, namely:-

(a) Against the will of the victim;

(b) Without the consent of the victim

This extract from the Ordinance defines the act of rape as one version of Zina. The following extract outlines the form of legal proof required to judge and punish a person who has committed zina (sexual intercourse) or zina-bil-jabr (inclusive of rape):

8. Proof of zina or zina-bil-jabr liable to hadd (punishment).

Proof of zina-bil-jabr liable to hadd shall be in one of the following forms, namely:- (a) the accused makes before a Court of competent jurisdiction a confession of the commission of the offence; or

(b) at least four Muslim adult male witnesses, about whom the Court is satisfied, having regard to the requirements of tazkiyah al-shuhood, that they are truthful persons and abstain from major sins (kabair), give evidence as eye-witnesses of the act of penetration necessary to the offence

To paraphrase, this clause states that if a woman (or man) is raped, then it is up to the victim to produce four male witnesses who observed the act to the point of penetration. The existence of such a law makes proof of rape next to impossible and, ironically, anyone who claims to have been raped but cannot produce sufficient evidence (in the form of four male witnesses) could have to stand trial for adultery, as in the case of Safia Bibi, a 13 year old blind girl who claimed to have been raped by her employer and his son but, lacking evidence, was charged for adultery under the Zina Ordinance while an acquittal was granted to the employer and son. Through pressure from within Pakistan and from foreign nations, the Shariat Court released Safia Bibi from imprisonment.[7]

The Hudood Ordinance stands as a monument to the power of religion to distort reality and legitimize human suffering. In its twenty eight years without amendment, rape victims in Pakistan were forced to suffer silently rather than expose themselves to the risk of being labeled adulterer and face possible punishment by law. While it is claimed that the Hudood Ordinance was enforced as a political stratagem, this does not make Islamic ideology any less dangerous. Analogous to the meme, ‘guns don’t kill people – people kill people’ Muslims who claim that it is the distortion of Islam’s true image that causes violence and suffering in Islam’s name lay aside the reality that Islam, and essentially all religious ideology have at the core of their nature a survival instinct which necessitates (at some level) an expression of dominance and aggression. Religious ideology which expresses itself in such terms implies that, as an initial premise, one must assume that human nature is, ‘violent’ (read: bad) – and domination and submission are part of an evolutionary process which is both blind and impersonal, hence, ‘control’ (read: power) must be exercised via tools which express that human nature – whether it be a gun used in self defense or murder, or a religion used to liberate or enslave. Either way, the tool represents one aspect of human history and ignores the dynamic human will to actively engage in life and base future evolution from the standpoint of personal responsibility.

As Nietzsche’s Zarathustra became aware of his own strength and used it to go beyond a point of, ‘good and evil’ it is becoming increasingly important in this contemporary world to disengage from ideologies which play upon human fears and feed human weaknesses. In order to overcome evolutionary stagnancy, a redefinition is required of human nature which does not see itself as, ‘bad’, ‘sinful’, ‘guilty’ or, ‘territorial’. To this effect, meme complexes which encourage old world views must be analyzed and criticized, regardless of their utility in the past. The dangers of Islam go beyond the memetic structures outlined above, as the ideology uses one final stratagem to maintain its symbiosis with its host in the form of its most common teaching:

The Holy Quran is the last word of Allah and the Holy Prophet is his final messenger.

Having declared itself to be a part of every religious tradition in creation by means of this meme structure, Islam attempts to end all religious faith before or after it. Having assumed the mantle of being the completion of all past ideologies, Muslims are provided with a sense of supremacy (outlined earlier) which disguises the meme structure’s instinctual aggression towards all other religious/spiritual ideology. This concept spurs Muslims towards intolerance and discrimination against outsider groups in the contemporary world and necessitates (or is utilized to create) conflict and agitation. The notion of there being, “…no compulsion in religion” (al-Baqarah, 2:256); is swept aside in the face of the reality of a meme structure which lives through infecting its hosts and playing out the evolutionary cycle of domination: survival of the fittest.

References:

1. Dawkins, R. (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press.

2. Memetics (2007, January). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 15, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics

3. Clements, Alan (producer). (2006, January). The Root of all Evil? United Kingdom: Channel 4.

4. The Holy Quran. A. Yusuf Ali, Trans. (1995). Lushena Books.

5. BBC News. (2006, February 15). Pakistan: Cartoon violence spreads. BBC, United Kingdom. Retrieved January 12, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4715084.stm

6. Spiegel Online. (2006, February 4). Cartoon violence spreads: Arson and Death Threats as Muhammad Caricature Controversy Escalates. Retrieved January 12, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,399177,00.html

7. Zara Sochiye. (2006). History of the Hudood Ordinance. Geo TV, Pakistan. Retrieved January 12, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.geo.tv/zs/history.asp

8. Zara Sochiye. (2006). What is the Zina Ordinance. Geo TV, Pakistan. Retrieved January 12, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.geo.tv/zs/zord.asp

9. Apostasy in Islam (2007). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 14, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam

10. BBC News. (2006, March 27). What Islam says on Religious Freedom. BBC, United Kingdom. Retrieved January 12, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4850080.stm