Juan Michel – Special to IPS*
TORONTO, Aug 25 2006 (IPS) – When it comes to responding to HIV and AIDS, Muslims are neither better nor worse than anyone else, but in its progressive form, Islam is certainly better prepared to respond than the Vatican, says Farid Esack.
In the following interview, this South African Muslim professor and as he defines himself anti-AIDS militant, talks about mutual stereotypes, why religions fear sex, and the sacred nature of entering into the life of an HIV-positive person.
AIDS is not just simply a disease, but a fundamental problem of injustice, says Esack, interviewed during a break at the hectic International AIDS Conference 2006 held in Toronto Aug. 13-18. If that were not so, why is it that those affected are mostly Africans, blacks, women, and poor people?
And the fact that injustice shapes the pandemic is clear too in how different people, after becoming infected with the virus, are able to access treatmentà or not. If you are American and white, he says, everything is available to you.
Esack talks fast, and the look in his eyes is intense. Due to a lack of better facilities, he is willing to give this interview in a corner, next to the public telephones, of the north wing entrance hall of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The author of several books about Islam, Esack is a professor at Harvard University and the director of Positive Muslims, a South African organisation that supports people who live with HIV and AIDS. He labels himself as an academic and an activist who, as a Muslim, has always tried to link his faith with the cause of justice. In the past, my faith took me to the fight against apartheid in my country. Now the challenge is HIV and AIDS, he explains.
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IPS: Why is it that, in global terms, the HIV prevalence rate is lower in Muslim countries?
FARID ESACK: There are different factors that might be contributing to this. Male circumcision, which appears to thwart the transmission of the virus, is the most immediate one. Moreover, considered as a whole, Muslim communities have more social cohesion.. Probably, the ban on alcohol contributes in this sense too, by avoiding the consequences of the loss of inhibition it provokes.
Some Muslims will say that it is Islam as a religion that is the cause of this, or that Muslim sexual morality is better. But there is no scientific proof that the sexual conduct of Muslims, for example with respect to extramarital sex, is different from that of followers of other religions.
IPS: What has been the response to this pandemic in Muslim societies?
FE: In the last two years, since the AIDS conference in Bangkok, there has been some progress, some increase in support to those affected. There are positive examples in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, and Malaysia.
Nevertheless, it still is a matter of them , the sick, versus us, the normal society . In the Muslim world, the predominating attitude is still pity, with some being able to move to compassion. The person that lives with HIV can be forgiven, but they are still seen as having failed, and HIV or AIDS is the price they pay for it.
IPS: What happens from the religious point of view?
FE: As Muslims, we are prepared to make the transition from pity to compassion, but we are not ready to empower those affected. We can only make them objects of our compassion, but we are not willing to associate ourselves in the transformation of their lives, and thus, open ourselves to the transformation of our religious communities.
The greatest obstacle is that we have privileged our structures, our power, over human life. And I say this knowing fully that it is expected from Muslims, when we are invited to speak at places like this conference, to say nice and pleasant things about our religion and our community.
IPS: You have written much about the Koran; what resources does it offer to the Muslim community to help it respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic?
FE: The Koran offers different, mixed streams. The most relevant is one that is often ignored, the passion for justice. If I had to synthesise Christianity in one word, I would say that word is love. For Islam, the word would be justice. The Koran exhorts to justice all the time. This obsession for justice is the greatest resource it can offer because it is about creating a world where pandemics like this simply do not happen.
Of course, whoever looks for resources in the Koran will also find other streams. Like the impulse of compassion and generosity. And, of course, the idea of a vengeful God who punishes. Different people will choose to focus on different aspects.
IPS: What needs to happen for this transformation you mentioned earlier to occur in the Muslim religious community?
FE: The only way is to engage with persons who live with HIV. To enter into the life of an HIV-positive person is to walk into a sacred space. It is about sitting and listening, and in so doing, allowing ourselves to be transformed. It is not easy, since one does not know what may happen, and it requires us to come out of our theological boxes. Also, it implies looking more closely at things that usually frighten us, such as sexuality.
IPS: Is the HIV and AIDS pandemic, which has a greater impact in non-Muslim countries, reinforcing the stereotypes within the Muslim community towards the Christian West?
FE: There is a classic Muslim stereotype that sees the West as morally decadent, sexually promiscuous, etc. Since AIDS was initially considered a disease of homosexuals, that evidently reinforced the stereotype. Today, the pandemic is largely affecting Africa and increasingly Asia, but many Muslims still view it as a Western issue.
By the same token, the corresponding Western stereotype sees Muslims as uptight, dishonest, afraid of sex.
IPS: Why does religion seem to fear sex?
FE: To be honest, I do not know; can one answer I do not know in an interview? (Laughter.) It must have something to do with the obsession for power. In religious communities we are sometimes obsessed with controlling the lives of others. And sex defies rationality, it is by definition that which cannot be controlled. Maybe it has something to do with that.
IPS: Is Islam a particularly acute case of this fear?
FE: It is curious how stereotypes change in the course of history. In colonial times, Muslims were accused of being too loose with sex, even promiscuous the widespread image was the harem. The Muslim world was associated with images of a non-stop orgasm. Now the stereotype is completely the opposite.
The reality is that in Islam, unlike much of Christianity, which has identified sex with its reproductive function, sex itself has always been celebrated and seen as something natural, enjoyable. And I am talking about religious literature. The attitude has always been positive. It was in the epoch of colonial domination that we became more Victorian. But I do not want to blame the West for everything
IPS: Is Islam better positioned than other religions, for instance Christianity, to respond to HIV and AIDS?
FE: As a whole, its position is neither better nor worse than that of any other religion. It depends what version of Islam we are talking about. Progressive Islam is surely better positioned than the Vatican, but not better than other progressive expressions of Catholicism itself.
No religious group can say we have the answer. Only a prophetic religion can adequately respond to this pandemic a religion that is not first of all concerned about its own structures of power and survival, but about the imperative to live with justice..
The founders of religions were not concerned about how to ensure the survival of the religious community, but rather how to identify with the poor and how to disturb the power when it does not serve justice.
*The author is the press officer of the World Council of Churches and covered the International AIDS Conference 2006 for the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.
