{"id":1946,"date":"2004-11-26T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2004-11-26T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2004-11-26T10:01:00","modified_gmt":"2004-11-26T15:01:00","slug":"shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Interfaith relations: Shakespeare in the service of Islam?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/shakespeare_sufi.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\">Islamophobes doth protest too much<\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>If all the Muslim urban legends were compiled into a book (and a very big book that would be), the heart of it would be the claim that Shakespeare was a \u201csecret Muslim\u201d, whose real name is something like \u201cShaykh Zubair\u201d or \u201cShaykh Al-Sapir\u201d or a variation thereof.  But regardless of Shakespeare\u2019s biographical data, he and his works are being used to <a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com%2F2004%2FWORLD%2Feurope%2F11%2F25%2Fmuslims.shakespeare.reut%2F\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">bridge the gaps<\/a> between faiths in Britain, as part of Britain\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcb.org.uk%2Fe51.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Islamic Awareness Week<\/a>\u201d (Really, who isn\u2019t aware of Islam these days?) with the theme of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.islamonline.org%2FEnglish%2FNews%2F2004-11%2F21%2Farticle06.shtml\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Your Muslim Neighbour<\/a>\u201c.  \u201cShakespeare is part of our heritage,\u201d said Shafiq Sadiq, national coordinator of Islamic Awareness Week.  \u201cHis plays remind us of the global communities that we live in and the need for respect and goodwill.\u201d  The <a href=\"http:\/\/services.press.net%2Fpressnet%2Fcommunitynewswire%2Findex.jsp%3Fstory_id%3D626343%26setStyle%3DmlStory%26returnStyle%3Dheading.cnw\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">event<\/a>, produced in conjunction with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shakespeares-globe.org%2Fnavigation%2Fframeset.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Globe Theatre<\/a> (the epicenter of all things Shakespeare), <a href=\"http:\/\/services.press.net%2Fpressnet%2Fcommunitynewswire%2Findex.jsp%3Fstory_id%3D626343%26setStyle%3DmlStory%26returnStyle%3Dheading.cnw\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">features<\/a> exhibitions of traditional Islamic art, an Arabic souq, performances by the Khayaal Theatre Company, and more than 20 lectures at the Globe on subjects such as Islamic gardens, interfaith understanding, and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk%2Farts%2Fnews%2Fstory%2F0%2C11711%2C1334860%2C00.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">talk<\/a> by Dr. Martin Lings that argues that the guiding principles of Sufi thought are evident in Shakespeare\u2019s writing.  There will also be a reading of a rare version of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gradesaver.com%2FClassicNotes%2FTitles%2Fothello%2Fabout.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Othello<\/a>, Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy about a Moorish nobleman who fights for Christian Venice, and which reflects the combined <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk%2Farts%2Ffeatures%2Fstory%2F0%2C11710%2C1353597%2C00.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">fear and fascination<\/a> that the West had of the Muslim world at the time.  \u201cShakespeare\u2019s plays are not about good versus evil,\u201d explained Shaikh Hamza Yusuf from the Zaytuna Institute, who will be <a href=\"http:\/\/english.aljazeera.net%2FNR%2Fexeres%2F47632ED8-99CA-46CA-8368-32F56E628A7D.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">analyzing<\/a> Shakepearean sonnets from a Sufi perspective, \u201cnot about a world in which you are either \u2018with us or against us\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British Muslims are using Shakespeare &#8211; and some dubious claims about his connection to Islam &#8211; to bridge the gap between faiths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interfaith relations: Shakespeare in the service of Islam?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"British Muslims are using Shakespeare - and some dubious claims about his connection to Islam - to bridge the gap between faiths\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interfaith relations: Shakespeare in the service of Islam?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"British Muslims are using Shakespeare - and some dubious claims about his connection to Islam - to bridge the gap between faiths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-11-26T15:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/shakespeare_sufi.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/\",\"name\":\"Interfaith relations: Shakespeare in the service of Islam?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-11-26T15:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-11-26T15:01:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\"},\"description\":\"British Muslims are using Shakespeare - and some dubious claims about his connection to Islam - to bridge the gap between faiths\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2004\/11\/shakespeare_in_the_service_of_islam\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Interfaith relations: Shakespeare in the service of Islam?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics &amp; 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