On the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice, Christians and Muslims come together to celebrate abundance.

Thursday, November 1st, 2012. A normally quiet afternoon at Tangaza College is suddenly vibrant. Life buzzes by the massive benjamina trees just in front of Pamoja Cafeteria. Tables are laden with pots of steaming rice and meat stew. There are several crates of soft drinks. Some excited students sway to the beat of the music reverberating nearby.

This celebration was All Saints Day. Celebrated every November 1st, in the Catholic tradition, it is a time to remember not only the well known saints, but all holy men and women, even those beyond the boundaries of the institutional church (Payne, OCD). To mark this solemn occasion, free lunches were generously offered to members of Tangaza College by Muslim neighbors as part of their own important celebration, Eid-ul-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). Indeed this was an extraordinary, atypical way of commemorating the feast of all saints, a celebration in style.

Some watched the festivities – Muslims, as represented by members of the Respect Foundation and Christians of Tangaza College, celebrating with Christians – and labelled it “unusual,” “historic,” “rare,” or even “remarkable.”

The festivity started with Fr. Steven Payne, OCD, Principal of Tangaza College, welcoming our Muslim brothers and sisters. He continued by reminding the gathering of the positive attitude of the Catholic Church towards different faiths and traditions, particularly Muslims, as expressed in the documents of the Vatican Council II. Lumen Gentium, one of its documents, states that “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us, adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge humankind.” One declaration says that it is the duty of Catholics to foster unity and charity among all peoples. He also stated clearly that the Church has high regard and esteem for Muslims who share some beliefs with Christians, value leading moral lives, and worship God, especially through prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.

Fr. Payne then welcomed Mr. Fatih Akdogan, Chairperson of the Respect Foundation, Kenya Chapter. Mr. Fatih briefly explained the meaning and significance of Eid-ul-Adha to the Islamic community. The feast is one of the two greatest feasts in the Islamic calendar marked at the end of the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca every year. It is a celebration that commemorates Ibrahim’s (Abraham’s) submission and consequent tribulations when God asked him to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. As the story goes, confirming Abraham’s total submission, God provided a ram to be sacrificed in place of the son. During Eid-ul-Adha, Muslims slaughter animals as a sign of their willingness to make sacrifices in order to remain right with God. The meat is divided into three parts. One portion is retained by the family or community, the second portion is donated to the needy, while the third portion is given to friends and neighbors, regardless of race and religion. Quoting Yunus Emre, a Sufi poet, Fatih added that this love extends to all of creation because God is the creator of everything.

The Chairperson of this organization that promotes interfaith and intercultural understanding went on to say that both Muslims and Christians describe Abraham as a “father in faith.” This gives Christians and Muslims one common heritage in faith. In spite of Christian-Muslim religious strife in many countries, the Qur’an recognises Christians as those nearest to them; both are children of Abraham and believe in the same God or Allah.

There were no elaborate speeches, as would normally have been expected of an institution of higher learning. Soon, I recited a universal prayer of blessing for the food. Then everyone present was invited to share the meal before us.

This was a one of a kind treat. There was enough food to feed more than 500 people. Laughter and excitement ruled the air. Amid the sounds of joy and eating, there were silent questions, some of which may never be answered. But above all else, there was the curiosity to know what these celebrations were for.

Fr. Steven Mr. Fatih and I are optimistic that the new-found relationship between Tangaza College and the Respect Foundation will be nurtured by all concerned parties. Grateful that their Muslim brothers and sisters took the initiative to extend their generosity and love, the Tangaza fraternity also hopes and prays that the spirit and embers of such inter-faith liaisons will be reignited every day.

Sr. Lilian Curaming is a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, Directress of St. Anthony of Padua Institute of Africa (SAPIA) and Coordinator of Franciscan Studies of Tangaza College

“He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, … His mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was no longer Gage.”(3)

The damage to his frontal lobes caused Gage to behave like an ill-tempered child.

Another source of information on brain function is derived from the follow-up studies of patients who have had a portion of the brain removed. Frontal lobotomy is the term used for the surgical removal of the frontal lobe in patients with emotional disorders.(4) It may be difficult today to imagine that an invasive procedure like destroying a large portion of the brain can be employed as a therapeutic approach. Yet, in 1949 the Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Dr. Egas Moniz for his development of the frontal lobotomy technique. (Strange enough, Moniz himself was shot in the spine and partially paralyzed by a lobotomized patient.) Tens of thousands of people were lobotomized following World War II.

A variety of techniques were used to produce lesions on the frontal lobes. In the techniques shown in Figure 2, a knife was inserted through the thin bone at the top of the orbit of the eye. The handle was then swung medially and laterally to destroy the frontal brain areas. Thousands of people were lobotomized with this technique, sometimes called “ice pick psychosurgery.” This operation benefited patients with a number of psychological disorders and provided them with relief from anxiety and a means of escape from thoughts that were unendurable. Although frontal lobotomy did not significantly alter the patient’s IQ or memory functions, some other profound side effects emerged.

The information presented above exemplify the two main sources of information for our understanding of brain function; accidents that lesion the brain, as in the case of Phineas Gage, and surgical interventions on patients with various psychological disorders or epilepsy. In both cases, certain brain functions become impaired and thereby provide evidence as to which brain functions the destroyed areas are involved with. It is now believed by neuroscientists that although there are only one or two types of information that each brain center is specialized to process, there is extensive communication and information sharing between these areas. The frontal lobe is one of the integrative areas where neural information from many other centers converges. It is a highly developed area where an advanced level of information processing takes place. In light of the scientific data presented above, one cannot help but think that the wisdom that lies behind a number of verses in the Holy Qur’an that refer to the forehead and forelock may be related to the function of the frontal portion of the brain in decision making and its function in the formation of ethical values. In the Qur’an, God says: 

Let him beware! If he desist not, We will drag him by the forelock, a lying, sinful forelock. (Alaq 96:15-16)

The Arabic word nasiyah here can also be translated as forehead or face. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, who translates this word as forelock, in his comments on these verses says that the forelock is located on the forehead, and is thus symbolic of the summit and crown of the human power or dignity. To be dragged by this is to suffer the greatest humiliation.(5)

We also find a reference in the Qur’an to the sinners being seized by their nawasi, the plural of forelock:

(For) the sinners will be known by their marks: and they will be seized by their forelocks (nawasi) and their feet. (Rahman 55:41)

Another reference in the Qur’an is found where the forehead (jabha) is mentioned as a body part that will be punished:

On the Day when heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads (jabha), their flanks, and their backs. “This is the (treasure) which you buried for yourselves. Taste, then, the (treasures) you buried!” (Tawba 9:35)

Here the Arabic word jabha literally means the forehead of a person.

Can these verses be indicating the importance of the frontal area of the brain in decision-making and the formation of ethical values? The decision-making that we call “freewill” raises the human being above all other beings and puts on their shoulders the “trust” of their Creator. This is the “trust” by which the human being becomes responsible for understanding the divine purpose in life and conducting their life accordingly as a dignified vicegerent of his Lord on Earth. It is also very interesting to note that the frontal lobes are much smaller in other animals that are lower in the phylogenetic scale. It is the human being that has the largest frontal lobes, larger even than that of the great apes. The Author of the Book knows best, yet, it is the responsibility of humanity, as those who have been bestowed with intelligence and reason, to contemplate and reflect . . . 

References

1. Harlow, J.,M., “Passage of an iron rod through the head,” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, (1848) 39:389-393.
2. Harlow, J.,M., “Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head,” Publication of Massachusetts Medical Society, (1868) 2:329-347.
3. Damasio, H., Grabowski, T., Frank, R., Galaburda, A.,M., Damasio, A.,R., “The return of Phineas Gage: clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient,” Science, (1994) 264:1102-1105, pp. 339-340.
4. Bear, M., F., Connors, B., W., Paradiso, M., A., “Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain,” second edition, Lippincott Williams&Wilkins, Baltimore, Maryland: 2001.
5. Yusuf Ali, A., The Meaning of The Holy Qur’an, Tenth edition, Amana Publications, Maryland: 1999.