Jaajef wa G-L,

I wonder if anyone is in a position to assist this brother in his
research?

Yeenduleen ak jaama

Tony

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Dear Comrades and Friends,

Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
May the peace, mercy and grace of the Transcendent be
upon you.

One of the issues that I am very keen to explore is the
question of Aids, Muslims and Islam. I want to look at the
current pandemic - Southern Africa has two thirds of the
World's population living with HIV-Aids - and Muslim
attitudes towards it as the basis of the development of a
Qur'anic moral theology of compassion. Some of you may be
familiar with my Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism (Oxford;
Oneworld, 1997) where I used the South African crucible of
oppression to develop a Qur'anic hermeneutic of liberation. I
want to do a similar piece of work on Aids. Currently I am
envisaging two outcomes from this research undertaking

a) a small user friendly booklet which will essentially be the
work of one my research assistants whom I will guide. This
will be widely distributed throughout the world at minimum
cost - possibly even free if funding can be secured - to create
an awareness of Aids and encourage an atmosphere of
openness about i tand compassion towards those living with
it.

A second product is a more serious academic one along the
lines of Qur'an. Liberation and Pluralism that progressive
muslims and others can use as a tool to deal with their own
struggle to ret-think Islam and its complexity in a pain-filled
world.

I am therefore interested in the following areas:

a) Muslims living with HIV-Aids and the responses towards
them by other Muslims
b) Muslim writings on Aids
c) The occurence of Aids in Muslim societies and the
attitudes of those societies towards it.
d) Theological discourses on the God of vengeance as
distinct from the God of compassion.
e) The notion of Aids as a punishment from God sexual
'deviance'
f) Muslim approaches to sexual otherness and moral
pluralism

I would really appreciate it very much if you could pass this
on to others who may be able to supply even the slightest bit
fo information - direct or indirect - on the subject. It would
also be valued if you could place this request in other media
that you have access to.

I will of course gladly acknowledge all assistance received. -
and ensure that all royalties go to an Aids organization

Your brother in the struggle for a world wherein it is safe to
be human


farid esack

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