Hats off to the teachers of Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School and the Victorian Education Department. This week they gave an instructive example of how respect can be expressed — and appreciated — in different ways. In doing so, they also showed the ambivalence of symbols and highlighted the need, when interpreting them, to go beyond appearances and listen to what people actually mean.
At a class-run assembly, a teacher invited children for whom the singing of the national anthem would be offensive to leave the class. About 40 did so — and thereby caused a stir among some of the other children's relatives.
This is because the relatives of those staying behind saw children walking out before the anthem, and read it as a potent symbol of disrespect for the country which the anthem signifies. In an age where civic identity is seen as paramount, what could such a mass walk-out mean but profound contempt for Australia and its institutions?
Worse yet, the children were Muslims — a fact which, of course, played into increasing xenophobia.
The school and the Education Department, however, saw a different set of symbols at play.
The month of Muharram is sacred to Sunni as well as Shi'a Muslims. For the Shi'a though, it is particularly holy. In it, they bring to mind the events of the battle of Karbala, when the Imam Hussein (descendant of the prophet Muhammad) was martyred while attempting to assert the rights of Muhammad's family against the caliph Yazid.
Such a remembrance of the death of the righteous man in a battle against impossible odds has echoes of Good Friday for Christians, and the symbolism of Muharram for Shi'a has, in fact, been compared by many to that of Holy Week for Christians. Rituals such as self-flagellation and dramatisation of the events are common to both (at least in some parts of the world).
While Muharram is commemorated in diverse ways, it is above all a month of mourning for Shi'a. One of the particular ways in which the month may be mourned is by avoiding joyful music (although there is a long history of dirges and chants of sorrow retelling the events of the battle and its aftermath).
By way of comparison, the music of Good Friday, while it exists, is not generally joyful and there has long been a distrust of organs and other accompaniment for Lenten music among many Christians.
For the teachers and pupils of