My point in my last blog was not at all to glorify all Muslims, so telling me to read news articles about Muslims doing bad things is not a counter argument.
There are indeed bad Muslims....but there are also bad Christians, bad Jews, bad Hindus, bad athiests, bad aborigenies, bad all sorts of people.
Discriminating against a group of people based on a minority is NEVER a good idea. This goes for Muslims now in the post-9/11 world.
But it also goes for all other groups of people. For example, Muslims should not hate all Jews and demonize all Jews because some Jews hurt them.
Blacks should not hate all Christians because the KKK did horrible things to them.
Whites in America should not hate all blacks because of bad experiences with a few gangs.
You get my point?
Chances are that the Ground Zero Mosque would in fact be for American Muslims a place of peace and hope, not of continuted triumph over the western infidels.
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
الاخبار The News
Sometime in 2007, I stopped reading the news.
Before then, I used to read the New York Times front section cover to cover every day. Maybe I thought that if I new enough, I could save the world. Then one day, something snapped, and I got so frustrated with the idiocy of it all, that I stopped reading all together.
Everything I read just seemed to reconfirm what I already knew about the policies of the US government, about anti-Islamic sentiment, about radical Islam, about Gitmo, about how the US is causing even more disaster in war zones it either created or exacerbated.
I just got fed-up.
I live in the Middle East now. I work with Omanis and other Arab nationalities every day. I'm friends with Muslims. I hear the call to prayer 5 times a day. My neighbors are Muslims.
And the news just seems so foreign to me.
It's really hard for me to even read an article about the scandal over the building of a mosque by Ground Zero. I just can't comprehend people who have the ability to twist reality so much in their heads to think that Muslims would consider the Ground Zero mosque another stab at the American people. Like it was rubbing in their triumph of 9/11. (of course the same sort of demonizing, reality-twisting has been happening throughout all of history to different groups of people...)
Whether they are right-wing Republicans, single-issue Democrats who get scared of Muslims, conservative Christians, fundamentalist Jews, westernized Muslims...I don't care....anyone who makes a decision about a group of people without knowing them, or who makes a decision about a group based on a tiny minority, don't deserve my, or anyone's, time.
I did actually read the news today, an article largely about wide-spread American anti-Islamic sentiment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
And the best thing in the article was a quote by Reverend Richard Cizik. My own personal Christian upbringing, and lifetime of being around conservative Christians (often very anti-Muslim) makes me particularly sensitive to and annoyed by Christian denunciation of Islam and Muslims. So I like this quote by Rev. Cizik to people who put down our (meaning humankind's) Muslim brothers:
“Shame on you, you bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ. You directly disobey his commandment to love your neighbor.”
Before then, I used to read the New York Times front section cover to cover every day. Maybe I thought that if I new enough, I could save the world. Then one day, something snapped, and I got so frustrated with the idiocy of it all, that I stopped reading all together.
Everything I read just seemed to reconfirm what I already knew about the policies of the US government, about anti-Islamic sentiment, about radical Islam, about Gitmo, about how the US is causing even more disaster in war zones it either created or exacerbated.
I just got fed-up.
I live in the Middle East now. I work with Omanis and other Arab nationalities every day. I'm friends with Muslims. I hear the call to prayer 5 times a day. My neighbors are Muslims.
And the news just seems so foreign to me.
It's really hard for me to even read an article about the scandal over the building of a mosque by Ground Zero. I just can't comprehend people who have the ability to twist reality so much in their heads to think that Muslims would consider the Ground Zero mosque another stab at the American people. Like it was rubbing in their triumph of 9/11. (of course the same sort of demonizing, reality-twisting has been happening throughout all of history to different groups of people...)
Whether they are right-wing Republicans, single-issue Democrats who get scared of Muslims, conservative Christians, fundamentalist Jews, westernized Muslims...I don't care....anyone who makes a decision about a group of people without knowing them, or who makes a decision about a group based on a tiny minority, don't deserve my, or anyone's, time.
I did actually read the news today, an article largely about wide-spread American anti-Islamic sentiment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
And the best thing in the article was a quote by Reverend Richard Cizik. My own personal Christian upbringing, and lifetime of being around conservative Christians (often very anti-Muslim) makes me particularly sensitive to and annoyed by Christian denunciation of Islam and Muslims. So I like this quote by Rev. Cizik to people who put down our (meaning humankind's) Muslim brothers:
“Shame on you, you bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ. You directly disobey his commandment to love your neighbor.”
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Iftar Fever
A little background: Iftar is the fast-breaking meal at sundown for Muslims during Ramadan. From sun up to sun down, they are not supposed to eat, drink (even a sip of water), have sex, smoke cigarettes, etc. Some even argue that sex and smoking shouldn't happen at all the whole month long....why those two are on the same par I don't know...
Anyhow.
Iftar is, of course, a religiously and socially very important meal. Muslims across the world break fast by eating dates, as was the tradition in the Prophet's day. After that, a lavish meal is served, the cuisine depending on the cultural background of the family.
Some iftars are more sumptuous than others, but everywhere, it is an event. Non-Muslims are often invited by Muslim friends to share the iftar meal with their families. It's a great experience for non-Muslims, and they needn't feel shy about being the "odd-one-out". Every Muslim family that I have known is fully aware that you, as a non-Mulsim are not fasting and probably don't know their traditions. So if you're invited, definitely go.
However...a word of warning...
Iftar is not for non-fasters.
After indulging in an endless feast that lasts for hours, your body will feel the bulge, even if you have in fact fasted all day. But if you have gone about your normal day, eating breakfast, and apple here or there, lunch, a latte and croissant from Starbucks..before going to an iftar meal...you probably experience what I call "Iftar Fever".
I think the body rebels, screaming that it simply lacks the ability to process that much food all at once, on top of a full day's eating. Unless your digestive track is made of steel, the food will sit there, motionless in your stomach for upwards of 24 hours. You will wake up in the morning and feel like you just ate 10 minutes ago. The back of your neck and forehead will sweat, and your appetite will be nowhere to found for disturbingly long.
So just go easy. Resist grandmother's demands that you eat more and more of the first course when you have 7 more to come. And don't forget about the juice. And post-course palate cleansers, the sweets, and ritual nibbles that you just can't turn down.
Go, feast, enjoy, but beware the fever that follows. In fact, next time I get invited to an iftar meal, I'm going to give 100% and particpate in the fast too.
Anyhow.
Iftar is, of course, a religiously and socially very important meal. Muslims across the world break fast by eating dates, as was the tradition in the Prophet's day. After that, a lavish meal is served, the cuisine depending on the cultural background of the family.
Some iftars are more sumptuous than others, but everywhere, it is an event. Non-Muslims are often invited by Muslim friends to share the iftar meal with their families. It's a great experience for non-Muslims, and they needn't feel shy about being the "odd-one-out". Every Muslim family that I have known is fully aware that you, as a non-Mulsim are not fasting and probably don't know their traditions. So if you're invited, definitely go.
However...a word of warning...
Iftar is not for non-fasters.
After indulging in an endless feast that lasts for hours, your body will feel the bulge, even if you have in fact fasted all day. But if you have gone about your normal day, eating breakfast, and apple here or there, lunch, a latte and croissant from Starbucks..before going to an iftar meal...you probably experience what I call "Iftar Fever".
I think the body rebels, screaming that it simply lacks the ability to process that much food all at once, on top of a full day's eating. Unless your digestive track is made of steel, the food will sit there, motionless in your stomach for upwards of 24 hours. You will wake up in the morning and feel like you just ate 10 minutes ago. The back of your neck and forehead will sweat, and your appetite will be nowhere to found for disturbingly long.
So just go easy. Resist grandmother's demands that you eat more and more of the first course when you have 7 more to come. And don't forget about the juice. And post-course palate cleansers, the sweets, and ritual nibbles that you just can't turn down.
Go, feast, enjoy, but beware the fever that follows. In fact, next time I get invited to an iftar meal, I'm going to give 100% and particpate in the fast too.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Wrong and Wrong
I don't want to make any enemies here, but I feel compelled to comment on an article that I just read which was linked into "A Learning Muslimah"'s blog.
It praises the place of women in Islamic countries and speaks of the horrors of the life of a Western woman.
I titled this "Wrong and Wrong" because in my opinion, the author (an American Christian woman) is totally wrong about women here in the Arab world, and is also totally wrong about women in America.
She glamorizes, idealizes, paints almost a fantasy life of what she thinks really goes on here, while on the other side she describes an equal but opposite mis-representation of women in America.
There is always more than what meets the eyes. And besides, what is written is not even what meets the eye, if you've actually lived in both places.
Gotta look deeper, babe. That's all I can say.
Read it here:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=%201164545989052&pagename=Zone-English-Family/FYELayout
It praises the place of women in Islamic countries and speaks of the horrors of the life of a Western woman.
I titled this "Wrong and Wrong" because in my opinion, the author (an American Christian woman) is totally wrong about women here in the Arab world, and is also totally wrong about women in America.
She glamorizes, idealizes, paints almost a fantasy life of what she thinks really goes on here, while on the other side she describes an equal but opposite mis-representation of women in America.
There is always more than what meets the eyes. And besides, what is written is not even what meets the eye, if you've actually lived in both places.
Gotta look deeper, babe. That's all I can say.
Read it here:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=%201164545989052&pagename=Zone-English-Family/FYELayout
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Different Children
So we finally found the three miscreant boys who stole from me, and we told them to return it, or we will go to their house (another boy filled us in as to where they live), and if that doesn't work, then we will go to the police. Still trying grassroots up, but I'm seriously loosing interest.
Anyhow....
I had a different sort of interaction with some neighborhood girls yesterday. While we were waiting for the boys to come return the thing with their tails between their legs (which they didn't of course), the doorbell rang. This time it was 5 young girls, between 12 and 5 years old.
They formed a benign semi-circle around me and waited for me to say something. We exchanged the normal greetings...pause.
"What are your names?" I asked
They told me. ...Pause.
"So, how old are all of you?" I kept going.
They told me...Pause. I'm not really sure what to say at this point. I used to think I was really good with kids, but the children here seems to totally throw me off my game.
"Uh, so the weather is really nice now, huh?" I commented. The old default of the weather didn't enthrall them.
Pause... They are still just standing there looking at me, not offering any conversation items.
The call to prayer sounded from the local mosque.
"So, do you speak any English?"
"No," they said. I'm out of conversation topics at this point.
"So, I'm making dinner (a lie) so maybe later, ok?"
"That's fine," the older one said. "We are going to go pray now anyways."
"Do you pray??" piped up the middle girl.
Awkward...given that one, I'm not Muslim and two, that I'm not religious at all really.
"Well, not like you," I offered innocently. Hey, I grew up Catholic and I still think there's lots of great elements to Christianity.
They just look confused at my statement.
"Well, you see, I'm not Muslim," I continued. Am I just digging myself into a hole here? Probably, but I don't want them to think that everyone they like is by default a Muslim, because all good people must be Mulism, right? This is a very common train of thought here.
"You're not?" she asked sort of accusingly.
"No, but there are lots of Muslims in America. But most people there are Christian though," I explained. Note here that in areas like where I live, trying to explain atheism, agnosticism, or even the existence of another religion outside of the big three does not go over well.
"So you're Christian, then?" She asked.
"Yes."
With that they all did a synchronized hair-pin turn and went out the gate.
Oopps???
Oh well...what else do they know to do?
Anyhow....
I had a different sort of interaction with some neighborhood girls yesterday. While we were waiting for the boys to come return the thing with their tails between their legs (which they didn't of course), the doorbell rang. This time it was 5 young girls, between 12 and 5 years old.
They formed a benign semi-circle around me and waited for me to say something. We exchanged the normal greetings...pause.
"What are your names?" I asked
They told me. ...Pause.
"So, how old are all of you?" I kept going.
They told me...Pause. I'm not really sure what to say at this point. I used to think I was really good with kids, but the children here seems to totally throw me off my game.
"Uh, so the weather is really nice now, huh?" I commented. The old default of the weather didn't enthrall them.
Pause... They are still just standing there looking at me, not offering any conversation items.
The call to prayer sounded from the local mosque.
"So, do you speak any English?"
"No," they said. I'm out of conversation topics at this point.
"So, I'm making dinner (a lie) so maybe later, ok?"
"That's fine," the older one said. "We are going to go pray now anyways."
"Do you pray??" piped up the middle girl.
Awkward...given that one, I'm not Muslim and two, that I'm not religious at all really.
"Well, not like you," I offered innocently. Hey, I grew up Catholic and I still think there's lots of great elements to Christianity.
They just look confused at my statement.
"Well, you see, I'm not Muslim," I continued. Am I just digging myself into a hole here? Probably, but I don't want them to think that everyone they like is by default a Muslim, because all good people must be Mulism, right? This is a very common train of thought here.
"You're not?" she asked sort of accusingly.
"No, but there are lots of Muslims in America. But most people there are Christian though," I explained. Note here that in areas like where I live, trying to explain atheism, agnosticism, or even the existence of another religion outside of the big three does not go over well.
"So you're Christian, then?" She asked.
"Yes."
With that they all did a synchronized hair-pin turn and went out the gate.
Oopps???
Oh well...what else do they know to do?
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