Reverence for Revolution

Reverence for Revolution

Much has been made of the Arab Spring uprising. The hoopla overshadows everything – the good, the bad and the ugly – for one thing; history is being rewritten before our eyes; Barely no one will notice, just as Orwell had warned us, it happens seamlessly; the few that notice have to have been in the right position, in a position from which they notice things. Non-Muslims, or Westerners, in particular, are not at that special vantage point, because they see things through a lens which paints everything that Americans have done, by and far, anyway, as “rose-colored”.

The vantage point I’m speaking from, writing this - is from the vantage point of an outsider, someone who is neither here nor there; but maybe it’s easiest when you can have one foot here and one foot there; that would be the easiest thing. Unfortunately for me, my feet are neither in the West, nor in the East. As far as physical boundaries are concerned I’m from the Arabian Peninsula, having lived here for 14 years; something I told myself many times, would not happen. Stay in Bahrain; never for too long. In the humidity of an island, beaten by the sun most of the time, drenched by the humidity all year long, it would almost seem, except for a few weeks of reprieve in ‘winter’; but this season, now it is January, and already I feel winter is ending, or never came (the fault of Global Warming, I must assume). The only reminder of winter we have is the off chance that we can turn the ACs off for a few days at a time, between the heat and the humidity or the cold nights and rainy days - when temperatures manage a slow crawl downwards, and a slow crawl upwards - almost go unnoticed this year; as I say, the weather is odd. Some of our joints ache with rheumatism, an all too common ailment in this neck of the woods.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the pollution; there is a thriving, if we can call it that, aluminum industry here, for who it will be most profitable is anybody’s guess; I like to think it is a joint ‘profitability’ being shared by a local wealthy company and some foreign investors. Anyway, irrelevant to me, except for the part about too much dirty air, and also the smell of the gas burning in the distance which wafts over the landscape; this past fall, for what it’s worth, saw a flurry of activity in the drilling sector. Wonder what that’s all about? Many foreign companies that drill the wells here, trucks lined up, we thought would head for the highway just before sunset, then turned up towards more fields ready to drill some more, in virgin areas we used to use for camping grounds (tenting) which will now be uninhabitable. There are also snakes in these mountains, and maybe scorpions that come not from Muharraq, but fly on the air currents form Saudi Arabia, it is not only birds that can fly.

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Neither here nor there; physical boundaries aside, I must mention, that socially, like many families, or even more so, having rarely seen any of my family at all in the last decade, it is not only sad, but causes one to forget her roots. Mental, emotional and physical reminders or landmarks have all but vanished. A few letters, some written in beautiful cards, a hand or mouth painted picture on the front, are some of my precious but hardly visited physical mementos, and best kept for rare occasions when I dare to remind myself that I have a part of my life that waits like a window, for one bright day when I might open the lock, or slide the pane up and greet some of the family I haven’t seen in over twenty years of marriage, some but once, or twice. I’m filled with sadness and melancholy as well as lingering hope, at the same time. Some cheer even adds some rosiness to my cheeks on occasion. But I don’t dare to go there to that window in my mind’s eye very often. I say, some day I will go to see them, not in my mind, but with my physical body; to visit, remember, cry, hopefully not sob, and reconcile.

When one’s family are far away, or even a short plane trip away, but seen rarely, or when the time has long passed when one should have gone home and didn’t until one of his significant family, a father, an uncle, or a sister has died, or even grown up, married had children and then grand-children, one wonders what has happened to his humanity; why has he changed so much, that even a phone call seems to be a burden? For a while absence does make the heart grow fonder, but too long of an absence will make close relationships not stale, but at peril of being unrecoverable, a distance which can’t be crossed no matter how many miles are flown, gifts purchased, memories reviewed, or turned over like a garden of delicate or dying flowers, which can’t even be called mulch. There will be nothing. The problem is that he has changed, and they have changed drastically as well, but differently; they have changed of course physically; they look older, fatter or thinner, less handsome, or tired and worn, not lively and happy as they were in their youth; which can perhaps be partly blamed on the human condition of age and force of gravity; but they have changed recognizably on the inside, too; the spring of their youth full of dreams and hopes replaced with the cynical realization of reality growing old under occupation, never having been freed, until it was too late or even impossible, from the tyranny of the mind above all, but also imprisonment, torture and physical taxing of body, and mental taxing of mind, some raw emotions which won’t find expression except in callous disregard for others; wealth, property, family position, religion, and the social order, even ceasefire, are all equally permissible targets of their anger, equal to disdain and pilfering. What do they care for the other; his condition or his children? What do they care for his religion or peace of mind or his property? Where has he been all this time? Didn’t he leave us? Didn’t we raise him, and he abandoned his parents? Didn’t his previous friends spend their youth in a cell? Or suffer tortures? Didn’t his father die without a son to bury him, because he was the only son? And he never came, even after ten years, to place flowers, or holy water on the grave (which he wouldn’t have done, if it was forbidden, even if his mother ordered him to). Blame the government, but you didn’t come; in twenty-five years, you saw your parents twice, once in a foreign country, once, just before you decided to emigrate to the west and never return; he didn’t know how things would turn out. But it doesn’t matter; excuses are not enough to an old woman. Nor can he make reparations or even promise that if he were young again he would come back more often to visit; they know, it was not ever possible for him to stay. Life was not completely his to do what he wanted in all things; that was the condition of many, many young men and their families, and others who left Libya in the 80s and 90s and swore they couldn’t return, wouldn’t return. Until the dictator was removed, the video was on television, and it was true that finally Gaddafi was gone for good.

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The Arab Spring didn’t succeed in Bahrain, there will be no Shiites Intifada, not this year, not last year, and I hope not ever. I like the status quo in Bahrain, except for the anger of the Shiites which is hurting the country; unfortunately it can’t be avoided; they are people who have a land, but don’t want to go there, so they prefer to stay here; but not civilly and quietly like so many other ‘foreigners’; they want us to believe that this is their homeland; from Iran, they come, they also travel – Lebanon, Syria, they are hired mercenaries, they fight in other peoples countries, kill Sunnis in Syria, in Lebanon, kill people even here, in Bahrain, or mutilate and cause panic and fear. I know, I have seen and even felt it.

Despite the anger of some of their more ‘orthodox’ members, the larger community of Shiites is not to blame, or one doesn’t know, maybe the numbers are not self-evident; its possible that even a thousand protestors here or there doesn’t justify the calls for reform we hear in the papers and in the world media. Bahraini television for the most part, broadcasts the government line; but this time, the government line is the more rational; it is obvious to those of us living here that the Shiites are an extremist element that wants to stop at nothing to take down the government, a legitimate government, despite their claims, and replace it with something far more sinister; who would then protect the citizens and residents of this country from their ‘reform’?

I’m not a politician, nor have I studied politics, I just know life. We have seen extremism in the media, enough to know that it isn’t always propaganda; sometimes extremism is a real deal. We can peer into the souls of the living dead; people who have no conscience, no feelings of remorse, no shame, nor disgust at their actions, only blank stares; their eyes are mirrors into souls which have nothing but hate for the other; nothing but what they have had driven into their brains, seared into their hearts of hate for the other. It is like seeing a monster; a human but remorseless, angry beast raised in darkness. Sometimes, the most shocking thing is that their children, often marked with scars on their childish faces, scars which are not the result of battles with an enemy or torture by brutal rival gangs, but the result of parenting in the school of extremism - whether it is their actual parents, though quite possible, or the parenting of significant others or done to themselves - reveals in all cases mental disease, or illness. This disease is the self induced and socially fostered hatred of Sunnis. Hating Americans or others comes with the territory, too. But they reserve their most wounded, angry, occultist sentiments and hate for other Muslims; the Muslims who they have hated for Millennia, since the Shiite sect created by Abdullah bin Salul, came into being; the remnants of a Fatimid dynasty which disappeared long ago, and was followed by another equally extremist religious autocracy; a Persian dominated religious authority and outlook. One of their cornerstones of belief is their detest for the Arab race and the largely Sunni Muslim religion of the Arabs.

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The Bahraini government is the first to build on promises. It is the first nation to have begun implementation of its plan in accordance with humanitarian and international standards; the Bahraini government’s 2030 vision is working towards the future welfare of the state and all citizens and peoples living in the country. If the citizens are reasonably happy, content, free and able to pursue their dreams, within the permitted and in all cases reasonable boundaries of law and order, society will find that peace is possible, differences must not always mean division, or schism. Cooperation between different peoples, differing but reasonable groups, and all religions or sects can meet and work together without fear or contempt or injustice done to anyone. It is reasonable to suggest that the government tries to implement most if not all of what it envisions. But none of the dreams or pursuits of free people will have a chance if hatred festers and grows and seeks an outlet in rage-induced, hate-filled attacks on society; or the other, and especially for no just cause and for no alternative vision of freedom, but a hope of anarchy, or the delusional hopes of conquering free people and enslaving them and installing a puppet government, or a corrupt regime which never belonged in this country. Their own vision is a lie, perpetrated on a free population, to assuage their own demented version of history, and their own self inflicted state of “hopelessness” and a “masochistic” political-religious ideology.

His family plans to finally leave Bahrain, move to Libya, build a house on some land he has recently purchased, maybe do a little farming, and begin afresh. At least his youngest children can experience life as it should be; in a real family, with real relatives; but it will take patience. Their extended family or Libyan society is not as welcoming as it should or could be.

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Political reform is not new in Bahrain. From many decades, Bahrain has seen social movements, the progress of women, in particular, and also economic advancement. The Kingdom was an emirate, ruled by a prince, until after the death of Issa bin Al-Khalifa, the late father of the present King. After some years as the ruler, the emir, Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa was made King of Bahrain in a ceremony. This was so that the government could be a democracy instead of the entity it was previously, which also was not bad. In retrospect, many good things have happened before and since the Kingdom and rule of King Hamad, as he is fondly called by many of the Bahraini citizens and others. This is true for every modern society.

Two generations before, in the decades preceding this new reign, the government opened schools, girls schools were also included in the progress of the island state towards inclusion in the modern world, technological advancements, business studies, teachers colleges, and so much have paved the way for even further studies in other fields of study and further advancements built on the previous technologies and the groundbreaking structures introduced in the previous generations, which saw many of today’s grandmothers here as young women in intermediate or high schools working diligently towards degrees and then continuing onto higher learning. They became doctors, teachers, engineers, business women, politicians, etc; all with professional qualifications, and later came the experience to formulate changes which benefit the young women today. The present generation also hope and strive to further their own dreams and aspirations, to contribute to the future success of their country whether they are citizens of this country or non-citizens, but equal participants in many spheres and having an important stake nonetheless in the future of the Kingdom.

He hopes that Libya, his homeland, will also be able to modernize many of the failing or fallen infrastructures, and move into a new phase of globalization and modern politics. What the people decide and which course of action the new Government takes will have an important initial impact, which might steer the course for future endeavors, understanding, political reform, or the kind of leadership which emerges for the next phase in rebuilding the country, or rejuvenation. Ghaddafi’s rule did a lot to dismantle progress it had originally made. Many things his government did to punish its people for their very existence and their sacred beliefs. He was not a Muslim by any stretch of the imagination. His ignoble end was well-deserved and proof of his people’s hatred of him. The camp which supported Ghaddafi to the end must now also cooperate and help in the restoration and growth of a new and different society based on freedom of religion, freedom of expression, human rights and social cohesion, etc. Already this is starting to happen. People are returning to claim a share of their country, their future as one nation.

The post before the post

I revised this Q/A and will link to an older post on the same kind of discussion; enjoy :)

Abe Lincoln's legacy will be in the next post, insha allah.

Q./A.

Good day Jane, thanks for the reply again. I hope you are well.

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although I am an atheist, I was a Christian for 25 years. This is what Christians believe as well. They believe that God created human beings with the ability to know and love him. If God did do this, then it is expected that he would reveal himself adequately to all human beings, particularly if heaven or hell is on the line. But I don't think that we can say that God has done this. There are billions of people today who believe other things than you do about God/Allah. There are billions of people who have lived previously who have believed in the spirits and polytheism. What humans believe about the gods is complex and not totally understood, but it can certainly be said that the most important determinant in this is culture; when and where a person was born.

I also have some experience with the Mormons. One day after they gave me their book, I decided to read. After finishing, I found nothing to make me believe that this was the prophetic word of God. When I told them this in a follow-up appointment, they asked me if I had prayed to God while reading to reveal to me if it was true. I came to understand that these people had had a religious experience where they were confident that this book was inspired by God. I have had my own religious experiences as a Christian that convinced me that Christianity was the true religion. These types of experiences are common to all human beings and I am sure that some pagans had the same experience regarding Zeus, Thor, and Shiva.

It’s also quite bizarre to think that everything that happens is according to God's will. There are 9 million children that die every year before the age of five, before they had ever had a chance to formulate any solid beliefs about a deity. And millions of human beings have died before birth as a result of spontaneous miscarriage. Hundreds of millions of other humans are born with congenital brain defects, so hardly can be expected to formulate correct beliefs about God.

to my mind, these facts are inconsistent with a God that wants to have a relationship with human beings, but quite consistent with religion being a human phenomenon. It is unreasonable to believe that human beings who follow other religions are deliberately being wicked. There certainly are some frauds out there, but the majority of regular people are earnest in their belief. They are not deliberately rejecting Allah and the Prophet; they have just come to believe other things.

it seems quite clear to me, that this world is not governed by any divine will, but by cold impersonal mindless physical forces. This beautifully explains all phenomena in the world from tsunamis, floods, drought, the plague, malaria, birth defects, a world governed by survival of the fittest and dominated by survival of the strongest, the diversity of life. And suffering. IMHO, a loving deity who wants a relationship with human individuals does not.

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my point about the four witnesses is that we have better ways to determine whether adultery occurred. It is not a very practical requirement for adultery because it's almost never going to happen. It is more likely that a rich spouse hired 4 witnesses. In addition three reliable witnesses could be enough. Why not five witnesses?

Finally stoning to death is a horrific punishment for adultery. There are many people who have committed adultery who have reformed themselves to become valuable citizens in the world. My best friend was one of them. If he had been stoned to death his two children and wife would've missed out on a great provider, husband and father. He was suffering his psychological issues at the time when he was in his early 20s.

My point about rape was that Islam has difficulty deciding what rape is. There are many people claiming to know Islamic jurisprudence on this who feel that sometimes the woman is responsible, at least partly, if she is inadequately accompanied or dressed. Apparently Islam feels that men are barbarians and cannot resist women.

Reply – many non-Muslims also say things like this, it doesn’t mean it is okay for a man to commit rape, and most Muslims know that rape isn’t justified because the woman is not properly dressed; many rapists are non-Muslims, I’d say more than likely most are non-Muslims. India at the moment has a big problem with gang rape; the question is obvious – why is it happening? Are all men "barbarians" after all?It seems men there regard women as objects, and many men may well be affected by drugs, alcohol, pornography, and so on. If they are not able to marry or have sex with women, they resort to rape, because it is a gang activity, I doubt it is a group psychosis, but a group activity which has gained acceptance among youth or men there. Obviously, the society has many ills if this is the case.)

in my country, rape is not very common. The vast majority of women live their lives never experiencing it. I think it is far more prevalent in poor countries, like India and Pakistan. Not sure how much rape is reported in some countries and as I said before, we can always make rape very unlikely by chaining women to their homes, but that would[not] increase the quality of lives for women. The vast majority of Western women value their freedom and the ability to make their own decisions.

Reply – Stu, you said you are from America or the west? Where do you actually live and call home, then, because rape happens every five minutes or even more than that in America. I think you are not telling me the whole truth…? I believe it was also, Stu, but I could be mistaken who said his wife was at the Boston Marathon or nearby, when the explosion happened!) Allah knows better than I.

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Actually, when you read the saying, it illustrates that the Prophet was telling men, if they beat their wives they shouldn't sleep with them, which is like a deterrent.<<<<< I

These two above statements reveal to me that you believe that the man has authority over the woman. Do you think men have some sort of special knowledge and moral authority to dictate to women how they should dress? Are women so inferior that they need a man to tell her, with authority to beat her if she doesn't comply?

1) Yes, man has a responsibility to care for and protect his woman, or wife or daughters. 2) I was obviously speaking about the past (that men should beat their wives; is something not done by regular Muslim men anymore, which I speak about elsewhere, probably I mentioned this to him , so I'll check the details of other emails), which is 1400 years ago, if you would pay closer attention when reading, you wouldn’t be asking this question; I am a self-respecting and good woman, therefore, I do take care to dress modestly and believe many women would do so, if they believed it was for their own good; problem is many women believe it is beneficial to dress provocatively, though it is 2013, so they can find a companion who will love them; this is the wrong approach, but they think it will work. Women are raised from childhood to believe that their looks are the most important thing when it comes to finding love. Society also encourages women by the magazines, advertising, fashion shows, etc. to like to dress in the latest fashions and spend their earnings on clothing and makeup, and accessories, so they can be trendy and this will compensate for their feelings of ugliness, shortcomings in appearance or skills, etc. Many women are not following the crowd and are brainy enough to shun at least some of the unnecessary and frivolous spending on new clothing and instead care about more important matters. They also would seem to have more self-respect and dignity than someone who needs to seek approval from others. There are Western women who boycott products or companies they believe exploit women in sexually suggestive ways, or abuse workers (e.g. Calvin Klein becasue of its ads, is sometimes boycotted by individual women, others which employ girls in sweat shops). 3) “No” men don’t have “some sort of special knowledge” and I can’t imagine what you think that I or anyone would think that would be?? Women and men both have their duties to family, society and God. They will also be equally rewarded for their good deeds. There isn’t a huge movement among Muslim women to have the Quran changed, because they understand that Islam says they are equal in the sight of God and before the law. Women wear hijab (the Islamic clothing, a long outer garment or hijab and cover their hair with a veil, not out of fear of the husband, but in obedience to God, who demands it; if they don’t, no one should force them, or abuse them in any case. There are many uncovered women in GCC and also many covered women. Many women have grandmothers who didn’t cover in their youth, but their mothers began to cover and now they also may or may not cover; it is their choice. In Saudi Arabia and Iran women cover as per their government’s laws. In France women don’t wear niqaab as it is banned. Therefore, it is also governments which dictate the type of hijab. Even non-Muslims now can tell women how they should dress, which is definitely not a sign of absolute freedom of choice, either. Whether the government is Islamic or applies some of the sharia, or is a secular or democratic government, women are finding that they are being forced to demand their freedom of choice and conscience. All the power and God’s help to them, I say. Note that in Saudi Arabia, actually, not all women are forced to keep on the face veil, though it is something the government prefers (and it is the law - which is sometimes ignored) women do, as they are asked to abide by sharia law (almost but not quite in every area of life). No non-Muslims are permitted to enter Mecca, but other than that, they are free to travel the Kingdom, with visas. It is as other countries concerned with security so people are required to have jobs and place of employment or a valid reason for being in the Kingdom, or they can be expelled. One might see Americans as well as Indonesians or Chinese living and working in Saudi Arabia, and they do so with respect for the law in most cases.

[A famous female who works in television in Riyadh does not cover, this shows that she is not being abused because she is not covering though she knows it is the law. She also says she is intelligent and understands Islam, therefore the reason for her lack of face veil and the reason for her makeup and hair (she partly covers her hair only) is that she prefers to dress and behave in a manner against the Sharia. Yet she accuses the Sheikh of being extremist and against the rights of women. She should not defend her tendency to exaggerate the govt's crimes against her, when she is able to do so on national television and was not in any way abused (prior to her statements; in the video on YouTub). Whether or not she is still alive is for the audience to answer, I have no interest in the question or her campaign against sharia.]

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well indeed, some of the topics might be irrelevant. I'm not sure that slavery today is irrelevant in the Muslim world. There are some countries in the world that claim to be based on sharia who have not outlawed slavery. It is strange to me that God would condone slavery by giving rules for its management if he knew that ultimately these rules would be irrelevant. Slavery has become irrelevant in most of the world because all humans have come to understand that slavery is abhorrent. Concubinage and, for the most part polygamy, have also become irrelevant for the same reasons.

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Allah permitted slavery in His wisdom, but He revealed to the prophet on many occasions the great reward for freeing slaves. It was also forbidden to make a free person a slave as per the prophet Muhammad’s saying (revise – find direct quote). Yes, it is absolutely the case that all people have come to see that it is a practice of past ages, and most communities, who are modern don’t even think about slavery anymore, because it is so far from our idea of equality and human brotherhood. Islam definitely had something to do with the almost complete eradication of slavery; as I mention, people in the more modern Islamic countries still today express interest to free the remaining slaves in such countries as Sudan or Nigeria, where people often live in desert tribes, away from modern life. It is likely some slave owners are Christians.There are hardly slaves in the cities or towns anymore, though one might be able to find some (How many? I can’t honestly say I know, nor do I think anyone knows, but maybe there is someone who can study this; it would be a worthwhile endeavor for some Islamic nations to do so, maybe one day, they will allot resources to this question). We realize that even Saudi Arabia is not a perfect model of an Islamic nation, and while some people claim that leaders such as Ghaddafi promoted women’s rights in their own country, it isn’t the case, but a false understanding of what he was actually promoting, which was the disrespect and enslavement of women (and men) to his ideology (a kind of socialism). He imprisoned many innocent men and even women and boys, therefore how could it be claimed that he was “elevating” women or promoting “women’s rights”? Nonetheless, Islam encourages freeing of slaves, people free slaves voluntarily or others pay to have the slaves released (pay the price of the slave to the Sayyid (master). There was never a racist attitude in Islam however, and slaves were not only black people. Therefore, it was an economic and societal norm (which was slowly changing) and freedom for slaves necessitated understanding of Islamic teachings; this knowledge spread very far and in the epicenter there were fewer slaves than at any time in history when the Prophet died and the love for his Sunnah meant that people continued to free slaves all the time. Perhaps in some countries this didn’t progress as fast and with the fall of the Islamic Empire, though there was slave trading by Christians (which continued even to the last century in a Westward movement, to America, which was also “necessity” because the slaves helped build the country and were used as cheap labor, etc. their humanity was questioned, and only until very recently in the West the law stated that black person is only 3/5 of a white person. The government (not the Bible) probably along with some encouragement from religious leaders taught that because the bible says that God put a mark on the son of Adam who killed his brother, eg. Cane killed Abel, which was taught in some circles or churches as the origin of black people. Muslims were forbidden from racism, racist remarks or racist attitudes and hatred of people based on race (xenophobia, etc.). No doubt this is in part why Muslims had no animosity or thoughts of enslavement because of race. In Arabia race wasn’t a factor in enslavement, but wars and the capture and necessary development of a system (long ago) necessitated that tribes and societies find a way to deal with their war captives without necessitating killing all the men and boys. People in communities must have thought of the need to use bonds such as chains, and if necessary beating with whips to discipline incompliant or disobedient slaves. Women were easier to control than men because they are weak, and obviously men liked to use women for sex, so that was also part of the social order in many societies long ago. One wonders how people in societies without slavery managed to defeat their enemies and avoid enslaving them. Did they kill almost all their enemies? Did they prefer to let them go after paying money? Or did they have to kill them because there was no other option, and their enemies would sooner or later come back to fight them again, with stronger more determined forces? Or did they make peace with their enemies so that there was no need for retaliation on either side, and how did they accomplish this? I can try to imagine what people long ago would have considered before either agreeing to enslave their enemies or to make peace with them. Even the environmental conditions, whether there was food enough for different tribes or nations (as in American Indian and Canadian native societies long ago, different “nations” or “clans” and “tribes” often differed or competed for food and grazing land, etc) It was probably a matter of survival that they didn’t take slaves but probably killed most of their enemies; maybe they also killed most of the women and children, which is the popular idea we have of turmoil in the “old west” between Indians and white people, and what occurred between many different native Indian groups (tribes or nations).

I definitely have no arguments (which justify) (for) slavery today (in most places) though, it is just that from a purely historical and anthropological perspective I can understand it much better than if I were to merely judge people - whether ancient or modern (modern in the sense that they exist today).

We don’t equate slavery of women with polygamy. It isn’t true that all people agree that polygamy is “abhorrent”, that is your own feeling and belief. Many women today accept polygamy, and I know some. They are happy as co-wives and I have even sat and visited with them, and gone camping with women who were co-wives. Something “abhorrent” would be unnatural, and polygamy isn’t unnatural, despite your dislike of it. You come from a Western or Christian background, so it seems strange and even a hateful practice, but that is your personal feeling and belief, others do not and shouldn’t have to live life exactly as you do, nor accept your personal likes and dislikes as their own; where is the freedom of choice which Westerners and Europeans always speak about? Where is the sincerity and humility? You say your best friend committed adultery and you forgive that, but you cannot understand why some societies and people prefer marriage (which is often a religious covenant and very serious and entered with necessary forethought and care.) There are also times when women prefer their husband to have another wife, whether you can find this even remotely possible or not. The Prophet taught that women and men should take care of their bodies’ cleanliness, to shower after sexual intercourse and to respect lovemaking as a God-given right for both spouses to enjoy, to fulfill their natural desires. Polygamy, like all marriage isn’t something dirty which brings to mind images of sexual perversion or abuse. Many in the west will shake their heads at Muslims or other polygamous groups, but easily fall into adultery, fornication, homosexuality, prostitution, orgies, wife swapping and other sinful, hateful, dangerous or perverted acts. Please don’t talk down to me, it is very annoying. You are not “forceful” you are a very biased individual, as you say “biased”. At times, you contradict yourself.

When you say Muslims have "progressed" do you mean that they have become morally superior to the Quran?

“No” they are not superior in their faith, general ideas, beliefs or actions to the early Muslims nor do they have any other teaching or belief system which is superior to the Qur’an; their “progress” is the same progress which most nations and tribes have gone through, e.g. they have learned to give others their due rights, to respect individuality, to be patient in adversity, to live side by side with others in peace, they follow the laws of the land whether founded on religious or secular laws (e.g. in the GCC there are Islamic family courts, and also secular courts, because not all residents use the Islamic courts and also, secular laws don’t necessarily contradict most of the sharia(Islamic law) such as laws against stealing, drugs, trafficking, rape, physical assault, littering, disrupting the peace, violent protest, etc.) There has been scientific progress, much of it long ago, in the Muslim lands, and now the Ummah (community) is in a state of limbo, with little developments (in science or humanities) for a long time, but there is some signs of small (and also bigger) movements to “environmental protection” as you asked, and other areas of development, social welfare, women’s rights, health and education, which is an ongoing concern, since schools opened in most GCC countries in the 1920’s or so. Christian communities also spread to the GCC from neighboring countries (their homes) and have grown and have their own community and activities. I mention also the support of community groups, such as the Indian groups or the Irish expatriates for their support of the King’s handling of the crisis during the “Arab spring” and protests which turned violent in Bahrain due to the extremism of some of the local people.

The rights of others are an ongoing question, which unlike slavery is always in some state of flux, while slavery has diminished in numbers for centuries. Human rights continues to be an area of concern or interest in general; most countries have some laws which some of the people are in contest with e.g. they want changes to them. It is natural to have conflicts within society as well as with other nations. The important thing to keep in mind is to respect others right to self-determination, that some societies will develop more slowly, and the world has a restricted right to intervene, especially considering that there is a lot of power in the hands of a few. Good should be clear from evil, if nations overstep the clear limits, as defined by modern laws in respect to human rights, then something has to be done; what is done depends on factors (all of which I’m not completely familiar with as a non-expert); the ability for the nation to comply, the situation on the ground, and any number of other considerations. Is it right to immediately invade a country because there is a suspicion that it has nuclear weapons? Is it okay to bomb civilian populations to root out terrorists in another country, considering that the terrorists are far away and no immediate danger? If there are signs or suspicious movements, when and where do you attack the enemy? Etc.

Besides international terrorism, what other significant problems are there, and why does terrorism get the most attention? There is child labor, can we tackle that question as nations and how do we get nations or companies which break the law, to comply with the modern and acceptable ideas of what is permissible, as far as children and work? What about the minimum wage? Do we dictate to other countries what the minimum wage should be, or is that a completely internal matter? How can nations do better to eradicate drugs trafficking and human trafficking? Why did the USA’s “war on drugs” fail? These are just a few of the very important issues nations need to think harder about and come up with solutions. If in an age when slavery was common, yet people began to see it as an evil, especially if racism or sexism was involved, why blame Muhammad, pbuh, for the timing? It is the way the world is; some people, merely due to the environment and their geographical position, e.g. the Sahara or Antarctica might have different ideas of what is right and wrong - maybe it is too hot and dry or too cold and wet to think about anything but how one will find food for the day or mend his house? Modern nations have a much greater responsibility to the rest of the world than did the earlier peoples and nations.(This is the answer to why God left in place a system which later on (much later, in America, they adopted slavery when there wasn't any on the entire continent; there was war and massacres, but no slavery)would be "irrelevant"; slavery hardly exists today, in practise and numbers; of seven billion ppl how many are slaves?  It is amazing that modern men or women who sit for hours in front of their entertainment centers can lob twenty questions about why a man 14 centuries ago didn’t eradicate slavery or amend marriage laws (actually, in some respects, he did both) and completely forbid it forever (because he was doing what God told him to) and yet, they have no qualms about buying coffee from Starbucks and equipment from Caterpillar. You’ve had since world war II to do something about Israel’s’ racism in the Middle East, but what have you done and how long will it take before you realize something has to be done? You want a deity who wants a relationship with you, will come down? God dictates the relationship; He sent a book, which you refuse to examine open-mindedly despite the proofs it contains, then you also reject God even though you once believed, merely because people changed the contents of the book you had e.g. the Bible, or because people are not living up to the dictates of their religion? You are like a child who doesn’t know how to think for himself and ask why about everything; try to formulate some theories of your own that can explain why slavery was or wasn’t abolished forever, 1400 years ago, or something logical (not emotional) about why men are or are not permitted to marry more than one wife. If people have anything new or original to bring to the table, I’ll gladly examine it, as for old prejudices and racist rants, I’m not going to entertain such questions. People can see my videos, comments and read the blog. If you have a question, be considerate of the wording and tone of your question/message or I will ignore it. – I admit sometimes I’m tempted not to ignore such questions, but it is better if I do.

I realize quite well and often vividly (my imagination is good) how people react to Islam’s set of laws, Quranic statement, historical events, and present day Muslims, including the extremism, but I don’t think people who believe differently from Muslims have to change. They have the right and free will, which Allah gave them, to do as they like and believe as they believe. But that doesn’t change my belief that everyone on this earth has the ability to know God/Allah, and that they just have to use their minds and listen to their hearts. That can be qualified; if their minds are closed and their hearts are full of enmity towards Muslims, so that they don’t want to listen, and refuse knowledge, then it is their own fault. I don’t call that Allah’s will - that is their own determination to reject Islam and the Quran. They “will themselves” to reject God, He is always open to their belief in Him. If they just pray for guidance He will definitely guide them, but they shouldn’t pray asking Him to guide them to something which they will only agree with for a little while, because in the future, they will likely figure out (if that isn’t what Allah sent - the guidance He expects all people to follow, not something that claims to be from Him, but is falsehood), and then they won’t find what Allah has destined for them not to find (because they asked for something and prayed for something which He didn’t send). Pray only to be guided to the truth, not a specific religion (other than Islam, which is the truth; though you don’t have to call it by name, you can if you want to) People often are certain that what they believe is the truth, but “there is only one truth” – for certain, one is truly astray when one believes in a falsehood, only a claim to truth.

Nonmuslims complain about immigration today, but there was a time, we vividly imagine it in books like Roots, when the west with Europe and the Arabs earned wealth by transporting and selling black people as slaves to the Americas; literally forcing them to go there, out of complete disregard for their wishes, or even families. They were, before that, free and made slaves. This is one of the practices of old which Islam prohibited – Muhammad, pbuh, said, “………………[editing] ….”

(I must apologize here for not providing a proper quote, it is just that I have many books, but don't know where the hadith/saying I am looking for can be found, if any Muslims (or even non-Muslim) reader can help I would really appreciate it, until I find it I am searching. [I had previously asked for help from an Islamic website, but they turned me down, becasue they only help people (non-Muslims) with dawa; I thought, I'm kind of qualified for their help, but they denied me, oh well...] I will take a break after the next Post, then I will have time to fix some of the missing references or indirect quotes, which need to be direct quotes, etc.(despite the previous setback, I have now found a female scholar willing to help me with islamic knowledge, and references, etc.)   Unfortunately too, I can't do much better as far as the look of the blog, no expertise there!)

DD

Jane Dughatir: Dumb Waiter - satirical, but true

 As if to answer a question on “You want to be a billionaire”, "What is the GCC"' is my answer, the Question is “It’s not an Arab monarchs club".

Read this slightly humorous post, to find out what the oil money is really good for...
(There's more to life than oil... or oil money).

This is one of my older posts, which readers might like.

As always, I invite your comments, or criticisms.

J. D-N

Originally posted in 2011

From Here to Eternity - Women - Part Two

-          The non-Muslim complains that women’s flirtations will be minimized, or non-existent or she will never be able to leave her husband for another man, if he is abusing her. This is very absurd on the surface, but if studied more in depth reveals unfounded criticism of Islam’s treatment of women…. How so?

Well, it suggests that men and women only marry to abuse or hate one another. In fact, the opposite is more than certain the reality. Men and women, in the short engagement period that precedes the marriage, usually find that they enjoy each other’s company, and find each other attractive. If the engagement lasts as long as one year, what is often the case these days, there is ample opportunity for either party to a marriage to quit because of “cold feet”. I’ve heard this happen more than once, in our circles of friends and acquaintances. In this situation, no harm is no foul.

Non-Muslims inevitably return to the scripted story of “unrequited love” which is an old idea (not necessarily only a Western one).There is a touch of the amoral, unknown danger, an evil villain, or conflict and the climax, or a resolution, such as the poor girl finding love and then tragically dying (suicide, or consumption are good for a tragic ending). Think Romeo and Juliette, or King Lear’s daughter, who though loving her father to death, literally, her love for her father is unrequited; one of those situations known in psychology which means she will never be able to love another man, or have a happy marriage. Contrast this to Islam, which honors the father daughter relationship, which requires men to treat their children whether male of female with equality. This means not favoring one child over another with more attention or material things.

 Non-Muslims often will discuss love and marriage of Muslims as something which must be against all social norms seen in other cultures. Much the way they see the relationship between fathers and daughters in Islamic or Middle Eastern or Asian cultures. Like their saying, “Muslim women are forced to marry someone they don’t want”.  I remember a program on television, which delved into the subject of Muslims’ marriages, including some insight into how Muslims go about finding someone to love. One man’s story told how he used to watch a woman (who would be completely covered in her Islamic dress) every day on her way to work, or school for six months. Even though he couldn’t see her, he might perhaps have known something about her or her family. Eventually, they did start some kind of conversation. This is obviously not going to be a typical story, in that it is often the family who encourage and arrange meetings between men and women seeking a marriage partner. In this case, though I don’t remember well, I think the man, and even maybe the woman were both mature, at an age where they should already have at least been seriously occupied with the task of who to marry. Rightly or wrongly, there are many ways for couples to meet and decide on marriage. The correct Islamic boundaries are well known, that men and women are never to be alone, for example. This is why even couples who are perhaps not so serious about Islam will at least put up a façade of socially acceptable behavior in public.

I discussed in Part One how previously married women have more right to conduct their own affairs. Even Saudi Arabia recognizes that mature women have more right over their own person, which is why the government has no qualms about giving women over fifty visas for entry to perform their religious duties, such as greater or lesser pilgrimage, or allowing them to travel without Mahram men.  Instead these women travel in groups of other women, to perform their Hajj or Umrah. The government still retains a sense of “parental protection” over all Muslim women, but believes that chances are that nothing untoward or even dangerous is likely to happen when many women are travelling in a group. These women generally will be past the usual age for marriage or sexual exploitation.

Also, women are permitted by Islam to reside in their own homes, if they own a home, or a domicile, whether someone or herself is paying the expense for her. Newly divorced women must wait three periods before they can return to their father’s home, or should be allowed to remain in their husbands’ home so as to determine if she is with child, or not. This is the case of women who are divorced with a chance for reconciliation. If the divorce is a final or third divorce, then the divorce is of the irrevocable type, and she can do as she wishes, either returning to her father, or in her own place. The treatment to women should in any case be kind, as mentioned in the Qur’an, because they have at one time been a married couple sharing the same bed. It becomes the duty of her male relatives to provide for her, if she has no husband.

In practice, many women do travel alone, and even some girls travel alone to other countries, but with friends, or to their relatives in another country. Some travel for school to European cities, or America or Canadian Universities, etc. Women who have studied are not afraid of anything, or meeting any challenge. They are completely free, in terms of life choices, and even in many Muslim majority countries, they are often times socially liberal. But this is none to do with Islam. Yes, Islam does encourage women’s education, just as it encourages men’s education. Islam does encourage women’s freedom as much as it encourages men’s freedom, but there are differences. Some Muslim women exert a lot of influence in their societies, which is much like what life was in pre-Islamic Arabian culture.

Just as the Qur’an stipulates who men and women can marry, it also stipulates, when, how and why. In other areas, such as education, Muslim women don’t feel anymore that they can’t study science or medicine. They are much like Western women in terms of their goals and aspirations. And many non-Muslim women might secretly envy Muslim women for the rights that they do have in Islam. Islam never sanctioned bad treatment of women. There is sufficient proof of this in the Qur’an and Islamic traditions.
http://www.idristawfiq.com/

Quran,] 2:235]

“There is no blame upon you for that which you] indirectly] allude concerning a proposal to women or for what you conceal within yourselves. Allah knows that you will have them in mind. But do not promise them secretly except for saying a proper saying.”

Quran,] 2:236]

“There is no blame upon you if you divorce women you have not touched or specified for them an obligation] dowry]”

Qur’an,] 2:237]

”And if you divorce them before you have touched them and you have already specified for them an obligation, then give half of what you specified – unless they forego the right or the one in whose hand is the marriage contract forgoes it. And to forego it is nearer to righteousness. And do not forget graciousness between you. Indeed Allah, of whatever you do, is Seeing.”

Dumb Waiter - satirical, but true

What is the GCC

As if to answer a question on “You want to be a billionaire”, what is the GCC is my answer, the Question is “It’s not an Arab monarchs club”.

Also, on another note, I noticed a short series of comments, which I have stored (always on my computer in bitmaps), charity which Bahrain offered in February to its citizens, as if to align it with the other monarchs at the same time, who thought that by bribes, they could avoid being “arrested”, removed from their positions as head of government, and (avoid) suffer questioning (which caused Hosni Mubarak a heart attack).

Muammar Ghadafy, similarly often tends to offer cash back, for the toughness of his government’s policies to try to squelch unrest, which never seemed to happen in Libya anyway - until February this year, or shortly thereafter. Now it’s all out war, no more trying to buy the silence of the citizenry, who have apparently had enough and may prove formidable foes.

How glad I was to hear that the West will not win the war… tell it to the in-laws.

So, cash back, isn’t something that is new, it’s been the policy, or unofficial attempts to afford the Bahrainis and Libyans more lining for their pocket, while they try to figure out exactly what life is all about.  

If the GCC is like a club, then the regular people in the GCC are like dumbwaiters. They have a purpose in life, they just don’t know it.