Muhammad's Sword

The information in the following article was not surprising for me, except when I learned that the writer is a Jewish Israeli.


Enjoy.

Muhammad's sword
Pope Benedict XVI in the service of George W. Bush

By Uri Avner
09/24/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Since the days when Romanemperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperorsand the heads of the church have undergone many changes.

Constantine the Great, who became emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome,who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the emperor accept hissuperiority.

The struggle between the emperors and the popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Someemperors dismissed or expelled a pope, some popes dismissed orexcommunicated an emperor. One of the emperors, Henry IV, "walked toCanossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication.

But there were times when emperors and popes lived in peace with each other.We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderfulharmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a worldwide storm,went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "clash of civilizations".

In his lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he seesas a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity isbased on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah.

As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It ismuch beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli livingnear the fault-line of this "war of civilizations".

In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the Prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by thesword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born ofthe soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul?

To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine emperor,who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the14th century, Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslimscholar. In the heat of the argument, the emperor (according to himself)flung the following words at his adversary: Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword thefaith he preached.

These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them?(b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them?

When Manuel II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat.

At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of theDanube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On 29 May 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul), fell to the Turks, putting an end to the empire thathad lasted for more than a thousand years.

During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is nodoubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christiancountries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was
serving politics.

In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the presentEmperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world againstthe mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Popesupports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the EuropeanUnion.

Is there any truth in Manuel's argument?

The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, headmitted that the Qur'an
specifically forbade the spreading of the faith byforce. He quoted the second Sura, Verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant Verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters offaith."

How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply arguesthat this commandment was laid down by the Prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on heordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order doesnot exist in the Qur'an. True, uhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia,when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not areligious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.

Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment ofother religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: how did the Muslimrulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?

Well, they just did not.

For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims?Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs,Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time oranother under Ottoman
rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutlyChristian.

True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosniaks. Butnobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favourites of the government and enjoy the fruits.

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim andJewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. Atthat time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims,Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this longperiod, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants startto adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were theforefathers of most of today's Palestinians.

There no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the likeof which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poetslike Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian,Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greekphilosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of thefaith by the sword"?

What happened afterwards is even more telling.

When the Catholics reconquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them
were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi("Spanish")
Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothinglike the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, thepogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.

Why? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples ofthe book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews andChristians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll tax, but were exempted from military service - atrade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslimrulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes.

Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deepsense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fiftygenerations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.

The story about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one ofthe myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope,too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not makethe effort to study the history of
other religions.

Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?

There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "global war on terror" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first timein history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economicinterests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.

The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?

Cleared!

I got the MRI results back.

No loose wires in the brain and no damaged neck. It is some inflammation that intensified with the stress from work and with the insomnia.

I’m on a course of medication for a week, if that doesn’t work, I will then have to see a surgeon.



Alhamdullah on everything!

Freak Incidents (2)

The sequel of freak incidents is not FUNNY!

My limps were going numb in rotation for the last two days, starting from my left arm (which turned dark blue for few minutes), and back again to it. My left arm stayed numb from midnight till second day.

Since the numbness did not go after 12 hours, I went and saw a neurologist who seemed very worried about my case!! She didn’t want to jump into any conclusions, but kept saying a specialist needs to see me (and I thought I went to a specialist by going to a neurologist instead of my GP!!). She asked me to take two MRI tests: one scan for the brain and the other for the neck, and then she will see what is best for me.

I hate MRI scans. The experience is very similar to what I think being in a grave would be. Though, in the grave it wouldn’t be so white nor would I know I can with the pressing of a button get out!
It didn’t help that I listened to Quraan and verses about graves’ torture and punishment were being recited by a crying imam!

As the numbness continues to the second day, I have to wait till Saturday till I know the results.

Seeing the other patients in the Neuro Spinal Hospital, I am not worried about myself any more. Whatever happens, whatever the result is, I am, alhamdullah, much better than these poor people. Whatever the outcome of the scans, I will accept it as a test from Allah, testing my faith and thank Him for making it so small compared to the tragedies these people are living.

You don't know how lucky you are till you look around you!

Aboudiiiiiii

I’m an aunt.
For the EIGHTH time!!!

This time I have a little nephew named Abdulrahman. Aboudi rushed into the world earlier than expected to be the first in the family to have an October birthday.

12 hours old, and I am already in love with him.
He has all the women in the house running after him, fighting to carry him, and queuing to hold him while he sleeps!

When I first saw him I greeted him with: “hello, this is Jojo the one who will cause pimples to spot your face from all the kissing!!”
(I really can’t understand how anyone can resist kissing babies every second!!)

This is Aboudi….

Isn't he soooooo adorable!! :)

Blair's mumbo jumbo

Blair, internationally famous as the pet poodle of George Bush in George Michael’s Shoot The Dog, called the veil “a mark of separation.”
He also said that the veil “makes other people from outside the community feel uncomfortable."


Blair is right. The veil does separate the Muslim women from all other women. But it is not the only piece of garment that is a mark of separation.

For example, the wives of Catholic monarchs are the only women granted the “white privilege” when meeting the Pope. That’s a mark of separation: separating devout Catholic women, like Cherie Blair, from the Catholic queens even if Cherie thought she is a queen and exercised that privileged right!

Dresses are also a mark of separation. It is a mark of gender separation in a male dominant community. Females in politics are a minority! Maybe Blair should come out with a uniform of grey pants & red ties for all government employees to erase all marks of separation.
He also better get Cherie’s personal stylist of £275 per day to do the employees hair in the same fashion. We can’t have people with more shiny hair than others or it will be another mark of separation!!

Actually why go to all of these expenses. Let us remove all marks of separations by going back to nature & getting naked!!

But then, people might feel that Blair’s hairy tail is a mark of separation and since they are from outside the canine community they might feel uncomfortable dealing with him!!




Long live the Veil...Separating me from the world!! :)

(-)ity

I’m embarking on a new project, a project that fulfils one of my favourite hobbies.

I sent an email to my friends and acquaintances giving them a hint on what I plan to do and asking them for their help by giving me certain information.

I received many replies. All of them had best wishes and encouragements as well as the information requested.

Except one email.

This email came from a person whom I consider as a dear close friend.

The reply implied that I am bored and this project is to entertain me for a short while but I will lose interest, as usual, and it will end.

At first I laughed it off. But then when I started to get more supporting emails, I took another look at my friend’s reply.

The email was negative. It irritated me.
I kept thinking why the negativity. I tried to think of other similar projects that I started and failed or let slip because of lost interest. But there were none.
I started to question the doubt shown in my commitment. For a second I doubted my self and wondered if I was capable of pulling this through.

The negative remark left a very sour taste in my already very dry mouth.

Then I took a minute and looked closer into my history with this friend.

• When I started this blog, this friend had the same opinion. I’m a bored spoilt girl, and my blog is just a transient phase that will last till I find another game. More than a year later, I could prove that even if I don’t post frequently, my blog was not short-lived.
• I know this friend for almost five years, and I’m pretty sure that this friend knows about my passion for this hobby on which this project is based on. My friend must know that I’m trying to get one step closer to achieving a dream.

So why would my friend have doubts about my commitment? I can’t see any reason for it. The only explanation I can muster is that my friend must think I am not capable or don’t have the talent required to pull this thing of.
Here I pause.

If my close friend, & friend of 5 years, do not believe in my abilities, and it happens that I value this friend’s opinion, then I should not just pause but halt!

I don’t remember an instance where my friend actually praised what I think is a talent. On the other hand, I don’t remember if my friend ever criticized it either. The response was always neutral.

I’ve tried to dissect this matter further and look at it closer but I couldn’t come up with any reason for the negativity.

The sourness I felt from this negative reply saddened me. I shouldn’t feel this way.
But my friend failed me.

A friend has to believe in you. A friend has to support you and to encourage you.
A friend, even when s/he thinks that you are making the biggest mistake in your life but also knows that your heart is set on doing this, always wishes you the best of luck and offers unlimited help and in all forms to see you through it.

A friend should never put you down.

So what do I get to say to my friend now?
Thank you for not believing in me. Thank you for your negativity, but keep it to yourself. I will do this.
I will do it because, alhamdullah, I have so many real supporting friends, who believe in me and are backing me up 100%.
You just wait and see. Or don't wait. It's really up to you and I already know that it doesn't matter to me if you see it or not.

Freak Incidents

Last week, when I woke up to go to work, I had the shock of my life.

The face that I saw in the mirror was buffed and bruised beyond recognition.
Both of my eyes were swollen as if I was the punching bag of Prince Naseem. The bridge of my nose was also swollen to 5 times it size.
I took my self to the 24 hour walk-in clinic. After two injections of cortisone and allergen and a 5-days course of medication, I returned home still looking like the victim of assault.
Three days later, my older features started reappearing and their size started shrinking back to normal.

Yesterday at Iftar, after I had my dates, I had a bite of a piece of Yemeni falafel. Somehow the soft flesh of the falafel chipped my front tooth!! It is more than a chip. I now have one tooth that is obviously shorter than the rest. It is also obviously misshapen.
My teeth now look like as if I were subjected to a windmill-style uppercut followed by an overhand right and directed at my teeth.


Since I am officially insomniac for the last week (I averaged 2 hours of sleep per day), I have plenty of time to think.

What I thought of last night while I stared at the clock tick on to the early hours of the morning was this:

1. I must be being attacked by a boxing Spirit. Some evil Spirit that thinks its Clay of the spirits world has chosen me to practice on.
2. This Spirit aims at the top first then goes lower.
3. The next target could be my chest. So I should expect a bruised heart, a broken rib or maybe a new type of injury. A bleeding lung?
4. There were 10 days exactly between the two incidents. The third might be after 20 days! But why assume the Spirit will slow the frequency of its attacks. It could be exact with its timings and the bleeding will start in 10 days. But psychopaths, and this Spirit must be one to attack someone angelic like me, get excited with each hit. Like addiction, they want to get their next fix sooner. So it could attack me again in 5 days. Or even sooner!!

Hmmmm how can I ask the Spirit to aim higher and land a couple of lead right hands to the head instead?

I need someone to knock me off!! I need to sleep!!

Oops… It fell...deliberately!!

Remember my famous friend?
Thamer has sent me few copies of his book titled (3afwan saqa6 3amdan! Pardon, it fell deliberately), one of them inscribed & autographed to the dearest friend: ME!!! :)

It took me awhile to read the collection of prose. (I was busy to blog remember, so of course I was busy to read!)

But I read it.

The introduction consisted of a disclaimer that explained the title. Thamer claims that the prose is just the gibberish chatter of his pen, which may not follow any linguistic or grammatical rules, but is the translation of memories and situations he lived through before.

When I first read for Thamer years ago, I thought he reminded of the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani.
Nizar style combined simplicity and elegance as he was one of the most admired contemporary poets in the region. You read Nizar words and you can just sing them to yourself. His political poems showed the Arab nationalist in him, while his romantic & sensual verses showed him as an active womanizer.
Thamer reminded me of Nizar because he also managed to combine simplicity and elegance in his style, and as well has made women his main theme and inspiration.
Unlike Nizar though, Thamer has avoided eroticism and have kept his words free from aphrodisiac fervour.

In this collection of prose, I was able to feel the maturity of Thamer’s pen.
Compared to his older prose, Thamer’s words here showed development, understanding, more involvement, sophistication and precision. They were powerful, efficient in conveying the message and yet very compassionate and tender. You can not read his prose without getting engrossed in the feelings described. The words might not abide by grammar rules, but they, for sure, can translate pictures and senses and emit vibes that travel throughout your nerves.
However, Thamer has stayed true to his signature words. Thamer has a special affection to the number thousand. “A thousand year”; “a thousand question”; “a thousand kiss”; “a thousand field” and many other thousands are repeated throughout the collection. Train and its stations, two other words that Thamer uses abundantly, distinguish his writings. Yet, there were many words that I read that departed from his usual and older prose. These again proved that I am reading for a seasoned and refined version of the Thamer I read for six years ago.

The collection is divided into four main sections. The first and the biggest titled “Your Eyes”` contains his romantic prose, where he is the inamorato, the lover and the wooer. He is never weak in love and always holds the upper hand.
The second section is dedicated to home in one long prose. A nationalist abroad, Thamer writes about his love and loyalty to his country, describing the journey of one man in life and his love to his nation till death takes him away from the land.
The third section, “Another Corner”, has a small collection of pieces that reveals Thamer the intellectual and philosopher. Thamer writes his contemplations and thoughts about the world and values we live in.
The last piece in this section titled “two eyes and a smile” is about his first daughter and son. I personally think that this one was filed by mistake in this section. It should have been in the last & forth section, “by mail”, where Thamer, the family man, sends private tender letters of love and adoration to his mother, his wife, his brother and his sister.

It has been awhile since I read any poetry books. I have enjoyed reading Thamer’s. It was very refreshing and very touching. It was a reminder of a beautiful world that could exist if we hold stronger to our dreams.

But then, I was always a fan of the writings of my famous friend!

I’m a Believer

Of course I am.
But I am a firm believer now that what might seem to be a disaster at the beginning, is in fact a blessing in disguise.

Maya was let go from the place I work in. It was devastating.

But she has gone to do so much better:

• A new job that pays better, has better growth prospect, gives better job satisfaction and has flexible hours.
• A new boss who is one of the few good guys we know exist in this world. (Of course he is already taken!)
• And she just got engaged to ‘Mr. T.’!!!

It’s not a case of the grass is greener on the other side of this fence. It is a proof that it is greener, has plenty of lovely flowers, a running stream in the middle and you can even hear the birds sing!!

Maya…CONGRATULATIONS!! You deserve the best!

September…came and gone!

I can’t believe it is already October!
September just flew away. I meant to blog during it of course, I always mean to blog. But I didn’t have time to blog at all.
I didn’t even blog about my own birthday!! That’s how short of time I was during my favourite month of the year!!

Ok this is a catch up post… just a quick recap of one month of my life!


Surprise Surprise!

I was very happy about my birthday this year. I am not particularly sure why I was jovial about getting a year older, but I was giddy and keyed up for two weeks before the 10th. I was so loud about my birthday approaching, that everyone around me knew it was coming!
My girlfriends tried to arrange a surprise party for me. It is not easy to fool me. So they structured an elaborate and complicated lie that involved my family. Emails & calls were exchanged without my knowledge to plot the perfect surprise. They even told me about plans to meet on a different date, just to throw me off. The party of 15 girls, scheming for a full week, waited for me to come at Teatro and greeted me in hoots and cheers. It was a very pleasant gathering. My heart was warmed by the presence of everyone looking at me as they are signing the birthday tune.
Yes, you noticed right. I did say gathering and that’s because I was not surprised! I knew I was going to my birthday dinner party. I figured the plan out, three days before, and I even had chocolate gifts for each of my gals. It was hilarious to see how people lie and then lie more to cover up. It was more hilarious when they discovered I was not surprised!!
If it was not my birthday, I think many of them would have killed me!! I really can’t help the fact that I am smart!!! And anyway, I didn’t want a surprise party. I just wanted all of my friends celebrating the day with me.

Mind you, I was surprised to embarrassment when Ghiz waved a certain gift up in the air in front of everyone, including the waitors!!! She got me back then!

To my lovely gals, (in order of the seating)
Anabtawi, Sett Um Lisan, Hodz, Di, Abby, Nadoush, Rannoush, Dandoun, Shosho, Sarsour, Hippo, Amoon, Princess Grace, Ghiz, Ranoun & of course Hobase
Thank you for all the warmth, happiness, joy, affection & companionship you enrich my life with. I love you all!



Cheeta Attack!

Work has been hectic. Emotionally & mentally.
More worse because we now have a Cheeta in the office that is closer to Ape in George of the Jungle than the Chimpanzee in Tarazan.
I had already made up my mind about Cheeta before she joined the company. During the first week of her employment, my opinion of her was itched in stone.
September has seen me in my worst brutish and merciless mood ever!!
Did you know that many people think that Cheeta is a female (because of the Portuguese name) while in fact, Tarzan’s primate friend was a male?
Yes we are also not sure of which species this office Cheeta comes from!



Yemeni Affection

Last year, when President Saleh decided not to run for presidency in the next election, I voiced my doubts.
Now it seems that I must have psychic powers, as I have predicted the outcome a full year before it happened!!

Or can it be that I don’t have special & great powers and my insightful projection was purely a simple understanding and observant projection of the farce fiasco called democratic elections in the Arab world?
Heaping the votes must have felt like garbage collection!! I’m sure it stank like a rotten fungal infection!!



The Nightmare of Finding a Dress

Aminah’s wedding is approaching fast. I have still not found a dress for the big occasion. Not only didn’t I find a dress, but I liked NOTHING in all of the shops of Dubai!
The only dress that I thought “hmmmm if I get desperate I will think of this” was AED 150,000. I’d get a loan if I wanted to buy a car that much!!! I wouldn’t pay close to that much for a dress even if it made me slim, tall & gorgeously beautiful and got me three suitable suitors to choose from!! (though my dad might consider it a long term investment!)
I can not believe the prices out there. Nobodies are making gowns and selling them from AED 30,000 and above!!! WHY!?!!!
I do not know what I’m going to do and what I will wear for this wedding.
Why do we have to make weddings anyway? Can’t we just have a small dinner party at a nice spot like VUs or Ottomons where you can wear something new but can wear again one hundred times, enjoy the evening without evil eyes, and enjoy the fact that you are not financially broke?!!!
URGH!!!



Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan came early this year. At least it felt it was early. I was not ready for it. Not that I do much preparation for Ramadan, all I have to do is fast!!
But the feeling was confirmed a week later, when reports started showing that it was impossible to see the crescent on Friday night and even on Saturday night. Not even with advanced telescopes can it be seen, as the moon was “overshadowed” by two other planets. It is now rumoured that we might have to fast 31 days!!
What I don’t understand is the scholar’s adamant refusal to use astronomical calculation to determine the beginning of the Islamic lunar months. Science is not against Islam. On the contrary, the most important fathers of science in all time were Muslims. And good Muslims too!!
Why does the Muslim world have to divide even on the Islamic calendar? Why can’t we all fast together and all celebrate together? Just why can’t we unite on a simple thing like Eid?!

Allah help us all!