God Father/Love Story on OUD !, by OudProff عود: الفنون جنون

I found this and hoped to share..it's actually quite nice.

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To quote Reagan, the British are 'redeploying to their ships', this is not a retreat, anybody still not sure about this?

"British forces have released more than two dozen Iraqi prisoners over the last three months in the run-up to their now imminent withdrawal from the UK base at Saddam's Hussein's former palace compound in Basra, though the government denies doing a deal with Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army to stave off last-minute attacks."

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As As'ad might have said on his blog...it's a surge! it's a surge!: "Deadly cholera outbreak in Iraq"

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Why I love the Guardian...sometimes.

Can someone explain to me the difference between these two headlines, the first from the BBC and the second is off the Guardian:

"Iraq 'fails to meet key targets' "

"US failing to meet most benchmarks in Iraq, says study"

It's interesting how different media outlets present the same story but in a different way, no?

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If an ant could be given a certain level of comprehension and placed on a blank piece of paper, it would look in awe at the massive pen writing on the sheet. It would think the pen capable of great powers and mysterious but it would not comprehend the hand moving the pen, or the will behind the hand. Most people are like the ants on the paper. -al Ghazali

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What is freedom?

Can you say the truth the whole time without getting into trouble? Can you object to something wrong, truly wrong and act against it without fear of retribution, or being an outcast? Perhaps it is better to just keep quiet... I think many of us are either cowards or blind.

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I pity the nation such as Pakistan, where the leadership is a choice between Benazir Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf..

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Note to myself

I remember writing a few posts a while back heavily criticising Libya for detaining the Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian trainee. I will think again before jumping to conclusions on why such things happen when they do.

The US is still holding five Iranians who were seized in January. American officials say the five include the operations chief and other members of Iran's elite Quds Force, which is accused of arming and training Iraqi militants.

For its part, Iran is holding several Iranian-Americans on spying charges, although it freed an American-Iranian academic last week.

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Perhaps in another 70 years we might even find out who has been killing Iraqi scientists, pilots and academics: "Recently declassified secret documents reveal how at the end of the second world war an elite British unit abducted hundreds of German scientists and technicians and put them to work at government ministries and private firms in the UK."

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The French care very much about the plight of oppressed peoples, just don't mention Algeria to them: "Several countries have formally recognised genocide against the Armenians (and, in the case of France, outlawed its denial), but it remains illegal in Turkey to call for recognition. As recently as last year, the Turkish foreign ministry dismissed genocide allegations as "unfounded"."

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Edgware Road nights...

One of the must see destinations for any Arab visiting London and probably the strangest, is Edgware Road, accessible by three tube stations, one of which is Marble Arch. By day, it is a harmless assortment of Arabic shops and restaurants. Smack bang in the middle of the road is one of the biggest casinos in London along with the swanky Hilton which dominates one end of it and marks the traditional boundary of the road. Recently the influx of Iraqi's has stretched to the previously neglected side, meaning more Iraqi style restaurants, gadget shops and internet cafes. However, like most places in London, it is the people which make this place interesting, and the night with it's glitzy displays, neon lights and blaring music.

When I first came to London, one of the places I used to go to whenever I missed home was Edgware Road. This was a mistake. Later I was to find that, rather than a home away from home, Edgware Road was a distorted and weird kaleidoscope of the various Arab communities in London. It was a Wonderland, a Wild West of the Arab community in the city where the lowliest of the low would mingle freely, conning and being conned. In the summer droves of wealthy Gulf tourists would flock in with their families or on their own, often bringing in expensive sports cars all the way over which would constantly circle round, blaring loud music and honking at any passing pretty girls. The fast food restaurants are dominated by the over rated (and priced) Fattoush, Maroush and Ranoush shawarma chains, owned by a certain Lebanese business man. The best shawarma place on the road was and always will be Cafe Helen. Closed during the day, this venue is a small shop which only opens from 10 o'clock onwards and my friends and I have concluded many a drunken and wild night in the town munching on those divine wraps (extra garlic and chilli of course) at around 4 in the morning.

Sex is a slow burning tension on the road, with the seedy underbelly of London just about visible under the veneer of respectability the surrounding buildings cloak themselves within. Wealthy Gulf and Arab visitors attract a myriad of brothels which cater to every 'whim', advertising on the seedy call girl cards posted throughout the famous London phone booths on the street. Alongside these, you find the stalls of traditionally dressed conservative Muslim 'brothers' preaching the Quran, Islam and selling a variety of books, happy to debate with anybody wishing it and with the evangelical Christian Arabs handing out free Bibles near Marble Arch (the boisterous and vibrant Speakers corner is only across the road in Hyde Park). It is a road for Saints and Sinners and anyone who falls in between, or beyond, these categories. It is also the home of some of the busiest (until recently) Shisha shops where people pay over the top prices to smoke and socialise over tea and coffee and watch tacky Arab pop video clips or football matches. The preachers, whores and gamblers mix at ease with the Sheesha and Shawarma connoisseurs, the women covered in Hejabs (to various extents!) and the odd American or European tourist here to taste their Orient. I love it and hate it, always going back for more.

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Something I will be digesting slowly today....

In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of.

-Confucius

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I saw As'ad refer to this on his blog, very interesting and I've mentioned something about this before in a previous post:

"The work of the 8th-century Arab poet, Abu Nawas, lover of boys and wine, permeates Desiring Arabs as a marker of changing attitudes. Drawing on a vast array of Arabic sources from the 19th and early 20th centuries, Massad charts an increasingly shy and troubled discussion of Nawas’s licentiousness. This, he shows, was often in the context of the adoption by local writers of western conceptions of “civilisation” and “progress”."

"“In the course of writing classical and medieval Arab history,” Massad writes, “these modern historians encountered an ancient Arab society with different sexual mores and practices that were difficult to assimilate into a modern Arab nationalist project informed by European notions of progress and modernisation and a Victorian sexual ethic.”"

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I'm a rebel....I've even got the T-shirt

I just don't understand the urge so many people have to brand themselves..I've met so many people who think they are "committed" to some cause. I once had a Pakistani colleague at university festoon himself every day with the latest Islamic/hip hop T-shirt: Faithful to the DEEN, Warrior written in English, Chinese/Japanese?, and of course Arabic, Mujahid..you get the picture. What does this person do? He repeats the same stale slogans, the same empty words and meaningless gestures. He's a member of the Islamic club, you can hear the Quran blazing from his iPod..He's off to all the events and hangouts, he's found his sense of belonging, his cause for the summer. Last I heard, he wanted to tattoo Allah and Muhammed on his left and right shoulders, ostensibly to prove his loyalty and belief. My personal revulsion of tattoos aside, I simply shook my head at his ignorance - and he is not the only one I've met in London who acts this way, many are similarly enflamed with the idea of Palestine and "liberating" it. They've got all the patriotic songs on their "iPods" that's right, iPods - the new symbol of American consumerism and globalisation. They wear the Kuffiyeh everywhere and all they can ever discuss is about what is happening in the Middle East or focused on it. This is not because they are committed to it, but rather to hide the fact they had never prepared for any seminar or assignment properly. They graduated, just barely, only able to talk about that one topic. They look with disdain at the designer clad Barbie and Ken dolls but can't they see themselves?

I don't need the T-Shirt, the keychain and the tattoo to tell people I'm against injustice, that I'm an Arab or a Muslim, or that I support a cause - I carry my beliefs on the inside, confidently and comfortably.

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New developments for Maysaloon

I have now invested in one of the funky rubber mat keyboards which were featured in Die Hard 4.0 (rubbish film I know). The interesting thing is, these keyboards

يمكنوني من الكتابة بالعربية, اليس هذا رائعا"؟

The other thing that is interesting for all you documentary film makers in the making is an excellent series of instructions and tips on how to make a documentary film.

http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/guides/index.html

Highly useful and informative!

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For any bloggers with Arabic text

If like myself you like to use Arabic text on your blog, you probably found that Blogger has a nasty habit of putting spaces in between the text making it difficult and annoying to read. Here is how you can fix this. This is easier than it looks so follow the instructions and you'll be ok. If I could do this, anyone can!

Login to blogger.com
Click on your blogs "Settings"
Click on "Template"
Click on "Edit HTML"
Check the option to Expand Widget Templates

**Before you begin, download a copy of your blog template and save it on your computer so that if you make a mistake you can restore it. ALWAYS BACKUP! **

Within the template you need to find a section which looks like this

/* Header----------------------------------------------- */

Beneath that section find the section which has

#header h1 {

Once you find it, paste in the following line:

letter-spacing:0.0em;

Then continue scrolling down till you find the section

/* Posts----------------------------------------------- */

Directly beneath it you will find this section:

h2.date-header { margin:1.5em 0 .5em; }

Add the same line so it looks like this

h2.date-header { margin:1.5em 0 .5em; letter-spacing:0.0em; }

Preview the page to see if it has taken care of the spacing.

If it has great, if not, recheck you have made the right changes and not altered anything else.

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Has Nawaz Sharif had a hair transplant? I also noted with interest how when he was asked about Benazir Bhutto he looked down and to the left...isn't that the usual sign when someone is lying? Time to do some googling!

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Al-Wali al-Faqih and the Islamic state

I've recently been requested to post a bit more information on the concept of the al-Wali al-Faqih and the idea of an Islamic state as espoused by Hezbullah and Iran. Unfortunately the terms are often bandied about either as condemnations in and of themselves or as a throwback to something sinister or backwards. They are neither of these things and my purpose in this post is simply to clarify these terms and provide useful references for those interested in understanding them. To that end, I enclose an extract from my dissertation on Hezbullah which dealt with the subject, but sadly with little of the depth it deserved or that I would have liked.

As mentioned previously, it was the Islamic revolution in Iran which provided the paradigm and inspiration for Hezbullah. Imam Khomeini differed drastically from his predecessors and many of his contemporaries in Qom and Najaf by advocating the inseparability of Islam from Politics:

The nature and character of Islamic law and the divine ordinances of the shari'ah¹ furnish additional proof of the necessity for establishing government, for they indicate that the laws were laid down for the purpose of creating a state and administering the political, economic, and cultural affairs of society²

Khomeini's reasoning was that a body of laws was useless in the absence of an executive force to enforce them, furthermore, especially in a time of Western imperialism and encroachment on Muslim lands, the need for an entity that could safeguard the interests of Muslims and provide a haven for them to practice their religion was imperative³. Unlike contemporary Western forms of political thought, Khomeini's conception of an Islamic government differed in it's notion of sovereignty and where that would come from. Not from the people, nor a government nor a ruler but from Allah through the “Law”⁴. This law was conveyed through the Quran and all must abide by it, including the Prophet Muhammad himself, who passed judgment and interpretations within the context and guidelines of the Quran. The law as the Prophet Muhammad conveyed it is called Islam and it is the laws of Islam to which ruler and ruled in an Islamic government would submit⁵, including the Prophet and all subsequent Imam's who are but equals before Allah. Khomeini lamented the apolitical nature of Friday sermons in Mosques throughout the Islamic world and accused those who wished to 'reform' Islam of wishing to create a lame, toothless entity that would be docile in front of the West⁶.

As Ghorayeb points out, the concept of al-Wali al-Faqih can only be understood within the context of the hidden twelfth Imam (Wali al Amr or Lord of the Age) mentioned earlier. For Shia Muslim's, no truly just rule could be achievable until his return⁷. This is because only the Prophet, his cousin Ali bin Abi Talib and their descendants are considered infallible. In their absence, the duty of articulating right and wrong and interpreting the “Law” as put down in the Quran falls down to clerics and experts in the field, they in turn grant recognition to the most learned and qualified amongst them to become the “spiritual authority of last resort”⁸ or Marji'. All Shia are expected to follow a living Marji' that is, a source of religious emulation,of which there are currently a number. Each Shia Muslim is in need both of a spiritual source of emulation and a political authority embodied through the Wali al Faqih concept.

The two roles are by no means restricted to one person, nor are Shia obliged to emulate the Wali al Faqih and are free to choose other Maraji'. Thus on the passing away of Imam Khomeini, Hezbullah's leadership officially recognised Imam Khameni'i as it's Marji'⁹ though it's members were not obliged to follow suit¹⁰. They were however, obliged to recognise his jurisdiction as al-Wali al-Faqih since it is a cornerstone of Hezbullah's ideology. As Qassem describes it, the Jurist-Theologian “is the [hidden] Imam's secondary, one who carries out the Imam's doctrinal and jurisprudence functions as required”¹¹, a view which Ghorayeb also stressed upon in her research. Imam Khomeini was also assigned the role of Mujadid al Din(or renewer of religion). Nasrallah pointed out in a speech¹², such a person is vital for renewing the eternal and unchanging message passed down to the Prophet Muhammad without altering it's original content and spirit. The Imam al-Khomeini, it was argued, was such a Mujadid by virtue of his leadership of the Islamic revolution¹³ and his living embodiment and adherence to the Prophetic message of not just Muhammad¹⁴ alone but also Jesus, Moses and all other prophets. Though many leading clerics had courted the idea of al-Wali al-Faqih before Imam Khomeini, it was his role in the Iranian revolution and his ability to fulfill that role on a practical level which, according to Sheikh Naim Qassem, elevated him to a stature equaling that of the infallible Imams,”...the custodian of Islamic Shari'a is not he who executes it as he sees fit, but rather he who is of adequate knowledge and leadership to do so.”¹⁵.

Thus when Hezbullah refer to their vision of Islamic government it is one in which sovereignty lies with Allah, expressed through the laws laid out in His Quran. The laws themselves are then interpreted through reason and the traditions laid out by the Prophet Muhammad. No human being is above this law and all must operate within it's context, including al-Wali al-Faqih. The Faqih himself becomes the head of the executive branch of government, until the return of the Hidden Imam, and is selected on meeting a strict set of criteria and merits based on the needs identified by learned and experienced clerics. Notions of Western style democracy which place sovereignty with the people are thus unsuitable in a world where Allah has already laid down the laws best suited to humanity. Furthermore, the fact that people are fallible, governed by their desires or unable to identify what may be best for themselves renders a Western style liberal democracy as open to corruption and unsustainable in the long term. The Islamic state is seen as the ideal under which mankind can continue to lead a sustainable, virtuous and just existence. Islam, according to Khomeini, is thus as relevant in our modern age as it was over 1000 years ago¹⁶.

1Divine law ordained by Allah through the Quran

2Khomeini 2000b: 253

3Ibid. 251-253

4Khomeini 2000a: 247-8

5Ibid.

6Manar Media Group, Lebanon, 2005, “Ruhollah” (Spirit of God Documentary)

7Ghorayeb 2002: 62

8Qassem 2005: 50-51

9Palmer Harik 2005: 16

10Qassem 2005: 52; Ghorayeb 2002: 64-65

11Qassem 2005: 53: Ghorayeb 2002: 62

12Transcribed from audio file http://www.moqawama.org/sound/details.php?linkid=365 , Nasrallah, H. Speech in Arabic on the anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini 6/6/2006 (My own translation)

13Ghorayeb 2002: 65

14Transcribed from audio file http://www.moqawama.org/sound/details.php?linkid=365 , Nasrallah, H. Speech in Arabic on the anniversary of the death of Imam Khomeini 6/6/2006 (My own translation)

15Qassem 2005: 55

16Khomeini, 2000: 253-4

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Somebody should probably point out to the American president that the Khmer Rouge took power because of the United States involvement in Viet Nam, note the Tet warning:"A day after George Bush compared the potential consequences of exiting Iraq to the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, US intelligence will today warn that extremists could create a "mini-Tet" in the country, an official revealed."

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Palestinians in Gaza have received a delivery of much needed....surf boards. Anything to take their mind off the fact that their land is occupied I guess.

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As'ad Abu Khalil

"It is understandable, he answered. He said that the "birth certificate" of the Palestinian state will come out of Washington, DC and Tel Aviv, and not in Arab capitals. I kid you not. Let me tell Mr. Rajjub: a birth certificate of a Palestinian state that is produced in DC or Tel Aviv is null and void. It is the birth certificate of a stillborn." (My own emphasis)

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Ramblings on being a Muslim Arab Atheist...

About a year ago, I put it in my head that once I finish university, I wanted to read al-Ghazali's Ihya Ulum al Din (Revival of the sciences of Faith). This is a set of books which aimed to not only teach a person what the Islamic faith is, but also why. It is one of the most widely acclaimed books covering concepts such as Islamic law, philosophy and Sufism. I must say, this is the first time I read a religious book that is remarkably clear, logical and frank. Five years of being a die hard atheist ridiculing peoples ancient fairy tales has given me a healthy skepticism of religious texts. Not so with al-Ghazali who lived and died almost 1000 years ago.

The jist of his first set of books, on the nature of worship and it's essence, is actually a step away from what he labels as the "traditionalist" fiqh scholars, those concerned with the observable aspects of the faith. These observable aspects, Ghazali argues, are insufficient for the seeker of the "path to the End". The Nafs (ego, self) is your own worst enemy and needs to constantly be kept in line, checked and tied down. Within each person are the seeds of their own downfall as well as the ability to soar to a much nobler state of mind, all depending on how effective your self control is. The importance of bringing your mind to focus on the inner meaning of whatever you do, be it prayer or reading the Quran and contemplating are of high importance. In essence, a true Muslim drives on manual, not auto. Ghazali takes us through a tour of the fundamental basics of the Islamic religion, the Islamic understanding of Allah, the nature of knowledge, it's types and the differences between those who 'know' and those who do not. Very philosophical and heavy going for the first few chapters but lays a vital groundwork which influences your understanding of what comes next.

Following on from these, al Ghazali, sparing no detail, goes through clearly and concisely into the nature and purpose of each of the five pillars of Islam: The Oath, Prayer, Alms, Fasting and finally, the Hajj. Each is done in a particular way for a particular reason, there are things which are disliked or prohibited and preferred ways of doing things. He also tackles common misconceptions (at the time) of various aspects of practice. Throughout, he emphasises strongly the need to bring your heart and mind into what you are doing, rather than sink into a non-thinking, automatic repetition of words and gestures. I have to say that by the end of it, I had a much more healthy and profound understanding to what I had previously imagined were stale and meaningless rituals. Rather than the rigid, mostly Western influenced, interpretation of religion, traditionalism and ritual, I was finding what was the true essence of this religion which 'spread out of the desert'. Essentially a different coloured lense was showing me something in a completely different light. Perhaps because I was also reading the work of Shariati at the time, but my conception of it is becoming more in line with a faith for the poor and downtrodden, empowering and liberating from societal bonds and pressures to conform.

While I was an atheist for about five or six years, most friends of mine do not yet realise that I have become a Muslim again. This time it was not out of any compulsion or desperation but rather a genuine search for values and principles which can help me make sense from the complex kaleidsocope presented to you when you begin studying various theories and philosophies. Feminism, marxism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, a lot of Gramsci - each of these at the time, served to reinforce my almost post-modern belief that there was no single and universal truth for everybody. I did not find it uncomfortable or bewildering at the time, slipping into a nihilism with which I happily bludgeoned the naive and foolish enough to tell me their vision was truth. How I made this transition is something I'm still articulating, but somewhere in between reading all these theories, I noticed a startling similarity to things I had read as a Muslim teenager. I was also quite angry with the ignorance I encountered with regards to Islam by people I had previously thought were quite intelligent and educated; Qunfuz had similar views on this and has written a recent posting on his experiences. Islam as a faith was to them frightening, alien and a throwback to a medieval world. Part of my problem was that their own interpretation of medieval was in fact due to Europes experience and recession during that time. My identity as an Arab was etched with the realisation that life wasn't too bad at all in the Middle East and North Africa, nor in central Asia or elsewhere. My understanding of history had earlier been complemented by a reading of Robert Cox, theories of hegemony and a highly interesting book on the subject by Peter Taylor.

Studying for International Relations, I had always been keenly aware that all these theories and ideas were developed in Europe and North America and that the rest of the world willingly or unwittingly took this as the epistemological framework within which they existed. I guess it was a short hop from there into identifying that my Arabism and the history I so admired was in fact imbued with this driving force called Islam. One did not have to be a Muslim to be part of that history either but discounting it entirely and flippantly as a relic of the past or even as barbarous was too much for me. Even my understanding of history as a pre-modern and modern era was called into question when I looked further into the word. By the time I had stumbled upon Edward Said and Orientalism the pieces were probably already set. I felt I owed it upon myself to find out more about this, if not for other peoples understanding then also for myself. What was this foundation of mine which I did not know anything about? I guess the only reason I am a Muslim now is because I found that so far there is actually nothing wrong with that faith, but with the prevailing attitudes and world we are shaped within. The more I discover, I find that in fact, there is nothing at all limiting or backwards. Rather, it is liberating in the sense that I think about what it is I do or see before making an assumption. While many theories are mostly concerned with how you must live with others, it is rare to find a belief which shows you how you can live with yourself too.

Soon I will be beginning the second in al Ghazali's five book bound set I have, concerned with concepts of right and wrong, the disciplining of the self and other matters. He's taken my hand and shown me around, now he's inviting me into the maze...

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Negm on Ruby

Negm making a statement on our Arab world. I couldn't help think that the presenter was also dressed like a complete pansy. Why? Is this become normal over there?

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Lessons America has learned from Abu Ghraib - make sure nobody is taking photos next time: "He is the only officer among the 12 people charged in the scandal, and the last to go to trial. Eleven enlisted soldiers have been convicted of crimes, with the longest sentence, of 10 years, given to Charles Graner, a former corporal, in January 2005."

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I promise I wont' do it often, but just this once here is an excerpt from a headline on CNN, sorry: "Last year at Christmas time, Rehan Seyam, a Muslim living in New Jersey, went to pick up some things at a local Wal-Mart. Seeing her distinctive traditional Muslim head covering called a "hijab," a man in the store, addressing her directly, sang "The 12 Days of Christmas" using insulting lyrics about terrorism and Osama bin Laden."

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The Trap - What happened to our dream of Freedom?

I've recently watched the Trap by Adam Curtis. Unfortunately I was unable to watch it when it was released on television since, at the time, I had numerous deadlines looming but thanks to Youtube and the Internet, I've since watched it about three times.

The Trap is Adam Curtis' attempt to discover what has happened to concepts of freedom in the West and how a narrow and limited view of human beings as selfish, self-maximising individuals within a competitive environment was formed. During the Cold War, Curtis argues, such a view may have had a purpose and meaning, however since then it has lost these, resulting in a negative understanding of freedom which offers no hope, meaning or purpose. In addition, based on this perception of human beings, man/woman's true nature emerges, "the one-ups and the one-downs" begin to emerge, widening the gap between the poor and the rich. Politicans and beureaucrats are not immune to these selfish impulses and in fact propagate them. Finally, a drive to privatise, lessen govenrment interference in the markets and the raising of the markets as a means of practising unfettered democracy and giving people what they want, has resulted in a society where the incredibly wealthy are a minority surrounded by the incredibly poor and subjugated. Curtis points out that those who had perceived the initial understandings of negative freedoms (such as Isiaiah Berlin) as a counter and protection against the totalitarian and often violently energetic positive freedom, failed to predict that their own system would itself succumb to the very same faults. Thus, American and British experiments at "forcing people to be free" have produced a world where freedom and liberty to do what one wants has resulted in a "trap" rather than the freedom sought.

It took a few viewings and a couple of hours of debating with my good friend who has a blackbelt in Philosophy, for me to realise that at the root of this, Adam Curtis is actually denouncing the Western liberal democratic ideology and the economic democracy it has spawned. Essentially these ideologies are bankrupt and ruinous, whose failure at the heart of which lies a narrow conception of man that is indeed self maximising and selfish. I'll leave the conclusion from Adam Curtis to those of you who wish to watch it, it is available on Google Movies and is in three parts. Now I am going to try to track down this man and meet him..

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Whatever you do, don't mention the S-word: "The forces chief who planned Britain's part in the invasion of Iraq has rejected claims that Britain's withdrawal will be ugly, embarrassing and akin to America's "Saigon moment" in 1975."

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The Emperor's new clothes

King Abdullah the second of Jordan has dissolved parliament. For the occasion he wore his favourite uniform, attaching on it the numerous medals and awards he has obtained throughout his distinguished career: the Order of Saint Sony, the Playstation 2 medal of accomplishment for levels achieved in Tekken 8 and finally the green, white and black medal as founder of the Jordanian Playstation 3 appreciation society. The CIA funded Jordanian intelligence services were unable to procure any Palestinians for sacrifice on this occasion but we are assured that Israeli and American officials granted the necessary blessings regardless, foregoing the obligatory blood sacrifice.

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Sheikh Imam's only love song

Most of us are used to Sheikh Imam and Fouad Najm as being the Johnny Cash's of Egypt. There was another side too, as always. Imam had fallen in love once and had written this song to express himself to her. Ultimately he was to be disappointed, though he did not realise at the time. A song about love which is far, yet close... Imam was not only a being of the political realm. He had other things happening in his life and love was certainly one of them...

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When puppets are allowed to speak...

"As expected in the traditionally Pan-Arabist..."

"...beyond the symbolism of their national plight"

"...what about the basic requirements for a decent life?"

"My words in no way exonerate the different Palestinian factions from their responsibility...
no position to ask for their accountability"

An "I love lifer" is allowed a moderate amount of criticism and even a slight recognition of the "national plight" of the Palestinians in Lebanon - I repeat - moderate criticism. Ignored is the "Lebanonese" racism against the Palestinians, Syrians, Muslims and Arabs. They are "Phoenician" after all, according to a French historian who told them so during France's brief 'visit' to Lebanon. Always implicit in the "I love lifers" attitudes is an inherent hatred and bias against anything non-Western, Arab, Palestinian, Islamic and perhaps even non-White. Is it not lovely when racism and surrender find a place in polite conversation?

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Apologies to all my readers, I'm taking a short break from heavy duty posts as I sort out a few things. I'll be back soon.

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OK it's been settled, everybody can now go home: "The Bush administration is set to officially blacklist the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps by listing it as a terrorist organisation"

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There is an interesting documentary tonight on Channel 4. "Dispatches: Britain under attack" - I helped with the translation and it's been made by Phil Reese, author of "Dining with Terrorists" which I'm still reading.

Apparently you can watch this if you register on the Channel 4 website live at this URL.

http://geo.channel4.com/player/simulcast/login.jsp

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This is American occupation: " "We no longer need television documentaries about the stone age. We are actually living in it. We are in constant danger because of the filthy water and rotten food we are having." "

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Hezbollah-Nasr Al Arab

This is actually quite a good video clip.

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I can't believe al Jazeera is framing a debate about Asian migrant workers in the Gulf as either "a threat on the Arab identity of the area and people's privacy" or a story in the exploitation of cheap labour. Is there even such a debate?

Asian workers are exploited, racially abused and treated like a sub-human race throughout the Middle East, where is this "tsunami" of migrants al Jazeera is talking about?

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"A declaration of principles is designed to give the Palestinians the "political horizon" they have demanded. The negotiators will not attempt to solve the core issues of final borders, Jerusalem and refugees at this stage."

"Political horizon", that's a new one.

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I read this article on the Angry Arab early this afternoon and I don't know why it affected me. Big time.

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"In many ways, Blackwater's rapid ascent to prominence within the US war machine symbolises what could be called Bush's mercenary revolution. Much has been made of the administration's "failure" to build international consensus for the invasion of Iraq, but perhaps that was never the intention. Almost from the beginning, the White House substituted international diplomacy with lucrative war contracts. When US tanks rolled into Iraq in March 2003, they brought with them the largest army of "private contractors" ever deployed in a war."

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On love, imposters and orientalism

Love is not one of the things I usually discuss on my blog but today I will make an exception. Perhaps because my own love life has come crashing down in flames, but in particular because of an article Sami Moubayed has written on MidEastViews. Sami is a great writer and historian and I find his articles highly interesting, yet his recent posting "Imposter love" ruffled my feathers a tad.

There is much to criticise in the rigid and stale traditions which still exist within Syria and I recognised much of what he described with regards to the shopping mall mentality which happens when a young man is deemed 'ready to settle down':

When young men decide to marry they do it the traditional way, visiting homes of potential brides to choose from a wide array of women who are on public display—like merchandize waiting to be purchased. It all depends on the customer. Sometimes the richest sell out immediately. Sometimes the cheapest. Sometimes the most attractive on supermarket shelves. After going through a long pre-set checklist (good family, compatible social milieu, status of mother and father (sometimes even grandfathers), and certain characteristics like whether a woman is veiled or not), the customer/suitor makes his decision. It is based on suitability—or prestige—not love. Then the couple literarily train to start loving each other—or make it look as if ‘they are in love.’ They often put on grand public performances, which vary from childish giggling and public hugs to constant show-ups in society to prove to the world—and themselves—that they are now ‘united.’ They act like lovers to compensate for having ‘fallen-in-love’ in such a doctored and fake manner.

This ridiculous charade and facade maintained by these "in love" designer couples, as I like to call them, is what is passed off for tradition and love. Marriages of mutual convenience and arrangement to cement relations between what Moubayed refers to as the "upper new elite" of Damascus. A shallow and superficial social stratum. However, I disagree strongly with Moubayed's characterization of Syria in particular and the Arab world in general as a society with no love, then compares it with a Western ideal of love, relationships and marriage. Such sweeping generalizations may lead one to argue that Sami has internalised the arguments of the neo-orientalist historians, ideologues and demagogues who pass off as experts on 'Arab culture' in Western establishments. Such a line of reasoning is, in my opinion, dangerous and incorrect for the reasons I describe below.

Moubayed refers to the 'grand commercial celebrations' which we regrettably have copied with "zero understanding" from the West. Presumably lovers in the West do have an understanding of this superficial and petty celebration though I have yet to meet any who do. In fact and if I remember correctly, Valentines day has it's roots in pagan Greco-Roman fertility cults and was later incorporated by a Church eager to make itself acceptable to the non-believing masses of Europe and the Middle East. Later on, European medieval notions of chivalry and romance helped transform the celebration into what we recognise today and it is now a day in which big business and the catering industry make a huge amount of profits. As such, the day is marketed heavily and effectively in the West to maximise the value from the consumer couples these companies seek to woo. Is this the understanding Syrian couples should have acquired perhaps? If the master copy is flawed, I fail to see how there is anything of use to be gleaned from this foreign (to the rest of the world) and artificial celebration.

I also fail to see the use of comparing love stories in Arab history and in Western history. Though Sami has managed to bring us stories of love and pining from both societies, he appears either unwilling or not very bothered to back up his claims that there are not many such stories in Arab history, whether far in the past or contemporary. I make no claims to expertise, but I find it hard to believe that there are no such stories in abundance. In addition, getting dragged into this creates an artificial and unnecessary debate. Are the Arabs not capable of love like the Western individual perhaps? Does love even exist in our societies? Whose standard and definition of love are we referring to, in fact, what is love and how should it be expressed? Far from drowning Sami's arguments in relativism, I just question his method. If Sami wished to attack the rigid and damaging traditonalism and superficiality afflicting Syrian and Arab society today, I feel he has chosen the wrong tools and has instead bludgeoned an innocent bystander with a club of cliche's, generalisation and exaggeration. To quote Tina Turner, "What's love got to do with it?" What indeed?

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