Polygamy : My 2-cents in response to a comment.

In my previous posting Wanna b a bride, I talked about the problem facing Muslim women in many Muslim societies not finding Muslim husbands.  One of the comments mentioned polygamy in Islam asked about its impact of the problem discussed in the posting.

I responded with enough material that may deserved its own 'mini' posting.  Also, re-posting my comment may lead to stimulating a discussion on polygamy.  So, here is the question and my comment.

MW said in a comment: "If some men have more than one wife, does that mean that there is also a proportional amount of men with no wives?"

My response was:

This is not a problem in most cases because the proportion of polygamous men is tiny. I lived in Egypt for 30 years and have not known of a single person in my family, friends, family friends, coworkers and other immediate contacts that married more than one woman. It does happen (more commonly in rural areas, especially if first marriage did not produce children), but the proportion is very small.

That could theoretically still lead to disturbance of the balance between men and women available for marriage, but only if one does not know enough about the man-female sex ratio in population at different ages and under different conditions of society dynamics.

Natural discrepancy in sex survival rates, tendency in ALL societies to maintain few years difference on average between husbands and wives, emigration sex biases, wars, etc, all result in about 5% bias in favor of women. You can research this if you will. I already have.

Of course if polygyny becomes a goal in itself (usually in rich spoilt societies of the gulf), it looses the actual legitimacy that comes from the very tight regulation on polygamy in Islam. The only verse that allows polygamy (i.e., polygyny) in Islam has pretty tight conditions for that practice and, still, it was in the context of extending supportive family structure to a large number of orphans after some of the early battles that was associated with significant losses amongst Muslims men in the battle, leaving behind unsupported women and children in a society where support comes traditionally in the form of nuclear family structure.

Many Arab and Muslim societies have legally restricted the right to have more than one wife to varying degrees, and in most Muslim society polygamy IS looked down upon unless its legitimacy could be gleaned from the circumstance. Men who marry a new 18 year old girl every few years are not considered appropriately behaving. Polygamy in early days of Islam meant to marry an older woman, usually with children, as a second wife, not a 'trophy' young girl to prove that you are 'the Man'.

While I do not intend, or need, to justify polygyny under the strict limitations in Islam by mentioning extramarital affairs, I think it is most telling that rates of polygamy among Muslims is a small fraction of adultery among married men AND women in Western societies.  I am not picking on Western societies, but that is where more statistics are available).   And by marriage, I mean ongoing marriages - not past marriages or among separated couple.

Khaled

Israel military: Flotilla killings justified (God is OK with that, the Rabbi thinks)!

Israeli Military Declares Gaza Flotilla Killings Justified

Israel has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians: men, women and children without a second thought or remorse. So, what's a few more Turks killed in the big scheme of Israeli policies?

Besides, a Rabbi knows best when is comes to what pleases God, and the rabbi said it is OK.

Chabad rabbi declared his 'Godly' view of where Judaism stands:

I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.

The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.

Rabbi Manis Friedman
Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies
St. Paul, MN

So, living by the Torah leads the 'Light unto the nations' to prevail over the rotten ones who advocate not killing children or destroy places of worship (The opinions of the despicable rabbi were taken verbatim from an 'Ask the Rabbi' article in Moment Magazine,  Summer of 2009).

Nice religion that 'man-of-god has'.

And, by the way, the nice Rabbi has not - and will not - be declared a terrorist, charged with hate incitement, a hate crime or even 'a hate-misdemeanor'.  And he will never get deported to the only homeland he believes in that was promised to the likes of him.

And the followers that flock to his hate-spewing place of worship and pay money to keep him 'productive' will always be secure from harassment, FBI interrogations, and surveillance by our security agencies.


Khaled

We are nice. But if you do not like us, we will force you to. - On the BDS and Israeli proto-fascism

It must be hard to feel that you are great, and yet that you have to have Every One's approval and acceptance, even the people you occupy and oppress.  I think Israel hunger to get even the 'terrorists' to accept tit as legitimate is a manifestation of that.

Israel has more nuclear weapons that China, exports more weapons that France and Britain, is able to occupy concurrently parts of three countries without anyone frowning, executes others (enemy or civilians), extra-judicially and extra-territorially with impunity, and manipulates the governments of the world (including the US While House and Congress) as if they are manipulating puppets.  Yet, the tiny bit of non-recognition by Hamas, or the tiny bit of disapproval by the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement seem  like an existential threat to them.  Although, to Israel, every thing always seemed like an existential threat anyway, including - but not limited to - emotional rejection.

 I had to laugh a month ago when Israel and the West Bank settlers were threatening the Palestinian authority when the PA was floating the idea of boycotting goods manufactured by settlers.  It is like taking hostages, use them as slave labor to make products that you then force the slaves to buy, and penalize them if the would not!!!

Academic and artistic boycott (described by ultra-Zionists as intellectual terrorism!!), in addition to economic boycott (also called economic terrorism by the same clowns) is gaining more and more grounds as the illegitimacy of the Israeli stance is becoming too stinky to hide.

And while the economic impact on Israel will never be dramatic, it is that eternal sense of illegitimacy that will always haunt Israel and make them ultra-sensitive to rejection.

This article from the British Guardian presents the reaction of the Israeli regime to the local supporters of the BDS movement within Israel - the righteously Israeli Jews that see through the fog of the Zionist propaganda.
Here are some excerpt from the guardian article.

Israeli academics hit back over bid to pass law that would criminalize them

An academic backlash has erupted in Israel over proposed new laws, backed by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, to criminalise a handful of Israeli professors who openly support a campaign against the continuing occupation of the West Bank.

... A proposed bill introduced into the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – would outlaw boycotts and penalise their supporters. Individuals who initiated, encouraged or provided support or information for any boycott or divestment action would be made to pay damages to the companies affected. Foreign nationals involved in boycott activity would be banned from entering Israel for 10 years, and any "foreign state entity" engaged in such activity would be liable to pay damages.

... Adi Oz, culture editor on the Tel Aviv weekly Ha'ir, appeared on Israeli national radio explaining her support for recent boycott activity. "When the Pixies cancelled their concert here I was disappointed," she says. "But I was not critical of the Pixies, I was critical of our government, because they are responsible for Israel's isolation."

There is a building momentum to restrict their freedom to dissent, a tendency described by some Israeli journalists and thinkers as 'proto-fascism'.  Although, in my mind and to most Palestinians and many Arab Israelis, there is nothing 'proto' (or early phase in plain English) about the Israeli regime fascism.  Palestinians have suffered from it, i.e., franc fascist behavior, for many decades.

It cannot be put in a better way than how Uri Avnery put it in 'A little Red Light'

In our present situation there are some dangerous indications. The last war showed a further decline in our moral standards. The hatred towards Israel’s Arab minority is on the rise, and so is the hatred towards the occupied Palestinian people who are suffering a slow strangulation. In some circles, the cult of brute force is gaining strength. The democratic regime is in a never-ending crisis. The economic situation may descend into chaos, so that the masses will long for a “strongman”. And the belief that we are a “chosen people” is already deeply rooted.

Khaled

Links
Israeli academics hit back over bid to pass law that would ...
BDS campaign wants Israel to abide by international law
 Artists' Boycott Strikes a Dissonant Note Inside Israel - NYTimes.com
 Economic activism against the occupation: Working from within
 Canada: Queers against apartheid beat censorship bid
 Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
 Why Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel?
 Settlers: PA boycott – economic terror - Israel News, Ynetnews
And this is a must read:

• Uri Avnery: A Little Red Light

We definitely do not have monoploy over crazy clergy any more

I guess turning the other cheek and walking the extra mile is passée.
I am not sure which Jesus this guy believes in.

Jonathan Wilkins, Baptist Tabernacle Minister, Files Lawsuit To Overturn Georgia Church Gun Ban

www.huffingtonpost.com

ATLANTA — A minister in Georgia is challenging the state's ban on guns in churches after the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a decision supporting Americans' right to keep and bear arms.
The Rev. Jonathan Wilkins accuses state officials of violating his First Amendment freedom of religion right and his Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Khaled
Link:

•  Jonathan Wilkins, Baptist Tabernacle Minister, Files Lawsuit To Overturn Georgia Church Gun Ban

Wanna b a Bride? - On the problem of marriage amongst American Muslim women

What do Muslim Egyptian women and Muslim American women have in common?

Until recently, I would have answered: very little other than their religion.  But over the last couple of years I have become more aware of another thing in common: a rapidly growing problem of finding a suitable husband.  The problem is no laughing matter, and it threatens to be a very ominous threat to social structure, both in Egypt (and likely many other Arab countries) as well as in the American Muslim communities.

The title of the post is borrowed from a hilarious series of blog-posts turned into a book by a talented 30-year-old Egyptian bachelorette pharmacist who decided to go public with her 'adventures' while looking for a husband (or waiting for a husband to find her).  If you can read Arabic and understand Egyptian dialect, that blog and book will give you hours of thoughtful fun that will make you laugh out loud.  Sorry, but it is an Arabic only site, although the blog and book are being translated into - of all languages - Italian!!  Do not even ask me why.

But this blog post is not about the problem in Egypt.  And I have been contemplating writing about some marriage and divorce problems in the American Muslim community for some time. Today I want to talk only about marriage - or lack there of - amongst highly eligible American Muslim women.

Getting married has rarely ever been an easy process for both men and women in Muslim minority communities.  But more recently the number of American Muslim women getting married has dropped significantly below the number of Muslim men getting married. Anyone that is involved in 'matrimonial activities' can tell you that matrimonial events tend to have 6-8 times as many women as men.

Two obvious factors have perpetuated the problem. One is of a religious nature, and the other is of a social/cultural nature.

Islamically, and if the Quran is understood at face value, Muslim men are allowed to marry a 'believer' woman outside the Islamic faith.  This usually means marrying a Jewish or Christian woman.  There are subtle constraints but, in general, such marriages are not looked down upon within the Muslim community.

On the other hand, Muslim women are not supposed to marry outside the Islamic faith.  The Quran (5:5) gives an explicit permission for Muslim men, without mentioning Muslim women.  That 'prohibition by omission' has been the undisputed norm in Muslim societies since the early days of Islam. 

I am fully aware of the reasoning behind the distinction between the case for men and women, and I do not see that the Quranic verse that discusses that issue tolerant to any other interpretation.  But I also understand that the permission given to Muslim men to marry outside the faith is not an unrestrained permission.  It is even more constrained when the exercise of such permission leads to serious harm to other Muslims, above all Muslim women in the same society.

But marrying outside the faith is not the only reason for the problem.  Another reason, that I personally believe to be a more sinister one, is the tendency of many Muslim American men to marry a Muslim woman from 'the old mother land'.

I do not really understand why that is happening, and I have few guesses:
- Larger extended family in the old country for those that want to marry within the extended family only (a tradition in some conservative societies).
- 'Mother-in-law-to-be' favors marrying a girl from the old country believing that she would make a better daughter-in-law.
- Some conservative men believe that a 'good girl' from the old country is more 'pious, pure, and – more importantly - obedient' than an American born and raise Muslim girl.
- And finally, and as a woman friend once put it, Muslim young men in American societies tend to be less mature intellectually and socially than American Muslim young women of similar age, social status and education.  Thus they feel threatened by their female counter parts, and want to seek a woman that does not make them feel threatened.

Regardless of the reason, the abundance of very well qualified American Muslim young women who cannot find a suitable husband is a serious problem.  The worst part is that the religious and social implications of that problem are not even discussed frequently enough.

This definitely is not a problem that harms only women in the longterm, but because only women appear to be adversely affected now community leadership, mostly older immigrant men, does not seem to be interested in tackling it or even shedding light on it.

A recent article in the Washington Post covered that topic, but the conclusions were slanted in a direction that I do not agree with.  Still, I am happy that some Muslims activists are bringing  the issue up, and are doing something about it. 

Their conclusions are unfortunately difficult of me to swallow.  They actually argue that since the Quran did not explicitly prohibit Muslim women from marrying out side the faith, and since permitting men to do that leads to the current problem for Muslim women, the answers to the problem should be to allow Muslim women to marry outside the faith, i.e., Muslim woman can marry a Christian or Jewish man.

I tend to support a different approach to solving the problem.  It is a well know rule in Islamic jurisprudence that restricting or prohibiting the exercise of what is permitted and lawful is allowed if it leads to harm.  Many Muslim countries, for example, have strong restrictions on polygamy – and for very good reasons.

Some Islamic scholars have actually suggested that marrying outside the community (Islamic American community in this case) should be forbidden as it leads to an obvious harm to half the society: Muslim American women.  Of course in a free society, no one can 'force' Muslim men to restrict their 'lawful rights', but like in many other cases (e.g., polygamy), strongly-held social pressures have effectively restricted the exercise of polygamy in societies that have not yet had legal restriction on it.

Traditional religious and societal leadership in American Muslim communities tend to be sluggish and scared of change.   They are more comfortable sweeping problems under the carpet, and would rather talk about generalities than offer a specific solution to a specific problem.  That attitude applies to a wide range of religious, political and social contemporary issues relevant to the community.  I do not have much expectation from them anymore.

It is difficult to say if the threat of revolt by Muslim American younger women to adopt alternative jurisprudence opinions is conceivable.  And, I do not personally agree with the alternative jurisprudence opinion expressed in the WP article mentioned above.  But I also realize that nothing short of revolt by American Muslim women can wake up our intellectually stagnant leadership.

Khaled

As usual, short comments and opinion are welcomed and can be made anonymously.  But if you feel strongly about that issue, and regardless of which side you are on, please put your thoughts in a short posting format and email to khaledhamid.ol@gmail.com.  If it is respectful and intelligently-argued, I will post it as a full posting.  Your anonymity is guaranteed if you want.  May be we can have a serious conversation about this topic.

Israeli Prime Minister offers support to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla - albeit indirect

An interesting post by the Palestinian American Activist Ali Abunimah.  It goes to show that maintaining lies is difficult, and over time the truth comes out, even if the Israeli government is the brain behind the lie.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered unexpected support to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and others who plan to challenge his country's naval blockade of the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Haaretz reports his comments today:

"I call on all human rights activists in the world - go to Tehran, that's where there is a human rights violation," said Netanyahu during his meeting with the Austrian Chancellor, Werner Faymann, in which he discussed Israel's ease of the Gaza blockade and flotillas planning on breaching Israel's Gaza blockade. "Today, after we lifted the civilian blockade of Gaza there is no reason or justification for further flotillas," he said.

So what Netanyahu appears to be conceding is that the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which Israel attacked in international waters, killing 9 passengers and injuring dozens of others on 31 May, was in fact fully justified as long as Israel maintained the blockade which he claims now to have lifted.

But of course Israel has not really lifted the illegal blockade. Netanyahu's comments demonstrate that Israel's main purpose is to relieve international pressure and avoid further embarrassing flotillas challenging it.

The reality remains that 1.5 million people in Gaza are locked into what amounts to a giant prison camp for surplus humans of the wrong sort. Israel controls land, sea and aerial access to them. Their crime is simply that they are not Jews, ....

 Read the rest of Abunimah's post here.

Khaled

What is in heaven, and what is on earth

There is always something worth reading in the Huffington Post.  these two news items happened to be next to each other. Some how that seemed like a message.

(Link here)

(Link here)

And now basic facts:

Israel:

• Population 7.5 millions (and, if you wish, additional 10-12 million Jews in the rest of the world)
• Gross Domestic Product: :$195 Billions (IMF)
• Literacy rates: 97%

And, Saudi Arabia:

• Population: 28 millions
• Gross Domestic Product: :$370 Billions (IMF), or $460 billions as per the World Bank)
• Literacy rates: 82%

And of course I can talk also about who develops, manufacture and exports weapons on one hand, and who buys billions of dollars worth of weapons to corrode in the desert sand on the other hand (or puts the weapons to use only against small-firearm-equipped Arab and Muslim Yemeni rebels).


I guess one can have money, manpower, and access to education, but in the end what becomes of you depends on how you set your priorities and how you allocate your resources.

This reminds me of verse 18 chapter 24:

" for God makes [His] messages clear unto you - and God is all-knowing, wise!"

وَيُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

Will we ever learn?
Khaled

A 'peaceful' IDF soldier shooting a 'terrorist' peace activist

MondoWeiss is one of the best sites covering Israeli Palestinian News. Their coverage of the latest events with the assault on the Turkish ship and the massacre of Turkish peace activist. Many of their latest posting are refuting the idiotic claim that the activists were - like every thing else in the universe - a threat to Israel.

Today they posted a graphic video possibly of the shooting at close range of one of the activists after 2 soldiers have been 'peacefully' pummeling him with their boots. May be the poor activist was in so much pain, and the soldiers' merciful IDF-trained souls could not bear to see him suffer any longer.

Yes, that was it. Mercy killing. I must be grateful to the Israeli forces that they have not send a bill (yet!) to the victim's family charging them for the bullets and labour.

Take a look at this so when idiots make stupid claims about what went on that day, you know what the truth is.

On May 31, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the actions of IDF soldiers who had conducted the raid on the Mavi Marmara, killing at least nine of its passengers, as “a clear case of self-defense because as our soldiers were inspecting these ships, they were attacked – they were almost lynched. They were attacked with clubs, with knives, perhaps with live gunfire, and they had to defend themselves – they were going to be killed.”

That was before video emerged appearing to show two Israeli soldiers first pummeling with their boots and then shooting one of the victims as he lay at their feet. To stand above an injured man and then finish him off with rounds from an assault rifle can by no ones estimation be described as an act of self-defense.

The link to that posting can be found here.

Khaled

Links:

• Modoweiss: the war of ideas in the Middle East

Other Videos:

• EXCLUSIVE: New Video Smuggled Out from Mavi Marmara [by American filmmaker and activist Iara Lee] of Israel’s Deadly Assault on Gaza Aid Flotilla - Democracy Now
  

And after a massacre, some petty theft seems like a minor transgression. I guess, it is a foreigner peace activist's money - so it is free game.

• Italian flotilla journalist: My credit card was used after IDF confiscated it- Haaretz Israeli Newspaper

Jewish boat to Gaza is sailing soon. Israel's murders may not be quickly forgotten this time

It has been a little over a week since Israel's bloody killing spree on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara took place. At this point British, French, Italian, Russian and German officials have called for international probe (Check this: EU states competing over Israel policy). The UN is on board and already working on the probe team to be headed by former New Zealand prime minister.
[Addendum: The US State Department has just issued a statement endorsing international probe into the events as well.]

The good news is that Jewish activists all over the world are not letting go and are spearheading maintaining the pressure on Israel (and trying to influence the US as well). Ten thousand Israelis have demonstrated in protest of Israels aggression action and some even did that here in the US. Who knows, maybe the near-dead Israeli liberals and Israeli Left will be 'revivable'.

I received this email today from the group list of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee in St. Louis (which I strongly suggest to subscribe to to get updates on local pro-peace activism in St. Lois) . It made me very happy, and I wanted to share the news.

The Jewish boat [GazaFriends] to Gaza is sailing soon

In an undisclosed harbor in the Mediterranean, a small vessel is waiting for a special mission. She will be sailing to Gaza. In order to avoid sabotage, the exact date and name of the port of departure will be announced only shortly before her launch.

"Our purpose is to call an end to the siege of Gaza, to this illegal collective punishment of the whole civilian population. Our boat is small, so our donations can only be symbolic: we are taking school bags, filled with donations from German school children, musical instruments and art materials. For the medical services we are taking essential medicines and small medical equipment, and for the fishermen we are taking nets and tackle. We are liaising with the medical, educational and mental health services in Gaza.

''In attacking the Freedom Flotilla, Israel has once again demonstrated to the world a heinous brutality. But I know that there are very many Israelis who compassionately and bravely campaign for a just peace. As broadcasting journalists from mainstream television programs are accompanying our boat, Israel will have a great chance to show the world that there is another way, a way of courage not fear, a way of hope not hate'', says Edith Lutz, one of the organizers and passenger on the ''Jewish boat''.

The ''Jüdische Stimme'' (Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Near East), along with her friends of EJJP (European Jews for a Just Peace in the Near East) and Jews for Justice For Palestinians (UK) are sending a call to the leaders of the world to help Israel find her way back to reason, a sense of humanity and a life without fear. ''Jewish Voices'' expects the political leaders of Israel and the world to guarantee a safe passage for the small vessel to Gaza, thus helping to form a bridge towards peace.

The arrogance of the Israeli governments, and its well financed propaganda hasbara army in the US need to be met with outspoken opposition and activism. Please do not stand still and every bit of effort helps. Let us hope the momentum keeps building.

The St Louis Palestinian Solidarity Committee has a great web site for updates and resources. Please check it, and subscribe to their news letter.

Your effort, not only your sympathy is profoundly needed if things are to change for the better.

Khaled
Related Blog Post:

• Israel: a morally bankrupt country

Interesting links related to the legal aspects of the flotilla massacre:

• Defending Israel: A How-To Guide « LobeLog.com
• Israel's flotilla raid revives questions of international law
• Israeli lawyers: Raid violates int'l law
• Gaza occupation and siege are illegal
• Reuters AlertNet - Q&A-Is Israel's naval blockade of Gaza legal?

Israel: a morally bankrupt country

Day after day a new nail is hammered in the coffin of any claim that Israel has any shreds of morality or decency. For decades, their high powered propaganda machine and their real control on many major news outlets managed to blind the average Westerner about the truth in that unlucky part of the world that is 'blessed' with Israel's presence. Europe is almost free from the mental fog about Israel that the US is still clouded in. But even here, American Jews and non-Jews alike are getting to see the truth.

After all, how many times can a bully claim that beating and shooting a little unarmed kid is necessary because the kid is an existential threat to the bully?

In these sad times, only Turkey stands out as a symbol of dignity and pride (here and here). This gallery shows how much Turkey's posture is appreciated throughout the world.

Arab governments, not surprisingly, exhibit the usual lack of spine, lack of pride and even lack of simple dignity. Egypt miserly 'eased' its own blockade of Gaza (!!!) to allow crossing of Medical emergencies and students traveling to study outside Gaza, as if these cases should have been blockaded at any time. And even Algeria, thousands of miles away, was cowardly enough to ban demostration in support of the victims of the flotilla massacre.

The US wanders between wishy-washy stance by Obama and the State Department on the one hand, and the stupid comments by Biden on the other (See also Gaza flotilla raid:'So what's the big deal here?' asks Joe Biden ).

American media is busy with whatever the heck they keep themselves and the average American busy with. And until Jon Stewart says something about it on The Daily Show, most Americans probably would not have even noticed what is going on there. And after a few laughs, they would not even remember what he was talking about anyway.

Most European governments seem as if they are just tongue-tied, while their people are on the streets in front of Israeli embassies protesting. (See Norwegians ready to boycott Israel, and
Thousands protest flotilla deaths, clashes in Athens).

Nothing I say will make you feel different, and I am tired of shouting that Israel is an immoral regime because it is so obvious.

On the bright side, honest and righteous Jews everywhere seem to have the loudest voices critical of Israel in the media and in pro-Palestinian organizations all over the world. So I will only provide links to several article and videos that may be a source of comfort. All the links are from Israeli source, or by non-Israel Jewish authors and journalist. So, let us see some of their contributions:

• A Special Place in Hell / Rebranding Israel as a state headed for fascism - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
  

• Barney Frank (US Congressman) saying that "as a Jew" he's ashamed of the treatment of Palestinians
• Israeli Patriot Fania Oz-Salzberger: Gaza Flotilla Raid a Shameful Sin - The Daily Beast
• Israel’s war against non-violence - MondoWeiss

• Tikkun Magazine - Rabbi Michael Lerner: Killings on the High Seas

• Protecting Israel by the usual US suspects -Antony Loewenstein (Australian Journalist)
• When killing activists on one boat isn’t enough - Antony Loewenstein
• Naomi Klein speech at pro-Palestine rally (Video)
• 'Israel is a Lunatic State' - Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack (Video)
  

And for many moving pictures from all over the world, check this gallery: Anti-Israel protests (The Guardian, UK). One of that galleries pictures truly embodies the new pro-Palestinian spirit in the world, and the immorality and brutality of the Israelis: American woman shedding blood for Palestine.

The 'blood letting' is courtesy of our Israeli allies at no cost to the American peace activist, other than her share of the 3 billion dollars of military aid we give Israel every year.

I know justice will come, and Israel as we know it will not last.

Khaled

Addendum (June 8, 2010):
Related and interesting links related to the legal aspects of the flotilla massacre:
In views of some of the discussions in the comments section about the legality of Israel's massacre, I have listed below some of the available links with legal insight. It is not as simple as some of the pro-Israel comments make it look like.

• Defending Israel: A How-To Guide « LobeLog.com
• Israel's flotilla raid revives questions of international law
• Israeli lawyers: Raid violates int'l law
• Gaza occupation and siege are illegal
• Reuters AlertNet - Q&A-Is Israel's naval blockade of Gaza legal?

The mindset may sound Saudi, but the tongue speaks Hebrew!!

It is always amusing to see how traditional Jewish clergy are as messed up as the worst of the Muslim clergy and fanatics. And with hundreds of thousand of fundamentalist Jews occupying Palestinian occupied territories of the West bank, it is worthwhile exposing who these people are.
The average person in the US truly believes that in the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the Israeli side represents the good guy; the side that is more like up, the enlightened one that are working hard to make the decent green, respect others religions and ethenicities, and believe in democracy and equality for women.

But, of course, the average American who knows very little about his or her own political system, is hardly expected to know the intricacies of the orthodox Jewish traditions, especially the tradition of those who occupy the West Bank,harassing and shoot at Palestinians, and have the Israeli army protect their illegal outposts and settlement, funded by our tax dollars. And all is in the name of a God that made a promise to give them the land because they are special.

Their racism, hatred and tribal and ethnocentric dogma may not bother many here in the US, considering that many in the US would find excuses for Israeli settlers in their 'moral' battle against the 'savage' Arabs.

What most in the US would not find palatable is their attitude toward women, reminiscent of and in many case more backward than, traditional Saudi attitudes towards women.

This article I read on the BBC Online is about that, and I thought it is worth sharing it with you.

The chief rabbi of a West Bank settlement has prohibited women from standing in a local community election.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of the Elon Moreh settlement, near Nablus, said women lacked the authority to stand for the post of local secretary.
The rabbi made his comments in the community's newspaper after an unidentified young woman wrote to him asking if she could run for the position of community secretary, the Israeli news website Ynet News said: "I am a young woman and I think I have desire and energy to do things," Ynet News quoted the woman as writing to Rabbi Levanon.
But in his weekly column, Rabbi Levanon wrote that, according to the teachings of influential rabbis, women were not allowed to apply for the position.
"The first problem is giving women authority, and being a secretary means having authority," Rabbi Levanon wrote in the community's newspaper.
"Within the family certain debates are held and when opinions are united the husband presents the family's opinion. This is the proper way to prevent a situation in which the woman votes one way and her husband votes another," he wrote.
He also said it was not appropriate for women to mix with men in late evening meetings of community leaders.

And for many traditional Saudi clerics -- that Americans think of as having 'caveman mentality' -- that is music to their ears.

Khaled

Links:

West Bank rabbi bans women from local election

Is that cellular phone Kosher?

Orthodox strife grips Jerusalem

And for n never ending list of examples for other things they do, click below:
Fundamentalist Settlers

Our Forgotten allies - Part 2: Christian Arabs struggle for Palestine

In a previous posting I presented my opinion that the Islamization of the Palestinian cause was harmful to Palestinians on one hand, and to all Arabs and Muslims on the other. I strongly believe that it was a short-sighted measure, tactically and strategically.

The major beneficiary of that mistake was Israel and its Arab- and Muslim-hating supporters who found a great comfort in presenting it to the Western world as a fight between progressive, liberal, egalitarian, and democratic ‘tiny’ Jewish state, and a ‘repressive fundamentalist Islamic ideology’ that controls fifty some states and over a billion Muslims who are ready to launch Holy War on Israel and its Western supporters.

To a much lesser extend, Muslim fundamentalists also benefited from using the Palestinian slogan as a convenient rallying call to which they give lip service, then turn around to carry on their other agendas (Remember Osama Bin Laden and AlQaeda, invoking the Palestinian issue in speeches, then going on killing Muslim Afghani and Iraqi civilians?).

Judging from the state of affairs of the world today, it is not difficult to see who actually benefited more from the Islamization paradigm.

Forgotten in the midst of all the screaming was the Christian Palestinian (as well as Christian Arabs). If you were not from Egypt, Palestine or Lebanon, you probably would not remember that Palestine was nearly 30% Christian in 1948 (1400 years after it came under Arab Muslim control), and is no more than 5% Christian now after 60 years only of Israeli control. You would probably not be aware of the significant contributions many Palestinian Christians and other Arab Christians provided for the Palestinian cause in effort, blood and money.

Another totally forgotten (and frequently intentionally ignored) aspect of the Christian Palestinian struggle, it the on-going Political involvement of Christian Arabs in the Israeli Palestinian issue. I will highlight here two only of the many examples .

The first is really an amazing example from Egypt. Since the early 80’s the Camp David Accords have paved the way to some sort of luke warm peace between Egypt and Israel. The people of Egypt in general still find the Israeli presence awkward, and very few have taken the chance to visit Israel. The issue is more complicated for Egyptian Christians, with their holy sited under Israeli control. And since the peace agreements were signed, the Egyptian Church (Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria) under the leadership of Pope Shnouda III has consistently refused to permit Egyptian Christians to visit the Christian Holy sites in occupied Palestine.

In the first week of this May, the Pope of Alexandria church in a his Cairo weekly sermon re-stated the long-held opinion of the church barring Copts from visiting Israel.

قال البابا: إن في مصر الكثير من الأماكن المقدسة التي يمكن التبرك بها، أما القدس المحتلة فيجب ألا نندفع عاطفيا نحو زيارتها دون النظر إلى البعد الوطني والسياسي، موضحا أن السلام غائب في تلك المناطق وما زال شعبها الفلسطيني يعاني من ويلات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وقهره وأشار البابا إلى أنه من الصعب التراجع عن قرار الحظر في المرحلة الراهنة ما لم يتم التوصل إلى السلام الشامل والعادل، لأن السماح للأقباط سيدفع بمئات الآلاف منهم إلى زيارة الأراضي المقدسة خاصة في عيد القيامة، ما يروج للاقتصاد الإسرائيلي ويؤدي إلى إساءة للعلاقات بين الأقباط والأشقاء العرب والفلسطينيين

Pope Shnouda III said: “There is many [Christian] Holy places in Egypt that can be visited to be blessed with. As for occupied Jerusalem; we should not in an emotional way rush to visit it without considering the political and patriotic dimension”. He elaborated that “peace is absent from those territories, and its Palestinian people are still suffering from the horror of the Israeli occupation and its oppression”.
The Pope pointed out that "it is very difficult to retract the prohibition [against visiting the holy places in Palestine] at this time unless comprehensive and just peace is achieved. This is because retracting prohibition will lead to hundreds of thousands of Egyptian Christian Copts to visit the holy land, especially for Easter thus supporting Israeli Economy, and leading to harming the relationship between Copts and the Arab and Palestinian brothers."

For the Pope, boycotting the Holy sites while they are still under Israeli control is an act of resistance. He refuses to provide Israel with the economic benefit and the moral recognition of its authority over occupied holy sites that Israel is so eager to get. for him, the pain of keeping his followers away from their beloved Holy sites is a small price to pay in order to help liberate Palestinians from the evils of Israeli occupation.

And closer to the heart of the battle field, Palestine, Palestinian Christians are not silent either. Take for example the recent political document "Moment of Truth" released by Kairos Palestine. The document is modeled along an earlier document from Kairos South Africa that aimed at accelerating the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa. The parallels here are not so subtle. This is a big16-page documents, but it is worth reading. Here are some excerpts:

A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of the Palestinian suffering
“This document is the Christian Palestinians’ word to the world about what is happening in Palestine. It is written at this time when we wanted to see the Glory of the grace of God in this land and in the sufferings of its people. In this spirit the document requests the international community to stand by the Palestinian people who have faced oppression, displacement, suffering and clear apartheid for more than six decades. The suffering continues while the international community silently looks on at the occupying State, Israel.”
As Palestinian Christians we hope that this document will provide the turning point to focus the efforts of all peace-loving peoples in the world, especially our Christian sisters and brothers. We hope also that it will be welcomed positively and will receive strong support, as was the South Africa Kairos document launched in 1985, which, at that time proved to be a tool in the struggle against oppression and occupation.

The Moment of Truth document about realities on the ground:

The separation wall erected on Palestinian territory, a large part of which has been confiscated for this purpose, has turned our towns and villages into prisons, separating them from one another, making them dispersed and divided cantons. Gaza, especially after the cruel war Israel launched against it during December 2008 and January 2009, continues to live in inhuman conditions, under permanent blockade and cut off from the other Palestinian territories.

Israeli settlements ravage our land in the name of God and in the name of force, controlling our natural resources, including water and agricultural land, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and constituting an obstacle to any political solution.

Reality is the daily humiliation to which we are subjected at the military checkpoints, as we make our way to jobs, schools or hospitals.

It has a message to Muslims and to the Christian world, defending Muslims:

Our message to the Muslims is a message of love and of living together and a call to reject fanaticism and extremism. It is also a message to the world that Muslims are neither to be stereotyped as the enemy nor caricatured as terrorists but rather to be lived with in peace and engaged with in dialogue.

And it concludes with this very strong message to churches and Christians of the world, praising some, and asking others to repent for what they did to Palestinians:

6.1 Our word to the Churches of the world is firstly a word of gratitude for the solidarity you have shown toward us in word, deed and presence among us. It is a word of praise for the many Churches and Christians who support the right of the Palestinian people for self determination. It is a message of solidarity with those Christians and Churches who have suffered because of their advocacy for law and justice.

However, it is also a call to repentance; to revisit fundamentalist theological positions that support certain unjust political options with regard to the Palestinian people. It is a call to stand alongside the oppressed and preserve the word of God as good news for all rather than to turn it into a weapon with which to slay the oppressed. The word of God is a word of love for all His creation. God is not the ally of one against the other, nor the opponent of one in the face of the other. God is the Lord of all and loves all, demanding justice from all and issuing to all of us the same commandments.

We ask our sister Churches not to offer a theological cover-up for the injustice we suffer, for the sin of the occupation imposed upon us. Our question to our brothers and sisters in the Churches today is: Are you able to help us get our freedom back, for this is the only way you can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, security and love?

What I am trying to bring up in this posting is not that there are good Christians, because to question that is ignorant and immoral. I am trying to show how silly it is to present the Israeli Palestinian conflict as an Islamic issue only. Our Christian Arabs are not only as harmed by the on-going conflict as Muslims are but also they are a tremendous and resourceful ally. Their involvement can extend the reach of Palestinian pleas for support and justice to most of the world Christians with a more resounding impact than Muslim could do on their own.

We need to remember that Israel did not grow to be what it is today relying only on its own people and resources. Israel managed to play the religion and anti-Muslim card very well and capitalized on it in the media and in all its public relations campaigns over the years. Without Israel getting the undeserved sympathy of the Western world Christians, the playing field could have been more balanced for all Palestinians; Muslims and Christians.

It is about time to realize that in this fight for justice we need all the allies we can get. Arab Christians have been much of a victim in this conflict as Arab Muslims have been. And they are an asset that Muslims should acknowledge and cherish.

Khaled

Coming next:
The Forgotten Allies - Part 3: Arab Christians produce the best ‘Art of Return’.

Deeply hated, and should be very proud of it

A middle aged Christian black President, and a older Jewish white man of God from California: what do these two men have in common?

Both are hated, and both should be very proud of it. Let me explain.

Mankind is programmed to essentially enjoy being liked. If you think this is not the case, just imagine how much more difficult it would be to build a society or a community of any kind if we all tend to enjoy being disliked by others.

If mankind is defined as a social animal, that automatically means they are programmed to enjoy the positive feedback (in this case, gestures that others like you), and therefore you do things that trigger that response (i.e., nice things that others like).

And, voila: you have a society.

Still there are times when you are the proudest of yourself when someone viscerally hates you.

Your character is frequently defined by the kind of people that choose you as a friend. In other instances, your character is defined by the kind of people that hate you.

The strongest endorsement that you are on the right track is when the people you consider hateful, oppressor and criminally-minded actually put you in their cross-hair.

Two sets of events led me to write about this.
Barack Obama has been at the receiving end of a lot of hate. Criminally-minded and racist Christian and Jewish extremists hate his guts. From slanders during his presidential election campaign, to the racist remarks aimed at him on regular basis by the same idiots in response to his policies.

The most recent of those hate episodes comes from people with strong attachment to a foreign power that tries its best to manipulate American policies to its advantage: our beloved ally, Israel.

Jewish extremist both in the united states and in Israel have announced last week that they will be burning effigies in the shape of Obama during one of their ‘religious’ celebrations.
I cannot imagine any one can describe what happened better than Haaretz writer Bradley Burston:

… a cluster of people here, people who cloak themselves in the garb of the pious, have decided to marry their furious loathing of Barack Obama to the custom of their faith, and to do what some in America have been doing for more than a year now: Hating Barack Obama as a new form of religious observance.

Once, on the holiday of Lag B'Omer, which falls this Saturday night, children cast into bonfires images of Adolf Hitler and others who have preached and in some cases practiced the mass killing of Jews.

This year, ahead of the Saturday night observance, professed followers of Meir Kahane have openly boasted of preparing effigies of the American president for distribution and incineration in bonfires across the country.

And while the Jewish terrorists were doing that in the Occupied Palestinian land, their New Yorker counterparts were exhibiting paranoia, hate, and abominable morality in the streets of New York.

Watch an amazing video here – you will laugh at the stupidity and ignorance of people who think they are righteous yet have no shame acting as if possessed by Satan.

The final frame of the video displays this very profound quote by the late Israeli philosopher and out-spoken critic of Israeli values, Yeshayahu Leibowitz.

“Religious Nationalism to religion is what National Socialism [Nazi Party ideology] is to socialism”

Watch the video. You will not regret it.

As for the white Rabbi, his name is Michael Lerner. He is a long-time activist promoting peace in the Middle East. Being honest to his Jewish faith, he believes that loyalty to justice and truth trumps ethnic and clannish blind loyalty to Israel. He built a fantastic interfaith community, and is very vocal despite serious health problems that could shake a mountain.

The rabbi made the unforgivable mistakes of always looking at Palestinians as fellow human beings, of objecting to the occupation of Palestine, and of showing respect to judge Goldstone, who is deeply hated by pro-Israel fanatics for finding Israel at fault during Gaza war.

A little over a week ago, Rabbi Michael Lerner said Goldstone had been chosen as this year's recipient of the Tikkun Award because "the peace community both in Israel and around the world see Justice Goldstone as upholding the best ethical values of the Jewish community." [Haaretz]

That did sit well with the fake righteous ones possessed by Satan. They could not take it from the good Rabbi any more. His house was vandalized last night, and guess by who? A group of Jewish fanatics and extremists. The title of the press release read: "Rabbi Lerner's Home in the Berkeley Hills Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists"

If these idiot fanatic Jews were your enemy, don’t you think you should be very proud of it? I know I would.

One last comment:
If these fanatics in Occupied Palestine, New York and California feel free to treat the US president and an elder Rabbi like that, can you begin to imagine what life is like for the poor Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, living under their thumbs?

Khaled

P.S. Do not hold your breath waiting to read in detail about all these US events in our 'fantastic and free' media.
Talking out it sounds antisemitic.

Link used in the posting:

• YouTube - Feeling the Hate in New York - Really really worth while watching
• Ritual terrorism: Hating Obama as a new form of religion - Haaretz - Israel News- Excellent article
• Rabbi Lerner's - Home in the Berkeley Hills Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists - The Berkeley Daily Planet - Monday May 3, 2010
• Burning Obama | Tikun Olam
• Jerusalem to New York: Feel The Hate and Know The Love - Arabisto - Excellent article and a great website
  

Related posts:

• 
  

  Amending the Ten Commandments: Thou Shall Not Criticize Israel

• "From Mumbai to Hebron" and "Jewish Jihadis"- by Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam
• 
  

  Which Jew does the Pope support??

Amending the Ten Commandments: Thou Shall Not Criticize Israel

The title on Haaretz front-page online few days ago read: "Zionist group bans Goldstone from grandson's bar mitzvah"

Judge Richard Goldstone is a Jewish South African internationally respected jurist who made the grave mistake of accepting to write a report on the crimes committed by Israel and Hamas during the bloody Gaza War over a year ago in which over 1500 Palestinians were killed, more than two thirds of them children and civilians.

The opinion of Goldstone has put blame on both Israel and Hamas for crimes they did. That did not fly well with either group, but Israel has a strong reach and loud mouth, supported by its loud mouth chorus allover the world that pledge loyalty to the clan more than to the truth.

so, naturally he has been vilified ever since his critical report by all pro-Israel groups. The latest and the most nauseating action against him is what triggered this posting.

He has been 'barred' by pro-Israel group from attending his grandson's bar mitzvah, a major religious event for Jewish boys indicating the coming of age. It is a very important event in the life of the boy and his family. Here are some excepts from the Haaretz article:

Judge Richard Goldstone, who authored a damning report accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, has reportedly been banned by pro-Israel activists from attending his grandson's bar mitzvah in his native South Africa.
".... the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) and the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol in Sandton reached an agreement with the Goldstone family under which the judge would not be permitted to attend the synagogue service in Johannesburg next month. "
The head of South Africa's Beth Din - or Jewish religious court - told the blog the court had not been officially involved in the matter, but that he supported the move as it spoke to the sentiments of many in the community .
... Kurstag said he believed Goldstone had done "a tremendous disservice not only to Israel but to the Jewish world. His name is used by hostile elements in the world against Israel and this can increase anti-Semitic waves."

One would imagine that someone with the title of "Head of Jewish Court" would act more like a judge with some commitment to truth and honesty, and not as a head of a self-centered and bigotted clan. But obviously that is too much to expect from him.

The behavior of that group, and many pro-Israel groups demonstrated intense ethnocentric fervor that in many case cannot be distinguished from racism. Why do I say that? Because a basic element of racism is a sense of uniqueness that entitles you and your group to be judged differently compared to other groups. You feel automatically that you deserve benefits, protection and special privileges just because you belong to the 'special group'.
Frequently what accompanies that sense of you being special is the sense that the others are out to get you just because you are special.

As a result, wrongdoings you or your group may be accused of should not even be mentioned by your own group members or others, because either:

1. You simply do not commit any wrongdoings. The others are only picking on you because you are special, hence the charge of anti-Semitism against non-Jews who are critical of Israel.
2. Wrongdoings you are charged with may be true, but you did it only because the others - with their 'hatred for you and your clan' - forced you to do it.
(Remember Golda Meir saying: I hate Arabs because they make us kill their kids”).
3. And even if your clan committed wrongdoings, and even if you could not find a way to use ‘the others made me do it’ argument, no one should talk about your wrongdoings, especially your own people, because it only re-enforces for the others that you and your clan make mistakes. That may open the door to holding you accountable - something you will not accept because you are special.

The label ‘Self-hating Jew’ that Judge Goldstone received before has, for long time been the standard charge against righteous Jews who dare to speak the truth about Israel (for example, Richard Silverstein, Normal Finkelstein, Anna Baltzer, and many others - see their website link below). Even Obama’s aids, Rehm Emmanuel and David Axelrod, received that honor for apparently taking their loyalty to the USA seriously and for advising the president in a way that did not seem whole-heartedly pro occupation, pro illegal settlements and pro Arab land grab.

The so-called head of Jewish Court, Kurstag, went on to say what I think his most sick and nauseating statement:

"I understand that he [Goldstone] is a judge, but he should have had the sense to understand that whatever he said wouldn't be good and he should have just recused himself. "

If the head of a Jewish ‘court' thinks like that, you can only imagine what kind of bigoted clan he is part of.

What is worse is that by the standard that the Jewish Court head prefers, Jews everywhere should recuse themselves before making decisions that may not be in Israel favor, even if they think it is the honest and right decision to make.

If one applies that standard to our government in the US , and considering how many Jews are in our congress, cabinet, military, National Security Council, White House high position, wouldn't that tantamount accepting that Jews will always have doubtful loyalty to their homelands, with Israel receiving their primary - if not the only - loyalty they have?

Would not that be called flagrant antisemitism? Only, in this case, it has the seal of approval of a head of a Jewish Court.

Khaled

Links:
'Paranoid' Netanyahu Calls Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel 'Self-hating Jews'- Hiffington Post
Report: Zionist group bans Goldstone from grandson's bar mitzvah - Haaretz - Israel News

Web sites of Righteous Jews that regularly receive the honor of being labeled self-hating Jews for being honest:
Tikun Olam (Richard silverstein)
Jews for Justice for Palestinians
Anna in the Middle East (Anna Baltzer)
Jews Against the Occupation
Norman G. Finkelstein

Repealing 800 Year-Old Fatwa? Why Even Bother?

During the last week of March 2010, a group of senior Muslim clerics gathered in a small town in Turkey to discuss an interesting issue: modernization of some old religious rulings (Fatwas) that do not seem to make sense in modern times.

The major Fatwa in focus this time was an 800 year-old Fatwa, issued by Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 AD). That Fatwa is understood by modern-day militants as justifying fighting not only against oppressors and occupiers of Muslim land, but also against other Muslims perceived not to be in line with the militants’ point of view.

The media blurb about the conference was that it called for ‘repealing the fatwa’. In actuality, the call was a lot milder than that. It just called to try to understand the fatwa in their historic context – 800 years ago, when the Muslims world was at a war with the Mongol Empire army (1206-1368). The edict is apparently used by some fundamental militants to justify religiously sanctioned war against others: Muslims and non-Muslims.

While the idea behind the conference is not inherently bad, I think such efforts are useless and are a total waste of time and here are my reasons.

Any idiot that thinks a 13th -century fatwa regulating conduct of war is valid today - in a very different context - will not listen to a conference press release from some modern-day clergies. Ibn Taymiyya is a semi-divine figure for the Wahhabi and Salafi militants, and is also treated as infallible by many traditionalists.

The idea of repealing one of his Fatwas, or even contextualizing it, is almost blasphemous to them. Traditionalists can see God only through the ancient thinkers eyes. Any attempt to change that mounts to creating a novel and erroneous religion for them. This is a result of intellectual cowardice that many modern clergy have, failing to express any tendency to critically appraise old religious conclusions, regardless of how silly they may be. Their logic frequently is: if it survived the test of times, it must be correct.

An example of such intellectual cowardice shows in one of the conference participating ‘scholars’ who was already on the defense stating that the original Fatwa (i.e., Ibn Taymiyya’s opinion) was not wrong, and that the militant interpretation of it was rather a result typographical error that lead to the misunderstanding; and that the conference was not reviewing the fatwa in the light of a differing or opposing opinion to Ibn Taymiyya [God forbids!!], but rather authenticating the initial intent of the fatwa using Ibn Taymiyya’s own work.

The fault is obviously not with Ibn Taymiyya, who was a brilliant jurist and a scholar that factored in the realities of his own world when he made his Fatwas. I do not think he could have imagined that, eight centuries later, someone would consider him so infallible that he is above criticism or review.

The problems we face as Muslims today are not only because of Ibn Taymiya’s edicts. It is because of the stupid glorification and sainthood we cast on anything in our Islamic history and intellectual products once it is old enough.

Early scholars are not great because they are now historic. They excelled because they considered their own realities as much as they considered the context of their predecessors’ work. Until we have the intelligence and intellectual courage to openly critique, oppose and even reverse some of the earlier edicts and conclusions when needed, we will continue to be intellectually subservient to the rest of the world.

Even worse, we frequently are the laughing stock for anyone with some intelligence that looks deep enough in some of our books. Take for example some Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) books that still list counting chest wall ribs as a possible way (albeit a minority opinion) in deciding if a hermaphrodite is a male or female, for inheritance purposes.

Something is wrong with a culture that does not throw in the trash ancient statements like that. We cannot even make the bold decision to stop listing stupid opinions as minority opinion out of respect for earlier scholars? Having been reading about earlier scholars, I am certain they would have been the first to throw away their ridiculous conclusions once they came across facts that proved them wrong. That is why they are scholars. And that is why I admire them despite realizing some of their wrong conclusions.

Here is another example. Some Salafi and Wahabi ‘scholars’ are still writing books denying that planet Earth moves, and contemplating the labeling for a Muslim who says it does: are they kafir or murtad, and what punishment they deserve for believing that planet Earth rotates!!! One of those ‘scholars’ was the Chairman of the Saudi Religious Edict Council Abdel-Aziz Bin Baz (died 1999), another semi-divine figure to many Salafis. A book of interest is still in print labeled ‘Textual and sensory evidence that the Sun moves and the Earth does not’. In case you want to research it further, the title in Arabic is:

“الأدلة النقلية و الحسية على جريان الشمس و سكون الأرض”

How stupid should one be to realize that ‘ancient textual’ and ‘subjective sensory' evidence have no place in science, medicine or astronomy? For those who can understand Arabic, check the web page to laugh at the good luck that makes that man a religious authority for some Muslims.

People like Bin Baz could be knowledgeable in other areas, but they are so detached from the World that their conclusions are not trustworthy in any case where interaction with the real world seems needed.

They feel that their ‘textual knowledge’ of ancient Islamic work should be enough to enable them to make judgment about any and everything ranging from medicine, biology and all the way to physics and astronomy. And seeing how stupid their opinions are on objective physical sciences, one can only imagine the intellectual swamps we get in when they talk about less objective arenas such as politics or social issues.

Do we even realize how many brilliant young Muslim minds we alienate, and eventually lose, by keeping this sort of mental trash as part of the 'religious' culture?

The real goal should not be repealing a Fatwa, but rather collective effort to change the mindset of current Muslim culture.

It will take more courage to face the real issues head on. In a generation or two, we may be able to enlighten some of the ignorant idiots, neutralize some of the militants, but more importantly, we would be able to evolve into people of intellect, the kind of people God is addressing in the Quran all the time.

"Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are messages indeed for people who use their reason." (2:164)

Khaled

Links of relevance (some are in Arabic):
"لا يجوز لجماعة مسلمة إعلان الحرب من تلقاء نفسها"
Mardin anti-terror conference sparks debate over fatwas
International Conference on Ibn Taymiyah's "Mardin Fatwa" held in the Turkish City of Mardin | IslamToday - English
ابن باز وكروية الأرض
قضية دوران الارض ما بين التفسير الديني و التفسير العلمي .... نقاش مفتوح - الصفحة 3 - ملتقى المهندسين العرب - أول ملتقى هندسي عربي
تحريم القول بدوران الكرة الارضية