Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza

First time I heard about it was in an article titled: Tell Her the Truth in The Nation. That article made me envy London, New york and Chicago a little. Those places were where the 'playlet' was showing. And now it is here: in St. Louis.

During the murderous Israeli assault on Gaza earlier this year, many progressive and liberal forces in Europe were very active and outspoken in their support for Palestinians and in their denouncement of Israel. These forces included writers, singers and artists of all faiths.

One of those was Caryl Churchill, a renowned British playwright (You can read her NYT profile here), a supporter of Palestinians and an activist with the International Solidarity Movement. She put together a short ‘play’ called "Seven Jewish Children”.

The play stirred a lot of controversy with some Jews and pro-Israel groups calling it anti-Semitic, and even blood libel. Many other Jews (in Israel and elsewhere including the new J Street, political action groups opposing the ardent pro-Israel lobbying political action committee, AIPAC) see the play through very different eyes. (The links at the end of the posting lead to a collection of such articles)

The play is composed of seven short scenes and is usually produced as a 10 minute production. In each scene, two Jewish parents talk about their child; debating and arguing what to tell and what not to tell the child about events around them.

First scene seems to take place about holocaust time, while the seventh scene is about what to tell the Jewish child about the latest assault on Palestinians in Gaza. This is probably the scene that riles opponents of the play as one Jewish parent is speaking like a fanatic anti-Arab Jew in the occupied lands.

The play is open to interpretations, and the two productions I have watched have their own unique feel. You can find them on YouTube here and here (each is made of 2 videos, the link takes you to part one).

The British author dedicated the play to Palestinians, and decided to go the unusual route by offering the play without any royalties or licensing fees to presenter that want to produce it. She had one condition though: the presenters should request audience contributions for the London-based relief organization Medical Aid for Palestinians.

And considering the charges of anti-Semitism hurled already at the author, most of the productions of that play have so far been by big and established groups (like the Royal Court Theater in Britain) or by progressive Jewish groups in Europe, Canada and the United States.

This special play is going to be in St. Louis this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (April 26, 27 and 29, 2009) at two different locations.

The play is very interesting and, as one critic described it, ‘intently elusive’. It is open to interpretations. In my mind, it also raises issues beyond Jews, Israel and Gaza war. Most parents would see themselves in one scene or the other.

They may even empathize with the Jewish parents at some level, realizing the dilemma parents find themselves in when it is time to tell children about something unpleasant: either being done to them, or being done by the parents' own people unto someone else.

It is worthwhile to read the full text here (it will take 10 minutes of your time), and to watch at least one of the renditions found on YouTube.
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But more importantly, I do recommend attending one of the FREE productions on April 26, 27 and 28. The panelists will include 2 Jewish pro-Palestinian activists: Hedi Epstein, and Anna Baltzer.

Hedi is in her eighties and is a holocaust survivor. She is a dedicated pro-Palestinian activist that recently raised fund for 2 ships that challenged the Israeli navy siege of Gaza shores (and, she was on board one of the ships).

Anna runs the most impressive web site Anna in the Middle East. chronicling her experience in Palestine, and has given hundreds of presentations in defense of the Palestinian people. The event on April 26 will also include a very moving presentation by Anna about her latest trips to Palestine.

Both Hedi and Anna are very vocal on the Israeli Palestinian issue, and both have credible first hand knowledge of the occupied land of Palestine, and real life experience that few of us will ever have a chance to experience for themselves.

Their perspective would be authentic and invaluable.

I hope you will have a chance to see that thought provoking play, and listen to those impressive women.

Khaled

Links:

• 'Tell Her the Truth' - Tony Kushner & Alisa Solomon, The Nation
• Readings and Talks for Pro-Gaza Playlet - New York times
• SOME CALL IT 'BEAUTIFUL,' OTHERS 'BLOOD LIBEL' SEVEN JEWISH CHILDREN COMES TO CANADA - Globe and Mail (Canada)
• J Street Letter of Support on Discussing 7JC - The Theater J Blog
• Is Caryl Churchill's play Seven Jewish Children antisemitic? - The Guardian, UK
• By seeking to label criticism of Israel in Caryl Churchill's play as 'antisemitic', his critique feeds the very prejudice it decries - Jaqueline Rose, The guardian, UK

The phenomenon of Alternative-Islam: Was Islam revealed just to cover womens' hair?

This is a translation for an article published in Arabic in Al-Dustur Egyptian newspaper in July of last year. In this posting, I explain why I am translating it with some information and links about the author, a renowned Egyptian writer.

The phrases in square brackets are my own, and are meant to add some clarification of cultural of historic background where I deemed some clarification may provide context. In some instances non-literal translation was need to convey the meaning of the Arabic text more accurately.

The article, in Arabic can be found on many websites including the author's blog, here:

علاء الأسوانى يكتب للدستور : ظاهرة التدين البديل هل نزل الإسلام من أجل تغطية شعر المرأة ؟

Translated from Arabic by Khaled Hamid

-------------** Translation begins here **---------------

The phenomenon of Alternative-Islam
Was Islam revealed just to cover womens' hair?
By Alaa Al-Aswany

Last year [Egypt’s Culture] Minister Farooq Hosni attacked hijab tradition. Members of the [ruling] National Party stood up to him defending hijab and the women wearing it. One of them was as zealous in his defense as to accuse the minister of transgressing against Islam, seconds before passing out of extreme emotional distress.

I found myself asking ‘why, if the representative of the ruling party are so concerned about violating Islam, would not have they had some worries about rigging the elections, detaining, torturing and sexually assaulting innocent citizens [by government agents], and about pilfering public funds dedicated to help Egyptians, or about impoverishing their citizens and about all the other crimes that the ruling regime they represent commits, and that is in no way consistent with the principles of Islam.

It is well known that many of the ‘State Security officers’ are religious; performing the daily prayers on time, fasting Ramadan, and performing pilgrimage to Mecca. But that never stops them from performing their daily duties that includes torturing, beating, and electrocuting detainees. I happened know of an in-law relative of mine who is an eminent political government figure, well-known for his role in rigging elections, and violating the independence of the Judiciary. Still, he is known in his family circles for his deep religiosity to the extent that he holds classes teaching Islamic jurisprudence [fiqh] to his relatives.

There are numerous examples of Egyptians that are meticulous in performing religious rituals, but in their everyday life they behave in a way that is as distant as can be from religion. Last Ramdan [the Muslim fasting month], Al-Masri newspaper published an excellent report about public hospitals after sunset time [Islamic end-of-fast time in Ramadan]. The report revealed that most [in house] physicians left their posts and patients without care in order to attend the [religiously optional] taraweeh prayers.

Those that committed such a deed are not ignorant people. They are educated physicians who, to put it simply, considered an optional prayer of taraweeh much more important than providing care for patients even if their lives were at risk.

The issue then is not that of hypocrisy or ignorance. It is an issue of corrupt perception of what religion is about which leads to some kind of superficial religiosity that becomes an alternative to real religion. That alternative religion is convenient, non-burdensome, and ‘low cost’ as it limits religion to the practice of rituals and to appearances.
[The term ‘alternative Islam’ will be used instead of ‘alternative religion’ from here onwards as the author is specifically talking about Muslims and their religious practices. Khaled]

That is because the defense of the true principles of Islam: justice, freedom and equality, is fraught with danger in Egypt and, with certainty, will lead you to prison, loss of livelihood and loss of [safety in your own] homeland. To the contrary, alternative Islam costs you close to nothing and gives you false sense of security and self satisfaction.

Those who adopt alternative Islam do pray and fast, and greet people with the ‘greeting of Islam’. [Some] force their wives and daughters to wear hijab and niqab, and may even participate in demonstrating against the Danish cartoons or the restriction of wearing hijab in France. They may even write letters to the editor of Al-Ahram [Egypt’s most widely distributed daily newspaper] denouncing ‘skin-baring’ video clips. And with that, they believe that they have fulfilled their religious responsibilities to their satisfaction.

There pay no heed to political issues, and they could not care less about [Egyptian presidency heading for] inheritance [by Mubarak’s son]. Some of them do not even see harm in Egypt being inherited from father [Hosni Mubarak] to son [Jamal Mubarak] as if it were a chicken farm.

Alternative-Muslims do not believe that they basically are entitled to political rights as citizens. And [the lack of] democracy does not bother them. The most they do in that regard is‘pray to God to give us a good leader’. Then they start talking enthusiastically about historic great leaders like Umar Ibn Al-Khattab or Umar Ibn Abdel-Aziz. [These leaders were most known for glorious eras of justice and prosperity in Early Islam. Khaled]

Alternative Islam is a depressing disease that afflicted Egyptians and led them to passiveness and lack of awareness, and made them prone to consenting to oppression and repression.

That was not the nature of Egyptians. And since 1919 and until 1952, the national Egyptian movement, under the leadership of Wafd Party, have engaged in fierce struggle and offered thousand of martyrs to rid Egypt of the British occupation and to establish democracy.

The fact of the matter is that the spread of alternative Islam had many causes. Until the end of the seventies, Egyptians -- both Muslims and Christians – were less interested in religious appearances and more interested in religion’s true principles. Then came [President] Sadat who used religion to tip the political balance against the leftist opposition. Then came the Iranian revolution to pose a serious threat to the Saudi regime, the ally of the Salafi-Wahabi ideology.

And over the following three decades, the Saudi regime spent billions of dollars to spread the Saudi understanding of Islam, which lead naturally to alternative-Islam (and any one that disputes that need only to review to obscene contradiction between appearances and core morals in the Saudi society).

In the Saudi Satellite channels, tens of clergy talk 24 hours a day about the ‘principles of Islam, and not a single one of them would ever mention the right of a citizen to elect the leadership, or mention ‘marshal and emergency laws’ [in effect for decades in most Arab countries. Khaled], or talk about torture and [political] detentions.

The Salafi ideology sets the foundations for alternative-Islam that relieves followers of the consequences of taking a stance on [achieving] justice and freedom.

Some of the ‘modern’ preachers and their followers boast about their success in convincing numerous women to wear hijab. As if the great Islam was revealed from God for [the sole purpose of] covering women’s hair, and not for achieving justice, freedom and equality.

As for the oppressive regime of Egypt, it has always favored the spreading of alternative-Islam because the alternative-Muslim is the ideal citizen for an oppressive ruler; living and dying on the sidelines, always minding his own business, and never resisting the authorities.

[The alternative Muslim] limits his protest to what happens outside Egypt, or to issues that does not disturb the ruling regime such as a new dance performed by Dina, and new dress worn by [the actress] Yusra in one of her movies. In fact, a group of alternative-Muslims are now enthusiastically active in cyberspace collecting signatures for a petition protesting the way the singer Tame Husny, was ‘inappropriately’ staring at the body of the heroine of his new movie.

The regime welcomes without reservations alternative-religiosity because it relieves the regime of responsibility. In the eyes of true Islam, rulers hold the primary responsibility for solving the problems facing their own citizens.

But for the alternative-Muslims, who suffer from poverty and unemployment, holding the rulers accountable will not cross their minds. And the problems they face will be a result of one of two things: either they are not adequately performing their rituals and therefore, God is punishing them, or, the hardship they face is a test from God and as such they should endure patiently and must not object.

The victims of Mubarak regime exceeded in number the casualties of all the wars Egypt fought: victims of trains that burst in flames, ferryboats that sank, apartment buildings that collapsed on residents, and the numerous renal failure and cancer victims of the carcinogenic insecticides approved by [former agriculture minister and prime minister] Yusuf Wali and many others.

In the eyes of true Islam, all those are victims of corruption and oppression, and the rulers are directly responsible for their death and for ruining their families’ lives.

But for alternative-Islam, all these tragedies are just a matter of ‘predestiny’ and nothing more.
In the eyes of alternative Muslims, the victims would have died anyway because their time to die has come. Therefore, there is no point in blaming anyone for their death.

True Islam have empowered early Muslim to rule the world, and to teach mankind civilization, art and science. Alternative-Islam, on the other hand, has led us to all the humility and misery we live in today.

If we want to change our reality we have, before all, to adopt True Islam, and not the façade of alternative religion.

-------------** End of the translation **---------------

Khaled

Links:

• The perception and culture gap: can we help fill it?

The perception and culture gap: can we help fill it?

I alluded in my previous posting to the fact that Muslims, by virtue of their diversity, should be a group that is difficult to generalize to, yet they seem nowadays as the main target for cultural generalization, mostly in a deeply negative way.

The numerous ethnicites, cultures and languages of Muslims all over the world, while contributing to diversity, undoubtedly compound the problem for sincere researchers who truly want to understand more about Muslims. Language barriers, in my opinion, are the most difficult barriers to break.

I find it appalling that native Arabic speakers have not made enough effort to communicate their own intellectual product to Westerners (to combat the malignant generalizations) nor even to other Muslims that do not speak Arabic. But I do understand that their most urgent battle is not the cultural image battle with the West, but the actual battle on the ground for the hearts and souls of their own people against forces that is dragging them to the dark ages, politically and religiously.

I became acutely aware of this problem as I recently delved more into Arabic language reading about modern religious thinking and literature in the Arab world. It is truly annoying that it is 100 time easier to find extreme conservative books and religious literature translated from Urdu into English and Arabic, than to find modern Arabic thinkers translated into English.

The largest collection of Arabic religious text translated into English is done under the auspices of Salafi institutions of the Saudi government. And when Saudi government is carrying the torch of translation from Arabic, the kind of books and ideology translated does not really represent the Arabic mainstream culture.

I cannot blame the Saudi government for using their resources to translate and spread the ideology they support, but I still feel sad that the more enlightened and modern religious thinkers and even non-religious Arab writers are invisible to the world, Western and Eastern.

Every now and then, a friend in the Arab world emails me a link to an article they like, and recently I came across a good one that I wanted to share by Alaa Al-Aswany. I could only share it with Arabic speakers in my circles. but I feel it is truly representative of more than the opinion of its one author, and could be expressing the views of a lot of people that live in Egypt and other parts of the Arab and Muslim world.

I wanted so much to share it that I translated it into English, and I hope it will give you some insight into the thought process of many Egyptians and Arabs.

My effort is not going put a dent in the problem of Western/Eastern perception gap caused by the West's cultural blindness to mainstream Arabic and non-Arabic moderate cultural and religious thought process, but I am not delusional enough to think I can solve that problem.

The article (or rather its translation in English) will appear in a post following this. I do not agree with some of the historic analysis the author applied particularly his turning a blind eye to the oppression and government control problems Egyptians faced before Sadat and at the time of Nasser (1952 - 1970), but I agree with the overall spirit of the article.

The author, Alaa Al-Aswani is one of the most famed modern novel writers in Arabic. He is also a political activist and has recently had an op-ed published in the NYT by the title Why the Muslim World Can’t Hear Obama (and his NYT profile is here). He is not a religious scholar or a cleric, but it is the thoughts that count, not the official titles.

I hope you would enjoy it.

Khaled

"What are the origins of Jewish hate for Muslims and Arabs?"

Does that title sound antisemitic to you as it does to me? Do titles like that get on your nerves? I hope it does. Why then do I choose a title that annoys me personally, and can even get me in trouble?
Well, I chose it to make a point.

This morning I came across an article in Haaretz that had the title “What are the origins of Muslim antisemitism?” That title got on my nerves. For whatever reason, generalizing against Jews in a negative way raises the concern of antisemitism, and the rabid voices of the likes of the ADL screech through our ears scaring the heck of those who are charged with the heinous crime. Yet, generalizations against Muslims and, in many circles, Christians as well, seem so benign and do not raise the eye brows of the morality police.

Sometimes I am not sure about a generalization I read - or about a statement I intend to make - that favors one group over another or seems to criticize one group more than the other. In such a case I try a quick test: I substitute the ‘hot words’ (e.g., Jews-Muslim, Sunni-Shia, or White-Black, etc) with a word that refers to the group on the other side of the argument in the statement I am testing. If it sounds morally wrong or over-the-top, then the statement needs to be revised.

That rule of the thumb I use is the equivalent to the Golden Rule: “Do unto other what you want them do unto you”. And if you apply my rule to that article title in Haaretz, the title does not sound right.

It is intertesting why generalizing a bad claim about Muslims, and even Christians, seems a lot more acceptable than generalizing about Jews. That seems very counter intuitive considering that there is about 70 times more Muslims in the world than there are Jews, and that near 60 countries claim a Muslim majority while only one country claims a Jewish Majority. The burden of proving a generalization should apparently be heavier in the case of generalizing against Muslims (or Christians).

What is even more baffling is that most of the newspapers, visual media and literature produced by Muslims are in languages that is scarcely translated into English or French (i.e., culturally invisible from the Western point of view), the exception being ‘well-selected representative samples’ to help the popular generalizations against Muslims. On the other hand, most of the Jewish intellectual literary, media and political production is in English, or is quickly translated into English.

So, if you combine the larger number of Muslims, with the tremendous diversity in cultural, national, ethnic and political backgrounds among them, and multiply that by numerous languages in which they express their thoughts, it may be reasonable to assume intellectual dishonesty (or utter ignorance) in someone who believes that you can generalize about Muslims.

How come then that those generalizations against Muslims are prevalent and acceptable? If we follow the Golden Rule (see above), then we should either accept generalizations against all, or refuse generalizations against all. Anti-Muslim statements should be as unacceptable as anti-Christian sentiments or as the mother of all crimes, antisemitism.

So, if anyone felt offended by my factitious title, they should also feel offended by the term ‘Muslim antisemitism’ in Haaretz article title (and in the thousands of publications in paper and in cyberspace published by the people who scream antisemitism ad nauseam).

If they are not consistent in the way they feel, then I hope that next time they here an unfair generalization about their own ethnic, religious, or racial group, they should think twice before bursting in righteous indignation.

As for the article in Haaretz: it is actually a very interesting article and present very interesting bits of information from the author's point of view.

In a simplistic nutshell: It is Christians that incited modern Muslim antisemitism. Of course that is if you believe that such a generalization against Muslims is valid. And if you do, please re-read this posting after a good night's sleep. May be you will get my point next time.

Read Haaretz article for yourself here.

Khaled

Even if the Day of Judgment is coming, go ahead and plant that tree.

Thinking about death? It could be a good thing.

“I am afraid I do not have good news for you. Your doctors think you have only few years to live” While that does not sound like a definite death sentence (after all that is just likelihood), it is not exactly the kind of thing one looks forward to hearing.
So, once you here that, what happens next? I guess that all depends.

If death is imminent, for example few weeks or a couple of months, we may be more concerned with sorting out our financial loose ends, closing open files with IRS, and making sure we do not leave a huge mess for the ones we leave behind.

If death is anticipated in 10 or 15 years, many would go though some period of emotional turmoil, then carry on with life as usual until the expected day gets closer.

But what if we were given only 2 or 4 years to live; a period of time that is not too short that we focus on financial records, but not too long that we can ignore it and engage in ‘life as usual’.

It has intrigued me, over the last 10 years or so, how people would respond to the realization of their mortality. Of course we all know one day we will die, but we rarely ever behave as if we realize that. And as I get older, I see more and more people who were forced to realize that same fact they have always known, and yet it comes to them as a surprise. And they do not all respond the same way.

I have seen people to turn towards God by indulging in rituals, and forgetting the material world and what is in it. They spend more time in their religious institutions, read their Holy books again and again and, in their own way, start their own monastic life. I have also known of people who decided to travel, have fun, buy the fancy cars their always dreamed of, and indulge in the material life they always wanted, but have always put off waiting for the right time.

I know I would be uncomfortable with either option. And even thought I believe in God, the After Life, and the Judgment Day, turning totally toward ritual-centered life does not seem the right answer to me for I never felt that rituals in excess or alone will be enough for salvation.

I personally do not think my feelings are religiously wrong from the Islamic point of view. In the Quran, Faith in God as been cited coupled with performing good deed over a hundred times. Few times (for example see 2:227 and 21:73), good deeds have mentioned as distinct from prayers and alms giving, suggesting that good deeds are distinct from core rituals of faith.

I grew up hearing a statement frequently, but falsely, attributed to Prophet Muhammad, pbuh:
“Do for this life as if you will live forever, and do for the Life After as if you will die tomorrow.”
And while this valuable advice cannot be authenticated as a saying of the Prophet, its spirit has been endorsed in several other authenticated Prophetic saying.

“If the Day of Judgment erupts while you are planting a new tree, carry on and plant it.”, the Prophet said.

I imagine it is hard to stress more strongly the value of enriching life on Earth, till the last breath of our life.

Another of my favorite Prophet Muhammad saying's is this one:

“Once humans are dead, rewards for them cease except for three things: charitable endowment that out-survives them, knowledge that still benefits people after they die, and good offspring that remembers them in their prayers.

With statement like these, it is hard to see over-indulgence in rituals (or material life) as a healthy response to one’s realization of their own end-of-life approaching.
The appropriate response seems to fulfill ritual requirements as per one’s belief, but then to go on and make the most of the time left to benefit other human beings.

This is not a spirit exclusive to one religion. The same goal has been in the eyesight of people from all beliefs and ideologies.

I know of a middle-aged man, having known he had only 6 months to live, he decided to use his time to write a book about a subject he cherished. He was lucky enough to complete the book before he was gone.

On a more personal level, a former colleague and a friend of mine is going through serious health issues that make the idea of end of life a daily companion. And while religion continued to be on her mind, possibly with more meditation and wisdom, she opted also to go ‘outward’ with volunteer activities. She started sharing her experience with the rest of the world by starting a blog, rich in humor as well as in memories, thoughts and roller-coaster emotions that are part of her life with a tough disease. All that goes on while she carries on with her professional career and takes care of two young children.

During a recent phone conversation she made a notable statement when we talked about what people do with their life in a situation where life may be short. “Sometimes I think [by living] I am planning my own funeral. I want a lot of people to attend my funeral, not because they have to, but because they want to be their”.

And people would want to attend your funeral when they feel that if you are gone, some important part of their life is lost; and that you impacted them, and will continue to affect how they think and live. They feel that losing you is like losing a positive force in their own life. It is not losing you that they would mourn; they are mourning the loss of part of their own future that would have made their lives richer and more meaningful.

I can tie that thought easily with the Prophetic sayings I mentioned above. And that is why more rituals and more material joys do not seem like a good response to realizing that life is short (or shorter than what we expected before). In those kinds of indulgences -- religious and material -- lives of others around you are usually minimally influence positively, if at all.

I would like to live my life knowing that when I know I am dying tomorrow, I would not feel that I need to change anything that I have planned. Only if my life is like that, I would think of it as good life. Thinking of death from that perspective can be a beautiful and a positive for in life.

So, I pray that when my Day of Judgment comes, I would be in the middle of planting a new tree.

Khaled