New Year - Time for Mourning

In many cultures the occasion of New Year is a time for celebrations and festive activities, such as in Western or Chinese traditions. However, the Islamic New Year is not accompanied by fun parties or fireworks, although marked by a public holiday in many Islamic countries. On the contrary, you will find streets, mosques, and community centres in certain areas of the Muslim population that are decorated with black banners and drawings of mourning people. That’s the time of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, with a very important date on its tenth day, Ashoora. For Shia Muslims and the followers of Prophet Mohammed’s Progeny this is a very special time of the year.


When the month of Muharram draws near there is this unique feeling of impatient anticipation for the commemoration of Ashoora that has been observed for hundreds of years with ever increasing zeal and love for Imam Hussain, his family and companions. For the outsider this zeal and love might seem very strange. In fact, before I knew anything about Imam Hussain and Ashoora, I too was bewildered but also intrigued by what I saw and heard in the streets, mosques, and religious centres. And even though I didn’t understand very much from what was being said in the vivid lamentation of the common sermons and the rhythmic lyrics of the night processions, I became fascinated by the whole spectacle and the genuine emotions so openly displayed by people. What was the reason for these outbreaks of compassion in grown up men and women? Then I wondered why I hadn’t heard about Imam Hussain and Karbala before? In actual fact, throughout 20 years that I grew up and lived in Europe from the mid sixties till the mid eighties I had never even heard the name of Imam Hussain anywhere, leave alone what happened to this important historical figure in Karbala.


After getting to know the story of Karbala and Imam Hussain in more detail, hearing its gruesome facts, and shocking descriptions of what exactly had happened to Imam Hussain, his family and companions, I couldn’t help but feeling a deep sense of sympathy and I began to ponder about its meaning and the impact it has on us today. People surely wouldn’t commemorate this occasion year after year with such enormous efforts and zealous emotions only to remember a historic battle in which the grandson of Prophet Mohammed had died. In order to remember this fact of history a simple memory service would be sufficient for this purpose. But during the Ashoora activities the followers of the Progeny of Prophet Mohammed, the Shia of Ahlul Bait, seem to relive the pain and sorrows of this battle, as if it happened only yesterday. Therefore, it began to dawn on me that there was much more to it than meets the eye of the observer of the Ashoora traditions.


For many people the battle of Ashoora is merely an unequal fight between a mighty army and a small group of the Prophet’s Family that happened in the background during the spread of Islam. However, considering the characteristics of Yazid’s army, the way they treated their Prophet’s family (while Prophet Mohammed had asked the Muslims for nothing but to love his family), so their behaviour should give considerable doubt of whether they were the right people to spread the Islamic message and whether it was their sword that helped to spread Islam. In fact, this very thought is underlined by a comment from a famous non-Muslim, namely Mahatma Gandhi, who said: “My faith is that the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of the sword by its believers, but (it) is the result of the supreme sacrifice of Husain, the great saint.” It is true that many history books accredit the spread of Islam to the sword, but of what is known about Yazid’s personality, who was of course the official leader of the Muslim nation at the time, it is at least questionable if such a character was interested in spreading the pure values of Islam or if he was more interested in spreading his own power. Consequently, it is only logical to ask if such a leader was in the best interest of Islam in general.


However, anyone who studies the story of Ashoora a little closer will be able to see beyond the mere facts of battle accounts and military victories. Because the sword can only win a superficial victory, but it can never win over the loyalty of the defeated. Indeed, Imam Hussain had not been interested in winning the battle or the highest number of people to support him but in winning their hearts so that they remember the true values of Islam. And this is what he achieved with his martyrdom. The proof of that is evident in the impressive processions during the Ashoora commemorations and the electrifying atmosphere during the ninth and tenth night of Muharram in Karbala every year. Everybody can witness this for himself on TV since the fall of the former president of Iraq. The viewer cannot but be impressed by this unique display of people’s devotion for someone who made such a strong statement with his death that toppled only a few years later the tyrannic and oppressive regime of Yazid.

UNHAPPY NEW YEAR

Today is the Islamic New Year (that is calculated according to the moon calendar). But no one in the Islamic world has any reason to celebrate, no one has hopes for a happy new year, because it has already had an extremely unhappy start as Palestinians are dying in their hundreds in Gaza. When watching those horrific scenes of a catastrophe that is too awful for words, then every half-way intelligent human being should ask himself if this is a legitimate method of achieving security and peace for Israel? What is more, who would be so naive to believe that if the traumatized surviving Palestinians for generations to come wouldn't take revenge one day for the death of so many innocent civilians including women and children, if there were able to do so? The satisfaction with the military "success," as the Israeli government might view this operation, might be short-lived.


I don't know why, but suddenly the terrible attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 came to my mind, despite its totally different circumstances and historically incorrect comparison. Nevertheless, I thought about the satisfaction the Japanese military must have felt after this great military strike in their eyes. Hardly four years later, however, the "pay-back" they received caused so much worse suffering.


Unfortunately, anyone speaking of a Palestinian - Israeli peace process now sounds as if he was mocking its people. As usual, the much wiser and skilled artists of diplomacy will be left to pick up the pieces afterwards, but I am worried that this time there won't be any pieces left to pick up.

For which sin has she been killed?

SWAT is the name some people in management might associate with the Swift Worksite Assessment & Translation evaluation method. However, not many people probably have heard of the name SWAT Valley. It lies in the troubled nothwest region of Pakistan and has come under strong Taliban influence. Parents in the SWAT Valley have been warned by the Taliban not to send their daughters to school or otherwise they would kill any girl that goes to school as well as blowing up the whole school. It is said that the threat was broadcasted by an illegally run radio station in the region and announced by a Taliban commander. Not only does this sad development show that the Taliban are back, or more probably that they have never left anyway, but that outside forces have little control and power in this matter. No one can bring democracy to such a country. It is the people who have to change their own society, but this is a very slow process. Knowledge and the courage to question old customs are certainly important in this process.

If the Taliban claim that they want to implement strict Islamic rules then we should ask them the same question written in the Holy Quran, which they say they are protecting, for in Verse 81 we can read ... and when the female child that was buried alive is made to ask (8) for what crime she had been killed (9) and when the pages (of men's deeds) are unfolded (10) ... [Then] each soul shall know what it has put forward (14). I somehow doubt that the Taliban are really aware of what they are putting forward for their own souls by killing school girls.

Merry Christmas

It was Christmas last year when I visited my sick mother in Germany in order to be with her for a few days upon her release from hospital. I picked her up from the rehabilitation clinic in a small town in eastern Germany. The receptionist, who knew that I had come all the way from the Persian Gulf, asked me, if I was staying till the new year, but I answered that I had to get back right away after Christmas Day, because my children were waiting for me as they had to go to school. The confused receptionist was surprised that they had such short Christmas holidays. But she was even more confused when I informed her that we did not have Christmas holidays and no Christmas for that matter in a Muslim country, at least not in the government sector (There are a few private schools though who have Christmas holidays instead of the usual spring holidays at the end of winter). That was too much for the poor receptionist, so she asked, hardly interested anymore, what we would celebrate instead of Christmas. My reply only elicited a pitying smile from her - Ramadhan - unimaginable.


At that moment I realized how little the world's inhabitants know from each other, I was sadened by the ignorance of people beyond their little world, despite satellite TV and geography lessons at school. The world celebrates Christmas according to the widespread Western opinion, but in actual fact there are millions of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddists and so many others who don't.


But what is much sadder is how little people actually know about their own culture and traditions, especially about their origins. Jesus was born, that is a fact, but the date is not and this is not even disputed by the Catholic Church, because in the year 353 it was Pope Liberius who fixed the birth of Jesus on the 25th of December. At that time Christianity was declared the state religion in Rome and the clerus converted all festival days of several peagan cults into Christian festivities, because people had kept celebrating the midwinter light festival and the births of other gods on or around that day. This way they did not have to be persuaded to change their customs, as we all know that old habits die hard.


Whoever is interested in the version that Muslims believe in, for which the source is the Holy Quran itself, might want to check out the story of Mary, Mother of Jesus, according to the quranic revelations, which has been turned into a well produced film (with English subtitles or synchronization) called "The Blessed Saint Mary," directed by Shahriar Bohrani. It's definitly a nice Christmas movie. There is a trailor as well as the whole film in series on You Tube. In this sense, Merry Christmas.

Famous Shoes

I think the last time that a pair of shoes got such publicity was in the fairytale of Cinderella. But the shoe attack on President Bush made the Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi almost as famous as Cinderella over night – and popular, at least in the Middle East.


Maybe there are a few or more people in the West who also smile about this zealous action, especially as Mr. Bush was not harmed and was able to retain his sense of humour about the whole story. Actually, I was quite impressed by his ability to duck so swiftly in the face of the approaching flying shoes one after the other.


As for Mr. Al-Zaidi, he has become some kind of Arabic hero following his emotional outbreak. For the people in the Middle East, and I am sure in the rest of the Islamic world, he has expressed what so many people have been thinking for so long ... Mr. Bush deserves some good old bashing for what he has done, or at least for the responsibility he carries for the things that happened during his administration, like starting a war on false information and consequently plunging a whole nation into chaos, or the infamous human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghuraib, to name a few.


However, apart from the obvious legal consequences that Mr. Al-Zaidi will have to face and the admiration he receives from his fellow countrymen and religious brothers, his attack had most probably no effect on his target. Mr. Bush will still insist in the righteousness of his decisions and actions taken in the aftermath of 9/11. But most of all he won’t have to carry any consequences nor worry about the many people who curse him for what happened to them because of his presidency. When talking to the ordinary people in the Gulf I get to hear the same comment on President Bush and his staff all the time, for they are convinced that a just punishment is waiting for them on the Day of Judgement. People’s faith at that moment seems stronger than their anger as they are convinced that a pretty horrible chastisement will be waiting for these people. Who would want to be in the shoes of Mr. Bush then?

Find Out Despite Biased Reporting

Since the arrival of satellite television we are able to view a wide range of news channels such as the BBC or German, French and Italian satellite TV stations, as well as many Arabic channels including Al Jazeera, Al Arabia, MBC, in addition to specific groups running their own broadcast channels such as Al Manar or NBC.


If you are lucky to speak more than one language, it will probably strike you that the reporting on some news channels can be extremely biased. However biased the reporting, it doesn't have to have a very bad effect if the viewer is able to watch a wide range of international channels to receive information from different angles. Unbalanced reporting is like unbalanced food, it is not good for us. What strikes me the most is that on some Western news channels no one seems to be interested in how the people of a conflict region think of their own situation and how they feel about what is happening to them. The reporting is so abstract and undermined with an opinion from one side of the conflict, that the pictures often don't match the information given. One example is the terrible humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has been going on for weeks.


If we want to avoid making up our mind based on potential biased reporting, we should not depend on one national source of information. No reporting can be totally unbiased, even if it attempts to be so, because reporters are influenced by their national specific education, training, culture, traditions, attitudes and convictions. But in times of the Internet and satellite technology people are able to receive a broad range of information on any subject and they should use it in order to obtain an informed opinion.


Unfortunately, the reputation of some particular Arabic TV channels is based on prejudiced information without any founded knowledge. But should someone prejudice the objectivity and dispassion of the Arabic press before even having collected more information about it? By now there are many Arabic satellite channels with Websites (in English and many other languages) where one can take a look at different views from another perspective. Even if Western viewers might probably find reason for criticism and disagreement, I can still promise that s/he will benefit from some interesting information and fascinating knowledge that might at least encourage some to question a few obsolete but widely held opinions about Arabs or Muslims. One important piece of information for many Western viewers may be that Al-Jazeera is not an extremist Arab or Muslim satellite channel, but that most of its English version's presenters and reporters have previously worked for the BBC.


My personal hope is to improve the understanding between the two worlds by looking at events from the other side's perspective. Western channels are at least widely viewed in the Middle East, which is more than one can say about Western viewers' habits. The knowledge about other people and their lives, customs, hopes, problems, worries and fears is the first step towards a mutual understanding (connecting between knowledge and reason), which is, of course, a fundamental basis for peace.


Despite the existing knowledge about Muslims living in the West and an initial multi-cultural euphoria in Europe, it is vital to get to know the people from other cultures and religions beyond their delicious cooking and colourful fashion. Factual criticism must be allowed but tolerance for different ways of living and views should not be sacrificed in this process. This is the only way to counter wrong perceptions and prejudice of strange cultures in order to make the first steps towards a genuine understanding between nations. Maybe one day we will be able to achieve what the famous German writer and poet Friedrich Schiller (in "About Poverty and Dignity" 1793) had already recognized long ago: "An enemy merely beaten can rise again, but the one reconciled has truly been vanquished."