It is important that I continue with my thoughts, I do not wish to lose any of the insights am getting, the many levels of Truth I am grasping...I am hungry but food can wait, I am sleepy but sleep can wait, I need fresh air but breathing can wait...I am not just doing this for the reader, I am also doing it for me. An ex boyfriend once told me I should have become a detective - he said sniffing the Truth is in your blood. I think he's right.
I love story telling and the use of metaphors, symbols and allegories in the narrative, because through these, the Essence of things is revealed. Rational analysis is important too, but in dire circumstances when the unthinkable is experienced, analysis means paralysis - you go round and round in circles, because what's lying in your guts, beneath the logical rational mind is not being addressed...so how can I possibly waste a moment like this one ?
And what prompts me so, except Love ? It's really very simple isn't it ?
For me the release from Wikileaks is like tearing a few pages from the secret diary of a mean, nasty, brutal, serial killer...stealing those pages and publishing them. If you like metaphors Wikileaks can be considered as the rebellious teenager who finally nails his brutal father (or mother) and exposes him for what he truly is.
The father figure in question, the "founding father" of brutality, carnage, mayhem and endless suffering is none but America. This particular daddy fed you illusions during all your growing up years - he made you believe in Ideals that he constantly fell short of. Basically this Daddy lied to you. In his spare time, while you were sleeping, he did nasty things - he raped, tortured and killed people in the dark. Of course, like any addicted criminal he denied it. But also during those periods when you were/are asleep, he noted down furtively what he did. He had to keep a record, because Daddy is after all an authority and he's well organized and meticulous about keeping his records up to date.
And here comes Wiki, the cadet of the family (and a few of his sibliings), the forgotten boy, mischievous, bored with this hypocritical authority, out of place in this great family, maybe received a few thrashings himself...his rebelliousness takes a different form as he grows up...he realizes what has been irking him all along -- the injustice of it all. So he decided in his own mischievous way to do something about it - Shake the stifling order of things, the stifling lie that kills.
In my previous post, I said I will deal with some of the material leaked regarding Ethnic cleansing, the mini wars that went on underneath the greater War, - the U.S Occupation of Iraq, and the role of Iran in all of this.
Again using metaphor, Iran is Daddy's secret mistress. They fight sometimes, but when necessary they kiss and make up. This mistress is ambitious, she has big plans, because she believes in something very big. So she plays along sometimes with the other concubines of the American harem, and sometimes she wrecks havoc when she feels things are not going her way. She is no poor, dependent muta'a concubine, she has resources, she has some power and she has many clients and personal body guards who are willing to stick their necks out for her.
The above would have been a fine thing if she played that in her own quarters, or in Daddy's quarters, while you were sleeping, but she didn't. She played cat and mouse in my own home - in Iraq.
You see I heard them fornicating in the stillness of the night. He groaned and she was exalted with cries...drowning all the other noise coming from other secret places, from other chambers, from dungeons hidden way beneath the surface, I heard her and heard him, saw them together and I also heard the suffocated strangulated voices in the obscurity.
to be continued...
October 27, 2010
October 23, 2010
Iraq - War Logs Reflections.1
This may be one post or a series of posts - I don't know yet. I shall leak my own thoughts as I see fit...
Yesterday's Wikileaks release of classified US Army documents were an important turning point for me personally and for me as an Iraqi. But not only for me, I know of other Iraqis who sighed with a little, a LITTLE relief.
I caught one on Twitter who wrote - I love you Wikileak, maybe now I can sleep with a little peace.
I uttered out of the blue - in some sort of automatic writing - We demand to know from America and Iran why you killed, tortured, raped and exiled us.
As an Iraqi, I felt that I was slowly waking up from a long nightmare. I held on to that feeling and I hardly slept at all ...something was churning inside of me. I needed to get to the bottom of it.
It was not the familiar rage, nor the all too familiar sadness, there was something more...hence this post.
I spent many hours reading the actual War Logs on Wikileaks Website. Names have been erased, but I read through nonetheless...knowing fully that this leak is only one infinite small part of what actually happened and is happening...
But I went through them nonetheless, not all of them, but picked and chose haphazardly...
In the old days, when writing was not made available to people, History wrote itself orally...by transmission - they called it Oral Historiography. The War logs are if you like a sort of Oral transmission of events as they took place...
And in the old days, from this Oral transmission of Historical events, people could draw a picture of what happened. Same for the War logs. Even though names were erased but there are indicators of locations, timings, places and from them one can draw a picture, a fuller picture...
But why did I need to do all of that ? After all the leaks just CONFIRMED what I've been writing on this blog for years. Why did I need this public confirmation from a higher authority after 7 years of carnage, of torture, of rapes, of exile ?
Why did this other Iraqi fellow say - now I can sleep with a little more peace ? Surely the classified documents did not reveal more than what he/she already knew.
I "slept" over these questions - and then I understood...
Do you remember at any time of your life when you were a witness to something horrendous, and when you reported it, no one believed you. Even those closest to you, or whom you thought were closest to you, did not believe you. You kept repeating what you saw, and no one believed you.
Yet you still held on to that truth you witnessed. Others ridiculed you, called you names, silenced you, threatened to kill you, called you a liar, accused you of imagining things, accused you of having your own agenda...and with the ridicule, came the minimization, the twisting, the guilt provoking like in - come on it was not that bad or it was not like that, you are nothing but a little hateful liar making trouble...and sometimes the pressure would be so great, you'd start wondering that maybe after all you did conjure up things...that maybe you did not see right, that maybe it was an illusion of your mind...in short --when you came with the truth, they did everything to make you doubt yourself and doubt the truth. Sometimes you'd fall into some autistic silence and sometimes you'd overcompensate with more defiance...but still you felt terribly all alone.
But you held on...you gripped to that thing....and still terribly alone, you realized in that process, in that process of being stubborn and obstinate in not letting go, in holding on - the extent of the cover up. The COVER-UP.
And through digging through the cover-up, you realize something even more important; the networks, the alliances, the other wars that are going on underneath this cover up. Then you understand - the thicker the cover up, the thicker the lie, the thicker the minimization, the thicker the omissions, the more grave and dangerous the Truth is. The Truth of what happened and... is happening.
And at some point comes a "parental" figure, an authority, a benevolent one, a big brother and says - I got some story to tell - and then in some cryptic form, repeats your truth, reveals it... You still have to read between the lines, but you say to yourself -- finally am not alone anymore. Finally, what I saw was not my imagination, it was/is the Truth.
So you breath a little relief and feel that maybe your nightmare is about to end and that you could sleep with a little Peace.
This is what happened yesterday to Iraqis who felt so alone with their Truth - they sighed a little relief and hoped to sleep with a little peace, hoping like I did, that maybe, just maybe they will be woken up from their solitary nightmare...
In the next post I will deal with the actual war logs, and some important information regarding ethnic cleansing, and Iran's role and other mini wars going on inside the bigger War - the Occupation and Destruction of Iraq. Insha'Allah.
Yesterday's Wikileaks release of classified US Army documents were an important turning point for me personally and for me as an Iraqi. But not only for me, I know of other Iraqis who sighed with a little, a LITTLE relief.
I caught one on Twitter who wrote - I love you Wikileak, maybe now I can sleep with a little peace.
I uttered out of the blue - in some sort of automatic writing - We demand to know from America and Iran why you killed, tortured, raped and exiled us.
As an Iraqi, I felt that I was slowly waking up from a long nightmare. I held on to that feeling and I hardly slept at all ...something was churning inside of me. I needed to get to the bottom of it.
It was not the familiar rage, nor the all too familiar sadness, there was something more...hence this post.
I spent many hours reading the actual War Logs on Wikileaks Website. Names have been erased, but I read through nonetheless...knowing fully that this leak is only one infinite small part of what actually happened and is happening...
But I went through them nonetheless, not all of them, but picked and chose haphazardly...
In the old days, when writing was not made available to people, History wrote itself orally...by transmission - they called it Oral Historiography. The War logs are if you like a sort of Oral transmission of events as they took place...
And in the old days, from this Oral transmission of Historical events, people could draw a picture of what happened. Same for the War logs. Even though names were erased but there are indicators of locations, timings, places and from them one can draw a picture, a fuller picture...
But why did I need to do all of that ? After all the leaks just CONFIRMED what I've been writing on this blog for years. Why did I need this public confirmation from a higher authority after 7 years of carnage, of torture, of rapes, of exile ?
Why did this other Iraqi fellow say - now I can sleep with a little more peace ? Surely the classified documents did not reveal more than what he/she already knew.
I "slept" over these questions - and then I understood...
Do you remember at any time of your life when you were a witness to something horrendous, and when you reported it, no one believed you. Even those closest to you, or whom you thought were closest to you, did not believe you. You kept repeating what you saw, and no one believed you.
Yet you still held on to that truth you witnessed. Others ridiculed you, called you names, silenced you, threatened to kill you, called you a liar, accused you of imagining things, accused you of having your own agenda...and with the ridicule, came the minimization, the twisting, the guilt provoking like in - come on it was not that bad or it was not like that, you are nothing but a little hateful liar making trouble...and sometimes the pressure would be so great, you'd start wondering that maybe after all you did conjure up things...that maybe you did not see right, that maybe it was an illusion of your mind...in short --when you came with the truth, they did everything to make you doubt yourself and doubt the truth. Sometimes you'd fall into some autistic silence and sometimes you'd overcompensate with more defiance...but still you felt terribly all alone.
But you held on...you gripped to that thing....and still terribly alone, you realized in that process, in that process of being stubborn and obstinate in not letting go, in holding on - the extent of the cover up. The COVER-UP.
And through digging through the cover-up, you realize something even more important; the networks, the alliances, the other wars that are going on underneath this cover up. Then you understand - the thicker the cover up, the thicker the lie, the thicker the minimization, the thicker the omissions, the more grave and dangerous the Truth is. The Truth of what happened and... is happening.
And at some point comes a "parental" figure, an authority, a benevolent one, a big brother and says - I got some story to tell - and then in some cryptic form, repeats your truth, reveals it... You still have to read between the lines, but you say to yourself -- finally am not alone anymore. Finally, what I saw was not my imagination, it was/is the Truth.
So you breath a little relief and feel that maybe your nightmare is about to end and that you could sleep with a little Peace.
This is what happened yesterday to Iraqis who felt so alone with their Truth - they sighed a little relief and hoped to sleep with a little peace, hoping like I did, that maybe, just maybe they will be woken up from their solitary nightmare...
In the next post I will deal with the actual war logs, and some important information regarding ethnic cleansing, and Iran's role and other mini wars going on inside the bigger War - the Occupation and Destruction of Iraq. Insha'Allah.
October 18, 2010
The End of History.
The Universe, the Cosmos, Awareness, Consciousness, Love, Hate, Friendship, Life...the triumph of Love over Death....All is made of many levels...so is History.
There is the Beginning and there is the End. There is the beginning of Civilization and there is the end of Civilization...and there are the gray areas in between, the pangs of Death and Rebirth.
History's many levels are made of beginnings and ends...and those gray areas.
Some beginnings illuminate the world and some of its endings darken it into total Obscurity.
So how do we define History ? Most probably by its contribution to Civilization - by its insertion in the Civilization process...
Civil-ization process.
Civil, civic, civility, civilization....
If I take the above as some preliminary definition of what History is, then Fukuyama is correct. This is the end of History - but not for the same reasons.
I don't know about you, but for me, History resides in tangibles...eternal tangibles, that withstand time, time and its erosion...maybe History resides in Archeology.
I never really liked that word - Archeology, because it implies something archaic, something past, gone...yet so present, so vibrant, so alive, so here...
In that sense, archeology defies or tries to defy Time and its passage...by carrying a stamp --called "eternal".
In this context, this is how I define History -- something that remains despite the passage of Time - something that aspires to Eternity...
Of course, there is also the other level -- who did what, where, and when. Yet, still, the stones speak for themselves...the pillars echo the story without the need for a touristic guide.
There is always something majestic about "ancient" sites - they call them in French "la magie des lieux" - the magic of places.
Ask anyone about the magic of places and you can be sure they will point to something ancient...Pompeii, Acropolis, Pyramids, etc...
Maybe the end of History is the end of Magic...in a world too sure of itself...yet too anxious about its own survival to bother discovering the magic...a new world too engrossed in itself...yet so petrified.
Yet, you will see thousands flock to the magic of these sites...they will cross oceans to witness the past...and derive a sense of continuity...
You see, we all need roots...despite all this homogeneity imposed upon us, the homogeneity of the New World Order, of the end of History.
You see, we all need to belong to something, someone, some place...however universal we may profess ourselves to be...
So what happens when a somebody has no roots ? What happens when a somebody is cut off from History - like a sail boat with no anchor ?
Two options present themselves here: either this person tries to connect through knowledge, learning or the flip side - destroys, making sure he annihilates what he believes he can never have, can never possess.
Such is the history of America.
Let me ask you something -- for History's sake. What has America and its Americans contributed to History and its civilization process ?
I do not consider skyscrapers, hamburgers and mass graves of Natives to be a contribution to Civilization. Nor do I consider highways, Coca Cola, and Mickey Mouse as eternal symbols of a quest for magic...
So what have these rectums of History produced ? What have they positively contributed to the movement of History - apart from its end ? Yalla, give it to me. Give me one thing that I can insert in those annals, one thing I can record....one thing I can note .... the record of some criminal who is beyond hope, a recidiviste - i.e someone who does it again and again...
I believe in cycles...and History is part of that cycle. Simply put -- what goes up goes down...
I really don't know why this is so...but it is so, inevitably so.
So what will Americans leave behind once their Empire crumbles? Because crumble it will...it will...no one, absolutely no one can resist the Movement...
What will they leave behind ?
Nature's site belong to God, to Allah...these don't count as contributions. These did not involve human sweat and pain...they did not involve contemplation, art, architecture, theorizing space, myth, legends, epics and poetry...
So what did the Americans leave behind ? I said -- what did they leave behind -- notice, I did not say what will they leave behind. For I consider the matter closed, ended.
What ? A Madame Tussauds look alike - a wax museum...of the greatest nation on earth - an Orlando or a Guantanamo ? Or maybe an Abu Ghraib or a Baghram ?
I chuckle...I chuckle as I see the hee haa, hillbilly, Rodeo, Buffalo Kid, Malboro Man, Lonesome Cowboy riding into the Sunset...towards his finality, towards his End...It's inevitable...inevitable.
Did you ever watch Americans flocking to the Magic, like moths to a burning lamp ? It's a comic tragic sight in itself. History chokes every time they sightsee her. Poor thing is propelled into violent coughs...she feels strangulated by the destroyers of History...they leave her gasping for air...
Here she is, choking, a rope around her neck...every time this gum chewing, hamburger and freedom fries farting, this nasally obstructed lot, cattle visits her...
She wants to chew them in turn and spit them out...like a fire dragon. But she patiently waits to see them swallowed in her belly like a Jonas in the belly of a whale who never makes it out...never makes it out to any shore...
History is patient, she sits and waits...because she knows, she possesses the wisdom...the wisdom of the cycle of Life..She knows this Jonas's end is inscribed. End of Story. End of His Story.
Let's leave aside for a while, the barbarians with no history and no roots...let's leave aside this gum chewing ruminating regurgitating wild cows, for a while...
Imagine a Pompeii, a Pisa Tower, an Acropolis, a Delphi (that's Italy and Greece, just so you don't need to rush to your maps to figure it out) imagine for one minute only...
An American military base right there, air jets shaking and cracking the grounds, some asshole writing some graffiti like "Bob fucked Lucy Ann" (please change your names, they're so fucking corny) or "Joe Blow did it here"...Imagine for a single moment, close your eyes and see it...
A Pompeii, a Pisa, an Acropolis, a Delphi...riddled with mortars, with tanks...Imagine for a moment someone climbing the pillars of the temple of Zeus and etching his Yankee name...imagine just that, nothing else....
I am not asking you to imagine the rest...am not asking to imagine the burning of Churches, the destruction of homes, the exile, the rape and torture, the massacre of young and old...no.
I am just asking you to imagine that little corner...
What do you think will happen ?
I tell you what will happen. Every Italian, every Greek will come out, armed with anything...
an ax, a hammer, a log, a rod, a knife, a gun...anything...absolutely anything...to stop the termination of History...of his/her history, story.
Can you imagine that for one minute ? Just an archeological site where History has presumably died...
So what about Iraq's history ?
Hatra, Ur, Sumer, Babel, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon....
Hanging...
Hanging, dangling...lynched
At the Gates of Ishtar,
Gilgamesh silenced,
Enheduanna's head rolling on a red carpet
of Blood...
The Myth exposed, the Legend died, the Epic ended,
so has History.
Video : Khaled Kaki - Iraqi Composer, musician, artist/painter.
There is the Beginning and there is the End. There is the beginning of Civilization and there is the end of Civilization...and there are the gray areas in between, the pangs of Death and Rebirth.
History's many levels are made of beginnings and ends...and those gray areas.
Some beginnings illuminate the world and some of its endings darken it into total Obscurity.
So how do we define History ? Most probably by its contribution to Civilization - by its insertion in the Civilization process...
Civil-ization process.
Civil, civic, civility, civilization....
If I take the above as some preliminary definition of what History is, then Fukuyama is correct. This is the end of History - but not for the same reasons.
I don't know about you, but for me, History resides in tangibles...eternal tangibles, that withstand time, time and its erosion...maybe History resides in Archeology.
I never really liked that word - Archeology, because it implies something archaic, something past, gone...yet so present, so vibrant, so alive, so here...
In that sense, archeology defies or tries to defy Time and its passage...by carrying a stamp --called "eternal".
In this context, this is how I define History -- something that remains despite the passage of Time - something that aspires to Eternity...
Of course, there is also the other level -- who did what, where, and when. Yet, still, the stones speak for themselves...the pillars echo the story without the need for a touristic guide.
There is always something majestic about "ancient" sites - they call them in French "la magie des lieux" - the magic of places.
Ask anyone about the magic of places and you can be sure they will point to something ancient...Pompeii, Acropolis, Pyramids, etc...
Maybe the end of History is the end of Magic...in a world too sure of itself...yet too anxious about its own survival to bother discovering the magic...a new world too engrossed in itself...yet so petrified.
Yet, you will see thousands flock to the magic of these sites...they will cross oceans to witness the past...and derive a sense of continuity...
You see, we all need roots...despite all this homogeneity imposed upon us, the homogeneity of the New World Order, of the end of History.
You see, we all need to belong to something, someone, some place...however universal we may profess ourselves to be...
So what happens when a somebody has no roots ? What happens when a somebody is cut off from History - like a sail boat with no anchor ?
Two options present themselves here: either this person tries to connect through knowledge, learning or the flip side - destroys, making sure he annihilates what he believes he can never have, can never possess.
Such is the history of America.
Let me ask you something -- for History's sake. What has America and its Americans contributed to History and its civilization process ?
I do not consider skyscrapers, hamburgers and mass graves of Natives to be a contribution to Civilization. Nor do I consider highways, Coca Cola, and Mickey Mouse as eternal symbols of a quest for magic...
So what have these rectums of History produced ? What have they positively contributed to the movement of History - apart from its end ? Yalla, give it to me. Give me one thing that I can insert in those annals, one thing I can record....one thing I can note .... the record of some criminal who is beyond hope, a recidiviste - i.e someone who does it again and again...
I believe in cycles...and History is part of that cycle. Simply put -- what goes up goes down...
I really don't know why this is so...but it is so, inevitably so.
So what will Americans leave behind once their Empire crumbles? Because crumble it will...it will...no one, absolutely no one can resist the Movement...
What will they leave behind ?
Nature's site belong to God, to Allah...these don't count as contributions. These did not involve human sweat and pain...they did not involve contemplation, art, architecture, theorizing space, myth, legends, epics and poetry...
So what did the Americans leave behind ? I said -- what did they leave behind -- notice, I did not say what will they leave behind. For I consider the matter closed, ended.
What ? A Madame Tussauds look alike - a wax museum...of the greatest nation on earth - an Orlando or a Guantanamo ? Or maybe an Abu Ghraib or a Baghram ?
I chuckle...I chuckle as I see the hee haa, hillbilly, Rodeo, Buffalo Kid, Malboro Man, Lonesome Cowboy riding into the Sunset...towards his finality, towards his End...It's inevitable...inevitable.
Did you ever watch Americans flocking to the Magic, like moths to a burning lamp ? It's a comic tragic sight in itself. History chokes every time they sightsee her. Poor thing is propelled into violent coughs...she feels strangulated by the destroyers of History...they leave her gasping for air...
Here she is, choking, a rope around her neck...every time this gum chewing, hamburger and freedom fries farting, this nasally obstructed lot, cattle visits her...
She wants to chew them in turn and spit them out...like a fire dragon. But she patiently waits to see them swallowed in her belly like a Jonas in the belly of a whale who never makes it out...never makes it out to any shore...
History is patient, she sits and waits...because she knows, she possesses the wisdom...the wisdom of the cycle of Life..She knows this Jonas's end is inscribed. End of Story. End of His Story.
Let's leave aside for a while, the barbarians with no history and no roots...let's leave aside this gum chewing ruminating regurgitating wild cows, for a while...
Imagine a Pompeii, a Pisa Tower, an Acropolis, a Delphi (that's Italy and Greece, just so you don't need to rush to your maps to figure it out) imagine for one minute only...
An American military base right there, air jets shaking and cracking the grounds, some asshole writing some graffiti like "Bob fucked Lucy Ann" (please change your names, they're so fucking corny) or "Joe Blow did it here"...Imagine for a single moment, close your eyes and see it...
A Pompeii, a Pisa, an Acropolis, a Delphi...riddled with mortars, with tanks...Imagine for a moment someone climbing the pillars of the temple of Zeus and etching his Yankee name...imagine just that, nothing else....
I am not asking you to imagine the rest...am not asking to imagine the burning of Churches, the destruction of homes, the exile, the rape and torture, the massacre of young and old...no.
I am just asking you to imagine that little corner...
What do you think will happen ?
I tell you what will happen. Every Italian, every Greek will come out, armed with anything...
an ax, a hammer, a log, a rod, a knife, a gun...anything...absolutely anything...to stop the termination of History...of his/her history, story.
Can you imagine that for one minute ? Just an archeological site where History has presumably died...
So what about Iraq's history ?
Hatra, Ur, Sumer, Babel, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon....
Hanging...
Hanging, dangling...lynched
At the Gates of Ishtar,
Gilgamesh silenced,
Enheduanna's head rolling on a red carpet
of Blood...
The Myth exposed, the Legend died, the Epic ended,
so has History.
Video : Khaled Kaki - Iraqi Composer, musician, artist/painter.
October 11, 2010
Secrets...
I carry many secrets inside of me...I am no partisan of letting your hair down in public.
Not that I care so much about reputation, whatever I do or say, I am absolved...yes, you see I take the words of your Lord so literally...I figure I have paid well in advance...so it's not my reputation that is at stake...but I do care for the people I love...I am very protective of them.
I don't want to use their sufferings as feed for a blog post, and am always very cautious to protect their anonymity...not only out of fear, but out of respect...respect for their pain.
Pain too requires respect, just in case you did not know.
So am a bit of a prude, I allude to things, write around a subject...of course inside am dying for the Truth to be grasped, like some spring flower you pluck to smell its full fragrance...
Yet, still, Respect prevents me from divulging too much.
Yet, the secrets I harbor, the intimate details of what happened, leave me so sleeplessly raw.
Maybe this does not make sense to the Oprah generation -- a generation of exhibitionist talk shows and cheap voyeurism....but for me, it's all the essence of Love.
Not that I care so much about reputation, whatever I do or say, I am absolved...yes, you see I take the words of your Lord so literally...I figure I have paid well in advance...so it's not my reputation that is at stake...but I do care for the people I love...I am very protective of them.
I don't want to use their sufferings as feed for a blog post, and am always very cautious to protect their anonymity...not only out of fear, but out of respect...respect for their pain.
Pain too requires respect, just in case you did not know.
So am a bit of a prude, I allude to things, write around a subject...of course inside am dying for the Truth to be grasped, like some spring flower you pluck to smell its full fragrance...
Yet, still, Respect prevents me from divulging too much.
Yet, the secrets I harbor, the intimate details of what happened, leave me so sleeplessly raw.
Maybe this does not make sense to the Oprah generation -- a generation of exhibitionist talk shows and cheap voyeurism....but for me, it's all the essence of Love.
October 8, 2010
The Clash of Ignorance - Islam Hijacked.
There is no clash of civilization or culture ---there is a clash of ignorance. This is the age of Ignorance, this is the Jahiliya.
Many like to believe that the Jahiliya is a period that is bygone. Not so, the Jahiliya is ever present - every where. It is present in the West and it is present in the East. So are the idols that characterize this period.
There is Belief - you inherit that stuff from your family, environment, school, society and there is Faith.
Faith is not Belief. Faith is something that one works on, cultivates, infused with much Grace. Grace is not tied to any race, sect, culture or civilization...Grace is above and beyond...like Rain, it falls on everyone...
It is with this in mind, that I want to approach the subject of Islam and the Other. And it is with this in mind that I want to tackle the West and Islam.
I am not sure I want to use the current terminology that one often comes across in today's literature on this topic - words like -- tolerance, acceptance have been overused and have lost their meaning...
We are definitely at a crossroad - we Muslims and non Muslims alike. I feel this with urgency. I fear also that this snowball will become an avalanche that no one will be able to stop - an avalanche that will swallow all of us, not just the Muslims. And it is also with this in mind that I am attempting to broach the subject.
What is being sown today shall be reaped tomorrow - this is a universal law, a law that knows no borders, no passports and no nationalities...of that I am sure. And from what has been taking place in the last decade or so, or let's say the acceleration of an already existing process, in the last 10 years -- I can already tell you that the fruits of this harvest are going to be very bitter. Unless the tide is turned....
There is a war being waged on Islam and Muslims. Whichever way you care to look at it, and by whichever theory you want to causally ascribe to it --it is here and can no longer be ignored.
This in turn feeds on the ghetto spirit that Muslims find themselves in and gives birth to more extremism. It is a vicious circle...a very dangerous one.
This is not about Niqabs, Veils, Burqas, Cartoons, Minarets or Koran burnings -- this is about directly ATTACKING a Belief system and a Faith -- simply because it looks and feels different, thus enhancing, exacerbating and radicalizing the very elements that the West deems to be not secular enough for its taste.
This is the bind and this is the lethal bind that the West finds itself in.
The Question to ask - is why is this group of people - the Muslims - that have been particularly targeted ? Why not the Jews or Hindus or the Buddhists for example ?
Each one will conveniently point to 9/11 as the starting point of this witch hunt. This is where I disagree.
9/11 whoever the culprits were - was not the starting point. It was yet another peak point, from which after much massacres took place - notably in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan (and it will not stop at these countries.)
The West in fact has never been at ease (short of a better word) with Islam as a concept. This is not something new. However the events of 9/11 gave the perfect alibi for it to engage in an all out war. I repeat an all out war - meaning a war on many fronts - physical, geographic, political, economic, cultural and ideological...
Some will argue that this is not necessarily true - pointing to the following : The West's support for Bosnia, Kosovo and the Afghans during their fight against the Russians. And there is truth in that. However this is not the full picture. Their support for these Muslims was only done with the aim of enhancing the West's hegemony. Hegemony in the largest sense of the word and not merely reduced to economic interests.
Another factor that cannot be overlooked besides the West being ill at ease with Islam ever since this latter's inception - is the silent war that is taking place between two poles of "Islam" - Saudi Arabia and Iran.
This war is political, geographic but also ideological and precedes both the establishment of Saudi Arabia or Iran as nation states. This "war" started in Iraq many centuries ago. It was a war of Khilafa - i.e of Governance between two clans/sects (political sects) of who will monopolize and rule the Ummah.
This war has not died...it was latent and flared up again in the 20th century with the advent of Khomeinism - the political ideology of Shia revivalism and started in the late 70's. This period also coincided with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of Salafist/Jihadist ideology. The counterpart if you wish, to Shiite Revivalism.
This is also the period where from a purely sociological observation - I started noticing more and more people "reverting" to a "pure" Islam (whether of Sunni or Shia ) - falling back on a belief system from which people hoped to extract Faith.
In parallel, the Western concept of Globalization which really means political, economic, cultural, ideological Homogeneity (Uniformity of Identity) greatly fed this "reverting" process/attachment and refusal of Muslims to accept this new movement (Globalization) which they perceive to be threatening not only to their belief system but also to their Faith. And with good reason - because Globalization has absolutely nothing sacred or holistic about it.
In other words this impetus towards Globalization accompanied with the historic "discomfort" that the West has nourished vis à vis Islam produced a backlash or as some people would like to call it -Fundamentalism- now called Terrorism. As I read today, someone said - Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. In other words all fundamentalists are Muslims and are therefore terrorists.
In the "fight" to RETAIN the semblance of a belief system and of a Faith -- dogma was necessary. The Muslim law/jurisprudence was no longer a contextual law i.e a law issued in a specific historical context but became a dogma - taking on all the allures of a unequivocal Truth over which both the State and the Clergy have absolute authority. This in itself is very contradictory to the Spirit and even Law of Islam since in Islam no one, absolutely no one holds absolute power over the Truth. This is the essence of Shirk - ie of associating someone/something to the Divine. Futhermore, in Islam there is NO Clergy, except maybe in Shi'ism. Traditionally the Ulemas or the men of Learning are not considered a Clergy as such (as in the Christian sense) and therefore their powers (derived of learning Fiqh -religious studies) was always limited and Ulemas were easily replaced should they issue a Fatwa that was not too pleasing to the ruler...and by the same token some Ulemas worked for the Ruler and issued Fatwas that ensured his rule. Which is to say that even the Muslim religious body historically speaking had nothing of permanence to it - neither the Koranic interpretations. Since the Ulemas could be removed so did their particular interpretation of the Text.
This is very important to note because it means that the Text can be/ is open to be interpreted differently...depending on context - context being historical, political, economic, ideological, cultural...
This in itself already negates the whole conceptual idea of an Islamic "Fundamentalism." and also by correlation negates the whole notion of Islamic "Moderates".
What does that mean ? It means that the same terminology should be used as when addressing the various groups in Judaism for instance --- as in Orthodox, Liberal/ Reformist.
Do you see the nuance ? I see it very clearly. For the discourse that is held towards Islam is not the same discourse that is held toward Judaism for instance. There are no fundamentalists and moderates in Israel, there are orthodox and liberals.
It is assumed that an Islamic moderate belongs to an Islam that is essentially Fundamentalist but by addressing his "reason" he can remain a moderate and hopefully stay that way- this is the inherent message. An orthodox or a Liberal Jew belongs to Judaism full stop.
And it is of no coincidence,that Muslims, in particular in the West, find themselves in either an apologetic or defensive position. They try to explain, describe, justify, communicate, that they are not fundamentalists, that even though their attire (which like the Orthodox Jew) may look traditional/conservative/religious, they are not inherently terrorists...and whilst doing all these justification of trying to prove their good intentions, their inherent moderateness they get stuck even deeper in that ghetto that has been laid out for them --like a prefab house -- all ready to be inhabited...
I will stop here for tonight. It is vast subject, this is a blog post, by no means exhaustive or conclusive...hopefully it will provide some food for thought and am happy to debate it on Twitter.
Many like to believe that the Jahiliya is a period that is bygone. Not so, the Jahiliya is ever present - every where. It is present in the West and it is present in the East. So are the idols that characterize this period.
There is Belief - you inherit that stuff from your family, environment, school, society and there is Faith.
Faith is not Belief. Faith is something that one works on, cultivates, infused with much Grace. Grace is not tied to any race, sect, culture or civilization...Grace is above and beyond...like Rain, it falls on everyone...
It is with this in mind, that I want to approach the subject of Islam and the Other. And it is with this in mind that I want to tackle the West and Islam.
I am not sure I want to use the current terminology that one often comes across in today's literature on this topic - words like -- tolerance, acceptance have been overused and have lost their meaning...
We are definitely at a crossroad - we Muslims and non Muslims alike. I feel this with urgency. I fear also that this snowball will become an avalanche that no one will be able to stop - an avalanche that will swallow all of us, not just the Muslims. And it is also with this in mind that I am attempting to broach the subject.
What is being sown today shall be reaped tomorrow - this is a universal law, a law that knows no borders, no passports and no nationalities...of that I am sure. And from what has been taking place in the last decade or so, or let's say the acceleration of an already existing process, in the last 10 years -- I can already tell you that the fruits of this harvest are going to be very bitter. Unless the tide is turned....
There is a war being waged on Islam and Muslims. Whichever way you care to look at it, and by whichever theory you want to causally ascribe to it --it is here and can no longer be ignored.
This in turn feeds on the ghetto spirit that Muslims find themselves in and gives birth to more extremism. It is a vicious circle...a very dangerous one.
This is not about Niqabs, Veils, Burqas, Cartoons, Minarets or Koran burnings -- this is about directly ATTACKING a Belief system and a Faith -- simply because it looks and feels different, thus enhancing, exacerbating and radicalizing the very elements that the West deems to be not secular enough for its taste.
This is the bind and this is the lethal bind that the West finds itself in.
The Question to ask - is why is this group of people - the Muslims - that have been particularly targeted ? Why not the Jews or Hindus or the Buddhists for example ?
Each one will conveniently point to 9/11 as the starting point of this witch hunt. This is where I disagree.
9/11 whoever the culprits were - was not the starting point. It was yet another peak point, from which after much massacres took place - notably in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan (and it will not stop at these countries.)
The West in fact has never been at ease (short of a better word) with Islam as a concept. This is not something new. However the events of 9/11 gave the perfect alibi for it to engage in an all out war. I repeat an all out war - meaning a war on many fronts - physical, geographic, political, economic, cultural and ideological...
Some will argue that this is not necessarily true - pointing to the following : The West's support for Bosnia, Kosovo and the Afghans during their fight against the Russians. And there is truth in that. However this is not the full picture. Their support for these Muslims was only done with the aim of enhancing the West's hegemony. Hegemony in the largest sense of the word and not merely reduced to economic interests.
Another factor that cannot be overlooked besides the West being ill at ease with Islam ever since this latter's inception - is the silent war that is taking place between two poles of "Islam" - Saudi Arabia and Iran.
This war is political, geographic but also ideological and precedes both the establishment of Saudi Arabia or Iran as nation states. This "war" started in Iraq many centuries ago. It was a war of Khilafa - i.e of Governance between two clans/sects (political sects) of who will monopolize and rule the Ummah.
This war has not died...it was latent and flared up again in the 20th century with the advent of Khomeinism - the political ideology of Shia revivalism and started in the late 70's. This period also coincided with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of Salafist/Jihadist ideology. The counterpart if you wish, to Shiite Revivalism.
This is also the period where from a purely sociological observation - I started noticing more and more people "reverting" to a "pure" Islam (whether of Sunni or Shia ) - falling back on a belief system from which people hoped to extract Faith.
In parallel, the Western concept of Globalization which really means political, economic, cultural, ideological Homogeneity (Uniformity of Identity) greatly fed this "reverting" process/attachment and refusal of Muslims to accept this new movement (Globalization) which they perceive to be threatening not only to their belief system but also to their Faith. And with good reason - because Globalization has absolutely nothing sacred or holistic about it.
In other words this impetus towards Globalization accompanied with the historic "discomfort" that the West has nourished vis à vis Islam produced a backlash or as some people would like to call it -Fundamentalism- now called Terrorism. As I read today, someone said - Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. In other words all fundamentalists are Muslims and are therefore terrorists.
In the "fight" to RETAIN the semblance of a belief system and of a Faith -- dogma was necessary. The Muslim law/jurisprudence was no longer a contextual law i.e a law issued in a specific historical context but became a dogma - taking on all the allures of a unequivocal Truth over which both the State and the Clergy have absolute authority. This in itself is very contradictory to the Spirit and even Law of Islam since in Islam no one, absolutely no one holds absolute power over the Truth. This is the essence of Shirk - ie of associating someone/something to the Divine. Futhermore, in Islam there is NO Clergy, except maybe in Shi'ism. Traditionally the Ulemas or the men of Learning are not considered a Clergy as such (as in the Christian sense) and therefore their powers (derived of learning Fiqh -religious studies) was always limited and Ulemas were easily replaced should they issue a Fatwa that was not too pleasing to the ruler...and by the same token some Ulemas worked for the Ruler and issued Fatwas that ensured his rule. Which is to say that even the Muslim religious body historically speaking had nothing of permanence to it - neither the Koranic interpretations. Since the Ulemas could be removed so did their particular interpretation of the Text.
This is very important to note because it means that the Text can be/ is open to be interpreted differently...depending on context - context being historical, political, economic, ideological, cultural...
This in itself already negates the whole conceptual idea of an Islamic "Fundamentalism." and also by correlation negates the whole notion of Islamic "Moderates".
What does that mean ? It means that the same terminology should be used as when addressing the various groups in Judaism for instance --- as in Orthodox, Liberal/ Reformist.
Do you see the nuance ? I see it very clearly. For the discourse that is held towards Islam is not the same discourse that is held toward Judaism for instance. There are no fundamentalists and moderates in Israel, there are orthodox and liberals.
It is assumed that an Islamic moderate belongs to an Islam that is essentially Fundamentalist but by addressing his "reason" he can remain a moderate and hopefully stay that way- this is the inherent message. An orthodox or a Liberal Jew belongs to Judaism full stop.
And it is of no coincidence,that Muslims, in particular in the West, find themselves in either an apologetic or defensive position. They try to explain, describe, justify, communicate, that they are not fundamentalists, that even though their attire (which like the Orthodox Jew) may look traditional/conservative/religious, they are not inherently terrorists...and whilst doing all these justification of trying to prove their good intentions, their inherent moderateness they get stuck even deeper in that ghetto that has been laid out for them --like a prefab house -- all ready to be inhabited...
I will stop here for tonight. It is vast subject, this is a blog post, by no means exhaustive or conclusive...hopefully it will provide some food for thought and am happy to debate it on Twitter.
October 5, 2010
Don't Let Iraq Slip Through Your Fingers...
I am very, very pissed off. Really, truly pissed off. I am pissed off at Iraqis and at their complacency, silence and apathy...I really am.
Daily I receive not less than 50 to 70 emails all in Arabic - all articles on Iraq. Sorry but that's not good enough. It's not good enough at all.
These are emails circulating within a closed circle and they are not made available in English to a wider public. There are thousands of Iraqis who have good command of the English language, they live in the US, England and elsewhere, scattered all over...what are you doing exactly ? The Answer is NOTHING. You are doing NOTHING.
The Iraqi blogosphere and social media is as shameful and as pathetic as the current Iraqi situation.
Why aren't more of you on Twitter or Facebook - writing and informing people in English ? Why, what exactly are you waiting for ? But you are good at leaving teary comments on youtube songs...Well this is not what's going to save your asses.
Daily in your "beloved" Iraq, there are human rights violations of the most grotesque kind and you are silent.
Arrests, broad day light killings, tortures, abductions and the rest of the daily misery inflicted on us and you are silent.
I, for my part am doing whatever I can...with the means available to me...It's about fucking time you do your share as well.
Because I tell you, Iraq is slipping again and you're just there watching Her...again.
Daily I receive not less than 50 to 70 emails all in Arabic - all articles on Iraq. Sorry but that's not good enough. It's not good enough at all.
These are emails circulating within a closed circle and they are not made available in English to a wider public. There are thousands of Iraqis who have good command of the English language, they live in the US, England and elsewhere, scattered all over...what are you doing exactly ? The Answer is NOTHING. You are doing NOTHING.
The Iraqi blogosphere and social media is as shameful and as pathetic as the current Iraqi situation.
Why aren't more of you on Twitter or Facebook - writing and informing people in English ? Why, what exactly are you waiting for ? But you are good at leaving teary comments on youtube songs...Well this is not what's going to save your asses.
Daily in your "beloved" Iraq, there are human rights violations of the most grotesque kind and you are silent.
Arrests, broad day light killings, tortures, abductions and the rest of the daily misery inflicted on us and you are silent.
I, for my part am doing whatever I can...with the means available to me...It's about fucking time you do your share as well.
Because I tell you, Iraq is slipping again and you're just there watching Her...again.
Stockholm Syndrome...
I get to meet all sorts of people online...and in some way am grateful. Am grateful because everyday I learn more about human idiocy and human courage...
I've met some really vile people - a great majority, and I've met some good people - a minority.
You meet all sorts...literally...a microcosmic world made huge right before your very eyes...and I keep on learning...
Today I met a Vet, who said to me :
I could almost feel your anger. If I were from Iraq I would have rage. Have bits from Vietnam, was on wrong side. I'm anti-war, but it's because I was in Vietnam. I soon learned we are not the 'good guys'.I went to war to kill and win medals. Naive. But I met HER on my 1st day. The Girl I met on Christmas Day 1968. I felt God put HER there to show me what war really is...
then he added : Layla your country was always a great civilization...I'm ashamed of what my country is doing to it...
And this was my reply to him :
Thank you...I (oddly enough) always have a special thought for Vets...as paradoxical as it may sound...
I've met some really vile people - a great majority, and I've met some good people - a minority.
You meet all sorts...literally...a microcosmic world made huge right before your very eyes...and I keep on learning...
Today I met a Vet, who said to me :
I could almost feel your anger. If I were from Iraq I would have rage. Have bits from Vietnam, was on wrong side. I'm anti-war, but it's because I was in Vietnam. I soon learned we are not the 'good guys'.I went to war to kill and win medals. Naive. But I met HER on my 1st day. The Girl I met on Christmas Day 1968. I felt God put HER there to show me what war really is...
then he added : Layla your country was always a great civilization...I'm ashamed of what my country is doing to it...
And this was my reply to him :
Thank you...I (oddly enough) always have a special thought for Vets...as paradoxical as it may sound...
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