Archive for May 2009
MUBARAK THE DESPOT – Cartoon by Ayman Farag
(www.zawayaalmaraya.blogspot.com)
CAPTION
MUBARAK: What do you think about the colour of my hair?
MAN: It’s not the colour of your hair which concerns me.
The Saudi Bitch Slap by Asra Q. Nomani
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-12/the-saudi-bitch-slap/
Hassan Ammar / AP Photo A Saudi Arabian judge declared this weekend that husbands can slap their wives if they spend too much money. The Daily Beast’s Asra Q. Nomani on why his outrageous remarks are a helpful wakeup call for the Muslim world.
The blogs are lighting up with ridicule after a Saudi judge declared this past weekend that husbands can slap their wives on the face if they blow their husband’s money. One headline declared: “Saudi judge says it’s OK to bitch slap your wife.” Said a blogger: “Just more of those Muslim family values in action, folks!” Another headline laid out the news: “Saudi Sharia Judge: Slap the Bitch…”
For my part, I’m thrilled the judge said what he did—and got busted for it.
Razine’s statement is emblematic of a disturbing interpretation of Islam exported from Saudi Arabia to the far corners of the world, and we’re better served as a global society every time the absurdity of this ideology is exposed.
But first, let’s start with the facts. The incident occurred at, of all places, a conference on domestic violence, sanctioned by the Saudi royal family. During the conference, Sheik Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Razine, a judge in the Saudi city of Jeddah, tried to explain an increase in spousal abuse by suggesting spendthrift women were partly to blame, a Saudi newspaper reports.
“If a person gives SR1,200 [$320] to his wife and she spends SR900 [$240] to purchase an abaya [a full black gown worn mostly with a face veil or head covering] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment,” he said, according to an Arab News account. Women in the audience jeered loudly—but because Saudi judges are also Islamic clerics, their comments are influential. Read the rest of this entry »
Pope’s moral authority for peace
- http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/10/rashid.papal.trip/index.htmlHussein Rashid: Pope Benedict XVI’s moral authority can help foster peace
- Christian population of the Mideast has fallen sharply, Rashid says
- Pope’s faith shares much in common with Islam and Judaism, Rashid says
- Rashid: Mideast conflict isn’t about religion but about a conflict of nations
Hussein Rashid says Pope Benedict XVI, here at a Jordan mosque, can use his moral authority for peace.
Editor’s note: Hussein Rashid is special visiting instructor in the Department of Religion at Hofstra University and an associate editor at Religion Dispatches.
(CNN) — There is an assumption that the visit to the Middle East by Pope Benedict XVI will be a profound event. However, no one seems to be asking why there is such an expectation.
Unlike Pope John Paul II, who recognized the state of Israel and visited Muslim holy sites, both historic events, the current pope is better known for interfaith missteps. Read the rest of this entry »
Obama in Cairo is a blow to democracy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/may/11/obama-cairo-egypt-speech-muslim-world
Obama’s decision to give a speech to the Muslim world from Cairo is an endorsement of Egypt’s brutal dictatorship
guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 May 2009 20.30 BST
By choosing Cairo, Egypt as the platform for his long awaited address to the global Muslim community, President Barack Obama predictably leans on a reliable dictatorship suffocating a country that is teetering toward religious and political irrelevance.
Indeed, modern Egypt resembles its ubiquitous tourist attraction, the Sphinx, the symbolic temple guardian adorned with a human head on a prostrate lion.
Similarly, the near-30-year, brutal autocracy of Hosni Mubarak weighs heavily on the immobilised body of an exasperated, stifled and proud populace who’ve wearily observed their country, a former beacon for Arab nationalism, transformed into a loyal watchdog and stooge for anti-democratic, “pro-western” policies. Read the rest of this entry »
A New Muslim Statement Against Torture
A New Muslim Statement Against Torture
By Hussein Rashid
Posted on May 4, 2009, Printed on May 4, 2009
http://www.religiondispatches.org/blog/humanrights/1424/
Editor’s Note: The following is a direct response to this realization.
We, the Muslim-American community, condemn torture. It is irreligious, immoral, and unethical.
Our religious history is replete with stories demanding that we condemn abuse and torture. The Prophet Moses (AS) sacrificed his royal position to stop an act of torture. The Prophet Jesus (AS) was tortured in an exercise of the brutality of power. The Prophet Muhammad (SAS) forbade the mistreatment of prisoners. Husayn (AS), the Prophet’s grandson, was denied food and water, an act of torture, the abhorrence of which is now part of Muslim cultural memory.
We are are compelled to speak out against torture—just as we condemn acts of terrorism because of their immoral nature. We challenge our co-religionists to live to a higher standard and we challenge our fellow Americans to live to a higher standard. Read the rest of this entry »
