Merit-bound Alley

Well, the verdict is in, and Miss Gibbons is guilty. However, the court allowed a lesser sentence of 15 days in jail, which while still ridiculously severe for the “crime” is better than 6 months and 40 lashes. I guess we can all be happy that Sudanese Muslims did not decide to brutalize an old woman. Yay for them.

The real good news in this mess is the rare public outcry (and the more rare news coverage of such) of moderate Muslims in the west. The following quote reflects views that I suspect are more prominent than we realize:

“It’s very, very sad, very embarrassing for us,” said Dr. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament in Great Britain, earlier this week. “The Muslim community here has also expressed that this is simply unacceptable behavior from the Sudanese government, and I think the Sudanese have got to realize that this episode is doing immense damage to their credibility outside.”

Less bold is this statement from Daisy Khan, director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement:

“I think that what we’re looking at is a difference of cultural expression,” Khan said, “because most Muslims revere their prophets and don’t name their prophets in vain.

And:

“What we’re looking at here is a cultural ‘faux pas,’ and there’s a political undercurrent that’s running through this furor,” said Khan. 

While I appreciate that Khan is speaking out (kinda) against this monstrosity, it bothers me that she is doing it in a typical American Pussy fashion that forwards the view that any discussion of religion must be handled with kid gloves. Where is the outrage? This kind of wishy-washy limp dishrag statement does nearly as much harm to the credibitilty of Muslims as the barbarism of the monsters that wanted to batter Ms. Gibbons in the first place. Don’t talk about “cultural differences” when a government wanted to incarcerate and whip the shit out of an old woman who gave a toy to some kids! I want want to see Khan flushed with rage and sick with anger that these tyrants want to brutalize a kindly teacher in the name of her god.

Now, I’m going to take a shot at the media for their shameful dereliction of duty in not giving an appropriate amount of coverage of moderate Muslim decrial of this and other inhumanities dealt out by extremists in the Middle East. While I do think that moderate Muslims need to be more vocal, what’s the point if the media ignores it? There should be as much coverage of the outcry as there is of the target of that outcry, otherwise you have slant. But let’s face it, folks, bad news gets viewers, and we will probably never see the moderate Muslims on any network as much as we will see Anna Nicole, the War on Christmas, or OJ.

So, a heartfelt round of applause goes out to Dr. Siddiqui and others who are not afraid to voice their disgust, and the a hearfelt middle finger to those afraid to voice theirs and the media for not giving it the attention it deserves.

Imagine you’re middle-aged teacher that picked up and left all things familiar to teach children in a third-world country. Imagine also that you kindly brought a toy in for the children, a teddy bear for instance, and allowed the kids to name it and take turns bringing it home with them on weekends. Kids being kids, they name the bear after a popular boy in the class. It’s a pretty picture to paint, no?

Now, imagine that the popular boy’s name is Mohamed, you’ve moved to Sudan, and country ruled under Sharia law, and now you are going to be jailed and physically beaten for your crimes. Not so pretty anymore, but sadly true for Gillian Gibbons, 54. See, it’s a bit of a blasphemy to craft an image of Muhammed. We all remember the furor over some cartoons a while back. Now, what I’m uncertain about is how that relates to naming a stuffed toy after a child in the class, who happens to share a name with Islamic prophet. Should the boys parents be flogged as well for naming him such?

I love this quote. According to the Sudanese Assembly of Ulemas, “An influential and semi-official association of clerics, scholars, and preachers”:

“What has happened was not haphazard or carried out of ignorance, but rather a calculated action and another ring in the circles plotting against Islam,” the Ulemas added. “It is part of the campaign of the so-called war against terrorism and the intense media campaign against Islam”.

Well, genius, if you don’t want your religion portrayed as a violent travesty against human rights, then make it a church law to not react to the merest slight with violence! A teddy bear gets lashings? Cartoons get riots? Books get death threats and goddamn fatwas? What’s next, punishment for getting raped?

Oh, forgot. You “clerics and scholars” have that one under your belts, too. Maybe there would be no “media conspiracy” if Islamic powers-that-be were able to use the power that they’ve gained from it’s poverty-stricken faithful for anything other than heavy brutality, willful ignorance, and paranoiac retribution. Yes, violence will solve anything. Neighbor’s tree shedding leaves in your yard? 40 lashes! Cat puke on the carpet? 40 lashes! Wife just get 40 lashes? 40 more! Mailman bend an envelope? FATWAH! There’s nothing you can’t solve through violence and death!

Well, I think I’ve spent my vitriol by just sitting in my chair, fuming, plus I don’t want to have a brick thrown through my window by some scholar. But I will leave you with this: people don’t like being brutalized, artists and authors don’t like death threats, and the world is slowly turning against crimes against humanity like punishing the victim. If Islam in the Middle East doesn’t want to be naturally phased out by a population that will become more learned and will realize that they have power over the beasts in charge, then it must pull itself out of the New Dark Ages and mold itself to fit the world as it is and will be. Give something valuable to the world. Otherwise it will be nothing more than mythology, like Valhalla, Pegasus, and tan M&Ms.

I hope you liked my story time.

You may notice a new page above called AOPoI. I created this to make the An Outsiders Perspective on Islam essays more easily available. On this page, you will see a link to each part of the project, a short description, and at the bottom, what the next essay will be. Check it out!

I will try to use few conventions in this work. One that you will notice almost immediately is the addition of (pbuh) or (pbut) after the names of the Muslim Prophets. This is short for “peace be upon him/them” and is a common show of respect for the Prophets. As it is my hope to educate myself and to do this with the same respect I would show any religion, this honorific will be used throughout this work.

Also, there are a number of alternate spellings for many of the Arabic words. I will try to keep with one throughout this work.

Ablutions - cleansing of the face, arms, and feet before prayer
Adhan - the calling of the faithful to prayer
Al-Fitra - the state of pure submission to Islam in which a child is born
Allah - the one true God
‘Ashura - Muslim holiday honoring the martyrdom of Imam Husain and 70 other Muslims by the kaliphah
‘Asr - Afternoon Prayer, held between late afternoon and sunset
Ayat - verse within a Suwar (chapter) of the Qur’an
Fajr - Morning prayer, held between the break of dawn and before sunrise
First Revelation - the first time Jibril came to Muhammed (pbuh) to give him the word of God
Five Pillars of Islam - the five basic religious practises of Islam
Hadith - the collected sayings of the the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)
Hajj (Haj) - Journey to Mecca. All able Muslims are expected to make this journey at least once.
Hegira (Hejira) - Journey of Muhammed (pbuh) from Mecca to Medina in 622CE
Hira - the cave outside of Mecca where Muhammed (pbuh) heard the First Revelation from Jibril
Ibada - service to God through service to Mankind
‘Id Al-Fitr - Muslim holiday, first day after Ramadan
‘Id Al-Adha - Muslim Holiday held during the 12th month, is the Day of Sacrifice and traditional time for Hajj
Imam - teacher, and the leader of the prayer
Isha - Night Prayer, held just before sleep
Islam - the religion of the Muslims, means “peaceful submission to God”
Jibril - Arabic name of the Angel Gabriel
Ka’ba - 48′ high roughly cubical structure built by Abraham and Ishmael as a place to worship God, and the endpoint of the Hajj
Khalifa - and elected successor to the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)
Maghrib - Sunset Prayer, held between sunset and darkness
Mawlid Al-Nabi - Muslim Holiday, the birthday of Muhammed (pbuh)
Mecca - the birth town of Muhammed
Muadhin - chants or intones the Adhan
Muhammad (pbuh) - (570CE - 632CE) according to Islam, the last and most important of a long line of Prophets
Muslim - one who submits themselves to the will of God
pbuh - “peace be unto him”, phrased used to show repsect for the prophets
Qibia - the shorter of the two great circular routes to the Ka’ba in Mecca, Muslims face in this direction when they pray
Qu’ran - the word of God as revealed to Muhammed (pbuh) by the angel Jibril, means “recitation”
Rais Al-Sannah - also Al-Hijral Muharram, the Muslim new year
Ramadan - the 9th lunar month and holiest of Muslim holidays, honoring when Muhammed (pbuh) received the First Revelation from Jibril
Salat - prayer
Shahadah - the Muslim creed, “There is no God but God and Muhammed is his Prophet”
Shariah - Islamic Law
Shia - one of the schools od Islam, split from the Sunni over a matter of succession
Siyam - the fast of Ramadan
Sufi - a school of Islam developed in the late 10th century, focuses on personal union with the divine
Sunnah - the book of accounts of Muhammed’s (pbuh) deeds
Sunni - the largest of the schools of Islam, composing 90% of all Muslims
Suwar - a chapter of the Qur’an
Zakat - a 2.5% charity tax on the income and property of middle and upper class Muslims
Zuhr - Noon Prayer, held between midday and the afternoon

The NewsJournal printed a story today about Muslim high-schoolers and how their Ramadan fasting affects their sports play. Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan to practice denial and discipline as an act of faith. This obviously has a negative affect on athletic performance, causing fatigue and sometimes cramping.

That’s interesting, but I think the real story about these kids is the show of bravery in choosing to display their faith in a misunderstood religion, and in front of high-schoolers, no less. High school is not a place that welcomes differences from the status quo, and the athletes seem to be expected to show an almost inhuman level of conformity.

One boy even had to suffer being called “Osama” throughout a game by the opposing team. I wonder how well they would take to being called “Torquemada” by their teammates. Oh, wait, they were Delaware students, so they probably would have no fucking clue about the reference.

Few enough high-schoolers have the guts to display their differences in front of their peers, so it is a testament to these Muslim children’s courage that they will display their oft-maligned faith in front of some of the cruelest people the world has to offer: other high-schoolers.