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Posts Tagged ‘Makkah’

The Head of the Snake

Posted in Saudi Arabia, USA, WikiLeaks, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

In the alleged Iranian government assassination plot involving the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. Adel al-Jubeir the Iranian-American prime suspect Manssour Arbabsiar yesterday pleaded not guilty. In view of what has been made public about the so far more than bizarre plot it is currently not clear on what kind of further intelligence the Obama Administration is basing its severe charges.

Saudi Arabian-Iranian relationships are traditionally embittered. Recently, the Kingdom, the strongest American ally in the Middle East after Israel, has feared Iran’s influence during an Arabian Spring offshoot in mainly Shi’te Bahrain which might have even spilled over to the mainly Shi’ite eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia. Since March 2011 the uprising in the tiny Gulf island had brutally been cracked down with the help of mainly Saudi Arabian tanks.

While millions of pilgrims in the Muslim world right now prepare for the upcoming annual Hajj in Makkah, one might recall that in 2007 the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been invited by King Abdullah to Saudi Arabia to perform, well, the Hajj.

But has he actually been invited? And what were Ahmadinejad’s intentions?

It was in the same year when Western warmongering and hype for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities had been on its height (remember, e.g., McCain’s “Bomb Iran”, which was just a reminiscence of a Vince Vance & the Valiants song released during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis) and preparations for another war in the Middle East had only abruptly been stopped by an American National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) partially released to the public early in December 2007 which clearly stated that, with confidence, Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.     

So, Abdullah didn’t invite Ahmadinejad. It was Ahmadinejad who had invited Abdullah, on the margins of the December 3-4 GCC meeting in Doha, to visit Iran, an invitation which Abdullah declined. When Ahmadinejad had informed him that he intended to visit the Kingdom for Hajj, Abdullah only noted “all Muslims are welcome”.

A secret WikiLeaks cable of 11 December 2007 (a couple of days before Ahmadinejad arrived with his then only buddy Rahim Esfandiar Mashaie at Makkah) released on 30 August 2011, quotes King Abdullah who met the US Ambassador Ford Fraker at his Al-Jandriyya farm several times.

 “2.  (S)  On the recently released National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, the King said that the report had not changed his mind about the true intentions of the Iranians regarding their nuclear program.  He said, ‘the Iranians are not good people.’ He also said that he believes the Iranians were lying the whole time about their nuclear intentions, asking why the Iranians would have put up with sanctions and not allowed full inspections if they had nothing to hide.  In response to a question from the Ambassador, the King said that he believed the NIE would weaken Chinese and Russian interest in imposing further sanctions on Iran.  The King agreed to continue to urge China and Russia to maintain pressure on Iran.  However, he did not think the report would weaken European resolve.” (Emphasis added.)

Another cable of 20 November 2007 indicates the minutes of a meeting between the Charge d‘Affaires Michael Gfoeller and above mentioned Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir.

“2. (S)  On November 20, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir invited the Charge d’Affaires and Staff Assistant (note taker) to his Riyadh residence for lunch. The Ambassador told the Charge that now is the time to ‘confront Iran.’  He said that Iran has been behind most of the difficulties that both the Kingdom and the US have faced in the region in recent years. Unfortunately, ‘No one has stood up to them yet.’  While admitting that the US has begun to counter Iranian efforts at destabilization effectively in Iraq, al-Jubeir suggested that the US has yet to move effectively to counter Iranian interference in the broader region.

3.  (S) Al-Jubeir claimed that recent US-Iranian talks in Baghdad have only emboldened Iran, since they have sent a signal of US weakness.  ‘Two years ago was the time to talk to Iran,’ he asserted, ‘not now.’ The Saudi Ambassador recalled that Iran, ever since the 1979 revolution, has responded to strength and firmness, rather than conciliation.  ‘Khomeini ended the Iran-Iraq when you accidentally shot down a civilian airliner headed to Dubai,’ he claimed, adding, ‘the Iranians said to themselves that the Americans had had enough, and so they stopped.’”

Well, when referring to the infamous 1988 shooting down of the civilian Iranian airbus IR655 by USS Vincennes Captain William C. Rogers III, is then 45-year-old firebrand diplomat al-Jubeir, who has been in the center of the recent Iranian assassination plot really advocating state terrorism here?

“¶4. (S) ‘The position of the King is very clear on Iran,’ al-Jubeir said.  King Abdullah believes that only a show of US strength will stop Iran’s expansionist policies and halt its nuclear program, he said, adding that the program is clearly intended to produce nuclear weapons.  He noted that the King rejects the argument that military action against Iran will coalesce popular support around President Ahmadinejad.  ‘He believes that the opposite will happen,’ the Saudi ambassador said.”

So, al-Jubeir actually begs for military action when counting on then 83-year old Saudi King’s delusional belief that the Iranian people won’t be supportive of Ahmadinejad.

 “5.  (S)  Al-Jubeir added that the Saudis hope that Ahmadinejad’s allies will lose the Iranian parliamentary elections in the Spring of 2008.  He will then become a ‘lame duck,’ he said. “

Which was another misjudgment as history tells. “’Will this make him easier to deal with or more dangerous?’ al-Jubeir asked.  ‘We do not know,’ he added.”

“¶6.  (S)  He also expressed skepticism regarding the ability of economic sanctions to prevent Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons.  In al-Jubeir’s view, Iran could have the capacity to build a bomb in as little as three years, since Tehran already possesses 3000 centrifuges.  He noted that the Saudi authorities are afraid that the upcoming change of administrations and the US election cycle will give the Iranians just enough time to complete mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle.  Al-Jubeir added that economic sanctions, at least in their current form, would probably not be enough to stop Iran’s rapid progress toward a nuclear weapon.”

We don’t know al-Jubeir’s sources of intelligence but we suppose that he may honestly have been surprised as well after the partial declassification of the NIE only a couple of days later.

“7.  (S)  That said, he admitted that much tougher sanctions might work.  The Saudi ambassador said that the two biggest obstacles to stopping Iran’s nuclear program through harsher UN sanctions are Russia and China.  On Russia, Ambassador al-Jubeir said that, ‘We need to flatter Putin.’  He added that, ‘The Russians want to be treated like the superpower they think they are.  From Putin’s point of view, he is the leader of the second most powerful country in the world, and yet America lectures him on human rights and elections.’  He said that gaining Russian cooperation on sanctions against Iran would require putting such concerns aside and focusing on the essential thing, which is stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.  He also advised adopting a similar attitude toward China, in order to gain its cooperation on Iran.”

As a true Saudi, al-Jubeir is apparently not a supporter, not to mention friend, of human rights and elections. One instantly thinks of “Sleeping with the Devil”, CIA veteran Bob Baer’s book about the shameless post-Cold War entanglement of the US and different dictatorships in the Middle East, in particular, Saudi Arabia. (Another cable of the same day describes al-Jubair’s song and dance about the seven-fold rape of a 19-year-old Shi’ite woman in 2006 in Qateef in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom; the rape victim was convicted here with a sentence of 200 lashes.)

“8.  (S) Al-Jubeir noted that Saudi Arabia can do its part by ‘bribing’ Russia and China to support tougher sanctions against Iran.  The Kingdom can offer Russia both energy cooperation and business deals, in order to compensate it for any losses it may sustain by downgrading its economic relationship with Iran, he said.   ‘We can do such things, but we cannot offer the Russians acceptance and respect,’ he said, adding, ‘only you can do that.’  He also asserted that ‘pressuring China’ to do such things as revalue the Chinese currency and curtail human rights abuses will not further the cause of sanctions, either.  ‘Strong relations with China,’ said the Ambassador, ‘could be the key in stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.’ 

9.  (S) Comment: As a senior royal advisor for the last eight years and a confidant of King Abdullah, al-Jubeir’s views usually track those of the monarch closely. His remarks indicate that Saudi anxieties regarding Iran’s nuclear program are growing, and that the Saudi government’s confidence in the ability of current economic sanctions to alter Iranian behavior remains limited.  That said, he seemed also to believe that much tougher sanctions might work, especially if Russian and Chinese support for them could be acquired, albeit at a high price. End Comment.

GFOELLER”

The Devil We Know, referring to another of Baer’s bestsellers.

 

Last update October 25, 2011.

 

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The Night Journey

Posted in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2010 | 2 Comments »

When recently having read German Orientalist Tilman Nagel’s voluminous opus maximum on life and legend of the prophet of Islam, I became once more interested in the different versions of Muhammad’s ascension to heaven and his night journey to Jerusalem which had already been combined in the earliest surviving text on his life, Ibn Ishaq’s (d. 761) Sirat Rasul Allah (“Life of the Messenger of God)”, edited by one of his students, Ibn Hisham (d. 830 CE).

Largely powerless, his preaching oppressed, his followers brutally persecuted, Muhammad had tried, just 18 months before emigrating to the city of Yathrib, to reassert himself by telling strange stories about night journeys. According to the Kitab al-Tarikh wa al-Maghazi by another biographer, Al-Waqidi (d. 822), the prophet ascended to heaven on Ramadan 17 (621 CE) when having a nap at the Ka’aba in Makkah. A ladder (mi’raj) was put up by the two angels Jibril (Gabriel) and Mikhael (Michael) between the Zamzam well and the station of Ibrahim (maqam Ibrahim). Then, all three climbed up. After having met other eminent prophets and having had a close look at hell and paradise, Muhammad received the order to commit ritual prayers five times a day, and after having accomplished the descent, Jibril informed him about details of the rites.

 

Al-Isra’ wa Mi’raj

According to Ibn Ishaq’s account, the ascension took place in Jerusalem. At night while sleeping in Abu Talib’s daughter Umm Hani’s house, on Rabi’ al-awwal 17, one year before the hijra, he was brought al-Buraq, the mythical white-winged mare, and accompanied by Jibril, they rode to the “farthest mosque” (al-masjid al-aqsa), i.e., according to most Muslim beliefs, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Muhammad tethered the animal at a site now called Robinson’s arch at the south western flank of the Temple Mount. From there he climbed the divine ladder up and down, and the horse brought him back to Makkah. The Qur’an mentions the night journey (al-Isra’) in its homonymous surah 17, 1:

“Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque (Masjid al-Aqsa), whose precincts We did bless, – in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).”

Muhammad did not follow Umm Hani’s advice not to talk about his night journey. The Quraysh quickly contested that it would have been possible to travel to Jerusalem in one night and scrutinized the story. According to a hadith by Ibn Katir “the Quraysh were asking me (Muhammad) about my Night Journey. They asked me things about Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem, the Temple Mount) that I was not sure of, and I felt more anxious and stressed then I have ever felt. Then Allah raised Bayt Al-Maqdis for me to see, and there was nothing they asked me about but I told them about it.“ So, it must be concluded that Muhammad had never been in Jerusalem before.

 

What Did the Prophet Actually See in Jerusalem?

But what had he seen when in Jerusalem? After its final destruction in 135 CE by the troops of Roman Emperor Hadrian who brutally cracked down the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jews were no longer allowed to settle there. Christianity was still a forbidden religion. The city was renamed Colonia Aelia Capitolina. Hadrian ordered that a temple for Aphrodite was erected. The entire province of Iudaea became Syria-Palaestina.

When Emperor Constantine I (d. 337 CE) became a ruler of the Roman Empire in 324 CE, Christianity got its chance. His devout Christian mother Empress Helena, while having been traveling the Holy Land at a time when Christianity had been legalized throughout the Roman Empire, had discovered the hiding place of what was held the True Cross, used for the crucifixion of Jesus. Amazingly, her son, Emperor Constantine, renewed the prohibition on the residence of Jews in Jerusalem. Jews were only allowed to mourn for the destruction of their temple once per year, on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av. In 325, Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea which established a largely privileged status for the Bishop of Jerusalem.

Constantine discovered in the holy city the site where Jesus has allegedly been crucified, buried, and resurrected, and ordered to build the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of Resurrection, and the Church on Mt. Zion commemorating the Last Supper. As a result of Constantine’s promotion of Christianity, Jerusalem flourished again after several centuries and became a center of pilgrimage for the whole Roman Empire.

In the fifth century, the city was further expanded by Eudocia, wife of Emperor Theodosius II, who ordered to build further churches in Jerusalem. Emperor Justinian erected in 543 CE another large church in honor of the Virgin Mary, called Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos. It was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 746 and never re-built.

The Byzantine rule in Palestine ended when, after a siege of 21 days and massive bombardment of the city walls with ballistas, the Sassanid army under General Shahrbaraz eventually conquered and looted Jerusalem in 614 CE, and massacred its (mainly Christian) inhabitants. Most of the churches including the Holy Sepulchre were burned down. The True Cross was taken as a trophy to Ctesiphon. This was four years after declaring Muhammad’s prophecy, eight years before hijra.

Persian rule lasted for some 15 years, and in 629 Heraclius re-conquered the city, seven years after hijra. He triumphantly returned the True Cross to the re-built Holy Sepulchre. Only nine years later, the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem. The rashidun Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a contract with Patriarch Sophronius assuring the Christians and their holy places that they will now be protected under Muslim rule. The Holy Sepulchre had been rebuilt and redecorated in 1048.

 

Reconstructions

Coming back to the question regarding Muhammad in Jerusalem, what did he actually find on the Temple Mount? Oleg Grabar’s Book on early Islamic Jerusalem, The Shape of the Holy (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1996) provides some computer-generated views of Jerusalem as it probably looked around 600 CE. While the Holy Sepulchre and Nea are prominent landmarks, the area of the former Temple is empty. (Note that the al-Aqsa mosque has been built by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid in 705, a couple of years after Abd’ al-Malik’s Dome of the Rock.) But these sacral (Christian!) monuments lay more or less in ruins when Muhammad arrived on his mythical mount in 621. When the Quraysh asked him about details and Allah raised Jerusalem before his face, did He show him the Christian city in ruins? Or the empty area on top of the Temple Mount?

 

The Two Qiblas

At least since the Mishna in 200 CE Jews face the Jerusalem Temple Mount in prayers. So did Muhammad even after having arrived in Yathrib, then Madinah, in 622. The following year, while leading the prayers in a mosque, he got a revelation by Allah (surah 2, 144) to turn the qibla to the Ka’aba in Makkah. So, two-and-half years after his miraculous visit to Jerusalem from where he ascended to heaven, he finally turned his interests towards Makkah.

 

The picture shows the Madaba (in Jordan) mosaic map of Jerusalem in the mid or late sixth century. The (northern) Damascus Gate to the left, (eastern) St. Stephen’s Gate as well as the Holy Sepulchre (west) and Nea church (south) are discernible.

Last update February 21, 2010

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The Farewell Sermon of the Prophet of Islam (S.A.W.)

Posted in Christianity, Islam, Religion, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

I was sitting in an airplane of Saudi Arabian Airline. It had turned out to be extremely difficult for me, the infidel, to get the visa for the, at least for foreigners, isolated country of Islam. Countless times I had to go to the Saudi Arabian consulate in Jabriah. I spent endless hours there and was usually treated in an unusual rude and impolite way. “The organizers will inform us if you are welcome!” I was told. “Come next week!” The organizers were the Saudi Arabian Association for Dental Research who had just started another attempt of organizing an annual meeting of the country’s dentists. Having lived and worked for a couple of years in Kuwait, I became more than curious to see whether they were interested in my research, too. Our Dean and my friend and colleague from Jordan wanted to accompany me. She also wanted to go to Makkah for Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage, but that was immediately declined by the authorities at the consulate. No way. Dhu al-Hijjah was coming soon, and the country was flooded with pilgrims from all over the world.

I was finally told that I was ‘welcome’. The organizers had even paid for the return ticket. My previous suggestion, going by car to Riyadh, was turned down and in fact considered ridiculously weird. “No way! Only families can drive by car in Saudi Arabia. You are a single!” And an infidel, but he didn’t speak out.

The glossy airline magazine had picked-out the upcoming holy month as the main issue, of course. Never, I read, had the air been so spiritually charged than when the Holy Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.) had decided to give his Farewell Sermon at Mount Arafat in the year 10 AH, after having conducted his first and final pilgrimage to Makkah and the Ka’aba. 114’000 Muslims, it is said, were listening to his words which had to be repeated sentence by sentence by his companion Rabiah who had a powerful voice. The sermon was as follows:

“All praise is due to Allah, so we praise Him, and seek His pardon and we turn to Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whom Allah guides aright there is none to lead him astray; and there is none to guide him aright whom Allah leads astray. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, the One, having no partner with Him. His is the sovereignty and to Him is due all praise. He grants life and causes death and is Powerful over everything. There is no God but Allah, the One; He fulfilled His promise and granted victory to His bondsman, and He alone routed the confederates (of the enemies of Islam).

O’ People! Listen to my words, for I do not know whether we shall ever meet again and perform Hajj after this year. O’ Ye people! Allah says, O’ people We created you from one male and one female and made you into tribes and nations, so as to be known to one another. Verily in the sight of Allah, the most honored amongst you is the one who is most God-fearing. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for the white over the black nor for the black over the white except in God-consciousness’.

All mankind is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned out of clay. Behold; every claim of privilege whether that of blood or property, is under my heels except that of the custody of the Ka’aba and supplying of water to the pilgrims, O’ people of Quraish, don’t appear (on the Day of Judgment) with the burden of this world around your necks, whereas other people may appear (before the Lord) with the rewards of the hereafter. In that case I shall avail you naught against Allah.

Behold! All practices of the days of ignorance are now under my feet. The blood revenges of the days of ignorance are remitted. The first claim on blood I abolish is that of Ibn Rabiah bin Harith who was nursed in the tribe of Sa’ad and whom the Hudhayls killed. All interest and usurious dues accruing from the times of ignorance stand wiped out. And the first amount of interest that I remit is that which Abbas ibn Abd-al Muttalib had to receive. Verily it is remitted entirely.

O’ people! Verily your blood, your property and your honor are sacred and inviolable until you appear before your Lord, as the sacred inviolability of this day of yours, this month of yours and this very town (of yours). Verily you will soon meet your Lord and you will be held answerable for your actions.

O’ people! Verily you have got certain rights over your women and your women have certain rights over you. It is your right upon them to honor their conjugal rights, and not to commit acts of impropriety, which if they do, you are authorized by Allah to separate them from your beds and chastise them, but not severely, and if they refrain, then clothe and feed them properly.

Behold! It is not permissible for a woman to give anything from the wealth of her husband to anyone but with his consent. Treat the women kindly, since they are your helpers and not in a position to manage their affairs themselves. Fear Allah concerning women, for verily you have taken them on the security of Allah and have made their persons lawful unto you by words of Allah.

O’ people! Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, has ordained to every one his due share (of inheritance). Hence there is no need (of special) testament for an heir (departing from the rules laid down by the Shari’ah). The child belongs to the marriage-bed and the violator of wedlock shall be stoned. And reckoning of their (deeds) rests with Allah. He who attributes his ancestry to other than his father or claims his clientship to other than his master, the curse of Allah is upon him.

All debts must be repaid, all borrowed property must be returned, gifts should be reciprocated and a surety must make good the loss to the assured. Beware! No one committing a crime is responsible for it but himself. Neither the child is responsible for the crime of his father, nor the father is responsible for the crime of his child.

Nothing of his brother is lawful for a Muslim except what he himself gives willingly. So do not wrong yourselves.

O’ People! Every Muslim is the brother of every other Muslim, and all the Muslims form one brotherhood. And your slaves; see that you feed them with such food as you eat yourselves, and clothe them with the clothes that you yourselves wear.

Take heed not to go astray after me and strike one another’s necks. He who (amongst you) has any trust with him, he must return it to its owner.

O’ people! Listen and obey, though a mangled Abyssinian slave is appointed your Amir, provided he executes (the Ordinance of) the Book of Allah among you.

O’ people! No Prophet would be raised after me and no new Ummah (would be formed) after you.

Verily I have left amongst you that which will never lead you astray, the Book of Allah, which if you hold fast you shall never go astray.

And beware of transgressing the limits set in the matters of religion, for it is transgression of (the proper bounds of) religion that brought destruction to many people before you.

Verily, the Satan is disappointed at ever being worshipped in this land of yours, but he will be pleased by obedience in anything (short of worship that is) in matters you may be disposed to think insignificant, so beware of him in your matters of religion.

Behold! Worship your Lord; offer prayers five times a day; observe fast in the month of Ramadhaan; pay readily the Zakat (poor due) on your property; and perform pilgrimage to the House of God and obey your rulers and you will be admitted to the Paradise of your Lord.
Let him that is present, convey it unto him who is absent, for many people to whom the message is conveyed may be more mindful of it than the audience.

And if you were asked about me, what would you say?”

They answered, “We bear witness that you have conveyed the trust (of religion) and discharged your ministry of Prophethood and looked to our welfare.”

“O’ Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.
O’ Lord: Bear Thou witness unto it.”

Toward the end of his sermon, the Prophet asked “O people, have I faithfully delivered unto you my message?” A powerful murmur of assent “O Allah, yes!” arose from thousands of pilgrims and the vibrant words “Allahumma na’m” rolled like thunder throughout the valley. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.) lifted his forefinger towards the sky and then pointing towards people said: “O’ Allah, be witness. O’ Allah, be witness.”

We landed in Riyadh, and a driver had already been waiting for us. He immediately realized that my female friend had been traveling without her husband. Thus, it was considered impossible that she had to take a taxi from her hotel to the conference hotel every morning. Without further ado she was ‘kidnapped’ and brought to the conference venue where she had to stay. I didn’t see her again during these days, only later after having safely returned to Kuwait. One reason for that was also the large black cloth which separated the ladies’ from the gents’ sides in the main auditorium. The latter was not illuminated and even from the podium not visible. I gratefully noticed that one female colleague was courageous enough to insist asking a more intelligent question after my presentation, and the chairman indignantly permitted her inquiry.

We left the country before Dhu al-Hijjah had commenced. The authorities wanted the numerous infidels who had been invited for guest speeches out of the country before the millions of pilgrims would arrive.

Coming back to the Last Sermon of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) I immediately had to think of the Sermon on the Mount delivered by Jesus (p.b.u.h.) as it is described in the Gospel of Matthew (5-7). There is, of course, a big difference, in particular as regards the revolutionary ethics of the latter. Read, for example, about the love for enemies (Matt 5: 43-48):

43 “You have heard that it was said: ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Can there be a better motto for the upcoming holiday season for both Christians and Muslims? For all my Muslim friends and colleagues, blessed and most spiritual holidays! Eid Mubarak!

First published at Salmiya.

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No Mercy

Posted in Islam, Kuwait, tagged , , , , on August 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

I know that I was always very privileged when living in the country. My Ramadans were usually nice times full of interesting discussions about religious matters and in general plenty of opportunities for widening my horizon.

However, the easy-going times of Ramadan are now definitely over. Since last year (when I had left the Middle East for good already) the Holy Month is moving into the summer months and will be observed for about 12 years during the scorching heat. A full circle of the Gregorian-Hijra calendar is 33 years, an entire generation. Since in Muslim countries the population is very young, few people have experienced the harsh conditions of fasting during the long, extremely hot and, what makes it even worse, humid days.

I have noticed that the weather conditions were very uncomfortable in Kuwait the last days. When living in Kuwait, I had expressed my concerns many times and usually was told by the older Kuwaiti colleagues that people were used to it. I doubt. Most people are anyway working indoors. My compassion and sympathy is especially with Bangladeshi, Pakistani or Indian construction workers who have to bear the brutal heat and humidity in full which is in fact unbearable when it comes to 40+ degrees and close to 100% humidity. I remember only one time that this condition had hit me. In my first September in Kuwait, it was very similar: water running outside the windows.

I was also wondering how it had been in Makkah, for example, when the Holy Qur’an had been revealed to the Prophet (PBUH). According to tradition, he’d got the first revelation in a cave of Hira on August 10, 610 CE when he was fasting in the month of Ramadan (I think that it was at the end of Ramadan, the last few days are still observed by the faithful as Laylat al-Qadr). On that very day this year Makkah reported 42 degrees maximum temperature and rather humid conditions.

So, people at that time were in fact kind of used to it. By Hijra of the Muslims in 622 CE, Ramadan had moved 132 days ahead, i.e., end of April, which still seems not to be very comfortable in Makkah (37 degrees, very humid this year).

Madinah may in fact be a bit different. It is also at a higher altitude, >600 meters above sea level.

In the old days in Kuwait without any air condition people would not have worked too much but used the long hours for contemplation and prayers. Badgirs, or wind towers, dominated the village, not skyscrapers as today (see Sharq Market as an example; they are found all over and on both sides of the Persian Gulf). The need for physical activity was at a very low level, I suppose.

Today’s greed and hyperactivity makes life so difficult during Ramadan in the summer. There might be a chance right now for a change in the society. Since I would expect even casualties this summer and in the coming years, authorities have to do something about it. Not only there but also in the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, even Saudi Arabia.

Before I left Kuwait, working hours during Ramadan had been shifted already to the early morning hours. Construction workers woke me up, not the muezzin. But then Ramadan was still in October, which may be nice in Kuwait, especially at the end of the month.

First published at Salmiya.

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The DIFFERENCE

Posted in Christianity, Islam, Religion, tagged , , , , , , on December 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

saint_nicholas_with_the_three_boys_in_the_pickling_tub

Being fascinated by the DIFFERENCE in culture of Western and Muslim societies, I find the study of differences as much as important as the study of similarities in understanding what separates us. These days see, once again, an almost coincidence of the holiest Muslim and Christian holidays. Only a couple of days ago, two to three million pilgrims assembled in Makkah to perform hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, which every Muslim is supposed to perform at least once in his or her lifetime if physically able and can afford to do so. Only ten days later, Shi’a Muslims commemorate the designation of his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib, as the Prophet Muhammad’s successor. In Iran, Eid-e Ghadeer is even more important than Eid-e Ghorban, the Festival of Sacrifice.

 

Christians, on the other hand, celebrate and count right now the weeks until Christmas by lighting candles on an advent wreath. It should be a quiet time of contemplation, some spirituality, and with a thorough and thoughtful review of the past year. Impatient kids would perceive these four weeks usually as too long. But the hunt for Christmas gifts may result for adults in more stress than usual as well. The same procedures as every year, I suppose.

 

What I experience right now in my self-imposed arctic solitude is Christmas overkill. This is a winter-wonder-Christmas country with all houses over and over decorated and illuminated. A true Christmas Disney World with Santa Claus, reindeers, jingle bells, blinking and twinkling tinsel town. People get crazy about Christmas here. The rather depressing darkness for more than two months may be one explanation.

 

Legend tells that Santa Claus, or Father Christmas as he is called here (are they really the same?) is living at the North Pole, I was told. The 4th century bishop of Myrna in modern-day Turkey, well-known for his secret support for the poor, namely Saint Nicholas (d. 346 CE), has been transformed into sort of a dwarf with a red suit and a pointed cap. One has to remember that Norwegians, if religious at all, are mainly belonging to the Lutheran Church. The great reformator Martin Luther had invented another peculiarity in the 16th century. Since Catholics distributed their gifts on the anniversary of St. Nicholas’ death on the 6th of December, he had created an equivalent for Protestants, the Christkind, whose actual role and function has always been difficult if impossible to understand. It doesn’t play a big role here.

 

Christmas has been completely trivialized when commerce hijacked it especially after World War II. For so many years the whole country’s economy now more or less depends on business on the four Saturdays before the Holy Night. Christmas is celebrated in Japan and China. Santa you may find even in the Sultan Center in Salmiya in Kuwait, and Arab children are keen sitting on his lap.

 

I suppose that this is exactly the way how to make one of the more strict Monotheisms with a, sad to say, bad history of crusades and manslaughter (not really better than Islam) in fact harmless. In reducing its main holidays to kitschy and childish symbols in a secular society, its teeth are altogether pulled out at once. Jesus’ message (love, peace) has vanished, too. And, a majority of people living, for example, in Germany do not really know what is celebrated on Easter, not to mention Pentecost.

 

Yesterday someone told me a joke. We should not forget that Christmas is not only gifts and presents, Christmas tree and tinsel, goose, cookies and chocolate. It is also the Birth of Santa.

 

Merry Christmas!

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