Blessed Hands

Some things in the Arabic language are counterintuitive. In English, if someone offers you tea, “thank you” means “yes, I’ll have some, thank you for bringing it.” In Arabic,  shokrahn is a polite refusal: “thanks, but no thanks.”  The correct affirmative response in Arabic would be izlamoo idayk (masculine) or izlamoo idaykee (feminine), meaning “Allah bless your hands”. In other words, may Allah bless your hands so you can continue to offer tea with them–the ability to be generous is a gift from Allah.

While you’re sitting around drinking tea, one thing you might do is compare hands with your companions. Some people are said to have a mark of the “ninety-nine names of God” on their palms.  On one hand is written the Arabic symbols for the numbers eight and one (the sum being nine):  ۸۱ with the reverse pattern written on the other hand:۱۸. So the numbers add up to nine on each hand; reading both hands side by side gives the number ninety-nine.

Ramadan Kareem–are you fasting?

“Siama?” the little girl asked me, quite shyly asking a question of the foreign teacher. So far the Jordanian children had tried to touch my blond hair on the bus, or asked other parents why I wasn’t wearing a head scarf while the parents tried to shush them, or even thrown rocks at me, but this was the first time a child had acted like I was just another Jordanian. I had graduated. They say if you live with a people and eat their bread for 40 days you will be become one of them. The child had spoken a deeper truth. I gave her the only possible answer, “Iowa.” Yes, I was fasting.

When I was picking up pita bread in the Arab neighborhood the other day, I saw the guidief and dates and realized it was Ramadan already. Today I have no responsibilities or anyone who will question what I do or don’t eat. Today I will remember that a part of me is still Jordanian and I will fast.

Why fast? “To remind us that Allah asks us to do difficult things,” the religion teacher at my Jordanian girls’ school told me. After bumping into a catholic friend who invited me to church, I listened to a Jordanian priest with different advice, “A lot of you will be fasting along with your neighbors” he said, “If you fast, do it for your own reasons.”

I have watched the fasting traditions of Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox and Ethiopian friends. They might fast from all food and water, only certain types of meat, or only on certain days. My own religion does not follow any fasting tradition now, but John Wesley once belonged to a devout university group that fasted on certain days. Unfortunately I don’t know anything more about that tradition. So the fast I am following today is from all food starting at sunrise–okay, I cheated by a half hour–and okay, I had pork on my breakfast sandwich, but wahada u wahada (one thing at a time). I will limit water, but not absolutely. I no longer smoke, so that part won’t be as difficult today.  I am unlikely to come in contact with a male I might have to shake hands with or touch in the course of social interaction, so no danger there. And then I will think about my reasons for fasting.

Reasons for fasting.

1. Tradition. None of us is born is a vacuum. We inherit traditions and religious beliefs from the generations that preceded us. At first we follow blindly, then we keep the useful traditions. Tradition gives us a link to the past and a link with other cultures.

2. Awareness.  How much of what we do is by routine?  Ramadan breaks the routine, yes, but we also go back to follow a different routine we already know from previous Ramadans. Are you used to having coffee or tea available next to your laptop? Now you become aware of what you have been putting in your mouth.  Do you accidentally brush against strangers on the street when it’s crowded?  Now be aware of who you bump into and what gender they are, as Jordanians are constantly aware of who is next to them on the street. Do you lose track of whether it is light or dark outside? If you can’t eat until the sun goes down, now you will have reason to ask for the time of sunrise (Fajr) and the adhan or call to prayer a half hour before, and the time of sunset (Magreb) and to be aware of the sun’s transit. As I think about fasting in other years, I wonder if the reason I was finally able to break the smoking habit was because of the Ramadan fasts.   We will see how many of the temporary Ramadan habit changes will carry over.

3.  Iftar.  Yes, the food.  Iftar (breakfast at sunset) after a day of fasting is one big party in Jordan.  It’s not a party that happens in sleazy clubs either, it’s a family party. And Christian Arabs have absolutely no problem eating the guidief and other Ramadan sweets that come out at this time. I have my dates (Tunisian and not the premium Saudi dates) ready to break the fast, and I have my guidief pancakes ready for tonight’s meal. Today I will stuff them with the walnut/coconut/ cinnamon mixture or the sweet cheese–yes I have soft cheese (Danish!) in a can. Oh, and I have to boil the syrup made from water, sugar, lemon, and orange flower water.  Yum.

Palestine Film Festival in Chicago

What can I say about the Palestine Film Festival? It’s fascinating. Go.

Other years it has been spread over many locations throughout the city, many of them in tiny spaces that were, shall we say, not in areas or buildings that were well kept up. The scheduling left something to be desired too, the most intriguing films sometimes being shown on Easter Sunday.

This year the event will be April 25-May 8 at the Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.

Tickets to movies are $9 general admission, $7 students, $4 for students and faculty of the School of the Art Institute and staff of the Art Institute, and $5 for Film Center members. Tickets may be purchased at the Film Center Box Office, which opens at 5 p.m. on weekdays and at 2 p.m. on weekends. General admission tickets are also available through Ticketmaster.

More info from http://www.palestinefilmfest.com/ or from http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/

Taxi fashion statement in Aqaba

Taxis in Jordan’s southern port city of Aqaba are looking snazzy these days with a fresh coat of blue and green paint. It’s the new look for the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA). So far, 200 taxis out of 470 have been painted at government expense. Next year’s budget in the financially and administratively autonomous zone will provide for painting 50 public transportation buses.

There are still a few details to be worked out. As everyone knows, in Jordan serveeces are white and taxis are yellow. But Aqaba’s green and blue taxis deliver passengers to other cities. As soon as they set wheel outside the special economic zone, they can get stopped and ticketed for not having a yellow taxi. Last week a taxi driver got stopped and ticketed on the way to Maan. Until the word gets around–and I think Maan is just jealous here–I mean, what is in Maan?–the ASEZA will be paying these tickets.

Jordan’s Queen Rania on YouTube: “Ask me your stereotypes about Arabs”

“Change begins within each one of us, in our willingness to reach out to each other.”

The following is an unofficial transcript of Queen Rania’s YouTube message:

In a world where it’s so easy to connect to one another, we still remain very much disconnected. There’s a whole world of wonder out there that we cannot appreciate with stereotypes, so it’s important for all of us to join forces, come together, and try to bring down those misconceptions.

I’ve been surprised by some of the questions that I’ve been asked about the Arab world and the Middle East: do all Arabs hate Americans, can Arab women work, are there any YouTubers in Jordan. If what most people know about the Arab world and Arab people they’ve known through programs like 24 and Jack Bauer, then I think they’re in for a very big surprise.

YouTube is a great platform for a dialog and I believe that we need to use these tools in order to get those messages out there.

From now until August the twelfth, which is international youth day, I hope to be receiving from YouTubers some of the questions they have and some of the common stereotypes they have hear about the Arab world and I’ ll try to break them down one by one and address them.

I’ll also be encouraging YouTubers to help me out to address these common stereotypes, so I’ll be relying on your skills and your creativity so that we can all get this right.

I want people to know the real Arab world, to see it unedited, unscripted, and unfiltered, to see the personal side of my region, to know the places and faces, and the rituals and cultures that shape the part of the world that I call home.

Throwing a fit over “Fitna”

The European movie Fitna is currently unavailable anywhere. American bloggers are having fits because they can’t see it in order to determine whether it is offensive or not. According to the April 1, 2008 (!) Jordan Times:

The 15-minute film entitled “Fitna”, an Arabic word for sedition or disturbance, portrays Islam as a threat to the Western world. It shows images of violent acts and holds Islam and the Koran responsible for them.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende released a statement on behalf of the Dutch government on the day the odious film was posted on the Internet.

The Dutch government banned the movie from being displayed on cinema screens.

“The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this interpretation. The vast majority of Muslims reject extremism and violence. In fact, the victims are often also Muslims,” the statement reads.

“We, therefore, regret that Mr Wilders has released this film. We believe it serves no purpose other than to cause offence. But feeling offended must never be used as an excuse for aggression and threats. The government is heartened by the initial restrained reactions of Dutch Muslim organisations,” Balkenende said.

Judeh said that the government valued the Dutch government’s condemnation of the film.

Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch MP who produced the film, heads the Freedom Party that has nine seats in the Dutch parliament.

The Dutch government, however, remains on alert for delayed responses to Wilders’ film.

“Sometimes it can take months before the true repercussions are felt,” AFP reported Balkenende as saying.

Meanwhile, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen sought to dampen anger through diplomacy and met with 26 ambassadors from the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, including Jordan’s envoy.

After the meeting, Verhagen issued a statement saying: “I am happy with the moderate reactions we have been getting from the Muslim world.” He added, “the rhetoric in some countries shows that we must be alert.”

Alert? Anger? Agression? Threats? Repercussions?

Well, all I can say is it’s a good thing all these diplomats aren’t “portraying Islam as a threat to the Western world.”

Did Syria’s President al-Assad really eat with Israelis?

I’m still chuckling over a humorous piece in The Onion about the Mideast peace talks in Anapolis earlier this month, titled “Syria Attends Mideast Peace Talks For Free Continental Breakfast”. Perhaps The Onion‘s reporters, their reputations preceding them, weren’t permitted in the same press room with the mainstream press? Whatever happened, they did manage to get a couple shots of Syria president Bashar al-Assad.

But what is on the table in front of al-Assad in that formal conference portrait?

And why doesn’t al-Assad’s big plate of Danish rolls have a shadow? The table is highly polished, and everything else on the table, no matter how small, has a reflection.

Can you say “photoshop”?

Naughty, naughty Onion.

The Onion continued with their tongue-in-cheek explanation:

In Tehran, meanwhile, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was not invited to the talks, was highly critical of the summit, claiming that the European-style breakfast was indicative of a pro-Israel bias.

“It is quite obvious that the Annapolis summit will offer little real substance to those in attendance,” Ahmadinejad said. “The little single-serving boxes of cereal are not even sizable enough to constitute a real meal.”

Nevertheless, many within the State Department said they were encouraged to witness a number of delegates working together to clean up a cup of spilled coffee. At one point, the Israeli prime minister even offered to give up extra napkins to Syria’s president in order to stop the liquid from flowing over the side of the counter.

Funny stuff, but it made me stop and wonder–did all those people really eat together? The way I understand the Arab food symbolism, Arabs can have tea with anyone. This is an expected part of a meeting. An airing of opinions, as well as the hoped-for consensus, always takes place in the presence of those ubiquitous little tea glasses.

But food is a different matter. Eating with someone is a statement of acceptance, at least out in the boonies among the country people. I wonder how the diplomats interpret it. And if the Syrian entourage really did eat with the Israelis.

Care Bears in Sudan–”Punish with Bullets”

A friend of mine once nearly triggered an international incident when he put children named Saddam and Mohammed in a wastebasket to demonstrate the preposition “in”. The administrator stuck up for him–after all, he was wearing traditional robes in the classroom–and it all blew over.

Sudan is not quite so unemotional. Knife-brandishing crowds, demonstrating, when else–on Friday–demanded a British teacher whose students named a teddy bear “Mohammed” be executed by shooting. Uh, don’t you shoot people with guns?

Arab press quiet about Saudi gang-rape victim sentence

Arab press is strangely silent about a 19-year-old Saudi girl who was gang raped by 7 men then sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after reporting the crime. Her attorney’s license to practice law was also revoked.

The only report of this I can find in the Arab press this week is this one sentence in the 21-Nov-07 Al-Jazeera:

RIYADH (AFP) – A Saudi woman sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes despite being gang raped has vowed to challenge the ruling in a case that has received wide publicity, embarrassing the Saudi government.

Source: AFP

Human Rights Watch says the verdict “not only sends victims of sexual violence the message that they should not press charges, but in effect offers protection and impunity to the perpetrators.”

Iranian Barbershops closed by religious police: Can the unibrow be far behind?

Religious police have closed some 20 barbershops in Iran as a part of a crackdown on “bad hijab” or unIslamic clothing. On the forbidden list are makeup, tattoos, hairstyles with gel where the hair stands up, and plucking eyebrows for men.

Plucking eyebrows?

I saw a barber who knew how to do this in the north of Jordan. A friend of mine had a rather wolfish look–widow’s peak, eyebrows growing close together and a huge Arab mustache. I walked around with his sister while he went in for maintenance. The eyebrow plucking he was adamant must be done with a string. The string is held between the barbers two hands and dragged across the skin. As it is dragged across the skin the thread twists. The hairs get caught in the string and are plucked. After my friend emerged from the barber, I realized he had a unibrow and needed frequent attention to keep from looking Neanderthal.

The hair-plucking trick with the string is common and women do it too. One day I went with my Iraqi neighbor to find a beauty salon with reasonably priced haircuts. We ended up paying around four dollars each. I didn’t know what I wanted, so the stylist said “I will give you a Versace cut” and it was pretty good too. My friend knew in detail what she wanted layered and so forth and her haircut was more of a process. At the end, the stylist pointed out some courser facial hair on her temples, a new price was negotiated, and out came the string, deftly rolled across her forehead. I couldn’t see a difference but she was enormously satisfied with her appearance.

After my friends’ experience with plucking hair, I started becoming more aware of the appearance of Arab men on the street. A surprising number of them look like they might have unibrows that are kept separated into distinct eyebrows only by a barber’s frequent attention.

I am picturing the new Iran, without barbered eyebrows. A chorus line of Iranian men comes on stage in the Monty Python tradition looking like they might be ready to burst into a chorus of Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! As they turn, you can see they each have a unibrow and look exactly like Bert as in Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.

Of course there is only one song that goes with Bert’s unibrow. The line of husky Iranian men bursts into a chorus of “Rubber ducky, you’re the one…”