John and Jesus in Arabic

Do Arab Christians and Moslems have different names for the same biblical personages?

I remember a Jordanian Moslem from the town where Herod had his palace (the one where the Baptist was beheaded) telling me the name for John was Yohanna.

Bible:

Checking the account of John the Baptist in an Arabic Bible we find in Matthew 3:1 the name used is يُوحَنَّا Yohanna. Jesus, from Matthew 1:1 is يَسُوعَ Yasua.  While we’re there let’s get from Matthew 1:16 the names of Mary مَرْيَمَ (Mariyam) and Josephيُوسُفَ  (Yousef), parents of Jesus. In the same verse there is also the word for Christ الْمَسِيحَ –Maseeya.

But in Arabic there is more than one Mariyam and more than one Yousef. Aaron, brother of Moses had a sister Miriam the prophetess. In Exodus 15:20 she is called مَرْيَمُ Miriam, same as the mother of Jesus. Joseph يُوسُفَ (Yousef) who was sold into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 39:2), the same as the carpenter Joseph. There is also more than one Jesus, the name Joshua يَشُوعُ (Yashua) (son of Nun and aide to Moses) being cognate (?) with Jesus, but not spelled the same here in Numbers 11:28.  But isn’t s/sh a shiboleth somewhere in the Bible?*

Koran:

On to the Koran. First, Jesus. Koran 3:45 has the names Jesus عِيسَى (Issa),  Maryيَٰمَرْيَمُ (Mariyam) and Messiah ٱلْمَسِيحُ (messeeya) . A few passages further on (3:39), John the Baptist is called بِيَحْيَىٰ Yahya. Apparently Joseph the carpenter doesn’t rate a mention in the Koran, but Joseph who was sold into slavery to Egypt has his own book of the Koran where he is called يوسف Yousef, or in the fully voweled classical Koran version يُوسُفَ.

And in Spanish (from the same Bible portal as the Arabic):

John the Baptist-Juan el Bautista

Jesus-Jesús

Mary-María

Joseph-José (The Egyptian Joseph is also José.)

Joshua (son of Nun, Moses’ aide)=Josué (hijo de Nun, asistente de Moisés)

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*Judges 12:5-6:

⁵ The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” ⁶ they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’ ” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

The Hebrew for “messiah” appears to be מָשִׁ֫יחַ transliteration: mashiach, phonetic spelling: (maw-shee’-akh).

Qateyef

Why would someone deny themselves food and water during daylight hours for the entire month of Ramadan, one might ask?  One word.  Qateyef. (pronounced something like (guh-TAH-yuf). When Ramadan starts, these qateyef grills spring up like mushrooms all over Jordan. Here is the shop of Abu Ali, the best qateyef maker in all of Amman, and the line waiting for his qateyef that stretches five floors down a stone staircase.

And here is how to make them.

Buy a package of freshly made qadeyef at your local Arab store (the mosques ladies make them at home with Aunt Jemima pancake mix).

Put your favorite filling–okay, “favourite”– on half of the qateyef.  Fold it over and pinch the edges together (they are a little bit sticky). On the left is cheese “mostly ricotta” mixed by the bakery (but with a little extra sweet and salt flavor) and on the right is chopped walnuts.

At this point, some Jordanian cooks will float the qateyef briefly in a boiling attar bath.  I don’t do this because 1) they come out too sweet and 2) I can’t keep them from falling apart in the pot.  So I heated these in a pan in the toaster oven. Here is the attar that will get poured over them:

The ingredients are sugar, water, orange flower water, and lemon juice. I guessed at the proportions and it came out perfectly.  Put the warm qateyef on a plate and drench them with the attar. Then enjoy.  Many like to smoke an after iftar argila. This one has apple flavored tobacco (tufaa تفاحة ). The tobacco goes in the top, covered with aluminum foil with holes poked in it.  A glowing piece of charcoal is placed on the top.  In the U.S., argila charcoal is hard to come by, so many use self lighting charcoal that comes in commercially prepared rolls wrapped in aluminum foil.  All you do is remove one perfectly round piece of charcoal, hold it over a lighter or a burner until it is glowing, then put it on top of the aluminum foil.

I am still missing a couple details for Ramadan.  For one thing I haven’t done any charitable works yet, so I will have to start sorting my clothes and find something to donate. The other thing is that one-thirtieth of the Koran is usually read every day, but it is done in a special mosque service called taraweh. The mosque is really too far away to participate in that–on a regular basis at least–so I may have to find a substitute reading activity. Already I have some ideas.

Iftar

Iftar إفطار means “breakfast” in Arabic (pronounced “IF-tar”).

During Ramadan, when the sun sets, it is traditional to break the fast with dates and water. (From sunup to sundown, one abstains from food, water, sex, and tobacco.) Then comes iftar–the evening “breakfast”–often served to large crowds as part of the daily charity requirement of Ramadan.

Here is a traditional Arab meal: pita bread “hobez” خبز , felafel فلافل , hommous حمّص‎ (with olive oil–zait zaytoon زيت زيتون and sumac السماق , a red powder–sprinkled on top), and black tea with fresh mint (shai na-na شاي بالنعناع ), the mint having been pilfered from my nicely spreading Jordanian mint plant (thank you, nameless mosque ladies) the last time I went across the street to my old landlord’s building to mow the lawn.

There will be desert حلويات heluwayat, oh yeah.

Ramadan Kareem moon

I have finally gotten around to making a Ramadan Kareem image for my side bar.  This image of the moon is courtesy of NASA.

Ramadan Kareem – images

Ramadan Kareem. رمضان كريم

[The traditional greeting means "Ramadan is generous".]

Some Ramadan images :

Image credits:

#1 Yellow with mosque silhouette. Artist: Tarqdz.  More from the artist’s gallery.

#2  Sepia tones with mosque. Artist: Saeed33.  Gallery from same artist.

#3 Yellow with brown calligraphy. Artist: NABDH. More from the artist’s gallery.

Have been listening to this Ramadan Kareem animation playing on a loop.  The sound quality is surprisingly good–wish I knew what it was from.

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Note: I am fasting today, the first day of Ramadan. (“The rest of the year is for you, Ramadan is for Allah.”) It’s easier when Ramadan falls in December, as it did when I lived in Jordan, and the sun sets earlier.

When is sunset?  According to Channel 9, today’s sunset is at 7:39 PM.  The Bridgeview mosque site says adhan at 7:43 (the call to prayer is when the fast can be broken–many the time I waited for the call to prayer to light up a cigarette at a Jordanian bus station) and the iqamah at 7:48 PM.  (The DC mosque I link to in my sidebar says adhan 7:57 PM, iqamah 8:07 PM) Technically the Koranic answer, which depends on neither websites nor wristwatches, says sundown is when a white thread cannot be distinguished from a black thread.

Since it can be difficult to stay occupied without eating or drinking (Moslems are also supposed to abstain from tobacco and sex), until sundown, here are my Ramadan links from other years–from a definitely non-Moslem perspective:

Insha ‘Allah (two examples of Salma Arastu’s calligraphy for Eid at the end of Ramadan)
Ramadan kareem, are you fasting? (image of King Hussein mosque in Amman)
Pokemon Eid cards?–what is going on in Pakistan (more Salma Arastu artwork thumbnails for Eid)
Fasting music for Ramadan–mystical planets (links to Gustav Holst downloads)
Spiritual recordings for Ramadan 2008 (explanation of duas and some dua links for YouTube and others)
Is the reward of goodness aught but goodness?-Koran translation and recitation (Koran portals and some links to recitations)

Codex Sinaiticus

The oldest known Bible is now online at www.codexsinaiticus.org

Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek. The New Testament appears in the original vernacular language (koine) and the Old Testament in the version, known as the Septuagint, that was adopted by early Greek-speaking Christians. In the Codex, the text of both the Septuagint and the New Testament has been heavily annotated by a series of early correctors.

Useful Links

I can never find these when I want them.

TV shows

Firefly (a space western) wikipedia|episodes|Chinese language phrases (mostly Mandarin) from show
La Femme Nikita episodes (starring Peta Wilson)
The Prisoner free online (Patrick McGoohan)

Bible portals

Today’s New International Version
Revised Standard Version
Arabic translation (Bible Gateway)
Q Bible (Hebrew & English)
Parallel translations (commentary and cross references)
Codex Sinaiticus (earliest known Bible–in Greek)
Bible Gateway (a dozen English versions including TNIV but not RSV, plus languages including Arabic but not Greek or Hebrew)

Koran portals

Al-Tafsir (Jordan)
Shakir (U. of Virginia)
Shakir (U. of Michigan)
Yusuf Ali, Pickthal, Shakir (U. of Southern California)
Online Quran Project (60 trans. + Arabic)
Ayat al-Kursi (Throne Verse) [2:255] Tutorial
Open Quran (9 reciters + Arabic text)
“Wahhabi” translation
Koran Today (side by side comparison of translators Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Zohurul Hoque, T.J. Irving, T.U. Hilali & M. Khan, M. Pickthall, and M.S. Shakir)
(For prayer times)
mosque: Bridgeview
mosque: Adams (DC)

Dictionaries

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
OneLook (1024 dictionaries)
Memidex dictionary and thesaurus
Webster’s New World College Dictionary

Computer downloads for new computer setup

Portable Firefox (for flash drives)
100 plugins from Mycroft Project (Urban Dictionary)
FoxLingo toolbar
American English spellcheck dictionary
Irfanview image editor
Zoombrowser EX (camera)
Zoombrowser EX (But where’s the install file? Can’t find it on Vista.)  Sure Canon gives you a disk, and they are said to be very proprietary about their software, but what are you supposed to do if you have a netbook with no CD player? Do they really think someone would want to use the program if they didn’t already have a Canon camera? Something to think about when it comes time to upgrade the camera.
Zoombrowser Canon A560 (and others) update from Canon (must have EX installed first)
Ad-aware
Spybot Search and Destroy
Bitdefender
(AVG now with annoying popups and demands for system restarts)
Canon printer utility
Quicktime and iTunes download
iTunes 64 bit Vista download
Realplayer download
How to enable Arabic on Vista: Start button->Control Panel->Classic View; select Regional and Language Options->Formats tab (set format to language i.e. “Arabic Egypt”); Location Tab (make location match setting for current format “Egypt”);  go to Keyboards and Languages tab-> click on “Change Keyboards”
Image editor for photos on Picasa 3

Jordan

The Jordan Times
Jordan news RSS feeds
Petra News Agency

Middle East

Asharq Al-Awsat (London)
Search for world newspapers by country
James Zogby on Huffington Post (archives on Washington Watch)

Language

General:
Survival Phrases
Mojibake online decoder (for non-standard character sets in Cyrillic, etc.–then put result into Google Translate)
Master list of free language learning resources (including Arabic)
The Open University (podcasts) (British)  French, German, Spanish, business English

By language:
Chinese–language phrases (mostly Mandarin) from Firefly TV series
English (15th to 19th c)
Greek (classical)–Getting started tutorial
Hebrew dictionary with 2 hour reading tutorial
Hebrew dictionary, keyboard, and translate tool
Latin (classical)–Getting started

Audio (see also Language)

music:
Giovanni
NPR Music (click live concerts for Neko Case)

Omphalos

Is there really a fissure under the Dome of the Rock that leads to the navel of the universe? Tradition says so.  The hole in the southeast corner (the top of the photo is south) leads to a cave underneath called the Well of Souls.  Graham Hancock, in The Sign and the Seal, even speculated on the possibility it once concealed the Ark of the Covenant.

That would have been a physical hole. But what about a spiritual hole? Islamic architectural design in particular is meant to mask a building’s architectural edges in order to emphasize the unseen spiritual reality. Somewhere here in the courtyard outside the mosque of Omar, to the north and east, there is said to be a spiritual hole in the universe that leads directly to Allah. In this spot, a prayer is a thousand times more influential than anywhere else.

I am trying to picture this disturbance in the spiritual realm. Would it look something like a Klein bottle, with a hole in the middle leading to the whole universe? (link to photo credit)

Yes, I was told about this place, and was left there near that spot right at prayer time while my companion went to perform his prayers, after cautioning me not to speak English, as it was during the Intifada and only the Faithful were allowed inside the mosque enclosure.

So what would you do if you found yourself standing alone at the brink of the whole spiritual universe?  Would you try interact with it in some way?  Would you wish to put something in, take something out, or just take notice?

Un-Establishment of Religion: Chicago Mayor Daley Freaks out the Methodists

Note: if you arrived at this thread looking for information about disability events Friday and Saturday (from chicagotemple.org):

The Disability Community Open Mic will be hosted by the Temple on July 24th from 6-8:30pm in the James Parlor. This is an annual event that provides a forum for people to share their thoughts, writings, and poems about the disability experience. Food and drinks will be provided.

Come watch the Disability Pride Parade on Saturday July 25th with your family and friends. Parade steps off is at 11am from Van Buren St and marches north on Dearborn to Washington St, ending at Daley Plaza. Over 40 disability groups march as a way to increase disability awareness and promote the belief that disability is a natural and beautiful part of human diversity. Stay for the fun post-parade celebration with music, performances, and speakers in Daley Plaza. There are also exhibit booths where the Temple will have a booth to share information about our church.

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Can you close down a church with uneven parking regulations? The Methodist church in the historical Gothic building across the street from Daley Plaza is about to find out. Churchgoers who tried to park in front of the church Sunday found themselves greeted with the following sign:

Churchgoers

Do Not Park Here

After 30 years of cooperation the city has decided to withdraw its permission for us to park on Washington and Clark Streets on Sunday mornings. They will tow without regard for our attendance at worship services.
You may park for $5 at the Washington-Wells Madison Self Park Garage. Enter at 172 West Madison or 170 West Washington. Get an over-ride ticket available from the person on duty at the Temple’s Washington Street entrance.

The street, usually parked full on Sunday morning all around Daley plaza, was totally deserted.

but a few did make it into the church:

Compare this to the vibrancy of the city on Easter Sunday:

How does the city deal with other churches about parking?  I walked over to the Gold Coast to see how the Mayor’s own church, Holy Name Cathedral, was faring.  As it turns out, God is on vacation over at Holy Name:

but the parking situation couldn’t be better.

In case anyone is wondering, the parking lot belongs to Holy Name Cathedral and the Archdiocese of Chicago:

And other churches?  I walked over to St. James Episcopal, also a historic church, famous for their weekly rush-hour wine-tasting concerts, and found a quiet side street equipped with paid parking machines, as is the area surrounding Holy Name.

Although the city is no doubt desperate for more revenue to pay for it’s O’Hare expansion and other projects, “Pay to Park” is not a viable option for Washington Avenue where the Methodists hang out–it’s a very central street prone to rush hour gridlock.

Instead of trying to shut the city down to residents during the weekend, City Hall should be trying to open it up.  Like most American cities, Chicago experienced a decline in the 60’s , and is now beginning an upward trend. The city has a new vitality in the city center, typified by overall gentrification and some new condo developments on the near south side.  Although not as well funded as institutions like Fourth Presbyterian and the Pacific Garden Mission, the above church has done way more than its share for those who have fallen through the city’s safely nets–the homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill–even though it has meant church members being accosted on their way in and out of the church and some older church members being afraid to walk even as far as the bus stop. Now many of those social services have been shifted elsewhere and I no longer see large numbers of panhandlers and homeless in the immediate vicinity of the church and plaza.  But the city should be taking advantage of the new atmosphere of security to promote the city, and to turn it into something the residents can use, rather than trying to turn it into a ghost town and shut down those who are making a positive contribution.

Here is an example of what the plaza should look like.  It’s a group of children playing on the Picasso during one of the festivals last year.

I love photographing the Picasso and somehow manage to take a picture of it almost every time I’m downtown, which isn’t that often due to parking and transportation costs.  But at any rate, this is what art is for. This is what Chicago is for.

*”Unestablishment of Religion”:

The First Amendment
“ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ”

UPDATE: Temporary signs have been posted permitting Sunday parking with a permit.

Fake Koran Video

This makes me sick.

Today I ran across this link to a video of some children. It’s being billed as a video about children singing the praises of Obama, but it’s pretty obvious to me it’s not. It looks to me more like Koran memorization. The children are supposed to be from Kenya but they look vaguely Indian. The language is Arabic. You can hear the phrase bismallah al-rahman al-raheem, (In the name of God the merciful the compassionate) the phrase that begins most chapters of the Koran, at the beginning of both recitations. It’s also pretty obvious that neither the word “Obama” or “America” (Arabic pronunciation ahm-ree-ka) is used at any time. For comparison here is a video of boys memorizing the Koran in Bangladesh.

Imbedding is disabled, so I can’t put it on this page. The comments are disabled too, or maybe someone would have left a message saying which Koran verse this is (I’m sure that’s the last thing the person who posted it wants), but here is the URL :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08iomNFrzU4

The explanation of the video by “PloppinFreshTV ” is “I leaned everything I know about film editing from Michael Moore. Thanks Mike! Alpha Omega. “
The text of the “translation” subtitles is:

The Kenyan Muslim
Will soon destroy the great Satan from within
He will speak of hope and change.
but the greedy Americans will be defeated!
Yes we can.
Destroy the Satan of America!
yes we can.
Praise the Kenyan!
Praise Allah!
Soon we change America.
With the help of the fellow Muslim!
He will open the door for us to enter with ease
Bring me, bring my allies to your shores,
Oh brother.
We strap on a bomb to teach American pigs a lesson!
when our mission is complete
martyrs we will be!
Praise Attah, the brave martyr!
Praise our Kenyan brother
who will bring down the great Satan from inside!
All praise Allah!

There are some thousand google hits altogether for the video.  The ones I see were all in the October 2008 timeframe, just before the election.  None recent, until now.  The fact that it seems to be reemerging now, and with no good explanation, is interesting.  If anyone knows what it is please do comment so people googling it can have an answer.

The saddest thing is that although it’s obvious to me that it’s a fake, some are taking it at face value.  Even Snopes initially speculates that it’s a “generic anti-American recitation”.  It gets posted here in a comment thread at Huffington post, and at a seminary of the Apostolic Church. But this forum defines it as the salat magreb evening prayer.

Here is the Evening Supplication (Du’a).  I really don’t think this is it.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. I beg You, O Allah, the causes of Your mercy and intents of pardon and salvation from Hell and from all trials, Heavenly success and Your esteemed attention in the land of peace and from all trials and the proximity of Your Prophet Hazrat Mohammed (S.A.W.) peace be on him and peace on his progeny. O Allah, whatever talents I have got, it is but from You. There is no god but You. I beg Your pardon and seek atonement.