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Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Khalil Gibran's The Prophet

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I remember reading an article by big pharaoh a couple of weeks ago about his dream country. I wanted to elaborate on this theme for some time now, but I didn't have the time to do it.
Well I don't have the time yet, but here is one thing that I wish to have in my dream country:
-All school children are required to read Khalil Gibran's masterpiece The Prophet before they graduate from school.
I am still reading the book, and all I can say is that it is absolutely deeper and more insightful than any other human-written book I've read so far. A lot of it can be debated of course, but it serves as a very high bar against which you can measure your tolerance, forgiveness, and acceptance.
You can read the full text of the book here.
I discovered the site after shelling out 50 pounds to buy the book. Makes you wonder why the hell do we insist on this foolish habit (buying books!)

Moved on!

Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide on Jazeera

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Mohammed Kherat El-Shater MB deputy supreme guide appeared on Jazeera a couple of minutes ago to talk about the coming parliamentary elections.
A lot of gutsy talk. Here are some of the sound bites:
  • "The Ikhwan are present in every Egyptian town and village. If we wanted to we could've run in all 444 constituencies"
  • "We believe that everybody should be involved in the change that we believe should happen in Egypt, that's why we think it would be absurd if we won a majority"!!!!!!!!(This one is really beyond me- editor)
  • "We have 150 candidates. The number could reach 120 after all the cases in courts against candidates who were sentenced in military tribunals are settled"
  • "Of the 120, we expect 60-70 to win in a fair elections; 40 if the government interfered a little bit; and less if the interferences were severe"
  • "We only have one female candidate because from previous experiences we know that a lot of candidates are harassed and jailed, so we're just trying it out this time" (If this is not the sine qua non of the MB patriarchal thought, I don't know what is it!- editor)
  • "No we don't want to rule. Absolutely no"!
Well, so not gutsy all the way, but apparently more confident than they could've ever hoped for before. I don't know why, but listening to this man speak made me more certain of my theory that the MB (and the government, foolishly) are pushing the idea that the MB has far reaching influence everywhere in Egypt, although it isn't entirely true. In a way creating a self fulfilling prophecy. I also got the feeling that they're not entirely modernized and revamped as they would like us to believe. They're clearly not transparent enough. When asked about whether their platform for this elections was part of a grand project, the answer was cryptic, and the man made the statement that this is only part of the plan which is relevant to the current period.
How do you expect them to win in an election and have a mandate without being frank and fully transparent about their long term plans, except by playing up sensitive religious feelings and mobilizing Muslims against their fellow Christians in a certain Alexandrian constituency?!
This last question is rhetoric, please don't write to me explaining how the MB can actually win. Or do. That would be a good discussion.

Moved on!

Monday, October 24, 2005

Alexandria by Khalil Gibran

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"Cast aside those who liken godliness to whimsy and who try to combine their greed for wealth with their desire for a happy afterlife."
-Kahlil Gibran, "Beauty"

"I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit."
-Kahlil Gibran, "The Voice of the Poet"

Moved on!

Ikhwan rally in Nasr City (#2)

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This one I saw myself.
Immediately after Taraweh prayers (the same time as in Korba), I was surprised to hear a group of people (around 60 or 70) , chanting such slogans as "ehna meen, ehna meen, ehna Ikhwan Moslemen" (who are we?, who are we?, we are Musim Brothers), while holding banners and posters with the pictures of a veiled woman and a man. At first I thought it had to do with what is happening in Alex, but when I got nearer, I discovered that it was about the elections (and Alexandria maybe?...I dunno).
What was peculiar about this rally was it's strange timing, and unexpected venue (it took place in a dark side street in a very peaceful area of Nasr City, Hafez Ibrahim Street, if you're familiar).
I haven't heard about a rally being held at 9 PM in the evening. It was to say the least, creepy. For the first time, I felt nearer and more sympathetic to the 4 police officers who watched the rally from a distance. If anything this rally (and the others) goes to show how the Muslim Brotherhood is intent on making a very clear statement about its power. I wouldn't say that the rally was successful however, as it received a freaked-out-reaction from the residents of the peaceful street.
Now that Ikhwan rallies are all over the place, I guess we should have a spot-the-Ikhwan competition or something. That should be fun!

Moved on!

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Alexandrian Outrage

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I've always tried to steer away from religious discussions, as I am a strong believer in the separation of the religion and the state, but that doesn't mean (as most people in this part of the world would be inclined to assume) that I don't have my own religious beliefs. I just didn't feel that I have any right to preach them while discussing political matters. Having said that, there comes a time when you have to make an exception to be able to make a point, and this is one of those times.
I will not bother restating the obscene tragedy that is unfolding in Alexandria, read about it here, here, and here. What I want to do however is to share with you a couple of speeches by Abu Bakr El-Sidiq, and Omar Ibn-El Khattab, a couple of persons those thugs in Alexandria would agree with me they don't have a chance of being more religious, and more understanding of Islam than them.
In speaking to his Army going to Syria (in war!, I might add), Abu Bakr had this to say about how "true Muslims" must conduct:
Don't mutilate or slay a small child, an old man or a woman. Don't cut off palm-trees, burn them or pick up any fruit. Don't slay any sheep, cow or camel unless for food. You will pass by people who devote themselves to worship; leave them to what they devote themselves to. You will come to pe­ople who bring you pots of different kinds of food; if you have some of it, mention the name of God

And in another occasion he said:

Don't slay anyone of God's followers, lest God should punish you for them and throw you on your face in Hell

Omar Ib El-Khattab on conquering Palestine had this to say to the Christians and Jews living there:

We promise to defend you against anyone who wants to do injustice to you: Muslim or non-Muslim, just the same as we defend ourselves and our property. We pass the sentence on them for your interest in the sa­me way we pass the sentence on them for our money. We shall not deprive you of anything you own which is prohibited by our religion, whether it be blood, dead, intoxicants or pig. Weshall not interfere with it

Also:

When Omar felt that he was near to death, he re­commended that the non-Muslim subjects should be ta­ken care of. He said in advice to the Caliph who will co­me after him to treat the non-Muslim subjects well, ful­fill their covenant, to support them in fighting and not to burden them beyond whatthey have strength to be­ar

All of this is just a very brief glimpse of how Muslims should treat other believers. It wouldn't be just enough to say that those thugs in Alexandria are not respecting Omar's will, they are completely and utterly stabbing Islam in the back, and portraying a false and savage image of a religion which is one of the most accepting, tolerant, and (I dare to say) progressive religions on the face of the earth.

For further references to how Muslims should treat non-Muslims, go to this link, it contains a lot of useful information. (I didn't read it all yet, so I am not really endorsing it or something, I just felt it is beneficial)

You won't catch me writing about religion here again, but as I said earlier, I just had to say this.

Moved on!

Friday, October 21, 2005

Ikhwan Rally in Korba!

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This is just in:
According to some friends, tens of people are rallying for Ikhwan's (Muslim Brothers) candidates in Heliopolis district for the following parliamentary elections, in Korba just outside the presidential palace, and in front of several cathedrals there. This is happening right now (8:30 PM). According to the sources, the campaigners are holding banners saying "Islam is the solution" (El-Islam howa el ha'al), and "Yes for Ikhwan" and some banners bearing the names of the candidates (I don't know the names, I'd appreciate if somebody would inform me).
If this is what it seems, then this is probably a very strong sign from Ikhwan that they're determined to have a very influential role in the next elections. Also the place of this rally is very unusual, and serve as a very direct challenge to the authority of the government (I can't recall any sort of protests or rallies which took place anywhere near the presidential palace, and Hosny Mubarak's home, which always remained off limits to any similar demonstrations or events)

Moved on!

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Ramadan a la Egypte part 3 (Islamic Rock)

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While cruising down Cairo's deserted streets (immediately after Iftar, that's it), and surfing the radio stations, I was stopped by a flood of Islamic-lyriced, belly-dancing-musicied array of songs, chief among them was pop sensation WAMA's latest hit (sarcasm intended) . The song was talking about wanting to be next to somebody, always within his/her sight, always in his/her heart; you know, the average over sentimental crap abundant in recent Arabic music. It was a couple of minutes until I discovered that they were actually singing about prophet Mohammed. Creepy!!. Made me think of an article I read a year ago in Slate, about Christian rock.

Moved on!

Ramadan a la Egypte part deux (Pastiche)

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A while ago, while I was studying postmodern literary theory, I came across the term pastiche, and since, I couldn't help it but think about it every time I came across one of only-in-Egypt kind of things.
The most recent pastiche occurred to me while I was forced to watch Melody TV in one of Cairo's cafes. Only in Egypt I thought: a video for 50-cent, literally swamped with bikini-clad hoochie mammas, overlayered with the SMS bar full with messages like 'la illah illa Allah, Mohammed rasol Allah'!!.

Moved on!

Ramadan a la Egypte part 1 (The battle of the Telecoms)

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It's an established fact that Egyptians are, well, different. And that's no exception in Ramadan. I'll try in this series of entries to shed some lights on some of the more fascinating Egyptian peculiarities during Ramadan.

If you have watched TV, listened to the radio, or browsed through any newspaper during the last two weeks, you'd surely encounter an ad for Vodafone or Mobinil. Which seemed like the norm, until you take a closer look at what messages those ads are sending.
While Mobinil ad seems rather comic, and well executed as opposed to less than imaginative ones for Vodafone, there are more than meets the eye in Voda's ads. They seem to be enthusiastically pursuing the religious tone in their ads. They have an ad featuring Sami Youssef's latest hit, an offer for free roaming minutes during Omra, and a sponsorship for a religious pre-Iftar program on Nogom-FM for Khaled El-Geindi, among other things.

It's rather interesting to see where all of these is going especially in the light of the fact that Mobinil's top levels can only push in that direction so far (being owned by a prominent Egyptian Christian family, they don't have the luxury really).
God bless the multinationals!

Moved on!

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Outrageous Foreign Policy

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Now, that's a guy I don't know much about, so my attack isn't really preconceived, but rather a spontaneous-wtf-we're-turning-to-such-wussies kind of outrage. Ahmed Abou El Ghaet, the Egyptian FM, is well spoken, eloquent, and can really tie a neck-tie (watch out for his "full Windsor", it's a real sight, and no "Windsor" is not one of 'it's" names!), just like most diplomats, but other that I am having a hard time finding any more merits (other than raising hell against Nigeria over a UN-veto-power pipe dream). Instead what we're treated to almost daily are constant and repetitive reminders of our complete helplessness when it comes to handling foreign affairs, and carrying ourselves as any respected nation. We're constantly insulted and reminded how a huge waste of oxygen we're turning to be - at least on the international arena. You'd think that after the Egyptian ambassador (AMBASSADOR, for God's sake!!) was slaughtered in Iraq without anything as much as a sending an investigation team to make sure that he is actually dead, or even issuing one of our world famous vehement press releases, our government, whose head just sworn to "defend this country's interests", would step in and try to, at least, improve it's foreign diplomacy image. Rather, it continues to amaze me with its unmatched ability to have absolute apathy to its citizen's rights and dignity. Most recently we were treated to a couple of those shinning examples. Both on the same day. I was watching 'El Beit Betak' (the most over-hyped program in TV) and they had a segment about the Egyptian citizen who was wrongly detained in Guantanamo for 4 years. That's 4, fuckin' years for God's sake. Now, I don't care about your politics. I don't care what's your position on the war on terrorism, or if you have one in the first place. But if you think that a government which can muster the audacity to completely ignore the fact that one of it's citizens was held in military captivity, was tortured mercilessly by some of the sickest fucks the world have ever seen, and was permanently deformed as result, is a government that has a mandate to govern supposedly free, and dignified people, then there is something seriously wrong with you. The other incident was that of the Qatari prince who hit some Egyptian teenagers with his car, killed them, and ran to the airport, and then to his country, with plausible help from Egyptian police, and who, they're trying to convince us, is held in the custody of the Qatari authorities. Now, that's the other extreme end of the spectrum. I can understand if we can't object to whatever obscenities the US can commit against an Egyptian professor (we have made our choices regarding our relation to the US along time ago), but if we cannot stand up to Qatar (that's a tiny Gulf state, the size of Manhattan, with a population of 120,000 , for the uninitiated) then I really can't see any use for our foreign policy. We might as well rent out the foreign ministry; it will turn out much needed cash that can be bumped into the pockets of more fat, ignorant, narrow minded officials, who have utter disregard to our dignity, and humanity. And to think that the TV anchor had the nerves to actually say that 'Egyptian parents are partly responsible for the accident because they should keep a close eye on where their sons and daughters go so as to avoid those kinds of accidents'...this is really up there. I can't think of anything to say...What the fuck do you expect the 'Egyptian parents' to do??? Do you want them to stop their children from going on the street at all? Because that's exactly what those poor kids were doing; they were walking in the street. Instead of demanding accountability from the police, the foreign minister, the prime minister, and the president, you're lecturing the 'Egyptian parents' on how to raise up their children?!!!!! Come on...cut the crap...really cut it...all of you…That's too much!!!!

Moved on!

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Ramadan Kareem

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With a 50 years old song, a 1000 years old lantern, a 24 years old regime, some 2 weeks old commercials, some wacky bloggers, some wackier drivers, a punch of learned men with short pants, a Nobel Prize, and lots and lots of fool, we welcomed Ramadan.

It takes a lot of effort to put the matter into perspective. On one hand there is the tempting, and indeed comforting urge to delve into a nostalgic, pseudo-Sufi rambling about the merits of Ramadan. On the other hand, being a blogger (a not very active one I might add) there is always the bitchy-option. What I would like to share however is a simple thought I had while sitting in the balcony enjoying the refreshing breezes of the "black cloud", and waiting dreamingly for fitar. It hit me that for one whole month, the whole of the Egyptian society is animated by one spirit. I am not talking religiously here; instead I am referring to the insane driving just before sunset, the incredible shopping sprees just before Ramadan and just before eid, the 24 hour shifts in front of the TV, etc… For one whole month the whole of Egypt is doing the same things at the same time. That’s why the only recent Egyptian victory (yes, I believe it was indeed a victory) was in Ramadan, and that's why I believe that if Egyptians decided at one point in time that the current situation was, you know, stinky they will march to Abdeen gates after el Tarawih and before Sohor.

Very happy Ramadan.

Moved on!