Category Archives: Religion

Egypt, GCC, Gulf states, Qatar, Religion, Salafi

Shaikh Abdulwahhab of Nejd, Bon Vivant Abdelwahab of Cairo, Shaikh of Qatar, Sectarian Princes…………..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF   

His Highness Emir of Qatar has opined that the Islamic umma (nation) needs to be inspired by the Wahhabi message. Most likely a message of ‘reconciliation’ to his scowling next-door neighbor. Apparently more than two hundred years have not been enough for the Wahhabi message from Nejd to inspire the ‘umma’.

  • Apparently the inspiration had to wait for the petro-money flowing to places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq (with terror bombs), Egypt, Indonesia, Somalia, and many other places that have been blessed with the Wahhabi touch. A magic touch from the Kingdom without Magic.
  • Apparently the inspiration had to wait for the princes to assume control of Arab media and airwaves, something they have achieved with the likes of Alarabiya (son of King Fahd). Asharq Alawsat (Prince Salman and his son). al-Hayat (Prince Khaled bin Sultan), LBC, MBC, and many others (but not aljazeera, not yet). Oh, I forgot the Fox News partnership with Prince al-Waleed.
  • Apparently the inspiration had to wait for a further intensification of the barrage of fierce poisonous divisive sectarian ill-winds that have been blowing for some years now from the Kingdom of Wahhabism, with some help from satellites on the Persian-American Gulf, notably the now totally poisoned well of occupied Bahrain and its truly Goebbels-ian media.


The Qatari jefe said opined on the occasion of naming the main state mosque after Shaikh Mohammed Bin Abdulewahhab of Nejd, a close ideological and tribal and, yes, carnal (by marriages) ally to the al-Saud clan. Many of the Al Al-Shaikh (call me Al) descendants hold high positions at the Saudi court and bureaucracy. As I have repeated here, the shaikh is not to be confused with the late great Egyptian musician, singer, and occasional actor from the golden (pre-Sadat-Mubarak) days of Egyptian art and culture Mohammed Abdelwahab who was no Salafi, nor Wahhabi, nor any kind of fundamentalist but an avid bon vivant in his own right.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Afghanistan, Apartheid, Israel, Middle East Women, Religion

Rosa Parks of Jerusalem, Shikses of old Alabama and Free Afghanistan………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF   

“It was supposed to be just another regular Friday morning for Tanya Rosenblit. Tanya had to get from her hometown Ashdod to Jerusalem for a meeting there. On the way, Rosenblit experienced one of the most intimidating stories of religious coercion I’ve seen lately: She was told by a Haredi man to get to the back of the bus, or nobody was going to go anywhere. And what do you think Rosenblit did? That’s right – she stayed put. And she took pictures of the whole ordeal and later wrote about it on Facebook……… At the next stop, Orthodox Jews started mounting the bus. At first, they just stared at me, but said nothing and moved on to sit somewhere in the bus behind us. Only one passenger decided that he preferred standing on the stairs near the driver, although there was plenty of space. I didn’t mind that, and focused on the music in my ears. But then, another one entered the bus, but instead of entering, he prevented the driver from closing the door. He looked at me with despise, and when I took off the earphones, I heard him call me “Shikse”, which means “whore” in Yiddish. He demanded I sit in the back of the bus, because Jewish men couldn’t sit behind women ………….”

Not exactly a Rosa Parks story, that of Ms Rosenblit: it probably happens all the time in the new free Afghanistan, been happening since the Taliban came to power after the American-Saudi liberation of that country in 1989. The term “shikse” does not mean a whore in the USA. Among American Jews I knew back East, “shikse” was a not-nice term meaning a non-Jewish girl, often very anglo-looking. But then, among the fucking fundamentalist Haredis in Jerusalem, who are like the fucking Salafis in our neck of the woods, the term probably does mean something like a “whore”.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Israel, Palestine, Religion

West Bank Churches on Fire: GOP to Expel Palestinians and Bomb Iran…….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF   

“Member of the Revolutionary Council of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Dimitri Diliani, Tuesday held Israel fully responsible for the settlers’ attack on a church near the Jordanian border, under the watch of Israeli soldiers. Diliani said in a press release that the Israeli army evacuated the church at one o’clock in the morning, after more than four hours spent by the settlers in damaging the church and its contents. The attack on the Orthodox church , located a few kilometers east of Jericho, came after strong opposition from Jordan against demolishing Magharbe gate ramp in East Jerusalem. Diliani said these settlers’ attacks are a result of the Israeli government’s policy that encourages such terrorist groups to attack Palestinians and their holy sites. He said that the extremist group vandalized the church and its contents under the watch of the Israeli army, damaging the church’s crosses, doors and windows…………..”

If this church desecration had happened in an Arab country, the Republican candidates would have headlined it during last night’s Iowa debate. Rick (big hat, no cattle) Perry would have called for his usual “boots on the ground”. Gingrich would have called for painful sanctions, to start with. Rick (Pretty Boy Floyd) Santorum would have called for expelling all Palestinians from planet earth and the immediate bombing of ……Iran.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Iran, Israel, Muslims, Religion

Of Iranians, Eschatology Issues, the Mahdi, End of Time Films, and Drones………..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“Q: What are the main reasons for producing “end of the world” films in the West? Do these films show the whole truth?
A: I think there are several reasons why there are a number of “end of the world” films in the West. One reason has to do with Christian eschatology (the theological study of the end times). Many Christian theologians and pastors and priests have taught and do teach that Jesus Christ will one day return to the Earth to rule humankind in righteousness. On some widespread interpretations of the last book of the Bible—the book of Revelation—there will be a great battle between good and evil in the eschaton and this battle will usher in the end of the world as we know it.
Another reason has to do with the fact that on the Western calendar, we are now at the beginning of the second millennium (the Western calendar is based on the birth and death of Jesus). In biblical chronology, it seems that major events occur every couple thousand years, so many people have concluded that the time is ripe for something significant to happen—something of biblical proportions. Added to this was the Y2K scare in which many computer engineers and others believed that computers would crash when the year 2000 CE occurred, and in some quarters there was widespread panic about this. This fueled an end-of-the-world hysteria………..Taken together, these add up to the predicted doomsday date of 21 December 2012. Though these are simply fables, the truth is that apocalyptic films do well at the box office. In fact, the recent film 2012, which graphically depicts the end of the world next year, was enthusiastically viewed in the West.
Most serious Christian scholars maintain that the Bible does not predict a specific timeframe for the end of the world………….” Mehr News Agency (Iran)

Nothing here about the appearance of our long-awaited Mahdi nor about the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel. Without the “Rapture” and the hoped for conversion of all the Jews, many of the Christian right would have no hope, and no reason to hitch their horses to the Likud wagon. The Iranians here are not saying what ‘they’ think of all these eschatological issues. They do, however, claim to have shot down an American drone in the eastern part of the country.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Culture, France, Human Right, Islamophobia, Muslims, Religion, Salafi

France’s Jeannette Bougrab: Why She May be Right about Islam and Christianity and Judaism and……………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“La secrétaire d’Etat à la Jeunesse Jeannette Bougrab réagissait dans un entretien au journal Le Parisien aux succès électoraux des islamistes au Maroc, en Tunisie et en Egypte. Elle est elle-même d’origine algérienne, fille de harki, le nom donné aux supplétifs algériens de l’armée française pendant la guerre d’indépendance. “C’est très inquiétant”, a-t-elle déclaré. “Je ne connais pas d’islamisme modéré”. “Il n’y a pas de charia +light+. Je suis juriste et on peut faire toutes les interprétations théologiques, littérales ou fondamentales que l’on veut, mais le droit fondé sur la charia est nécessairement une restriction des libertés, notamment de la liberté de conscience“, a-t-elle ajouté………………”


She says there is no such thing as “Sharia-light”, that religious law leaves no room for freedoms. On some level she is right, of course: once you apply the religious laws, any religious laws, be they Muslim or Christian or Jewish, you are pushed to go ‘all the way’. Freedoms are inevitably restricted. Salafis and Muslim Brothers who say they will apply “limited” Shari’a are playing for time. Limited Shari’a is like limited ‘virginity’ or limited ‘death’: it doesn’t exist, doesn’t make sense (at least I don’t think so). Religion can be moderated on an individual level: you pray, you fast, you lead your life the way you want within the law. Once the state starts to apply the Shari’a, or the laws of the Old Testament, the Bible and the Talmud, then there is no moderation. This applies to Muslims and Christians and Jews. Americans, more than  all other Westerners, are still grappling with this now that Christianity has become part of Republican political platforms. Jews in Israel are trying to fend off an aggressive Jewish-Salafi onslaught on civic society.
In some places, Saudi Arabia and Iran, they are mixing up Caesar with God, usurping power, and in the Saudi case wealth, in the name of Allah. Caesar was deified after he died.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Culture, Iran, Muslims, Religion

Follow-Up on Baha’is, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Elvis……..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

A follow-up on yesterday’s post on the persecution of Iran’s Baha’is. There is a shrine that may further complicate relations between the mullahs and their Baha’i subjects. The shrine of Baha-ullah (Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí), founder of the Baha’i faith, is in Acre (Akka in Arabic, Akko in Hebrew), now part of Israel. (WTF did the word ‘Acre’ come from?). He died an exile in Ottoman-controlled Palestine and was buried there. Most Iranians call the faith ‘Bab-ism’, a reference to the Shi’a man who started it all, Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi. He presumably foretold of the coming of Baha-ullah, was executed for his troubles and many of his followers killed.
The location in Akka/Akko not only makes it difficult for any of them to visit the shrine, it also makes them suspect in the eyes of the Iranian theocracy and most Arab and Muslim governments, and some media types. Even the Baha’is of Egypt also had a hard time under Mubarak’s regime on Egypt over the past few years. They will most likely have a harder time under a regime influenced by the Muslim brotherhood or, worse, the Salafis.

Now the Baha’is have one more thing in common with Muslims: both have one of their most important shrines controlled by Israel. Come to think of it, that is also what they both have in common with the Jews and the Christians. Graceland in Memphis is not under Israeli control, but contrary to legend it is not a Christian shrine. Not yet.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Human Right, Iran, Muslims, Religion, Theocracy

Human Rights and Education: Iran and her Baha’is……….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

““People apply for university and their applications are turned down, even though they have strong results from secondary school,” said Elise Auerbach, Iran specialist for Amnesty International USA. “They can’t get credentials, so they’re barred from pursuing all sorts of professions. They can’t be doctors, lawyers, university professors or scientists.” In response, Baha’is have improvised a decentralized, semi-underground college known as the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE). Since 1987, BIHE has run classes in the living rooms and kitchens of Baha’i homes, on the sweat of volunteer Baha’i professors, many of whom lost their jobs in Iranian universities over their religious beliefs……….. According to David Hoffman, founder of a campaign to support Iran’s Baha’is in their quest for higher education, the college has produced about 2,000 graduates, one-in-ten of whom have gone on to postgraduate study abroad at one of 60 universities outside Iran recognizing BIHE coursework………… In May, more than 30 Baha’i homes across Iran were raided as part of a crackdown on BIHE. The institution was subsequently declared illegal, according to human rights groups, and seven professors and administrators were last month sentenced to four and five years each, for being involved in an illegal group intending to commit crimes against national security…………..”

Bahai’s are the most officially discriminated against religious minority in Iran. Christians and Jews predate Islam and they are recognized as such. Zoroastrianism is the original religion of ancient Persia and it also predates Islam and Christianity and is recognized as such. Zoroastrianism is sort of like the “Red Indians” of Middle East religions, mostly displaced by Islam and Christianity. Bahai’s seem to receive most of the ‘religious’ wrath of the regime because they were Muslims until the new faith was create in the 19th century. The mullahs consider them apostates, and Muslim clergy, be they Shi’a or Sunni or Salafi or Tea Party, hate apostates. Come to think of it, all clergy from all faiths dislike apostates, or at least frown upon them.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Healthcare, Muslims, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Theocracy

Fatwa: Quranic Cure vs. Obamacare, about Freud………….

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

Alquds Alarabi quotes Saudi media reports that a Saudi cleric (they call him ‘Aalim Deeni) has issued a fatwa that it is alright for non-Muslims to be cured through the Quran. Shaikd Dr. Ali al-Twuaijri, professor at the Holy Quran College at Islamic University said that the Quran has several benefits as a method of cure through the use of its verses. He added that is “behooves a Muslim to rely on the Holy Quran for his cures from physical and non-physical illnesses”
Fine and dandy, no doubt the Quran has many “preventive” health benefits if followed, most holy texts do. Now non-Muslims have access to the Quran as well. But I assume non-Muslims have always had access to the Quran: nothing stopping me from using the Bible or Torah if I wish.
Then there is the sensitive of the issue of the royal princes, the so many Custodians of the Holy Shrines, and their sidekicks, who eschew Quranic preventive lifestyles as well as cures for the worldly cures of Mayo Clinic or the many other exclusive medical centers in the West. All at state expense, of course. They also eschew Quranic method for recuperation and convalescence for the worldly diversions of resorts in North America, Europe and parts of North Africa.
Now about Sigmund Freud and Obamacare………
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Arabian Peninsula, GCC, Iran, Religion, Saudi Arabia

Arab Counterrevolution: Stoking Royal Salafi Fires on the Gulf…………..

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
      BFF

“The external opposition continues to fudge its stance on external intervention, and with good reason: the internal opposition rejects it. This is the flaw to the model – for the majority in Syria deeply oppose external intervention, fearing civil conflict. Hence Syrians face a long period of externally mounted insurgency, siege and international attrition. Both sides will pay in blood. But the real danger, as Hannah himself noted, is that the Saudis might “once again fire up the old Sunni jihadist network and point it in the general direction of Shiite Iran”, which puts Syria first in line. In fact, that is exactly what is happening, but the west, as before in Afghanistan, prefers not to notice – so long as the drama plays well to western audiences. As Foreign Affairs reported last month, Saudi and its Gulf allies are firing up the radical Salafists (fundamentalist Sunnis), not only to weaken Iran, but to do what they see is necessary to survive – to disrupt and emasculate the awakenings that threaten absolute monarchism. This is happening in Syria, Libya, Egypt…………..”

It is all part of the Saudi-led GCC-funded Arab Counterrevolution. Its only goal is to maintain the status quo on the Gulf , at any price. Status quo means only one thing: keeping the al-Saud dynasty in power, with absolute unquestionable authority. Before the Arab “Spring”, it was aimed at any change in the broader Arab status quo. At the time they used developments in Iraq, post the invasion they had supported and participated in, to stoke sectarian fires. Even old Hosni Mubarak managed, with Saudi help, to ‘discover’ plots by Shi’as to convert his people and take over Egypt. They exaggerated fears of an Iranian threat with the goal of dividing the somnolent and often tame peoples of the GCC states into Sunni and Shi’a factions. It always works on the Gulf: fearful Sunnis seek the protection of the corrupt ruling dynasties, angry Shi’as become more vocal in their demands, which in turn is used by the palace Salafis to further stoke the fires of division.
Amazing how one ancient doubtful Hadith about absolute loyalty to the (Muslim) ruler is being used by Salafi clerics to counter the Arab revolutions, but only in selective countries.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]

Islamophobia, Latin America, Muslims, Religion, U.S. Politics

Marabutin Avenge Quetzalcoatl: New Conquistadores, Muslims of Mexico, Tequila Sunset…………

   Rattlesnake Ridge   Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter   

 
     BFF

“Raised a Christian, Manuel Gomez now goes by Mohamed Chechev, and counts himself among a handful of Tzotzil Indians converted to Islam by Spaniards in southern Mexico. “I am Muslim. I know the truth. I pray five times a day, celebrate Ramadan and have traveled to Mecca,” Chechev said in rudimentary Spanish. He lives in a mainly Protestant community in Chiapas called Nueva Esperanza on the outskirts of San Cristobal de las Casas, where he shares a modest house with 19 relatives and sells vegetables he grows on a plot of land……….. In the interior courtyard of the home, Chechev’s wife Noora (born Juana) and his daughter-in-law Sharifa (Pascuala) swept and cleaned laundry. They wore long dresses and a veil covered their hair………… And Chechev followed in the footsteps of another indigenous leader, Domingo Lopes, who was an official at an Adventist church before converting to Islam, introduced to the region by the Marabutin movement which moved to Mexico from Spain in 1993 in a bid to create a self-sufficient community. The Marabutin sect is a hangover from the days when Spain was part of the Muslim empire for some seven centuries……………”

Oddly, the Mexicans have not rushed to pass laws against the Shari’a threatening their Agave Tequila. They have not, yet, taken a page from the worthies in Bible Belt Oklahoma which passed an anti-Shari’a law last year only to discover that it may apply to the Bible and the Ten Commandments as well. There was also something about Islamic danger in both Tennessee and Missouri.
Call it the revenge of the native Mexican deity Quetzalcoatl against the Catholic priests who forced his fans, with iron and fire, to abandon him. Even more ironic: those who concerted these handful of Mexicans came from Spain, presumably without the regulation Catholic mullahs. And not seeking “oro y plata”. 
Okay, before the good people of the great states of Tejas and Arizona panic: this “Muslim” conversion thing is far away in Chiapas. It is not going to go far, it will not spill across the border. Never fear, the drug cartels still rule supreme, and the Evangelicals, as they will for many years to come. There will be no “officially sanctioned” polygamy along the border, not as much as already exists in Texas.
Cheers
mhg


[email protected]