Iraqi man running his mouth

May God help us all. The BBC Arabic is currently running a panel discussion. It's called 'Duniyana', which I guess translates into "Our World." Our only misfortune is that this time around, an Iraqi man has been invited on to it. 

Blah, blah, blah, I'm not against the Shia! he says hastily, while everyone else rolls their eyes. 

He's the kind of man who talks fast, mumbles, lets his words roll out like oil, and takes the conversation from left to right so fast that you have no idea what he's saying. 

The Mosque in Washington DC

On my way to the Swedish Embassy, we happened to pass the mosque in DC! So in we went. 

 First glimpse of the minaret as you walk along the fancy street in DC towards the mosque

The mosque has a large courtyard out front, and what feels like several lodges spread out to greet you first. It's like those old manors from the English aristocracy, where you first pass the porter's lodge, and the gatekeepers, and the barns and what not, but now I'm getting a bit too fanciful! There's not big lawns and winding paths, but just office space and a bookstore. You walk into the courtyard enclosed within them and that is where you get to the entrance of the mosque. 

When we got there, a bunch of little kids were sitting on the floor. The buses outside said St. Stephen's and St. Agnes' School. Some of the kids looked serious, others looked impish. They were all clustered around the mosque representative who was talking to them about Islam.

Then, while the little kids were still seated, a group of high schoolers walked in, also clearly on a field-trip. All the girls were wearing scarves on their hair, though most managed to have the tips of their hair pouring fashionably out out the back. The little kids left to get back on their buses, and I remembered how Claudia and Jamie from "The mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" had joined school tours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, just by pretending that they belonged. I decided to do the same here. I caught the whole interaction between the mosque imam and the high school kids. 

The mosque representative, who I think turned out to be the Imam himself, was a very kind-looking old man. He has an accent and when he talks he kind of drones on and on. 

First thing, he told the high-schoolers that Islam means submission to God, and that we believe in all the Prophets starting with Abraham. 

Then he said that every year for one month, we fast from "food, drink and bad things", and that this is supposed to remind us of people who have nothing to eat and drink. 

Then he said Islam teaches that we all have pre-planned lives. "Every Muslim in the world believes this," said the Imam. I personally hate it when a Muslim says, "every Muslim thinks this" or "every Muslim thinks that." No, actually, we probably don't. 

Then the Imam said that it's mandatory to give money to "eliminate or reduce poverty," and that this brings intimacy between people, and that money should be donated discreetly. 

FInally, the Imam rounded things off, Muslims go to Mecca. Why? Because Islam is an old religion and Mecca was built by Abraham. 

Then it was the question-and-answer time. And since I actually am Muslim, I of course had many of them. 

I asked: how can we have a pre-planned life, and still have the free will to choose between doing good and evil? 

The Imam said, oh, that's a beautiful question, thank you for that beautiful question. But then he just kind of preached aimlessly about something, I got lost, and I don't think he answered. 

A high school boy asked: why can't you depict Mohamed?

Imam: What?

High school boy: why can't you depict Mohamed?

Imam: What?

So the boy repeated himself yet again, and I think on the third try the Imam finally understood. The Imam said:

Oh, God bless you, that is a beautiful question!

And so it went on. I didn't write down all the answers and questions, so let me describe what the mosque looks like from the inside. 

It's small. It's a rectangular room, but you can't see all of it all at once because columns and pillars rise like a forest. When I say small, I still mean that it held about 100 students tucked onto the floor all at the same time, and could have held many more. But still, it's kind of small. 

The floor is spread with many, many Persian rugs. 

The pillars: I think there were 16 pillars spaced out evenly. Some were pale green marble with a lantern-like lamp posted onto them. Others had garish tiles plastered on them. 

The walls of the mosque were constructed of the same garish tiles. These can be describe as displaying flowery, scrolling designs: dark blue, light blue, green, orange-brown scrolls and blooms on a white background. Each tile has only a small part of the entire design, so you have to see a whole wall of tiles. But really, there's not a bigger image to see. It's just variation after variation of flowery scrolls. 

One of the high schoolers asked: why don't you believe that Jesus was the son of Mary?

The Imam said: we believe that Jesus was a spirit that God conceived in Mary, but not his son. 

While all this was happening, four too-cool-for-this boys sitting in the back were on their cell phones. One boy's boxer shorts were poking out. This particular boy kept lying down, and the girl in front of him kept slapping his knee when he did so. 

Someone asked: how does Islam view other religions?

Imam: we consider Christians and Jews to be 'People of the Book'. 

The pillars rise up, and near the ceiling they all get connected with archways - arches that are very reminiscent of Islamic architecture. They look like this:

Finally, these archways rise higher and become the ceiling. There are insets up there with Arabic words. First, there's a green inset border, then a yellow one, then dark red, and finally white; and a blue background behind everything. The Arabic words are written in white with a red outline, and the same words are written again, just behind the white, but in light green this time. 

The arches and the ceiling are all connected with triangles coming together, and finally, way way up, there's small church-like windows of stained glass - this is the part where the dome is. 

Then, we got to the questions about women. 

High-school kid: Why do men and women separate when praying?
Imam: Because of how we kneel down. We have to only be thinking about God. 

High-school student: Why do women cover their hair?
Imam: Women spend hundreds of dollars on their hair! Why? We need to limit attraction so that no one becomes interested in you. Besides that, after a women gets married, she has to focus on her family. (as an afterthought, the Imam remembered to say: and so does the husband.)

And then someone asked: what is up between Sunnis and Shias?
And this is where it became very apparent just how sunny, united, and brotherly this Imam really is!
The Imam said: Sunni means that we follow the teachings of Mohamed. The Shia is a sect that grew out after 30 years. They believed that Mohamed's son-in-law should take power. They became a political sect. So to summarize, the Sunni follow the law of Mohamed, and the other one came up with a political system. 

I told someone about how the Imam answered that question, and we both agreed, wouldn't it have been better for him to say: you know what, we're all Muslim, we all believe in the same basic things, and this Sunni-Shia fighting happening today is really stupid and juvenile. But clearly, that's not happening. 

Finally, a girl asked about Arabic and how it is spoken. 
The Imam obliged and asked her, "keef al haal", or كيف الحال, or how are you doing? Really, the girl's whole reason for asking the question was so that she could say: I know how to say Asalam Alaykum! So she did that and the Imam gave her a pleased smile, and that was the end. 

The Imam said: it was a great pleasure to have you all here today, with which the student responded by clapping strongly. 

It was time to leave. The assistant Imam walked up and gave instructions. He asked the young ladies to leave and get their shoes first (everyone leaves their shoes by the doorway before entering the mosque.) The Imam said: oh-ho!

So the girls piled out into the courtyard first, and the boys followed. Groups of friends took pictures together, and then everyone took a big class picture. One or two girls unveiled their hair immediately, but most were still wearing their scarves during the picture-taking and everyone seeming very pleased, and I thought they all looked good. 

 It appears the mosque is across from the Spanish embassy!

And finally, they went back to their buses, and one blonde teacher kept her scarf on the whole time. 

Now I just need to finish describing what the walls look like. I said that they have the same garish tiles plastered on, but that's just the lower part of the wall. Above the garish tiles it's just bare white. Above the white, there are the same sort of Islamic-looking arches, except they are laid right into the walls. The insides of the arches are brownish-looking cement, but stars and clouds have been cut into the brown, with yellow panes of glass inserted, and the sunrays come through that. The clouds all have seven lobes, the stars all have eight points. 

Big chandeliers are hanging from the ceiling.

Freedom to Broadcast Hate Follow-up

(March, 2014)

After the BBC Arabic premiered their investigative report about hate channels on Arabic TV (Freedom to Broadcast Hate) it created lots of discussion. So they devoted a whole call-in show to carry on the conversation live.

Here's some threads from that show:

Caller: they started it, so by golly, we will insult them, too! I wouldn't have started it - I'm only responding because they insulted Aisha.
BBC Arabic moderator: The only problem is, at this point, we really don't know who started it.
Caller: no, you can read about it! We didn't start it, they did!
Moderator: It's a complicated situation. Each side blames the other for having started it. So how can we escape, how can we get out this cycle where each side continuously badmouths the other?

See the full program by clicking here to get to the video on YouTube.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar at each other's throats

(March 11, 2014)

Another day, and another blow-up at the BBC Arabic. And yet again, Fida Bassil was presiding and had to diplomatically wind her way around her inflamed guests.

This time around, it was Iraq versus Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The Iraqi guest was late, so at first, it was just two men, one each from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and a third man who was an independent analyst. The Saudi and Qatari are friends. But they don't like Iraq, especially in light of what the Iraqi Prime Minister said recently.

The Iraqi PM is called Al-Maliki. He flatly said that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are waging a war against Iraq, because of all the young Qatari and Saudi men that cross the border into Iraq and blow themselves up. Qatar and Saudi reject this. Says the Saudi guest:
We do not support terrorism in the least. Al-Maliki is the one who's got American support, and now he's making claims against Saudi and Qatar.

It was very boring while just the men were talking.

Cue the Iraqi guest, an Iraqi lady called Ms. Hanan who is a member of the Iraqi Parliament.

 All the guests gathered either in the studio, via TV, or by phone

Fida asks her: what caused Al-Maliki to make these claims that Saudi and Qatar are waging a war?

Hanan: Hi (in a very flat tone). I'm very sorry I did not hear what happened so far, I don't know what your other guests have been talking about.

The other guests had been talking junk about Iraq, but Fida smoothed all this over: "just general background stuff, don't worry, you didn't miss much."

Hanan: today, we Iraqis are playing a price: kids, women, men, sheikhs, Muslims and non-Muslims. The people causing problems are not Iraqis.

Fida: alright, if this has been going on for a long while, then why did Al-Maliki wait till two days ago to accuse Saudi and Qatar of being behind all of these bombs?

Hanan: (getting a bit worked up) This is not the first time the government has made these accusations! We've addressed these concerns to the UN, to the Arab League, to the EU. About the Saudis, we have arrested so many Saudi men within our borders who were trying to blow themselves up. Those who say there's not cause for anger are delusional.

Fida: you're not answering, I'm asking about the indications, the evidence for what Al-Maliki is saying, and why he's saying it today. This is the first time he's said something with so much clarity, going as far as to say that Saudi and Qatar are waging a war against Iraq.

Hanan: No evidence? I just told you about all the people we've arrested. When you have people coming from another country intent on destruction, that country should be made responsible. We're talking about waves of people with foreign passports. The Iraqi has a report with the firm numbers, and no one can be doubtful of the Saudi and Qatari support underpinning all this.

Fida: Others say that even if you are arresting Saudis in Iraq, does that mean the Saudi government is behind it? Could it be those individuals are acting of their own free will?

Hanan: okay, and can we ever hear any condemnation from the Saudis about terrorism, about suicides, about explosions?

Fida: yes, they just came out with a strong condemnation two days ago.

 Fida trying to remain calm as her guests go haywire

Hanan: (about to go apoplectic) two days ago?? Just two days ago?? Why two days ago?? Was Al-Qaida created two days ago? Was Da-ash created two days ago? And Nusra was created this morning at dawn, I suppose? (Da-ash and Nusra are all terrorist groups, and I'm sure you've heard of al-qaider.) The Saudis didn't release their condemnation until they saw the problems coming to their own door, after American pressure and because of Obama's visit, and because they finally got ashamed of themselves. I welcome this condemnation but it is late! (yelling now)

Fida: let me ask my Qatari guest. Is it possible all these Saudi terrorists can be operating in Iraq without the Saudi government behind them? People say that the sheer numbers defy the argument that they're all acting on their own.

Qatari guy: Actually, we've been against terrorism all this time. People think terrorism started with September 11th, but actually it started with explosions in Riyadh (the Saudi capital) in the 1990s, and we've been working against it all this time, unlike Al-Maliki. In fact, al-Maliki is not doing anything good for Iraq.

Fida: he was elected by the Iraqi people.

Qatari guy: no, he was appointed by the court! And he is eager for fraud and corruption and impersonation and something called 'tazweer'.

Fida: People say that you try to suppress terrorism within your own borders, but you support it elsewhere.

Qatari guy: Not true! We work against terrorism inside our borders, and we also work regionally, through religious avenues. In the meantime, al-Maliki isn't doing anything for the advantage of Iraq. He is just trying to become good buddies with Iran. In fact, he is supporting terrorism by all the people he released from prison and who are now fighting in Syria.

Then the Saudi guy got to chime in.

Saudi guy: First, I'd like to thank Ms. Hanan for being here, and I would like to urge her to find a new way of expressing herself.

Fida: Mr. Saudi, everyone has a right to express themselves as they choose.

Saudi guy: I know, but she needs to calm down. Al-Maliki has failed with his own internal administration so he's trying to blame the rest of the world. Iraq needs today a government that is ... and I lost him.

Fida: alright, back to Ms. Hanan. When Al-Maliki says that Qatar and Saudi are waging a war against Iraq, why did he forget Syria? The Syrian president has said that the Syrian war is going to blow up and ruin Iraq and Lebanon. Why isn't your Prime Minister worried about the threat from that direction?

Hanan: I wish you would share the time equally between all of us.

Fida: I am.

Hanan: Listen to me! (starts asking rhetorical questions) Did Nusra start in Iraq? Did al-Qaida start in Iraq? Al-Qaida, which was armed and financed by the Gulf countries of Saudi and Qatar and ...

Fida: and where did Da-ash start?

Hanan: are you suggesting that Da-ash started in Iraq?

Fida: yes, it did.

Hanan: No, it didn't.

Fdia: listen to me, I'm trying to ask you a question.

Hanan: Listen to me! You gave your other guests plenty of time.

Fida: I'd like to ask you a question.

Hanan: No. Who put the Saudi or Qatari guest in charge of Iraq? None of you are in charge! None of you ought to interfere.

Fida: we can't get any result if we keep going this way.

Hanan: yes, we can!

Fida: Please, I need you to answer the question.

Hanan: I will commit to saying exactly what your guests are committed to saying!

Fida: okay.

Hanan: who was it who put all the money and support into terrorists, who are blowing up buses and trains in Europe and America? It was all the Saudis. The Saudis have a problem with Iraq because we are 65% Shia. Well, you're all going to have to get over it. We are Shia and that's just the way it's going to be.

(By the way, the Prime Minister al-Maliki is Shia as well. Saudi is mostly Sunni. Sunni/Shia are branches of Islam.)

Fida: alright Ms. Hanan, this is not just a place for you to air your opinions. I want you to listen to others, and answer my questions, please. You said that Saudi supports terrorists, but does that mean they're doing it in Iraq? and when you say that Iraq is 65% Shia, doesn't this contribute to the sectarian problems?

Hanan: the only people who talk about sectarian issues are the neighboring countries. Iraq is a democracy, we discuss things, and we all live together and we can solve our problems without anyone else's help. We don't want Arab interference nor Turkish. We are a rich country, we can solve things on our own. Also, if you read the recent report from Saudi, they make it obvious that they've been behind all the bombings in Iraq. The report says, not the terrorists, not the criminals, but the killers! It says, to all the killers, if you return within one month to Saudi you will be granted amnesty. Isn't this the biggest proof that the Saudis know there are thousands of people they've sent out to do mischief?

Qatari guy: it's quite clear that Ms. Hanan read the report incorrectly. Also, Qatar and Saudi are friends and united in all the principle issues. (not sure what point he was trying to make.)

Fida turns now to her independent analyst: What led to Al-Maliki making these claims now?

Analyst: I was taking a nap!

Fida: (laughs) it's clearly a hot issue!

Analyst: we have a problem in the Arab countries, and I think it's too bad that Hanan, although she talks in a good way, had to add that in Iraq, 'we are 65% Shia'. This is the sectarianism that is creating the problem and destroying ourselves and destroying Iraq as well. I hope they can stop that kind of thinking, and the Saudis, too, because who is going to Twitter, and Facebook, and online news channels, saying all sorts of nasty things about Shias? I am Sunni msyelf, but I tell you amongst my fellow Sunnis are those who say absolutely awful things. It is a known thing that they are interfering ...

I am Sunni, but I tell you the Saudis are provoking!

Fida: Does that mean they are interfering in Iraq?

Analyst: of course.

Fida: If they are doing all that, can we show all the evidence?

Analyst: Just listen to me.

Fida: is the norm that we should show evidence first, or that we make accusations first?

Analyst: Listen to me! Just a bit! (in a tone that said, "shut up, you silly little girl!")

Fida: okay.

Analyst: the evidence is the mufti of Saudi Arabia, who said he urges for a jihad outside of Saudi's borders. So there's a non-official jihad. If you're monitoring Twitter, you will see that all these muftis have suddenly disappeared. (maybe I didn't follow this right, but he was describing the evidence.) But all this does not take away that Al-Maliki has a crisis. I think he doesn't have a lot of support in the Parliament right now. His old supporters have accused him of corruption. And the Kurds have accused him of sectarianism. And so have the Sunnis. So who are Al-Maliki's friends, who is going to vote for him, who will support him in Parliament? He lost all that support himself. If he worked in an open way with the Kurds and the Sunnis and even the Shias, in a transparent way, then Iraq wouldn't have come to this crisis.

Fida: al-Maliki says that he is not sectarian, and the biggest proof is that he fought against his former Shia ally, Sadr.

Analyst: no, that's just because you still get splits in your own house. Sadr might be Shia, but he wasn't toeing the party line. al-Maliki's political party is the Dawah party, and there's not a single Sunni in it. It's always been a sectarian party. So what we want from al-Maliki is that he represents all of Iraq.

Saudi guy: we are not trying to interfere. It's the Iraqis who are going to go vote.

Some where in all this talk, the Saudi or Qatari guy, or maybe the analyst, insinuated that Iraq was getting too buddy-buddy with the US. 

Fida: Ms. Hanan, people say that al-Maliki has lost all internal support, so now he's stirring things up abroad by making these aggressive statements in order to bolster support back at home.

Hanan: the only thing that will prove this is the elections which are scheduled for the end of May. Also, your guest twisted my words. I didn't say we wanted the worst for the other Arab countries. We started embassies in all the countries, but they all refused us. (starting to raise her voice) Whenever a government counterpart in Saudi dies, we send a whole delegation to pay our respects, we are always trying to show manners to the other Arab countries. We try to have trade with the Saudis. Also, as to being too close to the United States, al-Maliki has said often that yes, it was the US who attacked, but what of the neighboring countries (Saudi) who gave the US the launchpad for the attack? So before you blame Iraq, blame yourselves! And these are the same countries who refuse to open embassies in Iraq but talk about opening them with Israel. And for that matter, I don't think that Russia has a sectarian, Sunni-Shia agenda when even they accuse the Saudis and Qatar of supporting terrorism. And the other day dozens of innocents died in a bomb ... !

Fida: (raising her voice to be heard) Ms. Hana! the fact that there's danger in Iraq is because Iraq itself cannot properly govern and administer itself and provide law and order. Iraq is responsible for what is happening. Also, as to what the other guests have said, al-Maliki has enemies amongst Kurds and everyone. Who is al-Maliki's friend?

Hanan: al-Maliki's friend is the Iraqi street. Those same Kurds and Sunnis have withdrawn their support in the past, on two occasions when we've had previous crises. But then in the end we talked it out and they gave their support again. Just because right now we have problems is not justification for anyone to interfere ...

Fida: the other day, the Kurds were demonstrating in the Iraqi street. The Sunnis have been demonstrating for months, people are demonstrating about a new law. What street are you talking about?

Hanan: listen, those Kurdish demonstrators have issues with other stuff, it's not against al-Maliki personally. As for the Sunnis, there's thousands of Iraqi Sunnis who are fighting for al-Maliki and against the terrorists and in Anbar they rose up against the terrorists. You report the news in a certain way to show sectarianism. I agree with the analyst that I hate sectarianism and we don't want it!

Fida: yes, the analyst was accusing you of employing it.

Hanan: keeps yelling!!

There's not much time left, but Fida turns and gives a final chance for comments to the rest of her guests, and everyone is so wrapped up they lose track of time and she doesn't even have time to reel off the names of all her guests before the hour is up. They ended as far in disagreement as they started, but I think it's good to air these sorts of things in the open.

I like that Fida always smiles after these shows, no matter how wild. See, y'all, y'all can stay calm and work it out and smile, too!

Watch the program on Youtube by clicking here.

Sunnis and Shias on Ashura

(November 15, 2013)

There's a Muslim holiday called Ashura, and it is a day on which there's some difference between how Sunni and Shia Muslims celebrate. Ashura is in part a commemoration of the murder of the Prophet's grandson, al-Hussayn, in the 700s, and this dark chapter still has people angered.

The BBC Arabic did a call-in show to canvass opinions and see where everyone stood.

First, they aired opinions of random people from the Yemeni street:

 This man says: "there's always been a difference between the Shia and Sunni, but now it's gotten all caught up in politics."

"A problem made worse by more and more extremism." 

"There's the Sunni and Shia, and then there's the meddling foreigners." 

"It's all the fault of Israel and the US."

Then, they went back to the studio and interviewed a Saudi sheikh:

The Saudi sheikh gave his take on the holiday of Ashura:
Both Sunnis and Shias revere al-Hussayn, and in fact we all believe him to be going to the very highest levels of Heaven. However, if I may be frank I'd like to say a word to the Shia. They always take this day to accuse the Sunni of having killed al-Hussayn. And the truth is that the people who killed al-Hussayn are completely rejected by the Sunni, and we consider Yazhid, the man who did the killing, to have committed a serious crime. So I ask the Shia not to turn this day into a day of shedding blood and moaning, because I don't believe that any reasonable person thinks this should be done. And I ask that they not hold the Sunnis to account for al-Hussayn's death. As long as we are all in agreement over this, and agree that we all like al-Hussayn, and we agree that al-Hussayn was against evil, then it will all be fine.

A man called in from Jordan:
In the olden days, the Shia held the Imam Ali as the first of the first. [The Imam Ali is connected to al-Hussayn.] Then this deepened into something else, and finally turned into "whoever does not believe like us and revere the Imam Ali like we do is an infidel." In the meantime, there are the Sunni Wahabis in Saudi who say the Shia are infidels. So how are we all supposed to get along and be in agreement when there's two sides calling each other infidels?

BBC moderator: okay, but the Imam Ali is important to all Muslims, so why should the Sunnis object to this reverence?

Man from Jordan: because as Muslims, we are supposed to abide by the Prophet Mohamed alone and the book sent down to him. We're not supposed to follow all the Imams that came after him. Those imams follow the religion of Islam, just like all of us follow the religion. We're supposed to follow it based on Mohamed alone. Neither the Shias nor the Wahabis do this like the rest of us, they are not following the book and the Prophet alone. So how are we supposed to be in agreement?

Next, they spoke by phone to a Yemeni man living in Iraq.

BBC moderator: as a Sunni Yemeni in Iraq, do you feel that the Shia around you are accusing you of having killed al-Hussayn?

Man from Yemen: I'd like to say that as an individual citizen, no one feels that there is any difference between the Sunni and Shia. I think the extremists are making the situation worse. At the end of the day, we are all Muslims and we all agree that there is no God but God and Mohamed is the Prophet of God. Yesterday here in Iraq, we had the celebrations for Ashura. It wasn't just the Sunni and Shia participating, there were Christians and all religions.

BBC moderator turns back to the Saudi sheikh: how do you respond?

Saudi sheikh: Excuse me, to the Jordanian who said the Wahabis are infidels: the Wahabis are part of the Sunni and we do not call anyone an infidel ... except for those who transgress the conditions for becoming an infidel, whether they be Sunni or Shia, but however, the Sunni happen to be those who are farthest away from being infidels.

BBC moderator: let's be realistic. We hear certain outrages and certain fatwas coming out of the mouths of some Wahabis, there are also infidel acts, and we hear that you refer to some Muslims as the "rejectors", and that's not nice.

Saudi sheikh: alright, sure. First, the "rejectors",  those people call themselves rejectors. Secondly, the Shia have certain strains amongst them that are blasphemous and violent, just like the Sunni also have extreme groups. But to say that the Saudis are responsible for those violent groups is completely illogical and wrong. So I'd like to tell my brothers, when you say something about a doctrine, be sure to know what you are talking about before you say anything!

A man from Egypt calls in:
The Wahabis blaspheme all the Shia and everyone who stands against America and Israel. Most people treat Ashura as the memory of the martyrdom of al-Hussayn. But then there's a group of Wahabis who want to get al-Hussayn out of history and prefer that he was killed. The beliefs of these people were built by Mohamd Abid Al-Wahab with the help of the Jews ...

The BBC moderator jumps in:
Okay, okay, let's not throw around accusations. In a general sense, does all this justify the distance between the Shia and the Sunni? and if in fact any of what you said was true, does this justify the social trend of more distance and more rivalries, on a day that is commemorating a person who is in fact revered and respected by all Muslims?

Man from Egypt:
Sir, we Sunni in Egypt do in fact commemorate Ashura and the martyrdom of al-Hussayn, and we revere the Imam Ali, and I don't at all approve of the Wahabis because they are blasphemous.

BBC Moderator:
Okay, that's clear, okay!

Saudi cleric:
All I hear from your viewers is that they complain and say that the Wahabis call everyone infidels; then they turn around and call the Wahabis infidels.

BBC Moderator:
That's right, this is part of the problem, the extremists are from both sides.

Then they both agreed that part of the problem is the politicians taking advantage of the situation and using everyone's viewpoints to pit people against each other even more, so that they can win votes.

Saudi cleric:
See, they say that we don't revere al-Hussayn and that we want to 'take al-Hussayn away from justice'. This isn't true! We love al-Hussayn! These distortions are all political machinations. And without any doubt there's lots of political machinations coming from the Shia extremist politicians so that they can maintain the enmity between the Sunni and Shia, and so that the Shia will continue to be far away from the true religion of the Sunnis, and for the sake of Iran getting to still take advantage of everything they're doing wrong.

Then it was time to read some comments on the online message boards:

Comment: al-Hussayn is not just for the Shia but for all of humanity, because there were even Christians who were killed beside him, and he represents peace and the plight of the oppressed against the oppressor.

Comment: It's not just a story for religion but a story of a hero and even Mahatma Gandhi studied this story for his efforts against the British occupation of India. And it's a wonderful thing, if only we can get away from calling everyone an infidel.

There were also people who wrote in to say that they completely reject the other side and they don't want any sort of collaboration with them. Others wrote that they had no problem living side by side with those of different religious persuasions, and one person wrote that the problem in the Muslim world is the idea of calling everyone who doesn't believe exactly as you do an infidel, and getting so worked up that you resort to violence. Another person wrote: sure there are differences, but does this have to lead to suicide bombings when God has outlawed suicide?

Then they aired footage from Baghdad, where they asked random people on the streets: "do your politicians take advantage of Shia-Sunni splits to win votes?"

Not sure what she's saying, I just wanted to show a female. There's a second lady in the background. WHOA. 

"Sure, the politicians take advantage. But, in a strong country, they can't get much of a foothold in that direction. They can only take advantage in weak countries, where the law cannot withstand them."

"A society cannot move forward if there's no sort of tolerance or steps at trying to get closer to one another." 

"Religion is a matter for the worshipper and his Creator. It has nothing to do with politics. We really need to put some thought into separating religion from politics. In fact, politics is all wrong. It is an expression based on lies, on points that people make for personal gain. It shows your internal diseases. And that's what they're using on us."

That's a pretty bold statement! And I give her double props for her swanky sunglasses.

After listening to those people, the show returned to the studio and spoke this this religious man:

I'm pretty sure this man is a Shia. He said: I agree that there is political interference in religion. In the 900s, when Egypt was under the rule of the Fatimids and known as "Egypt the Fatimiya", the Al-Azhar religious institute taught dozens of Islamic theories. But then, when Salah ad-Din (Saladin) took over, everything was banned except for four Sunni strains. And this is only one example. In general, Muslims have grown used to, over the centuries, being imposed upon by their rulers in matters of religion.

And finally, they had one more guest via video link. This is a Sunni analyst from Egypt. Allow me to introduce: the Arab man and the Finger:

He said:

When Terri Jones, the American, tries to burn copies of the Quran, Muslims don't really know what to do as a counter-insult. (Actually, we do, we go and kill ambassadors.) But from a religious standpoint, we can't counter-insult. For example, we can't start insulting symbols of Christianity, like Mary, because Mary is very holy in Islam as well!

He gave this example as a parallel for the Sunnis and Shias. When the Shia start insulting the Sunnis, the Sunnis don't know how to respond because everything that is particularly holy for Shias (whether the Imam Ali or Fatima) is in fact holy for Sunnis as well. 

Then the moderator interrupted and said, well, and not all Shias insult all the Sunnis. And the analyst said, yes, yes, of course. 

BBC Moderator:

Why, if the historical difference between the Shias and Sunnis is so small, then why do the attempts at unification and reconciliation fail? Why are there not more attempts?

Sunni analyst from Egypt: because the politicians take advantage of conflicts to win votes. If they all really revered al-Hussayn, as they say they do, they would have reached across the aisle and reconciled just as al-Hussayn preached, but they won't do that, not from either side. 

Whew! If you made it all the way here, congratulations. I hope I did not lose you with mentions of al-Hussayn, Fatima, and the Imam Ali, but I'd better not explain any of it. I'll probably give you a version riddled with mistakes, and then I'll have the Muslim police breathing down my back!

You can watch the show on YouTube by clicking here.

Interfaith mosque in Pakistan

(November 15, 2013)

Every so often on the BBC Arabic, there's an emergency news story about a mosque that has been blown up in Pakistan (churches thrown in for good measure, as well.)

This sheikh is trying to change things:

He said that since his childhood, his dream has been to have a mosque for all Muslims together.

And this man says: well, it's a nice idea, but when Pakistanis of different background are together in a single location, all we do is fight.

Violence in Iraq

(late October, 2013)

The BBC Arabic had a show about all the violence in Iraq.


First, the guests talked about everything that is wrong with Iraq these days:

1. sometimes schools are blown up, and the kids are all really stressed

2. one Iraqi man said: we are raising a generation of children who think everything is based on killing someone

3. People are so stressed out that their hair is falling out and they can't sleep, so says this professor:

4. Everyone is too scared to let their kids go outside, not only because they might be killed by a bomb, but because apparently there is a roaring drug trade happening on the streets.

5. Lots of people have stories as follows: I was ten minutes late to class, but in my absence, it was blown up.

Then the presenter Fida Bassil asked a very provocative question: "There's people who say that Iraqi society is at its roots a violent society. That's why we're seeing so much bloodshed."

The Iraqis she was interviewing denied this.

The man said: no, it's not a question of being genetically disposed to violence.

Fida said: but even before the American occupation, Iraqi society was violent. There's never been a transfer of power without bloodshed. It always happens through killings.

The man said: but that's always going to be the case in a society when you don't have elections.

I think he has a point, and if you are going to consider Iraqi society violent, then you'd also have to consider Germans and people in Rwanda as super-psycho and violent. The only thing I really don't like is when Iraqis, in spite of everything happening, still going around talking as if they are the best thing ever. No, you're not!!! Please don't go around calling other countries 'corrupt' when your society is producing a bunch of people willing to blow themselves up and kill dozens of people at mosques, schools, and markets.

Then they started talking about Sunnis and Shias. Both the Iraqis on the program denied that there was going to be a war between the two sides. They said that your everyday Iraqi, no matter from what stripe, rejects violence directed at the opposite group in that way.

And, they said that the people who blow things up have a special tactic. No matter what their true identity is, they go blow up a Shia mosque, and say a Sunni did it. Then they go blow up a Sunni mosque, and say that a Shia did it. So there are people who purposefully aim their targets to cause the greatest rage. But the two guests said that Iraqis understand all this and refused to be fooled.

Fida asked, then why is it the case that you see Sunnis moving to areas with only Sunnis, and Shias moving to areas with only Shias, if the two sides are indeed getting along in spite of the bombs.

I think the man said: well, people are moving to feel greater security, but in their hearts they don't want to.

Watch the program here.

Update January 11, 2014:
I know people who know people who live in Iraq, so I've heard from them, in a second-second-hand way, that they stay out for all hours at night. In fact, one guy never comes home before midnight, and one girl is also always everywhere at restaurants and coffee shops. And one person went to visit four weeks ago and was amazed at how the streets were full of people coming and going.

People trying in Iraq

(October 15, 2013)

This was the day of Eid, the "big" Eid, the Eid when everyone is going on the Hajj. On this holy day in the Islamic calendar, some Muslims decided to blow up a mosque in Kirkuk, a city in Iraq. I think the report said a couple of kids were killed as they were gathering up their Eid candy.

I think that other Iraqis were trying to keep some spirit of community and unity by having meals like this:

(which I'm sure a bunch of women cooked, but I'm not sure where they are. They did not appear in any of the video footage.)

And this sheikh was saying some nice things about peace.

Joint Sunni/Shia prayers

On the last day of May, after many weeks of demonstrations in Iraq, and many accusations, and a lot of yelling and screaming (at least amongst the guests they had on the BBC), and some violence, too, they held joint Friday prayers for Shia and Sunni people in Iraq.

The interfaith spirit at work!