Why Turkey Matters

The Turkish protests are being likened to the Arab Spring, but is there any real correlation to it? Not at all in ready my latest article on the new media platform, New India TV,

Rights in Islam, have no color or nationality

Sometimes just because of looks, people get you all wrong.

  As I walked on a narrow sidewalk  along Jamal Abdul Nasser, a woman and her two children were coming towards my way. I guess rules of etiquette would mean that someone gives way, I thought that since there were three of them standing side by side, the mother would tell the two children to get in front of her or behind her and for a single file line so that we could all share the walkway without endangering ourselves walking in the street and oncoming traffic. This was not the case however, she decided that it was better to push against and nearly smashing me into her son.

I’ve faced this sort of petty violence against myself as many people assume so many things about me. In this particular case, the women was Indian and was determined not to be bullied by an Arab, which she perceived me to be. I’ve seen this sort of behavior time and time again. One time a doctor assumed that I was Emirati and had pushed my way into her office without an appointment, but I had been sent there from emergency. She didn’t care, she began shouting at me and refused to see me and sent me to the other doctor, who nevertheless was kind and thorough in doing his duty. So much for doctors helping people.

 Now those are my perceptions, however it could be another element to it-the Muslim non-Muslim factor. This usually occurs within the Indian context where some non-Indians just refuse to talk to you regardless of who you are or what you do. This was the case of my neighbor across the street, whose friend who used give me cold looks each time, we chatted. I tried to smile at her. Both were Indians and both were non-Muslims. Of course I had my assumptions, perhaps she didn’t want to talk to Muslims, since she was Hindu and the other, friendlier, woman, a Catholic. However, the non-smiler did come around after two years of my nodding her way. I guess perseverance is the key.  Without asking, I haven't a clue why she chose not speak to me for such a long time. 

All American Muslims must be spies.

This is one theme that bubbles up often out of nowhere, without provocation. I would love to think that this is just me, who has suffered from this, however, I’ve heard it so often, even I began suspect certain people after a while.

What does a spy look like? I have no clue. However, some may suspect Americans especially if they are white and Muslim. Suhaib Webb is a white convert to Islam from Oklahoma, who found Islam while studying in California. He them went on around the Muslim world studying Islam and later on, teaching it. However, he has complained more than once of been accused of being a spy and being spied on. This is in part in some ways from the notion, of Islam being as a step down and especially those who are white. I’ve often heard of whites suffering after becoming Muslim, so much so that they often have to leave their families. So, being called a spy is often becomes extremely painful.

Then you have people like me, whose overt curiosity and sociological background forces me to ask a lot of questions in order to understand how people function within the society. Living in UAE, were people often live within sort of closed bubbles, it makes everyone seem fascinating, especially for me. So, I too have had the moniker of spy attached to me as well. I’m not white, but I am still
American.

Of course looking to others to give you your rights in this world should be is almost like looking for applause for taking out the trash.  Allah is the only one who can give you your rights. This is the social politics of UAE, many people run on assumptions. Also, when dealing with you, they often suspect acts of kindness or even a ‘salaam’. But this I am told is just the signs of the end of days. Allah protect us from evil and harm during these trials.

I remember the woman who teaches my daughters Quran at the masjid, forbade them coming too early asking them, “Aren’t you afraid that the Indian men will get you?” Meanwhile she never got the hint that my husband is Indian and my daughters are too.  How may Arab mothers have I heard threaten their children with the evil ‘Hindi’ man who is going to get them and do them harm?

Shaytan is an equal opportunity, employer. He reaches out to everyone, in every language and those who respond, come from all walks of life.

Then, while shopping, the sales lady told my daughter, “You have to be careful about touching everything, there are many Indians around and they are very dirty.” I hear it all of the time. However, whenever I got to Majaz Park, It’s not the Indians who are eating a million pumpkin seeds and throwing their shells on the ground. Nor is it the Indians who bring cups, food, plates and tissues and not even bother to dispose of them properly.

Then I hear many Arabs say, “Oh, those Indian children are so polite and respectful.” It is true. Then again, fear and racism makes you polite doesn’t it?

In Fredrick Douglass’ autobiography, he describes his master beating him when he was a slave. Then I remember the shocked I felt while reading the words that I have often hear African American used130 years later. Black people beat their children using the same language. Then when you think of the unbridled cruelty of the Israeli government towards Palestinians, it is also, in some way the same cruelty if not worst than that they suffered from while living in Nazi Germany.

Similarly, there are millions of South Asians, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis who who live and work in UAE. Many of them are Muslims. Yet, many are so careless with giving them their rights according to Islam. The UAE national anthem says, “Our faith is Islam and Quran is our guide.” There are many proofs that there are many who believe this, but there are also, many that show that there is some doubt.

Islam came to end cruelty, to stop violence. However, it can only do so if one uses it and the model provided to us from our beloved Prophet Muhammad Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. Imagine the ajer multiplied by millions with justice and safety, that comes when people treat each other well, think the best of each person they meet, and do their best to help each other. This is not some fairy tale, it is the promise of Islam and a command from Allah. 

There is no doubt that UAE has been showered with many blessings, I pray that Allah continues to shower his niamah, barakat, and rizq upon this oasis in the desert. 

One Dream Done: Arundhati Roy

The Indian author Arundhati Roy speaks at the Sharjah International Book Fair. Duncan Chard for the National.

Roy against the machine

Maryam Ismail

Nov 13, 2012 

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Normally, arriving 30 minutes early for a Sharjah book fair event at the Sharjah Expo Centre's huge conference hall would guarantee you a seat, but not this time. Every chair except for two rows of reserved seating was taken; the walls of the auditorium were lined with people. A few minutes and about a hundred people later, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, the president of the Emirates Publishing Association, presented Arundhati Roy to a standing ovation.

Earlier that day, when I spoke to Roy, we talked about her work as a writer, her books and her experiences as an activist, championing human rights, environment issues and the anti-globalisation movement.
Her activities have not been without controversy. Vocal in her opposition to her country's nuclear policy, its ambitions of becoming a free market and the issue of Kashmir (she supports its independence) have incurred the wrath of Indian nationalists, and after she spent two months visiting the Maoist rebels in the Indian forests in 2010, highlighting the plight of India's tribal people, the Adivasis, she was accused of being a national traitor.

However, she dismisses the idea that she's any kind of activist.
"I don't even know what an activist is," she says. "I don't know why people keep saying that I am an activist as if I'm walking around, carrying a banner all the time. I write because I have a space in which I can be heard and that is what I do. I write about my society and its issues."
Prior to meeting her, I expected the 50-year-old writer to be a fierce woman, full of angst and anger, but instead I found that she possesses both the infinite tenderness of a mother and the reckless rage of a suicide bomber, to paraphrase from The God of Small Things. Wearing a burnt orange cotton sari with an olive green blouse and long, white beads, she is a gracious woman who seems so instantly familiar that you want to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. And while her countenance may make you stop in your tracks, watch out: she carries a pen filled with the ink of ire.

In her work, she is known for focusing on the uneven tug of war between global capitalism and those under its feet. When The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize and sent Roy's international profile skyrocketing, she used the clout to unleash a blaze of dissent against India's nuclear ambitions, political corruption and the marginalisation of its poor and powerless.

The God of Small Things, which centres on the lives of twins, a boy and a girl, growing up in Aymanam Kerala - where Roy herself grew up - is a book that gives you butterflies in your stomach; it's filled with tastes, smells and sounds. It brings coolness to your skin and a twinge of pain to your heart. Remarkably, I can still conjure up these images after having read the book only once, 14 years ago, in 1998.
Roy is the daughter of a Syrian Christian mother and a Bengali Hindu. Her mother moved her family to Aymanam after divorcing Roy's father. It was an experience, Roy says, that strongly influenced her writing of The God of Small Things.

"In the Syrian Christian community, I grew up as an outsider," she recalls. "People would say: 'Why don't you go back to your father?' Then, there was the caste system, albeit a hidden one, but nonetheless very rigid. In retrospect, it was the battle to understand who you are."
The caste system is an issue that's obviously close to Roy's heart. But is there anything that can be done to change the national consciousness?

"The debate about changing the society's mindset began with Bhimrao Ramaji Ambedkar [the architect of the Indian constitution] and [Mahatma] Gandhi. The constitution was a compromise where caste was institutionalised. People like to think of Gandhi as someone that was against the caste system, but this is a lie. Gandhi himself believed in the caste system. He said that the untouchables should remain scavengers and Brahmins should take care of the spiritual needs of society - that every caste should remain where it is, but we should respect them.

"There is such intellectual dishonesty going around in India concerning him and his history. He is a fascinating figure, but he should not be someone that we cannot question or talk about - this is wrong."
Another cause Roy is associated with is anti-globalisation, a topic which she has written about extensively. Does she think her work, together with that of others such as Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Howard Zinn are collectively making a chink in the globalisation machine's armour?
"I think it's hard to say," she says. "There is a chink in the machine, but I don't know if it is because of our work. The machine is creating such enormous disparity, such enormous violence, that there is bound to be a blowback. How can I take credit for that? I don't know."

The God of Small Things has yet to be followed by a second novel but, after 14 years, she confirms that another is on its way. An attempt to squeeze out some details is met with a sly chuckle.
"I am writing a new novel, but when I finish it, it will be as much as a surprise to me as it is to you."
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Hoping for Change-Sigh

This is something that I wrote in 2010. Although things are a little different from back then, some things are are worst. Back then, we were just worried about impossibilities, like the entire population of America having its water supply compromised by terrorist,  but now that the Muslims are asserting their right self determination along their own values, it's time to bring out the ammo. Libya was the first trial and now Mali; just when we thought the war was over. Obama, said that the war on terror was over, then he said, he got Osama, then Al Qaida was weakened. An now what is the excuse? Ya Rabb, musaidinah!

Time to move on America

Maryam Ismail / 9 April 2010

People in our part of the world love to say, ‘the Jews control everything in America… All of the US presidents are Jews excluding Barack Obama; he has other problems’. Conspiracy theories make me laugh. That was until I listened to the two speeches given at this year’s annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting.

Then the entire scenario unfolded before me like the end of the film, Ocean’s 12. Suddenly, everything I’ve ever seen had a new meaning. It became clear, that words like insurgent, terrorist, and militant were selectively taken from the word wall of Zionism. Placing these words into an ultra-mediated discourse has made them almost as ubiquitous as milk and sugar.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and US Congress member Eric Cantor, took the team teaching approach, in giving their version of Israeli history, 101 and 102. Netanyahu played expert historian, and participant of the death-defying struggle of his people, painting the bloody and arduous history of the Jews of the past three millennia across a global canvas.

Next, Cantor, gave his introduction to modern US Jewish history which recounted the tale of 20,000 German-Jewish children on a ship who were denied entry to the US and were sent back to Germany, because Congress refused to pass a bill granting them entry. To make up for it, we see the end result, the state of Israel. Then we got to the real point of their speeches: Palestine, Islam, and terror.  I don’t know if it’s delusion or blindness, when Netanyahu spoke about Israel’s attempt at peace with Palestinians while at the same time saying that they have no right to their homes in Jerusalem.  “Amen” added Cantor.

Suddenly, Netanyahu’s geography got funky. He compared my home state of New Jersey (one of the smallest states in the US), to Israel. Building a scenario where Iran and Hezbollah (which he says has 60,000 missiles) were ready to pounce on this innocent and beleaguered mouse (Israel) which is already scratched and bruised. New Jersey is not Israel.

Trenton, the capitol of New Jersey couldn’t defend itself against Iran or Hezbollah. However, Israel with its endless source of conscripted military and white phosphorus, US-made and donated technology and weaponry, could and often does, annihilate anyone that has threatened it.

That’s my spin on it, but it won’t be coming to a movie theatre near you any time soon.

My jaw dropped when Cantor laid out his 12-step media plan to keep the world focused on the US “war on terror.” “From Yemen to Afghanistan to Pakistan, terrorists are not going to lay down their arms against America if we abandon Israel. We must do everything possible to hold the media accountable and empower our communities at home with an understanding of the true nature of our shared struggle with Israel.” 

Suddenly, that 1950’s film, the Blob came to mind. As if there isn’t enough hype and hysteria surrounding the world of Muslims, it seems that this is just the beginning.

First, the story was of 19 mad men, allegedly all from the Arab world. Then they somehow had a connection to Afghanistan. Then anthrax. Then old vials of Ricin were found in a refrigerator in Iraq. Now there’s this talk of American wannabe terrorists. You see how it goes from a little rock with a ball of jelly in it into a bloodthirsty monster devouring humankind?  Cantor does a remake with a mental montage of his version of Muslim world: “The American people know who stands with us in our fight against terrorism; we know who wept at candlelight vigils when America was attacked on 9-11 (I shed a tear for my friends in the WTC basement) and we know who sends teams of doctors and millions of dollars halfway around the world to save lives in Haiti.

"In the same way, we Americans also know who teaches their children to emulate suicide bombers (hmmm); who danced and tossed candy around in the streets on 9-11 celebrating that horrible day (A Fox News re-mix). And we do know who names their boulevards, schools and their public squares after terrorists," Cantor proclaimed. 

Am I the only person who believes this guy has gone off his rocker and is tired of this spiel?  It’s time to think differently, to stop rehashing this rhetoric. We have to think of the global common good. This constant search for bad guys is not healthy. No disrespect to those who’ve died and are dying in this mess, but a death is a death and everyone cries when their loved ones are gone.

In the words of the great comedian, Bernie Mac, “America, let’s move on.”  I hate to say it, but if we don’t there’ll be no end of the Jihad Janes, Petey the Petrol throwers, and Wally Wahhabis, because this theme is coming back home, ‘if you’re not down with the latest theme on terror, you’ve got to be a terrorist.’

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2010/April/opinion_April48.xml&section=opinion&col

Prayer in Mall Masjids: Where Did Everybody Go?

What’s going on? I’ve noticed that in terms of the malls, there are less women praying along with their children in the Mall masjids. I also had a similar experience during this 2012 Sharjajh International book fair where it’s claimed that there were 70,000 visitors a day. Yet, in the past, during the prayer times, it was almost impossible especially on the women's side. Even if you when to pray up to fifteen minutes early, their was no place in the bathroom, in the masjid and even in the halls. However, this time, as I sat there waiting for the Maghrib athan, I sat there all alone. Finally as I was leaving there were about three people coming to pray. Even during other times there were very few people praying. The same thing with Asr prayer yesterday in Sahara Center. It was Friday and the mall wasn't very crowded, but there were lots of people there and yet, during Asr prayer there was only about 10 or 12 people praying. In the past, during this time, you’d have to wait for enough people to stop just so you could get out of the mosque (it’s prohibited to pass in front of someone praying).And now, their was only one person praying behind me in the second row. 

Why is this? Now, when there are seemingly more and more Islamic classes, but less people praying. Also, there is the problem of fajr. Perhaps it's two things, those who pray have left the malls. They have decided these are places of fitna. They are in a way, how many awful songs have I heard describing acts that would land you in jail if you talked about them in public? Then despite the signs asking people to please where respective clothing, in some cases, even though, some might think that these signs are for non-Muslims, there are some Muslims who are guilty of dressing inappropriately. 

Then there is also, the factor of the 3ddy culture, where Islamic values are not held in the respect that they deserve. There's a demand for respectful clothing, but there are very few places that sell them I went to H&M to look for a shirt for my muhajjabet daughter, and found a mini skirt that would make a nice head piece for her. Yanni, that it was that small. In the past, I would see Emirati girls wearing their traditional jilbabs, they were beautiful and covering well. Now, it very rare. I am not blaming them. It's just perhaps that they feel that it's an old thing. Then they should buy they latest fashions. Allahu 3llum. The other is that there are very few options and if they have money, why shouldn't they spend it on their kids. Why shouldn't these kids dress like the ones they see on those kids on the MBC channels? 

There is a slow withdrawal of the Islamic presence. 

It’s been two years now that they've stopped the Fajr prayer on the loudspeakers, now we can hear only athan and iqamah, the call to wake up and the call to stand for prayer. What does this mean? I am no sure, what I do know is that it can not lead to any good. Perhaps people will let it go, but as Emiratis struggle to keep their culture in tact, but how can they when much of this culture is linked to Islam? Without Islam what will be left of Emirati culture? Without prayer, what kind of hope will be left for a better future? I am of the opinion that it’s taqwa of the people that has kept UAE strong, prosperous, and thriving. It is also, the same thing that made Turkey rise within the past few years. Without it, it was a disaster, and without it and/or with its decline, it has had awful results.