“On the Eve of Modernity”

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Journalism and Media, Syria


[The Israel bombing of Qana yesterday was not the first such attack on this town. The horrendous picture above is from a similar bombing there in April, 1996, when as many as 300 villagers were killed.]

In a syndicated commentary on July 28, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman illustrated the journalistic malady that exemplifies biased reportage masquerading as informed analysis. While in Damascus he picked up a copy of the English-language Syria Times and noted an ad box that read “The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity.” He continues:

“I thought: What a perfect way to describe the Middle East today – going back to some pre-modern era? Alas, the Syria Times was not trying to be ironic. It turned out the headline was the title of a book about the 18th century. But had it been a news headline, it would have been apt. Continue reading “On the Eve of Modernity” →

In God We Strut

Humor and Satire, Iraq War

One of the major casualties of war is the opportunistic rise of God-talk. Before the American Civil War preachers north and south saw their political differences along religious lines. Slaveholding advocates below the Mason-Dixon line viewed blacks as the cursed children of Ham, forever branded to be servants to the Japhethetic spiritual (and plantation-owning) heirs of Noah and Abraham. Liberal abolitionists up north proposed the novel idea that Uncle Tom was the kind of man Jesus died for and who a nation should go to war over. World War I America road the crest of a revivalist movement leading to the current evangelical wing of conservative Protestantism and “death to Darwinism” bannerism. After World War II the pulpit not only was bullied to save wayward sinners but warned of the immanent takeover of America by godless Commies. Now we have the debacle in Iraq in which President Bush entered the fray on the apparent advice from a heavenly father (certainly not the logical assessment of Pentagon planners). Look out God, here come the self-righteous mantra bearers once again. Continue reading In God We Strut →

Football and Mouth Disease

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Humor and Satire

Is the fan base for the World Cup half full of it or half witted? Not unlike the competitive spirit of the Olympic Games, nationalistic fervor tends to run rampant every four years in pursuit of the top position in world football. This is not to be confused with the helmet and padding show that Americans tolerate between beer commercials, although some of us may be forgiven for comparing the two when American Budweiser reigns as the official beer of the World Cup.

In the games so far Middle Eastern countries have not fared well. None are expected to move along to the next stage. Ironically, this puts Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Iran on an equal footing with the United States, whose chances of moving on hinge upon an unlikely scenario with Team USA having to beat Ghana. Continue reading Football and Mouth Disease →

Post-Asabiyya: Ibn Khaldun and the Discourse of Reform: Part One

Bahrain, Islamic History

[left to right, Burhan Ghalioun, Muhammad ‘Abid al-Jabri, Ibrahim Gholum, Fahmy Jad’an and Abu-Ya’rab al- Marzouqi at University of Bahrain Ibn Khaldun conference in May]

The theme of “reform” in its socio-economic, political, religious, and ethical dimensions has been, for the last five years, a topic of greatest contention and debate in the Arab World. This theme was recently extensively deliberated in a conference entitled “Khaldunian Thought and the Discourse of Reform” in celebration of the 600th anniversary of Ibn Khaldun, the erudite Arab thinker, scholar, politician, and historian of the 14th century. Sponsored by the College of Arts at the University of Bahrain, it hosted renowned contemporary scholars including Muhammad ‘Abid al-Jabri, Burhan Ghalioun, Fahmy Jad’an and Abu-Ya’rab al- Marzouqi, among others. Continue reading Post-Asabiyya: Ibn Khaldun and the Discourse of Reform: Part One →

Is There a Middle East?

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land

Is there a Middle East? At first glance we either have a very silly question or an occasion for an academic conference. In this case it was the latter at Yale University this past weekend. The Council for Middle East Studies of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies hosted a dozen scholars from various disciplines. Papers were given on the history of the term “Middle East,” its geographical borders in maps and mental templates, how the region implied has been imagined, colonially appropriated and the continuing relevance of the region in a world hooked on oil and stymied by regional terrorism. Continue reading Is There a Middle East? →

Unwanted: Dead, Alive or on Tape

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Terrorism Issue

Osama Bin Laden is alive and well … well, he is still reduced to just a faceless voice without access to a video camera. The mass-media elected leader of Al-Qaeda sent another audiotape to al-Jazeera on Sunday. According to al-Jazeera, the tape is “believed by Washington to be authentic.” It was his first public relations event since January and it seems to be more of a “I am still here and hearing the news” message than anything else. And so the distant-learning op-ed propaganda war goes on, but who is listening? Continue reading Unwanted: Dead, Alive or on Tape →

Much Ado about Something Rotten in Denmark

Islam in Europe, Islamophobia

 

Left: Miniature of Muhammed re-dedicating the Black Stone at the Kaaba. From Jami Al-Tawarikh, by Rashid Al-Din, 1324. Edinburgh University Library, ms. 20, fol. 55. Date: 1324-1585. Arabian (Mecca). Right: Norwegian newspaper showing the Danish cartoons (posted on al-Jazira).

Hamlet: ‘By heaven, I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me!– I say, away!–Go on; I’ll follow thee.’ [Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet.]

Horatio: ‘He waxes desperate with imagination.’

Marcellus: ‘Let’s follow; ’tis not fit thus to obey him.’

Horatio: ‘Have after.–To what issue will this come?’

Marcellus: ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.’

Horatio: ‘Heaven will direct it.’

From Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (I, iv)

By now the whole world knows about a controversial set of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Published in a major Danish newspaper (Jyllands-Posten), the images are rotten to the core to many Muslims. The rotting has been going on since last September, when the images were first printed, in part as a challenge to find Danish artists not afraid to caricature Muhammad as they have Jesus and other prophets in the past. As an illustration of how fast this story is developing in cyberspace, check out the post on Wi[c]k[ed]ipedia.

No matter what you think of the humor in the drawings, the current situation is no fun for anyone. The outrage of many Muslims worldwide has boiled over in the past few weeks to a remarkable escalation not seen since the days of Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. There has been an economic boycott of Danish products, resulting in the
loss of millions of dollars in sales to the Middle East. Some Danish embassies have been closed. Flags have been burnt. An Iraqi insurgent group has called for attacks on the small contingent of Danish troops fighting with the coalition. Republication of the cartoons in Norwegian and French newspapers has led to an ever wider frenzy about a Western conspiracy to defame Islam.

Continue reading Much Ado about Something Rotten in Denmark →

Naked and with Shame

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Iraq War, Israel, Palestine

The front page of today’s New York Times has a tabloid flavor: a group of charging Palestinian men stripped down to their underwear and running shoes. The event on Tuesday was an Israeli raid on a Palestinian prison in Jericho. This time the walls came tumbling down due to tanks and bulldozers and the power was outside rather than inside the walls. At stake were six Palestinians previously held in Israel, remanded to the Palestinian authority under a shared incarceration process and now reclaimed by Israel. It seems the British and American monitors decided to leave in fear for their own safety and immediately (perhaps in as little as 10 minutes) the Israeli authorities moved in. As hard as it may be to believe, there are even deeper levels of trust in the volatile Arab-Israeli crisis. Fearing that Hamas might break the agreement, Israel decided to do a preemptive breaking of the agreement themselves.
Continue reading Naked and with Shame →