Sugar Cubes

Intro: Arab-American author and radio show host Samar Jarrah today appeared on Tampa FOX affiliate WTVT as a special guest on “Dialogue Between Arabs and Americans.” Samar was a guest on a 1/2 hour live broadcast show called “Your Turn with Kathy Fountain” and shared thoughts on her new book “Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts.” Samar is also co-host of a radio show (with Ahmed Bedier) True Talk on WMNF 88.5FM, a live 1-hour show from an Arab and Muslim perspective.

Download and watch the interview here

Samar was absolutely amazing, I salute her for the great efforts she’s been making to establish a dialogue between the Arab World and the west, particularly the US.

Below is the interview, typed down by myself, so forgive me if you find any mistake. There are few words which I couldn’t hear clearly and/or did not understand, those are the words put between two question marks.

Cathy: After 9/11 Arabs living in the united states more and more defending themselves and culture. Terrorism has made Americans suspicious, questioning what about the videos has been seen on tv what about the way women have been treated in the arab world

What about the hate we’ve heard being smeared by Arab voices against American values. Well, my guest today certainly did her own share speaking to different groups trying to act like a ? between her two homelands, the US and the Arab world. She’s been a contributor to CNN world’s report, reporting from Jordan, she’s a ? journalist. She ended up writing a book which gave the Americans the opportunity to ask these types of questions to the average Arab citizen and what she found is extremely extraordinary about the way we don’t communicate well with other cultures. So Samar Jarrah is here, she’s the author of the book Arab voices speaking to American hearts.

Explain to me first of all what Arab is, when we talk about Arab countries, America ? put everybody who’s Muslim under that category but its not.

Samar: I am an Arab because I speak the Arab language. My culture is Arabic, my food, my cuisine at least when I lived in the Arab world was Arabic. There is a unifying culture. And it is again based on the language not the religion. My best friend her name is Rose, she’s from a Christian family from Ramallah, she’s absolutely Arab but she’s not a Muslim. So it is not faith that determines your identity it is really the Arabic culture. The North African countries like Tunisia, morocco, Algeria, Libya are Arab for instance greater Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and the gulf region are Arab. But outside of that for instance turkey is not Arab, Cyprus is not Arab yet if you go to the dictionary and look at the middle east they would have turkey, Cyprus and Israel as part of the middle east but not the Arab world. Iran is not Arab, it’s a country that has its own language and culture. It happens that most of its people believe in the faith of Islam, they do not speak Arabic and they do not necessarily share the very same Arabic culture that I do.

Cathy:Is Osama bin laden an Arab?

Samar: yes Osama bin laden is an Arab, he is a Saudi and a Muslims

Cathy: so after 9/11 people were saying Samar come and speak to our group, we have lots of questions for u. the Arabs they are terrorists.

Samar: yes not only the Arabs, some people say Muslims they are terrorists but actually it wasn’t how I was approached. I have been doing public speaking and giving lectures for at least 16 years, I’ve been teaching and I’ve been always asked to come and talk about media, to talk about the national relations in the Arab world and Islam but after September 11 the demand on me became extremely more powerful. They wanted to understand, to talk to an Arab not to someone who has been there or is labeled as an expert, yet does not speak Arabic has not read the Qura’an and believes that he knows the Arab mind so why not talk to somebody in flesh and blood like u did rather than bring somebody who does not speak Arabic is not part of that world to talk about us as arabs or Arabs American. Then you’ll have a direct relation, direct dialogue so this is what happens they invited me to synagogues, to temples, churches groups outside church groups anything, public hens, ever walk of life!

Cathy: what is the most common question Americans want to ask Arabs?

Samar: I can’t tell u there is one question in particular. At the beginning, why do you hate us maybe. after few weeks, and after people started reading a little bit more they started to say ok how can we have a dialogue, how can we interact? Why don’t u tell Arabs this this and that. Why don’t U go there and tell them this and that for instance

Cathy: well I think the question that most American struggle with after 9/11 that they got the impression, right or wrong, correct it, that the Arab world if not supportive of what the terrorists did to America on 9/11 well at least in some way in sympathy.

Samar: you may have elements in society, we always have elements in society that are extremist in their thinking, in every society even here in the USA that might support such a thing but publicly all the government of the Arab world of course condemned September 11 and condemned any form of terrorism but also the people, Arabs are not used to coming out the way here because we live under democracy to march on the streets, they are not used to do this so they never thought that this is what the Americans want to see. Deep in their hearts, everybody I met condemned September 11. Everybody is hurt by it and its consequences on the Arab image on the Islamic image yet they don’t know how to express themselves, they are not used to be interviewed on tv they aren’t used to doing marches in the streets.

Cathy: and u know that leads to the second question you heard commentators on television over and over say, why aren’t we hearing more Muslim leaders, more Arab leaders condemn terrorism? And I think of my questions is it because there’s no one a spiritual leader like the Christian world has the pope to come out and condemn something, who in the Muslim world to come out and say this is wrong?

Samar: that’s a very important point u make Cathy, I am a Muslim and I live according to my faith and my own principles, I do not allow anyone to tell me go to kill myself or not to kill myself, I’m an independent thinker, and that’s the case in the Muslim Sunni world, we do not have a pope, there’s no Islamic hierarchy but there are many well known authorities in Islam like sheikh al Qaradawi, like for example the council in the USA(the Fiqh council) where they make what is called an Islamic decree or a fatwa that says we do not support any form or way of terrorism. The point Cathy, I’ve been speaking for 16 years, when did I get on tv? after 3 years, actually you and I have been going back and forth maybe 3, 4 months. How many times you see a person like me talking about the Arab women and being also Arab. Unfortunately the media sometimes ignore the moderate voices of the Arab world, for instance the us media knows the face of bin laden and al Zarqawi more than they know myself or any other speaker.

[on the phone: Theresa from Sarasota saying that the Palestine-Israel conflict might be one of the main causes of terrorism stressing the fact that the MSM does not talk enough about what is going on in Palestine]

Cathy: we get your point, and to let miss Samar Jarrah answer your question and also what you feel is going to happen if Israeli Ariel Sharon maybe not be able to resume his leadership?

Samar: to answer yours and Theresa’s question, from my work in the Arab world to research for my book I was surprised that after September 11, after the Afghanistan war and after the gulf war the recent one, the Arabs still have the question of Palestine in their hearts as the most important issue that matters to them more than Iraq, more than the war on terrorism, more than anything! It is the Arab Israeli conflict, they would like to see a peaceful resolution for a conflict that has been going for a long time where like Theresa said in the western media but in particular the American media u do not see much the other side of the equation, for instance watch the coverage of the sickness and the passing of Yasser Arafat versus the coverage of prime minister Sharon while he is fighting for his life you will find that there isn’t much balance in the coverage and same thing with the conflict between Arabs and Israeli conflict. There are instances where the Palestinians are guilty and instances where the Israeli army is guilty but most of the time the media is directed towards Palestinians being terrorists or the victimizers not the ones under occupation, and the Israeli army is always retaliating. So that’s why there’s a lot of misunderstanding between the image of the Palestinian in the Arab Israeli conflict and the perception in the Arab world of what is going on. And the Arab people feel that the us government is a broker in this conflict and they need to be more balanced.

Cathy: do they think that Ariel Sharon was doing a good thing, were they hopeful for peace? and this now going to be negative or leave a vacuum if he passes or not able to resume his process.

Samar: if you look at the history of Sharon before 2005, he is known in Israel as the bulldozer, why does he get this name? because he bulldozes the differences between people or because he bulldozes the Palestinian rights and homes?!

Cathy: ?

Samar: I’m very happy, I’m very happy that he does but after what? After his own government found him guilty or indirectly responsible for the massacre of 2000 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila Camp where his own government and his own Israeli people came, in half a million Israeli protested in 1982 saying not in our name that our army should be aiding ?Falanji? Lebanese Christian militias to massacre 2500 civilians. So unfortunately or fortunately in the Palestinian psychic don’t misunderstand it, when it comes to Sharon you will not find one person who will shed a tear over him but having said that other than Sharon, the Palestinians have made a decision in the late 1980’s that Israel has the right to exist and that they will exchange land for peace and that the negotiation on the table is the best solution to this conflict so the Palestinians have publicly signed on treaties that say Israel has the right to exist, it is now the time for Israel to say publically that Palestinians have the right to exist.

[Robert from Tampa: Americans had a problem with seeing a video of Arab people dancing in the streets after 9 /11]

Samar: It reminds me of the mother who had to turn off her TV when her son had to watch the image keeping repeating with aeroplane hitting the tower because he thought it was happening every two hours, and it was happening everyday. There was one image of one woman with three kids around her, out of context, we don’t know where this was shot and how but it was repeated on and on and on and on so people assume that it was happening everywhere. If it happened its absolutely wrong, and despicable but there was a lot of vigils and a lot of condolences, there were a lot of Arabs who went to embassies and visited their American friends, those images were not shown on TV so images can sometimes deceive, if they happened they are absolutely wrong but its not the general sentiment that I found out when at least I was there last year.

Cathy: So are you saying that the American media was over shooting these images, deliberately sort of isolated, the most inflammatory video and ignoring the videos of people who were horrified about the terrorism? I mean is that happened or?

Samar: I don’t know I’m not saying that, what I’m saying is that it was just one image of that one woman with these kids next to her, there’s no context and was shown over and over but did not for instance have a camera in Cairo, and a camera in morocco and a camera in Baghdad and a camera in Saudi Arabia that was showing images, no, it was just one photos for few seconds and was repeated, and I’m not saying that somebody is trying to put it there. It was an unbelievable emotional time, It was an unbelievable emotional time, it was a double jeopardy because I did not understand what happened but I was so scared, it was like my dreams collapsed infront of me because of all the years of building dialogue and all the years of talking and interacting with Americans. All the Arab organizations and Muslim organizations efforts, I knew were crumbling down with the same building falling down, so it was the most terrible thing that can ever happen to me as an Arab American but also if you read my book you will find that people there are quite upset about it because it just tarnished the image of Arab for instance when ?Temethy Mcvay ?did what he did, the Arabs in the Arab world and the Europeans didn’t think of all the Americans, of Cathy and Jim and everybody in the studio as ?Temethy Mcvay?? No they dealt with it as just few individuals did something wrong or vented in the wrong way.

[on the phone: Tara from Tampa, asking if Qura’an teaches peace and condemns terrorism then why do people justify what Osama bin laden did and what happened by using the Islamic religion]

Samar: Very good question Tara, everybody can you know abuse a verse whether its in the Bible or the Qura’an or the Torah and use it to serve their political means. I personally consider myself a Muslim, a practicing Muslim, I read it and I see it is about compassion and mercy and love and I see about worship and extending friendship and I don’t see it about murder and killing and actually in Qura’an its black and white, no if’s no but’s, if you kill someone not in self defense then it is as if you kill all of humanity. So one life, that I’m not for instance defending myself, somebody trying to kill me, it’s like killing all humanity. So how could one use that and abuse anything out of context in order to pursue…

Cathy: In America women are horrified at how some women in some arab countries are treated and you said to me that it doesn’t say anything in the Qura’an about women being stoned to death for a minor infraction, and women not allowed to drive cars, women have to cover up or they are stoned or killed or beaten, this is not from the Qura’an either?

Samar: Actually I have never heard yet of a woman being stoned in the Arab world and plus in the Qura’an btw it never says that the punishment for adultery is stoning, that’s the law of Moses, and in the Qura’an it is lashes no stoning. So there might be either mix up here or some incident. This is again because people don’t know what is an Arab and what is non Arab but maybe Muslim, but in the Arab world where I grew up, where all my cousins live and all my friends and relatives. The worst thing that happens to be honest with you, in my opinion, is the lack of democracy, the lack of democratic practice, it kills the ability of the woman to be creative, to pursue a dream the way I pursued my dreams of writing a book. So that’s the worst nightmare but to think that women there are beaten up or have no rights…Islam gives me absolute rights in marriage, the pre? Agreement is in my marriage contract, alimony is written there I don’t need a lawyer, even though living here in the USA…

Cathy: But culturally that’s not the way its practiced in many areas right?

Samar: In most of the area in the Arab worlds you have these laws as part of the constitution and if you read Ola for instance, the lawyer who deals with divorce cases, she’s telling you and me in the book that the most difficulty in the Christian divorce cases not the Islamic because in Islam its black and white, what is for the woman, what are for the kids, I have the right to divorce my husband even if I just physically can not be with him, this is all I need to tell the judge.

Cathy: we have to remember that in Afghanistan that’s not the Arab you’re talking about

Samar: you raise a very important point Cathy about the culture, its true, if you look at religion in general all over the world, the rabbis, the imams, the popes, the fathers, they’re all men and men seem to be interpreting and re-interpreting (Cathy says YES ) the Qura’an for you and me and all the holy books

Happy Eid and Eid Adha Mubarik for All

Manama: Women’s rights activist Ghada Jamsheer on Thursday hailed a court decision to jail a wife-beater as “a right step to end an endemic plight”.

“I applaud the decision because it will certainly help to put an end to the widespread phenomenon of battering women,” Jamsheer told Gulf News.

“What is needed is that more people become involved in the drive to minimise and eliminate domestic violence,” she said.

Jamsheer was commenting on a three-month sentence handed by a local judge against a Gulf national who broke the arm of his Bahraini wife and mother of their seven children for refusing to have intercourse with him.

According to press sources, the court case papers said the wife reported her husband to the public prosecutor after he abused her physically and broke her arm.

The wife said that her husband became infuriated after she told him that she could not have proper physical contact with him because she was menstruating.

But the husband refused to be put off by the wife’s claims and insisted that marital relation was a right granted by God and he wished to exercise his right.

The argument between the spouses developed into a fight and the husband started beating his wife until he broke her arm.

The husband, who does not live in Bahrain but makes regular visits there, told the judge that he had a divine right to beat his wife whenever she disobeyed him.

The unimpressed judge said that the man would have to pay 300 Bahraini dinars (Dh2,926) if he wanted to avoid jail.

[Source]

Thumbs up! we need more people like this judge.

I wonder when are some men going to understand that beating their wives is not a right given by Islam. The beating mentioned in Qura’an was interpreted in more than one way by scholars, however, the fact that the Prophet (PBUH) had never layed a hand on any of his wives nor had any of his companions defame the claims for an Islamic right of men to beat their wives to begin with. In the worst scenarios, beating was described by hitting with a Siwak, smart people will know that what is meant is the emotional effect because I do not think a sane man will actually carry a Siwak and hit his wife once or twice, it sounds like a joke. A wise man will deliver the message of being disatisfied or annoyed in so many ways, beating is definitely not one of them, if anything at all, abusing your spouse whether emotionally or physically is inhumane.

Leaders at the biggest ever Islamic summit on terrorism vowed yesterday to fight extremist ideology, saying they would reform textbooks and school curriculums.

“The Islamic nation is in a crisis. This crisis does not reflect on the present alone, but also on its future and the future of humanity at large,” the summit’s final statement, dubbed the Mecca Declaration, said. Kings, heads of states and ministers from more than 50 Muslim countries – including Saudi’s King Abdullah and Jordan’s monarch - yesterday closed the two-day Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit held in Islam’s holiest city, Mecca.

“We need decisive action to fight deviant ideas because they are the justification of terrorism,” it said. “We are determined to fight terrorism in all its forms.”

deviant from what exactly?

In the declaration, the countries promised to “change national laws to criminalise terror financing and incitement” as well as correct school curriculums to purge extremist ideas.

Ahhhhh so they were wrong all this time??

“Islam is the religion of moderation. It rejects extremism and isolation. There is a need to confront deviant ideology where it appears, including in school curriculums. Islam is the religion of diversity and tolerance,” it said.

It has always been like that, but who created the monster?

It also underlined that “fatwas” - or Islamic religious edicts - must only be issued by “those who are authorised,” an effort to rein in edicts by clerics who denounce other Muslims as “apostates” and allow their killing.

The summit meetings were held at the Safa Palace, adjacent to the Grand Mosque. Saudi security forces and Soldiers of the Royal Guard imposed tight security. Still, tens of thousands of pilgrims poured into Islam’s most holy site to perform Omra.

Pathetic, that’s what we are.

[Via 7Days]

Staff and agencies
Tuesday November 8, 2005

The estimated death toll from last month’s south Asian earthquake rose again today to 87,000 with warnings that thousands more will die as the savage Himalayan winter sets in.

A month after the devastating disaster, the head of the United Nations’ humanitarian efforts, Jan Egeland, said survivors in Kashmir would “freeze to death if they don’t get assistance in weeks”.

How you can help

Please donate through any of these Websites:

http://www.savethechildren.org/

https://www.irw.org/donate/

http://www.ifrc.org/helpnow/donate/donate_response.asp

http://www.reliefonline.org/

http://www.clovekvtisni.cz/english/index.htm

http://www.wfp.org/

http://www.unicef.org/

http://www.kirf.org/

http://www.savethechildren.org/

http://www.pakistanrelief.org/

Related tags: earthquake, Pakistan, aid

Eid Mubarak to All

Dear God,

Every Eid my mother becomes angry and sour for no particular reason, except that it’s Eid. I know she might be sad deep down inside but it still affects me the same way it has always affected me since I was 5.

I wish my mother a happy Eid from the bottom of my heart.

Related tags: Eid

The five children of a British resident held in Guantanamo, Jamil El Banna, send their father greetings at the start of Ramadhan. This will the fourth Ramadhan that Jamil is separated from his family.

Support Guantanamo’s prisoners and their families this Ramadan

Tags: guantanamo

Rania Flees, ‘Won’t Come Back’

Beaten Saudi TV presenter flees

Breaking the silence

I only skimmed through the last article but I gotta tell you that woman is either so angry that she decided to get back at whome she thinks were the cause of her near-death incident or she’s simply taking advantage of that incident quite smartly.

This stat is based on your log of the last 100 pageloads. Increase your log size today!

TIP Click the little drill down arrow next to each result to show the users that used this keyword to find your website.

Did you prefer the old keyword analysis? That’s ok. We still have it, it’s just called “recent keyword activity” now.

	Num	Perc.	Search Term
	10	50.00%	rania al-baz
	3	15.00%	rania al baz
	1	5.00%	rania al-baz oprah
	1	5.00%	knafe
	1	5.00%	timbaland
	1	5.00%	what foods can’t you eat if you have high blood sugar
	1	5.00%	escorting in dubai
	1	5.00%	rania a;baz
	1	5.00%	فضائل سورة الكهف
	20	100.00%

These are the results of the last two days only, Al Baz has been receiving too many hits daily since the day I posted about her. Reputation of Saudi women in particular and Muslim and Arab women in general has suffered because of this woman and her host Oprah, who had intentionally interviewed Al-Baz and showed horrifying pictures of her injuries in an episode where proud happy women came from around the world to represent their nations. Stop Oprah!! from manipulating the image of women status in Islam

Tags: Oprah, Al-Baz

Before the “addicted” smoker can quit, he must appreciate what addiction is all about and how he can be weaned off smoking. This, of course, is in addition to the effort of changing one’s mindset and environment.

Understanding what tobacco dependence is all about can help the smoker change his habits. This is especially so because addictive behaviour has a direct influence on the bodily chemicals that affect emotions and behaviour.

Often, it is the emotional aspects that cause the smoking behaviour to continue. And thus the multitude of excuses which smokers offer such as it gives “a surge of energy”, or “acts to reduce tension” or even “gives a feeling of security”.

What it actually amounts to is that smoking maintains a certain level of nicotine in the smoker’s blood, especially in the brain.

This is, in fact, the key to understanding addiction as a result of nicotine inhaled from the cigarette. Under the influence of a high level of nicotine, all the above-mentioned excuses seem real. The smoker is emotionally satisfied by his smoking behaviour.

However, after puffing on a stick of cigarette, the nicotine level in the smoker’s blood begins to decrease gradually. Over just about one hour, the level becomes almost negligible, seemingly resulting in a “loss” in energy, “increased” tension and “insecure” feelings. And the urge to smoke begins.

At this point, it is critical for the “addicted” smoker to find new strategies to distract himself from the urge to smoke. Try any one or all of these suggestions:

-Before the urge to smoke strikes (about 60 minutes from the last puff), start doing activities that make smoking physically difficult to perform. Examples include washing the car, weeding the garden, jogging, or taking a long shower. Almost any kind of physical exercise may help. Your smoking behaviour may be ingrained and automatic. Anticipate this behaviour and stick to your plan to quit.

-Check your watch (preferably one with the second hand) whenever the urge acts up. Fight it over the next one minute by keeping your eyes on the movement of the second hand. After one minute, your urge will certainly subside. Then continue for another minute. You will feel even better. Repeat for another minute if necessary.

Before the five minutes are over, the urge will pass. Most urges are short. Once you understand and experience this, you will be better able to cope and resist the urge.

Because you are addicted, quitting smoking can prove quite challenging. The physical symptoms of withdrawal from smoking (like being irritable and edgy) may last between three to 10 days, with the intensity decreasing by the day. But the psychological aspect may last longer, weeks and even months. Over time, however, the urge will fade.

Relapses can occur if you are not careful, particularly when you subject yourself to the environment that habitually make you “light up”. Be aware of this and the circumstances that will make you do so, such as after a meal or when getting in the car. Keep the cigarettes away as suggested in last week’s article.

Most relapses occur within four weeks after a person stops smoking. The chief reason is most smokers are not prepared to make changes. The month of Ramadan should help Muslim smokers who want to give up.Fasting forces a smoker to change his mindset, his environment and his habit. Most routines are broken for a good part of the day over the next four weeks.

So, try to acquire new non-smoking behaviour during the Ramadan. Unlearn smoking. Take it a day at a time. If you succeed on the first day, you are likely to succeed again the next day. Before your know it, you are already a non-smoker.

The most vulnerable time, of course, is during meals, especially the breaking of fast. Consider some of these:

-Break fast away from the smoking crowd. Stay home if you have to.
Avoid the drinks or foods that are normally associated with your smoking habit. During the fasting month, a variety of drinks and foods can act as alternatives.

-Leave the table immediately after breaking fast if you intend to end it with a cigarette. Take a walk instead of lighting up. If you break fast at home, go to the mosque for prayers.

-Look for new distractions wherever possible.

-In short, do whatever it takes to dissassociate from the smoking routines. Consider, too, some of the suggestions put forward last week.

Good luck and happy fasting to Muslim readers

Via The National Poison Center

Also Check the Tobacco and Second-Hand Smoke Free Ramadan Campaign 2005

Tags: Smoking, Quit smoking, Ramadan