The Book Bank

I love books! Not because they are hard covered or paperbacks but because the quality of discourse these bounded prints provide which include opinionated, context-oriented or summarized collections serve my hunger for an unexplainable desire. I have always made an inert distinction among people who read books and who don't and it isn't much difficult to split the two. However, there are many people who have the desire to venture over the territory of ideas but can't either because of a lack of public libraries, or lack of money or lack of an environment where book readers are cherished. From the afsaanas of ibn-e-safi to the passionate semi-historical accounts of ibn-e-insha, to the philosophical discourse of bano qudsia-ishfaq ahmed couple, to the romanticized religious self-discoveries by umera ahmed, to the political insight like those of the politicians, the faujis, the x-faujis, the analysts etc, the religious books which made this quote real that the Quran was revealed to the Arabs, recited by the Egyptians and understood by us Pakistanis and Indians, a vast amount of readership is unaware of even their existence.

Inspired recently by an article in the news and a followup blog by Dr. Adil Najam, I am proposing my little idea to solve some of the challenges mentioned to some extent. take it or throw it, but i'd love it if you grow it. lets have this combined brainstorming on how to setup a public library by people's funding, a rather book bank based on accounts where investments is not just in terms of money but also in terms of books lent to the bank. The more books you lent (probably out of your private libraries) to the central pool, the more privileges you can get, like for instance the ability to borrow more books at time, or maybe even home delivery.

The funds can be managed by advertising on the back of the front covers of each book. Imagine mehran masaala advertisement in a book Cooking for Dummies, or an advertisement of Askari Bank behind In the Line of Fire, for instance. Or Techlogix behind Data Warehousing, or Arif Habib Investments behind a book on Portfolio Management.

Books can be increased by merging many university libraries. I have seen most private university libraries in Karachi and they are mostly substandard, exceptions are there. Having a combined library where each university buys a corporate account membership for its students can help the universities in getting rid of maintaining their library and its staff while providing students a much wider array of books. Ofcourse, such a library can be distributed in which case universities can borrow books from one another.

Many companies would also be interested in forming such a joint library for its employees as most companies in Pakistan are in the need of libraries especially in the technology sector but can't afford to have one.

Ironically all this fuzz and I am assuming there will be a huge crowd rush to join in the bandwagon but it probably won't be so. So for crowd pulling, special incentives for schools...

Allowing space for book readers clubs to meet and socialize.....

more to come but first lets hear your say....

Achieving your childhood dreams

Today I received an email from a friend reminding me of a t-shirt I had which said "Failure is a postponed victory!". Many elders ridiculed me and my shirt during college days back but over the years the motto seemed true-er than ever. The email my friend posted goes:

"To succeed in business or life we must continually take remedial actions. Putting yourself on the line day after day can be extremely draining, especially when things do not work out as desired. Hence, each time a disappointing event happens, I like to get reminded of these famous failures:

Bill Gates founder and chairman of Microsoft, has literally changed the work culture of the world in the 21st century, by simplifying the way computer is being used. He was the world's richest man for more than one decade. However, in the 1970's before starting out, he was a Harvard University dropout. The most ironic part is that, he started a software company (that was soon to become Microsoft) by purchasing the software technology from "someone" for only $US50 back then.

Abraham Lincoln received no more than 5 years of formal education throughout his lifetime. When he grew up, he joined politics and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America.

Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that Isaac was born a genius, but he wasn't! When he was young, he did very poorly in grade school, so poor that his teachers became clueless in improving his grades.

Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer of classical music, is widely regarded as one of history's supreme composers. His reputation has inspired – and in many cases intimidated – composers, musicians and audiences who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer, he is hopeless". And during his career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music – a deaf man composing music, ironic isn't!

Thomas Edison who developed many devices that greatly influenced life in the 20th century. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S patents to his name. When he was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. When he set out on his own, he tried more than 9,000 experiments before he created the first successful light bulb.

The Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original five-and-ten- cent stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth and soon grew to become one of the largest retail chains in the world in the 20th century. Before starting his own business, Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employer would not let him serve any customer because he concluded that Frank "didn't have enough common sense to serve the customers".

By acclamation, Michael Jordon is the greatest basketball player of all time. A phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and an unquenchable competitive desire. Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar. Before joining NBA, Jordan was just an ordinary person, so ordinary that was he was removed from the high school basketball team because of his "lack of skill".

Walter Disney was American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and animator. One of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney founded a production company. The corporation, now known as The Walt Disney Company, makes average revenue of US $30 billion annually. Disney started his own business from his home garage and his very first cartoon production went bankrupt. During his first press conference, a newspaper editor ridiculed Walt Disney because he had no good ideas in film production.

Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade. However, that never stopped him to work harder! He strived and eventually became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Churchill is generally regarded as one of the most important leaders in Britain and world history. In a poll conducted by the BBC in 2002 to identify the "100 Greatest Britons", participants voted Churchill as the most important of all.

Steven Spielberg is an American film director. He has won 3 Academy Awards and ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history. Most of all, Steven was recognized as the financially most successful motion picture director of all time. During his childhood, Spielberg dropped out of junior high school. He was persuaded to come back and was placed in a learning-disabled class. He only lasted a month and then dropped out of school forever.

Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist widely regarded as the most important scientist of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 and "for his services to Theoretical Physics". However, when Einstein was young, his parents thought he was mentally retarded. His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, "Einstein, you will never amount to anything!"

In 1947, one year into her contract, Marilyn Monroe was dropped by 20th Century-Fox because her producer thought she was unattractive and could not act. That didn't deter her at all! She kept on going and eventually she was recognized by the public as the 20th century's most famous movie star, sex symbol and pop icon.

John Grisham's first novel was rejected by sixteen agents and twelve publishing houses. He went on writing and writing until he became best known as a novelist and author for his works of modern legal drama. The media has coined him as one of the best novel authors even alive in the 21st century.

Henry Ford's first two automobile companies failed. That did not stop him from incorporating Ford Motor Company and being the first to apply assembly line manufacturing to the production of affordable automobiles in the world. He not only revolutionized industrial production in the United States and Europe, but also had such influence over the 20th century economy and society. His combination of mass production, high wages and low prices to consumers has initiated a management school known as "Fordism". He became one of the three most famous and richest men in the world during his time.

Soichiro Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation during a job interview as "engineer" after World War Two. He continued to be jobless until his neighbours starting buying his "home-made scooters". Subsequently, he set out on his own to start his own company. Honda. Today, the Company has grown to become the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer and one of the most profitable automakers - beating giant automaker such as GM and Chrysler. With a global network of 437 subsidiaries, Honda develops, manufactures and markets a wide variety of products ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars.

Akio Morita, founder of giant electric household products, Sony Corporation, first product was an electric rice cooker, only sold 100 cookers (because it burned rice rather than cooking). Today, Sony generates US$66 billion in revenue and ranked as the world's 6th largest electronic and electrical company."



Sadly, it doesnot cover Steve Jobs or Abdus Sattar Edhi, both of whom started with improbable circumstances to survive, Jobs a dropout, Edhi a poor man's lad. But they have moved the worlds they represent by persisting. Check out this famous graduation speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford a few years ago:



Abdus Sattar Edhi , on the other hand, doesnot create technology but porvides the largest private ambulance service in the world, and astrong contender of the Noble Peace prize atleast. His NGO has served millions numerous times. And if one would have forecasted his career when he was selling toothpicks as a street hawker as a kid to earn his own bread, no one wuold have come close.



I have been recently moved by a dying person, dying from this world but not from life. Professor Randy Pausch at the Carnegie Mellon University, inventor of the Alice Project and many more interesting projects all which he says have been a realisation of his dream. A computer scientist who wanted to become and astronaut fufilled his wish by working on NASA projects albeit as a computer scientist. A researcher who wanted to becmoe an artist, finally made it to Disney World creating Virtual worlds for them. According to him, life is about living your dreams even when they dont appear to be achievable.



This video has been famed as the the Last Lecture of Randy Pausch, but one that has a long lasting effect:

FYI - Siege of Makkah - Final Part (10)

Here I am presenting an episode of blogs written by a very dear friend of mine whom I will disclose later for various reasons which will become apparent as time progresses. This is a ten part article and will present each part as interest in it by the readers suggest so.Please note that this series of articles is neither to defame a religion, a country or a sect. It is merely a window into an already published work. The author of this article is a Canadian Muslim who has himself spent a decade living in Saudi Arabia as well. So whatever you read, first of all dont judge a book by its cover. Here is part 10, the last part:

Siege of Makkah - Part X

Many parts of the Masjid were completely destroyed by the end of the siege. The militants were paraded in front of the TV cameras and reporters were invited to the Sacred Masjid to show the world that, at last, the Masjid was free. Though the official death tolls were much lower, eye witnesses and other unofficial sources claim that nearly a thousand lost their lives, many of them innocent pilgrims. Of those who were captured alive, 67 men were put to death by beheading, including Juhayman. Those condemned to death were sent to all major cities of the Kingdom to send a message to the citizens that such insurgency will not be tolerated. The heads of the dead were displayed outside the Masajid in every major city for days to come. Others, those under 16, were imprisoned for ten to twenty years. One, Mahrous bin Laden, was spared his life and is a member of the board of directors of the Bin Laden family business today. Another, an African American Muslim, was quietly sent back to the U.S. in a shroud of secrecy because the U.S. was worried about the perception of U.S. involvement in the affair. (Imam Siraj Wahaj, a student in Makkah at the time and one of those present in the Masjid at the time of the siege, has been occasionally mentioned as the person in question, though these are nothing more than rumours and the Imam recently denied any involvement in an interview with Trofimov.)

Juhayman remained unrepentant of what he had done till the very end, though in talking to one of the scholars of Makkah, he did say that he wouldn't have done what he did had he known it would end the way it ended. He did claim a moral victory, for much of what he demanded was done soon after his death. The scholars had asked for many reforms in return for the fatwa and the government hastily put them in place. A nationwide ban was put on employing women in private offices (with the exception of health care and primary education), a ban that remained for the next two decades. Post-secondary education became more difficult for women. Women were specifically prohibited from driving. Saudi women were removed from TV (though curiously, Egyptian and Syrian women were left). Every newspaper and magazine was required to be censored to hide hair, legs or arm of women in any pictures. Most importantly, the infamous Mutawwas were introduced to the streets of Saudi Arabia to promote virtue and forbid vice.

I will not go into whether these reforms were good or bad since that is not my call to make. However, it is interesting to note that many of these reforms were slowly phased out over the next 25 years and others are being phased out now. It is perhaps no surprise then that the grievences of Bin Laden against the Saudi government, much before Bin Laden became a household name in the West, were not different from what Juhayman gave his life for. Osama bin Laden was then 20-years old and his future interviews indicate he was deeply influenced by Juhayman's sacrifice and his cause. He was also greatly disturbed by how the Saudi government handled the whole affair. Zawahiri too was greatly influenced by Juhayman. A student himself, he had personally distributed many copies of Juhayman's Seven Letters and was enraged at the worldwide condemnation of Juhayman's cause. Two decades later, Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri would come together to form a partnership that we are all too familiar with today.

The timing of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan couldn't have helped the Saudis more. Coming at time when Juhayman had widespread sympathy in the kingdom, many of his followers left Saudi Arabia to fight the godless communists instead. The root cause, the hard line understanding of Islam, was not tackled and continued to spread unchecked. And while the Muslim Ummah could have learnt many lessons from the debacle, it largely failed to do so. A bit of introspection would have helped us greatly, but Saudi played the incident down as a minor domestic incident and the rest of the Ummah accepted that all is well and moved on to more immediate problems. Prince Turki Al-Faisal and others from the royal family openly wondered after 9/11 if the government was too kind to the scholars at the time and is indirectly responsible for the spread of extreme ideas.

The result?

Muslims are still blaming Israel and the U.S. for all their problems.

Muslims are still unable to accept that something within us might need changing.

Muslims are still prone to finding themselves between extremism and laxity.

With a serious lack of qualified scholarship in the Ummah, the stage has been left wide open for orators to pose as scholars and sway the minds of the Muslim youth. The youth are looking for quick fixes and have forgotten that Islam is the balance between extremism and laxity, as said by Hasan Al-Basri. Many have picked up one aspect of Islam and try to run with it, leading to extremism, even when Allah has commanded that we enter into Islam completely. Many do not seem to realize that the wholesome approach to Islam means simultaneous pursuit of many things, a coordinated effort to advance at many fronts. Very few today realize that Islam includes da'wah, pursuit of knowledge, call towards the Sunnah, purification of the self, political activism, physical training, promotion of art and culture, promotion of commerce and establishment of social welfare initiatives. This comprehensive Islam is what we find in the life of Muhammad SAW, not the piecemeal approach that many have taken up today.

To enter into Islam completely is to not ignore any of the aspects of Islam as a community. To enter into Islam completely is to strike a balance between all these aspects and to prioritize them based on our circumstances. And to strike that balance, we need people who understand the objectives of Shariah and the Quran and Sunnah in its whole as scholars of the Ummah. Because to follow the sources literally without understanding the objectives leads to extremism. And to follow the objectives without a wholesome understanding of the sources leads to laxity. And both are not from Islam.

May Allah SWT lead us to the way that He is pleased with, and save us from the way of those who He punished. May Allah SWT make us from the people of the right hand side, and make us of those who will be under His Shade on the Day when there will be no shade but His. Ameen.

I have tried my best to relate the events as I know them; however, mistakes were undoubtedly made for which I seek your pardon. And verily, Allah is best of those who know.

Siege of Makkah Part 9

Here I am presenting an episode of blogs written by a very dear friend of mine whom I will disclose later for various reasons which will become apparent as time progresses. This is a ten part article and will present each part as interest in it by the readers suggest so.Please note that this series of articles is neither to defame a religion, a country or a sect. It is merely a window into an already published work. The author of this article is a Canadian Muslim who has himself spent a decade living in Saudi Arabia as well. So whatever you read, first of all dont judge a book by its cover. Here is part 9:

The main floor of the Masjid was secured, but most of the militants were still alive and armed in the basement, along with Juhayman and thousands of hostages. The food brought in by the militants was quickly running out and Juhayman limited the ration to a couple dates a day and zam-zam water. The blessed water of zam-zam was also applied as the cure-all medicine for any wounds or ailments.

Saudis were near the end of their wits in trying to get to the basement. They did not even have the blueprint to the Masjid's floor plans and the Bin Laden company was moving its offices and took its time unpacking. Once the floor plans were obtained, it was decided to use some of the openings to the basement to drop in high concentrations of tear gas--toxic enough to do serious damage to the victims. Famously, Saudi Arabia sent a telegram to the White House, asking for enough tear gas that the U.S. ended up sending every last bit of it to Makkah.

Armed with tear gas, the Saudis sent in a team wearing gas masks to get the militants out of the basement. The logistics of this, however, were not fully thought out.

The militants had a few advantages. They were in the basement and the gas tends to move upwards--such that lying down on the floor would have been sufficient to not get affected. The basement also had relatively few openings. The militants quickly covered them with zam-zam powered wet towels and wrapped their own head covers on their faces.

The Saudi army had a huge disadvantage. They all had big beards. The tear gas couldn't penetrate the basement and quickly rose up to the main floor and seeped through their beards into their gas masks. As the victims tore of their gas masks to vomit, the full force of the tear gas knocked them out. It is said that none of the men who went into the Masjid to throw in tear gas came back on their own. The wind resulted in the gas moving quickly to the neighbouring hotels where many pilgrims were still living. When all was done, the tear gas was responsible for sending close to 200 pilgrims to the hospital, while none of the militants are believe to the affected by it at all.

Saudis were quickly losing hope in their own ability to bring this conflict to an end. The public uprising of Shi'as in Qatif and the Eastern province in general was also diverting their attention and limited resources. (The Qatif uprising left over 400 Shi'as dead--another topic in Saudi history that is rarely discussed.) The Saudis knew they needed help but didn't know where to turn to.

Jordan was the first to offer help. King Khalid, however, refused. The house of Saud had taken away Hijaz from the grandfather of King Hussein of Jordan and turning to them for help now would have undermined their moral claim to the two holy sites. There were also pressures on the house of Saud to give up the custodianship of the two sacred mosques and to put them under a trust overseen by a body representing all Muslim countries--pressures that intensified during this conflict. Bringing in help from another Muslim country would have only given strength to the opponents of the house of Saud. As such, both Morocco and Pakistan were turned down when they offered help. Instead, the Saudis went to the French and requested the help of their elite unit-- Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale.

The mandate of the French was not to go in and rescue the Masjid. That was to be left as the course of last resort. Their mandate was to train the Saudi army to go in and do the job themselves. The French sent three members of the elite unit under the command of Captain Paul Barril. Though the French were not supposed to enter Makkah and were told to operate out of Taif, Captain Paul Barril later claimed that he personally entered the Masjid after a "summary conversion" to Islam, a claim that the Saudis deny. Captain Paul Barril also provided insights into the Saudi army's incompetence and complete lack of tactics.

With the training of the French GIGNs, the Saudi army planned a massive operation, attacking the basement from every possible entrance. Tear gas was used once again, but much more carefully this time, and hence much more effectively. The militants lasted a mere few hours under this well planned attack and about 120 of them surrendered, including Juhayman.

TO BE CONTINUED

Siege of Makkah - Part 8

Here I am presenting an episode of blogs written by a very dear friend of mine whom I will disclose later for various reasons which will become apparent as time progresses. This is a ten part article and will present each part as interest in it by the readers suggest so.Please note that this series of articles is neither to defame a religion, a country or a sect. It is merely a window into an already published work. The author of this article is a Canadian Muslim who has himself spent a decade living in Saudi Arabia as well. So whatever you read, first of all dont judge a book by its cover. Here is part 8:



The Saudis brought in APCs--Armoured Personnel Carriers--to take out the militants as soon as the fatwa from the scholars was obtained. The ensued is detailed in Trofimov's book. I would limit myself to pointing out only a couple interesting details.

The minarets were secured through anti-tank missiles that were used to take out the militant nests on top. The sturdy structures remained otherwise undamaged. Without the militants firing from the minarets, the Saudi army enter the Masjid from Bab Salam with a few soldiers hiding behind each APC. Shielded from the militant fire, the Saudi army was able to inflict what were perhaps the first few casualties on Juhayman's band. Among the militants were some African Americans who had joined Juhayman. They were mostly former Black Panthers with an above average knowledge of violence and makeshift weapons. It was on their suggestion that some of the militants went and emptied out gasoline from vehicles parked in the basement of the Masjid. (These were the vehicles used by Juhayman and his followers to smuggle in food supplies and some of the weapons.) They then filled water bottles taken from pilgrims with gasoline, stuffed the bottle-top with a piece of cloth, showed it fire and threw them at the advancing Saudis from across the Safa-Marwa gallery. The 'grenades' worked well enough, and Saudis started running away. The 'grenades' weren't enough, however, to deter the advancing APCs.

Someone suggested that to stop the APCs, the 'grenade' would have to be dropped in the APC from the cupola. The task was near impossible though with APCs and remaining Saudis firing at anything that moved. This was when something extraordinary happened--something that only worked to strengthen the belief of Juhayman's band in their mission.

Muhammad al-Qahtani, who was in the Safa-Marwa gallery, stood up and said he will do the impossible. He was the Mahdi after all, and the Mahdi cannot die in these initial stages. He has to live to fight dajjal alongside Isa AS. With that, Muhammad al-Qahtani took two bottles of gasoline in hand, and ran across the Safa-Marwa gallery. Zig-zagging while being fired upon by many machine guns, he reached the first APC safely, climbed on it, killed the soldiers hiding behind the APC, opened the cupola, dropped in his grenade and ran to the next APC. The insides of both APCs exploded, with the occupants burning to their deaths. Muhammad al-Qahtani came back safely and other APCs started retreating, running over the poor soldiers that were hiding behind them. There was no room left for doubting the Mahdiship of Muhammad al-Qahtani among his followers.

The Saudis came back with vengeance and better planning the next day, though the carbonized APCs in the door way meant other APCs couldn't go in. Soon, Muhammad al-Qahtani and his few remaining companions were cornered, shielded by the rocks of Safa. After a while, the Saudis advanced further and decided on a different strategy.

They threw in grenades towards the militants. Muhammad al-Qahtani, once again believing in his immortality, did what is considered impossible. A 25-year old youth in good physical shape, he jumped, picked up the grenade, and threw it back at the Saudis. He proceeded to do that at least a dozen time in the next few minutes. But his luck finally ran out. As he reached another grenade to throw it back at the Saudis, it exploded, and along with it vanished the legs and the right arm of Muhammad al-Qahtani. When the Saudis identified the body four days later, a pathologist report indicated that he had only died a day ago. Some claimed seeing the unfortunate man crawling with the help of his remaining elbow and screaming for help.

It was reported in the local newspapers at the time that the mother of Muhammad al-Qahtani was arrested and brought to King Khalid in the early days of the siege. The monarch asked her if there was any way that Muhammad al-Qahtani can be stopped from what he is doing. The old lady calmly replied, if he is al-Mahdi, he will kill you no matter what you do to stop him. And if he is not al-Mahdi, you will kill him and for that you don't need me.

Seeing the Mahdi blowing up like that shook the belief of a few followers who saw what happened. However, they did not have any options left. The fatwa clearly said that anyone who surrenders will be spared and it was announced by the Saudis before the assault began. But a few who tried to surrender in the darkness of Safa-Marwa valley, where both sides let their machine guns loose on anything that moved, were killed within seconds of getting out of their hiding spots.

Only one militant was able to escape from that hiding spot in the Safa-Marwa gallery. Faisal Muhammad Faisal was always a hesitant follower, and now he had no doubt left that this mission was wrong. He found a way to Juhayman, who was busy securing the Qaboo--the basement area of the Sacred Masjid. Faisal Muhammad Faisal went straight Juhayman and informed him of the Mahdi's death. Juhayman knew that his game was over, that he was wrong in doing everything he had done. But he couldn't give up after coming this far. So he hid the news of al-Qahtani's death, and ordered a retreat to the basement, where hundreds of pilgrims were kept hostage. Faisal Muhammad Faisal turned in his gun and went in one of rooms where the pilgrims were kept hostage. He spent his remaining days crying over what he had done, asking for Allah's forgiveness. It was he who disclosed to the world many of the details of Juhayman's plan and the battle in the Safa-Marwa gallery. Faisal Muhammad Faisal was beheaded for his role in the affair--may Allah accept his repentance.

With the top floor of the Masjid secure, the Saudis started assessing the damage. The Safa-Marwa gallery was full of blood and body parts. The wall between the gallery and the Masjid was no longer there. Beyond that, there were pockets of resistance that were easily dealt with. The longest battle was put up by two young Egyptians who had hid behind the Hateem. They survived from as long as they did because of the Saudi's reluctance in shooting towards the Ka'baa.

The Saudis announced victory, though there were over a hundred and fifty militants still hiding in the basement, with King Khaled posing next to Hijr al-Aswad in a picture distributed to the media. With the militants coming out of the basement every so often to fire on the Saudi army before retreating back, the Masjid was not safe for the worshippers. With the massive damage and evidence of hundreds of deaths, the Masjid was not suitable for the media yet. After all, the Saudis still maintained that the incident was minor. The battle was to go on for many more days and the Saudis struggled to find a way into the vast Qaboo.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Love under Occupation - An Arab Woman's Blues

An Arab Woman Blues is a blog worth following if you like to see the life in Iraq from this individual's eyes which pretty much resmebles the directorial touch portrayed in the War of the Worlds which focused on the protagonist when the world is attacked by aliens. She has published a very influential post at her blog here.

I am merely reposting it here:

I heard Mahmoud Darwish is in town. M.Darwish, one of the best contemporary Arab poets. A Palestinian who has been in exile for so long...surely he knows all about aesthetics -- the sublime, the ugly, the comic and the beautiful...surely he knows all about occupation, misery, loss, longings and tragedies...

I cancelled whatever appointments I had this evening and rushed to hear him recite his latest. By the time I arrived to the old hall, it was so packed they would not let anyone in, anymore. Over 500 people were already in there...

I tried squeezing in, and felt my dissapointment rising as I realized it was impossible for me to see or hear M.Darwish in person.

I looked at the crowd, mainly young adults, in their late 20's, and a few from the older generation...That gave me a slight surge of hope. If Arabs can still appreciate poetic words streaming from one occupation, then maybe all is not lost.

Or, maybe words are the only thing left...

Words to compose poetry, words to convey the tragedies, words to subtitle the pain...

Unsure of the crowd's intent, I just bought his latest prose and walked out.

I did not get to hear M.Darwish. He wrote hundreds of poems. But since when do poets change realities ?

They are just transmitters of truths, ordinary truths that ordinary people can't express in aesthetic forms. So they read or listen to poetry instead. Giving themselves a temporary feeling of "we're in it together" -- finally united by words.

I was sort of relieved to be out in the fresh air. The staleness of waiting for a possible seat, place, grew denser - mingled with the odor of expectant bodies, thirsty for words. All this was making me dizzy...

A trap, I felt to myself. Another trap of raising hopes and be let down, once more...

As I breathed in the crisp cold air, I felt a presence a few steps behind me.

"It's a pity we were not given a chance to hear his sublime poetry"

"Yes it was" I replied abruptly and continued walking...

"You must be an Iraqi" he said

I stopped, looked at him and saw a very thin man, with deep lines creasing his hollow face.

"Yes,I am an Iraqi. How did you guess?"

"I detected a very faint accent when I heard you talk to one of the ushers. I am an Iraqi too."

"Yes, I can tell, from your accent of course."

"I am a poet as well. Had to escape Baghdad."

"So do you write poetry on Escapism ?"

He laughs.

" No, I write poetry on Love"

"Love? Is there Love under Occupation?"

He looks at me, pauses for few minutes and says

"I write about where to find Love under Occupation"

"I thought so too" I replied. Saluted him and walked away...


So what do you do if you are in my place ?

What do you do with the torrents of words that I hear daily from seekers of Love under Occupation?

What do you do with sentences like -- "How will I survive?", "I have no future",
"I can get over the grief", "The memories follow me everywhere", "I am lost",
"We are in a tunnel","I have no hope"," This will never end ","We have been abandoned","No one wants us","We have been forgotten","We don't count anymore",
"We have no more country","My home has been destroyed","I am ill and can't work and have no money","They killed my son, husband, wife, daughter, parents...",
"They raped me. I will never be the same again","I've been tortured and no one understands and I don't even understand myself","We are worthless in their eyes..."

And I can go on and on...

What do you do with these words? How do you turn them around ? What do you say to them ?

What do you do with the pain that accompanies these sentences ?

What poetry would you write?

More words handed out as props, as crutches for the crippled and you say "be patient, endure more, persevere, things will change, God is generous..."

And you and I know these words are empty, they have lost meaning a long time ago. They have become like some worn out, tattered cloth whose colors have faded away from being exposed for too long, in a scorching sun...

And where do you find Beauty and Love ? In which experience? In which setting? In which memory? When all previous memories have been erased leaving nothing but a void, to fill with more worn out, tattered cloths...

What do you do with the ugliness that remains stuck to you, like some second skin, deforming your vision, perverting your perceptions, settling in your mind, like some unwanted visitor who refuses to leave. Colonizing your being.

What do you do with the Ugliness ?

What do you do with the Ugliness you've witnessed, seen, felt, heard ?

What do you do with the Ugliness of what you thought to be a human face unmasking itself only to reveal the most hideous traits ?

What do you do with the Ugliness of mass genocide, cruelty, hypocrisy, indifference, abandonment, poverty, survival...?

I keep asking myself these questions, and the questions that naturally follow -- Will we ever heal from all of that ?

And where do you find Beauty ? Except in tarnished souvenirs maybe - turning us into a people that keep digging in a past, since a future is so out of reach.

And what do you do with the Present? How do you accomodate it? Or more aptly how does it accomodate you, from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute...?

Will you keep trying to squeeze in as I tried doing in that old poetry hall or will you simply give up and walk out into the unknown? And if you opt for the latter, where will you go ?

This is no defeatism. This is Reality. A Reality you know nothing of.

A parallel reality that can drive anyone absolutely insane. A form of schizophrenia as this reality has become our bubble. A bubble that no one addresses or even looks at.

And where do you find Love in a bubble ? A survival bubble.
You attach yourself to a bubble ? Or maybe you attach yourself to people living with you in a bubble ? In a mental, physical, emotional ghetto, where Space keeps shrinking and becomes a point.

And you stand in that point and that point becomes your vital space, and all you're concerned about is to be able to keep standing on your feet, in that precise point.

A desperate point. And where does one find Love in a bubble tainted with despair?


A myopic, ignorant, Westerner wrote to me and said:

"How do I hook a worn out, patriotic old rag? How do I reel in an unwanted, rusted Iraqi tin can? More to the point, how do I manage carnal knowledge of its contents? How can you say you are unwanted? How can you think you have no future?"

Why can't people conceive of the personal and the collective as one ? A common destiny, that we carry inside of us, like some collective gene pool.

This is not about me, this is about us.

And us, as we stand today, have no future. We have been robbed of a vision of a future. That is fact.

And if someone can still come up with so much ignorant "philosophical" crap -- then they have understood nothing at all about occupation, mass genocide, torture, rape... loss of reference, loss of trust, loss of meaning...loss of Life in a philosophical sense, since you are all so bent on philosophy.

They have not confronted that deep existential abyss of occupation with no end in sight. A hideous occupation with all of its facets and consequences...

But then I can offer nothing but words...even these slide away into a pool of cold detachment, or bump against a brick wall made of "humans."

So again, I ask you, where does one find Love, when one's personal and collective experiences are brushed off with so much flippancy ? Is that not, yet another form of despair that we have to confront daily ?


There is only one way out - Fury.

A collective fury that will set ablaze all your notions, all your philosophies, all your analysis, theories and concepts...

A gigantic fury, like some wild fire that will burn and wash away the tragic ugliness, hatred, indifference that have flooded us through your Presence.

Yes, that is the only way out from the aesthetics of your multi-layered Occupation -the Aesthetics of a sublime Fury.

Siege of Makkah - Part 7

Here I am presenting an episode of blogs written by a very dear friend of mine whom I will disclose later for various reasons which will become apparent as time progresses. This is a ten part article and will present each part as interest in it by the readers suggest so.Please note that this series of articles is neither to defame a religion, a country or a sect. It is merely a window into an already published work. The author of this article is a Canadian Muslim who has himself spent a decade living in Saudi Arabia as well. So whatever you read, first of all dont judge a book by its cover. Here is part 7:

As the situation of the Ummah deteriorates, we have developed an alarming tendency to blame all our misfortunes on the Americans and the Zionists. We, many Muslims believe, can do no wrong. Everything is a conspiracy. And the response to every misfortune is rallies against America and Israel all over the Muslim world.

If our rulers are corrupt, it must be an American-Zionist plan.

If a military dictator takes over our country, it must be an American-Zionist plan.

If a politician or a dictator is killed, it must be an American-Zionist plan.

If Iraq attacks Kuwait, it must be an American-Zionist plan.

If planes fly into buildings, it must be an American-Zionist plan.

If a newspaper somewhere publishes offending cartoon, it must be an American-Zionist plan.

We get out of our homes to shout slogans, close down shops--striking against America, and hurt no one but our own economy. Something similar happened in November 1979. Protests were held in front of every American embassy in the Muslim world. Caucasians were beaten up by mobs in every Muslim country. And in Hyderabad, India, where the Muslim mobs could find no American embassy for protest and no Caucasians to beat up, they turned on Hindus and burnt down dozens of their shops.

Ever ready to blame the other, have we ever looked within ourselves? Have we ever thought that may be, just may be, the cause of all our misfortunes is us? The siege of Makkah by Muslim militants highlighted the need to look within for problems, but the Ummah, once again failed to learn its lesson. That lesson needs to be learnt, sooner rather than later. And that was my sole intention for writing this series.

The recovery of Ka'baa was an important issue and everyone wanted the credit for doing so. Prince Abdullah's National Guard, Prince Nayef's special security commandos, and Prince Saudi Army were combined to come up with an attack team of willing soldiers. The problem was, the three units had never trained together and didn't even have compatible radios. The first hodgepodge joint force to attack and recover the Sacred Masjid started its mission in the early hours of November 22. The joint force picked Bab Salam in the Safa-Marwa gallery ( http://www.randomho use.com/doubleda y/siegeofmecca/ mapOfTheMosque. php) to make their way into the Masjid.

Here they met another unexpected hurdle. They had expected to be fired upon from the minarets as they made their way to the gate, and made adequate arrangements to shield themselves from the militant snipers. They had also expected that the gate would be locked and would need to be opened somehow. They didn't expect that opening door would be as much trouble. As it turned out, the gates were very well built. And they were under orders, given the lack of fatwa, to make sure they do not damage the Masjid in any way. As the task force stood by the door, trying to find a way to open it, the militants opened the second floor windows, turned their machine guns to the ground, and killed the entire task force in a matter of seconds.

Near fajr time, a plan was devised to open the gate using TNT. Colonel Homaid, leading the troops this time, suggested to Prince Nayef that they should wait until the nightfall to attack again. Prince Nayef was infuriated, called Colonel Homaid a coward, and declared that the loss of life should be of no concern. This was, after all, a noble mission and any soldier killed would a martyr going straight to the promise paradise. The poor Colonel had no choice but to comply with a prince eager to send his men to paradise.

Bab Salam was chosen once again to be detonated. The sun was out by that time, and inside the Masjid, the Safa-Marwa gallery was in near darkness since the militants had cut all electricity. The Saudi military outside was in full view of the militants inside. Muhammad al-Qahtani himself, armed with two machine guns, had decided to greet the Saudi army. He was hiding in the Safa-Marwa gallery along with some fifty other militants. Once the Saudi army entered the building, the militants opened fire, killing every single one of them on the spot. Colonel Homaid, understanding the suicidal nature of this mission, had decided to lead from the front and was the first one to lose his life.

Outside, Saudi information minister went on Saudi radio and TV and announced that by the grace of Allah, the Masjid had been recovered and the "minor incident" was resolved. The Muslims rejoiced. Heads of States from all over the world sent congratulatory messages to King Khalid. And the newspapers all over the world had front page headlines praising the quick recovery of the Masjid. But Saudis weren't going to fool too many people for too long. Barely 24 hours later, Muslims around the Middle East turned on their TVs to see the Juma' Khutbah from the Sacred Masjid. There was none. The Saudi government had lied to the world, and not for the last time. During the next two weeks, various princes and ministers would claim victory another six times. Each, except the last of these, were white lies.

On that Friday, sermons in Masjids around the world condemned Juhayman and his band. Khateebs all over the world declared that Juhayman and his band deserve the wrath of God for what they have done. The 29 top scholars of Saudi Arabia, however, were still discussing their response.

They had decided to play hardball with the Saudi government. They shared many of Juhayman's grievances against the regime, though they did not approve of Juhayman's means. The ulema would only give the fatwa if, and only if, the government agreed to introduce certain "reforms" in the Kingdom. The government kept its side of the deal, and in the days after the siege many reforms did take place. Women were forbidden from working and appearing on TV. The newspapers were required to obliterate the face of women in any published pictures. Alcohol in Western compounds was outlawed. And most importantly, the Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice was established. The 'Mutawwas' of this committee became infamous in the next two decades as loose cannons. As children growing up in Saudi Arabia, we never feared anything or anyone as much as a mutawwa in a GMC at the time of Adzaan.

The 29 ulema did come out with the fatwa later that Friday. They had decided fairly quickly that Muhammad al-Qahtani cannot be al-Mahdi since the hadith of al-Mahdi mentions an army of 70,000 Jews originating from Isfahan in Iran. The Iran after the revolution did not have any Jews, let alone 70,000 in Isfahan. They were also able to find verse 191 of the second Surah of the Qur'an in no time. The point of contention that delayed the fatwa for three days was the last part of the verse which states, "but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of the unbelievers." Could they declare Juhayman and his band unbelievers?

The fatwa that eventually came out, according to Arab News, roughly had the following wording.

The armed group should first be asked to surrender and lay down their arms. Should they agree, they must be imprisoned until their case in considered in accordance with the Islamic Shariah. But if they resist, all measure could be taken to arrest them, even if it led to a fight and killing of those who were not arrested and had not surrendered.

And then after quoting the above verse, the fatwa stated that although this verse has been revealed in connection with the unbelievers, its connotations include those who act like unbelievers and fighting them is therefore permissible.

Over the next few days, the Saudi army would try many more times to enter the Masjid. Each one of those tries was from Bab Salam. Each one of those tries ended similarly. Prince Nayef succeeded in sending many young men to paradise with his stubbornness. With the fatwa, however, they brought in King Abdelaziz Armored Brigade with artillery support.

TO BE CONTINUED