“Human relationships are much like a life-death-life cycle. A relationship is first born, at a certain point it takes another form, another shape, announcing the death of the previous phase and the birth of a new one. We shouldn’t waste our time regretting the old, we must adapt to the new one and learn how to enjoy each phase once we’re in it†–Will Smith on Oprah’s Show-
Loyal readers of my blog know very well that I do post general knowledge about Islam every now and then, to help clear the picture of Muslims that has become –thanks to the irresponsible media and racism in the world- a very blurred and ugly one.
Apparently, a report published on al-Arabiya’s website showing the statistics of a survey in Jordan on wife-beating took more attention than it should.
The report(AR), via our friend Mariam, says that over 80% of Jordanian women support wife-beating!
What do I think? I think it’s extreme BULLSHIT! If more than 80% of Jordanian women support it, why neither I nor any one of the people I know in school, university, work, through family, neighbours or elsewhere were suffering wife-beating! Or maybe I, and the ones I know, and my friends and the people they know, and their friends and the people they know in different neighbourhoods are all within the 20% who does not support wife-beating! Maybe, why not!
Unlike what this report is trying to show, Jordanian women both Christians and Muslims enjoy a great deal of freedom, democracy and respect. There are different faces of family violence in Jordan and in the Arab world in general, just like there is family violence in Europe and the US.
Anyway, I’m very proud to say that unlike many other countries Jordan has several campaigns to fight family violence, and provides shelters for women who are being subject to abuse or physical/sexual harassment.
Of course family violence and wife-beating come for many reasons such as violent personalities, personal mentalities, some wrong habits inherited along with tradition, or the illiterate backward surroundings!
What I found so typical is the unnecessary relating of this report to Islam! Jeff advised me to read some comments on this subject. Frankly, I wasn’t shocked of the amount of anti-Muslim comments posted. Anyway since this isn’t the first time –and probably not the last- that Islam and Muslims are being held responsible for everything, I would only like to say few things for those who are interested in knowing the right thing. If you’re not interested, this isn’t your place.
Why do people, just LOVE attacking Islam. Did anyone force them to convert to Islam? Guys, if you think it’s a shitty religion, if you choose to follow the rumours of it being full of violence, discrimination, and terror, then you’re free, why waste your time and ours on your attacks! Can’t you simply live in peace and let us enjoy our lives?
When it’s something pro-Islam, no one mentions it, when it’s against Islam, the whole world knows about it. When a Nobel Prize winner is Muslim, when a great scientist is Muslim, when a popular personality is Muslim, no one notes it. When there is a suspicion that a crime/terrorist attack was performed by a Muslim, it becomes an international scandal!
Many people repeat: “in Islam women are inferior, they are nothingâ€, and start quoting things that don’t suit the situation, they take a verse, cut most of it, strip it out its context and voila: a creative sentence to be used against Muslims.
But something like the prophets’ advice to men in handling women gently as if they were glass! NO ONE repeats it! Something like: Islam was the first religion to give women the right of divorce if they didn’t want to continue with their husbands! NO ONE talks about that.
I hear no one talking about women’s position in Muslim history, when they went to fight with men, or when they were asked for their opinion in serious matters!
The number of people who devote themselves to fight Islam just amazes me!! They spend money, effort and time just to try to prove it’s really bad! I don’t understand the magnet that attracts all kinds of people once I post something pro-Islam! I get bombarded with pointless questions and silly claims. Few are the ones who look for a fruitful discussion and ask to know not to fight!
To all those who think Islam is the reason behind wife-beating, check out the statistics of surveys of women being hit constantly in France, wives beaten to death in USA! Or well, maybe Muslims there did all these things, right!
It’s really pathetic that people who call for democracy are the only ones who practice racism.
I said it once and will say it now and forever: Religion is peaceful by nature, and Islam is no exception. If you want to get this, it’s great. If not, it’s up to you, but before you accuse or condemn, refer to correct sources and know what you’re talking about before making a fool out of yourself.
One last question, if you give a person a knife, what would that person do with it? (s)he’d either use it to cut things while cooking, or open tins, or simply keep it there for self-defence in case (s)he were attacked. OR, (s)he’d go threaten others, blackmail them, or even kill them!
The knife is the same, but was used in different ways, and so is religion. Don’t put the blame on religion, nor its instructions, it’s the people and their misapplication that are to blame.
And learn to respect each other’s religions, because, really, it’s a shame to waste each others time offending and attacking.
With the rapid expanding of population, suburbs have become densely populated where all the available land has been used up for construction, which forced governments to build on fertile soil, losing this soil forever.
The consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables is low since no garden space is left available, people have to buy products from the market, and most of the families have limited financial resources and unemployment is rising.
The roofs of homes are used for storing trash and old stuff which creates a suitable environment for insects, rats and reptiles growth.
How could this problem be solved? Answer is: Green Food from Green Roofs(GFGR).
GFGR is an amazingly impressive project suggested in Egypt and is being discussed by Amr Khaled’s “Life-Makers†program, a program that aims at improving life through practicing real Islam in its moderate and tolerant sense.
GFGR is specifically targeted at the poorer families living in the densely populated suburbs where it will not only facilitate the availability of fresh vegetables for home consumption but it will also create a source of income.
The project will benefit from the empty spaces on the building and houses roofs and fill them with plants and trees, which will help fight pollution with minimum expenses, basic available material and without the need for extra space or soil. Other than that, it’ll add a beautiful touch to the sight and improve the outlook of the place and the whole city in general.
Not to forget the fact that planting will provide a constructive way to fill a person’s free time and grow the sense of beautifying in the individual.
If you have any questions, or seek professional assistance, instructions of any kind related to planting your roof, you can send an email to: gfgr[at]lac.claes.sci.eg
Also read this excellent article in Arabic about the project where you can find breathtaking pictures of planted roofs.
I hope all Arab countries will apply this project to help reduce pollution, provide a living for poor families, beautify cities, increase productivities, and produce bio-vegetables and fruits.
Via: Serdal(AR).
Thanks to Haitham, I still can’t stop laughing.
He wrote about MSN celebrating April Fool’s Day by introducing Spoof : a tool to let you create funny search results about a friend, family member, or co-worker. When you’re done, you can send the page to the target or anyone else you think might get a laugh out of it.
Hilarious! Check it out guys, you’ll love it!
“Getting married is not about choosing the right person, it is about being the right one.” –our friend Issam Smeir quoting a couple who had been married for 53 years–
I just came across this beautiful Star article written by Mike Derderian about the latest craze in the Jordanian fast food industry: K& K. Read on to know what K & K stands for.
He wrote:
The latest craze in the Jordanian fast food industry is not a new burger and fries franchise or an international brand name coffee product for that matter. It’s K&K, which as a native Arabic speaker you’ll know stands for Kurash and Kaware’, a long forgotten traditional plate—especially among the circle of younger generations, who grew accustomed to the flavor and hype of fast food suburbia.
“We opened up the place on July 1, 2004,†said Lina Moughrabi, owner of the K&K, “It was just a thought I had. I was thinking out loud when Dr Munir Naouri, who now is my partner told me to go ahead and do it.†Moughrabi believes that people no longer like to spend much needed time preparing such a meal that it almost disappeared from the Jordanian cuisine. Kurash and Kaware’ is indeed becoming an ancient cooking recipe, day by day modern Jordanian housewives are shunning away from it, avoiding the long hours spent in a kitchen where the aroma of spices, minced meat, rice and chick-peas lingers among the sweltering cooking pans. “We wanted to resurrect traditional food cooking and serve it in a modern style. Anyone coming to our place can order anything from our menu that includes Kurash and Kaware’, sheep’s head meat, forelimbs and hind limbs, in addition to Fattet Kaware’,†added Moughrabi, “Its all available.â€
As a customer pushes open the entrance door, he faces a stairway that leads to a dining room with 18-seat capacity. The clientele can enjoy their meals on the premises as if at the comfort of their home, or they can simply order a takeaway meal. Those eating at K&K can savor Kurash and Kaware’ in three different servings: Grilled, boiled or cooked with Jameed (cooked yogurt).
All the ingredients used in preparing this delicacy that originated in Syria are sanitized and cleaned properly said Moughrabi.
The hustle and bustle of Moughrabi’s kitchen starts at 8:00 am, when preparations for the first meal starts, which would be ready by 1:30 pm. “Everything has to be fresh, that is why we sometimes prepare two to three meals a day,†added Moughrabi, “We take our customer’s orders early in the morning, to have enough time.â€
Located in a back alley, K&K is literally out-of-sight, Moughrabi says that it is word-of-mouth that has been bringing in customers to her kitchen. “People coming to our place can simply climb down the stairs and watch how we prepare our Kurash and Kaware’.
Well I must admit I’m not a fan of such delicacies, but this article got me excited and I wont mind trying.
By the way, did anyone of you in Jordan try this place out? If not, then it’d be great if you go and let us know what you think. It’ll also be wonderful if you could take some pics and post them, I’m really curious 😉
[www.alghad.jo]
Still can’t believe Ahmad Zaki’s dead!
His death, although somehow expected after a long struggle with cancer, yet it shocked millions of his fans…
Just came across a pic of his funeral, thank you for sharing Raynahe.
Death comes whenever, wherever, however it comes, no one can stop that. But we can all remember that we’re mortal, and our lives should serve one goal: making this world a better place to live.
Let’s all pray for his soul, inna lillah wa inna ilayhi raji’oun!
The weather is perfect, sunny, slight cool breeze, calm… simply beautiful. Loads of work to do, got used to that, so there’s actually no problem. The only thing annoying me is the pain I feel in my legs, wrest and arm.
Yesterday, my husband and I decided to put an end to our lazy lifestyle, which –thanks to him and the weird weather- we’ve been sticking to for a long long time 😀 So we decided to go out for a friendly tennis match. Taken by the beauty of the place and the adorable weather, we forgot all about our lazy muscles that should be warmed up gradually, and started our match right away. Our match, which –at times- couldn’t have been more aggressive, lol!
MMM was hitting as strong and fast as possible, throwing the ball high up in the sky making me suffer to catch it! But the revengeful me did all the unprofessional, so unfriendly, so bad-mannered-tennis-player tactics hitting the ball in the opposite corners of where MMM is standing making him run across the whole court 😛 soon enough he started using the same tactic, then we got back to our peaceful selves, playing a decent game.
A short while later, I got in this hysterical state, laughing my head off every time one of us misses the ball. Later on, I got this really stupid reaction: fear! So instead of hitting back the ball, I either ran away from it, or twisted around it, or –when the ball is high- I’d lean back to escape it… and believe me there were times when I looked as if I were ballet-dancing rather than playing… ah I was terrible.
In the final stage, I got really really hungry, started picturing French fries, and fatty food, cold coke…etc. Then I was too tired to chase the ball or gather the ones spread all over the place. And before we knew it, our time was over, we went home fresh, happy, active, and things were great.
Today I’m in pain and feel lazier than ever 😛
But who cares, it was real fun 🙂
Please take a minute to thank the Sunday Times and Daniel Day-Lewis for an excellent article in the March 20 edition entitled “Inside scarred mindsâ€, in which the renowned actor, on his first visit to the Gaza Strip, meets Palestinian families living in conflict and the psychologists who are counseling them.
Our thanks and support are all the more important because the Zionist Federation has today urged its members to complain about the article, which it described as “very unpleasantâ€. We must not allow the newspaper or celebrity to be silenced, as this will discourage other high-profile figures from speaking out.
Write to letters[at]sunday-times.co.uk. To assess response rates, please Bcc your letters (which will remain confidential) to info[at]arabmediawatch.com
Via: The Black Iris, Source: Arab Media Watch