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qatarperegrineFrom today's Peninsula:
- The birth registration unit at Hamad Medical Corporation has released the top names Qataris choose for their babies. Currently, the top name for boys is Tamim (the name of the heir apparent), and the top name for girls is Mayassa (the name of the very cool princess whose name unfortunately makes all English-speakers giggle, Sheikha Mayassa).
It's also interesting to note that registering babies at birth is a new phenomenon in Qatar. Previously there was no real reason to get a birth certificate until a child started school. These days it's handy to get one earlier, because certifiably Qatari babies can buy stocks.
Tamim, Mayassa most popular names - I'm pleased to see that the labor department is conducting surprise visits of labor camps throughout Qatar, to ensure compliance with the new labor law. They are, of course, finding many substandard accommodations: laborers housed 35 to a room, kitchens with one refrigerator for 140 workers, open sewage pits. So far offending companies have been "issued stern warnings," but this is apparently because the companies have until next week to start complying with the labor law. The companies were also told they'll "face legal action" if conditions haven't changed within a month. If that's the case -- and if the labor department really starts conducting 80-90 visits a week, as the Peninsula bewilderingly suggests -- then things could really start to change. I have been saying for a while that I think the #1 thing the government should be doing for human rights is to hold companies accountable when they fail to uphold laws protecting workers. Keep your fingers crossed this will happen.
Labour officials conduct surprise raids - Finally, a British journalist named Yvonne Ridley is in town this week. Ridley's claim to fame is that she converted to Islam (or "reverted," as they like to say) after being held captive by the Taliban in 2001. She's speaking at CMU-Q twice: today, on veiling, and tomorrow, on Islamophobia. I'll write about her CMU-Q talks after I attend them, but for now here's her Peninsula interview.
Western leaders crying wolf: Ridley
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Date: 2006-08-23 08:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-23 08:19 am (UTC)Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-23 10:49 am (UTC)Yvonne Ridley: The Darling Of The Polarizers And Why I Hate Hypocrisy
I had the interesting opportunity to hear Yvonne Ridley present a lecture this evening at Education City. I would like to be able to report that I had the pleasure of attending the lecture. I would even settle for being able to say I had the chance to learn something from a professional journalist who happens to also be a convert to Islam. But after what I heard tonight I can hardly say that Ms Ridley fits the description of a professional journalist. However, one can certainly accept her word that she is a Muslim.
Ms. Ridley's lecture was entitled "Sleeping With The Enemy" -- rather suitable as I came away feeling like I had done just that after listening to her one-sided, sensational political rant wrapped up in a kaffiyeh to make it seem Islamic.
The lecture was supposed to be on the ramifications of embedded journalism and certainly she did touch briefly on that 21st century phenomenon. But the majority of her talk can best be described as anti-war, anti-West, anti-Moderation proselytizing.
Now, it could take me a long time to dredge up all the propaganda Ms. Ridley strung together in her hour long talk and the question and answer period that followed. But a little research on the net allows me to present its substance -- even the exact rhetoric -- because Ms. Ridley's contribution to intellectual and political discourse is vigorously promoted by the great bearded ones who are trying to lead the ummah down the path of Muslim Isolationism and Taliban-esque fanaticism.
She warned her listeners to Beware of the Happy Clappies vociferously rejecting the concept of moderation in Islam. In fact, she likened a being a moderate Muslim to being a little bit pregnant -- in other words, an oxymoron. iIt seems when it comes to Muslims you ether embrace her politically radicalized version of Islam or you are a "sell-out". Of course, this is from a woman who considers the Butcher of Beslan a shaheed.
Ms. Ridley has a lot to say about the "War on Terror" -- much of which I agree with -- but very little to say on how we Muslims can contribute to resolving the problems that have been borne out of it and those that it (the war on terror) were borne out of. In fact, while Ridley is quick to indict those in the West who have become radicalized against Islam because of terror attacks committed in its name, this street is one way. She apparently sees nothing wrong with the notion of thousands of Muslims becoming anti-Western because of a slur against a Muslim's faith by one Scottish Policeman. Why the double standard?
Well, I think that double standards are what Yvonne Ridley is all about. She rails against the West stereotyping Muslims but in fact, she stereotypes the West. She claims the West labels Muslims with inflammatory designations like "fundamentalist", "extremist" and the like, but has no problem with those or similar labels being applied to non-Muslims (ie.,"those two Christian extremists who are running our countries").
But if you think I got nothing out of an evening of Ridley's wisdom, you would be wrong. I want to thank her for helping me to define my own role as a Muslim American in a time when so many seek to promote the notion civilizations on a collision course: I will seek to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Salaam Alaikum,
PM
Re: Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-23 10:54 am (UTC)Today, she called moderate Muslims "traitors and the enemy within", "house Muslims, or house slaves" and "the fifth column" and said that "they will reap the rewards of their treachery."
I'll write more about it tonight, inshallah.
Re: Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-23 11:29 am (UTC)Unfortunately, I don't feel that our average EC student is able to think critically and assess the validity of her message when coupled with fallacious methodology.... Still, at least it has opened up the opportunity for debate.
regards,
PM
PS: I was particularly incensed when she snidely pronounced that the Americans teaching in EC were simply interested in suckking up petro-dollars so they could return to their homes and live the life of rich "fat-cats". She failed to mention how much she was receiving for gracing us with her presence for 5 days.... ;-)))
.....
Date: 2006-08-23 09:36 pm (UTC)Re: .....
Date: 2006-08-23 09:49 pm (UTC)Don't you see where this kind of ignorance and suspicion leads us all?
BTW, do Qataris also think Ridley is just here for the money? After all, you should look into the speaker's fees and perks she is sucking up from Qataris for her valuable time... LOL!
Salaam Alaikum,
Peaceful Muslimah -- American Muslimah btw ;-)))
Re: Yvonne Ridley's speakers costs.....
Date: 2006-09-03 05:21 pm (UTC)As-salam alaykum
I just took your advice and checked out how much Ms.Ridley was paid for her recent visit. I contacted the charity that invited her and for your information, she was not paid any fees. She also declined any gifts and asked people to make donations to charity instead.
Now that certainly doesn't sound like a person who is motivated by money.
As a muslimah, I kindly encourage you to think about what you write, since Muslims adhere to the character of the prophet (peace be upon him), who informed us of the gravity of backbiting, slandering and casting suspicion on others.
I refer you and other readers to the sayings of the prophet(peace be upon him), which can be found in books such as Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari, which are widely available.
Sincerely.
Re: .....
Date: 2006-08-25 01:39 pm (UTC)Re: .....
Date: 2006-08-27 07:29 pm (UTC)Especially since Education City folks are just about the only group of expats I know in Qatar who tend NOT to say that we're primarily here for the money. :-)
Re: Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-30 07:07 pm (UTC)I too was present at that same lecture and somehow my recollection of Ms Ridley's lecture are quite different from yours. Alot of what she said made sense and l congratulate her for her courage to stand up and not be intimidated. She actually said what most people are secretly thinking concerning global politics right now. In my books, she is one of only a handful of independant professional journalists, ie those scribes who actually see their job as seeking out the truth, rather than assisting their governments to 'control' the message. As there are only a few of them around these days, particularly in America, its not surprising that you're unable to appreciate her work.
When she referred to the two 'christian extremists running our countries' she was playing the west at their own game. She was pointing out how labelling others is offensive . You were clearly offended ( otherwise you wouldn't mention it)and that just proves her point. British Muslims have been bombarded with false labels for the last 5 years and its now beginning to have serious implications for them in terms of victimisation. People need to wake up and realise that.
All my British and American friends were delighted with her talk and were just annoyed at the long winded stupid questions she was being asked at the end ,during the question and answer session.I shall be writing to the organisers and asking why access to the microphone was not fairly distributed.You have to admit some of the questions were pathetic
Finally, you don't need a journalist to define your role as a Muslim American for you. Even l, as a British non muslim can tell you that you need the Quran and Sunnah.
Re: Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-30 07:26 pm (UTC)I don't think it proves her point at all. I'm not OFFENDED that she called Bush and Blair Christian extremists. I just think it makes her sound like an ideologue who doesn't worry too much about the truth if it interferes with the story she wants to tell. Bush has some scarily conservative Christian advisors and his interpretation of Christianity differs vastly from mine (and from that of our bishops, who have tried very hard to tell him he's out of line with our denomination). Blair, on the other hand, cannot in any way be fairly described as a "Christian extremist." It's just not an accurate description for what's going on.
Being offended by her characterization has nothing to do with it. I just think she's so enamoured of her own political viewpoint that she's unwilling to see facts that disagree with it. She's more interested in truthiness than truth. :-)
FWIW I agree with her politics -- I'm very liberal, and have been involved in antiwar demonstrations. But I think her arguments were very weak, and she is blinded by her prejudices.
Re: Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-31 09:48 am (UTC)You say that Ms Ridley 'doesn't worry about the truth if it interfers with the story' I disagree completely. I believe that its because she cares so deeply about the truth that she's prepared to spent so much time and effort to stand alone and speak up. Its not easy to go against the grain. What part of her talk did you not find truthful? The manipulation of the media? From where l'm standing, half of the Americans are in denial that their fast talking media could be open to manipulation and the other half doesn't even care.
I think , if anything that certain leaders have been telling us a 'cock and bull story' and don't care if they are economical with the truth, as long as they can push through with their hidden agenda. The fact that thousand of innocents have lost their lives appears totally irrelevant to them So sad!!.
There should not be different interpretations of a religion. For example Christianity is Christianity .It should be God's interpretation that we should all be striving for.The Bishops should be taking Bush to task on his distorted interpretation. But sadly they won't because the Church is weak ( no disrespect intented).
Blair is an Christian extremist in my books.He calls himself a Christian but he has acquiesced to two wars so far and is quite happy to beat the drums of war for a third time. If a Muslim did just that, the public would without hesitation immediately call him an extremist.Blair has a well managed public image, he has spent alot of money polishing his 'boy next door' persona, but it doesn't make him any less extreme and evil.We need to start reading between the lines.
Re: Well I am a Muslim and I Blew a Gasket!
Date: 2006-08-31 11:03 am (UTC)But I did find parts of her talk untruthful, like calling Blair a religious extremist. Blair is a person who seems to have some religious faith, and he is a person who acquiesced to the war in Iraq -- but that doesn't mean that his support for the war was motivated by his religious views. That's, frankly, preposterous. He didn't say, "Let's invade Iraq for Jesus." His support for the war has nothing to do with religion.
If Westerners blame Islam for specific acts of terrorism committed by people who say the Bismillah when they blow themselves up, Ridley calls it "Islamophobia." But then she tries to call Blair's politically motivated stance on war Christian extremism, just because he happens to be a churchgoer. That's disingenuous and hypocritical, and it shows a lack of regard for the truth.
As for religious interpretations, I disagree with you. We can't read or hear or see anything without interpreting it; that's just how our brains work. Even if there is such a thing as "God's interpretation," it seems impossible that that interpretation could somehow be transferred inside everyone's brains. We have to make sense of things within our own context. If my cultural, intellectual, etc. context is completely different from the context of a 13th century monk, then obviously the words of the Bible and the rites of our religious tradition are going to mean different things to me than they did to him. That's the beauty of religion, to me: religions contain so much variety and richness that they can speak to different people in vastly different circumstances.
And what on earth do you mean, "sadly they won't" bring Bush to task? The Methodist bishops strongly opposed the Iraq war well before it started, and sought to meet with Bush to discuss the fact that war is incompatible with Christian teaching. They made public statements against the war (like this one and this one) from before it even started, and last November nearly 100 of them signed a Call to Repentence and Peace with Justice saying that the church should have done even more. Our bishops were also behind a recent advertising campaign to apologize for mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. The United Methodist bishops have been absolutely adamant that the Iraq war is in violation of our Christian principles. But Bush, as an individual United Methodist, is perfectly free to disagree with the church.
comment
Date: 2006-08-30 05:55 pm (UTC)Re: comment
Date: 2006-08-30 07:08 pm (UTC)And, since she said it (from what people have said), I'm not particularly surprised.
Re: comment
Date: 2006-08-30 07:09 pm (UTC)Funny quote
Date: 2008-05-11 01:52 pm (UTC)We all live in a state of ambitious poverty.
-- Decimus Junius Juvenalis
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