A conversation between me and a Palestinian

I was about to meet a lebanese friend of mine in a park. When i got there, he was already sitting with a man that i have never seen before. I greeted them, and they returned my greeting. The following is my memory of the conversation i had with the stranger:

Stranger: You are an egyptian, right?

Ahmad: Yes. How did you know?

Stranger: I could tell from your accent. I am Mazen.

Ahmad: I am Ahmad. You are palestinian, right?

Stranger: Yes. How did you know?

Ahmad: Two-thirds of the arabs here are palestinians.

Stranger: Right, how is your friend Hosny Mubarak?

I was quite surprised by that question. It is not considered normal among arabs to open political discussions with strangers.

Ahmad: He’s okay, i guess…

Stranger: What do you think of him?

Ahmad: I disagree with much of his views.

Stranger: I hate him and the Egyptians. They are traitors. Our only friends are Hezbollah, Iran and Turkey. They came to our aid when the Egyptians were chickening out!

Ahmad: You are aware that the majority of the egyptians disagree with Mr. Mubarak for his handling of the war in Gaza?

Stranger: Disagree? Come on! How come he is still president then? If you really disagreed with him, he would no longer be president!

Ahmad: Removing him from the post would require nothing less than a revolution. The average Egyptian is working hard to put bread on the table, he is not…

Stranger: (interrupting me): I hope that when world war III begins, it will hit Egypt first of all. That is the reward you will collect for being such bastards!

Ahmad: May God forgive you! Are you aware what we have done for you!? We have waged wars for you! Our soldiers have died on the battlefield for you! Your case was the most important political one in Egypt for decades, and it still is! No nation have ever received as much sympathy from the Egyptians as you!

Stranger: That was the past! Now look! Hezbollah, Iran and Turkey help us while you aid our enemies! How can i respect a country that does that?

Ahmad: Actually that works very well for you, seeing as that Turkey recognized Israel and signed various agreements with it while we were waging war with them!

Stranger: Again, that was the past. Look at the present, we have…

Ahmad: (interrupting him): You cannot ignore the past because it explains why the present is as it is. Look at the time of Sadat – we had been waging 4 wars against israel at that time, two of them totally in vein! We fought those wars for a goal that we never achieved. At that time, the rest of the arab world had one concern: Themselves. That includes the palestinians. How then can you blame Mr. Sadat for claiming only Egypt as his responsibility?

Stranger: So you agree with Mubarak!?

Ahmad: If he had argued that we should not risk our lives for a nation that hates us, i would agree!

At that time, my lebanese friends grew tired of our discussion, and i was outraged because of the rudeness of this fellow! So my lebanese friend asked him to excuse us, and left with me.

Even though i said what i said in anger, i am still surprised that i found myself in a position where i defended Mr. Sadat for drifting Egypt away from the Arab cause and towards the Egyptian cause. I have always been supporting Gamal Abdel Nasser and his policies, and i have always despised Anwar el Sadat for ruining it by turning us away from it. Funny how i react to getting insulted.

Even though i feel that my opinions before the conversation are the same as after the conversation, i do feel a little more sympathy towards those who argue that Egypt should worry about Egypt only.

Abu Skander’s Revival

I have grown tired of politics! Really! To the point where every political discussion seem irrelevant to me. Even the never-ending conflict in Israel/Palestine. Since Abu Skanders main focus was that conflict in particular, you might as well refer to him as dead.

The new Abu Skander will be blogging mainly about Islam, but at a  basic level. I am not a scholar of Islam, so the conclusions that i reach are my own – my opinion couldn’t be less relevant when trying to understand Islam. Islam is the consensus of the Scholars. What i will be blogging about is my understanding of Islam. Hope that made sense.

Edit: I will not promise that i will never commend on politics again 😀

Salam.

Israel in the Quran

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله الحمد لله ثم الحمد لله
الحمد لله رب العالمين و الصلاة و السلام على سيدنا محمد
ان الله يهدي من يشاء ويضل من يشاء
الحمد لله الذي هدانا لهذا و ما كنا لنهتدي لولا ان هدانا الله

Ama ba’d,
May the be upon he who follow guidance.

Once here at my blog, we had a discussion about the mentioning of “Israel” in the Quran. Now, when it popped up again over at Drima’s, i’ve decided to write a post about the verses, especially the ones that is being used to justify The Holy Land being jewish.

I hope that Allah Almighty will grant me success.

Msheet feen, ya DK?

O Denmark, where did you go?

For a long time, i’ve remained silent on this issue. Now it is too much. I feel that what is happening right here is that what makes Denmark a lovely country is being taken away from us. I dont feel like i am in the samy country i settled in in the early 90’s. I cannot remain silent anymore on this.

Fellow danes probably already know what i am talking about. I am talking about the two tunisians, who are facing deportation, because they allegedly were planning to kill a man behind the Muhammad cartoons.

The death of yet another Iraqi woman

Don Cox recently asked me if i would comment on this story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/01/iraq

Yes, dear friend, i would love to.

Muslim Feminists – When arguments are like a baloon

I am growing tired of the post-modernistic feminist muslims (and how funny is it that they are very often Hadith-rejectors!). Really, i am. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but when one seeks to alter Islam to make it fit to their own view, i get disgusted. The following article is a refutation of Aminah Wadud, “the academic face of a Western Islam rife”, by Shaykh Gibril:

http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1778&CATE=91 

Democracy: Heresy pr. definition?

Am I a democrat? Is democracy kufr?

I am not a scholar and do not posses the level of Ijtihad, this is not a fatwa, so the following is nothing but my own view. If someone have anything from the scholars of Islam that opposes my view, feel free to let me know.

Israel/Palestine: I’m split

Yes. I am split. In these days, everybody seems to have a very clear, distinctive opinion about the Israel/Palestine issue. I am often asked the same: Do i recognize Israels right to exist? Do i oppose Hamas? Do i support the “moderate” Fatah? Do i agree on a two-state solution on the 67-borders? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Here is a summary of a dialogue that have taken place inside my head for years now.

Turkish waqf to alter the Sunnah?

Yes, appearently, this is the case according to the BBC narration of the event:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7264903.stm

 However, according to Mehmet Gormez, the duputy director of the Turkish waqf, they do not intend to reform the hadith or Islam:
“No Muslim in the right mind would dare delete any hadith or tamper with the Prophet’s heritage,” Gormez told IOL.

Denmark and its alleged xenophobia

May peace be upon him who follow guidance.

 Dear fellow muslims and fellow arabs. Dear non-muslim and non-arab readers. I hope you read this in good health.
In Denmark, many rumors flourish about what the Arab world is like. People tend to get their information from what they see in the news and a few vacations to Hurghada. The Arab World seems very far away from the average danish man.

But the same is also true for you, my dear arab and muslim brethen. You get your information about Denmark from what you have heard and perhaps about few things you’ve heard in the news – among them being the cartoons and the way the danish government handled it, along with romours about xenophobia, islamiphobia, racism and so on.

Therefore, as an arab muslim living in Denmark, i will write about this subject, so that we all may understand. And may Allah (tt) grand us succes in understanding.