This article was inspired by a message I saw somewhere wishing a happy Independence Day for America and hoping the same for Palestine.
This is a poem about the Palestinian struggle I’ve always memorized since I was a little boy. As I grew older, however, I found out that it applies to any struggle. Loosely translated (words written with such eloquence can never be properly translated), “That’s the destiny of man, to drink the bitter and the nasty; but so long as blood goes through his vein, he will always continue to learn. He who battles the high waves will ultimately make it to shore, and a breeze can turn into a hurricane, and night is always followed by day.”.
The poem is written in colloquial Arabic, which makes its appeal even more stunning. It is easy to express one’s self in an intellectual way, but to be able to convey such powerful ideas into words that can be understood even by the most illiterate is a powerful and rare ability. I hope you enjoy it.
هذا هو قدر الإنسان, يتجرّع مرّ وعلقم
قدّ ما يخفق هالشريان, الإنسان بيتعلم
وِالّي يصارع هالتيّار, أخرته بيرس عالبَرّ
والنسمة تولّد إعصار, والعتمة بيعقبها الفجر
About Me
- Zuhair Mahd
- Vancouver, Washington, United States
- Click here To read a short biography of myself.
Showing posts with label articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label articles. Show all posts
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
A New Recognition
I have been recently humbled by an honor I was afforded by the Qatar Social and Cultural Center for the Blind, who chose to feature me on the “distinguished persons” part of their web site along with persons such as David Blunkett, the former Home Office Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Click here to read the published article in English, and here to read it in Arabic.
Click here to read the published article in English, and here to read it in Arabic.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Discussion of the pope's remarks on Islam
On September 12, 2006, his holiness pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech at The Meeting with the representatives of science at the University of Regensburg in Munich in Germany, in which he quoted from the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of a dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an “educated Persian” on the subject of Christianity and Islam and the truth of both. The speech inflamed passions in the Muslim world, as it was seen as a direct attack on Islam, propagating an ages old Western (and dare I say Catholic) allegation dating back to the crusades’ alleging that Islam was spread by the sword.
Irrespective of what the pope said, I must say that I’m disappointed with the response of my fellow Muslims, which I assert is fully understandable. Jews always responded in a similar manner whenever someone questioned the actions of Israel, and other religions and groups used the same tactics when they didn’t have a reasonable argument to justify their actions or refute allegations made against them. In this case however, I think that Muslims should have known better, and ought to have used the opportunity to engage common persons in the West, most of whom by the way aren’t too happy or proud of the Catholic Church, and educate them about the history of Islamic civilization. This, I argue, would have done much more to refute his holiness’s allegations compared to demonstrations and empty words of condemnation which are heard so often that they ring hollow to everyone’s ears.
The article below, written by a Jewish theologian, does just that. While I don’t necessarily agree with the author’s political conclusions (at least not in the literal sense), I nevertheless find the historical facts quite fascinating.
In the interest of fairness and academic scholarliness, I’m including links to the pope’s original speech for you to review. Here is the original German text, and here is the English translation. The source is the Pope’s archive on the Vatican’s official web page.
Muhammad's sword Pope Benedict XVI in the service of George W. Bush By Uri Avner 09/24/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Since the days when Roman emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes. Constantine the Great, who became emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700 years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the emperor accept his superiority. The struggle between the emperors and the popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some emperors dismissed or expelled a pope, some popes dismissed or excommunicated an emperor. One of the emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication. But there were times when emperors and popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a worldwide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "clash of civilizations". In his lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah. As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations". In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the Prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul? To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th century, Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary: Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them? (b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them? When Manuel II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat. At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On 29 May 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul), fell to the Turks, putting an end to the empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years. During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics. In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union. Is there any truth in Manuel's argument? The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, Verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant Verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith." How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the Prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia, when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith. Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: how did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"? Well, they just did not. For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian. True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosnians. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favourites of the government and enjoy the fruits. In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians. There no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"? What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics reconquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust. Why? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes. Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith. The story about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions. Why did he utter these words in public? And why now? There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "global war on terror" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade. The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences? Uri Avnery is an Israeli author and activist. He is the head of the Israeli peace movement, "Gush Shalom".
Irrespective of what the pope said, I must say that I’m disappointed with the response of my fellow Muslims, which I assert is fully understandable. Jews always responded in a similar manner whenever someone questioned the actions of Israel, and other religions and groups used the same tactics when they didn’t have a reasonable argument to justify their actions or refute allegations made against them. In this case however, I think that Muslims should have known better, and ought to have used the opportunity to engage common persons in the West, most of whom by the way aren’t too happy or proud of the Catholic Church, and educate them about the history of Islamic civilization. This, I argue, would have done much more to refute his holiness’s allegations compared to demonstrations and empty words of condemnation which are heard so often that they ring hollow to everyone’s ears.
The article below, written by a Jewish theologian, does just that. While I don’t necessarily agree with the author’s political conclusions (at least not in the literal sense), I nevertheless find the historical facts quite fascinating.
In the interest of fairness and academic scholarliness, I’m including links to the pope’s original speech for you to review. Here is the original German text, and here is the English translation. The source is the Pope’s archive on the Vatican’s official web page.
Muhammad's sword Pope Benedict XVI in the service of George W. Bush By Uri Avner 09/24/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Since the days when Roman emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes. Constantine the Great, who became emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700 years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the emperor accept his superiority. The struggle between the emperors and the popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some emperors dismissed or expelled a pope, some popes dismissed or excommunicated an emperor. One of the emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication. But there were times when emperors and popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a worldwide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "clash of civilizations". In his lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah. As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations". In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the Prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul? To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th century, Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary: Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them? (b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them? When Manuel II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat. At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On 29 May 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul), fell to the Turks, putting an end to the empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years. During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics. In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union. Is there any truth in Manuel's argument? The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, Verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant Verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith." How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the Prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia, when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith. Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: how did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"? Well, they just did not. For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian. True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosnians. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favourites of the government and enjoy the fruits. In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians. There no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"? What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics reconquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust. Why? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes. Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith. The story about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions. Why did he utter these words in public? And why now? There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "global war on terror" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade. The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences? Uri Avnery is an Israeli author and activist. He is the head of the Israeli peace movement, "Gush Shalom".
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
The way Americans like their war
The following article appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which is pretty significant, since American newspapers rarely offer anything by Robert Fisk, the UK Independent’s correspondent to the Middle East for over 30 years. Mr. Fisk was witness to the Lebanese civil war, was one of the few to visit and meet with Osama Bin Ladin, and has never wavered under pressure of any type.
Whether you agree with his line or not, Fisk offers a school of thought full of factual arguments and, not withstanding the cynicism sometimes, sobering reminders of the cruelty of war, no matter who the perpitrators are. Unlike others, however, he is not afraid to go into the reasons of why things happen, and does not withhold information simply because it may not be politically incorrect or lacks expediency.
You can read more about Robert Fisk through his web site, where you’ll have an opportunity to read his articles, listen to some interviews with him and watch some of his speeches.
On to the article, entitled: The way Americans like their war
Whether you agree with his line or not, Fisk offers a school of thought full of factual arguments and, not withstanding the cynicism sometimes, sobering reminders of the cruelty of war, no matter who the perpitrators are. Unlike others, however, he is not afraid to go into the reasons of why things happen, and does not withhold information simply because it may not be politically incorrect or lacks expediency.
You can read more about Robert Fisk through his web site, where you’ll have an opportunity to read his articles, listen to some interviews with him and watch some of his speeches.
On to the article, entitled: The way Americans like their war
Saturday, May 20, 2006
WSJ.com - New Cellphone Services Put God on the Line
I found this article to be quite interesting, especially the reluctance of religious people to use technology on the one had, and their embrace of it on the other. Progress is a wave, and no one dare stand in its way. I guess it's true what they say, if you can't beat them, join them:).
WSJ.com - New Cellphone Services Put God on the Line
WSJ.com - New Cellphone Services Put God on the Line
Monday, July 18, 2005
Diary of a blind traveler
The article below appeared in the fall issue of America’s Muslim Family magazine, a local paper in the DC/Virginia area. It is my understanding that this paper is about to go national, so hurray to you Kari and Ahmed! I am publishing the unedited versions of the articles I wrote last summer. Enjoy, and don't be too shy to comment!
Diary of a Blind Traveler
Traveling is perhaps one of the most eye-opening experiences a human being can ever have. Through traveling you will see many new things that teach you about other cultures, which will ultimately help you see your own culture from a totally new perspective. So, with all the sights to see when traveling, what would it be like if you were blind?
Traveling is and has always been one of my passions, despite the fact that I am totally blind. It’s true that I cannot see however, I am a sharp observer. By listening to people and following how they react to different situations, I can sometimes see more than what meets the eye. So, it’s my intention in this column in America’s Muslim Family to let you experience the world through the eyes of a blind traveler, me!
Recently, I spent a month in Germany and notably a few days of leisure in Berlin towards the end of July 2004. I had been studying German and felt pretty confident for most of my month-long stay in the country, as a matter of fact, practicing my German was one of the most compelling reason for my accepting the assignment for my business in the first place. My hosts in Stuttgart, who were fluent speakers of English, dropped me off at the train station at around 11 AM. As we said our good-byes, I suddenly realized that I was on my own, without the benefit of a sighted guide, but even more nerve-racking was the fact I was without the benefit of a translator! I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist especially with language and so the prospect of needing to communicate in German was a daunting proposition.
I arrived in Berlin, after an exhausting but interesting 6-hour train ride from Stuttgart. You would think that on a long ride like this people sharing a row of seats would converse with each other and get to know each other, but alas, as typical in Germany, everyone buried their head in a book or put on a headset and simply minded his or her own business.
I reached the furnished apartment that would be my home in Berlin via taxi, conversing with the driver in German only to find at the end of the ride the gentleman spoke English. Mr. Cobin, (who actually spells his name with a K), spoke no English, which made the tour very interesting. I was pleased because I was able to converse with him despite his heavy Berlin accent, and I learned a few new German words.
My first thought, after I got settled, was to find some place to eat. I was looking forward to the experience, especially since I had spent the previous evening practicing my repository of food related vocabulary with Anna, my Stuttgart host's 12-year-old daughter. Specifically, we went over how to ask for a seat, asking what's on the menu, and most importantly, telling my server that I do not eat pork or drink alcohol. As you can imagine, I was eager to practice what I learned, but I needed to get to a restaurant first!
I explained to Mr. Cobin what I wanted, and after trying in vain to give me directions to a nearby Italian restaurant, he finally offered to take me there, an offer for which I was thankful.
As soon as I got there, a young man who was very accommodating greeted me. I went through what I had practiced with Anna the previous night, and when I got to the point where I explained that I did not eat pork or drink alcohol, he immediately informed me that he was the same way. He asked me where I was from, and I informed him that I was born in Jordan, and that's when he immediately started speaking Arabic with me. He was the restaurant owner's son, and his father has been living in Germany for over 31 years. Needless to say, all my practice the night before was in vain, seeing how we had more in common than just the language. I enjoyed the meal and the conversation and left the restaurant pondering the question, why would an Arab open an Italian restaurant in Germany?
I quickly became familiar with my surroundings and was able to find the Ban Huf, which is the German's way of saying "train station". I took the train the following day to the center of town and walked around, checking out the shops and talking to people. Needless to say, everyone spoke German, and I was truly proud of my ability to communicate with the townspeople in their own language.
Germans have a reputation of being cold by nature, however, people (mostly women) still came up to me, asking if I needed help finding something or crossing the street. In the spirit of sharing for which we Americans are renowned world wide, I'm proud to say that I have taught English to many people with whom I came in contact. Whenever someone tried to teach me something in German, I'd try to teach him or her the same word in English, whether they were interested to learn or not!
I found a Starbucks, and was quick to grab my favorite drink of a chocolate mocha with lots of whip cream on top. To my dismay, the whip cream was not as sweet in Germany as it is in the US. This made it especially strange, since, while I use whip cream in the US to sweeten my coffee, I found myself doing the exact opposite, namely using the Mocha to sweeten the rest of the lot. Small differences become significant when you’re far from home!
The following day was a Friday, and I was determined to find a mosque in which to pray. Blind, with limited knowledge of the city, the language and the people, I headed out, found a mosque, prayed, ate a delightful Indian meal, and went home to my furnished apartment. How I did that was an adventure deserving of an article by itself, and you will, my dear reader, read all about it in the upcoming Winter Edition of America’s Muslim Family, God willing.
-----------------------------
Diary of a Blind Traveler
Traveling is perhaps one of the most eye-opening experiences a human being can ever have. Through traveling you will see many new things that teach you about other cultures, which will ultimately help you see your own culture from a totally new perspective. So, with all the sights to see when traveling, what would it be like if you were blind?
Traveling is and has always been one of my passions, despite the fact that I am totally blind. It’s true that I cannot see however, I am a sharp observer. By listening to people and following how they react to different situations, I can sometimes see more than what meets the eye. So, it’s my intention in this column in America’s Muslim Family to let you experience the world through the eyes of a blind traveler, me!
Recently, I spent a month in Germany and notably a few days of leisure in Berlin towards the end of July 2004. I had been studying German and felt pretty confident for most of my month-long stay in the country, as a matter of fact, practicing my German was one of the most compelling reason for my accepting the assignment for my business in the first place. My hosts in Stuttgart, who were fluent speakers of English, dropped me off at the train station at around 11 AM. As we said our good-byes, I suddenly realized that I was on my own, without the benefit of a sighted guide, but even more nerve-racking was the fact I was without the benefit of a translator! I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist especially with language and so the prospect of needing to communicate in German was a daunting proposition.
I arrived in Berlin, after an exhausting but interesting 6-hour train ride from Stuttgart. You would think that on a long ride like this people sharing a row of seats would converse with each other and get to know each other, but alas, as typical in Germany, everyone buried their head in a book or put on a headset and simply minded his or her own business.
I reached the furnished apartment that would be my home in Berlin via taxi, conversing with the driver in German only to find at the end of the ride the gentleman spoke English. Mr. Cobin, (who actually spells his name with a K), spoke no English, which made the tour very interesting. I was pleased because I was able to converse with him despite his heavy Berlin accent, and I learned a few new German words.
My first thought, after I got settled, was to find some place to eat. I was looking forward to the experience, especially since I had spent the previous evening practicing my repository of food related vocabulary with Anna, my Stuttgart host's 12-year-old daughter. Specifically, we went over how to ask for a seat, asking what's on the menu, and most importantly, telling my server that I do not eat pork or drink alcohol. As you can imagine, I was eager to practice what I learned, but I needed to get to a restaurant first!
I explained to Mr. Cobin what I wanted, and after trying in vain to give me directions to a nearby Italian restaurant, he finally offered to take me there, an offer for which I was thankful.
As soon as I got there, a young man who was very accommodating greeted me. I went through what I had practiced with Anna the previous night, and when I got to the point where I explained that I did not eat pork or drink alcohol, he immediately informed me that he was the same way. He asked me where I was from, and I informed him that I was born in Jordan, and that's when he immediately started speaking Arabic with me. He was the restaurant owner's son, and his father has been living in Germany for over 31 years. Needless to say, all my practice the night before was in vain, seeing how we had more in common than just the language. I enjoyed the meal and the conversation and left the restaurant pondering the question, why would an Arab open an Italian restaurant in Germany?
I quickly became familiar with my surroundings and was able to find the Ban Huf, which is the German's way of saying "train station". I took the train the following day to the center of town and walked around, checking out the shops and talking to people. Needless to say, everyone spoke German, and I was truly proud of my ability to communicate with the townspeople in their own language.
Germans have a reputation of being cold by nature, however, people (mostly women) still came up to me, asking if I needed help finding something or crossing the street. In the spirit of sharing for which we Americans are renowned world wide, I'm proud to say that I have taught English to many people with whom I came in contact. Whenever someone tried to teach me something in German, I'd try to teach him or her the same word in English, whether they were interested to learn or not!
I found a Starbucks, and was quick to grab my favorite drink of a chocolate mocha with lots of whip cream on top. To my dismay, the whip cream was not as sweet in Germany as it is in the US. This made it especially strange, since, while I use whip cream in the US to sweeten my coffee, I found myself doing the exact opposite, namely using the Mocha to sweeten the rest of the lot. Small differences become significant when you’re far from home!
The following day was a Friday, and I was determined to find a mosque in which to pray. Blind, with limited knowledge of the city, the language and the people, I headed out, found a mosque, prayed, ate a delightful Indian meal, and went home to my furnished apartment. How I did that was an adventure deserving of an article by itself, and you will, my dear reader, read all about it in the upcoming Winter Edition of America’s Muslim Family, God willing.
Follow up to Diary Of a Blind Traveler
This is the second part of the article, unedited, which appeared in the winter issue of the same magazine as mentioned in the article above. Enjoy!
After a wonderful couple of days in Berlin, Friday was approaching, and I wondered if there were any mosques nearby for me to attend the Friday prayer. As a traveler, a Muslim is exempt from attending the congregational prayer, and has the option of praying alone, but despite that I wanted to satisfy my curiosity and see what life was like for Muslims in Germany. I had questions in my mind such as, “do they have the Khotba in Arabic or in German (surely not in English!)? Are the community dynamics similar to those of our communities here in the US?”. For this reason, I decided to go out and find a mosque; but the question that kept nagging me is how! I guess I could have asked the people I was renting the apartment from, but I don’t think they’d know! It suddenly dawned on me to go back to the restaurant where I ate my first Italian meal and ask the owner who has been in Berlin for over thirty years. I figured if anyone would know, it had to be him! He was Muslim (his name was Jamaal), from Jordan, and he spoke Arabic very fluently. So on Thursday evening I walked over to the restaurant and ate a delightful meal, and found the opportunity to ask Jamaal whether he knew of a mosque nearby. To my shock, he did not. I didn’t ask any more questions, and I could tell he was able to notice the look of shock I had on my face. He then went on to tell me that the best thing to do is to take the train to Pank Strasse and ask the first Arabian or Turkish person for the location of a mosque. Since Pank Strasse is a place full of Arabs and Turks, according to Jamaal, I’d have no trouble finding one, though I sort of wondered in the back of my mind how I’d recognize someone’s ethnicity by speaking to him or her in a language that was alien to both of us! I thanked Jamaal however and went on my merry way, fully intending to find a mosque the following morning.
After a good night sleep, the sun rose, and Friday morning awoke the inhabitants of Berlin in order that they go on their daily affairs. My affair that day was to find a mosque, and after going down to the office of the association where I was renting the apartment to check my email, I went out in pursuit of the place of worship. When I left my apartment that morning, the only thing I knew, besides how to get to the train (U-Bahn) station was that I needed to go to Pank Strasse and find a Turkish or an Arabic person and ask them about where I could find a mosque. You must understand, my dear reader, that this is totally out of character for me. When I undertake a task, I plan it beforehand, trying to cover each and every angle. In a situation like this, I would not have gone out if I didn’t have an address, a train schedule, and detailed information on how to get there as well as the prayer times. I was on vacation however, and I figured I’d take a vacation from my usual self by opening the door to whatever may come my way – and so I went on my pursuit!
It was close to 10:00 AM as I made my way to the train station. I got on the train, and found myself sitting next to a lady, to whom I started talking right away. I figured I’d at least ask her where Pank Strasse was, since I had no clue where it was! Unfortunately, she was not from the Berlin area, and was merely visiting there from Hamburg. She proceeded to tell me that she was in Berlin to attend for her comatose child who got into a car accident a couple of weeks earlier. Contrary to what I have become accustomed to from Germans, this lady had no problem showing her emotions. She even grasped my hand as I gave her a sympathetic look and cried even more. We then talked about other things for a bit, and found out from her that she was a teacher of German as a second language. As we were talking, she looked to the other side and told me “this is your stop”. Not having paid attention to the announcement, I believed her and immediately got off the train. My surrounding looked familiar, but I ignored that, thinking to myself that all train stations are alike in one way or another. My amazement continued however when I climbed the stairs to the main road. I couldn’t help but notice how familiar things were – the streets, the sidewalks, the shops, everything! I even found the Starbucks where I had a cup of coffee a couple of days before. This, I concluded, was not Pank Strasse, this was downtown. As much as I hate to admit it, I was right. Upon asking for directions, a gentleman offered to accompany me back to the train station, and informed me that I needed to take the train all the way to the last stop, and then find the U8 train which will take me to Pank Strasse. The gentleman proceeded to tell me that he had lived at Pank Strasse for over twenty years, which instantly triggered a thought in my mind to ask him if he was an Arab or a Turk. I summoned enough courage and asked, and sure enough, he was from Turkey. I immediately became excited, thinking that my search has finally come to an end. I don’t need to go to Pank Strasse any more, here I have a Turk by my side! I asked him the same question I asked the restaurant owner, and strangely enough, he gave me the same answer! Oh well, I guess the adventure is not over yet.
I took the train as instructed, and as I was getting out, a lady approached me and asked me in German if I needed help (I guess there is something about a blind guy walking with a cane that invites this sort of questioning). Recognizing that I actually did need help, since I had no idea where I’d go to catch the U8 train, I gave an affirmative answer, and told her what I was looking for. She told me that she was going that way, and that she wouldn’t mind if I walked with her. As we started walking, she asked me if I spoke Arabic, and I, once again, answered affirmatively, at which time she started speaking Arabic to me. She was a graduate student from Morocco, finishing her studies in Germany. We continued to talk as she was showing me the way to the track where the U8 runs. When we got there and as we were saying our goodbyes, it suddenly occurred to me to ask her if she knew of a mosque somewhere. Once again I summoned enough courage to do so, and to my pleasant surprise, she told me that there was a mosque right by the station where we were waiting for the train. She offered to take me there, and I instantly took her up on her offer. Fortunately, the mosque was no more than 100 miters away from the train station.
As I arrived, I met the mosque’s care taker, who greeted me and showed me in. It was barely 11:15, and the prayer didn’t begin until 12:15 or so. The care taker was from Pakistan, and I must say that it was my first time speaking with a gentleman from Pakistan in a language other than English! The Imam of the mosque was from Algeria, and he made the Khotba in both Arabic and German, which helped my effort to learn German tremendously. After prayer, someone was standing outside selling plates of food for three and a half Euros a plate, and people sat down around tables that were set up in the mosque’s courtyard talking about their daily affairs. In addition to German, people were speaking to each other in Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, with a variety of dialects in each language. In a way the surrounding, with its interesting diversity, felt so familiar that I wondered for a split second why people were talking to me in German, but then I remembered that I was actually in a mosque in Germany and not in the USA.
After finishing lunch, I went out with a Turkish brother who was going back to the train station, chatting with him along the way about life, politics and the things that we talk about. I took the train back to where I was staying, feeling quite content for the way my day went.
Later on that day, I went to a nearby supermarket to do some shopping. I was sick and tired of paying over two Euros for a small glass of Pepsi. I figured that if I go to a supermarket, I would stand a very good chance of establishing a good supply of Pepsi and Mineral water for much less. The staff at the supermarket spoke no English, however, and I found their German extremely difficult to understand. As soon as I walked in, the lady behind the counter asked me a question of which I understood nothing. I assumed that she was asking me if I needed assistance, even though the word "Helfen" or a variant of which was never mentioned. Well, what do you know, I was right. I nodded in agreement, not really sure exactly what I was agreeing to, and within thirty seconds, a young girl, probably no more than 16 years old came to help. She also spoke no English, and she spoke at 90 miles an hour, so you can imagine what it was like trying to communicate with her. I understood from her that she needed a Euro coin, though I could never figure out why. Having gone through this fifteen years ago at JFK when I first landed in the US (when the guy who was helping me complete a phone call through a pay phone told me that I needed "Quodes" (quarters)), I proceeded to give her the Euro just to see what she was going to do with it. I figured that even if I never got it back, I would have paid for an experience, and that, to me, was a good enough bargain. I'm sure that by now you've figured out what she needed the coin for. She needed it to get a cart in which to put the stuff I was going to buy. We went around the store with me telling her what I wanted. It was a one way communication between us. I spoke (transmitted), but had no idea what she was saying (no reception). The ending was happy though, as I did find what I was looking for. I bought my mineral water and Coke (they didn't have Pepsi), and for two large bottles of each, I only paid two and a half Euros. Even better, I understood exactly how much I needed to pay, and thankfully, I even had correct change! I later on took the bus and went to visit with some friends, and had a wonderful dinner with them. They were Berliners, born and raised in the city. They had some interesting tails to tell about the time when Berlin was divided, but I'll save that for another time.
After a wonderful couple of days in Berlin, Friday was approaching, and I wondered if there were any mosques nearby for me to attend the Friday prayer. As a traveler, a Muslim is exempt from attending the congregational prayer, and has the option of praying alone, but despite that I wanted to satisfy my curiosity and see what life was like for Muslims in Germany. I had questions in my mind such as, “do they have the Khotba in Arabic or in German (surely not in English!)? Are the community dynamics similar to those of our communities here in the US?”. For this reason, I decided to go out and find a mosque; but the question that kept nagging me is how! I guess I could have asked the people I was renting the apartment from, but I don’t think they’d know! It suddenly dawned on me to go back to the restaurant where I ate my first Italian meal and ask the owner who has been in Berlin for over thirty years. I figured if anyone would know, it had to be him! He was Muslim (his name was Jamaal), from Jordan, and he spoke Arabic very fluently. So on Thursday evening I walked over to the restaurant and ate a delightful meal, and found the opportunity to ask Jamaal whether he knew of a mosque nearby. To my shock, he did not. I didn’t ask any more questions, and I could tell he was able to notice the look of shock I had on my face. He then went on to tell me that the best thing to do is to take the train to Pank Strasse and ask the first Arabian or Turkish person for the location of a mosque. Since Pank Strasse is a place full of Arabs and Turks, according to Jamaal, I’d have no trouble finding one, though I sort of wondered in the back of my mind how I’d recognize someone’s ethnicity by speaking to him or her in a language that was alien to both of us! I thanked Jamaal however and went on my merry way, fully intending to find a mosque the following morning.
After a good night sleep, the sun rose, and Friday morning awoke the inhabitants of Berlin in order that they go on their daily affairs. My affair that day was to find a mosque, and after going down to the office of the association where I was renting the apartment to check my email, I went out in pursuit of the place of worship. When I left my apartment that morning, the only thing I knew, besides how to get to the train (U-Bahn) station was that I needed to go to Pank Strasse and find a Turkish or an Arabic person and ask them about where I could find a mosque. You must understand, my dear reader, that this is totally out of character for me. When I undertake a task, I plan it beforehand, trying to cover each and every angle. In a situation like this, I would not have gone out if I didn’t have an address, a train schedule, and detailed information on how to get there as well as the prayer times. I was on vacation however, and I figured I’d take a vacation from my usual self by opening the door to whatever may come my way – and so I went on my pursuit!
It was close to 10:00 AM as I made my way to the train station. I got on the train, and found myself sitting next to a lady, to whom I started talking right away. I figured I’d at least ask her where Pank Strasse was, since I had no clue where it was! Unfortunately, she was not from the Berlin area, and was merely visiting there from Hamburg. She proceeded to tell me that she was in Berlin to attend for her comatose child who got into a car accident a couple of weeks earlier. Contrary to what I have become accustomed to from Germans, this lady had no problem showing her emotions. She even grasped my hand as I gave her a sympathetic look and cried even more. We then talked about other things for a bit, and found out from her that she was a teacher of German as a second language. As we were talking, she looked to the other side and told me “this is your stop”. Not having paid attention to the announcement, I believed her and immediately got off the train. My surrounding looked familiar, but I ignored that, thinking to myself that all train stations are alike in one way or another. My amazement continued however when I climbed the stairs to the main road. I couldn’t help but notice how familiar things were – the streets, the sidewalks, the shops, everything! I even found the Starbucks where I had a cup of coffee a couple of days before. This, I concluded, was not Pank Strasse, this was downtown. As much as I hate to admit it, I was right. Upon asking for directions, a gentleman offered to accompany me back to the train station, and informed me that I needed to take the train all the way to the last stop, and then find the U8 train which will take me to Pank Strasse. The gentleman proceeded to tell me that he had lived at Pank Strasse for over twenty years, which instantly triggered a thought in my mind to ask him if he was an Arab or a Turk. I summoned enough courage and asked, and sure enough, he was from Turkey. I immediately became excited, thinking that my search has finally come to an end. I don’t need to go to Pank Strasse any more, here I have a Turk by my side! I asked him the same question I asked the restaurant owner, and strangely enough, he gave me the same answer! Oh well, I guess the adventure is not over yet.
I took the train as instructed, and as I was getting out, a lady approached me and asked me in German if I needed help (I guess there is something about a blind guy walking with a cane that invites this sort of questioning). Recognizing that I actually did need help, since I had no idea where I’d go to catch the U8 train, I gave an affirmative answer, and told her what I was looking for. She told me that she was going that way, and that she wouldn’t mind if I walked with her. As we started walking, she asked me if I spoke Arabic, and I, once again, answered affirmatively, at which time she started speaking Arabic to me. She was a graduate student from Morocco, finishing her studies in Germany. We continued to talk as she was showing me the way to the track where the U8 runs. When we got there and as we were saying our goodbyes, it suddenly occurred to me to ask her if she knew of a mosque somewhere. Once again I summoned enough courage to do so, and to my pleasant surprise, she told me that there was a mosque right by the station where we were waiting for the train. She offered to take me there, and I instantly took her up on her offer. Fortunately, the mosque was no more than 100 miters away from the train station.
As I arrived, I met the mosque’s care taker, who greeted me and showed me in. It was barely 11:15, and the prayer didn’t begin until 12:15 or so. The care taker was from Pakistan, and I must say that it was my first time speaking with a gentleman from Pakistan in a language other than English! The Imam of the mosque was from Algeria, and he made the Khotba in both Arabic and German, which helped my effort to learn German tremendously. After prayer, someone was standing outside selling plates of food for three and a half Euros a plate, and people sat down around tables that were set up in the mosque’s courtyard talking about their daily affairs. In addition to German, people were speaking to each other in Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, Turkish, with a variety of dialects in each language. In a way the surrounding, with its interesting diversity, felt so familiar that I wondered for a split second why people were talking to me in German, but then I remembered that I was actually in a mosque in Germany and not in the USA.
After finishing lunch, I went out with a Turkish brother who was going back to the train station, chatting with him along the way about life, politics and the things that we talk about. I took the train back to where I was staying, feeling quite content for the way my day went.
Later on that day, I went to a nearby supermarket to do some shopping. I was sick and tired of paying over two Euros for a small glass of Pepsi. I figured that if I go to a supermarket, I would stand a very good chance of establishing a good supply of Pepsi and Mineral water for much less. The staff at the supermarket spoke no English, however, and I found their German extremely difficult to understand. As soon as I walked in, the lady behind the counter asked me a question of which I understood nothing. I assumed that she was asking me if I needed assistance, even though the word "Helfen" or a variant of which was never mentioned. Well, what do you know, I was right. I nodded in agreement, not really sure exactly what I was agreeing to, and within thirty seconds, a young girl, probably no more than 16 years old came to help. She also spoke no English, and she spoke at 90 miles an hour, so you can imagine what it was like trying to communicate with her. I understood from her that she needed a Euro coin, though I could never figure out why. Having gone through this fifteen years ago at JFK when I first landed in the US (when the guy who was helping me complete a phone call through a pay phone told me that I needed "Quodes" (quarters)), I proceeded to give her the Euro just to see what she was going to do with it. I figured that even if I never got it back, I would have paid for an experience, and that, to me, was a good enough bargain. I'm sure that by now you've figured out what she needed the coin for. She needed it to get a cart in which to put the stuff I was going to buy. We went around the store with me telling her what I wanted. It was a one way communication between us. I spoke (transmitted), but had no idea what she was saying (no reception). The ending was happy though, as I did find what I was looking for. I bought my mineral water and Coke (they didn't have Pepsi), and for two large bottles of each, I only paid two and a half Euros. Even better, I understood exactly how much I needed to pay, and thankfully, I even had correct change! I later on took the bus and went to visit with some friends, and had a wonderful dinner with them. They were Berliners, born and raised in the city. They had some interesting tails to tell about the time when Berlin was divided, but I'll save that for another time.
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