I think the festival’s a great idea, and represents a wonderful, good-spirited way to dispel some of the stereotypes and misrepresentations of Arabs in the mainstream press.

Experts at Making Fun of Ourselves

Audience members laughed deep from their bellies, as comedians stood up and revealed some of the anecdotes of Arab life, from the inside. Two of the festival’s seven nights were dedicated to stand-up material in Arabic.

A Christian Science Monitor correspondent who was at the festival in Jordan reveals some of the hits: comedian Maysoon Ziyad put a spin on the pressures to get married, while Persian-American comic Maz Jobrani mused how Iranian opposition protesters were forced to shorten Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name for rally chants.

Joke telling in Arabic is a much more “around the houses” than it is in say English. It focuses on details rather than timing, according to Korean-Jordanian comic Wonho Chung. The build-up to a punch line can be closer storytelling, spinning a yarn and admiring the scenery of a joke.

Breaking Taboos and Cracking the Mold

According to the CSM correspondent much of Arab humour is based on regional references; referring to well-manicured Lebanese men as “the most beautiful Arab women,” or poking fun at Saudis’ “disappointment” at the grand opening of the Virgin Megastore in Jeddah.

This seems relatively harmless to someone like me, who has lived in Spain for many years, where humour is raucous, outrageous, often discriminate and anything but demure, subtle or modest. Yet in Jordan, this festival is breaking some major taboos in more traditional culture: the art of revealing personal lives in public, and adding exaggeration, self-irony and sarcasm to the mix.

A Bold Step: Going Where Arab Humour has Never Been Before

American Comic Amer Zahr affirmed in the CSM article that not everyone in Jordan, or even in the audience at the festival is ready for such a bold step. The mention of family members or spouses on stage still attracts shouts of “shame on you!” as well as laughter, he noted.

Veteran Jordanian satirist Nabil Sawalha added that the popularity of stand-up comedy proves that  “humourless Arabs” are eager to laugh at themselves.

“Why not? We came up with the greatest joke of all time,” Mr. Sawalha said. “Arab politics.” I’m sure that comment earned

The young couple getting married swirl around, surrounded by champagne and cute taffeta-clad bridesmaids, before due to jet off to a honeymoon in Syria. You can see them cutting their wedding cake with a ceremonial sword while around 350 proud and relaxed-looking relatives smile warmly and boogie on down while the DJ cranks it up. The mother of the bride beams with pride as the happy couple chat to guests and float around the dance floor.

Marriage on our Minds…

The MSNBC programme explains how local authorities have statistics that prove Iraqi couples are rushing to get married because they feel that their lives are returning to normal.

Reporter Cheryll Simpson reveals that couples who put their lives on hold during Iraq’s turmoil are rushing to make up for lost time, getting married and sometimes even throwing lavish parties.

The marriage venue in the video is one of Baghdad’s most exclusive social clubs, whose members fled before the war and forced the club to close. Slowly but surely, it began to open for a few hours in the afternoon last year and things have gone so well it is now fully booked and will soon open till midnight.

Making a Splash

According to another article by Pat Dollard, hotel and social club owners are rushing to meet demand, and ballrooms are booked months in advance, costing up to $6,900 a night. Sheraton manager Mustafa Abdullah says his hotel now hosts about 20 weddings a month.

It would be naive to say that life is a bouquet in roses in Baghdad, but it is heartwarming to hear that couples feel they can express their love more freely.

“..war or peace, the young are young, they want to get married,”  Monem Abdul-Rahim, father of Maysa, a 24-year-old Iraqi government clerk, married at the Sheraton Ballroom in April ‘09.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens next: you know what they say – after marriage boom – comes baby boom!

I found a great PBS article, featuring a journal written by an Iranian woman in 2005 when internet dating surged in Iran. She was  surprised by the amount of potential dates that flood in to her computer via her IM service. The author first assumed the chats are coming in from Iranians in LA, but was intrigued to learn her would-be cyberdates are actually based in Tehran: She decided to investigate further.

How Don’t You Do?

Even the most seemingly harmless forms of dating are forbidden in Iran, where authorities patrol the streets to ensure that modesty and chastity are upheld. With modern technology and the influx of influence from the worldwide whatever, the government is having a hard time controlling where young Iranians see and be seen in cyberspace: especially when it comes to love, dating and sex.

Even in the most religious parts of the Islamic Republic, young Iranians log from the safety of their homes, and as the author asserts: “flirt away to their hearts’ content, even arranging secret rendezvous with someone who may turn out to be a neighbor.”

She goes on to name a few of the most popular sites such as HotIranians.com, where members, some of whom are from Iran’s most holiest cities post pictures of themselves and are rated by visitors.

The Cyber Sweetheart…

Our intrepid investigator substantiates her suspicions in a telephone interviews with a cyber dater and another with the CEO of a popular Iranian dating site.

40 something year old lawyer Mehran, who travels frequently between New York and Tehran, having officially left Iran in 1979 and having made a point of dating non-Iranians in his new home, the United States. Now he’s more open to women from his homeland:

“The Internet has opened up everyone’s mind.” – he says.

Mehran uses Iranianpersonals.com, to set up dates for when he returns to Iran on a long visit each year. “I’ve met great women,” he said.

…and the CEO

Four years after launching Iranianpersonals.com in 2001, Said Amin, CEO and founder of WorldSingles.com, said his site had soared.

“..it’s out of control how many in Iran sign up,” he said, adding that around 35% of the 110,000 Iranianpersonals.com profiles present in ‘05 were posted by Iranians based in Iran..

“Iranians don’t date,” said Amin, “or at least not in the open. They get engaged, then say they are dating.”

Amin’s friends and family in the US didn’t share his vision at first, and the Iranian government didn’t welcome it or other sites like it.

Islamic officials seek to block access to such sites. In 2005 Amin started receiving e-mail messages about visitors being unable to access his site. Undeterred, he had faith that young Iranians “are so computer savvy that they are finding ways around that too.”

Amin got the inspiration for Iranianpersonals.com from the cyber landmark Iranian.com. Iranian.com published its first issue in September 1995, and long before the first blog  came to life as a communal bulletin of ideas for young Iranians across the globe.

We consider ourselves proud Muslims who enjoy participating in any debate, and looking at our faith from inside and out. There are some topics, that repeatedly come up, and which we aim to present subjectively, but most of all objectively. One of these for me, as a Muslim woman is the burqa/niqab/hijab debate. These are actually three very different debates. Today I’m going to concentrate on a story about a Muslim woman in the Netherlands from Gulf News that spoke to me on a very deep level.

A Woman From the Netherlands who Chose Islam

The Netherlands has a population of around 1 million Muslims, who constitute around 5.5% of the population. It is home to the second largest European Muslim population after France.

The article, which is based on another from Reuters, focuses on Rabia Frank, a Dutch woman in her thirties, who converted to Islam in 1994. Rabia has a Moroccan husband and the couple have 3 sons.

In 2005 Rabia chose to join a total of just  50  women in the Netherlands and wear the niqab veil. I was intrigued by this woman’s decision. As the article unfolded it became apparent that this was her personal choice, just as so many women like myself choose not to wear a veil.

A Faith To Which I Can Relate

Rabia explains that she became interested in Islam when she was young. Then she met her Moroccan boyfriend and wanted to explore his culture, so she got library books about Morocco and discovered Islam. What’s interesting is that she read about being a Muslim in secret, as she didn’t want to give her boyfriend the impression she was doing it for him, but the Qur’an really touched her.

“I first read the Qur’an in Dutch translation and it just got into my heart. It felt good, I could relate to it, I understood and it touched me.”

When Rabia discovered a Muslim center at The Hague, she became a regular weekly attendee, and then the Imam asked if she wanted to join in with Shahadah. Her first encounter with a hijab was interesting:

“I wore this ugly scarf I remember, I just grabbed one from the closet. After the Shahadah I couldn’t stop crying. It was very emotional. Wearing the hijab felt like a form of liberation. Every day I had had to walk past some builders and they would whistle at me. Then the morning I walked past in my hijab they didn’t.”

The Same Girl Underneath

Rabia reveals how wearing a head scarf was natural but at the same time she felt paradoxical emotions..

“On the one hand I felt so happy, thinking, ‘Finally, this is who I am,’ but on the other hand I wanted to say ‘Hey, look, I am still the same girl underneath.’”

It took Rabia years to learn how to tie a hijab and equally as long to feel at home with her Moroccan family.

“I didn’t have a lot of contact with native Muslims at first. My family-in-law thought that as I wasn’t Moroccan I was no good. It took me years to prove myself to them and I think now I am the one who takes religion most seriously. “I feel a lot of respect from native Muslim women. They think, ‘wow – you are Dutch yet you dress like that.’

She explains that she fell in love with Islam from the moment she became a Muslim and after a few years that feeling became less intense, so she sought to rekindle it.

“I wanted to do something more for Allah. Seeing other women in a niqab touched something in me. I told my husband I wanted to wear it too. ‘Are you nuts?’ he said. He was not happy about it, but my feeling didn’t go away.”

Now Rabia feels that her niqab is her way of expressing more love to God. She wears it every day with pride. Her choice is really fascinating to me, especially given her husband’s reaction. Whether I myself would wear one or not, I can’t help but admire her.

The adoption of the new code in this majority Muslim country in August ‘09 has sparked a great deal of hullabaloo. It consists of more than 1,100 new articles geared towards increased equality between men and women. They reform laws on land ownership, inheritance, education, employment and marriage.

Hot topics that have caused friction include articles that set the legal minimum age for marriage at 18, recognize only civil marriages, allow joint property ownership, expand parental rights, and extend inheritance rights to girls.

Family Code or Family Law?

Muslims make up 90% of Mali’s 12 million-strong population. Tens of thousands of Malians have protested the code. Now it’s up to Mali’s President Amadou Toumani Toure whether or not to sign it into law, but Muslim leaders warn that such a move could divide the population and destabilize the country.

There’s a great article on the pros and cons of this code that has been ten years in the making at VOA News.

Supporters have praised the code for improving the rights of women and girls, who they say have been traditionally viewed as second-class citizens. But Islamic leaders have vowed to block the code, saying it contains provisions that oppose the country’s traditional values and religious beliefs.

Let’s take a look at both sides of the argument:

Time for Groundbreaking Change in Mali?

Those who advocate the code feel controversy stems from misinformation and a lack of understanding.

Cisse Oumou Ahmer Traoure, communications advisor for the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children and Family explains to VOA News that the code is written in French, a language almost 80 percent of Malians don’t know how to read or write.  1,144 articles are written in legal language, rendering it challenging to understand.

Rumours have abounded that defining marriage as purely secular, means legalizing same-sex marriage.  Traoure says this is a misunderstanding: in fact, the code defines marriage as a secular union between a man and woman.

Mali’s family code has not been changed since 1962; a year after independence, and Traoure has called the new code “a real advancement” that reflects the changes and progression in Malian society. She says  the rights granted to women under the new code will contribute to family stability and enable them to help support their households.

A Law That Would Fracture a Nation

Muslim leaders such as Islamic Council President Mamoud Dik are urging the president to “listen to the voice of the people and not sign the code.”

While he asserts that he and other religious leaders don’t oppose the promotion of women, they do contest the provisions of the code that collide with religious and societal values.   Nevertheless Mamoud is hoping that in time common ground can be found on the development of the code.

Religious and traditional marriages are common in Mali, and Amnesty International estimated in 2005 that more than 60 percent of Malian women are married before the age of 18.

Perhaps surprisingly, while women’s groups naturally commend the code for granting more equality and rights, according to VOA, some women came forward to protest the code on the grounds that it attacks traditional values.

Some even showed up to protest, sporting banners that read “No code which divides Malians” and “Women should remain women, and men should remain men.”

Hmmm…….

Looking Forward to Resolution

Mali’s Islamic council will present the latest round of proposed amendments to the Mali Family code to parliament in April 2010.

The articles the council contests most strongly include Article 291, which states that marriages must be celebrated publicly in front of a government registrar, to which the Islamic council wants to add “and religious and traditional leaders”.

Article 311 of the draft currently puts husbands and wife on equal ground and states: “Spouses owe each other fidelity, protection, relief and assistance. They commit themselves to the community of life on the basis of affection and respect.” The council wants to add: “The wife must obey the husband.”

I just found out about Arab Capital of Culture, via an article by the Syrian Arab News Agency: it’s an initiative undertaken by the Arab League under UNESCO’s Cultural Capitals Program that celebrates Arab culture and encourage cooperation in the Arab region. Doha has been selected for 2010, to follow in the footsteps of Damascus, Arab Capital of Culture 2008 and the Jerusalem, Arab Capital of Culture 2009.

Syria and Qatar: Partners in Promoting Arab Culture

The Doha event began with a series of activities to showcase Syrian Cultural Week, which took place at the end of January. In his opening speech, Syrian Minister of Culture Riadh Naasan Agha proudly announced that a Syrian start to the festivities highlights the level of relations between the two countries and their peoples.

The opening performance was an operetta entitled the House of Wisdom, which the minister told The Syrian Arab News Agency, signifies “the constant need for cultural structures that encompass Arab cultural heritage in addition to the need for constant cultural search for the future.”

Qatari Minister of Culture Hamad bin Abdelaziz al-Kuwari expressed gratitude to Syria’s leadership and people and said the Syrian Cultural Week will signal the beginning of the rest of the Arab activities. He highlighted the participation by Syrian intellectuals, groups and programs that underline the role of culture in relations among peoples.

“Syria is the best country to represent Arab culture,” the Qatari Minister affirmed.

A Cultural Tapestry

The Syrian Cultural Week included theatrical performances, visual arts activities, art exhibitions and galleries, book fairs, and artistic performances.

An especially relevant and moving feature was The Canaanite Liad, a performance by the Ornina group that portrays the Palestinian people’s struggle since the days of the Canaanite civilization, with 18 set pieces that depict a specific part of Palestine’s history. The performance is dedicated to the Palestinian people and the late poet Mahmoud Darwish.

I wish I could be there! If any of you have had the pleasure of attending Syrian Cultural Week, or any of the other events encompassed by Doha Arab Capital of Culture 2010, please let us know what you saw and what you thought.

Even more astounding was his parting comment, as reported by Rediff.

“For an apology to Muslims, a Muslim Prime Minister is needed”, said Mr Singh, as he quit leadership of in his party.

The apology he was talking about was for the Indian government’s failure to stop the 1992 Babri Masque demolition. This led to the death of more than 2000 people in ensuing riots in many major Indian cities including Mumbai.

Religious tensions began rising again in India a year ago after the Mumbai terrorist attacks that left many members of India’s Muslim community terrified they would be blamed. Bollywood stars came out and joined India’s Muslim community in wearing black to condemn the attacks.

Not surprisingly, opinions on Amar Singh’s recent apology remain divided within and beyond India’s Muslim community. Like many others, I’ve been trying to make sense of the situation from the outside.

Making Things Fairer for India’s Muslims

The Muslim Media Network joins other news sources in considering the apology rhetorical. This is completely understandable given the deep losses suffered by India’s Muslim community during the riots and the fact it is widely acknowledged that many Indian Muslims live well below the poverty line.

Delving around in Amar Singh’s career, I found out that this Hindu politician has landed himself in hot water in the past, for defending India’s Muslims.

According to BBC News, in 2006, his remarks that Muslims “must have the first claim on resources” caused him quite a back draft. Singh urged chief ministers to recruit “more Muslims into the police and intelligence agencies” to help diminish a growing sense of insecurity within the community.

One can’t help feeling that perhaps his career was just doomed if he did or doomed if he didn’t.

What’s Next for Indian Politics?

Now thoroughly sick of politics, Amar Singh is campaigning vigorously for his colleague Abu Azmi’s son Farhan, who is contesting the Bhiwandi assembly by-election in Maharashtra. (Farhan Azmi is a hotelier who shot to fame when he married Bollywood heart throb Ayesha Takia).

Singh said he was campaigning despite poor health. “I came here from Dubai, not as a leader, not for politics, but for my son Farhan,” he told the public shortly after announcing his step down.

We can only hope that if Farhan does get into politics, he will be compassionate towards Islam’s 160.9 million Muslims, who represent the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.

Curiously enough…

On December 21, 2009, Amar Singh launched his official website and  posts daily blogs about his personal and political life.

I found it hard to tear myself away, as the page’s creators successfully covers a broad spectrum of relevant topics for young Muslims. While many services it lists are in Canada, there are plenty of poignant and universal news and topics. I think the Young Muslim’s is a great resource for any young members of our faith who have questions and want to explore their roots in parallel with their everyday existence and practice.

The site also also introduced me to the Canadian TV Sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, and now I’m utterly hooked.

Turn On, Turn Up, Tune In

Little Mosque on the Prairie is a Canadian sitcom on CBC, which premiered in 2007 and began airings its fourth season in September 2009 and it’s simply sublime.

Title sound familiar?

The show is a Muslim spin on childhood fave Little House on the Prairie but parallels don’t go much further than the name and the logo.  The series focuses on the Muslim community in the 14,000 strong fictional prairie town of Mercy, Saskatchewan and action centres in two primary locations: the local mosque and Fatima’s Café, a downtown diner run by Fatima Dinssa.

Little Mosque on the Prairie is a traditional sitcom plonked amidst a misunderstood cultural community. It gets most of its laughs from exploring the interactions of the Muslims with the non-Muslim townspeople of Mercy. The show also covers a gamma of Islamic views from the conservative (held primarily by the characters of Baber and Fatima) to more liberal interpretations.

Comedy for Multicultural Dialogue

Little Mosque on the Prairie’s slogan: “Small town Canada with a little Muslim twist” pretty much sums up its essence.

Creator Zarqa Nawaz insists that the show’s main aim is to entertain and amuse and it doesn’t aspire to be a political platform in any way, shape or form. She believes comedy to one of the most valuable and powerful ways to break down barriers and to encourage dialogue and understanding between cultures.

There are only 4 Swiss mosques (out of a total of 150) that even have minarets. And these minarets won’t be removed according to the ban; Swiss Muslims just can’t put up new ones.

So what’s all the fuss about? Are they really so hard on the eye?

The Anti-Minaret (Il)logic

As the wise women at Muslimah Mediawatch point out, Switzerland doesn’t share the colonial history with Arab or Muslim countries that nations such as for example, Spain does.  Over half of the Muslims in Switzerland came from the Balkans, predominantly from Bosnia and Kosovo.

While this may  explain why some Swiss citizens aren’t accustomed to their Muslim compatriots it still doesn’t really cut the mustard when it comes to why minarets have been banned. I was curious to find out when the controversy began. If I couldn’t find a why, I decided to at least look at a when…

Tower Power

The Swiss minaret controversy ignited in 2005 in a small town in northern Switzerland. The Turkish Cultural Association in Wangen bei Olten applied for a construction permit to build a 6-metre-high minaret on the roof of its Muslim community centre.

Building of the tower was opposed by a group of surrounding residents. The Turkish Association said the building authorities unfairly delayed its building application. It also felt members of the local opposition group were behaving unfairly towards Muslims.

The Communal Building and Planning Commission rejected the Turkish Association’s application and the applicants appealed to the Building and Justice Department, who reversed the ruling, in their favour.

Local residents and members of the Wangen community appealed and brought the case before the Administrative Court of the Canton of Solothurn, but were unsuccessful. The 6-metre high minaret was eventually built in July 2009.

Not Putting Up with Defeat

From 2006-2008, members of the Swiss People’s Party and the Federal Democratic Union launched several cantonal initiatives against the building of minarets but these were never voted on as the cantonal parliaments declared them unconstitutional.

Disgruntled, in 2007, the Egerkinger committee launched a federal popular initiative against minarets, proposing that building them be prohibited.

In Switzerland, federal popular initiatives don’t require judicial review, as they amend the federal constitution- Promoters of popular initiatives are given 18 months to collect at least 100,000 signatures. If they get them, the initiative goes then before the Swiss people in a national vote. Both federal and cantonal initiatives are common in Switzerland, resulting in their fair share of referendum votes each year on all manner of issues.

In  November 2009  a referendum was passed banning the construction of new minarets was approved by 57.5% of the participating voters.  Only four of the 26 Swiss cantons, which were mostly situated in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, opposed it and stood up in defence of the minarets.

Friends in High Places

Catholic bishops have opposed the minaret ban on the grounds of Switzerland’s Christian values and democratic principles. The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches feels the initiative has nothing to do with the minarets, but is more an expression of the initiators’ concern and fear of Islam. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities has also stood up and expressed it is against any ban on building minarets and many other religious organisations have stated that they feel the ban is unfair and unjust.

The groom had never seen his wife-to-be’s face because she wore a niqab throughout their courtship.

It throws up so many interesting questions, don’t you think?

Due Diligence

The Arab couple signed their marriage contract in Dubai, but when the groom lifted the veil to kiss his new bride, and saw her face, by all accounts he “freaked out”, pulled the plug on the reception and stormed off to the nearest Sharia Court.

He demanded a marriage annulment, a refund on the $137,000 he’d spent on wedding gifts and expenses , and the bride be examined for “hormonal deficiencies”, according to the NY Daily News.

If this sounds harsh, it certainly begs the question of how an Arab Ambassador finds himself in this particular bind. According to the man himself, his would-be mother-in-law had shown him pictures of his intended bride’s sister to trick him.

You would have thought he might have actually checked first. Beauty is, after all in the eye of the beholder.

Unfairly Jilted?

I can’t help but feel sorry for the jilted bride in this. The only other details revealed about her are that she was an Arab lady, a doctor from a good family who, according to a Daily Mail Source had a nice personality but good reason to hide behind a veil. (That comment sets my teeth on edge, to be honest.)

As the groom made swiftly for the courtroom, his jilted bride was left in floods of tears.  The court granted the annulment but did not agree to the compensation claim for the gifts. A doctor who examined the jilted bride did not find any medical reason for her facial hair.

What an awful position she must be in. Clearly, she had hoped her fiancé would fall for her inner beauty and went to great lengths to cover up. “Every time the couple met, the bride would do her best not to reveal her entire face,” a source informed the Gulf News.

Two Sides to Every Story

I have to take a philosophical approach on this one. I feel that the Ambassador’s reaction was insensitive, given that he really should have looked at his wife-to-be before he signed the contract. However, the actions of the bride to be and her mother also seem conspiratorial and fraudulent, even if they were acting with the best of intentions.

What do you make of it?