Blogger: Point of no return
Article: ‘Baghdad by the Bay’ united by experience of exile
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-10 08:42:00

Iraqis of all denominations now living in the USA are united by their experience of exile. Muslim and Chrstian Iraqi expatriates, however, are still shocked to meet Jewish Iraqis. Jonathan Curiel reports on ‘Baghdad by the Bay’ in the San Francisco Chronicle.

“For Iraqi Americans in the Bay Area, the misery in Iraq is always present in their lives, even if the war zone is 7,000 miles away. Salih and others do what they can, whether it’s sending money back home or starting a nonprofit organization that benefits Iraq. They can also do something here that in Iraq might be deadly: Reach out to Iraqis of different religions. In the Bay Area, Iraqi Americans who are Shiite, Sunni, Christian and even Jewish interact with regularity - the sort of commingling that once existed in Iraq.

“Like many things having to do with Iraq, this commingling is complicated. Often, it happens on special occasions, as in 2005 when Iraqi Americans voted in polling stations for an interim Iraqi government, and Muslim, Christian and Jewish Iraqis shared in the opportunity to elect members of Iraq’s Parliament. Beyond these formal gatherings, there are the impromptu meetings like the one that Elias Shamash had a few years ago at Kinko’s on Van Ness Avenue.

“Shamash, a Jewish Iraqi who grew up in Baghdad and has lived in the Bay Area since 1978, was at the San Francisco Kinko’s when he noticed the clerk wore a name tag that said “Bassam.” “I said, ‘Where are you from?’ And he said, ‘Baghdad.’ I said, ‘Come on, I’m from Baghdad, too. When did you leave Iraq?’ He said, ‘1970′ - the same year as me. He is Muslim. We became friends. … I tell him I have a restaurant. He brought his wife to eat. They’re nice people. They’re friendly.”

“Iraqi Muslims in the Bay Area are shocked to meet Shamash. He says he’s often the first Jewish Iraqi they’ve ever encountered. Shamash, 57, had good relations with Muslims during his childhood in Baghdad, even during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when - after the establishment of Israel - Iraq’s government began cracking down on Jews and accusing them of treasonous behavior. The 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the rise in Iraq of Saddam Hussein, led to an exodus of many of Iraq’s remaining Jews, including Shamash and his family.(…)

Besides their common heritage, Iraqis in the Bay Area are united by the risks they’ve taken to leave their homeland or return to it. Elias Shamash risked his life to leave the only country he had known. Part of a Jewish family that was rooted in Iraq for centuries - possibly more than 2,000 years - Shamash escaped from Iraq in 1970 by sneaking over the border to Iran. At the time, Iraq’s Jews were being monitored by Iraq’s government. Shamash, his brothers and their father dressed as Kurdish soldiers; his sister and mother dressed in veil and abaya, the shroud-like overgarment that’s common in the Arab world. At the Iraq checkpoint, they didn’t say a word for fear they would be revealed as Jewish. Had they been caught, they probably would have been executed.

“It was unbelievable,” said Shamash, a Marin County importer. “My family was (in Iraq) for generations. We didn’t know anything but Iraq.”

Read article in full

Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: Non-Mahram is the Root of Islamic Hijab
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-04 12:14:09

Islamic hijab is a tool of preventing contacts between “non-mahrams”. “Non-mahram” describes the man or woman with whom a Muslim adult can marry, marriageable. Therefore, for Muslims, there are two groups of people in the society:

The first group called mahram people is a little group of non-marriageable closed family members - parents, grand-parents, children, brothers/sisters, uncles/aunts, grand-children, stepchildren, parents-in-law and stepparents.

The second group called non-mahram people is the rest of society. A Muslim woman should wear hijab in front of all adult males of this group.

Non-mahram is the most determinant factor of character formation in all Islamic societies. It has created a religious based- collective consciousness. In extension, it is cumbersomely present in any aspect of social life. For example, we can retrace its footsteps in Islamic architecture:

A typical Muslim house is built around a central, mostly rectangular, courtyard. To respect the dogma, the interior space is important, not the outside. Therefore, a part of the house is separated for females. The men’s reception (or guest) room tends to be located next to the entrance lobby of the house so that non-mahram visitors do not see the females. The windows are inside not outside of the house so that eye contact between non-mahrams does not occur. In the big house, where several generations can dwell together, measures are imposed so that the contact between non-mahrams like cousins or brother/sister-in-law of opposite sex dwellers does not lead to an eventual sexual temptation.

In Islamic countries, we see more clearly the marks of the non-mahram traits in the old palaces, where no access to the harem area, except for castrated servants, was possible. Such palaces had to conform to the restrictions of non-mahrams. Here, the Woman’s body is the red line to be far from visual and acoustic fields of non-mahrams. The palace, as a house of Caliph or king, must conform to Islamic principles. Therefore, its aspect must respect the rules of gender segregation. Therefore, in such palaces, paintings, frescos, music, theatre, ceremonies…, are all male domains—no woman statute, no female artist, no female… It is important to know that from these palaces, official and domninant styles and norms were being extended into the whole Islamic society.

“Madresseh” (traditional school) was preferably built for male Muslim children. Such a school had to respect the rule of non-mahram by imposing gender segregation as a moral requirement. Madresseh taught children the phobia of sexual temptation if the gender segregation would not be respected.

One of the main components of Islamic hijab is its sense of misogyny, which is older than hijab itself. It is a primitive tradition of social hierarchy, when the strong sex had the upper hand.
The dominant idea in Islam — not completely different from other established religions — considers that women, by nature, desire to be looked at, adored, and cherished. Since the man is inclined towards non-mahram women, it is believed that Allah warns women about their nature, which may lead men astray if women do not exercise caution and take necessary safeguards. Here, hijab would prevent a non-mahram’s man to astray.

In Iran, with the adoption of Western culture, hijab began to disappear, but the Islamic regime in Iran gave it a new life in recent decades. For the IRI, hejab is allegedly the only safe guarantee for the Iranian women’s protection against the danger of brazen indecency and eye contacts of non-mahrams.

Effects of sex segregation have left crucial results in social backwardness. Under the strict conditions of Islamic hijab, work conditions, education, sport, and entertainment are particularly difficult for women. Women’s non-participation in the economy and production of social needs is another reason for backwardness.

Today, Islamic society seems to be so amalgamated with the Islamic hijab that it represents an obvious emblem for such societies.

Whatever the origin or reason of Islamic hijab is, Islamic hijab is today an important blockade to woman’s freedom, gender equality, and democracy for the Islamic world.

Share This

Blogger: Chaldean Thoughts
Article: The Pope And The Iraqi Soccer Team
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-02 19:32:00

This week, the Iraqis partied, danced and laughed joyfully after their team won The Asian Soccer Cup. This rejoice caught the Pope’s attention. AsiaNews reports:

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – “Just as so many times I have cried with the Iraqi people, on this occasion I rejoiced with them”: the Iraqi football team’s victory in the Asian Cup was unusually evoked today by Benedict XVI before he turned

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Despite discrimination, fewer Jews are leaving Iran
Originaly Posted On: 2007-08-06 07:00:00

Fewer Jews have been choosing to immigrate to Israel from Iran. Ynet news speculates on why this is.

Despite suffering discrimination and facing a harsh financial situation, Jews from Iran are immigrating to Israel in smaller numbers each year. While in 2005, 113 Jews arrived in the country from Iran, the number in 2006 stood at only 65. So far in 2007, 64 olim have arrived in Israel. (..)

The Jewish Iranian community in the US has even offered a $10,000 grant to all those who make aliyah to Israel. However, although Iran does not prevent Jews from leaving the country to states from which they can easily immigrate to Israel, the numbers of olim are dropping. “So far, those who managed to escape are members of the wealthy families,” said Yossi Shraga of the Jewish Agency. “Many families cannot leave because their sons serve in the army. Once they are discharged, they will be able to leave Iran.”

Ella, 24, who arrived in Israel from Iran two weeks ago, said that the treatment of Jews in the Islamic Republic was getting worse. “The Muslims discriminate against us. If you go to ask for something at a government office in Iran and they recognize that you’re Jewish, they will not attend to you.”