Comments on: Why do they hate us so much?

By: Shahryar

Shahryar — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 12:22:04 +0000

There are a numerous translations of the Koran available online as well in print. – If you really want to read the word of god then find a copy!

I am told my Penguin translated by Dawood is not recommended by people like Zia Sardar. On the other hand the one by Pickthall is not my recommendation.

Need I remind people that Robert Frost famously defined poetry as “that which gets lost in translation.”

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:04:11 +0000

It isn’t only East Asian contract workers: the Gulf States have large populations of settled arabs who are not citizens and cannot become citizens. One of the problems with and for Palestinians is the diaspora around the Middle East- people who have lived in other countries who still live in refugee camps, cannot settle or work and whose only dream of home lies in a return that will not happen.

By: Sam Ambreen

Sam Ambreen — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 09:19:19 +0000

“But getting back to the uncomprehended arabic, how many of those doing the teaching don’t understand either? Maybe that’s why Sam keeps getting the brush off. ”

Hey Don. I’ve always maintained that the book is hugely open to interpretation and have my suspicions that a lot of our teachers really do not understand what it it is they’re teaching and if they do, fear that what they know might frighten young innocent children off!

Face it, if I’d been taught all the fire and brimstone stuff when I was five, I might not still have been going to mosque when I was 11. It’s like reeling someone in when they’re young and fresh, institutionalising them and only letting them know the truth when they’ve already decided that they are muslim.

Too late to back out then isn’t it?

By: Chanad

Chanad — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 21:23:58 +0000

Glad you found the links useful Sunny. And you’re right… xenophobes are the same wherever you go. Migration anywhere (especially on the scale that it has taken place in the Gulf) can have some very real negative effects for both parties — the real problem is when the xenophobes add their racism, all sides get polarized and it becomes impossible to have a genuine discussion about solving the real problems of migration. I’m sure that you lot in the UK are well aware of this already.

On a different note, have you guys been following the events in the UAE recently, where migrant workers have been protesting more and more often. Really quite interesting. I’ve written about this in my latest post here. (Sorry for plugging my blog again… I just think that there is way too little awareness of whats happening with regards to Asians in the Gulf).

By: Fe'reeha

Fe'reeha — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:46:10 +0000

“O, what men dare do! What men may do! What men daily
do, not knowing what they do!”

How can you people not like Shakespear?

By: Don

Don — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 19:34:29 +0000

You guys are lucky you didn’t get Chaucer.

Whilom ther was dwellynge at oxenford
A riche gnof, that gestes heeld to bord,
And of his craft he was a carpenter.
With hym ther was dwellynge a poure scoler,
Hadde lerned art, but al his fantasye
Was turned for to lerne astrologye,

But getting back to the uncomprehended arabic, how many of those doing the teaching don’t understand either? Maybe that’s why Sam keeps getting the brush off.

By: El Cid

El Cid — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 19:11:05 +0000

methinks he doth protest too much

By: Vikrant

Vikrant — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:40:14 +0000

I hated doing Shakespeare in English GCSE

Me too…

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:33:27 +0000

True. I hated doing Shakespeare in English GCSE

By: El Cid

El Cid — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:17:05 +0000

Maybe the analogy should be with ye olde english though.

By: El Cid

El Cid — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:15:26 +0000

Sunny: point taken

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:06:41 +0000

Modern day Arabic is quite different to the classic Arabic used in the Qu’ran. That’s the problem. It’s like learning Latin when everyone speaks English.

By: Don

Don — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 13:55:39 +0000

‘I would judge the time a person had to fast for taking another life.’

What if a super-model commits murder? How would you know if she was fasting?

As for arabic not being taught for understanding, what’s wrong with signing up for a conversational arabic evening class? Or am I missing something obvious?

By: Barbara Meinhoff

Barbara Meinhoff — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 13:30:22 +0000

But maybe things will feel more harmonious in 25 years time, even in the Arab peninsula, as people mix and get used to each other. …

Don’t bet on it.

Saudi Arabia has a population of 6 million migrant workers and they are treated like absolute shit and have been for the past 30 years.

They stay for the money though.

By: El Cid

El Cid — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 13:01:11 +0000

Great discussion, aside from James’s post (talk about missing the point).
What it goes to show, is that prejudism towards other peoples — or racism — is not some exclusively European malady. As a planet it’s debatable whether
we have progressed much over the last few decades, aside from in the world’s more diverse and tolerant Premier League cities.
But maybe things will feel more harmonious in 25 years time, even in the Arab peninsula, as people mix and get used to each other. But it could easily be 50-100 years time if religious doctrine doesn’t loosen its hold on Arab society.
I hope I haven’t got the wrong end of the stick myself but I didn’t realise Arabic was not taught in mosques for communication purposes but simply as something to recite, without thought. If true, there’s something discriminatory, imperialistic, and, arguably, sinister about that. I mean it doesn’t sound like an attempt to engage the human spirit, does it?

By: Jay Singh

Jay Singh — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 12:03:19 +0000

Get out and don’t look back!

By: Sam Ambreen

Sam Ambreen — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 11:55:53 +0000

“Birmingham Salamis ”

Pizza time at the sister’s circle?

What?

Huh?

Good job I’m outta here huh Jay?

By: Vikrant

Vikrant — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 09:01:34 +0000

Have you heard people in Punjab? Complaining about how ‘bhaiyya’ migrant workers from Bihar and UP are coming into Punjab and ‘taking over’?

Its same with Maharashtra. The attitude is like those-darn-Bihari-sqauting-scum-defiling-our-land. Nevermind the fact that these migrants do the jobs no one wants to do.

By: Fe'reeha

Fe'reeha — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 08:18:19 +0000

Well in that case, the same situation exists in NEWP Pakistan.
Despite all the shouts of “Islamic brotherhood” in Pakistani mosques, in particular the ones in the NWFP, Pathans hate that Afghanis have taken over parts of their land and have established successful businesses.
Even though Pathans and Afghans share more or less the simmilar culture, yet Pathans were not happy sharing with the “brothers” who fled away from the war zone.

By: Jay Singh

Jay Singh — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 23:48:45 +0000

Sunny

Have you heard people in Punjab? Complaining about how ‘bhaiyya’ migrant workers from Bihar and UP are coming into Punjab and ‘taking over’? I just roll my eyes when I hear that stuff being said in Ludhiana and Jalandhar!