My Thoughts on CEDAW

A little late to the party, I suppose. I honestly didn't think the discussion would keep going till now, but people can't seem to give it a rest. And by people I mostly mean organizations pertaining to the Islamic Brotherhood.

Firstly, let me state something very clearly, I KNOW that Jordan is an Islamic country. I know that the personal status law which applies to people of all religions living in the country follows the Islamic law. I do know that.

What seems to bother the Brotherhood and more recently the Council of Ifta' are articles 15 and 16, which in a nutshell, guarantee women the freedom to travel and reside freely, as well as equal rights in marriage, occupation, etc. I will not go into discussion as to why would Islam disagree with the previous notions, because in the end it is a personal opinion. But this i will say: Jordan is not Saudi Arabia. We don't apply Islamic teachings to every part of our lives. We don't force women to wear headscarves, we don't force people into mosques at prayer time and we won't chop your hand off for stealing. The Jordanian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and by that I don't just mean the right for non-Muslims to practice their rites of worship, but also the right for Muslims to choose whether to apply the teachings of Islam to their lives or not.

And that is why I don't think CEDAW should pose a problem. If certain women don't believe it is their right to travel freely, then by all means, don't. No one is forcing you to. What CEDAW does is guarantee this right for people who don't agree with that. What it does is provide women with the choice. I find nothing wrong with that, and if truly there is no compulsion in religion, then this shouldn't even be an issue.

Go ahead now, proceed to chopping my head off in the comment section xD

Stop Getting So Offended

Ah, just another boycott, this time against Alghad newspaper. I woke up today to find several invitations to a facebook group calling for the boycott of Alghad for publishing the Imad Hajjaj cartoon shown here.

[Cartoon shows Abu Mahjoob welcoming and baptizing Tony Blaire with filthy water in the baptism site, with the minister of water on the other side announcing that the contaminated waters did not affect the drinking water and were rerouted to the Jordan River.]

The cartoon spurred the catholic union to send a letter to Alghad's editor denouncing the cartoon because of the "hurtful insinuations it carries that offend not only Christians, but every good-willed citizen", also mentioning that this isn't the first time they've been offended by a Hajjaj cartoon.

This in turn caused Hajjaj to post a clarification on his website, that the caricature was not in any way a mockery of Christians or their traditions, but a sarcastic commentary of how the minister of water and irrigation announced that the water contaminated by Israel was disposed of in the Jordan river just a few days after the opening of the baptism center with Tony Blair attending the ceremony.

هذا الرسم لا يستهدف من قريب أو بعيد الإساءة للديانة المسيحية وأتباعها. ومن المهم هنا التأكيد على القضية الأساسية التي يبرزها الكاريكاتير وهو إعلان وزير المياه أن جميع المياه الملوثة قد تم التخلص منها في نهر الأردن بعد أيام من تدشين معمودية مغطس نهر الأردن بحضور السيد توني بلير. أي أن حل مشكلة التلوث كان بتلويث النهر المقدس الذي يتعمد فيه الحجاج المسيحيين من كل العالم، وهذا ما يرفضه رسام الكاريكاتير شكلا وموضوعا.

The cartoon was posted yesterday and already 3 groups have been created calling for boycotting the newspaper and Imad Hajjaj, created by people who, I'm sure, have no idea of the underlying meaning of the cartoon. The sensitivity of people when it comes to anything bordering religion is unbelievable. You do not object the fact that what you regard as a holy site is being pumped with sewage but a cartoon offends you? Seriously save your energy and outcries for bigger things, like oh I don't know, drinking sewage and radiation infested water.

[On a completely unrelated note, this is the 100th post on this blog!]

A Thought

Just like we wouldn’t label a child as liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, shouldn’t we, by the same logic, refrain from labeling children as Muslim, Christian or Jewish? If they are too young to understand politics, aren’t they just as young to understand religion? You could argue that while politics is something one would choose, religion is not. But shouldn’t religion, something that determines one’s way of life, be taken out of conviction and not by inheritance?

I’m not looking to start a discussion on religions here, I am merely pointing out the absurdity in labeling children of a certain religion, or in teaching them JUST their parents’ religion.

The Growth of Extremism in Jordan

“ Jordanian security officials say nine militants have been arrested in connection with a shooting attack near the capital's Roman amphitheater.

One of those arrested is the father of the teenage Palestinian gunman who shot and wounded six people last Wednesday before he shot and seriously wounded himself the head.

Initially, officials have said gunman Thaer al-Weheidi had no links to terror groups. But on Monday, the security officials said they were investigating possible links with extremist groups. ”

[Source]

The arrested were part of the Salafi Jihadi stream, the movement responsible for breeding many terrorists, including the notorious Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi.

After the Jordan suicide bombings back in 2005, Jordan called for war against religious extremism and the whole Takfiri culture. But come to think of it, what reforms have really been made? Terrorist attacks are only symptoms of the problem, and clearly the problem, being extremism, is still prevalent and growing. In 2006, a gunman shot a Briton to death, also in the Roman amphitheater, while shouting "God is great".

We have the perfect recipe for extremism here: boredom, resentment, frustration, poverty. Drastic changes need to be made, and they need to be made now, if we are to prevent any further attacks. Like one of my commentators said, you can't have mosques preaching about death to infidels every Friday and then expect everything to be okay. What are we waiting for? Another suicide bombing?

[Ironically enough, the gunman's family has issued a statement condemning the attack by their relative and voiced their allegiance to the country and it's leadership. Yeah, okay.]

Jordan Charges Geert Wilders with Blasphemy

The Jordanian Prosecutor General on Tuesday charged Geert Wilders, producer of anti-Islam film Fitna with five counts of blasphemy which can carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison. The prosecutor also sent a subpoena through the Dutch embassy to bring Wilders for trial. From what I understood, seeing as he doesn't reside in Jordan, this doesn't mean much unless we ask individual countries that he visits to extradite him, which would limit his freedom of movement.

As dumb as it sounds to hold citizens of other countries accountable by our laws, I think this is a very peaceful form of protest. I'll take lawsuits over angry embassy-vandalizing mobs any day. Plus, he got off easy if you ask me. What saddens me, however, is this gap between cultures that seems to be growing in light of the recent events. Extremists from both sides instigating hatred and discrimination against the other. Whatever happened to civilised discussion?

This is depressing.