Wonderful post. It touches one of the most important issues in the middle east with deep knowledge and Eloquence. Well done.

How would the author reconcile his/her saying that “it was not the intention of god to codify religion into text” with the following verse [15:9] from the Quran:

?????? ?????? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ???? ????????????

“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”

It is good article
One comment, It was Hasan ibn Thapet who wrote verses of Quraan,on request of the prophet,and Othman ibn Affan only collected Quraan,
Some of Ahadiths were written by Abdullah ibn Amr ibn AlAss

to Brad

Examining the history of the Bible and the Quran, offer some clues: To start, neither Jesus nor the Prophet Muhammad ever wrote any religious texts. There are no records of that, nor are there accounts of either one ever having done so. In fact even Abu Baker, the man who succeeded Muhammad as the leader of the Muslim community, is said to have been ambivalent about collecting all of Muhammad’s revelations in writing, in one book. The most credible Islamic tradition states that it was the third Muslim Khalifa, Uthman (644-655), who commissioned Zayed bin Thabit to undertake the task of compiling a standard text. Likewise, Jesus did not write the New Testament of the Christian bible nor was it complied into a single text by his direct disciples. The New Testament was written over a span of many years. Three of its authors, Paul, Luke and Mark, were not of the original 12 disciple of Jesus; the other two authors, John and Mathew allegedly were, but even the portion attributed to John is now believed to have been written by some of John’s students around 95 AD. The Church’s fathers later collected all this work into a standard text that we know today as the Bible.

None of the above argues against the authenticity or truth of either religious text. In both the case of the Quran and the Bible, people made a faithful effort to record the words of Jesus and Muhammad and create a singular religious text, but in neither case were these people commanded by Jesus or Muhammad to do so.

Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad could not read or write, and Muslim scholars consider the revelation of the majestic words of the Quran though Muhammad as a miracle, and liken it to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. This again could be interpreted as an indication of God’s intention. God chose Muhammad as his prophet, a man who could not write and appeared to him though the angel Gabriel; he told him to recite not to write: “Recite: in the name of thy lord who created, created the human being of a blood clot”. Had God intended for the prophet Muhammad to write, it certainly was within God’s mean to bestow this ability on the prophet, but God chose not to.

Also God’s choice of language is another indication of this aversion to the literal religious text. Jesus spoke Aramaic, a language that was to become practically extinct. Today Aramaic is only spoken by the inhabitants of one village in Syria and in the liturgy of a couple of Christian churches in Syria and Lebanon.

Arabic on the other hand was primarily an oral language and did not develop into a written language until much later than its Aramaic predecessor. The earliest written form of Arabic appeared in 512 AD, a few years before the birth of the prophet Muhammad and at the time had only 22 letters, the use of the dots was latter added to the Arabic alphabet to make up today’s Arabic 28 letters. The earliest surviving document that definitely uses these dots dates back to 643 (11 years after the death of the prophet Muhammad) and did not become obligatory until much later. According to the traditionalist Muslim historical account, the original Quran was written using the earlier version of the Arabic alphabet, the text was later given vowel pointing and punctuation in the seventh and eighth centuries. So While God chose for Jesus a language destined to become extinct, in the case of Muhammad, God chose a fluid language that was not yet fixed in its final written form.

If a lawyer today were to write a legally binding document, a law, he or she would refer to the dictionary several times to examine the spelling and exact meaning of the word used, whether it is being used in the right way and the proper place. A legal document often includes defined term in it as an addendum to the text. One can only imagine how contentious a legal battle can be over any vagueness or double meaning of words.

Before dictionaries codify a language, it is written and spoken but it is not really defined, not fixed. Language, by its very nature, evolves. Words evolve and their meanings change depending on the context in which they are used, and also with time. The first Arabic Language dictionaries were compiled between the 8th and 14th century, that is when the meaning of the Arabic word was beginning to get fixed and well defined. So it is humans many years after the death of the prophet Muhammad that fixed the meaning of the words God chose for Quran. Again this does not argue against the authenticity of the text, rather that it was not the intention of god to codify religion into text, otherwise God would have chosen in the case of Christianity an enduring language and in the case of Islam a well established one.

to MAJEDKHALDOON:

Uthman (644-655), who commissioned Zayed bin Thabit to undertake the task of compiling a standard text. Thabit had to travel all over arabia to collect these suras, some has been written on shoulder blades and parchment and many were just memorized. and the final version was approved by the khalife

Thank you anonymous
In the wikipedia I quot
Zayd was among those chosen by Muhammad to write down the verses of the Qur’an.

Anonymous,

My name is Badr not Brad. This could be a clue that Arabic is not your first language. 🙂
Your reply to my question was a repeat of what you had already stated in your essay. I don’t find an explanation of how God could guard His Message (verse [15:9]) without a written text.

Keeping in mind that all things are relative, aren’t modesty and other conservative traits considered human values before being associated with religion?

For me, as long as women are free to work,learn,think, love, and prosper, the issue of hijab becomes obsolete.

Tal el mallohi, the 17 year old poet blogger in jail, wears a hijab. she seem to have had all her freedoms except those denied by the “secular” government.

Another thing, could some one please define the term “secular government” as per Syrian law and constitution?

An interesting post…

Yet, it makes me wonder, regardless of the author’s disciplinary affiliations, how they adopt and reproduce unquestionably the generalising, simplistic and dangerous dichotomies: ‘men’ and ‘women’, ‘patriarchy’, ‘tradition’… What these classifications do, on both theoretical and practical levels, is to reproduce stereotypes – orientalising, exoticised, and disempowering stereotypes.

Although the author attempts not to ‘exoticise’ Syrian or Arab women by providing the ‘Western’ equivalent, this actually crystallises ‘western-eastern’ stereotypes rather than challenging them: “… on the streets of Paris, New York, London, and Milan women are strong, stylish, and assertive.”

Is the author sure that these women are indeed strong, stylish and assertive? And does the author have evidence or examples of how might the women in the streets of Damascus, Aleppo or Raqqa are any less strong, stylish and assertive? Or could it be that the criteria by which the author evaluates ‘strength’ and ‘assertiveness’ are biased? For example, veiling can be interpreted as much as hiding as revealing.. And, inasmuch as it has religious connotations, its practice reveals as much about religion as it does about contemporary politics. In such a way that, rather than being ‘traditional’ it becomes a modern practice, even a modern tactic.

Within the social sciences and anthropology, debates regarding similar issues have come a long way since the first publication of Said’s ‘Orientalism’… Yet, the unquestionable assumption of terms and dichotomies makes me wonder whether we are really voices crying out in the wilderness…?

While the link coverage is strictly limited to Canada. It does represent what is termed “western democracies views’ on women and governmental jurisdictions.

Is not a little conservatism a positive factor in all societies?

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/867332–canada-s-prostitution-laws-unconstitutional-court-rules

Ghat Al Bird: a l”ittle conservatism” is that hijab, niqab, segregation of sexes or honor killing?

Mr. Badr, ?????? ?????? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ???? ????????????

“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”

I do not read “without doubt” in the Arabic Verse, or “from corruption” which you seem to add in the English translation . what is ?????????

AHMAD said:

Ghat Al Bird: a l”ittle conservatism” is that hijab, niqab, segregation of sexes or honor killing?

Why limit yourself Ahmad? Go for what gives you pleasure.

Ghat,

Criminalizing prostitution was not able to curb down the rates in most of the world. Instead, it increased the risk of harm to the women while most of these women are actually victims and not criminals. Criminalizing prostitution increases the price which makes it lucrative for mobs and organized gangs to engage in human trafficking and prostitution. When it’s underground there is an increase in the risk of sexually transmitted diseases because those women fear getting checkups in order not to be caught or exposed. They also avoid paying taxes and would not seek the authorities if they get robbed or raped.

Anonymous,
Thank you very much for the article, the name choice is smart! 🙂
Your article touches a very important issue of how women rights can be easily hijacked and how the society blindly agrees when GOD speaks to them through his almighty chosen people without any question asked or permitted to be asked without the sword being ready.
I guess GOD doesn’t have any other ways to communicate to us but by his ‘men’, right Brad?

It’s been proven many times that when religions rise in an ignorant and political ways it takes the whole society centuries back as we are seeing in our Arab/Islamic societies. And as long as we don’t see almost all our women in these ‘special’ society educated, working, producing, being protected and being treated equally to all our ‘superior’ men by laws and by society’s standards, we will never ever advance, our women are our hidden treasures, we have no choice but to empower them in every way possible if we want a better future, this is why Mr. Salimi, you need to leave your ‘manly’ questionable persona and see that our LAW doesn’t give the women equal rights and protections as the LAW give them in any western society, stop questioning and open your eyes to see our women sad reality, it’ll be hurtful but necessary.

an important woman in syria. delete her:

September 28, 2010

From Scheuer to Blair
You Only Get the Truth From Former Officials
By BOUTHAINA SHAABAN

Warning us about the Obama administration’s submission to Israeli pressure, in an interview with Lebanon’s OTV, Michael Scheuer, a former senior CIA officer, said: “Three hundred million Americans could wake up tomorrow to discover that a foreign leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, led them to war with Iran, which might lead to war with the rest of the Muslim world”. He added, “Israel has no value whatsoever when it comes to American interests. It does not produce or give us anything we need. The only thing we get from it is that it is leading us to a religious war it seeks with Islam”.

Documents released by the National Security Archives Center, after having been declassified, show that hours after the 9/11 attacks, former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talked about attacking Iraq – according to minutes of a meeting held that day – and asked for “evidence which shows an alleged relationship between the former head of the Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda leader”. The United States acknowledged later that no relation existed between the former Iraqi regime and the 9/11 attacks. Nevertheless, it went ahead with invading Iraq.

In his memoirs, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted that “there was no evidence to prove Iraqi ties to al-Qaeda”, or that it possessed mass destruction weapons”. The decision to invade Iraq was taken on the first day that George W. Bush and his team took office.

Shall we wait, every time, for a certain official responsible for waging a war to retire, to know the real objective of that war? The more important question is: why do not Western officials, who play leading roles in their countries with impact on the lives of millions of people in other countries, dare say the truth and behave accordingly? Why do they, in moments such as the attack on Iraq, toe the line of other forces and reduce themselves to mere instruments? The answer might be that these forces are capable of putting an end to their political existence altogether under one pretext or another.

If we examine what is happening today, in light of what happened in the past, we find that the six countries involved in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program state repeatedly that they “prefer a diplomatic solution with Iran”. President Obama, during his election campaign, said he “does not want or intend to strike Iran”. Who then is drumming up war against Iran? And who is drumming up war against it or against Lebanon every time the prospects of a peaceful settlement looms in the horizon?

There are two main factors here: the first is that most mainstream Western media are sympathetic to Israel. That is why most Western officials do not dare say the truth when it comes to Israel’s crimes. They might whisper in private, or write in their memoirs after they leave office and become ‘former’ officials about the racist reality of Israel. But it is rare to find a Western official prepared to sacrifice his position to reveal the truth. That is why private memoirs of ‘former’ officials shed light on past events. But we should learn the lesson from past decisions which brought destruction and disasters to millions of people in order to avoid similar ones which could bring the world similar disasters.

The second factor is that Arabs in general still deal with the United States, which gives billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel, in addition to the money given to expand settlements and support settlers, as if it were neutral and an honest broker between Arabs and Israelis. Not an honst broker? They only need to recall footage of American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton arriving in occupied Palestine and received by Shimon Peres, holding his hands and massaging them with warmth and affection. She did so, as if she had not heard the racist statements of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who said about the Arabs, on the Jewish New Year celebrations, “God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians”; and as if she did not hear of Israeli soldier Eden Aberjil, after she posted photos of her blindfolded Palestinian prisoners on Facebook, “I would enjoy killing Arabs”. All this racism did not merit a word of condemnation from any Western official.

Bouthaina Shaaban is Political and Media Advisor at the Syrian Presidency, and former Minister of Expatriates. She is also a writer and professor at Damascus University since 1985. She has been the spokesperson for Syria.

There are several aspects to this article I find difficult to swallow.

“Many of these conservatives both in the US and the Middle East are targeting the gains achieved by women for equality and independence within society.”

This is not a realistic comparison at all. The conservative movement in the Middle East is not just targeting, but succeeding in removing gains. Conversely, the conservative movement in America is putting more women in political office than ever. Pay scales have recently shown to be equal. This comparison isn’t even apples and oranges, it is apples and seeds of oranges.

“Christian fundamentalism in the U.S. is accused of being an anti-feminist, regressive movement. I was recently struck to hear from an American nun from the conservative Dominican order of St. Cecelia that women cannot lead a congregation in prayer since “it is God’s will that man shall do so”. She also contended that in a marriage the man is the head of the household but should love his wife and care for her. This view is contrary to the modern view of marriage as a partnership of equals.”

Accused of being anti-feminist, indeed. Most women I know consider having a full-time job and leaving kids in day-care a regression in personal freedom. St. Paul forbids a woman to teach, but prayer is just fine. The Bible does teach that a man is the head of the home, but the concept is based on mutual submission. He submits to her strengths, she to his, which is what makes a marriage partnership of equals work. The concept of loving his wife is in terms that he must be willing to die for her, as Christ did for the church.

Modern marriage? How is this defined? By a 50% divorce rate? Christian spouses who pray together daily have a 3% divorce rate. That does not sound like repression.

Women are not dying, girls schools are not being burned, acid is not being thrown in the faces of women in the Christian fundamentalist movement.

The Muslim world is making great strides for women. But where they came from, except for inheritance issues, is centuries behind what American women have achieved in the last 100 years. Independence for women? Ya lateef. The growing conservative movement will not help.

I’ll have to leave it at that.

Prof. Landis,

Thank you for presenting a significant article that would help encourage the asking of serious questions concerning God, the prophets, and man’s constructed dogma and religious dictum.

The article states: “The most credible Islamic tradition states that it was the third Muslim Khalifa, Uthman (644-655), who commissioned Zayed bin Thabit to undertake the task of compiling a standard text”.

The belief that Uthman collected the standard text of the Quran requires a great deal of faith.

The historicity of the Quran is far from clear. According to The Encyclopaedia of Islam, the development of the Quran took place in three main stages: The collection and ordering of the text from both oral and written sources, the determination of the final consonantal text, and the process by which several readings, (various ways of vocalizing the text), were accepted as canonical or ‘revealed.’ Each stage is challenging to reconstruct and date scientifically because evaluating Muslim sources is difficult (The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume V, pages 400-432).

There is not a copy of the Quran that dates back to the time of Uthman. The earliest copy of the Quran goes back to about two centuries after the death of the Prophet.

Studying the historicity of the Quran scientifically is a touchy subject. Outside the traditionists’ religiously driven reading of history, scientifically articulated theories are condemned by the ulama as kufr.

Approaching the Quran in a manner that sees the Muslim tradition surrounding the text as grounded in the dogmas of later centuries, Prof. John Wansbrough concluded that the Quran was written down in the third-century Hijri, not during the reign of Uthman. In reaching his conclusion, Prof. Wansbrough subjected to scholarly analysis an entire body of literature attributed to the first four centuries of Islam that stands as a witness to the rise of the Quran to the position of absolute authority in the Muslim community (John Wansbrough, Quranic Studies, Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation, Prometheus Books, New york, P. xii).

Elie

A significant article on the public policies of israel in regards the Palestinians.

Avigdor Lieberman’s UN Speech Shows the True Face of Israel
By Alex Kane September 29, 2010 | Posted in Alex Kane , IndyBlog .
|
Yisrael Beiteinu’s strong third-place showing in Israel’s February 2009 elections for the Knesset was met with dread and disgust from many different quarters. Avigdor Lieberman, the founder and leader of the far-right party and the current Foreign Minister, ran a campaign filled with fascist overtones as he called for “loyalty oaths” to be signed by Palestinian citizens of Israel.

But perhaps we should take a look at Lieberman again in light of his much-condemned United Nations General Assembly speech yesterday and instead feel glad that the true face of Israel is shining to the world because of his position of power.

At the UN, Lieberman called for a “long-term intermediate agreement” instead of a solution dealing with all the final-status issues, dismissed the notion that the occupation and colonization of Palestine is at the core of the conflict and proposed a deal with the Palestinians that would be “about moving borders to better reflect demographic realities.” Although Lieberman claimed that he was not talking about “moving populations,” it’s apparent that Lieberman’s plan would result in the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel to a Palestinian state, all in the service of making Israel an “ethnically pure” Jewish state.

Reactions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Jewish leaders were swift, and the media narrative laid out is that Lieberman’s speech revealed “differences” within Israeli politics about the “peace process.” The New York Times reports today that “sharp differences within the Israeli government over peace negotiations played out in the unusual setting of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.”

Netanyahu’s office distanced the prime minister from the speech and said that Lieberman’s speech was “not coordinated” with Netanyahu and that Netanyahu wants “direct talks” with the Palestinian Authority to go forward.

The reaction from Netanyahu was about promoting the image of Israel as willing to sit down and negotiate for peace with the Palestinians, which Lieberman’s speech did damage to. But that’s all it was about–Netanyahu and the State of Israel’s policies are completely in line with Lieberman’s plan of ethnically cleansing the non-Jewish citizens of Israel and of continuing to colonize the West Bank.

Under Netanyahu, the Bedouin village of Al Araqib has been destroyed multiple times to make way for a Jewish National Fund “ambassador forest.” Netanyahu has presided over the continued colonization of the West Bank, despite talk of a “settlement freeze,” and that’s likely to accelerate in the coming weeks. An recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling has Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah worried about further dispossession at the hands of Jewish settlers, and Silwan in East Jerusalem is still under the threat of home demolitions to make way for Israeli settlements and a theme park.

The list can go on and on. Actions speak much louder than words, and the State of Israel under Netanyahu has continued routine Israeli policies of land theft, colonization and slow ethnic cleansing. That’s not much different than the Israel Lieberman showed at the UN yesterday in words. Maybe that’s a good thing; the true, ugly face of Israeli policy, which the Palestinians know all-too-well, was shown to the world, further confirming that the “peace talks” are useless, and that Netanyahu is playing a public relations game for the international community while the status quo is sustained.

Dear Salimi:

If you walk the streets of most business centers in the west you see women dressed in a variety of colors and fashion expressing their individuality and indicating as well the status they have achieved. This is no different than a man dressed in a power suit. Fashion is an art that individual use to project power, status, sensuality, independence, or conformity. Rebellious teenagers often distinguish themselves with what they wear. The statement that is expressed by women in capitals from New York to Tokyo today is that “we are here and we will not be denied”.

When a woman wears the niqab she is erasing her identity when she is in public. When women wear a uniform weather nuns or qubiesiyat they are emphasizing the groups they belong to rather than their individuality. No one can say that the dull colored overcoat and hijab or the nun habits are stylish.
There is nothing orientlist about this

Dear Salimi:

If you walk the streets of most business centers in the west you see women dressed in a variety of colors and fashion expressing their individuality and indicating as well the status they have achieved. This is no different than a man dressed in a power suit. Fashion is an art that individual use to project power, status, sensuality, independence, or conformity. Rebellious teenagers often distinguish themselves with what they wear. The statement that is expressed by women in capitals from New York to Tokyo today is that “we are here and we will not be denied”.

When a woman wears the niqab she is erasing her identity when she is in public. When women wear a uniform weather nuns or qubiesiyat they are emphasizing the groups they belong to rather than their individuality. No one can say that the dull colored overcoat and hijab or the nun habits are stylish.
There is nothing orientlist about this.

Allawi Tells Iran to Stay Out of Iraqi Politics

Source: VOA

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has called on Middle East leaders to stop Iran from interfering in Iraqi politics. He made the call in Syria Wednesday, following a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Allawi said he had asked Iran’s allies, which include Syria, to send the message to Tehran.

Another piece filled with over-repeated cliches and stereotypes. There is no need to hide behind anonymous nicknames and resort to dubious comparative claims. The message is clear: let’s cast Islam aside and follow Anonymous and his “argili” or “shisha.” I always wonder why people who believe in such things don’t come out and say it clearly without trying hard to appear wise or sophisticated.

Maybe you can benefit a bit on the sophistication side by reading what Ali Mazrui wrote in Foreign Affairs back in 1997 under the title: Islamic and Western Values. Here’s a link to the full article:

http://www.alhewar.com/AliMazrui.htm

Jihad: The article was filled with reverence to God and his prophets. It is actually inviting you to follow the prophet Muhammad and ask questions.

All the facts that were presented in this essay were pulled from islamic, Jewish, and christian traditional sources.

You have to reconcile your faith to these facts. It will only be strengthened.

Dear Jad, I am not questioning the differences in law or that indeed there is exploitation of women (as there is exploitation of men, of different classes, etc.). What I am questioning are the frames of analysis that seem at least a bit dated… Furthermore, there is a slight theoretical contradiction in saying that ‘we need to empower our women’: doesn’t this imply that they have no agency by which to ’empower’ themselves? Do they need to be empowered by someone else? Like a protector of sorts? Isn’t that a bit sexist? (a good general article on this Sahlins 1999)

Dear Maysoon, both ‘individuality’ and ‘identity’ are highly problematic terms, entangled along with ‘enlightenment’ and capitalist ideals and historical development. Fashion, in addition, is debatably an art but surely is a status symbol: the fashion of working women and wen in England is very different from that of the aristocracy! ‘Stylish’ regardless of the fact that it is an opinion thus not really verifiable, has more connotation about class and social capital than anything else… Regarding veiling, etc. I would recommend reading anything from Abu-Lughod…

Salamat

What a wonderful article! I appreciate that the author has decided to withhold his/her name because many readers will judge the article by the name of the author – thus distracting from its substance. Great piece of work, anonymous!

Shai, Amir

How does Israel reconcile the religious orientation of their groups with the secular nature of the laws , which laws follow the Talmud and which do not and how they get away with it ,

Dear Salimi,
I want to thank you for pointing me out to Marshal Sahlins, I never read his books before and you got me very interested in reading his views of the indigenous cultures, but before getting into that, I have to reply to your smart questions that might lead to an interesting discussion.

You wrote:
“There is a slight theoretical contradiction in saying that ‘we need to empower our women’”
In many western society they have many free and powerful organizations found by women and men who believes in the gender equality and pushes their agendas to become part of the national law and constitution and on top of that there are other organizations that monitor closely if the system itself is following those specific rules regardless of any clergy opinions, in that case and if my ‘we need to empower our women’ was about western society, I would’ve agree with your friendly reminding, however, my comment about the need of empowering our women was meant toward our own culture, society and justice system that are still behind and they are the ‘sexist’ unbalanced powers that is taking from the rights of our women, not me.
But you are right, I might be ‘sexist’ against some men when it comes to support women rights in general and specifically our Syrian women, because I see the men in power are not fully free of their ‘religious’ + ’business’ obligations toward other organizations that doesn’t see anything in women but a house wife and her position is in the house as a slave, yes I might be sexist, when our court of law doesn’t see in any Syrian woman as a full member of the society and doesn’t give her the same treatment as men.

“Doesn’t this imply that they have no agency by which to ‘empower’ themselves?”
When those agencies supposed to help our Syrian woman get their rights and fight for them doesn’t do their jobs and become a tool in the hands of the government to reflect one view, I’ll refuse to recognize them or support them, they are working against what they were found for, so No, my ‘empower our women’ doesn’t imply that we have no agency, it implies that those agencies are not doing a good job.

“Do they need to be empowered by someone else? Like a protector of sorts? Isn’t that a bit sexist?”
When you as a somehow powerless entity in the land of traditions, religions and non rational rules can’t empower yourself because of many other powers are set against you, especially by almighty god, and when the whole society has this stereotypical idea that you are not worth to open your mouth and shout against the unjust you are facing in all sort of your daily life, then you defiantly need some help, you need help from the same circle that is set against you, be it a man or a woman from that same circle and no, that doesn’t mean that you are not equal for those who are defending you, the opposite, they are with you and they want to work with you to get you in a place where you can be heard and lead, it has nothing to do with male or female chauvinism, it’s about right and wrong and what side you decide to choose.

Dear Salimi: did you just write these word “both ‘individuality’ and ‘identity’ are highly problematic terms”???

I am in individual with an identity; If you do not havean identity then this is your problem.

And yes Fashion is art, and a craft too.

Dear Salimi: did you just write these word “both ‘individuality’ and ‘identity’ are highly problematic terms”???

I am in individual with an identity; If you do not havean identity then this is your problem.

And yes Fashion is art, and a craft too

Norman,

In Israel, like in some “western” nations, there is no full separation between church and state. And our church – the Rabbinate – still has say in certain fields, including marriage, conversion, citizenship, education, and a few others. More importantly, when the religious parties enter coalitions, they get very real power in determining budgets (especially for their sectors), and in whatever ministries they end up holding. In the past, they’ve held very high posts, such as the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of National Infrastructures, and Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The religious have their own school system, and their own courts. But secular Israelis (which is still the majority of Israelis) do not have to participate or stand before either of these. In the past, the religious also controlled, for instance, business activity on the Sabbath. No stores were allowed to be open, no buses, etc. But today things are different. In a secular person’s life, for the most part, religious interference is quite negligible. In my own case, for instance, the most “bothersome” aspect came about when I wanted to get married, “official marriage” that is recognized by the State, and had to do so with an Orthodox Rabbi (rather than, say, a more reformed one). And those couples who wouldn’t stand for this, just hop on a plane and get married in Cyprus or Greece. Marriage abroad is recognized. This is one of those laws that will surely change with time, as many others have.

Despite religious parties presence and certain-control in Parliament (and often government), I still do not consider Israel as a whole to be a religious society. It is still far from KSA, or even Iran. The country is still run mostly by secular Israelis.

Shai

In countries like Germany and some northern countries, citizens automatically pay a specific tax to the Church. In Germany the Church is an important employer. Charities and salaries of the religious community are therefore paid by german citizens. If they don’t want to pay that tax , they must ask from exemption but then, they can’t marry at the church and can’t baptize their children. Is it the same in Israel?
By the way all arab countries do not offer civil marriage, only religious. Fo example, non-religious marriages for Lebanese christians and moslems are done in Cyprus ans Turkey too!

Shai,
So it looks like there are two court systems and you can chose one what will happen if the opponent disagree on what court to seek ,
and what about the non Jews . Christians and Muslims , Druz too , what court system they are facing and how do they get married and what about inheritance for Jews and for non Jews , are the women equal in Jewish religious courts and what happen to the other group,

in Syria i think there is anew law that allows Christians to have wells so parents can decide distributions,

WD ,
In the US paying to charity is not mandated but tax deductible and you pay as you go the services ,

I wonder if Syria is not somehow happy about the failure of the Palestinians-Israelis negotiations as the issue of the Golan was sidelined.
A collapse of the negotiations with Palestinians may bring Israel back to a negotiation table withe Syria.
While Palestinians are divided and keep referring to the inept Arab League for approval, Bashar al Assad is strong, coherent and independant and he has much more cards to play that Abbas. The key would be to find an intermediate as Turkey seems to be out of the question. If the US pops in , that would be a great step forward and Obama may get something to show for his re-election.

A proposal to “free” the USA from AIPAC!

http://www.redress.cc:80/americas/ldavidson20101002

Dear Jad, thank you for your reply and thought-provoking comments. Let me firstly try to clarify a misunderstanding: what I meant by ‘agency’ was not an organisation or NGO, but that of ‘personal agency’ or human action that is opposed to a deterministic ‘structure’. I think this misunderstanding may also hinder the levels of analysis: when I talk about women, men or agency I begin from the bottom-up rather than top-down scales of analysis.. I think that in order to understand Syrian society and women within the social matrix, we need to look at everyday practices and then relate those to government and the judicial system. A socio-political system is not only imposed from top-down, but reproduced and reinforced and also challenged from the basic units of society, i.e. the family, as well. Similarly, ‘social change’ or ‘reform’ if imposed or ‘imported’ seizes to be change and becomes authoritarianism, and however benovelent also brings along the danger of being called ‘western’, ‘imperialist’, etc. The question that I am asking (myself, others, in research) is whether there are (always already in a way) subversions and resistance strategies within everyday life? Could it be that, for example, that local ‘jamayat’ are challenging the power of banking as well as ‘traditional’ authority? Could it be that ‘traditional’ rituals such as a wedding ceremony, contain ‘gender exchange’ instances in which gender becomes fluid, performative, and therefore not ‘given’ or ‘natural’ but socially constructed?

Of course, these are introductory questions… And, I guess, that you are right on the level of judicial analysis… For example, the thorny issue of interfaith marriages in Syria (most of which, similarly to Shai’s post, take place in Cyprus or Greece). (Unfortunately?) theories or explanations are always some distance away from actual practices. So, I guess, the large question regarding change remains unanswered. An idea is to closely look at everyday practices and at the everyday changes that always go on.. But this is just a way to explore, not to provide definite answers… Would love to hear your thoughts!

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