Perceptions of Barack Obama And John McCain In The Middle East

This is the seventh installment of our (not so) weekly column entitled Ask a Shiite. Our resident Shiite and United Arab Emirates citizen will be fielding questions of a philosophical, physical, and political nature in regards to Shiite Islamic belief and Middle East perception. Interested in asking a question? Send an email to alec.

Question: What is your opinion of Barack Obama and John McCain? And what are the general perceptions of Middle Easterners to both candidates? What relations and future do you imagine between America and the Middle East under either candidate?

Answer: People, including myself, think that McCain seems to be reckless like Bush and a racist and extremist person, while Obama seems more moderate and promises a better future.

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Previous Ask A Shiite Columns:

Ask A Shiite: Perceptions of American Celebrity Culture

Ask A Shiite: Homosexuality in the Middle East & Islam

Ask A Shiite: The US Presence in Iraq

Ask A Shiite: Temporary Marriage and Sex and Society in the Muslim World

Ask A Shiite: Shiites & Sunnis

Ask A Shiite: Perceptions of America in the Middle East

See Also: Ron Paul: Obama won’t pull troops out of Iraq, Obama’s Bush/Cheney Strategy, Al-Qaida Sites Show Support For Barack Hussein Obama, Would McCain Negotiate With Syria?, Building up the Iron Cage, and Realists On Either Side.

[tags]ask a shiite, shiite university student, perceptions of barack obama and john mccain, middle east, middle eastern perceptions of the us president, iraq, iran, arab, relations with the united states, 2008 campaign, favorability for a candidate, democrats, republicans, future, mccain, obama[/tags]

American Celebrity Culture and Media in the Middle East

This is the sixth installment of our weekly column entitled Ask a Shiite. Our resident Shiite and United Arab Emirates citizen will be fielding questions of a philosophical, physical, and political nature in regards to Shiite Islamic belief and Middle East perception. Interested in asking a question? Send an email to alec.

Question: What are the thoughts in the UAE and in the Muslim world in general about American media and celebrity culture (form example Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, etc.)? How are Western entertainment and culture, specifically movies and music, regarded? Are there laws that restrict access to these forms of media? How do religious leaders view their influence?

Answer: The Muslim world in general has lots of different ideologies and different people. There are those who think that this entertainment culture is bringing corruption and immodesty in their people. There are also those who think that it is perfectly normal.

In the UAE, most of the people think it is normal. But there are also those who say it is bringing corruption and destroying culture. To tell the truth this western culture is influencing people everywhere so much that I wouldn’t really say that the attitude in the Muslim world is much different from the attitudes in the west or anywhere in the world.

People from the subcontinent are spread around almost everywhere and are quite influential. For them, there is the Bollywood, which also has a very similar culture as Hollywood in general.

There aren’t any laws in the UAE stopping people from accessing Western movies, culture, and general media. They do however censor some very explicit parts from being shown at the theaters. I am not sure about the rest of the Muslim world but I don’t think there is any restriction. Iran does have some restrictions as I have been told. They don’t allow nudity.

Many people hold the opinion that this entertainment industry is in reality controlled by freemasons and is used to mind control and guide people in the direction they want (evil). Of course ‘detecting’ this is very hard. They use this tool very cleverly in ways which normal individuals wont realize and will find enjoyable to experience.

To counter this, Iran has its own film industry that seems to be growing and quite good. It can be seen that today people around the world in general are getting more and more ‘westernized’ in the wrong sense. Ideas that are against religion are being seen as normal.

Day by day, more and more people are accepting Western ideas towards media and this culture as normal to varying extents.

Other Ask A Shiite Columns:

Ask A Shiite: Homosexuality in the Middle East & Islam

Ask A Shiite: The US Presence in Iraq

Ask A Shiite: Temporary Marriage and Sex and Society in the Muslim World

Ask A Shiite: Shiites & Sunnis

Ask A Shiite: Perceptions of America in the Middle East

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[tags]american culture, media, united states, mass media, islam, muslims, middle east, shiite, koran, celebrities, social corruption, globalization[/tags]

Homosexuality in the Middle East & Islam

This is the fifth installment of our weekly column entitled Ask a Shiite. Our resident Shiite and United Arab Emirates citizen will be fielding questions of a philosophical, physical, and political nature in regards to Shiite Islamic belief and Middle East perception. Interested in asking a question? Send an email to alec.

Question: How is homosexuality regarded in the Koran and how is treated in current Muslim society? What countries have the toughest and most stringent views towards homosexuality and which countries are more passive and liberal towards the practice? Is there interference by the government into private sexual practices in the UAE and other Arab countries? And finally, what are the range of views of preachers
and imams on this subject?

Answer: Homosexuality like in all the Abrahamic religions is treated with utmost seriousness and strictness. Islam considers homosexuality to be worse than adultery. But at the same time it tries to be very lenient. The main reason it is not allowed is because it threatens the existence of mankind.

It is like a contagious disease that spreads across the society and that can result in the extinction of mankind. It is an unnatural practice. It goes against the laws of nature where a man and a woman attract towards each other and they satisfy their desires with each other.

When people from the same sex sleep together, there is no pregnancy. When people from the same sex sleep together, it results in more people being attracted towards homosexuality. Like this, homosexuality spreads and when most, if not all, people of the society satisfy their desires in this unhealthy manner, the birth rate drops sharply. This can lead to the extinction of the race.

Sexual desire according to Islam is not a bad thing like in Christianity (I have heard). It is taken as a mercy and blessing from God. The problem is with whom you satisfy it. Satisfying it with your wife is an act, which is highly encouraged and rewarded.

Many people suggest that Islam has hard and fast rules and are extremely harsh. We first have to see that the rules are harsh for hideous crimes against society. Secondly they are made to be hard to enforce.

The harsh punishments act as a detriment for the normal people and a severe punishment for the criminals. Although capital punishment is prescribed for sodomy, it can only be administered after four just witnesses have testified to the sin being committed in their presence. The extreme degree of leniency in Islamic laws is apparent here. If an individual shows just enough decency as not to commit a filthy act in public and that too for fear of being put to death, Islam does not allow his fellow-beings to punish him. Further, if the sinner repents before the four witnesses have testified, he cannot be put to death. But if the testimony is complete, penalty cannot be reduced and the guilty has to be killed.

As far as confession of the crime is concerned, the same regulations hold as in the case of adultery. The guilty must confess four times. He must confess in clear unambiguous words and must not speak in an elusive way. The Judge must make sure that the person is sane. Also, that he is not joking and confessing to something he has not really done.

As in the case of adultery, the guilt of sodomy is also proved in one of two ways. The first is that both the participants, or one of them confesses four times before a Judge. If he confesses less than four times the legal penalty cannot be issued. He is only warned and severely rebuked so that he may never repeat it. Some Mujtahids believe that the four confessions should be on four different occasions. It is also required that the accused be major, sane, free and independent. Even if he confesses four times, a minor person can only be reprimanded for the act so that he never does it again. The same applies for the slave and the insane person. Apart from this, if someone is forced into such a crime and is unable to avoid it, there is no penalty for him.

The second method of proving the crime of sodomy is that four just witnesses see it being committed with their own eyes and testify in consonance. If the witnesses are less than four, the testimony is not accepted and the penalty for sodomy is withheld. If less than four people have seen this act, they should not testify. If they do so, they shall themselves become liable for the penalty of “qazaf”. This clause shall be elaborated later. If the guilty repents before the four witnesses testify, the penalty is not imposed and he is not killed. The confession or the testimony should be with regard to the penetration of the anus with the penis, only then the capital punishment is carried out. But if the two men cause ejaculation without penetrating the anus (by pressing the sexual organ between the thighs of another man or by rubbing with the buttocks), then the punishment is a hundred lashes for them.

All these punishments do not appear out of the blue. There are preventative measures before a person can commit sodomy. For example, it is forbidden for brothers and sisters above the age of ten to sleep next to each other. This might be taken as idiotic or harsh. My Islamic teacher is school is a psychologist. He is an expert in society matters and used to work in an alcohol addiction centre. He says that in his study he found out that people who commit sodomy say that the reason why we do it is because when we reached puberty, we used to sleep next to people from the same sex or have unintentional ‘innocent’ glances at people who were almost naked. This resulted in their unnatural sexual inclination. There are many more problems that arise from sodomy, which can destroy the society.

There are more preventative measures that have been prescribed by Islam. Now it is not he society’s fault if people don’t follow them and end up behind attracted o people from the same sex. Once the crime has been proved (and proving is not an easy task too), it is punished with strictness so that it acts as a determinant for the negligent and that the person is punished.

The only case in which the person IS punished is when the person admits to it or if the crime is proven with the utmost confidence. When a person confesses, the judge tries to prevent him from doing so and tries to make him change his mind. Also the person has to confess four times at four different places so that he has a chance to change his decision and that he is absolutely sure about it.

When another person commits sodomy, it is hard to prove it. There need to be four just witnesses, not an unreliable person. All of them have to bear witness. If less than four people stand witness, then those three are also given a harsh punishment. This in turn avoids gossip and public humiliation and false accusations.

As far as countries are concerned, Muslim countries have the same views and have the same lenient but ultimately strict Islamic law for homosexuality. In the UAE as far as I know the government of course does no allow illegal sexual practices to go on. If they find out about it, they would break it up if possible.

Finally most of the law on homosexuality comes from the Quran. So most of the preachers, scholars and Imams have the same opinion. You won’t find any scholar saying that homosexuality is allowed or anything different form the Quranic interpretation.

Even though my opinion does not count and I am not qualified to give my opinion in religious matters, I think that homosexuality is a practice that can be prevented and if it is not, then it can bring about the destruction of whole societies.

Related:

Ask A Shiite: The US Presence in Iraq

Ask A Shiite: Temporary Marriage and Sex and Society in the Muslim World

Ask A Shiite: Shiites & Sunnis

Ask A Shiite: Perceptions of America in the Middle East

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[tags]homosexuality, gays, koran, quran, middle east, islam, muslims, united arab emirates, ask a shiite, religious laws, sodomy laws, treatment of homosexuals, arab nations[/tags]

The US Presence in Iraq

This is the fourth installment of our weekly column entitled Ask a Shiite. Our resident Shiite and United Arab Emirates citizen will be fielding questions of a philosophical, physical, and political nature in regards to Shiite Islamic belief and Middle East perception. Interested in asking a question? Send an email to alec.

Question: What are the feelings in the UAE and the Middle East in general towards the current situation in Iraq? Do people regard it as a civil war, and what do they think will happen to Iraq after the United States leaves? What are the thoughts on the US presence in the Middle East? And finally, what are the thoughts on foreign militants also fighting in Iraq (ie. Iranian involvement in Iraq, Al-Qaeda, other Mujahdeen forces)?

Answer: The situation in Iraq is as we all know very bad indeed. The media doesn’t show most of the events but it is commonly known to be atrocious, and I won’t say that the US is in control or has ‘won’ the war. Only that it is physically present and getting beaten up all the time. The general opinion in the Middle East (UAE included) is that the suffering of the Iraqis is not acceptable. USA pursued this war for its long run regional interests, with the only good part being that Saddam Hussein is gone and there is democracy now.

There are mixed opinions everywhere regarding the internal Iraqi conflict. Some call the Iraqi situation a civil war; some call it sectarian violence etc. We don’t know why the people fight amongst themselves and we want it to stop. We just can’t see an end to the violence in the near future. My guess is as good as yours in the case of what will happen if the US leaves Iraq. It could be that everything goes back to normal. It could be that the sects slide into a full scale civil war. My guess is that everything would either go back to normal or there would be a bit of fighting here and there, small incidents, not much.

Almost everyone thinks that the US is there for its regional interests and to be the self elected policeman of the world. Many of us say that it will have to learn its lesson the hard way like Israel, i.e war with Iran. This opinion is held by almost everyone (non-Muslims included) except for extremists, who are against Shias and Iran. We think that the US presence has no positive effect and is making matters worse. The US military’s behavior is quite as bad as the terrorists with cases like Abu Ghraib.

Firstly we don’t know the details about the foreign militants for sure. Those who kill each other (innocent civilians and fellow Iraqis) are considered as weird idiots — outliers as such. We can’t understand their reasoning behind the killings. Iran denies any involvement so like how the media accepts the USA’s ‘mistakes’ and ‘apologies’, we accept Iran’s as well, i.e. if it is involved at all. The US tries it best to lower down Iran and has gotten the support of many countries by intimidation.

Currently we Shias are not in a state of war against anyone. What Muqtada al Sadr does is wrong and is considered as an American agent paid by the CIA. None of our Grand Ayatollahs (a handful of them at any given time) have declared war so it is a tie for us to be patient. All of Grand Ayatollahs are united so if one gives a fatwa, the others know about it and they don’t go snapping, disgracefully at each other like some politicians. Ayatollah Sistani (whom I take as a source of emulation of Islamic laws) has called for peace and patience continuously so if a Shia goes and kills someone with the intention of defending his country or Jihad or whatsoever, he has committed a major sin.

I have spoken about terrorists earlier and the same applies over here. They think they are doing Jihad but the fact is that they are not. They have misinterpreted Islam. That is one reason why we Shias have the system of Taqlid. We basically follow an expert for Islamic laws and all these experts are united amongst themselves with negligible differences of opinion. This prevents intolerable acts like the ones from these Mujahedeen’s.

Many people suggest that the US is behind all the killings in Iraq. They slip in bombs into cars at checkpoints. They pay hard cold cash to Mosque clerics to make their followers fight people from other sects. They make many ‘mistakes’ which fuel the peoples’ anger.

We do not know enough about the situation in Iraq because of the media censoring reports. But we sure do want the USA to leave as soon as possible and peace to return.

[tags]islam, middle east, iraq, american invasion, united states military, occupation, iran, insurgency, muslims, shiites, sunnis, kurds, effects of us presence[/tags]

Temporary Marriage and Sex and Society in the Muslim World

This is the third installment of our weekly column entitled Ask a Shiite. Our resident Shiite and United Arab Emirates citizen will be fielding questions of a philosophical, physical, and political nature in regards to Shiite Islamic belief and Middle East perception. Interested in asking a question? Send an email to alec.

Question: Can you talk about sex and society in the United Arab Emirates and in Islamic culture in general? What is temporary marriage and how does it function in Islamic law and faith? Is there premarital sex and can you talk about the relationship between sex and religion for Muslims?

Answer: Temporary Marriage is a practice allowed for Muslims when they need to engage with someone from the opposite sex for multiple reasons but for a fixed amount of time and a less ‘connected’ relation.

Temp Marriage can be done for any amount of time. In the eyes of God you are lawful to each other. Once the period of the marriage expires, the couple are free to go and are ‘divorced’ automatically. But after that period the girl or woman has to wait for four monthly menstruation cycles before contracting another marriage. This prevents many problems. But in this time, if they want, the couple can marry each other again. There are a few other conditions and rules which need to be followed in Mutah and they prevent corruption.

Mutah (Temp Marriage) is not done only for sexual pleasure but for many other reasons. Technically speaking a boy or girl who have reached physical maturity can engage in Mutah. Physical maturity is defined with particular
rulings.

In many countries like Iran,I have heard, Mutah is quite common but I have personally not come across people engaging in Mutah. To engage in Mutah, the girl says a specific sentence in Arabic which basically means that she is engaging herself in Marriage for the agreed time and Dower. Then immediately the boy replies Accepted. These are the only formalities required and the couple are engaged together. For this declaration, no witnesses are required but there is no problem if there are. The dower is a small present to the wife from the husband.

Mutah is you could say a private thing and does not have anything to do with the UAE’s law. Otherwise it is done in the same way around the world.

Talking about sex is absolutely allowed in the UAE without any, as far as I know, law which prevents it. If someone has a problem with you then matters get serious otherwise if you talk with your friends in a responsible way then you are good to go.

In Islam also discussing sex is allowed provided you do not have a bad intention or you are not aroused leading to a major sin. Sex is discussed for educational purposes in fact our Infallible Imams have given us instructions on mating which are, according to science today, correct and recommended.

I personally have not come across people engaging in temporary marriage. It is allowed, practiced but people only use it as a last resort. They try to control themselves and given the right advice at the right time, people manage to pull off their teenage and young adult life without mating. There are many ways of controlling oneself and a person just needs to manage his lust properly. The reward for control over ones mind, temptations and emotions, not just in lust, is more than that of defending ourselves by war. War comes under Jihad Asghar (Lesser Struggle) and this control comes under Jihad Akbar (Greater Struggle).

Premarital sex is not allowed in Islam as it is a form of fornication and comes under a Major Sin. I don’t understand why someone would want to have premarital sex when one can engage in temporary marriage.

Of course, as said above, we can talk about the relation between sex and religion. Your perceptions towards Muslims seem to be one where Muslims are totally cut off from sex and that sex is a sin. Sex is in fact highly encouraged and given that you have the right intentions, it comes under worship of God. Sex gets rid of our sins very quickly.

This however has to be done under the Sharia rules which really help the society in the long run. They might seem harsh but this opinion should not remain when one studies their philosophy, reasoning and logic.

Previous Installments of Ask a Shiite: Shiites & Sunnis and Perceptions of the United States in the Middle East.

[tags]sex in the middle east, intercourse, dating, ask a shiite, temporary marriage, united arab emirates, sexuality, society, islamic culture, sexuality, premarital sex, god, allah, religious practice[/tags]