Damascus Spring

من جريدة الشرق الأوسط قرأت هذا المقال الممتاز اليوم للأستاذ مشعل السديري و أحببت أن أشارك فيه قراء الموقع. ثقافة الخصيان بعد أن سقطت الخلافة العثمانية إلى الأبد بعد انتهاء الحرب العالمية الأولى، انطلق البعض للمناداة برجوعها ـ أو بمعنى أصح رجوع عقارب الساعة إلى الوراء ـ، ومن ضمن هذه البقايا الحالمة بعض «الإخوان المسلمين» ومن تأثر بهم . هذه الخلافة العثمانية التي هي امتداد للكثير من الخلافات في التاريخ الإسلامي التي لو سلط الضوء الجهير على خفايا تاريخها لتوارى المسلمون من شدة الخجل. والمشكلة المتأصلة في الكثير من جمهرة المسلمين أنهم لا يقرأون، وإن قرأوا لا يتمعنون، وإن تمعنوا لا يفكرون، وإن فكروا لا يفهمون، وإن فهموا لا ينتقدون أو يتمردون أو حتى على الأقل يعترفون، بل إنهم فوق ذلك كله يكابرون و«يواقحون» ويكذبون، ويعسفون الحقائق عسفاً لكي توافق أهواءهم وأحلامهم. وإليكم نبذة صغيرة جداً من التاريخ المشرق «للخلافة العثمانية» المجيدة، وأقدمه هدية للمتباكين على الخلافة، وهذه النبذة تدور حول «ثقافة الخصيان»، وأرجو منكم المعذرة على تطرقي لهذا الموضوع الذي لا أقول عنه إنه شائك، ولكنه سلبي، لأنه يس...

As expected, no sooner than a couple of weeks from publishing their New Study that criticizes the power of the Israeli Lobby and their die-hard neo-conservative friends, the two professors responsible for it are taking the most outrageous form of academic terrorism from the pundits of the Israeli Lobby. What is so amazing is that some of those criticizing the Dean of Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, Dr. Stephen Walt and his colleague Professor John Mearsheimer of Political Science at the University of Chicago, are the same die-hard supporters of the corrupt political action committee AIPAC. Some like Professors Alan Dershowitz have gone overboard by describing the study as trash that could have been written by Neo-Nazi David Duke, while Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel of New York described the professors as “dishonest so-called intellectuals”. The calls into the Harvard school of Government from ‘pro-Israel donors’ expressing concern about the paper, have forced the ...

In my current most interesting read for one of the most respected Western Scholars of Islamic and Middle-Eastern history professor Bernard Lewis book " The Middle East, a brief history of the last 2000 years", I have encountered one of the most fascinating fact about the way Islam looked and regulated the trade in humans throughout the middle-ages. Despite the well publicised myth regarding the outlawed position of slavery in Islam since the seventh century, yet to my surprise I found that not only most Islamic States have allowed the salve trade to go on without resriction, but most have also encoureged it and some have even resisted the call for ending it. To illustrate this, I will post this excerpt from the book for the readers to enjoy in the hope that some will find this fact as fascinating as I did. From the book " The Middle East ( A brief history of the last 2000 years ) by Bernard Lewis "The large -scale, long -range commerce in human beings was, in the ma...

I have listened and watched some of the latest interview of Dr. Wafaa Sultan last week on Aljazeera TV channel. Despite some of my friends anger and objections to the points Dr. Sultan brought up on the program regarding Islam and Muslim behaviors in general, I can not help but extend my most heartfelt gratitude and thanks to Dr. Sultan on her courageous and articulate thoughts she had expressed. Thomas Payne, the famous American revolutionary, once said "These are the times that try men's souls." I strongly believe without an inner awakening of our people, we as Arabs need our own Payne who can lead us out of the dark ages we are in and towards the lights of knowledge. Kudos to Dr. Sultan, for people like her with honest and straight forward thinking can start to make a difference in our world.

Observers of Middle Eastern politics would tell you that nothing in this land of cynicism and tradition can be simple. As more optimism engulfs the neo-conservative team of the Bush administration of their recent achievements in Iraq, the stakes become higher. Arab governments are closely watching with anticipation every development in Iraq. Iran is betting on the democratic process to bring about a shi’aa majority in the transitional parliament so it can influence the final outcome of the Iraqi government. The irony that the United States by pushing for a Western style democratic process to be established in Iraq, many fear it will bring about Islamic religious conservatives to power where the Mullahs would be the real rulers. This was certainly true when American foreign policy adventures in Afghanistan eventually brought the Taliban into power after the soviets pull out. This was also true in Algeria when after constant political pressure from France the Algerian government caved in...

With all the hoopla about the recent success of the Iraqi elections and the tremendous turn out at the polls despite the clear and present danger, the neo-conservatives of the current administration might be premature to exchange the cheers of their successful mission in Iraq. President Bush's description of the elections as a "resounding success" could backfire and prove to be another naive look at the real picture in Iraq. We are yet to see the violence subsides, in fact more than 30 civilians lost their lives on the day of the elections and several explosions and gun shots rocked the corners of Baghdad and other cities in Iraq. On the same day that people went out in droves to defy the insurgents and prove them wrong, many disenfranchised Sunni stayed away from the polls and elected to boycott the elections. The result of this will not be felt immediately but will rather create a slow simmering hatred and resentment among the minority Sunni. American troops should ...