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Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Toni — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:29:59 -0000

Can u make a list that is student friendly and accompany a photo of what you write so special ed students can understand the concept TFusco@sjsdny.org

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Toni — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:28:41 -0000

Can u make a list that is student friendly and accompany a phot of what you write so special ed students can understand the concept TFusco@sjsdny.org

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Trevor — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:15:24 -0000

Seriously? Would you honor my request to add (STFU) after everything you ever type in caps? Silly.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Trevor — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:12:46 -0000

No. Iraq is mostly Shia just as the author stated. Kurds only represent 16-18% of the total population and have Sunnis, Shias, Yezidi and Christians not to mention non-religious groups among them.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

unblock_porn — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:07:11 -0000

Very accurate and good info.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Benjamin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:15:38 -0000

"protestants are more like wahhabis (the extremist subgroup of Sunnis)"

I almost decided that this was so preposterous that it was not worth replying to, But I am highly offended. I do not think that all Muslims are zealots and terrorists. Obviously, you think that all Protestants are this way. It must be because you are as ill-informed about Christian denominations as most Christians are about Islam and its different sects.

I am a Protestant. The word comes from protesting against the tyranny of the Catholic church a few hundred years ago, not from extremist attitudes such as "killing infidels". If you want to make an intelligent analogy, then study before you post. You are as caustic as extremists in our camp.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

aguywhoisMuslim — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:35:19 -0000

You know honestly I am Muslim and this site not bad (haven't read many of the comments, but the site post itself is pretty accurate to my eyes). If any non-Muslim reads and understands what is written here he/she knows more than 90% of Americans about Islam.

But not everything you said is exactly right. If you want to use an analogy, protestants are more like wahhabis (the extremist subgroup of Sunnis). Sunni Islam is the large majority of Muslims, and many Sunni Muslims revere saints. Only stupid wahhabis don't. Shi'a respect saints but they have their own, and they really focus on the "imams," who are universally descendants of the Prophet (s). Sunnis use the word "imam" in a different way. Shi'a might say either "Imam" (initial cap) meaning certain descendants of Prophet (s), or "imam" (small 'i') meaning the person who leads prayers and gives instruction at a mosque. Sunnis use the word "imam" in a way similar to the way Shi'a use the word for the person who leads prayer.
There are many other differences also, but they are matters of belief and practice, in the way that Seventh Day Adventists are going to be different from Jehovah's Witnesses or, certainly, from Catholics.
Real Sunni Islam reveres the descendants of the Prophet (s), but wahhabis don't.
There is not really a grand Sunni-Shi'a conflict. There have been wars, of course, but saying there is a long-term ongoing conflict between Shi'a and Sunni is not right--it is just as true to say that there is a long-term ongoing conflict between Protestants and Catholics. It might be true in a very limited way but is on its face an ignorant statement.

Wahhabis say there is no clergy in Islam (and they mean Sunni Islam) but actually there are learned people that Wahhabis don't want to recognize. Also there are saints, almost universally revered in the Muslim world, who are despised by Wahhabis. There is a lot more detail and nuance to this, of course, but what you have said is a good basic starting point.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

mashaziva — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:22:44 -0000

Study history . Some facts you might learn: Jews populated the area known as Israel for over 5000 years. Jerusalem was the capital of Israel before and during the birth of Christ. Jews lived in Arab countries for thousands of years, as arabs lived in Israel. Over 600,000 jews were expelled from their homes in arab countries before and after 1948 and no one is suggesting that they be able to return to their ancestral homes with or without reparations.
Learn the facts. Research this for yourself and dont buy into the lies being spread.
And then answer this question: Jordan controlled the west bank and east jerusalem from 1949-1967 during which time they expelled the Palestinians to refugee camps in Syria/Lebanon. Why didnt the world demand that Jordan create a Palestinian state. Why did the world stand by and allow generations of palestinians to be hoarded in refugee camps? why?

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

TravelInsurance — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:57:14 -0000

Very informative. Thank you.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

kyle — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:54:04 -0000

this was really kindergarten stuff...

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Ife — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:18:12 -0000

This was a wonderful "Facts" article.. Although one can keep up with whats going on in the Middle East; these background facts benefit those of us who have forgotten our world history/religion lessons from year ago. These reminders of the basic facts behind these conflicts help a lot of older readers tap into those OLD annuls of our mind/memory. I wish there were more article of this nature that would shred more light of some of the present world situations. Even if it sounds like 5th grade history, some of us Older citizens need these type of 'just the facts' articles. The condensed version in these 10 facts spark memory
file to open up and say,'ahhhhh yes, I remember that.' Believe me ALL of You responders here will either get old and not remember some facts of history or maybe Not..If you don't get older you know the alternative.Death!! I am glad I can say "Ahhhhh Yes, I remember that from bible school/Mrs.Smith's 5th grade history class. Thank You Daniel Miessler

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

eric — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:53:25 -0000

Thanks for the useful information. It is helpful. However, the condescening tone isn't.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Peter — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:36:38 -0000

Well done!
Next would be What are similarities between Muslims and Jews ?:
on the practical side: not eat pig, no drink wine, separatation of sexes for prayer , ...
Peter

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Xorpej — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:56:02 -0000

nice post...i know this long time ago and for those people who discriminate middle eastern people, this should be a nice blog!

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Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Nola — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:57:53 -0000

Are you people serious? This is stuff a fifth grader should know...

specially after the coverage of the past 20 years.

jesus christ.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Glen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:59:43 -0000

Good post

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Hermes — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:42:47 -0000

Arabs do make an ethnic group,
Arabs originally inhabited the Arabian Peninsula.
they where tribes ,Later there were a migration, they migrated and diffused north to Syria (bilad al sham) and Iraq and west to Egypt
and settled there.Maybe there were native people(the regions they settled in)before this migration,but I know that after that this regions was inhabited by a majority of Arabs till this day.

Looking at the fact that these regions was the center of the old world
its natural that Arabs were mixed with other ethnic groups.
You can still find "unmixed Arabs" in Yemen (those who didn't migrate)

There is No black Arabs
there skin is white to brown

the modern 'Arab' definition is : those who speak Arabic language and who share some other cultural values.

The land of Palestine was inhabited by Arabs for thousands of years
in the beginning of the 20th century Jews migrated from Europe,Russia,many parts of the world to Palestine
which was occupied by Great Britain at that time,the Britons took the lands of Arabs by force and gave it to the Jews

1948 Israel was announced as a state
before that there was no Israel and before that a bit more
there were no Jews in Palestine (or they were a very small minority)

Arabs fight Israel to get there lands and rights back

suppose that Arabs occupy USA
what would the Americans do
would they give it or fight for it

Arabs are not attacking Israel they are giving back Israel attacks

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Sam — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:43:10 -0000

CORRECTION arabs do not make an ethnic group but rather arabs are a group of people that share the same language and several other cultural values. It is not a race you can find black arabs and white arabs, monst of them are mediterraneans but still do not make a race or an ethnic group they have their many differences despite their claim of being one nation. To clarify Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Lebanon, Jordan are all arab but with several things in common and lots of difference.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

David — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:54:20 -0000

sooo...
how are Christians anti-american???

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Richard — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:21:49 -0000

This is very insightful, but I'm sorry Bernie, I disagree with you 100%. I lived in Israel for a year on business (and I am not a Jew), and the Israelis do not treat the people in the Gaza any worse than you or I would treat someone that routinely launched rockets into our neighborhoods in the US or Europe. And Israel is so small you can see it yourself - not just by some foolish, slanted reporter on TV. I would go much further than the Israelis. They have amazing restraint. It amazes me how lies can be spread so easily by those with a political agenda. People need to go see for themselves how those around Israel treat the Israelis before they complain about how the Israelis "return the favor." I met many happy Muslims working in Israel - and for very good pay (top dollar). Has anyone ever asked where all the money goes that is poured into the Palestinian "coffers" by generous US and European citizens and governments? By all accounts they should have the finest schools and at least decent homes, but no... it somehow gets funneled into very violent causes (e.g., how was Arafat's wife in France worth over 20 million US dollars?). It sure must pay well to be a leader of a "celebrity cause" - I am so sick of the lies made up to cover for terribly violent behavior (anywhere in the world, and by anyone, US and Europe included).

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Will Schenk — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:50:24 -0000

@John Waters -- Yeah, things to get engolfed in the Palestine/Israeli madness very quickly; my fault as much as other, so sorry about that. But I think, especially since America is perceived as meddling the the region as a pawn of Israel, it's important to talk about if the goal is to understand how we are seen from their perspective.

@Bernie -- That's interesting, I never actually considered the 9/11 thing being a Arab thing or not. I sort of assumed it was because all 19 of the people in the plane where Saudi Arabians (and as far as I know Muslims) that the fact is relevant. I'm not sure what the alternative is, about what 9/11 is "about" or what the motivations were. My point really bringing that up is that I'm not fully comfortable claiming I "survived" that terrorist attack when it happened while I was in my apartment, rather that up close enough to see the other guys eyes and smell the burnt flesh like the time before. (NYC smelt more like burning plastic afterwards.)

At any rate, in general I think there's clear consensus that 9/11 constituted a terrorist attack, and it supports my blanket statement that "statistically speaking, the odds heavily favor suicide bombers being muslims". And it would be illustrative to speculate on why that is so. Salman Rushdie has some interesting thoughts on that.

@Rob -- I know that you are trying to be facetious, but I'm pretty that the people responsible for the Oklahoma bombings planned on walking away from it, and that going out in a blaze of glory (or whatever) was not an integral part of the plan. I think you missed the gist of what I was saying. You probably heard something more like "all muslims are terrorists", and that sort of sloppy reading and reasoning is pretty dangerous when we are making sweeping generalizations.

@samer -- When I lived in Kuala Lumpur I was there for Ramadan. The ethnic struggles there were pretty tense, but only the ruling 1/3 of the population Muslim and (more or less) a 1/3 being Chinese and 1/3 being Indian. It was pretty mellow for a non-Muslim to eat during Ramadan, but there were people out in force actively questioning people who were not obviously non-muslim about eating during the day. Other than the fact that people were cranky because they were hungry, people were a lot more smoothly integrated than you would think if you were comparing it to some of the more fundamental golf states for sure.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

thoughtful — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:26:27 -0000

In reply to 16, I'm not going to put "peace be upon him" as a special case against the name of Muhammad, because he rode around the world spreading his ideas by killing innocent people and threatening others into delusional belief. Belief that is now hard for them to shake without being socially ostracized.

However I do respect the freedom of all to believe as they will as long as they don't force it on me.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

marie Ashton — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:33:48 -0000

None of this changes the fact that Muslims of all ethnicities want to destroy Israel...

Comment by Nicole — 11/25/2008 @ 2:10 pm

Having visisted Israel, and spent time with Jews as well as Muslims. I can honestly say that this comment is not true...and only serves to demonstrate ignorance....some Muslims want to destroy Israel, and some Israelis' want to destroy Palestine & Muslims...however most just want to get on with their lives. there is a very violent history between the two, and Israel is oppressing Palestine.

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

Mo — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:22:21 -0000

One correction though: Iraq is mostly Sunni, not Shia, since Kurds are part of Iraq and they are mostly Sunnis.

Wow, a Saddamist who is still gripping onto that long refuted illusion of an argument.

Arab and Kurdish Sunnis in Iraq make up approximately 30% of the population - no more, no less.

The real corrections to be made are these:

<ol>
<li>Ali was Muhammad's first cousin</li>
<li>Saying that Abu Bakr was chosen on the grounds of merit is ludicrous by all accounts. It is a documented historical fact that 6 people gathered and conspired to choose said person as successor. There was no consensus, there was no referendum and there was no voting.</li>
</ol>

Re: 10 Facts Every Westerner Should Know About the Middle East

ad — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:15:21 -0000

Nice post.

One issue with it, though...it's entitled "10 facts..." and the 7th is "According to the Bible, Jews and Arabs are related".

Since when is anything from the Bible to be considered a fact?

I appreciate the point you are trying to make...but this was surely already done by pointing out that they were both ancient Semitic peoples (more or less in those terms)?