We now have a novel site whose author would like us to think that he is doing us Bahrainis a huge favour by “exposing” activists with an agenda. Activists which he describes as not only as cowardly traitors, which it seems he can put up with, but much more disgustingly to him as Shi’a.
I had wished the vitriol would have stopped there; “another” person (I am fairly sure that it is the author in disguise, judging by the style of writing and brain-farty thinking) obviously very well-educated and a staunch Bahraini patriot calling himself “anti-che3oo” – che3oo translates to unwanted puppy, a runt, a very derogatory term used by some extremist Sunnis – to describe Shi’as, are mounting a hate campaign against Zainab Al-Khawaja and her father specifically, and Shi’a generally. That would be against some 400 million souls. Does that qualify as racist?
This person thinks that he or she is doing Bahrain a favour by showing their special brand of hate. While what they are actually doing is nothing more than exposing themselves as hate-mongering slithering reptiles. However, if this particular person carries that kind of poison in his head, I’m sure he enjoys some sort of community support as no one can reach that stage of harbouring that much hate for fellow human beings without being brainlessly stoked.
I just hope that his immediate community will show him the error of his ways by unequivocally demonstrating that hate like this has no place in Bahrain, or the world, regardless of differences of opinion.
This story reminds me of the Right Honourable Member of Parliament Jassim Al-Saidi’s Friday sermon and I tend to think that if so called “community leaders” are allowed to wrong the vast majority of Bahrainis with not so much as an apology, persecution or even being shunned by their community, then this situation is really nothing to write home about.
This could get endemic if not treated immediately. We can start treating this disease right here and right now. Please show these people that they have no place in our local and world communities.
Comments
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
[i]*with the most cynical attitude*[/i]
Wow.. Sunnis and Shi’as.. ain’t Islam nowadays a beautiful religion.
I mean, seriously, who in their right ‘civilised’ mind would give a poop about others being Sunni or Shi’a. And frankly, both sects have been relintlessly pulling away from each other for the sake of gaining some group identity that will have a free ticket to heaven or whatever. The thing is, they’ve grown so much apart that they do not resemble what Islam is.
You know, for people like [url=http://antizainabalkhawajah.blogspot.com/]that[/url], from both sect, I say one thing: “el6aggag e6ighum” –> direct translation: “may the hitter hits them” –> as in: “**** ’em all” –> in the context of: “Can’t be bothered”.
But, it’s not like they’re going to vanish if we ignore them and we can’t just sit back and do nothing about these atavistic, demented, low-life, cows… or could they?
HMD out..
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
If this person is so hellbent on exposing the truth about such ‘Liars’ then I would recommend somebody in Bahrain to submit their website to the local newspapers letter sections; English & Arabic. Then perhaps maybe ‘blind’ as they say will finally open their eyes. Afterall, arent they doing this for the benefit of our society? So why not help themout in their quest to make Bahrain a ‘better’ place for all? Isnt this what we all want afterall?
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Seems to be that person has nothing to do but a grudge on Alkhawajah, all i can say to him “GET A LIFE MATE” ..
Anon-4 ever
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Mahmood
The racist views that Anti-che3o has regarding people coming from the villages are not new; they have existed ever since the Al Khalifas conquered Bahrain in 1783. The problem we have is that no human being can file a lawsuit against anybody for being racist. In fact, the regime encourages such behaviour because they are supporting it in the first place. They don’t want to see people united so there is no use raising the issue because it is not in the interest of the regime nor the clerics for that matter in bringing it to an end. Imagine if Shiites and Sunnis would marry each other and also praying in each others mosque without the need of converting to each others sect; Catholics and Protestants fought for 30 years and today you see that they can marry each other without any obstacles; they can live together with no problem. If the Europeans set aside their differences why can’t the Muslims do the same?
Leif
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Don’t know what to say .. There really never is a dull moment in Wonderland .. is there?
Silly Me
Re: A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
There was legislation being pushed in parliament to criminalise discrimination in all its forms; unfortunately that effort was scuppered for one reason or another.
I think what scuppered it was the Shi’a’s objection to the term “Sahabah” as the proposal did not have a clear definition of who the Sahabah are. The contention of course is that some would regard Yazeed and Abu Sufyan as Sahabah and they couldn’t carry on cursing them for their transgressions on the Prophet’s household members. Or something of that sort anyway. The Sunna MPs (yes, we do have a very sectarian parliament) insisted, and the whole thing fell through. I didn’t follow the proposal after that.
As to Al-Khalifa wanting the to continue to quagmire, that would suppose that 400,000 people are simply stupid in not seeing through that “scheme.” No, although this thought has been bandied about quite vociferously, I think that should the people of both houses decide to end this discrimination they would have, with or without the ruling family’s blessings. And the jewel of a person we’re discussing in this article is a typical result of this environment.
My suggestion is to quit blaming “them” for all ills that has and will befall us and just – for want of a better word – ignore them and do things ourselves. For instance, what would it take for a person praying behind a preacher to just get up and get out of the mosque if the preacher made a derogatory comment or prayer for annihilation of x, x being any of the following: sunnis, shi’a, jews, christians, hindus, martians, or whoever else that pissed him off that particular day? The congregation or the person does not even have to tell the preacher that he is wrong, just get up and walk, instead of parroting “Amen” at the preacher’s every pause?
Does that take Al-Khalifa intervention to happen? Or would they stop a supplicant from doing so?
The Ghost of Clive Daly
I am absolutely disappointed, no I’m disgusted. And of course, anti-SHIAA just straight up disappeared so you that ought to tell you how much conviction he has in his own opinions. And the other at least has ONE functioning testicle remaining to actually modify his stance.
Look, if you want to criticize the BCHR, or even the Khawaja’s, that’s fair game. If you want to do it strong terms, that’s your perogative and your better damn well stand the backlash that comes (whether deserved or not).
At the end of the day, whatever disagreements we have between ourselves have to be resolved, whether it is out in the open for the whole world to see, or in the little alley between your mosque and my house.
And for the record, whatever tensions (practically non-existant at the start of the 20th century) between Sunni-Shiaa-Ijmi-whatever were stoked to a blaze by a British Foreign Officer who found an opportunity to utilize the great colonial trick of divide and conquer, and then artificially rig the demography. A house divided cannot stand. Old Man Daly’s been dead for eons. I find no reason to commerate that pigs life with enflaming insults.
[Modified by: Desert Island Boy (johnc) on January 25, 2006 12:17 PM]
Re: A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Amen.
To my mind, there are several solutions to this problem:
1. Cease teaching religious education in primary schools. Primary schools children are very impressionable, and having just one bad teacher would ruin a generation. Religion requires good and balanced minds to understand and comprehend and that is not present at that age group. If there is any religious education to be done at this stage; however, it must be absolutely limited to basics and principles only, without any need to go into sectarian details. Concentrate on the shared platform between all religions.
2. Make sure that religious education is balanced and covers ALL Muslim sects and ALL major religions. This is an obvious thing; this will engender understanding and tolerance.
3. Re-educate religion teachers who must undergo training and participation in the major religions; they have to attend Sunni and Shi’a functions, attend mass at churches as well as participate in Jewish and Hindu synagogues and temples. Once they get signed off by the ministers of those disciplines, they must undergo some sort of tolerance exam and then be allowed to teach the generalities of religion to pupils.
4. Bring out encompassing anti-discrimination and anti-hate laws and implement them. If a preacher so much as dares curse another co-religionist or extra-religionist, throw him in jail for the maximum penalty and make an example of him or her.
5. Allow women to be preachers. This will solve an awful lot of problems.
6. Remove all references to hate and hate-propagation from religious education. Completely.
I’m sure there are other suggestions that could be taken into account to eradicate – over time – this sectarian and religious enmity.
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
anti-che3oo and Zainab Al-Khawaja should get together, grab a cup of tea, and just kill eachother. Maybe then, we’d have a better Bahrain!
Peace,
Ahmed
Re(1): A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
re: #2
I can see the hooting and hollering over this one! “Why should we teach our childred about these infidel! This is against Islam! This is against the Koran! This is against !”
And then you’ll have people with bombs and fatwas and threats…
I don’t want to sound down, Mahmoodski. I agree with you on every point, and such things must be done NOW. But how? What can be done to implement such an idea, not just in Bahrain, but across the entire Peninsula? Will it take (as some fear) three decades of Islamist rule to scare the people into realizing that too much imposed religion (or any -imposed- religion) in one’s life is a bad thing?
If sensible folk ruled the world, then it’d be solved instantly 😀 But alas, only idiots and muttawa get elected.
–Ethan
Re: The Ghost of Clive Daly
Well done, DIB! You’ve found somebody outside the Middle East to blame this problem on. It’s the damned British to blame for Shia-Sunni sectarian strife! No Muslims are to blame at all for schisms in Islam. It’s the fault of the Other.
Sleeping More Soundly Now,
Steve
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
The problem with print, and by extension, other disseminated
text, is that it can acquire importance in people’s minds out
of all proportion to its real significance.
This anti-che3oo crap is probably written by some idiot teenager,
trolling around for fun. Maybe he just learned how to use blogger
or whatever. Please don’t grant him the oxygen that is publicity any
more. He has written nothing that merits any comment from you
on this, your estimable forum, Mahmood.
regards,
Scott
Re: A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Hmm, just went over to Zainab’s blog and had a look at the comments.
Pretty shitty behaviour towards her from this “person”. Racist abuse like
this isn’t credible, just very cheap.
Ugly, ugly …
Scott
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
–
You know if the insult fits wear it… If it doesn’t don’t…
Augurwell
.
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
AND there are there no anti-hate laws are there?
The police have no law.
We pack ’em off to court and prison if convicted of hate mongering.
.
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
It’s not just Bahrain. It’s most of the planet.
Re: A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
you are so funny Ahmed!
Do u want him to kill Zainab????? You better watch out for what you are saying dude. If he can not stand the freedom of speech, he better leave Bahrain coz Bahrain is the land of love, not hatred.
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
I don’t like this personal abuse but it is not as morally bad as being a follower of khomeini but claiming to be a human rights activist. That is evil.
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Is it really a “racial” thing or is it more due to ideological differences? If it is the first, I recommend reading “Racism” from the book “The Virtue of Selfishness” by Ayn Rand. The latter requires a freedom-of-religion clause in a constitution. Other than this, I don’t know what to say.
Keep up the good blog. Thanks for the info!
Re(1): A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Dude.. I’m gonna say whatever I wanna say dude.. Freedom of Speech dude.. Take it easy dude..
Re: A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
[quote]JJ: “also – women preachers are a great idea. we are very very far away from that .. “[/quote]
Every woman I know loves to preach. You may want to lean on the side of conservative patriarchal oppression before you give women license to bend your ear on all your sins in large congregations. They already have too much of a taste for it in private.
A Friendly Warning,
Steve
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
The government needs to equalize legislation so that in the eyes of the state – all laws that govern day to day life should not be left to religious leaders who have vested interets in maintaining the divide. (e.g. personal effects law).
also – women preachers are a great idea. we are very very far away from that ..
what i would like to see is a public investigtion into the finances of al awqaf al jaffaria and al sinniya .. lets find out how much money they manage – lets find out how much real estate they own and lets really figure out who benefits the most from insitutionalized and legalized sectariansim. my gut says its the religious clergy … so they will fight their damndest to maintain the status quo .. at the expense of the soul fo the country ..
jj
Re(1): A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Steve honey ..
Most women only preach when the lesser beings that they are talking to don’t comprehend or learn their lessons the first time round. If you are used to women preaching, that says an incredible amount about your (in)ability to learn from your mistakes …
JJ
A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Mahmood, you have recently let fly at some poor ill-informed (and that is all she is) newly-arrived expat and driven her off. So no free speech here either. We have had – I am sure you know where exactly – drivel aimed at exploiting the Sunni-Shia split when discussing GFH and the development of Hawar. You have poked fun at the idea that someone uses sextoys and then insisted that this means her partner/boyfriend/husband has a small dick. I thought the ideas of toys was to have fun. If my wife – or my kids – buy a crystal from your wife’s shop and then go back and buy another one the next week, does that mean that the first one was no good? Finally, you seem to have suddenly developed an enormous amount of hubris. Congratulations on being nominated for an award … but do you really think that you (and your blog) should have the same importance attached to your blog as for example that of the Religious Policeman? A lot of what people say on blogs is immediate reaction – that adds to interest but perhaps not to reliability. You cannot always be right – nor is it possible for someone else to always be wrong.
Re(2): A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
Yup, that’s exactly how women preach at you. Even if we men learned from our mistakes, there’d be other ones you’d find and inform us about, over and over and over. JJ, I think you are ready to be the first female preacher.
Steve
Re(2): A culture of hate is invading Bahrain
if she was your sister you like others to say kill dude… since she is not yours, then it is okay dude…. freedom of speech dude… your family is okay dude…