Egypt Culling Pigs and Animal Cruelty

Egypt recently killed the entire farm pig population in the country supposedly as a measure against the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus. Many people raised questions regarding the motives of the Egyptian government since most Egyptians are Muslim and the pig is considered an unclean animal. I don’t know what the real motives are, but the measure is premature at best.

Two problems are clear, most pigs belonged to poor farmers from Egypt’s Christian minority and it seems they were not fairly compensated, and the manner in which pigs are treated is appalling.

Pig cull in Egypt to halt swine flu:

News about the culling.

Outrage as video shows Egypt’s pig killing:

This video contains disturbing images of animal abuse. It shows a person using a hammer to hit pigs and shows them being picked using a loading tractor and dumped on top of each other into trucks… alive.

Mass graves for Egypt’s pigs:

This video is also disturbing. It shows extended raw footage of what the previous video discussed. A person near the end talks (in Arabic) about chemicals being used to kill the pigs and he describes that it took several minutes for the animals to die.

What does Allah stand for?

When I lived in Saudi Arabia, long before I became atheist, I used to escape the harsh reality of life there by reading novels and mystery books, listening to music, playing chess with friends and watching movies whenever possible. For each of these things, at one point or another, I was told they are haraam, or forbidden in Islam. Today, life in Saudi Arabia is still harsh, but things have eased up a bit compared to my childhood and that’s not because the religious zealots in control have relaxed their ridiculous rules, but for other reasons. Technology has made it possible for people to get TV through satellite, surf the internet, and communicate more freely. The explosion of youth population made it more difficult for the religious nuts to police everyone.

Since all of these restrictions are made for religious reasons and in the name of Allah, it begs the question, what does this Allah stand for?

I was ranting to a friend my qualms with religion and he was tired of hearing me go on, so he jokingly asked “what do you have against this Allah guy?” and I responded without thinking of it “I love life, liberty, and happiness, and he’s against life, liberty, and happiness.” I was referencing the famous phrase from the Declaration of Independence. It never occurred to me until now, what I just said is an acronym for ALLAH: Against Life, Liberty, And Happiness. If it makes you happy, it’s haraam, if it gives you liberty, it’s haraam, and if it allows you to live to your full potential, you can bet your life it’s haraam.

Atheism is my personal declaration of independence.

Afghan Women’s Plight

The BBC has a short article on the desperate act of self immolation by Afghan women.  Yes, women who’s life is so terrible they burn themselves.  More disturbing still is that it happens with some frequency

At the burns centre of the provincial hospital in Herat, Dr Mohammed Jalili knows more than most about this gruesome practice.

He says he has seen more than 80 cases of women committing self-immolation in the past year. The majority of these women have died from their injuries.

Afghani women are probably the most oppressed on the planet — at least I can’t think of another place that comes close.  It doesn’t surprise me some see suicide by fire as a way out of misery.

It was an absolute cry of despair, and something rarely heard from women in this deeply conservative society.

Awkward Situation

I recently visited a Muslim community center with an attached mosque for a funeral. During prayer time, everyone rushed to the attached mosque while I attempted to hide until prayer is finished; I didn’t succeed. About 5 people were individually asking why I’m not heading to prayer — I told each of them the same thing: I’m not religious. Four of them responded by telling me how prayer is important and that I don’t have to be religious to perform it, one of those four was rather pushy. The fifth guy showed disgust when I told him I don’t pray, and he simply left without saying anything.

I would like to just say, I’m atheist, or I’m not Muslim, but that has the potential of bringing trouble to my family, a risk I’m unwilling to take.

Muslim Music Parody

While I was browsing Arabic blogs, I came across two videos of supposedly Islamic music.  For those not familiar with the subject, music in Islam is controversial, the fundamentalist view is that music is forbidden (Haraam), but singing without instruments (Nasheed) can be permissible.  I don’t know what to make of the videos, they are not parodies of Islam as I noticed the creators of the art cater to Muslim audience, and they are not fundamentalists themselves, as fundies wouldn’t put up with anything remotely like this.

But, if they are for real and this is an attempt to modernize Islam, it would be sad really.  They have many negative comments on YouTube left by people who think this corrupts Islam.  The videos themselves are creative, funny, and, if a workaround to the Islamic ban on Music, sad.  There are many religious and cultural references in videos, the more you know, the funnier they are.

This second one is lengthy, but has some good parts.

I really laughed at the “Gin and Juice… is Haraam” part around marker 5:47.

And really… please don’t bring Sunnah back, if it ever goes away.

Found on whatabastor [Arabic only]

Hitting Women is Okay?

A Muslim cleric recently told his male followers in Australia that it’s ok to force their wives to have sex and to hit them if necessary.

News article here.

The cleric, Samir Abu Hamza seems puzzled “Amazing, how can a person rape his wife?”  He should lookup the word rape in a dictionary.  What’s amazing is that there are still men who view women as property.

Too add to the insult, he basically recommends his followers beat their wives gently – no bruising or bleeding, just the way Muhammad would have done it.  I guess he’s a progressive fundie.

Domestic violence occurs everywhere and I personally don’t think Muslim families have higher rate of abuse.  There are men who wouldn’t hit women even if it was legal, and likewise some would not stop if it is illegal.  The difference is that in societies where such abuse is illegal and strongly condemned by the culture, it can be reported, combated, and most importantly the victims have recourse.

I often hear the argument that as an atheist I have no source for morals.  While a flawd argument, I should point to the obvious source of morals for the cleric above: the Quran and Muhammad.

Saudi Sports

I’m not much for sports, but there was an incident recently when a Saudi prince called in into a live sports show to express his anger over the commentator’s remark regarding a soccer match in which Saudi Arabia lost to Oman 6 to 5.  The prince is Sultan bin Fahd Al-Saud, who is the head of a government body called Youth and Sports Committee that oversees and organizes sports and youth programs in Saudi Arabia.  The prince started insulting the commentators one by one in a hostile tone regarding their critique of the match, threatening them to “stay silent” and “if you haven’t been disciplined, I would discipline you”  I would imagine the entire encounter is very humiliating to the commentators since it’s dangerous to reply to the prince’s comments.  One of the commentators tried to defend his position near the end, but the prince hung up on him.

News article with truncated video subtitled in English.

This incident in itself is not unusual, threats by royal family members are quite normal (and serious,) but what sets this apart is that it was seen by millions and people are expressing outrage over it on Arabic blogs seemingly unafraid of the consequences.  There was a time when saying things like “the prince should step down” or “he should apologize” would land someone in jail, or worst.  Some might see this as a sign of progress – I pretty much doubt that myself.

Sports hold a special place for the Saudi male population since it’s the only legal outlet for entertainment.  There is no theater, alcohol, dating, or parties in Saudi Arabia, but there is sports.  The ruling family understands its importance as a pacifier for the population, and as a distraction from political affairs, so it’s no surprise that other royal family members joined the chorus of the millions outraged over the incident.  That’s not the only reason they did that, the royal family itself is increasingly feudal, so this is an opportunity for opposing factions to capitalize on the population’s anger.

Here’s the full length video in Arabic only.  Look at the faces on the commentators as they listen to the prince.

Islamic Logic

Some things in Saudi Arabia are so absurd, they are almost unbelievable. During high school, my Islamic studies’ teacher would give us weekly quizzes; if we answer all questions correctly he scores the papers for 9 points out of 10. When we inquired why he deducted a point for seemingly nothing, he replied “perfection is for Allah only.” Sad but true.

Saudi Adventure

I recently took a 14-day trip to Saudi Arabia, my first trip there in more than 10 years.  I was anxious in so many ways.  Although my birthplace, I have spent most of my life outside the country and have essentially become a stranger, to people and places.

My childhood friend, the only friend to maintain contact with me, met me at airport arrival and walked me to a shiny Mercedes-Benz S600.  I laughed and told him I’m tired and not in the mood to marvel at cars, he smiled and opened the trunk.  I was surprised.  He used to preach modesty in our college days and here he is driving a car retailing for almost what I owe on my mortgage.  Let’s call my friend Mark.  We got in the car and started heading to my hometown.

Me: Mercedes 600?  What? You couldn’t afford a Ferrari?

Mark: do you remember my older brother, the one who loved cars?

Me: yeah, how is he doing?

Mark (in somber tone): not well.  Last year he was diagnosed with Leukemia and my dad bought him this car to cheer him up and help him cope and recover.

I knew what Mark was going to say next.

Mark: he died from the Leukemia.

Me: I’m sorry, why didn’t you tell me this before?

Mark: no, I’m really sorry, Elis.

Me: it’s alright, Mark.

Just before I say any more, Mark forced a change of subject.  We continued to talk about various things while Mark drives on a mostly empty stretch of highway with little street lighting  There is a continuous audible alarm, I lean to his side to look at the fancy speedometer, it reads 160 Km/H (roughly 100 mph.)  I wouldn’t have guessed we were going that fast if it wasn’t for the alarm, the car is so quiet.

Me:  can you slow down a little?  I’m feeling timid.

Mark: you don’t trust my driving?  Don’t you remember that YOU taught me how to drive?

Me: oh, that’s true, it’s been so long.

We laughed at that bit until we came to a police checkpoint.  They asked for our IDs, I only had my passport, and the heavily bearded policeman asked if I just arrived at the airport, I said yes, he returned our IDs and waved us on.

Mark: they hired Osama’s cousins to man an anti-terrorist checkpoint.

We laughed.

Mark: one benefit to driving a car like this: you are harassed less at checkpoints.

Mark, a closeted atheist, intentionally slowed down at times to show me reflective brown traffic signs, similar to those used to point public parks in the U.S. except those contained religious phrases, like “Praise Allah,” “Keep Your Prayers.”

Mark starts to discuss the Mercedes, informing me his dad bought it because the dealer is an acquaintance who suckered him into it, but sold it to him for significantly below market price.

Mark: Now I really want to sell it, but I can’t, it would embarrass my father.

Mark: This car spends more time in repair than I spend driving it.  The computer failed twice, the air conditioner breaks once a month and now I even wonder if the airbags work.

Mark laughs, and then goes on to the subject of driving large cars:

Mark: you live in America — you can drive a subcompact without worrying about your safety.  This is Saudi Arabia, every single time I get in the car, there is a 10% chance I’ll die in it.

Me: 10%, now that’s a stretch, even by Saudi standards.  I would say even 1% is a stretch.

Mark: no, you don’t know how close I’ve come to dying while driving.  I’ve had a lot of close calls over the years.

We reached my hometown

Mark: do you recognize anything?

Me: nope, nothing is familiar at all.

Mark: we are close to your family’s home.

Me: if you let me out right here, I wouldn’t know where to go.

Mark: you’ve been absent too long.

Mark stops in the middle of a street.

Mark: are you sure you don’t recognize anything?

Me: nope

Mark: to your right is where your childhood home once stood.

I had an emotional moment, but didn’t show it.  I remember vividly what my childhood house and neighborhood looked like, but the houses have been replaced by apartments and the surrounding area was turned into a messy commercial area.

Mark continues driving and we reach my family’s current home.

Over the next few days, I myself was driving around and increasingly I felt unsafe in the small Mazda I borrowed from my family.  I remember driving in Saudi Arabia when I lived there, but everything is a lot worst now.  Drivers seem to have total disregard for traffic laws and for the safety of other drivers.  Mark’s 10% figure started to look like an understatement now.

I would imagine many Saudis think in this manner: There is no point in driving safely seeing how accidents are really God’s will.  Why even bother wearing a seatbelt, if God wills that I die, I’m sure a mere seatbelt is not going to stop me from dying.  Sooner or later I’ll die anyway and I’ll be in haven, so I should just drive carelessly and let God carry on with his will.

A family member even told me something disturbing, fundamentalists preach against seatbelts saying they interfere with “fate and destiny.”  This phrase is very common in Muslim sermons related to death and injury.

Just 4 days before I was scheduled to head back to the U.S, I went out with Mark to have dinner, and he insisted that I see his house first, which I did; it was nice, clean and organized, and not as fancy as where I imagined a Mercedes S600 driver would live.  Afterward, we got in the car; Mark backs it out of the garage and parks it in front of his house to mess with the audio system before we leave for dinner.  His house sits oddly near an intersection with a traffic light — I thought what an odd place for a house.  I was browsing through the pictures on the mobile phone I borrowed from a family member when suddenly I hear Mark gasp in alarm and see him in my peripheral view raising his arms to shield his face.  I barely had time to raise my head just to see a car heading toward us impacting Mark’s car.

The impact was severe and the S600 airbags deployed… all gazillion of them.  I was stunned for what seemed like an eternity, I knew the situation was not good.  I initially felt I was upside down, and wasn’t even sure if I was injured.  Fortunately, the car did not flip and I was not injured, and neither was Mark.  I reach to open the door, and I remember fearing it might have been jammed shut by the impact, but it opens with a squeak and some resistance.  Mark’s door also opens with a squeak and we both get out of the car.

My hands were shaking and my heart was beating fast.  The impact threw the S600 a considerable distance with the car that hit us mangled nearby.  We rush to it and we find its driver still trapped in it, moaning.  We try to open his door, but it doesn’t budge, we managed to open the passenger door, but the dashboard got pushed into him trapping him and I wasn’t sure if we should drag him out.  I head back to Mark’s car to look for the phone I was holding in my hand during the accident, but I couldn’t find it.  Mark went inside his house and called the police.  Meanwhile a lot of drivers stopped, it was a spectacle.  Somehow they managed to get the driver out.  It didn’t take long for us to figure out this other driver was drunk…really drunk.

Let’s call this drunk driver Dick.  Dick was injured, and puking.  He was moaning in pain and said he can’t move.  We were afraid he broke his back or neck.  More than 10 minutes have passed and there is no ambulance or police in sight.  One of the spectators offered to take us to the hospital, so we hauled Dick into a car and all of us rode to the hospital.  We handed Dick to the emergency personnel and viola, a policeman is right there to greet us.

The policeman asked a lot of questions, and released the driver that brought us to the hospital.  He took my ID and Mark’s and asked us to wait.  Some long minutes later a patrol car arrived and we were taken to a detention center specifically for traffic violators pending an investigation into this accident.  It didn’t matter that we didn’t cause the accident; I guess our story wasn’t credible and they needed to hear Dick’s side first.  I was not supposed to be detained, but my ID was expired, so I was cordially invited to join Mark.

The detention center was just one very large room, no windows and a filthy toilet in a sectioned corner.  There were multiple filthy rugs on top of each other and filthy blankets all around with some prayer rugs in one side.  Mark requests to call his family to let them know he’s okay, so he is escorted to make the call, I stay behind in the cell.  I remain standing up.  Looking around, I see a guy of Indian decent sitting in a corner alone and three guys playing cards in the center of the room, two of them are Saudis and one is Egyptian.  One of the Saudi guys, obviously a self appointed cell’s spokesman, calls me “sit down, you’re going to be here for a long time.”  I don’t respond, he assumes I didn’t understand him so he taps his hand on the ground gesturing for me to sit.

Mark comes back a few minutes later and tells me not to worry and that we’ll be out soon.  The Saudi guy hears him and says “no, you’re going to be here for a while, you’re not getting out, not until tomorrow” he continues, pointing at me “we thought your friend was a foreigner.”  Mark inquires about why everyone is in the cell and it seems all have been involved in car accidents where someone was injured or killed.

Mark and I remain standing up, and the Saudi guy continues to call for us to sit down.  I grew tired of standing up, it took about 30 minutes so I started to look for a clean blanket to sit down and just then the cell’s door opens, a policeman asks me and Mark in a polite manner to come with him.  We were taken to an office with a desk and plenty of cushioned seats, and then a high ranking policeman comes in and says “you two kids must be spoiled people, I received a call from my superior to treat you as guests while waiting for someone to bring me a release order.”

We remain in the office for more than 2 hours, we were brought food and soda.  The door was open, but we were not free to go.  The high ranking policeman says “I would let you go, but I can’t, not until the release paper arrives.”  Meanwhile we mused him with our account of the accident and he kept repeating “alhamdulillah“ [thank god] for our survival.  I was thinking “no, thank German engineering.”  We came out of the car without a scratch.  The office walls were littered with printouts containing religious phrases, perhaps the room is used to torture atheists.

While talking to this policeman, I couldn’t help but notice he was playing with a mobile phone that looked a lot like the one I lost in the accident.  He later puts it in a small box behind him.

It takes a little more time and Mark’s father arrives holding a large envelope with the Saudi seal on it.  I have no clue what was inside it, but the policeman opens it, reads it, hands us our ID’s and says “you are free to leave.”  He also grabs the small box behind him and hands it to mark asking “these things are yours?”  The box contained our mobile phones and few other items.  The phone he was playing with was mine after all… how rude!

As we leave the traffic police building, both the Mercedes and the other car were parked in a lot next to each other.  Both cars were totaled, but the damage is not equal.  The Mercedes front was severely damaged, but the passenger compartment was remarkably preserved, no glass shattered and even the windshield was mostly intact with just cracks.  The back of the Mercedes was also damaged, the sides of the trunk bulged even though nothing impacted the back.  If one were to see the back section only, it would seem as another car rear ended us.  Overall the center of the car was pushed up.

The other car was an American midsize sedan and it was a mess.  All of its front glass was shattered.  The dashboard was pushed into the passenger compartment and down on the seats, the steering wheel ended up just 5 inches from the seat.  I still don’t understand how Dick survived the airbag deployment and then being pinned in just 5 inches of space.  The car got crunched into a kidney shape with the driver side crushed more than the passenger.

We get in Mark’s father’s car, a fancy Honda Civic, as he drives me home, he talked about how dangerous it is to be out at night (the accident happened around 8 PM and it was now around 1 AM.)  I guess statistically, more Dicks hang out at night, not that I and Mark are Dicks.  Being mindful that Mark’s father just recently lost a son, I apologized for the troubles we caused him.

We visited Dick 2 days later, he broke both of his femurs and had some bruises, but he is otherwise healthy and will recover and will even have fancy metal rods in his legs.  Dick even told us the stench of alcohol coming out of him was not alcohol (Allah forbid, he says) it was just motor oil from the car, and he simply swerved into us at full throttle and without touching the break just to avoid hitting someone walking in the middle of the street.  He kept repeating “alhamdulillah” [thank God] that we all survived.  No, Dick, thank the inventors of the airbag that saved your life.

Dick had a relative with him when we visited, he got annoyed when we inferred Dick was under the influence two days earlier, so he told us “look at him… does he look drunk to you?”  Doh!

Our visit to Dick was not really to check on him, Mark wanted to make sure Dick’s account of the accident is realistic in case Mark’s insurance contacts Dick.  Not that we are uncompassionate.

I’m glad we still have Dick to bring joy to the world.  Mark’s insurance paid him full retail value of the car minus some change.  He sadly decided to be modest and replaced it with a much cheaper Porsche Cayenne.  Of course, he would have opted for a Corolla, but, in Saudi Arabia, you really want to make a good impression when it’s your time to meet a Dick.

Marriage to an 8-year-old?

It’s one of those things that make a sane person go WTF?

Saudi judge refuses to annul marriage of girl, 8

Something is seriously wrong with a father who thinks it’s OK to marry his 8-year-old daughter to a 47-year-old.  And it’s to settle a debt, no less.  I guess children are fair game for barter in Muslim Saudi Arabia.

The mother’s petition to nullify the marriage is overruled because she’s not the legal guardian, yet the father bartering his daughter still keeps his legal guardianship, WTF?  And then the judge tells asks the pedophile, please don’t fuck her until she reaches puberty, WTF?  The pedophile is a close friend of the father, what kind of friends do those people keep?  And what kind of judge would rule in favor of a pedophile that didn’t even bother to show up?

This is wrong on so many levels, but I guess it’s not surprising since Saudi law is based solely on the Quran and releated teachings.