Monday, February 20, 2006

my private casbah

My Private Casbah is a blog I recently found by Bint Alshamsa (daughter of the sun). Based on some of her discussion on religion and other things brought up in her blog, I would guess that she's a Black ex-Bahai but to be honest I really don't know her precise background. In any case, she has an intriguing perspective on things.

3 comments:

bint alshamsa said...

Marhaba!

Well, I certainly don't mind providing the answer to this minor mystery. Maryam was quite right. I am an ex-Jehovah's Witness although I must admit that I do hold some of the same beliefs as som Baha'i, so it's understandable that you got that impression from my views.

I am very grateful to you for mentioning my lonely little blog on your site. I hope you'll come back and visit it again very soon.

wa salaam

Abdul-Halim V. said...

oh ok, that mystery solved. I should have known better. I guess I was thrown by the various "oriental" themes, you knowing Arabic, "casbah", you having a mentor in middle eastern studies, and other things...

btw, why did you pick Arabic to study? I'm curious.

Peace

bint alshamsa said...

Well, I think it started out from my desire to learn more about cultures in the Eastern world from the perspectives of the women who lived there. Since there isn't exactly an abundance of English-language information available on that topic, and I really didn't want to rely on second-hand views, I decided to learn Arabic so that I could see what these women had to say about themselves. After all, I'd want that courtesy given to me if someone claimed to want to know what I think about a topic.

Thankfully, there were lots of people who were willing to help me learn once they found out that I wasn't doing it because I had an Arabic boyfriend I wanted to impress (I was the only girl in my class who could say that, by the way).

Anyways, that was before 9/11. When 9/11 came, I got to see what many of the Arabic women (both Muslim and Christian) were going through because I went through it with them. So, did my daughter who could also speak Arabic and has an Arabic name. People didn't care what religion or color you were; If you did or said anything that might identify you as one of "dem Ay-rabs", you were susceptible to harrassment. That made me more determined to try to see the world through the eyes of those who were often ignored. So, I've continued with my Arabic studies and I've also taken up a few other languages as well.

I think that all Americans should do the same. I believe we'd be a lot less likely to go to war with people if we understood what their screams of pain meant after we bombed or shot someone/something.

So, I guess you could say that the decision to learn Arabic is just my little act of protest...a protest against the arrogant ignorance that is far too prevalent in my area, a protest against those who claim that the ability to communicate effectively with the "non-Western" world doesn't matter. It's also my way of saying to the world that I want to be able to understand how my country's actions have affected them. Not everyone has the opportunity to learn English but I do have the chance to learn their languages so I think the onus is on me to be able to initiate conversation between us.