Pre-Flight Islamic Prayer on Jazeera Airways

I went to Kuwait last weekend to see one of my children in a school sports tournament. One of the wonderful things that has developed in the region in the last 5 years or so are low cost regional airlines. Jazeera Airways, a Kuwaiti airline, is one such company. I got a roundtrip air ticket from Dubai for about 360 AED (100 USD).

The flights were great and one very interesting aspect of this particular airline is that before every takeoff there is an Islamic prayer for travel that is broadcast on the airplane television screens. You hear someone performing the prayer (it’s a recording) and see the Arabic text scrolling onscreen. It takes about 1 minute or so total. I took a little video of it and uploaded it to youtube only to find that someone had done a much better job!  The video above is from the guy who did it better than me

I’ve not experienced this prayer on any of the other flights out of Dubai. I’ve wondered if it’s on Jazeera since it’s out of Kuwait and Kuwait tends to be more religiously conservative than the UAE.

I tried to google “Islamic Travel Prayer” and came up with a number of hits. This one seemed to make the most sense but I still don’t know if it is the actual prayer that is being spoken on the video. If someone who knows Arabic could listen to the video and tell me if the prayer is the one I’ve got printed here I would appreciate it.

Allah is the Most Great. Allah is the Most Great. Allah is the Most Great. Glory is to Him Who has provided this for us though we could never have had it by our efforts. Surely, unto our Lord we are returning. O Allah, we ask You on this our journey for goodness and piety, and for works that are pleasing to You . O Allah , lighten this journey for us and make its distance easy for us . O Allah, You are our Companion on the road and the One in Whose care we leave our family . O Allah , I seek refuge in You from this journey’s hardships, and from the wicked sights in store and from finding our family and property in misfortune upon returning.

Also, what do you think about the idea of a ‘travel prayer’? Does it make sense? What about the others onboard who are not Muslims… Does this make sense for them?

No Kissing at the Mall

Interesting policy implemented at the Mall of the Emirates last month. If you’re feeling amorous with your shopping partner (or someone you meet there you should take note of the second prohibition listed… “No Kissing or Overt Displays of Affection”. You might also get stuck at “Please Wear Respectful Clothing” too.

This raises a number of questions. Does this apply to all kissing? Like the “peck on the cheek” kind? Or just the ‘extended lip-lock’ kind? Who makes this decision? Is hand-holding an overt display of affection? Is an arm around the shoulder? Exactly where can a hand be put?

And what is respectful? Of course I assume they mean respectful to the host culture. But that is a tough thing to do when you (Dubai) are setting your goals on drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists to your country. Tourists by definition almost always see themselves as not a part of the culture they are visiting. It’s as if they think of themselves as viewing everything from behind a glass window.

When I first moved here I used to not wear shorts except to the beach and to the park. But I’ve loosened up about that over the last 5 years. I wonder if I ever offend anyone when I go to the store.

As a Christian I’m eager to keep the commandments of the Bible as an act of gratitude to God for what he’s done for me through Christ – the forgiveness of sins and the adoption into the his eternal family as a son of the King. The Bible would teach “let there not be a hint of immorality among you.” (Ephesians 5:3) But the real challenge is that immorality has some culturally defined boundaries. Or at least the “hints” are culturally defined often.

So, even when I take my family of all women (4 daughters, 1 wife) to the mall they don’t go in shorts or sleeveless shirts just out of respect for the host culture in which we live. But even then I wonder if people see my daughters, know we’re from the west, and then just assume they are immoral. What can I do about that? Nothing I think. Other than to live it down among the people who really know us.

When we go though, we’ll just have to make sure… no kissing!

What do you think?

Quote: Love Your Neighbor and Your Enemy

Great Quote:

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

GK Chesterton

Pictures from Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi

This mosque has been under construction for as long as I have lived in the UAE (over 5 years) and it’s finally been finished. I’m currently looking into whether it’s open to the public. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

Nevertheless, it’s very very impressive. Take a look…

Click here to see the slideshow

On this date… "6th Century Christians Massacred in What Is Present-Day Yemen

This entry in the Christian History Institute “story of the day” popped up on my iGoogle.com homepage. (I have it set to show me what’s on the page every day). The story below is about the massacre of Christians on the Arabian peninsula back in 500′s A.D. It happened in what is present day Yemen… two countries over from where we live. Interesting stuff.

In the sixth century, the nation of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) dominated the kingdoms of Himyar and Yemen on the southern Arabian peninsula. There were flourishing Christian churches in the area (also known as Homerites) which looked to Christian Abyssinia for protection.

It happened that a Himyarite Jew, Yusuf As’ar (better known by nicknames referring to his braids or ponytail: Dhu Nuwas, Dzu Nuwas, Dounaas, or Masruq), seized the throne from his king and revolted against Abyssinia, seeking to throw the Ethiopians out of the country. He captured an Ethiopian garrison at Zafar and burned the church there and burned other Christian churches.

Christians were strongest at the North Yemen city called Najran (sometimes spelled Nagran or Nadjran). Dhu Nuwas attacked it. The Christians held the town with desperate valor. Dhu Nuwas found he could not capture it. And so he resorted to treachery. He swore that he would grant the Christians of Najran full amnesty if they would surrender. The Christians, knowing they could not hold out forever, yielded against the advice of their leader Arethas (Aretas or Harith).

What happened next was so appalling that Bishop Simeon of Beth Arsham (a Syrian) traveled to the site to interview eyewitnesses and write a report… “The Jews amassed all the martyr’s bones and brought them into the church where they heaped them up. They then brought in the priests, deacons, subdeacons, readers, and sons and daughters of the covenant…they filled the church from wall to wall, some 2,000 persons according to the men who came from Najran; then they piled wood all round the outside of the church and set light to it, thus burning the church with everyone inside it.”

In the ensuing week, hundreds more Christians were martyred, among them many godly women, who were killed with the most horrible tortures when they refused to renounce Christ. According to Simeon, many were told “Deny Christ and the cross and become Jewish like us; then you shall live.”

Versions differ as to date, but one says that it was on this day, November 25, 523, Dhu Nuwas took his vengeance on Arethas and 340 followers, killing them. These men were quickly included in martyr lists in the Greek, Latin and Russian churches. A song was even written about them by one Johannes Psaltes, although it reports only about 200 deaths.

Other accounts written within a century add that deep pits were dug, filled with combustible material, and set afire. Christians who refused to change faiths were hurled into the flame, thousands dying in this painful martyrdom. Some think that this is the event that the Koran refers to when it says, “Cursed be the diggers of the trench, who lighted the consuming fire and sat around it to watch the faithful being put to the torture!” although Muslim commentators deny this.

A wealthy lady named Ruhm was compelled to watch her virgin daughter and granddaughter executed and to taste their blood before she was killed herself. Asked how the blood tasted, she answered, “Like a pure, spotless offering.”

When word reached Constantinople, the Roman Emperor encouraged the Ethiopian king Ellesbaas (Ella Atsbeha or Kaleb) to intervene, as did the Patriarch of Alexandra. Ellesbaas was only too willing to do so, since his garrisons had been massacred and fellow Christians killed. He destroyed Dhu Nuwas and established a Christian kingdom. An Ethiopian-Jewish writing known as the Kebra Nagast regarded the downfall of Dhu Nuwas to be the final catastrophe for the Kingdom of Judah. Another Ethiopian book told the story of the massacre under the title The Book of the Himyarites.

Bibliography

1. “Aretas and Martyrs of Nagran (Nadjran).” www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1024.htm
2. Bell, Richard. A commentary on the Qur’an. Edited by C. Edmund Bosworth and M.E.J. Richardson. Manchester, England : University of Manchester, 1991.
3. _________. The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment. London: Frank Cass and co., 1968; pp. 37 – 39.
4. Budge, E. A. Wallis. History of Ethiopia, Nubia and Abyssinia. Oosterhout N. B., the Netherlands: Anthropological Pubns, 1966. pp. 261 – 262.
5. Brock, Sebastian P. & Harvey, Susan Ashbrook. Holy Women of the Syrian Orient. Berkeley, CA: Univ of California Press, 1987; pp 100-121.
6. Haqqani, Abu Muhammad ‘Abdul Haq. An introduction to the commentary on the Holy Quran : being an English translation of al-Bayan. Lahore : Oriental Imprints, 1975.
7. Jones, A. H. M. and Monroe, Elizabeth. A History of Ethiopia. Oxford, 1953; p. 30.
8. Koran. Sura 85. “The Constellations.” trans. by N. J. Dawood. Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin, 1968.
9. Mackintosh-Smith, Tim. Yemen, the Unknown Arabia. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 2000; pp. 41 – 43.
10. Nyrop, Richard F. et al. Area Handbook for the Yemens. United States Government Printing Office, 1977; pp. 13 – 14.
11. Smith, Sidney. “Events in Arabia in the 6th Century A.D.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies #16. London: University of London, 1954; pp. 425 – 468.
12. Trimingham, J. Spencer. Christianity among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times. London and New York: Longman, 1979; pp. 287 – 307.

Jesus… the Failure?

One of the commenters on the “tattoo” post from a few days ago has mentioned the idea that Jesus came to reestablish the Mosaic Law and never intended for his message to go to anyone but Israel. The idea that Jesus was just like the prophets that went before him would also be included in this idea. The idea is one put forward by many Muslims and perhaps other groups though I’m not sure about that.

I don’t believe this idea to be true but I’ve considered it in the last few days. One conclusion that I come to is that if this was Jesus’ purpose then he could rightly be considered a complete failure as a prophet.

Consider:

1.) If he came to reestablish the Mosaic Law he instead did quite the opposite. His teaching and leadership instigated a radical “sect” of Judaism (Christianity) that declared that though the Law was good they didn’t have to fulfill the civil or ceremonial component of the Law. So they threw off the dietary commands, the commands about mixing with people of other races, the Temple worship, and all the feasts and sacrifices. They even spoke of a “New Covenant” which Jesus had made mention of just before his death (or disappearance). Mosaic Law, as Israel knew it in Moses’ day, was definitely not renewed.

Where is the record of the resurgence in Law-focused Jewish devotion that would have been brought about by a prophet of his stature? After all, he was called Messiah.

To my knowledge, there is absolutely no record of a wave of Law-focused Jewish devotion as a result of Jesus’ ministry.

2.) His message, though it’s asserted that it was for Israel alone, ended up spreading out across the whole world and continues to spread to this very day. So it would seem that his followers got it wrong when they fanned out from Jerusalem immediately following his death/disappearance. Either he hadn’t trained them well or there was some big misunderstanding on their part. They began specifically spreading this message to other nations and didn’t encourage them to become Jews…. rather they were to worship Jesus himself!

3.) Unlike the premier prophets that came before him he never delivered a unified “revelation” from God. He also didn’t manage to get his “revelations” written down like the other prophets before him, namely Moses, or the one who would come after him like Mohammad some 600 years later. If he was given a revelation we don’t have it. We do have what his followers wrote about him but this doesn’t fit the format of other prophets before and after. Some might say that perhaps his revelation was lost but this seems like a preposterous thought given the weight and honor and value that his own written words would have had. His own writings would have far outweighed any writings of his followers.

The lack of a written revelation could be considered a major failure as a prophet.

4.) Referring to the end of my point #2, it could be considered a major failure that his key followers began a “sect” that encouraged the worship of him, that equated him with God, and posed some “trinity” within the One God breaking with conventional Jewish thought. It would be one thing if a ‘break-away’ group of renegade followers started this. But these were his chosen lieutenants. This would be the greatest failure of all perhaps.

Let me re-iterate; I do not believe what I’ve written above in points 1-4 to be true. I’m merely trying to illustrate how Jesus could not have been considered a success as a prophet of God AND be one who sought to reestablish the Mosaic Law and get his message out exclusively to the people of Israel.

To my Muslim friends this imagining might seem blasphemous. For they hold Jesus in high regard. So I hope you understand my desire to simply illustrate a hypothetical situation.

What do you think?

Quote on "The Cost of Following Jesus…"

(Forgive me… I’m ‘stuck on’ quotes right now

If all you have found [in Christianity] is advantage,
whether it is fun or profit or security, then you haven’t
started following Him yet. His way is the way of the Cross.
The world can be very hard on those it hates. If it is not
hard on you, perhaps it sees nothing in you to hate. But then
it doesn’t see Jesus in you, for it hates Jesus with an
undying hatred. While your way is still all fun, all easy, all
jolly, it is only your way: when you turn from it to follow
His way, it will cost. It may cost you everything you have.
That is what it cost Him.
… Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), “Of Rice and Men”

Quote on "Heaven and You…"

The purpose of religion–at any rate, the Christian
religion–is not to get you into heaven, but to get heaven
into you.
… Frederick Ward Kates (b.1920)

Quote: An Infinite Supply of Life

“It is through dying to concern for self that we are born
to new life with God and others; in such dying and rebirth, we
find that life is lent to be spent; and in such spending of
what we are lent, we find there is an infinite supply.”

… Glenn Olds

Call to Reinterpret the Islamic Law

This interesting report came up today in the Khaleej Times. See what you think of it.

NEW YORK — The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Shaikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, has issued a strong call for re-interpreting Islamic texts in order to address the social, educational and other constraints impeding the equality of women in the Middle East.

Pointing to the dynamism of Islamic Shariah to adapt to the changing situations, she called for new interpretations of the texts in the light of the new life circumstances.

“The concept of human rights is based on the notion that all human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms,” Shaikha Haya noted in an address to a panel discussion on May 16 on “Women and Human Rights in the Middle East” at Rutgers University, New Jersey, US.

She said the situation stems in part from the interpretation of Islamic text. “Women are subject to family laws that are Shariah-based, which strictly follow the interpretations of Islamic scholars who lived 1,000 years ago at the beginning of Islam. These interpretations are applied now without making any allowances to the very different social contexts of today,” she said.

“In fact, these interpretations are sanctified as holy which prevent them from criticism and change. This is one of the main reasons behind the discrepancy between personal status codes on the one hand and the current social circumstances on the other.”
The General Assembly President blamed a “lack of rational interpretations of the texts that integrate the current social circumstances.”