The joys of the West?

Today was a day of pressure, and it was a day of release. I completed my Islamic Thought and Practice class, with a climatic 2-hour essay final. I could not have expected to learn as much as I did, but our class was blessed by a wonderful professor, Dr. Chahinda Karim, from American University of Cairo, who spoke rather eloquently and at length about the Islamic religion. Though I realize there to be so much more to learn about Islam as a religion, many misconceptions about the religion have been debunked. Foremost amongst these misunderstandings was Islamic teaching on jihad. As part of the final week of Islam class, I turned in a paper focusing on some verses about Christians and Jews in the quran. For this paper, I focused partially on such verses as are listed in the quran about treatment of Christians and Jews, which applied to the historical context at the time, and compared these with certain directives issued in Deuteronomy. The similarities were astonishing...

Anyways, off the soapbox, I find the remainder of this week to be a brief interlude for the onslaught of busy-ness that is to come. Tomorrow evening, I depart for Aswan, by train, for a Nile Cruise up to Luxor. All the touristy sights I could care less about in comparison with the time of relaxation I will get on the boat deck! Sipping a mango juice, relaxing in shorts... wow, life will be grand!

A couple days ago, I met up with a random friend I made on Skype (by the way... if you're interested, I am "tcalero" on Skype!). He was an 18-year old Egyptian who told me he'd show the "real Cairo." As we departed, I couldn't help but soon realize the way in which he cared about catering to me and making me happy in every which way he could. Instead of taking me through and introducing me to his friends in his middle-class neighborhood, he felt it necessary, (I'm sure out of his thoughts about what I would like) to take me to the glitzy and glamourous mall, of which I cared not to visit whilst here in Cairo. As we went past each shop, he asked if we had the same store in America. Most times, I could say yes. As I asked him why he wished to show me all the "Western" spots that I could normally find back home, he looked at me inquisitively, not understanding where such a question could arise from.

It then it hit me. Going to the mall, in his mind, was an act that was fully Egyptian. Instead of separation between the "Western" and "Egyptian", everything in this mall I saw as "Western" was not that, it was fully "Egyptian" as well. I've always been one to hesitate about trampling on cultural tradition, as I initially perceived this mall to do with all its Westernization. Yet the subtle arrogance of my gut reaction hit me hard. I come to Egypt so that I can see what? Get away from the West? Yes, and more. I come to see what life is for Egyptians: to see what becomes their livelihood, to see what makes them happy, what makes them thrive. It would be cheap of me to say that I prefer seeing my friend in an "authentic" Egyptian culture, if he truly longs to take part and share in such Western culture. Of course, the real danger comes in imposing Western culture, which is a discussion in and of itself - something I am still vehemently against. But seeing such a Western-loving Egyptian gave new insight: that Western culture is admired and looked up to here, yes. But also that it is OK for me, a Westerner, to be OK with that. My first instinct, most times I see western stuff, is to jump to the idea of imperialism. I must learn otherwise.

I realize that I turn you into the receptacle, sometimes, of my inner thoughts. I have never, and will probably never will be, a disciplined journaler. Thus I consider this public blog as such medium for my mind ramblings. Thank you for tolerating them.

Lastly, I feel it necessary sometimes to be an advocate. I feel forced into this position, because of what I see to be baseless ill depiction of the Islamic religion. Sometimes I am forwarded, what I see to be, absolutely ridiculous derisions of Islam, that are based not whatsoever on good sound analysis of the Quran and Hadith, but rather on scoring a cheap point for advancing one's agenda. If you are interested in getting past the platitude sayings of "Islam is a religion of peace" or "Muslims seek to kill all the infidels," you will find this article interesting! Here is the link: http://www.islamonline.net/english/Quran/2005/04/article01.shtml.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated, in approval or disapproval of said article.

Salaam,

Tony