S.A.D. (Sheikha Awesome Driver) escorts me through the highways of Abu Dhabi to much laughter and jokes. Here is an example:
He: You are my teacher!
Me: Your teacher?
He: Yes – you are my bad languages teacher!
Me: You are so funny!! You are such a good student. Soon you will get your PhD in bad languages.
However, one day last week his mood darkened and he became angry.
He: What is happening in the Ukraine is awful and EVERYBODY is so upset about it. But this killings, the destruction, the brutality has been going on in Muslim countries for years and years and years. No one has paid attention to that. No one! Now we hear nothing about what is happening in Israel with the Palestinians – but the brutality there continues with no repercussions. And here in the UAE we welcomed the Prime Minister of Israel, like he was our old friend or something.
Me: Oh my goodness. You are so right – I had never looked at those things before. You are entirely correct – look at all the atrocities that happen to the Muslim people – in every country and no one particularly seems to care. Muslims are treated with less humanity than vermin. Thank you for talking about this! I have been guilty of the same indifference as the rest of the world. It has been open season on Muslims since 9/11 – so long ago.
My consciousness was, and is heightened. In many ways I look upon the world in a different way. My horror at the inhumanity in the Ukraine is heightened by the fact that I know, and care about, two people who live there and receive reels of wanton destruction from Marina. But there are also continuing glimpses, provided by Instagram, of the continuing brutality of Israeli soldiers. The purveyor of these grim images said:
She: How can they do that? Brutalize a young boy who is s developmentally disabled?
Me: Brutes and bullies always pick on those who are weak. Do you think that those cowards want a fair fight? Now they want to beat people down. That is why Muslim women are targets of oppression. Look at the University in India where they are constantly attacked by bands of cowards – taunting them.
She: Yes you are so right!
Me: But what is gruesome, condemnable is that governments support such brutality toward the weak. And If not support it – turn a blind eye. Rulers ‘making nice’ rather than say: Stay out of my country until you control your soldiers and aggressive citizens! I admit to feeling hopeful when Israel is being courted and embraced, but it has made absolutely no difference whatsoever.
Instagram does occasionally serve as an inspiration. Four days ago a cartoon was posted that said it all. I texted the author and asked him to email me the cartoon so I could use it on my blog. He did and it will be attached. It says it all – cartoons and satire are so
succinct: especially of something written or spoken) briefly and clearly expressed. Synonyms are: concise, short, brief, compact, condensed, crisp, laconic, terse, tight, to the point, economic, pithy, thumbnail, summary, short and sweet, in a few well-chosen words, compendious, epigrammatic, synoptic, aphoristic, gnomic. Its antonyms are: lengthy, long-winded, verbose.
So this is not exactly short and sweet – the cartoon pictures Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau (appropriately attired in black face, one of his monumental mistakes.) They are pointing with disdain saying Bad Russian Man. But they are standing on the remains of countries brutalized by the countries others – ones where the people were not only forgotten but seen as deserving of attack because they were ‘labelled’ as terrorists. They named ones are Iraq Libya, Syria, Vietnam, Afghanistan. But the ‘debrs’ the countries on which they stand are countless. Look at Canada and their treatment of indigenous people – the genocide of Residential School indigenous children – hundreds off them. What did Trudeau do about that? Nothing. The Canadian Government since its inception has discriminated and paralyzed indigenous people by government fiat beginning with the very first Prime Minister. Need anyone remind you of the atrocities of British colonization on Australia, India, you name it. And you USA people – your treatment of Blacks since your inception and your treatment of Muslims, including me. I am not saying that Putin is a good man – not at all. But as Jesus said: Let he that is without sin cast the first stone. My extensive Protestant schooling yields quotations from the New and Old Testament that resonate and suddenly come to mind.
As I see it, the world is in utter chaos and has been so for a long time. Chaos is complete disorder and confusion. Its synonyms are vast and so applicable to these times. disarray, disorganization, confusion, mayhem, bedlam, pandemonium, madness, havoc, turmoil, tumult, commotion, disruption, upheaval, furor, frenzy, uproar, hue and cry, babel, hurly-burly; a maelstrom, a muddle, a mess, a shambles, a mare’s nest; anarchy, entropy, lawlessness; hullabaloo, all hell broken loose, a three-ring circus.
This world is “all hell broken loose,” has been for years and does not get any better. My former Protestant faith ‘kicked’ in and I remembered the Apocalypse – knowing it is in the Old Testament – Revelations came to mind. But did not know if it was also in the Qu’ran. So I texted Islam Is My Love (in India) and asked her. She responded.
And the horn will be blown, and whoever will be in the heavens and whoever shall be on the earth will fall dead except whom Allah wills. Then it will be blown again, and at once they shall be standing, looking on. Quran 39:68.
And the earth will shine with the light of tits Lord. And the record (of deeds) will be placed, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought , and it will be judged between them in truth, and they will not be wronged. Quran 39.69
Me: You are brilliant! We are a team. All praise to Allah for your help! We are a team.
She: Thank you so much. Bit many events happen before the horn is blown.
Me: Thank you so much. Like what my dear?
She: But that will become very lengthly for the blog. You can post in detail maybe later. That should help for now I think.
Me: Excellent suggestion.
.
Today is International Woman’s Day. One man wrote on Instagram
He: Amazes me to see Women’s Day Celebration while giving little to no attention to Muslim women students still in Karnataka who are STILL being harassed for for wearing hijab. What good is your women’s day celebration and women’s rights movements when you do absolutely nothing to stand up for women in marginalized countries.
Me: I totally agree with you and will speak of this on my blog today.
He: Are you a Muslim?
Me: Yes a recent convert 10/20/2021
He: Oh Mashallah May Allah bless U ]
Me: He blessedly does. All praise to Allah.
Strange photographs are attached to this blog, strange but topical. One is of Alexis with her face painted as the Canadian flag, photo taken on Canada Day 2017 – so that is topical as I once returned to live in the land of my birth. I might do so again actually. The other photograph was taken in San Francisco in 2019 – I am surrounded by robots. That is what happened during the last days of my stay in Marin County – I was surrounded by the robots who lived in Tam Ridge Apartments who discriminated against me as I was a Muslim.
