So Veena Malik Marries a Pukhtun Man & Pukhtuns Go Berserk.

 The hottest totally pointless news emerging from Pakistan these days is Veena Malik's marriage to some Pashtun businessman named Asad Khattak. Pukhtuns on the internet have gone berserk, many of them ashamed of the Pukhtun who dared to marry a woman much of Pakistan has unanimously declared a "slut" (because she's a bold woman, you see - she once even stood up to a mullah! Don't you just love it when a female celebrity understands patriarchy and can counter it with intelligent remarks? Of course, though, she's far from perfect, like all of us: I've seen videos of hers participating as a judge in modeling shows in which she mocks the way women who are less light-skinned than herself look ... just because they're not light-skinned. She still buys into the whole "my skin color is whiter than yours, and so I'm better than you! In your dark-skinned face!" business, so no respect for her from me in that department.)

I envy people who believe in a loving, merciful God.

I got the idea for the below post from a friend who's going through a rough time in her life right now and who, too, was raised being taught only about a mean, judgmental god to whom she finds it hard to turn in times of need.

Sure, all except one of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an begins with the phrase "In the name of God, the most merciful, most beneficent," but that's not the same God I grew up being forced to believe in. But I envy anyone who does believe in that God. I need a loving God. I'm sick and tired of the mean one. And I'm sick and tired of anyone who talks to me about the mean one. Go to hell - you know who you are, you so-called "god-fearing" hypocrites and meanies.

This is what happens when the first things we teach our kids are about what sins not to commit or what's sinful and what's not or don't do this and don't do that. Or that "God is watching you." Or "God will punish you." Screw you and that god of yours. No one ever taught me that God was actually very loving and merciful.  

On Homosexuality and Islam - again.

A (Muslim) friend on Facebook posted an article called "Meet America's First Openly Gay Imam." Almost all of the responses, as we can probably imagine, were repulsive, homophobic, disturbing, and ignorant. And very arrogant, I must add. But I'm so, SO happy that this article exists, that homosexual Muslims and Imams exist, and that it's publicly being discussed at last. I'll share my thoughts below on the topic, mostly in responses to the homophobia in the comments to my friend's original post. Some of the comments said, of course (because this is a common thing we hear from a lot of people, whether Muslims or non-Muslims), that homosexuality is a disease and needs to be cured and that we need to help gay people. Dot Dot Dot. And then most of the other comments were further about the whole "I don't have a problem with gay people, but to publicize it and promote it ..." stuff that our ears and minds hurt to hear so much around us all the time when we find ourselves in a world that is oh so miserably being wasted with all sorts of oppression. One of these sorts of oppression is the suppression of views and practices and sexualities and identities we cannot personally relate to and that we have very little understanding, if any understanding at all, of.

Anyway, here goes something that may or may not be worth a share. Peace to all!

 

On Mainstream Muslims' Refusal to Learn about the Violence against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan

A couple of weeks ago, the Ahmadi association at my university sponsored a talk by an Ahmadi scholar who was to come talk about the persecution of Ahmadis and other minorities in Pakistan. The cover designed for the talk mentioned nothing about whether Ahmadis are Muslim or not (I think it's stupidity, ignorance, and evil on the part of whoever denies them their right to declare themselves Muslims!), and it was definitely not about--and was not advertised to be about--Ahmadis' response to mainstream Muslims' claim that Ahamdis are not Muslims and therefore deserve to be killed, as is happening in Pakistan every. single. day. I cannot stress enough that the cover and the talk were simply about the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan. It was intended to be, and it indeed was, about the violence committed against Ahmadis on a daily basis in Pakistan, mostly by terrorists but the government, too, has its role in the persecution.

So when an officer from the Ahmadi organization contacted the community/campus mosque Facebook page and requested that the talk be shared on the page so more people become aware of it, the mosque rejected it. Twice. The second time, the mosque's administration responded to the officer with something that I don't know if I'm allowed to paste here but will paraphrase.  (I know because the officer posted about it on his Facebook.) So the mosque goes something like: We can't share this on our page because there's concern among students and parents that there's an Ahmadi on the MSA board; just like you don't consider us (Sunni) Muslims, we don't consider y'all Muslims.

On the Beauty of Music - and on being in an Arabic choir, yayy!!

I love music. I love all kinds of music. Eastern music in general, though, rocks my world! (Not at all a fan of English--American, British--music or poetry, and what attracts me to eastern music, besides the killer sound of the instruments, is the depth of the poetry.) I listen to a Pashto song and go crazy thinking about how deep that stuff is. Even plain old Bollywood songs are often so deep you're like where did these writers come from. I can't make up my mind over whether I love Pashto music more than Urdu or Hindi or Persian or Arabic or Turkish.

On the Movie "I don't know how she does it" - working mothers and all

I recently watched the movie "I Don't Know How She Does It" with Sarah Jessica Parker, who I still prefer to call Carrie from her "Sex and the City" series.

The story is about a working mother who has to travel for work once a month, initially, and then almost once every week. We get to hear what everyone else, especially her co-workers, think of her, and how they evaluate her working style, her motherhood, her wifehood, and so on. For the most part, everyone except a close friend of hers, is very judgmental and very harsh on the way she raises her children and the little time she has to spend with her husband and family. At one point, her close friend says something that resonates withing me: She says something like, "When a woman has to announce she needs time off from work to be with a sick child, she takes a risk, a risk of losing her whole job. A man announces the same thing, all's well - people think he's a hero, a wonderful, loving father. And everyone judges her, judges her unfairly, wrongly, accusing her of being a bad mother, etc. When a man has to do it, no one worries at all."

On What Happens When Afghan, Muslim Homosexuals Come Out

A good friend informed me earlier that Nemat Sadat, former professor at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), has recently "come out" and that the kinds of things people are saying on his Facebook page are really disturbing, discouraging, and mean. I take harassment and abuse of homosexuals and other sexual/gendered minorities very seriously; I take it very personally--it personally hurts me. It disturbs me. So I immediately set out to write to him in support. I asked him if he'd okay with my sharing the letter on my blog, and he said, yes, he's okay with that. He is such a good person! How can we anything but love and respect another human of such character? We're pitiful. 

When People Say "She Wanted It": The Difference Between Rape and Sex

In Law & Order SVU, in one of my favorite episodes,  Detective Elliot Stabler (character played by Christopher Meloni; he's no longer on the show, though, unfortunately) is questioning a  suspect in a rape case, and the suspect goes, "What? I have a girlfriend. I don't need to rape anyone! Why would I rape anyone?" And Stablers' response? "Rape isn't the same thing as sex."

So I'm writing this post to talk about the difference between "rape" and "sex" and about the too disturbingly common claim that "she wanted it" or "she was asking for it" (where "it" = rape, unfortunately, but people constantly confuse it with sex!).

A New Semester Has Begun! :)

So, a new semester has begun. In the name of God.

Arabic Conference Call for Papers - "Jil Jadid" 2014

Call for papers for Arabic graduate students and recent graduates.

Call for Papers: 4^th Annual Jil Jadid Conference @ UT-Austin  
Dates: February 21-22, 2014

Location: The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract Deadline: November 15, 2013

Topic: Arabic Literature and Linguistics

Conference Website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/mes/events/conferences/jiljadid2014/

Contact: Thomas Leddy-Cecere, jiljadidconf@gmail.com

Description:
The Department of and Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin are happy to announce the 4th Annual Jil Jadid Conference in Arabic Literature and Linguistics, a graduate student conference to be held at the University of Texas at Austin, February 21-22, 2014.
Jil Jadid is a graduate student conference that aims to provide a forum for young scholars spread across a variety of disciplines to come together, share ideas and research, and discuss the future of their respective fields as they move forward in their careers and come to represent the eponymous new generation of scholars engaging with the Arabic-speaking world and its cultures.  For the past three Februaries, graduate students from a wide range of universities, both domestic and international, have assembled in Austin to set the tone for Arabic studies in the twenty-first century. The ongoing positive feedback we have received from these past conferences prompts us to once again assemble with the same goal, uniting students from area studies, linguistics, comparative literature and other departments in order to facilitate a productive and interdisciplinary exchange of new ideas.
 
Fostering fruitful, engaging, and innovative dialogue remains our topmost priority. The conference will feature keynote speeches in both Arabic linguistics and literature, as well as a professional development panel offered by University of Texas faculty.  In addition to individual presentations, the conference will highlight explicit opportunities for participants to discuss their collective vision for the development of their fields. More details will be announced as the conference dates approach.
The 2014 Jil Jadid Conference is sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Linguistics, Program in Comparative Literature, Department of History, and the Graduate School.

Topics:
All papers treating topics in Arabic literature (both classical and modern) and Arabic linguistics (of all subfields, including applied linguistics) will gladly be considered, in either English or Arabic (with the request that an English summary be prepared for any papers to be presented in Arabic).  In addition to original research, we also encourage state of the field papers that provide a focused overview of specific subfields of Arabic studies and propose new avenues of research in that area.
 
Papers to be presented at other conferences are more than welcome, as we wish to provide a forum for students to further develop and refine their research.

Unfortunately, this year we will not be able to accommodate virtual presentations via video-chat. We will instead be providing a live online stream of the conference proceedings that will allow those who are not physically able to attend the conference to follow along and contribute by leaving comments and feedback.

Abstracts:
Applicants may submit abstracts of no more than a single, standardly formatted page (not including references).
 
Abstracts may be submitted online at: http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/jiljadid2014 .
The deadline for abstracts is November 15, 2013. Abstracts should not include identifying information; you must, however, indicate the highest degree you have obtained and your current position (e.g. "M.A., Graduate Student," "Ph.D., Assistant Professor," etc.).  Only submissions from current or recent graduate students will be considered.

Conference Fees and Funding:
Jil Jadid requires no fees of presenters and/or attendees.
Graduate students whose abstracts are accepted will be eligible to apply for a limited number of partial travel grants to defray the costs of attending the Jil Jadid conference. Lodging with local graduate students will be made available when possible.

Access Amazon from My Blog ... So I Can Get Paid ... Um.

Dear readers,

Pre-Post: I really hope this doesn't come off as selfish or attention-seeking. I don't mean to sound that way. Don't at all feel obligated to fulfill my request, but it'd be nice if you do :)

So. Some months ago--whoa, a year ago!--I became what's called an Amazon Associate, which means that if I "promote" an Amazon product on my blog and if you access Amazon.com by clicking a link to Amazon from my blog (like this: And the Mountains Echoed) and actually buy something from Amazon, I get a small portion of the money you pay. I know you're prolly thinking, "WHAT!! Why should you get anything from something I buy?! No way!" But it's really not what you think. You see, you don't have to pay anything extra at all. You just buy whatever you intended or would like to buy, but instead of accessing amazon through Google or directly at amazon.com, I ask that you access it from my blog. 

Amazon sees that as my attempt at promoting whatever it is that you bought ... or promoting Amazon.com.

I've tried to make it easier for y'all to access Amazon from my blog, such as by posting links to Amazon wherever I thought would be useful or relevant (such as when talking about a book or a topic I recommend reading more about), and the left side of the home (http://orbala.blogspot.com) features some books and other Amazon products that you can click on to get to Amazon. You don't necessarily have to buy the thing you clicked on, but as long as you get to Amazon by a click from my blog, Amazon tracks it. No, I don't get your secret or private or ANY other information. I don't even get to know who bought what, just of what was bought for what price and how much I'm making. I'll never be able to link your shopping to you and go "haaaaa haaaa - Amina bought a chair last week."

Example: You feel like shopping at Amazon.com or have a specific book or product in mind that you're going to buy. You ask yourself how you can be of benefit to a fellow human being today and go, "Ahhhh!! Qrratugai!! YES! I'll go be of benefit to her today!" So you come to my blog, and click on ANY link on my blog that'll take you to Amazon.com. Say you end up landing on this specific post. Just click this link: And the Mountains Echoed (whaaaaat - It's the least controversial book I could come up with, k? Surely, you don't want me to link up to a book on feminism or Islamic feminism or women's rights and stuff - that's obviously too controversial. I mean, c'mon, we're saying women are people here; of course that's open to debate, you know?). So there, you just accessed Amazon through my blog and whatever you buy after that click, I benefit from it as well. I mean, I get paid a little bit :) Thank you! May you be given much, much more in return. Remember: you're not charged extra for this; it's just that qrratugai here gets something out of it because Amazon thinks that I just convinced you to shop there .... For me as an Amazon associate, it's honestly just a fun way for a graduate student to make a little money, and I'd be grateful if y'all can cooperate. Thanks :) But it's totally okay if you don't want to do this and are thinking, "What the hell. No way. Go away." We're still cool.

All right, that's all. As always, I've lots to blog about but will get on it as soon as this weekend is over and I'm a little less busy than I've been lately.

Thanks for reading!

It is Her Skills, Not the Burka, that Empower the Burka Avenger.

This was written over a month ago when the first episode of the show aired. Apologies for posting it so late.

For the last few weeks or so, Pakistan has been in the news for its latest good deed: the Burka Avenger, an animated children's series featuring a female savior of women's rights, peace, and justice in a village in Pakistan. Jiya, the protagonist, is a school teacher whose mission is to fight multiple  forms of evil facing Pakistan, including obstacles to women's education. She completes her mission through her skills in Takht Kabaddi, a fictitious form of martial art that requires the use of pens and books. Each of the show's thirteen episodes, Haroon, the show's pop-star producer, tells CNN, "covers a different issue affecting Pakistan, including discrimination, child labor, sectarian violence, electricity shortages and protecting the environment," besides the on-going battle for girls' education. While the show has so far received majority-positive feedback, its opponents' main issue is with the superhero's costume: a burka, which she wears strictly to conceal her identity when on a mission; opponents suggest that the show is sending the message that "you can only get power when you don a symbol of oppression [the burka]." What is missing in this sort of criticism is the reality that it is not the burka that empowers the Burka Avenger--it is her skills as a fighter for social justice that empower her. The burka's purpose has little to no religious meaning in this series and serves more as a disguise for the protagonist.