The Holidays

Right now the Arab Homeland is celebrating Ramadan.

"It's when the Prophet received the Qu'ran," said Ali. "When the angel Gabriel told him."

Muslims believe that Mohammed received the Qu'ran from the mouth of the angel Gabriel.  Although Ali doesn't normally pray 5 times a day--he does during Ramadan.  He also fasts from dawn to sunset.

"Because it's hard, it's discipline," he explains.  "In the past, Muslims used to fight wars and not eat for many days.  This tells you what it's like."

Another Iraqi on the patrol base told me that fasting, "reminds you of the poor, it reminds you what it is like to hunger.  Many people give away food during Ramadan."

"Not everyone fasts?"

"You can eat after sundown."

Often Muslims enjoy large feasts during Ramadan evenings.  It is a month of extremes.  Of hunger and satisfaction, of prayer and conversation, of solitude and companionship.

"Allah tells us to fast."

"In the Qu'ran?"

"Yes, and everything is good, like good points, you earn good points when you fast... forgiveness."

"You become holy?"

"Yes, even your breath it is holy."

Another Muslim on the patrol base asked me if we could give extra fabric to widows in our sewing class "as a present for Ramadan."  Mohammed asked if we could buy 100 sheep to give away poor families in the city.

"Where would we put them?  There'd be a riot."  I could see a mob of sheep and poor Iraqis swarming the front gate.

"Like Christmas," explained Mohammed.

"Riots?"

"No man, gifts... to celebrate."

Dark Knight

While Batman makes a zillion dollars in the 'west,' Islam is celebrating their own superhero who died 1300 years ago.  This weekend millions of Shi'as will walk to Karbala to mourn the slaughter of Imam Hussein--a contender for succession to Mohammed's throne.  One of the soldiers who died with Hussein was his brother Abbas.  He's a superhero too.

One Muslim recounted the legend of Abbas' death to me: "...during the battle of Karbala the enemy forces kept Imam Hussein and his men from the river and they began to get thirsty.  Abbas was so strong he killed 4,000 enemy just to get water for Hussein.  But on his way back a guy chopped off his arm, then another guy chopped off his other arm, so he dropped the water.  Then an arrow hit him through the eye."

"Is all this in the Qu'ran?" I asked.

"Oh, no--this is the legend.  This was after the Qu'ran."

"Right in the eye?"

"Yes!" Mohammed pointed a finger at his eye, "they hit his head with a big metal pole too, and smashed it."

When we walked through the Yusufiya market the other day I saw two posters of Abbas.  Like most Islamic art they are comely, surreal depictions: comic book superheroes.  At the bottom of the picture the arabic reads, "Hussein, Peace Be With You."

Bruce Wayne is multi-cultural, suave, athletic, rich, and enigmatic.  He uses technology and determination to defeat the forces of evil.  With every generation Batman is re-invented.  Abbas was devout, strong, simple, and righteous.  His servanthood and sacrifice made him a martyr.  His legend has inspired Muslims for over a millennium.

Faceless

My new favorite living author is V.S. Naipaul.  Barbara sent me his book, Among the Believers--an account of his travels through various Islamic States in the early 80s.  Naipaul describes his meetings and conversations with poets, civil servants, Imams, and other citizens.  The chaos in Iran just after the revolution is most tragic--and revealing.  Naipaul points out the similarity between the Communist and Islamic propaganda.  Below are some striking posters from the revolution I found online.  See them all here.

Both ideologies seek to erase the individual--through clothes, argot, and art.  In Islam, women wear black to hide their hair and skin.  When I recently travelled through Kuwaiti International Airport, I saw women totally covered in black robes, headscarves, gloves, stockings, and face-masks.  They were waiting in line for expressos at Starbucks.

Here in Yusufiya some men wear western-style clothes: jeans, t-shirts, or slacks.  But most wear dishdashas of neutral color and headscarves.  The restaurants all serve the same 4 dishes (falafel, tikka, roast chicken, or carp).  Everyone is muslim.  Everyone plays soccer.  No one owns a musical instrument.

"Could you imagine wearing the exact same clothes as your dad?  As your granddad?" I asked a friend of mine in Angel Company.

He shrugged.

"They all wear the same clothes!  It's strange, man."

"Yeah, but so do we."

And so it was--both of us standing outside the chow hall in our Army Combat Uniforms.

All citizens are silhouettes.  A mob.  The arabic says "there is no god but god."

This poster proclaims "the march towards a unitary, classless society."  Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Republic, is pictured.  Also notice the sickle and rifle.

On one side is the old, degenerate way of learning.  On the other is Utopia.

Notice how on the right, everyone is identical.