Yemeni Jews under threat?

There have been lots of reports that Yemen's tiny remaining Jewish population (around 300 people) is under threat from Islamists and that the Yemeni government is unable to protect those families.

Despite a long history in Yemen that pre-dates Islam many Jews felt pressure on them (from Zionist organisations and Yemenis alike) to move to Israel. The latest tragedy in Yemen will probably result in the end of the Jewish community there, even though those remaining Yemeni Jews are adamant they will stay.

Minority groups are always at risk of pogroms and violence and religion seems more likely the cause than a restraining factor. Whilst the Abrahamic faiths swing between God consuming whole groups of people and prohibiting collective punishments:

The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin. -- Deuteronomy 24:16

... they still put forward covers and excuses for ideas and actions that right-thinking people ought to find absurd and reprehensible.

More on Science and Islam, Arabic loan words in English

One of Jim al-Khalil's arguments in Science and Islam is that Muslim scholars, astronomists and mathematicians gathered the data that Copernicus, Galileo and others used in working out their theories. As Isaac Newton claimed to be standing on their shoulders of giants, so it happened that those before him had stood on Muslim shoulders and those Muslims had been standing on Greek, Roman, Persian and other shoulders.

Looking at the influence of Arabic on other languages, the use of Arabic loan words in English shows the lasting effect of those ideas and concepts which may have either been non-existent or undefined in other languages before being expressed in Arabic. Algebra, alcohol, alchemy and algorithm are all important scientific words coming directly from Arabic.

In his biography Long Walk To Freedom Nelson Mandela uses the existence of

a recurring argument among the political prisoners on Robben Island, on the question of tigers in Africa. One group insisted that tigers were native to India and Asia, and quite exotic to Africa. The others were just as adamant about Africa as the tiger's natural habitat. In fact, they would argue, there were still many of them around; some went so far as to vouch that they had seen tigers in the African jungles with their own eyes. Mandela's view was particularly illuminating:

"I maintained that while there were no tigers to be found in contemporary Africa, there was a Xhosa word for tiger, a word different from the one for leopard, and that if the word existed in our language, the creature must once have existed in Africa. Otherwise, why would there be a name for it?" (source ANC website)

Conservative Christians often claim the Bible condemns homosexuality. It's a difficult claim to defend given that the concept of homosexuality wasn't created until sometime around 1869. Before then there were acts that were prohibited and persons who engaged in prohibited acts. The concept of a homosexual, even though there were undoubtably lots of homosexuals, hadn't been invented.

It is remarkable how different cultures mix, what persists through the ages and why. The following anecdote about how 'Allah' became 'Ole' puts an interesting spin on packed crowds in football stadiums chanting 'Ole! Ole! Ole!' as their team scores a goal.

Then she went on to describe how centuries ago in the deserts of North Africa, people used to get together for moonlight dances celebrating sacred entities that would go on for hours and hours. Every once in a while, very rarely, something would happen and one of the performers would be imbued with something transcendent.


"And I know you know what I'm talking about," she said. "Because I know you've all seen at some point in your life a performance like this."

It's as if time stopped, and the dancer stepped through a portal. He wasn't doing anything different than he'd done a thousand times before, but for some reason everything was aligned and he no longer appeared to just move. Instead, he seemed to be lifted from within and below.

"And when this happened, people knew it for what it was," she said. "They called it by its name. They'd put their hands together and would start to chant Allah, Allah. 'God, God.'"

As an aside, she noted that when the Moors invaded southern Spain they brought this custom with them, but the pronunciation changed over the centuries from chanting Allah, Allah, Allah to chanting Ole, Ole, Ole, which is now heard at bullfights and flamenco dances when a performer does something incredible. (Source: Wired)

The strange thing about culture is that all cultures owe a debt to those they have come after, and even to those they are a reaction to.

Learning a little more about Syria

My wise Syrian friend made me laugh as we picked over some (surprisingly cold) lentil kibbeh. He couldn't get his head around wanting to find the best Bashar al-Assad, Ba'athist and Pan-Arabist kitsch (posters, keyrings, flags, silhouette car stickers). The sticker shop next door to the Young Pioneers shop just off Hamidiya Souq has stickers and posters, but there's nothing spectacularly kitsch.

I had always assumed the crackdown on the Damascus Spring was a sign of al-Assad's early days, or weakness, in relation to more established members of the Syrian government. My friend set me straight on this. Bashar al-Assad had 6 years after Basel died to prepare himself for running Syria. He didn't come into control of the Syrian government in a weak position. He was in control and in power before he was President.

But why Bashar's recent obsession with all things Arabic? Why give speeches about the importance of Arabic, pass legislation to ensure children are given Arabic names, etc?

"Nasser," said my friend, "He's modeling himself on Nasser."

More Arabic and Persian poetry

More Arabic and Persian poems from Omar Pounds Arabic & Persian Poems. The first, Love is by al-Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf (a person about whom the Internet seems to know very little).

Dear love
'tis less than I have vowed
but let me gather in
and bring
all love
from earth and see and sky;

then
let us to its equalling
that love,
when death has ravished us,
encase our shroud.

A short one from an unknown author:

Waves
bow
before
the shore

courtiers
to their king

and then
withdraw.

Abu Najm Abu Ahmad ibn Qaus Manuchehri (in Persian: منوچهری), Pound lists him simply as Minuchihri, was Persian royal poet (died 1041?) famous for his lyricism and celebrations of nature, wine and No Ruz. He specialised in references to earlier Arabic poems, picking lines from famous Arab authors he could identify with. Annoyed by a lack of appreciation of his poetry at the royal court, he penned the following witty poem, a recantation of his previous work and a criticism of contemporary poets.

Tell me, why such a foul mood?
If I speak gently you take offence or cry,
my kindness you count all lies.

Sorry, I murmur, as I try...
Why, you grunt, apologise?
Cut out all the platitudes,
astringent as honey
from the eucalyptus tree
for me
     our hour together lasts just that,
for you
     its overspill will bring you back.

I send you my verses
citing passion without passion
three this week and two before

Perhaps you do not like the stuff
or blush. Your silence
gives me no excuse for more.

Problems translating poetry

In the preface to Modern Poetry in Translation No. 19: Iraqi Poetry Today Saadi Simawe argues that:

"translating poetry requires not only familiarity with the two languages, but also knowledge of the poetic sensibilities of the peoples and literary traditions of those languages... Since absolute translation is a myth, and since the literal translation is spiritless if not meaningless in most cases, collaboration [between native speakers] is essential in establishing a linguistic and cultural conduit between the two languages."

This applies not only to poetry, but to all writing. Subtle ironies, metaphors, historical allusions, cultural context are lost in translation. The words, rhythm, flow and meaning are all gutted by poor attempts at absolute translation. That doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it, but it does mean that you won't learn anything from it.

Omar Pound, with a mastery of Persian, Arabic and English poetry elegantly and sympathetically translated 40 classic Persian and Arabic poems for a 1970 volume Arabic & Persian Poems. He addressed the problem of an absolute translation and in some of the poems he updated the allusions and references to more contemporary characters and events (although almost 40 years later they are now out of date). Here are some of the best ones:

The earth outside
spun within
when they told me
she had married him

Now I know it's over
but Allah,
     Why did you let her go?
To pity what is left of me
and emphasise you still control?

Be merciful to her
     through him

He must have been poor indeed
to need her more than I.

Muzahim al-Uqaili (reminiscent of Rupert Brooke). There is a 1920 collection of his poems The poetical remains of Muzahim al-Uqaili edited and translated by F. Krenkow.

White hairs
are the voice
of the wind of death
and with them comes
     despair

they shudder the willow
of my heart—and moan:

What! Still asleep!
You're no longer needed here,
it is time to leave for home.

Jama Isfahani (died 1192).