Mijn zoektocht in Libanon

Van een kale hotelkamer met kakkerlakken naar een gezellige familielunch op zondag; van dichte archiefdeuren naar de open Libanese media; van een chaotische wereldstad naar een rustig dorp in het groene Chouf-gebergte.

Mijn zoektocht in Libanon is een fascinerend verslag waarin Arthur Blok vertelt over de bewogen tijd die hij doorbracht in zijn geboorteland. Op zoek naar zijn wortels. Er blijkt een schaduw te liggen over de eerste zes maanden van zijn leven en over de adoptieprocedure. Arthur vertelt over zijn psychische strijd in een ontwrichte en corrupte samenleving, maar ook over het vinden van rust en verzoening met zichzelf.

Mijn zoektocht in Libanon is een betoog over verdriet en pijn, maar ook humor en toeval spelen een belangrijke rol. Tot en met het allerlaatste moment blijft het spannend waar en hoe Arthurs wonderlijke avontuur zal eindigen.

Het boek , ISBN: 9059113756 (prijs 17.95 euro) , is een zoektocht naar zijn eigen geschiedenis en schetst een beeld van de complexe samenleving in Libanon. Meer weten? Stuur dan een email naar: s.mohamedjoesoef@planet.nl

Bravo Arthur! Hope to write many more articles with you on our favourite country Lebanon, Lubnan, Libanon.

Cinéma Arabe 2006

Cinéma Arabe is back. From 1-15 November you can enjoy a great selection of films from young, promising filmmakers. This second edition of the Arab film festival centres around two specials, the first one being ‘Cinema & Religion’, containing a number of classical Egyptian films in which religion and the portrayal of the prophet Mohammed play a central role. The second is ‘Al Jazeera Uncensored’, showing various uncensored documentaries from the well-known Arab news channel Al-Jazeera. To top it all, Cinéma Arabe presents ‘Film in de buurt’; taking a beautiful selection of films to several Amsterdam neighbourhoods; no admission fee! The festival kicks off at Film museum Cinerama on 1 November with La Última Luna (The Last Moon), an intriguing story about a complicated friendship between a Jew and an Arab in Palestine, during and after the First World War. For more information, please visit the website: www.cinemaarabe.nl.

Why has Hikmat joined ranks with EenNL?

Want to know why Hikmat Mahawat Khan decided to team up with EenNL, a new right-wing political party which quite a few Muslims regard as racist, xenophobic? A video interview with the man himself will soon be available on this blog...!

Eid Mubarak

By Sharida Mohamedjoesoef, Ramadan Roundup V for the Amsterdam Weekly

Thirty days filled with an odd mixture of contemplation, devotion, will-power, partying and family get-togethers, and, this year, jazzed up with lively debates and lectures on a wide variety of topics related to Islam and Muslims in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam--home to some 120,000 Muslims--alone, over a hundred activities were organised, and those were just official events! All this came to an end last Monday, as Muslims all over the world, from Amsterdam to Zanzibar, took part in the Eid al Fitre celebrations, the feast marking the end of Ramadan, in Dutch better known as the Suikerfeest.

True, a few years ago, one would have needed a magnifying glass to spot any such activity. But then again, a few years ago there was no 9/11, no murder of Theo van Gogh, no reports on the radicalisation of young Muslims and so on. It is events like these that catapulted the Muslim community into action; and not just on the cultural and religious front either, as Dutch Muslims are also becoming increasingly active in the political arena.

Given the upcoming elections on 22 November, one the biggest Turkish organisations in the Netherlands, the Milli Gorus, decided to host an iftar coupled with a debate on the role of Muslims in Dutch politics. One of the speakers was Hikmat Mahawat-Khan. A Muslim of Surinamese descent, Mahawat-Khan knows what it is like to be the topic of debate. He is known for his spicy one-liners and speeches peppered with critical remarks on what he considers to be misbehaviour on the part of Muslims. When news got out that Mahawat-Khan had joined EenNL, a political offspring of Pim Fortuyn's legacy, his critics had a field day, labelling him a traitor serving a xenophobic and racist agenda. Well, you can say many things about him, but a racist he is not.

[For those of you who missed this part of recent Dutch history, the would-be politician Fortuyn called Islam a 'backward culture'. He was brutally murdered in May 2002 by an animal rights activist.]
With hotheaded Mahawat-Khan on the panel, you are usually in for a fiery debate on integration and participation. And sure enough, I was not disappointed. Loud grunts of disapproval rippled through the audience as he was off on his hobby-horse again, saying things like 'integration has failed' or 'Muslims themselves are in part responsible for the fact that they are being discriminated against on the Dutch labour market.'

Yet what would have been an absolute no-can-do a couple of years ago, finally seems to be taking root: criticism from within the Muslim community, from the new Milli Gorus foreman, Yusuf Altuntas to Mohammed Ousala, a prominent member of the Dutch Association of Imams. Truly unique, given the fact that those two organisations are all-Sunni, while Mahawat-Khan belongs to the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement and is thus considered a heretic by various Muslim groups.

Be that as it may, more and more prominent Muslims at least seem to have cottoned on to the fact that postmodern gibberish (read: politically correct remarks) or jihad-denial will not solve the problem of polarisation. They will have to address this issue in their mosques and Islamic cultural centres and make their fellow Muslims understand that they and they alone can change the image of Islam. During this year's Ramadan, Muslims more than ever seized the opportunity to counteract the message of violence and hatred spread by the Bin Ladens of this world. But it's only a first step comprising thirty days. What about the remaining 335 days? Now there's challenge for us, if ever you saw one...
From your Ramadan reporter: Eid Mubarak, Happy Eid!

'The greatest poverty is the lack of intelligence'

By Sharida Mohamedjoesoef, Ramadan Roundup IV for the Amsterdam Weekly

This time, no story from a stately canal house, a state-of-the-art glass terminal or some posh theatre. And no big wigs or cameras in sight either for, this time, your rambling Ramadan reporter set out for De Baarsjes, home to many Muslims and referred to by some as 'Casablanca aan de Amstel'.

The sun had already set when I finally arrived at my destination, a small community centre near Mercatorplein. Dozens of people of various age groups and ethnic backgrounds were merrily chatting away while waiting for the debate to start. Insofar as I'm concerned, the organisation deserves full marks for its choice of topic for the debate: religion and culture. True, it was noisy, if not chaotic, at times but at least there were hardly any politically correct speeches.

The panel consisted of five people, each representing one of the three main monotheistic traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Hats off to the only woman on board, Maimunah van der Heide; without getting down to the theological nuts and bolts, she still made it quite clear that many Muslims often mix religion up with culture and that cultural practices are more and more being elevated to the level of religion. 'Don't be fooled by Koranic literates or people dressed in Islamic attire. That's just the outside and certainly no claim to sainthood,' she said.

Black-veiled Van der Heide knows what she's talking about. She converted to Islam when she was in her teens and began spending her life in the service of her new found religion. Eventually, Van der Heide set up an organisation called Stichting Vangnet [safety net], a centre for Muslim girls who are in some kind of trouble. Vangnet was first housed in a mosque, but was forced to relocate because the mosque was first and foremost a house of prayer, or so mosque leaders believed.

Van der Heide as well as the other panelists knew their religious ABC, but the fact is that ordinary believers often do not. Big deal, you might think, but it's a different story altogether when you're Muslim and find yourself and/or your religion subject to scrutiny. There is no denying that much of the current focus on Muslims and Islam was brought about by the events of 9/11. Overnight, the Koran became an instant bestseller. But the Koran, even in translation, is not an easy book to understand, so, if you want more information, it is only logical that you start looking elsewhere.

Ay, there's the rub: ever wondered what happens if clueless non-Muslims start taking their cues from the equally clueless young secular Mohammads and Fatimas from the local shop around the corner, or from radical Islamic websites? For one thing, you could end up with a teacher at an ordinary secondary school telling you that, according to Islam, only girls have to stay virgins or that according to that same religion, newly weds must show a bloodstained sheet after their wedding night to prove that the bride really was a virgin. Speculation? I wish... There's at least one school here in Amsterdam where the above is actually the case. Their handouts did not contain a single clue as to the source of such statements.Quite painful, given the fact that in the Netherlands we now have around 30 Islamic schools, two Islamic universities and even two advisory governmental bodies on Islamic issues. And still we are a far cry from having some kind of uniform quality code for comprehensive, reliable sources on Islam!

P.S. you can search the Koran all you want and still you won't find any verses acknowledging any of the above as proper Islamic conduct.

If you do charity, your house will always be rich.'

By Sharida Mohamedjoesoef, Ramadan Roundup III for the Amsterdam Weekly

True, I could have easily opted for a Turkish or Moroccan Ramadan event and, by God, there are plenty of those at the moment. Yet, this time, thrill-seeking me decided to head for Pakistan Day, if only to make it clear that birds of a Muslim feather do not necessarily flock together. Mind you, before I set out, I meticulously examined the programme and its organisers to make sure that your unveiled Ramadan reporter would not be kicked unceremoniously out by some lost Taliban sympathiser before she could say 'as-Salaam Aleikoum'. But it all turned out very Sharia--oops, Sharida-proof. Phew. Sigh of relief.

The event was organised by Sabra Bano, a Pakistani feminist who has lived in the Netherlands for 20 years, and now heads the Dutch chapter of Gender Concerns International. That name may not ring a bell, but if I told you that the Egyptian branch includes none other than prominent writer Nawal al Saadawi... Exactly. I rest my case.

'The reason for organising this Pakistan Day is twofold,' Bano says. 'Our primary aim is to commemorate the horrific earthquake that hit Pakistan on 8 October last year, leaving eighty thousand people dead and over three-and-a-half million homeless. This being organised by Gender Concerns International, it goes without saying that we also wish to raise awareness and funds to help relieve the plight of Pakistani women in particular.'

Bano's timing is impeccable--what better moment to organise such an event than in the holy month of Ramadan, a month which in essence is about charity, about caring for those who are less well-off. And with half a million Pakistanis still homeless, I'd say they definitely qualify as being in dire need.

As the day got underway, the big hall of the KIT Tropentheater gradually filled with what must have been hundreds of people, a large number of who were young Pakistani boys and girls blessed with dashing good looks. And not a burka in sight. (How else would I have known about the looks?).

Some had come for the debate on gender issues, which turned out a bit of a non-event according to Mohammad Amer: 'This was not a proper debate at all and there was no room for tricky questions, for instance about the role religious Muslim zealots played in denying female aid workers entry in the disaster-stricken areas.'

Most, however, had come to see Sheema Kermani and Khamisu Khan, two living legends in Pakistan, and Kermani not just for her classical dance, either--in her home country she is well-known for her outspoken feminist views.

Just before Iftar, the traditional breaking of the fast, we were treated to a virtuoso performance from alghoza player Khamisu Khan who was accompanied by a single tabla player. An alghoza is an instrument made up of two flutes of equal length joined together. One Pakistani man dressed in a smart business suit clambered on to the stage and danced around like a whirling dervish, going faster and faster, in sync with the applauding audience.

This was definitely a most enjoyable Ramadan gathering, showing a different side of Pakistan, with its informal character, spontaneity, and Bollywood-style music filling the marble hall. People queued to generously ladle steaming traditional food onto their plates. Let's hope that they were equally generous when putting money in the collection boxes...

CLANCULTUUR FUNEST VOOR WEDEROPBOUW LIBANON

door Arthur Blok en Sharida Mohamedjoesoef

In nagenoeg alle landen in het Midden-Oosten maken al tientallen jaren dezelfde invloedrijke families de dienst uit. Vriendjespolitiek en corruptie zijn hierdoor aan de orde van de dag. In Libanon is het niet veel anders. Het zorgt ervoor dat de wederopbouw van het land net zo gefragmenteerd verloopt als dat de bevolking in religieus opzicht is samengesteld.

Eind augustus werd tijdens een internationale donorconferentie in de Zweedse hoofdstad Stockholm ruim 900 miljoen dollar ingezameld voor de wederopbouw van Libanon. Het land werd ruim een maand lang gebombardeered door Israel als vergelding voor twee ontvoerde Israelische militairen door Hezbollah. Vooral de infrastructuur vormde een belangrijk doelwit van het Israelische offensief. Volgens de laatste ramingen bedraagt de totale schade van deze blitzoorlog inmiddels tussen de 9 en 16 miljard dollar.

Waar de wederopbouw van een land in de meeste landen normaliter een overheidstaak is, ligt dat in Libanon gecompliceerder. Het Libanese sociale vangnet voltrekt zich voor een belangrijk deel langs confessionele lijnen. Zo was Hezbollah er als de kippen bij om in de rampgebieden de schade op te nemen en sjiietische families die huis en haard waren kwijtgeraakt ruim 10.000 dollar aan contanten te overhandigen.


Ook Saad al Harriri, die na de dood van zijn vader, de ex-premier van Libanon, Rafiq al Harriri, in diens voetsporen trad, liet weten samen mijn zijn vaders zus - parlementslid Bahia Harriri - vijf verwoeste bruggen in de buurt van Sidon te herstellen. Sidon is de geboorteplaats van zijn vader en de bevolking is er overwegend soennitisch.

Een dergelijke zorg voor de eigen achterban is voor een belangrijk deel geworteld in het feit dat familiewaarden en oude tradities in het Midden-Oosten uiterst belangrijk zijn. Nationale belangen vallen hierbij in het niet. Dat geldt ook voor Libanon, dat is opgebouwd uit een delicaat mozaiek van 18 verschillende religieuze sekten en stromingen. Enkele invloedrijke familieclans, compleet met eigen vlaggen, partijen en mediakanalen, maken hier al decennialang de dienst uit.

Bij Libanese christenen zijn dat vooraanstaande maronitische en Grieks-orthodoxe families zoals Gemayel, Frangie en Murr. Deze families hebben in de afgelopen decennia verschillende presidenten geleverd. In het Choufgebergte, iets ten zuiden van Beiroet, is het de invloedrijke Druzenfamilie van Walid Jumblatt die zorgt voor orde en gezag. Vroeger leidde Kamal Joumblatt de Druzendelegatie in het parlement. Nu doet zoon Walid dit.

Een andere belangrijke naam in het Libanese clanlandschap is die van Nabih Berri, die als sinds de jaren zeventig met harde hand regeert over de sjiietische Amalpartij. De oud-militieleider bekleedde verschillende politieke posten en is sinds 1992 voorzitter van het Libanese parlement, de hoogste post die een sjiiet volgens de Libanese grondwet kan bekleden.

Grote families werden in de tijd dat Libanon nog een Ottomaans mandaatgebied was, beschouwd als een "clan" en als zodanig behandeld. Deze zogenaamde familieclans staan tot op de dag van vandaag geregistreerd onder een bepaalde religie. In feite overheersen deze clans de Libanese samenleving nog steeds: op zowel het economische als het politieke front. De absolute hoofdregel is dat men altijd trouw blijft aan de eigen familietak en religie; met andere woorden: je verraadt je eigen clan nooit!

Zo is het de normaalste zaak van de wereld dat iemand uit het Libanese choufgebergte zich totaal niet verwant voelt met iemand uit de noordelijke havenstad Tripoli. Men voelt zich vooral verbonden met mensen van de eigen geloofsgroep of clan.

Een kwalijk neveneffect van een dergelijke clancultuur is dat er nauwelijks sprake is van nationale controle als het gaat om overheidsuitgaven. Geen geld, geen hulp is het motto in deze regio. Deze "voor wat, hoort wat" cultuur begint bij de slager om de hoek en eindigt ergens acter de schermen in het nationale bestuur. Het is dan ook niet verwonderlijk dat corruptie en nepotisme in de Libanese politiek schering en inslag zijn.

Nabih Berri, Walid Jumblatt, Michel Murr, het zijn namen die keer op keer in verband worden gebracht met corruptieschandalen. De moord op Harriri noch de "Cederrevolutie" die daarop volgde, bracht hierin verandering. Sterker nog, in Libanons beste feodale traditie werd Harriri's politiek onervaren zoon Saad als troonopvolger naar voren geschoven.

Of Libanon in staat zal zijn dit sektarische karakter van de samenleving te doorbreken, is zeer onwaarschijnlijk. Enerzijds is de verzuilde samenleving verankerd in de Libanese grondwet op basis waarvan zowel de regering als het overheidsapparaat zijn samengesteld. Anderzijds is ze vervat in een familie- en clancultuur die inherent is aan de regio zelf.

Bovendien is de kans erg groot dat het stopzetten van (politieke) privileges van familieclans in Libanon, een landje zo groot als de provincies Noord- en Zuid-Holland samen, een uiterst destabliserend effect zal hebben, wat in het slechtste geval kon uitmonden in een burgeroorlog. Reden genoeg voor de Libanese regering om niet te tornen aan de huidige sektarische machtsstructuren, ook als dat ten koste gaat van een efficientere aanpak van de wederopbouw van Libanon. Familie en religie eerst, dan pas het land van de ceder.

Eerder deze week gepubliceerd in het Reformatorisch Dagblad en het Nederlands Dagblad.

'The spiritual warrior is he who breaks an idol;

and the idol of each person is his ego.'

Ramadan Roundup, Part II, by Sharida Mohamedjoesoef for the Amsterdam Weekly and the Ramadan Festival

Which of the following three statements is true?

1. Ramadan is the Arabic word for fasting.
2. Muslims, great and small, must fast.
3. Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink for 30 days in a row.

Last week, your Ramadan reporter set out for the stately canal house Felix Meritis to attend lectures on Judaism and Islam, the reason being that this year the Jewish New Year--Rosh Hashana--and Ramadan coincided. Little did I know that I was going to be in for a kosher Ramadan dinner party and interesting talks surrounding both of these religious events. Had you been there, it might have helped dismiss the above statements as absolute rubbish. (Unless of course you already knew...)

Still, the magic of the spoken word should not be underestimated, especially in the case of Saoed Khadje. Well-versed and very down to earth, this Islamic teacher had his audience spellbound while covering the do's and don'ts of Ramadan.

Regrettably, Khadje's speech sounded off to the people who needed it the least. Come on: city councillor Ahmed Aboutaleb, former MP Mohammed Rabbae, Hadassa Hirschfeld, vice-president of CIDI (the Centre Information and Documentation on Israel), and Rabbi Soetendorp of the Liberal Jewish Community in The Hague aren't exactly morons when it comes to Islam and Judaism--and all are advocates of dialogue with a capital D. Unfortunately, it was an invitation-only event for, quite frankly, I could think of a few people who could really do with a lesson or two from Khadje to get rid of some false notions regarding Ramadan. And I'm not just referring to non-Muslims here.

One such misconception is that people have come to believe that Ramadan is the Arabic word for 'fasting'. FYI, it is the name of the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar, commemorating the revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad.
The fast during the month of Ramadan is laid down in the Koran and has to be observed from dawn to sunset. In other words, my dears, the evenings and nights are yours to do as you please, provided of course your activities remains within the boundaries of decency. And when you're sick, pregnant, travelling or having your period, you are not even supposed to fast.

Explaining the spiritual realm of Ramadan is less straightforward, as Khadje pointed out. For more than any other month of the year, Ramadan is a period in which most Muslims endeavour to connect to God 24/7 by putting their devotion to God first and foregoing primary needs--as well as egos.

'But what if you are a very devout person who feels that this craving for food and drink only prevents you from focusing on God?' Hirschfeld asked. Khadje seemed at a loss here, which I thought was rather odd, because to my knowledge the Koran is very clear on that: if you cannot sustain the fast, then do good deeds, for instance, by feeding the poor.

Khadje was saved, however, by wafts of mouth-watering smells of food, heralding the moment of Iftar, the traditional evening meal to break the fast. After the recitation of a brief prayer, Muslims and Jews alike were finally able to sink their teeth in dried dates and apples covered with honey before moving on to the other courses. I guess the way to dialogue really is through the stomach. Shana Tova and Ramadan Mabrouk.

'A house divided cannot stand'

Ramadan Roundup Part I for the Amsterdam Weekly By Sharida Mohamedjoesoef

Dates, pasta, a succulent piece of chicken with lots of garlic, soy sauce, onions, tomatoes and olives. Last night's dinner, if you must know. And I'm telling you--it was simply delicious. I am not a great cook or anything, but the fact is I didn't eat all day, as Ramadan has begun, the holiest month in the Islamic lunar calendar. For 30 days I am not supposed to eat, drink, smoke or have sex between dawn and sunset and stay away from impure thoughts, sights and sounds. You should also know I'm a real push-over when it comes to food, so I'm not sure whether I can keep up all this self-restraint for a whole week, let alone a month. But for now, at least, all went well.

Before your reporter was able to go home and have dinner, however, she was at the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, where mayor Job Cohen, together with Minister for Administrative Renewal and Royal Relations, Atzo Nicolai, opened the Ramadan Festival. It was a success last year and, judging from the high turnout and the fact that more major cities like Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Maastricht decided to tag along this year, Ramadan Festival 2006 has all the makings of another success story.

Admittedly, I did see some frowns at the very deft organisation and the richly set dining tables, and hear someone calling it 'a commercialisation of Ramadan'. A teacher from the Islamic primary school As Soeffah felt it was 'a far cry from the idea behind Ramadan, which is about frugal living.' I guess they do have a point. That said, over 150 activities have already been registered on the Ramadan Festival website and it seems as if the Netherlands is finally getting to know its Muslim communities.

And it's about time. After the brutal murder of Theo van Gogh, it had become painfully clear that for decades Muslims and non-Muslims had hardly bonded due to sheer lack of knowledge about the other. It was then that the idea of having a Ramadan Festival was born. And what better place than to kick off the Festival at the modern glass Passenger Terminal--I mean, how transparent can you get? Hundreds of smartly dressed people, most of them Muslim--and like me probably fairly hungry--were raptly listening to mayor Cohen's speech that underlined the importance of proper dialogue as a way to achieving 'peace'. The mayor lashed out at his opponents, saying 'that dialogue is not something that should be taken lightly or be confused with nice chit chat'.

Given the way the organisers set up this year's activities, there is no getting away from 'dialogue'. For starters, there are the Caravan of Lectures on a variety of topics such as Islamic banking and gender issues. Second, there is the Iftar Estafette, where people can enjoy a traditional Ramadan dinner and participate in a debate. Here, too, the topics are diverse and sometimes even sensitive, like the one on homosexuality in the Netherlands only gay Arabic bar, Cafe Habibi Ana, on 29 September.

On a lighter note, you might one to check out the so-called Hospitality Dinners, where Muslim families treat non-Muslims to a typical Ramadan meal. Ramadan Nights make up the last pillar. It is a definite must if you like comedy, live music and theatre. Even though this was only day one of Ramadan, the send-off at the Passenger Terminal was great. But ask me again in 30 days' time, with numerous debates, lectures and Ramadan dinners under my belt. That and two or three kilos, I'm afraid.