Posts from — December 2006

According to this report, reading Shakespeare is good for the brain.

Why? Well, apparently it’s to do with something called “functional shift“. An example of functional shift is using a noun as a verb, as in “he godded me” (from the tradegy of Coriolanus).

According to Professor Philip Davis from the University of Liverpool’s School of English:

By throwing odd words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare surprises the brain and catches it off guard in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity - a sense of drama created out of the simplest of things.

Professor Neil Roberts, from the University

Technorati Tags: Shakespeare, brain, functional shift, noun, verb, Coriolanus

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It’s difficult to keep up with the coverage of the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court’s judgement against the Baha’is. Here are some links to a few of the news media and blogs that have covered or commented on the story:

Al Jazeera English
…Or Does It Explode?
arabawy
Spero News
Dhimmi Watch

There’s loads more in the mainstream media as well. A search for “Baha’i” on Google News will trawl you up plenty of stories.

If you want to understand why this adverse judgement is so serious and threatening for the Baha’i community in Egypt, you really have to read this post on Bilo’s excellent blog. Bilo gives one of the clearest expositions of the central facts and issues surrounding the ID card case and shows what the implications are. He has also provided a translation of the application form for the ID card.

As things stand, if you are a citizen of Egypt you have to be (or call yourself) a follower of one of the “recognized” religions: Islam, Christianity or Judaism. It is utterly against Baha’i principle to lie about one’s religion. In the last 160 years or so, thousands of Baha’is in Iran gave up their lives rather than deny their faith. As Bilo points out:

Egyptian Baha’is must have in hand the new National ID Card before the deadline of 31 December 2006, on which all Egyptian citizens must carry the new ID Card at all times. The application form requires the applicant to state his or her religion. It also requires the applicant to declare “that all details in this application are correct and real; I accept responsibility for consequences, with the full knowledge that providing any incorrect information in this application is considered forgery of official documents and is legally punishable according to the articles of the penal code”. This, of course, places the Baha

Technorati Tags: Egypt, Baha’is, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Iran

Brian Whitaker has written an excellent piece about the Baha’is in Egypt and the denial of their right to ID cards. Some of the comments are worth reading too. He makes some appropriate comments about things said following the judgment by fanatical or unthinking Muslims. It is deeply sad to see such intolerant expressions of Islam.

The piece is in the Comment is Free section of Guardian Unlimited, the website of the UK’s The Guardian newspaper.

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags: Baha’is, Egypt, Muslims, Islam

The Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court’s judgment went against Baha’is Mr Moussa and Mrs Rushdy this morning. There has been quite a bit of media coverage of this. Here are some examples. Bilo’s blog is a good starting point.

Civil rights and religious freedom have been denied for the time being to a whole community of citizens of Egypt. There’s no doubt that this is a significant moment for Egypt and for the Baha’is.

Our National Spiritual Assembly paused in its meeting today to pray for the friends in Egypt.

Technorati Tags: Egypt, Baha’i, Civil rights, religious freedom, citizens

Further to my earlier post on winter festivals, a friend who lives in Thailand has emailed:

I see you talked on your blog about the growing PC concern about not having religious holiday Z because it might offend religionists X. From a Thai point of view this is quite strange as we try to maximize the number of holidays and celebrations that we celebrate. So most Thais are Buddhist, but we still have Christmas (with carol singers in the department stores), the Western and Chinese new years in addition to the Thai one, and Haloween is now becoming popular.

Quite so! Let’s welcome a plurality of festivals and be less straight laced!

Technorati Tags: Thai, Buddhist, Christmas, carol singers, Chinese, new year

I’m very encouraged by this post on Bilo’s blog. It seems that prominent Egyptian bloggers are publicly supporting the Baha’i case that will be heard in the Supreme Court on Saturday 16 December.

Bilo writes:

This is definitely a sign of things to come in Egypt as the new generation is finding an avenue to express its opinions freely and with eloquence. The emergence of blogging in Egypt has produced unimaginable effects on the society at large, exposing injustices and promoting a balanced and free society that will influence the direction of the country’s future.

Wonderful!

Technorati Tags: Egypt, bloggers, Baha’i

It seems that the Taliban are on the rise again in Afghanistan. Signandsight have posted an English translation of an article from the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche. Here’s Signandsight’s intro to the article:

Supposedly wiped out after September 11, 2001, the Taliban are back. Their attacks have increased markedly, their tactics have become increasingly brutal. Suicide bombings, roadside bombs and beheadings have put NATO forces on the defensive. Just a few days ago, the commander of British troops in Afghanistan stated that the problem is the Taliban cadre. The hard core must be eliminated, he said, or else there will be no chance for peace.

Sami Yousafzai and Urs Gehriger of Die Weltwoche recently met with a member of that hard core. In the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, they sat down to cups of green tea with Mullah Sabir. During the years of Taliban rule (1994-2001) Sabir, 40, was responsible for security along the border with Iran. Today he is governor of Ghazni Province (south of Kabul) and commander of 900 fighters. Seated on a thick cushion and flanked by two bodyguards, he spent an hour talking about victory, strategy, spies, and his view of the world. He also proffered, for the first time, a copy of the Taliban’s new code of regulations.

You can read the new Islamic rulebook here. Scary stuff!

Technorati Tags: Taliban, Afghanistan, Mullah Sabir, Islam

I have just found this interesting account by a German Muslim woman about how she came to shed her veil after wearing one for 30 years.

Last year Emel Abidin-Algan removed her headscarf - and gave it the Haus der Geschichte (German History Museum) in Bonn. For the 45-year-old mother of six, it was the culmination of a long process. Her father, Yusuf Zeynelabidin, was the founder of the German section of Milli G

Technorati Tags: Muslim, veil

Baha’is around the world are anxiously following the unfolding story of the Moussa/Rushdy case in Egypt. As a recent article in the Egyptian newspaper, Nahdat Misr explains:

On 16 December the fate of the Baha’is will be decided and the curtain will fall on the litigation that occupied the Egyptian and world public opinion when the Supreme Administrative Court will rule on the appeal put forth by the Ministry of Interior in its attempt to reverse the judgement of the Administrative Court which granted the Baha’is their rights to document their religion on official documents.

The Administrative Court has ruled in favor of a Baha’i family that is made up of a father and a mother who are Egyptian citizens, and belong to the Baha’i religion. They had submitted a request to add the names of their three daughters on their passports, and were surprised [shocked] by the refusal of the administrative agencies to return to them their passports and by the confiscation of their ID Cards [and their daughters' birth certificates], forcing them to file a lawsuit….

The Egyptian government’s computerized ID cards include a space for the citizen’s religious affiliation. The computer will accept only three religions: Islam, Judaism, Christianity. The followers of these religions are, of course, the “People of the Book” in Islamic belief. So, if you are an Egyptian citizen and a Buddhist or a Hindu or an atheist or a Baha’i, you’re in trouble. You either have to lie or you don’t get an ID card. And without an ID card you can be arrested on the spot, and you cannot access the services of the state.

If you don’t have an ID card you are, in effect, a non-person.

This has a serious impact on the lives of Baha’is in Egypt. The Egyptian Baha’i community is one of the oldest in the world and was well established until it was banned by President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1960.

The question is: should Baha’is be able to get ID cards as citizens of Egypt? Baha’is won’t lie about their religion (it is against fundamental Baha’i principles to dissimulate your faith and lying to the government about one’s religious identity is an untrustworthy thing to do).

The case which will be decided on 16 December will determine the fate of the Baha’i community in Egypt. If the decision goes for Mr Moussa and Mrs Rushdy, the community will exist, as it always has done, as peaceful citizens of Egypt. If the case goes against them, the Baha’i community may be wiped from the record by an arbitrary administrative fiat.

To find out more, especially about the personal stories of those affected and about the extraordinary human rights struggle that’s going on Egypt, you really should read Bilo’s excellent blog, Baha’i Faith in Egypt.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Egypt, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, ID card, human rights

The first serious frost of the winter this morning, and it’s getting on for mid-December. We’d normally expect first frost in November, perhaps even in October.

Frost on top of our front gate.

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