Arbitration & mediation in the Arab world: a growing phenomenon

January 31, 2010 – 10:01 pm

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms in the Arab world have been growing hand in hand with the resurgence of various countries as members of the fast growing club of successful emerging markets. The flexibility of arbitration, mediation and other ADR methods, as well as their speed, efficiency and confidentiality, have made them more attractive to investors and parties in contracts of an international nature. Consequently, a significant number of Arab countries have been busy updating and enhancing their laws and regulations on arbitration and mediation in particular. There is momentum behind ADR in the region. Read More »

By Nasser Ali Khasawneh | Posted in business world, current affairs, islam, religion | Comments (2)

Motorcycle Diaries Part XVII

August 3, 2008 – 4:08 pm

I was seeking sanctuary from the scorching heat of an Aqaba July afternoon in my hotel room when I tuned in to the live footage of the arrival in south Lebanon of the freed prisoners from Israeli jails. Unshackled from their jailors by force, Hizbullah delivered what it promised to do two years ago and coerced Israel to release those whom its top politicians and generals declared will never be set free.

The other story in the news on the very same day was the gun attack at the Roman Amphitheatre in Amman, where a deranged Islamist opened fire at the audience of a musical concert. How the two stories are closely connected, I shall reveal after I share with you the totally new kind of emotion that enveloped me as I followed the parade of the liberated men on TV (alongside the coffins of the fallen fighters, inside one of which lay Dalal Mughrabi, whose corpse Ehud Barak personally mutilated in 1978 and invited the cameras to record his primeval act).

As I watched this historic event, I didn’t know how to define the overwhelming jolt of elation that swept my own sun-mutilated corpse. Why did it seem so unusual to belong to a nation that gave birth to a dedicated group of fighters who refused to abandon their captured comrades, I asked myself? Why was I so surprised to feel that way? Indeed, the extraordinary nobility of those who persevered and offered their lives to twist the arms of the captors of their brothers-in-arms was a manifestation of military valor and gallantry in combat that I have not witnessed in recent memory from my own nation folk. Then I realized what this sensation was like

The only people in this region who have always lit a candle of solidarity for their missing sons and daughters were not the Arab countries. Finally, I could feel as privileged as Jews do. For the first time in my life, and although I never wished for it, I felt like an Israeli. Indeed, one of the reasons the Israelis have always conquered their Arab adversaries was because their soldiers go into battle knowing that their leaders and their people shall never rest until they return them to their families, whether living or dead.

And now, this most honorable trait with its noblest values of gratitude to your fighting brethren combined with the solemn vow to leave no man or woman behind, is no longer monopolized by our enemies. The sweltering Aqaba sun became cooler all of a sudden as the refreshing breeze of redeemed dignity penetrated my soul. Read More »

By Zaid Nabulsi | Posted in current affairs, entertainment, islam, lebanon, religion | Comments (0)

Motorcycle Diaries Part XVI

July 4, 2008 – 3:11 pm

Last summer, when Kate and Gerry McCann were granted an audience with the Pope to pray for their missing daughter, Madeleine, that meeting in the Vatican sparked a nagging train of thought in my mind that is refusing to slow down with time, threatening to undermine the entire foundations of my faith.

The upheaval in my head was about the human tendency which we all share when in dire times of trouble: to plead for salvation to what is supposed to be an omnipotent force that holds our fate in its hands – without ever questioning the meaning and purpose of this instinctive exercise. Why, the question kept haunting me, do believers need to implore God for an intervention to save an innocent little girl like Madeleine, if they believe that He has the power to do it anyway.

Does a most merciful father need us immortals to beg him to do the right thing? Does He need the Pope to intermediate to end a grief-stricken family’s plight?

This dilemma has no comfortable answer for someone like me who has reached his belief in a Creator through an arduous process of rational thinking and reasoning rather than by indoctrinated fear of torture in hell fire. Read More »

By Zaid Nabulsi | Posted in current affairs, entertainment, humor, islam, jordan, religion | Comments (0)

Muslim Comedians in the U.S.: A PBS Special

May 11, 2008 – 9:59 am

This week on PBS, “STAND UP: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age” premiered as part of the ongoing “America at a Crossroads” series. Five comedians are profiled in this documentary special: Ahmed Ahmed, Tissa Hami, Dean Obeidallah, Azhar Usman and Maysoon Zayid.

ahmed ahmed

Each comedian profiled has their own angle on both the entertainment business and the experiences of Muslims in the United States. Maysoon Zayid talks about being a Palestinian-American Muslim woman who doesn’t cover her hair, a virgin, and a disabled person aspiring to become an actress.

Dean Obeidallah shares the story of how he initially stopped using his Arab last name when performing in the aftermath of 9/11, then had a change of heart and a change of direction.

Azhar Usman, who is shown praying in his dressing room at one point, discusses going through a conservative phase before realizing that his path in life ultimately lay elsewhere.

azher usman smiles

Many viewers will relate to Ahmed Ahmed’s anxiety in regards to air travel, except that in Ahmed Ahmed’s case there is the added “bonus” of traveling while Muslim and enduring extreme suspicion. And Tissa Hami’s account of enduring prejudice both from non-Muslims and Muslims (some of whom have told her that she is “going to hell”) is not exactly a laughing matter.

Yet, staying true to its subject matter, the special manages to be light-hearted as well. The featured jokes could probably make even David Horowitz laugh, or so I’d like to believe.

Prior to the premiere, I was given an opportunity to interview several of the comedians, and here is what we talked about:

Read More »

By Natalia Antonova | Posted in current affairs, entertainment, humor, islam, muslim women, religion | Comments (3)

The Resurrection: Why Do Christians Believe In It?

May 5, 2008 – 1:47 pm

For Christians, Christ’s life did not end with his death. It is here that we realise that the Christian gospel stands or falls on the astonishing claim of his resurrection.

Christ did not only die according to the scriptures. It wasn’t to end there, but “that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”. His burial and resurrection was itself prophesied by Jesus himself as he took an illustration from Jonah the prophet. (Matthew 12:40) “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Also this again was prophesied in Isaiah 53. “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death”.

The Hebrew Scriptures speak also of his resurrection. There are many scriptures that prophesy this. The best known is from Psalm 16:10 and Peter the Apostle quoted this as he spoke to the Jews on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down.

Someone commented to me once that the apostles and the evangelists who wrote the gospels were not, for the most part, prophets. Yes, God spoke to us through prophets all down the ages, but what is equally important are “WITNESSES”. The New Testament emphasises this all of the time.

The prophets have spoken, the prophesied events have taken place, and there were those who saw it, witnesses. For instance Jesus himself as he spoke to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:46-47) “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.”

Now, Hebrew Law demanded that everything must be established by two or three witnesses. That isn’t talking about forensic evidence or people who “think” they saw something, but those who were present at the time. We are told that not only two or three witnesses saw Christ alive, but over 500 at one time, which is what is important to Christians. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in christianity, religion | Comments (0)

Re-education and Incentivisation: The New Counter-Terrorism

April 22, 2008 – 11:33 am

In a major effort to defeat extremism, Saudi Arabia is re-educating more than 40,000 Muslim clerics in an attempt to both amend and modernise their interpretation of Islam.

Such non-militaristic strategies aimed at decreasing the potential for terrorism are of vital importance and can have enormously positive repercussions: Saudi Arabia is moderating its religious heads with a real hope that the rest of the devout population will follow. These kinds of models must be used in other nations as well in order to reinforce existing counter-terrorism strategies.

Social policies implemented to prevent terrorism from its core provide the only long-term solution to curb its threat. In an article published by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr Andrew Silke, UN adviser and Director of Terrorism Studies at the University of East London, writes: “A remaining critical concern is that the current [UK] legislation is very poor in offering terrorists and their supporters a way out of extremism. There is no system to encourage terrorists to leave.”

Although it is vital that terrorists are stopped and brought to justice, there must also be rewards for their change in behaviour (assuming there is proof that they have denounced their past beliefs and actions).

Dr Silke adds: “Psychology has long known that it is much easier to change behaviour with rewards than with punishment. The UK though shows no sign of introducing a carrot to accompany the many sticks in its legislative approach, and this omission may yet prove costly.” Dr Silke mentions “Penititi Laws”, introduced in Italy in the 1980s, that cut prison sentences and granted early release for rehabilitated terrorists. This helped eradicate terrorism in the country.

By showing a criminal that he can benefit from both denouncing violent fundamentalism and from becoming more socially accepted, we have eliminated his reason to fight. But, meeting a criminal’s violence solely with state punishment only increases the offender’s rage and sense of social alienation, as well as his group’s perceived injustice. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, islam, religion, terrorism | Comments (0)

The Christian Belief in a Nutshell

April 12, 2008 – 11:23 am

The first installment of Grahame Belton’s Christianity series can be found here.

I’ve argued that the apostle Paul’s gospel was not his own invention, but that everything he taught was “according to the scriptures”. Everything he taught could be found in the Hebrew prophecies.

The gospel that Paul preached was precisely the same as the other apostles preached. After his conversion he went away into Arabia and had no contact with the other Apostles. When he came back to Jerusalem he discovered that the gospel that he preached was precisely the same as that which the other Apostles were preaching and so he was welcomed into their number. But what was it that Paul preached?

The text tells us: “… how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

The central theme of the gospel is seen in Paul’s words. Remove the foundational truths of the death and resurrection of Christ and the whole fabric of the Christian belief falls.

It says that first of all he died. Jesus’ death occurred exactly as the scriptures had predicted. “They shall look on him whom they pierced”–The quotation is from Zechariah 12:10; direct from the Hebrew. The choice of the words employed both by the prophet and the Evangelist for “piercing” matches exactly what happened to Christ on the cross. The word in Zechariah means to thrust through with spear, javelin, sword, or any such weapon. And where they nailed him to the cross can also be found in Psalm 22 where we read, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” The word there used for pierced is one signifying to bore as with an awl or hammer. In fact if you read the whole of Psalm 22 you will see a vivid description of the crucifixion of Christ, and it can also be seen written in the prophesy of Isaiah in chapter 53.

When the so called Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, there was much of the Hebrew scriptures found there which actually dated to the time of Christ or 100 years before him. There is a complete scroll of Isaiah as well, and when compared to those copies of which we have today, which are dated to around 900 AD they were to be found identical, with just a few grammatical variations. The entire prophesy was entact. So we have, as did the apostle Paul, a reliable source from which to take our teaching of the gospel.

Now, why did Christ die and why do Christians believe in his death? Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in christianity, religion | Comments (0)

The Exploitation of Sufiah Yousof

April 5, 2008 – 3:57 pm

I was looking at Al Arabiya recently, when I came across an article on child prodigy turned sex-worker, Sufiah Yousof.

Now, I am well aware of the fact that prostitution is frowned upon in all major religions, but the wording of this story, and many of the comments following it, struck me as cheap and exploitative. Let’s weep crocodile tears for Sufiah Yousof while enjoying the furtive thrill of seeing a good girl from a Muslim family go bad! What could possibly be wrong with that?

It’s easy to reduce Ms. Yousof to a two-dimensional caricature, but I suspect that her story is as complicated as any story of lived experience. Of course, a nuanced portrayal most likely means that you do not get to make a buck and/or a self-righteous fuss over the matter at hand.

Allowing people to make choices means that, every once in a while, they will do things that go against one’s ideology, perhaps even against one’s spirit. This is why people everywhere (not just in the Muslim world) are so fond of making examples out of women who stray from the fold. Women have long been regarded as property in many societies, and, in many cases, have been taught to regard themselves, their daughters, and sisters as property as well. And who wants “damaged goods”? Right?

In many ways, Sufiah’s story reminds me of the story of Britney Spears, another “good girl” gone “bad.” I am old enough to remember the days when Britney’s much-publicized virginity was the stuff of hotly-traded soundbytes and teasing magazine spreads. We just love to watch those good girls come tumbling off their public pedestals, do we not? Read More »

By Natalia Antonova | Posted in current affairs, islam, muslim women, religion | Comments (37)

Motorcycle Diaries Part XIII

April 3, 2008 – 12:22 pm

This article was originally published in Jordan’s Living Well magazine.

If anyone could deduce anything from the previous Uglification articles (exposing and denouncing the stranglehold that the treacherous cult of Wahabism has tightened around the neck of Islam today), it is the conclusion that such an organized destructive movement could not have been empowered to hijack one of the world’s greatest religions and cultures – with the unprecedented financial power that this movement wields – except through a conscious conspiracy of collusion by the West to resuscitate and permanently sustain such a sect of madmen by installing them to be the official guardians of this awfully disfigured and intentionally falsified religion.

Those who went further in reading between the lines may have grasped the crucial role the Zionist movement played in justifying the barbarity of Israel, through its powerful grip on the world media, by fortifying the message that the victims of Zionism are nothing more than an irrational breed of suicidal savages who loathe every manifestation of culture, from music and architecture, down to children’s kites. In other words, the obvious fact which I may have shied away from blurting out more openly is the unmistakable existence of the “C” word, the great, but nowadays automatically discredited, conspiracy theory.

Yet, a conspiracy is not always directly implemented and constantly monitored by its creators. The conspiracy I’m talking about here is not as one imagines the word, i.e., a group of evil men sitting down in secret in a dark room to dictate the next move of the Wahabists. No, that would be a little paranoid (although on many occasions when an urgent fatwa was needed, this was exactly what happened, such as the custom-tailored fatwa in 1990 that American forces can be relied upon to wage war against fellow Muslims in Iraq).

In the annals of the ongoing Wahabist conspiracy, the wheels have been set in motion a long time ago. While they may continue to be oiled every now and then as the exigencies of empire require, external intervention can be kept to a clandestine, undetected minimum. Today, the backwardness of this Islamist scourge has assumed a life of its own. I’ll give you a live example. Read More »

By Zaid Nabulsi | Posted in religion | Comments (1)

The Christian Faith Through the Teachings of Paul

March 28, 2008 – 12:04 pm

My name is Grahame Belton, and I am a Christian.

Just for the record, I’m British. I mention that because I recognise that many people nowadays think that Christianity is a Western religion. I had someone say that to me: “Why should you go and preach our Western religion?”

This person was actually surprised when I informed her that Christianity originated in the Middle East. Overall, though, the conversation made me to think. I had to admit that the churches in the West have indeed “westernised” the gospel so much that they have lifted it right out of context, so to speak. So it is a good thing, as we read the New Testament, that we try and put things into a Middle Eastern context.

I would set out, as clearly as I can, what I as a Christian believe. I find inter-faith dialogue to be of great importance. Why do I believe what I believe? Let me tell you.

I call myself a Reformed Believer. I believe the same things the English Reformers believed in the 15th and 16th centuries; they, in turn, believed the same things as those in the early Christian Church. Their aim was to “Reform”, to put right those things they considered to be errors that had grown up within the Church over the centuries.

As a Reform Believer, I am interested in the roots of Christianity. In that light, the portion of scripture which, I think, illustrates in a nutshell the entire Christian faith is to be found in one of the Apostle Paul’s letters to the churches that he himself founded in Asia Minor, the Church at Corinth. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in christianity, religion | Comments (1)