I've noticed on this board that a large number of ex-pat moslems (moslemss living in the west or were born there or lived most of their lives there) seemt o have this sort of monolithic monochrome perception of a lot of Arab countries. aving grown up in Jordan and lived msot of my life there these perceptions are actually quite strange.
There is this idea that the middle east (places like Jordan) represent the heartland of the so called "Ummah". As such these places should represent or fulfill a clear leaderhsip role as a an Islamic model or something of the like. That Jordan and and other Arab countries should be the paragon of all that is Islamic. Any deviation from this role is regarded as a clear mark of westernnization and or western meddling.
I don't understand why western or moslems whom live and grew up in the west have this image. Perhaps it is an attempt to asser cultural identity in the west, or something along those lins.
The Fact of the matter is somewhere like Jordan isn't and never was a a fitting model for the perception of these western moslems.
Traditionally Jordan had been a desert region populated mostly by Arab tribesmen. There is a popular misconception that bedouins, especially Jordanian Bedouins, conform strictly to Islamic practice. Bedouin customs diverge markedly from Islamic law in both postive and negative aspects. The positives would be the independent role of women and the negatives would be emphasis on revenge and tribalism.
Bedouins also consume and have always consumed copious amounts of date wine. The harsh realities of desert living and isolation led to the evolution of a very loose understanding of Islamic law.
Furthermore, since its inception Jordan is a diverse and multicultural country. There is a realitvely large number of Christians, Armenians, Circassian and Palestinians. In fact Palestinians outnumber the east bank Jordanians, the descendents of Bedouin stock. It is not this unified Islamic nation and never was and the most recent manifestation of this diversity is the advent of nightclubs. That is not to say there arent a lot of hardline moslems, there are but there is a rich hertiage of tolerance and acknowledgement of diversity. The Jordanian constitution recognizes both christianity and Islam as the State's official religions. Jordan is not really an Islamic country in the way that saudi arabia is and never has been.
Even if you want to go back to the days of the first four caliphs we see that even they werent a perfect model of Islamic governship. In fact Sharia law was suspended twice under the caliph Othman due to famine and drought and the caliph omar suspended other segmnets of Islamic law due to changing situations. Some Historians agree that Omar loved alchohol that he in fact enjoyed the odd glass of wine but more on alchohol and Islam later
Following the first 4 caliphs we saw the advent of the Umayyad dysnasty, if anyone really thinks that the Umayyads were manifestation of Islamic rule in a strict sense then they are seriously deluded. The Umayyads stretching to Al andalus in southern spain rolled back on the prescribed wearing of the veil, alchohol consumption and production was never limited and Christians and Jews flocked to Moslem cities such Gharnata, Damascus and Cairo to enjoy the protection and favoured position under Islamic or should I say semi Islamic rulers as these modern day western moslems would certainly not have agreed with Umayyad policies. Interestingly enough the word "Harem" comes from the Umayyad caliph Harun il rashied who was quite the ladies man some indicated he died of either of an STD or alchohol poisoning because of his worldly indulgences.
The Abbassids operated much a long the same lines but at that point the moslem world would start to fracture with some states or emirated being more conservative than others
The point is there was never a clear monolithic ideal of Islamic ideals.
NEither is it now
Also some people think that Alchohol is expressly forbidden it is not. The ayah in the quran forbids Pork but then uses the term avoid rather than forbid. Scholars disagree over this because like all Islamic law it is open to interpretation. Furthermore, this idea that Islamic law is a set of law set in stone is ridiculous. Sharia is the result of centuries of scholarships, The problem with Sharia is that it contantly evolved up until the 14th century but then with the fall of andalus it has stagnated ever since. and as such moslems are revert to a code of law that has not been refine in almost 700 years. Sharia is not a cler codified list of law handed down by god it is or was the end result of a long process of interpretation fo quranic script and hadith.
There is this idea that the middle east (places like Jordan) represent the heartland of the so called "Ummah". As such these places should represent or fulfill a clear leaderhsip role as a an Islamic model or something of the like. That Jordan and and other Arab countries should be the paragon of all that is Islamic. Any deviation from this role is regarded as a clear mark of westernnization and or western meddling.
I don't understand why western or moslems whom live and grew up in the west have this image. Perhaps it is an attempt to asser cultural identity in the west, or something along those lins.
The Fact of the matter is somewhere like Jordan isn't and never was a a fitting model for the perception of these western moslems.
Traditionally Jordan had been a desert region populated mostly by Arab tribesmen. There is a popular misconception that bedouins, especially Jordanian Bedouins, conform strictly to Islamic practice. Bedouin customs diverge markedly from Islamic law in both postive and negative aspects. The positives would be the independent role of women and the negatives would be emphasis on revenge and tribalism.
Bedouins also consume and have always consumed copious amounts of date wine. The harsh realities of desert living and isolation led to the evolution of a very loose understanding of Islamic law.
Furthermore, since its inception Jordan is a diverse and multicultural country. There is a realitvely large number of Christians, Armenians, Circassian and Palestinians. In fact Palestinians outnumber the east bank Jordanians, the descendents of Bedouin stock. It is not this unified Islamic nation and never was and the most recent manifestation of this diversity is the advent of nightclubs. That is not to say there arent a lot of hardline moslems, there are but there is a rich hertiage of tolerance and acknowledgement of diversity. The Jordanian constitution recognizes both christianity and Islam as the State's official religions. Jordan is not really an Islamic country in the way that saudi arabia is and never has been.
Even if you want to go back to the days of the first four caliphs we see that even they werent a perfect model of Islamic governship. In fact Sharia law was suspended twice under the caliph Othman due to famine and drought and the caliph omar suspended other segmnets of Islamic law due to changing situations. Some Historians agree that Omar loved alchohol that he in fact enjoyed the odd glass of wine but more on alchohol and Islam later
Following the first 4 caliphs we saw the advent of the Umayyad dysnasty, if anyone really thinks that the Umayyads were manifestation of Islamic rule in a strict sense then they are seriously deluded. The Umayyads stretching to Al andalus in southern spain rolled back on the prescribed wearing of the veil, alchohol consumption and production was never limited and Christians and Jews flocked to Moslem cities such Gharnata, Damascus and Cairo to enjoy the protection and favoured position under Islamic or should I say semi Islamic rulers as these modern day western moslems would certainly not have agreed with Umayyad policies. Interestingly enough the word "Harem" comes from the Umayyad caliph Harun il rashied who was quite the ladies man some indicated he died of either of an STD or alchohol poisoning because of his worldly indulgences.
The Abbassids operated much a long the same lines but at that point the moslem world would start to fracture with some states or emirated being more conservative than others
The point is there was never a clear monolithic ideal of Islamic ideals.
NEither is it now
Also some people think that Alchohol is expressly forbidden it is not. The ayah in the quran forbids Pork but then uses the term avoid rather than forbid. Scholars disagree over this because like all Islamic law it is open to interpretation. Furthermore, this idea that Islamic law is a set of law set in stone is ridiculous. Sharia is the result of centuries of scholarships, The problem with Sharia is that it contantly evolved up until the 14th century but then with the fall of andalus it has stagnated ever since. and as such moslems are revert to a code of law that has not been refine in almost 700 years. Sharia is not a cler codified list of law handed down by god it is or was the end result of a long process of interpretation fo quranic script and hadith.