Kareem’s Family Disowns Him; Father Wants Him Killed If He Does Not “Repent”
….other than that it is urgent to save Abdelkareem.
Letters to the Egyptian authorities can make a difference.
Kareem’s Family Disowns Him; Father Wants Him Killed If He Does Not “Repent”
….other than that it is urgent to save Abdelkareem.
Letters to the Egyptian authorities can make a difference.
That is just terrible! however it is not as uncommon as we might think. Parents often renounce to protect their children (just follow the news on girls who have been raped and abused), and some even want to see them killed. I think it has to do with the twisted and actually evil mind some Arab Muslims have. I, for one cannot stand or accept such issues! It is simply and clear put, an irresponsible, barbaric behavior.
While I find his parents’ behavior as disgusting and cowardly as anyone else, it is intellectually lazy to just blame it on inherent “twisted” and “evil” elements of Arab or Muslim culture. Regular Egyptians, and particularly the families of dissidents, are under a great amount of social pressure to publically distance themselves from the wrongdoings of their relations simply for survival purposes in many cases. This is surely cowardice of the worst kind, but not “evil.” The whole reason that Kareem is in this mess at all is because of Mubarak’s sense of threat from Islamist parties. He has to both put on a show to try and placate radicals like the Muslim Brotherhood while simultaneously employing iron fisted dictatorial powers to keep his tenuous grip on power and prevent an overthrow. Again, the regime’s actions here are incredibly cowardly, but to attribute them to something as nebulous as “evil” doesn’t help us at all to deconstruct and clarify the situation. Only by understanding what motivates and often makes people feel like they are forced to do unkind things to other people can we start building solutions to the underlying causes of these (sadly) widespread behaviors.
Are you seriously surprised?
What else would one expect from the “religion of peace”?
I’m really not trying to be politically correct here, but I do think it is useless and unwise to take this out on Islam. While I actually do believe this is pure evil (sorry Jessica, but cowardice is really not the right word here), I don’t think it makes much sense to say that it’s a type of evil inherently present on “some Arab Muslim minds.” Many of Kareem’s closest allies and most ardent defenders are devout Arab Muslims. Turning this into a critique of Islam serves no other purpose but to cloud the real issue.
This is not about religion, and it is not about politics. There is no time for discussion about such abstracts here. This is about a young man who is facing death whether he stays in prison or whether he is freed. This about doing everything in our hands to get him out of that prison and out of that country safely. His life is not an abstract concept. It is very real, and very concrete. If we want to help him, we must let go of parochial sentiments and get to work.
Any ideas on how we can help him get out of there?
Constantino is quite right. Abdelkareem’s staunchest and bravest defenders are themselves very pious Muslims. It’s easy for non-Muslims in other countries to express opinions on such cases, but the people who show bravery are invariably Muslims and they deserve our respect and honor. They are combatting an evil in their society, as good people do everywhere, whether in the Middle East, or in the US during the days of Jim Crow and segregation, or in Europe from the 1930s onward, cases that also revealed a great deal of cruelty and inhumanity, demonstrating that such evils are hardly unique to one society or culture.
This is about saving a young man’s life. His opinions or views are irrelevant to whether he has rights — the right to life and the right to liberty.
Favouring something invisible, something that they can’t see or hear or touch or taste or smell — even with exotic scientific equipment — over their own son. Fearing its supposed rath over their son’s sensible love. That’s faith.
And Kareem, printing criticisms of religion and government knowing the legal consequences, and then, once charged, boycotting his own trial. That’s principled.
Perhaps Kareem, upon his release, or should he escape, should apply for refugee status here in Canada. I think he’ll be able to find a family with more ‘earthly’ concerns.
Michael, could you help us find someone who could help him apply for asylum in Canada? Please get in touch with me if you have any thoughts on how to go about doing this.
Constantino and Jessica, I do believe that each of us have the right to his/her own opinion based on our experiences. As such, I stated my opinion. Its social pressure, it is wrong to abandon your child, and I have used ‘some’ because such terrible acts happen all over the Mid and Far East. Few get to the mainstream media or even in blogosphere. What about the Palestinian moms who are happy when their children commit suicide in Israel? The practice of handing candy and pastries after your child died, and has taken Jews (also nicknamed pigs and monkeys by some Arabs)is also something quite common. I have asked about it in the refugee camps I’ve seen, only to find out that its a joy!! and young ppl have to be encouraged to fight this way for their land! So, please, get out of the bubble you’re living in the United States and try to understand that beside the intellectual Arabs, (I know and you may know and work with) the masses are not like that. I hate to generalize; however,if the Muslims are roughly 1 billion, and as Brigitte Gabriel said 300 millions are Jihadists or would be Jihadists, we have a problem! I don’t think we have to applaud those (Arabs, Muslims and non-Arabs, non-Muslims) who behave rightly (well, isn’t that what we all ought to? as civilized human beings?), but I strongly think that we should criticize those who don’t! That is all.
opps! sorry for the misspellings
I don’t think that fighting for Kareem’s rights, and recognizing the ultimate source for the infrinigemtn of those rights, are mutually exclusive. Surely one can do both at the same time.
In other words, it surely isn’t impossible to both support Kareem’s right to speak his mind and, at the same time, criticize the very thing that threatens that right (i.e., Islam).
I don’t doubt that there are very brave Muslims fighting for Kareem’s inherent rights, even risking their personal security to do so. But intellectual honesty demands that we recognize they do so despite their religious obligations, not consistent with them.
GN,
That is how you view their religious obligations, but apparently not how they view them. Islam, like Christianity and Judaism (and I suppose, Hinduism and other religions) has different interpretations. Some are intolerant and some are tolerant. That’s no different from the history of Christianity. When people were being burned at the stake for heresy by some Christians and other Christians defended them, which ones were the “true Christians”? Which ones were doing what they were doing despite their religious obligations, not because of them?
By all means criticize those who call for censorship and even murder, but don’t include in the criticism those who deserve, as Dr. Palmer said, respect and honor for their opposition to censorship and murder.
I have many Muslim friends and I know that they are decent people. It upsets me when people blame them for what they have not done, do not support,a nd suffer from themselves.
Dear Jessica and GN,
Sure, Islam–and any religion, for that matter–should be analyzed critically. Sure, one can both discuss the reasons why Kareem’s oppressors wish to see him dead, and fight to save his life.
After 11 posts discussing the reasons, and whether we should or should not discuss the reasons, let’s start focusing on the “doing something” part.
If anyone has any thoughts on how to help him receive asylum in Europe or North America, and wishes to start discussing the steps we need to follow towards that goal, please get in touch with me ASAP at constantino [at] c-dd [dot] com
Thanks.
Moira,
All texts are subject to interpretation, and reasonable people can disagree on what a given text means. You cited Christians burning heretics at the stake. To resolve that theological issue, one would need to look at the Bible, find the relevant passages, and see if there is Scriptural evidence that supports burning heretics at the stake. If such evidence exists, then a prima facie case can be made that Christianity itself should be blamed for the evil deeds of its followers. Indeed, it would be reasonable to call Christianity itself–to the degree it sanctions such barbarism–evil.
Of course the presumption is rebuttable. It’s possible that the Bible has just one or two passages, perhaps out of context, that support burning heretics at the stake, while the rest of the Bible is tolerant towards other faiths (incidentally I’ve no idea what the Bible’s take on heretics actually is). In that case, one would look at the “preponderance of the evidence” (or, some other measure of review) and make a judgment as to whether the creed is guilty, or if the act is a perversion of Christianity.
Using those standards, I think we can indict Islam for the crime of intolerance. I’ll concede that whether we should convict remains a slightly more open question, but denying that there is enough evidence for a prima facie case is just burying our heads in the sand. There is such a thing as too much tolerance.
No one reading this site will disagree that we should condemn those who restrict free expression, and support those who celebrate and promote it, whether Muslim, Christian, or atheist. But again, I think there’s at least a prima facie case to be made that the Muslims who fight for the freedom to condemn Islam do so in spite of their religion, not consistent with it.
Maybe we can do something (like an online petition, let the human rights NGOs know about this case, etc) for Hadi Said Al-Matif. He has been wrongfully imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for over 15 years. You can find details here:http://www.hrinfo.net/en/reports/2007/pr0203.shtml
and on the blog: http://www.ordoesitexplode.com/me/ (February 13 2007)