It seems more clear recently how things go full circle.
I was in a shop buying a notebook (ever the writer needs) and it stuck me how just four years ago i was kneeling on the dusty floor of this shop trying to buy enough files for my new file cabinet and was making sure I had enough labels and tags for each folder and I was buying about 100 of the file folders so I had them quite spread out around me on the floor. I never imagined four years later I would have accomplished all I have done or how changed a person I would be. Even further in the circle would be the first time i set foot in that shop and smelled the beautiful scent of stationairy proucts....ahh it was love at first smell. Time fades so fast and we never know what is around the next bend, you know.
It was also in this shop years ago, i was looking for a grave leaf vine stencil to paint a shelf I had gotten as a gift. I wanted to paint it and give it as a gift to another friend of mine. I looked and searched and shook my fist at the lack of stenciling options. This last time i was in there getting my notebook I saw it a beautiful grape vine stencil, i thought wryly, ahhh NOW you get it...four years too late... it's just as well though for Allah is the best of planner and my friend no longer lives in Lebanon anyways, she went back to Sweden.
Looking around the city the western influence has crept swiflty into place. Lingiree clad women on bilboards and seductivly posing around the more "developed" and more glamourous sections of the cities. Hijabi girls who could hardly be called hijabis. Double the amount of cars on the road and more noticably the better and newer imported cars on the road. Buildings popping up and new streets directions being changed from two way to one way now. It's amazing how cities change.
Nationalism is increasing here in Lebanon. Every other commercial is a nationalistic patriotic song or theme. They are quite stuck in my head.... Especially the opera one...... LUBNAAAAAN!!!!!
They think this is the solution for the wars to end here in Lebanon, having everyeon identify themselves not by religion but by the common thread that they are Lebanese. To a point this would work...
EXCEPT... for the fact that Lebanon has the most DIEHARD extremests from EVERY RELIGION. NO ONE AND I MEAN NO ONE is going to forget theat their religions come fist and their nationality second....
hmmm but then I double think.... the rise in Western influence is really leading people away from their religions into a consumerism age where people become confused about who they are and what they stand for.... SO I guess as always the debate is up in the air, the DIE HARDS are here to stay and the whishy washy LUBNAAAAANi people always meet head to head. I enjoy the political sketches showing the stupidity of the politicians here. They have about three or four weekly programs and no one misses them. They are HILARIOUS!!!
I love my Lebanon, do I love Lubnan? Hmmm.... that's a question to think on.....
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8 intelligent thoughts:
Of all places on earth I would think the developement of a secular state would be welcome in Lebanon.
the ugliness of the religious wars that have killed and maimed so many, icluding the precious children on all sides, should be evidence enough that religions at war with each other creates an evil environment. A secular state allows all the many faiths to live side by side w/o these power struggles.
Don't confuse the importance of this concept with the comercialism that you want to blame on the west. The Lebanese people will and should be free to decide for themselves what kind of culture they want. Those who want to participate in "consumerism" will do so, those who prefer the old ways will do so.
Salaam uAlaikum...your thoughts are intriguing and your writing is so interesting! I am happy I found your blog alhamdulillah! You know...nationalism is haraam I think in every religion, not just Islam...so it is so sad to see it increasing in almost every country...most people don't realize that instead of it binding us all together as brothers and sisters, it is just another way of separating us...may Allah forgive us all...ameen.
Keep it up habibti!
good afternoonpeople this is a great forum hope im welcome :)
Dear Brandy,
I'm trying to understand where you are going with this post. In the first paragraph you are on your knees indulging in the purest form of consumerism, i.e. buying stuff you love, by the end of the post you are bad mouthing consurmerism of others, blaming it on the west.
And why not rejoice and get behind the efforts of the government to bring all the different peoples of Lebanon together as one people and leave religion as the private matter it should be. I don't understand your position at all.
Seperation of church/mosque and state is the only way we are ever going to make our homeland peaceful.
It is not that, dear. Lebanon is a tiny country that you can barely see on the map, but its people love it, because this is all what they have. This kind of love is charachteristic to small nations. As for the patriotic songs, I suggest to look at that differently too. Didn't you wrap yourself in American flag? It is the same for Lebanese. They passionately love this tiny piece of land and they are looking for ways to leave their imprint on the pages of world's history. I can understand them, 9 years on I am still a foreigner here but I can't imagine myself living somewhere else.
As for the veiled girls who wear tight clothes you were talking about... Well, usually these are girls who are much into this life in all its splendor, but they have aknowledged in their hearts that obligation is an obligation, so they have decided: maybe I won't be perfect, but I WILL still do my obligaion, i.e. covering what I have to cover. Their hearts crave for glamor and beauty, but still they make this effort. Little by little many of them find their own way to be attractive to a degree and very decent at the same time. They pass through a lot actually, because you probably don't know that veiled woman here is unlikely to be employed for really good jobs. So, it is mostly how you look at it :-)
Hi;
I am a Muslim blogger,
and I wanted to know:
how do you have so many followers???
Do you only want feedback from those who agree with your point of view? If so that's ok, it's your blog but I think your blog would have more educatonal value if you posted comments that offer opposing points of view.
I think some of you are thinking of "nationalism" in terms of pitting one nation against another. Yes it is sometimes used to promote that very undesirable effect but in the case of Lebanon I believe the object has been to promote a sense of community that embraces ALL it's citizens under one flag as opposed to pitting one faction against another.
I would argue that the similarities between Islam and Christianity are far greater than their differences. Both religions worship the same God, both religions encourage us to love our neighbor, to be be charitable, to be peace loving. Is it not better to try to build upon those shared values to create a cohesive nation than to be fighting and killing one another?
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