Islam for Women

Empowering rural illiterate women in remote areas.
Film about Jordanian Bedouin mother premieres at HRW Film Festival in London
2013-03-16  Jessica Holland/ The National

• The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be held at venues across London from today until March 22. The screening of Rafea: Solar Mama and Q&A with filmmakers will be on Friday and Saturday. Visit www.ff.hrw.org for more details

A very inspiring documentary by two Egyptian woman filmmakers Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief about a Jordanian Bedouin woman who was chosen to participate  at the “Barefoot College” –  a school in the Indian state of Rajasthan that invites illiterate grandmothers from rural parts of Afghanistan, South Sudan, Peru and elsewhere in the world to take a six-month course on solar engineering.

Unfortunately I was not able to watch the premiere in Jordan but we can get an idea of the story in the official movie trailer on YouTube (please click on the picture.)

The film was received in Jordan with standing ovations on International Women’s Day in a huge theatre. “The audience was roaring and crying the whole time. It was amazing.”

There is wave of change and empowering woman in most conservatives Muslim societies, Al Hamdulillah. It is a wrong notion to argue  that women should stay home and have no say in the daily struggles of the society. Islam paved the way for women when in most parts of the world at that time women were nowhere near the freedom and chances as they have today. Unfortunately in later centuries the message have somehow got lost.

If we read with open mind the relevant passages in the Quran and in the many Hadiths, remembering that those are orally told reports collected, sorted out to reliable and to less reliable ones and written down more than 200 years later. Therefore should they should be taken with caution. Not everything in the Hadith’s  is the absolute truth as human memory can err.

Not the right but the Duty is on every Muslim, male and female to search for education.. “even from as far as China.” (Prof. Mohammed)

“Do treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers.“ (Prof. Mohammed in his farewell speech on his last pilgrimage)

With best Greetings

Mona

”JIHADI  FOODS ”

Quote —  controversial congresswoman Michele Bachmann:  “We need to stop these terror cakes now, before they infiltrate any further.”

“We Must Ban Falafel’ in School Lunches.”

Bachmann stopped short of advocating a ban on all Arab food, saying that  “responsible adults can probably use Arab food safely in moderation.”

“I have no proof that President Obama is forcing our children to eat Arab and Middle Eastern food. But it would certainly fit the pattern.”

Thank you, Michele Marie Bachmann for a really rare chance to have a genuine lough about Middle Eastern politics, the only one I have had so far. Thanks again!

Too good to be true, but it could be. The source is a satirical magazine.

Chick peas are God’s creation. How could He, God, Allah hate falafel?  Remember, Jesus was praying to Allah, the word for God in his mother tongue Aramaic, but perhaps you did not know. Middle Eastern Christian still do. And eat falafel!

I checked your CV from Wikipedia. As you have been living in Israel for a while you should know Jews do like falafel, too and Israeli Jewish tourists love them when visiting Muslim countries. I am told it is the most sold snack for them.

Falafel is very popular in the Middle East as a fast food. Vendors sell it on the street corners in Cairo. As a main dish, it is served as a sandwich, stuffed in pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes, and tahini. As an appetizer, it is served on a salad, or with hummus and tahini. Falafel is a favorite among vegetarians.

In Egypt, McDonald’s has their version of a falafel sandwich. Can you guess the name? McFalafel, of course.

Ingredients:
1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons flour
Salt

Preparation:
Place dried chickpeas in a bowl, covering with cold water. Allow to soak overnight. Omit this step if using canned beans.

Drain chickpeas, and place in pan with fresh water, and bring to a boil.

Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then let simmer on low for about an hour.

Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour.

Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste.

Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten.

Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes).

Serve hot.

Bon Appetit!

With greetings Mona

Sorry about yesterday’s hastily written article. I‘m feeling saddened about the sinister intend of the whole thing.

The 14 minute short video “Innocence of Muslims” turned out to be an evil peace of poorest kind of movie making.  It was certain to incite hatred and so the loss of American and Israeli lives was in the calculation all along. Written in prison by a drug producer convict, an Egyptian Coptic Christian immigrant Nakoula Basseley Nakoula ( “Sam Bacile”) living in LA  and NOT by an American-Israeli citizen as we were first made believe.

Quoting CNN: “American non-profit Media for Christ obtained film permits to shoot the movie in August 2011, and Nakoula provided his home as a set and paid the actors, according to government officials and those involved in the production.[34] Media for Christ president Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih reportedly went into hiding after the violent response to the film.”

And promoted by:

“The film has been promoted by pastor Terry Jones, whose burning of copies of the Quran previously led to deadly riots around the world. On September 11, 2012, Jones said that he planned to show a 13-minute trailer that night at his church the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.”

And:

“Steve Klein, a Vietnam veteran who has been active in opposing Islam and has been associated with paramilitary “hate groups”… Klein rejected any blame for the violent reaction to the movie, saying, “Do I feel guilty that these people were incited? Guess what? I didn’t incite them. They’re pre-incited, they’re pre-programmed to do this.”[35]”

Meaning Mr. Klein and Pastr Jones knew, maybe even wished that the hatred caused by this intentional provocation will cause loss of innocent lives.  Mr. Klein washed his hand on National TV.  “Do I have blood on my hands? No!”

Staff and crew of film that ridiculed Muslims say they were ‘grossly misled’. One the misled actors is tearfully apologizing.

The whole peace is produce of madmen and not worth wathing or taking notice of. Sadly, talk-shows do not have other topics these evenings,

Mona

Muslims:  PLEASE  DO  NOT  OVERREACT.

A screenshot from the video, in which Muhammad is portrayed as speaking to a donkey which he calls “the first Muslim animal” before kissing the poorly veiled woman pixelized at right, was broadcast on the Egyptian TV station Al-Nas.

Quoting NewsPoliticsNow3 from Sep.11, 2012

“The movie, “Innocence of Muslims,” that mocks and insults the Prophet Muhammad caused demonstrators to attack a U.S. consulate in Libya, killing one American, and breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Angry protests over the film by a U.S. producer, directed and produced by an Israeli-American real-estate developer who characterized it as a political effort to call attention to the hypocrisies of Islam. It has been promoted by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose burning of Quran’s previously sparked deadly riots around the world… “

It is taken everywhere off the YouTube channel but I managed to see it after all. Disgusting and poor is the only words I can find for it. Meant as a political satire short movie but the result is a stupid tasteless bigot rambling with the evil intent to stir unrest and bloodshed well knowing the possibility of serious consequences.

Who benefits from the unrest? The question of the year.

The actors were tricked to it by not telling them of the true intend of it. The original manuscript did not have the role of the Prof. Mohammed at all. It was said to become an adventure movie in Arabic lands. The actors are apologizing and are really upset.

Muslims, Please do not overreact!

God, Allah, does not need our revenge on His behalf.  Believers are judged according to their intentions and deeds. And so are those agitators and they will discover it when the time for it comes.

This is the same kind of evil intended hatred sawing agitation which started with the Mohammed caricatures in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten some years ago. It created a media hype I have never seen before and sent shock waves around the Muslin world. A remarkable detail in this is that the responsible editor in that newspaper was a Jew, too. Interesting also that those caricatures were published already in Egypt and Jordan ca. half a year earlier without anyone protesting. They were left for what they were: stupid wannabe satire. I do not need to explain to my readers how these political agitators work.

Peace of mind, respect for each other’s differences and some solidarity on this one small planet we are sharing,  it is not much to wish for!

Mona