eyes

A big thank you to today’s guest script writer, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.


Discussion (30)¬

  1. Wonderful. Thanks. I needed that today.

  2. Unruly Simian says:

    I am thinking that he should hide that hand of his. Oh the wicked thoughts it has me thinking. Just glad it wasn’t some other extremity

  3. HaggisForBrains says:

    The white stick is a nice touch.

  4. I’ve just read all the comments under the link, and this one made me wonder:

    Bkeet 3thally
    Thats not truth at all this is egyptian guy made up this story , I’m a muslem women i live in saudi arabia , and this story its not truth

    Now, is this really a “muslem women”? How could we know? I think I’ll control my uncontrollable self righteous outrage until I know a bit more.

  5. Quine-Duhem says:

    Mo’s beauty completely hidden … almost! His hand in the final frame is making me feel quite horny.

  6. Nassar Ben Houdja says:

    An export of the middle east
    Is the belief that men are a beast
    To keep morality intact
    Women are sacked
    Which looks silly, to say the least.

  7. jean-françois gauthier says:

    covering both eyes goes way too far… covering one will do: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7651231.stm

  8. so how is it that beleivers can justify spending any moments of time

    not worshipping or praying or submitting to the will of the universe

    by staying home and living on only what your god provides

    so no having a job and earning money, no preparing food

    just on your knees in constant prayer

  9. lol says:

    @random_ntrygg
    it’s an interesting question, one that bothered me – a muslim – for a long time – and still does, whenever i’m self-aware enough to realise that i might be wasting time.
    i’m reassured when i recall that we’re taught that there is reward in fulfilling our earthly duties. my understanding is that hermitage is frowned upon in islam – almost as if, because our time here is supposed to be some sort of test, shutting out the world is missing the point and sort of cheating. it also misses the point i mentioned above, in that we’re taught that doing good things, or implementing good intentions, is itself worship beyond the narrow sense of the compulsory and voluntary forms of ritual “prayer”. for example, having meals – particularly in groups – and sleeping can both count as acts of worship if prefaced by the invocation of god, even before we get to things like acts of kindness and charity. so does working and earning a wage (with, i think, caveats such as doing acceptable things for your money and having, on balance, good intentions for that money).

    so to sum up, pretty much any productive/biologically or practically necessary act can be a moment of worship.

    of course, i realise that this might not be the forum for unfunny in-depth conversation about islam (though maybe it is) and i’ve avoided it in my few previous posts, but i liked your question.

    quickly, re: submitting to the will…
    there’s an account from the time of the prophet whose message is roughly: tie your mule to a post AND ask god to prevent it leaving or being taken. so action vs. prayer isn’t really the choice we’re supposed to make.

  10. Jobrag says:

    lol
    “shutting out the world is missing the point and sort of cheating.”
    I’ve never understood Islamic countries banning alchohol etc, surely you are a better person if you resist temptation rather then having temptation removed, in fact you could argue that the The Comittee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” are interfering with Allah’s plans and are thus UnIslamic themselves.

  11. mary2 says:

    @lol, nice answer. On the other hand, the bible has a whole section that is about how birds in the fields don’t grow crops or weave cloth and yet God won’t let them go hungry. I always took this to mean that a true Christian should just sit on their arse and wait for God to drop food in their lap.

  12. lol says:

    @Jobrag – i tend to agree. it seems like, as for the architect, for the cpvpv “the problem is choice”. with sin (as opposed to crime, where i would tend to take a more earthly approach), if an unscriptural earthly punishment becomes a key reason to avoid something, it becomes a pragmatic choice rather than a moral one.

    @mary2 – i can only speculate regarding the bible, but might that serve as a contrast to humankind (weren’t adam and eve sentenced to toil in the earth in the bible?) as well as a demonstration of god’s mercy? or it could be in part an allegory to humankind, since – though birds don’t produce – they certainly go out and hunt/forage, so there is some effort going on.

  13. jude says:

    I would like to agree with the islamic way of the good will hunting type of philosophy but suddenly an irritating buzzer called logic halts me from my infatuation in the la vie en rose islamic goodness .

    It is because of islamic propagandists , islam is at this level of laziness and stillness , they falsly covered all the loopholes of doubts that might strike the pillars of believers , Specially the poor , since according to mohamad the majority of heaven’s inhabitants are the poor .

  14. happy. 7. birthday jesus and mo, hope you had a nice day. Hope you also get some present and cake

  15. lol says:

    @jude,

    if this is a reply to my post, i’m not really sure which part. i love the movie “good will hunting” and i’m a big a fan as any of pop-culture analogies, but what do you mean about that type of philosophy as regards the discussion at hand?
    by “propagandists”, do you refer to me or to people of the cpvpv’s ilk?
    i’d love to respond, but i’d need something a bit more specific (whether specific propagandists/propaganda/laziness/stillness/loopholes/coverups) to respond to…

  16. Neuseline says:

    Let’s be honest, some women – and men – are best covered up, especially those whose body parts hang out of low slung jeans.

  17. @Neuseline “best covered up”? Best for whom? Covered up by whom? If you are saying that your aesthetic sense is offended by the sight of some people’s bodies, or body parts, then I think that’s your problem. Nobody has a right to force them to hide their nasty bits from your judgmental eyes. If you don’t like the way others look, just stay out of Wallmart.

    @lol I’d be interested in whether you have any answer to my question about the comment under the linked article. Is this story real, or is it just more polarizing inflammatory reporting? We have a commenter claiming to be a Muslim woman living in Saudi Arabia. She said the article was made up by some Egyptian. Do we believe the comment, or the article?

  18. lol says:

    @Darwin Harmless

    at first glance, i thought the lady was claiming some egyptian conspiracy to undermine saudi arabia, the sort of claim that i approach pretty skeptically. however, i think it’s more likely she’s saying the writer of the post, and perhaps the site, has an interest in exaggeration when it comes to saudi. i’m not familiar with that blog[?], so i can’t really comment on that.
    overall, i’m not sure what to take from it; if it’s true, it would seem consistent with much of what we’ve heard about the cpvpv. exaggeration is also plausible. for an extreme example, see the 2002 girls’ school fire. the popular tale is one in which the cpvpv condemns girls to burn to death rather than let their uncovered hair be seen by men; the official investigation said that the deaths were caused by a stampede that was itself due to the fire, that there were two cpvpv members there to protect the girls and that the school had been warned of overcrowding. it’s difficult to know which, if either, narrative to accept.

    this is a very roundabout way of saying “i don’t know”, i realise.

    among other reactions, i’m amused by some posts on the article. one contributor, seemingly in the same breath, denounces those who would force a woman to cover up against her will and proclaims that the relevant garments should be banned [presumably, whether the women like it or not].

  19. ddragoonss says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7651231.stm

    I’m totally for the muslim-eye-patch.

    And cover yer damn’d eye, yarr!!

    And remembar, women don’cha sail, it’s the sea rurr.

  20. ddragoonss says:

    In other news:
    Ninjas or Pirates? What will be the next muslims cosplay?

  21. @ddragoonss Do these twisted dingbats compete to see who can get press for the most outrageously oppressive injunction to further repress women? “Sheikh Habadan, an ultra-conservative cleric who is said to have wide influence among religious Saudis” Maybe among ultra-conservative religious Saudis, but I’m surprised the rest of them don’t laugh him out of the country. They can’t all be insane.

  22. jude says:

    lol. never mind it’s just that u sound like someone who never lived in an arab country and i have a hunch that ur not an arab who’s living in a first world country or so ? That’s why i always see non arab muslims are always in a la vie en rose state of mind and knows nothing about the real deal “street wise” in the arab world . Maybe i’m wrong

  23. lol says:

    @jude

    not that i pretended otherwise, but yes, i’m a non-arab british muslim. not that relevant unless you suggest that non-arab muslims are completely unaffected by or unaware of the situation of muslims in the peninsula – don’t draconian laws affect some pakistani and malaysian muslims, for example? aren’t there possible issues to do with repression within dense muslim populations in europe? am i unable of somewhat understanding and empathising with the situation of my geographically-remote fellow muslims?

    to get back to the point, i’ve been talking about the islamic ideal as opposed to the muslim interpretation – the subtle difference is that between discussing survivalist notions and the acts of ted kaczinsky [sp?] or between theism or religion or between the writings of karl marx and soviet-era communism.

    i’m not blind to all that is done by or to muslims elsewhere; you seem to be saying that i have a see-no-evil, muslims-do-no-wrong rose-tinted view of myself and my brothers; rather, my point was precisely that i find many acts committed by muslims objectionable specifically because i am a muslim.

  24. pj says:

    lol. As a regular reader if not commenter, it is good to hear a thoughtful and humane Muslim voice on this site. I am an atheist Brit living in a (mostly) happily multicultural city and your voice reminds me of many of my kind, thoughtful muslim friends, neighbours and colleagues. Not a voice heard enough in the media or online in my experience. Welcome and please keep posting.

  25. Jerry w says:

    If someone were to wear that outfit they could “pitch a tent” in public and no one would ever know, same for having a self induced “happy ending”. I’m beginning to understand the attraction people find with this attire.

  26. Jerry w says:

    Sorry if those idioms were too “Americanized”, translations for them are probably available on Google or Wikipedia.
    Jerry

  27. Marc Alan Di Martino who blogs as Godless in Italy turned me on to this story.

    Mona Eltahawy, a New York based writer holding duel citizenship, was beaten and sexually assaulted yesterday by Egyptian police.

    http://jezebel.com/5862492/writeractivist-mona-eltahawy-arrested-beaten-sexually-assaulted-by-police-in-cairo

    Just wonderful the respect all those Muslim men show to women.

  28. Yes, and the thugs who “arrested” Mona (for no reason, so not really an arrest, more like an assault and kidnapping) called her a whore repeatedly. THEY were groping HER but they called her a whore.

    They broke a bone in one arm and another in the other hand – she’s got casts on both arms.

  29. carolita says:

    nice bird… 😉

  30. Author says:

    @carolita – Thanks. Glad you like it 😉

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