Hello again,
Yesterday I sat through a lecture at SIT from Muhammad Zeidn. Muhammad is one of the SITers, Allan, host brother. He came in to talk to us about Jordanian Youth. Muhammad has a masters degree in English Translation and is working towards getting a Ph. D in English Translation. Currently, he lives in Turkey, but came back to Amman to visit his family and to get married. I think at the time of the lecture he had been married for only 3 days. It was nice of him to come in and talk to us despite just getting married.
The major point that Muhammad wanted us to take away from the lecture is that "Politicians are no good (in any country), change must come from the youth". This is especially true in Jordan as 50% of the population is around the age of 20. Most of the youth also live in major cities in Jordan, such as Amman. This makes getting together fairly easy.
He also stated that the future of Jordan lies in external factors such as international aid from the United States. However, the Jordanian youth would like the United States to have less of a say in their political affairs. The large amount of US Aid that goes to Jordan affects the political moves of the country. Personally, while the idea of lessening US Aid is great in theory for Jordan, Jordanians must think of where they will come up with the millions of dollars that the United States gives Jordan per year. Because Jordan is resource poor and its neighbors, Syria and Egypt, are unable to financially help at the moment they need to determine how they will come up with the difference. While idealism is great, practicality is important. I would have liked to hear more about the plan to decrease US Aid. As a future US tax payer, I find the idea okay from my standpoint and would not argue. However, the Congress views the money as spreading goodwill in the Middle East. Jordanians view the financial aid as an imperialistic nation trying to control them. Perhaps we should try other ways to spread good will. Just a thought.
Next, I want to talk about political apathy in Jordanian young people, especially in a university setting. According to our speaker, there is a lack of participation in political groups on campuses in Jordan. Muhammad said this was the case because Jordanians feel that they are not able to change their political situation. I would also like to add to this that Jordanians do not enjoy the same level of free doom of speech that we enjoy in the United States. There are limits especially when it comes to talking about the government. This restriction on speech is most likely another reason that many people do not join these groups. I mean people are allowed to talk, but to a point. A friend of my visited a demonstration last week and said that only 15 demonstrators were there. This low number tends to mesh well with political apathy.
Another part of the discussion that I enjoyed was the discussion about Islam and Women. Muhammad is the son of an Imam, or Muslim religious leader. He talked about groups that restrict women's right tend to misinterpret or misunderstand translations from the Quran. He said that the Quran constantly needs to be reinterpreted over and over again because times and situations have changed since the days of Muhammad. In my mind I think of women's rights. If you look historically, Muhammad gave women many more rights than they previously had before Islam. He allowed them to inherit, a right previously not given to them, and told men to treat their women like queens. Muhammad might have said that women should inherit 1/3 of what a man was allowed, but considering the time period the 1/3 was a huge step from 0. Historical content is important. Without this, a person might think that Muhammad viewed women as lesser than men. Not true at all.
He also talked about how there were many factors that affected the Quran as we have it today. Things may have been interpreted to the satisfaction of a Caliph, a non religious leader after the death of Muhammad. This might explain passages in the Quran that say not to challenge a leader. However, Muslims do believe that the Quran is the direct word of God. The words are not wrong, just the interpretation. The Bible was inspired by God, but not dictated by God. Keep this difference in mind. The Quran is really not similar to the Bible. Also, comparing Jesus and Muhammad is wrong as one is a prophet and one is a God. Be careful when trying to explain Islam to of compare it to Christianity. Muhammad told us that there are many scholars now a days reinterpreting the Quran for a more modern interpretation. My favorite author, Reza Aslan, discusses this process in the introduction to his book "No God but God" (My favorite!). He says that Islam is undergoing a reformation much like Catholicism and Christianity did way back in the day during the Reformation. I found Muhammad's discussion of the need to reinterpret the Quran as matching wonderfully with Aslan's point about a Reformation.
I really liked the Quran bit. While I believe that faith is a matter to following without having all the pieces of the puzzle, I do believe that it is necessary to investigate and question at times religious practices and dogma. Sometimes you will get an answer, sometimes you won't. I do not believe that God would blindly want us to follow what someone else says. Since God gave us the ability to question and reason, he must have intended for us to ask questions about religion and interpret somethings for ourselves.
So there are my thoughts for the day,
Natalie
Yesterday I sat through a lecture at SIT from Muhammad Zeidn. Muhammad is one of the SITers, Allan, host brother. He came in to talk to us about Jordanian Youth. Muhammad has a masters degree in English Translation and is working towards getting a Ph. D in English Translation. Currently, he lives in Turkey, but came back to Amman to visit his family and to get married. I think at the time of the lecture he had been married for only 3 days. It was nice of him to come in and talk to us despite just getting married.
The major point that Muhammad wanted us to take away from the lecture is that "Politicians are no good (in any country), change must come from the youth". This is especially true in Jordan as 50% of the population is around the age of 20. Most of the youth also live in major cities in Jordan, such as Amman. This makes getting together fairly easy.
He also stated that the future of Jordan lies in external factors such as international aid from the United States. However, the Jordanian youth would like the United States to have less of a say in their political affairs. The large amount of US Aid that goes to Jordan affects the political moves of the country. Personally, while the idea of lessening US Aid is great in theory for Jordan, Jordanians must think of where they will come up with the millions of dollars that the United States gives Jordan per year. Because Jordan is resource poor and its neighbors, Syria and Egypt, are unable to financially help at the moment they need to determine how they will come up with the difference. While idealism is great, practicality is important. I would have liked to hear more about the plan to decrease US Aid. As a future US tax payer, I find the idea okay from my standpoint and would not argue. However, the Congress views the money as spreading goodwill in the Middle East. Jordanians view the financial aid as an imperialistic nation trying to control them. Perhaps we should try other ways to spread good will. Just a thought.
Next, I want to talk about political apathy in Jordanian young people, especially in a university setting. According to our speaker, there is a lack of participation in political groups on campuses in Jordan. Muhammad said this was the case because Jordanians feel that they are not able to change their political situation. I would also like to add to this that Jordanians do not enjoy the same level of free doom of speech that we enjoy in the United States. There are limits especially when it comes to talking about the government. This restriction on speech is most likely another reason that many people do not join these groups. I mean people are allowed to talk, but to a point. A friend of my visited a demonstration last week and said that only 15 demonstrators were there. This low number tends to mesh well with political apathy.
Another part of the discussion that I enjoyed was the discussion about Islam and Women. Muhammad is the son of an Imam, or Muslim religious leader. He talked about groups that restrict women's right tend to misinterpret or misunderstand translations from the Quran. He said that the Quran constantly needs to be reinterpreted over and over again because times and situations have changed since the days of Muhammad. In my mind I think of women's rights. If you look historically, Muhammad gave women many more rights than they previously had before Islam. He allowed them to inherit, a right previously not given to them, and told men to treat their women like queens. Muhammad might have said that women should inherit 1/3 of what a man was allowed, but considering the time period the 1/3 was a huge step from 0. Historical content is important. Without this, a person might think that Muhammad viewed women as lesser than men. Not true at all.
He also talked about how there were many factors that affected the Quran as we have it today. Things may have been interpreted to the satisfaction of a Caliph, a non religious leader after the death of Muhammad. This might explain passages in the Quran that say not to challenge a leader. However, Muslims do believe that the Quran is the direct word of God. The words are not wrong, just the interpretation. The Bible was inspired by God, but not dictated by God. Keep this difference in mind. The Quran is really not similar to the Bible. Also, comparing Jesus and Muhammad is wrong as one is a prophet and one is a God. Be careful when trying to explain Islam to of compare it to Christianity. Muhammad told us that there are many scholars now a days reinterpreting the Quran for a more modern interpretation. My favorite author, Reza Aslan, discusses this process in the introduction to his book "No God but God" (My favorite!). He says that Islam is undergoing a reformation much like Catholicism and Christianity did way back in the day during the Reformation. I found Muhammad's discussion of the need to reinterpret the Quran as matching wonderfully with Aslan's point about a Reformation.
I really liked the Quran bit. While I believe that faith is a matter to following without having all the pieces of the puzzle, I do believe that it is necessary to investigate and question at times religious practices and dogma. Sometimes you will get an answer, sometimes you won't. I do not believe that God would blindly want us to follow what someone else says. Since God gave us the ability to question and reason, he must have intended for us to ask questions about religion and interpret somethings for ourselves.
So there are my thoughts for the day,
Natalie
Look at you going all mu'tazilite haha! Do you know which school of thought is prominent in Jordan?
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks! I do not know exactly. I will ask a teacher tomorrow. Good question!
ReplyDelete