Hajji

The Department of Veterans Affairs has published a list detailing the vocabulary of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- a list that contains such entries as "death blossom," a term originating in the 1984 science-fiction film "The Last Starfighter." It is used by servicemen to describe fire sprayed indiscriminately in all directions. The list also includes the terms "Mortaritaville" and "Bombaconda," both referring to LSA Anaconda, a base near Balad, Iraq, that is frequently the target of mortar attacks.
"Soldiers use these terms because they try to make the best they can of their situation and give things kind of a humorous angle," said Lt. Col. Charles Kohler of the Maryland National Guard.
The term "Mortaritaville," a reference to the Jimmy Buffett song "Margaritaville," is only one of many terms soldiers use to take the edge off an environment that is potentially frightening and often beyond their control, said Indiana University linguist Michael Adams.
"It's making a really terrifying experience manageable by attempting to make it familiar," Adams said. . . .
"It's language for them made by them to consolidate their social relationships," he said. "In war, people's survival depends on (these relationships)."
Military slang is versatile and can refer to anything in a soldier's environment - equipment, locations, or people.
Maj. Liam Kingdon, who works for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at the University of Maryland in College Park, said he has heard fellow service members referred to as "fobbits." The word is a contraction of Forward Operating Base (FOB) and "hobbit," a creature from The Lord of the Rings known for its sedentary habits.
"It's basically a soldier, sailor or airman who never leaves the base," Kingdon said. "You've got people there who leave the base all the time to go on patrol, and you've got people who literally just stay on the base."
"[Slang terms are] part of my everyday language now," said Matt Robbins, who lives in College Park and is a senior at the University of Maryland.
In 2008, Robbins deployed to Tikrit, Iraq, as a communications specialist, and said his stay there has made him acutely aware of differences in cultural customs.
"In Iraq, you don't show the bottom of your foot to people; it's considered impolite," Robbins said. "I still don't do that."
He also recalls the fact that soldiers referred to Iraqis as "hajis" -- an Arabic term describing a person who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
But in this particular case, Robbins said, the use struck him as derogatory, so "I don't use that anymore."
The term "haji" has various derivatives, such as the designation "haji shop" for a cart or booth run by natives, where DVDs, soda and other small items are sold.
Slang terms referring to features of a base are also common. . . .
Other terms link life in the military to items or concepts familiar from other environments -- often, the environment is home, or a favorite movie. For example, improvised vehicle armor made from scrap metal is also known as "hillbilly armor" and a truck with large amounts of add-on armor may be designated a "Frankenstein." . . .
The fascination with military-speak has also led to expressions of artistic creativity. Earlier this year, alternative rock band Cracker released a song called "Yalla Yalla" -- Arabic for "let's go" -- built around military slang, including such terms as "Bombaconda" and "haji."
At least some of these terms are likely to make it into everyday language, Adams said. When that will happen is unclear because "those serving have to bring the terms home and influence the use of those who haven't served."
But maybe the day when "couch potatoes" become "fobbits" is not so far off.

My primary reason for posting this excerpt was because I found the article interesting. My secondary reason was my frustration while reading the part about the term "haji."
First of all, the term is hajji, according to both Arabic and the AP Stylebook. Omitting a "j" changes the pronunciation of the word.
Second of all, although American military personnel tend to use the term derogatively, hajji is an honorable title, used to refer to Muslims who have completed the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca (one of the five pillars of Islam). Although the hajj should be completed by all Muslims, not all Muslims to whom military personnel refer have done so. Therefore, the term is a misnomer.

In Recent News

It seems to me that every time I'm away from my laptop, news breaks consistently.

Sonia Sotomayor is to be sworn in as high court justice.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been freed.

The Islamic Saudi Academy I mentioned a while ago has been expanded.

40 Lashes for Wearing Pants

A Sudanese female journalist facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public in violation of the country's strict Islamic laws told a packed Khartoum courtroom Wednesday she is resigning from a U.N. job that grants her immunity so she can challenge the law on women's public dress code.

Lubna Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by members of the public order police force on a popular Khartoum cafe for wearing trousers, considered indecent by the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan's Islamic regime. All but three of the women were flogged at a police station two days later.

Stealth Jihad

Coincidentally, yesterday I was reading Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America Without Guns or Bombs. Last night, "The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing . . . to consider a proposal to expand the campus of the Islamic Saudi Academy, a Saudi-owned college preparatory school" (FNC). Community members have been vehemently opposing the expansion, if not because "former students of the school . . . have been convicted in a plot to assassinate former President Bush, and more recently, arrested for trying to board an airplane with a seven-inch kitchen knife" (FNC), then because, according to the chairman of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force, "the Islamic Saudi Academy . . . teaches and practices Shariah law . . . [which] is anti-constitutional and [the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force] feel[s] that it is the ultimate improper land use . . . in the state where the Constitution was created'" (FNC).
Also, the convicted students were no mere delinquents. "Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the school's valedictorian in 1999, was convicted in November 2005 of joining Al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush" (FNC).
I do not profess to be an expert of Islam or Islamic law (or even vaguely close), but after having studied it last semester, I do agree that sharia law is unconstitutional. Islamic men have rights. Women do not. Non-Muslims do not. And, although Islam recognizes both Jews and Christians as "People of the Book" and thereby protected under dhimmi status, Muslims are also encouraged to kill non-Muslims -- conversion is not considered as a possibility.
While I would like to consider myself a tolerant and accepting person, I also believe that our Founding Fathers would roll in their graves had they known that the nation they envisioned would one day cater to sharia law. My prayers are with VAST, the ten other groups speaking out against the expansion, and the 46 who spoke at the hearing.

Also, while driving home from coffee with the gentlemen this morning, I was driving up a hill about a quarter mile from my home when a man began to pull out of his driveway (the incline was gentle enough that he could see me). Both of his tires were on the road before he finally decided to back into his driveway (I still hadn't crested the hill, and therefore couldn't tell if there was any oncoming traffic). As I passed him, he flipped me the spirit finger.
The moral of the story is that the vast majority of bad/obnoxious drivers that I have encountered over my three years of driving have been men. There was absolutely no reason for him to be so rude to me when I clearly had the right of way. And he wasn't a teenager, either. Also, when I was in a car accident last summer (and by "in," I mean that it wasn't my fault), it was because a nineteen-year-old boy decided it would be smart to cross into my lane to get to a gas station. The lesson learned there would be that even if a car is slowing down to make a turn, it's not smart to cross in front of it. Especially if it's a Jeep.

Let Him Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone

A thirty-year-old man known as "V" and identified possibly as Vali Azad was stoned to death in northern Iran for committing adultery. The woman involved had "'repented and so has not been stoned'" (FNC). In Iran, the guilty are "partially buried in a public spot -- men up to their waists and women to their shoulders. Stones are then hurled at them until they are dead -- although if they manage to free themselves their lives are spared" (FNC).
First of all, the Qur'an says nothing about stoning as a punishment for adultery. In fact, because the Prophet Muhammad's favorite wife 'Aisha was accused of adultery (when she was like, eight years old and because they'd forgotten her at a campsite and caught up with them a few days later with a young man leading her camel), Muhammad (inspired by God) made it very difficult for anyone to be accused of adultery (run a string between two bodies and hope it doesn't snag).
However, stoning has been used as punishment for adultery because at one point, a Jew and a Jewess approached Muhammad and asked how they should be punished. Muhammad asked to see their holy book, which prescribed stoning. Therefore, Muhammad said that they should be stoned, as their own law directed (too bad they didn't run to Jesus). This incident tends to be used as evidence that stoning is the proper form of punishment for adultery.
Second of all, the whole you-can-live-if-you-can-dig-your-way-out-of-the-hole game is just disturbing.
Third of all, this reminds me that I have yet to see "The Stoning of Soraya M.," but really want to.

Sustain the Civilization. Become a Mother!

Apparently, Jon and Kate Gosselin and Nadya Suleman are not enough.
I was rather surprised by the number of children Americans are having. Most of my friends have at least one sibling, though a few have none. Despite the fact that I still have some time to contemplate this, I'd always considered having three or four (though after two I'd have to worry about treating the middle children fairly). However, with economy troubles and the difficulties of raising a child in today's world (whatever happened to the Baby Boomers and why didn't they have more children?), even bringing one human being into this world is quite a task (let alone three or four).
A few weeks ago in Women in the Middle East, we were discussing colonialism in Egypt. Women, especially mothers, were exalted for their role in raising the nation. Education became a priority, and wealthy Muslim women pursued charity work to help less fortunate Muslim women, all in the name of not only being good Muslims, but also serving the country.
Meanwhile, we're aborting ourselves into extinction."In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, compared with 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred" (Guttmacher).

Plan B & Islamberg!

Plan B will now be attainable sans prescription by seventeen-year-olds, thereby basically completely removing any responsibility from either partner. No condoms? No problem. You can worry about the STDs later. But what really irks me is the fact that this is encouraging minors to have sex. It doesn't teach about the emotional aspect of sex, nor does it teach about safe sex. Just revert to Plan B. Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, claims that "'Today's ruling is a tremendous victory for all Americans who expect the government to safeguard public health'" (FNC). And of course, if we can rely on the government, we don't have to be accountable. That totally eliminates any responsibility we have to take care of ourselves. And God forbid we ever be expected to rely on ourselves over the government.


Have you heard of Islamberg? It's "a private Muslim community in the woods of the western Catskills, 150 miles northwest of New York City" (FNC). Islamberg is just "past a gate marked with No Trespassing signs, [and] is home to an estimated 100 residents" (FNC). "The town also has its own mosque, grocery store and schoolhouse. It also reportedly as a firing range where residents take regular target practice" (FNC). Pakistani cleric Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani founded Islamberg in 1980, and has "established similar rural enclaves across the country -- at least six, including the Red House community in southern Virginia -- though some believe there are dozens of them, all operating under the umbrella of the 'Muslims of the Americas' group founded by Gilani" (FNC). Not only has Gilani founded Islamberg and other tiny towns, but he was also a founder of Jamaat al-Fuqra, "a terrorist organization believed responsible for dozens of bombings and murders across the U.S. and abroad. The group was linked to the planning of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and 10 years earlier a member was arrested and later convicted for bombing a hotel in Portland, Ore" (FNC).
The article is rather lengthy, but I highly suggest reading it.
I've decided that I'm going to also purchase a 70-acre plot of land somewhere in the States. Somewhere fertile. I have no idea where I'd get the money, or for that matter, how much land 70 acres actually is. Regardless, I'm going to purchase a plot of land and set up camp. It'll be surrounded by a forest (like in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"), and maybe I'll also set up a moat with alligators. Imported from Florida. Or else I could purchase a beach area down South, and it'll be like the community Gabriel led Charlotte and his younger siblings to when they were escaping Colonel Tavington in "The Patriot." The point is that it's going to be secluded. And then we'll build our own buildings (like in "Defiance" -- I have about as much skill with carpentry as the two scholars did).
I haven't yet decided if I want to have a firing range or not, because I might only permit swords. And then other people could create similar communities nearby, and we could wage war with swords. I'm pretty sure the wars wouldn't last as long if we had AR-15s and Kalashnikovs. That's Option One.
Option Two includes guns, and we'd have a large firing range. We'd also train in various martial arts and wilderness survival. I'm not sure where I'd get the instructors for this, but I'll figure that out later. And then we'll have a school. The school -- and the community as a whole -- will be founded on Biblical values. In school, history will be taught, and it will include more than two pages on the Korean War, and students will also be taught about the Rape of Nanjing. Who's with me?
And I haven't figured anything else out yet because I made up all of the above completely off the top of my head.

40 Lashes for the 75-Year-Old!

"Bernie Madoff . . . the world's greatest scammer is 70 years old and facing up to 150 years for his $50 billion swindle, but it could have been worse — much, much worse — if he'd committed his crimes in some other countries" (FNC). How true! In what other country could a man defraud "thousands of investors of their life savings" (FNC) -- and let's focus on the words "thousands" and "life savings" -- and then be condemned to spend the rest of his life getting three square meals a day and shelter, all at the expense of not thousands of taxpayers, but rather millions? Granted, I'm sure that if I were to do the research (which I have no time for at the moment, as I have a mid-term exam and various essays due tomorrow -- and yet I strangely have time to blog), I'd probably realize that individual taxpayers really don't pay a whole lot of money to keep a prisoner incarcerated. However, it simply seems ironic to me that a man can swindle people of an amount greater than many countries' GDPs, and then live off of their taxes. But I don't believe he should simply walk free on that, and nor do I believe that he should receive the death penalty. But if he were to do so, we could follow shari'a law according to the Saudis and stone him -- I'm pretty sure stones are free.

Speaking of the Saudis, 75-year-old Khamisa Sawadi has been sentenced to forty lashes and four months in prison. First of all, I can't even imagine what sort of a person would condemn a 75-year-old woman to lashes and prison time . . . "for mingling with two young men . . . who were not her immediate relatives" (FNC). My professor shared this story (from a different source) with the class on Monday. The two men, her nephew and his business partner, took the woman five loaves of bread (which she had requested), and were then arrested by the religious police.
"'Because she said she doesn't have a husband and because she is not a Saudi, conviction of the defendants of illegal mingling has been confirmed'" (FNC). According to Islamic tradition, "breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers" (FNC). However, despite the fact that Sawadi told the courts she breast-fed Fahd al-Anzi (her nephew), "the court denied her claim, saying she didn't provide evidence" (FNC). Exactly what sort of evidence is a woman supposed to provide to prove that she breast-fed her now 24-year-old nephew?
Sawadi, who is not Saudi-born, will also be deported following her prison sentence.

Detox Program for Terrorists

Mohammed Shaikh, director of the Masjid el Noor Mosque in Toronto, has devised a twelve-step program which will enlighten and hopefully deter potential terrorists. "The goal is to show the radicalized youth that Al Qaeda's beliefs are theologically wrong" (FNC). According to counselor Ahmed Amiruddin, "'Their interpretation of the Islamic faith is inconsistent with the last 1,400 years of Islamic schools of thought. We clarify the differences and bring people back toward the traditional interpretation of the Islamic faith, which completely rejects suicide bombings and extremism in all of its forms'" (FNC).
I shared this story with my Women in the Middle East class this afternoon. While I don't know that many people took the plan seriously (a "detox" program for budding jihadists?), I thought it was very interesting and revolutionary. And, if it's going to help turn potential terrorists away from Al Qaeda, then I think this is a wonderful idea.

I was sitting in class today . . .

. . . when my professor gave examples of women as symbols. The article we were discussing at the time mentioned Eve and Martha, but he said,

Let's use the names of real-life people, not mythical ones.

And so he substituted "Kharija" and "'Aisha" (the Prophet Muhammad's first wife and most favored wife, respectively) for "Eve" and "Martha."
In my personal opinion, if one may believe that Kharija and 'Aisha were "real-life people," then may one not also believe that Eve and Martha were also "real-life people?"
I bet he loves the signature that's attached to the bottom of all of the e-mails I send through my school e-mail -- "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Praise the Lord for freedom of speech.