Preferences
Here’s a news flash: Arabs are preferred over other nations.
The fact that Allah Most High has chosen the Arabs over other nations is affirmed in rigorously authenticated hadiths of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace; related by Bukhari and Muslim in their “Sahih” in the beginning of the chapter of merits, 5897, on the authority of Wathilah ibn al-Asqa` who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘Verily Allah has chosen Kinanah from the son of Isma`il, and He has chosen Quraysh from among Kinanah and He has chosen Hashim from among Quraysh and He has chosen me from the Bani Hashim.'”
So that’s that, isn’t it. A guy said he heard Mo say that Allah chose him and some other guys, so that (obviously) makes it so. Therefore, Arabs are Topp.
Therefore the preference of Arabs over other nations, and the preference of some Arabs over other Arabs is affirmed in the Sacred Law. Allah has even preferred some months over other months and some days and nights of over others, as well as places. So in the same way, Allah Glorious and Exalted is He, has chosen some men over others, such as the prophets over others and even some prophets over other prophets. Muslims should not have any objection to this, because all of this returns to the wisdom of the Most Wise, Glorious is He, who is not asked about what He does, but rather, they are the ones who are asked.
Unanswerable, innit. Allah prefers various things over various other things, because somebody said so, and don’t bother objecting to it, because Allah doesn’t take questions, though he damn well does dish them out if he feels like it, so don’t say another word.
That’s the way to cultivate critical thinking and independence of mind and healthy skepticism and the urge to look behind the curtain.
It also sheds a harsh and unpleasant light on Darfur, and the treatment of domestic workers from the Philippines in Saudi Arabia, and what Saudi textbooks say about Jews.
Sexism in Arab countries gets a decent amount of press in the Western media, but I wonder why the virulent racism doesn’t get as much. At most, we hear about their anti-Semitism, but I don’t think the average American knows how much many Saudis look down on (say) Africans.
Can I just say, I’m loving all the molesworth references you’ve been slipping in recently. The lolspeak of the Fifties deserves a comeback!
Um, yes but this is a religious thing and “chosen people” are rife in religion. The Jews are also God’s chosen people. The Christian church saw itself in pretty much the same light, as did the Zoroastrians.
So, while I deplore the whole “chosen people” idea (and indeed the whole “religion” idea), this isn’t really a sign of wild extremism.
It is, of course, tough on non-Arab muslims but that is the religion they are signed up to.
1. Invent a bigoted racist women-hating god. 2. Proclaim your god as glorious, wise, most high, merciful, blahblahblah. 3. Deal special treatment to those who impudently alert attention to your god’s eccentricities. Imagining a God who is blahblahblah would spare much mouth-flapping and obviate a need for violent suppression.
If Muslims did wish to try again, they could rob Norse deities, perhaps Loki and Freyja.
I was just reading that Washington-based Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, state, that Saudi Arabia’s state-produced textbooks still refer to Jews and Christians as apes and swine and insist that Jews are conspiring to take over the world. This bit is so dangerous to teach to children. “On Judgment Day the rocks or the trees” will call out to Muslims to kill the Jews.
Real incitement to hatred kit indeed!
It’s pathetic, isn’t it?