“The Arab Question” (A refutation of Gamal Abd al-Nasser and Golda Meir)

In nearly every instance, the myth of “pure” ethnicities is busted by the facts of history; any student of history understands that the very concept of cogency, to say nothing of uniformity, among a so-called ethnic group is complicated to a large degree by the movement of people across political, national and ethnic borders throughout spans of centuries. If, for example, all Europeans (and a good deal of non-Europeans as well) are descended from Charlemagne, then whatever ethnocentric ideological delusions we may uphold in our minds, the fact remains that we are all, to some degree, a) related, and b) Frankish.

The Epic Tale of the House of Hashim, Part 1: From Empires, Kingdoms

The House of Hashim, or the Hashemite dynasty, is the royal family that had ruled Jordan since its inception in 1921. The Hashemites claim descent from the prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima, and as such carry some heavy credentials. What follows is a little history lesson.

In 1908, the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire appointed the Hashemite notable Hussein bin ‘Ali Sharif of Mecca and Emir of the Hejaz. During the first World War, Hussein initially supported his Ottoman overlords and their ally Germany, but once he discovered that the Ottomans were planning to depose him after the war, he turned on his superiors and is now rightly hailed as the leader of the great Arab Revolt of 1916.

How to celebrate a wedding, Jordanian style

Jordanians like to celebrate in style, and their idea of a celebration in essence involves making a great deal of noise. The biggest celebration is, unsurprisingly, that of a wedding, and weddings involve a great deal of noisemaking, which comes in three forms: car horns, fireworks, and occasionally gunfire. On Friday, as I helped Waleed take the roof off his Jeep, we heard the distinct sound of gunshots. I wondered what that was about, and Waleed said it was probably just someone celebrating, probably a wedding (Getting married is one of the things Muslims are allowed to do on Fridays).

Umm Qais

Yesterday, Jacqui took her class on a field trip up north to Umm Qais to see the ruins of Gadara (pretty much the only thing to be found in Umm Qais). None of them, despite many having lived their entire lives in Jordan, had ever been there before. A funny thing about Jordanians is that they live in a country with multitudes of ruins, parks, and gorgeous landscapes, but never go to see them (I guess that’s not actually so surprising–most New Yorkers never bother to visit their city’s landmarks). Jacqui wanted to take me along, but for reasons involving personal politics between her and her boss (who apparently decided that I was a “security concern”), I wasn’t allowed to come on the bus with them.

Thank you for flying Royal Jordanian

A million years ago, on Wednesday…

Ana and I got some takeout Thai food and my mother came over.  We ate a bit and left in a taxi at about 7:20.  I was worried about being late, but there was, surprisingly, almost no traffic on the way to Kennedy.

Standing in the line to check my bags at Terminal 4, my mother said to me: “Don’t you feel like you’re in a different world already?”  An employee asked us if we thought were in the line for KLM.  ”No,” I said, “Royal Jordanian.”  He looked surprised; we were, after all, perhaps the only non-Arabs standing in that line, so you might say we stood out a bit.  Still, you’d think I would have noticed if I were standing in line to check in for a flight to Amsterdam with so many people who do not look very much Dutch.  I turned to Ana and my mother and said, “Hey, I just got profiled.”  I was amused.