One thing I have been learning since my first day here is that life in the East does not look quite like life in the West. In Israel, sometimes that fact gets covered up by the Western influence present here. But hang around long enough and the East always pushes back through. Cross into Bethlehem, 5 miles away, and the veil gets very thin where it even exists at all.
On a related but slightly different idea, Tuesday night in my History of the Church in the East class we talked about the Dhimma. This is the part of Shari'a law (Islamic law) that deals with the non-Muslim peoples. The idea in the West is that they have managed to learn how to get along together. The Islamic governments in places like Egypt and Palestine are considered "tolerant." While they are compared to places like Saudi Arabia, as long as Shari'a law remains in effect, the Dhimma remains as well.
Since I'm sure that at this point almost none of you have any idea what I mean by the Dhimma, let me explain a little bit. The Dhimma orginates with a treaty Muhammad made with a Jewish village. In exchange for their surrender, he agreed to let them stay and work their land, but basically as serfs. According to Islam, all the land in the world belongs to Allah. This is what justifies the idea of jihad. They are simply taking back the land that always belonged to Allah and should be owned and ruled by Allah's people. No non-Muslim can own land in an Islamic society. This same custom has been adopted, expanded, and for about 1400 years has dictated the way that Muslims treat non-Muslims within their society.
The Dhimmi (non-Muslims, who therefore live under the Dhimma) must pay exhorbitant tax on their land. In addition, they all pay a pole tax - individual tax which must be paid every year. It is done in a humiliating manner, so as to remind the Dhimmi that while they pay tax, they do not receive any rights in exchanged for their tax. Over and beyond that, their Muslim land owners can decide to change the tax anytime they want, and a Dhimmi has no right to object. Also, the Dhimmi are forbidden to speak of the Dhimma. It's like it doesn't exist, at least not on a public sphere. Essentially, they are allowed to live without converting to Islam, but as non-people with no rights. Even their right to live can be taken away by the Muslims and they have to right to speak against it.
In the West, historians speak of the Dhimma as a thing of the past (when they speak of it at all). Anyone who looks deeply into Eastern society cannot hold to that idea. Certainly Eastern church leaders will come to the West and say that they live peaceably with the Muslims. What else can they say when the only line they are allowed to give is that Israel creates all of their problems? Anything else could get their churches destroyed and their members killed. One wonders why they don't speak out against it. My professor aptly compared it to an abused woman or child. These people have lived with the Dhimma for 1400 years; they don't know anything else. Partly they are afraid of what might happen if they do, but partly they are ashamed that they must pay just to work their own land. They have been stripped of their dignity, so the only dignity they have left is to refuse to acknowledge this before others. It's kind of messed up, but in a messed up kind of way, it makes sense.
Two events of recent history illustrate this idea pretty well - one from Egypt and one from Palestine (the "tolerant" countries). In 2004, in Bethlehem, Muslim terrorists seiged the Church of the Nativity for 39 days. The Muslims trashed the Church, relieving themselves on alters, ripping apart Bibles, and burning parts of it. One priest was killed and several others wounded. During the seige, one priest dared to take his towel, write "please help" on it, and hold it outside. This priest is now exiled in Australia, because to allow him to stay in Bethlehem would have both endangered his life and sent the message that the Church condoned his actions. Remember, the Dhimmi are not allowed to speak up. They cannot ask for help. Following this, the Church apologized for the actions of this priest. What kind of freedom do you have, if you cannot even ask for help in such a situation?
More recently, in Egypt, Muslim terrorists blew up a car bomb outside a church in Alexandria, just as people came out of the church following the New Year's Eve service this past year. 27 Christians were killed a couple hundred more wounded. One Muslim was accidently killed in the bomb as well. This past week, the court ruling was decided. Of the terrorists, one was sentenced to death because one Muslim died. Shari'a law requires a life for a life, so one must die. The rest were aquitted of any charges. 27 killed and over 200 hundred wounded and they won't pay anything for it. They were Dhimmi, so they have no rights, not even to their own lives.
To be fair, there are those among the people who will speak up. There are leaders who have spoken against the Islamic governments, and people who critique their standing and position. But they are few and far between. Frequently Christians are treated decently. Every week I go into Bethlehem for Arabic, and my teacher is the wife of the president of the Bible college there. She seems to get along just fine. However, the biggest issue is that the Dhimmi have no rights and no way to get them without converting to Islam. So their decent life can be taken away at any time, for pretty much any reason.
On a different, and somewhat happier note, I've been enjoying Eastern life in other fashions. This is a land of traditions and sameness and a somewhat slower paced lifestyle. Today, donned my longest skirt (shorts don't really fly over there) and went to the center where I volunteer with 4-year-old Arab children. After finishing at 11, I and the three other girls walked back from the Mount of Olives (the center's location). Entering the Old City at Damascus gate, two of us stopped at a falafel stand to get some lunch. We took it to a square, and just sat and ate and watched the goings on. Did I mention it was probably about 75 and sunny? Once we finished, we headed back to JUC so that I could meet up with the others going to Arabic. Taking the bus into Bethlehem is always an experience and today proved no different, especially when one or our guys realized that he left his passport at JUC. Needless to say, he never made it to Arabic.
In Arabic I was reminded yet again that culture here is a little different. Today we learned the words for boy and girl. At the same time we also learned that while there are separate words for boy and son, the words for girl and daugher are the same word. To differentiate you simply add a possessive pronoun. So "my girl" is my daughter, while "a girl" is referring to someone else. Tell you anything about the culture here? It should. Frustrating as it is, being a girl here means that I cannot go out by myself except in broad daylight and very public, slightly more Western areas. Going out at night requires a guy, not just a group of girls (unless it's a pretty large group). And getting harassed is pretty much a given if you spend more than a week here. It's kind of an ugly reality, but one we're learning to live with. You get pretty good at ignoring people and just keep walking. If you prove that you know their culture by refusing to pay them the time of day when they speak to you, they usually stop with just a comment or two.
Well that's probably plenty for one blog post. Time for a half hour of reading, dinner, and then more work. I've been a bit delinquent in my reading of late, and find myself in need of catching up. The sunshine has just made getting out and exploring so very tempting recently. I hope you all are doing well, and as always, I would love to hear your thoughts or things going on in your own lives. Or if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them as well as I can.
Love,
Kristin
