All-Natural Energy Snacks

Take a bunch of dates, cut off the tops, carefully remove the seeds and fill with roasted coffee beans. I ate seven of them and they're extremely effective. For maximum effectiveness, use lightly-roasted robusta beans.

Arab Phone Companies

This was circulating around the office yesterday. (Sorry, it can't be translated.)

اتصالات الإمارات

أخي المواطن.. إن الرقم الذي طلبته لا يمكن الاتصال به الآن يرجى الانتظار أو المحاولة مرة أخرى


الاتصالات السعودية


ترى الجوال اللي نغزته يا ناغزك الشر مقفول .أقول انتظر دقيقة أو جرب إنغزه نوبةٍ ثانية، رجِّيتنا الله يرجك.


الإتصالات اللبنانية
حبيب ألبي..شـو.. عيوني الموبايل بٍيزي كتير كتير فإما بتنتزر أوإزا في مجال دء بعد شوي ..مرسي كتير كتير.


الإتصالات الهندية

سديق .هذا موبيل ما في سغل ألهين ولا يمكن بند مشان هو زعلان سويه.. أنت في سوية وقف ممكن انت ييجي بعد سوية دقيقة في كلام أحسن .. آب كي موسكان باهوت بياري هي.


الإتصالات الأردنية

ولا. كم مرة صرت حاكيلك الزفت مش فاضي ؟؟ خليك ملطوع عالخط أو إنطز سكّر واتصل بعد ما الزلمة يفضالك ..الله يقرفكو زي ما
بتقرفونا، إيه


الإتصالات السودانية

إن الرغم اللي زربتوا ما موجوود.. ممكييين تدق ليهو تاني؟؟ آآآآآي


الإتصالات المصرية

يا فتاح يا عليم يا رزاق يا كريم........

شوف يا حلاوه الزبون بتاعنا يا مطنش يا بيحلقلك ..

لم الدور وهوينا واتصل لما الغزاله تروق.


الاتصالات السورية

لك يبعتلك حمه شايف تلفونه مسكر ليش اكل الهوا رجاع دقلوا بعد شوي

Niqab

One day, a taxi cab stopped right outside of my apartment building and I noticed that the passenger -- one of my niqab-wearing neighbours -- was having trouble with the taxi driver. (Sometimes, the locals take advantage of foreigners, like the time they charged my neighbour 40 JD for a gas canister.) I asked her what the issue was. She said, "He wants a dinar."

I told the driver, "Look, the way it works here in Jordan is that you charge the person whatever is on the meter. If you have a problem with that, we can go to the police station or I can take your vehicle number and file a complaint. Don't pick on a woman just because she doesn't know how to defend herself." He said, "What's it to you?" "She's my neighbour", I said confidently. "She's your neighbour?", he asked. I said, "Yes." He said, "Well, you were going to prayer, right? If you're such a sheikh, why don't you give her a dinar when you come out from prayer?" I said, "Why would I give her a dinar? She's not a beggar." Just as those words came out of my mouth, I began to suspect I had made a mistake: this lady I was defending wasn't a poor, defenseless foreigner living in Kharabsheh, but a professional beggar. Without fail, she walked up to the mosque and stood there collecting handouts.

Thus, I suggest that all niqab-wearing residents of K-Town sport a circled letter, "K" on their niqabs so we can distinguish them from the beggars.

Lexical Search Yields Gold

Back in July 2004, I obtained a recorded commentary on Qurrat Al-Absar fi Seerat An-Nabi Al-Mukhtar, a versified Mauritanian biography of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). The recording included recited verses detailing the Prophet's lineage (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), describing Nadr (one of the ancestors) as dhi-s-sikah (ذي السكة). (Note: the kaf in sikah is not doubled: it is sikah and not sikkah; the meaning of the latter is obvious.) I didn't know what the word meant, and thus began the search. At that point, I wasn't even sure if I heard the word properly, as I didn't have a printed copy of verses before me. I asked a number of people, including two scholars of Arabic and they didn't know the word. I searched Lisan Al-Arab and Mu3jam Maqayees Al-Lughah to no avail. I decided I'd try to find a copy of the text. Running around Amman, I was unable to find the book. Finally, I asked one of the Qasid staff who had studied in Mauritania and he had the book. I made myself a copy and then started looking for the verses, only to find that they weren't there. I listened to the recording again and discovered that the reciter said that the author of Qurrat Al-Absar itself identified each ancestor by a letter and that the lines he recited that mentioned them all explicitly were from another work.

Recently, it occurred to me that the words mentioned by the reciter -- 3amood An-Nasab -- were actually the title of another book. If only I could find this book, it would probably contain the elusive verses. I did a Google search and, lo and behold, there was a scanned in manuscript from Al-Azhar on an Islamic forum. I went to download the book but was told I needed to register. Registration failed with a notice saying that no new registrations were being accepted. I wrote to the site owners and explained why I wanted to register. After a few days, I received an email confirming my registration. I downloaded the book, unzipped it and started scanning through the pages: one, two, three, four, and finally five -- there were the verses:

Not only was the word sikah correct, a little note was written above it, "i.e. golden." So, the author of these lines described Nadr as being, "the one of the golden." "Golden what?" I wondered aloud, to which my wife answered, "family." Of course, now it all made sense, alhamdulillah.

(There were some small differences between the manuscript and the recording I had.)

The lines can be translated approximately as:

The lineage that all creation have agreed upon
Because of it rising to prominence through the Prophet:
Ahmad, Abdullah, Abdul-Muttalib
ِAnd Hashim, Abdu Manaf the Elected.
Son of Qusayy, son of Kilab, Murrah
Ka`b, Loai, Ghalib the Radiant Faced;
Fihr, son of Malik and Nadr of the golden [family],
Kinanah, Khuzaymah, and Mudrikah;
[Followed by its] Ilyas and Mudar, Nizar,
Ma`add, Adnan -- around him they revolve.

The reciter then skipped over multiple lines mentioning the Prophet's lineage through his mother (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) to mention the verses indicating that the ancestors between Adnan and Ismail (peace be upon him) are unknown in name and number.

Halo's Etymology According to Lisan Al-Arab

While I heard the woman's name Hala in the past, this time around I decided to look it up, telling my wife that I didn't think it was Arabic. I found it under the root of ha-ya-lam. Ibn Manthur defines it as being a halo and comments that it's either Arabicized Roman or Hebrew. (When the classical Arabs referred to, "Roman" they often meant Roman or Greek, as the Roman Empire was essentially Greek in its later days, especially after Christianity. Sometimes, "Roman" even meant, "European" to the Arabs.) He then goes on to say that it is derived from the Roman word for the light of the sun. This makes sense, as the Ancient Greek sun god was named Helios. However, what's interesting is that no English dictionaries that I've seen derive the etymology of halo from Helios.

Jenny Valley & Mount Nebo

A friend told me about Wadi Himara (Jenny Valley) and the beautiful waterfalls there. He told me it would be OK to go with my oldest son but that it would likely prove too difficult for my daughters.

I decided to go with all three children. After going west towards the Dead Sea, we headed south towards Ma'een and up the new highway that veers off to the left. (If you miss the bridge, you won't miss the Panorama, and it's just a short drive back.) We stopped at a parking spot on the way. A wonderful, bright-blue lizard ran about, stopping occasionally and pumping its head up and down. I called someone in Amman, but because I was now under Palestinian cell coverage, I had to call internationally, within Jordan.

We continued upwards, got out of the car and headed up the valley, following the water. Little frogs and tadpoles at various levels of development were everywhere. We heard what sounded like ducks and spotted an eagle soaring above. Less than a kilometre up the valley, we found a 2 metre waterfall, if that's what you want to call it. I let the children play in it while I tried taking a nap. After about 15-30 minutes, we all got restless and headed further up. At one point, I had to pull my youngest daughter up and over a mound of dirt, royally soiling her clothing from top to bottom. We continued walking up the valley until at one point I had to duck under a large palm that was mostly obscuring the path. Suddenly, a bird that probably weighed between 1-2 kg took off from the tree. My oldest daughter said it was a duck, but I didn't see it myself. Finally, we reached a point where the water dried up. (The water gradually seeped out of the ground lower down; there was no clear, gushing hole in the ground.) I asked the children if they wanted to continue up the valley or return and they unanimously decided to return.

On the way back, heading eastwards to Amman, signs pointed to Mount Nebo. I quickly headed south again. The road to Mount Nebo was climbing, winding, and spotted with flocks of sheep and goats, one of which I almost hit. When I finally got to Mount Nebo, I tried to cover up my youngest daughter's muddy attire with a shawl, but it was pointless: she was thoroughly muddied. I decided to wallow in whatever stares ensued. We did our wudu and prayed asr. Mount Nebo is a Christian operated site, and the unfriendliness was palpable. My son asked me why it was a Christian site and not a Jewish one, given that it is the supposed burial spot of Moses (peace be upon him). My reply was, "because they haven't taken over yet."

On the way back, we passed through Madaba, which is green and beautiful. If I ever buy land in Jordan, I just might consider Madaba.

Upon returning to Amman, I found out that I was supposed to have to gone down the valley, not up it. That's where the beautiful waterfalls are. Oh well, next time, insha' Allah.

Spelling Danger & Why I Left Salafism

Some people move on to bigger things; I am moved by smaller ones. Phonetic and logical inaccuracy annoy me to no end. The North American Traditional Muslim™ crowd, mainly populated by second-generation Muslim immigrants and converts to Islam, has a habit of writing shayukh instead of shuyukh (the plural of shaykh). To me, this misspelling undermines the academic level of the person writing. I cannot help but immediately labeling the person as a dilettante, a mere dabbler, or, as they used to call them at the University of Waterloo, a plugger (i.e. someone who plugs in values into formulas and doesn't really understand what's going on). A similar phenomenon is present here in Jordan where the majority of people seem to think that salli is spelled with a ya'. It is not. In fact, the correct spelling is صل not صلي, as is commonly found.

One might find it surprising that someone who left Salafism for Traditional Islam finds such technicalities relevant, let alone annoying enough to blog about. For me, it wasn't the heart-touching speeches of Sufi charlatans or charming nashids that moved me away from Salafism to Traditional Islam. The spirituality and beautiful power of Qur'anic recitation is and always will be more than enough in those regards. Rather, it was that, at the end of the day, Salafism just didn't have much to offer on the intellectual front; it wasn't accurate enough and it lacked depth.

My first breach with Salafism was in the fiqh department, when I found that the logical conclusion of Salafi methodology was for me to become an absolute mujtahid. I seriously attempted this for a while, only to find that I was (obviously) unqualified. If I had to follow someone else's reasoning, it appeared, then why would I follow a modern scholar instead of someone whose scholarship was attested to across history? Without getting into the long back-and-forth arguments and counter-arguments I went through (as the process was long-winded and gradual, spanning years), I eventually decided to follow a school of thought in fiqh matters. Not only did I find the credentials of the scholars of the schools of thought more impressive than those of modern scholars, I also found there to be an aromatic depth to their books that was simply lacking in the books that I was used to. Finally, I found that an honest survey of scholars over the centuries revealed that virtually all of them followed schools of thought. This pattern did not disappear after the spread of academies and libraries, so the argument that people followed schools of thought out of not having the sea of textual evidence before them was unfounded.

My next breach was in the acceptance of Sufism in principle. At the time I was taking classes with Dr. Nazih Hammad from North Vancouver. A great Sufi charlatan came to visit Vancouver and caused a bit of a hoo-la-baloo. Someone asked Dr. Nazih Hammad about Sufism after which he explained the difference between Sunni Sufism and Bid`i (Innovative) Sufism. Once I heard him described Sunni Sufism, I knew that this was it: this was the Real McCoy I had always wanted.

A few moves, timezones, cities, and years later, I had finished studying the basic fiqh of purification and prayer in the Shafi'i school and was in Tampa, Florida, where I read the matn of Ibn Ashir with Sheikh Khatri Ould Beibeh of Mauritania. At first, he didn't want to read the section on aqida in detail as he said it caused some confusion among people in America. I explained to him that this detailed discussion on creed was exactly what I was looking for. He asked me if I was an engineer, and when I told him I was, he said that it was mostly engineers who understood the section. What I found was that Ash'ari creed, far from being the boogie man I grew up believing it to be, was an organized, methodologically-sound medium for presenting and defending Islamic belief. Never before was I better equipped to answer the questioning of faith in general, and Islamic belief in particular, than after I studied aqida with Sheikh Khatri. A door had opened: I could now reason about faith without becoming confused, alhamdulillah. Not only were the Ash'aris not boogie men, they deserved much heartfelt prayer from us for defending the faith against the onslaught of deviant sects by organizing it and presenting it logically.

My final departure with Salafism was upon finding the students of Sheikh Nuh Keller in Silicon Valley. After presenting a number of outstanding questions in my mind about Sufism to his students, I was disappointed with their answers, which didn't quite satisfy me. One of the murids in the Bay Area lent me a set of ten tapes. The tape set presented Sufism practically (and not just in principle) in an incredibly logical manner, from first principles. Where others had waved their hands and stumbled, Sheikh Nuh explained with reason.

May Allah preserve all our shuyukh, and our spelling.

Another One Bites the Dust

Siberra, my former employer, is shutting down. They already let all their technical staff go, and the plan is that they'll be shutting down completely by the end of May. I spoke to a couple of my former colleagues and it seems like all of those who are in Vancouver and interested in work are already employed. Strangely enough, Onison contacted me for employment, but they weren't interested in remote workers. Overall, it appears that the tech market in Vancouver is quite hot right now, alhamdulillah.

This is quite the opposite of the last time I worked for a company that shut down; Tristrata was started by the brilliant and accomplished John Atalla, Father of the PIN and founder of the Atalla Box. The company's website has been revived, and I imagine Dr. Atalla wants yet another feather in his cap while he still has time to breathe. However, if Dr. John ever wants his idea to take off, he's going to have to make some compromises: Tristrata got a bad technical review by Bruce Schneider and Fortune magazine featured an article titled, "When Money Goes Down the Drain" about the misadventures of the corporation. The basic idea of a centralized cryptographic server for validating things isn't that far off, but it will require a technological and marketing overhaul.

Jordan: Land of the Sahaba

Back in 2006, I went to visit the graves of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, Zayd ibn Al-Haritha, and Abdullah ibn Ruwaha (Allah be pleased with them) in Mu'ta, near Kerak, Jordan. I didn't have a car at the time, but transportation to them is easy by bus. It is sufficient to say the Ja'far ibn Abi Talib was the one whom the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said most resembled him in appearance and character. As for Zayd ibn Al-Haritha, he had the title, "Beloved of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)" as he was the adopted son of the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). He was known as Zayd ibn Muhammad before the Qur'an enjoined people to be attributed to their actual fathers. (Read more here.)

There are many other Companions buried in Jordan, but I didn't have any affordable means of getting to them before I purchased a car. Last week, I drove down to the Jordan River Valley (Ar. ghor) with the family. We took University Street through Amman, past Sweileh in the direction of Salt and followed the signs towards Deir Alla. (Jordan is a tiny country if you're used to living in North America. This is closer than it seems.) We drove down the long, winding roads through the green hills and valleys. When we finally reached the bottom of mountain pass, we turned right, drove a short distance, and found the shrine and masjid of Dirar ibn Al-Azwar (Allah be pleased with him). The masjid's gate was closed. We greeted the Companion in the way that is indicated in the sunnah:

سلام عليكم دار قوم مؤمنين أنتم السابقون و نحن اللاحقون و يرحم الله المستقدمين منا و المستأخرين نسأل الله لنا و لكم العافية

meaning:

Peace be upon you, abode of believing people. You are the preceding ones and we are those who will follow. May Allah have Mercy on those among us who precede and those who come later. We ask Allah well-being for us and you.

I was about to leave at this point when some boys told us that the entrance of the masjid was on the other side. We drove up the road and around and found the entrance. I renewed my wudu', prayed in the masjid, and then went to greet Our Master Dirar (Allah be pleased with him) and supplicate.

After leaving the shrine, I realized that I didn't explain to my children the etiquettes or reasons for visiting graves. I told them that one first starts by offering two units of prayer to Allah Most High and then proceeds to greet the deceased. I asked them why we should pray near the deceased to which my youngest daughter said, "We should pray for them." I told her that this was correct, but in addition to praying for them, we should pray for ourselves near them. Allah has appointed certain people, places, and times as more sacred than others. As is mentioned in the Qur'an (Surah Aal `Imran), when the Prophet Zakariyya (peace be upon him) found that Maryam (peace be upon her) was given fruit that was out of season, he prayed for a son in that area, as it was a place where the Largesse of Allah had manifested itself. Thus, prayer near the pious is prayer in the vicinity of the Favour and Mercy of Allah.

Further up the road, we found the masjid and shrine of Abu Ubaydah ibn Al-Jarrah (Allah be pleased with him). The area around the masjid had a sweet scent. As we entered the masjid's courtyard, the scent became more intense, thought it was still subtle. I finally found the source of the scent: the courtyard was full of blossoming orange trees. We prayed, greeted the venerable Companion, and continued along our way to the shrines of Sharhabeel ibn Hasanah and then Amir ibn Abi Waqqas (Allah be pleased with them).

We drove further up to the souq of Northern Shuna, where there is a monument mentioning the Venerable Mu'adh ibn Jabal (Allah be pleased with him). It appears that we had driven too far up. We stopped to buy some vegetables and fresh yoghurt, and then returned a short drive down the street and turned towards Irbid. When we finally came to the site of his shrine, it was almost maghrib. We prayed maghrib and then visited him and his son Abdurrahman.

(For more information on the Companions buried in the Valley, read this article.)

The Jordan River Valley is right next to Israel and the Occupied Territories, so there are a number of security checkpoints along the way. Mostly, the officers just waved us along. Once, they stopped us to help us navigate around some bricks. At the shrine of Mu'adh, I tried making a phone call with my cell, only to get a message in Hebrew and English announcing that I was on Shalom Net and that the number was unavailable. After visiting the sites, I continued north through Irbid and then drove down to Amman. I didn't want to go through checkpoints or drive a mountainous, winding road at night.

There is one more shrine that I need to visit in Jordan: that of the the Companion Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl (Allah be pleased with him). Other than these clearly demarcated shrines, many Companions are buried in the battlefields of Mu'ta and Yarmouk.

Limited Time Only: Gold Mine of Nutrients

This is the season for raw dairy from grass-fed cows, goats, and sheep in Jordan. Once we get into late summer, goat and sheep milk will stop being produced. Also, when the fresh herbage dries up, animals will go back to being fed fodder. Of course, I'm not referring to commercial dairy, which is pasteurized and often factory-farm produced. Rather, get it from the small-time merchants who buy directly from local farmers and sell by the roadside or deliver to your house.

If you're still unconvinced that you should drink raw, grass-fed milk, read Super Healthy Milk and Health Benefits of Raw Milk from Grass-Fed Animals.

Economics, Politics, Religion, and War

You absolutely must read Ronan Bennett's Ten days to war.

For the stubborn or lazy among you, it basically says: for most impoverished countries, foreign aid and having your turn on the UN security council are not privileges. Rather, they are tools of bribery and enslavement. As one Arab poet said:

أنت عبد لما أنت فيه طامع و حر من ما أنت منه آيس

meaning, "You are a slave to that which you long for and free of that which you have despaired from." Foreign aid, the promise to increase it for good behaviour, and the threat to cut it for bad behaviour is how Uncle Sam disciplines the youngins.

Jordan is not a strong country militarily or economically. Looking around from Jordan, you see Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Syria. These are certainly not the most cordial or stable of neighbours. Jordan lives off of foreign aid, particularly American. Jordan is a nice country, but one has to ask: does it have a choice? If I were in a room full of armed nuts, I'd also be as nice as possible. If Jordan tells the US to go take a powder, it will be left to fend for itself economically and militarily. Thus, it makes sense that Jordan has to support America's wars, whether right, wrong, or otherwise. Ironically, it is America's wars that are destroying Jordan's economy. Prior to the first Gulf war, Iraq was Jordan's largest trading partner. But it was the 2003 war against Iraq that did in Jordan's economy: Jordan used to get free oil from Iraq but the 2003 invasion ended that. Since then, the Jordanian government has been removing subsidies from petroleum products gradually.

A new player has entered the scene after the fall of Iraq: Saudi Arabia. As most people already know, Saudi Arabia is aiding Jordan. There really is no such thing as a free lunch, and one can only wonder how Jordan will be affected by this close relationship. I already noted in an earlier post that Jordan celebrated Eid according to Saudi Arabia's, "sighting." Of course, there will only be so far that the Saudis can interfere in Jordan. The Royal Family of Jordan are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and the Saudis have a known problem with showing respect to anything noble, lest respect for something turn into idol worship. As long as Jordan continues to pray for the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) after the call to prayer and make the Prophet's birthday a national holiday, we are ok, insha' Allah.

Needed: A 4x4

I wanted to buy a 4x4 but a friend of mine convinced me to buy a regular car and then rent a 4x4 when I needed it for camping. I took his advice, unfortunately. Most car rental places don't carry pickups, and those that do won't rent it out for a couple of days. I did find SUV's, but nothing for under 118 JD/day.

How am I supposed to visit Ghadeer Al-Burqu`?

Jehadist Musings III: Sainthood Through Driving

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the signs of the saints (Ar. awliya) is that they cause you to remember Allah. When I first learned to drive stick shift, my wife's constant praying while riding next to me was a sure sign of my wilaya (sainthood).

Jehad also couldn't help noticing my wilaya. Once he mentioned how one really can't tell a person's spiritual state from external factors and, agreeing, I said, "Right. Like, you'd never guess that I was a great wali (saint) from my appearances." After concurring, Jehad added, "But there are subtle hints, like being able to drive a car that isn't running." Jehad was referring to yet the latest issue with my car: it simply turns off once in a while. One such time, I was driving from the Abdoun Circle towards the Fourth Circle, about to go up a hill when it stopped running. I quickly slipped it into neutral, started the car, and moved it back into third gear. I personally thought it was pretty cool how you could do that very smoothly with a stick shift. When I asked Jehad if he thought it was cool, he agreed that it was very cool that we weren't killed and didn't get rear-ended. (Did I ever mention the Brits aren't excitable enough?) He also commented that I did everything so well that he wouldn't have even noticed it turned off if I hadn't mentioned it.

Through our two day tour of Amman, Jehad had a gentle exposure to what driving is like in Amman, inasmuch as driving in Amman can be exposed gently. Actually, the Lonely Planet Guide to Jordan mentions that the only real danger in Amman is driving. People would cut right in front of us without signaling, pull out of intersections seconds before we arrived at it while we had the right of way, make headway towards us in a roundabout as if they were going to crash into us, etc. Jehad audibly expressed his shock on a few occasions. I explained to him the excitement I had learning to drive stick shift and drive in Amman at the same time.

Regarding my car turning off, I have since pinpointed the problem: the car often idles at around 400 RPM, which is too low. When it attempts to get above 600 RPM, it cuts out. If I tap the gas instead of applying it linearly, it gets past the 600 mark easily and I can drive normally. All this means is that I have a slightly delayed start when cruising without applying the accelerator to when I start accelerating. It's only ever annoying in heavy traffic. As for why it turned off right before I went up a hill, it's because I was depressing the clutch the whole time I was descending and then suddenly applied the gas at the bottom of the hill. I have two choices: I can continue to drive the car the way it is (since I know how to avoid the problem) or I can fix it. I will probably fix it eventually, insha' Allah.

Strangely enough, I love my car, and consider it fairly reliable. Old cars are kind of like marriage after the honeymoon: you either learn to live with the small problems that crop up more often than you'd like and make the best of the situation or you search for another vehicle. Of course, if the problems are severe, just get another vehicle.

Jehadist Musings II: Shooting

Jehad runs an archery club in the UK. Many well-meaning Muslims trumpet that archery and horseback-riding are acts from the sunna. Most traditional and liberal Muslims criticize extremist Muslims as being literalists who try to apply the letter of the law without considering the spirit of the law. Reading classical Islamic texts leaves no doubt at all what the intent of horseback-riding and shooting is: it is that able-bodied men be prepared for war. However, one doesn't find anyone criticizing those who practice archery and horseback riding as literalists. Rather, the spirit of the law is largely ignored in this case. The true sunna in these matters is to be prepared for war. War is a part of human history and is not going to disappear any time soon. One can either prepare for it or wait to be killed or imprisoned when it occurs.

To state the obvious: I do not support terrorism. The classical books of Islamic Law all indicate the importance of obeying one's leader, even if he is not a practicing Muslim. Rather, I am suggesting that all able-bodied men should be ready for war so that they can serve under the army of a Muslim leader, even if impious. This can be accomplished in the following ways:

1. All Muslim countries should have mandatory military service.
2. All Muslim countries should support the right of citizens to bear arms.

The first of these strategies ensures that Muslims can mobilize their citizens in the case of an emergency. Sometimes, when I see the fashionable young men of Amman, I wonder if they'd rather be taken as concubines in the case of a war rather than fight. Like many others, I was thoroughly disgusted with Fouad Siniora's tearful pleading with the deaf and dumb international community while Israel raped his country in 2006. As the mother of the last Moorish ruler of Spain told her son, "Now cry like a woman over that which you didn't defend like a man." Egypt and Syria have mandatory military service, as does our peaceful neighbour and friend: Israel. While I would hate for Jordan to become as brutal and oppressive as Egypt or Syria, mandatory military service does not necessarily spell out brutality: Israel is not brutal with its citizens, and neither was Jordan in the days when mandatory military service was the law. (Jordan is still one of the best Arab countries in terms of treatment of its citizens.)

The second strategy has as its prerequisite just governance. It's no surprise that Syria and Egypt don't make it easy for their citizens to own firearms: they are afraid. How else are they supposed to violently crush any opposition to their authoritarian regimes? Jordan, on the other hand, does not make it very difficult for the average citizen to own firearms, and neither does Israel, Switzerland, the USA, or Canada. The reason they can do this is because the leaders of these countries all know that they don't overly oppress their citizens, so they're not insecure about them bearing arms. Having discussed the prerequisite of this strategy, what is the point of it? As we have seen in many recent examples, war against superpowers generally involves a quick victory of the superpower's army against that of the lesser country followed by a long, drawn-out guerilla war. If many citizens are armed, it proves much more difficult to secure a quick victory over the land. And, for all the anti-gun apologists: Canada has more guns per capita than the USA yet it doesn't have the crime rate.

Two archery advocates have justified archery in the same way: there is a belief (and I'm not sure how authentic it is) that the wars near the end of time will be fought using ancient technology -- horses, spears, and arrows. (I am not denying this belief. I simply don't know of it's authenticity, and given that I'm not a scholar, my ignorance on the matter is irrelevant.) Thus, according to these advocates, archery and horseback-riding are good skills to know so that we can be a part of the Army of the Mahdi when he arrives. The first counter-argument to this is that it might be another thousand (and possibly even 10,000) years before the Mahdi arrives. Are we going to forfeit the Islamic duty to be prepared for war in the meantime because we were waiting for the Mahdi? Secondly, assuming that there will, in fact, be a return to ancient technology at the time of the Mahdi, there will be time to prepare, as the events will not unfold overnight. While archery and horseback-riding are not trivial skills, they do not require a decade of preparation.

In closing, I am not criticizing archery or horseback-riding. They are noble pursuits, and teach one skills that are very useful to modern warfare. Archery is much more difficult than shooting a rifle or handgun. Thus, a skilled archer will probably become a good shooter in short order. However, a sudden war that requires firearms expertise is more likely than a sudden war that requires archery. Many hadiths on the matter don't mention archery explicitly, but rather reference ramy, which means, "shooting." Part of academic honesty is maintaining one's methodology consistently. If we are too busy criticizing extremists for being literalists and ignoring the spirit of the law to notice our own inconsistencies, maybe it's time to hold our tongues (and pens and keyboards) and reflect.