HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: martillo@stars.clearpoint.com (Joachim Martillo)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Who are the Canaanites
Date: 21 Nov 92 19:39:46 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.arabic,talk.politics.mideast
Organization: Clearpoint Inc., Hopkinton, MA


   From: faris@sarcasm.trl.OZ.AU (Aziz Faris)
   Subject: Who are the Canaanites

   A few months ago there was a question regarding the identity of the
   Canaanites and whether they still exist or not. I have come across a
   book which I have its Arabic version by Sabitomo Moscati and titled
   Ancient Semitic Civilisations.

   According to the book, the Torah in the old testements refers to the
   Canaanites as the people who lived in Palestine and the western
   regions of Syria including Lebanon. However, archeological evidence
   found at Ugarit which is an ancient Phoenician city near Latikiya in
   Syria indicates that the Canaanites are the Phoenicians. According to
   the book the word Canaan in Hebrew directly translates into Phoenicia.

   Therefore, the Palestinians, Lebanese, and some Syrians are possible
   decendents of the Canaanites or the Pheonicians.

   A.Faris

The logic of the transition from the second to the third paragraph is
obscure.  In any case, while in Phoenician Canaan refers to Phoenicia
in Hebrew Canaan refers to Palestine.  A similar situation applies to
Galicia which denominates a region in Spain, a region in Poland and
historically a few regions in the Roman empire.  In the case of
Galicia, the term means a place where Gauls live, while land of Canaan
refers to a land of merchants.  In Hebrew, Canaanite probably
generically refers to any non-Hebrew Canaanite speaker.  The ancient
Hebrews also considered themselves Canaanite speakers and called their
language Canaanite.  The remains of Ugaritic, Eblaitic and ancient
Hebrew literature implies that there was a united culture sphere
throughout the ancient Syro-Palestinian region and that the Canaanites
and Hebrews were members of this culture sphere.  Probably a good case
good be made that Canaanites and ancient Hebrews were two instances of
ancient Syrians.





--
Joachim Carlo Santos Martillo Ajami

The article represents noone's opinions other than the author's.
From: nadja@jetsun.weitek.COM (Nadja Adolf)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: The Myth of Muslim 'Fundamentalism'.
Date: 19 Nov 92 22:36:09 GMT
Organization: WEITEK Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Nov18.164845.15402@usl.edu> zxs6373@usl.edu (Siddiqui Zafar) writes:
>
>              In the name of God most Gracious most Merciful
>
>
>                   The 'Myth' of Muslim Fundamentalism
>                   -----------------------------------
>
>First let's look into the meaning of Fundamentalism. The Webster's New World
>Dictionary defines 'Fundamentalism' as "religious beliefs based on a literal
>interpretation of everything in the Bible and regarded as fundamental to 
>Christian faith and morals".
>
>It is clear from the above definition that the 'fundamentalists' are those
>Christians whose religious beliefs are considered to be fundamental to 
>Christian faith and morals and who want to follow everything in the Bible.
>
>In other words, these are the true Christians, so to say. Why, then, should
>these 'good souls' be depicted as some 'dangerous species' in the world?
>What is , then, expected of a Christian but to follow Christianity in letter 
>and spirit? Therefore, this pseudo-concept of 'fundamentalism' seems to be a 
>meaningless concoction of those who could not reconcile their religious
>beliefs with the stark realities of their times.

Well, there is one problem with this. The Bible is allegorical, not literal;
Fundamentalists disregard this fact. They also tend to ignore the parts that
they don't like, such as the bans on charging interest, and the prohibition
on wearing blended fabric, let alone the part that suggests that eating pork
is not exactly kosher. (Bad humor, down humor, bad humor. :-))

Many fundamentalists completely discard the Old Testament, and refer to
themselves as 'New Testament Christians.' This would be sort of like 
throwing out major sections of the Quran and calling onself a 'Night of
Power' Muslim or something.

Are these fundamentalists the true Christians? In addition to not keeping
the parts of the Bible they don't like, they have added rules that were not
present in the original - for example, they have banned polygyny for all, where
the Bible itself requires monogamy only of bishops. They have elevated the
Pauline letters, which were written by permission, and not divine authority,
to the level of other scripture.

No, I suspect that the Fundamentalists are no truer Christians than any other.



-- 
The Earth Pig Bourne....

nadja@node.com (prefered email address)
nadja@weitek.com
From: blais@ut-emx.uucp (Donald Blais)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: Arabs in Latin America
Date: 15 Nov 92 20:15:02 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas

In article <1992Nov11.175949.1@dhvx20.csudh.edu> walid@dhvx20.csudh.edu writes:
>Salam
>If anyone knows the answers to these questions please post.
>1. Where are the large arab communities in Latin America besides
>Buenos Aires Argentina?
>2. Does Panama have a large Arab population
>3. How well do Arabs fit into Latin American society, along with
>being accepted as Latins if they are born in a Latin American country?
>This is interesting since many Arab-Americans (born in the U.S. but
>of Arab parents are not accepted as americans and I was told it was
>opposite in Latin America)
>4. Are the majority of Arabs in Latin America muslim or christian?
>5. Do arabs in Latin America tend to marry arabs or marry with people
>from that country?
>
>Any answers/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
>Salam

You might try an online library catalog using the subject search...

    latin america--emigration and immigration

Also see...

The Jerusalem Post, July 19, 1989, Op-Ed.
Latin America's Arabs gain power as individuals, not as a community.
No question of loyalty.  by Gil Feiler.

    Carlos Menem, a Moslem of Syrian origin converted to Christianity, has
    become Argentina's first president of Arab origin.  He is not the
    first person of Arab background to rise to the top in politics in
    Latin America.  Many Latin-American Arabs have reached senior
    political positions, both national and local.  Julio Turbai Ayala, of
    Lebanese origin, was president of Colombia in the late 1970s. Colonel
    Juan Pereda Asbun, of Palestinian background, was president of Bolivia
    in the same decade.  [...]
    
Los Angeles Times, December 31, 1989, part A, page 13, column 1.
Stars rising for relatives of Arabs who fled to new lives in Latin
America.  Immigrants: their forefathers fled poverty and oppression
while their offspring have become figures of consequence in business,
the armed forces and politics.  by Ed McCullough.

    Carlos Saul Menem, the president of Argentina, recalls his days
    growing up.  He, his brothers and mother all worked in the general
    store of his father, a Muslim who arrived penniless from Syria after
    the turn of the century.  [...]
-- 
Donald E. Blais             Internet: blais@utexas.edu
Computation Center          Bitnet:   blais@utxvms
University of Texas         UUCP:     uunet!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!blais
Austin, TX 78712            Phone:    +1 512-471-6387 +1 512-471-3241 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 17:29:51 EST
From: Rita Homsieh <RHOMSIE@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: love and respect

Dear Hani
I do agree with you about your feeling toward the tone of these articles.
Unfortunately, we Arab are very good in fighting each other.  Instead of, as
Jews do, helping and supporting each other.  But, you can't blame your felllow
brothers because we were not taught to know better.  We don't know how to love
each other.  However, there are some educated people who have overcome their
prejudice and are open-minded enough to accept other people.
Also, I think that a lot of Arab have frustration that they need to express, so
this is one way to do it. So take it easy, and love is still there you just
have to look for it.
Rita
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,talk.politics.mideast
From: nabeel@sce.carleton.ca (Normand Arthur Beeline)
Subject: Fun in the Land of the Hot Sun
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 00:47:08 GMT

____
|___ verybody dies. Or at least this was what happened to everyone who
|___ was born more than a century ago. Therefore, when you kill someone
you effectively don't do anything! They were going to die anyway. But
you can give someone a memorable death: make them beg for it. This is
what counts. And by those opinions do our friends in Kuwait live.

   I read that the American magazine "Z" claimed that the Pentagon planned
to clean our little sister, Kuwait, that some malicious opponents think of
as a rich bitch. Clean that peaceful state from some certain Arab parasites.

   Those imported orientals to fill the vacancies created by removing those
certain Arabs, inherited more than just that. Our friends in that cute little
peaceful state, were generous in showing them some good time that their
predecessors enjoyed. They were subject to much bodily and sexual pleasure.
Their wives too, were treated to their kinkiest fantasies of rape and
humiliation.

   "Z" continued about the glories of our peaceful friends, attributing to
some human rights organisation that they used their traditional Arab 
generousity and kindness in using tools for those certain Arabs pleasure,
such as clubs, rubber pipes, pistol heals, electric shocks, glowing iron,
cigarettes, candles, acids, sweet promises of execution and sexual pleasure.
They got out of their way to provide such pleasure to those Arab brothers
24 hours a day. Why leave them alone in the boring darkness? Those who
died from excessive pleasure stay in group graves, to keep them company even
in death! I am sure the readers wish they enjoyed such pleasure. Well, some
people are luckier than others, so you have to only fantasise about it.

   America advised our friend the Emir to keep this top secret, suspend the
constitution and censor journalism and economic news, and prevent any
criticism of the Emir or the Arab preses who stood by the allies, so that
the malicious opponennts of the Kuwaiti system may not use it and demand that
citizens also share that pleasure with their Arab brothers. But decent Arabs
agree that the guest must be treated the best.

"___"
  /  compared Kuwait to the racist system in South Africa, but you now know
 /__ that the image is inverted: the guests having the best.


||.|| [that's norm, you know]
      abcdefg
         that is the place you want to be
      hijklmn
         pleasure, sun and kindest men
      opqrstu
         - After this what do you wanna do?
      vwxyz
         - Dream about it in my bed! (or head, if you wish)
||.||
From: abde@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Tamer A. Abdelgawad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: Arab U N I T Y
Summary: Salah proves the futility of Arab unity based on Islam!
Date: 17 Nov 92 06:39:18 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

In article <1e8eldINNk4g@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> cl056@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Hamaza H. Salah) writes in response to A. Faris:
>
>One major thing I have to clearify is that I know for sure is that you are not
>a muslim.  Therefore, I can't convince a person like you Islam is the solution
>to Arab unity.  It just doesn't work!
>

I guess this implies we either have to kick all the Christian Arabs out
of the Arab world, or simply force them into an Arab unity based on Islam
(since we can't convince them!)

After all, Islamic tyranny would be much better than other types of tyranny!

Tamer Abdelgawad
From: aabdalla@pollux.usc.edu (AAA)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Info on Nonmuslim Ahmadiyya Sect
Date: 16 Nov 1992 10:28:31 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: pollux.usc.edu

Someone has asked me to elaborate on just exactly what
are the Ahmadiyya's, especially what are their doctrinal differences from
Islam.  I think there are a few of you readers from Pakistan who can probably
answer that question better than me so please post to the newsgroup if you 
have the time.  

Here is a 'taste' of what the Ahmadiyyas are (taken from the Encyclopedia
Brittanica 1992):

	1.  "The sect was founded in Qadian, the Punjab, India,
	in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1839-1908), who claimed to
	be the mahdi (a figure expected by some Muslims at the
	end of the world), the Christian Messiah, an incarnation of
	the Hindu god Krishna, and a reappearance (buruz) of 
	Muhammad."

A busy guy, eh?

	2.  "[Ahamdiyya's believe] ... that Jesus feigned death and
	resurrection but in actuality escaped to India, where he died
	at the age of 120..."

	3.  "jihad is reinterpreted as a battle against unbelievers
	to be waged by peaceful methods rather than by violent
	military means."

...which would 'invalidate' large chunks of the Qur'an...

Based on the above (written by a nonMuslim, no less), it may bother some
of you that the proposed newsgroup contains the name "ISLAM" in its title.
If it does, then I encourage you to vote NO.

The address for voting is

	rana@ucsu.colorado.edu

Send the following line somewhere in the body of your email message:

	I vote NO for soc.religion.islam.ahmadiyya

Ahmed  (no relation to Mirza ;-)
From: bashar@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Bashar Khairi Abouseido)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
Subject: Re: Western Puppet
Date: 18 Nov 1992 23:10:58 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Originator: bashar@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

->From news Wed Nov 18 16:58:40 1992
->From: jhardono@ucs.indiana.edu (JUMAHADI HARDONO)
->Subject: Western Puppet or Western Regimes
->
->	Everybody knows the western puppets in the middle east. Let me
->list you those puppets :
->
->	Egypt : Hosni Mubarak and his regime
->	Jordan: King Hussein
->	Turky : Sulaiman
->	Iraq  : Saddam
->	Saudi  : Fahd
->	Kuwait : Emir
->	Tunisia: ? Can you tell me...
->	Bangladesh: ? Can you tell me...
->	Pakistan ( half)
->
->I believe that  these puppets will be toppled down by Mujahiddeen , the holy
->fighters, insyaAllah...
->

Don't you have something else that you can say more than just talking 
about the governments and the presidents of the middle east and 
poiting to them as the only reason of our problems. And whose these
poeple that you were refering to as " Mujahiddeen ", are you talking
about " Mujahiddeen " like those who fight each other in Kapol. Or like
those " Mujahiddeen " in Iran. I think we need actions not loudy voices,
we need the poeple here and there to start thinking in constructive way 
how to change the situation  back in the middle east, not by force but
by peaceful and constructive way.


-- 
University Of Wisconsin Milwaukee    ______        _____
Computing Services Division         /     /       /    /          Computer Science
bashar@csd4.csd.uwm.edu            /-----/       /___ /       bashar@miller.cs.uwm.edu
bashar@convex.csd.uwm.edu         /_____/ashar  /    /bouseido       
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
From: sahle@csgrad.cs.vt.edu (Eskinder Sahle)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.iranian,soc.religion.islam
Subject: Mutazilism--Help!
Followup-To: soc.culture.arabic
Date: 22 Nov 1992 22:18:23 GMT
Organization: VPI&SU Computer Science Department, Blacksburg, VA
Reply-To: sahle@csgrad.cs.vt.edu (Eskinder Sahle)
NNTP-Posting-Host: spiff.gnu.ai.mit.edu
Keywords: Mutazilism
Originator: gwydion@spiff.gnu.ai.mit.edu

Essalam all:

I need some help from those who can help regarding the Mutazilite
period and philosophy.   At this point, I've the following issues to
work on:

  -- On the Mutazilite position regarding the created/uncreated status
     of the Qur-an.
  -- On the anthropomorphic interpretation of Allah.
  -- On symbolism vs literal interpretation of the Qur-an.
  -- On the notion of justice.
  -- On free will and resposibility.

I have the following names as Mutazilites:

 -- Ibn al-Mu'tamir. 
 -- Tammamh.
 -- al-Allaf.
 -- Mu'amar.
 -- al-Nazzam.
 -- al-Jahiz.
 -- al-Jubbai.
 -- Abu-Hashim.

I haven't found many sources on Mutazilism per say, either in the form
of books or journal articles, so any reference suggestions would be
very appreciated.

Also of great help would be any comments, advice, names or issues that
are related to Mutazilist philosophy, politics, or anything of
pertinence.

Thanks,
wa essalam

Ahmed Bouzid
From: astein@nysernet.org (Alan Stein)
Subject: Re: Oct 1973: Yom Kippur War (To Husam)
Organization: NYSERNet, Inc.
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:50:15 GMT

oueichek@imag.fr (Ibaa Oueichek) writes:
>  What also about that 1956 attak against Egypt ?. Didn't Israel act as
>an agent for France and England and launched a completely unprovoked attack
>against Egypt ?.

"Completely unprovoked???"

Come now.  Egypt blockaded the Strait of Tiran, and act of war aimed
at strangling Israel.  That in itself would not have been as serious
had Egypt not been violating international law since 1948 by
preventing Israeli bound ships from using that other International
waterway, the Suez Canal.
-- 
Alan H. Stein   -----  AJIN   -----  astein@israel.nysernet.org
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
From: faris@sarcasm.trl.OZ.AU (Aziz Faris)
Subject: Re: Arab U N I T Y
Reply-To: a.Faris@trl.oz.au 
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne,Australia
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 03:25:51 GMT

In article <nabeel.722385406@oracle.sce.carleton.ca>, nabeel@sce.carleton.ca (Bulbul) writes:
|> 
|>    The marked text is "kalimato .haQin orIda bihA bA.til!"
|>    
|>    Well, Aziz, it is not me who lied and said that nonMuslims are crushed in a Muslim
|> State. So if you yourself believe in that, and there were established such a state,
|> an option is to pack off, however, you are not forced.

Does Islamic unity or unity based on Islam equal Arab unity?. Arab unity implies
that all people will be respected regardless of faith. I do not mind living
under Arab unity with some Islamic laws.
|> 
|>    Second, Aziz, without Islam you would not be Arab in the first place. And as you
|> know everywhere it is not fair that a minority make the law of a state. So, if a
|> Muslim state was established in a country of Muslim majority and you don't like it
|> and can't resist it, you may flea, what else can you do? Be persecuted as you claim?

Does this mean that I may not have been born if it was not for Islam?. What is
wrong with a secular state?, you live in one. How do you feel if you were
discriminated against based on your religion in Canada?. How do you feel if you
were labled an infidal?.

|> 
|>    If the Ottomans did not steal the riches of Arab countries, the Europeans would
|> have done it and more viciously, so what is your point? And remember that power
|> moved to the hands of nonArabs because of the Arab weakness at that time, so someone
|> nonArab would have seized it anyway.

The problem is that the Ottomans were not treated as an occupier because they
were Muslims. They ruined the Arabic world, had it been some one else, people
would have fought them. The fact they were Muslims they got the support of the
religious leaders and people rotted away. We owe many of the corruption and
sectarian division to them that is killing the Arabic world.

A.Faris
Xref: sparky soc.culture.arabic:4935 soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna:549
From: abde@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Tamer A. Abdelgawad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna
Subject: Re: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (10th)
Summary: Already posted a section, will repost if able.
Keywords: Islamic World News, Economics
Date: 17 Nov 92 06:49:19 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

In article <1992Nov17.023453.11542@trl.oz.au> a.Faris@trl.oz.au writes
in response to an earlier post of mine regarding IWN (10th):
>
>I did not happen to see this one, can you please post the section you are
>referring to.
>
>A.Faris

I already posted a section in a post after the one you referred to.
I'll try to repost if I can figure out how to access old posts.

Tamer Abdelgawad
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
From: fkittred@spchp13.BBN.COM (Fletcher Kittredge)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Re: ARAB UNITY (really taxes on non-Moslems)
Date: 17 Nov 92 21:41:30
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., 10 Moulton Street, Cambridge, MA
	02138
	<1992Nov17.054140.4066@nuscc.nus.sg>
	<1992Nov17.203411.22589@gn.ecn.purdue.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: spchp13.bbn.com
In-reply-to: im@gn.ecn.purdue.edu's message of Tue, 17 Nov 92 20:34:11 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.203411.22589@gn.ecn.purdue.edu> im@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Ibrahim M. M. Babelli) writes:

>[stuff deleted]

>=Will you enlighten us about "Jizya", which was a religious tax extracted from
>=Non-Muslims by the Islamic Mughal empire which ruled over parts present-day
>=India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the name of Islam ? 

>="Jizya" I believe is an Urdu word but I'm not sure how to say it in Arabic.

>[stuff deleted]

>Here is my Cent worth of opinion.

>The law that was applied in islamic states when "Jizya" was charged to the
>non muslims is interesting. Let us examen it with thorough eye:

>As men and women who lived in the state (the islamic state for this case)
>they had to contribute to the ways of expenditure that the state needed to
>sustain as much as possible a balanced society. Muslims paid alms or charity
>"zakaat", whereas non-muslims paid "Jizya". If you compare the figures for
>the two methods of taxation, jizya or zakaat, you will see that zakaat was 
>slightly higher. For the most part, that is to my knowledge, jizya was used
>for civil projects and for defense purposes.

If you are talking historically, I don't believe this is the case.
Rather, Moslems were legally required to pay zakah (zakaat?).
Non-Molsems were required to pay jizyah (the capitulation tax), kharaj
(land tax) and additional taxes on property owned by non-Molsems and
imported into Moslem territory [1].  I have repeatedly read that the
tax burden was much higher on non-Moslems, and acted as an incentive
for conversion.

In a historical context, I would rather suffer under the Molsem
incentive rather than the Catholic incentive!  The comparison of the
fate of Christians and Jews under the Caliphate of Cordova with the
fate of the Moslems and Jews under Ferdinand and Isabella is
instructive.


regards,
fletcher

[1] Hitti, Philip K., "History of the Arabs Tenth Edition", St Martin's,
New York, 1970


--
/* Fletcher Kittredge
 * BBN Software Products
 * 150 CambridgePark Dr,  Cambridge, MA. 02140
 * 617-USE-FINK  /  fkittred@bbn.com  /  fkittred@das.harvard.edu
 */
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic
From: astein@nysernet.org (Alan Stein)
Subject: Re: Israel Apartheid????
Organization: NYSERNet, Inc.
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 16:04:18 GMT

mok@artemis.cs.wayne.edu (Mohammad Kanaan) writes:

>To those of you who fall for these lies and distortions I want to
>emphasize that we Arabs and Muslims are not against Jews or
>Judausm(sp) we only are against zionism, the political movement that has
>implecitly and explicitly stated its determination to achieve
>greater Israel on the expense of its nieghbors.


In 1948, the Zionists accepted a partition plan that gave Arabs close
to 90% of Palestine, and internationalized Jerusalem.  The Arabs
rejected that plan, and attacked Israel on the day it was
re-established.  It hardly sounds like those Arabs were merely
interested in preventing a "greater Israel."
-- 
Alan H. Stein   -----  AJIN   -----  astein@israel.nysernet.org
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.afghanistan