A Letter To Terry Jones

Dear Mr. Terry Jones,

 I am a Christian living in Jordan. In my country there is considerable peace and security, and an overall harmony between the Islamic majority and other minorities including Christians. However, this overall or apparent harmony, or balance, or whatever you want to call it, is less present in other countries.

 I would just like to point out that burning the Koran will cause persecution of fellow Christians who are minorities living in Islamic countries. It might spur something that is beyond the purpose of the burning.

 This has been seen before. Innocent people and churches in other countries might suffer for such an action that is taken in the midst of the apparent security of the United States.

 The question to be posed here is whether you would burn the Koran in the midst of a monolithic Islamic society, where you would be personally persecuted for such an act. Therefore, remember that you are affiliated with the body of Christ, wherever it might be, and that you must consider this before undertaking an action that you know will affect other parts of the body.

 It might be said that you hold no responsibility for the repercussions of this action, and that is well and fair. However, repercussions there will be, and your knowledge of them is obvious. Therefore, one must consider oneself accountable for what one knows. 

 Thank you for your time.

Raja Abdelmalek

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Amman,

Jordan.

Tunis: The Old City

The Old City : Tunis

You are deep,
deeper than the sea.

I cannot swim
in deep waters.

I tip toe
at your cold edge.
I come in,
I wade and struggle
until I am neck deep.

There is joy
here in this liquid.
My eyes look upwards
as your birds fly over
your soft wind.
Your waves surge
towards me,
and I jump to meet them.

To stop, to go further,
what shall i do?
I go in further.
My feet can find
no ground.
Fear grips me,
I turn back quickly.
I touch the sand
which i cannot see.
I stay there,
where fear is far off.

That is all,
I leave your depths,
on to dry bare ground,
back to where
I was before.

You are deep,
even deeper
than this sea.

Carry me
where I cannot reach,
where these limbs
are of little use.

What lies beyond this Horizon

"Should we then consider this definition in its turn, Euthyphro, to see whether it is satisfactory, or should we let it pass and simply accept both our own and other people's assumptions, taking the speaker's mere word for the truth of what he says? Shouldn't we examine the implications of his statement?"

Socrates

research

There is something quite peculiar about labeling googling things as "research".