[Vision2020] Nick Gier's Stuff

[Tom Hansen]

In addition to Dr. Gier expressing a necessity for acceptance, similar 
encouragement is being generated from the Department of Defense at:

Shared Understanding Provides Key to Defeating Extremism
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=32955


Concerning Dr. Gier's NSA commentary . . .

If you simply cannot wait until tomorrow to her it on KRFP, I invite you to 
listen to it and download the PDF file at:

"The Palouse Pundit"
http://www.NickGier.com


Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen




>From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: [Vision2020] The Imam of Ait Kassem Serves Lunch
>Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:33:58 -0700
>
>Hail to the Vision!
>
>I post tomorrow's radio commentary on NSA last week, and since I'm now 
>taking off for a conference in Alberta, I'm now posting next week's column.
>
>This the first of three columns I'm writing about my incredible 3-wk. trip 
>to Morocco.  Especially for one of our visionaries, I made a special effort 
>to make a list of all the different headgear I observed on these wonder 
>Muslim people.
>
>After three days of sandstorms in the Sahara Desert (a column forthcoming), 
>I was quickly convinced that wrapping my head in a beautiful blue rag was 
>the best protection.  My Blue Man guide cut me down to size when he said 
>that my turban was not "long enough."  (I lost about 1,000 macho points on 
>the spot.) He was right: one needs at least three meters so that you can 
>sufficiently protect your neck.
>
>By the way, the Blue Men or Tuaregs are proud Berbers who successfully 
>defended their bleak homeland against the French Foreign Legion.  They 
>painted their faces with indigo so they could sneak up on the hapless 
>French at night.  The Blue Men ran circles around the poor suckers.
>
>Suffice it say, among the Fez (Shriner) hats, the Berber caps, the prayer 
>caps, the Tuareg turbans, and the beautiful head scarves on the women, I 
>did not see a single terrorist.
>
>Nick Gier, Proud Intellectual Mutant
>
>THE IMAM OF AIT KASSEM SERVES LUNCH
>
>By Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho
>
>Early one April morning in 2007, we drove down from the Todra Gorge in 
>Southeast Morocco and entered the Valley of Roses, where rose water is 
>prepared for export.  Our tour group had been invited to lunch with Ahmed 
>Maghiouzi, the Imam of Ait Kassem, the Muslim minister of the local mosque.
>
>The assembly hall was beautifully constructed and was decorated with Berber 
>symbols.  Although our guide and the imam were Berbers, the indigenous 
>peoples of North Africa, they conversed in Arabic, the national tongue as 
>well as the language of Islam.
>
>We were impressed by the fact that the imam himself was the servant, an 
>expression of the racial and social equality that is a basic Islamic 
>principle. The Imam served tajine, a delicious stew of meat, couscous, 
>potatoes, carrots, and parsnips steamed in a conical ceramic cooking pot.
>
>After lunch the imam's small son Lahcen came in and confidently shook hands 
>with the entire group, and he then sat down next to his father. We were 
>then encouraged to ask the imam any question that we wanted.
>
>The first question was about the imam's theological training.  He answered 
>that he had spent 14 years at a seminary where he memorized the Qu'ran, 
>studied the Sunnah (the deeds and sayings of Mohammed), Islamic law, and 
>astronomy.
>
>The group was curious about why the imam had to study astronomy.  Medieval 
>Muslims were expert astronomers and many of the stars have Arabic names.  
>The imam explained that some Muslim prayers require stellar orientation, 
>and that the determination of Muslim holy days requires exact knowledge of 
>the appearance of the new moon.
>
>I asked the imam about the Wahabi theology that inspired Osama bin Laden, 
>and which is still being spread and funded by Saudi Arabia.  Our guide had 
>earlier pointed out some women in black purdah and had explained that their 
>husbands had been influenced by this very conservative Islamic sect.
>
>When the imam informed us that that Ministry of Islamic Affairs had 
>proscribed Wahabi teachings, I followed up with an observation that this 
>appeared to be a violation of religious freedom. Our guide defended this 
>saying that the threat of Al Qaeda was so great that this decision was a 
>matter of national security.
>
>In May of 2003, three Saudis were given ten-year sentences for starting an 
>Al Qaeda cell in Morocco and planning to blow up ships in the Straits of 
>Gibraltar. Later that same month, ten suicide bombers killed 41 people and 
>injured another 100 in Casablanca, the second largest city in Africa.
>
>In March of this year, police cornered an Al Qaeda operative in an internet 
>café in Casablanca where he blew himself up.  While we were in the 
>country, police had located more four more terrorists, three of whom blew 
>themselves up and the fourth was shot by police.  Because of police 
>effectiveness, we felt fairly secure, and I at least was convinced that 
>terrorism should be handled by good police work rather than a foolish 
>military adventures in the Middle East.
>
>America had air bases in Morocco until 1963 and was a strong ally during 
>the Cold War. Along with other moderate Muslim countries, including 
>Saddam's Iraq, Osama bin Laden has called Morocco an "apostate" nation and 
>has been a target for jihadis.
>
>Earlier in the trip we visited a madrassa in the medieval city of Fes.  
>There were 26 students living in a beautifully ornate 14th Century 
>building. We interviewed three students who were studying theology with 300 
>other seminarians at Fes University, which has an unbroken history of 1100 
>years. For centuries the students in Fes would gather around the 
>professor's "chair" and form an "intellectual circle."
>
>The students condemned terrorists who claim to be Muslims. They said that 
>Islam teaches that it is absolutely prohibited to take a life without 
>reason, and that those who commit suicide go straight to Hell.
>
>The students also confirmed that Wahabi theology was not part of their 
>curriculum, and they also mentioned that classes in Judaism and 
>Christianity would soon be added to their syllabus. When asked about when 
>and whom they would marry, they surprised us by saying that there would be 
>no obstacle to them marrying Jewish or Christian women.
>
>Returning to the assembly hall, the imam's wife came in, shook hands with 
>everyone, and then assisted in a demonstration of a Berber wedding.  The 
>couple who had been married the longest was chosen from our group to dress 
>up and play the parts of bride and groom. Bill and Doris from New Jersey, 
>married fifty years, were beaming in their elaborate costumes as the imam 
>wrote out a wedding contract in the elaborate Arabic script.
>
>I have read many books and articles on the world's religions, but there is 
>nothing like person to person contact to correct and deepen our 
>understanding and increase our tolerance for other beliefs.
>
>
>=======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>=======================================================