In search of Arcadia

Mankind has always been looking for utopias, I assume initially because of harsh climatic conditions and scarce food sources, and then as societies developed, these utopias were a means of escape from the prevailing conditions. I suppose the earliest recorded search for a utopia was when Moses led his people out of Egypt, Yahweh promising them a land for the Jews. Humankind has always been on the move, and there is DNA evidence that the homosapiens spread all over the world in search of first basic needs of food and shelter and then moved up to bigger things.

Acadia is the old name for Nova Scotia, it was colonized by some French people who were looking for Arcadia. Arcadia being the name of an idyllic place in Greece, which provided refuge to people escaping their lives and troubles. Arcadia became the model utopia after Sannazaro, an Italian poet wrote the poem Arcadia.

So there we have it, people suffering persecution, starvation, discrimination, etc. etc. or maybe even fantasizing about an ideal place where everything works just the way they want it, conjure up an imaginary place in their heads, their Arcadias.

The new world was mostly made up of people searching for this perfection. They were escaping from societies that they felt did not allow them to live the way they wanted. New ideologies and new religions were envisioned. And so life went on. As travel became easier more and more people moved, looking for better economic opportunities and better lives.

It took the Jews fourty years of wandering in the desert, and centuries later they still haven't found their Zion. The colonization of the new world took its toll, the native people had to pay very dearly for for it. Ask the Native Americans and the Aborigines. And the question is whether these people found their utopias? Maybe for a little while they did, and then they went back to forcing people to dream of newer Arcadias. The French people in Nova Scotia landed up in Louisiana and made music and good food, but suffer from a genetic disorder which makes them blind caused by inbreeding.

The Muslims of the Indian sub-continent created their own utopia, which has been crumbling since the start. Societies are created by people, and these utopias are made of the same people, so in reality there is no escape. All the problems will catch up with them sooner or later. That is not to say that one should accept injustices, and not aim for higher ideals, its just that fantasizing about these things is not going to help.

We base our fantasies on myths and legends, they rarely exist in the present. So we are either lamenting the lost glory days or dreaming about the future. Life is what happens today, make the best of it. So when I hear people tell me that the reason why there is so much trouble is because we don't follow the righteous path, I can only roll my eyes and wish they read history.

Damn, there goes yoga!

I am not a yoga person, although I hear that its a really good exercise. All the breathing in and out and stretching must be good. Apparently using the word Om is an integral part of this workout, which led to some Malaysian mullahs declaring Yoga to be un-Islamic, since it would subconsciously convert all yogis (those practicing yoga, I assume) into Hindus. Now that can have pretty dangerous consequences for Muslims, in Malaysia for example, this means being sent to an institution which tries to teach you things that convince you to stay a Muslim. In other more zealous parts of the Islamic world, this could mean a death sentence, that being the punishment for apostasy.

So be it!

Last year in May, Professor Ezzat Atiya of the Al-Azhar University Cairo found a novel solution to a problem faced by today's working women. As per some zealous Islamic societies, a woman cannot be alone with a man since the devil will make them fornicate. He looked at Hadees, and found the following

Sahih Muslim, Book 8, Number 3425 states:

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hadhaifa, lived with him and his family in their house. She (i. e. the daughter of Suhail came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) and said: Salim has attained (purbety) as men attain, and he understands what they understand, and he enters our house freely, I, however, perceive that something (rankles) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa, whereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said to her: Suckle him and you would become unlawful for him, and (the rankling) which Abu Hudhaifa feels in his heart will disappear. She returned and said: So I suckled him, and what (was there) in the heart of Abu Hudhaifa disappeared.

Based on the above, he declared that if a woman breast feeds all the males in her surroundings, they would become mehrams (in a non-sexual way) and thus solving the problem.

Give the guy some points for thinking out of the box! Unfortunately, he was fired from his position and this was not made into a law of some sort.

I am very fond of the argument put forward by some apologists that "these are different times and some things don't apply anymore," which is a very slippery slope. If certain things are not applicable anymore, who decides what those things are. Getting married to a nine year old, for example is obviously not allowed anymore. What about certain other practices that the followers zealously undertake? Fasting, praying five times, not shaving, etc. etc. Just because some of these totally outrageous things make us look like idiots, we claim that they are not for today's age. Why not re-look at all of them?

I forget, its about faith, which dictates that we do not question them. So be it, and let the faithful do whatever they want and not expect reason. I, for one, will give it all a miss.

Obama has won!

I have managed to fool the gods. I would like to thank George W. Bush for getting me so involved in the US presidential race. If it weren't for him, I don't think I would have been so interested.

This proves a few things

1. The American masses have been convinced that Bush was a mistake, and they have tried to rectify it.
2. Money talks, the Democrats have broken all records in terms of spending for elections.
3. Obama is a smart man, to get here, he must be at least five times smarter than everyone else, probably more ruthless as well. But he has made it.
4. Sometimes, timing is everything. Even for the right things to happen, it requires certain things to be in place. For Obama, i feel it was the war, and lately the economic crisis.

Gives me hope. Sitting in Zardaristan, I can at least aspire for good things.