ARAB MEDIA WATCH 2006

ARAB MEDIA WATCH MAIN PAGE. COLUMN OF DR. JOSEPH LERNER

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ARAB MEDIA WATCH By Dr. Joseph Lerner

Koran: Beating women sometimes required. Hajj tragedy.15 January 2006

EXCERPTS

JORDAN TIMES 15 Jan.'06: Letter to the Editor: "Critical struggle. EXCERPTS "In your editorial of Jan. 9 . . . you mention the "inadequacy" of reform in the education system by citing the example of one of the textbooks mentioning that it is allowed for men to beat their wives "softly" and say that this is "domestic abuse"....I personally agree with you, but . . .t this textbook is saying is only reflecting . . . the Koranic text, and that specifically in Surat Al Nisa', verse 34. Almost all of the respected commentators, like Al Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Al Qurtubi and others, begin their interpretation of this verse by stating that men are responsible for the discipline of their wives. And yes, there is no getting around the plain language of the verse: Men are allowed to beat their wives if they are "deviant" but with beatings that are not "mubriha" or "violent" and do things like "break bones".The Islamic educators who spend their lives studying the history of Islam ....are not going to simply cave in to the "reformist" elite who claim to be in step with the age. This would be tantamount, in their eyes, to throwing the text out.I believe that perhaps a critical struggle here, one that creates a lot of ambiguity in the minds of ordinary Muslims as they try to adapt to the modern age, is the interpretation of the text - not only in the matter of the "disciplining" of women, but in a host of other issues. Of course, this is a very sensitive issue, and so people don't talk about it openly.
Bob Robertson, Amman, Jordan

The following is the translation of the Koranic text: Surat Al Nisa, verse 34: "Men are in charge of women, because Allah made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient ... . As for those from whom you fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them ..." Marmaduke
Pickthall: "The Glorious Koran" p.83
[IMRA: Not only may a husband beat (scourge) his wife, he is obliged to under the circumstances given.]

ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 15 Jan.'06:"Local Hajis Offer Feedback on Conduct of Pilgrimage" by Javid Hassan
QUOTES FROM TEXT: "one of the factors behind Thursday's Jamrat tragedy, besides pilgrims' baggage and disorderly conduct, was the inability of security forces to send pilgrims in batches"..."complained of mobile service providers for not making any arrangements whereby pilgrims could recharge the batteries"

EXCERPTS: RIYADH, 15 January 2006 - As the Haj came to a close Friday pilgrims returning here offered their opinions that provide insight into improvement that could be made to the conduct of the annual pilgrimage. Top of the list for Indian pilgrim Mustafa Hashim, ... was the need for more security personnel. Mustafa and a friend carried out all the rituals on foot ... . They were thus able to observe the real situation on the ground from close quarters. They said that the 60,000-strong security force was totally inadequate to control the surging tide of millions of pilgrims in close quarters, especially around the Jamrat area....the security cordon they tried to establish at the entrance to the Jamrat areas simply broke down under the overwhelming pressure of pilgrims." This created a vacuum and the pilgrims started tumbling over one another in the stampede," said Mustafa. Hashim said that one of the factors behind Thursday's Jamrat tragedy, besides pilgrims' baggage and disorderly conduct, was the inability of security forces to send pilgrims in batches. Indian housewife Tahseen Khanum suggested that in future there should be separate arrangements for women who perform the Jamrat stoning rituals as they were being pushed and jostled by hefty male pilgrims. Pilgrim Muneef Ali Mirza also complained of mobile service providers for not making any arrangements whereby pilgrims could recharge the batteries. The failure of the mobile-phone network together with dead batteries created a situation in which they were unable to communicate ... . The need for a large number of communication towers was felt acutely ... riod...In spite of some drawbacks, as well as Thursday's tragedy, this year's Haj was marked by some improvements....High technology also found application in the Mina slaughterhouse, ... As a result, butchers can no longer cheat pilgrims by tampering with the weight and number of sheep for which they buy coupons under the sacrificial meat utilization program ... .The new technology installed at the slaughterhouse facilitates online transmission of data to the IDB on the weight of each animal and the number of sheep sacrificed, according to Zulqarnain Ali Khan, CEO of Zultec. He said these slaughterhouses work 24 hours a day for approximately five days during the Haj period....a senior government official from the south Indian state of Karnataka, told Arab News that despite the promise given to him in India that he would be put up in a hotel opposite the Grand Mosque ..., he found himself ...five kilometers from the mosque. ... . . . .

ARAB NEWS (Saudi)"Letters to Editor" 15 Jan.'06, Sunday, 15, January, 2006 (15, Dhul Hijjah, 1426): You can blame the tragedy on pilgrims or authorities, but the bottom line is that people died there and, judging by the past, I don't think any one will come forward to take responsibility. ... The authorities need to make arrangements for pilgrims to go to the Jamrat in a phased manner in order to avoid panic. Another problem is that of communication. Boards and warnings are displayed in Arabic and announced in Arabic which most of the South Asian pilgrims, who are the majority, cannot comprehend. A solution must be found for this. What is not a solution is for high officials to point fingers of blame at everybody and everything except themselves. Those who have failed to anticipate the trouble and provide for it must be made to take responsibility and quit. ... . Building bridges and changing shapes do not work. I saw officials with radios watching the crowd. Why can't they take the help of sensors and estimate projection well ahead to prevent accidents? They need to deploy an improved scientific approach to this problem. Riaz Wahid, Jersey City, NJ published 15 January 2006

Jamrat Tragedy Such tragedies can be avoided if directions are clearly marked and a strict one-way route is designated for going to the Jamrat and another to exit from it and the rule is strictly enforced. Squatters, especially beggars and people with mobile tents, should not be allowed on the roads between the camps in Mina and Jamrat. Riaz Wahid, Jersey City, NJ published 15 January 2006

Jamrat Tragedy [4]: Your editorial ... was unfair in putting the blame on the pilgrims. For most of them, it is a once-in-a-lifetime journey. Having no experience, they cannot anticipate what will happen in what circumstances. In contrast, the authorities do it every year. ... The editorial also mentioned luggage falling from buses as the cause of the tragedy. I cannot imagine a scenario where falling luggage would touch off a panic of such magnitude... the buses belong to Saudi establishments and their behavior can be controlled. ... there were no police or soldiers there. ... .But what is the point of blaming pligrims for the luggage that fell from buses? How will anyone who puts his luggage on a bus know that it will fall and begin a stampede? M.A. Khan, Toronto, Canada published 15 January 2006

The ones who should take the blame are countries that make no effort to prepare their pilgrims for the duties and responsibilities of Haj. They should train their nationals using audio and videocassettes. As a man coming from Kashmir, India, I know very well that those coming from my area receive no training or instructions from anyone as to what should be done or how to prepare them for the conditions they will face here. As for the officials sent, all expenses paid, as volunteers to help these pilgrims, they forget all about their responsibilities once they land in Makkah. They vanish.

ARAB MEDIA WATCH

SAUDI HAJJ TRAGEDY: HUMAN FAULTS OR DIVINE WILL?

By Dr. Joseph Lerner

The following items from Arab News (Saudi) of 14 Jan.'06 provide some salient aspects of the tragedy which took at least 363 lives, despite the millions of dollars the government spent to provide security during the Haj. Some blame human fault, others-- including Saudi royalty -- perceive it as divine will. As in prior such tragedies, unruly pilgrim behavior is faulted. The following items reveal specific contributing faults identified by Haj pilgrims which the government can address.. These include the need for appropriate instructions for participants in order to avoid congestion, the failure of security personnel to enforce rules, and inadequate arrangements for movement between locations pilgrims must visit. Although the religious requirement for making this Haj is once in a lifetime, and the Saudi rule is once in five years, many pilgrims exceed that number, especially those living in Saudi. The result: increasingly serious problems of crowd-management and associated menacing problems.

ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 14 Jan.'06"Letters to Editor on Saudi Pilgrim Stampede

Letter: Jamrat Deaths
Excerpts:... After the stoning, they were to head home, happy in the knowledge that they had realized ... the dream of a lifetime. It is true that the government has done almost all it can to make Haj trouble-free - almost all, not quite all. ... .Let us look at the roads and walkways. They have been widened so that pilgrims can move with ease from point to point. But the authorities have allowed, through total inaction by the police force,
unauthorized pilgrims to turn them into camps. What prevents the police from driving the squatters away? The motive, we guess, is laudable: They do not want to deal harshly with the "Guests of God." But is it not that a misinterpretation of the term? Guests too have certain responsibilities. Those who are resident here and have once, twice or three times performed Haj have a moral responsibility to respect the restrictions and regulations laid down for the sole purpose of making Haj reasonably hassle-free for those who are coming for the first time. When people sneak into Mina just to score more Haj points, violating all rules, they are not coming as guests, but as spoilers, and should be treated as such. That is the job of the law enforcement authorities - to be tough and strict with individuals, for the larger good of the community. These people should be handled with all the severity that the law allows. They, with their blocking of roads, luggage bundles and the pressure they bring on the limited facilities, are one of the constant factors that contribute to the death of pilgrims every year. Hence, they should be treated as what they are - potential indirect killers - and should be deported to their home countries, after facing prosecution in the Kingdom's courts. It is not enough for the authorities to lay down rules. They must be enforced also. The deaths in Jamrat also, as in the case of deaths on our roads, come down to lack of enforcement. The government must be faulted for this. Sharafat Hashim, Riyadh published 14 January 2006

Letter:Jamrat Deaths [2]
As always, after this Jamarat tragedy also, we have a parade of "responsible authorities," ... all telling us that it was the fault of pilgrims. The list of their sins is impressively long: They did not camp at the proper places, they did not have the right kind of luggage, they did not know the languages the security personnel used and hence could not understand the instructions and guidance given over the public address system and so on. Clearly some of these "sources" believe that the pilgrims should have the same qualification that would make them Oxford dons.... These pilgrims are a segment of our Muslim community - backward, of the their disqualifications is that until all Muslim pilgrims become highly sophisticated, a few hundreds will have to die every year. ... .Crowd control is a developed science. It is more than policemen standing at exit points and blocking people moving forward. The control should be at the entry point. Clearly, what happened at the Jamarat this year - as in the case of so many past tragedies - was the police force preventing people in the front from moving while doing nothing to stop those joining from behind, pushing ahead. Has a study been made by any body of experts - as different from ritual committees that come with vague statements praising everybody? Such studies are always made in countries when crowd behavior at football games or other events result in deaths, and the reports the studies produce help in avoiding the same mistakes. I don't remember hearing of any such reports after Haj tragedies. Clearly, there have not been any, since the same mistakes are being committed, the same tragedies are being repeated and the same excuses are being trotted out. Muhammed Sajid, Jeddah published 14 January 2006

ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 14 Jan.'06:"Death Toll in Stampede Crosses 360"Arab News Team -QUOTES FROM TEXT: "Thursday's Mina stampede, which killed at least 363 people, was caused by pilgrims carrying a lot of baggage while going to perform the stoning ritual". "The crown prince said the death of pilgrims in the stampede was 'fate and divine decree', which could not have been prevented". " 'We were told by scholars at the Haj Committee orientation camps ...[in India] that we should perform the stoning ritual only after noon on the last day. That was a fatal mistake..... all the other scholars have given them permission to stone the devil right from sunrise' "

EXCERPTS: MAKKAH, 14 January 2006 - Thursday's Mina stampede, which killed at least 363 people, was caused by pilgrims carrying a lot of baggage while going to perform the stoning ritual, Crown Prince Sultan said yesterday...Prince Sultan said ,... "...more than 12 people carrying a large quantity of baggage on their backs fell on the ground one on top of the other as a result of overcrowding," ... .The crown prince said the death of pilgrims in the stampede was "fate and divine decree", which could not be prevented. "If anybody believes that we can stop the divine decree he is mistaken," ...said the Kingdom has obtained adequate experience in dealing with Haj crowds, adding that most countries lacked such an experience...Eyewitnesses and Saudi authorities, meanwhile, blamed unruly pilgrims for the tragedy." Many of the pilgrims were disorderly. The government has ...done everything it should," ... .It pains us that so many people died, but we must point out that the security forces averted many more disasters from happening and saved many lives," Interior Minister Prince Naif was quoted ... They did everything, but the crowd was unmanageable," said ... an Indian woman pilgrim ... "... It was like a pressure cooker. Everybody was looking for an outlet to get out ... . We were told by scholars at the Haj Committee orientation camps in Maharashtra [India] that we should perform the stoning ritual only after noon on the last day. That was a fatal mistake. I spoke to so many people here and they said all the other scholars have given them permission to stone the devil right from sunrise. I wish I had listened to them and not our scholars in India." The Interior Ministry had said it would stop pilgrims squatting with their belongings by the side of the Jamrat Bridge. Officials say that around 300,000 expatriates working in the Kingdom slip into Makkah and Mina to join some 2.5 million pilgrims. The ministry urged foreign Haj missions to enlighten their pilgrims about performing the Haj rituals in a peaceful and orderly manner to prevent stampedes and other accidents..."We have to be practical," said Abdul Khaleq Abdul Haq of Cairo, Egypt. "The serious overcrowding at the Jamrat is causing many women to deputize others to do the stoning on their behalf. This is wise...More than 60,000 security, health, emergency and other personnel were involved ... .The stoning ritual, which is spread out over four days, marks the final part of the Haj...Events like this show that pilgrims should know the rules and practices of Haj," Sheikh Saud Al-Shuraim, an imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, told thousands of pilgrims ... .Instructions to leave behind heavy belongings - which can quickly block busy paths of pilgrims - are also frequently ignored, Saudi officials say...Many insist on stoning at Jamrat after noon prayers instead of staggering the ritual ...as many scholars recommend. "There is a lot of contradiction on when it is permissible to stone and Saudis have to clarify this...But the huge numbers, which are swelled every year by hundreds of thousands of people who sneak illegally into the sacred areas, make controlling the immense crowd made up of many different nationalities an extremely difficult feat. Authorities rule out a significant reduction in the number of pilgrims. "What we need is for the Islamic scholars ... to extrapolate from the Qur'an and the Sunnah what will make the pilgrimage as smooth as possible," SPA quoted Prince Naif as saying after the stampede. "It is their duty to protect the lives of the Muslims...we all know the large number of security forces that were deployed this year, but some things are just above the ability of human beings. What happened was God's will...With input from Siraj Wahab, Samir Al-Saadi, Syed Faisal Ali, Hasan Hatrash & Wael Mahdi

ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 14 Jan.'06:"Year-Round Umrah Blamed for Aggravating Squatter Problem" Hasan Hatrash. SUBJECT: QUOTES FROM TEXT: "Squatters that have caused bottlenecks around the entrances to the Jamrat Bridge have been blamed for Thursday's (12 Jan.) fatal stampede...They simply don't believe in the need to get a license to perform Haj, The latter is especially true of Saudi pilgrims, some of whom take umbrage at the law that restricts the number of times the Haj can be performed to once every five years."

FULL TEXT: MINA, 14 January 2006 - The new Umrah regulations that issue pilgrimage visas year-round is one of the key causes in the increase in illegal squatters during Haj, according to Dr. Rashad Mohammed Hussein, vice chairman of the board of South Asian Pilgrim Establishment." Those overstaying pilgrims, in addition to existing illegal residents, form more than 76 percent of squatters in the holy sites," Hussein said yesterday in an interview with Arab News.
Squatters that have caused bottlenecks around the entrances to the Jamrat Bridge have been blamed for Thursday's fatal stampede that killed at least 363 pilgrims. Hussein pointed out that the relaxation of Umrah visa regulations has encouraged an increase in illegal pilgrims. Many pilgrims come for Umrah (the lesser pilgrimage) and decide to remain in the country to wait for the pilgrimage that fulfills one of the pillars of Islam, the Haj. Squatters, who are not performing their Haj through the tour operators (Tawafas), are often seen carrying all of their belongings with them during the rituals. Some simply decide to set up their illegal camps at locations near the holy sites, such as the walkways and entrances to the Jamrat Bridge. Still others, who are legal, simply decide not to return to their legal campsites for the three-day stoning ritual." When they reach the Jamrat after walking for more than four or five kilometers many of the pilgrims are exhausted, and they decide to stay near the Jamrat instead of going back to their faraway camps," he said. The illegal squatters, the ones who simply forgo the requirement to register with Tawafa organizations, are both Saudi and foreign. These illegal pilgrims become squatters for two reasons, Hussein said: One is economical - they cannot afford to pay for a Tawafa establishment - and the other is spiritual - they simply don't believe in the need to get a license to perform Haj. The latter is especially true of Saudi pilgrims, some of whom take umbrage at the law that restricts the number of times the Haj can be performed to once every five years.

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