"We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language." - Oscar Wilde

Random Playlist Song: John Lennon - Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.


I first heard this song when it was held up in a classroom setting as a song advocating an utopian vision of peace. Perhaps because my close reading skills (hah!) weren't well developed at the time, or more likely because the lyrics weren't flashed for us (IIRC), I didn't realise at the time that it was an anti-religious song. On a second reading, all its anti-establishment sentiments come gushing out.

Interestingly, the socialist verse doesn't seem to have been present in an earlier version of the song, so originally the song's sole subject was religion.

Musically, it doesn't feel very developed, for some reason - more like an afterthought.

***

In a discussion on whether alcohol is Haram in Islam, beowulf points to this fascinating Wikipedia entry on Hanafi Islam:

"Hanafi is the largest of the four schools; it is followed by approximately 30% of Muslims world-wide. The other three schools of thought are Shafi, Maliki, and Hanbali.

The Hanafi school is considered to be one of the more liberal-for example, under Hanafi jurisprudence, blasphemy is not punishable by the state, despite being considered a civil crime by some other schools.

Another telling example pertains to the consumption of liquor. The Hanafi school defines liquor (khamr) only as wine made from the pressing of grapes, and this interpretation does not include other alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, mead etc), which are classified as muskirāt (intoxicants). As such, if one follows the strict interpretation by Hanafi, only the consumption of grape wine, no matter how little the amount, renders an offender liable to the Sharia punishment of 80 lashes. However, this does not mean that the drinking of other alcoholic beverages is permitted; Hanafi calls for the same punishment on those who consume liquor (other than wine) to the point of being intoxicated."

***

Coverup girl

"In her 45 years, Barbie has been a doctor, pilot and figure skater, to name just a few accomplishments of this busty vinyl overachiever. But some in the Muslim world also consider her a decadent symbol of the West - hence Saudi Arabia's recent decision to ban Barbie along with her "revealing clothes and shameful postures."

So what's a kid to play with?

We don't know about the Saudis, but in at least one other conservative Persian Gulf nation the answer is . . . Fulla!"

***

Professors fight to keep Swift on syllabus as Pakistan's Islamists target 'vulgar' classics

"A review of books studied in the English courses at Punjab University in Lahore singled out several texts, including Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock, Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels as containing offensive sexual connotations which were deemed "vulgar".

The review appears to have been triggered by complaints made about the syllabus by the wife of a retired army general. She criticised the inclusion of two poems, including one by WH Auden, which she said promoted Jews, and a poem by Vikram Seth, who she said was too pro-Indian. She also said the poems of Adrienne Rich were unsuitable for study because she is a lesbian. "We have been tolerant for too long," the general's wife said in a meeting with academics from the department...

... Perhaps the most bizarre criticism is of a Sean O'Casey play, The End of the Beginning. Dr Arif makes no specific comment on the text but quotes several passages in which the apparently objectionable phrases are underlined. They include the phrase: "When the song ended, Darry cocks his ear and listens." Dr Arif has underlined the word "cocks"."


The Koran, Surah 56 - The Event, Verse 35-38

"Lo! We have created them a (new) creation
And made them virgins,
Lovers, friends,
For those on the right hand"