Element of trust

There was a very nice play that we all saw times and times again for an Arab actor called Adil Imam.  The play was called Shahid Ma Shafsh Haga, which means "the witness who saw nothing".  The play was repeatedly shown on TV in the 80's, and people used to mention quotes from it on a daily basis which proves to what extent  people got influenced by the play.  In a nutshell the main actor had supposedly seen a murder of his neighbor and he was called to court to testify, but he had no idea why was he called. Due to his innocence and trust he used to think that everybody on earth was great and no one would harm anyone, as there is no reason to harm anyone!

At the end of the court session the judge told him that he has to change? And he did, he became a normal human being who would do the stuff that normal people do, which are basically the stuff we are morally prevented from doing; so he would lie, drink, spend his money on girls and on stuff that are not necessarily classified under "good" but are in fact harmful.  Basically he went from one end of the spectrum to the other end.  One sentence by a judge changed a person's life drastically.  The judge told him that things has to be either white or black, no shades in between, the judge didn't like the colour grey, so it has to be removed from people's lives and from the dictionary.

We the naive always give the benefit of the doubt, we ignore the blind spots, do things according to our thinking and always trust everyone unconditionally! I am 56 soon to be 57! And I feel I should do what the main actor in "the witness who saw nothing" did, It will either be black or white. I will not have any shades in between, I will forget the colours of the rainbow, and ignore the songs of nature, I will put a little doubt in every person I deal with, I will tie my discussions with contracts and conclude every meeting with a letter from a lawyer!

We also need to do this with our family, friends, relatives, students, teachers, schools, universities and whoever we come in contact with.  There is no meeting without an ulterior motive, so even if we meet someone there was business to be gained by everybody, so a knot had to be tied.  Even between lovers, a knot had to be tied, between employees, a knot had to be tied, between companies, a knot had to be tied! Element of trust???? I guess not, don't trust anyone and don't be naive, question everything, and don't even talk unless you have a contract protecting you at the outset.

The past ten years had taught me so many things, but due to my naivety I used to think that I was wrong, that I should not think the worst in people, I should not expect a benefit from everything I do.  But when everyone gets a benefit and I get nothing then there must be something wrong? Of course I should not blame people for being dishonest, I should blame myself for being so trusting??

My friend had trusted her husband unconditionally for the past 30 years, then she found out that he goes out with other women! She leaves the house and flushes her good and bad memories down the toilette and starts a new life.  Another guy finds out that his company used to underpay him after a long and agonizing service period he leaves the company and starts a fresh. A student gets kicked out of school because she was helping other students to pass, so the good doer gets kicked out and the bad ones stay put.  If you remember the movie about the creator of facebook and how they take him to court, again an element of trust that shouldn't have been given.  I am not going to list or narrate for you what stuff people do to get what they want, I am sure that you know how people cheat, lie, pretend, etc, as this is the human beings bad nature which is used to satisfy self-interest and vanity.

You see a lot of these incidents and more in this life, and of course only in us the mortals. That is why there is a huge industry of protectors, and even the Quraan warned us from doing anything unless we have a witness. 

So from today, I will do what Adil Imam did in "the witness who saw nothing".  Shall I sue the university or the universities? Shall I sue the bank or banks? shall I sue those that robbed me from my ideas? shall I jeopardise the work of other companies that were based on what I mentioned to them and at the time they had rejected my proposals?

I am not also going to write what I had learnt in the past ten years, as I know that I truly didn't learn; I will repeat what I did and will continue to give unconditionally as its my nature. Can one teach an old dog new tricks? can one rewind the clock backward and regain time? I don't think so.  

However I am writing this to you all, so you can learn, especially the young ones.  Don't trust anyone, keep your mouth shut and don't be a smart Alec.  Take it from me! You only have yourself to blame. 

A reminder about Ashoraa

الاخوة الاعزاء

بمناسبة عاشوراء نعزي انفسنا وانفسكم باستشهاد الامام الحسين عليه السلام

لقد ورد ذكر الامام الحسين في الكتب المقدس وبالذات في رؤيا يوحنا وفي سفر ارمية

1- في سفر أرميا

يقول الكاتب: "الخفيف لا ينوص والبطل لا ينجو في الشمال بجانب نهر الفرات عثروا وسقطوا، من هذا الصاعد

كالنيل كأنهار تتلاطم أمواجها،...، فهذا اليوم للسيد ربّ الجنود يوم نقمة للانتقام من مبغضيه فيأكل السيف

ويشبع ويرتوي من دمهم. لأن للسيد ربّ الجنود ذبيحة في أرض الشمال عند نهر الفرات

من هنا بدات الباحثة العراقية المسيحية ايزابيل بنيامين البحث ادناه .  وهو بحث مفيد نفعنا الله واياكم به 

من هو قتيل شاطئ الفرات في الكتاب المقدس ???    

 

نبوءة كتاب الرب المقدس :
من هو قتيل شاطئ الفرات ؟

 ضمن دراستي الكهنوتية للكتاب المقدس والتي استمرت سنوات وانا اتفكر في نص غريب موجود في الكتاب المقدس ولكوني عراقية ونهر الفرات يمر في البلد الذي اسكنه سألت عن هذا النص الكثير من قساوستنا وعلمائنا واساتذتنا وراجعت التفاسير والمراجع الخاصة بتفسير الكتاب المقدس ولكن يبدو أن الجميع تواطأ على السكوت, حتى ألتقيت بقداسة الانبا المقدس البطريارك الماروني : صبيح بولس بيروتى, وسألته عن النص الذي يذكر بأن هناك ذبيح على شاطئ الفرات فمن يكون، فنظر لي مليا ثم قال: لولا انك مسيحية وباحثة في علم اللاهوت وان هذا ضمن دراساتك ما اجبتك على سؤالك ولكني سأجيب

 قال : أولا أن شاطئ النبوءة يمتد طولا على امتداد نهر الفرات من منابعة وحتى مصبه في البصرة ولكنني استطعت أن احصر منقطة الحدث في صحراء تقع في العراق بالقرب من بابل. الثاني : بحثت ايضا عن تفسير هذه النبوءة فوجدت أنه من تاريخ نزول هذه النبوءة وحتى يومنا هذا لم تتحقق هذه النبوءة إلا مرة واحدة قلت له : واين المكان ومن هو الذبيح؟ قال : أن النبوءة تتحدث عن شخص مقدس (ابن نبي) وهو سيّد عظيم مقدس اسمه (اله سين ) ولما سألت قداسة الاب بطرس دنخا كبير الاساقفة عن معنى كلمة ((إله سين )) قال : أن العرب في جنوب العراق يقلبون الهاء حاء . فتصبح (الحسين) . هذا هو المذبوح بشاطئ الفرات وهي نبوءة تتعلق بابن نبي مقدس جدا وهو سيكون سيّدا في السماء.

 من هذه النقطة بحثت وتعمقت والآن أضع هذا النص بين يدي الاخوان لعلي احظى بإطلالة شافية كافية وافية مع أن النص واضح لأنه يُشير إلى معركة مصيرية كبيرة بجانب شط الفرات في ارض يُقال لها (كركميش) من أجل ارجاع خلافة مغتصبة لأن النص يقول بأنه هذا السيّد ذهب ليرد سلطته وعندما بحثت في معجم الكتاب المقدس وجدت أن (كركميش) تعني كربلاء

فمن هذا السيد الذي ذُبح بجانب شط الفرات ولماذا يصف الكتاب المقدس هذه الواقعة بهذا الوصف المخيف وكأن مصير البشرية يتوقف عليها؟

 صحيح اني وضعت احاديث واشياء تدل على هذه الواقعة لكن كلها افتراضات لأني لست من داخل الحدث الإسلامي ولكن هذا الشيء موجود على شكل نبوءة لم يستطع احد ان يغيرها او يتلاعب بها ، ومنذ كتابتها منذ آلاف السنين لم تتحقق هذه النبوءة إلا في الاسلام من حيث المكان والشخص المقتول كما يقول كبير علماء اهل الكتاب والمتضلع بالكتب السماوية ((كعب الاحبار بن ماتح )) اتمنى القراءة بتدبر وتروي وعدم الانسياق وراء العاطفة وإنما يتم تحكيم العقل.

 جاء في سفر إرمياء الاصحاح 46 : فما 6 ـ 10 النبوءة التالية وهي تحكي عن المستقبل البعيد حيث كان وصف إرمياء النبي صحيح مائة بالمائة فقد كان الوصف مهيبا رهيبا كأنك ترى ذلك المصروع والجيوش التي التفت حوله : (( أسرجوا الخيل ، واصعدوا أيها الفرسان وانتصبوا بالخوذ اصقلوا الرماح البسوا الدروع . لماذا أراهم مرتعبين ومدبرين إلى الوراء ، وقد تحطمت أبطالهم وفروا هاربين ، في الشمال بجانب نهر الفرات حيث عثروا وسقطوا لأن للسيد رب الجنود ذبيحة عند شط الفرات )) .

 ثم ماذا تقول النبوءة عن اسباب ذهاب هذا السيد إلى ذلك المكان ؟ تقول : ((ذهب ليرُد سلطته إلى كركميش ليُحارب عند الفرات في الصحراء العظيمة التي يُقال لها رعاوي عند الفرات )).

وكلمة كركميش تعني كربلاء ، وكلمة رعاوي هي الصحراء الواسعة التي تمتد من حدود بابل إلى عرعر والتي يسميها الكتاب المقدس (رعاوي) وهي بالقرب من مدفن مقدس لأهل الكتاب اسمه النواويس ولا يُعرف بالضبط السر في وجود دور عبادة لأهل الكتاب في هذا المكان الذي تحيط به المقابر، ولكن الأب أنطوان يوسف فرغاني يقول : بأن اكثر اهل الكتاب دفنوا في هذا المكان لأنهم كانوا ينتظرون ذلك السيد المذبوح لينصروه لأنه مقدس جدا ، ولكن قدومه تأخر وماتوا وهم ينتظروه ، ولذلك لم يُقتل مع هذا المقدس عند نهر الفرات سوى نصارى اثنين يُقال انهم اعتنقوا دين هذا المقدس. لم يصف احد من شخصيات الاديان نفسه بأنه هو المذبوح هناك على ساحل كركميش حيث رعاوي الصحراء القاحلة . فقط الحسين عليه مراحم الرب وبركاته يصف نفسه بأنه المذبوح بجانب الفرات وانه ابن الذبيحين وهذا ما قاله كعب الأحبار المتضلع بالتوراة ، عندما مرّ بجانب الفرات في كربلاء حيث قال : ((ما مررت في هذا المكان إلا وتصورت نفسي أنا المذبوح حتى ذبح الحسين فقلنا هذا هو لأننا نروي ان ابن نبي يُذبح في هذا المكان))

 ملاحظة أن كعب الاحبار قال ذلك امام حشد من الصحابة وغيرهم كما في الرواية التالية ((ولمّا أسلم كعب الأحبار وقدم جعل أهل المدينة يسألونه عن الملاحم الّتي تكون في آخر الزمان وكعب يخبرهم بأنواع الملاحم والفتن ثمّ قال كعب: نعم ، وأعظمها فتنة وملحمة هي الملحمة الّتي لا تنسى أبداً ، وهو الفساد الّذي ذكره الله في الكتب ، وقد ذكره في كتابكم بقوله

: ( ظَهَرَ الفَسَادُ فِي البَرِّ وَالبَحرِ وإنّما فتح بقتل هابيل ، ويختم بقتل الحسين ) المصدر انظر مقتل الخوارزمي الجزء الأول ص 162 هذا اذا اخذنا بنظر الاعتبار رواية امام أهل السنة احمد التي تؤكد بأن ابن النبي يقتل بشاطئ الفرات وإليك الرواية : ((روى الامام أحمد بن حنبل من حديث علي بن أبي طالب ـ في ص85 من الجزء الاول ـ من مسنده، بالإسناد إلى عبد الله بن نجا عن أبيه: قال: «دخلت على رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) ذات يوم وعيناه تفيضان، قلت: يا نبي الله، ما شأن عينيك تفيضان؟ قال: قام من عندي جبرئيل قبل، فحدثني أن ولدي الحسين يقتل بشط الفرات)) أو في الرواية التالية : ((روى الشافعي ـ في باب إنذار النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله) بما سيحدث بعده ، من كتابه أعلام النبوة ـ عن عروة، عن أم المؤمنين عائشة، قالت: دخل الحسين بن علي على رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) وهو يوحى إليه، فقال جبرائيل: إن أُمّتك ستفتتن بعدك وتقتل ابنك هذا من بعدك، ومدّ يده فأتاه بتربة بيضاء، وقال: في هذه يقتل ابنك، اسمها الطف، قال: فلما ذهب جبرائيل، خرج رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)إلى أصحابه والتربة بيده ـ وفيهم: أبو بكر، وعمر، وعلي، وحذيفة، وعثمان، وأبو ذر ـ وهو يبكي، فقالوا: ما يبكيك يا رسول الله؟ فقال: «أخبرني جبرائيل: أن ابني الحسين يقتل بعدي ))

 بحثت فلم اجد غير ذلك تفسيرا فهل هناك اضافة لا أعرفها
الصديقة المسيحية : ايزابيل بنيامين ماما آشوري العراق

And here is a video for those who want to hear about Imam Husain

http://youtu.be/vAnpumvhPyc

Bahrain

Of course its my country so I love it, I love going there and visiting family and friends.  The relaxed atmosphere, and the unpretentious state of mind with everybody is something that cannot be denied.  Poeple still set on the floor, have lunch on a sufra (a round mat made from palm tree leafs), and smoke the Gadu (a pottery sheesha and a bamboo stick, which by the way is used by some parents to hit their kids if they don't study).  Also, everybody is a cupcake maker, and every one does catering and sell things on Instagram.  The thousands of Instagram accounts for food lovers, shoping sites,Bahraini style Ebay hash tagged to the rest of the gulf countries, so everyone from the gulf buys Bahraini products.  I was surprised to see watches and shoes sold on Instagram too as well as Halwa, khanfaroosh and Rahash, so a lot of our delectable are not only being sold but also are being displayed to the world to feast their eyes on!! 

Sipping coffee in one of the most crowded cafes (Costa in country mall) I can hear students discussing their assignments, tutors teaching kids, lawyers discussing cases and of course the umpteen number of politically minded people and those bloggers and tweeps discussing what is being pushed on those internet sites and what is written on twitter and on blogs.  I found it so interesting that sometimes you see the black cars of the police hurrying on the roads going to a certain place and people continue to drink their frappuccinos without even a blink.  I think black cars and and smoke had become a fact of life and people had continued their lives as normal. 

My son decided to go and live in Bahrain, so my husband and I didn't discourage or encourage him, he is an adult and he can do what he likes.  Anyway, one day he calls and says that the country is going to shreds, and on another day he calls and says that he loves how everyone asks about me.  He says that people first ask him who he is, and as soon as he says that he is the son of Suad, they all say great, say hi to her as I played with her when she was little, or I was a friend to her dad, or I am her cousin, and so on and so forth.  He says that some people just try to make it sound that he is a relative even if it is from the grand grand father side.  He thinks that something like that hadn't happened to him when he lived in Dubai, or when he lived in New Zealand; that is why he thinks that living in Bahrain is an experience and he thinks that everyone in the world should try to live in Bahrain for a while.

I agree with my son, and now my daughter will also get married and go to Bahrain to live there, she will be proud of my family and I, as everyone she will meet will tell her that she is a relative.  Of course its not that everyone in Bahrain is a relative, its just that everyone wants you to feel welcome and live happily in that marvelous Kingdom. 

I was at an exhibition for the past four days, simultaneously there was another conference going, so during the break some of those attending the conference come to us as everyone has a daughter or a son who needs to study abroad somewhere.  One of my visitors asked me if I was Bahraini? I said yes, and he almost wanted to kiss me, of course he was also a Bahraini, and was wearing the emblem of Bahrain, so I asked him to get me one; to my surprise when I arrived today, the university Rep that I was helping at her booth gave me the golden emblem and said that it was from my Bahraini friend!!! I scratched my head thinking, which Bahraini friend will bring me this? then I remembered the guy who came the previous night and I had asked him to get me one of those broaches.  Do you think that a non Bahraini would do something like that? I guess not.

I am not racist, nor a discriminator, and I will never differentiate between people on any basis, but I must tell you this, The Bahraini people are outstanding, and whoever I talked to had or have a Bahraini best friend; during this exhibition a lot of the exhibitors told me so themselves.  Of course I am a best friend to almost 191 nationalities, so there you go.

I think socoilogists will have a fun time studying Bahraini people, and I am going to take my friend Dr Ivana to Bahrain so she studies us first hand.

House arrest or mind arrest??

I always thought that kids are smarter than us the grown ups, in actual fact kids fascinates me, and if I want anything to resurrect it will be my childhood. Kids never give up, they never feel that what they want is not going to be obtained, they never think of the word failure, they are persistent!  they have attention to detail and they can feel trouble before it sometimes occur.  I was once looking at my dad (RIP) and felt that there is something wrong! I was merely five or six then, then what happened confirmed my feelings, we had a fire in the house, and all of Dad's stuff of his shop were damamged .  Now, even if a disaster happens in my house or at work, I will be oblivious to even realize this fact, why? because I am a grownup.

What brought this up? okay I admit, its another movie that I watched this morning, plus the fact that I hadnt written for a while due to many things happening to my life.  I have a grand daughter, and when I open my eys in the morning (except yesterday as I was so deppressed about something that happened with one of the universitiese that we represent) I see her beautiful face, and think oh my god, she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life; previously I listen to my friends who became grand parents going rara about their grand kids, and I think to myself, why are they behaving that way? they had kids themselves, and were happy about that, and we all got involved in child rearing and changing nappies, do we want to do that all over again? well, now I would say with absolute certainty that yes, I would do that again and again, in actual fact I want my middle daughter to get married so fast now and get us those little angels so we get involved with changing nappies, and I almost told my youngest daughter that she doesnt need to complete her masters and maybe its best if she comes back and gets married, but then I thought that was drastic, lets take things one at a time!

You know, I saw the look in my husbands face when he carried Anfal (that's her name by the way) I could see that he is a different man, yes a different man, who had accomplished his duty in life and is a grand father to a little Einstein, or a Little Alkhayam, or a little Picasso, or a little of all of those people put together.  Its alright if we didn't breed  the likes of Einsteins, Picassos, Alkhayams or Ibn Sinas, but their kids may will be those or better.  Maybe they will also be like or better than Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Justin Beiber,  Kim Kerdashien, or maybe presidents like Obama, Khalifa bin Zayed, Mohammed Bin Rashid or the likes (now these three are my favorites from all the presidents in the world).  Oh I digressed a lot

The movie, oh yes! two kids were upset as their parents are going to separate, so they decide to lock them up in the basement of the house; their other friends heard and soon there were three couples and a single mum in that basement.  The house at first was chaos, but then slowly things were fine with the kids upstairs, the dog and the snake, but the ones in the basement didnt budge! the kids fixed a camera and they started a therapy session with them, gave them kids food, and told them that they will only let them loose if they make up and settle the difference. 

Well, it worked, and so I wish that things are as easy as that, to begin with we don't have basements in our houses to lock up our parents, or for our kids to lock us up if we have misunderstanding, or we think of giving up on our lives and marriage.  I still remember when my husband and I had some issues, my son told me that if we ever split up, he will become a drug addict? this was alarming, so whatever happened in my life and with all the difficulties, I thought its this or having a drug addict? and I preferred the trouble in my life.  Of course all of that is water under the bridge by now, and I guess time tames every human being, all we need to do is persevere a little and see where life would take us.

Of course if its left to me, I would rather go back to my childhood and be be psychic to prevent the fire in our house.  Magic wand, abra ka dabra.

Credit Cards vs Debit Cards

I love both, as either of them is better than holding real cash in your hands.  From the time I had a bank account I had felt that we should never hold coins, notes or anything to do with money between our fingers! I am not the paranoid type of person, however holding money in the hand is as easy as eating a pack of crisps, it goes faster than it comes. 

So when my bank handed me my first ATM card, I went for it.  I loved how in more civilised countries they ask you if you need cash out too (like if you need to put some money in a card for a birthday) or (if you need to give cash out for any occasion like kids pocket money and so on).  Then my bank asked me if I want to use a credit card? Now whats that, I thought? It turned out to be a way to know what one is spending ones money on, and an organiser.  I had never used a credit card as a loan; the banks would lose if all their clients are like me, I pay the used amount on the due date, in actual fact I don’t pay on the due date, the bank pays for the card on the due date (via a standing order). 

I find it easy to organise my expenses and to know what I spent the money on, and reflect on whether I needed that thing or not?  However, comes the next month, and I still see more coffees and cakes, more dinners and more cinema trips, do we ever learn?? I wonder. 

Its my 20th year using a credit card and longer for the ATM card, my daughters know my pin code and can sign in my place, so its not me that has a statement as an organiser, its them.  sometimes I receive a hundred sms messages  from my bank to tell me that I had to top up the plastic, so some time I do, some times I don't.  It depends if the girls had left some money in the account or had also topped it up!!  guard your loins guys, keep those plastics in a deep hole, else the kiddies will get hold of them and make you declare bankruptcy sooner than later. 

The last sentence is of course a figure of speech.