I was actually very amazed by it. I knew that when you read you look at the word and not the letters, and if you're a really good reader you look at the entire row. But I never thought it would be that easy to read what SHOBAROO wrote!

Thank you sister OG_Girl, finally someone who's on the same level! Sophist wrote "They all being, nothing but words. " True brother, but never underestimate the its power! Â

Dear brother J11, that was a good observation, I did actually hesitate when I was writing it, however that doesn't change anything. A racist is someone who discriminate on basis of people's origin, which is actually ethnicity. If you're implying by your question that since the word racist excist and not ethnisist, the conclusion must be that there is such thing as different races. That isn't the case. Just because a word excist it doesn't mean that it describes the reality. Because of wrong things that occured in the history (the development of the race idealogy a few centuries ago) the word racism was coined, when it actually describes ethnicity. A comparison, that might be a bit far-fetched however I think it could highlight my point: When Christoffer Columbus went to what he thought was India he called the nativ people he met for Indians. Although we know today that they were not Indians we still call them that. Qacbaro wrote: Elysian of course u would choose the white boy, coz he is Muslim first and that is what matters.. but ideally is better to stay with ur own race, it makes things simple. Dear brother, I think you have missed my point. I think it's great if somalis marry other somalis, but it's also ok if somalis marry other people, it's up to that person. What I'm reacting against is that people think we are different races. We are not. The Quran tells us that we're all brothers and sisters, Allah made us different, so that we could get to know one another.

I was surprised after I read one of the topics posted here on Camel Milk Threads. It was about whether it was ok or not to date people of other “races than Somaliâ€. None of the replies that I read reacted on how the question was formulated. Since when are Somalis a race of their own?? Secondly, is there such thing as different races? According to the biological definition that I know of, there is only one race among human beings, the HUMAN RACE! The different races people usually refer to is merely a social construction, a way of distancing humans from one another (divide and rule). In the discussion under that topic, some said they couldn’t imagine dating outside their own race. If race in this case refers to distinguishing people on the basis of external heritable features or based on their genetic origin I would refer to it as ethnicity rather than race. And if someone would reject another person because of their ethnicity, I would call that racism. Before I upset a lot of people, I’m not accusing anyone of being racist. I think the word race (i.e. ethnicity) is wrongly used, and unfortunately it’s done so by routine. If I give myself the freedom to interpret what is actually meant (I know it’s not good to do so, but…) I would say that when someone can’t imagine dating other people than Somalis, it’s not due to the ethnical differences but because of the cultural heritage. That is a big difference! A person’s cultural heritage is something that is acquired and is something dynamic that is constantly changing during a person’s lifetime. On the other hand, a person’s ethnicity is something given by Allah all mighty, and is therefore constant. My point is that discrimination on the basis of a culture is alright since a person can decide which culture they want to live by and actually matters in a relationship. A person’s ethnicity is however unchangeable and has no whatsoever significance in a relationship (considering only the two persons involved and not how other people’s opinion will affect it). Usually ethnicity and culture are tightly interwoven, but that’s not always the case. Let’s say there is a Somali guy who behaves like any other british-white-upper-class fellow, and then there is this other guy who had moved to Somalia with his british Christian missionary parents. Alhamdulillah this white boy embraced islam and the Somali culture. Now, if I had to choose between these two guys and I choose the Somali one because of his colour then I’ll be skating on thin ice.

Sorry sister, I should have been more clear. I understood and fully agreed with you the first time, what I meant was that for example some people in my community are eager to preach to non-muslims how they should live while at the same time the muslim families are having major problems and is on the verge of break up. If we would live according to our belief we would be the best of civilizations. Insha'allah we'll reach there someday.

I must say that even as a woman the word feminism has a negative clang to me. It’s not the actual word that bothers me, but because of what people who claims to be feminists have acted upon annoys me. They (read feminists) have hijacked feminism and made it to something very aggressive and they have put it as an opposite entity to religion and traditional family life. I think this is what irritates a lot of people, who would otherwise consider women rights to be an important question. I don’t se the necessity of feminism actually, if one considers that every human being has certain rights, there is no need to discriminate between women rights or male rights.

Because: 1 - they are not financed by Bush 2 - they are not afraid of getting invaded 3 - they are comedians (?) they are getting paid to do that

Amiin! and thank you Sophist. Dear sister sheherazde, what you are experiencing is common to all practicing muslim women, we are walking da'wa, whether we like it or not. I think by just living accordingly to our beliefe is most of the time good enough (considering how difficult it is already to practice in a western country). Some muslims consider teaching non-muslims about islam is their essential duty. But I think at this stage we need to teach ourselves how we can implement islam in our daily lives, before we go out to preach for others. Otherwise we might stand out as hypocrites.

HornAfrique wrote: Musharaf waa ***** isnacay. Balaayo ku cuntay. I was also upset by what the dictator said, but I just couldn't stop laughing when I read "balaayo ku cuntay". I immediately got a mental picture where I saw mr Musharaf attacked by grasshoppers of biblical proportion, leaving only his bones. On the other hand which president, primeminister, or any head of any state would openly criticize the only excisting superstate??

I think what OG_MOTI is saying is important. You have to choose your fights, don't always go into a discussion with the aim to defend Islam, instead you might bring more damage to it if you don't have the knowledge and the arguments. This is first of all a reminder to myself, I've been there to many times when I wished that I hadn't opened my mouth, and I often get angry with myself for not having more knowledge. Your sister in Islam. ps. I think Elysian means a state of great happiness (I'm not there, and I'll probably never get there, but it's always a goal to strive for)

Salam aleykum wr wb After a long day at work today I turned on the TV to watch some news, instead there was a discussion about, as I understood it, young Muslim/ Somali girls that were “prisoners†in their own home. As soon as I understood the topic (ie. muslim girls oppressed by their families), I turned it off. I was too tired! As you all probably would agree with me on, is that we are daily bombarded with negative information about Islam and Muslims. Of course we as Muslims and Somalis do wrong, yes we do commit faults, behave bad, hurt other people and ourselves. I get sad and despaired for the overwhelming problems we face. I don’t believe in conspiracies and so on, but I’m convinced that the western countries are dusting off the old fear for the green danger from the East. In their ignorance they believe we are posing such a threat to them, they have to feed us with massive negative information, which puts us, Muslims in the west, were they want us, in a state of despair. We are in a situation where we constantly have to defend ourselves, we are automatically the villains if we can’t proof otherwise. I did not write this text to enlighten anyone, I think most people are aware of the situation, and I did not write it in an attempt to solve it (then I would have hubris). I merely wrote it because I was upset, and I needed to ventilate my anger. One thing that comforts me is that by tomorrow most people have forgotten what was said today (in other circumstances this fact is very tragic). However, before I end my letter I would like to share something that is in contrast to what I mentioned above. A Japanese colleague of mine, who is a surgeon, told me that he once flying with a commercial flight helped a person from dying. For us it might seem obvious to help a person who is in need, especially if you’re a physician. But according to Japanese custom he could be held responsible if the outcome was not satisfactory. After the incident he went on the internet and discussed with other Japanese if he did the right thing or not. The discussion was long but finally ended with the statement that Somalis are better in the sense that their community is built on the tradition that one should always help in the best way one can. I was so surprised that first of all Japanese people knew anything about Somalis (my ignorance), secondly that they knew anything about our traditions or customs. The great thing with this story is that things in our behaviour that we take for granted are maybe not that common among others. And maybe instead of focusing on the how to fix the negative stuff, we first start appreciating the good in us. People on the other side of the world are admiring us for our solidarity, setting us as good examples, maybe it’s time we also did that?