Road to Jannah

Rendition

Starring Omar Metwally, Reese Whitherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep

We went to see this movie tonight at our main cineplex. It was in one of the smaller theaters but it was packed, mostly with older people. The film is the story of an Egyptian man (Metwally) married to an American woman (Reese) who is taken off a plane and not seen since. Another case of “extraordinary rendition” where the United States government covertly detains people in the name of “national security” and secretly deports them to other countries to be interrogated and tortured. The movie twines around the story of what he undergoes, his wife’s fight to try to find him, the American agent’s involvement and his superiors, and the torturer’s own family troubles.

The plot is well developed and extremely sophisticated. I could see parallels to two real lives straight from the headlines; that of Maher Arar, the Canadian that was moved covertly to Syria for torture when he stopped in the US for a layover, and Mohammed Haneef, the Australian doctor accused of links with terror, both found innocent.  I don’t want to say too much about the story because I feel that everyone should go see this movie, Muslim or non-Muslim, American or citizen of the world. In fact everyone NEEDS to see this movie.

I think this movie is amazing for many reasons. First, that it is a mainstream movie shown in regular theaters with star actors. Second, it shows the victims of extraordinary rendition as truly human victims instead of the usual propaganda machine that taints them as terrorists first, and humans last, or never. Third, it showed what the usual methods of torture are quite clearly. Many Americans may have seen a few of the pictures of Abu Ghuraib but nothing like this. Fourth, they showed that suicide bombers were not filthy animals who just want to kill for their 72 virgins or whatever. There are reasons behind what they do. And fifth, this movie showed how those who want to use the suicide bombers, exploit these reasons as well.

Being a Muslim, I thought I would be more disturbed by this movie or wish I hadn’t seen it. But I’m not. I want to see it again for the subtle nuances. I am more hopeful actually, because I pray that a lot more people see it and that it, first and foremost, touches their conscious and their hearts.

I recommend this movie for everyone to watch. A warning to Muslims though, there are some intimate scenes (for some reason they always have to put these in!) and there are scenes of nude men being tortured.

Watch it in the theater. The experience will be completely different from watching it on your TV in your home later on.

I give it ***** 5 stars out of 5.

Spoilers Below

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I loved how he had no accent.

But no doubt there are some messed up things in the movie such as the whole ’suicide bomber meeting’ that looks like someone going into a mosque, complete with taking off the shoes, saying salaam and sitting on carpets in front of an imam, listening to a khutbah and then yelling takbir again and again. (I thought the khutbah was very well done with the usual propoganda terrorists use, couched in ‘islamic terms’ (but wonder if non-muslims would recognize this) and wondered if they took it straight from some alqaeda video.)  They also show some of the usual “jihadist” type images. But I THANK GOD for two things… not spouting any of that 72 virgins rhetoric and not showing them praying.

I also wish they had showed a little more happiness between the couple in the beginning, like a hug or a kiss or some type of affection. And when Reese says “you knew him” I wish she had said something like “we all went to college together, you knew him.”

I also thought during the movie that Meryl should have been a guy, those military type of guys that are the ones that perpetrate these crimes, but I do think she conveyed quite clearly the ’status quo’ line of the gov’t.

Hmm and the mother.. I mean what was the point of having her in the movie, the least she could have done is have tears in her eyes and say to Reese “how can you say that, how can you even think it!” and be extremely upset.

Still those are tiny tiny things compared to the whole objective of the film.
************SPOILERS***************************************

Well, I did it.

Something no one should EVER do.

One day while randomly surfing the internet I ended up on myspace and there it was.

Look up alumni and friends. School: Year of Graduation:

So I did it.

And there they were my old 90s big haired friends. The ones I went to school with from the first grade. The ones that shared Madonna, leg warmers, the goonies, sign-in books and garbage pail kids with me. The ones I hung out with in the library and cafeteria and shared international club trips to montreal with. How amazing. They’re still alive out there.

Many are still around in the area which makes me wondrous at the thought we might have passed each other by at the local grocery store or mall at some time or other. Most are married and parents of numerous children. Most depressing (sigh). A few have accomplished some interesting things. One became an artist in NYC that does portraits and works at the guggenheim. Another is the CEO of a popular mp3 music player. The most popular girl in school ended up as an Epidemiologist with an added dash something to her last name. The boy I had a crush on in 6th grade is pictured at a wedding with a receding hairline looking quite older than I would have thought. The girl who always dressed goth with piercings is wearing pastels and has 4 adorable boys with biblical names. The artsy girl who starred in all the plays is now a lawyer. My old best friend who was always anti-establishment is buying a house and sending her first child to school. My friend who said she never wanted to get married because she wanted to be a doctor is a surgeon and just had twins. The pro-athlete boy who did all the sports is holding a little baby all in pink. And is an engineer. Working at GE!

Amazing. Yet kind of depressing. Disturbing.

Don’t do it.

You’ll be much happier thinking of them as they were, as your good friends as kids and leaving their memories where they were.

Bismillahir Rahman hirRaheem assalaatus salaam ala habeebuna wa oswatana, rasulullah salalllahu alayhi wa salam, wa ala aalihi, wa sahbahi wa salam. Amma ba’ad…

A trip to Umrah is beautiful spiritual enlightenment and wonder, ease and learning and experiencing new things. A trip to Hajj is spiritual struggle, physical difficulty, hardships, and cleansing, so much so — that when you’re done, you’re born anew. I feel like my Ramadans alternate between these two. This year was of the latter.

This year one of my main goals was to finish the Quran during the month. I’ve read it in English and in Arabic but this time I wanted to read it both in Arabic and with the meaning, all during this month. I wanted to do it at least once in my life while I still could since I’m not working right now and hopefully had the time. And what a struggle it has been. I know some Arabs who read it two or three times throughout the month! I still can’t figure out how they do that. Reading 1 juzz in Arabic and English takes me about 2 hours. And to find these two hours consistently, every day, consecutively throughout Ramadan on top of everything else has sure been a struggle. I’ve read the Quran at midnight, 4am, 7am, 1pm, 6pm, every time, sitting on a stoop, driving to NYC, going apple picking, in an eyeglass place lobby, every weird strange place you can imagine. I personally did not *want* to be reading like that but in order to make sure to complete a juzz a day, it ended up like that.

After reading the whole Quran (I have only 1 juzz left juzz amma the last one for tonight, the last night of Ramadan woo hoo!) I have a few observations.

First now that I know some Arabic and can truly understand the beauty of some Arabic linguistics I’m simply astounded by the beauty and breadth of the Quran. As a document it’s just amazing. It covers almost every topic generally or specifically, and gives us examples and parables and is as deep as poetry yet as simple as something you would explain to a child.

Right in the beginning of the Quran there’s a challenge: “And if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed … then produce a Surah like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers…”

I remember a number of years ago pre 9/11 when a few sites popped up with the name “a surah like it” saying they were meeting the challenge. But then when you clicked on it, their Surah went like this: “In the name of Christ, the giving, compassionate. Thanks and praise be to the Messiah…etc.. etc…” Is it creating a Surah like it if you take the Quran and replace God with Christ and Messiah! The other stuff was pretty laughable too. It didn’t quite have the venom of missionary sites today and eventually the sites disappeared after offending a lot of Muslims but I still remember their poor attempts.

I’ll say it here and now even though the Quran does not need any defending. It just can’t be done. The Quran is just amazing from beginning to end. It’s been a document of guidance, of social order, of law, of ethics, of history, of personal solace and spiritual awareness for BILLIONS of people for fourteen CENTURIES. Empires and nations have been created based upon it. Translators spend their entire lifetime just trying to approach a translation of it in their own language. People have taken phrases from it and have decorated everything from Taj Mahals to golden vases with it. I mean come on. And you’re telling me a single human being in the deserts of Arabia in the 6th century wrote this?

It’s just not possible. It’s certainly divine and it was nice to go through this month and when I read something beautiful or amazing or wonderful, clever, educational or reaffirming, in tears or in laughter or pondering something deeply touching, I’d shake my head in wonder at people who think these are words humans could have made up? I mean haven’t they read Rumi? Or Shakespeare? Arguably the best poets in the world? Now that is amazing poetry, but it still doesn’t come close to touching the Quran, not to mention finding the best jurist, or the best historian or the best Arabic grammarian etc.

The second thing that amazed me is that everything the Quran is telling people IS GOOD! The whole Quran is about doing good deeds, feeding the poor, sheltering the orphans, respecting women, helping those in need, standing up to oppressors, doing good in this world, not hoarding wealth, giving to the needy, fasting, controlling one’s base desires, helping travelers, praying to God, relying on Him, being modest, not doing anything evil or mean, not being arrogant or greedy. It’s ALL good things. Good things considered good UNIVERSALLY. Over and over and over again. Every prophet story, every parable, ever sentence and verse is about making us do good and bringing us good. Even in the things the media or Islam haters keep trying to bring up, the Quran is a voice of guidance and moderation and peace. And yet there is so much hate out there for Islam! Why? Look no one said you have to follow the Quran and be a good person, but why hate Islam and Muslims so much? Why are there so many attacks on Islam? From the pope, to our local papers, to blogs, to Danish cartoons, to talk radio-hosts, to “fake apostates-unite” websites, to missionaries? And I *know* it’s not about terrorism or whatever other excuses they give. They don’t even include intellectual or theological arguments anymore, it’s all about Islamophobia, sensationalism, trying to bash Islam with bin-laden or terrorism, stuff that has NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

There is a reason. The closest I can put my finger on it is that it’s fear. Fear that they’ll have to stop what they’re doing and listen to God, fear that they’ll have to change their selfish lifestyles or make decisions that are for the greater good instead of themselves. Just fear of having to do good. There can’t be any other reason because the Quran’s whole message is about doing good.

I really like the people who are honest and just say, ‘I can’t become Muslim cuz I love pork’ or ‘I can’t do all these things like pray 5 times a day or give money’ or ‘I don’t like Islam because it’s all about deeds, I think people should just believe and be saved.’ Now that is honest, that is a valid objection and I like that. Not the usual lies and propaganda that are included in the attacks on Islam, Muslims and the Quran these days.

Third, the thing that struck me about the Quran is that while it is unequal in it’s beautiful dialog, ethics, principles, stories, ideas, etc. there is just no way an Angel could have come and dropped this on us and we become practicing Muslims of today. There had to be a messenger that receives divine guidance to explain and live all of these principles and practices and put them together for us. AND live in a community of people who lived all this and were examples for us. Without this with just the Quran being handed to us, how would we even begin to know how to pray? What would we do if we forgot a rakat? How do we do Hajj? How do we fast? What do we do if we forget and eat? How do we understand some of these verses? The Quran is unparallel, but we are human. And we needed a Messenger. ‘Quran-only’ pushers are deluded. Seriously deluded. I’ve heard some say “I’ll follow that if you can show me where it is in the Quran.” I often want to ask them if they’ve EVER read the Quran? It’s not a document that is going to detail every person’s strict daily actions and tell them in October 2007 this is how you are going to this exact action. To say we don’t need the Sunnah is like saying the Quran is not divine, because they’re asking for it to be the Sunnah. What a paradox!

Anyway I learned a lot from reading the Quran this month even though I found it hard time-wise. I recommend every Muslim to do this at least once in their life. Make intention inshaAllah for next Ramadan if you can and may Allah reward you all with the best of good.

May Allah make the Quran the Spring of your heart, the light of your breast, the dispeller of your sorrows, the eraser of your anxieties and a departure for your worries. Ameen

Wasalaam alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuhu.

Say: “If all mankind and all invisible beings would come together with a view to producing the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce its like even though they were to exert all their strength in aiding one another!” 17:88

Now this Qur’an could not possibly have been devised by anyone save God: nay indeed, it confirms the truth of whatever there still remains [of earlier revelations] and clearly spells out the revelation [which comes] -let there be no doubt about it-from the Sustainer of all the worlds. 10:37

For, indeed, many facets have We given in this Qur’an to every kind of lesson [designed] for [the benefit of] mankind! 17:89

THUS, step by step, We bestow from on high through this Qur’an all that gives health [to the spirit] and is a grace unto those who believe [in Us], the while it only adds to the ruin of evildoers: 17:82

VERILY, this Qur’an shows the way to all that is most upright, and gives the believers who do good deeds the glad tiding that theirs will be a great reward; 17:9