Ashura in Qatar

JustKooki.Blogspot.com

“To celebrate the killing of Hussein!” our neighbor proclaimed as he handed over two plastic containers. We’ve experienced some unexpected things since moving to Qatar: escaped pet tigers; chilled swimming pools ; and absurd signs. But celebrating the murder of a person, no matter how many atrocities that person committed, seemed a bit unusual. I hoped something had been lost in translation but, am incredibly embarrassed to admit, my white brain wasn’t entirely sure. 

The whole exchange was so far out of the realm of anything I could possibly anticipate that I couldn’t fathom what the actual occasion might be. But it must have been important because we’d never talked to this neighbor before. In fact, up until now I’d thought of him as the guy whose 3 kids played (directly) outside (our front door) until 11 p.m. The middle child I chillingly thought of as “Car Honker”, the oldest as “Car Chaser”  and the youngest as “Car Respecter”. Had I ever taken the time to remember their real names, I wouldn’t appear like such a self-centered idiot (racist bigot) right now. 

As our neighbor handed over the containers, the smell reminded me of Umm Ali, a dessert that weighs down every buffet table and female hip in the city. Between my husband’s rudimentary (pathetic) Arabic and our neighbors faltering (put us to shame) English we got enough sweeping generalities to understand that it was an eventful day. Our neighbor kept saying, “Hussein”, “Assura” and “New Year”. 

Here’s where my brain takes me with those words. In Switzerland “Assura” was the name of our health insurance company. Enough said. “New Year” often involves me falling asleep at 8 p.m.  Not much celebrating there but I recognize my culture’s connotations of partying. And when you say the name “Hussein” to a US American, the name Saddam unconsciously appears before it. I don’t think our neighbor knew he was speaking to someone originally from the United States, which, had he known and had he been referring to Saddam Hussein would be a topic for another post. At any rate I didn’t take it as an offering of thanks to me personally or my birth nation collectively. 

Meaning is so easily lost in translation when there isn’t a translator. Take yesterday. (Stay with me on this tangent, it is relative, I mean, relevant.) Doha News Twitter readers were greasing feathers and heating tar when they came across a photo of a very white expat colored in black paint wearing a checkered head scarf and leading Santa Claus on a camel. 

photo Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

There were many attempts to interpret what was going on by lots of people who had no idea of what was going on but wanted to know what was going on. The procession was called: 

“culturally insensitive and racist”. 

People said things like:

“What can one say about these clueless expats who find blackface so amusing.” 

“That's quite the weird mash up of culture and customs there.”

Europeans, of course, instantly recognized that it wasn’t Santa Claus but Saint Nikolas (Europeans will be quick to set you straight on the differences) and Schwarz Peter, his helper (who, being a Moor, has intrinsically heavily pigmented skin or, depending on which tradition you look at, has skin which is blackened by the soot of a chimney from which he has just dropped through). A camel is not in the tradition but seems a rather harmless, if unnecessary, substitute for a horse. Nonetheless, the photo caused religious tolerance in Qatar to be put into question. Boycotts were called for. One post compared the publicness of the procession to human fecal matter (or perhaps camel feces, they didn’t specify). It was all quite rousing.  

I imagine if I were Arab I would have wondered about the origins of such a procession and questioned the wisdom of publicly re-enacting it in a Muslim country. Just as I, even as a US American/Swiss/Qatar-dweller, questioned why someone would publicly celebrate the killing of Hussein. It didn’t make any sense. 

We trusted the workings of the universe (Google) to revel the truth to us in it’s own time. As soon as the exchange with our neighbor went as far as a conversation can go between two people who speak 130 words in common, we went straight to the internet. Without Google we would have probably developed the assumption that a large portion of Muslims are really happy that Saddam Hussein was killed. 

Here’s a rough reworking of the key words: 

celebrate = commemorate

killing = martyrdom

Hussein = Husayn, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad

assura = Ashra = tenth day of the Muslim New Year 

That puts a different spin on the whole situation. From what I understand Ashura, the tenth day of the Muslim near year, is today, December 5, 2011. The day where Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn. For many Muslims it is a reminder to struggle against injustice, tyranny and oppression. And share sweets with neighbors.

Saint Nikolas Day is tomorrow, December 6. While Black Peter is hotly controversial in some parts, for many Christians Saint Nikolas day is a reminder of Saint Nikolas who, legend has it, gave gifts to well-behaved children, fed the poor and fought injustice. 

The two celebrations might be different languages but, no matter the translation, one can’t help but see the similarities, no? Happy Ashura. Happy Saint Nikolas Day. Happy Monday. 

Granted, since neither tradition is mine, it is possible I've slightly misunderstood both traditions. In which case, let the tarring and feathering begin. Although, if I may be so cheeky as to ask, could you use honey and red glitter instead of tar and feathers? Then I can at least look a lot like Christmas (topic coming soon) when I deliver chocolate to our neighbors, just because.

P.S. After I put this post up one of my regular readers gave me more insight into Ashura. That's truly one of the things I love about living in the Middle East - any misconceptions and misinformation about the Muslim religion are quickly set straight. Like most US Americans I have a bit of baggage in that department. It weighs heavy and I'm happy to be rid of. Ashura as I described above is a day some Shiite Muslims commemorate with fasting, etc. For Sunni Muslims, who are in the majority, this is the day that Moses parted the Red Sea. They don't do much in the way of festivities on this day. Thanks Nancy for setting me straight. Did I get it right this time round?