Ya Omar talk to Ali

I was riding with Ashley and Hanane for the launching event of a new video clip song “Wehdeh” by Tania Saleh in the restaurant of Em Nazih in Ashrafieh.

On the road, Ashley inserted Tania’s CD and I heard the song “Ya Omar kallem Ali”

The song is encouraging the two Moslem sects of Sunni and Shia to start communicating and desist from this non-sense of centuries of animosity.

The Shia were upset that Caliph Omar bin Khattab was selected as the second caliph instead of Ali (a close relative and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammad who died without a male son): Apparently, Omar refused to designate Ali as he was dying from an assassination attempt, and preferred to designate 5 people to decide on the next caliph.

That is why Omar is hated by the Shias and his name is cursed.  The third caliph Othman bin Affan was also from the Koraich tribe and the fifth Moawiya was from Koraich, and established the monarchic hereditary system for succession,  and so on.

The Shias were persecuted in the Sunni Kingdoms as heretics, even worse than the Christian minorities.

You might think that there are major theological differences between the two sects, but it is a matter of “tribal” mentality among those who considered that the tribe of Koraich is the essence of power, instead of the ancestors of a member of the tribe, for example the prophet Mohammad.

That is a long story and I wrote extensively on that subject.  You may start with this article: https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/persia-during-the-arab-caliphate-empire-651-to-1500-ac-part-5/

This schism resembles splits among political parties:  More focus is given to the content and the serious context of the split among the “charismatic” leaders is hidden under the rug.

Anyway, Tania is telling Omar that if he wants to play he has to play with Ali.

And Why Omar refuses also to play with George and Antoine and …?

The song “Wehdeh” (unity) might give the impression that a man needs to “unite” with a woman in order to gain support and consolation from isolation.

In fact, the song is encouraging the Lebanese to definitely chose one identity from a variety of unions, such national, Arabic, Islamic…in order to find cohesion…

I cannot see this need of selecting from fictitious concepts in order to find common denominators among the Lebanese with 18 recognized religious sects and many ethnic varieties like Armenians, Kurd…

What we need is to discuss and analyze what are the ingredients or factors that we share and are ready to get engaged in for preserving and saving for our survival and the survival of our children.

What we need is a Constitutional, regular, and solid legitimate government and State institutions in order to make all Lebanese feel that they are within the category of “modern citizens” as defined by the UN.

What we need is that all Lebanese enjoy full citizenship, including the female genders

So far, the Lebanese enjoy a passport as a token of citizenship, and nothing else material that demonstrate belonging to a democratic State.  The election laws basically identify us as chattel to local feudal leaders or members of religious sects.

It was a nice cool evening, and Lebanese-made beer and wine were served.  We had whole peanuts for food.

We watched the clip of the song “Wehdeh” that Ashley contributed in the animation, David in selecting the pictures and the drawings for the design, and William designed the entire cover package.  Tania autographed purchased CD costing $10 each.

We stayed from 6 till 9 pm and then converged to Schtrumph of Ashrafieh for a bite and all you-can-eat salad buffet.

I was shocked that the prices on the menu tripled within a couple of years, and that a bottle of water is no less than $2.  This restaurant was packed, and it turned out that a luxury bus was waiting for the foreign teenagers to finish eating.