I wrote the blog entry Moratorium on exotic representations almost five years ago. The problems, and my appeal, are still relevant (and even more so) today. I wrote the post at my archived blog Our Changing Landscape, where I was chronicling Islamic incursions into our societies.
Perhaps a more appropriate title for the post, which better describes our current problems, would be: Moratorium on Islamic representations.
I understand the attraction to the beauty of Islamic art, which is really Islamic design (figurative representation is prohibited in most Islamic art). But, the intent of the art is contrary to our Christian beliefs, and its mesmerizing and hypnotic designs can lead us to stray.
Below are some posts, including an article, which I wrote on the topic.
There are many more posts at Our Changing Landscape, classified alphabetically from Art to Women, as well as articles, interviews, "conversations," and and other blogs and websites, all describing, chronicling and warning against this "changing landscape."
At the bottom of this post, I have posted a comparison between the Jihadi's and the Crusader's swords. I found the image for the post on the web, on a blog titled Historical Novel Review. The image is an illustration for a book titled: The Sword of Faith. The blogger who posted the book cover writes:
Two larger than life men are at the heart of this sweeping epic. One is Saladin, the charismatic and chivalrous Saladin who staunchly conducts himself with honour even though his followers did not always obey his orders. He is driven to defeat and oust the foreign Christians forever from his lands. His rival is Richard the Lionheart, the pious and gallant English prince and king, who aims to re-conquer Jerusalem, the city the Christians lost to Saladin years before. Both men believe themselves called by God to lead their armies to victory against each other.We are back at romanticizing Muslims, Islam and Jihad. The book was written in 2010, ten years after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The author, Richard Warren Field, clearly spent some years thinking about, drafting, writing, then publishing the book. It might be safe to say that he started the project after a buffer lapse following 2001 (around 2003/4?). Here, at his blog, is his misinformed idea about Islam and Muslims. He says things like:
I learned quickly that there is a constructive, altruistic side to Islam, historically, and in the present-day. What Western European historians commonly call the “Dark Ages” occurred while Muslims were experiencing their “Golden Age.” Muslims preserved Greek learning and advanced in many intellectual pursuits, including medicine and astronomy. These personal discoveries factor into the themes of The Swords of Faith. Knowing these facts beckons us to reach out to moderate Muslims, to Muslims who embrace the constructive and altruistic aspects of their faith. Then, together, we can defeat the fanatic terrorists trying to hijack Islam.That is how short our memories are, or how clouded (we still categorize Muslims between moderate and extreme, a categorization which they themselves reject). But Muslims' memories are long, and wrathful. Gullible Westerners fit right into their plans. Here is Lawrence Auster's two-part article:
- The Search for Moderate Islam: Part I-------------------------------------------------------------
- The Search for Moderate Islam: Part II
- The Search for Moderate Islam: Part II Concluded
Full Niqab in Full Daylight
November 27, 2008
This is what I saw crossing the street while stopping at a red light in downtown Toronto. Well, the one I saw was all in black, which was even more frightening.
It was shocking. A small, squat woman, dressed from head-to-toe in this garb. I have never seen anyone come out dressed in full niqab, as it is called, in full daylight in the city.
It shows a tremendous amount of confidence for her to walk out like this, probably the only one in the streets.
But not for long. If one dares to come out like this, there must be hundreds others getting ready to do so. Slowly, like the less intrusive hijab, this full-length dress is being introduced into our landscape.
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Moratorium on exotic representations
September 26, 2008
I understand and appreciate fully the creative desire at times to represent "exoticism." And this is just what I did with my gouache print design which I did a couple of years ago entitled "Desert Jewels." I'm pretty sure it is the turquoise domes of the Iraqi landscapes which inspired me to do this.
But, this type of occasional representation is a far cry from the stories of design and fashion changes that our Muslim residents are planning for our cities.
Desert Jewels
[Design by: KPA]
With sadness, I have to conclude that exoticism has to be out for now. And we are far better off going back to our original landscape to reinforce it back into our psyche.
Fortunately, I did just that last year, with my Trillium and Queen Anne's Lace series.
Trillium and Queen Anne's Lace
[Design By: KPA]
Update: August 12, 2010
Moratorium on exotic representations
I have already posted my article Stealthy Islamic Inroads into our culture (published at Chronwatch.com) at a recent blog post, but it bears referencing once again since it documents the cultural (and not just political and religious) inroads Islam is making into our society.
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Muslim Girl Magazine
September 26, 2008
Muslim Girl with her patriotic hijab; Western Girl trying new styles
Muslim Girl Magazine is now available as a glossy print in major book stores like Barnes and Nobles in the U.S. and Indigo/Chapters in Canada. It also has an online version.
Not only will our streets show an ever-increasing population of hijab and other Muslim fashion, but so will our newstands.
This is another major inroad into our landscape. No longer will the fashions of Vogue and Elle adorn our magazine shelves, but a new and alien image - of non-fashion becoming fashion - will start to compete for magazine shelves. How many variations of hijab styles will we see?
The launching issue of Muslim Girl had a real Muslim girl (as all the editions promise to do). What is extraoridanry about this issue is how the editors wanted to make it look like any other American girl's magazine, all through careful juxtapostitions of words and imagery.
A small American flag showing mainly the stars, with a glimpse of the stripes. These stripes are then continued in the hijab pattern the girl is wearing. The captions prominently say "Growing up American." Yes, as a Muslim Girl.
Now, Western Girls can join in all the fun that Muslim Girl describes through the fresh and airy articles. In fact, those bandana-headscarves can start the ball rolling.
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Islamic style facade in a quiet residential area
September 27, 2008
Small, ominous signs of Muslim presence are cropping up in residential areas. This new building in the down town of a Canadian city, is a 21st century version of the Moorish Revival which occurred in cities in Canada around the 19th century. What is different about this new resurgence is that it is also accompanied by large Muslim groups, who are building their other institutions to continue their cultural and religious practices here. It is more of an insurgence.
But, the more we get used to these ogee arches in ordinary buildings, the more we will be accepting when more radical shapes likes mosque domes and minarets. It is after all, just “architecture.”
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Start small, and get bigger
September 27, 2008
By now, most of us would have become used to the "halal" signs which periodically spring up in shops we would not normally enter. After all, shop owners have the right to sell what they want, as long as it is legal. Although talking about legality, it was in one of those kinds of shops where Somalis were (are?) illegally selling their drug, khat, in various Toronto locations.
And as always with Muslims' presence, it gets bigger and more aggressive. They flex their muscles to see how far they can really go, withdraw slightly until they can spring back again.
Halal signs from small, privately owned ethnic stores, to signs of halal "certification", to billboards for fast food chains on highways. Then, take over the whole world, of course.
How ever did we get here?
So audacious have halal-proponents in fast food restaurants become that in two McDonald's restaurants in Australia, there were non-Muslim customers who were unaware that they were eating halal food.
Here's a quote from the story:
A Catholic Church spokesman said non-Muslims deserved to know if the food was halal before buying. But he said there was no biblical reason for Christians to avoid halal food.Just how the Muslims like it. Plenty of koranic reasons not to eat non-halal meat, but we Catholics et al. will be happy to oblige our dear Muslim folk.
And we wouldn't even see anything unusual about huge billboards like this in Dearborn, Michigan. Another KFC? Well, let's just have some, the meat is even blessed. But first, start with the less conspicuous halal Subway sign on a wall in a food court (this time in Sidney, Australia), then you can supersize.
And by the way, the Arabic script in the Subway sign? That spells out "halal". That, and other words, will soon be part of our "vocabulary".
More wings, and authenticated halal fast food--including pizza--available in 150 restaurants in downtown Toronto.
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Article:
July, 7, 2008
Stealthy Islamic inroads into our culture
(Originally published at Chronwatch.com)
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The Jihadi's Executioner's Saber vs. The Christian's Piercing Tool
September 21, 2013
Here is the image of swords I found on the cover of the book The Sword of Faith. It is fascinating to compare the swords:
- The Cursader's sword is sharp, long and thin. Its purpose is to pierce the enemy with one accurate thrust, in a vulnerable part of his body (his heart, liver, etc.) and to kill him instantly. There isn't rage of anger behind the thrust as much as a desire to make a clean and efficient kill: to be rid of the enemy.
- The Jihadist's sword (a type of sabre known as a scimitar) is more ornate, with its curved blade and decorated handle. It looks like a heavier weapon than the Cursader's sword, with a thick section at the curve.
It's purpose is to sweep the sword across, and decapitate the enemy, or remove a limb or a body part. It is difficult to cut off a man's head. Accuracy is not required as much as force. If one gets the sword near the general position of the neck, then a forceful swoop will get anything off.
Removing the head is also a sure way of killing the enemy. But, with a trophy at the end: the enemy's head.
I can envision a Jihadist killing his enemy with his sabre/sword while emitting loud sounds of rage, or even crying out "Allahu Akbar" Every ounce of his body is engulfed with this rage. His rage is Allah's rage, and Allah's rage is his rage.
The Christian crusader would be quieter, and even quiet. He is not killing in revenge or anger. He is killing remove the enemies and obstacles of God. His efficiency and precision is to get to that point as quickly as possible. He knows God is watching his moves, and his soul. Even on the battlefield, he has to remain pure.
Here is a site on weapons of the Middle Ages, describing the oriental sabre, known as the scimitar:
ScimitarAnd I got all this just from analyzing the two swords from a design point of view!
This weapon was a type of sword most commonly associated with the Saracens in the Holy Land who fought against the Crusaders
Used for slicing attacks and often used from horseback
Scimitars had a distinct curved blade ending with a sharp point
The blades had two styles - long, narrow curved blades or deeply curved, very wide blades
The length of the blades ranged from 30 to 36 inches (76 to 92 centimetres)
Designs of scimitars varied accommodating use as one or two-handed weapons
Used as a close contact weapon and also used from horseback
A blow could apply tremendous force inflicting significant injury to a knight in armor
The weapon was primarily used for cutting or slicing an opponent and was capable of cutting off the limbs or head of an enemy in one stroke
Type or group of weapons - Cutting Weapon
Here is what Wikipedia says about the scimitar:
A scimitar is a backsword or sabre with a curved blade, originating in Southwest Asia (Middle East). The Arabic term saif translates to "sword" in general, but is normally taken to refer to the scimitar type of curved backsword in particular.The whole Wikipedia post on scimitars describing the East and West variations in sword design, is very interesting.
The curved sword or "scimitar" was widespread throughout the Muslim world from at least the Ottoman period (but a lot of similar sword like Zulfikar, al-Mikhdham, al-Qadib... etc. were already used by Arabs), with early examples dating to Abbasid era (9th century) Khurasan. The type harks back to the makhaira type of antiquity, but the Arabic term saif is a loan from Greek xiphos (the straight, double-edged sword of Greek antiquity). The Persian sword now called "shamshir" appears by the 12th century and was popularized in Persia by the early 16th century, and had "relatives" in Turkey (the kilij), the Mughal Empire (the talwar).
[...]
Scimitars were used in horse warfare because of their relatively light weight when compared to larger swords and their curved design, good for slashing opponents while riding on a horse. The curved design allowed riders to slash enemies and keep riding without getting stuck as stabbing with straight swords on horseback would. Mongols, Rajputs and Sikhs used scimitars in warfare, among many other peoples.
Many Islamic traditions adopted scimitars, as attested by their symbolic occurrence, e.g. on the Coat of arms of Saudi Arabia.
The earliest known use of scimitars is from the 9th century, when it was used among Turkic and Tungusic soldiers in Central Asia.
The scimitar is also used in Saudi Arabia as an executioner's tool for beheading.
Left: Jihadist Flag
Right: Flag of Saudi Arabia
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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