And today the blessed stars aligned and brought forth a street ceilidh:

Fabulous

Consider the contradictory laws of divorce: talaq, for men, can be granted any time, any where; khola, for women, requires consent and the repayment of divorce costs and her dowry.

To wit, from an excerpt of Mir-Hosseini’s interview with the Grand Ayatollah Madani:

Women:

[Mir-Hosseini]: I pointed out that, unlike talaq, which the husband can do unilaterally, in khol’ a woman can obtain a divorce only if her husband gives consent, for which she must compensate him. In effect, she must buy her divorce; she must pay for it. I added that this very fact, that the right to divorce must be stipulated as a condition in her contract, is the best proof that a woman is not automatically entitled to the same as a man.

Men:

[Madani]: (Problem 142) Is repudiation (talaq) by telephone or loudspeaker permissible, if two just witnesses hear it, or must the two witnesses be present in the room?

(Answer) In such a case, the repudiation is valid because it is not obligatory for the two just witnesses to be present at the place where the repudiation is taking place; if they hear the repudiation formula, this is sufficient, but if they are absent this would be contrary to the Principle of precaution.

It is enough to send a woman to the hills, screams resounding at the injustice.

I’m currently reading Henning Mankell’s Italian Shoes.

In comparison with the Wallander series, not a lot happens; yet so much does.

This may seem antithetical, but therein lies the art.

Mankell’s work is just beautiful.

Even as early as the first years of Islam, women had the courage to oppose the system […] the Prophet’s own great-granddaughter, Sukayna (born in A.D. 671) […] who was renowned for her beauty and wit and her interest in politics and poetry, discarded the veil, parading her beauty to emphasise women’s position in Arab tradition. She is said to have married five or six times, and to have never pledged ‘ta’a’ (obedience, a key principle of Islamic marriage) to any of her husbands

Taken from Fatema Mernissi, Women and Islam: A Historical and Theological Enquiry, (tr Lakeland, M J) [Oxford: Basil Blackwell] 1991.

Other things that tickle my fancy are sunsets and golden fields, to wit:

Taken yesterday evening in -2*C northern England.

Sublime

Some people contribute to humankind, but others contribute.

The courage of Anthony Shadid has ensured his legacy will live on through the online medium and long may it serve as an inspiration to other journalists:

Anthony Shadid, a prize-winning newspaper correspondent whose graceful dispatches for both The New York Times and The Washington Post covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack, on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in eastern Syria. Tyler Hicks, a Times photographer who was with Mr. Shadid, carried his body across the border to Turkey.

Mr. Shadid, 43, had been reporting inside Syria for a week, gathering information on the Free Syrian Army and other armed elements of the resistance to the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose military forces have been engaged in a harsh repression of the political opposition in a conflict that is now nearly a year old.

[...]

In the 2004 citation, the Pulitzer Board praised “his extraordinary ability to capture, at personal peril, the voices and emotions of Iraqis as their country was invaded, their leader toppled and their way of life upended.”

In the 2010 citation, the board praised “his rich, beautifully written series on Iraq as the United States departs and its people and leaders struggle to deal with the legacy of war and to shape the nation’s future.”

A sad, sad day.

For the full article, visit Jadaliyya.

I cannot write more; just look into Khaled’s eyes and hear those words and those shots.

Another tragedy for the dark annals of history is unfolding and we will never grasp just how deep this heinous crime runs.

Exasperated, we wrangled the evening off and went in search of true Moroccan cuisine.

On Rue Dammas there lies a restaurant that meets every salivatingly swoonsome dream of the weary traveller: Le Petit Beur.

It is divine in every sense: the decor is traditional, without being strained; the staff are infinitely joyful without being overbearing; the music is subtle and the food…

…well, see for yourself:

I had pastilla au poulet/pastilla with chicken for the starter, kofta ma bayd/kofta with egg for the main, and pastilla with lemon, fleurs de l’orange and almonds for the dessert.

It is pure heaven on a plate.

It made me smile, for I have long been a perpetrator of this, but lacked a definitive name and explanation for it.

My hate-reading of choice has long been The Daily Mail; if I ever must explain a sentiment in which the third party is narrow-minded, parochial and invariably hostile to new, incoming influences, I use the paper as a catch-all title.

For the non-rightwingers, the Mail is a source of cock-eyebrowed snorts and on a more serious note, a check-in on the less savoury sentiments pervading British society as multi-culturalism rises and tolerance drops.

Today’s article on yesterday’s Jummah prayer, during which several hundred Muslims prayed in a side street in London’s financial district (the mosque was over capacitated), left me cold, however.

More to the point, the comments – and even more, the likes and dislikes – are plain chilling.

Of the 15 comments, almost 14 gathered nigh 1,000 likes for each expressing negative bigotry (such as ‘is this England?’, ‘words fail me’ and ‘London the New Middle East! I’m off to Australia!’), while the one positive (‘Beautiful ) has so far gathered almost 1,000 dislikes and no likes.

The low number of comments and high number of dislikes suggests a prevelance of negativity that perhaps individuals are less than willing to express directly.

It is easier to click an up or down arrow than it is to formulate words and a pseudonym, while entering your e-mail address to log in.

For me, this is an image of awe and beauty: it captures one of the defining positive features of Britain – choice.

In many countries the faithful would be harassed into leaving; that they could conduct their prayer unhindered is something wonderful and to be preserved.

I hope the bigots never win. Because these images and expressions of faith are nuggets of inspiration in a time of despondency.