Fuad Khuri Archives
July 20, 2007
"Five monarchs will survive the onslaught of political modernization"
Perhaps it is [the] overwhelming attachment to tradition that gave rise to the old Lebanese saying: "Five monarchs will survive the onslaught of political modernization in the world: the king of hearts, the king of spades, the king of diamonds, the king of clubs, and the king of England."
"Living in Great Britain," in "An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World," by Fuad Khuri, 2007
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July 17, 2007
Queuing
It is said of the British that they queue for the sake of the queue, unlike the Arabs who crowd in for services, each wanting to be the first. It is reported that the late Moshe Dayan, the former Israeli defense minister, said when he was told that the Arabs might have acquired the atomic bomb: "This does not worry me; I will be more worried when they learn to queue."
"Living in Great Britain," in "An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World," by Fuad Khuri, 2007
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July 08, 2007
"Freedom" in the Arab world
Freedom of self-expression is not a "public right" in the Arab world. The "free" stands in opposition to the "bound" or the "enslaved" -- it refers, that is, to freedom from domination. In Yemen and Oman, this freedom is expressed by wearing a dagger (or in more recent times, as I witnessed in the vicinity of Sada in northern Yemen, by carrying a machine gun). The native Baluch and the Jews, who are "tied" to patron tribes in Yemen, do not wear the dagger, nor do they carry arms. The late Imam Mussa al-Sadr stressed at the onset of the Lebanese war: "Arms are the jewelry of free men."
"Open secrets: Discussable but not publishable," in "An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World," by Fuad Khuri, 2007
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June 30, 2007
Democracy in Arab countries
Given the substantial stress placed on "justice" in Islam, I reckon that if democracy is to establish roots in Arab countries, it will have to be linked to the concept of justice more than to the confusing ideology of freedom.
"Open secrets: Discussable but not publishable," in "An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World," by Fuad Khuri, 2007
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June 17, 2007
Consensus
Nothing is more coercive and less efficient than the insistence on consensus. . . . As a Lebanese proverb states: "Plenty of ejaculations, but no pregnancies."
"Establishing an Arab association for the social sciences: The tyranny of consensus," in "An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World," by Fuad Khuri, 2007
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