Unholy Moses
Wall Street Journal reporter Sarmad Ali blogs about his experiences with Jews in the United States and his native Baghdad. Interesting aside about irreverence among Jews (lots) and Muslims (not so much):
A few weeks ago, I flew to Michigan to join my close friend’s family in celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover. It was my second time going to a Seder and it again stirred memories of how Jews were regarded in Iraq in my childhood.
The first night we had a fairly big table with a dozen people or more. My friend’s grandfather sat at the head of the table and led the readings, asking others, including me, to recite some passages from a Passover booklet. When a reference to the Euphrates River came up, I leaned over to point it out to my friend. “These are my people,” I whispered, chuckling. The reading was punctuated with jokes and questions as we went around the table telling the story of how the Jews were slaves and then left Egypt. I found that part interesting.
In Islam, it’s very unlikely for people to joke during religious ceremonies and readings. It’s considered inappropriate and forbidden. When I first came to the U.S., I heard many people, some even observant, making jokes about religious figures like Moses and Jesus. I found it at the time very inappropriate and offensive, and I remember asking them how they could speak so lightly of these “guys,” whom we Muslims revere and refer to as prophets of Allah.
JustASC is written by Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the 