Race, sect, religion, lingo
the origin of mehyar al-daylami, the poet from baghdad who died in 1037, was persian. in his poem, he boasted about his morals, origin, culture, history and the glory of the persians, islam, and the arabs.
this poem illustrates the confusing relationship between the arabs and the persians. i wrote about this issue a few days ago. in his poem, mehyar was able, albeit being very intelligent to praise himself and his people without hurting the feelings of the arabs.
this poem is considered one of the masterpieces of arabic literature. it was earlier composed and sung by musician muhammad abdel wahhab, but when president abdul nasser was at the helm of affairs in egypt, it just disappeared because of bad blood between nasser and the shah of iran, and until now it is a matter of ridicule.
i am writing this article because of what has gone on record which is attributed to a lady from the ruling family who has attacked the ‘al-ajam’ (persians) in kuwait. here we can only assume the lack of understanding of the lady, the unjustified underestimation of others, and her lack of awareness of what the word originally means. the meaning of the word ‘ajam’, as mentioned in the sacred texts, is applied to all people living on planet earth, other than arabs, that is to say, non-arabic speakers.
in spite of the misuse of the name, there are similarities in other peoples’ cultures and languages against arabs, some against each other, and the iranians are not immune to that.
consequently, the ajam does not apply only to the persians, but all non-arabs, but in the gulf region and iraq, because of close contacts with the peoples of these states the persians are singled out as ajam.
with due respect to her, the lady must know that more than 35 percent of kuwaitis (and this is an estimate), are descendants from persia and i mean people of both sects shiites and sunnis. it is not difficult to compile a list of family names of the two sects.
consequently, any mockery of ‘ajam’ is no less than making a laughing stock of a large component of the society which plays a vital role in society, but perhaps due ignorance or any other reason; the shiites are labeled as ajam.
if the honorable lady reflects a little extent on what we are going through – the aggravating conditions – i will say those whom she has ridiculed and underestimated make the front rows in defense of their existence and the existence of all of us.
on the other hand, colleague abdullatif al-duaij published an article in the media under the title ‘the iranians, the world’s nicest people’, quoting anthony bourdain, the american journalist working for the cnn channel, who has visited many countries of the world and produced many documentaries on his experiences with different peoples.
there is no doubt that bourdain and al-duaij meant the persians, or the ajam according to the concept of the honorable sheikha.
