COMMON SENSE
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
So simple was her outlook on life, that one would think that if life could be as she pictured it, it would indeed be a wonderful life and a life where pain would be easily forsaken for pleasure, now and in the hereafter. But in the aftermath of her productive life, one could in fact see that indeed her simplistic outlook was quite sophisticated in context and inspired by a very powerful force that indeed demands that people take the complications out of life and leave them for those who prefer to live without faith and without any spiritual inclination - to lose themselves in the pain of their own doing. She was a woman that truly could see deep into the most solid of hearts and render all the fallacies of life worthless, because the Lord Al-Mighty really had no intention of complicating life for man. It was man who really betrayed God and eventually betrayed himself and thus transformed life into a cobweb of misery, hunger, despair and frustration, by taking the simplicity out of life and enmeshing life with so much complications needlessly. By the sheer loss of faith - the faith that truly comes from the heart and is free from the tyranny of misguided belief, where form takes over substance and confusion stalls the growth of the mind - mankind finds itself engrained in eternal conflict with jealousy, hate and prejudice setting the course for the human experience, rather than the course, which God Al-Mighty surely laid out plainly and simply for mankind to tread on to eventually reach that blissful experience: when the Lord Al-Mighty becomes an inspiring companion, a real cause d'être. Nothing else in life matters anymore except the fulfillment of minor mundane responsibilities properly, such as bringing the children up and turning them into productive citizens - members of the faith, mind you, first, and faithful members of the society later.
This woman, despite her simplistic outlook on life was imperial in stature, self confidence and so thankful to be among those who truly believe in God and believe in life, the way only God would have it - to follow that straight path - to happiness in this life and to eternal bliss in the hereafter.
You could see that when this woman was breathing her last breaths in life, she was fully confident where she was going. The name of the Al-Mighty was coming out of her lips in a continuos smooth flow, with her face radiating an illumination that seemed to penetrate the walls that surrounded her.
She never held a grudge against anyone and she could never be the cause of anyone else's grudge. So remarkable was her ability to avoid agony and frustration, because her last resort was guaranteed by her strong faith in God, which acted like a shield around her guarding her against all human evil and the misfortunes of life. Of course, the Lord Al-Mighty was there to test her faith by the hardships which are required to engrain the faith that God wants his creation to have in him and in the magnificence of life, that it would be unthinkable for life to have meaning, if such tests were not there. Even prophets and messengers of Allah had to face the strains of life and to accept severe challenges to their missions. It is so with Mother Fatima. She was widowed early in life, having to rear four sons and two daughters, armed with nothing but a very powerful faith in God and the strong clan relationships of her deceased husband's family. By sheer magic, God paved the way for this woman, although she was deprived of any tangible wealth to speak of, except a meager veteran's pension, that was not enough to keep six birds alive, let alone six children. But, her effervescent smile, majestic character made the task of shouldering the heavy responsibility she had to bear seem like a breeze. Her four sons are all successful engineers and doctors! Her two daughters have become successful mothers in their own right and all six of her children are trying to outdo each other in making sure that their wonderful mother is never lacking in anything she needs. It is a remarkable human experience that one can see being passed down from one generation to the next, which truly adds to the entrenchment of faith that God wants to see implanted into the hearts of men and truly makes us realize that the submission to Allah's will, is not just a matter of words uttered every now and then - but a feeling of the heart and a mindset that are inseparable and harmonious making life seem nothing more than a smooth train ride with the last station being nowhere else other than heaven.
More important, Mother Fatima did not have this selfish attitude or feeling of being closed minded that no one else mattered. She was always asking about this person or that person's mother, and following up on other people's problems just to see if there was anything she could do to help out, or offer a prayer for, or just to guide you, so as to ensure that God's will be done properly and with all good and serious intention - not just for show!
Mother Fatima was that kind of a person who will never leave your heart, because the faith she spewed forth was so enriching and so exhilarating that one is bound to feel that getting to know Mother Fatima is an awe inspiring sign that no matter how bad life may seem to be, with faith there is really no hassle. It is just a passing moment in a long series of ages and peoples that, out of one's nothingness and meager place amidst it all, there is really a lot to cherish and to become attached to.
Out of her own free will, and without any effort of display, Mother Fatima would be on her prayer rug sometimes one hour before dawn, enjoying her own discourse with her Creator and not failing to outdo all the faithful around her in their affinity with the Divine, even if they were reared in the best of religious schools and under the best scholars! Mother Fatima did not have any formal schooling, except the school of Hard Knox!
Half the time you would meet Mother Fatima, you will find her fasting! This was outside the month of Ramadhan! When she came from Mecca, one could see the faithful spiritual experience illuminating from her effervescent smile and expressive eyes of maturity and one could see that for Mother Fatima this was truly a spiritual experience not a tourism journey.
God bless you Mother Fatima, for you will always be an inspiration to all those, who could tread on the faith that you always reflected and lived by and truly made us understand the magnificent value of knowing that through it all, God is there watching and waiting to pave the way to spiritual bliss, for those that do so want it and deserve it. She deserves it and we hope we can also deserve that eternal bliss of those who truly believe.
My sympathies go to her proud children and grand children, and to all the Al-Aini and Al-Qadri families. It is with great pride that you should all always remember Mother Fatima. She was a spiritual phenomenon! May God bless her soul. Amen!

Yemen Times received the following letter from Mr. Rod Barbo, an American working in Yemen, who called YT a "downward-spiraling newspaper" and based on the freedom of press and the right to reply, we publish it in text with no comments.

I got mad reading your steadily downward-spiraling newspaper and wrote an article for submission.


EVIL
I read the Yemen Times article "I am as American as the next guy is!" and was struck by what this author did NOT say. As for most Arab news I have watched lately, there was no open condemnation of both the hijackings/ bombings and the calls by some Muslims for Jihad. Instead, the cruel actions and the hatred and revenge underlying them are tiptoed around and treated as understandable and tolerated. The "I am as American..." author instead railed a whole lot more against a couple unstable Americans making relatively insignificant evil acts against individuals and the country's misguided foreign policies. Why is blame avoided on one side, but not on the other? It surely sounded to me like one side sense of injustice and anger is OK, and opposing biases held by other Americans were not. What kind of a double standard is being promoted among Arab Muslims?
The author Shaker Al-Ashwal was an American Yemeni Muslim. He thankfully can be just as American as I am, and American as can be a Chinese born Buddhist, a Hindu from India, a Pilipino Catholic, or even an Israeli born Jew. In contrast, I as a white American living in Yemen for over 8 years can never be a Yemeni. A white Christian American like myself can never be a Saudi, an Omani, or ever any other Arab or Islamic citizen. If I asked, "Is it racist and prejudicial of all these Islamic countries to not let me become a citizen?" I suspect all Arabs would all loudly call "No, it isn't! That's something different!" But really, how different is it?
The major reason for the WTC attacks on civilians, as many recent Yemen Times articles have implied and as heard hundreds of times from Yemenis, is America's blind and/or unfair support of Israel. Finally the "Islamic Link" stood up against it. And this "blind support" is also why I hear most Yemenis justify or excuse the WTC attackers and support the concept of Jihad if a new war starts. A specific example of an unfair US policy which incited the WTC attacks and often noted by Yemenis this week was America's recent refusal at an international meeting to label Israel as racist in their political policies. At first glance, the US stance appears to support only Israel. But, if America were to agree to across-the-board label Israel as "racist", would not they have to apply the same standard to at least 20 other Islamic countries? Is it a completely bad thing to have enough foresight to refuse labeling them all? Did it strike any one else as odd that "racist" labels are only bad as well as a "Zionist Plot" when America stood up against them, but not when the same standard is held by Muslim radicals?
I am treated unfairly or with prejudice here in Yemen on a regular basis. In stark contrast to the Quran ("Wail Al-Mutaffafiin" begins the applicable Sura), I pay more for bus or airline tickets, visas, work permits and a bunch of other things than does a Yemeni. 97% of the population here is always trying to charge foreigners more on the street just because they think all white folks are rich and ignorant. Could this be a Zionist plot to make me resent Arabs and their culture? Rubbish! It is just the universal problem of selfish people with more of a desire to get for themselves, or at least for their brother, than to care for outsiders or do what is right. We all at times can feel angry at selfishness and injustice just like a Palestinian...
But as a human being, I am an individual responsible for my self and my own response. I do not blow up the Sana'a Trade Center some evenings just because tax collectors, customs officials, or government employees have repeatedly blackmailed our company. I do not kidnap neighbors or guests because several Yemeni companies ordered equipment from my company and never finished paying for it. Of course, I do not because God has clearly said that I am responsible for myself and for my own actions. When someone behaves badly towards me (and they do here in Yemen every week in a hundred small ways), I have a moral choice to not become just as evil as the original perpetrator by responding with evil. We would all say I am wrong if I bring home a problem at work and yell at my kids because of it. Even if it is understandable, it is wrong. I become a bad person if I let problems around me being my excuse for committing a similar evil act. Or, even doing a much greater evil action like the secretly-admired hijackers did to New York. Let us openly call the attacks and their perpetrators what they are - an evil hypocrisy rather than a staging ground for a Jihad. Osama and those like him, who want to start a Jihad, are nothing more than selfish and evil people just like those Jews and Americans they hate.
Although I admit that I am not always good at it, I try to not be overcome by evil and so become evil myself. Rather, I find that I can live here in Yemen a lot more peacefully and contentedly if I respond to evil with good instead. Even if it is sometimes hard, I have to remind myself constantly that there is a God who Judges and who has promised to Avenge not only all big evils, but also all of our unkind words and even unkind thoughts. I am a much nicer guy to be around when I let God be Judge and Avenger. Dozens of times recently I have heard Yemenis and the Arab press praising the US government to be wise and considerate in their threats of retaliation; to not overreact and attack citizens in Afghanistan or other Muslim countries. But many of these same people around me here rejoice that the Mujahideen did it to America. Let us call it what it really is: "Two wrongs do not make a right." No one with a conscience should even tolerate the insane call for Jihad if US stoops attack terrorist camps in countries like Afghanistan. Rather, your paper should expose the rampant tolerance of terrorism and calls for Jihad for the hypocrisy, hate, anger, and selfishness they are.
Rod Barbo
RnRBar@y.net.ye

Hisham al-Qubati
I tried for more than 4 days to contact a minister or even to get his response. I phoned his office and told the man who replied that I wanted to arrange a meeting between the Minister and an American journalist who had come all the way from the United States to meet him. He was very friendly. He told me that it was not of his responsibility and provided me with two phone numbers in order to reach the people able to help me. By the end of the third day, the number of phone numbers reached 10, including different cell-phone numbers. I was still unable to get through to the minister or even receive a negative response. My friends kept telling me to give it up. "If you don't know any of his relatives or close friends, don't fancy to get his reply," they told me. But, I went on trying, waiting for at least: 'No, he is busy."The new wind of change and its consequences make some officials more wanted by reporters thirsty for information on thoughts of what is going on regionally and internationally. Reporters come from the US or the United Kingdom looking for a chance to meet with such important people in order to come close to Yemen's commitment to fight terrorism. Not all of them succeed in their mission. Some get bored of calling a lot of phone numbers and getting only more phone numbers. The few, who succeeded, were accompanied by a big number of people from the Ministry of Information wherever they went. A CNN reporter, commented "I think the Ministry of Information has the biggest number of employees."Journalists here have always been complaining about officials screening news that is, most often, disclosed by foreign news agencies. Some officials say some news circulated internationally are misleading. I wonder then why they do not try to give the true news on time, before giving others a chance to use their wildest imagination.
Journalists have the right to get information from its sources. Their jobs should be facilitated instead of made difficult. And, after all, Journalists are not spies who should be dogged wherever they go.