Saturday, December 18, 2004
Religious Anecdotes for Christmas
Little Sunni-Shiite Girls
The Sunni Shiite talk started "in earnest" in Baghdad after the 1991 uprising. Much of it was fueled by political reasons. Prior to that, so many people in Baghdad never bothered with it.
Here are two true stories - not fabricated jokes - that happened to people I know, from that period.
Our Christian neighbor's 10-year old daughter rushed into their house in a hurry following an argument with other neighbor friends to demand from her mother to tell her whether they were Sunni or Shiite.
A 14-year old girl was asked one day by her school friends whether she was a Shiite or a Sunni. She told them she was both. When they asked what she meant, she said that her mother was this and her father was that.
After school, she told her mother of the incident. The mother laughed because her daughter got it the wrong way around!
Conversion
[I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the following story.]
When Moslems are "religiously awed" by something, the usually exclaim: "Salawat ala Mohammed!" [Prayers be upon Mohammed].
When Europe "re-discovered" this corner of the world in the 18th century, naturally some missionaries followed the adventurers.
This missionary decided to go to some remote, backward village in the Marshes to convert those "savages" to Christianity.
After a long sermon outlining the basics of the Christian faith, and to impress those people, he went on to mention one of the miracles of Jesus Christ.
As soon as he did that, the whole gathering cried out in unison: "Salawat ala Mohammed".
Have a Merry Christmas!
The Sunni Shiite talk started "in earnest" in Baghdad after the 1991 uprising. Much of it was fueled by political reasons. Prior to that, so many people in Baghdad never bothered with it.
Here are two true stories - not fabricated jokes - that happened to people I know, from that period.
***
Our Christian neighbor's 10-year old daughter rushed into their house in a hurry following an argument with other neighbor friends to demand from her mother to tell her whether they were Sunni or Shiite.
***
A 14-year old girl was asked one day by her school friends whether she was a Shiite or a Sunni. She told them she was both. When they asked what she meant, she said that her mother was this and her father was that.
After school, she told her mother of the incident. The mother laughed because her daughter got it the wrong way around!
***
Conversion
[I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the following story.]
When Moslems are "religiously awed" by something, the usually exclaim: "Salawat ala Mohammed!" [Prayers be upon Mohammed].
When Europe "re-discovered" this corner of the world in the 18th century, naturally some missionaries followed the adventurers.
This missionary decided to go to some remote, backward village in the Marshes to convert those "savages" to Christianity.
After a long sermon outlining the basics of the Christian faith, and to impress those people, he went on to mention one of the miracles of Jesus Christ.
As soon as he did that, the whole gathering cried out in unison: "Salawat ala Mohammed".
Have a Merry Christmas!
# posted by Abu Khaleel @ 12:24 PM 
