Acid dousing in Pakistan

Originally posted by Omega Vision
Well they've been Arabanized/Abarized for centuries now.

I'm sure the haploid groups are different, but I think (especially since Naseer) the Egyptians have had this notion of Arabicness.

Copts would obviously want to distance themselves from mainstream Muslim Egyptians.

Noone denies that. They have been Arabanized, but they aren't ethnically Arabs. Besides, I personally know many Muslim Egyptians who do not consider themselves to be Arab, but rather Egyptians.

In the Arabian Peninsula there is simply no confusion about who's Arab. Arabs are 'locals'. Everyone else is Jordenian or Egyptian or Lebanese or whatever.
Classifications in the Middle East of who's what do not quite reflect those of the Westerners, surprisingly, but it isn't simple either, I will admit.
I made it simpler than it really is.

Originally posted by majid86
Egyptians have always been Arabs
There are over 350 millions Arabs living in over 20 countries (i think)

To me if your are an Egyptian/Lebanese Christian or an Egyptian/Lebanese non-Muslim then you are NOT AN ARAB

Ive been mistaken so many times for either being an Indian or Arab so many times over the years especially since i moved to London 5 years ago but i kinda have gotten used to it.

Apart Arab/Indian ive also been callled Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Iranian but the funniest thing ive ever be called was Mexican i guess that put me off keeping a Goatee forever

Wait, what?

How can that possibly be? Muslim Lebanese are not Arabs either, they're technically Phoenicians. Following a certain religion doesn't change your ethnicity.

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Of course I'm not an Arab. Speaking Arabic doesn't automatically turn you into one, does it?
Also, not being an Arab shouldn't stop me from calling them brothers and sisters, should it? Or perhaps it should in your mind....najis kufar can't possibly befriend and love Arabs.

Weird statement to make, majid. Unless you're a Saudi, Kuwaiti, Emarati, Qatari or Yemani, you're not an Arab either. I could be Arabanized though...could be. *enter X-files music*

Either way, your fantasy of taking over England is just that - a fantasy. You seem to underestimate the savagery of Europeans when they snap and do a 180 degrees turn from tolerant society into ''kill, kill, kill.''
Seriously, look at the history.

Again like i said wait 30 years and im not an Arab at all but i do get mistaken for being one which i find kinda frustrating but sometimes very funny being that i speak 5 languages (English, Potwari, Punjabi, Urdu & Hindi) with Basic Arabic and basic German being the 2 languages i learnt during school.

Mark my words, The South Asians will over take the UK and there is nothing anybody can do about it

Not the EDL , not the BNP, not anybody else.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Really? You didn't try to stab them and scream at them for not understanding how amazing you are and how much everybody who isn't like you is evil?

Why would i want to do that to them?

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Noone denies that. They have been Arabanized, but they aren't ethnically Arabs. Besides, I personally know many Muslim Egyptians who do not consider themselves to be Arab, but rather Egyptians.

In the Arabian Peninsula there is simply no confusion about who's Arab. Arabs are 'locals'. Everyone else is Jordenian or Egyptian or Lebanese or whatever.
Classifications in the Middle East of who's what do not quite reflect those of the Westerners, surprisingly, but it isn't simple either, I will admit.
I made it simpler than it really is.

I had a debate with someone on this forum who suggested that Arabs and Turks had no meaningful differences and only agreed that Japan and China were distinct because --get this-- they were separated by the ocean.

Originally posted by majid86
Again like i said wait 30 years and im not an Arab at all but i do get mistaken for being one which i find kinda frustrating but sometimes very funny being that i speak 5 languages (English, Potwari, Punjabi, Urdu & Hindi) with Basic Arabic and basic German being the 2 languages i learnt during school.

Mark my words, The South Asians will over take the UK and there is nothing anybody can do about it

Not the EDL , not the BNP, not anybody else.

People like you are the only reason anyone even listens to them. Ignorance and intolerance feeds off itself.

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Wait, what?

How can that possibly be? Muslim Lebanese are not Arabs either, they're technically Phoenicians. Following a certain religion doesn't change your ethnicity.

I completely disgree but why i am not accepted as British by White British people themselves? I was born here, grew up here and will probally live gher for the rest of my life.

Is it because im not White?, is it because my parents came from Pakistan as immigrants? Is it because im a Muslim.

The whole concept of nationalism and/or ethnicity/religion as a means of self-identity is idiotic.

Like, I'll salute the American flag and do the pledge when prompted, but I don't think of America as part of me so much as the country that I happened to be born in and to which I'm a citizen.

It doesn't say anything more about me than that.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
As long as people aren't confusing Arabs with Persians, Turks, or South Asians it's no real skin off my nose. 😛

I had a debate with someone on this forum who suggested that Arabs and Turks had no meaningful differences and only agreed that Japan and China were distinct because --get this-- they were separated by the ocean.

That's just not true. A far right government could take power in parliament and outlaw immigration from the Subcontinent.

People like you are the only reason anyone even listens to them. Ignorance and intolerance feeds off itself.

That will never happen.
BNP/EDL will never get voted into power and i do feel sorry for the stupid people who support them (Lil B) but you just mention mass South Asian immigration which i do fully support BTW

What about the rising ethnic minorities in the UK?

Originally posted by majid86
That will never happen.
BNP/EDL will never get voted into power and i do feel sorry for the stupid people who support them (Lil B) but you just mention mass South Asian immigration which i do fully support BTW

What about the rising ethnic minorities in the UK?

Thats because i want revenge and i will have it

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
I always wondered actually how the entire opium thing works within Afghanistan. I know that much of it is grown in Afghanistan and moved to be sold outside of it, but I always wondered how the whole thing worked, as in, were the punishments higher for opium or for alcohol for example. Is it illegal but tolerated?

From the story you just told, the penalty is probably harsher for alcohol if one goes to such lengths to hide it. Still...very weird from Western perspective.

So, when the Taliban first took power, it was like OV said, they had massive penalties for anyone involved in opium or marijuana cultivation. It was actually quite effective, but the Taliban didn't control all of Afghanistan, and many of the warlords we now call the "Northern Alliance" were happy to smuggle it out. It generally goes north through the "stans" in central asia, and eventually into Iran, through the Caucuses and into Europe. One of the consequences of this is a huge increase in the use of heroin in Iran.

I can't imagine alcohol had "more" severe penalties than did other drugs, as people would be boiled alive for trafficking drugs by the Taliban, but it is most likely that they had no ideological distinction between alcohol and other substances.

Both marijuana and opium trafficking are now allowed by the Taliban, as they are massive cash crops, however, it is unlikely that alcohol would be as lucrative if it were "decriminalized". I can't imagine the scripture against it would be a huge determinant of their policy if money could be made from producing or selling alcohol, scripture tends to be malleable.

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
No, they're Egyptians. Them being conquered by Arabs didn't magically turn them into Arabs. Copts don't consider themselves Arab at all. You can call them Arabanized Egyptians as they speak Arabic, but not Arabs.

though, Egypt is one of the strongest supporters of political Pan-Arabism.

Originally posted by majid86
i speak 5 languages (English, Potwari, Punjabi, Urdu & Hindi) with Basic Arabic and basic German being the 2 languages i learnt during school.

this may be strong evidence against the theory that bilingualism has cognitive benefits.

Originally posted by majid86
Thats because i want revenge and i will have it

Originally posted by inimalist
So, when the Taliban first took power, it was like OV said, they had massive penalties for anyone involved in opium or marijuana cultivation. It was actually quite effective, but the Taliban didn't control all of Afghanistan, and many of the warlords we now call the "Northern Alliance" were happy to smuggle it out. It generally goes north through the "stans" in central asia, and eventually into Iran, through the Caucuses and into Europe. One of the consequences of this is a huge increase in the use of heroin in Iran.

I can't imagine alcohol had "more" severe penalties than did other drugs, as people would be boiled alive for trafficking drugs by the Taliban, but it is most likely that they had no ideological distinction between alcohol and other substances.

Both marijuana and opium trafficking are now allowed by the Taliban, as they are massive cash crops, however, it is unlikely that alcohol would be as lucrative if it were "decriminalized". I can't imagine the scripture against it would be a huge determinant of their policy if money could be made from producing or selling alcohol, scripture tends to be malleable.

Interesting, thanks. I am not so well informed about this at all, however I think it does demonstrate that in the end, it's all about the money even for 'pious' fundamentalists such as Taliban.

Originally posted by inimalist
though, Egypt is one of the strongest supporters of political Pan-Arabism.

Yeah it is. Very much so. This is one of the many things that puzzle me about Egypt and Egyptians. I would attribute this to Copts distancing themselves more and more from 'Arabism.
It is as puzzling as the Iranian undying, unwavering hardcore support of the Palestinians. More so than many other 'Arab' countries.

Originally posted by majid86
I completely disgree but why i am not accepted as British by White British people themselves? I was born here, grew up here and will probally live gher for the rest of my life.

Is it because im not White?, is it because my parents came from Pakistan as immigrants? Is it because im a Muslim.

You ARE British, just as I, if I married a Sheikh, would be an Emarati. I would however never be an ethnic Arab, as I'm not from the Arabian Peninsula.
Equally, by calling yourself British you don't magically turn into an Anglo-Saxon.

You refuse to be British and be called British, but that's another matter.

Pan-Arabism and/or Pan-Islamism benefits Middle Eastern nations and groups when faced with external threats like the United States or Israel but it's really not all that strong a connection. Especially since just about every Pan-Arab or Pan-Islamic nation or group thinks it should be in charge of the movement.

Saudi Arabia only concedes Pan-Arabism's mantle to Egypt because it's more concerned with Wahhabiism (sp?) and Qadaffi gave up trying to be the leader of Arabs when he realized that he was a small fish in that pond but a big, rich fish in the Pan-African pond.

Originally posted by Omega Vision
Pan-Arabism and/or Pan-Islamism benefits Middle Eastern nations and groups when faced with external threats like the United States or Israel but it's really not all that strong a connection. Especially since just about every Pan-Arab or Pan-Islamic nation or group thinks it should be in charge of the movement.

Saudi Arabia only concedes Pan-Arabism's mantle to Egypt because it's more concerned with Wahhabiism (sp?) and Qadaffi gave up trying to be the leader of Arabs when he realized that he was a small fish in that pond but a big, rich fish in the Pan-African pond.

Yes, I think this is about right. The sad thing, though, is that Arabs and 'Arabs' don't like each other. The only thing that links them in this is Islam and they can't always agree on that either.

They believe that Caliphate will magically make all their problems go away, but it really will not, nor will it work. We will see...

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Yes, I think this is about right. The sad thing, though, is that Arabs and 'Arabs' don't like each other. The only thing that links them in this is Islam and they can't always agree on that either.

They believe that Caliphate will magically make all their problems go away, but it really will not, nor will it work. We will see...

Of course! Disagreeing on this would clearly show their lack of musical taste. mhm

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
You ARE British, just as I, if I married a Sheikh, would be an Emarati. I would however never be an ethnic Arab, as I'm not from the Arabian Peninsula.
Equally, by calling yourself British you don't magically turn into an Anglo-Saxon.

You refuse to be British and be called British, but that's another matter.

Nope i refuse to be called English not British

To be English means to be White Anglo Saxon but to be British you can come from any background (white, black , asian)

Originally posted by majid86
Nope i refuse to be called English not British

To be English means to be White Anglo Saxon but to be British you can come from any background (white, black , asian)

To be British just means being born on Great Britain.

I have no idea what the term is for people from Northern Ireland since they're not actually British or English.