What It Means - Day 44

For a person with an infamously volcanic temper I think I don't blow up that much anymore.  As I've discussed previously, maybe that's maturity or simple experience or a transformation brought about by faith or maybe nothing more than exhaustion.  Nevertheless, I can still pitch a pretty good fit on occasion.  A couple weeks ago I was killing time at Barnes & Noble and found myself, typically, in the travel section.  I picked up a copy of the latest edition of the Lonely Planet guide Oman, UAE & the Arabian Peninsula.  Now, I already own a copy, which I bought years ago, so I'm not certain what drove me to check out this particular volume.  Anyway, I picked it up and found that, to my shock, Yemen had disappeared from the guide. The chapter focusing on Yemen was now gone, and, as you can see below, even the country no longer existed on the Arabian peninsula. I know that the guide used to have a chapter on Yemen because I used it when I visited Yemen years ago. This led to a couple profanity-laden Tweets directed at Lonely Planet, and also at Saudi Arabia and the UAE.  Why KSA and the UAE?  Well, it's difficult for to look at the guide and not think that they are behind the decision to drop Yemen from the guide, mainly because they are fighting a horrific war there which, in addition to the thousands of lives lost and the billions of dollars worth of damage caused to the poorest country in the Arabic world, is pushing Yemen towards a famine which will cost the lives of millions.  It is an ignored war waged in a neglected country, and what better way to hide your sins than to have the country disappear from the world view. I will say this for Lonely Planet, a rep did respond and apologize for Yemen disappearing from the print edition, and sending along a the online version of the Yemen chapter.  I thanked them, but also pointed out that they had made a corporate decision which has made it easier for Yemen to disappear from the world map and the world itself.

So, why does this story make it into this year-long discussion of faith?  Well, beyond my fascination with Yemen, obviously, there is the fact that Islam is a religion that emphasizes peace, especially in regards to our interaction with other Muslims.  In surah 7:53 we are told "whosoever kills a soul, unless it be for murder or for wreaking corruption on the land, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind; and he who saves a life, it shall be as if he had given life to all mankind." In 2:190 it is written, "Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! God loveth not aggressors." Further, we're reminded, "But if the enemies incline towards peace, do you also incline towards peace." (8:61) These are just a few of the many references in the Quran to peace (although, as we know, the popular perception is that the Quran is a remarkably violent and angry book). In some senses I guess this is the nature of things: Christian nations attack other Christian nations, and Buddhist nations attack other Buddhist nations, so I guess it's not that unexpected that Muslim nations would fight other Muslim nations (it's hardly the first time, obviously).  Still, as Yemen approaches another Ramadan marked by warfare and disease and starvation, it's so difficult to reconcile with the book that we are adhere to in common.

You can see from the map that there is suddenly a very different geography featured in the Arabian peninsula. Yemen has simply been essentially airbrushed out of the map, and apparently out of the popular imagination (although not if I have anything to do with it).