And how does Egyptian cleric Safwat Higa know this? Why, it's right there on the Starbuck's cup: That woman in the center? Starbucks claims that she's from Greek mythology, half woman / half fish, nothing more. But cleric Safwat Higa saw right through that ruse – it's clearly Queen Esther, queen of the Jews in Persia, from the Book of Esther in the Torah!Do any Muslim people really take this seriously? Sometimes I wonder if these sorts of proclamations are just some sort of big joke that the whole Muslim world "gets", and they are secretly amused that the rest of us take it seriously. It's like some city boy wanders into a camp of cowboys, and one old cowpoke starts telling tall tales about the wild horse that threw him thirty feet in the air, but he managed to land right back on that horse, which surprised the horse so much he stopped bucking and became the quietest, most obedient horse on the range. And the stranger is wide-eyed, amazed by this tale, while all the other cowboys are laughing up their sleeves.
Or maybe not. Maybe the cleric is serious, actually believes this. But my real bet is that this is somehow a political move, not a religious issue. Cleric Safwat Higa stands to gain something by this proclamation, or one of his rivals stands to lose something. Or perhaps it's part of the broader economic war against the Western economic invasion of Egypt. Either way, I don't believe for a second that he really thinks the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther. The man is well educated, and far too wise and clever, to believe something that silly. I may not agree with him, but I'd never make the mistake of thinking he's stupid.
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My perspective as a former Muslim who used to live in an Arab country?
ReplyDelete1. He's not as well educated as you think. It is the boys and girls who don't score very well on tests who are sent to the religious schools. The high scoring sons and daughters become engineers and doctors. This is even determined by the government in some countries, rather than the parents. Also, imams are notoriously ignorant of the world outside the mosque - science, culture, arts, music, the West, other religions. Muslims teach, and believe, that Jews say that Ezra is the son of god and that some Jews worship him. I'm not kidding! The Quran even says this, and if the Quran says it, then a Muslim must believe it.
2. Yes, people take this stuff seriously. It's not necessarily a Muslim thing, but an Arab thing (not all Arabs are Muslim).
3. He's making a political move as you stated. A lot of these guys don't say and do things without the encouragement or orders of someone in the government from the start. Also, there is already a global effort to get Muslims to boycott Starbucks because of some of its CEO's donations to groups that support settlers.