Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2000, pages 53, 58-59

Northeast News

Islamic Law May Spread in Nigeria

By David P. Johnson Jr.

Despite complaints from Christians and opposition from President Olusegun Obasanjo, shariah, Islamic law, appears to be spreading in the West African nation of Nigeria. In January, Islamic courts were declared open in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara, which adopted shariah last fall. Following training in Saudi Arabia, kadis, or Islamic judges, have been sworn in and are hearing cases.

Proposals to implement shariah in two other northern states, Kanu and Niger, have been met with protests by federal officials, Christians and some human rights advocates.

Speaking at a Harvard University forum last November, Obasanjo said shariah violated Nigeria’s constitution. “We have a constitution in Nigeria and the constitution is against any state religion. To that extent, no part of Nigeria can formulate or go for anything that is a state religion—it is unconstitutional.” He also pointed out that shariah is already used by certain local governments for personal issues such as marriage and inheritance.

A Baptist from the southeastern state of Ogun, Obasanjo also said that while Nigeria’s federal system does allow the 36 states to adopt their own laws, blanket implementation of any religious law is not permitted.

Christians have feared that they would be subject to shariah as it becomes implemented by state governments. Shariah supporters, including Zamfara’s governor, Ahmed Sani, have stated that Islamic law would only be applied to Muslims. Despite those assurances, many Christians have left northern cities, according to Obasanjo.

There could also be ethnic implications in the adoption of shariah. Igbos, who are among Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups, own many bars and hotels throughout the country. They could be disproportionately hurt under shariah, which forbids the consumption of alcohol.

With some 50 million Muslims, Nigeria has one of the largest Islamic populations in Africa. The growth of both Islam and Christianity in Nigeria mirrors the rapid spread of those faiths across Africa. Shariah could bring Nigeria closer to Arab North Africa and such Middle Eastern states as Saudi Arabia and the Sudan, both of which use shariah law. The courts in the West African nation of Mauritania also are based on shariah.

An English-speaking nation with relatively friendly relations with the United States, Nigeria was recently earmarked for additional aid by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Citing Obasanjo’s election last year, Albright said Nigeria’s fragile democracy needs to be encouraged. Since his election, Obasanjo has tried to curb corruption and strengthen democratic civil institutions.

Egyptian-American Publisher Dresses Up Boston Fashion

When it came to clothes, Boston was once considered conservative, even dowdy. But no more. The city now boasts a fashion scene ready to take on all comers, even New York, according to a woman who is partly responsible for the trend.

“Boston has changed dramatically,” said Nash Yacoub, publisher and editor-in-chief of platinum, a monthly fashion and beauty magazine based in the city. “Boston is getting dressier.”

Yacoub, 30, launched platinum last year from her home in suburban Canton, Massachusetts because she has always loved glamour, but also wanted to put her adopted city on the fashion map. “The goal is to really bring a heightened awareness of what is happening in Boston,” she explained. “But we do attend the [fashion] shows in New York.”

Yacoub said that the influx of immigrants from all over the world, including many students, has contributed to Boston’s growing cosmopolitan atmosphere. For instance, she said Arab women tend to be dressy and “are very, very concerned with their appearance.”

Born in Cairo, Yacoub moved to Framingham, a town outside Boston, when she was five years old. Her father, Onsy Makar, an engineer and chemical consultant, and her mother, Samia, a certified public accountant, have been “extremely supportive” about the magazine.

“In Arabic cultures you have close-knit families and you spend a lot of time with them and their friends,” she explained, adding that she is usually working in the platinum office downtown from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. She also credited her physician husband, Dr. Tamer Yacoub, with subsidizing the magazine.

Yacoub said that she loves her work so much, it doesn’t seem as if she has a job at all. However, she does miss participating in Boston’s close-knit Egyptian community, especially attending services at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Natick and the Egyptian Protestant church in West Roxbury.

Boston’s Arabs in general have also been “very welcoming and very supportive,” Yacoub said. “It’s a nice feeling.”

The support is important because publishing can be difficult. “It’s a very tough business,” Yacoub said. “It’s my understanding that 93 percent of all magazines fail in the first year. It’s really unbelievable how far we have come.”

Now a year old, platinum is 72 pages large, up from its original 36 pages. It is no longer free, but is sold on newsstands for $2.95 or by subscription for $26. While Yacoub points out that the publication is now meeting its expenses, she adds that none of her staff have been paid for over a year. But that, too, is about to change. Furthermore, with its next issue, platinum will feature all color photos. Currently it contains a number of black-and-white shots.

With no publishing experience, Yacoub relies on her life-long love of fashion and beauty, plus her marketing and management degree from Boston University. After graduating, she worked as a women’s clothing buyer and personal shopper at Next, a now-closed store on Boston’s fashionable Newbury Street.

As to her fashion philosophy, Yacoub said women should feel free to develop their own styles and not accept everything that is presented by a designer. She does, however, think that regardless of their choices, women should try to look pretty and feminine. “You should take those extra few minutes in the morning,” she said. “You know why? You feel stronger, more confident if you are put together.”

Not surprisingly, Yacoub said she loves the new spring looks now in stores. “What’s coming is a lot of pattern for women, very feminine, feminine designs, a lot of flowers.”

For more information, call platinum at (617) 521-0004, or visit their Web site, which should be running by the end of March, platinummagazine.com

Gay Lebanese-American Writer Examines His Outsider Status

People living outside the mainstream are in the best position to understand what is going on in society because they can watch from a distance, according to Lebanese-American writer Rabih Alameddine. “I believe a society can only be saved by the people who live outside of it,” he told some 50 people gathered at an MIT auditorium Nov. 29. “People who are ostracized are the saving grace. Outsiders reflect what’s wrong with [society] and what’s right with it.”

Alameddine read from and discussed his latest book, The Perv, a collection of short stories about the Lebanese diaspora, racism, war and gay rights. He explained that he did not intend the title of the book, short for “pervert,” to be a metaphor. Rather it refers to those people whom polite society marginalizes and ignores. Any group of outsiders, not necessarily homosexuals, can fit the category, he stated.

“What’s really amazing to me is how many people think they are on the periphery,” Alameddine said. “We all create societies.”

Although the audience was largely made up of gay Arab students, Alameddine said he is not a spokesman for any particular group. “Everything I say is my opinion and I do not stand by it. I may change it in two hours,” he said to laughter.

The audience was also interested to hear how his family reacted to Alameddine’s homosexuality. He said that while his parents were not pleased when he told them about his orientation, the closeness of Arab families is an advantage. “It would never enter my parents’ minds to stop talking to me,” he said, noting that he regularly returns from his home in San Francisco to Lebanon to visit them.

The talk was sponsored by several gay and Arab groups, including The Lebanese Club at MIT. Organizers said there are about 50 Arabs, including 35 Lebanese, attending the university.

“Who Is an Arab?” Asks Palestinian-American Poet

Having Palestinian parents and being raised in Paris, Boston, the West Indies and Latin America can make ethnicity a complex question, explains poet Nathalie Handal. “I feel I’m a Bostonian Parisian,” she said, noting that she has most recently lived in London and now makes New York City her home. She spoke Jan. 29 during a coffee reception sponsored by the “Arabic Hour” television program in Boston.

Handal explained that Arabs often consider her an American since she writes in English and does not speak fluent Arabic. On the other hand, Americans, when they realize her background, consider her an Arab. She said that in reality, an Arab is anyone of Arab descent who chooses that label.

However, she also noted that with her light skin and fair hair, she does not fit a stereotype. “People have an idea of how Arabs look,” she said.

Handal also lamented the confusion many Americans display about the rest of the world. When she tells people her family came from Bethlehem, she said they may respond, “ ‘Bethlehem, Pennsylvania?’ I’d say, ‘Palestine,’ and they’d say, ‘Oh, Pakistan.’ It’s amazing.”

The coffee followed the taping of an interview of Handal by leading Boston-Palestinian poet Lisa Majaj, which will be shown on the “Arabic Hour.” A former researcher and lecturer at the University of London, Handal discussed her latest book, The Neverfield Poem, a 57-page epic written in English. The work draws heavily upon her own nomadic life and the Palestinian diaspora.

“It has a resonance of an epic poem,” the author explained. “It’s a journey through epic lands. There’s a lot of Palestinian thematics there.”

Asked about the yellow dominating the book cover, Handal said, “My life has been a lot about yellow, from the Boston yellow cabs to the yellow cornfields of Iowa.”

One part of her poem reads,

the reflection

of yellow clouds settled inside of me

like Bedouins who had found their evening spot…

I peeled the thoughts from my mind

and moved to Alexandria

where I saw the praying flutes

and found the unknown thought a Sufi…

Handal’s physical and spiritual journey is also portrayed in “traveling rooms,” a CD-ROM featuring her poetry set to music.

She explained that each of the poems represents one of the places she has lived or visited, or an area of interest to her. Musicians improvised, creating music appropriate to each piece. For instance, a poem about America has the syncopated sounds of jazz in the background, while a reference to Greece has Greek music in the background.

A number of the works have themes drawing upon Eastern Orthodox motifs, which are part of her mixed religious heritage. In London, Handal was chair of the Pushkin Club, which celebrates the work of Russian writer Aleksander Pushkin.

Praising Majaj for blazing the trail for Palestinian-American women poets, Handal said, “I’m following in her footsteps.”

Others in the room empathized with Handal’s cross-cultural odyssey. Boston teacher and writer Evelyn Shakir had recently returned from a semester teaching American literature at the Lebanese University of Beirut as the first Fulbright Scholar in some 20 years to that nation.

She said that her students were divided on whether to accept her as an Arab, but that after one girl challenged her, the others sprang to her defence. “They said, ‘Look at her [Middle Eastern-style] bracelets,’ and that was the clincher,” Shakir said to laughter.

Handal, who has lived in the Dominican Republic and on several French-speaking Caribbean islands, where her parents were active in business, also discussed the differences between Arab communities in the United States and those in Latin America. She noted that since Latin countries are culturally closer to the Arab world, assimilation tends to be greater. “Latin Arabs kept the food and they say they’re Arab, but they’ve intermarried,” she explained.

She noted that both Ecuador and Argentina have had recent presidents of Arab descent. The largest Palestinian community in South America is in Chile, she said, while the biggest Lebanese concentration is in Brazil.

The group also discussed the Post-Gibran Anthology of New Arab American Writing, in which Handal, Majaj and Shakir all appear. Majaj also recommended Lorraine Chittock’s Cairo Cats, containing pictures of cats alongside samples of poetry, including work by Majaj. The “Arabic Hour” coffeehouses are held regularly on various topics. According to one of the organizers, Evelyn Menconi, literature is a popular subject. “People understand each other much more if they understand their literature,” she stated.

The Neverfield Poem is available from The Post-Apollo Press, 35 Marie Street, Sausalito, CA 94965. The CD-ROM, “traveling rooms” is available on the Internet at www.cunepress.com. The Post-Gibran Anthology, published by Syracuse University Press, can be ordered by calling 1 (800) 365-8929. Cairo Cats is available at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information on the “Arabic Hour,” look on Internet at www.arabic.hour.org

Arab Women Honor Community Leader

The Syrian Lebanese Woman’s Club of Greater Boston recently turned out to thank a pioneer of Boston’s Arab community. The occasion was the 90th birthday party of Rose Maloof, who is chair of the group’s scholarship committee, which awards an annual college scholarship to a Boston-area girl of Arab descent.

A Middle Eastern buffet was held in Mrs. Maloof’s honor at the Cheriton Grove Community Center in West Roxbury, under the direction of club president Leila Bunai. Widow of the late James Maloof, Rose Maloof lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.

The club was started in 1934 and has been awarding scholarships since 1947.

David P. Johnson Jr. is a Boston-based freelance writer specializing in international affairs.