On Fairuz and Al Shira'a's Hasan Sabra
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| Al Shira'a's controversial cover story on Fairuz |
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| Hasan Sabra whose Al Shira''a magazine broke the story that led to the Irangate saga |
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| Images from the Palestinian camp Tel Zaater |
An archiac Arabic word causes a Lebanese show to descend into name calling: Fairuz, Lebanese New TV and Al Shira’a
In Lebanese Al Shira’a magazine of December 14, 2015,
publisher Hasan Sabra wrote an article critical of Lebanese icon Fairuz. Fairuz
is the most famous Lebanese singer of all time and is seen by many as a national
symbol that unites Lebanese of all backgrounds. Sabra said that he is not
critical of Fairuz the singer but of Fairuz the person about whom the media
should write honestly. Sabra said that people need to know celebrities for who
they are- as human beings that have flaws. Sabra made five points in his
magazine article:
1. Fairuz loves money and is stingy
2. Fairuz does not care for people/hates
people
3. Fairuz is a habitual alcohol drinker
4. Fairuz is a co-conspirator of Syria’s
Asad. During the 1970s siege of the Palestinian Tal el Za’atar refugee camp, Syrian
military and intelligence officers met in her house plotting the attack on the
camp that housed Palestinian refugees and poor Lebanese Muslims. This was
previously revealed in 2012 by Fairuz’s son Zeiayd Rahbani in an interview with
Ghassan Ben Jiddo of Al Mayadeen TV. Fairuz did not deny it.
5. Faiurz has no friends and hates
journalists.
The article upset many people in Lebanon. Many Lebanese were
outraged that Sabra dared to speak ill of Fairuz. Interestingly, most of the
objecting voices focused on the habitual- drinking claim. Alshiraa, needless to say, is no stranger to
controversy. Al Shira’a is the Lebanese magazine that broke the story that led
to the Irangate scandal. The Irangate scandal involved Israeli weapons sold to the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran to be
used against Iraq with the proceeds going to the Nicaraguan Contras in
violation of American law. The scandal rocked the Reagan administration and
shocked many in the Arab world that Iran was buying weapons from Israel to
fight its war with Iraq, a war that was started by Iran, lasted 8 years, and
was won by Iraq .
On December 14, Lebanese news show lilnasher, For Publication,
with Rima Karaki invited Sabra to respond to questions regarding his controversial
article on Fairuz. The host and the two
guests were against Sabra, prepared for a verbal lynching of the man. There was
not even a semblance of balance from the host or her two guests- not unusual
behavior from the TV station that many accuse of habitual incitement against
Palestinians and others. The two guests
were media personalities, the controversial, and some say scandalous, Nidal
Ahmadieh and a lesser known journalist, Pierre Abi Saab.
The show descended into a shameless mob attack on Sabra. As
if that was not bad enough, it descended into the guests, knowingly or
unknowingly, insulting Islam and Muslims as well. The two guests took issue
with a word that Sabra used. Sabra said that Fairuz is a habitual alcohol drinker
using an Arabic word used in classical Arabic, particularly Islamic commentary
about alcohol- تعاقر.
The word simply means habitually use.
The Christian Lebanese Abi Saab seems not have understood the word, just
taking it as negative, said the article belongs in the trash can and called the
words low life/despicable. Abi Saab’s language caused Sabra, who realized he
was invited to be verbally attacked and insulted, to get into verbal combat
mode and the show descended into a shouting match. Ahmadieh said that the Arabic
word is an ISIS word and that she is a Druze and the Druze drink alcohol.
Ahmadieh also claimed that drinking is a “Lebanese tradition” and that it
should not be considered shameful. Ahmadieh, who wore a pin in solidarity with
the Hizbullah TV station al Manar that was banned from Arabsat, oddly, stated
that “all Lebanese” drink alcohol with their meals. She restated her point for
emphasis stating that “Arabs should know that all Lebanese drink. Alcohol is on
all Lebanese dining tables.” “This is our culture” she asserted. This is an odd assertion from a woman wearing
the Hizbullah- TV Al Manar station pin, logically then, either the Hizbullah
station Al Manar employees drink alcohol or they are not real Lebanese. In
addition, even for Ahmadieh’s Druze community, religious Druze do not drink alcohol,
are the religious Druze not authentic Lebanese? In defending one Lebanese
woman, Fairuz, Ahmadieh ended up insulting a major segment of the Lebanese
population whose national identity became questionable because they simply do
not drink alcohol. Ahmadieh’s criticism of Sabra is curious since she is even
more controversial, way more controversial with scandalous coverage of entertainer and singers, than Sabra with a steady diet of scandalous news, many exaggerations if not outright lies, about celebrities.
Ahmadieh protested that the Arabic
word is a word from “ISIS dictionary, from the killers of children.” Abi Saab
said that Sabra should have just said she drinks alcohol. ISIS, even though Sabra himself is a secular Arab nationalist Shiite Muslim, strangely,
became the center of the discussion for the two Shiites, one Christian and one Druze. Ahmadieh, in a silly and bizarre exaggeration beyond all bounds,
claimed that Fairuz is her goddess and that she has “no memory/existence
without her.” Sabra, all of a sudden, turned out clearly to be the most
rational person in the verbal milieu.
Abi Saab and Ahmadieh have the
right to defend Fairuz and to disagree with Sabra. The trouble is that Abi Saab
and Sabra, knowingly or unknowingly, also insulted Islam and Muslims. Islam
forbids alcohol use for Muslims and does not mince words on alcohol usage. The
word Sabra used is a negative word but is simply descriptive of a person who
drinks habitually and regularly. Whether this is true or not as to Fairuz is
another matter. The problem is that the word is in ordinary usage in the Muslim
tradition and calling it a Daesh or ISIS word is an insult to the religious
tradition and the religious community where the word is regularly used.
In Arab politics, it has become
too easy to accuse political adversaries of being like Daesh or Daesh. ISIS disapproves of alcohol use, but so do all
Muslim traditions and some Christian traditions as well. This does not make
them ISIS as well. ISIS uses imagery and verses from the Islamic tradition,
does that make all the Islamic tradition a Daesh tradition?
I support Sabra's right to write freely about Fairuz and others. If he had defamed her, she could have sued him for defamation. It is much easier to win such a suit in Lebanon than in the US. My support of Sabra does not mean I dislike Fairuz. I grew up listening to Muslim Lebanese radio that started the day with Koran reading, Fairuz then the news.
However, Fairuz is not an idol and the Tel Zaater part of the story is the most scandalous, not the alcohol part.
I support Sabra's right to write freely about Fairuz and others. If he had defamed her, she could have sued him for defamation. It is much easier to win such a suit in Lebanon than in the US. My support of Sabra does not mean I dislike Fairuz. I grew up listening to Muslim Lebanese radio that started the day with Koran reading, Fairuz then the news.
However, Fairuz is not an idol and the Tel Zaater part of the story is the most scandalous, not the alcohol part.
- The al Shiraa article:
-The New TV program:
-Interview with Zeiyad Rahbani on the issue of the Syrians in Fairuz’s
apartment during the Tal el Zaatar siege:
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