Salaam ailekum!
My whole life I have been greeting people with these words: Salaam ailekum, peace be with you.
In Israel they say: Shalom, peace. A wonderful way to great the other! In Europe and America we say: Hello.. If we even say it.. Jordan is an Islamic/Arabic country in which the people greet each other the same way I opened my blog. Our tour guide for the week (Omar A'lamet, a Christian Jordanian) told me that not all the people in Jordan use the greeting salam ailekum. Why is that?
According to the US department of state,roughly about 95% of the inhabitants people is Islamic and 6% is Christian, the remaining 1% is Jewish.1 This fact immediately grabbed my attention. Can the 'people of the book' or 'Ahl al Kitaab' live next to each other without issues?2. I was wondering about this before I even came to Jordan but on the second day of my stay in Amman I all ready knew the answer: of course!
But still I was surprised to find a giant (Coptic)church next to the biggest mosque in Amman! I was also happy to learn from the Islamic people in the streets that they don't find the presence of the churches and Christians offensive and that they welcome everyone! Nevertheless, the Christian population in Jordan (and other Arabic countries) often do not reply with Ailekum Salem ("and peace be upon you") to the greeting but just with ahlan bikoem ("welcome to you") and greet with Kief Ah-lek (how are you). A nice fact to share with my followers.
What I actually want to share with you today is that after this trip I realized again how 'narrow minded' the people are whom are not able to 'accept' other people from other religions or descent (especially in Europe). Even though only 6% of the Jordanian people are Christian, the Christian people still live in peace, in a country surrounded by chaos and ruin. Something that WE in Europe actually can learn from! As the assistent-director of the Baptism site (Rustum Mkhjian) said: Forget all the hate and spread the message of love and peace!
Salam ailekom!
1.http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2005/51602.htm
2. Quran (3:110)
My whole life I have been greeting people with these words: Salaam ailekum, peace be with you.
In Israel they say: Shalom, peace. A wonderful way to great the other! In Europe and America we say: Hello.. If we even say it.. Jordan is an Islamic/Arabic country in which the people greet each other the same way I opened my blog. Our tour guide for the week (Omar A'lamet, a Christian Jordanian) told me that not all the people in Jordan use the greeting salam ailekum. Why is that?
According to the US department of state,roughly about 95% of the inhabitants people is Islamic and 6% is Christian, the remaining 1% is Jewish.1 This fact immediately grabbed my attention. Can the 'people of the book' or 'Ahl al Kitaab' live next to each other without issues?2. I was wondering about this before I even came to Jordan but on the second day of my stay in Amman I all ready knew the answer: of course!
But still I was surprised to find a giant (Coptic)church next to the biggest mosque in Amman! I was also happy to learn from the Islamic people in the streets that they don't find the presence of the churches and Christians offensive and that they welcome everyone! Nevertheless, the Christian population in Jordan (and other Arabic countries) often do not reply with Ailekum Salem ("and peace be upon you") to the greeting but just with ahlan bikoem ("welcome to you") and greet with Kief Ah-lek (how are you). A nice fact to share with my followers.
What I actually want to share with you today is that after this trip I realized again how 'narrow minded' the people are whom are not able to 'accept' other people from other religions or descent (especially in Europe). Even though only 6% of the Jordanian people are Christian, the Christian people still live in peace, in a country surrounded by chaos and ruin. Something that WE in Europe actually can learn from! As the assistent-director of the Baptism site (Rustum Mkhjian) said: Forget all the hate and spread the message of love and peace!
Salam ailekom!
1.http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2005/51602.htm
2. Quran (3:110)
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