A Rationalism We Understand ... Live By ... And Offer To The World

I would like to begin by saying that whether we like it or not, we all stem from the roots that birthed us. And in our culture, in Jordan and the Arab world, our roots begin with welcoming people into our lives with the simple act of breaking bread.  We dip bread in olive oil and thyme (za3tar), we share pickled olives, white cheese and melon.

In Arabic we call it Khubz wa mil7 or more generally 3ishreh. This means coming together as one, sitting around the same table, and inviting those we break bread with into our homes, our hearts and our souls. 3ishreh has no equivalent in the English language.

No one word in the oxford dictionary can encompass values of hospitality and togetherness while simultaneously celebrating diversity. Once we break bread, 3eshreh illustrates that our culture goes beyond simple coexistence and tolerance, and rather unites the people sitting around the table as one.

I might be a romantic, but I find that sipping tea or coffee rich with aroma of cardamom breaks cultural boundaries and instead promotes the acceptance of the other.

Tolerance, coexistence, acceptance and unity are all terms that fall under the umbrella of progressiveness and liberalism.  But doesn’t 3ishreh also champion those values as well. This brings up the question, do we as Arabs have to uproot ourselves to claim progressiveness?

Today, I believe it is the right time to revisit who we are, and who we aspire to be? It is true that extremism, divisionism, and fanaticism have set foot in many places in the world. However, such hateful rhetoric is alien to our culture and does not represent our values of 3ishreh.

I constantly tell my students we are the throbbing heart of the world. We reach out to learn rationalism from the west, ethics from the north, spirituality from the east, and unity from the south. But we also reach within, make our highest branches align with our deepest roots to stay balanced. And as we never lose sight of where we wish to head, we also cling to our roots that give us the wisdom to remain balanced.

We are taught that coexistence, tolerance and acceptance are interdependent notions, while rationality and compassion are not.  And here lay the essence of the problem.

As history shows us, being rational meant creating refugee crisis today. Where was or is the compassion.

Our culture of 3ishreh fights this and instead champions compassionate rationalism to accept as well as help the other.

Let us preserve this, not out of Romanticism- if you wish- but out of compassionate rationalism: a rationalism we understand, live by, and offer to the world.

Haifa Hajjar Najjar