Jochen Bittner who is the political editor for the German
newspaper Die Zeit wrote an article that was published in the New York Times on
October 21, 2014 under the title: “Germany Without Angst? That Worries Me.” The
point he is making is that despite the fact Germany 's infrastructure is not
falling apart or that the economy is not tanking … although it is slowing down,
there is much that needs to be done. However, the angst is not there motivating
the people to do it, according to him. And that worries him.
This means that according to this German, he is the only one
currently living in a state of anxiety about the rest of the population not
being anxious enough with regard to its state of affairs or its future. But
that's not all which preoccupies our dear author, something else does. He
expresses it this way: “The German language, as far as I know, is the only one
in the world in which the words for debt and guilt are etymologically the same
– the word for debt is 'Schulden' and for guilt it's 'Schuld.'”
Well, I can do nothing to ease his angst about German
affairs, but I can ease his angst about the German language having the two
words “debt” and “guilt” derived from the same root. In fact, the same
situation exists in the Arabic language; something I am delighted to discuss
because it gives me the opportunity to correct some bad impressions that were
circulated by people who know very little of what they talk about. And those
who know enough but deliberately distort reality.
First, let me say something about pronunciation both in
English and in Arabic. In English, there is the sound of “th” which is
pronounced as in “the” or as in “think.” The Arabic letter of concern to us
here has a sound as in “the.” It is the letter “thal” in the Arabic Alphabet.
For a reason too long to explain, an Arabic word that contains this letter is
sometimes represented in English as “dh.” I shall not use this representation.
Now, the two Arabic words of concern to us are (1) the word
“thanb.” Used alone and out of context, it means guilty. When you add to it
prefixes, suffixes or midfixes (which is done in Arabic), you form new words
that range from “thaneeb” which means stem, to “muthneb” which means guilty.
And (2) there is the word “themm.” Used alone and out of context, it means
deserving of disparagement. That's close enough to being guilty. Variations on
that word range from “themmah” which means debt, to “thameem” which means
protection.
And then, there is that famous word “themmi” often
represented in English as “dhimmi.” It was used in ancient times to refer to a
non-Muslim living in the Hejaz (now Saudi Arabia .) People who translate
that word and may or may not know what they are talking about often say that
the Muslims considered the non-Muslims as sinners or guilty of something. This
is false because when used as is, the word is no more offensive than the
English word gentile, used by Jews to refer to non-Jews.
There is more. When used in a phrase, the word themmi is put
in the plural and becomes “themmah.” The phrase often used is “Ahl al-themmah”
which means people owed protection, also people owing a debt. Here is what went
on in the Hejaz long ago. Non-Muslims who
lived there were considered guests and had all the rights of citizenship. In
addition, they were owed a special protection because hospitality was and still
is a highly appreciated virtue in the Arab world.
But when the country was at war, and young Muslims were
drafted to go to the front and fight, the non-Muslims who were not drafted had
less competition at home, and more space to do more business. They got rich at
the expense of the Muslims who died to protect them. For this reason, they were
asked to pay what you might call a “war tax.” Nothing more serious than that.
And that was a long time ago. None of this is happening now
in Saudi Arabia
or in any Muslim country.