Thoughts and happenings from a life on Malta

Suha Arafat, the wife of the late Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, is facing the possibility of having an international arrest warrant issued against her by the Tunisian government. Without going into the merits of the case, I can’t help noticing how prompt she is in trying to rope in religion to her defence. Only last week, in my post Merry Christmas, I commented that “Many on this island shuddered upon hearing the words “Islam” and “sharia”, immediately fearing  that Maltese Catholicism was facing a new threat.”  Ms Arafat is finely attuned to Maltese fears and sentiments so, with an Islamist party emerging victorious in recent Tunisian elections, she stated (as quoted in today’s timesofmalta.com), “I have the Madonna of Malta, she’s with me. I always pray to her and I know she knows that I’m innocent and she will not let me down.”

Why exactly is Ms Arafat, a Muslim, praying to the Madonna of Malta, who, as per our Constitution, is Roman Catholic?

Click here for follow-up post: An intercession by the Madonna of Malta

A premature greeting, is it not? What with  the summer not having melted away completely and another two months before that December day. However, springing up from the turfed roundabouts are the decorations heralding the Christmas season. Why such an early blossoming of baubles?

Commerce is probably the main factor because, as economists and politicians like to emphasis, spending stimulates the economy. Since childhood, our minds have been trained to equate Christmas with gift giving and consequently these traffic island embellishments are actually a diversion to the shops and malls. Physically we might be driving home or to work but mentally we have been detoured into drawing up our shopping lists.

There could be a religious dimension to the matter of course, especially in view of developments in neighbouring Libya. Last Sunday, National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said that Islamic Sharia law would be the main source of legislation in the country. Many on this island shuddered upon hearing the words “Islam” and “sharia”, immediately fearing  that Maltese Catholicism was facing a new threat. The Church, which has recently lost its battle against the introduction of divorce in Malta, may now be girding its loins for another holy war. This early erection of Christmas symbols in public places is  proof of Malta’s preparedness to become Europe’s bulwark against the spread of Islam once again. I ask, is it mere coincidence or prescience that the government has been repairing the formidable bastions which protected us from the infidel  in the past?

A merry Christmas to all.