Arab Proverb Quotes

This proverb only makes sense in the light of understanding the Arab concept of revenge—“blood.” In a rural desert environment where little can be expected of government, the Arabs have developed a law enforcement and peace keeping mechanism which while primitive from modern standards, nevertheless worked to some degree. It is that revenge—“blood” is a moral necessity and obligation of all people, and revenge is not limited by time or to the individuals involved in the first incidence. The immediate family are the first to extract revenge, but the extended family follows and often the entire clan. Sometimes revenge is tribal or even national. Anyone who fails to revenge a member in his group is not only a disgrace, but is a clear and present danger to the group because then they can be attacked with impunity. So revenge is a strong obligation of the group members and blood must be paid with blood no matter how many generations it may take. The only thing that keeps me and my family safe, is the surety what whosoever kills one of us will themselves be killed or if they die a natural death we will take revenge on one of the evildoers relatives. Crime must never pay!

This proverb only makes sense in the light of understanding the Arab concept of revenge—“blood.” In a rural desert environment where little can be expected of government, the Arabs have developed a law enforcement and peace keeping mechanism which while primitive from modern standards, nevertheless worked to some degree. It is that revenge—“blood” is a moral necessity and obligation of all people, and revenge is not limited by time or to the individuals involved in the first incidence. The immediate family are the first to exact revenge, but the extended family follows and often the entire clan. Sometimes revenge is tribal or even national. Anyone who fails to revenge a member in his group is not only a disgrace, but is a clear and present danger to the group because then they can be attacked with impunity. So revenge is a strong obligation of the group members and blood must be paid with blood no matter how many generations it may take. The only thing that keeps me and my family safe, is the surety what whosoever kills one of us will themselves be killed or if they die a natural death we will take revenge on one of the evildoers relatives. Crime must never pay! Needless to say, this often produces cycles of violence that might never end but for the principle of this proverb—that the obligation of revenge is heavier upon the relatives of the first victim than upon this who are seeking revenge for previous acts of vengeance.

Mandelstam was later sent to a Soviet gulag for writing a poem denouncing Stalin. He died there.

This proverb only makes sense in the light of understanding the Arab concept of revenge—“blood.” In a rural desert environment where little can be expected of government, the Arabs have developed a law enforcement and peace keeping mechanism which while primitive from modern standards, nevertheless worked to some degree. It is that revenge—“blood” is a moral necessity and obligation of all people, and revenge is not limited by time or to the individuals involved in the first incidence. The immediate family are the first to exact revenge, but the extended family follows and often the entire clan. Sometimes revenge is tribal or even national. Anyone who fails to revenge a member in his group is not only a disgrace, but is a clear and present danger to the group because then they can be attacked with impunity. So revenge is a strong obligation of the group members and blood must be paid with blood no matter how many generations it may take. The only thing that keeps me and my family safe, is the surety what whosoever kills one of us will themselves be killed or if they die a natural death we will take revenge on one of the evildoers relatives and no one is exempt. Crime must never pay!

Manava Dharma Shastra. This text is a part of the Hindu Holy Texts. Hindus believe that Mahu was a prophet whose text is revealed or inspired.

Odo of Chatillon-Sur-Marne. The Pope was addressing officials of Christian counties throughout Europe. Crime control then seems to have been a hot political issue as it is today.

This is a proverb reflecting a major difference between Arab traditions of justice and that of most Western societies where guilt is not to be vested upon family and friends of a person who commits a crime. While Western jurisprudence recognizes harboring a fugitive as a crime, it is always considered a less heinous crime than the original murderer, robber or whatever. However, in the Bedouin tradition the befriender of the criminal is guilty of the same crime and deserves the same punishment as the criminal. Ironically, Arabs are not the only people with this notion. Sephardic Jews (whose roots and origins are from Spain and the Middle East and who spent many generations in Arab dominated and controlled lands tended to use a different standard from the traditional European Jews with regard to retaliation for acts of terrorism and often used the principle illustrated by this proverb to justify bulldozing the homes of terrorists even after they were dead and attacking associates of leaders of terrorist organizations.

Ever since the invention and manufacturing of firearms, Bedouin Arabs have prized gun ownership highly. Gun ownership percentage is much higher than even the United States. Over time one or more guns appeared in every tent. With children about, the loaded gun has ever been a danger. Further, anger leads to gunplay in a society where guns are ubiquitous. Even for the gun owner, the additional time it takes to load a gun before using it is a safety valve that allows time for cooling off.

He stormed offstage leaving the other panelists shocked. This boorish behavior and other at a dignified world intellectual meeting shocked most participants, diplomats, and government officials who castigated Erdogan. However, he returned to large popular approving crowds of his religious Islamic base who thought his behavior heroic. One irony of the Arab-Israeli Conflict in the Middle East as that with 60 years of war, occupation and conflict, the winning and dominant Israelis have killed very few Arabs, especially when one compares the number with the Arabs who were killed by their coreligionists. The Jordanian Army killed 7000 Palestinians in a single week when the Palestinians tried to take over Jordan. The Syrians killed 20,000 and decades later killed over 100,000 of their own people in their internecine civil war. Sunnis have butchered Shiaas and vica versa for over 1000 years, and more Muslims have been the victims of Arab Terrorism than Jews. But in the killing of Arabs, the over 1000 years of Turkish Rule of the Middle East produced incredible butchery by the Turks, which even they exceeded in the Armenian Genocide of Christians in the early decades of the 20th century. The Turks however tend to deny these events were deliberate policy and action but claims the dead were collateral damage of legitimate war. But killers they were, and they currently have one of the best and strongest militaries of the world.