Actually, my wife is Sudanese, I am from elsewhere. Many Egyptian proverbs are common in Sudan (despite the fact that the main Sudanese Arabic dialect has more in common with Hijazi Arabic than Egyptian)… it has to do with being ruled from Egypt for a very long time.

I was actually complimenting you on your mind-reading skills!

I am a secularist when it comes to forms of government. I do not think that religion and state should ever mix – I think that there are plenty of examples to show that this is not a good idea. I do think that religion is, in modern conditions, primarily a private matter – that this should be so.

I would agree entirely with your comment about democracy. It is exactly what is missing here in the Arab world. A dear friend of mine, an Algerian, once commented that the Arab world’s elite had put on many different masks since independence (roughly the late ’40s) – they had variously been pan-Arabists, Arab socialists, Marxists, Islamists… thew list goes on. However, what they all had never done was actually ask the Arab Street what it wanted.

Sudan’s whole crisis and tragedy is bound up with a transparent lack of democracy. There has only been one democratically elected regime in Sudan since independence (1957) – and it was overthrown by the present (one time military) regime in the coup d’etat of 1989. However, no government of Sudan, military or civilian, has ever been led by anyone other than a person drawn from one of the three, dominant northern tribes – despite the fact that the largest country in Africa is comprised of a bewildering number of different peoples and their tribes. Many of the problems in Sudan stem from the manifest discrimination of the vast majority by a small minority on the basis of tribal identity.

I also hope that the tit-for-tat is over.

Thank you for your patience. I do take some getting used to, I am aware of that.

(2) You say: “I commend you mind-reading skills. You do not know if I am an secularist BUT then in the same sentence confirm that you are! “incidentally, one can be both a secularist *and* religious – an issue I raise elsewhere on this site. I happen to be both.

I am blessed with some skills – mind reading isn’t one of them. I just stated the obvious from your comments… Don’t worry, being a secularist isn’t a crime here.

(3) I don’t care who you are or what your wife is – what is more important is what you have to say. I believe in the Islamic tradition of merits of the point or argument, rather than who it comes from! On a side note, I’d guess you’re wife is Egyptian (you allude to that) and you’re Sudanese…? Not that it matters one iota.

I’m not be a mind-reader but I’ve always been able to ‘read’ clearly.

Now that this mundane tit-for-tat is over (hopefully), I do agree that almost every self-declared religious regime in Muslim-majority countries is led by a hypocritical elite. And I’d add, the rest by authoritarian secularists. What we need is genuine democracy.

As for flawed understanding of secularism by other bloggers here – take it up with them. You may be right. Bloggers’ opnions are their own.

(2) I commend you mind-reading skills. You do not know if I am an secularist – incidentally, one can be both a secularist *and* religious – an issue I raise elsewhere on this site. I happen to be both. I don’t think you (or your colleagues, to judge from the blogs about secularism) fully understand what secularism actually means – but that is for elsewhere.

(3) You should perhaps apprise yourself of a well known Egyptian proverb: He strikes, he is struck back, he [the first] runs away crying and blames the other. One of my wife’s favourites – well it would be, she being an Arab (are you beginning to see a little more clearly now, Amin?)

(4) I would check my IP address if I were you, just so that you may be certain that I am not this Sid character with whom you appear worryingly obsessed.

(5) Living in a country that is governed by religious hypocrites and amongst a people (including my in-laws) who are fairly devout Muslims too – I think I can safely say that the present attitude of the Arab Street after 25 odd years of theocratic idiocies from one corner or another of the political spectrum hereabouts is that we would all rather have a secular state which left our religion alone, frankly.

Don’t worry, I don’t expect an apology.

My original case is clear for all. The only oversight was the claim that communists enacted a ‘total ban’ – I should’ve said they severely restricted religion and its practise. Thanks for pointing that out.

BUT you seem to get shocked quite often, and now plead the victim – and you seem to be giving as good as you’re getting….

You don’t have a God-given right to be condescending and patronising, but take offence when you get it back…

Anyway Sid – good luck with you.

You have taken considerable umbrage at my disagreements with you. failing at every step to note that your basic premise that banning burkha is a bad thing happens to be my position too. You have even chosen to pick fights on side issues where there was no dispute between us at all. You have consistently ignored the substance of my disagreements with you, choosing instead to describe me as “stupid” – presumably because you think this will rile me in some fashion.

I am rather shocked that you would choose to conduct yourself in this manner – especially as this is presumably supposed to be a Muslim blog. If you would like to know what I find the most depressing (and not irritating, as you would like, Amin), it is the general malaise of too many UK-based Muslim websites, where rational debate is too often reduced to sneering, goading and ad homina with regard to perceived opponents. I suppose I should count myself lucky that I have yet to be accused of being a Zionist or one of the other deeply tiresome and childish insults at large.

It is a real shame that you cannot grasp that I am trying to sharpen up your position, Amin. Instead you choose to regard any criticism as a personal attack. I see no further point in discussing any matters with you if you are simply going to continue in this deeply childish manner.

“I suspect that he may be an ex-blogger from the Guardian’s Comment is Free, where I once blogged as well, under a different name.”

That is not an admission of anything, Amin. Now, stop trolling and try to make some semblance of a response to my comments.

Enough of the insults, Amin. Not everyone who disagrees with you is “stupid”, or a “moron”. Come on, admit it – you wrote your original blog without apprising yourself of anything other than the usual half-baked nonsense that does the rounds on the Muslim Street. You have been caught out writing utter twaddle and now you resort to name-calling and distraction in order to escape the consequences of your poor work.

Yawn.