Selling oil or snake-oil?

I guess President Macapagal-Arroyo can’t count on Muslim support, whatever she does. If our millions of Moros really believe the Prophet Muhammad said that any nation led by a woman is bound to be "unsuccessful", then how can our Muslim Filipinos – many of whom don’t even call themselves "Filipinos" – pledge their loyalty to her, much less vote for her reelection in 2004? (C’mon, she’s already campaigning hard, so she might as well admit that ambition has always been uppermost in her mind.)

Just before he was "arrested" last Friday, Indonesia’s radical Muslim cleric and fiery preacher, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, struck a raw nerve when he told CNN’s Maria Ressa, in answer to a query about Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, that the Prophet had prophesied lack of success for any nation under a woman leader. What hits Megawati, of course, also strikes GMA in spades.

Did Muhammad really say that? I had read the Qu’ran, cursorily, over the years but had found no reference to that jibe about women leaders. Was Ba’asyir putting words in the holy Prophet’s mouth – like the devil quoting scriPture in our own New Testament? In last Sunday’s column, I published that question: "Did the Prophet Muhammad really say a nation run by a woman would fail?"

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Phil Parshall (@mozcom.com) which "confirmed" it.

Parshall said: "Dear Max – In research for my book, Understanding Muslim Teachings and Traditions, I thoroughly checked the Qu’ran for the following quote. ‘Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler.’ It is not to be found in the Qu’ran.

However, he adds: "But, in the authoritative traditions of Abu Al-Bukhari, the Prophet Muhammad is quoted by Abu Bakra as making the above statement after he heard that the people of Persia had made the daughter of Khoarau their Queen. The reference of Al-Bukhari is: Book 88, Chapter 18, and Tradition Number 219. It is a very well-known and widely-accepted statement of the Prophet."

Thanks, Phil. There you go, GMA.

How will Madam Megawati in her predominantly – i.e., 87 percent – Muslim nation of 210 million, cope with that dour remark from the Prophet himself?

Is the fire-breathing leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah sect (which he claims doesn’t exist) really sick in the hospital in his home city of Solo in Central Java? Or is he feigning illness – in short, malingering to escape being trundled off to jail? I honestly don’t know, the way the police are skittishly ringing the hospital and keeping away from the bearded Basher’s hospital bed, whether Megawati will have the courage to make that cosmetic "arrest" stick. This is a test, if you ask me, of what the Prophet Muhammad had said.

I think Senator Loren Legarda, who’s a professed Muslim – yep, she and my friend Tony L., the magician from Batangas, her loving spouse – ought to watch what develops very closely, too. Loren, who posed so fetchingly with GMA, both in their Assumption high school uniforms, has her moist eye on the Palace herself.

If the Prophet was truly down on women leaders, Loren might as well return to Christianity.

* * *

Indeed, what is the status of women in Islam? Muslims keep on assuring everyone that respect for women and their protection are very important in Islam. Nobody doubts the sincerity, fervor and devotion of those who profess Islam, but I’ve covered a number of Islamic countries, and whenever I’ve visited a Mosque, I didn’t see any women around. You’ve all seen, at one time or another, pictures, newsreels, film clips, and TV sequences of prayerful Muslims at their devotions, prostrating themselves to Allah, the supreme God. Forgive me, but I sometimes refer to such scenes as "bottoms up". Alas, without meaning to sound sexist, I never spot any female bottoms.

Where are the ladies, even those swathed from head to toe in black abaya gowns, black veils on head, or burqa masks concealing the countenance?

Not in the Mosque per se. True enough, as commentators constantly remind us, women go on Hajj or pilgrimages to Makkah (Mecca). They go to Madinah (Medina), and the third holy mosque, the Dome of the Rock or Al Aqsa in Jerusalem – which is why Muslims refuse to give up that war-scarred, bomb-pocked city of Jebusites and Jews. They declare they belong there, too, for on that hallowed rock the Prophet Muhammad once ascended to heaven for a meeting with Allah whisked up by a bolt of lightning. The rock, legend says, tried to follow him up, and had to be "commanded" to return to earth.

I’ve perused a number of books on Muhammad, but this time I’ll refer to Muhammad: Man and Prophet written by Adil Salahi, a British journalist of Arabic origin who used to write for the Arabic daily Asharq Alawsat and still publishes a column on its English sister publication, Arab News. Salahi’s column is entitled, Islam in Perspective.

In his volume, dubbed A Complete Study of the Life of the Prophet of Islam, (Element Books, 1995), Salahi recounts that when Muhammad went to preach the words of God to the idolatrous Arabs, who used to worship 360 idols in and around the Ka’abah, "women were treated as far inferior to men. They were not allowed any share of the inheritance. Indeed, they were treated as part of the inheritance of the deceased. The heir disposed of the wife of the deceased as he pleased. He married her without consulting her, if he so wished. Alternatively, he gave her in marriage to anyone he liked, without even asking her whether she wanted to marry or not. A man could marry any number of women, divorcing them at will and even placing them, at times, in a state of no marriage and no divorce. A father considered the birth of a daughter to him as nothing less than an outright disaster. This was because women did not fight in tribal wars and could not earn their living . . . Young girls were buried alive by their parents because they were a financial burden."

How did the Prophet change all that? One story recounts how the Prophet made a pilgrimage to Makkah and stayed there until the eighth day of Thul-Hajjah. The Prophet next went on a "she-camel" to Mina, where he prayed fajr the following morning before leaving for Arafat after sunrise. At the plain of Arafat he delivered his major speech, still astride his "she-camel" (I wonder why they stress the camel’s gender). A man with a loud voice named Rabee’ah ibn Umayyah ibn Khalaf, stood next to the Prophet’s camel, repeating every sentence to make certain all within earshot heard everything.

Halfway down the line, one of his major messages was: "My Lord be my witness. People you have an obligation to your womenfolk and they have an obligation towards you. It is their duty not to allow into your homes anyone whom you dislike without your permission. Should they do that, Allah has permitted you to desert them in bed, then to beat them without any severity. Should they desist, they have the right to be provided with food and clothing, in fairness. Your womenfolk are in your custody; they are helpless. You have taken them on the basis of a pledge to Allah, and they are lawful to you with Allah’s word. Fear Allah, then, in your treatment of women, and be kind to them. Have I delivered my message?"

Loud and clear. All these words are found on pages 721 and 722. Thus spake the Prophet.

* * *

The Makati Business Club turned out in full force yesterday noon to listen to the "word" as spoken by the articulate Sultan of Oil, i.e. Abdallah S. Jum’ah, president and chief executive officer of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). I can say that Jum’ah’s speech was outstanding, and was rewarded with enthusiastic applause.

Jum’ah Effendi, indeed, was so convincing that he sounded like a snake-oil salesman, but he wasn’t. He didn’t have to "sell" his product. We’re the eager buyers of Saudi oil and petroleum products, and, in truth, everybody admits we can’t live without it. (Oil from Russia, or elsewhere is more difficult to refine, we’re warned – so our thirst for Saudi and Brent crude remains unquenchable.)

All the big guns of the Makati Business Club (MBC) were there to add weight to the occasion. And the discussion: the opening remarks were made by the MBC Chairman Ricardo J. Romulo. (Makes me feel old to recall that when Dick and this writer were boys vacationing in Baguio, we formed a "gang" which engaged in gang-fights with other kids – throwing stones at each other. Believe it or not, Dick was the youngest in our group, and his cross-eyed aim was so awful that we all forbade him to throw any rocks lest we ourselves get struck in the process. So, he was made our official "stone" or "ammunition" bearer).

Jum’ah was introduced by Saudi Aramco’s chief partner in the Philippines, PETRON Corporation Chairman and GMA confidante, Nicasio "Nick" Alcantara. Nick rightly described the visiting Mr. Jum’ah as the chief executive of the world’s largest oil-producing and exporting company (he’s been prexy and CEO of Saudi Aramco since 1995, capping almost 35 years with that powerful company which literally bankrolls the Kingdom).

Jum’ah, who conferred with President GMA, assured the Chief Executive of a steady supply, come hell, high water, or an attack on Iraq. He is currently a member of both the Saudi Arabian Supreme Council for Petroleum and Mineral Affairs and the Saudi Aramco Board of Directors, as well as the Council of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. (Saudi Aramco’s headquarters is out there, in Dharan, on the Gulf.)

Jum’ah Pasha's address was spiced with wit and good humor, ditto for the open forum in which he fobbed off thorny questions Ronald Reagan-style with remarks like "I didn’t understand your questions", though he proceeded to answer it, or, "with all the electronic noise. I didn’t exactly hear you’d asked," then he replied to the query.

No wonder. In 2001, Jum’ah was named a member of the Board of Trustees for the American University in Cairo, and holds a degree in political science from the American University in Beirut, and completed the Management Development Program at Harvard University. We can surmise that he learned much from the Americans, who are this planet’s Number One boleros, and are usually folksy and preachy about higher motives and ideals before they shaft you with the spear of business avarice.

"Trade follows the flag," the Brits used to say. The Americans, after fighting a Revolution to free themselves from the Brit impositions, today do much the same that the despised King George III did in 1776 – like trying to force "open skies" down our throats, confident they’ve got GMA in the palm of their hands – I didn’t say in their vest pocket.

* * *

In his speech in the Mandarin’s jampacked ballroom, Saudi Aramco’s CEO promised that "we (the company) will keep the lines open (between the Arabian peninsula and the Philippine islands) and unfettered by world events" —- obviously referring to a potential attack on next-door Iraq by US President Dubya Bush.

He pointed out that Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil reserves in the world, a quarter of the globe’s proven resources, or "260 billion barrels". (He’s naturally gotten his statistics down pat, since the Saudi Arabia Facts & Figures handbook given us in Riyadh by the Central Investment Authority lists 262.8 billion barrels of oil reserves, plus 204.5 trillion cubic feet of world natural gas reserves).

Right now, Jum’ah mentioned, Aramco produces seven million barrels per day, but if necessary the company’s maximum sustained capacity is 10 million barrels per day. As for delivery of oil to customers, he pointed out, the Kingdom can ship 10 million barrels per day from its terminals in the East coast or the Gulf. However, if trouble in the Gulf interferes with that, the company’s West coast ports on the Red Sea also have the capability of shipping 10 million barrels daily. For these operations, he said, Saudi Aramco has 18 oil tankers it owns outright, another 17 tankers on charter, and 18 or more it can contract "outside" at any time.

When asked whether the Philippines could cut a "special deal" on prices, Jum’ah beamed and replied, cagily: "If we’re ready to go an extra mile for our customers, we’ll certainly go an extra ten miles for our partners." This refers to Saudi Aramco’s 40 percent but commanding "partnership" with PETRON.

If push should ever come to shove, we’ll discover what that clever yet all-too-ambiguous phrase meant.

In any event, what the heck. Let’s not kid ourselves. As long as we’ve got cash, we can purchase oil from Aramco – indeed, from other sources. (Wasn’t that Eli Santiago, chairman and CEO of Shell skulking around in the audience with his ready grin?) If we ever run out of dollars, or credit, though, the music stops.

Somebody, concluding the open forum, asked Jum’ah, "When do you expect the Iraq War?" In his best riposte of the afternoon, Jum’ah shrugged that how could he know? He said to appreciative guffaws and applause: "I’m just in the oil business."

But what a business! It’s almost better than money in the bank.

Our mutual friend, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador Saleh Mohammed al-Ghambi, who was sitting beside this writer, lapped it all up. At the table, I’d told Mr. Jum’ah something he already knew – that Saleh was the best ambassador Riyadh had ever sent to Manila. It’s sad that we’re losing him soon. He’s being posted to New Delhi.

But he pledged that he’ll be the most persistent Balikbayan.