Sit Yasir, Fetch Abbas

Maybe it's time to buy a dog and name it Yasir Arafat or Mahmud Abbas.Muslims believe dogs can violate ritual purity and consider them unclean. Calling someone a dog is one of the worst insults in the Middle East. The problem is I like dogs too much to insult an animal with such a name.


Sadat's daughter takes on Hollywood movie

By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press Writer – Sat Aug 8, 11:32 am ET
CAIRO – The daughter of Egypt's former president Anwar Sadat has filed a complaint against the makers of "I Love You Man," a 2009 Dreamworks film, for naming a dog after her father, her lawyer said Saturday.
Egypt's prosecutor will look into the complaint, but it is unclear what sort of action Egyptian courts could take against the Hollywood movie company.
In the movie, actor Jason Segel's character has a dog named Anwar Sadat. When asked if it's because he likes the former president's policies, the character replies it is due to the dog's resemblance to the Egyptian leader.
The name of the dog also appears in the credits as Anwar Sadat, playing himself, the dog.
"This is a disaster, a serious affront," said Samir Sabri, the lawyer for Rokaya Sadat, daughter of the former president and peace Nobel prize winner.
The film, directed by John Hamburg, opened in Egypt last month, but the scene with the dog had earlier been excised by the distributor. Word of the scene only came to light in the last week when it was publicized by an Egyptian Web site.
"This has caused serious psychological and moral damages to the plaintiff, as President Sadat is a prominent figure in the Arab history in general and in Egyptian history in particular," the lawyer's brief said. "Everyone agrees that he is a unique leader who was politically savvy, and has worked hard to serve his country."
Muslims believe dogs can violate ritual purity and consider them unclean. Calling someone a dog is one of the worst insults in the Middle East.
Commentators in Egypt have called the movie, which grossed more than $71 million in the U.S., another in a long series slights against Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood.