Fun with live news threads, headline has changed at least 4 times now…

  • ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    17 hours ago

    What a weird little internet slapfight I’ve walked into.

    This is not a first name that is common among Christians here. I think adopting mainly Muslim names among Christians is common in some parts of Africa? It’s also possible that you wouldn’t be familiar enough with Arabic names to distinguish between explicitly Muslim names and secular / nonsectarian religious names (and Christian ones, we have a lot of those).

    Ahmad is a 1,000,000% Muslim name. I think this is common knowledge in most places around the world since this is an extremely popular name almost exclusively used by Muslims.

    This would be like arguing that a guy named Jesús could be from any religious community. Technically that’s true, but - Jesús. Really? Is an argument worth it?

    • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      It’s also possible that you wouldn’t be familiar enough with Arabic names

      I’m literally Arab lol

      In the countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, it’s not uncommon for Christians in to have islamic names. For example in Southern Lebanon you’ll find a lot Christian people with names like Ali, Umar, or Yusuf even though these are common islamic names.

      • ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        13 hours ago

        I’m literally Arab lol

        Cool, me too

        For example in Southern Lebanon you’ll find a lot Christian people

        I’m literally a Lebanese Christian from the South. Well half of my family is from there. I have an extremely Arabic first name, and last name for that matter. Is that enough?

        Ali, Umar, or Yusuf

        These are stunning examples. Youssef is Joseph, so that’s a Christian name first to me (if I want to be that guy, I don’t.). But the other two are very explicitly coded to a single sect. Ali is not even used by half of the Muslim population, Omar is also not used by the other half. You’ve picked the probably single most uniquely Shia and Sunni names respectively. Maybe it’s different where you live, maybe there are no explicitly Sunni or Shia names around you. But no Christian bears a name like that anywhere in the country.

        This is like reading a headline about a Portuguese guy named Jesús Espírito Santo and going ballistic over him not being explicitly mentioned as Christian. It’s fine. Our hero today is almost certainly a Muslim, and even if he isn’t, I’m glad he did what he did and has been a good representative for the Lebanese community around the world regardless