Talking God
Feldman, Michael
What Do I Know? Michael Feldman Talking God Once every two weeks, sometimes more often, President Bush gathers with the Vice President and the national security adviser in the newly refurbished...
...But it's not written in stone...
...Maliki: Perhaps we should move on...
...Master of it...
...And that's what I hope you'll be on the Day of Judgment— September 15...
...Elohim, Ohmeen...
...Maliki: Thank you, Mr...
...Bush: No kidding, you're in there, Maliki...
...Maliki: Yes...
...Aameen...
...Bush: You bet, let's just, why don't you chant one of yours this time, and I'll do John 16:something next time, and we can just switch back and forth like that for each video conference...
...Should be plural...
...Plural...
...No Georges in the Bible...
...Sounds pretty close...
...You know what, it sounds like the Jews, though...
...Bush: Allah, Yahweh...
...Bush: Back at you, Nuri...
...No, that won't work...
...Bush: That so...
...As for God, I don't suppose Jesus or maybe a more general "Our Savior" would do...
...Less so with the Methodists...
...Aleykum asalam...
...Sirata allazhina anamta alaihim, ghairil maghdubi alaihim, wa la adhdhaal leen...
...Forgive me, I'm getting a little punchy...
...Bush: OK, Nuri, I won't keep you up past your Bedouin, I mean your bedtime...
...Raised Episcopal, folks still are...
...Bush: OK, Allah will work for me...
...Actually, you know, a real Jew won't call Him anything, not even a reference...
...Jehovah...
...How about that...
...Well, we didn't get much into detail, this time, and the devil's in the details, as we say in Texas, but basically I'm gonna get you a little breathing room and push back this due date some...
...Well, it's a little bit out of place, without the ablutions and so forth...
...Maliki: In Al-Fatihah, the first chapter of the Holy Quran, there is the verse "Maliki yaum al-din," Master of the Day of Judgment...
...we cannot tell what he saith...
...That's real nice...
...Ramadan starts on September 13 this year...
...Bush: Oh, right, and you have to fast, like Yom Kippur...
...Guide us on the path of those on whom thou has bestowed thy blessings, not of those who have incurred thy wrath, nor of those who have gone astray...
...That covers a host of sins...
...Michael Feldman Talking God Once every two weeks, sometimes more often, President Bush gathers with the Vice President and the national security adviser in the newly refurbished White House Situation Room and peers, electronically, into the eyes of the man to whom his legacy is so inextricably linked: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq...
...Maliki: That would be helpful...
...Plural...
...Bush: Aameen...
...Semitic languages, you know...
...Either Testament...
...Maliki: Really you'd say assalamu alaikum...
...John, Pauls, Jobs...
...It's written in sand...
...Muhammad, for one...
...We might humbly beg guidance from Allah...
...Women priests and gays and such...
...I just had to pull a month out of the air, really, so you always think, you know, September...
...Got used to the Methodists, I can get used to anything...
...Maliki: (responds in Arabic...
...Hectic around here...
...Bush: Think we'll take a pass on that one...
...Maliki: Of course, but could we perhaps invoke Allah—the Almighty is the Jews...
...In sand...
...Bush: Like shalom aleichem and salam aleykum...
...Thought we were pretty safe there...
...I like that...
...Maliki: There are ninety-nine names of God in the Koran, none of them is Yahweh...
...Nonetheless, it's strictly Old Testament...
...Not, you know, Yah-weh...
...Church of England, really, stateside...
...Maliki: Similar...
...There are other names for God in the Aramaic version of the New Testament called "Peshitta...
...Bush: "Peace be with all y'all...
...Maliki: Good one, Mr...
...If you would, I'd just like to leave you with John 16:18, which is the one John Kerry should have said was his favorite: "They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while...
...Maliki: OK...
...They let the Evangelical Lutherans in, but I don't keep up with it...
...Michael Feldman is creator and host of Public Radio International's "Whad'ya Know...
...School starts, football, World Series used to...
...Sometimes, said an official who has sat in on the meetings, they talk about their faith in God.—The New York Times, July 25, 2007 Bush: I wonder, Nuri, if we could start with a little prayer to ask the Almighty's guidance in our endeavors...
...Peace be with you...
...I wouldn't be calling the Bible a piece of Peshitta...
Vol. 71 • September 2007 • No. 9
