Month: January 2004

Religion

In the name of God

From NYT January 28, 2004 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR My God Is Your God By JOHN KEARNEY Sunday is one of the most important holidays in Islam: Id al-Adha, the feast celebrating Abraham’s faith and willingness to sacrifice his son to God. It would also be a good occasion for the American news media to dispense with Allah and commit themselves to God. Here’s what I mean: Abraham, the ur-monotheist, represents the shared history, and shared God, of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Many Christians and Jews are aware of this common past, but seem to have a tough time internalizing it. Lt.…

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Uncategorized

A Brief Roundup

Ghostdog

Sorry, I have been away for a while. I spent the last few weeks in Kampala, Uganda, where I was visting my parents and soaking up the country of my birth. The homecoming was well-timed. I was surprised to see that Osama was a hailed in this African country. I am not sure whether many Ugandans supported Osama’s politics or just detested those framed by Cheney, Rummy, and Wolfowitz. America is indeed vilified and hated for is arrogance all over the developing world. It is sad, because under Clinton, Africans held Americans in high esteem. That goodwill has been squandered.…

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Travel

Australia’s Gitmo

islamoyankee

For those of you who don’t know, there was a site in Australia known as Woomera where refugees were detained. While technically not like Gitmo, it was where refugees, predominantly Muslim, were held without legal recourse or appeal until they could be deported. They were not given a hearing to determine their status, they were simply locked up. Condition at one point had gotten so bad, the prisoners sewed their mouths shut. Because of all the bad press, the center was shut down, but the practice continues, and Woomera has become symbolic of the racist policies of John Howard, Prime…

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Current Affairs Travel

Blaq Irack

islamoyankee

Ran across this article in the Washington Post. It deals with the Black African communities in Iraq. Reminded me of a similar article from the BBC on the Sidi community, Black Africans in Gujarat, India. It amazes me how far the contacts amongst civilizations extends, both geographically and temporally.

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Current Affairs Religion

Dhu’l-Hijja

islamoyankee

Oh people who have gone on Hajj, where are you? where are you? The Beloved is right here. Come back! Come back! Your Beloved is near and everywhere Confused in the desert, what are you in love with? If you see the face of the faceless Beloved then you are also the lord, the house and the Ka’aba. Ten times you have gone on that road of the famous house One time get on the roof of this house. That house is sublime, speak of its wonders Show a sign from the Lord of that house. What is a bouquet…

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Religion

Farq

islamoyankee

Farq, not the Colombian para-military FARC, from Arabic, means difference (فرق). Looking through our log files, I noticed that we’d been getting a lot of hits from search engines where people were asking the difference between “muslim” and “moslem.” Presumably they were interested in “Qur’an” and “Koran” as well, but we wouldn’t have met that criteria until just now. 🙂

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Religion

Back to Education

islamoyankee

I’ve spoken previously about my belief in education as being the magic bullet to deal with the many problems of various societies. Below are several excerpts from a speech delivered by the Aga Khan at the opening of a new academy in Kenya, and I think they are fairly representative of my own thoughts on the matter.

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