Schimmel and the Marsiya

Unfortunately, I was quite involved in running around during the Islam in America Conference, so I was unable to get good notes. I’m hoping Sam I Am (here at islamicate) and HijabMan will cover the difference. It was great finally meeting Mr. Hijab himself, and he’s agreed to give us the occasional post as well. A nagging question I have though is since I’ve seen his face, does that mean we have to get married now? 😉 I do have some thoughts on the presentations will be posting them slowly during the week.

The Arab world and the Saudis in particular seem surprised by the recent bombings in Riyadh. How could this happen against fellow Arabs and Muslims? How could this happen during the month of Ramadan? Why were women and children targetted? The Saudis are waking up to the fact the the intolerance they have spread around the world through their funding of madrassas, Islamic centers, and publications, has not only come home, it perhaps never left. The bombing can not be blamed on a Zionist conspiracy or on American foreign policy. This was a deliberate attack on Muslims by Muslims. A…

Reza has some interesting things to say about Islam: The foundation of Islamic pluralism can be summed up in one indisputable verse: "There can be no compulsion in religion." That means that the antiquated partitioning of the world into spheres of belief (dar al-Islam) and unbelief (dar al-Harb), which was first developed during the Crusades but which still maintains its grasp on the imaginations of traditionalist theologians, is utterly unjustifiable. It also means that the ideology of those Wahhabists who wish to return Islam to some imaginary ideal of original purity must be once and for all abandoned. Islam is…