In Perspective

I’ve been sitting on this poem for a while, wondering if I should share or not. It’s not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but I finally decided that’s the point of a blog, to share quickly and easily. It doesn’t necessarily have to be great.

In 2002, the Insitute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, Leiden, Netherlands, published a series of essays dealing with the issue of Islam and Modernity. The publication entitled "New Voices of Islam", edited by Farish Noor, is available for download in PDF format. It features the following essays: Muslims Must Realize That There Is Nothing Magical about the Concept of Human Rights Interview with Abdullahi An-Na’im The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21 s t C e n t u r y Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush We Need New Intellectual Tools for the Age We…

I understand that in some “Progressive Muslim” circles it is almost blasphemous to criticise Khaled Abou El Fadl, but I am going to to do it anyway. Let me state first off that I think all Muslims and non-Muslims should read ” A Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam”. It is a moving, well written, collection of essays that will forever change the way one thinks about Islam. I will read anything by El Fadl and consider him to be one of the foremost thinkers on Islam today. He is a great legal scholar and one…