Islam and Hip-Hop

Muslim WakeUp! has an interesting article on East Turkestan. I thoroughly enjoyed the article, and had a few thoughts that I posted in the comments, and which I am including here in the entirety. I’m doing this re-publication because I need it to set-up a post I’m working on regarding Shi’ism. A very well researched piece, thank you for sharing. I have two comments on it that I’d like to share. You mention that racial divisions in Islam did not really exist until the colonial period, and I’m not sure that is as true as you indicate. In S. H.…

57 Organizations Call on White House to Investigate Offensive FBI Trainings Today, Muslim Advocates, working in coalition with 56 Muslim, Arab, and South Asian organizations, requested that the White House create an interagency taskforce to investigate bigoted and offensive trainers and materials used in trainings for counterterrorism agents and law enforcement. Wired magazine first reported in July that the FBI was using materials that stated that Prophet Muhammad was a "cult leader," and that Islam is a religion that "transforms [a] country's culture into 7th-century Arabian ways." Recently disclosed materials show that these grossly inaccurate and inflammatory training materials extend…

I was recently reading this article from the Boston Globe about the historicity of the New Testament, and it got me thinking, not so much about the historicity of the Qur’an, but about literal reading. Two verses of the Qur’an come to mind: We sent not an apostle except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people, in order to make (things) clear to them. Now God leaves straying those whom He pleases and guides whom He pleases: and He is Exalted in power, full of Wisdom. (14:4) He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book:…