April 2004 – Page 3

Back to Afghanistan

islamoyankeeApril 20, 2004

Some of you may have heard of a country called Afghanistan. The US invaded in 2001 because the country was the home base of Al-Qaeda, the group responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The reason we believe AQ moved there is because Afghanistan was considered a failed state, which made it a haven for illegal activities, including planning terrorist attacks. To me the logical response to such a theory is that we should not let another state fail, least of all a state over which we have control.

Weblogs

We got a new address

islamoyankeeApril 20, 2004

Well, the collective (yes there is more than Ghost Dog and myself, although you wouldn’t know it from the majority of posts) decided if we got two months of greater than a 1,000 hits we’d register a domain for ourselves. We crossed the threshold last night. Those of you who have been coming to us from http://islamicate.typepad.com/islamicate/ can continue to do so. However, you can now also find us at https://islamicate.com/. To most of you it will mean nothing in terms of visiting the site. For us, it’s an important milestone. I’ll be doing a slight restructuring of the site…

Current Affairs Weblogs

We are all Santa Clause

islamoyankeeApril 19, 2004

I added Father Jake to the Ahl al-Kitab list to get a sense of some of the thoughts circulating in on-line Christian communities. I’ve since discovered he’s an incredibly sensitive commentator on the Iraq situation, as witnessed by this post. He’s been collecting information from a wide variety of sources, including leftist sources I read, but disagree with, and giving them a wonderfully human context. No matter what your opinions on this war, please remember to support our troops.

Current Affairs Television

Yet another, “I hope this isn’t true” moment

islamoyankeeApril 18, 2004

From the Gadflyer are revelations that the Saudis may be working rather stridently, and perhaps illegally, to help get Bush re-elected in November. The same news source – The Gadflyer – has a different take on the same interview. I’m not sure the second interpretation is as strong, especially in light of the first posting. I haven’t seen the interview yet, but I expect it to mirror closely what we are beginning to hear in the 9/11 commission hearings – consistent with view 2, but with great nuggets that article 1 gives us.

Books Religion

Responding to the unthinkable

islamoyankeeApril 18, 2004

An op-ed in today’s Boston Globe led me to the book Responsa to the Holocaust. This book is going on my summer reading list. The level of commitment to God in the face of such horror amazes me. Dealing with crisis as a religious person is difficult enough; as a community I cannot comprehend it.

Religion Weblogs

Bloggercon anyone?

islamoyankeeApril 18, 2004

Bloggercon happened this weekend. According to Joho, islamicate was mentioned. I’ve been looking for coverage, but it seems people are still too busy. Anybody there who can let us know gave us a shout-out and what the context was?

Web/Tech

Odd coincidence

islamoyankeeApril 15, 2004

While searching out some information on the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), I discovered the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA). I wonder if they too are planning on holding joint meeting?

Religion

immanence & transcendence (& shirk) [update]

islamoyankeeApril 15, 2004

[updated for clarity] I have been thinking a bit lately about how people practice their faiths. One of the issues that keeps coming back to me is of one’s vision of God, which should be the defining part of any religious understanding in my opinion. I would categorize the understanding of God into two, not mutually exclusive, categories – the imminent and the transcendent. I personally consider God’s presence to be one of imminence, which in turn feed my God consciousness (taqwa), and that helps me to realize God’s transcendence. I understand there are people who feel humbled by God’s…

Uncategorized

Moderate IslamS

islamoyankeeApril 13, 2004

So we’ve moved past the idea that Islam is a monolith and into the realm of Islam beings a series of monoliths. In the case of this Boston Globe editorial, moderate Muslims and others. I know the work of the American Islamic Congress, and I believe it is good and fundamental to creating a more moderate space for Islamic thought and inter-faith interaction. (Please sign their tolerance petition). Their work is committed to creating an on-going dialogue and gradual transformation. However, they are lumped together with Irshad Manji who has been receiving a lot of negative publicity within the Muslim…

Uncategorized

A democratic education

islamoyankeeApril 13, 2004

Myself, and several other members of the islamicate Collective, have been getting lots of requests for books. Specifically, if we were choose a selection of books to represent the highest ideals of liberal democracy, what would they be? In addition, what are some of the key texts representing the richness of Islamic thought that we would include. The work has been proposed for both Iraq and Afghanistan. The endeavor is separate from Juan Cole’s Americana Translation Project (more details here and here), another worthwhile effort. Many of the requests we’ve received so far have been time sensitive. However, going through…