May 2004 – Page 5 – islamicate

Why Rumsfeld Shouldn’t Resign

islamoyankeeMay 11, 2004

There’s a petition on-line to get Rumsfeld to resign. Sign it because I think a partial victory is better than a total loss. However, I don’t think Rumsfeld should resign. He should be fired. Joho comes to a similar conclusion. My take has more to do with the honor of America. The President should defend it and his administration should live it. Rumsfeld was given the chance to resign and to help keep America’s honor; he chose not to. He’s said that America, the American ideal, is unimportant; raping and torturing people of color is what is important. If he…

Current Affairs

Unorganized Thoughts on Abu Ghraib

islamoyankeeMay 11, 2004

I don’t want to spend a lot of time analyzing the situation at Abu Ghraib; there are people who are doing it far better than I could – and they are linked on the side of the site. There are, however, some thoughts that are floating around that I just want to throw out and see if anything comes of them.

Religion

Muslim Woman Chaplain

islamoyankeeMay 11, 2004

The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine ran an article a couple of weeks ago about the army’s first potential female chaplain. Unfortunately I found the article somewhat frustrating with respect to the issues at stake in the US military. The author hints at things like ageism and sexism, but there’s a much stronger undercurrent of discrimination in the article that never gets explored. In addition, he only hints at the reaction of Muslims in the military, or outside it, to a female chaplain. Personally, I have no problem. I pray through Bibi Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, for special occasions, and recognize…

Uncategorized

Departure from the Norm

SAM I AMMay 10, 2004

The below excerpt from the following article, where President Bush addressed Evangelical groups on National Prayer Day was quite surprising to me. It’s appears to be a major departure from some of his previous rhetoric. In fact, the article itself points to how this is fairly out of character. I must say that in a vacuum, devoid of the context of this administration, I very much like this quote. For me, it seems to hearken back to the Idea of America, which I love so much. I understand that people have different views of what Justice is, but nevertheless, I…

Uncategorized

Good Apples, Bad Barrel?

SAM I AMMay 10, 2004

Disclaimer – I am not offering this article as any type of justification for the prison abuses going on. Let me be 100% clear – I think what has happened in the Abu Ghraib prisons, and perhaps elsewhere as well, is atrocious and I am angry about it. It is our fault as a country and we need to fix the problem immediately. Those responsible for overseeing these horrible travesties should be severely punished and things must change immediately. Actual post – In the interests of learning from the situation and trying to understand factors at play, I came across…

Science

In the beginning…

GhostdogMay 10, 2004

I wanted to add a comment to SAM I AM’s post on Amana or trust, but then my comment expanded, so I thought I would make a post out of it instead. SAM I AM formulates a simple and beautiful message: “We are trustees of God’s creation, and we should seek to leave the world a better place than it was when we came into it.” In his formulation, he stated something that caught my attention: “Intellect makes Man unique and exalted from amongst creation”. This places incredible responsibility on Man to act as stewards for God’s creation. At the…

Religion

Intercession

islamoyankeeMay 9, 2004

Apikorsus says we’re only occasionally about theology; she’s right. The funny thing is, when I got the group together it was because I felt the religion of Islam had gotten short-shrift in media coverage and I wanted to talk about the theology of Islam as I understood; it’s what my background is in at the master’s level. Events have clearly moved us into a need to be much more responsive than long, meandering posts on theology would allow us to be, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a few cooking. There is a theological issue we’d like people’s help…

Uncategorized

in man He trusts

SAM I AMMay 9, 2004

1. God creates and sustains all of creation at all times 2. Intellect makes Man unique and exhalted from amongst creation (2:30-34) 3. With the great power of this intellect, comes great responsibility (spider man fans should recognize this mantra) 4. This responsibility is a sacred moral trust (amaana) 5. To the extent we have any power over any other person, or any part of creation, it is within the confines of this amaana. 6. Therefore, by not seizing on every opportunity to do good, you are abusing God. (I borrowed this line from someone else, but I like it…

Current Affairs

What Rumsfeld said

islamoyankeeMay 8, 2004

Yesterday Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized to Iraqis for the abuses of Abu Ghuraib…I think. Rumsfeld often speaks in a way that needs deciphering. Two of my favorite examples are: “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” “There’s another way to phrase that…

Current Affairs

Is he innocent?

islamoyankeeMay 8, 2004

According to today’s New York Times, Brandon Mayfield, the American convert to Islam [I’m painfully aware that nationality has nothing to do with religion, but that’s the way it’s being reported], who was detained yesterday for involvement in the Madrid train bombings of March 11, may not in fact be involved. The relevant graf is: The law enforcement officials said they were afraid that Mr. Mayfield, who is originally from Kansas, might become a fugitive if he knew he was under suspicion. So monitoring that was just getting started was abruptly halted. Mr. Mayfield was arrested before investigators had fully…