islam doesn't speak, muslims do | "the ink of the scholar is worth more than the blood of the martyr" – Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
The number of US servicemen killed in 2004 exceeds the number killed in 2003. We are fast closing in on a 1000 servicemen killed since the beginning of operations in Iraq. Almost all will have died after President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished.”
What means more to Steve, being a new Mac user, or being a new Christian?
In May I had posted an open letter to the two well-known presidential candidates, and actually sent it to both campaigns. I recently received a follow-up from the Kerry camp that someone has read the letter and will be forwarding it up to campaign management. It doesn’t read like a canned letter, nor does it end with a request for money. Will keep you posted on further follow-ups.
Lt. General Boykin is back in the news (1, 2). This time, the New York Times is calling him an embarrassment. Glad to hear that major papers are thinking this might not be right guy to be interrogating non-Christians, or to be involved in the War on Terror[ism] in any way. But for the record, what is an “Islamic American?”
Rachel does it again. I’ve been sitting on this post for too long. The Islamic tradition, according to Qur’anic injunction (17:78-79), is for three times prayer, dawn, just before sunset and just after sunset. And of course, many Muslims have seen the little prayer books for the pre-anything prayers, including going to the bathroom. Recently found one for a dua to say before having sex. Who says we’re a repressed people? Rachel’s post, and the obvious similarities to Muslim traditions, got me thinking about the meaning of ritual. The idea of using a symbolic language, in this instance ritual, is…
Who You? posted a few days ago about who gets to say who is Muslim. It is an issue that is of grave concern to all Muslims, and particularly those who actively fighting for the soul of Islam; the easiest way to delegitimize your opponent is to call them kafir – non-Muslim. More broadly than the Ismailis, there were other Muslim voices that were silenced, with greater success, during the recent Canadian elections. A hijab-wearing woman, whose father established one of the larger mosques in Toronto, was shunned by the Muslim community over her support of gay marriages. Her name…
Our favorite beduouina has posted her life story. As many numbers as I throw at you about most Muslims are not Arab, nor are all Arabs Muslim (say hello to Edward Said, Hanan Ashrawi, and Tariq Aziz, to name a few), her own background gives a much sense of that reality. Just for the record, and for those of you who care about numbers: 6.3 billion people in the world (source) 1.3 billion Muslims in the world (no cited source, just the number that’s being bandied about right now) 300 million Arabs (source [projected from source]) ~5% of the world,…
Perhaps I am not up on Muslim writers and thinkers, but thanks to reading a discussion on Muslim Wakeup, I was informed of Asma Barlas, Professor, Politics Department, Ithaca College. Her website contains many articles which are thought provoking and worth a read. The nice thing is that many of her essays are published in The Daily Times, Pakistan, and not in academic journals. Thus making them available to a larger audience. The following was taken directly from Professor Barlas’s website: “My most recent research interests have been in the area of scriptural hermeneutics and the politics of reading/meaning-creation. To…
The recent exchange between Haroon and Reid has got me thinking and churning and preventing me from working on my dissertation!. I was struck by Reids’ quotation of Jesus Christ (PBUH)saying: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 and then reflecting on my own Shia-Ismaili-Muslim religous education and the attribution of the following the following hadith to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH): “I am the city of knowledge and ‘Ali is its gate.” The similarities and implications are very interesting. What is the Prophet implying when he says…
Haroon over at Avaristan has done it again! He has written a very nice response to Reid’s orignial posting about misunderstandings between Christians and Muslims. Also very applicable to Muslim misunderstanding about Christians AND other Muslims! Well worth the read. Now if only he would change is colour scheme – so my eyes don’t hurt after I finish reading. White on Dark is just plain wrong!