Related Posts

The Problem with Sects

I am a Shi’ah Muslim. Just wanted that out in the open and up front before beginning the post. This ‘blog is not limited to a particular school of thought, nor does it wish to exacerbate differences amongst the schools of thought. However, I have noticed a tendency, even amongst liberal/progressive/intellectual Muslim sites to marginalize Shi’ahs in their discussions. This statement is not meant to be an indictment, but a statement of fact that allows me a chance to get into a discussion.

MLK Day

Many liberal bloggers I’ve been reading today have been talking about Martin Luther King Jr.’s anti-Vietnam War speech. While topical, I still think his “I have a dream” speech is the ideal we should be striving for. Everything else will follow from that. “Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics…

Which Muhammad? (More than a hand?)

I was watching the documentary The Rockstar and the Mullahs, and a particular segment leapt out at me. One of the self-styled mullahs (I say this because his formal education in the religious system seems to have been non-existent) says that the world will be better when we start doing things like cutting off the hands of thieves. He’s quite happy to say only he and his followers know what true Islam is, and all others who call themselves Muslim are “sons of pigs.” I’m sure he and his ilk would be more than happy to decry people like the…