Related Posts

Torture is Terror

The passage below is a problem I have been struggling to articulate. From Aziz: What is needed is a generalized principle under which both opposition to terrorism and opposition to torture can be articulated. From a religious perspective, muslims have been arguing (usually defensively) that terrorism (ie, hirabah) goes against Islamic teachings for quite some time – see my own ongoing articles on hirabah here on beliefnet and my earlier hirabah posts. Recently, several muslim organizations issued a joint statement against torture (to which I also signed). Many of the same religious arguments that are made can be applied equally…

Islamic History Month

The Canadians have declared October “Islamic History Month.” I don’t know how I feel about this. No other religion gets this treatment, and I don’t think they should. I would argue against a similar move here in the US because I think it would further emphasize that Muslims are different. Multiculturalism in Canada is an odd duck, so maybe it makes more sense there.

Hijab

There is an op-ed written in a NY Urdu language paper (English translation) that deals with the issue of hijab. I’m looking for the Urdu version, but the English translation reminds me very much of what some of the early debate was like in NY in English. You would throw out a whole bunch of arguments and see what would stick. The arguments have become much more sophisticated and targeted, helped both by time and the easy accessibility of more academic material. I think this article is important, not because of what it says, but because of the language and…