Moslem wins National Award

And not just any Iranian, but Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi…. Cross-posted at Title VI.

I believe that many of the issues facing the Muslim world revolve around questions of using intellect, and I believe intellect can only be exercised in an environment where knowledge is freely available and given. I believe education – not indoctrination passing itself off as the highest of human endeavors – is the basis for any level of positive discourse in the ummah. The Arab Human Development Report published last year came to similar conclusions, and the indication is that this year’s report will come to similar conclusions. If you look at what we call the “golden” periods of Islamic…

I was watching CNN last night and came across a Lou Dobbs interview with Fouad Ajami, Director, Middle East Studies Program, John Hopkins University. Dr. Ajami made a lot of sense to me. To get a sense of where he is coming from, here is a list of articles by or about Dr. Ajami: Iraq and the Arabs Future Rude Arab Awakening What the Arab World Is Watching [critique of Al-Jezeera] Lebanon Star [critique of Ajami’s attack on Al-Jezerra] During the interview, in which he was speaking about the Abu Ghuraib scandal and the brutal beheading of Nick Berg, Ajami…