Say it ain’t so
Brigitte Bardot believes in racial purity. [Thanks to Miamvi for the link.]
Year: 2004
Marriage is a gay event
While I don’t live in the Republic of Cambridge, I do spend enough time there that the ruling concerning gay marriage has a personal impact on my friends. I posted a while ago about how I think it’s a bad idea for the state to legislate morality. There may be arguments for legislating against marriage for same-sex couples, but morality is surprisingly not in the state’s interest. Haroon, from over at Avari-nameh, challenged my basic assumption, and I promised him a good fight, but let it go. Now he’s posting on the same subject, using the same source no less!,…
Reading List: Women
Islam, Gender and Social Change Women and Gender is Islam Islam and Gender The Tao of Islam Windows of Faith “Believing Women” in Islam Qur’an and Women My Soul is a Woman Women in the Medieval Islamic World Women of Sufism The Scimitar and the Veil Daughters of Abraham Western Representations of the Muslim Woman Video: Adventure Divas: Iran: Behind Closed Cha-dors (PBS link)
Reading Lists
A few weeks ago this is me did a post on women and hijab in Australia. Velveteen Rabbi asked about some readings, and Hijabman has recently proved people do read what we post about books, so I thought we’d begin an irregular series of reading lists. We made an effort earlier at one, but we are going to formalize it into topic based material. As always, feel free to add what you will in comments. However, I just discovered I do have to do a shameless plug. If you buy from links on this site (Amazon links) you help keep…
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…
Independence Day
So today begins Iraqi sovereignty. Apparently they are exercising their right not to go along with the US already. So we have Paul Bremer, Lakhdar Brahimi and the former IGC trying to figure out who is NOT in charge. So now the question is who’s taking care of our people?
A story
Rabia al-Adawiyya (aka Rabia al-Basri) was running through the streets of town, Basra, one day with a pail of water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When asked what she was doing, she responded, “I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise.” She was then asked why, to which she responded, “They block the way to God. I do not want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the love of God.”
Commencement Speech
John Stewart’s commencement address at William and Mary. Pay particular attention to the section the “greatest generation,” and where he talks about Bethseda. We do need a new greatest generation, but not necessarily a military one. This country needs to be rebuilt, and we need to find the passion that makes us Americans; we just can’t be “no them.” We are better than that.
The new Mecca
Education, and the resultant intellectual engagement with the world around us, is one of the tenets of faith in the Islamic tradition. By turning our back on our intellect, we are turning our back on the trust (amânâ) that God has given us; by turning our back on understanding God’s creation, we are turning our back to God; by claiming we can know God, we deny God. What role does America play in keeping the Islamic tradition alive?
Project Syndicate
Just came across this website entitled Project Syndicate. It is an international association of quality newspapers devoted to: 1. Bringing distinguished voices from across the world to local audiences everywhere; 2. Strengthening the independence of printed media in transition; and, 3. Developing countries as well as upgrading their journalistic, editorial, and business capacities. As part of their coverage, Project Syndicate has a section on Islam, which is really quite good and may be of interest to islamicate readership. Here is the introduction by the featured contributor, Mai Yamani. “Whether because of the perceived defeats inflicted upon Muslims by the outside…