Month: March 2005

Current Affairs Inter-faith Intra-faith

PAMF

islamoyankee

Stands for Punk A$$ Mo Fo. I think a better term than hoodlums in this case. Martijn always has such interesting posts. However, on the issue of counter-identity, isn’t that essentially OBL’s point? He hates women, so he’s a man. He hates the “West,” so he’s an Arab. He hates Christians and Jews, so he’s a “Muslim.” A little more seriously, hasn’t he simply adopted Islam as an oppositional identity? Isn’t he more aligned with Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam than with the Hanbali school? For OBL, it seems Islam is what others are not, and his association with Taliban,…

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Inter-faith

Ikea is …

islamoyankee

Sexist. or Islamophobic. I don’t know. Apparently Ikea won’t put images of women assembling furniture in its instructions because it might offend Muslims. Really. Smart money says they never thought about it and needed a way to cover their rears. Muslims are good for things after all. I personally would not be offended. I think it would encouragement for my wife to try putting the stuff together. Right now all I hear is that “Ikea shows a man doing it, so you need to do it.” I’m actually offended they don’t show women. I’m also offended that they only show…

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Current Affairs Inter-faith

Not minimum, living

islamoyankee

Father Jake has a good post on the failure of a Senate bill to increase the minimum wage. I love the FDR quote about the minimum wage and its implicit moral component. Riverstone picks up the idea and places it in the context of the teachings of Hazrat Isa. The two of them bring up an interesting point: If the people voting down this legislation are not interested in representing the will of the American people, nor in practicing the teachings of Hazrat Isa, are they the representatives of America? Christianity? If so, is this really what they stand for?…

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Current Affairs Intra-faith

He doesn’t get it

islamoyankee

The article starts out so very promising on the varieties of interpretation that we call shari’ah. Then it so quickly devolves into conflating constitutional law with religious law, without really explaining how such conflations take place. The article also talks about the religious Shi’ah and the secular Kurds and Sunnis. What about the secular Shi’ah and the religious Kurds and Sunnis? There are huge varieties of interpretation even within the traditions. Finally, page 2 is mostly about cultural practices that the author makes sound like shari’ah. This is a blog, I can say things and pre-suppose knowledge, and get into…

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Current Affairs Intra-faith

F You!

islamoyankee

The fatwa has arrived. Of course, such condemnations are not new. However, as long as things like this keep getting in the news, it’s good. More Muslims are forced to confront that there can be no horror at the actions, while having sympathy for the cause. Al-Qaeda is a disease, the disease of ignorance. The pestilence has run through the Muslim community for hundreds of years, and rather than confront it, beat back the major carrier, we condemn the symptoms and leave the disease untreated because we have become so used to it, we can’t imagine life with it. AQ…

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Inter-faith Intra-faith

Murder is better than divorce?

islamoyankee

So thinketh the Dumass. Considering one of the Ten Commandment is “Thou shalt not kill,” I would have thought murder would be a bigger sin. Perhaps it’s what happens when you de-sacralize the word of God and simply make it a monument that has no religious meaning. BTW, did you know that Muslim women have the right to divorce? I did. Most Muslim women don’t. It’s a shame. I wonder if homicide rates in the Muslim world would go up if women knew their rights?

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Uncategorized

A Day in the Life

Ghostdog

Suicide bombings are becoming a daily occurance in Iraq. So much so, that when I scan the paper in the morning I quickly glance over the morning report of Iraqi violence. I can say the same for Darfur. I have become de-sensitized to it. Shame on me. Today they got 47 in Mosul. Last week it was a much higher figure. The total will continue to rise like a pinball machine. High score goes to the insurgents. A few days ago, it was the mass shooting of civilians including women and children. The insurgents or terrorists no longer attempt to…

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Current Affairs

The terrorists are coming!…er…no…they’re here [update]

islamoyankee

Nick Kristof brings the obvious to light. I’m glad he’s doing it, because it’s only when something is in the non-blogging media is taken seriously. I just wish he’d done it sooner. It’s not only about protecting Muslims, it’s about protecting America. [update] So the killing of the judge was not the work of terrorists, just a crazy guy. However, Kristof’s article is still important; not because I don’t think the government is doing enough, the fact that they stopped some attacks says they are doing something, but that they could be doing it better. Part of that is publicizing…

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