Related Posts

Darfur

(Note: I’ve only recently become aware of what’s going in Sudan because of The Head Heeb. Read some of his background pieces (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), and continue to read him for the latest news. I want to throw in my two cents now, but don’t have the resources to give it the coverage it deserves on a regular basis.) Sudan is known as a failed state – the type that gives a base of operations to terrorist organizations; Sudan was in fact home, briefly, to Osama bin Laden, and was bombed in 1998 by the US for allegedly…

(Un)Created(?) – Quran Desecration, part 2

A question for the Muslim community: why we are offended when the Qur’an is desecrated? (See previous post for details.) Echoing the grand debate most associated with the Mutazilah, the Qur’an is either created, or uncreated. If it is uncreated, then that means the Qur’an is co-eternal with God, meaning that something else exists with God. So, as a second “eternal,” I can understand why Muslims would be upset; of course, it also means that they are only superficially believers in tawhid. To be offended, is to deny what it means to be Muslim. If you argue that the Qur’an…

The Hajj and Humanity

Last night was a good night for me. I was flipping channels because the Law and Order episode on TNT was one that I had previously seen. As a was bypassing all of the reality shows (Are people really this shallow? If there is to be a clash of civilisations as the both the Bush administration and Osama and his bearded minstrels seem to be taking all of us toward, the current state of American television, would lead one to conclude that it may be a fair fight.) Anyway back to the matter at hand. As I was flipping channels,…