Islamic Architecture in Canadia
Nice piece on an example of Islamic architecture in Canada. Also, a shout out on the World Partnership Walk. More on that soon. Technorati Tags: Islamic Architecture, World Partnership Walk, jamat khana
Month: May 2005
Cairo Park as Art
Yes, I am still mentioning Cairo Park (1, 2) because I think it is such an amazing piece of public/private partnership towards reclaiming and rebuilding what a community can and should be. Here’s a conversation with the Aga Khan about the park. Technorati Tags: Aga Khan, Cairo Park
It’s credible
when CNN reports it. The only thing more damning would be if Fox, for whatever reason, decided to report it. The ACLU has discovered that soldiers in Iraq abused detainees. In one instance, forcing a father to choose which of his two sons would be executed. In another, forcing a detainee to dig his own grave before being executed. Two things, nobody was actually killed, and these were not prisoners, they were detainees. Digging your own grave? Wasn’t that a no-no in Bosnia? The other thing we discover is that the Red Cross issued concerns to the Pentagon in 2002…
Our place in the scheme of things
Mentioned an op-ed in the NYT about evolution. This piece complements it nicely. Really makes you understand the size of a mote when we put ourselves in perspective. How can we not be awed? How can we not understand that God gave us signs so that we may know (5:97, 17:12, 49:13, 65:12)?
On Talking About Traditions
Via Faith Gambler, I found this interesting piece on talking about Jesus to Muslims. It seems like a good way to recognize and talk about difference while remaining true to one’s own beliefs. This conversation wasn’t about conversion, and it wasn’t about watering down the traditions to make them palatable. Rather, it was a respectful discourse on a serious point of contention between the two traditions. Much respect. Rachel has a post about a missing dot and Jerusalem. One of the joys about writing is that one can always ignore authorial intent, which pretty clearly laid out her post, and…
First boxers…now fighter pilots?
OMA (oh my allah!), What has happened to the clean watan? As the BBC reports: the Pakistan Airforce is now admitting women into their ranks. They are flying planes (maybe those newly released F16’s will be flown by a sister) They are shooting with rifles And they are marching in Parades: Yes!!!! Go Sisters Go!!!! What no Burqa?
Say What?
CNN is reporting that al-Zarqawi has released an audio tape that justifies the killing of Muslim civilians based on the teachings of so-called Islamic scholars. Here is the intro from CNN: “A chilling, rambling audio file thought to be from the most-wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says religious doctrine justifies the killing of innocent Muslims by insurgents. On the audio, the speaker says in Arabic: ‘The shedding of Muslim blood … is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad.’ The speaker defends suicide attacks, saying, ‘killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom operations…
Prophetic
Sourced here and here. Via here. To his brother Milton, 1954: “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower, former POTUS and President of Columbia…
Islam and the New Pope
A wife of a cinnamon peeler wonders about the new Pope and his thoughts on Islam. I found this site on Ratzinger’s views on Islam, via discussion over here.
The world was created by magic
I was intrigued by this article in CNN on the Kansas Board of Education. It seems that the faulty logic that ID people are trying to put forward actually puts them at a disadvantage in terms of curriculum design. If their wording goes through, it should be fine to suggest that a grand wizard (not the KKK kind, but the Gandalf kind) brought the world into existence. We are, in fact, nothing more than a magic school exercise. Or, how about that life on Earth is not unique, but we were seeded here by aliens to see how we would…