Current Affairs

London, G8, and the Bombings

My prayers are with the primary victims of today’s bombing attack in London. My prayers are with their families and friends. My thoughts are with the secondary victims, and with all of London as they try to recover. However, Al-Qaeda, in their self-interested perception of the world have not only killed innocents, contrary to the revelation of the Qur’an, but they have moved the news spotlight on to their egotistical selves – further proof that they are not capable of dealing with a real jihad against their base selves. This is important, because regardless of what you think the G8…

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Current Affairs

First thoughts on London

These thoughts were actually not my first on the London bombings today. However, they have recently come to me, and I want to document them. The delay in my posting was due to the fact that I was waiting to hear from/about friends and family in London. (shukrunlillah, everyone seems to be OK). It dawned on me, that as much as I talk about being Muslim and American, about the search for shared humanity, and today really brought home the point that even to me, subconsciously, there is a distinction – the internalization of being the “other?” – between a…

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Current Affairs

Responding to London [Updated}

These attacks are horrible. I cannot say enough to demonstrate how opposed they are to the spirit of the Prophetic message, the revelation of the Qur’an, and the spirit of Islam. However, most of the day will be spent trying to do that. I’m putting together a few things, including a list of all Muslims (sites, statements, etc.) who are condemning the attack. Also, for those of you tagging, please use “London Bombing” so we can keep track. To the bombers: 5:32 To the victims: 2:156 Update: It seems “London 7/7” is another tag floating around, so please use that…

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Intra-faith Shi'ism

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

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Current Affairs

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…

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Inter-faith Intra-faith Shi'ism

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…

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Women

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?

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Uncategorized

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…

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