Photo: The Eyes See

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting the imam of a local mosque, the largest from what I understand, has commended the 9-11 hijackers in a khutba in Lebanon. The defense is that the comments were taken out of context, but the text is not made available. Give us the context. More telling is the final line: “”When you make a speech in an Arabic environment, the translation will be different in an English environment.”” How will it be different to recommend murder in one language than in another? I agree we shouldn’t rush to judgment, but the Muslim community of…

Been going to this conference since its inception. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. This year looks good. Come out and represent. [Update] Much love to HijabMan for reminding me about the conference. Most of the islamicate group will be coming, as will he. If anyone else from the blogosphere is planning on attending, please drop me a line and I’ll try to get us all together. Email is: islamoyankee at yourmotheristhesourceofallspam.mac.com (just remove the “your mother” comment.)

We’ve added a new typelist on the left bar today to recognize the Ahl al-Kitâb, People of the Book, very broadly defined. One of the things I’ve tried to argue for is that Muslim community cannot see itself or its issues in isolation. After a generous comment from the Velveteen Rabbi, I thought we should practice what we preach. We are actively seeking suggestions for Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, etc., blogs that are attempting to grapple with or explain aspects of their faiths.