Podcast – Ghost in the Machine

Religion As Critique | Reading Religion. Irfan Ahmad’s text, Religion as Critique, is an ambitious work that seeks to open a new approach to the understanding of Muslims: an anthropology of philosophy. As a result, his book covers a vast amount of material. The text reads like two separate endeavors—a historical, methodological study, and the author’s original work. Since the author recognizes this structure and guides the reader to be aware of it, the book does hold together fairly well. At the same time, as a reviewer, it makes more sense to treat the two parts as divisible, since they each…

I’m actually an islamoyankee (a Muslim American, of the Northeast, blue-neck, sushi-eating variety). The name actually comes from a description of the two things the French fear the most – Muslims and Americans. I’ve repurposed it. However, it seems Muslims are no longer islamofascists. We are now islamonazis and islamocancers. Michael Savage can rest easy that I actually agree with him. Every time I see a white man in a hood, I think Klansmen. Every time I hear his voice, I think idiot. We should be allowed to profile based on appearance and our opinion. Oh, wait, my opinion is…

The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine ran an article a couple of weeks ago about the army’s first potential female chaplain. Unfortunately I found the article somewhat frustrating with respect to the issues at stake in the US military. The author hints at things like ageism and sexism, but there’s a much stronger undercurrent of discrimination in the article that never gets explored. In addition, he only hints at the reaction of Muslims in the military, or outside it, to a female chaplain. Personally, I have no problem. I pray through Bibi Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, for special occasions, and recognize…