Day: July 9, 2007

Charity Intra-faith

Islam, business, Aga Khan

islamoyankee

I am a Nizari Ismaili, and hold that the Aga Khan is the direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) through his daughter Fatima (PBUH) and his cousin/son-in-law Ali (PBUH). The New York Times ran a decent story yesterday on the Aga Khan and his humanitarian efforts. I don’t call it philanthropy, because according to the Imam: I am fascinated and somewhat frustrated when representatives of the western world — especially the western media — try to describe the work of our Aga Khan Development Network in fields like education, health, the economy, media, and the building of social infrastructure.…

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Inter-faith

Israel/Palestine: Talking about the Issue

islamoyankee

Two different takes: A child An adult To believe as a child again. I grew up in Queens, NY. Jew, Arabs, Iranians, Arab Jews, Iranian Jews (it’s where I bought my comics from), Italians (but not Jews), Muslims, Hindus, even the occasional “All-American,” blonde-haired, blue-eyed WASP. We knew we were different, but it didn’t matter, in the way our hair color didn’t matter, but we knew about it. We all came to together and agreed I would be picked last for kickball (far more damaging than being called Saddam lover later in life). Not to sound utopian, but really, why…

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