She talks a lot about religion and politics in this particular piece. I think her history of the Sunni-Shi’ah political divide is a bit off. Arguably the first empires fighting about this were in the 11th century (Fatimids and Abbasids), but I would argue the political division goes back to the time of the Prophet. However, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t live well together.
Related Posts
A Conversation in a Mosque
A friend recently went to Turkey and the tour guide started explaining Islam. It’s actually pretty good, and the guide is funny. Of course, I have objections to both a five pillar definition of Islam and linking of religious acts as dependent on science, but overall it is fun. It’s also nice to have a Muslim, from a Muslim-majority country, explain Islam in a way that resonates with the way many of us understand our own faith. Turkey
Muslims and the Cross
via one of my favorite Texans, I saw this on Street Prophets. A. This is a huge violation of church and state in my opinion. Public schools should not be holding services in any religious space. Period. B. The kid is a moron. It’s not about him being Muslim. Let’s not get stupid with him. To the best of my knowledge there is no legal tradition that prevents Muslims from entering house of worship of other faiths. There are reservations (and prohibitions) about joint worship, but not actually entering the space. The closest I’ve heard about this religious image issue…
What Good is the Imam?
“Whoever says, ‘What good is the Imam? God without an intermediary is enough for me’ plainly forgets that, in speaking of this God who is immediate for him, he can never speak save of the God who reveals Himself to him, of God as he knows Him, in and through the form in which God reveals Himself to him. Even if he speaks of God as of something impersonal or transpersonal, he does so only of the form shown to him or withheld from him. Without this mazhar, without this ‘theophanic form’ in which God manifests Himself – in the…