One of the favorite topics of conversation amongst my friends and I is whether certain foods are haram (forbidden, like pork) or makruh (discouraged). Our case study is usually lobster, but it seems God hates shrimp. Glad to see we’re not the only ones contending with this issue. Like I said before, we can’t see the Muslim the community in a vacuum.

“Please attend our destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. No RSVP needed, but looks of shock, disbelief and mourning are encouraged.” Is that what Bush was waiting for? It must be because he said: “There was nothing there that said, you know, ‘There’s an imminent attack,’ ” Bush said during a brief news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian leader visited Bush’s Texas ranch to talk about the Middle East. I don’t think 9/11 was the strictly the fault of the Bush administration, but I believe they did ignore a risk minimization strategy.

So, Iraq exploded. The Shi’ah are now rising against us. How did this happen? As always, a misunderstanding of the “other.” In this case, the mistake was so basic it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.