Dome and minaret

Sorry for my prolonged absence from substantial posting. Been a busy few weeks. I tried to keep up with the basic interesting links post, and then lost that well. I hope to catch-up on the backlog and comment on the new stuff soon. Until then, here’s something to keep you amused.

Here’s a link from the New York Review of Books on current books trying to frame the current debates in the Muslim (mostly Arab) world. I give credit to the author for attempting to make sense of such a broad topic. For such a short piece, I think he does a good job. However, the piece is too short for a real understanding of the issue for non-specialists. Still, a read worth noting. Update: Found another good summary of some of the issues involved in Islamism.

While visiting unmedia, I saw a link on deconstructing Daniel Pipes’ latest peace writings. This particular rambling was on identifying oneself as a moderate Muslim. From unmedia, I got to Zack’s detailed criticism of Pipes, and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Zack in-turn lead me to a beliefnet quiz on what type of Muslim I am. Good fun. I came in as a “spiritual seeker,” but I found so many of the questions hard to answer because they pre-supposed a particular understanding of Islam, which is not mine. I’m still working on that Shi’ism post.