The Smithsonian Magazine has a feature on Pakistani Sufis, including one figure I am doing a lot of research on. It unfortunately still suffers from a bit of Orientalizing and exoticizing tendencies, but for a description of what happens, it’s pretty good. The “whys” are a bit shakier. Check out the photo gallery too.
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Muslims In Vegas
The LA-Times is running a five day series about Muslims living in Sin City. First article was fairly interesting. Blurbage about the series In an effort to depict the lives of American Muslims in an extraordinary time, staff writer Peter H. King and staff photographer Genaro Molina spent a year among the Islamic community of one U.S. city — Las Vegas. From April 2003 to April 2004, they periodically visited the city’s mosques and Muslim homes, workplaces and social events.
Iraqi Voices
Maybe instead of talking about them, we should be listening to them. This is a great project by a great group, and some really wonderful people whom I am privileged to know. Part of what happens when you bring a group of artists to speak to refugees (or really to speak to anyone), is that the subject of art comes up. When people hear that we are artists, they tend to start telling us about the art that they know and love. There stories begin to be told on the level of music and dance, picture and sound.
Religion and Domestic Violence
I have criticized one of On Faith’s recent panelists on Aasiya Zubair’s murder as ignoring violence in his own tradition to make it seem as though DV is a Muslim-only problem. Thankfully, another panelist points out that it exists in Christianity, and while she argues there is a problem in religious interpretation, it’s not a problem in religion. A point I try to make in conversation with Katha Pollitt.