Day: April 23, 2009

Current Affairs

Islamic ‘Adl in Orakzai

islamoyankee

Glad to see I have a role model in becoming a sardonic old man. It’s not justice or shari’ah, it’s extortion. What surprises me, however, is that none of the maulanas and muftis made an issue of the exact amount of money when so many avenues of argumentation were open to them. Was the amount extorted from the Sikhs right according to all the major schools of Islamic jurisprudence? Wasn’t it less? Wasn’t it more? Shouldn’t the amount be equivalent to the value of a certain weight in gold? And what about the requirement, according to many jurists, that the…

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Politics

Torturers For Hire

islamoyankee

But didn’t CIA officers have to approve the request? Former FBI supervisory special agent Ali Soufan, writing in an op-ed in the New York Times today, makes this parenthetical point regarding CIA torture: (It’s worth noting that when reading between the lines of the newly released memos, it seems clear that it was contractors, not C.I.A. officers, who requested the use of these techniques.) I’m not sure if that puts a different gloss on Obama’s decision not to prosecute CIA officers, but it’s a point worth noting. [From Torturers For Hire]

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Current Affairs

There was a Muslim on the Maersk Alabama

islamoyankee

Zahid Reza said he and shipmates lured a pirate to a darkened engine room, where a struggle broke out. “I held him, I tied his hands and tied his legs. He was fighting me,” said Reza, who stabbed the pirate in the hand. “He was scared. He said he was planning to ask for $3 million. I told him, ‘You’re a Muslim and I’m a Muslim.’ “ Maersk Alabama crew recalls pirate attack – USATODAY.com.

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Inter-faith

Twittering Across the Faith Line

islamoyankee

I am fascinated by the role of new media in the world of multifaith relations. Take the events of yesterday morning… Rabbi Ira Stone At 9 a.m. I received an email from my colleague Rabbi Shai Gluskin that informed me that my teacher, Rabbi Ira Stone, was now posting about the Mishnah on Twitter. Not yet Twitter literate myself, I repaired to Facebook where I posted a “status update” announcing this news. An hour later, I received an email from Hussein Rashid, a scholar of Islam in New York City, who will be teaching for RRC next spring. He indicated…

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