Related Posts

Is the Bible more Violent than the Qur’an?

NPR does the story. I am uncomfortable with this sort of comparison because it still buys into a paradigm of one religion being better than the other. Interestingly, I think the most intelligent comment comes from the critic of Islam who argues that the Qur’an is not about history, but the present. It is, in many ways, about always defining the present, which means it’s reading cannot be fixed in the past either. He does not take the argument to the logical conclusion. If the guidance is meant to be read for the present, than we as Muslims must struggle…

Hijab

There is an op-ed written in a NY Urdu language paper (English translation) that deals with the issue of hijab. I’m looking for the Urdu version, but the English translation reminds me very much of what some of the early debate was like in NY in English. You would throw out a whole bunch of arguments and see what would stick. The arguments have become much more sophisticated and targeted, helped both by time and the easy accessibility of more academic material. I think this article is important, not because of what it says, but because of the language and…

A rabs and Moslems

Our favorite beduouina has posted her life story. As many numbers as I throw at you about most Muslims are not Arab, nor are all Arabs Muslim (say hello to Edward Said, Hanan Ashrawi, and Tariq Aziz, to name a few), her own background gives a much sense of that reality. Just for the record, and for those of you who care about numbers: 6.3 billion people in the world (source) 1.3 billion Muslims in the world (no cited source, just the number that’s being bandied about right now) 300 million Arabs (source [projected from source]) ~5% of the world,…