Intra-faith

Egypt’s present-day Shias live on Fatimid legacy « Simerg

Egypt’s present-day Shias live on Fatimid legacy « Simerg. It is hard to miss the Fatimid legacy that is apparent on the streets of Cairo. Moreover, many of this era’s traditions are still practiced. Shia practices such as celebrating Al-Mawlid Al-Nabawy (the Prophet’s birthday), Ashura (commemoration of Al-Hussein’s death), and even using lanterns during Ramadan are still common among Egyptians today.

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Current Affairs

Idea Lab – Why Are So Many Terrorists Engineers? – NYTimes.com

Idea Lab – Why Are So Many Terrorists Engineers? – NYTimes.com. They say they believe in freedom and share our values. They say a few bad apples shouldn’t bring down judgment on their entire kind. Don’t be fooled. Though they walk among us with impunity, they are, in the words of Henry Farrell, a political scientist at George Washington University, “a group that is notoriously associated with terrorist violence and fundamentalist political beliefs.” They are engineers.

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Inter-faith

Nancy Fuchs Kreimer & Hussein Rashid: September 11, 2010: A Time for Turning

Nancy Fuchs Kreimer: September 11, 2010: A Time for Turning. September 11. The date, the words are still so evocative. Hate, anger, fear, sorrow, loss. Nine years after the event, emotions can still be as intense as they were in 2001. For some Americans, September 11 is the anniversary of their loved one’s death. Along with the annual memorials, this year the day will also include public demonstrations both in support of and in opposition to Park51, misnamed the “Ground Zero Mosque.”  Both of us will be marking that day as part of our holy season. For Jews, the 11th…

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Current Affairs

On Burning Qur’ans – avari | haroon moghul

On Burning Qur’ans – avari | haroon moghul. I don’t think the overwhelming majority of Muslims ever cared.  Other than sad, annoying facebook campaigns which are so clueless as to not know that one cannot campaign for a restriction of a constitutional right.  Even now, the pictures of violent protest we see, with crowds of angry demonstrators stupidly retaliating against one fringe pastor’s insensitivities by burning American flags (can hypocrisy become any more absurd?), are restricted to Afghanistan — where we are at war.  Almost nobody in the media is talking through this, at all.  Clearly, the anger at the…

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Conferences

Event: tabsir.net » IMANA Conference at Hofstra University

I am moderating one of the panels. tabsir.net » IMANA Conference at Hofstra University. The Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) and the Muslim Chaplain’s Office of Hofstra University invite you to attend the 2010 IMANA-Hofstra Ethics Symposium, September 17-18, 2010. The symposium’s theme is End of Life Issues: Ethical and Religious Perspectives.  Intended audience are physicians, especially those in critical care medicine, emergency medicine, maternal fetal medicine and neonatology, medical bioethicists, chaplains, students in these fields and interested individuals.

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Intra-faith

On Religion – Muslim Prayer Room Was Part of Life at Twin Towers – NYTimes.com

On Religion – Muslim Prayer Room Was Part of Life at Twin Towers – NYTimes.com. On any given day, Mr. Abdus-Salaam’s companions in the prayer room might include financial analysts, carpenters, receptionists, secretaries and ironworkers. There were American natives, immigrants who had earned citizenship, visitors conducting international business — the whole Muslim spectrum of nationality and race.  Leaping down the stairs on Sept. 11, 2001, when he had been installing ceiling speakers for a reinsurance company on the 49th floor, Mr. Abdus-Salaam had a brief, panicked thought. He didn’t see any of the Muslims he recognized from the prayer room.…

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Books

Copy of Quran only book saved from Union’s 1865 burning of UA | TuscaloosaNews.com

Copy of Quran only book saved from Union’s 1865 burning of UA | TuscaloosaNews.com. A copy of the Quran dating from 1853, its spine missing, its pages browning and its front cover almost detached, sits today in a library at the University of Alabama.  While Islam’s holy book now appears safe from a Florida pastor’s plan for a bonfire, the Quran at UA had its own dramatic rescue from the flames. It was the only book saved from burning of the university library at the hands of Union troops in 1865.

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Current Affairs Intra-faith

The American Muslim on Park51

On Park51: It would seem that Imam Feisal at this point in time does not have authority to make any binding decisions on policy, or even the name of the project. He wouldn’t be able to make a deal with Rev. Jones, or anyone else, to move the center, or even to keep it where it is, as he doesn’t own the property. Whether or not this can be corrected in some way to put Imam Feisal in control can only be a matter of conjecture. The Park 51 people have applied for non-profit status to set up a fund…

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Current Affairs

NYC Play: No Place Called Home – Iraqi Voices Amplification Project

Iraqi Voices Amplification Project. In the fall of 2009, Intersections International led a delegation of 8 American artists from many different disciplines on a 3-week immersion trip though Jordan, Lebanon and Syria at part of the Iraqi Voices Amplification Project (IVAP). Our goal  is to use the power of the arts to call attention to one of the most pressing and under-reported social justice issues of our time: the displacement of more than 4 million Iraqis as a result of the military intervention in Iraq.  While on the trip, the delegation entered into conversations with hundreds of refugees at community…

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