Islamic influence on popular culture focus of UTA forum

I’ve been trying to avoid talking about the Democratic primaries, but Gov. Howard Dean really got Muslimed. Often times, we, as Muslims, talk about how the media portrays us negatively, and that means much of the richness of Muslim civilizations are muted. Therefore, the negative press becomes self-fulfilling. I won’t get into the victim mentality behind such an approach, but clearly there is a kernel of truth to it. Now it seems that Gov. Dean got the same treatment. The only difference is, some outlets are owning up to it. Gov. Dean got Muslimed.

Even though categorization is a useful tool for analysis, and OBL is definitely a bad guy, I am curious to hear if people have any objections to the use of the term binladendism as described in this article in the Boston Globe by Abdul Cader Asmal.  I’ve heard some convicing arguments against the blanket use of the term Wahhabism and my sense is that binladenism is probably more accurate but flawed in its own ways.

We’ve added a new typelist on the left bar today to recognize the Ahl al-Kitâb, People of the Book, very broadly defined. One of the things I’ve tried to argue for is that Muslim community cannot see itself or its issues in isolation. After a generous comment from the Velveteen Rabbi, I thought we should practice what we preach. We are actively seeking suggestions for Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, etc., blogs that are attempting to grapple with or explain aspects of their faiths.