Islamic influence on popular culture focus of UTA forum

Sorry, I have been away for a while. I spent the last few weeks in Kampala, Uganda, where I was visting my parents and soaking up the country of my birth. The homecoming was well-timed. I was surprised to see that Osama was a hailed in this African country. I am not sure whether many Ugandans supported Osama’s politics or just detested those framed by Cheney, Rummy, and Wolfowitz. America is indeed vilified and hated for is arrogance all over the developing world. It is sad, because under Clinton, Africans held Americans in high esteem. That goodwill has been squandered.…

Karen Leonard on race and religion. Moorish identity first. Noble Drew Ali, etc. Turks were classified as Asiatics and Arabs (associated with Ottoman Empire) and therefore denied citizenship based on race. South Asians were also disqualified. All S. Asians were initially referred to as “Hindoos,” but not used in religious sense. S. Asian and Arab identity is internally ambivalent about identifying as white. New racialization of Muslims. Imposition of Arab phenotype. US Dept. of Transportation issued in Oct., 2001 indicates Arabs, S. Asian, Muslim and Sikh passengers should not be singled out for searches. None are racial categories. Islam is…

CNN is reporting that al-Zarqawi has released an audio tape that justifies the killing of Muslim civilians based on the teachings of so-called Islamic scholars. Here is the intro from CNN: “A chilling, rambling audio file thought to be from the most-wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says religious doctrine justifies the killing of innocent Muslims by insurgents. On the audio, the speaker says in Arabic: ‘The shedding of Muslim blood … is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad.’ The speaker defends suicide attacks, saying, ‘killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom operations…