Is it 1909 or 2009 in Philly?

I liked this CNN article because it blew away a few stereotypes I had. Also, today, I heard an Iranian girl recite a prayer in Arabic, and some South Asians recite poetry in Persian. I love Muslim prayer spaces. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded we can all just get along. If only we’d let ourselves.

A few new books added to our sidebar items. One is on mystical poetry and symbolism in Islamic literatures, by Annemarie Schimmel. Another is a theoretical framework for understanding some of the issues plaguing Muslim majority societies. It covers a wide-range of disciplines including religion, economics and history. The newest one is a discussion of the stories of Joseph/Yusuf found in the Hebrew Bible and in the Qur’an.

One of the favorite topics of conversation amongst my friends and I is whether certain foods are haram (forbidden, like pork) or makruh (discouraged). Our case study is usually lobster, but it seems God hates shrimp. Glad to see we’re not the only ones contending with this issue. Like I said before, we can’t see the Muslim the community in a vacuum.