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A Story

During one of the conflicts of the early period of Islam, Hazrat Ali (PBUH) was on the battlefield engaged with his opponent. He had disarmed his opponent, the champion of the opposition, and was getting ready to slay him. His enemy spat upon him and Hazrat Ali sheathed his sword. His opponent asked why he did so. Hazrat Ali’s response was that “In battle, when two enemies are fighting for a cause,” in Imam Ali’s case Islam, “then the ideals of the of cause are worth dying for and have to be respected. When you spat on me, I became…

Conferences, Conferences

As you all know, next weekend is the Progressive Faith Blog Con. I’ll be there, and I hope to you meet you there as well. This weekend, I’m in Copenhagen for a conference called Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (although they don’t have a website today). The press release is here. No outlets for laptops, so no live blogging, but I’ll try to put summary of the sessions and my thoughts on them as I can. Technorati Tags: MLT, progfaithblogcon

Obama, Race, Religion, and Slavery

I had been toying with the idea of writing a piece on Obama, his religion, and the legacy of slavery for some time. Recent questions about his attendance to the church of Rev. Wright appear to have brought the first two issues to boil for Obama as well, and delivered a masterful speech this week on race in America. In terms of content, I have no problems with his comments. However, I think he still misses something important in his approach. Over a year ago when the question of Sen. Obama’s faith became an issue, I felt he inadequately addressed…