Author: Ghostdog

Its been a long hard winter. I realised that unless you take a winter break, this place is bleak. A Red Sox title only warms you up so far. Some interesting things are taking place in the Middle East which have me reading the papers more carefully. I am not convinced that the assasination of Hariri was planned by Assad. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Syrians are knee deep in mire on this one. I think this was a Syrian security operation designed to put pressure on Assad. This is a Syrian internal conflict being played out in…

I have to admit, that I was pleasantly surprised at the high rate of voting in the recent Iraq elections. Even a cynic such as myself watched as a high number of Iraqi citizens lined up under threat of death and cast their vote for the future of the country. This was historic. History will decide whether is was worth the cost of over 100’000 Iraqi lives. While I do not delude myself that this event will deter violence, it does give Iraqis a stake in their country. It does another thing as well; it shifts the focus of insurgent…

“There are no longer any signs of life along 240 kilometers”. (Reporter in helicopter over Aceh) “In this kind of a tragedy, there is no religion,” said Imam Syed Abdullah, who led a team of Indian rescue personnel in retrieving bodies along the coast. He agreed to have Muslim victims buried with others in a mass burial. “They died together in the sea. Let their souls get peace together.” “We’re concerned about providing safe water and preventing the spread of disease. For children, the next few days will be the most critical.” (Carol Bellamy, executive director, Unicef) Please give generously.…

Islamoyankee recently got on my case because of my lack of posting, so I am pretending to work, listening to Dylan, and feeding this up instead. Sadik J. Al-Azm,Emeritus Professor of Modern European Philosophy, University of Damascus, and a recipient of the 2004 Erasmus Prize, has written a thoughtful article straight from the heart of the Arab world. The article entitled, “Time Out of Joint” can be viewed in this months Boston Review. In it, Al-Azm questions his own reactions to 9-11 and Huntington’s theory. It is indeed refreshing to read an article that addresses the issues rationally and approaches…

Last month the U.S. government canceled a visa that it had granted to Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim scholar in Switzerland. The visa, which had been approved in March and would have allowed him to accept a tenured professorship at the University of Notre Dame, was revoked at the request of the Homeland Security Department. No explanation has been given, but a department spokesman cited “public-safety or national-security risks” as the usual reasons for such an action. Tariq Ramadan, 42, is a professor of Islamic studies and philosophy at the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland. He will respond to questions and…

Perhaps I am not up on Muslim writers and thinkers, but thanks to reading a discussion on Muslim Wakeup, I was informed of Asma Barlas, Professor, Politics Department, Ithaca College. Her website contains many articles which are thought provoking and worth a read. The nice thing is that many of her essays are published in The Daily Times, Pakistan, and not in academic journals. Thus making them available to a larger audience. The following was taken directly from Professor Barlas’s website: “My most recent research interests have been in the area of scriptural hermeneutics and the politics of reading/meaning-creation. To…

The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World [ISIM] conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research on social, political, cultural, and intellectual trends and movements in contemporary Muslim societies and communities. The ISIM was inaugurated in 1998 and is based in Leiden, The Netherlands. ISIM has just published its June 2004 Newsletter 14 in print format and online. As usual, it is full of interesting articles, commentary, and reviews. Issue 14 includes: [download newsletter 14, 1.9MB] Martyrdom * A Culture of Righteousness and Martyrdom / Elliot Colla * Suicide Attacks: Life as a Weapon / Riaz Hassan * Martyrdom and…

Been laid up up for a few days with a bum ankle. This has given me some time to catch up on my web reading. It doesn’t look good from here. Forgetting Iraq and Saudi Arabia, for the moment, I am saddened that calmer voices have been shouted down both here and in the Muslim world. We have made this an issue about Islam, and I too have been guilty of this. I apologise. I have recently been in the company of some really interesting thinkers listening to them debate the current state of Islam. Thinkers such as Reinhard Schulzeand…