islam doesn't speak, muslims do | "the ink of the scholar is worth more than the blood of the martyr" – Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
I’ve blogged on occasion about Legos. You might remember me mentioning The Brick Testament,which retells a number of famous (and in some cases shocking) stories from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Well, I appear to be the last person in the Islamophere to notice the wonderful blog Teaching Kids the Holy Quran, which aims to do the same for the Quran, but with some innovative twists. via akramsrazor.typepad.com
I am a contributor to the volume All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, and we’ve been getting some great press. … Superb.” – Junot Diaz “The incredible variety of voices here will combat the pervasive and bigoted idea that all Muslim men share monolithic values and worldviews.
Mercury News editorial: Silicon Valley Reads courageously tackles prejudice against Muslims – San Jose Mercury News. Everyone in this multicultural valley would get something out of this year’s works by American Muslim women: “The Butterfly Mosque,” a lyrical memoir by G. Willow Wilson, and “The Muslim Next Door: The Qur’an, the Media, and That Veil Thing,” by native Californian Sumbul Ali-Karamali. Even if you don’t read them, come to a discussion.
Your Call: How are graphic novelists illuminating politics and history?. On the next Your Call, we'll have conversation with graphic novelists. How do images change the art of story telling? What are your favorite graphic novels? What makes them unique? Join us at 10 or email feedback@yourcallradio.org. More graphic novels have been published in the last 10 years than in the previous 30. What explains the explosion? What can we learn from graphic journalism? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.
Jihad Beyond Islam: open access book | Islam, Muslims, and an Anthropologist. I am pleased to inform you that my publisher Berg has decided to join the Social Science Open Access Repository and to make my first book, Jihad Beyond Islam(2006) available legally for download with no costs but strictly under the Creative Common License.
Cambridge Digital Library – University of Cambridge. Cambridge University Library's collection of Islamic manuscripts dates from the origins of Arabic scholarship in Cambridge in the 1630s when the University founded a Professorship in Arabic and William Bedwell donated a Qur'an to the Library. Since that time the collection has grown in size and diversity to over 5,000 works, including the collections of Thomas Erpenius, J.L.Burckhardt, E.H.Palmer and E.G. Browne. These manuscripts shed light on many aspects of the Islamic world, its beliefs and learning. h/t Gary Bunt
A friend of mine sent me this great documentary on the last handwritten newspaper, The Musalman. Coincidentally, Comedy Central ran a bumper about the same paper shortly after.
So happy to know Ayesha. Ayesha Mattu: Fighting for what’s Right | elan. Ayesha Mattu, 39, is not afraid to challenge the status quo. Her professional career focuses on creating safe spaces for oftentimes disenfranchised communities. Mattu has now co-edited a book called Love, InshAllah. She shares the stories of American Muslim women falling in love. We got a chance to speak with Ayesha.
Reviews « Love, InshAllah. Love Inshallah is unbelievable in its audacity. Not all of our authors find love, and God and God’s Will are just as often felt by their absence as by their presence. The brutal honesty that these women portray is refreshing and frightening. Nearly every story reveals another aspect of the human condition, and makes you appreciate that even among people who share the same faith, love can mean something very different. Pre-order Love, InshAllah
The Qur'an and Mysticism: A Review of Craig Thompson's "Habibi". It is this esoteric use of language to reveal hidden truths that has captured Craig Thompson's imagination in his long-awaited graphic novel, Habibi. An ambitious, surreal tale of the love between a young Arab girl sold into marriage and the orphan boy she adopts, Habibi spans multiple eras of conflict and change, stretching the lifetimes of its two protagonists over many centuries. The Qur'an is central to Thompson's narrative, though oddly enough the religion of Islam is not. Instead of retreading the usual unpleasant arguments over Islamic law, Thompson ventures…