It’s not about Abraham
It’s about Sarah and Hajar. Rachel points me to this powerful poem by Mohja Kahf.
Category: Inter-faith
The Cordoba Initiative
I would like to direct your attention to the Cordoba Initiative. Although their tagline “Improving Muslim-West Relations” would have you think that they are unaware of the last generation of civilizational debates and identity politics, they actually show a lot of potential. There are some good people working there and their contacts are deep. Poke around, have fun, and tell them to change their tagline. The best part is that they promise to be a media portal. If they would only supply donuts, I would be truly happy.
Forensic Scriptures Conference
I’ll be speaking at a conference in May 2009 at Riverside Church in NY. The event is called “Forensic Scriptures: What the Qur’an Reveals about the Bible.” If you are in the area and would like to attend, you can enter “Friend of Hussein Rashid” under the “position” field to receive a $100 discount on the registration page. Make sure you also check the “affiliate” price.
Quote: Religion in the American Public Sphere
What would happen if religious ideas were subjected to such a debate? I want to conclude with some speculations. A robust, critical discussion of religious ideas might encourage popular faiths more consistent with modern standards of plausibility, more conscious of the historicity of all faiths, and more resistant to the manipulation of politicians belonging to any party. The long moratorium on sustained, public scrutiny of religious ideas has created a vacuum in which easy god-talk flourishes. Religion has no monopoly on foolishness and ignorance, but our convention of giving religious ideas a “pass” has made religion a privileged domain for wackiness…
Parliament of World’s Religions – Call for Proposals
Join us to “Make a World of Difference” As-Salaamu `Alaykum! Many of us actively engaged in the interfaith movement share a passion for working toward the betterment of humanity and towards solutions to our most pressing challenges. The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions invites you to direct some of that passion toward getting involved with the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions as a participant or program presenter. The 2009 theme is “Make a World of Difference: Hearing each other, Healing the earth.” Major sub-themes will include the environment, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, interreligious dialogue, poverty, peace…
Gaza Crisis [1/29]
This will most likely be my last major link round-up on the topic. There are individual threads of the cost of the crisis that I may develop, but with the current incursion over, the need for relatively quick, major round-ups has dissipated. One of the things I tried to communicate through my sourcing was that the conflict is not a religious issue. I consciously choose to limit the number of Muslim sources to indicate that there was opposition to Israel’s actions that was not based in a conception of a Cosmic War. I also wanted to highlight the number of…
Open Letter to World Leaders
Trying to get a copy of the open letter to world leaders to post. In the meantime, here’s a brief write up.
Question on Tikkun Olam
What is the Muslim equivalent? I know we have one, it’s embedded in our conception of khalifa. But do we have something as pithy? I ask, because now must repair. Now we must heal. The world is un-wrought, it is distraught, it is with anger fraught.