Category: Inter-faith

Inter-faith Intra-faith Media

On a New York Times Roll

islamoyankee

The NYT had an interesting series of unrelated articles about Muslims over the last week. Deprogramming Jihadists I respect that the article is trying to show how the Saudis are attempting to deal with demon they helped create, but really does not address some of the inconsistencies in the approach. For example: Saudi schools teach a version of world history that emphasizes repeated battles between Muslims and nonbelieving enemies. Whether to Afghanistan in the 1980s or present-day Iraq, Saudi Arabia has exported more jihadist volunteers than any other country; 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudis. and…

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Inter-faith Intra-faith

A Conversation in a Mosque

islamoyankee

A friend recently went to Turkey and the tour guide started explaining Islam. It’s actually pretty good, and the guide is funny. Of course, I have objections to both a five pillar definition of Islam and linking of religious acts as dependent on science, but overall it is fun. It’s also nice to have a Muslim, from a Muslim-majority country, explain Islam in a way that resonates with the way many of us understand our own faith. Turkey

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Inter-faith Politics

Obama and anti-Semitism

islamoyankee

I’ve been watching the subtle anti-Semitism directed against Sen. Barack Obama. First there’s the constant reference to his name that he shares with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack, and now he is being tied to a rabbi, a cousin of his wife’s. We’re now understanding how deep this anti-Semitism runs with the revelation that Gov. Sarah Palin did a little religion baiting in her last race and believes all Jews should be converted. We wouldn’t stand for this attack on a people if they were Muslim or Christian, and we shouldn’t stand for it when it directed to Jews.…

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Books Inter-faith

On “The Jewel of Medina”

islamoyankee

There’s a controversy over the historical novel called “Jewel of Medina,” about one of the Prophet Muhammad’s wife, Aisha. If you are unfamiliar with the controversy, the links below provide good background. I believe that Sherry Jones should publish the work. We should have people like Gordon Newby knocking it down. It’s bad history and bad writing. That’s the marketplace of ideas. More importantly we should have better people writing. Muslim or non-Muslim, it doesn’t matter, they just have to be good. I would never recommend Martin Lings’ excellent biography of the Prophet as a casual read, but I would…

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Inter-faith

More on Dehumanizing Muslims

islamoyankee

The Independent is reporting a game called “Muslim Massacre” gets you credit for killing Muslims. I shared the story of the Dayton mosque bombing with an adult education class last night and talked about how it had become acceptable to commit acts of violence against Muslims as witnessed by the fact that none of the major paper reported it. One woman asked me if it was a big bomb or a little bomb, because little bombs don’t deserve news coverage. My thought was that shouldn’t children being attacked be worthy of news, rather than a bomb? Fortunately, she was kind…

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Inter-faith

The Sad State of Jerusalem

islamoyankee

The New York Times has an article about the tension in Jerusalem over the coincidence of the holidays of Eid and Rosh Hoshanna. It is a sad state of affairs that what we celebrate here exacerbates tensions there. The article quotes the poet Yehuda Amichai who says: The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers and dreams like the air over industrial cities. Now it seems like the toxic air of industrial cities with prayers of anger and ignorance. God help us all. The Globe and Mail has a more Muslim-centric perspective.

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