Conferences Inter-faith Intra-faith Religion

MLT – The New Cordoba

New Cordoba 1. Reza Aslan a. Daisy quotes from former CEO of HPs comments on Islam after 9/11 as set-up for Cordoba b. PPT presented as written by Shafique Walji (staff volunteer) c. Challenge master narrative of what went wrong i. Islam achieved something great and then went into steady decline d. Introduce Cordoba to get to the discussion i. Basic history of Islamic expansion ii. Expansion of knowledge, and development of institutions of learning iii. Reasons for decline from zenith 1. Seljuq advancement 2. Mongol invasion 3. Advancement of European pardigm iv. Cultural renaissance with Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals,…

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Conferences Inter-faith Intra-faith Religion

MLT – Opening Comments

Ministry of Integration in Denmark 1. Daisy Khan’s opening a. Conference planned before cartoon crisis in Copenhagen b. Now need to heal wounds c. Introducing Susanne Clausen from Integration Ministry 2. Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs 3. Danish gov’t had no control over publication of cartoons in private newspapers a. Could emphasize freedom of speech, freedom of religion were co-existent b. Protests in Denmark were peaceful i. International scene clouded scene in Denmark c. 210,000 (3.9%) population is Muslim d. 85 approved communities, 19 of which are Muslim (aside from National Church) e. 120 prayer rooms f. Muslims are free…

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Conferences Inter-faith Intra-faith Religion

MLT Schedule

Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Schedule: Friday, 7 July 2006 Group Introduction [some very cool and exciting people here, and hopefully a site will go up with the list of attendees.] Saturday, 8 July 2006 Special address by Susanne Clausen, Ministry of Integration of Denmark A New Cordoba Discuss the Unthinkable Talent Bazaar Knowledge Transfer Extremism and New Media The Artists Role Imam’s Circle Sunday, 9 July 2006 Pluralism in Islam Construct Your Identity Media and Islam Integration in the West Monday, 10 July 2006 [I won’t be blogging any of this as they booked my flight to leave before the…

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Inter-faith Music

How the Jews Saved Islam

I was hoping that title would get someone’s attention. More specifically: I was reading The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (And Queens, New York) and learned quite about the relationship between Bukharan Jews and Muslims in Transoxiana (modern day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). In brief, Muslims started giving up aspects of their musical heritage and the Bukharan (here, basically meaning Central Asian) Jews took up the craft and helped preserve Islamicate music, especially the shash maqām. It’s a good read, and I highly recommend it. While it’s also a bit late for Diaspora Month, the last…

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Inter-faith

On Diaspora

The following is in response to Jonathan’s post at Head Heeb. It is a selection from a piece I’m working on about South Asian diaspora communities and hybrid art. Diaspora, as an analytic term, is one that has multiple meanings,[1] and that needs some clarification before proceeding with its use. One convenient way to begin thinking about diaspora is to make a distinction between physical diasporas and the idea of diaspora as metaphor.[2] Physical diasporas[3] can be further divided into types, such as classical, victims, labor, trade, and imperial.[4] The key type of diaspora for South Asians is the labor…

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