Intra-faith Politics

Karen Armstrong Interview

She talks a lot about religion and politics in this particular piece. I think her history of the Sunni-Shi’ah political divide is a bit off. Arguably the first empires fighting about this were in the 11th century (Fatimids and Abbasids), but I would argue the political division goes back to the time of the Prophet. However, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t live well together. Karen Armstrong

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Intra-faith Religion

Eid Milad

Today is the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday. Most Muslim celebrate this day to acknowledge that God sent us a message, a messenger, and a role-model. The day is used to remind us of God’s blessings and our struggle to live up to the highest ideals of the faith. Eid Mubarak. Prophet Muhammad, holidays

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Current Affairs Intra-faith

I agree with McCain [updated]

Read this article at TPM for context. I agree on the conclusion, but probably not the process. Most Muslims hate AQ. They stand in opposition to the way most of live. In fact, their very raison d’ĂȘtre is to stand in opposition to the way most Muslims live. As I ask constantly, what is AQ’s positive agenda other than to live the way their master OBL wants them to? I need to do a longer post on why they’ve had such success. In any event, I’m not convinced a grand coalition between Shi’ah and Sunni will now arise to fight…

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Inter-faith Intra-faith Media

Newsweek and Islam

Newsweek has a special issue on Islam in America. Here’s the primary link. Also of note is week-long blog of Muslims speaking out here. The mission statement is interesting because it claims it wants to give voice to the Muslim American community. Keep going back and reading. Seems like a good project. Technorati Tags: Islam in America

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Inter-faith Intra-faith

Muslims are Evangelical Christians

No really. via Street Prophets I see that Pew Research has done a new survey on the “intensity of religious identity” (related report here). I think that Pastor Dan hits all the right notes in his analysis. I think that there is an expectation that Muslims, by virtue of being Muslim, are expected to be more vocal in expressing their faith. Part of it is the post-9/11 onus that has been put upon us to represent, and part of it is the never ending push from the tariqah of Abd al-Wahhab [my friend Reza Aslan took me to task for…

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