Conferences Inter-faith Intra-faith Religion

MLT – Discuss the Undiscussable

Four questions were posed to us in small groups. The questions are below, with my thoughts in brackets. Couldn’t capture everyone’s ideas, but feel free to answer in comments on your own. Topic: Integration of Islam and the West What frustrates/angers/annoys/etc. most about the topic? [The question. As long we see a dichotomy between Islam and the West, others will as well. For the most part, I have to say, at least in the US the integration question seems to be coming more from the Muslim community. Those who want to reach out to us already accept religious identity and…

Read More
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,…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
Conferences Religion

Conferences, Conferences

As you all know, next weekend is the Progressive Faith Blog Con. I’ll be there, and I hope to you meet you there as well. This weekend, I’m in Copenhagen for a conference called Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (although they don’t have a website today). The press release is here. No outlets for laptops, so no live blogging, but I’ll try to put summary of the sessions and my thoughts on them as I can. Technorati Tags: MLT, progfaithblogcon

Read More
Conferences Intra-faith Religion Web/Tech

Moslems on the Internets

Paper presented at Harvard’s Islam in the West Conference. Introduction only. Full reference information for citation purposes will be supplied on request, normal copyright reserved for this posting. Introduction President Bush’s comment about the “internets” was derided for turning a singular, indivisible entity into a plural. While technically incorrect, the term does highlight an interesting point: While there is only one internet, the variety of reactions to the internet – because of its association with the world wide web – are manifold. Is the internet a space for free sharing of information and easy access to commercial goods or is it a…

Read More
Books Religion

Reading the Qur’an – Part 2 – Interpreting and Translating

Finally, I’m getting around to writing the second part of my three part post on Reading the Qur’an. (Parts 1 and 3) The catalyst for this event was this post by Abu Dilbert (yes, that Scott Adams). Part one of the series talked about the Arabic of the Qur’an and scholarly apparatus of the Sunni community that developed to deal with interpreting the word of God. The idea that God’s word is not necessarily clear to humans should come as no surprise, and when you introduce translations, the problem is further compounded. Most Muslims view any translation as actually an…

Read More