Category: Religion

Current Affairs Religion

Rage

islamoyankee

Not outrage. Simply rage. Demi has commented before about how amazed she is that we can be (relatively) calm about the situation in Iraq. I think I’ve hit my limit. I’ve previously posted about how the abuses committed by insurgents are utterly un-Islamic. Nick Berg, Paul Johnson, Kim Sun-Il, God rest their souls, each one, and may God grant their families strength and peace. Regardless of the fact the Wahhabis think that beheadings are cool, they are not, and furthers my argument that the Wahhabis should not be a voice for Islam if they are not Muslim. I feel an…

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Current Affairs Religion

Marriage is a gay event

islamoyankee

While I don’t live in the Republic of Cambridge, I do spend enough time there that the ruling concerning gay marriage has a personal impact on my friends. I posted a while ago about how I think it’s a bad idea for the state to legislate morality. There may be arguments for legislating against marriage for same-sex couples, but morality is surprisingly not in the state’s interest. Haroon, from over at Avari-nameh, challenged my basic assumption, and I promised him a good fight, but let it go. Now he’s posting on the same subject, using the same source no less!,…

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Current Affairs Inter-faith Religion Women

Hijab

islamoyankee

There is an op-ed written in a NY Urdu language paper (English translation) that deals with the issue of hijab. I’m looking for the Urdu version, but the English translation reminds me very much of what some of the early debate was like in NY in English. You would throw out a whole bunch of arguments and see what would stick. The arguments have become much more sophisticated and targeted, helped both by time and the easy accessibility of more academic material. I think this article is important, not because of what it says, but because of the language and…

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Religion

A story

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Rabia al-Adawiyya (aka Rabia al-Basri) was running through the streets of town, Basra, one day with a pail of water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When asked what she was doing, she responded, “I want to put out the fires of Hell, and burn down the rewards of Paradise.” She was then asked why, to which she responded, “They block the way to God. I do not want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but simply for the love of God.”

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Religion

The new Mecca

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Education, and the resultant intellectual engagement with the world around us, is one of the tenets of faith in the Islamic tradition. By turning our back on our intellect, we are turning our back on the trust (amânâ) that God has given us; by turning our back on understanding God’s creation, we are turning our back to God; by claiming we can know God, we deny God. What role does America play in keeping the Islamic tradition alive?

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Religion

Edumacation

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In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful Iqra1 in the name of your Lord Who created humanity from a clot Iqra for your Lord is Most Generous Who taught humanity by the pen What it did not know. Qur’an (96:1-5) This selection is the first revelation of the Qur’an; a declaration of the Prophet’s (PBUH) mission and a declaration of it’s intent. Iqra. God has taught us much, much that we did not know. God has taught us by the pen, but that act of teaching is not yet complete, the Qur’an also says (31:27): Even…

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Religion

Parallel Quotes

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I [Rabbi Ephraim Oshry] explained to the adoptive father that his reward would be immense without recognition of having the boy called to the Torah by his name, for he had saved this child from death about which our sages say, “Whoever maintains one Jewish life is considered as if he had maintained the whole world.” G-d will doubtless reward him for his righteousness in raising the boy and educating him in the way of goodness, and grant him many blessings and bounty. Oshry, Efroim, and B. Goldman. Responsa from the Holocaust. Rev. ed. New York: Judaica Press, 2001. On…

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Religion

I need some help with Hijab Etiquette!!

Growing up in Pakistan in the 70s and early 80s, I only knew one woman who wore a Hijab. It was Apaa, my Quran and Urdu teacher. I would have tuition with her two times a week and I always thought it weird that she would come up to our home wearing a black burqa (something like this). She would then take out the head piece and the rest of the outfit and then proceed with torturing me with Alif – Bey – Pay etc. Head covering for women was sort of the national/cultural dress in Pakistan – with women…

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