Middle Church: Mercy and Compassion
I was invited by Middle Church to preach. I spoke about mercy and compassion, and below is the video. “In the Name of God” :: Sep 23 @middlechurch from Middle Collegiate Church on Vimeo.
Quoted: #MySubwayAd: People Respond To Anti-Islamic Subway Ads
#MySubwayAd: People Respond To Anti-Islamic Subway Ads. Muslim and non-Muslims alike took to Twitter today to denounce the Islamophobic ad. Their responses were both humorous and thoughtful. Below are some of our favorite tweets:
Blurring of Cultures at Louvre’s Islamic Art Wing – NYTimes.com
Blurring of Cultures at Louvre's Islamic Art Wing – NYTimes.com. Other Arab bronzes with inscriptions in Arabic and Latin conjure memories of places where East and West met. A ewer from Arab Spain in the shape of a peacock carries an Arabic signature identifying it as “the work of the Christian King’s slave.” Underneath, an inscription in Roman capitals proclaims “Opus Salomonis Erat” naming the artist, probably called Sulayman, the Arabic form of the biblical name.
The Louvre’s New Islamic Galleries Bring Riches to Light – NYTimes.com
The Louvre’s New Islamic Galleries Bring Riches to Light – NYTimes.com. Now the museum is again risking the public’s wrath as it introduces the most radical architectural intervention since the pyramid in 1989. Designed to house new galleries for Islamic art, it consists of ground- and lower-ground-level interior spaces topped by a golden, undulating roof that seems to float within the neo-Classical Visconti Courtyard in the middle of the Louvre’s south wing, right below the museum’s most popular galleries, where the Mona Lisa and Veronese’s “Wedding Feast of Cana” are hung.
Huffington Post Live: Not Talking about Religion
I was recently on Huffington Post Live, talking about lots of stuff, except religion. Nice change of pace, and a great session.
Qawwalis, Found Sounds, and Benghazi: Locating the Sacred in a New York Church | On Being
Qawwalis, Found Sounds, and Benghazi: Locating the Sacred in a New York Church | On Being. The combination of Yoon’s voice and the electronic components helped create a bridge between the trappings of the modern and sense of spirituality as being ancient. The stories were inverted, and technology was ancient, with spirituality being modern. Perhaps that is the state of affairs we are entering. Twitter and the writing stick are both technology, and we are coming to grips with our own spiritualities now. And when I think about the prayer of the monks, with nothing but their voices, it makes…
Muslim New Yorkers Learn to Pick Their Battles – WNYC
Muslim New Yorkers Learn to Pick Their Battles – WNYC. “There’s no longer a sense of Muslim and American, but Muslims as Americans,” said Rashid, “and I think that’s a really important part of that political engagement. And I think, looking at France, you still see this isolation, this difference. You’re either French, or you’re Muslim.”
From mystical timeless to today’s timely
Religion News Service | Blogs | Omid Safi – What Would Muhammad Do? | From mystical timeless to today’s timely. How to take the timeless language of classical Islamic mysticism, and express in it 21st century American English is something that takes heart and soul, intellect and craft, and Alexis York Lumbard’s beautiful Conference of the Birds is indeed rich with all these qualities. Lumbard's work is beautifully illustrated by the incomparable Demi. The result is a stunning work of art that speaks to all who are spiritually seeking, no matter what their age.
The Takeaway: How Riots Abroad Affect Muslims at Home
While the filmmakers behind the anti-Islam film, ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ may not have intended to cause protests and violence across the Muslim World, they did clearly intend to perpetuate Islamophobia. And while their film may not have succeeded in directly doing so, it seems as if the subsequent violent protests may be helping them achieve their aim. So as protests in the Muslim world continue, more Americans may become disillusioned with our involvement in the region. But what does that mean for Muslim Americans, here in the United States? Answering that question is Hussein Rashid, professor of religion at Hofstra…
Behind anti-Muslim video ‘Innocence of Muslims:’ what L.A. County knows but isn’t saying | Alaska Dispatch
Behind anti-Muslim video 'Innocence of Muslims:' what L.A. County knows but isn't saying | Alaska Dispatch. Professor Rashid says the moviemakers’ plan rested, in part, “on everyone being as full of hate as themselves. Fortunately, that's not the way the world actually is.”