[This was originally an extended postscript on last week’s post, “Yuletide musings on the Ramadan shutdown,” but I think the topic warrants its own post and these long postscripts on tangents are distracting. When I have a chance, I’ll try to beef it up by adding some links to studies. For now, here is the earlier comment, unedited.] This is a bit of a tangent, but I have to say that I think it’s disgraceful how–in this day and age,... Read more
A belated Merry Christmas to those playing with new toys today. Growing up a Muslim in Boston, I always resented how agonizingly bored I found myself every Christmas Day, with seemingly every business establishment but the local movie theater and occasional Chinese restaurant conspiring to deny me anything whatsoever to do. (See my 2005 post, “The Grinch: The Misundersood Mujahid,” for more.) Today, at the age of 40, with family–and, ahem, broadband, even if NetFlix cruelly let me down last... Read more
If you care about the health of American democracy and/or the large numbers of civilians being regularly killed through drone attacks in South Asia, please spread the word about the outrageous decision by Apple, Inc. to block an app mapping drone attacks from the AppStore. Please use to the action alert on Roots Action to let Apple know that this is unacceptable. And get the word out. “Apple Censors Drone War” (Roots Action): Apple Inc., which has received over $9... Read more
This post is part of an inter-faith discussion on Brian McLaren’s new book Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?, hosted at the Patheos Book Club. Reading Brian D. McLaren’s Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World–which I was invited to review as part of its Patheos Book Club discussion– has been an enriching experience for me. I found it a profound, thought-provoking and unexpectedly creative... Read more
Haroon Mughal was on CNN yesterday eloquently providing some much needed context to the sensationalistic images of Muslim unrest over the “Innocence of Muslims” hate film that we’re seeing ad nauseam at the moment on the news. He did a wonderful job. So nice to see an articulate Muslim injecting some insight and balance into cable news discussions of the Muslim world. It’s always easy to nitpick from the other side of the screen and I doubt I’d be anywhere... Read more
The digital news outlet that serves American Muslims Illume has just published an exhaustive and thought-provoking investigative report by Obaid H. Siddiqui on the disturbing case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin (a.k.a. H. Rap Brown). It chronicles the persecution of this civil rights icon, now imprisoned. The procedural irregularities and demonstrated bias by the authorities during his trial and incarceration remind me of the internationally acclaimed political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. Something’s fishy about this. Rap Sheet: H. Rap Brown, Civil Rights... Read more
A very interesting online happening is coming up soon: An online course on the rife (or should I say “ripe”?) phenomenon of Islamophobia and strategies for combating it. It looks like a very timely and innovative initiative. I’m sure people from many walks of life would find this enlightening and helpful. Please check it out and consider supporting it, as I intend to. From the announcement that I received: What must we know about Islamophobia? And how can we fight... Read more
If you didn’t catch it, the leading progressive political magazine in America, The Nation, recently came out with an amazing collection of articles on the War on Terror, Muslim integration and Islamophobia. It’s a scrumptious feast of the kind of sharp, insightful analysis that’s so consistently absent from coverage of these vital issues in the Corporate Media. Among the articles in the July 2-9, 2012 issue of The Nation are: “Fear and Loathing of Islam” by Moustafa Bayoumi. In the... Read more
There’s an unexpected signed op-ed in The Gray Lady defending hijab. Indian Muslim woman’s rights activist, Ayesha Nusrat reflects on the benefits off wearing hijab, two months after adopting it, in “The Freedom of the Hijab.” I respect hijab, but don’t consider it fard (obligatory) today. Nusrat makes some profound points: In a society that embraces uncovering, how can it be oppressive if I decided to cover up? I see hijab as the freedom to regard my body as my... Read more
Check out this wonderful exchange about the nature of jihad in Islam in a recent film. (And, if you know the film’s name, please let me know.) Update: I’ve been informed it was “Sleeper Cell,” a 2005 film I somehow missed. (Actually, it’s in my NetFlix queue, but it’s a long, long queue.) Aside from the fact that I agree wholeheartedly with its message and think such insights need to be more widely discussed–among not only non-Muslims but also Muslims,... Read more
Akram's Razor
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