Interesting list of Muslim blogs

At the risk of unseemly self-promotion and despite my abhorence for sites of this ignoble nature–which are basically ruining the Internet by filling it up with low-quality articles designed to attract search engine traffic, making useful, unique content near-invisible to the casual surfer in the process–I have to admit that this list of “Best 50 Muslim Blogs”  serves a useful purpose, so I’m making an exception and passing it on.

I’m sure some of its picks/omissions are debatable–[uncomfortable cough over pick #2]–but it’s an interesting list with helpful comments.

Speaking of which, well thought out lists, especially annotated ones, like this are a lot of work. Diligent list makers are the unsung heroes of intellectual life, and responsible, informed political engagement in the Information Age. As anyone who’s had to quickly get up to speed on a complicated subject realizes when they come across a good annotated bibliography.

What adds insult to exhaustion, though, is how no sooner do you finish does someone promiscuously borrow from and/or steal in toto the product of your tedious labors. For example, after the great African American Muslim leader Imam W.D. Muhammad passed away in 2008, I toiled for a while on a media round-up of useful analysis that was available online at the time. It was promptly reposted on another Muslim blog. It probably seemed a small thing to the “borrower” at the time, but there’s a reason they were tempted to lift my list–it saved them a lot of work due to my legwork, reflection and editing. Not kosher, yaa akhi.

As with thieves, there is no honor among bloggers.  (Or is that redundant? MSM outlets certainly feel that way, not without reason in many cases.)