This is quite random (not to mention old, as it’s dated Nov 3, 2008), but having a background in ICT4D I found this report on a technology blog intriguing. It goes without saying that the Internet allows people to keep in touch in radically new ways while on the go and Skype is so widespread that its very name has become a handy verb for millions of Internet users, but who would’ve thought you could use the Internet to volunteer... Read more
In keeping with my vow to make use of my many abandoned drafts, here's a now somewhat stale tidbit. Came across this welcome report of the warm reception given by an audience in Egypt to famous Israeli conductor. BBC NEWS | Middle East | Barenboim gets ovation in Cairo In a rare performance by a prominent Israeli musician in Egypt, Daniel Barenboim has received a rapturous reception at the Cairo Opera House. Mr Barenboim conducted the Cairo Symphony Orchestra playing... Read more
Time to clean out my "drafts" folder, for better or for worse. Read more
Since I'm blogging up a storm tonight, I direct your attention to this useful discussion of "Friendship with Non-Muslims according to the Qur'an" by Afroz Ali of the Australian Al-Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences and Human Development. This is a topic about which one hears so much utter drivel today, so Br. Ali's short but thougthful and pretty systematic overview of Quranic verses relating to social relations between Muslims and non-Muslims is very handy and enlightening. The article shows that... Read more
Sabiwabi pointed out a new and sure-fire way of gauging redneck-itude.* Being up in arms about the Eid stamp. My point isn't that everyone can be reasonably expected to welcome it with open arms in these contentious times. In our ever changing society with all its competing worldviews and lifestyles, to find all developments in cultural and social life to be equally welcome would seem more likely a sign of a cognitive disorder than tolerance or enlightenment. If a person is... Read more
If you think you have it bad, read this simply heart-breaking article in McClatchy on the brutal life of a woman horribly disfigured at the age of 9 months old 30 years ago when thrown into a campfire by her hallucinating mother. Subhanallah, what do you say when you encounter such madness and tragedy? It just makes you want to cry. There but for the grace of God, go we all. God bless her and the many other innocent young... Read more
Doing some reading on the latest outbreak of anti-Eid Stamp hysteria, I arrived at a comprehensive and thoughtful treatment at The American Muslim and it occurred to me how regularly I come across great work there, so I wanted to give it and its editor, Sheila Musaji (who's surely one of the hardest working people in the Islamophere) kudos. The American Muslim is a great resource that collects a lot of the best and most interesting commentary by or on... Read more
Life has been conspiring to prevent me from blogging–or even sitting down to reflect, for that matter–lately, but those of you interested in Sufism will no doubt get a lot out of the rich variety of discussions with eminent scholars available on Ebru TV. The name means "paper marbling" in Turkish–I didn't know what that was, either–and the venture is an English language spin-off of the a popular religiously themed TV station in Turkey called Samanyolu ("Milky Way"). Ebru TV has... Read more
Reacting to an idiotically misogynist comment on my blog, I posted the following status update on Facebook a few days ago. Svend White is pondering the paradox of American Muslim women professionals finding it so hard to find husbands given how comparatively well educated, integrated and well-to-do American Muslims are. The cavalry always rides the instant in when male privilege gets challenged in any way, so an exchange ensued. Not that this is a terribly significant one, but it does... Read more
I recently read David L. Holmes' The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, which I heartily recommend. He makes a compelling case against the widespread claim that Founding Fathers were recognizably "Christian" in their worldviews and that the US was founded a Christian Nation. If by "Christian" one means theologically traditional (i.e., subscribing to the Trinity, Christ's Resurrection, miracles, a personal God, …) Christians–much less evangelical "Bible-believing" ones–the historical evidence seems overwhelmingly against it. He takes a close look at the... Read more
Akram's Razor
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