Louis Cantori has returned to his Maker. Lou was a friend, a brilliant scholar of international affairs, and a courageous and outspoken voice of dialogue between America and the Muslim world. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon. May Allah bless him and his family. Lou was a truly unique individual and an inspiration. And he had a wonderful sense of humor and an infectious, booming laugh that I will miss. Here’s a tribute on his university website, though it doesn’t... Read more

Baby steps towards some semblance of religious freedom in in KSA. BBC NEWS | Europe | Vatican-Saudi talks on churches The Vatican is holding talks with Saudi Arabia on building the first church in the kingdom, where some 1.5m Christians are not allowed to worship publicly. This comes after the opening of a church in Qatar, which leads the cynic in me to wonder this is the latest a new example of the scourge of intra-Khaleeji competition. If so, I’m... Read more

14 hours to pack a still fairly unpacked house before the movers arrive at 7 AM on Saturday. Had been hobbled by a nasty toothache, but it lifted today alhamdulillah just in time for Heimdal to blow his horn signaling Ragnarok. To mix religio-cultural metaphors, I felt like Samson, praying for my old strength for one last mighty feat, and lo and behold it was granted (at least the strength–we’ll see about the victory over all these Philistine boxes). Have... Read more

We’re off to parts western in connection with the Missus’ job (she’s starting a tenure track position this fall).  Had been worried we wouldn’t find a subletter for the summer. The good news is that one has popped up. The bad is that because of my uni’s early summer school schedule, we have a week to vacate the premises so that the next crop can settle in. A freakin’ week. We were expecting June. Speaking of Passover, in hastiness this... Read more

A belated Happy Pesach to fellow Abrahamic dissidents on that whole Crucifixion & Resurrection thing. We attended a Seder last weekend, which was nice. I can almost hear the millions of Jews around the world piously and miserably chomping away at their Matza wafers. Which is, of course, the point, given what it’s commemorating. I can relate. I got pretty tired of Matzoh as a kid. Odd, you say, given that I’m not Jewish.  Well, the goyim eat it, too.... Read more

From an email circulating. At least wudu is a snap. (Or is it? Do you end up doing a paradoxical version of tayammum?) Read more

As I franticly slave away on my masters thesis (which is on Sufi notions of sainthood in the light–or, in some cases, darkness–of Sociology of Religion), I came across this exquisite and pithy yet encyclopedic summary of Sufism by the great Sufi Quranic commentator Najm al-Dīn Dāya (d. 1254 CE): The awlīāʾ are the lovers of God and the enemies of their souls. For welāya is the knowledge of one’s own soul; knowledge of God means looking upon Him with... Read more