Last night, we in small Southern University Town experienced the first dusting of snow seen in in these parts in 3 years. This transplanted Bostonian and occasional resident of the frigid wastes of Scandinavia and the Midwest couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of neighbors excitedly lobbing hand fulls of slush…err, "snow balls"… at each other. Read more
Speaking of Denmark, there have been interesting developments surrounding the cartoons that launched a thousand boycotts not so long ago. Uffe Elleman-Jensen, an internationally respected Danish conservative leader who served as foreign minister in the 1980s, emerged in 2006 as a leading critic of Jyllands-Posten’s cartoons, which he viewed (quite sensibly in my view) as a deliberate and irresponsible provocation. Listening to the mostly idiotic saber-rattling emanating from the GOP presidential debates on the topic of Islam, Muslims and the... Read more
What would you get if you crossed the early 1990s urban themed variety show "In Living Color" with the UK’s Muppets-style political parody show "The Spitting Image" and then plopped it in the middle of Scandinavia? It might look something like "Yallahrup Færgeby". [HT: Islam in Europe] The program follows the misadventures of two dimwitted boys of Middle Eastern background in the fictional Danish ghetto suburb neighborhood of Yallahrup Færgeby. The eponymous neighborhood is a play on words that mixes... Read more
Watched "28 Weeks Later" tonight with buddy and cousin-in-law’s husband Usman in their Golumn-esque-jealousy-inspiring, hi-fi/wide-screen basement home theater. Aside from a few ghoulish touches (especially the grisly and truly gratuitously violent end of the hero/villain’s wife; what the @^&#@ was that about?!?), I found it extremely well done, and surprisingly pleasant for an action-packed and genuinely scary "zombie flick" (technically, they’re not zombies, being rather living people infected by a horrific virus). It was really surprisingly good, especially for a... Read more
Eid mubarak to those of you celebrating the holiday today and belated Eid greetings to those who like us celebrated yesterday. We’re on the road visiting friends and family for the next week. For this–our daughter’s second–Eid al-Adha , we stayed with some of my wife’s relatives, which was really a blessing. I’m particularly grateful for the fact of little Raihana finally spending it properly, with family and other children. A huge improvement over last year, alhamdulillah. It’s so important... Read more
Don’t have time to say more, but I see that I, however implausibly and in spite of my anti-lobbying for the award, got an Honorable Mention for… groan…the category of "Best Ijtihad" in the Brass Crescent Awards. The winner was Ali Eteraz, a fact that will definitely roil some folks on the conservative end of the spectrum. A reluctant thank you–and reproach for questionable taste–to those who voted for me for this category. Perhaps people just liked the perverse humor... Read more
There’s an interesting article in Alternet on America’s decidedly ambivalent attitude towards Christmas back when it was a "Christian nation" largely free of all the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, and other non-Christian subversives who, to the Christian Right’s rage, now expect American institutions to acknowledge their beliefs and sensibilities, as well. As you read these examples of past animus towards Christmas remember that these are the forefathers (and the continuing inspiration) of much of the contemporary evangelical movement. Ironically, their... Read more
The Christian Science Monitor has a good if a smidgen breezy piece on the potential of Sufism as a counterbalance to extremism among contemporary Muslims. Sufism may be powerful antidote to Islamic extremism | csmonitor.com Sufism may be powerful antidote to Islamic extremism With its spiritual tradition, ‘the Sufi way’ is an age-old alternative for radicals and modernists alike. Speaking of Sufism, I gained a new appreciation for "The Matrix" the other day when lecturing on Islam. The various scenes... Read more
If you’re arriving from the the Brass Crescent page and this your first visit, kindly see this and this. I’m afraid you’ve been had, but welcome anyway. Read more
With customary apologies and compliments to runners up, here here are my picks. BEST BLOG: Musings on the Britannic Crescent (Yahya Birt) MOST DESERVING OF WIDER RECOGNITION: Rolled-Up Trousers (Osama Saeed) BEST DESIGN: Deenport BEST FEMALE BLOG: Muslimah Media Watch (Zeynab Sarbaazi) BEST GROUP BLOG: ‘Aqoul BEST MIDEAST/CENTRAL ASIAN BLOG: Nzhinga’s Soap Box BEST SOUTH/SOUTHEAST ASIAN BLOG: The Other Malaysia (Farish Noor) BEST NON-MUSLIM BLOG: Unclaimed Territory (Glenn Greenwald) BEST POST OR SERIES: Umar Lee, Rise and Fall of the... Read more
Akram's Razor
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