Akram's Razor
Okay, I can’t take it no more. Nazar shmazar… But to the be on the safe side… ما شاء الله Read more
Okay, I can’t take it no more. Nazar shmazar… But to the be on the safe side… ما شاء الله Read more
For those interested in the topic, I expanded a bit on my point about the conspicuous absence of complexity in most "traditional" discussions of hijab today in a postscript to my previous post. Read more
Mere Islam (The Salafis and Their Kalam, Kalam, Kalam…) provides links to intriguing critiques of what seem to be ironic theological inconsistencies among some contemporary Salafi thinkers given their declared hostility to speculative theology. Mere Islam: The Salafis and Their Kalam, Kalam, Kalam…. Of special interest in this article is the inclusion of some statements by a couple of noted “Salafi” scholars in which they speculate about Kalam Allah and it’s relationship to His essence, attributes, and actions—thus ironically engaging... Read more
Just stumbled across a mindblowing fact that’s so sensational I’m tempted to selfishly hoard for an academic article someday rather than blog about it now. Fortunately for you, dear Reader, it’s too juicy for me to keep to myself. There is a famous hadith wherein the Prophet, peace be on him, tells followers returning from a battle, "You have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad…the struggle against one’s self [nafs]." This tradition is one of the classic... Read more
Don’t know how I missed this when it came out, but I just came across an article by Genieve Abdo in The Washington Post on the recent "Secular Islam" gathering the credibility of which I ("New from Monty Python: the Ministry of Silly Islamic Activists" and others (e.g., alt.muslim, eteraz.org) have challenged. Not surprisingly, she seems to share our scepticism about their claim to being reformers, much less their ability to deliver the goods. Geneive Abdo – A More Islamic... Read more
Came across a handy Firefox plug-in called Fzami that displays prayer times in the status bar. Haven’t experimented with it yet, but judging by the screenshots it looks great. [HT: Dil-e-Nadaan] Man, this could be a real gold mine for the guy who made it, given how easy it is to get sucked into one’s computer. We’re talking potentially gazillions of sawab . This is a like a spiritual "dot com". He’ll be able to "retire" (to Jannah as opposed... Read more
Yunus told me about a really neat website for memorizing the Quran called Mount Hira. It’s really slick site, employing e-learning techniques to break up lessons into convenient learning units and generally leverage the advantages of web technology. (Do I smell SCORM?) And it’s in Flash, which is such an improvement esthetically. Read more
A delightful vignette from an essay on the curious social, cultural, and economic dynamics of rural college towns by cultural critic Micheal Bérubé in The Chronicle of Higher Education : From "Blue Towns in Red States" (sub required): When I moved to Champaign, Ill., and witnessed a biter, friendship-ending–and coalition-ending–conflict between vegetarians and vegans over who slipped the cream into the broccoli soup at the local organic food co-op, I knew I was in a college town. What a great... Read more
This is random, but I just saw that Allstate car insurance commercial for the umpteenth time with whatshisname with the deep, assuring-to-some-but-fake-to-me voice explaining, "We’ve all seen them: The Makeup Artist. The Dedicated Investor. Mr. Change Your Pants While Driving." Is there really a big problem on America’s roads of men changing their pants while at the wheel? Surely, radio station-changing is a greater cause of accidents. Or how about cell phone usage? The proverbial elephant in the room…. Read more
I stopped by a cafe to study tonight and bumped into fellow Athenian Nancy, who shared this very funny skit from Norwegian TV that translates the typical tech support travails faced by IT pros everywhere into medieval terms. I particularly liked the monk’s frustrated slaps at the book. Great stuff. It’s always fun to hear Norwegian, too. Coming from Danish, I find it easier to follow than Swedish. (But then, unlike native speakers of Danish, I’m translating twice.) YouTube –... Read more
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