Some shrill ex-Muslim blogger Isaac Schrödinger didn’t appreciate my bursting the bubble of the ludicrous Secular Islam Summit: By the way, what does "self-hating" mean? Does a person who is born in a Muslim family and then later leaves Islam — and is vocal about the issue — hate him/herself? I do understand the schizophrenic part: Western liberty and Islam don’t mix. For those interested, I ended up having a lively exchange with him and his Islamophobe buddies in the... Read more

Shabana writes poems, I read them (well, once in a while, alas). I came across this beautiful and intriguing poem from Cola Franzen’s compilation Poems of Arab Andalusia by the late 10th century Andalusian poet Ahmad Ibn Faraj on love, comportment and self-restraint and was absolutely blown away, especially by the last three stanzas.  Whew, what incredibly vivid (and sensuous) imagery, juxtaposed against the purest sentiments of chastity and adoration. Although she was ready to giveherself to me, I abstainedand... Read more

A neat new site for students of Arabic, Arabic Word A Day. Here’s an example: (كمل) – kamula, Kamila, & Kamala* – verbDefinitions: to become whole, entire to be finished, done to be concluded, come to a close, to reach Examples: kamala al-kitab (كمل الكتاب); The book has finished. kamula Nisa_bu ‘l-Zakati ‘indi (كمل نصاب الزكاة عندي); I’ve reached the limit for zakat liability. Kamula min al-Rijal Kathir wa ma kamula min al-nisa_’ illa maryamu bintu ‘imra_n (كمل من الرجال... Read more

My comment on a discussion on ‘Aqoul of curmudeon with messianic delusions Tarek Fatah’s nasty and intellectually dishonest broadside [see below for HT] against "Little Mosque on the Prairie". Fatah complains that his kind of Muslim  (like what, Wafa Sultan?) isn’t adequately represented on the show and goes so far as to absurdly imply Islamist sympathies in  its creator,  who made the hard-hitting but balance documentary of gender discrimination in mosques  "Me and the Mosque". ‘Aqoul: Tarek Fatah on Little... Read more

I blogged recently about some media reports that medical benefits had been demonstrated for the practice of male circumcision in studies in Africa.  Just came across an article in CounterPunch by David Rosen on the debate that provided a curious and bizarre detail of which I was utterly (and blissfully) unaware. There is, he says, "growing use of the male foreskin in female beauty products".  As in face creams.  Sorry for the gory details, but it appears that disgarded foreskins... Read more