Am catching up on news from Denmark and came across an amusing report in the Danish daily Politiken ("Koranen bliver et hit under juletræet", or "The Quran a hit under the Christmas tree"). It reports that a new Danish translation of the Quran (by philosogist Ellen Wuff) was the surprise bestseller this Christmas. In just one month, 5,000 copies were sold. To give you a sense of perspective keep in mind that Denmark’s population is less than 6 million and... Read more
Ken Livingston will be debating Dan Pipes on Jan 20. Fascinating, and more than a bit surreal. To see a sitting mayor to be mixing it up in the ring like this. Ken Livingston is the amazingly outspoken mayor of London who’s created uproars in recent years by calling Ariel Sharon a war criminal, fantasizing about the death of the Saudi royal family, and inviting Yusuf al-Qaradawi to a 2004 London conference on hijab. It’s nice to see that one... Read more
Check out Abu Sinan’s collage of photos capturing the rapid approach of a sandstorm in Saudi Arabia. Yikes. Look at that sucker. It’s positively biblical. Read more
Recently someone on a mailing list that I’m on asked for suggestions of American media or thinkers who challenge the Neocon world view that makes Muslims the root of all evil today. He was especially interested in sources coming at it from the right and that themselves had solid pro-Israeli credentials. What follows is the gist of my response. ——————– There was a time when this task wouldn’t have been quite so difficult, but now that we’ve replaced for most... Read more
In his Defense of Poetry, Shelley famously declared poets the "unacknowledged legislators of the world". Today, those most able to lay claim to the mantle of behind-the-scenes leadership of the world would be filmmakers rather than poets. Hence the importance of popular culture. Whether or not one approves of this state of affairs, you can be sure that "The Cosby Show" had more impact on racial attitudes than every enlightened book, article or sermon of its time combined. Some would... Read more
There’s an online petition to get Amazon to change how it has listed Jimmy Carter’s controversial book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. The petition ("Tell Amazon to Treat Carter’s Book Fairly") points out that Amazon has taken the highly unsual step of prominently featuring an exceedingly partisan and hostile review of the book by Jeffrey Goldberg originally published in The Washington Post the "Editorial Reviews" section normally dedicated to excerpts from the book’s blurb or short and generally favorable reviews. What’s... Read more
I’ve been known to criticize Wahhabis, but there’s one thing they get a bum rap on, this furor over the "hate" of the "Noble" translation (the English translation now distributed by Wahhabis). It explicitly links the last two verses of Al-Fatihah (i.e., the first chapter of the Quran) with Jews and Christians: Guide us to the Straight Way.The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the... Read more
I guess even the normally rabid Charles Krauthammer has lucid moments where he takes note of right and wrong involving Arabs and Muslims. (Like Shakespeare said, "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.") In addition to denouncing the general turn of events, he proposes the theory that the timing was motivated by sectarianism on the part of the Maliki regime. (I don’t know whether this is supported by the facts.) Charles Krauthammer – The Hanging: Beyond Travesty – washingtonpost.com... Read more
I’m regularly surprised by the breadth of The Economist‘s coverage of international affairs, but this time they’ve outdone themselves. It currently has an article on jinn! Yes, "jinn" as in invisible beings, magic, and men who can reach across a room like Reed Richards. Haven’t seen the current issue in the flesh as it were, but I’ve received this from multiple sources, so I’m declaring this report mutawattir. Going In Search Of The Jinn | The Economist Less educated Muslims... Read more
Every now and again you come across an exquisitely perfect illustration of how inane, biased and paranoid attitudes toward Muslims often are today. Periodically, widespread doublestandards and neuroses about Islam and Muslims deconstruct before your very eyes. One of my all time favorite examples of such moments of almost gnostic insight into the underlying nature of reality was when it was reported in 2004 that the Justice Department and FBI had determined that out of 62 cases of "international terrorism"... Read more
Akram's Razor
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