{"id":359,"date":"2007-11-30T21:56:05","date_gmt":"2007-11-30T21:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2007\/11\/30\/4th-annual-bras\/"},"modified":"2013-05-07T18:37:11","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T23:37:11","slug":"4th-annual-bras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2007\/11\/4th-annual-bras\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Annual Brass Crescent Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s time for the 4th annual Brass Crescent awards.\u00a0 Time to vote for your favorite (or least disliked, as the case may be) Islamic blogs.<\/p>\n

The Brass Crescent Awards \u2013 Honoring the Best of the Muslim Blogosphere<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

The Brass Crescent Awards, a joint project of altmuslim<\/a> and City of Brass<\/a>, is an annual awards ceremony that honors the best writers and thinkers of the emerging Muslim blogosphere (aka the Islamsphere). Nominations are taken from blog readers, who then vote for the winners.<\/p>\n

What are the Brass Crescent Awards?<\/strong> They are named for the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights. Today, the Islamsphere is forging a new synthesis of Islam and modernity, and is the intellectual heir to the traditions of philosophy and learning that was once the hallmark of Islamic civilization \u2013 a heritage scarcely recognizable today in the Islamic world after a century\u2019s ravages of colonialism, tyrants, and religious fundamentalism. We believe that Islam transcends history, and we are forging history anew for tomorrow\u2019s Islam. These awards are a means to honor ourselves and celebrate our nascent community, and promote its growth. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Despite my best efforts to keep the blog out of the limelight through a cunning mix of non sequiteurs, a pathetic (but, it must be admitted, impeccably \"Muslim\") work ethic, and bland writing, Akram\u2019s Razor got nominated this year. My gut instinct is that this is the work of a sinister agent provacateur bent on making the Islamophere look bad. This suspicion seems borne out by the surreal (and exceedingly unwelcome) twist of the nod being for \"Best Ijithad\". Good grief.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for me, there\u2019s little danger of me winning that. Still, to avoid tempting fate, I\u2019m probably going to avoid any doctrinal pronouncements for a while. (Did I hear a collective sigh of relief?)<\/p>\n

I recoil in horror at the thought of anybody mistaking me for a mujtahid, given the abysmally low standards that would imply for them, not to mention the responsibility that such impressions would entail for me were they to spread somehow. I don\u2019t give\u2013nor want to give, nor want to be seen as wanting to give\u2013fatwahs. In fact, in keeping with Groucho Marx\u2019s sage quip about social clubs, I wouldn\u2019t trust any scholarly class that would count me among its number. I aspire to nothing more than being a gadfly and consider gadflies to be among orthodoxy\u2019s truest friends.\u00a0 A sting here and there to discourage complacency or blind acceptance of convention is enough for me.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Too bad there isn\u2019t a category like \"Loudest Curmudgeon\" or \"Most Schizophrenic Critic\".<\/p>\n

Like some bloggers, I\u2019m a bit disappointed with the picks this year, finding the overall mix a bit ideologically lopsided (even if it\u2019s in my camp\u2019s favor).\u00a0 Quite a few brilliant, scholarly bloggers inexplicably went unmentioned. (Was most of the Islamophere in khalwa<\/em> or something during the 1st round of voting?) It\u2019s odd.<\/p>\n

Of course, the organizers aren\u2019t responsible for how people vote, and perhaps part of the blame lies with us OG\u2019s (if you will indulge me\u2013I haven\u2019t been blogging for all that long, but I\u2019ve been on the Internet FOREVER) for not contributing our own picks. I know I forgot to give my faves.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

The explanation might be that many voters unconsciously went for \"new faces\", passing by the old (tried and true) favorites. Or perhaps a lot of people who voted this this around happened to have quirky\/dubious taste. (Look at what tops charts in music and film\u2013the Market is anything but wise.) And there\u2019s\u00a0 the perennial fall-back option of a Mossad disinformation campaign.<\/p>\n

Seriously, though, the motley crew of thematically disparate blogs in the \"Best Ijtihad\" category make me think that some additional categories are in order. The presence of \"Best Public Intellectual\", \"Best Wonk\", and \"Best Gadfly\" probably would\u2019ve diverted some of the quirkier picks (e.g., moi) to more appropriate quarters. (Don\u2019t get me wrong: I think most of those blogs are brilliant. It\u2019s just that only 1 or 2 of them actually actually write as far as I can tell about matters\u00a0 falling under the rubric of ijtihad.)<\/p>\n

So cast your vote, and don\u2019t even think of being a wiseguy and voting for me. I swear, if I even catch a hint of the winds blowing that way, I\u2019ll return to blogging about Legos, Star Trek and Monty Python. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just pass over that awkward bit of weirdness in dignified silence.<\/p>\n

Update (16 Dec 2007):<\/strong> I removed my mention of Abu Layth\u2019s post<\/a> on the BCA lest that be seen as an endorsement of its overly harshrhetoric towards Ali Eteraz. The blogosphere is so blunt that you sometimes barely notice such things.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for the 4th annual Brass Crescent awards.\u00a0 Time to vote for your favorite (or least disliked, as the case may be) Islamic blogs. The Brass Crescent Awards \u2013 Honoring the Best of the Muslim Blogosphere The Brass Crescent Awards, a joint project of altmuslim and City of Brass, is an annual awards ceremony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":357,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legos"],"yoast_head":"\n4th Annual Brass Crescent Awards - Akram's Razor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's time for the 4th annual Brass Crescent awards.  Time to vote for your favorite (or least disliked, as the case may be) Islamic blogs. 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