Islam General Archives

April 23, 2008

Another Good Conspiracy Theory Down the Drain

Al Qaeda says an Israeli conspiracy didn't do 9/11. And, it adds, Iran started the Israel conspiracy rumor. Is that itself a conspiracy rumor?

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:43 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

March 07, 2008

Saudi Arapia? Hib-hob from the Land of the 2Moskz

Over at the Washington Post, Faiza Ambah tells the tale of a Saudi hip-hop crew who dream of stardom and self-expression. Unfortunately, their Saudi parents and kinfolk are not so enamoured of these kids now performing a real-life version -- allowing for musical genre differences -- of the movie Dirty Dancing (whose own star is, incidentally and sadly, fighting for his real life).

But even as they rap in praise of Islam and their mothers, and against the war in Iraq and terrorism, their biggest hurdle has been convincing family, friends and Saudi society that they are not simply trying to imitate a decadent Western lifestyle.

Continue reading "Saudi Arapia? Hib-hob from the Land of the 2Moskz"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

Selling Islam

How can your business make money off the religious? The Lounsbury has already covered Islamic finance, so I'm not going to comment further about that. You could create an Islamic car. Turns out it is as simple as adding a compass (to point to Mecca) and ensuring the glove compartment is roomy (so that you can put in a Quran and headscarf). Other people are talking about setting up a Muslim airline. Features included halal food and gender-segregated seating.

Continue reading "Selling Islam"

Posted by dubaiwalla at 12:00 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

December 02, 2007

Prediction: Teddy Bear Thing Started As Spite

This sentence is in one story: "The row erupted after a secretary at the school complained to the Sudanese authorities about the naming of the bear." I cannot find it but somewhere I came across a reference to the Teddy Bear Teacher as having apologized to a faculty member who was offended. Prediction: this will turn out to have started as a spite attack by someone in the school staff who, for whatever reason, did not personally like that teacher and found an issue to attack her on that would get the dopey and the offenderati riled up. Could be wrong here, but the spidey senses are starting to tingle as this kind of information trickles in.

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:38 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 29, 2007

To Myrtus: On Women's Headgear

I've had a courteous but frank exchange of views with the anglophone Dutch-Moroccan blogger Myrtus on the small matter of women's headgear. I responded to an article of hers, in which she had in turn responded to a comment of mine. You'll find my response below, after some courteous - what else? - prompting from another equally courteous blogger.

Since that post was written, Laila Lalami has published a very good piece on the headscarf issue in France for the Nation, and I cannot refrain from citing her last lines:

The foulard in France, therefore, is nothing more than a fig leaf; however long one stares at it, the eye will eventually have to face the nakedness of racism and discrimination.

To paraphrase another French philosopher: I do not approve of the headscarf, but I will defend to the death the right of women to wear it

Hear, hear.

Continue reading "To Myrtus: On Women's Headgear"

Posted by Ibn Kafka at 06:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 24, 2007

Not in my name

This short entry to denounce the recent verdict againt a victim of rape in Saudi Arabia. Ibn Kafka also has an excellent post about this (in French).

Saudi Arabia claims that it applies Islamic law. In doing so, this medieval country is tarnishing - again - my identity as an Arab and as a Muslim.

If you are like me, sick and tired of this Tartuffesque regime, let it be known how much you want it to change. Not to the equally retarded bigots, but to their influential friends.

Posted by Shaheen at 06:09 PM | Comments (30) | TrackBack

November 10, 2007

Infidel Review: Packaged Phobias

Yes, in in breaking news, the long-awaited mysterious review of Hirsi Magan/Ali has been sighted.

It is perhaps not off to share as well, The Financial Times very able critical review of a related genre of Islamophobic literature, that of the statistically illiterate "Eurabia" genre to which in many ways Hirsi Magan/Ali belongs.

Continue reading "Infidel Review: Packaged Phobias"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:45 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

October 21, 2007

Real Fascism Awareness Week: DC-area Holocaust Commemoration

Sunday October 28 from 6 to 8 pm in Sterling, Virginia, near Washington DC, a rather nice event for those interested and local. The All Dulles Area Muslim Society is organizing a presentation featuring a Holocaust survivor, called, perhaps unsurprisingly: Reflections on The Holocaust: A Story of a Holocaust Survivor, and designed for "all of Humanity to Remember and Learn the Lessons of the Holocaust." More info below.

Continue reading "Real Fascism Awareness Week: DC-area Holocaust Commemoration"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:56 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

October 11, 2007

Ayaan Hirsi Ali proves that even stupidity is dangerous

Today I was mulling over how the average person might view Ayaan Hirsi Ali based on the image she has cultivated for herself. A commenter on Brian Whitaker's blog captured this perception quite well:

Below is a segment from an colunm written a couple of days ago by Sam Harris & Salman Rushdie. It from the LA Times.

"Hirsi Ali was immediately forced into hiding and moved from safe house to safe house, sometimes more than once a day, for months. Eventually, her security concerns drove her from the Netherlands altogether. She returned to the U.S., and the Dutch government has been paying for her protection here -- that is, until it suddenly announced last week that it would no longer protect her outside the Netherlands, thereby advertising her vulnerability to the world.

Hirsi Ali may be the first refugee from Western Europe since the Holocaust. As such, she is a unique and indispensable witness to both the strength and weakness of the West: to the splendor of open society and to the boundless energy of its antagonists. She knows the challenges we face in our struggle to contain the misogyny and religious fanaticism of the Muslim world, and she lives with the consequences of our failure each day. There is no one in a better position to remind us that tolerance of intolerance is cowardice."

Try telling Ayaan Hirsi Ali that Islam Is not fascism.

There are two problems here. One is that (ill-informed) people apply the actions of a few murderous whackjobs to an entire religion. The second is that Ayaan Hirsi Ali actively encourages this misconception by making grossly uneducated assertions about Islamic tenets/beliefs, which are then lapped up by people who don't know any better.

Continue reading "Ayaan Hirsi Ali proves that even stupidity is dangerous"

Posted by eerie at 08:14 AM | Comments (58) | TrackBack

September 07, 2007

Bin-Laden Versus Bin-Laden, same day

Osama bin-Laden on Sept. 7 2007* -- "19 young men were able, by the grace of [God], the Most High, to change the direction of [America's] compass."

Osama bin-Laden on, um, Sept 7, 2007 -- "burning living beings is forbidden by our religion, even if they be small like the ant, so what of men?"

In addition to terrorist, criminal, fanatic, and other filth-and-foul words, we can now add "what a fatuous dick".

Continue reading "Bin-Laden Versus Bin-Laden, same day"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 08:11 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

F**kin' Alif, Dude! Arabic School Opens in Brooklyn

The Khalil Gibran International Academy school has opened in New York, part of the public education system. Being a wacko libertarian, I have my reservations even about public schooling as a general concept, but allowing it to be a virtue and necessity, still what advantage is it to have a specialized school devoted to Arabic culture and language for kids in Brooklyn USA? Folks, there does exist a private education option for establishing such things, if felt needed. This has a Euro feel of separateness to it, combined with the related US cult of the Great God Diversity. But I thought we yanks had passed on the "separate but equal" thing in public schools. Naturally, of course, the Daniel Pipes squadrons of haters-of-all-things-even-appearing-Muslimish-and-socially-acceptable made an unbelievably laughably weird xenophobic stink over it (Pipes: "learning Arabic in-and-of-itself promotes an Islamic outlook"). They even got the first chosen principal fired for correctly explaining that intifada in Arabic means a shaking-off, thereby apparently establishing that a school that teaches the Arabic language should most definitely not teach it accurately.

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:47 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack

August 25, 2007

Syria's Consideration: A Realistic Travelogue in A Surprising Place

I must say something nice about the Washington Times, which normally has MENA-related fare along the lines of FoxNews and this type of swill. I saw this story a short time back of a travel-writer's visit to Syria in the dead-wood version, but not online. Now I see it is online. Amazingly, the writer actually seems to have taken note of the place and reported it and experienced what normal travelers there would notice, although one might find it too saccharine for its non-comments on the ubiquitous Leader & Family photos, or the pervasive poverty. Still, entitled sincerely and without guile The Kindness of Syrians, it is well done and refreshingly rooted in relevant reality; excerpts for you link-avoiders below the break. (Elsewhere on deeper questions of wealth and poverty, AbuFares has this to say; more on that at another time. Now back to the W. Times.)

Continue reading "Syria's Consideration: A Realistic Travelogue in A Surprising Place"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 05, 2007

Honor Off Her: Fadlallah Fatwas Honor-Killing Out of {Shia} Islam

The practice of hyperpatriarchal societies of murdering suspect sexually-impure females, known as honor killing, and prevalent in the MENA region, in the ME far more than the NA parts, has been ruled unIslamic by Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah, Lebanon's leading Shiite Muslim figure. (This has appears to me a bit underreported, though to their semi-credit the story is noted by the creepshow bigots at Jihadwatch who then go on to argue that a fatwa against honor killings isn't really a fatwa against honor killings, because well, you know, it, um, well , it, anyway it makes sense to ignorant hate-spewers who claim to "get it" about Muslims, unlike us poor "dhimmis".) The fatwa, as some coverage notes but others in comments report differently, is not replicated much in Sunni circles to date. An analogy may be to southern American Christians who accomodated race-segregation even when some religious were not in favor, out of fear of public prejudice in favor of the practice. In any event, the fatwa's a cool thing, and it did not require the efforts of Irshad Manji. As far as I can tell, no comment by Ayaan Hirsi Ali on this, possibly because it doesn't compute?

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:48 PM | Comments (37) | TrackBack

July 19, 2007

The Muslim Sartorialist

Ever heard of the Sartorialist? It's basically a photo blog done by a guy with a keen eye for fashion. He photographs people in trendy European and North American cities and adds little blurbs about why he thinks the outfits are interesting.

Now, I've always taken note of fashionable Muslim girls around me. They are masters of layering, texture and coordination. Whether it's at the mall, a pretentious cafe or even my gym (where one stylish muhajabat routinely schools me on the treadmill), these ladies are not held back by their headscarves. Unfortunately, most of the photos you find on news sites are of women wearing frumpy hijabs, dowdy overcoats and ominous-looking ninja getups (as Lounsbury likes to call them). Western media is inundated with photos of shapeless baby-blue Afghan burkas and Saudi niqabs, so it's hardly surprising that most non-Muslims think this style of dress is ubiquitous.

Continue reading "The Muslim Sartorialist"

Posted by eerie at 02:02 PM | Comments (40) | TrackBack

July 12, 2007

Tunisia & Women's Rights: Real Developments?

I turn this issue over to a better-informed readership. A Globalist article argues that Tunisia provides a real regional model for a legislative and public policy system that would protect the rights and hopes of women in home and professional life, and do so consistent with religious sentiment and scholarship. "What really sets Tunisia apart from other Arab countries and most majority-Muslim states," Andrea Barron writes, "are its policies on marriage, divorce, child support, abortion, honor crimes and domestic violence. After all, what does it matter if a woman can attend university, own her own business and run for political office if she cannot choose her own husband and be free from violence perpetrated by her own family members?" So, are the benefits in Tunisian women's legal rights genuinely real; if so, have they been a cause or the effect of social changes? And where does the, ahem, not quite freedom-loving/democratic nature of the Ben Ali government fit in to all this, if at all?

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:21 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

July 07, 2007

Trinity & Religious Debate: It Ain't Just A River in Texas

Folks, this one is an academic discussion for those not negatively oriented towards religiosity, religious dialogue and esoterica. Save your "it's all superstition" comments for Hit & Run. It comes from personal observation of sorts, especially when a translator I needed argued that Allah should not be translated as God because the word "God" in English suggests a "triune deity". I don't want to get into the Allah=god question, here; instead this brought out something I have detected when discussing religions academically with Muslims: Muslims' vast overrestimation of the Trinity in ordinary Christian consciousness (as opposed to doctrine). Without endorsing all what I read here, the author notes that in Christian-Muslim polemic "Christians are usually keener to debate other topics; and we [Muslims] tend to conclude that this is because they themselves are uncomfortable with aspects of their Trinitarian theology." He conveys his impression that is not necessarily the case and to the extent he does I think that is correct.

Continue reading "Trinity & Religious Debate: It Ain't Just A River in Texas"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:48 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

July 03, 2007

UK Muslims & Reaction: A voice of reason and not whinging victimhood

Very briefly given limited time, I draw attention to a very good arty by Asim Siddiqui in The Guardian that very properly takes on the mealy mouthed response and whinging victimhood whining of rather too much of the UK Muslim community (and professional Muslim activists - of course I am generally contemptuous of activists as a general matter). [Added: I would also recommend this: My plea to fellow Muslims: you must renounce terror]

Some particular highlights that I think key:

The events of the last few days have been sobering for us all. The response from some UK Muslim groups (influenced by Islamist thinking) is still largely to blame foreign policy (undoubtedly an exacerbating influence but not the cause), rather than marching "not in my name" in revulsion against terrorist acts committed in Islam's name. By blaming foreign policy they try to divert pressure off themselves from the real need to tackle extremism being peddled within. Diverting attention away from the problems within Muslim communities and blaming others - especially the west - is always more popular than the difficult task of self-scrutiny. ... so long as the world is presented as one where the west is forever at war with Islam and Muslims there is nothing we can do to appease the terrorists and those who share their world view. Instead it is this extremist world view that must change.

Continue reading "UK Muslims & Reaction: A voice of reason and not whinging victimhood"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:34 PM | Comments (88) | TrackBack

June 24, 2007

Foregoing their Commission? Saudi Virtue/Vice Cops on Trial

D'apres this Washington Post story, it seems that the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the morality cops, are on trial. Some of Saudi's finest face charges for brutality, including killing, of suspects detained for, I don't know, flirting, willful shimmying, being within six meters of unbearded non-familial genitals, or whatever it is they arrest folks for. But whatever may be the foibles and popularity of enforcement of extremely conservative mores, there does seem to be a popular line in the sand (MENA stereotype imagery, sorry) being drawn against arbitrariness and in favor of due process. Procedural due process is a good thing in itself. {Note to the over-self-righteous: Of course, (adopting superior cultural tone here), we never have such things here as "vice squads", general alcohol bans, or police killing old ladies in places where consenting informed adults are merely alleged to be consuming or distributing a vice-inducing product.}

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:20 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

June 18, 2007

Ayaan Anti-Hirsute Ali: Son of Deuteronomy of Gath

Monty Python's Life of Brian meets real life as this woman gets to speak in public as if she knows what she is talking about. Saracen-slayer Ayaan Hirsi Ali was speaking at the National Press Club and I accidentally heard it on the radio. At first I didn't know who it was until a stream of simple-minded inanities about Islam versus the West narrowed it down fast. No transcript available, only memory, but I had to belly-laugh and nearly spew as she explained Islam's rigidly came from the fact that it takes its Scriptures as literal and divinely authored unlike, um, Christianity. In the Christian Scriptures, she explained, the books are not fixed as being written by God, but are said to be written "by people . . . like Paul . . . and Deuteronomy." (That's exactly what I heard, folks.) What an expert guide for us on religion and progress! O, why did I have to be a Monty Python fan?

Continue reading "Ayaan Anti-Hirsute Ali: Son of Deuteronomy of Gath"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:30 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack

June 16, 2007

Gaza Stripped: Two Demi-Quasi-States, One People

It appears the folks who rather justly complain of having no country, now appear to have two. Well, three, if you count the old Likudnik view of Jordan. Or in the negative numbers, if reality functions as a point of reference.

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:59 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack

June 02, 2007

Skool's out

At a time when the interpretation of Islam is a key issue worldwide, this seems a strange and even worrying development:

ABU DHABI — Applicants for the posts of imams and muazzens in the mosques across the country will be exempted from the requirement of academic qualifications in Shariah and Islamic Studies if they are found to have memorised the Holy Quran.

The Authority issued the decision after discovering that many applicants for these posts in the mosques do not have degrees in Islamic Studies and Shariah but have memorised all the chapters of the holy book, Dr Mohammed Matter Al Kaabi, Director General of the Authority told Khaleej Times.

Surely a more sensible approach would be to run some kind of training or diploma course for those without degrees? Memorising a text does not make one a scholar of it. I could memorise the Quran, given enough time and a Romanised transliteration, but I still wouldn't understand a word of it.

Posted by secretdubai at 05:15 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

May 28, 2007

Sexy Abaya Fashion & Breathless American Journos

While not entirely terrible, the Washington Post arty For Cloaked Saudi Women, Color Is the New Black - indeed in some ways quite an interesting piece on new Abaya fashion - was moderately annoying. I suppose it's from the Saudi-centered vision (of course it is an arty about KSA, but given my experience that much of the non-Islamic world takes KSA as if it were the standard...)

Of course it does raise fond images of sexy Abaya fashion as seen outside KSA. Never mind the baroqueness of Maghrebine Caftans...

Posted by The Lounsbury at 02:18 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

May 23, 2007

Keep your Sunni side up: Lebanon conspiracy theory #637

Seymour Hersh propounds this conspiracy theory of sorts regarding the rise of Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon. I don't buy it offhand, but there's plausibility in a Saudi role in promoting Sunni anti-Shiite counterweights, with US winks and nods. Any takers?

What I was writing about was sort of a private agreement that was made between the White House, we're talking about Richard -- Dick -- Cheney and Elliott Abrams, one of the key aides in the White House, with Bandar. And the idea was to get support, covert support from the Saudis, to support various hard-line jihadists, Sunni groups, particularly in Lebanon, who would be seen in case of an actual confrontation with Hezbollah -- the Shia group in the southern Lebanon -- would be seen as an asset, as simple as that....There is a supreme overwhelming fear of Hezbollah and we do not want Hezbollah to play an active role in the government in Lebanon and that's been our policy, basically....

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:23 PM | Comments (42) | TrackBack

The never ending list of new bans in Islamic finance

Before I mention this amusing theoretical case of a usurious zero interest rate, a few comments about today’s FT Alphaville’s entry on Islamic finance:

Islamic finance - based on a strict interpretation of the Koran that bans the use of interest in transactions

Usury. The Quran bans usury. What the Quran explicitly bans isn’t the topic of the Islamic finance debate. It’s whether any amount of interest constitutes usury.

Concepts such as derivatives and hedge funds, for example, are considered particularly controversial, given the Koran’s ban on gharar (speculation).

Ben Smith, the author of this entry really needs to get his info outside Tora Bora, because there’s no such ban whatsoever in the Quran. The discussion about gharar comes from some hardly known jurisprudence, and it's not even a prohibition. Even the obscure ramblings of those yawn provoking troglodytes have a more nuanced (well, confused) view on it than the one presented above.

Continue reading "The never ending list of new bans in Islamic finance"

Posted by Shaheen at 12:31 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

April 26, 2007

Finance 101 for Muslims

It is sad to say this, but finance is to today’s Muslims what medicine or astronomy was to medieval Europeans. I’m so sick of coming across people condemning themselves to poverty because they decided to follow the widespread confusion promoted by ulemas who are criminally ignorant about finance and even about traditional Islamic jurisprudence itself. So here, I decided to write this intro to finance in the hope that it will enlighten at least some of the Muslims who are hesitant when it comes to dealing with interests.

I’ll try to make it as simple as possible and will avoid circus monkeys jargon, sometimes even overly simplifying for clarity’s sake. It’s for lay people, so finance geeks look away, or your eyes are going to hurt. This is very long, so here are the sections:

I The law of gravity: supply and demand
II Money’s just an asset
III The time value of money
IV Risk
V Putting it together: interest rates
VI You do want that loan: why borrowing is necessary
VII The fallacies behind Islamic finance
VIII Islamic jurisprudence and the case of the last Caliphate
IX Pass it on

Continue reading "Finance 101 for Muslims"

Posted by Shaheen at 03:12 AM | Comments (29) | TrackBack

February 18, 2007

Eunuchs & Islam, or Andrew Sullivan's Gullibility

Possibly alone among my fellow authors, I have a soft-spot for the moderately incoherent Andrew Sullivan, despite his fundamental gullibility and superficiality so common to editorialists, illiteracy in science and economics, and tendency to dip into the well of accidental bigotry with respect to race and non-Western things. His general philosophy is close enough to my own that I generally read around the inanities.

Today, in amusing myself reading the blog I stumbled across this in which in typical editorialist fashion he regurgitates some utterly idiotic bigotry from a reader, without bothering to fact check, who claimed:

The Koranic reference to "slaves not attracted to women" is not meant to be interpreted as gay people, but rather to eunuchs. Just another traditional practice from the folks who brought us 9/11.

Charming. Even more charming that he quotes it as a "correction" to his almost as rubbish-quality "reflecting" on Arab sexuality and women.

Continue reading "Eunuchs & Islam, or Andrew Sullivan's Gullibility"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:29 AM | Comments (72) | TrackBack

January 18, 2007

Allah v. God v. G-d v. YHWH v. The LORD

On Lounsbury's journal, a debate I will now hijack has been going on. That debate suggests a more basic underlying religious vocabulary dilemma that goes back decades at least: the selection by many Muslims to use "Allah " instead of "God" when discoursing religion in English. I personally oppose it but as I am not Muslim I have no direct stake in the underlying religious taboos, if any. But I do find it linguistically annoying and highly misleading, for reasons addressed further on.

Update: Courtesy of commenter Dawud is this Islamic scholarly explanation of why the term "God" is a halal one for "Allah".

Continue reading "Allah v. God v. G-d v. YHWH v. The LORD"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:22 PM | Comments (75) | TrackBack

January 02, 2007

Eid 'Em & Weep: Was Saddam's Death-Timing Sectarian?

Nir Rosen suggests that the timing of Saddam's death on the Sunni Eid was a sectarian message: as there are no lawful executions on Eid, therefore legally the true Iraqi Eid must be the Shiite one. Is there any merit to this implication, O informed readers? Was it clearly a gottersaddamerung message for the Sunni side of the street? A look and listen at the lynch-mobbish hanging of Saddam (sensitive readers, don't go there) suggests a very sectarian sendoff. Faithful Aqoulite MSK has helpfully made note in comments of one blog and one NY Times account.

Continue reading "Eid 'Em & Weep: Was Saddam's Death-Timing Sectarian?"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:43 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

December 30, 2006

Eid Mubarek and Economics

On the occasion of wishing, to the extent I am capable of such, readers Happy Holidays, Eid Mubarek and similar canned sentiments, a quick suggestion.

For the Islamic world, the Eid is a great time to reflect on the current inefficiencies in the markets, on why one can't do haouli forward contracts for an Eid delivery on a sheep, and generally on how consumption spikes in MENA reveal failures in the subsidies systems.

You might take time to reflect if an Islamic MBA would help introduce such ideas into conservatives venues, or ask what private investment may actually be doing. Regardless, the region is tipping on the edge of catastrophe due to the Americans' incompetence, but I remain hopefull that other trends, like massive amounts of capital and investment will tide things over.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 29, 2006

Something is rotten in the state of Islamist politics

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is one of the two most prominent leaders in Sunni Islam. He might not have the stature of the pope, but when he speaks, people listen. So what does he think is the chief objective of every Muslim?

Could it be:

1. Being a good person, and living in harmony with one's neighbors?


2. Following the five pillars of Islam?


3. Defending Prophet Mohammed against slanderous attacks by enemies of Islam?

If you correctly guessed C, you win nothing - the first two would not have merited a mention here.

Continue reading "Something is rotten in the state of Islamist politics"

Posted by Top Secret Anonymous Guy at 10:07 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 26, 2006

Sheikh Hilali, Imported Imams and the Cultural Divide

Since I'm sick and daytime television is unbearable, thought I might write a bit about the emerging controversy around Sheikh Hilali, an Australian imam who recently made some rather provocative observations about women during a speech on marital relations and adultery.

The story is splattered across the front page of The Australian, which offers an mp3 version of the speech, along with an edited English transcript (which I'm sure only captures the boring parts).

Currently, the primary media hook seems to be that Hilali compared unveiled women to meat that gets snatched up by cats because it is left outside, uncovered. This is clearly drawn from the one-page English transcript noted above, which contains little substance save for the frankly bizarre and crude remarks about cats, meat and fridges (and some gratuitous mudslinging at People of the Book).

Continue reading "Sheikh Hilali, Imported Imams and the Cultural Divide"

Posted by eerie at 11:45 AM | Comments (33) | TrackBack

October 16, 2006

Tarawih in the Kingdom, Part 2

Today I got the giggles.

We chose a small makeshift mosque that was close by as the big neighbourhood one was too far to walk after a long day and so we made our way to the small one round the corner. It was tiny, barely holding a hundred people and the women's section held barely a third of that number. The moment I walked in and saw that there was a curtain, a CURTAIN, separating the male and female section, all the piety I had managed to muster evaporated as all I could think of was that the billowing curtain might be blown high enough to expose the two worlds. There would be havoc.

As we began to pray an old woman a couple of feet away from me began whispering visciously in my direction. Alarmed slightly I edged away from her but this only seemed to infuriate her further. After a few more ignored hisses, she grabbed me by my cloak and dragged me in one surprisingly firm move towards her. As I staggered in alarm my mother looked at me barely surpressing a laugh and whispered "You were too far away from her, there shouldn't be any gaps between worshippers." This I knew but had never witnessed it so dedicatedly implemented. I managed to regain my composure and keep praying, bemused by the small, bent octogenarian's strength.

Continue reading "Tarawih in the Kingdom, Part 2"

Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 09:10 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

October 14, 2006

Muhajabah and Heretic ponder the Offenderati

Last week, a devout Muslim friend and I had another productive talk about the state of Muslim-West relations over lunch. Actually, it wasn't lunch per se, more a stroll through the local bookstore as she was fasting and I was not.

I really don't know why she likes me. Perhaps she is trying to draw me back into the fold as it were, but I enjoy her company and find her observations astute and refreshing (as an aside, I am always amused when women view me as a "project", someone who needs to become more social, outgoing, faithful, less eccentric, etc).

In any case, the Muhajabah, while strolling through my favorite corner of the bookstore (World History/International Political Science, obviously), made an observation that recalled recent discussion of "Professional Offenderati" here on Aqoul:

"Do you think these wild-eyed types in Pakistan call their bosses to ask for the afternoon off because they need to throw things at the US embassy and burn the Pope in effigy?"

Continue reading "Muhajabah and Heretic ponder the Offenderati"

Posted by eerie at 04:38 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

October 09, 2006

Tarawih in the Kingdom

I stepped into the women's section of the neighbourhood mosque, my mother by my side and the imam's quranic recitations booming in my ears. The praying area was on the upper floor of the mosque, ornate, sweet-smelling and half full by the time we got there. The imam had already finished isha'a prayer and started on tarawih so we quickly joined the last line and started praying under the brilliant chandelier and, thankfully, an air conditioning vent.

One thing that has always moved me is the reverberation of the congregation as they say "Amen" after the end of a quranic verse. As women are not allowed to raise their voices in prayer if men are in earshot, the rising chant after each verse is a deep rich tenor. These moments always affirmed - as far as I was concerned - the virtues of group prayer and the significance of communal religion. A lone worshipper believing more in a personal spiritual relationship with one's Maker, I am not a fan of mosque prayer but taken with the spirit of Ramadan and not wishing my mother to go on her own, I found myself smiling at the familiar "Amen" that emanated from the (not overlooked) male congregation below.

Continue reading "Tarawih in the Kingdom"

Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 05:03 PM | Comments (24) | TrackBack

October 07, 2006

Mr Straw & The Niqab

It appears that Foreign Secretary Straw's comments on the Niqab, the face veil, have set off a bit of a storm. From The Financial Times to The Times coverage of his original comments regarding prefering women not wear the face veil as divisive through to coverage of The Poodle's craven and inconsistent pandering (the sooner he is gone the better, I await with impatience) and The New York Times (but "British Official", come on, how about [former] British Foreign Secretary? [mea culpa, I entirely forgot about Beckett's very existence]).

I am not sure if that is good or bad, but it bears some commenting on. First, when I first saw the comments I wasn't sure if he meant the hijab, which would have been annoyingly tedious, or the niqab, which I agree with. I am pleased to see it is about the covering of the face. There is a vast and important difference between the ninja get-ups that are so very Saudi Wahhabite neo-Islamic rot, and a woman covering her hair with a scarf.

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Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:58 AM | Comments (17) | TrackBack

October 03, 2006

My Fieldtrip to the Right Blogosphere

Apart from daily scans of the Aggregator, I don't have a lot of time to spend reading blogs of any political/religious stripe. I'm not sure how often our contributors venture out into the wider blogosphere either, let alone cultivate relationships/flamewars with other blogs. My mental image of 'Aqoul somewhat resembles a secluded house on the outskirts of a chaotic city, a bit like Professor X's mansion (I'm sure this will lead to a bizarre side discussion on which X-Men are most like our authors/regulars, but let's try to stay focused).

In any case, I don't follow the daily mumblings of ignorant morons wanking on about dhimmitude and the infinite evils of Islam, nor do I routinely comment on blogs other than this one. Perhaps I'm a victim of the echo chamber effect, but I think it has more to do with wanting to spare myself the frustration of seeing the same Islamophobic glurge repeated over and over until it magically becomes fact.

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October 02, 2006

The reality of Islam and the Republic

I almost missed this fairly important note in the Financial Times on European Islam and the wild-eyed whinging that seems to be becoming the rage in certain circles in North America regarding the Muslim minority in Europe: The reality of Islam and the Republic.

First, the author of the opinion piece, FT’s European Editor, has an excellent summary of the mythology, playing off of a recent publication, Integrating Islam: Political And Religious Challenges in Contemporary France.

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Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 01, 2006

Violence, Christians, Muslims - More Fallacious Framing

I caught an interesting article in the Washington Post on Somali shopkeepers and violence which I think is a decent point of illustration of the easy, fallacious framing that often occurs.

Now, in this instance, the article focuses on the xenophobic reaction of Xhosa to Somali shopkeepers, telling known by a name derived from Islamic and Somali vocabulary - baraka, which as many readers know is simply the Arabic for "blessing(s)," although not as the journo incorrectly puts it "God's blessings" as a phrase, merely understood, as in English low church usage that it's God that does blessing. Somalis are known as barakas. Now, the article, aside from some ethnic superficialities, is quite good. However, in reading it and reflecting on how such stories get framed I rather thought it typical of, in particular, Western journo reporting in Africa and elsewhere on violence where an ethno-religious cleavage exists.

[Crossposted from The Lounsbury]

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Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:34 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

September 26, 2006

Indigènes: Underlining fallacious framing

I thought I might return to a film that I have mentioned in the past since it is now out in the cinemas, at least in Europe, Indigènes, which tells a story that, as a French historian puts it in his discussion of the film, has been "obscured" in French and generally in Western recounting of WWII (and Maghrebine of their own history, at least following the anti-colonial reaction). I confess my personal interest arises from a family connexion with the tale, insofar as one of my grandfathers was a naval officer transported these fellows across the Med...

That is, the participation - indeed the dominant role of Muslim African (be they Maghrebine or sub-Saharan) soldiers in the "French" army liberating France - an item that I have mentioned in the past in connexion with the idiocy of ignoramuses such as Irshad Manji tying the Islamic world to the Nazis. It is also an item of interest in reflecting on the fallaciousness of simple minded Clash of Civilisation whanking on.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:10 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

September 16, 2006

Potpourri: Benedict, Islam, and Less Obvious Targets

I tend to think the Pope's recent Islam-related comments, which were first addressed here by Lounsbury below, constituted an intentional opening salvo, or a water-testing, in Benedict's un-John Paul II-like approach to non-Catholics, including Muslims. Though Benedict and his predecessor were bascially of one mind theologically, and also in terms of internal Church governance, when it came to relations to outsiders they had quite different outlooks. John Paul II was a city boy from a time and part of Poland that wasn't quite as narrow and bigoted about, say, Jews and others, as the rest of Poland. It was a relatively secular and cosmopolitan Poland JP II knew and favored. He had friends of all stripes, including Jews, some of whom or their families died in the death camps. Benedict's origins and approach are quite different, and the swipes he took in the yawn-inducing address were taken at more than just Islam as a target.

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Posted by Matthew Hogan at 10:34 AM | Comments (58) | TrackBack

September 15, 2006

Popery

A very quick comment on the emerging Popish scandal regarding comments and the like.

First, I rather consider the whole thing absurd. Second, the choice of quotation was, well a bit on the queer side, but there it is. Third, the manner in which this is being reported in the Arabic speaking media is...well piss poor. Fourth, as a general matter, one finds in MENA that there is a strong popular sensation that "religion" should not be "insulted" - you find this even among fairly liberal people. Of course, it is all too human that people are particularly sensitive to slights against their own religion - or percieved slights - but it would be unfair to say it is only "own religion" as the general sacralness of the "religions of the book" remains a fairly strong sentiment.

There is also certainly no small aspect of "seeking to be offended" as the Islamist radical types pimp offendedness to feed off gut reaction.

This would all be less of an issue had not the Americans made the region such a bloody basket case of a mess with Iraq.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:35 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

August 23, 2006

Barbuphobia: Clerics, Beards, Pre-Judgment, Piety & Stuff

Egyptian author Mona Eltahawy confronts her own presumptions about Les Barbus, presumptions derived from her experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia. By les barbus, I refer of course to a nickname used elsewhere for those conservatively pious, sometimes Wahhabi, Muslim gents who tend to sport long beards. They are often presumed -- can we say profiled? -- to harbor intolerant or reactionary social and religious views (not to mention explosives). The author herself concedes holding such statistically valid presumptions presupposing judgmental viewpoints on the part of conspicuously beadred Muslim men. But she soon comes to discover that such presumptions aren't always a reliable guide to each individual, especially after encountering a new person of the barbus type who turns out to be worth getting to know as a three-dimensional being in his own right, during meetings they had in and around a conference in Copenhagen on modern Muslims .

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June 05, 2006

Anger as Analysis: Part II

Moorishgirl’s recent article in The Nation and a followup comment by our man Whitaker have compelled me to revisit the issue of telegenic female Islam critics and continue our Anger as Analysis series. My first installment focused on Irshad Manji and her inability to examine Islam objectively due to negative childhood experiences in her minority Twelver community (Uganda and Canada). Part II is a reflection on Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her controversial approach to critiquing Islam and its adherents.

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May 24, 2006

Iran & The Faux Law, Backtracking

The infamous Jews and Xians have to wear special clothes fiasco has now seen a full retraction, although for those looking for reasons to bash something, our dear Saudi cretins appear to be still in the business of producing hateful rubbish in the service of the Wahhabi hate mongers who so dearly love to dress themselves up in more-Muslim-than-thou clothing.

In other matters, Hirsi Ali - Magan has taken her US media campaign to a new level with a fine NYT piece of puffery about the poor oppressed media darling. Or as the phrase in the arty goes, "her daring approach to Islam, her arranged marriage in Africa, her exotic beauty." Sexy it is, Sexy.

A fair comment, however, from the arty goes:

"She irritates me deeply with her one-sided view of Islam," said Jan Beerenhout, a former Amsterdam municipal official and a convert to Islam. "But I feel ambiguous. She was offensive to the Muslims from rural areas who practice an archaic form of the religion. But if she had not spoken out, many wrongs would have remained taboo."

Certainly it does appear to the causal observer such as myself that Dutch society and social commentary suffers from a bit of constipation in re the Muslim minority - my impression is of little balanced convos, but rather black and white. Could be wrong, of course, relying on second hand knowledge.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:15 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

May 23, 2006

Anger as Analysis: Part I

Irshad Manji, Wafa Sultan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Why am I always picking on them?

Ostensibly, we have much in common. We are women born into faiths and cultures where gender inequality is widespread and can manifest itself in terrible ways. If anything, I should be able to relate to women who distance themselves from normative Islam (or renounce it altogether) and maintain a deep appreciation for the individualism, plurality and relative freedom found in Western societies.

Instead, I am appalled at how casually they draw conclusions about an entire religion based on narrow personal experience and the substitution of angry rhetoric for serious examination.

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May 20, 2006

Islamic Finance - Scholar Shortages

Some weeks ago one of your fine 'Aqoul authors raised the issue of Islamic finance, and its present situation.

While perhaps less sexy than the faux-reports of Iranian Nazi-esque clothing restrictions on minorities, understanding a bit about economic developments in the region is more useful to readers wanting to actually have a sense of MENA developments (as opposed to merely whanking on in general ignorance about the horrors of the Arab world, etc), and The Financial Times has been running quite a number of interesting articles on the region - well actually about the Gulf, but the confusion of Gulf with all of MENA/Arab world is so general I almost cannot complain.

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Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:31 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack

May 17, 2006

Ayaan and Lessons on the Blog Whankosphere

Some sad lessons pop up once in a while in "blogging" (I do hate the term), among the the written confirmation of the facile idiocy that passes for commentary online, above all "far away" things. The utterly idiotic, wrong-headed ignorant whanking about the supposedly "Islamic immigrant" "intefada" that popped up during the French minority riots last year. This largely among American commentators with fuck all of an any information about France, the socio-religious profile of "immigrants" (3rd generation French born 'immigrants') hysterically shrieking on about an Islamic radical 'intefada' (hello Andrew Sullivan et al -none of whom by the way ever corrected or retracted their... well distortions and outright lies).

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Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:56 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

May 01, 2006

Irshad Manji: In the Beginning vs. The Trouble with Islam Today

True to my bleeding-heart Jewish agnostic hippie upbringing, and at the urging of both my even more bleeding-heart hippie mom and our Editor in Chief, last night I went to a talk by Irshad Manji, part of an interfaith lecture series held at a Reform synagogue and sponsored by several local religious institutions.

Ms. Manji opened with a hearty “shalom” to the audience, and launched into the tale of her disillusionment with the Muslim religious establishment, which began when, as a child growing up in the Vancouver area, her parents (ethnic Indian refugees who had been expelled from Uganda under Idi Amin) sent her to what she said was the one local madrassa for her religious education on Saturdays.

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