Talk Islam

Updates from baraka RSS

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  baraka 4:56 pm on February 18, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: literature (17), theology (16), women-led solutions (2)

  Three articles of note:

  *Shelina Janmohamed – A Muslim woman’s journey: “I wanted to write about my experiences – not of oppression, or turning away from religion – but of love”

  *The NYT on Muslim women’s quest for equal rights: “Secular feminism has fulfilled its historical role, but it has nothing more to give us,” said Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Iranian anthropologist who has been helping to formulate some of the arguments. “The challenge we face now is theological.”

  *Thomas Friedman on two women traveling across India in a hybrid/solar car, exploring local green initiatives: “Why did this tour happen? Why this mad, insane plan to travel across India in a caravan of solar electric cars and jatropha trucks with solar music, art, dance and a potent message for climate solutions? Well … the world needs crazy ideas to change things, because the conventional way of thinking is not working anymore.”

  Here’s to amplifying different perspectives and new ways of thinking!

   

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  baraka 7:06 pm on February 10, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: human rights (381), religion (364)

  Ovi Magazine’s The Religious Roots of Inalienable Human Rights: Universalism vs. Pluralism?

   
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  baraka 12:22 am on February 10, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: literature (17)

  More Paki lit: William Dalrymple’s “Moonlight’s Children”

  “The Pakistan establishment’s suspicion of writers, the atmosphere of military censorship, and the lack of support or encouragement for the arts had a numbing and stultifying effect on Pakistani writing.

  In a famous 1997 New Yorker photograph of hot young writers from the subcontinent, there was not a single Pakistani in the group.

  A decade on, however, something remarkable is happening in Pakistani writing.”

   
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  baraka 12:17 am on February 10, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: economy (35)

  SF Chron: “Muslim investors profit by adhering to faith“

   
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  baraka 2:12 pm on February 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: literature (17)

  The NYT calls Pakistani-American writer Daniyal Mueenuddin’s first collection of short stories, “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, “mesmerizing”.

  You can find also some of his stories online at The New Yorker.

   
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  baraka 1:58 pm on February 4, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  Steven Hill thinks moderate Muslims are the world’s swing voters.

   
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  baraka 7:07 pm on January 29, 2009 | 8 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: muslim-americans (22), Obama Administration (16)

  In the wake of positive signs including the Muslim Inaugural fete, George Mitchell’s appointment, and Obama’s interview with al-Arabiya I received an e-mail today saying that the President has named Rashad Hussain to be Deputy Associate Counsel to the President.

  According to the writer of the e-mail “both he and his wife (Isra Bhatty) were at Yale Law, both are hafiz of the Qur’an, and Isra is currently a Rhodes scholar. Great, down to earth, practicing, moderate Muslims!”

  From the article:

  The President has named Rashad Hussain to be Deputy Associate Counsel to the President. Mr. Hussain recently served as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to that, he was as a Law Clerk to Damon J. Keith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

  Earlier in his career, Mr. Hussain served as a legislative assistant on the House Judiciary Committee, where he reviewed legislation such as the USA Patriot Act. Mr. Hussain earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his Master’s degree in Public Administration and in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Harvard University, and his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

   
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  baraka 7:02 pm on December 8, 2008 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Abrahamic religions, human rights (381), Islam (243)

  Rachel at Velveteen Rabbi always has such interesting perspectives & encounters:

  First, a conversation about an Islamic movement called Wasatia – a term which means ‘centrism,’ ‘balance,’ ‘moderation,’ ‘justice’ — which was launched in Palestine in 2007.

  Second, Dr Sulayman Nyang & others comment on the Abrahamic Religions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  Eid mubarik everyone!

   
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  baraka 4:36 pm on October 19, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: europe (82), muslims (347), Renaissance

  How Muslims made Europe – NYT Review of Books: “God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Modern Europe”

   
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  baraka 10:22 am on October 14, 2008 | 5 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Obama (249)

  Campbell Scott/CNN, “So what if Obama were a Muslim or Arab“:

  I feel like I am stating the obvious here, but apparently it needs to be said: There is a difference between radical Muslims who support jihad against America and Muslims who want to practice their religion freely and have normal lives like anyone else.

   
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  baraka 3:29 pm on October 8, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Gitmo (7)

  A U.S. military officer warned Pentagon officials that an American detainee was being driven nearly insane by months of punishing isolation and sensory deprivation in a U.S. military brig, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

   
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  baraka 1:30 am on September 15, 2008 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Obama (249)

  What is small-town America saying about Obama? For one thing:

  According to a survey in July by the Pew Research Center, 12 percent of Americans still believed Obama was a Muslim — even after the long Democratic primary battle that was covered heavily in the national media. Among rural Americans, 19 percent still believed he was a Muslim.

   
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  baraka 1:19 am on September 15, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Muslim women preachers, Qubesiat, Syria (25)

  An article on the Qubeisiat, a fascinating network of women preachers in Syria. [HT: Dervish]

   
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  baraka 2:23 am on September 14, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: citizenship (11), craig ferguson, US elections (2)

  Even comedian Craig Ferguson knows that if you don’t vote you’re a moron.

   
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  baraka 2:21 am on September 14, 2008 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: azhar usman, community (7), islam in america (15), muslim-americans (22), warith deen muhammad

  In the wake of Imam W. Deen Muhammad’s death, Azhar Usman issues an apology to African-American Muslims on behalf of immigrant Muslims and their kids for being less than welcoming & integration-minded.

   
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  baraka 12:29 pm on September 7, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Pakistan (569)

  The NYT on “Talibanistan” aka Pakistan.

   
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  baraka 4:30 pm on September 4, 2008 | 18 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: critique of religion (3), freedom of speech (71), Islam (243), jewel of madina (16), muslims (347)

  With apologies to this person, I just got off of a call in which I was told that the “Jewel of Medina” has found a UK publisher as also reported by the Guardian.

  The person who told me, a prominent Muslim American activist, is trying to formulate a response plan & would love your input. She anticipates a “Satanic Verses + Danish Cartoon” level controversy. She was thinking of having Muslim women writers present a range of views on this.

  I thought having scholars and people of faith (drawing from all religious traditions) speak to balancing the responsibilities and the freedoms of speech would also be helpful so that it didn’t just look like “Only Muslims get pissed about this issue.” Respect for religious figures and artistic license is something all people of faith grapple with to some degree.

  I also suggested that an artistic response celebrating the lives of the Prophet, Hazrat Ali & Hazrat Aisha, and, in particular, highlighting Sunni-Shia partnerships in art or other areas would be useful. She said these figures and relationships were denigrated in the book. She has an advance copy, which she said she read with “liberal eyes” and was still horrified by.

  Any other ideas of what kind of response could be given if this does go forward so as to mitigate the “raging Muslims” depiction?

  I realize that because the book hasn’t been published or read by most of us, it’s hard to articulate specific responses, but some general PR/media ideas would be helpful.

  During the cartoon crisis, one image stood out for me: A Muslim man sitting outside of a Danish embassy painting a beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary in response to the cartoons. I would love to see a response like that, a good action in turn for a bad, articulated for this.

   
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  baraka 6:33 pm on September 2, 2008 | 4 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: calligraphy (2), India (174), Islam (243), media (407)

  The Musalman is possibly the last handwritten newspaper in the world. Four professional calligraphers spend three hours on each page every single day to put out this daily paper.

  While it’s a Muslim newspaper, it’s also a beacon of liberalism in South Asia, employing both women and non-Muslims. Two of the four katibs (calligraphers) are women and the chief reporter is Hindu. Indian royalty and poets often visit the paper to offer content and accolades.

   
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  baraka 10:33 pm on July 9, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Hitchens, torture (164), Vanity Fair (2)

  Christopher Hitchens didn’t think waterboarding was torture – until he tried it.

  Irving responds, “I wonder how he feels about capital punishment?”

  [HT: Umm Yasmin]

   
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  baraka 1:12 am on May 29, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: American Muslims (70), interfaith (50), marriage (62)

  WaPo article on Muslims and marriage in America:

  http://tinyurl.com/3gs5gw

   
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  baraka 1:42 pm on May 2, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: American Muslims (70)

  The diversity of Muslims in NYC compiled into a book of oral histories. Available at Lulu for hard copy purchase or free PDF download. [HT: Yasmine]