There is clearly something deeper going on that you’re worried about or have doubts about

You are correct about being troubled, specifically, spiritually troubled. This response is to Aziz too. Abu Noor, I think you’ve been reading too much of Umar’s long goodbye and seem to be stuck on the notion of ‘progressive devils’ being a fifth column of something or other…

When I first exchanged some emails with Aziz and he invited me to blog here, I told him that I had been closely following TI for some time, but I hadn’t really engaged or participated because I wasn’t in a very good headspace, I was somewhat angry about some of my conversion experiences, and I didn’t want to engage poorly or from a bad place (I was also upset about how some orthodox problem-solving seemed to create dysfunction in modern life – Islam should give us all the tools we need to succeed anywhere at any time). I was particularly upset about feeling ’silenced’ (don’t ask disrespectful questions) and how – internally – that imbued those questions or concerns with more power and interest than they probably merited just from being bottled up. The initial blogging I did was helpful for deflating that material and kind of getting it out of the way, and it was at about that point that I started blogging here.

I’ve continued to use the blogging to try to ‘process’ what comes in from the dunya and from other Muslim perspectives and communities, but I think that what may be happening is that in driving myself up against every point of contention in the media and every point of seeming incoherence within the ummah and within Islam, that it’s having an unhealthy spiritual effect, and I’m falling back into that bad headspace again, or at least not a very good space in which to be engaging other Muslims.

So I need to take a break from being a media junkie, abstain from the blogging and find other diversions for awhile. Finding more and new Muslim community offline in another context might be a good idea too.

To try to sum up the point, I do believe it’s a matter of spiritual integrity not to ignore the world and what’s happening in it if it challenges your faith or your practice, but wading out into this stuff day after day – seeking it out – for too long is also bad for your spiritual health.

So I’m going to dial my blogging way back for a bit…

This post: "Willow wrote: There is clearly something…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

Excerpt from the alleged final posthumous Internet post from the Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA operations in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

This post: "‘My words will die if I do not save the…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

A politician named Zaid Ibrahim who made a name for himself as a defender of speech freedom for Malaysian bloggers is now suing a blogger in that country for defamation.

One blogger wrote:

…if this is ruled as defamation, then we’ll see at least 10 such cases being filed at the courts daily!

In the ‘offending’ post, blogger A Kadir Jasin compares Ibrahim to a cartoon character named ‘Hurricane Hattie.’

No malice intended, but the Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s new wunder kinder, Senator Zaid Ibrahim reminds me of the cartoon character Hurricane Hattie.

In the comic strip The Born Loser, by Art Sansom, which started in 1965, Hurricane Hattie was the mischievous girl next door, who delighted in menacing pretty much any adult she encountered, especially the main character, Brutus Thornapple.

Wherever she went in Thornapple’s household, she created havoc. So is the Umno-nominated Kelantan Senator. Wherever he goes, controversy is not far behind.

Wow, that’s rough stuff. Ibrahim better get out of politics if that’s the way they roll in Malaysia.

This post: "Malaysian blogger defamation ’shocker…." was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

• “Dear God” – A nondenominational website where desperate or struggling people could post often disturbing ‘letters to God’ with a prayer and a description of their travails. Readers offer words of hope and encouragement. “Dear God” was put up for sale just before Thanksgiving.

• “Hal786″ – A blog by a Muslim girl, one of several Muslim children bloggers mentioned on the site. ‘Hal’ most recently blogged about her hopes for the Copenhagen climate change conference. “I can’t wait to see what’s going to be done by the world leaders to help save our planet!”

• “malekat_el7oriya” – A blog by a Muslim teen girl who was most recently blogging about racial profiling of men wearing the ghutra and agal (the red and white scarf that men wear on their head and the black band that holds it on).

• “Mahaguru58″ – Zainol Abideen is writing about his own made-up word: ‘Blogodementia.’ “Isn’t it quite absurd to see some of our fellow bloggers resort to abusing the blogosphere…to spread slander and ill will through their blogs and websites on an almost daily basis?”

Mr. Abideen, the ‘pro-tem president’ of the Muslim Bloggers Alliance in Malaysia, first came to attention for “abusing the blogosphere” with his racist rantings against the Royhinga and for his odd takfiring of poor Muslims. He has never retracted his comments nor apologized.

• “The Arabist” – A blogger who proudly wears the title ‘State Department Arabist,’ a term used derisively and that became widespread in Washington DC when the neocons took over under the administration of George W Bush.

The implication is that anyone who takes such interest in the region is inherently suspicious and must have “gone native.”

He also defends the word from leftists who try to conflate it with Orientalism. The Arabist drew attention for his review of the book, “What’s Really Wrong With The Middle East.”

More blog updates later…

This post: "Where are they now? A few blogs and blog…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said out of the 71, eight had been acted upon under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for defaming others.

“One had pleaded guilty and fined RM10,000 and the court also imposed certain conditions on the accused, while seven are awaiting trial,” he said in reply to a question from Matulidi Jusoh (BN-Dungun) in the Dewan Rakyat today.
….

He disclosed that the ministry had also taken action under Section 263 of the Act against seven websites which insulted Islam, namely http://www.syurga-islam.blogspot.com, http://www.faithfreedom.org, manatuhanallah.wordpress.com, adibahahmed.blogspot.com, surind.blogspot.com, tokbatinsenoi.blogspot.com and http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/1252.

One of the blogs is operated by Indian Malaysian atheist Surind Raj who was reported by ‘protem President of the Muslim Bloggers Alliance’ Zainol Abideen which prompted Raj’s supporters to launch an Internet campaign against Abideen. I can’t tell if this action against Raj is the result of Abideen’s complaint.

This post: "The Malaysian Communications and Multime…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

For critics of anonymous blogging, this would also ‘incentivize’ people coming out from behind their acronyms. Can’t write a check to an anonymous person…

This post: "Someone should start an endowment to pay…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

This post: "Israel-Palestine Blogger Session at J Street Conference" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

I wonder how prevalent it is among young Muslim prospectives to blog the “single and looking” experience?

Anyway, here’s an excerpt:

The parents went for the initial meet and they said she was extremely impressive. Good marriage material.

They told me about the girl and the family and it all looked promising.

So, we arranged a date and we went to see the family. Initial impressions, the parents were extremely quiet and as the conversation progressed it seems they’ve lived an extremely sheltered life and imposed that lifestyle on their daughters.

The conversation progressed and a revelation was then made, the girl wasn’t even aware of the marriage. Okay . . They continued and told me she would obey everything I say or do. I sit, she sits – Great . . a doormat!

I couldn’t talk to her because her father thinks that daughters who speak to their potential husbands in front of their mahram are the bad girls. This comment threw me off.

Another day passed. Another experience gained.

This post: "Another Muslim college student is bloggi…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

Back in late 2008, I got contacted by Emel magazine, a British Muslim lifestyle magazine, for a feature on Muslim bloggers. The process of getting the material over there took months, and I dealt with two different sisters as the first one left the magazine, but I finally got word last week that it had been printed at last, offered a complimentary copy, which I accepted, and it finally hit the shelves in Charing Cross Road late last week, although it hasn’t made it down to Kingston yet. When I finally saw it, I made a startling discovery. However, a bit of background wouldn’t go amiss at this point.

The second sister requested some physical details about me as they wanted to design an avatar, which is a cartoon representation of someone. I’m not too happy about the whole idea of avatars, because they involve hand-drawn pictures of people, which are at best disapproved of in Islam unless they’re really necessary. I’m OK with photos, though, so I sent them the only decent one I have of me. Well, when I saw the magazine, I first went up to the Starbucks on the first floor of Borders in Charing Cross Road, and when I saw the queue, went to the basement and finally found a vacant seat.

As you can see, the cover features three superhero-like characters, including a muscular male, an attractive Somali-looking sister with matching purple hijab and robe, and a seated young-ish male with a tidy beard. The hairstyle and dress sense are not quite mine, but what made me do a double take was, well, the seat. It’s a wheelchair. What was I doing in a wheelchair? Admittedly, I do spend much of my blogging time sitting down, but I sit in an office chair, which has wheels, but not as big as the one on his chair. Also, I admit that I’ve done a lot of blogging on disability issues lately (and there’s more to come insha Allah), but I’ve never told anyone I’m disabled, because I’m not!

This post: "Emel, British Muslim ‘lifestyle’ magaz…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

As excerpted by Richard Bartholomew, here’s Tim Ireland in response to the threat:

Today, I am seriously discussing with my wife not the ifs/buts, but the whens/wheres of moving her and the kids to a safe/unknown location.

Judging by their track record and past trolling technique, I have little doubt that this will lead to jeers from the ‘Cheerleaders’, who will then go on to assure one and all that I’m hysterical and they’re harmless, but even if I’m going to take them at their word on that, I also have to take into account:

a) The many people these ‘Cheereladers’ have sent/broadcast my home address to

b) The lies these ‘Cheerleaders’ have been putting about publicly and privately…

c) The 50+ false claims that I am a convicted paedophile that Glen Jenvey (the author) is unable to remove and Google (the host) refuses to delete

We live in a country where paediatricians are the targets of mobs of illiterate tabloid readers, so I don’t think I’m wrong to be this worried…

Bartholomew writes: “I know that Tim can be a polarizing figure when it comes to politics, but this is a situation which should concern everyone. If you believe in freedom of speech, this kind of thuggery and harassment must be opposed – whoever is on the receiving end of it.”

Shouldn’t the UK police be investigating the ‘Cheerleaders’ for making terrorist threats?

This post: "UK blogger Tim Ireland threatened with v…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/