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  • thabet 11:48 am on August 29, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , blogging, , , ,   

    And they were right:

    They said I’m a stupid American who knows nothing of the Middle East…

     

    • Dean Esmay 9:33 am on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Michael Totten is stupid and knows nothing about the MIddle East? Really? How many trips do you have to take over there as a journalist, talking to people of all stripes, before you get to lose your “stupid” and “knows nothing” status?

      • thabet 1:58 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Dean, Totten’s hilarious. I mean look at this:

        I took a long hard look at the violent destruction of Yugoslavia before I ever took a serious look at the Middle East, and I understood the Middle East instinctively thanks to my grasp of Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo. The Turkish (Ottoman) Empire ruled over all these lands for hundreds of years, and the tragic events that unfolded in the wake of its destruction are eerily similar.

        Nonsense on stilts.

      • midwinterspring 2:19 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        I’m not familiar with Totten, so I won’t say anything about him in particular, but based on my interactions with various Westerners passing through Turkey and Tunisia, I can testify that for some people there is simply no amount of time sufficient to actually help them understand these cultures outside of their own narrow frame of reference. Some people are simply incapable of taking in new information without running it through the filter of their own preconceived political worldview.

        I recall one American gentleman who was living in Tunisia to study Arabic (like me). He was an aspiring politician. And he was nothing if not sincere in talking to anyone and everyone he met abroad about their views. Once he explained to me and a British friend of mine that the real problem with places like Egypt is their lack of democracy. It’s simply impossible to make real progress in development under a totalitarian system. When my friend and I pointed out that, in that case, it would be helpful if the US stopped propping up such totalitarian regimes, he retorted, “Do you know how much gas would cost in Britain if we let the Muslim Brotherhood come to power in Egypt?”

        For such a person, no amount of trips will help him lose his “knows nothing” status.

        • thabet 2:33 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Heh, yes I had a similar experience with a self-proclaimed champion of The Enlightenment* And Reason, who ended his pro-Iraq invasion argument with how much petrol would cost if we let ‘them’ control it all.

          *When I later pressed him on what Enlightenment he was referring to, and whether he took off from Hume, Kant, etc he said he had never read any of them, nor even about them. But he knew About The Glorious Enlightenment That Let Him Be A Superior Godless Atheist And That Was Good Enough And If I Disagreed I Was Pro-Clerical Fascism. I like pub philosophy (indeed I excel at it!) too, but it has its limits…

    • aziz 9:40 am on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      to be honest, I think Michael is at hs best when he is describing the many countries he has visited (and he has been to virtually all the mideast Arab states).

      where he goes astray is when he tries to do analysis. He realy misreads the larger political picture, usually in a very pro-neocon-circa-2003 way.

      I have tremendous respect for his ability to report, and chronicle, teh daily life in these places. I find his characterization of southern Lebanon to be compelling and entirely belevable given what we know about Hhezbollah and militarized Islamist groups of that type.

      Trust what Michael Totten describes; ignore what he proscribes.

      • aziz 9:42 am on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        an example of cogent observations wich i think we are pretty much in agreement with:

        Jonathan Spyer: Except in the south. In the south, Hezbollah holds power not only by force, but by consent. It doesn’t ask permission from people, but it has their consent.

        MJT: It’s limited, though. I’ve talked to Lebanese Shias who support Hezbollah only so far as Hassan Nasrallah doesn’t impose an Iranian-style regime on the country.

        Jonathan Spyer: Sure.

        MJT: So Hezbollah’s support is limited and conditional. But it’s there.

        Jonathan Spyer: And Hezbollah is smart enough to understand that.

        MJT: Surely you saw uncovered women in the Hezbollah areas.

        Jonathan Spyer: Of course.

        MJT: But you don’t see that in Iran.

        Jonathan Spyer: Right.

        MJT: Hezbollah could force women to cover themselves, but it would lose some support if it did.

        Jonathan Spyer: You see more Palestinians here wearing the headscarf than you do amongst the Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon. Go to any street in east Jerusalem, and most of the women will be wearing the headscarf. I was only in Beirut for a few days, but I saw far fewer headscarves there than I do here.

        MJT: It’s strange, isn’t it?

        Jonathan Spyer: In the early 1980s, before the first Intifada, it just wasn’t like

        that in the Palestinian areas. You didn’t see many headscarves then.

        MJT: They’re much more Islamicized now, aren’t they?

        Jonathan Spyer: There’s a popular return to religion in many Middle Eastern societies. During the last couple of decades, after the failure of so many secular nationalist projects, people have turned back to what’s familiar to them. And in this part of the world, that’s religion.

        MJT: The secular regimes have indeed failed spectacularly. There are a few exceptions—like Tunisia, for instance—but there aren’t very many.

        Jonathan Spyer: In the Arab world, the failure of these regimes really does deserve to be described as spectacular.

        • Dean Esmay 12:18 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Well, speaking as one of those dread “neocons,” I usually find Totten’s observations helpful; noting everyday evidence of a trend toward greater religiosity seems relevant to me as simply something to note, so I’d have to wonder why one wouldn’t see less alcohol/more headscarves as evidence of greater religiosity.

          A pro-Israel view is to be expected I suppose; I have the same bias, since Israel is currently the only functioning democracy in that region, for Israeli citizens anyway. And I admit to being bedeviled by someone questioning whether Tunisia is a success; on the whole their record on democratic and basic human rights is pretty good, at least for that part of Africa, last I checked, although there’s wide room for improvement.

          • abunoor 2:17 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            The point is the obsession with these specific manifestations of religiosity combined with the obvious bias of the author towards less religiosity leads to repeated iterations of the offensive notion that women wear less clothes and people getting more drunk are the most important signs of living in a healthy society.

            • Dan 2:34 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              And what’s “progress” according to you abu noor? The al-Shabaab-style of governance? /sarcasm

            • shams 3:07 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              it is EGT progress.
              In situ, that is the only kind that can overcome.
              the alternative is what we did in japan, which does work, btw….
              genocide, invasion, occupation, reconstruction.
              i just don’t think the US has the nads for that unless the Shabaab bomb Pearl Harbour or sumpin’.

    • Sidwell 10:06 am on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Really, that’s cogent observation? Backhanded observations of more headscarves as proxy for “islamicization”? Tunisia as a successful regime? It’s a freaking police state! He IS a stupid American who knows not what he describes, nearly as bad as V.S. Naipaul except with less literary acumen. I think his travels through Albania were some of the worst travel writing ever written.

      • aziz 11:20 am on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        orientalism? well, ok – but where are the authentic muslim voices doing teh same thing as Totten does?

        • Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 12:06 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          I agree Aziz that more reporting of the realities of daily life is needed from the Muslim world, but I have to agree with Sidwell that I find Totten’s reporting to be problematic in exactly the ways mentioned. One cannot avoid that it is always obsessed with drinking alcohol vs. wearing headscarves, which is of course not to mention the overriding feeling that everything is viewed through the lens of Israel’s interests.

        • thabet 1:54 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          By ‘Muslim voices’ are you talking about Western Muslims? Why do we need Western Muslims (who are often more Western than many of them care to admit) to tell us about “the Muslim world”? Why do they lend any more ‘authenticity’*?

          This was Said’s core view expressed in Orientalism, imho: let ‘orientals’ write their own histories and experiences, good, bad, moral, immoral, or whatever.

          If you mean ‘others’ writing about their own day-to-day experiences, then I don’t understand your point: this goes on all the time in English, in Arabic, in Urdu, etc.

          *”Authenticity is so 1960s” as someone was remarked to me.

          • abunoor 2:15 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            Thabet, you make an excellent point here. I will say though that there is some benefit in having someone who has a similar frame of reference and experiences as oneself reporting on what is going on as well as having reports from people who are more fully immersed in a certain culture.

            You are right that the best person to tell me what it’s like to live in country x would be someone from country x. But that might not be the best person to tell me what I might see or how I might perceive things if I were to visit country x. I think there is value in both, and there is always value in outsider’s perspectives as well as insider’s perspectives.

            Allaah knows best.

            • thabet 2:18 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              Quite. But even this is happening. There’s lots of (e.g.) Pakistanis writing about Pakistan for our terms of reference since they move in both worlds as it were.

              Perhaps my objection is less about Totten writing about what he observes and his ‘analysis’ (I don’t object to him doing so — merely that when he does so there will be those around to point out he’s wrong), and more about his (in Aziz’s own words) ‘c.2003-neocon analysis’.

      • Dean Esmay 12:24 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        What is the basis for declaring Tunisia a police state? Or a failure? “Success” in a context like this would usually be measured on how well they’ve made progress on human rights, not how perfect they are (yet). Tunisia’s got a long way to go, but it’s nowhere near the human rights oppressing hell that is the likes of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Chad, Guinea, or others are.

        • Dean Esmay 12:32 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Let me reply to myself and say well no, it IS a police state. Their records on women’s rights and minority religious rights are fairly progressive, and their government is BASICALLY secular. For that part of the world, you can call that “success.”. So I’m not sure what zinging Totten on that accomplishes; I suspect if you just asked him he’d say no, Tunisia’s not wonderful on human and civil rights, just that it’s stable, relatively secular, and has at least some good things to be said about it. It’s certainly not a democracy in any meaningful sense, and human rights are still abysmal in many areas.

          • shams 12:44 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            basically secular is your greatest good?
            fucking retard cudlip.
            what about the consent of the governed?

          • thabet 1:54 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            Why is ‘secular’ oppression better than ‘religious’ oppression?

            • midwinterspring 2:09 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              Don’t you see? They’re as different as night and day. Under a totalitarian religious state you may be jailed for not growing a beard, while under Tunisia’s benevolent secularism, you can be jailed for growing a beard.

              Can’t you see the progress?

            • thabet 3:47 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              ‘Better the badly-fitting business suit and tie than the overgrown Islamic beard’.

      • shams 12:42 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        agreed. Totten is just another warpimp that thinks America can proselytize Our Wunnerful Superawesome Judeoxian/Western Deomcracy in MENA.
        don’t call them neocons- wallah….they are warpimps addicted to RL tabletop wargaming.
        Totten is just Big White Christian Bwana in field glasses and camo.

        Tunisia– Today Tunisia is an export-oriented country, in the process of liberalizing its economy [6] while politically it is a dictatorship in all but name.[7][8][9][10][11][12] Tunisia has an authoritarian regime in the guise of a procedural democracy led by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who has governed as President since 1987 and has systematically diminished freedom of press and political pluralism while keeping appearances of democracy

        WAKE UP CUDLIPS!
        every occidental regime in MENA was imposed by dictatorship, from Saddam, Ataturk, the Shah…..Israel is the only democracy? its a jewish representative government like Iraq is an islamic representative government.
        There cannot be a ‘western-style’ democracy in MENA….because of the consent of the governed. When muslims can vote, they vote for shariah.
        than you get islamic democracy.
        Totten DIAF.
        he’s useless.

        • shams 12:50 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          and here, i’ll reply my own comment, since that is the new style here.

          Totten is just another warpimp that thinks America can proselytize Our Wunnerful Superawesome Judeoxian/Western Deomcracy in MENA.

          IT CAN’T BE DONE.
          1. There is no substrate to support a ‘secular’ democracy. the clergy ARE the lawyers, the law schools are islamic universities.
          2. al-Islam is EGT immunized against proselytization in situ.

        • Dan 2:32 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          shams, so how come Pakistanis haven’t voted for Shariah in their recent elections? Why is it that religious parties can’t garner more than 13% of the votes, if you claim that Muslims will vote for shariah?

          Besides, do you feel comfortable if a Muslim country votes in a government that would much be like the Taliban style of Shariah? After all, it would happen in Syria since Christians would be wiped out by the majority if given the chance.

          • shams 3:13 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            Pakistan had a military dictatorship which is re-aligning towards Islam….like post-Ataturk Turkey….like Egypt will be after Mubarek dies…the Muslim Brotherhood will be part of the government.
            make book on that.
            from PEW polling 2010

            Some of the most interesting results relate to attitudes toward religion, law, and society. According to the findings, “Pakistani Muslims overwhelmingly welcome Islamic influence over their country’s politics. Nearly nine-in-ten (88 percent) of those who see Islam playing a large role say that is a good thing.” Moreover, many Muslims in Pakistan say there is a struggle between groups that want to modernize their country and Islamic fundamentalists (44 percent), and of those who see a struggle, most identify with the modernizers (61 percent). At the same time though, a solid majority of Pakistanis polled said they would favor making gender segregation in the workplace a law in the country (85 percent), as well as punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery (82 percent), and stoning people who commit adultery (82 percent).

            It doesnt matter what you think of shariah, or what i think of shariah.
            the people will vote for shariah….Ali Eteraz told me that years ago, before i ever reverted.

            • Dan 11:01 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              Alright Einstein, how does that explain the fact that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (sp?) voted the mullahs in 2002 and then voted them out in 2008?

              Pakistanis themselves don’t know what they really want hence why they keep bringing in corrupt idiots into office like Zardari.

              And besides, do you know the type of shariah will come in Pakistan? There’s a reason why minorities in the country fear the shariah espoused by Sunni wackos sympathetic to the Taliban. Why else do Shi’as support secular parties and not Islamic parties that want to bring a Khomeini-style Islamic Revolution to the country?

              Go talk to some Pakistani Shi’as and see if they would want shariah in the country, knowing full well what will happen to them if it happened. They know what happened to the Shi’as in Afghanistan when the Taliban (that idiot Salafis in America and the West continue to glorify while crying about Gaza) slaughtered them while imposing shariah.

              My friend, you are absolutely delusional. Be careful what you wish for.

            • shams 6:07 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink

              LIKE I FUCKING SAID IT DOESN”T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK CUDLIP.
              read the poll retard.
              we are broke and our teeth are broken. we can’t be the SuperAwesome AMERICA! FUCK-YEAH! World Police anymore.
              it aint our bidness.
              get your nasty prurient selfrighteous nose out.
              IT DOESN’T WORK.
              we spent a trillion dollars in treasure and 6000 soldier lives in blood to make another islamic state in Iraq where a LOT of muslims hate our stupid proselytizing meddling guts. one out of EVERY 200 iraqis DIED in the last seven years. they declared a FUCKING NATIONAL HOLIDAY when american troops left their cities.
              you are another retard cudlip.
              muslims will vote for shariah when they are empowered to vote.
              look at Turkey. 90 years of kemalist occupation and forced occidentalism is being eroded by the free will of the people and Prime Minister Erdogan’s islamic party. The Taliban will be part of w/e gov’t gets established in Afghanistan. The main parties in Iraq are religious. There is shariah in the constitution. The Muslim Brotherhood will be part of egyption government post Mubarek. THOSE ARE FACTS.
              Hamas was ELECTED in a free UN monitored election. That fucking WEC retard Bush and the zzraelis overturned the election because they didnt like the results. THAT IS NOT DEMOCRACTIC YOU MORON.
              Your magical thinking about how you want the world to be counts for nothing against the consent of the governed.
              Shall we spend more blood and treasure we don’t have……on what?
              trying to bully Pakistan somemore? Musharraf was a MILITARY DICTATOR you retard. Zadari is a corrupt puppet propped by weak coward America that is bribing the Pakistanis with billions to keep all those nukes out of islamist hands. Like we bribed Musharraf.

            • thabet 6:52 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink

              I’m quite certain Dan isn’t a “cudlip” (in fact I’m sure he said he was Pakistani) and more to the point he’s right about the facts: the religious parties took a bit of a hammering after Musharraf gave way to elections.

            • shams 7:00 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink

              So? Pakistanis can be cudlips too.
              Cudlips are semi-sentient humans that can be scammed into baring their throat for the oligarchy’s boot while being fattened for slaughter.
              Dan’s remarks about Khomeni and Gaza are a pure tip off there.

            • shams 7:29 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink

              ok maybe i was a tiny bit unfair.
              read the polling again Dan. this is a 2010 PEW poll.

              Nearly nine-in-ten (88 percent) of those who see Islam playing a large role say that is a good thing.” Moreover, many Muslims in Pakistan say there is a struggle between groups that want to modernize their country and Islamic fundamentalists (44 percent), and of those who see a struggle, most identify with the modernizers (61 percent). At the same time though, a solid majority of Pakistanis polled said they would favor making gender segregation in the workplace a law in the country (85 percent), as well as punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery (82 percent), and stoning people who commit adultery (82 percent).

              8 out of 10 is HUGE.
              that is what i mean when i say muslims will vote for shariah.
              and their votes will determine what type of shariah is established.
              modernization doesn’t mean secularization to muslims.
              right now the ISI is redirecting American taxpayer dollars to the Taliban to help them kill American troops in Afghanistan.
              that is what American meddling causes.
              MENA has been one big RL tabletop wargame for America and Russia to fight proxy war for decades.
              Those chickens came home on 911.

          • shams 3:25 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            Dan, occidentalist western style government can ONLY be imposed by dictatorship in MENA. once the oppressive regime is removed, the country begins to trend back towards islamic government.
            when muslims are impowered to vote, they WILL vote for shariah.
            they liek it.
            you have listened too long to these donkey christians prancing and braying in the public square. :)

            • shams 3:25 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink

              empowered.
              lol.

  • thabet 7:54 am on August 21, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , , , blogging, , , , ,   

    The Grauniad profiles one of the far-right jackbooters behind the campaign to stop Islamic centre near Ground Zero.

     

  • thabet 4:29 am on August 16, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , blogging, , , , ,   

    The organisers of Islam Expo have launched a legal case against The Spectator:

    The judge’s task at this preliminary hearing was to decide whether the words complained about were capable of being understood by readers to refer to Islam Expo, an exhibition organiser; he held that since the Spectator mentioned Islam Expo by name that was clearly possible. However, he also suggested that the pages readers were taken to – via links in the Spectator’s piece – should be treated as part of the article when the jury considers, at trial, whether it defamed Islam Expo.

    (Via Socialist Unity.)

     

  • thabet 10:57 pm on March 24, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , blogging, , , stupid journalism   

    The Times of India’s Ashis Ray offers his own interpretation of the Home Office report into Muslim blogging:

    The Home Office on Tuesday also shortlisted 20 extremist political bloggers. The purpose of the Home Office’s probe was to devise methods so that the British government’s counter-terrorism communications reached UK-based Muslims who didn’t read or watch mainstream British media.

    The top five extremist sites are said to be: Ali Eteraz, Islam in Europe, Angry Arab News Service, Indigo Jo Blogs/Blogistan and Daily Terror.

    Shoddy, stupid journalism by Ray. Did he even bother reading the press release? Or is Ray suggesting that “pro-Islamic” must mean “extremist”?

    I suggest Ali Eteraz, Yusuf Smith, our own Yakoub Islam, and As’ad Abu Khalil contact the journalist and the newspaper and demand a written apology. Islam in Europe, a blog which often leans into Eurabianism, may find it amusing or upsetting to be labelled an extremist Muslim blog. Who knows how many people have seen this and incorrectly thought of them as ‘extremist Islamist radicals’?

    (Via an emailer.)

     

    • cbarwa 7:21 am on March 25, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      As’ad a ‘pro-Islamic’ blogger PMSL! He commented on this on FB and is mainly amused I think; if this is the kind of thing the Home Office gets up to when supposedly monitoring the web for Islamic extremism,it is good to see that waste is still alive and well in Whitehall.

      • thabet 7:30 am on March 25, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        The ToI reporter takes it a step further. He ‘interpreted’ it as “extremist” blogs.

  • johnpi 1:25 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , , , blogging, ,   

    Willow wrote:

    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…

     

    • thabet 3:58 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I don’t know you in person, and it is hard to draw any firm ideas about people across a blog or the ‘net (there are exceptions to this…!), but you seem like a good man in genuine search of something. May God help you find it.

      Good luck.

    • null 5:08 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I’ll miss your news finds and commentary! You’ve consistently bought a lot of interesting articles to my attention that I would have missed, had I not followed your blogging.

      Your post is very true true however, and I recognise some of this in myself. Inshallah, it will be a productive break for you. Good luck!

    • aziz 8:01 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Hang in there John, and I think you’re wise to step back from blogging if that’s what you need. We are here whenever you need us.

      You may want to consider using a Journal here at TI for your “processing” – i always find that writing helps, and you can always make the Journal private if you dont want everyone to read it.

      And do let me know if you need anything or just want a sounding board in confidence. Im here for you man :)

    • cbarwa 9:12 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Found your posts to be interesting and useful, even when I didn’t agree with them, hope the break refreshes you and sometimes we do all need a break. Look forward to your return!

    • abunoor 9:34 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      John,

      Either you are misunderstanding my post or you are noticing something that I am not consciously aware of, Certainly on no conscious level do I think there is some fifth column of progressive Muslims. But I do think that there are major conflicts coming in the Muslim community along the lines of the Orthodox/Conservative/Reform conflicts in Judaism and these conflicts will not be solved by discussions, especially internet discussions.

      I think stepping back from blogging is a very good idea. I am also planning to, if not step back, change the way that I interact with the Islamosphere inshAllah.

      All the best and I hope we can meet in person someday (you should come to ISNA, John, especially if you’ve never been it’s a must experience for Muslims in NA.

    • Willow 10:35 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I’ve scaled my blogging way back in recent months for similar reasons–the flood of information and hostility gets to be too much, and unhealthy. Right now TI is the only blog I regularly visit, down from at least half a dozen a few years ago.

      I will tell you what a wonderful old Syrian sheikha (yes, a woman) told me when I complained that the world felt like it was falling down around our heads: when you feel that way, stick to the walls of your house like a saddle to a horse. It’s derived from a hadith, I believe. Her point was that if everyone took the best possible care of their own households–raised good children, had good relationships with their spouses, took care of their parents–the problems of the world would fall away one by one, because it would become full of righteous people.

      As one convert to another–I know well the pattern of despair you’ve fallen into. You’ve got to get out of it, any way you can. Any way, John, because it will begin to erode your sanity. Start by isolating yourself from any Muslims whose character you don’t admire, even if they look pious and dignified on the outside. The sad fact of the matter is that there are people who just want to test you and grind you down because you are a vulnerable newcomer, and white, and they’re angry. Get away.

      The world punishes people who fail to see contradiction. Sometimes you just have to let contradictory things be contradictory, and not half-kill yourself trying to reconcile them.

      • aziz 11:57 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Sometimes you just have to let contradictory things be contradictory, and not half-kill yourself trying to reconcile them.

        Yes. in fact this is the answer to the question John posed earlier – active doublethink. My reasoning is thus:

        1. knowledge (‘ilm) is infinite and derives ultimately from Allah.
        2. I am finite and also derive from Allah.
        3. Therefore my understanding of ‘ilm can never be complete.

        I am a HUGE defender of the scientific method, and so you can imagine I have major contradictions to reconcile as well. But i dont – i just accept that these two routes towards ‘ilm are valid (revelation, and science), that the end point is the same (Allah), and that any seeming contradiction is a function of my incompleteness rather than a flaw in the universe or creation.

        This means that there is value in asserting 2 + 2 = 5. All of us are hard wired to recoil from anything in Orwell’s 1984 as evil incarnate but the truth is that the techniques employed therein which horrify us are really the same techniques we ourselves use on ourselves every day. Orwell’s genius was to simply change their scope.

        Doublethink is not evil, its a survival tactic. As Douglas Adams wrote, with regards to the sheer horror of the Total Perspective Vortex, “if life is going to survive in a universe as big as this one, the one thing it absolutely cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.”

        • AA 1:52 pm on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Speaking of contradictions, it may be a good coincidence that I just saw this quote on friend’s FB.

          “People claim there is no truth, and they assert this as true; they say that man can know nothing, but this is something they think they know; they claim that ‘life’ takes precendence over thought, and yet this is something they think! People are so stupid they do not notice these contradictions.” – Frithjof Schuon, (…Logic and Transcendence, p. 239)

    • aziz 11:59 am on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      I also want to assure you of something. Dont assume that your experience is unique to converts by any means. Conversion is a process, a starting point, but after that you are on teh same straight path as all of us – and those of us born into the faith arent less susceptible to tripping than you are.

    • bingregory 9:06 pm on March 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Can somebody link the post this is following up on? TQ

  • johnpi 9:11 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , blogging, , , , ,   

    Where are they now? A few blogs and bloggers mentioned in the last year:

    • “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…

     

    • hal786 2:19 pm on December 16, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Assalamualaikum
      Jazakallah!
      Thank you ever so much for mentioning me ..again!
      By the way, I have a newer blog, which I would love for you to mention or just visit at least Inshallah:
      http://afterhardshipwillalwayscomeease.wordpress.com/
      It’s a blog to help people overcome their hardships in life and have ease-by people writing in their life incident stories and people commenting to help them.

  • johnpi 9:15 am on November 20, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , blogging, , , , , , ,   

    The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission is investigating 71 cases of Internet abuse by disseminating false and lewed contents and contents that insult Islam.

    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.

     

  • johnpi 11:05 am on November 12, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: , , , blogging, , ,   

    Someone should start an endowment to pay money to good Muslim bloggers like Umar Lee and Hijabman to ‘incentivize’ the perpetuation of good Muslim blogging.

    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…

     

  • willow 11:20 am on October 23, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: blogging,   

    Don’t forget! Today is the last day to nominate your favorite blogs for the Brass Crescent Awards. Make your voice heard.

     

    • buzz 2:20 pm on October 23, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Hint: Talk Islam / talkislam.info / Aziz Poonawalla / Best Group Blog

  • johnpi 8:43 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink
    Tags: , blogging, , ,   

    Another Muslim college student is blogging his marriage search. Last year, I recall reading a blog of a different young man who was blogging his marriage search. I found his blog through a Muslim woman’s blog who was posting about her experiences moving toward – and then away from – a potential.

    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.

     

    • shahed 10:17 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Here’s another excerpt:

      My mother suggested that I speak to Aisha regarding marriage (Aisha’s family were distant family friends of ours). I politely refused, since I remembered that she didn’t wear hijab properly. I didn’t want to lower my standards. And besides, I had not seen Aisha for several years either. The conversation ended.

      A few days later, I was out walking with my friend, and I was telling him about Aisha back in college and how my mother was now so intent on getting me married to this girl, and about how funny this whole situation was. At that very moment in time, I noticed this stunning looking girl walking towards me. Dressed like an angel, covered from top to toe, gliding majestically towards me in full grace. My feet froze as she came closer and my eyes were fixated on her face, trying to figure out who this girl was. She looked familiar. She looked up. Avoiding eye contact with everyone and carried on walking.

      That’s when I realised this girl was Aisha.

      I waited for her to pass and get a distance away before I turned to my friend and asked him “did you see that girl? That was Aisha!!”. My friend looked back and said “wow, she’s pretty”. Hell, yeah!!

      I immediately called my mother to tell her I had just walked past Aisha and declared that the only reason why I didn’t want to pursue her before (due to her not wearing hijab properly) was now void. And that she would make a perfect wife.

      What a silly and superficial reason to reject or pursue a mate. If her hijab doesn’t cover her neck, then he refuses to “lower his standards”, but he can ogle a “stunning looking girl” as she walks by and tell his friend “Hell, yeah!” and that’s somehow OK?

      I hope Aisha pays no attention to this “catch”.

      • fathima 10:59 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        dear god, this has to be a satire.
        and someone needs to find and email aisha asap.

      • Muse 11:03 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        I think that’s a bit unfair. You can’t control who you are attracted to and your preference for what you want your spouse to look like. Would it be superficial if he rejected all hijabis from his list of potential mates? I don’t think so.

        • Willow 11:18 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          I think the point is his position is hypocritical…she has to adhere to a very strict standard of modesty–downcast gaze, dress etc–while he checks her out like a piece of meat. Not only does he not avert his own gaze, he stares at her and makes comments to his friend. And then, to celebrate this ‘angelic’ woman, he says HELL yeah.

          Surely the irony is self-evident.

          • Muse 11:25 pm on October 7, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            You’re right, it is. I guess I was just reacting to his criteria of wanting a wife who wears hijab the way he believes is “proper” (whatever that means), not so much his behavior…but yea, that more than a little ironic.

      • razib, murtad fitri 12:53 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        is that excerpt a joke? seriously.

      • Buzz 7:12 pm on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Now that she has Aisha has learned to properly cover her neck, it is no wonder that the brother is righteously aroused.

        Improper Hijabi = Slutty
        Proper Hijabi = Steamy

        Wait……..is this what hijab is about?

    • Safiya Outlines 5:44 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Salaam Alaikum,

      Alhamdulilah that I’m already married.

      Poor Aisha. I hope she soundly rejects him.

    • shams 6:05 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      hmmm….maybe you guys aren’t maftoons, but you could be muftoons.
      muftoon n. defn –someone so westernized that they are blinded to cultural markers signifying beauty from outside their culture.
      It could be a satire…..but what do marrying men of islamic culture prefer above all other attributes in a bride? Chastity and virginity.
      The hijab is a marker signifying “virgin.”

      • shams 6:44 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        In this case. ;)
        Wives and mothers in hijab signify that they are good wives and mothers…they raise their children properly, that they were virgins on the wedding night……that they have cultural status.

      • Willow 9:03 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        The hijab is a marker signifying “virgin.”

        In which case the wives of the Prophet, all but one of whom were not virgins when they married him, needn’t have bothered?

        No offense, but don’t you think you ought to visit these ‘islamic culture(s)’ before you do this kind of hackneyed anthropological analysis?

        • Willow 9:08 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          In the case of our young friends Aisha and Suitor-Blogger, you wouldn’t need to go further than New Jersey…

          • Shams al-Nahar 9:13 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            I SAID: Wives and mothers in hijab signify that they are good wives and mothers…they raise their children properly, that they were virgins on the wedding night……that they have cultural status.

            Didn’t we just have two threads on fake hymen technology?

            Gee willow, weren’t you just defending the right to hijab on the al-Ahzar thread?
            Stunning cognitive dissonance.

          • Shams al-Nahar 9:15 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            western != “good”
            get a grip.

            • Shams al-Nahar 9:20 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink

              pardon, western != AUTOMATICALLY good

        • Shams al-Nahar 9:29 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

          Pardon, sister willow.
          I guess I was unclear that in suitor-blogger’s case, where he is seeking a bride, hijab is a marker for virginity in a young unmarried women….and thus a marker for beauty and desireablity…..
          like I said on my playlist…my deen is nearly purely intellectual, and I have no actual experience of the ummah like you do.
          i apolo

          • null 9:46 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

            No, you were clear, its just that a lot of us who have ‘experience of the ummah’ would think that your ‘analysis’ – however ‘intellectual’ you had flattered yourself to be – was over reaching and shallow.

            And no cognitive dissonance here. Saying women have a right to wear hijab and niqab as they see fit, is a separate issue to pretending you’re in their heads – and understand exactly what they’re trying to convey when they dress the way they do.

            • shams 11:14 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink

              oh, snap! it requires intellectual ability to percieve hijab as a marker for GOOD FAMILY VALUES when bride shopping?

            • shams 11:27 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink

              i was explaining why suitor-blogger found her beautiful.
              I know NOTHING about why she was in hijab.

      • thabet 9:33 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Who is “you guys”? Isn’t this blogger a Westerner too? Aren’t you?

    • anon 8:51 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      wow … what a sell out … run aisha run

      • Shams al-Nahar 9:01 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        obviously you are a retard…..and a coward.
        singleshot driveby?

    • Crabby 7:04 pm on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Uhm, is this what Islamic matchmaking is.. because as of now it sounds so a distant and like mostly a monologue rather than an exploit between two potential sweethearts testing each other cornily.

      • Crabby 7:13 pm on October 8, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

        Btw.. I hardly read about muslims dating exploits.. I’m waiting for more from him… lol

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