Talk Islam

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  abunoor 3:49 pm on June 14, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: caliphate ( 6 ), environmentalism, Galileo ( 3 ), Hitchens ( 3 ), khilafah ( 3 ), Perennialism, Prince Charles ( 2 )   

  Let me start off by saying that I can’t think of anything (ok, actually accepting Islam would be possiblly the one thing) that would make me defend the British monarchy, and I suppose by this point I am only letting him win by paying attention, but I find something quite strange about this HItchens piece on Slate.

  He goes from critiquing Charles as silly generally to specifically attacking some (what seems to me to be) spiritual perennialist type language used to express concern about the environment to all of a sudden in the last paragraph saying that “where this leads” is to a global caliphate starting from Europe. Is he suggesting that this is Charles’ aim? That he is an unwitting pawn in the hands of European Muslims bent on world domination through expressions of concern about the environment? Am I spending more time trying to understand this piece than he did writing it? (Actually this piece almost seems like a self parody of Hitchens)

  Abu Noor, Hitch, thabet, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Yakoub 11:49 pm on June 14, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    I thought that was one of the 10 commandments of lefties-turned-Neocons is “Thou shalt parody thyself to the point of grotesque absurdity”. By the way, I hear Hitch is planning to rewrite the (proper) 10 commandments for the 21st century. I wish he’d rewrite his own DNA, the twerp.

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    thabet 11:59 pm on June 14, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    He probably found out about this from his son, a keen ‘watcher’ of political Islam, as I doubt Hitchens Snr would really care enough to follow the politics of IFE et al.

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    Hitch 6:07 pm on June 15, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Not a very articulate and clear piece. Needless to say Charles’ speech was ridiculous rather independent of the target audience.

    Galileo is hardly the starting point of radical capitalist materialism, nor is secular the polar opposite of religion, but rather the notion of pluralism in world view with an implied separation of religion and government. As a potential future head of state with a state curch and a secular constitution, he really should know this stuff. So he has just whacked out premises and the rest that follows doesn’t really make sense.

    Some of the most prominent environmentalists are … well not what Charles thinks.

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      Abu Noor 9:29 pm on June 15, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      There are many different kinds of secularism and many different meanings of the word Hitch. BTW, have not read Charles’ speech.
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  johnpi 1:09 pm on February 4, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: daily prayers, environment ( 27 ), environmentalism, green issues ( 4 ), ritual ( 4 ), water ( 4 ), wudu   

  Malaysian company invents hi-tech “wudu” machine to avoid wasting water.

  Malaysian company has invented a machine it says will help Muslims perform their washing rite before prayers without excessively wasting water.

  The ornate, green-colored machine comes with automatic sensors and basins to curb water usage during wudu, an Arabic word used to describe the act of washing the face, arms and legs before prayers.

  The wudu, or ablution, rite precedes the five daily prayers that Muslims perform. There are more than 1.7 billion Muslims in the world, with the majority in Africa and the Middle East where water supplies are scarce.

  thabet, willow, Abu Noor Al-Irlandee, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    bingregory 9:18 pm on February 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Cool idea, interesting that it came from Malaysia which is probably the muslim country with the least water scarcity issues in the world. It’s pouring buckets right now, part of nearly 3 meters of annual rainfall we get every year.

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    Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 9:48 pm on February 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    This may be more advanced but some masjids already have the sensor driven water savers that some new public bathrooms have in general.

    It is a very cool idea. I am sure I do my own wasting of water in some ways (I can imagine few things more pleasant than waking up to a hot shower on these cold Chicago mornings), but one thing that is really hard for me to see is when people are making wudu and they really waste water. They take a while and they have the faucet going full blast the whole time. It would be hard to imagine something further from the wudu of the Prophet (saw). The Prophet (saw) would make ghusl with 10 or 12 handfuls of water, wudu with two handfuls.

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      thabet 1:22 am on February 5, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      but one thing that is really hard for me to see is when people are making wudu and they really waste water. They take a while and they have the faucet going full blast the whole time.

      Someone once pointed this out to an imam no less; he had the water on full blast while he was just sitting there rubbing his teeth with a miswak stick.

      Needless to say the imam did not like being told off about this, and spent the entire first half of the sermon (delivered in the local language) lecturing the worshippers on “evil people” who think they know better than “learned ulama”.

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    willow 10:08 pm on February 4, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    That’s awesome. I hope they catch on everywhere.

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  johnpi 1:02 am on February 4, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: environment ( 27 ), environmentalism, green energy ( 2 ), green issues ( 4 ), marketing ( 4 ), public relations ( 6 ), saudi arabia ( 187 ), snark ( 5 ), Snarkworthy ( 4 )   

  Working Saudi women spend more than a third of their salaries on drivers and taxis. The solution is – women-only buses.

  It could be promoted as a ‘green’ solution to the problem – and the Saudis are all about marketing themselves as ‘green friendly’ right now. By maintaining the ban on women driving they are preventing more cars from being on the road. Very responsible of them…

  Alyssa Thompson is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Alyssa Thompson 4:15 am on September 6, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    we must shift into the use of Green Energy to prevent further pollution of this planet-*:

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  johnpi 11:26 pm on January 29, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: bin laden ( 4 ), climate change ( 9 ), environment ( 27 ), environmentalism, global warming ( 9 ), osama bin laden ( 19 )   

  Bin Laden is keeping up on current events, wherever he is…

  Osama bin Laden sought to draw a wider public into his fight against the United States in a new message Friday, dropping his usual talk of religion and holy war and focusing instead on an unexpected topic: global warming.

  The al-Qaida leader blamed the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change and said the only way to prevent disaster was to break the American economy, calling on the world to boycott U.S. goods and stop using the dollar.

  thabet is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    thabet 5:42 am on January 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    This seems to add weight to the view that he is actually dead.

    Which would be a shame as his victims never had their day in court to watch him locked up for being a murderous fanatic.

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  johnpi 10:30 pm on January 29, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: climate ( 9 ), climate change ( 9 ), corporate donations ( 3 ), corporations ( 7 ), corporatism ( 2 ), environment ( 27 ), environmentalism, green energy ( 2 ), green issues ( 4 ), oil ( 33 ), Pakistan ( 682 ), Pashtuns ( 12 ), saudi arabia ( 187 ), the politics of oil ( 3 )   

  In wake of US supreme court decision allowing unlimited corporate cash in elections, progressives highlight Saudi Arabia as a country that will take advantage.

  Saudi Arabia’s economy depends on oil exports so stands to be one of the biggest losers in any pact that curbs oil demand by penalizing carbon emissions. “It’s one of the biggest threats that we are facing,” said Muhammed al-Sabban, head of the Saudi delegation to U.N. talks on climate change and a senior economic adviser to the Saudi oil ministry. [...] Climate talks posed a bigger threat, Sabban said, and subsidies for the development of renewable energy were distorting market economics in the sector, he said.”

  Presumably because of the Citizens United ruling, Saudi Arabian-owned subsidiaries operating in the United States can now spend unlimited amounts advocating the defeat of candidates who support clean energy legislation. According to a ThinkProgress investigation, foreign-oil backed lobbyists in America are already instigating efforts to kill clean energy legislation.

  Juan Cole takes this apart a bit, pointing out some interest in Saudi Arabia for green energy, but I’m skeptical of his skepticism. It wasn’t long ago that he belittled the extremist threat in Pakistan as largely limited to the ethnic Pashtun regions of that country, and that certainly turned out to be wrong (though wrong in service of the greater good of puncturing inflated rhetoric at the time about the Taliban being poised to overthrow the Pakistan government).

   
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  johnpi 10:33 pm on December 19, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: arab states ( 3 ), arab world ( 16 ), arab youth ( 3 ), arabs ( 32 ), climate ( 9 ), climate change ( 9 ), environment ( 27 ), environmentalism, oil ( 33 ), stereotypes ( 7 ), the politics of oil ( 3 )   

  Arab environmental activism gets going in Copenhagen.

  A nice feature article that profiles several Arab activists participating in the protests.

  Three days before the U.N. climate talks kicked off in Copenhagen, Tarak Tayara was told he was accepted as an official observer at the negotiations. The 28-year-old hopped on the next flight out of Lebanon and landed the next day in Denmark, ready for two weeks of protesting climate change as world leaders attempt to reach a global climate treaty. While thousands of youth have gained official status by the U.N. to watch the negotiations at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, only a tiny fraction of these young activists, like Tayara, hail from Arab countries.
  ….

  Tayara is in Copenhagen with a group called IndyAct, short for the League for Independent Activists. The group formed in Lebanon after one of the worst environmental disasters in Lebanese history. In 2006, more than 10,000 tons of fuel spilled in the Mediterranean as a result of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. Based in Beirut, the IndyAct head office attracts activists from across the Arab world.

  Tayara is wearing a shirt with the words, “Arabs against oil,” a message intended to challenge stereotypes about Arabs.

   
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  johnpi 8:36 am on December 8, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: bangladesh ( 49 ), climate ( 9 ), climate change ( 9 ), environment ( 27 ), environmentalism   

  Bangladesh seeks 15 percent of any UN climate fund.

  Bangladesh says it will ask for at least 15% of any money which rich countries pledge to help developing nations cope with climate change.

  Environment Minister Hasan Mahmud said Bangladesh was entitled to a big share of the money because it was the country most vulnerable to climate change.

  He said 20 million Bangladeshis will be displaced if the sea rose by a metre.

  Developed countries are discussing a so-called climate adaption fund at the UN summit in Copenhagen.

  It is unclear how big any such fund would be, but UN officials have suggested a sum of about $30bn is needed in the short-term.

  Fifteen percent of $30 billion is $4.5 billion.

   
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  johnpi 9:26 pm on October 26, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: environment ( 27 ), environmentalism, health ( 32 ), health care ( 8 ), health risks ( 4 ), healthcare ( 8 ), OIC ( 16 ), public health ( 6 ), tropical diseases   

  Tropical disease: Neglected tropical ills extract steep toll in Islamic world, a journal article says.

  Muslim nations shoulder a “devastating burden” of the world’s neglected tropical diseases, according to an article published Monday in the Public Library of Science Neglected Tropical Diseases journal.

  The article, a combination of analysis and editorial written by the journal’s editor, Peter J. Hotez, shows that the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference account for 40 percent of the world’s infestations with intestinal worms.

  Worm infestations, which are most common in children, can stunt their growth and make them too tired to stay awake in school. They can cause dangerous anemia in pregnant women and disabling pain in farmers.

  Member countries also have 20 percent of leprosy cases and 21 percent of blinding trachoma.

  At the same time, the article said, there is no school of tropical medicine anywhere in the Islamic world, even though several Persian Gulf nations are building top-tier universities.

   
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  thabet 11:21 pm on October 12, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: bill of rights ( 2 ), environmentalism, free press ( 14 ), media ( 491 ), politics ( 979 ), rule of law ( 116 ), The Guardian ( 3 ), Trafigura, united kingdom ( 929 )   

  In an astonishing development, The Grauniad has been gagged:

  The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.

  Guess who is involved?

  The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients, who include individuals or global corporations.

  Carter-Ruck specialises in helping people with the money use Britain’s libel laws to clamp down on ‘unconformable questions’, especially online.

  Rumours (and that’s all they are at present) on numerous blogs suggest that the gag may involve Trafigura, the company responsible for dumping toxic waste on the shores of the Ivory Coast which The Graun has covered quite extensively. This piece by David Leigh, published back in May, highlights one possible explanation:

  Court hearings were held in secret yesterday, after allegations were made that Trafigura had been attempting to “nobble” witnesses to induce them to change their stories. Trafigura in turn claims that its employees face reprisals and even threats to their lives.

  Incidentally, the Trafigura dumping story highlights how damage to the environment is not the preserve of a few yuppies in London or New York, but has immediate and dire consequences for some of the poorest people on the planet.

   
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  thabet 2:31 am on October 8, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: climate change ( 9 ), desertification, environmentalism, resources ( 28 ), Syria ( 41 ), water ( 4 )   

  When climate change affects real people, and is something other than part of the ‘culture wars’ for a few Westerners:

  “We had the best land in the whole of Syria, anything could grow here. Look at it now – it’s dust…”

  Desertification and loss of water is a severe problem in Syria, with one estimate suggesting 65% of the country faces becoming a dust bowl.

  Dr. U. Ajidagba, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, Green Girl, Dacnet, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    JEONG CHUN PHUOC 1:33 pm on November 3, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    “Develop Islamic Environmental Framework in Climate Change Control”

    It is hope that the organisers of Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen Dec 2009 will take cognisance of these Syariah provisions-which is unlikely- given the stalemate at the recent Bangkok Climate Proceedings 2009.

    The appropriate platform would be for OIC to table it within OIC Region for implementation within Islamic countries realm.

    Western Europe and developed bloc will not be able to understand the implication of Islamic environmental protection requirement within the context of the Syariah. However, if properly executed, it may be a viable alternative/solution that may be adopted at the forthcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen Dec 2009.

    ……………………………….
    Jeong Chun Phuoc
    Lecturer-in-Law
    Jeongphu@yahoo.com

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    Dacnet 9:06 am on November 4, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Climate Change made the typhoons in the south pacific very destructive. Typhoon Ketsana made a lot of mess in Philippines and Vietnam

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    Green Girl 2:37 am on February 15, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    Global Warming and Climate Change is the biggest environmental issue that we face these days. the long term effects of these environmental changes to a nations economy is quite damaging. there would be a shortage in food supply as well as on water supply too ….

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    Dr. U. Ajidagba, University of Ilorin, Nigeria 4:26 am on April 19, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply

    It is unfortunate that a preponderance of Muslim Ummah doesn’t even know anything about climate change, whereas, the Qur’an and Hadith are rich in the discourse on the topic. As a matter of fact, Muslims in their various organisation should provide the necessary lead in enlightening the whole world on how best to protect our environment to avert catastrophic climate change as the world has started to witness recently. Unless and except we heed the clarion call of the Qur’an and Hadith, more ruineous consequencies may befall the entire humanity. However, I wish to acknowledge that your effor in this direction is commendable. This opportunity is a modest step. May Allah accept it as act of Ibadah.