Muxlim, the muslim-oriented facebook wannabe, is over. The founder, Mohamed El-Fatatry, burned through a couple million euros. The old muxlim domain now redirects to El-Fatatry’s autobiography, incredibly enough.
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aziz
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aziz
Some facebook resources for the Damascene massacres in #Syria:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/تنسيقية-الثورة-السورية-في-مسرابا-ريف-دمشق/162632447157928
http://www.facebook.com/ShaamNews?ref=pb
http://www.facebook.com/SyrianRevolutionGeneralCommission?ref=pb
http://www.facebook.com/monasiqoon?ref=pb
Also, Andy Carvin (@acarvin is a must-follow.
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Shams al-Nahar
Sony showed this at their shareholders meeting.
Did you know?
and Aziz mocks meh for believing in the Technological Singularity.
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aziz
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Shams al-Nahar
you link it for these people if you like, i’ve read it more than once.
can’t stop the signal, my habbibi.
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Shams al-Nahar
i think the most amazing factoid in there is that India has more top 25% of IQ children than America has children, because of population differential.
Dr. Manzi is right.
we should be recruiting.-
MikeLyons
Meh, not much of a “fact” about the 25% IQ children as IQ is just a relative measure (based on the sub-population in question, here India) of how each person does on a test relative to everyone else in that sub-population.
Doesn’t mean that 25% is any smarter than, say our top 50%, just that they are smarter than their bottom 75%.
Comparing apples and pomegranates.
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shams
Doesn’t mean that 25% is any smarter than, say our top 50%
ummm…..yes it does. why does that bother you?
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MikeLyons
No, it doesn’t. The top 25% of IQ for a certain population is smarter than the bottom 75% for that certain population.
Once again, Shams, you show you don’t have a clue about what you are talking about when you talk about stats. Go take at least an intro to statistics course before you open your “cudlip” mouth, it’ll save you the embarrassment of dropping your cud and looking ridiculous.
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shams
i think it bothers you a lot….cudlip.
im not the one being scammed into voting for the YEC christianist bankstah warpimp party.
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Shams al-Nahar
maybe America could become a giant university campus and research park….serving the whole world.
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shams
like i allus say, you can’t stop the signal.
We now see Aziz standing athwart technological progress hollering stop.
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thabet
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johnpi
There is a Facebook page called “Reasons when it is acceptable to punch a woman in the face.” It has almost 27,000 fans, and is described by its administrators as ‘off-colour humour.’ There is a move afoot to get Facebook to shut it down. To participate, go to the page and click the “report” button, which is located on the left hand side at the bottom of the page.
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cbarwa
Been removed now thankfully
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abunoor
Alhamdulillah it’s down. One of the most vile things I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately the 20 some thousand who thought it was ‘funny’ to sign up as a “fan” of such filth are still walking around. May Allah have mercy on their wives, girlfriends, sisters, daughters, co-workers etc.
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Pretty Pink Unicorns
There’s an equivalent for women to kick men in the balls, I hope we all also reported that one.
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abunoor
I think I clicked through to that when I was checking out the other site and it turned out to be another part of the “joke” and did not include any actual “reasons” but another insulting comment about women.
I know there is a lot of discussion of such topics in academic circles I don’t really travel in, but seeing that brought to my mind that certain types of sexism that are widespread in western society cannot help but be encouraged and shaped if not created by deeply misognyistic aspects of society which are becoming more prevalent such as commerical rap culture and pornography.
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abunoor
Oh, I see there is a group that has now formed that was along those lines that is a direct response to the other one. It does seem to be done more in a healthy spirit of opposing the other one but it’s possible there’s offensive stuff on there too.
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johnpi
Parity in casual attitudes toward violence does not make for ‘equality.’ It’s obviously a fig leaf meant to license the ‘punch a woman in the face’ site.
I noticed that the ‘kick men in the balls’ site only had about 4,000 fans, and the ‘punch women’ site had 27,000 fans, and so I didn’t even bother to mention the former.
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plimfix
Someone needs to form a FB group called “I refuse to join vacuous, offensive or inane facebook groups, so don’t bother inviting me.”
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AA
Former head of the fatwa council of Al-Ahzhar wants to ban Facebook:
He called the site a destructive tool that helps form “forbidden relations.”
“When one side in a relationship is working hard, if the other side has lots of free time and hasn’t got much of a conscience, they form illegitimate relationships,” the cleric said.
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arif
Why not look into creating an environment for proper match-making? Why does one side have lots of free time and lack of conscience and other side does not?
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
Nothing in the article says that he wants to “ban” Facebook. It says he issued an opinion which discussed its positive and negative potential, cited a study which seemed to demonstrate negative effects, and advised people that they should not use it. There was speculation over the political and social background of the issue in Egypt.
If you are in a relationship with someone with lots of free time and no conscience, you should get out. Or if they have no free time and no conscience. Basically, if you are married to someone without a conscience you are screwed, facebook or no facebook.
Having said that, it would be ridiculous to deny the negative aspects of facebook or other social media. Of course the same could be said of the telephone or the automobile.
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arif
Fatwa=Opinion
I’ll try to remember. Thanks.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to mean…of course in the western mindset it means “death sentence,” which is quite bizarre.
By the way, the confusion does point to a real dilemma. Being an observant Muslim in the United States, I am used to dealing with scholars who are well aware of the fact that they have no political power and little social power to influence people’s behavior (except for perhaps within the walls of the masjid). Especially when that is added to people who have either grown up here or who have become accustomed to the culture of the U.S. they realize that their ability to influence people in general, outside of perhaps a small group of intensely committed followers, does not come from the verdicts that they issue but their ability to convince people of the value of their advice in other ways.
In a culture and country like Egypt there are other complex social and political dynamics at work and historically in different times and places this is a recurring theme of the ways in which sincere scholars interact with social and political forces in regards to their religious opinions.
On one level, if the Shaykh (assuming,for the sake of argument he is completely sincere and his opinion well founded) is asked by the government should we ban facebook and he is really convinced that it causes a lot of harm while it is easy from the American/western/free speech/liberal/progressive/enlightenment perspective to say, no even if he thinks it is harmful government enforcement of censorship or morality is a worse evil but I’m not convinced the question is a completely simple one.
This relates to the question you asked me recently Bang Gully, and which I don’t claim to have an easy answer. I would love to hear your own thoughts.
By the way, my advice to any Islamic cleric is that if the government of Egypt comes to you seeking advice, banning facebook even if you sincerely think it is a grave evil, should be item about number one million on your list of urgent advice for the Firawn “Mubarak” and his minions.
Allaah knows best.
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arif
I think Egypt, government and muftis included, should accept the reality of Facebook (the technology) and they should work within it and not against it.
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willow
Basically, if you are married to someone without a conscience you are screwed, facebook or no facebook.
I LOL’ed. Wise words.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
“cleric” should be in quotes…if you read enough of the stuff you begin to use terms like that without even thinking…change it to scholar would be even better.
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islamoyankee
Apparently a poorly reported story that is not grounded in the reality-based community. http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/04/did_al_azhar_issue_a_fatwa_against_facebook
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aziz
not that the jafisphere would notice, or care.
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johnpi
Does your social class determine your online social network?
Is there a class divide online? Research suggests yes. A recent study by market research firm Nielsen Claritas found that people in more affluent demographics are 25 percent more likely to be found friending on Facebook, while the less affluent are 37 percent more likely to connect on MySpace.
….MySpace users tend to be “in middle-class, blue-collar neighborhoods,” said Mike Mancini, vice president of data product management for Nielsen, which used an online panel of more than 200,000 social media users in the United States in August. “They’re on their way up, or perhaps not college educated.”
By contrast, Mancini said, “Facebook [use] goes off the charts in the upscale suburbs,” driven by a demographic that for Nielsen is represented by white or Asian married couples between the ages of 45-64 with kids and high levels of education.
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johnpi
Facebook blocks Hamas leader’s fan pages.
All fan pages bearing the name of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah were deleted and no reasons were given to justify this action, said the administrator of Haniyah’s fan pages.
The administrator warned that Facebook might take similar steps toward fan pages of other Hamas leaders like politburo chief Khaled Mashaal whose fan page has more than 17,000 members. One of Haniyah’s pages had more than 10,000 members.
Activists launched a Facebook campaign calling for the return of Haniyah’s page and demanding that the website administration stop tampering with any pages related to leaders of the Palestinian resistance, the London-based al-Hayat reported Sunday.
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Tommy
I’ve written a short article about this censorship myself. It’s on my blog here: http://unadulteratedtruth.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/facebook-curbs-freedom-of-expression-for-hamas-sympathizers/
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Naila
Facebook buckled under intense pressure from the Jewish Internet Defamation league and other Zionist organizations. The organizations were calling for this for months.
Poor Israel. Our eternal victim can haz control over interwebs nao?
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Naila
If only there was a way to bulldoze the internet and build a little “security fence” around it.
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cbarwa
Not a fan of this political outfit but as a FB user (and a regular one at that) it is disappointing that they deleted these groups; don’t think FB should be getting into this kind of censorship. Thanks for pointing this out, didn’t know about it otherwise!
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plimfix
A FB friend and vocal pro-Palestinian supporter also had her FB profile deleted without warning or explanation. I gather there have been others. Message received loud and clear, Facebook.
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Conrad Barwa
that is actually outrageous, I can sort of understand deleting FB groups that they feel are ‘questionable’ etc. but there should be absolutely no grounds for deleting someone’s personal profile. your friend should make some noise about this. Appalling.
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Shams al-Nahar
FB deletions?
Pfft.
That is minor compared to what theamerican-taliban….american-religious-fundamentalists…. congressionalrepublicans“conservatives” have planned for palestine.
Dig Eric Cantor, minority whip–WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told Christian Zionists that U.S. policies in the Middle East must be “firmly grounded” in Judeo-Christian principles.”Reaching out to the Muslim world may help in creating an environment for peace in the Middle East, but we must insist as Americans that our policies be firmly grounded in the beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition upon which this country was founded,” said Cantor (R-Va.), the House minority whip and the only Jewish Republican in Congress, in a speech to the Christians United For Israel annual conference in Washington.
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Rabiya
Personally would like to see someone start al Qaeda or bin Ladin fan pages as a free speech experiment.
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razib, murtad fitri
they need to match the text to the images better. no wonder facebook is losing money. the model might be christian, but that’s not a christian look if i ever saw one….
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thabet
Heh, I am sure that’s a Bollywood actress and not Christian, but Hindu.
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Conrad Barwa
no wonder facebook is losing money.
I thought it is doing well and expanding? When Russian oligarchs are pouring hundreds of millions into it, you know it is going to last.
the model might be christian
You should know better the “billori aankhon waali haseena-e-azam” is clearly not a Christian as Thabet points out.
And Thabet I never you were a fan
but that’s not a christian look
Not blonde enough right
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thabet
And Thabet I never you were a fan
I am married to the world’s biggest Bollywood fan. I know all the actors and actresses by now.
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Pretty Pink Unicorns
Did no one else notice she appears to be naked?
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razib
yeah, i noticed that. i think they do that purposely for its subconscious effect.
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Conrad Barwa
poor you!Personally can’t stand this ‘actress’ myself gets on my nerves and the whole drama-barji of the Bachcha wedding just grated more. I have to say though, that she put in a decent performance in Jodha-Akhba, the only film I have seen her in recently and didn’t embarass herself.
I prefer Rani Mukherji myself but then unlike Razib I like me heroines; darker, shorter and cuter
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razib
I thought it is doing well and expanding?
yes to the second, not to the first. they don’t have a viable model for revenue generation as their users react badly to obtrusive advertisement.
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Conrad Barwa
perhaps, I am more sceptical really; I mean few of the internet based apps have much by way of solid revenue generation streams, whether you are talking google or FB. FB’s valuation seems to be holding up pretty well and expansion is the important thing here; if they can corner the market in social networking over myspace, beebo etc. they will have enough of a captive market to build on for advertisers and other corporates.
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BuzzK
If one is looking for single Christian women, you can always find them here….
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Willow
Okay this is a total nerd tangent, but the syncretism on the nun page was amazing:
Behold thy mother
Behold thy daughter
Behold thy sisterAnd:
Only arms outstretched
in silent helplessness – upon a tree (emphasis mine)The pre-Christian Norse/Germanic myths seem to be alive and well.
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BuzzK
Lo’ there do I see the Father
Lo’ there do I see the Son
Lo’ there do I see the Holy Spirit
They call to me
And bid me take my place amongst them-
BuzzK
I love the 13th Warrior, if anyone recognizes the reference, because the acting was good despite a script which managed to mangle and distort Norse, Persian and Arab culture.
Muslims in Film would be a great topic. From before the Klingons in the original StarTrek to that marvelous collaboration between Theo Van Gogh and Ayan Hirsi Ali, Submission.
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razib
i liked 13th warrior too. it was relatively faithful to the weird novel it was based on.
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bingregory
That novel being “eaters of the dead” by Michael Crichton. I read it not knowing who Crichton was and falling for the faux historical setup – I mean, the man had footnotes! I enjoyed it much more than I probably would have otherwise. Being gullible has some advantages.
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pi.info
The 13th Warrior: I remember saying to someone that that is probably the last positive representation of an Arab Muslim warrior that Hollywood is going to make in a generation, post 9/11.
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Lawrence of Arabia
Just to follow up Conrad’s point. Those are both crucifixion references. He already mentioned the passage from Galatians 13: “Cursed is anyone who hangs upon a tree”. And Paul is making references back to an OT text (Deuteronomy? maybe).
The “Behold thy mother” is from the Gospel of John. Jesus to the beloved disciple (in reference to BVM): “Behold thy Mother”…so, you get the Carmelites evoking a Marian connection (which is central to their piety) and the convent as following the way of the Cross.
………
If you are going to find Odin allusions in every Christian reference to the Cross as a tree, you are going to stay very busy. Not that we are not perfectly happy to absorb that strand of mythology when it is useful (“hold fast to that which is good…” ). To make the connection that early, though, is undoubtedly anachronistic. Romantic Christianity was fond of it though. A.S. Byatt also explores some of the ways it was put to use in English poetry in the 19th c. in her novel _Possession_-
Lawrence of Arabia
of course, one should also note, that the “German Christian” movement during WW2 made it problematic, to say the least, to adopt Norse themes today.
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razib
did the german christian movement integrate norse motifs much? i wrote a research paper on them in college once, and had to read translations of their disputes with neopagans and they seemed to be intent on “brand differentiation” because they were perceived as too much of a gateway drug….
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Lawrence of Arabia
Most of what I know about them is from the critiques coming from the “Confessing Church”….particularly Barth, but also Bonhoeffer and Bultmann, et al. There was an attempt to blend Norse mythological themes with traditional Xty in order to arrive at an authentically German Xty: Christianity in the spirit of the “Volk”.
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Conrad Barwa
Willow – you will know more about it than I but I thought it was a biblical reference that later Christian scholars tried to link with earlier prophecies of being ‘hanged on a tree’. Could be wrong on the Church history of it though.
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Willow
It’s possible. I immediately thought of this, thought: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin
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Conrad Barwa
yeah it could well be a mixing. I know Paul makes a reference to the phrase in Galatians and quite a few Christian hymns have it in their verses. We were taught in Eng lit that many poets used it as way of referencing the crucifixion but there was no discussion of its origins which might well have been influenced by norse mythology as well
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Lawrence of Arabia
that’s not a christian look if i ever saw one….
I don’t know what you mean? That’s exactly how my wife looked at me in church. That’s not how everyone meets their wife? *looks around confused*
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Willow
I hope that’s a true story!
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johnpi
Responses from the readership of the Jakarta Post to an Indonesian Ulema Council fatwa banning communication between the sexes on mobile phones and Facebook.
It is just too bad that a lot of people are taking this seriously.
It is a matter of content, not the platform: People on online networking sites are free to determine how to use them. Why not ban human interaction? That way no one will be tempted?
Halim
I believe Indonesian Muslims are individuals with common sense, who can think for themselves and choose if they want to avoid affairs or pornography, or whatever is not good for them.
If that is how much trust the NU has in Muslims, what does it say about them?
They need to catch up with technology before making any statements concerning these websites. This verges on “dictatorship”.
Reni P.
I wonder why my fellow Muslims in Indonesia keep quiet about these ulema trying to rule on every single aspect of our lives.
Come on, speak out, do something. This country is moving backward into the Dark Ages.
Diyan
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Mary Griffin
Apple can also make phones that are much better than what Nokia can bring.:.-
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Shams al-Nahar, 
MikeLyons, and 
aziz are discussing. 
johnpi, 
abunoor, and 2 others are discussing. 
arif, and 2 others are discussing. 
Rabiya, 
Conrad Barwa, and 4 others are discussing. 
you want some DRM with your consciousness upload? *shudder*
you really should link my singularity skeptic post at Haibane
UPDATE – here it is:
http://www.haibane.info/2008/03/02/singularity-skeptic/
I get a lot of flack from people for being so anti-Singy and all. I welcome it.