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Sh. Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi was dismissed from his job as the leader of Friday prayers at a Damascus mosque for using his sermon to criticise the Grand Mufti. He was responding to these remarks made by the Grand Mufti of Syria, Sh Ahmed Hassoun:
(via DeenPort.)
CNN has posted this op-ed piece on ‘flying while Muslim’ by Nafees A. Syed, currently an editor at the Harvard Crimson and at the Harvard-MIT journal on Islam and society, Ascent. She is also chairwoman of the Harvard Institute of Politics Policy Group on Racial Profiling. The article is mostly addressed to a non-Muslim audience, but she does speak to Muslims at one part:
And Muslims, here’s something to think about: If your knowledge of Islam came from common stereotypes, wouldn’t you also be misinformed about the faith and its followers? The Quran says, “[God has] made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another (49:13).” So get to know your fellow Americans.
There are some Americans who think Muslims are terrorists and some Muslims who think that other Americans are willfully ignorant. Neither group deserves such a label. Psychologist Henri Tajfel, who was a Holocaust survivor, explained how we isolate ourselves into an “in-group” and facilitate discrimination of an “out-group.”
It probably wouldn’t have been appropriate for a CNN article, but I would have liked to hear her reconcile this advice with the concept of al-wala’ wa al-bara’ (doctrine of loyalty and disassociation). I know we’ve discussed this before, but here’s a refresher on the concept from this source:
Abd al Wahhab argued that it was imperative for Muslims not to befriend, ally themselves with, or imitate non-Muslims or heretical Muslims. Furthermore, this enmity and hostility of Muslims toward non-Muslims and heretical Muslims had to be visible and unequivocal. For example, it was forbidden for a Muslim to be the first to greet a non-Muslim; and even if a Muslim returned a greeting, a Muslim should never wish a non-Muslim peace. Likewise, Muslims could convey their condolences to non-Muslims, but they should never pray that God have mercy upon them or ask God to forgive their sins. Muslims were only allowed to say “May God guide you to the right path” or “May God compensate you for your loss.”
If a Muslim violated any of these rules, he or she was to be treated as an apostate. The same dire consequences would follow if a Muslim referred to a non-Muslim as “brother” or “sister.”
Review of Mark Siljander’s “A Deadly Misunderstanding”
I want to be clear: this is no milquetoast universalist pablum. Siljander is NOT claiming some notion of all roads leading to God. What he’s doing is far more careful and well-thought than that. He is demonstrating the frequency with which fundamental–often violent–differences between the Abrahamic faiths are based on ignorance: not only ignorance of the “other’s” faith, but all too often ignorance of the actual text and context of our own faith and its creeds.
I read good number of books and Mark still holds a high place for me in terms of promoting interfaith dialog. Via @siljander
CAIR has launched the “Spirit of Islam” fund to help rebuild churches in Malaysia (read the press release). You can donate online or by mailing a check to “CAIR Spirit of Islam Fund, 453 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington DC 20003″ – be sure to write, “Spirit of Islam Fund” in the memo line.
Malaysian Muslim activists oppose ‘Allah’ ruling.
Muslim groups in Malaysia have voiced opposition to a court ruling allowing a Catholic paper the right to use the word “Allah”, and said Saturday they plan to demonstrate.
….
Federation of Malay Students’ Association advisor Reezal Merican said although the court decision had to be respected, the government needed to appeal it.
“We want to live in peace with all religions here but the word Allah has traditionally in Malaysia been used to represent the Muslim God, which is different from Christianity, and this must be addressed,” he told AFP.
Northern Perak state mufti Harussani Zakaria was also critical of the verdict, calling it “an insult to Muslims in this country,” according to the influential Malay-language Utusan Malaysia newspaper.
Chicago-area Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid first Muslim to head global interfaith group.
He’s about to take on a global role as chairman of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, an international interfaith group based in Chicago.
….Mujahid was picked in part for his history of community organizing. The imam’s the president of Sound Vision Foundation, which produces Radio Islam. He’s the former chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
I’ve linked and excerpted Imam Mujahid’s writing here at TI, and once excerpted something he wrote and then cited two imams for authority – not knowing that Mujahid was an imam himself. It’s an unusual characteristic of the Internet that you get introduced to someone through the good qualities of their writing or insights, and only later discover their titles and accomplishments.
Eboo Patel honored in Chicago.
On Friday morning, he will become the first Muslim to deliver the keynote address in the 46-year history of the Greater Chicago Leadership Breakfast, the day after he received the 2010 Louisville Grawemeyer Award, the most lucrative prize for a single work in the field of religion.
Selected from 67 nominations worldwide, Patel won the [$200,000] prize for his 2007 autobiography, “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation.”
“In America, a lot of people say religion should only be private and you shouldn’t talk about it,” he said in an interview. “[As a result], people who seek positive cooperative relationships from different backgrounds forfeit the territory to those who seek divisive relationships between different religions.”
Patel also founded an organization called Interfaith Youth Core.
…the Interfaith Youth Core is a $4 million organization with a staff of 30 and a presence on six continents. They expect to train 25,000 interfaith leaders and set up shop on 500 college campuses in the next five years.
Straw poll: how many Muslims who read, comment or post on Talk Islam have also read/studied the Bible (and which one did you read/study)?
A Forbes magazine article recently noted disparagingly that Turkey, “the poster-child for an Islam at peace with the 21st century, is 99.8% Muslim” inferring that Turkey is also the poster child for Islamic societies failing to live at ease with social complexity and diversity.
Unfortunately, a new study of prejudice in Turkey completed by Frekans Research has contributed nothing that would refute that comment.
When asked who they would not like as a next-door neighbor, 57 percent said an atheist family, followed by a Jewish family at 42 percent, a Christian family at 35 percent and 18 percent for a family from overseas. Thirteen percent said they would not like to live next door to an Alevi family.
….The participants’ perceptions were largely based on nothing but prejudice because most had no contact with members of these minorities in their lives, according to the study.
One blogger said this survey was evidence against allowing Turkey to join the European Union:
The figures reveal that Turkey which seeks entry into the European Union has yet to grapple with the prejudices in their own homeland which might lead to trouble if immigrants could freely enter their land as members of EU nations.
Muslim cleric to take Kumbh dip to wash away religious differences.
A dip in the sacred river during the Maha Kumbh Mela is said to wash away all sins. A senior Muslim cleric who will perform the Hindu rite hopes it will also wash away differences between the two religions.
Kalbe Sadiq, a noted Shia cleric and senior vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), will take the “holy dip” in the upcoming Maha Kumbh Mela to be held in Haridwar in 2010.
“For the sake of cementing the bond between Hindus and Muslims, I have decided to perform the ritual (holy dip) in the Ganga river, which is considered sacred and revered, particularly by Hindus,” Sadiq told IANS.
the pew religious landscape has a variety of data on american denominations and traditions. i decided to check two variables and how they relate to each other:
1) those who say that “religion is very important to their lives”
and
2) those who avow that “their religions is the one true faith which leads to eternal life”
how does #2 relate to #1? i did a loess fit. two conclusions:
1) low religious intensity of a group strongly predicts lack of agreement with #2. that is, the less religious you are the more likely you are to think other religious can lead to eternal life.
2) but, very religious sects may agree with #2 more, they exhibit a much wider range of attitudes. part of this is that these groups where 90% of people say religion is very important have constricted the range so that they’re all basically the same.
in my limited selection of sects only two groups appreciably deviated from the trend line away from the extreme of those who are in super-religious sects: muslims & disciplies of christ. muslims are more exclusive than their religiosity would predict, while disciplines of christ are less.
see the chart here.
Update: OK, i realized i should just log transform both cuz the Y axis is also compressed. look here.
I am not surprised to read that our own neocon cleric Michael Nazir-Ali is off to the US to give a speech to a group of neocons:
Michael Nazir-Ali is an example of Christians in Europe who use ‘Islam’ as a vehicle to express their frustration and anxiety at the loss of standing their respective traditions and institutions have suffered.
If the Anglican Right does want to take the Church into a more aggressively evangelical direction, then they should seek to break the link between church and state.
(Via Andrew Brown.)
Saudi imam says Muslims should avoid prayers that call for the destruction of non-Muslims:
Many mosque Imams and preachers in some Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, close their Friday sermons with prayers that call for the destruction of Islam’s enemies, especially Israel and its allies.
“Praying for the ruin and the destruction of all infidels is not permitted because it goes against God’s law to call upon them … to take the righteous path,” Sheikh Salman al Awdah told Dubai-based MBC Television channel.
“Calling for their offspring and ancestors to be eradicated is not legitimate … (except) for the tyrants among the infidels and those who violate the sanctities and harm the faithful,” he said.
this is why interfaith outreach is good: it makes the polemicists’ heads explode.
Israeli government program asks Jews to inform on other Jews outside of Israel who might “be in danger of assimilating by dating or marrying non-Jews.”
About 100 of the callers reported unmarried Jews aged 18-30 living in France, the United States and New Zealand. Callers also left their acquaintances’ Facebook and Twitter names as well as email addresses so that MASA people could contact them.
What next, religious enforcers?
Haaretz reports that the Israeli Prime Minister’s office is unveiling an aggressive advertisement campaign aimed at Jews in the Diaspora saying that Jews who marry outside the faith have been “abducted.”
Breakaway conservative Anglicans start new project to ‘educate’ people about Islam:
Called the Church and Islam Project, the new initiative includes educational seminars, reading materials, and information made available at a new Web site, http://www.ChurchandIslam.com.
“As Christians, we are called to reach out to the world around us to spread the love of Christ and that includes learning how to respond to other religions,” said the Rev. Canon Julian Dobbs, Canon Missioner of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).
He said the group will provide its members with “honest” and “respectful” information, while “exposing the truth about so-called moderate Islam and encouraging evangelism to Muslims.”
Oh, good. Just what was needed; another website “exposing the truth about so-called moderate Islam”.
Julian Dobbs was part of the Barnabas Fund, headed by Patrick Sookhdeo.
Sookhdeo gets a free pass in the media for his stupid claims because he is a brown ‘expert on Islam’.
Extracts of the Qur’an are included in a booklet of hymns and prayers as part of a Black Madonna festival in Belgium:
Theo Hobson draws the ire of Damien Thompson over his claim that Charles Moore, a former editor of The Spectator, is suffering from a martyr’s complex over his spat with BBC. Hobson says Moore’s complaint is related to the former Speccie editor’s conversion to Catholicism.
I am loath to agree with Thompson on anything, but some of Hobson’s stuff does look like cheap shots at Catholic beliefs; look at this for example.
But I don’t understand why Thompson is complaining about Hobson using his Spectator blog to peddle his ’second-rate religious commentary’; Thompson regularly uses his Telegraph blog to promote his own second-rate political and religious commentary, even peddling outright lies about Muslims. Thompson could learn a thing or two from his co-blogger and one of the Telegraph’s leader writers, Christopher Howse, who has at least appears to have read a book or two on Islamic history, faith and practice.
I don’t understand what this discussion at The Spittoon blog, on Muslim views and beliefs regarding other religions, especially the People of the Book, has to do with ‘Islamist doublespeak‘.
I don’t object to the author being highly critical of Muslim doctrines and beliefs (Muslims can, and do, respond in kind if they so wish), but I don’t see why or how every Muslim who happens to believe his (or hers!) is the True Religion, as opposed to some other set of beliefs, is an ‘Islamist’. Might as well dump the label if that is the case.
Jewish American congressman to marry Muslim American woman raised in Saudi Arabia.
Point-of-view journalism – The way an Israeli right-wing newspaper reports it:
Brooklyn, New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner will marry outside the Jewish religion to Huma Abedin, a Muslim woman who is considered one of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides, the New York Daily News reported.
The intermarriage rate in the United States is estimated to be approximately 50 percent and has been one of the strongest forces that has diluted Jewish identity and support of a strong Israel.
“Judea and Samaria” is settler speak for the occupied territories:
Rep. Weiner is considered a “defender of Israel” and is a supporter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) but has not recently taken a strong stand in favor of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
More about ‘that woman’:
Our newest frontpager, Richard Bartholomew, has a post on Christian rumblings against Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s new head of religious programming.
New prayer groups spread abhorrence for Hinduism: Catholic Church:
It says though the Catholic Church preaches only Jesus, it does not disregard what is true or divine in other religions. The Bible even teaches to treat other religions with respect, the letter adds.
The Catholic Church has its own mass prayer movements and these had played a significant role in reviving faith in the Bible, it said. However, the new groups were flouting all prescribed rules on interpreting the Bible, the state council charged.
Read perspectives from members of Obama’s interfaith advisory council, as well as Catholic, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, Muslim and Jewish leaders.
http://www.patheos.com/Explore/Additional-Resources/Obama-in-Egypt.html
I hadn’t realised the man who spent the last two months touring the US to ’spread his message of peace and Muslim moderateness’ was a key member of British Muslims for Secular Democracy.
It’s not ok to criticise Christianity in Germany if you’re Muslim:
The state of Hesse had planned to hand its 45,000-euro (61,000-dollar) prize this July jointly to a Jew, a Muslim, a Catholic and a Lutheran to honour the cultural achievements of the monotheistic religions.
But Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz and Peter Steinacker, former head of the Lutheran church of Hesse and Nassau, objected to sharing the state culture prize with Navid Kermani, an Iranian-born author.
Kermani had begun an article about a crucifix, a standard Christian image that depicts Jesus Christ in an agonizing death nailed to a wooden cross, with, ‘I’d express my personal rejection of the theology of the cross frankly with ‘blasphemy and idolatry’.’
Benedict XVI calls for a Palestinian homeland, but walks out on an ‘interfaith’ meeting after what the Jerusalem Post (heh) describes as an ‘anti-Israeli rant’ by Shaykh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, the Chief Islamic Judge in the Palestinian Authority.
Why didn’t Damien Thompson talk about the first story? Looks like taking sides to me…
FaithWorld has extensive coverage of Benedict XVI’s visit to the Middle East for anyone interested, including snippets of his speeches (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
