I suppose this means I can’t select Dhalsim anymore?
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thabet
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thabet
I agree with Aziz that crude excavations of Islamic history should be rightfully dismissed as either ignorant gibberish or anti-Muslim rants. However, just as people have examined Western history closely for modern problems (e.g. racism), I don’t think it is unfair to take a similar look at Muslim history.
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thabet
Gabriele Marranci has a thoughtful piece on the case of Sarah Maple, the Muslim artist who has received death threats for her art.
I have to agree with Marranci; Maple’s art is barely second rate.
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thabet
A reader sent me a link to the The Muslim West Facts Project by Gallup and the Coexist Foundation.
So I am sharing it with you.
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thabet
I have only skim-read this paper on advertising, mass media and identity formation in the US, but it seems worthwhile reading in detail, and thinking about how consumption and identity interact.
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Fatemeh
Latoya from Racialicious breaks down the racism and stereotypes in this year’s election, including that which affected Muslims. Shhh, I know Islam isn’t a race. Just read.
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thabet
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thabet
I do not want to hear another word on Afghanistan from English-accented Taliban-supporting morons.
And here is a claim from the Indy report above that shouldn’t surprise anyone: all four of the aid workers killed by the Taliban (or those who ally themselves with the group) in the past two months have been women.
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thabet
Religion and politics:
Emmeline Pankhurst was a political activist most widely known for her campaign to bring about women’s suffrage.
More evidence of how liberals and Islamists are the flip of the same coin…
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thabet
Arguments, such these (1, 2, 3), which seem to call for an arbitary ban on so-called sharia “courts”* are wrong.
The right way to argue against sharia arbitration panels, if that is what someone wants to do, is to campaign for a change in the law which allows them to operate in the first place, although a better method will probably be to work for a more rigorous application of the law in the operation of these panels**.
I think it is right to express concern about the way these panels appear to be operating, but trying to argue that we must find special reasons to deny Muslims the right to engage in perfectly legal activities*** is against the very notion of the rule of law and completely undemocratic****.
*I suggest we stop calling them “courts” altogether. Doing so gives them an aura of legal stature they do not posses. They are arbitration panels.
**For example one legal scholar has argued that that “the state should seek to apply all human rights and anti-discrimination legislation rigorously to avoid structural discrimination in the operation of these minority courts of arbitration”.
***See this discussion in the comments from people who know what they’re talking about.
****Is there an argument which says they’re illegal? I don’t know and have never come across one.
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baraka
How Muslims made Europe - NYT Review of Books: “God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Modern Europe”
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thabet
Gess asks the right question:
It would be a mistake for Cambodian Muslims to seek funds from the Gulf or even the Subcontinent under the illusion of pan-Islamic brotherhood.
If Western (American) cultural imperialism is a Bad Thing with its Starbucks coffee shops and Golden Arches on every street corner which infiltrates communities under the guise of ‘development’ and economic progress, then so is oil-funded Gulf Arab cultural imperialism which often infiltrates communities under the guise of spreading True Islam.
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thabet
Indigo Jo and Muslim Matters have posts on whether vilification of Muslims, in the media and elsewhere, leads to incidents like the attack on a mosque in Ohio.
I (sincerely) hope this makes Muslims a little more sensitive to similar outrages against a religious minorities elsewhere, an example of which took place in Pakistan recently.
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thabet
Bradford Muslim has an interesting post on Mad Mel’s appearances on Radio 4’s Moral Maze.
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thabet
This is how the media works: They go hunting for Rent-A-Quotes.
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thabet
A Saudi is suing Tesco for religious discrimination “because he was asked to handle crates of alcohol in a warehouse”.
Someone should tell him Tesco also sells pork and magazines with scantily clad women on the front cover.
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thabet
A Muslim racist:
I am of the west, more western than [Tarek] Fatah, if I may add.
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thabet
A Muslim group’s idea of helping the poor is to ask people to donate more money for sectarian books than food, clothing, etc.
(Via Indigo Jo.)
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thabet
I have received an email inviting me to an Eid dinner/event in Dubai. The event is being organised by Western Muslim expats living in the UAE. The organisers clearly observe the traditional rules of social interaction quite strictly (there will be separate facilities for men and women).
Here is one of the ‘terms’ of entry into the event:
MAIDS WILL BE CHARGEABLE, BUT WE WOULD STRONGLY URGE YOU NOT TO BRING THEM UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AS PLACES ARE LIMITED.
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thabet
China’s “re-educaiton drive” in Xinjiang.
The Christian Science Monitor also has an article on Muslims in China “forging economic ties with the Muslim world”.
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thabet
Regurgitated raisins: Spiegel interviews a German academic on the controversy surrounding a Muslim scholar whose academic work has put him at odds with mainstream Muslim organisations in Germany.
The Muslim in question, Muhammad Kalisch, is said to support the work of another German academic who has suggested “that the Koran is a Christian text and that Muhammad probably never lived”.
On the face of it, it looks to me like a case of regurgitated raisins.
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thabet
Indonesia’s head of counterterrorism says the role of Western governments in Iraq and Afghanistan has made it harder for Muslims to fight terrorism.
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thabet
Talk Islam: Dalia Mogahed* v Irshad Manji.
Both speakers were not clear on the need for political reform (the real problem), although Mogahed does touch on it at the end.
*Co-author of Who Speaks for Islam?
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thabet
A Pakistani televangelist and former MQM politician called for the killing of Ahmadis on television. Two people were killed shortly after the broadcast.
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thabet
This could be interesting: Scottish Muslims create a new group to play greater role in civil life.
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thabet
Going back to the “sharia courts” story, which was first reported in a regional newspaper but has now hit the national newspapers, I missed a bit of the story which I have to say is troublesome:
No criminal matters can be considered by sharia arbitrators and no corporal punishment can be imposed. The tribunal can, however, adjudicate on cases of domestic violence – with a requirement to pass details to the police.
Arbitration is fine and perfectly legal in English law for civil matters.* But domestic violence is a criminal act. This adds confusion to some of the additional details being reported in The Times:
In the six cases of domestic violence, [Faiz-ul-Aqtab] Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment.
In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.
In the words of one former judge, what these sorts of religious arbitration panels “mustn’t do - and this must never happen - is to stray into the field of criminal matters”. The arbitration ‘judges’ (?!) should not be making any pronouncements, whatsoever, on a matter which is with the police. If the reports are true, then it is wholly irresponsible of them to have done so.
What is probably needed is an expert’s analysis on the line between a criminal matter (related to domestic violence) and marital issues under consideration by a Muslim arbitration tribunal, such as those reported by The Times (and repeated elsewhere). The erosion of this line is not, and should not, be considered acceptable. Further, as one legal scholar has argued, “the state should seek to apply all human rights and anti-discrimination legislation rigorously to avoid structural discrimination in the operation of these minority courts of arbitration”. Anything less would be an abdication of responsibility by the state.
Now that these “courts” (tribunals) are fully under way in a more formal and open manner, we can probably expect more stories to begin emerging in the press.
*I am sympathetic to talk of ‘community pressure’, but it is wrong to arbitrarily remove legal avenues simply for people whose views one may not agree with. If you don’t like the law, campaign for a change.
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thabet
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Catholics follow Hindus and Sikhs in complaining of being unloved by the British media and Channel 4 in particular.
Again, the general response from Muslims would probably be: you’re welcome to our media attention.
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thabet
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aziz
Warith Deen Mohammed and the mountain: I look at the enormity of what he accomplished at City of Brass.
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