The absurdity of it all:
It becomes even more funny when you consider our unelected head of state and unelected upper chamber. Fucking BRITAIN!
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thabet
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mirelle
Spoiled Qataris don’t understand why their sense of victimization about being a wealthy minority in their own land doesn’t play real well with the expats who have moved there.
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thabet
Qatari diplomat causes US plane scare:
Air marshals on board a Boeing 757 seized a Qatari diplomat who was questioned by security officials for hours after the incident. Investigators were told the man was asked about the smell of the smoke and joked he had been trying to light his shoes – an apparent reference to the 2001 shoe bomber Richard Reid.
No explosives were found on the plane and officials speaking on condition of anonymity said they did not think the man intended to hurt anyone and would not be charged with a criminal offence. But authorities declined to reveal where he was now.
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Pretty Pink Unicorns
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aziz
It doesn’t look good for IslamOnline, now that Yusuf Qaradawi has been dismissed from the board of directors.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
Although I’m sure that I would be much closer to the reporters and writers of IOL in my vision of what should be on the website, a couple of things have been interesting to me about this story.
First, this is the problem of government funding. Although you paint this as an issue of censorship, Aziz, can we really argue that the Qatari government should be required to keep funding something it doesn’t want to fund? It is not preventing, as far as I know, please correct me if I am wrong, the reporters/writers from doing the same work somewhere else.
Of course, this story poses an interesting larger issue: can a viable economic model be created for independent writing and reporting in the Islamosphere?
Also, it is interesting to see how this event gets translated to western media, and I personally I find myself still feeling like I don’t really understand what are the issues at stake. Obviously through the western lens Qaradawi is not perceived as moderate, although I agree that is an accurate way to describe him, although it is of course vague. (moderate compared to whom? on which issues?)
For example in much of the appeals from IOL staff directed towards Muslims, there seemed to be an emphasis on emotional appeals regarding Palestine. Was this just designed to gain support? Are political issues involved in the conflict? What does the Ikhwan have to do with all this? IOL was largely viewed as an Ikhwani outlet. Is this an Ikhwan-Gulf Salafi dispute?
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aziz
i’ve tagged this as an issue of freedom of the press – and by definition a nonfree press is a censored one.
IOL is not a website or a blog, its a genuine journalistic endeavour. Would you be sanguine if Al Jazeera was sold to Kellog, Brown and Root and they impsed new “editorial guidelines” on the stories at the AJE newsdesk? Are KBR “obligated” to keep funding AJE if AJE wouldnt’ comply?
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
Aziz, IOL wasn’t sold, it’s always been funded by the Qatari gov. and everyone who worked for it knew or should have known that….I’m just saying that that is a problematic nature of government funding. (or funding of other groups or sources that have interests of their own).
I’m not saying they shouldn’t or can’t protest and perhaps they were given guarantees of editorial freedom and if they were, certainly they are right to protest if those are withdrawn.
I don’t want to cause unnecessary confusion here, I’ve said that as far as I can tell, I’m probably more in sympathy with the IOL staff (although I feel I don’t know the “real story”).
I’m lost as to your statement that a ‘by definition a nonfree press is a censored one’. No idea what that means. I don’t think the fact that we at TalkIslam cannot demand salaries from the U.S. government for our work or that we can’t demand to be able to write for the New York Times if the owner of the NYT wishes not to hire us. If a claim of censorship is made, the default is that a government is refusing to allow something to be broadcast or printed, it could also refer to private decisions to not broadcast or print something, but private censorship is understood not to be generally a “free speech” issue. As to the government controlling what is broadcast in government funded entities well my whole point is that this is exactly the problem with having government funded media.
I don’t really get your last example either…I may not like the owners of the Washingon Post or Fox News and I sure can complain if I don’t like what they spend money on, but I can’t compel them to fund what I think they should fund and I’m not really sure what would be the moral source of such a claim but I’m open to you explaining it to me.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
Is this an Ikhwan-Gulf Salafi dispute?
or just Ikhwan — Qatari government dispute with the Salafi bogeyman used (rightly or wrongly)?
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Willow
I watched about an hour of the IOL sit-in online, and having done so, I think Ikhwan v. Gulf is broadly true…to many of the protesters this seemed to be an example of the anti-Egyptian sentiment in the Gulf; they seemed upset to be manipulated from abroad when they are the ones doing all the legwork. When I was living in Cairo there was a lot of bad blood between Egyptians and Khaleejis, because Egypt (being relatively poor compared to oil rich Gulf countries) is seen in the Gulf as a source of cheap labor, much like Pakistan and the Philippines. That creates a very abusive power relationship. A lot of IOL employees spoke about IOL as an Egyptian project, and the Qatari administration as foreign interlopers.
I think the ‘moderate vs. salafi’ angle was mostly invented here in the west. There are plenty of issues about which IOL was as conservative or more conservative than the average salafi site. Maybe it could be characterized as Egyptian neotraditionalism vs. Gulf salafism–that’s not very soundbytable though.
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johnpi
Conservatives in Qatar are worried about the trend in women’s fashion that they perceive as “cross-dressing.”
The local press says that more tradition-minded locals are upset by the growing number of young women affecting a masculine style of dress, baggy trousers, short hair and deep voices. These women, who call themselves boyat, which translates as both tomboy and transsexual (and is derived from the English word boy), are being seen in schools and on university campuses where some are said to harass their straiter-laced sisters.
In an episode of a talk show on Qatari television, called Lakom al Karar (The Decision is Yours), a leading academic said that the “manly women” phenomenon was part of a “foreign trend” brought into Qatar and the Gulf by globalisation. Foreign teachers, the internet and satellite television have been blamed. So have foreign housemaids, for badly influencing children in their care.
The studio audience was divided over how to respond. Some called for the death penalty for cross-dressers, while others favoured medical treatment. A rehabilitation centre for Qatari boyat has been set up, but a local report says that as many as 70% of them refuse to give up their “abnormal behaviour”.
….One official describes the “deviant behaviour” of the boyat as a “menace” to society. But others sound less fazed. An American university lecturer in the region says the short hair and gym shoes worn by these young women would look perfectly normal on an American campus. That is just what unnerves the traditionalists.
Via Kawdess tweets.
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johnpi
Top 10 good news stories from the Muslim world in the last year, according to Juan Cole.
10. Saudi Arabia opened its first coeducational college campus, the King Abdullah Science and Technology University.
9. Qatar is on track to average 7.5 percent per annum growth for the next few years.
8. A Pew Forum on Religion and Life poll finds that American Muslims are unusual in the degree to which they are integrated into mainstream American society and demonstrate moderate attitudes, condemning religious extremism and violence.
7. The information revolution is making strides in the Arab world.
6. Albania has averaged 10 percent a year growth for each of the last four years, and was the fastest-growing economy in Europe in 2009.
5. The small Gulf oil monarchy of Kuwait took steps toward greater democracy and rule of law.
4. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world at about 230 mn., had successful parliamentary elections in 2009, further consolidating the country’s decade-old democracy.
3. Turkey, which averaged 5.8 percent a year economic growth between 2002 and 2008, was slowed but not devastated by the world’s financial crisis.
2. Stability returned to Lebanon.
1. The greatest political awakening in Iran for 30 years.
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johnpi
If anybody sees a Muslim writer or analyst doing a good news list for the year or decade just ending, please let know here. I haven’t seen any. It’s interesting that it takes a non-Muslim observer to get some perspective and put together a list like this.
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manas
thanks for this.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
Why don’t you do it John ?I think few Muslims spend more time scouring the web for news from the Muslim world than you do. Unfortunately most of what you post here is bad news, but perhaps that’s just the nature of what is considered “news.”
Of course you come from a certain perspective, but so would anybody.
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johnpi
You are absolutely 100 percent right about what I post here being derivative of what appears in the ‘news’, and I’ve also had a lot of doubts about it. My thought is that it is valuable to know what’s out there that is credible enough – or that the MSM is trying to extend credibility to – to affect peoples’ opinions. Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll think about it.
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zahed
We’ve been doing this for seven years… compiling my list for this year (late, for the first time due to the holidays) as we speak, to be published tomorrow, Monday, January 4th. Last year’s list is here
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thabet
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manas
May I take the liberty of rearranging the list?
More important later
===============American Muslims are by and large still Muslims. (I dislike the orientalist language of Cole)
Albania has averaged 10 percent a year growth for each of the last four years, and was the fastest-growing economy in Europe in 2009.
The small Gulf oil monarchy of Kuwait took steps toward greater democracy and rule of law.
Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world at about 230 mn., had successful parliamentary elections in 2009, further consolidating the country’s decade-old democracy.
Qatar is on track to average 7.5 percent per annum growth for the next few years.
Turkey, which averaged 5.8 percent a year economic growth between 2002 and 2008, was slowed but not devastated by the world’s financial crisis.
Stability returned to Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia opened its ambitious King Abdullah Science and Technology University.
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buzz
How do you make a film about the Prophet Mohammad (s) and not depict him?
DOHA, Nov 1 (Reuters) – An epic film about Islam’s Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix” is being planned with the aim of “bridging cultures”.
Filming of the $150-million English-language movie is set to start in 2011 with American Barrie Osborne as its producer, Qatari media company Alnoor Holdings said on Sunday.
The film – in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic rules – is in development and talks are being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain, Alnoor said.
Osborne told Reuters the film would be an “international epic production aimed at bridging cultures.”
“The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam,” he said.
Rumi Film planned by Qatar Foundation still apparantly on track…More.
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johnpi
It’s been done before in another movie. The camera eye is basically placed where the Prophet (pbuh) would be. Someone linked a clip from here awhile ago. Basically, I got the impression that there were a lot of scenes of people standing around just gaping at the camera. It made me very uncomfortable.
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Buzz
There was a Charleton Heston movie where everyone starred like deer caught in headlights at an off camera Jesus. Not a very compelling mechanism.
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muffy
I’m assuming you’re talking about “Ben Hur.” Ironically, in the case of that movie, the intention was to make Jesus seem more, not less, divine. I saw the movie about Mohammed that I believe johnpi is referring to, and I thought the technique had the same effect — It made Mohammed seem less like a man and more like a divine figure. That was probably the opposite of the intention of the (I believe Muslim) film maker. Not a good technique.
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Buzz
I think the timing is right for western audiences to see a well-done drama about Islam.
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razib, murtad fitri
my parents have one of those movies. it felt like “experimental film” or something art house/avante guarde. i don’t think that was the intent…..
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aziz
TMBG reference!!!!
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razib, murtad fitri
nurd.
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shams
more bettah.
And now it is your turn
(your turn to hear the stone and then your turn to burn)
The stone it calls to you
(you can’t refuse to do the things it tells you to)And as the screaming fire engine siren fills the air
the evidence will vanish from your charred and smoking chair
and what they found was just a statue
standing where the statue got me high
and what they’ll find is just a statue
standing where the statue got you high-
aziz
Did I mention that I saw TMBG live in Madison a couple of weeks ago?
*brag brag*
The Sun is a mass of incandescent gas/miasma, of incandescent plasma, forget about that other song
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skevin
Or, just use CGI to envelop his head in flames, as was done with paint in Persian miniatures.
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Buzz
Or the white veil over his face. Islam has so much wisdom.
The decision not to depict the Prophet is one of many stunningly brilliant moves.
It proves he was a Prophet.
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johnpi
Arch-neoconservative Haim Saban is reportedly seeking a 50 percent ownership stake in Al Jazeera, according to Richard Silverstein. He writes, “Imagine the possibility of co-opting Al Jazeera’s Israel coverage. It’s an Aipac wet dream.”
Here’s Glenn Greenwald describing Saban in an article about one of the deeply compromised, warmongering foreign policy ‘experts’ he promotes through the “Saban Center for Middle East Studies,” a Washington thinktank.
The above-the-political-fray [ken] Pollack is employed by the “Saban Center for Middle East Studies” at Brookings — so named because it is funded with many millions of dollars by billionaire Haim Saban, an Israeli-American neoconservative who was a 2004 supporter of George Bush, was a close associate of Ariel Sharon, and spent the 1990s persuading Bill Clinton (with millions of dollars in donations to the Democratic Party) to be more supportive of Israel.
In a 2004 glowing profile, the NYT described Saban as “throwing his weight and money around Washington and, increasingly, the world, trying to influence all things Israeli,” and in that article, Saban told the NYT: “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.”
Richard writes, “If the emir of Qatar is seriously entertaining a Saban bid either he’s in financial difficulty or else he’s smokin’ some powerful weed.”
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Naila
Disturbing, even terrifying news!
Reading Al Jazeera English is a morning tradition for me and I subscribe to their YT channel. Their coverage not only of the Israeli occupation but also of the Muslim world is fantastic. I wish the emir would set up some way for loyal viewers from around the world to pay for what is essentially free service. I would gladly speak with my check. If Saban or the likes of him takes over al Jazeera, it will be the death of a great news media, and not just the death of the only in-depth and real coverage of the Israeli-palestinian conflict.
Of course Saudi Arabia’s boycott of Al Jazeera doesn’t help the financial situation.
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Matt
So why exactly is an Egyptian seeking ownership of an Arabic news channel news? Because he has the wrong views (is he a self-hating Arab?) or because he’s an Egyptian Jew?
Seriously, the story, while I’m confident it’s false, needs a great deal more sensitivity than this.
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thabet
This might be another sign that Qatar wants to offer an alternative to Saudi Arabia as a ‘big player’ in the region: Qatar signs a deal with Turkey.
Turkey has the same energy concerns as the EU: Russia’s virtual monopoly over gas into Europe. Of course, Turkey realises it is a geopolitical-energy hub, and alongside deals with Qatar, the EU, talk of one with Iraq, it has signed one with Russia too.
I’d expect any EU-Turkey-Iran deal on Nabucco, an anti-Russian pipeline project and an effort the US supports at the present time, to upset the anti-Iran hawks. India’s stalling on a pipeline from Iran through Pakistan suggests some pressure from the US. But India (and China, which is busy signing deals in Central Asia) would still have energy needs. Expect the conspiracy theorists to be given more grist for their mills, as the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline is resurrected (at least in the media — the engineering of such a pipeline is another story altogether).
Steve LeVine, however, says this sorts of pipeline politics is no longer valuable to the US; events, such as the Russia-Georgia War, China’s aggressive emergence in Central Asia and developments in technology, having overtaken their policy.
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johnpi
In Doha, the closure of food outlets at daytime during Ramadan has posed a problem to non-Muslim bachelors who do not cook and depend solely on restaurants for their everyday meals.
Many of these bachelors are compelled to prepare their meals, if not purchase in generous quantities at night then reheat them for breakfast and lunch. “I just buy more food at night then reheat it the following day,” said Abhijit, a first timer in Qatar who arrived a couple months ago.
….Experts, however, warn of reheating food more than once as some toxic substances are not destroyed making the food unfit for human consumption. In addition reheating certain kinds of food rinses away nutrients needed by the body. To ease the problem, some food outlets are secretly delivering food to non-Muslims even during daytime, making life a little bit easier for them, sources said. A few hypermarkets are also selling hot food during the day to meet the increasing demand. Customers come to these outlets in hordes to buy for their meal during lunchtime.
Pretty Pink Unicorns is discussing. 
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee, 
thabet, and 2 others are discussing. 
muffy, 
Buzz, and 4 others are discussing. 
Naila are discussing. 
He’s not charged because he’s a diplomat. But I bet he’s been recalled by the Emirate of Qatar…