Open Thread Sunday 1/25/09

11 Comments

1. 

   Gohar

   January 26, 2009 at 12:26 PM

   Anyone with a heart could see that what was going on in Gaza was obscene. However, i still think it would have been useful to list each and every argument the pro-isrealis were using to defend themselves, and then provide a response to them. Not sure what the best way would have been to get this done – maybe this could have been a collective effort by all the readers, until each claim was answered.This would have then helped empower the readership to ring talk shows etc to counter what these zio-nazis were saying.

   Reply
2. 

   Mohammad S.

   January 26, 2009 at 5:10 PM

   As-Salam `alaykum

   “Now we want to know what YOU thought of the way MM handled coverage of the situation. Do you think we needed more political analysis? More spiritual reminders? Stronger encouragements? Please do let us know, as it is through constructive criticism and sincere advice that we may strive to do better for the sake of Allah. JazaakumAllahu khairan.”

   I thought that there were more pages dedicated to the political aspect of the situation, rather than the spiritual one. Not that I can really blame you, since the Dua’s we can make for the ikhwan in Falasteen are the same each day; but the situation may not be the same every day, thus it requires more reporting.
   However, I would still like to see some more spiritual-related posts about what we can do to help, besides donating money etc.
   The ‘Using Hikmah in Trying Times’ program is along the lines of what I’m trying to say.

   Wassalam

   Reply
3. 

   James

   January 26, 2009 at 6:52 PM

   This CBS Video has just been brought to my attention

   http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n

   Pretty jaw dropping to see something like this in the US media (I’m not in the US).

   The reporter says basically there are 3 options for Israel: ethnic cleansing; democracy (and the end of Israel as a Jewish state); or apartheid. And it goes on to take seriously the argument that an apartheid system is already in place.

   Hardly news to most of us, and it’s plenty flawed (the illegality of the settlements isn’t mentioned once, for instance), but still, I haven’t seen anything like this from a major US network before.

   Reply
4. 

   Abd- Allah

   January 26, 2009 at 11:43 PM

   My suggestion would be less political updates where you post information that we can read or see in other media related websites or news agencies, and more spiritual analysis of the issue, like the cause of the situation that the Ummah is in currently, and how can we improve ourselves and find a solution to this recurring crisis where the muslims around the world are being humiliated. The thing is that what happened recently in Gaza is nothing new to the Muslim Ummah, and similar massacres have happened before to muslims around the world, and will unfortunately continue to happen in the future if we do not do anything about it. So as much as it was important for us to have discussed the situation in Gaza and tried to find solutions and ways to help our brothers and sisters there because that situation was current and urgent, but it was as important for us to discuss the cause and find a solution of the bigger problem that faces Muslims throughout the world, which is constant humiliation and suffering. I think we have to realize that even though this issue in Gaza has calmed down, yet this theme has been a recurring theme and will come back again in the future where some opressor will kill and murder a big number of muslims somewhere in the world, so we need to look at the big picture and discuss and figure out the solution to the major problem that our Ummah faces which is constant humiliation and killing of our people.

   -Please do not use bold tags for comments -Editor

   Reply
5. 

   Dawud Israel

   January 27, 2009 at 12:13 AM

   Suggested topic of discussion:

   Will Obama’s bombing Pakistan push BAMS and immigrant Muslims further apart in the USA?

   Reply
6. 

   Ibrahim Siddiq

   January 27, 2009 at 2:54 AM

   Assalaam alaykum.

   Just a brief clarification. The change.gov website that the Obama transition team set up is closed for all practical purposes. Although the website is still up, if you go to the home page, you will see the notice that the “transition is over.” President Obama’s administration has re-designed the official White House website to accept citizen input. Please visit that website to voice your concerns to the new administration.

   We pray Allah to favor us with His Guidance and to grant peace and stability to the world.

   Ibrahim

   Reply
7. 

   abu abdAllah

   January 27, 2009 at 9:45 AM

   bismillah. if you visit MM from an iPhone, most Blackberrys or similarly “cool” phones, you can ignore this comment because the site probably looks the same on that device as it does on your desktop computer, alhamdolillah.

   but for the rest of us… :)
   visit the newly updated http://m.muslimmatters.org from your mobile browser. it’s an easy to remember URL — just muslimmatters.org with an extra “m.” at the front.

   mm, mmm, good.

   if your phone still needs a differently formatted page, you can also try:
   http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmuslimmatters.org

   but you’ll want to write that one down, first. :) it’s a mouthful. one nice side benefit of the long URL: you can use it to view many web sites from older phone browsers that would not otherwise display properly — just substitute the other site’s URL for “muslimmmatters.org” in the long address above.

   Reply
8. 

   abu abdAllah, the Houstonian

   January 27, 2009 at 7:50 PM

   bismillah. (via mobile browser)

   i think if we have reached a critical mass of writers/contributors, that people who complain about format could be satisfied by a virtual subdivision of the site.

   think of it as an analog to newspaper sections: opinion, news, weather, etc.

   sure, we have nominal divisions now. but writers choose which section to publish in, and many writers gear their content to major current events. and there are readers who seem to want more differentiated content.

   imagine if the tab on MM took readers to different content, placed there at the editorial direction (not discretion, but affirmative direction) of MM.

   so, there might be a tab for reflections/theological/spiritual content and another action-items/current-events/less-scholarly content. there could be more tabs than those, and i have not offered names so much as descriptions.

   the current content categories could be retained as appropriate under both tabs. and writers could offer content to either tab or leave it completely to editorial choice, but editors would actually assign content to a tab.

   cookies could establish which tab is displayed by default when a user comes to MM. either always display most recently-updated, last-visited, or a user-specified tab.

   how does the tab idea help?

   a lot of readers who share the desire of writers to respond to particular events often and while they are still developing will appreciate the current event tab. it would heavily cover a given subject while it is topical.

   a good name for the tab given that events would be responded to as they develop: “first-responders/awwul-ul-Muslimeen.”

   the other tab, for example, might only look back at an event after it has reached a major milestone, or might make a more scholarly attempt to approach events that are not nec. current. such a tab might well be named “for people of dhikr” emphasizing the tab’s emphasis on reflection.

   i like those names because they extol and exhort the best qualities of what are competing purposes at MM.

   that they compete at all is evidenced most of all by the fact that many pieces published recently were written 1-2 months ago, alhamdolillah.

   with the “for people of dhikr” tab, they could have been published in parallel to articles about Gaza, much as newspapers and scholarly journals alike, around the world, continued to publish content that had no reference to current events.

   Reply
9. 

   Abd- Allah

   January 27, 2009 at 8:13 PM

   I second the suggestion of brother abu abdAllah, the Houstonian. There is no direct relation between the two of us by the way, just in case you were wondering whether I am that abdAllah which he is the abu of.

   Reply
   • 

     Amad

     January 27, 2009 at 9:57 PM

     Obama’s interview on Al-Arabiya:
     Part 1
     Part 2

     Reply
10. 

    Muslimah

    February 3, 2009 at 1:07 AM

    Assalam u alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

    I was soo happy to view muslimahsource.com !!

    Jazakillah for launching such a wonderful website

    Reply