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Open Thread Sunday 3/1/2008

Published

March 1, 2009

The last few weeks have seen intense activity around Obama’s stimulus bill and upcoming budget. A Pew poll sometime back (we discussed it on MM in a series of posts) portrayed Muslims, on average, as being “compassionate” and more liberal in terms of supporting government spending, esp. in poverty eradication. The budget especially is considered left of center, i.e. liberal-leaning. What are your views? Some readings below:

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“How Thomas Jefferson Read The Qu’ran”

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by Kevin J. Hayes, University of Central Oklahoma

A very interesting paper about Thomas Jefferson & the Qu’ran. He was interested in the Qu’ran as a book of law, reading it during his years of studying and research for his law degree. Later, after the conflicts with the Berbers in North Africa his intrigue continues to grow into orientalism, leading him to actually learned arabic. Yes, Thomas Jefferson the third president of the United States knew arabic!

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When prostitution and drugs are legal in your county, some look to Islamophobia to find alternative forms of fitna: Geert Wilders holds a private screening of ‘fitna’ in the US Capitol — and can you believe it — on the same day that John Kerry holds a special congressional hearing on improving the strained relations with the Muslim World (with Dalia Mogahed and Madeline Albright testifying at that hearing).

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A non-Muslim Sociology professor in Ottawa has recently caused a furor in the blogosphere by speaking out about her practical ” experiment”: donning a full face-veil or naqab, and an abaya. The story has received mixed responses, but her observations about moving about in Canada in this Muslim garb, both on campus (she even took her classes in this outfit) and around in the city running errands are interesting. She mentions the word “liberating” for her feelings about her experience, that enabled her to see others, but not be seen herself.

Read the whole story on Canada.com here.

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23 Comments

Nihal Khan

March 1, 2009 at 12:16 PM

Imam Siraj has been diagnosed with prostate cancer :(

http://nihalkhan.blogspot.com

Reply
ibnabeeomar

March 1, 2009 at 1:11 PM

MM is working on a new twitter newswire for muslim news :P

Reply
SoS

March 1, 2009 at 4:16 PM

Muslim students in Missouri are hosting a regional tournament for college and high school students in the midwest.

‘ILM Tournament Please support your Muslim brothers and sisters by informing midwestern students about the tournament :-).

Reply
- Amad
  
  March 1, 2009 at 4:54 PM
  
  Talking about events, a big MSA conference is coming up in April. We’ll have Br. Nouman there too:
  http://ezusa.msanational.org/conference/
  
  Inshallah, stay tuned for more info. about the conference as we are working with the organizers to generate some hype.
  
  Reply
Amad

March 1, 2009 at 5:03 PM

See NPR Interview of Gitmo Guard: http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/testimonies-of-military-guards/testimony-of-brandon-neely

Reply
Amad

March 1, 2009 at 5:51 PM

We are going to begin full RSS feeds in the month of March. There is a huge debate on what is better. What are your thoughts?

Reply
Misfit Muslimah

March 1, 2009 at 7:40 PM

What do you mean by full RSS feeds? If you mean the entire post is available on the feed, instead of just the beginning, isn’t that the way it is right now?

Reply
- Amad
  
  March 1, 2009 at 8:13 PM
  
  It has been a mixed bag, “misfit”… we had all of them partial (the theory being you want to get people to your site for comments/hits) in February. We are kind of testing on what is better.
  
  Reply
J

March 2, 2009 at 12:11 AM

As-Salam Alaykum brother Amad, I just wanted to thank you and express my gratitude towards you, for doing such a good job at MM. May Allah [swt] reward you and the rest of you at MM.

Reply
J

March 2, 2009 at 12:20 AM

My question of the week is: why does Ustadh Yasir Qadhi dress like a fob? Seriously. I really think he should just wear pants and a shirt.

Reply
J

March 2, 2009 at 12:57 AM

How do I register a user name? I want to register “J” so it turns nice and blue.

Reply
UmmeAmmaarah

March 2, 2009 at 1:05 PM

Turki-Al-Faisal at Cornell this April….

This will be interesting.

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/calendar/index.asp?id=10725

Read this for perspective : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/65b122b6-e8c0-11dd-a4d0-0000779fd2ac.html

Still don’t know whether it’ll be open to outsiders, but will keep ya informed.

Reply
- Amad
  
  March 2, 2009 at 1:28 PM
  
  UmmeAmmaarah, what an excellent op-ed piece by Turki. Saudis are finally showing some b**s. Hope that the Obama administration is paying attention to their ally.
  
  Reply
Touhid

March 2, 2009 at 2:00 PM

Assalamu alaykum,

I just wanted to pass on a few books/sites that we should consider reading/listening to:

1) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (this book in my opinion is a must read for those
who want to be more politically aware)

2) Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
(interview at
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/4/21/overthrow_americas_century_of_regime_change
starts at about 20 minutes into the broadcast)

3) Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

4) Interview with a representative from the Taliban (link from deenport.com)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpcSEDnB9v4&feature=PlayList&p=CCA460D617803F68&index=0&playnext=1

Salam

Reply
J

March 3, 2009 at 2:28 AM

As-Salam Alaykum Brother Touhid:

4) Interview with a representative from the Taliban (link from deenport.com)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpcSEDnB9v4&feature=PlayList&p=CCA460D617803F68&index=0&playnext=1

This is clip of Syed Rahmatullah Hashemi, who visited the United States as the Taliban representative in 2001. It would interest you to know that he has renounced the Taliban, and also indicated that much of what he said in that clip you linked to was simply propaganda points fed to him by his superiors, but which was not grounded in reality.

In any case, Syed Rahmatullah Hashemi left the Taliban, has become a moderate Muslim, referred to the Taliban conservatives as “going crazy”, and he started studying at Yale University, where he even participated in a Muslim-Jew interfaith dialogue.

Fi Aman Allah

Reply
Hassan

March 3, 2009 at 10:16 AM

Sri Lankan Cricket team attacked in Lahore, Pakistan.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Lahore-Terror-Arrests-Made-Says-Lahore-Resident-And-Twitter-User-Adnan-Ali/Video/200903115233226?lpos=video_News_in_Video_Home_Region_3&lid=VIDEO_15233226_Lahore_Terror_Arrests_Made%2C_Says_Lahore_Resident_And_Twitter_User_Adnan_Ali

http://www.cricinfo.com

Reply
J

March 3, 2009 at 12:19 PM

I :heart: MM

Reply
Anon.

March 3, 2009 at 1:50 PM

ws just wondering..since everyone’s been talking about names recently: is AnonyMouse’s surname: Kathrada?

Was just that I thought it’d suit her..?

Wassalom

Reply
AnonyMouse

March 3, 2009 at 2:46 PM

ws just wondering..since everyone’s been talking about names recently: is AnonyMouse’s surname: Kathrada?

Was just that I thought it’d suit her..?

There’s a reason for anonymity on the ‘Net :)

Reply
Touhid

March 4, 2009 at 3:00 AM

Salam, Thank you J for the clarification, about the status of the brother…
Are there any articles or other interviews that the brother did regarding his experience with the Taliban, after he left them
and his current views? or any contact info, since he is studying at Yale.
I guess the interview in the the link was done before 911 and the October invasion. I have a hard time believing that all the things he said was propaganda, because for instance in terms of educating girls, most media portray it as if they are against the education of women, but the fact is they want segregation of gender, just like in Saudi Arabia. I’m not saying this was the most prudent thing to so, meaning there is time and place for everything…it may not have been the proper stand to take, b/c they were at that time a fledgling govt., and needed all the international support it can, I think only Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had diplomatic ties with the group before 911…
In terms of propaganda, I think the US government with the popular media has done a wonderful job of making so called “conservative muslims” as being demonic/extremist/inhumane and those that are classified as not as being the ones who should represent the deen. Please do not get me wrong, of course the Taliban have their shortcomings and their mistakes, mistakes which cost the lives of innocent people. But at the same time, the mistakes of the US military has taken the lives of many people, and are vastly underreported by the popular media.
Also, in terms of propaganda, during the 1980s, (I’m sure we all know this by now), when the USSR invaded Afghanistan, the US (1979-NSA:Zbigniew Brzezinski) through the CIA did provide money, training and weapons to the mujahideen, and supported the recruitment of fighters to come to afghanistan, thru the use of Jihad propaganda( from other lands).In fact the NSA, They did this because it served US foreign policy interests, and now when “conservatives” do not serve US foreign policy interests they will not support them. When US foreign policy has economic interests in a region, as history shows,(if not already, please read the Shock Doctrine, and Overthrow), the US govt. will not stop going forward, no matter what the cost, human or otherwise.

Salam

Reply
J

March 8, 2009 at 3:42 AM

I think it’s hilarious how some dude named “Anti-Jaysh” is so in love with me that he thinks I am everyone on this site! LOLLL He replied to some “AnonyMuslim” thinking it was me, LOL.

Seriously guys, is there any way I can register so this sort of confusion/accusation doesn’t happen again? How do people get nice blue screen-names?

Having said all that, I saw nothing wrong with what brother/sister AnonyMuslim said; but I just want to clarify that it was not me. I always use the simple name “J”. If it’s not “J”, it’s not me. :)

I guess Islamic Awakening types have a hard time realizing that a great many Muslims think the same way I do, and feel that IA is full of extremists.

Reply
J

March 8, 2009 at 3:54 AM

Wa alaykum as-salam, brother Towhid.

Salam, Thank you J for the clarification, about the status of the brother…
Are there any articles or other interviews that the brother did regarding his experience with the Taliban, after he left them
and his current views? or any contact info, since he is studying at Yale.

Here you go bro:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/26taliban.html?ex=1298610000&en=952caa29139c6927&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

I guess the interview in the the link was done before 911 and the October invasion. I have a hard time believing that all the things he said was propaganda, because for instance in terms of educating girls, most media portray it as if they are against the education of women, but the fact is they want segregation of gender, just like in Saudi Arabia.

Well, they even banned home schooling for girls. The question is why?

I’m not saying this was the most prudent thing to so, meaning there is time and place for everything…it may not have been the proper stand to take, b/c they were at that time a fledgling govt., and needed all the international support it can, I think only Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had diplomatic ties with the group before 911…

I think that you are missing the bigger point, my dear brother. It was not only not prudent, it was wrong. From a religious and moral standpoint. If my sisters could not get an education in a country, I’d leave that country and seek out another. Even if they banned schools for a few years, do you realize that this is raising a country of ignorant people? Have you ever seen the effects of taking a student out of school for a few years? The consequences are horrible for that particular student.

In terms of propaganda, I think the US government with the popular media has done a wonderful job of making so called “conservative muslims” as being demonic/extremist/inhumane and those that are classified as not as being the ones who should represent the deen.

We need to differentiate between conservatives and extremists.

Please do not get me wrong, of course the Taliban have their shortcomings and their mistakes, mistakes which cost the lives of innocent people.

I think I will have to repeat what brother Siraaj said: the words “shortcoming and mistakes” does not do justice to what they did. They were oppressors of women, and now they are allied with terrorists (Al-Qaeda).

But at the same time, the mistakes of the US military has taken the lives of many people, and are vastly underreported by the popular media.

I agree with this 100%.

Fi Aman Allah

Reply
Touhid

March 9, 2009 at 1:52 AM

Salam, Thank you brother J for the link to the article…I’ll read it…
I agree that the oppression of women is a serious issue not only with the Taliban, but for Muslim men across western and eastern cultures…In terms of popular media, it seems that the in general, Muslims who are “religious” about their prayers, and obligations automatically get pigeonholed and get a bad name, and then the media give a series of half truths, and s/t outright lies, that further damage their reputation. Also, the people who give a dissenting voice against, for example.the Taliban or a “muslim” becomes an “apostate”, this individual is given the voice to represent Islam, or things are made feasible for that individual to have a platform, for which to promote their viewpoint, b/c it matches their interests….

In terms of again with propaganda,
we need more Muslims to go into the fields of political science, and investigative reporting, because I think we are naive (inluding myself)
when it comes to these things…

If you do not have time to read the books mentioned before, here is an interview with the one of the authors:
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/17/the_shock_doctrine_naomi_klein_on

1 more book to add (can’t resist)
The War on Truth by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

1) short article: From Central America to Iraq:
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20040806.htm

2)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-02-24/israels-dangerous-choice/full/

I understand that we Muslims must rectify our errors and implement justice even if it is against ourselves, b/c that is what the Sharia demands/teaches, and we cannot blame others. We must speak out against horrible crimes/actions, done in the name of Islam, and also speak out with courage when crimes are committed in the name of “freediom and democracy”. May Allah (Swt) help us all.

Salam

Reply