Scourge of 'Islam Experts'

I came across this today, someone who tried to balance the work of the so called "Islamic Experts". I have stop looking at most articles about Islam and Muslim that are bias and negative in tones. It adds nothing to my day but headaches and heartaches. With all the technological and scientific advances, and as well as advances in the field of social sciences, such as psychology and education, some human beings still and will not want to live in peace. They prefer to be confrontational. Despite all they have learned in grade school. If these people prefer to villify one fifth of the earth's population and a civilization that is 1500 years old rather than understanding them and work peacefully to resolve differences, then I do not have much time for them either.

Debate between Reza Aslan and Sam Harris

I was so glad that this debate took place. Honest intellectual discourse such as this help carry on conversation which I hope help people understand. When we talked out our problems in a civilized way it is a major step towards solving our problems. We might need to talk for years but until we have talked out heart out we have not even begin to solve our problem. I truly believe that the world is a much better place already by us talking to each other rather than dropping bombs on each other.

The Promise to St. Catherine:

Prophet Muhammad’s Promise to Christians

The Promise to St. Catherine:
"This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)."
Read the rest here.

Tribalism

Story of Mary according to the Quran

This is just beautiful. The series really make the story of Mary according to Islam come to life. Some excerpts of the series are available on You Tube but the whole series (in Arabic) is available on Sham24, a Syrian TV channel. You have to watch with an Arabic speaking person so they can translate for you. Some excerpts on YouTube are dubbed to English although the quality is not as good as in Arabic. Iran also produced another movie which was mainly about Jesus (peace be upon him) a few years ago. The faces of the Prophets were not shown when the series were shown in the middle east in order to abide to the Islamic rulings.

Globalization Unchecked by Ramzy Baroud

I found Globalization Unchecked by Ramzy Baroud at Islamicity.com but it was originally published on counterpunch.com. It does presents the dilemma of some segment of the muslim world. Caught in the delicious and tantalizing desire of the globalized 'western' culture while negotiating and finding the relevence of Islam in their lives. To develop a strong sense of self-identity is very important for anyone who want to preserve his or her own uniqueness and/or group identity.

The concept of moderation in Islam

I finally found a video of Dr. Asma Afsaruddin online, a professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington.

For conventional Muslim, Dr. Asma Afsaruddin image does not support the image of a typical pious muslim women given her field of studies and the academic quality and soundness of her work Islamically. Although she chooses not to wear the hijab, it does not mean that her love of Islam is less than someone who chooses to wear the hijab. I truly value her work and contibution to the Muslim world.

Book by Dr. Asma Afsaruddin, The First Muslims - History and Memory is an interesting read although a little dense to digest through. I have not read it though just scanning through. She also edited a book called the Hermeneutics and Honor - Negotiating Female "Public" Space in Islamic/ate Societies. Some of the chapters that I have read is really eye opening. Obviously some Muslims culture is as foreign to me as to everyone else.