I believe that immigrantion bring fresh ideas and enliven the life of people. I believe that now more than ever cooperation and working for peace and understanding between people all over the world are essential and urgently needed.
I represent one of the sea of interests and voices of moderate Muslims in this world. My blogroll is a snippet of those voices, people sharing their lives, knowledge and interests.
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: "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.
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.
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.
A new book published this year by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin. The whole book can be accessed from below. The list is very diverse, consisting of Muslims from all backgrounds. Not all are revered by their subjects by the way although some are respected and love dearly.
Baba Ali is an internet phenomena, a one man show that has attracted quiet a following. He made a lot of sense and presented Islam in a way easy for people to understand. I hope there are more people like him who choose to understand and to make sense out of the chaotic world.
Outlandish is a relatively new band out of Denmark. The interesting thing about this band is that all the members are originally from different parts of the world and of different religions. Check out the other video clip of the same song on You Tube which feature The Little Red Riding Hood on a school play setting.
Check out their other songs and their songs with Sami Yusuf too.
Kareem Salama is a talented Muslim country music singer if you've heard such thing. Originally from Oklahoma, his parents were from Egypt. Kareem Salama is quiet well known in the Muslim communities. I am hoping he will receive more exposure so the general public can enjoy his music. Enjoy some of our family favorites below.
Dalia Mogahed and Reza Aslan interview on link TV were excellent. Check it out. The interview was based on the book that Dalia co-authored with John Esposito, "What One Billion Muslims Really Think". I think the voices of moderate Muslims are starting to get heard a little louder. Despite major networks doing the same old thing. Here is the link to the full interview http://www.linktv.org/wsfi. Both were very articulate and balance in presenting their views and the views of many other Muslims.
Here is a part of the interview.
The full interview.
Here is an interview with Reza Aslan on Islamic Identity in the US . He is excellent at putting things in perspective, making sense of complex issues that are otherwise difficult to understand and offering a different take on things.
There are of course other excellent scholars and activists who also speak for the moderate voice of Islam. I'll try to feature them as well in the near future.
This is giving me goose bumps. And the ABCnews network pick up the news. Some thinks it is a hoax. But with this much publicity is it still possible to pull something like this? Pictures in the video show very clearly the verses which were written beautifully.
From ABCnews: Thousands of Muslim pilgrims are flocking to the home of a 9-month-old boy in Russia's southern republic of Dagestan to see the verses from the Koran that seem to appear and fade on his body every few days.
A pilgrim shows off the leg of baby Ali Yakubov at his house in Kizlyar in Russia's Dagestan Region,... A pilgrim shows off the leg of baby Ali Yakubov at his house in Kizlyar in Russia's Dagestan Region, October 19, 2009. A "miracle" baby has brought a kind of mystical hope to people in Russia's mostly Muslim southern fringe who are increasingly desperate in the face of Islamist violence. From hunchbacked grandmas to schoolboys, hundreds of pilgrims lined up this week in blazing sunshine to get a glimpse of 9-month-old baby Ali Yakubov, on whose body they say verses from the Koran appear and fade every few days. Picture taken October 19, 2009. (Amir Amirov/Reuters) Religious leaders in Dagestan say the verse "Be thankful or grateful to God" appeared on Ali Yakubov's right leg in Arabic script earlier this week, according to Reuters. By the time foreign journalists had arrived, the verse had faded to a single letter. In photos, the words look like pink birthmarks a few inches high. Ali's parents told reporters at first they thought it was in fact a birthmark or a skin irritation but doctors couldn't explain it. The lettering appears on different parts of his body and shortly before a new set is about to appear, his parents say, the boy's temperature spikes to about 105 degrees.
Don't miss the 400 some comments at the end of the article. Ahhhh the beauty of freedom of speech. Muslim dominant countries should certainly learn from this.
The mosque in town has decided to hold a second sembahyang Jumaat at 3:30 for high school students in the area that attend public schools. Public schools generally end at 2:50 and the usual Friday prayer is held at 1:15. Often times these students hold their own Friday prayer at school in their own small congregation or had to miss some classes in order to go to the masjid. Either way they have to deal with explaining things to their teachers and the school administrators. So this is a good move from the masjid administration. The khutbah/sermon will be all in English. Regular Friday prayer sermon starts with Arabic and then translated to English and depending on who is available that week the quality of the translation varies. In all the prayer ended at about 2:15. Prayer with English only sermon will certainly be shorter. My kids are excited. Anything that can take them out of their seat at school however short the period is, is generously welcome! Although this arrangement is intended for high schoolers I would imagine many parents with younger children in junior high, middle and elementary schools will take advantage of this.
Post ni pun tuk Tijah. Ko ada kakak Jah? Kalo tak de anggap la akak cam akak kandong kau ye. Walaupun kita tak mungkin berjumpa. Sesama malu kan Jah kan. Ko nak apa2 dari US Jah? Kalo hat yg murah2 tu bole akak beli kat ko. Jgn mintak Prada ngan Coach dan sewaktu dgn nye sudah. Kang kempes je beg duit akak. dah la memang kempes semenjak dua menjak ni.
Anyway semalam akak gi lecture, ceramah ugama la kira kalo kat mesia. Ko gi google Fawakih Jah. Bagus bebudak ni Jah. Muda2 lagi tapi kuat kerja utk Islam. Bagus kan Jah cam tu. Muda2 lagi dah nak buat menda baik2, jaga kesihatan spiritual siang2 lagi, tak tunggu dah tua yek Jah. Pastu tu didunia pun berjaya gak... tengok CV ey macam bagus je Jah.
Cam ni org Islam yg kita nak, kan Jah. Yang berkerja kuat utk Islam (utk saham2 akhirat) dan berjaya / kerja kuat utk dunia. Pastu tu ceramah nye bagus Jah, first class, tak de idea2 yg menyempitkan kepala hotak. liberal cam tu. tapi tak la liberal cam semua boleh. Ni liberal membuka minda cam tu. idea2 cam ni la kita nak Jah, contoh nye idea yg kita kena buat baik dan adil kat org lain tak kira la org tu bangsa apa atau cakap bahasa apa, semua kita tolong kalo depa dlm kesusahan cam tu. tak tolong hanya org kita, ada priority cam tu. itu satu. satu lagi konsep buat semua menda sebab Allah suka kita buat menda tu. walaupun menda yg kita buat tu hanya setakat menyapu sampah kat luar rumah. contoh la tu. niat kita sapu sampah sbb nanti rumah bersih. carlos suka, sazah suka, hati lapang kan rumah bersih. pastu ko dpt la pahala jah sbb Tuhan suka kau suka kan hati carlos dgn sazah. cam tu la lebih kurang. apa2 je la ko buat pasang niat siang2.
Akak tahu la kau buat lebih lagi dari tu Jah, manyak dah pahala kau Jah. Ada hadis sahih tu kan Jah, nabi cakap kalo Tuhan sayang kat kau Jah semua menda dilangit dan dibumi sayang kat kau, termasuk la malaikat yg dilangit dan manusia, binatang2 dan pokok2 semua2 la yg Allah ciptakan sayang kat ko. so much love Jah oi!!!!
Postings are in English and Malay depending on my mood that day. I love to learn from people of different culture than mine so I can see and try different paradigm. I appreciate comments from visitors as feedback and spring board to discussion.
"In a completely rational society the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have."
Lee Iacoca, from his book Iacoccac (1986)
