Make Dhikr, Not War!

Culled from hadith literature: Abu’d-Darda’ reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:”Shall I inform you of the best of your actions and the purest of your property and the highest of your degrees and what is better for you than spending gold and silver and better for [...]

Quote of the Day

From the classic 1980s movie Uncle Buck.

Miles: You have much more hair in your nose than my Dad. Buck: How nice of you to notice. Miles: I’m a kid – that’s my job.
 

Miles: Where do you live? Buck: In the city. Miles: You have a [...]

Condoleeza Rice: “Stop making excuses for terrorists”

In an interview with Jim Lehrer (he offers his own erudition, referring to Muslim experts) Rice offers her astute analyis on why terrorists are committing attacks, “they’re doing it because they want to create chaos and undermine our way of life.” So much for everyone else, including Robert Pape who has suggested that the primary [...]

Omid Safi on Irshad Manji

From an email Prof. Safi, co-Chair of the Progressive Muslim Union, sent out…full email below:
Dear friends… Some of you might have seen this compilation of comments on Irshad Manji, but for those who have not, here it is again. where to begin about Irshad Manji? Let me [...]

First Annual Brass Donkey Awards

Haroon Mogul of Avari/Nameh has innagurated the First Annual Brass Donkey Award that will select the worst on the web regarding Islam and Muslims. In Haroon’s words the award is:
“[Y]our opportunity to finally call out the most outrageously ill-informed, moronic, ungrammatical, racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic garbage, which litters many corners of the web and occasionally [...]

“The Backpack, Accessory to Murder”

[Link]

Noah Feldman on the Iraqi Constitution

 
“For the Iraqis, the elephant in the room is the relationship between government and religion: can Iraq be a democracy and an Islamic state at the same time? When I worked as an adviser to the Iraqis who drafted last year’s interim constitution, this fraught question occupied the authors until almost the last minute. Leaked [...]

Khaled Abou El Fadl: Don’t let male chauvinists monopolise Islamic discourse

“If Islamic discourse is monopolised by male chauvinists, its because progressive Muslim women have abandoned their obligation to learn the necessary disciplines, said prominent scholar and advocate of women’s rights.”

[Link] 

British Islam – Four Articles

Four recent articles on Islam and Muslims from notable British publications:
A Muslim Journey (read it).
“British Islam is dominated by culturally and theologically conservative south Asians. But the London bombs may help to make it more open to those who want to engage with the modern world.”
Interview with a British [...]

Diplomats Just Want to Have Fun

“The stars of a skit at a dinner after the Association of South-East Asian Nations Asean) summit in Laos were the Russians, participants agreed. Dressed as a Jedi knight, Darth Vader, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stole the show.”

[Link]