The Inerrancy of the Koran
Thursday, July 12, 2007

I've recently reestablished contact with Irshad Manji, a onetime acquaintance who's become one of the most outspoken voices in moderate Islam since we first met back in 2002. You can hear an audio of a recent interview she did over here at VOA.

Irshad Manji notes that the Qur’an contains three times as many verses calling on Muslims to “think and reflect and analyze” as those that tell believers “what is absolutely right or wrong.” Thus, she says, Islam gives permission “not just to interpret but to continually reinterpret to update [one’s] practices for a brand new time.” Ms. Manji says that in Islam all individuals are equal in the eyes of the Creator, “whether you are a man or woman, young or old,” and have both a “conscience and free will.”

What she regards as the “trouble” with Muslims today is literalism. And by that Ms. Manji means an “uncritical and unquestioning approach to the faith.” She emphasizes that every major religion in the world has its “share of literalists.” But, she argues, it is “only in Islam today that literalism is mainstream worldwide.”

Ms. Manji says that even “moderate” Muslims take the Qur’an as the “final – and therefore supreme – word of God.” But, she suggests, that concept “disproportionately empowers the radical fringe in [her] religion” – for example, the jihadis. Furthermore, it stops those who call themselves “moderates” from asking hard questions “about what happens when faith becomes dogma.” What Ms. Manji’s book argues is that Muslims have lost an important element of their Islamic heritage – their “glorious tradition of questioning.” And she suggests that Muslims today need to “start taking responsibility for traditions such as ijtihad,” and by reviving those traditions it will become apparent “how much more glorious [their] religion is for the 21st century.” Ms. Manji says the revival of ijtihad has the “best chance of success when it is pursued by middle-class, reform-minded Muslims from open societies” where there is no fear of government retaliation. However, she says she believes that even those who are illiterate, including women, “deserve the opportunity to be able to interpret the Qur’an for themselves.”

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"The Poisons Are Spreading"
Monday, July 9, 2007

Catching up on a few things after the holiday: Tony Blankley writes a thoughtful piece about the new book by our mutual friend Akbar Ahmed.

His new book, "Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization," is thus particularly heartbreaking for me. As a trained anthropologist, he took three of his students on a six-month journey around the Muslim world to investigate what Muslims are thinking.

His conclusion: Due to both misjudgments by the United States and regrettable developments in Muslim attitudes, "The poisons are spreading so rapidly that without immediate remedial action, no antidote may ever be found." And Dr. Ahmed has always been an optimist.

He divides Muslim attitudes into three categories named after Indian Muslim cities that have historically championed them: Ajmer, Aligarh and Deoband.

Ajmer represents peaceful Sufi mysticism, Aligarth represents the instinct to modernize without corrupting Islam, Deoband represents non-fatalistic, practical, action-oriented orthodox Islam. It traces to Ibn Taymiyya, a 14th-Century thinker who lived when Islam was reeling from the Mongol invasions. He rejected Islam's prior easy, open acceptance of non-Muslims.

In short, Dr. Ahmed is an Aligarth. As a young man he was one of new Pakistan's best and brightest, led by Pakistan's founding father and first president, Dr. Jinnah. They hoped to build a modern democracy, overcome tribalism and the more obscurantist aspects of Islam while still being "good Muslims." The Deobands are the Bin Ladens and all the other Muslims we fear today.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:01 AM 0 comments

"Yuppie Muslim" Blunder in UK
Monday, July 2, 2007

I've been waiting for this, and now it's come. A credible, lefty-wing voice on why the UK terror plot suggests that Muslim extremism is in trouble in the UK, not on the rise. It comes down to this: Why didn't the car go off? Car bombs go off on a daily basis in Iraq, and used to go off on a monthly basis in the UK under the IRA. What's wrong with the "Al Qaeda" bombers in the UK that they can't make three different bombs successful. Maybe they're not that talented.

Looks like we have yuppie Muslims who, despite a medical education, don't understand fundamentals about how to build and detonate quality improvised explosives. They obviously spent all of their cash on the Mercedes and neglected to sign up for the suicide bomber course. Thank your deity or religious object of affection for their fecklessness. Or, thank your lucky stars.

These latest events will further erode the capability of Muslim extremists in the U.K. British and Scottish police certainly have new leads to follow. And the ham handed execution of this plot is not going to attract eager copycats. What genuine fanatic is going to be inspired by amateur terrorists who have trouble igniting gasoline? Not many.

This analysis is bound to make some people unhappy, and apparently has over at the comments section at TPM. But these questions are definitely worth asking.

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What War on Terror?
Monday, June 25, 2007

Fareed Zakaria: We're Winning the War on Terror.

In the two decades before 9/11, Islamic radicalism flourished, while most governments treated it as a minor annoyance rather than a major security threat. September 11 changed all that, and subsequent bombings in Bali, Casablanca, Riyadh, Madrid and London forced countries everywhere to rethink their basic attitude. Now most governments around the world have become far more active in pursuing, capturing, killing and disrupting terrorist groups of all kinds. The result is an enemy that is without question weaker than before, though also more decentralized and amorphous.

Consider the news from just the past few months. In Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, the government announced that on June 9 it had captured both the chief and the military leader of Jemaah Islamiah, the country's deadliest jihadist group and the one that carried out the Bali bombings of 2002. In January, Filipino troops killed Abu Sulaiman, leader of the Qaeda-style terrorist outfit Abu Sayyaf. The Philippine Army—with American help—has battered the group, whose membership has declined from as many as 2,000 guerrillas six years ago to a few hundred today. In Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which were Al Qaeda's original bases and targets of attack, terrorist cells have been rounded up, and those still at large have been unable to launch any major new attacks in a couple of years. There, as elsewhere, the efforts of finance ministries—most especially the U.S. Department of the Treasury—have made life far more difficult for terrorists. Global organizations cannot thrive without being able to move money around. The more that terrorists' funds are tracked and targeted, the more they have to make do with small-scale and hastily improvised operations.

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Sir Osama
Thursday, June 21, 2007

Here's a good example of the silliness of religious rhetoric these days. A farewell knighthood for Salman Rushdie, as Blair is walking out the door, triggers this response from an extremist in Pakistan:

A hardline Pakistani parliamentarian and head of a religious political party Wednesday demanded title 'sir' for Osama bin Laden, the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, in retaliation to Britain knighting author Salman Rushdie.

'Muslims should confer the 'sir' title and all other awards on bin Laden and Mullah Omar in reply to Britain's shameful decision to knight Rushdie,' Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement, referring also to the leader of the Taliban.

Such a move would not only go against the political grain of Britain, who joined in the international effort to drive the Taliban from power and Al Qaeda from their Afghan safe haven in 2001, but it would also break knighthood rules, under which foreigners may not be addressed as sir.

Rushdie, 60, was given the recognition at birthday honours for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Saturday, about two decades after his book 'The Satanic Verses' sparked protests in Muslim countries, including Pakistan, in 1989.

The novel also became the subject in the same year of a fatwa, a religious edict, by late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomenei, who demanded Rushdie's death.

'Europe and Western nations are intentionally pushing Muslims towards extremism by awarding a nefarious person,' Haq said.

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Peace With All
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

From a review of my friend Akbar Ahmad's new book, Journey Into Islam, from www.dawn.com.

Akbar’s field study of the Islamic heartland is pegged like a tripod, surveying the three most defining models of Islamic thought and action: the Sufi model of total devotion to Allah and peaceful co-existence — Sulh-i-kul (peace-with-all) — with His creations, epitomised by Ajmer, renowned for the shrine of the great saint and mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri; the Aligarh paradigm steeped in modernity and liberalism of Islam and the Deoband template anointed by an orthodox and atavistic interpretation of Islamic dogma and ritual.

Akbar’s painstaking and innovative research clearly establishes the fact that partisans of all three models are, by and large, inclined to co-exist in peace and harmony with the West and cannot be stigmatised — as is currently fashionable in the West — for being hotbeds of radicalism. All three, however, have this strong sense that there’s little effort in the West to understand Islam and its followers, which isn’t the way to peace or bridge-building among universal faiths.

Akbar S. Ahmed’s Journey into Islam is, no doubt, a labour of love. Akbar has made a sterling contribution to the inescapable need for a rational, cool and un-phlegmatic dialogue between the denizens of the Islamic world and their western detractors. His is a voice of reason and rationality. However, the question remains: is anyone listening? Is this moderate voice going to be heard or will it be drowned in the cacophony of jingoistic shibboleths baying for the blood of Muslims? Take your own pick for an answer.

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Muslim Rap
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Seems to be the week for Muslim youth rebellion music stories. First, punk. Now, rap.

Six suicide blasts in Morocco's biggest city have sparked fears of more al Qaeda-linked bombings to come, but they provided an unlikely inspiration for a streetwise young rap musician.

Sitting in the cramped back room of a Casablanca apartment, his friends beating out the rhythm on their hands and chests, Younes Samih launches into his latest song, ``Today's War.''

``What do you want -- to make blood and tears flow? Have you found no other way out except to blow yourself up?'' the 23-year-old pours out in a quickfire torrent of Arabic.

``Come with us and think about it. Don't let yourself be poisoned. If you die by blowing yourself up, where will you leave your heart?''

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"The Other Angry Muslim Kids"
Wednesday, May 2, 2007

One answer to terrorism: Become punk rockers.

There can't be that many female playwrights who are deaf, punk and Muslim, so Sabina England is something of a find. With a lurid Mohawk and leather jacket slathered with slogans, she looks every inch the rebel and has an attitude to match.

Sabina, who says she lives in the "shitty midwest of the United States" or the "HELL-HOLE OF BOREDOM AND YUPPIES", is part of a subculture that, until a few years ago, existed only on paper.

The Taqwacores - a novel about a fictitious Muslim punk scene in the US - has spawned an actual movement that is being driven forward by young Muslims worldwide. Some bands - such as the Kominas - have a cult following. Others, such as Sabina, are virtually unknown.
My favorite answer:
"It's gonna get bigger. A lot of Muslim kids are tired of being told what to do, how to think, what to believe in, and how to act, by their parents. There are 'the angry muslim kids' who wanna grow beards and pray five times a day, and then there are the OTHER 'angry Muslim kids' who wanna get drunk and say a huge big 'fuck you' to the Muslim population. Or maybe they just don't care and wanna sit at home and not think about Osama's video speeches about how America is the Great Satan."

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Bigotry in Jail
Sunday, April 15, 2007

From the AP:

A jail chaplain who distributed anti-Islam booklets with derogatory depictions of the prophet Muhammad has been suspended, officials said.

The Rev. Teresa Darden Clapp, a chaplain at the Rockland County jail since 1994, was suspended with pay Thursday pending an investigation to determine possible disciplinary action, said William Clark, the jail's chief.

The booklets characterize Muslims as worshipping an "idol" and devil called Allah, and portray Muhammad as a criminal and a "religious dictator." Allah is the Arabic word for God, and Muslims believe they worship the same God as Christians and Jews.

One cartoon story says Islamic fundamentalists who commit terrorist acts are not "bad Muslims" but "very good Muslims" who act according to their religion. Another says Allah is not God, Muhammad was no prophet and the Quran is not the word of God. Both stories end with people being convinced that Islam is false, and in one, a contrite Muslim converts to Christianity.

Muslim inmates said the insults were compounded by the booklets' drawings of Muhammad. Islam forbids the depiction of any prophet from the Quran.

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You Know Religion is In Trouble When...
Saturday, March 31, 2007

Even the U.N. is concerned about its debasement.

Islamic countries pushed through a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday urging a global prohibition on the public defamation of religion _ a response largely to the furor last year over caricatures published in a Danish newspaper of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

The statement proposed by the Organization of Islamic Conference addressed what it called a "campaign" against Muslim minorities and the Islamic religion around the world since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The resolution, which was opposed by a number of other non-Muslim countries, "expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations."

It makes no mention of any other religion besides Islam, but urges countries "to take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement and religious hatred, hostility, or violence."

The resolution was adopted by a 24-14 vote with nine abstentions. Canada, Japan and South Korea joined European countries in opposition, primarily citing its excessive focus on Islam and incompatibility with fundamental rights such as the freedoms of speech and thought.

"The problem of religious intolerance is worldwide and not limited to certain religions," said Brigitta Maria Siefker-Eberle of Germany, speaking on behalf of the 27-nation European Union.

There are 17 Muslim countries in the 47-nation human rights council. Their alliance with China, Cuba, Russia and most of the African members means they can almost always achieve a majority.

So it's okay for Muslims to debase Judaism and Christianity but not the other way around? This is the catastrophic downside of having political states acting in the name of religion. Wait until the anti-Muslim crowd gets ahold of this, not to mention the Christianity-is-under-attack crowd and the Judaism-is-under-attack crowd. This is so stupid it may even make Buddhists mad!

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Now You Can Bury a Muslim in Maryland
Monday, March 26, 2007

An update on a fascinating, under-discussed story we've followed here for some time. The Maryland legislature has now passed a bill allowing Muslim burials that had previously been forbidden because the bodies were not embalmed. The bill was a partnership between a Muslim and Jewish legislator who partnered on the ground of religious freedom.

Muslims bury their dead with neither flourish nor casket, but a ritual cleansing before the body is quickly returned to the earth, cocooned in a white shroud. But this tradition handed down over centuries has eluded Muslims around Washington, who, like Jews, do not practice embalming -- and are served by just one licensed mortician.

That's changing, though. Virginia licensed its first Muslim-owned funeral home last month, in Woodbridge. And Friday, a committee of Maryland lawmakers approved a bill that would open the industry to Muslims by exempting them from embalmings as they learn the trade.

If the General Assembly approves the bill, Muslims say they would be spared long trips to find mortuaries that will perform a last ablution.

The Maryland legislation is the work of two state delegates, Saqib Ali (D-Montgomery) and Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore), who have formed a politically deft partnership: a freshman and the legislature's first Muslim, and a Jew who says he is drawn to issues of religious freedom.

"These are two religions that grew out of the same desert," said Rosenberg, a lawyer in his sixth term. "When people feel their religious rights have been violated, they should stand up and say, 'Give me redress.' "

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The Feminist Koran
Friday, March 23, 2007

The battle over the Koran continues, with a new female interpretation challenging the backbone of the dictate that allows men to beat women.

A new English-language interpretation of the Muslim Holy book the Koran challenges the use of words that feminists say have been used to justify the abuse of Islamic women.

The new version, translated by an Iranian-American, will be published in April and comes after Muslim feminists from around the world gathered in New York last November and vowed to create the first women's council to interpret the Koran and make the religion more friendly toward women.

In the new book, Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, a former lecturer on Islam at the University of Chicago, challenges the translation of the Arab word "idrib," traditionally translated as "beat," which feminists say has been used to justify abuse of women.

"Why choose to interpret the word as 'to beat' when it can also mean 'to go away'," she writes in the introduction to the new book.

The passage is generally translated: "And as for those women whose illwill you have reason to fear, admonish them; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed most high, great!"

Instead, Bakhtiar suggests "Husbands at that point should submit to God, let God handle it -- go away from them and let God work His Will instead of a human being inflicting pain and suffering on another human being in the Name of God."

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When Does the Koran Say, 'Stop Beating Your Wife'?
Thursday, March 22, 2007

This is appalling on several fronts and will do nothing to quell a rising sense in this country (or across Europe) that Islam is a violent religion. But this has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with misunderstanding the relationship between religion and politics.

A German judge has stirred a storm of protest here by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim woman’s request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.

In a remarkable ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which she said it was common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse.

News of the ruling brought swift and sharp condemnation from politicians, legal experts, and Muslim leaders in Germany, many of whom said they were confounded that a German judge would put 7th-century Islamic religious teaching ahead of modern German law in deciding a case involving domestic violence.

The woman’s lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, said she decided to publicize the ruling, which was issued in January, after the court refused her request for a new judge. On Wednesday, the court in Frankfurt abruptly removed Judge Datz-Winter from the case, saying it could not justify her reasoning.

“It was terrible for my client,” Ms. Becker-Rojczyk said of the ruling. “This man beat her seriously from the beginning of their marriage. After they separated, he called her and threatened to kill her.”

While legal experts said the ruling was a judicial misstep rather than evidence of a broader trend, it comes at a time of rising tension in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, as authorities in many fields struggle to reconcile Western values with their countries’ burgeoning Muslim minorities.

Last fall, a Berlin opera house canceled performances of a Mozart opera because of security fears. The opera includes a scene that depicts the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad. Stung by charges that it had surrendered its artistic freedom, the opera house staged the opera three months later without incident.

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"A Jewish School Where Half the Students Are Muslim"
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I sent an American friend who is heading off to Britain with her Scotish husband and three kids for three weeks a link to the news about Churchill that broke out over the weekend. She sent me a link to this amazing article, "a nice contrast to the piece on Churchill and the Jews."

It's infant prize day at King David School, a state primary in Moseley, Birmingham. The children sit cross-legged on the floor, their parents fiddling with their video cameras. The head, Steve Langford, is wearing a Sesame Street tie.

A typical end-of-term school event, then. But at King David there's a twist that gives it a claim to be one of the most extraordinary schools in the country: King David is a strictly Jewish school. Judaism is the only religion taught. There's a synagogue on site. The children learn modern Hebrew - Ivrit - the language of Israel. And they celebrate Israeli independence day.

But half the 247 pupils at the 40-year-old local authority-supported school are Muslim, and apparently the Muslim parents go through all sorts of hoops, including moving into the school's catchment area, to get their children into King David to learn Hebrew, wave Israeli flags on independence day and hang out with the people some would have us believe that they hate more than anyone in the world.

The Muslim parents, mostly devout and many of the women wearing the hijab, say they love the ethos of the school, and even the kosher school lunches, which are suitable because halal and kosher dietary rules are virtually identical. The school is also respectful to Islam, setting aside a prayer room for the children and supplying Muslim teachers during Ramadan. At Eid, the Muslim children are wished Eid Mubarak in assembly, and all year round, if they wish, can wear a kufi (hat). Amazingly, dozens of the Muslim children choose instead to wear the Jewish kipah.

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Do Not Marry a Muslim With "Dark Good Looks"
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

An incident in North Carolina is an important reminder that Hate Speech is not Free Speech.

The father of a North Carolina ninth grader who was given "anti-Muslim" literature in class says the material handed out is not an issue of free speech, but of slander and defamation.

"First of all, it slanders, things like, Mohammed is a 'criminal,' is 'demon possessed' ... that just made my blood boil," said Triaq Butte, whose daughter, Saira, participated in a ninth grade orientation seminar at Enloe High School in Wake County, N.C., where the material was distributed.

Butte is a non-practicing Muslim; he said his wife is Christian and his children are taught to accept and respect all religions.

"So for a person like me to feel like that — I've never been to a mosque — to feel like that … for me to feel such hideous attacks, they were not just pointing out failures or weaknesses in Islam or Muslims, they were just attacking."

The pamphlet, courtesty of Kamil International Ministries Organization, a Christian group based in Raleigh, compared the teachings of Jesus with accusations against the Prophet Muhammad.

Among the materials handed out was a pamphlet called "Jesus not Muhammad," as well as one entitled, "Do Not Marry a Muslim Man." The latter pamphlet compares parts of the Koran with those of the Bible, such as:

— "Husband, beat your wives and deny them sex." (The book of Islam, Koran 4:34)

— "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her." (The Holy Bible, Ephesians 5:25)

It warns women not to be lured into marrying a Muslim, even for his "dark good looks, education, financial means, and the interest he shows in you."

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Tehrangeles: Or Why Eddie Murphy Is Studying Farsi
Monday, March 5, 2007

A few years ago, before taking my wife on a second honeymoon in Iran, I learned that a large number of Iranian Jews had moved to Beverly Hills after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. I made a number of telephone friends in this community who later introduced me around the Jewish community in Iran. Thirty-five thousand Jews still live in Iran, the largest number in the Middle East outside of Israel(All of this is described in comic detail in WHERE GOD WAS BORN, including what happened when I created something of a scandal by introducing my wife in synagogue in Tehran in front of 800 people. No one had ever seen a man introduce his wife in public.)

The Jewish Community in Beverly Hills was so prominent, I was told, that one nickname for L.A. was Tehrangeles. Well, now we know how prominent -- and how large! And how some of their neighbors think about it. A friend tipped me off to the fact that a firestorm erupted recently when the City of Beverly Hills sent out its local election ballot and it was translated into Farsi, the official language of Iran. Farsi! In Beverly Hills. What would Eddie do now!? (The headline in the LAT: "For some, Beverly Hills ballot went to Farsi.")

For the first time, Beverly Hills had translated its entire absentee and sample ballots into Persian. The ballots for the March 6 municipal election, in which two City Council seats are up for grabs, went out this month, and the response was swift.

More than 300 residents phoned the city to complain. City Clerk Byron Pope fielded about 100 of them personally.

"I believe the cover is what shocked the community," said Pope, who had instructed the city's election materials supplier to print the entire ballot, cover to cover, in English and Persian, also known as Farsi. "I believe it was the Farsi script, with the war going on and all," he said.

The translation is the latest measure of the growing Persian influence in Beverly Hills, where Persians now make up about a fifth of the city's 35,000 residents.

The influx, which began in the late 1970s as wealthy Iranians clustered in Beverly Hills after the fall of the shah, has made a mark on many facets of the city, from architecture to the schools.

But it has — as in the case of the ballots — caused friction. Some long-time residents have complained about newcomers tearing down historic homes in favor of what they consider monolithic white "Persian palaces."

At the same time, Persians have flexed their political muscle by holding voter registration drives, electing the first Persian to the City Council in 2003 and making the Persian new year a holiday for students.

Three of the six candidates running for City Council next month were born in Iran, and Councilman Jimmy Delshad will serve as Beverly Hills' first Persian mayor if he wins reelection.

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Is Osama Bin Laden Martin Luther?
Thursday, March 1, 2007

My old friend Fareed Zakaria has an intriguing piece in Newsweek suggesting that we are, at last, seeing a Reformation in Islam, which he deems as both good news and bad. He says the dominant reality in the region is the growing schism between Sunni and Shia -- from the violence in Iraq, to warning of a Shia crescent in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to the Palestinian turn to Shia. Here's a summary, provided by the WSJ:

Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri founded al Qaeda in the 1980s as a pan-Islamic organization. To that effect Mr. bin Laden initially resisted sanctioning violence against the Shiite minority in Afghanistan during the war against the Russians. Similarly, after the invasion of Iraq, Mr. Zawahiri reproached al Qaeda's head there, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for attacking Iraq's Shiites.

Nevertheless, Mr. Zarqawi's approach has won out. Al-Qaeda's anti-Shiite message has boosted its appeal among a Sunni minority disenfranchised by the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, while the anti-Shiite stance might boost al Qaeda's appeal in "Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and some parts of the gulf," Mr. Zakaria says it means that everywhere else al Qaeda has lost its original appeal as a uniter of Muslims against a common, powerful enemy.

While al Qaeda finds itself dragged into an internal battle between Muslims, the U.S. should stay out of it, Mr. Zakaria says. This way it can ensure that what is a war between sects evolves into a war of ideas. "Islam must make space for differing views about what makes a good Muslim," says Mr. Zakaria. "Then it will be able to take the next step and accept the diversity among religions, each true in its own way."

The idea is certainly appealing here: Sit back while Islam fights an intramural battle and spends more time fighting with one another than with the outside world. Daniel Benjamin made a similar argument a few weeks ago. But I think the rising Shia argument is very weak; where are the new recruits going to come from? Shia seems to have topped out at 15% of the Muslim world. And maybe Bin Laden's dream of being a pan-Islamist might not give him the possibility of uniting the entire Muslim world, but isn't 85% of it fairly substantial? The real issue of Bin Laden is what percentage of the Muslim world is committed to fighting the West vs. what percentage is committed to trying to coopt its financial model. In places like Morocco, which is outside the Shia sphere, that is the real battle. I think there is quite a difference between a sectarian battle within Islam for the future of the faith vs. an internal reform movement that substantially changes the base theology, which is what the Reformation was about.


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There Is No Clash of Civilizations
Thursday, February 22, 2007

Here's some hopeful news on the clash of cultures between Islam and the West: Most people are smart enough to realize there is no clash of cultures. It's a political struggle using religion as a proxy.

A majority of people do not believe that Islam and the West are in a conflict of cultures and that the prevailing tensions are a result of conflict over political power rather than for causes relating to either culture or religion.

A survey by the BBC World Service covering 28,000 people in 27 countries also indicated that most of the people do not believe the conflict could lead to any clash of civilizations. On the contrary, majority of the people -- 56 per cent -- are positive about a common ground that can be found between the western culture and Islam, while only 28 per cent believe violence could ensue as a result of the conflicts.

When repeatedly asked about the causes of the current friction, 52 per cent said they believed these could be the result of political disputes, while 58 per cent said minority groups caused the tensions.

Doug Miller, president of polling company GlobeScan, which conducted the survey for BBC, said the results indicated that there are no prospects of an inevitable and wide-ranging "clash of civilizations." Most people feel the tensions and clashes are the result of political power and interests and not religion or culture, he said.

He also pointed out to the fact that most victims of Islamic intolerance and terrorism are Muslims themselves.

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Shakespeare Meets Saddam Hussein
Tuesday, February 20, 2007


Given the frequency with which Shakespeare is reinterpreted for contemporary times, perhaps the news that Richard III is being done in Stratford as an Arab dictator should come as no surprise. But it does! And how interesting. The NYT sums up the road from Shakespeare to Saddam and beyond:

As played by the Syrian actor Fayez Kazak, the title character in “Richard III: An Arab Tragedy” is a preening, plotting devil with the vulpine intelligence and maniacal charisma of the late Saddam Hussein. But he is not Mr. Hussein, even if the director and adapter of the play, Sulayman Al-Bassam, briefly conceived of him that way.

“It was clear that once I’d gone into the process of research into that historical parallel that it was a sort of a non sequitur,” Mr. Bassam said. And so, commissioned to bring an Arabic production of “Richard III” to Stratford as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s yearlong Complete Works Festival, Mr. Bassam set his play in an archetypal present. His unnamed oil-rich Arab state is easily understood in Shakespearean terms, every bit as steeped in blood, riven by tribalism and replete with corruption as the world of 15th-century England.

The form has freed him to consider contemporary Arab politics in a way that would have been all but impossible without the refracting mirror of Shakespeare, said Mr. Bassam, 34, who is half Kuwaiti and half British. “You could write such a play,” he said, musing on the notion of a present-day political work, “but you’d be best advised to set it in England in the 1400s. That would be a very good starting point for your contemporary play.”

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The Muslim 100

Hard to know what to make of this story, other than Muslims are fighting back in England. Instead of issuing boring white papers about the Muslim Contribution to the Betterment of English Society, they're taking a page from the cliched covers of every lifestyle magazine and the mindless countdown shows on TV. Here now, "Your Muslim Idol. Call now to vote for your favorite!" Not that far off, actually, it's the Muslim 100.

An ageing pop star, a rear admiral in the Royal Navy and the head of Amnesty International have been included on a list of most influential Muslims.

The Power 100 website compiled the top 100 list to show how Muslims have contributed positively to the UK.

Singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was included alongside Irene Khan, of Amnesty and Rear Admiral Amjad Hussain.

Actors, journalists and police officers also made it to the top 100.

The Power 100 website received 5,200 nominations, which were whittled down by a panel of judges to the most influential 100.

The website said it was "applauding the vital achievement and contribution being made by the British Muslim community to the social, cultural and economic well-being of Britain".

By the way, the piece includes the photo above of the former Cat Stevens. Wow. I hadn't seen him in a while. It's a shame "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is off the air.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

Mohammad (Hating) Ali
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

I was surprised the other day to see a book about Islam that I'd never heard of pop up in the Amazon Top 100. The book, Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is "the autobiography of the Somali-born member of the Dutch parliament who faced death threats after collaborating on a film about domestic violence against Muslim women with Theo van Gogh, who was later assassinated." Then I stumbled into this AP article that reports that the Religious Right in this country has embraced her because she fans the flames of their anti-Muslim bias.

As a child, Ayaan Hirsi Ali fled violence in Somalia with her family. As an adult she fled Kenya to escape an arranged marriage. She left her adopted Holland after she was caught up in political turmoil and had her life threatened.

Now Hirsi Ali - a brave critic of Islam to her supporters, a bigot to her critics - has found refuge in the intellectual bastion of leading U.S. conservatives.

Hirsi Ali joined the American Enterprise Institute last September, after a sometimes stormy 14 years in the Netherlands, where she was a member of parliament and became a central figure in two events that jolted the nation.

First, after she wrote a script for a film that depicted naked women with Quranic verses scrawled on their bodies, a Dutch-born Muslim gunned down the filmmaker, Theo van Gogh. A letter threatening Hirsi Ali was left on a knife plunged into van Gogh's chest.

Next, a fight within Hirsi Ali's political party over her Dutch citizenship brought down the government.
Do early to tell, but is she being used to again?

Update: The book is reviewed in Wednesday's NYT.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

Bill Gates Helps Fund Arab School in NYC

All over the news today: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has helped fund a new school in NYC dedicated to Arab language and culture. What a great idea. In the past we interred Americans associated with the culture of our adversaries and banned their languages. Now we study them -- both those that are against us, and the many more who are with us. More, more!

The New York City school system will open its first public school dedicated to teaching the Arabic language and culture in September, with half of its classes eventually taught in Arabic, officials said yesterday.

The school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, is one of 40 new schools that the Department of Education is opening for the 2007-8 school year. It will serve grades 6 to 12 and will be in Brooklyn, although a specific location has not been determined.

Debbie Almontaser, a 15-year veteran of the school system who is the driving force behind the school and will be its principal, said that ideally, the school would serve an equal mix of students with backgrounds in Arabic language and culture and those without such backgrounds.

“We are wholeheartedly looking to attract as many diverse students as possible, because we really want to give them the opportunity to expand their horizons and be global citizens,” said Ms. Almontaser, who emigrated from Yemen when she was 3 and is fluent in Arabic.

“I see students who are excited about engaging in international careers, international affairs, wanting to come to our school. And I also see Arab-American students who would want the opportunity to learn Arabic, to read it and write it and have a better understanding of where their ancestors have come from.”

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

Make Islam, Not Love
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

On Monday, President Ahmadinejad told Diane Sawyer on ABC: "You are asking me tough questions. You should ask about love." He should tell that to officials in Malaysia! They've taken steps to squelch Valentine's Day, saying it conflicts with "Islamic principles."

Religious officials are urging couples in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Brunei to shun Valentine's Day, saying it conflicts with Islamic principles and could cause moral erosion.

The warning came as florists, hotels and restaurants ramped up promotions for the occasion, offering roses inscribed with sentimental proclamations, idyllic seaside escapes and candlelight dinners with popular singers serenading lovers.

There are no laws banning Wednesday's celebration in either country, which advocate moderate Muslim teachings, but some officials noted that Saint Valentine was a Christian and feared that romantic revelries might prompt impure behavior among young people.

"From the point of view of Islam, this is not an advisable practice," said Muhammad Ramli Nuh, a state lawmaker who belongs to the ruling United Malays National Organization. "Unmarried couples might come together and mingle with each other in unacceptable ways."

Oh, Please. Go take a cold shower in some rose water.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:11 AM 0 comments

Obama Mentions His Middle Name
Monday, February 12, 2007

Breaking News: Obama knows his middle name may freak out many Americans. The AP:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Sunday he does not think voters have a litmus test on religion, whether evangelical Christianity or his childhood years in a largely Muslim country.

"If your name is Barack Hussein Obama, you can expect it, some of that. I think the majority of voters know that I'm a member of the United Church of Christ, and that I take my faith seriously," Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"Ultimately what I think voters will be looking for is not so much a litmus test on faith as an assurance that a candidate has a value system and that is appreciative of the role that religious faith can play in helping shape people's lives," he said.

For more the background of Obama's name at Feiler Faster, click any of the links below:

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA:
Bibles of Blogging -- Fox v CNN v Chicago Tribune
Madrassah-gate -- Was Obama schooled as a terrorist?
Muslim Blood in the White House? -- Was Obama's father a terrorist?
Can a Muslim-Atheist-Christian Be Elected President? -- Bloggers react to Feiler Faster.
It Worked So Well For Mike Tyson -- Now Michael Jackson wants to be Muslim

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 0 comments

Salman Rushdie Redux
Friday, February 9, 2007

Two literary feuds in one week! I think of the National Book Circle Critics Award as being one of the more respected, but sleepier of the literary awards. Suddenly this week it finds itself in the center of the religious wars. GalleyCat first got wind of the dustup. Now the NYT has picked it up.

Award nominations are generally occasions for exaggerated compliments and air kisses, so it was something of a surprise when Eliot Weinberger, a previous finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, announced the newest nominees for the criticism category two weeks ago and said one of the authors, Bruce Bawer, had engaged in “racism as criticism.”

The resulting stir within the usually well-mannered book world spiked this week when the president of the Circle’s board, John Freeman, wrote on the organization’s blog (bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com): “I have never been more embarrassed by a choice than I have been with Bruce Bawer’s ‘While Europe Slept,’ he wrote. “It’s hyperventilated rhetoric tips from actual critique into Islamophobia.”

The fusillade of e-mail messages on the subject circulating among the Circle’s 24 board members mirrors a larger debate over a string of recently published books that ominously warn of a catastrophic culture clash between Europeans with traditional Western values and fundamentalist Muslims — books including “Londonistan” by Melanie Phillips, “The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion” by Robert Spencer, and “America Alone” by Mark Steyn.

Most have been written by conservative authors and published by conservative presses, but not all: the celebrated Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who died last year, so angered Muslims with her strident books, like “The Force of Reason,” that she was sued for defaming Islam. The publication of such books coincides with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and reports of violent attacks and plots by radical Muslims in Europe. Bombings in London and Madrid, heated disputes over bans on women wearing the veil, gang attacks on young Muslims, rioting in Paris and violence in Berlin by disaffected Arab immigrants have brought to the surface anxieties over the growing number of Muslims in Europe. In December the European Union reported that Muslims faced deep-seated discrimination in education, housing and jobs, but that they should also do more to integrate into society. In this environment, it is no surprise that the books have elicited a mixture of praise and contempt, raising the question of where the line is between legitimate criticism and bigotry.

For Mr. Bawer, the condemnations are more evidence of liberals’ one-sided blindness. “One of the most disgraceful developments of our time is that many Western authors and intellectuals who pride themselves on being liberals have effectively aligned themselves with an outrageously illiberal movement that rejects equal rights for women, that believes gays and Jews should be executed, that supports the coldblooded murder of one’s own children in the name of honor, etc., etc.,” he wrote on his own blog, www.brucebawer.com/blog.htm.

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Posted by B Feiler at 8:18 AM 0 comments

Buddhist by Birth, Muslim by Mistake
Thursday, February 8, 2007

Ever since I became the father of twins, I've been creeped out by the expressions "separated at birth" or "switched at birth." I no longer fine the game "separated at birth?" all the amusing, and "switched at birth" hits a bit too close to home, especially since we followed the recommendations of some parents of twins and brought nail polish to paint out girls toes so we would remember which was which (turns out this wasn't necessary...).

Anyway, this story somehow casts new light on the situation, when switched at birth is real, and has consequence on a child's faith.

A Malaysian Muslim man switched at birth in a hospital mix-up wants to change his name after being reunited with his ethnic-Chinese biological family and become a Buddhist.

In multiracial Malaysia, ethnic Malays, who are mostly Muslim, form a majority of the population of roughly 26 million, while ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians account for about 25 percent and 8 percent respectively.

Sales executive Zulhaidi Omar, 29, was raised in an ethnic Malay family, and discovered his true origins only after a Chinese woman at a supermarket where he worked noticed his features were similar to those of her father, newspapers said.

"The girl who was always looking at me was actually my elder sister who suspected that I was her brother because of my striking resemblance to our father," the Star newspaper quoted Zulhaidi as telling reporters.

Three visits by the girl and her parents convinced him to take a DNA test that confirmed the ties, he added.

Zulhaidi, who unwittingly spent 20 years just a few miles from his real family, now lives with them in Batu Pahat in southern Johor state. But it took him six months before he began to call his parents "Mum" and "Dad."

His natural father, Teo Ma Leong, 66, said he had always suspected the fifth of his six children was switched at birth, because the boy had a dark complexion, the Star said.

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Posted by B Feiler at 7:05 AM 0 comments

A Moderate Muslim Mayor in Macon
Monday, February 5, 2007

Alliteration comes to Georgia! The White House may not be ready for a Muslim mayor, but Macon, GA, better be. Here's the unlikeliest story of the week, from my old backyard:

Mayor Jack Ellis has converted to Islam and is working to change his legal name to Hakim Mansour Ellis.

Ellis, 61, a Macon native who was raised Christian, said he became a Sunni Muslim during a December ceremony in the west African nation of Senegal.

Ellis said he has studied the Quran for years and that his new religion was practiced by his ancestors before they were brought to North America as slaves.

``Why does one become a Christian?'' Ellis said Thursday. ``You do it because it feels right. ... To me it's no big deal. But people like to know what you believe in.''

Wonder if he'll be sworn in on the Koran!

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Posted by B Feiler at 11:45 AM 0 comments

"Don't Christian Beliefs Matter to Christians?"

A reader writes in response to my post "Does Jesus Love Osama?"

If the critics of the "Jesus Loves Osama" signs actually did concede that this is probably true according to Christian beliefs, that's the clincher. End of argument, right? Or, don't Christian beliefs really matter to Christians? Well, some of us have been noticing that for some centuries, what was central for Jesus has been marginalized at best and anathematized at worst by Christendom--I speak of his teaching, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." It really is time for Christians to embrace what Jesus embraced, or quite dragging his name around in their violence and hate compromised wake. When Jesus said he came not to bring peace but a sword, he meant that his teachings were going to present truths which pierce the soul and divide those who accept his truths from those who do not. That's a division which can always be crossed in either direction, but it is a very meaningful division.


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Posted by B Feiler at 7:00 AM 2 comments

Can a Muslim-Atheist-Christian Be Elected President?
Friday, February 2, 2007

My friend Martin Varsavsky, a brilliant entrepreneur, world traveler, new father, and blogger (in English and Spanish), responds to my post about Obama's religious background.

Being an agnostic Jew myself (would not call myself an atheist Jew cause atheist has that militant anti god component that I don´t endorse) and knowing how strongly most Americans feel about religion I cannot think of a least popular combination for a Presidential candidate than having a Muslim/Atheist background. I think this issue is likely to be raised again and again in the election, especially by whoever his Republican opponent is should Obama make it to the Presidential race. Unfortunately most American´s are quite xenophobic, if Kerry got hit for liking the French, what will happen to Obama Hussein Barack? Frankly I think this is sad because I think that Obama´s unique cultural heritage will make him more sensitive to racial and human relations.
The possibilities are endless now. Which is worse for most voters: a black, a woman, a Muslim-Atheist-Christian, a Mormon, a multiple divorcee, a nanogenarian?

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Posted by B Feiler at 1:26 PM