Religion Dispatches
…de over at Abu Aardvark as to how the announcement is being greeted in the Arab world. It seems to be with the same alarmism that Rabbi Lerner displays. Unfortunately, while we can discuss our disagreements with Rabbi Lerner, the damage to President-elect Obama’s reputation could be severe. Rep. Emmanuel’s appointment is a public diplomacy mistake, not in his appointment, but in the preparation of the announcement. I believe that there needs to be…
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…ion of TQ bands. Do you believe that TQ is having an impact outside of the United States? If so, what? Why do you think it is having an appeal? If not, why? Is it the music (the genre being very particular to the Anglophone world)? the underlying thought of treating “Muhammad as punk rocker?” BU: What an ignorant question. Anglophone world? Punk is ten times bigger in Kuala Lampur than it ever will be in the UK, France, or Germany. Or America. No…
Read More…ciety, and Islamic thought is based on the principle of ‘isnad’ – from the Arabic word that means ‘support’. The idea is that no principle or idea can be believed or relied upon unless it has a confirmed and absolute chain of transmission, so that people can verify the authenticity of the information that is coming to them. It’s described by some Muslim sages as being the secret of Islam that ensures that it remains authentic to the original teach…
Read More…the story has largely been, in effect, that it’s because they’re Muslims. Arab Muslims. Islam is “the mother lode of bad ideas,” as Sam Harris recently said, referring to Islam’s alleged intrinsic opposition to liberalism. Beyond being offensive and unsophisticated, the racial/ethnic/religion frame lacks logic. It holds little explanatory value since, as anyone who can read data can see, attitudes greatly differ according to which Muslim country…
Read More…que” (“I am secular”), the way one might say, “I am Jewish/Muslim/Catholic/Arab.” In 2016, America has #BlackLivesMatter, and France has #JeSuisParis. On one level, both proclamations encourage empathy with the innocent victims of senseless violence.While black Americans can fully claim BLM, not all French citizens can proclaim #JeSuisParis and be believed. This is because, as one of the women interviewed in the Times made explicit, “My heart is 1…
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…ack. In an interview with the Forward, the largest Jewish newspaper in the United States, Foxman explained that, to him, this controversy was like the one in the late 1980s over a Carmelite convent at Auschwitz. Then, Foxman said, “we asked the world to understand our pain, our sensitivity.” And now? “I felt and we felt that here is another group who is in the same position.” Of course, there are at least two huge holes in the syllogism here. The…
Read More…Moussa (the former foreign minister of Egypt, and Secretary General of the Arab League). The Mufti of Egypt declared he would resign if a single protestor were harmed; but there was no sign today at Tahrir Square that any real violence would occur. As the Muslim protestors carried out their congregational prayers in the square, and their Christian compatriots protected them as human shields, the imam of the main mosque in Tahrir Square declared, “…
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…albeit for more ordinary purposes. The enemy of my enemy, after all. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab nations are, along with Israel, worried about Iran, and willing to use deadly force where they claim to see Iranian proxies. In the past, of course, when terrified of Soviet military might, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim governments funneled weapons and cash to those who would fight them in Afghanistan. Why would this time be any different? If only…
Read More…e scene of a protest bereft of state authority, the magnitude of which the Arab world has never seen, is remarkably safe. Going across Cairo, on the other hand, if one chooses to go by car, and holds a foreign passport, one is likely to find their way home elongated quite a bit. I had the misfortune of being stuck outside my neighbourhood after curfew, and took a cab to get home – bad idea. Better to walk home, and take an hour or so in the walkin…
Read More…pansion, with classical Greek and Latin thought being transmitted from the Arab-Muslim world back into Europe; with Venice adopting the architecture of the “East.” If it was not for this flow of ideas, the Enlightenment may never have come to pass. While there may be fantasies of returning to a great colonial past, the so-called “Golden Age” of Islam happened long before colonization. The attempt to “spread democracy” in the Middle East under Pres…
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