what is the zabur?

وَرَبُّكَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۗ وَلَقَدْ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَ النَّبِيِّينَ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۖ وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ زَبُورًا 

And it is your Lord that knoweth best all beings that are in the heavens and on earth: We did bestow on some prophets more (and other) gifts than on others: and We gave to David (the gift of) the Psalms. (17:55)

I've been thinking about ways to respond to Christians who want to insist that the Quran is telling Muslims to essentially affirm the Bible as valid with little to no qualification or criticism. InshaAllah, I will make a series of posts containing some modest reflections on the subject. The current post is on the Zabur.

As we can see above, the Quran describes the Zabur as a revelation which was given to David (as). But as we will see, we cannot simplistically identify the Zabur with the book of Psalms in the Bible. First of all, by its own admission, only some of the Psalms in the Bible are attributed to David, while others are attributed to other people (Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Korah, Moses, Ethan the Ezrahite, Herman the Ezrahite, Haggai, Zechariah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah).

Secondly, most modern Biblical scholarship assigns very late dates to final completion of the Biblical book of Psalms. Parts of the book were not even written until after Solomon's Temple was destroyed and rebuilt. So the Biblical book was only arranged in its final form hundreds of years after David (as) lived. So even if there is a Davidic core, other layers of text have certainly been added to it.

And finally there seems to have been some significant variations in the text over the years. For example as part of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls near Qumran, archeologists found The Great Psalms Scroll or 11Q5.

The reason this manuscript is of such great interest to scholars is due to its major deviance from the Masoretic Psalter. Its textual makeup is that of “apocryphal compositions interspersed with canonical psalms in a radically different order”. It contains approximately fifty compositions, forty of which are found in the Masoretic text. While some maintain the masoretic order, such as some of the Psalms of Ascent, others are scattered throughout in a different order.

11Q5 has generated a lot of interest in scholars due to its large difference from the Masoretic Psalter, “both in ordering of contents and in the presence of additional compositions.”[ It contains several compositions that are not present in the Masoretic Psalter of 150 hymns and prayers and therefore, “challenges traditional ideas concerning the shape and finalization of the book of Psalms.” There are eight non-Masoretic compositions with an additional prose composition that is not formatted like a psalm. Three highlighted compositions include “The Apostrophe to Zion”, “Plea for Deliverance”, and Psalm 151; in addition, the prose composition is researched to be known as “David’s Compositions.” While these are non-Masoretic, some of them, Psalm 151, was known in the Septuagint.

[...]

The additional prose composition is also known as David's Compositions. It references many Psalms associated with David, including 364 songs for each day of the year, conforming to calendars found in distinctively sectarian texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls. These songs were hymns attributed to King David, praising him for composing the Psalms, classifying the hymns and prayers he wrote. According to this list, David composed 3,600 psalms, 364 songs to be performed each day of the year during regular sacrifices, another 52 songs for the weekly Sabbath sacrifice, 30 songs for sacrifices of annual festivals and the new moon, and 4 songs for the sick. Therefore, 11Q5 concludes with the bold statement that David was an avid sage and hymnist, crafting upwards of 4,050 psalms.

In other words, the Dead Sea Scrolls seems to show at least one "book of Psalms" with a great number of non-trivial differences from the Masoretic Psalter found in the the Western Bible. Perhaps this is the true Zabur? Furthermore, if there are thousands of Psalms written by David, then perhaps those texts, not found in the Bible is where we might identify the Zabur of David to which the Quran refers.

Bottom line, while its certainly possible that the original Zabur of David overlap a great deal with the Biblical book of Psalms, it would be a mistake to claim the two were perfectly identical. Allahu alim.

the camel (part two)

At the risk of sending him more traffic, I thought I'd give the identity of the YouTuber I alluded to in the post: "if the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow." His name is Ryan Thompson and his YouTube channel is Remnant Rendezvous.

 

I'm really reluctant to do takfir of anyone and I'm not trying to do that now but I feel like warning people since I see him actively trying to fool Muslims. Ryan frequently presents himself as a Muslim (but on other occasions admitting that he isn't) seasoning his speech with Arabic phrases, quoting the Quran. etc. but he basically does all that to bring Muslims to some version of Christianity (he comes from a Seventh Day Adventist background).

 

At first I thought he was just trying to reconcile Christianity and Islam in some honest but idiosyncratic way. But the more I've listened to him, the more I realize that he doesn't seem to take the "Muslim" part seriously. E.g. he rejects most hadith. He doesn't believe Jummah is important for its own sake but is really just an extended preparation for the sabbath, which he says is obligatory on all people. He doesn't really believe fasting in the month of Ramadan is obligatory [actually more recently he's been arguing that Laylat al-Qadr is Yom Kippur and Muslims are fasting in the wrong time of year altogether]. He says Muhammad (saaws) is guilty of shirk (audhubillah). He gives credence to the Petra theory that Islam wasn't even founded in Mecca. He also has been saying we don't have to pray five times a day because only three times are mentioned in the Bible. He argues that since the disciples of Jesus (as) were Muslim, that Muslims should accept the books of the New Testament (even the ones written by Paul). He strictly clings to the Bible and takes its verses very seriously (even to the point of moving with his family to Jordan recently because of his interpretation of some eschatological passages in Daniel and Revelation. So he reminds me a bit of Harold Camping) but he casually dismisses pillars of Islam and teachings that are known by consensus.

 

Basically, he is a Christian missionary who says he is Muslim. 

 

For an example of where he openly says he is not Muslim (and gets pretty thoroughly spanked on the Christian side by Sam Shamoun) see: "Steve and Ryan" on the Miracle Street Channel:

 

It would be one thing if he just had weird theological views. That's fine. And to his credit, he seems to be a Unitarian Christian. And I would have much more respect for him if he was open about that and made videos as a Unitarian Christian who seems to advocate for the beauty of Islam. But he doesn't really do that. More often than not, he only tries to superficially identify as a Muslim with the purpose of persuading Muslims to look more favorably on Christianity.

dusty cobwebs

I feel like I need to update the blog more often. I just checked my comments and realized I haven't moderated any comments in well over a year. A lot of it was spam but some of it seemed like genuine positive feedback or constructive engagement. I Feel bad that I didn't see it until today.

anti-facebook?

 

As I write this, Facebook has been down for the past two hours. And especially in the wake of revelations from the Facebook whistle blower, Frances Haugen, that the company has frequently chosen profits over the public good, its made me wonder (again) if it would be possible to create a robust alternative to Facebook somehow. At times I wish I had a better grounding in computer science so that I could better conceptualize what I"m talking about.. Over the years, there have been a couple of apps that have been identified as the anti-Facebook. But it is hard for them to break into a market so totally dominated by one company already. But what if a few of these apps somehow decided to cooperate? What if there could be a kind of shared space where people who use Ello, MeWe, Parler, Twitter, Blogger (maybe even Myspace...lol)  and certain other apps / platforms can easily share their content and explore the content on the other sites. That way, people who are parts of these smaller platforms could combine a form a kind of super-forum which could potentially give Facebook a run for their money. Just a thought.

afro-latin@ invisibility in "in the heights"

NPR: Lin-Manuel Miranda Apologizes For Lack Of Afro-Latinx Actors In 'In The Heights'

neurotology

 

the path

 Speaking of Hulu-series which indirectly deal with Scientology, I'd recommend checking out "The Path". It is a series about a fictional religion known as Meyerism which is  basically like Scientology except with more of a hippie liberal vibe. The followers progress through different levels called "The Ladder" and there is a hierarchy within the organization which depends on what level you are at. It is also like Scientology in that there is a disconnection policy  which is applied when family members reject Meyerism. 

The hippie liberal vibe comes in with the group's pro-environment, pro-immigrant 's rights activity, Also in contrast to Scientology's anti-drug stance, the practitioners of Meyerism seem to frequently use  marijuana and ayahuasca to achieve higher states of consciousness.

Meyerism also reminded me of The Celestine Prophecy  The book is a fictional story about secret scriptures which were discovered in Peru with nine, then ultimately twelve special "insights" which seem reminiscent of Meyerism's Ladder.  Also on the show, the founder Stephen Meyer and his group had a retreat in Peru where some of the most loyal disciples were based. Actually, I think there is a religious community of people inspired by the The Celestine Prophecy (with mostly an online presence) but my impression is that it is not intense enough to attract accusations of being a cult. 

anti-psychiatry

I'm at an age where I have been thinking alot about the "road not taken". What would my life be like if I had zigged instead of zagged? So while we are on the subject of Scientology and mental health, I feel like mentioning that in another life I might have been some flavor of shrink. (I've been facinated with psychology as far back as 8th grade when I had to do a huge  school project about Sigmund Freud. And my interest continued enough that I majored in psychology in college). 

Honestly, if I had had a vocation in mental health, I would probably be some kind of "anti-psychiatrist". To be clear, I'm definitely NOT an advocate for the extreme beliefs of Scientology which are categorically opposed to pretty much all forms of psychological or psychiatric treatment.  But many of the thinkers who appealed to me tended to be critical of the mental health field and were trying to push it in a new direction.

I was intrigued by Thomas Szasz  and his ideas about  The Myth of Mental Illness ("mental illness" is less a disease and more a metaphor for people who have some kinds of problems with living). For the record I do NOT believe mental illness is just a metaphor. There are certainly people with chemical imbalances in the brain or people who are neurodivergent. But I'd still think it is worth exploring other counter-points (like R.D. Laing's approach to schizophrenia or the implications of the Rosenhan Experiment). 

Another influence / source for me would be  Frantz Fanon and his ideas about how racism and colonialism lead to certain neuroses, and how poltical resistance can lead to healing (along with the publication  The Radical Therapist which looked at the social dimension of mental health, as opposed to just the individual component).

I'm also a fan of Na'im Akbar and the way he fused Afrocentricity in a natural way with Quranic ideas (In contrast to how other Afrocentrists framed Islam as an anti-African religon).  I also liked Laleh Bakhtiar and the idea of moral healing. And in general I'd think Sufism has some valuable insights in terms of mental states and personal development.

For another chunk of my teenage years I was really into existentialism.  And was really drawn to Existential Therapy along with Viktor Frankl and Logotherapy. I was especially impressed with Frankl's ideas about the need for meaning, and the capacity to find it, even in the most extreme of circumstances. 

And while it might seem contradictory to the above, I've also tended to like B.F. Skinner. While I would not follow the extremes of his radical behaviorism, I think he offered a valuable corrective to the way some psychologists tended to invent and multiply concepts, structures, diseases, etc. There is something useful in trying to focus on visible behaviors and minimizing the assumptions that we make.

shill / why i hate saturn

So I'm starting to watch "Shrill" and it is reminding me of the brilliant and hilarious graphic novel, "Why I Hate Saturn" by Kyle Baker. Both are about a white woman who writes for some kind of magazine / periodical and goes on zany adventures. Both have black friends who are not just the sidekick but have their own independent voices and perspectives. Both are full of social and political commentary. 

I wonder if Netflix / Hulu / Amazon would turn "Why I Hate Saturn" into a movie or series? It is over 30 years old at this point so it might have to be updated. 

Planet Grenada: Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel

Planet Grenada: Kyle Baker on the Fourth of July

the handmaid's tale and scientology (part three)

This is actually an older link but I'm honestly a bit late thinking about this so I'm going to post it anyway. This is actually about a scene from the first season of The Handmaid's Tale. So apparently other people out there are are drawing connections between the content of the show and the faith and practice of Scientology.

Tony Ortega: Elisabeth Moss in this week’s ‘Handmaid’ sure sounded like FBI testimony about Scientology

another possible scientology connection to the handmaid's tale

 At the end of season 3 episode 2 there is an odd sequence. Emily is an ex-Handmaid who has spent years trapped in Gilead while her Canadian wife and son managed to escape across the border. At the end of season 2 she manages to escape across the border but she is still too traumatized to reconnect with family so she's living with June's husband and her friend Moira. At the end of the episode in question, the show spends several minutes showing us Emily going to an optometrist.

We don't really see her have any particular emotional breakthrough except after she is fitted with glasses she finally summons the courage to call her wife. 

What possible connection might there be between Scientology and eyesight? Is correcting one's eyesight symbolically connected to being "spiritually" clear? Perhaps.

Tony Ortega: Scientology and Eyesight

scientology and the handmaid's tale

I have been a fan of The Handmaid's Tale for a while. I read the novel when I was in high school. I saw the film a few years after that. And I have been really excited and intrigued by the way the Hulu series expands and fleshes out, and also slightly modifies,  the world Margaret Atwood created. (I haven't yet read the sequel novel called The Testaments) 

The Hulu series' first season covers roughly the same ground as the novel and film, supplemented by flashbacks and more detailed characterizations. The subsequent seasons move into uncharted territory. One of the most welcome changes: in the novel and the film, the Republic of Gilead was blatantly racist and essentially sends all Black people off to labor in the colonies as the cursed Children of Ham.  On the show, on the other hand, the regime is not so exclusive, and so we see people of color at multiple levels of society, as Commanders, Marthas, Handmaids, Wives, Econopeople (which means more jobs for  black actors, more representation, etc.) This also creates space for interesting kinds of intersectional analysis of June's character and the world of Gilead.

More recently, I've started to explore another way in which the show seems distinct based on the fact that its star, Elisabeth Moss (also producer, executive producer and occasional director) is a Scientologist. This season especially I've started to wonder if Scientology is influencing the way the story is told. 

In this current season (Season 4), after serving many years as a Handmaid in Gilead, the main character June Osborne (played by Elisabeth Moss) finally manages to escape and reunite with her husband in Canada. As a result, instead of being focused on really basic needs like survival, escape and not getting mutilated or raped (which is basically what the first three seasons were about), June finally has time to focus on less basic issues like dealing with severe psychological trauma and her relationship with her husband. June has some clear symptoms of PTSD.  The catch is that is that the Church of Scientology is famous for its stances against psychology and psychiatry. So its not likely that any show run by a Scientologist would ever depict characters benefitting from conventional therapy. And, Lo and Behold, that's pretty much what we see on the show.

See: Scientology and Psychiatry
Vice: Scientologists Really, Really Hate Psychiatrists

It would be really interesting if someone more familiar with Scientology could thoroughly unpack what is going on this season (and in earlier seasons) . We see numerous traumatized Gilead refugees in Canada, but they don't seem to be getting any professional mental health help. There is a kind of peer support / group therapy (?) lead  by June's friend Moira (who is a computer programmer, not an actual therapist).  But even so, June doesn't seem to quite fit into, or get much benefit from the group.  In fact, June seems to subvert the norms of the group. Instead of being interested in healing she seems to be all about promoting angry confrontations. 

For example, in episode seven of season four (called "Home") June spends most of the episode in a kind of trance, but does manage get noticeably "better" after she has a scene angrily  confronting Serena:

In a similar way, we see another ex-Handmaid named Emily also  confront Aunt Irene (a character we've never seen before but who turns out to be primarily responsible for much of the trauma Emily experienced in Gilead) and she  is also reduced to a sobbing kneeling mess on the floor.

In Scientology there is a whole course called "How to Confront and Shatter Suppression". (A "suppressive person" is a Scientology term for the ultimate anti-social type)  and I wonder if this "shattering" is what we are seeing in how June and Emily treat their  opponents. 

Another basic Scientology concept is the Silent Birth 

Silent birth, sometimes known as quiet birth, is a birthing procedure advised by L. Ron Hubbard and advocated by Scientologists in which "everyone attending the birth should refrain from spoken words as much as possible" and where "... chatty doctors and nurses, shouts to 'PUSH, PUSH' and loud or laughing remarks to 'encourage' are avoided". According to Scientology doctrine, this is because "any words spoken are recorded in the reactive mind and can have an aberrative effect on the mother and the child." Hubbard believed that breaking the silence during childbirth with words could adversely affect the child later in life

I mentioned it here because it occurs to me that on the show when June has her second baby  she managed to run off and have the baby alone. And then in the eighth episode of season three "Unfit" I noticed that there are two main childbirth scenes, and in both of them we see all the other handmaids telling the expectant mother to "push" and "breathe" while Moss' character stands noticeably apart from the group, silent (except for a voiceover) with her arms crossed (pictured above). Almost as if she were silently protesting the non-silent birth. 

One last possible connection between the show and Scientology (even if only tangential) which I'd like to consider is the notion of the Scientology stare. 

Tony Ortega: Scientology's fundamental feature: the thousand-year stare
Tony Ortega: Scientology Starts Out as Staring Contests
Wikipedia: Training Routines (Scientology)

A large chunk of Scientology training is apparently related to staring and maintaining eye-contact.  I imagine that some of the skills developed in their courses is probably legitimately good for actors.  And apparently Elisabeth Moss gets a lot of mileage out of this training since many episodes, especially the first and last scenes tend to feature intense close-ups of Moss staring into the camera. 

Post Apocalyptic Media:
Fans Can’t Stop Joking About Those June Close-Up Scenes on The Handmaid’s Tale

Well, those are my thoughts for now. I really do think it would be fruitful for others better versed in Scientology to further explore ways that Scientology concepts might percolate through the Hulu series. Are there other examples of Silent Birth? Are there other ways in which Scientology perspectives on mental health show up? Are the forces of Gilead not just generically "evil" but do they exemplify specific Scientology claims about "suppressive persons" ? Does character development on the show make sense in terms of the heroes overcoming the reactive mind and going clear? Anything else?

ADDENDUM: Another possibility which came to me after posting: I have not yet read the sequel novel The Testaments, but I've read some summaries. One of the interesting developments is that the character of Aunt Lydia in the books is revealed to have been a secret dissident opposed to the regime from the beginning. She lost her job as a judge when Gilead was created and quietly did what she could to destroy the regime from within. From what I remember of the first novel, that revelation is surprising but not inconsistent with the character. She did her job and mouthed platitudes but I didn't have the impression that she was extremely cruel.

On the other hand, the tv show's version of Aunt Lydia  (played by the amazing actress Ann Dowd) is pretty clearly a dyed-in-the-wool Gilead loyalist.  She's not just maintaining a cover. She sadistically enjoys using her cattle prod to punish the disobedient Handmaids and gleefully supports punishing dissidents. Now it would be interesting  if the show had gone in a direction more like the book where Aunt Lydia's loyalties were more ambiguous; where she cared for the Handmaids while serving the regime, but without being so sadistic.  (In Harry Potter terms, More Severus Snape, less Dolores Umbridge). 

Now, where could Scientology come into this? Well, it seems to me that the Scientology view is somewhat dualistic and unforgiving, especially when it comes to what is called a suppressive person.   And if Gilead is supposed to represent a regime of SPs, then perhaps Moss would be less inclined to have Aunt Lydia show as much moral complexity as suggested by the books. 

Ok, I'd like to reiterate, I'm not claiming that the above examples are evidence that Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale is some kind of Scientology-propaganda. But I would say that there are some interesting points of contact between Scientology doctrines and what we see on the show (especially when it comes to those elements where the show differs from the novels). And is intriguing to think about how Moss' personal views are being reflected in the show.  

wow, missionaries have no shame

 

angela davis statement of solidarity with palestine, gaza and sheikh jarrah

"if the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow."

For a while I've been aware that Christian missionaries have targeted Jews and have put in great effort towards presenting "the gospel" in a way which is targeted towards disarming Jews by making the Christian message seem more "Jewish". (Using Hebrew, emphasizing cultural practices like yarmulkes, Hanukah, Passover, keeping kosher, etc.) Jews for Jesus is well known for this.

More recently, I've become more aware of Christian attempts to engage in similar strategies against Muslims.

A while back I started hearing about "Muslim friendly" translations of the Bible which would avoid using terms like "Father" or "Son of God".

But now, missionaries are engaging in something called The Camel Method. The method involves selectively emphasizing all of the positive things the Quran has to say about Jesus (as), the Injeel, the Torah, Christianity, Judaism and the Biblical prophets (while ignoring all of the negative and critical things the Quran has to say about the mistakes of Christians and Jews) and somehow leveraging that in an attempt to lead Muslims to becoming Christian.

The term CAMEL is ostensibly an acronym which stands for Chosen (Mary was chosen by God for a special purpose), Announced by angels, Miracles (Jesus’ power is revealed in his miracles), and Eternal Life (Jesus is and knows the way to heaven). It is also supposedly a reference to a so-called Islamic parable about how only the camel knows the secret 100th name of Allah. Both explanations seem implausible to me. And I can't help thinking about a different Arab parable warning against letting a camel get its nose in your tent.

For a while now, I've witnessed a number of odd interactions online with a particular Christian missionary who seems to come from a Seventh Day Adventist background, but has started to adopt all sorts of "Muslim" mannerisms, even to the point of claiming to be Muslim at times (but denying it at other times), going to the masjid, claiming to believe in Muhammad (saaws) and the Quran, all with the intention of doing Christian missionary work.

When I first encountered him I was intrigued. He seemed like he was on a sincere and principled personal religious exploration, trying to read the Bible and the Quran, while trying to reconcile both. He made me think of people in a "grey area" between Islam and Christianity whom I've looked at before:

episcopal priest tries islamic rituals for lent

"i am both muslim and christian" (part 3)

"i am both muslim and christian" (part 2)

"i am both muslim and christian" (part 1)

He also seemed very different from the Perenialists (like James Cutsinger), Integral Thinkers, Bahais, Universal Sufis, Theosophists, inclusivists (like Hans Kung for instance) or assorted syncretists whom I've had at least some exposure to and who give some mixture of acknowledgement to both Christianity and Islam.

But then the more I listened to him, the more I realized that he didn't seem to take the Quran or Islam seriously (For example, he argues that neither fasting in the month of Ramadan nor making salat facing the Kaaba nor Hajj is obligatory. He actually was even willing to give some credence to the whole The original qiblah was Petra nonsense which seems to be going around in evangelical Islamophobe circles). He didn't want to admit that any new binding commandments could come through Muhammad (saaws) and didn't accept Muhammad as a new messenger to humanity. Instead he seems to imagine that Muhammad was basically some sort of Torah-observant Christian pastor who was just sent to the Arabs. He wasn't "exploring" and "learning" as much as blatantly coopting and distorting.

Inshallah, I'll unpack more of my thoughts over time.

The Camel Method Training Manual

NY Times: On The Camel Method

Doug Coleman's Review of The Camel

resurrection?

 I realize I haven't been posting with any kind of regularity. InshaAllah, I'll try to change that up, at least a little. Especially with COVID lockdowns, police shootings, now trouble in Palestine and other more personal stuff I'm way too stuck in my own head. I need some kind of healthy self-expression. And Facebook has been getting toxic and addictive lately. 

I have some novel / novella / graphic novel ideas I want to work on. Also I've been too caught up in religious arguments on other people's pages lately.  I feel like I might benefit from just putting together my own thoughts on my own terms and sharing them. Even if it is only to get them out and let them go.

i want you back - sabrina ali jamal-eddine

I just saw this amazing spoken word artist at a tiny local open mike.

the exegesis of philip k dick

The Exegesis of Philip K Dick

blackface in miami

I heard this on the radio today while driving... I was tempted to call-in but now I realize it wasn't a live show. WLRN: Afro-Latinos Say Miami Blackface Play Is Part Of Bigger Problem With Racism In Latino Communities The point about invisibility was really interesting to me. When I first moved to Miami I wanted to do a study on whether people(cashiers mostly) spoke to me in Spanish when they first saw me or English. Are people just assuming I don't speak Spanish? Statistically is that a reasonable assumption or not? How does it change with the race of the cashier?

things that make you go hmmmm..... ?

I've been away from the blog for a while. I'll try to post with a little more frequency. An odd observation.... I was just checking out some of the statistics for the blog and for some strange reason I'm getting alot of page views from Russia, Poland and the Ukraine.... way more than from the US... at least recently... What's up with that?

avengers: ramadhan infinity

thoughts and prayers

the hamilton mixtape: immigrants (we get the job done)

cryin' in the streets

On my way home this story was on the radio: An Indian American Muslim singer resurrects an old civil rights anthem. It struck me as a really "Grenada-esque" story.

 The new version of the song:
 

The original:

grammar nazis

turkish soap operas in the land of the telenovela

Turkish Soap Operas, Latin America, and Emerging World Kinship By Afshin Molavi deals with some interesting cultural crossovers in the world of entertainment.

revolutionary mujer

trump's basic message

eid mubarak y'all

Secret Muslim? Hmmmmm......?

ramadan: a de-colonial centering moment

From Hatem Bazian: Ramadan: A De-Colonial Centering Moment

orlando is an onion

I continue to be surprised by the complexity and intersectionality which is being revealed in relation to the tragedy in Orlando.

1. Hero With a Muslim name Imran Yousuf, the bouncer at the club of partial-Muslim ancestry who acted to save dozens of lives.

2. Peel a layer and get a telenovela Omar Mateen's gay ex-lover claims Mateen was motivated by revenge over being romantically jilted.

3. Contrary to the claims of Trump and others that Muslims don't do enough to help the authorities, here is an account from The Muslim who reported Omar Mateen to the FBI.

4. Imam Zaid Shakir on Orlando

5. A Joint Muslim Statement On The Carnage in Olando

6. Dr. Farrokh Sekaleshfar was a cleric who came to Orlando to give an academic talk on homosexuality in Islam. A snippet of his talk was quoted repeatedly in the news. But here is a broader sample of Dr. Sekaleshfar's comments.

hero with a muslim name

I haven't been blogging for a while, but I feel like putting this out there. One of the interesting details which have emerged from the horrifically intersectional onion-like complexity of the recent Orlando shooting are accounts of Imran Yousuf, an ex-marine and bouncer at the nightclub who saved dozens of lives during the attack: What was really weird to me is that the initial reports identified Yousuf as a Hindu when he clearly had a Muslim name (both Imran and Yusuf are in the Quran). It also raised questions in terms of who gets included or excluded in what "Muslim" means in the popular consciousness. The church-going black president who repeatedly claims to be Christian? Muslim. The mass-murdering, Grindr-using, alcohol-drinking, gay-club regular? Muslim. The hero who saved at least 60 people during the Orlando shooting with a Muslim name? Hindu. I finally found an article which unpacks a bit more info regarding Imran Yousuf's background in India West:

The Yousufs emigrated from India to Guyana four generations ago. Imran Yousuf’s paternal grandfather is Muslim, and his grandmother is Hindu, so his father Rasheed is a mix of both ethnicities. Yousuf’s mother Norma is Hindu, and Imran Yousuf identifies as a Hindu, said Christina Yousuf.

So its not clear how exactly his father identified, but loosely speaking, Imran is "one quarter" Muslim. .. which should be at least one half Muslim by birther standards, right?

you damn dirty ape

i hope my district wins

cary grant, esther williams, angelina jolie & the romance of the gun by christin lavin and brian bauers

I first heard this song on the radio last year a few days after a relative was shot. I didn't know the name of the song then, but I finally managed to put together enough clues to track the song down.

Cary Grant, Esther Williams, Angelina Jolie & The Romance Of The Gun by Christine Lavin and Brian Bauers from christine lavin on Vimeo.

And here is another version from a concert:

happy to be nappy

yet another "Happy" cover, this time from Maimouna Youssef

maimouna youssef's "we're already royal"

I haven't posted in a while but I just found a new amazing artist who has a powerful addition to the earlier series of covers of Lorde's Royal and the more raw live acoustic version Phenderson Djèlí Clark: The Musings of a Disgruntled Haradrim: Already Royal: Reality Trippin’

my #blackmuslimramadan is about bean pie, not baklava

People Are Tweeting #BlackMuslimRamadan Photos And Stories To Celebrate The Month

anarchist traditionalism

Anarchist Traditionalism: Hakim Bey is an old blog piece, but new to me. It makes me wonder about what other ways Traditionalism can be reconciled with leftist thought.

thoughts on tommy westphall fan fiction

For a while I've been fascinated by the Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis. The basic idea is that St. Elsewhere, an 80's hospital drama/comedy is television's version of Kevin Bacon, in other words, if you keep track of the various cameos, crossovers, spinoffs, and fictional allusions, it turns out that hundreds of tv shows arguably exist in the same fictional universe as St. Elsewhere. Furthermore, based on St. Elsewhere's final episode, it turns out that the show (and all the shows linked to it) are happening inside of the mind of an autistic boy named Tommy Westphall who spends his days staring at a snowglobe.

There are numerous sites/blogs maintained by folks keeping track of which shows are part of the universe, but I'm not sure how complete or up-to-date any of them are.

An idea that has been on my literary bucket list is to write stories (something in the ballpark of the League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen) which thoroughly broke down the boundaries between shows in the Tommy Westphall universe 

Some more specific notions:

1. A major protagonist would be Det. Munch (who has appeared in several different series, most recently, the Law & Order franchise).

2. A major antagonist would be a Conspiracy which uses Morley Cigarettes Inc. as one of its fronts. (Morley is a fictional brand which connects many shows: The Twilight Zone, Buffy, X-Files The Walking Dead) 

3. One of the conspiracies objectives is to find /exploit both Tommy Westphall and the snowglobe as a way of gaining power. 

4. Organized criminals / serial killers also connected to the Conspiracy might be a good way to connect different police procedural / legal type shows.

5. The Conspiracy also releases a series of infections which culminates in a Walking Dead style zombie apocalypse.  This might be a good way to connect the hospital / medical type shows.

6. UPS Drivers, Postal Carriers, Baristas, DMV workers, might provide an interesting perspective to connect any of the shows, especially the more mundane ones.

It would also be fun to imagine how to combine various genre shows into a coherent pastiche. although doing it consistently would probably be difficult.

7. Supernatural Shows

Addams Family, American Horror Story, Angel, Bewitched, Buffy, Early Edition, I Dream of Jeannie, Milenium, Reaper, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Is the Conspiracy connected to the Millenium Group or the League of the Black Thorn? Is the snowglobe related to the newspaper in Early Edition?)

8: Sci-Fi (present)

Alias, Alphas, Dr. Who,  Eerie, Indiana, Eureka, Flashforward, Heroes, Journeyman, The Lone Gunman, Lost, Mork and Mindy, Quantum Leap, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Special Unit 2, Torchwood, Warehouse 13, X-Files (John Doggett and Monica Reyes from the X-Files might be a good duo to help Munch. Perhaps after Samuel Beckett disappears and Project Leap is mostly boxed-up, a happily married Al Calavicci is appointed to a Cabinet-level position overseeing the X-Files /Warehouse 13 / Special Unit 2 / CONTROL / Dharma Initiative / Department of Special Research)

9: Sci-Fi (future)

Battlestar Galactica (reboot), Caprica, Firefly, Red Dwarf, Space: 1999, Space: Above & Beyond, Star Trek  (Star Trek is too totalizing to reconcile with some of these other shows, but perhaps elements can be combined in reasonable ways. There is a Federation/Alliance but there are also Maquis/Brownshirts who want to secede. There is also a part of space where they send Space Marine types to fight a secret war against the Chigs? The Conspiracy, in this period might use Weyland-Yutani / Blue Sun / The ORion Syndicate as their main front.) 

10. It would be fun to explain the multiple roles played by the same actors through some kind of Orphan Black- style project. 

Just some thoughts. Who knows? Maybe this will become a sub-genre of fan fiction, in its own right?

The Tommy Westphall Wordpress blog

Tommy Westphall Wiki

Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere By Dwayne McDuffie

Six Objections to the Westphall Hypothesis

Eugene is Huge!: Almost all of TV is the imagined universe of an autistic child.

Tommy Westphall's Mind interview

Tommy Westphall live journal

Maps of Tommy Westphall universe

Oceanic Airlines

Morley Cigarettes

Finder-Spyder

Heisler Beer

Let's Potato Chips

John Munch

black loyalists (again)

For a rarely mentioned side of African-American history...

Wikipedia: Black Loyalists
Black Loyalist Info
Black Loyalist Heritage Society
Canada Digital Collections: Black Loyalists
Canadian Encyclopedia: Black Loyalists

kyle baker on the fourth of july

by Kyle Baker

"they sold marcus garvey for rice"

Time for the US to pardon Jamaican national hero by Hisham Aidi

peru celebrates black history month

Peru celebrates black history month by Hisham Aidi

more from hisham aidi at al-jazeera

More articles from Hisham Aidi

Australia's 'history wars' heat up again
An unlikely celebration of North Africa's ethnic diversity
The sex-for-food scandal in Central African Republic
Podemos and the Catalan cause
Reviving Thomas Sankara's spirit

chicken or the egg

Rap and radicalism: Does hip hop create extremists? by Hisham Aidi

two stories on spain vs. the "muslims"

Spain still uneasy with the Moors and Spanish leftists join fight against ISIL both by Hisham Aidi.

"a love supreme" / "allah supreme"?

Did Coltrane say 'Allah Supreme'? by Hisham Aidi 

 The recording has long been understood to be a deeply spiritual, even devotional, piece. Its four phases - "Acknowledgement", "Resolution", "Pursuance" and "Psalms" - reflect what Coltrane described as a "spiritual awakening" in his overcoming of drug and alcohol problems. 

Yet, what was the nature of that "spiritual awakening"? The conventional view is that by 1964, Coltrane had moved away from his Methodist upbringing, adopting a "pan-religious" outlook with a particular interest in Eastern mysticism. In spite of that, "A Love Supreme" is still described as laden with Biblical symbolism: the title "Psalm", and the rising cadences, reminiscent of black preachers' style, are offered as evidence that Coltrane was still rooted in Christianity. But ask one of the jazzmen or Muslim elders who knew Coltrane, and you get a different answer. 

The saxophonist Yusef Lateef, who died at the age of 93 earlier this year, worked closely with Coltrane between 1963 and 1966. In his autobiography , "A Gentle Giant", Lateef says: "The prayer that John wrote in 'A Love Supreme' repeats the phrase 'All praise belongs to God no matter what' several times. This phrase has the semantics of the al-Fatiha, which is the first chapter or sura of the Holy Quran. The Arabic transliteration is 'al-Humdulilah…' Since all faithful Muslims say the al-Fatiha five times a day or more, it is reasonable to assume that John heard this phrase from [his Muslim wife] Sister Naima many times." 

Lateef is referring to the poem Coltrane wrote and included in the liner notes of the album. Coltrane wrote: "No matter what … It is with God. He is gracious and merciful" and ends with "All praise to God..."

What Lateef and others have noted is that "gracious and merciful" is a translation of "rahman raheem", the opening lines of the Fatiha. Moreover, say the elders, when Coltrane begins chanting the album's title for half a minute it sounds like a Sufi breathily repeating "Allah supreme".

The relationship between Islam and jazz is almost a century-old. It was in the 1920s that the Ahmadiyya movement, a heterodox Islamic movement that emerged in 19th century India, began sending missionaries to US cities, building a substantial following among African Americans in the decades to come. In a trend that still intrigues historians and music critics, after World War II, scores of jazz musicians embraced Ahmadi Islam.

When Coltrane arrived in Philadelphia in 1943, the Muslim presence in the "city of brotherly love" would rattle the young man. As he told an interviewer in 1958: "This Muslim thing came up. I got introduced to that. And that kind of shook me." 

The saxophonist was surrounded by Muslims: his drummer Rashied Ali was Muslim, as was his pianist McCoy Tyner (Suleiman Saud), and saxophonist Lateef. Coltrane then married Naima Grubbs, an observant Muslim. Even Coltrane's band members have pondered his relationship to Islam. If Lateef suspected that Coltrane's art was influenced by the Quran, the drummer Rashied Ali thought that the saxophonist was "a real country boy" and that "he was into being a Muslim and everything like that". One also hears the argument that Coltrane wanted to title his composition Allah Supreme - instead of A Love Supreme - but was worried about a political backlash, given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. "Back then jazz and Islam were intertwined - the first time I heard the adhan on Temple University radio, I thought it was a Nina Simone song," says Imam Nadim Ali, a celebrated jazz deejay and community leader who spent his youth in Philadelphia. "Artists were deeply influenced by Islam - sometimes publicly in their art, sometimes privately." 

It's not inconceivable that "A Love Supreme" could have been inspired by the Quran. After all, as the elders will observe, "Celebration", that great funk hit by Kool & the Gang, was inspired by a Quranic sura. 

"The initial idea came from the Quran," says Ronald Bell (Khalis Bayyan), the group's saxophonist and musical arranger. "I was reading the passage, where God was creating Adam, and the angels were celebrating and singing praises. That inspired me to write the basic chords, the line, 'Everyone around the world, come on, celebration'."

This song inspired by Islam - and released in 1980 - would become an international hit heard at ball games and political rallies in the US, and ironically was played by the Reagan administration on February 7, 1981, to welcome home the hostages held by students in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

us churches and divestment from israel

EI: Will US churches help bring down Israel’s prison walls?

phase 2: polygamy

For a long time I've actually thought that once gay marriage was legal, laws against polygamy would probably declared unconstitutional as well, based on similar legal reasoning.

Even Chief Justice John Roberts basically said as much in his dissenting opinion to Friday's Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage:

It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage. If “[t]here is dignity in the bond between two men or two women who seek to marry and in their autonomy to make such profound choices,” why would there be any less dignity in the bond between three people who, in exercising their autonomy, seek to make the profound choice to marry? If a same-sex couple has the constitutional right to marry because their children would otherwise “suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser,” why wouldn’t the same reasoning apply to a family of three or more persons raising children? If not having the opportunity to marry “serves to disrespect and subordinate” gay and lesbian couples, why wouldn’t the same “imposition of this disability,” serve to disrespect and subordinate people who find fulfillment in polyamorous relationships?

Here are a range of other voices weighing in on the relationship between gay marriage and polygamy.

Some more recent:

Politico: It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy

Informed Comment: No, GOP, biblical Marriage was not between one man and one woman

And some from a while back:

 Vice: After Gay Marriage, Why Not Polygamy?

NPR: Would Gay Marriage Lead To Legal Polygamy?

obama coffee?

Mondoweiss: ‘Obama coffee’ is black and weak — racist tweet from wife of Israel’s vice premier

Informed Comment: Wife of Israeli Cabinet member tweets Racist Obama Joke, had called for Innocent Palestinians to be Punished 

we're all connected

 People all over the blogosphere are making connections between Dylann Roof's acts of violence and  hatred  against Muslims elsewhere:

 Loonwatch: Dylann Roof: The Nexus Between White Supremacy’ s Anti-Blackness and Islamophobia
 Informed Comment: European Islamophobic Networks influenced Roof to Kill in Charleston
 Mondoweiss: Charleston: Do Black and Palestinian lives matter?

a secret history of coffee, coca and cola

An interesting discussion from CSPAN-2, around the book A Secret History of Coffee, Coca and Cola by Ricardo Cortes. A perspective you do not often hear articulated. More information about the book can be found at the Akashic books website.

ello, the anti-facebook

Ello, the so-called anti-Facebook is actually on the interesting side. Ad-free. Nice design. Original content. It is still in its beta phase so they are still gradually rolling out its features.  And the community is still growing. Nevertheless, It should be a nice alternative to Facebook.

Iag.me: Quick Guide to Ello

game of thrones vs. brave new world (part two)

I had last worked on this over two years ago (Thursday April 18, 2013) and left it as a draft, but given recent events, I thought I should probably dust this off and publish it.... and think about a part three.... Another element of the popular culture which has gotten me thinking about Game of Thrones vs. Brave New World is the show Switched at Birth. The show is a drama on ABC Family which (as the title implies) involves two girls who, as babies, were switched at the hospital and went home to the wrong family. One grew up as Daphne Vasquez and was raised by a Puerto Rican Latina single mother. (The mother's Italian-French-Arab boyfriend had been in the picture but then left when a paternity test confirmed that Daphne was not his daughter). Also a childhood bout with meningitis has left Daphne deaf. The other girl grew up as Bay Kennish, who was given a fairly comfortable upbringing, raised with a younger "brother" by a retired major league baseball player and a stay-at-home mom. The show has gotten a bit melodramatic lately, but it is surprisingly thought-provoking for a teenage drama; raising issues of nature vs. nurture, class, race, ethnicity, privilege, deaf culture, and the nature of family obligation. The reason why I bring it up in the context of Game of Thrones vs. Brave New World is because of the surprising way the show seems to deal with issues of custody. Even after the hospital's mistake is discovered by the two families, the girls don't simply go back to their natural families but instead the two families move in together (the wealthy Kennishes happen to have an empty guest house) and form a complex blended arrangement. 

  game of thrones vs. brave new world (part one)

this is unity

From Puerto Rican / Ethiopian Orthodox Jewish rapper Y-Love (Yitz Jordan)

capers funnye

For a different look at the relationship between Blackness and Jewishness, we can consider Rabbi Capers Funnye, a long time leader in the Black Jewish community, and a cousin of Michelle Obama.

BETH SHALOM B’NAI ZAKEN ETHIOPIAN HEBREW CONGREGATION 

The New York Times: Obama's Rabbi 

 Huff Post: Jewish Voices of Color Must be Heard 

Killing the Buddha: Meet Black Judaism

anti-african racism in israel

An eye-opening series of links on some of the deep racial problems in Israel.

muslims in cuba

BBC: What is it like to be a Muslim in Cuba?

a turn

Weird day, virtually speaking. I will try to find the silver lining... e.g. more time to read Quran, work on myself, work on the novel, more time to get my thoughts down here.

the real hunger games: starting soon

record number of muslims converting to hispanic

Record Number of Muslims Converting to Hispanic

hip-hop for palestine times ten

Electronic Intifada: Ten hip-hop tracks that demand freedom for Palestine

somos sur (again)

I had links to this song before but this is video of Ana Tijoux's Somos Sur (featuring Shadia Mansour): Lyrics: Somos Sur Democracy Now!: Chilean Musician Ana Tijoux on Politics, Feminism, Motherhood & Hip-Hop as "a Land for the Landless"

be careful what you wish for

don't cashcrop my cornrows

Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in the film Hunger Games, shares some incisive thoughts on cultural appropriation and hip-hop. Amandla, we salute you.

the end of sabado gigante

Stunned fans say farewell to 'Sabado Gigante,' Don Francisco

more parking problems

first thoughts on chapel hill

New Idea: Instead of calling people "Islamophobic" we should say that they are "serious about their parking space".

america is like a bad boyfriend

hamza yusuf on isis

when "yes massa" starts getting old

When “Yes Massa” Starts Getting Old by Imam Zaid Shakir

this land is mine

This Land Is Mine from Nina Paley on Vimeo.

the more things change....

"i'm so hungry"

happy virginia tech muslims

happy boston muslims

happy muslims around the world

YouTube Playlist: Pharrell Williams Happy Muslims, Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Muslim World by Megan Reif covers alot of the same ground I have with my various blog posts of Muslims doing "Happy" videos. I think I've gotten a few she missed and vice-versa.

happy singapore muslims

happy dutch muslims

happy dallas muslims

dear white people... (hopefully coming out this october)

Initial Trailer:

Longer Trailer:

Dear White People Concept Trailer from Justin Simien on Vimeo.

Democracy Now! on Dear White People:

kemal amin kasem - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

The voice of Robin on the Super-friends, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise, and most famously the long-time host of American Top 40 and related/similar shows. (see Wikipedia)

top 3 white terrorist attacks in america this week

Informed Comment: Top 3 White Terrorist Attacks in America this Week

wow, another syrian happy video

From the video: "Back in March 2014, Maiko went to Iraq as a Volunteer to help Syrian refugees. She thought it would be wonderful and powerful if she could make a Happy song with syrian refugees living in the camp. The life in the camp is of course, not easy, everyone has lots of burdens and have lost many things back home in Syria But they are not only grieving They celebrate their birthdays, or new born babies, or someone's wedding in the community They always try to have something to have fun with. they are really living their lives. She told them about this idea of a Happy clip, They were so thrilled that they made one.. ;o) I helped them remotely by doing the editing. You can see that they are happy even though they are living a tough situation. Thanks Maiko for your volunteering and your great help. Good luck to all those Syrian refugees !!!! Stay happy, whatever the circumstances."

"somos sur" - ana tijoux (featuring shadia mansour)

Third world solidarity by sisters rapping in Spanish and Arabic.

maps for language and religion

There have been some interesting maps circulating on the internet recently.

 Here is one: Gizmodo: The Most Common Languages Spoken in the U.S. After English and Spanish 

and here is another: 

Washington Post: The second-largest religion in each state (and county) 

In the first link I was surprised at the appearance of Hmong, Vietnamese and Navajo on the map. While on the second I was surprised by the number of states where the second largest religion was either Islam or Buddhism (I suppose I just expected Jews to appear as the number two religion in more states... I mean, even in Florida, the second largest religion was Islam) I was also surprised that the Bahai Faith was actually the second largest religion in any of the states (they got South Carolina).

aamer rahman on reverse racism

pawel kuczynski

More Paintings by Pawel Kuczynski

yasiin gaye: the return (official teaser)

happy (at least until they go to jail) in tehran

NYT: ‘Happy in Tehran’ Video Spurs Harsher Censorship

muslims give most to charity

Muslims 'Give Most To Charity', Ahead Of Christians, Jews And Atheists, Poll Finds in the UK

syria (restore) happy?

Published on May 26, 2014 Despite the heavy toll of the ongoing Syrian conflict on the lives of Syria's most vulnerable population, its children remain resilient. (RESTORE)Happy contains footage from Zaatari refugee camp and a Syrian refugee school inside Jordan. We traveled to Jordan in April of 2014 equipped with coloring books, crayons, soccer balls, hula hops, jump ropes, and toys and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams blaring on portable speakers... We made this video with hopes to encourage people to support Education and Mental Health programs that work with Syrian refugees and internally displaced Syrian children. Please visit: www.love4syria.com to find an organization to support. Produced by: Hazami Barmada Omar Al-Chaar Rameen Aminzadeh A project of: Beats, Rhymes & Relief: www.beatsrhymesandrelief.org Join us in the Fall of 2014 One World Syria, A Celebrity Benefit Concert for Syria. Learn more: www.oneworldsyria.com

50 facts about muslims

50 Actual Facts That Challenge What You've Been Told About Muslims is a nice little round-up of information, some of which I actually didn't know myself.

yasiin bey banned from re-entering united states

American Born Hip Hop Artist Mos Def Banned From Re-Entering America Due To “Immigration Issues”

dr. mufti abdur-rahman ibn yusuf on the happy british video

on the serious side: