the aztec al-qaeda

La Voz De Aztlan: The story Mayor Villaraigosa falsely tied to Al-Qaeda is only tangentially related to Muslims. It is really more about a nativist PR attack against Villaraigosa and Academia Semillas del Pueblo, a Chicano charter school in Los Angeles. But it is interesting (and frightening) to see how the xenophobia seems to be coming from the same place and taking similar shape.

see also:
palestinian che

new muslims in spain

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, In Spain, dismay at Muslim converts holding sway discusses the growing prominence of Spanish converts to Islam as voices of moderation. The piece also gets into some of the criticism faced by these new Muslims both from inside and outside the Muslim community.

islam and natural healing

I've been thinking about health recently (both my own and that of people close to me) and so I went to my bookshelf and dusted off my copy of "Natural Healing with the Medicine of the Prophet" (a translation of an older work by Imam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya 1292-1350 CE).

The whole concept of "Islamic medicine" is intriguing for the most part, but also has its limitations.

If we stick strictly to the Quran and hadith there are a number of texts which give some sort of medical advice but it is not clear that this constitutes a totally comprehensive and detailed medical theory. For example:

And your Lord revealed to the bee saying: Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build: Then eat of all the fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There comes forth from within it a beverage of many colours, in which there is healing for men; most surely there is a sign in this for a people who reflect. (16:68-69)

or the famous hadith from Bukhari:

Abu Huraira, God be pleased with him, narrated in the correct prophet traditions that God's messenger (saaws) said: "Use this black seed regularly, because it has a cure for every disease except death"

Imam Al-Jawziyya's work also includes many other hadith (of varying degrees of authenticity) with assorted bits of advices on matters health and illness (texts on food, drink, sleep, cupping, spiritual aspects of healing and related subjects).

From a modern perspective, some of this material is challenging. As Muslims do we have to accept all of it (for example blood-letting) as sound medical advice, or can we sift through some of it and say it is not really "prophetic" but merely reflects the ordinary fallible medical knowledge which was in circulation at the time of the prophet (saaws)?

Moreover, when "Islamic medicine" was developed, doctors took the prophetic elements and inserted them into a matrix of Greek medical knowledge (e.g. Galen and Hippocrates) and so Al-Jawziyya's text also assumes the four humour theory which was current in Europe during the Middle Ages. (The resulting mix of Graeco-Arab ideas is sometimes called Unani medicine and is similar to Aryuvedic medicine. Both are still practiced today in some communities).

It makes me wonder to what extent is it possible to take the truly "prophetic" aspects of Islamic medicine and come up with a truly Islamic wholistic system? Or are we left with a few isolated remedies which are culled from the Quran and hadith and are then tossed into the context of another system (whether modern, metaphysical or alternative)? Is the answer different if we are talking about mental health as opposed to physical health?

I found the following links on the above subject but I'm not a doctor. I'm including these pages because they are interesting and topical but if you are sick and need help you should go see a qualified expert (however you define that) for advice.

The Medicine of the Prophet: A Message Par Excellence by Dr. M. Iqtedar Husain Farooqi
CrescentLife: Health & Healing: Islamic Perspective
Dr.Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal: Islamic Medicine Online
Wikipedia: unani
www.unani.com
Medicine of the Prophet
The Sufi Enneagram Website

islamo-futurism?

From time to time here at (Planet) Grenada I bring in links/entries on Afro-futurism. Well, recently over at Hawgblawg, Ted Swedenburg has written a couple of entries on "Islamo-futurism". In Fun^Da^Mental's "786 All Is War": "Sufi surfing on boards of steel" Ted goes over the surreal and futuristic lyrics of Aki Nawaz. And in More on Islamic sci-fi/futurism he gives a heads up on Yusuf Nuruddin's recent article in Socialism and Democracy called "Ancient Black Astronauts and Extraterrestrial Jihads: Islamic Science Fiction as Urban Mythology". (Hopefully the article or a discussion of its contents will eventually be available online).

taina asili

Recently, I also had the chance to see an amazing performance by Puerto Rican spoken-word artist Tania Asili. Definitely check out her site and explore the links. Definitely think about giving her some $ support (either buy her CD or, if you are in a position to, book her for an event).

In a lot of ways, she reminded me of one of my cousins who has also done a lot of spoken word. Actually, in my generation there are about three of us who to varying degrees have done spoken word/poetry. At one point I thought to myself that maybe there is some kind of "poetry" gene in my family which made us get on stage. But more likely some of us are "odd birds" who have a lot to get off our chests and it almost can't help but come out as poetry.

see also:
teresa vazquez
black orpheus

seeds in the wind

I just wanted to turn y'all on to Seeds in the Wind. They haven't made it big yet but I will say that the singer/writer is one of the most sincere, good-natured people I know and you should check out their album. I would describe their sound as acoustic folk with lyrics which evoke Rastafarian spirituality.

climbing poetree

I first saw Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman (aka Climbing Poetree) a few years ago doing a multimedia spoken-word piece which explored the so-called War on drugs and made some powerful connections between US foreign policy in Colombia (where Alixa is from) and what is going on domestically in terms of the prosecution of drug-related offenses and treatment of prisoners. They do some deep work and I thought I should give them a shout-out.

I saw them perform recently and I got a kick out of seeing them do a piece on hip-hop which started off with Alixa making the very surprising Grenada-esque move of beatboxing while simultaneously playing a set of South American pipes!

I hope you enjoy exploring their sites and think about giving them some support for their work.

Climbing Poetree's main site
Climbing Poetree's Myspace Page

in these times on borat

For a much more positive evaluation of the film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan you might also want to check out Adam Doster's piece from In These Times on The Crazy Kazakh Correspondent.

complicaciones

Growing up, I think my first real exposure to Afro-Cuban music was an old Mongo Santamaria double-LP called Afro Roots which my parents had. I've gotten a bit more into Mongo Santamaria since then but I can't really call myself a fan. But I do really enjoy his album Our Man in Havana and in particular I think all the guaguancos on that album are amazingly beautiful.

The last piece on the album is a guaguanco called Complicaciones:

Que yo no quiero más complicación
La vida me traicionó

Yo la quería, ella también a mi
Yo la quería, ella también a mi
Y en un momento importuno
Ella se marchó

La mujer es como el pan
Que hay que comer lo caliente
Se lo deja enfriar
Ni el diablo le meta el diente
Quince años yo tenía
Cuando por primera vez
Dí mi voz a conocer
Y mi lírica poesía

Que yo no quiero más complicación
La vida me traicionó

No quiero complicación
La vida me traicionó

I'm just in that kind of mood.

borat and ali g

What is the difference between a white person in blackface and Sascha Baron Cohen, the English/Jewish comedian behind the characters of Borat and Ali G who presumably come from Muslim cultural backgrounds? (Borat is from Kazakhstan). I have a gut reaction but I'm really not trying to be rhetorical. That's an actual question. Does Sascha Cohen cross the line which seperates edgy and conscious cultural representation from a minstrel show?

the confederate states of america (part two)

After writing the previous post on the film the Confederate States of America, I wanted to add links to some other related entries from Planet Grenada's past:

On slavery, the civil war and our national character:
iraq and al qaeda, america and the kkk
afrofuturism/rebirth of a nation
post traumatic slave syndrome
what a country!

On racist images and language in contemporary times:
the mexican stamp controversy
understanding pickaninnies and improving the race
rebirth of a word, a film, a slur
accepting the slurs

On prisoners and the criminal justice system:
black cats who became muslim
johnnie cochran died today
ex-prisoner rights
cagedprisoners.com

the confederate states of america

In keeping with the Halloween theme, I'm going to talk about a film with a rather frightening premise. I recently saw The Confederate States of America which is a fictional "mock-umentary" about what would have happened if the South won the Civil War (er.. the War of Northern Aggression) and slavery continued into 21st century America.

The film definitely had its high points, but to be honest it was not very impressive. The historical logic wasn't very persuasive. For example, originally, the South fought in order to secede from the Union but in the film, the South actually takes over the North. Not only that, the Confederate States of America then expands to the south and eventually absorbs Latin America as well. But to be fair, in the DVD interview with Kevin Willmott, the film's writer and director, he makes clear that the film was more about metaphor than historical realism. In our country there has always been a tension between the democratic, egalitarian, just principles of the "United States" and the racist, exclusionary, hierarchical, expansionist tendencies of the "Confederate States". Wlilmott's film was intended to provide a satirical look at those "Confederate" tendencies by taking them to an extreme.

For me, the most impressive aspect of the movie were the fictional commercial breaks which featured blatantly racist ads for things like the Coon Chicken Inn, Sambo motor oil or Niggerhair cigarettes. The "punchline" is that most of the ads (including those just mentioned) represent REAL products which were sold in our United States into the 40's and 50's.

Another of the more impressive commercials was a promo for a show called "Runaway" (clearly based on Cops). In the C.S.A, most vibrant expressions of Black culture had long since migrated north to Canada, so the reggae theme of "Bad Boys" was replaced by an upbeat song with more of a country twang. But there were still the same images of Black and Latino males running from white men, being restrained by officers, having guns pointed at them, etc. The obvious suggestion was that the police are just modern-day slavecatchers.

It reminded me of a spoken word piece by Detroit poet, Versiz where he describes an encounter with a traffic cop who stopped him and asked:

"So, do you know why I'm pulling you over?"

I asked if he wanted the short answer or the long one. He of course chose the wrong one so I had to give it to him. I had to give it to him the way they always give it to me. With no vaseline and with a straight face.

So I told him... "You are pulling me over because there was a corrupt system set in place used to manipulate and control the underclass through fear and intimidation, a system that you are an agent for. Now, whether or not you know your role remains to be seen so I guess the most important question is: Dude, Do you know why you are pulling me over?"

I couldn't help but smirk as I was being dragged out of the vehicle.

Of course it is fairly easy to cite other examples of artists and political writers who see similarities between the police and the prison industrial complex on the one hand, and slavery and other forms of oppression on the other. (But that's a meaty subject in itself and I'll have to explore it over several posts)

For other treatments of alternative history:
For Want of a Nail
The Guns of the South
Harry Turtledove
Bring the Jubilee
The Man in the High Castle
It Happened Here

even more heru

Every once in a while I check YouTube for more spoken word performances from Heru. This time I found three clips I hadn't seen before. I've posted versions of Lucy/Chambers and Wicked Man Dominion before but these performances took place at different venues. To the Core was performed at the DuSuble Theatre in Chicago and is totally new to Planet Grenada. Out of the three, I think my favorite is Lucy/Chambers.

a whole new (old) world...

This is a bit late, but over at Hood's blog, Islamic Law, Etc. he posted a narration from the salaf (the earliest generations of Muslims) which reminded him of Planet Grenada:

“Allah has servants beyond Al-Andalus, the distance between them and al-Andalus like the distance between us and al-Andalus. They do not view that any of creation has disobeyed Allah. Their stones are coral and pearls. Their mountains are of gold and silver. They do not plant nor harvest, nor do they work at all. They have a tree that grows at their doorstep which bears fruit which is their food as well as another tree with large, wide leaves from which they make their clothing.”

Just as Grenada/Granada evokes both the West Indian island and the Moor's last stand, for Hood, the passage recalls both Al-Andalus (Spain) and early European descriptions of the Caribbean.

To see Hood's post along with other folks comments, check out:
A whole new world...

more heru on tv

YouTube: a brief feature on Heru (Pan-African spoken word artist and former classmate) for a new york tv station.

see also: we be broke while other folks' cash registers be like "i ching" "i ching" "i ching"

an inconvenient truth

Alberto Fernandez, a senior state department official recently partipated in an interview with Al-Jazeera where he admitted: "I think there is great room for strong criticism, because without doubt, there was arrogance and stupidity by the United States in Iraq." One opinion is that Fernandez's comments might generate a certain amount of goodwill in the Middle East since that is what most of the people think anyway. Let's hope his employers see it the same way.

BBC News: On the Alberto Fernandez interview

the 99

After my entry on Green Lantern and other Black superheroes, Hood gave me a heads up about The 99, a new comic about a team of Muslim superheroes whose powers are all based on the traditional ninety-nine names of Allah.

Here is an interview with the comic's writer/creator, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and here is a more detailed article (originally from the New York Times) which gets into the general background of the characters and talks about the hurdles Dr. Mutawa has had to go through in order to make the comic book a reality.

Although comic books in general feature several heroes with "Oriental" associations, believing Muslims seem to be more rare. To my knowledge, in the DC universe, the most prominent Muslim hero is the Janissary while in the Marvel universe, the most prominent hero is a mutant known as Dust. In both cases, the characters are women.

understanding the new "racial olympics"

I've linked to articles from Hishaam D. Aidi in the past. In fact the passage of text at the top of the blog (which in some ways captures the scope of Planet Grenada) is loosely taken from an article by Aidi called "Let Us Be Moors". (Although the quote itself originates with post-colonial critic, Robert Young).

Now, in the article Slavery, Genocide and the Politics of Outrage: Understanding the New “Racial Olympics”, Hishaam D. Aidi explores the intersections between Black Nationalism, Zionism, Black Orientalism, Afro-Arab unity, 9/11 and the current crisis in Darfur.

ramadan fiqh: intention, mindfulness and responsibility

Perhaps someone out there can shed some light on this issue. Something I've never really understood about the rules for Ramadan is the following... take two people, Zayd and Jamal.

Zayd is a conscientious Muslim. It is the month of Ramadan. Zayd made intention to fast on the night before. He even makes the effort to follow the sunnah and gets up before fajr in order to have a little something (say some water and dates) to help him last through the day. Unfortunately, he later finds out that his clock has been slow and it turns out that at least on a few occasions he had been eating and drinking after fajr had come in, even though he sincerely believed otherwise.

Now take Jamal. Jamal is not so conscientious. He didn't bother getting up before fajr. In fact, he slept through fajr. When he woke up he sort of realized it was Ramadan and so he knew to skip breakfast but other than that he started his day much as any other day. He was absorbed in various mundane tasks and responsibilities until the middle of the day when he would normally have a lunch break. As was his habit, he goes around the corner to his usual lunch spot to order some food. He noticed he was hungrier than usual so he gets the extra large sandwich, a large pop, a side order and some dessert. After his lunch break he goes back to work and an hour after his meal it occurs to him, with the appropriate amount of shock and surprise, that he just had a full meal in the middle of the day during the month of Ramadan.

Now here's the weird part: It is my understanding (based on the fiqh books I've read) that the slow clock doesn't constitute an excuse so Zayd's fast has been broken and he has to make up the days when he accidentally broke his fast. But Jamal's fast, on the other hand, actually hasn't been broken and that he doesn't have to make up any days.

First, it would probably be good to keep in mind that the question of what breaks your fast or not is different from the question of how actions are judged spiritually or not. For example, lying, gossiping and stealing don't break your fast either but that doesn't mean these are acceptable activities to engage in. Also, I would guess that the above issue is related to how scholars of fiqh understood the relationship between intention, minddfulness and responsibility, but I myself don't have a really good understanding of what the reasoning process is. Anyone out there have a good suggestion?

not much ramadan blogging

Today is the last day of Ramadan. The month has gone by very quickly. This year, I feel like I've been doing A LOT less blogging about the month of Ramadan itself compared to last year. In fact, I've been doing less blogging, period. On top of that, I should have taken more spiritual benefit from the month. We'll see what the rest of the year holds.