for instance...

following up with the literary theme... you might want to check out Writeous Sister, Aaminah Hernandez
Moorish Girl (Who seems more interested in Middle Eastern/Arab literary topics than things specifically religious)
Brother Dasham at Muslimpoet.com
and the folks at Rendering Islam
(all either on my blogroll in my links area) to check out what Muslims are doing on the cultural front.

on the road again 2

This weekend I plan to be competing in a poetry slam so after Friday there probably won't be too many entries till Sunday or so.

Going back to an earlier discussion about the formation of an American Muslim culture: I think it would be great if more Muslims decided to create journals, readings, or other kinds of forums to promote our own creative endeavours. The slams have their positive aspects (open, free, democratic) but they also have their negative elements mixed in as well and I sometimes wish there were more alternatives. It would probably be easiest to start with a talent show or a small reading/writing group and move on from there. Bring Muslim poets and writers to perform at your events. etc. They are certainly out there and it would be good to support them.

the reyes brothers

The Godfather of Latin Rap, Mellow Man Ace (Ulpiano Sergio Reyes) and his brother Sen Dog of Cypress Hill (Senen Reyes) will soon be coming out with an album this summer called The Reyes Brothers. Its sort of sad from a certain point of view. They are easily the two biggest Afro-Cuban rappers out there. I used to listen to them when I was younger. But now, I really can't expect much enlightenment from them, spiritual, political or otherwise. Just some grooves and beats.

On the other hand, Sen has appeared on Mellow Man Ace's "Brother with Two Tongues" album and they also both appeared on the Silencio=Muerte: Red, Hot + Latin album (which was made to raise money towards AIDS/HIV research). And their projects together have actually turned out pretty well. (Without too much weed smoke).

ladybug mecca

Before the Fugees... there was Digable Planets... another 3-person crew with good beats, a loosely spiritual (specifically Five Percent Nation of Islam) lyrical landscape, two dudes, and a beautiful woman. They won a Grammy with their first album, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space). Their second album, Blowout Comb, made less of a splash. And the group essentially broke up to work on their own projects.

But recently, according to Latinrapper.com, in an interview with Ladybug Mecca (who is of Brazilian heritage) she is coming out with a solo album, and she has also been performing with the other members of Digable Planets at a few dates and will soon start to work on a third DP album.

immortal technique

Here is a website for politically-minded Afro-Peruvian rapper Immortal Technique. (includes pictures, interviews, soundclips and more)

cuba without castro

An interesting Associated Press article by Todd Lewan about what will happen to Cuba after Fidel is out of the picture. It suggests changes will happen but that they won't be as sweeping or as radical as some people might imagine.

Quoting Antonio Jorge, economics guru and professor of political economy at Florida International University:

"Cubans have never been pure, savage capitalists, the way Americans are," Jorge says, wistfully. "People forget that. Cuba will have to be rebuilt in the model of a Scandinavian country — say, Sweden." In other words, a socialist-leaning state?

shut down guantanamo!

Taipai Times: Guantanamo Bay prison should be shut down, Republican senator says
Alter-Net: After Guantanamo

Ok, it's one thing to hear Amnesty International or even Jimmy Carter suggesting that the prison at Guantanamo should be shut down. But recently the REPUBLICAN US Senator Mel Martinez is joining the chorus. Maybe someone should take a hint.

yo soy un hombre sincero...

my heart is full of muslims
trapped on a us base
growing out of cuban soil

benito juarez and quran desecration at guantanamo

From La Voz de Aztlan site:
Toilet flushing of Holy Qu'ran at Guantanamo manifests a deep problem of America

history of islamic spain

Here is a page of links on Spanish history (including Granada) also from the DNN site.

latin america watch

Here is the Latin America Watch section of the DNN (Dajjal Netwwork News) website. DNN is a little conspiracy-theory minded but that doesn't mean they don't have good information on their site. (And I just added the DNN homepage to my set of links)

jose padilla

Here is a recent Z-Net piece marking the 4th anniversary of Jose Padilla's imprisonment as an "enemy combatant".

In Justice John Paul Stevens scathing dissent (to the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the Padilla case) Stevens articulates the gravity of Padilla vs. Rumsfeld. He said the Padilla case poses “a unique and unprecedented threat to the freedom of every American citizen…At stake is nothing less than the essence of a free society…For if this nation is to remain true to the ideals symbolized by its flag, it must not wield the tools of tyrants even to resist an assault by the forces of tyranny.”

the men will look like the women...

And the sun will rise in the west and set down in the east
And when it came time for the end...
And when it came time for the end...
And when it came time for the end...
The men will look like the women
And the women like the men
"Mean Machine" - The Last Poets

In the apocalyptic spoken word piece Mean Machine, the Last Poets allude to the hadith where men looking like women and women looking like men is seen as one of the signs of the last days. It isn't completely clear how this sign ought to be interpreted, and I actually don't intend to suggest that it includes the subsequent discussion in this entry, but it seemed like an intriguing springboard from which to introduce the next topic.

For reasons I don't particularly want to get into at the moment, I've been thinking alot about transgendered individuals and the difficulties they face. What some might find surprising, especially given the kinds of typical accusations made against Muslims when it comes to sexual matters, is that even many religiously conservative Muslims can be quite sympathetic when it comes to transgendered individuals (It might be useful to keep in mind that transgenderism is different from homosexuality and is also different from cross-dressing. Transgendered individuals don't just want to perform certain acts or wear certain clothes but instead they often feel like they were born in a body of the wrong gender... their "inside" doesn't match their "outside".) Here is one story about events in Iran along these lines. And another on Kuwait (So one is from a shia perspective and the other gives a sunni view)

michael jackson: off the wall

You can laugh and criticize Michael Jackson if you wanna
Woody Allen, molested and married his step-daughter
Same press kickin dirt on Michael's name
Show Woody and Soon-Yi at the playoff game, holdin hands
Sit back and just bug, think about that
Would he get that type of dap if his name was Woody Black?
"Mr. Nigga" - Mos Def

It sometimes amazes me to stop and consider the sorts of "crimes and misdemeanors" scandals and indiscretions celebrities are guilty of. Some celebrities are found doing the most outrageous things and still end up with their careers and reputations relatively intact. While others get the book thrown at them and retreat into relative obscurity. I wonder what the pattern is? I think Mos Def makes a good point and that often it can be racial. For example, consider the LA Times story: Michael Jackson's Hidden Accuser: Racism

But on the other hand R. Kelly is still a free man. Why don't they let Mumia or Jamil al-Amin out and put R. Kelly in jail? (Where is Pontius Pilate when you really need him?)



This is old news, but in case you didn't know before Jermaine Jackson is Muslim He has been since 1989. In fact his conversion is probably one source of the urban legend which suggested that it was Michael who converted. At least one member of the Jackson family isn't totally off the wall.

do people have a right not to be offended?

Just a question which I wanted to put out there based on a recent conversation I had last night. It seems that in a lot of countries, the laws give slightly more weight to protecting people's feelings over the right to voice one's own opinion. So for example, in Germany, there are relatively strict bans on free speech when it comes to neo-Nazis or holocaust revisionism (e.g. saying that only 3 million Jews died in the holocaust instead of 6 million). In other countries, there are laws against blasphemy. But in the US, both types of speech are likely to receive first amendment protection.

So my question is where Muslims should focus their efforts in terms of offensive speech in the US or the West. Every once in a while, we hear about this or that offensive website, or this or that offensive comment by an evangelical missionary or a neo-con or a shock dj. So should we try to use whatever influence we have to try to silence such speech (pre-emptively if possible). Or should we develop a thicker skin, expect people to go on saying offensive things, but then focus on counteracting speech with more speech, engage with the larger society; and try to develop more effective ways of putting a Muslim perspective out there.

To give an example of each approach:

A few months ago, a Swedish museum displayed a painting depicting a couple making love while covered in Quranic verses. There were protests against the painting and it was eventually removed (silenced)

When the 1998 movie The Siege came out (It was about how the acts of terrorists in New York led to Muslims/Arabs being put in interment camps) instead of calling for protests against the movie, a mosques and Islamic centers started having open houses.

In the long run, can we afford trying to silence everyone with a mean thing to say about Islam?

more on evangelicals at the air force academy

Here is a follow-up from NPR on the recent issues with evangelicals exerting too much influence in the Air Force academy. High ranking military officers seem to be using their power to prosyletize their evangelical beliefs among the soldiers under their command. And it seems to be perpetuating itself in stubborn ways. And its not even just about anti-Islamic sentiment (which is obviously a part of it) but its even directed against other Christians too.

the best laid plans...

Oh well, I called this morning to double-check regarding the Shaykh's visit and found out that his visit is being postponed.

more amir sulaiman

The Muslim Student's Association at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville has a blog and in a 'recent' entry they have footage of a performance by the poet Amir Sulaiman.

need a recharge...

Inspired by the recent discussion on muslimahsoul's blog about honesty... in the interests of candor, I should say that I've been feeling a bit down for a while... Like I really need a spiritual recharge. I feel like I've let myself get caught up and distracted by too many irrelevant/irreverent things. Some time ago I met with some local Shadhilis in the area for dhikr and they were really nice people but I soon got busy with other things and stopped going for several months now. Their Shaykh, Sidi Muhammad Sa'id al-Jamal ash-Shadhuli is nearby for a couple of days and I had been planning to go see him, but I've almost let his entire visit slip past me. InshaAllah I'll catch the tail end tomorrow and will be more motivated. But it almost feels like it would just be a band aid. Somehow I need to make a real recommitment, take the rust off.

But then the trick is how to actually go about doing that. Is it a matter of joining the "right" Islamic organization? Participating in the "right" activity? I know Hamza Yusuf came out with a short booklet called "An Agenda to Change Our Condition" which contains a basic program to follow to strengthen ones iman and taqwa. But I wonder if these kinds of approaches are even the right ones. Is it about an internal decision, or is it about external actions? The environment? A combination of things?

church sign

more M-Team

Here is a page where you can actually hear some Mujahideen Team tracks.
And here is an interview with them which reveals more of their background and perspective.

yo! pbs raps

So the current topic of the Progressive Blogger Union is media reform. I'm not sure how much I have to say about it. I occasionally think about the negative impacts that certain business considerations have on the music which is produced these days. Why it happens isn't all that deep or difficult to understand. The purpose of the music industry isn't to produce high-quality innovative music or promote creative talented artists. The purpose of the music industry is to sell product and make a profit. And given the amount of money it costs to promote an artist (advertising, record distribution, etc.) the industry would prefer not to take risks. So that's why we get mostly boy bands, Britney-clones and Puffy.

Somehow we need to strengthen other mechanisms for promoting and distributing music which would mitigate these forces. File-sharing on computers is one move towards a solution. So is the growing ease of burning and reproducing CDs. Perhaps motivated individuals could also use public access cable stations to provide an free, less commercial alternative to eMpTyV.

In Cuba, many hip-hop groups actually receive a certain amount of support from the government (there is a Cuban Rap Agency). Perhaps in a different world there might be away for "underground" or "alternative" hip-hop groups in the US to attract funding and support based on creativity artistic merit instead of being based on the capcity to attract the dollars of suburban teenagers who want to live out romanticized ghetto fantasies.

Unfortunately by the time that hip-hop (like jazz and blues before it) has become respectable enough that those who play it are considered suitable for government funding, the culture will probably have moved on to something new.

Industry Rule 4080: Record company people are shady
- Q-Tip, "Check the Rhyme"

boricua rappers drop anti-imperialist album

An interesting music review of Clash of Civilizations, the latest album from the Latino Muslim rap group, Mujahideen Team (or M-team). The review comes from the MIM webpage. If anyone has actually heard the album or heard the group perform, feel free to comment.

tradition, progress and reform

I feel like I've been obsessed with this question in different ways so I'm probably repeating myself but I think I finally figured out the most concise way to phrase the issue:

When people say "progressive Muslims" do they mean starting with Islam's concern for social justice and going out to reform the larger society? Or do they mean starting with the values of the larger society and "reforming Islam"?

I think that's the fundamental question and that's part the tug-of-war between the folks on the Living Tradition blog (on my blogroll) for example, and the people at the Progressive Muslim Union of North America or the Muslim Wake Up! site (who often still have interesting things to say but sometimes leave one with the nagging suspicion that something isn't quite right)

It's not that Muslims are divided into two camps over this question. It is probably more accurate to think of it as a kind of soft tension, or two tendancies. And I'm sure there are people who sit at every point in the continuum. But still, from time to time the tension is stronger than usual and grows more acrimonious. And I wonder if there are ways of resolving the question which won't lead to "Reform Muslims" and "Orthodox Muslims" and "Conservative Muslims" etc.

get ready for the pro-peace mobilization in washington, dc on september 24

For a while now I've been trying to see what information has been available online in terms of progressive actiivity being carried out by Muslims in the United States. (And I've been trying to share some of that information on this blog) One such prominent activist is Mahdi Bray who has been working through MAS (the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation). Their next big upcoming event...

.....
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful

MAS FREEDOM AND A.N.S.W.E.R. ANNOUNCING MASSIVE PRO-PEACE MOBILIZATION
Groups Join in Press Conference Announcing Event

(Washington, DC, 05/31/05) - On September 24, 2005, the largest anti-war demonstration in more than a year will take place. As the popularity of President George W. Bush’s administration declines, and as the war and occupation in Iraq has proved to be “unwinnable,” the anti-war movement will have a major show of opposition in the streets of Washington, DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The press conference will announce new tactics and plans for the anti-war movement, which now represents the majority opinion in the United States.

The press conference will feature former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who will address the political and legal ramifications of the war in Iraq, including the rights of those who have been incarcerated by U.S. invasion forces. He will also discuss his call for holding U.S. officials accountable for their criminal acts and violations of international law, including the use of torture and extra-judicial killings.

MAS Freedom Foundation encourages everyone to come out and be a part of this historical press conference.

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2005
TIME: 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: First Amendment Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.

Speakers at the event will include:
- Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general
- Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation
- Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice
- Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational Church
- Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
- Ben Dupuy, General Secretary, National Popular Party of Haiti (PPN)
- Hussein Agrama, Free Palestine Alliance
- Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg (message)
- Vanessa Dixon, DC Healthcare Coalition
- Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Solidarity Network
- Chuck Kaufman, Nicaragua Network
- Student and youth organizers

......

Imam Mahdi Bray is a long time civil and human rights activist. (A past member of Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). He is currently the Executive Director of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation, and the President of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO). He also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice and the Interfaith Alliance, America’s largest interfaith organization with over 150,000 members, and also on the advisory board of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. He is a Washington, DC, television and radio talk show host. He has served as a major consultant and a political advisor to Bonner & Associates, Washington’s largest grassroots lobbying firm, the National Center for Housing Management, Alexandria City Redevelopment & Housing Authority, Community Relations Department, The City of Norfolk, Virginia, Department of Community Improvement, and the Independent Voter League. He has also served as Political Advisor and Strategist to several national, state, and local political campaigns. He is also the author of The Masjid Voter’s Guide and The Political Guide for Masjid Activists. Also, Imam Mahdi Bray is one of the main organizers for the “No War on Iraq” movement. He has also served as a liaison between the President’s White House Faith-Based Initiative Program and congressional affairs on behalf of the Muslim Community.

second interview with lily munir

Here is a second interview with Lily Zakiyah Munir from her Qalandar website. She talks about her background, some of her experience organizing as a Muslim activist in Indonesia, women's rights, and the role of the Wahabi movement.

lily munir on indonesian islamic liberation theology

The following interview is from the Muslim Wake Up website

Lily Zakiyah Munir is a leading Indonesian Muslim human rights activist. She is the director of the Jakarta-based Centre for Pesantren and Democracy Studies that works with the ‘ulama and students of Indonesian Islamic boarding schools or pesantrens. In this interview speaks to Yoginder Sikand about her work and her vision of an Indonesian Islamic liberation theology.

Q: In recent years, particularly after the events of 11 September, 2001 and the rise of numerous anti-American Islamist groups in Indonesia, there is much talk about ‘liberal Islam’ flourishing in Indonesia. Some institutions seeking to promote ‘liberal Islam’ are now being liberally funded by certain conservative Western organizations, some of which are known for their close links with the American administration. How do you look at the ‘liberal Islam’ project that these groups seek to promote?

A: I share many liberal values myself, and of course I am opposed to extremism and narrow understandings of religion. My answer to your question would be that the liberal Islam project as it is developing in Indonesia today is not a homogenous one. It is characterized by considerable diversity and hence it is difficult to make generalizations about it.

My point is simple. If liberal Islam aims at protecting the rights of the poor and the marginalized then I welcome it. But if, as in the case of some foreign agencies that are now funding certain ‘liberal’ Islamic programmes in Indonesia, the underlying agenda is to create space for liberal free-market economics and the exploitation of our country by multinational corporations and dampen any critique of imperialism and neocolonialism, then I cannot agree with it. If it remains silent on the corruption of local and global elites and, instead, trains its ire only on the Islamist extremists, as is sometimes the case, I think this is a very one-sided approach. We have to be balanced in our critique. You cannot criticize and oppose only the radical Islamists while ignoring the oppression of the elites, Western imperialism and neocolonialism and the global system of capitalist exploitation.

Q: So would you say that the ‘liberal Islam’ project is largely an elitist venture?

A: In some ways, yes. Funding for such projects generally comes from Western agencies, and goes to Indonesian NGOs, which are mostly led by middle-class activists. This is not emerging as a spontaneous movement from among the marginalized. This elitism is also reflected in many of the causes that several ‘liberal Islam’ groups take up and the issues that they ignore. So, they usually focus on countering extremist Islamist groups and also take up issues such as gender, pluralism and democracy. I don’t say these issues are not important. Of course they are, but what is equally significant is that in the process other vital issues are, deliberately or otherwise, often left out, issues such as imperialism, unbridled capitalist exploitation, the World Bank-IMF-led form of ‘development’ that is only further widening inequalities and increasing poverty in Indonesia, and the growing influence of Christian fundamentalism globally and so on. And to add to this we have this terrible cultural in vasion coming in from the West, spreading crass consumerism and hedonism and mindlessly mimicking American pop culture, in the process destroying our rich local cultures. These are equally major challenges as is radical Islamism, but I find few advocates of ‘liberal Islam’ taking up these issues as well.

When they talk of democracy, it is limited generally to procedural or formal democracy—the one person one vote system of bourgeoise democracy—which, as we know, is not sufficient to bring about genuine economic and social democracy and social justice. This sort of formal democracy does not really challenge the established elites and the Western-dominated global system of exploitation. So, we need to talk about substantive democracy, democratic values such as social justice and protection of human rights from violation not only by radical Islamists but also by the state and by the dominant Western countries.

Another issue that I would like to draw your attention to is that some ‘liberal Islam’ groups that get funds from certain Western agencies seem to have bought into an elitist free-market discourse. For instance, the support given by some of them to the recent scrapping of the oil subsidy in Indonesia under World Bank-IMF pressure that has hit the poor the most.

So, this sort of ‘liberal Islamic’ discourse that is today being very vigorously promoted by certain conservative, even right-wing Western agencies in Indonesia, and perhaps elsewhere, too, is carefully tailored to suit the interests of the West and of local elites, because the poor hardly fit into their scheme of things. My own position is that yes, we need to be critical of Islamist extremists but we also need to simultaneously critique and oppose Western imperialism, Christian extremism and so on.

Q: So, what you are saying is that the basic agenda behind many Western agencies who are today sponsoring ‘liberal Islam’ projects in Indonesia is to stave off the challenge of anti-Western Islamist groups, and not to really bring about any structural changes?

A: Exactly. They certainly won’t sponsor any projects that might challenge free-market capitalism, multinational corporations that have such a stranglehold over the Indonesian economy or American hegemony! You won’t find them funding projects to critique hedonism and consumerism! Now, since it is unfortunately difficult for most Indonesian NGOs to get local funds, they generally rely on Western agencies that have their own agendas.
I think we really need to be careful that when taking foreign funds we don’t serve an anti-people agenda. It really is up to our own conscience how we use the money. There is always the danger that idealistic youth who really want to change the system and do something concrete for the poor might get co-opted, with access to foreign funds, trips abroad and foreign jaunts organized by NGOs funded by Western agencies. And once that happens it is rare for them to speak out against the structures that generate poverty and exploitation and the domination of loca l and global elites.

Q: In the writings and activities of certain Western-funded ‘liberal Islamic’ groups in Indonesia Islamist radicalism is seen simply as an ideological ‘deviation’ whose genesis is located in ‘deviant’ interpretations of Islam, rather than in concrete social structures. Do you agree?

A: Yes, I agree with you to a large extent. The issue of Islamist radicalism is often seen in a sociological vacuum, as if it comes out of nowhere. The fact, however, is that Islamist radicalism cannot be understood without situating it in the context of the broader political economy, and as resulting from certain local and global social, economic, cultural and political structures and processes of domination and exclusion. There can be no smoke without fire. So, unless these structures and processes are tackled, how can you expect radicalism to disappear?

Focusing only on the phenomenon of radicalism and ignoring its underlying structural causes will only exacerbate the problem and delay and further complicate its solution. Of course, dominant elites, both in Indonesia and in the West, do not want to recognize this as they themselves are deeply implicated in these structures that give rise to the phenomenon of radicalism as a reaction or response, and that is why you will find that many among them would insist that Islamist radicalism is a result simply a deviant understanding of Islam and that it has nothing to do with exploitation, predatory capitalism, western consumerist culture, or imperialism and so on. And then one must also remember that extremism and terrorism are not easily defined, and it all depends on who does the defining and why. So, one must ask, how and why does Saddam Hussain come to be defined as a ‘terrorist’, while America’s brutal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan (where I just spent six months), which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people, does not qualify to be called an act of terror?

Q: Being associated with several socially engaged Muslim groups in Indonesia how do you look at the question of interfaith relations?

A: My own understanding of Islam leads me to believe in the necessity of promoting interfaith dialogue and harmony. Several moderate Islamic groups in the country are actively involved in trying to promote better relations between Muslims and people of other faiths. Often, interfaith dialogue work takes the form of religious leaders meeting with each other and discussing their respective faiths and trying to discover their commonalities. Now, while that is important, I think the interfaith agenda needs to be broadened, so that people of different faiths, inspired by their own religions, can work together for common social goals, such as for social justice for all, or critiquing all forms of religious extremism or struggling together against the exploitation of local and global elites.
Unfortunately, for some Muslims—and the same can be said in the case of other communities as well—religious identity is sought to be constructed in opposition to or even on the basis of hatred for the religious ‘other’. I think this is a very wrong and un-Islamic approach. In this regard I would like to mention the very different position adopted by a leading Indonesian scholar, the late Kiai ‘Abdullah Siddiq, who used to talk of three levels of ‘brotherhood’ or ukhuwwah: ukhuwwah islamiya or Islamic brotherhood, ukhuwwah wataniya, brotherhood based on common nation, and ukhuwwa bashariya or brotherhood based on the fact of being creatures of God, which includes both Muslims as well as all others. So, what he stressed was a consciousness of being fellow creatures of God despite our different religions. This is related to the Qur’anic statement that God has created us into different nations so that we can know each other and that the best among us is he or she who does good and devotes himself or herself to God. And what happens when, as the Qur’an exhorts, we begin to know each other? We begin to shed our hatreds, which then turn into mutual appreciation and love. And if you don’t get to know each other, then you go the Taliban or the Zionist way and begin to hate each other, which is against God’s Will.

This understanding of interfaith relations requires a fundamental transformation in the way in which we understand our own religions. Unfortunately, many of us understand them simply as a bundle of rituals and doctrines and make an unwarranted rigid distinction between the ‘religious’ and the ‘mundane’, as if the two were opposed to each other. While rituals and doctrines are undoubtedly important, equally so is the ethical imperative that the different religions contain of struggling for social justice, and eliminating poverty and suffering. These are important not only in themselves, but also for a proper religious life. If you are materially secure you can be at peace with God and with other human beings. So that is why I think religious activists must also work for satisfying people’s basic needs. This is why Muslims generally pray to God asking Him to bless them in this world as well as in the Hereafter.

Q: In contrast to my own country, India, I find Indonesian Islamic scholars far more willing to relate Islam to modern concerns. I think the Indonesian case has no parallels elsewhere in the Muslim world. What do you feel?

A: Yes, I would agree, albeit with some qualifications. Today, we have a growing number of Islamic intellectuals as well as traditionally-trained ‘ulama who are seriously discussing a range of contemporary issues, from gender justice and religious pluralism to democracy and extremism. You also have some scholars who are talking about ‘social fiqh’, offering new perspectives on a range of social issues, such as education, women’s rights politics and economics that go beyond the understanding of Islam as being limited simply to rituals. However, I must admit that only a few of them have any awareness of political economy, of issues such as global capitalism and imperialism or the politics of culture or consumerism. Also missing is a sufficiently grounded critique of the state and the international system. Many of our scholars continue in the same traditionalist mould. So, for instance, they would answer that the solution to our economic woes is simply by instituting the zakat levy or by banning interest, although obviously that is hardly sufficient to mend the ills of the global economy.

Another problem is that in recent years many ‘ulama, including from the organization with which I am associated, the Nahdlatul ‘Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in the world, have taken to politics. I am not saying that this is bad per se, because with political power you can influence political decisions, but there is always the danger of getting cut off from the concerns of the masses. Instead of caring for the poor or doing serious intellectual work they are looking out for political positions. And, to make matters worse, you have ‘ulama who have been co-opted by the system, who love their big cars and houses, who buy into the logic of consumerist capitalism, and have no critical perspective on it. So all that also severely impacts on the level of contemporary Islamic discourse in Indonesia.
Q: Some Indonesian scholars have also made interesting contributions to the ongoing debates on the status of Muslim women. What are your views on this?

A: Yes, a number of our ‘ulama have taken up this issue and have made some interesting developments in the direction of gender justice, although many remain wedded to the patriarchal notions. My own position, as an advocate of gender justice, is that what we should be seeking is substantive, as opposed to simply formal, equality. So, let men lead the prayers in the mosques, but let women’s role in shaping the family be recognized. I am not concerned with the form of family leadership but its substance. So, today, we have a number of families whose principal bread-earner is the woman, and so, some argue that logically she should be regarded as the head or at least the co-head of the family, because, they say, male leadership is conditional on providing for the family and is not categorical. I support this stance, and this demand was put forward to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which, however, struck it down.

While we are today witnessing the emergence of new and more progressive understandings of Islam on the gender question we still have to contend with the challenge of patriarchal notions that are sought to be given an ‘Islamic’ guise in the name of revival of tradition, as exemplified, for instance, in the agenda of the radical Islamist groups. For them, the hijab becomes a symbol of Islam, not men’s beards, so they demand that women don the hijab while they remain silent on men wearing jeans and T-shirts, not seeing this as threatening Islam. I myself wear the hijab, but I resent the way in which some Muslim groups reduce it simply into a meaningless symbol. For instance, there was this government official who issued an ordinance that women in his town had to wear hijab and later organized a ‘Muslimah Fashion Show’, with hijab-clad women parading on the ramp. Or, for instance, this other government official who imposed hijab on all Muslim women in his area, and whose wife, who usually wore fancy Western clothes when traveling outside, went around distributing hijabs to poor women. This man was later arrested for massive corruption! And you also have the development of a fashion industry centred on the hijab that caters to the elites, with fancy and exorbitantly priced hijabs on sale in special boutiques, which really robs the hijab of its essence as a social leveler. I think this tendency to reduce shari’ah to the hijab is really pathetic. This obsession with the form, as distinct from the spirit, of the shari’ah often ends up missing out on basic issues of economic and social justice.
A contemporary understanding of the Qur’an and the shari’ah would entail focusing on their underlying spirit rather than simply going by their letter alone. Using this approach one could argue for changes in certain laws related to what is called the mu’amilat or social transactions, though, of course, there can be no change in religious rituals (‘ibadat). So, for instance, some Indonesian feminist Islamic scholars believe that women and men should have equal inheritance rights. They recognize that the Qur’an prescribes for daughters half the share of sons, but they argue that this law has to be seen in the context of seventh century Arabia, when not many women engaged in economic activities outside the home and when men were the principal bread-earners.
A contemporary understanding of the Qur’an and the shari’ah would entail focusing on their underlying spirit rather than simply going by their letter alone. Using this approach one could argue for changes in certain laws related to what is called the mu’amilat or social transactions, though, of course, there can be no change in religious rituals (‘ibadat). So, for instance, some Indonesian feminist Islamic scholars believe that women and men should have equal inheritance rights. They recognize that the Qur’an prescribes for daughters half the share of sons, but they argue that this law has to be seen in the context of seventh century Arabia, when not many women engaged in economic activities outside the home and when men were the principal bread-earners. By giving them a share of the inheritance the Qur’an sought to provide women with justice. That means the underlying intention of the inheritance rules must be justice, and today, if we are to do justice to women they should get the same share as men, because many women now work outside the home and contribute to the household expenses. This means that by sticking to the letter of the Qur’an and ignoring its underlying spirit we may not be able to fulfill the intention of the Qur’an, which is justice.

Another startling difference between Indonesia and many other Muslim countries is that here you will find women working in almost every sector of the economy, including even hijab –clad women. The majority of the Indonesian ‘ulama allow for this, even in cases where unrelated women and men work together, provided they maintain their modesty. This is not a problem at all for most of them, unlike in some other Muslim countries.
Q: How do you see the demand being made by radical Islamist groups in Indonesia today that Indonesia should be declared a formal Islamic state and be ruled according to the shari’ah?

A: It really depends on what one means by the shari’ah. Many people think of shari’ah as cutting off the hands of thieves or forcing women to veil and men to grow their beards. Now, that is a mechanical, literalist and textual approach to shari’ah, which does not take into account local context. How can you cut off the hands of people who steal because of poverty when you have not fulfilled the Islamic mandate of eradicating poverty and establishing social justice? This sort of approach will only alienate people from Islam. I have seen this in Afghanistan, from where I have just returned, where the Taliban, in their misplaced zeal, banned girls from school, killed scores of Shi’as, outlawed chess and kite-flying, all because of their rigid approach to traditional fiqh, with little or no appreciation for the underlying spirit of the Qur’an, which teaches love, compassion and social justice. By focusing only on the external symbols of the shari’ah, the extremists miss out on its spirit, including one of its basic concerns, social justice.

I think when many people say they want shari’ah rule what they mean is that they want an alternative to the present corrupt and sternly hierarchical and iniquitous order. They may not necessarily also support all the laws that are associated with the historical shari’ah. This is why I think we need to make a distinction between shari’ah, as divine path, and the historical shari’ah or fiqh, including laws developed by the ‘ulama over time, many of which are human products and amenable to change according to changing contexts. For this we really need a contextual understanding of the Qur’an, so that we can develop more appropriate ways of implementing its underlying value system, which may depart in some significant respects from traditional notions, such as on women’s rights or inter-community relations.

That said, I must also say that I understand some of the reasons that lead some people to radicalism, although that does not mean I condone it. They rightly see growing social inequalities, unemployment, Western cultural invasion and so on as menacing threats, but they resort to violent means to end these, while I believe these should be countered through generating mass awareness, through demonstrations or through the media. It is, however, important not to exaggerate the strength of radical Islamist groups in Indonesia, as some Western reporters do. In actual fact, as the election results show, they do not command the support of more than a very small minority of Indonesians.

Q: The literalist and traditionalist understandings of fiqh that you talk about were developed in the Middle East, in a very different cultural context. Do you think it is possible to develop new ways of understanding fiqh suited to the Indonesian cultural context?

A: Certainly. Islam is a universal religion and is not an Arab religion, and hence its appeal transcends a particular culture. Unfortunately, some ‘ulama tend to conflate Islam with Arab culture, which is wrong. We need to distinguish Islam, as a religion of surrender to God and social justice with a universal appeal and message, from Arab culture. To be a Muslim one does not have to blindly adopt every aspect of Arab culture. I see no harm in adopting or adapting to local cultures provided they do not go against any Islamic beliefs. And this is precisely what the first Sufis who came to Indonesia sought to do.

I think it is important for progressive Muslims to enter the shari’ah debate and not allow extremists to monopolise it. We need to expand our understanding of the shari’ah from mere symbol to substance, from the letter of the law to its underlying aims or what is called in Arabic the maqasid-i shari’ah, which include such fundamental issues as equality and social justice and struggling against oppression and injustice. We need to think of ways of incorporating the question of social and economic justice into contemporary shari’ah-based discourses. This draws inspiration from the central notion of Islam of tauhid or the oneness of God, which suggests that only Allah is the Master, and that no one else can be your master. This calls for a tauhidi society, a society where there is social and economic equality. Islamic equality is meant not just in the mosque, but in the economic, social and political realms as well, which means a burning concern for the rights of all of God’s creatures, men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims. This understanding of Islam then helps lead you on to immerse yourself in the struggle for social justice, and you begin to question the ritualistic understandings of Islam that many of us have. You now begin to ask how is it that Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world, is also among the most corrupt, when corruption is definitely un-Islamic? Or, then, you begin to ask, how is it that economic inequalities in Indonesia are one of the most extreme in the world, when Islam preaches social equality? In other words, what we need today is an Islamic theology of liberation that is sensitive to the context of contemporary Indonesia.

Yoginder Singh Sikand is a Reader in the Department of Islamic Studies at Hamdard University, New Delhi and editor of Qalandar, an online magazine devoted to a discussion of issues related to Islam and Inter-Faith Relations in South Asia. He received a Ph.D. in history from the University of London and has published numerous books and authored over 250 articles on Islamic studies-related topics.

Lily Munir can be contacted on cepdes@hotmail.com

more blogs

I recently decided to join the Progressive Blog Alliance which seems to be a pretty comprehensive collection of center-to-left blogs. I had a few reservations due to some baggage which comes with the term "progressive Muslim" but after reading their mission statement I felt more comfortable about the idea of joining (although I wouldn't say that I endorse every blog on the roll)

blogs blogs blogs

i haven't yet found the *perfect* set of blogrolls for the various issues invoked on Planet Grenada. But some really good collections (which can be reached from my own blogroll) are:

elenamary - de aqui y de alla: which i recently learned about on latino pundit and generously lists other latino blogs.

negrophile: a good blog in and of itself but which also has the single longest blogroll of black blogs i've seen.

As far as Muslim blogs go, I'm not sure which is the most comprehensive in terms of blogrolling. But one which is pretty generous when it comes to blogrolling is sunni sister and another page which i included as some muslim blogs is decent as well.

christ the lord: out of egypt

So in the post-Passion, post-Left Behind, post-DaVinci Code world, it seems like religion is more marketable than its been in a while. And best selling author Anne Rice (more famous for her Vampire chronicles) has decided to ride the wave with Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt an upcoming book on the so-called "lost years" of Jesus(as), the period of time in Christ's life after his childhood but before the start of his ministry.

If her book, Memnoch the Devil is any indication, then fundamentalists should have started making picket signs several weeks ago. In her earlier book, Rice has the vampire Lestat meet Satan (who prefers to go by the name of Memnoch) as a vehicle for spelling out the metaphysics and theology which undergirds her fictional universe; topics range from the creation of the world, the origin of vampires, ghosts and zombies, the fall of Satan, and the secrets of the afterlife. Some of the more shocking revelations: Letting human souls into heaven was Satan's idea. Before he made the suggestion, God allowed the souls of the dead to suffer in some kind of metaphysical warehouse. Satan also accused God of not being sympathetic to human beings so indirectly the incarnation of Jesus is also Satan's idea in Rice's world.

I wonder how much ink will be spilled when the new book actually comes out.

cuba and its music: from the first drums to the mambo

Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo By Ned SubletteChicago Review Press

In his introduction to Cuba and Its Music, Qbadisc label founder Ned Sublette asks the reader to imagine the impossibility of explaining American music to someone who knows nothing about American history. So he starts his magisterial Cuban music history in prehistoric Africa and ancient Spain, the better to understand the roots of this small but potent powerhouse of Latin rhythms. Over 700 dense but absorbing pages later, he arrives at the mambo, the 1952 coup of Fulgencio Batista, and the end of this first installment in a projected two-volume set. Along the way, he follows more fascinating detours than a Neal Cassady bus trip. Who would've thought that the "Spanish tinge" famously identified by Jelly Roll Morton has its roots in the Moorish conquest of Spain? The sections on Afro-Cuban religions like Santeria are more enlightening than most books on the subject, the cutthroat dandies of the 19th century Havana underworld stalk the colonnades in vivid detail, and Sublette finally gives the world a simple explanation of the "clave," the rhythmic key that defines Cuban music. Further on, the releases of various pivotal records ("Bruca Manigua", "Mambo No. 5") crackle with the same excitement as "Rock Around the Clock" or "Anarchy in the UK". Don't be put off by the book's size or scholarly presentation: these compulsively readable pages seem to turn themselves. Anyone with the slightest interest in Cuban music-- or music at all-- should be reading this book right now. [review taken from Pitchfork's Summer Reading List... also includes reviews for Can't Stop, Won't Stop and also The Wu Tang Manual if you are interested]

And here is a second review from the All About Jazz Webpage

i'm back...

or at least, I'm not on the road and I have internet access at the moment. So this weekend my cousin got married and a lot of stuff was going through my head so this blog will be a shade more personal and eclectic than usual.

On the educational tip:
At a picnic the day after the wedding, a section of family members were hanging out, not clear on how to describe how we are related to one another. I mean, we could say that so-and-so's mother is the sister of the mother of the bride etc. But does that make us second cousins once removed or first cousins twice removed or what?

One of the guests helped us to figure it all out, and if you are interested, here is a nice chart which helps to describe how it works. Roughly, saying 1st cousin, or 2nd cousin, or 3rd cousin, etc. is an indication of how many generations you have to go back before finding a common ancestor. (So 1st cousins share a pair of grandparents, 2nd cousins share great-grandparents, etc.) And once, twice, three times, etc. removed is an indication of whether the cousins themselves are in different generations and how far apart they are (So the children of your 1st cousins are your first cousins once removed)

Actually, that reminds me of a talk I attended where Juan Cole (whose blog, Informed Comment is in my links section) described the problems US troops were facing in Iraq. Part of the difficulty was that when US actions led to the deaths of Iraqis, very often their cousins (where "cousins" is a potentially huge set of people) would come out of the woodwork wanting to avenge the deaths of their kin. Cole remarked that some of the military forces with a deeper understanding of Iraqi culture decided it was less trouble to pay the blood price to the families instead of ignoring their desire for satisfaction.

On the political/historical tip:
At this same picnic I had an interesting conversation with a friend of the family which helps provide a decent follow-up to a previous entry about race in Cuba. Basically he was arguing that even before Fidel's revolution there were significant numbers of Afro-Cubans in the Cuban government, and that in certain respects things have gone backwards since the revolution. Furthermore, even among the original revolutionaries who were in the mountains with Fidel, or those who stayed in the cities and helped organize and train the masses to prepare the way for the revolution there were many Afro-Cubans but that afterwards, Fidel found several of these individuals threatening and had many of them executed. The general point (which is not often articulated by the left) was that Fidel wasn't faithful to the true ideals of the revolution and ultimately betrayed it. Even many of the Black revolutionaries from the US who sought asylum in Cuba, became dissatisfied and disillusioned and moved elsewhere. This friend of the family (who had personal knowledge of many of the anti-Batista Afro-Cubans alluded to above, also recommended Carlos Moore's book Castro, the Blacks and Africa which was mentioned in earlier entry.

On the religious tip:
The wedding itself was beautiful. It was an outdoor, afrocentric ceremony by the water. Other than a single prayer made "in Jesus' name" nothing else really marked the ceremony as particularly Christian. Along with a number of other things happening in my life, it made me wonder what is going on in American religiosity? A lot of people seem to be moving away from the religious traditions of their childhood and are attracted to newer movements and practices which are consciously chosen in adulthood.

Open Question(s) the United States getting further away from mainstream Judeo-Christian religious practice? Or closer? Should Islam in the US be thought of as a mainstream movement or as a "new religious movement"? What will the religious landscape look like a couple of decades down the road? Will the alternative movements stay on the edge or do any of the new religious movements have the potential to become more mainstream and more organized?

on the road again...

I will be travelling this weekend so I'll probably be doing more thinking about what to blog on than actual blogging. For any newcomers, the bulk of the entries are on "muslim stuff", "afro/black stuff" or "latino/hispanic stuff", preferably in some combination, but not necessarily so. If you stop to think about it, the above parameters actually cover alot of ground. (It really makes me curious about who is reading.) In any case, in the process of writing, it has been interesting for me to find connections which weren't as clear to me before. A few entries here and there have been about other "stuff". But I think that in the future I'll probably loosen up some more about topics and write more broadly about religion, race, culture and politics, but still from a "moorish" perspective.
So...Peace... until Monday or so.

a coincidence you think this is?

ok, i think this will be the last "star wars" entry for a while:
So back when Episode I: The Phantom Menace first came out, The Muslim Magazine (currently on hiatus) had some interesting pieces on the connections between Islam and the content of the Star Wars films. One was an interview with Dhul-Nun Owen who talks about how George Lucas had contacted members of the Habibiyyah Sufi order in Berkeley, CA in order to do research for Star Wars. There was also a piece by Mahmoud Shelton about how Sufi ideas of spiritual chivalry (futuwwat) have parallels in the Jedi teachings. (Shelton is probably more well-known for writing Alchemy in Middle-Earth: The Significance of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings which points to some of the Islamic concepts which appear in Tolkien's work.)

In any case, there are some interesting ways in which Islamic themes either accidentally or quite deliberately appear in the Star Wars saga. One can point to how Tunisia was used as the location to film the scenes set on Tatooine. Or how Coruscant (the capital of the galactic republic) sounds like Khorasan. Or how "jeddi" and "palawan" (padawan?) were titles used by Muslim knights. (actually here is an interesting page on jihad and futuwwat which uses the term "jeddi"). Or how many awliya are thought to experience a certain kind of life where they are still present after death. Or how there are accounts associated with Ali (ra) about a "sword of light" (light-saber?). Or the idea (also associated with Ali) that ones intentions in battle must always be pure and that it is wrong to kill out of anger, even in when one is outwardly justified. And of course the most obvious connection to Islam is the long-lived Jedi master Yoda (better known as the Green Man or Khidr).

A coincidence do you think this is?

so i finally saw it

Ok, so this will be my third Star Wars-related entry after emperor leads death star memorial service (which was on the funny side) and revenge of the sith (which was more serious and not really about the movie anyway). This one is a little bit on the geeky side:

I just saw Episode III last night, and to be honest I was a little disappointed. The special effects were of course "amazing" but I'm not sure if they were worth the money. Of course, the movie was orders of magnitude better than Episodes I and II, but that's not setting the bar very high. I would actually recommend the novelization of Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover. The dialogue is better, the background story is more fleshed out, the significance of events is more apparent. And I was especially surprised at how rich the descriptions of the various duels and fights were. A big part of my disappointment with seeing it in the theatre was due to the fact that the film's portrayal of the lightsaber duels and other action sequences didn't convey the same meaning found in the novel's descriptions.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, I don't want to give away too many details. But I will say that unfortunately there is NOT a scene where Mace Windu says "...And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee. ..." right before killing Jar Jar Binks with a light saber.

Now that the series is "over". I wonder what stories would have made up episodes VII, VIII and IX? There are many novels and graphic novels (i.e. fancy comic books) which deal with the events following Return of the Jedi. The New Republic arises out of the ashes of the empire. Kind of like the Contras in Nicaragua, there are still Imperial forces lying around which need to get mopped up by the new fledgling government. Han Solo and Princess Leia have kids. Luke Skywalker reconstructs the Jedis in order to protect the New Republic and he also eventually marries and has at least one child of his own. And of course, there are many snags and obstacles along the way. Beloved characters fall. Noble Jedi are tempted into the dark. And life goes on. I don't know if George Lucas will really get around to making the last three episodes. But if you are really overcome by curiosity over what happens to the characters, it is easy enough to take a trip to the sci-fi section of your local bookstore and read for yourself.

muslim watch on empire

As a part of Z Magazines, Z-Net, there is a specific collection of pages under the heading of Muslim Watch On Empire which brings together a number of Muslim voices speaking out against certain oppressive structures in the world. I would probably add this page to my links if I didn't already have the Z-Net site there.

tariq ramadan and globalization

For a while now I've been thinking about what the connections are between the anti-globalization movement and Muslim activists. Especially given that many Muslims live in the developing world and are on the receiving end of globalization, I would think it likely that people in both camps would be willing to form some natural alliances. But at the same time, there seem to be certain disagreements or obstacles which need to be overcome before such alliances can really become effective and powerful. Tariq Ramadan considers this problem in a brief piece, where he focuses on the shortcomings of the secular left. Personally I would say that work needs to be done on both sides towards finding some middle ground, but his article seems reasonable as far as it goes.

another world is possible

If you are interested in finding out more about the World Social Forum (which is coordinating alot of the anti-globalization movement under the slogan "Another World is Possible") here is the World Social Forum website where you can find out about their past and current activities, their statement of principles, etc.

comtemporary art from the islamic world

I just found this interesting website which features contemporary art coming out of Muslim countries. Actually its an entire online magazine with 10 issues archived. Each issue features exhibitions from several artists and includes a decent number of images plus some brief descriptions of the artists and their work. It's supported by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (in Germany).
The index page is available here.

muslim eye for the straight guy

I just realized that the last two books I've read are the Vagina Monologues and Fight Club! (wow, it's hard to imagine two books so extremely different in their likely audience) Anyway, the two books, especially in combination, are a good spring board to talk about some things.

First, Vagina Monologues:
According to one of the monologues, the last recorded clitoridectomy to occur in the United States was performed in 1948 on a five-year old girl to cure her of masturbation. But other sources suggest that it has been done on female patients as recently as the 50's. I only mention this to say that neither Muslims nor Africans have some kind of exclusive copyright on the practice.

Very often, in a multitude of ways, legitimate concerns for the well-being and position of women in society are used as a club to reinforce racist or otherwise prejudiced attitudes towards certain communities. I don't know what the perfect response/solution is but one which comes to mind is to prescribe a healthy dose of history.

As societies or civilizations, "Islam" and "The West" are not these rigid unchanging things. On both sides, the position of women changes over time and there is no reason to think that it won't continue to change. For long periods during their mutual histories, the position of women has actually been higher in Muslim societies than in Western ones. And from the position of world history, the gains which women have made in the West are quite recent. For example, even if you want to look at this past century, women in Turkey had the right to vote and stand for election before women in France. And Pakistani women had the right to vote and run for office election several decades before women in Switzerland.

So there is no reason to think that women in Muslim societies won't continue to achieve greater opportunity and justice. And there is no reason for Western societies to rest on their laurels. All societies fall short, and all societies have work which urgently needs to be done on this front.

Secondly, Fight Club:
This is a huge oversimplification, but basically Fight Club is a novel about groups of men who find their manhood by getting together and beating each other up. Part of the idea is that modern-life is so emasculating that men feel a need to go to some serious extremes just to compensate. And even in the real world, it seems like in many ways a lot of men feel that they don't quite know how to be men and need to join groups to figure out how; from Promise Keepers, to the Million Man March, to Robert Bly's Men's Movement, etc. Even Queer Eye for the Straight Guy can be viewed as a bizarre and indirect manifestation of the same phenomena.

So how does this phenomena affect Muslim men? I think that's an open-ended question which is worth some further discussion. Off the top of my head I'd say that you probably could find examples of men who "don't know how to be men" and engage in unhealthy or negative behaviors. But I would also suspect that some aspects associated with Islam (clearer gender roles, notions of "male space" and "female space", etc.) are positive and healthy (if they aren't taken to abusive extremes.)

What do people out there think? Is there a need for a Muslim Men's Movement to heal our collective psychic wounds?

are emily and greg more employable than lakisha and jamal?

Two researchers, Bertrand and Mullainathan carried out a study where they looked at the role of race and racism in the labor market. What they did was to send out resumes to different potential employers (some with "black" names, some with "white" names). The basic result is that the resumes with "black" names got fewer callbacks (yes very shocking). I have a dream that one day Keisha and Darnell will be judged, not by the sounnd of their names, but the qualifications on their resume. (On a side note, several of the "black" names were also "Muslim" names. And it turns out that for women, "Aisha" had the lowest callback rate, and for men "Rasheed" had the lowest callback rate)

If you are interested in more of the nuances and details:
Here is their original paper

muwakkil on domestic terrorism

This is a 2001 Chicago Tribune editorial by Salim Muwakkil on domestic terrorism

afro-mexicans represent!!!

Here is an interesting article from Bobby Vaughan on
Mexico in the Context of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
and also a link to the
Black Mexico Homepage

salim muwakkil

Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor at IN THESE TIMES magazine. He is an Op-Ed columnist for the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, a member of the editorial board, and a columnist for, the Madison-based Progressive Media Project, an advisory board member of Free Press and a 2000 Media Fellow of the Soros Open Society Institute. He was a contributing columnist for the Op-Ed page of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES from 1993 to 1997. His work has won him many awards - including the Studs Terkel Award for journalistic excellence.

Salim Muwakkil is a contributing author to six books: APPEAL TO REASON: 25 YEARS IN THESE TIMES, 2002; STATES OF CONFINEMENT, 2000; THE FARRAKHAN FACTOR: AFRICAN-AMERICAN WRITERS ON MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN, 1998; THE BELL CURVE DEBATE, 1995; COLLATERAL DAMAGE: THE NEW WORLD ORDER AT HOME AND ABROAD, 1992; INSIDE THE L.A. RIOTS, 1992.

From 1986 to 1990 he taught journalism at Chicago's Columbia College. He has also been an adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Film Center, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest's Urban Studies, and the University of Illinois in 2001.

From 1995-96 Muwakkil was a co-host of Pacifica News' network daily "Democracy Now" program and from 1993 to 1996 he hosted a weekly talk show on Chicago radio station WVON-AM. Muwakkil is a frequent guest on CHICAGO TONIGHT, a public affairs program on PBS, BEYOND THE BELTWAY, a nationally syndicated radio program of political commentary. He has provided on-air political analysis for Fox TV News in Chicago and is an occasional commentator for the Pacifica News Network, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Monitor Radio.

Mr. Muwakkil's work has been published in a wide range of publications, including THE BLACK SCHOLAR, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE PROGRESSIVE, NEW YORK NEWSDAY, CINEASTE magazine, CHICAGO magazine, THE BALTIMORE SUN, THE TORONTO STAR, EMERGE magazine and the UTNE READER. And in a past life, he was an editor for the Final Call.

IN THESE TIMES
Stories by Salim Muwakkil on AlterNet

more on malcolm x

This is a piece Salim Muwakkil wrote 5 years ago on the occasion of Malcolm X's birthday:
On Malcolm X’s 75th birthday, questions remain about assassination
It deals with the assassination but also touches on the significance of Malcolm's legacy for different movements.

the forgotten history of islam in america

This is a feature from In These Times, by Salim Muwakkil giving a brief but rather balanced overview of Islam's history in the US. He concludes by saying:

Deeply rooted in U.S. culture, Islam has proven its utility as an agent for change and a force for stability. Those who argue that the religion is atavistic or a product of postmodern nihilism must be more careful in their condemnation. Like other religious believers, Muslims often oscillate between precept and practice. But pluralistic cultural pressures are more likely to moderate the excesses of Islamist cults, like al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad, than an endless war. The nation has not done enough to mine the wisdom of Muslims—particularly African-Americans—who have successfully reconciled the obligations of Islamic piety with pluralistic democracy. We are in desperate need of such insight.

onward christian soldiers

Here is an old story (with audio clip) about Deputy Undersecretary of Defense William Boykin, the high-ranking military man (an unapolegetic evangelical crusader who "has led or been part of almost every recent U.S. military operation, from the ill-fated attempt to rescue hostages in Iran to Grenada, Panama, Colombia, Somalia" who is recently famous for making statements like "my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.” in regard to Somali Muslims.

Here is a new story which uncovers a little more of the iceberg. Apparently there such a strong evangelical tone in the Air Force Academy and there was so much pressure to convert the cadets (even the ones who were already Christian) that it reached the point of intolerance. In fact, an outside group was going to publish a report which was going to candidly describe the religious climate, but recently MeLinda Morton, a Lutheran chaplain at the academy was basically fired for agreeing with the contents of the report.

How did this climate come into existence?

Morton said the cadet wing at the Air Force Academy is about 90 percent Christian. She said that group is roughly one-third Catholic, one-third mainstream Protestant and one-third evangelical. But the evangelicals have a much bigger voice among the chaplains, she said.

"The predominance of evangelical Christians reflects the chaplain corps of the Air Force overall," Morton said. "The major mainstream Protestant divinity schools are no longer sending many graduates into the armed forces. And so the concentration of evangelicals among chaplains is strong through the whole service."

I know there are other voices in the US military and I wouldn't want to generalize just based on a couple of news stories, but the above accounts aren't encouraging.

black clergy rebuff bush

An article by Salim Muwakkil for In These Times about how some of the major organizations of Black churches have decided to confront the GOP claim to represent the Christian political agenda.

Salim Muwakkil is also the editor-in-chief of In These Times (which has been on my links list for a long time now). He is a former member of the Nation of Islam, but he speaks very sparingly about his own personal religious convictions.

khalil bendib

Here are two interviews with Khalil Bendib, the cartoonist behind "The Pen is funnier than the Sword" page. The first is from the Ihsan blog and discusses the relation between Islam and being a Green party member. The second is with the New Humanist and talks more about being a cartoonist in the post 9/11 political climate.

blog housekeeping

I'm not sure if BlogRolling is correctly labelling which blogs on my blogroll are recently updated (fresh!) so if you are actually clicking based on that, you might want to occasionally try to check some blogs even if they aren't marked.

And now that I've been blogging for a while on different subjects, I'm starting to look into how I can organize my archives by category, but until then, you might want to make use of the search function at the top of the screen.

And as a general disclaimer, if I've linked to or quote from a particular page or blog, it should be taken to mean that I think it is interesting and that I feel some kind of affinity to the content, not that I endorse every claim without reservation.

Also, whether you agree or disagree with the content, comments and feedback are generally welcome (as long as its not spam, obscene or otherwise useless)

malcolm x's birthday

FYI, today is Malcolm's Birthday. Go reread his autobiography. Check out a speech or two. Go eat a bean pie, just do something. Actually, you can just go to the Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) Page and check out some of the links available through there.

mos def's piece on assata shakur

mos def on assata shakur

teresa vazquez

Just giving a shout out to an Afro-Cuban spoken word artist I know. Check her out

ronaldo in palestine

While we are on the subject of Brazil, I just saw a story in Al-Jazeera about Ronaldo, a Brazilian soccer player, who came to Palestine to inaugurate a children's center in Ramallah which was named after him.

brazil's racial history

An interesting discussion of the history of race relations in Brazil (which looks back to Granada and beyond). The paper is called Race and Fantasy and is a good example of how racial issues in Latin America are often ignored and denied.

assata and cuban racism

Assata Shakur (former Black Panther, accused and convicted of murder, who escaped from prison and is an exile in Cuba) is back in the news these days. The US State department recently increased the reward for her capture up to $1 million. As a Black Cuban-American who tries to think of himself as progressive it is somewhat tricky to tease apart and correctly delineate my thoughts and feelings on the subject. It's not that I think Assata should be returned. There is no question that the FBI had a policy of framing the Panthers (several have had convictions overturned after years in prison) and there is a strong argument for her innocence.

But at the same time, I wish so many activists wouldn't just simplistically and uncritically ride Castro's jock. Yes the revolution did away with some of the more egregious forms of institutional racism in Cuba and should be given credit for that. But what have you done for me lately?

A really good book which gives a counter-balancing view of race in Cuba, is Carlos Moore's Castro, the Blacks and Africa. Carlos Moore is of West Indian parentage, born and raised in Cuba, and who was later considered "lieutenant" to Afrocentric scholar Cheikh Anta Diop (who comes from a Senegalese Muslim family). The book goes into a lot of detail on the persistent and varied forms of racism in Cuba, even after the revolution. And it goes on to point out how certain expression of difference by Afro-Cubans were seen as dissent and suppressed by the state.

In a lot of ways, the Cuban regime's support for Assata Shakur is very hypocritical because Castro would never tolerate a Black Panther-like party in Cuba. (If one arose, all its members would be swiftly thrown in jail along with the political prisoners Cuba already has). It's pretty clear that Assata and other such figures in the past are being used as pawns by Castro in order to embarrass the US. True commitment to liberation means opposing oppression everywhere whether it is carried out by the US government or Cuban one.


If you don't have time to read Moore's thorough account, some articles available online in similar spirit can be found below:

Cuba Begins to Answer Its Race Question
A brief piece about Carlos Moore which appeared in Essence magazine in 1989
National Identity On Trial: The Case of Post-Revolutionary Cuba a paper by Peter Kwaku Maybarduk
An excerpt from the book, A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba
And finally, a more personal piece by Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre about pre-revolutionary race relations in Cuba and his own experiences as a Latino in the US called MASKING HISPANIC RACISM: A CUBAN CASE STUDY

guantanamo and the quran

Juan Cole's Informed Comment blog for May 17th has a good summary of some of the issues behind Newsweek's original story, and their retraction (strongly encouraged by the White House). Personally, the whole discussion seems really bizzare to me. If the U.S. military is willing to discount the lives of Muslim civilians as "collateral damage" in military campaigns and if they are willing to totally degrade civilians at Abu Gharaib and if they are willing to curtail civil liberties, even in the case of U.S. citizens like Juan Padilla, etc. then why would there be ANY reluctance at all in desecrating something which they believe to be just a silly book made out of paper and ink?

only human

Following up somewhat on the "I am Malcolm X" piece, I would want to add that Islam and Christianity have different anthropologies (views of humanity).

In Christianity, man was made "a little lower than the angels". Human beings are fallen, full of original sin, and are so twisted that it takes a dramatic radical miracle to save humanity. To err is human, to forgive divine. And if a human being shows up who manages to act righteously, the event is so amazing that such a person must be God incarnate.

But in Islamic anthropology, the angels were commanded to bow down to Adam. To be a human being means to be the khalif (vicegerent) of Allah. There is no original sin. We were all born Muslim, according to fitra (nature). Not just Jesus and Muhammad but all the prophets are believed to be sinless. And the prophets don't come to radically change our nature, the come to remind us of the things we already know deep inside. A righteous human being, is just doing what a human being is supposed to be doing, is exemplifying human nature. But when we fall short of that high standard, we are actually less than human, we are acting like apes and pigs.

....
It reminds me of the gom jabbar scene in Dune. The gom jabbar is a kind of test. A person puts their hand inside a special box while someone else holds a poison-tipped needle by their jugular. The box induces strong increasing sensations of pain. But the person being tested must demonstrate a strong determination, willpower, and concentration and keep their hand in the box or else they will be killed with the needle. If they pass the test they will be considered "human". If not, they are an animal.

There are actually a number of other places where Arabic/Islamic themes play a role in the Dune stories. Here is actually a brief complilation of some of them. And if you are unfamiliar with Dune altogether is the main Dune page on Wikipedia

the pen is funnier than the sword

Here are cartoons from Bendib which match up fairly well with my sensibilities.

"i am malcolm x"

I remember a class I took in college where the professor made the point that from a certain perspective, Malcolm X wasn't remarkable at all. He only did what any man is supposed to do when they found themselves in an oppressive environment; struggle against it. I keep thinking about that idea as I'm reading more about what different folks were up to during the same period. I get the feeling that there have been a lot of activists, in the Panthers and elsewhere, who grew to incorporate more spiritual concerns into their worldview and chose Islam. Malcolm X is just the most famous, and probably the most dynamic orator among them. But there are also many others who took a similar route and made great sacrifices to help their communities. And they shouldn't be forgotten either.

nuh washington

Nuh Washington is another former Black Panther who became Muslim and eventually passed away a few years ago. Here is a page which gives more background about his life.

the people, united...

History can never be made by one man, we must smash this one quickly. History is made only by the masses of the people, this is clear. Even a, cursory glance at the fallacious presentation of history by the American capitalist system, will demonstrate just this. Take George Washington, as bad as he is. Put him in the middle of Valley Forge, by himself, surrounded by the British, he can do nothing. Take Martin Luther King as righteous as he is. Put him in the middle of Birmingham by himself, speaking out against racism, he would be lynched. But you take this same King, you take this same Washington. Put them in Valley Forge, put them in Alabama. Surround them with thousands of people who have the same ideas they do, willing to make those ideas reality and the situation changes drastically.

This was from Kwame Ture (formerly Stokely Carmichael) speaking on BDP's Edutainment album. And he has a point. Alot of people are caught up in personality cults and it has the potential to be counter-productive. It's one thing if the "leader" becomes a role model and an example to learn from, but it can be disempowering if you start to believe that you need to wait for a hero out there to arrive and save you. Like Tina says "We don't need another hero".

on the beach with dave chappelle

If you didn't know before... now you know: Comedian Dave Chappelle is relatively recent convert to Islam. Here is an article from Time magazine discussing what is currently going on in his life and with his show:

On the Beach With Dave Chappelle

Posted Sunday, May. 15, 2005


In this week's TIME, Christopher John Farley reveals why Dave Chappelle decided to leave his hit show and what he's been up to since he disappeared to South Africa two weeks ago. Last Friday night, TIME Johannesburg bureau chief Simon Robinson met with the comic at uShaka Marine World on the beach in the South African port of Durban. In a ninety minute conversation, Chappelle was eager to set the record straight on why he suddenly left the U.S. and what he's doing in South Africa. Here's Robinson's account:



Dave Chappelle shows up to our interview in a red t-shirt, blue jeans and shiny white sneakers. He lopes around in his usual style, pacing a lot, but does not seem like a man struggling to speak or to order his thoughts at all. He's lucid and thoughtful and a couple of times asks me to give him some time to think about answers. He concedes that he is dealing with a lot of issues and mentions that he had consulted a psychiatrist about a week ago for a forty minute session. He is also quite fastidious about keeping his new sneakers clean and stops at least twice to wipe smudges off their toes.

The first thing Chappelle wants is to dispel rumors—that he's got a drug problem, that he's checked into a mental institution in Durban—that have been flying around the U.S. for the past week. He says he is staying with a friend, Salim Domar, and not in a mental institution, as has been widely reported in America. Chappelle says he is in South Africa to find "a quiet place" for a while. "Let me tell you the things I can do here which I can't at home: think, eat, sleep, laugh. I'm an introspective dude. I enjoy my own thoughts sometimes. And I've been doing a lot of thinking here."

The picture he paints—and it seems a fairly honest and frank assessment— is of someone struggling to come to terms with a new position and power who's still figuring out how to come to grips with how people around him are reacting to the $50 million deal he signed last year with Comedy Central. Without naming specific characters, he seems to blame both some of his inner circle (not his family) and himself for the stresses created by last year's deal.

"There were things that overwhelmed me," he says. "But not in the way that people are saying. I haven't spent any of the money. All that stuff about partying and taking crack is not true. Why do I live on a farm in Ohio? To support my partying lifestyle?"

The problems, he says, started with his inner circle."If you don't have the right people around you and you're moving at a million miles an hour you can lose yourself," he says. "Everyone around me says, 'You're a genius!'; 'You're great!'; 'That's your voice!' But I'm not sure that they're right." And he stresses that Comedy Central was not part of the problem and put no more than normal television restrictions on what he could do.

"You got to be careful of the company you keep," Chappelle says. "It's hard to know how much to say. One of the things that happens when people make the leap from a certain amount of money to tens of millions of dollars is that the people around you dramatically change.

"During my ascent, I've seen other people go through that wall to become really big. They always said that fame didn't change them but that it changes the people around them. You always hear that but you never really understand it. But now that I'm there that makes a lot of sense and I'm learning what that means. You have to have people around you that you can trust and aren't just out for a meal ticket."

The breakdown in trust within his inner circle seems to have led him to question the material they were producing. He seems obsessed with making sure the material is good and honest and something that he will be proud. "I want to make sure I'm dancing and not shuffling," he says. "What ever decisions I make right now I'm going to have live with. Your soul is priceless." The first two seasons of his show "had a real spirit to them," he says. "I want to make sure whatever I do has spirit."

But Chappelle also says that he must share the blame for the stalled third season. "I'm admittedly a human being," he says. "I'm a difficult kind of dude." His earlier walkout during shooting "had a little psychological element to it. I have trust issues, things like that. I saw some stuff in myself that I just didn't dig. It's like when I brought a girl home to my mom and it looked as if my mom really didn't like this girl. And she told me, 'I like her just fine. I just don't like you around her.' That's how I feel in this situation. There were some things about myself that I didn't like. People got to take inventory from time to time. That's what this [coming to South Africa] is for."

This is Chappelle's second trip to South Africa. He first came to Durban, and visited Salim, in 2000. Chappelle won't tell me exactly how he met Salim but describes him as a family friend. A soft-spoken Muslim, Salim seems also to be something of a sounding board to Chappelle, who converted to Islam several years ago. While Chappelle is not doing a formal religious course in Durban, says Salim, who wore a simple cotton robe and hung back through the interview and photo shoot and only spoke when I asked him a question, "if he wants to talk religion then I'm there as someone to talk to." Says Chappelle: "This is kind of my spot where I can come to fill my spirit back up. Sometimes you neglect these things if you are running on a corporate schedule." The crux of his crisis seems to boil down to his almost obsessive need to "check my intentions." He uses the phrase a few times during the interview and explains that it means really making sure that he's doing what he's doing for the right reasons.

His family, he says, has been a huge support over the past eight months. "They've been phenomenal really, just incredible. What beautiful people. Everyone loves their family but it's good if you can like them too."

His religion is also crucial. "I don't normally talk about my religion publicly because I don't want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is a beautiful religion if you learn it the right way. It's a lifelong effort. Your religion is your standard. Coming here I don't have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I'm interested in the kind of person I've got to become. I want to be well rounded and the industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well balanced. I've got to check my intentions, man."

That includes planning for the future. When I ask him if he would ever buy a place of his own in South Africa, Chappelle replies, "First of all I've got to make sure I've got a job."

He says that he's only been recognized five or six times in the two weeks he's been here. "It happens so sporadically that when it does it freaks me out because I have to remember, 'Oh, yeah, I'm famous.'" At the end of our interview/photo shoot an American woman does recognize him. "Number seven," he cries. "Wow, I'm not that big in Africa. I've got to do an action film here."

During most of the hour and a half that we talk, Chappelle is serious and introspective. But he still has his sense of humor, which comes out as we near the end of our conversation: "Is that enough to prove I'm not smoking crack or hanging out in a mental institution?"

interview with safiya bukhari

An Interview with Safiya Bukhari, yet another Muslim activist, former Black Panther, who passed away in 2003. The page also includes further links with more information.

dhoruba bin wahad

Dhoruba Bin Wahad (like Jamil al-Iman in this respect) is a former Black Panther who became Muslim. He spent 19 years in prison, but his conviction was ultimately overturned in 1990, when he became the first imprisoned Black Panther leader to overturn his conviction based on evidence obtained from COINTELPRO itself.

At present, Dhoruba Bin Wahad lives in Accra, Ghana where he continues organizing and writing especially on Pan-Africanism and the prison system.

I found a number of interesting links related to his life and activities.

An open letter to Al Sharpton from June 2004

interview with Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Bill Weinberg in 1995

Dhoruba himself wrote Toward Rethinking Self-Defense in a Racist Culture: Black Survival in a United States in Transition from the book "Still Black, Still Strong --Survivors of the War Against Black Revolutionaries" (about Assata, Dhoruba and Mumia)

He also wrote The Siege of Fallujah, Iraq: Another Page in the West’s Long Running War with Islam

Summaries of the cases of several imprisoned political activists (along with Dhoruba Bin Wahad, there is some information on Leonard Peltier, Geronimo Pratt, Mumia Abu Jamal and Marshall Eddie Conway). At this time, Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Geronimo Pratt are the only ones who have been released.

There is a VERY bizzare and VERY eclectic book available free online called The Ibogaine Story: Report on the STATEN ISLAND PROJECT Ibogaine is an experimental drug which is extracted from a plant used in certain Central African initiation ceremonies. Dhoruba Bin Wahad gets his own chapter of the book as a part of a discussion on the anti-drug activities of the Black Panther Party (and he also appears elsewhere). But seriously, the book goes all over the place, from literature, to politics to biblical criticism, to discussions of gnosticism and science-fiction to the history of agriculture to neurology to pharmocology to quantum physics.