southern woes and southern comfort

From Common Dreams: Latin America Shifts Left: It's the Economy by Mark Weisbrot looks at some of the economic obstacles faced by Latin American countries, especially Bolivia which recently elected its first indigenous president Evo Morales.

And from the Washington Times: Hugo Chavez suggests the formation of a regional "Bank of the South" that would help reduce foreign debt in Latin America, and offer no-strings loans in competition to the U.S.-backed IMF.

"it's getting hot in herre"

Common Dreams recently posted two articles on how the political climate is changing for the president. First there is Impeachment Calls Grow Louder by Matthew Rothschild at McCarthyism Watch. And secondly, The Impeachment of George W. Bush by attorney and former four-term Congresswoman, Elizabeth Holtzman.

it's spreading

MashaAllah, I think we have hit a nerve. Muhammad-Nur (formerly Orlandus X) recently started a Third Resurrection e-mail discussion list on Yahoo in order delve more deeply into the subject of the Third Resurrection and to generate some good discussions. Hopefully the blog and the e-mail group will support and feed one another and lead to some good results

with friends like these...

Yahoo! News: Israel Suspends Contact With Pat Robertson

JERUSALEM - Israel has suspended contact with evangelist Pat Robertson for suggesting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.

The decision, announced Wednesday by Israeli officials, does not affect other Christian groups that also consider it their spiritual duty to support Israel as fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Israeli leaders see the Christian allies as tireless lobbyists in Washington and elsewhere. The evangelicals also funnel millions of dollars each year to Jewish settlers in the West Bank and — before last year's pullout — the Gaza Strip.

(Okay, I'm not going to stop doing links cold turkey. I'm just going to try to cut down a little, and comment more.)

tuesday i had fruit loops: revisited

Recently, I've been thinking about the direction which my blog has been taking. When I started out, I had a pretty clear idea of what my blog should NOT be like. I noticed some Muslim blogs emphasized information on fiqh or hadith-of-the-week type of stuff, which always struck me as strange because it is more natural for me to get that kind of information from a book (even an online book) when I'm interested in it. I also didn't feel like competing with the newsbloggers. I'm not a professional (nor even an amateur) reporter and don't have the resources to do what they do first-hand. At the other extreme, I didn't want to write the kind of self-indulgent, navel-gazing personal blog full of entries like "Tuesday, I had Fruit Loops. Tomorrow Captain Crunch". (For some reason, alot of the Xanga and livejournal users are in that genre). For me, the ideal blog would be as personal and honest as a diary and as timely and current as the news. And it should have content which is interesting and hard to find in a book. (On the other hand, maybe I should write a book based on the issues brought up in the blog?)

I'm not going to make any claims on how good Planet Grenada has been at avoiding the above-mentioned mistakes. I've been starting to feel like my blog has been a little link heavy. I can pass information along for people to read themselves, but I should probably put in more context and commentary. Copy-and-paste less, and "pontificate" more. I really appreciate the way Umar and certain other bloggers share their opinions and experiences and put themselves out there while they are commenting on current events. I could probably stand to get more personal without entering into Fruit Loops territory.

On the other hand, Third Resurrection is getting off to a good start. The members are great. InshaAllah, we'll keep it going for a while and will be a positive experience.

What do y'all think? What's your ideal blog like? If you have a blog, what are you tring to accomplish with it?

tuesday i had fruit loops

happy birthday to me

Today is my birthday. I'm feeling old. I kept it on the downlow so I don't expect any surprise parties or the people around me to make a fuss. I got a call from my mom. I'm just going to try to have a nice day, do some quiet introspection (more than usual...lol).

When I first started practicing Islam, I don't think I knew enough to call myself any label (Like the S-word or the W-word) but I definitely came in on the the birthdays-and-non-muslim-holidays-are-bidah tip. My folks probably thought I had developed some Grinch-like tendancies. I think that now, I'm probably mellower than I used to be, but I still don't like to make a big deal about holidays or my birthday.

[...time passes...]

There was a blackout today. The power was out when I woke up and probably won't be back on before the end of the day. I'll try not to read too much into that.

who watches the watchers?

ABC News: former NSA employee spills the beans

sean muttaqi, vegan reich and the hardline movement

The following is an interesting contrast to the previous entry.

Sean Muttaqi is a Muslim who takes a very atypical perspective when it comes to animals. He was a member of a political punk band named Vegan Reich which developed and catalyzed something called the Hardline movement

The Hardline philosophy was said to be rooted in one ethic (the sacredness of innocent life), but in reality the ethos rested on that base and on an idea of an immutable Natural Order. Put in more specific terms, Hardline can be described as a synthesis of deep ecology, straight edge, animal liberation, leftism, and Abrahamic religion.

And so when discussing the Islamic dietary laws and the concept of qurbani, Sean Muttaqi emphasizes the sanctity of life throughout:

Every Surah of the Qur'an came to Muhammad (sal) in response to certain events that were taking place of a period of many years. In the case of halal dietary laws, before their implement, many people were slaughtering countless animals, in very inhumane ways - wasting much of the food, and treating animals abhorrently. Living in a desert environment, vegetarianism wasn't a possibility and thus not a practical answer to this situation and problem. So what Muhammad (sal) said, and what the Qur'an says, is that one must treat animals fairly, and if one must kill to survive, they must do it in the most humane manner possible (and also, since only Allah can create life, the animals life must be taken in the name of Allah, as only Allah has the right to end such a life). Never is indiscriminant murder encouraged or even condoned. Far from that, what was encouraged was that less killing be done - and that when it must be (for survival) that one must share the meat with the poorer members of society, and to be less gluttonous in one's eating habits, so that less life must be taken.

Muttaqi has developed his ideas in some interesting directions. It is my understanding that he is no longer with Vegan Reich but is behind the Uprising Records label. And he also has a number of his articles still available on the Al Qadar website. (The articles are generally well-written and flesh out the ideas of the Hardline movement. They do a reasonable job of presenting basic Islamic principles in a way consistent with vegan politics.)

Interview with Sean Muttaqi
Hardline Movement
Uprising Records
Al Qadar Website

qurbani

Yakoub over at Anarcho Akbar recently started a discussion on the sacrifices of Eid al-Adha. For the past few days I've been mulling over the subject myself trying to think of something "deep" to share on the subject... we'll see how it goes...lol...

One of the things which appeals to me most about Islam is that it has a certain eternal and ancient quality. If I wanted to sound all fancy I might say Islam is "transparent to its own particularity". It isn't just some Arab religion which started 1400 or so years ago. As Schuon puts it, Islam is about the meeting between God as such, and man as such. In some sense which is hard to explain to non-Muslims, Islam really is the first religion, the natural religion, din al-fitra, the religion of Adam, Noah, Moses and all the prophets.

In another sense, Islam is also the religion of Abraham especially. There are many examples of elements which appear in the story of Abraham found in the Bible (and are confirmed by the Quran and hadith) which are a part of Islamic practice today; for example circumcision, pilgrimage and sacrifice.

The idea of sacrifice is something which seems foreign to our modern secular sanitized pre-conceived notions of religion, but at the same time it is hits on something raw and primal which really forces us to vividly confront life and death. And it wasn't just limited to a few peoples here and there, but is widespread among many different religious groups in human history, the ancient Hebrews, the Aztecs, the Yoruba, the Greeks and Romans, and Hindus among others.

But in Islam, it is not claimed that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." God is not like some Cosmic Shylock who demands His pound of flesh before he will allow Himself to forgive you.

The Quran says about the sacrifices:

It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him: He has thus made them subject to you, that ye may glorify Allah for His Guidance to you and proclaim the good news to all who do right. [22.37]

And at once this very concrete and basic human ritual is not just seen in a superficially literal or superstitious way but is a symbol for something more which lies beneath the surface.

For more information:
The Fiqh of Qurbani by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Distributing Udhiya/Qurbani Meat to Needy Non-Muslims by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Philosophy of Qurbaani by Mufti Taqi Usmani
Zulhijjah: Eidul-Adha, Hajj, Sacrifice, etc. by Mufti Taqi Usmani

eid mubarak y'all

filiberto ojeda rios

Filiberto Ojeda Rios & Puerto Rican Sovereignty by Louis Reyes Rivera puts Rios (literally "rivers" in Spanish) and the Puerto Rican independence movement in the larger context of historical struggles in the Caribbean and Latin America. Rivera starts off this piece by noting:

For a very long time I have had this problem with the way history is taught. Too many of our textbooks and professors teach history as if they were taking a droplet of water out of the river and presenting that droplet as the entire river itself. And they do so with little regard to those trillions of droplets that make a river possible. No one event, no one person, exists out of context. We are all part of some sense of continuum.

See also: the life and death of filiberto ojeda rios

"...he run venezuela"

Yahoo News: CARACAS, Venezuela - The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Belafonte led a delegation of Americans including the actor Danny Glover and the Princeton University scholar Cornel West that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday. (full story)

the reason for the season

Since it is hajj season, I thought it would be interesting to mention some of the following:

Edward Gibbon writes about the Ka'bah and its existence before the Christian era in his book, Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire:

Each tribe, each family, each independent warrier, created and changed the rites and the object of this fantastic worship; but the nation, in every age, has bowed to the religion as well as to the language of Mecca. The genuine antiquity of Caaba ascends beyond the Christian era: in describing the coast of the Red sea the Greek historian Diodorus has remarked, between the Thamudites and the Sabeans, a famous temple, whose superior sanctity was revered by all the Arabians; the linen of silken veil, which is annually renewed by the Turkish emperor, was first offered by the Homerites, who reigned seven hundred years before the time of Mohammad.

Another interesting connection, which I first read about in Martin Ling's biography of the Prophet, but was reminded of by Sadiq M. Alam over at Inspirations and Creative Thoughts (He also has a lecture by Zaid Shakir on Hajj on his site).

In the Quran, an alternative name given for Mecca is Becca (3:96-97)

Most surely the first house appointed for men is the one at Becca, blessed and a guidance for the nations. In it are clear signs, the standing place of Ibrahim, and whoever enters it shall be secure, and pilgrimage to the House is incumbent upon men for the sake of Allah, (upon) every one who is able to undertake the journey to it; and whoever disbelieves, then surely Allah is Self-sufficient, above any need of the worlds.

But then the Bible, in Psalm 84 also seems to contain a possible allusion to the same place:

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob.
9 Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

source article

I don't think Islam needs that kind of validation but it is still fascinating to me to see how certain ideas, themes and practices echo back and forth between Islam and the Bible.

more on dhull hijjah

From Sunni Path:
The First Ten Days of Dhull Hijjah
The Day of Arafah: The 9th of Dhul Hijjah
The Fiqh of Eid al-Adha: The 10th of Dhul Hijjah

the wise men

This is a bit late but yesterday was the Feast of Epiphany which is known as El Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day) in much of the Spanish-speaking world and recalls the Biblical account of the Wise Men visiting the baby Christ and leaving gifts. (So logically, this would be the main gift-giving day instead of December 25)

I recently found out that in Chile and certain other countries, the day is also called La Pascua de los Negros. Some say the name is a reference to the idea that one of Wise Men was a black African.

But others say:

Es interesante notar que, en tiempo de la colonización española, especialmente en Cuba y Puerto Rico, este día era de asueto para los esclavos negros que salían a las calles a bailar al ritmo de sus tamboras. Esto origina el nombre de Pascua de los Negros con que el día es aún conocido en algunos países.

The period from December 26 (Boxing Day) to January 6 is also the origin of the 12 days of Christmas.

The Quran does contain a birth narrative of Jesus but doesn't mention the Wise Men. (Although, in 22:17 Magians are mentioned but not in reference to the birth of Christ). As far as I know, no authoritative Muslim accounts (i.e. Quran and sunnah) of the birth of Jesus include the Wise Men. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there is some obscure narration or a syncretic legend in the Muslim world which includes them... After all, if Muslims in Senegal celebrated Christmas this year then anything is possible. (I wonder if Christians in Senegal will be celebrating Eid? Just this morning I was hearing on NPR how African Christians were incorporating traditional African pracitices in the churches and they mentioned animal sacrifices)

Nevertheless, I would still argue that the story of the Wise Men suggests a different kind of similarity between Islam and Christianity.

Matthew 2:1-2

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

According to some, the three wise men symbolically correspond to Noah's three sons and represent all the people of the earth coming to pay their respects to Christ. (And so one is African, another Oriental, another European) But in other interpretations, the "Wise Men from the east" came from Persia and were likely to be Zoroastrian. In any case, if you take the Bible literally, they were Gentiles who had their own system of belief but were still able to correctly predict the birth of the Messiah. And so, in this way, the Bible is recognizing the validity of a pre-Christian non-Jewish religion. And so an argument can be made that from a Christian perspective, Zoroastrians (or whatever group the Wise Men belonged to) are People of the Book. (Allahu alim)

it's a beige thing

From: Modern Identity is Not All Black or White - It's a Beige Thing by Raphael Mokades

"It may be that in the future there will be more rather than fewer of us - the 2001 census suggested that mixed-race people had the youngest average age profile, and one in five of London's schoolchildren will soon be from mixed-race backgrounds. I know there can never be a box on those forms for every possible permutation of ethnic origin. But I also hope that as mixed-race people become more numerous and start to reach the higher echelons of British society, a more sophisticated understanding of ethnicity will evolve: one which allows people like me to be seen as a subtle shade of beige."

When I was younger, I would have felt more positively towards the above article. Now that I'm older, I think the article raises some good questions, but my attitudes towards racial/ethnic identity have in some ways gotten simpler. Now, alot of the identity questioning I engaged in seems like self-indulgent navel-gazing. We have more important questions to deal with in life other than which box to check.

Furthermore, Latin America with its long and extensive history of miscegenation already has developed a rich vocabulary of terms, in Spanish, Portuguese and even French, which can be used to describe different racial mixes. So centuries ago in certain parts of the New World, society had already "evolved" past seeing things in black and white and even beige, and had moved on to dividing people into mestizo, castizo, espomolo, mulatto, lobo, zambo, coyote, moreno, trigueno and many other categroies. But it wasn't at all clear that this richer and more detailed language did anything to limit or prevent the effects of racism/colorism/prejudice in these societies. So I would definitely question whether Mokades' train of thought does anything to significantly to make the world a better place.

At the same time, I don't think my attitudes would be what they are now, if I hadn't obsessed over these sorts of questions then. So ultimately I would settle on saying that on an individual level, especially in the case of people who come from any kind of a mixed-background a period of racial navel-gazing is useful, and maybe even necessary, but in the long run we need to look elsewhere to create a truly free society.

padilla likely to face terror trial in miami

Miami Herald: Padilla likely to face terror trial in Miami

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive ''dirty bomb,'' to be released from a military brig and moved to Miami, where he faces a criminal trial on lesser terror-related charges.

In some sense this is a good thing for Padilla because it ends his Kafka-esque status of being in a legal limbo. On the other hand, according to the Herald, Padilla is being released from military custody in order to prevent the Supreme Court from making a ruling on the administration's "right" to consider U.S. citizens as enemy combatants.

ex-prisoner rights

Black Voice News: Formerly Incarcerated People Organize to fight Discrimination in S.B.

This is actually an issue I think alot about from time to time. What is the whole purpose of punishment and the criminal justice system (I'm still not sure how to diagram that last phrase). If the goal is rehabilitation then as a society, you want to do everything you can to help people get re-integrated in society when they get out. But if we aren't willing to do that, what was the point of letting them out in the first place?

comment moderation

Blogger recently added a feature where comments can be moderated individually so there is no need for the word-verification which gives some readers trouble. I just switched over today and hopefully it will let me keep out spam but let more people participate.

pat robertson is evil: reason #865

From CNN: Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed. (see story)

Also see: pat robertson is evil: reason #873