a glance into the archives of islam

It was a little over a month ago that I "discovered" cultural critic, Slavoj Zizek. The Huffington Post did a brief article echoing some harsh things he had to say about Western Buddhism from a Marxist perspective and it made me curious about what such a person would say about Islam. As a consequence I found A Glance into the Archives of Islam where Zizek compares and contrasts Islam, Judaism and Christianity using an eclectic approach invoking Levi-Strauss, Hegel, Nietzsche, St. Paul, along with Freud and others.

Some highlights: He claims that the Muslim world effectively cock-blocked the West which was trying get with the Buddhist East. Jews and Muslims have so much trouble getting along because Judaism and Islam are "substantially one and the same thing." He also goes through some odd intellectual gymnastics in order to psychoanalyze the Muslim world by unpacking the stories of Hagar and Ishmael, Muhammad and Khadija, and even Amina and Abdullah.

Even though I was a psych major, my basic response to Freudian psychoanalysis is that most of the time "a cigar is only a cigar". And when it comes to post-modernism I mainly think that the Emperor has no clothes. (see the Sokol Affair) So I would argue that much of what Zizek said about Islam in his "Glance..." is worthless. (Although to be fair, the piece he wrote in the wake of 9/11, The Desert of the Real wasn't bad. In fact, the more articles I'm finding by him, the more I like him when he sticks to current events and popular culture). But his leaps of fantasy when it comes to Abrahamic religious history make me want to throw away Freud, and makes me wary of Lacan. I think I should reread my Frantz Fanon.

sidney, ny wants local muslims to dig up their graves

A town in upstate New York is trying to force a local Muslim religious community to dig up a small cemetery on its property and never bury anyone there again because it says it's illegal. Part of the "problem" is that there are no laws in Sidney -- or New York state, for that matter -- covering cemeteries on private land -- religious cemeteries included. Plus, the town approved the cemetery in 2005.

The cemetery is part of the Osmanlı Nakş-ı'bendi Hakkani Dergahı led by Shaykh Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi.

For more details about the facts of the case, you can check out: Tiny Upstate New York Town Wants Local Muslims to Dig Up Their Cemetery

For me the case raises a couple of different issues. Obviously on one level its just a basic (and all-too-frequent) example of Islamophobia. What makes this case especially frustrating is that Sufi groups like the above mentioned Naqshbandis are supposed to be among the "good Muslims" and yet they are still facing difficulties finding acceptance.

islam, catholics and st. francis

Just today I got a nice note from one of my Catholic aunts in the mail. It was an article from her Church bulletin: Franciscans Lift Voices Against Tide of Anti-Muslim Rhetoric. The piece makes a number of interesting points. The article parallels the prejudice faced by American Muslims now with the difficulties faced by Catholics in an earlier period.

Pastor Jones' teaching that "Islam is of the Devil" is contrasted with the orthodox Catholic teaching out of Lumen Gentium which after describing the role of the Church and the children of Israel says:

the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohamedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.

The Islamophobia around the Ground Zero mosque is contrasted with Dignitatis Humanae's statement that:

religious groups . . . must be allowed to honor the Supreme God in public worship ... and promote institutions in which members may work together to organize their own lives. ... Religious communities also have the right not to be hindered by legislation or administrative action by the civil authority ... in erecting buildings for religious purposes, and in the acquisition and use of the property they need.

The piece also referred to an interesting anecdote about St. Francis' meeting with the Sultan, al-Malik al-Kamil during the Crusades. "Francis was not able to win the Sultan over to the Gospel of Christ, but returned to Europe impressed by the faith he had experienced among the followers of Islam, convinced that he had met other worshipers of God like himself."

It turns out that the details of the meeting between St. Francis and the Sultan are contested so the story tends to be an inkblot for how the storyteller feels about Muslim-Christian relations. Some accounts talk about St. Francis' mission to convert the infidel Saracen while others (like the statement above) emphasize the mutual respect across religious communities. In fact I would argue that Catholic doctrine generally is somewhat of an "inkblot" in the sense that one could probably identify a number of exclusive statements to counter-balance the above inclusive teachings. Nevertheless, it is nice to know that in contemporary times some voices in the Church are making the former choice instead of the latter.

i am black as well

Here is a brief documentary about Miriam Abu Khaleid, a teenage African-Arab teenager working with the Freedom Theatre and sharing her experiences of race and racism. (h/t to Magari Aziza)

see also:
the black knight
black iraqis in basra face discrimination

israel and race

Russia Times:
Inter-racial dating taboo leaves Israeli society divided
Israeli government to deport 400 children
Arabs living in Israel are accusing the Jewish state of racism

israel and ethiopian jews

Russia Times:
Israel accused of dooming Ethiopian baby boom
Ethiopian Jews: trapped in-between
Israeli schools refuse enrollment to Ethiopian-origin students

green party candidate killed by an suv while riding bike

Huff Post: Natasha Pettigrew, Green Party Senate Candidate, Dies After Being Struck By SUV While Riding Bike Like they said on South Park, if irony was made of strawberries we'd be drinking a lot of smoothies right now. Condolences to Natasha's family.

is glee racist?

Here is a mini-roundup of some articles on Glee. My take on the issue is that the first season definitely engaged in some edgy but entertaining "self-aware racism" and was mostly limited to the outlandish comments of Sue Sylvester. But based on the premiere episode of the second season, the "racism" is less self-aware, more gratuitous, and may not have quotes. It is certainly less entertaining. Let's see how the rest of the season shapes up.

The Stir: Is Glee Racist? by Brittney Drye
Charice on Glee, Racism and the Corporate Media by Yfur Porsche Fernandez
Feminist Frequency: Top 5 Problems with Glee: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Season 2 Premiere

the f-word: feminism in islam

Religion Dispatches: The “F” word: Feminism in Islam by Amina Wadud

mooz-lum on npr

NPR: Film 'Mooz-lum' Confronts Public Perceptions Of Islam is an interview with film creator Qasim Basir and actor Roger Guenveur Smith. I liked hearing more from Basir and I hope the film does well.

pardon my dust

For a while I've started to be more appreciative of the fluid nature of the internet, specifically, the annoying habit of links to die. And since I've been blogging for over five years now, my older blog posts are certainly not immune to this problem. What is especially embarrassing is when I realize that someone has come to my blog specifically searching for a song or a clip or an article I was once linked to but they end up frustrated because the appropriate link is no longer useful or functional. I'm slowly trying to fix old links but wouldn't mind getting a heads-up from readers if they notice dead links too. (You can leave a comment to let me know). Thanks.

the arab league of hip-hop

Recently I've been mulling over the words at the top of my blog and I've been trying to develop a deeper, more fleshed out notion for myself of what they mean. Just what does a global anti-hegemonic counter-modernity look like and how does it provide an alternative to global imperialism? In what sense is Islam at the heart of this emerging culture? For the moment, I'm finding it more difficult to answer this question on the political level, but easier to elaborate in the realm of culture.

For example, a recent piece in Foreign Policy, The Arab League of Hip Hop gives a nice survey of some recent developments in Arab (mostly Muslim) hip-hop. Prominently featured in the article is UK-born Palestinian MC, Shadia Mansour, the "First Lady of Arab Hip-Hop".

"hamdulillah" by the narcicyst (ft. shadia mansour)

Beautiful song. Beautiful video.
(h/t to islamicate)

muslims, islamic law and public policy in the united states

Muslims, Islamic Law and Public Policy in the United States By Sherman A. Jackson is an interesting discussion of the duality and double-consciousness which comes with being a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, specifically how can one reconcile the demands of a "traditional" rulings of Sunni fiqh with the living in the U.S. under a secular constitution.

al qaeda also fed up with ground zero construction delays

kind of like jews

Over at Killing the Buddha, Kind of Like Jews by Gordon Haber is an article about a group of former Messianics who converted to the Noahide faith. The article is a nice glimpse of the modern community of Shomrey Tzedek. The main reservation I would have is that Haber seems to view Noahidism only as a "new" religious movement which he traces back to the nineteenth century Italian rabbi Elijah Benamozegh and his French Gentile disciple, Aime Palliere. But even in the Bible, the book of Acts mentions the Gentile Godfearers who had some attachment to Judaism in ancient times.

See also:
"god gave noah the rainbow sign..." (part four)
"god gave noah the rainbow sign..." (part one)

one person's america-hating radical is another person's patriotic good ol' boy

Recently I was thinking about how odd it is that some folks on the right wing (e.g. Tea Partiers and the usual suspect of Fox News pundits) are so willing to show contempt and suspicion for the President, the Speaker of the House, Congress in general, various provisions of the US Constitution, basic principles of American democracy, the current policies of the government and then turn around and criticize others (usually liberals, Blacks, Latinos or Muslims) for being unAmerican. Among the most extreme we even have people like Sharron Angle suggesting the possibility of "Second Amendment remedies" to government "tyranny".

On the more apocalyptic side, during the US Presidential election we were endlessly confronted with the loop of Jeremiah Wright saying "God damn America" but most white evangelicals are willing to accept (or even celebrate as a cautionary tale) Ruth Graham's statement "if God doesn't soon bring judgment upon America, He'll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!” source

As a more entertaining and contemporary way to highlight this kind of right-wing hypocrisy as it relates to how we speak about 9/11, the Center for American Progress put together a Blaming-America-for-9/11-Quiz where you can try to match a set of "controversial" statements about 9/11 with the person who said them. Enjoy.

h/t to Islamicate

salaam ladies. look at your man. now back to me. now back at your man. now back to me.

I'm not trying to start rumors about his religion (or birthplace or political affiliations) but I think it is cool that the "Old Spice Guy" is named Isaiah Mustafa. Some superficial facts about him (his first name, his appearing half-naked on tv, serving and drinking liquor on the red carpet) suggest he's probably not Muslim but I'm still curious about what the story is. I'm guessing that his father or grandfather was in the Nation of Islam.

On other fronts, some writers have found interesting things to say about the "Old Spice Guy" from a racial lens:

The Root: Why the Old Spice Guy Is Good for Black America
The Daily Beast: The Post-Racial Commercial Genius

Farai Chideya especially (in the Daily Beast) does a good job of tracing how American thinking about Black male sexuality has changed from Emmett Till to Billy Dee Williams to Terry Crews (who was the "Old Spice Guy" before Mustafa) to Isaiah Mustafa.






Imdb: Isaiah Mustafa
Wikipedia: Isaiah Mustafa

i'm just hoping blair underwood doesn't end up sounding like al pacino in scarface

I was already intrigued by the ads I saw for the new NBC series The Event. The mix of science fiction and political conspiracies seemed right up my alley. Now I just found out that in the fictional world of the show, the president is an Afro-Cuban-American named Elias Martinez. Should be interesting. I think he's probably the only Afro-Cuban character on national (English-language) television since Gina Torres (who is Afro-Cuban herself) played Anna Espinosa on Alias.

The Grio: Playing a black president gets complicated in age of Obama by Ronda Racha Penrice

coalition of african american muslims

The following is from the recently-formed Coalition of African American Muslims. (h/t to Seeker's Guidance) It seemed like a generally positive gathering with a lot of good things being said. It will be interesting to see what this group produces in the long run. I'm especially curious about the Nation of Islam and what implications there will be for relations between African-American Sunni Muslims and the followers of Farrakhan.

Mission Statement

The controversy over the Park 51 Project (Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan) is indicative of a general rise in racist bigotry towards people of color in this country. While the issue has its particular and unique distinctions, it cannot be separated from the rising violence against African Americans and Latinos, or the increasingly inflammatory rhetoric and exclusionary politics driving the national debate on immigration.

As African-American Muslims, we feel our unique perspective has been missing from an emerging national discussion. We wish to join that discussion by first of all affirming that among our forbears are Muslims who have lived peacefully and productively in this country since its inception. They, and others among our people have sacrificed too much, both in enduring the horrors and brutalities of chattel slavery, and during the long march to freedom, civil and human rights for us to silently accept a return to Jim Crow exclusionary practices and policies that relegate either ourselves or our co-religionists from other ethnic backgrounds to second-class citizenry.

We commend all of those Jews, Christians and members of other faith and ethnic communities who have raised their voices in defense of the constitutional rights of all Americans. We also laud the work that other Muslim organizations have done in response to the current situation. We add our voice to theirs and will work for a country that reflects the diversity of its people and extends full and equal rights to all.

CAAM Will:

* Work to expose the underlying foreign and domestic agenda being served by the ongoing demonization of Muslims;

* Be a voice for those who have been intimidated into silence;

* Establish networks between organizations representing those elements of the population, regardless of race or religion who are suffering as a result of the politics of fear and exclusion.


Coalition Members

Abdul Jalil Muhammad
Imam Abdul Malik
Amir Muhammad
Asma Hanif
Hodari Ali Imam
Johari Abdul Malik
Attorney Kareema
Al-Amin Imam Khalid Griggs
Minister Louis Farrakhan
Imam Nadim Ali
Nisa Islam Muhammad
Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Imam Talib Deen
Imam Umar Ibn Khattab
Imam Yahya Cason
Imam Zaid Shakir


Imam Zaid Shakir


Mahdi Bray


Asma Hanif


Imam Abdul Malik


Imam Siraj Wahaj


Minister Louis Farrakhan


Farrakhan Part 2


Farrakhan Part 3