winning the grandmas, winning the war

APoC: Winning the Grandmas, Winning the War: Anarchists of Color, Religion and Liberation by Ernesto Aguilar is a brief look at some of the challenges which come up when secular leftists try to communicate and connect with more religious folks, especially people of color.

voices of resistance: muslim women on war, faith and sexuality

“There are no celebrity endorsements here for a certain kind of Islam, there is no list of permissible ingredients that can go into a canned version of good Muslimness, whether by the standards of the patriarchies inside or the colonialism outside.”
–by Shahnaz Habib

I recently found out about a new book to add to my shopping list; Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith & Sexuality (Sarah Hussein ed.) The book is a collection of narratives and prose by Muslim women from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds; Yemen, Iran, Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Canada, and the United States. And as implied by the above quote, the book seems to be about resisting convenient stereotypes and definitions of Muslim (female) identity.

Samar: Inside, Outside and Everywhere In Between a review by Shahnaz Habib
Amazon: Voices of Resistance
see also: living islam out loud

in brightest day, in blackest night

I hope y'all can forgive the mildly juvenile, but still culturally relevant diversion: I had stopped regularly reading comic books by the time that John Stewart's Green Lantern appeared. But in a lot of ways I think he is the most refreshingly universal black science-fiction superhero. In most of sci-fi, whiteness is framed as universal, and blackness is framed as provincial and local. The advanced being from the next galaxy over is generally the authoritative-sounding white man with silly putty on his face. Most black characters, on the other hand, will sound and act as if they were from 125th and Lennox Ave (give or take a light year).

In contrast to the more "ghetto-centric" blaxploitation era superheroes like Black Lighting (and variations like Black Vulcan, Soul Power, Static and Juice) or Power Man, and even in contrast to the more Afrocentric heroes like Storm or Black Panther, John Stewart is on a whole other level. (A few others in the same ballpark, which come to mind from the world outside of comic books are Mace Windu and Benjamin Sisko).

Wikipedia: Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Book of Oa: The Unofficial John Stewart Biography
Wikipedia: List of Black Superheroes
Wikipedia: History of Black Superheroes
Wikipedia: African characters in comics

Grenada's past:
race and dc comics
black comic books
birth of a nation: a comic novel
"'x-men' is not a cleverly named documentary about the nation of islam..."
on the serious tip...
aaron mcgrudder
afrofuturism/rebirth of a nation

a muslim response to the pope

Zaytuna: A Muslim Response to The Pope: For They Know Exactly What They Do by Imam Zaid Shakir gives a pretty thoughtful analysis of the pope's controversial lecture in the context of other comments and policy decisions coming out of the Catholic Church recently.

evil eye protection

I'm really not superstitious. In fact, for a while now I've been really getting into the idea (associated with Asharite theology) that God is not just the First Cause, but the Only Cause. In other words, in a radical and thorough sense, everything which happens in the world is directly caused and willed by Allah. So in addition to stars and talismans not influencing your destiny, matches don't really cause fires and medicine doesn't really cure diseases. Instead, God creates the medicine and the healing and God is just in the habit (the sunnah of Allah) of making one follow the other.

Alternatively, (to point to a commonly used example from the Quran on this point) since there is no necessary connection between fire and burning, it makes sense that God could say "O Fire! be thou cool, and (a means of) safety for Abraham!" when Nimrod tried to burn Abraham alive. Fire doesn't have the power to burn by itself.

In this view, there is also no such thing as a miracle because whether God follows his own habits or not, everything that happens is willed and created by Allah. The created world doesn't even have the power to sustain its own existence for an instant, so another consequence is that Allah is continually recreating the cosmos from moment to moment, almost like a projector shining successive picture frames on a screen.

But all the above is really a preface. To make a long story short, I mainly wanted to share that a few days ago I ran into some friends (a married couple) who generously gave me a beautiful blue fatima's hand. I had mentioned to them some "evil-eye" issues going on in my life along with my fascination with the khamsa and moments later they offered me one (which they had actually bought for themselves in Cairo). It is hanging on my shelf right now. It is definitely one of the most interesting presents I've gotten in a while. In any case, I wanted to be able to say how pleased I was with the gift, without people accusing me of shirk. I know very well that it has no power to help or harm, but ultimately that's not the point.

a day in the life of a caribbean muslim

say hello to the blog: A day in the life of a Caribbean Muslim by a Jamerican Muslimah living in Minneapolis, MN

people in me

ApoC: People in Me by Robin Kelly is a brief and slightly personal look at polyculturalism and black identity.

immortal technique and adisa banjoko

Holla at a Scholar!!: Immortal Technique and Author Adisa Banjoko Team w/ Educators for Forum on Immigration Rights! THIS SAT!!!

still muslim like me

Last year I wrote an entry called muslim like me about non-Muslims selectively practing some aspect of Islam (either fasting in Ramadan or wearing hijab) as a way to express political/ social/ spiritual solidarity with Muslims. (Unfortunately, the link to the Scarves for Solidarity story has expired.)

A good discussion of this phenomenon recently appeared over at the Woman of Color blog in an entry called Ramadan, solidarity, critiques and the internet.

And in Michigan, the Arab American NOWAR Committee is co-ordinating several solidarity fasts throughout the month of Ramadan. For more information (especially if you want to participate) check here.

ramadan reading: the virtues of dhikr and al-ghazali

So I finished The Virtues of Ramadan by Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalvi a few days ago. Now I want to go on to reread his book The Virtues of Dhikr. I remember that when I first read that book it was really reassuring because, at the time, I was feeling doubtful about the orthodoxy of "Sufism" but the book discussed a number of hadith on the value of dhikr (including group dhikr). I know some people (especially non-Muslims in the West) see "Sufism" as this cool liberal New Age version of Islam but in reality it is just Islamic spirituality which is organically grounded in the Quran and Sunnah. If you break down "Sufism" to its basic elements it consists of the practices which would be followed by any pious thoughtful Muslim. (Not that I'm claiming to be one).

Also on my Ramadan reading list is the book On Disciplining the Soul and Breaking the Two Desires by Al-Ghazali. Basically it consists of certain sections from Ihya ulum al-din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) on asceticism and struggling against the ego, translated and annotated by T.J. Winter. I've also read this one before but I could definitely use a refresher. A few years ago I went through a period of being really excited about Al-Ghazali, but more recently I've kind of mellowed out and haven't "touched base" in a while.

Anything I could say right now about how great Al-Ghazali is would probably sound really lame so I'll just leave you with a couple of links:

A biography of Imam al-Ghazzali by Dr. G.F. Haddad

As a continuation of my muslim art of war idea, here is an excerpt from al-Ghazali on Jihad al-Nafs (with links to other scholar's comments on the same topic).

And here is a huge Al-Ghazali Website with a ton of his writings.

Enjoy.

more 9/11 blues

From the AP by way of Third Resurrection:

A Spanish university professor with a long beard and dark complexion said Thursday he was briefly forced off an Air Berlin airliner during a layover on the Spanish island of Mallorca by German passengers who feared he was an Islamic terrorist. (full story)

yet another helping of the post 9/11 blues

the racial gap in the grandstands

Businessweek: The Racial Gap In The Grandstands explores how and why African Americans are losing interest in baseball while Latinos seem to be getting more involved. The piece is a bit clumsy in the sense of not acknowledging that many Latinos (especially the players) are also "black". But it still describes an interesting phenomena.

See also:
latinos and baseball

blacks in cuban med school

Since 2001, the Latin American School of Medical Sciences (LASMS) in Havana, Cuba has been admitting students from various countries in Latin America and Africa, as well as low income minority students from the U.S. into its six year medical program (particularly African Americans and some Hispanics). Since the program began in 2001, it has maintained that all of tuition, housing, and meals are free. In some cases the only necessary financing by students is for the trips to Cuba for school and back home again.

Black Electorate: African American Education Free Outside U.S. Borders - Blacks In Cuban Med School by Zekita Tucker

latinas choosing islam over catholicism

Yesterday, Weekend Edition on NPR (National Public Radio) had a piece on Hispanic women converting to Islam. In the life of this blog I've linked to many such stories. A little more than others, this one emphasizes how the Latinas who converted found Islamic gender roles appealing.

NPR: Latinas Choosing Islam over Catholicism

see also from Grenada's past:
npr on latino/hispanic muslims
interview with samantha sanchez
south florida latina converting to islam
the emerging latino muslim community in america
many hispanics finding faith in islam
more hispanic women are converting to islam
latino muslims of the bay area
latino muslims seek answers
my journey as a muslimah
more hispanics turning to islam
ranks of latinos turning to islam are increasing
robert karimi
muslims march with latino community - july 18th
ole to allah
ramadan around the world
clippings on latino muslims
islam in latin america and latino muslims

the akashic records

I'm feeling a little New Age-y today. On Friday I had lunch... wow, won't be saying that for a while...on Friday I had lunch with some folks and we were talking about Rudolf Steiner and a book of his called Christianity as Mystical Fact. The book ended up being a good springboard for conversation (one topic was literal vs. metaphorical language) and it made me more curious to learn more about Steiner.

Steiner believed in something called the Akashic Records which is supposed to be a kind of comprehensive non-physical library of information which can be accessed by individuals with certain spiritual abilities.

Levi Dowling, the author of Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ claimed to have gotten the information for his gospel from the Akashic records. And according to Hakim Bey (Peter Lamborn Wilson), The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ was one of the sources (in the "ordinary" non-mystical sense) of Noble Drew Ali's Circle Seven Koran.

It occurs to me that in the Quran (and hadith) there are many different references to a Book, or the Pen, or writing (e.g. [22.70] Do you not know that Allah knows what is in the heaven and the earth? Surely this is in a book; surely this is easy to Allah.) and that possibly some of these references are consistent with the concept of the Akashic records. The Quran tends to evoke the anthropomorphic image of angels following us with pieces of paper (made from trees?) writing down what we do (in what language?) with ball-point pens. But perhaps that concrete language is really refering to something different like the Akashic records? Allahu alim.

ramadan mubarak y'all

it's the first day and I'm already staring at the clock waiting for the sun to set... maybe I should go outside. That way I could get some fresh air. Read a good book. Look at the sky... and wait for the sun to set.

pope benedict: the first year

Alternet: Pope Benedict: The First Year by Matthias Beier (originally in Tikkun). A reasonable overview of the current pope and some of his Eurocentric tendancies. (The more I think about it, "Eurocentric" is just the right term to use. "Nazi" is inflamatory and inaccurate. "Islamophobe" is to blunt and doesn't cover everything. But "Eurocentric" really does cover a wide range of his implicit and explicit actions.)

the neocon's lexicon

In These Times: In The Neocons’ Lexicon Salim Muwakkil deconstructs the contradictions which lie behind the Right's use of the term "Islamofascism".

the world faces us hegemony or survival

Chavez's September 20th speech to the UN General Assembly

ramadan on saturday?

In a surprise move, ISNA and the Fiqh Council of North America are anouncing that they are using astronomical calculations in order to determine the beginning of Ramadan. The Fiqh Council's explanation of their position is given here. I'm not sure what to think. On the one hand, I've always been told that sighting with the naked eye is what is important. And something in me finds this "old school" approach appealing. At the same time, I'm also tired of all the disagreement (even at a local level) over when Ramadan begins. At least the Fiqh Council's approach seems to have some potential for promoting greater unity among Muslims in North America. Also, it wouldn't be the first time that greater scientific knowledge has had some impact on the religious behavior of Muslims in North America. When Muslim immigrants first came to the US, many of them tended to pray southeast (We are mostly north and west of Mecca) but once they had a better understanding of geodesics they started to pray northeast. Perhaps this is similar?

ramadan right around the corner

Wow, it seems like Ramadan is sneaking up on me. It is right around the corner... less than a week away. To get ready I'm going to try to review the rules on fasting in some of my "favorite" fiqh books. I also want to reread the section The Virtues of Ramadan from Tablighi Nisab by Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalvi. I feel like this year Ramadan will be harder than usual. I don't think I want to get into why. It just will be. Keep me in your dua.

more on pope benedict and islam

The often-insightful Juan Cole has recently produced two entries in the wake of Pope Benedict's gaffe on his Informed Comment blog: Pope: Manuel II's Views of Muhammad are not My Own and Pope's Trip to Turkey in Doubt (Both the entries and the comments are full of good information on the subject)

Also, for a more "big picture" perspective, you might want to check out: Benedict XVI and Islam: the first year by Islamic scholar, Abdal Hakim Murad

And finally Papal Insults: A Bavarian Provocation by Tariq Ali.

osama found

The Onion: Osama Bin Laden Found Inside Each of Us

latest message from osama bin laden

Where do people get the idea that Muslims have no sense of humor?
Google Video: Latest Message from Osama Bin Laden

skipping towards armageddon

I recently started and am almost finished with a book published by Soft Skull Press and written by Michael Standaert called Skipping Towards Armageddon: The Politics and Propaganda of the Left Behind Novels and the LaHaye Empire.

Overall, I would say that the book is a good survey of the subjects covered in the subtitle. Standaert explores how the Left Behind novels can be viewed as political propaganda on behalf of the Religious Right and he also explains Tim LaHaye's extensive and varied connections to extreme-right and evangelical circles.

I was a bit surprised by how far to the right some of Tim LaHaye's connections go: the John Birch Society, Christian Reconstructionist groups which want to bring back stonings and slavery, anti-semitic organizations, militias, etc. And it was interesting to see Standaert trace some of the political implications of Premillenialism (one of several possible Christian views on the end-times). Specifically, Premillenialism teaches that the Second Coming of Christ will occur before the 1000 year period of peace, justice, and prosperity. In this view, a utopian existence will be ushered in by Jesus through supernatural means, and so efforts to improve our lives through human means (the UN, international co-operation, progressive social movements) will necessarily be considered suspect.

I wouldn't insist that all Premillenialsts are like this, but I think that in many evangelicals, Premillenialsim is woven together with conservative/reactionary political ideas to form a coherent and seamless (and somewhat problematic) worldview.

Perhaps more later...

an extensive excerpt from the book (pdf)
Soft Skull: Skipping Towards Armageddon
Eight Diagrams: An interview with Michael Standaert
The Huffington Post: Boycotting the Image, but Not the Word? (about a violent video game based on the Left Behind books)

Planet Grenada's past:
number of the beast
the rapture
christian reconstructionism
wayward christian soldiers

beyond visibility: rethinking the african diaspora in latin america

CALL FOR PAPERS

Beyond Visibility:
Rethinking the African Diaspora in Latin America

University of California-Berkeley March 1-2, 2007

Abstract Submission Deadline: November 3, 2006

In recent years there has been an explosion in scholarship that goes beyond recognizing the presence of Afro-Latin Americans and towards interrogating this topic more deeply. Through this inaugural conference,we intend to build on this momentum--advancing inter-disciplinary scholarship on the African Diaspora in Latin America by moving towards research that critically engages the theoretical and methodological challenges of this research. Organized by the Afro-Latino Working Group at UC Berkeley’s Center for Latin American Studies, we aim to create a forum for graduate students to dialogue with established scholars whose work explores the African Diaspora in Latin America. This conference will foster new dialogues about race, ethnicity, culture, society, economy,politics and nation in the academic world. The conference will feature a series of graduate student panels as well as a faculty keynote and roundtable discussion from preeminent scholars working on the African Diaspora in Latin America. We invite abstract submissions from current graduate students on a diverse array of topics and disciplinary orientations that are both theoretical and empirical in content. The conference is oriented towards graduate students pursuing projects about the African Diaspora in the Americas (including Mexico,Central and South America, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean). Specifically, we strongly encourage papers that address under-theorized regions in the Americas as well as comparative and regional works.

We offer the following themes as submission suggestions:
Theory and Pedagogy: New Directions in the Field
Social Movements and the Politics of Race
Media and Cultural Representations
Identity, Race and Ethnicity
Migration and Transnationalism
Folklore and National Identity
Comparative Historical and Literary Analysis

500 word abstracts should be submitted to the organizing committee via email as word documents or PDF files. Please submit abstracts by November 3, 2006. Submissions should include the abstract, current contact information, presentation title and current C.V. Accepted authors will be notified by December 15, along with full submission guidelines for papersand/or presentations. Full papers are due on January 5. All papers and presentations must be available in English. Papers will be made available through the Center for Latin American Studies.Submissions and inquiries should be sent to: afrolatinogroup@berkeley.edu or via USPS to

Vielka C. Hoy, Afro-Latino Working Group,

660 Barrows Hall,#2572

Berkeley, CA 94720.

Please check the website regularly for updated conference and registration information

better than pork

another joke:

A priest and a rabbi found themselves sharing a compartment on a train. After a while, the priest opened a conversation by saying, "I know that in your religion you're not supposed to eat pork. Have you actually ever tasted it?"

The rabbi said, "I must tell the truth. Yes, I have, on the odd occasion."

Then the Rabbi had his turn of interrogation. He asked, "Your religion, too... I know you're suposed to be celibate, but...?"

The priest replied, "Yes, I know what you're going to ask. I have succumbed once or twice."

There was silence for a while. Then the Rabbi peeped around the newspaper he was reading and said, "Better than pork, isn't it?"

moishe and the pope

to keep things light... a joke:

About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jewish people had to leave Rome. Naturally, there was a big uproar from the Jewish community.

So, the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community. If the representative won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope won, the Jews would leave. The Jews realized that they had no choice. They looked around for a champion who could defend their faith, but no one wanted to volunteer. It was too risky. So, in desperation, they finally picked an old man named Moishe, who spent his life sweeping up after people, to represent them. Being old and poor, he had less to lose, so he agreed. He asked only for one condition to the debate. Not being used to saying very much as he cleaned up around the settlement, he asked that neither side be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed.

The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised his index finger. The Pope waved his hand in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a communion wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe pulled out an apple.

The Pope stood up and announced, "I give up. This man is too good. The Jews may stay.'

An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said, "First, I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then, I waved my hand around me to show him that God above was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground, showing that God was also right here with us, in our midst. I offered the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"

Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe, amazed that this old, somewhat feeble man had done what all their scholars had insisted was impossible! "What happened?", they asked. "Well," said Moishe, "first he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of the city. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then, he told me that this whole city must be cleared of Jews! I let him know that we were staying right here." "And then?" asked a woman. "I really don't know," said Moishe. "He took out his lunch, so I took out mine."

papal bull

Benedict XVI's latest gaffe made me miss John Paul all the more. I first saw the picture below on Muslimahsoul's blog after Pope John Paul had passed (aand before Ratzinger had been chosen). Originally, I had included a link to her site but then she decided to close for business so I feel like sharing the image here:

The current Pope's recent anti-Islamic comments were made in the context of an academic talk titled "Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization" where he quotes the 'erudite' Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and 'an educated Persian' saying:

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The defenders of the current Pope are correct to point out that he was not saying these things himself but was only repeating a quote. On the other hand, the talk still included some misleading (although less incendiary) statements about the role of reason in Islam. And in any case, Benedict XVI has already made comments previously about the Christian (i.e. non Islamic) character of Europe and other topics which stronly suggest that his papcy does not bode well for future Muslim-Catholic relations.

Grenada's past:
ratzinger - benedict xvi
harry potter and the book-burning benedict
final call interview with immortal technique
the passing of the pope

our man in havana

Black Electorate: Our Man in Havana by Armstrong Williams is a brief reflection on Castro and US-Cuba relations.

the jihad of imam shamyl

The timing probably could have been better but I still wanted to follow-up on my earlier piece on the greater jihad: a muslim art of war. One section of this hypothetical book would include the thoughts and reflections of Sufis who participated in physical jihad but to be honest, I haven't found a whole lot of material along these lines. I have been able to read a little here and there about fighters with a strong mystical bent who have appeared in Africa and the former Soviet Union but I've had trouble finding their actual writings. (If anyone out there has any suggestions or leads in this regard, I'd be happy to hear about it.) In the meantime, if you like this topic, you might be interested in reading the article: The Jihad of Imam Shamyl by Kerim Fenari which discusses several different Sufi leaders who fought against the Russians in the Caucasus region.

Grenada's past:
so white they named white people after them

legal update in the case of mumia abu jamal

PSL: Legal update in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal

see also: mumia abu jamal: hispanics, latin america and the struggle against the empire

reaction mixed to schwarzenegger remarks

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's taped comment that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are feisty because of their mixed black and Latino "blood" set the blood of some Democrats boiling, but others say it's no big deal.

(see full story)

I'm not sure how I feel about the above. Yes, the comment is definitely ignorant and offensive but it doesn't put me in a "feisty" mood. He said it in private but apparently the recording was hacked from his office computer system so that actually raises some privacy issues which makes me a bit sympathetic to him. In the grand scheme of things, the saddest part of this whole affair is the fact that so many other elected officials have made comments which were much more ignorant and offensive but their political careers remained basically unscathed.
--

The above link died but here is a replacement.

more chavez of arabia

La Voz de Aztlan editorial: Chavez of Arabia

reading is fundamental (five year old picture)

chavez of arabia

Here are some very Grenada-esque pieces on Hugo Chavez and the connections he is making in the Middle East and Africa:

La Voz de Aztlan: "Chavez of Arabia" Greeted as Hero in Damascus
Aljazeera: Winning Arab hearts and minds by Dima Khatib
Adisa Banjoko: I dunno why, but I'm kinda starting to dig Hugo Chavez....

cuba and the non-aligned movement summit

Fidel Castro is to preside over the Cuban delegation to the 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit and will receive various dignitaries, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, affirmed Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque before close to 1,000 foreign and national correspondents accredited for the event, which officially begins this Monday September 11 with a meeting of experts representing their countries.

See Granma: Fidel recovering satisfactorily and will head the Cuban delegation

the forer effect or 'into every life a little rain must fall'

You might start to think this has become a Taoist website... I' ve gotten more interested in the I Ching lately. I think there is a certain amount of beauty and order in how the book is put together. And the answers it has been giving are rather... uncanny and useful in their own way. For the most part, I chalk it up to the Forer effect also known more cynically as the Barnum effect. ("There is a sucker born every minute") I also think that as people we are more alike than we realize and so any sufficiently detailed description of the individual human condition will impress us as accurate.

In his original study, Forer gave subjects a personality analysis followed by the following 'result':

"You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic."

Yeah, you and everyone else in the world... and so on average, Forer's subjects found the above description pretty accurate.

But think about it, even if you are 'one in a million' that means there are 6000 people just like you. I honestly believe that one of the functions of scripture is to remind us that we are not unique. We all exist in a common human condition. That's how scriptures "work". That's how texts written over a thousand years ago in a distant land can still ring true... in spite of the printing press and the internet and indoor plumbing and nuclear power and digital watches, people are still people. But more on that later.

the radical middle way

I recently found an interesting British Muslim website called the radical middle way. The name may seem like an oxymoron at first glance but I think it fits in rather well with some points which I've tried to make here on Planet Grenada. "Radical" means taking things to the root. And at its root, Islam is opposed to extremism. The violent extremists are the superficial ones. The "deep" radical Muslims are trying to make positive contributions to society.

Perhaps I'll go into more detail in a later post, but at times I'm struck by the similarities in tone between orthodox Islam and Orthodox/Catholic Christianity (as opposed to Protestantism and other minority Christian movements). I have a theory. Suppose we view religions as things which may have a divine origin, but are still shaped by historical situations and also contain bits of human wisdom. Then it makes sense that those faiths which have been the "official" religion of entire civilizations and empires for a very long time will have acquired a certain sober maturity. Such faiths will have produced hundreds of great mystics, poets, philosophers, legal scholars and artists; great tyrants and great rebels. They will have spanned across various nationalities and cultures. They will have experienced periods of great prosperity and wealth and also periods of war and disorder. They will have had to find ways to inspire the greatest of saints but still speak to the greatest of sinners.

I mention all of this in this particular context because it helps make a point about the "deep" Muslim attitude towards terrorism. Orthodox traditional Islam, the Islam followed by most Muslims for most of Islamic history has been the dominant religion of an entire civilization. It has been a religion which has built into it, a certain amount of respect for authority and stability. And so its nature is to build up social institutions rather than tear them down. More later.

ghettonomad

I just found a cool site by Luqmaan Williams, a thoughtful Black American Muslim blogger, called ghettonomad. It hasn't been updated in a while so maybe he is AWOL (i.e. living a real life instead of spending way too much time in front of a computer) but if he is "around" cyberspace, I hope he would be interested in joining Third Resurrection.

"you can't keep me out of my own house"

The article A Debt Paid In Full: Latin & African-American Relations within the Orisa Community from the Roots and Rooted website deals with the ironic paradox of how in the past "white" Latinos worshiping Black gods had been opposed to African-Americans being initiated into Santeria and Lucumi. Now, things are more open, but some tension remains between African-Americans and Latinos within the Orisa community.

see also:
santeria and islam

my god... othello is a good play

My God... Othello is a good play.

I was a fan of West Wing when it was on the air. And I'm recently reminded of one episode; Ellie which was full of so much political/family drama around the President Bartlet's relationship with his daughters (More than average for the show anyway) that at one point the President exclaims: My God, King Lear is a good play!

I'm just in that kind of mood. I'm hoping mine ends better.

Wikipedia: Othello
Unofficial West Wing Transcript Archive

Grenada's past:
jimmy smits and the west wing

moore organized religion

following up on alan moore and organized religion:

I would say that there are two main trains of thought which push me towards Moore's way of thinking about organized religion. (And I'm not saying that I agree with him, just that I'm not unsympathetic.)

One "train" comes from thinking about the essential centrality of "La ilaha illa Allah" (no god but God) in Islam. Both too good to be true? and no god but God give orthodox references which strongly suggest that the only condition for salvation is sincere belief in "no god but God". That's it. The answer. The only requirement. Nothing else. And everything else is extra. I'm not trying to give a fatwa here. I'm just saying describing what comes to mind when I read those particular hadith.

But if tawhid is the only requirement, then what are the rest of the Islamic laws and principles for? Well, many of the religious practices (ibadat) like reading the Quran, salat, dhikr) are primarily means to reinforce and sustain a belief in La ilaha illa Allah. After all, mankind was made forgetful. Another portion of shariah's guidance provides sound advice for living a good individual life. And of course, much of the shariah is related to promoting a peaceful and justly ordered society (which some may think of as social control). In any case, I would say that the more an individual is impressed by "no god but God", then these other functions of Islamic law would tend to fade in significance along with every other trapping of organized religion. As the hadith goes:

Sahih Bukhari
Volume 1, Book 3, Number 131:

Narrated Anas:
I was informed that the Prophet had said to Mu'adh, "Whosoever will meet Allah without associating anything in worship with Him will go to Paradise." Mu'adh asked the Prophet, "Should I not inform the people of this good news?" The Prophet replied, "No, I am afraid, lest they should depend upon it (absolutely)."

A second train of thought which makes me sympathize somewhat with Moore's critical attitude towards organized religion starts with thinking about the legacy of Malcolm X. Malcolm is often presented as a "poster boy" for Sunni Islam, but if you stop to check, he actually spent much more time as a member of the Nation of Islam than he ever spent as a Muslim outside of the Nation. (He was assinated less than a year after he left the Nation). Secondly, I don't mean this as a criticism or insult in any way, but I honestly don't know how "orthodox" or "Sunni" he really was when he died. Yes, he left the clear shirk of the Nation and was disillusioned by Elijah Muhammad's adultery but I don't know what beliefs he had in terms of Abu Bakr or Ali, in terms of the validity of hadith, following a madhab, finality of prophethood, etc. For all we know, Malcolm X might have become an Ahmadiyyah had he lived longer (after all, the Nation relied on Ahmadiyyah literature in addition to the writings of Elijah Muhammad) And yet, in spite of his ambiguous orthodoxy, Malcolm X is (and rightfully so) considered one of the most exemplary Muslims America has ever produced. The fact that he was an individual commited to one God and social justice trumps more pedantic concerns about theological correctness, at least in the grand scheme of things.

how the i ching "works"

I recently found a blog called Attempts, by Stephen Frug, which recently discussed the I Ching in a recent post called: Changes, The Book (Part Two) and shared the following interesting sentiments which are fairly close to my own understanding of the text:

The I Ching does not predict the future. All it does is give you something to chew on, stimulate your unconscious mind. There is absolutely no evidence that randomly throwing coins predicts future events. But reading selected passages from the book itself is quite good at shaking up your accustomed patterns of thought. And sometimes it can be eerily on point, in part because the reader brings his or her own unconscious thoughts and desires to the reading of a text that is by nature ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations.

The rest of the entry fleshes out and develops this idea, but the above is the core.

alan moore and organized religion

Just the other day I was talking with someone about how it seems that nowadays a lot of graphic novels (i.e. fancy comic books) have been grappling with religious themes. (for example, look at The Sandman, Lucifer, or Hellblazer which formed the basis for the film Constantine). This is also evident in the work of acclaimed graphic novelist Alan Moore, a practicing Gnostic... and also author of the anarchist fable, V for Vendetta.)

The other day I was in my local comic book store and found a book about Moore which contained a pretty thought-provoking interview where he shares his thoughts on religion:

What I'm saying is that, to me, organised religion seems to be an accumulation of dead ritual, lifeless dogma; and largely fear-driven belief that has built up around some original kernel of genuine spiritual experience. From what I understand of the original Essenes, for example, they were Gnostics. That is to say, their spirituality was based not upon faith or belief but upon personal apprehension and knowledge, or gnosis, of the powers at work in the Universe. They didn't believe:

They knew. If there over was such a historical personage as Jesus Christ, and if this person did have a group of Apostles around him, they were not acting from belief either. Saul/Paul had the heavenly searchlight turned upon him during his day trip to Damascus. Pentecostal Fire danced on their tongues. Thomas... a pure-bred I'm-From-Missouri Gnostic if ever I heard of one... even put his hand in the wound of the resurrected messiah. Gnosis ... personal knowledge and experience of the spiritual I have no problem with.

What I do have a problem with is the middle management who have manouvered themselves between the wellspring and those who thirst in the field of spirituality just as efficiently as they've done it in every other field of human endeavour. It seems to me that when the blueprint for the modern Christian faith was first sketched out by the Emperor Constantine and his marketing department, it was constructed largely to solve a couple of immediate Earthly problems that Rome was faced with at the time. They had a city divided by different theological factions, the largest and noisiest probably being the early Christian zealots. Then there was the cult of *Mithras*, which was smaller but which included the bulk of the Roman Military. Finally there was the cult of Sol *Invictus*, the undefeated Sun, which was relatively small but very popular amongst the merchant class.

Constantine's posse came up with a composite religion to unite Rome: Christianity would incorporate large chunks of Mithraism, including the stuff about being born in a cave surrounded by shepherds and animals on the 25th of December, and would make concessions to the cult of Sol Invictus, the Undefeated Sun, by sticking a big Sun-symbol behind the messiah's head in all the publicity handouts. This is politics.

The effect in spiritual terms is to move the emphasis away from any genuine personal spiritual experience. Whereas for the original Gnostics such a personal knowledge of and direct communication with the Godhead was the cornerstone of their spiritual life, after the priesthood moved in the basic proposition was vastly different:

"You don't need to have had a transforming experience yourselves, and in fact neither do the priesthood need to have had a transforming experience. The important thing is that we have this book, about people� who lived a long time ago, and they had transforming experiences, and if you come along on Sunday we'll read to you about them, and that will be. your transforming experience." This sounds to me like a co-opting of the divine impulse a channeling of the individual's spiritual aspirations into a mechanism for social regulation.

So, no, I'm not a big fan of organised religion of any kind.

It's a lot to think about. On the one hand, I have an "inner Taliban" which is very much enamored by orthodoxy and tradition. On the other hand, another part of me is very sympathetic to Moore's point and is a spiritual "anarchist" of sorts. I feel that both tendancies are necessary and each serves as a corrective to the excesses of the other.

some previous entries which have touched on some related themes are:
the guru principle
carlos santana
protestant islam
muslim anarchism
not spiritual but religious
"'x-men' is not a cleverly named documentary about the nation of islam..."
anarchism, hollywood style

I think I'll stop here and elaborate a little more later...

the day after

For a while now, I've been meaning to write something more about Anida Yoeu Eseguerra on Planet Grenada. I think she has an interesting perspective because she's a Muslim spoken word artist who deals with cultural/political issues but isn't ethnically "typical" for a Muslim in America. (She describes herself as a "non hyphenated Cambodian Muslim American woman"). Since she actually wrote me an e-mail a few days ago, I figure I will actually show some love and post one her poems. (Y'all should also check her website: atomicshogun.com where she has more poems, audio and visual files of other performances, booking info, etc.)

The Day After
A Cento based on Hate Crimes filed shortly after 9/11


Awoke to signs,
“Terrorists'' sprayed in red paint across their family's driveway,
“Terrorist on board'' written on their white car.
Awoke to find,
freeway sign says, "Kill all Arabs"
elevator sign says, "Kill all towel heads"

A Pakistani Muslim living in L.A.
awoke to find his car scratched across
the right side with the words “Nuke ‘em!”

Awoke to find
300 march on a mosque in Bridgeview, IL.
300 American flags shout "USA! USA!"
Mosque awoke to find a 19-year-old shouting
"I'm proud to be American, I hate Arabs and I always have."

Firebomb tossed,
Taxi driver pulled out and beaten,
Vandals in Collingswood, N.J. attacked two Indian-owned businesses.
Vandals spray-painted "leave town."

Awoke to find
a South Asian American,
Sikh, chased by a group of four men yelling "terrorist.”
Sikh mistaken as a Muslim American.

Back up.
Sikh man, 69, shot.
Body found in a canal
He had a turban on.
Turban mistaken as a Muslim American.

A vehicle of white males,
followed and harassed a 21-year-old female.
Attackers yelled, "Go back to your own country!"
The attackers’ car pinned her against another vehicle.
Then they backed up and ran over her again.
Kimberly—a 21-year-old
Back up. A 21-year-old full blood Creek
Back up. Full blood Creek Native American
Mistaken as a Muslim American

Awoke to find,
a Pakistani native beaten by three men.

Back up. Egyptian American, 48, killed point-blank
Back up. Sikh man, 49 shot.
Shooter shouted, "I stand for America all the way."

Back up.
A man pushing a baby stroller walked by a mosque
He stopped and started yelling,
"You Islamic mosquitoes should be killed."
Mosquitoes mistaken as Muslim Americans.

Awoke to find two women speaking Spanish in a doctor's office.
A Caucasian woman yells, "You foreigners caused all this trouble,"
and begins to beat one of the women.
Spanish mistaken as Muslim.

Back up.
She asks the woman if she is Arab,
And then punches her in the eye.

Awoke to be mistaken.
A woman wearing Muslim clothing was shopping.
A Caucasian woman began attacking her and yelled,
"America is only for white people."

Back up. America mistaken for white people.

Armed man sets fire to a Seattle mosque.
300 march on mosque in Bridgeview, IL.
Mosques in Carrollton, Denton and Irving, Texas, attacked.
Muslim student at Arizona State University attacked.
Afghan restaurant in Fremont attacked with bottles and rocks.
Two suspects wrote "die" on a Persian Club booth.

A gasoline bomb is thrown
through the window of a Sikh family's home,
hitting a 3-year-old on the head.

Two women at a bagel store, attacked
for wearing a Quranic charm around her neck.
Attacker lunges,
Yells, "Look what you people have done to my people"
No one in the store tried to help.
The owner apologized to the attackers for any inconvenience.

300 march on two women
No one tried to help.

Two women awoke to find
an explosion from a cherry bomb
outside the Islamic Center of San Diego.
San Diego mistaken for Muslim Americans
"Look what you people have done to my people."
300 march on mosque in Bridgeview, IL
No one tried to help.
Sign says, "Kill all Arabs."
Sign says, "Kill all towel heads."
Towels mistaken for Muslim Americans
No one tried to help.
Vandals attack.
No one tried to help.
He had a turban on.
No one tried to help.
Sign says, "Look what you people have done”
Flags wave in an Afghan restaurant.
300 march against Spanish spoken at a doctor’s office
Spanish mistaken for Muslim Americans
300 march on two women at a bagel store
Bagels mistaken for Muslim Americans
300 wave cherry bombs.
Bombs march on 300 Sikhs,
hitting a 3-year-old on the head.

Look what you people have done.

metamorphosis boricua

Just yesterday I was surprised to find a blog for the second spoken word artist I refered to in ignacio/ingrid rivera. The blog is called Metamorphosis Boricua and it is a very candid and visual record of one person's trans-formation from female-to-somethingelse.

First and last it should be said that changing genders is a radical decision and it is not likely that anyone would undertake such a process lightly or frivolously. But to be honest, I'm not sure how to properly understand or appreciate such a choice. (That's intended as an admission of ignorance, not a judgement.)

On the one hand, I can't help but have compassion for someone who feels so fundamentally out of place that they want to change bodies in order to be themselves.

On the other hand, in Islam there are various restrictions on certain kinds of body modifications and cosmetic procedures (e.g. tattoos, wigs, hairpieces, dying hair to look young, filing teeth etc.) to avoid vanity. And there is a general principle prohibiting "changing the creation of Allah" (taghyir khalq Allah). This restriction is certainly not absolute and I've never seen its limits precisely defined, but the principle suggests to me that we should be happy with our bodies as they are naturally and not mess with them too much without good reason.

What is "good reason"? That's not quite so clear.

In any case, there are both Sunni and Shia scholars who have given fatwas permitting sex-change operations if necessary.

See also:
the men will look like the women...
the grass is always greener...

innumerable sluts now available

Ok, for many years now I've heard the ISNA convention described as a "meat-market", but the cynicism has reached a new low when I recently heard someone joke that ISNA = "Innumerable Sluts Now Available". Damn.

apuntes palestine

Check out: Apuntes Palestine a blog from Fernando Reals, a Boricua from New York writing about his experiences in Palestine.

amir sulaiman: the illusion

I've just been listening to a Amir Sulaiman CD today, and was especially impressed by the talk called "The Illusion" and felt like sharing it. I looked around online and found a blogger, Muntaka Shah, who was generous enough to type up a transcript. I think the talk captures a lot of what I find so compelling in Islam. It isn't about blind faith and emotional displays. It is more about a calm certainty which comes from unvarnished realism; knowing who you are in relation to God and the world.

see also:
manifest liberation: the four gates