Ijtihad al'kitab
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| Monday, November 30th, 2009 | | 4:53 pm |
CAIR: My second impressions
 photo from www.reformislam.org After the 15th Annual Banquet of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter I was invited to the 7th Annual Banquet of the Sacramento Valley chapter of CAIR. I attended not necessarily to support CAIR, but to form my opinion of them. Here are my second impressions. I also transcribed Sheikh Alauddin's speech at the CAIR-SV dinner which was the high point of both banquets in my opinion, and worth a read. Justice:
"A Muslim stands for Justice. Because they say, 'What charity is trying to remedy today, justice could have prevented yesterday.' ... I will read for you a translation of a verse in the Quran. Chapter four and verse one hundred and thirty five. 'Oh you who believe, stand out firmly for justice as witnesses to God...' And here's the statement, '...even when it is against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin and whether it be against the rich or poor for God can best protect both. Follow not the desires of your heart lest you will swerve from the Truth and decline justice and distort justice verily Allah is acquainted with all that you do.'
...
Now brothers and sisters, I want to tell you that we, as Muslims, we don't lose when we lose a lawsuit. We don't lose when we lost our land. We don't lose when we lose a life or an opportunity. We lose when we lose our values and our principles. That's when we lose. And that's why as believers we have to always stand up for our values... That when injustice is done against us we have to stand up, and when injustice is done by us we also have to stand up. So, that we gain credibility in the community." Between two extremists:
"We are sandwiched by a handful of few who are extremists or terrorists or whatever they are. And they are loud, and the media loves them and they love to cover them. And we are here. And we have to be louder than them if we don't like what they do.... They hijack Islam itself. They hijack the beautiful name of Islam.
...
If there's some people that they want to die in the name of God, I want to live in the name of Allah! ((applause)) If there are people who want to destroy in the name of Allah, I want to build in the name of Allah! If there are people who want to take life, I want to save life in the name of Allah!
...
The second half of the sandwich... is the extremists on the other side who want to keep on poisoning the minds of Americans about Muslims in America... These people, if it's up to them they want to round up all Muslims and put them in concentration camps... They don't realize that in turning against Muslims in America they are turning against the very fabric and the very structure of the American society.
...
If you make these laws to target Muslims today, you don't know who it's going to be used against tomorrow. It's not going to be Muslims. It's going to be someone else." For more info:  | | Friday, November 27th, 2009 | | 7:19 pm |
I won!
Thank you to everyone for your support in the Brass Crescent Award voting. With your votes my articles took first place in the Best Series category. I would also like to congratulate Suhaib Webb for taking first place in the Best Blog category. | | Thursday, November 26th, 2009 | | 12:33 pm |
Last day to vote for the Brass Crescent Awards 2009
I was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for my Examiner articles. It's voter driven and I'd really appreciate if you guys would vote for me in the "Best Post or Series" category. VOTE HEREThe Brass Crescent Awards, a joint project of altmuslim and City of Brass, is an annual awards ceremony that honors the best writers and thinkers of the Muslim blogosphere. The BCAs are awarded annually based on the Islamic calendar. Nominations are taken from blog readers beginning after Ramadan, with a panel of judges narrowing the field to five finalists in each category. Readers may vote for their choices until November 27th after which winners will be announced on Eid al-Adha, inshaAllah. The Muslim blogosphere is the intellectual heir to the traditions of philosophy and learning that was once the hallmark of Islamic civilization - a heritage scarcely recognizable today after over a century of colonialism, tyranny, and religious fundamentalism. These awards are a meant to honor and celebrate this emerging community, and promote its growth in the spirit of the Qur’anic injunction to “compete with one another in doing good works” (5:48). I encourage everyone go and vote for their favorite blogs at the Brass Crescent. Note: you must confirm your vote through email, so check your inbox/spam after voting. San Francisco Examiner, Davi Barker has been nominated for the "Best Post or Series" category for his "bold and investigative" series on the Rifqa Bary controversy. VOTE HERE | | Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | | 11:50 pm |
CAIR: My first impressions
Often rightwing pundits accuse Muslims of not only following a religion, but a political ideology. They claim that CAIR and similar organizations represent a covert conspiracy of radical Muslims who's only aim is to replace the American republic with a Saudi style tyranny. Further, the purveyors of the new McCarthyism claim that this is to be accomplished under the guise of civil rights. What irony! That the very weapon which will be used to destroy civil rights in America is civil rights itself! Or maybe it's all bollocks. Those anti-Muslim talking heads who peddle this tripe would be surprised to find that the target audience of CAIR's message are Muslims who's political ideology is disappointingly indistinguishable from the American mainstream.
On Sunday, November 15th, I attended the CAIR SFBA 15th Annual Fundraising Banquet to form my own opinion about the organization. Read More | | Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | | 11:20 pm |
Brass Crescent Awards 2009
.jpg) The Brass Crescent Awards is an annual awards ceremony that honors the best writers and thinkers of the Muslim blogosphere. I have been nominated for an Award in the "Best Post or Series" category for my series on the Rifqa Bary controversy. It's voter driven and I'd really appreciate if you guys would vote for me if you enjoyed the articles. VOTE HEREIf you haven't read them, you can see the nominated articles here. | | 11:13 pm |
Nadal Hasan: Terrorist or Hero?
.jpg) Reports litter the internet connecting Nadal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, and Imam Anwar al Awlaki, an American scholar in Yemen who praised Hasan as a hero in a recent blog post. He wrote: "Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people..." I'm not about to take that position, but I can understand the logic. If you are against the war you must necessarily believe that the actions of the military are unjust. If the actions of the military are unjust than the opposition has a right to defend themselves. If they have a right to defend themselves than the military is a legitimate target. If the military is a legitimate target than one who strikes against the military is a hero. That's the unfortunate dichotomy created by the initiation of violence. I'm not ready to call Nadal Hasan a terrorist, or a hero. But I'd like to discuss two examples from recent news which describe what I think Major Hasan could have done that I would have condemned as terrorism, and would have praised as heroic.
Read More | | Thursday, November 12th, 2009 | | 7:04 pm |
Fort Hood: remember remember the 5th of November
On Thursday, November 5th I was driving home from work when I heard over the radio the last line of a public statement from Barry Obama, "it's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil." My heart sank and suddenly it was 2001, on the 11th of September. Without any details my mind produced the worst case scenario. Gunfire and smoke. Explosions and blood. And as I imagined the consequences of another terrorist attack all I could think about was internment camps. Read More | | Friday, November 6th, 2009 | | 7:50 am |
| | Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | | 12:47 am |
.jpg) From the onset the story has been a microcosm of the larger clash of civilizations that some people perceive between Christianity and Islam.Two distinct narratives appeared which were equally implausible. One, that all Muslims are bloodthirsty savages who kill their children at the slightest provocation. Two, that a 17 year old girl from a devout Muslim family was brainwashed over Facebook by a Christian pastor in less than a month. Both ludicrous.
I, however, have a different take.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently released the audio and transcript of an interview they did with Ms. Bary on August 24, 2009. I strongly recommend the audio, because the text is somewhat incomplete, and a person's voice is always more nuanced than text. What I'd like to do is compare this information with the previous statements we have from Ms. Bary. Read More
| | Friday, October 30th, 2009 | | 8:09 am |
The First International Islamic Retreat in the Caribbean
I recently got back from an Internaltional Islamic Retreat at the Islamic Center of Barrackpore, Trinidad. My primary interest in the retreat is the opportunity hear Islamic speaker and writer Maulana Imran Hosein. His book on the Gold Dinar, and his two books on Riba in Islam were the primary research for my article “ The Dust of Riba and the Rush for Gold.” His lecture and article about women in the house of Allah were the primary inspiration for my article “ Empathy Day.” Although the Shaikh’s primary field of scholarship, around which this retreat perambulates, is the signs of the end times in the modern world. I just finished writing summaries for each day, enjoy. Introduction A brief history of Trinidad A brief bio of Maulana Imran Hosein Day Two Session One: Signs of the Last Day and the Reality of the Modern Age Session Two: Islam’s Conception of the End of Time Session Four: Surah Kahf in the Modern Age Day Three Session One: Dajjals most Dangerous Weapon, Riba. Session Two: Riba Part II Day Four The Muslim Village Evening Celebrations Day Five An Islamic Response to the Political and Economic Challenges of the Modern Age Day Six Session One: Dajjal and the Feminist Revolution Session Two: Gog and Magog Part I Session Three: Gog and Magog Part II Day Seven Session One: Islam and it's Political Order Session Two: A brief history of the fall of the Islamic Caliphate More Photos | | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 8:31 am |
| | Friday, October 23rd, 2009 | | 11:56 am |
Honor Killings... lies, damn lies and statistics
To help my own understanding I like to check footnotes and crunch numbers. You've all heard it right? It's all over the blogosphere. It's in all the Rifqa Bary articles. Atlas Shrugs knows it. Jihad Watch knows it. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 5,000 Muslim women are victims of honor killings annually. Wow! That's a major problem. Let's give it some perspective. | | Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | | 3:52 pm |
| | Friday, October 2nd, 2009 | | 10:46 am |
The First International Islamic Retreat in the Caribbean (intro)
 In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.
This week I find myself at the First International Islamic Retreat at the Islamic Center of Barrackpore, Trinidad. I have only limited internet access, so I will not be able to devote my full attention to Emails and comments. I will endeavor to provide a brief summary of each session and report the event as thoroughly as possible, but I will not have time to provide my own thoughts and analysis until I return. This is the first event of this kind in the Caribbean. It will go from Shawwal 12-17 1430 (October 1-6, 2009).
read more
| | 10:43 am |
| | Friday, September 25th, 2009 | | 3:51 pm |
The quest for chicken tikka massala
 Controversy, it seems, continues to surround this delicious post modern culinary masterpiece from it's origins to it's status in British society. The famous Chicken Tikka Massala, codename: CTM to the initiated, is believed by many to of Pakistani origins, but I was informed when I ordered the dish in San Francisco that it was actually an American invention. No more Pakistani than hamburgers are German. But the prevailing theory it seems is that CTM actually originated in Scotland. Legend has it that a Scotsman (of which no true example exists), upon ordering the chicken tikka at a Pakistani restaurant, complained that dish was too dry, so the owner dumper on a can tomato soup. Then magic occurred. Some consider this account apocryphal, but most agree that the dish is not of purely eastern origin.
Going over my budget I discovered that I spend an exorbitant amount of money on CTM at restaurants. So, I embarked on a quest to unlock the secrets of this ubiquitous dish.
Read More | | Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | | 6:15 pm |
Sweat Pillar & Co
 Christmas has its cookies, Hanukkah has its Gelt and now Sweet Pillar & Co. is offering a signature treat for Ramadan. Medjool dates have been synonymous with Ramadan since the time of the Prophet, in part because of their many nutritional benefits. But these gourmet Bon dates put a decadent spin on that old classic. They are dipped in fine Belgian chocolate and stuffed with crumbled walnuts. Read More | | Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 | | 10:45 pm |
Empathy Day
 While the primary symptom is a denial of women their rights, specifically those guaranteed to them by Islam, I feel the primary problem is a lack of empathy. Although many people mistakenly believe them to be synonymous, empathy and sympathy have very distinct meanings. While sympathy connotes a kind of pity or compassion for a person it doesn't mean you really understand what it's like to be in their situation. Empathy is level above that where you are actually capable of feeling what the other person is feeling vicariously. To make it easy to remember, sympathy is feeling for someone, empathy is feeling with someone. For most people actual empathy is very difficult to achieve without having some measure of similar experience. I propose the following to rectify that deficiency. Read More | | 9:22 am |
The Night of Power
.jpg) The prayer hall was left dim for those sleeping while many stood in rows, the air filled with the melodic sound of the Imam's recitation, which provides both the elation of a godly hymn, and the tranquility of silence. Suddenly, intense flickering of white light illuminated the faces of the believers as the deafening clamour pounded from outside. Heavy rain pelted the windows in rolling sheets as the Imam read on. The storm persisted through the prayer, a reminder of the awesome power God has entrusted to the forces of nature.
(3:12-13) It is He Who shows you the lightning, a fear and a hope, and it is He Who raises the clouds, heavy with fertilizing rain; And the thunder repeats His praises, as do the angels, with awe of Him. He sends the loud-voiced thunderbolts.
Read More | | Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 | | 6:11 am |
Apostasy: an unqualified fatwa
In the orignial video which aired August 10th Rifqa Bary said to the camera and to the world, "If they love Allah more than me, they have to do it (kill her). It’s in the Quran." It is a widely accepted misconception that the Quran calls for the death penalty for apostasy. This is mostly claimed by Christians and Orientalists, and it’s utterly false. No such verse exists, and I challenge you to bring it. The Quran speaks repeatedly of people returning to disbelief after believing (2:217, 3:86-90, 4:137, 9:66, 9:74, 16:106-109, 4:88-91, 47:25-27), but never says they should be punished in this life. Let’s take a look. |
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