Papa Bongo’s 40 years in power | World news | The Guardian: “Record-breaking rule thanks to oil cash but cronysim and corruption taint future”

Lexington | Wright’s wrongs | Economist.com: “AFTER he became notorious as the man who urged God to damn America, Jeremiah Wright claims he wrestled with two impulses. The first was to heed the proverb: ‘It is better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.’ The second was to ‘come across the room’ and fight back. Mr Wright’s decision to come across the room with his mouth wide open is proving a disaster for all concerned.”

King’s Speeches Still Influencing World Rhetoric : NPR

John Reider, author of The Word of the Lord is Upon Me: The Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr., discusses the lingering influence of King’s sermons.

The Immanent Frame » Blog Archive » What we talk about when we talk about shari‘a

No doubt many readers of this blog have themselves dealt with the delicate question of responding to systematic and apparently willful misreading. I am pretty sure that, following the model of my elders and betters, I should try to reply only to substantive objections to my work, not to ad hominem arguments, the fallacy of which should be self-refuting. But how to do it when the criticism relies on vernacular, name-calling versions of once-fashionable jargon (Orientalism, paternalism) without specifying their content or explaining how they may be related to the text under attack? In such circumstances, I suspect, to defend is already to be deflected from what really matters.

With that in mind, a few clarifying points are nevertheless in order regarding an essay of mine in The New York Times Magazine that drew on a new book, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State,
out this past month from Princeton University Press. I began the essay
with the recent lecture of the Archbishop of Canterbury to frame an
irrefutable and I think interesting contrast: in the West, the word
shari‘a is treated as radioactive, while in many places in the
Muslim world (I quoted statistics from Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan)
substantial majorities say they favor making the shari‘a into the
source of law. In the essay and the book, I am interested in exploring
the basis for the apparent appeal of the shari‘a, which, I argue,
is not properly understood as “Islamic law” but as a richer
set of associated ideas connected to the constraint of all human beings
under a divine justice that applies to all.

Gourmet Tea Guide - Portfolio.com

Coffee isn’t the only caffeinated beverage to get the gourmet makeover. How to properly tackle tea.

Religioscope: Religion and money: Islamic finance: “Islamic finance is on the rise in what in many parts of the world can be called an anti-Sharia age, and it has been proven compatible with Western financial systems and legislation. But challenges have still to be faced. “

TIME: Muslims in America at HAhmed.com

TIME.com features an article on Being American - and Muslim by Shireen Khan, as well as a photo essay by Ziyah Gafic.

The photo spread titled “Muslims In America,”
features Muslims throughout the greater NY area, including three people
I know personally! MashaAllah, it does a great job capturing the
diversity of our beautiful ummah right here in our home in New York!

American Muslims are so American they are…boring? : ReligionWriter.com: “At last September’s Religion Newswriters Association pow-wow in San Antonio, veteran religion reporter (and bead-blogger) Kimberly Winston pulled me aside to tell me about Melody Moezzi, the young author of the Dec. 2007 book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims. ‘You have to meet her,’ said Kimberly, who profiled Moezzi and her book last year in Publisher’s Weekly. In spite of this glowing review from a respected peer, it has taken me more than six months to sit down and read the whole book, which I finished last night.”

Guess Who’s Getting the Most Work Visas: ”
Since 1990, the US has issued a set number of H-1B visas by lottery to attract talented science, technology and math professionals from around the world to its universities, research centers and companies. Increasing numbers of applications, however, combined with strict caps and a lottery system prevent many foreign professionals from entering the US workforce. A federal report points out that outsourcing firms in India receive an increasing share of the visas, reports Moira Herbst for BusinssWeek.com, and that has prompted some members of US Congress to question whether the program is really attracting the most talented workers who provide long-term benefit to the country. The report reveals a divide between US technology companies and India’s outsourcing firms; while both want a sharp increase in the annual number of visas, the former seeks permanent workers and the latter seeks temporary help. Meanwhile, many US workers remain anxious about job security and oppose any expansion in the visa program. – YaleGlobal”

Foreign Affairs - Us and Them - Jerry Z. Muller: “Summary: Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. But in fact, it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit, it is galvanized by modernization, and in one form or another, it will drive global politics for generations to come. Once ethnic nationalism has captured the imagination of groups in a multiethnic society, ethnic disaggregation or partition is often the least bad answer.”

Banks Springing Up to Serve the Underserved - New York Times: “Similarly, many of the nation’s almost five million Muslims have special banking concerns that often go unaddressed by mainstream banks. In particular, Sharia, Islamic law, forbids the charging or paying of interest. ‘This hampers most bank transactions,’ said Amjad Quadri, assistant vice president for business development and new markets at the University Islamic Financial Corporation, a bank based in Ann Arbor, Mich. As a result, many Muslims decide to rent rather than buy homes. ‘And most Muslims only have interest-free checking accounts and credit cards that they pay off at the end of the month,’ Mr. Quadri said.

To accommodate special concerns of Muslims, University Islamic, with additional offices in East Brunswick, N.J., and McLean, Va., offers rent-to-own agreements for home buyers, along with savings accounts that offer ‘profit sharing’ rather than interest. (The bank’s profit-sharing rates are competitive with those at other financial institutions.)

This profit-sharing strategy has enabled Haaris Ahmad, a lawyer in Canton, Mich., to earn money in a money market account for the first time. ‘Now, my wife and I get the same benefits that other people have, but in a way that’s compliant with our faith requirements,’ Mr. Ahmad said.”

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Counters the Tide of Islamic Extremism - US News and World Report: “Tossing out centuries of reasoned reflection upon the meaning of sharia and discounting the importance of most schools of jurisprudence, these puritans reduce the law to selected passages from the Koran and the hadith and, as the traditionalists see it, distort the intent of sharia by taking the chaff for the wheat. ‘Their fast-food jurisprudence has led to great intolerance,’ says Suhaib Webb, a 36-year-old American convert to Islam who came to Al-Azhar University from California precisely to learn the classical traditions of jurisprudence. ‘The classical discourse dealt with reality,’ Webb says. ‘The modern discourse is utopian. Ali Gomaa is respected because he deals with reality.’

Since being appointed grand mufti by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2003, Gomaa has demonstrated that realism in scores of rulings on matters that have profound implications for the lives of Muslims. In a country where female genital mutilation is still widely practiced in the name of religion, Gomaa declared it un-Islamic and wrong. He has ruled that Muslims should not be punished for leaving the faith. Citing conflicting opinions from different religious sources, he has declared that there is no definitive edict against playing or performing music. He has said it is permissible, with some restrictions, for Muslim financial institutions to charge interest on loans. He has ruled unequivocally that women may serve as judges and hold political office. He has been equally bold in saying there should be no Islamic political parties, on the grounds that they create divisions between Muslims—a view that makes officials of Egypt’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood uneasy.”

The Dairies Are Half-Pint, but the Flavor Isn’t - New York Times

ANNE SAXELBY had what she calls an “aha moment” a couple of years ago when she drove upstate to try the cultured butter made by Evans Farmhouse Creamery in Chenango County. Ms. Saxelby, who owns Saxelby Cheesemongers in Manhattan, said that for all the butter she had eaten in her life, “I had really never had butter before — this is butter.”

More and more people across the country are being treated to the same aha experience as they find a burgeoning variety of fresh dairy products made in small batches on little farms and in small creameries. And it’s worth the extra money…

 

Blogged with Flock

Link TV | One Nation Many Voices | View Film: “In early 1996, an entirely free health clinic opened its doors in South Central Los Angeles. A project initiated by Muslim American students, and now run by a dedicated staff of all religions and races, UMMA Community Clinic is indeed something special. “

Read USA Today’s current feature on the Film Contest:

Click here to view USA Today Article

Blogged with Flock

Are Kids Copying Their Parents When They Lie? — New York Magazine

Blogged with Flock

New Islamic Directions - Imam Zaid Shakir on NYT Book Review feature on “Islam”

Blogged with Flock

Blogged with Flock

YouTube - Interview of Sayyed Naquib al-Attas by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf - MBC/YouTube - Don’t Miss.

Seeker’s Digest: Islamic Philosophy: An Introduction - Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas [pdf]

Islamic Philosophy: An Introduction
by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas [pdf]

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas is one of the more brilliant Muslim thinkers of our times.

Bumper-length ideas « Koonj: the crane

When we bought my Forester (here in Athens, GA), it had a bumper sticker that said: “ATHEISM IS ARROGANCE.”

I mean, you all know I’m not a fan of atheism.

But I just wouldn’t want to be the one to say ATHEISM IS ARROGANCE IN ALL CASES.

I might say ATHEISM IS CONFUSION, or GOD KNOWS WHAT ATHEISM IS. Or maybe I THINK SOME ATHEISTS ARE UPSET WITH SORROW AND PAIN IN THE WORLD, or maybe ATHEISTS AREN’T NECESSARILY BAD PEOPLE, I JUST THINK THEY’RE WRONG.

Or maybe SOME ATHEISTS ARE ARROGANT; HELL, SOME BELIEVERS ARE PRETTY DARN ARROGANT TOO.

Or… [read on]

scottberkun.com » Favorite MLK quote on tech innovation

On days like this when someone famous is honored, I try to dig up something they wrote to compare what I think I know about
that person and why they’re famous, with what they actually did
and said. It’s always enlightening, but sometimes I find
unexpected gems like this:

(yes it’s 3 long paragraphs, but I bet you $50 it’s the best writing you’ll read today).

Modern man has brought this whole world to an
awe-inspiring threshold of the future. He has reached new and
astonishing peaks of scientific success. He has produced machines that
think and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of
interstellar space. He has built gigantic bridges to span the seas and
gargantuan buildings to kiss the skies. His airplanes and spaceships
have dwarfed distance, placed time in chains, and carved highways
through the stratosphere. This is a dazzling picture of modern
man’s scientific and technological progress.

Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and
technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is
missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in
glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The
richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and
spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea
like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as
brothers.

Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The
internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature,
morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices,
techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we
live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become
lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to
outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be
summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau:
“Improved means to an unimproved end.” This is the serious
predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If
we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual “lag” must
be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there
is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the “without”
of man’s nature subjugates the “within,” dark storm
clouds begin to form in the world.

If we believe this, then why is so little of what we talk about when
we use the word innovation directed at helping people make, in MLKs
terms, internal progress?

Read the full transcript of MLK’s amazing acceptance speech for the Nobel prize, from Dec, 1964.

The Radical Middle Way - Home

Being a Real Man; Is there a Crisis of Authority in Islam?; Alienated
Youth or Outdated Institutions?; Becoming Scholars: The Challenge of
Being Classical and Relevant; Spiritual Awakening, Reaching Muslim 2.0:
Community Development for a Wired Urban Generation; The Most Sacred
Places: The Spiritual Dimensions of Pilgrimage and Hip Hop Islam? A
Discussion on Urban Music and Community Development.

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Also:

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  Sidi Rami Nashashibi
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  Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Radical Middle Way:
Audio - Lectures

Video - Lectures

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf :: English transcript

From Protest to Engagement - transcripts and videos

The Radical Middle Way is pleased to present the first of all upcoming transcripts from our February event, From Protest to Engagement.

To LISTEN to the audio recording of Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad’s lecture in London click here.

To READ the transcript of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s speech, please click here, to LISTEN to the audio, click here or to WATCH the video, broadcast on Islam Channel, click here.

To LISTEN to the audio recording of Imam Suhaib’s lecture in London (his lecture in Bradford will be uploaded in due course) click here or to WATCH the video, click here.

To watch the video of Habib Ali al-Jifri’s lecture in London (his lecture in Bradford will be uploaded in due course), click here.

“Osama Bin-Who?” Native Deen, and Why American Muslims Shouldn’t Play the Victim : ReligionWriter.com

When ReligionWriter first heard that the American Muslim hip-hop group Native Deen had a new album out this winter, she wanted to buy it right away. Native Deen’s earlier album, The Deen You Know, was played more-or-less non-stop in RW’s
car for months, at the request of her young sons, who loved to rock out
to the title track. (FYI for non-Muslim types: “deen” means
religion in Arabic.) At the December Eid al-Adha celebration in
downtown D.C. (an event well-captured on video by Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein,) RW brought her sons over to buy the new CD, Not Afraid to Stand Alone, from none other than Joshua Salaam — one of the three members of Native Deen, who also happens to be the youth director at the ADAMS Center, RW’s own mosque. RW’s sons shyly handed over the money, thrilled to see a “celebrity” they admire face to face.

Dear Self Book Discussion, Imam Zaid on the KPFA Morning Show « Knowledge Seeker

Imam Zaid Shakir, in a beautiful example of excellence to parents, published his mother’s beautiful diary…

Dear Self book discussion. Imam Zaid Shakir talks on the KPFA Morning Show.

With thanks to Zaytuna Institute for uploading the audio.

Click on the links below to:

Listen to the interview.

Buy the book in the USA.

Buy the book in the UK.

TheStar.com - News - War on plastic heating up

Bans on plastic bags and bottles are now proliferating. But that bad-boy image overlooks some big environmental advantages