islamicate

Cairo Park Now Open (Really) [updated]

An article on private-public partnership. The official news material. The digital library on ArchNet; very nice images.

Update: The official web-site.

Bishkek is falling

Following up on yesterday's post, the BBC is reporting Bishkek is falling to the opposition. Avari has some history. Registan has more political context, including the possible involvement of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Disturbing and Sad

A film that might prove objectionable to some is not being released. Now I understand that this is not a universal rejection, just in the South, and there are commercial interests involved. However, from commercial interests to implicit censorship is not a far stone's throw. We saw it with Buster the Rabbit. How far will this go? At what point to stop being creative for fear of offending? At what point do we stop being thought provoking? At what point do we become soylent green?

Kyrgyz revolution?

The BBC is reporting protests in Osh and Jalalabad in Kyrgyzstan in response to the recent election. Bishkek is brewing. I had put the rumblings going on there as flights of fancy. However, if Osh and Jalalabad are in fact under control of the opposition, this could be a very serious movement. The fact that the Bishkek rally was broken up relatively peacefully I think bodes well for the opposition.

The Taliban Party né The Republican Party

Juan Cole on the Schiavo case. A must read.

Witness the birth of the Nation

Those of you familiar with the theology and history of the Nation of Islam will immediately recognize parallels with the formation of this hate group. Hat tip to the Killer Whale.

The Good Samaritan/Muslim

Iqra.

image and question

Look at this picture and question. Let me ask an additional question. How many Muslims would look at her and say the “model of modesty?” and how many “fundie?”

Navroz Mubarak - نوروز مبارك

Happy New Year to everyone. May the year bring you much joy and happiness.

The springtime of a friend of Ali is always full of the efflorescence of Ali.
None deserves eminence and praise among the people except he who befriends Ali.
The heart of every Shi'i is protected from Satan in the fortress of Ali.
As Ali is from the Prophet's family, the true Shi'i belongs to the family of Ali.
A hundred years of praise is not equal to even one in a thousand praises of Ali.
Courage, knowledge, abstinence, generosity: these are the qualities I revere in Ali.
Therefore, my back is bent with gratitude under the weight of the favours of Ali.
My under and outer garments are faith and knowledge, just as they were for Ali.
If you want to understand his status, reflect upon the role and the deeds of Ali:
he was a lion, the battlefield his meadow, and Gabriel was the spearman of Ali.
Ali's cave is of knowledge, not stone, for stone does not befit the glory of Ali.
The clouds of ta'wil do not shed their droplets except on the trees and the seed-fields of Ali.
Ali had no desire for gold or silver; faith and knowledge were the choice of Ali.
There was not fault in him nor blemish in the tongue, hands and garments of Ali.
Husayn and Hasan, the Prophet's reminders, were none other than the reminders of Ali.
Truly no one can be saved from the fire unless he comes under the protection of Ali.

Nasir Khusraw
from The Shimmering Light: An Anthology of Isma'ili Poems
translated by Faquir Muhammad Hunzai.

Guns and terrorists don't mix; no one is accountable

Look here. Sam I Am sent the link.