Month: December 2008

Intra-faith Religion

NYT on Bosnian Islam

islamoyankee

Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia’s Secular Cast – NYTimes.com It seems that there are several issues at stake here. 1. In a republic where one can exercise religion more freely than one has been able to do so in almost two generations, what is the line between expressing religion and reactionary religion? Or, more critically, what is the relationship between the state and religion? 2. There is the the usual undercurrent that devout Muslims are dangerous Muslims. Bars are the signifiers of a truly open society. I think as a metric, it’s a bit bizarre, but it’s the lens of the…

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Intra-faith

NYT on Turkey’s New Riches

islamoyankee

Newfound Riches Come With Spiritual Costs for Turkey’s Religious Merchants – NYTimes.com. There are some choice examples in this article of the rich religious. My favorite is the sofa that lifts up off of the ground during prayer time. I wonder how far they had to dig to find people who saw a strong dichotomy between being wealthy and being religious. I think this quote "The businessmen describe themselves as Muslims with a Protestant work ethic, and say hard work deepens faith," is rather telling. How many Turks are thinking of the Protestant work ethic? The class differentials in Turkish society seem to be the real story. The conflict between the material and the spiritual world seems to be a reach that they shoe-horned into the article.

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Current Affairs

Gaza Crisis [constantly being updated]

islamoyankee

I tend not to post on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because I do not perceive it as an issue of religious conflict from the Muslim perspective, and with the sizable number of Christians there, it is easy to make this obvious. However, the recent Gaza bombing, immediately following a blockade of food and certain medical supplies, is horrific. Haroon is covering, as is the excellent Global Voices. Mark Lynch, Abu Aardvark, posts some possibilities  for how this may destabilize the entire region. Not a good scenario. Brian adds more. Apparently the strike has been in the works since before the ceasefire. (h/t…

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Uncategorized

Two Takes on Hanukah

islamoyankee

Richard, at Tikun Olam, has a piece up entitled Hanukah: Holiday of Spiritual Renewal or Jewish Nationalism? This summation is, I think, a good review of what Hanukah is becoming. Growing up I only knew the miracle story from my friends. The nationalist aspect is new to me, even now.  Muslim holidays have been politicized, albeit in a different way, for quite some time. The celebration of the Prophet’s birthday is a touchstone of Wahabbi ideology. To recognize the uniqueness of the Prophet in any way is to commit a sin in their worldview. The Hajj has always been a good time…

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Books

Chris Dickey Says

islamoyankee

Chris says read Giles Kepel’s new book, Beyond Terrorism and Martyrdom. I took his advice and am now using it in a course. While his review is not as useful as I would hope, I like Chris’ analysis and I really like Kepel’s thinking. If you have not, you should also read his book on Jihad. Chris also talks about The 99, a new comic book series about Muslims – Martijn has more. I have blogged about Muslims and comics before.and thinki it’s a great art form for Muslims to express themselves. Again it’s interesting that such an American medium…

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