Adulting 1

"Your work will feel most fulfilling if you've spent some time figuring out your unique interests and talents and you go out there and get better and better at doing that stuff. And much more important than the work you do is how you behave with humans. Research proves you'll feel happiest -- during life and at its end -- if you find some small set of humans who know the real you and who love and support you no matter what, and whom you love and support in return." (8)

"But you can decide today that you want to let go of 'I need to be perfect' as your goal and replace it with 'I'm here to learn and grow.' And that's a strong start." (33)

"You're on an adventure now that bears no resemblance to childhood. You're fending. And it's time to cast aside simple platitudes like 'perfect!,' to engage in broader thinking, and to grow more comfortable with dwelling in the uncertain gray areas of life, of which there are multitudes. You're going to take steps forward, but also some steps backwards and even some steps sideways...Adulting is perpetual trial and error, all of which contributes to your growth. In fact, your bad experiences will teach you far more than the good ones." (34)

"Take this from Game of Thrones:

Jon Snow: 'I failed.'

Ser Davos: 'Good. Now go fail again.'" (37)

--Julie Lythcott-Haims, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2021).

Moral Principles

 Love your neighbor. Love the stranger. Hear the cry of the otherwise unheard. Liberate the poor from their poverty. Care for the dignity of all. Let those who have more than they need share their blessings with those who have less. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, and heal the sick in body and mind. Fight injustice, whoever it is done by and whoever it is done against. And do these things, because being human, we are bound by a covenant of human solidarity, whatever our color or culture, class or creed. These are moral principles.

Jonathan Sacks, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times (New York: Basic Books, 2020), p. x.

New Book (Feb 2021): Ethical Teachings of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī: Economics of Happiness by Sami Al-Daghistani

Al-Ghazālī made seminal contributions to the field of ethical economic thought. Though he dedicated many chapters in his encyclopaedic Iḥyā’ Ulūm al-Dīn (The Revival of Religious Sciences) to what he considered just and Sharī‘a-based economic conduct in (Muslim) society, this specific aspect of his corpus has been largely overlooked in Western scholarship. This book aims to analyse and revive al-Ghazālī’s little studied economic teachings by emphasizing his economic philosophy and its correlation between Sharī‘a’s moral law and the tradition of taṣawwuf, situating his thought within the context of modern economic theories.

The scholarly ignorance of his economic contributions goes hand in hand with a claim made by several Western scholars (e.g., J. Schumpeter) that classical Islamic scholarship did not offer any significant development in the domain of economic thought in what was known in Europe as the Middle Ages—a claim that scholars like Ghazanfar and Islahi, attempted to refute. This book delves into an analysis of al-Ghazālī’s theoretical accounts and his economic philosophy as part of his overall ethics of happiness, looking closely at select passages from his work in order to position them at the intersection of two domains within the framework of classical Islamic economic thought, namely taṣawwuf or Sufi-mystical thought and Sharī‘a law.

This work does not assume that al-Ghazālī anticipated modern trends of Western economics; however, by merging the necessity of kasb (acquisitions of wealth) and the importance of zuhd (renunciation of the worldly endeavours) as equal components in the context of the science of the hereafer (‘ilm ṭarīq al-ākhira), he presented the culmination of ethical economic thought in classical Islamic tradition, influencing later Muslim scholars. Hence, in this rather specific reading of al-Ghazālī’s economic philosophy, he conceived of an economic analysis that was founded upon ethical teachings, an endeavor that should be ultimately regarded as a technology of self-examination.

Reviews: “Al-Daghistani makes a remarkable contribution to the study of economic thought in classical Islam. A rewarding read.” —Wael B. Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

“The new perspective opened by Al-Daghistani's book on Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's economics of happiness is a remarkable addition to the developing literature on the economic thought of one of the most influential thinkers in Islamic intellectual history”. — Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor, Columbia University

https://anthempress.com/ethical-teachings-of-abu-amid-al-ghazali-hb 

Yahya Birt: A Brown Sahib’s Lament: Ed Husain Among the Minarets

 https://yahyabirt.medium.com/a-brown-sahibs-lament-ed-husain-among-the-minarets-aaa7c92751f5

منجد الخطيب روائع القصص والأمثال مأخوذة من سير أعلام النبلاء ومرتبة على رياض الصالحين

 https://waqfeya.net/book.php?bid=2614

A Discussion with Dr. Issam Eido on The Sunnah & Misconceptions as an Authoritative Source of Ruling

https://youtu.be/W9dKvTLrozI

Book: Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture by Matthew Dimmock (published by Cambridge UP May 2013)

 Just learned of this work!

The figure of 'Mahomet' was widely known in early modern England. A grotesque version of the Prophet Muhammad, Mahomet was a product of vilification, caricature and misinformation placed at the centre of Christian conceptions of Islam. In Mythologies of the Prophet Muhammad in Early Modern English Culture Matthew Dimmock draws on an eclectic range of early modern sources - literary, historical, visual - to explore the nature and use of Mahomet in a period bounded by the beginnings of print and the early Enlightenment. This fabricated figure and his spurious biography were endlessly recycled, but also challenged and vindicated, and the tales the English told about him offer new perspectives on their sense of the world - its geographies and religions, near and far - and their place within it. This book explores the role played by Mahomet in the making of Englishness, and reflects on what this might reveal about England's present circumstances.

https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/literature/renaissance-and-early-modern-literature/mythologies-prophet-muhammad-early-modern-english-culture

https://www.amazon.com/Mythologies-Prophet-Muhammad-English-Culture/dp/1107032911

Also, see this blog post "Shakespeare and Islam" by the author. (Thanks to SAA!)

Shaykh Ubaydullah Evans: In Memoriam of Imam Sohaib Sultan (4/30/21)

Even in his position as chaplain at Princeton, an institution known for its patrician bearing, I never knew him to look down upon anyone. In my visits with him there, everyone seemed to have the same affinity for him. He was known for many things: his avuncular charm, his intelligent, inquisitive demeanor, his distinct, infectious laugh. However, the thing for which I pray my brother will be best remembered is the great gentleness and compassion with which he engaged his family and students. 

 https://www.alimprogram.org/blog/in-memoriam

From the intro to 100 Poems to Break Your Heart

 But poets have always celebrated grief as one of the strongest human emotions, one of our signature feelings.

Implicit in poetry is the notion that we are deepened by heartbreaks, by the recognition and understanding of suffering -- not just our own suffering but also the suffering of others. We are not so much diminished as enlarged by grief, by our refusal to vanish, or to let others vanish, without leaving a verbal record. The poet is one who will not be reconciled, who is determined to leave a trace in words, to transform oceanic depths of feeling into the faithful nuances of art.

Poetry companions us. Poems are written in solitude, but they reach out to others, which makes poetry a social act. It rises out of one solitude to meet another. Poems of terrible sadness and loss trouble and challenge us, but they also make us feel less alone and more connected. Our own desolations become more recognizable to use, more articulate, something shared. We become less isolated in our sorrow, and thus are befriended by the words of another. There is something ennobling in grief that is compacted, expressed, and transfigured into poetry.

Edward Hirsch, 100 Poems to Break Your Heart (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), xv-xvi.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel - 1972 NBC interview filmed few weeks before his death

https://youtu.be/FEXK9xcRCho

33:46: "I'd say to young people a number of things: Remember, there is a meaning beyond absurdity, let be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, that we can do everyone our share to redeem the world. (...) Remember the importance of self-discipline, study the great sources of wisdom, don't read the best-sellers. (...) Remember life is a celebration. There's much of entertainment in our life (...) but what is really important is life as celebration. The most important thing is to teach man how to celebrate life."

“The Brutha Graduated from Azhar”: The Black Ḥāfiẓ in American Muslim Communities

 https://sapelosquare.com/2017/02/22/op-ed-the-brutha-graduated-from-azhar-the-black-%E1%B8%A5afi%E1%BA%93-in-american-muslim-communities/

Shaykh Hussain Ahmed Madani – Abdal Hakim Murad: Paradigms of Leadership

https://youtu.be/gOtmhi1QSz0

Talal Asad on his father Muhammad Asad

 More than once he recited Surat at-takāthur to me with great feeling: “alhākumu-t-takāthur hatta zurtum al-maqābir…..” These verses, he would say, condemn the unending consumerism and greed in which humans (especially in our time) are entrapped: The verses that refer to ‘ilm al-yaqīn and that speak of latarawunna al-jahīm, alerts us to the hell in which we actually live in this world, not merely to punishment in the life to come. My father read these verses as arguing that if we could see this truth with clarity we would realize the hellish aspect of our collective life, the damage we do to ourselves and to others. This was a central moral concern for him, and it points to where an Islamic politics might begin: Muslims are expected to believe that greed as a collective way of life (the insatiable desire for more) and exhibitionism as an individual style (in which theatrical presentations of the self and consumer choices are confused with moral autonomy) have together seduced people away from what he called “God-consciousness” – and therefore from an awareness of the objective consequences of the way we live (militarization of societies, growing disparity between rich and poor, unceasing destruction of the natural environment, accumulating climatic and nuclear disasters). 

Talal Asad, "Muhammad Asad between Religion and Politics," p. 163. 

Maryam Gamar (Vox): "From beans and rice to BBQ: Muslim Americans’ Ramadan cuisine reflects their diversity" (4/13/21)

 https://www.vox.com/2021/4/13/22378703/muslim-american-ramadan-food-intersectionality

featuring, among others, Imam Dawood Yasin!

David Warren: When Promoting Religious Freedom Abroad Threatens Minority Communities Back Home (April 6, 2021)

 https://religionandpolitics.org/2021/04/06/when-promoting-religious-freedom-abroad-threatens-minority-communities-back-home/

Nicholas Kristof: "President Biden Lets a Saudi Murderer Walk: The crown prince killed my friend Jamal Khashoggi, and we do next to nothing." (2/26/21)

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/opinion/sunday/saudi-arabia-biden-khashoggi.html

Professor Masooda Bano: "Making Islam Relevant: The Role of New Islamic Scholarly Networks in the West":

https://youtu.be/eInCSRu_-cI

Jill Filipovic in NYT: "Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Muslim Men and Western Women" (Feb. 9, 2021)

 It’s Hirsi Ali, though, who does exactly this: She finds stories of individual Muslim immigrants who commit heinous crimes, and by suggesting those stories are broadly representative, uses them to justify curtailing the opportunities afforded to the whole group. This is not, as she suggests, a feminism of standing up for the rights of women. It is a feminism of reaction — and one that would undermine the very liberal values Hirsi Ali begs feminists to protect.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/books/review/ayaan-hirsi-ali-prey.html

"Harvard Law Review elects first Muslim president" (Feb 5, 2021)

 BOSTON (Reuters) - The Harvard Law Review has named a Los Angeles-born Egyptian-American as what it believes is its first Muslim president in its 134-year history, elevating him to the top of one of the most prestigious U.S. law journals.

Harvard Law School student Hassaan Shahawy said he hoped his election represented “legal academia’s growing recognition of the importance of diversity, and perhaps its growing respect for other legal traditions.”

Among the legal and political luminaries who have worked at the Harvard Law Review was former U.S. President Barack Obama, named the journal’s first Black president in 1990. Three serving members of the U.S. Supreme Court were editors of the Harvard Law Review, as were the late Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia.

“Coming from a community routinely demonized in American public discourse, I hope this represents some progress, even if small and symbolic,” Shahawy, 26, told Reuters in an email.

Law reviews are staffed by the top students at U.S. law schools, who are often recruited for judicial clerkships and other prestigious jobs in the profession.

The review’s first female president, Susan Estrich, was elected in 1977. Other presidents have been Latino and openly gay. The first Black woman was elected president in 2017.

 

Shahawy graduated Harvard as an undergraduate in 2016 with a degree in History and Near Eastern Studies. He then attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar to pursue a doctorate in Oriental Studies and studied Islamic law.

Shahawy said he has been active working with refugee populations and on criminal justice reform. His future plans are unclear, though he cited the possibility of becoming a public interest lawyer or working in academia.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-harvard-lawreview-idUSKBN2A52BX

"Muslim Reformers" Conference Schedule for 2/12/21 10 AM EST

 https://www.arabrrc.org/moslehun/en/conference-schedule/

NYU Gallatin Zoom Event: (1/29/21) "Housing Security in the Age of Covid-19"

Albert Gallatin Birthday Celebration: Highlighting Some of Gallatin's Social Justice Initiatives and Events

Corporate landlords, including private equity real estate, are once again poised to reap record profits in the midst of a crisis. Join a conversation with tenant organizers, scholar-activists, and policy analysts to envision life-affirming alternatives. We'll discuss ongoing tenant organizing wins and a proposal for a federal Social Housing Development Authority, a mechanism to keep the value of homes in the hands of the communities most impacted by racist housing policy, debt burdens, and the losses of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants
Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Director of the Urban Democracy Lab
Jacob H. Carlson, urban and political sociologist, focused on democracy, housing, and changing cities
Thomas Yu, co-Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality in New York City
Pamela Phan, Right to City
Sara Duvisac, former Fellow in Urban Practice for the Urban Democracy Lab
Claudia Pagon Marchena, Legislative Aide to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Moderator: Marnie Brady, Assistant Professor of Politics and Human Rights at Marymount Manhattan College

Register at https://gallatin.nyu.edu/utilities/events/2021/01/HousingSecurityintheAgeofCovid-19.html

David Brooks (NYT): "Trump Ignites a War Within the Church" (Jan. 14, 2021)

"This is what is happening inside evangelical Christianity and within conservatism right now. As a conservative Christian friend of mine put it, there is strife within every family, within every congregation, and it may take generations to recover."

[...] One core feature of Trumpism is that it forces you to betray every other commitment you might have: to the truth, moral character, the Sermon on the Mount, conservative principles, the Constitution. In defeat, some people are finally not willing to sacrifice all else on Trump’s altar.

The split we are seeing is not theological or philosophical. It’s a division between those who have become detached from reality and those who, however right wing, are still in the real world.

Hence, it’s not an argument. You can’t argue with people who have their own separate made-up set of facts. You can’t have an argument with people who are deranged by the euphoric rage of what Erich Fromm called group narcissism — the thoughtless roar of those who believe their superior group is being polluted by alien groups.

It’s a pure power struggle. The weapons in this struggle are intimidation, verbal assault, death threats and violence, real and rhetorical. The fantasyland mobbists have an advantage because they relish using these weapons, while their fellow Christians just want to lead their lives.

The problem is, how do you go about reattaching people to reality?

[...] Others have to be reminded of the basic rules for perceiving reality. They have to be reminded that all truth is God’s truth, that inquiry strengthens faith, that it is narcissistic self-idolatry to think you can create your own truth based on what you feel. There will probably have to be pastors and local leaders who model and admire evidence-based reasoning, wrestling with ideas.

On the left, leaders and organizations have arisen to champion open inquiry, to stand up to the cancel mobs. They have begun to shift the norms.

The problem on the right is vastly worse. But we have seen that unreason is a voracious beast. If it is not confronted, it devours not only your party, but also your nation and your church.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/trump-evangelicals.html?

New 43 volume work on women hadith narrators (compiled by Dr. Akram Nadwi) out from Dār al-Minhāj ma sha Allah

http://www.alminhaj.com/book.aspx?id=351 

(Upcoming event on 2/16/21) Konrad Hirschler on “Libraries in late Ottoman and post-Ottoman Bilad al-Sham: The Jerusalem Khalidiyya Library in Context"

Join us for the next installment of Readings in the Khalidiyya, a series about The Khalidi Library’s manuscript collection, accessibility through digitization and new scholarly inquiries.

Konrad Hirschler, a leading scholar on regional libraries such as the Khalidiyya will give his talk, “Libraries in late Ottoman and post-Ottoman Bilad al-Sham: The Jerusalem Khalidiyya Library in Context" on 16 February 2021 at 1pm NY/ 8pm Jerusalem,

Konrad Hirschler is Professor and Director, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies

For information about The Khalidi Library, visit its website.

Did you miss the first event in our series last fall? Watch the recording here.

http://palestine.mei.columbia.edu/events-spring-2021/libraries-in-late-ottoman-and-post-ottoman-bilad-al-sham 

 

Zvi Bar'el: "Once Allies, Cairo Wrestles Abu Dhabi for Influence in the Middle East" (1/8/21)

 https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/egypt/.premium-once-allies-cairo-wrestles-abu-dhabi-for-influence-in-the-middle-east-1.9435304

Ibn Khaldun University conference proceedings on Shaykh Muhammed Mustafa El-Azami (rahimahu Allah)

 (With studies in Arabic, Turkish and English)

https://www.amazon.com/Muhammed-Mustafa-El-Azami-Kolektif/dp/6058075254/

تخميس ابن العربي لقصيدة لذّة العيش لأبي مدين الغوث

Link

Moving the Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an forward: an interview with Johanna Pink

 https://blog.brill.com/humanitiesmatter/johanna_pink_on_relaunching_encyclopaedia_of_the_quran.html

Professor Sohaira Siddiqui: Rethinking Dichotomies: Beyond Continuity and Rupture in Islamic Law in the Colonial Period

 https://islamiclaw.blog/2021/01/04/rethinking-dichotomies-beyond-continuity-and-rupture-in-islamic-law-in-the-colonial-period/