E-baad-e News
Friday, June 19, 2009
Muslim Holidays in NYC Schools - Proposed Res. No. 1281-A
E-baad-e News
Monday, June 15, 2009
"Contrary to common belief even among the educated...
"Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...."-Neil Postman's in his foreword to Amusing Ourselves to Death.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy...."-Neil Postman's in his foreword to Amusing Ourselves to Death.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Islamophobia in context of the broader assault on religion
Although most Muslims are understandably concerned with hatred and fear directed towards Muslims which has been studied in books like as Islamophobia: Making the Muslims the Enemy, it just recently occurred to me (and I will admit that sometimes it takes me a very long time to realize the obvious) to put Islamophobia ("anxiety of Islam") in the context of the broader assault on religion all together.
Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith & Letter to a Christian Nation, Richard Dawkins author of The God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything are probably the biggest names (and best-selling authors) of this phenomenon.
By placing Islamophobia in context of the broader assault on religion in general, the over-glorification and even idolization of reason and science into a utopic belief system where religious beliefs and those who believe in them including Muslims are all seen as impediments and threats becomes clearer.
About "the new atheists, who attack a repugnant version of religion, [but] use it to condemn all religion," (p. 33) Chris Hedges in I don’t believe in Atheists writes:
"The agenda of the new atheists, however, is disturbing. These atheists embrace a belief system as intolerant, chauvinistic, and bigoted as that of religious fundamentalists. They propose a route to collective salvation and the moral advancement of the human species through science and reason. The utopian dream of a perfect society and a perfect human being, the idea that we are moving toward collective salvation, is one of the most dangerous legacies of the Christian faith and the Enlightenment. All too often throughout history, those who believed in the possibility of this perfection (variously defined) have called for the silencing or eradication of human beings who are impediments to human progress. They turn their particular notion of the good into an inflexible standard of universal good. They prove blind to their own corruption and capacity for evil. They soon commit evil not for evil's sake but to make a better world." (pg. 1-2)
Hedges writes that "the new-atheist attack on absurd forms of religion is also used to avoid confronting the core and most important issues taken up religious thought." (p. 100-101) Indeed, instead they
"offer an escape from moral responsibility and civic engagement. They express the dreams the dreams and desires of a morally stunted middle class. They promote, under a scientific veneer, the selfish lusts of the consumer society and the deadening provincialism of the petite bourgeoisie. Dawkins, in an example of this pedestrian vision, draws up his own list of commandments to replace the Biblical injunctions. He advises people to enjoy their sex lives as long as they don't harm anyone else. He calls on parents not to indoctrinate their children but to evaluate evidence. His are hollow, liberal platitudes that casually deny the seductive lusts of violence, evil and abuse - lusts that the biblical writers who wrote the commandments understood and feared. These atheists are suburban mutations. They are products of a moral and political landscape corrupted by too much television, rampant waste, unchecked self-indulgence, wealth, too little contemplation, the physical destruction of community and a loss of the sacred. They tell us we are good. They tell us we will get better. And they warn us not to get in the way of progress." (p. 86-87)And among those who get in the way are Muslims:
In The End of Faith, Harris, in passages that could be lifted from a sermon by a Christian fundamentalists, calls for a nuclear first strike against the Islamic world. He defends torture as a logical form of interrogation. He, like all utopians, has reduced millions of human beings and culture he knows nothing about to primitive impediments to his vision of a better world...Harris again reduces a fifth of the world's population to a vast, primitive enemy. He argues that we may have to murder "tens of millions of people in a single day." His bigotry, and the bigotry of all who dehumanizes others, is used to justify indiscriminate slaughter and atrocity. The people to be killed, we are told, are not distinct individuals. They do not have hopes and aspirations. They only appear human. They must be destroyed because of what they represent, what lurks beneath the surface of their human form. This dehumanization, especially by those who live in a society with the technological capacity to carry out acts of massive slaughter, is terrifying."-pg. 36-37.I haven't read Bruce Bawer's new book (2009) Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (but unfortunately had to see it on display at Barnes and Nobles) - I wonder whether it would fit into this same utopic over-simplifying thinking of the new atheists...Paul Barrett, author of American Islam has a review in last Sunday's Washington Post which you can read here.
Last Chance to Apply for Zaytuna Summer Arabic Intensive
June 22 to August 14, 2009
Berkeley, California
Application Deadline: Monday, June 15
APPLY TODAY
Local (Tuition-Only) Option Available!
APPLY TODAY
Local (Tuition-Only) Option Available!
ARABIC INSTRUCTORS Mohammad Abderrazzaq, Boston University Elsa Elmahdy, American University of Cairo Aymen Elsheikh, Indiana University, Bloomington Dawood Yasin, Zaytuna Institute Souhad Zendah, Tufts University Click here to learn more about our instructors..
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
More on the Cairo Speech + Juan Cole speaking tomorrow
[Taking more of a blogging style as Haroon Moghul does and linking to articles instead of copying and pasting entire ones...]:
Check out these two articles of authors critical of Obama's Cairo speech: one by Chris Hedges (who's I don't Believe in Atheists I'm reading right now and am massively underlining whole passages in) called Hold Your Applause and another by Anis Shivani entitled The Speech Obama Didn't Give to the Muslim World (shukran to Dawud McCarthy for this!)
Juan Cole, the author of Engaging the Muslim World is to speak in NYC at Columbia tomorrow (Thursday). Click here for details (kufi tip :) to islamicate for this)
Lastly, see Omer Subhani's post Frank Gaffney is off his rocker regarding a most idiotic piece America's first Muslim president?
One of my favorite quotes from Dr. Jackson
“Neither assimilationism is nor rejectionism is a route for Muslims to go today; rather the only option that we have is that of indigenization.”
I really do believe that this twenty first century and in fact the first quarter of this twenty first century will be an enormously important era in the history of Islam in America.
It is this period that future generations will look back to and if those generations are successful and they are enjoying a dignified existence as Muslims in America, neither assimilated nor isolated, then they will look back to the activities of this generation, this one right here, and say "that was the beginning."
And if they are failures, they will look still, back to this generation, this one right here, and say "they were failures."
I really do believe that this twenty first century and in fact the first quarter of this twenty first century will be an enormously important era in the history of Islam in America.
It is this period that future generations will look back to and if those generations are successful and they are enjoying a dignified existence as Muslims in America, neither assimilated nor isolated, then they will look back to the activities of this generation, this one right here, and say "that was the beginning."
And if they are failures, they will look still, back to this generation, this one right here, and say "they were failures."
We are right now making history whether we like it or not. If we do absolutely nothing, we are making history and our contribution to history therefore will be nothing. Allah has placed us in a historically significant place and now we are living in a historically significant time, and what we do will make all the difference in the world.”
(Dr. Sherman Jackson, Muslims at the Crossroads, ISNA 2003)
(Dr. Sherman Jackson, Muslims at the Crossroads, ISNA 2003)
Young Muslims Seeking a Way Between Two Worlds
Article in the Washington Post: Seeking a Way Between Two Worlds: Young Muslims Strive to Uphold Their Faith, Find a Place in the Dominant Culture
Many had just entered high school in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks and now, eight years later, they are leaving college and choosing their path in life. Young Muslims in the Washington area are part of a generation that appears markedly different from their parents in career choices, assimilation and views of their religion. (Keep reading...)
Thanks to Zyad Qamer for this!
E-baad-e News
History of Muslim Societies class at Jamaica Muslim Center (NYC)
A thematic inquiry into Islamic History organized over five sessions:
A. On Historiography- What is Islamic History?
B. View from the Center - Caliphs & Sultans
C. Visions of Islam - Faqih or Faqir?
D. View from the Edge - Conversion & Islamization
E. Colonial Modernity - Revival & Reform
F. Edge of the Future - Islam in America
As a seminar it will be driven by weekly readings and class discussions. The classes will be held at Jamaica Muslim Center [Masjdid al-Mamoor, 85-37 168TH Street. Jamaica, NY 11432] on Saturdays: June 27th, July 11th, 18th, 25th, and Aug 1st from 5:45pm to 8:00pm.
A. On Historiography- What is Islamic History?
B. View from the Center - Caliphs & Sultans
C. Visions of Islam - Faqih or Faqir?
D. View from the Edge - Conversion & Islamization
E. Colonial Modernity - Revival & Reform
F. Edge of the Future - Islam in America
As a seminar it will be driven by weekly readings and class discussions. The classes will be held at Jamaica Muslim Center [Masjdid al-Mamoor, 85-37 168TH Street. Jamaica, NY 11432] on Saturdays: June 27th, July 11th, 18th, 25th, and Aug 1st from 5:45pm to 8:00pm.
The Class is FREE but you must REGISTER at ISLAMTRIUMPHANT@GMAIL.COM to reserve a seat. Please provide us with your 1) Name, 2) Email address 3) Background in the subject, and 4) Expectations of the Seminar to help us organize and give you access to course syllabus, materials and updates. Last day to register online is June 20th 2009.
Visit Course Website
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
One of my favorite quotes from Emerson
"The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loth to disappoint them.
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. -- "Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood." -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
Ralph Waldo Emerson in "Self-Reliance"
E-baad-e News
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. -- "Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood." -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
Ralph Waldo Emerson in "Self-Reliance"
E-baad-e News
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