A Mountain Out of a Molehill

Remember the Danish cartoon flap from October? It's still going on. Does it really make sense, when someone portrays Islam as violent, to threaten to kill them?? Ok, I know, they are also portraying Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) when doing so is forbidden in Islam. But we as MUSLIMS are forbidden to portray him as a reminder that he is not divine and that he should not be worshipped. Here is the reason the Danish newspaper did it, according to this blog (WARNING --> the cartoons in question are reprinted there, so please don't go there if that's gonna bother you):

“Jyllands-Posten called for and printed the cartoons by various Danish illustrators, after reports that artists were refusing to illustrate works about Islam, out of fear of fundamendalist retribution. The newspaper said it printed the cartoons as a test of whether Muslim fundamentalists had begun affecting the freedom of expression in Denmark.”

Firstly, I would question why Danish illustrators are interested in illustrating works about Islam with images of the Prophet in the first place, and why they worry more about fundamentalist retribution rather than simple respect for the religion about which they are teaching. It really makes you wonder about the real motivations behind these "works about Islam". However, I do find it interesting--and as a Muslim, saddening--how religious fundamentalists have played right into their hands.

This reminds me of the Salman Rushdie fatwa. Muslims made that guy rich and famous! Looks like some people in our community need to read Farenheit 451. (not the Michael Moore movie)

Mona Eltahawy makes a good point in her article:

"Not only does Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an organization banned in many Muslim countries, have a branch in Denmark, but Abdullatif has a history of calling for violence that he then justifies by referring to freedom of speech - the very notion the Danish newspaper made use of to publish the cartoons. In October 2002, Abdullatif was found guilty of distributing racist propaganda after Hizb-ut-Tahrir handed out leaflets that made threats against Jews by citing verses from the Koran. He was given a 60-day suspended sentence.

Abdullatif used the Koran to justify incitement to violence! And we still wonder why people associate Islam with violence?

Muslims must honestly examine why there is such a huge gap between the way we imagine Islam and our prophet, and the way both are seen by others. Our offended sensibilities must not be limited to the Danish newspaper or the cartoonist, but to those like Fadi Abdullatif whose actions should be regarded as just as offensive to Islam and to our reverence for the prophet. Otherwise, we are all responsible for those Danish cartoons."

Documents show Army seized wives as tactic

Ack! Could you imagine, if the cops came to arrest someone in your family, and they arrested you to use you as leverage?

The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.

Iraq's deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim Ali, dismissed such claims, saying hostage-holding was a tactic used under the ousted Saddam Hussein dictatorship, and "we are not Saddam."

But documents describing two 2004 episodes tell a different story as far as short-term detentions by local U.S. units. The documents are among hundreds the Pentagon has released periodically under U.S. court order to meet an American Civil Liberties Union request for information on detention practices.

"During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target's surrender," wrote the 14-year veteran officer.

He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior sergeant, seized her anyway.

"The 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing," the intelligence officer wrote. She was held for two days and was released after he complained, he said.

click here for full article

This is hilarious... and so true

Muslim Wake Up!--if you haven't heard of it before--is a wonderful, progressive Muslim blog. Mohja Kahf, a regular columnist (and like my husband, a native Damascene), wrote an article that explains why she is not a Progressive Muslim, not a Liberal Muslim, and not a Conservative Muslim, and finally... why she loves them all.

Attacking Gender

A very well-worded essay on the subjugation of Women in the Muslim community:

http://hu-islam.blogspot.com/2006/01/attacking-gender.html

What speaks volumes more is the comment that follows:

As I adopted Islam a number of years ago, I often felt the unfairness of the attitudes toward women were not seriously looked upon by even other women. Allah created BOTH male and female, and all His creation is important, and not to be disrespected or harmed.

I have since gone back to Christian church, and feel more respected there as a woman, and find it very sad that such a wonderful truth that is taught in Islam can be so perverted by a degredation of a woman's womanness. Women are not dirty.

I found beauty in the teaching of Islam, but some of the attitudes both men and women held toward women disgusted me enough to make me turn my back on the teachings.

The men and (sadly) women of the Muslim community need to know... when we pervert our faith to the effect that others are subjugated, we do ourselves no favors...

Openness enriches Islam, scholar says

Well said!

A curious woman tried to take a closer look at the "strange building" in the American city of Dallas.

She was initially barred from entering because of her casual clothing, including a pair of shorts.

After considering the matter, however, the mosque's imam relented and allowed her in, saying anyone should be allowed to enter a house of God. The woman later converted to Islam.

In relating the story Wednesday, Muslim scholar Machasin said that the woman's embracing of Islam was not the moral of the story; it was the virtues of openness to someone of a different religious background.

Click here for full article

Indonesia gets Playboy -- but no nudes

So, ehhh.. what's the point? lol..

An Indonesian publisher said on Friday that he will press ahead with a local edition of Playboy despite opposition from Muslim leaders, but promised that the risqué magazine will not contain nudes.

click here for full article

Destruction - that's not Islam, says 'Post' employee on haj pilgrimage

On ordinary days, tall, lanky, bespectacled Raed Abu-Shamsieh, 32, quietly and efficiently maintains The Jerusalem Post building in the capital, doing everything from seeing to broken chairs to fine-tuning the air-conditioning. Right now, however, his attentions are elsewhere: realizing a dream by making the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

(snip)

"What was amazing was to see all the people. They came from all over the world - five or six million. You see black people, white people. What you don't see are the people of Saudi Arabia, who are all abroad.

"It makes you start thinking differently. Seeing the people visiting the house of the Prophet, you think how Allah created all the different people, and how he created everything for the people."

Abu-Shamsieh said that, in his view, "Islam is not like it was. People have become far from the true Islam. Now they only think about money and worldly goods. [Believing Muslims] didn't used to think like that. And [authentic] Islam is very different from blowing oneself up, and from all the stuff happening in Iraq. Destruction - that's not Islam."

click here for full article

Doctors Say Sharon Has Only Slim Chance

Who would have ever guessed that the man who indirectly involved in the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, who ushered in a far right-wing administration when elected as Israel's Prime Minister in 2001, would be the one to take steps towards establishing a Palestinian state by dismantling settlements in the West Bank?

And now he's gravely ill, and it appears that whoever succeeds him may not follow, or be able to follow up his actions toward peace in the Middle East.

Among Arabs, sober views of relations after Sharon

This history, and his personal style, have led to shrugs at best and occasional expressions of glee in Arab capitals. But many experts on Israel-Palestinian relations say that with Sharon out of the political picture, Palestinians and their Arab allies may find he was their best possible friend.

(snip)

"He was intent on continuing this process of withdrawal, and hopefully coordinating with the Palestinians," Mr. Baskin says. "Even if it is a unilateral action, if he can remove 70 or 80 settlements, and take Israel out of 60 percent of the West Bank, ... that's enough for the next three years, and no one else in Israel is capable of doing that."

Baskin also says that Sharon's address at the UN in September, recognizing statehood as a Palestinian right, was a "leap forward."

(snip)

If Hamas, which supports Israel's destruction, does well in Palestinian elections later this month, analysts expect some Israelis to move right. Many who trusted Sharon even when they disagreed with him could throw their support to Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the Gaza pullout and seems unlikely to further peace efforts.