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جمعرات 10 جنوری 2008Thursday, January 10, 2008
American Muslim Women Literary Anthology
An anthology of non-fiction stories of courtship and dating by American Muslim women is being put together by Baraka. Go visit her blog for submission information.
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Posted by Zack at 4:06 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
پیر 24 دسمبر 2007Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas
Since the Kid is three now, she's enjoying Christmas and so are we. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Posted by Zack at 7:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
منگل 18 دسمبر 2007Tuesday, December 18, 2007
حج مبارک
آپ سب کو حج اور عید مبارک ہو۔ آج ہم دیکھتے ہیں کہ امریکہ سے حج یا عمرہ کرنے کی شرائط میں کیا کیا شامل ہے۔
Posted by Zack at 12:18 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 27 اکتوبر 2007Saturday, October 27, 2007
god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens is a good polemicist and it shows in his book. This is not a book presenting research or theological discussion, but it does present forceful arguments against religion and the religious.
Continue reading "god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"
Posted by Zack at 3:17 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
جمعہ 12 اکتوبر 2007Friday, October 12, 2007
عید مبارک
آپ سب کو عید مبارک۔
Posted by Zack at 1:47 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
جمعرات 13 ستمبر 2007Thursday, September 13, 2007
رمضان اور روش ہشانا مبارک
آج سے روزے شروع ہو گئے ہیں۔ رمضان مبارک۔ اور روش ہشانا یعنی نیا سال بھی مبارک۔
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Posted by Zack at 10:30 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 1 ستمبر 2007Saturday, September 01, 2007
Angry Arab in Pakistan
The Angry Arab visits Pakistan and writes about lizards in his inimitable style. All his posts about Pakistan are worth reading.
Continue reading "Angry Arab in Pakistan"
Posted by Zack at 3:27 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
پیر 27 اگست 2007Monday, August 27, 2007
Religion Explained
This is one of the best books I have read. It explains the origins of religious thought based on how our mind works. Highly recommended.
Continue reading "Religion Explained"
Posted by Zack at 1:57 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 11 اگست 2007Saturday, August 11, 2007
Shab e Miraj
Did the Prophet Muhammad physically ascend to the heavens on this night?
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جمعرات 5 جولائی 2007Thursday, July 05, 2007
برقعہ اور جہاد
لال مسجد کے مولانا عبدالعزیز نے دھمکیاں تو خودکش حملوں کی دی تھیں مگر خود برقعے میں بھاگنے کی کوشش کی۔
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پیر 11 جون 2007Monday, June 11, 2007
American Muslims Poll
This is the first comprehensive poll of Muslim Americans. It has a wealth of data about their demographics and their opinions. While Muslims in the United States are conservative, they are closer to mainstream America than many thought.
Continue reading "American Muslims Poll"
Posted by Zack at 5:21 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
جمعرات 17 مئی 2007Thursday, May 17, 2007
بش کے دیس میں خدا
امریکہ مذہبی ملک ہے۔ یہاں ایتھیئسٹ کو اچھا نہیں سمجھا جاتا۔ خدا پر یقین کو اچھے انسان ہونے کے لئے لازمی قرار دیا جاتا ہے۔ ذاتی اور عوامی دائرہکار میں ایتھیئسٹ کے بارے میں ایک عام امریکی کیا خیالات رکھتا ہے اس بارے میں کچھ سروے کے نتائج حاضر ہیں۔
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پیر 7 مئی 2007Monday, May 07, 2007
Pakistan Opinion Poll
There is an opinion poll out about the perceptions of people in four Muslim countries (including Pakistan) about US policy, attacks on civilians and al Qaeda. It offers an interesting perspective into what Pakistani city dwellers are thinking.
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Posted by Zack at 2:34 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
جمعہ 6 اپریل 2007Friday, April 06, 2007
Happy Easter and Hag Sameach
A Happy Easter to all my readers. And a Happy Passover too.
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Posted by Zack at 11:03 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
جمعرات 5 اپریل 2007Thursday, April 05, 2007
یہ کیسا جہاد ہے
پاکستان میں کیا ہو رہا ہے؟ جہاد کے نام پر مسلمان کن کاموں میں پڑ چکے ہیں؟ کیا اسلام صرف سیاست اور تشدد ہی کا نام ہے؟
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منگل 13 فروری 2007Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Shariah is Human
People interpret religion and its strictures. These interpretations are human and can be flawed or change over time. We do not have the view of God and have to rely on our senses and abilities to develop religious law.
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Posted by Zack at 1:50 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
جمعہ 29 دسمبر 2006Friday, December 29, 2006
Haj and Eid Mubarak
Congratulations on your Haj to all Hajis. Eid Mubarak, everyone.
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Posted by Zack at 12:06 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
پیر 25 دسمبر 2006Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas.
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Posted by Zack at 6:07 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
جمعرات 9 نومبر 2006Thursday, November 09, 2006
Awards and Carnivals
Go nominate blogs for Brass Cresecent awards. Also, contribute to Carnival of Islam in the West. Include the real-time Carnival of Brass in your blog sidebar and read Muslims in the West blogs together in your feed reader.
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Posted by Zack at 2:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
اتوار 22 اکتوبر 2006Sunday, October 22, 2006
عید مبارک
کل عید ہے۔ آپ سب کو عید مبارک ہو۔ اور ایک دن تاخیر سے سہی مگر دیوالی بھی مبارک۔
Posted by Zack at 10:15 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
جمعہ 22 ستمبر 2006Friday, September 22, 2006
Islamic Calendar
Fiqh Council of North America has decided to use astronomical calculations for the Islamic lunar calendar. I like the idea, but it is very controversial in the community. Let's take a look at the blogosphere's reaction. Ramazan Mubarak!
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Posted by Zack at 11:27 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
جمعرات 3 اگست 2006Thursday, August 03, 2006
Muslim Occidentalism
Thabet argues that Muslims see the West similar to the way the West sees Muslims. Western Orientalism has a counterpart in Muslim Occidentalism. What is even more interesting is that Western Muslims set themselves apart from the West.
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Posted by Zack at 9:18 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
جمعہ 21 جولائی 2006Friday, July 21, 2006
Who is a Muslim?
Should we define Muslims narrowly or broadly? Does even the effort to define exclude people and thus is negative? Can we learn from the Kharijites and Murjites? Arafat has some thoughts and I add my 2 cents.
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Posted by Zack at 9:37 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
پیر 15 مئی 2006Monday, May 15, 2006
Islamic Traditionalism
There was a great discussion about Islam and Traditionalism spanning several blogs. Please do follow the links and read it in full. There might be a quiz later. When I am less busy, I'll pick up some of the threads here.
Continue reading "Islamic Traditionalism"
Posted by Zack at 11:58 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
اتوار 7 مئی 2006Sunday, May 07, 2006
خدا کا دیس نکالا
پاکستان میں عام طور سے اللہ کے لئے خدا کا لفظ استعمال ہوتا تھا۔ مگر کچھ سالوں سے ایک مہم چلی ہوئی ہے کہ خدا کو اردو زبان سے نکال دیا جائے۔ کچھ مسلمان چاہتے ہیں کہ ہم اللہ کا لفظ استعمال کریں اور انگریزی میں گاڈ اور اردو میں خدا کہنا چھوڑ دیں۔
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اتوار 16 اپریل 2006Sunday, April 16, 2006
Happy Easter
Happy Easter, everyone.
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Posted by Zack at 8:00 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
بدھ 12 اپریل 2006Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Happy Passover
Hag Sameach, readers. Tonight starts Passover celebrating the Jewish Exodus from Egypt.
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Posted by Zack at 5:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 11 اپریل 2006Tuesday, April 11, 2006
عید میلاد النبی
آج عید میلاد النبی ہے۔ اس مبارک دن پر کراچی میں بم دھماکے سے ستاون افراد ہلاک ہو گئے ہیں۔
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جمعرات 30 مارچ 2006Thursday, March 30, 2006
Culture and Real Islam
What is to blame? Islam or culture? Can they even be separated? Islam is what is practiced by Muslims and this varies by time, place and context.
Continue reading "Culture and Real Islam"
Posted by Zack at 12:14 AM | Comments (23) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 18 فروری 2006Saturday, February 18, 2006
Why I am Not a “Muslim”
A rant against the strange attitudes towards secularism, difference of opinion, Jews, human rights, etc.
Continue reading "Why I am Not a “Muslim”"
Posted by Zack at 8:39 PM | Comments (35) | TrackBack
پیر 6 فروری 2006Monday, February 06, 2006
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad Cartoons
If you came here looking for my thoughts on the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad that Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, published in September and that were republished in several other newspapers this year, you have come to the wrong place. I won't consider getting upset over freaking cartoons.
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Posted by Zack at 3:14 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
جمعہ 3 فروری 2006Friday, February 03, 2006
Brass Crescent Awards 2005
The voting for the 2nd Brass Crescent Awards for the Islamic blogosphere has started. I am nominated for best blog. Go and vote.
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Posted by Zack at 12:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
پیر 9 جنوری 2006Monday, January 09, 2006
بکرا عید مبارک
آپ سب کوحج اور عید مبارک۔
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Posted by Zack at 9:30 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
اتوار 25 دسمبر 2005Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas.
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Posted by Zack at 1:31 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
جمعرات 3 نومبر 2005Thursday, November 03, 2005
Eid and Diwali Mubarak
Eid Mubarak. Happy Diwali.
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Posted by Zack at 3:09 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
جمعرات 13 اکتوبر 2005Thursday, October 13, 2005
More Quiz Fun
It's a new batch of online quizzes: A quiz about my politics, another on religion (am I a Muslim or an agnostic?), another on how I'll die and cocktails of my name and nickname.
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Posted by Zack at 12:12 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
پیر 3 اکتوبر 2005Monday, October 03, 2005
رمضان مبارک اور نیا سال مبارک
تمام قارئین کو رمضان مبارک ہو۔ آج رات سن ۵۷۶۶ کا بھی آغاز ہے۔ لہذا آپ سب کو نیا سال مبارک ہو۔
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Posted by Zack at 7:18 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 16 جولائی 2005Saturday, July 16, 2005
Islam by Fazlur Rahman
"Islam" by Fazlur Rahman gives an interpretive history of Islam. It is a slim volume and focuses on Fazlur Rahman's opinions of the major theological developments. It is nevertheless very readable.
Continue reading "Islam by Fazlur Rahman"
Posted by Zack at 12:18 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
بدھ 8 جون 2005Wednesday, June 08, 2005
زنا، حدود اور ڈی این اے
کیا زنا کی حد نافذ کرنے کے لئے ڈی این اے ٹیسٹ ثبوت کے لئے کافی ہے؟
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Posted by Zack at 2:53 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
جمعہ 6 مئی 2005Friday, May 06, 2005
Islamists Everywhere
It seems like Islamists are everywhere nowadays. But the latest trend is intriguing because now it looks like you don't even have to be a Muslim to be an Islamist.
Continue reading "Islamists Everywhere"
Posted by Zack at 6:55 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
پیر 11 اپریل 2005Monday, April 11, 2005
Pray in Solitude
This is the story of Imran who can't pray in a mosque now because his experience at a mosque last Ramadan haunts him.
Continue reading "Pray in Solitude"
Posted by Zack at 12:15 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
پیر 4 اپریل 2005Monday, April 04, 2005
Amina Wadud Led Prayers
Dr. Amina Wadud, a woman, recently led the Friday prayers of a group of men and women in New York. There has been a lot of discussion and criticism of her action. While I don't want to delve into whether it was Islamic or not, I have some general thoughts about related matters.
Continue reading "Amina Wadud Led Prayers"
Posted by Zack at 12:14 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
جمعہ 1 اپریل 2005Friday, April 01, 2005
پاکستانی پاسپورٹ میں مذہب واپس
اکتوبر میں جب پاکستانی پاسپورٹ بین الاقوامی معیار پر تبدیل کیا گیا تو اس میں سے مذہب کا خانہ نکال دیا گیا۔ اس پر پاکستان کی مذہبی جماعتوں کو تکلیف ہوئی۔ انہوں نے اس قدم کے خلاف انتہائی نامعقول دلائل دیئے اور احتجاج کیا۔ اب کچھ دن پہلے حکومت نے سر جھکا دیا اور مذہب کا خانہ پاسپورٹ میں واپس ڈال دیا۔
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Posted by Zack at 5:49 PM | Comments (18) | TrackBack
اتوار 27 مارچ 2005Sunday, March 27, 2005
Happy Easter
Happy Easter, everyone....
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Posted by Zack at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 24 جنوری 2005Monday, January 24, 2005
Brass Crescent Honorable Mention
The results of the Brass Crescent Awards are out. I didn’t win but got honorable mentions in 3 of the 5 categories I was nominated. These categories were: Best writing (I am surprised), best series, and best non-English blog (surprised...
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Posted by Zack at 12:05 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
جمعرات 20 جنوری 2005Thursday, January 20, 2005
حج اور عید مبارک
تمام حاجیوں کو حج مبارک ہو۔ اور سب قارئین کو عید مبارک۔
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Posted by Zack at 10:34 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
منگل 11 جنوری 2005Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Brass Crescent Awards Voting
The nomination stage is over and it’s voting time. And it seems you like me, really like me since I have been nominated in so many categories: Best Writing Best Single Post: Two nominations for Do They Look Like Me?...
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Posted by Zack at 11:11 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
منگل 4 جنوری 2005Tuesday, January 04, 2005
پاسپورٹ اور مذہب
پاکستان کی مذہبی جماعتیں آجکل اس بات پر جذباتی ہو گئی ہیں کہ پاکستانی پاسپورٹ سے مذہب کا کالم نکالا جا رہا ہے۔
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Posted by Zack at 12:02 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 25 دسمبر 2004Saturday, December 25, 2004
Award Season
The holiday season has brought the weblog award season upon us as well. First came the 2004 Weblog Awards by Wizbang. I somehow got nominated for the Best Asian Blog contest there and ended up with 0.9% of the vote....
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Posted by Zack at 2:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas, everyone....
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Posted by Zack at 12:25 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
پیر 13 دسمبر 2004Monday, December 13, 2004
Muslim Tolerance and Kafirs
Yasmine of Rambling Monologues has a moving post about the intolerance displayed by some Muslims. You should read her whole post, but here is the conclusion. I write this because I hate the word “kaffir,” and I hate how it...
Continue reading "Muslim Tolerance and Kafirs"
Posted by Zack at 1:17 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
جمعہ 10 دسمبر 2004Friday, December 10, 2004
Muslims, Misogyny and Parenting
It is an unfortunate fact today that the Muslim community, barring some exceptions, is misogynist. There are lots of individual Muslims who are against gender discrimination, but collectively we still have a long way to go. As a man, I...
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Posted by Zack at 1:45 AM | Comments (32) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 4 دسمبر 2004Saturday, December 04, 2004
Segregated Blogging
Via Sister Soljah, I found a post on a blog titled Blogging: an Islamic perspective. I was intrigued. The blogger divides all blogs into 3 categories: personal, topical, and a mix of the two. His criticism is directed at personal...
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Posted by Zack at 10:34 AM | Comments (21) | TrackBack
اتوار 28 نومبر 2004Sunday, November 28, 2004
Zakat for Muslims Only?
My post asking for charity recommendations elicited a few questions about Zakat (the obligatory Muslim charity). I was told that Zakat is only to be given to Muslims. I had heard something like that before, but I decided to look...
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Posted by Zack at 2:29 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 13 نومبر 2004Saturday, November 13, 2004
عید مبارک
تمام قارئین کو عید الفطر مبارک ہو۔
Posted by Zack at 1:18 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
بدھ 27 اکتوبر 2004Wednesday, October 27, 2004
A Survey About Muslim Americans
Zogby has done a survey of American Muslims for Project MAPS. Here are some poll results I found interesting: 82% of American Muslims are registered to vote this year. The top reason for not registering is not being a citizen...
Continue reading "A Survey About Muslim Americans"
Posted by Zack at 1:01 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
جمعرات 21 اکتوبر 2004Thursday, October 21, 2004
Women and Islam
Maryam of A Dervish’s Du`a’ has a Powerpoint presentation titled “Is Your Masjid Sister Friendly?” It is worth viewing as it has photographic evidence of the difference between the facilities for men and women in some mosques. In another post,...
Continue reading "Women and Islam"
Posted by Zack at 3:25 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
جمعہ 15 اکتوبر 2004Friday, October 15, 2004
Ramazan and Breastfeeding
Ramazan, the month of fasting, is starting or has already started based on where you live and who you believe. Since Amber is breastfeeding Michelle nowadays, what better topic to discuss for Ramazan than pregnant and breastfeeding moms? Let’s start...
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Posted by Zack at 1:45 AM | Comments (19) | TrackBack
اتوار 19 ستمبر 2004Sunday, September 19, 2004
Roller Coasters, Hijabs and Terrorists
Via Amygdala comes this New York Times story about the Muslim Youth Day organized by ICNA-NJ which included a day at the Six Flags here. Accompanied by a half-dozen classmates, Ms. Khan was among the estimated 15,000 Muslims who came...
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Posted by Zack at 6:47 AM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
جمعرات 16 ستمبر 2004Thursday, September 16, 2004
Rosh Hashanah
Shanah Tovah. Happy Rosh Hashanah, everyone....
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Posted by Zack at 1:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
جمعہ 10 ستمبر 2004Friday, September 10, 2004
Women's Bill of Rights in the Mosque
Asra Nomani has come up with an Islamic bill of rights for women in the mosque. Women have an Islamic right to: enter a mosque. enter through the main door. visual and auditory access to the main sanctuary, or musalla....
Continue reading "Women's Bill of Rights in the Mosque"
Posted by Zack at 10:04 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
پیر 28 جون 2004Monday, June 28, 2004
Shahada and Jazakallah Khair
If this post was written by Brad Delong, it would be titled “Why Oh Why Can’t We Have a Better Press Corps?” or “Zack Bangs His Head against the Wall.” The basic story goes like this: Some Muslims students planned...
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Posted by Zack at 12:23 AM | Comments (18) | TrackBack
جمعرات 27 مئی 2004Thursday, May 27, 2004
Women, Gays, Sex, Islam
Muslims should not just look at the halal and haram aspect of homosexuality but also try to be compassionate towards gay Muslims. The issue of women's spaces in mosques is also an important one.
Continue reading "Women, Gays, Sex, Islam"
Posted by Zack at 11:16 AM | Comments (89) | TrackBack
اتوار 16 مئی 2004Sunday, May 16, 2004
What's in a Name II
In my previous post thinking about a name for our baby, I mentioned a website for Muslim names. Now, what exactly is a Muslim name? Let’s take a look at a few websites listing Muslim names. Most of the names...
Continue reading "What's in a Name II"
Posted by Zack at 9:14 PM | Comments (38) | TrackBack
بدھ 21 اپریل 2004Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Miscellaneous
I have read a number of books in the past month or so and owe you guys about five reviews. Hopefully, I’ll get to them in the next couple of weeks. Asad has informed me that he has created a...
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Posted by Zack at 9:55 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
جمعہ 9 اپریل 2004Friday, April 09, 2004
Secularism, Islamism
It seems I wasn’t exactly clear in my post where I argued that there is lots of diversity among “Islamists.” Ideofact writes about some statements and ideas of al-Ghannouchi which do seem quite bad to me. My point in my...
Continue reading "Secularism, Islamism"
Posted by Zack at 7:54 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
منگل 30 مارچ 2004Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Not Shades of Grey
Muslims Under Progress makes an important point. “Islamists”, we’re told, are out to create ‘barbaric’ and ‘undemocratic’ societies, where ‘human rights’ will be something of a heresy. “Modernists”, on the other hand, are the very people that are needed to...
Continue reading "Not Shades of Grey"
Posted by Zack at 12:46 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
بدھ 18 فروری 2004Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Pakistan and Iran are Arab?
There was a really bad article in the New York Times by Leslie Wayne about Arab Americans backing Bush in this election cycle. Leslie Wayne considers Iranians and Pakistanis as Arab too. Who knew? Fortunately, I don’t have to debunk...
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Posted by Zack at 2:27 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
Secularism in the Middle East
Talking about the hijab ban in France and plans to allow “painless” female circumcision (also known as female genital mutilation) in Italy, Letter from Gotham writes: Can somebody please tell me what is the difference in principle between outlawing one...
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Posted by Zack at 12:01 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 31 جنوری 2004Saturday, January 31, 2004
Haj and Eid Mubarak
It is Haj today (it’s the day of Arafat to be more accurate). Congratulations to all the Hajis and especially to Amber’s parents and aunt who are in Saudi Arabia performing the pilgrimage. Tomorrow is Eid ul Azha. Eid Mubarak,...
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Posted by Zack at 9:37 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
جمعہ 16 جنوری 2004Friday, January 16, 2004
More Qutb
Bill Allison of Ideofact has been the go-to guy for commentary on Sayyid Qutb for quite some time. I should link to him more often, but all his posts are very thought-provoking and I get lazy in pointing them out....
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بدھ 26 نومبر 2003Wednesday, November 26, 2003
"Moderate Muslim"
Indirectly via Unmedia, I found Daniel Pipes’s definition of a “moderate Muslim.” - Violence : Do you condone or condemn the Palestinians, Chechens, and Kashmiris who give up their lives to kill enemy civilians? Will you condemn by name as...
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منگل 25 نومبر 2003Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Happy Eid
Eid Mubarak, everyone....
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اتوار 16 نومبر 2003Sunday, November 16, 2003
Slavery, Women and Islam
Let us start with a suggestion: Abrogate the bold parts in the Quranic verses below. Quran 23:1-6: Successful indeed are the believers who are humble in their prayers, and who shun vain conversation, and who are payers of the poor-due;...
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ہفتہ 8 نومبر 2003Saturday, November 08, 2003
Muslim Women and Mosques
I mentioned the HijabMan blog before. It turns out he doesn’t live in Canada. Seems like I just imagined that. Anyway, as I mentioned before, he had a post (permalink not working; scroll to the Nov 5 post) on the...
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ہفتہ 18 اکتوبر 2003Saturday, October 18, 2003
What I am Reading
I am busy, so no regular posts today. However, here is some stuff I am reading: A New York Times article about the Lackawanna Six, the Yemeni-Americans in Buffalo who trained at an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. An interesting...
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جمعرات 11 ستمبر 2003Thursday, September 11, 2003
Movies and Women
The movie “Baran”1 is being shown on campus. Forwarding the message about the screening, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) President at our school added a quote: “The movie is absolutely clean and only on rare occasions do you see a...
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اتوار 24 اگست 2003Sunday, August 24, 2003
Thermodynamics and Evolution
I got suspicious when I found out that Harun Yahya was not a scientist. People who have not studied science can sometimes misinterpret scientific laws and ideas. Still, I was interested in reading his book “Darwinism Refuted”. After printing, I...
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ہفتہ 23 اگست 2003Saturday, August 23, 2003
Evolution Discussion Continued
My previous posts on the topic are here, here and here. Aziz Poonawalla has now posted his own viewpoint on the topic. In broad details, we agree. Aziz also points to an article on Evolution and the Quran at Talk...
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جمعہ 22 اگست 2003Friday, August 22, 2003
Evolution: Another Viewpoint
Following up on my critique of Muslims not accepting evolution and after finding out that Harun Yahya, one of the opponents of evolutionary theory, is not a scientist, I discovered a lecture by a Saudi geologist (specializing in micropalaeontology) Dr...
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بدھ 20 اگست 2003Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Harun Yahya
Continuing my previous post about evolution, I want to just let you know who Harun Yahya is. HarunYahya is a pen name used by Mr. Adnan Oktar. Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar is a prominent Turkish intellectual. Completely...
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منگل 19 اگست 2003Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Muslims and Evolution
Ticked off by The B. Files’ saying: my anti-darwinism has been reaffirmed after I read “The Lost World.” And Abez: Evolution is bogus. I am asking my readers, especially Muslims, to tell me their viewpoint about the theory of evolution....
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بدھ 13 اگست 2003Wednesday, August 13, 2003
What is Religion for?
I have always thought that the purpose of religion is to regulate societal interaction; to make the society work better. In my opinion, it is more important to treat people well than to pray. Through changes in religious belief from...
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منگل 5 اگست 2003Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Islamic Finance
Pedantry has an interesting post on Islamic finance. It’s difficult to excerpt, so you should go there to read it in full....
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بدھ 30 جولائی 2003Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Luxenberg and the Quran
Via ParaPundit, I found a sympathetic but scholarly review of Luxenberg’s book. A much better reading than the mumbo jumbo of the Newsweek article. Al-Muhajabah tackles the allegation that Muslims don’t engage in textual or critical analysis of the Quran...
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اتوار 27 جولائی 2003Sunday, July 27, 2003
Quran and Textual Analysis
Via Ideofact, I see that Tacitus has linked to an article in Newsweek about Christoph Luxenberg (a pseudonym) who claims that some of the words in the Quran should be considered to be in Syriac rather than Arabic. In a...
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اتوار 13 جولائی 2003Sunday, July 13, 2003
Textual Analysis of Quran
Brian Ulrich points out an article in the Lebanon Daily Star about production of a critical edition of the Quran based on the manuscripts found in a Sanaa mosque in Yemen. A professor of literature and human science at Sousse...
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ہفتہ 14 جون 2003Saturday, June 14, 2003
Arranged Marriage
I had completely forgotten about completing this series until I saw Yasmine comment on Abez's blog (no permalinks; look up the June 10 post titled "How I Own 1/7th of Riaz's heart")....
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جمعہ 13 جون 2003Friday, June 13, 2003
Muslims in the Americas
The answer to the quiz about the country in the Americas where Muslims are the largest percentage of the population as compared to other countries is Suriname. According to the CIA World Factbook, here are some of the population statistics...
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بدھ 11 جون 2003Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Quiz
Which country in the Americas has the highest proportion of Muslims in its population? Please note that I am not asking about the largest number of Muslims. Instead the question is about Muslims comprising the largest percentage of that country’s...
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جمعرات 29 مئی 2003Thursday, May 29, 2003
Muslim = Arab + Iran?
Somehow, a lot of people and the media think most Muslims are Arabs. It pisses me off. Can’t the media look up some data? The latest is a CNN story about the case of Sultana Freeman, a Muslim woman who...
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بدھ 28 مئی 2003Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Tolerance, Perfection and Progress
My previous post on tolerance in Islamic societies of the past linked to most of the debate in the blogosphere. A number of other bloggers have written about Disaffected Muslim’s criticisms, e.g., Shia Pundit, Elham and TheBit. This post is...
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منگل 27 مئی 2003Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Arab Americans in Michigan
An interesting post by Patrick Belton on Oxblog. Quite simply, I fell in love with Dearborn. The largest concentration of Arabs or Muslims in the United States, it’s a study in contrasts - in between miles upon miles of depopulated...
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بدھ 21 مئی 2003Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Treatment of Minorities
An interesting discussion has been going on about the historical treatment of religious minorities by Muslims and Christians in the blogworld. As usual, the discussion covers dhimmis (is dhimmitude a word?) and the Inquisition. It revolves around the Middle East...
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اتوار 27 اپریل 2003Sunday, April 27, 2003
The End of the Ottoman Empire
Bill Allison at Ideofact is discussing the idea that we are still finding the Great War (1914-18). He discusses the effect of the end of the Ottoman rule on radical Islamists. It is a typically great series of posts (see...
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جمعہ 11 اپریل 2003Friday, April 11, 2003
Book Review: Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
I finished reading Gilles Kepel’s Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam recently. The author is French with a number of previous works in the area. This book was originally written in French in 2000 and was translated after the September...
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جمعرات 20 مارچ 2003Thursday, March 20, 2003
Forced Marriage in Islam: Post #2
Previous Posts of this series: Cousin Marriage and Forced Marriage in Pakistan. I did some research for this post. Actually, I asked my sister to tell me what Abdur Rahman Al-Jazairi had to say about the topic in his book...
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بدھ 19 مارچ 2003Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Forced Marriage: Post #1
See my first post in this series on cousin marriages here. I’ll start out by quoting from Amnesty International’s reports about forced marriages in Pakistan as well as what sometimes happens if a woman marries someone of her own choice....
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A Personal Note about Islamic Books, Law, etc.
Islamic scholars have over time worked on a number of religious issues, e.g., commentary on the Quran, collection and authenticity of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (known as Hadith (singular) and Ahadith (plural), and fiqh which is the codification of...
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اتوار 16 مارچ 2003Sunday, March 16, 2003
Marriage: Between Cousins
Bill Allison had a post recently on the subject of cousin marriage recently: Quite a sad story about marital practices in Saudi Arabia from Arab News, in particular, the practice of marrying daughters off to their cousins. An excerpt: The...
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بدھ 12 مارچ 2003Wednesday, March 12, 2003
Muslim Philosophy
Surfing the web, I found this interesting site about Muslim/Islamic philosophy. It has a book “A History of Muslim Philosophy” edited by M.M. Sharif available online. I have just started reading it and would share the authors’ and my thoughts...
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منگل 11 فروری 2003Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Eid Greetings
Eid Mubarak, everyone. Today is Eid-ul-Azha, which the celebration of Abraham’s offer to sacrifice Ishmael (Isaac according to the Bible, but Ishmael in the Quran). To commemorate that event, those Muslims who can afford it sacrifice cows, goats or lambs....
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اتوار 9 فروری 2003Sunday, February 09, 2003
Zionist Church of Swaziland
Browsing through the religious data in the CIA World Factbook, I found out that Swaziland, a small landlocked country in Southern Africa (area 17,363 sq km slightly smaller than New Jersey and population 1.1 million) has a Zionist religion. No,...
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ہفتہ 8 فروری 2003Saturday, February 08, 2003
Muslim Population
Tom Friedman in an anti-France op-ed in the New York Times argued to replace France with India in the UN Security Council: Because India is the world’s biggest democracy, the world’s largest Hindu nation and the world’s second-largest Muslim nation,...
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Maudoodi: According to Kepel
I have started reading Gilles Kepel’s book Jihad : The Trail of Political Islam”. It is an interesting book with a somewhat different viewpoint about political and militant Islam. Here are some excerpts about Maudoodi (for some background, read my...
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جمعہ 7 فروری 2003Friday, February 07, 2003
Honor Killings: Continued
Al-Muhajabah has linked to a number of articles about the teachings of Islam against honor killing....
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Taking Quran Out of Context
A Muslim under Progress had an interesting post of which I liked this snippet: The truth of the matter is that the Qur’an has been misused and abused by Muslims themselves. The dictionary approach to the Qur’an is our own...
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جمعرات 6 فروری 2003Thursday, February 06, 2003
Honor Killings: Miscellaneous Notes
I should probably add some thoughts to my previous post about honor killings. I should warn you however that this post will not have the moral clarity of the previous one; instead it will be a somewhat wishy-washy post. I...
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Honor Killings
Joe Katzman of Winds of Change pointed me to a post by Adil Farooq (MuslimPundit) on their group weblog. Adil writes about the practice of honor killings of women in the Muslim world. In a remarkable book, Woman in the...
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Democracy or Dictatorship
Zachary Latif recently wrote against democracy in the Muslim world: In fact one remains hopefully that there will be no significant upheaval within the Islamic Crescent since autocracy, in a convoluted way, is the one redeeming aspect of the Islamic...
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پیر 27 جنوری 2003Monday, January 27, 2003
Activist Islam in Pakistan: Post 2
Continuing from where I left off with Al-Muhajabah’s “A field guide to Islamic activists”: Second, we can look at recent developments in Islamic thought in Pakistan as a whole. Pakistan was created in 1948 as a state for the Muslims...
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اتوار 26 جنوری 2003Sunday, January 26, 2003
Activist Islam in Pakistan: Post 1
I promised this series quite some time ago, but didn’t get around to doing it. I’ll use Al-Muhajabah’s “A field guide to Islamic activists” as a jumping-off point (Yes, I remember mentioning it earlier and promising a critique of its...
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جمعرات 23 جنوری 2003Thursday, January 23, 2003
Condemnation of Terrorism: The End
A few days ago, in a surly and defiant mood, I decided to post a condemnation of terrorism from Muslims daily. My readers thought I didn’t have any obligation to condemn terrorism. As it turned out, that was a decision...
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اتوار 19 جنوری 2003Sunday, January 19, 2003
Condemnation of Terrorism: Day 3
From the islamicity website: (WASHINGTON, DC - 9/11/2001) - The American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC), today condemned the apparent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and offered condolences to the families of those who were killed or injured....
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ہفتہ 18 جنوری 2003Saturday, January 18, 2003
Condemnation of Terrorism: Day 2
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) had this to say: We at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with the entire American Muslim community, are deeply saddened by the massive loss of life resulting from the tragic events of...
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جمعہ 17 جنوری 2003Friday, January 17, 2003
Ayaz Amir on Bin Ladenism
Here are excerpts I like from Ayaz Amir’s op-ed in Dawn, the largest English language Pakistani newspaper: We like to think - or rather we comfort ourselves with the thought - that the West, especially the United States, is caught...
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جمعرات 16 جنوری 2003Thursday, January 16, 2003
Condemnation of Terrorism: Day 1
Since I am neither eloquent nor in the right mind at this time, I am going to steal from Al-Muhajabah’s collection of links of Muslims condemning terrorist attacks. I am going to start off with Al-Muhajabah’s own condemnation of the...
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Christian and Muslim Fundamentalists
It all started with this statement in the comments of Daily Kos: Moslem fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists are not very different. Tacitus picked it up and a long discussion started in his comments. Based on this statement, Aziz divided Muslims...
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جمعرات 19 دسمبر 2002Thursday, December 19, 2002
Democracy and the Middle East
Here is something to chew on: Journal of Democracy’s special issue on the Middle East Oxblog’s earlier debate about the issue. David Adesnik on Algeria vs Iran Found via David Adesnik of Oxblog. I’ll be reading these in the next...
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جمعرات 12 دسمبر 2002Thursday, December 12, 2002
Wahabism and Reformation again
Bill Allison does not agree with Ikram Saeed that Wahabism is the Reformation for Islam. Superficially, the comparison seems apt. Like Luther and Calvin and Tyndale, al-Wahhab demanded fidelity to the text, to a return to the revelation as it...
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منگل 10 دسمبر 2002Tuesday, December 10, 2002
A Decent Article on Islam
Al-Muhajabah, whose blog veiled4Allah is on my blogroll, has an interesting article titled “A Field Guide to Islamic Activists”. It gives some of the background on the basic philosophies of Sunni Islam: the historic four madhabs (Hanafi, Shaafi, Maliki, Hanbali);...
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پیر 9 دسمبر 2002Monday, December 09, 2002
Wahabis/Salafis Again
My initial post regarding the Wahabis touched very briefly on the topic. I have been thinking of blogging more on Wahabis as well as the different sects/schools of thought in Islam specifically as found in Pakistan. However, it is a...
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PhotoDude Gets It
PhotoDude has a great blog where he discuss politics and posts his photographs as well. He’s on my blogroll mainly because of the images, but his recent post about clearly differentiating between the extremist murderers of the Al-Qaeda variety and...
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