Month: September 2015

The realities of Western colonialism, American military bases, “American political and economic interventions, often violent” and “Israel, heavily armed with all forms of weapons of mass destruction, a cruel occupying force, and the regional superpower,” are overshadowed by “the Islamist Imaginary”: We Are at War with an Imaginary Islam: Lies, Propaganda and the Real Story…

“It was the second major disaster during this year’s Hajj season, raising questions about the adequacy of measures put in place by Saudi authorities to ensure the safety of the roughly two million Muslims taking part in the annual religious event” … More than 700 Dead in Hajj Stampede, Saudi Arabia Authorities Say (Al-Jazeera America)…

[This is the thirteenth and last in a series of my notes on the International Institute of Islamic Thought conference on Islamic Law and Ethics held in Herndon, VA in June  2014. These notes are NOT a transcript, but a lightly edited presentation of  my perception of the discussion. The proceedings will be published by IIIT at…

Forced out of the mosque he led for seventeen years” by an ethic-based split, Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini has a new project, to “see that the youth are empowered and assuming a leadership role in the Muslim community. Traditionally, in most mosques in Dearborn, there is no youth presence”: MuslimLeader Moves Forward After Leaving Dearborn…

“They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim boy…. [T]hey didn’t evacuate the school[,] … call a bomb squad[, and] … get as far away from him as possible…. [T]hey put him and the clock in an office[,] … waited[ed] with him for the police to arrive, and then they put the clock in the…

“[P]ublic opposition to what we later learned would have been a massive bombing campaign … succeeded without knowing about the rejected proposal for peace of 2012 … [but] the U.S. went right ahead inching its way into the war with trainers and weapons and drones”: What if Americans Had Known in 2013 that U.S. Rejected…

“The hajj is due to go ahead unaffected, but locals have been left with a bitter taste in their mouths. ‘There have been quite a few minor incidents, workers getting killed, but it never reaches the press,’ said the activist. ‘This time they can’t hide it’”: Mecca Crane Collapse Shows Dangers of City’s Construction Boom…

The state curriculum includes “Hinduism, Buddhism, monotheism, the 10 Commandments, the Hebrew Bible, Christianity and Jesus being the son of God” as well as Islam, Shintoism, and Buddhism. School board chairman David Bates “said it is essential to teach about religion, not of religion”:   School Board Explains Curriculum on Islam (Daily Herald) One difference between…

The FBI’s brilliant plan to deter Americans from joining the Islamic State: Send those who choose NOT to join to prison for thirty years … An American Family Saved Their Son from Joining the Islamic State. Now He Might Go to Prison (Washington Post) … while some equally brilliant British newspapers propose solving the Syrian…