It’s been months since I last wrote, but it seems like years. Maybe that’s because we’ve entered 2004 AD, the Chinese Year of the Monkey, and, today, the year 1425 of the islamic calendar, all within two months. The first of Muharram is a public holiday in many states in Malaysia, including Sarawak, so I’m […]
Tag Archives: Islam
White Minority
Sharon Gallagher is white but she knows what it is like to be part of an ethnic minority. For the past 18 months she has lived with her three children in the predominantly Asian district of Manningham in Bradford. This was once a white area, but over the past 30 years most of the whites […]
Between Hope and Fear
Muslim WakeUp’s most recent article deals with the scoresheet mentality in religious observance, where promised rewards for good actions are tallied up like a “pile of candy”. I agree with Pamela’s assessment that this is the morality of toddlers. As a convert, this kind of thinking has very little appeal. In fact, this simplistic kind […]
Key to the Garden
In every chapter, he begins his topic with selections from Quran, develops his argument with support from hadith and writings of other shaykhs, and then… concludes with a poem! The effect is quite moving; can you imagine how much more interesting your university coursebooks would have been with the same technique?
More AIDS and Islam
Muslim Wake Up has a followup to the AIDS conference and the Dr. Wadud controversy, pointing out the dreadful condition of women in Pakistan. Of course there are many other muslim countries the author could have named too. Times are rough all over. At one point, the author says this: “When she gets married, and […]
Catching Up
There’s been some great posts among the websites I regularly read as well as some noteworthy stuff elsewhere as well. Here’s a quick round-up for you: Thebit discusses in his very learned way an essay about the genre of Islamic apologetics that produce evidences from the Quran for modern scientific discoveries. The logic behind the […]
Islam in Canada
AltMuslim has a front page story on the rise of Islam in Canada. As has already happened in Germany, France and England, Islam is now the second largest religion in Canada, surpassing the Jewish population by a few hundred thousand. This probably has already happened in the US too, but, as the AltMuslim article alludes […]
Rabi’ al-Awwal
We are now in the first week of the blessed month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the month that Allah Almighty sent the Beloved, Our Master Muhammad , the Best of Creation, the Seal of the Prophets. His birth, or Mawlid, is celebrated on the 12th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, and is an official holiday in every muslim […]