Speaking of Faith
I just found out about this very interesting public radio show called Speaking of Faith hosted by a Ms. Krista Tippet. The site is very well organized. I’m just pasting some links of interesting episodes of the show related to Islam; the shows can be streamed and downloaded and more information can be found on the issues discussed on the website as well. Transcripts are also up for some of the lectures.
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/armstrong/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/sunni-shia/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/rumi/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/newvoice/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/crisisinislam/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/islaminiraq/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/spiritofislam/
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/progressiveislam/
Short Break
Salam,
Just taking a break from the blog two three weeks as I have a lot of work to do. End-of-semester college assignments and papers and my graduate school applications. Will be back by soon enough inshAllah.
Will just leave you with a lovely article by Professor Mark LeVine on the International Islamic University Islamabad for now.
Excellent Article on McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies
Mark Albey – Understanding Islam
It’s unfortunate that Dr. Wael Hallaq, the professor of Islamic Law, is moving to Columbia and that Dr. Sajida Alvi, the professor of Urdu and Islam in South Asia, is retiring. Still, the institute has some professors that I’d be interested in working with. The project headed by Dr. Ragep and Dr. Wisnowsky mentioned in the article sounds brilliant; I’m adding the link to its website below.
13 Steps to Memorize the Qur’an by Yasir Qadhi
13 Steps to Memorize the Qur’an by Yasir Qadhi
I really liked this post and the idea of making the hifdh of the Qur’an, or a part of it if not all, a possibility that all of us think about and consider. May Allah make us all learn as much of the Qur’an as possible, understand it, act upon it and and teach it to others so we become among the best of people.
Ameen.
The Muslim Threat
Huma Yusuf wrote a nice article on the perceived threat of the Muslims in America in light of the Muslim psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s shooting spree at Fort Hood, a US army base in Texas, on Thursday. I’d suggest studying the figures, figures and opinions about how Muslims are perceived in America, through the lens provided by the BBC documentary, The Power of Nightmares, which I would suggest in its’s own right. It’s an excellent watch. I’m not reducing the documentary’s relevance to this incidence or vice versa; I just think that it it would be an interesting way to look at the event, beyond the reasons for the Major’s actions and the heated debate over whether they were driven by Islam, his own mental imbalance, or other factors resulting from his being in the army.
Huma Yusuf – US Muslims Face Backlash
Link to Playlist on Youtube with All Three Parts of BBC’s The Power of Nightmares
Our Sister Aafia.
I just read the following piece. It’s heartbreaking.
A brown box on the doorstep… Aafia Siddiqui’s suffering enclosed
I’d like to paste a few lines here that should make us all think about death and dying. It really puts life into perspective. There is no meaningful life without a meaningful death, end and End (all three related).
This box contained all that remained of the worldly belongings of Aafia’s life. This is what she accumulated during the 8 months at the institution known as the “House of Horrors”. It hit me that without warning, one day someone took her away. She had no time to complete tasks, letters, consume a special treat or send a last letter. All her belongings, both of her scarves and her beloved Quran were all left behind.
She was strip searched naked and taken away with nothing but her body.
And I was reminded of what it must be like to die. All the things that are left undone. The things we think we will finish the next moment or the next day. The favorite clothes, the favorite book, the favorite meal. In the end when they take you, it is you alone they take…
Maybe we should sit and reevaluate everything we consider important more often.
… Yes, back to the Brown Box. Because the story does not end here. That Box stayed in the entry, contents placed back inside. Then one day I saw the box and thought of the Pharaohs and how they built Pyramids to carefully store the contents of the world that they would take with them on the journey beyond death. How meticulous the exterior architecture but equally haphazard the interior chambers and the storing of the food… clothes… ornaments…
…But there was a difference – a big difference between the pyramids of the pharaohs and the Brown Box of Aafia. The one was planned. The other reflects reality of how life ends abruptly. In reality, even the Pharaohs would have had a brown box that collected their daily unfinished business because while they could prepare for death, they could not predict its time.
Apart from the Pharoahs and the Egyptians believing that they would need their possessions in the next life, if we just reflect on the words in another sense we’ll realize that no matter how much we prepare for death in our minds, no matter how much we think we have sorted our lives out, settled our accounts and debts with God and His people, no matter how much we may desire to hold on to this life, death will catch us unawares and we will leave behind a string of uneaten apples, unfulfilled promises, unsatisfied desires, wasted movements. For the one who wishes to hold on to life more than anything else, it will catch him as he enjoys the illusion of living it as though it will continue forever. For the one who thinks that he is self sufficient and has no need for any validation outside himself, and for the religious man much too content with himself, such as I often am, let him be reminded that the end will not be neat and the end will not leave behind a perfect and complete story. What we do and what we will have done by the end will never be enough; it is only by the Mercy of Allah that any of us will enter paradise. What legitimate reason can there be left for any kind of pride or arrogance left after that?
Where I’m Applying InshAllah
University of Arizona – Department of Near Eastern Studies – M.A. Islamic Studies
University of Michigan – Department of Near Eastern Studies – M.A. Islamic Studies
Indiana University, Bloomington – Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures – M.A. Islamic Studies
McGill University – Institute of Islamic Studies – M.A. Islamic Studies
University of Toronto – Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies – M.A. Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies (Maybe) – Study of Religions – M.A. Religions
McGill and the University of Arizona would be my first two preferences. Toronto after them. Michigan and Indiana after that. I’ll put up my research interests soon inshAllah; just a bit wary about it for now because of plagiarism concerns.
Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies
It’s a journal that is published online, as well as in print. Access to the online version is free, and all the articles can be downloaded for free as well.
How Access JSTOR and Project MUSE for Free
Very very useful blog post by a university student in India.
Unfortunately, signing up as a researcher in Pakistan will only get one access to Project Muse, and not to JSTOR. Access to JSTOR is restricted to researchers of a limited number of developing countries. The list is available on the Website under Online Services link.
Protestors shut down Ehud Olmert speech at University of Chicago
Now THIS is what should be happening in our universities.
A Family Member of Mine
Recently, my interest in my family’s history was sparked once again and forced into shape by the interest of another cousin. While discussing the family’s history with my maternal grandmother, I found out about her mamoo (mother’s younger brother) Rasheed Akhtar Nadvi, a novelist and historian of Islam. Someone – I intend to trace down who – has made the following website on him:
On the Unfortunate Niqab Controversy in Al Azhar and Egypt
Yasir Qadhi’s response:
http://muslimmatters.org/2009/10/07/with-scholars-like-these/
Al Jazeera English news clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOX2w0n5n4U
Pop Islam
http://lightnessofbeing.wordpress.com/2004/08/08/pop-islam/
Cute Hijabs, matching tight pants, perfectly manicured hands drumming restlessly to the beat of the latest Nasheed pop;
Nice rides, sipping café lattes, halaqas embraced in the depths of cozy rooms, speaking of distant dreams and privileged existences.
Do we know the real struggle?
ISNA club, throngs of fans milling air conditioned convention halls, pop star speakers glimmer in the spot light, beckoning distant hearts to spirituality and deeper lives; chastising in that “oh so mesmerizing voice”; as the crowd yells a deep bass “Takbir” followed by shrills of “Allahu Akbar”…
Do we really comprehend the Greatness of our Creator?
Trekking the globe in search of meaning, disenchanted existences within treasure filled homes, dreams of substance blocked by trivial minds; apathy radiates in different colors; squeezing potential out of our beings like deep soaked sponges inflated by muddy waters;
Can meaning seep into a suffocated heart?
Following zigzag paths of nothingness; in search of “Deen” or “the other half of my Deen” whatever comes first. So we step in style, mouthfuls of “Subhana Allah”; gleeful “Mashaallah”; echoing from empty hearts frenzied by empty lives.
Scratching the surface of submission; echoing lines from distant lives; dreams of greatness shelved away; as we pander our “Proud to Be Muslim” shirts; cheap prices for cheaper wares.
Pardon my jaded writing…perhaps I forgot the subtle depths of this struggle; as I begin to still the meaningless symbols clanging in my heart;
Request for prayers
Salam,
Would just like to request a short prayer from the readers of this blog for my health. My migraine attacks are back and I have been having them almost every day for the past few days now. It’s making studying and getting anything constructive done very difficult. If you could, please make a short prayer for the return of my health inshAllah.
Jazakallah khayr.
Wassalam
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