Islam
November 23, 2009
- “One of the sexiest women in the Arab world” is in trouble. It clearly shows that within Islamic societies there is a wide range of behaviour and disparities.Haifa Wehbe is a Lebanese pop singer and this time it is not her revealing clothes and sensuous moves that are being questioned. In her latest album, Baba fein (Where is Daddy?) there is stanza that goes, “Where is my teddy bear and my ...
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November 13, 2009
- Worn out has-been or drama queen? Interpretations of the Palestinian president's threat to quit vary greatly. By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPostJERUSALEM — Sometimes a quitter really does quit for good. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, announced last week that he wouldn’t run for re-election in the proposed January elections. Back when he was Yasser Arafat’s deputy in the ...
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November 3, 2009
- Iranian woman protests in the streets of Tehran. (Photo: .faramarz / flickr) Afghani woman. (Photo: twocentsworth / flickrYou know those women in veils, who are the subject of patronizing soundbites on American newscasts? Those women in veils who frequently appear as exotic subjects in lurid emails circulated by American liberals, who think of them as domestic drones paperclipped to a kitchen ...
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November 2, 2009
- I was alarmed by news reports of two Chicago men arrested in connection with a Pakistani plot to attack Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and Flemming Rose, the culture editor at Jyllands-Posten. One of the men allegedly wrote in a Yahoo! chat that he was “disposed toward violence” toward these men and toward me because of my books, “The Jewel of Medina” and “The Sword of ...
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October 23, 2009
- Do miracles happen? Do they serve a larger purpose other than giving signals? Must all miracles have a religious basis?We know that parts of Russia have been going through turbulent times. In the Kizlyar region of Dagestan, one such place, a nine-month old is being touted as a “miracle baby”. Ali Yakubov is oblivious to the hordes descending to see the verses from the Quran appear on various ...
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October 16, 2009
- A 90-year-old bachelor decides to give himself the gift of a night with an adolescent virgin. This happens in life and it takes place in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's latest novel Memories of My Melancholy Whores. Anti-prostitution groups are objecting to a movie being made on this work. They believe it will promote child prostitution.Literature, cinema, art have always been questioned along these ...
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September 28, 2009
- Dear Reader,Traveling to foreign countries, being on TV and the radio, it all sounds so glamorous! And it is ... but it's also very hard work.I arrived in Stockholm at about 4 p.m., to greet my publisher Shadi Bitar of Earbooks, waiting for me bearing a sign with his own name on it (a security precaution). After a warm handshake he drove me to the Rival Hotel, a truly wonderful place (especially ...
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September 20, 2009
- Today is the first day of Eid al-Fitr in Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim countries where the new moon has been sighted, marking the beginning of the lunar month of Shawwal and the end of the holy month of Ramadan.Last year I blogged about how the holiday is celebrated, but there are also some more personal accounts here.Eid Mubarak (English translation: happy ...
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September 4, 2009
- Palestinians and Israelis take an eternal debate into the classroom, leaving the UN stuck in the middle. By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPostJERUSALEM — In the Book of Lamentations, the people of Jerusalem cry out against the destruction of the city: “Is any suffering like my suffering?”The answer, of course, is: No. Ever since, Jeremiah’s phrase has pretty much been the catchphrase of the ...
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August 23, 2009
- Why are Indians saying 'Ramadan'? It was always Ramzan for me. I don’t follow any Muslim rules this month, so why do I mind at all by what name it is called? Because it infringes on a cultural attuning. It is an Arabic word.I do not fast. It isn’t for 'unreligious' reasons. It is a personal choice. If I feel like doing it, then I will. I respect people's beliefs; they ought to respect my ...
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