Antiquitopia

In a vote, the far right in Switzerland won a referendum to ban the construction of new minarets in the (notoriously?) neutral country. The ban itself was opposed by the current government, but the NYTimes reports ... The referendum, which passed with a clear majority of 57.5 percent of the voters and in 22 of Switzerland’s 25 cantons, was a victory for the right. The vote against was 42.5 percent. Because the ban gained a majority of votes and passed in a majority of the cantons, it will be added to the Constitution. The Swiss Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but the rightist Swiss People’s Party, or S.V.P., and a small religious party had proposed inserting a single sentence banning the construction of minarets, leading to the referendum. The Swiss government said it would respect the vote and sought to reassure the Muslim population — mostly immigrants from other parts of Europe, like Kosovo and Turkey — that the minaret ban was “not a rejection of the Muslim community,...

The NYTimes has an article about a study coming out of McGill University in Montreal about the increasing prevalence of Creationism in Islamic communities and countries, a topic I know many of my regular readers will be interested in and and more informed about than I am. According to the article, Muslim Creationists tend to be "old earth" Creationists in contrast to the more Christian "young earth" Creationists, meaning most Muslim Creationists do not think the earth to be a mere 6000 years old. They have no real problem with geologists and astronomers who argue that the earth is billions of years old. But they do seem to have some problems with biologists: They do not quarrel with astronomers and geologists, just biologists, insisting that life is the creation of God, not the happenstance consequence of random occurrences. This, as with everything, varies from group to group and from country to country, but there is a growing presence everywhere in the Muslim wo...

Disease, particularly on an epidemic scale, often affects religion. I might point to what Thucydides, for example, says about religion during the great plague of Athens in the fifth century BCE at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. As people died of the plague and the plague spread, all social bonds broke down. He writes: Equally useless were prayers made in the temples, consultation of oracles, and so forth; indeed, in the end people were overcome by their sufferings that they paid no further attention to such things. (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.47; trans. Rex Warner) The complete abandonment of religion (and all law) is a rather extreme version of how disease affects religious observance. But less extreme but still significant changes, mostly coming from religious authorities have been put into play with multiple religions. A couple weeks ago we heard about changes in Catholic services, when the common cup for Eucharist ceremonies was removed and holy wat...

Jesus said, "Earthly life consists of three days: a yesterday over which you have no control, a tomorrow which you do not know whether you will attain, and a today which you should put to good use." (Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Minhaj al-'Abidin ; trans. Khalidi, Muslim Jesus )

Christ said to his followers: "If people appoint you as their heads, be like tails." "Blessed is he who sees with his heart but whose heart is not in what he sees." Christ said, "The world is a bridge. Cross this bridge but do not build upon it." Christ said, "Be in the middle but walk to the side." 'Abdallah ibn Qutayba, 'Uyun al-Akhbar 1:266; 2:268, 328; 3:21 (Trans. Tarif Khalidi, The Muslim Jesus )

Jesus said, "It is of no use to you to come to know what you did not know, so long as you do not act in accordance with what you already know. Too much knowledge only increases pride if you do not act in accordance with it." Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Zuhd (trans. Tarif Khalidi, The Muslim Jesus )

I've been reading Salwa Al Neimi's Proof of the Honey . Al Neimi is an author living in France, but born in Damascus. Her book is edgy and controversial because it is an example of erotica written in Arabic, a nice break from my usual fare of scholarly tomes about ancient Judaism and Christianity. The very first lines jump off the page, inviting you to read further: Some people conjure spirits. I conjure bodies. I have no knowledge of my soul or of the souls of others. I know only my body and theirs. And I content myself with that. I conjure them and I see myself with them once again--ephemeral travelers in an ephemeral body; they were never more than that. It is not just about sex, although it is very much about sex, but freedom of sexual expression, language, and Arabic culture; especially how the configuration of these intersections shift from place to place and over time in very complicated ways reflected in the main character's life, her interaction with men and...

Two artists, one from Pakistan living in Queens and the other the child of Iranian immigrants living in New Jersey, in a conjoined show grapple with what it means to be Muslim, American, and women through their art. See the somewhat lengthy, but very interesting NYTimes article : In Pakistan Ms. Ahmed Shikoh’s work had been sociopolitical, addressing what she saw as the country’s colonization by American fast-food chains, for instance, with paintings like “The Invasion,” in which swarms of Ronald McDonalds, wearing screaming-red clown wigs, surround a central monument in Karachi. Here, however, her art turned deeply personal as she grappled with her new identity as an immigrant and, having rarely set foot in a mosque back home, as a gradually more observant Muslim. In her first American paintings Ms. Ahmed Shikoh reimagined the Statue of Liberty in her own image: in a Pakistani wedding dress, as a pregnant immigrant and as a regal mother, baby on hip. Next she transformed the subway m...

From the NYTimes : June 6, 2009 THE SATURDAY PROFILE Challenging Sex Taboos, With Help From the Koran By ROBERT F. WORTH DUBAI, United Arab Emirates WEDAD LOOTAH does not look like a sexual activist. A Muslim and a native Emirati, she wears a full-length black niqab — with only her brown eyes showing through narrow slits — and sprinkles her conversation with quotes from the Koran. Yet she is also the author of what for the Middle East is an amazingly frank new book of erotic advice in which she celebrates the female orgasm, confronts taboo topics like homosexuality and urges Arabs to transcend the backward traditions that limit their sexual happiness. The book, “Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples,” is packed with vivid anecdotes from Ms. Lootah’s eight years as a marital counselor in Dubai’s main courthouse. It became an instant scandal after it was published in Arabic in the Emirates in January, drawing praise from some liberals and death threats from conservatives, who s...

Obama's overturning of Bush-era restrictions on stem-cell research has had an interesting religious response according to AP . The interesting aspect of it is its complexity and ambivalence. Firstly, the divide is largely between killing innocent life and the importance of alleviating suffering (all quotations from AP): The embryonic stem cell research debate is steeped with religious arguments, with some faith traditions convinced the research amounts to killing innocent life, others citing the moral imperative to alleviate suffering, and plenty of religious believers caught somewhere in between. The expected Catholic response of opposition came from Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia: Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called Obama's move "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics." "This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human l...

Since I am interested in all things related to religion, I thought I would send along this site , which features halal hip-huggers. As the site says: Peace and Blessings Be Upon You. And welcome to Muslim Sex Shop! And among His wonders is this: He creates for you mates out of your own kind, so that you might incline towards them, and He engenders love and tenderness between you: in this, behold, there are messages indeed for people who think! -Qur’an, 30:21 (Muhammad Asad Translation) And: Are you tired of your aunties not talking to you about sex? Are you afraid that your little sister learns about sexuality from Barbie dolls? Married sex-life becoming a bore? Enter Muslim Sex Shop. There is plenty of material on the internet for intimacy, sexuality, and related products. We’ve never come across one for Muslims, and so we decided to create a space for our own. The reality is, Muslims need to access useful, factual information on sexuality and intimacy. Sexual ignorance hurts ...

Most people probably realize by now that President Obama gave his first televised interview as President to a major Arabic television network, Al Arabiya. Here is an article from NYTimes : January 28, 2009 Obama Signals New Tone in Relations With Islamic World By ALAN COWELL PARIS — In an interview with one of the Middle East’s major broadcasters, President Barack Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward the Islamic world, saying he wanted to persuade Muslims that “the Americans are not your enemy.” He also said “the moment is ripe” for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The interview with Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language news channel based in Dubai, signaled a shift — in style and manner at least — from the Bush administration, offering what he depicted as a new readiness to listen rather than dictate. It was Mr. Obama’s first televised interview from the White House and the first with any foreign news outlet. In a transcript published on Al Arabiya’s English language Web si...

Since I blogged about the controversy that had surrounded the choice of Rick Warren giving the inaugural invocation, I guess I should comment on the actual prayer. First, the controversy surrounded having someone who gave some rather ridiculous comparisons to gay marriage (like comparing it to pedophilia). Then the issue was whether or not he would mention Jesus or not. Would he represent his particular brand of religiosity, or in an event for all Americans represent all Americans. On that issue, I came down on the side that the most "American" thing to do is just be yourself and not try to water things down to vague generalities. If it were a Hindu giving the invocation, I would expect an invocation of Vishnu, Siva, or whatever god or goddess to which that particular person was devoted. If an imam, I would expect something on Allah. And so on... One objection was what would happen if Warren completed the prayer by "in Jesus' name we pray," in which the ...

From the NYTimes : January 3, 2009 Generation Faithful Preaching Moderate Islam and Becoming a TV Star By ROBERT F. WORTH JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — As Ahmad al-Shugairi took the stage, dressed in a flowing white gown and headdress, he clutched a microphone and told his audience that he had no religious training or titles: “I am not a sheik.” But over the next two hours, he worked the crowd as masterfully as any preacher, drawing rounds of uproarious laughter and, as he recalled the Prophet Muhammad’s death, silent tears. He spoke against sectarianism. He made pleas for women to be treated as equals. He talked about his own life — his seven wild years in California, his divorce, his children — and gently satirized Arab mores. Sounds like he is somewhere between a televangelist (although not so conservative) and a pundit, while avoiding any distinctly religious titles for himself. Perhaps more in line with 18th and 19th century revivalists, who also took advantage of recent technology and s...

That's right; Muslim punk is spreading across the U.S. About five years ago, a book came out and spread among micro-networks of primarily young Muslims fed up with the Bush Administration's policies, general non-Muslim attitudes, and more conservative Muslim leaders. How do you critique and express frustration? Through punk bands. This book is about punk bands and Islam. The book inspired an entire subculture of young Muslim punk bands. That subculture is now inspiring an independent film based on the book, "The Taqwacores." Here is the article from the NYTimes : December 23, 2008 Young Muslims Build a Subculture on an Underground Book By CHRISTOPHER MAAG CLEVELAND — Five years ago, young Muslims across the United States began reading and passing along a blurry, photocopied novel called “The Taqwacores,” about imaginary punk rock Muslims in Buffalo. “This book helped me create my identity,” said Naina Syed, 14, a high school freshman in Coventry, Conn. A Muslim...

I just read the following from the Associated Press. A judge in Georgia jailed a Muslim woman who refused to remove her head scarf in court. The court rules are that no headgear is allowed at all, which would, in this case, create a religious violation. Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer Dionne Walker, Associated Press Writer 19 mins ago ATLANTA – A Georgia judge ordered a Muslim woman arrested Tuesday for contempt of court for refusing to take off her head scarf at a security checkpoint. The judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts. Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia. "I just felt stripped of my civi...

On the cover of the latest New Yorker magazine, there is a sketch of Barack Obama dressed in a turban and Muslim garb, giving a fist pump to his wife, who is holding an AK-47. They are in the Oval Office, with an American Flag burning in the fireplace, and a portrait of Osama bin Laden on the wall. The New Yorker claims that this is just satire, and it is part of its article on the politics of fear, meant to mock the portrait that Obama's right-wing critics have painted of him. But Obama isn't laughing. For others, it seems, the satire just falls into the right-wing critics hands, playing into their imagery (or the New Yorker is not implicated in what they critique). The problem is a matter of consistency. If one wants to do this type of satire, one should consistently do it; otherwise, it can be misinterpreted, as this particular cover was. For example, I think that Stephen Colbert, who engages in this type of satire very consistently, could more easily get away with it...

Although I typically do not consider myself particularly political, I have noticed that a good number of my postings tend to be about politics, particularly politics and religion. I have posted a few times on Evangelical voters, Catholic voters, and the different candidates, partly because they seem to be getting the most press. But NYT has an article today on Muslim voters and Barack Obama, particularly Obama's apparent distancing himself from Islam and Muslim voters. According to the article, many Muslim voters were originally enthusiastic about Obama as a candidate. And when Keith Ellison, the country's first Muslim congressman, volunteered to help out in Iowa last year, particularly to speak at a Mosque in Cedar Rapids, which has a sizable and older Muslim population, Obama's aides asked him not to do so because it might stir up controversy, quoting, "We have a tightly wrapped message," suggesting that a Muslim politician speaking at a mosque on Obama's...

The New York Times reports that the residents of ancient city of Cologne, which hosts the greatest cathedral in Germany, is split concerning the building of a new mosque on the site of a converted factory. As the article reports, there are already dozens of mosques in Cologne, which, by the way, hosts one of the largest Muslim populations (approx. 120,000 people mostly of Turkish descent) in Germany, but they are all in tucked-away factories and warehouses that do not attract much attention. This new mosque would be Germany's largest and would give Cologne's Muslims a more conspicuous place of worship they can take pride in, and, even being Germany's largest mosque, it would not compete with the famous cathedral in proximity, size, or grandeur. More conservative elements of the population, nevertheless, have petitioned for the suspension of the project, citing the "common historical background" of non-Turkish German residents against the relatively "new...