Selling Youth Sexuality (NPR show)
Our society is going downhill when it comes to morale values and sex for sale. Where will it stop. This is an interesting show on NPR about Selling youth sexuality. Good people must work hard to put a stop to the morale decay in our society.
Islam has simple solutions : lower the gaze. The beauty of a women should be reserved for spouse and family. Treat a women based on her contribution and intellect, rather than her physical attraction. Sexual desires are normal and healthy, and are part of what God has placed inside both men and women – and they are to be fulfilled in a healthy loving marriage relationship.
From NPR, Selling Youth Sexuality.
The Fox TV show “Glee” was a hit from the start when it came out last year. At last, a show the family could watch. High school kids singing. Glee club.
It sounded like innocence, a little bit of Happy Days. Now, the female leads of Glee are posing for GQ magazine in their undies. Bobbie socks and bare flesh, soft-porn style.
Of course, they’re not actually kids. And “Glee”’s not so innocent. But once again, there’s the image of highly-sexualized teen life. Critics are crying pedophilia. We hear the debate.
Sharia the new red menace?
This article appeared on the Washington Post, by Eugene Robinson:
Boy, I really hate it when American judges try to impose harsh Islamic sharia law. You know, with all those grisly lashings, stonings and beheadings. What’s that you say? No such thing is happening, and you wonder where I got such a crazy idea? Why, Newt Gingrich told me.
On Saturday, speaking at the conservative Values Voter Summit, Gingrich issued a thunderous call for action against an imminent threat that exists only in his fevered imagination — or, perhaps, in his political machinations.
“We should have a federal law that says sharia law cannot be recognized by any court in the United States,” Gingrich declared, to a standing ovation.
Okay, but would this include Judge Judy? Because I’ve always suspected that when she gets really mad, and she snaps the heads off both the plaintiff and the defendant, she might be slipping a little sharia into the American subconscious — you know, preparing an unsuspecting nation for the real deal. Maybe we need another law that covers fake judges on daytime television, with punishments that begin with flogging.
But seriously, folks, Newt says we have to halt the insidious encroachment of sharia law, and we have to halt it here and now. In July, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute, he went on at great length about the supposed sharia menace, which he sees as part of a “stealth” campaign to impose Islam on all of us.
“Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent jihadis use violence,” Gingrich said at AEI. “But in fact they’re both engaged in jihad, and they’re both seeking to impose the same end state, which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of sharia.”
read the rest of the article here
A comprehensive article on Sharia is written by Noah Feldmen, of Harvard Law School, can be read here.
A controversy in Boston: Students praying in mosque! (part1)
A controversy ensued in Boston this week about public school kids “caught praying” in a mosque visit to the ISBCC. The Every month, the Muslim American Society of Boston hosts around 15 visits to the ISBCC, the largest mosque in New England. The visits are based on requests from schools, churches and synagogues to see the place and understand more about Islam and Muslims. A group promoting Islamophobia doctored a 10 minute video featuring some students praying. While at it, they threw in the same old accusations that they throw at all mainstream Muslim organizations in America (anti-semitism, terroristic, Brotherhoodic, Hamas-loving, and Sharia-worshipping). (see here for some background on the 5 year old controversy). In fact, prior to this controversy, more than 75 Rabbis put out a statement in the Jewish Advocates rebuking Mr Charles Jacobs (of the David Project, and “Peace and Tolerance”) and his bigoted tactics.
MAS-Boston put out a statement explaining that no one has asked or encouraged the students to join in. In fact no one seems to have known that they joined the prayer, since they were supposed to be watching like all other students, and the Muslim guides were praying at that time. The Boston Globe issued an editorial approving of the visit, and indicating that the schools need to be more careful of the prayer piece. They also had a series of articles on the subject (1,2). In a letter to the editors, a Rabbi Goldstein of Andover had something funny to say about it: Let us (not) pray! (PS: we need more funny Imams :)
Rabbi Goldstein writes :
AT THE beginning of each Sabbath service, I make an announcement, specifically aimed at the last three or four pews filled with the bar or bat mitzvah’s 13-year-old friends: “In keeping with the spirit of our liturgy, please keep your conversations to a minimum, turn off your cellphones, and texting during services is inappropriate.’’ After reading “Praying by pupils at mosque decried: Wellesley chief calls it a mistake; group releases field trip footage’’(Metro, Sept. 17), I suppose I should now add: “And to our non-Jewish guests: I better not catch you praying!’’
Seriously now, talking to Muslims across Boston in the last few days, I realize that these pressures are going to cause some mosques to close their doors. If a visit can cause so much trouble, then we better just keep quiet, and not invite anyone in. The next time we invite someone in, how do we know that they will not secretly tape something, doctor it, and then make a public stunt about it. My advice to all Muslims is: keep your doors wide open. Keep the doors of your mosques, your houses, and your hearts wide open to everyone who wants to know about us. Define yourself and don’t allow the Islamophobes to define you. I encourage every mosque in America to put a sign: everyone welcome – come in and learn about Islam and Muslims. Go to other communities to learn about their faith, and share yours. In the beginning, some were saying: we don’t know what’s going on in the mosques; they are probably teaching violence. Now that we opened the mosques up, they are trying to prevent people from coming in and seeing our community. Do not fall into this trap, and keep reaching out!
NPR: Inside American Islam
This is a very good radio interview on NPR about American Islam, featuring a new book by Akbar Ahmad. It focuses on the many internal challenges facing American Muslims, as well as the challenges facing America in integrating yet another new minority into the American society.
Akbar Ahmed, professor of Islamic Studies at American University’s School of International Service. He traveled with a team to some 100 mosques in America. The result is chronicled in his new book, “Journey Into America: The Challenge of Islam.” You can read an excerpt.
Resa Aslan, author of “No god But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam” and a contributing editor for The Daily Beast. Read his latest piece there, “The Charlatans Have Taken Over 9/11.”
Survey: Should the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero be moved?
Survey Result (posted on 9/16) indicate that 85% of the Muslim respondents are for option #1, not to move the center. 13% are for moving it to another suitable location.
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This is question many people are asking these days.
On 9/13, Tariq Ramadan put out an argument in the Washington Post that the mosque should be moved, since this will help ease a tense situation. Sharif El Jamal, who is the majority owner in the real estate property, says there is no way we are moving. Imam Abdul Raoof says: all options are on the table.
What do you think? Should the Islamic center be moved? why or why not?
Share your thoughts below, and take this SURVEY to let us know what you think. Will share with you results of the survey in the next couple of days. Feel free to send the link to others.
PS: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf gave a brilliant interview on the Council of Foreign Relations on 9/13 … You can watch the hour interview here.
Interfaith leaders in support of American values, and Muslims
I was deeply touched today with the tremendous show of support from the interfaith community in our beautiful city of Boston. The words of these friends, colleagues and leaders touched my heart, and reminded me of the beautiful values that we cherish. The press conference in front of the MA State House was covered in TV and print media. Please sign the online petition that is created by the interfaith group in Boston.
Radio Boston : Mass. Muslims Discuss ‘Ground Zero Mosque’
Listen here.
The proposed Islamic center near the site of Ground Zero in Manhattan has incited a political firestorm, deepening divisions between American Muslims and their neighbors.
Massachusetts is home to a relatively large and diverse Muslim community. We have invited local leaders to talk about how the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy has resonated in their communities — and what it’s like to be Muslim in Massachusetts these days.
Are you part of the Muslim community? How do you feel about the state of interfaith relations? Are there legitimate concerns about the Islamic center project near Ground Zero, or is this an example of religious intolerance?
Guests:
- Hossam Aljabri, executive director of the Muslim American Society
- Malik Khan, president of the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland
- Peter Skerry, professor of political science at Boston College and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Recent Poll about what Americans believe about Islam, Muslims, and Obama
This article in the Huffington Post highlights a most interesting Newsweeks poll.
- 24% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim. What is interesting is that this is almost double the percentage of those who thought he was a Muslim 2 years ago, during the election (only 13% during the election) ! (question 17)
- If you look at republicans in particular, 52% believe Obama to be trying to impose global Islam !! (A full 14 percent of Republicans said that it was “definitely true” that Obama sympathized with the fundamentalists and wanted to impose Islamic law across the globe. An additional 38 percent said that it was probably true — bringing the total percentage of believers to 52 percent.)
- 58% of Americans today do NOT know a Muslim at all. But this is lower than 2 years ago (63% did not know a Muslim in 2008). (question 18)
- Compared to 2 years ago, there are more Americans today (60%) who have a more favorable view of Muslims (about 7% more) (question 19)
- 23% say that they would NOT want a mosque in their neighborhood (question 20)
- 52% are worried about radicals within the US Muslim community (question 21)
- In a different poll (Pew Research), 85% of Americans say that they do not know much (or at all) about Islam
Reflections on these numbers:
- Some in America are looking for a way to blame a foreign evil enemy on our domestic problems (economy, wars, etc..). It seems that the best way to rally the troops, so to speak, is to blame a minority group (oh where have we seen this before?). In fact, these people will tell you, the reason Obama is so bad, and should be replaced as soon as possible, is that he is a closet Muslim! An African American leader recently said: they cannot call him the “N” word, so they will call him the new “M” word!
- It seems that there are more people today who are against Muslims (because they need to pin point an enemy, and find a something to blame) ; but also there are more people who are standing with Muslims (because of the tolerant values upon which our society and our constitution is built).
- There is a definite need for Muslims to reach out more. Muslims must come out of the closet and open their homes, houses of worship, and hearts to the larger society. It is not acceptable that 58% of society do not know a Muslim. Most likely one of these people is your neighbor.
- Most people who personally know a Muslim have a much more favorable view of Islam and Muslims.(this is from a different poll). This highlights the importance of Muslims reaching out.
- The worry about radical Muslims is a genuine worry. In fact, American Muslims are worried (or should be worried) about radical Muslims. However, it is obvious that this worry is currently inflated for political reasons. What should we do as American Muslims? 1) combat radicalism in our community: not in the Name of Islam! And 2) be much more inviting of the larger society into our community in order for them to know Islam and Muslims
- The bottom line is this : American Muslims are caught in the middle of a battle not of their own doing. Some in America need an enemy to “rally the troops”. They are positioning Islam/Muslims as this new enemy. Anything Muslim is bad for America. With the small microphone that we have, American Muslims are yelling out: this is not true. This is not what Islam is about at all. American Muslims must not get caught in this political fight though. We need to focus on reaching out to others – even if it is done individually and one on one. We need to decrease the chance that this hype would play in the hands of the extremists in either side. Because this is the stuff that extremism, on both sides, thrives on.
Your thoughts?
Shariah between two popes
This is an interesting article about Sharia by Sherman Jackson.
The article describes the different view of Sharia from two popes. Here is an excerpt :
While it started out as a minor footnote, opposition to sharî’ah has now morphed into the mantra by which many justify their opposition to the so-called “Ground Zero mosque.” If we allow this mosque to go forth, so the logic goes, the next thing you know, all the bars in the country will be shut down (and those infidel lushes flogged!), all the women will be draped in sheets, and Muhammad will replace Jacob as the most popular name in America. Allahu akbar!
While some of this hysteria is clearly being peddled by people who know better, most Americans are probably just engaged in a good-faith attempt to understand and respond to sharî’ah through the only prism they have: their own historical experience. I was recently reminded of this on a visit to Cairo, during which time two popes, one Catholic, the other Coptic, expressed almost mutually contradictory sentiments about sharî’ah. The chasm separating their perspectives related not to their different levels of knowledge aboutsharî’ah but almost entirely to their differences in historical experience.
…..
The most interesting position, however, was that of the [Coptic] Church itself. In addition to religious freedom it invoked sharî’ah in its defense! Time and again, Church officials publicly invoked such sharî’ah maxims as, “When confronted with People of the Book (Jews and Christians), adjudicate among them on the basis of their own religion.” The Coptic patriarch, Pope Shanoudah III, even went so far as to quote the Qur’ân directly in his weekly sermon: “Let the People of the Bible adjudicate according to what God revealed therein. And whoever does not adjudicate in accordance to what God reveals, they are among the corrupt” (5: 47). As if these statements were not explicit enough, in an interview published on 10 June in the official Ahram newspaper, Pope Shanoudah stated plainly and without equivocation, “We simply ask the judges, if they want to reconcile with the Church, to apply the Islamic sharî’ah.”
Read full article here.
A much more comprehensive article on Sharia is written by Noah Feldmen, of Harvard Law School, can be read here.
A World Without Islam
This is a very interesting book : A world without Islam, by Former CIA official and Historian.
I read the first chapter, and it seems like a very good good so far.
Here is the excerpt from NPR :
What would the world be like without Islam? In A World Without Islam, former CIA official and historian Graham Fuller says it wouldn’t be much different from the world today.
According to Fuller, the West’s fraught relationship with the Middle East isn’t really about religion — and actually predates the spread of Islam.
Fuller tells NPR’s Neal Conan that he found “deep-rooted conflicts that still exist over ethnicity or economics or warfare or armies or geopolitics [that] … really don’t have anything to do with Islam, and indeed, existed long before Islam came into existence.”
One of those conflicts can be traced all the way back to antiquity.
“The ancient Greeks fought wars with the ancient Persians for several hundred years, from about 500 to 300 B.C., struggling over the same turf,” Fuller says. “The people who came to occupy them later, the Byzantine Christians, fought the same wars, and then the Turkish Muslims came and they fought the same wars.”
In his book, Fuller says, “I try to run through a whole lot of events and take Islam out of the equation, and see what we’re left with.”
And what was left was the idea that the continuity of geopolitics and grievances across the Middle East doesn’t need Islam to explain it. Rather, he sees Islam — and religion in general — as a banner in that Islam provided the organizing principle for the Muslim empire that took over much of the world.
“I’m not arguing that Islam has not had great impact on the Middle East region and its cultures and civilization,” he says. “But I’m arguing that the nature of conflict between the West and the East does not depend on that, and precedes Islam.”
Consider, for example, the struggle over oil and energy in the Middle East.
“If the area were Christian, would the region be any more accepting of big Western oil companies trying to come in and dominate those things?” he asks. “I don’t think so.”
Fuller says that while he finds imagining the world this way an important and informative exercise, he is in no way advocating for a world without Islam.
“I’m really focusing on the nature of struggle between the East and the West,” he says, “and whether Islam plays a significant role in that.”
You can buy the book here from amazon.
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