Category — Religion

BBC America recently televised a British miniseries called Britz, a drama serial that follows a Muslim brother and sister as their paths in life take decidedly different turns. Sohail, a law student in London joins the Mi5 while his sister Nasima, a med student in Leeds, takes company with extremists.

Britz is made up of two parts, each part devoted to each sibling. Part 1 is Sohail’s story as we see him going from just a law student to joining and learning the ropes at Mi5. Over the few months, Sohail finds himself immersed in the investigation of the 7/7 London bombers. Eventually, this leads him to come to terms with spying on people he grew up with in order to deal with possible threats.

Sohail

Part 2 is “Nasima’s story” and takes place during the same timeline as Part 1 but is instead from Nasima’s viewpoint. Part 2 skips over details that we know from Part 1 and then goes into more detail with the turmoil caused in Nasima’s life due to the arrest of her best friend on trumped up terrorism charges. Nasima goes from trying to change the system by being only politically engaged to turning towards more drastic measures.

I thought the series was interesting but wanted to touch on a couple of things. Britz depicted some of the issues that Pakistanis/Muslims have to deal with in England. For instance, there is the blatant racism. I was trying to figure out why that is. I mean, I know that things are not perfect here in the States and that there are plenty of people that will happily tell you to “go back to your country” but it seems to be a bit more so in England. So here’s my theory (that may very well be stated in a bunch of other places too but oh well): The U.S. is a land of immigrants. Unless you are Native American, you are originally from somewhere else. Maybe some people who have been here for generations don’t see it that way, but that is the way it is. If someone tells you to go back to your country over here, you can always respond with a “you first”, have a laugh, and move on with your life. In general though, there is a great deal of tolerance here because this country is meant to be a place for everyone.

But it’s not like that in England. The English may be looking at immigrants, Pakistani or otherwise, as taking over their country. Not that I’m saying that the racist behavio(u)r is warranted but being racist could merely be a defense mechanism as some try to deal with their country being home to so many other types of people.

There’s something you notice about the immigrant population in England which was depicted in Britz- there are some places that in which people live completely within their own ethnic community. For instance, Sohail and Nasima are originally from Bradford, a city that has a lot of desi Muslim people. Dewsbury, which isn’t too far from there, is also like that. Once when I was in England to visit my cousin, she took me to Green Street in London, another area that is completely saturated with desi people. I believe other ethnic groups may have similar types of areas as well.

In the U.S., we really don’t have that. Granted you can say that there are a lot of Pakistanis in the Bay Area but we don’t all live clustered together in one specific area with nary a non-Pakistani soul to be seen. Pakistanis and Muslims in general are pretty well integrated in American society. A lot of us still try to retain the culture of where our parents or ancestors came from but in the end our identity is just as American if not more American than the identity of any other country.

Having said all of that, there are plenty of integrated Muslims in England, like my relatives for one, and I’m not saying that all the ones that are not integrated are more prone to turn to extremism.

Ok, ok, I don’t completely see the point of this post but I guess I just wanted to relay some of my thoughts on a couple of aspects of the series.

And while I have you here, check out Guy Lawson’s article in Rolling Stone titled The Fear Factory about the U.S. government actually manufacturing fear for its citizens with fabricated threats. I blogged about it back in February back when the article came out but figured this would be a good place to bring it back up

Oh, so I realize that I didn’t actually review Britz with the above babble so here’s a short review: I liked it and I thought the acting was really well done. Although I have to admit, my initial reason for watching it was because I realized that the guy who played Sohail, Riz Ahmed, is the son of an old friend of my dad’s and I met him in England back in 1995. We went over to their place with my aunt’s family and his mom made fried chicken the first time we went over. That’s a really random thing to remember, you say, but there’s a very good reason I remember that particular detail: One of my cousins ate a bunch of chicken wings and put all of the bones in my plate when I wasn’t looking. With a “Hey everyone, look at how much chicken Bushra ate,” I didn’t hear the end of it from my family for the rest of the trip.

And with that, I’ll end.

So I’m a few days late in this post but I still felt the need to acknowledge that it is now Ramadan, the holiest of months to Muslims.

They say that the only thing that some Muslims get out of this month is the feeling of starvation from dawn to dusk. I think that’s how it was for me the past two Ramadans.

I want it to be different this year so I will be striving to work on my spiritual side and get closer to Allah (swt) (or, y’know, ‘God’ as the masses call Him ;))

Muslims go by a lunar calendar and according to most scholars, the lunar months begin and end with the actual physical sighting of the new moon by the naked eye. So for me, it means that if the new moon is sighted anywhere in North America, the month begins. These days, we all have a much better idea of when and where the moon can be seen due to astronomy, math, and all that good stuff.

I happened to see the new moon from my house Monday night and it was a beautiful sight. The following was taken Monday night in the Hayward Hills by someone over at Zaytuna Institute:

My aim is to be a better person this Ramadan. Here’s hoping that I can accomplish that.

During the long weekend, I attended an Islamic conference titled “Is Islamic Thought Dying?” The topic intrigued me since it sounded like I would be intellectually stimulated and learn quite a few things. In order to ensure that all registrants were serious and interested in the conference, everyone had to write an essay about whether or not he or she believes that Islamic thought is dying. In addition, the program organizers mentioned a particular book - Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul: The Pertinence of Islamic Cosmology in the Modern World - on their site, saying that the lectures will touch on what is said in that book.

Turns out the entire conference was meant to be a critique on that book. While interesting, it wasn’t what I (or anyone else for that matter) signed up for.

However, one of the scholars, Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, went off topic in his speeches. While he touched on the various types of thought discussed in the book, he delivered his own take on it instead of delivering, in his words, “a book report.”

After going through horizontal versus vertical thinking and the use of tradition plus reason he got to talking about the “Curse of Default.”

Dr. Umar (a former Puritan from Nebraska who converted in the 70s and then studied Islam abroad. He’s got a cool story about how he was introduced to Islam.) related an incident that took place soon after 9/11:

At a college campus lecture, a group of professors defended Islam and Muslims against the atrocities of 9/11. However, a group of Muslims shouted them down.

At the mosque after prayers later that week, one lady went up to the men that had been shouting at the lecture, who were actually the leaders of that mosque, and asked what was wrong with them. “We don’t need help from kafirs, ” one man responded. A kafir literally means a ‘disbeliever’ but it’s not a very nice word. It’s not something you call someone lightly, basically. Unfortunately, this particular group is the way they are because they fail to apply reason with the tradition, creating a version of Islam that most of us don’t agree with.

And that, Dr. Umar said, was the tragedy because it was this group (for the life of me, I can’t remember the name) that had their literature distributed across campus. Out of the other Muslim groups, they were the ones that were the most articulate. People were becoming familiar with their particular type of ’strict’ Islam and either adhering to it or reacting negatively to it. This would be what people equate with Islam. Hence the ‘curse of the default.’

Dr. Umar stressed that we all need to do whatever it is we are good at to promote Islam, not as a hate-filled religion that some are perfectly content portraying it as, but to utilize our strengths to ensure Islam is not equated with intolerance and injustice. Otherwise if we don’t do anything soon, then when the word ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslim’ is uttered, a mental image similar to the scene from that college lecture will be conjured up. As Muslims in America, we can’t afford to have that image. We need to be the ones who make up the default.

He gave everyone a lot to think about. It was the best lecture of the weekend.

*I feel like I have to give some sort of disclaimer that I’m not trying to convert anyone or anything like that. As this is my blog, I will write something religious minded once in a while just because it’s a big part of who I am

This was all over the news yesterday:

Sudan questions British teacher over Islam insult

She was jailed because she named a teddy bear ‘Muhammad’?! The school officials say she was insulting the Prophet (pbuh) but Muhammad is a really common name. Besides, that was the name of one of the kids in class, the one the teacher and students named the stuffed animal after!

This is ridiculous. Could these people not make Islam into a joke? Pretty please?

Ann Coulter, well known hate monger (not my words) has a new book out which promises to be exactly like her old ones - an avenue in which to put down liberals while preaching her own brand of neocon vitriol. Unfortunately, that means she’s making her round of talk shows to promote her “work.”

Here’s a sample from a recent interview on CNBC with Donny Duetsch, host of The Big Idea , transcripted byMedia Matters:

DEUTSCH: That isn’t what I said, but you said I should not — we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or –

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Well, it’s a lot easier. It’s kind of a fast track.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.

DEUTSCH: You can’t possibly believe that.

COULTER: Yes.

A blogger on DailyKos has an article about this that makes a rightful point:

“The absurd part about all of this is not that a serial scenery-chewer like Coulter would say shocking things. The absurd part is that, in spite of all the things Coulter says all the time, she still gets invited by major news outlets to make those comments. Every. Damn. Time.”

So here’s my question - why do people not view her the same way they do extremists of other religions? She stands for hate and is against everything that America is supposed to stand for.

She’s also part of the tour for David Horowitz’s completely silly “Islamofascism Awareness Week,” a thinly disguised forum for bigotry gracing a university campus near you during the week of October 22nd.

10 Bucks says she doesn’t have a reflection.

I leave you with this exchange, also from the Media Matters transcription of the same interview, regarding her views on liberal mixed race couples:

COULTER: You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it’s like they have a chip on their shoulder. They’re just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And –

DEUTSCH: I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don’t see any more or less chips there either way. That’s erroneous.

COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire Seinfeld episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you’re lying.

DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some Seinfeld episode? OK.

What an argument folks!

I’d like to share this video with all of you from Australia’s Chaser’s War on Everything, sort of Australia’s answer to The Daily Show. They sent a correspondent to the U.S. and asked random folks what should be done about those Muslims. The video will make you laugh and/or wince:

Ramadan started a couple of weeks ago and usually this is the time of year that Muslims pay their zakat, which is an obligation in which one gives 2.5% of their wealth to the needy. A lot of organizations around here allow you to give zakat, you just have to specify it as such to make sure it will go towards the right cause, not say, building a mosque or something. Last year, I gave it to Islamic Relief so I figured I would do that this year as well.

I used my BOFA card. I double checked all the information I typed in and hit the Donate button. The following showed up:

“Sorry, your donation was declined.”

I checked my account and it said there was something up with my card. Here’s the thing - I checked my account literally 2 minutes before I was going to donate and everything was cool.

I called up the card folks and the guy said that the transaction for Islamic Relief was flagged. I was like, hey man, it’s all good, that was me just 2 seconds ago. He cleared it and then I was able to donate.

Folks, this is a reputable charity. I realize that some Islamic charities have been shut down because of suspicion of funding undesirables but this organization is far and away legit. Funny enough, the last time I tried to give them something with the same card, the donation was declined as well but it supposedly happened because of some other stuff that was flagged with my card (non-suspicious transactions all by me). I got all that cleared up and was able to donate online. But now, I don’t know.
I’m wondering why they would flag it yet again if I used the same card for this charity not too long ago. It’s kind of weird.

Ramadan officially started last week and with that comes the cravings. One doesn’t have them on purpose, no. You could just be doing some work, reading a book, or just trying to keep yourself busy while you are fasting when it happens: the mere suggestion of a food item crosses your mind.

In my case, I was working on a project at work when I the following two thoughts: “Tuxedo cake would be cool right now.” And then, wait for it, give it a few more seconds, “D’OH!”

Because now, I had cake on the mind.

I started at internet search of Tuxedo Cakes. I viewed recipes and tried to find possible places where I could acquire such a cake and eat it after it was time to break the fast. I remembered that Albertsons (now Luckys) used to have it so I went to their webbpage and tried looking it up to no avail.The one by my place closed down so I plotted in my mind to stop at one a few exits of the highway before my usual exit.

After work and a 45 minute drive later, I walked into Luckys a bit apprehensive because here’s the thing - if they didn’t have it, I didn’t know where else I could find it. And that was a truly sad thought because my mind had worked up to this moment for several hours now.

But they had it.

And I ate it (a couple of hours later, when it was time to break the fast after sunset, of course).

And it was good.

It made up for the weird day I had, alternately working on my project while dealing with the noise from the floor right above me at work. They were doing some major hauling of some sort in the storage room directly above my department and letting things fall hard to the ground, causing bits of white stuff to fall from the ceiling on my cubicle and me. Of course, yesterday was the day I was wearing my black slacks.

Oh well, at least I got my cake.

Newsweek recently published a story about Islam In America, a Special Report in which they discuss how Muslims are well integrated in the U.S., despite a few troubling trends present within the Muslim society.

Newsweek could have done a really good job with this article. Yes, it was positive for the most part, but it was nothing new. It’s essentially a regurgitation of the findings of the Pew Research Center’s study on Muslims in America that was released earlier this year, which the article refers to quite a bit. Also, while the article starts off positively and contains mostly optimistic language, it ends on a somber note. Is the article worth reading? Sure why not. Just click on the link.

If you pick it up in the bookstore and read it, however, be mindful of the article on Al-Qaeda that directly precedes the Islam in America article. Way to frame the message, Newsweek.

Most people know that I am unhealthily obsessed with the TV show, Veronica Mars. I look forward to each and every new episode and, a few times the episodes have been pretty intense and I even have a hard time falling asleep after watching it. I know, crazy right?

The episode that came on last night was the first new one in about 2 months. A couple of weeks ago, they started airing commercials for it and apparently it revolved around prejudice with Arabs. O-kay. . .

But I thought, it can’t be bad. I mean, it’s freakin Veronica Mars.

And then I watched it. Man oh man.

It was LAME.

So Veronica takes the case of a Middle Eastern Restuarant that gets vandalized by someone spray painting Terrorist on their restaurant.

You know what Veronica says?

“Guess it’s a bad time to be Arab in America.”

Yeah. It’s 2007. It’s been a bad time to be Arab in America FOR A LONG TIME NOW.

Didn’t 7th Heaven already do an episode of helping out the Muslims? God Bless You Camdens!

And what of Crash? This was a rehash of one of the movie’s many intertwining storylines.

This episode was so cliched and bad. It hurt me. The only good part was Mac.