tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-210928852011-12-30T00:00:51.184ZI want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to be blown off my feet by any one of them. - Mahatma Gandhianguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.comBlogger631100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-10794048659743525792006-11-25T13:33:00.000Z2006-11-25T13:36:46.279Z

Very eloquent segment by Dr. Dahlia Wasfi.Born to a Jewish mother and an Iraqi father. She recently put her medical career on hold to visit with family members in Iraq, and recently returned from a three-month stay in Basrah and Baghdad. Dr. Wasfi described her experience in Iraq and discussed the life of Iraqis under occupation on April 27, 2006 in Washington, DC.Must see.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-70679368861665086252006-11-13T21:45:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:47:10.275Z

To the two and a half people who read my blog.... I'm back again.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com265tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1155113053865710592006-08-09T09:36:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:50.276Z

This is a brillaint op-ed in the Guardian by author George Monbiot, giving some excellent context to the current escalation in Lebanon.Here's the lead: "Whatever we think of Israel's assault on Lebanon, all of us seem to agree about one fact: that it was a response, however disproportionate, to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah. I repeated this "fact" in my last column, when I wrote that "

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1153981924598488512006-07-27T07:23:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:49.829Z

Oren Ben-Dor, who teaches philosophy of law and political philosophy at the University of Southampton, calls Israel a terrotist state which needs to perpetuate it's vicitim status to cover up the truth about itself. To preserve this impression of victimhood, he wrote, Israel must breed the conditions for violence against which it must "defend itself".Read the whole op-ed here. I'm starting to

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1153771097037753102006-07-24T20:51:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:49.578Z

A friend emailed a copy of this letter. It's sad that sane voices like these Israeli filmmakers are probably considered traitors. It was still heartening to read that there's some humanity left...or at least that some people refuse to be brainwashed. When you read that an Israeli poll shows 90% of the population supports the military operations in Lebanon and Gaza it makes your skin crawl. This

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1153607837122897662006-07-22T23:32:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:49.423Z

This short documentary describes the glorious rule of Muslim Moors in what is now Spain. A forgotten history is remembered.Compare this to what's happening now in the Muslim world. The part about how mercenaries where behind what was falsely written down in history as a war between two religions is chilling considering how the war on terrorism is being spun.The parallels between modern-day

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1153388191684020192006-07-20T10:32:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:49.198Z

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } more of the same.jpg, originally uploaded by arabist. this is unbelievable.and the world is silent.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1148560419323755172006-05-25T13:14:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:48.898Z

Recent announcements by the new Israeli PM Ehud Olmert left me dumbfounded. I quote the BBC:"Should we realise that the bilateral track with the Palestinians is of no consequence, should the Palestinians ignore our outstretched hand for peace, Israel will seek other alternatives to promote our future, and the prospects of hope in the Middle East. At that juncture, the time for realignment will

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1148227594926443852006-05-21T16:53:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:48.682Z

Look here at some more shocking images of "democracy" at work in my beloved home country. In Egypt, central security thugs and plain-clothes policemen brutalized demonstrators supporting the independence of the judiciary.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1148057215402907632006-05-19T17:19:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:48.467Z

The court decision to turn down opposition leader Ayman Nour's appeal in a politically motivated case against him did not come as a surprise. I don't care very much for the hype over the US state department's announcement that the decision is a "miscarriage of justice" and a setback for "democracy". What democracy? The one they've been backing up for over 25 years? It's a classic case of the pot

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1148003664969474692006-05-19T02:36:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:48.225Z

Remember the Somali Dutch MP who penned the script of the offensive film about the treatment of Muslim women which led to the murder of Theo Van Gogh? Well, she's back in the news for lying - again! According to the Guardian: "The government turned on Ms Hirsi Ali after a television documentary reported that she had secured Dutch citizenship in 1997 by making up a story that she had fled an

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1148001099779415362006-05-19T02:08:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:47.960Z

Latest update on police brutality in Egypt. Look at this Reuters report. Hundreds more have been arrested.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147998016522891142006-05-19T01:07:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:47.622Z

The following four organizations are planning an International day of action on MAY 25. The protest will be held in front of the Egyptian Embassy in London at 5:30pm to support the Egyptian Judges and all Egyptians calling for political reform:The Egyptian Committee in Support of Egyptian Judges (London)Cairo Conference (a popular campaign for the support of the resistence in Palestine and Iraq)

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147874887648959912006-05-17T14:44:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:47.388Z

I was horrified to read about the Turkey judge shootings in court just now on the BBC. If anything this brutal act only confirms my belief that extremism of any sort can only lead to violence - whether it is secular or religious. As the BBC reported: "Judge Mustafa Birden made headlines earlier this year when he ruled that schoolteachers, who are banned from wearing the Islamic headscarf at work,

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147624360385783392006-05-14T17:25:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:46.728Z

I submitted an edited down version of this comment on the effect of Ahmadinijad's letter, to the BBC's "Have Your Say" reader's comments section, but it never made it through the moderator. So here it is:"Ahmadinejad's letter was a refreshing reminder of all the issues that international anti-war, human rights and peace advocates have been calling for since America declared a "war on terror",

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147620441743837792006-05-14T16:19:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:46.514Z

Really good piece about Khaled Abou ElFadl, an Islamic reformer who is equally a product of traditional Islamic learning and the Ivy League. In 2003 he was the only Muslim on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a body charged with monitoring the status of “freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief” outside the United States and to provide the president, secretary of

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147619230082547002006-05-14T16:03:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:46.326Z

"Israel has unleashed a relentless war upon the Palestinians, a war being fought on all political, economic and military fronts. When a people finds itself beleaguered in this manner its only choice is to pour its concerted energies into a single goal, which is to thwart the attacker's designs. The very future of the Palestinian people is at stake, and we must defend the fate of our children and

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147618454018935302006-05-14T15:49:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:46.069Z

This insightful summation of the various phases in the occupation of Iraq is a must-read. Journalist and political analyst Firas Al-Atraqchi shows how arguments to divide Iraq into three or five distinct regional and ethnic entities have resurfaced with renewed poignancy in recent months.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147618175069039212006-05-14T15:13:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:45.892Z

A strange and insiduous issue has recently crept up on Egypt's religious scene. According to this Ahram Weekly article, a court ruling providing official recognition to Bahais has sparked debate over this Israeli-based cult. I have no problems at all with people choosing to follow whatever faith/religion they want (they can worship flies, for all I care) but it's another issue altogether to give

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147615960601793142006-05-14T15:07:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:45.671Z

This analysis of the US-Iran nuclear standoff is one of the best I've read so far. Palestinian-American journalist Ramzy Baroud contextualizes the conflict and concludes that "Washington must acknowledge that even lesser powers are entitled to play political games". Must read.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147561755137978432006-05-13T23:42:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:45.425Z

On the eve of the 58th anniversary of The Great Catastrophe (al nakba in Arabic) when Israel was founded in 1948 and Palestinians were expelled from their homes, forced into exile and subjected en masse to over 50 massacres, the Arabs are still divided over how to deal with the democratically-elected Hamas-led governement. The country is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis because the EU, the

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147457390760500492006-05-12T19:05:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:45.264Z

Great piece on books published on Bush and his administrative policies: All the President's Books (Minding History's Whys and Wherefores)Here are some interesting extracts:"As Francis Fukuyama, the apostate neoconservative, writes in his new book "America at the Crossroads," great leadership may involve "putting aside self-doubt" and "bucking conventional wisdom," but "bad leadership can also

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147447349257042612006-05-12T16:18:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:44.970Z

"While the government tolerated protestors in the streets chanting anti-Mubarak slogans last December, support for the judge's has been greeted with zero tolerance. That has, if nothing else, put the White House in the awkward position of finding that one of its closest allies in the region, which received nearly $2 billion annually in cash and military aide, backtracked on what President Bush

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147446490436718442006-05-12T16:02:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:44.753Z

More police brutality leaves blood on the hands of Egypt's dictators. These pictures are from Islamonline. Click here for full article.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147356073876854012006-05-11T14:26:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:44.597Z

Ahmadinejad's letter to "Mr. President" is a work of art ... a throwback to the animal skin scrolls and parchments of yore where messengers appeared in courts of tyrants to implore them to mend their ways. As a Muslim I think I understand where Ahmadinejad's empassioned attempt to help Bush see the light, is coming from. In verse 34 of Surat Fussilat (chapter 41) of the Qur'an, Allah says: "Nor

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147349437430019772006-05-11T12:53:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:44.450Z

This is really getting out of hand. Hundreds of riot police are encroaching on a demonstration in solidarity with judges Mahmoud Mekki and Hesham Bastawisi who criticised last year's presidential election as fraudulent...as if the whole world hadn't said the same thing. Not only have they been held unconstitutionally and are being tried in a kangaroo court, but the police are even stopping any

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147314215362263552006-05-11T01:48:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:44.138Z

Today began rather lightheartedly with reports on Iranian President Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush. I split my sides laughing (and I'm sure some of you out there won't find this funny...I apologize for the offense if any was caused) as I read the BBC's online report on some of the contents of the mystery dispatch - apparently the first official correspondence since the US embassy hostage crisis in

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147130378734148702006-05-08T23:58:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:43.922Z

I wonder what Carl Gresham (mentioned in the previous post) said about the exemplary "democracy" his benevolent country has been supporting for 25 years, when the ruling NDP in Egypt reneged on every so-called election platform promise made in the run-up to the presidential race. Now, eight months later, the situation is looking worse than ever.Gamal Essam El-Din's report on the parliamentary

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1147128397484030692006-05-08T23:09:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:43.694Z

It's unbelievable how the US organizers of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD) (ironically held in Istanbul from April 2-5), where the crisis of democratic transformation in Arab societies topped the agenda (naturally since democratic elections are increasingly bringing to power regimes hostile to the US administration and threatening the deligitimization of US-backed despotic regimes in Egypt

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146931650163204992006-05-06T16:27:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:43.421Z

"All knowledge is interpretation, and [that] interpretation must be self-conscious in its methods and its aims if it is to be vigilant and humane, if it is also to arrive at knowledge. But underlying every interpretation of other cultures - especially of Islam - is the choice facing the individual scholar or intellectual: whether to put intellect at the service of power, or at the service of

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146697598244835892006-05-03T23:57:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:42.726Z

The White House's media policy of infotainment is really impressive. I realize this is all part of the image - democracy, freedom of speech etc... - but still would love to have a hint of it back home. You've got to read comedian Stephen Colbert's routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner. It's hilarious and biting. Here's a teaser: "As excited as I am to be here with the president, I am

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146508520798476892006-05-01T19:26:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:42.476Z

Check out this interview with US neocon Joshua Muravchik who was in Cairo researching a new book on democracy and reform in Egypt. Here's a teaser:Iranian File"Question: Moving to another separate-related issue; Iran. Many observers see scary similarities now to the period leading up to the Iraq invasion, but the target now is Iran, do you agree with them?Answer: What's not similar to Iraq is

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146492189974461592006-05-01T14:24:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:42.191Z

The latest edition of Al-Ahram Weekly included two very interesting pieces on the issue of the Copts in Egypt. The interesting bit is that one of the op-eds was penned by a high-ranking figure in the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh. Less than a year ago, you'd never have seen his by-line anywhere near this flagship state-owned weekly. As with most MB statements dealing with

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146489794059958322006-05-01T14:08:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:41.990Z

The intellectual guru of US neocon thought vis-a-vis the Arab/Muslim world, Bernard Lewis, has just turned 90 amid much fanfair and accolades from the US administration.I dug up this really interesting critique of Lewis's theories by Newsweek editor Michael Hirsh. It was published in November 2004 but is just as relevant now. "Today," writes Hirsh, "that epiphany—Lewis's Kemalist vision [

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146401795632288512006-04-30T13:45:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:41.760Z

Islamophobia has recently become synonymous with France - at least in that European country where Muslims constitute 10 percent of the population. It's natural that small-time politicians exploit the demonization of Muslims to win votes, which is what far-right wing presidential hopeful Philippe de Villiers, head of the Movement for France Party did by publishing "Les Mosquees De Roissy" (The

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146400660409898152006-04-30T13:31:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:41.505Z

The US National Counterterrorism Center report states that the number of "terrorist" attacks had increased four-fold in 2005 killing over 14,600 non-combatants, the majority of them in Iraq. Will the world ever wake up to the truth about the so-called war on terrorism which is claiming the lives of thousands more each year?

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146397794570404952006-04-30T12:14:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:41.256Z

The merits of partitioning Iraq or allowing civil war is now the big debate on how to deal with the quagmire the US has created in the country. What they're talking about now is exactly what Arab analysts predicted would happen on the eve of the invasion three years ago - there will be civil war and the country will be divided. How typical to base the entire argument for partition on the "expert"

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1146271484440444882006-04-29T01:25:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:41.048Z

The bombings in Dahab shook me to the core. A few years ago, when things like this happened, it never occurred to me to check if people I knew were affected. That all changed towards the end of 2005 when the Sharm El Sheikh attacks were a hair's breadth away from taking the live of a family of four whose parents were very old friends of my parents. They had left only a hour before the explosions

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1145308431425082922006-04-17T21:04:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:40.880Z

Iraqis are dying by the hundreds and the BBC runs a lead story on how Iraqi gays are targeted by some hardliners! So will this now become the human rights issue of the hour from the frontline? I annoys me that any journalist would spend precious time and resources to cover such a story when the whole country is up in flames; when every minute a mother loses her child, husband, sister or brother.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1145036593494994622006-04-14T18:34:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:40.691Z

I attended a book launch a few days ago at Friends House. Amal Press had just put out one of the most important manuals of the Hanafi School of Islamic jurisprudence, Al-Hidayah (The Guidance), completely translated into English for the first time. “Containing over 800 years of an unbroken chain of knowledge,” say the British Muslim publishers, “this is arguably the most popular of all classical

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1145018546044108852006-04-14T13:20:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:40.432Z

Would someone please explain to me what this whole Zacarias Moussaoui trial/farce/charade is all about? Why don't they just execute him? He has confessed to crimes deserving the death penalty, hasn't he? Or is this twisted proceeding another PR job for the US legal system and a salute to neocon 'democracy', which is basically saying: "Forget the fact that we invaded two countries and resulted in

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1145016418654899942006-04-14T12:55:00.000+01:002006-11-13T21:42:40.154Z

Highlights of Seymour M. Hersh’s controversial New Yorker feature THE IRAN PLANS: Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb? (with subheadings by me).MISSION: SMOKE THEM OUT “In a paper given at a conference on Middle East security in Berlin, Colonel Sam Gardiner, a military analyst who taught at the National War College before retiring from the Air Force, in 1987 said

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1143129734184165422006-03-23T15:55:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:39.991Z

I've been struggling to write this post since London's anti-war protest on March 18. I never believed in demonstrations. My attitude towards mass "action" has always been cynical. "It's a carnival. Nothing ever changes, " I always thought. So what made me join this one?Not a day goes by without reports that 50 - 60 Iraqis have died in sectarian violence. And the wounded? Nobody counts them. The

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1142772294135581712006-03-19T12:37:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:39.727Z

Read this interview with controversial female Saudi Arabian novelist Rajaa Al-Sanea who stirred debate for exposing the mysterious lives of Saudi women in her novel Girls of Riyadh. Yet she stresses that the problem has more to do with tradition than religion.Here's a teaser:She says: “I respect my religion. I am a faithful Muslim and proud of it. Shariah is an important part of Islam that

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1142676636232848142006-03-18T09:39:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:39.318Z

I just came across Jon Snow's Channel 4 podcasts. It's very impressive how he wraps up the topic at hand in a matter of three minutes..but there's always a catch. His recent podcasts from Iran were ... what shall I call them? To put it simply, he was making a lot of effort to say something "nice". The need for concision is a double-edged sword. A broadcaster must keep the audience in his grip,

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141608497605856452006-03-06T01:14:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:39.135Z

On March 5 1956 the US Supreme Court banned racial segregation in state schools. This BBC article is accompanied by an excerpt from an excellent Panorama episode filmed in Virginia to report on the reaction to the ban. It was a very different world back then (or is it?). As F. Scott Fitzgerald said about his fellow countrymen: they are "the beautiful and the damned."

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141599874365125832006-03-05T23:04:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:38.523Z

I found this shocking article by Farhad Manjoon on a friend's blog. Reminded me of so many other black chapters in human history... much like the one we're living now.Here's a taster, but you must read the whole thing:"Leading eugenicists argued that science proved that non-whites were genetically inferior to whites, that certain kinds of Europeans were better than other kinds, and that you

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141598328180267512006-03-05T22:36:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:38.323Z

A National Journal article by Murray Waas What Bush Was Told About Iraq concludes with:"And more recently, a 511-page bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on prewar intelligence regarding Iraq concluded: "Despite four decades of intelligence reporting on Iraq, there was little useful intelligence collected that helped analysis determine the Iraqi regime's possible links with Al

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141596428436272152006-03-05T22:06:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:38.124Z

It would be nice to have clones of this Brooklyn Imam back home in Cairo. For a change this New York Times article refrains from using the word "extreme" or one of its derivatives in an article about a Muslim religious figure. Sheikh Shata, I salute you.

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141261641477732612006-03-02T00:57:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:37.785Z

This is an interesting story that appeared in the Guardian about a leaked UK government report claiming that the British administration feels a need to engage with the biggest opposition block in Egypt - the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood. It appears to be condoning the move, but on the other hand laid a lot of stress on allegations that the group is a diplomatic front for violent

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141260736058664582006-03-02T00:46:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:37.608Z

This story in Al-Ahram Weekly is a really good review/commentary on the award-winning Palestinian movie Paradise Now. But is it possible for a film humanizing suicide bombers to rake in any Oscars?

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141260201614720232006-03-02T00:03:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:37.394Z

This yahoo news opinion piece by Georgie Anne Geyer Egypt's Revolution/Evolution is a bit of shock. I've been outside Egypt for six months - in fact - I left just after the fiasco presidential elections but I doubt much has changed.It was a PR carnival where everybody had an assigned role. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but did anybody actually believe Mubarak would lose? The puppet parties

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1141030294042929412006-02-27T08:33:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:37.241Z

In Using Terror to Fight Terror , which ran in the Observer this Sunday, David Rose, applauds British director Michael Winterbottom for his film The Road to Guantananmo, which is about the experience of the three British Muslims who were detained in the Cuban prison without charge for two years. As the first journalist to interview them on their return, Rose blends his critique of the film with

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1140911933104392432006-02-25T23:44:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:37.032Z

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone was suspended for four weeks, according to this Washington Post article for "showing a bewildering lack of appreciation for the pain caused by using Holocaust imagery to insult Jewish people." Livingstone had apparently likened a Jewish reporter for the Evening Standard, which routinely criticized him, to "a concentration camp guard."His suspension, said Karen

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1140827692936017302006-02-25T00:12:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:36.901Z

About two weeks ago, I went to see professor Colin Sparks, my lecturer at Westminster University. The newspapers were filled with pictures of frenzied demonstrators in Beirut, burning flags and embassies. It was depressing.That day I was ashamed of being a journlist and in tears over the chaos pervading the Muslim world. I couldn't help expressing my feelings to Colin. A few days later, he

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1140380300224881622006-02-19T18:42:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:36.709Z

More anger, burning, death and provocation over the Danish cartoons. When I read about the Italian minister Roberto Calderoli who was fired for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the tasteless caricatures, my heart sank. In a Washington Post report he said that he had not intended to offend the Muslim religion, but that he would continue what he called a battle to affirm the values of the

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1139563675412895832006-02-10T09:24:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:36.528Z

The cartoon saga has come full circle. What started off as a legitimate outcry against the arrogance and insensitivity of a handful of irresponsible newspapers, has turned into a mayhem of burning embassies and burning bridges.I was dumbfounded by a Newsnight program tackling the controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed titled “Islam and the West.” One of the guests was the organizer of the

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1139004337701939932006-02-03T20:34:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:36.366Z

More flags are burning, more ambassadors recalled, more fervent debate about the offensive Prophet Mohammed cartoons. Muslim furore all over the world has led to the questioning of Muslims’ stance vis-à-vis absolute freedom of expression. There’s nothing particularly strange about that, but what I find patronizing is that the question is also being posed to Muslims who don’t even live in secular

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1138841159031959132006-02-02T00:43:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:36.187Z

The Muslim world’s furore over the offensive depictions of Prophet Mohammed [PBUH] published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September has resurfaced with a vengeance. It is beyond me why French, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish papers have decided to reprint the inflammatory cartoons. When Europeans are accused of xenophobia, they put up the banner of press freedom and a new wrestling

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1138654990086726592006-01-30T19:53:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:35.981Z

Citing the controversial case of Swiss citizen and prominent Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, the American Civil Liberties Union targeted the USA Patriot Act with a lawsuit at Manhattan’s Federal District Court, according to this New York Times article. I interviewed Ramadan (now a visiting professor at Oxford University) in 2004 following the revocation of his US visa only weeks before he was to

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1138569034549937132006-01-29T21:02:00.001Z2006-11-13T21:42:35.771Z

The best line I’ve read about Breakfast on Pluto was in a short review by Rich Cline for shadows on the wall: “Sliding back and forth between comedy and tragedy is the film's strongest suit, most notably when a sudden terrorist bombing moves into a horrific interrogation and then a hilarious spy fantasy. It's in this offbeat mix that the film somehow manages to connect with us.”This unusual 70’s

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1138555631501502142006-01-29T17:22:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:35.298Z

A heated online row erupted a couple of days ago on Haaretz, the Israeli daily newspaper. Subject: Professor Klaus Schwab, founder of the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) reportedly offered a heartfelt apology to all delegates for an article that appeared in the forum’s Global Agenda magazine.The article Schwab regretted was titled “Boycott Israel”, written by American academic Mazin Qumsiyeh’s –

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21092885.post-1137504089913441862006-01-17T12:04:00.000Z2006-11-13T21:42:34.885Z

Is Kifaya going through a premature mid-life crisis? The one-year-old Egyptian Movement for Change (Kifaya) always prided itself at bringing together leaders and followers from all colors of the political spectrum. But their recent two-day conference tells another story. In the wake of the most contested parliamentary elections the country has ever witnessed, after which the banned-but-tolerated

anguishedmuslimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04654331156163406599noreply@blogger.com1