All posts by tabsir

and where is the city of the future?

Architecture, Development, Environment, United Arab Emirates


Take a look at the picture above. This is the recently operationalized city of Masdar, one that seems to come right off the drawing boards of 2001: A Space Odyssey or at least Star Wars. Imagine a city with zero carbon emissions. Imagine a perfectly planned city from top to bottom, fueled by solar power and clean as the pure desert sand. This one happens to have been built on the desert sand, only a short commute by a carbon-emitting vehicle from the city of Abu Dhabi. Forget the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; here is Futurama out of the Arabian Nights.

Today’s New York Times has a lengthy article about the architectural feat, designed by Foster & Partners. All it takes is money (lots of money) and visionary architects. In this Disney on Sand there are even battery-powered pod vehicles, which operate underground out of sight and take people from place to place without drivers. The author of the article, Nicolai Ouroussouf, mixes praise with a dose of populist realism and rightly so: Continue reading and where is the city of the future? →

On Professor Mohammed Arkoun

Algeria, Islam and Christianity, Islam in Europe, Islam: Introduction, Qur'an, Scholars


Professor Mohammed Arkoun: A Courageous Intellectual Who Advocated A Tolerant, Liberal and Modern Islam

Simerg, September 18, 2010

Algerian born scholar Mohammed Arkoun (February 1, 1928 – September 14, 2010) was a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies and also a member of its Board of Governors, which is chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan

In a tribute to the Algerian Islamic scholar Mohammed Arkoun, who died at the age of 82 in Paris, France, on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, Algeria’s Minister of Culture, Khalida Toumi, said that Professor Arkoun “believed in dialogue between cultures and civilizations of which he was an ardent activist” and “his sincerity and dedication to bringing people and religions together have made him a true messenger of peace and harmony between different societies.” In her condolence message she also stated that he was “the author of books in the field of critical thinking who taught in the most prestigious universities of the East and the West.”

Amongst his peers around the world, Professor Arkoun was regarded as one of the most influential scholars in Islamic studies contributing to contemporary Islamic reform. Continue reading On Professor Mohammed Arkoun →

What if Obama’s Yemen policy works?

Obama Administration, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


The town (long before Osama Bin Laden) of al-Qaida in Yemen

by Aaron Zelin, Foreignpolicy.com, September 22, 2010

In the past month, Yemen has returned to the spotlight. The CIA now believes that the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is a larger security threat to the United States than al Qaeda Central in Pakistan. Since then, press accounts have stated that the United States government plans to carry out drone attacks in Yemen, and reported that U.S. Central Command plans to give $1.2 billion in aid to Yemen’s military over a five-year period. But such policies, no matter how well-intentioned, are unlikely to solve the very real challenges posed by al Qaeda’s presence in Yemen and may well make the situation worse.

It originally appeared that there was widespread consensus in the government on providing such military aid to Yemen. But a recent article in the New York Times highlights that there is a vigorous debate within the Obama administration about the efficacy of such aid. The Obama administration has been debating the legality of droning an American citizen (i.e. Anwar al-Awlaki). Before rushing into a major new program, it’s worth recalling the reasons why past U.S.-backed efforts aimed at eliminating al Qaeda’s presence in Yemen have failed. Continue reading What if Obama’s Yemen policy works? →

A Citizen of Baghdad

Iraq, Photography

One of my prize collections, inherited in part from my grandparents, is an almost complete run of National Geographic Magazine from 1907 to the present. Periodically I pull an issue off the shelf at random and browse. I recently opened up the February, 1917 issue and noticed that near the end advertising (as interesting as the articles in many cases) there were several pictures of the Middle East, but not tied to a specific article in the issue. It may be that the publisher needed to add a few pages or else these were pictures that somehow did not make it into an earlier issue. The one that struck me the most is the above portrait on p. 199. It is simply entitled “A Citizen of Baghdad” and no photographer is indicated. It looks to me like there is a scabbard in view, but the man is also holding on to something I cannot make out. I wonder if anyone has any ideas on what the man is wearing and if that is a clue as to his background.

Message to Muslims: I’m Sorry

Afghanistan, Development, Islam and Christianity, Islamophobia 101, Journalism and Media, Pakistan


Message to Muslims: I’m Sorry
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, The New York Times, September 18, 2010

Many Americans have suggested that more moderate Muslims should stand up to extremists, speak out for tolerance, and apologize for sins committed by their brethren.

That’s reasonable advice, and as a moderate myself, I’m going to take it. (Throat clearing.) I hereby apologize to Muslims for the wave of bigotry and simple nuttiness that has lately been directed at you. The venom on the airwaves, equating Muslims with terrorists, should embarrass us more than you. Muslims are one of the last minorities in the United States that it is still possible to demean openly, and I apologize for the slurs.

I’m inspired by another journalistic apology. The Portland Press Herald in Maine published an innocuous front-page article and photo a week ago about 3,000 local Muslims praying together to mark the end of Ramadan. Readers were upset, because publication coincided with the ninth anniversary of 9/11, and they deluged the paper with protests. Continue reading Message to Muslims: I’m Sorry →

UnOrienting Marx

Orientalism


Lord Curzon in white, left; Karl Marx, right (for a change)

Of all the passages in Edward Said’s polemical Orientalism (1978), the one that most offended his natural allies on the left was placing Karl Marx in the den of Orientalist iniquity. What are “the sources of Marx’s conceptions about the Orient”? For Said they are no different than the prejudice of Renan or Lord Curzon.

“These are Romantic and even messianic: as human material the Orient is less important than as an element in a Romantic redemptive project. Marx’s economic analyses are perfectly fitted thus to a standard Orientalist undertaking, even though Marx’s humanity, his sympathy for the mystery of people, are clearly engaged. Yet in the end it is the Romantic Orientalist vision that wins out, as Marx’s theoretic socio-economic views become submerged in this classically standard image…” (Said, Orientalism, 1979, p. 154)

The quote from Marx that follows, and supposedly damns him, is as follows:

“England has to fulfill a double mission in India: one destructive, the other regenerating – the annihilation of the Asiatic society, and the laying of the material foundations of Western society in Asia.”

Said does not bother to note that the above quote is not take from the same article he quotes extensively earlier, although that is the impression given. Continue reading UnOrienting Marx →

Sikand on Qaradawi

Egypt, Islamic Law, Islamic Texts, Qatar


[Webshaykh’s note: The following is a book review by Yoginder Sikand, who maintains the blog Madrasa Reforms in India.]
 
Review of Global Mufti—The Phenomenon of Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Edited by Jakob Skaovgaard-Peterson & Bettina Graf (Hurst & Co, London, 2009,
ISBN: 978-1-85065-939-6

Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
 
 
The Qatar-based Egyptian Yusuf al-Qaradawi is among the most well-known Islamic scholars on the contemporary global scene. It might be something of an exaggeration to label him as a ‘phenomenon’ and as the ‘global mufti’—which is what the very title of this book hails him as—but that he exercises an enormous influence in numerous Islamic scholarly and activist circles is undeniable.
 
This book is a collection of essays on diverse aspects of Qaradawi’s life, achievements and writings. In their introductory essay, the editors of the volume provide a broad overview of his life, against which they situate his scholarly and activist accomplishments. Born in a poor family in a village in Egypt in 1926, Qaradawi studied at Cairo’s Al-Azhar, then the largest seat of traditional Islamic learning, after which he shifted to Qatar as emissary of his alma mater. It was there, we are told, that Qaradawi established himself as a noted scholar and activist, traveling widely across the world and establishing a number of Islamic institutions. The editors provide a pen-portrait of a passionate, dedicated scholar-activist, seeking to revive the rapidly disappearing tradition of socially-engaged ulema, who Qaradawi believes, should lead Muslims in the twenty-first century. Continue reading Sikand on Qaradawi →

Mohamed Arkoun passes away

Islam in Europe, Scholars

L’islamologue Mohamed Arkoud est mort

Le Monde, September 15, 2010

Le professeur Mohamed Arkoun, grand islamologue, est mort mardi 14 septembre à Paris à l’âge de 82 ans, a annoncé le “curé des Minguettes” Christian Delorme, qui était un de ses proches. Il était professeur émérite d’histoire de la pensée islamique à la Sorbonne et un des initiateurs du dialogue interreligieux.

Mohammed Arkoun était né en 1928 à Taourit-Mimoun, petit village de Kabylie, dans un milieu très modeste. Après avoir fréquenté l’école primaire de son village, il avait fait ses études secondaires chez les Pères blancs à Oran, puis avait étudié la littérature arabe, le droit, la philosophie et la géographie à l’Université d’Alger. Grâce à l’intervention du professeur Louis Massignon, rappelle Christian Delorme, il a pu préparer l’agrégation en langue et littérature arabes à la Sorbonne. Il a enseigné ensuite dans plusieurs universités puis en 1980, il a été nommé professeur à la Sorbonne-Nouvelle – Paris III, y enseignant l’histoire de la pensée islamique. Là, il a développé une discipline : l’islamologie appliquée. Continue reading Mohamed Arkoun passes away →