Category Archives: Islam and Christianity

Omid Safi on George Clooney

Film and Video, Gender and Sexuality, Islam and Christianity, Lebanon

What is the religion of George Clooney’s fiancé, Ms. Amal Alamduddin? Druze? Muslim?
by Omid Safi, What Would Muhammad Do, April 29, 2014

The news that George Clooney, the perpetual bachelor, had gotten engaged to Amal Alamuddin, a stunning Arab beauty, who (ahem, ahem) is also a badass brainy Oxford-educated international human rights lawyer—pardon us, barrister—has now officially gone viral. Here and here and here.

On social media, many professional women, in their 30s and 40s, have expressed joy that Clooney was wedding a brainy (Ok, and stunning) professional woman.

Many human rights activists see this as an opportunity to bring attention to catastrophes like Syria.

Many Arabs are naturally seeing this as a confirmation of the attractiveness of Arabs. [Just check out the outburst of pride on FB!] Continue reading Omid Safi on George Clooney →

Tabsir Redux: This is not an Easter Egg

Food and Drink, Humor and Satire, Islam and Christianity, Islamophobia

Christians around the world celebrate Easter with thoughts of the empty tomb and resurrection of Christ. But there is more. Weather permitting, children are let loose in their Sunday best to hunt for Easter eggs, adding a secular, healthy, dietary blessing to the baskets of chocolate bunnies and jelly beans waiting at home. Even the White House lawn is set for the annual Easter Egg Roll (minus the Christian Rock) on Monday. It is as though many Christians are not content to leave the tomb empty. Apparently egged on by the spring fever of long forgotten fertility rites, the main message of Christianity gets sidetracked to a debate of anything but intellectual designing: which comes first, the Easter egg or the Easter bunny?

Eggs are not the exclusive mystical domain of Christendom (although the ludicrous lengths taken to parade a sacred holiday into outrageous bonnets and Texas-shaped eggs suggest we have entered the dispensation of Christendumb). Secular folk and agnostics eat their eggs for breakfast with bacon, toast and diner coffee. But all God’s children like eggs, including Muslims with internet savy and a taste for the miraculous. Take a gander (but do not confuse his spouse’s eggs with those shown here) at the three eggs shown below. What do you see different in the middle egg than the ones on either side (hint: the left is from the 2007 White House State of the Union Eggroll and the right is from 2006 Easter Sunday):
Continue reading Tabsir Redux: This is not an Easter Egg →

Anti-Muslim Sentiment Rising in the U.S: What Is Happening to Religious Tolerance?

"Arab Spring", Anthropology/Sociology, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islamophobia

by Charles Kurzman, ISLAMiCommentary, February 13, 2014:

Islamic terrorism has proved to be a relatively small threat to public safety in America since 9/11. Isolated individuals have engaged in sporadic violence such as the Boston Marathon bombings, but radicalization has remained far more limited than security officials feared. A report issued this month by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security shows that the number of Muslim-American terrorism suspects and perpetrators remained low in 2013.

Yet American attitudes toward Muslim-Americans have grown more negative in recent years. Eight surveys since 9/11, most of them conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, have asked random samples of adult Americans whether they have a “favorable” or “unfavorable” view of Muslim-Americans. As shown in the top graph, the proportion answering “unfavorable” has increased over time: before 2006, all five surveys found “unfavorable” rates of 26 percent or lower; in the four surveys between 2006 and 2012, only one found “unfavorable” rates that low.

These numbers are still considerably less than positive responses, but they suggest that a growing segment of the American population is willing to express negative views about Muslim-Americans in recent years. Continue reading Anti-Muslim Sentiment Rising in the U.S: What Is Happening to Religious Tolerance? →

Jerusalem Filmed in 1896

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Bible and Holy Land, Film and Video, Islam and Christianity, Palestine

There is a fascinating short video on Youtube of what is apparently the first filming done in Palestine. Check out the blog Hummus for Thought for the Youtube bounce but also for a transcription of the commentary. As the narration indicates, Jerusalem was an interfaith city. There is even a shot of a Jew wearing a tarbush at the wailing wall. At this time under Ottoman control, the population of the three districts that comprised Palestine was 85% Muslim, 10% Christian and 5% Jewish.

An American Tabari, #4

Islam and Christianity, Lithographs, Orientalism, Orientalist Images

In a previous post I continued a series on the universal history of John Clark Ridpath. The image above is the classic image of a preacher, looking more Gospel than imamic to my eyes. I would question the sincerity of a famed imam who relied on a print version of the Quran rather than his own memory, as the image above suggests. The “preacher” with hands outstretched is a trope that crosses cultures, whether or not it is the cross being pounded on the pulpit (and certainly not on the minbar). Consider John Eliot who set his eyes on converting the “heathen” natives of the new world:

Or the long history of fire-and-brimstone wailing of American Protestants.

New CyberOrient issue is out

"Arab Spring", Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Music and Dance, Turkey

The latest issue of CyberOrient (Vol. 7, Iss. 2, 2013) is now available online as open access. Here are the contents:

Editorial

Orchestrating Hip-hop Culture Online: Within and Beyond the Middle East
Anders Ackfeldt

Articles

Muslimhiphop.com: Constructing Muslim Hip Hop Identities on the Internet
Inka Rantakallio

Hanouneh style resistance. Becoming hip-hop authentic by balancing
skills and painful lived experiences
Andrea Dankic


“I Am Malcolm X” – Islamic Themes in Hip-hop Video Clips Online
Anders Ackfeldt Continue reading New CyberOrient issue is out →