Monthly Archives: April 2012

Confessions of a Would be Muslim Reformer (sort of)

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Gender and Sexuality, Humor and Satire, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islamophobia, Wahhabi


by Omid Safi, Religious News Service, April 1, 2012

I have been doing a lot of soul-searching, and I have reached a few important conclusions. Speaking as a moderate Muslim, I realize that my community is primitive, backwards, mired in tradition, and in need of massive help from KONY 2012 people to reform this tradition to catch up with the luminosity of secular West.

I know that there is a trouble with Islam today, and everyday. I also want to have gay-friendly mosques where people can just go have a beer after the optional prayer services, ‘cause that is what it means to be a progressive Muslim.

Because all the secret jihadists (and the FBI people who have infiltrated them) just want to impose this Shari’a thing on us, and for some reason all that beer drinking and hooking up seems to be frowned upon in that Shari’a thing.

With that, and in the name of She who is the source of All-Mercy, here are the fruits of my search. If anyone wants to put me in touch with Fox News or MEMRI, please do so, I’ll recite all these on camera—just contact my agent, and he can tell you my appearance fee. I know that we are in need of a Muslim Reformation, and I am working on my “Martin Luther of Islam” speech. I can’t quite make it up to ML’s 95 theses, but I have got a good head start below. With that, “I give you permission to think freely”:

First, speaking as a Muslim, I am so disappointed in my Muslim brother Barack Hussein Obama. He eats pork, drinks alcohol, regularly attends church service, had his daughters baptized, has yet to set foot in a mosque since becoming president, kisses AIPAC’s behind, authorizes indefinite detentions, and has seen many Muslims killed by his drone attacks and ongoing wars. Really, a pathetic Muslim if ever there was one. I mean, if I wanted a Muslim ruler that would do all the above, I would move back to the Muslim countries where most of the rulers do that kind of stuff anyway, and the food is a little better than here. Continue reading Confessions of a Would be Muslim Reformer (sort of) →

For the love of Islamic books

Islam in Europe, Islamic Texts, Islamophobia, YouTube Watch

The BBC has recently aired a documentary which tells the story of a group of men and women who risked their lives to rescue the Ghazi Husrav Bey Library – and preserve a nation’s history – in the midst of the Bosnian war. Amid bullets and bombs and under fire from shells and snipers, this handful of passionate book-lovers safeguarded more than 10,000 unique, hand-written Islamic books and manuscripts – the most important texts held by Sarajevo’s last surviving library.

To watch the documentary online, click here.

Muhammad Abd al-Malik al-Mutawakkil on the Situation in Yemen

"Arab Spring", Yemen


المتوكل: حادثة الموتور سياسية والمستعجلين على الهيكلة لديهم برنامج يريدوا يبرموه
السبت, مارس 31, 2012 ALHawyah

قال الدكتور محمد عبد الملك المتوكل أنه لا يستطيع القول أن الحادثة التي تعرض لها في نوفمبر من العام الماضي حادثة بريئة “لكنه موتور سياسي ناتج عن عدد من القضايا التي كنت أطرحها على المشترك وأولها: قضية عسكرة الثورة”.
وأضاف في حوا-ره مع صحيفة الهوية نشرته في عددها الصادر الاربعاء الماضي -وهو يسرد ملابسات الحادثة قائلاً: طرحت على المشترك قضية عسكرة الثورة، حيث قلت لهم أن الأخوان المسلمين هم الذين جاءوا بالعسكر إلى السلطة فرد علي عبد الوهاب الآنسي بقوله: أنت تتهم الإصلاح؟ قلت له لماذا لا يوجد إسلاميون غيركم؟ الاتحاد إسلامي والشيخ إسلامي ولكن أنا اقصد الإسلاميين في العالم العربي كله. فقال محمد قحطان مداخلاً علي محسن مستعد أن يترك السلطة فرديت عليه: القضية ليست قضية شخص، وإنما قضية أسس”. حسب قوله.
وأضاف المتوكل: “القضية الثانية، دعوتي إلى ضرورة إيجاد قوى متعددة من أجل توازن القوى وقد بدأنا نبحث ميزانية توازن قوى حيث اتفقنا مع الشامي وأبو لحوم والحوثيين وبدأنا نتفق مع الحراك في الجنوب ومع الشباب وذلك لإيجاد توازن قوى نشط يؤمن بالتحالف ويؤمن بالآخر”.
وأردف قائلاً: “وهذه القضايا كان عبد الكريم الارياني قد أتصل بي وقال أنهم الآن يعملون مؤسسة لتنمية الوعي، هذه المؤسسة فيها من الأحزاب ومن المستقلين والمؤتمر، يريدوا أن يوجدوا توازن قوى، وقد حضرت معهم الاجتماع في صباح ذلك اليوم”.
ويضيف المتوكل: “بعد انتهاء الاجتماع طلبوا مني حضور اجتماع آخر في المساء قلت لهم لا أعرف مقركم، قالوا: سنبعث لك سيارة تأخذك، وفعلاً أتت السيارة، ولكن في وقت متأخر من الليل، وذهبت معهم، وصلنا إلى شارع الشرطة وكان هناك زحمة، فقالوا لي لا نستطيع الدخول من هنا، وسندخل من شارع آخر، فقلت لا مانع، وعندها دخلنا شارع آخر ومشينا، ولم أشعر بعد ذلك بما حصل لي إلا بعد أن تم نقلي إلى الأردن وخرجت من العناية المركزة ورأيت أمامي أولادي ولا أعرف السبب”. حسب قبوله.
أما القضية الثالثة فيقول المتوكل: “طلبت تشكيل لجنة لعملية إعادة التفكير في هيكلة القوات المسلحة وهذا ما أزعج الطرفين”.
Continue reading Muhammad Abd al-Malik al-Mutawakkil on the Situation in Yemen →

YEMEN: Behind militia lines in Jaar

Development, Gender and Sexuality, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


A Yemeni woman walks past a vehicle adorned with an Islamic flag in the town of Jaar, in the southern Abyan province, on January 25, 2012.

JAAR, 27 March 2012 (IRIN) – At first glance the city of Jaar, in Abyan Governorate near the Gulf of Aden, resembles many Yemeni towns struggling to rebuild after a year of nationwide protests shackled the central government’s ability to provide basic services.

Donkey carts line litter-strewn streets, and feral cats and dogs tiptoe past bullet-pocked storefronts and vacant buildings. Gaunt, bearded men drink tea and chew khat while shouting to each other across the street. In many respects, however, the remote settlement is different.

Controlled by a militant group called Ansar Al Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), the city is patrolled by armed militants in army trucks pillaged from the Yemeni military weeks earlier. The group’s black-and-white flag – a symbol of stability, according to Ansar al Sharia – flies at each entrance to the city, flapping behind Kalashnikov-toting soldiers riding motorcycles.

In a rare visit to Jaar on 5 March – the day after Ansar Al Sharia soldiers stormed a Yemeni military base outside Zinjibar killing more than 150 Yemeni soldiers and capturing 73 more – IRIN met civilians living under the expanding jihadist government.

Yemeni authorities believe the group is linked to Al Qaeda. Some local residents of Jaar said life under Ansar al Sharia was stable. One passer-by, when asked by a jihadist official what he thought of the “new [militant] government”, said it was “peaceful” and “nice”. Continue reading YEMEN: Behind militia lines in Jaar →