Suspects detained in Cairo blast

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Egypt, Terrorism Issue

Suspects detained in Cairo blast
BBC News, February 23, 2009

Egyptian police are questioning three suspects over the bombing of a Cairo market that killed one person and injured 20 others, officials say.

They were detained near the market shortly after the blast, police said.

It happened at an open-air hotel cafe packed with tourists in the Khan al-Khalili area – a major attraction and home to a prominent mosque.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has expressed “deep sorrow” at the death of a French teenager in the blast.

Police said they thought the device had been thrown from a balcony. It is not yet known who was responsible. Continue reading Suspects detained in Cairo blast →

Iranian Authorities Destroy Sufi Holy Site In Isfahan

Architecture, Iran, Shi'a, Sufism

By Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Liberty Website, February 18, 2009

A house of worship of the Gonabadi dervishes in Isfahan has reportedly been destroyed by the Iranian authorities.

The reason for the destruction — which reportedly took place shortly after midnight on February 18 — is not clear, but it comes amid growing pressure on dervishes, who practice the Sufi tradition of Islam, and other religious minorities in Iran.

The dervish house of worship, or hosseinieh, was located next to the tomb of the great poet and dervish Naser Ali at the historical Takht-e Foulad cemetery, where a number of respected Iranian figures are buried. Continue reading Iranian Authorities Destroy Sufi Holy Site In Isfahan →

American Muslims Call for Swift Action Against Domestic Violence

Ethics, Gender and Sexuality, Islam in America

American Muslims Call for Swift Action Against Domestic Violence

Murder of Buffalo resident Aasiya Zubair spurs American Muslims to forcefully address domestic abuse and violence against women; call on imams to address DV in Friday sermons

SAN FRANCISCO – A coalition of Muslim organizations, journalists, community leaders, imams, and other concerned citizens are calling for immediate action by American Muslim leaders and religious figures to address domestic abuse and violence in America, including that found in the American Muslim community, on Friday, February 20, 2009.

In response to the collective concern of the American Muslim community, imams and religious leaders across America have been asked to speak out against domestic violence to their congregations. They are asked to remind congregants of the Prophet Muhammad’s abhorrence of harshness, abuse and violence, and emphasize solutions that strengthen families and ensure all members are treated with fairness and respect, free of fear of abuse or violence.

Members of the coalition are contacting imams and religious leaders in major Islamic centers and mosques. They are encouraging sermons addressing domestic violence and are offering resources available through the Peaceful Families Project, a Muslim-run domestic violence prevention organization founded in 2000, to help educate the American Muslim community. This education addresses the extent to which domestic violence exists and strategies to stop it.

Several prominent imams have heeded the call to action by concerned American Muslims including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf of the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, Ca. and Imam Tahir Anwar of the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose, Ca. These imams have committed their Friday sermons to addressing domestic violence and preaching that in the Islamic tradition and by the example of the Prophet Muhammad, family harmony can never be achieved by force and that emotional and physical abuse is never acceptable. Continue reading American Muslims Call for Swift Action Against Domestic Violence →

Acclaimed Sudanese novelist Al-Tayeb Saleh dies

Books You Should Read, Literature, Sudan

Acclaimed Sudanese novelist Al-Tayeb Saleh dies
The Associated Press, February 18, 2009

KHARTOUM, Sudan: Al-Tayeb Saleh, one of the Arab world’s top novelists who excelled at portraying characters torn between East and West, died Wednesday in London, Sudan’s official news agency said. He was 80.

Saleh was born in 1929 in the northern Sudanese town of Marawi to a poor family and was educated first in Islamic schools and then later British institutions. He left Sudan to pursue graduate studies in the U.K. and went on to live in various European and Arab capitals, rarely returning home.

His works reflected the Arab and African quest for identity, especially in the period of 1960s, which were marked by the end of colonialism and the rise of nationalism across the region.

His 1966 masterpiece, The Season of Migration to the North, can be described as one of the earlier writings about the idea of a clash of civilizations. Continue reading Acclaimed Sudanese novelist Al-Tayeb Saleh dies →

Interflow: The Art of Emna Zghal

Contemporary Art, Tunisia

INTERFLOW
organized by
The Museum for African Art
Thursday Feb 19th, 2009
5-7pm on the 15th Floor of Ogilvy New York
Worldwide Plaza 309 West 49th St.
RSVP to ogilvyrsvp@gmail.com

Interflow presents recent painting and mixed media works on paper by New York-based artist Emna Zghal. Color and line continually search for boundaries they never find. Forms emerge to take on shapes that feel simultaneously familiar and foreign. Though the canvas fights to act as a boundary, poetic lines overflow into infinite space. Each mark acts in unison with the next to challenge the seemingly simple nature of line itself. Emna Zghal’s artwork elicits a never-ending network of nerves pulsing with colorful abstractions and an energy that suggests organic patterns in a continual search for form. Continue reading Interflow: The Art of Emna Zghal →

Entering King Tut’s Tomb

Archaeology and Antiquities, Egypt, Photography


Howard Carter cleaning the sarcophagus.

February 16, 1923 — one of those days that marks a momentous event, if you are an Egyptologist or just curious about the Pharaonc past. On this day British archaeologist Howard Carter entered the tomb of what turned out to be the golden hold of King Tutankhamun. For a treasure trove of photographs and details about this discovery, see Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation, an online resource of the Griffith Museum at Oxford.


The tomb when first opened.

Iraqi Women’s Minister Resigns, Draws Support

Development, Gender and Sexuality, Iraq


Nawal al-Samarraie, Photo by Karim Kadim

Iraqi Women’s Minister Resigns, Draws Support

by Corey Flintoff, NPR, February 12, 2009

Women in Iraq’s parliament have rallied behind the country’s minister for women’s affairs, who resigned earlier this week saying she was frustrated by a lack of support from the government.

The resignation highlights the plight of many Iraqi women, especially widows created by the country’s decades of war.

Nawal al-Samarraie had served as Iraq’s minister for women’s affairs for less than six months when she created a stir by turning in her resignation. She complained she had never received support from the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and that her budget for projects had been slashed from about $7,500 a month to around $1,500.

“I think it is wrong to stay as a minister without doing anything for my people, especially in this time and in this situation of Iraqi women — we have an army of widows, violated women, detainees, illiteracy and unemployment — many, many problems. I had to resign,” she said. Continue reading Iraqi Women’s Minister Resigns, Draws Support →