tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179583742024-03-13T12:41:30.755-05:00Warped GalaxiesPamela K. Taylor's BlogPamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.comBlogger482125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-84323234303226758922013-07-11T16:29:00.003-05:002013-07-11T16:29:35.188-05:00Ramadan an ever-varied feast<br />
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2013 will mark my 26th Ramadan. If there is one thing I have come to understand
over the years, it is that no Ramadan is quite like another. Each fast has given me new insights, while at the same time deepening and strengthening my appreciation for the endless bounties of God, from the vastness of the natural world to the most intimate of family bonds.<br />
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To read more...please<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/fortheloveofgod/2013/07/ramadan-an-ever-varied-feast/" target="_blank"> click here</a>! <br />
<br />Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-15180380174365167902013-04-18T10:55:00.000-05:002013-04-18T10:55:52.996-05:00White, Muslim and Privileged<a href="http://www.war-times.org/node/562" target="_blank">Tim Wise writes about the Boston Marathon Bombing, racism and white privilege</a> saying that evidence of white privilege is rampant in the wake of the bombings. I can't agree more. <br />
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As a Muslim, I dread the notion that the bomber may turn out to be a Muslim, and that all Muslims will be tarred and feathered as a result. I worry that innocent people may experience violence, harassment, prejudice, hatred and bigotry against them on the basis of the actions of a single individual or a small group. Even more, I worry that Muslims will be blamed (as they already have been by many tv and radio hosts) and that even if a Muslim didn't do it, fellow Muslims will suffer rude remarks and perhaps harassment because of the irresponsible speech of people out to make a buck. <br />
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I worry about the impact on my kids, who are growing up as a member of a minority which right wing talk hosts jump to declare guilty at the drop of a hat, and about whom they have no compunction to say outrageous things like, "<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/muslims-are-evil-lets-kill-them-all-us-tv-commentator-erik-rush-provokes-furious-reaction-with-boston-bombing-twitter-rants-8575176.html" target="_blank">kill them all</a>."I worry that elected officials who ought to uphold the freedom of religion enshrined in our Constitution are trying to make our religious practice illegal via <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/the_necessity_of_anti-sharia_laws.html" target="_blank">anti-shariah laws</a> and express the need for <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/04/16/1874071/steve-king-boston-immigration" target="_blank">tough immigration laws in terms of keeping out Arabs or Pakistanis or Muslims</a> in general . I worry that this atmosphere of hostility will warp their self-image and damage their self-confidence, ruin the carefree surety of safety which all children need to thrive, and destroy their sense of the goodness of humankind and of America. And I worry how constantly being on the defensive affects not only my kids, but the entire Muslim community. How it changes the dialogue about what it means to be a Muslim. How it pollutes our ability to grieve over terrible events like 9-11 or the Boston Marathon Bombing. How it hampers us from being able to challenge extremists from within the religion.<br />
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As a white person, I do not have those fears... I know that if a white person or group carried out the bombings, I don't have to worry that I or other white people will face bigotry, discrimination, hatred, harassment or violence as a person similar in some way to the person who committed this act of terrorism. I do not worry that all white people will be viewed with suspicion, that police will stop white people driving through Boston or traveling through airports at higher rates in the near future, or that my country of origin may face drone strikes as a result of the actions of extremists and the inability (or unwillingness) of the government to do anything about those extremists. (Unwillingness demonstrated by things like the recent failure to expand background checks for those who wish to purchase guns...think how we would react to such a failure in Pakistan or Afghanistan...). I do not worry that talk show hosts will rant about the evilness of white people and/or our beliefs. If I were Christian or Jewish, I wouldn't worry that the acts of a single extremist group or individual would be attributed to everyone in my religion. <br />
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Even more, as a white Muslim I know that I am largely immune to the discrimination and potential violence that looms over my co-coreligionists who "look Muslim" (ie have brown skin, especially those who "dress Muslim"). I know that when I go through the airport, with or without a scarf on my head, the security people will not look at me with extra attention. Unlike my brown brothers and sisters I am never selected for additional screening, and have never faced questioning when returning from abroad for Muslim conferences and events, even though my co-workers and friends have regularly faced such things. During the 25 years that I wore a headscarf, people mostly assumed I was Amish or Mennonite or a nun (even when I was 9 months pregnant I had people coming up and asking me what order I belonged to!). If they recognized me as Muslim, they assumed I was a "different" sort of Muslim. They engaged me with curiosity and respect. I can count the times people were gratuitously rude to me in the grocery store or other public spaces because of my Muslim identity on one hand, indeed on one finger. Perhaps most telling, as a white Muslim, my fears around the Boston bombing are not for myself or even my mixed-race children, who easily pass as white, but for my friends who have darker skin, or who speak with an accent.<br />
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This more than anything hammers home the racial nature of the prejudice Muslims face in this country. Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-59474543533457774692013-04-17T08:31:00.002-05:002013-04-17T12:24:58.088-05:00On BostonI grew up in the suburbs of Boston, and joyfully celebrated Patriot's Day, retracing the steps of Acton's minutemen as they marched to confront the British in Concord. I went to grad school in Boston, living a few blocks from where the blasts tore apart the finish line of the Marathon. My first child was born in Boston. My politics are decidedly in the best of the liberal Boston tradition. It's a place I call home, despite having lived in the Midwest for the better part of two decades. The part of me that recognizes Boston as foundational to my being is grieving over the heinous bombing of the Boston Marathon. As a mother, I grieve for the young boy who lost his life and his sister who has lost her limb, and for the others injured or killed.<br />
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As a moral, political person, I believe that terrorism is not only evil, but also ineffective and stupid. Killing innocent people who have nothing to do with the cause you are supporting is wrong. Not to mention that it doesn't work; it only creates animosity and diminishes the possibility of negotiation. Killing in the name of politics, ideology, and for the sake of gaining power (whether done by individuals or states) is wrong. I grieve that there are people in the world who believe it is better to kill than to settle disagreements through negotiation, who believe that taxes are so evil, or a piece of land so precious, or God so narrow-minded, that we should kill one another over it. <br />
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As a Muslim, I worry that the young Saudi man who was running from the scene (a sensible thing to do when another bomb might explode at any moment) has faced unwarranted scrutiny, if not outright discrimination, on the basis of his nationality and his religion. I haven't been able to bring myself to listen to the talk radio shows, the commentators on TV, and their coverage, knowing how Muslims in general are no doubt being tarred and feathered with the supposed guilt of this young man. So far, he hasn't been charged with any crime, and in this country you are innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, we long ago rejected the notion that entire families, clans, ethnicities, nationalities, or religious groups, are responsible for the actions of isolated members of that group. Even if it turns out this young man was involved in the attack, that is no justification for attacking all Muslims.<br />
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I see my fellow Muslims admitting that their first thought when they heard about the bombings was, "please don't let the perpetrator be a Muslim." This saddens me in so many ways. It speaks to the intolerance that has come to mark certain segments of American culture. To the fact that our country has permitted a hostile atmosphere to be built up around people who not only are innocent of any crime, but who are as horrified by it as the next person. It speaks of the inability of the people who are victimized by that hostility to express their solidarity with the victims of a crime they deplore... they are proscribed from the free expression of the grief they feel because they feel they <i>must</i> address the collective scapegoating and potential backlash that may affect them. This is a sad way for our country to treat people. <br />
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Most sad of all, I do not see it as a particularly unique form of discrimination. For far too many Americans, all Latinos are viewed as probable illegal immigrants, and likely involved with the drug trade. All blacks are viewed as down and out, prone to violence, misogyny and fits of temper. All people of oriental background are smart and studious; even Asian jocks, like uber basketballer Jeremy Lin, graduate from Ivies. And, of course, white people are just people. <br />
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Finally, I am saddened by the lack of historicity in our analyses. People are carrying on over how violent Islam supposedly is, ignoring centuries of Christian military adventurism and ongoing intolerance on the part of many who call themselves Christian or Catholic. They overlook the violence between Tamils and Hindus, between people of different African animist traditions, between Jews and their neighbors of other faiths in Israel and the occupied territories, and pogroms carried out in the name of communism, Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot. <br />
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Most important, they overlook the violence of our own country. America was founded through a war, one that I celebrated regularly as a child, one whose "terrorists" are glorified as heroes, one whose success is marked in part by the Boston Marathon. Until we accept where we came from, and how we continue to employ violence to achieve our political, economic and social aims, we are not likely to be able to break the cycle of violence or to stem the loss of innocent life.<br />
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<b>Update:</b> "Law enforcement sources told CBS News a Saudi Arabian man who was being
questioned by investigators is not considered a suspect at this time,
and it appears he was a spectator who was injured in the attack." (source: http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/CNN-Boston-Marathon-Bombing-Suspect-Identified/PJFSyYjreESeP1rPphm62w.cspx ) So yes, the Saudi student who was tackled by a fellow race viewer was an innocent bystander, whose terror could only have been multiplied by the racial, ethnic and religious profiling he experienced. While it might be appropriate, I doubt the Muslim community will get an apology from those who are busy whipping up anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment. People like Senator King who said we need to reexamine how we issue student visas, referring to this Saudi student in particular. (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/345691/after-boston-congressman-urges-caution-immigration) Will Senator King extend an apology to this student? I doubt it. Will the pundits who have been raving about the Muslim threat admit they rushed to judgement. I doubt that too. How sad that a sad day in American history is made so much worse by our own actions. Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-8101365575481730252013-03-27T08:19:00.002-05:002013-03-27T08:19:50.734-05:00Doma, Prop 8 and MuslimsThe Supreme Court yesterday and today is hearing arguments about marriage equality for glbt individuals. A lot of Muslims are squeamish about this issue. They follow traditional interpretations that rule homosexuality or at least homosexual acts to be sinful. How then, they ask, can we accept gay marriage? As a progressive Muslim, I reject those interpretations of the Qur'an (more on that later) and support gay marriage for various reasons:<br />
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1) The Qur'an is quite clear that love, long-term companionship, and sexual relations are a blessing from God, an integral part of what it means to be human. It is also clear that sex should only occur in the context of a committed, publicly acknowledged relationship. To deny marriage to gay people is to condemn them to choose between celibacy -- which is unnatural and perhaps even impossible for all but a few -- and living in sin. I cannot believe that a merciful, loving God would make an entire class of people with the capacity for love and attraction, only to present them with such a onerous, and tragic, choice. <br />
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2) The story of Lot, as I and many who share a progressive approach to the Qur'an read it, is not about the glbt community. It is not about loving, mutually desired relationships. It is about a community who, like all communities, was predominantly straight (thus the Qur'an tells us that they have wives who were made for them) and who went out robbing and raping travelers. The Qur'an is quite clear that Lot's visitors were not interested in sexual relations, and that Lot was despairing because he had no way to protect them from the mob that came out from the city to have their way regardless of what the visitors or Lot thought about the matter. This is not a description of a committed, loving relationship. It's a description of violation and violence. The story of Lot has nothing to say about gay marriage; it has everything to say about people's individual right to life, safety, personal property, and freedom to travel in the land, and about going against the innate drives God has given to us. <br />
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This last is a theme that Prophet Muhammad often addressed, telling us not to go to extremes in our religion -- don't pray or fast excessively, don't become a hermit, don't take up celibacy, don't impoverish yourself through charity, but also don't be a miser, don't wear ostentatious clothes but also don't wear rags, etc, etc because our bodies have a right over us. That is, they have innate needs and desires and we should not deny them, but indulge them within reason and the limits set down by God. Which brings us back to point one. Lot's people broke the bounds by forcing sexual relations, gay or not, on people who did not want it. Gay people are fully within the bounds when they are engaged in mutually desired, loving relationships.<br />
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3) I believe in secular democracy, and I believe that secular democracy is the best expression of the political values the Qur'an promotes -- to conduct affairs through consultation, individual participation in political allegiance, and no compulsion in religion. Not only is there the famous, "lo ikraha fi deen" verse in the Qur'an that commands there to be no compulsion in faith, the Prophet gave us the example in the Compact of Madinah which stipulated that the Christians and Jews who lived under the Prophet's rule would continue to practice and live by their own religions teachings and laws, as would the Muslims who were emigrating to Madinah. Thus, the Prophet set up a secular state... when Jews came to him for rulings, he judged by their law, not the teachings of the Qur'an. <br />
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In the US, our secular democracy stipulates that the government cannot make laws establishing religion. Those who argue that gay marriage is against the Bible or the Qur'an have the right to believe this and to practice according to this belief. The government does not have the right to enshrine this religious belief into law. They are required to protect the rights of those of us who do not believe the Bible or Qur'an ban gay marriage, but rather support it. And the rights of those who don't give a hoot about what the Bible or Qur'an has to say. It is not the government's business to make moral decisions about who we choose to live our lives with (so long as it is a mutually agreed upon relationship by consenting adults) or to discriminate against certain types of relationships by giving tax and other benefits to some committed relationships and not others. We long ago realized that the government could not dictate to us that we were not free to marry people of our choice in terms of race; so too with gender.<br />
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As a minority religious group who wants to maintain our civil rights to follow our beliefs as we see fit; we must support the civil rights of other groups to follow their beliefs as they see fit, even if we disagree with their beliefs. Thus, even Muslims who disagree with progressive interpretations of the story of Lot, should support gay marriage.<br />
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4) For most of us who believe in a religion, marriage is not just about civil rights and tax benefits. It is a social compact -- in which society celebrates with a couple the joy of loving and being loved, of being a family. It is a social embrace of that couple that honors their commitment to one another. And it is a recognition that their love reflects God's love, is an embodiment of God's love for all Her Creation. How can we declare that any love -- whether it be between spouses, parent and child, friends, colleagues -- is anything other than God expressing Her love for us through us? Love is wondrous blessing, and the Qur'an asks over and over, "Which of the blessings of God will you deny?" How dare we deny the blessing of love between two individuals, how dare we deny them the joy of that love? Even worse, how dare we suggest that God withholds Her love from two people who wish to commit to one another in marriage? Rather we should celebrate love in all its forms!Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-21053225287418326602013-03-14T08:13:00.000-05:002013-03-14T08:18:59.415-05:00International Women's Day Khutbah, part 11 -- Spiritual and Moral equality<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So we have seen that men and women were created as
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history, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this partnership has been
posited as one of unequals, complementary but not the same, however, we have
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creation of mankind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our natures are the
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This fundamental equality is demonstrated in the Qur’an
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the fundamental concern of the Qur’an. That the moral and spiritual capacity or
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righteousness,- be they male or female - and have faith, they will enter
Heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">48:4-5 It is He Who sent down tranquility into the
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That He may admit the men and women who believe, to
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">40:40 He that works evil will not be requited but by
the like thereof: and he that works a righteous deed - whether man or woman -
and is a Believer- such will enter the Garden (of Bliss): Therein will they
have abundance without measure.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">9:72 Allah hath promised to
Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein,
and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss
is the good pleasure of Allah. that is the supreme felicity</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">16:97 Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and
has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure
and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And of course, the famous, 33:35: </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women,
for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are
patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and
women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves),
for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage
much in Allah's praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great
reward.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Statements of our fundamental spiritual and moral
equality are sprinkled throughout the Qur’an, as a constant reminder. Repetition
is the principal tool that Allah uses to accentuate the most important messages
in the Qur’an, returning to important themes and mantras over and over for
emphasis. Thus the continual reminder of male-female spiritual and moral
equality denotes it as something essential. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps the most poignant statement of the theme is
in chapter 9, verses 71-72:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of
another: they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil: they observe
regular prayers, practice regular charity, and obey Allah and His Messenger. On
them will Allah pour His mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power, Wise</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Allah
hath promised to Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to
dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the
greatest bliss is the good pleasure of Allah. that is the supreme felicity.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In this verse, we see not only do men and women have
the same spiritual capacities and duties, but they are placed together as friends
and protectors of one another. Thus Allah tells us that men learn from women,
and women learn from men; women prohibit men from evil and enjoy what is just
upon men and vice versa. Thus this verse goes beyond telling us that we have
the same spiritual capacities and duties, the same moral code, to putting us in
a relationship of mutual benefit, men and women together, protecting one
another from wrong doing. It is not men keeping women in line, or women keeping
men in line, but all of humankind looking out for one another.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This notion is reinforced by the fact that we are
given examples of pious women to follow – such as Sheba, Maryam, and Asiya the
wife of Pharoah. In each of these cases, it is these women’s recognition of
Divine Truth and commitment to God that makes them worthy examples. Sheba leads
her people into faith; Asiya saves Moses against the tyranny of pharaoh; and
Maryam who dedicates her life to the service of Allah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Equally important, God responds to women in the Qur’an
as he does to men. There are various verses that begin, “They ask you about…” followed
by questions of the day –what should we spend on charity, (2:215); is it ok to
fight during Hajj season (2:217); what about wine and games of chance (2:219);
how do we deal with orphans (4:129).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In 58:1 God answers a question posted specifically
by a woman:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">GOD has indeed heard the words of her who pleads with
thee concerning her husband, and complains Unto God. And God does hear what you
both have to say: verily, God is all-hearing, all-seeing.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He also addresses the situation where Ayesha was
being accused of infidelity in verses 24:4-24:24, vindicating her innocence and
condemning those who spread slander. Thus, contrary to what some have said,
that the Qur’an only addresses men, in fact it addresses all human concerns, demonstrating that God is equally accessible, equally responsive to women and their spiritual and mundane needs.</span></div>
Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-88823031809189901202013-03-11T20:44:00.004-05:002013-03-11T20:44:48.663-05:00IWD Khutbah, What the Qur'an says about women, Part 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
International Women’s Day I gave a khutbah at the MPV-Columbus Unity Mosque,
exploring what the Qur’an has to say about women. The next few blog posts will
explore some of these ideas, looking first at verses that promote a vision of
gender equality, and then at some of the verses that have been used to justify
many of the deplorable and oppressive conditions Muslim women live under – rampant
domestic violence, coerced and under-age marriages and sexual harassment on the
street and in the home, exclusion from education, careers, and politics,
restrictions concerning dress and travel, even legal jeopardy for reporting
rape. Sadly, the Qur’an has been used to justify many of these oppressive
conditions. Fortunately, the Qur’an can also be used to challenge them.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are many verses in the Qur’an which directly
and indirectly express the fundamental equality of all humankind, starting with
the creation story. The first verse of the chapter entitled Women says:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">O MANKIND! Be conscious of your
Sustainer, who has created you out of one living entity, and out of her created
her mate, and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of men and women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And remain conscious of God, in whose name
you demand [your rights] from one another, and of these ties of kinship.
Verily, God is ever watchful over you!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>4:1<br />
<br />
This passage describes both the creation of mankind and our fundamental
natures, that of being paired. The word for mate, “zauj” is an interesting word
because it means both one half of the pair, and the pair as a unity. Even more
interesting, the word “zauja” – denoting “wife” -- was in use across much of
the Arab world, as it still is today, but the word zauja never appears in the Qur’an.
Zauj is used for both halves of the pair, at times denoting the wife and a
times denoting the husband. What emerges is a picture of two beings united
without regard for gender; they are identical halves of the whole, bonded
together and equals and interdependent in every way. (More on this later!) This
is the mold on which humankind is created. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately, this passage is often read and
translated with reference to and in the context of the Biblical creation story
which talks about Eve being made from Adam’s rib as his helper. The order of
creation, the description of Eve as a helpmate, and the fact that Adam is made
whole cloth by Allah, while Eve is made from a part of him is used to justify a
hierarchy between the two, with Adam firmly the leader and Eve the subservient.
With this scenario and its assumptions in mind, commentators have often inherited
the gender bias evident in the Bible and its interpretations. Translators have universally
altered the pronouns, saying, “created you from one soul and made from him his
mate,” or “made from it its mate.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Qur’an the language is quite the opposite…
the first entity, this “nafsin wahidatin,” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is feminine, and her mate, her “zauj,” is
masculine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus the passage says that
God created a female being and made her masculine mate from her, and from the
two spread a multitude of men and women. This cannot possibly have been by
accident. If God had wanted to use a masculine word, He could well have said,
we created Adam, we created a man, we created a male. Thus we have to assume those
word choices were deliberate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Muslims,
however, have been reluctant to explore the implications. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, in Arabic a masculine or feminine word does not
necessarily denote the gender of the object – all nouns are gendered – the sun
is feminine, as is the moon, but we wouldn’t say they are women. So it may be
that these things – the orginal nafs and its mate are like the sun and the
moon, neither male nor female, and it only their offspring that took on the
qualities of maleness and femaleness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what emerges is a picture is of two entities,
paired, mated, from whom mankind -- men and women -- sprang. There is no
hierarchy or supremacy of one over the other in the verse; they are a pair,
mates of like nature; nor does the verse predicate any hierarchy between the
men and women who sprang from these two, rather they are posited as having
mutual rights that they demand of one another, and ties of kinship that bind
them together. Most particularly, it does not say, from them we spread abroad a
multitude of men and women so that one may be the breadwinner and the other the
housewife, so that one can be the leader and the other the broodmother. Rather,
they are kin and they have rights over one another… without distinction by
gender. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We see this equality affirmed in other verses which
talk about the pairing of humankind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Symbol;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">30:21 And among His Signs is this, that He created for
you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them,
and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs
for those who reflect!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why do we have mates? So one can cook and clean and
bear the children of the other? So that one can lead the household and earn
money? No, so we can dwell with them in tranquility, in love and tenderness and
mercy toward one another. Again, the word zauj is used to indicate both halves
of the pair as well as the pair itself – which has profound implications not
only for heterosexual but especially for glbt relationships because what is
important in the relationship is not the gender of the two participants, but
rather it’s about how the two halves relate to each other – with love and
mercy… with mutual respect. Not domination or obedience. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly we read: “49:13 </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">O
mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female and have made you nations and
tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of
Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware..”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is another verse, that people often quote, in
this case referencing it for racial equality, but it also affirms gender
equality. Men and women, of all ethnicities, all races – all human beings are
equal in the site of God, differentiated only their piety. It does not say we
should lord over one another, or seek to dominate one another, but to know one
another, learn from one another. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Part II tomorrow) </span></div>
Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-17719636154226524082013-03-06T09:14:00.001-05:002013-03-06T09:14:47.967-05:00The Linguistic Literalism of Four-Year Olds<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The Linguistic Literalism of Four-Year Olds</div>
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(Part Three of a Three-part series)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Pamela Taylor</div>
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<br /></div>
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Have you ever given directions to a four-year old?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Go to the end of the hall and turn
left,” you say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Is this left?” he asks, holding up
his left hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Right!” you say cheerily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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He then lowers his left hand and
puts up his right hand.</div>
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<br /></div>
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“Oh,” he says, “Then I have to turn
this way.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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“No, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s your right hand,” you say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The other one was your left hand.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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The poor kid is now totally confused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His mind, focused on left and right, didn’t
grasp the changed context of your initial response; he missed that you had
switched from right/left to correct/incorrect, or, in other words, right/wrong.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I experienced a similar e-mail exchange the other day on a
news groups I belong to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One poster
forwarded several hadith (thank God their source were at least cited!): </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<strong><span style="font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></strong>The
Prophet (SAW) said: “The hanging of clothes below the ankles in pride is
forbidden.” (Bukhari) <strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></strong></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Hazrat Abu Hurairah (RA) relates that Rasulullah
(SAW) said: “On the Day of Judgement Allah will not look at the one who lets
his trousers down out of pride.” (Bukhari, Muslim)<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Hazrat
Abu Zarr (RA) said: “Such persons as are doomed, who are they Oh Messenger of
Allah?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Nabi (SAW) replied: “One who lets out his apparels
out of arrogance, one who reminds or makes a show of favors done by him to
another, and one who sells his (inferior) wares with false oaths.” Another
version of Muslim adds: “One who lets down his pyjama or loin cloth.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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He concluded with the pronouncement that “The covering of
ankles (for men) is Haraam and a major sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) clearly stresses the
importance of keeping the trousers above the ankles!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us Pray Allah gives us strength to enact
His Commands!”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Like the four-year old, this poster neglected to notice that
the context has changed since the time of the Prophet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wearing trousers that extend past one’s
ankles is no longer a sign of arrogance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wearing Armani suits or platinum rings with four-karat diamonds is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, a man wearing pants that didn’t reach
the ankle would likely be considered slightly odd, or perhaps effeminate, since
his pants would closely approximate the Capri pants that are so popular with
women these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I pointed this
out, and that the purpose of the hadiths was to remind us not to be arrogant,
even in our dress, a protracted storm of debate arose about how long the pants
could be, whether grazing the tops of the ankle bones was ok, or if the hem
needed to be several inches over the ankle, whether socks and snow boots
violated this command, and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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And, of course, several people lectured me about how even if
you understand the metaphorical meaning you can’t throw out the literal one,
which struck me as a really odd response since saying these hadiths are about
arrogance, not inches of cloth, has nothing to do with metaphor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a rather direct interpretation of the
hadiths, just not one that insists on maintaining the old context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Indeed, I’m not sure what metaphorical
meaning one might make out of these hadith…hmm… Pants are a metaphor for legs,
so we all have to shorten our legs… Yowza!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tall people are doomed!)</div>
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<br /></div>
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This kind of wrong-context interpretation, this myopic focus
on literalism as opposed to concern for the intent, for the wisdom behind a
given hadith or Qur’anic statement, has become the norm for our ummah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That old adage that we can’t see the forest
for the trees is all too fitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
result we have entrenched ourselves in an ossified version of Islam that is
rigid, inflexible, unfit for the current context, and all in all rather
unappealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small wonder that we are
perceived as backwards, and different, unable to fit into modern society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In reality, we are choosing by the busload
not to fit into modern society.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In doing so, we not only make Islam difficult for ourselves
(It is not easy being a social outcast, nor to straightjacket one’s life with a
thousand picayune and demanding rules!) but we are apt to miss the point of the
religion altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Islam according to
the Qur’an is supposed to easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
designed to help a person reach their full potential as a good creature, as a
blessing to this world and to his or her own self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focusing the literal meaning as opposed to
the general principle more often than not works opposite to those
inclinations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It focuses us upon details
rather than the spirit of the law and, taken to the extreme that is has been in
recent years, results in spiritual decay rather than spiritual
development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It focuses us in upon our
own deeds, rather than outward upon making the world a better place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wastes unimaginable volumes of energy and
time as we try to discern each and every rule to follow, debating back and
forth with our co-religionists as to which interpretation is the most valid. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Furthermore, an Islam based upon literalism fails to meet
some of the most basic spiritual needs of humanity. It leaves no room for a
personal relationship with God, demanding that everyone be a cookie-cutter copy
of The Model – a detailed and exacting model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It leaves us confused and with inappropriate responses to our situation,
just as the four-year old remains confused about whether this hand or that is
the left one and unsure of which direction he should turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small wonder, yet again, that we are not the
moral and spiritual leaders of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is astonishing is that we think, with the ummah by and large
practicing such a literal level of interpretation, that we should be such
leaders!</div>
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<br /></div>
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One can’t help but wonder how it came to be that the ummah
got stuck at the linguistic and interpretive level of a four-year old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How and when we did we allow ourselves to
slip into intellectual imprecision and moral immaturity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how and when we are going to grow up, how
we will learn to think like adults and take the place in the world that we
should.</div>
Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-52843750614619479762013-03-05T09:33:00.000-05:002013-03-05T09:33:40.771-05:00The Intellectual Thoroughness of Three-Year Olds<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Intellectual Thoroughness of Three-Year Olds</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(The
second in a three part series)</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By
Pamela Taylor</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You
may remember the email I shared with you last week, the one describing the
rewards pious women were to receive for such deeds as nursing their infants, or
consoling their husbands after a hard day at work, and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(If not, you can see the glorious details in
the first of this series, <i>The Moral Maturity of Two-Year Olds</i>.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This document declared in its headline that
it bore “Glad tidings of Heaven for pious women in the light of hadith.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
claim that the information in the email was derived from hadith was backed up
by no references.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No allusion to Bukhari
or Muslim, Abu Dawood or Ibn Majah, or even to scholars who had quoted from
these works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No mention of
narrators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No Aisha said, or Abu
Hurairah reported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The supposed hadith
were not even in the form of “Prophet Muhammad said.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was simply a list of good deeds (or at
least what the author of the list considered to be good deeds) and the rewards
we are supposed to receive for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
imagine you have been sent this sort of email yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or perhaps you have come across mimeographed
sheets left in the front corner of your masjid or been handed one by youngsters
after Salatul-Eid.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unfortunately,
it seems as though many Muslims approach these kinds of documents with the
intellectual thoroughness of a three-year old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you have ever taken a three-year old for a walk, you know that she or
he will pepper you with questions along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is the sky blue?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why does the concrete have cracks?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is that flower all brown and floppy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will also know that when you reply,
“Because there is water in the air, because in the winter concrete freezes and
breaks, because the flower’s stem broke,” he or she will nod sagely as though
your answer solved all problems and answered all questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An older child will ask, “How does the water
make the sky blue?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why does concrete
crack when it freezes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ice doesn’t crack
when <i>it</i> freezes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why does breaking
the <i>stem</i> make the <i>flower</i> wilt?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And a few years later that kid will challenge your answer -- “Are you
sure?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you know?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a three-year old simply absorbs what you
say as fact, incorporates it into his or her world-view, and moves on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Confronted
with a laundry list of good deeds and commensurate rewards (or duas to say at
various occasions, or the evils of jinn, or the benefits of marriage, etc, etc,
etc) far too many Muslims react in the manner of a three-year old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hungrily scan the page, seeking the reward
for this good deed, the punishment for that bad deed, soaking up the answers as
though they were indubitable fact and as though they could solve all individual
and global ills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put something on a
sheet of paper, dress it up in a robe and </span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">t<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">urban and we think it represents
God's own Word!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let it drop from the
lips of a scholar, whether it makes sense or not, whether it has an authentic
source or not, and we would stake our very life on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Who
says so?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where did this information come
from?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this accurate?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the very first questions we should
ask, closely followed by “Why would the Prophet say this?” and “How can I apply
it to my life?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(For more on this topic,
see installment three, <i>The Linguistic Literalism of Four-Year Olds</i>.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even
if the email comes from a good friend or references a noted scholar, or the
page is distributed by the imam of our masjid, we should demand a modicum of
intellectual rigor from our scholars and from ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the very least, we owe it to ourselves --
and to God -- to determine if information we intend to incorporate into our
deen is actually from Prophet Muhammad or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Obviously, to accept any assertion that something is hadith, or from the
Qur’an without checking that it actually is, is intellectually irresponsible
and potentially disastrous for the accuracy one’s practice of Islam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
textual laxity not only allows wrong practices to seep into the religion, but
creates intellectual dependency and immaturity of thought process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word of the scholar becomes the final
authority, not the words of the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The knowledge and understanding of the alim
relieves the individual of cultivating his or her own knowledge and
understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The uncritical acceptance
of what one is told reinforces an attitude of carelessness towards matters of
deen.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
classical hadith scholars used specific terms for the precise manner in which
hadith were transmitted -- recited to the teacher, written with the teacher watching,
written and then read aloud to the teacher, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They only accepted narrations from people of
good character and did a great deal of research to determine the character of
various narrators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The exegetes
explained meaning based upon precise wordings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They were not sloppy, making recommendations on almost accurate wordings
of Qur’an or hadith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously, we
cannot all reproduce the efforts of Bukhari or Muslim (and it would be foolish
to do so), we cannot all have the command of Qur’anic Arabic of an Ibn Kathir
or a Suyuti, but we can approach our deen with the same sincerity, and the same
intellectual integrity that they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt></div>
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<br /></div>
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<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Until
the ummah matures intellectually, until the scholar’s opinion and the printed
page are no longer treated like Commands from Upon High, it is highly unlikely
that we will be able to escape the rigidity, extremism, and simple error in
religious practice that currently plague us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></tt></div>
Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-91509020570374912732013-03-02T01:53:00.001-05:002013-03-02T01:53:07.420-05:00The moral maturity of two year oldsOriginally published in MuslimWakeUp.com, republished at hijabman.com.<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">The Moral Maturity of Two-Year Olds</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">(The first in a three part series)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">By Pamela K. Taylor</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">The other day I got an email that ran something like this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Subject: FW: Glad Tidings of
Heaven for Pious Women!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the Name of Allah, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful </span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">---------------------------------
</span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Glad tidings of Heaven for pious
women in the light of hadith </span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></tt></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1. When a husband comes home full
of worries and the wife extends warm welcome to him and consoles him; she
receives the reward of half a jihaad. </span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2. When a husband comes home to
sleep and his wife gives him food to eat (not being involved in dishonesty with
regard to herself and her husband belongings), Allah Taalah gives her the
thawaab of 12 years of ibaadat.</span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3. When the wife presses the legs
of her husband without him asking her to do so, she gets the sawaab of giving
charity 7 ounce of gold, and if she presses his legs after he ask her to do so,
she receives the sawaab of giving 7 ounce of silver in sadaqa.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">4. Every night of an expectant
mother (a woman who is carrying a baby in her womb) is counted as spent in
ibaadat and every day as spent in fasting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">5. A woman receives the sawaab of
70 years of namaaz and roza on giving birth to one child and the pain she
suffered in every vein of her body while giving birth, for that she will
receive the sawaab of one hajj.</span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">6. A woman, who is deprived of
sleep owing to her child crying at night, receives the sawaab of freeing 20
slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon the child crying at night,
if the mother feeds the child (gives milk to the child) without cursing, she
receives the sawaab of performing namaaz for one year.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">7. A breastfeeding woman gets one
good deed for each drop of milk that is fed to the child.</span></tt></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">8. A woman who is rendered
restless owing to the illness of her baby and yet kept on striving to comfort
the baby, Allahtalaah forgives all her sins and gives her the sawaab of 12
years accepted in ibaadat.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><br />
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
first thought was “Woo-Hoo!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never
have to pray again or fast, or for that matter do any ibadaat because I've got
credit for 6755 years of fasting and praying, several thousand hajjs, 24,000
freed slaves, several millions of good deeds, and I'm-not-telling how many tons
worth of gold and silver in charity.”</span></tt></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ok,
I guess my attitude towards these things is pretty clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saying "if I do x good deed, I'll get y
reward from Allah" is the moral equivalent of letting ourselves be bribed
by Allah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's like a mother saying to
her child, “if you're good in the store, I'll give you a candy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that how you want to teach your children
to behave?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NO!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the second you refuse to give the
candy, the kids think they have the right to act up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, if they decide they are really not in
the mood for candy today, or they have enough stockpiled home under the bed so
they don't need any more today, or they can always get more tomorrow, then
there is no motivation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any half-way
decent mother or wife, according to this email I got, has so many good deeds to
her credit, she had no need to do any more.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of
course, in case our thirst for rewards is not insatiable, we have a handy
repertoire of the unthinkable punishments Allah will mete out if we are less
than ideal in our behavior (to be sent in email, part two).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is, obviously, no better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the punishments are not fearful enough, or
if we think we can cash in some of our good deeds to cancel out some of the bad
ones, or that we have enough time tomorrow to make up for today’s lapses, there
goes the motivation again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bribery isn’t
a very effective tool.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
to mention that it is essentially a selfish mode of thought, a
what-can-I-get-out-of-this motive that rivals the worst CEO of Enron, Ted
Turner, or Arab oil sheikh scenario, just differing in scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focusing on the rewards of each and every
good thing we do (or the punishments that we will incur if we do something less
than ideal) teaches us to be self-centered, to focus on our own profit, and not
to view the intrinsic value of the good deed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is relating to the world at the moral level of a two year old. </span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not
only does this "if you do x good deed you will get x reward"
mentality represent a morally immature point of view, but it also threatens to
destroy our relationships; in the case of this email, the mother/child
relationship or the wife/husband relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In light of this email, your child is no longer a delightful gift from
God, a treasure and a trust and a miracle, who you care for because you love
him or her more than you love your own self, your husband isn’t your life
partner, friend, confidante, helpmeet, but rather a commodity, a means by which
you can make your pile of candy grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What a horrible thing to do to the most beautiful, the most intimate of
relationships! This is not only moral immaturity, but positive harm! How can we
raise healthy, moral children is we feed them this moral pap and if we treat
them like paths to our own spiritual fulfillment? </span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
sad part is that some Muslims (Most Muslims? Please say it's not true.) seem to
take these email sheets very, very, very literally. How often have we heard a
young mother telling about her oft-interrupted night with her newborn son or
daughter saying very smugly how "I got up three times last night and never
once got angry at my baby, so it's like I made three hajjs”?</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That
is so morally bankrupt, so ethically immature, it is small wonder that Muslims
are in the state we are in. We should try to do what is right because it is the
right thing to do, whether or not we receive rewards for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should try to teach our children to do
what is right because it is right, because it serves the greater good of
mankind in general, of the community, the family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because doing right, makes us feel good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because we should do for others what we would
like for others to do for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, not
only that, but it also pleases our Creator.</span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No
wonder the ummah is in the state it is in! We keep ourselves morally at the age
of two year olds and destroy relationships between one another with legalisms
and literalisms and self-centeredness. And we wonder why our rulers are so
bad?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wonder why we can't get ahead,
why Muslims don’t rule the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
wonder why the world doesn’t look to Islam for guidance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should be obvious.</span></tt><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">(Look for the second installment in this series:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Intellectual Thoroughness of Three Year
Olds!)</span></div>
Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-47037285978853552002013-03-02T01:47:00.001-05:002013-03-02T01:47:47.477-05:00Old articlesA few days ago I got an email from someone who had stumbled upon my site and blog. She was very enthusiastic (thank you!) and it got me to thinking about the site, and how some of the links no doubt pointed to articles that no longer exist. I had been thinking about starting to post to the blog again anyway, so I took the plunge (with a lot of help from GoDaddy's support pages on how to migrate an old blogger account to a new one) and will be publishing some of the old articles, stories, or poems whose host (MuslimWakeUp for instance) no longer exists. And I'll be creating new content as well. I hope you'll rejoin me on the journey!Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-16491476105809764742013-02-27T17:08:00.001-05:002013-02-28T21:11:01.354-05:00Innagural Khutbah at MPV-Columbus<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><br />
<div class="entry-content">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">On December 12, 2012, a new congregation was born in Columbus, Ohio. A small group of progressive Muslims came together to offer prayers in the newest MPV Unity Mosque, joining congregations in Los Angeles, Toronto, Washington DC, Atlanta, Ottawa, Salt Lake City and Paris. As with the other unity mosques, the Columbus community is welcoming and egalitarian, and focuses on a values-based understanding of Islam. Men and women pray side by side, or Mecca-style. GLBT Muslims are welcomed as equals, as are people of all races and ethnicities. Sunni, Shia, Sufi or other Muslims, and people of other faiths who wish to pray with us or learn about Islam, are all welcome. In what may have been a unique combination, the <i>adhan</i> (call to prayer), khutbah and leading of the <i>salat</i> (prayer) were all performed by women.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I gave the khutbah for Friday prayers on Dec. 14 at the new mosque. Before I share what I said (or as close to a reproduction as I can make, as I speak from the heart and not a written script), here is my khutbah philosophy: I believe the khutbah should be as accessible as possible. That means it’s all in common English, no slinging of Arabic <i>du’as </i>(supplication), no fast and furious Quran quoting, no citing of this or that scholar from this or that <i>mathab</i> (school of thought). Instead, I opt for paraphrases of scriptures and a focus on principles, storytelling and hopefully a few lessons that can be taken home and digested. It also means an open invitation to the congregation to share their thoughts, their reflections, or their own stories before the prayer. I hope you enjoy this khutbah as much as the congregants did, and that it affords you some insight.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Today I want to talk about beginnings and about love. Beginnings, because this is the start of a new mosque; and love, because that mosque is founded upon love and the principle of welcoming all with love. Mankind’s beginning shows us that the primary motive between God and [humans] is that of love. We all know that the two most common names of Allah in the Quran are <i>Ar-Rahman</i>, the all-merciful, and <i>Ar-Rahim</i>, the most compassionate. And, these are most common by far — each of these names is mentioned dozens and dozens of times, while others are mentioned three or four times, or even once. Some of the other names [of Allah] include <i>al-Wadud</i>, the loving, <i>Al-Sami</i>, the hearing, <i>al-Mujib</i>, the responsive, <i>al-Basir</i>, the one who sees, <i>al-Ghaffur</i>, the forgiving, <i>al-Muhaymin</i>, the protector, <i>Al-wali</i>, the protecting friend, and so on. All of these points to a God that is loving, responsive, forgiving and kind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">We see that kindness in the grandeur and beauty of the universe and in our ability to understand beauty, to take joy in it and be awed by it. And, we see it in the small things, the delight in a newborn baby or in a delicious bite of food. This love of beauty, this kindness to creation demonstrated by God in creating such an amazing Universe is the first sign that He is predominantly a God of Love. God didn’t make the universe ugly or hateful, He made it glorious!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The second aspect of God’s love that I want to look at is His relationship with humankind, which is one of love, acceptance, forgiveness for our faults and rewards for our good deeds. This relationship is set up right from the beginning. God tells the angels, “I am going to create man and I’m going to send him down to Earth as my <i>khalifa</i>, my representative.” And the angels are horrified: “But he’s going to wreak havoc and shed blood all over the place.” God tells them, “You don’t know mankind like I do.” It’s kind of like when your teenage daughter brings homes a guy in black leather with tattoos all up and down his arms. You’re like, “Not with my daughter.” And she says, “But daddy, you don’t know him like I do. He’s just misunderstood. Deep down he’s really nice.” Sometimes it turns out he is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So this is how mankind started. God had big plans for us. We are to be His representatives on Earth, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">to be stewards of the Earth. He believes in us and loves us, even though the angels think we are bad news (and sometimes they are right about that). So fast forward a bit. Adam and Eve are in the Garden. Allah tells them not to eat of that one tree, and of course, they do. And immediately they realize what they’ve done, and they hide. God comes looking for them, and they confess. They throw themselves on God’s mercy, and what does God do? He forgives them. He sends them down to Earth to be his <i>khalifa</i> according to plan. Notice, going down to Earth is not a punishment. It’s according to God’s original plan for us. God forgave Adam and Eve for their sin. Islam doesn’t hold to the doctrine of Original Sin – that all of humankind bears the stain of that original nibble on the apple of knowledge. No, Adam knew names before he ever went to Eden. Eating the tree didn’t give him knowledge, that was his birthright – and being sent down to earth wasn’t punishment, but a sign of trust and faith, a fulfillment of God’s plan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">God is demonstrating His love and compassion for humankind, and He makes a promise: Whenever you repent, whenever you turn to Me and ask for forgiveness, I will grant it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So, we see from the very beginning, mankind is set into a loving relationship with God. God is powerful, yes. God has the power to punish, yes. But He withholds it in favor of mercy. Again, right from the start we see this with Cain and Abel. Cain slew Abel out of jealousy, and what does God do? God shows him mercy. He sends a crow to show him how to bury Abel. He could have turned away from us, like we would to that kid in the leather jacket – “I knew you were going to mess up, you’re outta here.” But He relents to Cain, and shows him how to take care of Abel’s body.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Even more, He doesn’t give up on humankind at all. Instead, He sends messengers to help mankind stay on the path of goodness. He could have said, “Geez, the angels were right. Second generation and already they are killing one another. To heck with humans.” Instead, he said “I will send messengers whenever you go astray.” And where does he send messengers to? Does He send them to the good folks? No way! Think about Mecca – rich, proud, the center of pilgrimages and trade, where hundreds of idols were worshipped. Think about the people of Noah, Nineveh, puffed up with self-importance and arrogance, so bad he tried to run away from them. But God sent Him back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Think about the people of Lot – arrogant, denying the duties of hospitality, committing highway robbery and raping travelers left and right. These weren’t good people. They were people who were far, far astray. And God sent messengers to them. He called them back, He called for return. He held out his hand in love. All they had to do was to answer with love, with acknowledgement of their wrongdoing, and they were back in God’s good graces, basking in His Love again. Of course, if they turned away from Love, ouch! But God never is the first to turn away, and He always responds tenfold, a hundred fold.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I’m sure you remember this lovely hadith about God, that when we stretch out a hand, He reaches out His whole arm; when we take a step toward Him, He takes a pace toward us; when we walk toward Him, He runs toward us. This is what Allah does for all humankind. When we turn to Him, He is there, welcoming us with open arms, no matter how bad we have been, no matter how far we’ve gone astray. When we return, He is there with forgiveness and love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This is the defining characteristic of our relationship with God. It is there for our taking. We just have to reach out and ask for it, and God will grant us Love beyond all reckoning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At this point, as is customary in khutbahs, we will pause for du’a and reflection.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">For the second part of the khutbah, I’d like to focus on how we can reflect God’s love, channel His love and how we can live as exemplars of love. In particular, I want to talk about how no act of kindness; no act of love — no matter how small — is ever wasted. And I’m going to share a story about myself that isn’t necessarily so flattering, but I think it is powerful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I was at a conference long ago. It was a conference for progressives of many faiths with wonderful musicians, singers and cantors from all backgrounds. There was a Muslim woman who recited Quran. Her recitation wasn’t particularly beautiful, her pronunciation wasn’t so hot, and, honestly, I wondered to myself if she was the best they could find. It was also clear this sister was transgender. And I thought, you know, it took a lot of bravery to get up there and recite, especially because I’m sure she knows her recitation isn’t perfect. I’m also sure she isn’t getting much support in her local congregation. In fact, she may not be able to go to her local congregation at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So I when I saw her later on, I went over and thanked her, and told her how I was glad she had recited and how great it was that Muslims had been represented. And then we started talking and talking, and by the end we were both crying. We became friends, and not long ago she told me that this small gesture meant an awful lot to her at a dark time in her life. It helped her go on in her path as a Muslim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">To think, I almost didn’t reach out. But that one little act of love, of my checking my own judgmental attitude at the door and focusing on the good, focusing on the positive — it changed everything. It created this bond, and it helped uplift someone when they really needed it. I certainly had no idea I was going to do that. That was God reaching out to her; I just happened to be the handy tool. And this is true of every act of love. It is a reflection of God and an act of God. And, it’s always positive, even if we don’t see the results immediately or ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Love is never wasted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">And with that, I think it’s time to pray</span></div>
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</span>Originally published at: <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2013/01/pamela-k-taylors-friday-khutbah-god-is-love-and-love-is-never-wasted/">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2013/01/pamela-k-taylors-friday-khutbah-god-is-love-and-love-is-never-wasted/</a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
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<span class="date published time" title="2013-01-08T21:04:41+00:00">January 8, 2013</span> </div>
Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-40938951642809927502009-07-27T15:29:00.002-05:002009-07-27T15:32:27.736-05:00IWA Poetry contest winnersOk, so moms are allowed to brag from time to time. My youngest daughter won the poetry contest at her school, and now one of my twins won the Islamic Writers Alliance youth poetry contest. Naturally, she wouldn't let me read the poem before she sent it off. (Ah the joys of raising teenage girls!) It's quite nicely done. You can read it at: <a href="http://www.islamicwritersalliance.net/projects/contestwinners/youth2009.html">http://www.islamicwritersalliance.net/projects/contestwinners/youth2009.html</a><br /><br />I'm needless to say, very proud of her. From my experience with organizing and judging the poetry contest in years past, the competition is usually quite stiff. I don't know how many entries they had this year, but I imagine it was quite a few, given that the concurrent short story contest (which I administered) had a great response, including the youth groups.<br /><br />Results for the short story contest should be posted soon.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-7342445413744549082009-07-22T20:48:00.002-05:002009-07-22T21:00:51.282-05:00Jimmy Carter on Male Readings of Sacred TextMy thoughts on the issue are up on <a href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/pamela_k_taylor/2009/07/male_truths_female_consequences.html" target="blank">On Faith</a>. The title isn't a very good reflection of the piece, but it'll have to do.<br /><br />It's terribly complex to talk about equality. I wish there had been space on the On Faith post to dissect what equality might look like. As far as I'm concerned, equality does not mean that the lives of men and women become identical (at least not necessarily) but rather than men and women have the same ability to make choices about how to live their lives. That includes seemingly small daily choices about what to wear (and though we might like to minimize it, the practical reality is that our choices in what to wear affect how people see us, from looking at us as hyper-religious and consertive, to thinking of us as business partners, to reacting to our sexulity, or judging us as hippies, yuppies, and everything in between). And it includes major choices that affect the course of our lives - choices about who and whether we will marry, about when and whether and how many children we want to bear and/or raise, about what career to pursue, or whether to devote several years to raising children.<br /><br />This is the equality I seek. An equality of opportunity and agency within our own lives. No doubt, many women would make choices that I would not make, and that might be perceived by me as anti-feminist, but it should be THEIR choice to make, not mine, not their fathers or their brothers or their husbands or their governments. Obviously, in some places men also do not have such personal freedom. That too, is a goal to work for.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-28846985294734735312009-07-11T08:22:00.003-05:002009-07-11T09:09:32.874-05:00Time for ChangeI've often written about how tired I am -- and many in the Muslim community are -- of feeling constantly on the defensive. We are tired of the continual calls to condemn acts of violence by Muslim militants, tired of having to explain the misogyny is not inherent to Islam, despite Iran, the Taliban and Saudi style oppression of women, of having to refute claims that Islam calls for the slaughter or conversion of all non-Muslims, that it is backward and hidebound, that our Prophet was either hedonistic or puritanical, bloodthirsty, malevolent, and an all around despicable character.<br /><br />All too often we retreat into that defensiveness. We talk about Islamophobia (a real problem, as we can see by the recent murder of a hijab-wearing woman in a German courthouse, and a similar situation in the US where a Muslim woman and her child were threatened by a knife wielding man at her doctor's office.) We engage in interfaith activities to help others understand the beautiful aspects of Islam and the true character of our Prophet.<br /><br />But we need to go a step further. We need to advocate for real change in the Muslim community, cause there are real problems in our community, both in America and globally. We need to return to the fundamental values of mercy and compassion that are so prevalent in the Qur'an, to turn away from extremism and militarism. We need to embrace the liberating and affirming aspects of the Qur'an that leave no place for racism, classism, misogyny, homophobia, and religous bigotry. This is one of the goals of MPV and other progressive Muslim organizations -- to pull the Muslim community in more humane directions.<br /><br />I just hope more Muslims jump on the bandwagon and do the hard work of countering negative trends within our community. I hope more people work on changing our community for the better than on changing perceptions of our community for the better. By doing the former, the latter will naturally occur, and the world will be a better place. Doing the latter, only opinions, not facts on the ground, will change.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-54186080352095871202009-07-01T11:07:00.000-05:002009-07-02T11:42:03.919-05:00The Human Face of GazaWe so rarely see the human side of overseas conflicts. We hear about "clashes" between "defense forces" and "militants" in Gaza. We hear about "operations" and "surgical strikes," about "extremists," "terrorists," "radicals," "troops," "collateral damage," "casualties" in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and other zones of conflict, and somewhere in all the jargon we lose mother, father, daughter, son, person.<br /><br />http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2009/summer/rafiqui-portraits-survival/<br /><br />presents the people of Gaza. It's well worth reading, and looking at the faces.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-90563109365237615412009-06-29T14:30:00.002-05:002009-06-29T14:32:22.444-05:00typing test<a href="http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/" style="background: transparent url(http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/img/badge1.png) no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; display: block; width: 300px; height: 100px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; padding-top: 50px; padding-left: 60px; color: rgb(0, 153, 51); font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; font-family: Times New Roman,Arial,serif; font-size: 40px;">84 words</a><p><a href="http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/">Typing Test</a></p><p>Ok, this is a bit of an odd test... the words are not in a sentence, they are just random words, which makes the test both easier and harder. Harder because your mind can't flow with the sentence, and I know I type common combos of words faster than I type individual words. But easier because we all also type common words with more typos than uncommon. Like I often type your in, instead of you, or then instead of than when I perfectly well know it was supposed to be "You type faster than I!"</p><p>Anyway, I always enjoy those sorts of tests.<br /></p><p>Hope you do to! (err... too!)<br /></p><p><a href="http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/"><br /></a></p>Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-90014095289573328452009-06-26T09:56:00.002-05:002009-06-26T10:21:12.140-05:00Burqas, Bikinis and the Debasement of WomenNaturally the question of the week on On Faith deals with the burqa and Sarkozy's proposed ban of it in France. I have written <a href="http://www.pktaylor.com/pksblog/2006/05/netherlands-feminism-and-burqa.html">here</a> before about my personal dislike of the burqa, how it and the Hugh Heffner culture of the West are flip sides of the same coin -- exploitation and suppresssion of women's sexuality -- and my commitment to women's right's to freedom of religious expression as well as how they choose to dress, even though I don't like it.<br /><br />Sarkozy's proposed ban is nothing more than a paternalistic denigration of women (the very thing he claims the burqa is!) because he is essentially telling women, the state knows better than you what is best for you to wear, we know better than you how you should express your religious beliefs, and worst, we know you need our protection to stand up against your coercive men. His arrogance in usurping women's agency is breathtaking, precisely because he positions it as a protection of women from denigration.<br /><br /><br />Anyway, the full article should be up today at <a href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com">On Faith</a>.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-32499115184061751262009-06-23T08:32:00.002-05:002009-06-23T08:38:08.625-05:00Rest in Peace, NedaMay god bless you and your family, your friends and your society.<br />I do not know how terrible regimes can fall, except through the sacrifices of people who have so much to live for, but give up their lives so that others can experience freedom.<br />I don't know why people want to live under repressive, totalitarian theocracies, and yet, clearly, there are many who support Ahmedinejad, the Taliban, the Saudis.<br />I can only pray that god helps those who want freedom of thought, of expression, of moral agency, those who want political accountability and the rule of law, who want democratic processes, who see that religion is meant to be implemented by the individual, not the state.<br />I pray that Neda's death, and the deaths, the sacrifices of so many Iranian youth is not in vain.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-22055541467480911802009-06-22T09:53:00.002-05:002009-06-22T10:10:46.127-05:00More on Israeli SettlementsFor a long while now, I've had a bleak view of the possibility of a two-state solution in Palestine/Israel ever materializing or even being workable. This op-ed from the NYTimes takes a similar view as I do.<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/opinion/22judt.html<br /><br />The author, Tony Judt of NY University, lays out the issue of settlements more clearly than anyone I've seen writing in the American Mass Media:<br /><p style="font-style: italic;">It is thus not by chance that the international press is encouraged to speak and write of Jewish “settlers” and “settlements” in the West Bank. But this image is profoundly misleading. The largest of these controversial communities in geographic terms is Maale Adumim. It has a population in excess of 35,000, demographically comparable to Montclair, N.J., or Winchester, England. What is most striking, however, about Maale Adumim is its territorial extent. This “settlement” comprises more than 30 square miles — making it one and a half times the size of Manhattan and nearly half as big as the borough and city of Manchester, England. Some “settlement.”</p><p style="font-style: italic;">There are about 120 official Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank. In addition, there are “unofficial” settlements whose number is estimated variously from 80 to 100. Under international law, there is no difference between these two categories; both are contraventions of Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which explicitly prohibits the annexation of land consequent to the use of force, a principle re-stated in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.</p><span style="font-style: italic;"> Thus the distinction so often made in Israeli pronouncements between “authorized” and “unauthorized” settlements is specious — all are illegal, whether or not they have been officially approved and whether or not their expansion has been “frozen” or continues apace.</span><br /><br />He continues later in the article (and please do click on the link to read the full piece, the whole thing is worth reading...and if nothing else, the author probably gets paid by the click...)<br /><br /><p style="font-style: italic;">Despite all the diplomatic talk of disbanding the settlements as a condition for peace, no one seriously believes that these communities — with their half a million residents, their urban installations, their privileged access to fertile land and water — will ever be removed. The Israeli authorities, whether left, right or center, have no intention of removing them, and neither Palestinians nor informed Americans harbor illusions on this score.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"> To be sure, it suits almost everyone to pretend otherwise — to point to the 2003 “road map” and speak of a final accord based on the 1967 frontiers. But such feigned obliviousness is the small change of political hypocrisy, the lubricant of diplomatic exchange that facilitates communication and compromise. </p><p style="font-style: italic;">There are occasions, however, when political hypocrisy is its own nemesis, and this is one of them. Because the settlements will never go, and yet almost everyone likes to pretend otherwise, we have resolutely ignored the implications of what Israelis have long been proud to call “the facts on the ground.” </p><span style="font-style: italic;">Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, knows this better than most. On June 14 he gave a much-anticipated speech in which he artfully blew smoke in the eyes of his American interlocutors. While offering to acknowledge the hypothetical existence of an eventual Palestinian state — on the explicit understanding that it exercise no control over its airspace and have no means of defending itself against aggression — he reiterated the only Israeli position that really matters: we won’t build illegal settlements but we reserve the right to expand “legal” ones according to their natural rate of growth.</span><br /><br />He wonders how President Obama is going to move forward...<br /><br /><p style="font-style: italic;">Thus President Obama faces a choice. He can play along with the Israelis, pretending to believe their promises of good intentions and the significance of the distinctions they offer him. Such a pretense would buy him time and favor with Congress. But the Israelis would be playing him for a fool, and he would be seen as one in the Mideast and beyond. </p><p style="font-style: italic;">Alternatively, the president could break with two decades of American compliance, acknowledge publicly that the emperor is indeed naked, dismiss Mr. Netanyahu for the cynic he is and remind Israelis that <span class="italic">all </span>their settlements are hostage to American goodwill. He could also remind Israelis that the illegal communities have nothing to do with Israel’s defense, much less its founding ideals of agrarian self-sufficiency and Jewish autonomy. They are nothing but a colonial takeover that the United States has no business subsidizing. </p><span style="font-style: italic;">But if I am right, and there is no realistic prospect of removing Israel’s settlements, then for the American government to agree that the mere nonexpansion of “authorized” settlements is a genuine step toward peace would be the worst possible outcome of the present diplomatic dance. No one else in the world believes this fairy tale; why should we? Israel’s political elite would breathe an unmerited sigh of relief, having once again pulled the wool over the eyes of its paymaster. The United States would be humiliated in the eyes of its friends, not to speak of its foes. If America cannot stand up for its own interests in the region, at least let it not be played yet again for a patsy.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span> I believe there are ways forward. That peace is possible. I believe that peace could be accomplished in a unified state, although such a state would not for long, if ever, continue with a Jewish majority population, thus ending the dream of a Jewish homeland, although not, perhaps the dream of a safe space for Jews. I believe that peace could be accomplished in a two-state solution, IF Palestine is truly an independent state, contiguous and with complete agency and authority like any other state in the world. This would require dismantling all the settlements in the West Bank or bringing them under Palestinian rule, an obviously contentious problem, but without either of those options, a Palestinian state becomes unworkable, spider-webbed, as it were, with the roads of a different nation running throughout it's heart. I also believe there are ways forward that we haven't yet imagined; that we have limited ourselves to two options, when there have to be more paths that will work.<br /><br />As a member of the science fiction and fantasy community (writer, consumer, fan), I believe in the power of fiction to change the world. Here's my challenge to all my sff writer friends... lets imagine the way forward, lets put our creativity to the test and find a society, a politics that offers more than the two rather bleak and seemingly impossible options ahead of us. The Muslim community is fond of talking about the Radical Middle Way, sometimes referred to as a radical third way, let us imagine that radical middle way, that radical third way so maybe, at last the people of the Middle East can live in peace. <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-89305991105625838222009-06-09T09:07:00.004-05:002009-06-09T09:45:46.915-05:00sparks<h3 style="font-weight: normal; font-family: times new roman;" class="UIIntentionalStory_Message">My heart is aching this morning for all the hurt in the world. Why can't we just be nice? Is political ambition really worth killing people? Is money worth trampling over the lives of others? Why can't we all look at the beauty of nature and stop for a moment to realize we aren't all that, that our needs and wants are just a tiny spark in the brilliant bonfire of the universe, and that the best way to keep our spark burning is to help others keep their sparks burning too?</h3>I read a poem this morning that inspired this one (the idea is borrowed, as are the majority of the first two lines)<br /><br />Keep me in your heart<br /><br />Keep me not always in your eyes<br />For I might fall from you as a tear<br />Keep me not always on your tongue<br />For I might float away on your breath<br />Hold me not always in your palm<br />For I might slip between your fingers<br />Clasp me not always to your breast<br />For I might slide away beneath your arms<br />But hold me always in your heart<br />For there our every heartbeat<br />Will echo all our love.<br /><br />(The original is making its rounds on the sms circuit, and doesn't ever seem to be credited to anyone: It reads: Don't place me in your eyes, I may fall as a tear. Keep me in your heart<br />So that every heart beat reminds you that someone is there for you always....)Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-12737254402100819042009-06-01T11:42:00.002-05:002009-06-01T12:11:05.891-05:00YesterdayYesterday<br /><br />The last survivor of the Titanic died<br />And an abortion doctor,<br />228 souls on a airplane headed to France<br />A jazz pianist, a calypso musician, a theater historian<br />Irene Amkraut<br />And Brian Berk<br />And 25000 children who didn't have enough to eat<br />It's only a miracle<br />That it wasn't you or mePamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-45560958536503164652009-05-28T09:12:00.002-05:002009-05-28T09:30:26.885-05:00Sotomayor and the emotion cardToday Rueters wrote about Obama's Supreme Court nominee: "The battle over <span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1243481789_0">U.S. Supreme Court nominee</span> <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1243481789_1">Sonia Sotomayor</span> began to take shape on Wednesday as liberal supporters praised her as an independent legal thinker and conservatives argued she likely would rule based on her emotions rather than established precedent."<br /><br />Naturally. A woman can't possibly come to a different conclusion than a man, say Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh, holds unless she is basing her opinion on emotion. As though Gingrich and Limbaugh don't invoke emotional responses to rile up their followers... Sometimes I feel like banging my head against the wall. Haven't we gotten beyond the women are emotional, men are rational fallacy? I expect to hear such things from the Taliban or Saudi MPs, not from American senators and pundits!<br /><br />Senator Jeff Sessions went further saying, ""We should not confirm somebody to the Supreme Court that will allow political, personal or emotional issues to influence the decision making."<br /><br />This is like saying we cannot allow ethics based on religion to color our voting. Patently ridiculous. Ethics are derived in many different ways. Freedom of conscience means we can't tell people where they have to, or cannot, derive their ethics from. One person, one vote means we can't tell people how they have to, or cannot, vote. We have the Constitution to protect religious, philosophical, racial, ethnic, etc minorities from majority tyranny.<br /><br />So too, law can be interpreted in many different ways. If that weren't true, we wouldn't need a Supreme Court to begin with! Yes, interpretation is based upon the words of the legal code, but it is also based upon the judges understanding of the intention of that legal code. And one's understanding of how certain rulings will impact society, the effect they will have on the population, both majorities and minorities, effects how one rules -- whether one is conservative or liberal, rich or poor, from a majority community or a minority community. Expecting a judge to rule without reference to his or her politics, personal experience, or even her or his emotional response to an issue is like asking someone to vote without reference to their morality.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-76209239506418473692009-05-26T11:12:00.002-05:002009-05-26T11:14:57.176-05:00dual containmentI read just the first lines of an article today that was talking about the Iran-Iraq war and how it was a result of a policy of dual containment. Obviously, Iran and Iraq cannot be absolved for going along with any nudging from the US, but the callousness of a policy of dual containment -- of encouraging and supplying the arms for a war that claimed the lives of millions -- is breathtaking. And heartbreaking. There are days I cannot believe how horrible the human race can be.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-63162568157715229082009-04-15T06:56:00.004-05:002009-04-15T08:35:14.487-05:00The Whys of PiracyThis morning my inbox contained an article talking about why the Somali pirates are seizing ships. I had mentioned in my piece yesterday that these people are being essentialized into their crime. They have no names, no ages, no connection to family, and especially no rationale. They are merely "Pirates" as though that were enough to know about them and their deeds.<br /><br />The <a href="http://rebelreports.com/post/94198014/putting-todays-pirate-attack-in-context" target="blank">article </a>quotes a pirate, Sugule Ali, (from an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/africa/01pirates.html?_r=1&ref=world" target="blank">interview</a> with the NYTimes) as saying: “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”<br /><br />The NYTimes article gives the following background: <span style="font-style: italic;">"The piracy industry started about 10 to 15 years ago, Somali officials said, as a response to illegal fishing. Somalia’s central government imploded in 1991, casting the country into chaos. With no patrols along the shoreline, Somalia’s tuna-rich waters were soon plundered by commercial fishing fleets from around the world. Somali fishermen armed themselves and turned into vigilantes by confronting illegal fishing boats and demanding that they pay a tax."</span><br /><br />Johann Hari echoes this information another recent<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html" target="blank"> article</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.</span><p style="font-style: italic;">Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."</p><p style="font-style: italic;">At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."</p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence". </span></p><p>The Los Angeles Times backs this up by <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-pirates31-2008oct31,0,4399211,full.story">reporting</a> that, "<span style="font-style: italic;">In 2005, more than 800 illegal vessels from Kenya, South Korea, China and other nations were exploiting Somalia's coastline</span>."</p><p>Given that Somalia has no functional government to deal with these vessels, and the evident lasck of will on the parts of the governments worldwide to deal with the problem of poaching and dumping in Somali waters, it's hardly surprising that vigilante groups of fishermen began to take matters into their own hands. Right or wrong, that dynamic apparently continues till today. However, a second class of pirates also have grown up, riding on the moral claims of the fisherman to be protecting their own, and yet their actions belie their commitment to those moral claims.<br /></p><p>Obviously, the first question is what are the pirates doing with the "taxes" they have collected from tankers, fishing vessels, and freighters off their shores. Have they invested in clean-up? Are they paying for medical care for those who have been sickened as a result of illegal dumping? Are they feeding farming villages that can no longer support themselves? Or are they using it to buy more weapons, more boats, and live a good life when they are not on the high seas?</p><p>Reports vary. Some are building fancy homes and buying fancy cars, both in Somali coastal areas and in neighboring Kenya. Others appear just to be trying to survive.</p><p>Again from the LA Times: <span style="font-style: italic;">Perhaps nowhere is piracy's grip on Somalia more apparent than in Hobyo, a village 300 miles north of Mogadishu with Italian-style architecture from colonial times. Hobyo once thrived from lobster and tuna fishing in the Indian Ocean.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Today, piracy has taken over the village. Women want to marry the pirates and small boys dream of growing up to become buccaneers. Of the town's 80 fishing boats, all but four have turned to hijacking, local fishermen said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> "I had 25 men working in my boats," said Sheik Nur Mohammed, who operates one of the four vessels still struggling to earn a living fishing. "They all left me and went to piracy."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> He said he could hardly blame them. Exploitation and pollution caused by foreign fishing and dumping have devastated local waters. Foreigners have raided local fishermen's nets and used destructive techniques that have killed fish eggs and upset the environment, he said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> "Now we don't catch enough fish to survive," said Abdi Mudey, owner of another fishing boat. "We spend all day on the sea and return with barely enough to buy a dish of rice."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Pirates are now at the top of the town's social class, the only ones with money for Western-made cigarettes and fancy cellphones. Known by nicknames such as "Superman" or "Flying Squad," they spend their free time drunk or high on khat.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> "Women here don't talk to you if you are not a pirate," said Suleiman Farey, 21, a recent high-school graduate. "I'm fed up with these guys."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> But as he played in the water near a hijacked Greek chemical tanker, Hassan Ali, 11, said he couldn't wait to join a pirate gang so he could earn money to support his family.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> His father was a casualty of fighting in Mogadishu; his mother sells tea.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> "When I see the men sharing the money, I feel envy," the boy said. "I pray that piracy will not end before I become a man."</span></p><p>Others, however, seem to have far less noble goals.<br /></p><p>The BBC <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7650415.stm" target="blank">reports</a>, <span style="font-style: italic;">"They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day," says Abdi Farah Juha who lives in the regional capital, Garowe. </span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> <!-- S IIMA --> </p><!-- E IIMA --> <p style="font-style: italic;">"They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns," he says. </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">"Piracy in many ways is socially acceptable. They have become fashionable." </p><p>Eypt's state newspaper, AlAhram, echoes this: <span style="font-style: italic;">“Pirate Jama Shino in the Somali town of Garowe, threw the most lavish wedding party for his second marriage and invited hundreds of people from the local authorities and among citizens.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“The bride and the young women who attended the party, said: “Marrying a pirate is every Somali girl’s dream. He has power, money, immunity, the weapons to defend the tribe and funds to give to the militias in civil war.”</span></p><p>Interestingly, even for those who seem more concerned about lining their own pockets, it's not only about living lavish lifestyles, but weapons to defend the tribe, and money to pay off militias, a bit more of a complex view, but still a far cry from the saviors of the nation that they claim to be in the NYTimes and Hari articles.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></p><p>Of course, the income does end up spread around, pirates do not really bury their treasure in hidden chests. And AP <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/11/19/somali-pirates-transform-villages-boomtowns.html">article</a> examines the impact pirates have on towns in Somali:<br /></p><div><br /></div> <div> <span style="font-style: italic;">These boomtown are all the more shocking in light of Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country's south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos. </span></div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;"> Life expectancy is just 46 years; a quarter of children die before they reach 5. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">But in northern coastal towns like Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">In Haradhere, residents came out in droves to celebrate as the looming oil ship came into focus this week off the country's lawless coast. Businessmen started gathering cigarettes, food and cold glass bottles of orange soda, setting up small kiosks for the pirates who come to shore to re-supply almost daily. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;"> Dahir said she is so confident in the pirates, she instituted a layaway plan just for them. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">"They always take things without paying and we put them into the book of debts," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Later, when they get the ransom money, they pay us a lot." </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">For Somalis, the simple fact that pirates offer jobs is enough to gain their esteem, even as hostages languish on ships for months. The population makes sure the pirates are well-stocked in qat, a popular narcotic leaf, and offer support from the ground even as the international community tries to quash them. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">"Regardless of how the money is coming in, legally or illegally, I can say it has started a life in our town," said Shamso Moalim, a 36-year-old mother of five in Haradhere. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">"Our children are not worrying about food now, and they go to Islamic schools in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. They are happy." </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">Despite a beefed-up international presence, the pirates continue to seize ships, moving further out to sea and demanding ever-larger ransoms. The pirates operate mostly from the semiautonomous Puntland region, where local lawmakers have been accused of helping the pirates and taking a cut of the ransoms. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;"> For the most part, however, the regional officials say they have no power to stop piracy. </div> <div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div> <div style="font-style: italic;">Meanwhile, towns that once were eroded by years of poverty and chaos are now bustling with restaurants, Land Cruisers and Internet cafes. Residents also use their gains to buy generators - allowing full days of electricity, once an unimaginable luxury in Somalia. </div> <p>The situation is complicated by the fact that militias, Islamists, and warlords are all struggling for power in Somali. The choas has long prevented aid agencies from providing the kind of assistance needed to help average Somali citizens gain the means to provide for themselves and their families.</p><p>Given the disorder of Somali, the international dimensions of the poaching and dumping problem, and the apparent lack of will to address that among the nations of the world, we are likely to more and more piracy, along with more military reaction.<br /></p><p>Humanity as a whole needs to figure out how to deal with ourselves. The idea of nation states where people across the border from their neighbors are powerless to help right wrongs, to confront corrupt regimes, where they absolve themselves of responsibility for their neighbors sufferring and hunger, has got to change. We need to embrace a vision of humanity as a whole, and take the steps necessary so that piracy is not the only attractive option for whole communities.<br /></p><p>We need to address root causes rather than deal with symptoms... confronting pirates in the act seems a no-brainer, but in order to stop piracy, root conditions are going to have to change.</p><p>The whole scenario reminds me of a book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maquisarde-Louise-Marley/dp/0441011071/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239802227&sr=8-17">The Maquisarde</a>, by one of my favorite authors, Louise Marley. In it, the protagonists daughter and husband are killed on their sailing boat by futuristic pirate-terrorists. The governments of the developed world have long refused to have any communication or commerce with third world nations (over such issues as piracy). Imprisoned for protesting the stonewalling of the investigation by the despotic government, the protagonists is rescued by rebels. Naturally, she finds out that the citizens of the third world have a very different story to tell than the governments of the developed world. I sometimes feel like we are living in such a world, where all we see and hear is spun to fit the goals of our government and our industries; rarely do we get deep insights into the root causes of problems. Always we are putting bandaids on the symptoms, rather than addressing the underlying diseases that cause them.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958374.post-39864544341123304212009-04-14T08:00:00.003-05:002009-04-14T09:43:16.742-05:00On Guns, Murder and TerrorismBob Herbert writing in the New York Times, makes a passionate appeal for more sensible laws about guns. (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/opinion/14herbert.html" target="blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/opinion/14herbert.html</a>)<br /><br />He says:<br /><br />"Since Sept. 11, 2001, when the country’s attention understandably turned to terrorism, nearly 120,000 Americans have been killed in nonterror homicides, most of them committed with guns. Think about it — 120,000 dead. That’s nearly 25 times the number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan."<br /><br />He goes on to ask why we lack the motivation to do anything about this epidemic of murder, calling for more stringent gun control laws. The article is great, but it doesn't go far enough.<br /><br />The problem goes far deeper than merely the ready availability of guns. As much as I disagree with the NRA, there is a certain amount of truth to their slogan that guns don't kill, people do. Our popular culture, our news media, our entertainment glorifies guns, and posits violence as the solution to many, if not all problems.<br /><br />Often times, the "good guys" in movies behave in ways that are identical to the "bad guys," they are just posited as being on the right side of the issue. With few exceptions, there are no ramifications to their actions, and no consideration of the impact upon innocent by-standers. When, for instance, has a movie hero even given a passing thought to the scores of injured -- or dead -- people left in the wake of the spectacular and incredibly destructive car chase he just undertook escaping or chasing down that bad guy? What consideration is there given to their pain and suffering, the months of rehab, the loss their families and friends suffer? When standers-by are merely props to the good guy's heroism and the bad guy's evil, slight wonder that we see an increasing tendency to use fellow citizens as props in personal narratives of dysfunction and pain.<br /><br />The way the news media reports events only contributes to the problem. The hype and sensationalist reporting around mass killings, combined with the dehumanizing of people with whom we are in conflict (Hamas militants, or the Somali pirates, for instance, have no human face -- they are statistics, not people with families, friends, and reasons, no matter how wrong-headed, for their behavior.), serve to make violence all the more acceptable, or even alluring.<br /><br />Until we cultivate a culture that rejects violence as a solution to our personal problems, gun control is not likely to be very effective.<br /><br />Let me be clear -- I favor stringent gun laws. Guns are potent enablers. An alienated student who doesn't have access to an assault rifle may kill himself, but the likelihood of him being able to "take out" 33 of his classmates and professors in the process is pretty much nil.<br /><br />But until we deal with the glorification of murder and mayhem in our popular culture, you can bet that these types of incidents will only continue.Pamela K Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15947873372317850970noreply@blogger.com1