Muslim Media Review

Media for the Deaf and Blind

2012-01-25T09:16:00.000-05:00

Do our masajid practice ableism? In my practice of Islam, I think being deaf would be one of the greatest barriers to performing religious rituals such as hearing and reciting the Qur'an and listening to the Jumu`a khutba. Some Muslims are striving to provide services to the blind and deaf:

Kitaba: Islamic Texts for the Blind

is a social enterprise community project dedicated to empowering and promoting the growth and wellbeing of visually impaired Muslims and their communities through meeting their religious, educational and developmental needs, thereby advancing accessibility and awareness.

ISNA Co-Sponsors Conference to Make Mosques More Inclusive to Deaf Community

(Jan 13, 2012) As a part of ISNA's ongoing efforts to provide quality education to the community about Islam and create environments in our mosques and Islamic centers that are inclusive and empowering to all, ISNA co-sponsored the Deaf Muslim Family conference last weekend in Virginia. Current and past ISNA Presidents Imam Mohamed Magid and Dr. Ingrid Mattson both attended the event, organized by Global Deaf Muslim, and have been very active in their own communities to make them more inclusive.

I have not used any of the materials or services provided by the organizations referenced in this blog entry.

Ordered: Falcons on the Floor by Justin Sirois

2012-01-10T12:43:00.000-05:00

I just ordered Falcons on the Floor, a novel by Justin Sirois about the people of Fallujah and Ramadi in Iraq.

Justin blogs. Also, check out The Understanding Campaign, which Justin promotes.

"A Song For Me" A Muslim Holiday Story / Book with CD

2011-12-23T12:11:00.000-05:00

I first heard about this book because

parental protests caused the Muslim mother and author to cancel a talk with students at A.M. Kulp Elementary School in Hatfield [in Pennsylvania].

I have not read it, but I hope to acquire it and add it to the list of children's books I've reviewed.

LookingGlassReview.com gave it a positive review.

Where Should the Birds Fly?: A Documentary from Gaza

2011-12-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

Donate to support a Palestinian filmmaker from Gaza!

Documentary Film Deen Tight: Trailer

2011-12-13T12:43:00.000-05:00

Official web site

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

2011-12-09T08:43:00.001-05:00

The Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America published a review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I have not read the book.

Rebecca Skloot's official website

Documentary on Pakistan Receives Sundance Grant

2011-11-25T10:04:00.000-05:00

From the Sundance web site:

These Birds Walk (U.S. / Pakistan)
Directors: Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq
A portrait of contemporary Pakistan is created through the eyes of an ambulance driver and a runaway boy who call a humanitarian and his mission based organization home.

h/t Ebad-E News

Support The Oregon Islamic Chaplains Organization with a Book Purchase

2011-11-13T20:37:00.001-05:00

FAMACO Publishers is supporting The Oregon Islamic Chaplains Organization when you make a purchase of the following books using the promo code Fullway:

2011-11-05T00:03:00.001-04:00

The Moor Next Door reviewed A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World by Youssef Courbage and Emmanuel Todd. I have not read the book.

Amazing Grace, a children's story against racism

2011-10-20T11:07:00.000-04:00

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don't tell Grace she can't play Peter Pan in the school play!

Inspiring children's story. Good way to get kids thinking about biases based on race and gender.

View all my reviews

Urge Your Local ABC Affliate to Air "Waging Peace"

2011-10-18T11:24:00.001-04:00

From the National Council of Churches News:

Waging Peace will air on ABC at the discretion of local affiliated TV stations. Stations that decide to show the documentary will air it sometime between Oct. 23 and Dec. 18. Churches are encouraged to call their local ABC TV stations to urge them to air the documentary.

See if when or if your affiliate is to air the documentary.
If it isn't, contact your local ABC affiliate and ask it to broadcast the documentary.

WJBF, my hometown affiliate in Augusta, GA, has not yet made the decision to air the documentary. I already made my call! I also Tweeted my message to @WJBF!

Promotion of "I Am Nujood" to Benefit Oregon Islamic Chaplains Organization

2011-09-25T12:21:00.000-04:00

Famaco publishers, when you purchase the book I am Nujood: Age 10 and Divorced, will donate some money to the Oregon Islamic Chaplains Organization.

You can receive an additional 5% off when you buy through the Oregon Islamic Chaplains Organization. But that's not all, you will also be helping the work the OICO is doing through out all of Oregon and beyond.

So you may wonder how you can purchase this heart wrenching book and partake in a good cause all at once? Just go to http://www.famacopublishers.com/937.html, and upon check out enter Fullway when asked for the promo code, and your blessings will be on their way.

Book Review: Samarkand, by Amin Maalouf

2011-07-04T10:28:00.004-04:00

Maalouf, Amin. Samarkand. New York: Interlink Books; 1996. ISBN: 1566561949. Paperback. 301 pp.

This is the first historical fiction novel I've reviewed for this blog. Typically, I'm not thrilled with historical fiction because I had at one time entertained the idea of becoming a professional historian and the historical fiction I had read seemed heavy on the fiction side of the equation.
Nevertheless, some university professors like to assign historical fiction and its close relative travelogues as comparatively light reading in entry-level history classes. It seems to be an even more popular method in lower educational levels, and professional teachers discuss how to use them more effectively.

I do believe historical fiction like Samarkand is an excellent way to generate interest in historical inquiry. Furthermore, I believe Professor Amin did an excellent job balancing entertainment, information and presenting his point of view of contemporary majority-Muslim societies.

For most of the novel, the primary characters are Omar Khayyam, Nizam al-Mulk and al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah. Professor Amin make a few quick stops before introducing the final historical period of the novel, late 19th century C.E. and early 20th century C.E. Persia.

I personally was nearly completely ignorant about this period of Persia's history. Maybe Professor Amin did take license with the character of Howard Baskerville, but isn't it wonderful that I now know his name? People like Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Morgan Shuster and Mirza Reza Kirmani should be familiar to educated North American Muslims, and Amin Maalouf does a great job making the reader want to learn more.

But more than all this, I felt that the author had something to say about events occurring today, particularly the political extremism in religious clothing and the process of revolution. Amin Maalouf recently gave an interview in Arabic about the revolutions in North Africa and Southwest Asia in which he explicitly endorses the features of these revolutions which he had implicitly endorsed in the revolutions of Samarkand.

I had heard of Omar Khayyam, but Professor Amin's use of translated passages of the rubaa`yyaat encouraged me to study them in more detail and more sensitivity. In addition, Samarkand offers an a method of approaching Omar Khayyam other than focusing on his iconoclastic statements and behavior. Ironically, both those who believe that all outstanding Muslim personalities were outstanding only to the extent of their irreligiosity and those who condemn him for violating generally-accepted mores of speech and behavior seem to promote this one dimension of Omar Khayyam's life to the detriment of the study of his asceticism, contributions to science and political philosphy.

Finally, his description of Russian and British control over Persia allows students unfamiliar with colonialism to understand its mechanisms.

Note that Amin Maalouf wrote this book in French, and Russell Harris translated it into English.

P.S. I'm currently listening to Mahmud al-Sa`dany's book Misr min tani. It has some similar features, although it is not explicitly "historical fiction." Its eight episodes can be downloaded from mijobooks.com.

P.P.S. The city of Samarkand features prominently in The Years of Rice and Salt, an alternate history novel by the science fiction giant Kim Stanley Robinson.

Oy Vey: New Short Film from Sarah Zerina Usmen

2011-05-27T11:06:00.000-04:00

Sarah Zerina Usmen, the director of the film Muslims in Love, has released a new short film entitled Oy Vey.

Three Cups of Tea

2011-04-30T19:50:00.002-04:00

Dr. Faroque Khan reviewed Three Cups of Tea in Vol 40, No 1 of the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

Obviously there's been some controversy regarding the author Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute.

My initial take is, "Where is 60 Minutes and the rest of the U.S. media regarding the tens of billions disappearing in Iraq and Afghanistan through the US military?" If the Central Asia Institute is corrupt, then should not there be daily stories on how rotten things are with the US occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Lucinda Marshall (@MedusaMusings on Twitter) discussed the situation with FAIR Media Watch. She previously wrote a blog entry entitled A Cup of Rancid Tea, in which she argued that our belief in the effectiveness of the Central Asia Institute was based more on our romanticization of a hero than a genuine belief in human development through education.

Review: Muslim Contributions to World Civilization

2011-04-28T17:19:00.001-04:00

Muslim contributions to world civilization. By M Basheer Ahmed; Syed A Ahsani; Dilnawaz A Siddiqui.

Publisher: Herndon, VA : International Institute of Islamic Thought ; USA : Association of Muslim Social Scientists, ©2005.

Reviewed by Faroque Ahmad Khan in the Vol 38, No 2 Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

Review: Dying to Win--The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Robert A. Pape

2011-04-28T16:44:00.000-04:00

Dying to win : the strategic logic of suicide terrorism. By Robert A. Pape.

Reviewed by Dr. Faroque Ahmad Khan in Vol 37, No 2 of the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

Review: The Ornament of The World—How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture Of Tolerance In Medieval Spain

2011-04-28T16:10:00.001-04:00

The Ornament of The World—How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created A Culture Of Tolerance In Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal. Little Brown; 2002.

Reviewed by Dr. Faroque Ahmad Khan in Vol 43, No 1 of the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

Review: Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley

2011-04-25T09:03:00.000-04:00

Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. ISBN 978-0-691-14721-5. Published 2010.

Reviewed by Dr. Faroque Ahmad Khan in Vol 43, No 1 of the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

The Taqwacores – Film Review from Media and Islam

2011-03-24T20:21:00.002-04:00

The Taqwacores – Film Review from Media and Islam

Review: Carl Sagan: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

2011-03-24T19:36:00.002-04:00

My first exposure to Carl Sagan was the catch phrase "billions and billions," which comedians attributed to him. I knew that he had a science show on United States Public Broadcasting. I had some notion that he was not a supporter of religion. But I frankly had no first-hand, in-depth knowledge of a person whom I've come to consider an important North American intellectual of the 20th century CE.

My first real exposure to his work was an abridged audio version of his science fiction novel Contact, which, aside from begin an excellent drama, was an excellent introduction to the science behind the Search for Extra-Terrestial Intelligence (SETI) and how this project, upon finding alien intelligence, might play out in our world, with its contemporary political and religious characteristics. I've acquired the full-length book and look forward to reading it.

I acquired the audio book version of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. After listening to it, I got a paperback version from a local library to help me complete this review.

I want to discuss here why I believe this book is a good read for North American Muslims. Web-accessible reviews for a general audience include:

Billions and Billions of Demons by Richard Lewontin, January 9, 1997, NY Times Book Reviews
Philo Gabriel and Rena Sherwood at helium.com
Wikipedia entry with external links to more reviews
Some skeptics criticized Sagan for encouraging civility with non-skeptics or not being as "certain" in his materialism as he should be.

The most important reason for Muslims to read this is that, just as science has a ne'er-do-well cousin called pseudo-science, religion has pseudo-religion.

One religious leader writes to mm of his longing for "disciplined integrity" in religion:

We have grown far too sentimental ... Devotionlism and cheap psychology on one side, and arrogance and dogmatic intolerance on the other distort authentic religious life almost beyond recognition. Sometimes I come close to despair, but then I live tenaciously and always with hope... Honest religion, more familiar than its critics with the distortions and absurdities perpetrated in its name, has an active interest in encouraging a healthy skepticism for its own purposes... There is the possibility for religion and science to forge a potent partnership against pseudo-science. Strangely, I think it would sson be engaged also in opposing pseudo-religion.

I once heard Jeffrey Lang, a professor of mathematics at Kansas University, present a lecture in West Lafayette, Indiana. In this lecture, he explained that each assertion we make about Islam limits the number of people who will believe in it. Think linear algebra. Each time a constraint is added, there are fewer solutions. Or, as Professor Lang did, he took the chalkboard and stated, "There is no god but God" and then drew a vertical line down the middle of the board, dividing it in half. Then he said, "Muhammad is his Messenger," and then drew a vertical line down the middle of the left half of the board. He repeated this process with doctrines (I don't remember which ones) such as the Day of Judgment and obligations such as ritual prayer and prohibitions such as avoiding intoxicants. We must therefore be very cautious with every statement we make about Islam, because each one will narrow this religion. I often worry when I hear the aaya:

رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِّلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
Our Lord! do not make us a trial for those who disbelieve

One meaning may be "Do not try us with persecution from the disbelievers." Another meaning may be that our actions might be a reason for people to disbelieve, and perhaps God may hold us to account for driving people away from His path. Psuedo-religion is what drives people away. It's claiming that a person has to adopt different cultural habits or understand obscure and anachronistic theological arguments to be a good Muslim.

The second reason is the book's implications for citizenship, society and politics. Skepticism as a tool to understand the material universe should naturally lead to its use in the social and political spheres. Are men and women essentially different, and, if so, how should our social and legal and political structures reflect these? Does the king's family deserve to inherit rule, one king to the next? Are the people of a different race or culture such a threat? Is a defendant guilty simply because the district attorney says so in a press conference?

A highlights of this book includes the extensive quotation from Friedrich von Spee's criticism of witchcraft trials in the German city of Würzburg in 1631 CE.

Carl Sagan is the author of the original "baloney detection kit," and it is presented in Chapter 12.

Each chapter begins with a quotation, which are often worth the time to read the chapter. for example, Chapter 13, Obsesses with Reality, opens with a quotation from William K. Clifford's The Ethics of Belief (1874). Describing a shipowner who manages to convince himself that his unseaworthy passenger vessel is in fact seaworthy and sends the emigrants and crew to their deaths,

What shall we say of him? Surely this, that he was very guilty of the death of those men. It is admitted that he did sincerely believe in the soundness of his ship; but the sincerity of his conviction can in nowise help him, because he had no right to believe on such evidence as was before him. He had acquired his belief not by honestly earning it in patient investigation, but by stifling his doubts ...

Carl Sagan passed away in 1996. I'm not sure if he could have sustained his optimism or even his sanity through the next 15 years.

In recent news, there was a fuss over a Muslim in UK who talked about the theory of evolution in a positive manner. My public school science education in Columbia County, Georgia was so poor I never really learned much biology. I recently completed The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy (Great Courses)
by Edward J. Larson, and I thought it helped me catch up on some of the science I should have learned in high school.

Muslim Media Review Series of Science Reviews

Updated Izzeldin Abuelaish Book Tour Schedule

2011-02-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

I've previously reviewed Dr. Izzeldin's book and provided a tour schedule. Here is the tour schedule as of February 23, 2011.

WASHINGTON, DC

Monday, February 28, 2011

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

600 I Street, NW

7:00 p.m.

Books will be sold by Politics and Prose

PITTSBURGH, PA

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

5738 Forbes Avenue

7:00 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA, PA

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Free Library of Philadelphia

1901 Vine Street

7:30 p.m.

Books will be sold by Joseph Fox Bookshop

NEW YORK, NY

Monday, March 7, 2011

Carnegie Council

Merrill House Programs

170 East 64^th Street

8:00 a.m.

The Cooper Union

Great Hall

7 East 7^th Street (at Third Avenue)

7:00 p.m.

In conversation with ABC News’ Christiane Amanpour

MIAMI, FL

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Temple Beth Am

5950 North Kendall Drive

7:00 p.m.

Books will be sold by Books & Books

PORTLAND, ME

Thursday, March 31, 2011

University of Southern Maine

Hannaford Hall

6:00 p.m.

Co-sponsored by Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights

AUGUSTA, ME

Friday, April 1, 2011

University of Maine at Augusta

Jewett Auditorium

11:00 a.m.

Co-sponsored by Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights

BRUNSWICK, ME

Friday, April 1, 2011

Curtis Memorial Library

23 Pleasant Street

7:00 p.m.

Co-sponsored by Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights

Read on MMW - Rukhsana Khan: A Wonderful Children’s Author

2011-02-22T12:05:00.000-05:00

Read on Muslimah Media Watch Rukhsana Khan: A Wonderful Children’s Author.

Review: Al-Khidr: The Green One: Adult Book in Child's Body

2011-02-20T07:30:00.002-05:00

Al-Khidr: The Green One
Story adapted by Hugh Talat Halman
Illustrations by `Abdallah Lipton

Technically, this book is very well done. No grammatical and spelling errors plague the text. The binding and paper are of high quality. The illustrations are amazing.

I just don't know if the story of Al-Khidr (verses 60-83) is a story for children. In particular, the episode of the killing of the boy is relayed in this book in both a casual and graphic manner, which is faithful to the original text (hadith 124). Thankfully, the illustration is not graphic.

I'm no expert in child psychology. I often puzzle how to convey to young children episodes of violence in our religious texts.

Obviously, the murder of one child is just one example of this. The drowning of Pharoah and his soldiers, the attack on Abraha and his soldiers and the destruction of nations which disobeyed their prophets are all integral parts of "stories of the Prophets."

On the other hand, our modern affluent suburban society hides its extraordinary level of violence. People know but don't internalize that their ground beef comes from slaughtered cows, that "gang violence" is actually somebody's child, that drone missiles do land and kill whoever happens to be there and that the "war on drugs" is actually a war on people.

So what are we to do? Are we supposed to dumb down and dilute texts instead of learning how to deal with them? Think of the current Mark Twain controversy regarding his use of the word "nigger" in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Proponents of the version which replace this word with "slave" (is that an improvement?) claim that it will it least get this major work of American literature back in public schools. My opinion is that our public school education should be improved so that children can handle the original literature. You can't throw Othello at the 11th grader if you've been feeding him or her Reader's Digest corn mush in grades 1-10, especially in the areas of history and social studies.

Having said this, I believe the story of al-Khidr is above the level of children. This is a book for adults fit into the format of a children's book. Parents who acquire this book should discuss each episode with the child and make sure the child understands that the actions of al-Khidr are meant to illustrate that, out of Allah's mercy, we followers of the Messengers salla Allahu `alayhim wa sallam are not held to account for the ultimate consequences of our actions. We are held to account for our intentions and actions after we have made every reasonable effort to know those consequences.

Standing in Solidarity - Video Message from New York City to Egypt

2011-02-11T19:49:00.000-05:00

Another video from Hena Ashraf:

Standing in Solidarity from Hena Ashraf on Vimeo.