Someone who doesn’t make flowers makes thorns. If you’re not building rooms where wisdom can be openly spoken, you’re building a prison. SHAMS OF TABRIZ I found this on page XI of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel.
I just picked up Eboo Patel’s Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation at New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton, Massachusetts. To be honest, I wasn’t searching for it; I pretty much stumbled across it randomly in the extremely small ‘Islam’ section (it’s small…… Continue reading Quoted: Whitman, Tagore, and Rumi
It is early, not too early, on the morning of the tenth of January. I have been, unfortunately, neglecting this journal mostly because of time with friends and our extravagant journey’s. Tomorrow morning, I head to Amsterdam. The purpose of this entry is to recap events of yesterday, for there are surely many. I am…… Continue reading Failing democracies and rationality
Have you heard about the ‘European problem’? To your likely surprise, the problem has nothing to do with debt, sovereignty, Brussels, or the devaluing euro. As George Weigel posits in The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America and Politics Without God, the ‘European problem’ is atheistic humanism or, as he often calls it in more academic…… Continue reading Religion: Atheistic humanism in The Cube and the Cathedral
Last night I watched the movie Alive. Have you seen it? It’s about a Rugby team that’s stranded for something like 70 days in the Andes mountains after a plane crash. As you can imagine, the team faces unfathomable hardship and even has to resort to cannibalism. It’s also, unbelievably, a true story. Something came…… Continue reading Alive
Something, though I can’t put my finger precisely on it, has come over my being within just a few days. My hours, as of late, have been one’s dedicated to my studies and thoughts regarding morality, and more particularly, the life I have been striving to maintain for quite some time now. Hardly any of…… Continue reading Rome Was Not Built Overnight
Note: Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher’s research here is quite similar to my own. I want to share with you her important findings. One of Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher’s explications examines a cultural production process called religification, in which religious affiliation, rather than race or ethnicity, has become the core category of identity for working class Pakistani-American youth in the United…… Continue reading Religification of Pakistani-American youth
Most of you have probably heard by now of the recent news on the groundbreaking Higgs boson or ‘God particle’. Most of you, however, probably have no idea that the physicist who helped develop the God particle’s theoretical framework is Adbus Salam. Salam, who died in 1996, of Pakistani origin and Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate.…… Continue reading The Pakistani scientist behind the ‘God particle’
From our trip to Glencolumbkille in Northwest Donegal, Ireland (June 2012). A breathtaking view on a windy little road. Truly spectacular and unforgettable.
Lately, I have been engaged in learning about the life of one of America’s Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson. His writings have inspired me to live a more moral and virtuous life. Oftentimes, I cease to ponder on my character and conduct, so it is humbling to learn about my self through someone else. Last night,…… Continue reading Personal: Manifesto from 2008
Derald Wing Sue et al. (2007) posit that micro-aggression racism is: a contemporary form of racism that is invisible, unintentional, subtle in nature, and typically outside the levels of conscious awareness, but it creates a hostile and invalidating climate nonetheless. According to Sue and Colleagues, the cumulative of micro-aggressions may be just as harmful as…… Continue reading How You Could Be Racist and Not Even Know It
Kavirah (2010) argues that the growing religiosity in many parts of the world is quite different from our traditional understanding of religion (in his writing, he refers to rising Hindu identity and nationalism). He argues that we need to distinguish between ‘thick and thin religion’. Thick religion encompasses traditional rituals, practices, and beliefs, whereas thin…… Continue reading Thick and thin religion
Who are the Sanusi and why do they remain so influential to so many? Only by understanding the Sanusi order, the Cyrenaica tribes and the historic role of both in the development of Libya will we be able to make sense of both the recent moves towards autonomy and prospects for the future of Libyan…… Continue reading The health of Libyan democracy lies with recognizing Cyrenaica tribes
The author of Blessed Virgin Mary is a Sufi master of Turkish descent named Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak, who passed away in 1985. He is considered by Sufis as a Waliullah, or intimate friend of Allah (God). The book is designed in a nonlinear fashion, ‘transcending the usual laws of logic and habitual experience which the Virgin…… Continue reading Sufism and the Virgin Mary
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‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, amongst these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness’. – Thomas Jefferson I’m proud to be an American if we adhere to this framework both on the domestic front and…… Continue reading Personal: My declaration on the 4th of July
After Sheikh Muzaffer A companion once asked the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH)): Who is the most important person for the soul in Islam?’ The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) replied: ‘The mother’. The companion pressed the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for more information. ‘Who is the next most important person?’ Once more, the Prophet Muhammad…… Continue reading Prophet Muhammad on the Importance of Mothers
Arrogant, and a know-it-all, who cannot be taught anything. * Indifferent, spiritually empty, dictated by relativism. * Empty, on the inside, seeking perfection on the outside, * Lonely, insecure, with no direction. * Veering, losing sight of family, running from relationships that matter. * Selfish, closing in on the self, the ego and the cliques. * Broken,…… Continue reading Evolution
Location: Hamza Yusuf’s home, California Date: November 2008 Topic: American identity and Muslims in the USA Project: Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam Principal investigator: Akbar Ahmed Filmed by: Craig Considine © Akbar Ahmed
Hemlock Gorge Reservation = one of my favourite places to go pondering.
An inviting path, under the shade of a gigantic tree and the shadow of a bird flying above. The bird chirps, as another one sings. The aura is over me. * There’s an opening ahead, where the water, crashing at the falls eliminates the silence. There, on a small cliff, I stand, embracing the mist, which, ever…… Continue reading Poem: Spirit at Hemlock George
The head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida is, amazingly, telling the people of Galway to not erect a Che Guevara Memorial statue. Florida, I should note, is roughly 4,000 miles away from Galway. And Che, if you aren’t aware, has Irish roots with the Lynch family (of Galway). Now,…… Continue reading My point on the Che Guevara statue in Galway
In his book The Cube and the Cathedral, George Weigel turns to Joseph Weiler’s ‘Christophobia’ theory to discuss the ‘European problem’ (or the struggle for cultural and moral supremacy between atheistic humanists (secularists) and Christians). ‘Christophobia’, which resists any acknowledgement of the Christian sources of Europe’s democracy, has eight key features, as outlined by Weigel,…… Continue reading Religion: Meet Christophobia
Abraham makes the leap and thus secures his reputation for all time. The text is so matter-of-fact it almost masks the significance: ‘Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him’. He does so silently, joining the covenant with his feet, not his words. The wandering man does what he does best, he walks. Only…… Continue reading Call to wander
Location: Noam Chomsky’s office, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Date: October 2008 Topic: American identity (with some focus on Muslims in the USA) Project: Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam Principal investigator: Akbar Ahmed Filmed by: Craig Considine © Akbar Ahmed
One of the most famous Sufi thinkers ever is Rabia, who wrote in the 8th-century. She was born in modern-day Basra, Iraq. According to folklore, Rabia was an orphan and ultimately sold into slavery; she almost had nothing except, of course, her thoughts. Legend has it that Rabia was once seen praying with a halo…… Continue reading Carry these in your hands
I’m at home, relaxing, with all my books, surrounded by so much potential knowledge that I’m really not even sure where to begin. Overwhelming at times, as you could imagine.
Lovers trust in the wealth of their hearts while the all-knowing mind sees only thorns ahead. * To wander in the fields of flowers pull the thorns from your heart. – Rumi
Sufis are very inclusive and open-minded. They believe that God is everywhere. They quote Qur’anic passages like, ‘Wherever you turn, there is the face of God’ (2: 115). If God is everywhere, then God can be seen in all religions too. A Sufi would not only be comfortable praying at a church or synagogue or…… Continue reading This is Why People Love Sufism
The Arabic word nafs is variously translated as ‘soul’, ‘self’, or ‘ego’. The nafs has seven levels or stages of development that correspond more or less to the seven stages of the Sufi Path. The Path, which leads to a transformation of consciousness, can therefore be described as the refinement and purification of the soul. The seven…… Continue reading Nafs and the stages of ‘self’
They… brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bells. They willingly traded everything they owned… They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword,…… Continue reading Politics: Why do we celebrate Columbus Day?
Rumi’s inspiration progresses from the inner to the outer, from spiritual impulse to verbal expression. Thus, the more we are able to penetrate the outer form of his words, the closer we may come to catching a glimpse of the Source from which they came. This requires a considerable mental leap. Rumi is aware of…… Continue reading The Source of Rumi’s Inspiration
I booked a flight back home to Boston in March 2012. My sister, the only person who knew of the booking, and I devised a clever plan to surprise my parents. I put together this short clip to ‘Lovely Allen’ by Holy Fuck. Watch the video and tell me whether you think Holy Fuck is…… Continue reading (Video) Surprising the hell out of my parents!
We like to think of the drone war as something far away, fought in the deserts of Yemen or the mountains of Afghanistan. But we now know it’s closer than we thought. There are 64 drone bases on American soil, including 12 that house armed Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. The possibility of military…… Continue reading Drones Over American Skies
I learned today that the Department of Sociology would like me to take on a new challenge: to teach the Junior Sophister (JS) module ‘Researching Society’. This third-year course is a step up from what I’ve been teaching for the past two years – Introduction to Sociology at the Junior Freshman (JF) level. I’m happy…… Continue reading New challenge in Ph.D. process
’manufactured monsters for mutual murder, hideous hobgoblins produced by a horde of capitalistic lusts upon our prostituted labour. The poor man starves while they are grassing their royal mountain stags or shooting peasants and phartridges in their purblind pomp of pelf and power. But their reign is rover for rever and ever and ev .…… Continue reading Why Joyce’s Leopold Bloom still matters
I just finished reading an interesting article given to me by Ronit Lentin titled ‘Islamophobia: a very (Post)modern fear?’. It was written by Pnina Werbner as a presented paper at the Closing Conference of Cost A2 in Brussels, December 7-9, 1995. One particular point of Werbner’s stuck out from the rest, which is, the concept…… Continue reading The “Fundamentalist” Folk Devil
The love of one’s country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? – Pablo Casals
One thing that I find puzzling is the notion that Obama ‘isn’t as bad as Bush’ when it comes to death, destruction, and the illegality of US foreign policy. For me, when I indulge in such conversations to prove why Obama is actually quite similar to Bush in these regards, I tend to use the not so…… Continue reading Who’s the Master of the Drone?
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