Just moved the domain of this blog to blog.iFaqeer.com. Nothing else changes, and the old URLs should still work.
Just added the new domain to my Technorati Profile, too.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: iFaqeer
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Kabul; Britain; Putting a Face on Blogging and Civil Society in Pakistan...
Sorry I have been MIA for a bit. A couple or three things jump out from the New York Times, NPR and the 'Net this morning.
Firstly, there's an op-ed in the NYT this morning by the country director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting providing his personal perspective about the bombing of the Serena Hotel in Kabul, a watering hole (and just a place to hole up) for expats, particularly. And there have been other stories about Afghanistan in The Times, on NPR, other places in the last few days. It seemed to hit me; is it a coincidence that the Western Media and Zeitgeist is sitting up and noticing--or should I say acknowledging, since some information has always been around--that Afghanistan is down the tubes because the Taliban, as Mr. McKenzie tells us, have now started a policy of targeting westerners?
The other thing that jumped out at me was from a series that NPR is doing on Muslim Women in Britain.
As I have said umpteen times, until we sit up and notice that the folks who are adopting the niqaab in Britian today are not adopting the traditional ways of Muslims, but something new, we are only going to continue headlong towards the abyss as a planet. After all, does it make any sense to, on the one hand, say that the radicals are a throw-back to medieval times and that "[o]ne meets an increasing number of British Muslim[s]... who are saying … you should go back to the veil, you should go back to our traditional ways" on the one hand and then admit that, for one, the "Hizbut Tahrir's goal is to promote a global Islam, cleansed of all ethnic or cultural traditions." I mean, think about that!
As I have acknowledged before, it is good to see folks (including Muslims, especially in Britain--the US is a generation or so behind in these matters, but what can one do about that? some things just have to run their course) finally engage with the fanatical tendencies within Muslim communities in a more detailed way. But until and unless we all--both outsiders and within the community--stop framing the discussion as, how did Sylvia Poggili put it? being the discussion between people who are "secular" and those who are "devout"; between those who think Sharia is a good idea and those who are against it, we are doomed to have the "Clash of Fundamentalisms" be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Until we start to think about what parts of the Muslim Ideological landscape--like the equivalents in other faith communities and ethnic groups and so on--are the ones from which terrorism and militant, inflexible fanaticism stem and until even us Muslims stop saying this is just about Islam versus the West or that this modern neo-purist strain that is so dominant today is the same as "traditional Islam"--or, worse, The One True, Pure Islam as practised by The Prophet--we're up the wrong creek without a paddle.
And lastly, a shout-out to my peeps, so to speak. There's a clip on Google Video today of an interview with two of Pakistan's most prominent bloggers on an English-language breakfast show. Well worth watching, what with Pakistan in the news in such a big way.
[Original at The Teeth Maestro's blog.]
Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, Wadiblog, ProgressiveIslam.org, and Pak Tea House, blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Muslims in Britain - Afghanistan - Sylvia Poggioli - Bloggers - Teeth Maestro - Jamash - Hizbut Tahrir - Islamism
Firstly, there's an op-ed in the NYT this morning by the country director for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting providing his personal perspective about the bombing of the Serena Hotel in Kabul, a watering hole (and just a place to hole up) for expats, particularly. And there have been other stories about Afghanistan in The Times, on NPR, other places in the last few days. It seemed to hit me; is it a coincidence that the Western Media and Zeitgeist is sitting up and noticing--or should I say acknowledging, since some information has always been around--that Afghanistan is down the tubes because the Taliban, as Mr. McKenzie tells us, have now started a policy of targeting westerners?
The other thing that jumped out at me was from a series that NPR is doing on Muslim Women in Britain.
As I have said umpteen times, until we sit up and notice that the folks who are adopting the niqaab in Britian today are not adopting the traditional ways of Muslims, but something new, we are only going to continue headlong towards the abyss as a planet. After all, does it make any sense to, on the one hand, say that the radicals are a throw-back to medieval times and that "[o]ne meets an increasing number of British Muslim[s]... who are saying … you should go back to the veil, you should go back to our traditional ways" on the one hand and then admit that, for one, the "Hizbut Tahrir's goal is to promote a global Islam, cleansed of all ethnic or cultural traditions." I mean, think about that!
As I have acknowledged before, it is good to see folks (including Muslims, especially in Britain--the US is a generation or so behind in these matters, but what can one do about that? some things just have to run their course) finally engage with the fanatical tendencies within Muslim communities in a more detailed way. But until and unless we all--both outsiders and within the community--stop framing the discussion as, how did Sylvia Poggili put it? being the discussion between people who are "secular" and those who are "devout"; between those who think Sharia is a good idea and those who are against it, we are doomed to have the "Clash of Fundamentalisms" be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Until we start to think about what parts of the Muslim Ideological landscape--like the equivalents in other faith communities and ethnic groups and so on--are the ones from which terrorism and militant, inflexible fanaticism stem and until even us Muslims stop saying this is just about Islam versus the West or that this modern neo-purist strain that is so dominant today is the same as "traditional Islam"--or, worse, The One True, Pure Islam as practised by The Prophet--we're up the wrong creek without a paddle.
And lastly, a shout-out to my peeps, so to speak. There's a clip on Google Video today of an interview with two of Pakistan's most prominent bloggers on an English-language breakfast show. Well worth watching, what with Pakistan in the news in such a big way.
[Original at The Teeth Maestro's blog.]
Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, Wadiblog, ProgressiveIslam.org, and Pak Tea House, blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Muslims in Britain - Afghanistan - Sylvia Poggioli - Bloggers - Teeth Maestro - Jamash - Hizbut Tahrir - Islamism
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Mohsin Hamid on Events in Pakistan
Mohsin Hamid's latest op-ed is pretty good. Recommended reading for anyone who wants to know how things looked/look from the perspective of the every day life in Pakistan. You can read it here, on the Washington Post site.I attended a talk by him at Stanford last year, and my first reaction was that what he was saying, the world view and experiences were the experiences of any Pakistani of our age and station, so to speak. (I think he's about a year older than me.) And he writes well. It's good to have him around, with his facility with English and "global" culture to bring that voice, that view of the world to the table. And given his visibility and position as a globally-best selling author, to have what he says read and noticed.
Of course, I am still very disappointed with him and others of our generation and/or background--and this even includes, to some extent, folks like Imran Khan, who made sympathetic noises--for initially supporting the military take-over in 1999. But more on that as and when I can write--or maybe some readers can comment and discuss that aspect.
Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, Wadiblog, ProgressiveIslam.org, and Pak Tea House blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Benazir - Pakistan - Mohsin Hamid
Friday, December 28, 2007
Funeral Services for Benazir Bhutto...and a word on the religious tenor of the Bhuttos
Just learnt that a Ghayabana Namaaz-e-Janaza is going to be held for Benazir Bhutto after/with Friday prayers at the Masjid-e-Farooq-e-Azam in Concord, California. I am told it is off the Clayton Exit, across from the Safeway and near the BART Station and there will be a prayer meeting (Du'a) at the BART Station afterwards.
Sorry about the late notice, but I just found out.
There will most probably be services in other places around the world. Please feel free to post information in the comments section here to inform others.
For those not familiar with the concept, "Namaz-e-Janaza" is the South Asian name for the Muslim prayer said at a person's bier before he or she is interred. There is a tradition of saying the exact same prayer "ghayabana", or "in absentia", in situations like this where a lot of people not physically present at the burial want to participate (or in cases where a body is not found; but that's another story).
As a matter of clarification, I am forwarding this not because I am a fan or follower of Benazir, her father, or the PPP, but for all their faults and follies, both she and her father were in a tradition of South Asian and/or Muslim leaders going back at least to Akbar, who chose to make at least a public connection with the more folksy interpretation of their constituencies' faith(s).
In my book, she gets credit for being the only Muslim leader I have ever heard invoke Ijma, the Islamic concept of consensus as a source of community self-governance .
The discussion on KQED about Benazir's passing and it's aftermath went well and the audio archive is available at:
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R712280900
Photo is an AP image taken off the BBC website.
Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, Wadiblog, ProgressiveIslam.org, and Pak Tea House blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Benazir - Pakistan - Ijma
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Benazir Bhutto, "Daughter of Pakistan, Daughter of the Muslim World", RIP
At least a couple of people have wondered why I haven't posted anything on my blog. Folks have been asking why I haven't posted anything. Been distracted because my wife and kids were en route to Karachi. Finally had them rerouted directly to Delhi from Hong Kong, skipping Karachi for now.
I hope to write and post. For now, you can catch me on The Forum on KQED tomorrow morning.
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R712280900
Notes on the quote on the subject and on the photo above: The photograph above often appears on Wikipedia articles and updates about Benazir. It is an image I captured myself at Chandini Restaurant in Newark California on September 28th, 2004 and made available under GPL License through that site. (See articles on my blog here and here.) The quote is from President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, the person she met as her last official appointment.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Benazir - Pakistan
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