Islamicate

This is what a good education can do.
Obscure Malcolm X speech found at Brown University. The audiotape of Malcolm X's 1961 address in Providence might never have surfaced at all if 22-year-old Brown University student Malcolm Burnley hadn't stumbled across a reference to it in an old student newspaper. He found the recording of the little-remembered visit gathering dust in the university archives.

NPR story on the same.

Go Haroon. I really don't understand how people take Ferguson's opinion seriously. His basic argument is that reasons for not going to war are bad, therefore we must go to war. Maybe we'll all get ponies and unicorns this time.
In The Daily Beast, Niall Ferguson Says: Bomb Iran | Politics | Religion Dispatches. Iran’s government has much to answer for. But the people who judged Iraq so badly, and so inhumanely, do not have the moral right to preside over that trial. That someone could so blandly suggest that we are on the “eve of creative destruction,” and that “Sunni powers” would not be offended by that, intimates a person whose denial of Muslim humanity should keep him off the newspaper page, and whose deafness to the region suggests willful ignorance.

Today is the Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh). May the day be blessed.

Muqtedar Khan, over at AltMuslim, writes about some of the issues around Milad an-Nabi, a tradition started by the Fatimid Dynasty in Egypt a millennium ago.

Omid Safi, in his usual wonderful way, writes about the value Muslims place on the day.

It was this Muhammad — the cosmic Muhammad who served as the cause of creation, the Muhammad that God so loved that were it not for him creation would not have been (according to the Sacred Hadith “Wa law laaka…” )— that was the object of Muslim devotion. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so does Muhammad reflect the light of God onto the cosmos. The above Mevlud poem continues to be recited in Turkish homes down to today as it was in Ottoman times, a remarkable longevity in devotional life of Muslims.   

Nice review of the state of architecture for Muslims (not necessarily Islamic architecture) in the US. I particularly like the point Maryam makes, let's go back to praying together, instead of this modern notion of segregating the sexes.
BBC News - Muslim America moves away from the minaret. Architect Maryam Eskandari, former associate director of the American Institute of Architects, is touring the US with a photo exhibition illustrating the transition of American mosques from traditional to postmodern design.  She says Islamic architecture has long been subject to personal interpretation and set in a cultural and historical context.

Short. Sweet. To the point. I like it. Thanks Maryam Eskandari.

Faith in London from Tariq Chow on Vimeo.

Faith in London is a short silent film celebrating the common instruction towards compassion that exists in all world religions and honouring what is perhaps the finest example of multi-faith coexistence in the world: The City of London.

In making London the protagonist, the film vividly illustrates how her many faiths provide inspiration to her people, instilling love and compassion between them. It challenges opposition to the prevalence of organised religion in modern society by giving a voice to those who embody the true spirit of their faith.

It is because of these people that we can proudly say: We have Faith in London.

Visit http://www.faithinlondon.com for more information.

© http://www.tariqchow.com

Been a long time since I've agreed so unconditionally with anyone as I do with Miss Piggy in this clip.

Linda does a really nice job laying out what's been happening with respect to the NYPD and the American Muslim community in NYC. I hope to add some of my thoughts later.
Hijabi Revolution: NYPD and the Muslim American Community in NYC. I am sure you are all following the controversy around the NYPD's use of a hateful, anti-Muslim film, The Third Jihad, to train close to 1500 officers. As a member of the Muslim American community, and a member of the broad based coalition calling for the resignation of Raymond Kelly and Paul Browne, I would like to give you some context and paint a larger picture that hasn't been captured through the media or through conversations that currently exist on line and in the broader New York City.

Great story. Unbelievable photos.
Bharat Choudary's Photos of Young Muslims - NYTimes.com. Bharat Choudhary has seen the power of religious hatred up close. After the 2002 sectarian riots in Gujarat State, India, Mr. Choudhary counseled victims who had been paralyzed or raped during the violence. His clients were Muslims. Mr. Choudhary is Hindu.  “My job was to talk with them, to counsel them and try to convince them that everything was going to be fine, even though I knew that nothing was going to be fine with their life anymore,” he said. “That always stayed with me.”  He was painfully reminded of that a few years later while studying photojournalism in Columbia, Mo. Once while walking home from class, two white men in a pickup truck tailed him. As the truck drove past him, they hurled insults, shouting “Osama! Osama!” The truck made a U-turn and stopped in front of him. The barrage of insults continued.  The provocation? “I was brown and had a beard at that time,” Mr. Choudhary said.  The jarring encounter would prove fortuitous, becoming the topic for his masters project, photographing young Muslims who were born in the United States. He admits that at first, he didn’t know much about them.

So says Aziz at City of Brass. 

We need to hold the NYPD accountable for their misdeeds. Sarah's piece is spot on.
Sarah Sayeed, Ph.D.: The Dolphin and the Monkey and NYPD's Disappointing Tactics. Aesop's story might be a good one to teach at New York Police Department trainings, instead of infecting unsuspecting officers with a pernicious fear of Islam and Muslims. The active participation of Police Commissioner Kelly and his Public Affairs Officer Paul Browne in the creation and promotion of an anti-Muslim film has led Muslim New Yorkers to deep disappointment, skepticism and mistrust. They are now calling for the two to resign.