So it was Eid at the Islamic Center at NYU and we must've had 100 sisters, that many & then some brothers, altogether I'd haphazard an unwarranted guess of 300 or so. Whatever Allah wills! Wonderful to see the community bursting at the seams. We Muslims have got to make Eid a holiday, and we can do it without having to worry about who follows who, whether calculation or visual inspection -- do what the American Jewish community does. They set aside two days for Rosh Hashana, even though technically it's one day; we can set aside two or even three days for both of our holidays, block them all off, cover all our bases, get public school recognition in districts with sufficient Muslim peoples, and avoid forcing each other's interpretations down each other's throats...
Speaking of throats, mine's been giving out since last week. Lost my voice last Wednesday night; poof. Gone. Like the Caliphate, but cough syrupier. Then it came back; gave the Eid khutbah today -- talked about West Africa and Volga Bulgaria mean for American Muslims -- and today it's fading again. No! I have to lecture tomorrow, twice, and then I have to do the NYU khutbah again on Friday. When Haroon gets a cold, he really gets a cold. Or flu. Or whatever. Perhaps I should go see a doctor and say (without my voice), "What's wrong?" Help me give khutbahs. They will be made available on the IC NYU Podcast page, and iTunes (subscribe!) as soon as possible. Eid Mubarak folks. Here's your present; lots of links to thinks about...
Zardari, sexually harassing women because he's isolated. Elsewhere, to slot in alongside that, the inestimable Wajahat Ali takes on Tariq Ali, on all things American-Pakistani. (More here.)
The earliest historical reference to Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.
Wajahat Ali number two (this guy gets great interviewees, and produces great interviews): This time, Naomi Klein and the shock doctrine of unencumbered capitalism; how to destroy ... in order to destroy.
Author, scholar, activist and way too smart on top of that, Omid Safi provides insight into the Obsession movie mailings and the importance of those mailings, for us and America.
Some Times pictures from Eid.
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