Author Archives: Faisal

Love in a Grey Area

By Faisal | Published: August 28, 2010
Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim Bangladesh. But it’s not a sin, according to Suleman, a gay imam who spoke to Delwar Hussain. The following is an excerpt from Delwar’s article. **** Suleman has always known that he was attracted to men. He would wear his mother’s saris when she was out of the house and put [...]
Posted in Sexuality | 4 Comments

Irshad Manji’s Questions for Imam Rauf

By Faisal | Published: August 27, 2010
Irshad Manji attempts to re-centre the raw, emotional polarised sentimentalism of Park51 here. The underlying point is that offence or sensitivity is not a basis for what can or cannot be built nor for criticising aspects of religion or religious customs. The Park51 debate has now spilled over into the doomed territory of visceral offence taking. [...]
Posted in Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion | 5 Comments

Why are most of the victims of terrorists Pakistani?

By Faisal | Published: August 27, 2010
This is an excerpt from an article by Amir Mir, from OutlookIndia, which asks the question: ‘Just who is not a kaafir’? The broad Sunni-Shia division does not explain all of it Most Sunnis adhere to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. Only 5 per cent of the country’s population belongs to the Ahle Hadith sect or Wahabis. The [...]
Posted in Islamism, Sectarianism | 1 Comment

Islamist Idol

By Faisal | Published: August 27, 2010
Khurram Sher, 28, has an interesting CV. He graduated from McGill University medical school in 2005. Practised at the Thomas Elgin General Hospital in the Department of Anatomical Pathology in Ontario, Canada. In 2006, he was involved in the relief efforts after an earthquake in Kashmir. Earlier this month he was one of three men arrested [...]
Posted in Islamism | 5 Comments

It happened on the way to Ground Zero

By Faisal | Published: August 24, 2010
Watch the video, it is astonishing. Warning: Social cohesion it is not. But don’t worry, no ‘black Muslim Puerto Rican types’ were physically hurt in the making of this video. This is a take of it from gawker.com : Both supporters and opponents of the “Ground Zero” “Mosque”—a proposed community center—held rallies in lower Manhattan today. Can you guess which [...]
Posted in Obscurantism | 9 Comments

Bangladesh bars enforced Islamic dress code

By Faisal | Published: August 23, 2010
The BBC reports: A Bangladesh court has ruled that people cannot be forced to wear skull caps, veils or other religious clothing in workplaces, schools and colleges. This ruling comes after reports emerged that a college in the north of Bangladesh forced women to wear veils. The high court also ruled that women cannot be prevented from taking [...]
Posted in Secularism | 13 Comments

“So, you’re offended? So fucking what?”

By Faisal | Published: August 20, 2010
I am amazed that the Park 51 Community Centre or the so called “Ground Zero Mosque” debate in still chundering on, with no end in sight, despite the paucity of cogent arguments on why it should be opposed by those who oppose it. Alex Massie’s comment on the “Ground Zero Mosque” is spot on: One of the [...]
Posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion | 76 Comments

The Anti-Muslim Bigotry of Pickled Politics

By Faisal | Published: August 8, 2010
Pickled Politics’ blogger earwigca has posted an article which contains this passage: The problem with feminism is feminists. [...] Feminists like Dr. Aisha Gill, friend of Gita Sahgal, who worked tirelessly on the pr in support of the islamophobic attack on Amnesty International. The wording is inexact but the unscrupulous motivation is obvious. Is the writer suggesting that Gita Sahgal and [...]
Posted in Anti Muslim bigotry | 11 Comments

The Paradox of Tolerance

By Faisal | Published: August 7, 2010
Karl Popper, on the paradox of tolerance, bears repeating: The so-called paradox of freedom is the argument that freedom in the sense of absence of any constraining control must lead to very great restraint, since it makes the bully free to enslave the meek. The idea is, in a slightly different form, and with very different tendency, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Guardian censures Quilliam Foundation for doing its job!

By Faisal | Published: August 6, 2010
Brian Whittaker on CiF writes: Islamist ideology certainly needs to be challenged. The question is whether its nonviolent form should included in an anti-terrorism strategy. But does the Guardian actually challenge Islamist ideology at all? In the last two days two articles have appeared in both its print and electronic channels which suggest that far from challenging [...]
Posted in Islamism, The Regressive Left | 6 Comments