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October 26, 2016 |The Metaphysical and the Crisis of Spiritual Materiality
The word “spiritual” — frequently used in increasingly non-descriptive and narrowly understood ways in the modern and post-colonial period — is a term that postulates a new relationship between the human and God that is no longer regulated by existing “tradition” or normative religious discourses. Just as modernity, post-modernity, or neo-liberal world order defined every…
Colonialism De-Colonial Islam Islamic Thought -
October 19, 2016 |Palestine: Toward a New Era!
The current situation in Palestine is unsustainable for the Palestinians as the internal dynamics are a harbinger for an impending future crisis. First and foremost, let’s dispense of any notions or comments of a “peace process” since none has existed as far back as the year 2000, if not before. What has been underway is…
Palestine Politics -
October 12, 2016 |Police Violence in America and Compounded Racism
The spike in killing of unarmed African Americans by police officers is directly related to greater exposure, of historical and long-term endemic problems, and through the utilization of cameras and social media. Instead of seeing this as a drastic increase in the cases, the public should focus on police’s violence and abuse that has been…
Politics Race/Racism -
October 5, 2016 |Racism at the University: Silence, Indifference and Culpability
“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” Martin Luther King’s words are as true today as the time they were uttered during the tumultuous years of the 1960s. I don’t…
Politics Race/Racism -
September 28, 2016 |The First U.S. Presidential Debate: Divided We Shall Remain!
The first U.S. presidential debate is already behind us and the day after, the American people are still as split as they were for the past 16 years. We find the country is divided on almost every issue: race and racism, gender and equal pay, immigration, war on terror, military expenditures, NATO, healthcare, economy, taxes,…
Politics Race/Racism -
September 21, 2016 |Checkpoints on Palestine in Academia
The “suspension” followed by the “reinstatement” of Ethnic Studies 198, Palestine, a settler colonial analysis course by University of California, Berkeley Administration is paradigmatic of Palestine’s treatment in academia. Narrating Palestine in academia is subject to a maze of official and not so official control levers which regulate how the subject is approached. To a…
Palestine Politics -
September 13, 2016 |The Meaning of Eid for the Ummah
The Hajj, the fifth pillar in Islam, rightly serves as the culminating experience for a Muslim’s spiritual journey in life and the struggle with which it is associated. Following the rights of Hajj, believers all around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, meaning that which regularly returns. What is the meaning of…
De-Colonial Islam Islamic Education Islamic Politics Islamic Thought -
September 7, 2016 |Muslim Intellectuals and America’s Imperial Project!
The role of the intellectual in these difficult times is paramount as debates on every issue abound in contemporary society. Nothing from the economy to the environment, race relations to healthcare, and migration to outer space exploration escape the debates and are all in contestation and in flux. At the outset, let’s not posit that…
De-Colonial Islam Islamic Politics Islamic Thought Muslims in America Politics Race/Racism -
September 4, 2016 |Does Europe Have an Inquisition Problem?
Switzerland banned the construction of minarets; Spain and Italy have placed heavy restrictions on permits for building new mosques; Austria adopted a law to redefine the status of Islam and Muslims in the country; France has layered bans on the Hijab, Niqab and now Burkini; and the continent-wide massive surveillance of Muslims raises an important question: Will Europe forever have…
Colonialism Muslim History Politics Race/Racism -
August 31, 2016 |France’s Burkini Ban: the Theater of the Absurd “an Outfit Respecting Good Morals and Secularism.”
The attempt by a number of French coastal mayors to ban the burkini is a clear sign that Islamophobia has entered into the theater of the absurd. How else can we explain this new attack on Muslim women in civil society other than absurdity that is backed up by law and power? When the police…
Islam Islamophobia Race/Racism
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