June 17, 2009

Islam/Muslim Blogs (17 June 2009)

Austrolabe: Return of Ameer Ali

Bin Gregory Productions: Hidden Mosques

Islamic Art by Morty: Allah Gal Galalh Calligraphy in Boat Shape (Brother Muhammad has also done this work in a simpler black-and-white style.)

Islamophobia Watch: Muslim waitress awarded £3,000 for being made to wear low-cut dress (Good news for this sister. Unfortunately, she was ripped in a column in The Mail; see 'No, madam, it's you who have offended MY values'.)

Islamophobia Watch: Holocaust museum attack – Muslims are to blame (No doubt Debbie Schlussel would blame Muslims if she herself were to get into trouble with the law.)

Izzy Mo's Blog: ممتاز (Studying Arabic in Dubai)

The Zen of South Park: Quran Read-A-Long: Al-’Imran 31-41 Starts to Reveal Where This Surah Gets Its Name

Umar Lee: My Run in With a Real Life Jack Bauer Wanna-be

Umar Lee: Looking at the Question of the Arab Haram Stores

2 comments:

JDsg said...

She's clearly not a practising Muslim (no hijab, working in an establishment serving alcohol)...

Actually, now, this is something that cannot necessarily be said. One cannot say such-and-such Muslim woman is not practicing just because she isn't wearing a hijab. Wearing hijab is only one small aspect of being a practicing Muslimah. The same can be said for someone working in a restaurant that serves alcohol; I once went to an Italian restaurant run by Muslims who served wine there. They felt that they needed to serve alcohol in order to fit in with the image their customers would expect of that type of restaurant; however, I doubt it ever crossed my wife's mind (it certainly didn't cross mine) to doubt whether the couple who owned the restaurant were practicing or not.

People fall into and out of a state of Islam all the time. Practicing Muslims may try to maintain that state of Islam at all times, but may fall out from time to time. You just can't tell whether a person's in a state of Islam by whether they dress "like a Muslim" or where they happen to work. Bringing Islam into her case may make her look like a hypocrite to non-Muslims, but may be a statement of truth from her perspective.

bingregory said...

In the States, the courts are never in a position to rule on the beliefs or practices of a particular religious group. This has come up in court cases on niqab, or the face veil. If a particular woman feels it is her religious duty to cover her face, the court can not rule based on the fact that many muslims do not feel this to be obligatory. Even where the right to wear niqab has been rejected, like in driver's license photos, it is rejected due to reasons not having to due with the correctness or obligatory nature of niqab to The Religion. Anything less would be a violation of the clause that the State will not Establish Religion.