Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 14, 2013,
National Public Radio (NPR) Foreign Correspondent Deborah Amos will share experiences and insights from covering the Arab Spring in appearances at CU-Boulder on January 16 and the Colorado School of Mines on January 17.
Amos’ lecture, “The Arab Spring and Islamism: Stories from the Syrian Frontline,” is especially timely given the civil war in Syria and its potential impacts worldwide.
She will speak at the University of Colorado Boulder on Wednesday, January 16 at 5 p.m. in Room 250 of t...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, November 28, 2012,
An interesting photo from the ongoing protests in Egypt against President Mursi's recent power grab.
A protester applies saline solution on soldier's face to heal him during clashes between CSF and protesters in Simon Bolivar Square, near US embassy and Tahrir Square, 28 November 2012. Photo by: Tarek Wageeh Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, October 1, 2012,
The Muslims in the Mountain West Project is pleased to announce “Muslim Voices in the Heartland”, a 3-day event featuring discussion panels with local, regional and national Muslim writers, journalists, scholars, and activists. This event is hosted by the Center for Media, Religion and Culture and the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.Click here for the full schedule.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, October 10, 2011,
It's hard to believe in change in Egypt these days. The military is using the same lame tactics to derail the democratic process. Using an exaggerated fear of religious war (Muslims against Christians) to deflate attention from deficient leadership. This is sad.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, October 5, 2011,
I'm not sure what to make of Donald Rumsfeld's recent raucous interview with Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau chief, Abderrahim Foukara. Foukara didn't mince his words and asked Rumsfeld some tough questions about American responsibility in the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis because "American troops did not properly secure the borders of Iraq." Rumsfeld's answer as Foukara kept insisting on an answer was to tell the reporter that it's in his "being" and nature to be disrespectful "b... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, August 21, 2011,
I'm delighted to see the Denver Post step up its coverage of the Muslim community in Colorado. The 3-day series "Muslims in America" by Eric Gorski chronicles the experience of Somali Muslim refugees in Fort Morgan and the impact of 9/11 a decade after. A quick look at the comments section online validates why this kind of reporting is much warranted. (it's amazing to me how someone can link Roe v. Wade to Somali refugees in Colorado). I believe most DP readers will appreciate the nuanced rea... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, July 31, 2011,
Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian heart surgeon turned media celebrity, will begin his new show Al Barnamag (the Show) on private channel On Tv tomorrow, the first day of Ramadan. The Show, a satirical take on news a la Jon Stewart, follows a remarkably successful show on Youtube Youssef hosted in his Cairo apartment in March in which he exposed the hypocrisy of political life and mocked the reaction of celebrities during the revolution. Youssef will have to thread carefully as he attempts to resto... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, July 3, 2011,
Arab and Muslim-American stand-up comedy is making some large inroads and AJE's One on One program has just featured one of its most prominent comedians, Ahmed Ahmed. Very interesting broadcast.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, May 26, 2011,
It was extremely painful to listen to Netanyahu's speech to Congress on Tuesday and see how U.S. representatives and senators eagerly cheered the Israeli prime minister's defiance and political arrogance. His categorical refusal to deal with the Palestinians now that Fatah and Hamas have united is reckless at best. Yes, Hamas is a radical organization that uses violence to achieve its ends, but it does play a critical role in Palestinian society, at times providing better social and economic ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, May 19, 2011,
I always find it better to read important speeches like the one President Obama gave today on democracy in the MIddle East and North Africa and the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Here is the transcript: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please have a seat. Thank you, very much.
I want to begin by thanking Hillary Clinton, who has traveled so much these last six months that she is approaching a new landmark: 1 million frequent flyer miles.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, May 17, 2011,
It was just a matter of days before Egyptian filmmakers turned the revolution in their country into a film. Tamantahsar Yom (18 Days) is a collection of 10 shorts chronicling the events leading up to the removal of Mubarak's regime. The film is being shown at the Cannes Film Festival where Egypt has been invited as a "country guest" to celebrate its landmark revolution. There is already some controversy surrounding two filmmakers in this project who are accused of working too closely with the... Continue reading ...
As I said in my last post, you will see no ambivalence on this blog about the death of bin Laden. The questions I still have are not about the legitimacy of this surgical strike, but about why it took so long to take him out and why thousands of American soldiers and scores of Iraqis and Afghans had to die for something that could have been achieved right after 9/11. Arab (not only Pakistani or Afghani) regimes should also share the blame in this vicious negligence. Bin Laden's evil rhetoric... Continue reading ...
My first reaction to bin Laden's death is good riddance. He was after all responsible for the death of scores of people around the world, including many more in Muslim countries, and that's the end ruthless killers deserve. There should be no equivocating about what happened yesterday. This was a brutal, deranged man with apocalyptic plans and the world should be grateful for his demise. My second, more reflective, reaction to the news, though, is: why ten years after 9/11? The most shocking ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, April 29, 2011,
It's always hard to make sense of the senseless. The heinous attack at Café Argana in Marrakech yesterday bears all the signs of a coordinated effort to forestall the peaceful process of democratic reform in Morocco. The timing is calculated to derail a scattered but popular uprising across the country to demand more democracy and economic parity. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but early investigations point to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a violent group which ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 14, 2011,
CNN had an interesting exchange a couple of days ago between Hebah Ahmed (veiled with a niqab) and Mona Eltahawy (unveiled) about the validity of the official ban of the niqab in France. This conversation would have gone quite differently on French television. CNN's Eliot Spitzerwas clearly defending Hebah's right to dress how she wishes. The issue is more complicated than being just a First Amendment question, but 10 minutes of television is not enough to talk about deeper issues. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, April 3, 2011,
As I was watching CNN's Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door recently, I couldn't help thinking about another way of deploying the media to build bridges across communities. CNN's special report was obviously meant to highlight a deep rupture at the heart of a community divided on whether a bigger mosque should be built in their town in Tennessee. This got me thinking about a documentary about a similar issue in New Jersey, but this time instead of making discord and tension the driving force beh... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 30, 2011,
The OpenNet Inititiative has just released an interesting report about how Arab censors use Western technologies to control the flow of information in their countries, particularly information they deem incriminating for their governments. Filtering technology is not new and is not used only by undemocratic regimes. Some interesting findings for at least 9 countries who are using this technology to block all kinds of content.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 21, 2011,
Thousands of Moroccans peacefully protested in 60 cities today, reviving the pro-democracy campaign despite the king's promises of a constitutional overhaul. Here are some very telling pictures.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, March 19, 2011,
As Morocco braces for another wave
of demonstrations on March 20, many analysts underscore the singularity of its
king's reaction to similar unrelenting protests currently plaguing many Arab
countries. In a rare televised speech, King Mohammed VI called for
comprehensive constitutional reform which could strip him of the bulk of his
executive powers turning his monarchy into the first real constitutional
monarchy in the Arab world. Concretely, this implies the king will no l...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, March 13, 2011,
Al Jazeera organized an interesting forum yesterday on the historic transitions in Arab countries. Here is the video of Turkey's foreign minister where he speaks about the necessity of change in the region. Some important quotes from his speech: "There should be regional ownership. No foreign intervention. This is our region." "No leader should think that they will be there forever, we must trust our nations."
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 9, 2011,
The New York Times had a very informative article on Peter King's long sympathy and alleged collaboration with the Irish terrorist group IRA. The point here is not to waste time comparing whether the IRA and Al Qaeda are equally morally reprehensible (to me they both are), but that King, who apparently struggled with ancestral ties to a foreign land, believes he's well positioned to lead these hearings. The IRA, he says, never targeted Americans. True, but what Mr. King is implying is that te... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 7, 2011,
I'm greatly confused about how amidst the social (not religious) revolutions in the Arab world, some Western countries are calling for a debate about the place of Islam in their societies. U.S. Republican Congressman from New York, Peter King is hosting a public hearing on radical Islam this week, French President, Nicholas Sarkozy is calling for a "debat sur l'islam en France", and German interior minister is asking if Muslims can be true Germans because "Islam in Germany is not something su... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 28, 2011,
I have been following the news about film director Qasim Basir for a couple of years now and I haven't blogged about his latest work, Mooz-Lum, a feature film about the coming of age of a Muslim African American before, during, and after the tragic events of 9/11. I haven't seen the movie because it's playing only in select theaters, but the trailer and the reviews (here and here) I have read indicate this is certainly worth seeing. What a wonderful discussion this film could generate. Certai... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 28, 2011,
It was hard to watch Christiane Amanpour's interview this morning with two of Gadhafi's sons. With all the money the family has and the fact that Saif has a PhD from the London School of Economics, the least one can expect is a bit of decent English, not that they've ever said anything really smart in Arabic either. Much like his father, Saif is convinced the protests are led by a small bunch (5,000 to 10,000) of unruly hooligans in that ruffian part to the east of Tripoli, while Saadi, the s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 23, 2011,
Here is an interesting article on the role religious groups played (or didn't play rather) in the Egyptian revolution. I've been following tele-Islamist Amr Khaled as he visited Tahrir Square at the height of the protests there and broke his silence on politics, something he clearly avoided in his television shows up till now. As this article shows, the revolution in Egypt has brought with it a new political culture in which religiously devout young Egyptians identified with religion differen... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 20, 2011,
The Libyan government has stooped to an abysmal low by allegedly paying young Africans (names of countries have not been released) up to $30k each to carry out the dirty work of hitting and killing protesters in the streets of cities like Benghazi. Al Jazeera English has also been reporting that a number of Libyan students in the US were allegedly called by their embassy in Washington and coerced to participate in pro-Gaddafi rallies in the US Students. Their scholarships would be called off ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 14, 2011,
The New York Times had a fascinating article and an interactive timeline tracing the roots of the peaceful revolution in Tunisia and Egypt. The transnational dimension of these uprisings is just incredible as activists and protesters exchange idea, tactics and read up on resistance literature and activist initiatives in the history of the United States and more recently in Serbia. What's also fascinating is how the Web and social media have become mobilizing tools to brand these revolutionary... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, February 12, 2011,
I feel so proud of this young generation of Arabs. They have proven all the skeptics wrong and their heroism is remarkably infectious. What my generation has been unable to do, these young Arabs have done it effectively and peacefully. What a historic day. There is much excitement, but there's a lot of trepidation also about what's to come next. I don't want to focus on the trepidation for now. Egyptians deserve to enjoy this revolution and relish it for days to come. This was no small feat. ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 9, 2011,
If you haven't seen Wael Ghonim's famous interview with Egyptian private television network Dream TV, here it is with English subtitles. Ghonim is the Google executive who spent 12 days in police custody and was released late last week. He was most certainly arrested by secret police as seen in this video because he created a Facebook page in June called, "We're all Khaled Said." Said was the young businessman allegedly attacked and killed by Egyptian police as he was filming a video of two p... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 9, 2011,
Ian Buruma published an opinion column on Al Jazeera English today about why the West should respect the results of elections in Egypt even if the Muslim Brotherhood wins them. Of course, I firmly believe that the MB will face much higher competition from other opposition (non-religious) groups if the elections are fair and transparent. It's Mubarak's heavy-handed rule which has popularized the MB in Egypt by forcing them to go underground and organize more organically in the Egyptian society... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, February 5, 2011,
If this is not a people's revolution, I don't what is. How much more evidence is really needed to be convinced Egyptians have a visceral hate for their president?
Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, February 5, 2011,
Where else would you really see these two men on television? Excellent interview and insightful observations from both about what's happening in Egypt. Really worth your time.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 3, 2011,
Dr. Moosa, an associate professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University will give a presentation entitled: “Re-Thinking Modern Muslim Discursivities: Counterpoints, Dilemmas and Politics,”today at 5:00pm in Hale 270. Dr. Moosa is well known for his important work to modernize Islamic classic thought. Here is more on Dr. Moosa from the website of the department of religious studies at CU which is organizing this event.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, February 2, 2011,
The Center
for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado is organizing an interesting
event this afternoon on the Boulder campus entitled: Halal Muslim Love
Online: Finding a good Muslim Man in Colorado.
This is a presentation by Asma Hasan, a Pakistani-American award-winning author
of Red, White, and Muslim: My Story of Belief and American Muslims: The
New Generation.
Here's more from the flyer:
Wednesday, February 2 at 4:00p.m. Old Main Chapel, followed by a recepti...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 1, 2011,
Here is one of the best commentaries on the events of Tunisia of Egypt by Asef Bayat who first wrote about post-Islamism in Arab countries. He makes some interesting observations about a new Arab street that is not animated by political or religious ideologies but mostly by requests for democracy and human dignity. Here is one good argument from this article that will be tested in the next few days, months and years to come:
"The ‘middle class poor' are the new proletariat of the Middle Ea... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, January 30, 2011,
Many observers are comparing what's happening in Egypt to how things turned from a people's revolution in Iran to a brutal theocracy in 1979. First, the comparison misses an important and critical difference. That revolution had a distinctly religious figure behind it. Ayatollah Khomeini was in exile in France and was at the heart of that popular uprising. He managed to stir up passions through his religious sermons famously distributed on audio cassettes throughout Iran. One of the most stri... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, January 30, 2011,
According to AFP, opposition leaders in Algeria have called for massive demonstrations there on February 12 with "the intention to change the regime." Many Arab countries are following the events in Egypt through Aljazeera and regimes there are bracing for a new era of domestic politics. It's not premature to say that Arab leaders have heard the message loud and clear (even if Mubarak refuses to step down) that ruling with an iron fist can no longer be tolerated. Governance is not an absolut... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, January 29, 2011,
The famous Egyptian teleIslamist Amr Khaled just appeared on CNN (almost crying) and announced that 50,000 members of his LifeMakers Association will go out tomorrow to fight against the looting of public and private property. The situation is dangerously precarious. It's clear the regime is on its way out and it will be a messy situation for sure. Mubarak appointed his intelligence chief as vice-president. Clearly this is a leader who doesn't make sense anymore and lives in his own world. He... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 28, 2011,
It is still unclear whether we have entered a post-Mubarak Egypt, but events on the ground all point to this fact. Egyptian television is reporting now that the head of the parliament says an important announcement will be made shortly. Thousands of people are in the streets welcoming the military and congratulating them on helping them take control. This is a historic development indeed. Aljazeera is reporting that a number of flights are leaving Egypt with businessmen and famous personalit... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 28, 2011,
According to AP, thousands of protesters are defying the curfew and are trying to occupy the ministry of foreign affairs and the building of Egypt's official television. Clinton's tone was stronger today in denouncing the violence but it didn't add anything new at this point. I'm sure that Mubarak will now say that he's willing to negotiate power (not in these terms) and he will announce some reform measures much like Ben Ali did in Tunisia at the height of the unrest there. This could be too... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 28, 2011,
It's hard to blog about the events in Egypt because they're moving very fast. Aljazeera is reporting that protesters are welcoming the military as they make their way to Al-Tahrir Square. It's unclear whether the military will clamp down on the protesters since the only sign coming from the president of Egypt who is also the commander in chief was to impose a curfew from 6 pm to 7 am tomorrow. Many protesters are hoping for a similar turn of events as in Tunisia when the military turned again... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 25, 2011,
Egypt is witnessing some of the biggest riots in many years as thousands
of people took to the streets chanting slogans as "Mubarak Mubarak,
Saudi Arabia is waiting for you." Below is a chilling video of what's
happening in Cairo today. A young protester stood in front of a
water-hosing truck in a moment reminiscent of the Chinese man who
defiantly stood in front of a tank during the Tiananmen Square uprising.
Twitter was blocked in Egypt and cell phone communication was interrupted. L... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 24, 2011,
Last night, Aljazeera released documents revealing important secrets about the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. While I believe this unprecedented revelation (more in terms of its details but not so much the substance of its accusations) to be quite useful, I think its timing was poorly planned. It is painful to see how low Fatah has stooped conceding too much to an Israeli side that is clearly not interested in making peace and only concerned about acquiring more land. Saeb Erakat, th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 21, 2011,
An interesting episode of Al-Jazeera English' Riz Khan show on the role of social media in the Tunisian uprising. Sami Ben Gharbia, the co-founder of the Tunisian website Nawaat.org which has been critical these last few weeks to provide news about the events leading to the collapse of the president and his government, appears on the show along with famous Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, January 20, 2011,
You may have heard that Republican congressman Peter King of New York, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, will hold hearings in February about the radicalization of Muslims in America. King tells Muslims not to worry because he will not invite Islamophobes like Pamela Geller or Bruce Spencer, but he will appear on the debut episode of Brigitte Gabriel's weekly television show on American Life Network and Family Life. Gabriel, who is notorious for her anti-Muslim screeds, has elected ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 18, 2011,
I usually hate to speak in baffling generalizable terms, but the way Western governments have reacted to the remarkable events in Tunisia is outright sickening. The unctuous statements coming out of Western capitals about the bravery of the Tunisian people is hypocritical at best. Only now do we read about the scores of Wikileaks cables detailing the corruption of Ben Ali and his clan as if they were dark characters in a brilliantly-scripted drama. All this information and much more is availa... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 17, 2011,
Anthony Shadid said
it well in today's NYT that the year 2011 may be the beginning of the
end of an old Arab order. Citing election troubles in Egypt, the
government collapse in Lebanon, riots in Algeria, the probable
separation of the Sudan, and the street revolution of Tunisians, Shadid
is right to talk about a paradigm shift. His most revealing paragraph of
the article sums up things quite appropriately: "In the streets of the Tunisian summer getaway of Hammamet, in the
seething qua... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, January 15, 2011,
A
month after protests erupted in Tunisia leaving more than 80 people
dead, President Ben Ali finally heeded the call of his own people to
step down. You wouldn't know this by reading the media in the US, but
what's going on in Tunisia today is nothing short of historic. This is
the first time that an Arab dictatorship is brought down by street
protests. In a region where governance is inherited and the status quo
benefits a privileged few, it was only a moment of time before repressed... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 10, 2011,
This is the kind of articles we need to see more often. Denouncing violence verbally is one thing but showing support through concrete and strongly symbolic action is quite another. This past week, a number of prominent and ordinary Muslim Egyptians showed up at a Coptic mass and offered their bodies as a human shield to protect the Christian community. This is a bold first step in the right direction and I hope it will provide some fodder for a frank discussion of a long checkered history of... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, December 15, 2010,
Below is the video of the last panel discussion we organized for the Muslims in the Mountain West project. A few minutes into the video you can watch the trailer for our upcoming documentary, "Muslims in the Rockies"
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, December 13, 2010,
I used to think that it's better not to dignify nonsensical ranting with a comment, but it's become clear that more and more people believe the half-baked truths of populist provocateurs such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. In this media age of fact-free commentaries, It's important to challenge all claims, no matter how fatuous they are, and particularly coming from people whose sole purpose is to stoke more fear and drum up the ratings of their shows. Last week, Beck made an outlandish es... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, December 6, 2010,
Just thought I'd pass this call for applications along. If you're a graduate student interested in religion, conflict, and peacebuilding; religion and gender in
international perspective; religion, development, and modernization;
religion, pluralism, and human rights; and religion, secularism, and
democratic politics in comparative international perspective, you should definitely apply. This will be a great soundboard for your ideas and your dissertation project.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, December 1, 2010,
The Center for Media, Religion and Culture and the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder are organizing a panel discussion this evening entitled, "Islam: An American Experience" at the Colorado Law School, Room 204. The event is part of the Muslims in the Mountain West Project, a mapping research initiative funded by the Social Science Research Council in New York. I'll be moderating the discussion and we'll talk primarily about the history of Muslims/Islam in America... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, December 1, 2010,
Just when you thought rigging elections was so 20th century, the ruling party in Egyptis flexing its muscles by shutting down all opposition. As one newspaper publisher told the NYT,“At least get creative in how you rig the elections. I was
expecting a few more seats for the opposition.” Well, the Muslim Brotherhood which has about 88 seats in the current parliament (unofficially: MB candidates have to run as independents to skirt a ban against their party) may end up with none, and ou... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, November 17, 2010,
Slavoj Zizek, the Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic talks to AlJazeera English's Riz Khan about the unsustainability of global capitalism and the welfare state. Zizek published an interesting piece the same topic (he recently published a book, Living in the End Times) in Religion and Ethics. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, November 3, 2010,
Twenty-nine-year-old German filmmaker Burhan Qurbani recently released his first feature film, Shahada on the difficulties of being Muslim in Germany. Amid the celebration of his first film and screenings in prestigious international film festivals, Qurbani, who was born and grew up in Germany of Afghan origins, has bitterly realized that his audience still thinks of him as a foreigner in Germany who has made a film about Islam, and not a talented film director who is making a strong statemen... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, October 20, 2010,
The New York Times reported yesterday that Obama will not visit the Sikh Golden Temple during his upcoming trip to India because of how he must cover his head in respect of Sikh traditions. The White House is concerned that a turban on Obama's head might play nicely in the hands of 20% of Americans who are convinced their president in secretly Muslim. This is what happens when fear pervades our thinking. The risk now for the United States President is that he might offend hundreds of millions... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, October 13, 2010,
Pamela
Geller is at it again. Of course, she's still reveling in her triumph
over the framing of the Park51 debate as "Monster Groundzero Mosque"
and in her undeserved climb to prominence with last week's New York
Times' unduly long profile. Just look at how she rejoices
in this attention by 'the paper of record'. Her new 'cheval de
bataille' as of late in her blogging war against the Islamization of
America is the release of Muslim halal Campbell Soup in Canada (actually the halal soup was u... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, October 1, 2010,
Here is a very strong statement against the use of violence and intimidation signed by many American and Canadian Muslims. Please refer to this (and there have been many denunciations of violence by Muslims before and after 9/11; they're just not as dramatic and spectacular to write about in the media) when you find yourself asking that perennial question: where are moderate Muslims?
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, September 30, 2010,
Two reports prepared for Congress and U.S. law enforcement officials reveal that Muslims have been working hard to stem terrorism on American soil, including helping foil planned attacks. Salon Magazine reported yesterday that despite mounting evidence that the loyalty of the majority of Muslims lie in the right place, Muslims continue to face an inflamed wave of Islamophobia. Could Muslims ever win this game?
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, September 23, 2010,
Here we go again. Some members of the Texas Board of Education are waging a battle against what they allege is a whitewashing of Islam in American world history textbooks. The New York Times decided to give them a prominent platform to go national. Read the article here and then read the Texas Freedom Network (TFN) reaction to these allegations on their website here and here. TFN is a grassroots organization based in Austin, TX that monitors far-right issues in the state. I was hoping that Ch... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, September 16, 2010,
In an unprecedented development in the world of Middle Eastern television drama, Arab satellite tv channel, MBC (Saudi-owned) will be airing a popular Iranian drama series this Saturday. The series called, Eghma (Coma in English) played to raving reviews on Iranian state television during Ramadan in 2007. It tells the story of a successful neurosurgeon who is forced to make a difficult decision after his wife becomes gravely ill. (the plot descriptions are very thin!) Iranian producers are ho... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, September 15, 2010,
In case you missed this interesting interview (click on the Recent Shows tab on the right and scroll down) with Tariq Ramadan on Charlie Rose around Park51, Koran burning and other issues regarding the West and Islam.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, September 14, 2010,
The Senate in France voted today to ban the wearing of full face veils. With 246 votes for and just one against, the bill has cleared almost all hurdles unless it is contested by critics as unconstitutional.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, September 3, 2010,
As Pakistan still awaits the generosity of the international community, famed British singer Sami Yusuf recently released a charity single called "Hear Your Call" to benefit the victims of the devastating floods that afflicted the country a few weeks ago. Foundations, individuals and companies have given only $25 million as of August 30, according to Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy. This is a meager amount of money compared to what was pledged for disaster relief campaigns in Hait... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, August 31, 2010,
Here is an interesting article about an argument seldom raised in the debate around Park51. The author blames liberals for incriminating mosques by continuing (in their attempt to calm fears) to say that the Muslim Cultural Center is not a mosque. Excellent point indeed and I should add that Muslims do this all the time by saying things like: this woman is veiled but she's quite liberal and cool, or that man is very devout but he's not an extremist. These are not inconsequential semantic conc... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 25, 2010,
The Muslim Brotherhood today unveiled its new wiki Ikhwan (Brother in Arabic), a Web encyclopedia where registered users can edit and create content about the history of the Brotherhood and search for other brothers around the world, among many other things. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with how the Muslim Brotherhood has always embraced new media technology, particularly when it enables a quick and efficient propagation of their ideology. Since the time of its founding ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, August 24, 2010,
One thing that has become clear since the tragic events of 9/11 and is particularly
evident today in the discussion around the building of the Islamic cultural
center in New York is the lingering confusion over what constitutes a
"modera... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, August 17, 2010,
This editorial is a bit overdue, but it's refreshing to read. The media have to tread carefully when dealing with cultural and religious tensions and not carry the most incendiary rhetoric simply because readers and viewers will flock to them.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, August 16, 2010,
There is plenty of ugliness in the acrimonious debate around the building of the Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City. New Gingrich has topped it all this morning when he compared Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf and other organizers of the center to Nazis putting up a sign near the Holocaust museum. This comes after a concerted campaign of systematic distortions about the history and place of Muslims in New York City and in America and the real motives behind a bridge-building ini... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, July 26, 2010,
The University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur is organizing an international conference (Nov. 29-30, 2010) on the very important topic of Islamic marketing and branding. As the conference description says, Muslims' purchasing power is growing rapidly and there is more demand for all kinds of halal products and services. This obviously raises the need to formalize the marketing sector of this industry estimated at $700b in 2009. The conference calls for papers in interesting areas like advertising,... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, July 19, 2010,
The Egyptian teleIslamist Amr Khaled has paved the way for charismatic and image-savvy imams to prosper on television. Now Malaysian television has turned imamhood into a popular talent tv show. Imam Muda (Young Imam) features 10 aspiring imams (clerics) who compete in a typical reality tv fashion to become Malaysia's imam with the strongest youth appeal. Contestants are tested on their knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and asked for fresh ideas to revert the social and cultural "decadence" ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, July 18, 2010,
The latest Bollywood thriller Lamhaa (The Untold Story of Kashmir) has been banned in the Middle East raising concerns about free speech in the region. Here is a list of films banned in some Muslim countries over the last few years. Just like books, films are often banned in Muslim-majority countries, but you can get a bootlegged copy just about anywhere. I was in Morocco a few weeks ago and I could buy any film I wanted banned or not, already on DVD or still playing in U.S. theaters. Governm... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, June 23, 2010,
French neoconservative philosopher Alain Finkielkraut is at it again. He called the French soccer team, which exited from the world cup in South Africa in disgrace, a "group of scum who knows only one value system, that of the mafia." Finkielkraut is obviously linking the dreadful behavior of the players to the lingering social problems of France's infamous (banlieues) suburbs where many of the players on the national team grew up. He said the tournament disaster in South Africa was a direct ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, May 17, 2010,
Here is Ramadan on the Riz Khan's interview show on Al-Jazeera English. Interesting questions about how Muslims in the West should reconcile their religious identities with their secular societies...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, April 27, 2010,
The eighth most emailed
article on the New York Times yesterday was a column
by Ross Douthat in which he laments the "cowering" of American
institutions before (well you guessed it if you read Douthat before) the threat
of Islamic violence. Douthat believes the recent South Park death threat is
another example of how "Islam is just about the only place where we draw
any lines ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, April 23, 2010,
I
find it hard to believe that anyone would be upset after the Pentagon
decided to rescind its invitation to evangelist Franklin Graham to
speak at an official prayer service. Apparently, and according to
yesterday's NYT's article, the Pentagon didn't even invite Graham for this service. A Colorado-based National
Day of Prayer Task Force, which is helping the Pentagon chaplain's
office with the prayer event, did. Two quick things to say about this:
Graham preached at a 2003 Pentagon Good Frid... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, April 20, 2010,
Riz Khan at Al-Jazeera English has recently done a show on the challenges of portraying Islam by Muslims in big film projects. Khan spoke to Raja Sharif from Alnoor Holdings,
which is producing a $150 million film (by Hollywood) on the Prophet Muhammad, Kamran Pasha, the
author of Mother of the Believers about the life of Aisha, the prophet's wife, and Alt-Muslim's Editor-in-Chief, Shahed Amanullah. At the heart of this discussion was an interesting point about how Islam was revealed as art, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 31, 2010,
Amr Khaled, the Arab world's most successful teleda'ia (televangelist is a loose translation) is at it again with a new racy show somewhat inspired by Donald Trump's The Apprentice. Mujaddidun (The Reformers) takes reality television away from mindless entertainment and into a new realm of charitable and voluntary work. For 3 months, 16 young (20-30 years old) contestants from 9 Arab countries compete for the brightest and most practical innovative ideas in charitable projects ranging from he... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, March 30, 2010,
Here is another way to talk about Muslims in the West in creative ways. The BBC recently aired My Name is Muhammaddocumentary in which it featured nine British Muslims whose name is Muhammad, including Shelina JanMohamed, a female blogger (Spirit 21). Muhammad is Britain's second most popular name after Jack, and the producers of the show wanted to defy some rampant stereotypes about Muslims. I applaud this initiative from the BBC, but It would have been more accurate to find British Muhamma... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 29, 2010,
The British are certainly more courageous to deal with Islam on TV more head on. Muslim Driving School is yet another creative series the BBC (BBC2) has aired recently to open up a rare window into the life of Muslim (Asian) women in the north of England. I really like the idea of using driving school as a way to talk about issues British audiences wouldn't want to learn about otherwise. It's a lighter approach to tackling some topical issues like arranged marriage, gender dynamics, a woman's... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, March 26, 2010,
If you read about the niqab-clad poet
from Saudi Arabia and her anti-extremist verse, you might be wondering
why people are rejoicing over a woman who is allowed to speak only
behind a thick black cloak covering her from head to toe in a
television show where women and men are seated in separate sections.
Yes, it is rather strange to see the male host of the show and the
other male contestants avoid eye contact with the female poet whose
eyes you can't really see, but cultural progress in tha... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 17, 2010,
If you visited IslamOnline recently, you may have found dead links to many articles and fatwa answers. That's because hundreds of workers in the site's editorial office in Cairo have been staging walkouts and sit-ins accusing their managers in Qatar of plotting to replace them with a team of religious hardliners. The managers are allegedly unhappy about a recent trend at the site to run more articles and advice columns about social issues, art, and youth-related topics. IslamOnline has become... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, March 11, 2010,
Here is an interesting request from Maureen Dowd who wants the Saudis to open up Medina and Mecca's holy sites to non-Muslims. Tough times call indeed for radical measures, and this is probably one measure Muslims should debate more seriously. This could help at a time of a sharp image crisis to bridge an important gap between Muslims and non-Muslims, particularly for those with a dying curiosity to learn more about Islam. As Dowd said, "In the end, I did see the hajj. When I got home, I went... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, March 2, 2010,
Veiled Voicesis a rare look into the everyday life of three Muslim women in Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. It's an insightful departure from the exhausted cliche rampant in mainstream media of veiled women=oppressed women. These are religious leaders in their communities who are taking on challenging tasks to preach to other women in mosques and at home. Below is a clip from the documentary which will air on Colorado Public Television tonight at 9. This is quite similar to some of the arguments r... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 25, 2010,
Well here is a more than reasonable thought. Shouldn't Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey or any other Muslim country where Al-Qaeda has struck since 9/11, be leading the search for Bin Laden and his lieutenant, Al-Zawahiri. Dr. Fadl, a well-known scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and jihad, thinks both men should face an Islamic trial because they've caused enough suffering to Muslims and sullied the image of their religion. I think that's an excellent idea an... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 22, 2010,
Here is an interesting article in today's edition of the Washington Post about what language to use for Juma' (Friday) prayer in American mosques. I don't understand why this should still be an issue. If the point of sermons is to help people reflect, then why do they have to be in a language most don't understand and are only attached to symbolically? This got to be one of the reasons many see the Juma' sermon as a mechanical ritual instead of an inspiring and uplifting experience.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 21, 2010,
I recently read an interesting article by Newsweek's international editor, Fareed Zakaria, in which he echoes much of what many observers have been saying about jihadism and the Middle East. A debate has raged in the Muslim world about what constitutes Islam after 9/11, but much of that reflection has gone unnoticed in the West. Zakaria sums up very well the need to pay attention to Muslim civil society, including the media, if we're serious enough about combating jihadism.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 16, 2010,
I've devoted this blog to revealing new and for the most part promising trends in Muslim media in the hope of challenging the reductionist views some in the West hold of the contemporary Muslim world. I know that for some people these voices don't matter much in the face of a violent extremism that shows no regard for human life and respect for dialogue. But this attitude is precisely what keeps these progressive voices from making a bigger difference in their communities because we think of ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 12, 2010,
Here is a story we seldom heard anywhere. After a talk I gave this past Saturday in Carbondale, Colorado about who speaks for Islam, I was approached by a fascinating photographer, Norman Gershman, whose work has been featured in the United Nations and well-known museums around the world. His latest exhibit and book are about Muslim Albanians and Kosovars who provided shelter to Jewish families at grave peril to themselves during WWII. I've been reading the book, Besa: Muslims who Saved Jews ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 25, 2010,
I've been listening for the last few months to an extremely interesting series on Islam from Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison. Inside Islam, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin at Madison and WPR's program, Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, has featured great guests rarely invited by traditional media, including secular and religious artists, novelists, scholars, comedians, bloggers, journalists, and activists. They have certainly set an excellent example for how the disc... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, January 24, 2010,
For almost six years the Swiss intellectual, Tariq Ramadan, had been barred from entering the United States, but no more. Thanks to a direct order from President Obama and Secretary Clinton, Ramadan will no longer be denied an entry visa. This is a major victory for critical debate. I'm sure requests to speak at conferences are already pouring in. I saw Ramadan speak at the last American Academy of Religion conference in Montreal and you can disagree with his ideas, but he's a great, construc... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 19, 2010,
As I watch the devastating pictures of Haiti and read about the horrifying stories of people left to scramble for food, shelter and dignity, I can't help but think of the ritzy extravagance of Dubai and its recent rejoicing over the world's tallest skyscraper which cost more than $1.5 billion (that's the happy story. The sad story is that more than 1,000 workers died while building it). I can't resist asking the obvious question: how much of this money could have been used to help the poor ar... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 18, 2010,
A young Muslim businessman in Orange County recently launched onelegacyradio, a 24-hour Muslim radio station in Irvine, Calif. I haven't listened to any of their programs yet, but judging from their schedule and program description online, the topics are quite engaging and very topical, including such issues as youth radicalization, drug use, and many other social problems. One of their live shows is called Objection, a daily talk show hosted by an activist and an attorney specializing in nat... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 15, 2010,
It became ever clearer to me after our conference on Islam and the Media that journalists do not work hard to seek out alternative Muslim voices to counteract the extremism of radical Islam. Everywhere you look, the debate on Islam is acrimonious, unidimensional, and excessively security-based. Lots of Muslims have been hard at work creating new spaces for a different kind of debate that is constructive and less polarized. We had many of them here in Boulder during our conference and they cam... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 11, 2010,
Yesterday was the last day of our international conference on Islam and the Media organized by our Center for Media, Religion and Culture. Some amazing research is being done in many countries around the world about an interesting and vibrant Muslim media culture (broadcast, print, and digital) that is evolving with its new (mixed with old) production aesthetics, its own political economy, and certainly its own religious authority. We had stimulating discussions about these and many other to... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, December 25, 2009,
For those of you who understand French, you'll find this video of Tariq Ramadan speaking to the parliamentary commission on the burqa quite interesting. He told the 32 members (from both the right and left) of the commission that France was skirting the main problems it has with Muslims by focusing on extreme cases like wearing the burqa. This commission, Ramadan said, would be more productive if it tackled real problems of structural racism and social inequalities in France's suburbs. The ma... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, December 14, 2009,
Here is an interesting take on the implications of the anti-minaret vote in Switzerland. Ian Buruma argues that Muslims painfully remind Europeans of the loss of their own faith.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, December 2, 2009,
I mentioned Christopher Caldwell's book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, in a recent post. Here is a very good review by Laila Lalami in The Nation.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, November 30, 2009,
Here is a video from Ta'Leef Collective, an independent Muslim organization in the San Francisco Bay area, which grew out of a Zaytuna Institute outreach program to help converts to Islam and Muslim youth. The video describes their outreach initiatives in California and raises some interesting and rarely-addressed issues regarding the support provided after someone converts to Islam. This is from their mission statement, "Ta’leef Collective primarily serves seekers actively interested in
I... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, November 9, 2009,
An all too common pattern is emerging in the wake of the tragic shooting at Fort Hood. The media and their so-called experts, woefully unrepentant about their glaring double standards in covering anything "Muslim," are uncritically trumping up the faith card (Even The New York Times is leading today's edition with the surveillance picture showing Major Nidal Malik Hasan in a 'Middle Eastern' attire, further distancing the killer from his American roots. Even if your text is more nuanced, pict... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, November 2, 2009,
As I said a few times on this blog, this question is very common now and even if it's a rhetorical one, it's quite useful to think with because it generates a healthy debate about the diversity of voices who speak on behalf of Islam. Link TV is continuing its series on Who Speaks for Islam with some interesting guests from actors, authors, tv producers, Hollywood screenwriters, comedians to pollsters. I also came across this passionate debate between Irshad Manji and Dalia Mogahed (from last ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, October 29, 2009,
The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued yesterday an editorial entitled, "Islamophobia Machine Targets American Muslims,"describing what it sees as the mainstreaming of anti-Muslim rhetoric in America.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, October 20, 2009,
Four members of Congress made some ridiculous allegations against the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Reps. Sue Myrick of North Carolina,
Trent Franks of Arizona, Paul Broun of Georgia and John Shadegg of Arizona accuse this largest Muslim advocacy group in the United States of spying on Congress by placing interns with lawmakers who have access to critical security information. I can only laugh at this and share with you this hilarious video made by the comedians of the Axis... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, October 8, 2009,
A quick post to inform those of you in the Boulder area that Iranian human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, will be in Boulder on Friday and Saturday this week. Ebadi has been invited by Naropa University's Peace Studies Department and the Cordoba Initiative to participate in an international symposium on women's leadership and activism in the Muslim world. She'll be keynoting on Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m. at Naropa University. Her speech is entitled, "Human R... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, October 6, 2009,
Be wary of wordsBy way of emiliewood.com As I mentioned earlier on this blog, there seems to be a paranoia about Muslims in the West, and some misguided observers have been taking advantage of this fear warning the West of a so-called Islamicization of their societies. For years now, Daniel Pipes, a prime spokesperson of the anti-Muslim lobby in America, has tried to convince us that 'Muslims are coming...' because they demand halal meals for their kids in public... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, September 18, 2009,
A few starchitects like Norman foster and Zaha Hadid have been delegated last year to redesign the Masjid Al-Haram in Islam's holiest city, Mecca. The first designs have been revealed and they look very ambitious. The main concern for the Saudis is understandably the safety of 2.5 millions of pilgrims who flock to Mecca every year. As more Muslims around the world can afford the haj, modernization of the mosque and the area around it is not a luxury. Currently, the mosque holds about 900,000 ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, September 14, 2009,
A Malaysian manufacturingcompany recently created the first automatic Wudu machine for Muslims to perform their ablution (washing) ritual before praying. You might be asking yourself: seriously, is this the most urgent thing Muslims need these days? But the company is clearly interested in tapping into an extremely lucrative halal market that is making large inroads among Muslim consumers around the world. The global halal market today is worth more than $640 billion and growing at a rate of... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, September 7, 2009,
Finally, a voice of wisdom from Saudi Arabia is calling on Imams to cease praying for the destruction of unbelievers at the end of Friday sermons. I hope Imams will heed the call and stop this irresponsible practice.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, August 31, 2009,
A British media production company has recently launched an online comedy series called, Living with the Infidels.This is how the producers describe it: "The series centres around a bumbling,
Bradford-based terror cell. Initially set on a path to martyrdom, Yorkshire's jihadi warriors discover the West isn't as
bad as it seems. Tempted by the likes of Man U, cable TV and ample Abi
upstairs, what's a man to do? Will they find Paradise
in the arms of seventy-two virgins, or is Shangri-La [utop... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 26, 2009,
So many are urging the
so-called liberal media to pay attention to the Ohio Muslim teenager who fled
to Florida for fear her Pakistani-born parents might harm her for converting to
Christianity. Yes, cover it, but be fair in your loud outbursts for equitable
cove...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 26, 2009,
British scholar and journalist Kenan Malik, author of the interesting book,
From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy, has been exploring how perceptions of Islam are
shaped by the media in an excellent series on BBC Radio 4. You can listen to
Malik’s series, Islam, Mullahs and the Media here.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 19, 2009,
An impressive industry seems to have formed around the topic of Islam in the West. Write any incendiary propaganda and you're almost guaranteed publication. Christopher Caldwell in his recent book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West (positively reviewed here in The New York times By Fouad Ajami and critiqued here by Eboo Patel), is hell-bent on the idea that Islam has always been and will always be the archenemy of Europe, and by extension the West. Brush... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, August 8, 2009,
A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Culture in Egypt awarded the state's highest prize in the social sciences to Sayed al-Qimni, a controversial historian and sociologist who has received death threats for what many believe is heresy in his writing and for strong denunciation of what he calls the intellectual bankruptcy of Islamic extremists. That decision has opened wide gates of fire as some Egyptians and other Arab Muslims on satellite television scurried for places to call for the withdrawal... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, August 6, 2009,
"Who speaks for Islam?" has become the ultimate question to ask in the post 9/11 world. Some ask it without really looking for fresh critical voices or invite them but give them 3 or 4 minutes in between commercial breaks to explain the crisis of religious authority in Islam. Others, like here on Link TV, genuinely seek to understand how that authority is legitimated today in the Muslim world. Ray Suarez, one of the smartest journalists in this country, invited a number of people you don't al... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, July 31, 2009,
Now there is a comic book with heroes like Sami-The Listener from the Sudan, Jabbar-The Powerful from Saudi Arabia, Musawwira-The Organizer from South Africa, Widad-The Loving from the Philippines, and Hadya-The Guide from the UK. These are the superheroes of the first comic strip based on Islamic archetypes, The-99, created by Naif Al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist from Kuwait and CEO of Teshkeel Media Group, a Middle East based company its Website describes as "focused on
creating, re-engi... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, July 16, 2009,
The Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies has a new website. It has a number of interesting features like reflection pieces by scholars in the field, a forum where registered members can post questions and comments, interviews and many useful announcements. Currently, the site features a short piece by Charles Kurzman lamenting the sudden and narrow interest in Islam in sociology, an essay by Rachel Woodlock on the interpretation of hijab and authority in Islam, and an interview with Tzvi L... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, July 9, 2009,
Masaryk University's Journal of Law and Technology has just published a special issue on religion and technology edited by Vit Sislerand Robert Geraci. Here is the table of content:
-Robert M. Geraci: Technology and Religion
– An Introduction to the Special Issue -John G. Whitesides: Religion, Genetics, and the Evolving American Experiment with Bioethics (7-32) -Jens Kutscher: The Politics of Virtual Fatwa Counseling in the 21st Century (33-50) -Vit Sisler: European Courts’ Authority Contes... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, July 7, 2009,
Al-Jazeera English has recently been picked up by a major cable company in the Washington D.C. area after a long battle with U.S. cable operators across the country and fierce anti-Al-Jazeera campaigns led by various groups. They're apparently working on more agreements with other cable companies across the US, and soon millions of Americans will be able to see for themselves if Al-Jazeera is the dangerous channel many in the West have warned us against. There is no perfect news channel, but ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, June 27, 2009,
Some western media have been asking about Arab reactions to the post-election turmoil in Iran. If we're talking about Arab leaders, well, as Mona Eltahawy wrote on the Washington Post, what do you expect from dictators who have clamped down on their own people on many occasions and would be as heavy-handed as Iranian authorities if their iron-fist rule were to be challenged in the same way? The silence of Arab leaders is no surprise, but I find the silence of Arab streets quite intriguing. If... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, June 16, 2009,
If you're trying to get some good on-the-ground reporting on the massive post-election protests in Iran, try The Independent's Robert Fisk in this article. Iranian bloggers and twitterers have been doing a brave and remarkable job covering these drastic events as they unfold in the streets of Tehran and Isfahan. It's rather amazing to see how Iranian students and other Moussavi's supporters are working around the massive media (old and new) blockade ordered by Ahmadinejad's embattled governme... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, June 9, 2009,
In a surprising statement this last weekend, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he fully agrees with Barack Obama that Muslim veiling is a right each country must respect. Coming from the leader of a country that has instituted a ban on wearing visible religious symbols (the veil being the prime target here) in public offices, this is quite intriguing. "In France, every young girl who wants to wear the veil can do it. It's her freedom," said Sarkozy citing some limitations in a secular (la... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, June 8, 2009,
I've been following news of a Muslim college by the Zaytuna Institute in the Bay area for some time now, but I thought it was going to be years before it started. Apparently, enough funds have been raised and the first Muslim college in the US will open as soon as the Fall of 2010. It will first use rented buildings at Berkeley before it reaches its goal of raising an endowment of $30 million and another $20 million to purchase properties. This is important in two major ways: this is part of ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, June 3, 2009,
Some food for thought as President Obama prepares to deliver his speech to the "Muslim World" tomorrow. Should we be talking about a Muslim world as if there were a unified one? Doesn't that, as this FP article says, raise the specter of 'us vs them'?
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, June 3, 2009,
Al-Azhar University was founded in 988.
The long-established authority of Al-Azhar University has recently come under heavy attack by Islamic radicals and secularists alike. Some strange fatwas by professors there in the past couple of years have been publicly ridiculed, and radicals have long denounced its tamed theology under heavy state control. There are signs the one-thousand-year-old religious institution might be striking back. It was announced today that Al-Azhar is preparing to launch... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, May 27, 2009,
A couple of years ago, JWT, the world's leading ad company came out with a report indicating that the purchase power of American Muslims was $170 billion. It was believed that many companies would scurry to court this important segment of the population, but only few brands have tapped into this market fearing backlash over what still appears to be an extremely sensitive issue. Remember Rachel Ray's Dunkin Donuts' commercial which was quickly removed after some conservatives complained the s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, May 21, 2009,
If you were impatiently waiting for the premiere of PBS' documentary New Muslim Cool on June 23, you'd be treated to yet another interesting documentary on Islam on the same network a week earlier (June 15). The Mosque in Morgantown,a verite-style film by Brittany Huckabee, chronicles the struggle of journalist and activist, Asra Nomani, as she takes on the male leadership of a mosque at her hometown over fundamental issues in Islam today. You might be familiar with Nomani if you read her b... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, May 5, 2009,
Just a quick note to let you know about the debut of Patheos.com, an extremely interactive site with impressive religious content. Think of it as somewhere between beliefnet and Religion Dispatches. Both the religious paths and the public square are much needed features to better focus the very disjointed discussion on religion Online. All the contents in their library are peer-reviewed. You can watch their overview video at the bottom of their main page. If you were curious about what a reli... Continue reading ...
As I said in a recent post, I'd rather focus my critical energies on how Muslims can get out of their long monumental crisis, but this video below, Muslim Demographics, on the threat Muslims pose to the Western world is so ludicrous and shocking it deserves at least a quick mention. A quick preview: Islam will soon take over Western Europe and North America because the fertility rate of Muslim women in the West is much higher. In 39 years, the video claims, France will become an "Islamic Repu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, April 28, 2009,
The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff wrote last week about a Quran conference he attended at the University of Notre Dame. I don't usually agree with what Kristoff writes about, but this time much like him, I find it deplorable that conferences like this one (The Quran in Historical Contexts held last week) never take place in a Muslim country. What's even more lamentable was that Arab/Muslim media never bothered to cover such an important event. Not even a marginal mention at the b... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, April 22, 2009,
Ahmed Abu Haiba, the Egyptian mastermind behind Islamic entertainment television at Iqra' and Al-Resalah tv channels, has recently launched what many have dubbed the 'Islamic MTV'. 4Shbab (for youth), which is available through satellite in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and soon in the United States, is the latest attempt to create a global Islamic pop culture scene. Viewers can watch the latest videos from Muslim artists in the United States, Africa, Egypt, in Arabic and English. Abu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, April 17, 2009,
Dalia MogahedRashad Hussain
As I mentioned on this blog a few weeks ago, President Obama was given a book of resumes of some of the brightest Muslim Americans for jobs in his administration. Well, some of these posts have been filled recently: Dalia Mogahed, the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed to the new White House Faith Advisory Council. And so was Eboo Patel, the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Co... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 9, 2009,
The Financial Times recently published an article on the Dubai World Cup, a lavish meeting of horse racing. In a story about horses, why is it that the first thing readers see before even getting to the first sentence is this picture? Come on, reporters. Keep your focus.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 9, 2009,
For those of you who don't know who Sami Yusuf is, he's probably one of today's most recognizable Muslim singers. Born in Iran and raised in London by Azeri parents, Yusuf blends different musical styles and is not afraid to innovate where others think it's haram (forbidden) to tread. In 2003, Yusuf revolutionized the world of Nasheed (God and Prophet praising) singing by introducing stringed instruments and percussion. Here is what it sounds like in Yusuf's music. Reactions to his songs have... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, April 6, 2009,
Gary Bunt, author of the forthcoming book,iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam, has an interesting article in The National about digital Islam. Bunt will be keynoting at our conference on Islam and the Media January 7-10, 2010 at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 2, 2009,
The New York Times had an interesting take on a recent book entitled God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist's editor-in-chief and Washington bureau chief, respectively. The reviewer, the well-known literary critic Michiko Kakutani did not like the thesis of the book that religion is back and that "the great forces of modernity-technology and democracy, choice and freedom- are all strengthening religion rathe... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, April 1, 2009,
The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal priest in Seattle, has been told to recant her faith in Islam if she wants to keep the priesthood. Redding insists she can be both Christian and Muslim and sees no disharmony in maintaining both faiths at the same time. She was officially removed yesterday from her ordained ministry. This reminds me of another Episcopal priest in Michigan, Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who practices Zen meditation and received a lay Zen ordination from a Bhuddist communi...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 30, 2009,
Fox News unveiled a new Web site The Fox Nation today. As expected, the populist, anti-Obama machine that is Fox News does not tire. Headlines on the frontpage read like we're heading for doomsday tomorrow, which is literally what Glenn Beck, the channel's new star host, believes. With a strong and growing primetime audience, thanks to the explosive trio: O'Reilley-Hannity-Beck, the channel now has twice as many viewers as CNN and MSNBC.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 18, 2009,
PBS will be broadcasting an interesting documentary, New Muslim Cool in June. It chronicles the story of Muslim rapper Hamza Perez,a former drug dealer from Puerto Rico who moved to Pittsburgh to set up a new religious community for Latino and African-American Muslims. Here is a blurb from the documentary description:
"New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza's ride through the
streets, projects and jail cells of urban America, following his
spiritual journey to some surprising places - where ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 9, 2009,
Here is a call for papers for an international conference we're organizing in Boulder that will address many of the questions raised on this blog on Islam and the media.
Islam and the Media January 7-10, 2010 The Center for Media, Religion and Culture
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado, Boulder
The events of September 11, 2001 have unleashed an unprecedented period of global re-thinking of issues in media and religion. Islam has emerged as a major focus of inquir... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 4, 2009,
One of the pitfalls for any ethnic group or religion to be constantly in the news- mostly in a negative light- is that most of their members’ valuable energy is consumed trying to defend or react to newspaper headlines. Muslims often find themselves in private conversations or on TV shows easily unnerved by what they see as consistent vilification of their faith. The truth is we Muslims have been mostly reactive and our defensiveness has deprived us of a vital quality: constructive self-cri... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 27, 2009,
I just finished watching a documentary on French television on some French youth of North African origin who emigrated from the economically worn-out suburbs of France to the glitzy Doha, Qatar in search of lucrative economic opportunities. These are talented French-educated architects, photographers, entrepreneurs, engineers, and doctors who faced tremendous racism when they applied for jobs in France. All those featured in the documentary talked about how Qataris were impressed with their q... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 26, 2009,
Senator John Kerry is holding hearings on "Engaging with Muslim Communities around the World" today at the Senate. I wholeheartedly support initiatives like these and I command the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee for taking such an important step. I hope, however, this initiative will be different from the ill-conceived public diplomacy of the Bush administration which produced media fiascos like Radio Sawa in the Arab world, Radio Farda in Iran, Hi Magazine in the Middle East, and th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 20, 2009,
Some rather promising news has been coming from Saudi Arabia these days. First, the replacement of Saleh al-Lihedan, the chief of the Supreme Council of Justice who made headlines last year when he declared it was permissible to kill Muslim satellite television owners if their programs were morally deviant. Then last week, a number of other appointments of moderate Saudis to important posts were announced like the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 20, 2009,
Wiley-Blackwell has recently suspended publication of the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization and ordered a full revision of the text, allegedly because of historical errors and, at times, extreme evangelical language. George T. Kurian, the editor of the encyclopedia says the publisher caved in to pressures from an "anti-Christian lobby" of academics who wanted the 4-volume publication to be less Christian. According to some scattered reports in the blogosphere (the mainstream press hasn't... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 17, 2009,
Journalists have to stop covering fatwas as if they were legally binding rules all Muslims must heed. The point is they're simply not. So what if some short-sighted Mufti in Malaysia or Indonesia has decreed that yoga is not halal? Or that some cleric in Saudi Arabia has decided Mickey Mouse was the work of Satan? Or that some British Muslim has declared Valentine roses and candle dinners to be sordid acts of the devil? No legal due process has followed or will ever follow these fatwas. It's ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 8, 2009,
More than 300 young progressive Muslims from 76 countries met in Doha for the third Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference this past month. The point behind this effort is to foster a stronger culture of civic engagement among Muslims globally. These are extremely-committed activists, some of whom have given up their careers to organize their communities around faith-based social, economic, and cultural projects. A short profile of this year's leaders is worth reading. They include comedians, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 6, 2009,
I'm always amazed at how superficial the coverage of Muslim Americans is in the U.S. media. Except for some notable journalists like the New York Times' Andrea Elliott who created a new beat called "Muslims in America", much of the coverage remains unoriginal and largely pat. We often hear the persistent question: where are the moderate Muslims? If journalists continually fail to seek out this growing segment of the population or discover them only around topical issues of terrorism and the t... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 27, 2009,
It felt a bit surreal to listen to President Obama's interview (Part 1- Part 2) on Al-Arabiya news television yesterday. It was not so much because he called for treating the Muslim world with respect and listening to its people- President Bush said the same thing many times- but mostly because for the first time, a U.S. president told an Arab/Muslim audience that he not only lived in the Muslim world but has Muslim family ties as well. As a public diplomacy initiative, this is quite effectiv... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, January 22, 2009,
As one of the most prominent signs of Islam, the veil has been the subject of a heated debate both among Muslims and non-Muslims-some of it quite valuable and much of it just inflammatory and ignorant. But we rarely hear from the women who wear it themselves. Much has been said on their behalf about their religious conviction or their lack of voice. Some young Muslim male singershave dedicated songs to them. Yet, we don't know much about their experiences living with the veil, particularly i... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 20, 2009,
I'm starting my blog "Islam in a New Media Age" today and I'm hoping it will help nurture an emerging discussion about Islam and Muslims beyond the customary fixation with extremism and fanaticism. You've probably heard and read about how religion has found technology, but what does that imply for the way religious beliefs and practices are discussed and re-imagined as new media are adopted? The interpretation of Islam is no longer the prerogative of a few learned scholars who've spent years ... Continue reading ...
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
