Posts Tagged ‘Islam’
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
It’s a little weird that the Jerusalem Post - an Israeli paper – is taking umbrage with the most holy of Muslim holidays, but it raises a fair point, so I’ll allow it: “Ramadan in Dubai: a month of soaring food waste?”
Despite the hours of preparation put into the often vast displays of food, waiters at top hotels in Dubai say much of the food left over goes straight into the waste bins.
The amount of food thrown out in the emirate jumps considerably in the holy month – by as much as 20 percent according to Dubai Municipality, with most of the waste comprising rice and non-vegetable foods.
Around 1,850 tons of food were thrown out on average per day during Ramadan in 2010, roughly 20 percent of total waste in the emirate during the holy month, it said.
Dubai wasteful? Huh.
Tags: Dubai, Islam, Jerusalem Post, Ramadan
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Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
Wow, you move out of the Middle East and you totally stop hearing about it! Today’s the Hajj, Muslims’ annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
This would have been a big deal in Dubai, here’s it’s relegated to a photo or two on Yahoo! News. Weird.
Tags: Islam, KSA, religion
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Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
I guess I haven’t talked about the Cordoba House Islamic Center at 51 Park Place on Manhattan for some time, but the other day I ran across a fantastic article in the New York Times that mentions it.
Check out: “In Fierce Opposition to a Muslim Center, Echoes of an Old Fight.”
The opening is killer:
Many New Yorkers were suspicious of the newcomers’ plans to build a house of worship in Manhattan. Some feared the project was being underwritten by foreigners. Others said the strangers’ beliefs were incompatible with democratic principles.
Concerned residents staged demonstrations, some of which turned bitter.
But cooler heads eventually prevailed; the project proceeded to completion. And this week, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Lower Manhattan — the locus of all that controversy two centuries ago and now the oldest Catholic church in New York State — is celebrating the 225th anniversary of the laying of its cornerstone.
Bam!
Anyone who doesn’t think history moves in cycles is a fool.
Tags: 2001, Catholicism, Cordoba House, history, Islam, mosque, New York, NY Times, September 11
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Monday, October 11th, 2010
Wow, Cambridge, Massachusetts’ public schools are closing for Eid al-Fitr in the 2011-2012 school year.
Check out this article from Sunday’s Boston Globe: “School system to get Muslim holiday.”
“At a time when I think the Muslim population is being characterized with a broad brush in a negative way, I think it’s important for us to say we’re not going to do that here,” [Cambridge School Committee member Marc] McGovern said.
Cambridge schools already close for some Christian and Jewish holidays, and McGovern said he believes Muslims should be treated equally.
“The issue that sort of came up was should we celebrate any religious holidays, but there was not the will to take away Good Friday or one of the Jewish holidays,” he said. “So I said, if that is the case, I think we have an obligation to celebrate one of the Muslim holidays, as well.”
I kind of want to move to Cambridge, now. Wow.
The last line is fantastic: “Can’t please everybody,” he said. “You have to do what you think is right.”
Tags: a surprising turn of tolerance, Boston Globe, Cambridge, holiday, Islam
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Monday, September 27th, 2010
For weeks I’ve been talking about Portland Press Herald publisher and editor Richard L. Connor’s apology for covering Ramadan and then his rephrasing of that apology.
Unfortunately the story gained only minimal national attention, most notably on “The Colbert Report”, and in James Poniewozik’s blog at Time Magazine (see Stephen Colbert Picks Up Apology and Poniewozik on the Press Herald).
We can add the print edition of Time Magazine to that list now.
This week Poniewozik has an article about Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and Colbert’s competing March to Keep Fear Alive, and he uses the Press Herald apology to illustrate the media’s fright of that fringe element, the loud 15 Percenters.
Check out: “The 15% Solution.”
Key quote:
The very idea that in the U.S. today you have to hold a protest to promote rational discourse is absurd. It’s funny because it’s true.
Poniewozik has become one of my favorite writers in the young generation of Time Magazine writers, I’m glad he’s picked up this story.
Anyway, I think we’re nearing the end of the cycle for the apology story. While I would have liked a few more headlines, maybe a march on the Press Herald’s offices in One City Center or Richard L. Connor as Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World”, the coverage that the story did receive was quality.
And sane.
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, James Poniewozik, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald, Rally to Restore Sanity, Time
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Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
So I wrote to Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart after Richard L. Connor’s apology for Ramadan coverage on September 11th.
After a week of not seeing anything, I gave up hope.
And then Stephen Colbert talked about it on “The Colbert Report” on Monday!
The clip starts at 1:27:
The joke about ducks flying south and grandparents flying south is awesome:
Go Colbert!
Tags: apology, Colbert Report, Islam, islamophobia, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald, Stephen Colbert
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Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
I have to mention this (a few days late). Portland Press Herald editor and publisher, Richard L. Connor, has written another article about his apology for the Ramadan coverage on September 11th.
Check out: “Remembering E.B. White’s sage advice.”
Key quote:
I meant to apologize for what we did not print — front-page coverage of 9/11 on the anniversary of a day that stirs deep and unhealed wounds. I was in no way apologizing for what we did print in a deservedly prominent position — a striking photo of our local Muslim community in prayer.
This is good, but why did it take a week to recant the apology, Connor?
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald
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Thursday, September 16th, 2010
Letters to the Editor of the Portland Press Herald regarding their apology are finally up: “More Letters to the editor, Sept. 16, 2010: Same day, different views: Eid and Sept. 11.”
Interesting how it took Richard L. Connor mere hours to apologize for Saturday’s story, but it takes the editorial board damn near a week to publish Letters to the Editor about it.
Also, I think this title, like so much about the story, focuses on the wrong theme; the disgust that many of us had was not about the Eid holiday or the September 11th anniversary but how the newspaper leadership apologized for running a news story.
They still don’t get it.
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, letter to the editor, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald
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Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
Whoa! James Poniewozik of Time Magazine has picked up the Portland Press Herald apology story (and gives it a great title, too!): “Paper to Readers: Sorry for Portraying Muslims as Human.”
Key quote:
Here’s where we are in America, 2010: There is now one group of Americans whose peaceful religious observance cannot be noted by decent people, unless it is “balanced” by the mention of a vile crime committed in 2001 by people, with a perverted idea of the same religion, from the other side of the world.
This is a depressing statement about the state of dialogue in America. Nine years after 9/11, there is now a widespread belief that, for one religious group of law-abiding Americans, the boundaries of acceptable behavior are narrower than for everyone else. Yes, you have the right to worship. But it would be decent of you to do it somewhere else. Or on another day. Or in such a way that the rest of us don’t have to know about it. So now we have a newspaper kowtowing to a national freakout, apologizing for the most innocuous kind of soft feature, because acknowledging that there are decent Muslims in America is offensive. (From the comments on the article: “I don’t want to here [sic] how caring the Muslim religion is on 9/11.” But hey: it’s only for a few days a year!)
Please also note, he used “kowtowing” – the same verb I used!
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, James Poniewozik, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald, Time
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Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
As I’m under 40 and read my news online, I hadn’t actually seen the cover of Saturday’s apology-worthy Portland Press Herald (“No Journalistic Standards Since 2010″) until now:
A posed photograph of two copies of The Portland Press Herald shows the publisher of the Maine newspaper, Richard Connor, left, apologizing for giving Page One coverage, right, to the end of Ramadan on Saturday, Sept. 11, without mention of the ninth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald
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Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
I’m not letting this die until Jon Stewart is poking fun of the Press Herald or Keith Olbermann lists Richard Connor as a “Worst Person in the World”.
The Associated Press picked up the Apologygate story yesterday morning, but it was brief and easily missable.
USA Today (“America’s colorful news”) picked it up, however, and gave it a fantastic title: “Maine editor apologizes to readers for Ramadan story on 9/11“.
Go USA Today. I’ll try and remember not to mock you next time I’m in a hotel or on an airplane …
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald
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Sunday, September 12th, 2010
I belong to that increasing population of people, mostly under the age of 40, who get most of their news from the internet. During the week I don’t buy a daily paper, save for the free Forecaster and Portland Daily Sun.
I do subscribe to the weekly Bridgton News to get local hometown stories, however, and on the weekend, we routinely get the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Until now.
Yesterday morning I was reading the Portland Press Herald online and was pleased to see such a nice article about Eid ul-Fitr in Portland: “A show of faith and forgiveness“.
We went about our day, got home at night and saw this linked-to on Facebook: “Newspaper apologizes to those offended“.
Readers began writing to me and to our paper and website en masse, criticizing our decision on coverage and story play of the local observance of the end of Ramadan by local Muslims.
Are you kidding me?
Are you f@#king kidding me?
The crazies are taking over the show. The people who comment on the website are running the editorial direction of the paper.
I’m done with the Portland Press Herald.
I’m done with the Maine Sunday Telegram.
If any of you are offended by this direction the paper is taking, please take five minutes to send a Letter to the Editor to let them know how you feel.
Tags: apology, Islam, islamophobia, Maine Sunday Telegram, newspapers, Portland Press Herald, things that I don't agree with
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Monday, September 6th, 2010
Yesterday’s Maine Sunday Telegram had an interesting article about local Muslim teens who play sports while observing Ramadan, “Holy month presents challenge to Muslims who play sports.”
I’m not quite sure why she’s not wearing a shayla in the photo, though.
Tags: Islam, Maine, Maine Sunday Telegram, Ramadan
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
If the debate over the proposed Muslim community center in NYC were actually a discussion, we’d probably see more articles like this one from the Christian Science Monitor: “Sex shop and strip clubs near ground zero show double standard over Park51.”
Key quote:
… the Muslim community center would not be a blight on the neighborhood surrounding the World Trade Center. That neighborhood has two of New York’s most architecturally-important churches. One is Trinity Church, a classic example of 19th-century Gothic revival. The other is St. Paul’s Chapel, the city’s oldest surviving church and its finest model of Georgian architecture (it was modeled after St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields in London). George Washington worshipped there and it became a refuge for rescue workers after 9/11.
But the World Trade Center neighborhood is also filled with eyesores. When I walked from Park Place on the north side of the World Trade Center to Rector Street on the south side, what I encountered were a string of bars, betting parlors, and fast-food restaurants. And within this cluster of buildings, especially noticeable were two strip clubs, the New York Dolls Gentleman’s Club and the Pussycat Lounge, plus Thunder Lingerie and More, a sex shop with a peep show.
This whole topic makes me ill.
Tags: 2001, Christian Science Monitor, Cordoba House, Islam, mosque, New York, September 11
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Tags: Disney, Disneyland, Islam, OC Weekly, Oh shit
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Friday, August 20th, 2010
This article is from a week and a half ago, sadly it doesn’t seem to have picked up much traction in the whole Cordoba House brouhaha: “There’s a mosque inside the Pentagon!“
Tags: 2001, Cordoba House, Foreign Policy, Islam, military, mosque, New York, Pentagon, September 11
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Thursday, August 19th, 2010
I could go on-and-on about the Cordoba House Mosque and Islamic Center controversy all day. But most of my thoughts are being said elsewhere on the internet tubes, so why not link to them instead?
One of the blogs I regularly read is Spencer Ackerman’s “Attackerman”. Lately he’s had guest posts, and one gentleman (at least, I think he’s a he) “mikeyhemlok” and I agree on many topics. His post on the Cordoba House is pretty fantastic: “It’s Not About THEM, It’s About Us.”
It’s a short article, I almost pasted the whole thing here but this is the key:
No matter how you personally feel about Muslims and mosques, you have to recognize that this is a one-way trip, a simple, irreversible binary choice. As there can be no real doubt that the Imam and his congregation have every right to build their mosque where they wish, it comes down to something more nuanced, and much more pernicious. Do you want people, either by dint of their popular majority or their frantic shrieking and hand-waving to have the power to over-rule the basic rights and freedoms granted to all Americans? Do you understand that if it’s just Muslims today, it will be Jews tomorrow and atheists after that and in the end, the battle for the smouldering rubble of the American experiment will be fought between Catholics and Protestants, with the victors laying claim to just another totalitarian theocracy?
It truly makes me wonder. Can even the likes of Gingrich and Palin actually be proud of an America so willing to run away from her core values? In the name of political expediency and tribal nativism, balanced against all the history and sacrifice that has come before? If they actually got their way, and Cordoba House project was blocked, would they see it as a bright and shining moment for America? Or would it be a Pyrrhic victory, with the taste of ashes, as they wondered if it could be a Mosque in New York today, might it be a Church in Kansas or a book in Georgia or a political party in South Carolina tomorrow.
Tags: 2001, Attackerman, Cordoba House, Islam, mikeyhemlok, mosque, New York, September 11
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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Today’s the first day of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. I spoke about the practices back on the Newlywed in Dubai blog (see Ramadan).
The basic gist is that for a month Muslims fast from dawn until sunset; using it as time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal in the early morning and a post-fast meal after dark.
I was amazed in Dubai how many consumer products used Ramadan in marketing. One example I showed on the blog was the Ramadan M&Ms bag (see Ruining Ramadan).
There was an bus stop poster ad I always meant to take a photo of but didn’t. It was always too hot to stop, and I was driving fast in my air conditioned car. After the ads came down I kicked myself.
But then I found an image online.
First a little background – the Islamic calendar is lunar, so the start of Ramadan is based on the first waxing crescent moon.
Pretty awesome, isn’t it?
Ramadan Kareem, everyone. Go in peace.
Tags: Burger King, holiday, Islam, M&Ms, Newlywed in Dubai, Ramadan
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Thursday, August 5th, 2010
So by now you’ve heard of the mosque planned for two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center in New York – you know, the one Sarah Palin wanted “peaceful Muslims” to “refudiate”.
The whole story here: “Planned Sign of Tolerance Bringing Division Instead.”
Anyway, on Tuesday New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a pretty fantastic speech about immigration and freedom of religion, and how New York works.
Here’s a little bit of it, the complete text can be found here:
This morning, the City’s Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously voted not to extend landmark status to the building on Park Place where the mosque and community center are planned. The decision was based solely on the fact that there was little architectural significance to the building. But with or without landmark designation, there is nothing in the law that would prevent the owners from opening a mosque within the existing building. The simple fact is this building is private property, and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship.
The government has no right whatsoever to deny that right – and if it were tried, the courts would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question – should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here. This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions, or favor one over another.
The World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place in our City, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves – and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans – if we said ‘no’ to a mosque in Lower Manhattan.
Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values – and play into our enemies’ hands – if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists – and we should not stand for that.
Good stuff.
Tags: 2001, Cordoba House, Islam, Michael Bloomberg, mosque, New York, NY Times, September 11
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