Omer Subhani's Disciplining the Blog

Violence against women in Lebanon

2009-11-25T17:11:00.003-05:00

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer posted an article about violence against women in Lebanon. The article says that up to 90% of women in Lebanon are victims of domestic abuse. Lebanon's population is just over 50% Muslim (both Sunni and Shia combined). The other 45% or so of Lebanon is made up of Maronite Christians, the Druze, and other religious groups. Funny how even though Islam gives

Finkelstein on UN Gaza Report

2009-09-19T03:31:00.003-04:00

You have to ask yourself, if a Jewish lawyer (Richard Goldstone, the UN investigator who led the investigation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas) whose own daughter says he loves Israel and that he's a Zionist is condemning what Israel did in Gaza, then how do you continue to question whether what Israel did was merciless or not? This is absolute lunacy on the part of the far-right.

Neo-Cons Losing Serious Ground

2009-09-11T12:42:00.005-04:00

As are the vehement pro-Israel advocates, the likes of which that are constantly clamoring for the bombing of Iran, and who also advocate the theory that Muslims want to destroy Western civilization through jihad and stealth efforts. The people who share these ideas are in the same camp, they all seem to associate with one another. They're world view is crumbling, thankfully. But it's a long way

Interesting Take on the Rifqa Bary Case

2009-09-10T18:18:00.001-04:00

From altmuslimah.org:The first thing that was clear was that Rifqa learned about "honor killings" from Christians not from Muslims. Periodically in the video, when she's flustered, she looks over to someone off camera. This is a sign when someone has been coached. They seek visual confirmation by making eye contact. At the five minute mark she says, "It's in the Quran." Which it's not, but then

Feminist Hawks

2009-08-26T17:08:00.003-04:00

The obvious question for new-feminists like Horowitz is "why do you care about Muslim women so much to the exception and exclusion of women in your own country?" I have yet to receive an answer to this question. Instead, Horowitz's disciple, Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer, has called the injustices American women suffer from as "perceived ills." Below is from the NYT: How do big

Honor Killings and Islam: Is There a Link?

2009-08-17T06:41:00.004-04:00

This article was published on altmuslimah.org:There has been a recent upsurge in honor killings throughout the world – the practice of killing family members who have allegedly tarnished the family’s honor by engaging in shameful conduct.Just last week in Montreal, a father and son murdered their four female relatives to preserve their family’s honor because their female relatives were accustomed

Iran 2008: Faces and Places from Inside Iran

2009-08-14T14:52:00.002-04:00

Apostasy: Girl flees family after converting to Christianty

2009-08-12T01:22:00.007-04:00

An Ohio girl fled to Central Florida after converting to Christianity. The girl, Rifqa Bary, is seventeen and her family is from Sri Lanka. She alleged that her father said he would kill her for converting.A video of her was posted on a bunch of anti-Islam web sites, such as Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch. Robert Spencer at JW asserts that "this is a girl who was raised as a Muslim, and who knows

Congo: Women Targeted for Rape

2009-08-11T13:02:00.002-04:00

In 1961 Patrice Lumumba, then the first elected prime minister of the Congo, was assassinated with help from the United States. The U.S. feared, wrongly, that Lumumba would or was a Soviet stooge. In reality, Lumumba was a voice for independence for the people of the Congo. The U.S. government however believed him to be a threat, probably because he wanted to chart an independent path for his

Asma Uddin commentary on how NOT to combat religious conservatism

2009-08-06T14:49:00.002-04:00

Extremism? Or Religious Belief?By Asma T. Uddin“A woman who loses her chastity is worthless,” lectures the sermon-giver at Asra Nomani’s mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia. Nomani carefully jots down this statement in her notebook, right alongside the speaker’s other assertion that “Jews are the descendents of apes and pigs.” Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent who came

Juan Cole is angry

2009-08-06T11:39:00.001-04:00

And he's not gonna take it anymore... from the neocons, anyway: Hamid Dabashi at CNN points out that the US executive's (the Obama administration's) plans to engage Iran may come up against Congress's desire to act aggressively toward the country, either through crippling sanctions or covert operations. A recent congressional hearing on Iran chaired by Howard

New Campaign by Altmuslimah.com

2009-08-05T19:47:00.002-04:00

Asma Uddin, the editor-in-chief of altmuslimah.com, has told me about a great campaign being waged by her web site:Altmuslimah has officially launched its photographic campaign - aimed at providing an alternative to the dominant media image of oppressed Muslim women and angry Muslim men.The purpose of Altmuslimah's visual campaign is to present Muslim men and women multi-dimensionally,

Blackwater Holy War?

2009-08-05T11:31:00.003-04:00

The Nation reports that Blackwater, the controversial security firm, may have been engaged in money laundering, murder, and a holy war: A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men

Domestic Violence in America

2009-08-04T10:56:00.003-04:00

"No one is saying, least of all me, that only Muslims beat their wives. Spousal abuse is found in every culture. But in America, creeps who beat their wives are arrested and punished."This from Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer back in May 2008.Spencer has a knack for making dumb blanket statements on subjects he hardly knows a thing about. For instance, I am interning this summer at a legal

Still want to be Arab?

2009-08-03T10:34:00.002-04:00

I went through the phase myself, but for many Indo-Pak second generation immigrant children to the US and Canada, it's all about looking and sounding Arab. Why? Because, for a myriad of reasons, Arab Islam seems more authentic. The language issue alone causes many Indo-Paks to question their own Islamic authenticity ranging from traditional practices (such as Qur'an khanis) to clothing (dropping

"The Koran may be an invaluable document – but so is a Green Card"

2009-07-31T11:31:00.002-04:00

Robert Fisk, as usual, enlightening and funny:Why is the Arab world – let us speak with terrible sharpness – so backward? Why so many dictators, so few human rights, so much state security and torture, so terrible a literacy rate?Why does this wretched place, so rich in oil, have to produce, even in the age of the computer, a population so poorly educated, so undernourished, so corrupt? Yes, I

Steroids and Baseball

2009-07-30T19:55:00.004-04:00

Jose Canseco is a prophet.David Ortiz is a fraud and a liar and a cheat.Alex Rodriguez (and I'm a Yankees fan) has always been a douche, so whatever.The entire last 15-20 years of baseball is a sham as far as statistics go. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa... it's all bullshit. Doesn't matter anymore.Derek Jeter, however, is still the man. Red Sox nation can eat it with their tainted championships.Peter

Ishmael Reed on Gates and Racism

2009-07-30T19:50:00.002-04:00

Ishmael Reed ain't having it:Now that Henry Louis Gates’ Jr. has gotten a tiny taste of what “the underclass” undergo each day, do you think that he will go easier on them? Lighten up on the tough love lectures? Even during his encounter with the police, he was given some slack. If a black man in an inner city neighborhood had hesitated to identify himself, or given the police some lip, the

Honor Killing's Sanctiond by Islam?

2009-07-23T15:36:00.003-04:00

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer asserts the following:Muslim woman fears death in an honor killing after her lover was attacked with sulphuric acid. These killings, as we have documented here, happen again and again in an Islamic context -- yet the Daily Mail here attempts to give the impression that they happen all over the place. Yet if they do happen in Hindu and Sikh communities, and

Howard Zinn on Intelligence

2009-07-10T15:09:00.003-04:00

From one of the greatest political scientists in American history. Zinn comments on the legacy of Robert McNamara, the deceased former Secretary of Defense under JFK and LBJ.Well, assessing the legacy … It seems to me one things which we should be thinking about, is that McNamara represented all of those superficial qualities of brightness and intelligence and education that are so revered in our

Uncles, Aunties, and the Internet

2009-07-09T13:34:00.003-04:00

I am sure if you are a Pakistani American and you know Pakistani uncles and aunties in your local community who use the internet and email that you have eventually received an email from them telling you about how Starbucks is funneling money to support the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories (the IDF has a never ending supply of lattes), or how Apple was building a replica of the

Uyghurs and China

2009-07-08T11:38:00.003-04:00

What's happening in China? I have found two articles (one from the Left and one from the Right) discussing the Uyghur protests in China. The grievances of the Uyghurs seems legitimate and deserves more attention, but since they are Muslims, it seems they may not get the attention they deserve from our press. They definitely won't get love from the far-Right, who can't possibly seem to fathom the

Peace prospects? Slim to none after Netanyahu's speech

2009-06-19T10:30:00.003-04:00

Uri Avnery, the activist of activists in Israel for peace, has written a strait forward article on Benjamin Netanyahu's speech regarding a Palestinian state. Basically, Bibi is playing the same old Israeli game of saying Israel wants peace, but then making proposals they know the Palestinians and Arab states will not accept, such as a demilitarized state, no refugee negotiations, etc.The point of

Greenwald on Iran

2009-06-17T20:40:00.003-04:00

The astute Glenn Greenwald points out the hypocrisy of the right wing leadership. Sometimes they want just want to kill everyone within the nation they despise without hesitation, and at other times those very people they would have succumb to nuclear annihilation are their newest friends and allies.In addition, I will stay out of the Iran election issue. I don't know a thing about the issue and

Frank Gaffney is off his rocker

2009-06-10T15:54:00.003-04:00

Thought those "Obama is a secret Muslim" smears were over? Think again.Daniel Luban, writing on Jim Lobe's Blog, comments on Frank Gaffney's moronic piece in the Washington Times. Also, as serious as Robert Spencer and other anti-Islam bloggers are about their jobs, how can they associate themselves with someone like Pam Geller? LGF's Charles Johnson already dismissed her as a crackpot, but I am