felix hominum

minaret, Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Detail of column; cedar mosque, SW Turkey

Modern Turkey: secular or religious?

TRABZON – Doğan News Agency

A mishap Thursday caused some mosques in the Black Sea province of Trabzon to broadcast a love song instead of the call to prayer for the noon prayers.

According to reports, all mosques are connected to a central system from which the call to prayer is broadcast to all mosques. On Thursday at noon, the people of Trabzon were greeted by “Geçtiğim dikenli aşk yollarında, elimden bir kırık saz geldi geçti” (On the thorny roads of love I tread, I got hold of a broken saz), sung by Zeki Müren, a highly respected Turkish singer, composer and poet who died in 1996. While he dressed effeminately, wearing large, ornate rings and heavy make-up, especially in the later years of his life, he never confirmed or denied the public rumors that he was gay.

According to reports, Müren's song was heard for three minutes, before the call to prayer began.

Officials from the Trabzon mufti's office said the mishap occurred due to a technical problem.

Turkish Daily News

And in other news "Istanbul's last pork butcher fights Islamist crackdown on swine"

Happy Easter: Pope baptizes Muslim-born man at Eastertide

EGYPTIAN-born Magdi Allam, one of Italy’s most famous and controversial journalists and commentators who renounced Islam and converted to Roman Catholicism was baptized at the weekend by Pope Benedict XVI in a sermon watched by thousands around the globe including his native Egypt.

A deputy editor at the Milan newspaper, Corriere della Sera, he has built his career crusading against what he calls the “inherent” violence in Islam and championing Israel’s existence. He has been honoured for encouraging tolerance between cultures, but his baptism angered some in the Muslim world with his high-profile conversion in an Easter vigil service led by Pope Benedict at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

story here

Saudi king says he'll convene interfaith conference with Jews

Saudi King Abdullah's desire to convene a meeting between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious communities was reported today by the official Saudi Arabian News Agency.

"I invite representatives of all the monotheistic religions to meet with their brothers in faith," the king was quoted as saying. The theme of the expected conference was reported to be "respect among the religions."

The news agency reported that senior Muslim leaders authorized the idea and consultations would be made with Islamic religious authorities from other countries. The king went on to say that "with God's help we will meet our brethren from other religions, including those who believe in the Torah and in the Gospel, in order to find ways to defend humanity."

full story from the Jerusalem Post

fatwa ruling on Islamic wishing hijri happy new year

Just in case you are wondering about etiquette for the day:

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: What is the ruling on congratulating people on the occasion of the Hijri new year, and how should one reply to a person who offers congratulations?

He replied:

If someone offers you congratulations, then respond to him, but do not initiate such greetings. This is the correct view concerning this matter. So if a person says to you, for example, “Happy New Year”, then you can say, “May Allaah make it a good and blessed year for you.” But you should not initiate such a greeting, because I do not know of any report that the salaf [early generations of Islam] congratulated one another on the occasion of the new year, rather the salaf did not regard the first of Muharram as the first day of the new year until the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him.

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Kareem al-Khudayr said concerning offering congratulations on the occasion of the hijri new year:

Praying for another Muslim in general terms, in phrases that are not meant as a kind of ritual  on special occasions such as Eid, is acceptable, especially if what is meant by this greeting is friendship and to show a friendly face to one’s fellow Muslim. Imaam Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “I do not initiate the greeting but if someone greets me I return the greeting, because responding to the greeting is obligatory. But being the first to offer congratulations is neither Sunnah nor forbidden.

from Ummmaariyah’s Weblog

I worked for a number of years in a setting where I had daily interaction with Muslim students and community leaders.  As well, there have been my conversations with Muslims throughout the Holy Land.

Happy new year (1st of Muharram 1429)

Rex Murphy on the Osgoode 4 & the case against Maclean's

Human Rights Gone Awry

What I do not associate with this deep and noble concept is getting ticked off by something you read in a magazine - or for that matter hear on television - and then scampering off to a handful - well, three - of Canada's proliferate human rights commissions - seeking to score off the magazine: this is what four Osgoode Hall law students and graduates --- a very definition of the 'marginalized' --- under the banner of the Canadian Islamic Congress have done after reading an excerpt from Mark Steyn's America Alone in Maclean’s. The complainants read the article as “flagrantly islamophobic”.

Maclean’s magazine? Well, we all know what a hotbed of radical bigotry and vile prejudice Maclean’s magazine has been. Go away … for what seems like a century Maclean’s was no more "offensive" (that is the can’t term of choice these days) than a down comforter on a cold day and if Mark Steyn's article offended them: so what? Not every article in every magazine of newspaper is meant to be a valentine card addressed to every reader's self-esteem. Maclean’s published a bushel of letters following the article's appearance: some praised it: others scorned it. That's freedom of speech: that's democracy: that's the messy business we call the exchange of ideas and opinions.

full text here

And Daniel Simard, one of the complainants, has this to say, although the comments are closed...

Moving on, as I’m sure you are all are aware, I am party to a human rights complaint waged against Maclean’s magazine for the publication of an article written by Mark Steyn. Because of this, I have been one of the hot topics in the blogging world, and as a result of this and some of my posts, I have subjected our site and staff to increased scrutiny, censure and attack.

I want you all to know that I had no intention of dragging lawiscool into my personal disputes. Admittedly, I underestimated the unscrupulousness of my frantic foes and lacked the foresight necessary to obviate lawiscool’s subjection. I am grateful that you all are bearing with me and supporting me in my right and privilege to convey my messages through our blog. I also want you all to know that I grappled with the thought of excluding posts related to my dispute, but, rather than accede defeat to my crazed critics I decided it would be unjust to restrict the publication of fair and reasonable commentary.

Muslims Against Sharia has a post on the topic as well:

By now, most people living in Canada and a great many living in the US will know that a group of students at Osgoode Hall Law School have decided to take the Canadian weekly newsmagazine, Macleans, before several provincial incarnations of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Their charge? The Canadian Islamic Congress is offended by passages from Mark Steyn's book, America Alone, which were published in an issue of MacLeans, the most offensive of which, is a quote from a Danish Muslim cleric (see second page), which the students seem not to have grasped (and what does that say about the standards at that once great, grand old institution, Osgoode Hall?).

And some reflections from the Canadian Islamic Congress site, highlighting thoughts from a 2006 strategy meeting:

II - Short-Term Action Plan

1  Rejecting media-imposed calls for Muslim "extremist/moderate" discourse.
2  Having more Muslim community media.
3  Sending more letters to editors and/or using Press Councils, etc etc as means to address frequent anti-Islam bias in the media.
4  Inviting more guests of other faiths to attend Friday prayers to make them more aware of Islam and Muslims.
5  Making a greater effort to defend and advocate for Muslim rights and responsibilities.
6  Encouraging greater participation in elections at all levels (federal, provincial, and municipal) and on government and professional boards.
7  Establishing a legal defense fund.
8  Training more Muslim representatives/spokespersons in how to use Canadian media effectively.
9  Enhancing Da’wa (education) efforts among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

update on "law is cool", steyn & all that jazz

Update: The Canadian Islamic Congress has a pdf on their site entitled: 

MACLEANS MAGAZINE: A CASE STUDY OF
MEDIA-PROPAGATED ISLAMOPHOBIA
Prepared by:
Khurrum Awan, Muneeza Skeikh, Naseem Mithoowani
LLB (Osgoode Hall Law School – 2007)
Ali Ahmed
LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School - 2008)
Daniel Simard
LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School - 2009)

The Canadian Islamic Congress and 4 law students from Osgoode have requested proceedings in our Human Rights Commissions against Maclean's magazine for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn's recent book.

Further research into the legal issues was conducted over the Christmas season.  This consisted mostly of several glasses of port in front of a roaring fire at the home of the local paterfamilias. He recently retired from the bench, and has more than a passing interest in the variety of issues involved in this case.  Apart from all the interesting conversation around justice, multiculturalism, freedom of expression, I also discovered (i think after the 3rd glass) that he has, tucked away in the library, a document signed by Sir John A himself.  Great-great Granddad was sworn into judicial office by Canada's first Prime Minister.  I wonder what he would make of the case...

Posts at LawisCool are here and here.

Mark Steyn has comments here., and links to the text of the complaints can be found on this page.

In addition, there is this story about a Catholic journal being brought under the same body, for publishing stuff which, well, appears to be the teaching of the Catholic Church:

Today, Catholic Insight magazine has also become a victim of the new anti-religion. We, too, have been denounced to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in Ottawa for speaking out against the activists who agitated for adding so-called sexual orientation to the Hate Crimes Act in 2003 and the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in 2005. The politically correct activists brook no opposition. See the article ”Catholic Insight under human rights attack”, page 10; and David Warren,“Suing for silence”, page 17.

from here

"Suing for silence" - has a nice ring, no?

related post:  an interesting article or two on the Mark Steyn affair

Goodbye Oscar.

Food for thought.  Commenting at CBC on the death of Aqsa Parvez,  the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress (the same person bringing the complaints) had this to say:

"I don't want the public to think that this is really an Islamic issue or an immigrant issue," said Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress. "It is a teenager issue."

an interesting article or two on the Mark Steyn affair

Update:  the interwebs are interesting...

One of the folks involved in the complaint appears connected to the group blog "Law is Cool".  It is by a group of law students.  Go figure.  There has been some, err, discussion around that blog.  I'll get all the links up later.

a comment left at Magicstats:

Canadian dude

This almost seems comical; none of you actually address the substantive content of the blog in question.

And looking at the other posts on this blog and the others in his fan base, the contents are as bad and at times worse than Steyn’s.

You guys are a bunch of scary people down there in the U.S. Keep your notions of freedom on that side of the border, we don’t want it.

a comment left at Jay Currie's blog:

Canadian dude

This almost seems comical; none of you actually address the substantive content of the blog in question.

And looking at the other posts on this blog and the others in his fan base, the contents are as bad and at times worse than Steyn’s.

You guys are a bunch of scary people down there in the U.S. Keep your notions of freedom on that side of the border, we don’t want it.

Magicstats' observations? 

In like manner, because of Canadian dude’s lack of knowledge about the internet and blogging, his claim to have read "other posts on this blog" is proven false and his true origin exposed. By consulting my StatCounter service, I discovered that Canadian dude is a Law Is Cool blogger and visited only one post at my blog, namely, the one he commented on.

The administrator's comment page at my blog identifies Canadian dude's IP address as 99.243.245.229.  Tracking down that IP address at StatCounter's "Recent Pageload Activity" log brought up the Visitor Analysis, the Navigation Path from which is posted below.  (Sorry about the small size of the graphic.  Clicking on the image will bring up a full-size view.)

From the London Free Press:

In a flagrant attack on freedom of the press, the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) has filed three human rights complaints against Maclean's magazine and its editor-in-chief, Kenneth Whyte, accusing them of spreading "hatred and contempt" for Muslims, by publishing an article by Mark Steyn on Oct. 23, 2006, entitled The Future Belongs to Islam.

The article in dispute is an excerpt from Steyn's bestselling book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. Consider the implications: By the logic of the CIC's attack on Maclean's magazine, the owners and operators of Canadian libraries and bookstores could also be charged with violating the human rights of Muslims by making not just Steyn's article but also his entire book widely available to Canadians throughout the country.

from the same article, this is worth pondering:

Alan Borovoy, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, underlined the danger last year after the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada filed a human rights complaint against the Western Standard for republishing a set of Danish cartoons that many Muslims found offensive. In an article in the Calgary Herald, Borovoy wrote: "During the years when my colleagues and I were labouring to create (human rights) commissions, we never imagined that they might ultimately be used against freedom of speech."

And from Naseem Mithoowani, Khurrum Awan , Muneeza Sheikh and Daniel Simard, an article in the National Post:

What we did ask for, however, was an opportunity for the Muslim community to participate in the "free marketplace" of ideas. It is our belief that in its truest form, freedom of expression results in a lively debate among all interested parties -- not just among those who play by their own exclusionary rules. If Maclean's wants to publish articles alleging that many Muslims are "hot for jihad," it has to provide an opportunity to respond.

This issue isn't about attacking journalists or stifling free expression. It's about ensuring that our media outlets provide a forum for open debate and argument.

ps. if you don't know much about this issue, I think you should.