| Author |
Message |
    
Albatross
Citizen
Username: Albatross
Post Number: 426
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 3:04 pm: | 
|
I read this today on the Star-Ledger editorial page; I thought it was interesting. It's about the use (or better, misuse) of the word 'jihad.' Give it a read:
http://www.nj.com/opinion/ledger/perspective/index.ssf?/base/news-0/110430187821 6390.xml
-Alb |
mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 119
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 3:41 pm: |
|
Thanks for the heads up on this valuable piece, alb. Anisa is a Maplewood resident and a community treasure, IMHO.
(bump) |
Mark Fuhrman
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 1069
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 4:07 pm: |
|
Alb: Thanks so much for posting this. This topic has been explored on MOL before, and I wish this piece were available then to answer those who think that all Muslims are terrorists or mysogenists.
Anisa points to the problem of language in American media, but the problem is far larger and more problemmatic in the Arab media, where terms like "jihad" and "martyrdom"--when linked to cold-blooded murder--are not challenged enough. And voices like Anisa's are, unfortunately, stilled too often by violence in the Arab nations. |
eliz
Supporter
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 931
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 4:12 pm: |
|
What a great article. |
SoOrLady
Citizen
Username: Soorlady
Post Number: 1637
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 6:53 pm: |
|
Anisa is indeed a treasure. Mark - rest assured that her voice is never stilled. A woman of great spirituality and insite, her documentary work is thought provoking and inspiring. |
Mark Fuhrman
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 1071
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - 9:51 am: |
|
SoOrLady: I second your emotion. What I meant to highlight is the incredible courage of someone like Anisa to speak truth to power in the face of such a storm. Moderate voices of reason in the Muslim community get hammered--verbally and physically--by the radical fundamentalists. At best they are simply ignored and marginalized by the Muslim press and do not have the backing of prominent clergy. But in a perverse way, they are also marginalized by the Western world because we pay so much attention to the radicals, helping to further marginalize moderate voices.
Look at the long discussions last year on MOL regarding Islam--no matter how many times you point to moderate voices, the specter of mysogenist, violent, reactionary radical Islam always dominates our view of the religion and culture.
More power to Anisa and others who are trying to bring Islamic culture back to its rational center. I hope that they can reclaim this religion from the fundamentalists. |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page