Calling All Bloggers..
I got the following in my email:
J Sage wrote:
Mr. Al-Maskati:
Hello! I am a program coordinator at the American Islamic Congress, a US-based non-profit dedicated to promoting interfaith understanding and civil rights in the Muslim world. We are not a religious organization, but rather an inter-ethnic and inter-faith group founded in the wake of the September 11 attacks to take on extremism and repression in the Muslim community and the Middle East in general.
I’m writing to you because our executive director, Zainab Al-Suwaij, will be making a brief visit to Bahrain early next week. Stopping over during a visit to Iraq and Kuwait, she is eager to meet with local bloggers who are engaged in the struggle for civil rights inside Bahraini society.
Our organization is starting a new initiative to focus on civil rights in the region, and Bahrain seems to have a particularly dynamic scene. Ms. Al-Suwaij is hoping you might be able to provide some greater insight into both obstacles and new opportunities you see. We also see from your blog that you are a fan of Irshad Manji, and are eager to get your perspective on developments in Bahrain and beyond.
Zainab will likely be in Manama from Monday through Wednesday (I’m helping her coordinate her trip). Might have you have any time in that period to meet with her briefly? If you know anyone else you think would be good for her to meet, please feel free to bring them along.
Despite the short-notice, we look forward to hearing back from you and hope you’ll be able to get together. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Jesse Sage
American Islamic Congress
www.aicongress.org
______________________________
If interested please contact / Me for further information..
That’s great. I hope SBG got the e-mail too.
Given that you liked Irshad Manji’s book try to find a book called The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, It’s worth reading, although- in my opinion- the author simply went for the shock factor so that controversy would sell the book, just like Irshad did.
Enjoy;)
Why am I all of a sudden assumed to be a “fan” of Manji! I didn’t even talk about the book at all yet!!
LOOOOL yeah and if you’re looking for nice Irshad posters to go along with your T shirts, I saw a couple of nice ones on ebay.
ehehe yet? ya3ny you are a fan after all? j/k
Actually i don’t believe in the word “fan” anymore and so should you ehehe kbarna 3ala hal sowalif ya 5ook.
The thing behind the book is that I simply had enough of listening/reading about how Muslims view Islam as the ultimate solution for peace and harmony, (to me) that is logically (let alone in practice) practicably impossible. I wanted the view of an outsider; someone who have lived and studied the nits and glitches of Islam and finally achieved peace with himself so that he can be proudly called.. a “Muslim”.
Irshad was my first choice; I have read a couple of her articles (1, 2, 3) and I must tell you I was stunned, I couldn’t wait till the book arrives after ordering it from Amazon; and the first 70 pages were just breathtaking; but as the book went on (at least till where I reached right now.. somewhere in the middle of it) it just turned into futile ramblings, but it is only fair to note that some of the points she raised are legitimate and strong (and I must say unanswerable by our holy scholars.. ehim.. sorry.. at least to the extent that will convince my simple mind) but the book is defiantly addictive; and well worth the read.
Exclusive: Satanic Verses will defiantly be next.. but who’s getting old again? “WE” ?!
I enjoyed her book very much up until she started talking about the Jews and Arabs in chapter five. It just blew my mind! I was completely against everything she stood for, I wasn’t pissed just stunned! You get what I’m saying?
I read her book before actually be acquainted with my religion, so I bought a pile of religion related books and started digging. It helped.
Over all I loved it, I loved how she started her book, shows she has character, but one thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was that people at a certain age seek role models usually through TV or books, right? I kept thinking about young Muslim girls- despite their character, weak or strong- reading her book and through it changing their beliefs and views on Islam.
Ana sawait ‘3al6a lakin
Hope u enjoy the book.
Keep up the good work
If you want to make a direct comparison between Irshad Manji and Salman Rushdie’s views on religious reform he’s got a commentary on the subject in today’s Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1775943,00.html
[...] The name of the person referred to in the article is actually Zainab Al-Suwaij. (This is not just an error of transliteration, as the GDN’s sister paper, Akhbar al Khaleej, also gets its wrong in its article in Arabic). Ms Al-Suwaij is the executive director of the AIC, a very nice lady whom I had the pleasure of meeting during her visit (as did several other bloggers). [...]