To-Read: Unhitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens by Richard Seymour

After reading a review, I'm interested in reading Unhitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens by Richard Seymour.
 

h/t Glenn Greenwald

InTheseTimes reviews the new book dismantling Hitchens hagiography: "Unhitched: The Trial of Christopher Hitchens"is.gd/2Dc7Um
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 28, 2013

Ebad's Reading List

Ebad posted online a document related to the completion of his B.A. which includes many quality books. So have a look!

I've reviewed two of those books:
Jackson, Sherman A. Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. 

Marable, Manning. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. New York: Viking, 2011

Support "The Tiger Hunter" by Lena Khan

I supported a project on Kickstarter. It's a film by Lena Khan (website) entitled The Tiger Hunter (Facebook page). Lena is on Facebook and Twitter. Spread the word!
Hello!

Sohaib Sultan's List of 10 Books for English-Speaking Muslims

Imam Suhaib Sultan recommends 10 books for English-speaking Muslims.

Review: Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq by Michael Scheuer

Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq by Michael Scheuer (Twitter)


As I was listening to this abridged book on CD, I pictured its author Michael Scheuer as a combination of Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now and Cersei in Game of Thrones. His commitment to no principle other than the cohesiveness of the United States and his view that ultra-violence is a necessary tool to preserve that cohesiveness made it difficult for me, a proponent of non-violence and globalism (his term is antinationalist), to keep an open mind to his ideas. Yet I'm glad I did persevere and finish the book, and there is some value in it.

Review: The Book of the Superiority of Dogs Over Many of Those Who Wear Clothes

The Book of the Superiority of Dogs Over Many of Those Who Wear Clothes by Muhammad Ibn Khalaf Ibn Al-Marzuban.

The author lived, according to my memory, in 6th (AH)/13th (CE) Baghdad.

The book is in two parts. The first part condemns humans for their cowardice, greed and disloyalty. The second commends dogs for their bravery, selflessness and loyalty.

The author quotes poets and relates stories to support these contentions.

The editor/translator includes an introduction on the author and a discussion of Muslim religious rulings and attitudes regarding dogs.

The Arabic Wikipedia has an entry on the book which includes some delicious lines of poetry (my translation):

The human dog, if you consider it,
    is worse for you than the canine dog
If you drive the canine away, it leaves,
    while the human dog clings to you despite your rebukes.
The canine does not harm its companion,
    while you remain your lifetime afflicted by the other kind of dog.

It may be difficult to purchase a copy. Use Worldcat to find a copy in a library near you or ask your local librarian to get it for you using interlibrary loan.

A Glenn Greenwald tweet about a modern instance of a dog traveling miles to stand watch over the grave of its owner reminded me of this book:

Dog owners already know this, but dogs have capacities that transgress the understanding of modern science is.gd/VinBY0
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 6, 2013

Updated May 22, 2013:  Man's Best Friend Guards Owner's Body

A friend of my father's wrote a Facebook note about dogs.

This organization trains dogs and places them with children with special needs:

Documentary Hibana by Ameer Muhammad

I heard about Atlanta-based Ameer Muhammad's documentary film about the Dominican Republic Hibana from his interview in a Muslim American Media Alliance podcast on November 25, 2012. There is a Facebook page.

Hibana Trailer (English) from filmbyameermuhammad on Vimeo.

BBC Radio: Hitler's Muslim Legions

BBC Radio's Hitler's Muslim Legions is an interesting introduction to the situation of Muslims and their neighbors in the Balkans during World War II. As in many BBC historical programs, I think it glosses over some of the faults of the British Empire, but this is the first program I'd heard about Muslims who trained in Nazi Germany's armed forces.

It's no longer available at the BBC web site, but you can use peer-to-peer technologies and download it using a BitTorrent client.

Which book would you recommend to your friend's Islamophobic friend?

A friend requested my recommendation for a book she could recommend to her Islamophobic friend.

My friend discovered her friend was Islamophobic through a conversation that went something like this:

Between a Mormon and a Muslim, I wish the Mormon had won. I know some Muslims. The ones I know are pretty good. You don't know that Muslims believe such-and-such and are commanded to do such-and-such? If I gave you a book, would you read it? Yea, maybe.

Film: Nero's Guests by P Sainath

LinkTV is broadcasting the documentary Nero's Guests about crushing poverty in rural India. Subthemes are the injustice of the World Trade Organization, which enforces "free trade" on the world's poor and leaves the world wealthy unpunished, and the morally horrifying callousness of India's wealthy.

Akbar Ahmed's Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam

Akbar Ahmed's book Journey Into America: The Challenge of Islam is also a documentary movie. It has a YouTube Channel, a Flickr stream and a blog.

There's an article adapted from the book in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Islamic Horizons, which should be posted soon either here or here.

I haven't read the book or seen the movie.

Film: The Exonerated

The Exonerated is a dramatic reading of transcripts and letters of six wrongfully convicted and imprisoned US citizens. Supplement this by reading Actual Innocence by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld & Jim Dwyer and this article at The Nation magazine from June 18, 2012.

Recommendation: Imperial Cities of Morocco

Imperial Cities of Morocco by Mohomed Metalsi, Cecile Treal, Jean-Michel Ruiz is a wonderful collection of photographs of architectural landmarks in Fes, Marrakesh, Meknes and Rabat in Morocco. Introductory text accompanies the photos. If you are traveling to these places or simply like architecture, check this book out. If you're exhibiting something related to Morocco or screening the film Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World, have this book for the public to thumb through. If you have an office with a waiting area, this would be a good book for that as well.
 

Journal for Kids: Discover

Arwa alerted her blog readers to an article she published in a journal for Muslim children. I'd appreciate any subscribers sharing their thoughts on the journal.

To read: From Slave Ship to Harvard by James Johnston

From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family by James H. Johnston. You can listen to his May 22, 2012 interview on Gist of Freedom.

PBS's Need to Know Visits Clarkston, GA - Multiculturalism in the US South

I had reviewed a book about refugees in Clarkston, GA. Maria Hinojosa presented a Need to Know episode on the continued transition from a nearly one-hundred percent white town to a town where more than one-third of the residents are foreign-born.

Documentary Film: Brother Rob

I saw the documentary film Brother Bob, which covered Terry Jones's trial of the Quran, on the Documentary Channel.

Science - Ecology Books Translated into Arabic

I'm thinking of working to get some popular books on ecology and other scientific subjects translated into Arabic.

This blog entry, which I hope to update, contains links to books I've already found that meet this description.

I'm also keeping this list up-to-date on Delicious.

• Valuing the environment : economics for a sustainable future by David Glover - Arabic translation
• by David Glover - Arabic translation 
• List of David Glover's books translated into Arabic on Worldcat.org
• Series of books entitled "How does it work?" for young adult readers
• Straphanger by Taras Grescoe -- Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile -- Arabic translation
• Book by Frank R. Spellman and Nancy Whiting - Arabic translation
• Book by climate change denialist Ian Plimer, Heaven and Earth. Arabic translation - Rebuttal of book by Ian Enting. Rebuttal of book by John Price. 
• Fueling Our Future: An Introduction to Sustainable Energy by Robert L. Evans -- Arabic translation 
• Unauthorized translations of Carl Sagan books available via download

Review: The Submission by Amy Waldman

Tasnim at Muslimah Media Watch reviewed The Submission by Amy Waldman.



I have not read the novel.

Jaffa - The Orange's Clockwork

The basic subscription to Dish Network gives you viewer-supported LinkTV, which in my mind is the best channel available in the United States. In fact, I recommend giving to organizations like LinkTV over political candidates, since the real problem in the US politics is that, as Flavor Flav says, "ignorance is at an all time high."

A great example of content available on LinkTV is the documentary Jaffa - The Orange's Clockwork. Currently, it is available on-line. This documentary examines the myth of "making the desert bloom," which as a result of sophisticated Zionist propaganda over several decades, has been implanted in European-White Supremacist-Colonialist consciousness.