Law & Order S01E20 Perpetuates Anti-Arab Stereotypes

I finished watching Law & Order's first season on DVD. I'm sure somebody's writing Ph.D. dissertations about the cultural messages of Law & Order. I've seen a lot of Law & Order episodes over the years, but I'd never seen any of the episodes from its first season. Compared to the last few seasons, this episode had a lot more content related to what I believe is USA White Supremacy's most dangerous remaining tool, the criminal justice system expressed through the war on drugs. The real-life term Law and Order arose in response to the race riots in US cities in the 1960s. The first season of Dick Wolf's Law & Order has the echoes of the 1970s "urban blight", Central Park 5 New York City prior to the gentrified Manhattan of the last several seasons of Law & Order.

Spiritual Gems of Islam by Jamal Rahman

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat reviewed Spiritual Gems of Islam: Insights & Practices from the Qur'an, Hadith, Rumi & Muslim Teaching Stories to Enlighten the Heart & Mind by Jamal Rahman. I have not read the book.

With enthusiasm and authenticity, the author taps into the wisdom of Islam with insights and practices from the Qur'an, Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad as well as the hadith qudsi, which are God's words communicated through the Prophet), the 14th century Sufi poet Rumi, and Muslim teaching stories. Read more ...

Help Preserve Ancient Manuscripts in Timbuktu

When activists moved manuscripts away from rebel-held areas in northern Mali to areas in southern Mali, the pages were exposed to a much more humid climate without appropriate protections. Please support this project! I met Ustaz Abdul Qader Haidara in Timbuktu in 1995 or 19966, and I remember his tireless advocacy on behalf of the preservation of knowledge. He also cooperated with the International Museum of Muslim Cultures in Jackson, Mississippi. More information is available at the T160K website.

Karama Has No Walls

Karama Has No Walls Trailer from S. Ishaq on Vimeo.

I've been able to see the full 27-minute movie, and I can tell you it is critical. Our peace group in Augusta, Georgia is planning to screen it as an intro to a talk by Augusta's favorite son Jeb Boone, who spent years in Yemen as an independent journalist.

In sha Allah, I'll get more information on how people can see it.

Review: The Search for Truth about Islam: A Christian Pastor Separates Fact from Fiction by Ben Daniel

Rachel Magruder at The United Methodist Reporter reviewed The Search for Truth about Islam: A Christian Pastor Separates Fact from Fiction by Ben Daniel . I have not read the book.

Review: The Duties of Brotherhood in Islam by al-Ghazali, translated by Muhtar Holland

A review of a translation of a portion of Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's book Ihyaa' Uluum al-diin is available at A Muslim's Book Shelf. I have not read the book, but I read this chapter from Ihyaa years ago. The excerpted passages are well-written English and convey the meanings I remember.

Film: Valentine's Ghost

Hv u seen ‘Valentino’s Ghost'? This engrossing examination of US perceptions of Arabs & Arab world gets u thinkingow.ly/l7mbV
— MPAC (@mpac_national) May 18, 2013

I have not seen the film.

Review: Light Without Fire: The Making of America’s First Muslim College

Bushra Burney, the Caffeinated Muslim, reviewed Scott Korb's book Light Without Fire: The Making of America's First Muslim College. You can follow Bushra on Twitter.

I have not read the book.

H/t to Ebadur Rahman

Caffeinated Muslim: Review of “Light Without Fire: The Making of America’s First Muslim College” ow.ly/2wW7b9
— Ebadur Rahman (@i_baad) May 17, 2013

By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Amitav Ghosh reviewed By The Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah. I have not read the book.

The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror by Arun Kundnani

Updated: Read and reviewed!

 
The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror by Arun Kundnani (Twitter)

The Council on American-Islamic Relations on Twitter drew people's attention to this book, scheduled to be released in February 2014.

The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror... fb.me/1UbPCZRKT
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) May 14, 2013

Updated February 16, 2014: I've reviewed the book!

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan and Mehrdokht Amini

Lori Norman of StoryQuill reviewed Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan and illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini. You can like Hena Khan's Facebook page.

Lori Norman is on Twitter.

I have not read the book.

The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West?

Gene Bedient reviewed The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West? by Doug Sanders (Twitter) at Prairie Fire (Twitter).

What Turns Some Western Muslims into Terrorists? The Causes of Extremism, an excerpt from Chapter 2 of this book, has been published at Doug Sanders's blog.

I have not read the book.

Living Shrines of Uyghur China by Lisa Ross

Ian Johnson reviewed Friends of God: Sufi Shrines in Western China by Lisa Ross in The New York Review of Books. Some photos are on exhibit at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York through July 8, 2013.

NPR also published a piece about the book, with some photos. La Journal de La Photographie also published an introduction to Lisa Ross's work, and it has some pictures as well. There's also an article in The Wall Street Journal. Lisa Ross also participated in a Rubin Museum of Art podcast episode (iTunes).

If you are in NYC, you can meet her for lunch today, May 8, at 1:00 PM.

I have not read the book. Hat tip to Omar Sacirbey, editor of Moozweek.

Support Georgia Innocence Project's Concept Album on Life of Clarence Harrison, Exonerated After 18 Years

I attended a talk by Clarence Harrison, a Decatur, Georgia man convicted of rape and kidnapping and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 18 years before he was exonerated with help from the Georgia Innocence Project (Facebook page).

I have posted other material regarding the United States criminal justice system. And I hope you've watched the latest Ken Burns documentary, Central Park Five.

Donate to the Georgia Innocence Project. In addition, some musicians are teaming up with Clarence Harrison to produce songs about his life, in mostly his own words. That project needs support as well.

Play: "Disgraced" by Ayad Akhtar

The New York Times published a review of the play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar.

I have not seen the play.

H/t

- ‘Disgraced,’ by Ayad Akhtar, With Aasif Mandvi - NYTimes.com ow.ly/2wgzbc

— Ebadur Rahman (@i_baad) April 18, 2013

Book Review: Christians, Muslims and Jesus by Mona Siddiqui

Christians, Muslims, and Jesus by Mona Siddiqui

Stuart Kelly reviewed the book at Scotsman.com. Sameer Rahim reviewed it at The Telegraph.

I have not read the book.

Here is a recording of a lecture she gave at Edinburgh University in Scotland on March 11, 2013.

Interview with Scott Korb, author of Light without Fire

Light without Fire: The Making of America's First Muslim College by Scott Korb (Twitter) (Tumblr) (Facebook)

Religion Dispatches published an interview with Scott Korb. The interview mentions Ebadur Rahman, whose blog I recommend.

Updated May 17, 2013: Review

Dawud Walid Explains Why CAIR Urges Moratorium on Death Penalty in the United States

Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has endorsed a national moratorium in the United States on the death penalty. You can listen to CAIR-Michigan's Executive Director Dawud Walid explain CAIR's position and discuss other matters related to the criminal justice system, which I've blogged about in the past.

Note: The audio file is embedded in 4shared.com. My recommendation is to create an account on the web site, but don't download and install on your computer its "download" assistant, which will embed itself in your browser and activate every time you try to download a file.

P.S. Act on this Amnesty International alert to prevent the execution of Abdullah al-Qahtani in Iraq.

Review: The Wall by William Sutcliffe

The Wall by William Sutcliffe

Pitched as a fable, his crossover novel is set in a city split in two by a vast wall. On one side live the privileged, the occupiers – and our hero Joshua. On the other live the desperate, the occupied, and when Joshua, hunting for his lost football, discovers a tunnel that leads under the wall, he sets in action a series of dreadful consequences. Without making it explicit, it soon becomes clear that this is the West Bank, that Joshua, 13, is Jewish, and that Leila, the girl who saves his life on the other side of the wall, is Palestinian.

Read more of Alison Flood's review of March 30, 2013 in The Guardian. 

I have not read the book.

Report: Women and the American Mosque

The Hartford Institute for Religious Research published a third report from the US Mosque Study 2011 (Adobe). This report is entitled Women and the American Mosque (Adobe). Its authors are Sarah Sayeed, Aisha Al-Adawiya and Ihsan Bagby. Women in Islam, Inc was also one of the authors.