Interview with Kecia Ali on "The Lives of Muhammad"

Joseph Richard Preville and Julie Poucher Harbin produced an interview with Kecia Ali about her new book The Lives of Muhammad. It was published at IslamiCommentary.org on October 9, 2014.

I have reviewed Professor Kecia Ali's book Sexual Ethics and Islam. I have not read this book. I have linked to other interviews Professor Preville has done. United States National Public Radio has published a review.

Via @nprbooks: Many Views Of Muhammad, As A Man And As A Prophet http://t.co/5iDqOZocXP
— Joseph R. Preville (@JosephPreville) October 20, 2014

I have not read the book.

The Africans: A Triple Heritage by Ali A Mazrui

Professor Ali Al-Amin Mazrui died today.

Prof. Ali Mazrui has died http://t.co/zRzkwxcCN1 - a great scholar and wonderful human being. He will be missed!
— Sheila Musaji (@SheilaMusaji) October 13, 2014

Review: Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination by Alondra Nelson

"Quando dou comida aos pobres chamam-me de santo. Quando pergunto por que eles são pobres chamam-me de comunista."

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."

Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara (1909 – 1999), Catholic Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil, 1964 to 1985

Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination by Alondra Nelson. 

University of Minnesota Press, 2011, 289 pp.

Professor Alondra Nelson (Twitter) has written a book which all activists should read. It focuses on the advocacy, activism and ideology of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in healthcare.

Crowdfunding for "Sexual Assault in the Muslim Community, " a Documentary by Nadya Ali

Here's the link to the Kickstarter project.

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story - Storified on Twitter

Film: Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station is an important dramatic reenactment of the last day of Oscar Grant's life. Ryan Coogler was the director, and Forest Whitaker was the producer.

Review: Observing the Observer: The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities by Mumtaz Ahmad, Zahid Bukhari & Sulayman Nyang (Eds)

Faiza Rahman wrote a review of Observing the Observer: The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities by Mumtaz Ahmad, Zahid Bukhari & Sulayman Nyang (Eds). It was published in The Express Tribune Sunday Magazine, August 31, 2014.

Entry in Worldcat.org

I have not read the book.

"I don't want a lot of gab from a bunkshooter in my religion" by Carl Sandburg

I don’t want a lot of gab from a bunkshooter in my religion.

I won’t take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory except the face of the woman on the American silver dollar.

This is an excerpt from Carl Sandburg's poem To a Contemporary Bunkshooter. It was first published in collection entitled Chicago Poems in 1916. I first heard it on an audio cassette book. Here is a performance I found on YouTube.

Watch "An American Mosque" Online By July 28

I had plugged the 27 minute documentary film "An American Mosque," but somehow I missed it on both Georgia & South Carolina public TV stations. You can watch it online for free through July 28. It really is well done. Here is the film's website.


AN AMERICAN MOSQUE - WATCH BY JULY 28 from David Washburn on Vimeo.

Review: Taking Liberties: Why Religious Freedom Doesn't Give You the Right to Tell Other People What to Do by Robert Boston

I am a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Robert Boston (Twitter) is the latter organization's Director of Communications, and he is the author of numerous books. His latest is Taking Liberties: Why Religious Freedom Doesn't Give You the Right to Tell Other People What to Do. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a talk he gave in Augusta, GA, and I enjoyed his company at lunch before the talk.

Support Steven Salaita, Academic, Activist and Target of Zionists

On Corey Robin's blog, I learned that the University of Illinois Chancellor has rescinded an offer of employment to Professor Steven Salaita.

In the meantime, do something for Steven Salaita. Write a note to University of Illinois Chancellor Phyllis Wise (best to email her at both chancellor@illinois.edu and pmischo@illinois.edu), urging her to rescind her rescission. ... read more ...

Professor Salaita has a website (not working when I wrote this), a Twitter account and a Goodreads author page.

Another way of supporting Professor Salaita is to read and promote his books. I own The Uncultured Wars: Arabs, Muslims and the Poverty of Liberal Thought. Consider buying or sending other books for me to review or submitting a review yourself.

The most recent publication I found was an essay entitled "Normatizing State Power: Uncritical Ethical Praxis and Zionism" in The Imperial University: Academic Repression and Scholarly Dissent, edited by Piya Chatterjee and Sunaina Maira.

Updated 2014-08-06: Mohammad Fadel of the University of Toronto published the letter he sent. There is a change.org petition for people to sign.

Updated 2014-08-07. Electronic Intifada reports that Professor Salaita was "fired," not that his job offer was revoked. US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has issued an action alert with suggested measures you can take. Illinois AAUP Committee. A Statement on Steven Salaita and UIUC.

Updated 2014-08-09. Rather than update with each important article, I'm simply going to give you the link to all Corey Robin's posts tagged Steven Salaita and Electronic Intifada posts tagged Steven Salaita.

Download for Free: The Case for Sanctions Against Israel, edited by Audrea Lim

Leading international voices argue for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
In July 2011, Israel passed legislation outlawing the public support of boycott activities against the state, corporations, and settlements, adding a crackdown on free speech to its continuing blockade of Gaza and the expansion of illegal settlements. Nonetheless, the campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) continues to grow in strength within Israel and Palestine, as well as in Europe and the US. ---- read more & download eBook or buy paperback

I don't have a Kindle and I'm not sure how to use an .epub file, so I used http://www.zamzar.com/ to convert the .epub file to a PDF.

Verso Books is an excellent publisher!

Documentary: The Newburgh Sting

HBO premiered the documentary "The Newburgh Sting" on July 21, 2014.

The film has a Twitter account.

Heaven's Bankers: Inside the Hidden World of Islamic Finance by Harris Irfan

Ziauddin Sardar, editor at The Critical Muslim, wrote a review of Heaven's Bankers: Inside the Hidden World of Islamic Finance by Harris Irfan. The Independent (UK) published it on July 17, 2014. The book has a companion website.

Things changed when the "rocket scientists of Deutsche Bank", Goldman Sachs, HSBC and other big boys arrived on the scene. They saw Islamic finance as an opportunity for quick profit. Muftis and Mullahs were hired at footballers' salaries to make some of their product "Sharia compliant", and bankers such as Irfan to sell them to an unsuspected Muslim public. Soon we had products such as sukuk (the equivalent of interest on bonds), hilah contracts (which substituted bank charges for interest) and Islamic finance became embroiled in hedge funds, derivatives and other dubious instruments justified in the name of Islam. read more ...

Updated August 7, 2014:

The Islamic finance industry is at risk of diluting its principles as it nears $2trn writes @harris_irfan in new book http://t.co/pQEzu88jKI

— Gregor Stuart Hunter (@gregorhunter) August 7, 2014

The Perils of American Muslim Politics

Abdullah Al-Arian and Hafsah Kanjwal wrote The Perils of American Muslim Politics, which Jadaliyya published on July 10, 2014.

These broader shifts across the United States political establishment showcase an increasing tendency within American Muslim activism—particularly since 9/11—to reorient its engagement with policy-making circles (including government, think tanks, private institutions, and media) in a way that risks becoming reappropriated and rearticulated for a new political reality. Read more ...

"Worldly ambition inhibits true learning." - Andrew Bacevich, "Washington Rules"

Worldly ambition inhibits true learning. Ask me. I know. A young man in a hurry is nearly uneducable: He knows what he wants and where he's headed; when it comes to looking back or entertaining heretical thoughts, he has neither the time nor the inclination. All that counts is that he is going somewhere. Only as ambition wanes does education become a possibility.

Broadcast of "An American Mosque" on USA Public TV

Update 2014-Aug-16: This film is available to watch free online through July 28.

Tune in at 10:30pm to PBS NYC, premier of #AnAmericanMosque, inspiring film on a Muslim community’s reaction to... http://t.co/PJCUcLEYqw
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) June 25, 2014

Review: Afghanistan and the Artificial US War on Terror by Anand Gopal

Afghanistan and the Artificial US War on Terror (Anand Gopal's New Book) - http://t.co/g6Xxdvf6zD pic.twitter.com/qyeu0gqjHj
— Juan Cole (@jricole) June 23, 2014

Entry on IndieBound.org

Central Park 5 Available Online for Limited Time

I can think of no crime that the "Law and Order" reactionaries in the United States exploited more than the 1989 attack on a white female jogger in Central Park in New York, for which five black and Hispanic youth were convicted based on circumstantial evidence and coerced confessions. Later evidence emerged which exonerated them and revealed the identity of the assailant. Recently, New York City settled with the five men. The Ken Burns PBS Documentary Central Park Five has been made available to U.S. internet users to mark this milestone in the case.

Free eBooks Available from Getty Museum of Art

250 titles backlisted from the Getty Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California are now available for download for free. h/t

Photo: Download over 250 art books for free here... http://t.co/qTzt1F2sfQ
— G. D. Falksen (@gdfalksen) April 3, 2014