Closing the week 20
Closer
Most popular this week: Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics
Also ‘hot’: Dar al ‘Ilm – Het nationale Islam Congres (a report – in Dutch – will appear on Closer by Monday)
International (English)
Religion & Politics
‘I was groomed for jihad in Britain’ -Times Online
‘I was groomed for jihad in Britain’
A Muslim teenager in London gives the first inside account of how extremists are luring recruits
Kevin DowlingA TEENAGER has revealed how he was recruited by Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists and groomed to carry out suicide attacks in Britain.
In the first insider account of how radicals are preying on vulnerable Muslim youths, the teenager describes being approached by Islamists at a mosque in south London that was used by the failed 21/7 bombers, and indoctrinated at a secret network of squats.
A Woman in the Muslim Brotherhood | Jacksonville.com
A Woman in the Muslim Brotherhood
T. Nicole HernandezThe Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would give more freedom for all aspects of Egyptian society, including women, if the movement achieved power in the country, a female member of the group said.
Happy Daggers: “Middle of what? Middle to whom?” – Nawal El Saadawi
The renowned Egyptian writer, doctor and activist Nawal El Saadawi is currently promoting the English translations of her most famous writings, reissued by Zed Books publisher. As a consequence, she is meeting her readers in diverse places – libraries, universities, etc. – engaging with them a very stimulating dialogue that takes an Arab perspective on political issues related to cultural, social and sexual prejudices. Born in 1931, El Saadawi is just as you could imagine her: radical, impressive but still very nice, attentive to her readers’ feedback and willing to understand different views from hers – at least, to a certain extent. Despite her stubbornness, the 78 year-old lady missed neither eloquence nor sense of humor. I met her at Housman’s, a radical bookshop in London.
Gender
An unseen burqa revolution | csmonitor.com
Every year brings progress for women’s rights in Muslim nations, though the advances are often obscured by smoke from explosive news reports suggesting the opposite.
It’s so hard to find obedient girls these days… | open Democracy News Analysis
I tried to maintain my shock and just nodded; but I was quietly realizing here was patriarchy in action – what drove a woman to raise a son who values subservience and insecurity in a wife? What did it say about her own beliefs in her own power?
GOATMILK introduces its original and exclusive month long series entitled “Muslims Talking Sex” featuring diverse Muslim writers from around the world discussing a gamut of topics in their own unique, honest and eclectic voices.
Commercialization of Islam
Halal: Buying Muslim – TIME
One reason for the rise of the halal economy is that the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are younger and, in some places at least, richer than ever. Seeking to tap that huge market, non-Muslim multinationals like Tesco, McDonald’s and Nestlé have expanded their Muslim-friendly offerings and now control an estimated 90% of the global halal market.
At the same time, governments in Asia and the Middle East are pouring millions into efforts to become regional “halal hubs,” providing tailor-made manufacturing centers and “halal logistics” — systems to maintain product purity during shipping and storage. The increased competition is changing manufacturing and supply chains in some unusual places. Most of Saudi Arabia’s chicken is raised in Brazil, which means Brazilian suppliers have built elaborate halal slaughtering facilities. Abattoirs in New Zealand, the world’s biggest exporter of halal lamb, have hosted delegations from Iran and Malaysia. And the Netherlands, keen to maximize Rotterdam’s role as Europe’s biggest port, has built halal warehouses so that imported halal goods aren’t stored next to pork or alcohol.
Research
Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation « Nuseiba
Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation
May 10, 2009Portrayals of the ‘Other’ in Fine Art and Mass Media
Farah
This is the first in a 3-part series discussing the portrayal of the ‘Other’ through Western cultural artefacts. In this post I will establish the theoretical framework, and discuss the role of the Orient in fine art during the first wave of colonialism in the late 1800’s.
Orientalism, Culture and Appropriation: Part 2 « Nuseiba
How did the high art Oriental depictions of harems, turbans, hyper-sexualised women in transparent veils and sheiks make its way into mass culture?
[Note to myself and my readers…yes again a quote from Nuseiba. If they keep on going like this I have no other option left than calling Nuseiba my favorite blog of the moment]
Defying the Integration Models – the Second Generation in Europe: European Science Foundation
In Germany there is hardly any upcoming elite, but there are also fewer pupils dropping out of school, and more help with the transition to the labour market. But the Netherlands has also seen – along with the emergence of an elite – the growth of an at-risk group, of school dropouts who may be unemployed, or only intermittently employed, and in social housing.
“If you look to the future, the question is this: is the steady rise in social mobility in German-speaking countries, from the low-class position of their parents to the lower middle-class, skilled position, the safe route to integration? Or looking at France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium, where there is a developing elite, will that speed up the integration process? Or is there in these countries a group at the bottom that will cause so many problems that integration will spiral negatively?”
Hezbollah Deals with “Shia Salafism” in Lebanon «
While ”Salafism” is usually associated with Sunni Islam, it is applicable here in the sense that “Salafi,” as understood in contemporary Islamism, essentially describes a more dogmatic approach to dealing with society compared to pragmatic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood; the Shia, like the Sunnis, have their dogmatists and their pragmatists. The article focuses on Lebanon and how Hezbollah and its rival, the Shia cleric Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah, have recently improved their relationship as part of an effort to minimize the spread of ”Shia Salafism” (especially in the form of anti-Sunni sectarian agitation).
Online Radicalisation – New Article in RUSI Journal « ubiwar . conflict in n dimensions
The April 2009 issue of the RUSI Journal arrived today and contains an article by yours truly. The editors eventually called it, ‘Regulating the ‘Dark Web’: How a Two-Fold Approach can Tackle Peer-to-Peer Radicalisation’, and it’s essentially a critique of techno-centric approaches to ‘online radicalisation’, a quick look at UK political discourse on the subject, and some policy suggestions.
How do middle-class women in Calcutta understand and experience economic change? What impact is globalization having on the new middle-classes in Asia? Our reviewer Tessa Valo has again been lucky with her choice of books. For antropologi.info, she reviewes Domestic Goddesses: Maternity, Globalization and Middle-Class Identity in Contemporary India by Henrike Donner
altmuslimah.com – Author Dalia Mogahed: “We’re all working for a more well-informed citizenry”
Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, helped oversee the largest surveys of the Muslim world, co-authoring Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think in the process. Now, Barack Obama has tapped her to join his Faith Advisory Council. Here, we speak to Mogahed about her new position of influence.
Virtually Islamic: Research and News about Islam in the Digital Age
Gary R. Bunt – iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam
New book: The internet has profoundly shaped how Muslims perceive Islam, and how Islamic societies and networks are evolving and shifting within the twenty-first century. While these electronic interfaces appear new and innovative in terms of how the media is applied, much of their content has a basis in classical Islamic concepts, with an historical resonance that can be traced back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad.
iMuslims explores how these transformations and influences play out in diverse cyber Islamic environments, and how they are responding to shifts in technology and society. The book discusses how, in some contexts, the application of the internet has had an overarching transformational effect on how Muslims practice Islam, how forms of Islam are represented to the wider world, and how Muslim societies perceive themselves and their peers. On one level, this may be in terms of practical performance of Islamic duties and rituals, or on the interpretation and understanding of the Qur’an. On another level, cyber Islamic environments have exposed Muslims to radical and new influences outside of traditional spheres of knowledge and authority, causing long-standing paradigmatic shifts at a grassroots level within societies. iMuslims looks at how these changes are taking place, including through social networking sites and the blogosphere.
The book is backed up by an Online Bibliography (Version 1.0).
Gary Bunt’s website can be found HERE and his useful weblog HERE.
Dutch
Eerst militair, dan moslim – Binnenland – Reformatorisch Dagblad
Hun integratie blijft nog wat achter bij die in de rest van de maatschappij, maar moslims in de Nederlandse krijgsmacht zijn geen zeldzaamheid meer. Wat ervaart een moslimmilitair als hij op missie is in een islamitisch land als Afghanistan? Sergeant van de verbindingstroepen Buddy Masfirdaus: „Ik ben allereerst militair, pas daarna moslim.”
nrc.nl – Binnenland – Kinderen zorgen vaak voor Turkse en Marokkaanse ouderen
Kinderen zorgen vaak voor Turkse en Marokkaanse ouderen
De schoondochters wacht een zware klusDoor onze redacteur Sheila Kamerman
Gouda/Deventer, 7 mei. Het aantal Turks- en Marokkaans-Nederlandse ouderen groeit. Dochters en schoondochters nemen meestal de zorg op zich, vaak ten koste van zichzelf. Maar hoelang nog?
AD.nl – Gouda – ‘Gouda redt zichzelf wel’
Door RIK SNEIJDER
GOUDA – Gouda is opnieuw landelijk nieuws. Een reeks incidenten trekt de aandacht. Is Gouda nog te redden?Deze en zeven andere vragen heeft AD Groene Hart voorgelegd aan mensen die het weten kunnen: voorzitter Edgar de Mol van Bewonersgroep Gouda Oost Veilig, Gouwenaar en directeur Farid Azarkan van Samenwerkingsverband van Marokkanen in Nederland, politicus Mohammed Mohandis van de PvdA in Gouda en zijn collegaraadslid voor de VVD Laura Werger.