SAJAforum

WEB: Muslims Launch Their Own YouTube

The United States Muslim Organization has launched a new website, MuslimChannel.tv, which is said to be a Muslim alternative for YouTube and MySpace.

From C21Media:

The site's founders are aiming to take a dual approach to online video, combining live 24/7 broadcasts from established Muslim-skewing TV channels around the world with user-generated content (UGC).

Content supply deals have been signed with partners including Al Jazeera English; Tehran-based, globally available English-language news channel Press TV; US satcaster Link TV; and international analysis programme Democracy Now!; as well as religious programmes, such as Huda TV, from Saudi Arabia, and UK-based satcaster Islam Channel.

Stephanie Khan, communications director for Muslim Channels, said that UGC from Islamic leaders and their congregants was expected to be added over the coming weeks.

"We are optimistic many of our scholars and Imams from the 1,000-plus Islamic centres across the country, and our user base, will add tens of thousands of pieces of useful content," she said, adding that no sexual or hate-based videos will be permitted on the site. It would combine "education, clean entertainment and broader news perspectives, all in one place," she said.

I tried to see if I could embed any videos but one has to login to be able to share videos.

Thoughts folks? Please post them below.

ISLAM: To Avoid Offending Muslims, Sniffer Dogs Will Wear Bootees

The British Police has come up with a plan to avoid offending Muslims while searching their homes for drugs and explosives - they are going to make the sniffer dogs wear bootees.

These new guidelines, initially designed by the Association of Chief Police to cover mosques, "urge religious sensitivities while using dogs to search" for any dangerous materials.

From Times Online:

Where Muslims object, officers will be obliged to use sniffer dogs only in exceptional cases. Where dogs are used, they will have to wear bootees with rubber soles. “We are trying to ensure that police forces are aware of sensitivities that people can have with the dogs to make sure they are not going against any religious or cultural element within people’s homes. It is being addressed and forces are working towards doing it,” Acpo said.

How do you like the bootees? Please post your comments below.

BANGLADESH: Another Musharraf Could Emerge, says Christian Science Monitor

Selig Harrison's recent piece in the Christian Science Monitor infers that a new Musharraf could emerge-- in Bangladesh--as its military ruler Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed organizes a new army-controlled political party to challenge two secular parties in the upcoming elections in December. 

But the concern does not simply revolve around the idea of another Musharraf. It also lies within the notion that the United States has failed to press Gen. Ahmed for a crackdown on Islamist terrorist groups like Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, whose leader Fazlur Rehman Khalil is quoted as one of the six signatories of Osama bin Laden's first declaration of holy war against the United States.

While the CIA and the Pentagon search in vain for Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Pakistan, an Al Qaeda affiliate has been quietly building up terrorist bases in the jungles of Bangladesh under the protective aegis of a new military regime in Dhaka allied with Islamist forces.<snip>

Bush administration officials privately endorse mounting Indian evidence that Bangladeshi Harkat agents spearheaded a series of terrorist attacks in India. But the US has conspicuously failed to press Bangladesh's military ruler, Gen. Moeen U Ahmed, for a crackdown on Harkat and for the removal of highly placed intelligence officials with Islamist ties.      

General Ahmed staged a bloodless coup in January 2007, forcing a figurehead president to give him emergency powers. He has pledged to hold elections in December and return power to a civilian government. The Bush administration, while formally urging him to hold the elections on schedule, has so far ignored his increasingly blatant efforts to rig them.<snip>

By its silence in the face of Ahmed's power grab, Washington is signaling that it sees little hope of ending military rule. But it is much too soon to write off the prospects for democracy in Bangladesh, where almost everyone was politicized during the independence struggle against Pakistan. Since then, three free elections have been held, and two previous military regimes have proved to be short-lived.

Read the entire piece here.

Thoughts, folks? Please post them below.

BOOKS: Sadanand Dhume's "My Friend the Fanatic"

UPDATE: Listen to a recording of a SAJA webcast with Dhume:

Washington-based journalist, Asia expert and long-time SAJA member Sadanand Dhume has his first book out. It's called "My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with an Indonesian Islamist." It's just been published in Australia (no U.S. edition yet; purchasing info here). From the publisher:

My Friend the Fanatic is a portrait of the world’s most populous Muslim country, Indonesia, a land once synonymous with tolerance that finds itself in the midst of a profound shift toward radical Islam. This portrait is painted through the travels of a pair of unlikely protagonists. Sadanand Dhume, the author, is a foreign correspondent, an Indian atheist with a fondness for literary fiction and an interest in economic development. His companion, Herry Nurdi, is a young Islamist who hero worships Osama bin Laden.

Dhume’s quest to understand the ongoing radicalization of Indonesia gives My Friend the Fanatic the contours of a travelogue. His attachment to the country’s fading culture of pluralism and the inherent tension of his friendship with Herry supply the emotional undertow of a memoir. Both strands come together to answer the same question: how does a society go from broad inclusiveness to shrill intolerance in the space of a generation?

By turns disturbing and amusing, My Friend the Fanatic addresses two of the most pressing questions of our times. Is Islam compatible with liberal democracy? Is it compatible with economic development? Is Herry an anomaly or does he in fact represent his country’s future?

"A vividly engaging portrait…a striking social and political travelogue." - THE AUSTRALIAN
"Perfectly timed…elegantly written." - THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW

More on the book, and the author's contact info below. Listen to a live or archived webcast with Dhume here.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Chay Magazine, a new publication on Pakistani sexuality

Kyla Pasha, a Lahore-based blogger and educator who's contributed to SAJAforum (here and here), and Sarah Suhail have started Chay Magazine, an online publication meant to further discussion of sex and sexuality in Pakistani society. They're looking for writers from around the world who can help normalize topics that are otherwise considered off-limits. Here's their mission statement, which they recently sent out:

Having observed in Pakistani society, a disturbing tendency towards fear and shame around issues of sex and sexuality - that is to say, around a normal human interaction - the founders of Chay Magazine feel that sex and sexuality should enter the public discourse. The taboo and silence around sex and sexuality are oppressive on all of us, irrespective of gender, and lead, at the very least, to unhappiness in our daily lives and, more often, to violence, shame, depression, ill health and general social malaise. We at Chay Magazine endeavor to bring to the Pakistani reading public a place to converse about those things we are most shy of. Our hope is that, through this, we can become braver and stronger, more powerful, self-assured, and just and fair members of society.

Our focus is on Pakistani society and our themes emerge from this context. However, Pakistan is only our starting point. Chay Magazine aims to enter the fray of international feminist discourse and, as such, we invite writers of all nationalities, geographies, stripes to contribute. We are not so much interested in where you come from as in what you have to say.

By the way: Chay can't pay. But the editors are looking for 500-1000 word feature articles, poetry and fiction, and artwork. Here are some of their areas of interest:

Let’s Talk about Sex

• Talking about sex and sexuality – why do it, the taboos around it, the problems with it, the silences
• Sex/Gender, gender roles and gender identity
• Talking about sex and romance
• Standards of “moral” conduct relating to sex

PAKISTAN: Hindu man lynched in Karachi for "blasphemy"

A Hindu man in Pakistan was lynched last week--his co-workers say because he made disparaging remarks about Islam. From the blog of Dawn newspaper:

Jagdeesh Kumar, 22, was tortured to death by his co-workers in a leather garment factory in Karachi on Tuesday. According to Dawn, a discussion about religion among the co-workers became heated and the victim allegedly made some blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). This reportedly enraged the workers, who lynched Kumar until he succumbed to his injuries. When police arrived at the scene, they prevented the angry mob from burning the body.

But Kumar's relatives and some investigators are suspicious, saying it most likely had nothing to do with religion and that his killers likely used religion to mask a personal feud.

HUMOR: Pakistani politician denies he's a Christian

Shreeram Krishnaswami wrote this rather amusing, if somewhat sad satire in which a Pakistani politician (fictitious, just to be clear) has to squelch rumors that he's a closet Christian:

Jabil Bush Hussein is outraged. Despite repeated denials by the PDP (Pakistan Democratic Party) leader and candidate for prime minister, rumors that he is or once was a Christian continue to gather momentum.

Hussein's campaign aides have emphasized his strong Muslim beliefs and downplayed any Christian connection. Hussein spokesman Nouri Aswari issued a statement yesterday reiterating that "Husssein has never been a Christian, was not raised as a Christian, and is a committed Muslim."

"After I graduated from college, I submitted myself to Allah's will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works," Hussein said yesterday.

Genius that I am, it took me a minute or two to realize this was a joke (to be fair to me, the title of the piece, "Political Satire: Pakistan prime ministerial candidate denies he is a Christian," was not in the email I received). So I thought I was pretty special when I made the connection between this piece and the ongoing inanity over Barack Obama and whether he's actually a Muslim (which he's not, just to be clear). Back to the satire:

CURRENT AFFAIRS: Sharia law to destroy Britain?

In the cinematic release of Disney’s Aladdin, a Bedouin peddler sings that Arabia is “where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." After many complaints, the lines were changed in the video release to something dull but at least not so offensive.

Last Thursday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, said in an interview on the BBC and at a lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice that some kind of official provision for Sharia law (traditional Islamic law) in the UK “seems unavoidable” (read an earlier SAJAforum post on the matter). Predictably, the interview provoked a glut of angry editorials and comments, and the debate was never about what the Archbishop said or meant but was instead a proxy war of words about the “Islamization of Britain.” There is fear in the land, as I argued in a previous SAJAforum post.

I am thinking about Aladdin because for many in the West, Sharia still seems to be nothing more than a justification for a kind of theater of barbarism that portrayals like the Disney film exaggerate and yet present with naive earnestness. (The Guardian addresses this question in an audio feature.) The fact that most Western legal principles are already contained in Sharia, that it is similar to Jewish law, that it is already widely applied by Muslims in finance and personal life, that under some interpretations it treats women and other oppressed groups very well—none of these things will matter in the firestorm of the debate.

Members of the three major political parties in Parliament immediately, reflexively condemned the Archbishop’s words. Newspapers clambered to write the most bombastic things. The Sun has a “Bash the Bishop” campaign, which claims that 15,000 readers have sent messages in favor of removing Dr. Williams. The Times (London) has on its website a photograph of a veiled Muslim woman in a column labeled "Islamic Law" next to a photograph of the Archbishop looking haggard. (It leads me to believe that newspapers file away unflattering photos of public figures to pull out at times like this.) The Daily Mail has a page of quotations from various public figures, including Dr. Williams’ predecessor Lord Carey (who advises a thinktank that I believe to be xenophobic), shivering at the thought of Islamic law in Britain. On the BBC’s website, a headline screamed “The End of One Law for All?” In contrast, The Guardian, whose coverage has avoided the temptation to scaremonger, has done a good job of cataloging the reactions, and their commentator Madeleine Bunting writes that the issue unleashed “a perfect media storm,” for which journalists should be ashamed.

PRESS FREEDOM: President Karzai tells not to worry about sentenced journalist

Few weeks earlier, SAJAForum reported about a young Afghani journalist, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, who has been sentenced to death by a court for alleged blasphemy. As journalist organizations all over the world, including groups such as Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists, continue to condemn this decision, something hopeful might be finally on its way.

According to Reporters sans Frontiéres, Afghani president Hamid Karzai, during his meeting with a delegation from Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association, told  them that they had no reason to worry about Kambakhsh.

From the RSF press release (Full text below):

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the undertakings given today by President Hamid Karzai as regards Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, the young journalist who has been sentenced to death on a trumped-up charge of distributing information that insulted Islam. Karzai told a delegation of Afghan journalists that they had no reason to worry about him.

"We want to believe that President Karzai really is determined to find a rapid solution to this appalling affair," the press freedom organisation said. "The death sentence passed on Kambakhsh by a court in Mazar-i-Sharif is unworthy of Afghanistan, whose constitution protects free expression. We call for the case to be quickly transferred to Kabul and for the conviction to be quashed."

Kambakhsh, 23, who is a journalism student at a local university, was sentenced for publishing, what the court called controversial articles on verses in the Koran about women. However, some have claimed that his sentence was an indication to warn his brother, Ibrahimi, who had been writing articles for the Institute on War and Peace Reporting criticizing some local authorities.

Do you think Karzai will free this young journalist? Please post your comments below.

Earlier on SAJAForum:

• CPJ on Attacks on Press in 2007 in South Asia
• Afghani Journalist Faces Death Sentence for Blasphemy
• Nepali Journalist's Hand Cut Off
• Two Nepalese Dailies Disrupted by Maoists
• Cartoonist Jailed Over Mohammad Cartoons
  
• 25 Journalists Killed in South Asia During 2007

PRESS FREEDOM: Journalist faces death sentence for blasphemy

A young journalism student has been sentenced to death by a court in the northern Afghani city of Mazar-e-Sharif for alleged blasphemy. Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, 23, a Balkh University student who reported for the newspaper Jahan-e-Naw, was tried in court without any lawyer defending him, a Reporters san Frontiers report says.

Kambakhsh was supposedly arrested because of a controversial article commenting on verses in the Koran about women, although it has now been established that he was not the article’s author. Rahimullah Samandar, the head of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association, said he was in fact arrested because of articles written by his brother, Ibrahimi, criticising the provincial authorities.

And earlier report by RSF said that mullahs had been calling for Kambakhsh's death penalty.

Committee to Protect Journalists writes that Kambakhsh was arrested on October 27 for distributing what officials said was anti-Islamic law.

He was detained by National Directorate of Security (NDS) forces after downloading and giving to friends an article that said the Prophet Mohammed ignored women’s rights, according to Samander and Reuters. He is also accused of possessing anti-Islamic books and starting un-Islamic debates in his classes. While Kambakhsh admits to circulating the article, he denies the accusations of blasphemy, which is punishable by death under Islamic law, Samander said.        

Ibrahimi’s office [Kambakhsh's brother] was sealed and his rooms searched by NDS officers at the time of Kambakhsh’s arrest, according to the institute. He has previously received anonymous death threats by phone and online as well as a visit from NDS officers at home, according to a statement from the institute.

The report also says that Kambakhsh's brother, Ibrahimi, writes for Institute of War and Peace Reporting and he has been the focus of escalating pressure over sensitive reports he has written criticizing local officials and warlords.

It and other Afghan sources say they fear that the charges against Kambakhsh are a pretext meant to stop his brother from reporting.

Full RSF Press Release below. Comments?
Earlier on SAJAForum:

• Nepali Journalist's Hand Cut Off
• Two Nepalese Dailies Disrupted by Maoists
• Cartoonist Jailed Over Mohammad Cartoons
  
• 25 Journalists Killed in South Asia During 2007 

BOOKS: New York Times Book Review's Islam issue

This Sunday's NYT Book Review is an all-Islam issue - reviews, essays and more dealing with Islam. From the editor's note:

Islam, one of mankind’s great religions, numbers 1.3 billion adherents around the world, with major communities not only in Cairo, Baghdad, Istanbul, Jakarta and Tehran, but also in London, Paris, Berlin, New York and Washington. Yet most Americans know very little about Muslims, which often means they know very little about their own neighbors. Even public officials with responsibility for our national security — powerful congressmen, top F.B.I. agents — betray an ignorance of the most basic facts about Islam, like the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.

Since 9/11, publishers have been rushing to fill this knowledge gap, and the time seems right to highlight their efforts. This special issue is by no means comprehensive (any more than a single issue of the Book Review could be comprehensive about Christianity or Judaism). It is, instead, a sampler of what is now available. It offers reviews and essays by scholars, critics and journalists of varying points of view discussing many of the most important facets of an impossibly huge subject, from history and literature to theology and politics.

Below you will find the e-mail alert that goes out in advance, with links to each individual review. You can also see the entire issue online here. Post your comments below.

VIDEO: Muslims for Peace video features South Asians

Three South Asian writers, Ameena Meer, Sharbari Z. Ahmed and Asra Nomani, have created a group called "Muslims for Peace." Its mission: "Creating a unified voice of Muslims for peace and tolerance." Below is a video they have created. Post your comments below. Contact Ameena: ameenameer[at]muslimsforpeace.net

OPINION: Where are Islam's moderates?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former member of Denmark's Parliament, has an op-ed in today's New York Times questioning why more Muslims are not in an uproar over several recent controversies. These include the harsh sentence given to a Saudi victim of gang rape and the British teacher in Sudan who nearly received 40 lashes for allowing her kids to name a teddy bear Muhammad. From "Islam's Silent Moderates":

Then there’s Taslima Nasreen, the 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer who bravely defends women’s rights in the Muslim world. Forced to flee Bangladesh, she has been living in India. But Muslim groups there want her expelled, and one has offered 500,000 rupees for her head. In August she was assaulted by Muslim militants in Hyderabad, and in recent weeks she has had to leave Calcutta and then Rajasthan. Taslima Nasreen’s visa expires next year, and she fears she will not be allowed to live in India again.

It is often said that Islam has been “hijacked” by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates.

But where are the moderates? Where are the Muslim voices raised over the terrible injustice of incidents like these? How many Muslims are willing to stand up and say, in the case of the girl from Qatif, that this manner of justice is appalling, brutal and bigoted — and that no matter who said it was the right thing to do, and how long ago it was said, this should no longer be done?

Ali's column comes, interestingly, just a few days after Muslim leaders in the UK unveiled a 'code of conduct' that's meant to foster women's rights and fight extremism. From The New York Times:

PREZ POLITICS: Mansoor Ijaz on "A Muslim Belongs in the Cabinet"

[ See SAJAforum coverage, sources and resources about the 2008 Elections ]

UPDATE: Ijaz interviewed by National Review Online about this op-ed.

Mansoor Ijaz, financier and former Fox News Channel foreign affairs analyst, has an op-ed in today's Christian Science Monitor. The piece is called "A Muslim Belongs in the Cabinet: Muslims are Uniquely Qualified  to Help Deter Islamist Threats." Some excerpts:

I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that "jihadism" is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today. He answered, "…based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration."

Romney, whose Mormon faith has become the subject of heated debate in Republican caucuses, wants America to be blind to his religious beliefs and judge him on merit instead. Yet he seems to accept excluding Muslims because of their religion, claiming they're too much of a minority for a post in high-level policymaking. More ironic, that Islamic heritage is what qualifies them to best engage America's Arab and Muslim communities and to help deter Islamist threats.
<snip>
[Romney] and other candidates for the presidency from both political parties, should actively begin searching for American Muslims and Arab Americans who can serve in primary decisionmaking cabinet level posts. To do otherwise is to risk promulgating policies that once again put the US straight in the sights of the terrorists who seek to bring America down.

See the full piece here and you can also listen to a 10-minute interview of Ijaz by Josh Burek, the Monitor's opinion editor.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

See related-ish Ijaz essays:

• Moderate Muslims' Citizenship Duty - Christian Science Monitor, July 14, 2005
• Un-American: A disappointing response to the Dubai Deal - National Review Online, Feb. 22, 2006

2008 PRESIDENTIAL RACE: See all SAJAforum coverage and resources.

AWARDS: Searching for CNN "Heroes"

From CNN.com as part of its "Heroes" feature ("ordinary people, extraordinary achievements").

• CNN searched the globe for unheralded heroes in six categories
  
• Viewers nominated 5,000-plus candidates for recognition as CNN Heroes
  
• Most outstanding entries to be revealed at live, global broadcast in December

One South Asian connection, in the "community crusader" section:

         Mohammed Mamdani: His story | Extra | How to help: 1 | 2
As a teenager growing up in greater London, England, Mohammed Mamdani started the Muslim Youth Hotline, a confidential counseling service for other young Muslims. Now, at age 24, he has launched the Ansar Youth Project. Its goal: to help teens feel comfortable with their dual identities as Muslims in Western culture.

Post your comments below.

TV: "Aliens in America" - Muslims and other viewers respond to a serious sitcom

[A guest post by Maariya Rahman...]

Two weeks ago, I watched the premiere of "Aliens in America," a show that I have been anxiously waiting to see all summer. It was a show that was either going to entertain me because I was in on the joke or it would make me cringe because the situations shown are very real, hitting very close to home. It has succeeded in doing both.

The show centers around an earnest 16-year-old exchange student from Islamabad, Raja Musharaff (played by Adhir Kalyan, a South African of Indian descent). Raja is incongruously placed with a typical middle-American family in Wisconsin, the Tolchuks, namely 16-year-old Justin, who has big enough problems at school without a Muslim student being plonked down into his life.

What separates this from popular shows like 24 is that for once the Muslim character is actually shown sympathetically instead of as the villain. Watching it the first night, I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach about seeing this show, about having to be reminded of the prejudices me and my family face everyday. Tears even came to my eyes because it hit so close to home.

But I wanted to see how other viewers, including Pakistani Muslims felt about this show, so I asked around, and also scanned the blogosphere for reactions.

Twenty year old Hofstra University student Saira Bajwa said:

“I love the show! Initially when the trailers first started appearing, I was honestly just surprised that a show about such a touchy topic - Muslims - was even being aired; on top of that it’s a comedy! I think it’s a great show, I personally find it funny although I do have a friend who finds it insulting. I think it's great that the show is set in high school and that it deals with important issues about the perceptions of Muslims in America. Obviously there are silly exaggerations, but the context of the show itself definitely sends a strong message. I do find it odd that his name is Raja; because that's a Hindu name not a Muslim one!”

RESOURCE: OneNationForAll.org - new site for reporters about Muslim Americans

An alert about a new website from SAJAer Sharene Azimi at Fenton Communications. Please take a look and post your comments below.

Dear Colleague,

I'm writing to let you know about a new online resource, http://www.onenationforall.org - recently launched as a service for reporters that cover the American Muslim community.

Among the features you'll see are:

*         A listing of some of today's leading experts in the American Muslim community and their contact information, searchable by issue area (for example, civil rights, interfaith issues, or women's rights)

*         Profiles on everyday American Muslims who are making a difference in their communities

*         News from the American Muslim community

*         Brief backgrounders on Islam

*         Links to organizations, publications and other resources

DESI AMERICA: Saba Ali's NYT "Modern Love" Column

The Sunday NYT's "Modern Love" column - freelance first-person essays on various aspects of relationships - is one of the paper's most popular features. In fact, the most e-mailed item of 2006 was a "Modern Love" piece about how a woman learned to deal with her husband by using techniques used by exotic-animal trainers - see "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage." I haven't kept track of South Asian-themed pieces, but there's been at least one. Sarita James published "Mom, Dad Let Me Find My Own Husband" in May 2006 (you can listen to it as a MP3 podcast, too.)

In today's paper, the column is by Saba Ali, a 29-year-old from a Kenyan family of Indian origin, now living in upstate New York. In "Close Enough to Touch was Too Far Apart," she writes about her experiences as a scarf-wearing Muslim trying to navigate the world of relationships.

Her piece begins:

WHO knew that holding hands, the very act that signals the start of so many relationships, would be the end of mine? It seems the mullahs were onto something when they wagged their fingers against premarital relations, of any kind.

Born in Kenya of Indian heritage, I came to the United States at age 6, settling with my family in upstate New York. Growing up Muslim in suburban America, I missed out on the typical “Dawson’s Creek” method of courtship: the flirting, the fighting, the making up and making out.

Read the rest of the essay and post your comments below (and write to the column's editors at modernlove at nytimes.com). And if you know of any desi pieces we missed, let us know.

EARLIER ON SAJAforum:

• DESI AMERICA: ABCDLady Interviews Ausma Khan of Muslim Girl Magazine
• SPORTS: Raheela Fazal, Tennis Player and Muslim
• FASHION: Being Muslim, Female, and Chic

BANGLADESH: Cartoonist Jailed Over Mohammed Cartoon

Arifur Rahman, a Bangladeshi cartoonist, has been arrested for a cartoon with a play on the name Mohammend. From the RSF action alert:

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediately release of Arifur Rahman, a cartoonist with Aalpin, the daily newspaper Prothom Alo's weekly satirical supplement. He was arrested at his Dhaka home on 17 September over a cartoon that was a play on the name Mohammed. The government's press department said the cartoon "hurt religious sentiments." All copies of the supplement were seized. Prothom Alo apologised and fired the supplement's deputy editor.

"The play on words had no intention of attacking the Prophet," Reporters Without Borders said "It was a joke about a cultural custom. The government should not yield to pressure from extremist leaders who are trying to politicise the case. Rahman should not be made a scapegoat. He must be freed."

See the full memo below, along with a description of the cartoon.
VOA coverage | BBC coverage | GlobalVoicesOnline coverage

Post your comments below.

MEDIA: Scary Muslims in The Times of London

Two weeks ago the Times of London printed a special section that is a textbook example of how not to cover a minority concern, in this case the beliefs of Muslim clerics in Britain.   

The key issue is that plans are in the works to construct the largest mosque in Europe near the East London site of the 2012 Olympics. According to the Economist, the Abbeymills mosque would have space for 12,000 worshippers, far surpassing the largest Anglican structure in Britain, St. Paul’s cathedral in central London, which has room for a paltry 2,500 faithful. The largest religious structure in Britain already is a mosque, the Baitul Fatah mosque in Surrey, which has space for 10,000 worshippers. However, Baitul Fatah is not as conspicuous presence as Abbeymills, with its sweeping modernist design and a completion date of just before the Olympics, would be.

Of course there is significant scope for debate — as the 281,685 people who signed a petition opposing the mosque’s construction would attest — but the Times decided not to cover the debate fairly but rather to offer innuendo. The paper ran this headline: “Exclusive: Islamist sect taking over UK mosques” and explains “An investigation by The Times has found that almost half of Britain’s mosques are controlled by a hardline Islamic sect.” (For the record, I hate this use of the word “Islamist” because it makes the headline sound like a tautology, like “Catholics worship in Catholic Churches.” The problem is that just twenty years ago, Islamist could only mean “a scholar of Islam” and today the word has lost this neutral sense and almost exclusively means “scary, hyperconservative Muslim.” It’s practically a synonym for “bad guy” and clearly that’s problematic from the perspective of good journalism.)

DESI AMERICA: ABCDLady interview with Ausma Khan of Muslim Girl Magazine

The latest issue of ABCDLady has an article on Ausma Khan, the editor-in-chief of Muslim Girl Magazine (link to the magazine). The article was written by Elaine G. Flores. The magazine has a mix of content, some Muslim-specific - like the 'Style Your Hijab' photo-feature (pictured) - some just like you'd find in any teenie mag. Excerpt:
 

What you won't find are fleshy fashion spreads of girls with eye-popping cleavage. Khan adds, "We address any topic from a point of the Islamic values we live. We wouldn't want to promote the over-sexualization of girls." While the fashion stories are popular, she points out: "It's the kind of fashion that we do. We don't want very scantily-clad girls."

Muslim Girl has gotten a fair amount of press, from NBC's Today show, CNN, and Salon.

See Ismat Mangla's earlier post on SAJAforum about Muslim fashion, which cites Muslim Girl: "FASHION: Being Muslim, Female and Chic"

DESI SPOTTING: A Hindu/Muslim Wedding in The NYT

Some people read the front page of The New York Times carefully. But for some people, the main action in the Sunday edition of the paper (available Saturday night online) is the Weddings section. It's not unusual to see South Asians among the couples getting married - the Sunday, Aug. 19 edition, for example, features the ceremony of Arpita Patel and Salil Pitroda, who were married by a Hindu priest on Long Island. It's also not uncommon to see Hindu/Jewish weddings as well as Hindu/Christian weddings.

But what we are noting here is something more rare in that column: a joint Hindu/Muslim ceremony.
Here's how the paper describes the wedding of Vedica Jain and Adeel Qalbani:

Vedica Jain and Adeel A. Qalbani were married yesterday at the Fairmont San Francisco hotel. Pandit Dhirendra B. Sharma, a Hindu priest, officiated at a Hindu ceremony, which was preceded by a Muslim ceremony performed by Nourredine Ale-Ali.

Mrs. Qalbani, 29, is a manager for mergers and acquisitions for Time Warner in New York. She graduated cum laude from Harvard, where she also received an M.B.A.

She is a daughter of Shabnam and Lall Jain of Los Altos Hills, Calif. Her parents are both retired from Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto, Calif., where her father was a manager for research and development and her mother a manager for financial operations. Her father is now a residential real estate developer in Los Altos who owns a construction firm that bears his name. Her mother now owns Azool, a jewelry business there.

Mr. Qalbani, 30, is a managing director for the Reservoir Capital Group, an investment firm in New York. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and received a master’s degree in economics from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

He is a son of Dr. Fahima Qalbani and Dr. Askar A. Qalbani of Dakota Dunes, S.D. His mother, a radiologist, owns the Breast Care Center in Dakota Dunes. His father, a pathologist, is the chairman of the department of pathology and medical director of laboratories at Mercy Medical Center-Sioux City in Iowa.

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FASHION: Being Muslim, Female and Chic

This is a guest post by Ismat Mangla, the editor-in-chief of Nirali magazine.

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Being a Muslim woman in the West isn'€t easy € - and if you practice some form of purdah (covering), it can be especially tricky. You want to fit in and assert yourself as a proud, educated, modern woman, but throw on some extra clothes and a headscarf and you might as well be sporting a neon sign on your head that screams, "I'€™m Muslim! I'€™m DIFFERENT!"€ And there are plenty of people who add another meaning to that sign "€œShe'€™s oppressed! She can'€™t think for herself!"€ (In 2004, Michigan Radio profiled Zoe Piliafas, a college student who donned a burqa for a few months and decided that it did make her feel oppressed. Some Muslim women disagree with her assessment.)

So I was excited to see today'€™s New York Times piece, "We, Myself and I," on the challenges Muslim American women face when it comes to merging modesty and style. I'€™ve been there - €”I practice purdah, but I also don't want to leave the house looking like I could not care less about my appearance. 

The story leads with a mention of Aysha Hussain, a Pakistani-American magazine writer, who wants to follow fashion but also wants to adhere 'to the tenets of her Muslim faith'€: 

Ms. Hussain has worked out an artful compromise, concealing her curves under a mustard-tone cropped jacket and a tank top that is long enough to cover her hips. 

RELIGION: A new Hinduism resource for journalists

Last August, when SAJAforum was a wee babe, we posted an item about 10 of the top Islamic scholars, as named by ReligionLink.org. We followed up with a Q&A with Diane Connolly, the editor of ReligionLink (which is run by the Religion Newswriters Association). Diane got back in touch with us recently to let us know that ReligionLink now has a Hinduism Primer.

The Hinduism Primer ("Hinduism: a guide to U.S. experts and organizations") is primarily meant for reporters and editors looking for contacts in the Hindu-sphere, and there are dozens, if not hundreds of scholars, community leaders and gurus listed. Separately, you'll find brief items on demographics and scriptures, as well as the issues that Hindus confront in the United States:

• Local recognition of Hindu holidays
• Determining what it means to be Hindu in America
• Responding to hate crimes
• Becoming politically involved
• Constructing temples
• Monitoring textbooks (see our earlier post on this subject)
• Promoting language

Back in August, we'd asked Diane why there was a primer for atheism, Wicca and Sikhism, but not for Hinduism. She said a Hinduism primer was in the works, and asked our readers for suggestions. So here's your chance to look at the actual product.

What we'd like - and what Diane Connolly would like - is to see feedback to the primer. If you have a scholar, group or issue you think should be mentioned, please include him/her in our Comments section. Whenever possible, be specific about the person or group's expertise, and include links to the appropriate site. And for those of you who are not big fans of Jeff Kripal or Wendy Doniger, try to keep the criticism kosher, which is to say, sattvic.