Toward a Virtual Caliphate
What does globalization mean for the politics of authority in the Islamic world? Talk of transnational Islamic movements challenging the status quo of Muslim nation-states often brings to mind the destructive extremism of al-Qaida. Peter Mandaville, however, reports that transnational networks of religious scholars – led by figures such as Qatar-based Yusuf al-Qaradawi – have sought in recent years to argue for a moderate, yet Islamically-authentic, alternative to al-Qaida’s extreme radicalism.

NPR : Catholic Magazine Calls Boxing ‘Merciless, Inhuman’
A leading Roman Catholic magazine has denounced boxing, calling the sport merciless and inhuman. Mike Pesca reports on the reactions of priests and pugilists to the article, where the authors declare the sport in violation of church teachings.

Your Body Language Speaks Volumes
When you first meet someone, what do you find more revealing — their body language or facial expression?

What about when that person’s body language doesn’t match the look on his or her face?

Devastating Exodus of Doctors From Africa and Caribbean Is Found - New York Times
A new study documents for the first time the devastating exodus of doctors from Africa and the Caribbean to four wealthy English-speaking nations, the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, which now depend on international medical graduates for a quarter of their physicians.

NPR : EU Court Ruling Protects Greek Feta
The European Union’s highest court has ruled that feta cheese is a traditional Greek product that deserves protection throughout the 25-nation block. As a result, non-Greek European feta producers will not be allowed to call their product “feta.”

alexandalus - The 9th installment of the Contentions series and a new article- Spiritual Life in Ottoman Turkey both by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad now available at Sidi Masud’s site.

Mere Islam - The Shi’a and the Qur’an

Over the past several months, I’ve obtained several books on Shi’a Islam since I wanted to increase my knowledge about their beliefs and practices. [Mere Islam]

Discusses the mainstream Shi`a stance that the Qur’an is complete….

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | BBC goes head-to-head with al-Jazeera
In one corner stands the BBC World Service, the corporation’s venerable 70-year-old voice to the world backed by £239m of taxpayers’ money. In the other the upstart satellite TV channel al-Jazeera, barely a decade old, bankrolled from the bottomless reserves of the emir of Qatar.

The two broadcasters are going head to head in a battle for control of the new frontier for global TV - the Middle East.

NPR : ‘The Average American’ In 2003, author Kevin O’Keefe set out to find the "most-average" American. He talked to magicians in Maryland and cattle farmers in Kansas. But in the end, the author returned to his hometown in Connecticut to find what he was looking for. O’Keefe talks about his path from overachievement to self-acceptance and what it means to be ordinary in the United States.

Download Squad

WaxMail adds a button in Outlook that will allow you to record a voice reply to emails you receive, and send them seamlessly as an MP3 attachment. The creators of WaxMail are also the people behind Skylook, a Skype integration package for Outlook. WaxMail is a free Windows utility.

(Very useful, indeed. - faraz) 

Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies - New York Times
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress whose refusal to relinquish her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala., almost 50 years ago grew into a mythic event that helped touch off the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, died yesterday at her home in Detroit. She was 92 years old.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | World Service confirms Arabic TV
It is part of a �30m restructuring of the World Service
and is being funded by the closure of 10 foreign language services -
with the loss of 218 jobs.

Minor Wisdom: If great literary works had been written by lawyers, …… … they might have turned out like these. Or these.

NPR : A Family of ‘Vows’: The Son of a Priest and a Nun His mother is a former nun; his father is a priest who never renounced his vows, but is considered a priest under suspension. Peter Manseau’s parents married in the 1960s; he tells their story — and his own — in his memoir, Vows.

Wired News: No Longer Safe for Work: Blogs Robert Mason (not his real name) would love to spend a few minutes during lunch catching up on blog posts from around the web, but his company doesn’t allow it. The financial institution where Mason works as a vice president has security filters set up to block access to — among other things — any website that contains the phrase "blog" in the URL.

Frankfurt Is Still Publishing’s Main Event - New York Times
The Frankfurt Book Fair is a big draw with the general public, which is admitted to the industry’s most important trade show on the weekend.

Wired News: Web Software Challenges Microsoft A quiet revolution is transforming life on the internet: New, agile software now lets people quickly check flight options, see stock prices fluctuate and better manage their online photos and e-mail.

Slashdot | The Point of Google Print "Eric Schmidt has written a good article called the The point of Google Print. It clearly lays out the argument against the current lawsuit: ‘Even those critics who understand that copyright law is not absolute argue that making a full copy of a given work, even just to index it, can never constitute fair use. If this were so, you wouldn’t be able to record a TV show to watch it later or use a search engine that indexes billions of Web pages.’"

When is Laylat al-Qadr? The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "Whoever prays on Laylat al-Qadr out of faith and sincerity, shall have all their past sins forgiven." [Bukhari and Muslim, from Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him)]

Seminal Advice from Yemen

Sidi Khalil Moore recently made me aware of a very beneficial document that has been posted in the articles section of the Guidance Media website. This Seminal Advice by Habib Umar bin Haffiz…

The Observer | UK News | Drink giants’ plans to fuel binge Britain The drinks industry is planning a ruthless campaign of economic incentives and psychological tricks to get customers to drink as much as possible when licensing laws are relaxed, The Observer can reveal.

NPR : Oxford’s Ever-Changing ‘Atlas of the World’ With the Polar Ice Cap melting and geopolitical boundaries still shifting, cartography is a painfully ephemeral undertaking. Undeterred, the mapmakers at the Oxford Press have produced a vivid new edition of the Atlas of the World.

What are the top 20 "geek novels"? from Guardian Unlimited: Technology Time magazine has produced a list of the all-time 100 great novels published in the English language since 1923, and it seems a reasonable collectoin, as these things go. What’s interesting is that it includes a few "geek novels" such as Philip K Dick’s Ubik, William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. I’d expect any self-respecting geek to have read these books, but have they really reached an "all time greats" market that includes Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind and Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire? So, what are the top 20 greatest "geek reads" since 1923? I think they have to be brain-challenging, but do they have to have a science fiction or fantasy element? Do they have to have any literary merit?

The Observer | International | ‘I stand by my words. And even more, I stand by my right to say them…’ When the acclaimed Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk recalled his country’s mass killing of Armenians, he was forced to flee abroad. As he prepares to accept a peace award in Frankfurt, he tells Maureen Freely why he had to break his nation’s biggest taboo

The Observer | Just Say ‘No’ They’re the New Puritans. A generation of young, educated and opinionated people determined to sidestep the consumerist perils of modern life. So if you own a 4×4, spend all your time shopping, or are simply overweight - watch your back. Lucy Siegle meets the moral minority aiming to mend our ways

When Health Insurance Is Not a Safeguard - New York Times After decades in which private and government insurance covered a progressively larger share of medical expenses, insurance companies are now shifting more costs to consumers, in the form of much higher deductibles, co-payments or premiums. At the same time, Americans are saving less and carrying higher levels of household debt, and even insured families are exposed to medical expenses that did not exist a decade ago. Many, like the Dorsetts, do not realize how vulnerable they are until the bills arrive.

International Urban Glow - Europe Underground Europe Underground

NPR : Cheese-Making Tradition Melts Away in Camembert France is known for its hundreds of cheeses, but the most famous is perhaps the soft, round Camembert. To be considered a true Camembert, the cheese must be made in Normandy, in northwest France, from the milk of Norman cows. But in the village of Camembert itself, there’s only one man making the cheese in the traditional way….

Wikipedia: Camembert

Mere Islam: Reading to Help Your Marriage

The other day, I was listening to a very motivating Ramadan advice by a well-known and respected American Muslim scholar. He took the opportunity during his short nasiha, as he often does, to give some advice to young couples in regards to straightening out their marriages….

Wired News: Grim Outlook for Africa’s Future Deadly epidemics. Ruined crops. The extinction of some of Africa’s legendary wildlife. The potential consequences of global warming could be devastating for the world’s poorest continent, yet its nations are among the least equipped to cope.

The Fruits of War: how military conflict accelerates technology,%u201D Michael White Usha Selvaraju - openDemocracy

Mere Islam: Mutual Connections - A Treasure Trove of Guidance

Slashdot | Microsoft Thinks Africa Doesn’t Need Free Software "Microsoft has claimed the cost of software is not an important issue in the developing world. According to MS, while you can give people free software or computers, they won’t have the expertise to use it."

Burda - Ahbab al-Mustafa

Parts: [1]  [2]   [3]   [4]   [5]   [6]   [7]   [8]   [9]   [10]

Islam Online- News Section A Blind young man from Thailand has been awarded a prestigious international Qur’an award for learning the Noble Qur`an by heart.

%u201CLove me, or leave me?%u201D: the strange case of Orhan Pamuk Murat Belge - openDemocracy Orhan Pamuk, the renowned Turkish writer, was charged last month for "publicly humiliating" Turkey and is currently awaiting trial. Fellow countryman Murat Belge explains how this son of Istanbul has become a scapegoat for a paranoid press, and, as the EU beckons, looks at the wider implications on Turkish national identity.

NPR : ‘A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare’ Professor and author James Shapiro talks about A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599. The book provides a look into the daily life of the playwright during a time of personal upheaval and prodigious creativity.

Mere Islam: A Muslim Woman’s Frustrated Voice: "Back Off"

Today I was trying to find some good articles that address misconceptions about the position of women in Islam, since I’ve received some inquiries about this from some non-Muslim women. During my search, I happened to come across Umm Zaid’s rant against all of the "pundits, experts, politicians, and journalists out there" who try to speak for Muslim women and quickly remembered why her article remains one of my favorites.

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Chomsky is voted world’s top public intellectual He is in his 70s and first became known for his theory of transformational grammar - and now he is top of the thinkers’ hit parade. Noam Chomsky, the linguistics professor who has become one of the most outspoken critics of US foreign policy, has won a poll that names him as the world’s top public intellectual.

First night dua is evil?- Answered by Ustadha Zaynab Ansari

Spiritual guidance on prayer - Answered by Sidi Hamza Karamali

Pillows (The University of Manchester)
Researchers at The University of Manchester funded by the Fungal Research Trust have discovered millions of fungal spores right under our noses - in our pillows.

87. True Beauty. T. Carew. The Golden Treasury

NPR : Pay Problems Plague Returning Soldiers Many wounded soldiers are fighting another battle at home: dealing with pay problems created by the military. In many cases, the Army is "adding" debt to soldiers’ paychecks. The problem has continued for years despite government inquiries and complaints by veterans groups.

EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools special reports | Hodge challenges faith schools to open gates to all Faith schools should be shut down unless they agree to engage with pupils from other faiths, the work and pensions minister, Margaret Hodge, will say today.

Mere Islam: Muslim Named One of Top 10 College Women Glamour Magazine has named Ghofrane Benghanem, a senior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), as one of its Top 10 College Women. The hijab-wearing nineteen year old is described as a "tutor, biochemistry and biophysics student, Muslim, hospital volunteer, woman mentor, biomedical researcher, community advocate, teaching assistant, and more"….

Aljazeera.Net - Jordan booms as Iraqis flee hardships

Baghdad was invaded and went bust. About 950km west across the desert, Amman went boom….

Converts talking about their lifestyles and sins before Islam Converts talking about their lifestyles and sins before Islam

Islamica Magazine - Shaykh Nuh Keller - Kalam and Islam

Most of us have met dedicated and otherwise intelligent Muslims who have made themselves "aqida police" to confront the rest of us with their issues in tenets of faith. We are told that this group, or that group, or most Muslims, or we ourselves are kafirs or "non-Muslims" on grounds that are less than familiar, but found in some manual of Islamic creed. Before going to hell on a trick question, or sending someone else there, many Muslims today would do well to cast a glance at the history of traditional Islamic theology (kalam), and the real creedal reasons that make one a Muslim or non-Muslim. [Shaykh] Nuh Keller examines them in the following address given at the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman, Jordan….

NPR : Amartya Sen, ‘The Argumentative Indian’ In a new book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen maintains that democracy is about much more than elections, and that India’s democracy flourishes amid a long tradition of dispute, discussion and debate.