So get this. In 628 C.E the Prophet (pbuh) sent a letter to the monks of St. Catherine Monastery in Mt.Sinai. This is what he wrote:
“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my […]

Christian evangelist and “Moral Majority” leader Jerry Falwell died yesterday. Falwell, was part of the popular anti-Islam band alongside buddies Robertson and Graham who rose to fame in the post 9/11 era with hits such as “Prophet Mohammad Was A Terrorist” and the radio-friendly “Islam is E.V.I.L.”. The music these three made together helped bring […]

A reader of the Black Iris shifted my attention towards an article in yesterday’s Al-Ghad about a Palestinian in east Gaza whose Internet cafe was targeted recently by an extremist group calling itself the “swords of justice” or “swords of righteousness”, or whatever latest creative names these goons have come up with. The cafe is […]

It’s unfortunate. I really loved this mosque. It was close to home. It had comfortable carpets. Plentiful supply of Qurans. Even ceiling fans.
But the imam.
I’m fed up.
It’s been a long time coming. As if his non-inspirational sermons weren’t enough, I had to be subject to a 20 minute rant this Friday on how all the […]

I want to hear a sermon

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My friend Zaid lead me to a website today that I thought was absolutely amazing. Artist Ruh al-’Alam merges Islam with modern digital design in a way I have never experienced and is truly wondrous and appealing. The site contains everything from an amazing flash catalogue featuring a great collection of his work, to photography, […]

When I look at sectarian violence in Iraq I don’t see it under a religious context any more. Sects have become a source of ethnic identity and religion doesn’t seem to play much of a role at all. Sects are merely a way to identify people and it’s historically now the easiest way to do […]

Oh dear…
CAIRO — Egyptian women must not sit as judges because it would be against Islamic law or Sharia as they would have to spend time alone with men, a male Egyptian judge was quoted as saying Saturday.
A woman judge would “contradict Article Two of the constitution,” which states that the principal source of […]

The past few days a piece of news that has made it above the fold in Jordanian papers (and raised some eyebrows as well) was Aziz Masa’ada, a Jordanian Christian who has been a part of the Islamic Action Front (the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood) for a few years and recently made history […]

I kinda miss the old days…This was before Bin Laden and a time when the arts budget of all Muslim nations combined was less than that of Sweden’s.
A study of medieval Islamic art has shown some of its geometric patterns use principles established centuries later by modern mathematicians. Researchers in the US have found 15th […]

It would be a little ironic that the more Israel digs in that area in search of its ancient history, the more Islamic history it will unearth. This is, by the way, the same Mugrabi Bridge that has recently been controversial.
JERUSALEM, Israel, Feb. 19 (UPI) — Remains of a Muslim prayer room were unearthed […]

Almost two years ago forced marriages were banned in Saudi Arabia under the discovery that it was in fact un-Islamic. Who knew eh? Some argued at the time that this wasn’t the reason and instead it was an attempt to curtail the 50% divorce rate.
I think it was neither.
Simply because while forced marriages are […]

I was reading an article that’s been circulating the web recently with the headline “Jordan queen: Muslim women not required to wear veils” and “Queen Rania says Muslim women don’t have to wear veils”. It seems to all stem from an interview she did four days ago with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.
At first I […]

My first “real” Jordanian Eid in half a decade is tomorrow. I finally get to simply walk to the mosque to pray instead of taking a one hour bus trip. But how to celebrate it? How does one fill that big gap that comes right after the Eid prayer? Go out with friends? Stay home […]

Loved it…

(This is only one way that our society teaches our children religion)

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One thing I don’t recall seeing 5 years ago, which was around the last time I celebrated any sort of Eid in Jordan, were these modern ways to sacrifice the Eid Al-Adha lamb. Lately little cardboard cutouts of cartoon lambs have been popping up all over western Amman’s traffic circles, which as many Ammani dwellers […]