Happy Idul Fitri 1432H 2011M
Contrary to our Muhammadiyah brothers, I, and those of NU‘s affiliation, celebrate the Idul Fitri 1432/2011 today.
Whether you celebrate it yesterday or today, I just want to say “Happy Ied Mubarok to all muslims. Minal Aidin wal Faizin.”
Islamophobia in America Orchestrated and Funded
If you found many anti-Islam anti-Arab articles from American media both mainstream or contemporary media such as blogs and websites, there’s no need to wonder. It’s well orchestrated and well financed by a small group of donors and back up by anti-Islam intellectuals such as Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steve Emerson. MJ Rosenberg wrote an interesting finding and commentary:
…until I read a report published today by the Center for American Progress (CAP), I had no idea just how orchestrated and well-financed this movement was.
The report, “Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” demonstrates that a small group of self-proclaimed experts (Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steve Emerson) backed by a host of foundations and donors (many of which also fund the lobby) have put Islamophobia on the map.
To put it simply, without these “experts,” their donors, and Fox News (their media mouthpiece) you would never have heard that a Muslim community center (the “Ground Zero Mosque”) was being constructed in New York City. And the center certainly would not have become a major news story. Nor would Republican (and even a few Democratic) candidates for president, Congress, and even village councils be called upon to condemn Islam and “Sharia Law” or face being labeled a supporter of terrorism. Nor would Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum have made hatred of American Muslims such an integral part of their campaigns.
It all starts with the money. According to CAP:
A small group of foundations and wealthy donors are the lifeblood of the Islamophobia network in America, providing critical funding to a clutch of right-wing think tanks that peddle hate and fear of Muslims and Islam-in the form of books, reports, websites, blogs, and carefully crafted talking points that anti-Islam grassroots organizations and some right-wing religious groups use as propaganda for their constituency.
Some of these foundations and wealthy donors also provide direct funding to anti-Islam grassroots groups. According to our extensive analysis, here are the top seven contributors to promoting Islamophobia in our country:
Donors Capital Fund
Richard Mellon Scaife foundations
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker foundations and charitable trust
Russell Berrie Foundation
Anchorage Charitable Fund and William Rosenwald Family Fund
Fairbrook Foundation
Ramadan and Islam Relevance throughout History
An interesting piece Eric Walberg on Islam, Muslim and the West. Particularly on Muslim’s resistance to their beliefs among the ‘crwded’ attacks of secularisms and pop-culture. Why Muslims still observe their daily rituals in this modern era, and Muslim-Christian relation particularly in the West.
Ramadan exemplifies the powerful spiritual calling of Islam. Dry fasting is more a test of the spirit, the will, proof of devotion, than just some health gimmick. And it is precisely this cultivation of mass “mind over matter” that frustrates Western secularists, so used to indulging every consumer fetish on a whim. Why are Muslims so stubborn in nurturing ancient beliefs and rituals when they fly in the face of modern capitalist society? Secular critics dismiss Islam as a harmful, even dangerous anachronism. Why disrupt one’s busy day five times to pray, slow down the whole economic order for an entire month every year, ban alcohol and interest — the bedrock of Western society?
Yet the now rich and self-satisfied secular West, after centuries of conquest and imposition of its colonial and now neocolonial order, has found itself at a nightmarish deadend. Wars, riots, drug addiction, corruption, famine, ecological Armageddon … There is little to cheer for and no coherent explanation for the impasse and the way forward. So the demand that the Muslim world follow in Western footsteps rings hollow. More
Ties with Muslim? Don’t be US Presidential Candidates
In America, the so-called place for pluralism, any candidate who has even a little ties with a Muslim will be a nightmare. It’s as though the word “Muslim” and “Islam” should be really nothing to do with you if you have any hope to get elected. Not to say if your party is called Republic where many right wing Americans reside.
A recent Salon article exploring the “surprisingly warm” relationship between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the Muslim community leans on the Republican presidential candidate’s ties to the Aga Khan, religious leader of the Ismailis — a sect of Shia Islam — as evidence he is well-connected to at least one group of Muslims.
Its headline wonders if Perry will be considered “the pro-Shariah candidate,” during his bid to win the GOP nomination, a label sure to make some conservative voters cringe.
