Kosovo’s Independence Leaves World Worried
Originally published March 18, 2008
EU members Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania have all thus far refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence due to concerns about their own ethnic minorities. Other countries worried about a possible precedent being set include China, Russia, Georgia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Israel. Even countries which have recognized Kosovo, such as France and Turkey, face minorities agitating for independence. Some have gone so far as to say that the recognition of Kosovo undermines the very notion of the multi-ethnic state, and a chain reaction may soon occur in which separatist movements in the wide range of countries listed above feel empowered to declare their own independence. Such a series of events, if it were to occur, would lead to a nearly unparalleled international crisis.
Archbishop of Canterbury Ready for Islamic Law
Originally published March 18, 2008
While the Archbishop’s statement is indeed frightening, especially considering his position as the head of the Church of England, official acceptance of shari’ah is in fact already looming. Many shari’ah courts already operate informally, and the British government has made several legal concessions on the issue, including modifying regulations on stamp duties to allow for shari’ah-compliant mortgages and allowing polygamous households to claim additional government benefits. If not for the Archbishop’s naïve view that sanctioning Islamic law would improve “social cohesion,” this entire situation would be a clear case of shooting the messenger. That was indeed the case just two months ago, when the Anglican Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, received death threats and went under police protection after warning that some parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims. Regarding Archbishop Williams’ remarks, Nazir-Ali, who holds joint British-Pakistani citizenship, contended that introducing shari’ah alongside English law would be “impossible” without severely undermining the latter. He pointed out that shari’ah would be “in tension” with some aspects of modern British society, particularly regarding women’s rights.
Muslim Scholar Details Oppression of Women in Islamic Culture
Originally published March 18, 2008
Islam’s poor treatment of women has become a very contentious issue in recent years, both inside and outside of the Muslim community. From honor killings to polygamy, Islamic culture seems to place men on a higher level than women in almost every respect, raising doubts about Islam’s compatibility with contemporary egalitarian societies. Recent incidents such as the death of a 16-year-old Canadian girl at the hands of her own father because she refused to wear the hijab, or traditional Muslim headscarf, have only amplified these concerns.
Stanford’s Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN) felt that this topic needed to be addressed from a Muslim perspective, and thus invited Assistant Professor Hina Azam of the University of Texas at Austin to discuss it as the final speaker in their 2008 Islamic Awareness Series, entitled “Our Jihad to Reform: The Struggle to Define Our Faith.” Dr. Azam tackled this most controversial issue head-on, leaving the audience no doubt that Muslim feminists face extremely stiff opposition in their fight for equality.
Genocide in the First Person: An Interview with Simon Deng
Originally published February 28, 2008
This article won The Stanford Review’s “Best Features Article” award for Volume XL.
The Review recently had the opportunity to interview Simon Deng, a Sudanese Christian abducted and forced into slavery at the age of nine by a northern Sudanese Arab.
[...]
Q: What do you think should be done? Whose responsibility is it to take action? The United Nations? The United States? The Arab countries?
A: The UN cannot do anything. The UN is a failed organization. They failed miserably. And anybody who tells me that the UN is the right place to go, he has to tell me which UN they are talking about. Is it the UN that I know? The UN that walked away from Rwanda, after telling the Rwandans, “we will protect you, we will give you safety”? And anyone who, in their right mind, thinks that UN is the right place to go, let’s go to Rwanda and ask all those skeleton bones, “do you believe in the UN?” If there is no answer from them, what should make you and me believe in the UN today?
Muslim Student Group Launches “Jihad” of Mixed Messages
Originally published February 28, 2008 (front page)
This story was picked up and marked as a “recommended article” by Campus Watch.
This article won The Stanford Review’s “Best News Article” award for volume XL.
Mobs flock to the streets of Khartoum calling for the death of a British schoolteacher. A Saudi woman is sentenced to 200 lashes for being unaccompanied by a male family member while the men who raped her receive a mere slap on the wrist. Riots break out and embassies are burnt to the ground in response to a cartoon, and again in response to an offhanded statement by the Pope. Because of events like these, the Western perception of Islam is increasingly that it is a religion of hatred, misogyny, intolerance, and violence. Recently, however, growing numbers of Muslims have come out against such events, saying that they do not agree with the fundamentalist ideology which drives them. These incidents, they argue, are not representative of Islam.
Non-Muslims and Muslims alike agree that Islam is a religion in desperate need of reform, or serious reinterpretation at the very least. In the spirit of this need for reform, the Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN), the Islamic Society of Stanford University, and the Office of Religious Life have partnered to put on this year’s annual Islamic Awareness Series, entitled “Our Jihad to Reform: The Struggle to Define Our Faith.”
The Future of Europe
Originally published December 7, 2007
Violent crime has tripled in the last twenty years. Rapes are now commonplace, some even occurring in broad daylight, and young women are afraid to go outside after dark. Certain neighborhoods are now so dangerous that even emergency services and police refuse to enter them out of concern for their own safety.
This sounds like a description of Compton in the 1960s, or perhaps the Bronx or Detroit at their very worst.
Yet this is the current state of Malmö, the third-largest city in Sweden.
What has caused this seemingly sudden and dramatic change in this traditionally peaceful Northern European country?
Stanford Hosts Conference on Ethnicity in Europe
Originally published November 30, 2007
This article won The Stanford Review’s “Best News Article” award for Volume XXXIX
The culmination of nearly two years of planning, the Ethnicity in Today’s Europe conference concluded Veteran’s Day weekend. The conference brought together scholars from Spain, Germany, and across the United States to address the question “What is new about the question of ethnicity in Europe today, and what is not?”
[...]
Professor Alec Hargreaves of Florida State University spoke next, specifically about the immigrant situation in modern France. Without citing any hard evidence, he boldly proclaimed that all of the problems in France today, such as the 2005 riots, stem from institutionalized governmental discrimination. Without addressing the fact that France not only allowed the rioting immigrants to settle in France in the first place, but also continues to give them enormous welfare and unemployment benefits at the expense of French taxpayers, he had no problem placing the blame for everything squarely on the shoulders of white racism. Professor Hargreaves also went on to say that the victory of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, known for his tough stance on immigration, in the recent presidential election is the latest example of “the contaminating effect of the Front National on French politics.”
My writings
This blog will be a collection of all of my published articles, and perhaps other musings as well if I’m in the mood.
Enjoy.
