Bulla ki jana by Rabbi. I fell in love with this song in 2005 in Pakistan. It brings back such nice memories and the video captures them well.

“I know what it need…” I love Missy Elliot.

This group has now become a huge blog sensation (Muslims Against Sharia has compiled a long list proving it). Most of the reaction is predictable:

• Ultra-conservative scumbags idiots who hate Islam say Islam cannot be reformed and even “anti-Shariah Muslims” cannot be trusted.
• Mainstream Muslims say Islam cannot be reformed and the site authors are not Muslim.
• Investigative minds notice some anti-Islam bloggers are on the authors list and therefore determine that the members are not Muslims, but actually a front for conservative groups to take down Islam.

My own reaction is around the third one. I’m an anti-Shariah muslim who is suspicious. (Unlike some critics, I don’t believe shariah = Islam.) I’ve discussed the group elsewhere and even gotten in touch with the group’s president but I’m not really much closer to understanding their position.

My take so far is that I don’t agree with their definition of “Muslim”; I think that by legitimizing inaccurate translations and concepts in the Quran, they will “embolden” anti-Islam activists; I wonder why they consider it preferable to try to edit the Quran rather than simply encourage people to stop believing in it altogether (may be à la “The True Furqan”); I believe it might be more accurate to call their group “Muslims Against the Quran” (because their quarrel is with the source itself) … and so on.

The president has done a not-so-good job at (defensively) defending himself and his org. all over the web. His defense (at Ali Eteraz) of a co-author who has called for Islam to be banned is almost totally nonsensical. I’ve complained before about liberal Muslims teaming up with conservative non-Muslims to advance their causes and it seems that trend will never cease.

I’m still having a hard time following their logic:

• They state: We are Muslims, we believe in the Quran, we are peaceful
• But: The Quran commands Muslims to kill all other people
• Therefore: Many parts of the Quran are false or corrupted
• Yet, inexplicably: “Islam is peace; Islam is love; Islam is light.”

Meh.

Yes, Pakistan’s new National Art Gallery has nudes Looks great, still.

(Nearly Belated) Ramadan blessings to all. Strange enough, I used to have so much to say that I kept a Ramadan blog. Except for Umm Zaid’s references to me in her two blogs, nothing exists of it. Now I can barely type a paragraph. :-(

Thankfully, she and her friends have kept up the Ramadan blogging for all to enjoy at Ramadanish :-)

the Faerie Convention comes to Philadelphia. Still not sure if I’m going!

Somehow, even when they do, they’re still terrorists! Link: Muslims parade in New York, condemn Sept. 11 terror attacks. Kaufman is a clown.