International Politics and Economy

Jon Stewart points out that Fox News anchors and guests are vilifying Saudi prince and financier Alwaleed bin Talal as a financial backer of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Muslim-American clergyman who seeks to build a community center in lower Manhattan. The problem: Alwaleed bin Talal is part owner of Fox News. Stewart’s special correspondents […]

Islamophobia

What would Martin Luther King Say? Mosques and the New Jim Crow in America

Juan Cole

The demonstration held on Sunday against the Park 51 Muslim community center in lower Manhattan was an attempt by the right wing to strike at first amendment freedoms, but at the same time, it was simply a revival of urban policies of discrimination that were routine in the last century. That the demonstration had racist […]

Islamophobia

Dear Rev. Graham: Obama was not born a Muslim and neither is anyone else

Juan Cole

Evangelist (and hateful bigot) Franklin Graham said this weekend that President Obama was ‘born a Muslim’ because, he said, Islam is transmitted through the father just as Judaism is transmitted through the mother. Presumably it is this sort of thinking that has led an increasing number of Americans to believe, incorrectly, that Obama is a […]

Iraq

Top Ways Dan Senor Could have avoided offending Iraqi Muslims

Juan Cole

Former Bush administration spokesman in Iraq Dan Senor is against the building of a Sufi Muslim community center in lower Manhattan. He says he is concerned that interfaith understanding may be damaged. Since Senor is so worried about religion and hurt feelings, he no doubt feels badly about what he and his team did to […]

Islamophobia

Mosque Building and Gay Marriage vs. Mob Rule by the Right

Juan Cole

The decision of a US district court to strike down Proposition 8, the California referendum item that made gay marriage illegal after it had earlier been legalized by the state assembly, was a blow for individual rights over a tyranny of the majority. In its form, it resembles the decision of the New York authorities […]

Islamophobia

Burning the Qur’an? ‘Wherever they burn books, they will in the end Burn Human Beings’

Juan Cole

A tiny, fringe fundamentalist cult in Florida, of the sort that American popular Christianity specializes in producing, has announced that it will burn the Qur’an on the anniversary of September 11 because it considers Islam an evil religion. The group also targets gays and the Wicca worship of the Goddess. This is more cult-like thinking, […]

Islamophobia

Palin on the Ground Zero Mosque vs. the Founding Fathers

Juan Cole

Sarah Palin tweeted, “Ground Zero mosque supporters, doesn’t it stab you in the heart as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls. refudiate.” The tweet was later taken down and replaced with English, though to the same effect. Here is the original, courtesy twitpic. There are many things wrong with the original tweet. […]

Iraq

US Ally Maliki & Octavia Nasr Both Praised Fadlallah

Juan Cole

So help me understand this. Nuri al-Maliki, still the Iraqi prime minister for the moment, expressed his appreciation for the accomplishments of the late Grand Ayatollah Hussein Fadlallah: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki paid tribute for late Fadlallah, who provided the “Islamic library” with “tens of books in jurisprudence, interpretation and Islamic culture.” “He devoted […]

Islamophobia

Eyewitnesses Say Israelis came in with Guns Blazing

Juan Cole

As The Lede points out, the more Mavi Marmara passengers who talk to the press, the more the Israeli official narrative about their landing on the deck of the ship is challenged. Accounts of Israeli troops shooting passengers between the eyes are particularly chilling. Aljazeera English broadcast an interview with Jamal ElShayyal , a journalist […]