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City of Brass

While engaged in the rituals at Arafat and Mina, the pilgrims live in a vast tent city constructed exclusively for their use. Here’s an aerial view of that tent city from Google maps: View Larger Map (via Shi’a Pundit)

First there was Omar Shamsoon – now, The Simpsons have an episode that introduces a muslim family from Jordan – you can watch it for free online: I confess to being a bit disappointed, though. The satire felt forced; it would have been much more effective in the earlier seasons when they were able to…

Today is the Day of Arafat, where the pilgrims arrive and engage in prayer while standing and facing towards the sun. Then in the evening they will depart for muzdalifah in time for Eid ul Adha the next day. The Day of Arafat is a critical one, because it is at this point that the…

Rod Dreher approvingly quotes Steve Emerson about what an outrage it is that the various news channels omitted the adjective, “Islamic” from all descriptions of the extremists who terrorized Mumbai last weekend. Emerson argues that the omission is “craven” and “politically correct”: It is time to stop caving in to the PC crowd. If we refuse to…

This is a guest post by Zeba Iqbal, a real estate development advisor who lives and works in NYC. In her free time she is active in supporting and promoting causes that are close to her heart. As a Muslim American with deep ties to India – she has no dearth of causes!  The terrorist attacks…

The Hajj begins today. Millions of pilgrims gathered in Mecca are donning ehram and leaving for the journey to the Plain of Arafat today. Tomorrow, the pilgrims gathered upon Arafat will pray all day, while standing and facing towards Kaaba. Actually, given how many millions of pilgrims are en route, and that the final stretch…

The only thing on the television this Thanksgiving weekend was CNN. The events in Mumbai completely dominated our family get-together, not least because as Dawoodi Bohra muslims, we have extensive circles of friends and family in the city, as well as in Gujrat state. So as with the Godhra riots of a few years back,…

The voting phase for the Brass Crescent Awards has now begun (though a bit later than expected). We have some really great blogs for you all to vote on, so head over and make your choices! As it says on the official site, the Awards are named for the Story of the City of Brass…

Queen Rania of Jordan is just the coolest head of state ever. She was nominated for a YouTube Visionary Award, so she spoofed David Letterman to accept, poke a little fun at herself, and promote her ongoing message of cultural tolerance and peace. Her YouTube Channel is actually pretty entertaining and thought-provoking at the same…

The historic victory of Barack Obama has left the various factions within the Republican Party scrambling to lay claim to conservatism’s mantle. I for one am rooting for the technocrats at The Next Right, the pragmatists at The American Conservative, or the crunchy conservatives at Culture 11 to prevail over the political hacks like RedState.…
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