How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America Maulana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Islamic Culture
How a Thirteenth-Century Islamic Poet Conquered America

Maulana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

The best-selling poet in America today was born in Afghanistan, practiced a form of Islam that originated in Iraq, and has been dead for 800 years. How did a white man from Tennessee, who doesn’t read a lick of Persian, make Rumi accessible to mainstream America? — Ryan Croken

I died as a mineral and became a plant;
I died as a plant and rose to animal;
I died as animal and I was a man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as man to soar
With angels blest. But even from an angel
I must pass on: all except God must perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel soul,
I shall become what no mind ever conceived.

— Rumi
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Darul Harb versus Darul Aman: Can Pakistan or Saudi Arabia be considered a Land of peace for Muslims?

Islam and Pluralism
Darul Harb versus Darul Aman: Can Pakistan or Saudi Arabia be considered a Land of peace for Muslims?

Pakistani blogger Mr. Aamir Mughal has raised a very important issue in a comment posted in relation to the article below: Demolish Kafir/ Mushrik/ Munafiq-manufacturing factories, says Sultan Shahin, defending New Age Islam against Talibani onslaught

http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1143 which needs to be debated threadbare- that of Darul Harb and Darul Aman. I live in India. Suppose I were to consider it a Darul Hrab – which of course, I don’t – on the basis of the mere fact of it being a non-Muslim majority country – though it would appear that only so-called Darul Harbs are Darul Amans, lands of peace, in today’s world – which Darul Aman, a Muslim country, would accept me as a full-fledged citizen, that India accepts me as? Pakistan will not even give me a visit visa, perhaps, unless I give it a host of false and forged documents. Saudi Arabia and all other Arab or Muslim countries, I can live and work there, if I find a job, for hundreds of years, but I would never get any citizenship rights. Only countries that I can think of which can give me full citizenship rights as India does would be countries of the West, like the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, other European countries. It won’t be easy but it is doable. However, according to Mr. Aamir Mughal’s definition, these are all Darul-Harbs, so what would be the point of shifting from one Darul Harb to another? What kind of Islam and what kind of Darul Harbs and Darul Amans are you talking about Mr. Aamir Mughal? Do you consider Pakistan a Darul Aman for Muslims, where Muslims are killed routinely during prayers in mosques, and where even the Muslims for whom this country was created do not get even visit visas?

Sultan Shahin, editor, New Age Islam
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Islamic World News: Is Political Islam a Threat to the West? By Wajahat Ali,

Islamic World News
Indian Muslim Women turn tide, win more scholarships

Swat:Taliban summon 50 officials to Sharia courts

Cairo: Al-Azhar Hails First Female Interpretation of the Quran

Is Political Islam a Threat to the West? By Wajahat Ali,

Saudi School Textbooks Incite Hatred and Violence

Can Islam Save The Economy? By Nathan Schneider

Religion of Peace? (Book) by Gregory M. Davis

Islamic body opts not to ban smoking in Indonesia

Mogadishu: Women’s basketball event excites war-weary Somalis

Some Arab ‘friends’ need a lesson in democracy by Irfan Yusuf

BAGHDAD: Iraqi prime minister lectures against sectarianism

Saudi Arabia- Increasing trends toward Islamic investment

Compiled by Syed Asadullah

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“The US is not curbing, arresting terrorism”: Pakistan’s Senator Iqbal Haider

Islam and the West
“The US is not curbing, arresting terrorism”: Pakistan’s Senator Iqbal Haider

The US has not played any role in curbing, arresting terrorism in our region. We must look at its inability to contain the forces and sources that support terrorism. The US, Saudi Arabia and the Arab world support extremists, militants, religious fanatics. Where are the arms and the money coming from? This must be considered when you view the Mumbai tragedy. India must be careful for it is being sucked into the so-called war against terror.

Pervez Musharraf allowed religious parties a free hand. The US supported Musharraf to the hilt. If that wasn’t supporting terrorism, what is? He openly patronised all jehadis LeT, al-Qaeda, Taliban, Mehsud, Fazlullah. They follow the same religious beliefs and have the same modus operandi. And the US gave Musharraf a free hand. The biggest beneficiaries of India-Pakistan tension are these religious, militant, extremist forces in Pakistan. They are all the creation of the same midwife, the US.

Since 2001, terrorists could not have operated and succeeded without the covert and overt support of the Pakistan establishment, the US and NATO forces. At the local level, there is about 20 per cent support for the Taliban, not more than that.— Senator Iqbal Haider, co-chairperson of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission
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Saudi Arabia finally feels a slight prick of conscience over Gaza massacre, urges US to be even-handed

Islam and the West
Saudi Arabia finally feels a slight prick of conscience over Gaza massacre, urges US to be even-handed

A Prince urges US to become more even-handed: A prominent member of the Saudi royal family is warning the Obama administration (in an article in Financial times, London) that failure to alter US attitudes towards the Arab-Israeli conflict radically would threaten the kingdom’s “special relationship” with the US and could force Riyadh to abandon its own support for a peaceful resolution of the dispute.. — Roula Khalaf in London

Saudi Arabia’s patience is running out: America is not innocent in this calamity. Not only has the Bush administration left a sickening legacy in the region, but it has also, through an arrogant attitude about the butchery in Gaza, contributed to the slaughter of innocents. If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact – especially its “special relationship” with Saudi Arabia – it will have to revise drastically its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine. — Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal

American-Israelis bristle at the slight protest from a vassal state: As Saudi Arabia is running out of patience, Turki al-Faisal calls for revising US policies drastically vis-à-vis Israel and Palestine. He begins it by recalling his own efforts over the decades to promote Arab-Israeli peace and especially the Abdullah Plan of 2002. .But after Israel launched its bloody attack on Gaza,. he writes, .these pleas for optimism and cooperation now seem a distant memory.. Then comes a threat: .Unless the new US Administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk. — Daniel Pipes
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