Global

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

One thing that worked its way through the straits of my consciousness and caught my attention as a full-fledged thought, after much effort it seemed, was the thought that life has changed categorically with the pervasive use of the Internet and the availability on the Web of a dynamicaly changing and widening range of information from all over the world. So, if you are off in some culturally remote place, can you really harvest the fruits of that remoteness, are you remote, or is it rather the case that you are inextricably linked to everything everywhere like every one else, because digital respresentations of so many world cultures and subcultures are immediately available to you? This would be the case unless you are either not interested in going online or cannot access the Internet.

In other words, it is truly difficult to get away from it all, now. So, the world – internalized by those who read its media – is a big blender. I guess everybody else already knew that, but it has just sunk in for me. Perhaps this is one effect of being culturally remote, from centers of cultural production, even if one has Internet access.

There is lag.

While the sun of meaning rises elsewhere, one sleeps.

والحمد لله رب العالمين

الحمدلله

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Jiddah: Queen of the India Trade

Caution: Photos

ما شاء الله لا قوة الا بالله

Islamic Calendar

Jeddah’s Future

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Here’s an Arab News article on the strategic plan to make Jeddah a world-class city.

الحمد لله رب العالمين

The Shariah Index Project

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The Shariah Index will rate countries’ Islamic law. Interesting…

ُما شاء الله والحمدلله

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The Rambler

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

It’s been many years since a recommendation to read Samuel Johnson’s The Rambler passed from the lips of a scholar to my ears, by God’s will. I tried then, and again, but today, section one made clear and immediate sense to me.

الحمدلله رب العالمين

Digital Social Media

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Once in a while, a message from somebody shows up in my inbox inviting me to join Facebook or Twitter.

In the freely accessible articles section of Shadhiliteachings.com can be found a cautionary piece by Sheikh Nuh Keller on the perils of digital social media.

الحمدلله رب العالمين

Necessary Journeys

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Necessary Journeys: Caryl Phillips on Race, Class and a European Odyssey

الحمدلله رب العالمين

The Samarkand Manuscript

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Allah enabled us to visit Columbia University’s Butler Library a few days ago to view a facsimile copy of the huge Samarkand Manuscript of the Quran. Inquiring about it with the library via e-mail and being offered the opportunity to see the manuscript up close was surprisingly simple and the people involved were all pleasant and easy to deal with. (For those who might not know the requirements for handling the Quran, here is guidance for Muslims and non-Muslims.) We were informed that 25 copies of the manuscript were made in Russia around 1900, and that the reason one of them was obtained by Columbia University (in the 1930s) was because of the high interest that University scholars had in studying it. The librarian added that Princeton and Harvard universities have copies as well.

Everybody who can should see the beautiful manuscript إن شاء الله.

والحمدلله رب العالمين