oh no he didn’t!

Young M Junaid Levesque-Alam of Crossing the Crescent got some ’splainin to do. He’s impugned my good lady, everyone’s favorite Muslim Refusenik, Sister Irshad Manji, and I for one ain’t taking this lying down.

First, he hates on her book simply because she sells Muslims and Islam down the river–as if the brother doesn’t realise that that’s what ijtihad (or, rather, its Manji-branded variant Project Ijtihad©) is all about. And so what if torture enthusiast Alan Dershowitz loves her, almost as much as he loves waterboarding and pushing needles under people’s fingernails? Don’t blame that on Irshad–Alan’s a man who knows what he likes, even if the rest of us find that repugnant.

Anyway, Junaid moves on to Sister Irshad’s firm denunciation of radical terrorist Mazen Asbahi’s sabotage of America/resignation from the Obama campaign. Says the brother:

In a Huffington Post piece, she demonstrates no concern about the vilification enabled Asbahi’s dismissal. Indeed, she fails to mention it even once. Is this because Manji is too busy contributing to the problem to pause and reflect? Or is it because this would upset her core base – the neoconservatives who mount these smear campaigns?

Whatever the case, Manji performs her predictable pre-programmed attack routine, observing contemptuously, “…Mazen Asbahi has just resigned. I can’t say I’m disheartened. He’d been embraced by groups like the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Islamic Society of North America, renowned for their conservative politics and ‘moderate’ double-speak.”

And what’s wrong with that? MPAC and ISNA are big, scary words, meant to inspire fear and loathing whenever you see them on your screen. I’m surprised and a little disappointed she didn’t insert “Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated” to turn up the heat a little, but she probably had to watch her word count. And, you see, “Moderate Muslim” is defined by Irshad (and Daniel “Crack” Pipes, and Alan Dershowitz, and the rest of the neocon clown college under whose praise Sister Irshad has perfected that celebrity tan) as a Muslim who doesn’t have an interest in the so-called “Palestinian” “people,” or any other of the political, social, economic, and environmental concerns the vast majority of Muslims share. This means, of course, that she’s absolutely right to question their “moderate” credentials–and yours, and mine. When you make up the rules yourself, you get to decide who plays the game.

If Sister Irshad says ISNA and MPAC, and Mazen Asbahi, and CAIR, and the entire mainstream Sunni and Shi’a establishments, are the new focus of our daily Ten Minutes Hate, I ask you brother, who are we to question her?

bonus irshad

So I’m getting my weekly Irshad Manji fix, hoping against hope that her latest post will contain at least some insight into the latest FAILgate, The Jewel of Medina’s failure to get to print. And I’m not disappointed:

I promised you the link to my commentary about the novel that Random House New York has cancelled out of sheer fear.

SHEER FEAR!! It’s like, Random House started to print the book, and then everyone crapped their pants and were all “OMG!!11! ALL THE MOOOZLIMS GONNA GO ‘SPLODEY UP IN HERE!”

I digress. Through the magic of the interwebs, a single click and we’re immersed in Irshad’s alternate universe:

In this season of political conventions, Americans are beginning to focus on who should lead the “land of the free and home of the brave.” But does the United States deserve a descriptor drenched in the language of conscience and courage? It’s increasingly dubious.

I want to be honest with you.  I feed a certain degree of affection for Sr. Irshad–it’s true.  I admit a part of me even has a platonic crush on her, although the Almighty knows I ain’t her type.  Nothing haram, mind you, just a general appreciation for what I know is a sharp mind that has massive capabilities and untapped potential.  And it’s with that in mind that I need to say, very clearly now, that that is without a doubt the dumbest paragraph I’ve ever seen her write.  And that’s saying something.

Let’s forget for a second the rest of the article, wherein she seems to forget what would seem to be a pretty important fact–that negative reviews of The Jewel of Medina also focussed on its gross historical inaccuracies and shoddy scholarship, especially given its claim that it is “extensively researched.”  Forgive my lady that wee oversight, will you? and re-read that last sentence:

But does the United States deserve a descriptor drenched in the language of conscience and courage? It’s increasingly dubious.

I’m struggling to discover what she’s actually saying here, not because it isn’t clear, but because there’s a war inside me to reconcile my tiny crush on Irshad with the realisation that even from her mighty pen can come such mind-numbing stupid.  Is it increasingly dubious that the US isn’t a state of conscience and courage?  Just because Random House exercised its right in the free market to choose not to publish a book it didn’t want to publish? 

Come on, Sr. Irshad.  Surely you know better, mitha.   One might say the US isn’t a state of conscience and courage because it’s run by a bunch of chickenhawks who wage wars they’d never dare fight themselves, and who don’t have the moral courage to see the folly of the past couple of centuries of failed foreign policies that have, without exception, made the world as a whole a place far, far worse off and more dangerous than it would’ve been had the US never interfered.  That’s one thing, and although I don’t necessarily agree, it would strike me only as incorrect rather than incoherent.

this just in (last week): sr irshad says a dirty word!

In a post where she lays out how she’s come this far, Sr. Irshad implores us to Screw the Experts. Charming.  And what’s this about then?

A lot of you are asking for my take on this story: Random House New York has shelved plans to publish The Jewel of Medina, an historical novel about the Prophet Muhammad’s second and youngest wife, Aisha.

Really? Like who?

Rest assured

Whew! I can sleep again!

that I’m writing a commentary about it and will post the link as soon as it’s printed.

But here’s what I want you to know right away. Before deciding to pull the book, Random House consulted academic “experts.” As if they’re objective. Take it from me: so-called scholars can be petty, politicized and, above all, paranoid.

I know first-hand. PBS, broadcaster of Faith Without Fear, sent a rough cut of my film to “academic advisors.”

Eat my scare-quotes, Universities!

Seriously.  I know Sr. Irshad’s allergic to authority, at least anyone else’s authority but hers, but the lady’s lowbrow snipes at uppity book-learned folk with some scholarship under their belt who take her to task for thinking she knows everything gets a little tired.  Regardless, she’s getting quite adept at making everything a launching pad to explain how great she is:

Since then, Faith Without Fear has launched the Muslim Film Festival organized by the American Islamic Congress. It won Gold at the New York Television Festival. The film scored an Emmy nomination. It’s even been screened in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country.

Applause!  You’ve come a long way, baby!

irshad manji has seen the future…

…and it is transgendered.

From her latest newsletter:

Indonesia has as many Muslims as the entire Middle East.  But more than the Middle East, Indonesia represents the possibilities of a positive future — with its…transsexuals[.]

I had no idea that a positive future could be unlocked with hormone therapy and some spare parts, but Irshad’s never let us down before, so, you know, good for her.

aqsa – a dirge

I am extremely angry.

I’m mostly angry that there’s a dead teenager out there, a young girl named Aqsa Parvez who was murdered, almost certainly by someone in her own house, who was the victim of domestic violence, which is a crime that is the worst possible crime in the world.

I’m also angry at Irshad Manji, who jockies Aqsa’s untimely death into a screed against women who choose to wear hijab. Her article on the subject made me feel like I needed a shower. Is this how cheap we are now, that the death of a teenager is food for our own social agenda? In her war against people who like traditions, Sister Irshad sees her own reflection everywhere:

In Berlin earlier this year, a group of young Muslim women — not a hijabi among them! — approached me to express gratitude that I’d posted an Islamic defense of inter-faith marriage.

Congratulations, Sister Irshad. You’ve managed to insinuate the accomplishments of Project Ijtihad© into an article about a dead teenager, something that any other reasonable person would imagine to be so ingratiatingly self-serving as to induce projectile vomiting. Very brave of you.

(Interesting to note that the prime example of Islamofascist extremism, Muslim Girl Magazine that she herself links to, features not one, but two sisters on its front page not wearing a head scarf. What that’s worth, I don’t know, except that it goes to show Sister Irshad’s not that big on self-editing.)

Natasha Fatah asks, Who will speak for Aqsa Parvez?

Irshad Manji just did. And apparently, Natasha Fatah is about to–and I really wish she wouldn’t. Here’s what she says:

The Middle Eastern head covering has become the most significant icon for Islam in the West, which is unfortunate, since 90 per cent of Muslim women in this country don’t wear one. By extension, they get dismissed as not being authentic Muslims.

The CBC’s own Little Mosque on the Prairie plays into this stereotype by showing every prominent Muslim woman in a hijab. This superficial measurement of Muslim-ness has become so prevalent that a small but increasing number of families are pushing it on their daughters.

Sister Natasha makes up facts–90% of Canadian Muslim women don’t wear hijab? Sister Natasha either lies or blunders–Little Mosque on the Prairie features one regular female Muslim character, Sara, who doesn’t wear hijab. In the flashback episode this season, Aamar’s mother doesn’t wear hijab. Neither did any of the women Aamar’s mother brought for him. For crying out loud, Babar’s wife didn’t wear hijab. It’s okay not to watch the show, but it’s probably best not to talk about it if you haven’t because you end up sounding retarded. But who’s counting? The stakes are high enough, the goal noble enough, that truth (or truthiness) won’t get in the way of Sister Natasha’s effort to demonstrate that it’s the hijab that killed Aqsa

Big Daddy Tarek jumps in on this indictment of a piece of cloth. Not disturbed by the fact that he’s never right about anything, Uncle Tarek uses the death of Aqsa to screech that it’s all Iran and Saudi Arabia’s fault. And Uncle Tarek’s not scared to get his hands dirty. This brave warrior in the battle against headscarves is even willing throw down against little girls:

Little wonder then, that Canadian girls walk away from sports tournaments rather than remove their hijabs.

It can’t possibly be the case, can it Uncle Tarek, that Canadian girls believe that forcing them to remove their headscarves, a style of dress they believe is religiously mandated, is obscene? Could it possibly be the case, Uncle Tarek, that your opinion of them, and what they should do, is beyond irrelevant? Could it also be the case that even bringing that up demonstrates such a willing politicization of a teenager’s death that any reasonable human being’s natural reaction should be utter revulsion, followed by a sinister feeling in the pit of one’s guts, a desire to cuff the author of such muck, just once but very very hard, for being such a turd? I’m no expert, but I say yes.

Enough! Here’s what we know of Aqsa Parvez’ death: Aqsa Parvez had problems at home stemming from intergenerational and, probably to some degree, cross-cultural conflicts, which made her distinct from other Canadian kids in exactly zero ways. She was killed in her home, something so mind-shatteringly evil there is nothing normal about it. Nothing normal for Muslims, or South Asians, or fathers and daughters–nothing normal for anyone. Analyzing it as if it falls into some pattern or other is fruitless. Worse yet, scrambling over Aqsa Parvez’ prone dead body, wrenching off this bit or that, stabbing at it with your flag to lay claim to it, to claim that its ultimate sacrifice is a sacrifice for this just cause, the obliteration of the hijab or the destruction of the myth of multiculturalism or the war against tradition, is disgusting.

That’s enough. She was just a kid. And you’re vultures, all of you.