Ginny’s Thoughts & Things

Assalamu alaikum, yeah, I’m editing my comments. As I said before, perhaps it’s a good thing that the visual captcha kept me from posting my original thoughts on Imam Zaid Shakir’s blog, because they, as well as my original comments on my own blog, were, well, pretty incoherent. I should have put my post in draft form and then posted it once it was a bit more coherent, but anyway.

Basically, the gist of what I wanted to say was that I didn’t find Imam Zaid’s comments altogether earth-shattering. Firstly, he was attempting to answer a series of questions put to him by another person, so it wasn’t as though he just wrote a huge article bashing Ibn Tamiyah (may Allah have mercy on him and all of us). In fact, the post itself answered other questions dealing with tariqas, etc. So it wasn’t just an Ibn Tamiyah-bashing article.

Secondly, I do not know what is the big deal about saying that someone was a controversial figure while still at the same time having the utmost respect for that person. IMHO, if some Muslims can call others “deviant” if not outright “kafir”, and this is *after* the Sunni Unity Pledge, then surely, someone can say that a person is “controversial”, and no one said anything about them being a “disbeliever”, etc. In fact, at the beginning of the article, Imam Zaid said that Ibn Tamiyah was a pious man, etc., but that he had some controversial positions that were not accepted by many people and as a result he was imprisoned for that. If this can be backed up from a historical standpoint, what is wrong with saying that?

It’s as though to some, criticizing Ibn Taymiyah and his work is like criticizing the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself, or the Qur’an and Sunnah, and this is from many of the same people who will do the same, if not worse, to other Muslims! And IMHO, I find it to be a bit hypocritical! People can continue to post lists of so-called “deviant” Muslims and their websites and some will say “well you’re still going to have the haters so what’s the big deal”, yet let someone say that Ibn Taymiyah is “controversial” and they get accused of single-handedly going against the Sunni Unity Pledge! I wonder where everyone was when certain bloggers and sites and scholars were called “deviants”, etc. And a whole list of “who and who not” to read/look at/to avoid, etc., was published, right there on the Internet for anyone to see! OK, so perhaps the publisher of the site was not a signatory to the pledge, but said person’s opinion is respected and followed, I dare say, by many Muslims, both signatories to the pledge and not. So, again IMHO, you can’t tell one “side” to “just don’t mind the haters” while accusing the other “side” of undermining the Sunni Unity Pledge, merely for saying that someone is “controversial”, which, well, in the case of Ibn Taymiyah, is controversial, I mean, we’re sitting here discussing him aren’t we?!

If signing the Sunni Unity Pledge means that we sweep controversial issues and topics under the rug, solely for the sake of “unity”, then I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that! I think that discussing so-called “controversial” topics can be done in a respectful way, and Inshallah, Imam Zaid did that in his article!

Perhaps I should refresh my memory on who Ibn Taymiyah was, excatly, however, I probably won’t, as this “back and forth” stuff does make my head hurt! And I’m not sure if I’d find any “neutral” articles dealing with him, either he’s the “Shaikh al-Islam who can’t be criticized, and if he is then people are just spreading lies about him”, or he’s a “controversial Muslim who went against hte majoirty of Muslims” and all of that. Perhaps he was a little of both, just a very pious knowledgeable person who held some opinions that were not mainstream opinons. Anyway, I just wanted to repost my comments. Inshallah, this makes more sense.

New Islamic Directions
Answer to a “Salafi” Brother (Updated)

Umm Zaid for Majlis: Blahg Blahg Blahg » Blog Archive » Identify With Me! And Other Conundrums of Western Muslims

Assalamu alaikum, posting in a hurry before running off to work, but, a *wonderful* post from Umm Zaid (thanks for reminding me really, thanks!)

Assalamu alaikum, once again revisiting the topic of race… I know, or at least I think I’ve done this anyway, talked many times about “white privilege”, how I’ve benefited from it, racism in America, etc., etc., etc. I just wanted to put that out there, because I didn’t want anyone to think that I was skirting that issue.

IMHO, “we”, and I mean the bloggers like Umar Lee, Umm Zaid, Tariq Nelson?, etc., have sort of blogged this issue to death, I mean, now that we’ve put it out there, now that we’ve recognized it, where do we go from here? Do we just say “well that’s just how it is, live with it?” Or do you, yourself, do what you can, in your own small way, to change things?

Yes, I know there is racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, and a whole lot of other “bad” stuff in the world. It upsets me, makes me angry, makes me feel powerless to stop it, etc. However, the best thing that I can do, as someone who has happened to have been born white, is to try not to fall into the pitfalls of racism and bigotry that my white forefathers/ancestors have engaged in. And I think this could be done by everyone! Just because you’re black, brown, Arab, African, that doesn’t make you somehow immune to displaying bigotry and prejudice.

I guess I’m just tired of the rehashing of the same old issues/problems, and the ensuing back-and-forth/fitna that almost always results, and the lack of any meaningful proposals of solutions to solve things like this, and I think that colored my reaction to Umar/Ben Gregory’s posts. How many times can we talk about the “white liberals”, the “globos”, the “bad Muslim marriages” the “bad brothers/sisters”, the “white Muslims with a complex”, heck, the “convert Muslims with a complex”, or the just plain old “Muslims with a complex”, etc., before we start trying to actually do something about it?

Umm Zaid made a point on her blog, something to the affect of “if she didn’t know any better”, that, well, let me take this off in my own direction, I don’t want to steal words out of her mouthg.

Let’s just say I was a non-Muslim who happened upon some of the negative blogging going on. Would I think that Islam is something that I’d want, that I’d want to try to live? To implement? To truly make a part of my life? Well, if it means that I’ll be dealing with a whole community of racist, bigoted, materialistic people, then no. Not to say that *some* in the community are not like that, however, if you only mention that, and you don’t mention the “good” Muslims you encounter, then it definitely paints a bleak picture of Islam.

That and all of the “bad marriages”, the “brothers practicing polygamy wrongly”, and all of the other stuff that we all know about and I won’t rehash here.

My point is, yeah, we know, so now what? Do we continue to blog about it, to write about it, and unwittingly make Islam and Muslims look worse in the process? Or do we say, yes, we know we have these problems, but here are some proactive solutions, and here is how I think we should put them into practice!

So yes, I know that I never give up my white privilege (or my “blind” privilege, but that’s a different topic for a different day, which perhaps I’ll revisit), no matter how “hijab-ed” I am, I know that when people see me, they’ll see me as “white” first, unless of course, my “observant Islamness” trumps all of that, and then I’ll be some kind of “traitor”. I know that. And you know what, I don’t care! Many sighted people think I should be just sitting at home collecting government handouts because God forbid that a blind person can actually “do anything”, “I mean, won’t you hurt yourself? Trying to cross that street and all? But oh yeah, I forgot your dog just takes you there.” Or worse, the “old school” people who think that you should not have your own home at all, that you should just be in some sort of group home or institution.

So I know all too well people’s stereotypes of others, and how that can play out. But you know what? I just really don’t care anymore! I just don’t! I did once, but I don’t now! Perhaps some of my husband’s easy-going personality has begun to rub off on me. But let others wallow in their own ignorance! That is not my problem! I’m tired of being the ambassador for blindness, whiteness, Islam, women, or whatever else you want to pin on me! I don’t want to be the “token representative” anymore! I’m not a good diplomat and I don’t fit well into that role!

I’ll happily answer questions for those who genuinely want to know but if your only intention is to start some kind of fight/debate/argument with me, or to “convert” me in the case of my religion, then you’re really barking up the wrong tree.

I don’t care what “the other” thinks I should be doing, I won’t let “others” define what I am, what I think, how I feel. I can only be responsible for myself! And that’s just how it is!

Assalamu alaikum, Umar Lee and Bin Gregory are having an interesting discussion going on. I wanted to comment, however, I find it easier to comment on my own blog and then link back to their respective blogs (ya know that cool thing word press does when you link to someone else’s post and it puts a comment in their comments box letting them know you blogged about their article?)

So anyway, On Umar’s blog, the first quote that I wanted to touch on was:

“( quoting Umar) I despise the patronizing and phoniness of guilty white liberals, but the Muslim community is full of them. These Muslims take shahadah and immediately begin a full imitation of some group, Arabs, Pakistanis, African-Americans, etc, and are subservient and un-critical of these cultures while being fiercely critical of any white culture…. I think that some of these Muslims, but not all, embrace Islam to stop being white…”

Firstly, I don’t think it’s just “guilty white liberals” who tend to “immitate” other groups of Muslims, whether they be Arab, Pakistani, or whoever. No matter which race or ethnic group you come from, many times, if you’re an American Muslim, and you come into Islam, the degree to which you adopt another culture depenends largely on whether you feel or you have been told and have been led to believe that “anything American is haram”. And I just don’t think it’s “those white liberals” who’ve fallen into that trap.

Secondly, just as you had an affinity for African-Americans before becoming Muslim, don’t you think that others were/are in the same shoes as you? Do other white people not have the right to have an affinity for other cultures/groups just because it seems “wrong” or that “oh they’re just trying to be anything but white”?

Yes, I know this happens, we all know the white person who becomes Msulim, marries a Muslim, etc., and next thing you know, they have a thicker accent that the *insert ethnic group here* person they married, assuming that person had an accent in the first place.

But all of that being said, why does, or should, this concern you or any of us? Is that not *that* person’s thing/issue to work through? And why do you think you have any monopoly on affinity for cultures/groups, while “all those other white people are just perpetratin’ ’cause they don’t wanna be white”? What happened to thinking the best about your brother/sister in Islam? What happened to leaving that which does not concern us?

If you don’t want people to just assume “you’re just a white guy who doens’t want to be white”, why not just assume that if someone adopts another’s culture that either they’re just terribly misled or naive, or that, perhaps you should just leave it alone and let them deal with it?

Yes, I know there’s white guilt, etc., etc., and racism, etc., etc., and don’t get me started on how racism is still very much alive and how everything’s affected by race, I know that, OK? But assuming that other white Muslims are just “a bunch of guilty white liberals” just ’cause they don’t think like you do, or didn’t grow up the why you did, well, I just find that terribly insulting!

Perhaps it’s because I’m just a weak woman or something, I don’t know. Or perhaps because I grow up in a semirural, small-town, military family, where I went to a residential school for the blind as a child, perhaps that’s why my outlook is different. Or maybe it’s the “sufi” in me that says that perhaps it’s better to live and let live, if it’s not bothering you, and if it’s not a matter of life or death, perhaps my reaction is to just live and let live, or perhaps spend my time concentrating on my own faults (and Allah knows there are many), instead of pointing out the faults of my brothers/sisters?

Because methinks that Umar’s constant haranguing of other “white Muslims” or other classes of people that he speaks about with contempt, i.e., “those globos sipping lattes”, could possibly point to a form of “white guilt” inand of itself. However, that’s for him to deal with! I’m just tired of white Muslims being castigated because we don’t fit the “right kind of mold” or we’re not the “right kind of Muslim”.

Listen, I didn’t grow up in a bad neighborhood, I’ve never been in trouble (hey I pretty much followed the rules as a child), I went to college, etc., etc., etc. But at the same time, I have an interest/affinity for African/African American history/culture myself, what the heck does that make me? I don’t feel guilty for being white, because then that would be saying that Allah was wrong in making me who I am. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t go through feelings of white guilt myself, at times, when I was younger. I think it’s only natural when you read and learn about “what white people have done” to others, etc., heck, unless you’re just an out and out racist, who wouldn’t get just a tinge of emotion, be it anger, guilt, or something else, when you read about things like the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, slavery in the US, etc. But again, those were feelings I had to work thorugh, and I’d venture to say, my own feelings to continue to work through.

The thing is, I don’t feel very comfortable having someone trying to put me in some sorta box, someone who doesn’t even know me, but because I, and/or others like me, didn’t come from the “right” kind of neighborhood, or didn’t hang around the “right” kind of people growing up, or didn’t have the “right” kind of family background, or follow the “wrong” interpretation of Islam, etc., etc., that I’m not the “right” kind of white Muslim!

I’m sorry, I know it shouldn’t bother me, I know I’m “not leaving that which does not concern me”. I know I should probably just not say anything, because well, as Umm Zaid said a few weeks ago “you don’t know me”, and it shouldn’t bother me!

Perhaps the argument could be made that a little of what Umar says does indeed apply to me and I’m just getting all defensive about it, perhaps, or perhaps not! Perhaps it’s the fact that I don’t like a whole group of people being painted with a broad brush, whether it’s Muslims, white Muslims, “sufis”, “white liberals”, whoever! Pick your group!

Regarding white sisters in hijab, I think we still maintain some form of “whiteness” or “white privilege”, if you like, even with hijab because we can just always take it off and just melt back into society, assuming that we choose to do that (which I don’t). Assuming that a sister chooses not to forego hijab and/or Islam itself, then yes, she gives up, IMHO, some of her “whiteness” or “white privilege”, whether she likes it or not, whether she agrees with it or not. But again, this goes back to the category of issues that each individual Muslim must work through on their own. It seems to me that a better approach would be to kindly advise people in private, instead of labelling a whole group of people as something “just because of your own life experiences”.

And I think I’m going to have to make a part two of this post if I want to comment further because this has turned into a blog post in and of itself. So perhaps after re-reading Umar’s post, and then reading Bin Gregory’s post, I’ll have more to say, or perhaps not! I think I need to take a step away from the ‘puter and take a deep breath.

..::The Gambia Journal Online::..

Assalamu alaikum, The Gambia Journal’s take on the firing of Dr. Tamsir Mbowe (this article does not advance any reasoning for the firing, btw).

Breking News! Gambian Dictator Jammeh In Big Trouble > The Gambia Echo > The Gambia Echo - Online Newspaper

Assalamu alaikum, it will be interesting to see what affect this actually has, assuming these programs/actions even get implemented.

GAMBIAN HEALTH MINISTER TAMSIER MBOWE SACKED > The Gambia Echo > The Gambia Echo - Online Newspaper

Guide Dog labrador class of 2007 | Herald Sun

Assalamu alaikum, this is a story about someone whose dog was poisoned by rat poison (who would do such a thing!?)

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro — Disabled man not lovin’ it after snubs at McDonald’s

Assalamu alaikum, OK so maybe my “militancy” is about to ocme out, but there was absolutely no excuse for htis! And as for the man “not looking blind”, what the heck does that mean!? Just ’cause you don’t move your head back and forth like Stevie Wonder, or put your hand in your eyes, your “not blind”? Many blind/visually imapired people who lose their vision later in life, like this guy in the article, will still move their eyes, and focus their gaze on people, long after they’ve lost their sight, I guess it’s just one of those learned behaviors that never goes away.

Now for my part, my eyes do not focus, and if you look at my eyes you can definitely tell I’m blind, however, even so, many people, even with me, have not known that I was blind, which I find, well, strange.

Anyway, this just goes to show you how much ignorance is out there! I’ve been denied access to quite a few restaurants, not to mention being denied employment, and at one time, having a bus driver just about refuse to take me on the bus with him, I actually heard him say “she’s not going on the bus with me,” etc., etc., I ultimately ended up on the bus, but I sat way back in the bus which I dind’t feel comfortable with, as normally I prefer to sit near the driver in case I need some sort of assistance once we stop.

Access for dog guides and their handlers, as well as other access-related issues such as employment, transportation, etc., are things I’m definitely passionate about. Not that you guys didn’t know that already.

Will real Pacers please stand up? | IndyStar.com

Assalamu alaikum, yep, guys, it’s that time of year again! Let’s hope the Pacers can put something togheter this year! Last year was utterly disappointing! I’m tempted to say, “If only we could get Reggie back”, but well, time must move on, and thaa just isn’t going to happen. But boy I miss those days! Perhaps some time I’ll blog about that, but not now.