ABIM, the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement, is one of the oldest and strongest Islamic NGOs in Malaysia today. Founded in 1972, ABIM is influential on the national stage in lobbying for Islamic policies. It is the leading component organization in PEMBELA, an Islamic affairs pressure group. But its most recognizable effort on the ground is […]
Yearly Archives: 2009
Upcoming Productions
As both of my regular readers are well aware, the major focus of this blog is whatever adorable thing my children happen to be up to at the moment. Nonetheless, I do try to intersperse that with other topics to keep things fresh, and so with that in mind I’d like to share with you […]
Beyond Pathetic
it’s also hard not to feel some compassion for what looks like a group of struggling, credulous, under-educated men, existing on the fringes of society, who lacked the intelligence or willpower to avoid getting taken in by a government informant anxious to mitigate his own situation, and by their own vague understanding of radical Islam […]
My National Anthem
My mother used to sing this to me when I was little, and I sing it to my kids now. I’d never heard good old Woody sing it, but by the power of the internet, here it is. This Land is Your Land, by Woodie Guthrie.
Dreams of Home
So it looks like I won’t be making that trip home to Michigan that I thought I would this June, due to, how you say, irresolvable differences of contractual interpretation between myself and my employer. I’m tempted to give in to sentimentality here and list out all the things I really miss about home, but […]
Safinatun Naja’ Translated into English
This popular introductory text on Shafi’i Fiqh is now available in English translation. This is the text I had been learning from in Kuching, struggling to learn from an Arabic text with Bahasa Malaysia explanations. This will help me enormously. Translated by Abdullah Muhammad al-Marbuqi al-Shafii, God bless him for his efforts, and graciously made […]
Orangutans and Orangijabs
Who should come into town but HijabMan, fresh from a posh international wedding photography gig in Penang! Scarcely had he set foot in my house but my children were hopping around with balloon helmets, balloon flowers, balloon swords and balloon dogs (strictly halal). Uncle HijabMan knows how to get in good with the little ones.
West Malaysia 2008: Cousins, Cousins, Cousins
Thanks to the largesse of the Malaysian government, I was able to bring my family for a one-month vacation at the end of last year. We brought the whole family, and our maid for good measure, and the nine of us went gallavanting from my brother-in-law’s in Tanjong Malim all the way to the Langkawi […]