Michigan, my home state, has a reputation for nurturing right-wing anti-government terrorists. The largest act of domestic terrorism prior to 9/11 was the Oklahoma City bombing that was planned in Michigan and executed in part by Michigan men. They tested their bombs on a farm not far from my parents’ farm in Lapeer County.
Even after that, militia groups continued to thrive in Michigan, which has more active militias than any state in the union but Texas. Now another terrorist cell is in the news, the …

By Abu Muhammad of Bahrus Shofah
***
English Translation by Bin Gregory Productions
***
Datuk Haji Abdul Kadir bin Hassan, may Allah have mercy on him, was born in Kampung Patingan (or Kampung No. 6), Kuching, Sarawak, on the 6th of August, 1928 (28th Safar 1347). His formal education began at SRK (Public School) Merpati Japang (my own school) until Standard 4 (10th grade), after which he attended the Madrasah Melayu (Malay Religious School, Kuching). While studying at school, he deepened his religious knowledge with local ulama (religious scholars), among them …

Eid Mubarak, Selamat Hari Raya Korban! The 6th Annual Brass Crescent Awards have been announced. Congratulations to all the winners. If you haven’t subscribed yet to Islam in China, Muslimah Media Watch and Seekers Guidance, you ought to do it right now. I’m very happy to be mentioned along with Folio, Al-Miskeenah, and the Manrilla, honorable people all. Keep your eyes on TalkIslam and AltMuslim to take part in the contest next time. Thanks to everybody who voted.

At first, you do it every day, sometimes even twice a day. As time goes by, it is less and less frequent until after many years, once or twice a month feels like a big accomplishment. Blogging! I’m talking about blogging of course. Although my blogging schedule has gotten more and more infrequent, I’ve never felt the urge to shut it down. In Malay, they have a saying that sums it up: “Hidup Segan, Mati Tak Mau”, roughly translated, “Too timid to live, but unwilling …

The azan can be heard all around Kuching from the suraus in most every neighborhood. Sometimes it takes a bit of work to find where it is coming from. Taking a shortcut through a secluded neighborhood on my way home late from work, I would often hear the azan called loudly nearby, see old uncles walking down the street in kain palikat and songkok, but never saw the mosque. I decided to explore one day on foot, and discovered the surau tucked away in a block …

Brooke of Sheer Fluency has organized a Blog Carnival on White Privilege and the Ummah.
It’s a great topic, but it occurred to me that for plenty of us white folks, myself included, the first step is figuring out what white folks are in the first place. During my discussion with Umar about white Muslims and the comments from different people that followed, a common idea that came up was that white people are a distinct race of people with distinct culture and traits, and by distinct I …

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama:
“Well the correct answer, he is not a Muslim. He’s a Christian, he’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is ‘what if he is?’ Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no, that’s not America.”
Thank you, Gen. Powell…

Mawlid season has come and gone once again and I’ve only now had the chance to put a little something together.
This time, I’ve got some fresh video clips, and new this year, an audio recording of our Kuching mawlid recital.

ne famous prayer of repentance, or dua taubat, could be roughly transliterated as follow:
Ilahi lestu lil-firdawsi a’la
wa la akhwa ala nar il-jaheemi
Allah fa habli tawbata wa-ghfir dhunubi
fa innaka ghaafiru dhanb il-adzimi
This doa has been put to song, together with a lovely malay translation, by Junied, a nasheed group from Singapore associated with the Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah. Madrasah Aljunied is a famous madrasah, having produced many notable scholars over the course of its nearly one hundred years, including the present Mufti of Sarawak, if I’m not wrong. It is …

Every year, all over the world, muslims in the spiritual lineage of the great saint Imam Abdullah al-Haddad gather together to celebrate his life and remember his great wisdom. He is most fondly remembered in the parts of the world that have benefited from the dawah of the scholars and saints of Hadhramaut: Yemen, the Swahili Coast, the muslim parts of the Indian coast and the Malay Archipelago, the Nusantara. In the Nusantara, as elsewhere, the hadhrami da’is did not only preach, but stayed, intermarried and naturalized. …