Delicious Pickings | Hijab Killing, Stupid Fatwas, Islamic Cars

Here’s another round of my del.icio.us links for this past week. The fact that most of the links are Islamic-related is pure coincidence.

A 16 year-old girl in Toronto is murdered by her father for refusing to wear the hijab and being “too westernized”. I don’t what to say about this story other than the fact that it’s a disgusting and barbaric display that runs contrary to Islamic teachings.

Honor crimes in Palestine seem to be higher than what we have in Jordan. But one of the reasons for that may in fact be due to article 340 of Jordan’s penal law! A pox on both our houses.

– At the Dubai Film Festival, 100 film stars, including George Clooney and Sharon Stone, received goody bags that were worth – now brace yourself – $100,000. The bag includes “a diamond dust exfoliating cream and a so-called “million-dollar treatment” which involves diamonds placed in the body’s ‘chakras’ to remove negative energies”. Now I don’t like to be the guy who says “but think of the poor kids in Palestine and Iraq!”, but COME ON Dubai! Now I know Clooney is a good guy, and after going to festival and talking about Darfur, I just know he’ll donate his bag to his Darfur fund. Otherwise, my faith in Hollywood will have been shaken to the core.

– If you like 2007 lists, Bakkouz has a bunch of them from Time Magazine. But you might also want to check out the lists compiled by Foreign Policy. My personal favorites include, Look Who’s Blogging Now, The World’s Stupidest Fatwas, and how the World Sees the US (look at Jordan’s rankings).

Nadim Rouhana writes an interesting piece in The Nation about Arab-Israelis in light of the recent re-deceleration of Israel being a “Jewish” state at Annapolis. On the same note, a new popular Israeli show tries to “humanize” Arab-Israelis vis a vis a protagonist who struggles to be more Jewish. The irony is abound.

– Iran is rolling out a line of “Islamic Cars”, which is basically a normal car, made in Iran, with a compass that tells you which way the qiblah is and a little compartment for your Quran. Of course these are options so if you don’t want them, then you’re just buying a normal made-in-Iran car.

– Speaking of Islamic transportation: Saudi Arabia is planning to build 5 monorails that link Islamic sites in Mecca, to ease movement during the hajj season. Estimated cost is $5.3 billion. That’s right. Billion.

Fearless mice and glow-in-the-dark cats. Asian scientists are just plain strange.

17 Comments

  • – A 16 year-old girl in Toronto is murdered by her father for refusing to wear the hijab and being “too westernized”. I don’t what to say about this story other than the fact that it’s a disgusting and barbaric display that runs contrary to Islamic teachings.

    I cannot even find the proper words to express my utter disgust with this! I hope he rots in hell! il nas illi mitlo maskeen il deen min ————-!

  • Yes George Clooney is a good guy, a really good guy….I don’t know though if he’ll donate his bag

    The Israeli show reminds me so much of this awesome book I read over the summer, Dancing Arabs by Sayed Kashua, it’s basically about this insecure arab israeli having to deal with identity issues his whole life.

    The glow-in-the-dark cats are cooler than the glow-in-the-dark strawberries!

  • Those things in Islamic cars are totally gimmicks. And the killing is horrible, the father should’ve looked at other ways than killing to make her wear a hijab.

  • Ironic !!
    people of Ivory coast favor US more than US citizens?, Turkey made the bottom of the list before palestinian terr.?, Kuwaities are split 50/50 ?? Iraq is not on the list??
    The 16 yo, this has nothing to do with islam, it is a waste of an innocent life.

    As to the Fatwas, I wonder who the hell come up with these Fatwas especially the one about breast feeding your co-worker?? this is so IDIOTIC.

    Thanx for sharing.

  • Wow, my car has a niche for a book and a GPS device installed…and I had no idea that it was “Islamic”!

    And what happens if you hang a cross from the mirror of an “Islamic” car? Does it negate the effect?

  • Regarding the father killing his daughter, he has only himself to blame. He is responsible and accountable for the upbringing of his children, teaching them about their deen and all that goes with it. Now he is accountable for a heck of alot more than that!
    Im wondering….if the gift bag was worth $100,000; so they have to pay taxes on it at the airport?

  • the father should’ve looked at other ways than killing to make her wear a hijab.

    Should he have only beaten her instead of killing her? is that what you mean by “other”?

  • Should he have only beaten her instead of killing her? is that what you mean by “other”?

    I doubt that’s what he meant … instead – if he so believes hijab is a must in Islam – perhaps talking about the importance of it to her would’ve been more responsible

  • I if i got this right that means that means 10 million dollars were donated to already rich people!!!!!
    I am sure that somewhwere in the future history will remark this era in our Arab history as the Medieval times!!
    Today i was reading an article about the THE 2002 ARAB HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Report according to this report i found 2 intersting points in it that i find shocking
    1. The Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one fifth of
    the number that Greece translates. The cumulative total of
    translated books since the Caliph Maa’moun’s [sic] time (the
    ninth century) is about 100,000, almost the average that Spain
    translates in one year. (AHDR 2002, p. 78)
    2.investment in research and development is less than one seventh the world average;
    and Internet connectivity is worse than in sub-Saharan Africa.
    talk about blogging ha?!!!
    No Research, No Education, No Publications of any kind a culturally dead nation!
    But hey we have the tallest tower in the world!!and now a great film festival WOW!!!

  • I doubt that’s what he meant … instead – if he so believes hijab is a must in Islam – perhaps talking about the importance of it to her would’ve been more responsible

    No, I’m pretty sure he meant that wearing the hijab was more important than other considerations like that girl’s life.

    This is what gets me. It’s all about control. The reason that man murdered his daughter wasn’t because he was afraid she’d go to hell. It was because she defied him. He couldn’t control her, so he killed her. Because which is the worse sin: not wearing the hijab, or killing a 16 year old girl?

  • Gosh… this has been going on for a while!

    Thank you for that. Phew, for a second there I thought…actually your anti abuse will trash this message if I put those thoughts down…

    Thanks for setting my info right!

  • That man must hv been a psycho. My parents too ask me to cover up but they just don’t kill me. About the breast feeding fatwa: This is what happens when a bunch of sheep herders start making law for a country. I doubt if they hv ever read Quran or they hv been busy reading the corrupted Hadith. May Allah guide these illiterate, so called Islamic Philosophers!

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