Ben Affleck, Nicholas Kristoff and Michael Steele vs. Bill Maher and Sam Harris

Reza Aslan talks about Bill Maher, Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia, Islam

Egyptian-born Woman Quickly Becomes "Most Powerful Woman in the City of ‪‎London‬"

Nemat Shafik, 51, has been appointed deputy governor of the Bank of England, turning her into "the most powerful woman in London," according to The Guardian.

The Guardian reports that Nemat Shafik had been the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund for nearly three years. She was also the youngest ever vice president of the World Bank.

Nemat, who is today a US and British national, was born in Alexandria, but her family left in the 1960s "after her father lost everything during the country's nationalisation," she explained to The Guardian.

It was her experience during this time that shaped her future. "I guess the particular angle that I have on development comes from the fact that my family was nationalised, and when that occurred, I left as a child and was raised in the US and didn't go back to Egypt until I was a teenager. But that experience of nationalisation and struggling with the role of the state trying to take resources, to redistribute them, but at the same time not being very successful at it was a part of my childhood," she said.

Nemat finished high school in ‪Egypt‬ and then returned to the US where she studied economics and politics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst before undertaking a MSc in economics at London School of Economics and a doctorate from St Antony's College, Oxford.



— Sean Farrell, The Guardian via Egyptian Streets

Crimea Secedes. So What?

Residents of Crimea voted over the weekend on whether they would remain an autonomous region of Ukraine or join the Russian Federation. In so doing, they joined a number of countries and regions — including recently Scotland, Catalonia and Venice — that are seeking to secede from what they view as unresponsive or oppressive governments.

These latter three are proceeding without much notice, while the overwhelming Crimea vote to secede from Ukraine has incensed U.S. and European Union officials, and has led NATO closer to conflict with Russia than since the height of the Cold War.

What's the big deal? Opponents of the Crimea vote like to point to the illegality of the referendum. But self-determination is a centerpiece of international law. Article I of the United Nations Charter points out clearly that the purpose of the U.N. is to "develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples."

Why does the U.S. care which flag will be hoisted on a small piece of land thousands of miles away?

Critics point to the Russian "occupation" of Crimea as evidence that no fair vote could have taken place. Where were these people when an election held in an Iraq occupied by U.S. troops was called a "triumph of democracy"?

Perhaps the U.S. officials who supported the unconstitutional overthrow of Ukraine's government should refocus their energies on learning our own Constitution, which does not allow the U.S. government to overthrow governments overseas or send a billion dollars to bail out Ukraine and its international creditors.

Though the Obama administration has applied some minimal sanctions on selected Russian and Crimean individuals, neither the U.S. nor the EU can afford significant sanctions against Russia. Global trade provides too much economic benefit to both sides.

Indeed, international markets rallied on news that the sanctions would be thus far minimal. They understand that trade and economic engagement are the surest roads to peace and prosperity. Let's hope governments will follow their lead.



— Ron Paul, Ron Paul Channel

The Imam and the Rape Victim

Imam Abdul Razzaq is not famous. He has probably never been outside of his native Pakistan, let alone his small village of Meerwala. You’ll most likely never see him on television or read about him much. But he has done what many Imams and most men still find very difficult to do: defend a gang-raped woman in the face of other, more powerful (and armed) men.

On an otherwise ordinary Friday in June 2002, Imam Abdul Razzaq gave a Khutba. But not just any Khutba – it was a sermon with shock value. In it, he condemned the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, which had occurred a few days earlier. Mai was a young woman whose teenage brother was falsely accused of engaging in a relationship with a woman from a “higher” tribe. The punishment for this, according to village elders was for his sister, Mukhtar Mai, to be gang-raped by men from the “offended” woman’s tribe. And that she was.

After being raped and paraded naked in front of hundreds in a place where women do not venture outside without being modestly dressed, and billboards of semi-clad females are virtually non-existent, Mai contemplated suicide.

This traumatized woman would have done it – until Imam Abdul Razzaq knocked on her door.

The Imam convinced both Mai and her father to press charges. He went with them to the local police station and helped them report the incident. Then, he delivered his Khutba and called a journalist to give the crime publicity. Once the article about the horrific attack came out, the news spread first within Pakistan. Then, a few weeks later, the BBC picked it up and brought it to the world.

The publicity gave Mai the strength countless women raped in similar fashion never received. It gave her courage in the face of the seemingly insurmountable mountain of misogyny.

Imam Abdul Razzaq never received rape crisis training; he did not complete a degree in Women’s Studies; he was not pressured by Western non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nor has he ever lived in a part of the world where discussions about women’s rights, women’s equality, feminism or gender justice take place. His village, at least at the time of Mukhtar Mai’s rape, had virtually no electric power service and no telephones.

But Imam Abdul Razzaq received a different kind of training. It was in not just reading and memorizing the Quran, but truly living by its commands of justice.

“O you who believe! stand out firmly for justice, As witnesses to Allah, Even As against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. follow not the lusts (of your hearts), Lest you swerve, and if you distort (justice) or decline to do justice, Verily Allah is well- acquainted with all that you do.”
(Quran 4:135)

Imam Abdul Razzaq knew that rape is wrong, regardless of how often it happens, who it happens to, or where it happens, whether it is in the alleys of Meerwala or on the streets of Manhattan. Imam Abdul Razzaq also knows that giving Khutbas is necessary, but to truly stand up for what’s right, especially for a woman whose cries are normally unheeded by the society around him, requires action.

This great, underappreciated Imam, also understands that violence against women is not a “women’s issue”. It is a men’s issue as well. In fact, it is very much a “Muslim issue”. It is about the core of Islamic teachings: justice for the weak, and standing up for what is right in every way we can, with every tool at our disposal.

During this month of March, which is Women’s History Month, Imam Abdul Razzaq’s example is one more Muslims should highlight, discuss, and emulate. He is an example not only for Imams and male Muslim leaders, but Muslim men across the board.

May Allah make us just to all, especially the weakest and most vulnerable of our communities, following the lead of Imams like Imam Abdul Razzaq.

Sound Vision team conveys its Salam to Imam Abdul Razzaq and to Mukhtar Mai. Both of them symbols of courage, wisdom, and justice.

Peace.



–– Abdul Malik Mujahid, Sound Vision