August 13, 2005
shalimar the clown
Commenting on the completely segregated life styles that were lived by three young Leeds-resident Muslims who became the rucksack bombers of London on July 7th, Slaman Rushdie is quoted in yesterday's 7DAYS (a budding, nicely writ daily that is still free at all gas stations and can be found in many public areas here) as saying:
"What is needed is a move beyond tradition - nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of the closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air."
I'm not sure what a Muslim reformation would look like but it will be interesting to see what comes about in the next few years or even months as even Rushdie jumps back on the band wagon calling for big changes to one of the world's largest religions/sects (depending on your view of pre-reformist Islam).
Anyway, Rushdie is working on his next book, the article tells us: "Shalimar the clown", a tale of a Muslim teenager who is guided by a radical Mullah to become an Islamic terrorist. I initially thought: “Great! I can hardly wait to read it!” Then I remembered that I live here in the UAE and that I will probably have to wait quite a long time to read it, actually, and will also probably have to be out of country when I do. Maybe Rushdie could do all us expats living in Islamic countries a service and put some Arabesque designs on the cover and perhaps present the title in an arabic-style caligraphy. That way the book would blend in much better over here and I wouldn't tell, promise. Even though the market for it here would, I'm sure, be small, perhaps he might consider a limited run just for people like us? Perhaps.
In a completely different train of thought, people still living in the Emirate of Sharjah will not have to wait long at all now for a taxi to honk their extremely pleasant sounding horn at them repeatedly until they are forced into becoming the next fare. 7days tells us that Sharjah will now be getting its FOURTH taxi company; “Al AF Dalya". Just what Sharjah needs, 850 MORE spanking new blue and red metered Chevy Optras cruising its roundabouts. Wednesday night Rolla road travellers on their way to Ajman Marina, will welcome the extra beeping-and-stopping-every-2-metre blue-n-reds with the usual patient Rolla road travellers smiles, I’m sure.
"What is needed is a move beyond tradition - nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of the closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air."
I'm not sure what a Muslim reformation would look like but it will be interesting to see what comes about in the next few years or even months as even Rushdie jumps back on the band wagon calling for big changes to one of the world's largest religions/sects (depending on your view of pre-reformist Islam).
Anyway, Rushdie is working on his next book, the article tells us: "Shalimar the clown", a tale of a Muslim teenager who is guided by a radical Mullah to become an Islamic terrorist. I initially thought: “Great! I can hardly wait to read it!” Then I remembered that I live here in the UAE and that I will probably have to wait quite a long time to read it, actually, and will also probably have to be out of country when I do. Maybe Rushdie could do all us expats living in Islamic countries a service and put some Arabesque designs on the cover and perhaps present the title in an arabic-style caligraphy. That way the book would blend in much better over here and I wouldn't tell, promise. Even though the market for it here would, I'm sure, be small, perhaps he might consider a limited run just for people like us? Perhaps.
In a completely different train of thought, people still living in the Emirate of Sharjah will not have to wait long at all now for a taxi to honk their extremely pleasant sounding horn at them repeatedly until they are forced into becoming the next fare. 7days tells us that Sharjah will now be getting its FOURTH taxi company; “Al AF Dalya". Just what Sharjah needs, 850 MORE spanking new blue and red metered Chevy Optras cruising its roundabouts. Wednesday night Rolla road travellers on their way to Ajman Marina, will welcome the extra beeping-and-stopping-every-2-metre blue-n-reds with the usual patient Rolla road travellers smiles, I’m sure.
