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Finding Islam’s Modernity
This month’s issue of Prospect features a review by Robin Yassin-Kassab on former Iraqi Defence and Finance minister Ali Allawi’s new book, The Crisis of Islamic Civilization. The book delves into the thriving debate regarding Islam’s reaction to and role within modernity, shying away from…
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Beyond Mini-Skirts and Veils
President Sarkozy’s recent declarations against the burqa have fallen out of the news headlines but his words are still ringing loudly within and outside Western Muslim communities. Opinion pieces and letters continue to flood international and local papers, tugging back…
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Holy Stream of Consciousness, Foucault!
A while back, I had an extremely interesting and thought-provoking conversation with a friend of mine. He was taking a class on Foucault, and brought up his redefining of historical terms, primarily discussing the issue that sex and sexual identity…
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Ahmedinejad at Durban II
Challenging Our Comfort Levels
The only thing which seems to be on the minds and mouths of many these days are the apparently ‘racist’ remarks made by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejad at the second Durban conference on anti-Racism which recently…
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Emerging From the Nostalgia of Pakistan’s Past
In March of 1999, I stepped out of the Allama Iqbal International Airport, in Lahore, Pakistan, greeted by long-lost family members and a barrage of young men wanting to carry our luggage to the awaiting cars. While in the clutch…
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How Suburban Education Brainwashes Women
Through the 21 years that I’ve seen – unless you take out the first one to two-and-a-half, as they remain a blur – I’ve always kept the male sex at arm’s distance: military arms distance. Rommel would have been proud.…
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The Shifting Discourse on Gaza
A cosmic motherly-sounding voice has always told me that even the darkest of clouds have silver linings. The past two weeks have forced me to now wonder if the same idea of a silver lining applies to clouds of white…
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Personal Statement For Law School
November 30. McGill law school application deadline. My GPA sucks, and I haven’t quite yet saved the world. However, I, like many other budding law students, have come to excel at the language of self-elevation. Law schools say they want…
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Confessions of a Woman with Hair
November, 2007. 1:30 am. Alone. Chest pains. Shortness of breath. A feeling of overwhelming fear. Tears streamed down sullen cheeks. With what strength and composure I could muster, I reached for my phone and dialed 911 and asked for
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