Musical Interlude

I thought I'd assemble some music-related links for this blog, for material which has caught my attention over the past month or so - some of it has been out much longer. There's scope for some serious research on Muslim musicians and the internet. I've been listening to this as I posted the blog today:



Celt Islam contains a multitude of world music influences, integrated into a DJ/dub/drum'n'bass fusion. The MySpace page has plenty more about the Analogue Fakir, a slideshow, YouTube clips and various downloads ...



Next, Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, Tell No Lies, Real World is out today on CD/download. Juldeh Camara (from The Gambia) plays the ritti, a fiddle with one string:

"Juldeh Camara is an African Master Musician, taught to play by his blind father, who himself was taught directly by the djinn. Playing the ritti, a one-stringed fiddle and West African ancestor of the violin, he participated as a griot (a West African poet, praise singer and repository of oral tradition) in traditional Fula society."

Justin Adams plays blues guitar, and is well known for his work with Robert Plant and Tinarawen (as well as solo materials). The result is excellent, if you haven't heard them already. There are samples on this page, and also a video explaining some of the background to the music.

I'm looking out for the new Khaled CD Liberte, but can't find much information at present on the official French site. The site also includes a video extract.

Also listening to Amadou & Mariam and Bob Dylan (not sure how to fit his latest into this blog, however). Should also mention Yusuf's new one 'Roadsinger', which I haven't heard yet (except clips).

@QueenRania

AFP, Jordan queen all a-Twitter over papal visit, 8 May 09 "Jordan's Queen Rania "twittered" on the social online network about Pope Benedict XVI's first ever visit to an Arab country on Friday, as the pontiff kicked off his Holy Land tour."

The link is here

Swat

CBS News, Online Jihadi Tell TTP: “Strike in India To Ease The Pressure in Swat”, 8 May 09 "A member of a militant Islamist website suggested Taliban militants in Pakistan should launch attacks in India to get some relief from the attacks waged against them by Pakistani forces in SWAT valley."

UAE

alarabiya.net, UAE detains sheikh following abuse video, 11 May 09 "The United Arab Emirates detained a member of the country's ruling family and launched an official investigation into allegations that he abused an Afghan man following a dispute over money, the official news agency WAM said on Monday." The video was widely circulated online. Expect this story to run through the next month...

Roxana Saberi Freed

alarabiya.net, Iran frees US-born reporter Roxana Saberi, 11 May 09 "Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was freed from Tehran’s Evin jail after an appeals court reduced her eight-year jail sentence for espionage to a two-year suspended term, her lawyer and officials said on Monday."

The online campaign succeeds for Roxana - time to focus on other campaigns? ...

el-Hatef el-Islami

Guardian, Fatwa advice line el-Hatef el-Islami to launch in UK, 11 May 09

"Next month sees the UK launch of el-Hatef el-Islami, one of the world's most popular Islamic hotlines. Dubbed dial-a-fatwa and dial-a-sheikh in its native Egypt, it will draw on the expertise of scholars from Cairo's al-Azhar University to provide perplexed believers with help and religious rulings (fatwas) on everyday dilemmas. British callers can ring in with their problems, and access the answer up to 48 hours later by punching in a pin number. The hotline will also include an email facility, with advice sent in English, Urdu and Arabic at a cost of 69p a message."

Only problem is that the website for elhatef.com is down at present. I have blogged on this previously. One might expect other services to emerge in due course, representing other perspectives, although whether it rivals online q&a services is open to question.

Google Morocco Hacked

Techcrunch, Hackers Temporarily Seize Control Of Google Morocco Domain Name, 9 May 09 "Google.co.ma, the domain name for Google Morocco’s search portal, was taken hostage by hackers earlier today reportedly for several hours before the problem got fixed (it’s working fine again now)."

Iran: Mousavi and Karroubi campaigns online

Hamid Tehrani, Iran: Movement of 1000 bloggers supports Mousavi for presidency, 6 May 09"Supporters of two leading reformist presidential candidates, former prime minister Mir Hussein Mousavi and former parliament speaker, Mehdi Karroubi are using the internet, including blogs and Facebook, to beef up their chances of being selected as presidential candidates by the Guardian Council in June's election."

Taliban: al-Sumud

Anne Stenersen, Jihadica, Taliban’s View of the Upcoming Elections analysis of al-Sumud, together with links to copies of various editions. "According to the Taliban, the solution is equally simple: Expel the “occupiers” first, and talk politics later. For those who have followed Taliban’s official propaganda this is not very surprising. Ever since the start of the insurgency in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s leadership has, at least officially, consistently refused to make any kind of compromises with the Afghan regime, let alone taking part in the democratic process."

Bahrain ongoing case - Internet defence

Gulf Daily News, Weapons claim by terror suspects , 8 May 09 Ongoing case in Bahrain:

""He said his client only spoke to the Gulf nationals via Internet chat-rooms, where they discussed several issues surrounding jihad, defending Islam and new threats the Gulf countries face.

""My client never met these alleged members of a terror cell, but only spoke to them in chartrooms," said Mr Hashim.

""Their relationship was strictly 'virtual' and he only knew them by their screen names."

iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam (2009), Online Bibliography

Gary R. Bunt iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam (2009), Online Bibliography. Version 1.0 is now available. At this stage, I have not separated books, articles, web pages and other sources. All sources are in this listing, classified alphabetically. A more refined version of this resource may be made available in due course.

There is also a PDF version. More materials will be added to the site in the next few weeks.

Al-Shabaab (update)

Previously blogged:

CNN, Al Qaeda exporting jihad with a hip-hop vibe, 4 May 09 "The latest video from Somalia's al Qaeda-backed Al-Shabaab wing is as slickly produced as a reality TV show but with a startling message -- complete with a hip-hop jihad vibe."

It's easy to source the original via YouTube.

Here's CNN's report (which contains an extract):

Manx mosque on Facebook

Isle of Man Today, Facebook campaign for Manx mosque faces opposition, 5 May 09 "An internet group set up by the Island's Muslim community has sparked fiercely anti-Islamic opposition.

"The group on social networking site Facebook, outlining their campaign for a new mosque to replace the converted garage used at present, has attracted almost 100 members."

kuWeet

startuparabia.com, KuWeet, Your Window To Kuwaiti Tweets, 3 May 09 "The way it was built is really simple: an account @kuweet was created for twitter users in Kuwait to follow, and then what happens is that all followers of this account are collected and placed in a list. All tweets originating from people on this list are then aggregated into a a public timeline of Twitter users from and about Kuwait."

AQIM

CBS News, AQIM Figure: “Al Qaeda in Maghreb Continues to Enjoy the Confidence of Bin Laden”, 4 May 2009, "The head of the political committee of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) assured that two years after the group joined al Qaeda, AQIM has become a regional organization that enjoys the support and confidence of the top al Qaeda leadership."

Maqdisi 'Sources'

Thomas Hegghammer, jihadica.com, Jihadists Study Jihadi Studies, 29 Apr 09 "Since my last post on the subject, both the Militant Ideology Atlas and the RAND study mentioned by al-Maqdisi have been posted on al-Maqdisi’s own website, Minbar al-Tawhid wa’l-Jihad (MTJ). Maqdisi’s readers can now enjoy the original version, the original executive summary as well as an Arabic summary of both reports. As many of you know, MTJ is the largest online library of jihadi literature, so this means that the CTC and RAND are now part of the official jihadi literary canon."

Abu Yahya al-Libi

jarretbrachman.net, Abu Yahya al-Libi: The Real Brains Behind AQ "Abu Yahya al-Libi is a revolutionary thinker par excellence. In a previous essay, Al-Tatarrus (Human Shields), he spends the first 30 of 33 pages conducting a meticulous exegesis of Quranic and Hadeeth justifications for al-Qaida’s killing of innocent Muslims if they are being used by the enemy as a human shield." Interesting analysis from Brachman, complete with chart.

Delara Darabi

Independent, Delara Darabi: 'Oh mother, I can see the noose', 4 May 09 "It was 7am when Delara Darabi phoned home. "Oh mother, I see the hangman's noose in front of me," she garbled. "They are going to execute me. Please save me." Moments later a prison official snatched the handset away. "We will easily execute your daughter and there's nothing you can do about it," he barked at the parents. Then, with a chilling click, the line went dead."

Darabi was the subject of a sustained online campaign, for example Save Delara! which contained her paintings.

iMuslims Update

I am currently preparing materials to place on this website in relation to iMuslims. This will include an online list of URLs cited in the book, a bibliography (PDF) and a slide-show. The bibliography is particularly relevant - as we decided that a full bibliography (in addition to the already extensive Endnotes) would make the book rather heavy. Far better to put it online, for download, reference, annotation, etc., especially for those people who read my book in print form with their computers on. The slide show will simply be the screen shots used in the book. The chart that outlines cyber Islamic environments will also be available, in glowing technicolor. I will be updating this in line with readers' (sensible) suggestions, so it may evolve in due course. These materials should be online by mid-May, in line with the UNC Press publication of the book. C. Hurst & Co. advise me that their version of the book will be out 11 June 2009.

Global Media Journal

A couple of articles that caught my attention:

Mahboub E. Hashem, Impact and Implications of New Information Technology
on Middle Eastern Youth, Global Media Journal, Volume 8, Issue 14 Spring 2009

Samskrati Gulvady, Blogging – Redefining Global Modern Journalism: An Omani Perspective, Global Media Journal, Volume 8, Issue 14 Spring 2009