NEWS
In Oct. Of 2005, Jay-Z and Nas ended their long running feud and now, Nas has officially signed with Def Jam as a recording artist. Under the terms of the deal, Def Jam and Sony Music will split the profits from two albums, while Def Jam will keep an additional two.
Additionally, Sony has the rights to release a Greatest Hits album from Nas. Def Jam will cover the marketing and production costs of the recording, while both companies will oversee the marketing of the releases. Nas' newest album is also expected to contain a collaboration between Jay-Z and Nas. Nas has sold more than 11 million albums since the debut of his 1994 album Illmatic.
SOME LINKS
Rhetorical Letters
On Edward R Murrow
Sure, Google is cool. It also has the potential to destroy book publishing, newspapers, high street retailing, and our privacy.
Fudging real time in 24
Why it makes economic sense for waiters to be rude.
EXPLAINED IN SLATE
The Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri denied preaching racial hatred in a British courtroom on Thursday. Al-Masri has been linked to the would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid and stands accused of starting a terrorist training camp in Oregon. Most news reports also mention that al-Masri has only one eye and no hands. It seems like we're always hearing about blind or half-blind Muslim clerics—what's the deal?
There is a pattern of the blind leading the not-blind in modern Islam. (For an annotated list of some important blind clerics, check out this sidebar.) A traditional Muslim education in some ways favors the blind, since it proceeds largely through the repetition and memorization of sacred texts. Children chant Quranic verses until they know them by heart; those who learn the whole book often receive advanced religious training. Blind kids—who often make up for their disability with a finely tuned sense of hearing—tend to do quite well at this.
Children who can't see may also get pushed toward the clergy by their parents. Clerics often preach through the artful recitation of the Quran—something a blind person can learn to do as well as anyone else. The same child would be at a severe disadvantage in a conventional classroom, and he'd have a harder time holding down a regular job.
Muslims have revered blind clerics for over 1,000 years. In one scene in the Quran, the Prophet frowns and turns away from a blind man, only to have Allah castigate him for rejecting a spiritual seeker. The man, called Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum, became an important early follower of the Prophet. (The tradition of blind religious figures extends back to early Judaism and Christianity as well.)
Today, even blind people without religious training enjoy a certain level of respect in the Muslim world. Turks, for example, refer to a blind man as a hafiz—meaning one who has completely memorized the Quran—whether or not he has earned the title. In Egypt, blind men are casually described as moulanas, a term of respect given to Muslim scholars.
Another factor in the prevalence of blind clerics may be the high rates of blindness in Arab countries. A 2002 study, for example, reveals a dire situation in Lebanon, Oman, and Morocco, where more than 5 percent of the people over the age of 50 couldn't see.
The blind clerics most often mentioned in the Western press are radical jihadis like Abu Hamza al-Masri or Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman—the "blind sheik" accused of masterminding the World Trade Center bombing of 1993. But blind clerics are just as likely to be moderates. The revered Saudi Abdelaziz ibn Baaz, for example, renounced violence in the name of installing Islamic governments. He also issued a fatwa allowing Muslim men to take Viagra.
In fact, blindness could be a liability within the most militant sects of Islam. In the 1980s, members of the Egyptian jihad movement debated whether Abdel Rahman's blindness made him a poor operational leader. The strongest voice opposing him belonged to Ayman al-Zawahiri, now thought to be al-Qaida's No. 2 figure.
In Oct. Of 2005, Jay-Z and Nas ended their long running feud and now, Nas has officially signed with Def Jam as a recording artist. Under the terms of the deal, Def Jam and Sony Music will split the profits from two albums, while Def Jam will keep an additional two.
Additionally, Sony has the rights to release a Greatest Hits album from Nas. Def Jam will cover the marketing and production costs of the recording, while both companies will oversee the marketing of the releases. Nas' newest album is also expected to contain a collaboration between Jay-Z and Nas. Nas has sold more than 11 million albums since the debut of his 1994 album Illmatic.
SOME LINKS
Rhetorical Letters
On Edward R Murrow
Sure, Google is cool. It also has the potential to destroy book publishing, newspapers, high street retailing, and our privacy.
Fudging real time in 24
Why it makes economic sense for waiters to be rude.
EXPLAINED IN SLATE
The Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri denied preaching racial hatred in a British courtroom on Thursday. Al-Masri has been linked to the would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid and stands accused of starting a terrorist training camp in Oregon. Most news reports also mention that al-Masri has only one eye and no hands. It seems like we're always hearing about blind or half-blind Muslim clerics—what's the deal?
There is a pattern of the blind leading the not-blind in modern Islam. (For an annotated list of some important blind clerics, check out this sidebar.) A traditional Muslim education in some ways favors the blind, since it proceeds largely through the repetition and memorization of sacred texts. Children chant Quranic verses until they know them by heart; those who learn the whole book often receive advanced religious training. Blind kids—who often make up for their disability with a finely tuned sense of hearing—tend to do quite well at this.
Children who can't see may also get pushed toward the clergy by their parents. Clerics often preach through the artful recitation of the Quran—something a blind person can learn to do as well as anyone else. The same child would be at a severe disadvantage in a conventional classroom, and he'd have a harder time holding down a regular job.
Muslims have revered blind clerics for over 1,000 years. In one scene in the Quran, the Prophet frowns and turns away from a blind man, only to have Allah castigate him for rejecting a spiritual seeker. The man, called Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum, became an important early follower of the Prophet. (The tradition of blind religious figures extends back to early Judaism and Christianity as well.)
Today, even blind people without religious training enjoy a certain level of respect in the Muslim world. Turks, for example, refer to a blind man as a hafiz—meaning one who has completely memorized the Quran—whether or not he has earned the title. In Egypt, blind men are casually described as moulanas, a term of respect given to Muslim scholars.
Another factor in the prevalence of blind clerics may be the high rates of blindness in Arab countries. A 2002 study, for example, reveals a dire situation in Lebanon, Oman, and Morocco, where more than 5 percent of the people over the age of 50 couldn't see.
The blind clerics most often mentioned in the Western press are radical jihadis like Abu Hamza al-Masri or Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman—the "blind sheik" accused of masterminding the World Trade Center bombing of 1993. But blind clerics are just as likely to be moderates. The revered Saudi Abdelaziz ibn Baaz, for example, renounced violence in the name of installing Islamic governments. He also issued a fatwa allowing Muslim men to take Viagra.
In fact, blindness could be a liability within the most militant sects of Islam. In the 1980s, members of the Egyptian jihad movement debated whether Abdel Rahman's blindness made him a poor operational leader. The strongest voice opposing him belonged to Ayman al-Zawahiri, now thought to be al-Qaida's No. 2 figure.
posted by D @ 12:43 PM
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