Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions by: MURAD, Abdal Hakim

The philosopher Jurgen Haberman claims that “modernism is dominant but dead”. A corollary might be : “Islam is despised but thriving”. The short essays in this collection give thanks for this defining irony of our culture, and out flesh on a hundred bones of contention. 1. Augustine: man’s deformity. Ishmael: his deiformity. (Defy, don’t deify.) 2. Peace without justice is not peace at all. 3. A faqih in first class? And pigs will fly … 4. The Dajjal will only be king when only the blind are left in the valley. 5. British Islam: ‘We came as rebels, and found ourselves to be heirs.’ (Gershom Scholem) 6. The Liber Asian is the reconciliation between Edom and Juda-yi Ism. 7. Your greatest liability is your lie-ability. 8. No-one is more extroverted than the contemplative saint. 9. Modernity: an accelerating attempt to shovel matter into the growing hole where religion used to be. 10. The Liber Asian vs. the Manu Mission: a woman may be Arahat on Arafat.