Through Sister Scorpion, I learned today of Hijabman, the blog of a young man going off to become an Imam. InshaAllah, all will go well for him.

Sister Scorpion kindly emailed me about a co-existance art site called the Yalla Journal. Here is the information about it:

After a successful first issue in 2004, Yalla is back for another year. If you are between 18 and 30, we want your short stories, poems, photographs, stories about personal experiences, visual art, and short essays about the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Yalla isn’t a collection of political pieces. We’re looking for expressions of feelings about the conflict, to help each other understand where the other side is coming from. We look for submissions mainly from Canadian Arabs and Jews, but all are welcome to contribute.

So what is Yalla looking for? You can tell us what the role of the diaspora communities should be in bringing peace. What’s the best way to build trust in the Middle East? What’s your vision of the Middle East in 2030? Have the two sides managed to settle their differences? These are just a few suggestions – the only limit is your imagination.

The selections will be made by a balanced Arab/ Jewish editorial board. We will be in contact with contributors whose pieces are inappropriate or need editing. Longer pieces should run to a maximum of 2,500 words. Send contributions and questions to yallajournal@yahoo.ca by September 30. Please include your contact information and a brief biography, and let us know if you’d like us to publish your e-mail address in the journal.

Share the art, share the peace, share the hope,
Salaam.

Sunday I updated the links under the “Muslim Blogs” category. I found the links through Sister Scorpion. Today she posted more links, some of them which I found interesting at first glance, so I am adding more.

One of the goals of this blog is to share Jewish knowledge and to work for better communication and understanding between various faiths. We are well aware of the difficulties between some of the faith groups of the world – including the political difficulties between Jewish Israelis (yes, there are Christian, Muslim, Ba’hai and other Israelis) and Muslim Israelis. Perhpas seeing different faith bloggers link to each other will help contribute to understanding and dialogue in the world. I pray so.

Here are the links:
Neurotic Iraqi Wife
Nzinga’s Soapbox (Amer. Ex-Pat Woman Living in Saudi Arabia)
Progressive Muslim Thoughts
The Muscatis, a husband and wife blogging team in Oman.

Let me know what you think and suggestions for other blogs to link.

Thanks to Sister Scorpion, I have updated some links. She has posted an update of her own links, and I have borrowed and added. So, take a look at the links on the right, especially in the Muslim blogs section.

Happy blogiversary to Islamicate.
One of the joys of the rabbinate is engaging in Interfaith dialogue, discussion and learning. By learning from each other we break down stereotypes and foster understanding.

May we learn from each other and add to peace in the world.