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 Another Inconvenient Truth >> Aki Nawaz “Go Join Hezbollah!" >> Amina Nawaz So, You Wanna Change the World? >> Sarah Waseem 10 Books To Read Before Going To University >> Mujadad Zaman Still Learning to Tread on Hallowed Ground >> Omar Fraser A Prophet for All >> Abdul-Rehman Malik Emerging from the Rubble: A Letter from New York City >> Zeeshan Suhail and Muntasir Sattar Istanbul’s Illuminated Ramadan Nights >> Abdal Hakim Murad The Pain of Panjshir >> Chris Sands A People Coming Apart at the Seams >> David Lepeska A Cynical Plan to Rebuild Islam >> Louay Safi Suffer The Little Children >> Tasneem Osgood Dangerous Denial on Darfur >> Muhammed Abdelmoteleb Is the Glass Half Full of Hope or Despair? >> Fozia Bora The Mother of All Muslim Organisations >> Mullah Charles Bala Subramaniam Narasimha Rao A Pious Mole >> Mudasser Ali Living on the Edge >> Tauhid Pasha The Silly Season >> Dal Nun Strong Walk in the Old Paths >> Daoud Rosser-Owen A Modern-Day Ibn Battuta - A tribute to Thomas Omar Abercrombie (1930-2006) >> Shiraz Sheikh “How can you hear a million words from a million mouths at the same time?” >> Shan Khan A Triumph of Myth >> Abdul-Rehman Malik The Timbuktu Charter: “We will be like ferocious lions” >> Muammar al-Gaddafi Updike’s Terrorist: An(other) American Folly >> Raneem Azzam A Crooked Commission >> Sunny Hundal Aural Remembrance Whitewashing White Terror Veil-Gate - The End of Tolerance? Organic Iftars, Unholy Garbage iPod vs iMuslim Formula One Fatwas Vox Populi |
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iPod vs iMuslim Page 16 Apple’s new store on New York’s Fifth Avenue oozes the kind of uber cool, in-the-moment style that has made the company its billions. But, apparently, something about the new cube-shaped steel and glass structure was offensive. To whom, you ask? Irate PC users with style-envy? Sony execs whose Walkman division has been decimated by the iPod? Fanatical Luddites? No, it was Muslims - or was it? At least that’s what the diligent researchers at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) wanted us to believe. Reporting that an Islamic website (they conveniently forgot to name the source) in the Middle East urged Muslims to show their outrage at the Apple Store in New York City, which built a pavilion coincidentally resembling the cube shape of the Kaaba. The picture on MEMRI’s website showed the Apple’s pavilion under construction covered by shiny black plywood. As altmuslim.com’s Shahed Amanullah reported the news brought howls of indignation from people upset that Muslims would be offended. But who were these mysterious Muslims? Which website could we track them down on? Should all Apple employees be making sure their life insurance was in order? We sent an e-mail to MEMRI for some evidence that any Muslim at all was offended. No reply. The truth was few, if any Muslims complained, and MEMRI – without a website to corroborate their original story – had turned fabrication into fact. It’s not first time MEMRI has pulled such a stunt. They caused a faux fiasco earlier this year over the alleged offence caused by a Kate Moss fashion across from a NYC mosque which allegedly generated hundred of furious complaints. In fact there were none. No surprise that MEMRI is closely linked to the neo-con think tanks and has as its President a former counter terrorism advisor to the Israeli government. As Amanullah points out, “when it comes to Muslims, everyone loves a rumour.” Well, a West Yorkshire company is planning to do (legitimate) battle with the iPod, at least in the Muslim market, with its new device, the (unimaginatively named) iMuslim. Marketing Week recently went gaga for the “ingenious” product which according to makers Playnetics is a revolutionary, patented, and heavily R&D’d “All-In-One Islamic multimedia player (IMP).” And well if you were indeed in the market for an IMP, this would be the one. Move over Quran reciting pens, Adhan screeching wallets and Qibla-finding watches – iMuslim beat ‘em all. It looks like an iPod with a colour video screen. You not only can read the Quran, but listen to a “licensed” recitation and sync up the audio with the text, refer to a set of hadith books (audio and text with translation into English and French), determine prayer times and Qibla direction, look up your Hijri dates and learn the 99 Beautiful Names. Put away that expensive tasbeeh you bought in Madinah, because iMuslim also has a digital rosary and in case you are missing the Holy Land, there’s a video tour of the Grand Mosque in Makkah. With a digital voice recorder and halal certified games, puzzles and images, this little gizmo will leave you little time to complain about Kaaba-like cubes and fashion billboards. MEMRI take note. |