User talk:IFaqeer/Archive004

I am in the process of coming back from Wikivacation.
I am currently checking this page occasionally.
You can help me make the transition smoother by helping with
Africa-related, Islam-related, and South Asia-related topics.

Feel free to send me e-mail.

Archives

• /Archive001
• /Archive002
• /Archive003 (With vacation message)

Islamic music

An editor named Hyacinth put up a page on Islamic music which was well-meaning, but misguided in many ways. I rewrote it as best I could, but I'm quite aware that I'm neither a Muslim, a Sufi, or a trained musicologist. When you have time, I'd appreciate it if you could look at the page and correct any errors I've made. Or Hyacinth has made. I don't know if you have any musical training, but if you're a Muslim and a Sufi, you might be able to spot some errors! Zora 03:07, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'll fix naat, but what, exactly, of the earlier version do you want to keep? If it's a bother telling me, you could just play with it yourself. Do you want more info on Sufis? Zora 09:02, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Template:Islam

Heyas,

I was the one who changed the background on Islam because I thought the cream background looked a bit nicer, but was unaware of the symbolic significance of the green. Since green is significant, perhaps it ought to be left as it currently is (after your edit)? No need to remove a reference to a symbol for the aestetic judgement of just one person. -SocratesJedi | Talk 20:53, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The month

Why'd you remove the link to a month on the article on Jehangir Karamat: [1]?—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 19:40, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)

I deleted the link because it was red — that is, there was no article to link to. (In general I don't like links to non-relevant parts of an article, but I don't delete them any more, except in cases like this). Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 19:43, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I put it there (I think it was me; doesn't matter, tho) because that seems to be tradition/official Wikipedia procedure. Ithink it helps index events that happened on a certain date, etc. And putting it in articles that are, for most people, obscure helps in the struggle to overcome systemic bias. I might have done it in the wrong way, tho. Lemme see if I can correct it.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 19:57, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)

Khilafat movement

Some malign hand (an anon editor) has been at work on the Khilafat movement page, trying to vilify Gandhi by saying that he was a LEADER of the Khilafat movement and that he approved of Muslims massacring Hindus in Kerala. I suspect an RSS/BJP hand at work. I'm really not up on the Khilifat movement, but I think you are. Please take a look at the article. Zora 14:33, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the good words

iFaqeer sahab, thanks for the good words. I am an Indian in Canada btw. Anyway, I've made a a map of India with states, the version of Indian map, that was already in use will also be replaced with this one. After changes are final, I will be hobnobbing with the Pakistani version of the map currently in use. I'd think you will like to see what I want to do here. --Ankur 04:58, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Marja

No, I actually mean dal: it's spelled مرجع تقليد, ie "source of imitation" or "source of tradition" ([2]). Good work on the article; looks like an interesting topic. I wish I knew more! - Mustafaa 18:52, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Request for Support

I've filed a complaint against user Jayjg for abuse of Admin powers and blatant Anti-Arab bias. The link [[3]] will take you there. I think that you too have been subject to Jayjg's treatment, and I would appreciate any additional evidence you can provide.A.Khalil 02:46, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)

an idea

Hi IFaqeer, I've been doing a bit of work recently on CSB and have come up with an idea for the open tasks that might be a good thing for many of the projects under the CSB ambit. I thought I'd bounce the idea off of you as you are the creator of Africa-related regional notice board and WikiProject Islam and have a better sense of what might work and what won't. Mark Dingemanse suggested that we might want to make the tasks page template-based, and Gareth Hughes is wondering what to do with all of subpages we found during the reorganization.

My idea is to make the open tasks page template-based, but then share the templates with relevant WikiProjects. For example, the Developing World section of tasks could be split into regions, each region its own template. The Africa template could then be also placed either on the Africa board or a subpage, with the nascent to-do list on the board merged into the template. This could be duplicated with almost every topic.

In effect, it would create a "CSB tasks web". CSB would hopefully get more activity on the open tasks page because of the extra exposure, resulted in a greater mitigation of the systemic bias. The specific projects would get the benefit of ready-made infrastructure for both a to-do list and the tasks template, as well as increased exposure to the community as a whole. Perhaps Africa editors could suggest articles on their page for sympathetic contributors on CSB. There just appear to be a number of up sides, and I can't think of any real downside besides the inital work of organizing it.

OK, that's about my initial thought. Please let me know if you think this has promise, is completely absurd, etc. Cheers, 15:26, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Muhammad

I only changed the name of the Prophet Muhammad throughout Wikipedia. I thought that having (I believe) 8 different spellings was unnecessarily confusing, and I wanted to cut down on redirects. Other people's names I left alone. Yesterday, someone added a disclaimer at the top of the Muhammad page that linked to two other Muhammads, Muhammad Ali, and another, I don't remember. I thought that rather than simply listing these two names at the top of the Muhammad article, it would be better to make a disambiguation page, listing all of the non-stub Muhammads, Mehmets, Mohammeds, Mohameds, Muhammeds, etc. throughout Wikipedia. So I did, but have only partially completed that list (I started at Moham-, and have now done most of the names through Mohammad Rafiq Tarar (see [4]) In the process of making this disambiguation page, I noticed that Muhammad Ali Bogra was located at Mohammad Ali Bogra, but that all (90%) of the "what links here" pages used "Muhammad", as did the first sentence of the article itself.

Sorry that I haven't responded at my own talk page to all of the other wikipedians who keep leaving messages (I replied at their talk pages). Maybe I should so as not to confuse anyone. I'm not on a massive campaign to change the spellings of people's names. These were two separate things - the first to get rid of links to the prophet as Mohemed, Mahomet, Mohamad, Muhammed, etc., the second to start listing important Muhammads at a disambiguation page. Hope I haven't done any wrong :-).

--jacobolus (t) 02:18, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Woman imams

That's interesting; I hadn't heard about the Canadian case. Could you add some more details? - Mustafaa 21:16, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Analogous Movements

Hi iFaqeer. Yes, I tried to improve on Progressive Christianity which points to the Center for Progressive Christianity, an organization of churches founded in 1996, and Progressive Judaism which points to what is sort of a subset of Reform Judaism in Israel. I think Liberal theology (see the link, this is different from Liberation theology) is pretty general for Christianity. Reform Judaism is somewhat more specific, though it is often interpreted in a broader sense to include Progressive Judaism and Liberal Judaism (these words are also used in a general context, but note the specific meanings at the articles), but there are also liberal trends in Conservative Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism, which are both considered, to some extent "reforms" of Reform Judaism, which they felt went too far in liberalization. Another possible link for Judaism is Haskalah, which may be broader still if having both religious and secular characters.--Pharos 00:05, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Death threats

I just replied on Talk:Islam. I had no intention of trivializing the broader reality of death threats for things that the extreme right finds inconvenient, and I apologize if I gave you that impression. I interpret RK's comments partly in the light of alarming previous experiences with him, but I can see why this would look rather different from your perspective. - Mustafaa 23:40, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Palestinian cartoon

You may be interested to know that (with not a single valid justification offered) the Image:Shark Palestine Caricature.jpg, formerly being used to illustrate a widespread opinion about the nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict, has been put up for deletion: Wikipedia:Images_and_media_for_deletion#April_1. The stated reason appears to be its supposed offensiveness - a reason that has not apparently been found applicable in cases such as the top image of Six Day War, where (with the same content) it acts to support the opposite POV - among others... Mustafaa 10:01, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Jinnah

I saw your explantion of Jinnah's secular credentials and was really impressed by the way you had expressed them... Thanks.. Alimustafakhan

Buraq

One editor, Mel Etitis, has added a quote from the novelist Leon Uris to the buraq article. I've removed it twice, pointing out that a novelist (a Jewish novelist at that) is not a good source for Islamic folklore, and he's put it right back. I found a picture of a public-domain Persian miniature with a buraq, added that, and he still insists on his quote.

I can't figure out why he's insisting on this. You're a level-headed sort -- could you go on over there and see what you think? I think the article would be better without the quote, but if you think it's OK, I'll shut up. Zora 11:48, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

What do you think?—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 19:00, Apr 11, 2005 (UTC)

Dear IFaqeer -- what a cool solution! By setting up a different category for the quote, you've completely removed the sting -- at least as far as I'm concerned. If it's clear that it's in the category "this is what artists do with the idea", then I don't confuse it with "the Muslim definition of what a buraq is". Thanks! Zora 19:57, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Let's see what other editors think of the suggestion.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 20:23, Apr 11, 2005 (UTC)

Pashtun

Will you please take part in to solve that dispute goind on at PASHTUNS TRIBES LIST ? Haider 21:58, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

• Indeed, I will appreciate any extent to which you can help out there. Haider is obviously pretty clueless about what qualifies as encyclopedic. I make no claim to expertise on the Pashtun, although I certainly know more than a random person would. Since he seems not to understand my encyclopedically oriented issues, and I will frankly admit that I cannot make head or tale of the substance of most of what he is saying, I really don't see how I can be much help sorting this out. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:37, Apr 16, 2005 (UTC)

Hudud

This is what I just pasted on Talk:Zora and I could use any knowledge you have from the places you've lived... I don't think this is really enumerated on in Sharia but it surely is something worth discussion (right? and it confuses me too)

Hi. I am not sure what you know about this subject but I would like your (and anyone else's) help. This is a subject that can make Islam look horrible if handled in a bad way, or just, or confused.... well, it can do many things. I know for this I need peer review because these are usually the issues (if not stated with this title) that anti-Islamic sites attack Islam with. Information about this on the internet is also fairly scarce (which is why I linked the expensive book that I plan on getting). I do not wish to present one side as greater than another because... well, I truly have no bias on this issue. I am confused myself, but I know this is an issue that should be talked about. Many thanks for mustering any help you can. gren 12:55, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Qawwali

NIce . Though I thnk spelling will stil be a problem , since there not a single accepted spelling for the word . I have heard a lot of traditional Qawwali in my childhood , a lot of Sabri Brothers & Abida Perveen , who I think R the most intoxicating Qawwali singers . Nusrat Fateh Ali gave Qawwali a totally different sound , that made Qawwali to come out of its traditional boundries & enter common people's audio systems & hard drives . But still the traditional Qawwali has got a unique " affecting your heart " flavour that gets weak with electronic instruments .Farhansher20:35 19-4-2005

Thanx for the links on Sufi poetry .Farhansher21:09 28-5-05

a big hello

Hello, I am just a month old wiki-addict. I have seen your name in several places in wikipedia, just to-day in connection with sufi philosophy and the blog URL u have sent to Zora (talk · contribs). I donot know Urdu, but I can understand simple Urdu and also enjoy Qawaali and simple sayaree: Kitana badnasheeb hai Zafar dafaan ke liye, do gajee zameen na milee, kuye yaar mein - how unfortunate is Zafar , unable to get two yards of land in the bylane of his beloved ones ! happy editings.--Bhadani 10:50, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for sharing

An interesting page. Now I know your real name too ... but I'll probably forget it fast. Names in languages one doesn't know take longer to stick. My friend Monir's sister -- I can only phonetically approximate her name -- Far-zown-e, I think that's it -- that took me forever to learn. It was so embarrassing to greet her and say, "Why hello, uh, uh ... "

Thanks for exerting a calming influence on some of the Islamic pages. It's OK for you to scold me. Often I deserve it -- rubbing people the wrong way. I have a mild case of Aspbergers and I'm a social klutz. Zora 11:28, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Misinterpretations

Can we start ( If its not against any Wiki policy )an article on different misinterpretated aspects of Islam & Sira & always taken out of Context verses from Quran ( Like Sura Tauba ). I have been to different forums & found out that people always ask the very same questions that have been spread in the west by Islamophobes . Wiki would be a good place to explain those questionsFarhansher

Sufi Poetry in Urdu

Nice, thanks. I was reading the entry about Sanam because I've seen enough Indian movies to have run into that word. The lyricists like to attempt to match Sufi poetry I think. Thanks again :) gren 23:12, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

New hadith article

Hey IFaqeer, I just spent ten hours completely rewriting the hadith article. If and when you have time, please check it for typos, unclear phrasing, errors of fact, and such-like. Thx. Zora 05:42, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

section deletions

Hello iFaqeer, a user has repeatedly deleted sections of the Pakistan article, including a section largely written by you, "Technology and the Internet" with the (unjustified) comment, "needs to be rewritten since most of the information is incorrect." He has not responded positively to requests for discussion on Talk:Pakistan. User:Ragib has complained on the Wikipedia:Vandalism in progress page. Can we talk about what to do next on the Talk:Pakistan page?

Sharif or Sherif

Thank you for your response on the Guardian of the Holy Places, its been helpful. Sherif Hussein's bio page has him a Sherif of Mecca, whereas Sharif of Mecca page has a differnent spelling; do you have a preference of one spelling over the other? Nobs 17:36, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Assalamu alaykum -- please vote

Please consider voting at:

Wikipedia:Conspiracy_theory

to rename articles that use the pejorative term "Conspiracy theory" to denigrate the content of the article.

Do the titles of WP articles generally pass partisan judgment on the subject under discussion? Should they? BrandonYusufToropov 02:32, 6 May 2005 (UTC)