Tag Archives: Islam

The Spirit’s Table Has Arrived from Heaven

By Robin Bates | Published: July 22, 2012

In this Ramadan poem by Rumi, fasting is seen as a way of escaping the body.

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Like a Reed, Open Yourself to God’s Breath

By Robin Bates | Published: July 15, 2012

Rumi says that Ramadan is a time when, by emptying our bellies, we open up a path to spirit.

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Finding a Place Where Hate Won’t Grow

By Robin Bates | Published: September 29, 2011

In charged Israeli-Palestinian and Christian-Muslim relations, Naomi Shihab Nye is looking at how to move past the suffering and hate.

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Stretch Your Nets to Harvest the Fog

By Robin Bates | Published: August 28, 2011

When one has been fasting for Ramadan, one becomes attuned to spiritual dimensions of the world that elude our full-bellied selves. Kazim Ali captures the experience in a number of his poems.

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The Hunger Inside You, Hold It

By Robin Bates | Published: August 21, 2011

American Muslim poet Kazim Ali explores the spiritual dimensions of fasting in his poetry collection “Fasting for Ramadan.”

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Ramadan – The Self Lightens

By Robin Bates | Published: August 7, 2011

Poet Nomi Stone, while studying an ancient Jewish community in Tunisia, also attempted to understand the Muslim neighbors. “Many Scientists Convert to Islam” describes her exploration of Ramadan.

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Faith in the Face of Terrorism

By Robin Bates | Published: April 22, 2011

Today I recommend Of Gods and Men (2010), an extraordinary French film that I saw last month. It is about a small community of Cistercian monks in rural Algeria who must decide whether to stay or leave in face of rising terrorism. Good Friday is a good day to write about it since it deals with Lenten themes.

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Dance with the Enemy, Then Go Wash

By Robin Bates | Published: March 11, 2011

Film Friday The Western, Hollywood’s quintessential genre, can tell us a lot about race relations. I was reminded of this on Wednesday when I taught John Ford’s The Searchers in my American Film class. Rewatching the movie got me thinking about the Congressional hearings on “Muslim American Radicalization,” which began yesterday. I will have more […]

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A Poem about the Stoning of Women

By Robin Bates | Published: September 28, 2010

My colleague Jeff Coleman recently wrote the following poem about the stoning of women in places like Somalia, Iran, and Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan. He tells me the poem was triggered by an article in the New York Times about Iranian executions, but for me it brought to mind the Somalian stoning two years ago […]

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