Reza Aslan, Sufi Apologist--Malala Day update

I would have slipped this in with the Sunday UPDATE tacked on at the end of the previous blog post, but it's important enough to put in a separate post.

I was watching Book TV's In Depth featuring Reza Aslan and noticed some interesting omissions and mischaracterizations he committed. He was then asked if he was Shiya and he said that he avoided sectarian labels, then proceeded to emphasize the divine.  Sorry, Reza, but that's the definition of a Sufi.  You may dislike the label, but you're a Sufi, and Sufis offer apologetics instead of history of record regarding Islamic history--and you proved to be no different in that interview.

Aslan stated that Mohammed started out being of reviled status as an orphan belonging to a subcatagory tribe of a larger powerful tribe, while omitting that a prominent member of that prominent tribe adopted him and for a while Mohammed was the adopted brother of Ali, the fourth Calif and founder of the Shiites.  Aslan failed to mention the status of Mohammed's first wife as a powerful merchant lady of that same powerful tribe, and failed to mentioned the father of Mohammed's second wife, a prominent general of that same powerful tribe--which Aslan finally, at long last, named in the course of the interview: the Koreish.

Regarding a question about Persian Zoroasterism, Aslan said that there were Zoroasterists today but failed to say that they're the Parsees. FAIL

I've said before in previous posts about Islamic history that Sufis are apologists; behold Book TV's poster boy of that fact: Reza Aslan.

But fact still remains that Sufis are better than either Sunnis or Shiites in terms of providing more accurate Islamic history and so I'll mention Aslan's book, "No god but God", as a fair enough background on Islam compared to others, although comparing that to others still isn't saying much.  Read with several grains of salt.

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Speaking of stupid religious strife, here's a cheery Tuesday UPDATE for ya: today is World Kiss Day.  And a cheery image to go with it.

Here's the link

And tomorrow, Wednesday July 9, is Malala Day. Peace on Earth isn't just for Christmas anymore.

Best damn video found on Facebook today, on Malala Day:

Best video on the whole planet, IMHO.  Even in the midst of all the proliferating violent conflicts, it's things like this that will still convince a time traveler that this is the best damn planet in the universe.  Whether you stand with Malala or stand with your next door neighbor, what's important is taking that stand in the first place.