Eloquent Incoherence

The University has announced a new apparel and footwear deal with Adidas. The 9-year deal is worth $7.5 million in cash and merchandise and contains a clause guaranteeing that Michigan will be Adidas’ highest-paid school. Adidas replaces Nike as the University’s athletic apparel sponsor. The new deal with Adidas will take effect in 2008 after the current contract with Nike expires.  

Well, sort of. 4-star QB Steven Threet of Adrian, MI has transferred to Michigan after committing to Georgia Tech last fall and enrolling early. Threet will have to sit out the 2007 season as per NCAA transfer rules, but will be eligible to practice with the team. He was ranked among the top 15 QB prospects in the nation by all the major scouting services this past recruiting season. He’s a traditional pocket passer QB and fits into Michigan’s offense perfectly. He’s known for his accuracy, not his arm strength. The addition of Threet means that 5-star QB Ryan Mallet, the crown jewel of the 2007 recruiting class, will have some competition for the starting QB position when it opens up in 2008.

4 years ago today, I married the most wonderful woman in the world, and I thank God every day that she came into my life. I don’t know where I would be without her, and I feel like the luckiest guy in the world for getting to spend the rest of my life with her. Happy anniversary, sweetie.

The BBC’s West Bank correspondent Paul Adams offers some excellent insight into the recent conflict in Gaza and the deep divisions within the Palestinian leadership. Adams discusses Hamas’ takeover of Gaza and Fatah’s subsequent consolidation of its authority in the West Bank within the context of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which allowed Fatah leaders to return from exile and assume internationally-recognized, albeit limited, civil authority over the West Bank and Gaza. According to Adams, the new arrivals from Fatah arrogantly brushed aside Palestinian leaders that had held the fort in their absence and openly flaunted their misappropriation of the foreign aid they received as part of the Accords, construcing extravagant villas for themselves in the heart of impoverished neighborhoods. This corruption and ineptitude caused widespread disillusionment and spurred the rise of Hamas, which culminated with its surprising victory in the January 2006 elections and predicated the current crisis. The shocking manner in which Hamas fighters executed their Fatah adversaries and looted the property of Fatah leaders in Gaza was thus as much an act of revenge and reprisal as it was a show of force.

In any case, the degeneration of the Palestinian struggle into a gangland-style war between factions is much simpler than the “Fatah good, Hamas bad” dichotomy often portrayed in the media. But that’s not good news; judging by their actions since taking power, Hamas likely won’t fare any better than their rivals did. Hamas brought little relief to the Palestinians during its tenure as part of the short-lived unity government. Though it persisted in refusing to recognize Israel despite the crippling economic sanctions its position brought on, Hamas presented no practical alternative path to resolving the crisis.   And, as explained by BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen, there’s little indication that Hamas’ leadership can control the masked gunmen that now patrol the streets of Gaza. Despite the apparent reality that neither side has a coherent vision for the future, nobody seems willing to back down. And so the tragedy of Palestine continues to unfold.

Two months after suspending star wide receiver Adrian Arrington indefinitely for unspecified reasons, Coach Carr has allowed Arrington to rejoin the team for summer conditioning. Arrington is apparently earning his spot back through the fulfillment of several conditions outlined by Carr, which include running the steps at Michigan Stadium for an hour starting at 6 am each day for 60 consecutive days. Though Carr hasn’t guaranteed that Arrington would be back in the fall, he mentioned that Arrington “wants very much to be a part of this team, so he’s done the things that I’ve asked him to do. He’s working out. He’s in our summer conditioning program. We’re all hoping he’s going to be here (this fall), but it’s really up to him. We’ll see what develops.”

In other news, running back Kevin Grady and wide receiver Mario Manningham, two key playmakers who were kept out of spring practice by knee injuries, are making progress. Grady, who had surgery to repair a torn ACL, is “ahead of schedule” and “could practice at some point this fall.” Manningham is healthy and participating in summer conditioning.

The final episode of the HBO hit series The Sopranos airs tonight. Blogs, message boards, and chat rooms have been abuzz with rumors and predictions of how the series will end, so I thought I would toss my $.02 into the mix (Warning: don’t read any further if you plan to watch the previous episode but haven’t yet done so).

I think the show will end with the revelation that Paulie has been secretly collaborating with New York. Paulie botched the hit on Phil Leotardo on purpose, and Phil was able to whack Bobby Baccala and Silvio Dante using information Paulie had been feeding him. In exchange, Phil has promised Paulie that he will be the boss of New Jersey when the rest of the top brass has been wiped out. Phil doesn’t plan on following through on this promise, however, and will whack Paulie once he has outlived his usefulness. Phil will then promote someone from within his own crew to head up the defunct Soprano organization’s operations and thereby emerge as the undisputed boss on both sides of the river. Lower ranking members of the Sopranos organization will fall in line or meet the same fate as their former bosses. Paulie will thus take on a role similar to that of Fredo Corleone, the dim-witted older brother of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part II.

Tony Soprano, after having lost his closest advisers to death (Christopher Moltisanti, Bobby Baccala), incapacitation (Silvio Dante), and betrayal (Paulie Walnuts), will have no choice but to escape New Jersey. He’ll survive Phil’s offensive but will completely lose his empire, with no hope of salvaging any part of it. The final scene will depict a shocked, distraught, and humiliated Tony sitting alone in a motel room reflecting on how it all collapsed. Tony will walk out to the motel balcony, take one last look at the world, and shoot himself in the head. The episode will close with a shot of Tony lying dead in a pool of blood.

A number of observations led me to these conclusions:

• When Phil and his advisers met to discuss the specifics of the planned attack on the New Jersey leadership, Paulie was curiously not mentioned as a potential target. Rather, Phil and his capos only decided to whack Tony, Silvio, and Bobby. If Paulie isn’t working for them, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t try to whack him as well.

• When Silvio and Bobby informed Paulie of Tony’s decision to whack Phil, Paulie seemed angered that he was not included in the consultations.

• Paulie has been shown to be a man of questionable loyalties. He has flirted with the idea of switching sides before, having previously fed information about Tony’s crew to Johnny Sack during Carmine Lupertazzi’s era. He also grumbled when Silvio ordered him to make any payments due to Tony during his coma directly to Carmela.

• Like Fredo, Paulie is also somewhat dim-witted and naive. Paulie believed Johnny Sack’s assurances that Carmine Lupertazzi appreciated and would reward his help, only to later discover that Johnny was just using Paulie for information and had never even mentioned him to Carmine. Paulie has been portrayed throughout the series as a comical character who is ambitious but lacks the intelligence and leadership skills to play a more meaningful role in the Sopranos organization.

• With Christopher and Bobby dead and Silvio incapacitated (he will likely expire at some point in the final episode) Paulie is the only remaining member of Tony’s inner circle. Because of Paulie’s limitations, it seems unlikely that Tony will be able to regroup and defeat Phil with only Paulie by his side.

• Each of Paulie’s disputes with Tony has ended with Paulie seemingly capitulating to Tony’s demands, and Paulie has never spoken harshly to Tony even after being berated or insulted by him. In addition, Paulie is the oldest member of Tony’s inner circle but is outranked by Silvio and (more recently) Bobby Baccala. He has apparently never been considered a serious candidate for leadership, either in succession to Tony’s father or to Tony. It has often been implied that Tony keeps Paulie close only out of respect for his age and years of service to Tony’s father. This perhaps indicates that Paulie has a bottled-up, mounting sense of resentment towards Tony and the others.

• Tony’s few but significant flaws have often been explicitly identified during his sessions with Dr. Melfi and/or illustrated in his many exploits. It seems appropriate that the culmination of these flaws will lead to his downfall. His temper caused him to brutally attack Coco, which sparked the entirely avoidable current war between him and Phil Leotardo. His sociopathic tendencies led him to secretly murder Christopher, unnecessarily depriving him of an experienced soldier and thereby destroying his ability to regroup when put on the defensive by Phil. His chronic depression, exacerbated by the continuous pressures of mob life, will cause him to lose perspective when ousted from his position of power and conclude that death is the only viable escape. When A.J. attempted suicide, Tony mentioned that depression and volatility are common and hereditary personality traits in the Soprano family. A.J.’s suicide attempt was thus a prophetic indication of how Tony would meet his own end.

Anyway, that’s my prediction. In any case, I don’t see Tony emerging victorious; his ultimate defeat seemed all but assured in the previous episode. Steven Van Zandt, who plays Silvio, said in an interview that the finale would be “controversial” and “talked about”, and that not everyone would like it. I can’t think of a scenario more fitting of such a description than Paulie betraying Tony and bringing about a humiliating end to Tony’s life and reign as the boss of New Jersey. Remember: you heard it here first.

UPDATE: That was the worst series finale since Seinfeld. I am never watching another David Chase television show ever again. What a piece of crap.

To the few readers I have left: I really apologize for the lack of updates. I haven’t consciously abandoned the blog; I had been busy with finals until a couple of weeks ago, and things have been a little disorganized and out of whack since then. I’m moving to DC in a few days and I’ll try to update more often once I recover a semblance of order in my life (which should be by next week insha-Allah, since my Bar review course starts on Wednesday).

Cross-posted at Eteraz.org

Robert Spencer has made a career out of attacking Islam. The author of books with titles such as The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion, Spencer claims his writings are geared toward “calling attention to the roots and goals of jihad violence”. His main outlet is his blog, JihadWatch.org (to which his sidekick Hugh Fitzgerald also contributes). Spencer’s “scholarship” generally follows a pattern:

• Cite a recent incident of extremist violence or rhetoric in the Muslim World

• Quote the centuries-old writings of well-respected scholars (often selectively) or make blanket statements about Islamic law in an attempt to draw a causal connection between mainstream Islamic doctrines and modern extremism

• Bridge the gap in relevance between ceturies-old doctrines and modern-day problems by claiming that the “gates of ijtihad are closed”, that Muslims are thus completely bound by the rulings of long-dead jurists, and that reform is therefore impossible

• Dismiss (or simply neglect to discuss) the significance of archaic international norms of warfare and diplomacy in the formulation of centuries-old doctrines relating to jihad

• Dismiss (or simply neglect to discuss) Muslim scholars and leaders who criticize jihadist ideology and extremism

• Dismiss (or simply neglect to discuss) the role of socioeconomic realities or postcolonial dynamics in fostering terrorism and extremism

• Dismiss (or simply neglect to discuss) the role of American foreign policies in fostering terrorism and extremism

Needless to say, his work would not be taken seriously if he applied a similar approach to any other field of study. However, given the current political climate, a third-rate “expert” such as Spencer can find a large audience for his pseudo-scholarship, thereby lending him an aura of legitimacy. His posts on JihadWatch garner dozens of comments from back-patting cheerleaders who post under names like “DownWithIslam” and call for “sand niggers” to be shot. Spencer has appeared on numerous mainstream television and radio talk shows and been invited to lead a seminar on Islam before the Department of Homeland Security’s Joint Terrorism Taskforce.

Because of the simplistic nature of Spencer’s analysis, many Muslim leaders may not wish to dignify his work with a response or may find it distasteful to engage with him. But due to his unfortunate influence within mainstream circles, Muslim leaders active in the public relations sector must deal with his views whether they want to or not. Fortunately, JihadWatch is replete with examples of the flawed logic endemic in Spencer’s writings, and demonstrates that refuting him is a rather easy task.

For instance, in a recent post, Spencer linked to a news report about a spate of bombings in Peshawar, Pakistan targeting music and video shops. The attacks were apparently the work of hardliners who believe music, television, and movies are un-Islamic. In his commentary on the incident, Spencer writes:

Islamic law forbids music (cf. ‘Umdat al-Salik r40.1), although this law has of course often been ignored… But the law remains — it has never been reformed or rejected by any significant Islamic authority. Consequently it can always be reasserted, as here.”

The assertion that the view of music as Islamically forbidden “has never been reformed or rejected by any significant Islamic authority” is patently false, and should make anyone even mildly familiar with the intellectual history of Islam do a double-take. In fact, the annals of Islamic scholarship are replete with lively, nuanced debate on the subject of music. Though many scholars were indeed of the opinion that music and singing are impermissible, there is no shortage of dissenters from that view. Al-Ghazali, a renowned 11th century Islamic theologian and jurist, wrote an extensive treatise on the subject and concluded that music is permissible except if temptation is feared. Imam ibn Hazm and Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, two of the leading scholars of Muslim Spain, wer of the opinion that the use of musical instruments and singing are permissible. Contemporary scholars who have approved of music and singing include Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Muzammil Siddiqi. These Islamic authorities can hardly be described as insignificant.

Spencer also fails to mention another prominent issue addressed by Islamic law relevant to the Peshawar incidents: vigilantism. Even if Spencer’s claim about the impermissibility of music is correct, he provides no clue as to what principle of Islamic law allows ordinary citizens to take it upon themselves to punish offenders. Spencer sidesteps this gap in his analysis by using the passive voice; according to Spencer, the prohibition against music “has… often been ignored”, but “can always be reasserted.” But by who? Even the most conservative jurists vehemently disapproved of civilians taking the law into their own hands, and maintenance of law and order is a prominent theme in classical Islamic political theory. Early Islamic jurist Imam Malik (founder one of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence) wrote, “60 years of tyranny are better than one hour of civil strife.” Acts of vigilantism generally fit into a category of crimes termed hiraba, a subject that Islamic scholars both classical and contemporary have discussed extensively.

In short, the same body of traditional scholarship on Islamic law that Spencer claims justifies such attacks also includes ample evidence to the contrary–evidence that he obscures through blanket statements and rhetorical slights of hand. It’s unclear whether Spencer is simply unaware of this information or has consciously ignored it. But it matters little as far as his competency as an authority is concerned; if the former is the case, he’s incompetent, if the latter is the case, he’s disingenious and intellectually dishonest. In any event, continuously exposing and refuting Spencer’s amateur attempts at scholarship would do much to discredit Islamophobia in the long run.

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See also:

http://www.eteraz.org/story/2007/3/1/1421/36075

http://www.eteraz.org/story/2007/3/2/123136/0820

http://www.eteraz.org/story/2007/3/2/141835/4181

http://www.eteraz.org/story/2007/3/4/65215/02266

http://www.eteraz.org/story/2007/3/4/17842/76463

http://www.eteraz.org/story/2007/4/7/162445/8892

SI’s Stewart Mandel notes that it’s been a rough spring for Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines. Disciplinary problems involving several key playmakers have resulted in dismissals (Carson Butler, Eugene Germany, Chris Richard) and an indefinite suspension (Adrian Arrington), and injuries have sidelined others through Spring practice (Mike Hart, Jake Long, Mario Manningham) and beyond (Kevin Grady).

There is some good news for the future, however. Carr has landed two huge commitments for the 2008 recruiting class: OL Dann O’Neill from Grand Haven, MI, and CB Boubakar Cissoko from Detroit, MI. Both are projected to be among the nation’s top prospects in the next recruiting season. In addition, the University Regents just approved plans for a $26.1 million state-of-the-art indoor practice facility. Upon its completion, Michigan will be one of the only programs in America with two indoor practice facilities (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse will continue to be used).

CORRECTION: This post initially listed Rondell Biggs as among the players suspended. Rondell Biggs has graduated and has not been dismissed or subject to any other disciplinary action.