Yesterday, I noticed that Facebook sent me an ad to join The National Socialist Party, which really surprised me since anyone close to a socialist that I know accuses me of being a 'closet conservative.' But, not to disappoint anyone, I am hardly Noam Chomsky or Rush Limbaugh as I am a Democrat.
Then, a few minutes later, Facebook sent me a similar ad to join a Muslim singles group. They even had a woman with a head-scarf! I guess they made the assumption since I am half-Turkish, but I really don't think God exists so how can I be a Muslim or a Christian?
So, this got me thinking are there any Muslim socialists out there? I was thinking that it's possible that since he was a former hippie folk singer who sang "Peace Train" that Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens (pictured here) could have been a socialist (or close to it) in the early '70s. He is certainly a Muslim now, but I seriously doubt he is or ever was both at the same time.
But, I had heard that there was an actual Islamic socialist movement in the 1950s and 1960s and it turns out I was right!
In both Pakistan and (ironically) Iran, there was a thriving left-wing intellectual socialist movement which featured the likes of Iranian social philosopher Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (1923-1969) and Parkistani poet Habib Jalib (1928-1993).
So, the term is not the oxy moron that it appears to be!
Of course, a tea bagger friend of mine from Virginia said in effect that Barack Obama was a Muslim socialist. Maybe, he thinks of himself as a 'compassionate conservative'- now there's an oxy moron!
As for the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, he is apparently getting set to tour New Zealand, but I don't how many of our visitors are anywhere close to Auckland?!
There were also two interesting stories about Facebook yesterday on NPR's "All Things Considered," but I always forget about things I hear on the radio.
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