The Brass Crescent Awards
I started blogging in 2003, 7 years ago. Shortly thereafter I founded the Brass Crescent Awards, a celebration of the then-nascent Islamic blogsphere (or Islamsphere as I coined it). This year marks the 7th iteration of those Awards and I think in these strange times it’s something that might be a positive contribution towards the national debate on Islam. Since LGF is at the forefront of strong critique of illiberalism, be it directed at muslims or perpetrated by them, I hope that these Awards are of interest to the community here.
As I wrote when the Awards first began,
What are the Brass Crescent Awards? They are named for the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights. Today, the Islamsphere is forging a new synthesis of Islam and modernity, and is the intellectual heir to the traditions of philosophy and learning that was once the hallmark of Islamic civilization - a heritage scarcely recognizable today in the Islamic world after a century’s ravages of colonialism, tyrants, and religious fundamentalism. We believe that Islam transcends history, and we are forging history anew for tomorrow’s Islam. These awards are a means to honor ourselves and celebrate our nascent community, and promote its growth.
The nominations phase of the Awards traditionally begins after Eid al Fitr and is now open. I think that if the LGF community were to make a strong push for the BEST NON MUSLIM blog, it would be credible. People here may not realize the 180 turnaround of goodwill that Charles’ crusade against the Islamophobes has generated - it is substantial and I think LGF deserves recognition by muslims for the work being done here.
As a founder of the Awards I am not going to be nominating blogs myself, but I see no reason not to inform people here of the Awards and encourage them to participate. Voting and nominations are open to all, muslims and non muslims alike.
To nominate, check out http://brasscrescent.org/, and you can also follow @brasscrescent on twitter and check out the discussion forums on the Facebook page.