Davi Barker is Assistant Director of Muslims4Liberty. A prolific writer for M4L and a number of online publications.
He maintains his personal blog-site at: San Fransisco Muslim Examiner.
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Is Pamela Gellar Winning the Billboard War?
Originally posted on SF Muslim Examiner, March 15 2013
The billboard wars continue, this week in San Francisco. Every so often Anti-Muslim demagogue, Pam Geller blows a wad of cash on an ad (hominem) campaign against Islam, or at least critical of the boogeyman Muslims she imagines under her bed. I call this “the billboard wars” because it started with billboards during the Ground Zero Mosque fiasco (which wasn’t at ground zero and wasn’t a mosque), but since then Geller has learned that most billboards are owned by private companies who are free to refuse her business...(continue)
#FiascoGate: Lupe Fiasco Kicked Off Stage at Inauguration Party
January 28, 2013, originally published on SF Muslim Examiner
Notorious political rapper, Lupe Fiasco made waves tonight at Hamilton Live in Washington DC where he was booked to perform at a celebration of Obama’s reelection. Those who know his work realize immediately that asking Lupe to celebrate Obama’s reelection makes about as much sense as George W. Bush inviting Stephen Colbert to speak at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in 2006. Who ever did the booking should probably be fired...(continue)
Randian Irony at an ICNA Dinner
Posted on SF Muslim Examiner, December 10, 2012:
Last night I attended the Annual Supporters’ Dinner for the Bay Area Chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), which was a run-away success. Good speakers, good food, lots of money going to a worthy cause and a fabulous if not quirky keynote speech by John Esposito, professor of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. I left the dinner filled with a colossal sense of irony...(continue)
The Greatest Jihad
Posted on Daily Anarchist, November 13, 2012
Earlier this month I returned home from Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. They say the sign of a successful pilgrimage is that your life changes. Well, I got that in spades, as I’ll explain. But the strangest thing about being back is when people ask me, “How was it?” Like I was returning from a Sunday matinee or a dentist appointment. I don’t think it’s possible to summarize in words pithy enough for casual conversation. The closest I’ve come is “It was not what I hoped, but everything I needed.” … (continue)
Muslims 4 Liberty Calls for the Release of Rimsha Masih and a Referendum on Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws
Posted on M4L, August 26, 2012:
As an organization dedicated to demonstrating the necessity of liberty to the Islamic faith, Muslims 4 Liberty is calling upon the Pakistani government to release Rimsha Masih, the Christian girl who was arrested on blasphemy charges after being accused of burning pages which contained Quranic verses, and demands restitution to the Christian families terrorized when an irate mob stormed their neighborhood and threatened to burn down their homes… (continue)
Why Muslim Fundamentalists Should Embrace Voluntaryist Anarchy Instead of Participating in the Modern Political Process
Posted on Daily Anarchist, July 14, 2012:
I want to be clear from the outset what I mean by “fundamentalists.” I’m not talking about muslims engaged in suicide bombing, plane hijacking, church burning, cartoonist murdering or teddy bear rioting. Those people have departed from any semblance of what I can call islam. So, for the sake of distinction making let’s call them “extremists.” I’m talking about a rigorously literal and conservative interpretation of islam … (continue)
Secession: An American Desire for Liberty
Posted on Silver Circle Underground, July 4, 2012:
Remember when July 4th was called “Independence Day”? It was around the same time people still called America “The Land of Free” which they only seem to say as sarcasm these days. On the day American declared their independence from Britain it’s hard not to think of the Rebels of 1776, but instead this Independence Day, I thought I’d focus on the secessionists of our day … (continue)
Southern Poverty Law Center Demonstrates that the Road to Obscurity is Paved With Character Assassinations
Posted on M4L, June 7, 2012:
It looks like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) needs a serious reality check. Last week the SPLC added long time friend of Muslims 4 Liberty, Michael Boldin to their list of “30 New Activists Heading Up the Radical Right” …(continue)
Anarchy and Islam
Posted on Daily Anarchist, January 11, 2012:
I’ve met muslims of every school of anarchist thought from anarcho-socialists to national-anarchists. Prominent among them are Hakim Bay’s “ontological anarchism” and Yakoub Islam’s “post-colonial anarcho-pacifism” but this is my story …(continue)
The Law According to the Somalis
Posted on Daily Anarchist, November 16, 2011
Many voluntaryists have looked longingly toward Somalia for evidence of our ideas in practice. But it’s a little tough when that real-world example also happens to be the quintessential image of extreme poverty and feuding warlords for most people …(continue)
Jihad Watch Calls Muslims for Liberty Liars
September 4, 2011, originally published on SF Muslim Examiner
Good old Bob. Always makes me smile. It seems Robert Spencer has taken umbrage with some things I said in my recent article “Tea Party Muslims shatter all preconceptions.” His first objection is my opening line. I wrote: Muslims are terrorists that hate America’s freedom… right? And the Tea Party are right-wing Christian extremists that hate Muslims… right? Spencer responds: Straw man, of course. I have never said such a thing. As if anything anyone ever writes anywhere is about Robert Spencer…(continue)
Tea Party Muslims Shatter All Preconceptions
August 24, 2011, originally published on SF Muslim Examiner
Muslims are terrorists that hate America’s freedom… right? And the Tea Party are right-wing Christian extremists that hate Muslims… right? So, “Tea Party Muslim” must be a contradiction in terms, like “military intelligence” or “honest politician.” Well, that may be what the mainstream media would have you believe. After all, conflict sells. But one group is proving that Muslims and the Tea Party may have more in common than you think. William Coley describes himself as “your average camo wearing, bow hunting, East Tennessee redneck,” except… he’s also the director of Muslims for Liberty, a group of Muslims and non Muslims of a liberty minded ideology fighting to change the perception of Islam in America…(continue)
Review: Islam and the Discovery of Freedom
Posted on SF Muslim Examiner, June 8, 2011:
I read the entirety of “Islam and the Discovery of Freedom” by Rose Wilder Lane on a direct flight from San Francisco to New York. I literally cried as she chronicled the great liberty of the past being eclipsed by tyranny. In my heart I found a new love for my friend and teacher Imam Suhaib Webb whose islamic literacy class Monday nights gave me the tools necessary to better grasp the meaning of the commentary by Dr. Imad-ad-Deen Ahmed …(continue)
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Is Libertarianism Compatible with Islam?
Posted on SF Muslim Examiner, May 17, 2011:
I recently came across an article by Laurence M. Vance on Lew Rockwell.com titled “Is Libertarianism Compatible With Religion?” in which he reflected that he, a devout Christian, and Murray Rothbard, an agnostic Jew, would have gotten along because they shared a common enemy in the state. I have often said that the amazing thing to me about liberty is that it can put atheists and muslims on the same team …(continue)
Counter-Terrorism: How America is destroying itself
Posted on SF Muslim Examiner, December 2, 2010:
At a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Portland Oregon another FBI co-produced terror plot landed a young Muslim in custody charged with “attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.” According to an affidavit detailing the sting operation the bomb the FBI provided never contained any explosives, and they claim the public was never in any real danger. 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud allegedly made contact with an “unindicted associate” in northwest Pakistan …(continue)
Why “They” Hate “Us”
Posted on SF Muslim Examiner, September 22, 2010:
After 9/11 many Americans were utterly baffled why America had been attacked. The average American had never considered how their government’s foreign policy affected the world around them. Hanging heavy in the minds of every American was the question, Why do they hate us? President Bush offered a simple, yet insufficient explanation. “They hate our freedoms.” …(continue)
The Verse of the Sword: an unqualified tafsir
Quran 9:5 , “Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war).”
Sounds scary right? It’s known as “The Verse of the Sword”, and admittedly many Muslims have used this verse to justify their corrupt intentions. However, it does not establish a doctrine of perpetual violent jihad against all non-Muslims for all time, as the Anti-Muslim Brain Trust would have you believe. I will show this, and then we’ll discuss some principles which I believe can be derived from this verse and it’s context …(continue)
The dust of riba: and the rush for gold
The Arabic word riba literally means “increase.” Generally we understand it to mean, “usury” or “interest.” In exchange for the privilege of a loan the borrower pays the lender an additional percentage of the loan’s sum. Shariah defines numerous other forms of riba, but this is the most common form in the modern world. Historically money lending of this type was forbidden in all prophetic traditions …(continue)
Compulsion in religion
Posted on SF Muslim Examiner, July 18, 2009:
… this is the perfect verse to be discussing. 2:256 “There shall be no compulsion in religion: Truth has become distinct from error, and whoever rejects false deities and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold, which never breaks. And Allah is Hearing, Knowing.”
The placement of this verse in the Quran is remarkable …(continue)
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