The lost ship

[Yaaluwa]

Salaam Everyone.

The old MWU Forums went off line about a month ago. Today is a kind of monthversary, if there is such a word.
There is still no sign of it coming back online,

Stella had written re contacting and negotiating with Ahmed in Globalcomment:

We were Ahmed's guests and now that time is over. I think MWU should keep our old conversations. We can always reference them once the site is back up. If it's not, it's not. I know it's a loss, and I have a lot invested in those topics as well. But I think a conflict is not worth it.

And later

Ahmed's traveling, and that's all I know. We've been trying to meet up.

I now realize that I was totally unprepared for what happened.

Some who have regrouped here now, apparently knew more than I did that something like this was going to happen. I did not anticipate such a sudden disapprearance at all.

I feel the loss a little less now, perhaps also because of the discussions about the loss that have taken place. However, I still feel kind of mystified, bewildered, and apprehensive about it.

[Akenanubis]

However, I still feel kind of mystified, bewildered, and apprehensive about it.>>>>>


How so? How do you feel apprehensive about it? And also, keep in mind that for many people, posting forums are just that: aggregates of strangers sharing their ideas and comments. They come and go. Many of us are on several forums with greater and lesser degree of community and cameraderie. Usually when people are absent, i.e. Ahmed, it means they are doing other things and are losing interest. This is why I knew the end was coming. And when he did not inform Stella, whom he was on a more personal basis than with the rest of us, I knew he had dropped it like a cold potatoe. So I didin't see that there was any big mystery. And it's all a matter of investment. How much of ourselves, our feelings, committment etc. do we put into a posting board? It's like a bank. Would you invest money in an online bank you had never set foot in in "real life?" Probably not. You might invest some penny stocks for fun, but you'd save the big bucks for real life. This is a debate that goes on in a lot of online communities. How "real" are we to one another, how "real" should we be to one another before establishing, if there is to be an establishment, in real life resources of time, energy, and face time sharing. These are things to consider. We are all adults here, and adults invest more cautiously and with a greater degree of due diligence.

[Yaaluwa]

I am affected differently and perhaps more deeply by the loss.

One of the things I've tried to say above is that I now think that this seemingly greater feeling is because I was
not being as realistic about it as perhaps you were.

MWU was my first Forum experience. I learnt a lot from it and also learnt a lot about writing and reading about Islam.
I have also developed a sense of closeness with some who write here, which is also unrealistic, since I have never met them.

There were also threads in the old MWU which I had started, which I would have continued to write in if the site did not disappear.

The apprehension is becuase this sort of thing seems to happen too much in voluntary associations with Muslims. I have had many episodes of this sort in my life. What has been rather ominous this time was that the MWU disappearnce happened the same weekend (in the US calendar) during which another devastating event - the brutal killing of a good friend of mine who got me involved with many Islamological pursuits - also took place, 21 years earlier.

I don't want to think that it is some kind of karmic pattern.

The Sindbad stories seem to apply very well to my case. But in some of them Sindbad is able to recover the goods he lost in the shipwrecks.

[hlatif]

May be something bigger and better will come out of this experience. What you learnt at MWU will not leave you. It is a loss to loose the data that were there, but it will be replaced by better. In many ways, the sophistication of Muslim discourses have improved dramatically, not only in MWU, but in many other places.

Hussein

[Yaaluwa]

Salaam `aleikum, brother Hussein.

[Akenanubis]

Salam MM ....

I see now how you might feel about the Forum. This was your first forum experience. I did not mean to make the forum or the posters here seem insignificant in any way, or to trivialize what we share here. I think I have made it clear that it is important to me as well. Maybe it's a good lesson for all of us, when we value something, make sure everyone knows we value and respect them and the shared medium and that we should take care to protect the environment so that we can foster a deeper dialogue and community. I agree completely. And Hussein's comments are very true as well. I did not mean to be cavalier about this at all.

[Stella]

I think what happened is really sad too. My first forum ever was the Barrowdowns (Tolkien geeks of the world unite!) and I still post there, after nearly 7 years. It has meant a lot to me, and so does MWU.

And so it goes.

[Yaaluwa]

Maybe another allied ship is in trouble

Fr http://www.othermalaysia.org/index.php? ... 2#JOSC_TOP

Déjà vu for Malaysia’s Anwar?
Farish Noor.

Malaysia is once again in the news and the headlines worldwide have featured the story of Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister and de facto leader of the Pakatan Rakyat (Peoples’ Pact) alliance Anwar Ibrahim being accused of sexual misconduct – as he was in 1998…..
…. Should the investigation on Anwar give any signs of bias this time round, many analysts expect the public’s dissatisfaction with the Barisan-led government to increase rather than decrease, thereby adding to Anwar’s popularity and appeal to the masses. …
…. For now, however, Anwar’s plight will ensure that the dominant theme of Malaysian politics will return to the narrative of heroes and martyrs, temporarily at least.

There is more in the original article.

Also maybe of interest to those who are following the “Islamic Car” story: Turkey and Malaysia were among the joint sponsors of the Islamic car project. An episode in the current crisis of the Anwar saga has shown the Turkish embassy in KL and the M’laysian Foreign Minister at odds with each other.

[Yaaluwa]

I don't know whether any one else has noticed. MWU is back on line. With a new Forum page.
Sara Lind has posted and is looking for the others.

There is nothing about the old Forum content, however.

Is Stella going to have any news for us, about the developments?

Today is the 6th of July.

[Indie Muslimah]

I don't know whether any one else has noticed. MWU is back on line. With a new Forum page.
Sara Lind has posted and is looking for the others.

I wanted to reply and point her here but I can't log in!