This post has nothing to do with the inauguration, which is in a few hours. I'm too nervous awaiting it to write anything about it. My dilemma right now is whether to call my parents before it begins, or after. I'll do both, I guess. EuroNews will be covering it live. How I wish I were there now.

Anyway, here's a little something about our neighbors, Poland: a Polish magazine, called Forum, came up with a cover that must look quite shocking not just to Muslims but to Catholics as well. Inside the magazine is a reprint of a story on sex and Islam that first appeared in a French magazine.



Here's a quote from a story in the New York Daily News, Outrage Unveiled:

Waldemar Piasecki, New York correspondent for the Warsaw-based weekly Przeglad, said he is "puzzled" by Forum's choice of cover art.

"This is a serious magazine that has offered Poles a window on the world for more than 40 years," he said. "In all that time, I can't recall a naked woman on the cover."

And here's a wonderful entry - Baring My Religion - from Chapati Mystery (via Avari-Nameh):

All in all, it is a fairly interesting article for the general public that underscores the healthy attitude Islam had/has about sexuality. Worth a quick read. Now, I think it is reprehensible for Forum to put that cover on this story. It has no artistic or scholarly intent and nothing whatsoever to do with the content of Bouazza's piece. They want to simply shock. As far as I know, the Courrier International website did not have those pictures. To my offended co-religionists, I say, yes, the Polish magazine is amiss in publishing the cover story but save your anger for the despotic regimes of mullahs not trifles like magazine covers. At the most, ask your polish friend to write a letter to the editor but more generally, just let it go. [...]