A personal account of the Bombings in Gaza, followed by demonstration dates.

From the ALIMNI list-serv:

You all may have heard that hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza were killed and wounded today in an Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza. I highly recommend that you read the personal account below that describes what happened (5 min max). Essentially, ~200 people, many of them children on their way home from school, were killed in an unexpected, indiscriminate bombing attack. Honestly, I'm fuming, and I think you probably will be too, and I hope inshaAllah that we can all -- myself included-- can take 3-5 minutes out of our day on Monday to make calls to our reps in Washington. It is no secret where much of Israel's war machinery comes from and we should, as taxpayers, let Congress know how we feel about it.

Also, if demonstrations are your thing, ANSWER, MAS, and other organizations are calling for demonstrations at various locations (see list of locations/times at bottom of email).

Safa's personal account (received from the meisgs list-serv)

It was just before noon when I heard the first explosion. I rushed to my window, barely did I get there and look out when I was pushed back by the force and air pressure of another explosion. For a few moments I didn't understand, then I realized that Israeli promises of a wide-scale offensive against the Gaza Strip had materialized. Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzpi Livni's statements following a meeting with Egyptian President Hussni Mubarak the day before yesterday had not been empty threats after all.

What followed seems pretty much surreal at this point. Never had we imagined anything like this. It all happened so fast but the amount of death and destruction is inconceivable, even to me and I'm in the middle of it and a few hours have passed already passed.

6 locations were hit during the air raid on Gaza city. The images are probably not broadcasted in US media. There are piles and piles of bodies in the locations that were hit. As you look at them you can see that a few of the young men are still alive, someone lifts a hand here, and another raise his head there. They probably died within moments because their bodies are burned, most have lost limbs, some have their guts hanging out and they're all lying in pools of blood. Outside my home, (which is close to the 2 largest universities in Gaza) a missile fell on a large group of young men, university students, they'd been warned not to stand in groups, it makes them an easy target, but they were waiting for buses to take them home. 7 were killed, 4 students and 3 of our neighbors kids, young men who were from the same family (Rayes) and were best friends. As I'm writing this I can hear a funeral procession go by outside, I looked out the window a moment ago and it was the 3 Rayes boys, They spent all their time together when they were alive, they died together and now their sharing the same funeral together. Nothing could stop my 14 year old brother from rushing out to see the bodies of his friends laying in the street after they were killed. He hasn't spoken a word since.

What did Olmert mean when he stated that WE the people of Gaza weren't the enemy, that it was Hamas and the Islamic Jihad who were being targeted? Was that statement made to infuriate us out of out state of shock, to pacify any feelings of rage and revenge? To mock us?? Were the scores of children on their way home from school and who are now among the dead and the injured Hamas militants? A little further down my street about half an hour after the first strike 3 schoolgirls happened to be passing by one of the locations when a missile struck the Preventative Security Headquarters building. The girls bodies were torn into pieces and covered the street from one side to the other.

In all the locations people are going through the dead terrified of recognizing a family member among them. The streets are strewn with their bodies, their arms, legs, feet, some with shoes and some without. The city is in a state of alarm, panic and confusion, cell phones aren't working, hospitals and morgues are backed up and some of the dead are still lying in the streets with their families gathered around them, kissing their faces, holding on to them. Outside the destroyed buildings old men are kneeling on the floor weeping. Their slim hopes of finding their sons still alive vanished after taking one look at what had become of their office buildings.

And even after the dead are identified, doctors are having a hard time gathering the right body parts in order to hand them over to their families. The hospital hallways look like a slaughterhouse. It's truly worse than any horror movie you could ever imagine. The floor is filled with blood, the injured are propped up against the walls or laid down on the floor side by side with the dead. Doctors are working frantically and people with injuries that aren't life threatening are sent home. A relative of mine was injured by a flying piece of glass from her living room window, she had deep cut right down the middle of her face. She was sent home, too many people needed medical attention more urgently. Her husband, a dentist, took her to his clinic and sewed up her face using local anesthesia

200 people dead in today's air raid. That means 200 funeral processions, a few today, most of them tomorrow probably. To think that yesterday these families were worried about food and heat and electricity. At this point I think they -actually all of us- would gladly have Hamas sign off every last basic right we've been calling for the last few months forever if it could have stopped this from ever having happened.

The bombing was very close to my home. Most of my extended family live in the area. My family is ok, but 2 of my uncles' homes were damaged,

We can rest easy, Gazans can mourn tonight. Israel is said to have promised not to wage any more air raids for now. People suspect that the next step will be targeted killings, which will inevitably means scores more of innocent bystanders whose fate has already been sealed.

This doesn't even begin to tell the story on any level. Just flashes of thing that happened today that are going through my head

Demonstrations Across the Country

Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, December 30
4:30 pm
State Department: 22nd St & C St NW
Contact: 202-544-3389 x14, dc@answercoalition.org

San Francisco
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Israeli Consulate:456 Montgomery St.
Contact: 415-821-6545, answer@answersf.org

Los Angeles
Tuesday, December 30
4:30 pm
Israeli Consulate: 6380 Wilshire Blvd.
Contact: 213-251-1025, answerla@answerla.org
* * * * *
In Anaheim, CA (Orange County):
Sunday, December 28
2:00 pm
512 S. Brookhurst St. (between Orange Ave. & Broadway)
Initiated by a coalition with a large number of groups

New York City
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Israeli Consulate: 800 2nd Ave (b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts)
Contact: 212-694-8720, nyc@answercoalition.org
* * * * *
Sunday, December 28
2:00-4:00 pm
Gather at Rockefeller Center
March to the Israeli Consulate: 800 2nd Ave (b/w 42nd and 43rd Sts)
Initiated by Al-Awda New York

Fort Lauderdale, FL
Tuesday, December 30
5:00 pm
Federal Building: 299 E. Broward Blvd.
Contact: 954-707-0155, FtLauderdale@answerfl.org

Chicago
Details to be announced
Contact: 773-463-0311, answer@chicagoanswer.net

Boston
Details to be announced
Contact: 857-334-5084, boston@answercoalition.org

Seattle
Saturday, January 3
12:00 noon - 2:00 pm
Westlake Park: 4th and Pine
Initiated by Voices of Palestine
Contact: general@voicesofpalestine.
org

Toronto
Sunday, December 28
2:00 pm
Israeli Embassy Consulate: 180 Bloor St. West
Initiated by a number of local organizations

"The Hajj and Eid al-Adha" Pictures (The Big Picture)

SubhanAllah! Really, some gorgeous pictures from Hajj and Eids from around he world.

Click here.

Yesterday marked the end of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice" - which also marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. One of the pillars of Islamic faith, the Hajj must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by any Muslim who has the ability to do so. This year, nearly 3 million Muslims made the Hajj, without major incident, and are now returning to their homes across the world. Muslims who stayed closer to home celebrated Eid al-Adha, commemorating the the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son to God. Traditional practices include ritual prayers, the sacrifice of animals (usually sheep), distribution of the meat amongst family, friends and the poor, and visiting with relatives.

This is really a fantastic site to subscribe to... I highly recommend it if you're not already stalking.

Study Says Hajj Makes Muslims More Tolerant

Man, EVERY Muslim should go to hajj!

Read it all here.

Highlights:

Muslims who undertake the hajj "return with more positive views towards people from other countries," are more likely to say "that people of different religions are equal," and are twice as likely as other religious Muslims to condemn Osama bin Laden, the study found.

"People become more orthodox yet more tolerant," one of the study's authors, Asim Ijaz Khwaja of Harvard University, said of hajjis -- those who make the pilgrimage.

Hajjis are also more likely to back education for girls and work for women, the study found.

Going on the hajj, which all Muslims must do at least once if they are able, can also embolden women to challenge religious authority when they return home.

"A woman may not be encouraged to go to the mosque or seek education or work in Pakistan -- in fact, she may face resistance in doing so, particularly by local clergy," Khwaja said.

Khwaja said if she has not been on the hajj, "she has no authority for challenging that."

"But on the hajj, she might see a woman who is leading her group, in control of a group, in this most holy of places. If she sees that this is allowed in Mecca and Medina, now she is armed to say to her local cleric, 'I saw this in Mecca, so who are you to tell me it is wrong?' " Khwaja said.

"Higher levels of religious observance tend to make people more tolerant of different religions," Green said. Religious people also tend to be more accepting of other ethnic groups, he said.

But being deeply religious is not commonly associated with women's empowerment, he said, expressing surprise at that aspect of Khwaja's study, which he said he had not read.

"That would be a very powerful finding, and it would suggest that there is something unique going on with the hajj," Green said.

Khwaja chuckled at the Mark Twain quote: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." But Khwaja said it was not simply travel that changed pilgrims -- it was seeing unfamiliar practices in the holiest of settings.

"That this is happening in a highly religious context may give them the ability to accept diversity. If you see people praying differently, you will say that [a given local practice] can't really be the only acceptable way to pray -- wearing a hat, or keeping your pants above your ankles," he said, citing two common Pakistani customs.

Makes me think of Malcolm X's thoughts on hajj... I need to re-read the autobiography.

Sowar Magazine - Minute 22 Special Edition

People all around the Arab world took pictures at 2:22 PM for a project for Sowar Magazine.

Cool concept. Check it out here.

Hitler wants a united Eid

Eid Mubarak in advance, everyone!

Update: FOX Receives Overwhelming (Positive) Response to 'Simpsons' Episode on Islamophobia

Good job, guys!

FOX RECEIVES OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO ‘SIMPSONS’ EPISODE ON ISLAMOPHOBIA

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 12/4/08) Following an action alert sent out yesterday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Fox television network reported receiving an overwhelming positive response from community members about a recent episode of “The Simpsons” that challenged anti-Muslim stereotypes.

The episode, which aired Sunday evening and is titled "Mypods and Boomsticks," highlights anti-Muslim sentiment by featuring a young Muslim character named Bashir and his family who face prejudice after moving to Springfield. In the program, Homer Simpson wrongly suspects that Bashir's family is involved in a terror plot. Bart Simpson befriends Bashir and defends him from bullies.

To view the entire episode, click here:

SEE: Thank Fox for 'Simpsons' Episode Challenging Islamophobia

To view CAIR’s letter to “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, click here.

Because of the number of positive e-mails Fox is receiving, CAIR is asking community members to send notes of appreciation to a new e-mail address that has been set up by the network’s diversity department.

ACTION REQUESTED:

Send future messages expressing appreciation for the episode to:

Peter Liguori, Chairman, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Co.; Dana Walden, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television; Gary Newman, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television.

E-mail: diversity.quest@fox.com
COPY TO: info@losangeles.cair.com
Fax: (310) 969-0210

Architectural Redevelopment of Mecca

hm.

According to sources, the scheme for Islam's holiest city could create a huge new structure around the central Haram mosque that will eventually be capable of holding three million people, making it the 'highest occupancy' building in the world.

The top-secret plans are being backed by King Abdullah ben Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia who has asked a hand-picked collection of starchitects to 'establish a new architectural vision' for the 356,800m2 mosque complex.

The AJ believes that the project is likely to be phased, with phase one transforming the mosque from having an official capacity of 900,000 to 1.5 million. This will then go up to three million with the completion of several phases over the following five to 10 years.

Read more architecture-y stuff here.

If anyone has more info, I'd greatly appreciate it.

There be Mozlems on The Simpsons!

Confession: one of my life goals (which still stands since like... age 8) was to be a voice on The Simpsons. I recently updated to be the first Muslim and/or the first hijabi. That would've been awesome.

And now my dreams lay crushed. Shattered. Cuz it's been done (click to watch).

Sigh. It's cool though. No, really, I'm over it. Not a big deal. CAIR's sent out an action alert, though, urging people to thank Fox (how often does THAT happen) and the Simpsons producers for their awesome episode. Also, CAIR said that you all should recommend me as another voice. No, seriously. They just forgot to type it up.

Seriously. Totally over it.

THANK FOX FOR 'SIMPSONS' EPISODE CHALLENGING ISLAMOPHOBIA

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 12/3/08) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to thank the Fox television network and the creator of "The Simpsons" for a recent episode that used comedy to challenge Islamophobia.

The episode, which aired Sunday evening and is titled "Mypods and Boomsticks," highlights anti-Muslim sentiment by featuring a young Muslim character named Bashir and his family who face prejudice after moving to Springfield. In the program, Homer Simpson wrongly suspects that Bashir's family is involved in a terror plot. Bart Simpson befriends Bashir and defends him from bullies.

To view the entire episode, click here.

CAIR's Greater Los Angeles Area office (CAIR-LA) sent a letter today to the show's creator Matt Groening thanking him for challenging anti-Muslim prejudice.

The letter said Sunday's episode "brought to light how Americans can work toward mutual respect and inclusion by getting to know their neighbors." It went on to state: "The episode also builds on the values that have made America the great nation it is a nation in which citizenship is about finding common ground and building a better society. American Muslims have been doing just that by making daily contributions to our society that often go unrecognized."

"Because of its acceptance in popular culture, comedy is often one of the best vehicles for challenging stereotypes and intolerance," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Fox and Matt Groening are to be congratulated for tackling the disturbing phenomenon of Islamophobia."

ACTION REQUESTED:

Send a message expressing appreciation for highlighting both anti-Muslim attitudes and the need for mutual respect and inclusion in our society.

E-Mail: peter.liguori@fox.com (Peter Liguori, Chairman, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Co.); dana.walden@fox.com (Dana Walden, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television); gary.newman@fox.com (Gary Newman, Chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Television) COPY TO: info@losangeles.cair.com

Hadith of the Week 8

Ibne Abbas Radiallahu anhu narrates that the Holy Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam said: "Allah Ta'ala will record an accepted Hajj in favour of a pious child that casts an affectionate glance upon his parents, for every glance he casts upon them." The companions asked: "Even if he casts a hundred glances every day?" He said: "Yes. Allah is much greater (than you imagine) and pure (Of all defects such as miserliness)."

[Muslim]

" 'IFC Media Project' Examines How News is Reported"

IFC's new mini-series examines American journalism, particularly in regards to medi bias.


NYT Article About It

Find out when it's airing and check it out :)

“The point of the show is that American journalism and especially broadcast journalism right now seems to be spiraling downward,” said Gideon Yago, the host of the six half-hour installments.

Similarly, the second episode’s long examination of television military analysts, titled “How to Sell a War,” does not include the perspective of the networks that hired the analysts and allowed them to espouse the government’s talking points without any disclosures about their ties to the Pentagon or to defense contractors. The segment is based on an investigation by The New York Times in April and includes an interview with the Times reporter David Barstow.

Meghan O’Hara, the program’s creator and executive producer, said the omission was not for lack of trying. “None of them wanted to talk to us,” she said.

While the series is essentially an exercise in media literacy, it is far less academic than one might expect. Each episode includes an editorial cartoon, “News Junkie,” that pokes fun at media stereotypes and shortcomings. While the media criticism programs on cable news, “Fox News Watch” and CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” emphasize debates among guests, “The IFC Media Project” prefers taped segments and one-on-one interviews. The third episode applies neuroscience to so-called shout shows to see why pundit-driven talk is so entertaining to viewers.

Generation Faithful (NYT)

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/world/series/generation_faithful/index.html

"An ongoing series examining the lives of young people across the Muslim world at a time of religious revival."

Still reading through it. Dubai and Algeria were really interesting; Saudi scared me; Turkey was expected.

Anyone have any insight on any of these places? Accurate or no?

"Britain Grapples With Role for Islamic Justice" by Elaine Sciolino (NYT)

Article

Thoughts:

1. One day, I'll get over my fear of shariah. No, really. InshaAllah.
2. Gender roles play such a vital role in Islamic society. The way we're headed scares me, regardless of which way we're headed. Sad, when there's a fear of both the unknown and the known.
3. This meshed nicely with Dr. Jackson's talk about Sharia: Theocracy or Democracy?

Dr, Sherman Abdul-Hakim Jackson - Sharia Law: Theocracy or Democracy?

Ah, it takes me back...

Professor Sherman Jackson from University of Michigan expands on the debate surrounding sharia law in the west.

Watch it here

Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Thinkby John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

In a post-9/11 world, many Americans conflate the mainstream Muslim majority with the beliefs and actions of an extremist minority. But what do the world’s Muslims think about the West, or about democracy, or about extremism itself? Who Speaks for Islam? spotlights this silenced majority. The book is the product of a mammoth six-year study in which the Gallup Organization conducted tens of thousands of hour-long, face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 predominantly Muslim nations — urban and rural, young and old, men and women, educated and illiterate. It asks the questions everyone is curious about: Why is the Muslim world so anti-American? Who are the extremists? Is democracy something Muslims really want? What do Muslim women want? The answers to these and other pertinent, provocative questions are provided not by experts, extremists, or talking heads, but by empirical evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims.

Really interesting book, especially the "who are the extremists?" and "what do Muslim women want?" sections. Pick it up if you get the chance... or, if you're lazy, wait for the movie.

"A 21-year old Kenyan university student in Turkey said:

"Islam has come across and conquered great obstacles proving again and again that we were told the truth when they said that the religion is Islam. It has provided the basis of every great human achievement, the solution to every unsolvable human problem. But at some point, we lost all that. A good thing is like gold; if you never put it into a fire and heat it, it never gets the luster that makes it gold. Such is Islam, a good thing so it has to go through fire if it is to discover its essence."

Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think

Why is Barack Obama Electable? by Walter Shapiro (Salon)

Really fascinating despite the election (rather than because of it)
Why is Barack Obama Electable?

Ann Clurman: There has been a very well-known shift in power from marketers to consumers. Consumers have been really good at celebrating how smart they are, how empowered they are. We've been picking that up for at least a decade. What I think is really significant is what we're calling "personal authenticity." And what that was, that kind of reached a critical mass in 2004, it was a coming together of a number of values and trends that we described as consumers really working on internal clarity of their values. Not only were they kind of trying to understand what was really important to them, they began to develop the courage to act on [those things]. And part of that meant moving out of your comfort zone -- and I think that is very important to what's happening today. But also, this desire to get life right became a passion. What we're seeing today is a massive shift beginning to surface and that shift is not just being caused the last four or five weeks.

I just got one of those breaking news e-mails, and apparently Advertising Age has named Obama the marketer of the year.

And so I think that it's that power, but there's a second item too. Through the appointment of several high-level Cabinet members in the Bush administration, Condoleezza Rice for example, and Colin Powell, the ascendancy of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice has made Americans comfortable with black Americans in positions of high, high responsibility and of power. Seeing Condoleezza Rice negotiating around the world with world leaders has made many Americans comfortable with the idea of black people in leadership positions. None of that was possible eight years ago.

Russell: I really agree with what Peter is saying. This financial crisis and the feeling that things are going in the wrong direction have been a long, long time in coming. If you look at men's incomes, men's earnings, among men who work full time, their earnings peaked in 1986. That's more than 20 years ago. So for the past 20 years, why have household incomes been increasing? For one reason only: the working woman. And now, virtually every woman who is going to go to work is at work. That boost to household incomes is over. The only other remaining boost to household incomes is that we have the baby boom generation right now in peak earning years and that has kept the numbers from falling.

Clurman: It really does. I think one of the reasons people are not quite as hysterical about what is going on is that they realize a lot of other people are in the same boat. Everybody is getting hit hard here. It's very interesting. We call it the "new responsibility marketplace," but it's kind of not here yet. It's coming, and slowly but surely we're going to see this rolling out. People are realizing on some level that it's time to pay their proverbial piper.

Clurman: They understand on some level. Some people who are up there intellectually understand this problem, but I think on some gut level, people understand that we have got a lot of really serious problems and what's happening is the economy has acted as a lightning rod for some serious thought about where are we going. Global warming, I forgot to mention that one. What's happening to the planet, what's happening to our lives.

Salon: But I don't see people going to find scapegoats.

Clurman: That's why there's an accountability and responsibility happening. What we saw in '91, during that recessionary period, we saw the baby boomers looking at the world collapsing around them and pointing fingers and whining and saying, "This isn't my fault." And now what we're seeing, because the times are different and the demographics are different, what we're seeing is people looking around and saying, "We've got some serious issues here and we've all got to take some modicum of responsibility." It's not enough to just change your light bulbs [from incandescent to fluorescent]. We've got to do something more about what's fundamentally wrong here.

"Only 60 percent of the 18-to-29-year-olds are non-Hispanic white. "

Francese: There's a fourth item that I want to add to that. That is the vast number of young women who are going to college. The best-educated man in America is 55 years old. But the best-educated woman is only 35. So women are going to college at significantly higher rates than men, and there are many, many more young college-educated women than there ever were before in American history.

Salon: Is it that women were just going to college at a disproportionately low rate and that they've just caught up with men? Or is there something else going on with gender roles?

Francese: No. There are a couple of reasons, in my view. One, we've obviously over the last 30 years made the switch from a manufacturing, construction-based economy which favors men who are not college graduates to an office-based employment category in which most people now work in offices and that favors women. Women can work in offices equally as well as men. And they are actually a majority of the professional managerial workers according to the Census Bureau data. They're 51 or 52 percent. Women are just as capable of taking managerial and professional jobs and doing them just as well as men but those jobs usually require college degrees. So women, who mature earlier in life than men, do go to college in greater numbers, significantly greater numbers. That's a fairly recent development.

Russell: I totally agree with what you're saying, and actually the percentage of women who go to college out of high school has been significantly higher than men for the last 10 or 15 years as women poured onto college campuses. It's totally true that women are much more educated than men. And if you look at married couples today, in 2007 for the first time among married couples, the percentage in which the husband is more educated than the wife is lower than the percentage in which the wife is more educated than the husband. There's been a real change in family life.

Unfortunately, our political system is set up so that the rural areas have a great deal of political power, in the Senate. I think that trying to play up this rural vote can be effective because so many Americans relate to it. But ultimately, the suburban and urban voter should numerically take precedent.

Francese: Only 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas.

Salon: Is there anything else that strikes you, non-Sarah Palin related, as awry in terms of what the candidates are talking about? Cheryl, in your book, I saw based on poll analysis that 65 percent of the American people consider themselves moderates. That certainly isn't the tone in politics or on cable television.

Russell: Right, most Americans are in the middle of the road. But there's been such a partisan split in the media that's taken place, with the different cable channels focusing on different camps and talk radio, that it's driven a wedge between Americans when in fact there's very little difference between most of them.

Russell: Both factors are involved. The number of boomers, and that voting increases with age. Interestingly, the millennial generation we've been talking about is 19 percent of the vote this year. And that's up from 13 percent in 2004. Generation X is 20 percent, and the older generation, which is people older than boomers, 63-plus, is 23 percent. The millennial generation, in terms of the size of its vote, is almost as large as the older generation.

Francese: That's new. That's one of the reasons Barack Obama has a chance.

Election Impatience

F'seriously.

Wyatt Cenac can't take another week until the election.

Hadith of the Week: Week 7

It is narrated from Hudhayfa (ra) that he said: Allah's Messenger said: "Do not be conformers who say: `If people do good we shall do good, and if they do wrong we shall do wrong.' Rather, make yourselves ready to do good if people do good, and, if they do wrong, not to do wrong."

Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and declared it hasan, as stated in al-Targhib and elsewhere.

Obama Rally in St. Louis

Obama's Speech Part 1
Obama's Speech Part 2

McCain/Obama Roast(s)

All sorts of amusings.

YouTube - John McCain Brings Down The House - Al Smith Dinner Part 1

YouTube - John McCain Brings Down The House - Al Smith Dinner Part 2

YouTube - Barack Obama at the Al Smith Memorial Dinner Part 1

YouTube - Sen. Barack Obama - 2008 Al Smith Dinner - Part 2

The Decay of Gratitude

[Francis] Flynn asserts that immediately after one person performs a favor for another, the recipient of the favor places more value on the favor than does the favor-doer. However, as time passes, the value of the favor decreases in the recipient's eyes, whereas for the favor-doer, it actually increases. Although there are several potential reasons for this discrepancy, one possibility is that, as time goes by, the memory of the favor-doing event gets distorted, and since people have the desire to see themselves in the best possible light, receivers may think they didn't need all that much help at the time, while givers may think they really went out of their way for the receiver.

Via Marginal Revolution

The Bradley Effect by Kate Zernike (NYT)

Article.

Basically:

In recent days, nervous Obama supporters have traded worry about a survey — widely disputed by pollsters yet voraciously consumed by the politically obsessed — that concluded racial bias would cost Mr. Obama six percentage points in the final outcome. He is, of course, about six points ahead in current polls. See? He’s going to lose.

If he does, it wouldn’t be the first time that polls have overstated support for an African-American candidate. Since 1982, people have talked about the Bradley effect, where even last-minute polls predict a wide margin of victory, yet the black candidate goes on to lose, or win in a squeaker. (In the case that lent the phenomenon its name, Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles, lost his race for governor, the assumption being that voters lied to pollsters about their support for an African-American.)

Observing Ramadan (The Big Picture)

I've been pushing this blog to anyone who enjoys photography -- they've got amazing photos, updated 3x a week. Definitely check them out if you get the chance.

In the meantime, enjoy their pictures of Ramadan from around the world :)
f

An Apology (an essay by Azhar Usman)

When the shock of Imam W.D. Muhammad's death had worn off, I spent days trying to figure out exactly why I was so upset. Having never met the man nor having had the honor of ever being in his presence, my emotions were a bit difficult for me to comprehend -- I'm normally not the type of person who would cry at the death of a public figure. Most pressingly, why was this affecting me so deeply, yet countless others seemed so unphased?

I believe I owe my feelings, in large part, to ALIM (and specifically to Dr. Jackson). Prior to ALIM, I wasn't exactly ignorant of the history of Black Americans or Black Muslims in the US. I had taken various classes on American history (and particularly of the 20th century in America); I'd done research papers on Malcolm X and Emmett Till; I had watched documentaries and read books about the Nation of Islam; I had a decent knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. I knew the facts. But I didn't understand.

Our first Jummah outing at ALIM was spent at Masjid Wali Muhammad (formerly "Muhammad's Temple No. 1") whose name change was a result of Imam WD's 1970s redirection of the Nation to more mainstream Sunni Islam. I sat amongst the congregation that was impacted by his presence, leaned against the bricks saturated with stories of the past, and listened quietly to the khutbah that was rife with history, emotion, hope and hardship.

The experience was humbling, yet it was only the first step. It wasn't until hours and days (literally) of lectures, arguments and class discussions later that I began to not only understand but to appreciate this deep social history leading to our current psychological context as Americans and Muslims in the US. For weeks after, my mind was reeling as I walked semi-consciously through my life, until the present forced me to face this shattering reality: this incredible man who I had never known but was just starting to understand had suddenly slipped beyond my grasp. We belong to Allah and to Him we return.

I had read many reactions to Imam WDM's death (complete with copy-paste biographies from the ISNA/MSA National press release) which called for increased attention to fixing the rifts between the Black and "immigrant" Muslim communities. Indeed, it's a noble cause which requires our efforts. But I didn't find many articles that could relate to what I was mourning (particularly because I wasn't even sure of what that was). This one at least starts to.

[NOTE: Please feel free to forward this essay to others via email or post it on blogs. For permission to otherwise publish or print this essay, please email: azhar at azhar dotcom.]


© 2008 Azhar Usman
An Apology
Heartfelt reflections on the passing of a legendary Blackamerican Muslim leader


On September 11th, 2008, while countless American flags whipped in the wind and the television and radio waves were dominated by remembrances, recordings, and stories about the terror attacks of seven years ago, I attended the funeral of Imam W.D. Mohammed (may God be pleased with him). For me, it was a somber day, but I found myself mostly lost in thought: about African-American Muslim communities, about the challenges ahead in American Muslim institution- building, and about the future of Islam in America. If you don't know who Imam WDM was, you should look him up. The Sufis say: "The true sage belongs to his era." And of the many gifts given to Imam WDM by God, perhaps the most obvious and beneficial one was the Imam's profound understanding of the principles of religion, and his adeptness at intelligently applying those Islamic principles in a socially and culturally appropriate manner befitting the everyday lives of his North American followers. While carefully respecting sound, traditional jurisprudential methodologies of the Islamic religion, and the collective religious history and time-honored scholarship of classical Islam, he promulgated creative ideas and dynamic teachings across many domains of human endeavor, including theology, law, spirituality and even ethics and aesthetics, that together articulated a vision for a quintessentially "American Muslim" cultural identity. And he did all of this before anyone else, with quiet strength and unending humility—a true sage indeed.

So I stood before his final resting place, brokenhearted. And I suddenly began to feel the weight of the moment, realizing that when God takes back one of his dearly beloved friends, those who are left behind should cry not for the deceased, but rather for themselves. For the fact that they are now without one of God's friends in their midst, and, in a sense, they are orphaned. And the tears began to well up, for I became acutely aware that I was standing in front of the grave of my spiritual grandfather, who was himself a spiritual descendant of Bilal al-Habashi (may God be pleased with him), the mighty and beloved companion of the Prophet himself. Bilal was the first Black African to convert to al-Islam at the hands of the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and keep him) in the sands of Arabia nearly a thousand and a half years ago. Undoubtedly, some measure of that love, mercy, compassion, and spiritual stature that inhabited the heart of Bilal has found its way down through the ages, and I found myself begging God to transfer to my own heart some glimpse of these realities now laying before me.

Almost five years ago, my business partner, Preacher Moss (who is a member of the WDM community) founded the standup comedy tour "Allah Made Me Funny," and he invited me to be his co-founder. Needless to say, it has been nothing less than an honor to work with him on the project. But to many, it was an unusual pairing: a Black comic and an Indian comic? Both Muslims? Working together? And before we ever even announced our partnership publicly, we met privately and swore an allegiance to one another—a blood oath of sorts—which was this: No matter what happens, in good times and in bad, we have to be the brothers no one expects us to be. And built on this promise (and premise), we brought on our first collaborator, Brother Azeem (who is a member of Minister Farrakhan's NOI), with whom we toured for over two years (2004-2006) before parting ways amicably. Then we brought Mohammed Amer onto the team in the fall of 2006 (a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian refugee who grew up in a Sunni Muslim family in Houston, Texas). Mo, Preach, and I are still going strong together, and we are grateful for the unqualified support, love, and blessings that Imam WDM and the entire community have always given us.

But today, as I observed the funeral proceedings, I felt sad and heavy-hearted. Something wasn't sitting right. Something was physically paining my heart, and it felt like remorse, shame perhaps, maybe even guilt. I began to realize that the tears flowing from my eyes were as much a function of these feelings as they were any lofty spiritual aspirations of mine.

You see, I attended an interfaith event a couple of years ago on 9/11. A group had assembled to commemorate the tragic event, to honor those who perished that day, and to pledge ongoing inter-community support and bridge-building to fight ignorance, hate, and intolerance. At that event, there was this short, middle-aged, sweet, extremely kindhearted, White Christian woman. When she took the microphone to speak, she was already teary-eyed, and I assumed that she was going to make some comments about the victims of 9/11, as so many others already had that night.

But she didn't do that. Instead, she explained that she had become utterly grief-stricken by the constant barrage of news stories she witnessed about Muslims and Arabs being harassed, profiled, and mistreated after 9/11. She explained that she felt powerless to do anything about it, and that it made her sick to her stomach to hear of hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs, and especially to hear of Christian preachers denigrating Islam and its Prophet. She started to cry, and so did many others in the room, humbled by the magnanimity of this simple woman.

And then she did what I thought was a strange thing: she apologized. She prefaced her apology with all the logical disclaimers, such as "I know this may mean nothing to you," and "I know that I am not the one who did these horrible things," and "I know that you may dismiss this as empty rhetoric until you see some follow-up action on my part, but anyway," she continued, "I want to apologize on behalf of all the Christians and all non-Muslims and non-Arabs who have been attacking your communities, harassing your people, and accusing your religion of all these horrible things. I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry." I was stunned. Speechless, in fact. Though all of her disclaimers were true, and my skeptical mind knew it, her apology melted our hearts. Here was this powerless servant of God sharing some of her most deeply felt emotional vulnerabilities, and she was apologizing to Muslims for something she didn't even do? Jesus (may God bless him and keep him) once famously remarked: "Make the world your teacher," and so I immediately took this woman as a lesson in humility. Admitting her powerlessness made her incredibly powerful.

And this brings me to the point (and title) of this essay. I would like to unburden myself of something that has been sitting like a ton of bricks on my heart for my entire life. I want to apologize to my Blackamerican brothers and sisters in Islam. I know that this apology may not mean very much; and I know that our American Muslim communities have a LONG way to go before we can have truly healthy political conciliation and de-racialized religious cooperation; and I know that I am not the one who is responsible for so much of the historical wrongdoing of so-called "immigrant Muslims"—wrongdoings that have been so hurtful, and insulting, and degrading, and disrespectful, and dismissive, and marginalizing, and often downright dehumanizing.

But anyway, for every "Tablighi" brother who may have had "good intentions" in his own subjective mind, but behaved in an utterly insensitive and outrageous manner toward you when he suggested that you need to learn how to urinate correctly, I'm sorry.

And for every Pakistani doctor who can find money in his budget to drive a Lexus and live in a million-dollar house in suburbia, and who has the audacity to give Friday sermons about the virtues of "Brotherhood in Islam," while the "Black mosque" can't pay the heating bills or provide enough money to feed starving Muslim families just twenty miles away, I'm sorry.

And for every Arab speaker in America who makes it his business to raise millions and millions of dollars to provide "relief" for Muslim refugees around the world, but turns a blind eye to the plight of our very own Muslim sisters and brothers right here in our American inner cities just because, in his mind, the color black might as well be considered invisible, I'm sorry.

And for every liquor store in the "hood" with a plaque that says Maashaa' Allah hanging on the wall behind the counter, I'm sorry.

And for every news media item or Hollywood portrayal that constantly reinforces the notion that "Muslim=foreigner" so that the consciousness of Blackamerican Muslims begins even to doubt itself (asking "Can I ever be Muslim enough?"), I'm sorry.

And for every Salafi Muslim brother (even the ones who used to be Black themselves before converting to Arab) who has rattled off a hadith or a verse from Koran in Arabic as his "daleel" to Kafirize you and make you feel defensive about even claiming this deen as your own, I'm sorry.

And for every time you've been asked "So when did you convert to Islam?" even though that question should more properly have been put to your grandparents, since they became Muslims by the grace of God Almighty back in the 1950s, and raised your parents as believers, and Islam is now as much your own inheritance as it is the one's posing that presumptuous, condescending question, I'm sorry.

And for every time some Muslim has self-righteously told you that your hijab is not quite "Shariah" enough, or your beard is not quite "Sunnah" enough, or your outfit is not quite "Islamic" enough, or your Koranic recitation is not quite "Arabic" enough, or your family customs are not quite "traditional" enough, or your worldview is not quite "classical" enough, or your ideas are not "authentic" enough, or your manner of making wudu is not quite "Hanafi," "Shafi," "Maliki," or "Hanbali" enough, or your religious services are not quite "Masjid" enough, or your chicken is not quite "Halal" enough, I'm sorry.

And for every Labor Day weekend when you've felt divided in your heart, wondering "When will we ever do this thing right and figure out how we can pool our collective resources to have ONE, big convention?," I'm sorry.

And for every time a Muslim has tried to bait you with a question about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, trying to force you to condemn him—turning it into some sort of binary litmus test of true iman—with reckless and irresponsible disregard for the historical fact that he was among the first Black men in America to ever do anything meaningful for the upliftment and betterment of Black people, I'm sorry.

And for every time you've heard of an African-American brother who tried to bring home a South Asian or Arab sister to meet his parents, only to learn that her parents would rather commit suicide than let their daughter marry a "Black Muslim" (a/k/a "Bilalian brother"), even as they cheer hypocritically at stadium style speeches by Imams Siraj Wahhaj, Zaid Shakir, Johari Abdul Malik, or others—or get in line to bring one of them to speak at their multi-million dollar fundraiser for yet another superfluous suburban mosque, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry. From the bottom of my heart, I want every African-American Muslim brother and sister to know that I am ashamed of this treatment that you have received and, in many cases, continue to receive, over the decades. I want you to know that I am aware of it. I am conscious of the problem. (Indeed, I am even conscious that I myself am part of the problem since curing hypocrisy begins by looking in the mirror.) I am not alone in this apology. There are literally thousands, if not tens of thousands of young American Muslims just like me, born to immigrant parents who originate from all over the Muslim world. We get it, and we too are sick of the putrid stench of racism within our own Muslim communities. Let us pledge to work on this problem together, honestly validating our own and one another's insecurities, emotions, and feelings regarding these realities. Forgiveness is needed to right past wrongs, yet forgiveness is predicated on acknowledging wrongdoing and sincerely apologizing. Let us make a blood oath of sorts.

When the bulldozer came to place the final mounds of dirt over the tomb of Imam WDM, I was standing under a nearby tree, under the light drizzle that had just begun (perhaps as a sign of mercy dropping from the heavens as the final moments of the burial were drawing to a close), and I was talking to a dear friend and sister in faith, whose family has been closely aligned with Imam WDM for decades. She shared with me a story that her father had just related to her about the passing of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1975 (the same year I was born, incidentally) . She told me that her father described the scene in the immediate aftermath of Elijah's demise: utter confusion and chaos within the NOI and the communities surrounding it. There was much debate and discord about what direction the NOI would take, and many were still in shock and denial that the founder had actually died. Out of the midst of that confusion arose Imam WDM, and along with his strong leadership came an even more, perhaps surprisingly courageous direction: the path away from the Black nationalism, pan-Africanism, and proto-religious beliefs of his father, and instead the unequivocal charge toward mainstream Islam, the same universal and cosmopolitan faith held and practiced by over a billion adherents worldwide. In this manner, her father explained, the death of Elijah Muhammad became a definitive end to a chapter in our collective history, and the resulting re-direction by Imam WDM marked the beginning of the next, far better, chapter in that unfolding history.

Maybe I am just an idealistic fool, or maybe Pharaoh Sanders was right about the Creator's Master Plan, but I sincerely believe that all we have to do—all of us together: Black folks, South Asians (Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis) , Arabs from every part of the Middle East and North Africa, Southeast Asians (Indonesians and Malaysians), Persians, Turks, Latinos, assorted Muslims of all stripes, colors, and backgrounds, and yes, even our White Muslim brothers and sisters—is live up to a simple promise to one another: No matter what happens, in good times and in bad, we have to be the brothers and sisters no one expects us to be.

It is hoped that the passing of Imam WDM will also mark the end of a chapter in our collective American Muslim history, and perhaps now, in earnest, we can all look together toward The Third Resurrection.

May God mend our broken hearts, lift our spirits, purify our souls, heal the rifts between our communities, unify our aims, remove our obstacles, defeat our enemies, and bless and accept our humble offerings and service.



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© 2008 Azhar Usman | 10 Ramadan 1429 | 11 September 2008

About the Author
Azhar Usman is a Chicago-based, full-time standup comedian. He is co-founder of "Allah Made Me Funny—The Official Muslim Comedy Tour," which has toured extensively all over the world. He is frequently interviewed, profiled, and quoted in the press, and he is an advisor to the Inner-city Muslim Action Network's Arts and Culture programs. Mr. Usman is also a co-founding board member of The Nawawi Foundation, a non-profit American Muslim research institution. He considers himself a citizen of the world and holds degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Minnesota Law School. Born and raised in Chicago, his parents originally hail from Bihar, India.

DISCLAIMER: The views and emotions expressed in this essay are those of the author and are not necessarily held, advocated, or even endorsed by any of the institutions with which he may be affiliated.

For more information, please visit:
www.allahmademefunny.com
www.nawawi.org
www.imancentral.org
www.azhar.com

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Imam WDM's last interview

"I got a FEVAH!

and the only prescription is more cowbell."

Props to Sahar.

f

"Loving Each Other for the Sake of Allah" By Yusuf Al-Badri

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

Allah will ask on the Day of Judgment: “Where are those who loved each other for the sake of My glory? Today, on a day when there is no shade but Mine, I shall shade them with My shade.” (Muslim)

Love is among the most exalted of human feelings. When this love revolves around Almighty Allah and forms the basis for our interpersonal relationships, many problems can be weathered and great fruits can be harvested for both the individual and society as a whole. The Qur’an and Sunnah often speak about the noble status of those whom Allah graces to possess such love. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

“Among Allah’s servants are people who are neither prophets nor martyrs, but whom the prophets and martyrs will deem fortunate because of their high status with Allah.” The Companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah! Inform us of who they are.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told them that they are people who loved each other for Allah’s sake, even without being related to one another or being tied to one another by the exchange of wealth. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went on to describe their great reward on the Day of Resurrection: “By Allah, their faces will be luminous and they will be upon light. They will feel no fear when the people will be feeling fear, and they will feel no grief when the people will be grieving.” Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) read the verse: [Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve] (Yunus 10:62). (Abu Dawud)

This reminds us of another famous hadith that enumerates the seven types of people who will enjoy Allah’s shade on a day when there is no shade but His. Among those mentioned are “two men who love each other for the sake of Allah, meeting for that reason, and parting with this love (still cherished by both of them)” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Love for Allah’s sake transcends the limits of our worldly existence, enduring into the life to come. Allah says,

[Close friends on that Day will be foes to one another—except for the righteous.] (Az-Zukhruf 43:67)

Loving one another for the sake of Allah, and brotherhood in faith, are among the most excellent acts of worship. This sublime love entails some conditions and duties that must be fulfilled so that the relationship remains pure and free of base undercurrents. Upholding these duties brings a servant nearer to Allah and to His pleasure and, over time, it can bring about a greater nobility of person.

These duties include the following:

1. Both parties must truly love to extend support and assistance to each other and must love good for one another. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “None of you will attain (perfect) faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

2. They must enjoin each another to truth and patience, and give each other sincere advice. They must enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and guide each other. They must help one another in carrying out works of righteousness. Allah Almighty says,
[Surely, the human being is at loss. Except for those who have faith and do righteous deeds and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to patience.] (Al-`Asr 103:2-3)

[The believing men and women are protecting friends of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.] (At-Tawbah 9:71)

3. They must engage in the things that cultivate this love, strengthen interpersonal relationships, and facilitate the fulfilling of their duties to one another.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A Muslim has six rights over another Muslim.” They asked, “What are they, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “When you meet him, greet him with salam (Muslim's salutation meaning ‘peace’); when he invites you, accept his invitation; when he seeks your advice, advise him; when he sneezes and then praises Allah, invoke Allah’s mercy upon him; when he falls ill, visit him; when he dies, follow his funeral” (Muslim).

4. A Muslim has the right to kind treatment from his fellow Muslim. He should be greeted with a smile and given a pleasant reception. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Do not view any good act as insignificant, even the act of meeting your brother with a cheerful face” (Muslim).

5. They must guide each other to what is good, and help each other in acts of obedience. Likewise, they must prevent and discourage one another from falling into sin and iniquity.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “One should help his brother, whether he is an oppressor or the one being oppressed. If he is an oppressor, forbid him from his oppression. If he is being oppressed, then come to his aid” (Muslim).

6. The love between them shines in a most wonderful and genuine manner when the two are away from each other and each of them is in secret prayers to Allah for the other. This continues for the living one even after the other has departed from the earth.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A Muslim’s supplication for his brother in secret is answered. At his head an angel is appointed, and whenever he supplicates for his brother with something good, the angel appointed to him says, ‘Ameen, and likewise for you’” (Muslim).

7. They must excuse each other’s mistakes and defend each other’s honor, never speaking ill of, or deriding each other. They should keep each other’s secrets, advise each other sincerely, and never abuse each other. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “It is not permissible for one Muslim to distress another” (Abu Dawud).

Source

"Muslim-Americans: Between American Society and the American Story" by Dr. Sherman A. Jackson (ISPU)

Oh, how I miss ALIM.

Read the whole article here. No, seriously. Read it. It's not long at all..

The way to that sentiment is through becoming a part of the American story, a story of powerful truths, lies and contradictions that have destined America to struggle, to her dying breath, to find that balance between enough remembering and enough forgetting to point her towards redemption. It is a story of America’s quest to rid herself of the vile habit of violating her own principles and creating “problem peoples” who fall outside the reach of her lofty ideals. From the founding of the republic and Thomas Jefferson’s “We hold these truths to be self-evident …,” this quest -- more than anything else – has defined us as Americans. Indeed, this is the struggle that generates the “cohesive sentiment” that binds Americans as a people.

The Prophet (saw)'s Ramadan Sermon

Prophet's Ramadan Sermon


O people! Ramadan is laden with blessings, mercy and forgiveness; Ramadan is a month which Allah (God) considers BEST of all months. Ramadan days, in the sight of Allah, are the best of days; its nights are the best of nights; its hours are the best of hours. Ramadan is a month in which you are invited to be the guests of Allah, and you are regarded during it as worthy of enjoying Allah's Grace.

During Ramadan your breathing praises the Almighty, and your sleeping adores Him. Your voluntary acts of worship are accepted, and your pleas are answered. Ask Allah your Lord, therefore, in sincere intentions and pure hearts to enable you to fast during it and to recite His Book [the Holy Quran], for only a wretched person the one who is deprived of Allah's forgiveness during this holy month. And during Ramadan let your hunger and thirst remind you of the hunger and thirst of the Day of Resurrection.

During Ramadan grant more alms to the poor and indigent among you; surround your elderly with respect, and be kind to your youngsters. Visit your kin and safeguard your tongues, and do not look at what Allah has prohibited you from seeing (the base), nor listen to anything your ears are forbidden to hear (the evil). Be kind to the orphans of others so that your own orphans will equally receive kindness.

Repent your sins to Allah and raise your hands to Him in supplication during the times of your prayers, for these are the best times during which the Almighty looks with mercy to His servants and answers their pleas when they plead to Him.

O people! Your souls are a pawn of your deeds; therefore, release them by seeking Allah's forgiveness.

Your backs are over-burdened by the weight of your sins; therefore, lighten their burden by prolonging your prostration. Be informed that Allah, the Exalted and Mighty, has sworn by His Loftiness to relieve the torment of those who perform their prayers and prostrate to Him, and not to terrify them by the sight of Hellfire when people are resurrected for judgment.

O people! Whoever among you provides iftaar (breaking fast) to a believer during Ramadan will receive a reward equal to one who sets a slave free, and his past sins will be forgiven. Shun Hellfire even by [offering] half a date! Shun Hellfire even by [offering] a drink of water [to others fasting]!

O People! The one who improves his conduct during this month will have a safe
passage on al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem [the straight path during the Day of Judgment], when many feet will slip away, and whoever among you decreases the burdens of his workman will be rewarded by Allah in decreasing his reckoning [on the Day of Judgment].

The one among you who abstains from harming others during this month will be spared the ire of the Almighty when he meets Him.

The one among you who affords generosity to an orphan during this month will be amply rewarded by Allah on the Day of Judgment.

The one among you who improves the ties with his kin during this month will be rewarded by Allah in His mercy, and the one who severs his ties with his kin during this month, Allah will withhold His mercy from him upon meeting Him [in the Day of Judgment].

The one among you who offers voluntary prayers during this month, Allah will decree a clearance for him from the agony of the Fire.

The one among you who performs an obligatory prayer during this month will receive the reward of one who has performed seventy obligatory prayers in other months.

The one among you who increases the sending of blessings unto me during this month, Allah will make the balance of his good deeds weigh heavily when the scales will be light [in the Day of Judgment].

The one among you who recites one verse of the Holy Quran during this month, will receive the blessing of one who recites the entire Holy Quran in another month.


O people! The portals of Heaven in this month are kept open; so, pray Allah (God) your Lord not to close them against you, and the portals of the Hellfire are kept closed; so, pray Allah your Lord not to open them for you; and the devils are kept leashed; therefore, pray Allah your Lord not to unleash them against you.

Amusing Ramadan Cards

Check them out

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Well?

Not highlighted, out of principle!

"The Itch" by Atul Gawande

Article in the New Yorker which I attempted to highlight, but then quickly realized there were a lot of interesting yet lengthy paragraphs. Atul gawande explores our the power of the itch and its implications for how the human brain works in terms of perception.

Read it.

(sparsely) Highlighted:

Unlike, say, the nerve fibres for pain, each of which covers a millimetre-size territory, a single itch fibre can pick up an itchy sensation more than three inches away. The fibres also turned out to have extraordinarily low conduction speeds, which explained why itchiness is so slow to build and so slow to subside.

It can be triggered chemically (by the saliva injected when a mosquito bites, say) or mechanically (from the mosquito’s legs, even before it bites). The itch-scratch reflex activates higher levels of your brain than the spinal-cord-level reflex that makes you pull your hand away from a flame.

Still, the itching remains a daily torment. “I don’t normally tell people this,” she said, “but I have a fantasy of shaving off my eyebrow and taking a metal-wire grill brush and scratching away.”

The images in our mind are extraordinarily rich. We can tell if something is liquid or solid, heavy or light, dead or alive. But the information we work from is poor—a distorted, two-dimensional transmission with entire spots missing. So the mind fills in most of the picture. You can get a sense of this from brain-anatomy studies. If visual sensations were primarily received rather than constructed by the brain, you’d expect that most of the fibres going to the brain’s primary visual cortex would come from the retina. Instead, scientists have found that only twenty per cent do; eighty per cent come downward from regions of the brain governing functions like memory. Richard Gregory, a prominent British neuropsychologist, estimates that visual perception is more than ninety per cent memory and less than ten per cent sensory nerve signals.

Appreciate What You Have

Watch it

Hadith of the Week: Week 6

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Allah is in the assistance of His servant as long as His servant is in the assistance of others.”

[Muslim (2698) and others, on the authority of Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him)]

Source

Hadith of the Week: Week 5

Ibn Masud:

"A believer sees his sins as if he were sitting under a mountain which he is afraid may fall on him, whereas the wicked person considers his sins as flies passing over his nose and he just drives them away like this (and he moved his hand over his nose in illustration)."

[Bukhari]

"Muslim Women Who Become Homeless Have Limited Options" By Jackie Spinner (Washington Post)

For Muslim women without a place to live, particularly those who have been battered or are immigrants, being homeless can test their faith at the time they need it most.

Sigh.

Highlights:

The Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee estimates that several hundred Muslim women are homeless in the Washington region, based on U.S. Census Bureau data and local surveys. That is a small fraction of the homeless population and of the estimated 250,000 Muslims in the region, but local Islamic leaders say the problem has grown in recent years. Kahn said homelessness in the Muslim community was almost unheard of several years ago.

Social workers, clerics and lawyers who work with Muslim homeless women said most were driven from home by abusive husbands or are unable to work because of their immigration status, leaving them without money for housing. Some face both troubles.

"I lost everything," said Fatem, who has two children from a previous marriage in Mali whom she has not seen in almost eight years. "I don't have anything no more. I feel really shamed for my family living in just a shelter."

But Fatem said she feared for her life if she stayed with her husband, a social worker.

"He made me hungry," she said. "He was sleeping with his ex-wife and made her pregnant. Every little money I make I had to give to him. He beat me. He pushed me to fall down. My daughter cried. She think I'm going to die."

:( SubhanAllah...

Imam Hassan Amin of Masjid Us Salaam in downtown Baltimore said more Muslim women are seeking shelter. "I've been dealing with women who would come to us and don't have any place to stay. . . . It's a big issue."

If the women end up at Christian-oriented shelters, they are asked to "come out of their Muslim dress," Amin said. "There are almost always prayer circles, and they play gospel music. Muslim women . . . are pushed to be a part of that group."

the Washington region has about 12,000 homeless people on any given night. There are more than 740,000 nationwide, according to 2005 data

Stoops said most shelters are privately run. The largest shelter organization is Catholic Charities, he said, followed by the Salvation Army and the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions. Traditionally, Stoops said, many Christian-oriented shelters -- he called Catholic Charities an exception -- have offered clients "soup, soap, sleep and salvation."

Phil Rydman, spokesman for the Kansas-based Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, said policies on attending worship services vary within the association's network. "It is generally not required," he said.

Steve Morris, commander of the Washington area Salvation Army, said the Christian charity imposes no worship requirement on people it shelters. "Each of our housing programs in D.C. offer opportunities for worship, but it is clearly at the discretion of the client," Morris said. "We have a chapel on site and hold regular services there, but clients are free to choose to attend."

In 2003 and 2004, McIntosh was homeless herself in Texas after she lost her job. She said she was assured when she sought shelter from the Salvation Army that she would not have to attend church services, which she would have considered a sin against her Islamic faith.

But the first night she was there, McIntosh recalled, the woman who had given the assurance ordered her to go to Christian worship or pack her bags. "I left," McIntosh said.

A Growing Demand for the Rare American Imam by Neil MacFarquhar (Part 2)

Article

Highlights (Part 2):

“Foreign imams, because of the culture in their countries, kind of stick to the mosque and the duties of the mosque without involving themselves much in the general community,” Imam Smith said. “The hip-hop culture is difficult to understand if you have never lived it.”

Mosque leaders say the risk is that younger Muslims, already feeling under assault in the United States because of the faith’s checkered reputation, might choose one of two extremes. They either drift away from the faith entirely if they cannot find answers, or leave the mosque for a more radical fringe.

Younger Muslims seek him out for guidance, he said, and the fact that he is studying for a master’s degree in psychological therapy helps. Teenagers have requested advice about being addicted to Internet pornography, he said, and about sexual orientation. He counsels adolescents — gay and straight — that sexual attraction is natural, but to act on it is wrong and that any addiction should be treated.

Previous imams would simply admonish the youths that something was a forbidden abomination, subject closed.

When she went on the hajj, as it is called in Arabic, a fellow pilgrim asked the Egyptian imam who accompanied them from Southern California his opinion of her not wearing the scarf afterward.

“He was so mad, so offended and said he couldn’t believe it could happen,” Nermeen Zahran recalled over a glass of orange juice in the neat condominium she shares with her sister. His basic reaction, she said, was that there was no point in seeking forgiveness for previous sins if one did not take the veil afterward.

Ms. Zahran has also consulted religious figures about periodic bouts of depression, but the usual response was that her faith lacked vigor.

Now she talks to Sheik Fazaga about it, she said. “He tries to solve the problems and doesn’t tell you that you have to accept that this is your life, this is what Allah gave you, and if you don’t then you are not a good Muslim.”

Mosques will probably continue to address the wishes of the immigrant population for another decade, but after that the tide will shift away from them, experts suggest.

“Islam in America is trying to create a new cultural matrix that can survive in the broader context of America,” said Prof. Sherman Jackson, who teaches Arabic and Islamic law at the University of Michigan. “It has to change for the religion to survive.”

A Growing Demand for the Rare American Imam by Neil MacFarquhar (Part 1)

Man, the NYT loooves Muslims. <3 <3 for Dr. J (in Part 2)

Article

Highlights (Part 1):

Sheik Yassir Fazaga regularly uses a standard American calendar to provide inspiration for his weekly Friday sermon.

Sheik Yassir Fazaga greeting worshipers after a prayer service. He went to high school in Orange County, Calif., and now leads a mosque there.

Around Valentine’s Day this year, he talked about how the Koran endorses romantic love within certain ethical parameters. (As opposed to say, clerics in Saudi Arabia, who denounce the banned saint’s day as a Satanic ritual.)

On World AIDS Day, he criticized Muslims for making moral judgments about the disease rather than helping the afflicted, and on International Women’s Day he focused on domestic abuse.

But this situation is fueling a debate about just how thoroughly an imam has to be schooled in Islamic jurisprudence and other religious matters before running a mosque.

The downside for Islam in America, some critics argue, is that those interpreting Islamic law often lack a command of the full scope of the traditions carried in the Koran and the hadith, the sayings of the prophet Muhammad considered sacred.

“I call it ‘hadith slinging,’ ” said Prof. Khaled Abou el Fadl, a specialist in Islamic law at the University of California, Los Angeles. “I throw a couple of hadiths at you, and you throw a couple of hadiths at me, and that is the way we do Islamic law,” he added. “It’s like any moron can do that.”

Ultimately, in the absence of trained sheiks, good religion in many American mosques has come to be defined through rigid adherence to rituals, Professor Abou el Fadl said, adding, “It’s ritual that defines piety.”

Islam and the Cultural Imperative by Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Part 5)

I recommend reading the full article, particularly if you're interested in the topic specifically or the growth of Islam in America in general.

Highlights (Part 5):

Conclusion

Many in our community today look askance at culture but with only the vaguest notions of what culture actually is and the fundamental role it plays in human existence. For them, “culture” is a loaded word, something dangerous, inherently problematic, and “un-Islamic” (a deeply ingratiated Islamist neologism). Culture, for them, is a toxic pollutant that must necessarily be purged, since Islam and culture are mutually exclusive in their minds. ... Their mindset reflects the general malaise of the modern period and the breakdown of traditional Muslim cultures, leaving chronic existential alienation and cultural dysfunction in its wake. Such cultural phobia is untenable in the light of classical Islamic jurisprudence and is antithetical to more than a millennium of successful indigenous Islamic cultures and global civilization

Creating a sound Muslim American identity is a difficult and hazardous undertaking and requires personal integrity as well as knowledge and understanding.
But there can be no safe retreat from the task, and the dangers of failure are devastatingly great. Failure to foster a successful Muslim American culture would not only threaten our continued existence but constitute an inexcusable betrayal of the divine trust and unique historical opportunity we have to make Islam work in America. Our sacred law requires us to undertake the task.

We must engender a Muslim American culture that gives us the freedom to be ourselves. And to be ourselves, we must have a proper sense of continuity with what has been, is, and is likely to be. Only in the context of a viable
cultural presence can we hope for a bright Muslim American future to spring forward from the richness of our past.

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Hadith of the Week: Week 4

Abu Huraira (Radi Allah Anhu) reported:

Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: When a bondsman - a Muslim or a believer - washes his face (in course of ablution), every sin he contemplated with his eyes, will be washed away from his face along with water, or with the last drop of water; when he washes his hands, every sin they wrought will be effaced from his hands with the water, or with the last drop of water; and when he washes his feet, every sin towards which his feet have walked will be washed away with the water or with the last drop of water with the result that he comes out pure from all sins.

[Sahih Muslim : Book 2, Number 0475]

Islam and the Cultural Imperative by Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Part 4)

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Highlights (Part 4):

Envisioning a Viable Muslim American Culture

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Islam in America becomes indigenous by fashioning an integrated cultural identity that is comfortable with itself and functions naturally in the world around it.

Managing the mosque sub-culture is the biggest challenge, since it has already become “second nature” for a vocal minority and difficult to reorient, despite the fact that it alienates a substantial part of the community.

A successful Muslim American culture must provide psychological space for all constituents of our highly heterogeneous community, taking on a cosmopolitan cast from the outset like a nationwide peacock’s tail reflecting our rich internal diversity. One size does not fit all. Culturally speaking, what is right for the suburbs may not be right for the inner city. What suits African-American or Asian-American identity may not always suit others. But to embrace all and foster a true sense of continuity and community among us, our culture must address Islam’s transcendent and universal values, while constructing a broad national matrix that fits all like a master key, despite ethnic, class, and social background.

In drawing upon the fertile resources of the American cultural legacy, we must pay special heed to the rich and often neglected heritage of Native Americans and Hispanics as well as Anglo- and African-Americans.

We must progress beyond our often myopic focus on professional
careers—generally scientific and medical—to assure the production of authentic Islamic scholars and qualified religious leaders.

The Islamic legal tradition must not be seen as a program of detailed prohibitions and inhibitions but made relevant to the day-to-day imperatives of our lives with an eye to fostering positive identity and dynamic
integration into American society. We cannot remain true to the sacred law, if we are unable to see the forest for the trees.

We are inundated by language, symbols, ideas, and technology, none of which is neutral. We must define where we stand with regard to them and adopt appropriate intellectual and behavioral responses, if we are to be champions and not victims.

A successful culture “goes to bat” for its participants by imparting social skills and a powerful capacity to respond to new situations. (A person reared in a culture valuing generosity, for example, knows how to receive guests even if they arrive at the middle of the night.) By enabling us to advance beyond day-to-day problems and issues of identity, a successful Muslim American culture would generate generous psychological space, freeing us to focus on the most important concerns of existence and civilized development.

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Islam and the Cultural Imperative by Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Part 3)

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Highlights (Part 3):

Times change, and viable cultures adapt. It was a matter of consensus among Islamic legal thinkers that the legal judgments of earlier times had to be brought under constant review to insure that they remained in keeping with the times. A standard legal aphorism declared: “Let no one repudiate the change of rulings with the change of times.” By the same token, Islamic legal consensus renounced mechanical application of the law through unthinking reiteration of standard texts.

Even when [Ibn Batuta's] travels took him as far afield as the heart of China, the Indian Ocean islands, and sub-Saharan Africa, he generally felt at home. Despite their distinctive local color, the Muslim societies he witnessed reflected traditional Islam’s cultural instinct for balancing regional diversity
within the overriding framework of the revealed law’s transcendental unity.

The ancient Islamic culture of ethnic Chinese Muslims (the Hui) is especially instructive for us in America today, since it flourished within the confines of a consummately brilliant non-Muslim civilization. Chinese Muslim culture empowered the Hui psychologically, allowing them to maintain a unified sense of self, take interpretative control of their faith, and work out an authentic Islamic self-definition, which was at once authentically Muslim but open to the Chinese ethos around them.

Like others, Swahili-speaking Muslims took pride in classical Arabic, cultivated it fully, and gave it deserved prominence, especially in the teaching and recitation of the Qur’an. But they carefully employed Swahili for all religious knowledge and other cultural purposes, creating a Swahili intelligentsia throughout the coastal rim, which caught Ibn Ba~‰~a’s attention during his visit. To be a Muslim in East Africa meant to master the Swahili tongue, take on Swahili Muslim culture, and enter into “Swahilidom” ("Uswahili").

These folktales were ancient, sometimes dating back to the Neolithic period, thousands of years before Christ. Consequently, they contained creation myths and cosmologies imbued with animistic values and beliefs. Instead of rejecting the tales, Muslims retold them by adopting Auta (“the baby of the family”), a primary character who, like the Lion King, is typically the object of envy but ultimately wins out over his enemies by virtue of basic goodness, blessing, and good fortune. They transformed “the baby of the family” into an Islamic cultural hero, who constituted a role model, represented Islamic norms, and helped pioneer the construction of an integrated vision of an indigenous West African Muslim culture.

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Islam and the Cultural Imperative by Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Part 2)

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The story of the “sons of Arfida”—a familiar Arabian linguistic reference to Ethiopians—provides a telling illustration of the place of culture (here, of course, Black African culture) within the Prophetic dispensation. In celebration of an annual Islamic religious festival, a group of Black African converts began to beat leather drums and dance with spears in the Prophet’s mosque. ¢Umar ibn al-Kha~~¥b—one of the chief Companions—felt compelled to interfere and stop them, but the Prophet intervened on their behalf, directing ¢Umar to leave them alone and noting to him that they were “the sons of Arfida,” that is, not his people. The Prophet invited his wife ¢®’isha to watch the dance, took her into the crowd, and lifted her over his back, so that she could watch them clearly as she eagerly leaned forward, her cheek pressing against his. The Prophet made it a point to dispel the Ethiopians’ misgivings about ¢Umar’s intrusion and encouraged them to dance well and, in one account of this authentic story, reassured them to keep up their drumming and dancing, saying: “Play your games, sons of Arfida, so the Jews and Christians know there is latitude in our religion.”

When it was related to Amr ibn al-As -- Companion of the Prophet and victorious commander in the Byzantine wars—that the Prophet had prophesied that al-Ruum (specifically the Byzantines but understood, in this context, as a general reference to Europeans) would predominate at the end of time, ¢Amr responded to his informer:

“If, then, you have related this honestly, know that they have four excellent qualities. They are the most forbearing of people in times of discord. They are the quickest of people to recover from calamity. They are the most likely of people to renew an attack after retreat. And they are the best of people toward the poor, the orphan, and the weak.” ¢Amr then added: “And they have a fifth attribute which is both beautiful and excellent: They are the best of people in checking the oppression of kings.”

In Islamic jurisprudence, al-'urf [custom] and al-'ada [usage] connote those aspects of local culture which are generally recognized as good, beneficial, or merely harmless. In no school did respect for culture amount to blanket acceptance. Local culture had to be appraised in terms of the transcendent norms of Islamic law, which meant the rejection of abhorrent practices like the ancient Mediterranean custom of “honor killings”— now reasserting itself in the context of contemporary
cultural breakdown — or, at the other extreme, the sexual promiscuity prevalent in modern culture.

One of Islamic law’s five universal maxims declared: “Cultural usage shall have the weight of law.” To reject sound custom and usage was not only counterproductive, it brought excessive difficulty and unwarranted harm to people. Another well-known principle of Islamic jurisprudence emphasized this fact and advised: “Cultural usage is second nature,” by which it implied that it is as difficult for people to go against their established customs as it is for them to defy their instinctive natures.

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Islam and the Cultural Imperative by Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah (Part 1)

I <3 Nawawi Foundation.

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In history, Islam showed itself to be culturally friendly and, in that regard, has been likened to a crystal clear river. Its waters (Islam) are pure, sweet, and life-giving but—having no color of their own—reflect the bedrock (indigenous culture) over which they flow. In China, Islam looked Chinese; in Mali, it looked African. Sustained cultural relevance to distinct peoples, diverse places, and different times underlay Islam’s long success as a global civilization.

Today, the Muslim world retains priceless relics of its former cultural splendor, but, in the confusion of our times, the wisdom of the past is not always understood and many of its established norms and older cultural patterns no longer appear relevant to Muslims or seem to offer solutions. Where the peacock’s tail has not long since folded, it retains little of its former dazzle and fullness; where the cultural river has not dried up altogether, its waters seldom run clear.

A working democracy, for example, is as much the fruit of particular cultural values and civic habits as it is the outgrowth of constitutions or administrative bodies. In our mosques, schools, and homes, many day-to-day aggravations are patent examples of cultural discord and confusion. Often, they have little to do with Islam per se but everything to do with the clash of old world attitudes and expectations—often authoritarian and patriarchal—with the very different human complexities, realities, and needs of our society.

People can repent from broken rules but not from broken psyches. The creation of a healthy Muslim American psyche is contingent on the creation of a successful, well-integrated indigenous culture. A well-integrated psyche and unified sense of identity make authentic Islamic religiosity, true spirituality, and moral perfection a normative possibility within the American context.

"The Prophet and his Companions did not look upon human culture in terms of black and white, nor did they drastically divide human societies into spheres of absolute good and absolute evil... the Prophetic message was, from the outset, based on the distinction between what was good, beneficial, and authentically human in other cultures, while seeking to alter only what was clearly detrimental. Prophetic law did not burn and obliterate what was distinctive about other peoples but sought instead to prune, nurture, and nourish, creating a positive Islamic synthesis."

the principle of tolerating and accommodating such [pre-Islamic cultural norms] — among Arabs and non-Arabs alike in all their diversity—may be termed a supreme, overriding Prophetic sunna. In this vein, the noted early jurist, Abu Yusuf understood the recognition of good, local cultural norms as falling under the rubric of the sunna.

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Hadith of the Week: Week 3

Narrated 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (radiyallahu 'anhu), the Prophet(sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam) took hold of my shoulders and said:

"Be in the world as if you were a stranger or wayfarer."

[al-Bukhari]

J,K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement

And she did a pretty good job.

Watch the video or read the full transcript here.

Highlights:

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.