Meh for this blog server.  Yes, it’s nice ya’ll are moving to a new server.  Yes, it’s nice that you’re getting more bloggers.  But what about those of us who have been around here for awhile?  Wouldn’t it be nice to give us dedicated bandwith, rather than let our blogs be down 9 times out of 10, and when they are up, everything is all messed up? I’m contemplating a move to wordpress.  *sigh*

Yay for women only gyms!  Turns out, lots of women like to work out in a single sex environment, not just muslims.  inshaAllah I’m going to be joining one tomorrow.  It’s not some Curves circuit only place.  No, it’s got cardio and weight lifting machines up the wazo.  I’m still on my runner’s high from this morning’s workout.  And I’ve reached a conclusion – I sweat a ton if I run while wearing hijab and long sleeves, and I sweat a ton if I run in short sleeves sans hijab.  Heck, I could probably run naked (not a pretty picture), and still sweat buckets.  Still, it is nice to work out wearing “normal” workout clothes.  I already have cute stuff picked out at Target to bribe myself as I lose weight.   My days of wearing bulky, oversized men’s clothes to cover the behind and hips are numbered.   Once I get within my normal weight range, I’m going to pair a running skirt with regular pants to cover the behind and hips area, and then top it off with a cute women’s cut long sleeve shirt.  Then I’ll look absolutely fabulous as I train for a marathon, rather than this fat chick drowning in clothes that are way too big as she waddles her way around the lake.  Ok, I’ll probably still waddle, but at least I’ll look awesome in the process.

+  + appropriate scarf = hijabi running diva

[IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/bismillah.gif[/IMG] 

I never went to a new muslim class.  Come to think of it, I’ve been to very few real life based classes.   One of the reasons is because the teachers rarely state their biases outright.  One has to have a certain level of sophistication in order to detect the leaning of the materials.  At least from what I’ve seen, many classes aimed at new muslims or that cover the basics, have a strong salafi leaning.  But do they tell you that?  Noooo.

For example, I went to an aqidah class a few months back.  Everything was chugging along when wham, “there are several groups who have very similar aqidahs to ahl al sunnah wa jamaah, but they are deviant.  Asharis, maturidis…”  Argh!  *pulls hair out from under hijab*

If you’re going to teach an aqidah class, you have two choices.  One, teach the basics that all the different aqidah schools agree on.  They agree on most.  Why dwell on disputed points like the literality of Allah’s [IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/allah.gif[/IMG] hand and foot?  Why declare a large portion of the sunni muslim ummah to be outside of ahl al sunnah wa jamaah?

The second choice is to state right out from the front – this is an aqidah class from x perspective.  Don’t pretend that your point of view is the be all and end all of islam.  Muslims have been disagreeing about this for centuries, and those differing points of view have survived through to this day.

These two choices hold true for all classes.  Welcome to Islam 101.   Now that we’ve gone over the 5 pillars and the 6 articles of faith, we’re going to go into some fiqh issues.  One thing you all should know is that although Islam is based on the book of Allah [IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/allah.gif[/IMG], and on the example of His beloved Messenger [IMG]img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/rahma/islamic%20salutations/pbuh.gif[/IMG], muslims do differ on certain points.  Don’t worry yourself about these differences at this point in time, but do realize that over the centuries, the greatest scholars of this ummah have disagreed, but did so in a polite manner without declaring their opponents kufar.  In this class, we’ll be teaching from x perspective.  If you hear something that contradicts what you’ve learned here, don’t be scared, don’t try to argue.  Note that different view point, and bring it up in the next class.  inshaAllah we’ll discuss it then, and inshaAllah it will help you understand.

Ah, someday…

That’s why I love Sunnipath.  You know where they’re coming from.  You know their biases.  Their Islam 101 classes are Essentials of Islam (Hanafi, Maliki or Shafi’i).  You know what you’re getting right up from.

Ok, with that ramble out of the way, here’s the NPR story.

FIRST OF THE MOHICANS: A MUSLIM IN CONGRESS

In a lot of interviews, the subject of Islam is briefly touched on.  In this interview with Wajahat Ali however, there’s quite a bit more meat to sink one’s teach into.  

ELLISON: Well, the thing is you have to face these kinds of challenges with patience. Quite frankly, the barrage of taking hits everyday has made me a better Muslim. I find myself returning to my faith just to be able to deal with this kind of stuff on a regular basis. The Quran says, “The struggle is ordained.” Well, certainly it is. But, we have to deal with these challenges with patience, with confidence. We cannot let one person’s bitterness turn us bitter. We have to overcome evil with good, right? That’s how you do it. You can’t overcome evil with evil. You just get more evil. My thing is to try to urge people who are Muslim and not Muslim to understand America is a country that has deep roots of tolerance and religious inclusion. My message to the Muslim community is keep on doing good works like building clinics, building literacy sessions at the masjid, work with non Muslim, fellow Americans to try to improve things. And keep putting your best foot forward, because if we start going tit-for-that with those putting out religious bigotry, then we end up just like them.

Can I just say mashaAllah, can you imagine what kind of ummah we had if there were more brothers and sisters like Keith out there?

There are two gifts that I wished Allah (swt) had blessed me with – artistic ability and a beautiful voice with which to recite the Qur’an.   Since He did not, I am constantly on the lookout for beautiful Islamic Art and recitations of the Qur’an.  This weekend, I found another example of the former.  The sister behind Muhammadan Art has produced countless exquisite pieces that will please the eye and soothe the heart of any believer.  Do check them out.

I nearly had a heart attack when I came online last week and found hadithuna down.  One would think that I could have spent all that downtime writing something really profound.  Alas, I’m a slacker.   inshaAllah once my brain is up and running, this blog will be back in the swing of things.

Question:  if you could pick 2 books from my wishlist, which two would they be?  The husband is getting me books for my impending convertsary.   My number one pick is Agenda to Change our Condition.  From there, I really don’t know.  So many books, so little income, ha.  I’m debating a magazine subscription, the gift that keeps on giving, but even there, which to choose?

Here are others up for consideration:

• Sahih al-Bukhari : The Early Years of Islam (Muhammed Asad) 
• The Garden of Hadith Scholars : Bustan al-Muhaddithin
• The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi 
• Al Shafi’is Risala: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence
• Handbook on Islam The Book of Nature : A Sourcebook of Spiritual Perspectives on Nature and the Environment : The Education Project Series (Camille Helminski)
• Islam in Tibet : Tibetan Caravans (Abdul Wahid Radhu, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama)
• The Book of Character : An Anthology of Writings on Virtue from Islamic and Other Sources : The Education Project Series (Camille Helminski)
• The Content of Character : Ethical Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad

From the BBC:

In fact Abbas, a weapons expert with close links to the regional Islamic militant organisation Jemaah Islamiah, was on his way to visit a group of old colleagues – militants serving time for a range of terrorism offences.

“These are my friends, my students,” he said. “I trained some of them… I’ve visited almost all jails where there are detainees in terrorist cases.”

But Abbas was not here to plot new attacks. Instead he had come to try to persuade his friends to follow his example and renounce violence.

“We should not kill civilians,” he said. “Today I realise some of my friends are misguided. My mission is to open their minds.”

For five years now, Abbas has been quietly co-operating with the Indonesian police as part of a remarkable “deradicalisation” campaign focused on the country’s jails.

For a good look at Islam in Indonesia, I recommend Civil Islam.  Also, one of my profs recently published Women Shaping Islam:  Reading the Qur’an in Indonesia.  While I haven’t read it yet, I assume it’s excellent.  Nelly did a lot after 9/11 to reach out to the Muslim community and worked to build bridges between christian (and non christian) students and their muslim neighbors.  She organized a visit to a local masjid a few weeks afterwards, held roundtable discussions with non muslim and muslim students, and put on a Christian-Muslim interfaith conference the following spring.

The most notable feature of the Prophet’s Mosque is the green Dome of the Prophet, which rises higher amongst the sea of white domes. This is where the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad is located; early Muslim leaders Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab are buried in an adjacent area as well.

At the heart of the mosque is a small area called ar-Rawdah an-Nabawiyah, which extends from the tomb of the Prophet to his pulpit. All pilgrims attempt to visit and pray in ar-Rawdah, for there is a tradition that supplications and prayers uttered here are never rejected. Entrance into ar-Rawdah is not always possible (especially during the Hajj), as the tiny area can accommodate only a few hundred people. Ar-Rawdah has two small gateways manned by Saudi soldiers charged with preventing overcrowding in the tiny area.

 http://www.sacred-destinations.com/saudi-arabia/medina-prophets-mosque.htm

Say (O Muhammad!): If you love God, follow me so that God loves you. (Al Imran, 3.31)

Once again, a crisis looms on the horizon.  People aiming to insult our beloved Book and beloved Messenger  are gathering forces.  How we respond reflects on our ummah and on HabibulAllah .  Will we show the patience and strength that the Prophet  showed in the face of adversity?  May Allah guide this ummah to follow his  example.

Ramadan wants Muslims to ignore far-right Dutch film on Koran

Respecting the Qur’an – from ISNA

The Ethical Standard of the Prophet Muhammad – by Imam Zaid Shakir

Clash of the Uncivilized: Insights on the Cartoon Controversy – by Imam Zaid Shakir

Sunnah of the Week 2

ÂMarch 17th through the 23rd, 2008; Rabi al-Awwal 9th through the 15th, 1429

Aisha, the blessed wife of the Prophet, may God be pleased with her, was asked to describe the character of the Prophet, . She responded:

He was not foul in his actions, nor in his speech; he was not boisterous in the marketplace; he did not retaliate in kind to vile acts perpetrated against him; rather he pardoned and forgave.

Imam Abu Isa Muhammad bin Isa at-Tirmidhi, Jami at-Tirmidhi (Riyadh: Dar As-Salaam, 1999/1420), p. 465, no. 2016.

with Suhaib Webb and later Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki from the Islamic Broadcast Network

No matter how many times I read or listen to the seerah of the beloved Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam), I always learn something new.

 

by Dawud Wharnsby Ali

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Alhamdulilah for youtube nasheed videos with lyrics.  The husband and I are having a "Praise of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) " sing along this weekend.  Granted, it will just  be the two of us, but I'm uber excited.

Any videos with lyrics out there that I haven't posted yet that we should include?

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With lyrics so you can sing along

Keith Ellison looks back at his first year in office in an interview with the Minnesota Monitor.

I just gotta say, mashaAllah, the people of Minnesota are awesome. 

 *~*~*~*

MM: So you’re confident that a fear campaign that plays obliquely on race or on Islam won’t work?

Ellison: Right. But I’m also confident that it will be tried. Vigorously.

MM: Are you expecting to get baited and attacked about your Muslim faith again this time around?

Ellison: Yeah. It’s never really stopped. I could show you a very thick folder of some of the most hateful, vile, nasty, rude, insulting, racist stuff you’d ever want to see. But it ain’t nothing, man. It doesn’t mean anything. I look at it as entertainment. These are guys sitting at their computer in their boxers with nothing to do.

I mean, they’re really more sophisticated than that. But they’re also a small group, and they don’t represent the mainstream of American thought. In the last election, they dropped 110,000 pieces of literature basically calling me a terrorist. Didn’t work. They dropped it on the same day that I was at a seniors’ center in St. Louis Park. Old ladies were saying, “Oh, honey, so glad to meet you. Thanks for spending time with us.” One lady really warmed up to me, and I said, “Did you see that piece?” She said, “I saw that garbage. I put it on the bottom of my birdcage.”

People have a sense of other people. They know who’s negative and who’s not, who’s for them and who’s not, who cares and who doesn’t.

Today, though, it’s not about swaying large numbers of Americans [in national elections]. That’s not the point. They just want to shave at the margins and keep it close enough to steal. [laughs] That’s my opinion. They want to keep it close enough so that you can credibly steal the election.

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Lyrics from TurntoIslam

Tala3al-Badru 3alayna, The Full Moon has risen over us!
min thaniyyatil-Wada3 From the valleys of Wada3,
wajaba al-shukru 3alayna, Oh we must be grateful,
ma da3a lillahi da3 for the invitation of the preacher to [the way of] God
Ayyuha al-mab3uthu fina Oh You who have been sent to us,
ji2ta bi-al-amri al-muta3 You came with orders that [we have] obeyed [in advance]
Ji2ta sharrafta al-Madinah You came and honoured this town*
marhaban ya khayra da3 Welcome, oh greatest of preachersTala3al Noorul Mubeen The clear light has come out
Nooru Khairul Mursaleen The light of the best of Messengers
Nooru Amnin Wa Salaam The light of Security** and Peace
Nooru Haqqin wa Yaqeen The light of Truth and Awareness of God
Sadaqallahu Ta3aala Allah (Ta3ala^) has been truthful
Ra7matan Lil3aalameen [Muhammad PBUH is] a mercy to the worlds
Fa 3alal Barri Shu3aa3 So on Land there is a radiance
Wa 3alal Ba7ri Shu3aa3 and on the Sea there is a radiance../CHORUS/

I now have a second major muslim politician to hyperventilate over – Andre Carlson won yesterday’s special election to fill the seat left open by his grandmother’s death.  It isn’t a landslide by any means, as he must continue the fight through to the November general election.

In this victory, as well as Keith Ellison’s in 2006, we’ve seen a particular melding of the american muslim identity:

“I’m a proud Hoosier,” Carson said after his speech Tuesday night. “I’m an Indy 500 Hoosier, I’m a Covered Bridge Festival Hoosier, I’m a Black Expo Hoosier, I’m a state fair Hoosier. I just happen to be a Hoosier of the Muslim faith.”

More on his religious identity can be read here.

Also, random facts:  Both muslim congressmen attend WD Muhammad affiliated masjids named Nur -Nur-Allah Islamic Center and Masjid an Nur. 

There is indeed a good model for you in the Messenger of Allah – for the one who has hope in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah profusely. (33:21)

Anas (ra) reported that the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) said, “Whoever brings the sunnah to life has brought me to life. Whoever brings me to life will be with me in the Garden.” (Al-Isbahn)

What do we know of our beloved Messenger of Allah (subhana wa tala)?  I’d be willing to bet (that is, if gambling weren’t haram) that we all know quite a bit.  We can probably rattle off something about his physical appearance, and his character.  We know how he dressed, how he fought, how he made peace, how he ate, how he slept, how he acted towards those around him (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam).

But to know is not enough.  His life, his example, his sunnah provides a framework for every aspect of our lives.  How much of his sunnah do we implement, and how much do we read or hear, smile, nod, and then ignore?  Are you like me, and focus on his character, while ignoring his outward acts?  Or are you like those I often scoffed at, who seem to obsess about imitating the Beloved (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) in dress while seeming to ignore his manners? 

I have been reading Martin Lings’ Muhammad, and listening to the Prophetic Characteristics class with Ustadh Yahya Rhodus.  The Slave (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) of Allah (subhana wa tala) is one of the major reasons I submitted to God in Islam.  The more I learn about this man (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam), the more I love him (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam).  But, I do not do much to bring his (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) sunnah to life.  I say subhanAllah, this man (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) was truely amazing in everything he did, and then I move on and forget.

So, I’ve decided to do something about that.  inshaAllah, each week I will pick a sunnah of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam).  I’ll post it here on the blog, and inshaAllah I will work to implement it in my life.  Please join me in this quest to really know the Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam), and to live as he did, the Beloved (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) of Allah (subhana wa tala).

Sunnah of the Week 1

March 10th through the 16th, 2008; Rabi al-Awwal 2nd through the 8th, 1429

from Riyad as-Saliheen, Abu Dawud and others

1394. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Every matter of importance which is not begun with, ‘Praise be to Allah’ is defective.”

If you began everything praising God, how would it effect your behavior?  Would you still act against Allah (subhana wa tala) and His Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa salaam) if you began every action thinking of them?

Britney’s One-Woman Economy

Hollywood.tv was founded by Sheeraz Hasan, who came to the United States from London, where he was running a restaurant with his family. Hasan always wanted to be a part of Hollywood, so he moved to Los Angeles. He says he found the key to his success during a pilgrimage on a mountaintop in Saudi Arabia.

“I went to go get a drink and all of a sudden, I just look up and I see Britney in a magazine. So I think to myself, wait a minute. I’m here on pilgrimage. What the hell is Britney doing here? Of all places. God showed me Britney Spears,” Hasan said. “I said to myself, OK, I’m going to go back to Hollywood, Hollywood.tv. I’m going to get the stars. I’m going to get all the stars, but also my main person I’m going to get is Britney Spears.”

God?  No, my dear boy, that would be Shaytan.

I know I’ve posted this before, but it’s one of my favorite nasheed, it’s about the Prophet (saws), and it’s Rabi al-awwal.  Thus, it is the perfect time to post it again.

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Here’s the official Vatican press release related to the meeting between muslim scholars and catholic higher ups this last week.  Granted, it doesn’t tell us anything more than what’s been in the news stories, because, well frankly, there’s not much to the release.

There is a bit more at the A Common Word website, in particular, a reflection by Sh. Abdul Hakim Murad.  One can find more of Prof. Murad’s articles, as well as his bio, here.

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on Tawassul

I commented at Ali Eteraz’s blog about the women only hours at the Harvard gym yesterday, which got me wishing for a women’s only gym in my area.  There are curves here, but I really really really want a gym that is more traditional.  I’m so not a circuit workout girl.  I need my pool, my exercise classes, my treadmill and bikes, and my weights.  Yup, when this muslima works out, she works out.  Pump that iron.

Low and behold, via Umm AbdurRahman, I find out that there’s a Lifetime fitness women only facility in a neighboring town.  Score!  I emailed to get the downlow.  Is it really women only or do men wander through unannounced?  If it’s purely women only, I’m so there.  It’s a pricier gym than the Y, but if I could work out without my hijab, I’d be in heaven.

Granted, I still love running outside, which always requires hijab, but I’d love to be able to take dance exercise classes and lift weights without being put in immodest positions around men.

Oftentimes, I’m sitting at the masjid for jummah or some other event, and I’ll go “dang, I should blog about this.”  But, I have the attention span of a knat and a memory to go along with, so by the time I get to the computer, I’ll have forgotten what had inspired me. 

Not today.  Today, I took notes on my little hello kitty notepad.  Here are the highlights:

• Met Multicultural Muslimah.  Turns out we’re both converts, both married to egyptians, and live and work 2 miles from each other.  Spooky.  inshaAllah we’ll be hanging out in the future, and perhaps even encouraging each other to exercise.  Talks are also in the works for a Twin Cities muslim blogger meetup, and the formation of a Wives of Egyptians Twin Cities chapter.
• Keith!  Some girls are musician groupies.  Others swoon over acters.  Me?  I go gaga for islamic scholars and muslim politicans.  And, since there’s really only one national level muslim politican, and he happens to attend the same masjid as me, well, I freak whenever I see Keith Ellison. 
• Little kids (especially girls) praying with their daddies.  MashaAllah.  There was one little african american girl who was praying with her dad at the beginning of jummah, and I was all awwwww…and then halfway through, another dad came in with his daughter and son, and they all offered 2 rakats together.  I just about melted.
• The khutbah.  It was good, but it just didn’t seem complete.  The point was that we have our 5 pillars.  The shahada is the foundation, and salat, zakat, sawm and hajj are the pillars.  We build our islamic houses, but we don’t live in it.  We don’t flesh it out.  The khatib said we should build walls and a roof, but then didn’t say what those should be built of.  inshaAllah I’ll create a seperate entry and perhaps my readers (I know you’re out there!) can give suggetions on ways to flesh out your deen house.
• The khatib.  He was a guest from Virginia Tech, and was good.  His english was clear, just a light trace of an accent, and he spoke with decent grammar.  He was a middle age arab brother with an excellent white sunnah beard, and he was so cute when he used slang.  My favorite that I wrote down was “24 hour 7.”

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Counters the Tide of Islamic Extremism

Adapting. One thing is absolutely clear, though: Gomaa’s unshakable confidence repeated as often by his protegees as by him”that the inherent moderation and pragmatism of traditionalist Islam make it far superior to anything proposed by puritanical Salafists or Wahhabis or utopia-minded Islamists. Through the centuries and across cultures and continents, Islam spread and flourished, they all say, precisely because the principles of sharia were applied and interpreted in light of changing reality. Apart from supporting bedrock principles of the faith as set forth in the Koran and the hadith (the authoritative accounts of the words and deeds of the Prophet), Islamic jurists sought to make the lives of Muslims easier, not more difficult, through their realistic application of religious law. As Gomaa sees it, what the best Muslim jurists have always done is to focus on the intent of sharia to foster faithfulness, dignity, intellectual growth, and other core values. Called al makased, this method of seeking to apply the law through an understanding of its purposes is at the core of Gomaa’s scholarship and jurisprudence and is being spread by his scores of students and followers. 

But there have always been in Islam, as in other religions, the terrible simplifiers, the puritans who, like the 18th-century Arabian cleric Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, claim not only to streamline the faith but to return it to basic principles. Often called Salafists, such Muslims in more recent times have also presented themselves as modernizers and reformists. The more political among them, the Islamists, have additionally sought to make Islam into a political program to replace secular forms of government.

Tossing out centuries of reasoned reflection upon the meaning of sharia and discounting the importance of most schools of jurisprudence, these puritans reduce the law to selected passages from the Koran and the hadith and, as the traditionalists see it, distort the intent of sharia by taking the chaff for the wheat. “Their fast-food jurisprudence has led to great intolerance,” says Suhaib Webb, a 36-year-old American convert to Islam who came to Al-Azhar University from California precisely to learn the classical traditions of jurisprudence. “The classical discourse dealt with reality,” Webb says. “The modern discourse is utopian. Ali Gomaa is respected because he deals with reality.”

Interesting.  Rather than throw about words like “moderate muslim” without giving a coherent definition, here’s an article that actually seeks to grasp the changes in islamic jurisprudence in the last few centuries, and define these different movements. 

As for GM Gomaa, I can’t same much about him.  I have his autograph (ok, his signature) on my official al Azhar conversion papers.  That’s about it.  *Puts study the history of al-Azhar on list of things to do*

You are neither hard-hearted nor of fierce character, nor one who shouts in the markets. You do not return evil for evil, but excuse and forgive. – Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 362

 Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. (2:190)

Innocents in Gaza…Innocents in Jerusalem…Innaa lillahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji’oon…to God we belong, an to Him is our return…

From Abu Bakr (ra):

“Stop, O people, that I may give you ten rules for your guidance in the battlefield. Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire, especially those which are fruitful. Slay not any of the enemy’s flock, save for your food. You are likely to pass by people who have devoted their lives to monastic services; leave them alone”

Sunnisister on the never ending story.

[rant]

“Seventh Century”

As in…

“…governed by seventh century rules…”

“…stuck in the seventh century…”

etc etc etc

Usually said or written in a derogatory manner towards those seeking to live their lives by sharia, or when some group of muzzies somewhere attempts to enforce their vision of sharia (usually in a barbaric manner that in all actuallity has no basis in sharia).

Why is this a pet peeve?  Because it shows a complete lack of understanding as to how sharia was formed and how it developed, nay, dare I stay, is developing.  Heck, one doesn’t even need to get all in depth with it.  A quick glance at good ol Wikipedia will show that sharia developed over several centuries.   Even if the gates of ijtihad were closed (which is debatable), they were closed in or around the 10th century, which is certainly not the 7th century.

[/rant]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7279412.stm

Pope Benedict XVI will host landmark Catholic-Muslim talks in November to improve ties between the two religions.

The announcement was made in a joint statement after a two-day meeting between senior Vatican and Muslim leaders in Rome.

…

The joint statement said the first Catholic-Muslim summit would be held in Rome on 4-6 November and would involve 24 religious leaders and scholars from each side.

It said the Pope would address the meeting on the themes of “Love of God, Love of Neighbour”, “Theological and Spiritual Foundation” and “Human Dignity and Mutual Respect”.

Catholic and Muslim leaders hope the forum will start a regular official dialogue between the two religions.

Interestingly, the mainstream media doesn’t list who the muslim delegates to the two day talks were.  Only after searching did I find the names from a catholic news source. 

The Muslim scholars visiting the Vatican this week are Ibrahim Kalin, a Turk, from Georgetown University; Abd al-Hakim Murad Winter, a Englishman, from the Shaykh Zayed Divinity School at the University of Cambridge; Sohail Nakhooda, a Jordanian, the editor of Islamica magazine; Yahaya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, an Italian, the imam at Milan’s al-Wahid mosque; and Aref Ali Nayed, a Libyan, from the University of Cambridge. 

It seems to me that those attending were heavily in the “traditionalist” camp.   While I’m certainly happy that that view is being presented, it is a little discouraging that the muslim view point presented is apparently monolythic, especially when so many muslim camps were represented among the original Common Word signatories.

This next meeting will hopefully be more diverse, inshaAllah.

Professor Aref Ali Nayed, from the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, in Jordan, said: “Who attends the seminar will depend on their diaries. We will ensure that from our side as many regions and sects are represented; who the Catholics send is up to them.

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/16116652.html

Odds are there’s no ‘holy war’ in Qur’an

By JEFF STRICKLER, Star Tribune

February 29, 2008

Want $1 million? All you have to do is find a reference in the Qur’an to “holy war.”

The offer is being made by Jamal Badawi, professor emeritus of management and religious studies at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His only requirement is that the reference be in the original Arabic, not an English translation of the holy Islamic text.

Is that $1 million Canadian or American? “It doesn’t matter,” Badawi said. “It can be a million Canadian, a million U.S. or even a million euro [which would be worth almost $1.5 million]. I don’t have that much money, anyway. I’ve been making the offer ever since 2001. I’ve never had a taker, and I never will.”

Badawi was in the Twin Cities a week ago as part of a continuing effort to combat negative stereotypes about Muslims and violence, especially terrorism. He said that one of the biggest misconceptions he encounters is that the Qur’an promotes war, especially against those of different faiths.

“There is nothing in the Qur’an that says you should fight someone because they are of a different religion,” he said. “Just the opposite is true. In its writings on other faith communities, it encourages dealing with them with kindness and justice.”

The only time war is mentioned is in passages saying that believers can defend themselves from attack or oppression. Asked if a Muslim who sees the West as a threat could interpret that as an endorsement of a preemptive attack, Badawi said, “Humans have an inexhaustible ability to justify the wrong they’re doing. It’s no different than a Christian who is opposed to abortion using that as justification for bombing an abortion clinic. He’s not indicative of Christians as a whole. He’s a religious extremist, and the same term applies to anyone who plants a bomb in the name of their god. … The ends do not justify the means in Islamic philosophy.”

Badawi also mentioned the news media’s misappropriation of the term “jihad,” often using it as a label for Muslim aggression.

“It means to exert maximum effort, to strive to the utmost of your ability,” he said. “It is not a synonym for war.”

So, I visited my parents this weekend.  And a few days before I went, my mom called me up and asked me if I’d like to work out at her gym on Saturday.  And not only to hang out at her gym, but to go hot tubbing after working out.  It’s like, umm, mom, you do know that my swimsuit is all hijabified right?  Well, no, I didn’t actually say that.  She knows I wear my splashgear suit swimming, and when I work out, I wear hijab.  The fact that she actually was ok being seen with me decked out in all my hijabi goodness is a major step in our relationship islam wise.  Since I converted, she likes to pretend it didn’t happen.  Hijab makes that hard to do.

On top of that, she gave me a gorgeous purple shayla scarf with embroidered swirls on it.  Dude, who are you and what have you done with my mother?

Of course, nothing can be perfect.  She did have to get in remarks about how muslim women have a higher rate of vitamin D deficiency since we cover and don’t get enough sunlight.  I countered with the fact that we don’t get skin cancer nearly as much as the rest of the population.

Ah family.  Can’t live with em, can’t live without em.