I am reading the diary of the man who shot up the health club a few days back.  Very sad, lots of dispair.  This passage however, made my heart go cold:

Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.

Please note, this is not meant in any way as an indictment of christianity, nor is it meant to imply that christianity is somehow responsible for this man’s actions.  It’s definitely a sick twist on  Luther’s “sin boldly” philosophy.

Somali Man Pleads Guilty in Terrorism Case

Back in October 2007, while he was living in Minnesota, he said he met “some guys,” as he put it, who were talking about going back to Somalia to fight the Ethiopian soldiers who invaded Somalia. From October to December, they met secretly in Minneapolis.

Ahmed said he knew he would be fighting with Al-Shabaab. That’s the hard-line Islamic group that is creating much of the violence we’re seeing in Somalia today. But back in 2007, the group had some popular support because the fighters were taking on the Ethiopian occupation, and some people saw their cause as nationalistic.

…

After the hearing, Ostgard told me Ahmed stayed in Somalia from December 2007 until April 2008, but Ahmed left the camp before the U.S. officially declared Al-Shabaab a terrorist group in March of 2008. Ostgard said the fact that Ahmed left Al-Shabaab before the designation helped Ostgard negotiate the deal with prosecutors. “He would have faced more serious charges” if Ahmed left after March 2008, Ostgard said.

This next story just makes me shake my head.  People are looking for insediousness everywhere.  To me, it just looks like they’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.   The right wing blogs I read are like oooo, let’s play 6 degrees of seperation, Ellison to TIZA to MAS to the Muslim Brotherhood, zmog, terrorism! 

Rep. Ellison’s trip under increasing scrutiny

Islamic nonprofit paid for Rep. Ellison’s pilgrimage to Mecca

Ellison fires back over Strib story on Mecca trip

For those not from around these parts, TIZA has been the target of much scrutiny over the years, which has crested now with lawsuits and countersuits.

Inver Grove Heights charter school sues Education Department

Charter school countersues over ACLU religion claims

…but no visa just yet.

Court Reverses Decision to Bar Swiss Muslim Scholar

In its ruling on Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held unanimously that the government was required to “confront Ramadan with the allegation against him and afford him the subsequent opportunity to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he did not know, and reasonably should not have known, that the recipient of his contributions was a terrorist organization.”

The record was unclear whether a consular officer who had denied the visa had done so, the panel said in its 52-page ruling, written by Judge Jon O. Newman and joined by Judges Wilfred Feinberg and Reena Raggi. The appeals court ordered the lower court to give Professor Ramadan an opportunity to demonstrate the claims in his affidavit.

I wish I had something original to report on the goings on here in the Twin Cities, but unfortunately, I’m learning most of what I know from the news, just like everybody else.

I can mention one little tidbit – as I’ve mentioned before, I occasionally attend a masjid that was mentioned in connection with the missing men.  According to AbuS, the imam has now taken a strong stance supporting the current somali government and against the insurgents.

The indictment against 2 somali men, one currently of the twin cities, another a former resident, has been unsealed.

According to the indictment, federal investigators allege the men “provided material support and resources, namely personnel, including themselves, knowing and intending that the material support and resources were to be used in preparation for and to carry out a conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons in a foreign country” from September 2007 through December 2008.

Also, AbuS and I watched this video piece that was in the NYT article I linked toyesterday.  In it, one of the interviewees made a good point – al Shabab was/is something that transcends clan lines and united it’s participants towards the common goal of achieving some kind of peace.  As an outsider, I can’t even begin to understand the importance of clans and clan divisions in the somali community.  I know they exist, but I cannot wrap my head around the concept that the clan is more important than your fellow muslim brothers and sisters, and the peace and stability of your home.

It would seem to me that what needs to be done now is to find another organization that transcends the clan culture and that will work for peace, without using terrorism.  Does that exist?  Allahu Alem.

I wish our community could be well known for our charity or a large number of converts or something.  I’m even longing for the days of the taxi drivers, guide dogs, flying imams and incedious charter schools.

We made the New York Times yesterday – A Call to Jihad, Answered in America:

Most of the men are Somali refugees who left the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in two waves, starting in late 2007. While religious devotion may have predisposed them to sympathize with the Islamist cause in Somalia, it took a major geopolitical event — the Ethiopian invasion of their homeland in 2006 — to spur them to join what they saw as a legitimate resistance movement, said friends of the men.

For many of the men, the path to Somalia offered something personal as well — a sense of adventure, purpose and even renewal. In the first wave of Somalis who left were men whose uprooted lives resembled those of immigrants in Europe who have joined the jihad. They faced barriers of race and class, religion and language. Mr. Ahmed, the 26-year-old suicide bomber, struggled at community colleges before dropping out. His friend Zakaria Maruf, 30, fell in with a violent street gang and later stocked shelves at a Wal-Mart.

If failure had shadowed this first group of men, the young Minnesotans who followed them to Somalia were succeeding in America. Mr. Hassan, the engineering student, was a rising star in his college community. Another of the men was a pre-med student who had once set his sights on an internship at the Mayo Clinic. They did not leave the United States for a lack of opportunity, their friends said; if anything, they seemed driven by unfulfilled ambition.

Just to be a bit glib, what kind of minnesotans are these guys?  Starbucks?  Pshhh, if they were really minnesotans, it would be all about Caribou.  Imposters!

Even among the world’s jihadists, the young men from Minneapolis are something of an exception: in their instant messages and cellphone calls, they seem caught between inner-city America and the badlands of Africa, pining for Starbucks one day, extolling the virtues of camel’s milk and Islamic fundamentalism the next.

This however is a good question we should all be asking ourselves.  But, did they need to go to fight?  These boys had the potential to bring their education back to Somalia and rebuild a shattered society.  Instead, they’re helping to destroy it. 

“Allah will never change the situation of a people unless they change themselves,” Mr. Hassan, the engineering student, wrote in a Facebook message he posted on April 15. “Take a sec and think about your situation deeply. What change do you need to make?”

And from our local papers, we find 2 more Minnesota muslims have died in Somali recently -  Relative confirms death of fourth young man from Minnesota in Somalia.

Via AbuS:

‘Run Hadji Run’ fireworks at Wis. store not so patriotic after all

Nothing says patriotism like lighting off racially and religiously insensitive fireworks!  Proud to be an american bigot!

I have a few conservative blogs on my to read list.   Although I’m sure I’m not a masochist, it’s usually pretty paintful to read and I often ask myself why oh why do I continue?

One of the less painful on that list is Rod Dreher’s Crunchy Con.  Despite our political differences (and I usually cringe when he writes about muslims), I do appreciate the crunchy aspect of his writings. 

Now here’s a first – a piece he wrote on muslims that actually made me alhamdulilah and not shake my head:

Why shouldn’t the Uighurs riot?

Question: Why is it cause for celebration and cheer in the West when the Tibetans riot against Chinese oppression, but a cause for alarm and condemnation when the Uighurs do the same thing? If the Uighurs were trying to establish a Taliban-like state, that would be one thing. But I’ve not seen evidence that they want anything more than to be treated with justice, especially in their own historic land. If you have other information, please share it.

Please make dua for Islamic Relief.  I have been going through them for most of my zakat and sadaqa since I converted, and have always felt that my donations were in good hands. 

Islamic Relief Fire set deliberately

The Glasgow branch of Islamic Relief has been badly damaged by a fire which police say was started deliberately.

…

Habib Malik, head of Islamic Relief Scotland, said the fire was “a huge blow for the local community”.

He said: “Earlier this year, during the time of our Gaza Emergency Appeal we received a number of threats of this nature.

“We are an apolitical charity. We do not take sides in any conflict and simply act to help alleviate people’s suffering.

“Unfortunately, due to the fact we have the word ‘Islamic’ in our name we are often an easy target for certain racist and Islamaphobic groups and individuals.

“This despicable incident, which could have easily cost lives, has rightly been condemned by the whole community and by people of all faiths and none.”

The fire is estimated to have cost up to £80,000 worth of damage.

We finally have two senators and it’s about time!  Now I have to dig out my picture with Al Franken

Coleman concedes Senate race; Pawlenty to sign certificate

*busts out another happy dance complete with pot stirring*

In case anyone (besides me) actually enjoys reading legal opinions, the Supreme Court’s Opinion can be found here.

Somali Mall Murder Case now with Jury

According to the charges, Abdillahi wanted revenge for the April 2008 shooting death in Minneapolis of his cousin, but because he believed the shooter had fled the country, he decided to kill that man’s friend instead.

Please excuse me for making this pop culture post.   Growing up, we didn’t list to a lot of pop music.  While other kids gushed about New Kids on the Block, I was still listening to Raffi and then Beethoven and musical soundtracks.

One bit of the mainstream did reach me however (aside from Walk Like an Egyptian, which was my favorite childhood song), the theme song from Free Willy, will you be there? I loved the movie and loved the theme song.  My sixth grade class chose it as our class song to sing at our end of the year program.  The lyrics were and are still beautiful.

I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan.  I shook my head at his crazy antics and in recent years made dua that he would accept Islam through is contacts in the gulf.

As I’m writing this, I don’t know if he has passed or not.  If he has, I hope that he found peace in recent years and had accepted Islam.  If he has not, I hope he recovers, takes stock of his life and gets things in order.

People ask why we should care about the death of a celebrity.   Is he any more important than anyone else in this world?  No, he is not, but with his death and the death of other celebrities, we should be reminded of  own impending death.  Soon too, we will end up in the grave waiting for the day of judgment.

Remembering Death

On Death and Dying

What should we feel about the death of the Pope (insert any famous person here)?

Use this as a wake up call to reflect on your own life and death.  Use it to know Allah (swt) more and seek His pleasure inshaAllah.

When mankind enters Jannah, will you be there?

So, to state the obvious…there’s a lot on Iran in the news as of late.  And I haven’t really read or listened to much of any of it.  What I would like, dear readers (if you’re out there), is an unbiased source that provides an honest view on what’s happening, how both sides differ, the whos, whats, wheres, etc etc etc.  

And if that doesn’t exist, then sources that provide a multitude of perspectives without getting preachy.

I can see the right wing blogosphere heavily supporting the opposition, but  how much does the opposition differ from the current president?  And what is the role of religion in both sides?   I’ve seen fleeting headlines that the protesters are using religion (ie chanting Allahu Akbar), but also attacking mosques?

I know I could go to the beeb, twitter or NPR, but I don’t have the energy to wade through all the news because quite frankly, it depresses me.

I suppose the best thing to do would just be to take dua but my inner poli sci major can’t help but be nosey, even if my inner deen-i-bopper is trying to beat it down to focus on ibadat.

Somali activist tried to stop missing boys from traveling

St. Paul, Minn. – People who know Abia Ali say she is a voice of conscience in her community.

At a rally last week against Minneapolis street violence, she held a bullhorn on the steps of City Hall, urging her fellow Somalis to help police solve a fatal shooting that took place in front of a popular community center.
Proud graduatesA sturdy woman wearing a blue hijab that drapes over her head and body, Ali used her faith to make the case for putting the killer behind bars.

“If you get away with this — in front of Allah, you will not get away,” Ali said to the crowd. “Come forward, and please tell what you saw right there.”

…

But lately, she has felt the spotlight of a federal investigation. The FBI is looking into whether the young men were recruited to fight with an Islamic militia that the U.S government considers a terrorist group. The disappearances have also triggered secret grand jury proceedings.

Ali has heard that FBI agents, working on what she says are false leads, have been asking about her in connection to the case. Agents have been showing Ali’s photograph while conducting interviews as part of their probe, according to some of the young people who attend Abubakar.

Ali said she’s even heard talk in her community that she was the one who sent the boys to fight in their homeland, a country where anarchy and violence are the rule. She denies the accusation.

“It’s very sad,” she said, pausing to dab away tears with the hem of her skirt. “It’s hurting me so much. I’ll be the last person on earth encouraging violence. I’m against violence.”

The truth, Ali said, is that she tried to prevent the boys’ trips to Somalia, even before the disappearances began to garner headlines.

 Click on the link above to read it all.  May Allah (swt) continue to protect this sister’s good work.

Other recent Minnesota Muslim news:

• Charges dropped in shooting of Augsburg student
• Young Somali men escape homeland, but not violence
• Somali students from Augsburg College refused visas by Egyptian government
• CAIR – Somalis take to the street to protest group’s actions vs. Demonstrators support area Muslim group
• Burnsville mosque fills gap for Islamic community - this is a branch of the masjid near our home.  In fact, I think Amin Kader is the imam who married us.

Pet’s death linked to Miami’s serial cat killer

Others in south Miami-Dade County are telling similar stories. A woman whose Siamese mix cat, Caesar, was killed and mutilated didn’t want her name published.

“This person killed my cat. He doesn’t need to know anything else about me,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a gang initiation thing or a satanic ritual thing, but to do what he’s doing, he has to be extremely sick.”

The month-long cat-killing spree has police concerned.

When I read this story, this hadith from Bukhari immediately popped into my mind:

Abdullah bin Umar (ra) said that the Prophet (saws) said, “A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger.”

If people truly feared Allah (swt) and the punishment that could await them on the day of judgment, wouldn’t the world be a much better place?

The unequal treatment of two religiously motivated crimes

I wonder how the third of such similar crimes in a few short days, the white supremacist who shot up the Holocaust museum yesterday, will fair in court.  That is if he lives to be tried.

I am so tired of opening up the newspaper/turning on the tv/surfing over to cnn.com and seeing another harebrained, completely unislamic act of terrorism was being plotted against an innocent target.

Because we know blowing up a synagogue in NYis really exactly what the Prophet (saws) would have done had he lived in america.  Or not.

Please pick up a book of seerah and learn how a real man acts.

(not) sincerely,

UmmSqueakster

111 days for an act of domestic terrorism?  And the possibility of it being reduced to a misdemeanor????

I hate to be one of those people who is constantly talking about how muslims get a bad rap in the media, but if this were a muslim who was shouting ayat after crashing his truck in the PP building (or anyplace else for that matter), wanna bet he’d get longer than 111 days?  Heck, muslims don’t even need to crash their truck into a building to get beat down.  Merely being muslim is enough.

Excuse me while I go weep at the stupidity and inequality of our justice system.

Cottage Grove man gets 111 days in Planned Parenthood crash‘

A Cottage Grove man who drove his truck into the front of a Planned Parenthood clinic on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing abortion was sentenced to the 111 days he has already served.

If Matthew Lee Derosia, 33, follows rules of his probation for the next five years, his conviction will be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North ruled Tuesday.

Derosia pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage to property in the Jan. 22 incident at the clinic at 1965 Ford Parkway in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood. When police arrived, he was standing by the truck, holding a crucifix and shouting Bible verses, according to the criminal complaint in the case.

No one was injured in the crash.

Derosia was later celebrated in a list of “prisoners of Christ” on an anti-abortion Web site.

While I haven’t had time to read it all yet, Reuter’s FaithWorld blog has quite a bit of coverage of al-haj al-babawi, ie the pilgrimage of the Pope to the holyland.   Check out the Pope’s keffiyah:

 

Pope Benedict XVI, wearing an Arab keffiyah headscarf presented to him, simles at Lady of Peace Church in Amman May 8, 2009. Photo taken May 8, 2009.REUTERS/Osservatore Romano

Some of the Pope’s comments re: muslims:

 “One of the highlights of these days was my visit to the Mosque Al-Hussein Bin Talal, where I had the pleasure of meeting Muslim religious leaders together with members of the diplomatic corps and University Rectors. I would like to encourage all Jordanians, whether Christian or Muslim, to build on the firm foundations of religious tolerance that enable the members of different communities to live together in peace and mutual respect. His Majesty the King has been notably active in fostering inter-religious dialogue, and I want to put on record how much his commitment in this regard is appreciated. I also gratefully acknowledge the particular consideration that he shows towards the Christian community in Jordan. This spirit of openness not only helps the members of different ethnic communities in this country to live together in peace and concord, but it has contributed to Jordan’s far-sighted political initiatives to build peace throughout the Middle East.” (Farewell Address in Jordan)

“During my stay in Jerusalem, I will have the pleasure of meeting many of this country’s distinguished religious leaders. On thing that the three great monotheistic religions have in common is a special veneration for that holy city. It is my earnest hope that all pilgrims to the holy places will be able to access them freely and without restraint, to take part in religious ceremonies and to promote the worthy upkeep of places of worship on sacred sites.” (Arrival Address in Jerusalem)

“We cannot fail to be concerned that today, with increasing insistency, some maintain that religion fails in its claim to be, by nature, a builder of unity and harmony, an expression of communion between persons and with God. Indeed some assert that religion is necessarily a cause of division in our world; and so they argue that the less attention given to religion in the public sphere the better. Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society? In the face of this situation, where the opponents of religion seek not simply to silence its voice but to replace it with their own, the need for believers to be true to their principles and beliefs is felt all the more keenly. Muslims and Christians, precisely because of the burden of our common history so often marked by misunderstanding, must today strive to be known and recognized as worshippers of God faithful to prayer, eager to uphold and live by the Almighty’s decrees, merciful and compassionate, consistent in bearing witness to all that is true and good, and ever mindful of the common origin and dignity of all human persons, who remain at the apex of God’s creative design for the world and for history.”  (at  King Hussein bin Talal Mosque)

“Today I wish to refer to a task which I have addressed on a number of occasions and which I firmly believe Christians and Muslims can embrace, particularly through our respective contributions to learning and scholarship, and public service. That task is the challenge to cultivate for the good, in the context of faith and truth, the vast potential of human reason. Christians in fact describe God, among other ways, as creative Reason, which orders and guides the world. And God endows us with the capacity to participate in his reason and thus to act in accordance with what is good. Muslims worship God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who has spoken to humanity. And as believers in the one God we know that human reason is itself God’s gift and that it soars to its highest plane when suffused with the light of God’s truth. In fact, when human reason humbly allows itself to be purified by faith, it is far from weakened; rather, it is strengthened to resist presumption and to reach beyond its own limitations. In this way, human reason is emboldened to pursue its noble purpose of serving mankind, giving expression to our deepest common aspirations and extending, rather than manipulating or confining, public debate. Thus, genuine adherence to religion – far from narrowing our minds – widens the horizon of human understanding. It protects civil society from the excesses of the unbridled ego which tend to absolutize the finite and eclipse the infinite; it ensures that freedom is exercised hand in hand with truth, and it adorns culture with insights concerning all that is true, good and beautiful.

“Together, Christians and Muslims are impelled to seek all that is just and right. We are bound to step beyond our particular interests and to encourage others, civil servants and leaders in particular, to do likewise in order to embrace the profound satisfaction of serving the common good, even at personal cost. And we are reminded that because it is our common human dignity which gives rise to universal human rights, they hold equally for every man and woman, irrespective of his or her religious, social or ethnic group. In this regard, we must note that the right of religious freedom extends beyond the question of worship and includes the right – especially of minorities – to fair access to the employment market and other spheres of civic life.” (at  King Hussein bin Talal Mosque)

“My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community, and to pay tribute to the leadership shown by His Majesty the King in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam. Now that some years have passed since the publication of the Amman Message and the Amman Interfaith Message, we can say that these worthy initiatives have achieved much good in furthering an alliance of civilizations between the West and the Muslim world, confounding the predictions of those who consider violence and conflict inevitable. Indeed the Kingdom of Jordan has long been at the forefront of initiatives to promote peace in the Middle East and throughout the world, encouraging inter-religious dialogue, supporting efforts to find a just solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, welcoming refugees from neighboring Iraq, and seeking to curb extremism.

“At the Seminar held in Rome last autumn by the Catholic-Muslim Forum, the participants examined the central role played in our respective religious traditions by the commandment of love. I hope very much that this visit, and indeed all the initiatives designed to foster good relations between Christians and Muslims, will help us to grow in love for the Almighty and Merciful God, and in fraternal love for one another.” (Arrival in Amman)

 

 

I really really liked this movie.   AbuS did as well.  Thoughts with spoilers after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »

 

     Yay or nay to civil disobedience?  My inner squishy liberal heart when all pitty pat when I saw this picture yesterday.  However, my sister, who works on capital hill for another equally squishy liberal democrat, was not impressed.

    Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota-Muslim) was arrested at a protest in front of the Sudanese Embassy yesterday in a calculated act of civil disobedience.

Ellison said he and the other members of Congress who were arrested succeeded in bringing national attention to the Darfur crisis that they wouldn’t have received otherwise. “I could have sent out a press release, but it would be, ‘Yeah, so what?’”

…

“They told us three times to leave, we didn’t leave and they arrested us,” Ellison said nearly four hours later, after he paid a $100 fine and was released.

Secret Service spokesman Darrin Blackford said uniformed officers made eight arrests, including Ellison. “They were charged with crossing a police line, which is a misdemeanor,” he said.

Also arrested were Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.; John Lewis, D-Ga.; Donna Edwards, D-Md.; and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.; and three Darfur activist leaders

…

Since 2007, early in his congressional tenure, Ellison has tried to make conditions in Darfur a major legislative priority.

     There is something romantic about civil disobedience for us squishy liberals.  Who wouldn’t want to emulate Gandhi and MLK Jr?  And it did bring the issue to the fore.  But will it actually make a difference?  Alas, my inner cynic is also a pessimist in this case.

     On a related note, it does perk up the inner cynic that a muslim is taking a stand on an issue that is not Palestine related.  While we should continue to work for justice for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we need to take stock of our ummah’s actions and behaviors elsewhere as well.

In Sahh Bukhari, we find that the beloved Prophet (saws) said:

“Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed.”  He was then asked:  “It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?”  He answered:  “By preventing him from oppressing others.”

     From my own humble observations of the muslim ummah, we’re very good at screaming bloody murder when non muslims oppress muslims.  We’re also very good at looking the other way when muslims oppress others.

    It’s high past time that we got our head out of the sand and took this sunnah to heart.

*wipes tears of laughter from eyes*

Courtesy of a poster on twincities.com:

Arrrgh Matey!

Oh… who is that lawmaker sailing out to the sea?
(Siefert! Squarepants!)

A grandstanding dodger of state issues is he…
(Siefert! Squarepants!)

When real legislation complicates his small mind
(Siefert! Squarepants!)

He pulls out a non-issue, the xenophobic kind!
(Siefert! Squarepants!)

EVERYBODY…

SIEFERT, SQUAREPANTS

SIEFERT, SQUAREPANTS

SIEFERT! SQUAREPANTS!

And from guy behind Kamis Apparel:

Minn. lawmaker: No funds to ‘pirate lovers’

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be supporting those who support and defend people who attack Americans,” Seifert said in a statement with the headline: “Seifert: No taxpayer support for pirate lovers and terrorists.”

…

Seifert said he’s researching how much money has gone to support Jamal’s group over the last few years, and so far, he has found one public safety grant for a few hundred dollars.

The pirate is currently being represented by a PUBLIC defender.  I wonder who pays for a PUBLIC defender?

Lots of stuff to share today: 

I think there is scarcely a muslim community in the US that has not been helped by Imam Siraj at one point or another.  It’s high time we give back.

Via Indigo Jo, an article on the civil war in the right wing islamophobe blogosphere.  I must have a bit of a masochistic side, because I semi-regularly browse several of the blogs mentioned.  This story gave me warm fuzzies.

Faraz Rabbani has been putting out some mashaAllah excellent podcasts.  Two new ones in the last 2 days, one on the significance of wudu, and the other on the goal of seeking sacred knowledge.

 And out of Minnesota, the war on pirates hits close to home.  The director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, Omar Jamal, is out in New Yorktrying to get a lawyer for the young pirate.  Back home, (republican) Marty Seifert isn’t too happythat someone is actually, you know, helping the wheels of justice progress.  The right to an attorney?  Pshhh, who needs an attorney?  He wants government funding to the SJAC taken away. 

See, here’s what I don’t get.  We have a system here in the US, a justice system.  You either work within it (legally) or outside of it (illegally).   If someone wants to work within the system, they’re bad and must be punished?  What exactly are we suppose to do with this accused pirate?  Turn him over to a lynch mob? 

Laila upon return to the US:

Eventually, we reached Dulles Airport. I walked confidently to the booth when it was my turn.

What was I going to say? How do I explain this? The man took one look at my expired visa, and my departure stamps.

“How long have you been gone?”

“36 hours” I replied bluntly.

“Yes,I see that. Do you want to explain?”

“Sure. Egypt forbade me from returning to Gaza”.

“I don’t understand- they denied you entry to your own home?”

“I don’t either, and if I did, I wouldn’t be here.”

Somali mortars miss US politician

A US congressman has had a narrow escape on a visit to Mogadishu after Somali insurgents fired mortars towards his plane as it was about to take off.

Airport officials told the BBC one mortar had landed near the airport as Donald Payne’s plane was due to fly and five others after his plane departed.

Mr Payne had just met leaders of Somalia’s government in the capital.

The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the mortar attack.

“We carried out mortar attacks against the enemy of Allah who arrived to spread democracy in Somalia,” a spokesman for the group named as Sheikh Husein Ali Fidow was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

“This government is welcoming America, which is our prime enemy and we will never stop attacking them.”

Yes, let’s shoot at one of the few US congressmen who actually care about what’s happening in east africa beyond arrrrrrrrrrrrr pirates.  One of the few who travels around the country meeting and engaging with somali, oromo, ethiopian and other east african-americans.   One who is happy to speak with imams and religious leaders and will seek to understand their perpective.  One of the few who actually knows what the heck is going on over there.

Rep. Payne came to Minnesota last year with Rep. Ellison for a panel discussion on East Africa.  The husband and I were 2 of the very few non east africans present.  (not so) Shockingly, I can’t find anything in english on the event.  He’s the distinguished looking gentleman in pictures #9 and 17, among others, sitting next to Keith Ellison.

So last night I was all motivated and whatnot to start running again.  I have an outfit all put together – lightweight pants with a running skirt that reaches 3/4 of the way to my knees, a lightweight long sleeve running shirt that covers the behind portion, and decent scarf.  Very cute, very sporty, quite modest and just begging to be taken out for a run.

I used to run in the mornings before work, but realized that there weren’t a lot of people out then, so it probably wasn’t safe.  So I had switched to running after work, going out around 6 pm.

Now this:

St. Paul police shot and killed a 34-year-old man who allegedly confronted officers with a gun Monday night. During the confrontation, a police dog was wounded, officials say.

Officers responded to a call at 6:12 p.m. that the man, Robert Jerome Jeske, was drinking and had a handgun in the alley behind the 1500 block of E. Iowa Avenue, east of Lake Phalen, according to St. Paul police spokesman Peter Panos. Callers reported that shots were fired while the officers were on their way to the scene.

Three officers found Jeske in the alley, where he confronted them with the handgun, Panos said. During the exchange, a police dog named Boomer was struck one time, and the officers shot and killed the suspect. Jeske, a St. Paul resident, died at the scene. Police believe he had been visiting acquaintances in the neighborhood.

Ya Rabb, can’t I catch a break?  Do you know how many times I’ve run by that ally?  Sure, there are more people out at 6, but apparently they’re drunk and have guns.

Alhamdulilah, I dug the ipod out of my book bag and plugged it in to the new computer.  Alas, that means losing everything I’d previously purchased, but at least now I can escape the news.  I still can’t give it up completely, but when a story on the economy comes up, I can fast forward right on through

So on my ipod, I have:

• The Only Word Quran application – mp3s and text files so you can listen to and read from the Qur’an
• Assorted NPR podcasts – religion, wait wait don’t tell me, shuffle, most emailed and foreign dispatches.  Of interest this time around:
  • Michael Pollan on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
  • Juan Cole’s book defending Saudi Islam
  • Concern over Proliferation of fatwas in Egypt
•  Sh. Faraz’s podcast – search “seeker’s guidance” in itunes.
• Lectures and khutbahs by Sh. Abdul Hakim Murad

I’m getting depressed listening to the radio on my commute, and will have to set up itunes on the new computer so I can start listening to more deeny things on the bus.  However, I’ve got to figure out how to set up a news feed or alert, so that whenever “somali” and/or “muslim” is mentioned in MPR, I’ll get an alert.

Heard on the radio this morning:

“American” calls for Somali action in extremist recruiting video

But will the video’s message resonate with its intended audience? At least one leading scholar on Somalia thinks the answer is no.

“The hip-hop dimension was almost a parody,” said Ken Menkhaus, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina. “I can imagine a lot of people watching it and giggling, but I can’t imagine it would succeed in recruiting anyone to that cause.”

Menkaus doubts the video will succeed in recruiting new fighters because the timing of its release seems to miss the mark. Al-Shabaab had popular support among Somalis when it was fighting against the Ethiopian invasion. But now that the Ethiopian forces have left Somalia, Al-Shabaab has lost its main rallying point.

Menkhaus also doubts the claims made by Abu Mansoor, the American.

“He came across boasting that he was training or leading attacks on the Ethiopians,” Menkaus said. “Anyone who knows anything about Somalia knew that was a fraud. The Somalis are experts at ambushes in their own country. The last thing they need is some American telling them what to do, in English, so it would have to be translated. I mean, what kind of ambush leader is that?”

Menkhaus says Abu Mansoor was a bit of an urban legend — an American who for some time was rumored to be fighting against the Ethiopians. But the decision for Abu Mansoor to reveal his face on this video was a big mistake, Menkhaus said, “because the myth was a lot larger than the guy.”

While taking my noon walk through the skyways, I happened upon an odd site.  A man had set up shop outside one of the myriad of Caribou Coffee shops that populate the area.  He was dressed in a suit, and was typing away on his lap top while sipping from a steaming cup.  Usual enough sight, eh?  Well, this man had a giant poster board leaning against the table that said “I need a job.”  His resumes were available to take from a pouch below the sign.

I almost started crying right there in the midst of the lunch crowd.

I’m coming undone with all the bad economic news surrounding me.  663,000 jobs lost in March.  The husband’s was one of them.  There goes all the plan I had been making.  Home prices dropped 20% in January alone here in the Twin Cities.  If we had both kept our jobs, we could have bought a house by year’s end.  We could be making hajj this year.  We could start to have kids.  Could have, would have, should have….nada.

Allah (swt) is the best of planners (3:54), so whatever the plan is, it is for the best inshaAllah.  Just sometimes it’s hard to see what is best when everything is is going downhill.

*mope*

This story/slideshow is being posted on quite a few muslim message boards today, and it’s the same ol, same ol, stick our heads in the sand, blame the media, blame the west, blah blah blah.

’scuse me while I go off for a second

This really struck me:

Fatima was told by the UAE-based lawyer that under sharia law, it was unlikely she would get a favourable outcome from any legal action against her stepfather.

At 15, she was told that she was classed as an adult and could herself be punished and subjected to lashes for committing adultery.

If this is true, then we as muslims should worry about this. Sure, the west has sexual abuse problems, but how often does the victim of that sexual abuse get punished by the state? I’ve seen this story discussed on several message boards and almost everywhere, more often then not the response is to decry the bbc, the media and the west.  Very rarely do I see people concerned about the wrong that is being commited here by muslims.

The Prophet (saws) said: “When any one of you sees anything that is disapproved, let him change it with his hand. If he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his tongue. And if he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his heart, though that is the weakest faith.” (Nawawi’s 40 hadith)

I see a wrong here, and it’s not the media. It’s the fact that a muslim sister could not get justice amongst muslims and had to flee a muslim country to feel safe.

Sure sure, we can argue all day about the story’s use of the word sharia, but come on, shouldn’t we be more upset that this happened to our sister?

Literally, my hands are freezing and I have goosebumps.

Pakistan Mosque Blast kills 50

Noor Mohammad, a policeman in the tribal region, told the BBC: “The blast took place just before the prayer leader announced the start of prayers.

“I was standing on the verandah outside the mosque because I was late and could not find space inside. After the explosion, the doors into the mosque caught fire. Moments later, the mosque collapsed.”

…

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which could also be linked to disputes between local tribal militias, says our correspondent.  

Killing people as they line up to pray?  Really?  Targeting a full masjid of people eager to worship their Lord?  In what sick twisted fantasy world is this ok?

…indictments near?

Somali man’s return to Minnesota sets community abuzz

Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said Saturday that the 22-year-old man was recruited for jihad before a change of heart led him to return in recent months. Jamal wouldn’t confirm the man’s identity, saying that he and his family fear for their safety and are in hiding. Others identified him only as Kamal.

The disappearances of perhaps a dozen young men from the Twin Cities have traumatized and divided the local Somali community.

…

Farhan (Omar) Hurre, director of the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in south Minneapolis, said Saturday that he knows of at least 10 people within the Somali community who received subpoenas in the past two months.

…

While FBI director Mueller never said where Shirwa Ahmed was influenced, much of the focus has been on Twin Cities mosques, and Abubakar specifically.

Somalis Missing From Minn. May Have Returned

Now, as many as four of the men have returned from Somalia, and NPR’s Dina Temple Raston, who has been reporting on this story tells host Renee Montagne that sources say the men have been seen around the Somali community in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, but now it appears they have gone underground.

“It is unclear whether they are under protective custody or whether their parents are keeping them under wraps just to keep them safe,” Raston says. The FBI initially thought that the men who returned to the U.S. were dangerous, but after interviews with two of them, investigators no longer think that is the case.

…

A grand jury has been convened, indicating the FBI has some suspects in its crosshairs, but those proceedings are secret. So far, the grand jury has brought some indictments, but there could be more, as the grand jury is still working. Details of the indictments are sealed, as is the investigation. Similar investigations have also been convened in San Diego and Boston.

Ok, also, I somehow managed to miss this story – Probing the Somali-Minneapolis Terrorist Axis – um yeah, does that title weird anyone else out?

Egyptian women learn to fight back

The instructor Redo Fathy says it is now incumbent on every woman to protect herself from the unwelcome advances of Egyptian men.

“The girls face a lot of problems,” he said. “Especially the teenagers that attend high school. Some of them have long distances to travel.”

“Our job is to give them the skills they need to protect themselves should something happen.

“One of our girls was attacked on the way home. A boy on a bus grabbed her from behind. She used a technique we had taught her to restrain him, until other people on the bus gathered around to help. He was later handed over to the police.”

Sexual harassment is not usually a subject openly discussed here. But a recent survey carried out by the Egyptian Centre For Women’s Rights has lifted the lid on an alarming trend.

Of just over 2,000 questioned 83% of Egyptian women said they had suffered some form of harassment.

Even more startling, nearly two thirds of the men they surveyed freely admitted they had abused a woman at one time or another.

On one hand, mashaAllah, way to step up and take charge of your lives sisters.  On the other, a large, hardy booooooooooooooo for egyptian men who harass women.  2/3 of the surveyed group admit to abusing women?   Do these dogs purposely and willfully ignore Allah (swt) and His messenger (saws)?   Egypt is supposedly the most religious countryin the world, with 100% of respondents answering yes to the question “Is religion important in your life?”  How important is it really, if you don’t lower your gaze and respect your sisters in islam and humanity?

Shame shame shame on them.

Two muslim related stories on my NPR station here today:

 Was Bridges TV Beheading an Honor Killing?

With an excerpt from Sh. Hamza’s khutbah last Friday and a short interview with him.

Somalis worried after suicide bomber details emerge

As federal authorities continue to investigate the disappearances of a number of young Twin Cities men, some Somalis say the climate feels similar to the months following 9/11.

Mueller on Monday told the independent Council on Foreign Relations that authorities believe Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen, “was radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota.”

…

Sharmarke Jama, 26, said many Somali-Americans bitterly opposed the 2006 Ethiopian invasion of their homeland. Jama, and his friend, Ramla Bile, said they heard stories about the Ethiopian troops raping Somali women and looting property. And they said it’s not surprising that some Somali-Americans were moved to action.

“But you heard it in the sense of, ‘I want to go back to Somalia and bring change,’” Jama said. “But then the suicide bombing changed the dynamics. I think it scared a lot of people. It was seen as something so anti-Somali.”

…

And now, Bile said wonders what the general public might think of Somalis in Minnesota.

While she was riding a light-rail train recently, Bile said she overheard a group of men harassing a teen-age Somali boy, telling him that his people were terrorists and that they didn’t deserve to be here.

 

 

Cairo Bombing

We bought our wedding rings from a little vendor in Khan Khalili.  From the video, it looks like the bomb went off right next to where we sat and exchanged rings.

What did these people ever do to the bomber?  What offense?  How on earth do people think this is ok islamically?

stupid stupid stupid.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 18, 2009
Media contact: Wajahat Ali, 510-909-7506, wajahatmali@hotmail.com

American Muslims Call for Swift Action Against Domestic Violence

Murder of Buffalo resident Aasiya Zubair spurs American Muslims to forcefully address domestic abuse and violence against women; call on imams to address DV in Friday sermons

SAN FRANCISCO – A coalition of Muslim organizations, journalists, community leaders, imams, and other concerned citizens are calling for immediate action by American Muslim leaders and religious figures to address domestic abuse and violence in America, including that found in the American Muslim community, on Friday, February 20, 2009. 

In response to the collective concern of the American Muslim community, imams and religious leaders across America have been asked to speak out against domestic violence to their congregations. They are asked to remind congregants of the Prophet Muhammad’s abhorrence of harshness, abuse and violence, and emphasize solutions that strengthen families and ensure all members are treated with fairness and respect, free of fear of abuse or violence.

Members of the coalition are contacting imams and religious leaders in major Islamic centers and mosques. They are encouraging sermons addressing domestic violence and are offering resources available through the Peaceful Families Project, a Muslim-run domestic violence prevention organization founded in 2000, to help educate the American Muslim community. This education addresses the extent to which domestic violence exists and strategies to stop it.

Several prominent imams have heeded the call to action by concerned American Muslims including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf of the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, Ca. and Imam Tahir Anwar of the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose, Ca. These imams have committed their Friday sermons to addressing domestic violence and preaching that in the Islamic tradition and by the example of the Prophet Muhammad, family harmony can never be achieved by force and that emotional and physical abuse is never acceptable.

This call is being broadcast through various channels, including blogs, Facebook groups, personal contacts, and news media. “The outcry among Muslim Americans against this type of violence is a heartfelt one,” said Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of the online newsmagazine altmuslim.com. “It is essential that we address the problem and take steps to ensure that no one else faces the same tragic fate as Ms. Zubair.”

Specific calls to action for imams and religious leaders include:

1. Unequivocally denounce domestic violence and any attitudes that enable or excuse it
2. Remind Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad condemned with unequivocal language all forms of spousal abuse.
3. Immediately create community social service committees made up of qualified social service providers to supply educational resources and staff institutional programs that support abused and battered women.
4. Promote educational and awareness programs that outline abusive and violent behaviors. 
5. Allow community members ways of pointing out and preventing the emergence or escalation of possibly abusive relationships and environments

Individuals and organizations helping to organize this call (partial list, titles for identification purposes only):

• Salma Abugideri, Peaceful Families Project
• Wajahat Ali, Playwright, Attorney and Journalist, domesticcrusaders.com
• Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of the online newsmagazine altmuslim.com
• Zeba Iqbal, Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals
• Ruby Khan, Director, Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services
• Dr. Aminah McCloud, Professor of Islamic Studies, DePaul University
• Hussein Rashid, Visiting Professor, Hofstra University, husseinrashid.com

Mosques, imams, and organizations confirmed to have joined this effort (partial list):

• Arab American Association of New York (New York, NY)
• Arab Muslim American Federation (New York, New York)
• Council of the Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago – Imam Abdul Malik Muhajid
• Islamic Society of San Francisco – Imam Khalid Siddiqui
• Islamic House of Wisdom (Dearborn, MI) – Imam Mohammad Elahi
• Islamic Center of Greater Lansing (Detroit, MI) – Imam Dawud Walid
• South Bay Islamic Association (San Jose, CA) – Imam Tahir Anwar
• The Islamic Center at New York University – Haroon Moghul
• Zaytuna Institute (Berkeley, CA) – Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Resources for the media regarding Muslim efforts to confront domestic violence:

• ACCESS (Michigan): www.accesscommunity.org
• Apna Ghar (Chicago): www.apnaghar.org
• Central Texas Muslimaat (Austin, Texas): http://www.ctmaustin.org
• Domestic Violence Resources for Muslims:  http://www.crescentlife.com/psychissues/domestic_violence.htm
• Facebook Call to Action: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54807221754 
• Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services (Chicago):  http://www.hamdardcenter.org
• Manavi (New York, NY):  http://www.manavi.org
• Muslims For Progressive Values (Los Angeles): http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/mpv-dv
• Narika (San Francisco):  http://www.narika.org
• North American Islamic Shelter for the Abused (San Francisco): http://www.ask-nisa.org
• Peaceful Families Project: www.peacefulfamilies.org
• Sakhi (New York, NY):  http://www.sakhi.org
• SEMAH (San Francisco): http://www.semah.org
• Tahirih Justice Center (Falls Church, Va..): http://www.tahirih.org
• Turning Point for Women and Families (New York, NY): www.turningpoint-ny.org

US congressmen express shock at Gaza devastation

Ellison, a representative from Minnesota, harshly criticised restrictions on the delivery of desperately needed goods into the coastal strip that has been under a crippling Israeli blockade imposed after the Hamas takeover.

“People, innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in,” he said.

“The stories about the children affected me the most,” said Ellison. “No parent, or anyone who cares for kids, can remain unmoved by what Brian and I saw here.”

Rep. Ellison heads to the Middle East

Ellison spoke with MPR News from the ruins of a high school that he said American taxpayers had helped build.

“Why would this school, the American International school get bombed?” he said. “Just thinking about these seniors and all the kids that go to this school and how we’re trying to create kids with a democratic and liberal education, and how now all those dreams have just collapsed with this building.”

Homeland Security to meet with Somali community leaders

Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are visiting Minneapolis this week. The agency says it wants to build better relationships with the area’s Somali community, which has been shaken by the recent disappearances of young men.

Minnesota Somali Religious Leaders Welcome New Unity Government in Somalia

Somali imams and religious leaders in Minnesota fully support the process of peace, reconciliation, and unity that lead to the election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Minnesota enjoys the largest number of Somalis in the nation and we add our voice to strengthen the peace process. Cognizant of the significance of this historic moment for stability, we propose the following:

1. The government and people of Somalia – inside the country and outside – must work together for peace and unity.
2. The new government and the Resistance forces must resolve the differences through peaceful negotiations, and work together for the benefit of the people.
3. The Somalis as Muslim people must desist from extending the civil war, and forgive one another.
4. The new government must work for justice and equality to achieve peace.
5. The government must apply Islamic Law as the basis of the constitution.
6. Somalis must rely on themselves in determining the future of the country to avoid foreign interference.
7. Somali scholars and intellectuals must realize the special responsibility placed upon their shoulders in determining the future of the nation.
8. The government must act quickly to provide relief the suffering of the displaced people inside and outside the country.
9. The Somali religious leaders in Minnesota are willing to play a constructive role in mediating the conflicting groups in the country, if needed.

Via TWFKAJAABMW?

RESPONDING TO THE KILLING OF AASIYA HASSAN: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LEADERS OF AMERICAN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES

By Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali
Executive Director, ADAMS Center
Vice-President, The Islamic Society of North America

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is saddened and shocked by the news of the loss of one of our respected sisters, Aasiya Hassan whose life was taken violently. To God we belong and to Him we return (Qur’an 2:156). We pray that she find peace in God’s infinite Mercy, and our prayers and sympathies are with sister Aasiya’s family. Our prayers are also with the Muslim community of Buffalo who have been devastated by the loss of their beloved sister and the shocking nature of this incident.

This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and can not be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community. Several times each day in America, a woman is abused or assaulted. Domestic violence is a behavior that knows no boundaries of religion, race, ethnicity, or social status. Domestic violence occurs in every community. The Muslim community is not exempt from this issue. We, the Muslim community, need to take a strong stand against domestic violence. Unfortunately, some of us ignore such problems in our community, wanting to think that it does not occur among Muslims or we downgrade its seriousness.

I call upon my fellow imams and community leaders to never second-guess a woman who comes to us indicating that she feels her life to be in danger. We should provide support and help to protect the victims of domestic violence by providing for them a safe place and inform them of their rights as well as refer them to social service providers in our areas.

Marriage is a relationship that should be based on love, mutual respect and kindness. No one who experiences a marriage that is built on these principles would pretend that their life is in danger. We must respond to all complaints or reports of abuse as genuine and we must take appropriate and immediate action to ensure the victim’s safety, as well as the safety of any children that may be involved.

Women who seek divorce from their spouses because of physical abuse should get full support from the community and should not be viewed as someone who has brought shame to herself or her family. The shame is on the person who committed the act of violence or abuse. Our community needs to take a strong stand against abusive spouses. We should not make it easy for people who are known to abuse to remarry if they have already victimized someone. We should support people who work against domestic violence in our community, whether they are educators, social service providers, community leaders, or other professionals.

Our community needs to take strong stand against abusive spouses and we should not make it easy for them to remarry if they chose a path of abusive behavior. We should support people who work against domestic violence in our community, whether they are educators or social service providers. As Allah says in the Qur’an: “O ye who believe! Stand firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you swerve, and if you distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that you do” (4:136).

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) never hit a women or child in his life. The purpose of marriage is to bring peace and tranquility between two people, not fear, intimidation, belittling, controlling, or demonizing. Allah the All-Mighty says in the Qur’an: “Among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are signs for those who reflect” (30:21),

We must make it a priority to teach our young men in the community what it means to be a good husband and what the role the husband has as a protector of his family. The husband is not one who terrorizes or does harm and jeopardizes the safety of his family. At the same time, we must teach our young women not to accept abuse in any way, and to come forward if abuse occurs in the marriage. They must feel that they are able to inform those who are in authority and feel comfortable confiding in the imams and social workers of our communities.

Community and family members should support a woman in her decision to leave a home where her life is threatened and provide shelter and safety for her. No imam, mosque leader or social worker should suggest that she return to such a relationship and to be patient if she feels the relationship is abusive. Rather they should help and empower her to stand up for her rights and to be able to make the decision of protecting herself against her abuser without feeling she has done something wrong, regardless of the status of the abuser in the community.

A man’s position in the community should not affect the imam’s decision to help a woman in need. Many disasters that take place in our community could have been prevented if those being abused were heard. Domestic violence is not a private matter. Any one who abuses their spouse should know that their business becomes the business of the community and it is our responsibility to do something about it. She needs to tell someone and seek advice and protection.

Community leaders should also be aware that those who isolate their spouses are more likely to also be physically abusive, as isolation is in its own way a form of abuse. Some of the abusers use the abuse itself to silence the women, by telling her “If you tell people I abused you, think how people will see you, a well-known person being abused. You should keep it private.”

Therefore, to our sisters, we say: your honor is to live a dignified life, not to put on the face that others want to see. The way that we measure the best people among us in the community is to see how they treat their families. It is not about how much money one makes, or how much involvement they have in the community, or the name they make for themselves. Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) said, “The best among you are those who are best to their families.”

It was a comfort for me to see a group of imams in our local community, as well as in the MANA conference signing a declaration promising to eradicate domestic violence in our community. Healthy marriages should be part of a curriculum within our youth programs, MSA conferences, and seminars as well as part of our adult programs in our masajid and in our khutbahs.

The Islamic Society of North America has done many training workshops for imams on combating domestic violence, as has the Islamic Social Service Associate and Peaceful Families Project. Organizations, such as FAITH Social Services in Herndon, Virginia, serve survivors of domestic violence. All of these organizations can serve as resources for those who seek to know more about the issues of domestic violence.

Faith Trust Institute, one of the largest interfaith organizations, with Peaceful Families Project, has produced a DVD in which many scholars come together to address this issue. I call on my fellow imams and social workers to use this DVD for training others on the issues of domestic violence. (For information, go to the website: www.faithtrustinstitute.org/). For more information, or to access resources and materials about domestic violence, please visit www.peacefulfamilies.org.

In conclusion, Allah says in the Qur’an “O my son! Establish regular prayer, enjoin what is just, and forbid what is wrong; and bear with patient constancy whatever betide thee; for this is firmness (of purpose) in (the conduct of) affairs” (31:17). Let us pray that Allah will help us to stand for what is right and leave what is evil and to promote healthy marriages and peaceful family environments. Let us work together to prevent domestic violence and abuse and especially, violence against women.

I was going to bold parts I found especially important, but I realized halfway through I was bolding just about the entire letter.  Read it, pass it on, implement it.

How can we complain if we’re not stepping up to the plate to take care of our own children?

Christian foster mother struck off after Muslim girl converts:

The woman has been banned by her local council for failing to prevent the teenager from getting baptised, even though the girl was 16 and made up her own mind to change religion.

The carer, a churchgoer in her 50s who has fostered more than 80 children, has now been forced to move out of her home.

She has lost the farmhouse she rented to look after vulnerable teenagers, due to the loss of income.

From the net, a 2002 article by Catherine England, published in Aziza magazine.  Read it.

We get calls for muslim (foster) families, for muslim children…and we can’t place them.  When everyone says no, that means they are placed where ever the state can place them.  That will be within a culture and a religion that is foreign to them.  Every day they are within a non muslim home diminishes their religion identity.

- Molly Dagget, MSW, Lutheran Social Services

Community needs Muslim foster homes

Foster parenting is when an individual is interested in providing stability for a child who has been removed from the care of his or her family due to a situation in which the biological parents are no longer able to care of the child. According to experts, this is many times due to abuse or neglect.

When a child is taken out of the home, the first option is for relatives to care for them, Mohmand-Farhad said.

In the case of Muslim children, if that’s not possible, the agency tries to place them with a Muslim family in the community.

“But if no one steps forward, then the child is placed with whoever can take them,” she said. “In foster care, no religion is supposed to be imposed on the children, but it’s still always nice to have your own religion or your own culture available to you.”

Shaikh Yassir Fazaga, imam and religious director at the Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo, Calif., said the Muslim community is obliged to care for foster children.

“This is a communal obligation,” he said. “If enough individuals have done it, than the community as a whole fulfills the obligation. But if we don’t have enough foster parents, then as a community, we have to re-evaluate the situation.”

Foster Care Link – organization for fostering muslim kids in the UK

The story that’s been playing here in Minnesota for some months has now made it to the big time – NPR.

Just hours before President Barack Obama took the oath of office, the FBI had word from overseas of a possible terrorist attack. The threat was linked to a Somali hard-line jihadist group called al-Shabab, or The Youth.

The threat came at a time when the FBI was focused on what looked like a massive recruitment effort of young men from Somali communities in the U.S. As many as two dozen of them have disappeared from Minneapolis alone in the past year.

Federal agents are worried these young men are training in Somalia and could end up returning to the U.S. to launch a terrorist attack.

The most recent disappearances happened last November, on Election Day. That’s when 17-year-old Burhan Hassan and six of his friends seemed to vanish. As the rest of the Somali community in the Twin Cities’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood were watching the election returns, the boys slipped away, boarded a plane and headed to Africa.

It’s surreal to hear places you know well talked about on the national news. The Towers?  Been there.  Minnesota Dawah Institute?  Been there too.

So now this is the question to ask – will these kids keep the fighting in Somalia, or will they bring it back to the US?  The later appears to be the FBI’s fear.

There are other parts of the ummah that need our attention too:

Hundreds of (muslim) refugees abandoned at sea

 Bedraggled, hungry and dazed, the refugees arrived on the shores of Thailand after fleeing one of the most repressive governments in the world — the hard-line military regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

But a CNN investigation has uncovered evidence that for hundreds of Rohingya refugees — members of a Muslim minority group — abuse and abandonment at sea were what awaited them in Thailand, at the hands of Thai authorities.

…

The refugee, who identified himself as Iqbal Hussain, told CNN he was on one of six boats in a makeshift refugee fleet that arrived in Thailand in December.

He said all six boats with their refugee cargo were towed back out to sea in January, and five of the six boats sank. His boat made it back to shore, and he hid in the jungle for days until nearby villagers captured him.

In broken English and using sign language and drawings, he described what happened to the other men on the boats:

“All men dead,” he said, putting the number of dead at several hundred.

The Rohingya, a persecuted minority in Myanmar, have been fleeing their country in rickety boats for years, in search of a better life.

Thai admits Rohingya set adrift

The naval officer, who declined to be identified, told Al Jazeera: “We have to take the engines off the boats or they will come back.

“The wind will carry them to India or somewhere.”

This isn’t even delving into the abuses muslims and non muslims face at the hands of muslim governors.  The world is a scary scary place.

This isn’t to say that we ignore what is obviously near and dear to the hearts of muslims everywhere.  It would just be nice to see us working for the betterment of all mankind, and not just a few million here and there.

…funny, no mention of his religion.

On the 36th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, a man smashed his SUV into the entrance of the Planned Parenthood office in St. Paul this morning.

…

Several employees were in the building at the time, said Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Kathi Di Nicola. She said the SUV hit the front door of the clinic two or three times, damaging the clinic’s front door and surrounding stonework.

When Di Nicola arrived at the clinic, she said the man had gotten out of the SUV and was pacing around it, holding a crucifix and chanting. “He was agitated and he was saying, ’shut down this Auschwitz,’ ” she said.

Hmm, carrying a crucifix…I bet he was one of dem dang muzzie terrorists!

…were terrified.

A Palestinian boy carries a cat inside his house in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 14, 2009. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renews in Egypt call for ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, whose aircraft kept up pounding of tunnels used by group to smuggle arms into Gaza Strip.

REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA)

Thoughts later.  inshaAllah the Obama administration’s policies towards muslims will extend beyond a few words in his inaugural address:

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

…

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

…while working overtime on Sunday, I was listening to the inaugural concert on NPR.  Now, aside from the increadibly bugie act of being a dedicated NPR fan and supporter, I further exposed myself as a RIM when I squeed as Bono listed Palestine as one of the countries yearning for freedom.

Also, when Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger sang “This Land is Your Land,” I sang along.  Then I tried to call my sister, who was at the concert, just so I could feel like I was there.

However, I’m conflicted.  I’m a Hamza Yusuf Fan girl and an obvious RIM, but I attend a ghetto masjid.  Contradictions…make…head…explode…

You don’t know what the big deal is?

Oh, please, he is just another president, only this time we get one that is a first term Senator/Community Organizer that is half black, half white. Whooppee It is not that big of a deal and I know that if McCain would have been elected he would never have wasted all that money on all the hoop-la.

45 years ago, we had this:

And this:

Today we have this:

And you don’t see what the big deal is?

Feeling helpless as you watch the news each day?  Want to give something, but you’re not sure which charities are safe and/or will get the aid in and get things done?

UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees in the Near East – has a special Gaza appeal.

Islamic Relief in conjunction with al Maghrib Institute is hosting an ilminar/fundraise online tonight.  I’ve donated to IRW for years and have never had any trouble.   IRW has people on the ground in Gaza, and is currently providing aid.

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr

There is horror in the world around us.  Far away, bombs are dropped and innocent people are killed.  In the forgotten parts of Africa, people are massacred without the world watching. 
Closer to home, there is poverty, death and despair, even if it’s not in our faces.

The Prophet (saws) and his companions experienced hardship.  They saw horrors.  What were they do to about it?

“When any one of you sees anything that is disapproved, let him change it with his hand.  If he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his tongue.  And if he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his heart, though that is the weakest faith.” (from the collection of Imam Nawawi’s 40 hadith)

So what is a person to do when they’ve done this, and still, the horrors persist?  It is hard to have any faith left in this world, in our fellow human beings, when we see the awful things we perpetrate upon one another.

The answer is tawakkul, absolute trust in our Lord.  We can feel sadness, and strive to change the wrongs in the world, but if we do not succeed as much as we had hoped, we need to know that is the will of Allah (swt).  There should be no despair in what Allah (swt) has willed.

Anas ibn Malik (ra) is reported as having said:

“A man once rode into town on a fine she-camel of his, and he said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, shall I just leave her unattended, and put my trust in the Lord [ada'u-ha wa atawakkalu]?’ So the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) told him: ‘Hobble her feet with a rope, and put your trust in the Lord [a'qil-ha wa tawakkal]!’”

Granted, it is very easy to type this, but not so easy to do.  It is a struggle, a test from Allah (swt), to submit to Him and to His will.

In Imam Nawawi’s collection of 40 ahadith, we find that our beloved Prophet (saws) said:

“When any one of you sees anything that is disapproved, let him change it with his hand.  If he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his tongue.  And if he is not able to do so, then let him change it with his heart, though that is the weakest faith.”

Do you see it?

 

With your hand, change it.  In a recent SP class, we were talking about figurative and literal meanings.  The Prophet (saws) told his wives that the ones with the longest hands would be the first to join him.  The wives thought he meant literally who had the biggest hands, and measured against each other.  In the end, the first wife to pass on was the one who had given the most in charity.  She had stretched her hand out to give charity, making it the longest.  Use your hands to reach into your bank account and give.  Islamic Relief must have some access, because we received a letter from them yesterday saying they had delivered $130,000 worth of medical supplies within the first 48 hours.  With your hand, change it.

With your tongue, change it.   Write a letter to the editor.  Write your representative and/or senator.  With your tongue, change it.

With your heart, change it.   Make abundant dua.  Turn to Allah (swt) and rely on Him, because He is the one who will change these conditions.  Our Lord! Bestow on us Mercy from Thyself, and dispose of our affair for us in the right way! [18:10].  With your heart, change it.

As I’ve written, several young somali american men have disappeared from the Twin Cities in this last year.  Their concerned family members report that these men call them to say that they’re in Somalia, and from what can be gathered, they’re there to fight the jihad.

So what’s the problem, if they’re simply fighting for freedom in their homeland and not killing innocent people?

For starters, the fiqh of jihad.  When my husband arrived in the US, a white convert approached him in the masjid and attempted to engage him in a conversation about jihad and how he hoped he would be able to go and fight soon.   The husband was suspicious that the man was possibly an informant, trying to snag him in some kind of drag net.  He simply told the man that first he needed to learn the fiqh of jihad, and then he walked away.

The fiqh of jihad is complicated and places a lot of rules and restrictions on what a fighter can and cannot do.  There would be a lot less slaughtering of innocent civilians and a lot more noble fighting if these men actually took the time to learn what the beloved Prophet (saws) taught his companions about fighting.

These young men snuck away to fight without telling their parents, and caused them much worry and distress.  Is this what the Prophet (saws) advised?

Ab Sa’eed Khudri (ra) narrated that a person migrated to Rasulullah (saws) from Yemen. He enquired of him: “Do you have anyone in Yemen?” He replied: “Yes, my parents.” “Did they grant you permission?” he asked. He replied: “No”, upon this he said: “Return to them and seek their permission. If they agree, you may wage Jihad or else do good unto them.”[Ab Dawud]

Hadhrat Abdullah bin Amr (ra) reports that a person came to the Holy Prophet (saws) seeking permission to go for Jihad. He asked: “Are your parents alive?” “Yes”, he replied. Upon this he declared: “In them both you should make Jihad.” (Meaning that you should wage Jihad by serving them since this entails the same reward as Jihad) [Bukhari, Muslim and Tirmizi]

Mu’wiyah bin Jahimah (ra) reports that Jahimah once came to Rasulullah (saws) and said: “O Rasulullah! I intend to go into Jihad. I’ve come to you seeking your good counsel.” He asked him: “Is your mother alive.” “Yes,” he replied. Rasulullah (saws) then said: “Hold fast onto (serving) her as paradise lies near her foot.” [Ahmad, Bayhaqi, Nasaie]

Ibne Umar (ra) narrates that the Holy Prophet (saws) stated: “As a measure of good behaviour unto your parents, by you relaxing on the bed making them laugh and they making you laugh is more superior than you waging Jihad with a sword in the path of Allah azza wa Jalla.” [Kanzul - Umm'l]

Certainly, I’m no faqih, but I’m pretty certain that the parties that are recruiting these men from area masjids aren’t either, because there seems to be a pretty clear consensus among the ulema about how one should deal with their parents before partaking in jihad.

“Obeying parents is an individual obligation (fard `ayn), while Jihad (fighting in the Cause of Allah) is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). So, the former takes precedence over the latter. Hence, one is not allowed to participate in Jihad without seeking the consent of one’s parents. Consequently, parents can prevent their son from fighting, if they consider it too dangerous.

Al-Qastalani states that the majority of scholars maintain that one is not allowed to set out for Jihad if his parents or even one of them do not agree. But this is only applicable if parents are Muslims and Jihad does not become an individual obligation (fard `ayn).

Therefore, kindness and obedience to one’s parents are preferable to Jihad, for as we know, the former is an individual obligation, while the latter is a collective one, so long as there is no urgency.

For example, when `Abbas ibn Mirdas wanted to participate in Jihad, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told him – on knowing his mother to be elderly – that he was to take care of his mother, because obeying her would lead him to Paradise.

Al-Bukhari also reported in his Sahih (Authentic Collection of Hadith) that Ibn Mas`ud asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “O Allah’s Messenger! What are the best deeds?” The Prophet replied, “Performing prayer on time.” Ibn Mas`ud asked, “Then what?” The Prophet said: “Obeying one’s parents.” Ibn Mas`ud said, “Then what?” The Prophet said, “Jihad.”

Thus, we see that the Prophet made kindness and obedience to parents a priority over Jihad. It is also reported, on the authority of `Abdullah ibn `Amr ibn Al-`Aas that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to take his permission to fight in the cause of Allah. The Prophet asked him whether his parents were alive. The man said that they were. Hence, the Prophet said: “Taking care of them equals Jihad.”

Moreover, it is reported in the Authentic Books of Hadith, on the authority of Zayd ibn Khalid, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever provides a fighter in the Cause of Allah with the necessary equipment for Jihad gains the same reward equal to that of the fighter.”

‘Providing for a fighter in the Cause of Allah’ means supporting him whether financially or physically. So, the Prophet stated that such a person receives the same reward as the fighter, even though he is not actually involved in fighting. This is because without such support one can not afford Jihad.”

Terror suspect’s case drags on 5 years after arrest in Minneapolis

On a cold December morning five years ago, FBI agents knocked on the door of a basement apartment in northeast Minneapolis, and Mohamed Abdullah Warsame answered.

He let the agents in to talk, and later they took him to another location to talk more. He hasn’t been home since.

For five years, Warsame, now 35, has been awaiting trial on charges that he provided material support to Al-Qaida. A Canadian citizen of Somali descent, he has done most of the waiting alone in a jail cell, under special restrictions that limit his contact with the outside world.

…

Warsame’s case may be cited as the debate rages about what to do with detainees if Guantanamo closes, said Robert Chesney, a Wake Forest University professor who compiled the data on 108 defendants. Warsame’s is the longest pretrial detention of the post-9/11 terrorism prosecutions that Chesney has found.

…

Warsame, who was a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College at the time of his arrest, is charged with lying to federal agents about traveling to Afghanistan in 2000 and later sending $2,000 to an associate he met at a training camp there. Authorities contend Warsame once dined next to Osama bin Laden and fought on the front lines with the Taliban.

The U.S. attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.

A defense attorney said early in the case that Warsame was searching for a Muslim utopia and went to training camps because he was out of money and needed shelter. The attorney said someone had lent Warsame money to get back to North America and the money he sent was repayment.

Ok, nothing to wake me out of my cold induced kitty high like a bs islamaphobic lawsuit:

AIG Bailout Promotes Shariah Law, Lawsuit Claims

The suit — brought with the support of the Thomas More Law Center, a non-profit law firm that promotes conservative Christian values — claims that making U.S. taxpayers comply with Shariah, the Islamic legal framework based on the Koran, is unconstitutional.

This month, AIG announced that it would offer Shariah-compliant homeowner insurance policies, known as takaful, to U.S. customers through one of its subsidiaries. To be Shariah compliant, companies cannot earn interest and must agree to send a percentage of their revenue to Islamic charitable groups.

The lawsuit — by Iraq war veteran Kevin Murray, on behalf of U.S. taxpayers, against Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Federal Reserve — claims that by subsidizing AIG, the federal government is conveying “…a message of endorsement and promotion of Shariah-based Islam … and [a] message of disfavor of and hostility toward Christianity and Judaism.

I hadn’t heard of a shariah compliant insurance policy.  We have renters insurance through state farm at present.  *makes mental note to investigate further*

ps – to the lawsuit filers I say bwahah!

…see, I told you I’m no good at sticking with things!  Too many things that I read/hear and I think, ah, gotta blog about that!

Congressman Ellison makes his pilgrimage to Mecca
Rep. Ellison completes “hajj” pilgrimage to Mecca

“It was transformative. It was a wonderful experience,” Ellison said in a telephone interview today. “I learned a lot about myself, about my faith.”

He said that word soon got around that he was a congressman — some people had recognized him from TV — and he wound up talking to groups of 60 or 70 people.

“I didn’t want to turn it into a politics thing,” he said. “I was trying to play it low. I really wasn’t trying to play the role of the public official.”

Ellison said he talked to the groups about “the importance of calling on your spiritual journey, and that whether you’re a postman or businessman or a congressman, we all need to do what we do better. With more purpose and more focus, and a greater sense of serving humanity and looking out for the poor and stuff like that.”

Ellison says he was struck by the diversity of the people who made the journey, seeing people from many different parts of the world.

“You had people of all backgrounds, all races, all descriptions,” he said. “You had people there who were clearly well-to-do, you had people who were desperately poor,” but everyone was “kind of the same.”

People were encouraged about the role the U.S. will play under President-elect Barack Obama, Ellison said. The fact that Obama’s middle name is Hussein and he had a Muslim father came up in conversation.

“People think that the (incoming) president might have a higher level of sensitivity,” Ellison said.

The comments on the articles are typical, expected and sadly amusing. 

This American Life – Act One. You Gotta Ask Yourself One Question: Do You Feel Clucky? Well…Do ya, Punk? 

Still available for a free download, so get it while it lasts!  I listened to this via podcast over Thanksgiving.  Amusing story about a taweez and a chicken in Afghanistan.

Egyptian Students Explore America In ‘Chicago’

Former Egyptian presidential candidate Alaa Al Aswany is a journalist and the Arab world’s best-selling fiction writer. He makes his living as a dentist in Cairo, which affords him an intimate look at the everyday lives of Egyptians — who often inspire his works.

His latest book, Chicago: A Novel, follows several recent Egyptian emigres as they study at the University of Illinois and their professors, who emigrated to the U.S. decades earlier.

Al Aswany says he drew from his own experiences as a student at the University of Illinois in the 1980s. And he tells Weekend Edition host Liane Hansen that the experience had a big impact.

“I learned something very important in my life in America … what I call the know-how of success. How do you become a successful person?” Al Aswany says he took this knowledge back to Egypt and applied it to his writing.

Holiday Cow shopping in Kabul

Finding A Connection To Judaism During the Eid

The Chabad center they led is about a mile from my grandmother’s apartment in Mumbai. That is where I learned what it means to be a Muslim.

I traveled to India 10 years ago with my friend Kevin, a Jew. My grandmother treated him like family from the moment he walked in the door. Every morning, she would call for Kevin to come into her room. She would hold his head in her lap and whisper Arabic prayers over him, asking God to keep him safe, to guide him on the straight path, to help him be a mercy upon the world.

When she saw Kevin’s books on Judaism, she could hardly contain her excitement. “He is ‘Ahl al kitab,’ ” she would say — meaning he was part of the Abrahamic tradition, a son of the patriarch. My grandmother knew there was a Jewish community in Mumbai and ordered my cousin to track it down so Kevin could have Shabbat dinner. That’s when I first learned there were Jews in India.

My grandmother told us a story about the Prophet Muhammad. A funeral caravan passed him one day, and he was told that it carried the body of a Jew. The prophet stood up to show his respect.

I’m temporarily emerging from my self imposed hiatus to comment on local news that’s become international.  The curious case of the disapearing Minnesota Somalis has made it big time.  It was even on CNN arabic, according to my husband.

I went to the Minnesota Dawah Center, one of the masjids being investigated, on Friday night for an eid get together.  It was rather nice.  We played trivia (I won a hat) and we had somali food for a late dinner.  The only talk while I was there was about teenagers and keeping them engaged with Islam. 

It does appear the masjid is being harassed by local authorities.  An inspector came out this week and found that the sprinkler system was deficient, and that they have to make $20,000 in improvements on it by the end of the year, or risk being condemned.  Granted, the sprinkler system probably does need improvements, but the timing is suspect.  This masjid has been in place for probably 2 years, and it’s being worked on and improved every time I’ve been there.  To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time they’ve received a letter threatening condemnation.

So now the question is – donate money to a group that is possibly being investigated, or let the mosque close?  In general, it does good things for the community – it provides a place for young muslims to come and hang out, it educates people, and has social events to keep kids out of trouble.  But then there’s the suspicion of terrorism hanging over head.

*sigh*

Somalis’ Holy Trip Ends at Airport

Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmed of Abubakar As-Saddique, a large mosque in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis, and the mosque’s youth coordinator, who did not want to give his name, were not allowed to board a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but were not told why. The youth coordinator said others in a group that planned to make the trip — a hajj, or spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina– also were not allowed to board, but he did not know how many people were involved.

Mahir Sherif, a California attorney who represents Abubakar as well as other Somali mosques across the country, said there are many possible reasons why the men are on the federal Transportation Security Administration’s “no fly” list, which as of mid-August contained about 50,000 names. But he suspects that the reasons are linked to stories circulating in the Somali community that the mosque has been used to indoctrinate and train young men to return to Somalia — stories that Sherif strongly denied Sunday.

I haven’t been to this masjid and only heard rumors in passing about a Minnesota Somali returning to Somalia to become a suicide bomber.  

Earlier this year, my sister ate at a restuarant that was attacked in Mumbai last week.  In 2005, a hotel my husband was considering working for in Sharm el Sheikh was bombed.  It’s frightening when these international events hit close to home, and unfortunately, this is another such incident.

Want to follow the story?  Don’t get your news recycled in the national media, hashed and rehashed by pundits.  Go straight to the best local news coverage in the state – Minnesota Public Radio.

206 votes people.  206 out of 2,885,502 votes cast.  2 0 6.  .007%.  Don’t ever say your vote doesn’t matter.

That’s about all I have to say today.  Alhamdulilah.  Yes we did.  It’s been a long time since I’ve cried tears of joy.

Also, I think I’m going to name my cat Hope.

Alhamdulilah!

OMGosh, so freakin sad

Obama’s grandma passes away before the election

In other random election news thoughts: 

• I took the morning off to vote tomorrow.  I figure I’ll swing by the precinct at 6:30 and see if there’s a line.  inshaAllah I’ll vote and then wear my “I voted” sticker proudly all day.
• My sister has been canvasing for Obama these last few days in Virginia.  I wish I wasn’t so shy.  I hate walking up to random people and talking.  I did non partisan voter registration in college and hated every minute of it.
• I hope I can wake up Wednesday morning and not cry.

Via City of Brass, a letter from a muslim who is an active member of the republican party and a candidate for office who’s own party waged war on her because of her religion and ethnicity.  Read the whole thing on City of Brass:

Soon after my nomination, a certain segment of the Republican party made it known that they rejected the nomination due to my ethnic and faith background. They claimed that I was not a “Real” Republican and launched an intensive “character assassination” campaign, in which I was labeled a “radical” and “terror apologist.” My Republican opponent claimed that my intentions “may not always have been so benign towards America.” He invited volunteers to join him to defend the “home front in the War on Islamist Terror.”

Regrettably, the Republican leadership refused to address the problem. The Colorado Republican Chairman, dismissed the claims as the usual “campaign business.” The Republican US Senate Candidate announced  his unqualified endorsement of the abuser. Others, like the Colorado former Speaker of the House went so far as to circulate e-mails that accused me of being an “Islamist mole” and a “strong threat” to Western civilization. My attackers were invited to bring forth any evidence to sustain their charges, but none did.

“She should be jailed for treason” and “The wombs of Arab women are bomb factories,” said the letters in multiple media outlets. To no avail, I pleaded with party officers to urge a minimum standard of decency and truthfulness in campaign politics. The response was that the attacks had not reached the “extreme or outrageous” level which would warrant action to “arbitrate campaign rhetoric.” Instead, I was warned to drop out of the race or face a scandal that would so completely ruin my reputation that I “won’t find anyone in town ” to talk to me. Needless to say, I felt relief when the so-called “real” Republican won the Primary election. Only God knows what other trumped-up claims they would have made, if I had won.

Exciting time in Minnesota, doncha know!  I neglected to see Barack when he’s been in the Cities.  The last time, the line was over a mile long by the time I got to downtown Saint Paul, and it looked like it was going to rain.  Um yeah, asthma aggrivation to the max.  kthxby.

Looks like I have a last chance to revel in a large political gathering.  Wouldn’tcha know, I work like 3 blocks from here.  From the Franken campaign email:

President Bill Clinton is coming to Minnesota for Al Franken, the Obama campaign, and the rest of the Democratic ticket Thursday evening and we’d love for all of you to be there.
This is a huge opportunity to hear from the last great President of this country – someone who understood that real economic prosperity doesn’t trickle down from Wall Street and the wealthy, it’s built with American jobs and tax cuts for the middle class. It’s also a great chance to get fired up for the BIGGEST GOTV EFFORT IN MINNESOTA HISTORY!

Here are the details:
WHAT:Rally to Get Out The Vote with Former President Bill Clinton, Al Franken, and the Obama campaign
WHEN:THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 — doors open at 7:00 pm, rally begins at 7:30 pm
WHERE:Minneapolis Convention Center, Hall A
(Parking available across the street)

This will be a FREE event — and if you’d like to come, all you have to do is RSVP!
JOIN PRESIDENT CLINTON, AL FRANKEN, & THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN – CLICK HERE TO RSVP!

In other news, I have next Tuesday morning off to vote

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/_fzDq1XiBpQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

 I'm sorry Hollywood, why should I care what you have to say about the senate seat in my state?  Are you residents of Minnesota?  When did you last visit?  Do you have any business interests here?   When was the last time you had hot dish or ate a deep fried pickle off a stick?Please bugger off.

Sincerely,
A P.O.ed Minne-snow-tan.

p.s. booo Vikings, go Packers!

Apparently the Twin Cities is going to find out!  wo0t!

http://www.stthomas.edu/mcdc/events/default.html#daliamogahed

 Dalia MogahedWho Speaks for Muslims?  What A Billion Muslims Think
7:00 PM Wednesday, November 5, 2009
3M Auditorium, Owens Science Hall

---

Dalia Mogahed is a Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a non-partisan research center dedicated to providing data-driven analysis on the views of Muslim populations around the world.  With John L. Esposito, Ph.D., she is coauthor of the book Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think.  Her analyses have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy magazine, the Harvard Review, the Middle East Policy journal, and many other academic and popular journals.  Mogahed is a member of Women in International Security, serves on the leadership group of the Project on U.S. Engagement with the Global Muslim Community, and is a member of the Crisis in the Middle East Task Force of the Brookings Institution. For more information contact the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center
at 651-962-5650 or mcdc@stthomas.edu

Looks like this is becoming a weekly thing.  I think I’m going to change the name of it though – ah minnesota, doncha know.

Judge’s Email Raises Questions

Hennepin County District Judge and Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Deborah Hedlund received an e-mail Monday with the subject line, “Can Muslims Be Good Americans?”

The e-mail came to Hedlund and several other people from Matt Look, owner of Ramsey-based Look Signs, with whom Hedlund was negotiating for some lawn signs.

…

In her reply message to Look — which she inadvertently sent to all original recipients — Hedlund wrote: “Matt, We speak the same language. And I still need to let voters know they have a choice to ‘Seek Justice, Vote For Experience’ for the Minnesota Supreme Court.”

She goes on to discuss negotiations for the signs she wants him to make.

Hedlund said Tuesday that she did not read the message about Muslims and that her comment about speaking “the same language” referred to the fact that she believed she and Look had a deal on the signs.

*Looks around for rolling eyes smilie*

Some republicans have warmed my cold, cold, cynical liberal heart:

McCain supporters defend Islam, shout down Obama attackers

But, lest I get too warm and fuzzy, McCain camp doesn’t allow Muslims for McCain to speak with CNN. 

Worried it will alienate your base?

(muslim) student charged with reporting fake attack

Two words:

Audrey.  Seiler.

I was there.  It was crazy.  The entire campus banded together to search for her.  Donations were made.  The government spent $100,000 looking for Audrey.  All the national media was there.  And when they found her, and were closing in on her “kidnapper” in the swamps, I watched it unfold live on CNN from the cafeteria where I was working.

It was all a hoax, and 4 years later, Audrey isn’t even notable enough to warrent a wikipedia page.

Now the usual suspects are out there raging about those dang muzzies who’ve done it again.  Now they have a reason to look on hate crime reports with suspicion. 

Moral of the story:  Don’t cry wolf.

*sigh*

From The Iraq War, A Troubled Romance In America

Escaped from an abusive family in Iraq, only to become a stripper and a child abuser here in the US.

I do however have words for the commentors who seem to think that this is typical of a cross culture relationship.  I hope NPR does a piece about intercultural families that suceed.  There’s no shortage of couples like this on VJ, including several who met their spouses while serving overseas in the military.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/MRq6Y4NmB6U" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

"I know him, he's an arab."

"No ma'am, he's a decent family man, citizen..."

So if one is an arab, he's not a family man? Arabs aren't decent people?

McCain Volunteer Sends Out "Obama is an Arab" Letters

Quinnell: I still do. Yeah. I’m not alone. I go to Burnsville, the main Republican headquarters and I do a lot of work over there. A lot of sending out mail and talking to people. And all the people agree with what I’m saying to you about Obama.

...

Quinnell: Yeah , but he’s still got Muslim in him. So that’s still part of him. I got all the stuff from the library and I could send you all kinds of stuff on him. In fact….Bush: What did you think about McCain said. He said he’s a decent person.Quinnell: Well he did have didn’t have (unintelligible) I think McCain wanted to (unintelligible) I don’t think he wanted to say anything against him. You know he didn’t want to cut him down. That was my way of thinking. I don’t think he wanted to cut him down. So he just kind of brushed me off.

In Lakeville, McCain tamps down hostility

McCain found himself in the odd and uncomfortable position of defending an opponent who is pulling away in many polls at the end of a week when he and running mate Sarah Palin stepped up their own attacks against Obama — often inspiring outbursts at raucous rallies, complete with cries of “terrorist” and “off with his head.”

The Minnesota gathering lacked that kind of harshness [rahma adds: ah, good ol Minnesota nice. We'll smile in your face, but stab you in the back], but sustained booing greeted many of McCain’s attempts to discourage the crowd’s fear and anger. Of the 21 questions posed to McCain during 45 minutes of give-and-take, one-third challenged him to take on Obama more aggressively, with a few making incendiary comments.

This is why I’m not moving to the suburbs. Yes, it would be nice to have a big yard, a newer house, etc etc etc. But this kind of thinking is rampent out there. Nope, instead I think I’ll stick to the Twin Cities proper, preferably in the 5th congressional district represented by Keith Ellison.

An updateon the Episcopal Priest(ess) who claims to be both a muslim and a christian.

Wolf has affirmed that determination, barring Redding from functioning as a priest for the next six months.

According to church law, unless Redding resigns her priesthood or denies being a Muslim during those six months, the bishop has a duty to defrock — or depose — her, as the process is formally known.

…

While she does not regret going public about her embrace of Islam, she does acknowledge being naive about the controversy her announcement would stir up.

“I can definitely be a Pollyanna,” she said. “It never occurred to me it was something to be in the closet about. I just thought it was great.”

Getting to know Islam was “like falling in love,” she said. “You want to share it, you want to get on a rooftop and start shouting.”

The article discusses the Episcopal church’s reaction to this synchronism of faith, but nothing about the muslim view.  And as much as I feel for the sister, if you fall in love with Islam, you fall in love with Allah (swt) and with Muhammad (swt).  Seriously, WWMD (what would Muhammad do)?  Christians and Jews who converted under the Prophet (saws) often still maintained their kinship ties with their christian and jewish families, but they didn’t practice those faiths anymore. 

How did McCain-Palin get my cellphone number?   Is nothing sacred?

Egypt family attacked in sectarian dispute

CAIRO, Oct 7 (Reuters) – An Egyptian Christian man angry at his sister’s conversion to Islam and marriage to a Muslim broke into her Cairo apartment and sprayed gunfire on the family of three, killing the husband, security sources said on Tuesday.

They said the woman, Mariam Atef Khilla, and her baby daughter Nora had also been shot and were critically wounded in the overnight attack. Police were searching for the brother and an uncle.

Khilla converted to Islam three years ago to marry her husband against the wishes of her family, the sources said. One source said the woman’s brother had asked the couple to divorce so she could return to Christianity, but they had refused.

I’m not a big fan of the headline they use.   And there appears to be only a single version of the story bumping around the net in english.  There is so much more to a story like this.  I’m hesitant to comment any further on it, without knowing more about the family history, the brother’s mental state, among other details.  But at least on the surface it fits the honor killing mode – pissed off male family member attacks female relative for commiting an act that afronts the family dignity.

hadith mentioned in Sh. Hamza’s Eid address:

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (saws) as saying: Verily, Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, would say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I was sick but you did not visit Me. He would say: O my Lord; how could I visit Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? Thereupon He would say: Didn’t you know that such and such servant of Mine was sick but you did not visit him and were you not aware of this that if you had visited him, you would have found Me by him? O son of Adam, I asked food from you but you did not feed Me. He would say: My Lord, how could I feed Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? He said: Didn’t you know that such and such servant of Mine asked food from you but you did not feed him, and were you not aware that if you had fed him you would have found him by My side? (The Lord would again say: ) O son of Adam, I asked drink from you but you did not provide Me. He would say: My Lord, how could I provide Thee whereas Thou art the Lord of the worlds? Thereupon He would say: Such and such of servant of Mine asked you for a drink but you did not provide him, and had you provided him drink you would have found him near Me.

From saheeh muslim

Where is the accountability within our own community to speak out against criminals?

Somalis divide their anger between police, community

“We have to have witnesses,” Dolan replied. “Police cannot solve this by themselves. Police didn’t do this, but we need your help. Bring that rage home and have somebody come forward to police or to community leaders who can help them come forward.”

…

Jalil Hussein, another U student, said security at the center is too lax and people hang around out front and in the adjacent park, some selling drugs. Noting he had seen young children playing in the park unattended, he told community parents: “You need to control your kids. You need to know when they eat, when they sleep and when they come home. … Our kids are out of control.”

…

He said later that Somalis are conflicted between their Muslim beliefs, social clan rules that say they should protect clan members whether they do good or ill and threats of harm if they talk to police. He said the Qur’an mandates that anyone seeing a murder must inform authorities. “People have called me to ask if it is a sin not to inform authorities if we they are facing [death] threats,” he said. “I tell them it is a major sin if you don’t inform.”

There’s no such thing as “don’t snitch” in islam.

Fear, questions after Augsburg student ambushed

Ali was the third Somali man from Minneapolis killed since April. Nobody has been arrested in any of the cases, and Huffman said it’s too early to determine if the killings are related.

Ali’s death stunned the Augsburg campus, where more than 700 students, friends and faculty joined for a gathering at Foss Chapel on Tuesday morning. Ali, who was studying political science and international relations, had played on the college’s soccer team and helped start the campus’ Muslim student association.

To come so far, fleeing war and violence, only to meet that end on your doorstep.  inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon.  To God we belong and to Him is our return.

Apparently there is a growing gang problem among the somali youth here in the twin cities.  And it looks like they’re targeting those who are trying to make something of themselves.  Ya Allah!

Via Dawud Walid:

 Watch the janazah of Imam Mohammed at 1:30 pm central time today at the Muslim Journal website.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said; Three supplications will not be rejected: the supplication of the parent for his child, the supplication of the one who is fasting, and the supplication of the traveler. [al-Bayhaqi, at-Tirmidhi - Sahih]

The prophet (saws) declared, ‘Three men whose dua is never rejected (by Allah) are: when a fasting person breaks fast (in another narration, the fasting person until he breaks his fast), the just ruler and the one who is oppressed.’[Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi - Hasan]

Are you taking advantage of this month in your dua?  Are you supplicating your little hearts out?  Please include these people in your dua:

Cairo Rockslide Deathtoll Climbs

At least 47 people are known to have died in a rockslide at a shanty town in Cairo, the Egyptian capital.

Some reports say hundreds more people may be buried beneath the rubble. Hopes of finding more survivors are fading though rescue efforts continue.

The authorities have been criticised for a delay in sending heavy machinery.

Ramadan Curbs Imposed on Muslims in Western China

The rules include prohibiting women from wearing veils and men from growing beards, as well as barring government officials from observing Ramadan. One town, Yingmaili, requires that local officials check up on mosques at least twice a week during Ramadan.

…

They include barring teachers and students from observing Ramadan, prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques and requiring men to shave off beards and women to doff veils. Mosques cannot let people from outside of town stay overnight and restaurants must maintain normal hours of business. Many restaurants close in daytime hours during Ramadan because of the sunrise-to-sunset fasting.

Alhamdulilah, the RNC is done, and the republicans and inshaAllah rioters have gone home.  Thursday was another eventful evening.  The city of Saint Paul made a huge mistake – they granted limited permits to march and gather.  The permit for Thursday’s gathering ended at 5.  The protesters wanted to march after 5, so they marched.  Thus, the streets of downtown Saint Paul were all jammed.

So the bus let us off up north of the capital.  No one knew anything.  No communication.  Were the buses running downtown?  Should I walk the 3/4 of a mile down there only to find out there were no buses, and have to hike out the mile and a half I hiked on Monday?  I decided to just walk straight to that point at University and Lafayette that I did on Monday, in my dress shoes.  Alhamdulilah I don’t wear heels.  Alhamdulilah it wasn’t 90 degrees.  Still, it took me 2 hours to get home, when it normally takes me just one.

I have several regrets about this week:

1.  I didn’t get tickets to the daily show.  Dur.  This is a regret for 2 reasons.  One, I *heart* Jon Stewart, and the shows this week were awesome.  Two, I shouldn’t be so upset about missing this during Ramadan.  I should be spending this time focusing on Allah (swt), but no, my heart is tied to the dunya and to Jon Stewart.
2. I was too attached to the dunya all around.  I fell behind miserably on my ibadah goals.  Usually I don’t lose momentum until midway through the second week.  This time, I had no momentum from the get go.

Ok, I guess it’s just a few regrets, not several, but still.  Some things did go well however:

1. Prayed fajr at the masjid on Saturday.  There were only 2 other people there besides my husband and I, and no kids, so it was very quiet.  This gave me uninterrupted ibadah time.  Unfortunately, this messed up the husband’s sleep pattern, which in turn made him sick, so he’s not too keen to go and spend the dawn hours out again *sigh*
2. Iftar at the masjid.  I’m usually quite shy, and as such, I haven’t interacted too much with people at the masjid iftars.  This year I’m doing it different.  I’m saying salaams to everyone and striking up conversations.  Imagine that, it’s working
3. The Egyptian iftar.  I’ve been trying to get in with the women who make the egyptian masjid iftar for years.  This year, I was actually invited to help cook.  Huzzah!  2 saturdays from now, inshaAllah I’ll be elbow deep in egyptian food.   I make a pretty mean grape leaf mahshy (stuffed grape leaves), and inshaAllah I can learn other dishes as well.

Next week, here are the goals inshaAllah:

1.  Read a juz every day
2. Learn one new surah
3. Go to taraweeh prayer at least once

I have like, 0 ramadan spirit right now.

This is my home people are rioting in and tear gasing up.  Following the convention chaos is sucking up all of my time.  I want to look away, to turn off the computer, step back, breath, but I can’t.

I was planning a suhor at Mickey’s sometime soon.  Looks like it will have to be later rather than sooner.  The weekend cook is so nice.  I ordered hashbrowns, and he asked if I was muslim.  Um, yeah.  He told me he made them with lard, but he could do it with butter instead.  How nice is that?

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/2/rep_keith_ellison_d_minn_condemns

Haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. 

I’m not looking forward to the commute home.  Word from the anarchists is that they’re going to do more disruptions today.  The march is scheduled for 4.  I normally roll into downtown St. Paul around 5:15.  That should be plenty of time for these rioters to get their party started and disrupt bus service again.  I am definately not a happy camper.

Now I can say been there, done that. I’ve seen riots up close and personal, and I have no wish to repeat that experience.

Ah, but let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

A friend and I decided we’d March on the RNC. So far, so good. I was decked out in my FUNdamentalist tshirt and neon green scarf, while my friend chose a more conservative red, black and white hijab ensamble.

Because we were some of the very few hijabis there, we got a lot of notice. Quite a few people snapped our pictures and complimented our signs. We also got a number of garbled assalamu alaikums. I’ve finally found my people and they love me

We rallied at the State Capital first. It was nice and calm. We wandered around, snapping pictures and thinking, wow, this is really nice and calm. Yeah, or so we thought…

Around 1, people began to assemble on the streets to March to the Xcel Energy Center. Ah, they’re starting on time, how nice? Oh, what do the Middle East and the Peace Movement have in common? They’re both late for everything! After milling around on the street for 20 minutes, we finally got moving.

Alas, the route the city gave us kept us far from any actual RNC delegates or peeps. Seriously, I probably saw a dozen people in suits who looked republican-ish the entire time.

Can you see the republicans? Where you say? Oh, no, this is as close as we got. They hurded us through a steel cage when we got close to the Xcel.

There was, however, quite a bit of media. Yes, dear readers, this life long NPR fan was interviewed by NPR. When the guy came up and introduced himself as being from public radio, I seriously did a fan girl squeal. OMG NPR!!!##!@! I did manage to compose myself. inshaAllah I sounded intelligent enough to make it on the radio.

So we marched…and marched…and marched…Yeah, there was a lot of marching. We tried to break out early to catch our bus, since we didn’t want to march all the way back up to the capital, only to have to hike back down to catch the bus. Apparently though, the right to walk on the streets of my very own city were suspended. See, protesters can only walk on the route. No deviations. I even offered to chuck my sign, since it was 90 degrees and we were getting faint. No sympathy. Dur.

So we marched on up, finally found a road not guarded by cops, and hiked back downtown to pick up the bus. Yeah. No bus. I called Metro Transit, who said that bus service had been suspended because of rioting. Rioting? Uh oh…

So we try to hike up to another bus stop, hoping the buses will be there. Oh, what’s all that noise? Those gun shots? That gas? The riots! Run!!!

We tried to get out of dodge. Unfortunately, we were heading east towards my apartment, and the rioters were heading east. Scary stuff yo. We eventually did catch a bus, after hiking 2 miles out of downtown. Dur.

These are the pictures I managed to get of the riots. Granted, I was trying to run away, so I didn’t get anything very good.

Luckily, some reporters risked their hides to get some for you all.

minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/01/rnc_day1/

A protester is arrested by police in St. Paul, Minn., on the first day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Monday, Sept. 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Amy Forliti)

St. Paul police officers get surrounded by a group of protesters using a sign during an anti-war protest at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, Sept. 1, 2008.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Apparently they had to call out the National Guard to quell the rioters.  More coverage and pictures from the Strib.

So now all of Saint Paul is mad at the “protesters” for doing dumb stuff like smashing up our city. Dur.

inshaAllah I’ll write more. Right now I’m sun addled. Going to take a nice, long, cold bath.

I’ve got my sign (peace and love dove) prepped, and my outfit all picked out (my fav FUNdamentalist shirt + my hot green scarf).  Now I’ve just got to steel my nerves.  The RNC is coming to town, and along with it, a massive bunch of protesters  and major trouble.

The police have been conducting raids, arresting potential rabble rousers.   My bus goes by the jail, which is starting to look more like the US Embassy in Cairo than anything one should find in US cities.  I write that because I wanted to post a picture of the fortifications, but couldn’t find any of the jail here.  I thought I could find some of the embassy, but alas, sheikh google has let me down.  Think giant concrete blocks, 10 foot high fences and a corral system, guarded by guys with very large guns.

My grandma asked me last week if I was going to volunteer.  I had to stiffle a snicker.  Sure Grandma, I’m going to be part of the welcoming committee.  I’ll throw on my black abaya, maybe a niqab for good measure and drive out to the airport with a big ol Welcome to Minnesota sign, in hopes that the delegates will take one look at me and turn right back around.

No, my grandma isn’t a republican, she’s just civic minded.  Her boss was the chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin back in the 50s, so she got dragged into it too.  One of my favorite stories that she tells is of a dinner she went to, where Joseph McCarthy was the guest of honor.  While everyone stood and applauded when he entered, she stayed seated and shot him an evil eye.  Go Grandma!

Monday is D day, potentially the first day of Ramadan, and the march on the RNC.  inshaAllah I’ll get pictures.  The husband will not be joining me.  He’s still a permanent resident, and doesn’t want to risk getting in trouble with the law.  I’m not planning on doing any civil disobedience, and as such, hope not to get arrested, but please make dua that I don’t.   If you see a girl in a neon green hijab being dragged away kicking and screaming, that’s yours truly.

Muslim Rep. Ellison preaches peace, democracy, here and abroad

Minnesota is home to a fair number of African immigrants, so Ellison’s work on Africa is local as well as international. This year, he hosted a forum in Minnesota on the Horn of Africa, with the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa subcommittee, New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne.

“We had these immigrant communities from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya voice how they felt about U.S. policy toward the Horn of Africa,” Ellison said. “It was a tough meeting, because everybody wanted to be heard. You had people with long-standing grievances, really just wanting to be heard by people who represent them.”

At one point, someone said he supported the Ethiopian presence in Somalia — “a minority view,” Ellison noted.

“And people began to shout him down. I then stood up and said, ‘Everyone gets to say what they think here, and we’ll listen.”‘

I was at the forum. He handled it very well.

Ellison accompanied local Muslims for Islamic prayers in Mauritania and Kenya, and in Saudi Arabia, the king invited him to go on the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

That’s one trip that Ellison plans to do as a private citizen — not as a guest of the king, but “on my own nickel.”

Ellison said he gets plenty of invitations to go on congressional trips, but as for the rest of this year, “The only place I really hope to go is Mecca.”

May Allah (swt) make the trip easy and accept his hajj, ameen.

Oh no wait, it’s Ingrid Mattson.  It’s all I can do just to shake my head at the foolishness of the right wing blogosphere.  Seriously, really, she’s a radical islamist?  If she’s radical, who’s not?

Faith is what we live for

Another [standing ovation] was reserved for Mattson, who said she tells Islamic leaders abroad that Muslims in the United States still face discrimination constantly.

Despite the difficulties, Mattson said she remains convinced that the United States “is still the best place in the world to practice our faith.”

Democrats kick off convention with interfaith gathering

Among the most compelling remarks, however, were those from Ingrid Mattson, the president of the Islamic Society of North America. She said she had been asked in whispers by Muslims abroad about how Muslims have been treated in the United States since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

While there is prejudice, Mattson said, there is also tolerance. She recognized other religious leaders who have stood up for Muslims.

“This is still the best place in the world to practice our faith,” she said.

You can view the entire event here on the CSPAN website.  I haven’t looked through it yet, so I’m not sure where she speaks.

…Sr. Ruqaya isn’t advancing to the finals.  She placed 6th in her heat, while only the first 4 advanced.

But, keep on the lookout for this talented sister.  She is steadily improving.  Who knows, maybe we’ll see her in the 2009 World Championship.

Yaay!  From CAIR:

Minn. Muslim’s Workplace Bias Complaint Resolved

CAIR-MN welcomes company’s ‘prompt and professional’ response to incident

(ST. PAUL, MN, 8/14/08) – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today said a Muslim teenager who was initially denied a job at an Old Country Buffet restaurant in that state will be offered a second interview.

CAIR-MN welcomed what it called the “prompt and professional” response to the bias complaint by Buffets Inc, the company that operates the restaurant. Buffets Inc also communicated that it has a long-standing commitment to diversity and it has a number of team members both locally and nationally that wear Islamic head scarves, or hijabs.

The Muslim job applicant told CAIR-MN she was denied employment at the Fridley, Minn., restaurant because of her religious head scarf. She said a restaurant manager told her that her religiously-mandated scarf violated the company’s uniform regulations. The manager allegedly told her to reschedule the interview if she decided to take off the scarf.

SEE: Old Country Buffet’s Hiring Under Fire (Pioneer Press)

http://www.twincities.com/ci_10144154

SEE ALSO: Old Country Buffet Accused of Discrimination (KSTP-TV)

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S537400.shtml

CAIR-MN called on Buffets Inc to investigate the incident. After completion of the investigation, the company has agreed to do the following:

1. Offer the teen an apology and invite her to finish her interview with the company while wearing her scarf.

2. Ensure that employees are complying with the law by allowing for religious accommodation to the company’s uniform policy.

3. Offer CAIR’s workplace sensitivity and diversity training.

“We thank Buffets Inc for its prompt and professional handling of this incident,” said

CAIR-MN Civil Rights Coordinator Taneeza Islam. “Our goal is to educate employers to ensure that such incidents can be avoided in the future.”

She said CAIR encourages employers who have questions about how to accommodate Muslim employees to contact the Washington-based civil rights and advocacy organization.

CAIR offers a booklet called “An Employer’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices” to help corporate managers gain a better understanding of Islam and Muslims in the workplace.

SEE: An Employer’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices

http://www.cair.com/Portals/0/pdf/employment_guide.pdf

CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

- END –

Boo! to some in the local community who were getting their undies in a bundle about the fact that Sr. Taneeza doesn’t wear hijab.  Heaven forbid someone offer a muslim FREE legal help without wearing a hijab.  Further boo! to the insinuations that those who disagree with the undy bundlers do not understand islam. 

…and thank them.  At a plant in Tennessee, Tyson Foods has agreed to the union’s request that Eid be considered a holiday and a paid day off.   Between 250 (Tyson’s number) and 700  (the unions number) muslims, mainly somalis, work at the plant.  Is that a majority of union members?  A majority of the workers?  If the 700 number is correct, then they are, according to this source.  If this is the case, why not give them eid off?  After all, many employers give their workers Christmas off (which is also a holiday at this Tyson plant).  There’s obviously nothing wrong with giving the majority their religious holiday as a paid day off, according to that precedent.

As always, stories like these have taken on a life of their own.  Those of us here in Minnesota are used to a local story involving muslims blowing up into something huge and out of proportion.  People huff and puff without asking questions to get the full story.  I wonder if that’s what is happening here as well?  I’ve gone to the websites of local papers and fallen down the rabbit hole of linkage, trying to get a local view on the story.  This blog piece in particular is quite informative in the sifting and winnowing of all the information out on the interwebz.  And speaking of rabbit holes, if you have time, read through the series the local paper in Shelbyville did about the Somali Community in December. 

 In any case, the usual calls for boycotts have sprung up in the right wing blogosphere.  If you have a minute, please write or call Tyson to thank them for accommodating their workers.

Mail:	Tyson Foods, Inc. P.O. Box 2020 Springdale, AR 72764-6999	Telephone:	1-800-643-3410
	Consumer Relations CP631 2210 West Oaklawn Drive Springdale, AR 72764-6999

Twin Cities Somalis are moving down to Postville, Iowa, to fill positions at a kosher food plant previously filled by illegal immigrants.

The influx of Somalis has been met with some surprise in a community still bewildered by the Agriprocessors raid, the largest raid of its kind in the United States. Federal agents arrested 389 people, mostly Guatemalans and Mexicans who had established roots and become part of the community.

The new immigrants have “raised some eyebrows, which is pretty normal when you get somebody different in town,” Mayor Robert Penrod said.

“That said, as far as I know, they haven’t caused a whole lot of problems. They’ve been keeping to themselves,” he said.

It’s not the first cultural change in Postville. The slaughterhouse attracted eastern Europeans in the 1990s, including immigrants from Bosnia, Poland and the former U.S.S.R. Hispanics became the majority in the past decade.

The result is a town barely covering two square miles is home to people from 24 nationalities speaking 17 languages.

It’s situations like these that increase my wariness of mass produced meat.   Not only are those who do the slaughtering treated like crap, the animals are often subjected to degrading conditions.  One of the (many) things I’m struck with when I read about the life of our beloved Prophet (saws) is his kind regard for everything, including animals.

The Prophet (saws) said “The merciful are shown mercy by the All-Merciful. Show mercy to those on earth, and He Who is in heaven will show mercy unto you.”

If we do not treat every living thing with the dignity it deserves, be it the cow that will become our hamburger or the human being working to bring that hamburger to our table, how then can we expect Allah (swt) to treat us with dignity?  If every bite you take is tainted with the mistreatment of animals and man, how can we face Allah (swt) on the day of judgment and claim that we showed mercy to those around us, when we ignored their plight?

Heck, this extends to all massed produced food and products.  How are the workers would make our clothes treated?  The migrants who are out in the fields picking our lettuce?  Methinks muslims need to get more involved in the fair trade movement.

My sister is a little behind in all the election goings on, having been on a round the world adventure from December until May.  I’ve filled her in on what she’s missed, including a lot of venting about the whole Obama muslim smear fiasco.  She recently forwarded me this joke: 

A Jew, a Christian and Barack Obama are in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Barack Obama says, “This joke isn’t going to work because there’s no Muslim in this boat.”

I’ll admit, it did bring a smile to my face, although it isn’t as good as my favorite Bush joke:

One night, a Delta twin-engine puddle jumper was flying somewhere above New Jersey.

There were four people on board: the pilot, George W. Bush, the Dalai Lama, and a school boy.

Suddenly, the engine bursts into flames and the passenger cabin began to fill with smoke. The cockpit door opened, and the pilot burst into the compartment. “Gentlemen,” he began, “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that we’re about to crash in New Jersey. The good news is that there are three parachutes, and I have one of them!” With that, the pilot threw open the door and jumped from the plane.

George W. Bush rose and said, “I’m the president and the world needs me.  And apart from that, I am the most intelligent President in the history of the country and I have a responsibility to my people not to die”. So he takes a parachute and jumps.

The Dalai Lama and the school boy looked at one another. Finally, the Dalai Lama spoke. “My son,” he said, “I have lived a satisfying life and have known the bliss of True Enlightenment. You have your life ahead of you; you take a parachute, and I will go down with the plane.”

The school boy smiled slowly and said, “Hey, don’t worry.  The most intelligent president in history just jumped out wearing my backpack.”

Last year, I wrote about potential plans to create a unified adhan in Cairo.  At present, every little store front masjid blasts their own call to prayer, often distorted by cheap sound systems turned all the way up.  It looks like the plan is still in the works.

The official was cagey at first, refusing to be drawn on whether the plan was going ahead or had been suspended, and refusing to give an ETA for the mythical unified adhan.

But then he relented and said, revealingly: “I’ll tell you something, one day you’ll find us, without media coverage… you’ll find (a unified) ‘Allahu akbar’ from the minarets.”

A year later, I still give this proposal 2 thumbs down.  There are a million things more annoying than the adhan – the pollution, the garbage everywhere, the weddings that go all night, the God awful traffic. 

Seriously, just take away everyone’s sound system and make them do it the old fashion way.   The sound of the human voice calling the faithful to prayer, – natural, unadulterated, not distorted by mikes and steroes – it is a beautiful thing.

I find them adorable.  Once they grow up, not so much, but when they’re a rolly-polly little ball of fluff, absolutely adorable.    Also, Ihasahotdog - beyond hilarious (not as good as Icanhascheezburger, but then I’m a cat person through and through).

Puppy Ad No Offense: Scottish Muslims

 

Don’t you just want to pick him up and cuddle him?  (and then go make ghusl and wash your clothes, lol).

O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan’s handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.  (Qur’an 5:90) 

an update on the man who killed Dawn:

Wu said Pas was taken to La Grange Hospital, where his blood-alcohol level was measured one hour after the accident at .33, more than four times the legal limit of .08 in Illinois.

Wu also said an open bottle of vodka was found in Pas’ car, and that witnesses told police his vehicle appeared to be swerving before the crash and having difficulty staying in its lane. Hospital personnel reported the defendant was incoherent, Wu added.

From the NYT, sent to me by Christine.  A lot from Br. Keith:

As Senator Barack Obama courted voters in Iowa last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim congressman, stepped forward eagerly to help.

Mr. Ellison believed that Mr. Obama’s message of unity resonated deeply with American Muslims. He volunteered to speak on Mr. Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, one of the nation’s oldest Muslim enclaves. But before the rally could take place, aides to Mr. Obama asked Mr. Ellison to cancel the trip because it might stir controversy. Another aide appeared at Mr. Ellison’s Washington office to explain.

“I will never forget the quote,” Mr. Ellison said, leaning forward in his chair as he recalled the aide’s words. “He said, ‘We have a very tightly wrapped message.’ ”

…

“This is the ‘hope campaign,’ this is the ‘change campaign,’ ” said Mr. Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota. Muslims are frustrated, he added, that “they have not been fully engaged in it.”

…

“A lot of us are waiting for him to say that there’s nothing wrong with being a Muslim, by the way,” Mr. Ellison said.

Mr. Ellison, a first-term congressman, remains arguably the senator’s most important Muslim supporter. He has attended Obama rallies in Minnesota and appears on the campaign’s Web site. But Mr. Ellison said he was also forced to cancel plans to campaign for Mr. Obama in North Carolina after an emissary for the senator told him the state was “too conservative.” Mr. Ellison said he blamed Mr. Obama’s aides — not the candidate himself — for his campaign’s standoffishness.

THEY WILL ASK thee about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: “In both there is great evil as well as some benefit for man; but the evil which they cause is greater than the benefit which they bring.” Quran 2:219

Sure, getting drunk can be fun.  Walk through any college campus on a Friday night and you’ll see students having tons of fun. 

Then go and talk to someone who’s had a loved one killed by alcohol.  Which is greater, the fun of the college students, or the anguish that someone was lost too soon?

The driver who killed Dawn and injured Hatem was drunk – at 11:45 a.m.  Did his benefit outweight the evil he caused?

inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’oon

to God we belong and to Him is our return

“Alif Lam. Ra. Asad(10,1) THESE ARE MESSAGES of the divine writ, full of wisdom.”  Quran 10:1 Asad(10,2)

Weather here has been pretty cruddy as of late.  I’ve lost count of the number of tornado sirens that have gone off in the last week.  But alhamdulilah, nothing major has happened up in our neck of the woods. 

The same cannot be said for many of our midwesterly neighbors to the south.  The flooding in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois has been devestating.  It hits a wee bit close to home when the roads you’ve traveled dozens of times to both your grandmother’s and parents’ homes are impassible and that places you used to live are flooded.

Now word comes from CAIR-MN that one of the first mosques in America has been damaged:

Flood Damages Historic American Mosque, Destroys Documents
CAIR-MN urges American Muslims to assist flood victims of all faiths(ST. PAUL, MN, 6/16/08) – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today called on American Muslims to help repair damage to one of the first mosques in America caused by recent flooding in Iowa.The Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids, completed in 1934, was one of the first permanent structures built specifically to serve as a mosque in the United States. The mosque had recently completed a renovation project.

Documents inside the mosque, including photographs of American Muslim immigrants from the early 1900s, were destroyed by the flood waters.

“The mosque has been visited by people from all over the country,” said Imam Taha Tawil, Director of the Mother Mosque of America. “It is part of the American Muslim identity.”

CAIR-MN is asking Muslims to donate to help restore the mosque and to assist flood victims of all faiths throughout the region.

SEE: Mother Mosque of America

mothermosque.org

The Mother Mosque is listed on both the Iowa State Historical Register and the National Register of Historic Places as an “essential piece of American religious history, which symbolizes tolerance and acceptance of Islam and Muslims in the United States.”

MAS Service Corps are consolidating muslim efforts in the area.

Some of the first mosques in the United States was built in the Midwest.  Many of them claim to be first, although there is evidence that some were built out on the east coast before them.  It seems to come down to semantics – those in the midwest (Ross, North Dakota and The Mother Mosque claim to be the first purpose build mosques.  Were the mosques on the east coast buildings converted into mosques?  Definately something to look into further.

In recent weeks, several bloggers have asked how we can address the vicious problem of honor killings.  Touched off by two posts by UmmZaid on this cruel sickness and what can we do, she asks:

What can we do, today, now to start educating Muslims in any part of the world about the truth when it comes to honor killings? What can we start today to change attitudes that silently condone this? What can we do?

What can we, as western muslims glommed on the internet do?   How can we influence the society and culture of muslims thousands of miles away from us?  Granted, there are several bloggers located in the middle east, but how does one work to change public opinion in countries with very little free speech and deep engrained culture?

As you can see, I’m kind of at a loss here.  I can’t effect my own local community very well, let alone ones in Iraq and Jordan.  Perhaps there are organizations out there, already on the ground, that could use our support?  Anyone with contacts in countries where honor killings are a problem know of any that are effective?  If we could get the english speaking muslim blogosphere to rally behind these groups, provide financial and moral support, make dua for their efforts, maybe we could make a difference?

Just googling honor killings comes up with very few organizations, and a ton of op-ed and news pieces.  What organizations are out there?

Perhaps one ray of hope in a gloomy sky – Hamas investigates honor killing of three sisters – although this is a year old.  I wonder what happened.

… my kefiyyah.  It used to have a pretty good rotation in my wardrobe during the college days, but since I’ve entered the working world, it’s rarely seen the light of day.  I think it’s been outdoors once, when the husband wore it to the Festival of Nations 2 years ago.  Howeva, it’s being called up tomorrow.  Granted, it will probably only get wear time on the bus and at jummah, since it’s decidedly political with green, white and black fringes as opposed to the more traditional simple checkered one.  But heck, better something than nothing at all. 

 

From Newsweek:

At the Grand Hyatt Cairo, a mile upstream along the Nile, the five-star hotel’s Saudi owner banned alcohol as of May 1 and ostentatiously ordered its $1.4 million inventory of booze flushed down the drains. “A hotel in Egypt without alcohol is like a beach without a sea,” says Aly Mourad, chairman of Studio Masr, the country’s oldest film outfit.

Although I rarely have a chance to say this, I give a reserved bravo to these Saudi investors.  Imagine a hotel in a predominantly muslim country, owned and operated by muslims, not selling alcohol.  It’s sacrilige is what it is.

Egyptians deplore what they call the Saudization of their culture

Although I’ll have to check back to get an exact quote from my inhouse egyptian, I’m calling bs on this one.  Perhaps some egyptians deplore this, but not all.   I know the husband talks glowingly of his year in Saudi Arabia, so I don’t really see him deploring this.

There are two ways egypt could be saudizied:

1. Their “version” of Islam is funded up the wazoo, drowning out native interpretations of the religion and stifling a more “traditional” (aka madhab based) version of Islam.  This I wold give a thumbs down to.  I would assume it’s been going on for decades already, just as it has been in the rest of the muslim world.

2. And/or they could take the business approach, as the Grand Hyatt owner did, and encourage halal business ventures.  I give this two thumbs way up.

Also, the article is completely ignoring the effect non-native dancers are having on the egyptian bellydance scence.  From my understanding, it’s pretty much dominated by russians.

Two polygany stories in the news.  One seems to show a brother who does it with honesty (if illegally) in the US among others who do it wrong, and one is Safa’s story of how it can all go horribly wrong with deception.

Philly’s Black Muslims inreasingly turn to polygany

GTA’s secret world of polygany

Alhamdulilah, I’ve never had addiction issues with alcohol.   I made shahada and that was it – no more booze -except for the occasional slip up with some sneaky vanilla extract or wine used to cook food that I wasn’t aware of.  I converted early in my college career, before I could legally drink.  I went to school in Madison, regularly ranked the Number 1 Party School in the country for the amount of alcohol that flows freely among the student population, so temptation was everywhere.  Alhamduililah, I stayed strong.  By not drinking, I saved a ton of money and didn’t do anything stupid like falling off a balcony.

If I can withstand the temptation of alcohol, why can’t I do the same with television?  I’ve had brief flirtations with quitting the television.  I don’t sit down and watch it for 5 hours at a time on Saturday and Sunday anymore.  But it’s still there, taunting me, calling me, and inevitably, I succumb.

Last night was the House season finale.  Highlight for spoiler *Wilson is lying next to Amber in the last few hours of her life.  She tells him she’d like to go to sleep now, he kisses her, and then he leans over and turns off the bypass machine*  I’m snuggling up next to my husband, sniffling away and trying to hold back tears.  

This morning, I was listening to my NPR podcasts as usual when this story came up.  In it, a Chinese couple desperately clings to the hope that their son is alive, only to have those hopes shattered.  You hear real grief, real anguish, real pain.  The NPR reporter is struggling to control her emotions throughout the entire report.

Then it hit me BAM!  There is so much suffering in this world, why on earth am I getting weepy over some fictional television characters?  Why on earth would I want to spend the precious few minutes I have here on earth entertaining myself with the idiot box?  Aren’t there better things to do with my time?

Granted, I probably won’t be able to give TV up cold turkey.  But I’m going to keep this incident in mind.  The next time I feel myself getting weepy over someone who doesn’t even exisit, I’ll check myself and go do something else inshaAllah.

I recently commented on on a post by Izzy Mo about how often Minnesota Muslims are in the news. From the way the news covers it and the right wing blogosphere hypes it, sharia is creeping hard and fast here in the upper midwest. Of course, I laff in the face of these allegations. Life here is virtually indistinguishable from the small midwestern town I grew up in, except that there are a few more women walking around in khimar here, and there are plenty of places to buy halal meat.

That being said, there are issues, and we shouldn’t shrink from addressing them. In fact, on my way to work this morning, I was plotting a blog entry in response to this deplorable incident. Sure, muzzies in general aren’t fond of dogs. But Islam allows us to keep them when they’re working animals, and a dog specially trained to help a man in case of siezures definately fits the bill.

Alhamdulilah, I didn’t have to go on a tirade against the local community’s innaction. CAIR-MN beat me to the punch.

However, “the moral and legal need to accommodate individuals using service dogs far outweighs the discomfort an individual Muslim might feel about coming into contact with a dog, which is one of God’s creatures,” said CAIR-MN Communications Director Valerie Shirley.

There’s some serious need for education on certain issues in our community. Guide dogs is one. Not making a huge watery mess in the bathroom after wudu is another. I’ve been making wudu in public restrooms for 6 years now, and I’ve never left a puddle. Maybe this is something Imam Zaid can adress when he comes this weekend?

on the blogs I read

Climbing Walls – an American Muslimah living in Palestine, her whole blog is chock full of posts on Palestine.  More recent posts include 1000 Year Mosques destroyed in wake of the Nakba and Al Jazera reports on Palestinians.  *added 9:36 am* Her blog about Palestine day post is up – Judaizing East Jerusalem

Southern Muslimah blogs about her Mother-in-Law’s experience in the nakba

The Muslimah links to a post her husband wrote about his grandmother and her ceaseless dhikr

*added at noon*  Writeous Sister writes about Genocide by any other name in Palestine and of Native Americans

*added at 12:30*  A Mother in Gaza writes about the cyber terrorism attack against Palestinian bloggers.   The rest of her blog is a good read for today as well.

More to be added as I continue my daily blog stroll inshaAllah

*added at 9:36 am*

Personal accounts always tug at my heart strings the most.  I can still remember the exact moment of my awakening to the situation in Palestine.  Hanan Ashwari came to speak at my university.  During the Q&A period, an old man got up, on the brink of tears.  He spoke about wanting to to to his childhood home, currently located in Israel, to be buried with his family.  He hadn’t been back since he was expelled decades earlier.  And he wouldn’t be allowed to go back to die.  I get a lump in my throat just remembering it now.

If Americans Knew - what every american needs to know about Israel

Remember these Children

Since September 2000

982 Palestinian Children

and

119 Israeli Children

have been killed

 Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji'oon

to God we belong and to Him is our return

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/3P12aqVeZkQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Ohh let's not cry tonight I promise you one day is through
Ohh my brothers! Ohh my sisters!
Ooh shine a light for every soul that ain't with us no more
Ohh my brothers! Ohh my sisters!

The husband and I attended a CAIR MN dinner on Saturday on African American Muslims and the Civil Rights Movement.  I was looking forward to some down home southern cooking, but alas, it was catered middle eastern food.  Dude, we’re at a predominantly african american mosque that has it’s own kitchen and puts out delicious bean pie.  Why are we eating kabobs and hummus?   Ah, but I digress.

Rep. Keith Ellison and Br. Dawud Walid from CAIR-MI were the two main speakers.  Unfortunately, I don’t think Keith’s speech was recorded, but it was quite inspiring.  I’m kicking myself for not taking notes.  In particular, he called on muslims to get involved in a wider variety of issues, including environmental justice.  I’ve noticed that green muslim movements have been springing up across the country, so now I need to get back in touch with my inner tree hugger and get one going here in Minnesota.

As Br. Dawud was speaking, I was thinking, mashaAllah this guy is an awesome speaker.  I wonder if there’s anyplace online that has his speeches.  Low and behold, there is, and there’s even a recording of Saturday’s speech.

Unfortunately, we had to duck out right after the end of the program, so I didn’t have a question to ask Br. Dawud about one comment in particular – that some were accusing BA muslims of being manipulated into supporting foreign causes like Palestine, but that in reality, it was that BA muslims understand suffering, can empathize with the suffering, and so feel a connection to these causes that naturally lead to their support.  I was wondering if this had anything to do with the recent accusations by a blogger alleging that the immigrant muslim mafia controls BA muslim leadership.

Obama Name Games Painful to Muslims

NPR covers some Pennsylvanian Muslims’ reaction to the whole muslim as a schmere re: Obama flap.

On a tangent, is anyone else sick of the “Islam is the religion of peace” bit?  It seems to me that this phrase emerged post 9-11, when the american muslim community was in shock and didn’t know how to respond to the increased, often negative attention their faith was given.  But here we are, several years later, and this phrase seems contrived and stale to me.  Shouldn’t we have had time to come up with something a little more descriptive, a little more accurate?  Islam is an increadibly complex religion, and this simplistic phrase doesn’t do it justice.

Islamophoboes have ceased on the phrase, and now everytime a muslim somewhere does something stupid and violent, they’ll be on their message boards crowing “look at this fine member of the religion of peace©.”  If I ever chose to engage these people (and my more recent response has been to steer clear of places where these kinds of statements are bandied about), my response is usually as such:

Islam is not a religion of peace.  It is a religion of balance that seeks peace.  Islam is the middle path.  We are not to vere off towards any extreme.  We are to be neither pacifists nor aggressors.  Islam allows for warfare, but it places strict guidlelines on it’s warriors.  Terrorism happens when muslims do not follow these rules.  They are not acting in accordance with the religion.  If they were, these incidents would not happen.

It saddens me that Islam is reduced to violent acts of those who have strayed off the middle path.  It saddens me because Islam is so much more than that.  Islam has had a profound impact on my life and my relationship with God.  For me, it’s all about the Rememberance of God.  Islam has given me the means and the encouragement to bring God into my everyday life, to thank Him, to praise Him, to worship Him in every act I do.  It’s not about killing people.  It’s about God.

Wow, our community seems to be ground zero for the supposid islamization of america.  Taxi drivers, Target cashiers, flying imams, yup, that’s us.  And now we’re known for the ebil ebil Islamic Charter School with it’s insideous plots to allow students to make wudu, pray jummah and have islamic studies classes after school hours.

 A local reporter isn’t too fond of the local muslim community, and has written on us often.  Recently, she’s reported on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (aka TIZA), a local arabic language charter school that has a strong islamic flavor. 

Predictibly, this story has been taken up by the right wing blogosphere and waved about as a sure sign that the muzzies are taking over.  As a result, the school has been getting hate messages and death threats.  Charming bunch o folks they are, threatening a bunch of kids.

 Thus far, one TIZA parent has done a good job of collecting info and creating a coherent response on the local muslim email lists that I’m eagerly waiting to be published, and a teacher wrote a letter to the editor:

I am often in classrooms observing teachers and modeling instructional strategies. I have never witnessed any religious instruction during school or any pressure to adhere to particular religious beliefs. In fact, I am a Christian and have always felt completely welcome at TIZA. Why would the school hire a Christian to implement curriculum if it were indoctrinating students in Islam?

I have witnessed excellent teachers from different religious and cultural backgrounds focused on improving instruction and student achievement. That’s why student achievement is so high.

Other local coverage of the issue can be found here and here.  MPR did an excellent story on high test scores at TIZA last year.  Several Minnesota Muslims write for the website Engage Minnesota, where there are already a few articles on the issue with inshaAllah more to follow.  Finally, an article on the use of the term madrassa as a pejorative.

 There’s another aspect of this story that needs to be investigated and presented – the role of religion in other Minnesota Charter schools.  I haven’t seen anything official yet, but through word of mouth, there are several Minnesota charter sponsored by overtly religious orgnizations, and other that are aimed at other ethnic groups like african americans that incorporate christian prayer and ancestor worship.   inshaAllah an intrepid reporter will take this issue up and write on it.  A list of all Minnesota charter schools can be found here.  There are quite a few religiously oriented groups on the list.  Part of the outcry with TIZA is that it’s housed in the same building as a mosque and is sponsored by Islamic Relief.  How is religion interwoven in these schools?

The husband is from Mahalla el-Kubra, which is current in the midst of a massive strike/riot.  According to the husband, the building next to the library where my MIL works was burned down.

Prayers for my in laws, the husband’s friends and all of Mahalla would be greatly appreciated.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

I rarely blog about hijab, unless it’s to document my internet window shopping, but this Reuter’s blog piece caught my eye:

Turkey’s covered women fed up with politics over their headscarves

Yup.  That just about sums it up for me.

Now, on to more important things…is it a fashion faux pas to wear the same scarf two days in a row?  I set out my outfits the night before, so as to not disturb the husband who gets to sleep in a wee bit later than me.  Alas, I neglected to set out a new scarf, so the only one available was the one I wore yesterday, lying crumpled on the coffee table.  And it’s not even a neutral scarf I could perhaps sneak under the radar.  Nope, it’s my splashy, eye catching orange splot scarf.  No comments on it yet, but it just feels wrong.  Ah well.

Update – statement from the Deoband website.  It starts off strong, but I’m disappointed that it specifically names terrorism of western governments, but does not name crimes done by muslim governments and organizations.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Why isn’t this front page news?

Deoband decry terrorism as unislamic

An influential group of Muslim theologians in India have denounced terrorism, saying it is completely against the teachings of Islam.

Their statements were made at a meeting held at the Darul-Uloom Deoband, a powerful Islamic school more than 150 years old.

Scholars from 6,000 religious schools attended the meeting

Not so happy with the Reuter’s India take on this:

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Darool-Uloom Deoband, a radical Muslim seminary said to have inspired the Taliban has denounced terrorism as against Islam, calling it an unpardonable sin, in an effort to distance itself from religious violence.

The Deobandis are radical?  Hardcore hanafis sure, but radical?

And the Times:

 Terrorism has been declared un-Islamic by scholars at a Wahabi madrassa, which some believe inspired the Taleban, according to a senior cleric.

In a declaration, as many as 20,000 leaders representing different sects of Islam also called on the Indian Government to ensure that Muslims were not harassed in the name of terrorism, Maulana Shaukat said. He was speaking from the 150-year-old Darul Uloom Deoband madrassa at Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, northern India.

The declaration said: “Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism.”

Wahabi?  Do people even know the terms they’re throwing around?

 Browse related stories here.

In opposition of Pakistan’s banning of youtube, I hereby dedicate this post to my favorite youtube videos, in no particular order:

• Abd al Basit’s recitation of Surah Dhuha
• Yusuf Islam in Praise of the Prophet
• Dangers of Heedlessness by Sh. Hamza
• A Land Called Paradise
• Asma’u Allah
• Imam Suhaib at GPU 2006
• Pause for Prayer

I’m growing increasingly frustrated at the attempts to smear Obama as a muslim.   Is it such a terrible thing that one has a connection to Islam?  Ooo, look, he’s wearing “muslim garb.”  OMG I wear muslim garb every day!  Does that make me evil and unamerican?

I also am frustrated that Obama will not, or cannot reach out to the muslim community.  Why can’t he say “I’m not a muslim, but so what?  There’s nothing horrible about being a muslim, and there are many awesome, patriotic american muslims out there, who I’m very glad to have the support of.” (ok, perhaps something a little more eloquent without the dangling preposition at the end)  Where are our muslims for Obama buttons?

The American Muslim Community’s “Obama” Problem

Vocal Muslim support for Obama, if it happens, will likely be used as subtext for character attacks against his background and to fuel baseless rumors that he is actually a stealth Islamist who will subvert the establishment after taking power. As Don Imus can attest, racism and bigotry against African Americans is now largely unacceptable in public discourse. However, the same cannot be said of vitriol against Muslims. Attacking Obama for his pseudo-association with Islam is a far safer and more acceptable strategy for right-wing zealots than attacking him for being black. So if Obama has a campaign strategist worth his or her weight, we will never hear any serious public support or defense of Muslims from him or his campaign. For Muslims to demand anything from him simply demonstrates a misunderstanding of reality. Muslim support for Obama is akin to George Bush’s support for democracy in the Middle East. The mere association with the former will undercut the credibility of the latter. It is an analogy that Muslims should understand.

As I think I’ve mentioned previously, I have a (self diagnosed) obsessive-compulsive personality.  I find something to be excited about, be it running, salat or whatnot, and fixate on it for a few weeks or months before I slowly lose interest and move on to something else.  I’m just coming off my salat high, although I’m working hard not to lose it.  Let’s see if I can keep up 3 obsessions – 1. salat, 2. running, and 3, the new one – organic, free range halal meat.

The husband and I have been eating meat from the local groccery store with a bismillah at the beginning, which according to certain scholars is ok.  With more study on the matter, and the admonishment of several scholars I respect, I’ve found that unless there’s no halal meat available, that meat is filth and should be avoided.  That makes the chicken curry look a little bit less appetizing.  If one knows that the meat was slaughtered by a christian or a jew, in the name of God, then it’s ok, but how do we know who’s slaughtering out meat in a groccery store?

That, in conjunction with the disgusting practices that take place in the american meat industry, has set me on a new mission – to find a source of meat that is both humanely raised and slaughtered in a halal manner.  It isn’t good enough for the animal to be slaughtered in a halal, humane manner, if the animal was abused during it’s life on a factory farm.

Now, does such a thing exist?  I’m not quite sure.  One of the local ME groccery stores gets their meat from Halal Price Farms.   Their website is down, but they claim the chickens are naturally raised.  inshaAllah I’ll have to go check it out.   Another good source looks to be Crescent Halal, where the chickens are raised free range and fed a vegetarian diet.

Some reading on the issue:

• If it’s not Organic, it’s not Halal
• Halal, Organic or Vegetarian?
• Assorted Articles on Organic and Halal

How did I miss this?

My local congressional district has a special election in a couple of weeks to fill the House seat vacated by the late Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind. You wouldn’t know it from reading our local newspaper The Indianapolis Star, but the Democratic candidate for the seat, Carson’s grandson Andre Carson, could become the nation’s second Muslim member of Congress.

I do have to wonder about this though:

For the record: 7th District Dem candidate Andre Carson is “an Orthodox, universal, secular Muslim” who “frequently attends” services at Nur-Allah Islamic Center.

Gah, what is “an Orthodox, universeal, secular Muslim?”  Too many terms, not enough definition!

It is interesting to note that the first and now possibly the second muslim in congress both come from TMC and WD Muhammad affiliated masjids.  Is there something about these masjids and these communities that nurture civic participation?  And how does this relate to the series “Why Blackamerican Muslims don’t stand for Justice?”  While immigrant muslims may control the community, it does seem that some blackamerican muslims have carved their own niche and are leading the rest of us into mainstream politics. 

Not a lot of muslims organizing on the net that I can find, and unfortunately any search for “muslims for Obama” will mainly bring up the “obama is a secret muzzie” campaign.  Dur.

Muslims for Barack Obama ‘08

The muzzies are coming, the muzzies are coming!  Seriously, some in the right wing blogosphere are hyperventalating over these photos of muslims at “mObama” rallies.  *gasp*  American muslims participating in politics?  The end is near!  Start prepping for the rapture!

Let me get this straight, mkay?  “They” claim they want us to integrate, yet when we step up to participate in the very american passtime of political rallying, apparently it’s a sign Barak is a secret muzzie and we all must be kicked out of the country.  Scuwz me while I go barf.

In other news, rahma is set to caucus at the county level this March 8th, inshaAllah.  My dormant poli sci major has been awakened by my first experience with democracy at the grass roots.  I’ll be looking to join the “people of faith” caucus, which thus far apparently doesn’t include much.  Who knows, maybe I’ll end up taking a leading roll.  That would piss off these RW fundies, bwahaha.

…breathe it.  The thoughts of Sh. Murad, from the BBC via Seeker’s Digest:

The controversy over the Archbishop’s remarks on Shari’a rumble on. Last week, in the hours before the full text became available, concerned voices were raised, worried that he was advocating legal separateness for Britain’s largest minority. Many commentators became understandably angry.

As the weekend wore on, however, my impression was that the mood slowly shifted. There were signs that more people were actually reading the Archbishop’s lecture, which was written as a subtle reflection on the right relationship between faith, law, and citizenship in the modern state. And the criticisms grew more muted.

Many leapt to his defence. Others took the view that Dr Williams might well be right, but should have expressed himself in a way that could not have been misinterpreted.

It is now clear to most that Dr Williams, far from recommending some kind of parallel law for Muslims, was pointing out that informal religious tribunals which already adjudicate on a limited number of civil – never criminal – matters, in a way which is entirely legal under arbitration laws, should be more systematically brought under the regulation of the legal system. He was not commending greater separateness, or an expansion of Muslim courts – quite the opposite.

Although his prose is sometimes dense, I know he thinks this because a few weeks ago I was with him in Singapore, where we were shown how many of the city’s religious minorities, including the Muslims, have their own courts to deal with civil matters such as marriage and divorce. He is interested in the challenge that religious diversity poses to a secular legal system. But he is sure that social cohesion is best served when there is a mechanism by which arbitration conducted within communities can be formally related to national law.

A storm in a teacup, then? Not quite. The issue of how faith is acknowledged in law will continue to be a tricky one, and not just for Muslims. For instance, one recent poll showed that nine percent of Americans think that the Bible should be their country’s only source of law, and that percentage is growing.

For me, my major reaction to this dispute has been a sadness that so many of us so readily leap to judgement.

In the Koran itself, we read: ‘O people of faith! If a person brings you some news, inquire into it carefully, lest you should harm others unwittingly, and afterwards be sorry for what you did.’

So what will be the fallout? One can only hope for something positive. Muslims know that their heritage of legal wisdom, the Shari’a, bears many very different interpretations. Secular law is the same. So in the midst of this flexibility, there is hope for a constructive dialogue. And if the Archbishop has helped that process along, many of us, of whatever faith, will be grateful.

If you’re like me, you’ve been avoiding reading about Archbishop Rowan William’s statements re: Sharia in Britain.  I’m avoiding it for several reasons – many of the negative responses border on islamophobia, which I’m sick and tired of, and that it’s all a big overblown, misunderstood mess that I quite frankly don’t have the time, nor the energy to muck through.  I’m just tired of all of these kerfluffles.

Luckily, for the lazy blogger such as myself – FaithWorld, Reuter’s religion news blog, has a good post rounding up what they consider to be the best religion coverage of the issue.  *warning before you click on the link – contains picture of the Sun cover which includes scantily clad woman on the cover*  From a brief scan of the articles, they all seem to be “anti sharia,” but not in an “those ebil muzzies are trying to take over” sort of way.

In honor of the quasi lifting of the hijab ban in Turkey, I present my favorite online window shopping destination:  Tekbir.  I’m not liking their site redesign, especially now that I can’t right click and save the large pictures, but the clothes are still beauuutiful. 

You can view some of their past lines if you google “tekbir.”  This site in particular has a ton of turkish fashions all in one place.

 

I’ve always had this fantasy of going on a wild shopping spree in Turkey, but alas, that was dashed recently.  A sister on a hijab email list informed me that stuff in Turkey was quite expensive, unlike my shopping experiences in Egypt, where everything tended to be cheaper than buying over the internet or from stores in the US.  *sigh*

A petition has been popping up recently on message boards I frequent regarding the use of persian miniatures of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) on his wikipedia entry.  When I first saw the petition a few days ago, it had 60,000 signatures.  At the time of this entry, it’s up to 89,000.  All the fuss has even attracted the New York Times.

Several thoughts and questions have been bouncing through my mind on the subject, although none of them are too terribly profound:

1.  Compared to a lot of sources out there, Wikipedia at least tries to be neutral.   The article isn’t blatently anti-islam, unlike the infamous wiki-islam project.

2.  The pictures aren’t horrid.  All three that depict the Prophet (saws) are taken from muslim sources.  They’re not the danish cartoons, for heavens sake.  Well, at least they’re not in the main article.  They are included in the sub article regarding depictions of the Prophet (saws), but heck, this is suppose to be a neutral informative source.

3.  If one is creating a quasi neutral article, should the authors leave out pictures that are a part of muslim tradition, especially when other historical figures also have portraits in their articles? 

4.  What is the intent of the authors?  Was it to offend, bwahaha, let’s put up these pictures to piss off muslims?  Or was it more along the lines of, hmm, we’ve got an article about a historical figure, so let’s see what pictures we can include to make the article more comprehensive?

5.  How far does a secular, non muslim source have to go to not offend the sensibilities of a particular group?

6.  What good is a petition?  The whole image debate has been going on for years.

7.  I love miniature depictions of the Prophet (saws).  Heck, I love the general style of persian and ottoman miniatures that depict islam related content.  Does this make me a bad muslim?  Ok, no, don’t answer that.

All of this fuss and anxiety surrounding this issue makes me uncomfortable.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Prophet (saws) as much as the next muslim.  Heck, his character is one of the chief reasons I made shahada.   I can’t pick up a story about the Prophet (saws) without getting a bit teary eyed.  He is my role model, and someone I love dearly.

But seriously, is this the best way we can defend the honor of our beloved Prophet (saws)?  Aren’t there better ways we could spend out time here in internet la la land?  Sure, it’s easy to sign a petition, one minute, type type type and you’re done. 

Wouldn’t it be better to join the wiki team and work on any one of the dozens of islam related articles that need fattening up?  Work within the wiki system, interact with the other wiki editors, wow them with our good adab and actually do something positive?

Or, better yet, why not get off the internet and work on implimenting ALL of the sunnah (not just the outward forms of dress etc) in our daily lives.  If “we” (ie the generic muslim masses) worked 1/10th as hard at being like our beloved Messenger (saws) in our character as “we” do over being outraged, what a wonderful world this would be.

…two very different faces of the muslim ummah.

Exploring the Status of Muslim Women in Europe

Muslims Increasingly Choose Matrimony Networks

 I’ve only listened to the “behind the wall” story thus far in the European series, but it made me quite sad.  The marriage story, on the other hand, made me smile at the inguinuity of the american muslim community.

 Other NPR stories of note as of late:

‘Muslim Girl’ Magazine Marks One Year in Print

Bangladesh’s Largest Brothel

One of the many awesome things about the growing islamo-blogosphere is that there are bloggers writing from all over the ummah.  Granted, my daily blogstroll is limited to the english writers, but there are plenty of english language bloggers “overseas.”  It helps me get out of my little midwestern muslimah paradigm and feel kinship to my brothers and sisters across the world.

One such blogger I frequent is Nzingha, an expat in Saudi Arabia, who writes with from an insider’s view on the story I mentioned  re: women driving.  Having been close to a few major news stories recently (the I-35W bridge collapse [dude, the bridge connects north and south Minneapolis, NOT Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and since I'm on a tangent, I daily commute across the Saint Paul to Minneapolis bridge, which is thank God, safe and sound] and Keith Ellison getting elected to congress [umm no, there were no jihadists chanting Allahu Akbar, just excited muslims participating in the political system]), I’ve noticed how journalists often twist facts, or just plain get things wrong.  It’s nice to have the perspective of someone close to the story to provide a different point of view.  

Also, I like the list of future headlines she would like to see, which highlight that the talking points so many westerners parrot about the status of women in Islam (omGosh, they can’t drive, they’re forced to cover, poor oppressed women) are not the real issues that muslimahs would like to address.

“Women Can Decide Their Own Medical Care In Saudi Arabia”
“All Saudis Can Choose to Marry Mate From A Different Nationality Without Bribes, Wasta, Or Begging Officials”
“Women Can Choose To Continue Higher Education Without Consent Of Guardian”
“Women Have Better Access To Legal System In Saudi Arabia”
“Women Can Divorce Husbands Without Years Of Wait And Torment”
“Widows Can Marry Without Fear Of Loosing Children”
“Divorced Women Retain Rights In Custody Of Children”
“Children Protective Services Granted Full Legal Authority- Zero Tolerance Of Abuse Initiated”
“All Child Molesters To Be Beheaded- Now Seen Worse Than Drug Traffickers”
“Rape Victims To Receive Respected Care And Protection”

Saudi Women to Take Driver Seat

Yaay, one less thing for Islamophobes to fling about during “debates.”

In addition to Islamic lectures and Qur’an, NPR podcasts always have a place on my ipod.  Every once in awhile, a good islam related story will come up and I’ll say, ooo, I gotta blog this.  Alas, in one ear, out the other, and it’s soon forgotten.

 Well, not today.  Here’s a list of all the NPR pieces that I’ve been meaning to put up, but haven’t, and some that I came across while looking through the NPR website.  One of the reasons I *heart* NPR is that it provides a wider range of stories and news coverage than the television media does, and the pieces they do are well researched and in depth.   I’m only putting up the more “story” like pieces, as opposed to ones covering breaking news.

Recommended:

• Muslim Holiday Eid Keeps Texas Butcher Busy - about a non muslim butcher who provides halal meat.
• Learning to Endure the Hajj - american muslims practice before making the hajj
• The Partisans of Ali - history of the shia in politics and faith
• Iraqi Radical Cleric Al-Sadr Studies for Ayatollah - looks like he’s following my study plan – books and cds. 
• Comedy Troupe Mines the Humor in Islam - the Allah Made me Funny brothers
• Plan Would Replace Cairo’s Calls to Prayer
• Zarqa Nawaz on ‘Little Mosque’
• Ellison to Take Oath on Thomas Jefferson’s Quran

To listen to:

• Did ‘Siege of Mecca’ Give Birth to Al-Qaida?
• Yaroslav Trofimov on the Siege of Mecca
• Clerics’ Letter: Signatories Show Global ‘Handshake’
• Imam’s ‘American Crescent’ Sheds Light on Muslim Culture
• A Biographical View of the Koran
• American Muslim Family Chooses Polygamy
• Two Mosques, Two Different Reactions in Germany
• Young Imam Serves as Islam’s Face to Community
• Sept. 11 Message Challenges Young Imam
• A Day in the Life of a Tireless Imam
• Muslim Leader Tells Personal Story of Religious Conversion
• Evangelicals, Muslims Have Milestone Meeting
• Walking the Faith Line with Eboo Patel
• Mosques Reflect on Padilla’s Islamic Education
• Asra Nomani, ‘Standing Alone’ with Muslim Women
• Prospect of Devout Muslim President Divides Turkey
• Documentary Examines Muslim Brotherhood

From Minnesota Public Radio (one of the awesomest local public radio stations in the country, and one of the few things that makes Minnesota livable)

• Muslim women confront clash of cultures 
• Breaking the Ice: Muslims and the Media 
• Islam and the West
• Celebrating Ramadan in Minnesota
  

Father accused of killing pregnant daughter and her family

Quick, stop the presses!   Those ebil ebil muzzies are at it again.  Clash of civilization, barbarians, blah blah blah…

…oh, what?  They’re hindu?  And it was about caste?  No muzzies involved?   Ah, nevermind then.

No doubt, we all need some warm fuzzies right now.  Here they are:

 

 

I’m not a niqabi, and I don’t have any plans to don a face veil in my everyday life here in the US (if I ever become a mureed of Sheikh Nuh, or perhaps when traveling in Mecca and Medina, it’s possible, but not here).

Howeva, this Huffington Post series almost drives me to the point where I want to rummage around in my drawer for the baby blue niqab I purchased once on a whim and go out to show America (well, this blogger anyway) that women in niqab are not synonymous with the KKK, with forced marriage, and no education.  In fact, I have this strange urge to purchase a bunch of niqabs in hot pink, hunter orange, lime green, etc etc etc, just to p*ss people like this off

 Sr. Danya tells it like it is:

Wearing niqab does not prevent me from going places, doing my errands, going shopping, having a good time, learning, or any other day-to-day activity. Listen, if my niqab bothers you, that’s your problem.  It really is.  If you can’t handle the fact that you can’t see my face (ie, not being able to have access to something), that really is just too bad and you probably want to find some way to deal with it.

The husband and I will be getting a betta fish tomorrow (inshaAllah), and I’m in the market for some naming suggestions.  Muhammad is out.  Seriously, the ummah has problems if some parents complaining about what kids named a teddy bear will lead to a woman getting jail time and lashes.  Is it really insulting the Prophet (saws) if kids love the name and vote for it as their favorite?  What about all those people out there named Muhammad who do much more shameful things each day?  Where are the lashes and jail time for them?

Ok, anyways, back to the soon to be newest member of our little family.  Would it be insulting to name the fish something deen-y?  I wasn’t really going to name the fish Muhammad, but I think it would be kinda cool to name it something islam related, so that everytime I saw the fish, I’d remember Allah (swt).  Pet dhikr, ya know.  I actually contemplated naming the fish dhikr, but that doesn’t really sound right.  Maybe Hamd, praise?

inshaAllah pictures will be forthcoming, once we actually purchase the fish.  We got a little tank all set for him.  Weee, I’m so excited!  

Via Izzy Mo, I just learned that my alma mater is being subjected to the sham that is islamo fascism awareness week.  I had celebrated earlier when I didn’t see UW’s name on the list, but alas, our college repubs even got the big man himself to speak.  MSA and other orgs organized a “wear green” campaign to show displeasure, but I didn’t see too many people wearing green

 However, positive news in that both the “conservative” student newspaper and the “liberal” student newspaper agree that something fishy this way comes (looks like things are going in a more positive direction at the Badger Herald, since publishing the Muhammad cartoons last year, blah).  Also, Hillel disassociated itself with Horowitz.  This makes me wonder how interfaith dialogue is going on campus.  We had a few first timid steps when I was a part of the MSA.  It would be interseting to know how it has continued.

As much as I am happy to see the MSA and other student orgs are working together to provide an alternate view, I am soooo glad that I am not there.  I was there for the whole Daniel Pipes fiasco, and let me tell you, it was exhausting, both physically and emotionally.  Haters tire me out.

Will be looking for more info on what the MSA is doing and will post as found inshaAllah.

The now defunct muslim charity Holy Land Foundation/several of its leaders were on trial in Texas on numerous charges related to support of terrorism.  Looks like there’s some reasonable doubt. 

One of the nasty little side shows related to the trial is the list of the “unindicted co-conspirators” that included many prominant american muslim organizations such as CAIR and ISNA.   Um, yeah, these people conspired with the baddies, but we can’t prove it in court, so we’re just going to taint your name and not allow you the chance to defend yourself within the legal system.  Despite the mistrial, these organizations are going to be forever tarred with the unindicted co conspirator label for a very long time, much like Imam Siraj Wahhaj is still an unindicted co conspirator in the 1993 WTC bombings. 

I dunno about you, but something seems distinctly unamerican about being not being able to have your day in court to clear your name, and being convicted (in the public’s eye) without a trial.  I guess I’m just an idealist who actually believes that stuff the founders put in the Bill of Rights.  Guess I’m just naive.

Via Umar Lee, Critics Ignored Record of a Muslim Principal

For anyone who bothered to look for it, Ms. Almontaser left a clear, public record of interfaith activism and outreach across the boundaries of race, ethnicity and religion. Her efforts, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks, earned her honors, grants and fellowships. She has collaborated so often with Jewish organizations that an Arab-American newspaper, Aramica, castigated her earlier this summer for being too close to a “Zionist organization,” meaning the Anti-Defmatin League.

One of the reasons Allah (swt) forbade alcohol. Not saying that things like this don’t happen without it, but it may have made the whole thing worse.

Narrated Anas: Allah’s Apostle said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.” [Bukhari]

Gee, you think that would include stopping him from raping someone?

‘Salam 100’ to promote Muslim dialogue with world

AMMAN: Jordan has formed a committee of 100 Muslim scholars to address through dialogue “critical issues” affecting Muslims around the world, a statement said on Saturday.

The committee, called “Salam (peace) 100”, aims to “enable peaceful debate and discussion, using the power of ideas as a means of calming conflict and finding a resolution to problems of the gravest importance.” The statement said controversies such as the 2005 Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), have “exposed the lack of intellectual leadership” in the Muslim world. This “must be addressed with the utmost urgency to prevent further rifts in human understanding. The committee proposes to conquer immediate and future fears and misapprehensions, which are so easily exploited by extremists of every kind.” The committee is headed by the uncle of King Abdullah II, former crown prince Hassan. It groups Muslim figures from around the world, including the director general of the Islamic Organization of Education, Science and Culture, Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, and former Yemeni prime ministers Abdul Karim al-Eryani and Haider Abu Bakr al-Attas.

It pledged to promote “a rational and equitable understanding of hearts and minds”. “We actively seek to address core disputes of international concern, to assuage anger, and to prevent unacceptable provocations”, the statement said. In 2004, Jordan launched an initiative known as the “Amman Message” in a bid to encourage fellow Muslims to reject extremism and embrace tolerance and acceptance.

Sounds promising, but it would appear this group has been around since last May. Why are they taking so dang long to do anything? Urgency? Phhhhh. Where is the flurry of papers, iniatives and plans? Googling “Salam 100″ turns up close to nothing.

Both Tariq Ramadan and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf have recently written pieces on the sad maladies that is anti semetism that infects the muslim ummah.

From Br. Tariq:

The situation is far too serious for one to be satisfied by simple explanations based on current frustrations. In the name of their faith and their conscience, Muslims must take a clear position so that a pernicious atmosphere does not take hold in the Western countries. Nothing in Islam can legitimize xenophobia or the rejection of a human being due to his/her religious creed or ethnicity. One must say unequivocally, with force, that anti-Semitism is unacceptable and indefensible. The message of Islam requires respect of Jewish faith and spirituality as noble expressions of “The People of the Book”.

And Sheikh Hamza:

In our inherent contradictions as humans, and in order to validate our own pain, we deny the pain of others. But it is in acknowledging the pain of others that we achieve fully our humanity. A close friend of mine, a professor of religion in a Muslim country for many years, recently told me that his wife, an English teacher in that country, had wanted to use Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl as a text for her Muslim pupils. But the school administrators repeatedly denied her request because they deemed it inappropriate reading for young Muslims. It is sad that the current political morass in the Middle East has led to this intolerable refusal to confront a people’s collective suffering. Perhaps in acknowledging that immense past of Jewish suffering, in which the Holocaust is only the most heinous chapter, Muslims can better help the Jewish community to understand the current Muslim pain in Palestine, Iraq and other places. In finding out about others, we encourage others to find out about us. It would greatly help our Jewish brethren to know the historical facts of Jewish experience in the Muslim world, which are often heartening and humanizing and very different from their European experience. In our mutual edification, we grow together.

inshaAllah ta’ala one day voices like these will be loudly and publically embraced by the majority of the ummah.

Wow, Newsweek is all over Islam this week.

Newsweek and MSNBC has a section on Islam in America. Heck, it looks like their upcoming issue is a whole special on Islam in America. Too bad my parents don’t subscribe to this publication anymore. I’ll just have to buy it from the local Barnes and Noble, check to make sure the content is decent, and accidentally leave it behind next time I go to visit them.

And, Newsweek and the Washington Post have subsection in their On Faith Series on Muslims Speak Out. Haven’t gotten a chance to read much from either of these two sections yet, but I am hoping that they are knowledgable and go beyond the “Islam means peace” that american muslims have been reduced to parroting these last few years.

Worshipers say they reported him to authorities after he asked to become a convert and began talking about jihad.

At the beginning, worshipers at the Islamic Center of Irvine said, they thought
Craig Monteilh was just an overzealous convert when he criticized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But when he started talking about jihad and dropped oblique references to violence, congregants contacted authorities.

Can’t find much else on it, although I’ll keep my eyes peeled. Can’t say I’ve come across any of these crazed converts or similarly thinking born muslims in real life, but I’ve run across them online.

Why Molly ran

When 12-year-old Molly Campbell disappeared from her Scottish home last year, it was feared she had been kidnapped by her father to be married against her will in Pakistan. But, like her name, the truth wasn’t quite as it seemed. Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy report

I’ve been following the Misbah/Molly story on and off for quite some time now, and this article definately provides a lot of much needed background.

But even more than being the sad story of a broken family, it speaks of the difficulties that intercultural/interfaith couples face. This marriage started out between a nominal christian/secular young white british girl, and a nominal muslim/secular young pakistani british man. Where as the usual m.o. is that the husband will practice more and become more conservative as he grows older, in this case the wife feels drawn to Islam. Maybe it was a way to feel connected to and accepted by her husband’s family and culture, but for whatever reason, her embrace of Islam draws her husband back to practicing the faith. While I can’t tell for sure what was going on in her mind from the article, it seemed like she longed for acceptance, but didn’t really have Islam in her heart. Islam can seem oppresive if you don’t embrace it with all your heart, and from the article, it looks like Louise was crushed by it.

Women who embrace Islam through their relationship/marriage with a muslim man are often subjects of suspicion. Did they convert because their husbands influenced them? How will their faith hold up if things go south with their husbands? Heck, even those who were muslim before marriage are still viewed under a cloud of suspicion. Alhamdulilah, I’ve seen women become increadbly devout in their practices, content with Islam as a way of life. And unfortunately, I’ve seen women be crushed far too often for my liking.

When an american woman marries a muslim man, she will inevitably be told to watch Not Without my Daughter. We roll our eyes, sigh and try to change the subject. We’re intellegent, independent, and think we know what we’re getting ourselves into. Unfortunately, we often times don’t.

So, I propose that american women who want to marry muslim men read this article. We’ve all heard the nasty things muslim men can do to western women. But how often do we examine ourselves and ponder on the problems our issues may create? Here now is an (extreme) example of what western women can do to themselves if they’re not prepared for an intercultural/interfaith relationship. inshaAllah ta’ala, nothing like this will befall myself or any of my friends in similar situations, but one never knows

Also, on a random side note, either Louise or the article messed up a wee bit on the hajj thing. Hajj isn’t during Ramadan. You don’t (have to) fast during hajj. Maybe they made umrah during Ramadan, but umrah ain’t hajj.

Hmm, guy gets beat to death in Texas, and kids smash up cars in Milwaukee. Little mention of race, no mention of religion. And it looks like lynch mobs are quite popular in Guatemala. It’s all the fault of damn muzzie terrorists…or not…

Scary scary shit happening these days. Read about how an islamophobe goes undercover at Dar al Hijrah in Virginia, and makes shahada (!) to “expose” their “true intentions.” Both Tariq Nelson’s and Umar Lee’s blogs has eye witness, first hand accounts of the incident.

I tried to avoid the commotion surrounding the cartoons of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) last year. I refused to talk about it on message boards, tried to avoid reading or listening to it in the news, and ducked every time my husband tried to bring it up in conversation.

I’ve become less tolerant to conflict and debate as I’ve aged, and now (at the ripe ol age of 25), I would rather just have a friendly exchange of ideas, and not a knock down drag out fight. Unfortunately online, most friendly exchanges quickly become nasty, and I knew that this event certainly lent itself to incivility, so as such, I avoided it.

Now, with some distance from the whole affair, I’ve made an exception. From Sidi Mas’ud’s blog:

About the video: The film is a window into the efforts of various communities as they struggle to overcome the challenges brought about by the Danish Cartoon Crisis. It brings to screen a rare glimpse into a multi-cultural approach to conflict resolution. Common Ground reveals that when faced with international challenges and conflict, diversity of origin and differences in cosmology are unique tools to discover our prospects of human potential and cooperation.

Please help us promote the film by checking out the website and passing it on to your friends and family. The film is scheduled for an international TV broadcast and a DVD release. Before the DVD launch there will be special screenings of the film in several countries (apart from the festivals), so stay tuned to the website for local screening info., the international TV broadcast schedule, and DVD release dates.

We appreciate your support!

The Common Ground film crew, Mustafa Davis, Ilyas Curtis, Tashi (Abu Bakr) Gellek

http://www.commongroundfilm.com/

Translated by Imam Suhaib Webb.

“It is not allowed to declare any Muslim an apostate for a sin he committed, or a mistake he made. Such as, an error related to differences surrounding issues of Ijtihad (3) . Allah says in His noble book, “Forgive us our Lord. And to You is the final return.” (4) It is related in the al-Sahih (5): that Allah (may He be exalted) answered this supplication and forgave the believers for any mistakes they committed.

Continued at the link above. Hmm, I wonder how we could apply this in today’s modern world?

A few of Imam Suihab’s talks are available for free here, here, here and here. His “Mothers of the Believers” cd series can be purchased many places online, and is quite excellent.

Black Iris presents 2 contrasting letters, one from the Prophet Muhammad (saws) to the monks at St. Catherines, and another from his purported followers to a christian community in Pakistan.

*insert little pukey smiley here*

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6443667.stm

For the last three years, Alan has been the only foreign journalist from a major media organisation based in Gaza. At times, he spends months in the territory without leaving it.

In the last year, the atmosphere has been incredibly tense as the inter-factional violence raged between Hamas and Fatah. Gun battles would erupt out of nowhere and the noise could keep you awake all night.

There has also been a spate of kidnappings targeting foreigners – although all have been released unharmed. Alan often spoke to his colleagues about his fears of being abducted. He knew the risks and took precautions. There are only a handful of foreigners – mostly aid workers – still living in the territory.

Life revolves around office and apartment – it is simply too unsafe to go out at night. Social life is minimal. But day after day, month after month, year after year, Alan has persisted in living in Gaza to cover Palestinian issues. He feels they are too important to go unreported. And he will be furious now that he’s become the story instead of the one writing it.

Via Rolled up Trousers by way of Sunni Sister

Yet that’s not how the journalist at the local newspaper in Oxford, the Oxford Mail, decided to approach the issue. Her article was titled “Row over fully dressed woman in sauna”. The main interview in the article was with Ian Caldwell, the man who verbally attacked me in the lobby. There was no attempt to find out the full story. A so-called “Muslim community leader” called Taj Hargey called it “political correctness gone crazy”.

At no point had the journalist contacted me. She seemed to have decided to take a similar approach to the man in the swimming pool – talking about me, not to me. As did David Lloyd’s, which had backed up his story without consulting me. At no point did they bother to inform me, a paying member, that such an article was being written. I contacted the Oxford Mail, offering them my side of the story. I never heard back.

Of course, that would have destroyed the theme of the article. Nobody in Oxford would be interested in new swimming suits with hi-tech material, but a crazy Muslim woman jumping into a pool fully clothed and potentially suffocating in the sauna was much more interesting. Since when have facts been important to journalists covering stories involving Muslims?

Alhamdulilah, I haven’t had any international sensation news stories written about me when I go swimming at the local Y. Maybe someone will write one when I finish a marathon (currently training for a half, planning on a full in 2009), but I would hope they would have the decency to interview me. Heck, I hope they interview me.

I think I”m going to use the sauna this weekend at the gym…

Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji’oon

At the Convocation on Tuesday, four college religious leaders spoke. You can listen to the muslim speaker starting around 20:00.

At least 150 people were killed in Iraq today. I wish we could have profiles of all the people killed in Iraq like what we are getting for those killed at Vtech on Monday. I mourn the loss of the students, because I can identify with them. American college students, gunned down while in class. It wasn’t too long ago that I was a student in class. The deaths in Iraq are more distant. If I knew more about these people, maybe I would mourn their passing more, rather than just feel, oh, more people died there today…

Via NPR

Ok, there is a lot that could be changed in Cairo. Pollution control would be at the top of my list. Spend any time there, and you’re sneezing black snot for weeks afterwards. Doing something about the piles of garbage all over the place is pretty high up there too.

Athan reform doesn’t even crack the top 10. For a westerner, where religious sounds in the public sphere are limited to church bells ringing on Sunday, to live in Cairo and be surrounded by religious sounds 24 hours a day is something almost magical. When it is time to pray, and athans echo from all corners of the city, I can’t help but fall silent and appreciate the sounds. Ok, maybe it’s not quite magical when the athans are all amplified to the point of distortion, but those echoing calls to prayer are part of what makes Cairo Cairo.

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it and replace the distorted microphoned calls with natural voices calling. After all, you don’t need to inform people half a mile away that it’s prayer time in your masjid, because there are probably 5 mosques that are closer where it’s also prayer time.

Plus, now with the athan possibly coming from the radio, everyone will crank up their radios to the point of distortion, and it won’t be pretty anyways.

Cairo Asr Athan

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/BCayTZP40-0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

And, the athan from the Hussein Mosque in Cairo. Oh, I had issues with this mosque here. The women’s section isn’t anything to write home about, but the men’s section is beauuuutiful. I wanted to go inside for some pictures, but the shoe guys wouldn’t let me in. dur. I had a brief argument with them with my husband translated, but alas, I didn’t persuade them. What really got me though, was that there were plenty of male (presumably non muslim) tourists inside. Dur!

Dur. At Kabobfest:

The Kaffiya Kraze: Revisited

With a great deal of discomfort and a tad bit of pissed-off-ness, I regret to (re)inform the KABOB-o-sphere that Palestine has officially become a trend…That’s right folks, for a mere $20.00 (or 75.0127 Saudi Riyal) you too can jump on the socially stupid hipster-doofus bandwagon by rocking your very own “Anti-War Woven Scarf!” (available only at Urban Outfitters… or..err..uh… the Middle East)

…

Besides – what the hell is so “anti-war” about a kaffiya anyway? Are people wearing it in solidarity with the Iraqis? If so, which Iraqis? And what do they propose the US’ role should be in the country after the war is over? I wonder how many of these “anti-war” Iraqi solidarity fashion moguls voted to reinstate G.W. Bush for second term in 2004 – or didn’t show their solidarity with the millions of Iraqi children who suffered and/or died during 10 brutal years of American endorsed UN sanctions… oi vey!

I don’t know about you – but I, for one, don’t appreciate being tokenized! What next – a FUBU yarmulka? Puh-leez! If you’re sincere in your display of solidarity, buy your kaffiyas from here.

More of the kafiyya in another Kabobfest post

Right now, I have visions of Cartman from Southpark dancing in my head. In particular, it is a scene where he dances around going Hahahahaha-ha.

I’m sure most people have heard of Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia’s attack on Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota’s decision to swear in tomorrow using the Qur’an.

Take this Rep. Goode

But It’s Thomas Jefferson’s Koran!

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he’d take his oath of office on the Koran — especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.

Yet the holy book at tomorrow’s ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We’ve learned that the new congressman — in a savvy bit of political symbolism — will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

“He wanted to use a Koran that was special,” said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison’s 5th District, was happy to help.

Jefferson’s copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson’s collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn’t the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies — the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions.

During the 2004 Olympics, there were a spate of articles about muslimah athletes competing in the games. One of those profiled was Ruqaya Al Ghasara, a Bahraini runner who ran wearing hijab.

Ruqaya continues to kick butt on the international level. She just won the gold in the 200 m and the bronze in the 100 m at the Asian Games.

I do wear hijab, but I don’t like to get involved in the whole hijab discussion that is popular in online and real world muslim circles. Scratch that, I enjoy discussion hijab styling and hijabi fashion, but I’m not one to get involved in the whole “must pressure all muslimahs to wear it and if you don’t, you suck” thing. I do, however, love to see a hijabi suceed. At a time when positive press for Islam is rare, the image of a hijabi blowing away the competition and then making sujood to thank God for her victory is a sight for sore eyes. SubhanAllah!
When I first started running a year ago, I searched high and low for other hijabi runners out there. I found a picture of Ruqaya from the 04 Olympics and pasted it to the door for inspiration. Now I have a ton of pictures to add, and inshaAllah many more when other muslimahs are inspired to get out there and just do it.

Iran’s Mina Porseifi Jahankhanomlou at the back of the pack of the 1500m finals. I *heart* her top. I’ve looked high and low for a slightly longer sports top and have always come up empty.

I was a poli sci and religious studies major in college. So, of course I should be brimming with opinions related to islam in the news, right? Well, yes, I do tend to have a lot of opinions, but recently, I’m not too fond of expressing them online. I used to be a frequent poster CF, a large christian message board. I became the token muslim, who had to trot out every time a muslim somewhere did something stupid and condemn it. And, it I didn’t condemn it forcefully enough, or quickly enough, people would assume I supported the stupid act. In addition, it was difficult to argue my perspective, because their asinine rule against “promoting other religions” prevented me from linking to sources that portrayed islam in a positive light. I once got slapped for posting a link to a list of muslims who condemn terrorism (in response to a poster claiming muslims don’t condemn terrorism), because it was on the ISNA website. Do’h! After several years of on demand condemnation, and never seeming to make any headway, I’ve burnt myself out on internet political commentary.

But, that doesn’t mean I still don’t like to read a good politically oriented piece in the muslim blogosphere. And alhamdulilah, we have some excellent commentators out there. It’s unfortunate that their voices aren’t heard by a wider audience.

ThePolemicist has an excellent commentary on what he calls “The Ghettoest Terror Plot in History” where a supposed lone wolf plotted to grenade bomb a mall in Illinois. Excellent excellent excellent.

And so what this becomes is the most ghetto terror plot in history. Shareef is a broke ass punk. Even his sister won’t lend him money. And so, in order to keep this thing moving, CS is most likely the one who proposed that Shareef sell his ghetto stereo speakers (the affidavit says CS and Shareef discussed it, but we know what that really means). Wait, let me guess what Plan C was—getting the grenades on layaway??

Clearly the government agent is simply groping for a way for Shareef to continue with this “plot.” Broke. No access to cash. So they settled on the one barterable good the guy has. Stereo speakers! And they’re gonna get with those speakers? 4 grenades and 2 hand guns??? But CS said the grenades were $50 each. So that means the grenade set cost $200. What do the guns cost? Maybe $100 each? What about bullets? So that’s at least $300. Do you seriously think that broke ass Shareef’s speakers are worth $300??

Now this gets even more cartoonish. This is a caricature of previous terrorist plots. Shareef and CS talked the day earlier about shaving their pubes, a supposed rite among Muslim terrorists before they attack. Now they make their ‘martyrdom’ videos. Haha, what bullshit man. Whose idea was this? The affidavit doesn’t mention this. Moreover, how did they get the camcorder? Do you think broke ass Shareef had one? Shareef makes some speech, seems like it’s written by CS. None of the ghetto talk and cussing in it. Seems like a textbook speech.