oy

(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*

no words

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.

you’d agree there are arabs…

oy Minnesota!

“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.

muslim episcopalian?

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?

honor killings…not just by muslims

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.

sick

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

accountability

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.

oh my twin cities ummah

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!