Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story
Chimamanda Adichie gave a wonderful talk about how we humans stereotype each other and see the other through our negative single stories or negative personal experiences which not only rob people of their dignity, but also create walls that separate us from each other.
Some excerpts of the talk to reflect on:
“I wrote exactly the kind of stories I was reading. All my characters were white and blue eyed.”
“I realized that people like me, girls with chocolate skin and kinky hair that could not be formed into a pony tail could exist in literature.”
“Their poverty was my single story of them[Nigerian family].”
“She felt sorry for me even before She saw me.”
A Peace of My Mind
By John Noltner, A Peace of My Mind
John Noltner
“A Peace of My Mind” is a documentary project I have been working on for the past half year. It was born out of a desire to give a voice to people who believe in peace. It is easy to become discouraged and even angry when we listen to the shrill rhetoric that can be found in the mainstream media. Complex issues are boiled down to talking points and black and white answers while the true answers are found in the subtle nuances in between.
The premise of “A Peace of My Mind” is simple. To interview individuals from a wide range of backgrounds about their thoughts on peace and what it means to them in their lives, what they do to work toward it and what obstacles stand in their way. Their peace can be a spiritual peace, political peace, inner peace and it is about what moves them. The idea is that the more we can talk about peace and the more we can keep it in the public dialog, the more likely we can achieve it.
Speaking of Faith: Revealing Ramadan
Filed under: Guest | Tags: Revealing Ramadan; Speaking of Faith; Islam; Muslims
Leave a Comment By Brad Robideau, American Public Media
I’m writing to alert you to a groundbreaking special project from American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith unfolding in and beyond Ramadan.
Several months ago, Speaking of Faith extended an invitation to Muslims to reflect on their lived experience of Islam, of what it means—in a daily, particular way—to be part of what is often referred to in the abstract as “the Muslim world.” Responses continue to flow in from people all over the world. They range in age from their teens to their 70s. They are Iraqi-American Californian, but also Mexican-American and Russian-American converts from other faiths. They’ve come from Indonesia, Turkey, England, and from robust Muslim communities in places like Dallas.
Pride Is Source of All Problems
By Engage Minnesota
We need to purify our hearts before we solve the world’s problems.
Ramadan: Beyond Abstaining from Food and Drink
Filed under: Tamim Saidi | Tags: fasting, holy month, hunger, Muslims, Ramadan, Tamim Saidi, thirst
Comments (1) 
Tamim Saidi
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota.
I vividly recall the first couple of years that I fasted as a young teenager. All I could think about was food. Even when I took a daytime nap, I dreamt of food. Ramadan follows a lunar calendar, and when it falls in long summer days like this year, abstaining from food and water becomes more challenging, but Ramadan is not merely about food and water. For practicing Muslims, it is about righteousness and God-consciousness. It is about making one a better person and a better Muslim. Read more »
Ramadan: Photo Story
Breaking Fast with Milk and Dates.
Time to Pray and Thank God.
Focusing on God
Time to Eat and Connect with Family and Friends :)
Ramadan Mubarak (Blessed Ramadan)
Filed under: Engage Minnesota, Fedwa Wazwaz, Guest | Tags: Fedwa Wazwaz, Muslims, Ramadan;Islam
Leave a Comment By Fedwa Wazwaz, Engage Minnesota
Ramadan Mubarak (Blessed Ramadan)
…
“The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent down, a guidance for the people, and clear verses of guidance and criterion.”
Quran: Chapter 2, 183]
The fourth pillar of Islam is Sawm, or fasting in the month of Ramadan. Fasting is also practiced in many other religions and is mentioned in the Torah and Bible as well as in Hindu scriptures. Observant Christians fast during Lent by giving up a particular food. Hindus fast on certain days of the week or on holidays, and for Jews, the most important day of fasting is on Yom Kippur, which lasts a little over a day.
Ramadan is the 9th month in the Islamic Calendar. Because Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, it rotates through the seasons, moving back around eleven days each year. Last year, Ramadan started in September 1st and this year, the Islamic Society of North America, declared Ramadan to begin on August 22nd, 2009.
Minneapolis and Najaf become Sister Cities
By Luke Wilcox, Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project
On July 31st, 2009 the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution by unanimous vote establishing Minneapolis, USA and Najaf, Iraq as official Sister Cities. The resolution came after more than a year of work to build support in the two city councils by the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP) and its partner organization in Iraq the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT). Najaf is now the tenth Sister City for Minneapolis and the first in the Middle East.
Soon after the resolution passed, IARP received the following note from Malka ali Kadhim al-Haddad, Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Kufa in Najaf: Read more »
“A Small Kindness”
Filed under: Guest | Tags: ayisha yahya, building blocks, hunger, Islam, Minnesota
Comments (3) Feeding the Hungry in the Twin Cities
By Ayisha Yahya.
A quick glance at your grocery bill is evidence that a dollar just doesn’t go as far as it used to – the cost of food is rising. But while some people can still afford to stock up the fridge and pantry, for others, hunger is a persistent problem. Read more »
‘Crusaders of Justice’ Tells Minnesota’s Civil Rights History
Filed under: Guest | Tags: African Americans, Arthur McWatt, civil rights, NAACP
Leave a Comment 
Crusaders for Justice book cover courtesy Papyrus Publishing
“Crusaders for Justice: A Chronicle of Protest by Agitators, Advocates and Activists in their Struggle for Civil and Human Rights in St. Paul, Minnesota” will be the subject of book-signing events with the author from 11:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m. Friday, June 5, 2009, at Rondo Community Outreach Library, 461 N. Dale St., St. Paul; and from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Friday, June 19, 2009, at Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe, 921 Selby Ave.
By Ann Cader
Papyrus Publishing
…In 1946, the 14th Annual St. Paul Open Golf Tournament barred African American competitors Solomon Hughes and Ted Rhodes…
…In 1968, vandals set fire to the St. Paul house that John McKinney and his family had saved up for 17 years to buy. Friends and neighbors helped the McKinneys repair their house….
A new book by retired Johnson High School history teacher Arthur C. McWatt relates hundreds of such incidents, big and small. They reveal the dangers, obstacles and humiliations that faced St. Paul’s African Americans over the past two centuries.
Curiosity Camp offers Insight Into Islam
By Lara Roy
Curiosity Camp
Curiosity Camp, a series of one day learning adventures for adults offered by the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota, will feature a program titled Insight Into Islam on June 23 at the Islamic Center of Minnesota. The day’s program will feature speakers from the Islamic Resource Group, the University of Minnesota, and Mizna, a journal of Arab-American poetry and prose. Here is a full description:
Islam is the predominant religion in much of Africa and the Middle East, as well as in major parts of Asia and eastern Europe, with more than one billion adherents worldwide. However, misperceptions about Islamic religious, cultural, and social practices abound. During this Camp, which is offered in partnership with the Islamic Center of Minnesota, you will spend time at the Center and learn about Islam from a variety of perspectives.
During an introductory talk, you will be introduced to Muslim culture, practices, and beliefs. You also will learn about the earliest Muslims in this country, the development of conversion movements in the African American community, and the impact of West African Muslim culture during a presentation on the roots of Islam in America. Read more »
Obama’s Message to the World’s Muslims
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
Dr. Ghulam Haniff of St. Cloud State University
In recent months President Barack Hussein Obama has delivered two messages, one after another, aimed at Muslims, designed to indicate that the U. S. foreign policy towards them is changing. The first one took place through an interview with correspondent Hisham Melham of TV Al-Arabiya and broadcast to the countries in the Middle East. The second one, carried by many television networks throughout the world, was a speech on the floor of the Grand National Assembly, the Turkish parliament.
Each one conveyed almost identical messages. The gist of each message was that America is reaching out to the Muslims and that the current administration would take concrete actions to engage the followers of Islam in building bridges of understanding and partnership.
Islam Awareness Week 2009 – “Islam Contributing to U.S. National Interests”
Filed under: Guest | Tags: Islam, islam awareness, national interest
Comments (2) By Lolla Mohammed Nur, Engage Minnesota
Every year, Muslim students at the University of Minnesota organize Islam Awareness Week, one of the largest events held by the Muslim community on campus for non-Muslim Minnesotans. Sponsored annually by the Muslim Students Association and Al-Madinah Cultural Center, Islam Awareness Week (IAW) has become a vibrant tradition usually filled with various events such as lectures, seminars, and featured entertainment. All are aimed at spreading awareness of Islam as a dynamic religion by presenting several contemporary issues from an Islamic perspective. Read more »
President Obama is Creating History in International Relations
President Obama’s speech in Turkey might as well go down in history as the speech that changed the course of history in modern times. I feel a thrill run down my spine as I remember casting my first ever vote for our President. In fact, I feel honored to be a contributing factor of this history-making President who, during his first foreign trip, showed the humane, considerate, respectful, engaging, compassionate, honorable, and truly positive side of our country. He showed the world something that has been missing for the past decade. Read more »
Howard Zinn Discusses ‘The Three Holy Wars’
Filed under: Onder Uluyol | Tags: Civil War, Despair; Allah; Misfortune, Howard Zinn, Obama administration, Onder Uluyol, Revolutionary War, Three Holy Wars, Voices of a People's History
Comments (1) By Onder Uluyol, Engage Minnesota
Howard Zinn
The famed historian, playwright, and activist Howard Zinn visited the Twin Cities this week. There were two events featuring him: Voices of a People’s History performance at the College of St. Catherine on Monday and a lecture at Macalester College on Tuesday. I went to the talk at Macalester. The huge Hill ballroom was packed with young students, faculty, peace lovers and longtime admirers of Zinn, and perhaps a few other curious people like me.
Zinn talked about the three “holy” wars as he called them: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Second World War. He says these are holy because nobody dares to question them. He questioned the cost of these wars. Twenty five thousand dead out of 3 million total population in the Revolutionary War translates into 2.5 million dead in today’s population figures. The other two wars also costing millions of dead. He made a distinction between a “just cause” and a “just war.” The cause might be just but – is the war the best way to achieve a worthy goal?
Read more »
Palestine Day at Robbinsdale Middle School
Palestine Day is an annual event that celebrates Palestinian culture and heritage through Palestinian Folk Songs (Mawwal), Palestinian Folk Dance (Dabka), Palestinian Food, and much more. This event is sponsored by Al-Aqsa Institute- a Palestinian-American organization whose main purpose is to educate the Palestinian-American community and other communities at large about the rich Palestinian culture.
Read more »
For Muslim Women in Minnesota, Complex Identities
By Emily Dussault
KFAI FM
What does it mean to be a feminist? What does it mean to be a Muslim woman in Minnesota? The challenges and experiences of two local Muslim women give us an inside look into the complex identities of this growing Minnesota population. This piece originally aired March 17 on KFAI FM as part of its series “Muslims in Minnesota.” Click here to download the audio version.
Defining feminism can be tricky. It is a messy, complicated question with countless possible answers. “The doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men” is how the dictionary defines it. But how do you decide what is equal when something can’t be quantified? And what’s equal about a culture that requires women to cover themselves in scarves? In this case, the dictionary just doesn’t do the trick.
I sat down with two women who challenged my ideas about what feminism is really about.
Read more »
KFAI airs ‘Meeting Minnesota Muslims’
Filed under: Engage Minnesota | Tags: KFAI, Muslim burial, Muslim immigrants, Muslim Tees, Muslim women, Muslims and hip hop, Muslims in Minnesota
Leave a Comment KFAI FM and the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Global Studies are presenting a special series of stories on Muslims in Minnesota. The stories aim to illuminate the lives of Minnesota’s Muslims and provide listeners greater understanding of the state’s wide variety of Muslim residents. The installments include Faith in Hip Hop, One Strike And You’re Out, Wearing Faith On Their Sleeves, Empowered Muslim Women, In Search of the Minnesota Muslim, Muslim Immigrants Learn English, Music and Sufi Islam in the Twin Cities, and Muslim Burial Traditions.
Minnesotans and Iraqis Work Together for Reconciliation
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: american, Iraq, Iraqi, luke wilcox, Minnesota, minnesotan, reconciliation
Comments (2) By Luke Wilcox
Iraq can seem far from Minnesota, both geographically and culturally. While nearly six years of military operations in Iraq have brought images of war and its consequences into American homes, the culture and people of Iraq have rarely followed. Many Americans support peace with Iraq, but know little about Iraqis and wonder how much impact one person can realistically have in a violent world. For a group of Minnesotans and Iraqis, the answer is, “more than you think.” For the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP) and the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT), interpersonal and local community connections – rather than strategic agreements between national governments – are exactly what is needed to sustain an enduring process of reconciliation and peacebuilding. Read more »
Muslims and People of Other Faiths
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: christianity, Islam, judaism, tolerance
Comments (5) 
Tamim Saidi
Reflections of an Imperfect Muslim
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
Like many Muslims around the world, I grew up in a country that was 99.9% Muslim. Excluding a very small Hindu population, the only time we saw someone who was not a Muslim was on television. The vast majority of people in Afghanistan, my country of birth, like some other regions in the Muslim-majority parts of the world, had very little interaction with people of other faiths. Read more »
