Archive for February, 2008
‘Get to Know Your Muslim Neighbors’
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cabrini, Discussions, Events, interfaith, Islam, Learn, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Minnesota, Muslims, neighbors, spiritual, stereotypes
Comments(1) Face-to-face Meetings Provide First Step
Many Minnesotans—perhaps you, if you’re reading this post—want to better understand their Muslim neighbors.
Of course, most of us have busy schedules, and it’s difficult to approach strangers, even if they do live in your neighborhood. It might seem easiest to read about Muslims. Dozens of books offering to “explain” Muslims have appeared in the last few years; you might order one off Amazon.com or pick one up at your local bookstore. You could turn on the television and find Muslims depicted and described on CNN and Fox News; you can find Muslims talked about in newspapers and magazines. Muslims are discussed in academic forums, think tanks, and seemingly endless blogs.
You might inform—or misinform—yourself in any of these ways. But perhaps the best way to get to know a Muslim is to…get to know a Muslim.
That’s the aim of the speaker series, hosted by St. Frances Cabrini Church, titled “Get to Know Your Muslim Neighbor.” The first discussion is scheduled for Sunday, March 9 at 7 p.m.
Read more »
Abia Ali: Youth Hero
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Abia Ali, activist, Asma Saroya, children, Minnesota, Police, Somali, Volunteer
Comments(2) Woman Becomes First Somali and Muslim to Win Police Volunteerism Award
By Asma L. Saroya, Engage Minnesota
Last summer, I volunteered as a camp counselor at a week-long summer camp organized by the Muslim Youth of Minnesota. At one of the camp sessions focusing on heroes, I asked the kids to share the names of their heroes with the group. I was expecting the typical answers: mom, dad, a teacher, maybe even a basketball player. But when we had made a complete circle around the group, half the kids had said their hero was Sister Abia.
Abia Isse Ali is a Twin Cities Somali activist who focuses her work on the youth in her community. On Wednesday, Feb . 20, she will become Minneapolis’ first Somali and its first Muslim to win an annual Minneapolis Police volunteerism award. Minneapolis Chief of Police Tim Dolan will present Abia with the 2007 Teresa S. Ruhland Youth Award, an honor that recognizes adults who reach out to young people to build a better future for all city residents.
Read more »
The ‘True’ Act of a Muslim
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Allah, charity, Heba Abdel-Karim, Islam, kindness, Prophet, Qur'an, religion, Shariah, terrorism, true, violence
Comments(4) 
By Heba Abdel-Karim
Sitting at Borders on an early Saturday morning, I noticed an elderly couple coming to sit in an area near me. It was crowded, and the only two seats were quite far apart. One of them was right next to me. Being raised to respect the elderly, I happily gave up my seat for the man to sit by his wife. Not expecting a response, I started walking away to find another seat. He stopped me, however, and said something that amazed me, yet left me feeling cheerful until today. He said: “By the way, that was a true act of a Muslim.”
At that time, I was very happy with his comment, and I still am today. But now that I think back and reflect upon it, I am left pondering a question: How are we to know what is considered a true act of a Muslim and what isn’t?
Read more »
Ertijal (Improvisation): A Film Where Small Victories are Possible
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arab Film Festival, Ertijal, Events, Joubran, Marcia Lynx Qualey, music, Oud, Palestine, Raed Andoni, Ramallah
Comments(0) 
Reviewer Deborah Young calls Ertijal, a documentary about three Palestinian oud-playing brothers, “uncontroversial.”
|
Documentary:
Ertijal (Improvisation)
Screening:
7:30 p.m. Fri., Feb 22
Oak Street Cinema
309 Oak Street S.E.
Minneapolis 55414 |
While an “uncontroversial” film set in Palestine and Israel might sound like code for “ignorant” or “milquetoast,” this film is neither. And while Ertijal, directed by Raed Andoni and appearing at Minneapolis’ Oak Street Cinema on Feb. 22, doesn’t explicitly engage in polemics, it does achieve the unusual in portraying Palestinians as full-spectrum human beings. They are not only interested in politics, as eldest brother Samir Joubran remarks in an interview with the International Herald-Tribune. They also love.
Read more »
Prominent Muslim Scholar to Speak in MN: ‘Is Coexistence Feasible?’
Dr. Jamal Badawi Scheduled to Appear Feb. 20 at University of St. Thomas
By Fedwa Wazwaz, Engage Minnesota
|
ATTEND IT
Presentation:
Dr. Jamal Badawi:
“Is Coexistence Feasible? An Islamic Response.”
7 p.m. Weds., Feb. 20
O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium
University of St. Thomas,
2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul, MN
|
Although Muslims in the United States and around the world have repeatedly condemned terrorism and extremism, Muslims stand falsely accused by nationally known commentators and influential religious leaders of remaining silent.
The Islamic Resource Group (IRG), an educational outreach organization, has done more than 1,900 presentations reaching more than 65,000 Minnesotans in face-to-face interaction. The number one question people want IRG speakers to answer is: What does Islam say about terrorism? Sadly, we are forced to prove that we condemned terrorism. This is a situation no other faith community faces where it is held responsible for the actions of a few over what we have neither control nor influence.
On Wednesday, Feb. 20, prominent Muslim scholar Dr. Jamal Badawi (pictured at right) is scheduled to discuss coexistence in Islam. The alleged failure to condemn terrorism will be one among several subjects addressed in his speech. Dr. Badawi, in town by invitation of the IRG and University of St. Thomas, will give a presentation titled “Is Coexistence Feasible? An Islamic Response.”
The constant repetition of the alleged failure to condemn terrorism has pushed our voices behind an intellectual apartheid wall; hence, nothing we say is heard.
Are Revolutions Won by Hands Clenched into Fists or Clasped in Prayer?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Emily Bright, malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Minnesota History Theater, Muslims, The meeting
Comments(1) 
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King in The Meeting
By Emily Bright, Engage Minnesota
Also: Local Muslim Talks with Audience about His Experiences
When I arrive at the History Theater in downtown St. Paul, a school bus is parked in front of the door. It’s the perfect audience for Jeffrey Stetson’s play The Meeting, which imagines a meeting between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965 Harlem. Not that this is a children’s play, per se. But the discussion between two great leaders of the Civil Rights movement over the power of violence vs nonviolence definitely strikes a relevant note, and I’m glad people are having a chance to see it in school. Today’s show is set at 10 a.m. on a weekday, as most of the shows have been, and the audience has come entirely on school buses.
The setting is a Harlem hotel precisely 43 years ago today—Valentine’s Day, 1965. Set on the evening of the bombing of Malcolm X’s home and a week before he was assassinated, Malcolm X takes center stage through nearly all the show. Dr. King has accepted a visit to Harlem, and the two men spend their visit in an impassioned debate over, as the program states, whether revolutions are “won by hands clenched into fists or clasped in prayer.” Read more »
MN Writer’s New Children’s Book Inspired by Hadith
Filed under: Corey Habbas, Engage Minnesota | Tags: children's book, Corey Habbas, Engage Minnesota, EngageMN, hadith, Hidalgo, Islamic, muslim, picture book
Comments(2) 
The Runaway Scarf, a new book by Twin Cities-based writer Corey Habbas, is a story about human justice and freedom inspired by an Islamic hadith. The 52-page illustrated children’s book is set to be available at the end of February.
Habbas is also a regular contributor to EngageMN.com.
“I was mad after watching that movie Hidalgo,” Habbas said, “because it was such a distortion about Muslims, and that is what inspired this book. I wrote it in 2004 [after the movie was released], and it took me a long time to get it published!”
The book follows an African slave, named Ibsitu, who finds compassion and freedom once she escapes to the first Muslim community established by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the city of Madinah.
“It’s important that Muslim children learn about who they are by taking from Islamic sources, not from an entertainment industry that feeds on a climate of misunderstandings,” Habbas said in a release.
The book, issued by Muslim Writers Publishing, is now available through the publisher and Amazon.com and is scheduled to be available on IslamicBookstore.com. Look for more about the book, and its journey to publication.
Read more:
Group to Raise Funds for Muslim Youth
This Saturday Feb. 9 at 6 p.m., the Muslim Youth of Minnesota (MYM) is set to host its 10th anniversary fundraising dinner. The dinner is scheduled to take place at the Islamic Center of Minnesota, and tickets are $10 a person or $30 a family.
Habeeb Quadri, principal of the MCC Full Time School in Morton Grove, Ill., will speak at the event.
Read more »
Political Notebook: A Dream Coming Back to Life
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Political Notebook, Thasneem Ahmed
Comments(4) By Thasneem Ahmed
This past week’s Super Tuesday was truly a historic event. The energy, the excitement, the crowds …for many of us, especially for those who were voting in our caucus for the first time, that night will not be soon forgotten. As Americans around the country placed their votes for who they wanted to represent them in the Presidential election, the words “…. government of the people, by the people, for the people…” seemed to almost come alive. We were the American people and we were going to reel in a government that for the last several years seemed to have lost sight of this fact. Last Tuesday, the American people spoke up loud and clear…and made the leash.
Read more »
Remembering Br. Hesham Hussein: ‘God wants us to be together’
The Minnesota Writers’ Group mourns the passing on January 26 of Br. Hesham Hussein, president of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota and a tireless champion for equality and interdenominational coexistence and cooperation. The following eulogy for Br. Hesham was delivered by Gail Anderson of the Minnesota Council of Churches at a February 2 memorial service at MAS Center in Inver Grove Heights, and is reprinted with Ms. Anderson’s permission.
By Gail Anderson
I am Gail Anderson, of the Minnesota Council of Churches, where I organize interfaith programming.
Thank Mahrous and Asad, for giving me the honor and privilege of speaking at this memorial service. There is a saying in English, “having a heavy heart.” That is how I have felt since I got the news last Sunday. Every time I think of Hesham it hurts, and it has been hard to think about anything else.
Hesham and I worked closely together on the program called Taking Heart, his idea to let people of different religions get to know each other as people.
There is something in human nature, he used to say, that makes us notice the differences in each other. But he thought there were more similarities than differences. “I have two eyes, you have two eyes. I have one nose, you have one nose. I have hopes and fears, and you have hopes and fears.”
The Taking Heart program simply gets people together. They are Muslim and Christian, they talk, they eat. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that people get together, and eventually some true relationships are formed, and hearts are changed.
This work was very important to Hesham. He wanted Muslim people to be accepted as part of our society without giving up any part of their Muslim identity. That’s what we all want, to be accepted just as we are.
Hesham put endless hours into meeting with members of churches, attending picnics, adult education classes, annual conferences of denominations, and even went to a family camp with members of several churches for five days. And believe me, hearts were changed.
Why did he spend so much time and energy getting to know Christians? Or more precisely, why did he spend so much time and energy letting Christians get to know him? Why was this so important to Hesham?
Read more »
