Archive for April, 2008|Monthly archive page
Interfaith Panelists Recognize and Accept Differences
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: atheists, Baha'i, Baptists, dialogue, Events, future, Heba Abdel-Karim, humanity, interfaith, Interfaith Youth Core, jewish, Jews, Muslims, prejudice, progressive Islam, Rabbi Hillel, religion
Leave a Comment Five University Groups Discuss How They Can Work Together to Improve Humanity’s Future
By Heba Abdel-Karim and Lolla Mohammed Nur, Engage Minnesota
“Imagine a world where people from different religious backgrounds come together to create understanding and respect by serving their communities.” – Interfaith Youth Core (www.ifyc.org)
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On April 9, the Hillel Jewish Center, in union with the University of Minnesota’s Muslim Student Association, hosted and organized an interfaith discussion that brought together people of different faiths. The topic of the event was “humanity’s future,” and representatives of a number of different faiths spoke about how they see humanity progressing, and how our differences, as well as similarities, can better the community.
A little over a hundred people entered the room, determined to try something different: to go beyond their normal routine, talk to others of various faiths, and get to know them. Unsurprisingly, that’s what made the event—believed to be the first of its kind at the U—such a success. Attendees left politics aside and peacefully interacted with one another. In the end, they saw how similar, yet diverse and unique, we all were.
“I think that what group representatives, members, and the audience all liked the most was the atmosphere: nobody was on the defensive, nobody was being hostile, no group was being labeled with negative stereotypes,” comments EngageMN writer Lolla Mohammed Nur, pictured above to the left of Heba Abdel-Karim.
“The positive atmosphere was almost contagious!” says Mohammed Nur. “Some asked very insightful and sincere questions, and it was obvious that all audience members were there to genuinely learn about different faiths and beliefs. Everybody was there to help promote the message of religious tolerance and awareness.” Read more »
My Time in a Madrassa
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Barack Obama, Katherine Kersten, madrassa, madrassah, Marcia Lynx Qualey, mudarissa, Taliban, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, terrorism, TIZA
Comments (5) By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
Several years ago, I would have told you confidently—if haltingly—that I worked in a madrassa. Ana bashtaghal fi madrassa, I would’ve said. I worked there as a mudarissa, a teacher.
Madrassa and mudarissa were two of the first words to drop into my growing Arabic vocabulary. After all, I’d traveled all the way to Cairo, Egypt to take a job teaching pre-K at an international school. The words were useful.
For me, the word madrassa was almost empty of connotations, like escuela or école. When I first learned them, the words had no layers: They were attached to no stories, no sayings. All the word madrassa meant to me was a collection of beige buildings in the desert where I wrangled four-year-olds all day. Read more »
Students Deserve Equal Religious Rights Under the Law
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Al Amal, Asad Zaman, church and state, education, fairness, faith-based, Fedwa Wazwaz, Katherine Kersten, madrassa, Marcia Lynx Qualey, mosque and state, Shariah, Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy, TIZA, Uncategorized
Comments (4) By Fedwa Wazwaz and Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
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On April 9, we read Katherine Kersten’s column in the Star Tribune, and the e-mail exchange between Kersten and Asad Zaman, executive director of Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), and were compelled to respond.
I (Fedwa) have an eight-year-old daughter. I visited TIZA and decided not to enroll my daughter, choosing instead Al Amal School in Fridley. The primary reason is that I was convinced TIZA is not an Islamic School and does not teach Islamic Education to kids. I pay from my own pocket to put my daughter in Al Amal, the only Islamic school in the Twin Cities.
I (Marcia) have a four-year-old son, enrolled in a private Montessori school in St. Paul. While the school is housed adjacent to a Jewish temple—as TIZA is housed adjacent to a mosque—my son has learned nothing about Judaism by mere contact with the building. The school’s vacations are, as you might imagine, focused around Christian holidays.
Both of us work at the University of Minnesota, a public institution that receives taxpayer money. This school also closes on Christian holidays. Tests and school breaks are planned around Christian holidays to allow Christians time to celebrate. The floating holiday this year was on the Christian Good Friday, right before Christian Easter. There are “holiday parties” around Christmas Day—not, for instance, Ramadan.
However, the University of Minnesota presents itself as a secular university. Read more »
Support the Same Standards for All
Filed under: Engage Minnesota, Islamophobia | Tags: Asad Zaman, church and state, Engage Minnesota, Islamophobia, Katherine Kersten, Minnesota media, Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy, TIZA
Comments (2) 
Since Katherine Kersten’s column regarding Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) in yesterday’s Star Tribune, the Minnesota Department of Education has been inundated with negative calls.
Kersten’s column claims that TIZA is violating its charter and the “church and state” separation. She bases this largely on the observations of one short-time substitute teacher who was immersed in a different school culture, and could easily have been mistaken in her impressions and interpretations.
However, whether or not TIZA has violated the strictest interpretation of religion-state separation is not the issue. What school in Minnesota has not? Indeed, last December, the Minneapolis public schools launched a large faith-based initiative weighted almost entirely to Protestant congregations. Read about it here.
If we are going to examine TIZA’s practices with a fine-toothed comb, then surely all faith-based initiatives, Easter pageants, Christmas trees, and even our choice of holiday vacations should come under strict scrutiny.
If you would like to urge the Minnesota Department of Education to be fair in its scrutiny of Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy, and to be wary of Islamophobic motivations, the department is steering all calls to this number: 651-582 8570.
Al-Shifa Clinic: Health Care for All, No Questions Asked
Filed under: Corey Habbas, Islam | Tags: al-shifa, clinic, Corey Habbas, doctors, free clinic, health, health care, health insurance, healthy lifestyles, hypertension, Islam, Islamic, Islamic Center of Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota Muslim, sobia sarwar, uninsured
Leave a Comment Clinic Based in Islamic Center Helps Uninsured and Underserved Patients Treat Disease and Lead Healthier Lives
By Corey Habbas, Engage Minnesota
As health care costs increase in Minnesota and the uninsured rise in number, the Islamic Center of Minnesota (ICM) has taken on the role of a first-access, primary care clinic for anyone who needs it, through the Al-Shifa Clinic.
“It is our Islamic duty to address the issue of providing people with equal access to health care. We serve anyone in the community, both Muslim and non-Muslim,” asserts Sobia Sarwar, full-time coordinator for Al-Shifa Clinic. Al-Shifa is an Arabic noun for healing.
Since hiring Sarwar, the clinic’s committed doctors, who serve walk-in and scheduled patients, can concentrate on health care and not have to worry about administrative tasks like before.
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Al-Shifa Health Seminar:
Information on Hypertension
with Dr. Amin Rahmatullah
At the ICM on Sunday April 27
1401 Gardena Ave. N.E., Fridley
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She adds, “It’s the volunteer doctors that really make it happen. Without their skill set we really would not be able to contribute to the community. The fact that they dedicate their time and effort is enormous.”
Sarwar works in the banking industry, but says that her most rewarding job is her role as coordinator for Al-Shifa Clinic. But Al-Shifa is more than just a clinic. Read more »
Reflections from my Spiritual Journey to Makka
Filed under: Islam | Tags: Angel Gabriel, Baka'a, Hajirah, hajj, Ibrahim, Islam, Ismael, Jedda, Kaaba, lean camels, Makka, Mecca, Owais Bayunus, Pakistan, pillars, religion, Saudi Arabia, Zamzam
Comments (3) By Owais Bayunus, Engage Minnesota
Hajj is considered the fifth pillar of Islam, meaning every Muslim who can afford it and is in good health has to perform Hajj (at least) once in his lifetime.
My very first recollection of people going to perform Hajj was in my childhood in Karachi, where all the pilgrims from Pakistan used to assemble at the harbor to board ships heading towards Saudi Arabia. There was a distinct difference between them and the rest of the people who were not going to Hajj. The men were all dressed in white, women well covered, and you could see children running around dressed similarly. They were more organized than other people and always remained with their group, lest they get lost and be a problem for themselves and others.
When one of my father’s friends went to perform Hajj, my father took me along to bid him farewell at the passenger ship. In those days, the rich pilgrims normally flew to Jeddah directly and the middle class and the poorer people would take a ship to Jeddah, a journey of almost seven days. Read more »
Tag, You’re It
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Barack Obama, Fedwa Wazwaz, Franklin Graham, Islamophobia, Jeremiah Wright, John McCain, racist, Rod Parsley, Stop Walking on Eggshells, tag you're it
Comments (4) By Fedwa Wazwaz, Engage Minnesota
I like to read books on self-help and psycho-therapy. Recently, I read a book called Stop Walking on Eggshells by Paul T. Mason and Randi Kreger. In the book, Kreger and Mason talk about projection as “denying one’s own unpleasant traits, behaviors, or feelings by attributing them (often in an accusing way) to someone else” and then attacking that person for those traits.
In their interview with psychotherapist Elyce M. Benham, projection is defined as “gazing at yourself in a hand-held mirror. When you think you look ugly, you turn the mirror around. Voila! Now the homely face in the mirror belongs to somebody else.” Mason and Kreger refer to this projection game as “Tag, You’re It.”
In the past weeks, there have been a series of attacks against Barack Obama based on statements made by his spiritual adviser, Jeremiah Wright.
As a Muslim who’s heard a deluge of inflammatory and racist language directed at my faith and my Arabic ethnicity by the leaders of the Republican Party and White Evangelical leaders, I can sympathize.
Wright is certainly not the only spiritual adviser who has made inflammatory remarks. Let me share a few from the other side of the mirror. Read more »
Blaine hate crime sparks town meeting focused on unity, answers
Filed under: Islamophobia | Tags: Diversity and Muslims, Emily Bright, Events, Islamophobia
Comments (1) By Emily Bright, Engage Minnesota
On the night of January 27, three men entered Mohammad Ismail’s Blaine Dairy store as he was closing shop and threw flaming glass bottles at the walls, destroying everything in the store. Ismail escaped through the smoke-filled store with minor cuts and burns. A strong expletive directed at the word “Arab” was founded spray painted on the side door that same night. The FBI is investigating the possibility of a hate crime.
Exactly two months later, on March 27, roughly 75 community leaders and concerned citizens gathered at Anoka Technical School to talk about what they were going to do about hate crime in their community. The crowd looked small in the auditorium, but the conversation was constructive, with many speakers stressing the need to forgive those who cause harm, educate the public, and get to know one’s neighbors. As an example of the meeting’s overall goals of unity, the event was cosponsored by the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Lake Harriet United Methodist Church, the Anoka Technical Student College Senate, and the NAACP.
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Energy Conservation: Religious Duty and Good Sense
Filed under: Islam | Tags: conservation, energy, holistic, Islam, Islam and the environment, Islamic teachings, Minnesota, planet, Rafi Sohail, religion, resource management, savings, sustainable
Comments (3) By Rafi Sohail, Engage Minnesota
Conservation of natural resources is a key to ensuring the longevity of our planet and its inhabitants. Islam has a rich tradition of drawing our attention to properly taking care of the environment.
The teachings of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) point toward conservation, sustainable development, and resource management. The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) remarked, “The Earth is green and beautiful, and God has appointed you his stewards over it.”
This holistic environmental philosophy assumes a fundamental link and interdependency between all natural elements; if one of these is abused, then the natural world as a whole will suffer on account of this.
The following article is a humble attempt to help the readers conserve energy. This effort is inspired by Islam’s exhortations to safeguard the rights of the environment and to adopt moderation in the use of natural resources.
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