Archive for the ‘Guest bloggers’ Tag
Educating Muslim Students in Minnesota: The Skill and the Will
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Events, Guest bloggers, Muslims in Minnesota, Muslims;Islam;Meeting Minnesota's Muslims;Education, Separation of church and state
Leave a Comment By Martha Bigelow, Meeting Minnesota’s Muslims
Multicultural education seeks to include a range of perspectives often suppressed by the majority culture as well as include students from diverse backgrounds in the process of learning. What is sometimes lost in efforts to create inclusive educational experiences is serious thought to how to welcome students of minority religions. In the case of Muslim students, the barriers typically include lack of knowledge of Islam and strategies to accommodate Islamic religious practices in school settings. In the same way it is essential to have classrooms that make students of different ethnicities, genders or family income levels feel invested in learning, it is equally essential to make Muslim students feel that they belong to the learning community. Like all students, we need to keep Muslim kids engaged in school because of the importance of high school diploma for so many post-secondary options students wish to explore.
How Arabs (Mis)perceive America, and Vice Versa
Minnesotan’s Book Aims to Dispel Ignorance by Promoting Cultural Awareness
By Mary Coons
To many in the Arab world, America seems like a threat – or at least the big bully on the playground. But America is not the real threat – although it can be a bully. Ignorance is the true threatening enemy.
I wrote Culturally Speaking: Promoting Cross-Cultural Awareness in a Post-9/11 World as an attempt to bridge some of those vast chasms of cultural gaps lurking out there behind heavy wooden doors by dispelling the ignorance that Americans and Arabs of the Persian Gulf have of each other’s cultures.
It is crucial that we listen and understand one another’s perspective, and not allow misconceptions to fester. This does not mean we must always agree with these perspectives. But we do have a responsibility to respect one another’s opinions as part of healthy, intellectual stimulation.
We must first admit our ignorance, recognize and dispel gross generalizations and, finally, begin to influence and inspire changed attitudes toward cross-cultural differences among family, friends, and co-workers.
Peaceful Tomorrows Statement on the 7th Anniversary of 9/11
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 9/11, Afghanistan, Guest bloggers, Iraq, Peaceful Tomorrows, terrorism, War on Terror
Comments (2) “…we never wanted wars of retaliation that would cause the deaths of innocent civilians in other nations.”
By September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Peaceful Tomorrows Statement on the 7th Anniversary of 9/11.
Letter via Email
The experience of yet another anniversary of 9/11 provides an occasion to reflect upon the hopes and beliefs that brought the members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows together. In response to the terrorist attacks that killed our family members, we never wanted wars of retaliation that would cause the deaths of innocent civilians in other nations. We never wanted hunger for revenge to lead America to violate international law, abandon Constitutional rights, or engage in torture.
March Organizers Failed to Protect Message
By Francisco J. Gonzalez
I was at the March on the Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul that took place Monday Sept 1 and was overwhelmed by the passion, the excitement, the vibrancy of the peaceful participants. I was particularly pleased to see the interaction between marchers: Somali immigrants protesting against the US-supported Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, and Palestinian marchers denouncing the occupation of Palestine and Iraq mingled with socialists, environmentalists, and with pro-immigrant Latino activists.
March In Solidarity with the People of Palestine.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Events, Guest bloggers, Uncategorized
Leave a Comment Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Engage Minnesota
On September 1, the Republican Party will be in St. Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention (RNC). More than 45,000 people, including 15,000 media employees, are expected to attend the 2008 convention.
Appealing Ideals, Troubling Practices
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Guest bloggers, Turkey;Coexistence;Peacemaking;Middle East
Comments (2) By Onder Uluyol, Engage Minnesota
Last summer I went to Turkey to visit my birthplace and my relatives who live there. During a family gathering, I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard two of my relatives agreeing on what the U.S. is doing in the Middle East and what is best for Turkey. You see, one of those relatives is a die-hard socialist who believes in extensive state control in economy, education and healthcare and sees religion as an impediment to the society. The other one is a fiery Muslim activist who sees a supporting role for the government in providing the basic needs, values the role of the religion in shaping the moral fabric of the community and abhors that the government is interfering with the free exercise of belief. For many internal ills of the society they blame each other. Yet this time, they agreed that the U.S., with its imperialistic policies, is the cause of many problems, Turkey would be the next target after Iraq, and the best way forward for Turkey would be to isolate itself from the West.
The view articulated by my two relatives of opposing backgrounds, although still the minority view, has been gaining support recently in the region. I believe the increasing popularity of this anti-Americanism is not ideological but represents a defensive posturing by the people as a result of the confusion and the fear created by the horrible destruction they see in neighboring Iraq.
Preventing the Next War?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Ahmadenijad, fatwa, Guest bloggers, Iran, Keith Ellison, Khamenei, war
Comments (1) Keith Ellison’s Iran Forum and the June 10 Call-In to Congress
By Lydia Howell
On May 28, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., hosted Iran scholars for a community forum in a packed hall at the First Unitarian Society church in Minneapolis. The focus was on the U.S.-Iran relationship, estranged for over 30 years, which many fear may become the next chapter in the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism.”
“Nary a day goes by that someone isn’t saying something abut Iran in the media. Part of my responsibility as a U.S. congressman is to be a forum to discuss the critical issues we face and to promote dialog about the most pressing issues,” said Ellison. “To quote [African-American writer] James Baldwin: Anything that cannot be faced cannot be fixed.”
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Local Human Rights Award Recognizes Interfaith Work
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American Muslim Community Center, awareness, difference, diversity, Eden Prairie, faith, Guest bloggers, Human Rights, Human Rights award, interfaith, Islam, Minnesota, muslim, peace, Qur'an, tolerance
Comments (1) By Autif Sayyed, American Muslim Community Center
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Representatives from the three churches
and Saleem Adam of American Muslim Community Center, second from left. |
On May 20, the City of Eden Prairie honored American Muslim Community Center (AMCC) and three churches–Eden Prairie United Methodist Church, Pax Christi Catholic Community and Prairie Lutheran Church–with its annual Human Rights Award. The award was in recognition of our participation in planning and executing the Interfaith Worship Service Program in 2006 and 2007. These events brought together hundreds of people of different faiths to celebrate the commonalities held by all and to promote peace, tolerance, and awareness.
The AMCC strives to create an inclusive community spirit through its activities and programs. We have achieved this by embracing diversity as a strength rather than a weakness. The reasoning behind this approach is very simple. Read more »
Take Heart: Join Get-Together at Convention Center
Filed under: Guest, interfaith | Tags: Guest bloggers, interfaith, Minnesota Council of Churches, Taking Heart
Comments (1) By Gail Anderson
How do we take heart in times like these?
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Policing Our Attitudes About the Police
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: citizens public safety academy, Guest bloggers, Lino Lakes, Minnesota, muslim, national night out, Police, Uncategorized
Comments (1) 
By Zainib Ahmad
I never thought I would dress up like a firefighter, oxygen tank and all, and put out a car fire, visit the dispatch center where 911 calls are handled or fire an actual shotgun. For the past month I have been doing that and more while spending my Thursdays at the fire station in Lino Lakes.
I am one of eight women and twelve men participating in a nine-week Citizens Public Safety Academy sponsored by the Lino Lakes Police Department and Fire Station. This experience is teaching me a lot about the hard work these brave men and women do, often putting their lives on the line on a daily basis.
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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?
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For engaging the U.S. public, Congressman Ellison is a role model for Muslims
Filed under: ghulam haniff | Tags: aljazeera, assalaamu, diversity, ellison, ghulam haniff, glenn beck, Guest bloggers, Islam, Islamophobia, middle east, muslim, pluralism, Qur'an, religion, virgil goode
Comments (2) By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
Last spring King Abdullah II of Jordan concluded his speech to the joint session of the U.S. Congress with the familiar salutation, “Assalamu-alaikum!” Immediately, in response a booming voice rang out from the center of the chamber with a loud “Walaikum-assalam.” Everyone present was stunned.
For a long moment there was a hushed silence. No doubt, some wondered whether this was an exchange of some secret message right in their midst. By then many heads had turned around and recognized the new face. It was none other than the first-term Congressman Keith Ellison, (D-Minn.), the newly elected representative from the fifth district of Minnesota.
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A U.S. Muslim response to teacher’s jailing in Sudan
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cair, gibbons, Guest bloggers, hooper, Islam, muhammad, muslim, sudan
Comments (2) or, What Would Muhammad Do, Part 2
By Ibrahim Hooper
{Note: The author is a University of Minnesota graduate who worked in television and educational outreach in Minnesota before becoming national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Because of user interest in the furor over the British teacher jailed in Sudan for allegedly disrespecting the prophet, EngageMinnesota is reprinting Mr. Hooper’s commentary with permission.}
During last year’s protests over publication of the Danish cartoons designed to insult the Prophet Muhammad, I wrote a commentary called “What Would Muhammad Do?”
Given the ongoing controversy over the jailing of British teacher Gillian Gibbons in the Sudan for “insulting Islam,” perhaps it is time to remind us all how the Prophet himself reacted to insults, both real and perceived.
Even if Ms. Gibbons had the intent to cause insult, which does not seem to be the case, Islamic traditions include a number of instances in which the Prophet had the opportunity to retaliate against those who abused him, but refrained from doing so.
“You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
That description of the Prophet Muhammad is a summary of how he reacted to personal attacks and abuse.
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