Archive for the ‘Marcia Lynx Qualey’ Tag
What’s Troubling About Charter School Debate: The Hate
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Asad Zaman, charter school, hate speech, Islamophobia, Kersten, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Education, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, TIZA
Comments (2) By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Education has issued a report clearing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy of the major allegations leveled against it and requesting that the school address smaller areas of concern.
The May 19 report states that the school’s core business—curriculum—is nonreligious, in full compliance with all Minnesota statutes. The Department of Education’s areas of concern related to how the school structures its voluntary Friday prayers as well as the timing of after-school busing. In a statement, Tarek school officials said that they take these concerns “very seriously” and will be getting together with parents and Department of Education officials to quickly rectify any possible or perceived infractions.
But the small concerns detailed in the report are not what should worry us most.
What should worry us most is the atmosphere of hate that surrounds them. Read more »
Muslim Group Supports Student’s Right to Service Dog
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cair, dog saliva, dogs and Islam, dogs and Muslims, God's creatures, guide dogs, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Muhammad and dogs, service dogs, service dogs and Islam, service dogs and Muslims, St. Cloud State, St. Cloud Times, Tyler Hurd, Uncategorized
Comments (5) By Marcia Lynx Qualey and Asma L. Saroya, Engage Minnesota
A civil rights group is working again to debunk the myth that Muslims and dogs can’t get along.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today is clarifying Muslim beliefs about dogs and expressing support for a St. Cloud State University student who felt his service dog was threatened. CAIR-MN issued a statement following a May 12 article in the St. Cloud Times, which said that graduate student Tyler Hurd left the university because he feared for the safety of his dog.
Hurd told the St. Cloud Times that while many Muslim students grew to like his dog, the dog was threatened by a student at one of the schools where he was doing his field training.
The Times article falsely states that Islam “forbids the touching of dogs.” CAIR-MN clarifies that many Muslims are uncomfortable around dogs, as they believe the saliva of dogs invalidates the ritual ablution performed before prayer. For this reason, it has become a cultural norm for individuals not to have dogs in their homes.
However, “the moral and legal need to accommodate individuals using service dogs far outweighs the discomfort an individual Muslim might feel about coming into contact with a dog, which is one of God’s creatures,” said CAIR-MN Communications Director Valerie Shirley. Read more »
Taking Heart: Visit a Mosque, Share a Meal
Filed under: interfaith | Tags: church, dialogue, Events, Gail Anderson, interfaith, interfaith dialogue, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Masjid Ummat Muhammad, Minnesota Council of Churches, mosque, Muslim American Society, prayer, relationships, Taking Heart, terrorism
Comments (2) By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
 |
|
From a Taking Heart picnic,
summer 2007. |
Gail Anderson isn’t asking you to make a new best friend.
“I think if next Wednesday night, we get a number of Christians to walk into a mosque—
that’ve never been in a mosque before—then I think we’ve done something,” said Anderson, unity and relationships organizer with the Minnesota Council of Churches.
Anderson helps head up the interfaith project “Taking Heart,” which brings Muslim and non-Muslim neighbors together over good meals and good conversation.
The next event, set for May 14 at Masjid Ummat Muhammad, was designed for South Minneapolis residents. The program is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with two presentations: There will be a brief talk about Muslim prayer, and Anderson will discuss the Christian prayer tradition. Afterwards, free Middle Eastern food will be served, and people will be encouraged to mingle and talk.
But what if people self-segregate, and Christians sit together with Christians, and Muslims with Muslims?
“We don’t let ‘em,” Anderson said, and laughed. 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
 |
 |
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 »
Basimah Hasan: Changing Images Every Friday at 4
Filed under: Islam, Islamophobia | Tags: Basimah Hasan, dawah, Events, Islam, Islamic View, Islamophobia, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Minneapolis, Minnesota media, Muslim poetry, Muslims, poetry, self-defense, stereotypes, television
Comments (1) Talk-Show Host Aims to Correct Distorted Picture of Muslims and Islam
By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
It was 1998 when Basimah Hasan left her hometown of Chicago for Minneapolis.
In the Twin Cities, she attended nursing school and began her career at North Memorial Hospital. She says that there is a “big difference” between the Minneapolis and Chicago Muslim communities.
|
TV Show:
“Islamic View”
Airtime:
4 p.m. Fridays
Time-Warner cable Ch. 16
|
“[There are] more Muslims in Chicago, and they’re more active. Here, everyone seems to be in their own ethnic groups. You don’t see a lot of activities going on, versus in Chicago.”
But, if there’s not enough activity, Hasan (pictured above) is not one to sit back and wait for someone else to start it up. The nurse, talk-show host, screenwriter, community activist, and producer is stirring up all sorts of action.
Through her nonprofit Hasan Publications Dawah Center, Hasan launched the “Islamic View.” The talk show aims not just to reach the Muslim community, but, more importantly, to reach non-Muslims with positive stories about Islam.
Why television?
“It’s images,” she says. “This is where we get our information from.”
Read more »
Learn the Process, Join ‘Muslim Day at the Capitol’
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Democracy, Events, Keith Ellison, Marcia Lynx Qualey, Minnesota, Muslim American Society of Minnesota, Muslim Day at the Capitol, Muslims, Political Notebook, State Legislators, Thasneem Ahmed
Comments (1) By Thasneem Ahmed and Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
Many, perhaps most, of us want to make our voices heard. We want to affect the political process, but may not know how or where to begin. Is it enough to phone in our opinions? To send an email? What is the best way to communicate with our legislators? Many Minnesotans, perhaps, could use a “beginner’s guide” to political advocacy.
The fourth annual Muslim Day at the Capitol, scheduled for Tuesday, March 18 at the Capitol Building in St. Paul, provides just such a guide.
Thasneem Ahmed was able to attend last year’s Day at the Capitol (pictured above), and says: “It was wonderful to hear our representatives speak to the Muslim community, and to realize that we are all working on the same side—the side of making Minnesota a better place for all of its citizens.”
Any Minnesotan—Muslim or non-Muslim, beginner or seasoned advocate—is welcome to show up at the Capitol on Tuesday at 9 a.m., to participate and to learn. Read more »
‘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 »
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
Leave a Comment 
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 »
Film Challenges Convention on Muslims, Africans, Slave-Era America
By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
|
WATCH IT
TV program:
Prince Among Slaves
Airs:
7 p.m. Tues., Feb 5 on TPT Ch. 17
11 p.m. Sun., Feb. 10, TPT Ch. 2
|
Officially, the first mosque in the U.S. was erected in 1929. This building was constructed by Syrian and Lebanese immigrants in Ross, North Dakota, and has since been demolished. But those Midwestern immigrants were hardly the first observant Muslims in the Americas. Others had worshiped on U.S. soil hundreds of years before.
It is difficult to say how many African Muslims were brought to North America as slaves. Scholars have placed the number in the thousands or tens of thousands. There is little possibility of an accurate count at this time, but historians such as Michael Gomez argue that, whatever their number, the influence of Muslim slaves on the larger African-American community was considerable.
Prince Among Slaves, set to air locally on Twin Cities Public Television on Monday, Feb. 4, tells the story of one of these influential Muslim slaves, Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori. The film is based on the widely praised biography of the same name by Dr. Terry Alford.
