Saturday Night Fatwa on Travolta's Dancing

Radical Muslim leader attacks sexy moves of American actor

Actor John Travolta, whose dance moves in films such as "Saturday Night Fever," "Grease" and "Pulp Fiction" have become legendary, is a threat to young Muslim women, according to radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza.

The Hollywood star was the subject of a recent anti-West sermon by the one-eyed, hook-handed religious leader on trial in Britain.

According to the London Telegraph, Hamza stomped all over the actor's sexy stepping, claiming exposure to Travolta's flicks would corrupt female minds and lead them astray from Islamic principles.

"This brother he's a mujahid [freedom fighter] and she looks at him and says, 'Oh look, his forehead is black, probably he's praying'. She likes John Travolta, who is dancing and moving his stomach as quick as the – as I don't know what – and she likes that because if he was wearing the proper dress which has been imposed on him by Muslims, she wouldn't even think about him," Hamza said in a taped address.

The former radical imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in north London also said girls would learn new words at school and would look their fathers in the eye and say: "I don't care a tin monkey about you, father."

Hamza, 47, is facing nine counts in Britain of soliciting to murder, four counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting behavior and two additional counts of possessing abusive recordings with a view to distribution and possession of a document useful to preparing terrorism.

I had to think of some way to get this up here. Not exactly John Travolta is he?

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48349

Is he a Muslim?

Salam,
This is one of my favorite stories of all time....just thought I'd share.....Its kinda long but make sure to read it. I know we discussed judging others and this really makes you think twice......

A man once came to the learning-circle of Imām Abū Hanīfah (may God have mercy on his soul) and asked the great Imam whether or not his neighbor was a Muslim. He asked the Imam that if his neighbor died, if he had to wash his body, bury him, and pray the janāzah prayer over him.

Imam Abu Hanīfah asked him, “Why do you think that he is not a Muslim?”

The man replied, “My neighbor says the following seven things, and because of this, I do not know whether or not he is still a Muslim. The first thing is that he says he has no imān (faith) in the signs of Allah that he sees. The second is that he says that he does not fear Allah. The third is that he says he does not have any hope for Paradise. The fourth is that he says he does not fear the Hell-Fire. The fifth is that when he prays, we see him praying without any bowing (rukū`) or prostration (sajdah). The sixth is that he says he eats meat that he already finds dead. The seventh, and last statement, is that he says that he doesn’t like truth (haqq) and he loves corruption/chaos (fitnah).”

The Imam smiled and looked around his circle of students and fellow scholars. He asked them, “What do you say after listening to this account? Is this man’s neighbor a Muslim?”

The students all looked around at one another, confident that this matter was quite easy. They looked to the senior most student-scholar of the gathering, Qādī Abū Yūsuf (may God have mercy on his soul), who also had the same look on his face that this matter was quite clear. Abu Yusuf confidently said to the Imam that the opinion of all the scholar-students present was that this man was not a Muslim.

Abu Hanīfah smiled and asked if this was the students’ final decision, and they all replied in the affirmative. The Imam remained quite pensive for a while, then he smiled and said, “Have you not heard the hadith of the Prophet (may God’s peace and blessings be upon him) wherein he said, “Think good of the believers (Zunnu bi’l-mu’minīna khayran)”. He continued and said, “If a man’s faith can be divided into 100 parts, and if 99 of them are corrupted and false, and even one is sound and whole, then we look at that sound part first, disregard the other 99 parts, and consider him as a believer.”

He continued, “However, this case goes beyond simply just that. In fact, after hearing this man’s description of his neighbor, I am quite pleased to listen to his narration and I wish that every believer would have a similar creed (`aqīdah) as this man’s neighbor.”

A hush fell over the students. They thought to themselves, How could the great Imam make such a statement? How could he not only give this man excuses, but then say that every believer should have a similar creed?

Abū Hanīfah continued, “I will now explain to you why I have made such a statement and tell you why that perhaps this man’s creed is a model for all believers.

“As for the first statement, that he says he has no faith in the signs of Allah that he sees. Have you not read the verses in the Qur’an when Prophet Musa (`alayhi al-salām) asks Allah to show him Himself: ‘And when Musa came at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said: My Lord! show me (Thyself), so that I may look upon Thee. He said: You cannot (bear to) see Me but look at the mountain, if it remains firm in its place, then will you see Me; but when his Lord manifested His glory to the mountain He made it crumble and Musa fell down in a swoon; then when he recovered, he said: Glory be to Thee, I turn to Thee, and I am the first of the believers.’ Now Musa did not see this sign of Allah that he asked for, yet he believed. Compare this to Fir`awn, who at the moment of his drowning saw the sign of Allah and said he believed: “…until when drowning overtook him, he said: ‘I believe that there is no god but He in Whom the children of Israel believe and I am of those who submit.’ And then Allah said to him, “What! now! and indeed you disobeyed before and you were of the mischief-makers.” So here, Fir`awn saw the sign of Allah but it was too late for him since he brought faith only after seeing. So perhaps it may be that this man is saying he has no faith in those types of signs of Allah that when upon seeing them, it is too late for him to benefit from such a witnessing.

“As for the second statement, that he says he doesn’t fear God. Now, you know that on the Day of Judgment, Allah will have complete dominion over all things and there is no one who can question Him in His decisions and choices. He has the choice to judge with fairness and equity or to judge without it. Yet, He says that He will judge with truth and balance, “...and they shall be judged with truth and they shall not be wronged.”, and in another place, He says, “...and they shall be judged with equity.” So perhaps it may be that this man is saying that he doesn’t fear that Allah will judge without truth and fairness, and he has full certainty that God will judge with fairness.

“As for the third and fourth statements, wherein he said that he has no hope for Paradise and no fear of the Hell-fire. We know that both of these things are creations of Allah, and they have no power or authority to determine who will enter them and who will not. Only the One who created them has the authority to decree who will enter Paradise and who will enter Hell-fire. Why should anyone fear Hell or put their hope in Paradise. So perhaps it may be that this man is saying that he doesn’t fear Hell or hope for Paradise since he knows that God will decide who goes where.

“As for the fifth thing, which is that you say that when you see him praying, he doesn’t make any bowing or prostration. Know then that the Prophet said that a believer has six rights over another believer: when he meets him, he should greet him; when he is sick, he should visit him; when he invites him, he should accept the invitation; when he sneezes, he should pray for mercy on him; whether he is present or absent, he should think only good of him; and when he dies, he should pray the funeral prayer over him. Now, when this man prays, he is only standing and not making any bowings or prostrations. So perhaps it may be that this man is taking part in a Janazah prayer that is going on anywhere in the Muslim lands when you see him like this. We know that one does not have to be present in front of the dead body to pray the Janazah prayer, as the Prophet prayed the funeral prayer of the Negus (who was in Abyssinia) while he was in Madinah. So perhaps he is always praying the Janazah prayer for any Muslim that has passed away and therefore fulfilling his obligations.

“As for the sixth thing, which is that he says that he eats meat that is already dead (al-maytah). Know that the Prophet said in a hadith, “Made lawful for us are two bloods and two dead meats (Uhillat lana al-damān wa’l-maytatān) [i.e., the two bloods are the liver and spleen of a lawful animal and the two dead things are fish and locusts… a person may freely eat these if he chooses]”. So perhaps it may be that he is referring to dead fish or dead locusts that he finds and he eats of them. So therefore, perhaps this statement is correct.

“As for the seventh and final thing, wherein he said that he loves fitnah and hates the haqq. How is he any different from any of you in this statement. When he said that he hates the haqq, don’t you recall that the Qur’an says, “and the stupor of death will come in truth.” There is not a man amongst us who loves the stupor of death and does not hate it. No man in his right mind would love the stupor of death, so perhaps it may be that he when he says he hates the truth, that he is referring to this. Now, the Qur’an also says, “Indeed your wealth and your children are a fitnah.” There is not a man amongst us who does not love his wealth and his children. What makes him any different than us? So perhaps it may be that when he says he loves fitnah, that he is in fact referring to this.

“You did not meet this man’s neighbor or ever speak to him, yet you all unanimously agreed that he was not a Muslim. You did not think good of him after you heard these seven things. And now that you have heard my responses, perhaps this is why his creed is indeed sound, and why every Muslim should have a similar creed.”

Those who were present were astonished and amazed by the Imam’s insight, intelligence, leniency, and wisdom.

A hush fell over the students and scholars as they became silent out of respect.

Imam Abu Hanifah had spoken.

What else was left for them to say?

Responding to the new Mu'tazila [The Liberal Da'wah]

From Ustadh Suhaib Webb's blog:

A problem that we face now in the West in the House of Islam is the rise of a liberal current clothed in an Islamic discourse that pretends to be a da’wah to ijithad and revival. This da’wah, which has emerged in the West affirms “the Aims Of The Shar’iah” but has done so at the expense of textual support and without the support of a wholstic methodology that surveys Islamic texts globally. They are reading the source texts piecemeal and dismiss being informed by scholarly legal methodology [Usul al-Fiqh] and tradition [scholarly experience.

This is why they raise issues that are non-starters they bring up issues about polygamy, womens’ rights, Islamic criminal law etc. in the name of a more humanistic read of Islam and according to the claim of being more in line with the spirit of the Qur’an. Not all that is said is problematic but this current would do well to first initiate itself in rigorous scholarly methodology rather than in sensationalist events and the discipline of debate.

The liberal discourse because it opened itself up to the philosophy of postmodernism that is the likes of Derrida, and Foucault and the school of Hermeneutics and literary criticism and other currents that claim to be tools of textual interpretation, would have the Muslim submit to cultural relativity prior to a thorough read of Islamic sources and literature [tradition].

The key here is not to engage the debate as it is a tool of mass distraction, the key is to focus on:

a.] Education

b.] To master Maqasid ash-Shar’iah studies to the degree we can

c.] To Learn how the sources of Islam well, both: The Qur’an, Sunnah and tradition in light of maqasid studies [ta’lil [wisdom, reasons, underlying purposes of Shar’iah and ta’dlil [textual evidence].

Continue here

Community Organizing in Chicago with Rami Nashashibi

On July 17, 2007, the MPSN interns met Rami, a man who dedicates much of his time bridging communities, empowering the poor, and representing the highest virtues of Islam.

His talk began with an introduction of his background and how he became involved in addressing poverty and community building in the first place. He described the personalities he met while at DePaul, ranging from the African American man who introduced him to an understanding of the social inequity in southeast Chicago to the indifferent Muslims at his local masjid. He painted a picture of a tie between the plight faced by the poor near his college and the oppression faced by others in the Middle East.

But the story continues, for unlike his contemporaries, he was not satisfied to witness injustice faced by minorities in the Chicago central city. He choose to try to mobilize some of the Muslims he knew to commit to outreach to the African American and Latino communities and founded IMAN, the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, a non-profit designed to provide much needed social services to needy individuals and families in Chicago.

As time progressed, he was able to build alliances with the main players in various ethnic, religious, and political entities, and created a brand that is now known not only in Chicago, but across the United States. Part of this branding came through an event called "Takin' it to the Streets", a summer festival held to celebrate the diversity of Chicago and to encourage its residents to get together to enjoy music, art, and learn more about Muslims and Islam.

Although IMAN is known for this event, the organization and its volunteers also operate a food pantry and offer medical services to low-income people. They also advocate across religious and ethnic lines for the rights of laborers to earn promised income and engage youth in productive activities to ensure that they do not become involved in crime.

Rami says that he models his commitment to service after our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and explains that it is incumbent on all Muslims to serve their communities and to stay engaged. He also suggests that only through building alliances and being active in local communities can the American public ever come to respect, understand, and care about Muslims and their issues.

This raises the following questions:

With Islam's heavy emphasis on providing for the poor, the orphans, and the wayfarers, why are Muslims behind in contributing to these groups, especially when compared to other religious groups?

What are the direct and indirect benefits to Muslims in America from contributing to the well-being of the less fortunate in this society? Should Muslims even consider their potential benefit in choosing to become socially active, or does that kind of consideration defeat the purpose in the first place?

Even still, do inherent biases affect the Muslims in America, thus preventing them from even attempting to address poverty? Further, does the relatively high socio-economic class of Muslims discourage them from helping others because of their perception of the hard work they themselves have done to get where they are today? What does this say about arrogance in our community? More importantly, what does Allah (SWT) say about those who are arrogant with pride about their money, and what end such people will face in the next life?

All of these questions are only beginning points for reflection, and ought to be addressed by this MPSN class and other interested parties.

Eboo Patel on Talk of the Nation

MashaAllah he did a brilliant job on this show! He even metioned MPSN!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12098469

24:30

I’m so proud to be a part of a generation of American Muslims that are building institutions that have a civic impact with a religious ethos. Institutions like IMAN in Chicago, the Inner-city Muslim Action Network and the Muslim Youth of Chicago and the Islamic Networks Group, and the Muslim Public Service Network, the Nawawi Foundation. These are institutions that are being built by young Muslims of my generation with the religious inspiration of an Islam that is compassionate and merciful that seek to serve others. The UMMA clinic in South Central L.A. I could literally name dozens of these things.

Allah Knows

It's all very beautiful! (This is for you Radeyah!)

Weekend with Asifa Qureishi and Mohja Kahf

Mohja Kahf and Asifa Qureishi's stay in the house this weekend has inspired a lot of meaningful discussion. Some reflections.

I felt uneasy listening to Mohja Kahf's more sexually graphic poetry Friday evening. I left the room and sat in the hallway, so that I would at least be out of sight. It feels immodest to sit and discuss sensual pleasures in a mixed, public setting. (Note: the 'mixed' and 'public' aspects are the root of my uneasiness, not necessarily (for now) the content of the poetry). I've asked Mohja about how she justifies what I feel is stepping over boundaries. For fear of misrepresenting her views, I won't put her response here. Instead, some questions for myself as I try to parse out where I stand in all of this:

What is the root of my feeling uncomfortable? Is my feeling uneasy about this (arguably) gratuitous sexual narrative rooted in an Islamic principle? Is the "boundary" I feel that her writing crosses rooted in Islam or in some construct separate from Islam?

Are there things that are haraam to actually speak about? I'm pretty sure certain ways of speaking about God are haraam. What are the clearly-defined boundaries?

Iraq, Bush, and Prayer

I wish (sometimes), that amid the stomach-churning news of the increasing dead in Iraq (i.e. 94 dead on July 8; 186 dead on July 7; 84 dead on July 6; 75 dead on July 5; 84 dead on July 4; 78 dead on July 3; and so on ad nauseam), I could be as firm in my resolve as George Bush seems to be in his:

"I wouldn't ask a mother or a dad -- I wouldn't put their son in harm's way if I didn't believe this was necessary for the security of the United States and the peace of the world. I strongly believe it, and I strongly believe we'll prevail. And I strongly believe that democracy will trump totalitarianism every time. That's what I believe. And those are the belief systems on which I'm making decisions that I believe will yield the peace." -- George W. Bush, Cleveland, July 10, 2007

I mean, seriously George? What belief system are you operating on? What about these numbers support your machismo-hinged calls for “staying the course”? …even if we conveniently, as has been done (cast back to General Tommy Franks: “We don’t do body counts”) forget the consequences of war on Iraqis, do you honestly not feel remorse for the thousands of American families who are loosing their children to this catastrophe? (I'm just a bit frustrated here)

Anyway, The Nation recently released an immensely powerful piece on vets returning from Iraq and I find myself, despite my knowing that it’s not good for me, reading and re-reading their stories since I first came across it over the weekend. Hopefully you guys will get a chance to go through it too (definitely worth it, albeit being lengthy). Here’s a telling quote from Spc. Michael Harmon, 24, a medic from Brooklyn:

“I go out to the scene and [there was] this little, you know, pudgy little 2-year-old child with the cute little pudgy legs, and I look and she has a bullet through her leg.... An IED [improvised explosive device] went off, the gun-happy soldiers just started shooting anywhere and the baby got hit. And this baby looked at me, wasn't crying, wasn't anything, it just looked at me like--I know she couldn't speak. It might sound crazy, but she was like asking me why. You know, Why do I have a bullet in my leg?... I was just like, This is--this is it. This is ridiculous.”

With such a personal investment in this war, I’m finding it really hard to go on with my day-to-day activities. Egh -- what's happened to respecting the sanctity of life???

To follow Taha’s lead on extending prayer: May Allah (swt) please enable peace and safety in Iraq and, beyond that, enable us to (always) make a difference – extending our young power and influence to relieve (every) people from (every) burden or oppression they may unjustly be under in whatever (effective) capacity we can.

Sheikh Dimashqiah

In light of our new tajweed courses (may Allah reward Yasser!) here is a clip of my favorite reciter. He's now at the mosque in Ediburgh.

Framing the issue - Do Business and Islam Mix?

I came across this great article that really reflected Edina Lekovich's advice about framing your issuse for the media. The story is from the New York Times and profiles the Aga Khan and his philanthropy with the greater issue of his religion guiding his actions. It's a really well done, humanizing story of a prominent Muslim figure. The way the pieces ends just leaves such a wonderful, lasting impession of Aga Khan and his faith.

“In Afghanistan, the Aga Khan is creating an enabling environment for business,” says Mr. Patel at the World Bank. “While producing results, these are early days. It’s too soon to see a payoff from his investments.”
That does not bother the Aga Khan. Building businesses, he says, “is part of the ethics of the faith.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/business/yourmoney/08khan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Enjoy the articles and I want to see feedback and criticisms about it on the blog!

Moz in the Media

Yesterday, Edina Lekovic, the Commications Director at the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), gave us a wonderful talk on "Muslims in the Media"

Here are some highlights:

• There wasn't really much coverage of Islam in the media pre-911 so it's false to conclude that the coverage post-911 has declined. Pre-911 you only really heard of Islam around Eid time or when there was a conflict in the Muslim world.


• Media is driven by personal stories, this can be our greatest friend or foe.


• Entertainment media (like the movies) also gives us information (like the news).


• Internet/Blogs/Newspapers/TV are all becoming equal in terms of credibility in the public eye.


• People think programs like "The O'Reilly Show" are news shows because they're broadcast on news channels but they're really opinion shows.


• If you want to reach the average American, then you need to target local media like local news programs and newspapers. Much more people watch these shows than shows on CNN or Fox News.

FRAMING

• Effective communication needs good framing--we need to use vocabularly and language that is most effective to reach our target audience. How you tell your story is as important as what your story is.

Edina gives us an example of positive framing and the Imam...doesn't.

• FRAMING AND SPINNING ARE NOT THE SAME THING!

For an example of spinning, check this out around the 7 minute mark: (WARNING--This clip will really piss you off!)

• And finally, remember that you have to start from an area of commonality to effectively change hearts.

Introduction to Islamic Microfinance

On July 5th, two speakers from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the microfinance center of the World Bank Group came to speak to the MPSN class on the new area of Islamic microfinance. Nimrah Karim and Sami Ahmed introduced the general concept of microfinance before delving into the impetus behind the nascent Islamic microfinance movement and the challenges it faces. The topic was presented so that everyone in the class, many of us with little or no finance background, were able to understand the issues being discussed. Nimrah and Sami also showed us how we can contribute to this movement by giving small loans to people in need accross the world through websites such as www.kiva.org.

Ronald McDonald House Volunteering

Movers and Shaikhers volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House on Saturday June 30th to cook dinner for the families staying there. We prepared dinner for approximately 35-40 people.

Race Relations of American Muslims

This past Sunday (June 17th, 2007), the MPSN crew engaged in a dialogue on a fundamental issue within the American Muslim narrative: relations between immigrant (and children of immigrant) Muslims and indigenous Muslims.

It began with Dr. Jamillah introducing the idea of a clash of priorities with regard to issues of social justice between immigrant and indigenous Muslims, with the former generally focusing on poverty and other social ills from the homeland as opposed to the problems in America, and the latter focusing on domestic social problems. The indigenous Muslim communities often resent the apparent contradiction between immigrant communities' focus on external issues to the exclusion of internal American ills.

From this backdrop, we discussed issues of race in America and the immigrants' adoption of white hierarchy; whereas Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia are not white, they also distance themselves from being seen as black. Joining the "white club" was the aspiration of many immigrant Muslims. This implies that immigrant Muslims tend to view black Muslims in an unfavorable light, both because of the relative position of blacks in American society, but also because of traditional understandings of what defines Islam. Many immigrant Muslims see Islam in cultural contexts, so mix cultural practices with true Islam.

The major breaking point for immigrant Muslim populations was 9/11, when it became apparent that these immigrant Muslims could not simply assimilate and deny their otherness. From this point, immigrant Muslims sought support from native Muslim groups, but met resistance because of a lack of endeavors to establish social justice for black Muslims in America.


An interesting point brought up in the discussion was the assumption of second generation Muslims as being less or equally racist towards other minority groups. Although some participants described the respect for diversity of the new generation, others mentioned the pressure from parents and society at large to continue the cycle of marginalization of others. The following questions remain:

* Are we (American Muslims) past looking down on other groups of Muslims?
* What about between immigrant groups?
* Has the tribalism that plagued the Muslim communities of old, even in the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) been removed and a new unified community risen?
* Why then are there still largely dominated Arab, South Asian, and Indigeneous centers across the states, with limited interplay between them?


Another issue raised was that of sources of leadership and their respective credibility:

* Can non-traditional scholars be seen as credible considering a difference in culture between East and West (particularly that Eastern rules are/may be outdated)?
* Further, is Islam broad enough to encompass more than an eastern interpretation of Islam?

With this in mind, the ultimate question that remains is:

* Who has the authority to redefine and reinterpret traditions, or are there no prerequisites?
* Finally, who is responsible for critiquing, scrutinizing, and evaluating the rulings of scholars from the East or West? Surely Islam must have some way of distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate sources of leadership.
* And of course, how does race play into this decision?


Ultimately, the realization of the answer to these questions is insufficient to cause a true solution. However, in the dialogue that ensues, I pray that we are able to get closer to a better understanding of not only what plagues our community, and the communities across the globe, but also to overcome the obstacles we face.

Inshaa Allah, please answer as many of these questions as time goes on, and encourage everyone to participate in the discussion.

Palestine Rally

The Run-Down:

Date - Sunday, June 10
Time - 2:00 p.m.
What - Palestine Rally (aka. End the Occupation)

It was hot.

Pictures? Yes. MSNers looking appropriately excited, happy, preoccupied, confused, hungry, and hip.

Welcome!!

And so the blog begins...