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.