islamic horizons jan/feb 15

JAN

UAR

Y/FE

BR

UAR

Y 2

01

5/1

43

6 | $

4.0

0 | W

WW

.IS

NA.N

ET

MAKING MEANING OF MALCOLM X • SHARÍA PHANTOMS HAUNT U.S. LEGISLATORS

ALI A. MAZRUIA Global African Muslim1933 – 2014

ISLAMIC HORIZONS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 5

COVER STORY24 Ali A. Mazrui

A Global African Muslim Mazrui was a scholar and public intellectual who did

not hesitate to consult the powerful and the powerless.

ISLAM IN AMERICA30 Making Meaning of Malcolm X – 50 Years Later34 Malcolm’s Genius36 Sharía Phantoms Haunt U.S. Legislators38 Islamic Adoptions and the Best Interests of the Child42 Rebuilding Community Trust46 Protecting Children from Abuse

MUSLIMS IN ACTION48 Dare to Care52 Striving for Climate Justice54 Sights on the Finish Line

MUSLIMS ABROAD56 Reflections on the Aftermath of the Arab Spring

OBITUARIES58 Abdul-Rahman Peter Edward Kassig58 Clarence Abdullah Nabaa

DEPARTMENTS6 Editorial8 ISNA Matters10 Community Matters59 Reviews60 Food for the Spirit

DESIGN & LAYOUT BY: Gamal Abdelaziz, A-Ztype Copyeditor: Madihah Krishnamurthy. The views expressed in Islamic Horizons are not necessarily the views of its editors nor of the Islamic Society of North America. Islamic Horizons does not accept unsolicitated articles or submissions. All references to the Quran made are from The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Amana, Brentwood, MD.

34

42

CONTENTS VOL. 44 NO. 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 visit isna online at: WWW.ISNA.NET

24

48

6 ISLAMIC HORIZONS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

PUBLISHERThe Islamic Society of North America

(ISNA)

PRESIDENTAzhar Azeez

SECRETARY GENERALHazem Bata

EDITOROmer Bin Abdullah

DEPARTMENTS EDITORAisha Kishta

EDITORIAL BOARDJulie Belz (Chair); Iqbal Unus; Sohaib Sultan;

Wafa Unus; Tarek Elgawhary.

ISLAMIC HORIZONSis a bimonthly publication of the Islamic

Society of North America (ISNA) P.O. Box 38 • Plainfield, IN 46168‑0038

Copyright @2015 All rights reserved

Reproduction, in whole or in part, of this material in mechanical or electronic form without written permission is strictly prohibited.

Islamic Horizons magazine is available electronically on

ProQuest’s Ethnic NewsWatch, LexisNexis, and EBSCO Discovery Service,

and is indexed by Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature.

Please see your librarian for access.The name “Islamic Horizons” is protected

through trademark registration ISSN 8756‑2367

POSTMASTERSend address changes to

Islamic Horizons, P.O. Box 38Plainfield, IN 46168‑0038

SUBSCRIPTIONSAnnual, domestic – $24

Canada – US$30Overseas airmail – US$60

TO SUBSCRIBEContact Islamic Horizons at

(317) 839‑8157 / (317) 839‑1811 Fax (317) 839‑1840

E‑mail: [email protected]

ADVERTISINGFor rates contact Islamic Horizons at(703) 742‑8108, [email protected],

ww.isna.netCanada Post International PublicationsMail Product (Canadian Distribution)

Sales Agreement No. 0666300

CORRESPONDENCESend all correspondence and/or Letters to the

Editor at: Islamic Horizons P.O. Box 38 • Plainfield, IN 46168‑0038

Email: [email protected]

FThe Mission Livesifty years ago an effort was made to douse the mission of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, also known as Mal-colm X. Indeed, Malcolm departed this earthly abode but the killers’ intent failed, the mission remains alive.

If the evil had failed, Malcolm would have celebrated his 80th birthday on May 19 this year. His life story — “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” co-authored by Alex Haley — published shortly after his death, is considered one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.

An oft-quoted passage from his book about his first experience on arriving for hajj was seeing Muslims of “all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans” interacting as equals. This led him to see Islam as a means by which racial problems could be overcome. Malcolm stood for equality and an end to discrimination and hate.

In the United States and Canada, Muslims are blessed with a community of “all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans.” There is a need for Muslims to cross over bound-aries and create a truly integrated Ummah so they can stand united to face the challenges that await.

In 1957, 57 years before Fergu-son, Malcolm confronted a some-what similar challenge: the Johnson Hinton incident. Hinton, a Nation of Islam member, was beaten up by two New York City police officers when he and two other NOI members tried to dissuade police from beating an African American man with night-sticks. Upon finding out about the beating, Malcolm went to the police and sought justice. In the aftermath, Malcolm was under surveillance and

investigation by the New York City Police Department.

Things have not changed. Ferguson may not be an isolated incident.

Malcolm’s life should be an example for Muslims of all stripes. The struggle for rights and dignity is an ongoing project, and it must not stop, nor lay dormant.

Islamophobia and racial superiority were not created in a vacuum; nor do they exist in isolation. Islamophobia preceded the Crusades and the many painful events in Islamic history. And racism preceded slavery, Hitler, and the pervasive discrimination that still rages in the world.

Islamophobia preceded events that led to the deprivation of land and dig-nity of Muslims.

Malcolm had a worldview. He argued that calling the movement a struggle for civil rights would keep the issue within the United States, while changing the focus to human rights would make it an international con-cern. Muslim Americans need to focus on this bigger picture that Malcolm recognized.

In 1998, Time magazine named Malcolm’s autobiography one of 10 “required reading” nonfiction books. How many Islamic schools include it in their required reading lists? It is impor-tant to ask schools that are using it as part of the curriculum, in what context the material is being presented and whether they are measuring results?

It is time that Muslims go beyond the annual remembrance and seek to pursue the mission that Malcolm espoused as a continuing project. It is time that the concerns of Muslims are included in the human rights picture the world sees today. ■

EDITORIAL


ISNA MATTERS

Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kılıç hosted a lun-cheon in New York City, Sept. 25, 2014, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with a group of Muslim Ameri-can leaders, including ISNA Secretary General Hazem Bata, to discuss collaboration and relationship-building between Muslims in the United States and Turkey.

In attendance were organizational heads and leaders, such

as Dr. Hisham Altalib and Dr. Jamal Barzinji, vice president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought, American Muslim Health Professionals President Arshia Wajid, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Council of American-Islamic Relations Executive Director Nihad Awad, Rizwan Jaka with the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, Islamic Networking Group, Zay-tuna College, Dr. M. Yaqub Mirza, and other organizations. ■

PHOT

O: (C

) GOV

ERN

MEN

T OF

TUR

KEY,

ŞUBE

MÜD

ÜRLÜ

ŞÜ

FAITH LEADERS DISCUSS SYRIAN CRISISRepresentatives of faith-based and other institutions in Washington, D.C., attended a conversation with Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, an authority on Islamic law and ethics, at the ISNA Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances on Nov. 17, 2014.

He spoke about what scholars are doing to counter the ISIS ideology, why some Syrians have gravitated toward groups like Nusra and ISIS, and what to do about it. He has been involved in interfaith dialogue in Syria, Europe, and the United States. He also spoke about interfaith relations in Syria and offered policy recommendations aimed at defusing sectarian tensions and ensuring the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.

He warned that some people may have joined these groups under pressure or because of atrocities committed by Assad’s regime.

“We should not forget that 200,000 Syrians have been killed according to U.N. statistics, and the reality is far higher — this is 150 people every day; a killing machine that we have to stop,” Al-Yaqoubi said. “If we do not stand against the Assad regime and the terror, we might expect ISIS to invade Damascus in probably

half a year and we might see a massacre of over half a million people. We need to save Damascus and the Syrian people and reunite them together.”

Al-Yaqoubi is an internationally renowned Syrian Muslim scholar, clas-sified as one of 500 most influential Muslim figures in the world. He is fluent in English and Arabic. An advocate for democracy and human rights, and the right of the Syrian people in seeking freedom and building a civil democratic state, Al-Yaqoubi also has been critical of Islamist extremism. He is the only Syrian scholar to have signed an open letter from a group of prominent Islamic scholars from around the world denouncing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed head of ISIS, and deconstructing ISIS ide-ology from the perspective of the Quran, Sunnah, Hadith, and Islamic scholar-ship. One of the earliest Sunni scholars to denounce the atrocities of the Assad regime, Al-Yaqoubi was forced to leave Syria in June 2011. ■

Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi


ISNA FILLS UP FOR THE HUNGRY

More than 100 local volunteers gathered at ISNA headquarters in Plain-field, Ind., Nov. 18, 2014 and packaged 20,000 meals in two hours for the Stop Hunger Now campaign. ISNA, Islamic Relief, the Islamic Society of Greater Indianapolis, and OBAT Helpers were cosponsors.

This is one of many such events spon-sored by ISNA, and ISNA is planning for

the next packaging event, where they hope to sponsor another 20,000 meals.

Since 1998, Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger relief agency dedi-cated to ending hunger, has coordinated the distribution of food and other lifesaving aid to children and families in countries all over the world.

Their meal packages include rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix, including 21 essential vitamins and minerals. Each meal costs only 29 cents. The food stores easily, has a shelf-life of two years and transports quickly. Stop Hunger Now works with international and domestic partners to distribute meals.

“Regardless of what faith tradition you belong to, we all agree that hunger is a

problem,” ISNA Secretary General Hazem Bata said. “We also agree we have a moral obligation to do something about it. This campaign was an opportunity to express our common values and help those less for-tunate than us. We thank all the commu-nity volunteers for offering their time and dedication to making this event a success.”

On Nov. 16, 2014, ISNA once again joined the Columbia, Mo., Muslim com-munity’s food packaging event, sponsored by NABIC (North American Bangladeshi Islamic Community) and cosponsored by ICCM (Islamic Center of Central Mis-souri) and Islamic Relief with Stop Hunger Now. In less than three hours, 72 volun-teers packaged 30,138 meals. ■

ISNA Majlis ash-Shura meeting was held at ISNSA headquarters in Plainfield, Ind. on Dec. 5, 2014.

Front Row, left to right:Mohammad Alam, president of Association of Muslim Scientists, Engineers & Technology Professionals (AMSET), Manzoor Ghori, member at large, Gaddoor Saidi, chairman of board, North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), Azhar Azeez, President of ISNA, S. Imtiaz Ahmad, member-at-large, Pervez Nasim, ISNA Vice President - Canada,Altaf Husain, ISNA Vice President - USA,Julie Belz, Community Representative

Back Row:Ziauddin Mahmood, member at large,Asad Ba-Yunus, member at large,

Jawad Shah, chair of MSA- National, Rizwan Jaka, member at large,Rashed Nizam, community representativeHazem Bata, Secretary General of ISNAKareem Irfan, community representative,M. Affan Badar, community representative

Not pictured:Faizul Khan, community representative,Zia ul Haque Sheikh, community representative,Muzammil Siddiqi, member at large,Khalid Tarabain, Chairman of Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation (CITF)Kem Hussain, Chairman of Council of Islamic Schools of North America (CISNA)Ismail Mehr, President of Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA)Bilal Ali, President of Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA)

FRUITION OF AN ISNA PARTNERSHIPA culmination of a four-year project between ISNA, the Jewish Theological Seminary and Hartford Seminary has resulted in three aca-demic workshops (2010, 2011, 2012), four community-based pilot projects in the Maryland, District of Colum-bia, and Northern Virginia areas, and the publication of two special volumes released on Nov.18, 2014.

The Muslim World, now in its 104th year of publication, is an academic journal “devoted to the study of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations.” The journal published its first issue dedicated to study of “Judaism and Islam in America,” which includes articles by Jewish and Muslim scholars.

“Sharing the Well: A Resource Guide for Jewish Muslims Engage-ment” is designed to assist and enhance Jewish-Muslim interactions at the community level. It includes a guide to dialogue, 18 articles by Jewish and Muslim leaders on topics such as caring for others, family and heritage, and religious life, a sam-pling of 24 successful Jewish-Muslim engagement programs, and a glos-sary of Jewish and Muslim terms. The book, available in hard copy, can be download free on the ISNA and Hartford Seminary websites, and through www.learn.JTSA.edu. ■

ISNA Secretary General addresses volunteers at ISNA headquarters.


ISNA SUPPORTS MINORITIESISNA joined Muslim American and Christian organizations Oct. 23, 2014, in the formation of an interfaith coalition to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Arab countries and to pro-mote peaceful coexistence.

The coalition’s announcement followed a meeting of leaders of major Muslim and Christian organizations, religious leaders and activists held in Washington, D.C., at the invitation of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation whose mission is to maintain and support the presence of Christians in the Holy Land.

The coalition will strive to defend and protect indigenous Christians and other religious minorities in Arab countries by restoring the historical coexistence of Muslims and Christians, and preserving the presence of Christians and other reli-gious groups as part of the fabric of Arab

and Muslim civilization. The coalition will work with organizations and individuals around the world to challenge stereotypes of Arabs, and to show that Christians and Muslims are united in working toward the common goals of peace and justice.

The Coalition will hold two confer-ences; one in early 2015 in Washington, D.C., followed by a second conference in an Arab country.

The coalition’s leadership committee includes, the Rev. Joseph Rahal, pastor of the St. George Orthodox Church, the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese; Syed Moktadir, president, All Dulles Area Muslim Society; Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, national director of the Office of Interfaith & Community Alliances, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Nihad Awad, national executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR);

Bassel Korkor, Esq., legal officer, Syrian Christians for Peace; Haris Tarin, director of the Washington, D.C., office, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC); Salam Al Marayati, president, Muslim Public Affairs Council; and Kamal Nawash, Esq., president, Free Muslims Coalition.

The committee elected Sir Rateb Y. Rabie, president/CEO of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, as chairman.

Also in attendance were His Excel-lency Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Arch-bishop of Sebastia, Greek Orthodox Patri-archate of Jerusalem; His Eminence Arch-bishop Vicken Aykazian, Legate of the Eastern Diocese, the Armenian Church of America (Eastern); Aram Suren Ham-parian, executive director, the Armenian National Committee of America; Majd Akkawi, youth director, Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church; Khaled Elgindy; and Samer Anabtawi. ■

ISNA MATTERS

HIGHLIGHTING THE PROPHETIC VISION“Islam is a communal religion, it’s not just about your relationship with God,” said ISNA Secretary General Hazem Bata addressing the opening ses-sion of the annual ISNA Regional Con-ference at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati (ICGC) in West Chester, Ohio, Nov.21-23, 2014.

“It’s about your relationship with everybody else. We cannot worship God alone, we’re meant to do it with others,” he added.

The conference theme was “Individual Development and Communal Together-ness: The Prophetic Vision.”

Ustadha Yasmin Mogahed and Mufti Hussain Kamani shared their reflections on the hadith: “Indeed that is a piece of flesh in human body. If that piece is good the whole body will be good. But if it is bad, the whole body will be bad. Beware that piece is the heart.”

“The command center of the human being is the heart,” Mogahed said. “Who-ever or whatever takes over the command center, it takes over the whole being [and all aspects] of our lives.”

During the three-day conference, ISNA Vice President Dr. Altaf Hussain, Imam Suhaib Webb, Dr. Ihsan Bagby, Kia

Yasmin Mogahed


Jaheed, and Habeeb Qadri along with local leaders provided insights and prac-tical steps for individual development, communal development, and how the two aspects work together to form the Pro-phetic vision.

ICGC President Shakila Ahmed shared successful programs and achieve-ments of the Cincinnati community addressing the needs of the community and how these can be replicated in other communities.

Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans, the keynote speaker at the Saturday night banquet, explained the relevance of the Prophetic message to the Muslim American com-munity. “We have to be the moral con-science of the community and witness to humanity,” he said.

During his session titled “Making Every Second Count,” ICGC Imam Abdel-Ghader led a prayer for the late Tayyibah Taylor, founder of Azizah magazine and community leader. ISNA President Azhar

Azeez honored The International Acad-emy of Cincinnati Director Dr. Sardar A. Tanveer and Dr. Nemat Moussavian with a community service award for their leader-ship in the Cincinnati community. Hazem Bata honored the selflessness of the late Abdul Rahman (Peter) Kassig, an aid worker who volunteered in Syria, and the late Babar and Haris Suleman, a father-son team that embarked on a trip around the world for the cause of education. ■(By Faryal M. Khatri)

Suhaib Webb Ihsan Bagby Kia Jaheed

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA

SOUTH CENTRAL ZONE CONFERENCE 2015A "Manner" of Being— Exploring the Character of Muslims

March 7, 2015 • Westin Memorial City945 Gessner, Houston, TX 77024

SPEAKERS Suhaib Webb • Altaf Husain • Zahra Billoo • Yasir Qadhi • Habeeb Quadri

More speakers are being invited

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS Main sessions • Youth Program • Bazaar

Saturday Banquet with keynote speaker & entertainmentMatrimonial Banquet (2:00 to 5:00 PM) • Childcare and more

CONTACTWendy Barnard, Registration Coordinator: (317) 838-8129 or [email protected]

Tabasum Ahmad, Matrimonial: (317) 839-8157 ext 133 or [email protected] Khan, Bazaar & Sponsorships: (317) 838-8131 or [email protected]


COMMUNITY MATTERS

Entrepreneurs Driving ChangeA sold out crowd of more than 400 people attended the fifth American Muslim Consumer Conference (AMCC) on Nov. 15, 2014, in Newark, New Jersey.

The conference theme was “Muslim Market: Global Perspectives, Entrepre-neurs Driving Change.”

They came with a new vision, motiva-tion, and sense of empowerment fueled by prime networking and access to inves-tors. The conference included an Entre-preneurship Showcase with a $10,000 prize, recognition of New York’s own The Halal Guys as winners of the Multicul-tural Award, and enigma Magatte Wade, CEO and founder of Tiossan high-end skincare, as the keynote speaker whose mission is to challenge the public’s per-ception of Africa.

AMCC founder Faisal Masood and his team delivered a memorable experience for many new attendees who expressed positive accolades in hearing perspectives from successful industry leaders.

Citing DinarStandard’s (dinarstan-dard.com) American Muslim Consumer Market Study 2014, “The Muslim Green” founder and CEO Rafi-uddin Shikoh and senior associate Iman Kouvalis said America’s Muslim population is esti-mated at nearly 6 million. Their annual estimated food and beverage expendi-ture is $13 billion, and 93 percent indi-cated that they bought halal food. The

amount of disposable income for this population is estimated at $98 billion. American Muslims spend $6.9 billion on education, significantly more than most demographic groups. With 36 percent in the 18-29 age group, Muslims exceed the general population, which has 22 percent in that segment. An estimated 40,000 stu-dents are in Islamic schools nationwide.

The highlight of the conference was five companies competing to win the Entrepreneur Showcase. The contenders were: Apna Ghar, which provides elder care for Muslim families; Alchemiya, an online TV channel for the Global Urban Muslim; Biyo, POS digital wallet that uses a hand scan to connect to credit/debit cards; MyHalalKitchen.com, a media company that explores halal cooking, eating, and living; Northern World Entertainment Software, which creates social gaming that tells stories from Muslim history; and LaunchGood, a company founded by Chris Abdur-Rahman Blauvelt that uses crowdfund-ing to help others.

LaunchGood won the $10,000 prize sponsored by Barkaat Capital. The company was voted top choice by dis-tinguished judges and the audience in separate polls. ■— Susan Labadi, founder of Actionnet Trade, Inc.; Genius School, Inc.; project coordinator, American Halal Association

Founder Chris Abdur-Rahman Blauvelt accepts the prize on behalf of his company, LaunchGood.

Muslims House Members Re-elected

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, returned to the House of Repre-sentatives for his fifth consecutive term, after winning more than 70 percent of the vote.

A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Ellison defeated Republican businessman Doug Daggett and Indepen-dence Party candidate Lee Bauer, a machin-ist.

Ellison, the first U.S. Congressman to take the oath of office with his hand upon the Quran, entered Congress in 2006 as a Democrat opposed to the Iraq War.

U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, who defeated Republican Cath-erine Ping and Libertarian Chris Mayo in the state’s 7th District for a fourth consecutive term, was first elected to Congress in 2008. He previously served on the Indianapolis City Council and has worked in the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s anti-terrorism unit. ■


Washington Cathedral Hosts Friday Prayer

The iconic Washington National Cathedral in the national’s capital for the first time hosted Muslim Friday congrega-tional prayers on Nov. 14, 2014.

The South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool working with the Cathedral's leaders arranged the prayer in collaboration with ISNA, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque, All Dulles Area Muslim Society, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Leaders believe offering Muslim prayers at the Cathedral shows more than hospi-tality — it demonstrates an appreciation of one another’s prayer traditions and is a powerful, symbolic gesture toward a deeper relationship between the two Abrahamic traditions.

The opportunity grew out of a trusted relationship between the Cathedral’s litur-gical director, the Rev. Canon Gina Camp-bell, and the Ambassador, who met while planning the national memorial service for Nelson Mandela. The envoy thanked Camp-bell for the cathedral’s generous offer to use Friday prayers as a beginning of a deeper conversation and partnership.

“This is a dramatic moment in the world and in Muslim-Christian relations,” he said. “This needs to be a world in which all are free to believe and practice, and in which we avoid bigotry, Islamophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Christi-anity and to embrace our humanity, and to embrace faith.”

The Cathedral has welcomed Muslims

in the past, often at interfaith services and events, as well as at the Interfaith Conference of Greater Washington’s annual concert and specific programs such as the 2008 Iftar at the Cathedral College. But this is the first time the cathedral invited Muslims to offer Friday prayer in a space known as a house of prayer for all people. The prayer also was broadcast live on the cathedral’s website. ■

Imam Mohamed Magid, ISNA past president, calls the adhan for the Friday congregational prayer at the National Cathedral.

PHOT

O (C

) LIS

A HE

LFER

T/W

ASHI

NGT

ON N

ATIO

NAL

CAT

HEDR

AL

ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER —A good deed done regularly!Through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) ISNA can receive your donation each month automatically

from your bank account or credit card, saving you postage and time.

Be a key that opens the door to ISNA’s long-term financial stability:

Donate through EFT!WWW.ISNA.NET/DONATE


Houston Muslims Host Eid Fest

More than 3,000 people of multiple faiths and across generations gathered on Oct. 11 for an inspirational “Eid Fest,” cel-ebrating the artistic diversity of the Muslim world. In this free and open event, organized by Risala Foundation and co-sponsored by ISNA, residents of the Houston suburb were serenaded with sounds from Morocco, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, India and

the United States. For people just passing by, it was an opportunity to experience a “Day with Muslims” that was unlike any other in this southwest suburb.

“EidFest was all about giving back to the community,” said organizer Faiza Patrawala. “People have this impression of Muslims that is framed off the front page of newspapers. That is just not the way we live our lives.”

Many of the attendees started posting pictures on social media under the hashtag #MuslimsHavingFun. The celebration fea-tured entertainers including Junoon, Native Deen, Preacher Moss, and Mouaz Al-Nass.

ISNA Secretary General Hazem Bata and ISNA Development Foundation Executive Director Ahmed ElHattab joined the festivi-ties and were inspired by the dynamic and diverse audience and program and hope that such events could be replicated in other com-munities as well.

Founded in 2009, Risala’s mission is to bring the most relevant voices in the Islamic world to Houston, focusing on issues of Muslim identity, integration and scholarship, attempting to pave the way for an enlight-ened American-Muslim presence in the United States. Its ultimate goal, said Presi-dent Zeyn Patel, is to encourage a thoughtful, civil and broad approach to understanding Islam in the context of our current times.

“There is room for absolutely every person under the sun in Risala Foundation,” Patel said. “Houston is the most diverse city in the entire U.S., even more than New York City. With ISNA’s support, we would like to show the world that the future of Islam in America is bright — inclusive, tolerant and self-confident.” ■(By Rehan Farooq)

COMMUNITY MATTERSPH

OTO

(C) R

AZI A

SADU

DDIN

ISNA President Celebrates with Chicago CommunityISNA President Azher Azeez addressed the 22nd annual CommUnity Dinner of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), the umbrella body of Islamic organiza-tions in the Chicago metropolitan area, Nov. 2, 2014.

Chicagoland’s large and diverse Muslim community was widely represented at the event. It drew roughly 1,000 attendees, includ-ing civic and interfaith leaders: the Consul General of Pakistan Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, Consul Gen-eral of Turkey Fatih Yildiz, Nia Odeoti-Hassan from the Office of the Illinois Senate President, the Rev. Thomas Baima of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Father Mark Francis, C.S.V., president of the Catholic Theological Union, the Rev. Paul Rutgers and the Council of Religious Lead-ers of Metropolitan Chicago, the Rev. Robert Reynolds, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Chicago, and Judy Levey of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.

The theme was “Celebrating Achievers, Inspiring Believers.” Among those honored were Dr. Tasneema Ghazi and Dr. Abidullah

Ghazi, founders of Iqra International Educational Foundation, and Dr. Moghisuddin Ahmad, a researcher of lipid chemistry and its application in the pharmaceutical industry, who serves his com-munity actively as a board member of Islamic Foundation North and its weekend school.

Ahmad has 33 patents, and is the author of 50 papers and books.

Also recognized were Tas-miha Khan, founder and chief inspirational officer of Brighter Dawns, which focuses on raising awareness about and directing projects to improve dire slum conditions in Bangladesh, and Ameena Matthews, senior violence interrupter with the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention’s Ceasefire Program at the University of Illinois at

Chicago’s School of Public Health.The keynote speaker was Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, dean of academic

affairs at AlMaghrib Institute, a resident scholar of Memphis Islamic Center, and lecturer at Rhodes College. ■


COMMUNITY MATTERS

SoCal Muslims Welcome Neighbors

Southern California Muslims set up sumptuous food tables representing world cuisines to welcome their neighbors during the 12th annual Open Mosque Day orga-nized by the Islamic Shura Council of South-ern California (ISCSC), Oct. 18-19, 2014. More than 28 mosques from Riverside to West Los Angeles and Conejo Valley to Mis-sion Viejo participated.

Thousands of visitors listened to Islam-101 presentations, asked questions, looked at translations of the Quran, learned about culture and partook in a barbeque lunch.

“People arrive a bit tense but leave [a mosque] whole lot relaxed,” said ISCSC Executive Director Shakeel Syed. “The pur-pose of the Open Mosque Day is to dispel the myths surrounding Muslims and Islam and

creating an environment for direct interac-tion, fostering relationships, while enjoying samosa and shawarma.”

ISCSC Chairman Dr. Muzammil Sid-diqi said organizers were pleased to hear of “organic relationships and initiatives between the visitors and the host mosque.”

“We feel gratified when people of all faiths and traditions come together in the pursuit of the common and greater good,” he said. “After all, that’s the entire purpose of the Open Mosque Day.”

This year’s Open Mosque Day was expanded to two days and included presen-tations in multiple languages — English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Although several mosques organized their own similar events a decade ago, ISCSC initiated the idea of holding a region-wide open house on a designated day each year and has continued since. The annual Open Mosque Day does not replace or substitute existing efforts but is designed to strengthen and complement them. ■

IMAN Clinic Named 2014 ‘Best of Chicago’Chicago’s Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) health clinic, which is supported by Islamic Relief USA and has served the people of its commu-

nity for seven years, was named in the Chicago Reader’s highly antici-pated “Best of Chicago” 2014 edition.

For Chicago’s south-side Lawn neighbor-hood, a poverty-stricken and vulnerable commu-nity of more than 55,000 people, one local clinic is providing the best affordable health care there, providing sub-sidized or free medical

treatment for more than 80 patients each week. The clinic is supported by grants from organizations like Islamic Relief USA, according to IRUSA’s Nada Shawish.

Even with the Affordable Care Act in effect, regular and specialized care are still too expensive for area residents, and many undocumented residents aren’t covered at all.

The IMAN clinic, staffed by a medical director, nurse practitioner, and lab techni-cian, manages rotations of volunteer nurses, doctors and students, provides health care in a professional and capable atmosphere.

“We aspire to be a vehicle for mercy and healing in the inner city,” said Dr. Rami Nashashibi, IMAN executive director. ■

Dr. Rami Nashashibi

Canadian Town Rallies Around Muslims

A gathering of Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada residents volunteered to cleanup after learning that vandals had defaced the Cold Lake Mosque Oct. 24, 2014, according to CBC Edmonton.

The words “Go home” and “Canada” had been sprayed across the front face of the building sometime during the night. Van-dals also had smashed two of the mosque’s windows. In response, some city residents showed support, bringing flowers and taping their own messages to the window reading “You Are Home” and “Love Your Neighbour.”

Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland said the mosque is an important part of the town and that he was disappointed that some-one in the community could be behind the damage. He said the vandalism may have been in response to the fatal shooting of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. ■


Princeton Offers Halal Menu

Halal food is now available on a rotational basis in Princeton’s residential college dining halls, Katherine Oh reported in The Daily Princetonian, Oct. 14, 2014.

The addition to the fare is a result of the work of the Undergraduate Student Govern-ment Dining Policy Initiative (USG-DPI), which has been working with the campus Muslim Chaplain Imam Sohaib Sultan and the Muslim Students Association since last semester to make halal food more accessible on campus, she wrote.

The Class of 2015 Senator Nihar Madha-van, who led the DPI, said one of his goals

is to ensure that dining options meet the needs of students on campus. MSA President Sarah Qari said the ultimate goal is to make halal food available all days of the week.

Sultan said the halal food options available through the Dining Services before were in frozen packets that were cooked on demand for students.

“But unfortunately for too many students this was a little bit tedious and also wasn’t necessarily very appetizing either,” he added. “You know how packaged food is.”

The MSA effort has changed all that. During their meetings, Qari and Sultan were able to clarify what it meant for food to be halal. Muslim students also were able to voice their opinions directly when rep-resentatives from Dining Services attended the MSA’s Friday prayers.

Qari said Muslim students appreciate the quality of the food being served on campus. ■

Sohaib Sultan

Columbus Welcomes New Mosque

The Abubakar Asiddiq Islamic Cen-ter’s new building for the west side of Colum-bus, Ohio, is a far cry from the storefront mosque the congregation has been leasing. The center celebrated the new mosque build-ing’s inauguration Oct. 25, 2014.

It features ornate chandeliers, plush car-peting, moldings etched with verses from the Quran and spacious washrooms, accord-ing to an Oct. 25 report in the Columbus Dispatch.

Mouhamed Tarazi, president of the Abubakar Asiddiq board, said his group formed in 2004 with a handful of families in a leased storefront on Sullivant Avenue. Abukar Arman, a founding member, told the newspaper that the community is rais-ing about $2.8 million to pay for the first phase of the project, which includes the 1,200 capacity prayer area and washrooms. Offi-cials expect to raise about $1.5 million more to add a rooftop dome and minarets, and to finish the second floor with classrooms, offices and a kitchen.

The new space comes in response to the needs of a burgeoning immigrant and Muslim population. A number of other mosques in central Ohio are bursting at the seams.

The Dispatch article noted other Muslim advances in central Ohio. In October 2014, Masjid Ibnu Taymiyah, which has a sizeable Somali population, purchased a more than 350,000-square-foot building in Clinton Township to add a second masjid on the north side. Today, the mosque draws 500 families compared to the roughly 50 fami-lies it served in 2003 when the first building was bought.

In Hilliard — about 10 miles from the Abubakar Asiddiq — leaders at Noor Islamic Cultural Center, which draws about 5,000 people each Friday, are eyeing their own expansion. ■

White House Recognizes Muslim Efforts

Khadija Gurnah, program manager for American Muslim Health Professionals’ (AMPH) Connecting Muslims to Coverage, was honored as one of the White House Champions of Change leading local efforts to advance the goals of the Affordable Care Act Oct. 20, 2014.

The White House Champions of Change Program honors everyday Americans doing

extraordinary things in their communities. Gurnah helped AMHP launch the first national grassroots initiative of its kind in the Muslim American community. AMHP embarked on a mission to help bring aware-ness and educate people about the health care reform law. With a limited budget, AMHP mobilized 81 partners and ultimately helped enroll thousands of people in health plans. ■

Khadija Gurnah, top row, second right, was honored as one of The White House Champions of Change.


NEWS BRIEFS

Dr. Isma Chaudhry was installed as the first woman president of the Islamic Center of Long Island (ICLI) in Westbury, New York, succeeding Eric Hamza Byas. She is the 13th president to lead ICLI since 1982 and took charge as ICLI is undergoing a $4 million expansion to support the grow-ing number of Muslim American families moving into the area.

An internist and a mother of two was appointed to a three-year term.

She said her role as president of ICLI will be more in an administrative capacity, adding that she does not consider herself a religious scholar.

However, Chaudhry is the first woman in the Tri-State area to be named president of a mosque. She got her start at ICLI as a volunteer, bringing pizza for children. Her list of accomplishments includes the annual interfaith iftar.

Chaudhry does public outreach through her role as board co-chairwoman of Long Island Wins, an organization focused on creating an environment that works for immigrants and natives alike.

DR. SAYYID M. SYEED, national director of Islamic Society of North America’s Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances (IOICA) attended the inauguration of the Indonesian Muslim Association in America Mosque (IMAAM) in Silver Spring, Mary-land, Sept. 26, 2014. IMAAM, founded in 1993, was two decades in the making.

Former Indonesian President Dr. H.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gave a keynote address at the inauguration and met with area Muslim leaders.

Syeed apprised him of ISNA activities and shared his vision of a global role that he believes Muslim Americans are destined to play and applauded President Yudhoyono for his role as the first elected president in Indonesia. Yudhoyono served two terms. His contribution to the global Muslim com-munity, Syeed reiterated, was strengthening his country’s democratic tradition and giving the world its largest Muslim democracy.

Syeed said Yudhoyono’s commitment to the democratic values of Islam would enrich not only the Muslim world, but also the world at large.

Essay entries are being accepted from high school students in the graduat-ing classes of 2015 and 2016 for the 2015 Religious Liberty Essay Scholarship Contest, sponsored by the Religious Liberty Council of the Baptist Joint Committee.

The essay, between 800-1,200 words, should address the following: under fed-eral law, employers cannot discriminate on the basis of religion, and other protected categories, when hiring if they have 15 or more employees. A conflict can arise when an employer refuses to allow an employee to wear religious clothing at work or refuses to hire someone because of such attire. For example, clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch used its “look policy” to exclude a hijab-wearing Muslim woman salesperson.

The essay writers will discuss whether and to what extent an employer should be able to dictate an employee’s attire — such as denying a request to wear religious garb. Should the image or brand the employer por-trays with a dress code trump the employee’s religious expression? What are the broader implications for religious liberty?

Each year, the contest engages high school students in church-state issues by directing them to express a point of view on a religious liberty topic. The grand prize is $2,000 and a trip for two to Washington, D.C. Second prize is $1,000, and third prize is $250. Entries must be mailed to the Baptist

Joint Committee and postmarked by March 6, 2015, to be eligible.

Entry forms: http://bjconline.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2015-RL-Essay-Contest-Entry-Form.pdf

(L-R) Board members Waleed AlGhamdi and Rebecca Minor, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Mukhtar Suleiman (MCCT Board), Sen. Christopher Scott Murphy, Reza Mansoor (MCCT Board), and Mongi Dhaoudhi, CAIR-CT executive director.

The Muslim Coalition of Connecticut held its 8th annual Leadership Banquet Nov. 16, 2014, with the theme “Beauty in Diversity — Fostering Understanding.”

Maha Elgenaidi, founder of Islamic Networks Group, and Ellen Boynton, from Department of Mental Health & Addiction

COMMUNITY MATTERS

ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER —A good deed done regularly!

Through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) ISNA can receive your donation each month automatically from your bank account or credit card, saving you postage and time.




Services in Connecticut, were recognized for their commitment to promoting under-standing between people of different cultures and backgrounds and for being instrumental in setting up cultural diversity and sensitiv-ity trainings.

Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Con-necticut’s two Democrat senators, Richard Blumenthal and Christopher Scott Murphy, attended and shared a few words about the beauty of diversity.

Keynote speaker Dalia Mogahed received a standing ovation for her address titled “The Five Competencies of the Wisdom Age: Diversity by Divine Design.”

The Muslim Coalition of Connecticut focuses on building bridges in the commu-nity by encouraging service and conversa-tions. Every first Saturday of the month they provide the opportunity to serve at a Hartford shelter. They also have monthly builds with Habitat for Humanity and have an active speakers bureau that goes out to various agencies to talk about Islam and Muslims.

Shahid Athar (left) receives the award from Rep. Carson

The Muslim Alliance of Indiana rec-ognized Dr. Shahid Athar with the Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed Award for Excellence in Interfaith during its annual convention Nov. 22, 2014.

U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, presented Athar with the award recognizing his involvement in interfaith activities over the last 30 years.

Athar is founder and past president of Interfaith Alliance of Indiana. An endocri-nologist, he is a clinical associate professor at Indiana University School of Medicine.

The Chicago chapter of ICNA Relief donated fresh meat to the needy Oct. 1-15, 2014, marking the occasion of Eid Al-Adha.

An estimated 7,000 pounds of meat, valued at $21,000, was distributed at vari-

ous locations, including the ICNA Thrift Store and the Islamic Center of Wheaton in Wheaton, Illinois.

“Every year, ICNA Relief arranges for Qurbani/Udhiya in various cities across the country and distributes the meat right here in the U.S.,” said Dr. Saima Azfar, director of ICNA Relief Chicago. “We work with halal butchers to slaughter, package and distribute the sacrifice on behalf of donors. This year, Ziyad Brothers Foods, too, contributed to the meat drive with a 3,500-pound food donation.”

Besides individual beneficiaries, roughly 100 pounds of meat was donated to main-stream and masjid food pantries.

On Oct. 8, 2014, the Tampa, Florida-based American Youth Academy was awarded the status of International Baccalau-reate (IB) World School offering the diploma program and joined the ranks of more than 3,900 IB World Schools in 147 countries.

As one of the world’s most respected pre-university courses of study, this program will now be offered to AYA’s high school students in their junior and senior years.

AYA, founded in 2004 with 224 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, has grown to more than 530 students. In 2009, after moving into new, state-of-the-art buildings, AYA was awarded full accredita-tion by the Florida Council of Independent Schools, the Florida Kindergarten Council, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement.

Designed for highly motivated students, the IB Diploma Program is a rigorous two-year course of study leading to externally assessed examinations. The program offers breadth, in terms of the range of courses offered, and depth, in that students must take each for two years. It is a deliberate compromise between the specialization required by some colleges and universi-ties and the breadth preferred by others. Students who don’t want a full IB Diploma may elect to take IB courses in their areas of academic strength. These students will receive an IB certificate for each successfully completed course.

Applications are being accepted through March 2 from K-12 school teach-ers wanting to know more about Muslim American history and life for a National Endowment for the Humanities funded summer seminar July 12-Aug. 1, 2015, in Indianapolis.

The three-week seminar will be directed by Dr. Edward Curtis, an award-winning scholar of Islam in America and the Mil-lennium Chair of Liberal Arts at Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapo-lis. It will gather 16 school teachers from throughout the country to study the racial, ethnic, religious, and gender identities of U.S. Muslims, in the past and present.

Participants receive a $2,700 stipend to help cover transportation, food, housing, and other costs. The seminar will be focused on the academic study of Muslim Ameri-can identities, not the religious or spiritual lives of the summer scholars themselves. More information on the program is avail-able online:

http://www.raac.iupui.edu/professional-development/neh-summer-seminar-teach-ers-2015/

Edward Curtis


FVAMC Trustees with the Rev. Audrey Scanlan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut at the real estate closing for the church. Center: Khamis Abu-Hasaballah with his wife, Noora Brown, chairwoman of the FVAMC Interfaith Committee. To the right of Abu-Hasaballah is Rev. Scanlan

The Farmington Valley (Connecti-cut) American Muslim Center, Inc., paid $1.1 million to purchase the former home of Christ Episcopal Church Oct. 21, 2014.

The building was vacated after the con-gregation voted in 2012 to dissolve as a parish and closed by the end of that year.

“This [Muslim] house of worship will serve as a foundation for our efforts to con-tinue building bridges with our neighbors, the local community, and other faith tra-ditions,” FVAMC board President Khamis Abu-Hasaballah told the Episcopal News Service. “Our relationship with the Episcopal Church in Connecticut serves as a shining example in our region, and as a beacon of hope for interreligious understanding and cooperation the world over.”

Farhan Zaidi, the former Oakland Athletics assistant general manager, is now general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In his 10 seasons with Oakland, the Cana-dian-born Zaidi, 37, who grew up in the Philippines, started off as a baseball opera-tions assistant before serving as the director of baseball operations for five seasons. He has a bachelor of science degree from MIT (1998) and a doctorate in economics from the University of California-Berkeley (2011).

Boston Police Capt. Haseeb Hosein, 52, a former science teacher, assumed leader-ship as the department’s first Muslim cap-tain. The highest-ranking Muslim in the department, he took charge in Mattapan in one of the city’s most violent districts.

A 26-year veteran of the department, Hosein is a firm believer in the power of reading. He plans to have his officers walk-ing not only the streets, but school hallways, reported the Boston Globe, Oct. 23, 2014. He will send officers to spend 30 minutes in schools and read with a child.

Hosein received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Boston University. He served in the Marine Corps for 11 years. He is married with three grown children.

Indiana University-Purdue Univer-sity Indianapolis’ Herron School of Art and Design professor Anila Quayyum Agha secured the two top prizes at ArtPrize 2014, earning a record $300,000 in the interna-tional art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan., Oct 10, 2014.

Her entry, “Intersections,” earned the ArtPrize 2014 Public Vote Grand Prize of $200,000 and she split the Juried Grand Prize of $200,000 in a tie with “The Haircraft Project,” by artist Sonya Clark of Richmond, Virginia. Agha’s wins mark the first time one entry has won both the popularly acclaimed and juried awards. Her total prize is also the highest amount given to one individual in the competition, which awards the world’s largest art prize.

“Intersections,” completed under a 2012-13 New Frontiers Research Grant from Indi-ana University, is composed of a 6.5-foot laser-cut wooden cube created using Her-ron’s new computer numeric control router.

When illuminated by the single light bulb installed inside, the wooden frieze casts patterns of light and shadows inspired by the geometric patterning of Islamic sacred places as found in the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.

ArtPrize 2014, an independent competi-tion open to anyone 18 or older, included 1,536 entries representing 51 countries and 42 U.S. states and territories. Entries were submitted in 2-D, 3-D, time-based and installation categories.

The Arab American Political Action Committee recognized Dawud Walid, exec-utive director of the Council of American Islamic Relations in Michigan, for his advocacy for equality and civil rights at its 17th annual banquet Oct. 22, 2014, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Also honored were Mich-igan lawmakers, Rep. John Dingell and Sen. Carl Levin, who are retiring at the end of their current terms, and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Metro Detroit is home to hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans. AAPAC is engaged in an ongoing effort to increase voter turnout and political engagement among Arab Americans.

Nokha Dakroub won a seat on the Mississauga, Ontario, 12-member Peel Dis-trict school board for Wards 9 and 10 that serve 32 public schools in the city’s north-west section, Oct. 27, 2014.

The Lebanon-born Dakroub, who is married to Pakistan-born Saad Baig, runs

COMMUNITY MATTERS


a private psychotherapy practice where she helps people cope with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. A social worker who used to support schools in her district, Dakroub said her passion about education led her to contest the election as she wants to continue making a difference in schools. She started her career working for various nonprofit organizations counseling women facing abuse and helping newcomers settle in Canada. She also has hosted a community television program.

Dr. Hasan Jalisi, elected to the House of Delegates of Maryland General Assembly in the November 2014 general elections, is a medical doctor by profession, a small busi-ness owner, and a Baltimore County com-munity leader. He established a nonprofit to serve the needs of homeless women with small children and supports free medical clinics for the uninsured.

He has received awards for his commu-nity service from Maryland’s governor and General Assembly, and the U.S. Congress. He received the 2013 Agus-Shenan Interfaith Leadership Award for promoting relation-ships between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities by the Central Maryland Ecu-menical Council.

Jalisi has co-authored two books on dis-eases of ear, nose and throat. He has four copyrights for research on transplantation of larynx (voice box), many research publica-tions, and teaching experience in the U.S. and abroad.

The North Chicago-based Urban Muslim Minority Alliance (UMMA) Center marked its 10th anniversary with a gala dinner, “Reach for the Sky,” Nov. 8, 2014.

A sold out event with nearly 300 attend-

ees, it helped raise $125,000 for UMMA Center programs. Che “Ryhmefest” Smith and Habeeb Quadri were guest speakers.

The UMMA Center, which opened its doors in June 2004, serves Waukegan, Zion and neighboring North Chicago, some of Illinois’ poorest and most vulnerable cities.

“In 2015, you will see a great emphasis through our programming on connecting our low-income community to paid employ-ment opportunities through our Career-Link program,” UMMA founding Direc-tor Ashfaq Mohiuddin said. “As UMMA strengthens our commitment of teaching our community how to earn a living wage and live self-sufficiently.”

Ammar Habib, 21, published his debut novel, “Dark Guardian” (Zharmae Publish-ing, August 2014).

The Brazosport College senior was an honor roll student from elementary school to college. He has served as a student council officer and also was on the varsity football team. He serves as assistant event coordi-nator of his alma mater in his birthplace of Lake Jackson, Texas.

The book, an action/thriller novel with themes of forgiveness, redemption, and free-dom, has received five-star reviews. Habib,

who already is working on his third and fourth novels, will be releasing his second novel in 2015.

The Chicago-based Compassionate Care Network (CCN) presented the 2014 Ibn Sina Award for Excellence in Commu-nity Service to American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP) at its seventh annual banquet, Nov. 29, 2014.

Professor Omer Mozaffer of Loyola Uni-versity was the keynote speaker.

This award, which recognizes an indi-vidual or organization for their outstand-ing services in the medical field, honors the memory of Ibn Sina, a renowned Muslim physician/philosopher whose contributions in the field of medicine dominated the stage of science for centuries throughout the Middle Ages.

AMHP, a community of activists, researchers and educators, founded 10 years ago by Chicago native Arshia Wajid, primar-ily works on improving the health of Ameri-cans, particularly the most vulnerable due to economic circumstances, special needs, or cultural barriers. AMPH has advocated for universal health care, taking a lead role within the Muslim community in striving for the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2011. During the first open enroll-ment cycle, the group reached out to more than 26,000 people nationally and helped more than 1,500 people get coverage.

Muslim Educational Trust (MET) of Portland, Oregon, received a $100,000 grant from the Fred W. Fields Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) to fund the construction of the MET Com-munity Center.

The proposed center includes a gym-nasium/multipurpose hall, fitness center, commercial kitchen, art gallery, and meet-ing spaces.

In 2012, OCF announced a $150 mil-lion gift from the estate of Fred W. Fields. Through these funds, OCF annually awards more than $60 million in grants and scholarships.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HADI HASSAN, AM

HP


The Islamic Foundation masjid in Villa Park, Illinois, celebrated its 40th anni-versary Nov. 16, 2014, with more than 500 community members in attendance. The evening included a timeline of Islamic Foun-dation’s legacy and recognition of Abdul Hameed Dogar, Dr. Zia Hassan, Dr. Arshad Zaheer, and Dr. Nasrullah Basha for their decades of dedication.

Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago Chairman Dr. Moham-mad Kaiseruddin presented Aftab Khan, the new chairman of Islamic Foundation, with a congratulatory plaque for the organization’s 40 years of service to the community.

Maliha Amarsi was among 54 winners — one from each state and territory — of the 2014 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner.”

She represented Washington state at the White House “State Dinner” on July 18, 2014, where she met with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Her winning recipe, “This fish has gone nuts!,” uses Washington state salmon and nuts, and includes lentil soup and Caesar salad.

The “State Dinner,” one of the new White House initiatives, pairs winners with local celebrity chefs from their state who conduct three short cooking demonstrations on pre-paring a healthy dish. Amarsi was paired with Holly Smith from Café Jaunita, whose passion for northern Italian cuisine has earned her rave reviews from local and national media.

Dr. Emad A. Zikry has started a schol-arship program for Kansas City area Muslim students pursuing post-secondary educa-tion, honoring the memory of his father, Dr. Abdel-Khalik M. Zikry.

Zikry was a founding member of the Kansas City Muslim community and gave some of the first sermons during Friday prayers in the mid 1970s.

The Shawnee Mission Islamic Educa-tion Center implements and administers the scholarships.

This year’s three awardees are: first, ($1,000) Farheen Baig, pursuing a medi-cal degree at University of Missouri-Kansas City; second, ($1,000) Yousef Hammouda, majoring in accounting and information systems at University of Kansas; and third ($500) Mario Avila, a business major with emphasis in management at University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Imam Suhaib Webb, an Al-Azhar grad-uate, has joined as resident scholar at the Washington, D.C.-based MakeSpace, which caters to youth and young professionals. Imam Zia Makhdoom is executive director. Webb’s past tenure was at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.

The City of Riverside Human Rela-tions Commission recognized Dr. Makbul Patel as one of its 2014 Riverside Heroes. The

city awards select citizens who have made a significant contribution in others’ lives. Patel also is past president of the Islamic Center of Riverside, and a founder of Al-Shifa Free Dental Clinic.

Akbar Rizvi was recognized as a citi-zen of distinction by the City of Corona. A longtime resident of the city, he formerly has served as president and is currently chair-man of the board of trustees of the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco.

City of Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty presented Alhuda Academy with the Award of Excellence in Education, recognizing its students’ achievement and excellence in literature, poetry, science, destination imagination and environmental Green Awards. Alhuda Academy is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, where students have placed first, second, and third in regional and state science and engineering fairs, state poetry contest, destination imagination, and state-wide letters about literature contest.

Germantown, Maryland, opened its long-awaited $2.2 million Islamic Society of Germantown mosque Nov. 8, 2014. The dream, which began in 1996, came closer to reality when the group purchased a one-acre lot in 2002. Montgomery County executive Isiah Legget officiated the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 9,080-square-foot mosque can accommodate 375 congregants. It has a community center and childcare facilities. The group has a permit to add a halal food store to the existing facility.

The Islamic Association of Northern Kentucky (IANK) can remain in a residential neighborhood, with conditions, ruled the Covington, Kentucky, board of adjustments on Oct. 15, 2014. “This is not a mosque or church. This is a learning center [for Islam],” IANK Director Muhammad Ameen told the board.

The center, which has a handful of mem-bers, has a tentative agreement to allow its

COMMUNITY MATTERS


members to park at the site that currently houses an education center.

IANK, which has been in Covington for 30 years, assists the York Street House (a halfway house) and Transition House with their clients.

Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Cincinnati chapter’s attorney Booker Washington warned the board of the legal ramifications of any decision to not permit the center to continue operations. He cited the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, reported Michael Monks, editor and publisher of “The River City News,” Oct. 21, 2014. ■

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Educating the Community about Infectious Diseases

I slamic centers and schools cater to Muslims who come from diverse cultures and countries, including Africa. In congregational prayer, Muslims stand shoulder-to-shoulder and make ruku (bow down) and sujood (prostration). In the sajdah (prostration), they can leave particles of mucus from the mouth

and noses. Since no one prays at his or her particular place, everyone is expected to acquire someone else’s secretions (there is great wisdom in the sajdah). Scientifically speaking, this is the most efficient way of acquiring herd immunity, but if someone is sick with cough, fever, sneezing and runny nose, imams should educate them that they should pray at home for two reasons: their own protection and protecting the community at large. They will get double the reward as well.

This should be done in a very cordial and delicate manner so as to not annoy anyone or repel them from praying in the mosque.

There is lot of panic and hysteria about the spread of Ebola virus. Therefore, the community should learn about the simple methods of prevention. People who come to pray in mosques, churches or synagogues, or are traveling, have to use the public restrooms. As prevention, they should carry disposable gloves and alcohol/disin-fectant wipes. Before they use the restroom, they should put the gloves on and wipe the commode seat before and after use, and discard the gloves properly. Then they should wash their hands diligently, which already is part of wudu (ritual purification through ablution before prayers) for Muslims. These measures are simple, safe and economical as they are available over the counter in any supermarket or pharmacy.

Prevention is better than cure, and one should remember that only he or she can take care of him/herself from unseen germs of all kinds, especially under the current circumstances.

There also are lessons to be learned from Muslim history. A hadith narrated by ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amir bin Rabi’a states: ‘Umar bin al-Khattab ‘alayhi rahmat) was leading a contingent to Sham (modern day Syria and neighboring region). Abu Ubaidah ibn al Jarrah was part of that force. Upon reaching a place called Sargh, he was told about an outbreak of an epidemic (of plague) there. Then ‘AbdurRahman bin ‘Auf told him that Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “If you hear the news of an outbreak of an epidemic (plague) in a certain place, do not enter there, and if the epidemic falls in a place while you are present, do not leave that place to escape from the epidemic.” So ‘Umar returned from Sargh (Bukhari: Book #86, Hadith #103).

This golden rule still holds true. However, based on those instructions, and modern resources and technologies, the Ebola virus could have been better contained.

The Muslim American community has experienced infectious diseases specialists and other physicians who can help address such concerns. Perhaps, the khateeb (one giving sermon) can discuss with them and use this knowledge in a sermon during Friday congregational prayers. It is our responsibility to educate the Muslim com-munity, as is done in churches and synagogues.

Dr. Sheikh Abdur RehmanLawrenceburg, Indiana

The Islamic Center of Little Rock (ICLR) is the largest Islamic Center in the state of Arkansas. The ICLR was created in the year 1992 and it serves growing Muslim community.

Currently it is lookingfor an Imam.

Qualifications:• A bachelor’s degree or equiva-

lent in Islamic Studies or re-lated field from an accredited higher education institution.

• Fluency in English (Spoken and written).

• Comprehensive knowledge of Islamic Shariah.

• Experience as an Imam or As-sistant Imam.

• Ability to interact with and re-late to youth.

More details can be found in www.theiclr.org/careers/ which has Responsibilities and Compensation.Please submit your resume at [email protected]

ALI A. MAZRUIA Global African MuslimMazrui was a man who employed his knowledge to create a better and more just world.BY SULAYMAN S. NYANG

Mazrui was a scholar and public intellectual who did not hesitate to consult the powerful and the powerless.Professor Ali A. Mazrui died Oct. 12, 2014, at age 81.The scholar and “Man of Action” was known to anyone interested in

Africa and her peoples. Not only did he produce books, articles and videos that have had a global reach, but also inspired and stimulated countless numbers of people, and took time to listen to and learn from others who shared his ambitions to change and develop African societies and peoples.


SCHOLARS, JOURNALISTS AND ACTIVISTS ARE GOING TO QUARRY THIS DOMAIN TO SHARE WITH OTHERS WHO MAZRUI WAS AND WHAT HE DID IN THE FIELDS OF AFRICAN STUDIES AND WORLD CULTURAL STUDIES.

During his lifetime, Mazrui walked the pathways of the student, teacher and father. As a student, he learned Swahili, Arabic and English. Through Swahili, he acquired the cultural building blocks that later proved helpful in his construction and articulation of the “Triple Heritage” — Islam, Christi-anity and traditional African heritages. Through his association with these languages and cultures, his Kenyan identity was solidi-fied. Through his learning and mastery of the English language, he became familiar with the writings of English authors who shaped and affected his thoughts and actions.

Mazrui has done much to cement the rela-tionship between English speaking people and Africans. Those who teach English in African schools, colleges and universities are destined to look at Mazrui’s writings and lectures. His familiarity with the writings of English authors put him in good stead and today, African students who try to engage the West will learn about Mazrui and the African encounter with the West. Mazrui wrote three books that underscored his encounter with the English language. In “The Political Soci-ology of the English Language: an African

Perspective” (1975; Mouton), he examined how the language affected African peoples across the continent, and gave us a guided tour into this aspect of intercultural relation-ship between Britain and Africa. Following from these narratives was another book, “The Anglo-African Commonwealth; Political Friction and Cultural Fusion” (Oxford, New York, Pergamon Press [1967]), that dealt with the Anglo-African Commonwealth. During the Cold War, the Europeans were jockeying for African support. Through the creation of global bodies, such as the Commonwealth of Nations and the Francophone World, many young Africans groped clumsily for attention and support from the L’Académie Française or the British Council. Like most who went through the impact of colonial rule and colonial education, Mazrui came out enlightened and inspired with a strong anti-colonial disposition. Those who labeled him “anti-Western” are simply responding to the critical and pugilistic aspects of his acts of self-definition.

Mazrui’s education came from his family and the social actors in his community in Mombasa.

Dr. Jamal Barzinji and Dr. Abubaker Al-Shingieti flank Mazrui who was honored by IIIT.


Examining Mazrui’s life and times, we must look at his publications and the areas his scholarship led him over the years. Mazrui was proud of his Afro-Arab and Swahili heritage. Knowing the English lan-guage did not propel him to behave like the assimilé under French, or as the assimilado under Portuguese rule, nor was he driven to behave like the évolué in the Belgian Congo — colonial subjects who had rejected their respective native cultures. Mazrui went to Oxford University and came home serious about his Swahili background. His mar-riage to Molly Vickman from England cre-ated a new door of opportunities in the emerging world of interracial relationships. His three children from that marriage sur-vived him and each is doing well in his own way. His marriage to Poline Uti, a Nige-rian, adds another dimension to Mazrui’s story. With Uti, he left two children of a younger age who are a part of his legacies, which are global. Mazrui was a man who employed his knowledge to create a better and more just world. His marriages illus-trated his willingness to seek out friends and partners.

Due to his interest in Africa’s relations with the West, Mazrui studied Western political thoughts among many other things. When he examined the changing patterns of politics in Africa, Mazrui found certain

COVER STORY

A li A. Mazrui is perhaps Africa’s most prolific and accomplished writer of the second half of the 20th century: W.E.B. Dubois cast a similar shadow in the first half.

EXCERPTS ON AFRICA FROM HIS BOOKS“Africa as a whole borrowed the wrong things from the West — even the wrong components of capitalism. We borrowed the profit motive, but not the entrepreneurial spirit. We borrowed the acquisitive appetites of capitalism but not the creative risk-taking. We are at home with western gadgets, but are bewildered by western workshops. We wear the wristwatch, but refuse to watch it for the culture of punctuality. We have learnt to parade in display, but not to drill in discipline. The West’s consumption patterns have arrived, but not necessarily the West’s techniques of production.” (Cultural Forces in World Politics, 1990)

“The original colonial university was so uncompromisingly foreign in African context, and was planted with few concessions to African culture. Its impact was more culturally alienating than it need have been. A whole generation of African graduates grew up despising their own ancestry, and scrambling to imitate the West. Those early African graduates who have later become university

Remembering Mazruiteachers have on the whole remained intellectual imitators of the West.” (Towards Re-Africanizing African Universities: Who Killed Intellectualism in Post-Colonial Era? 2003)

Anticipating the convergence of his 60th birthday, and the 20th anniversary of his professional debut, Mazrui’s students, friends and colleagues used the opportunity to critically assess the significance of the prodigious body of scholarship affection-ately dubbed Mazruiana. In November 1992, four panels devoted exclusively to Mazruiana were convened at the annual meetings of the African Studies Association in Seattle, with the added attrac-tion of Mazrui’s attendance and his immediate response to the original papers presented there. While no single volume could do justice to Mazrui’s colossal literary output, “The Global Afri-can: A Portrait of Ali A. Mazrui,” compiled and edited by Omari H. Kokole (Africa World Press; 1997), gathered the collective investigative insight of a team of well-informed critics and Ali A. Mazrui himself.

During the past seven years, Mazrui was a frequent speaker at IIIT seminars, conferences and other academic programs. He

PHOT

O (C

) IN

TERN

ATIO

NAL

INST

ITUT

E OF

ISLA

MIC

THO

UGHT


inadequacies in the thinking and acts of African leaders. At a time when it was fash-ionable to celebrate the one-party state in almost all of Africa, Mazrui courageously took the late Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana to task. Dubbing him the “Lenin Czar,” Mazrui urged Africans to take a critical view of this kind of politics in Africa. So-called revo-lutionaries dismissed Mazrui as a Western collaborator because of his resistance to dictatorship and political manipulations of African people. To the contrary, Mazrui was an independent thinker who did not hesitate to articulate his opinions on and attitudes toward any of the pressing issues affecting the continent. Certain scholars dismissed Mazrui as an East African who missed the train of African radicalism.

James N. Karioki, a Kenyan scholar wrote an article in Transition Magazine what is now remembered as an act of provocation against Mazrui, titled “African Scholars versus Ali Mazrui” (Transition, No. 45 [1974]). The magazine, founded by Rajat Neogy (1938–95), a Ugan-dan of Indian ancestry, was published from 1961 to 1976 on the African continent and since 1991 housed at Harvard.

Karioki lives long enough to give this author a copy of an article lambasting the emerging South African attitudes against so-called “foreign Africans.” Deeply touched

spoke on issues ranging from Muslim world politics, to Muslim American identity and reform of higher education. In 2011, he was awarded the IIIT Distinguished Scholar Award for his life-time, distinguished contributions to scholarly work on Islam and Muslim world affairs and his outstanding service to the Muslim American community as an engaged public intellectual and a strong voice.

He donated his entire collection of books and essays authored or edited by him or by others on his writings and thought to the IIIT library. This treasure is now available to researchers and students from around the world.

An anonymous Zambian blogger wrote:“I was only 11 when I got introduced to the works of this

towering intellectual [Mazrui] and one of Africa’s illustrious sons.“Back in the day, ZNBC TV [Zambia National Broadcasting

Corporation] used to air educational and fascinating documen-taries like …

“It was, however, the nine-part documentary [that] professor Mazrui wrote and narrated, ‘The Africans: A Triple Heritage,’ that

Remembering Mazrui made me develop an early interest in intellectually stimulating TV shows and love for political science.

“The series, and the book on which it is based, reveals and analyzes the complex ways in which African communities exhibit a blend of three cultures: indigenous, Muslim and Western.

“I remember as a young boy being glued to our 1991 vintage Elektor 14-inch black-and-white television set every time ‘The Africans’ was aired. I learnt quite much about African history and politics in general by just listening to his documentaries.

“To this day, ‘The Africans,’ both the documentary and books are still an amazing timeless collection.

“A wiseman once said, ‘The death of an old man is like a burn-ing library.’ The death of Dr. Mazrui, 81, who at the time of his demise was a professor at Binghamton University in New York, can be described in such a manner.

“Africa has lost a great scholar and historian in Dr. Mazrui. He was an African encyclopedia and a great custodian of African heritage.

“Dr. Mazrui not only advanced the continent’s social, economic, political, religious, cultural and ethnic well being and identity, but its unique diversity too.

“His indelible signature on the African continent will never be forgotten in its memoirs.” ■


COVER STORY

by Mazrui’s campaign against apartheid in South Africa, and being a fellow Kenyan, whose people also suffered in the hands of white settlers, Karioki reconciled with Mazrui. He too is a productive scholar and those days of agonizing about Mazruina and its impact in the portrayal of Africa are over. Long before the departure of Mazrui, the challenge to his writings against African dictators are celebrated.

Even though Mazrui did not seek any political office in Kenya, his name and his global stature combined gave him a special place among intellectuals. Not only did he write articles for wider distribution, but also knew key figures in the country. After his departure, many of his political consulta-tions with the powerful and the powerless in Kenya and beyond will eventually come to light.

His encounter with Idi Amin spoke volumes about political life in East Africa. His book, “Cultural engineering and nation building in East Africa” (Northwestern Uni-versity Press, 1972), demonstrated his com-mand of facts and details in East Africa. Not only did Mazrui warn the politicians about camp-crossing and political intrigues, but also exposed the political crowd to what needed to be done to construct effective and meaningful governance.

Mazrui left a legacy of political opposi-tion to rulers and the rule. His encounter with former Ugandan leader, Milton Obote, provided a case study on the scholar and the political leader. His situation became dangerous and deadly under Idi Amin. His fleeing from Uganda for safer ground brought him to the United States.

Mazrui built a relationship with African leaders beyond Kenya and Uganda.

Mazrui was a scholar and public intel-lectual who did not hesitate to consult the powerful and the powerless, engaging leaders such as President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Muammar Gad-dafi of Libya.

By courting these leaders who were unwanted and despised in the West, Mazrui made many powerful enemies in high places. Those who followed his lectures and activities were not surprised when certain things went wrong with him. He was blackballed for his anti-colonial and anti-imperial narratives, and his decision to court and meet with the radicals of the Third World led to unfair accusations against him.

During the Cold War, some saw Mazrui as a CIA agent because he wrote negatively against Nkrumah, and in the last days of

the Cold War, certain right wing elements among Washington think tanks saw him as a KGB agent. Mazrui was above such percep-

Ali Al’amin Mazrui A Global African Muslim1933 – 2014

A li Al’amin Mazrui, an academic, professor, and political writer on Afri-can and Islamic studies and North-South relations died Oct. 12, 2014, at

his home in Binghamton, New York. He was laid to rest in the city of his birth, Mom-

basa, Kenya, in an ancestral cemetery gazetted by the National Museum of Kenya. The plaque at its gate reads, “The graveyard belongs to the Mazrui family who ruled Mombasa in the 18th century after the defeat of the Portuguese, the Omani Arabs controlled the Coast through locally based heredi-tary governors.”

Mazrui was editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (AJISS). He also served as president of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists [of North America], later renamed the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies.

His research interests include African politics, international political culture and North-South relations.

Mazrui was an Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and the director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton Univer-sity in Binghamton, which he founded in 1991 to develop new multidisciplinary approaches to the study of culture and cultural influences across soci-eties in the contemporary world.

Mazrui earned his bachelor of arts degree from Manchester University in 1960, his master of arts degree from Columbia University in 1961, and his doctorate from Oxford University (Nuffield College) in 1966.

Upon completing his education at Oxford, Mazrui joined Makerere University (Kam-pala, Uganda), where he served as head of the department of political science and dean of the faculty of social sciences. He served at Makerere until 1973, when he was forced into exile by Idi Amin. In 1974, he joined the University of Michigan as professor and later was appointed the director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (1978-81). In 1989, he joined the faculty of Binghamton University, State University of New York.

He held three concurrent faculty appointments as Albert Luthuli Professor-at-Large in the Humanities and Development Studies at the University of Jos in Nigeria, Andrew


tions. He was mindful of his commitment to Africa. After Sept. 11, 2001, he took a stand in support of the Palestinians and spoke in

favor of Islam when it was dangerous and unwise to do so.

Mazrui had a great impact in the field of

African studies and Islamic studies in the United States. His reflections on Islam and the American experience undoubtedly will be useful to future researchers who try to understand and document Muslim Ameri-can narratives.

When professor Mumtaz Ahmad and Sulayman S. Nyang started the American Journal of Islamic Studies in 1984, the efforts of many towering scholars were deployed. Mazrui not only contributed through the journal, when its name was changed to the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, but also served as another editor-in-chief for the publication. He was able to relate his achievements in the field of African studies to the field of Islamic studies.

Mazrui worked with Georgetown’s John Esposito and other scholars serving in their capacities as members of the aca-demic council of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. From that vantage point, Mazrui secured another place among scholars writing on Islam and the American experience.

Mazrui’s father, Al’Amin Ali Mazrui, was a jurist who headed the Islamic high courts of colonial Kenya and a big influ-ence on him.

Mazrui was a man of learning and devoted his time to the deployment of social scientific knowledge to change the misery and devastation of other human beings. He lived long enough to serve as a living witness for history and the acts of men and women in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Mazrui’s story cannot be summed up in an obituary. His memories will live on online through the words of many men and women who came to know him. Scholars, journalists and activists are going to quarry this domain to share with others who Mazrui was and what he did in the fields of Afri-can studies and world cultural studies. And most importantly, his interest in the field of Islamic studies has immortalized him as “the global African Muslim” in the eyes of family and friends.

This is a commentary on Ali Mazrui, the student of Africa, the Middle East, the West, the world and African-American experi-ences. His numerous books and articles in these fields of knowledge are testimonies to his life and times. ■Sulayman S. Nyang, Ph.D., is professor and chairman of the African Studies Department at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and co-principal investigator of Project MAPS: Muslims in American Public Square.

D. White, professor-at-large emeritus and senior scholar in Africana Studies at Cornell, and Chancellor of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya. In 1999, Mazrui retired as the inaugural Walter Rodney Professor at the University of Guyana. Mazrui also had been a visiting scholar at Stanford, the University of Chicago, Colgate University, McGill, National University of Singapore, Oxford, Harvard, Bridge-water State College, Ohio State University, and at other institutions in several countries.

Mazrui authored or co-authored roughly 20 scholarly books and many academic papers. He also was the creator of the television series, “The Africans: A Triple Heritage”

(1986), which was produced jointly by the BBC and Public Broadcasting Service in association with the Nigerian Television Authority, and funded by the Annenberg/CPB Project. The same year, a book by the same title was jointly published by BBC Pub-lications and Little, Brown and Company. He also published a novel (reprinted a number of times) titled, “The Trial of Christopher Okigbo” (Heine-mann; 1971), highlighting the Nigerian poet who was tried for putting his Ibo tribe before his poetry and for dying for Biafra.

Mazrui rose to prominence as a critic of some of the accepted orthodoxies of African intellectuals in the 1960s and 1970s. He was critical of African socialism and all strains of Marxism. He argued that communism was a Western import, just as unsuited for the African condition as the earlier colonial attempts to install European-type governments. He argued that a revised liberalism could help the continent and described himself as a proponent of a unique ideology of African liberalism. In 1992, he was appointed by the Organization of African Unity to the Group of Eminent Persons to explore the issues of African Reparations for Enslavement and Colonization.

Among his many honors, in 2005, Mazrui was named among the Top 100 Global Thinkers by For-eign Policy and Prospect (United Kingdom) maga-zines. In addition to several awards and recognitions, Mazrui was endowed with honorary doctorates of letters by various universities. Mazrui was president of the African Studies Association of the United

States from 1978-79, and vice president of the International Congress of African Stud-ies from 1979-91.

He also served on several advisory councils including UNICEF and the World Bank.In June 2000, he won Millennium Tribute for Outstanding Scholarship at Britain’s

House of Lords, and a Special Award from the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (United Kingdom) for his contribution to the social sciences and Islamic studies.

Mazrui’s marriage to Molly Vickerman ended in divorce. He is survived by his second wife, Pauline Uti, sons, Jamal, Alamin, Kim, Farid and Harith, daughter, Grace Egbo-Mazrui, three grandchildren, and a sister, Alya. ■


Making Meaning of Malcolm X – 50 Years LaterThe Meaning of Malcolm X in a “Post-Racial” America: Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of His Death

BY JAMES E. JONES

In spite of the still incredible fact that Barack Hussein Obama occu-pies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., in Wash-ington, D.C., as the 44th president of

the United States of America, one cannot escape the reality that this country is still a racialized (and gendered) society.

In other words, if your skin is dark (or you happen to be born a woman) when it comes to acceptance and social, economic and political power in the United States, you are highly likely to face many barriers with which white males simply do not have to contend. In addition, the sharp attitudinal divide between American blacks and whites on issues of “race” were recently manifest in the immediate aftermath of Michael Brown’s tragic death Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Mis-souri.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which polled Americans Aug. 14-17 about the shooting of Brown, found that “Blacks and whites have sharply dif-ferent reactions to the police shooting…. By about 4-to-1 (80 percent to 18 percent), African Americans say that the shooting in Ferguson raises important issues about race that merit discussion. By contrast, whites, by 47 percent to 37 percent say the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves.”

Clearly, this country still has some serious work to do when it comes to issues of race

relations. Consequently, I was not surprised that when I sent an email with the subject line, “Overnight thoughts about Malcolm X” to about two dozen civically engaged Muslim Americans in my personal network, about a third of them took time out of their extremely busy schedules to respond imme-diately. Those who responded included men and women from the three largest Muslim American ethnic groups (African American, Arabs and South Asians) and one Caucasian convert. As I reviewed their responses, it became clear that even 50 years after his assassination, the Muslim American heart still literally aches from the loss of Malcolm X (Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz).

As Rabia put it in her email: “I teach the ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’ in all of my classes, and as part of the classwork we look at videos that show the man in action. I think something important that is often overlooked about him is that he was lumi-nous. He was more than just committed and articulate: he was like a burning torch of passion and intellect. Even the distant trace of him on tape communicates the extraordi-nary spiritual force of his personality.”

Another email came from Bilal who added the following: “Much ink has been well spent preserving the iconic magna-nimity of Al Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. (This, notwithstanding Manning Marable’s book

MALCOLM X WAS A TRANSFORMATIVE FIGURE IN WORLD HISTORY BECAUSE HE UNDERSTOOD THE NEED FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT WHILE BEING FIRMLY ROOTED IN ETERNAL PRINCIPLES AS SET FORTH BY GOD AND HIS LAST MESSENGER (SALLA ALLAHU ‘ALAYHI WA SALLAM).

ISLAM IN AMERICA

PHOT

O (C

) JAY

WIL

LOUG

HBY


‘Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,’ Penguin Books; 2011). Anyway, a true folk hero is always beyond reproach. Among the most endearing quotations I ever heard of brother Malcolm was when he was asked if he had any regrets by an interviewer. He recalled an occasion he greatly lamented. Following a lecture he gave at an Ivy League school, a question was posed to him by a young European American co-ed. She inquired sincerely, ‘Mr. Malcolm, what can a white girl like me do to help your cause?’ He, in a very curt manner from what I remember, replied, ‘there is NOTHING!!! you can do.’

She was visibly dismayed by his response. He said he always kept a sorrowful recollection of that incident.”

The Muslim American heart still aches for Malcolm X because it appears that we, who are called “leaders,” have not mustered the courage and clarity of vision that Mal-colm X exhibited when it comes to dealing with racial oppression in this country (and admitting when he thought he had made a mistake!). As Sarah’s email put it: “I’m sure somebody already mentioned this — but how he thought Islam could address the system of institutionalized racism (which is different from racist attitudes).”

As important as this issue is, Malcolm X’s critiques of America were not only about racial oppression, I do not think that the broad spectrum of Muslim Americans (of various ethnicities ranging from people in their 20s to people older than 66) who responded, would have the same intense affection for him, if he were only a “race” leader. As young Omer puts it: “We live in an age (and country) that’s both disconnected from its past and celebrity-obsessed. So now, more than ever, we need Americans and American-Muslims to reconnect with the life and legacy of Malcolm X, to look deeply into both (the socio-economic and historical) conditions of his time period that created him, as well as the powerful message that liberated him. Because we live in a world of Fergusons that still needs awareness and understanding to slowly liberate us. And this liberation can and should be one of deep per-sonal reflection of what shackles us and what can ultimately inspire us to develop ourselves and our talents to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. Malcolm was able (slowly and painfully) to take hard looks at himself and his circumstances and to never despair, but rather to push himself (through education, self-discipline, relentless pursuit of truth and justice) to transformation.”

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MALCOLM X’S EXAMPLEAnalytic, audacious and articulate are the words that come to my mind as I reflect on Malcolm X’s impact on my intellectual and spiritual development. While Malcolm Little did not become a bibliophile until he was incarcerated in the Massachusetts state prison system at age 20, I had been bitten by the book-loving bug as a pre-teen when I was living in the segregated south of Roanoke, Virginia, in the 1950s and 1960s. For both of

us, reading apparently moved us to a whole level of analysis, giving us access to a world of ideas that could not be shackled by the realities of living in a racialized, segregated society. As you listen to his speeches, debates and read his book, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley” (1965), it becomes clear that this was a person who thought analytically, carefully and deeply. Further, as e-mailer Omer points out above, this was a mind that was always open to the possibility of change, growth and ongoing development. In my view, it was his analytical bent that made him the lifelong learner and keen observer of human nature that he was.

For African Americans, being audacious was something that could easily get you killed in the 1950s and 1960s. Neverthe-less, under the tutelage of Elijah Muham-mad and the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X became a fearless and fearsome advocate for the rights of black people. In the wake of the 1957 “Johnson Hinton incident” police brutality case, Malcolm X demanded and got a chance to speak with Hinton because of his ability to muster and easily dismiss a large group of black men. As a result, one police officer told the New York Amsterdam News that, “no one man should have all that power.” Such audacity apparently attracted the attention of local and federal law enforce-ment authorities so much that at the time of his death on Feb. 21, 1965, federal and local agencies had compiled voluminous files on Malcolm X, collected through various types of surveillance. However, such nega-tive attention did not deter him from his efforts aimed at improving the lot of African Americans in this country. As Kashif pointed out in his email: “I think of all the masajid that Malcolm X started all across the coun-try, including my own. What a blessing that these temples cleaned up African Americans who through time and the Mercy of Allah found the true path of Islam. The barakah [blessings] that he continues to receive in paradise is so abundant.”

Not only was Malcolm X audacious, he was articulate. Through reading, reflecting and jailhouse debating, he had turned his street hustler-honed speaking skills into the skills of a brilliant, powerful, persua-sive orator and excellent debater. On Dec. 3, 1964, shortly before his assassination, he appeared at the Oxford Union in a classic debate at the world renowned Oxford Uni-versity in England. Consequently, this school dropout and ex-convict was recognized as a


ISLAM IN AMERICA

world class intellectual and communicator. That is in spite of the fact that he had refined his speaking skills as “Minister Malcolm” in the Nation of Islam, which preached an ideology that was based partially on the sup-posed racial inferiority of the white man and the need for the separation of races. His journey from street hustler to race-baiter to world statesman is legendary.

As Salahuddin pointed out in his email: “Malcolm X meant a lot to people from every walk of life. People from the Black Power movement to the community of Islam claim him as their hero. I was about 14 years old when Malcolm was killed. I didn’t know him, but learned about him through study and research, I did read “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and really appreciated it. I really appreciated him saying that he always kept an open mind, and was willing to change, if necessary. If we look at him, most of his history was with the Nation of Islam. When

he left, he did a lot of traveling and really tried to set up two organizations, one for (religious) matters and one for secular mat-ters. Malcolm was a great man and he is now accepted as an important part of our history in this country. His amazing story has brought many people into the religion of Islam.”

Shazeeda, in her email, said: “He lived through his heart and this was reflected at every stage of his life and his transforma-tion. It was the humbleness and submissive-ness quality of his heart that allowed him to transcend all that he knew before Islam entered his heart.”

“There is a piece of flesh in the body, if it becomes good (reformed), the whole body becomes good, but if it gets spoiled, the whole body gets spoiled — and that is the heart.”

At the end of the day, Malcolm X was a transformative figure in world history because

he understood the need for growth and devel-opment while being firmly rooted in eternal principles as set forth by God and his Last Messenger (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).

As Muslim Americans, we owe Malcolm X a great debt. Young Sami put it this way: “He left a legacy of what the ideal American Muslim should be. Bold, God fearing, digni-fied and honored. They say the sahaba had izza, which means simply honor but it is so much more. The izza that the sahaba encap-sulated was that they believed and acted on their belief. They never wavered no matter the circumstances. Malcolm X was a Muslim who had izza and did not waiver no matter the circumstance.”

He risked his life and family so that we can be Muslim today. He was among the patient as described in this Quranic verse, “And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient.” (2:155) ■Jimmy E. Jones, Ph.D., is associate professor of World Religions and African Studies at Manhattanville College, secretary of the national board of the Council on American Islamic Relations and president of the Islamic Seminary Foundation.


Through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) ISNA can receive your donation each month automatically from your bank account or credit card, saving you postage and time.



PHOT

O (C

) JAY

WIL

LOUG

HBY

Malcolm X Avenue in his birthplace

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

52ND ANNUAL ISNACONVENTION

Chicago, IL.September 4 – 7, 2015

Contact: Phone: (317) 838-8129 • Email: [email protected] • Web: www.isna.net


ISLAM IN AMERICA

Malcolm’s GeniusDoes the struggle of Malcolm X offer guidance for Muslim Americans when they face the added challenge of Islamophobia?

BY EMIN POLJAREVIC

F ew historical personalities have been so thoroughly vilified, feared, and hated as Malcolm X. During the last decade of his short

life, and just before his assassination on Feb. 21, 1965, mainstream American media and the overwhelming majority of Americans considered him an extremist, racist, and militant hate-monger.

At the same time, it is difficult to find someone who so profoundly overcame his media-imposed hateful image. Gradually, since the early 1970s, he has been accepted as an important civil rights leader, and today he is celebrated as a great American hero. There are streets, schools, and libraries named after him. He even has his own postage stamp, a rare honor.

How can such a transformation be explained? Our answer depends on our perception of history and choice of focus. For instance, which Malcolm are we talk-ing about: the national spokesman of Elijah Muhammad or the one who left the Nation of Islam and went on hajj; the one who spoke to young University of Ghana students or to their counterparts at Harvard? The multi-dimensionality of his life story, the multitude of interpretations of it, not to mention the many claimants of his legacy, all complicate our understanding of his genius.

But that is not necessarily something dis-advantageous. We can even view his legacy as an intellectual compass for our historical intelligence and moral sensitivity.

For example, part of his greatness lies in his tireless effort to restore the black Ameri-cans’ positive self-image and self-pride, as well as in his ability to adapt to his audiences. Even though we like to personify and then place our heroes in our social reality so we can “understand” them through our own moral constructs and thereby “judge” their contributions to our lives, we need to realize that great people are a product of their own historical context.

Malcom X’s parents were devoted fol-lowers of Marcus Garvey’s pan-African

ideology. This background, along with his father’s murder by the Ku Klux Klan, his mother’s mental illness, the rampant racism of his white fellow students, his substance abuse and prison experiences — all of these motivated, prepared, and shaped his social activism.

Similar experiences were common among his black American contemporaries. He nevertheless rose above others by finding ways to overcome such difficulties and at the same time to express his care for others. His unprivileged background enabled him to authentically articulate his people’s painful experiences during the 1950s and 1960s, something that few black leaders of that time could do.

His life story exemplifies the human

desire to resist discrimination and xeno-phobia and represents the human ability to transcend the fears that this struggle inevita-bly produces. His desire for freedom, justice, and equality drove his resistance to system-atic racial discrimination. During the 1960 Harlem Freedom Rally, he said that “freedom is essential to life itself. Freedom is essential to the development of the human being. If we don’t have freedom we can never expect justice and equality. Only after we have free-dom do justice and equality become a reality.”

Malcolm’s conceptualization of free-dom is not exceptional it its form. It can be traced to the long tradition of black freedom activism exemplified by, among

others, the abolitionist and journalist Martin Delany (1812-85); the former slave and leader of the abolition movement Freder-ick Douglas (1818-95); the politician and Reconstruction-era state legislator Henry Turner (1834-1915); the proponent of the black nationalism and a pan-Africanism movements Marcus Garvey (1887-1940); and the American civil rights activist and writer W.E.B. Du Bois (1886-1963).

The historic injustice of slavery, the socio-political dynamics that led to the Civil War and the later civil rights struggle, shaped the ongoing processes of segregation and urban gentrification that continue to dictate America’s racial discourse.

PHOTO FROM BARBARA KRUGER EXHIBITION AT THE HIRSHHORN MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC


Today, the race label remains relevant only as a signifier of the imagined frames of color. The pervasive and blatant racism of Malcolm’s time has been largely surpassed by issues of color as a power-factor in poli-tics. In other words, this frame has been reconstructed.

Even though the long struggle for equal-ity has had some notable successes, not least the election and re-election of the first mixed-race president, race continues to be reformulated, redefined, and redesigned in public debates. The emphasis is now on the widening class differences; various oppres-sive policies directed against minorities, such as the disproportional imprisonment and controversial police shootings of young black men. The list also includes a range of issues that support the involuntary social structures that inhibit the equal accumula-tion of socioeconomic and cultural capital, among other things.

Malcolm X, a keen observer of the similar but far more radical process of color-frame reconstruction during the 1960s, set him-self — and remains — apart from the black American establishment. Besides his sharp analysis and the fiery rhetoric encapsulated in his charismatic persona that enchanted all colors, he was a Muslim — an identity

that remains just as controversial today as it was back then.

Given his “unusual” religious affiliation, he felt the need to defend his choice: “I am a Muslim. If there is something wrong with that, then I stand condemned. My religion is Islam. I believe in Allah. I believe in Muham-mad as the apostle of Allah. I believe in the

brotherhood of all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who’s not ready to practice brotherhood with our people” (Oxford Debate, Dec. 3, 1964).

Malcolm sought cultural and spiritual authenticity through his struggle, both for himself and his people. He possessed that prophetic quality of caring for those who shared similar experiences with him, as well as those who were worse off.

Islam offered Malcolm spiritual and cultural authenticity, a strategy through which he transformed his life. By adopt-ing and internalizing the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, he liberated himself from the dominance of (white) American culture. He explained this process in 1964: “Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern, and then you go on into some action.”

This change of “philosophy” suggests breaking out of the framework of white people’s sense of socioeconomic and politi-cal entitlement, not to mention intellectual superiority, over non-white people.

After leaving the NOI, he transcended its theology of color bias by embracing Sunni orthodoxy. Its set of Islamic ethics height-ened his awareness of cultural and religious distinctiveness from the white majority con-text. It can be argued that his experiences of spiritual transformation were thoroughly internalized, which allowed him to exercise a strict personal discipline that he thought to others.

In his autobiography, he noted: “I knew that our strict moral code and discipline was

what repelled them most. I fired at this point, at the reason for our code. ‘The white man wants black men to stay immoral, unclean, and ignorant. As long as we stay in these conditions, we will keep on begging him and he will control us. We never can win freedom and justice and equality until we are doing something for ourselves!’”

Viewing the Islamic tradition as a rich resource of ideas and strategies for empow-ering the marginalized, he made its sense of cultural and religious uniqueness a core element of his thought.

Through his interpretation of Islam, revolutionary black nationalism, and his own renewed sense of identity, Malcolm was able to link both his and the black American community’s social experiences to the global struggle of disenfranchised peoples. His ethos, often captured in a mythicized version of his life and rhetorical skills, popularized his “liberation theology” to such a degree that black and brown peoples worldwide came to consider him an important source of inspiration.

If the content of his message had not been so important to so many, and if its connec-tion to our wide-ranging desires and search for authenticity, freedom, and independence had not been so solid, his ideas and activism would gradually have faded away. Clearly, his personal integrity and relevance have withstood the test of time and remain rel-evant to the never-ending fight against social injustice, racism, discrimination, and, not least, Islamophobia.

Now, close your eyes and imagine what our world would look like if all of us some-how managed to raise ourselves to Malcolm’s level of personal integrity and internalize what he said just six days before his assas-sination: “I have never said or done anything in my life that I wasn’t prepared to suffer the consequences for.” ■Emin Poljarevic, a political sociologist and visiting scholar at the University of Edinburgh, also teaches Islamology at Stockholm University and political Islam at Uppsala University.

MALCOLM X’S PERSONAL INTEGRITY AND RELEVANCE HAVE WITHSTOOD THE TEST OF TIME AND REMAIN RELEVANT TO THE NEVER-ENDING FIGHT AGAINST SOCIAL INJUSTICE, RACISM, AND DISCRIMINATION.


Sharīa Phantoms Haunt U.S. LegislatorsIs Islamophobia leading to the loss of constitutional rights to religious freedom, equal treatment, and freedom of contract?

BY FAISAL KUTTY

“The danger is that we would have some judge, somewhere, actually take into consideration reli-

gious law,” said Republican Ohio state Rep. Matt Lynch, who earlier last year introduced House Bill 513 banning the use of foreign laws in the state.

He added, that what he was “most con-cerned about is sharia law…”

Supporters expect the legislation to pass because it has the support of “both Demo-

crats and Republicans who are interested in protecting the dignity of women.”

Who can argue with that?On Nov. 4, 2014, Alabama voters passed

a similar law, the American and Alabama Laws for Alabama Courts Amendment. When the proposal first surfaced in 2011, the Rev. Richard Killmer, founding executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, warned that this was being pushed “…with the intent of spreading fear and distrust toward our fellow citizens.” After the measure initially failed, Republican state Sen. Gerald Allen, who also is a Baptist deacon, promptly reintroduced it without mentioning sharīa.

“This is a tremendous waste of effort. It is a waste of time and it costs money,” Randy

Brinson, president of the Alabama Christian Coalition, the largest network of evangelical Christians in the state, told the Birmingham News in October 2014.

“My frustration is that people — good people — get behind something like this just because they want to score political points with the Christian community,” he said.

Early last year, 12 states (including Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Mississippi, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington) planned to battle

the phantom and hoped to join the eight states that already have ostensibly banned the use of “sharīa.”

In striking down the first such legisla-tion in Oklahoma in 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the 10th Circuit noted that proponents did “not identify any actual

problem the challenged amendment sought to solve.” On the contrary, as documented by the Center for American Progress, the Brennan Center at New York University, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others, such laws are creating new prob-lems by distorting preexisting constitutional protections, undermining judicial indepen-dence and marginalizing Muslims.

Historically, Americans have benefited from the ability to use different laws (domes-tic and foreign) under choice of law rules — in the business as well as personal realms — when it served their interests. Domes-tic courts have obliged, provided that it was not contrary to public policy. Many of these legislative initiatives will alter the status quo in unexpected ways. To address this inevitability, some of the proposed laws — North Carolina and Florida, for instance — expressly restricted the ban to the family law context. Nevertheless, in Missouri, adop-tion advocates had to lobby against such a bill because of its anticipated impact on

international adoptions. Instead of abandon-ing the unnecessary legislation, lawmakers amended it to exclude adoptions.

Even in the context of private family disputes, the results may be counterintui-tive. In August 2012, a month after Kansas passed Senate Bill 79, a state court found its

IF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, EQUAL TREATMENT, AND FREEDOM OF CONTRACT ARE TO HAVE ANY REAL VALUE, RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES, INCLUDING MUSLIMS, MUST BE GUARANTEED EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE.

Matt Lynch Richard Killmer Gerald Allen

ISLAM IN AMERICA


hands tied when Elham Soleimani sought the enforcement of the mahr provision in her Islamic marriage contract. The husband, Faramarz Soleimani, had agreed to pay 1,354 gold coins — valued at $677,000 at the time — in the event of divorce. Faramarz agreed to this at the outset, given that it was his second marriage and Elham was 24 years his junior. Elham’s claim failed, thanks to the law which Republican state Sen. Susan Wagle had introduced as “a vote to protect women.” Elham would beg to disagree and there is plenty of evidence to show the law’s real intent. “This [bill] doesn’t say ‘sharia law,’” said Republican state Sen. Chris Stei-neger in condemning the legislation as dis-criminatory, “but that’s how it was marketed back in January and all session long — and I have all the emails to prove it.”

Religion and law ignite unique tensions in secular democracies. The United States is no different. The First Amendment pro-tection of religious freedom is one of the most celebrated aspects of the American liberal tradition.

Review of case law by leading scholars, including Asifa Quraishi-Landes (assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School), Michael Avi Helfand (associate pro-fessor at Pepperdine University School of Law and associate director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies), professor Julie Macfarlane (faculty of law of the University of Windsor), and professor Eugene Volokh (University of California Los Angeles School of Law), confirm that people of all faiths seek relief through the courts when they believe their religious freedom is restricted. As the ACLU report concluded: “…cases involving Muslims’ right to free exercise no more threaten the imposition of sharia law than, for example, cases involv-ing the rights of Christians pose a ‘Biblical threat’ to our courts.”

In addition to religious liberty cases, courts as ultimate arbiters of law are called upon to resolve tensions and adjudicate cer-tain religious arrangements. Courts must not only weigh these competing interests, but also consider to what extent secular authorities should assess religious obliga-tions. American courts have traditionally recognized their ability to consider such cases, provided they are able to adjudicate them using neutral principles of law. Such cases also engage the notion of freedom of contract, the principle of comity, and public policy, each of which have a long track record

in the American legal tradition and, have served the nation well.

Anti-sharīa advocates have cited a number of cases to back their tenuous claim that sharīa is stealthily creeping in to over-take America, but a closer examination of the cases they cite contradicts their claim. As Matthew Franck, a noted legal analyst at the Conservative National Review, con-cluded after reviewing these cases: “Thirty-five years’ worth of American law, and we have a whopping seven cases in which some ‘foreign law’ was honored (not even sharia in every case), and not enough information even to tell if something truly unjust hap-pened in any of the seven. In the other 13 cases, sharia law principles were rejected either at trial or on appeal.”

The ban sharīa movement, according to the New York Times (July 30, 2011), is the brainchild of an Islamophobic lawyer, David Yerushalmi, described by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League as having a record of “anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry.” After the Oklahoma “Save our State” measure was struck down as unconsti-tutional for singling out Islam, Yerushalmi drafted a model statute (with no reference to Islam) known as “American Laws for Ameri-can Courts” for the American Public Policy Alliance. With the help of its Islamophobic allies, the alliance has managed to have more than 71 pieces of legislation adopt the lan-guage to date. As pointed out by the ACLU, their intent “is unmistakable.” The report notes: “these efforts are rooted in the base-less idea that U.S. Muslims wish to impose Islamic law on Americans. Proponents of these misguided measures…clearly seek to ride the recent wave of anti-Muslim bias in this country.”

As outrageous as it may appear to anti-sharīa advocates, if constitutional rights to religious freedom, equal treatment, and freedom of contract are to have any real value, religious communities, including Muslims, must be guaranteed equal access to justice. ■Faisal Kutty is an associate professor of law and director of the international LL.M. program at Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana and an adjunct professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto. He is co-founder and serves as counsel to KSM Law in Toronto. His academic work can be viewed at www.SSRN.com. Follow him on Twitter @faisalkutty.

Editor’s Note: Condensed by the author for Islamic Horizons from his article “Islamic Law in U.S. Courts: Judicial Jihad or Constitutional Imperative?” in the Pepperdine Law Review, Volume 41 (Special Issue).

Julie Macfarlane

Eugene Volokh

Michael Avi Helfand

Asifa Quraishi-Landes


ISLAM IN AMERICA

Islamic Adoptions and the Best Interests of the ChildCan Muslim scholars reinterpret adoption laws in consonance with changing Western laws?BY FAISAL KUTTY

Immigration Canada spokesman Glenn Johnson announcing the Cana-dian ban on adoptions from Pakistan said, “Pakistan applies the Islamic

system of kafala, or guardianship, which neither terminates the birth parent-child relationship nor grants full parental rights to the new guardian.”

Adoptions from there “would violate Canada’s obligations under the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption…” (The Hague Convention).

The situation in the United States is slightly more nuanced. The State Depart-

ment notes: “Generally…Islamic family law does not allow for adoption as that concept is understood in the United States. Accord-ingly, it may not be possible for American citizens to adopt… However, some countries in which Sharia law is observed do allow custody of children to be transferred through guardianship.”

A U.S. Department of Homeland Secu-rity: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interim policy memorandum, July 9, 2012, further states: “…as noted [in the Adjudicator’s Field Manual], guardian-ships, ‘simple adoptions,’ or kafala adop-tions in countries that follow traditional

Islamic law might not qualify. However, a Hague Convention adoptee can be brought to the United States for adoption, instead of being adopted abroad, a guardianship, kafala order, or other custody order might qualify as a “decree or administrative order…giving custody of the child.”

The belief that adoption as practiced in the West is the only acceptable form of per-manent childcare is a significant obstacle to its acceptance among many Muslims. This binary view prevents needy children around the world from benefiting from a loving home. Besides many challenges with intercountry adoptions, another obstacle


preventing adoptions from Muslim major-ity countries is the perception among many Muslims, and people of other faiths, that Islam prohibits adoption. This, however, ignores the sophistication, nuances and diversity of Western adoption practices, the dictates of Islam, and that adoption, as we know it in the West, underwent significant transformations. With increasing numbers of abandoned and orphaned children and growing hurdles, there is an added focus on this issue as some Muslims wish to adopt children from jurisdictions governed by Islamic law.

ADOPTION IN CLASSICAL ISLAMIC LAWConsidering religion’s central role in Muslim societies, at some level, all human legisla-tion must conform to the Divine Will as discerned from the primary sources of the sharīa, the Qurān and Sunnah, as well as the secondary sources and principles (ijma, qiyas, ijtihad and other maxims and prin-ciples) used to help in the interpretation, or discovery, of the Divine Will. Given the role of human agency, pointed out by many Islamic scholars, the early Islamic intellec-tual era was a period of great jurispruden-tial advancement during which numerous “schools” of law developed, epitomizing the legal pluralism inherent in classical thought and highlighting the possibility for dyna-mism, and flexibility inherent in the sharīa.

Considering the diversity in matters of adoption, classical Sunni jurists consensu-ally ruled against adoption as commonly understood today in the West (as well as practiced and known in pre-Islamic Arabia as al-tabanni). The prohibition is based around the Prophet’s adoption of Zayd bin Harithah and God’s order to terminate the relationship as being false. As Mohamed H. Fadel, et al., in “Classical Religious Perspec-tives of Adoption Law” (Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 79, Issue 2, Article 5; 2004) highlighted, the primary sources negate the idea that someone other than the bio-logical parents can fictitiously assume the same position as a biological parent. Also, classical jurists have interpreted the relevant verses that consanguinity cannot be deemed through adoption, unanimously prohibiting the pre-Islamic practice of al-tabanni.

Classical writings list the pragmatic, social and ethical reasons about such pro-hibition. However, they ignore or minimize two central factors that Zayd was an adult

and had a father who had actually come to reclaim him from the Prophet. This is very different from the context of adoptions as we think of them today.

Despite the ban being extended to adop-tions in general, ostensibly for a number of negative effects, Islamic jurists recognized that adoptions may have alleviated some of the pressure over caring for orphans and foundlings. Therefore, in some cases, they innovated to address the inevitable gaps this created, providing alternatives to al-tabanni, included raadah (establishment of milk bonds through suckling), istilhaq (acknowledgment of paternity both true and fraudulent), and kafala (sponsorship or legal fostering). This article focuses on the latter.

TENSIONS AND POINTS OF CONVERGENCEMany scholars have convincingly argued that the primary and secondary sources and the maqasid al sharīa (higher objectives) state that human welfare is the essence of the

sharīa. Classical jurists relied on the Qurān to highlight the centrality of human welfare, which by definition includes child welfare. Indeed, 59:9 praises those “who prefer

others above themselves, though poverty may be their lot.” And 5:2 further states: “Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety) … and 5:32 reminds, “Whoever saves a human life, it is as though he has saved humanity in its entirety.”

Other passages were used to further emphasize child welfare and care of orphans. For instance 4:27 states: “…and concerning the children who are weak and oppressed: that you stand firm for justice to orphans…” While 107:1-2 rhetorically asks: “Have you seen the one who denies the Day of Judg-ment? For he is the one who rejects the orphan.” And in another verse God rebukes a man in the hereafter, stating first and fore-most, “Nay, but you honor not the orphan.”

Additional verses deal with the treatment of orphans and potentially abandoned chil-

THE ORPHANS AND ABANDONED CHILDREN’S PLIGHT IN THE MUSLIM WORLD STRIKINGLY CONTRASTS WITH A RELIGIOUS REQUIREMENT TO TREAT SUCH CHILDREN WITH THE UTMOST CARE AND COMPASSION.


ISLAM IN AMERICA

dren in the context of property and inheri-tance. Perhaps in characteristic Qurānic practice not to provide too much detail to allow for variation based on family, cultural and other time space considerations, they do not explicitly provide comprehensive guid-ance on treating such children.

The Sunnah reinforced the Qurān’s directive to care for God’s creation. In fact, the Prophet taught, “the best of mankind is the one who does good to others.” In another tradition, he is reported to have held up his index and middle fingers and joined them together and said, “I and the one who looks after an orphan will be like these two (referring to his fingers) in Paradise.” Child abandonment, the Prophet stressed, was a sin while taking custody of foundlings was an important act of piety. A tradition highlighted by the Hanafi school also cites the Prophet as saying that those who are cruel to children are excluded from the ranks of the faithful. The Maliki jurist Ibn Rushd is cited as stating, “taking [custody] of a foundling is obligatory because were he to be left [in his condition], he would be lost and die.”

Muslim jurists generally agree that wel-fare of children and considerations of their best interest is at the core of Islamic jurispru-dence, particularly orphans and foundlings. For instance, in the context of acknowledge-ment of paternity (where someone simply asserts that an orphan or foundling is his child), it appears that the classical jurists took measures to prevent blatant lies, but absent any clear and convincing refutation, it was assumed that such acknowledgements were made in good faith and accepted, in many cases, on the basis of public interest or best interest of the child.

This of course is a point of convergence with the Western conception of adoption. There is a convincing body of scholarship arguing that the underlying objective of pres-ent day legislation in this area is to protect the welfare of the child by looking out for the child’s best interests. In fact, the Mas-sachusetts Adoption Act of 1851, considered the nation’s first modern adoption law, intro-duced, for the first time, the “best interests of the child” concept, requiring state courts to determine the adoptive parents’ suitability. It confirms that the “best interests of the child” has a long history in the American adoption context as well.

Despite this convergence between the Western and the classical Islamic adoption

laws, certain key differences exist. The first is lineage and identity. An essential char-acteristic of Western adoptions, similar to al-tabanni, is that it severs all of the adoptee’s ties with the biological parents. The adopters replace the biological parents, creating a legal fiction regarding the relationship between the adoptee and the adoptive parents. Clas-sical fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), strictly forbids such fictive kinship as it disturbs filial continuity (lineage). Thus, adoptees cannot be considered related either by name or otherwise to the adoptive family’s blood-line. This injunction directly contradicts the prevalent Western approach to adoptions. However, the recent development of moving toward open adoptions significantly reduces this tension.

Open adoption proponents maintain that the right to know about one’s genetic roots is an essential human need, and that children develop a better sense of identity, if the information between their birth and adoptive families is highlighted and dis-cussed, instead of being hidden. Some have argued that preventing adoptees from obtaining information about their origins works contrary to legal principles of equal-ity, since it ensures that they cannot have legal access to something which the non-adopted can access as a matter of course. Indeed, the overly simplistic legislative or interpretive assumptions that the biologi-cal relationship could be terminated by a stroke of the pen defies all natural instincts, emotional and even rational considerations. Numerous psychological and sociological studies have concluded that the denial of biological background has harmful effects on the child. Consistent with these, open adoptions are now increasingly becoming the preferred form.

Even at the international level there has been movement toward open adoption where the biological connection is not com-pletely severed. Indeed, the United States, Australia, Sweden and Israel have openly argued for open adoptions. Moreover, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the covenant on the rights of the child in Islam both affirm the right of a child to know and preserve their identity.

The rising preference for open adoptions, answers the Islamic objection on the basis of lineage. In 2007, the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Community Services specifically addressed Muslims that the country’s adoptions are open and

allow children to legally retain their lineage. This first-of-its-kind initiative in a Western nation bodes well for adoption reform within Islamic law. The brochure notes: “The term ‘adoption’ is often perceived as connected to secrecy and not knowing one’s birth family in Australian society. This outdated interpreta-tion of adoption can lead Australian Muslims to think they cannot legally adopt a child in Australia without violating Muslim adoption principles. Research has shown that adopted people need to know where they come from and that secrets aren’t a good basis for any relationship. Adoption legislation and prac-tices have changed accordingly. The secrecy that was part of past adoption practice is no longer reflected in NSW adoption legislation and practice.”

The Australian approach sharply con-trasts with the Canadian approach that banned adoption from Pakistan.

Another significant difference between the classical Islamic law and Western approaches to adoption relates to inheri-tance. Western adoptions replace a child’s right to inherit from his biological to the adoptive parents. According to classical fiqh, however, while adoptees maintain their right to inherit from their biological parents, they are not granted the same right of inheritance from their adoptive parents. Nevertheless, Islamic jurisprudence provides that the adoptive parents can allocate inheritance shares from the one-third of the estate over which there is testamentary freedom. More-over, allocations also can be made during the adoptive parents’ lifetime as gifts.

The third point of tension concerns the issue of mahramiya or consanguinity. In the Western context, the deemed bloodlines or fictive relationship precluded adoptees from marrying the adoptive parents’ bio-logical children, and of course the parents themselves in the event of their divorce or a spouse’s death. The classical jurists interpreted the Qurān and Sunnah on this matter, ruling these restrictions as falsifica-tion of reality based on the deemed fictive relationships. Nevertheless, the fact that mahramiyah relationships were, in some cases, created through social connections (marriage) and, in other cases, through acknowledgement of paternity (genuine and fictive) suggest that it is not as black and white as some jurists suggest.

Each of these points of tension — lin-eage, inheritance and mahramiyah — are not insurmountable. This is particularly so


when Islamic scholars view the restrictions on the pre-Islamic notion of adoption were actually intended to protect children, by ending abuses in pre-Islamic tribal Arab society.

The child’s welfare concern both Western adoption practices and the Islamic alternatives. Indeed when rationalizing an out-right ban on the pre-Islamic practice of adoption (al-tabanni), the classical jurists emphasized the child’s best interest. While the realities that led to Islamic “adoption” rules have changed, the rules have remained stagnant. To alleviate the predicament facing many orphans and abandoned children, some of classical Islamic rules and positions on adoption need revision by rereading the primary sources and the classical fiqh and reevaluating them in light of the maqasid al sharīa, maslaha, urf and accumulated human wisdom.

Guiding such transformation is the groundbreaking 2011 study by the Muslim Women’s Shura Council, “Adoption and the Care of Orphan Children: Islam and the Best Interests of the Child.” This report examined Islamic sources and concluded “adoption can be acceptable under Islamic law and its principle objectives, as long as important ethical guidelines are followed.” It represents a form of independent reasoning (ijtihad) and may raise some awareness and contribute toward shaping a future consensus (ijma) on the issue. However, given that the group does not represent traditional male scholarship, it may not find favor with the mainstream at this stage. There are many incidences in Islamic legal tradition, where what was initially considered inadmissible, or even heretical, eventually became accepted by the mainstream through the principle of ijma.

Advocates for new, contemporary ijtihad among traditional scholars and jurists have started to address issues specifically impacting Muslim minorities in the West. Tariq Ramadan in “Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation” (Oxford University Press, 2008), as well as others, provides more hopeful prospects for a different approach to the issue, at least in the Western world. Ingrid Mattson argues that the flexibility in Islamic law for accom-modating local cultures and customs may lead to a solution in the context of adoption as well.

The orphans and abandoned children’s plight in the Muslim world strikingly contrasts with a religious requirement to treat such children with the utmost care and compassion. It is ironic indeed, that a community whose “founder” was an orphan and who emphasized that the community should be known for taking care of the vulnerable, is now home to the greatest number of orphans and abandoned children. A reformed model of Islamic adoptions (consistent with the Islamic traditions of islah [reform] and tajdid [renewal]) will enable Muslims to fulfill a religious obligation while ensuring that the most vulnerable do not fall through technical cracks and be negatively impacted by formal rules that no longer serve their intended purposes. ■Faisal Kutty, an associate professor of law and director of the international LL.M. program at Valparaiso School, is an adjunct professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto. Some of his academic publications can be viewed and downloaded at SSRN. He has been published worldwide, including in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, Al Jazeera, Al-Ahram Weekly, Arab News, and The Indian Express. He also blogs for the Huffington Post.

Editor’s Note: Adapted by the author from his article “Islamic Law and Adoptions” in Robert L. Ballard et al., “The Intercountry Adoption Debate: Dialogues Across Disciplines” (Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014). He wishes to acknowledge research assistance from Yusuf Butta of Osgoode Hall Law School.

4th Annual West CoastISNA Education Forum

Co-Sponsored by

ALDEEN Foundation

TEACHINGTHE HEARTJanuary 16 – 17, 2015

Hilton Anaheim777 W. Convention Way • Anaheim, CA 92802

REGISTER ONLINE: WWW.ISNA.NET

CONTACT

Wendy Barnard, Registration Coordinator(317) 838-8129 or [email protected]

Anjum Khan, Bazaar & Sponsorships(317) 838-8131 or [email protected]


ISLAM IN AMERICA

Rebuilding Community TrustCan Islamic organizations apply consulting tools to drive mosque growth and efficiency?BY WADUD HASSAN

Y usuf Islam, also known as the recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cat Stevens, came to perform in Nashville in

the late 1970s and became the inspiration behind Music City’s first Islamic center — the Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN).

After meeting with the city’s small Muslim community who used to perform Friday prayers at Vanderbilt University, he donated the seed money for the mosque.

ICN later became a space where the young and diverse Muslim community grew over the next three decades. In 1989, the old house purchased in 1979 was demolished and replaced with a purpose-built mosque.

In 1995, ICN purchased a 10.6-acre lot in Bellevue — about 10 miles from its original site — intending to build an Islamic school, community center and a grander mosque. A significant Muslim residential community also evolved around it in anticipation of its

opening. While it now hosts Nashville Inter-national Academy, a fully accredited pre-kindergarten through seventh grade Islamic school, the mosque never materialized due to changes in the center’s strategic priorities and its funding base. ICN is now moving forward on this plan along with a future gym.

In the 1990s, the community witnessed a big influx of Kurdish and Somali Muslim refugees. It is a well-represented ethnically diverse community. Greater Nashville is home to more than 35,000 Muslims and five major mosques, and more than 40 nationali-ties. While the community grew, many of the former ICN members had established their own community centers around town and ICN has gone through a period of rein-venting its role to serve the greater Nashville community.

CURRENT CHALLENGES AT ICNICN has 280 voting members, while roughly

600 people attend Friday congregational prayers, and about 4,500 people attend Eid prayers. The leadership is concerned that some smaller communities have larger daily congregations for the five daily prayers, espe-cially isha (night prayer). Many community-related conversations, educational lectures, socializing and networking happen in the evenings at most thriving mosques in the United States, and ICN would like to see an improvement in this area. Ramadan is a busy time for ICN as the mosque gets nearly 200 people for iftar (the fast-breaking meal) every day. However, the momentum is lost post-Ramadan. While some drop in atten-dance is quite normal in most communi-ties, ICN’s participation drops significantly within a month of Ramadan. Officials rec-ognize the need to strategically engage the community better.

Spiritual Leadership and Community Engagement: The turnover of the last several


imams, and the current void of spiritual lead-ership and educational programs warrant a search for a dynamic imam who can serve as the symbol of the new ICN.

The Bellevue land development vs. the renovation of the current mosque: While the school is running, Bellevue residents still await a new mosque. Some believe that afflu-ent funders who can afford to live close to the original 12th south property have sidelined the project. While others favor renovating the original and existing facility as the city’s oldest and main Islamic center. Also, they feel that a lot of resources already have been poured into a part of town that is not as centrally located as the main center, which due to its central location is important for public outreach.

Expanding the donor base and securing adequate additional funding always has been a top priority. However, the mosque board needs to outline strategies on how much is needed on various projects or how to secure the funding needed to take the community to the next level.

Youth Development & Engagement: In

2013, a few influential, second-generation Muslims, born and raised in Nashville, understanding the importance of connecting to the youth, encouraged ICN to hire a youth director. While many appreciate the youth work, others are concerned about financial limitations, such as a full-time office/opera-tions manager and a full-time imam.

Women Involvement: Many of the founders support engaging women in mosque affairs. Now a constitutional provi-sion mandates at least one female member in the executive and trustee boards. However, they feel that the women’s voice in future planning and community leadership is still inadequate.

Coordination and Relationship with other Mosque Communities: ICN is the city’s mother organization from which many of the other mosques had evolved. Over time, ties with other mosques seem to have weak-ened with no major coordinated projects, other than the Eid prayers held in various locations (coordinated by only two of the four major mosques).

Supporting the sizable neighboring

Muslim student population: The area’s universities, including Vanderbilt, Belmont, Lipscomb, and TSU, have sizable Muslim student populations. Recently, a few key ICN members met with Vanderbilt’s chaplain’s office and the religious affairs committee to share the needs of the Muslims students and discuss potential collaboration to improve Vanderbilt Muslim life on campus. The uni-versity encouraged ICN to sponsor a chap-lain who will be provided a formal office and recognition. While no formal discussion has taken place at the board level, ICN sponsor-ship is crucial for Vanderbilt Muslim Life in serving the needs of the roughly 500 Muslim students there.

THE WAY FORWARD FOR ICNLast year, ICN elected its new board. How-ever, before moving forward, they need to first understand the community’s frustra-tions, needs, wants, and expectations.

Many premier nonprofit and religious institutions engage third-party consultants on organizational strategy, an alternative consulting model where all the stakeholders

MANY PREMIER NONPROFIT AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS ENGAGE THIRD-PARTY CONSULTANTS ON ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY, AN ALTERNATIVE CONSULTING MODEL WHERE ALL THE STAKEHOLDERS ARE ENGAGED IN A CONSULTING ENGAGEMENT KNOWN AS THE WHOLE SYSTEM DISCOVERY.


ISLAM IN AMERICA

are engaged known as the Whole System Discovery. Following this model, a mosque can assign a temporary and neutral volunteer committee with the desired skillset as the “third-party consultant.” One of the major drawbacks of this model is that the actual community stakeholders cannot always be as objective as third-party consultants, hence the forums can be a bit chaotic and the process can take a little longer in the beginning. However, this method makes sense for many American mosques to secure a greater community buy-in, and the benefits will outweigh the challenges in the long run.

This method makes perfect sense for a community like ICN.

Leadership Transition: An oft-repeated mistake in American mosques is the lack of procedure when transitioning leadership. Much of the previous leadership’s work is lost due to lack of an efficient system of knowledge sharing — hence, the face-to-face transition becomes paramount. Many new board members, coming into leader-ship being frustrated about a specific area of

concern, are not always objective about set-ting priorities for the community. Therefore, objectivity will be crucial for a community like ICN and the entire community should be consulted to build trust, understand the public pulse, and to set priorities for the community accordingly.

Trust: Five years ago, a dispute over an imam led some key members to build another mosque in the suburbs. Also, no election was held during this period (until last summer) due to a lengthy constitution review. These incidents have certainly con-tributed to polarization and doubts in the general membership. The Whole System Discovery will help rebuild trust by hear-ing all members out and empathizing with their concerns.

Buy-In: The community votes the new board, and their agreement is paramount in making major decisions that can propel the organization forward. Involving them from the beginning, therefore, guarantees a greater level of buy-in on critical decisions.

Building on Positive Energy: A more

involved community will help create enthu-siasm necessary to harnessing all the talents and dedication of its resourceful member-ship pool.

While everyone may not attend all feed-back and brainstorming sessions, ICN can use the Whole System Discovery principle that everyone does not have to be at these events as long as a large sample of all mem-bers can be present. The new board will have to strive to ensure representation from the community’s key segments (i.e. mosque attendees, community leaders, seniors, women, young professionals, preteens, ado-lescents, emerging adults, school parents/staff, all ethnic groups, nonprofits, various school of thoughts, focus groups, converts, new Americans) to harness the maximum benefit out of the process.

REORGANIZING AT THE ICNDifferences in status, power, title, and func-tion disappear during the process. The leadership joins these proceedings as a full participant, and assigns a non-elected com-


munity member or the neutral committee as moderator.

There has to be complete transparency. The boards have to prepare a good analysis of the financials and other important data to be presented to the community.

Employees and elected officials have to be prepared to answer all questions. While this is not a forum for complaints, it is an event where all have questions, and all have answers.

The leadership and moderator agree in advance on how to redirect repeated and distracting noise, to listen to and gather all genuine and constructive feedback.

Any non-participating past or present leaders, employees, or community members surrender their right to complain or be heard.

The executive board can assign and rely on the neutral independent committee to analyze and triangulate all the feedback data to understand the whole picture.

Set strategic priorities. Grab the low-hanging fruits immediately (i.e. issues that are important, but easy to fix).

Keep the community in the loop every step of the way.

Create project committees and empower them for the approving process (i.e. approv-ing budget).

Share minutes from committee and board meetings on an ongoing basis.

Building on the newly generated com-munity energy, all new ICN projects should be executed with a high level of transparency and community engagement. This usually

is a huge challenge for most communities. While many community leaders do not know how to efficiently gather actionable community feedback, the few that do still struggle to keep the community engaged throughout the community projects’ life-cycle. In the absence of communication and support building, community members, when approached for donations for these projects, often express skepticism.

To avoid this major pitfall, ICN can employ the RACI model framework to ensure all stakeholders are properly engaged throughout every project lifecycle. The RACI matrix describes the level of participation and authority for all stakeholders, can help the community assign a manager or a com-mittee for each project, and keep track of all aspects of the process:

R = Execution responsibility. Stakeholder responsible for getting the work done, not necessarily a decision-maker but drives the group to make timely decisions.

A = Approval authority. Final approval on accepting the outcome of this activity. Makes decisions.

C = Must be consulted. As work is per-formed, this stakeholder contributes infor-mation. While he does not make decisions, but is asked for input before decisions.

I = Informed after a decision is made. Wants to stay updated on progress of this activity. ■Wadud Hassan, a founding member of several nonprofits in Dallas, studies leadership and organizational performance at Vanderbilt University.

FULL TIME IMAMPOSITION

Islamic Association of Greater Hartford in Connecticut

The Islamic Association of Greater Hartford (IAGH) serves a very diverse Muslim community in the greater Hart-ford area, with active participation of both genders.

IAGH is seeking a qualified Imam who is well versed in Islamic sciences and is highly experienced in North Ameri-can Islamic culture, to help advance the progress of its vibrant commu-nity. Some of responsibilities include leading prayers, giving Khutba, teach-ing, participating at official functions for youth and adults, conducting marriages and funerals, counseling, participating in interfaith activities.

Minimum of a Master degree or its equivalency in Islamic Studies from an institute of higher education and must be a U.S. Citizen or permanent resident with a minimum of 5 years residency in the USA.

For more details about the position, please visit www.berlinmosque.org or see IAGH Facebook www.facebook.com/IAGHBERLIN

How to Apply:Interested candidates are to submit a cover letter, resume, and 3 references with phone numbers and a statement addressing the items listed in the job description and mail to:

Islamic Association ofGreater Hartford

1781 Berlin TurnpikeBerlin, CT 06037

Or email it to:[email protected]

Application Deadline:February 28th, 2015 or until the posi-tion is filled.


ISLAM IN AMERICA

LAST NOVEMBER, IN A TEXAS COURTROOM, MINNESOTA VIKINGS RUNNING BACK ADRIAN PETERSON PLEADED GUILTY TO ASSAULT. HE FACED CHILD ABUSE CHARGES AFTER PHYSI-CALLY DISCIPLINING HIS 4-YEAR-OLD SON WITH A SMALL TREE BRANCH LAST SPRING. THE INCIDENT SPARKED DEBATE: WHEN DOES PHYSICAL DISCIPLINE — ACCEPTED AS A SOCIAL NORM IN A NUMBER OF COMMUNITIES — CROSS OVER THE LINE AND BECOME CHILD ABUSE?

Protecting Children from AbuseIn dealing with children, are parents learning from the manner in which Prophet Muhammad treated the young?

BY ENGY ABDELKADER

PREVALENCE AND LEGAL DEFINITIONSOne in every 10 children suffers from abuse and neglect, which occurs when a child is mistreated physically or emotionally. While its legal definition varies by state, child abuse encompasses any form of maltreatment leaving a physical and/or emotional scar. It includes (a) severe physical discipline; (b) name-calling; (c) withholding love and affection; (d) verbal or physical threats and intimidation; (e) deprivation of food, clothing, shelter, medical care; or (f) inap-propriate touching.

Children who witness domestic violence also are considered victims of abuse. In six states, witnessing domestic violence is not

just limited to a child hearing or seeing it, but also includes their perception of subsequent harm, such as physical injuries or property damage. These children suffer the same long-term consequences as those who are direct victims of abuse. In 14 states, witnessing occurs when the child is physically present or can see or hear the violence. Notably, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana and Nevada require those guilty of domestic violence to pay for the counseling that such child witnesses may require.

LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCESVictims of child abuse suffer myriad long-term consequences. In a major study titled “New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research,” issued by the National Academy of Sciences in September 2013, researchers found adverse effects to victims’ physical and mental well-being, impulse control, academic achievement and personal relationships. The study supplements previous research with similar disturbing findings.

For instance, children who witnessed domestic violence in their homes or who were subject to physical or emotional mis-


treatment, frequently suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Research also demonstrates an increased likelihood of these victims to (a) display aggressive and regressive behavior; (b) engage in self-harm; and (c) abuse alcohol and drugs. These chil-dren also are more likely to struggle in school — exhibiting poor academic performance, engaging in bullying behavior and/or falling victim to bullies. Finally, victims also are more susceptible to criminality. As teenag-ers, they suffer an enhanced risk of joining gangs, committing crimes and engaging in high-risk behavior connected to the juvenile justice system. Adverse consequences may last into adulthood.

These long-term consequences not only impact the victim of abuse, but also can significantly impact future relation-ships. Children who have been abused or who have witnessed abuse between their parents may experience abuse as familiar. When they grow into adulthood, they are more likely to enter relationships that also are abusive. They may become adult victims of abuse, or adults who are abusive. They also are more likely than children who did not experience abuse to be abusive parents. In fact, the study found that the three risk factors that increased the likelihood of a child being abused were parental depres-sion (which can be caused by being abused in childhood or adulthood), parental substance abuse, and whether a parent had been abused or neglected as a child.

AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE“A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands other Muslims are safe.” (Muslim)

In the Quran, God provides guidance to humankind emphasizing particular values — such as compassion, patience and forgiveness — in our interactions with others, including children. God prohibits all forms of injustice and oppression, which includes any type of abuse, and discourages harsh behavior. The Quran specifically addresses one of the most common forms of abuse, verbal abuse, by prohibiting name-calling, insults and mocking (49:11). Our relationships should be grounded in an ultimate awareness that God witnesses all of our actions. Such fear and submission to God (taqwa) should facili-tate appropriate behavior with and toward children that exemplifies the Quranic values of fairness, mercy, gentleness, and patience.

Notably, the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), whose character

embodied the Quran, never struck a woman or a child. Nor was he emotionally or ver-bally abusive toward them. Indeed, God sent him as rahmat al-alameen (a mercy to the worlds) and he manifested that compassion in his family — the building block of human-ity. His kindness, patience and self-control encompass the Prophetic model for Muslims to emulate.

The Prophet engaged with children with respect, love and playfulness. For instance, when his daughter Fatima (‘alayhi rahmat) entered a room, he would insist on giving her his seat. Anas ibn Malik (‘alayhi rahmat), who was raised in the Prophet’s household, declared that as a child he was never scolded or chided by the Prophet. Prophet Muham-mad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) described affection toward children as a reflection of God’s mercy in our hearts. And, he depicted fairness toward them as a manifestation of our fear and submission to God (taqwa).

SO WHAT IS APPROPRIATE DISCIPLINE?Many parents who engage in abusive behavior toward their children do so in the name of discipline. It is important to distinguish appropriate and effective dis-ciplinary techniques from abuse. Disci-pline includes teaching children through a variety of means, including demonstrat-ing consequences for poor conduct, such as giving “timeouts,” taking away a favorite toy temporarily or withholding privileges. Ultimately, the purpose of discipline is to teach children age-appropriate behavior by setting reasonable limits. Discipline should not include any form of behavior that may harm or traumatize a child in any fashion.

Many parents use the same forms of disci-pline they experienced when they were chil-dren. They also may not realize that common behaviors by parents actually cause harm to children, thereby falling into the category of abuse. Calling a child “stupid” for getting a bad grade not only won’t improve the child’s academic performance or increase his/her

intelligence, it may actually lead to poor self-esteem and worse performance.

While many parents who engage in harsh and abusive behavior toward their children are motivated by a desire to have well-behaved children, they must pause to ask themselves if their methods are Islamic, legal, and healthy. It is easy to get frustrated when children aren’t listening, but there is never an excuse

for allowing one’s frustration to take control and result in harming another human being.

Parents may educate themselves about proper discipline and effective parenting techniques by reading related books, taking appropriate classes (that mosques and/or Islamic schools may facilitate through semi-nars and workshops), and studying the Pro-phetic model. Prophet Muhammad’s (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) methodology included modeling the desired behavior, encouraging and positively reinforcing good conduct and explaining the consequences that attach to misbehavior. He spoke in a gentle and kind manner while recognizing the distinct capacity and unique capabil-ity of each individual with whom he inter-acted. When parents model proper behavior reflecting these values, they are more likely to have adult children who are respectful and kind to them in their senior years.

As any parent can attest, parenthood is a beautiful blessing and an awesome test in patience. Parenthood is both physically and emotionally challenging — from chang-ing diapers in the middle of the night and responding to a baby’s needs when he/she still cannot communicate, to teaching a 6-year-old a respectful way to disagree, to advising a teenager. These challenges can best be met when parents are prepared by being educated about children’s develop-mental needs and appropriate techniques for each stage, are well grounded in Islamic teachings regarding human interaction and character, and are emotionally and spiritu-ally healthy themselves. ■Engy Abdelkader is a legal fellow with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

CHILDREN WHO WITNESS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ALSO ARE CONSIDERED VICTIMS OF ABUSE. THEY SUFFER THE SAME LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES AS THOSE WHO ARE DIRECT VICTIMS OF ABUSE.


MUSLIMS IN ACTION

Dare to CareHow a highly specialized Muslim American physician finds a niche in Senegal caring for cancer patients — an experience that becomes his medical pilgrimage, his Magal.

BY MAJID MOHIUDDIN

I envied my brother and my friends in the Islamic Medical Asso-ciation of North America (IMANA) when they went on medical mission

trips to Peru, Haiti, Palestine or Somalia. Though also a doctor, I sat on the sidelines. I am too sub-specialized to be of any gen-eral help: I treat cancer non-invasively with sophisticated equipment that costs millions of dollars. I need fancy computers to create three-dimensional models of tumors in the human body. While cutting edge, these are not exactly helpful skills in places without running water and an outbreak of cholera.

Undaunted, I sought a way to contribute in Muslim lands. I took a course in interna-tional medicine and learned that of 8 million cancer deaths per year worldwide, 70 percent occur in developing countries. While these countries make up 85 percent of the world’s population, they only have 30 percent of the world’s radiation equipment! According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2030, cancer’s global reach will be epidemic. Suddenly, I realized that radiation oncol-ogy may be the most cost-effective way to offer a cure.

The search to volunteer led to a nonprofit group, Radiating Hope, that was working with the Hôpital Aristide Le Dantec, Dakar’s major public hospital. Our mission helped physicians in Senegal implement “brachy-therapy” techniques, which are vital to treat-ing cervical cancer. The five-member team included myself, considered the “expert” brachytherapist.

The 100-year-old hospital is a hodge-podge of clinic buildings surrounding a cen-tral courtyard. One building is the Institut Joliot Curie, the only cancer center offering radiation treatment. For families, coming from villages hundreds of miles away, the courtyard with its patches of grass, dust and shade trees serves as the family waiting area while relatives undergo surgery. Painted over

vans serve as makeshift ambulances. There is a small mosque near the gate, since 90 percent of Senegal is Muslim.

The center’s staff is absolutely remarkable. Magette is a young, slim, muhajiba physicist with two master’s degrees in physics, and a mother of four. Her husband has worked in Italy for the last 12 years and can only visit them once a year. There are two other female physicists, one whose husband works in Japan. The soul of the department, its real hero, is the humble, soft-spoken Dr. Mousto-

Citadel of IslamDieng offered to take us around personally to see Senegal. Without hesitation, I insist on going to Touba. For some Senegalese, it is nearly as important as going to Mecca.

Most Senegalese Muslims are Sunni Malikis. In the 18th century, when the French began to colonize the nation, the Senegalese joined Sufi brotherhoods to unite against the colonizers. El Hadj Umar Tall (1780-1840) started the Tijanniyya order, and Cheikh Amadou Bamba (1850-1927) founded the Mouride brotherhood. Nearly 90 percent of Senegalese Muslims now belong to a Sufi order. Well organized and influential, they help stitch the social fabric together by creating government-independent welfare nets.

The 125-mile drive to Touba cuts through the country’s beautiful heartland, and makes for fascinating conversation about Islam. We roll through the countryside with its mud huts and goatherds amid the baobab trees — a symbol of the country. We pass trucks stacked impossibly high with sacks of grains. Donkey carts trudge along the roadside.

Touba, with its own caliph, acts like the Vati-can. They are self-governing and pride themselves on forming an ideal city-state where no smoking, dancing, music or theft is allowed. The Islam of Senegal is unlike that of South Asia or Arabia. The people are more relaxed, tolerant, and open to for-eigners. There is a mystical wisp in each inshaAllah, and it’s a different flavor that we can learn from in the U.S.

Touba is an African Mecca and Medina rolled into one city. Yearly, the Murid (the committed one) make the Grand Magal (grand pilgrimage) to the Great Mosque, which can accommodate

Grand Mosque at Touba

Author in front of Cancer Center in Dakar, Senegal


pha Mohamed Dieng, a surgeon who turned into a radiation doctor in the 1980s upon realizing that this could help more people. He trained in Paris but felt obliged to come back to serve and teach at the medical school.

Dieng told us that there are only two radiation doctors in the country. There is only one cobalt treatment machine, received in 1989 from Russia — equip-ment that the United States phased out in the late 1970s. Worldwide the standard of care is one machine serving a population of 120,000 to 250,000 people. In Senegal, two

doctors and one machine serve 13.5 mil-lion people. Correction: since neighboring Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and parts of Mali and Mauritania have no such facilities, patients travel to Dakar. This one machine therefore serves an overall 20 million people.

Sometimes, the clinic itself can run from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. treating so many patients. A few years back, when the radioactive source decayed beyond use, the whole of Western Africa was without any radia-tion cancer treatment for two years until a replacement could be found. Nearly half of the center’s patients have cervical cancer. The standard of care is to first administer five weeks of external radiation from the cobalt machine. Then, the other half of the treatment would be to give internal radia-tion via brachytherapy. This means inserting specially fitted equipment in a surgical-like procedure into the female body. Unfortu-nately, Senegal has never had internal radia-tion equipment. Thus, many of the patients cannot be cured because they only get half of the required dose. Our mission was to help Dieng troubleshoot the entire process.

Unfortunately, in 2008, the computer system short-circuited in a citywide power surge. Most of the calculations are now done on paper or based on clinical setup alone. The discrepancy of the staff ’s knowledge and skill considering the resources available to them is striking. They are very sophisticated, reading the up-to-date medical literature. Medicine in Senegal is big-picture thinking, quick improvisation with limited equipment, and self-reliance on physical exam skills.

A large bookcase divides Dieng’s office. On the other side of the bookcase is the female exam table. One female patient has traveled three days from Guinea for a 20-minute visit. Her whole village had raised the money for the trip. We cannot help, as her cancer is too large to be covered by our equipment. I feel so frustrated leaving her to die, knowing that we could potentially

IN SENEGAL, TWO DOCTORS AND ONE MACHINE SERVE 13.5 MILLION PEOPLE. CORRECTION: SINCE NEIGHBORING GAMBIA, GUINEA-BISSAU, GUINEA, AND PARTS OF MALI AND MAURITANIA HAVE NO SUCH FACILITIES, PATIENTS TRAVEL TO DAKAR. THIS ONE MACHINE THEREFORE SERVES AN OVERALL 20 MILLION PEOPLE.

10,000 worshippers for Friday prayers. The impressive pink marble edifice, completed in 1963, adheres to their philosophy of inclusion: white marble from Italy, pink marble from Portugal, carpets from Belgium, a large wood door from Pakistan, and the style of decoration is Moroccan. Tall minarets resemble Medina, as do the green domes over the caliph burial sites. Courtyard domes are Iranian.

The Murid guide, who greets us as special guests, is tolerant of my toubap (foreign) female teammates who forgot their headscarves. They buy scarves from a stall to put them at ease. I’m the only Muslim guest. I pray dhuhr with Dieng standing next to the Murid Sufis, characterized by long triangular white sleeves on their robes. After dhuhr, I meet with the Imam who blesses me personally in a group du’a (blessing) when the guide explains the nature of my visit to Senegal.

In the courtyard is the blessed water fountain dubbed “ZamZam.” They claim the water is shipped from Mecca, but Dieng is trying to warn me that the unboiled water is local and not sacred like ZamZam. I am handed a brimming cup, and under watchful eyes of the faithful, I drink it, not wanting to offend, hoping for a miracle against travelers’ diarrhea. I walk out of the mosque feeling spiritually quenched though. All week I have worked hard in a form of medical charity, and now I have drunk deep from the spiritual well of Senegal, a mini magal of my own.

Early morning we are back in the clinic but by now the procedures are running smoothly with few interventions.

I inquire: “un joolit la. Fee fullah masjid?” (I am a Muslim. Where is the mosque?), and pray Friday prayer in the hospital’s courtyard mosque, wearing Senegalese clothes and beanie cap, feeling completely at home. I don’t want to leave Africa. ■


MUSLIMS IN ACTION

treat her a year from now when we’ve gained more experience. I realize then that I have to remain engaged with the Senegal project to ensure it meets full maturation. We treat Maimouna, a 29-year-old Malian woman with HIV and cervical cancer. The excite-ment on Dieng’s face as he explains and offers the new procedure is priceless.

Upon return from our break, the next day, I see a poor 18 year old with a head and neck cancer that is so advanced that it has grown from behind the nose and out through his right eye. An ophthalmology resident-physician buys him more gauze out of her own pocket, a common habit for the already poor trainees. He’s writhing in pain, and Dieng quickly sets up emergent radiation, the only option.

Another patient is the victim of an industrial accident. He sat at a desk where

a radioactive source was accidentally left in a drawer, and his left elbow is now withered away. These are unusual cases that one only reads about in textbooks, and suddenly the value of practicing abroad from time-to-time is obvious beyond the immediate mission.

REFLECTIONSAs the third medical mission team to this clinic, we successfully deployed a working brachytherapy program. Cervical cancer, which has the highest incidence and mortal-ity rates in Africa, finally has a chance for cure in Dakar.

It would be a mistake to think these hos-pitals and caregivers are primitive. While they are up-to-date on clinical practice as it pertains to their needs, they lack the resources that we routinely take for granted.

Nowadays, when I have a frustrating day

at work, I remember my global partners. But trips there just to come back feeling good about myself is not a solution. I (and Muslims in general) need to overcome our preconceived notions for why we cannot help abroad — the myriad of excuses, including the cost of technology or forgotten clinical skills. Having tasted the possibility, I feel that we have a responsibility to meet the rising tide of global cancer. In this fight, radiation oncology is a mainstay means of treatment, not relegated to the sidelines.

Shockingly, the cancer problem is under-appreciated worldwide. In 2010, the total economic cost of cancer was $1.16 trillion.

Gorée Island

Family "waiting room" is the hospital's courtyard


Of the Big 4 global diseases that receive West-ern funding — cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS — cancer causes 55 percent of the deaths but only gets 2 percent of the funding. Clearly, more awareness is needed.

Back in the United States, I have joined a nonprofit task group called the International Cancer Expert Core (ICEC). We are actively

seeking to partner with other sites like Sen-egal where collaborative efforts can increase access to oncology services in underserved areas abroad. ■Majid Mohiuddin, a Harvard trained radiation oncologist practicing in Chicago, is involved in two nonprofit organiza-tions, The Foundation for Intelligent Giving (FIG), and the International Cancer Expert Core (ICEC).

Gorée IslandA ferry takes me to Gorée Island, a must for anyone who wants to have an inkling of the African American slave experience. It is the reverse Ellis Island. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978, it served as a port of exit for the slave trade as Africa’s westernmost point. In 2013, Obama became the third American president to visit here. Clinton visited in 1995 and George W. Bush came in 2003.

Over 300 years, some 150 million captive slaves passed through West Africa on the way to the New World. Twenty million disembarked on the island for about a three-month stay. Why? About 30 percent of all slaves died in sea transit. Gorée was a sorting place where some would be fed to the prerequisite 130 pounds. Then, as a trial, ship-shaped stone buildings were packed like sardines with slaves for weeks. The ones who died in these simulated conditions were not worth the trip overseas. Overall, six million of the 20 million died here. Gorée was a point of no return.

A walk through the slave quarters of the Maison de esclaves (House of Slaves), built in 1786, is an indescribable experience. To imagine oneself cramped, shack-led, bludgeoned, and separated from your family like cattle or poultry is beyond humiliating. It conjures images of being yoked or chained by the neck (Quran 36:8) — a living real Hell. In the center of each slave quarter is a long dark tunnel, the “door of no return,” with a room on each side of the aisle. A slave from the left and the right side each would meet and be shackled together with a 20-pound weight between them, as if in a graduation procession. They would walk out together under gunsight to a wooden wharf with a plank to the sea and the waiting slave ship. If one tried to escape, both would drown as they plunged into the sea, weighed down, encircled by sharks. ■

President Barack Obama looks out a cell window as he and First Lady Michelle Obama tour the Maison des Esclaves Museum on Gorée Island, June 27, 2013. (© Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

HIRING ANNOUNCEMENT:FULL-TIME YOUTH COUNSELOR

FOR THE TOLEDO MUSLIM COMMUNITY CENTER

Salary: Commensurate with experience. The Toledo Muslim Community Center is excited to announce the new position of a Youth Counselor to better and more wholly serve our community. We are seeking a driven and dedicated individual who will offer spiritual care and counseling services to the youth of our community. We seek a candidate who will be able to organize creative and relevant programming for young Muslims around religion and theology as well as personal development and civic engagement to keep our youth safe, healthy and thriving. We invite qualified candidates to apply by sending an email to [email protected] with their CV, cover letter detailing relevant experience and motives for applying, and at least one reference letter (from previous employer, chaplain or imam) outlining the candidate’s personal and professional qualifications.Qualifications:• Degree (master’s preferred or multiple degrees) in counseling,

religious practice, chaplaincy, social work or equivalent • Must have experience working with Muslim youth both in group

and individual capacity• Must have extensive knowledge, training and teaching of Quranic

and Islamic Studies• Flexible schedule (some week nights and weekends required)• Must possess strong administrative and professional skills• Experience with and commitment to working with people from

a range of diverse backgrounds, cultures, identities and lived experiences

• Must demonstrate highest character, moral integrity, and maturity necessary for building trust with youth and being an outstanding and relatable role model

• Must deeply understand and follow personal and professional boundaries; must demonstrate personal accountability

• Passion to work with young people 8-22, with a focus on middle and high school students

• Should be empathetic and collaborative; sense of humor, creativity, and patience

• Must be fluent in English; preferably bilingual in Arabic• Must be able to communicate clearly with parents and

community at large• Excellent written and verbal communication; excellent and

accessible public speaking skills• Must be able to provide individual and group counseling; conduct

intake and assessment of community members; provide different forms of counseling--whether spiritual, social or trauma-based; create and revise curricula for youth programming; should work to make immediate and broader community more inclusive, pluralistic and welcoming toward young people

• Must be be able to succeed in advocacy and community outreach; provide or connect community members with appropriate resources and services to meet their needs; network with different communities both locally and nationally to build multifaith and intra-faith connections among youth; should be able to develop community awareness campaigns, events, retreats and workshops addressing issues related to young Muslims or promoting physical activity, the arts, etc.

• Create and distribute outreach materials; lead and maintain social media efforts; facilitate trainings for adults, parents, professionals and community groups about supporting Muslim youth

• Should enthusiastically engage and empower youth; collaborate with other Muslim-centered or youth-serving providers to create and facilitate peer leadership activities that will engage young Muslims to grow spiritually and connect with their Creator, as well as be encouraged to organize, lead and train around matters relevant to their communities

• Additional responsibilities include serving as liaison to Board of Trustees and regularly communicating the strengths, needs and overall environment in regards to youth issues. Should be able to handle administrative tasks, prepare reports and statistics, and maintain documentation of all services delivered


MUSLIMS IN ACTION

Striving for Climate JusticeCan the religious community pool their resources to help improve the environment?

BY JUMAN KHWEIS

The unthinkable d oes happen. Tariq Abdul Akbar, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, liked to travel but never thought

he would be going to Switzerland. It began when a friend pursuing a doc-

toral program at Georgetown University, considering Abdul Akbar’s interests as an environmental science and biology major, forwarded him the application, which he had eight hours to fill out and submit.

Abdul Akbar, 21, had the privilege of attending an interfaith summer course, Aug. 4-22, 2014, sponsored by the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

Abdul Akbar, who embraced Islam at age 18, joined a community of 18 Chris-tian, Muslim and Jewish students from 12 countries wanting to work for the protec-tion of creation — a concern, they say, is common to all faith traditions. His summer program led to his participation in the U.N. Climate Change Summit held Sept. 23, 2014, in New York.

Abdul Akbar was the youngest person at the summit. There were 125 world leaders, including religious leaders, scientists, and politicians. He said it was inspiring, and he felt empowered and happy to be there, and that it showed him where he could be in 10-20 years.

People from different religious groups are committed to peace and positive thinking on the planet, he said.

He and his fellow Switzerland course participants were divided into six groups with three people from each religious tradi-tion tasked with drafting a statement. Each group was given a topic. Abdul Akbar was selected to compile all the statements into a comprehensive statement and present it at the New York summit.

Abdul Akbar said he has his sights set on becoming an engineer, building things that won’t pollute and destroy the earth.

Switzerland, he said, was an experience of a lifetime.

“It’s not often that you come into con-tact with such a diverse group of people,”

he said. “I saw that humanity, at its core, is good. Everybody does not get along for political reasons, but at the core of religion and humanity, we’re the same. If I can con-nect with someone on a human level, there’s a possibility for peace. We gathered on a very relevant issue: climate change impacts people in developing and developed coun-

tries. We were able to recognize this as a serious issue. By putting small differences aside, we were able to come together and focus on a bigger issue.”

Switzerland was a defining moment for Abdul Akbar and it made him reflect and look back on his life.

Abdul Akbar always loved science. In the sixth grade, his project about compost won a citywide science fair. It related to climate change because it was about sustainable forms of agriculture. In elementary school, he started a recycling program.

Abdul Akbar said he bonded well with his fellow course participants from differ-ent faiths.

Being the only American in the group, he felt he had to represent. It was a personality-building experience.

“It helped me evolve in my social nature,” he said. “I realized that although we have different religions, we all believe in the same God. Not all of us think we believe in the

same God, but it shows through our good faith and good actions that our religions come from a common source.”

He said he recognized himself in others and their belief in God even though they are different. He saw beauty in people because of their backgrounds, experiences, commonali-ties, and belief.

Abdul Akbar entered Islam seamlessly. His mother is Muslim, but never forced reli-gion on him. While his was not a religious household, he regularly went to church with his grandmother. Though he wasn’t Chris-tian, Abdul Akbar believed in God. When he was 17, he saw the Quran sitting on a shelf in the house and started reading it. He had read Shakespeare, so he liked the Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation. Then, he started studying the history of Islam. Nine months later he decided to change.

Abdul Akbar said he believes religious communities work on climate change because it is also a moral and not just a sci-entific issue. Some of the consequences of cli-mate change, he stressed, include pollution, unsustainability, toxic waste in developing countries, and health issues.

The biggest hurdles to fighting climate

change are those who deny that it exists and big corporations who profit off of the cur-rent system of polluting the planet, Abdul Akbar stated.

He added, religious communities are not doing enough about this issue.

“Taking care of the environment is the last thing on their minds because they’re disconnected from the world,” he said.

Abdul Akbar said there are basic things that can connect people back to the earth like planting gardens, going on nature walks, recycling, and cleaning up their neighbor-hoods, parks, and rivers. He said recycling could be made more appealing by starting at a young age. And adults, he added, have to see it as a moral issue. ■Editor’s Note: Tariq Abdul Akbar spoke to Islamic Horizons when he visited ISNA’s Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances (IOICA) in Washington, D.C., Oct. 24, 2014.

Juman Khweis, former administrative assistant, ISNA Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances.

THE BIGGEST HURDLES TO FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE ARE THOSE WHO DENY THAT IT EXISTS AND BIG CORPORATIONS WHO PROFIT OFF OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF POLLUTING THE PLANET.

From left: Tariq Abdul Akbar, Liron Alkolombra and Mark Edwards, students in the WCC interfaith summer course. © WCC/Peter Williams


MUSLIMS IN ACTION

Sights on the Finish LineHow running helped a young woman persevere on and off the track

BY AMAL OMER

On Nov. 3, 2014, a day after completing the New York City Marathon — the world’s larg-est marathon with more than

50,000 runners — Farrah Khan was still feel-ing surprised by her own feat. However, this was the third time the runner had completed a marathon — a course of 26.2 miles.

A first-generation Pakistani American, Khan grew up with a passion for gymnas-tics and competed in the sport on her high school’s team. In keeping with her Islamic beliefs of modesty, she modified the team’s uniform with long pants. It was later when Khan, who has continued with gymnastics as an adult, saw women on both sides of her family being diagnosed with osteoporosis and arthritis, that she was inspired to start running. For Khan, this also was a motivator to “respect the fully functioning body that had been gifted to me.”

Initially, Khan picked up running because it was an inexpensive activity that did not require a commitment to a gym. In the begin-ning, she kept her habit of running a secret.

“I grew up in a Pakistani and Muslim community [in the suburbs of northern Vir-ginia], in which regular physical activity was something a woman did to diet, to drop the elusive ‘10 pounds’ everyone felt they needed to lose. To sweat willingly was an anomaly. Regular exercise was not a household con-cept and I wanted to show, not explain, to everyone that exercise was good for more than losing weight.”

Khan started running with the goal of being able to run without stopping for 5 minutes. At first, she found the 5 minutes to feel endless, but within weeks, as she con-tinued running consistently, she was able to challenge herself to harder goals like running a mile without stopping, running

a 5K (3.1 miles) and running for an hour without taking a break. Eventually, Khan set her sights on the finish line of a marathon.

As Khan surpassed her hurdles as a beginner runner, she found another obstacle: modest athletic wear.

“Typical fitness gear consists of Lycra® and Spandex® tops and bottoms, which is not clothing I feel comfortable wearing as a Muslim woman,” she said.

This inspired Khan, a full-time manage-ment consultant, to start a modest fashion blog, Greater Lengths (www.gotoGreater-Lengths.com). Khan features a #Workout-Wednesday series on her blog, where she posts modest fitness tops and bottoms, fea-turing apparel at affordable prices, in an effort to remove one more barrier from the lives of modest dressing women. She has found that most of the Internet traffic to her blog is from searches for modest athletic wear.

“My favorite feedback from my readers is hearing how much my blog has enabled them to workout simply because of a tunic top or a pair of pants I have posted.”

Khan credits the health benefits of running with also supporting her practice of Islam.

“During the long nights of taraweeh [night prayer in] Ramadan, having a strong

Farrah Khan running in the 2011 George Washington Parkway Classic


back and legs enables me to stand through even the longest raka’s (unit of prayer),” she said. “I hope that as I age, the strong muscles around my joints allow me to participate in daily prayers without aids or modification.”

In addition to helping maintain her health, Khan credits running with giving her mental and emotional tenacity. She balanced

working full time while completing her MBA as a part-time student from the top 25 ranked Robert H. Smith School of Business at Uni-versity of Maryland. As Khan excelled in her career, she dealt with a personal tragedy as she saw her father’s health fail.

“I knew I had to keep going, something that would repeat in my head whenever I ran long-distance races,” she said.

Khan offered this advice to other Muslim women looking to become more active or incorporate physical activity into their lives:

“The first step is literally to take the first step. I can [still] remember how hard

it felt to run all 5 minutes without stopping. Achieving small goals leads to bigger ones. For women who are looking to begin exer-cising, this is one of the key things to keep in mind.

“Another is to abandon any ideals of looking kempt or ‘cute’ while exercising,” she added. “Working out is one of the few

activities you do selfishly for yourself that others benefit from. It should be done with-out regard to appearances.”

Khan can truly attest to this with her toe that turned a deep black-purple shade from the hours of training it endured for the New York City Marathon. She sees her discolored toe as a “proud medal of honor” and a small sacrifice for the many blessings she has received from becoming a runner. ■Amal Omer manages media relations for World Wildlife Fund's Wildlife Conservation program. Her communications expertise is concentrated in sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

THE FIRST STEP IS LITERALLY TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP. I CAN [STILL] REMEM-BER HOW HARD IT FELT TO RUN ALL

5 MINUTES WITHOUT STOPPING. ACHIEVING SMALL GOALS LEADS TO BIGGER ONES.”

Farrah Khan gets a hug from her mother after completing the New York City marathon

16TH ANNUAL ISNA EDUCATION FORUM

in collaboration with CISNA

Educating the Global Citizen: Islamic Values, Standards

and Technology

April 3 – 5, 2015 Westin O'Hare Hotel

6100 N. River Road • Rosemont, IL 60018

CONFERENCE FEATURES

• Educational Sessions & Workshops• Pre-Conference Training Workshops on Friday• Award(s) presentation• Networking Session on Saturday Morning• Saturday Banquet with Keynote Address• Employment Notice Board• Bazaar

CONFERENCE PROGRAM TOPICS

• Using Data to Drive Instruction• Thinking Strategies for Engaged Student

Learning• Becoming a Teachers' Leader• Best Practices in Differentiated Instruction• Incorporating Islam in the School Environment• Improving/Developing Group Dynamics for

Better Teamwork• ESL Strategies for Diverse Schools• Conflict Resolution in School and Community• Planning Curriculum for Global Minded

Students• Integrating Technology into Teaching• Tarbiyah: Creating a School Climate with

Islamic Values• Grooming Teachers as Leaders• Systemizing School Functions for

Sustainability• Staff and Educator Professional Development• Roles and Responsibilities of School Boards• Strategic Planning for Schools in a Global

Society

CONTACT:Wendy Barnard, Registration Coordinator:

(317) 838-8129 or [email protected] Ahmad, Matrimonial:

(317) 839-8157 ext 133 or [email protected] Khan, Bazaar & Sponsorships:

(317) 838-8131 or [email protected]


MUSLIMS ABROAD

Reflections on the Aftermath of the Arab SpringCan Arab countries draw inspiration from Muslim countries which have faced some of the issues now confronting the Arabs?

Editor’s Note: Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of Malaysia and now opposition leader, shared his opinions on the Arab Spring on Nov. 18, 2014, at the headquarters of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia.

BY JAY WILLOUGHBY

The thrust of Anwar Ibra-him’s presentation was the ruling elites’ ongoing abuse of the Quran 4:59: “O you who believe!

Obey God and obey the Apostle and those

in authority from among you,” which, he maintained, highlights the main reason for the many uprisings around the world: the issue of governmental legitimacy. Calling the extremely harsh official reaction “shocking”

and “shameful,” he recounted various “analy-ses” preferred by western “experts.” Basically these can be formulated into one sentence that only revealed their lack of awareness of Arab desires for change after decades of repression: This was a totally unanticipated and unexpected event that will not spread beyond Tunisia.

Initial and ultimately unrealistic hopes for successful transitions to democracy in Tuni-sia, Egypt, and Libya failed because no party

PHOT

O BY

YUS

UF B

ARZI

NJI

, COP

YRIG

HT IN

TERN

ATIO

NAL

INST

ITUT

E OF

ISLA

MIC

THO

UGHT


can undertake such a long-term program when the country’s treasury is empty. More-over, the Islamists’ theoretical and largely simplistic ideas on governance turned out to be of little use when they were faced with actually running a country. With scant help from the West and other Arab countries, some of which were strongly opposed to the new government, the whole enterprise quickly fell apart despite the initial enthusiasm.

He called the Arab Spring a “catastro-phe” that was even worse, in terms of the ensuing deaths and destruction, than the liberation struggles because the Arabs were now destroying their own countries. The failure of the West, mainly of Washington, to deal effectively and consistently with Assad’s Syria and ISIS has ended up helping both parties grow stronger. Moreover, what is going on in the Middle East can be viewed as one result of the lack of a coherent policy for the region.

Such chaos has also made the Arabs wonder yet again what the West really means by its continued mantra of support for democracy, the rule of law, and freedom. After all, it did invade and occupy Iraq, did nothing when the army overthrew Egypt’s first ever democratically elected leader, and continues to support regional dictators.

Anwar Ibrahim remarked that part of this failure rests with the Muslims. It is long past time for Muslims to become inclusive by, for example, forming alliances with other par-ties to achieve shared goals. Calls for social justice need to be accompanied by more literature on how to apply ethics in gov-ernment and how to best meet the citizens’ legitimate demands. He also encouraged Arabs to study the contemporary history of Pakistan, Indonesia, and Turkey, all of which have faced some of the issues now confronting the Arabs.

He said that Indonesia’s experience has a lot to offer for it remains the only Muslim-

majority nation to make the dictatorship-to-democracy transition peacefully. Moreover, despite being the world’s most populous Islamic state, it refuses to declare itself an Islamic state; rather, it formulated the con-cept of Pancasila (i.e., the “Five Principles”: belief in the one and only God, just and civilized humanity, the unity of Indonesia, democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations

among representatives, and social justice for all the people of Indonesia). But perhaps even more importantly, since the first days of its democracy this 90 percent Muslim nation made sincere efforts to address the concerns of its Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and “other religion” communities. After all, he stated, they are Indonesian citizens as well, aren’t they?

He concluded with several recommen-dations:

• If you can’t give up the traditional combative rhetoric, at least reduce it and try to understand what makes the non-Muslims’ nervous.

• Those who live in a dictatorship cannot acquire any accurate knowledge or experience of what governing a country

actually entails. Those who would replace the dictators must somehow move beyond their theories, gain the necessary experience and negotiating skills, and realize that what they want to achieve involves a step-by-step process that may well take decades.

• Now is the time for “constructive intervention.” This is especially true as regards the ASEAN (Association of South-east Asian Nations) countries involved in decades-old conflicts: Burma/Myanmar, Pattani, the southern Philippines, and Aceh. Only after declaring, à la the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, “stop the killing!” will, Anwar Ibrahim pro-claimed, all of the parties involved be able to sit down, leave their ideological and other accumulated baggage at the door, and devise realistic and just solutions that are acceptable to all sides.

• Muslims need to really understand what the maqasid are all about and abandon their narrow-minded teaching of Islam. As for the Islamists, they must become more flexible and patient when faced with new situations, be humble enough to admit that they do not know everything, and show more compassion.

• And finally, the ulema have to drop their attitude that “western-style freedoms” (e.g., free speech) represents a threat to their power. He reminded the audience that these religious scholars initially declared printing presses and computers haram. Given the Muslim world’s ongoing state of disarray in so many areas of life, such intolerance and self-righteousness must be overcome in order for it to continue moving toward democracy. ■Jay Willoughby is author of Ta‘ziyah: The Great Casting Off.

INITIAL AND ULTIMATELY UNREALISTIC HOPES FOR SUCCESSFUL TRANSITIONS TO DEMOCRACY IN TUNISIA, EGYPT, AND LIBYA FAILED BECAUSE NO PARTY CAN UNDERTAKE SUCH A LONG-TERM PROGRAM WHEN THE COUNTRY’S TREASURY IS EMPTY.


You can make a significant impact on the quality of ISNA’s services by contributing through EFT.

As little as $10 per month will help ISNA to serve the Muslim American community through effective communication to media organizations, government and civic agencies on behalf of all Muslim Americans.

Sign up today to donate through EFT.WWW.ISNA.NET/DONATE


OBITUARIES

Abdul-Rahman Peter Edward KassigA Caring Soul1988 – 2014

A bdul-Rahman Peter Edward Kassig, 26, was born on Feb. 19, 1988. His family was notified of his death Nov. 16, 2014.

Then known as “Pete,” he graduated from North Central High School, Indianapolis, in 2006. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Middle East. He returned home with an Honorable Medical Discharge.

Upon his return, he attended Hanover College, and also trained as an EMT before transferring to Butler University, where he majored in political science. A spring break journey to Beirut, Lebanon, planted the seeds of a calling that led him to forsake the halls of academia for a life serving those in desperate need. His initial efforts included providing volunteer medical services to those fleeing the turmoil in the region. He soon realized that people needed more and founded his own non-governmental organization (NGO), Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA), to quickly provide much-needed food, cooking supplies, clothing, medical supplies and services. He also taught trauma care skills to dozens of civilians.

His life among the Syrian people led him to explore Islam and, with the help of his friends, he began a journey that would lead him to embracing Islam.

On Oct. 1, 2013, while riding in an ambulance on a medical mission to Deir Ezzour, he was abducted and taken hostage, setting off a chain of events that drew worldwide attention to the plight of the Syrian people. Initially held in the same cell as a Muslim cleric, he converted and took the name Abdul-Rahman. In mid-November 2014, he laid down his life for the Syrian people he came to know and love.

He is survived by his parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, his grandmother, Martha Hyde, uncles, Erik Kassig and Steve Hyde (Donnita Hall), aunts, Julia (Matthew) McCormick, and Ruth (Jim)

Clarence Abdullah NabaaPublisher & Imam1930 – 2014

Imam Clarence Abdullah Nabaa died Aug. 1, 2014, in South Bend, Indiana.

A former imam of the Great News Islamic Center and active leader in Midwest Muslim community and his hometown, he

founded and published the South Bend Communicator (1977-2006), a newspaper dedicated toward highlighting positive accomplish-ments and events within the African American community.

He also hosted a radio program on the local Christian station, WUBS, and television show, “Community: Mother of Our Lives,” which presented local Muslim and Christian leaders in dialogue.

Early on in his career, he worked as a disc jockey and talk show host before founding his first newspaper, The Arizona Torch in Tucson, Arizona. In the late 1950s, he founded and published The Nashville News Star. After joining the Nation of Islam, he worked with Muhammad Speaks, which is now the Muslim Journal.

In 1962, he joined the Nation of Islam, and served as minister in Nashville, Tennessee, and Michigan City, Indiana. He later tran-sitioned to mainstream Islam under the leadership of Imam W.D. Mohammed. In 1985, he became resident imam of the Great News Islamic Center. He was active in the Michiana Islamic Society in its initial development in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is now the Islamic Society of Michiana and Masjid al Noor.

He and his family owned and operated a bookstore, giving the community access to ethnic and religious books and artifacts.

He and his wife, Julia, established the nonprofit Michiana African American Cultural Center that promoted seminars and cultural events.

He was guest lecturer at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University, South Bend. He was recognized for his active role in the community by various Islamic and mainstream organizations, including the MLK Foundation’s Exemplary Spiritual and Support to the African American Community (1995).

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Julia Townsend Nabaa, seven sons, two daughters, 43 grandchildren and 23 great-grand-children. ■

PHOT

O CO

URTE

SY “

KASS

IG F

AMILY

”

Crisp, five cousins, his birth-mother, Rhonda (Jeff) Schwindt, and siblings, Samuel and Jana Schwindt. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, the Rev. Jerry Hyde and Betty and Ed Kassig Sr.

The family requests donations be made to the Syrian American Medical Society at sams-usa.net or 3660 Stutz Dr. #100, Canfield, OH 44406. ■


REVIEWS IN BRIEF

Business Ethics In IslamAbbas J. AliPp. 256. HB. $120.00Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, Mass.Prof. Ali, distinguished university professor and professor of management, Indiana University of Pennsylvania addresses the history and theory of ethics in the marketplace. He focuses on Islamic ethical perspectives in the context of Judaism and Christianity, and points out what companies working in the Muslim environment need to sustain their competitive advantage.

This volume can serve business managers, researchers, policymakers, and students of organization and religion.

We Can Make the World Economy a Sustainable Global HomeLewis S. Mudge2014. pp. 176. PB. $18Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing CompanyIn this posthumously published book (edited by the author’s wife Jean McClure Mudge), the late theologian/ethicist Lewis Mudge offers fresh philosophical and theological concepts, economic and political insights, and practical financial propos-als to counter the causes and lasting effects of the worldwide recession that began in late 2007. By way of fostering the ecu-

menical dialogue, he includes responses from a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim.

Curse of the Achille Lauro: A Tribute to Lost Souls Reem al-Nimer2014. pp. 206. HB $34.95. PB $21.95Cune Press, SeattleAbu al-Abbas, one of Yasser Arafat’s top generals, remains linked to 1985 botched operation that sparked an interna-tional crisis: the hijacking of Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, and the death of Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly American tourist. Attempting to put her husband’s acts in a personal, historical, political and human perspective, Reem Al-Nimer writes that al-Abbas — who died mysteriously in U.S. custody in a Baghdad prison camp in 2004 — told her that his intention was to carry out an honorable operation against the Israeli Army and not to fight the ship’s passengers.

At Freedom’s Limit: Islam and the Postcolonial PredicamentSadia Abbas2014. pp. 224. Pb. $24Fordham University PressSadia Abbas argues that a new “Islam” began to take shape in 1988 around the Rushdie affair, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the first Gulf War of 1991. It was consoli-dated in the period following Sept. 11, 2001. She says that as this Islam gains increasing traction in cultural production from television shows to movies to novels, the most intricate

contestations of Islam so construed are to be found in the work of Muslim writers and painters.

Gender in Judaism and IslamCommon Lives, Uncommon HeritageFiroozeh Kashani-Sabet and Beth S. Wenger, editors2014. pp. 384. HB. $79New York University PressThe editors have assembled scholarly writings that address commonalities and differences among Jewish and Muslim women along with gendered aspects of their religious and cultural experiences. The topics include gendered readings of texts, legal issues in marriage and divorce, ritual practices, and women’s literary expressions and historical experiences, along with feminist influences within the two communi-ties and issues affecting Jewish and Muslim women in contemporary society.

Secularism, Theology and Islam: The Danish Social Imaginary and the Cartoon Crisis of 2005-2006Jennifer Elisa Veninga2014. pp. 224. HB. $112Bloomsbury AcademicJennifer Veninga argues that understanding the Danish cartoon crisis is important for any community struggling with new religious diversity, especially those with largely secular identities. ■

AFRICANA MUSLIMS SHAPE OWN PATHS

The Call of Bilal: Islam in the African DiasporaBy Edward E. Curtis IV2014. 248 pp. PB.The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Professor Edward Curtis writes about the rich diversity of Islamic religious practice among Africana

Muslims worldwide, where he reveals a fas-cinating range of religious activities — from the observance of the five pillars of Islam and the creation of transnational Sufi networks to the veneration of African saints and political struggles for racial justice.

Presenting ethnographic fieldwork and historical perspectives, Curtis shows how Africana Muslims interpret not only their religious identities but also their attachments to the African diaspora. For some, the dispersal of African people across time and space has been understood as a mere physical scattering or perhaps an economic opportunity. For others, it has been a metaphysical and spiritual exile of the soul from its sacred land and eternal home.

He argues that any general discussion of Islam among people of Afri-can descent must resist automatic associations with any one practice or ideology. Islam in the African diaspora, he says, is about much more than the practice of Islam by one group in one country.

“The Call of Bilal” adds to Islamic as well as African diaspora studies. ■HALAL ECONOMICS IS ALL ENCOMPASSING

Morality And Justice In Islamic Economics And FinanceMuhammad Umer Chapra2014. pp. 288. HB. $130Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, Massachusetts

Muhammad Umer Chapra says humankind faces serious chal-lenges that demand effective solu-

tions. The prevalence of injustice and the frequency of financial crises are two of the most serious of these problems.

In these eight essays, published in repu-table journals — four on Islamic economics and four on Islamic finance — Chapra, a lead-ing authority in the field, asks what can be done to not only minimize the frequency and severity of the financial crises, but also make the financial system more equitable.

He points out the vision of Islamic financial system needs to be to trans-form all human activity, including banking, into a blessing for humankind as envisaged in the Quran 21:107. Thus, “Islamization” of the financial system cannot be accomplished by merely cosmetic changes like labeling interest as mark-up, etc. He argues that the present financial system is designed to serve the interests of a few at the cost of many. He calls for for a meaningful reform of the financial system that would enable the society to solve its problems and realize its humanitarian goals.

He considers the origins of Islamic economics and outlines its devel-opment and underlying principles. He compares the approach taken to ethics and economics in Islam with that taken in the West, considering whether lessons can be applied to the global financial architecture to mitigate against financial crises. Chapra also examines the case against interest and looks at both innovation in Islamic finance, and challenges facing the industry.

This book should be a resource for students and researchers in Islamic economics and finance, as well as those with an interest in financial systems and their interaction with society. ■

REVIEWS


FOOD FOR THE SPIRIT

Good to GreatBY IMAM MUHAMMAD MAGID WITH S. J. ROSS

Wisdom #73: If you want to know your value with Him, look to what He has established you in.

How do good companies become great companies? While it might seem like a question solely for business

school students, it is actually a question for all of us. In addressing humanity, God regularly employs the metaphor of trade to describe our spiritual condition. In Surat al-‘Asr, for example, He says we are often in khusr, a term that literally means “financial loss.”

In his now classic study of good compa-nies that grew to greatness, “Good to Great,” Jim Collins identified several best prac-tices, one of which he dubbed, “Confront the Brutal Facts” (p. 87; New York: Harper Collins, 2001). He writes: “It didn’t matter how bleak the situation or how stultifying the mediocrity…they became relentlessly disciplined in confronting the most brutal facts of their current reality.” Only when a business knows its true state can it draft a successful business plan.

If this principle is good for business, it is good for our spiritual lives too. How can we confront the “brutal facts” about our own spiritual state, so that we too might grow, through God’s grace, from good to great? In this beautiful wisdom, Ibn Ata’ Allah points the way to assessing one’s true standing with God:

“If you want to know your value with Him, look to what He has established you in.”

What does this mean?Frequently, when we evaluate our spiri-

tual health (or physical health for that matter) we rely upon a fuzzy sense of well-being that is distorted by comparisons to people in a worse state. We say to ourselves that sure, we’re not in great health, but at least we’re doing better than so-and-so. The result is a phenomenon that has been documented by numerous social science researchers: the majority of people believe that they are above average, a statistical impossibility that high-lights our own capacity for self-delusion.

In this wisdom, Ibn Ata’ Allah directs us to reflect upon a different metric: not comparisons to others but our heart’s own feelings toward Allah and our actions. Both of these, he refers to as “what He has established you in,” because ultimately it is Allah who brings about our states and actions. We cannot make ourselves fall in love for example; it is ultimately Allah who puts this emotion into our hearts. We can simply take the prerequisite steps. Similarly, it is not even we who move our own bodies. As a paralyzed person knows, we can merely make the intention. It is up to Allah to move our limbs.

Regarding our hearts’ feelings, one of the spiritual giants of the salaf, Hasan al-Basri, was once asked, “What is my standing with God?” He replied, “What is God’s standing

with you?” (Narrated by al-Daraqutni and al-Hakim)

To the extent that God is tremendous in our eyes — to the extent that we love Him, are in awe of Him, yearn for His nearness, fear His displeasure, and exalt Him — we are tremendous to Him. As the Prophet taught, “Whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him” (Bukhari). To the extent that God is only secondary; a passing thought Who only occasionally occupies our hearts and minds, we are secondary to God. As the aforementioned hadith continues, “and whoever dislikes to meet God, God dislikes to meet him.”

One very practical manifestation of our feelings toward God is the extent to which we look forward to prayer, prioritize it, and hasten to it. A beautiful memory I have from my youth in Sudan is of my grandfather who would get visibly excited as the prayer time drew near, making wudu before the call to prayer had even been given, preparing to commune with his Creator.

When the time for the next prayer draws near, do our thoughts turn to our meeting with our Beloved? At the first opportunity do we seek to meet Him in prayer, like a lover who discovers with excitement that his beloved is in town? Or do we delay our prayers to near the end of the permissible time, as if other things were more important, or worse, miss our appointments altogether?

Of course, life might not always make praying at the beginning of the time pos-sible. We might get stuck in traffic or caught in a work meeting. There are legitimate reasons permitted by Islam for delaying, such as assuaging strong hunger or using the restroom. For men, it is best to pray in congregation, even if it entails not praying at the beginning of the time. But when there is


nothing to delay our prayers, do we hasten to pray at the beginning of the time?

The second thing Ibn Ata’ Allah draws our attention to is our actions. While our emo-tional feelings are important, as the adage of human lovers goes, “Actions speak louder than words.” How can we claim to love God and His Prophet, and not loyally fulfill what they have asked us to do? What lover can claim to love his beloved, while neglecting their requests? Moreover, true love entails fulfilling the requests of one’s beloved in the order of priority, as given by them. God has stated that most beloved to Him is what He has made obligatory upon us: His commands and prohibitions, in worship, social dealings, and good character. Next in importance are all of the recommended but non-obligatory acts: extra dhikr, extra prayers, memorizing the Quran, etc. Bukhari cites a hadith: “My servant does not draw near to Me with any-thing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him; and My servant continues to draw near to Me with extra acts of worship until I love him.”

A Sudanese Muslim youth was involved in a lot of activism: assisting the poor, plant-ing trees, etc. His father gave him some

advice that I have never forgotten: “Make sure you pray tahajjud. If you’re not pray-ing tahajjud, it’s all a waste of time.” What he meant was that if his son was truly doing all of these recommended things for God, all of which demanded considerable time and energy, he would also find the time and energy to pray to God at night, which God has recommended in even stronger terms. If he wasn’t praying tahajjud, it meant that he should question his sincerity and love for God; he probably wasn’t really doing these things purely for His sake. Rather, his intention was probably admixed with other motives: the exhilaration of changing the world, the desire to spend time with friends, or worse, to be seen as good in others’ eyes.

When assessing our actions, it’s impor-tant to remember that quality is often more important than quantity. Assuming we are fulfilling what is obligatory upon us, what

matters most is the sincerity, devotion, and presence in the extra acts we do.

In assessing our state, two important caveats are in order. First, we should use Ibn Ata’ Allah’s metric to reflect upon our own state, not upon the state of others. It is impossible to know their true state; we don’t know what actions they perform in private nor the secrets of their hearts. Only God knows these. Moreover, all that matters is how our lives end, and that has yet to be seen.

Second, whatever good we find in our-selves is from God, and it should never be a cause for arrogance. In the Quran, God describes those whom “He will love and who will love Him” (5:54). Some commentators note that this verse suggests that it is ulti-mately God’s prior love for us that generates our love for Him. Had God not loved us by gifting us with existence, guidance, and nurturing our growth, we would not find any of the good that we find.

May God help us to grow from good to great, for as He says in the Quran, “Verily the mercy of God is close to those who spiritually excel (al-muhsinin)” (7:56). ■Editor’s note: This column is a revised version of an earlier column by the authors.

WHAT SPIRITUAL TOPICS MATTER MOST TO YOU?

Please help “Food for the Spirit” better meet your needs by completing a

2-minute survey at:www.isna.net/foodforthespiritsurvey

MALV invites candidates for full time Imam Position in its Lehigh Valley Islamic Center.MALV serves a diverse Muslim community in the greater Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania.(Our center is conveniently located in eastern Pennsylvania and it is only hour and half away from two major cities, NYC and Philadelphia).

We are seeking an Imam with the following qualifications: ▪ Degree in Islamic studies and education from accredited Islamic University/Institution. ▪ U.S. education is preferred. ▪ Previous experience as an Imam. ▪ Good Quran recitation skills and strong memorized command of significant portion of the Quran. ▪ Adequate Knowledge of the four major schools of thought. ▪ Strong communication, organizational and leadership skills. ▪ A complete understanding of challenges facing Muslim youth in the USA. ▪ Fluent in English, reading and writing. Knowledge of Arabic language grammar. ▪ Have green card or U.S. citizenship.

Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

To apply please send your resume along with references and recommendations to:

Muslim Association of Lehigh Valley1988 Schadt Ave, Whitehall PA 18052

Or e mail it to: [email protected]

Muslim Association of Lehigh Valley (MALV)Imam Search Committee

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)P.O. Box 38 • Plainfield, IN 46168-0038

NON PROFIT ORG.US POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT #15

KENT, OH

islamic horizons jan/feb 15

Documents