Counting the days to the End Times
Filed under: Elias Karmi, Uncategorized | Tags: apocalypse, end times, evangelical, hagee, Islam, Israel, jesus, judgement day, Muslims, prophecies, prophecy, second coming
Comments(1) A Quick guide to the Islamic attitude toward prophecies
By Elias Karmi, Engage Minnesota
For some religions/denominations, notably Evangelical Christians, the subject of the End Times constitutes a formidable chunk of faith. Many of Pastor John Hagee’s books, from the fictional “Left Behind” series to “Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World,” attempt to predict the future according to interpretations of the Bible and have enjoyed tremendous popularity among Evangelical Christians. “Left Behind” was even made into a movie.
Spanning the differences
By Johanna Osman, Engage Minnesota
Today I attended the Interfaith Memorial Service at the Basilica St. Mary in Minneapolis, commemorating the anniversary of the 35W Bridge Collapse. My intention was to document, as a scholar, the cooperation between peoples of many faiths. This was to be another example of Minnesota’s interfaith activities to include in my study. Read more »
Appealing Ideals, Troubling Practices
Filed under: Guest bloggers | Tags: Turkey;Coexistence;Peacemaking;Middle East
Comments(2) By Onder Uluyol, Engage Minnesota
Last summer I went to Turkey to visit my birthplace and my relatives who live there. During a family gathering, I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard two of my relatives agreeing on what the U.S. is doing in the Middle East and what is best for Turkey. You see, one of those relatives is a die-hard socialist who believes in extensive state control in economy, education and healthcare and sees religion as an impediment to the society. The other one is a fiery Muslim activist who sees a supporting role for the government in providing the basic needs, values the role of the religion in shaping the moral fabric of the community and abhors that the government is interfering with the free exercise of belief. For many internal ills of the society they blame each other. Yet this time, they agreed that the U.S., with its imperialistic policies, is the cause of many problems, Turkey would be the next target after Iraq, and the best way forward for Turkey would be to isolate itself from the West.
The view articulated by my two relatives of opposing backgrounds, although still the minority view, has been gaining support recently in the region. I believe the increasing popularity of this anti-Americanism is not ideological but represents a defensive posturing by the people as a result of the confusion and the fear created by the horrible destruction they see in neighboring Iraq.
Professor, Imam Present ‘A History of Islam in America’
On July 18, Dr. Ihsan Bagby and Imam Qasim Khan will present on “A History of Islam in America” at the Minnesota Dawah Institute.
The presentation, set to begin at 7 p.m., will feature Bagby, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Kentucky. Bagby has been a key figure in documenting the lives of Muslims in America; in 2000, Bagby conducted the first national survey of mosques in the United States.
“A History of Islam in America” is sponsored by the Muslim Alliance in North America, a national network of mosques, Muslim organizations, and individuals working together to address the needs of Muslim communities.
The Dawah Institute is located at 478 University Avenue in St. Paul, 55103.
Event Brings Muslim Indians’ Struggle to Attention of Minnesotans
By Zafar Siddiqui, Engage Minnesota
“Impunity and the Struggle for Justice in India,” an event sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of the Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA), was a great success.
About 90 people attended the program.
The July 12 event began with the recitation of verses from the Qur’an. After that, Dr. Hyder Khan gave an update on the newly formed Minnesota chapter of Indian Muslim Council - USA. The executive committee of the local chapter is managed by President Dr. Syed Mustafa Shahkhan, Vice President Airaj Ahmed, Secretary Syed Mohammad Asim, and Treasurer Hamed Vaseem. IMC-USA now has 14 chapters nationwide and is working to establish more.
The night’s program featured the award-winning documentary Encountered on Saffron Agenda. This documentary highlighted the extra-judicial killings of Muslims by the government of Gujarat—a state in western India—in connivance with the state police. Read more »
Taking Heart: What Would You Do?
By Gail Anderson
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From a Taking Heart dinner,
May 2008. |
What would you do if you saw a store clerk refusing to serve a Muslim customer?
That was the question explored in a recent ABC news story. We will be using that video as our discussion starter at the next Taking Heart, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday July 9 at Masjid Ummat Muhammad, 315 East Lake Street, second floor. A free meal will be served.
There were more than 30 people at our last Taking Heart event at Lake Harriet United Methodist Church. We had discussions about sacred texts and wherever else the conversation took us. Read more »
Bright Spot in Charter-school Report: Tarek Academy
By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
On Monday, Minnesota education officials released a report on our state’s charter schools, and not all the news was good. In particular, the achievement gap between white and non-white students has widened considerably. This certainly should give us pause.
But test-score troubles didn’t just hit schools with primarily non-white or low-income students. Math was one area where Minnesota kids seemed to have the hardest time. According to education reformer Joe Nathan, math-passing rates declined by half from third to 11th grades.
But there were some bright spots. The Star Tribune reported that—among schools with a majority of low-income kids—the best math performer was Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy. Indeed, that’s the same charter school that was attacked by Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten. Her charge that the publicly funded institution was “teaching Islam” was shown by the state’s Department of Education to have been unfounded.
At Tarek Academy, 84 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Eighty-six percent reached math proficiency.
Congratulations to Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy. Read more »
Changing the Media’s Relationship to Muslims
By Owais Bayunus, Islamic Center of Minnesota
As we all know, the media is the most important tool of modern times. It provides us not only with knowledge of what is happening in the world around us, but it also profoundly affects our analysis of world affairs. Due to our hectic way of life, most of us believe in what we see and hear in the news as holy truth. We don’t have time to check the authenticity of what has been shown or told to us.
I hadn’t realized the effect of media on even very young children until I recently overheard my four-year-old grandson telling his seven-year-old sister that he liked Obama. The six-year-old yelled back that she liked Hillary.
Unfortunately, Muslims in America have a unique relationship with the news media. Read more »
Far, Far Away (from Muslims) You Say?
Filed under: Heba Abdel-Karim | Tags: Al-Haytham, Al-Jabr, Al-Jazari, Dark Ages, House of Wisdom, Ibn Firnas, ink of the scholar, inventions, Islam, Islamic Empire, Islamic Golden Age, Islamic inventions, Islamic Renaissance, missing history, muslim, Muslim Heritage, Muslim inventions, Muslim scholars, Muslims, qahwa, untold history
Comments(7) By Heba Abdel-Karim, Engage Minnesota
You have an everyday link to Muslims. Yes, you do. You may not realize it, but there are many things we use in our daily lives that come from a “Muslim” background. From math and science to education and commerce, it may surprise you how much Muslim inventions have influenced the world, starting centuries ago and making their overlooked way into our day-to-day lives.
You were taught that the Greeks were the developers of trigonometry, right? Not exactly. Take out the word developers and replace it with “continuers.” Trigonometry was “developed to a level of modern perfection” by Muslim scholars, meaning that it’s of Muslim origin, even though the Greeks take the credit.
Such inventions vary from equipment, to concepts, to food, to science and medicine—you name it. Read more »
Understanding Islam: A Conversation with Arafat El-Bakri
By Lydia Howell
In the almost seven years since the September 11th attacks, intensifying after the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, non-Muslim Americans have been fed a steady diet of myths, distortions and outright hatred propagated about Islam. The religion has 1.4 billion believers worldwide, and more of Minnesotans’ neighbors are Muslim, hailing from Somalia, different Middle Eastern countries and South Asia. Islam is also winning many American converts. One of the most surprising facts in a wide-ranging interview with Arafat El-Bakri is that the biggest group of the 5 million American converts to Islam are educated women.
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Event:
“Meet Your Muslim Neighbors: A Dialogue”
Thursday June 26, 7 p.m.
Robbinsdale United Church of Christ
4200 Lake Road, Robbinsdale, MN
Free and open to the public
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El-Bakri is participating in a series of events to challenge the misconceptions about Islam and Muslim people, and to foster interfaith dialogue, at the Robbinsdale United Church of Christ. He is the founder of the Islamic Relief Social Services in Minneapolis, an outgrowth of his work on the Bosnia Relief Committee. An imam, he is on the boards of many Islamic organizations, and serves on the board of Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless.
“A lot of words are being used to discredit and smear Islam,” El-Bakri says. “Jihad literally means ’struggle’. It’s mostly translated as ‘holy war’–a concept that is not in Islam at all. Jihad is a struggle–struggle against your own desires, struggle in education, struggle on the battlefield. For us, war is justified or unjustified. There’s nothing holy about war. Wars are bad. The highest jihad is with yourself.”
Read more »
Rebuilding a Legacy
Filed under: Asma Saroya | Tags: American Muslim history, American-Muslim identity, cair, CAIR-MN, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Muslims, Flood Relief, Imam Taha Tawil, Iowa Muslims, Mother Mosque, Mother Mosque of America, Muslim youth
Comments(2) By Asma Lori Saroya, Engage Minnesota
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| Flood damage at the Mother Mosque. |
On our first visit to the Mother Mosque of America, my family and I were greeted by an eager imam. He came outside to welcome us.
Imam Taha Tawil, Executive Director of the Mother Mosque, showed great passion for history and for the American Muslim identity as he gave us a two-hour tour of the tiny mosque. We were presented with stories, history lessons, photos, documents, and other artifacts from–with the exception of the slave trade–some of the earliest Muslim immigrants to America.
We returned, many times. My family and I attended monthly halaqas there and, as a teenager, I always found that Imam Taha boldly fielded my questions. I attended meetings in the Mother Mosque with Muslim youth from across the state.
I gave tours to visitors, who watched us pray in shifts in the small prayer area. I got married there. Read more »
Preventing the Next War?
Filed under: Guest bloggers | Tags: Ahmadenijad, fatwa, Iran, Keith Ellison, Khamenei, war
Comments(1) Keith Ellison’s Iran Forum and the June 10 Call-In to Congress
By Lydia Howell
On May 28, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., hosted Iran scholars for a community forum in a packed hall at the First Unitarian Society church in Minneapolis. The focus was on the U.S.-Iran relationship, estranged for over 30 years, which many fear may become the next chapter in the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism.”
“Nary a day goes by that someone isn’t saying something abut Iran in the media. Part of my responsibility as a U.S. congressman is to be a forum to discuss the critical issues we face and to promote dialog about the most pressing issues,” said Ellison. “To quote [African-American writer] James Baldwin: Anything that cannot be faced cannot be fixed.”
Read more »
Thanking the Twin Cities Daily Planet
Filed under: Engage Minnesota, Minnesota media | Tags: multiculturalism, Twin Cities Daily Planet
Comments(0) A brief note:
We at Engage Minnesota would like to express our gratitude to the Twin Cities Daily Planet (which regularly reposts columns from Engage Minnesota) for being committed to fair journalism and serving as a true mirror for the views of the communities living in the Twin Cities.
Kudos, TC Daily Planet!
Christians in the Muslim world
By Elias Karmi
In recent years, much has been said in the media about Islam and countries with Muslim majorities. At first, many reports were made with conspicuous bias due to the public outrage at the events of 9/11. Slowly, more reports are being made with an extra effort at being objective.
Still, certain aspects of the Muslim world are either being misrepresented or simply left to the audience to guess. Read more »
Local Human Rights Award Recognizes Interfaith Work
Filed under: Guest bloggers | Tags: American Muslim Community Center, awareness, difference, diversity, Eden Prairie, faith, Human Rights, Human Rights award, interfaith, Islam, Minnesota, muslim, peace, Qur'an, tolerance
Comments(1) By Autif Sayyed, American Muslim Community Center
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Representatives from the three churches
and Saleem Adam of American Muslim Community Center, second from left. |
On May 20, the City of Eden Prairie honored American Muslim Community Center (AMCC) and three churches–Eden Prairie United Methodist Church, Pax Christi Catholic Community and Prairie Lutheran Church–with its annual Human Rights Award. The award was in recognition of our participation in planning and executing the Interfaith Worship Service Program in 2006 and 2007. These events brought together hundreds of people of different faiths to celebrate the commonalities held by all and to promote peace, tolerance, and awareness.
The AMCC strives to create an inclusive community spirit through its activities and programs. We have achieved this by embracing diversity as a strength rather than a weakness. The reasoning behind this approach is very simple. Read more »
Take Heart: Join Get-Together at Convention Center
Filed under: Guest bloggers | Tags: interfaith, Minnesota Council of Churches, Taking Heart
Comments(1) By Gail Anderson
How do we take heart in times like these?
Read more »
Policing Our Attitudes About the Police
Filed under: Guest bloggers, Uncategorized | Tags: citizens public safety academy, Lino Lakes, Minnesota, muslim, national night out, Police
Comments(1) 
By Zainib Ahmad
I never thought I would dress up like a firefighter, oxygen tank and all, and put out a car fire, visit the dispatch center where 911 calls are handled or fire an actual shotgun. For the past month I have been doing that and more while spending my Thursdays at the fire station in Lino Lakes.
I am one of eight women and twelve men participating in a nine-week Citizens Public Safety Academy sponsored by the Lino Lakes Police Department and Fire Station. This experience is teaching me a lot about the hard work these brave men and women do, often putting their lives on the line on a daily basis.
Read more »
What’s Troubling About Charter School Debate: The Hate
Filed under: Marcia Lynx Qualey | Tags: Asad Zaman, charter school, hate speech, Islamophobia, Kersten, Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Education, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, TIZA
Comments(2) By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Education has issued a report clearing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy of the major allegations leveled against it and requesting that the school address smaller areas of concern.
The May 19 report states that the school’s core business—curriculum—is nonreligious, in full compliance with all Minnesota statutes. The Department of Education’s areas of concern related to how the school structures its voluntary Friday prayers as well as the timing of after-school busing. In a statement, Tarek school officials said that they take these concerns “very seriously” and will be getting together with parents and Department of Education officials to quickly rectify any possible or perceived infractions.
But the small concerns detailed in the report are not what should worry us most.
What should worry us most is the atmosphere of hate that surrounds them. Read more »
Muslim Group Supports Student’s Right to Service Dog
Filed under: Marcia Lynx Qualey, Uncategorized | Tags: cair, dog saliva, dogs and Islam, dogs and Muslims, God's creatures, guide dogs, Muhammad and dogs, service dogs, service dogs and Islam, service dogs and Muslims, St. Cloud State, St. Cloud Times, Tyler Hurd
Comments(5) By Marcia Lynx Qualey and Asma L. Saroya, Engage Minnesota
A civil rights group is working again to debunk the myth that Muslims and dogs can’t get along.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today is clarifying Muslim beliefs about dogs and expressing support for a St. Cloud State University student who felt his service dog was threatened. CAIR-MN issued a statement following a May 12 article in the St. Cloud Times, which said that graduate student Tyler Hurd left the university because he feared for the safety of his dog.
Hurd told the St. Cloud Times that while many Muslim students grew to like his dog, the dog was threatened by a student at one of the schools where he was doing his field training.
The Times article falsely states that Islam “forbids the touching of dogs.” CAIR-MN clarifies that many Muslims are uncomfortable around dogs, as they believe the saliva of dogs invalidates the ritual ablution performed before prayer. For this reason, it has become a cultural norm for individuals not to have dogs in their homes.
However, “the moral and legal need to accommodate individuals using service dogs far outweighs the discomfort an individual Muslim might feel about coming into contact with a dog, which is one of God’s creatures,” said CAIR-MN Communications Director Valerie Shirley. Read more »
Taking Heart: Visit a Mosque, Share a Meal
Filed under: Events, Marcia Lynx Qualey | Tags: church, dialogue, Gail Anderson, interfaith, interfaith dialogue, Masjid Ummat Muhammad, Minnesota Council of Churches, mosque, Muslim American Society, prayer, relationships, Taking Heart, terrorism
Comments(2) By Marcia Lynx Qualey, Engage Minnesota
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From a Taking Heart picnic,
summer 2007. |
Gail Anderson isn’t asking you to make a new best friend.
“I think if next Wednesday night, we get a number of Christians to walk into a mosque—
that’ve never been in a mosque before—then I think we’ve done something,” said Anderson, unity and relationships organizer with the Minnesota Council of Churches.
Anderson helps head up the interfaith project “Taking Heart,” which brings Muslim and non-Muslim neighbors together over good meals and good conversation.
The next event, set for May 14 at Masjid Ummat Muhammad, was designed for South Minneapolis residents. The program is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with two presentations: There will be a brief talk about Muslim prayer, and Anderson will discuss the Christian prayer tradition. Afterwards, free Middle Eastern food will be served, and people will be encouraged to mingle and talk.
But what if people self-segregate, and Christians sit together with Christians, and Muslims with Muslims?
“We don’t let ‘em,” Anderson said, and laughed. Read more »
