Saturday, October 29, 2005
lyrical swords
Dilshad D. Ali's article: Raising the Social, Political, and Spiritual Consciousness of Hip Hop is a review of Lyrical Swords: Hip Hop and Politics in the Mix by Muslim convert and hip-hop journalist, Adisa Banjoko. (If you want to read more from the man directly, Adisa's blog, Holla at a Schola is also on my blogroll)
ramadan round the world
By Salma Elhamalawy
an article on about how Muslim communities in Chile, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China celebrate the month of Ramadan.
The 3,000 Muslims that live in Chile try to integrate their lives with their spiritual beliefs in a difficult environment
The celebration of the month of Ramadan possesses an important religious and social meaning for the Islamic community and Latin America is no exception. In the Hispanic world, Muslims should adapt their schedules in order to break their fast, but at times, due to work difficulties, they have no choice but to delay it. They are limited to breaking the fast with a glass of water, and have to wait until they leave work to break the fast collectively as tradition states.
Ramadan in Chile
Fareed Maymoun, a Moroccan immigrant, is used to waking up early to go to his job as a construction worker, but when Ramadan starts he gets up half an hour before sunrise. “It’s an important time for me. For the 3 years that I have been living in Chile Ramadan has a very special meaning for me. The first day is marked by a reunion at the mosque to celebrate another year, and break the fast together with the rest of the community.”
Like Fareed, the 3,000 Muslims that live in Chile try to integrate their lives with their spiritual beliefs in a difficult environment. “Christian co-workers are now used to my fasting. When we are on our lunch break many openly admire the will of those who are fasting, although they do not understand why we do it,” he states.
The first days of Ramadan as well as the last days are marked by family visits while children enjoy their new toys and sweets
The Islamic Center itself fills with children and their parents, when the prayers are finished families get together to enjoy the many activities prepared: popular songs, and delicious food.
“In the mosque a festive atmosphere is evident, people fill the halls and their children run from here to there. You hear kul 'am wa anta bikhair, to wish many happy returns for the beginning of Ramadan” Nawal Alvarez states.
The majority of families take advantage of this day to eat together. “We prepare Mote con huesillo, a special juice with pieces of dried apricot.” explains Nawal.
“In Morocco Fareed and I would have met with all our relatives, but here we’re going to eat with some friends at the mosque. Last year was the first time to break the fast without my family and it was very hard”, adds Yasmina, Fareed’s wife.
Nawal and Yasmina have it all prepared for this year, the first weekend of Ramadan they will organize an iftar (meal to break the fast) at the mosque. “We will be eight women cooking and the menu is a traditional one, first sweet tea then couscous and dried fruits with many Ramadan sweets”, explains Yasmina.
The first days of Ramadan as well as the last days are marked by family visits while children enjoy their new toys and sweets. However, for those working, their situation is no different from those of any Muslim minority.
“The difficult thing is when we are not allowed to leave a short time before the Maghrib (sunset) Prayers. For us, it is very important to be with the family at the Prayers and the breakfast. Normally we offer to work during lunch breaks to compensate. But sometimes the supervisors do not accept,” stated Fareed. “In Chile it is more difficult than in other countries because here there are fewer Muslim immigrants. In France, or Germany, there are businesses where Muslims are a majority and they are able to manage their work hours.” He said.
Ramadan in Spain
The celebration of Ramadan acquires a special importance in all Spanish cities--like Madrid, Barcelona and Catalonia
In Spain an Agreement of Cooperation, between the Spanish State and the Islamic Commission of Spain was established in 1992 and approved as Law 26/1992. The law affirms in article 12.1 that: “Members of the Islamic Communities belonging to the Islamic Commission of Spain who desire, will be able to request the interruption of their work on Friday of each week, from 1 p.m. to 4.20 p.m., as well as finishing work one hour before sunset, during the month of Ramadan”.
The celebration of Ramadan acquires a special importance in all Spanish cities--like Madrid, Barcelona and Catalonia--where numerous Muslim communities reside. Muslims get together to break their fast and they organize social meetings in the mosques. Amin Villoch, a Spanish Muslim, illustrates this, “The first day of Ramadan more than 9.000 Muslims gather at the mosques in Madrid to celebrate the breaking of the fast. Ramadan is an important factor in reuniting the community. The Islamic Center of Madrid always prepares many activities during this month for them.”
After the Maghrib Prayers, the mosque becomes a place of festivity. Everyone eats harrisa (an oriental sweet) and dates; Ramadan treats which no Muslim house lacks. “Women spend all day preparing typical food to offer to their relatives and friends whom they meet at the mosque”, explains Amira Masaad. “The first day of Ramadan is a special day. Although, it’s difficult being far away from my family, the mosque organizes events and activities to bring the Muslim community in Spain together.”
Many of the Muslims living in Catalonia visit the mosques occasionally, more to meet the community than to pray. However, when Ramadan starts, the mosques are filled with Muslims. “Muslims celebrate fully these 30 days and dedicate a lot of time for prayers.” This is when the situation becomes difficult too, “the lack of space for Prayer comes to light during Ramadan. The Catalonian Muslim community puts a lot of effort into establishing new places for Prayers and to be able to continue to attract more Muslims.”
Other activities that Spanish mosques organize during Ramadan include Arabic classes, Islamic culture classes and Qur’an and Hadith discussions.
Ramadan in Nicaragua & Dominican Republic
In Nicaragua approximately 300 Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqi, Libyan and Nigerian citizens, as well as 4 Nicaraguans; all faithful Muslims, celebrate the month of the Ramadan. In 1999, Muslims established a mosque in Cuidad Jardin, where they gather every Friday to pray. Ahmed Hajjami, a Muslim who has resided in Nicaragua for 6 years, assured us that approximately 300 faithful Muslims, celebrate Ramadan in Nicaragua.
“We begin at half past five in the morning. There isn’t any difference in complying with Ramadan in Nicaragua or any other part of the world”, he said.
Nevertheless, he emphasized that given the characteristics of Nicaragua, it is more difficult to carry out Ramadan’s obligations. “One of the main obstacles is the time to pray, on some occasions we only pray in the morning and at night, it is almost impossible to pray the other three times,” he explained.
For Muslims in Nicaragua, the renewal of faith during this period is the main celebration. Ramadan is not a month of penitence by fasting, but of festivals with banquets, gifts and new clothes.
The mosque also publishes a calendar with prayer times and times of fasting, which is coordinated with Al-Noor Mosque in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic there are approximately 2,500 Muslims, and the ones that reside in the capital regularly attend the festivities of Ramadan at Al-Noor Mosque, the only mosque in the city.
Yunis Ribas explains, “Although the community is rather small in the Dominican Republic, Muslims gather on the first day at Al-Noor Mosque and their families usually accompany them. Later they meet in Recoleta at a halal (permitted by Allah) restaurant, a Jordanian immigrant runs it. We usually have harira, a traditional Moroccan soup, and shawarma, a spicy meat dish, on the first day.”
The mosque distributes audio materials for the Muslim community, and Muslims gather for Tarawih Prayers before heading home. “You can see the happiness of Muslims when they exchange greetings after the prayers, especially when there are new faces. Usually the day ends with a traditional herbal tea.” Yunis declared.
Ramadan in China
For Muslims in China, Ramadan is traditionally a period of fraternity, solidarity and Islamic charity.
Li Xan is a Chinese student who studies engineering at the Universidad Del Desarrollo in Chile. He has been living with his father in Chile for 3 years now. However, he remembers how his family used to celebrate Ramadan in China. “During Ramadan my father would get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and an hour later he’d arrive at the Mosque of Niujie, in the center of Beijing, just in time for the Dawn Prayer.”
For Muslims in China, Ramadan is traditionally a period of fraternity, solidarity and Islamic charity.
“Every day in Ramadan, we attended all the five prayers at the mosque. My father’s friends understood our commitment, and when he was occupied with a lot of work they would help him to do it so that he could be punctual for Prayers”, Li explained.
Li is among more than 20 million Chinese Muslims that live by Ramadan’s obligations, continuing strictly the Islamic doctrines, praying five times a day in mosques and abstaining from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.
According to the Islamic association of China, Chinese Muslims have convenient access to prayer services as there are more than 34.000 mosques throughout the country.
”Since the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the rights and religious liberty of the Muslims have been protected by the constitution and the law”, he states.
The Niujie Mosque, built in 996, and that of Dongsi, 500 years old, are the two most two famous mosques in the capital. The Niujie Mosque is an important center for Islamic studies and operates a Qur’an school. During the last 50 years, the government has assigned, on numerous occasions, special funds for the repair of these buildings because of their historical importance.
Beijing has over 900 Muslim restaurants and food stores. Some supermarkets sell food especially for followers of Islam. “Thanks to the social stability and the fast economic growth of the country, Chinese Muslims enjoy a peaceful Ramadan. Many Muslims share traditional food with their neighbors, and distribute gifts to poorer Muslims,” noted Hang Xian a 61 year old Chinese Muslim trader.
Wherever you are, Ramadan is undoubtedly a most special month.
Source: Islam Online
an article on about how Muslim communities in Chile, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China celebrate the month of Ramadan.
The 3,000 Muslims that live in Chile try to integrate their lives with their spiritual beliefs in a difficult environment
The celebration of the month of Ramadan possesses an important religious and social meaning for the Islamic community and Latin America is no exception. In the Hispanic world, Muslims should adapt their schedules in order to break their fast, but at times, due to work difficulties, they have no choice but to delay it. They are limited to breaking the fast with a glass of water, and have to wait until they leave work to break the fast collectively as tradition states.
Ramadan in Chile
Fareed Maymoun, a Moroccan immigrant, is used to waking up early to go to his job as a construction worker, but when Ramadan starts he gets up half an hour before sunrise. “It’s an important time for me. For the 3 years that I have been living in Chile Ramadan has a very special meaning for me. The first day is marked by a reunion at the mosque to celebrate another year, and break the fast together with the rest of the community.”
Like Fareed, the 3,000 Muslims that live in Chile try to integrate their lives with their spiritual beliefs in a difficult environment. “Christian co-workers are now used to my fasting. When we are on our lunch break many openly admire the will of those who are fasting, although they do not understand why we do it,” he states.
The first days of Ramadan as well as the last days are marked by family visits while children enjoy their new toys and sweets
The Islamic Center itself fills with children and their parents, when the prayers are finished families get together to enjoy the many activities prepared: popular songs, and delicious food.
“In the mosque a festive atmosphere is evident, people fill the halls and their children run from here to there. You hear kul 'am wa anta bikhair, to wish many happy returns for the beginning of Ramadan” Nawal Alvarez states.
The majority of families take advantage of this day to eat together. “We prepare Mote con huesillo, a special juice with pieces of dried apricot.” explains Nawal.
“In Morocco Fareed and I would have met with all our relatives, but here we’re going to eat with some friends at the mosque. Last year was the first time to break the fast without my family and it was very hard”, adds Yasmina, Fareed’s wife.
Nawal and Yasmina have it all prepared for this year, the first weekend of Ramadan they will organize an iftar (meal to break the fast) at the mosque. “We will be eight women cooking and the menu is a traditional one, first sweet tea then couscous and dried fruits with many Ramadan sweets”, explains Yasmina.
The first days of Ramadan as well as the last days are marked by family visits while children enjoy their new toys and sweets. However, for those working, their situation is no different from those of any Muslim minority.
“The difficult thing is when we are not allowed to leave a short time before the Maghrib (sunset) Prayers. For us, it is very important to be with the family at the Prayers and the breakfast. Normally we offer to work during lunch breaks to compensate. But sometimes the supervisors do not accept,” stated Fareed. “In Chile it is more difficult than in other countries because here there are fewer Muslim immigrants. In France, or Germany, there are businesses where Muslims are a majority and they are able to manage their work hours.” He said.
Ramadan in Spain
The celebration of Ramadan acquires a special importance in all Spanish cities--like Madrid, Barcelona and Catalonia
In Spain an Agreement of Cooperation, between the Spanish State and the Islamic Commission of Spain was established in 1992 and approved as Law 26/1992. The law affirms in article 12.1 that: “Members of the Islamic Communities belonging to the Islamic Commission of Spain who desire, will be able to request the interruption of their work on Friday of each week, from 1 p.m. to 4.20 p.m., as well as finishing work one hour before sunset, during the month of Ramadan”.
The celebration of Ramadan acquires a special importance in all Spanish cities--like Madrid, Barcelona and Catalonia--where numerous Muslim communities reside. Muslims get together to break their fast and they organize social meetings in the mosques. Amin Villoch, a Spanish Muslim, illustrates this, “The first day of Ramadan more than 9.000 Muslims gather at the mosques in Madrid to celebrate the breaking of the fast. Ramadan is an important factor in reuniting the community. The Islamic Center of Madrid always prepares many activities during this month for them.”
After the Maghrib Prayers, the mosque becomes a place of festivity. Everyone eats harrisa (an oriental sweet) and dates; Ramadan treats which no Muslim house lacks. “Women spend all day preparing typical food to offer to their relatives and friends whom they meet at the mosque”, explains Amira Masaad. “The first day of Ramadan is a special day. Although, it’s difficult being far away from my family, the mosque organizes events and activities to bring the Muslim community in Spain together.”
Many of the Muslims living in Catalonia visit the mosques occasionally, more to meet the community than to pray. However, when Ramadan starts, the mosques are filled with Muslims. “Muslims celebrate fully these 30 days and dedicate a lot of time for prayers.” This is when the situation becomes difficult too, “the lack of space for Prayer comes to light during Ramadan. The Catalonian Muslim community puts a lot of effort into establishing new places for Prayers and to be able to continue to attract more Muslims.”
Other activities that Spanish mosques organize during Ramadan include Arabic classes, Islamic culture classes and Qur’an and Hadith discussions.
Ramadan in Nicaragua & Dominican Republic
In Nicaragua approximately 300 Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqi, Libyan and Nigerian citizens, as well as 4 Nicaraguans; all faithful Muslims, celebrate the month of the Ramadan. In 1999, Muslims established a mosque in Cuidad Jardin, where they gather every Friday to pray. Ahmed Hajjami, a Muslim who has resided in Nicaragua for 6 years, assured us that approximately 300 faithful Muslims, celebrate Ramadan in Nicaragua.
“We begin at half past five in the morning. There isn’t any difference in complying with Ramadan in Nicaragua or any other part of the world”, he said.
Nevertheless, he emphasized that given the characteristics of Nicaragua, it is more difficult to carry out Ramadan’s obligations. “One of the main obstacles is the time to pray, on some occasions we only pray in the morning and at night, it is almost impossible to pray the other three times,” he explained.
For Muslims in Nicaragua, the renewal of faith during this period is the main celebration. Ramadan is not a month of penitence by fasting, but of festivals with banquets, gifts and new clothes.
The mosque also publishes a calendar with prayer times and times of fasting, which is coordinated with Al-Noor Mosque in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic there are approximately 2,500 Muslims, and the ones that reside in the capital regularly attend the festivities of Ramadan at Al-Noor Mosque, the only mosque in the city.
Yunis Ribas explains, “Although the community is rather small in the Dominican Republic, Muslims gather on the first day at Al-Noor Mosque and their families usually accompany them. Later they meet in Recoleta at a halal (permitted by Allah) restaurant, a Jordanian immigrant runs it. We usually have harira, a traditional Moroccan soup, and shawarma, a spicy meat dish, on the first day.”
The mosque distributes audio materials for the Muslim community, and Muslims gather for Tarawih Prayers before heading home. “You can see the happiness of Muslims when they exchange greetings after the prayers, especially when there are new faces. Usually the day ends with a traditional herbal tea.” Yunis declared.
Ramadan in China
For Muslims in China, Ramadan is traditionally a period of fraternity, solidarity and Islamic charity.
Li Xan is a Chinese student who studies engineering at the Universidad Del Desarrollo in Chile. He has been living with his father in Chile for 3 years now. However, he remembers how his family used to celebrate Ramadan in China. “During Ramadan my father would get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and an hour later he’d arrive at the Mosque of Niujie, in the center of Beijing, just in time for the Dawn Prayer.”
For Muslims in China, Ramadan is traditionally a period of fraternity, solidarity and Islamic charity.
“Every day in Ramadan, we attended all the five prayers at the mosque. My father’s friends understood our commitment, and when he was occupied with a lot of work they would help him to do it so that he could be punctual for Prayers”, Li explained.
Li is among more than 20 million Chinese Muslims that live by Ramadan’s obligations, continuing strictly the Islamic doctrines, praying five times a day in mosques and abstaining from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.
According to the Islamic association of China, Chinese Muslims have convenient access to prayer services as there are more than 34.000 mosques throughout the country.
”Since the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the rights and religious liberty of the Muslims have been protected by the constitution and the law”, he states.
The Niujie Mosque, built in 996, and that of Dongsi, 500 years old, are the two most two famous mosques in the capital. The Niujie Mosque is an important center for Islamic studies and operates a Qur’an school. During the last 50 years, the government has assigned, on numerous occasions, special funds for the repair of these buildings because of their historical importance.
Beijing has over 900 Muslim restaurants and food stores. Some supermarkets sell food especially for followers of Islam. “Thanks to the social stability and the fast economic growth of the country, Chinese Muslims enjoy a peaceful Ramadan. Many Muslims share traditional food with their neighbors, and distribute gifts to poorer Muslims,” noted Hang Xian a 61 year old Chinese Muslim trader.
Wherever you are, Ramadan is undoubtedly a most special month.
Source: Islam Online
Friday, October 28, 2005
orlando valencia's body found
From the Word War 4 Report: Paras kill Afro-Colombian leader
On the morning of Oct. 27, authorities certified that the body of an Afro-Colombian found washed up on the banks of the Rio Leon at Bocas de Zabalo, Chocó department, dead of gunshot wounds, was that of Orlando Valencia, a peasant leader from Curvaradó who was abducted by paramilitaries Oct. 16. [...]
The Comisión de Justicia y Paz states that the conflict has its roots in commuunity efforts to recover traditional lands legally titled to the Afro-Colombian villages for the past five years, but now under the control of big palm-oil producers following the forcible eviction of peasant cultivators by the paramilitary Bloque Elmer Cárdenas. Justicia y Paz cites over 100 assassinations of Afro-Colombian peasant leaders related to this struggle in recent years.
black studies professor arrested
Once I met a professor (older African-American man) from Stanford who was complaining that people who saw him on campus would often assume that he was a bus driver. He even joked around about getting t-shirts made which said across the front "I am not the bus driver". I guess some folks have a hard time imagining a Black person in an academic position.
Other folks have a REALLY hard time: Black Studies Professor Arrested (for the full story)
Other folks have a REALLY hard time: Black Studies Professor Arrested (for the full story)
San Francisco State professor Antwi Akom was arrested last night and placed in county jail for going into his campus office. He was released earlier this evening.
While in jail, he spoke with numerous friends and colleagues in the Ethnic Studies Department to tell them what happened. Among them was Shenoda, his teaching assistant Ashley Moore, and Dean of Ethnic Studies Kenneth Monteiro. According to these friends, Akom came to campus around 10 p.m. Tuesday evening to pick up a book he needed for teaching his class.
When he arrived in the front of the Ethnic Studies building (which is where his office is located), he was approached by a security guard who asked him what he was doing here. Akom reportedly told the security guard he was a professor and he was simply going into his office. He then proceeded to go inside.
“When he came out, there was a white cop to meet him and told him to put his hands behind his back,” said Shenoda. [...]
racial tension in birmingham turns deadly
Damn... we (however you want to take that) really need to practice what we preach. Racial Tension In Birmingham Turns Deadly: Riots between the British Asian (i.e. Pakistani, presumably Muslim) and Afro-Carribean immigrant communities in the UK highlight racial tensions that have increased in recent years.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
"because i know you don't read the newspaper"
Like It or Not, 'Boondocks' Will Finally Hit the Airwaves Apparently they had to rework the first episode to remove some Rosa Parks jokes. It is about time they put this on tv. I expect to be cracking up so much, I will need to watch with an oxygen mask.
Boondocks trailer courtesy of Adisa.
and several old posts:
boondocks tv interview
birth of a nation: a comic novel
boondocks: public enemy #2
boondocks: livejournal
Boondocks trailer courtesy of Adisa.
and several old posts:
boondocks tv interview
birth of a nation: a comic novel
boondocks: public enemy #2
boondocks: livejournal
the real granada
Man Yee at Under the Sun has recently had a couple of brief posts on Andalusia and the real Granada.
"homie don't play that"
So, last night I was watching some television and happened to come across a rerun of In Living Color. Homie the Clown (played by Damon Wayans, and invented by Paul Mooney) was "keepin' it real" by bopping a group of young children on the head with a partially-filled sock. It reminded me how in college, one of the texts for a Latino studies class I was taking, talked about a Brazilian trickster/clown figure who engaged in similar antics. I was moved to try to find information about that particular character online (and failed) but I did find a brief description of a related Puerto Rican character...
homie don't play that!
The Vejigante
The Vejigante (bay-he-GAHN-tay) is a fantastic, colorful character introduced into carnival celebrations hundreds of years ago. He is a classic example of the blending of African, Spanish, and Caribbean influences in Puerto Rican culture.
The name Vejigante comes from the Spanish word for bladder, vejiga. The Vejigante inflates a dried cow's bladder and paints it to resemble a balloon. The Vejigante's costume is made from scraps of fabric and looks like a clown suit with a cape and bat wings under the arms.
During the carnival celebrations in Loíza Aldea and Ponce, the Vejigantes roam the streets in groups and chase children with their vejigas. The Vejigante is such an old character that he is even mentioned in the classic novel Don Quixote written in 1605.
homie don't play that!
what's in a name?
At blackamericaweb.com, the editorial Black History is Much More Complex and Fascinating than We’ve Been Taught suggests that some "slave names" are actually more "African" than you would think.
somewhere between mexico and a river called home
Where Arab-American Meets Tex-Mex is review of Marian Haddad's recent book of prose poetry, "Somewhere Between Mexico and a River Called Home". Haddad is a Syrian-American woman who grew up in the Southwest and so her work is influenced by accents of Mexican culture along with her Arab-American roots. After finding out a little more about her, she seemed less Grenada-esque than I thought at first (the "Mexican" aspect does not seem much deeper than accent and scenery. She's from a Christian background, not Muslim). But that doesn't make her a bad writer.
a profile and interview with Marian Haddad
one of her poems (which later inspired a visual work)
two more poems
her Pecan Grove Press page
a profile and interview with Marian Haddad
one of her poems (which later inspired a visual work)
two more poems
her Pecan Grove Press page
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
blog quake day
To help raise funds towards South Asian earthquake relief, Desipundit is encouraging the blogosphere to make tomorrow (Wednesday) Blog Quake Day.
For more info about the situation and what you can do to help, check out:
Wiki on the 10/5 Earthquake
South Asian Earthquake Relief
South Asia Quake Help
Damn, there are places still recovering from the Tsunami last year that now have to deal with this.
For more info about the situation and what you can do to help, check out:
Wiki on the 10/5 Earthquake
South Asian Earthquake Relief
South Asia Quake Help
Damn, there are places still recovering from the Tsunami last year that now have to deal with this.
rosa parks (1913-2005)
Whoever said these are the things that you can do
And the things you ain't supposed to?
So am I further when I think I'm getting closer?
That's when I tend to think of Rosa
How Rosa took a seat to make a stand
But now in standin' we gettin' more demanding
"Freedom", Panther Sountrack
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
Monday, October 24, 2005
greedy for attention
Ok, I just updated my blogroll, mainly adding the blogs I've been mentioning recently plus a couple of others where I've been commenting. I'm willing to add more but I don't have any really "on deck" at the moment. Also, conversely, if you like what you read here, feel free to add Planet Grenada to your blogroll. Leave a comment. Make criticisms or suggestions for improvement. Even leave a shameless plug for your blog. (So far, I've only deleted spam and I'm in the middle of deciding what to do with missionaries who leave comments which are equivalent to spam). In any case, feel free to use your voice.
international congress on islamic feminism
In a few days (October 27-29), in Barcelona, Spain the International Congress on Islamic Feminism is planned to take place. And in a related statement on "Gender Jihad", Abdennur Prado argues in favor of a "jihad" against patriarchy in Muslim communities.
Link thanks to Latino blogger, Ulises Ali Mejias at ideant
Link thanks to Latino blogger, Ulises Ali Mejias at ideant
so white they named white people after them
From Adisa Banjoko's blog, Holla at a Scholar: People always look at me crazy when I tell 'em "Theres' HELLA White Muslims on the planet".... on the situation of Muslims in the Caucasus region and their relations with the Russian government. For me, it is one of the remarkable features of Islam that it is able to become internalized by so many different ethnic groups and races. Each group relating to Islam in a way which makes it their own. And yet its the same religion.
really old story, new tribes
Following up on old story, new tribes here is more information about New Tribes, the American evangelical missionary organization which is being expelled from Venezuela by Chavez. According to Prensa Latina, New Tribes may have been conducting experients which infected the indigenous population with a virus and led to about 80 deaths. Missionaries' Experiments on Indigenous Denounced in Venezuela Can we say smallpox blanket?
democracy in the middle east
Writing for Al-jazeera, Soumaya Ghannoushi discusses some of the obstacles to Arab democracy in The great Middle East Power Games. Does the US really believe that the people of the Middle East should freely choose their own path or is it more interested in a Middle East which is configured to serve US objectives?
aminah mccloud activist/scholar
Middle East studies in the News
An Islamic Scholar With the Dual Role of Activist
by Felicia R. Lee
New York Times
January 17, 2004
CHICAGO — Aminah McCloud exchanged a hearty "Assalamu alaikum" ("Peace be upon you") with the two smiling young men guarding the entrance to Muhammad University, which, despite its name, is a private school for children on the South Side of Chicago run by Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam.
A heavyset woman in a black leather jacket and black wire-framed glasses, her graying hair squashed under a black wool hat, the 56-year-old Ms. McCloud has been a frequent visitor to the quiet, orderly school in the last eight years. She has volunteered as an academic consultant and has stopped by most recently as a researcher, gathering material for her forthcoming books on the Nation of Islam and black American Muslims.
As she walked the halls, the principal, a tiny woman swathed in an elegant head scarf and long skirt, as well as other teachers greeted her warmly, like a visiting dignitary.
Ms. McCloud, a professor of Islamic studies at De Paul University here who helped establish an archive for American Muslims there 10 years ago, has been gaining national prominence since 9/11 for talking about Islam in America. She has been quoted in newspapers from The Chicago Tribune to The Los Angeles Times, sparred with television talk hosts like Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly and been featured on a PBS special on Islam in America.
Yet even more than her news media appearances, Ms. McCloud is known for being an energetic activist among American Muslims. She is a fixture at any number of community meetings and a board member of the American Muslim Council and of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She is also proud of the legal work she has done as a consultant for cases of capital murder, divorce and wrongful death in which Islam is an issue.
Many Islamic scholars have been called upon by community groups and the news media to explain or even defend Islam, and Ms. McCloud's double role as activist and academic raises old questions about how to mix scholarship and social struggle. Scholars in disciplines like women's studies and black studies have argued about such dual allegiances and about whether it is possible to avoid scholarship that has what Henry Louis Gates Jr. once referred to as a "thumb on the scale."
"Scholars of Islam are in a special position, especially after 9/11 but even before 9/11," said Ali Asani, a professor of Indo-Muslim languages and culture at Harvard. On one hand there is such overwhelming "ignorance about Islam in the public sphere," he said, that scholars are often called upon for very basic public education. On the other hand, he said, their objectivity is sometimes challenged by those who fear they might be cultural cheerleaders.
"One of the contentions Muslim scholars have had for years is that it was taught largely by non-Muslim scholars," Mr. Asani said. "I was asked point-blank at a major university if, as a Muslim, I would be objective about Muslims. The irony is that I was asked by a Jewish man who taught Jewish studies."
As for Ms. McCloud, she has "done some remarkable work" in her studies unraveling the complexities of blacks and Islam, Mr. Asani said. She is very much in the tradition of scholar-activists, he said. But she really sticks out in the field, he said, because she is African-American and a woman.
Over breakfast at a South Side pancake house, Ms. McCloud complained that "the onus put on Muslims is not put on any other group." She acknowledged that "there is always the tendency to want to defend the religion, but we fight that tendency to report what is out there."
In Ms. McCloud's view, most Americans don't understand how politically and socially diverse American Muslims are. She said the government estimated that 46 percent of the country's six million Muslims are black. {pop} There is often tension between African-Americans and other ethnic groups that practice Islam, she said. And African-American Muslims often experience friction with non-Muslim African-Americans, most of whom are Christian. Ms. McCloud said pointedly: "After 9/11, white Protestant churches invited Muslims in to speak. African-American churches did not."
"The media has always largely determined who speaks for Islam, so they focus on immigrants," she said. "I set out to give an indigenous voice to Islam in America." With a book on Muslim immigrants due out soon and contracts to produce three more books this year, including one on Muslim women, that voice could get a much larger hearing.
"African-Americans always lament going to an immigrant mosque and being told how to pray or being ignored," Ms. McCloud said, which is why she works to improve relations among various Muslim communities who often get caught up in the old debate about whose version of the religion is most authentic.
Ali Mirkiani, a member of the Chicago-area Muslim-Catholic Dialogue Group, which meets monthly, said, "She is getting people to talk and to see similarities as well as differences, to talk about the image of Islam." He added that "she is overwhelmed by the immigrant Muslim community relying on her."
Besides the books and her community work, Ms. McCloud teaches seven courses each year and is busy with a proposal to create an Islamic world studies interdisciplinary major for undergraduates at De Paul, the largest Catholic university in the nation. She writes at night, she said, from about 9:30 to morning prayer, usually around 4 or 4:30 a.m., and then sleeps four hours.
One of her books will focus on the Nation of Islam. Ms. McCloud has spent a great deal of time with Mr. Farrakhan and finds him an intelligent, charismatic man. She believes the public view of him as a social and religious leader is distorted because of the focus on his incendiary statements.
"He has been talking abut inequities and injustices among black Americans for a long time," Ms. McCloud said. "To distill his views down to one sentence to what he utters about Jews is an utter negation of what he has done, in the same way that no one has written off Thomas Jefferson because he raped a slave woman."
One major question, she said, is in what direction the Nation will take its brand of Islam. The Nation has always been evolving, she noted, from its inception during the segregated 1930's to the prominent stage it occupied in the 60's, when Malcolm X dominated, to this new century.
Now, she argues, it has been moving toward traditional Islam while still focusing on using Islamic law to raise the status of blacks in society.
But most black Muslims are not members of Mr. Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, she stressed. She has found at least five groups that call themselves the Nation of Islam, with different leaders and different focuses. Most of the communities seem to be in big cities
like Chicago, New York, Detroit and Los Angeles. Some have descendants of original Nation members, others are young adults who joined in the last 10 to 15 years. Some were attracted by spiritual and philosophical concerns, others by the message of social uplift.
As for Ms. McCloud, she was a freshman at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1966 when she first met large numbers of African Muslims and was attracted to their spiritual and political vitality. She became a Muslim, too, coming from a family background of no particular religious affiliation.
"Muslims saw the issues of race in global terms, and they let me know that American racism and separatism were also a kind of apartheid," she recalled. "From my perspective as a young adult, the tactics used by the civil rights movement were wrong. You don't put women and children out to fight white men with dogs. The goal of being a citizen should not be to get people to let you eat in their restaurant."
She moved to Philadelphia and worked as a pharmacist, but after repeated holdups at gunpoint where she worked, her nerves were raw. She was reminded by a Muslim friend of the paucity of Muslim scholars. Although she was the divorced mother of three young children, she went back to school at Temple University and majored in Islamic studies, finishing her doctorate in 1993. "I did it as a commitment to the community," she said. She is now married to Frederick Thaufeer al-Deen, a former federal prison chaplain,
In her case, says Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, the combination of activism and scholarship complement each other: "She was one of the first people to designate Islamic studies in America as a discipline and to introduce it as a field of study in the academy."
Ms. McCloud said she hoped her work showed that "Islam in America is here to stay." She added, "They can assault the leaders, they can call everyone a terrorist, they can restrict people's movements, but Americans as a whole will not tolerate that."
An Islamic Scholar With the Dual Role of Activist
by Felicia R. Lee
New York Times
January 17, 2004
CHICAGO — Aminah McCloud exchanged a hearty "Assalamu alaikum" ("Peace be upon you") with the two smiling young men guarding the entrance to Muhammad University, which, despite its name, is a private school for children on the South Side of Chicago run by Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam.
A heavyset woman in a black leather jacket and black wire-framed glasses, her graying hair squashed under a black wool hat, the 56-year-old Ms. McCloud has been a frequent visitor to the quiet, orderly school in the last eight years. She has volunteered as an academic consultant and has stopped by most recently as a researcher, gathering material for her forthcoming books on the Nation of Islam and black American Muslims.
As she walked the halls, the principal, a tiny woman swathed in an elegant head scarf and long skirt, as well as other teachers greeted her warmly, like a visiting dignitary.
Ms. McCloud, a professor of Islamic studies at De Paul University here who helped establish an archive for American Muslims there 10 years ago, has been gaining national prominence since 9/11 for talking about Islam in America. She has been quoted in newspapers from The Chicago Tribune to The Los Angeles Times, sparred with television talk hosts like Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly and been featured on a PBS special on Islam in America.
Yet even more than her news media appearances, Ms. McCloud is known for being an energetic activist among American Muslims. She is a fixture at any number of community meetings and a board member of the American Muslim Council and of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She is also proud of the legal work she has done as a consultant for cases of capital murder, divorce and wrongful death in which Islam is an issue.
Many Islamic scholars have been called upon by community groups and the news media to explain or even defend Islam, and Ms. McCloud's double role as activist and academic raises old questions about how to mix scholarship and social struggle. Scholars in disciplines like women's studies and black studies have argued about such dual allegiances and about whether it is possible to avoid scholarship that has what Henry Louis Gates Jr. once referred to as a "thumb on the scale."
"Scholars of Islam are in a special position, especially after 9/11 but even before 9/11," said Ali Asani, a professor of Indo-Muslim languages and culture at Harvard. On one hand there is such overwhelming "ignorance about Islam in the public sphere," he said, that scholars are often called upon for very basic public education. On the other hand, he said, their objectivity is sometimes challenged by those who fear they might be cultural cheerleaders.
"One of the contentions Muslim scholars have had for years is that it was taught largely by non-Muslim scholars," Mr. Asani said. "I was asked point-blank at a major university if, as a Muslim, I would be objective about Muslims. The irony is that I was asked by a Jewish man who taught Jewish studies."
As for Ms. McCloud, she has "done some remarkable work" in her studies unraveling the complexities of blacks and Islam, Mr. Asani said. She is very much in the tradition of scholar-activists, he said. But she really sticks out in the field, he said, because she is African-American and a woman.
Over breakfast at a South Side pancake house, Ms. McCloud complained that "the onus put on Muslims is not put on any other group." She acknowledged that "there is always the tendency to want to defend the religion, but we fight that tendency to report what is out there."
In Ms. McCloud's view, most Americans don't understand how politically and socially diverse American Muslims are. She said the government estimated that 46 percent of the country's six million Muslims are black. {pop} There is often tension between African-Americans and other ethnic groups that practice Islam, she said. And African-American Muslims often experience friction with non-Muslim African-Americans, most of whom are Christian. Ms. McCloud said pointedly: "After 9/11, white Protestant churches invited Muslims in to speak. African-American churches did not."
"The media has always largely determined who speaks for Islam, so they focus on immigrants," she said. "I set out to give an indigenous voice to Islam in America." With a book on Muslim immigrants due out soon and contracts to produce three more books this year, including one on Muslim women, that voice could get a much larger hearing.
"African-Americans always lament going to an immigrant mosque and being told how to pray or being ignored," Ms. McCloud said, which is why she works to improve relations among various Muslim communities who often get caught up in the old debate about whose version of the religion is most authentic.
Ali Mirkiani, a member of the Chicago-area Muslim-Catholic Dialogue Group, which meets monthly, said, "She is getting people to talk and to see similarities as well as differences, to talk about the image of Islam." He added that "she is overwhelmed by the immigrant Muslim community relying on her."
Besides the books and her community work, Ms. McCloud teaches seven courses each year and is busy with a proposal to create an Islamic world studies interdisciplinary major for undergraduates at De Paul, the largest Catholic university in the nation. She writes at night, she said, from about 9:30 to morning prayer, usually around 4 or 4:30 a.m., and then sleeps four hours.
One of her books will focus on the Nation of Islam. Ms. McCloud has spent a great deal of time with Mr. Farrakhan and finds him an intelligent, charismatic man. She believes the public view of him as a social and religious leader is distorted because of the focus on his incendiary statements.
"He has been talking abut inequities and injustices among black Americans for a long time," Ms. McCloud said. "To distill his views down to one sentence to what he utters about Jews is an utter negation of what he has done, in the same way that no one has written off Thomas Jefferson because he raped a slave woman."
One major question, she said, is in what direction the Nation will take its brand of Islam. The Nation has always been evolving, she noted, from its inception during the segregated 1930's to the prominent stage it occupied in the 60's, when Malcolm X dominated, to this new century.
Now, she argues, it has been moving toward traditional Islam while still focusing on using Islamic law to raise the status of blacks in society.
But most black Muslims are not members of Mr. Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, she stressed. She has found at least five groups that call themselves the Nation of Islam, with different leaders and different focuses. Most of the communities seem to be in big cities
like Chicago, New York, Detroit and Los Angeles. Some have descendants of original Nation members, others are young adults who joined in the last 10 to 15 years. Some were attracted by spiritual and philosophical concerns, others by the message of social uplift.
As for Ms. McCloud, she was a freshman at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1966 when she first met large numbers of African Muslims and was attracted to their spiritual and political vitality. She became a Muslim, too, coming from a family background of no particular religious affiliation.
"Muslims saw the issues of race in global terms, and they let me know that American racism and separatism were also a kind of apartheid," she recalled. "From my perspective as a young adult, the tactics used by the civil rights movement were wrong. You don't put women and children out to fight white men with dogs. The goal of being a citizen should not be to get people to let you eat in their restaurant."
She moved to Philadelphia and worked as a pharmacist, but after repeated holdups at gunpoint where she worked, her nerves were raw. She was reminded by a Muslim friend of the paucity of Muslim scholars. Although she was the divorced mother of three young children, she went back to school at Temple University and majored in Islamic studies, finishing her doctorate in 1993. "I did it as a commitment to the community," she said. She is now married to Frederick Thaufeer al-Deen, a former federal prison chaplain,
In her case, says Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, the combination of activism and scholarship complement each other: "She was one of the first people to designate Islamic studies in America as a discipline and to introduce it as a field of study in the academy."
Ms. McCloud said she hoped her work showed that "Islam in America is here to stay." She added, "They can assault the leaders, they can call everyone a terrorist, they can restrict people's movements, but Americans as a whole will not tolerate that."
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