heretics

previously i wrote of my explanation of the existance of differences of opinion WITHIN islam; and, the various ways in which islam is practiced by Muslims around the world. Some want a criteria which muslims can follow to determine HERETICAL SECTS (groups with Mis-understandings of the fundamental beliefs of Islam, like finality of prophethood, concept of tawhid, etc.) And once we are able to determine who the Heretics are, we can take action to ensure that they are not mistaken for TRUE ISLAM and then, prevent the emergence of new Heresies to protect these core beliefs from corruption. (i don't know what it is about determining and labeling others as Heretics, maybe it compensates for the insecurities in the minds of some muslims about their own beliefs, allah knows best.) Good News! THIS CRITERIA EXISTS! There are several books that describe it, "Islamic Creeds" by Montgomery Watt gives a selection of these criterias of the "core beliefs and their order of priority" that some muslims desire. it is called "aqida" literature, and one of its goals is to designate sects to be outside of Islam. also, the "core beliefs" some feel should not be violated are also refered to as the"usul" of islam. there is no need to reinvent the wheel. for centuries, among muslim scholars it has been understood that if anyone violates the "aqida" or crosses the boundries established by the "usul" they can be considered outside of ISLAM. ITS BEEN DONE, the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Nation of Islam were determined NOT ISLAM by the scholars after thay consulted the aqida literature. In fact Dr. Sherman Abd al Hakim Jackson's new book is about the issue of what the USUL boundries are, it's a translation of a work by Imam Ghazzali. Those who feel the need to label people heretic should BUY IT, READ IT, UNDERSTAND IT. theres no need to even struggle through the complicated process. the books are already out there. just search for "usul" or "aqeeda of Imam at-Tahawi." Now a problem is that eventhough we (sunni muslims) have had the criteria for centuries, it did not stop the emergence of the Nation of Islam in America and the Qadiani in India. How these groups come into existance is a lot more complicated than just them simply misunderstanding or lacking knowledge about the core beliefs (although this could be the major reason, i don't know). and when it comes some people's desire of "safe-guarding against their formation." i don't know what to say, except that i believe we must never FORCE anyone to follow even the "core beliefs". The most perfect recent examlple of an attempt to safe-gaurd is the arrogance and oppression by the taliban in Afghanistan or the wahhabi movement in saudi arabia and their desire in the late 1700's to cleanse Arabia of what THEY DESIGNATED as anti-islamic beliefs posing as islam, they declared jihad against Muslims whom they considered Kafir and murdered many innocent lives in the pursuit of PURIFYING ISLAM. i know others who can recommend better books on the subject of aqida or about the issue of usul vs. furu. peace.

brands of islam

the following was said by a member of the Brodisc list: "how many brands of Islam should exist (Can somebody on this list, please, please answer this question!)? If one group does anything wrong, we as Muslims are going to get blamed for it."...Here's what i think about this statement: ---If there is only ONE Brand of Islam and a group of misguided fools from within it does anything wrong, the blamers will no doubt blame you anyways. Let's not worry about the blamers. we can respond to them, but let's not design our deen in reaction to critics. As a wanna-be believer I think "Brands of Islam" are good. a BRAND probably means one of two things: 1 -schools of thought/mazhab/sect; and 2 -i'll call it cultural manifestation or "flavor" I'll start by saying that, i believe, the deen, as taught by the Prophet, was/IS One - BUT, his companions understanding of it differed in various minute ways (hey, i don't blame them, they were human). don't misunderstand, The Best of the Sahaba knew what ALLAH and his NABI said and they passed it down to the next generation as they heard it, we have it recorded in Quran the many volumes of reliable hadith. But when it came to putting those same teachings into practice after the prophet's death, there were times when they differed among themselves. For example when they interpreted the teachings about leadership, the people of the Prophet's household "ahl al-bayt" formed their own understanding of that aspect of Islam. Basically...As far as schools of thought go, the earliest generations were not able to have ONE Islam. Aside from the whole shia/sunni imamate thing, there were those of the Kufa School with their view on the permissabilty of reason "ahl al-Rai" and how about those, the "ahl al-hadith", who felt that having the text of the revelation makes the use of reason unnecessary.... Now...what if there can be various interpretations of aspects of Islam other than just leadership or the use of reason? THIS surely leads to different "brands of islam" (where "brands" refers to other sects or schools of thought) each can support its own arguments with Quran and sayings of our beloved Rasul salatowasalam. not only can they have different interpretations on the practices (the WHATs and WHEREs and WHENs) of living as Muslims but also their own distict Ways of finding out what those practices ought to be (various rules for ijtihad - the HOW to get the WHATs)? ... *Coming up with yet another method "usul" or ONE BRAND, will NOT make the previous ones and the schlolars who practice them vanish.There will simply come into existance yet another "brand"of Islam.... I really have no problem with there being various schools of thought and them differing with one another, that is what makes Islam so dynamic, and it's history so interesting. if there IS a problem with this senerio, its simply a problem of the people's adab, good manners, and the ethics of disagreement, which the greatest scholars have always stressed (maybe not always practiced, but hey, I forgive them, they're human!) There are plenty of books about Ikhtilaf. This doesn't even include the difference between philosophy, mysticism, and theology. Just take a look at the Cultural Atlas of Islam by Ismail Faruqi, and definately read "Vision of Islam" by William Chittick and Murata, it explains the development of Islam through history quite well. We learn that these types of understandings overlapped each other. scholars participated in various types of learning, each with distict "brands" - schools of thought. Its Beautiful, the intellectual depth of Islam... OK... about the flavors of Islam, its cultural manifestion. What if... Some scholars go through the full procedure to come up with a new method of determining the SHARIAH, to unify the understanding of all muslims on the basics of islam, (or for a more humble reason like muslims being able to practice Islam in more meaningful manner as an American Minority)... OR What if... they do the required research into Quran, with full understanding: (ulum al Quran)-knowledge of language of the quran; -investigations into the occasions of revelation for the various suras and ayahs we have information about; -knowledge of the abbrogated and abbrogating verses; -investigations into what the great commentators of the past had to say about the various verses (tafsirs). And, aside from the Quran they investigate the life of the Prophet, his sayings (hadith) and characteristics (shama'il). And, aside from the example of the Prophet, they investigate the example of the earliest communities. And, also the work of the classical scholars and various schools of thought. (Usul al fiqh) And, also History, Psychology, Sociology, etc.... From all of these, the dilligent scholars figure out the basics of the Deen and craft the Mother Mazhab that is at the root of all Mazhabs, the one that unites them all under the banner of:"THE SHARIAH OF THE ONE TRUE ISLAM -cleansed of all baggage "There will still be the aspect of putting it into practice. There will be different Flavors, Unless this Mazhab advocates that we ONLY eat, dress, communicate -have language, travel, and work-earn a living exactly as our Prophet did, disregarding all regional considerations and technological developments. THERE WILL BE FLAVORS, even of this Mother Mazhab, as it is practiced in different parts of the world, not to mention the different parts of this country alone. we don't live in a vacuum, we interact with the natural environment and the local inhabitants. Its a part of Islam's great history: Spanish Islam, Chinese Islam, Indian Islam, African Islam, even a new American True Islam can have: -New Yorker True Islam -Southerner True Islam -California/Left Coast True Islam -American Heartland True Islam -Austin/Texas True Islam -South Beach True Islam... FLAVORS... OOOh Yeah! can't these all be considered "brands of Islam"?? (especially if they are packaged and sold properly) I'm all for regional adaptation of Muslim life. I'm not afraid of flavor and SPICE, No offence Rasulallah, but arab food IS BLAND!! SO, In Conclusion... yeah we have brands of islam. i think its a good thing. it makes islam relevant to different people in different places at different times. it also makes it easier to distinguish between people who are on to something good, and other who give off a bad vibe. i'm happy to identify myself as a Miami Muslim with bit of Austin flavor, a part-time follower of the Hanafite School of Fiqh, Maturidite School of Aqida, Ghazzalian Sufism and Rumi's School of Ishq, and the brand of activism as espoused by Jamil Al Amin in "Revolution by the Book". All of this is a part of MY Islam, and I doubt anyone can mistaken me for a Wahhabi. peace.

sectism izm skizm

i teach 13-15 year olds at two different weekend islamic schools. recently, kids at both schools asked me "what are the shia?" and "what is the difference between sunni and shia?" how to respond... before i respond to the kids, i need to be clear in my own understanding of the evolution of my muslim community. my own subject is architecture and i've read much history to understand its context, but i havn't studied sociology and anthropology, and i only skimmed through a translation of ibn khaldun's muqadima, i know there is more to it than what i write below. but, here's how i see it... two aspects: componants and interactions between them... aspect#1- understanding the individual components that make up the muslim community. (my design oriented mind thinks graphically, so in my notebook i've drawn diagrams -a circle to represent the componant and a point in the center to represent its authority figure) here are the components: listed as COMPONANT (authority figure) -1. PROPHET'S LIFETIME UMMA (prophet) -2. RASHIDUN PERIOD UMMA (caliph) -3. POST RASHIDUN TRANSITION rival CALIPHATES and SHIA revolutionaries -4. ABBASID PERIOD UMMA (ahl us SUNNA caliph, sufi shaykh, SHIA imam) -5. LATE ABBASID PERIOD (sultan) -6. MONGOL CONQUEST SULTANTES -7. EMPIRES (badshah) -8. PRE MODERN PERIOD (colonial governor) -9. POST CALIPHATE NATIONS (revolutionary leader)... aspect #2: how these components and branches within components relate to one another and interact with each other is more complicated. (graphically i have the circles that i described above overlapping each other in various ways during the different periods of our history.) ...of course many times the complicated social dynamics and interactions between individual human beings that make upour muslim community cannot be reduced into neat bubbles. if it were only that easy... ex. one of the girls in the class has a shia father and sunni mother.... so, knowing what i know about our history, what should i say to the 14 year old child that asks me "whats the difference betwen shia and sunni?" how much history do i share with them at that stage of there growth? and what means of communication should i use? my first instinct is to tell them a story of the key incidents that caused the split. then give them the very very basic difference between the two like i described above: shia placing the imam above all and the imam being a decendant of ali. i want to come up with a role playing exercize with problems similar to the ones that caused the spilt. and have them act out what they come up with as a solution, then compare their solution to the shia and sunni response. is this too much for them at that age? should i stop at the story? i don't know what to do. help.... peace and love.

thoughts of a synthetic muzlem

mairaj is one of my most thought provoking friends... in a discussion about organizing a women in islam conference he said: "my question to the social activists is this: how are going to go change the world, when you have very little of an idea of what you want to change the world into, other than a knee-jerk idiosynchratic intuition?" ...hmmm... i embrace my knee-jerk idiosyncratic intuition, its what makes me an american-muslim. i am not a simple follower who's got all the motions memorized, fearing and rejecting any deviatiation. i am not a scientist who works purely from reason and logic. Rumi awakened me to a healthy distrust of the intellect alone. my intuition is what makes me ME.... i am an indo-pak american-muslim i AM synthesis. everything i do will be systhesis. and to make sense of my world, i've quite conciously generated a classification of my society for myself. and i do try to accept knowledge from the various classifications which may contribute to a better understanding of the world i live in. but i have become more critical of the particular things i gain knowledge of, and i do understand that the knowledge i get is limited by the classificational(is that a word?) restraints of the particular source... mairaj said that "in order to synthesize the different strands of your experience into something that doesn't compromise or dilute the product, the inputs have got to be of nearly the same quality." he definately has a point, i will try to keep my synthesizational exercizes limited to within the classifications, of course realizing that my classifications could be flawed to begin with. a good systhesis is like the micheal brook and nusrat fateh ali khan album (its hard for me to stay abstract for too long), where two types came together flawlessly to create a beautiful new type. it can be argued that the purity of a unique original should not be tampered with because it is already beautiful, but we are dealing with human invention where nothing is pure and all is sythesis anyways, you just have to know enough history to prove it and gain enough knowledge to do it right.... mairaj said "At times we've got to let go of our past, regardless of the sentimental attachment we have to it, as this is what is in the best interests of our people and our religion." ...he's got a point, but who knows, maybe its destined by the stars for me to be unable to let go, i am a libra. i read a funny astrology book at urban outfitters (don't worry i said my shahadah again after i read it), it mentioned a difficulty of letting go of past loves. funny, i'm back to being a local youth group advisor again. and yes, it could be seen as problematic by some that a lingering love for activism and power (thats right, i'll admit it, i wouldn't mind having power, so what?) exists side by side with a new found love for seeking knowledge. but this particular struggle to help my community value its women is not about synthesizing in my own desires (wait, maybe it is and maybe i need to do it) and its definately not about synthesizing my classification of my society. its about communication - plain and simple. a civilization begins with it. and that is what i have a burning desire to establish. communication between my scholars and leaders and activists. i just want more love, is that so wrong?? peace.

knowledge power action

i want to exercise my pathetic intellect a little... during a discussion about organizing a conference on the subject of women's rights and islam, mairaj said: "...We need to get out of the habit of seeing a conference, or lecture, or anything else as something that will confirm what we already know... and as merely a vehicle for social activism. This comes from our obsession with power." ...ok, so there is a mingling of a desire for power in this desire for change. so what! we all have our faults? can't it be seen as a natural human desire arising in those to whom power has been made inaccessible? maybe arising out of our fitra nature that probably wants to worship allah without being oppressed - power is considered a major human attribute isn't it? and what if we really need a social change in this specific area right now (my neice is growing up fast)? true we also need intellectually stimulating conferences and dialogues to gain knowledge for the sake of knowledge. i'm down with that for sure. i'd love to see one on modern quranic cosmology/metaphysics; or how about theology in light of new empirical knowledge; and what about the emergence of an american usul al fiqh; or hadith criticism in light of modern research methods... we have all sorts of subjects out there in the intellectual world of islam that can use some more collective thought. i myself love history, i was hyped about going to the Rumi conference a couple months back, and if someone organizes something on Ibn Rushd, sign me up! but the subject of women in islam has got some major social baggage and a sense of urgency that comes with it, don't some things fall out of the realm of knowledge for the sake of knowledge alone? ...when it comes to the issue of women, don't we have enough knowledge already to be able to move on to dealing with some of that baggage of the here and now. for the sake of our community, for the sake of my neice or the girls in that islamic school class i teach. ...anyways, i'm finding it REALLY HARD to separate these things in the case of women's rights - knowledge for its own sake vs. for the sake of social change vs. a desire for power. plus, the potential for violent sectarianism exists on this issue: imagine marchs led by disgruntled women being physically confronted by the ignorant who fear what they do not know; or muslim women who take off the hijab being assaulted by renegade muslim activists and the majority of leaders giving the "we are totally against this vicious attack, but..." type of whack statements. this sort of sh..tuff is happening in muslim countries right now, and i fear it will happen in our generation in our own masjids to people WE know. am i wrong? ...maybe we really do need more intellectual studies, books, and scholarly conferences on this subject first, before we act. but, if we go that direction, when do we act? do i sacrifice the potential hijab crisis that these 12-13 year old girls in my class will face for the sake of more knowledge? do i consider it not my problem? true, i have no guarantee that this one act, this conference we organize, is going to lead to any actual changes. regardless, mairaj brings up a good point. and I really think there needs to be a survey prepared, for us to ask our scholars and leaders to help us activists figure this one out; to finalize the nature of the activity we should organize for them. maybe they are ready for action or maybe they want to add more to the knowledge we have on the subject before they/we act, it should be up to them, up to our invited scholars.... mairaj went on to say: "...Although the more I read, the more I realize that real revolutionary change in a society is intimately related to the quality and calibre of intellectual discourse supported by that society (regardless of whether it is seen as 'elitist'), and not necessarily connected to a sloganistic mobilization of the 'masses.' " ... OK, let me use a non-human example to figure this one out: the invention of the car brought about a real revolutionary change in society. but it would not have happened if the society did not allow for a revolutionary thought in a technological discourse among inventors, building a car is definately something different from a political or socio-economic revolution for a social cause like the issue of equality. (although indirectly cars did make major changes in the social structure of our urban geography which had an effect on the actual lives of the masses). anyways... history is filled with examples like this. if america did not encourage and reward invention, we would not have the car. i dizzy when thinking of the calibre of experimental thought and technological invention our society supports. maybe not as much as europe in some areas but a whole lot more than sudan or pakistan. i agree completely with mairaj.... i drift.... thoughts twist and turn... my lighting design class takes over my mind... refractory flourescent lamp reflector casings catalog#JT824332GFSA123EB8120FO735 wow.. to much for me to digest... soo much thinking... must take a puff....... exhale... i lose myself... oooh yeaaah.. thoughts of that mystikal dancing smoke... this majik hooqa is cookin'... rose flavor to delight my senses.... SNAP out of it asad!!! ...so i guess as invention needs a backdrop to happen. so too in dialogue for a social reform a backdrop must exist and maybe it does not exist in our muslim community? is that the first step? having the backdrop, the ideal environment where thoughts are flying in from the world of ideas into the world of reality? how will this state of affairs come to exist?... this ideal environment were people would be able to come up with new thoughts about a muslim civilization and these thoughts being accepted by... those who make policy decisions, those who do business, those who teach the next generation, those who run our mosques and madrasas? i for one do want an environment where we have developments in thought, regardless of them being intended to lead to revolution or purely for the sake of an advancement in knowledge. how will this happen? maybe the social activist or religious community leader has no role in this. who does? maybe this is the real goal for any event organized on the topic of women. not the topic itself. but a step in the direction of us having this open environment for thought. hmmm... my mind wanders off again... what is my social environment?: -#1 some can see us as a sub-community (muslim) of a community (innovative americans) which actually already has this environment and the reaction we fear may only be temporary... -#2 some can see us as a sub-community (american) of a community (defeated-ass muslims) where this mentality becomes a major problem for the development of thought... -#3 but i see us as a sub-community (innovative american) of a community (defeated-ass muslims) where our innovative setting and education can overcome most of the problems that cause the hinderance of thought among muslims in general... any way you look at it: our next generation will be more american. maybe we just need to keep the language of arabic, the identity of being a muslim, and instilling in our youth a desire to know the truth. the stage will be set. pick your issue and revolutionary thought will happen. SNAP out of it asad!... back to this women in islam event, bringing together the intellectuals who think about this subject and the preachers and leaders who set the stage for how muslims should think. can bring about a change in the muslim environment, opening it up in many ways. but here i am preoccupied with change again... mairaj said: "So even if we are pre-occupied with changing the world, at the cost of first trying to reflect upon it and understand it, we are all going about it the wrong way. This is purely a pragmatic consideration: what methods are most effective in initiating social change. Look at the heydey of any society and civilization, and you will indefinately find a constant -- an almost worshipful reverence towards the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake." ...i understand what he is saying, but what do i do? now i have a desire for there to be a reverence for a pursuit of knowledge in my community, great!, thanks a lot! now what? i WILL go on and advance my own knowledge, by myself, alone in the library or with a like minded friend. i will just do it, think it, say it, and maybe risk being turned out of my ignorant community. is there any use in trying to demonstrate to my imam or msa president or to my old-school activist friend that my Radical Muslim Thought Experiment is really nothing to fear? that it is in fact exactly what we need and we should embrace it, and just like there is no reason to fear me(a fellow activist and muslim), there is also no reason to fear the muslim thought experiments coming from others who are unknown folks with muslim names that we have never seen before in our community - will they listen? is it too late to get them to accept this sort of change? maybe it IS just a waste to worry about being accepted by the community to which i once belonged? leave them to their own designs and just concentrate on my radical thoughts and the 13-14 year olds in my islamic school class. these choices are hard as hell. especially for me.... for now i know what i want: i want an environment that can accept radical thoughts. i want power. thats right, so what! i'll make an attempt to get our leaders and preachers to embrace radical thought.

Radical Muslim Thought Experiment

i'm now at a commuter university and this place is boring. i want to start a discussion circle about muslim culture to try to rile things up down here. i've named it: RADICAL MUSLIM THOUGHT EXPERIMENT. i want to post up fliers all over campus with a list of outrageous topics, a time and place to meet, and see who shows up. the discussion circle would be a place to talk about anything you ever wanted to get muslims to think about but were afraid of getting shot by a ______. ...here are my ideas some topics this semester, would you come if you saw this list? #1-deconstructing ugly: discussing meanings of beauty, then seeing if it exists among muslims; #2-love movement and a heretic ghazali brother: discussing a concept of love based on classic persian muslim thought; #3-examining wahhabism salafism izm skizm: islam's protestant reformation or murderous extremism, you decide; #4-muslim jazz and black power islam: h.rap and other experiments in crafting an indigenous american islam; #5-identity crisis, serching for a nisbah: american-muslim, american of indian descent, or just al-amriki; #6-dude, this mullah sucks: leading a revolt against a local imam, the imam husayn's shia and ibn zubayr factor; #7-muslims and music, who says its against islam: listening to and discussing junoon, mos def, everlast, and islam themed songs; #8-mun kunto mawla, ali ul mawla: listening to, discussing and getting mustt mustt with qawali; #9-picturing rasul allah: idolatry and the issue of drawing images, discussing the fatwas and persian miniature paintings.

BRODISC

Recently many of us who are discussing an activity dealing with women in islam were asked to move the discussion elsewhere. the discussion is taking place on BRODISC. Usman started the "Concerned in Texas" list to get folks to discuss what the "heck" is going on with muslims post 9/11. We used it to share our outrage, to possibly make some sort of change, at least in our own thought. to discuss, if not to DO something about what was going on in our community. maybe people have Detailed Action Plans for doing something that may actually work. maybe a discussion turns to the"details" of a proposed plan. sometimes its extremely helpful to get comments from as many people as possible, even those who only have "2 cents" nothing more. i think he'll agree that these details are really just more "ideas". the beauty of the forum is that just one simple random post DOES have the power to turn any discussion towards a BETTER direction. But while discussing the women in islam event he said:"The details of this event or revolutions need not be discussed among the 70+ ppl here... The ideas to be disseminated is another thing altogether... thats the purpose of this forum." How do you define details? if its time, place, etc. i agree, a group of volunteers for any ones idea can move elsewhere to discuss THOSE types of details. But what else does "details" include? Is BRODISC yet another place for propogating ("disseminating") preplanned agendas and activities? for those who are clear with EXACTLY what they want to do and how to do it, to simply come and get suckers to join them? suckers from among the 70+ people. should our discussion be simply "i agree" or "i don't agree"? what about asking for a more democratic type exchange regarding a possible solution? aren't we bound to run into discussing certain "details"?he said: "Now having said that, if ppl want to discuss the details, thats fine.... up to you, as long as you think the discussion is relevant to the group in general..." again, i can see how a back and forth about event time and location can be moved elsewhere, and we can leave room in everyone's inbox for discussing more "ideas". but how am i to know what is relevent to this silent majority. i don't know them, only a few of us actually post what we think on the list. what if the only relevent people are the ones participating. Hmm... it seems relevent if a post gets a good response, which the women in islam event is getting. if anything really bothers any of the 70+ they should post their objection to the list rather than complaining to the moderator in private. i joined it because there were/are some great people on the list that have the power to go beyond talk. i don't know why others joined. when i joined we were discussing ideas that may lead to revolutions, so why should we cut the discussions short worrying about what a silent majority thinks is relevent or not? Maybe his intentions and methods for this list narrowed? if they have, i find little use for BRODISC. i'm not in it to participate in discussions about neo-con conspiracy posts that go nowhere, there are other things MORE "relevent" to muslim thought or civilization for me.

leading an event

a group of us were discussing organizing a conference on women and islam, when usman said:"...BTW, what did I tell you Monem... no one stepped up to take the lead on the conference... if only we could wager..."... - his call for some type of leader for this was hasty. it was a bad call. we have not progressed beyond the discussion stage. WHO NEEDS A LEADER to discuss - in the discussions so far we have not decided to do anything specific. what effort am i being called to step up and lead? an anti-wahhabi ISNA masjid revolution, a simple innovative conference, or a progression of the discussion taking place among a small group of texas activists? its still a discussion about a POSSIBLE event to solve a problem that was still under DISCUSSION, and it was just starting to pick up steam and get more focused. people DO step up when things are clearly defined and a call for action is made. someone made a bad vague call in the beginning and no one responded. it was made clearer by mairaj- AND WE RESPONDED. the call was made by monem to get volunteers to a general cause- AND WE RESPONDED. everything else is still under discussion. i believe, you made a call for the wrong thing at the wrong time. in the real world, when the time is right monem (as the isna dude) can appoint a conference chair, or the volunteers can nominate one among themselves. and from among the volunteers so far, there is NOT a single one of US who will back off from taking action for a good cause. I can make excuses too: "oh, i really don't feel like chairing THIS particular committee, cuz...my real passion is for doing...; or, i have other responsibilities like...; or, my time is limited due to..." etc etc etc. Many people WILL give valid excuses, but it only takes ONE in a committee of volunteers who will not! and he should NOT have put people in a position to say NO to lead something so vague. When no one comes forward, it only disheartens the folks that had volunteered to do something good only in its infancy stage. SOME of us ex-UT MSA volunteers and officers ACTUALLY have led and organized before and are READY do it again. peace.

upcoming topics

ideas for possible thinking out loud posts: post 1- "nice pants!" muslim courting rituals in america among the 2nd generation, my thoughts on the after-hours lobby culture of ISNA; post 2- "identity crisis" as an advisor to a local youth group, i would like to expand upon some ideas i have about the question of IDENTITY.

islamic erotica

dr. sherman jackson mentioned erotic literature in a talk about the need for american muslims to produce culture. many at the muslim student retreat he said this at had no idea what he was talking about, not having read any erotica (being the pious muslims that we are). i too have no idea what he was talking about, because i have yet to read real islamic erotica. i have a translation of a book attributed to the great classical scholar Imam Suyuti my library. it is simply perverted a european orientalist attempt to give his society lady readers (the same people who popularized the erotic arabian nights) some entertaining literature and gain points with the chicks who want an "experienced" man. it tells us more about orientalists and victorian england's high society than it does about imam suyuti's teachings on marriage-love and his islamic law of sexual positions, if he ever had such a thing. but it's all we have in english along with Ibn Hazm's "Ring of the Dove" and the work known as the arabic kama sutra "Perfumed Garden" translated by Burton (it's online). Some muslims find erotica offensive. ...there are those who say, "dude, i don't have to see it for my self to know [____](insert haram object) is wrong." i say you DO if you want to make a judgement about it. you can always say "i don't know, i've never seen [_____]." i say if we're dealing with the topic of producing "islamic culture" in a new context like america, we need to understand the things we make judgements about. we complain about some dude giving a fatwa about life in america without KNOWING the details right? so what's the difference here? I agree with dr. jackson, erotica should be a part of the cultural production of american muslims. I'm looking forward to it. I hope he's advocated this at lectures where open minded writers are present.

indigenization at the MSG camp

when my sister asked me if i wanted to go... i KNEW i wasn’t not going to get anything out of the lectures, but what the heck, at least i'd get to hang out with some texas friends or maybe i'd see some new young texas beauties and practice "lowering my gaze."... *O BOY WAS I WRONG!... no texan beauties... they had imports!! go NAFTA! i'm kidding... texans are beautiful, really. anyways, i took more notes at this camp then i have at any other. leaving little time for aesthetic analysis of nature. the ideas presented at the lectures were thought provoking. the thinking continued even in the breaks, moments for me to annoy those around me with any statement that didn’t make sense. i said it there and i'll say it again now:THESE SPEAKERS ARE INCITING A ...shut your mouth, the FBI is probably reading this! ... anyways, it was exciting to hear these ideas coming out of scholars in a position to influence other scholars. the speakers fed off of each others presentations, dr.mattson described the camp as having “synchronicity,” dr. abdullah said it was the best event like this he had EVER been to, i agree. in the end there was general feeling that we had elevated to another stage of consciousness, i sure felt it. Houston's MSG did every thing right and its members deserve praise, mashallah and jazaks... *the topics were not new... ISLAM IN AMERICA blah blah blah i’ll summarize 6 major topics i benefited from: and cuz i have way too much time’en, i’ll demonstrate my old school rhym’en... +CHRISTIAN UTOPIAN MOVEMENTS: yall know those bearded Quakers, but how about them celibate Shakers... dr.mattson spoke of lessons to learn, prove your loyalty or else you burn... - is there really a conflict between isolation and civilization? how long can a counter culture survive and what will happen to it if there is interaction with mainstream america? how long can you last without interaction? and what if you are perceived as a threat? just check out the failure of both american “Dar al Islam”s one a utopian dream, the other’s Imam Jamil in jail... +MUSLIM SLAVES: when dr.kahera speaks of the prominent muslim slaves, i look up at the projected black and white slide, its a face of a dignified muslim who escaped the cruelty of american slavery. dr.K is still silently looking towards his notes... we wait for him to continue, its an unusually long pause, he starts to speak and his voice breaks, he starts again and overcome with emotions... unable to continue his lecture, dr.K sits back down... the whole room is silent for a moment. my eyes tear up as i look at that image once more. may allah give us that much courage... +NOT ALL EARLY MUSLIMS WERE SLAVES alexander russell webb & THE IMPERATIVE OF CONFORMING TO BROAD SOCIAL AND CULTURAL NORMS: dr.umar abdallah definately lived up to the hype. an ability to bring life to forgotten moments in muslim history with examples that american muslims can use as lessons in this important time. he says we "indigenized" ourselves before (in China and Africa), we can definitely do it again, WE MUST! he also mentions that early immigrant muslims had started but the 1970’s influx of reformist islam saw the “folk” music and dance taking place in these early communities as haram and put a stop to it. he also encouraged the production of movies and historical fiction about these early muslim communities. ISLAM IS NOT FOREIGN!... +BLACK RELIGION, LIBERATION THEOLOGY AND IMMIGRANTS: dr.jackson helps us understand why "black american muslims" and immigrant muslims can't get along - we try to understand "black religion" and how the black american viewed "bourgeoisification" into "whiteness." he told us about the nation of islam "appropriating" elements of islam to make it a lack thing (non-foreign), and how elements of "whiteness" were appropriated to make it non-threatning to the average white american. and he mentioned that if there was no civil rights movement, immigrant muslims that now dominate wouldn’t be here... +CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND MUSLIM AESTHETICS: dr.K spoke about the “american mosque,” while dr.jackson told us about his opinion that american holidays may not be haram and that just because they are not haram does not mean we must celebrate them. his point being that scholars should know the difference between the usul/root and furu/branches and we need to allow for differences as we figure out how to live as minorities. we need to know the difference between the “descriptive” and the “prescriptive.” and we must encourage cultural production if we want to indigenize into this society. we discuss the notion of “ISLAMIC insert noun here” cuz traditionally there was no such thing. there was only the legal fiqh categories... +GENDER AND AUTHORITY IN ISLAMIC LEGAL DISCOURSE: wow. i wonder if ISNA knew what they were doing when they allowed dr.mattson to become a leader(VP) in one of our biggest muslim orgs. don’t let her small size fool you... she’s not gonna stand around and be a victim of a patriarchical muslim establishment. i hope the MAN don’t take her out before she has a chance to do some damage. she mentioned that islamic law traditionally deals with certain aspects of life and authority was not one of them (cuz you had patriarchy, the sultans, and a clear role of the ulema). but now we have democracy and decaying institutions... her message: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL ME I CAN’T ENTER THIS MASJID... *there was also a civics lesson on our constitution and other lectures that went “beyond the rhetoric.” its good when a lecture leaves you wanting more... *the closing message of the camp: between ANNIHILATION and ASSIMILATION lies INDIGENIZATION... you know the seriousness and complexities now. so DO IT before its too late! ...hmm, sounds like the intellectual foundation is being laid for a clear vision...

wasting time for Palestine

Here's the real reason for the previous post on beauty...
i came across ugliness again last week and i don't know what to do. when it involves a person or a group that i feel may bring harm to our community, how do i respond? should i respond? if i speak out about it, i risk alienating myself. others may start seeing me as an annoying troublemaker. does it matter if i see myself as only a beauty-maker? i'd be lying if i said i didn't care what others thought of me. i ache anytime i'm told "well why don't you DO SOMETHING rather than just criticize." thoughts of all the time and money i’ve spent DOING SOMETHING - allah (and my room-mates) know, i pray that i’ve done it for His sake. cuz if it was for recognition - i surely ain’t gettin any. this takes me back to a philosophy of activism. i want to get mine straight before i act again, i DON'T want any of my precious time wasted...time, my quest for beauty has changed my concept of time, i’m in no rush to just DO SOMETHING. i go where my quest takes me. in the mean time i exercise my right to speak (fulfill my level 2 iman) and give constructive criticism to those who are DOING SOMETHING? is that so wrong?...

maybe i’m really just rationalizing my lazyness? is anyone buying it?...

anyways.......
***if anyone's talked to me recently they know how frustrated i am with ineffective rallies. from gandhi and imam zaid shakir i learn that marches and protests may be a good form of non-violent civil disobedience and become a powerful and effective tool for change. BUT, only if there is a REAL form of civil disobedience involved (with all these activists running around, i'm sure we can come up with something powerful) that gets the attention of those who have the real power to give you the thing you demand (ok ok, we should make dua too, because it is only Allah that has REAL power).

...*don’t it feel good DOING SOMETHING, standing on a miami sidewalk on a saturday morning for three hours. no well crafted propaganda to hand to passers-by. no passers-by to hear us chant peaceful slogans: “oh jews, the army of muhammad is coming!” no really, how can i be an anti-semite, i am arab! so i can chant whatever i want “oh jews, we will defeat you like we did at khayber, the army of muhammad is coming.” screaming allahuakbar after these peaceful chants gives some psychological comfort in the handful of protesters that show up. i guess psychologically strengthening whatever real or imagined muslim unity that exists, IS something.

...*i see only flyers for -do something- rallys. where is the flyer for a national or local meeting of our intellectuals, leaders, shooyooks, whoever, to come up with a real strategy if this issue is so important for us. when i say this to people, they say: "sounds good, why don't YOU organize one-do something!" NO WAY? Am i the first one you heard this from? I don’t believe it? and here is my frustration. i do have general ideas on things we can do, but i'm still in the midst of re-educating myself about the palestine problem. trying to cleanse my mind of propaganda from either side to discover "truth." like so many other times in the past 2 years that i’ve purged my mind of the waste accumulated by years of islamic activism.

...**ok why not! i’ll put aside my personal search for a philosophy of beautivism for my “proactive” self-sacrifice, based upon a muslim understanding of aesthetics (grounded within our “tradition”) and DO SOMETHING. but the following questions are still clouding my vision when it comes to palestine, causing my hesitation to act:

#1 -what the hell was going on from 1948-1967, before the west bank and gaza was occupied? is it like the kashmiri struggle where its been a consistent fight since 1947? Ed Said speaks of arab nationalism giving rise to palestinian ideas of a state for themselves in the late 60’s. so, if they had given up palestine and become jordanians, egyptians, lebanese, isn’t this call to go back to an imagined palestinian nation unattached to any of the surrounding lands a concocted nationalist idea, similar to Israel itself? am i misunderstanding it? can someone please point me to literature about demands for a state of palestine by the leaders of the mandate years, and if it exists, which current palestinian leader or group is continuing it? or are they all based upon 60’s arab nationalism and late-80’s intifada?;

#2 -if israel’s existance is at issue, what is it based upon? the ottomans lost palestine in ww1. i’m sorry folks. the brits and french can do whatever they want, make agreements with whoever they want. they can craft a jewish state if they want, they also promised the arabs self rule, freedom from turk domination. gave them jordan, lebanon, syria, iraq. if we say israel has no right to exist, why not add these other states in our call. they all seem to have the same root. am i wrong? the arabs helped end ottoman rule, they aided in the european colonization. traded one colonizer for another. the history is so damn messy there that i feel that its not MY fight. they created their own problem. true. the fact that my country (USA) is aiding in the ugliness there makes it my problem. And the USA is a democracy, so i should do my part and pressure my representative, senator and president to stop aiding injustice. and if the zionist neo-conservatives in the media and aipac are my problem, i should help in stopping them. but palestinians over there have to do there part too. its hard for me to oppose zionism and get politicians and public opinion here to change if the arabs keep feeding them what they want - images of intentionally targeted dead jewish civilians (terrorism)...

*should i base my activism on whatever CNN decides is the story of the moment? man, pre-information age muslims had it good. no up to the minute images to rile up feelings and divert action from what IS possible to change, local ugliness i can replace with beauty. realizing the complications of living in a global community sucks. i stop watching tv and pretend that what i can’t see and touch doesn’t exist, maybe i should get me a shaykh who can think about these complex issues for me. zikring will get that fog to clear up too. that should help end my confusion. i sincerely ask: is it really that easy? does it really work? and ultimately is that what allah wants from me? my only problem is understanding where jihad comes in, where’s the struggle in this approach? i am struggling more right now in figuring out the truth than any time before in my life? should i turn this off because it is only leading me to more confusion?

ugliness and beauty

how do I deal with the stupidity of certain local muslims activists supporting the struggle in palestinian? what follows below is just me trying to get some thoughts straight. i write just to get the confusion out of my mind....

*bismilla... over the past year and a half, the more knowledge i seemed to gain of love and beauty, the more i "saw" the absence of it (possibly the other way around - things happened that opened my eyes to ugliness which caused me to understand beauty) or maybe i've just become delusional. anyways, forces of hate, anger, injustice, stupidity (ugliness) have become more visible in my eyes. and i become increasingly confused and frustrated whenever i can’t figure out how to respond, especially to the ugliness in myself... (manditory self criticism for desired effect of humbleness, negated by this parenthetical addition)....

**the architect in me is trained to design – create beauty. and the activist in me is trained to react and respond to ugliness. to fight it, eliminate it, and replace it with "beauty"....

*a thought: working as a building inspector, i AM responding to the ugliness of shody construction. so i guess, since i AM responding to ugliness i should relax. but why am i not satisfied, had the movement folks influenced me to the point that i no longer see being professional at my work as good enough? but wait: there is always ugliness to deal with outside of my chosen profession, at home, with friends, at my masjid....

*where do i begin to deal with that ugliness? HOW do i begin? do i have any business RESPONDING to other's ugliness if i'm a little ugly myself. i hear calls to do zikr and dua by folks all the time. can it really be that easy? i read that beauty can envelop my essence and environment by midnight crys to that Ultimate Beautifier. it worked for the Masters of our Way regardless of school of thought, it should work for me, right? i pause to make a dua for a clearing of that fog that blurs my vision (reference to abou el fadl’s fog of self-deception tape) and that whispering in my head that causes zikr hesitation. help me ya allah...

*while praying for that fog - that mystifying hooqa smoke - to clear, my thoughts turn to activism... is the beautiful simply the opposite or absence of that ugly thing/action/idea? maybe. or maybe just ONE small part of what APPEARS to be ugly is the CAUSE of its ugliness. and if i target that small part and tweak it a bit, i would be helping to beautify the whole. think of a nose job or liposuction. with cosmetic changes, is the ugliness still there? maybe the problem is a deformed skull that a nose job can't correct, it probably needs major skeletal re-construction. either way, isn't a little more beauty better then before, even if it is just superficial or major physical modification. no? i hear that oft-repeated statement "a real beauty is that which is beautiful on the inside" (hinting that the problem is not with what can be seen and felt, it exists in another dimension). so what a waste of time all that activity is if in the end it didn’t lead to "real" beauty...

***screw it, the uglyness is probably allah's will...
and i should use my time building my trust in allah,...
damn that fog...
clear already so that i may understand trust....
patience asad. patience!
watawasobilhaq watawasobisabar...

*forget this pathetic attempt at a philosophy of activism. i’ll get to the point...

american muslim future

the following is what i submitted to MSG as my vision for muslims in america 50 years from now: #1- muslim political empowerment: leadership voice starts to shift from immigrant leaders to converts like imam siraj, zaid shakir, hamza yusuf. 2nd generation immigrant’s children and african-american muslims become a visible part of established political parties, formulate clear opinions, and chose sides in established political issues: environment, homosexuality, abortion, religion (same issues – within the system). Some activists among them redefine the established political positions through selections from quran and sunnah working outside the system (same issues – outside the system). A couple among us start thinking about issues that existing political parties don’t address working outside the system (new issues – outside the system)... #2- america in general: young people turn to the third parties, race relations get better but gated communities create a bigger economic divide, education. it will lead to almost as big of a change as the urban to suburban shift changed race dynamics. and economic crisis grows as young drop outs are not able to find work in a more specialized and technical economy. u.s. corporate interests dominate global economic, political, and environmental policies. the reaction will grow. support of third parties will grow... #3- muslims in general: the divide between muslims who embrace western culture and rejectionists grow. various anti-west islamic movements gain a voice due to the resistance to american imperialism and find followers among those not able to understand how to function in new economic and cultural institutions. the society in which they live becomes indistinguishable from west because cultural institutions are dominated by those educated in the west and information/communication interconnectivity enabled by internet and satellite tv...

homeland mentality

i struggle to figure out at what point a minority mentality and tieing yourself to a piece of land can become an obstacle to a peaceful existance. very interesting how Sharon believed that the palestinians already have a state - Jordon. an article a while ago mentioned that some anti-israeli american jew had said WWI was manipulated by the zionists to get palestine. at the root of any jew's self identity is that he or she belongs to a dislocated people, a minority with a unique identity and a shared struggle to survive. that self identity seems to effect the choices made and the methods used in their survival struggle. a couple of days ago on PBS, i saw a documentary on the armenians. it appears that they also carry that oppressed, displaced unique people mentality. another example -gypsies. there are probably several others... hold up! - we have a complication - the jews got thier promised land (by shady zionist efforts), and armenians got thier homeland (through communists). now... having a homeland again, - shouldn't those who identify with that land return? and if they choose to stay in the host country, shouldn't they just admit that they really are no longer an outcaste people? shouldn't the no-longer persecuted armenians or homelandless scattered jews accept a new identity, a new reality and move on with life? ...lets put aside the fact than many probably don't move to the homeland because, lets face it, would you move to a place of bloody conflict or no jobs. ...but i'm not talking about the reality, i'm trying to understand meanings (hernalmanewrticks). ...another problem is those who already have home countries that they willfully left behind, discarded, brain-drained. they should be the last ones running around claiming to be anything-anything (pakistani-american, indian-american, etc, etc) but wait - african-americans and palestinian-americans don't quite fit into the above two models. the african-americans decended from slaves are oppressed and displaced, but unlike jews or armenians, when they arrived, whatever unique identity was there was tortured out of them until all that was left was a skin color (even that was diluted through rape). several have accepted the new reality and moved on.... and the palestinians, they too are an oppressed, and displaced group, but i think Sharon may be on to something. they do have a Jordon, a Lebanon/Syria. don't get me wrong, i think if your home is taken, you fight, regroup, fight, regroup, and fight again (three times sunnah). but if you lose that war, and a whole generation of the conquerors establish themselves on that land, you move on. i don't think you want your decendants to be like the jews or armenians, wandering the land. like a small group of muslims dreaming of what was and will be again some day when a mahdi comes to the rescue. i say integrate into the host country (which should allow you to integrate in the first place) or move to Jordon to be with your 3-generation removed cousin. Of course, i understand that some segments of Lebanese and Jordonian society don't allow the refugees to intigrate. That is a definately an issue that must be dealt with because it does not allow for progress. ...in india, my mom's mamo(uncle) a major north indian scholar, told me that he went to baghdad for some meeting. the arab religious scholars were going on about how palestine should be liberated. he (a hanafi/qadiri shaikh) said to them, yes i feel for the palestinian people, but you know i think we should liberate Mecca and Madina first. After those bastards who prevent little girls from escaping burning buildings are overthrown, the decendent of the Hashimi Shareefs of Hijaz (the current king of Jordon) can come rule in his grandfathers old territory. and the Palestinains can have their state in Jordon. wow, i thought it was a pretty good solution. everyone wins. the wahhabis would no longer be there to whip women at the Sacred Masjid, the King of Jordon should be happy, he now has a higher status and a more developed country. and the palestinians get to control the land they should rule. (through Lawrence of Arabia i learned how everything got mucked up, and its entertaining too). you know what, our liberal Muslim leaders lack the cohonez to do it on our own, and we don't demand such an overthrow of the tyrants over Mecca. instead we cry. instead we wait until Israel or the US offers us a similar solution and we will not accept it then because that will mean we are selling out the West or to the Jews. why the ---k does Mubarak come and humiliate himself at the white house? if we can't take care of our own business and must let Bush decide what we can or can't do, shame on us! we deserve to have bastards who allow girls to burn to death ruling over us. i've managed to become confused all over again.

grab a marshmellow

the following is an argument regarding the allowablity of eating gelatin derived from a pig, i think its weak: "...it is impossible to differentiate between a chemical derived from an animal source and the same chemical derived from a plant source or formed synthetically. What used to be animal fat, possibly even lard, is now a chemical compound that could have been made in a laboratory or derived from vegetable oil." ...this takes us out of the realm of unlawful things being lawful in times of necessity... with all the advances in science, if we know that the same chemical is available through something halal, why intentionally use it from something haram. or, after finding out that an ingredient came from a WILLFULL use of the haram, why continue to eat it, or make an argument to justify wanting to eat it. (its like placing the dead carrion in that lake yourself, pee in the lake yourself, and then offering me a glass, saying to me "hey bro, it got diluted." well, no thank you! i like my water filtered. some people say that we need to keep things simple, that islam is not about making things complicated. well, i think going to the level of chemical compounds in order to say that derivatives of pig (or alcohol) are ok is also guilty of getting into technicalities. hamza yusuf's tapes of "Food for Thought" are excellent. he describes the eating habits of the prophet and the companions. eat healthy, eat natural, eat pure. if folks want to make lists of things they found to be pork derived, more power to them, do whatever you want in your struggle to attain allah's pleasure, and if others want to ignore those lists, and instead go to the chemical level to justify eating skittles or starburst or marshmellows, i hope its not based on whim, hiding behind a common slogan: "islam says no hardship." peace.

islam awareness week and MSA @ UT

I was asked about the origins of Islam Awareness Week at UT. I'm glad I was asked. I finally get to tell our story. But I feel hesitant to speak about my role for fear that my façade of humbleness will shear at the anchor bolts. here goes... for us at UT, IAW started way back in Fall 95 and I was its coordinator for its first few years. but the real origins go back further, what follows is based on legends and exagerated truth: I believe our IAW's roots lie with the first among the american born/raised muslim generation to enter college back in the late 80's, (folks like Asim Ghafoor Sahib). Those were the dark ages of MSA. Up till the mid-80's MSAs were more than campus clubs, they did community activities. But after masjids were built and the community activities shifted, the MSAs were left with nothing to do. A few students (members of international islamic movements) kept the orgs alive on most campuses with the simple OLSP (One Lecture Per Semester) formula. But wait, the ground was rumbling, some of the freshman american muslim youth had been community activists since high school (taking part in MYNA-Muslim Youth of North America). And now, desiring to be active on campus they joined the MSAs and by 1991-92, some of them had become officers. An OLPS MSA was boring, these kids wanted more (when do they find time to study??). I think it was some of these students in the mid-west that did the first “Islam Week” in 1990-92. and because most of the young activists around the country knew each other, the idea spread. By 1992 these american youth had revived MSA-National (Muslim Students Association of United States and Canada) and commissioned the “Ad-Hoc Task Force for the Establishment of Islam Week” which eventually evolved into today’s MSA Islam Awareness Week Task Force. (asad blows the dust off of his moldy “MSA Box”)*. The task force decided in late 1992 that “if 50 different MSAs conducted Islam Weeks at the same time, we could go from addressing issues concerning Islam in the Cincinnati Enquirer to USA Today, ABC News, and so on...In addition, coordinating Islam Weeks creates the much needed interdependency between MSAs.” So, all affiliate MSA's were told about it and “Islam Week – a resource book” was available at the MSA national convention (held with theISNA annual convention) I still have a copy of that first draft manual. It quotes the objectives taken from a U of Cincinnati Islam Week Proposal: “1) To present Islam; its teachings, applications, culture, and civilization... 2) To expose and educate school teachers... presenting Islam, clearing up misconceptions, and explaining the needs and rights of Muslims... 3) To foster collective work among the different components of the Muslim community... through joint sponsorship... Each local organization can play a significant role. 4) To maximize the participation from every member of your MSA through events that require particular talents and interests not found in many MSA activities. At the same time, MSA workers should be exposed to Islamic organizational work and leadership principles. 5) To reach out to “unknown” Muslims on your campus and invite them to become part of the community... 6)To fully cooperate with other MSAs across North America who have conducted similar events and the Continental MSA office with the intention of eventually having a continent wide Islam Awareness Month Insha’Allah...” It also quotes from a U of Illinois Islam Week Proposal: “One may ask, but why in a week? Well basically, it appears that by having an Awareness Week, it becomes a sort of official, formal, ‘hey it must be something important’ kind of event, which could lead to some curiosity, if not genuine interest in finding out about this thing called ‘islam.’ Thus the average Joe U of I, ‘leave me alone, I could care less’ will Insha’Allah be attracted to find out what everyone is talking about – Islam Week! In addition, think about how much attention national campaign projects, designed weeks and months with a particular theme get. During Black History month…all recognize the rich history of African-Americans. Many follow-up projects result. Whether its African studies Departments at universities… or documentaries about the civil rights movement, all gain credibility and steam from the month.” ... - Basically, for the early young activists that created the idea, it came down to “if others can do why not us”, and by 1994 it was officially named Islam Awareness Week and it was becoming a reality on a national level. Now... BACK IN TEXAS... there was no IAW in the wild west when I arrived in Fall 94. The MSA at UT was classic OLPS (OK fine, maybe we had a newsletter a few years before, or did some prison dawa, and many Palestine and Bosnia rallies). I credit to Rizwan Jaka and the rest, they did take OLPS to a higher level, they could’ve written a book ‘Zen and the art of Lecture organizing”. Our MSA worked like machine, when it came to our Big lecture per semester. (Shaikh Quick in Fall 94 and Imam Jamil in Spring 95 were awesome) but we were ready to evolve. I had come to austin from miami, where my sister and friends at UM were planning their first IAW that semester. I had also been a member of MYNA and attended the ISNA conventions - there was a buzz around doing IAWs. all of my friends at various MSAs were exchanging e-mails of what they were planning. And it wasn't until a year later, Fall 95 that I coordinated our first at UT. I was selected VP of our MSA, and since Mairaj (the prez) had little experience, i was in charge, the big dog, noombro uno muchacho. Of course everything wrong that happened that semester was his fault (stemming from his “6th Street is Haram” fatwa at welcome dinner 95. nice move bro) IAW was just one of the many events we planned for Fall 95. we created a list of events at our Beginning of Semester “I can’t wake up that early on Saturday” Fajr Meeting: #1 - HIGH PRIORITY -“We Must Do” Events included: Prayer on West Mall (never happened); Campout on the Capitol (never happened); PeaceNet (died a quick death at UT); Islam Awareness Week; Daily Dawah Table; Annual New Student Welcome Dinner; Establish the MSA office; Establish weekly halaqas (evolved into the legendary Cookie Halaqas); Late Jumma; Weekly Meetings open to All; and a Sports Event (Zeyn and Asif’s Basketball Tournament - Zeyns life has never been the same since). #2 - MID PRIORITY -“We Should Do” Items included: MSA Shirts, Caps, etc (happened a year later); Pool / Bowling Tournament (ie Zeyn Patel Night); Voter Registration Drive (never happened); Knowledge Competition (never happened); Homework / Old Test Collection (never happened); MSA 1995-96 Scrapbook (happened a year later); and a Picnic (turned into a Bar-B-Q after a Lecture by Shabir Aly. #3 - LOW PRIORITY -“We Could Maybe Do” Items included: Nutrition Classes by RAYFlex (never happened); Quranic Memorication Competition (never happened); and Paintball Jihad (happened 2 years later)... We didn’t let this list stop us from organizing other things: Dawud Adib Workshop (that was Mairaj flirting with Wahhabism); Islamic Relief Presentation on Chechnya; a Sisters’ Dinner; Qiyam ul-Layl-1; and Qiyam ul-Layl-Strikes Back... looking back at it, that Fajr Meeting where we decided that IAW and weekly halaqas will be a priority, (taken along with whatever happened during Hussam and Riz’s time that established our Dawah Table and Weekly Meetings), laid the foundations of MSA UT as we know it. Keep in mind that all of the above was just in Fall 95!!... (I won’t go into all the Texas M’s Intrigues of Spring 96.) I was told by the lady that used to guard the Office keys that no other group seemed more active! our MSA’s history is amazing... Anyways, back to IAW: ...Before that exhausting semester of greatness, I used to be a simple helper. i used to design flyers once in a while. and on a couple of important occasions, at our dawah table (which needs a history of its own to be written by Monem), I would display the handicrafts I had bought on recent trips to Pakistan. Now I (and/or Mairaj) had placed me in charge of our first IAW. I incorporated all the goals from the various resource manuals i could find (and my own love of Muslim history, art, and culture) to create a vision of an event that I saw as a CELEBRATION of Islam and Muslim Culture. Aside from simple opportunities to pass out flyers, I wanted to show that Islam was much more dynamic and beautiful than anyone thought. So, I wanted it to be BIG. Bigger than all those other awareness weeks out there (BLACK, LATINO, ASIAN, GAY, etc). I wanted to pack it with events. The resource manual from 92 had a flyer from U of Cincinnati which showed that they did an event every day. I thought that was great, for those who weren’t able to make it to one event, I could say "howdy, don't stress yall, there's something tonite too! And don’t forget our beautiful cultural exhibit, its runnin all week, you can’t miss it! just head towards the sounds of music as soon as you enter the Union!” SO... We (the IAW committee) planned one event each night plus 2 daytime events and a big opening or closing dinner (which never happened), everything was to be free. here's the events we did: our lectures included: one of our national leaders, Imam Siraj Wahhaj speaking on Liberty and Justice for all…; one of our texas leaders, Imam Qasim Ahmed on the Universality of Islam; one woman speaker, Mary Ali on Women in Islam (I don’t remember who suggested her, but she wasn't impressive); and a local student speaker, Usama Aziz on the Quran – (he had quite a following); we also had a free Movie; a Culture Fair on West Mall with student group participants; a Human Rights day where I posted up gruesome pictures of Muslim victims of oppression while Asim Ghafoor and Rehan Jalali made fiery speeches on West Mall; and lets not forget my center piece for IAW, my week long culture exhibit (Open every day from 10-3). It was an expansion of my past Dawah Table exhibits with additional contributions from other students.; I had even planned for a lecture by Dr. Abou El Fadl (I was in his Quran class and knew that he could speak on Justice in Islam - but it never happened)... - The previous MSA@UT generation had established a culture of co-sponsoring the big lectures with the Texas Union, Student Government and Office of Dean of Students. For example, to raise the thousands of dollars needed for the Imam Jamil lecture the previous semester, Rizwan Jaka (past prez) had dragged me around all over campus to various meetings. He gave me a taste of what needed to be done. we assigned volunteers to do various tasks and we (like those before us) dragged younger students with us as we went to submit our proposals for funds. Various campus sources gave us most of the close to $4000 we needed to pull of our first IAW. While some of the lectures had poor turn out, and the daytime events seemed sloppy, Imam Siraj and the daily cultural exhibit was a big hit with our volunteers, with the Union staff, and all who went to see it (though I did get a couple of complaints from conservative activists about my music being a part of the exhibit.) ...In the end, Alhamdullilah, our IAW was received as a successful event. Due to family and school reasons I decided not to be an officer the following year, but I stayed on as IAW coordinator. I was givin an opportunity to refine my vision for the event and improve upon the mistakes that we made the year before. My refinements over the next few years led me to create a planning guide which some other MSAs now use. We learned our lesson from our first IAW, and In 1996, we did fewer lectures and added: the Sounds of Islam Concert; a mini mosque (which I was asked to design and build with some local brothers for separate dawah purposes); Jumma on South Mall; and a Calligraphy Exhibit; our Culture Exhibit grew to include the Discover Islam Posters... that Culture Exhibit introduced the beautiful sounds of Raihan and Yusuf Islam’s latest offering... The next generation of MSA officers added a Poetry Reading and College specific talks... IAW will continue to evolve and its focus will change as organizers change, maybe even its relevance. For me, IAW was just an excuse to share with everyone my love of muslim arts and crafts, and history. I guess I felt like I was alone in seeing its beauty and wanted some company. I can’t describe how much joy I felt every time someone asked about a handicraft object in the exhibit and I got a chance to tell them about the region, its people and their art. I always ignored MSA-National’s corny themes (“Islam a Mercy for Humanity” or whatever) and instead encouraged the Arts in our IAW, because a thought from Seyyed Hussain Nasr’s book on Islamic Art and Spirituality has always guided me. it is relevent to minority life in America. it proved its truth to me after the response I got from our first culture exhibit. He said that when trying to tell others of the greatness of Islamic civilization, no amount of apologetic talk can match the results of showing them a single example of a masterpiece of Islamic art. Out of all the events we’ve done over the years in IAW, and all the press releases we've sent out, nothing got press coverage like the calligraphy exhibit we did in 97... I've learned that i don’t need a masterpiece, even my box full of over the counter handicrafts gave people a glimpse of the glimmers of beauty that linger on from our glory days. peace and love.

a non-violent high moral ground

A friend of mine said this regarding the terrorist acts commited by muslims in Palestine: "...it is difficult to talk about without being in that situation... seeing your close friends, family, neighbors, little children getting abused or killed. I think that would awaken a rage in anyone, especially when the world has not done anything about it..." ...- True. it definately would awaken a rage, but... his words suggested that those acts are OK. that non-violence need not be advocated and/or will not work. that, the Palestinian's tactics should not be criticized as unjust because they are excusable. some go as far as to say that they are allowable. a few make them required.... so, is this how it works: considering that we MUST support any part of our ummah that suffers, we should excuse and/or support their violent reactions.... and the only reason i would not support them is because i've been influenced by THE MAN who's world i've sold out to; and THE MAN always thinks HE knows better than all of us poor folk out here suffering. How arrogant of THE MAN to define the moral high ground.... - NO! i like to think of it this way: my argument has nothing to do with being opposed to suicide in particular. its about being militant vs. being non-violent... the King vs the X... the Mahatma vs skinney brown men swinging fists and axes.... - Can we say that MLK or Gandhi did not experience the suffering and the rage? NO! i've heard Gandhi-lovers say that non-violence is not passive resistance it's an active engagement with the enemy using universal teachings of love not hate. his method was clear and has been applied by people of all religions throughout the world. I hear, Gandhi's efforts brought the British to there knees. why can't we analyze his approach as an option in Palestine. i've recently come to learn: one of Gandhi's greatest supporters was a practicing muslim. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan - aka Badshah Khan (king of khans), i'm reading a book about him right now. a noble and pious non-violent warrior who, aside from ridding his land of British occupiers, desired his muslim pathan people stop killing each other over every petty dispute. he wanted to show them that there is more to being human than a violent code of honor. he was a muslim freedom-fighter that could've let rage guide him. but he didn't, and is now considered by some pathans as a noble champion of pathan independance. also... we complain that the media doesn't tell us the whole truth. and we somehow tend to think that because we know some people who fight in the resistance, we have a clearer picture. but maybe we fail to see the other efforts which are also going on and could be supported. maybe there is a group of non-violent palestinians who have a better solution. hamas/PLO/jihad/PLFP these are about political affiliation, only a few speak of spiritual affiliation. we rarely hear of the few muslim activists who choose none of the above, they want independance and affiliate themselves with a universal higher moral ground. i say "universal" because almost all scriptures and philosophies believe in that love is greater than hate. and muslims believe that god's mercy is greater then his wrath. peace and love.

unsettled state of being

Dr. Abou el Fadl wrote some beautiful words recently: "What an unsettled state of being when the mind thunders with longings, as the eyes crave to be filled with beauty.""Are we dwellers in the ruins of a dead civilization bewailing the lost memories, or are we the inventive architects of history? Are we the refuse of bygone historical experiments, or are we a part of the timeless truth etched in the conscience of humanity? Are we an ongoing revolution liberating human beings from their primal fears, or are we simply a mindless reaction to the deconstructions of modernity?" "I can understand how a people constantly under siege, and a people kept away from the Conference because of the demands of survival, lose the temperament that would cradle their search for beauty. But regardless of the reasons, I cannot understand how without such a temperament, a nation can be “given” so that it will transcend itself, and give to all of humanity." "But pillared in place by impenetrable fogs of confusion, I wrap myself in shields of patience, and in an unwavering belief in the illuminations of beauty. I long to dismantle this arrogant edifice in perfect submission to the primordial beauty, for can the mundane find a greater liberty than in its submission to divinity?" "free-willed decision to migrate to You in full dignity. I long to submit my strength not my weakness, bonded by love not undone by fear. God, bless me and bless my people with the magnanimity of love, and the strength to long, and cure me from the desolations of despair and distortions of fear."... well, ... - i want to apologize to my scholars and friends. i'm desprately trying to evolve beyond simple minded activism. I've been an activist at leadership positions since age 15 and in moments of frustration and foolish arrogance, i say things that have no meaning. the scholarly writings of Nasr, Murad, and Abou el Fadl(the philosopher, the sufi, the faqih) give me the strength to keep evolving. a few years ago i would not have understood the ideas in thier books, or the things that their students say and write. but i do now and i would'nt change one word, i wouldn't want them to dumb anything down. their words are all extremely meaningful to me... to heck with the stupid masses. my own journey to be able to understand profound words of insight had little to do with the scholar and all to do with my own state of mind. and i was glad to have scholarly books available for me to read and contemplate upon. it's said that we all have different roles to play in our society... Let the individual decide his or her own role and let's back off each other. a spark was lit a year and a half ago in me, and it was not by any inspiring lecturer, book, or event. it happened when i took a step back and looked at what was going on around me at the time. with RUMI by my side, i started an examination of myself and my own role in my surroundings, i was abolutely not expecting the longings for beauty that then began to take hold of me. while i long for a world in love with god, i pray to god that my own "unsettled state of being" does not end anytime soon.

thats poo as in poo-poo

i'd pass it around, but my stash is runnin low. my supplier in candy-haaar got nailed by a daisycutter. dude...my posts start out "normal" - i swear. but then i get mustt and in my haal, i'm no longer in control. yeah, i'm in the car, but i can't feel the road baby...i fasten my seat belt and step on the GAS anyways! by the way, i found it interesting that in my emotional response to communal riots i did not distort any facts and ended up finding a great example to reinforce amina wudood's analysis. she seemed to me to be stating in scholarspeak exactly what i wanted to say. also, i've heard her speak and she not a dynamic speaker either, its probably why she appears to want others to speak to the masses.

where are the scholars?

If my goal is to stop potential violence, the rage, the hate... to shine some divine light upon the darkness of ignorace...I think i must try to REACH the REAL audience, both the haters and the ones who will REACT to that hate with anger. Different forums for different people. I think the EXPERTS Must hold open introductory level events (free lectures at masjids instead of ballrooms for Muslims). For years i've wanted great scholars like Seyyed Hussain Nasr, Abdul Hakim Murad and Dr. Abou el Fadl to give talks to those uninitiated. Primarily because some of their devoted students fail to do a good job (sometimes a follower/disciple come off as a weirdo). ...an EXAMPLE: When i was an officer at MSA-UT i wanted to introduce my fellow muslims to the great teachings of orthodox sufism (which i believed to be one thing that can neutralize rage and take us closer to perfection) but the scholar i invited for an introductory talk entitled "the Lover and the Beloved" failed. I did all i could to get people to him, but he failed to capture them with his message. then there was students like Zaheer and Mustafa(Steve) who also spoke about sufism at an informal MSA cookie halaqa, they FELT the beauty of the qasidas they recited, but the audience did not, they too failed to capture the audience. (i praise their efforts)... but we must succeed, i'm tired of failed attempts. we must keep islam from being JUST a vehicle for rage, and our experts can probably give the BEST introductions to the sciences that make islam beautiful. but they must connect with their audience. even if its just on a small informal scale. why don't they do more? they should visit more masjids... so many opportunities are wasted at masjids, and MSA's? but maybe they already are doing this. maybe there are so few of them that there presence is not felt everywhere... - when it comes to the topic of theology or law, or dealing with injustice and rights in the face of oppression, its a subject the MASSES need an introduction to, aside from scholarly lectures at universities, exclusive AMILA retreats, or pricey MSG/Deen Intensive camps attended by those who already care. preeching to the converted. I hear that Dr. Seyyed Hussain Nasr doesn't even go to his campus jummah prayer. While I was in Austin, i didn't see Dr. Abou El Fadl at our late jummah. But, I will give them both credit for having students that ARE active. But like i said, We need the Experts to Give some good intros. Dr. Abou El Fadl has some great teachings for our time and place... but, it doesn't help when he or his students become overly critical of the preachers and activists (Hamza Yusuf or Siraj Wahhaj) that the masses listen to. You know what, "sidi hamza" and "imam siraj" connect with an audience. the masses love'em. the listening masses are the spreaders of beautiful teachings of love OR angry messagers of violence. if neither our experts, nor their students are able to connect with the masses, they should at least try to get their message to those leaders that the masses DO listen to. Has anyone presented Imam Siraj with "Speaking in Gods Name" and sat down with him to explain who exactly Dr. Abou El Fadl is, his teachers, his background? what he thinks about the book's arguments? and if he has any questions? Imam Siraj is one of our biggest and BEST leaders, and he's open minded too, its a shame if we dismiss him in our struggle against ignorance. for me, its not about islam as a social/political movement to replace the west. it IS about educating people about the nuances of the Way, which may help them understand better the Beauty of Allah in these times of difficulty. considering our ummah's defeated condition, i don't want my brother's or sister's rage-filled actions to be a cause of their suffering in the next world. How can i get my message to them? i want to tell them: "things are going to get worse bro, but there is something i learned from my heritage that helps me control myself, my rage, and it is something that is FROM... NO -its THE ESSENCE of the teachings of our Divine Beloved. its complicated but here's an intro etc.etc.blah.blah" Dr. Abou El Fadl's Tafseers, Fog of Self Deception, Building A Partnership With Allah and other halaqa tapes are AWESOME, i wish i had been there to benefit, six whole years ago, i can't see why they didn't taken place openly, our "liberal" MSA would have gladly publicized it as we did our arabic classes. Fine, maybe that was not the time... What about now? Is NOW the time? peace and love.

india smells like poo

here's the news item: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/28/india.train/index.html
...let me summarize: about 50+ people dead in india when train carloads of hindu nationalists were set ablaze by angry people (maybe muslims). its the same hindu nationalists that have a list of historic masjids to be replaced by hindu temples. they believe that its an effort to re-establish temples that existed on those spots centuries ago. for those of you who aren't indian, here's some background info: WE indian muslims consider OUR destroyed masajid to be "shaheed." with such a mess after their first strike in Ayodhya, the government has prevented the construction of the temple to RAMA that the extremeists want to build on its site, as well as any other masjid's martyrdom, for fear of massive riots. but the temple's construction goes on (thousands of craftsmen off-site busy carving pillars). WE indian muslims believe that it can go up overnight cuz there are thousands of hindu volunteers ready to help and the police won't get in there way. this is why any hindu nationalist calls for a rally in Ayodhya are signs of trouble and violence.
...I visted several masjids that are on their hit-list. in Mathura, next to an existing temple for Krishna, there is a masjid Aurangzeb built over the ruins of an earlier temple to Krishna (as in Hare Rama Hare Krishna). Which itself, i read, was built over the ruins of a Buddhist structure.
...There is only one route to that masjid and the local hindu population park cows and water baffalos along that route. There was even feces all over the steps that lead to the gateway. Once there, I had to go through metal detectors and they frisked me before i was allowed to proceed, police were lounging around everywhere. I was interrogated when they saw me sketching. among the only two other non-police there, one was a hindu dude with a robe and marks on his forehead following me around. While i can understand the police "protection of the site" and was not angered by it, scraping poo off my shoes had me ticked. I wasn't there during a prayer time, but i wonder how many muslims want to go through all the trouble to pray there if there is a more peaceful alternative... An empty masjid sure is easier to demolish... If it was only as easy as saying "please don't blame me for something my ancestor did, and since you already have a temple right next door can't we all just get along. cuz destroying a centuries old mosque will only lead to feelings of hostility and frustration within a minority and could lead to violence and blood shed."... Go on, Rally in Ayodhya, but beware of the mess that you create. ***warning: read the rest at your own risk, it includes language that is intentionally designed to offend... here's the bigger picture: the militant extremist hindu's want sympathy. i find it hard to feel sympathy for anyone who creates an atmosphere of hate, then portray themselves to be innocent victims of aggression. that percieved aggression of the muslims is only being a reaction, a natural HUMAN frustration that reaches a limit, TRUE it must be controlled by the rational ability that God has given us. But, I'm not perfect, and this atmosphere of hate is a hinderance in my path to perfection. if my family is harassed, my movement is restricted, and on top of that my masjid is desecrated - can you blame me? of course i'll be a reactionary! and i will NOT apologize for it. my frustration goes beyond the point i can control with my love powers. it ozzes out as anger. my anger reaches the point where my hand becomes a fist and rises into the air. put RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE into that boombox, baby. push play and i will unleash my frustrated fist upon those who frustrated it... now we will dance in our cyclone of violence.... complicated discourse of islamic law or cosmology has lost it relevence to me at this moment (oh my beloved scholars, you failed to motivate my simple frustrated mind). its not about me having freedom. hell, its not even about my islam anymore. it IS about that damn hater hindu nationalist and me, it IS about my reactionary fist in his or her ugly face, my dirty-poo shoe kicking his or her ass, my rage does not discriminate... CONTROL yourself Asad, control is good, control is right... PART TWO: who's to be blamed for the carnage, and be punished by tribunals? The Haters? Those who React? Or those who failed to spread great teachings of love or justice before this whole mess began, those who failed to inspire a new generation of lovers of justice? Are we working to neutralize the root of the cycle? or will we sit on our buttox and complain about injustice (or stand on street corners holding stupid signs)? sometimes its government actions at the root but sometimes its also the beliefs and practices of a majority of the citizens, which a government only reflects...Nationalist Hindu cow-piss lovers frustrate my Indian Muslim family, white christian fundamentalist republican Israel-lovers frustrate immigrant American Muslims and african-americans. How will YOU (concerned/confused individuals affected by an atmosphere of hate) neutralize the creators of that atmosphere before MY RAGE is unleashed?By Dawah? By Love? By Education? By Politics? HOW?? Whose answer is best? I don't know...

keepin it platonic

about platonic friendship. i've now read more than a few classical books on muslim love theory, here's my observation. we can be compassionate to all, but if we seek real friendship, our scholars say that friendship and love are related. there is muhabat-love, which all muslims should believe in. it's gereral and can exist between all who cleanse their hearts of greed, pride and conceit. it has nothing to do with sexual urges. it has everything to do with being a beautiful person. but your inner and outer beauty attracts a beholder of beauty. lets not forget ishq-love, which some say is good, some say bad. the fire of ishq-love can ignite when one beholds beauty. the philosopher says that isqh-love seeks physical union. the mystic says ishq-love is an affair of the soul seeking a spiritual union. Didn't Al-Ghazzali say that love is an attachment between hearts. the heart, the soul, the spirit, the self, different names of that inner light. i was just an innocent by-stander when your terrorist thighs struck me down. after your beauty has lit my flame and the fire rages within. you can try to say: "just control your self, bro." to which the heretic-ashiq-lover will respond: "What Self?? You FOOL, My self exists NO-MORE! How can i control that which belongs to GOD, that Divine breath which gives life to this lump of clay. Didn't al-Ghazzali say that love emenates from my heart. Didn't al-Ghazzali tell me that i have more than one self? Didn't he say, to deny the others and let the Divine self shine through. Mine eyes, they say, are My windows to that soul. They have gazed... and witnessed a manifestation of HIS Divine Terrorist Beauty... (you think yo mama gave you those terrorist thighs)??? And Now you speak of CONTROL."HUSH asad HUSH!!! You have spoken too much!

groopies

about the hamza yusuf "groopies" and leaders/followers. In my journeys, i visited the graves and witnessed the devotees of Jalaluddin Rumi in Konya, Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer, Ali Hajweri in Lahore, Bahauddin Zakaria in Multan, Shabazz Qalandar in Sewan, Nizamuddin Awliya in Delhi. It is said that love is a blindness. sometimes in our passionate attachments to great scholars we lose our ability to see their and our own human deficiencies. but this issue must be handled delicately. i thank allah for giving me intelligent and articulate friends like usman and mathew and mairaj who took part in a much needed discourse on this subject on the muslimdisc list.

images of the prophet

just got back from one month in the land of my ancestors. a land famous for its miniature paintings. about pictures of our beloved prophet?!? aztaghfirullah! i've read much on and seen many persian miniatures, but... Some of the mi'raj pics are among the most beautiful works of art i've seen. They reflect MY civilization's ability to absorb the beauty of parent civilations as well as a desire to inject color and intricate geometric designs into our great book-based civilization. the artform probably came into existance because Mongols embraced islam but did not arabize themselves. plus, YOU try telling a Mongol or Turk warlord "images are haram." He'd slice off your head, then commision the paintings anyways. your poor severed blood-dripping head at the gates of the beautiful palace serving as a warning to other self righteous scholars trying to command good and forbid evil or brave souls trying to score iman points by speaking up to a tyrant. i don't know whats worse: Oppressive/Progressive Il-khanid, Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal princes sidelining sharia scholars, but sponsoring imaginative, unique, beautiful art and images of our beloved prophets in their poetry and history books (prophet Yusuf and Zulaikha was a favorite subject) or hyper-sensitive Muslims and idealistic activists ignorant about muslim history and art running around saying "there is no images in islamic art" or "we did not do what the christians did," ignoring centuries of our figurative art. maybe its a product of movements founded by arab or arab-wannabe activists who dismiss the history and contributions of non-arab muslim peoples producing a bunch of deluded followers. I can understand efforts to keep images of the prophet out of new productions. fear of iconization and all, but, its a shame that Non-muslim scholars seem to know more about our civilization than we do. we look like fools when they reply that those images of our prophet were from books produced BY MUSLIMS.

segregation

the topic is: ethnic culture as a barrier to unity;
community;"a single brotherhood";"nations and tribes"

monem said:
"I think the barriers are coming down, and a lot faster than people seem to think. When I got married to Iman, I was among the few who married someone from Arab descent, however, I quickly realized that it is not the case. Infact, I would say the number is about 60-40; 60 being from the same culture. But again, you must define was same culture is. Because I consider myself American, nationally, and so does my wife, we eat the same food (except the spices), and we both want our children brought up as Muslims. I would say that this qualifies us as 'same culture'."

Well, monem, although i agree with you that barriers are coming down as we build bonds of friendship and marriage, let me set that aside for a moment...

any "same culture" is troubling to me. I don't think its reality.
and wherever it appears to exist it's only because we see from outside, ignoring the subtle varieties within. i agree with the few who say we can probably have lasting bonds if we share a common concept of humanity. going beyond any need for a same culture - to basically unite on a higher level.

so, what about islam and culture?...
call me selfish or backward, but I can't relinquish my particular culture in the name of a never-has-been/never-will "islamic culture". to me its all about "manifestations"...

-point of view #1: SIMPLE...
islam IS the culture. muslims following a "true" islamic faith and practice will lead to a pure culture that unites races, languages, etc, etc, blah, blah... sorry folks i don't believe we can start from scratch so easily. i've heard this sort of idea from several converts and folks in the "movement." some mistakenly believe they had separated themselves from their "jahiliyah" cultural realities when they became serious about islam. although they profess an islamic purity, i clearly hear their background shining through: indo/pak, or anti-colonialist, or american black nationalist, or hippie rejectionist of capitalism (any of these are relevent within a social context). i forget who said it "we are a sum total of our experiences" why live in denial? accept who you are. i think that you can be a muslim and still hold on to these aspects of your upbringing. which leads me to...

-point of view #2: COMPLICATED...
islam is an ideology with no particular culture. muslims build faith. which leads to islam manifesting itself from within their culture by cleansing some practices and creating new practices to fill any dull voids in life...

but our common faith of islam can unite us only if we're able to:
#1-really clense ourselves when we come upon some practice that causes concern; and
#2-accept and look beyond variations of foods, dress, language, etc. etc...
more eloquent smarter people have made this obvious point before...

actually i think some sorts of segregation are built-in to the american muslim experiance. based on the way we see america and how to live in it:

pick one:
-option 1 "its a melting pot you fool" assimilation towards a unity based on our common american-ness;
-option 2 "no its a salad bowl you idiot" no assimilation or integration. instead, a creation of alternative lifestyles that can exist side by side;
-option 3 "islamic state rules/kafir dogs burn in hell" no assimilation/integration/alternatives. only islam;
-option 4 "its all good"enough politics fellas. lets get the party started...

the above option we pick has more to do with the way we are naturally segregated by the american experience than any percieved language, ethnic, or race barriers. also, there's no one american cultural experience that binds us to each other. Some of us live in a suburban mostlywhite america, others in a mostly black/Afro-american/Bilalian or latin/chicano/hispanic urban america. Some of us distrust the establishment and its "so-called"democracy or find it against islam, others quite opposite. many don't care. some are busy indulging their hawa(desires)...

I don't need to be a sociologist, and psychologist to know that islam will have different cultural manifestations among individuals growing up in these american sub-cultures or political/economic conditions....

monem said: "So I think the barriers to friendship are not psychological, i.e. we are not, at least in our generation, racist, but economical. And we need to do something about this..........."

maybe. i'm sure some of us try to transcend. but racial barriers still exist among those growing up within the typical american sub-cultures. for example, even in our generation i've seen an interesting mix of anti-immigrant biases and subtle anti-americanism among many urban african american muslims i've met. it keeps some of them from fully accepting a flag waving hyderabadi sub-urbanite or arab corner-storeowner as a good muslim. if it is an economical barrier i don't think we can convert all to socialism or put our money into a community pot anytime soon. probably because we don't share that common concept of humanity yet.

peace and love.(confused more than ever)

Shaykh Wanabi Jama'in al-ashiq ibn as-Siddiq goes to UT

i'm a miami floridian
so how the HELL did i end up in TEXAS??
if you're curious... after a stint in community college, in 94 i had to choose where to finish my architecture degree.

choice #1 UF, gator country
familiar faces and a familiar architecture program,
a continuation of the same world i was in
with familiar east coast muslim activism.

Damn, it could've been an easy ride.
(no what ifs asad. NO WHAT IFs!)

choice #2 UT
all i knew was the hype i'd heard from the only people i knew there.
-only dude i knew #1-Mr.Texas Rehan Jalali, a childhood buddy i hadn't seen in ages.
-only dude i knew #2-Adil "Florida", a cat i'd met for a brief moment in orlando while organizing a muslim youth sports tourny, he sent me info about the acrhitorture school and hyped up the honeys..uh..i mean..AWESOME MSA. no...it was Rehan who hyped up the honeys!
just kidding, the honeys had nothing to do with it.
no...i discovered them on my own at orientation.

I choose the unfamiliar place half a continent away because UT had better architecture facilites.(a better looking building with nice bathrooms!!) LORD HELP ME...Give me strength to look beyond a beautiful appearance! UF would've degreed me in 97. right now i'd be designing mansions on miami beach.
DAMN YOU TEXAS! DAAAMN YOOOU!!
aaAkh THUUU...I SPIT on you for making my life and my worldview complicated.

I can't be a simple muslim architect with superficial views about "islamic art" because of you.
I can't be a Naive "Can't we all just get along"Activist because of you.
(no what ifs asad. NO WHAT IFs!)
Before you i knew NOT...

of complicated "DISCOURSES" or "METHODOLOGIES" or ahadi and mutawatir or usuli and ahl al-hadith. Thank you Dr. Abou el Fadl.

of an idealistic "VISION" for america's muslims and those irrelevent global islamic movements. Thank you MSA VISION CAMP 96. and all our vision meetings that followed.

of confusing Cosmic Sacred Geometry or wierd arabic words like Muqarnas and Ablaq in Islamic Design and global Islamic House architecture. Thank you Dr. Kahera, Shirazi, Carol Bertram and all of UT's classes in islamic art.

of the Fact that some of us are not Ready, and some Ahead of our Time when it comes to TRULY DYNAMIC Muslim Community Activism. Thank you JAMA'Fest 99 crew and Houston.

Before you, Texas, i KNEW NOT of true ugliness
-hatred and the absence of love in our hearts,
that much activism designed to unite WILL fail.
cuz many of us are YET UNABLE to love another.

How do i ignite the fire of love?
LOVE...that ROOT of BEAUTY/UNITY/UNION/Closeness...
Thank you UT-MSA sisters 99/2000, you shattered my simple view of reality and turned my eyes toward a world of lovers-

after an ugly week of hatred at the end of my MSA career Rumi and Hafez became my guides. so here i am trying to bring my thoughts together on a search for true beauty and with a longing to be afflicted by the disease of love... wanting freedom from the shackles of my passions. here in miami working with my father as a building inspector, architecture degree incomplete, reading and thinking more than i ever did before...

on a discussion list (muslimdisc-all thanks due to goose all mighty) where i can continue a VIRTUAL college night of sitting in a living room at 3am - discussing with my brothers and sisters: the meaning of life, the problems of the world, our ummah, or deep philosophy. (like after dinner at Adil Florida's apt.) i look back to that choice between UF and UT...
Alhamdulillah!
peace and love.