September 2010
15 posts
“Suffice it to consider that since World War II, 313 conflicts have taken place...”
– Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni - Islamophobia and the New York Mosque Controversy
Finding Him
The man wearing the orange jump suit taking a deep breath, pausing; out of the darkness and into the light, a fruit borne from a late autumn tree blooming.
Young Joseph found Him, abandoned in the solitude of the well Jonas, in the belly of the whale, yearned for Him to answer his call.
Emerging from his tiny, dull cell block led by a burly guard frowning. A wounded bird with clipped...
Excerpts from a speech I gave at a DePaul...
“The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us”
– Church billboard I saw on way to work
Ceding Control
(Had the following conversation on Twitter with Founder of altmuslim.com and zabihah.com Shahed Amanullah after he tweeted regarding an open letter that was written to the "old guard" (i.e primarily immigrant generation) leadership of many of the major American Muslim organizations. What do you think?)
@shahed: Reading a "Letter to the American Muslim Leadership" just sent to me by the organizers of tomorrow's summit in NYC
@shahed: The "Open Letter" asks the old guard to cede the stage to American-born Muslims. I'll believe it when I see it.
@EimanAbdel: @shahed cede? Why don't those American born Muslims create their own org's if they're so ready? Not seeing it unfortunately. (contd)
@EimanAbdel: @shahed reality for most org's is big donors are the one's who drive. American born Muslims need to take that over too if they are so ready
@EimanAbdel: @shahed and I say that as American born Muslim with same frustrations you have w/ status quo leadership. But can't ignore how org's work
@shahed: They are (UMMA clinic, IMAN, Muslim Advocates, ING, MPSN, and more) RT @EimanAbdel Why don't American born Muslims create their own orgs?
@shahed: @EimanAbdel I gave up a long time ago the idea that the baton would be passed from one generation to the next in our acronym orgs
@EimanAbdel: @shahed gave up too. And am very proud of the org's you listed.
@shahed: @EimanAbdel i created @altmuslim and @zabihah because I wanted to make a difference without going through traditional channels
@EimanAbdel: @shahed I did the same with @webbfoundation here in Chicago
Martin Marty - Franklin Graham on Islam and... →
Professor Martin Marty, renowned scholar at the University of Chicago School of Divinity:
Aestas horribilis, Queen Elizabeth might call the summer just past, or those who care about civility in religious discourse and interfaith relations might judge it to have been. While Sightingstook August off, forces, agencies, and voices of prejudice and, frankly, hate-mongering, did not. “Protest...
Seminal Moments for American Muslims
sem·i·nal / ˈsemənl/• adj. 1. (of a work, event, moment, or figure) strongly influencing later developments:
Much has been written and spoken in American Muslim circles describing the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 as a seminal moment for the American Muslim community. In aggregate, the various explanations provided by commentators, scholars, and bloggers around the seminality of...
Punching Above Your Weight
Read this quote today in an NPR article about the ironically named Dove World Outreach Center and the Center’s plan on celebrating 9/11 by performing a Quran burning event:
Jones’ evangelical Christian church, which espouses anti-Islam philosophy, made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts proclaiming “Islam is of the Devil.” The congregation’s website estimates it has about 50...
Mind Mapping Online (for free) →
Discovered today a great free tool online for those of you who like the mind mapping approach to breaking down ideas and problems. Site is called bubbl.us. Am very impressed with such a dynamic app being implemented via a web browser.
My Daily Newspaper →
Consolidates links and information from my twitter feed (both me and who I follow) into a daily newspaper. Expect to see more applications like this get built on top of the social networks.
Check my newspaper out.
10 Year Old's Feedback
10 year old: “Don’t I know you?”
Me: “Well, I am friends with your dad and came over to your house a couple times.”
10 year old: “No. It was somewhere else. Didn’t I see you giving a speech … “
Me: “Probably. You probably have been to the Center on a Friday when I have given a speech.”
10 year old: “I like your...
