August 2011 – Page 4

9/11 Unity Walk – DC

islamoyankeeAugust 12, 2011

The 9/11 Unity Walk invites you to commemorate the 10 years since the acts of terror on September 11, 2001 by building bridges of respect and understanding. IMAGINE the sound of the Muslim call to prayer at Washington’s largest synagogue. Imagine Jewish cantors and “Amazing Grace” sung over the mosque loudspeakers.LEARN about different faiths at open houses for churches, synagogues, temples, gurdwaras and mosques. BE MOVED BY speakers with names like Tutu and Gandhi, enjoy diverse cuisines, and participate in a service project hosted by Unity Walk‘s Interfaith Youth Action Group (IYAG). Desmond Tutu, on the Unity Walk: “It touches…

Music

A Diplomatic Mission of Muslim Hip-Hop – NYTimes.com

islamoyankeeAugust 12, 2011

A Diplomatic Mission of Muslim Hip-Hop – NYTimes.com. But Native Deen’s faith places it in the history of American hip-hop more generally. Pioneering hip-hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Wu-Tang Clan have demonstrated in their lyrics the pervasive influence of Islam in black America. Even when rappers are not themselves Muslim, Dr. Abdul Khabeer said, many borrow ideas and terminology from orthodox Islam and from Muslim-identified groups, like the Nation of Islam and the Five-Percent Nation.

Intra-faith

The Eighth Annual Brass Crescent Awards – Honoring the Best of the Muslim Blogosphere

islamoyankeeAugust 11, 2011

The Eighth Annual Brass Crescent Awards – Honoring the Best of the Muslim Blogosphere. The Brass Crescent Awards, a joint project of altmuslim and City of Brass, is an annual awards ceremony that honors the best writers and thinkers of the emerging Muslim blogosphere (aka the Islamsphere). Nominations are taken from blog readers, who then vote for the winners.

Intra-faith

THE CHAMP IS HERE | 30mosques

islamoyankeeAugust 11, 2011

THE CHAMP IS HERE | 30mosques. Being teased about his appearance was tormenting, he said. Until he was seven years old when an African American woman at school told him something that he still remembers to this day. “She said ‘You look that way because you’re special,’” he said. “’If God wanted you to be like everybody else and just be normal, he would have made you that way. But he made you look special because you’re supposed to be special. If you’re going to be special, all the stuff you’re going through is training for that.’ “And the thing…

Photos

Faith and Football Meet in Wee Hours – Slide Show – NYTimes.com

islamoyankeeAugust 11, 2011

Great slideshow. Faith and Football Meet in Wee Hours – Slide Show – NYTimes.com. For a second consecutive season, Coach Fouad Zaban of Fordson High School in Dearborn, Mich., turned his football team’s two-a-days into two-a-nights, from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., to accommodate the observance of Ramadan in the predominantly Muslim community.

Politics

Rick Perry: The pro-Shariah candidate? – War Room – Salon.com

islamoyankeeAugust 11, 2011

Not really related to Shari’ah at all, but a good article. In the interests of transparency, I was briefly involved with the Texas curriculum project. Rick Perry: The pro-Shariah candidate? – War Room – Salon.com. Perry is a friend of the Aga Khan, the religious leader of the Ismailis, a sect of Shia Islam that claims a reported 15 to 20 million adherents worldwide. Sprouting from that friendship are at least two cooperation agreements between the state of Texas and Ismaili institutions, including a far-reaching program to educate Texas schoolchildren about Islam. That’s a partnership that has already prompted a…

Inter-faith

Michelle Goldberg Explains Why Jews “Recoil from the GOP” | NJDC Blog

islamoyankeeAugust 11, 2011

Michelle Goldberg Explains Why Jews “Recoil from the GOP” | NJDC Blog. Newsweek’s Michelle Goldberg published an article today in Tablet detailing why today’s Republican Party repels a majority of American Jews. In the article, Goldberg explained that the Republican Party’s coziness with radical Christian factions makes Jews uneasy. She criticized Republican claims that Jews are leaving the Democratic Party as one of the “perennial canards of American political commentary.” Using historical facts about Jewish voting patterns, she emphasized that the majority of Jewish voters are unlikely to vote Republican because many in the GOP define America as a Christian…

Intra-faith

Beliefnet Voices – Aziz Poonawalla – City of Brass

islamoyankeeAugust 10, 2011

Beliefnet Voices – Aziz Poonawalla – City of Brass. It is in these 6:42am moments, as I am woken by the blinding sun, hungry and incapacitated that I know there is no magic in the minute, no need to count fasting by the number of hours completed. It is the simplicity of routine, the humility borne from discipline that I always seem to leave out of my lofty Ramadan plans. It is my favorite lesson to rediscover and it leaves me forever thankful that Ramadan graces us, and especially me, every year.

Television

TLC Orders ‘All-American Muslim’ Series – The Hollywood Reporter

islamoyankeeAugust 10, 2011

TLC Orders 'All-American Muslim' Series – The Hollywood Reporter. TLC is attempting to take a deep dive into Muslin-American culture with its new series, All-American Muslim. The series, set to premiere in November, is designed to bring viewers inside a Dearborn, Michigan community with the largest mosque in the United States. The cameras will chronicle the everyday lives of five appropriately diverse Muslim families, focusing on their customs, celebrations, conflicts and misconceptions.

Inter-faith

Stories of Loss and Chaos: The Ninth of Av and the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

islamoyankeeAugust 9, 2011

Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster: Stories of Loss and Chaos: The Ninth of Av and the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. Stories change with every retelling — sometimes the details and sometimes the meaning. The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks will be here soon, and then the stories will begin again.