Brooklyn Bedouin

Instead of using our brains to expand permaculture and vertical farming we are in a system where unhealthy calories are subsidized? It is cheaper to buy a bag of chips and other junk food instead of getting some apples or other local fruits. Across the world we have seen the results of these programs in food riots as prices in oil have shot up and forced transportation of goods to be too expensive. We have see farmers in poor countries put out of business by international trade agreements and crops and species of animals limited because they no longer fit the specifications of an consolidated food industrial complex that desires conformity over seasonal and regional variety.

American Muslim Consumers

Just now at the American Muslim Consumers Conference where the focus is on the focus, trends, and opportunities behind the vast and largely untapped potential of the American Muslim Consumer market...

Although I am happy we are meeting and how it will enable me to be able to serve the communities I want to serve but skeptical if it just means the availability of Muslim eyeballs to uber corporate entities like fast food chains, etc

bb

My World was an Urban Jungle...

My world was an urban jungle in the dawning of the age of crack and rap. When I was 5 years old I thought that the entire world was a sea of buildings. What shattered that reality was none other than my father.

There is a place just outside of New York City, just north, called Bear Mountain. You can get there by driving or even by bike. In the early 80’s my father took my older brother, my sister, and myself out there. I must have been 5 years old and that moment transformed the way that I would see the world forever.

Bear Mountain was a hiking paradise for the casual hiker and we were exactly that – little Black Muslim city kids walking around in the country for the first time. What I recall from that trip was moss growing on rocks, mushrooms on rotting wood, and drinking my first drink box where you have a straw to poke into the box. I had never been to a place that was not city. The lesson was the most clear and simple one.

On a personal note, I was raised Muslim by my parents who converted to Islam. Both my parents were attracted to the fellowship and empowerment message of the Nation of Islam. It is important to note that the Nation of Islam was more of a Black Nationalist religion and less of actual Islam. There is considerable writing on this. However the NOI had value in its emphasis on economic independence – an old fashioned self-reliance that was powerful enough to transform the lives of millions – like the lives of those in my community and family. The NOI contributed mightily to the Civil Rights movement which paved the way for Muslim immigrants coming from countries where immigration had previously been severely limited.

Where the NOI went wrong is that it did not officially follow the Sunnah – the example of the Prophet. My parents, along with many others, were then naturally drawn to a deeper connection with Islam and soon converted to Islam in its traditional form. I was the first child who, from birth, was “born Muslim” in my family. Meaning that my father recited the call to prayer in my right ear just as I was out of my mother, it was the first sound I heard on Earth.

  

My fathers’ family comes from Upstate NY where my grandfather was born on a Native American reservation in 1908 and from Virginia where my grandmother was one of nine in a traditionally well-educated churchgoing black family. When you go back to Scottsburg Virginia you can still see the grave markers from my extended family going back to the 1860’s. We are a proud people very much rooted in the land. There was some legend that suggested we even had family members that fought in the Revolutionary War. We are an All-American family in many respects.

My father was raised in Queens but took his summers in Virginia for this reason he always loved and respected the natural world. As a city kid and then a city father he took it upon himself to imbibe us with a love of the natural world himself. When he took us out to Bear Mountain my father stopped to pray one of the five mandatory prayers and told when we asked him if he could pray in the woods he told us: “the Earth is a Mosque”.

'And do not backbite one another.' (Al-Hujurat: 12)

In light of recent events i searched the internet to find a islamic position/essay on backbiting. here is one of the results of this search. 

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. 

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger. 

Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the prominent Muslim scholar, states: 

“Islam prohibits backbiting (ghibah): 'And do not backbite one another.' (Al-Hujurat: 12) 

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted to drive home the meaning of backbiting to his Companions through questions and answers. He asked them, 'Do you know what backbiting is?' They replied, 'Allah and His Messenger know best'. He said, 'It is saying something about your brother which he would dislike'. Someone asked, 'What if I say something about my brother which is true?' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, 'If what you say of him is true, it is backbiting and if it is not true you have slandered him.' (Reported by Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and An-Nasa’i) 

When a person dislikes someone, he is likely to find faults in his appearance, behavior, lineage, and anything else which pertains to him. `A’ishah narrated that she said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), 'Do you see that Safiyyah (another wife of the Prophet) is such and such?', meaning that she was short. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, 'You have spoken a word such that, if it were mixed in the water of the ocean, it would darken it.'(Reported by Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and Al-Bayhaqi) 

Backbiting is nothing but a desire to belittle people, to slander their honor, and to deride their accomplishments in their absence. Since this is stabbing in the back, it is an expression of narrow-mindedness and cowardice. Backbiting is a negative trait, and only those engage in it who themselves are not achievers. It is a tool of destruction, for one who is addicted to it leaves no one without throwing a dart at him and wounding him. 

It is no wonder then, that the Qur'an paints such a repulsive picture of this vile habit as would make people shrink from it in horror: 'And do not backbite one anther; would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would abhor that.' (Al-Hujurat: 12) 

Since one feels sick at the very thought of eating human flesh, how much more revolting it is to think of eating the flesh of one's dead brother? 

Whenever an opportunity arose, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stressed this Qur’anic imagery in order to imprint it on peoples’ hearts and minds. Ibn Mas`ud narrated, 'We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then a man got up and left. Whereupon another person spoke ill of him. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told him, 'Pick your teeth.' The man replied, 'Why? I haven't eaten any meat.' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, 'You have eaten your brother's flesh.'(Reported by At-Tabarani) 

Allah the Almighty says: 'Allah does not like the announcing of evil in public speech except by one who has been wronged; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.' (An-Nisa': 148) 

The general rule concerning the permissibility of speaking about someone in his absence is governed by two considerations: (1) the need and (2) the intention. 

(1) When there is no compelling need to mention the third person in a manner in which he would dislike, one must refrain from violating the sanctity of his personality and honor. If there is a need to mention him but the need can be met by an indirect reference, one must not be explicit. If a general discussion is sufficient, the mentioning of specific persons must be avoided. For example, in seeking a juristic opinion, one can phrase the question as, 'What would your opinion be if someone did such and such a thing?' rather than, 'This person is doing such and such. What do you think about it?' Again, if one must identify the person, he must mention only what is true, since ascribing anything false to him is prohibited. 

(2) In any event, the intention is the decisive factor. The speaker knows his own motives better than anyone else —whether it constitutes a genuine complaint against wrongdoing or mere spite, an inquiry concerning an issue or a slander, a scholarly criticism or envious backbiting, piece of good advice or the spreading of a rumor. It is said in this connection that the Believer is a sterner judge of himself than a tyrannical ruler or a greedy partner could be. 

Islam has decreed that the listener is the partner of the one who is absent, and he must defend his absent brother by repudiating the slander being spoken. 

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'If anyone defends his brother who is slandered in his absence, it will be (his) due from Allah to set him free from the Fire.' (Reported by Ahmad) 

And again, 'If anyone defends his brother’s honor in this world, Allah will shield his face from the Fire on the Day of Resurrection.' (Reported by At-Tirmidhi) 

If a person does not have the courage to speak out in defense of his brother against malicious tongues, the least he can do is to withdraw from such company until they turn to some other topic; otherwise, the verse, 'Truly, you would then be like them.' (An-Nisa': 140) would apply to him." 

Rush Limbaugh WHINES AGAIN!

This past week I posted a blog post on my Takeaway Blog and here reflecting on Rush Limbagh’s bid to be part of an ownership group. My critic of paled in comparison to the one offered by Dave Zirin.

 

Yesterday Rush was bumped from the prospective team because he was making it difficult. ESPN reported:

All franchise sales must be approved by 24 of the NFL's 32 teams -- an ownership group that is overwhelmingly white, conservative and focused on the bottom line, which could have suffered if fans or advertisers were angered by Limbaugh.

And then went on to report:

Said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was a loud voice of opposition to Limbaugh's bid: "It's remarkable in that he was denied by other powerful whites. At the end of the day, his own peers said, 'You are a liability.' Even the rich and powerful do not want to be identified with racism."

Rush Limbaugh is a crybaby that never takes responsibility for his own actions. He is NOT a conservative and real thinking conservatives and libertarians should be ashamed of him. When pinched in a corner, he lashes out like a scared child an blames Obama for anything he does not like. His anger and his Fear mongering finally took away something that he wanted – good riddance.

 

In fact he is a modern day fascist in that he has created a religion out of nationalism and his particular brand and point of view.

 

He is the worst example of American.

Obviously, I am no Dave Zirin, read his excellent piece on the Rush Reaction

Where he quotes the following:

 

We can only assume that he is proud to have said , "The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons."

 

Or these other gems :

 

“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal . They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

 

“Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”

 

To an African-American caller:

 

“Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

 

Or upon hearing that Spike Lee said that black schoolchildren should take off from school to see the movie Malcolm X :

 

“Spike, if you're going to do that, let's complete the education experience. You should tell them that they should loot the theater and then blow it up on their way out.”

 

Or calling Barack Obama "Halfrican-American " and saying:

 

“In Obama's America , the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, ‘Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on’.... We need segregated buses--it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama's America.”

 

Zirin adds:

 

Some are surprised that ownership didn't welcome Limbaugh with a passionate embrace because most owners are to the right of Attila the Hun. They are billionaires who have feasted at the public trough of corporate welfare while basking in tax breaks for the rich. In other words, they constitute Limbaugh's base. But his membership in this exclusive fraternity of billionaires would violate the first rule of ownership: protect the bottom line.

 bb

 

 

 

 

Rush Limbaugh is NOT fit for NFL ownership...

There were two incidents in my football playing days that I thought of when I heard Rush Limbaugh was part of a group vying for ownership of the St. Louis Rams. One happened to me in high school, and the other in college.

It was a late fall game where Sidney High School was playing Walton. We were on the comeback and our coach, Mike Brazee, came into the huddle to tell us he would kiss the goal line if we punched it in. Our center was a guy that was openly hostile to me – I was the only black player on the team, maybe even the only black player in our Class C league of teams located in the foothills of the Catskills, in upstate New York. Our center was not only hostile: he was racist. In that moment, though, when the coach looked to me to punch the ball through the goal line, I recall him turning to me. In that instant there was nothing between us but camaraderie, teamwork and, dare I say: brotherhood. Football had brought us together. We had finally gotten on the same page, looked past our animosity and the racial barrier and saw one another as humans. (...continue reading)

Omar Mullick

 

 

The Details: http://flavorpill.com/newyork/events/2009/10/8/omar-mullick-cant-take-it-with-you

Check out the Flavorpill review:

   

Call it Omar Mullick's 21st-century angle on The Americans. For his first solo show, the photographer hyphenates Robert Frank's landmark observance of the mid-century outsider with intimate, telltale documents of Muslim American life across our land of the free. Collected over seven years and with a title lifted from a Radiohead opening line, this exhibit offers a keen eye into the behind-the-veil aspects of the Muslim community, gracefully capturing madrasahs and halfway houses, children and the elderly. And by stilling the scenes in black and white, Mullick daisy-chains his democratic account to past chronicles of the ever-nebulous American experience.

– Jason Jude Chan

Conversations with a Pakistani Christian...

He started the conversation talking about a Muslim “Uncle” who was rather secular and then went back home to Pakistan and came back talking about Allah this and Allah that. – seemingly hyper religious. 

My Pakistani friend expressed concern about something in particular. He told me that because he is Pakistani and Christian (and in Brooklyn his community is small, and the majority of Pakistanis are Muslim that he grew up around Muslims) saying As-salaamu-alaikum (Peace and Blessings be Upon You) was like saying whassup, how ya doing – hello; normal and easy to do.

So when this particular uncle came back with his new found so-called religiosity and with some of his other newly religious uncles (older brothers) they informed him that they would no longer accept hearing the traditional blessing in the form of a greeting from him simply because he was not Muslim. WWPMD?

I mention this conversation because it led to another series of conversations that illuminated something quite troubling in regards to racism, halal, and the importance of knowing where your food comes from as well as illuminating that so-called religiosity from the outside says nothing about a persons inner state. 

In the Christian tradition there is a principle of the charity and sharing of the message or sharing the good news, not everyone has to do that per say, but it is considered part of your good works. Some people make it their mission or their calling and others simply are a good example and live their lives with such good character that they call people to their faith by their example.

Islam has a similar ethic. Dawah, which means to call, to appeal, or missionary activity, or a good wish, among other meanings. For some that means specifically and actively calling people to Islam but to others the application of this principle is the same as it is with Christians  - it is how your example resonates in such a way that calls people to your particular path. You example of good character can speak much louder than your words. 

If you are telling people that they cannot give you greetings of peace and blessings because they are not Muslim then you are not setting a good example. In fact you are setting a very very BAD example. 

That same cab driver was so hurt by this “uncle” (who was the father of his friend) because their families had broken bread many times and their kids play with one another as well. The uncle closed a door and destroyed a bridge between two families based on some absurd interpretation of his own bigotry.

Speaking of bigotry. The same Christian brother, lets call him Vic, lives in an area where he has the option of going to halal delis that are near one another. He goes to one all the time where the brother that works there has as his workers some Mexican gentlemen who do the behind the counter cutting of the meat. One day he decides to go to the other deli where the brother behind the counter tells him that he sees him going into the other deli all the time and has been wondering when he would stop byt HIS halal deli and proceeds to tell Vic that his deli is MORE halal because he cuts the meat himself… that because Vic’s usual place has Mexicans cutting the meat it is LESS halal. WHAT??!! WWPMD?

And speaking of Halal… Vic also related a story of back in the day when the meatpacking district was still the meatpacking district and when some of his Pakistani friends would be told to go out and get halal meat. Instead of going to known halal meat dealer they would simply go to the meatpacking district and come back with meat killed any old way and tell people it was halal.

Leave it to a Pakistani who can “pass” as Muslim to call out the Muslims. A moral of the story is watch where you get your meat. If you are trying to keep Halal then you better know where the meat was killed and who killed it etc.. Do not take it for granted that Halal and zabiha mean those things but don't always operate with suspicion when you eat at a Muslim persons' home. If they tell you the meat is halal that is between them and Allah. 

This leads me to the future: Green Deen Food is Clean Food for the Future.

In a little land called Green Zabiha where you know that your little chickens roam freely and eat off the land, that they are vegetarian fed and happy chickens. In Green Deen, InshAllah, I will tell you more about the alternative to racists and questionable zabiha… the everyday people making Green Zabiha happen now!

WWPMD? What Would Prophet Muhammad Do? - peace and blessings be upon him. 

bb

Street Ball and Pennants

October has arrived. A chill is in the air and crisp playoff baseball is about to begin. In the American League, The Boston Red Sox are hobbling to the finish as the wildcard. The Red Sox will face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who are the champions of the AL West. As for the Central division, the race has been filled with drama as the surging Minnesota Twins chase the Detroit Tigers.

In the National League the picture is less dramatic. The Philadelphia Phillies are in the driver's seat as the defending World Series Champions. In the west, the L.A. Dodgers are in and the St. Louis Cardinals have wrapped up their NL Central spot. All that's left is for the Colorado Rockies to close the deal — which it appears will, in fact, happen — because the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Marlins have lost too many key games down the stretch.

Baseball is on my mind. And sometimes when you focus on something it comes to you even when you least expect it. ...(continue reading)

By the way. Look at this street. It's First Avenue in Manhattan. Look at it closely. in a few years it will NOT LOOK LIKE THIS. The DOT has plans for First Avenues that includes bike lanes and bus rapid transit and not to mention a subway that is being tunneled underneath.

Eid Mubarak to All!

When i was a boy living in upstate ny i remember going to an Eid celebration in Binghamton NY with my family. The Muslim community in that part of the world was small but we represented as well as we could. My father and some of the brothers stood around the perimeter and kept a careful watch over the gathering and i took part in the thikr vigorously. I recall that it rained that day. I remember thinking that there had never been and Eid that i could not recall it raining. It was the first Eid that i recall being very aware of from a spiritual perspective - that the rain was more than just a nuisance, that perhaps the rain was a message of something far greater. I was cluing into the power of water. Or, better said, the Power of Allah with rain as one of His signs.

The majority of the Eid’s ever since have had some form of rain, snow, something faling from the skies. I am writing about Eid because in this year when an Oakland imam gave a kutba about our nafs - you know the concept? our lower desires - and that Ramadan is about our soul, the part of us that does not need to eat, sleep, shit, have sex, taking a moment to look at our nafs - the part of us that is tied inextricably to here - this life, and that if let out of control our nafs can totally undermine our knowledge of our soul and our success in this and the next life...

the Greatest Jihad is controlling the Nafs - prayer is forcing them to submit,

Ramadan is a time to see, observe, to take stock of your relationship with your nafs... and to get them to submit. The nafs are your compulsions, your ego, and they never stop in trying to control what you are doing. He inner battle, the real soul struggle is with the nafs. Again, it is called the greatest Jihad, the greatest  holy war, because the soul and the nafs constantly go at it.

This year i have been pulling back and observing the places where i am compulsive, the  places where i am not as much in control and feel more guided by animal like instinct. Noting that space and then marking it down - determined to not let me nafs control my soul because my soul is the undying part - i want to serve the Divine.

Strangely, this is the first Ramadan that i will be unable to celebrate Eid in community.

I usually go with a reliable sighting of the new moon as reported via the folks at Zaytuna and Crescent watch, see below:

Crescentwatch has not received any reliably confirmed reports of the new crescent moon being sighted in North America this evening, Saturday Sep. 19.

On the basis of numerous negative reports from California, Texas, and Florida, we will complete the 30th day of Ramadan tomorrow and celebrate Eid al-Fitr on Monday September 21, 2009 in sha Allah along with millions of other Muslims worldwide.

A number of claims have been made to sightings of the moon in the United States on Saturday evening, in locations as diverse as Buffalo, New York; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Lodi, California. We have taken the time to evaluate these claims individually and found them to be unreliable. In each case, some of the testimony provided by the witness did not match with widely agreed upon, simple observational facts, known to any person who makes a habit of consistently sighting the moon.

* We are aware of confirmed moon sightings in Guyana & Surinam, South America, and that some organizations have decided to accept those sightings for their determination of the date of Eid. In line with the criteria Crescentwatch used begin the month of Ramadan and that we, and numerous other moon sighting organizations, have been using for many years, Crescentwatch currently accepts confirmed sightings only from the continental U.S. and Canada.

However, acceptance of reliable sightings outside of those boundaries is an entirely valid fiqh position, and would allow for people to celebrate Eid on Sunday. Zaytuna Institute, Crescentwatch, the Hilal Sighting Committee of North America, and numerous other organizations have decided to stick with the standard continental U.S. sighting region, until a broad consensus on such important changes can be reached.

For all those that are celebrating Eid Sunday or Monday, we wish you Eid Mubarak. May Allah accept your fast and all your efforts during Ramadan.
Last Updated: September 19, 2009  23:26 PST
Posted: September 19, 2009  20:10 PST

I happen to be in California right now. Basically, i am fasting today. but in NYC the communities i am a part of are celebrating Eid today. I am leaving tonight, God Willing, and the communities that are celebrating the Eid tomorrow are having their prayer service tomorrow morning.

Basically. for the first time in my life i will not be able to enjoy the Eid in company of other people. For a Ramadan that has been about taming my nafs i can think of no better way for it to end. This process has been between me and Allah - of course, i have shared some insights on my blog and with friends, but at the end of the day - talk is cheap - it is our actions that shine and speak for us. That is a great reminder, the most excellent lesson that i could ever be blessed with in this most auspicious time.

Eid Mubarak and Eid Kareem to All. Allah is All-Seeing and All-Knowing, and the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. To Him i come from and to Him i will return. Blessings to Prophet Muhammad and all the rightly Prophets and Uluma.  May he accept our fasting, the best of our intentions, and may Allah grant us the best of our affairs in this life, and save us from the Abasement of this life and may Allah save us from the Punishment of the Fire in the Hereafter. I say this for myself, my mother, my father, my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my teachers, my imam’s, for someone special and her family and her teachers, and for the Muslim umma as a whole - particularly the strivers in NYC and California. Blessings to Prophet Muhammad and all the rightly Prophets and Uluma. Allah is the Most High, Allah, the Sublime, Ya Allah Ya Allah - there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah. Amin.

ps- look for rain today :)

bb-

Breathe peace, not nicotine!

Tarawih prayers let out on Steinway Street, and the chattering crowd moves slowly down the block through the low hanging smoke. There are almost 25 Hookah cafes in an approximately one-block stretch. With lolling fat men with mustaches and nubile nymphettes showing bare shoulders as they sip from Shisha pipes, the scene is from a bad 1950’s sword and sandal epic, perhaps a tale spun off from the Bible and populated with eye-rolling Philistines and other Hollywood “Middle Eastern” types. It is an orgy of Arab self-indulgence—and a carnival of cancer.

 

The fast of Ramadan is meant to help free us from bad habits. But as the month ends, how many of us have used this time to get free of the smoking habit?  Since starting a program called Nafis Salaam to study and stop smoking among Muslims, I have begun to notice smokers everywhere, and especially among the young. I see them clustered in doorways, I notice their itchy fingers and hungry mouths, I smell them smoking next door and downstairs, I notice their air of defensiveness, evasion and sometimes desperation.

 

Every day in the USA, 4,000 young people start smoking. And every year, some 400,000 Americans die from smoking related illnesses. Around the world, some Muslim ethnicities have the highest rates of smoking—over 50 percent among Turks, Bosnians, Muslims from the former Soviet republics, Bangladeshis. Arab communities’ smoking rates are also increasing, as tobacco companies target them in marketing. Studies demonstrate how sedentary and unhealthy many Arab nations are becoming, with increasing rates of cancer and heart disease.

 

Consumption of unbalanced foods and well as cigarettes is affecting your friends and neighbors. While perhaps slightly healthier than cousins back home, the South Asians in New York have been found to have a 28% rate of diabetes. And Nafis Salaam’s polls of over 150 diverse New York Muslims show that over 50 percent are regularly exposed to second hand smoke. We should be alarmed by this health crisis.

 

On top of this, we are now seeing the rapid spread of Shisha as an economic engine, chic—or kitschy--celebration of identity, and a habit that is more dangerous to your health than cigarettes. Steinway Street rakes in the cash from nargila pipes, while everywhere Yemeni and Egyptian delis sell packet after packet despite the prohibitive prices.

 

This is self-imposed genocide. This is mass delusion. We do this to ourselves. Interesting that NYC Mayor Bloomberg should ignore these Shisha cafes, making an exception to his tough anti-smoking laws. This exception easily kills more Arabs than Israelis killed in Gaza. Why, when even in Baghdad and in Istanbul new regulations against smoking are finally being implemented?

  

Unless they are smokers, imams are generally very clearly against smoking. Some will deliver passable Khotbas on the subject. And yet, how very few will organize AA style support groups for quitters in their congregations. I have floated the idea—but the real push for this must come from within the congregation. So many Muslims are passive consumers of religion and have low expectations. African American communities seem a step ahead on understanding the need for social services, but are woefully under-funded. Someone has to start this service! How will our mosques grow into the healing gardens they were meant to be?

 

Many leaders have promised to help our Nafis Salaam program, but are slow to water our own gardens. Imams should step up to the plate on smoking prevention and cessation, no messy gender issues for them since it mainly affects male Muslims. We hope to soon have videos of imams' khotbas posted along with quitters’ stories. We would also be willing to post your personal stories.

 

As we go through the NYC Muslim community, I meet men and women who tell me stories—of loved ones unable to quit, who die suddenly, of their own attempts and frustration, and also stories of victory. ‘I feel so healthy and clean” they say. “I can taste food again!”

 

Recently I have been reading some Ibn al Arabi passages that remind us that how we treat our bodies is a service to God. I have to admit I hardly ever think this way. I wonder: if we were all more in touch with this intimate truth, would we be more tender towards His creation, and to each other?

 

Addiction is such a prison and smoking is a internal rendition. It is not enough to hate this evil in our hearts! It is more appropriate to ask, “How can I help?”  You may risk a sour look, but why not tell Muslim merchants not to sell this haraam. Even if you think it is just Makruh, help your friends and family to get free. Help them lovingly.

 

And if you are a smoker reading this please know that this struggle to quit is a form of the Greatest Jihad. Let us all celebrate quitters, and seek the inner freedom through struggle, insha’Allah. There are streams of waters beneath our feet along smoky Steinway Street— you can almost hear these silent waters--healing is so near. Breathe peace, not nicotine, not 15 known carcinogens.

 

Our community can often seem like a broken thing. With the self-congratulatory public iftars, the insecurities and blame, all the habits of our beleaguered cultures, it is as if we sit on a hill of ants. But we can begin to listen to our human souls, in order to address the disconnect between cultural versions of Islam and the spirit of the deen.

If you think you might be able to help us develop this movement of awareness against the smoking habit, a movement of liberation and empowerment, a hope for new life, please be in touch. Please contact or call 718 512 5176. Peace to you.

this is a re-post from Adem Carroll of the Muslim Consultative Network

US Muslims: backlash fear builds each 9/11 - By Rachel Zoll (AP)

US Muslims: backlash fear builds each 9/11

By RACHEL ZOLL (AP) – 19 hours ago

NEW YORK — There is the dread of leaving the house that morning. People might stare, or worse, yell insults.

Prayers are more intense, visits with family longer. Mosques become a refuge.

Eight years after 9/11, many U.S. Muslims still struggle through the anniversary of the attacks. Yes, the sting has lessened. For the younger generation of Muslims, the tragedy can even seem like a distant memory. "Time marches on," said Souha Azmeh Al-Samkari, a 22-year-old student at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

Yet, many American Muslims say Sept. 11 will never be routine, no matter how many anniversaries have passed.

"I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach every year," said Nancy Rokayak, 45, of Charlotte, N.C., who covers her hair in public. "I feel on 9/11 others look at me and blame me for the events that took place."

Rokayak, a U.S.-born convert, has four children with her husband, who is from Egypt, and works as an ultrasound technologist. She makes sure she is wearing a red, white and blue flag pin every Sept. 11 and feels safer staying close to home.

Sarah Sayeed, 41, who lives in the Bronx, said that for a long time, she hesitated before going out on the anniversary. The morning the World Trade Center crumbled, she rushed to her son's Islamic day school so they could both return home. The other women there warned that she should take off her headscarf, or hijab, for her own safety. She now attends an interfaith prayer event each Sept. 11, keeping her hair covered as always.

"There's still a sense of `Should I go anywhere? Should I say anything?' There's kind of that anxiety," said Sayeed, who was born in India and came to the U.S. at age 8. "I force myself to go out."

The anniversary brings a mix of emotions: sorrow over the huge loss of life, anguish over the wars that followed, but also resentment over how the hijackings so completely transformed the place of Muslims in the U.S. and beyond.

A poll released this week by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 38 percent of Americans believe Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence. That is down from 45 percent two years earlier.

It is now common in U.S. mosques for Muslims to preface public remarks by saying they know the government is eavesdropping but Muslims have nothing to hide.

"It put a lot of Muslim Americans in the position of, `We don't blend in as much as we thought we did,'" said Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, 32, a native New Yorker whose college friend was killed in the World Trade Center.

Some of the Muslims interviewed for this story said they have been subjected to insults, though not on the Sept. 11 anniversary. Sayeed remembers a man walking by and calling her "Taliban." Closer to the attacks, an anonymous caller told Rokayak to get out of the country.

Abdul-Matin, 32, said he avoids TV news on the anniversary "if it's too much of this drumbeating or warmongering, if the focus is on `what they did to us.'" He prefers spending the day with his relatives, especially his mother, who was with him in Brooklyn the morning of the attacks.

"It's a family day," Abdul-Matin said.

This year, the anniversary falls on a Friday, the Islamic day of congregational prayer, and during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, when mosques are usually packed. Muslims expect their prayer leaders, or imams, will at least mention the significance of the date in their sermons.

Asim Rehman, president of the Muslim Bar Association of New York, was at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan when the planes hit. He said he passes the day "as a proud New Yorker" in "prayer and reflection" for the victims, their families and others.

Not all mosques will commemorate the day. A significant number of U.S. Muslims contend that no one of their faith could have perpetrated the hijackings. They resist suggestions that they should be monitoring their own communities for extremism.

Kamran Memon, an Illinois lawyer, has taken a different approach, founding Muslims for A Safe America, which challenges fellow Muslims to learn more about national security. The debates and talks he leads at mosques throughout the Chicago area start from the position that Muslims were behind the attacks.

On the anniversary, Memon keeps his work schedule light and prefers to stay home. He reflects on what happened, but his thoughts are more focused on what could be ahead. Some Muslims are convinced that if the U.S. is hit with another terrorist attack, the government will put them in internment camps, he said.

"There's this fear about what down the road this will mean for my daughter's future. What kind of life will she have here?" he said. "People may be less angry or less hostile toward Muslims in general, but if there's another attack, what then?"

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

How Hearts Change...

“What conversation are you having inside yourself?”

I walk around the crowded streets of Manhattan, listening to the calls of the sneaker sellers, the street meat vendors, passing rows and rows of plants and flowers that crowd the side streets below the garment district. I walk to the mosque in the middle of the day to pray my midday prayers.

One day as I was leaving I came upon a young Bengali brother who I knew from going to Baruch College. We chatted and talked and he walked me near to my block – going about 5 blocks out of his way to accommodate me. The next day we met again, and I paid him the same courtesy and we walked 5 blocks out of my direction. He told me a story:

He said it was a Hadith, which I cannot narrate the chain of authenticity so please forgive me. I will relate what he told me because it is relevant in terms of our responsibility to one another, our understanding of what it means to lives as brothers and sisters on this planet earth, and for its connection to the concept of justice in Islam.

The false choice we make in the United States is between a sense of a collective responsibility and our so-called rugged individualism. Obama mentioned it in his speech on health care last night. And it comes to mind when I think of the story the young brother related.

He said that in the time of the Prophet  - peace and blessings be upon him – there was a very rich man praying, and a very poor man lined up next to him and began praying. The rich man brushed off his shoulder signaling that he did not want to pray next to this poor man. Upon the end of the salat the Prophet was told of this and subsequently commanded the rich man to give the poor man half of his wealth. The poor man refused the wealth because he did not want to become such as the rich man. Allah knows best, forgive me if I have related it wrong.

“What conversation are you having inside yourself?”

So I began walking back to my office, over one block, down another, into the dregs of the garment district where they fix sewing machines and hagglers wrestle over the price of thread and needles, then over another block and down a stretch. En route I came upon a fruit vendor selling an assortment that included dates. I rarely see a fruit vendor selling dates (especially during Ramadan) so I bought 4 for a dollar and he put them (wastefully) into a plastic bag. Clutching the plastic bag I proceeded along my merry way until I turned on a street I rarely turn and then to my left saw a young man sitting against a building with a sign on cardboard written in English saying that he was homeless, hungry, and would accept any assistance. He was different than the other people in The City with these types of signs. Why? Because he was NOT white. Usually I see young wayward white youth hawking in NYC in this manner.

This man was Indian. Not what I expected to see. I passed him then turned back and of course gave him the bag with the dates. The smile on his face was enough to make me tear. Not because what I did was so special, but because we shared a very human moment. I was ecstatic for that smile – I may have made his day but he seriously made mine.

“What conversation are you having inside yourself?”

THE conversation --- about hearts and how they change:

The Ocean of Brooklyn

My breath is Brooklyn bound-

  In leather sandals and mets caps

Backpacks with dodger blue in

  South American mestizo Spanish

In purple tops with stray straps dangling

  In gold chains and fat rimmed spectacles

In blinking eyes, squinting to catch a glimpse

   A moment of solace dressed in all black

    With a ny sports club pack

With graffiti of rust on metal doors

 O’ the arrogant ones!

O’ selfish kin

    Thou art the reflection of me!

 

The loud mouthed and toothless,

  The Dominican and Lubavitch

     Post messiah and wandering

Red-flushed wine faces

  Black stained; what’s read all over fingers

   They have sandals and blackened feet

And they trace the desire lines on their fingers

   With remembrances and thikr

In fancy shoes and collars popped

   In saggy jeans to tight to drop

Breathing, wheezing Brooklyn

   They scratch the surface

    To play the daily numbers

Adjusting… golden rings.

  Everyone clinging onto something.

To possess, grasping demanding

  Losing breath, chests aching,

    Expanding, contracting…

 

Until the doors of the train open.

   Like a valve, an outlet to the sea,

My body floats out of this brackish train

   Into the salty streets

Of this land of kings, next to queens,

   The borough, the city, the planet,

     The Ocean of Brooklyn.

Finley Quaye - Even After All

LAST LINE: Even after all/

you just survive soldier/

and your soul is beautiful/

and your soul is good

Signs for those who Reflect

Literally everyday of Ramadan has its own miracles. Today was not different. Even still, I am stunned by them and anticipate them. It is like knowing that The Creator is going to do something special for you (besides properly apportion you for the environment, order the stars and planets into fixed orbits, make an invisible energy field called gravity keeping everything in its place on earth, make plants and animals our friends, protectors, and sustenance, and rain water on us so that our bodies stay moist – oh and perfectly position my heart in relationship to all my other organs so that I can live – plus making my soul and literally everything else: time, love, feelings, etc…) Still, everyday I feel like Allah gives me a special opportunity to reflect in a way that is like a mini revelation. In Ramadan I suppose I am keenly tuned in.

It is the month that the Angel Gabriel would relate the signs of Allah in the form of Arabic verse, and ordered divinely to our Nabi (saws), so that now we have a collection called The Quran. SO being open-hearted an able to discern the previously indiscernible is quite likely.

Regarding my heart… a dear friend sent me this:

There’s this pace in all of us that wants to love, a soft childlike place – the place that can connect easily to spirit, to God, to joy. This place is the most exposed and hurting during times of heartbreak. Much of the time, we aren’t as connected to this part of us. But in heartbreak we can connect easily, we are constantly mindful of this soft part. We have a unique opportunity to open up to this part – to fall in it – to let groundlessness be grounding. We can see with new eyes when we are seeing from this soft place – we can see ourselves differently and move in different ways. If we allow it, we can learn, grow, and love, pray, eat, sleep, and work more intensely & with more presence and awareness than ever before. We have new insight, we can become more awake. If we don’t fight it. This is ultimately a chance to surrender.

So with these new eyes, with this open heart, with a situation where I needed to really take a look at myself and find out what I can do to get myself right within I have been spending more time around the elders in my Muslim community. As a result I came across a recurring friendship with Brother Abdul Qadir, of Masjid At-Taqwa, the special assistant to Imam Siraj. He and I have been talking, building, me listening and learning from my elder. This is a miracle in itself – time with an elder black anchor in my community. Especially since both of my grandfathers passed long before I could come to know them.

Well, it turns out that this brother also has a role in my life that I did not even know. It has to do with him and my mother. Here’s how she tells it:

“I was a freshman in college, he would sell Muhammad speaks, on Franklin Ave, I  started buying the paper and would go to this progressive afro centric shop to get black stuff …  that sorta stuff was still relatively new in 1970. We would talk about the Nation and eventually invited me to the mosque on 116^th street first, its’s where I first took shahada, prior to taking that I was in college taking a religious course, I took theology and liberation, that and other courses, one of instructors was a Muslim from Egypt, gave me a Quran he got in 1952, the year I was born – I was planning to convert, serious thinking, I had gone to the mosque on 72^nd and riverside [now the 96^th street mosque] and went a few times, and never felt quite at home and that is why I joined the nation of Islam. He would come by the house and sell the paper, and soon I became active with the paper, then I became one of the secretaries, over the years we would always recognize one anther. [as the community grew more insular and less accepting of difference] He was one of the people that was never harsh, never judged me”

Brother Qadir did not take me under his wing because he knew who my mother was. But when he did find out he shocked me and mentioned the street where my mother grew up. After that we became buddies. Last night after iftar at Taqwa (Imam Siraj returned yesterday too and I handed him a date that he broke his fast with!) we rushed to his house and ate some strip steak, green beans, and brown rice his wife left for us. A wonderful circle of faith and fellowship in black and Muslim Brooklyn – that is a Ramadan Miracle, and its one for the ages.

bb

 

Block Party Postponed to Tuesday, September 1 Due to the weather, we have postponed our outdoor screening and festival to Tuesday, September 1. The starting times and location remain the same! When: Tuesday, Sept 1 at 6pm (Films start at 9) Where: Mullaly Park, Bronx NY (corner of E. 165th St & Jerome Ave, near Yankee Stadium) Admission: Free Bronx Princess is the centerpiece of a celebration of West African arts in the Bronx! We're throwing a party to show the film in the "Little Ghana" neighborhood where we shot it. Join us on the lawn of Mullaly Park, surrounded by art deco architecture, and watch Bronx Princess with the Ghanaian community. The event is part of Rooftop Films Summer series. Live performances by Ghanaian-American hip-hop sensation Blitz the Ambassador (who composed the film's score), funk by mamarazzi, and storytelling by poet Kewulay Kamara. Bring the family for kids activities and college resources for teenagers. More information and directions. Here's our press release and Facebook event page. Thank you to event sponsor BJ's Wholesale Club.

©2009 Highbridge Pictures |

ps- this was done partially by my brother in Islam Musa Syeed the illest filmaker, mashAllah!

The Heart and why you should Quit Smoking.

I see this arab brother every year. He is frail but sturdy, scraggly but tidy. He drives a cab – a favorite profession amongst immigrant Muslims in NYC. He always smiles and in his voice you can hear the effects of too many years of inhaling smoke, the smoke from Marlboro cigarettes, on his throat – but it is till nice to hear his voice.

We first met when I too enjoyed that pastime from time to time. knowing full well that it was a nasty and dirty habit and that it was no good for me. Still, our propensity is to think of goods and bads, particularly when it comes to matters of the physical body, purely in terms of scientific ramifications. We never think of the unseen.

I recall him standing outside the Masjid one day during Ramadan, we had just broken our fast, and it was still decent weather so people were not huddled inside. The after sunset prayer was offered, and the meal was eaten, but other people – like him – had other more important matters to attend to. He needed a cigarette.

I looked at him when I exited and laughed a little and asked if he was going to give them up for the month of Mercy – Ramadan. He smiled, he knew he should have but he did not. Now, I see him often. We sometimes arrive at the Masjid for the mid-afternoon prayer around the same time, just after the larger group has prayed, and so we pray together. Almost everytime I see him I ask : “you quit yet?” and he laughs and says, “no, but I should” and then we laugh and go about our way.

Yesterday, after being reminded of the importance of the dua just before you break your fast, i was sitting in the same masajid where we often run into one another, I made that dua and wiped tears from my eyes - praying of matters of the heart nonetheless, and I looked up. The man who calls us to prayer was walking towards the Mihrab, the part of the mosque that is pointing to Mecca, and then my buddy passed by me. I asked the same question:

“you quit this Ramadan?”

“no, no,” he laughs, “they’re ready for just after prayer” he said, pulling a pack of Marlboro cigarettes out of his pocket.

Then I told him what made me never want to even think about smoking again. What made me truly ashamed for my soul and for the souls of others that smoke and for the souls of all the people in the world that are connected to those that smoke. It all started when I read a translation of the writings of a scholar named Ibn Al-Qayyem, well- really it started when a Shaikh from Turim said in a class:

“tell me one part of the Quran that talks about your brain, you can’t,” he continued, “Allah mentions the heart repeatedly but not the brain”

The heart.

We live in such a cerebral place that we can rationalize near anything. We can come up with a reason to kill someone. But our heart would have us shaking and convulsing at doing such a terrible act. Similarly to our addictions, our compulsions, our inner truths, our illusions. We can rationalize and intellectualize all of those things to be truths, or that we have our addictions under control, that we even have our emotions under control, or that our illusions are real, and our hidden truths no longer exist – but our heart, our heart forces the truth out – always.

It is this pulsating glob of flesh that sends blood to every part of our body – literally having an effect on the entire magnificent system. In Ibn Al-Qayyem’s writings I learned a simple scientific truth of the heart – that it is a warm organ and it is surrounded by a cooling organ – the lungs.

The translator added: “the lungs have been made as a ventilator for it (the heart) and they constantly blow on it (to keep it cool). This is because the heart is the hottest of the body parts. Rather it is a spring of heat.”

I understand now that when we smoke we are inhaling the corrosive and the burning and it is enveloping our heart - already hot and now we singe it from an outside source. We stain and put a mark on our hearts. We already deal with heartache and sorrow, but the heart can overcome these things, it is built to hold and to forget and to stay beating. 

Now, I also understand that in the realm of the unseen:

The translator added: “The heart provides energy to the senses, a non-physical energy that does not require any particular paths and nerves to be it carrier”

What then are we constricting when we inhale pollutants? What about the pollutants in the air or in the food that we eat? I focus on the act of smoking because it is a deliberate and conscious act that is preventable. It is the cause of millions of deaths every year and yet we knowingly choose to engage in it. For a moment think again about all of the things you inhale on a daily basis. If you could control all of it in a positive way – would you not?

The rational mind can kill another. The rational mind can kill itself. The heart is unable to cosign on this.

The Prophet (peace and Blessings be Upon him), reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, said:

“Verily, there is in the body a piece of flesh, that if it is correct, the rest of the body will be correct due to it, and if it is corrupt, then the rest of the body will be corrupt due to it. Verily, it is the heart.”

I shared this with the brother. He shook his head. I patted my hand on my heart and asked him if he would start thinking about his heart when he took a drag of his cigarette. “ I need to” I replied.

If you smoke. So do you. The Creator Knows Best.

 

bb

 

Slow Down Muslims...

A few early Ramadan reflections.

A few years ago I was celebrating Eid in Oakland California at MacArthur Park. It was a typically lovely day, bright sun, hot but a cool breeze, and the Muslims of 31^st street mosque – mostly Arabs and East Africans – were enjoying the day with their families.

I was alone as is the case for a part-time partying, hanging out and single Muslim, still engrossed in the fine line of hypocrisy of dunya, and deen. A place all too familiar with many in my generation and our parents’ generation. For us it was navigating being raised Muslim in this very secular world, for our parents it was navigating making money and participating in this secular world while trying to raise children and learning a new culture – regardless if they were immigrant or not, and if they were immigrant – learning the culture that their children were being raised…

That was a digression. Let me bring you back to Oakland. I was running. I thought I dropped my cell phone. I did. A older Muslim brother, and “uncle” pulled me aside and said something plain, simple: “slow down” he said.

In my mouth I agreed. In my mind I said, “he doesn’t understand the pace of the life I lead”

My heart tells me now that he did and that is why he said what he said.

Just the other morning I woke up to make the late night prayer. In doing so I re-read a part of Fiq-us-Sunnah that reminds people not to rush going to prayer.

There it was again: SLOW DOWN.

Just days before I had seen the beginnings of a fire, and ran to prayer, the passage I read was relating a saying of the Prophet – Peace and Blessings be Upon him – which instructed people to come to the place of prayer in a state of peace. Not to rush.

I decided that morning that I would try and incorporate that into my day. What I found was that remembrance of Allah and placing blessings upon the Prophet slows me down and makes me more aware. It becomes a walking state of submission and things literally fall into place.

Yesterday it all did fall into place. In the morning i applied that pace to my walk for fajr at Masjid Tawhid, and i arrived right on time. I recited my remembrances in the daytime on my way to A R Rahman for Dhur and Asr prayers. And in the evening I had an engagement – a Iftar at the Mayor’s ceremonial home – Gracie Mansion. He invited some Muslim leaders from throughout the city to eat a yummy Turkish meal and spend time with one another. I had to walk from west to east to get on the train on Lexington. The whole time I sent blessings to the Prophet and walked at a even, measured pace, keeping my gaze focused just slightly down and slightly in front of me and my peripheral vision alive for any danger.

I walked to Lexington, and then I turned left. Instead of getting on at 28^th, which I almost did, I turned and walked up to 33^rd . I got down the stairs and the train arrived. I kept up my remembrances and blessings leaning against a door. Soon I was standing above another Muslim brother who tapped me on my elbow offering an earphone – I plugged it in and he had Qur’an playing. It was the most beautiful way for things to fall into place.

My walk to the Mansion was also serendipitous because I walked with a West African Imam who happens to be a major leader in the NYC community. Forgive me that I forget his name, but we walked, that same pace, to the entrance… and the gathering of Muslims… overlooking the East River, in The City of my Birth…

Allahuma salli ala saydinna Muhammad….

 

Quotes that I did NOT find, but that FOUND me at the Right time.

From the Zaytuna Website:

We encourage everyone to refrain from all of the ruinations of the tongue during Ramadan. In his seminal work, “Quickening the Religious Sciences,” Imam al-Ghazali mentions them as the following:

Speaking in matters that do not concern one.

Excessive speech.

Speaking about sinful matters.

Disputation and contestation.

Argumentation.

Excessively embellished speech.

Lewd, insulting, or crude speech.

Invoking the Curse of God on someone.

Singing indecent songs, or relating immoral poetry.

Excessive joking.

Sarcasm and ridicule.

Revealing secrets.

False promises.

Lying and false oaths.

Backbiting and slander.

Instigating tense relations between people.

Being two-faced.

Praising someone who is either undeserving, or unable to remain humble when praised.

Speaking about involved subjects and ideas one lacks the necessary knowledge or eloquence to adequately convey.

Ordinary folk speaking in subjects that are the domain of specialists.


From others...

"The word "shams" (sun) is feminine, and "qamar" (moon) is masculine. The sun burns itself out to give light and life to everything around, and the moon is muneer, meaning it reflects the light. Within itself it has no light; it radiates the brilliance of the sun. So when we shine as men, the implication is that we are reflecting the glorious light of our women." - Shaykh Abdullah Adhami

♫

Every felicity outside of Paradise is lowly and every trial outside of Hell is well-being. -Ali bin Abi Talib