Wedding verses

Eid Mubarak!

Eulogy for Bashir Uncle

Bashir Uncle was born in 1931; a young teenager when the country of Pakistan gained its independence and immigrated settled in Chicago after Akbar Uncle.
Growing up, I remember enjoying visiting him in his home on LeMoyne. Although there were no other kids to play with in our family gatherings, he made us feel comfortable there. We had all the Fritos chips we could eat and plenty of Three Stooges videos to watch. In the summer, he would get the ladder and we would have fun picking the delicious blackberries from the branches of the neighbor’s tree that would come into his yard. We got to play with animals when we were there too. Since Asima was so fond of bunnies – he got her one every summer even though we were not allowed to keep it. We would go to Bashir Uncle’s house to feed and pet it. Mom made sure we washed our hands afterwards…

Bashir Uncle had names for some of us too. He would call me “Mualana” and would raise his hands by his ears when it was time to pray. He would smile whenever he saw Yusuf and called him Junior and would ask about him even when in the hospital.

As the eldest member of our family, he would be the one to lead the duas at our dinners. MashAllah he performed Hajj and was proud of his fistful beard. When he moved to Cambria, he was close enough to walk to the masjid. He was very often to be seen on his chair in the first saf.
In his last month, when he could no longer take care of himself, I never heard him complain. He never wanted to be a burden on anyone.

Even with so much loving family around him, he was very lonely after Aunti Shad passed away. She was the one person who he spent more time with than anyone else and the one that knew him and took care of him the best. We pray that inshAllah now their souls are united with his companion and at peace.
Ya Allah, we ask you to make it easy for Bashir Uncle. Ease the trials of the grave and have maghfirah. Grant him into jannatul firdous.
Ya Allah we took care of him to the best of our ability out of love. Please forgive our shortcomings. Accept the Quran that we have read for him and give him the reward.

Supplication for the deceased

�O Allaah, forgive and have mercy upon him, excuse him and pardon him, and make honorable his reception. Expand his entry, and cleanse him with water, snow, and ice, and purify him of sin as a white robe is purified of filth. Exchange his home for a better home, and his family for a better family, and his spouse for a better spouse. Admit him into the Garden, protect him from the punishment of the grave and the torment of the Fire.�

�O Allaah, forgive our living and our dead, those present and those absent, our young and our old, our males and our females. O Allaah, whom amongst us You keep alive, then let such a life be upon Islaam, and whom amongst us You take unto Yourself, then let such a death be upon faith. O Allaah, do not deprive us of his reward and do not let us stray after him�.

Al-Fatiha – Al-Ikhlas (3 times)

Agnostic Jew Explores the Quran

Wow! This is one of the best presentations I have heard this year. In this short, but poignant 9 minute talk, Lesley Hazleton explores the Quran and finds that is quite different from what you might hear in the media. Every person with a “flexible mind” should watch this video and share it with others – ESPECIALLY given the ignorant Islamophobia that is prevalent in political America today. Among pearls of wisdom, she answers several questions such as:

• Is the idea of  72 virgins mentioned in the Quran?
• How is Paradise described?
• What is the “hypnotic quality” of the Quran in Arabic?
• How much of the Quran reprises stories of the Bible/Torah?
• How is it different from the Bible/Torah?
• What do so called Muslim extremists and anti-Muslim Islamophobes have in common?

Lesley Hazleton expresses sentiments that resonate with the rational mind. To be honest, I am dismayed at how someone with her depth of understanding could claim to be an agnostic Jew. I found myself nodding my head in agreement with every point she masterfully articulated. I love great talks like this with a strong attention getter, subtle humor, rock solid points, and a conclusion that circles back to the beginning. Five stars!!

From TED: A psychologist by training and Middle East reporter by experience, British-born Lesley Hazleton has spent the last ten years exploring the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion, past and present, intersect. Her most recent book, After the Prophet: the Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split, was a finalist for the 2010 PEN-USA nonfiction award.

She lived and worked in Jerusalem for thirteen years — a city where politics and religion are at their most incendiary — then moved to New York. She came to Seattle to get her pilot’s license in 1992, saw the perfect houseboat, and stayed. By 1994, she’d flown away all of her savings, and has never regretted a single cent of it. Now her raft rides low in the water under the weight of research as she works on her next book, The First Muslim, a new look at the life of Muhammad.

TEDxRainier is an independently organized TED event held in Seattle Washington.

More on Lesley from Wikipedia:

Lesley Hazleton (born 1945) is an award-winning British-American writer whose work focuses on the intersection of politics, religion, and history, especially in the Middle East. She reported from Israel for Time, and has written on the Middle East for numerous publications including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, The Nation, andThe New Republic.

Hazleton was born in England, and became a United States citizen in 1994. She was based in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1979 and in New York City from 1979 to 1992, when she moved to her current home in Seattle WA, originally to get her pilot’s license. She has two degrees in psychology (B.A. Manchester University, M.A. Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

She has described herself as “a Jew who once seriously considered becoming a rabbi, a former convent schoolgirl who daydreamed about being a nun, an agnostic with a deep sense of religious mystery though no affinity for organized religion”. ”Everything is paradox,” she has said. “The danger is one-dimensional thinking”.

Inspirational Women

I just came across these two very remarkable women; both very much driven by their faith in God:

1) Sakeena Yacoobi – Afghan Institute of Learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkChdEQkuBw

2) Catherine Rohr – Prison Entrepreneurship Program

http://www.kauffman.org/KauffmanMultimedia.aspx?VideoId=1870898740&type=R

Corrupt Afghani officials took advantage of poor Hajjis

This is really the lowest of the low. How can people like this get away from such shameless crimes? Do they not know that they will be accountable for their actions?  The following are excepts from this article:

Sediq Chakari, former minister of Hajj, and who is thought to be in Britain has been under investigation into his alleged involvement in a kickback racket which made hundreds of thousands of pounds from poor pilgrims.

Each year Saudi Arabia offers 30,000 Afghans places on the Hajj pilgrimage and they pay the Kabul government £2,300 for transport, food and lodging.

The Ministry of Hajj and Islamic Affairs is annually hit by allegations of incompetence and fraud after pilgrims have been left stranded or failed to get what they paid for.

Prosecutors believe officials were demanding up to £100 per pilgrim from hoteliers and transport firms with contracts to take pilgrims to Mecca.

The international official said: “Here is a case involving theft of money from poor Hajj pilgrims, some people who have waited their entire lives for the opportunity to travel to Mecca, and there is no real interest in the leadership of this Islamic state in defending the rights of these citizens.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7532867/Hamid-Karzai-accused-of-blocking-arrest-of-official.html

This American Life 383: Origin Story

Act Two. The Secret Life Of Secrets.

Ira tells the story of the 1953 U.S. Supreme Court case that formed the basis for the controversial state secret privilege—the precedent that allows the United States government to stop lawsuits by claiming that national security secrets might be revealed in court. Ira talks to Barry Siegel, author of the book Claim of Privilege, and Judy Loether, whose father’s death was at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case. (14 minutes)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/383/origin-story

click play episode

Voter Education Workshop

There is one last opportunity this Sunday to learn about where the candidates stand on the issues that are important to the Muslim community by panel of thought leaders. Educate yourself and exercise your power to vote on Tuesday, Nov 2nd!

When:

• Sun Oct 31,2010, 10am-1pm

Where:

• Islamic Foundation
• 300 W. High Ridge, Villa Park, IL 60181

Issues:

• Economy; Health Care Reform; Immigration; War on Terror; Ground Zero Mosque.

Panelists:

• State Rep. Paul Froehlich, Dist 56
• Laura Leon, Coalition for Better Health Care (www.cbhconline.org)
• Abdul Malik Mujahid, World Parliament for Religions (www.parliamentofreligions.org)
• Fred Tsao, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (www.icirr.org)
• Kamran Memon Esq.,, Muslims for a Safe America (www.muslimsforasafeamerica.org)

Moderator:

• Ali Ahmed, MD. PhD.

Vote NO for Islamophobes

(from brother-in-law)

On November 5, 2005, during a Q&A segment at Northwestern University, Mark Kirk stated: “I’m okay with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states. I’m okay with that.”

He didn’t  stop there: .  . “I think that when we look at the threat that’s out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them.”

This statement was wrong in two ways. One, it was racist. Two, profiling doesn’t catch terrorists — Vincent Cannistano, the former head of counterterrorism at the CIA said, “I can’t think of any examples where profiling has caught a terrorist.” ( Statement of Rep. Jan Schakowsky Regarding Rep. Mark Kirk’s Comments )

The pollsters say this election is very close. Literally, a few hundred votes could sway this race. There are many Muslims in DuPage county, a traditionally republican stronghold. A good turnout in this non-Presidential election could mean that there will be one less Islamophobic bigot in the US Senate next year.

These are the worst economic times since the Great Depression, Mark Kirk voted against the stimulus package that helped create desperately needed jobs, and cut taxes for the middle class. Yet he voted YES for TARP — the law that bailed out very large banks with 700 billion dollars. Even worse, despite all their shenanigans, Kirk voted NO on regulating the subprime mortgage industry ( Reference: Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act; Bill HR3915 ; vote number 2007-1118 on Nov 15, 2007 )

Mark Kirk is dangerous to Muslims. He is dangerous to the American Dream. This is a tight race so every vote counts. Call, email, twitter, and facebook your family and friends. We can’t let our next Senator be an Islamophobe.

5 reasons to financially support Russ Feingold in Wisconsin

From my brother-in-law:

Russ Feingold is an excellent senator who is very supportive of civil rights, against unnecessary wars, and a tough fighter for the rights of voters and the poor. He is currently in a tough election fight against a millionaire (who would be the senate’s 70th millionairre if he wins)

Here are just five highlights from his many accomplishments:

1) Despite being in a very tough election, with 70% of Americans against his position, Russ Feingold bravely spoke up for the rights of Muslims to build a mosque anywhere and wherever they please.

2) He was the ONLY Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act during its first vote. All your liberal “lions” lost their brains in the months after 911 (the vote took place Oct 23rd, lighting speed by senate standards). . . .the embers of WTC were still orange. He is one of the best advocates for civil liberties in the Senate.

3) Feingold was one of 28 US senators to vote against H.J. Resolution 114, which authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq in 2002.[29]

4) Russ Feingold was a major force behind campaign finance reform. His efforts limited how much wealthy people could donate to federal races.

5) Russ Feingold has consistently advocated for the poor, including apposing NAFTA, increasing the minimum wage, access to healthcare for the impoverished

Russ Feingold’s courage and determination to do the right thing — even while representing a somewhat conservative largely rural state — should be an inspiration to Muslim Americans. That his positions on the issues largely mirror the positions that Muslims have is just an added bonus.

Please donate to Russ Feingold’s campaign directly —–> https://secure3.convio.net/fsc10/site/Donation2?df_id=1520&1520.donation=form1

If you have already given your maximum donation, please consider donating to Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur — someone who has similarly advocated for Democratic values. Ms. Kaptur was one of the few members of congress who bravely stood up to criticize Israel for it’s atrocities in Gaza. Donate to Ms. Kaptur right here –> http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/12825