An American Muslim Journal

Jummah Khutbahs - lets take note of the messages coming from our mosques

Late last year I had another run in with some Hizb ut Tahrir members.  They wanted to post event notices on the mosque (ISNS) listserv and I rejected the posts.  The HT member was very upset and pulled in one of my fellow mosque board members into the debate to lodge a protest.

It turns out that this HT member was so upset because he was not used to being denied in this way.  Afterall, this HT member was an authorized Jummah khateeb (a person who gives the obligatory Friday afternoon congregational prayer sermon and usual then leads the faithful in prayer as well)!

This is simply unacceptable.  If we say we (our mosque) do not support violent extremism, then how is it that we allow members of such groups to use our institutions to promote their hateful and violent ideologies?

One thing I plan to do in 2010 is to be more vigilant about what is being said during the Friday khutbahs (sermons).  This year I hope to write about the khutbahs I hear.  It will be my little effort to bring more accountability to what is being said in mosques and also to highlight and applaud all the positive messages and teaching that is going on.

This last Friday (1/1/10) I attended the Al-Azhar Islamic Foundation in Barrington, Illinois for Salatul Jummah.  The khateeb was of Egyptian origin (as are most of the organizers of this mosque).  He did a great job.

The khateeb this past Friday focused on the importance of remembering that Islam is a middle path that rejects extremism and that it is the duty of Muslims to look inward into our community and address extremism that we find within it.

He used the metaphor of our children.  When our children behave badly we look at their actions and we try to teach them the error of their ways.  What we don't do is make excuses for them and point the external factors and blame those external factors for our children's mistakes.  Yes, we know that there may be external factors that influenced our children's bad behavior but we know that making excuses for their behavior will only entrench negative behaviors in our children.

So then, why, asked our khateeb, do we immediately point to others, to U.S. policies and so forth when our fellow Muslims commit crimes?  He pointed out the Nigerian Muslim who tried to blow up a plane over Detroit, MI on December 25, Christmas Day, and suggested that we are doing ourselves (and particularly the younger generations of American Muslims) a disservice by point the finger at others and skirting the issue of the young Nigerian Muslim's culpability.

The khateeb then went on to discuss the value of ritual worship and its centrality to a Muslim's religious life but noted that ritual worship is a guide and a tool and a resource to help us live our lives and to engage with the world and work and live in the world with others.  His point was that faithful life is more than just steadfast ritual worship and that we need to do more good in the world.

It was a packed prayer hall and there were lots of youth present since it was new year's day.  It was a good message for the community.  I hope others had the benefit of a good khutbah to kick of the new year as well!

Countering homegrown radicalization: Muslims Must Reclaim the Mosque as a Center of Religious Life

The news of so many home-grown terrorism schemes and plots being uncovered in the U.S. over the past two months is very disturbing.  The men who stand accused of these plots are not so different from me in age, religious observance and socio-economic status but their outlook on life seems incomprehensible to me.  With all due respect to some of our nation's dedicated American Muslim leaders and institutions who continue to downplay the problem, I do think the problem within our community is more dire than we are willing to state publicly.

When we discovered that British Muslims were responsible for the London bombings several years back and that they were born and raised in the U.K. there was a concern in the U.S. about something similar happening here.  With the exception of Hizb-ut-TahrirI could not think of any other Muslim organizations who were openly hostile to America and the West, and since, at the time of the London bombing Hizb-ut-Tahrir was long gone from the local scene (it had been many years since we had to endure their shouts and taunts in the mosques), I felt confident that the radicalization that took place among the London bombers could not happen here.  After all, we American Muslims are far more integrated into American society and comfortable with our identity as American Muslims.

CIVIC INTEGRATION: A BULWARK AGAINST RADICALIZATION

Even before 9/11 but certainly afterward, American Muslims stepped up their efforts to develop and execute strategies for civic integration into American society.  Unlike most other places in the world, the United States' affords many freedoms which empower American Muslims the ability to become "American" on their own terms.  A lot of us are taking advantage these freedoms to carve out our own unique American Muslim identity. 

The youth and the young adults seem to be the greatest beneficiaries of the freedoms.  Unlike places in Europe and even in a Muslim majority country like Turkey where public expression of one's Muslim faith is increasingly being curtailed, in America the freedom of religion still means something, and that allows American Muslim youth to develop a well integrated and stable identity. 

I see this process of integration taking place among the youth in mosques all over northern Illinois.  My own mosque in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs (ISNS), is a good example of this positive development. 

This seamless melding of American and Muslim is particularly noticeable during congregational prayer.  In my mosque you see the youth lining up for the afternoon prayer with us at the end of Sunday school.  These kids are wearing their Bears and Bulls jerseys and the other trendy fashions.  The shoes, left just outside of the mosque's prayer hall, pretty much run the gamut of Air Jordan's to Transformers and Barbie brands and so on.  During breaks in between Sunday school classes kids will sneak out of the building to shoot some hoops or throw a football around.  This is level of integration is free form and perhaps due in large part to our consumer culture and the pressure to conform and be like everyone else.

Here in Illinois we have some very thoughtful and talent youth organizers who understand the challenges faced by American Muslims.  One youth organizer who rarely gets much attention but is doing outstanding work is Amal Ali.  Ms. Ali is the youth organizer for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago(CIOGC) and she has both the academic training and hands on experience in the field of youth work.  Over the years Ms. Ali has been a personal mentor to scores of young American Muslims and through CIOGC she has developed programs to help build young American Muslims' self-esteem through retreats that feature mentoring, spiritual nourishment and tough physical challenges that blend individual courage with team efforts.   She works with the Muslim Students Associations in the Illinois universities and colleges to help build leadership skills and again, to provide mentoring from young American Muslim professionals and highly respected spiritual personalities that promote positive and constructive integration while also instilling a commitment to serve humanity.

These integration efforts are not just for the youth.  Again, CIOGC has played an important role in promoting civic integration.  Under the leadership of Dr. Abdul Malik Mujahid and now with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, the American Muslim community is effectively developing healthy interactions with civic and philanthropic boards and with elected leaders.  In May 2009 CIOGC took nearly 500 American Muslims from northern Illinois to Springfield for a day of common good advocacy.  CIOGC partnered with Faith in Place and Protestants for the Common Good to develop a common good agenda that went beyond Muslim "special interest" issues and addressed the environment and the inequities of Illinois' public education funding system.  I was there for this event and it was amazing to see the sense of empowerment among every age group from high school through senior citizens!

The idea is to forge an identity that allows American Muslims to be comfortable being American and Muslim.  Seeing and feeling the reality of civic integration is instrumental in building a positive sense of self among American Muslims.  That positive sense of self, that healthy American Muslim identity, is what empowers American Muslims to be passionate about the many injustices visited upon Muslims throughout the world with a sense that they have the power to do something about it within the system.  Civic integration empowers American Muslims to understand the tools and resources available to them and sustains hope that they can make a difference in a meaningful way.  In essence, civic integration can arrest the feelings of hopelessness and fear, and in the absence of these two emotions, American Muslims may be inoculated from radicalization.

NOT EVERYONE IS KEEN ABOUT INTEGRATION THOUGH...

Many American Muslims support civic integration, but there are individuals, groups and even mosques that pride themselves on their lack of integration.  It is not uncommon to hear an Imam shrieking during a Friday sermon about the sinfulness of befriending Christians and Jews.  Some American Muslims use our mosques and our communications tools to promote shallow Muslim supremacist ideas.

Groups like Hizb ut Tahrir are returning to the mosques and promoting a shallow message of top-down theocratic world domination and selling that simplistic notion as the answer to all the ills and suffering faced by Muslims through out the world.  Other groups are less public but equally resistant to integration.  Within our mosques we have co-religionists who are intolerant of others who do not accept other's understanding of Islam.  Reason and freedom of conscience have no place in such people's outlook.  I have had many unsavory encounters over the past 15 years with these types of American Muslims.

Their favored tactic is to attack the sincerity and genuineness of another's faith in Islam.  For example, when I disagree with a point of view or a particular interpretation I am accused of deviating from the Quran and Sunnah (which, in my view, is tantamount to an accusation of apostasy).  This extremist approach has a chilling effect on some mosque administrators.  Rather than cutting off the extremists from institutional power, they are allowed to participate in mosque governance and often times they impose the "hecklers' veto" on programs and projects that do not comport with their particular religious understanding.

BRINGING MORE AMERICAN MUSLIMS INTO ORGANIZED RELIGIOUS LIFE IS ESSENTIAL

As we grapple with concerns over the radicalization of American Muslims it is critical that we recognize that we need American Muslims to be more involved in organized religious life.  At first blush it may seem counter-intuitive, but organized religious life is the best means of inoculating American Muslims from the extremist ideologies proliferating on the internet.

The five young American Muslims who recently traveled to Pakistan in search of jihad were largely radicalized via their exposure to violent extremist propaganda and e-fatwas extolling the merits of terrorism.  Where was their mosque's youth program when it was needed most?  Many mosque youth programs focus on apolitical issues in part because of the presence of the extremist voices that impose the "hecklers veto" on thoughtful discussions.  The educational forums offered by mosques rarely discuss socio-political or civic aspects of American Muslim life as well.  Again, this is due in part to the extremists' "hecklers veto".  As a result, many American Muslims, the vast majority who espouse mainstream and healthy Islamic values, feel either uncomfortable in mosques or feel that the mosques simply do not offer them anything useful (outside of Friday and Eid prayers).  Research on the American Muslim community suggests that only a fraction (perhaps as little as 5%) of American Muslims are affiliated with a mosque.

The isolated religious existence, while protecting American Muslims from the vocal minority of extremists within the mosques, can also become an incubator of extremism as well.  Maj. Nidal Hassan is one recent example.  While he attended the mosque for prayers on a regular basis, Nidal Hassan was not very actively engaged in an American Muslim community environment.  His spiritual and religious outlet came via the internet and blogs and electronic bulletin boards.

Done right, a mosque can provide a wholesome and nurturing environment that promotes an authentic application of Islamic values and creates a community life that supports a healthy Muslim self-image.  But to do it right, a mosque has to be an open and welcoming environment.  Women must be made to feel welcome.  The programming has to be engaging.  It has to be in English (except for the ritual prayer).  The imams who lead the spiritual life of the mosque should be well attuned to and positive about American culture because, at the end of the day, that is the culture of the vast majority of the 6 to 7 million American Muslims today.  The religious education for the youth and the the adults needs to be tailored to an American point of view in order to be effective.  The mosques must serve as a social safety net for a range of issues ranging from unemployment, hunger, substance abuse and domestic abuse.  And of course, there must be a social component within mosque community life (particular for the youth) as well.

SHIFTING PRIORITIES, BEING MORE BOLD

American mosques are largely funded by domestic contributions from American Muslims.  Since Islam forbids interest-based transactions, American mosques are purchased and built with cash.  And the mosques in America are being built in more and more places and existing mosques are expanding all the time.  I suspect that 90% of mosque donations are used to maintain physical structures and to fund expansion projects.  The vast majority of American mosques are also run and administered exclusively by volunteers.

American Muslims need to shift their priorities from bricks and mortar to programming and human resources.  Beautifully titled prayer halls with traditional domes and ornate chandeliers and exquisite Quranic calligraphy adorning the walls are not the antidote to radicalization.  In fact, these things are not even the answer to bringing more American Muslims into the mosque.  And yet, we continue to channel millions upon millions of dollars to support these types of projects.

All the while, mosques have no budgets for youth organizing, hiring trained professional youth workers and counselors, or for attracting more American Muslims to pursue careers as imams and Islamic spiritual leaders.  There is little money allocated to programming to create meaningful and engaging activities for American Muslim youth and young adults.  These are, however, the things that mosques need to spend on in order to create the kind of mosque-centric life that will help counter the radicalization being promoted on the internet and even within our mosques through the unregulated and unstructured study circles and discussion groups held in mosques but without much oversight by mosque administrators.

Moving forward, American Muslim leaders and administrators must be bold.  We have to stop kowtowing to the extremists within our community.  We lament the need to defend Islam and ourselves against the violence perpetrated by our co-religionists, but what we should really be angry about is how mosques have allowed the intolerant behavior of some extremists to stifle ideas, projects and programs that would create a more welcoming environment in our mosques.

If mosques will not provide thoughtful programming and an environment conducive to building a wholesome Muslim community, then American Muslims need to go the route of the Mohammed Webb Foundation in the western suburbs of Chicago.  The Webb Foundation is organization that provides a lot of the civic, social and educational programming in an open and welcoming environment that mosques should be providing but often do not.  We know what our priorities ought to be, and now we need to act boldly in pursuit of them!

ONE VIOLENT EXTREMIST IS ONE TOO MANY

It is true that the vast majority of Muslims, in America and throughout the world, are peaceful and faithful people committed to living an Islamic life of peace and justice.  And in the face of bigots and Islamophobes who viciously malign Muslims and Islam as violent, we are right to point to the billion plus Muslims who categorically denounce violent extremism as a solution.

We must, however, hold ourselves to higher standards.  One violent extremist is one too many.  In a community of 6 to 7 million American Muslims the handful of individuals accused of plots of violence is not even 1% of our community but its still unacceptable.  As American Muslims we have an enormous obligation to the rest of the world.  It is not about American Muslim "exceptional-ism" but rather, it is a simple matter of resources and opportunities.  We have the freedom and the resources to do much good for Islam and for the cause of justice at home and abroad.

We hamstring ourselves by allowing our co-religionists to succumb to the hirabi creed promoted by Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups.  There is too much at stake for us to allow this to continue.

Islamophobic response: Maligning legitimate civic action in the wake of Luqman Ameen Abdullah shooting

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  The Islamophobes are out in force maligning the legitimate efforts of American Muslims to engage in civic action that seeks to bring about an independent investigation into the shooting death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah by the FBI on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 in Dearborn, Michigan.

The reliable Islamophobes of Jihad Watch (a biased an hateful blog that is proudly Islamophobic) unfairly (surprise surprise) twisted the legitimate calls for justice at Abdullah's funeral last week by describing them this way:

They're trying to shift attention away from the jihadist violence allegedly being plotted at the Masjid al-Haqq, and onto the supposed excess of the FBI reaction.

Jihad Watch is also suggesting that because American Muslims called for justice at the funeral this means that the shooting of Abdullah was unjust.  No, that is not what it implies.  A person was shot and killed.  What were the circumstances surrounding the shooting?  Was the shooting necessary?  Did the FBI act properly before, during and after the shooting?  A call for justice is a call to have these legitimate questions answered.

The tactic is well known but too many honest people who are looking for a better understanding of Muslims and Islam fall for this tactic because these bigoted people are adept at creating an echo chamber of anti-Muslim hysteria that unfortunately gets passed off as legitimate information.  The tactic is to impute a negative intent on otherwise benign words and then repeat the false charge over and over again until it "appears" that this is the popular and correct assumption.

In this case Jihad Watch and Steve Emerson and Robert Spencer and others are trying to argue that anything short of uncritical support for the FBI in its handling of the attempted arrest of Abdullah is a support for the alleged views and actions of Abdullah as recorded in the indictment and affidavit that predicated the arrest warrant.  This is not the case at all.  The allegations about Abdullah as set forth in the Leone affidavit are repugnant.  But the allegations, not matter how heinous they may be, do not justify an unlawful shooting. 

Unfortunately, it appears that the Islamophobes can notch this case up (at least thus far) as a success.  Although major American Muslim organizations have called for an investigation (see here), there has been very little done at the grassroots level in places like Chicago to call for an independent investigation.  This is possibly the result of fear.  American Muslim leaders are afraid of speaking up because they are worried that their calls for justice will be perceived as support for the alleged actions and views of Abdullah.

What a shame.  It is a shame that leaders of the American Muslim community have not taken a more vigorous stand on this issue.  This is a time when American Muslim leaders can show that they understand how civic engagement works by effectively organizing and mobilizing people into constructive civic action that brings about a fair, full and independent investigation into the shooting death of Abdullah.

Locally in Illinois the largest (at least based on self-professed reach and scope and capacity) Muslim organization - the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago - is silent on the shooting death of Abdullah.  One of the past chairs of CIOGC sent an emotional email to the community's leaders (it had its various shortcomings too) calling them to stand up and act for justice in the wake of the Abdullah shooting.  Nothing came of it, and so far as public information discloses, nothing more is forthcoming from that past chair or anyone else.

The current chair, Zaher Sahloul, is surprisingly mum on the issue.  That is very odd since he speaks of CIOGC as an institution that brings American Muslims together and works for justice and the common good.  Today Sahloul said in an editorial that

CIOGC has been working relentlessly toward this goal of a justly balanced community, where Muslim Americans can play a role in bearing witness to their fellow Americans by defending justice, promoting common good and fighting evil.

I will concur that CIOGC has done some very good work in working for justice and promoting the common good.  But where is it now?  What is CIOGC doing vis-a-vis this issue?  Sahloul invokes Imam Siraj Wahaj in the editorial this way:

According to Imam Siraj Wahhaj, chair of the Muslim Alliance in North America, the Council is one of the few organizations in the nation that is doing real work in the field to integrate the indigenous Muslim communities and the immigrant Muslims through its Mosque-pairing initiative and Intrafaith action.

What better way to show CIOGC's efforts to bridge the gap between the immigrant Muslims and African American Muslims in our community then by taking a stance on the shooting death of an African American Muslim?  Interestingly, Sahloul's editorial is entitled "the power of unity".  There certainly is power in unity, but is unity something that can be embraced when it is convenient and not at other times?  Is that really unity?

Just talking the talk is not enough.  It is (or it should be) unacceptable to let this important issue (the call for an independent investigation into the shooting death of Abdullah) fester while attention is focused on the community's elite rubbing elbows with Governor Quinn and complimenting one another on what greatly leaders we are at Saturday's annual community dinner.

There is still time to do the right thing.  Sahloul can use the annual dinner as an opportunity to place the spotlight on the Abdullah shooting.  Sahloul has some incredible people on the professional staff.  He and his board can work with the professional staff to put together petitions for the dinner's attendees to sign.  These petitions can be addressed to the Illinois congressional delegation asking them to support the call for an independent investigation into the shooting death of Abdullah by the FBI.  Sahloul can raise tough questions during the dinner as members of the FBI will be there as guests as well.  The question is, do our leaders have the will to speak out for justice when it may be uncomfortable or even inconvenient for them to do so?

Let's hope the maligning rhetoric of Islamophobes does not stop our leaders in Illinois from taking up another cause for justice.

Are Chicago-area mosques up to the challenge of helping Iraqi refugees?

Today's Chicago Tribune article on the challenges and struggles of Iraqi refugees in Chicago really hit home.  One of the last board meetings I attended at the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) had an add-on agenda item dealing with the needs of Iraqi refugees.  I'm pretty sure it was Ahlam Mahmoud, the woman referenced in the Chicago Tribune article, who visited us during the board meeting.

An important issue that was not raised in this series of articles but merits examination and further discussion is the support Iraqi refugees have received from mosques in the Edgewater neigbhorhood; or to be more precise, the lack of support.

When Ms. Mahmoud came to speak with CIOGC she did so because, as the "Council of Islamic Organizations", she assumed CIOGC would be able to help secure more support from the mosques in the Edgewater neighborhood.

Ms. Mahmoud pointed out that many of the families within the Iraqi refugee community are women-headed households.  I knew what the problem was going to be as I sat in that meeting this past summer.  I knew even before Ms. Mahmoud said anything that the families were not  being welcomed by the mosques in that part of Chicago.  That is because, in many instances, the mosques in the Edgewater/Rogers Park neighborhoods are men-only institutions.

This meeting took place in July 2009.  I know that nothing was done up until I left CIOGC.  From the time we met Ms. Mahmoud through the end of September CIOGC leaders directed the professional staff to do no programming beyond fundraising.  Too bad.  This is an issue that CIOGC could take up and which really needs the collective attention of the American Muslim community.

The UMMA Center in Waukegan is doing great work with refugee families in Lake County.  This is one of the few organizations (Muslim led) that works on refugee needs.  The UMMA Center's executive director, Ashfaq Mohiuddin, is a great guy.  I don't know the other staff but I feel comfortable saying that UMMA Center is a reputable organization based on my association with Ashfaq Mohiuddin over the past 10 to 12 years.  Check out UMMA Center's website and try to attend the UMMA Center's fundraising dinner this coming Friday (10/30).

Other organizations like Hamdard Center have some services for refugee families but they are not equipped to deal with the challenges on the scale described by the Chicago Tribune story.  This all begs the question: what do we (American Muslims) do from this point forward to address this problem (of unmet refugee needs within our community)?

There are numerous dedicated individuals working on refugee issues.  One person that anyone interested in refugee issues should get to know is Naazish YarKhan.  Although Naazish is a writer by profession, it seems her primary avocation is serving refugee families.  Over the years she's worked with and through the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, IL to provide services to refugee families and she was the person who directed Ahlam Mahmoud to CIOGC back in July 2009.

One thing I gathered from talking to Naazish a couple of times on this issue is that the challenges of addressing refugee needs is a full time endeavor and cannot possibly be addressed adequately by volunteers.  She wanted CIOGC to take up this issue by possible bringing on someone like Ahlam Mahmoud to work exclusively on refugee services.  I told her that this would be wonderful except that the American Muslim community seems to have an aversion to funding human resources.

However, until we commit to funding full time professionals to serve the needs of the refugee community we are not going to be able to adequately address the longterm issues they are facing.  Mark my words, this article from the Chicago Tribune, if it sparks any sympathy from the American Muslim community, will promote fundraising for food, clothing, household goods and so forth.  The efforts will be focused on short term needs.

I can hear the arguments now: "At least we are doing something by helping them with these immediate needs.  This is our duty!"  This is true but the underlying although unstated assumption, that doing this and funding a longer term solution by funding one or more professionals to work with the refugee communities are mutually exclusive, is false.  We have money in the American Muslim community.  Given that we don't finance the building of our mosques we know that we have the capacity to raises millions of dollars every year not only to maintain the gigantic buildings we now possess but to expand them and to build new ones as well!

I'm not alone in the community when I say that we need to put a moratorium on bricks and mortar projects and begin funding human resources for needy and worthy projects like helping refugee families in need.  However, until people speak up and say no to more bricks and mortar projects and yes to funding services to refugee families, the powers that be will keep on building and expanding the mosques.  Meanwhile, families like those of Ahlam Mahmoud will continue to suffer.

Turkeys donated to the needy...by American Muslims

This is a wonderful story of Americans helping Americans during the Thanksgiving season.  American Muslims are raising money to purchase turkeys to be donated to needy families so that they may enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

The effort I'm talking about (I'm sure there are others around the nation by now) is in and around Chicago, Illinois.  Young American Muslims and their families donate money and that money is used to purchase turkeys for needy families.

ABC News covered the story last year:

Today, and for the past several years, this effort is led by Dr. Jihad Shoshara* and Dr. Sofia Shakir*, a wonderful husband and wife team, who are active in many local efforts to help the needy and to organize American Muslims for meaningful causes.  The effort was originally organized by another longtime community activist - civil rights attorney Kamran Memon.

Here is Dr. Shoshara's message for this year's Turkey Drive:

Assalaamu 'Alaykum,

In Sha Allah this finds you all in the best of health, and highest of Iman.

The Ninth Annual Chicago Muslim Turkey Drive is now underway! For the past eight years, the Muslim community of Chicago has risen to a need every autumn - to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves celebrate Thanksgiving, the national holiday that all Americans regardless of faith share in celebration. Together, we have given thousands of turkeys over these years to families who would otherwise go without; last year alone, you donated six hundred turkeys to needy Chicagoans in Jackson Park and Marquette Park, and God Willing, we aim to repeat our success once more! Once again, the main beneficiaries of our community's generosity will be needy families of the children at Emmett Till Academy (formerly McCosh Elementary School) at 65th and Champlain in Chicago.

As we have done in past years, we are again joining forces with the Sabeel Food Pantry. Sabeel has provided food for anyone in need for years on Chicago's North Side, and with the help of community volunteers to coordinate and distribute the turkeys will extend their services this Thanksgiving. Sabeel is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in the state of Illinois; this means that once again, your contributions will be tax deductible, and all who donate to Sabeel can receive a receipt for tax purposes. (For more info, check Sabeel's website at www.sabeelpantry.org)

We are also blessed to have the support of the Inner-city Muslim Action Network (IMAN), who will In Sha Allah distribute some of the turkeys to needy families in the area of its offices in Marquette Park.

We are now accepting donations for the drive. Please send your tax-deductible check written out to "Sabeel Food Pantry" with "Turkey Drive" written in the memo section to:**

Donations can also be given online via PayPal. To donate via PayPal, please go to www.sabeelpantry.org and click on "Donate".

The Annual Turkey Drive is a symbol of the true nature of our faith at a time when it is sorely needed. Please help us to continue it and make it grow!

Jazak Allahu Khairan,

Jihad Shoshara, MD

This is a great effort that gives meaning to the phrase "Faith In Action"!  Here is some more media coverage of last year's turkey drive:

At a time when food budgets are strained, a semitrailer loaded with turkeys is being given to families at Emmett Till Elementary School. The frozen turkeys are a gift from the Chicago Area's Muslim Community.

"It's just a gesture of neighborliness from the Muslim community of Chicago. You know most of us work here, live here, live our lives here," said Dr. Shoshara.

The school, located near 63rd and Cottage Grove, was selected because 99-percent of the population is below the poverty line. For many of the families, it's a real treat.

"Well they probably would have had the usual. McDonalds meals or whatever they could afford," said Mary Rodgers, principal Emmett Till Elementary School. "This is exceptionally nice."

It's the eighth time the group has donated to a Chicago school.

"I'm just glad to get this turkey. It's less for me to worry about," said one parent.

"Means a lot. Put some in our freezer and some in our stomach," said another.

After the September Eleventh attacks, the image of Muslim Americans took a terrible hit. That damage has yet to be repaired, but events like this are a step in the right direction.

"I think a lot of problems we have as a community (are) that we haven't been here very long so it takes awhile to integrate and get to know the Muslim community. It's one way to show what we think is the best part of our religion. To help serve the poor," said Dr. Shoshara.

This is a great effort so pass it on to your email networks!  Thanks!

_________________________________________________________________________________

* Jihad and Sofia are very close, personal friends

** The address was removed from the original email post - please direct donations to Sabeel Food Pantry!

Working normal hours, doing normal things

Last night I sat in bed, laptop on my lap and my little 19 inch TV tuned into Monday Night Football (yes, that’s right, I don’t have a cool flat screen 1080 DLP 50 inch in my bedroom).  It was about 8:45pm.  I watched the Broncos-Chargers game until the final seconds.  I checked my email, sent a few text messages, visited Facebook and read Google News.  I did some writing too.  It was a relaxing way to end the day (hopefully I’ll do a little more of the same tonight!).

Earlier in the day I wrapped up at the office at 4:30pm and quickly headed off to catch a train home.  I wanted to see my kids.  Throughout the day I thought about each of them – something unique from the past weekend.  For example, for one it was the excitement of new presents from a birthday.  For another it was a 5 year old child’s rendition of Top 40 song from the radio.

Unlike the very recent past, I was home by 6:15pm, I was in the kitchen as dinner was prepared, I ate dinner with my family, helped (ever so slightly) with the clean up and with getting the kids to bed (again, ever so slightly).  Not bad (or at least not as bad as not being around at all)!

I am grateful to God for all of it.  So, why am I thinking about all of this now?

Mainly, I am thinking about it because a lot of it is new.  It has been a long time since I was last able to sit in bed at the end of the day and just relax.  Eating dinner with my family every night is a new thing.  Being home while dinner is being prepared was, heretofore, unheard of (actually preparing dinner may be asking a for too much) and having the luxury to daydream about my kids is a treat I haven’t indulged in for a very long time.

Why am I able to enjoy all of these new luxuries?

I recently changed jobs.  My previous position in the nonprofit sector was a 24/7 gig with a lot of stress.  I loved my work, but on balance it was time to move on.  So move on I did and land a new gig.  My new position has a more manageable schedule.  Again, thank you God!

One thing I’ve noticed about the change is how protective I’ve become of my time.  Before, it was a foregone conclusion that I’d have little time for recreation, for family and for sleep.  Now, I find myself guarding these things zealously!

In just the past few weeks I’ve passed on many events and meetings involving everything from politics to interfaith relations to social services within the Muslim community.  The next several weeks are filled with events as well.  Will I attend any of them?  I may but right now there are no guarantees.

It’s not that I do not care about the issues and topics being discussed and worked on in these meetings.  I do care about most of them.  However, going forward I want to be more thoughtful about my religious and civic engagement.  Whatever I choose to become involved with cannot take away from my time from the things that matter most – my kids.  That is one benchmark. 

Another benchmark is that my volunteerism has to be more thoughtful.  Because I value my time and have a much greater appreciation for its value, I want my volunteerism to be more constructive.  I want it to be focused and I want it to be used to build something meaningful.

Over the last decade and a half I’ve been a serial volunteer without focus.  I’ve volunteered in so many different endeavors but many of them are unrelated to one another.  For example, back on New Year’s Day 2007 I got a call from someone at the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC).  This person wanted me to come to the office that evening for “a very important dinner meeting of key community leaders to discuss strategies for increasing civic engagement  by American Muslims.”

On that particular new year’s day I dropped the bowl games to head downtown for the meeting.  Looking back, I know that meeting was called simply because the CIOGC had to fulfill a grant requirement by a date certain and they needed to have a quota of people who served on mosque or Muslim service organization boards!  I was not invited to the meeting so much as I was invited to be meat (i.e., meeting filler).  What a waste of time! 

Appreciating the value of my time more now, I want to be sure that I spend my volunteer hours more wisely.

If the number of hours I have to volunteer are less plentiful now, then where do I want to spend them?  I’m still working this out in my mind.  I am leaning towards interreligious dialogue and interreligious advocacy and action for the common good.  I’ll give my mosque a fair amount of time but beyond the mosque my commitments will be given sparingly.

I realize that I may be becoming the kind of person I recently held in contempt.  I used to bristle when friends declined invitations to “important meetings” because of some social engagement or another. 

I still think some of those meetings were important and some of the reasons for declining my invitations were lame (but I’m not naming names!).  At the same time I also realize that many of my friends were probably not sold on why I wanted them to come out and spend their precious free time on one of these “important meetings.”

For now I will still go to “important meetings” from time to time even when I’m not planning on taking an active role in the effort or cause for which the “important meeting” is being convened.  I know that sometimes (perhaps many times) I’m being invited as “meeting meat” and not as a “meeting participant” and that’s just fine!  I’ll go, fill some space, maybe learn a bit and then leave guilt-free and obligation-free!

In the absence of a lot of extraneous obligations I will hang out with my kids, watch my two favorite football teams – the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Chicago Bears – and maybe read some interesting books and do a lot more writing!

Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago Uninvites Keynotes - But why?

The following is an open letter I sent to mosque leaders and fellow American Muslims whom I believe are the future leaders of our community (this email was sent to CIOGC leaders as well):

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Fellow Community Members,
 
Assalaamu Alaikum and Peace.
 
Insh'Allah this email finds you in good health.  I am writing to you this evening to share with you my dismay over the Council's decision to dis-invite Naim Shah, Jr. and Shahid Buttar as the Annual Community Dinner keynote speakers.  This was a bad decision, it is unprofessional and it reflects poorly on all of us as a community.
 
First and foremost, these two brothers are accomplished and up and coming leaders from the national Muslim community and we were blessed to have them with us.  You can get some insight into who these brothers are through the following links:
 
Shahid Buttar Bio

Naim Shah Jr. Bio
 
You can hear both of these brothers speak at the following links:

Shahid Buttar on YouTube:
 
 

Naim Shah Jr. on YouTube:


 
Let me be very frank and direct - this was, in my estimation and opinion - a very bad decision.  I am embarrassed by the brothers and sisters who supported this decision.
 
Salam al-Marayati is the high profile keynote who has been invited in place of Naim and Shahid.
 
Lest there be any confusion let me also be very clear - I love Salam Al-Marayati as do you all.  Salam is a friend.  Salam is a great leader.  He has committed his life to working for justice.  Salam is a strong ally of the Illinois Muslim community.  I welcome him in Chicago always.  I am certain that Salam will be the first person to tell us that he does not need the stage and that he will be with us just to support us whether we call him our keynote or something else.
 
So why do we have to uninvite Naim and Shahid?  After all, don't we need more strong young leaders?  Don't we need to promote more of our young leaders?  Some of the Council leadership may argue that we've secured Gov. Pat Quinn and we needed to make room for him in the program and that is why Naim and Shahid had to be uninvited.  This is not true.
 
We always had a spot for a "special guest" who would be a politician and that politician - Quinn, Daley or someone else - would come in, say a few nice words and leave.  We could have easily done the right thing by keeping Naim and Shahid while still welcoming Gov. Quinn and having Salam play an important role in the annual dinner.
 
I resigned from the Council for very specific reasons.  This latest fiasco comes after the fact but it is symptomatic of the problems which caused me to step down.
 
I believe that leaving the Council was the only way to send a clear message that the organization is in many ways dysfunctional.  This most recent debacle is just the tip of the iceberg (which is not to say that the Council does not have many good points - the remaining professional staff are each examples of all the good that still exists within the Council).
 
I have no doubt that some will accost me for raising these issues, but alas, if our community is to become stronger then we need to bring our dysfunctional behaviors into the sunlight and discuss them openly.  I've already been treated with some very unsavory behavior and I've received a few hateful emails from insiders.  I'm girding myself for more.
 
That's all fine.  Until today I kept these issues to myself but this unprofessional behavior (uninviting our keynotes with just a few weeks to go before the annual dinner) was the tipping point for me.
 
If you think I'm wrong, let me know and let me know why.  I'm open to your feedback. 
 
If you agree with me and you are asking yourself - "So what can we do?" then I say we take action.
 
When our elected officials act badly we petition them.  We write letters to them and we call them to account for their actions.  Why shouldn't we do the same thing with the leaders of our American Muslim institutions? 
 
I am asking them to account for this as a member of the American Muslim community.  I have a right to know why this was done.  So do you.
 
Finally, lest there be any doubt, I affirm with sincere conviction that the Council leadership are very good and kind and generous people.  I simply feel this was a very bad decision and one which could have been avoided on multiple occasions if the leadership had acted with diligence and with vision.  Please do not let our leaders argue that the ends justify the means.
 
Please forgive me for my errors and shortcomings - I have many of them.  No doubt - some of you feel I've quit on the community.  I understand your sentiments but I assure you that is not the case.  I am happy to work for the community like all of you - as a volunteer.  Atleast now the powers that be cannot hold the damocle's sword of termination over me for speaking my mind.
 
We should apologize to Naim and Shahid, bring them back into the program and put this sordid little episode behind us.
 
Was'salaam & peace,
 
Junaid M. Afeef

"Healing & Reconciliation" event in Chicagoland... An Intra-faith affair

The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) is collaborating with Shura of Islamic Family Counselors of America (in suburban Chicago, IL) to present a panel discussion, lectures and a fundraising dinner.  The event is titled "Healing & Reconciliation" and it appears to be working on "reconciling the historical differences in the American Muslim community."  The MANA event is slated to take place at Monty's Banquets on Sunday, October 4, 2009.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit New York City for a MANA organized meeting.  The meeting brought together community organizers and leaders from all over the U.S.  MANA's vision is to begin working in earnest to address the challenging issue of intra-Muslim divisions within the United States.

It was a daylong meeting and there were some very accomplished and proven American Muslim leaders at the meeting.  I think we all left the meeting with an understanding that mending the rifts and divides within the American Muslim community will take time.  It is a challenging problem without a simple answer or solution.

Locally and simultaneously the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago has been and is working on building bridges and relationships between immigrant Muslims and African American Muslims in northern Illinois.  Amina Saeed, President of the Muslim Bar Association of Chicago, and Dr. Mikal Ramadan of the Taqwa Islamic Center (located on Chicago's southside) held a historic intrafaith iftar on September 9, 2009 at the Ephraim Bahar Cultural Center in Chicago, Illinois.

For more information about the event and to purchase tickets please click here.

The featured speakers are Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Amir of MANA and Imam Suhaib Webb, Resident Scholar of MCA in Santa Clara, CA.

Biryani, hummos and collard greens!

Ephraim Bahar Cultural Center and its members hosted a diverse gathering of American Muslims for an iftar dinner on September 9.  The gathering included young children, young professionals and the pioneers of both the immigrant and African American Muslim community.

“This iftar dinner was the culmination of 12 months of planning but it hopefully marks the beginning of a long-term commitment to build bonds of understanding and friendship between our community’s immigrant and African American Muslims” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.

The seed for the September 9 intrafaith iftar dinner was planted at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Illinois during Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s janazah prayers one year earlier in 2008.  Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s janazah was a milestone in American Muslim history in that the janazah prayers were held at a predominantly immigrant mosque and because it drew thousands of American Muslims of all races and ethnicities from across the nation.  Many who attend the janazah prayer likened the diverse gathering to the diversity normally seen only during the annual Hajj (pilgrimage).

The intrafaith iftar dinner opened with welcoming words from Imam Sultan Salahuddin of Ephraim Bahar Cultural Center and Dr. Zaher Sahloul.  Sultan yielded the stage to Sahloul as his guest.
 
During his opening comments Sahloul read from a prepared statement and in that statement he acknowledged some of the historical mistakes and shortcomings of immigrant Muslims in their relations with African American Muslims.  He called upon immigrant and African American Muslims to come together not as teachers and students but as fellow Muslims.  Sahloul acknowledged also the arrogance that underpinned immigrant Muslims’ unwillingness to visit African American Muslims in African American mosques and Islamic centers.

Sahloul's comments caught Sultan Salahuddin, Imam of the Ephraim Bahar Cultural Center, of guard.  Commenting on Sahloul's written statement Salahuddin remarked "First of all, I was refreshingly surprised.  I was expecting to hear the usual welcoming, followed by kind words and presentations.  However, Dr. Zaher seems to have come straight from the heart."  Salahuddin added that Sahloul's presentation "showed that he has, indeed, studied our community's past, and has spent time reflecting on its meaning to him today."

As everyone moved into the prayer hall for Maghrib prayer Sultan, the mosque’s imam, asked Ahmed Qadeer, an immigrant Muslim from India and a founding organizer of the Council, to lead the prayers.

On being asked to lead the prayers Qadeer said “I was very reluctant to accept Imam Salahuddin’s request to lead the prayer but I accepted the honor as a symbol of our long-standing friendship and as an honor for the whole immigrant community.”  Qadeer added that he has known Salahuddin since the early nineties and that the offer to lead the prayer was a “gesture of kindness” and a “personal favor”.

The gathered faithful were not the only source of diversity that evening.  The iftar dinner was a potluck, and the evening meal was as varied as those gathered together to share in it.  The buffet line included a tray of fried catfish placed next to a pan of biryani.  There was also a large bowl of hummus next to a huge pot of collard greens.  The intrafaith iftar dinner catered to nearly everyone’s palate.

A warm aura friendship and hope pervaded the gathering.  Representatives of the various institutions coming together in the Intrafaith Initiative all echoed a shared intent to experience one another’s community in the coming year and to make Intrafaith dialogue a priority.

“I really enjoyed the program tremendously” said Dr. Khalid Husain, a member of the Downtown Islamic Center.  Speaking of DIC’s plans for the intrafaith initiative Husain further commented that “we plan on inviting each other to our local programs for a start, and also, to invite our sister masjid to our interfaith activities.”

Other participants of the initiative are focusing on the youth.  Dilara Sayeed of the Webb Foundation said this would be their focus in the coming year.

“The Webb Foundation will partner, Insh’Allah, with the Bahar Center for a youth project that will be based on relationship-building between our two communities” said Sayeed.  The early plans are for students from each community to meet together 8 times from January and May 2010 to work together on “challenges” that need to be solved in partnership with one another.  “This will focus our time together and help us grow together as learners and activists” added Sayeed.

The intra-faith iftar is the first event of a multi-year initiative.  The effort is led by Amina Saeed, the Council's first executive director and current President of the Muslim Bar Association of Chicago, along with her co-chair Dr. Mikal Ramadan, Imam of the Taqwa Islamic Center and a leader within the Chicagoland Shura Council.

"We were all impressed with Sister Amina Saeed's enthusiasm and determination to make intra-faith communications and joint endeavors on productive projects work where in the past they have failed" said Salahuddin.  "We are behind this 100 percent and we believe this will work if everyone is committed to putting forth the effort to make it work" he added.

Saeed and Ramadan were very successful as co-chairs over the past year and both clearly hold one another in high regard.  This professional and committed leadership is essential for the success of such efforts.

Ramadan commented on Saeed saying "she has a deep commitment as well as a rugged determination which she manages gracefully."

"Dr. Ramadan's positive outlook and determination to see this first gathering come together was indispensable in getting the intra-faith initiative off to a good start.  I am looking forward to working with Dr. Ramadan in the coming year as well" said Saeed.

Leaving CIOGC...

I've enjoyed the experiences, the work and the opportunities I've had at the Council these past 15 months as its executive director.  It's been invaluable.  Through my association with CIOGC I've developed wonderful relationships with many new people in Chicago and throughout Illinois and the United States. 

Given the right set of resources, circumstances and instituational structure I could have remained at the helm of CIOGC much longer.  I am proud of the many accomplishments we (our professional staff at CIOGC) achieved during my time with CIOGC - a consistent, weekly eNewsletter, a revamped Chicago Crescent monthly newspaper, greater attention and outreach to member institutions, increased programming, greater engagement with CIOGC committees and the beginnings of a professionalization of the the committees and so much more.

Still, this institution has a long ways to go before it can fulfill its potential.  The next evolution for CIOGC must include major structural re-organizing and a fundamental re-adjustment of how human resources are valued.

To all of the CIOGC staff, the many interfaith and government and civic leaders and the many dedicated leaders of the American Muslim community I say "Thank You!"

May God Bless us all!