An American Muslim Journal

Creating a buzz around Eid al Adha is very challenging

Tonight is the Muslim equivalent of Christmas Eve but I don't feel the excitement.

Tomorrow is Eid al Adha - one of two major Muslim holidays - but celebrating it just leaves a lot to be desired in terms of excitement.  The Muslim community in Chicago is divided - some Muslims celebrated Eid today and some are celebrating tomorrow.

The community in our part of Chicagoland aren't very well organized so there aren't any festive activities for the children.  The eid congregational prayer is mostly a chaotic exercise and we try to get in and out as quickly as possible.

What distinguishes the eid holiday is the food.  Tomorrow there will be a lot of food.  We'll have a very good lunch at my mom's and then we'll have my wife's family over to our house for dinner.  The kids will be allowed to eat a lot of candies, cakes and other treats so that, coupled with the gifts, will make the day different from most.

This bothers me because it makes it hard to compete with Christmas.  The commercialism of Christmas makes it very attractive for the kids.

It's futile to expect the immigrant mosque leaders to put together the atmosphere that I want to see.  The only way I'm going to be able to create the atmosphere I envision is to create it myself.

 

 

Eid ul-Fitr Mubarak! An Eid Celebration in Metropolitan Chicagoland 2010

Friday, September 10, 2010

7:19 am

Ramadan has come and gone once again.  It was a challenging Ramadan - may be the hardest one ever - and I'm already regretting not spending more time working on my spirituality.  Well, I'm not going to dwell on that for now.

The kids are up.  They knew what they were getting as Eid presents and now, finally, they can open them.

Oh brother!  Among the toys is yet another Transformer toy.  And now I have to stop writing to transform "Backfire" from a robot to a motorcycle.  Sigh.

The donuts, cupcakes and cookies are on the counter next to me.  This is a new tradition we're starting.  On Eid the rules on sugar are relaxed.  Normally sweets aren't allowed at breakfast.  Woohoo!  Today we start out with them!  Well, everyone but me (some things have to be enjoyed vicariously and for me the Eid treats are among such things).

We need to hit the road by 9am in order to get down to the wests suburban banquet hall where we're meeting up with my wife's family for Eid prayer.  Because Eid prayer turns out more Muslims than any other event throughout the year, the facilities old prayers at two and three different times at each location. Often there is an extra session added if the need arises.  The reason is that there are few facilities that can hold the large crowds all at once. We're heading to the 10:30 am prayer.

My parents like to go to a little mosque near our house for Eid prayer.  The sermons there are always in Urdu and frankly speaking, we don't share the mosque's religious views so we don't go there.  The Eid prayer experience was a lot more fun when I was a little kid.  Back in the late 1970s and in the 1980s all of Chicagoland gathered at McCormick Place in downtown Chicago.  Thousands upon thousands of Muslims from all backgrounds came together.

With the rapid proliferation of smaller mosques over the years the Eid prayers became decentralized.  While we are going to a gathering about 40 miles away there are probably 3 or 4 Eid prayer gatherings within 3 to 15 miles of our home as well.

Perhaps, some day in the future we can get back to a unified Eid prayer.

Well, its time to get ready!  I'll report back a bit later (maybe from the prayer itself if I can sneak my Mac out of the house this morning)!

Muslim Serve 2010 as Public Relations? Bad. As a catalyst for real service? Good!

 

Public service as public relations is a shallow exercise that betrays the revered place of serving humanity in Islam.  If the upcoming Muslim Serve 2010 efforts don’t include a plan of action (and a sincere commitment) for sustained service beyond 9/11/10, then those organizing this effort should stop right now.  If 9/11/10 is just a photo opportunity, then skip it.

Muslim Serve 2010 is a grassroots effort to encourage American Muslims to dedicate 9/11/10 to public service.  It’s premised on a Quranic exhortation to combat evil with good.  It’s a public relations effort timed on a national day of mourning that, by chance this year, coincides with the post-Ramadan holiday of Eid ul-Fitr.  

The motivation to do something positive on this day is completely understandable.  This year, perhaps more than any other since 2001, anti-Muslim and anti-Islam bigotry is raging in pockets around the country.  The hubbub around the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” shows few signs of abating in the coming days.  Random acts of violence against American Muslims like the vicious stabbing of a New York City cabbie are happening all over the country.  On 9/11 a Taliban-esque Christian preacher plans to burn copies of the Holy Quran in Florida.  The Islamophobic inspired criminal behavior is frightening.

A day of service on 9/11, juxtaposed to the Florida Quran burning, will garner some positive media attention.  It may result in some local newspaper articles and a few 15 second video clips on the evening news.  The positive spin, however, will be short-lived and in-effective. 

Americans on the fence about their views of Muslims may re-evaluate the hateful messages in the media as a result of some good works by Muslims as part of Muslim Serve 2010.  But how long will that last? One day of service, even if it’s a coordinated, nationwide effort, is still just one day. 

Muslims’ service for humanity is an antidote for the rabid hatred that infests communities across America, but it has to be sustained service in order to cure this disease.  The service has to be borne of a sincere desire to help others and not simply a feel good activity or, worse, a PR stunt. 

There are numerous Muslim individuals and Islamic organizations across the country that are serving humanity everyday.  Masjid Dawah, UMMA Center and IMAN come to mind.  They are all worth checking out.  They are models of what Muslim public service should be. 

Masjid Dawah is an storefront mosque on Chicago’s west side.  Compared to many other mosques in and around Chicago, it’s not much to look at, but the heart and soul of Masjid Dawah isn’t in its bricks and mortar, but in its daily efforts to serve the people around it.  Masjid Dawah provides  free meals every week to the hungry in the community.  The only criteria is need.  One need not be a Muslim to receive Masjid Dawah’s help. 

UMMA Center is a community resource center in Waukegan, Illinois.  UMMA stands for United Muslim Minority Alliance.  UMMA Center runs a food pantry and provides GED classes and job training for those in need within the Waukegan community.  They work with people in need without regard to religion. Many of the people benefiting most from UMMA Center’s services are non-Muslims. 

IMAN stands for Innercity Muslim Action Network.  IMAN is based in and serves a portion of Chicago’s south side.  It is one of the most well known and well regarded Muslim public service organizations in the country.  One of its most impressive services is a free medical clinic for the residents living around IMAN. Among other things, IMAN provides free access to quality healthcare to the poor and uninsured families. And again, many of the people IMAN serves are non-Muslims. 

Masjid Dawah, UMMA Center and IMAN will be serving the community on 9/11/10.  But that’s a given, since they serve humanity on the remaining 364 days of the year as well.  And that’s how it should be. A long-term and sustained commitment to service is the way to make a lasting and positive impact on those touched by their good works. 

In addition to these three institutions, there are thousands of American Muslims who quietly perform their public service regularly as well.  They don't issue press releases when they volunteer at the local homeless shelter.  There are no cameras when they drop off the weekly collection of nonperishable and healthy foods to the local food pantry either.  It just gets done, and the people who see it know that these are Muslims and the sincere and sustained acts of kindness open their non-Muslim neighbors hearts and minds to a different and more accurate perception of Muslims and Islam.  But thousands in a community of 6 million is not enough and until Muslim leaders and mosques make sustained public service a cornerstone of their religious obligation, the numbers will not grow.

Doing some form of public service on 9/11 is a good start.  But it has to be done for the right reasons. And it has to continue on the next day or the following week or on some other reasonable timetable all year round. 

Muslim community leaders should build on the Muslim Serve 2010 campaign by using it as a starting point for a discussion on how American mosques can better utilize their space to provide services to their surrounding communities throughout the year.

Muslim Serve 2010 as a PR effort is a bad idea.  But used as a catalyst for individual and institutional public service by Muslims for humanity, it is a great first step in the right direction.

President Obama greetings for Eid al Adha; Hamid Dabashi says Muslim revolutionary Malcolm X critical to America's civil rights movement, who we are as a nation today

American Muslims seem to be reflecting a lot about what it means to be an American and a Muslim this thanksgiving.  Thanks to the confluence of the American Thanksgiving holiday and the Muslim Eid al Adha, many American Muslims are thinking out loud about their place in American society.

President Barack H. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama sent Muslims in the U.S. and across the globe an Eid al Adha greeting.  This is what our President and First Lady said in their message:

Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha.  The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions.

During Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life – including thousands of American Muslims – will stand in prayer on Mount Arafat.  The following day, Muslims around the world will celebrate Eid-ul-Adha and distribute food to the less fortunate to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son out of obedience to God.

This year, I am pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Saudi Health Ministry to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1 during Hajj.  Cooperating on combating H1N1 is one of the ways we are implementing my administration's commitment to partnership in areas of mutual interest.

On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season – Eid Mubarak.

That's great.  I've said this over and over again but it is worth repeating: this is the sort of small but meaningful messaging that will empower my children to be even more committed to America and to Islam than is my generation.

I know that other presidents have issued formal greetings in the past as well.  I am grateful to them all.  This year, with everything going on around us at home in the U.S. this message comes at a very critical time.  Thank you Mr. President.

THANKFUL FOR MALCOLM X AND THE MUSLIM CONTRIBUTION TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

The civil rights movement was critically important to getting us closer to a world where bigotry and racism are nonexistent.  We are not there yet but without the struggles of African Americans in the mid-20th century our society would still be suffering a lot more from the hatred espoused by American racists.

Hamid Dabashi, the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, argues in an opinion piece at CNN.com that we are long overdue in appreciating Malcolm X's contributions to the civil rights successes most often attributed solely to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Professor Dabashi brings up Malcolm X the American Muslim and his pivotal role in the civil rights movement as a means of piercing the American psyche's apparent resistance to accepting Islam as a contributing force for good in contemporary American society.  In his CNN.com essay he writes:

To avoid singling out Islam as diabolical, it is imperative for Americans to come to terms with the collectively repressed fact that by far the most important social uprising of their 20th century -- namely the civil rights movement of the 1960s -- is not as exclusively a Christian phenomenon as it is made out to be: The towering figure of a Muslim revolutionary named Malcolm X is of great importance in the history of that movement.

Professor Dabashi compared the roles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as follows:

The way the history of the civil rights movement is mostly remembered now, an overwhelming role is assigned to the Southern Baptist genealogy of Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X is delegated to a radical fringe -- portrayed as more of a menace and a hindrance than a positive force in the civil rights movement.

But without the simultaneous presence of Malcolm X as a Muslim revolutionary, the Southern Baptist pacifism of Martin Luther King Jr. would not have been as formidable a force.

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were the yin and yang of the civil rights movement -- ennobling anger and vision coming together in hopes of realizing the dream of equality.

Privately this is something I've thought about as well.  The problem or the challenge has always been that most Americans have a demonized picture of Malcolm X in their minds.  He stirs images of anti-semitism and black nationalism.

Perhaps, if scholars like Professor Dabashi lead the way in bringing this perpsective into the mainstream this very poignant example will help to re-frame Islam and Muslims in a positive domestic perspective.

Giving thanks, asking for forgiveness, fasting and feasting: The Day of Arafat, Eid al Adha & Thanksgiving

November 26, 2009 is Thanksgiving in the United States.  Today is extra special for American Muslims.  In addition to being a day of added reflection and thanks, particular with our friends and neighbors from the broader community, today is also the Day of Arafat, the ritual in the annual Hajj (pilgrimmage to Mecca) when Muslims worldwide fast and reflect and ask for forgiveness and thank God for all his bounties.  And tomorrow, day two of a 4 day Thanksgiving holiday, Muslims in America, in Mecca and all over the world will begin the second of Islam's two religious holidays - Eid al Adha.

Eid Mubarak, Hajj Mubarak and Happy Thanksgiving!

Dr. Hesham Hassaballa very eloquently reflected on the juxtapositioning of these important days this year.  His essay at AltMuslim.com relates his own memory of performing the Hajj, his time on the plains of Arafat begging for God's mercy and the emotions of gratitude to God.

Dr. Hassaballa's AltMuslim.com essay also suggests a twist to the tradition feasting that takes place on Thanksgiving.  He suggests:

Moreover, many Muslims will this day be fasting the daylight hours in solidarity with those blessed to be on the Hajj. Although Thanksgiving is most thought of as a feast: it is more fitting for it to be a fast. Even though, thankfully, the day is short and the sun will set early, as Muslims deprive themselves of food and drink, they are reminded of the countless people across the globe who forgo food and drink not out of choice, but out of dire deprivation. And that includes people who reside in this very country, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently reported. Therefore, we should be doubly motivated to help those who are less fortunate. If one is to be truly thankful for the bounties bestowed, then she should do all she can to help those in need.

Perhaps this can be tradition that American Muslims bring to Thanksgiving heretofore.  Just as Islam has adapted to the multitude of cultures across the globe over the past 1400 years it is doing the same in the United States as well.  Perhaps fasting in the daylight hours according to the Islamic rules of fasting with a traditional thanksgiving meal (with its welcomed fusion with some ethnic elements from time to time) after sunset?  I think its a good idea!

Best Buy wishes its Muslim customers "Happy Eid al Adha"!

 
Best Buy advertisement in 11/22/09 Sunday papers

Yesterday’s Sunday newspaper ads included a very pleasant surprise.  It was in the Best Buy ad insert, but no, it was not about a great deal on a cell phone or a laptop.  While the latest gizmos are very exciting, this time it was something else that caught my attention. 

The front page of the ad said “Happy Eid al-Adha”.  Can you imagine that - “Happy Eid al-Adha” on the front of a major American retailer’s advertising insert?  It is not something I was expecting but I am very happy about it.

Of course not everyone is going to be happy about Best Buy’s decision.  Islamophobes are zeroing in on the Best Buy eid greetings as proof of a nefarious plot to “Islamicize” America.  “It’s anti-Christian” some say.  At the other extreme, some Muslims will certainly berate me for thinking this is a good thing because, in their mind, I am trying to be an American.  Ba-Humbug them all!

Best Buy’s Eid al Adha greetings in the Sunday paper ad insert is a smart marketing decision.  They did it because it benefits their bottom line.  American Muslims are consumers like everyone else.  November 27 is Black Friday (the unofficial kick-off to the Christmas shopping season) and this year it also happens to be Eid al Adha, the second of two annual Islamic holidays.  Especially in this economy, it makes a lot of sense for Best Buy to leverage every possible gift-giving holiday to its advantage.

The extremist Christian right-wing bemoans practices that properly separate church and state because to them the state ought to promote Christianity only.  Not surprisingly then, these same extremist Christian right-wingers gets bent out of shape whenever Islam is appropriately acknowledged alongside Christianity, Judaism and the many other faith traditions in America.

The blogosphere is already buzzing with all the usual crack-pot Islamophobes frothing at the mouth and tripping over one another to whine and moan that Islam is being given special treatment.  Many of the most virulent Islamophobic websites are asking their hate-brigades of Pat Robertson-following, Mark Levine-loving and Rush Limbaugh-listening people to contact Best Buy to complain about their supposed “anti-Christian" behavior and to tell Best Buy they are boycotting the store (um, yeah, unless that really cool 52 inch HD flat screen dips under $600 – oh yeah, Hannity and O’Reilly in HD baby…).

On the flipside, there are the reflexively anti-American Muslims who will attempt to suppress any appreciation of Best Buy’s eid greetings because it is an invitation to be more American.  “Fear Allah brother!” they will surely exhort via email and at the mosque.  I know I’m going to get an earful of “The eid greeting is right above thanksgiving -  that’s a Christian holiday!  It’s proximity to the eid greeting makes it Haraam brother!”

Frankly, I am at my wits end with these nutty anti-American Muslims as much as I am with the Islamophobe kooks.  In response to their accusation about being more American I respond: guilty as charged…  brother. 

I am happy to see Muslim holidays making it into mainstream American life.  I am heartened to know that corporate America is taking notice that the American Muslim market is a goldmine for their bottom line.  It bodes well that phrases like “Happy Eid al-Adha” are making their way into the consciousness of America.

Whenever I can get an acknowledgement of Islam and Muslims in America, be it from an eid greeting from the White House or in a Best Buy advertisement, I am happy.  These little efforts go a long way in reinforcing the message I try to convey to my children: you have a right to be a devout and practicing Muslim and a patriotic and engaged American citizen at the same time.

Having grown up in an America that was a lot less aware of Islam and Muslims and having come of age at a time when Islam and Muslims were demonized in the media, I have a keen appreciation for accurate and positive images of Islam and Muslims.  The Best Buy greeting is a small but important milestone in the establishment of Islam in the pluralistic religious foundation of America.  When my kids see the eid greeting they react with a nonchalant “cool”.  Yes, it is cool.

Eid al Adha on November 27, 2009 all across Illinois, U.S. & the world

In a few days the American Muslim community will celebrate Eid al Adha.  According to the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, Illinoisans will be celebrating the festival of the sacrifice on Friday, November 27, 2009.  To read more about the Eid al Adha celebration click here.

Eid Mubarak to All!