Over on Al Mihrab, Irfan Rydhan, who I have volunteered with before on a couple of organizations, posted 5 Good Books for American Muslims (and everyone else). Apologies for yet another list but his post inspired me to come up with my own ‘five books’ and so I’ve done that below. Just like Irfan’s list, mine can be consumed by non-Muslims as well:

1. Zeitoun
With all the negative media we get regarding Islam and Muslims in the U.S., reading a book where the protagonist is a Syrian-American practicing Muslim is a welcome change of pace. Abdulrahman Zeitoun faced a lot of adversity after he opted to stay behind in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and yet despite the almost unreal circumstance in he found himself in, his faith remained unshakable. I know it’s cliche to say this, but I couldn’t put this book down. An intense true story, this book was also picked by Entertainment Weekly as the #1 Nonfiction book for 2009. What. Up.

2. Al America: Travels Through America’s Arab and Islamic Roots
This one has to be on the list. San Francisco Chronicle journalist Jonathon Curiel writes about how Muslims and Arabs have extensively influenced the United States. From coffee to rock and roll, there are many things in this country that have been shaped by Arabs and Muslims. Curiel also has a lot of supplementary material on his website.

3. The Vision of Islam
As someone who was born Muslim in a non-Muslim country, I found this intermediate ‘intro’ to Islam book to be very valuable. In addition, the authors Murata and Chittick did something that some Islamic school teachers I had when I was younger failed to do - they gave Islam a soul.

4. Waiting ‘Til The Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America
Not a book on Islam but it’s still quite important. Author Peniel Joseph gives us a narrative history in which he tells the reader about a great many people and events that helped shape the Civil Rights movement, which the Muslim American community has looked to from time to time. An excellent read.

5. Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists
Man, those Muslims. They have never amounted to anything… Actually, quite the opposite. In this book, Michael Morgan goes through many of the scientific and mathematic achievements made by Muslims. Just a note though, this book really is only an introduction into the topic and is not meant to be an academic work. However, it’s a good stepping stone into further study.

So there you have it. I’ll go ahead and apologize for any future lists I make but hey, doing 30 posts in 30 days isn’t too easy for me

Children of Dust is about the evolution of the author from Abir, Amir, and then finally, into reformist blogger Ali Eteraz. In his first book, this former blogger takes the reader through his childhood from a village in Pakistan to his life in the United States.

His father had promised Allah (swt) a servant in the form of his son if he and his wife were granted a boy. Born with that covenant hanging over his head, Abir Ul Islam, now known as Ali Eteraz, did strive to be the best Muslim he could be while growing up in Pakistan.

In the United States, he tries his best to fit in, even changing his name upon excessive teasing from classmates - Abir= “A Beer”, etc. Ah, the creativeness of classmates when it comes to foreign names. I know that pain so well. Second graders can be so cruel.

But I digress…

In college he focuses back to religion. He dodged non-Muslim girls until he came to the realization that he needed to find himself a nice, pious Muslim girl which ultimately leads him on a trip back to Pakistan. His trip to Pakistan becomes a defining event. Due to events detailed in the book, he came back a different person.

That episode is what fuels another part of Eteraz, the part that slides away from Islam. This part was … interesting to say the least. Here is a guy with a lot of knowledge about Islam who stopped believing while giving the outwards appearance that he was, in fact, a pious Muslim brother. Out of all the less than stellar acts he shares in his book, this is the one that really made me wary of Ali Eteraz. I mean, he was pretending to be a good Muslim, even going as far as getting himself elected president of his college’s Muslim Student’s Association. He only seemed to do things to get attention, for people to notice and respect him.

Due to the aforementioned, I couldn’t really decide how I felt about the author. I didn’t appreciate the kind of person he described himself to be. However, I did appreciate his honesty. We can clearly see his motivations in his life and what drives him to do what he does. You may not agree with his actions but either way, Eteraz is a gifted writer. He could have sugar-coated events and periods of his life but instead he writes a memoir that I could respect even if, at times, I didn’t really respect the man himself.

This is not necessarily a memoir of Pakistan like it says on the cover, but more like a memoir of a Pakistani- American. Read Children of Dust with an open mind to find about how Eteraz coped with too-strict imams at the madrasas in his village in Pakistan, how he escorted the Tablighi Jamat around the United States much to his embarrassment, the intense situation he found himself in while in Pakistan, and how after 9/11, Eteraz’s life took yet another turn. This book is by no means the end of the story that Ali Eteraz and so it will be interesting to see what his future writing projects entail.

Yesterday, there was a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan in which a someone blew himself up at a Shia mosque on the day of Ashura. This is just one of many suicide bombings that have occurred in Pakistan as of late.

I can’t understand this. Not only the killing, attempted or otherwise, of innocent people, but the act of suicide to accomplish such an act. Every Muslim knows that killing oneself is a sin in Islam.

In Dying to Win, author Robert Pape writes about the origin of suicide bombing and its use as mostly political (foreign policy, etc). Basically, it was never used as a religious form of terror. And yet here, it is. All of a sudden, some Muslims believe that it is totally OK to kill themselves for religious purposes. I really, truly wonder what is said to them that convinces them that performing this act is not a violation of the core of their own religion.

I haven’t been to Pakistan in a couple of years, but I’m wondering if there’s some sort of movement to help re-educate the brainwashed few and make them stop killing themselves and their own people. A massive undertaking, no doubt, but I’m sure it would be well worth it for the country to invest in a project like this. I know it’s easy for me to say that sitting here in the States but I worry about Pakistan and I really do want it to be a better place, InshAllah.

I remember back when I first started fasting in the month of Ramadan. I was in the 4th grade and fasted for maybe 2 or 3 days in the whole month. I started fasting full time when I was in the 5th grade. Well, full time minus one day. There was a class party one day and I decided not to fast because I didn’t want to miss out on the food. Although I wasn’t even required to fast back then, I still look back on that situation and mentally shake my head, wondering how I justified not fasting because of a class party. It made perfect sense when I was 10 though.

Back then, if someone asked me why I was fasting, I probably wouldn’t have been able to give more than a generic answer. To my young self, Ramadan meant I couldn’t eat from dawn until dusk and not too much more beyond that.* Now, I really try to do my best to utilize the month as it is about a lot more than not eating and drinking during the day. I look forward to Ramadan because every time it comes around, it’s at a time when I need a spiritual recharge, when I need to be reminded about what’s important in life and not let all the little things affect me in a negative manner. I increase my reading on religious matters and try to gain knowledge in this month. Also, I really do try to watch what I do or say and how I am with people. In essence, I try to be a better person.

This year I’m trying to focus on getting rid of one particular bad habit - I worry too much. After I have done everything I can for a situation, I need to let it be and not constantly dwell on it. I need to keep the faith and understand that whatever happens, happens and that’s the way God intended for it to be.

I have found myself struggling lately to keep the above in mind and not succumb to worry and to over-analyze a situation. Ramadan is already half way over and I have been doing my best to work on this internal issue of mine. Here’s hoping that I can achieve this goal and find other ways in which I can improve myself, InshAllah, before the month’s end.

Next Ramadan: I’ll try to work on my sarcasm and get it under control.

I can’t make any promises though.

*The Wikipedia article on Ramadan explains the meaning of this month quite well.

On occasion, I review movies, books, or TV shows for Media and Islam or Illumemedia, usually things that are related to Islam. On this site, I may occasionally review a random, non-religious book or movie for fun (like the DC animated films).

I realized a while ago that I was generally positive when it came to most of these reviews. Any kind of gripe I had was always minor and I always ended up giving a review close to glowing. I wondered, was I too nice? Would I end up giving everything a positive review?

I needn’t have worried.

I was recently given an advanced copy of a book by a marketing company. This particular company gave me a free book before, which was great, so I loved that they thought of me again to send me another book.

The premise of this particular book is a controversial one: it’s a novelized version of the life of one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Aisha (ra). I was a bit hesitant to read it at first because of the fiction mixed in with the true account of religious figures, but I thought I’d be fair and not just jump to conclusions.

So I read the book. To put it simply, I didn’t like it.

As I prepare to write my review, I wonder if it’s okay to even be negative. I’m the type of person who doesn’t take criticism well so I wonder: who am I to bestow criticism on anyone else?

The first copy of the book I received was an advanced copy without the real cover, just a really simple one that characterized it as an advanced copy. The company just sent me the published version of the book and I lamented the fact that I had another version of a book I didn’t like and my bookshelf was already bursting at the seams. I looked at the published version and read through the quotes from other authors that were printed on the front and back covers. The headlining quote was from Amy Tan and it was then I realized: I have my own opinion and I’ll go ahead and give it. People will like
the book and some people won’t and I happen to fall into the latter group. If you don’t want something to be critiqued don’t put it out there. And if by some crazy chance the author happens to read my review, he can take solace in the fact that other people liked it and what do I know because I’m no Amy Tan.

I just feel a bit bad because this will probably be the last time that this marketing company gives me a free book.

So in my last post, I wrote about being worried that someone will judge all Muslims by something that I do. One’s actions and one’s religions do not go hand in hand but I know that I represent Islam to some so that’s why I’m aware of what it is I do.

I’m reiterating the above because today there was some pretty gruesome news on the internet. The founder and CEO of Bridges TV, a channel created to help portray Muslims in a positive light, is accused of killing his wife. And not just killed. Beheaded.

Article - Prominent Orchard Park man charged with beheading his wife

Muzzammil Hassan’s heinous actions ended a life and ruined a family. I don’t want to lessen the severity of that but I need to add that this guy messed things up for Muslim Americans. He represented Islam to many, especially by creating Bridges TV and his continued actions in the Muslim community, and he blew it.

The article didn’t try to connect his actions with his religion but the anti-Islam sites already have. For some reason, people can’t seem to understand that just because a person happens to be one faith, there actions are not necessarily sanctioned by their religion. Only when a person’s faith is Islam is the religion used against them. This guy happened to be Muslim but it wasn’t Islam that told him to kill his wife, to behead her. I mean, what religion does tell one to do that?! Same as we wouldn’t bring in religion into acts of violence that occur all over this country, Islam shouldn’t be brought into the mix here as the cause.

I’m still incredibly shocked by this. Unfortunately, he didn’t just make himself out to be a wife killer, he made all Muslim men out to be potential wife killers. That’s not the way it should be but that’s how certain people will choose to see it. This guy just demolished the very roads he set out to pave and it’s incredibly sad.

I had a realization a long time ago - that I could be the first Muslim that a person may come across. Maybe even the last. People may see the hijab and automatically figure out that I’m Muslim.Therefore, a person’s entire perception of Islam and Muslims could be influenced by me.

That scares me. I’m nowhere near being a perfect Muslim. What if I do or say something wrong? One of my fears is that I’ll flip out at the supermarket if the cashier messes something up and then everyone will look at me and think that all Muslims are as inclined to exhibit that kind of behavior. Because of these irrational fears, I always try to be on my best behavior when I’m out and about. Not that I have to suppress urges to yell at anybody or anything (I’d like to think that I’m a pretty easygoing person) but I’m only human and I wouldn’t want my actions to transfer onto someone else just by association.

I have always been really open about talking about religion when asked and I have never minded talking about Islam, whether it be with a stranger or someone I know. In class the other day in the minutes before instruction was to begin, one of my fellow classmates that I’ve become friends with had a thoughtful look on her face before she said to me “I have about 47 questions and I was wondering if I could ask you a few,” she said.

“Ask me anything,” I replied. I then inserted my usual caveat that I don’t actually know everything. The reason I don’t mind talking about religion at all is that I feel that it is much better to go ahead and ask something and clear up any misconceptions than to not ask at all. If I am the only Muslim that someone comes across, then being approachable can maybe allow someone to attach a more human face to Islam that isn’t quite so negative. It may be a small thing but I’m constantly aware of that prospect.

However, I’ll just go ahead and apologize in advance if I ever mess up in the future

Imam Warith Dean Muhammad passed away earlier this week. He was the son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. I just wanted to post a bit about him, taken from an article from Altmuslim.com:

Even though he was seen as the natural successor for leadership within the Nation of Islam, WD Mohammad became increasingly open about his rejection of his father’s teachings: the divinity of blacks, the divine origins of Nation founder WD Fard as “Savior Allah incarnate”, and the belief that whites were the Devil incarnate. While serving time in prison for concientious objection to the military draft, Mohammad studied the Qur’an and built up the courage to confront his father’s teachings, even as he was groomed to succeed him. Once released from prison, his rejoined the leadership of his father’s movement, all the while his doubts growing stronger.

His refusal to endorse the unorthodox teachings of the Nation, combined with his open confrontation of corruption within it, kept him in obscurity among other leaders of the group. It was not until ten years later, after the death of his father, that WD Mohammad was able to ascend to leadership and begin turning the movement towards the vision he had spent the last decade crafting. By 1977, he formally broke the Nation away from its original teachings and discarded the name, leaving it and its few remaining believers to Minister Louis Farrakhan, who runs a much smaller Nation to this day.

While WD Mohammad was determined to re-orient his organization towards orthodox Islam, he did so without rejecting the positive teachings that the Nation brought to that community, such as self-reliance and personal discipline. “[He] was able to do two remarkable things,” says Sulayman Nyang, a professor of African Studies at Howard University. “One [was] the re-Islamization of the movement; the second, the re-Americanization of the movement.” Under his leadership, Imam Mohammad’s community reached out to other faith groups, stressed civic engagement as a means of self-empowerment, and worked for economic self-sufficiency. By some accounts, the community under his influence grew to nearly one million people.

Imam Mohammad’s influence, however, was felt outside the African-American Muslim community as well. While some immigrant muslims were (and still are) unaware of what WD Muhammad gave to their community, his influence was most profoundly felt within Muslim leadership. As he reached out to predominantly immigrant Muslim organizations, he brought the lessons of nearly a half-century of organization and vision-making to the table. After his invocation to the US Senate in 1993, he led two more for President Bill Clinton. He shared a stage with Pope John Paul II and The Dalai Lama in 1999, addressing 100,000 people at the Vatican. In 2000, he had a public reconciliation with Louis Farrakhan, though that was seen as a sign of the Nation’s increasing subordination to the global, mainstream Islam Mohammed steered his community towards.

Read more.

There is an email going around from Azhar Usman, a Muslim comedian, that he wrote after he attended the funeral of Imam WD Muhammad and is being reposted on a lot of blogs. The entire email is under the cut.

© 2008 Azhar Usman

An Apology
Heartfelt reflections on the passing of a legendary Blackamerican Muslim leader

[Read more →]

Robotech was one of my favorite cartoons in the 80s.

For those of you have not seen the show, here’s a brief summary - An alien spaceship lands on Earth, ending a global war as different countries banded together to study the ship. 10 years later, it’s about to go on its maiden voyage in space when the Zentraedi, a race of giant human-like warriors, attack. The SDF-1 (as the ship is now called) jumps into space, accidentally jumping too far into space and taking an entire city, Macross, with it.

Anyways, it’s a long story.

So the other night I was at my sister’s and she and my brother-in-law happened to be watching Robotech on DVD. As the episode progressed, my brother-in-law made a comment that I’ve heard expressed before:

“You know, the Zentraedi are supposed to be Muslim.”

The Zentraedi are completely segregated - men and women generally seem to be on different ships. They have no concept of romance and do not have any idea about, y’know, ’stuff’. On one occasion, a Zentraedi ship was able to view a live feed of the the Miss Macross pageant happening on the ship and didn’t know what to make of girls in skimpy outfits. When Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, and Max Sterling were caught by the Zentraedi, Rick and Lisa had to show the Zentraedi what a ‘kiss’ was, which resulted in a disgusted group of Zentraedis. Minmei, the singing sensation of Macross, was their downfall as the soldiers were introduced to an entirely different way of life through her songs. Many Zentraedi wanted to defect to the human ship and, thus, embrace the human way of life because of her.

In short, the Zentraedi could portray how some of the world see Muslims while the humans, more specifically the humans of SDF-1, could represent the Western World. Note that I said how the world sees Muslims but not actually what Muslims are actually like

OR

There is no meaning behind anything and we all just think too much.

(I’m thinking the latter…)

Notes:

“Macross” is the name of the city that was taken into space when SDF-1 jumped. The city was essentially rebuilt within the ship and the citizens tried to live a normal life onboard. “Macross” is also the name of the original Japanese cartoon that was translated to become 1st Generation Robotech (this is the generation with Rick, Lisa, SDF-1, etc. and is my favorite generation)

Robotech is a very violent cartoon if one thinks about it. So many people die, the earth is almost wiped out, the future looks bleak, and one has to listen to Minmei’s songs. Seriously though, I can’t believe we all watched this as little kids.

I don’t generally watch TV during Ramadan, a personal choice as I try to limit distractions (I say this while I’m on the interent. huh.). But, I was over at my sister’s place and didn’t want to make them turn it off or anything. (Dunno why I need to make this point, but oh well)

When I grow up, I want to be a Veritech pilot.

So I’m a few days late in this post but I still felt the need to acknowledge that it is now Ramadan, the holiest of months to Muslims.

They say that the only thing that some Muslims get out of this month is the feeling of starvation from dawn to dusk. I think that’s how it was for me the past two Ramadans.

I want it to be different this year so I will be striving to work on my spiritual side and get closer to Allah (swt) (or, y’know, ‘God’ as the masses call Him ;))

Muslims go by a lunar calendar and according to most scholars, the lunar months begin and end with the actual physical sighting of the new moon by the naked eye. So for me, it means that if the new moon is sighted anywhere in North America, the month begins. These days, we all have a much better idea of when and where the moon can be seen due to astronomy, math, and all that good stuff.

I happened to see the new moon from my house Monday night and it was a beautiful sight. The following was taken Monday night in the Hayward Hills by someone over at Zaytuna Institute:

My aim is to be a better person this Ramadan. Here’s hoping that I can accomplish that.