New Muslim Program
A fourteen week program for new Muslims covering the basic beliefs and practices of Islam, along with advice and support for living as a Muslim.
Starts June 14th. Saturdays, from 12 PM-3 PM.
Cost: $50 - includes materials.

Intro to Hadith Study
A six week course focused on Hadith Study. This course will give students the opportunity to examine the science of Hadith in order to facilitate an introductory understanding of the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings upon him)
Starts June 29th. Sundays, from 11 AM-1:30 PM.
Cost: $50 - includes materials.

Quranic Arabic
An eight week study of the Fusha Arabic language used in the Quran.
Class will meet twice a week.
Starts July 12th. Saturdays, from 10 AM-11:30 AM and Wednesdays, from 6:30 PM-8 PM.
Cost: $50 - includes materials.

One-on-One Private Quran Reading Lessons
Private tutoring sessions are available.
Cost: $10/session

**Financial aid is available for those who need it to attend the classes. While we welcome all to our programs, priority registration is given to converts to Islam.

Register online at www.meccacenter.com or call 212-354-4320: Monday to Thursday, 12:30 PM-5:30 PM.

Amidst all of the complaining and bickering over how unbalanced and biased the American media is, one of the greatest American Journalists, NBC’s Tim Russert passed away unexpectantly earlier today. Tim Russert, along with Bill Moyers and only a handful of other journalists, in my mind truly perfectly exemplify what it means to be a fair, unbiased, objective journalist who always asks the tough questions. Everyone across all political parties and viewpoints respected Russert, and his passing is truly a huge loss for the American public at large. Sunday Mornings will never be the same without Russert hosting Meet the Press. My thoughts and prayers go out to his immediate family, as well as all those touched by his loss.

Ill resume blogging regularly later this summer… But meanwhile i thought i’d share a few important events and activities that I strongly recommend and endorse!!

Events (in the NY Area):

CAIR-NY Annual Banquet
Saturday, June 7, 2008
6:00pm - 9:30pm

The Shabazz Center
3940 Broadway
New York, NY

IMANA 3rd Annual Student Resident Conference
Saturday, June 14, 2008
8:00am - 6:00pm

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York, NY

Voices for Change Featuring Outlandish Concert
Outlandish (who I’ve been a huge fan of and promoting for over 5 years) is FINALLY touring the US!!! Thank You MAS!!!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
5:00pm - 9:00pm

New Balance Track and Field
216 Fort Washington Ave.
New York, NY

Learn Arabic This Summer! (here in the US!!!)

The Fawakih Quranic Arabic Intensive
June 10, 2008 - July 11, 2008

Legacy Institute for Islamic Studies
9721 Kincaid Drive
Fishers, IN

Zaytuna Summer Arabic Intensive
Berkeley, CA
June 23 - Aug 15, 2008

TV Shows
Oh yes, I also recommend you watch ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, one of the best TV shows ever (which you’ve probably never even heard of). I dont condone or recommend you download it illegally, so purchase/rent the DVDs or watch them online here: (Sorry US residents only):
1. Go to Hulu.com.
2. Choose Arrested Development.
3. Start with Season 1 and then watch every episode of all three seasons.

Oh yes, please do make dua for me also!

wassalaam,
H. Ahmed

Please remember me in your duas!

PS - happy 25th bday MuJMaN!

Sunday, May 18th, 2008; 5pm - 9pm
Rosenthal Pavilion
Kimmel Center, 10th Floor
60 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

Tickets: $25 (available at the door; to reserve in advance please email rkamal@sas.upenn.edu)

****Live Entertainment with the Allah made me Funny Comedy Tour, the Travelers’ Nasheed Group and keynote speech by Shamil Idriss ****

**Halal Dinner Will be Served**

Co-Sponsors
MPAC - the Muslim Public Affairs Council
AMLEOA - American Muslim Law Enforcement Officers Association
Baruch College MSA
Women in Islam
Turning Point
Zayan Finance
———————————————
On Sunday, May 18th, the Islamic Center at NYU will be hosting “Children in Need”, a fundraising dinner in conjunction with Islamic Relief to help raise money for the victims of the recent cylcone in Myanmar.

Islamic Relief strives to alleviate suffering, hunger, illiteracy, and diseases worldwide regardless of color, race, or creed, and to provide aid in a compassionate and dignified manner. Islamic Relief aims to establish sustainable local development projects allowing communities to better help themselves through programs in: Education & Training, Water & Sanitation, Income Generation, Health & Nutrition, Emergency & Relief, and Orphan Support. Their belief is that countries are rebuilt, and populations are given hope through taking care and empowering our children.

We would like to invite you all of you to the event. Doors open at 5pm and the program includes live entertainment and performances by the Travellers Nasheed Group and the Allah Made Me Funny comedy tour as well as a short talk by Mr. Shamil Idriss, Acting Director of the Secretariat for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (AoC).

Mr. Idriss was appointed to the AoC Secretariat by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2005. Prior to this position, he served as Senior Advisor to the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders: West-Islamic World Dialogue Initiative (C-100). From 2000-2004, Mr. Idriss served as Chief Operating Officer of Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a global leader in international conflict resolution and pioneer in the use of media for positive social change.

At least 22,000 people have been killed in Myanmar by the weekend’s devastating cyclone, with another 41,000 people missing, according to state media.

As damage assessment reports came in from the worst-hit areas, UN officials said up to a million people may have been left homeless in the country.

Noppadon Pattama, Thailand’s foreign minister, said: “Conditions are very bad. We need temporary housing, shelters … humanitarian assistance should be given to Myanmar very urgently”

FOR TICKETS PLEASE CONTACT RABIA KAMAL rkamal@sas.upenn.edu or (215) 205-9658

Dont forget, Season Finale of The Office Tonight!!!!

Here are a couple of Letters to the Editor from today’s NYTimes denouncing such claims.

To the Editor:

Like the Jewish legal tradition, Islamic law is a conversation represented in dynamic and diverse schools of thought. Edward N. Luttwak speaks of an essentialized Islamic law that does not exist.

Nevertheless, there is no dispute among Muslims that Islam is not an ethnic affiliation, nor is it passed through the gene pool. A Muslim parent is morally responsible for raising his or her child within Islam; children, for their part, have no legal culpability. There is no legal obligation by a child to affiliate with the Muslim community.

Islam does not consider Barack Obama ever to have been part of the Muslim community. Apostasy has no relevance here.

Ingrid Mattson
Hartford, May 12, 2008

The writer is president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest umbrella Muslim group in the country.

To the Editor:

People in Muslim countries are aware that Senator Barack Obama is not a Muslim, and yet he enjoys wide support in those countries. That support has nothing to do with Mr. Obama’s being a full, half or non-Muslim; it is rooted in the fact that he promises to change the kind of policies that have led to such a negative view of America by people in other countries, both Muslims and members of other faith communities.

Zaid Shakir
Berkeley, Calif., May 12, 2008

The writer is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the Zaytuna Institute.

Read more here

Part 1

Part 2

Source: PBS: America at a Crossroads

It’s an age-old American tradition: immigrant groups take up comedy to fight against discrimination. One path to understanding is to make people laugh. Now Muslim-Americans have come forward to help dismantle the stereotypes and hatred that have surged since September 11, 2001.

Each of these artists felt the aftershock of 9/11 personally. At a time when people of Middle Eastern origin were advised to lay low, they all chose to stand up — and tell jokes. This film explores how they are responding to 9/11, each in a different way, but all using humor to define who they are.

STAND UP is the story of Ahmed’s battle to get beyond playing “Terrorist No. 4.” It’s about Obeidallah’s journey to discover his Arab heritage. It’s about Zayid’s resolve to turn being “a Palestinian Muslim woman virgin with cerebral palsy from New Jersey” into a career asset. It’s about Usman’s quest to become the Muslim comedy role model he himself never found. It’s about Hami’s determination to challenge American conceptions about Muslim women.

“We can’t define who we are on a serious note because nobody will listen.The only way to do it is to be funny about it.”
– Ahmed Ahmed

From false arrests to death threats, these comics face challenges from both mainstream America and within the Muslim community. All are at critical points in their careers, each evolving differently as a comic. But they are all striving for one thing: to break through the typecasting and achieve mainstream comedy success.

Following in the footsteps of comics such as Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Lopez, and Margaret Cho, they are using stand-up comedy to make the case for Arab and Muslim inclusion in the American “public square.”

Above all, STAND UP: Muslim American Comics Come of Age is an American story. Which means almost anything is fair game for a laugh.

Unbelievable.

If John McCain wins this November, I’m moving to Canada…

Source: NYTimes

May 8, 2008
Young Video Makers Try to Alter Islam’s Face
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

LOS ANGELES — When Ali Ardekani started fishing around on the Internet a couple of years ago for video blogs about Muslims, he did not like what he found: either the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims were depicted as bloodthirsty zealots, or they were offering defensive explanations as to why they were not.

“Arabic sounds foreign and scary — you don’t know what is going on,” Mr. Ardekani said in an interview at his small Sherman Oaks apartment, its walls decorated with Koranic verses. “Or they show a woman with the veil, who doesn’t speak, and it is assumed if she did speak she would say, ‘Help me!’ ”

So Mr. Ardekani, a 33-year-old Web designer, cast himself on his video blogs as Baba Ali, an outsize character with a serious religious message who both dissects and lampoons the lives of American Muslims.

Mr. Ardekani is among the most visible of a new wave of young American Muslim performers and filmmakers trying to change the public face of their religion. His most popular video posting — “Who Hijacked Islam?” — has garnered more than 350,000 hits on YouTube since July 2006. Of course the uphill battle such efforts face is reflected in the comments section. One viewer remarked darkly, “It’s Muslims that do the hijacking.”

These video pioneers’ arena of choice is mostly YouTube and similar Web sites, which young Muslims extol as a new way to take their arguments public. The role model is Bill Cosby, who young Muslim filmmakers believe changed the perception of African-Americans by depicting them as ordinary.

For the moment, the filmmakers suspect, most of the hits they attract are generated by other young Muslims.

“They are deprived of any type of representation in the media which isn’t a terrorist or an extremely pious Muslim,” said Lena Khan, 23. So whenever an image to the contrary is seen “on YouTube or the Internet or on a TV show, it just spreads across the Muslim community like wildfire, because everyone wants to support it.”

Ms. Khan has placed several short videos on YouTube, among them “A Land Called Paradise,” which shows a variety of Muslims holding up signs. The sign held by a young boy says, “Broccoli is my personal jihad” — jihad meaning a personal, spiritual struggle rather than its more notorious translation as holy war.

“A Land Called Paradise” has attracted almost 250,000 hits. It has also won a $20,000 grand prize in a multisponsored contest to produce videos that challenge stereotypes of Muslims. Mr. Ardekani won the $5,000 first prize in the comedy category for “Muslim While Flying,” a spoof of the way Muslims are treated at American airports.

Murad Amayreh, a 27-year-old filmmaker who works for the outreach department of the Muslim American Society, helped produce a video, “I Am a Muslim,” that has shot to the top of searches for “Muslim” on YouTube, having attracted more than two million hits since it was posted on Sept. 28.

(By way of perspective, the most popular video ever on YouTube, “Evolution of Dance,” has attracted more than 84 million hits, but traffic in that stratospheric range is usually garnered by music videos. Ms. Khan said student filmmakers rated 10,000 hits as a sign that a film had moved beyond friends and family.)

The “I Am a Muslim” video tries to contradict stereotypes with a man named Muhammad who presents himself as an ordinary American. It has drawn more than 131,000 comments, along with more than 50 video responses. Some are crude, like “I Am a Redneck.”

One of the more sober video responses, from a young, skinny, unidentified man, has garnered more than 132,000 hits of its own. Echoing the sentiment of other viewers, this man says that Muslims wrongly depict all criticism of their religion as racism and that given the tiny fraction of the world’s Muslims who live in the United States, any enlightened outlook among American Muslims may not be representative.

“Muslims need to come to grips with the fact that it is not always the extremism that we object to, it is simply your religion,” the man says, going on to argue that people are troubled by what he calls Islam’s opposition to homosexuality, free speech and women’s rights. “Only in Islam can one be labeled not an extremist simply because he has no immediate desire to blow you up.”

Mr. Ardekani said he developed his alter ego, Baba Ali, to try to move the discussion away from such broadsides or apologies by Muslims.

“I think that when they do the defensive approach, they never get to talk about anything except for the stuff that people hate,” he said.

Although born into a Muslim family in Iran, Mr. Ardekani says, he was reared in a secular Los Angeles household and “converted” to Islam at age 20. His studio is the second bedroom of the apartment he shares with his wife and two small children.

His roughly 30 video blogs focus on the clash between Muslim and American traditions. In one video, he ridicules the expense of Muslim weddings. “Christians get married in churches, Jews get married in synagogues, Muslims get married at the Hilton,” he said in an interview. “I am talking about stuff that Muslims can relate to.”

In a less spoofing vein, he answered viewers’ questions for a time, a kind of Dear Abby to young Muslims with queries like whether it is O.K. for adolescents to have close relationships with the opposite sex. (The answer: Of course not.)

Some Muslims have questioned his credentials to offer advice, noting that among other things he is not a trained religious scholar. But his main goal, Mr. Ardekani says, is to try to make a difference in the lives of young Muslims facing problems that their parents or local imam never faced.

Certainly he has succeeded in transforming at least one life. His video blogs have blossomed into a second career for him, as a stand-up comedian playing clubs nationwide.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York City, NY
Saturday, June 14th
For the last two years, the Students and Residents Conference has been a success,
allowing medical students, residents and fellows to listen to dynamic speakers and network
with Muslim medical professionals in the area. Registration for the Conference at
the Mount Sinai Medical School on June 14th, 2008 is underway and is open to all
medical students and residents. Please make sure to register as soon as possible,
as space is limited. A schedule of events will be up shortly

Register Online Now at
https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=imana&formId=43450
Open to Medical Students and Residents
Early Registration ends soon! Sign up Today!

$20 per student, including food
$30 per resident, including food
REDUCED Hotel Rates Available