Investing in people

Think back to the last time you were able to share a real conversation, of depth, with someone. Not the baseless trivial pleasantries we use, ad nasuem, to maintain relationships at bare minimum and, seemingly, make you dumber in the end. The kind you have with someone who shares, emphatically, the same ideologies as you, or deeply opposes them. It doesn't matter, either way, because something is ignited that hasn't been in a while. And all the while during this lengthy, tutelage descending discourse, you've managed to abandon 5 incoming calls and a hamburger patty left on the burner for close to two hours. That's the good stuff. I was able to connect, in this way, with one of AIF's active fellows, Shahidah. We talked about everything from how people are desensitized by the news, which stemmed from a story in the news, to work and family woes. The article, in particular, was about a Saudi woman who was imprisoned for 9 months, along with her two children, for refusing to leave her husband after her half-brothers petitioned for her divorce. Not satisfied as only a topic of conversation, Shahidah also detailed how I could take a more active role, as will I do for you. But this week, go the extra mile and give a piece of yourself to someone else. Invest in people because sometimes the greatest impact may be preceded by one phone call...or fax.

Here's a link to the interview with Fatima Bent Suleiman Al Azzaz: http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/articlemc.aspx?cp-documentid=20153794
Send a fax to: His Majesty, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at 011-966-1-491-2726. For a sample letter and more information, go to EqualityNow.org.

Georgia State University Professor Resigns over Bomb” Comments to Muslim-American Student

Georgia State University Professor Resigns over Bomb” Comments to Muslim-American Student

Atlanta, Georgia - July 1, 2009 - The Director of the Middle East Institute at Georgia State University, Dona J. Stewart, has resigned citing the university’s failure to address incidents of anti-Muslim bias.In August 2008 a Muslim-American doctoral student, Ms. Slma Shelbayah, was repeatedly asked by a senior faculty member, Dr. Mary Stuckey, if she was ‘carrying any bombs’ underneath her Islamic headscarf, or hijab.

Ms Shelbayah was also employed as a Visiting Instructor of Arabic in the Middle East Institute. She holds Bachelor and Masters degrees from Georgia State University.Dr. Stewart’s resignation cited retaliatory actions taken by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Lauren Adamson, following Ms. Shelbayah’s request that the incidents cease. The dean’s office demanded that Dr. Stewart remove Ms. Shelbayah from her visiting instructor position, cancelled Ms. Shelbayah’s registration for her doctoral courses, and declared Ms. Shelbayah ineligible to lead a study abroad program to Egypt previously approved by the president of the university.

Dr. Stewart refused to meet the dean’s demands, believing they violated Ms. Shelbayah’s constitutional rights and lacked due process. Dr. Stewart was subjected to numerous hostile comments and retaliatory actions by the dean that has impaired her ability to fulfill federal grant commitments and harmed her career.No disciplinary action was taken towards the senior faculty member.

The EEOC is currently investigating formal complaints filed by Stewart and Shelbayah.Dona Stewart is a former Fulbright scholar to Jordan and author of The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives. In 2006 she received GSU’s Exceptional Service Award and is the 2009 faculty recipient of the Sparks Award that recognizes GSU’s ‘unsung heroes’. She has led the Middle East Institute since 2002.

For further information contact: Attorney James E. Radford Dona J. Stewart, Ph.D.Parks, Chesin and Walbert, P.C. Professor of Geosciences75 Fourteenth Street, Atlanta, GA, 30309 donastewart@hotmail.com(404) 873-8000, JRADFORD@PCWLAWFIRM.COM www.gsu.edu/mideast

Holocaust Museum Shooting

The American Islamic Fellowship is shocked and saddened by the shooting today at the National Holocaust Museum by a suspected white supremacist. Our prayers are with the family of the museum guard whose life was taken. Editor of the Diversity Report, Deborah Levine writes about her experience of the museum and her reaction to the shooting here: "Say No to Hate"

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also released a statement: "We condemn this apparent bias-motivated attack and stand with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repudiating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such disturbing incidents."

Discussion Meeting June 5th: "Honoring Fathers"

I really enjoyed this meeting! We had several new faces who contributed a lot to the conversation. I felt that some of the insights into life stages in different cultures contributed to my understanding of how various people cope with and view the process of aging. We did wander off topic some but the side-discussions were also inspiring and faith-affirming for me.

I really enjoyed sharing a song by Peter Mayer, "Holy Now" that my dad shared with me that has influenced my faith and spirituality for many years. It was appropriate that we had the music festival the weekend before and that it was through music that my father really touched my spirit and inspired me to pursue my own faith and understanding of God. We share a bond through that and other songs that is very important to me so that whenever I hear them I think of him and am inspired to focus my energies on the things that are really important in my life- my faith and my family.

Holy Now Lyrics

When I was a boy, each week

On Sunday, we would go to church

And pay attention to the priest

He would read the holy word

And consecrate the holy bread

And everyone would kneel and bow

Today the only difference is

Everything is holy now

Everything, everything Everything is holy now

When I was in Sunday school

We would learn about the time

Moses split the sea in two

Jesus made the water wine

And I remember feeling sad

That miracles don’t happen still

But now I can’t keep track

‘Cause everything’s a miracle Everything,

Everything Everything’s a miracle

Wine from water is not so small

But an even better magic trick

Is that anything is here at all

So the challenging thing becomes

Not to look for miracles

But finding where there isn’t one

When holy water was rare at best

It barely wet my fingertips

But now I have to hold my breath

Like I’m swimming in a sea of it

It used to be a world half there

Heaven’s second rate hand-me-down

But I walk it with a reverent air

‘Cause everything is holy now

Everything, everything Everything is holy now

Read a questioning child’s face

And say it’s not a testament

That’d be very hard to say

See another new morning come

And say it’s not a sacrament

I tell you that it can’t be done

This morning, outside I stood

And saw a little red-winged bird

Shining like a burning bush

Singing like a scripture verse

It made me want to bow my head

I remember when church let out

How things have changed since then

Everything is holy now

It used to be a world half-there

Heaven’s second rate hand-me-down

But I walk it with a reverent air

‘Cause everything is holy now

-Melissa

"The Hijab Problem" - A Poem

(after "The Problem" by Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I like a shawl; I like hijab;
I love Muslimahs, think they're fab.
And on my heart hijabi styles
Fall like sweet strains, or kohl-eyed smiles;
Yet not for all her faith can see
Would I that hijab'd sister be.

Why should the scarf on her allure
Which I could not on me endure?

-Jannah Bint Hannah

~~~~~

Jannah
Friend of American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com

Statement about the NYC Bomb Plot by Muslims for Progressive Values

Los Angeles, CA - May 21, 2009 - Muslims for Progressive Values is shocked and saddened by the revelation of a bomb plot targeting NYC synagogues and U.S. military aircraft. We unequivocally condemn this and all such violent acts as inherently un-Islamic, and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith and all peace-loving Americans. The following is a personal letter from MPV Board Member Sam Aboelela that speaks for all of us at MPV.

Ani Zonneveld
President, MPV

~~~~~

Dear friends,

I'm sitting in Cairo now as I write this letter, at the home of relatives with whom I was reunited yesterday after nearly a decade of separation. I went to sleep last night with a feeling of peace that I haven't felt in a long time and woke early this morning to the sound of the Azhan, the Islamic call to prayer, as it sung its way across the neighborhood and through the open window over my bed.

But as I was sharing hugs with my Muslim family here in Egypt, four very disturbed Muslim men were planting bombs in an effort to tear apart Jewish families in New York. Early news reports suggest that these men were "upset about the war in Afghanistan," so with a deranged rationale of misanthropic nihilism they somehow concluded that planting bombs in front of two Bronx synagogues and recreating the atmosphere of bloodshed, fear, and loss we experienced during and after 9/11 would provide some personal cathartic release.

I want my friends in the New York Jewish community to know how deeply I sympathize with the emotional anguish that is sure to pervade in the wake of this failed plot. While we're all concerned for the well-being of our families in this period of economic insecurity, none of us should carry the additional burden of being potential targets of violent acts of hate and terror. You have no idea how relieved I am that you are all safe from the will of these would-be terrorists and how concerned I am for your (and our collective) ongoing health and safety.

In all honesty, it is times like these that I wish Islam had some mechanism for excommunication. I wish that my non-Muslim friends and acquaintances would see me, my family, my Muslim friends, and the American Muslim community as representative of Islam rather than the headline-grabbing sociopaths who act in our name. I'm so sick of finding myself ashamed of something I didn't do, by someone I do not know, with motives I do not share, against people for whom I care.

Please know that you are not alone in the shock of this news... that good everyday people whom you have never met, and will likely never meet, as far away as Egypt are also distressed by this story. My thoughts and their thoughts are with you. My prayers and their prayers are for you.

Peace,

Sammer Aboelela
Organizer, New York Community of Muslim Progressives and MPV Board Member

~~~~~
Muslims for Progressive Values
A partner of the American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com

Article: The Debris of Dual Containment

Most Americans know little, if anything, about the Iran-Iraq War, which is troubling given how deeply involved we were in it. Well over a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers, as well as civilians, perished during the war, with many more injured and wounded...

Continue Reading - http://tinyurl.com/melodyhuff051809


~~~~~

Melody
American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com