6/12/2013

 VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 229, May 26, 2013

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficient and the Most Merciful 


 (www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)


EDITORIAL:

In this E-Zine, we have  focused our spotlight on Imam William Suhaib Webb who has become one of the most famous Imams in the U.S. We wanted to also highlight news about the proposed most expensive (One hundred million dollars) Mosque in North America and also on “A Day in the Capitol” in California and conclude by highlighting interfaith news. 
 

PART -I

Imam William Suhaib Webb Emerges as Face of Boston’s Muslim Community in Time  of Crisis

By Lisa Wangsness (Boston Globe)

(loonwatch.com)


12 May 2013
 

(h/t:Alfred F.)
In life and words, Muslim leader bridges cultures





On a rainy afternoon in early April at Boston’s largest Mosque, the Sheikh in the seersucker suit was in his office, offering comfort and advice.

To a young student wondering if he should get engaged: “Aw, man, just go for it!”. To a middle-aged man agonizing over how to care for his dying father: “You should preserve life as best you can.” To a sobbing young woman who told him about problems at home: “I have someone who can help you, a Muslim counselor. . . . Let’s talk about fixing it.”

Days later, bombs exploded on Boylston Street. And the unlikely face of the Muslim community in its time of crisis became this 6-foot-5-inch, blond-haired, blue-eyed former hip-hop DJ whose grandfather was a fundamentalist Christian preacher. 

The next day, the imam and his staff flew into action, planning a vigil, rallying volunteers, setting up trauma counseling. Upon learning later in the week that the bombing suspects were Muslims, Webb condemned the attacks, calling the suspects “criminals and enemies of society” and disassociating Islam from their acts.


William Suhaib Webb, imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury, has been a target of conservative Muslims on the Internet, who call him a sellout, and of other critics who say he is an extremist.

He has tried, for better or for worse, to respond to all of it — in his sermons, on CNN, on Twitter. At the same time, he has endeavored to improve the mosque’s relationships with Jewish and Christian leaders in Boston.

I’m just exhausted,” the 40-year-old Webb said, sipping a flask of coffee in his book-lined office overlooking the busy intersection of Tremont Street and Malcolm X Boulevard. “I don’t have days anymore. I just have . . . smears.”

Webb, who memorized the Koran while living with his parents in Oklahoma and became an advanced Islamic legal scholar after years of study in Cairo, has in recent years become among the most famous imams in America.




He has 34,000 Twitter followers and a “virtual mosque” website that gets some 13,000 page views a day. In his sermons and in social media, Webb — many followers call him “sheikh,” an honorific for a respected teacher — toggles effortlessly between English and Arabic, dropping words like “baller” and references to “The Walking Dead,” a television show about zombies, into exegeses of Sufi poetry.



Webb, for his part, had his own big plan — to establish one of the first Muslim seminaries in the country. He wanted to nurture a new generation of American imams and Muslim women scholars — orthodox, but culturally conversant and civically involved — and to educate more casual students about their faith.




...The Bay Area chapter of the Muslim American Society, a national grass-roots religious and cultural group, spotting a rising star, offered to fix that by sending him to Al-Azhar University in Cairo, one of the world’s leading centers of Sunni Muslim learning. With his wife, Asmah Ayob, who was a Malaysian anthropology student when he met her in college, Webb moved to Cairo.



A dominant theme of Webb’s ministry is that Muslims can live faithful lives in contemporary America, and that they also have an obligation to participate — civically, culturally, and politically.



One of the first classes for the community at Webb’s fledgling educational institute is called Getting It Right. More than 200 people pack the Sunday night lectures, which emphasize balance, service, self-discipline, love. Kamran Ahmed, a 24-year-old medical student, said Webb drew him to the mosque.



Amid teaching and ministering to the mosque community — 700 to 1,000 people show up for Friday prayers — Webb feeds content to his “virtual mosque” and tweets constantly.



The mosque has taken on new projects, like the development of a health care team, which assesses the needs of the congregation and the neighborhood around it, and offers screenings and referrals.




For the full article, please check out:

A Symbol of Friendship’ : Turkish PM Lays Stone for $100M  Masjid Complex In Maryland

May 20, 2013 

Written by Muslim Link Staff
 http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com)
 May 17, 2013
 

  On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan placed a ceremonial stone on a 15-acre construction site in Lanham, Maryland that will likely become the largest and most striking examples of Islamic architecture in the western hemisphere.

The Turkish American Culture and Civilization Center (TACC) is a project of the government of Turkey and is meant to"serve as a social, cultural, and religious center for all visitors, including activities for the promotion and introduction of the values of the Turkish Civilization" according to an information packet distributed by TACC at the invitation only ground breaking ceremony.

The project is well underway, and two industrial cranes tower over the skyline along Good Luck Road. Concrete and steel pillars are up, and even two small domes are already visible. TACC leaders estimate the complex will be completed by October 2014.

The cost of the 5-building complex is estimated to be around $100 million according to sources familiar with the engineering aspects of the project. The entire complex will be serviced by an underground garage.

The Muslim Link covered the ceremony and presents these images to capture the event as well as the monumental construction project for our readers. -- TML (http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com)

 

    

Prime Minister Erdogan talks about what the TACC center means to Turkish Americans as well as to American society at large. He criticized groups promoting Islamophobia and urged the many Turkish graduate students to get involved with the project. He also delighted the crowd of several hundred guests by saying he will come back for the October 2014 opening ceremony "if he is still around".  Photo by Muslim Link (http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com)

 


  
An April 2013 photo of the 15-acre construction site. TACC says about 30% of the 
construction is completed. Photo courtesy of TACC. http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com
 

 The TACC Center will consist of five main buildings: a masjid constructed using 16th century classical Ottoman architecture that can hold 760 worshipers; a two-story, 19,990 SF Cultural Center Building including a 220-seating performance hall; a 9,850 SF recreational building with a 180-seat restaurant and traditional coffee shop; a 43,450 SF traditional Turkish bath for up to 22 people at a time and indoor pool and sports center; and 18,500 SF of guest housing including 16 one-bedroom apartment units. The complex will have very limited above ground parking and most cars will park in the 150,700 SF underground parking garage which gives direct access to all the main buildings. A few traditionally designed residential buildings, Turkish gardens and fountains, and outdoor recreational areas will also be a part of the complex. Images courtesy of TACC. http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com


 
Maryland's Secretary of State John McDonough delivered greetings from Governor Martin O'Malley and talked about the sister city relationships between Turkey and Maryland. Photo by Muslim Link. http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com
  
PART III: 

A Day at the California State Capitol

Ras H.Siddiqui  May 18, 2013

(www.indiacurrents.com)  




Some State Capitol politicians with visitors



The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held its 2nd Annual Muslim Day at the Capitol in Sacramento recently during which over a hundred representatives including many south-Asians from all over California took the opportunity to interact with the California State Government. Although it was windy under the CAIR tent outside on the Capitol grounds, this was another beautiful spring day in California’s capital city. A walk near the World Peace Rose Garden at State Capitol Park was warranted which somewhat delayed this scribe’s arrival to the formal event opening

The day proved that this is a place which is beautiful both inside and out. Although our main topics of interest targeted by CAIR for the day were 1) AB4 TRUST Act and 2) AB 241 CA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights plus 3) Free Speech Rights on College Campuses, the handful of the 110 meetings held during the day which I could attend demonstrated a sensitivity amongst our State Senate and Assembly on these and other topics of interest for not just Muslims but all Californians. For those who may not be aware, AB4 deals with the issue of local law enforcement sharing information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the S-Comm program. CAIR seeks to limit costly detentions of aspiring citizens in local jails for deportation purposes and it only supports its use for serious crimes. AB-241 deals with the issue of housekeepers, nannies and caregivers in private homes so that their rights too can be protected including overtime pay, meal and rest breaks etc. The third quest for the day (Free speech rights on College campuses) is not an Assembly Bill yet but a push for one.

After a formal mid-morning opening, the attendees were split up into teams/groups based on their residence address and areas of interest. This writer was assigned to Team H, with a first meeting scheduled with Muffadal Ezzy representing Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a meeting that I could not reach on time (the Capitol takes a little getting used to for the once a year rookie). The second meeting was with Betsy Hodges at the offices of Senator Ted Gaines who represents my own residential district. It was a learning experience because we rarely get to interact with either our representatives or their staffers unless we really need to. The last scheduled interaction was with Amin Nojan, Assembly Fellow at Assemblymember Bill Quirk’s office. Bill represents California’s 20th Assembly District (Hayward and adjacent areas) where Muslims and south-Asians (Afghans, Indians and Pakistanis) are becoming quite a voting force due to their increasing numbers.

As a media representative I accompanied two other teams during their visits to the offices of Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and Senator Jim Beall respectively. Roger represents California’s 7th Assembly District which includes Sacramento. He has been a good friend of all minority communities including local Muslims and South-Asians. He listened to the team and responded to all the points raised by CAIR’s Basim Elkarra while looking for common ground.



Senator Jim Beall with visitors



Senator Jim Beall from the Fifteenth Senate District is now a Silicon Valley (San Jose area) political veteran who has been a member of the City Council, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, State Assembly and now the California Senate. Amongst his many areas of focus his continuing strong support for children with disabilities has been commendable. Jim also supports responsible free speech and is good listener. Some in our community have known him since his San Jose City Council days when he became its youngest elected member at the age of 28. He has been widely supported by the south-Asian and Muslim community in his district for many years now and embodies the good old American value of fairness for those in need.

During and after lunch the wind kicked up a notch, but the political engagement continued just as vigorously as Assembly members Mariko Yamada, Paul Fong and Cristina Garcia addressed the gathering just before the event officially came to a close. Support from the Asian and Latino members of our political leadership has been both inspirational and essential for our community. This was certainly reflected during Ms. Yamada’s speech which included the hope that one of us at this gathering will one day become an elected member working inside the Capitol.

In closing it was a great day overall for both California and the “experience” called America, one which triumphs over an atrocity like Boston approximately two weeks earlier by continuing to promote peace and inclusion.

(Dedicated to the memory of the late James Beall Sr. (1923-2011) of the 82nd Airborne, and his family)

Ras Siddiqui


PART IV:



INTER FAITH NEWS:



World Council of Churches  General Secretary and Egypt's Grand Mufti Promote Dialogue for Peaceful Relations


23 April 2013
 www.oikoumene.org



The WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit with Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim at the office of Dar Al-Itfa Al-Misriyya in Cairo.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit met with Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim in Cairo. In their meeting the religious leaders engaged in in-depth dialogue to promote peaceful relations among diverse communities and values for equal citizenship. They met at the office of Dar Al-Itfa Al-Misriyya on Monday 22 April.

Speaking with the WCC general secretary, Abdel-Karim pointed out the common roots and experiences of both Muslims and Christians living together for centuries in Egypt, which he said should be the basis of a constructive engagement for promoting peaceful relations.

We are a family, and our personal relations do not merely reflect in our faith identities in Egypt. We have been neighbours for centuries, interlocked in close proximity as religious communities,” said the Grand Mufti, who is also a professor in Islamic jurisprudence.

He went on to say that “alliances between Christians and Muslims are not only possible but already exist on the ground among ordinary people in their everyday lives. The values of honesty, trust and respect are shared among people of both Christian and Muslim faiths.”


Tveit endorsed the importance of a shared vision for peaceful relations, saying, “We reflect together with our Muslim partners on what it means to be a Christian or Muslim in the world today while faced with divisions which are perceived as tensions between us.” This is why cooperation with other faiths is an intrinsic part of our aspirations for Christian unity, he added.

We share a vision of peaceful relations among communities and hope for a common future, where living together as equal citizens in a democracy is possible. Therefore I see the role of religious leaders as an extremely important one to translate this vision into reality,” said Tveit.

In his response, Abdel-Karim said, “We share your vision for peace on earth. And we strongly affirm the equality of all Egyptian citizens regardless of their religious associations. In our work we have taken concrete actions through different projects to bring diverse groups together and eliminate the eminent tensions between the communities.  The powers sowing seeds of divisions should be curtailed,” added the Grand Mufti.

(xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

THE END 






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