Hamza Yusuf on a Presidency of Descending Grace
It is an extraordinary and momentous event to call you president. Your father was of the Luo clan and, as you know, it would be difficult for a Luo to be elected president in Kenya. In our country, while tribe is not an issue, color often is, but you have succeeded in overcoming both clan and complexion, and in doing so inspired millions of people around the world.
Read the rest of this entry »
Much has been written about Muslim responses to Obama’s Cairo speech and how it has resonated across the Muslim world. Many have commented on the new President’s skillful handling of the political issues that have so deeply affected US-Muslim relations. However, an underappreciated but equally important dimension of his speech involves its widespread religious appeal. As the Gallup world poll of some 35 Muslim countries has documented, vast majorities of Muslims see religion as an important component in their lives and a critical element in the future progress of their societies. Muslims who are not particularly religiously observant nevertheless identify with their Islamic heritage. Therefore, although the majority of those polled said they admired many things about the West, and in particular about America (its technology, work ethic, freedoms, democracy), Muslims’ major grievance against the West is what they identify as the denigration of Islam and Muslims, as well as the extent to which Arabs and Muslims are seen by the West as inferior and not of equal value.
Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: MR
- Filed under: America, Arabic, Article, Dawah, Education, History, Islam, News, Tasawwuf, Traditional Islam
- Date: May 19,2009 | 12:43 AM
American Islamic scholars plan Muslim US college in tradition of Brandeis, Notre Dame
By RACHEL ZOLL
The Associated Press
PLAINSBORO, N.J.
A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a “Muslim Georgetown.”
Advisers to the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College can open in the fall of next year, a major step toward developing the faith in America.
Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf of California have spent years planning the school, which will offer a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. Shakir, a California native, sees the school in the tradition of other religious groups that formed universities to educate leaders and carve a space in the mainstream of American life.
Read the rest of this entry »
Some Muslim women may need to get a few seconds of the sun daily or else they may become deficient in vitamin D. This article was well written and very respectful, alhamdulillah. Check it out and share with your mothers, sisters, wives, aunties, daughters, etc.
The solution is pretty simple. Just go by the window when the sun is shining. 
Some houses have nice skylights, this is where that can come in handy.
Edit: Many comments have suggested standing next to a glass window will not help, so hopefully the window is open and the sunlight comes through the mesh.
Does modest dress among Arab-American women promote vitamin D deficiency?
By Jordan Lite | Scientific American
Vitamin D is the vitamin du jour these days, with many doctors urging more sun exposure following years of campaigns advising us to cover up and use sunscreen to prevent skin cancer. Many of us, especially in cloudier areas, don’t get enough of the sunshine vitamin. The elderly and post-menopausal women are more at risk for deficiency, as are those who live in northern climes.
Read the rest of this entry »
At a recent event, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf presented a new paper, titled “Climbing Mount Purgatorio: Reflections from the Seventh Cornice”. The event was The Social Costs of Pornography, a consultation organized by the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton University. This event was held in December 2008…
Click here for the PDF of Shaykh Hamza’s article.
Read the rest of this entry »
My sister showed me this article. Very intresting, but with a lot of incorrect statistics and false facts. Although I must say that this historical heritage of jihad is dead amongst many of the Sufis of today.
Mystical power
Why Sufi Muslims, for centuries the most ferocious soldiers of Islam, could be our most valuable allies in the fight against extremism
By Philip Jenkins | January 25, 2009
THIRTY YEARS AGO this month, the collapse of the Shah’s government marked the launch of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and since that point the topic of Islam has rarely been out of the headlines. All too often, we hear about Islam in the context of intolerance and, often, violence — of Al Qaeda savagery, of Taliban misogyny, of nuclear weapons in Pakistan and perhaps in Iran itself. Even in Europe, many fear the growth of a radical Islamic presence. For three decades, Western observers have worked fervently to comprehend Islam’s global power and appeal, its ability to inspire the poor and to topple governments. But in all that intense attention, most observers have missed a crucial part of the story: a global web of devout religious brotherhoods that by all logic should be a critical ally against extremism.
Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: MR
- Filed under: America, Article, Europe, History, Islam, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, Politics, Religion, Terrorism
- Date: Jan 5,2009 | 10:31 AM
Startling—and stomach turning : where Palestinians are involved, memory and sense of proportion fail us. The Jewish conscience, justifiably, has long called upon the world’s powers and upon their citizens to remain vigilant, never to forget -in the name of “the duty of memory”- the atrocities, massacres and genocides of the past. But where the State of Israel is involved, we are expected to set all sense of proportion aside, to leap to conclusions. Suddenly, it would be assumed that these are two equally powerful belligerents. After a six-month ceasefire, one of the two parties to the conflict (the Palestinians) is said to have broken the truce by unleashing its rockets. The victim of aggression (Israel) is acting solely in self-defense—if we are to believe the version sold to the world by Israel, and relayed by complacent and complicit Western media with the full support of the Bush administration and of many European governments. The bravest among them can barely bring themselves to point out Israel’s “disproportionate” reaction. What courage!
Read the rest of this entry »
I really hope Barack Obama reads this article and listens to the words of Israeli’s current outgoing Prime Minister very carefully. Olmert compltely shocked me with his words but then again everything is willed by Allah and this can happen easily by Allah’s permission. Maybe the dua’s of the true believers are coming into play. Surely Allah knows best and we all pray for peace.
Read the article here:
Read the rest of this entry »
This is interesting:
The kosher cellphone looks like an ordinary cellphone, can make and receive calls, and may have a calculator and alarm clock.
But it cannot send or receive text messages, browse the internet or take photos – all activities that could potentially involve behaviour considered “immodest” among Haredis.
For example, SMS capability could lead to the unwitting receipt of mass text messages publicising secular events. It could also be used as a method of illicit communication between male and female teenagers.
They call it self-control:
She expresses concern over the amount of time people devote to surfing the net, wasting time they could spend learning Torah or doing good deeds.
Her main worry, however, is over the lack of control over content.
“There are many things on the internet that are not appropriate for me as a Haredi woman, things I would prefer that my family and I didn’t see or hear, like violence, pornography and inappropriate sexual relations,” she says.
For Haredis, “inappropriate” means any physical contact between a man and a woman who are not married.
But Avi, who says he needs the internet for his work in the tourist industry, has unfiltered online access.
“I’m not afraid of the negative aspects because I grew up with internet and I feel I can control myself not to use the bad features,” he says.
But when Muslims do this, it’s oppression!
Source: BBC News
