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Featuring seven8six, Zain Bhikha & Baba Ali !!!

Jamaica, NY
Saturday - July 19, 2008

Dallas, TX
Sunday - July 20, 2008

San Jose, CA
Saturday - July 26, 2008

Orange County, CA
Sunday - July 27, 2008

3rd Annual Evening of Inspiration Celebrates 15 years of Alleviating Poverty

Bringing together the best of Muslim entertainment and a commitment to alleviating poverty, the Evening of Inspiration concert tour has helped raise millions of dollars for needy children around the world.

Now in its 3rd year in the U.S. the tour will feature world-renowned nasheed singer Zain Bhikha, hip hop sensation seven8six, and comedian Baba Ali. But the artists are just the icing on the cake, for the Evening of Inspiration isn’t just a concert, but a nationwide appeal to help the millions of children affected by humanitarian crises around the world.

More than $2 million was raised from the past two years the event was held, helping support countless numbers of children worldwide with education, water and sanitation, emergency relief, healthcare, food and nutrition, shelter, psychosocial support, orphan sponsorships, and much more.

This year’s event is expected to be an exceptional evening, as Islamic Relief celebrates 15 years of alleviating poverty around the world. Starting with a few thousand dollars in 1993, Islamic Relief has grown to raising more than $61 million in 2007 for different projects around the world. Islamic Relief now runs over 360 projects in more than 35 countries worldwide.

Click here for ticket information or to read more about the artists at this year’s Evening of Inspiration.

Here are the new class offerings for Summer 2008:

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.

Inshallah i hope you all are well .

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

Im taking a break from blogging for a few weeks. Inshallah ill be back later this summer!

Please remember me in your duas!

PS - happy 25th bday MuJMaN!

Great ESPN story on an athlete’s responsibility to take a stand and why many refrain from discussing political issues publicly. Kudos to atheletes like Steve Nash who stand up against the war and human rights violations in Sudan. And its inspiring to see LeBron James, who at such a young age, is willing to get involved and educate himself on these issues unlike selfish athletes like Michael Jordan. This story also mentiones Craig Hodges (who happens to be Muslim), who was blackballed from the NBA for his political activism.

Children in Need: A Fundraiser for the Myanmar Cyclone Victims
Hosted by The Islamic Center at NYU Alumni Association and Islamic Relief

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

I mean Assistant to the President*

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

In a rather disturbing op-ed piece in the NYTimes earlier this week, Edward N Luttwak suggested that Barack Obama, whose father was Muslim, was an apostate. He suggests that due to his apostacy, he would in fact not be viewed favorably in the eyes of the Muslim world, and that he would receive death threats whenever he would travel to a Muslim country.

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

As far as Stephen Colbert’s concerned, Bill O’Reilly did nothing wrong in that infamous “Inside Edition” clip.

Great Interview by Jon Stewart about The Bush administration’s strategy in leading up to the Iraq war.

Part 1

Part 2

STAND UP: Muslim American Comics Come of Age is the story of five comedians: Ahmed Ahmed, Tissa Hami, Dean Obeidallah, Azhar Usman and Maysoon Zayid.

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.

Source: MR

Unbelievable.

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

Great article featuring Baba Ali and Lena Khan!

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.”
Continue reading ‘NYTimes: Young Video Makers Try to Alter Islam’s Face’

The Islamic Medical Association of North America
3rd Annual Students and Residents Medical Bash
The Road Ahead: Challenges and Goals

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