Ustadha Zaynab Ansari - Hijab: It’s More Than a Piece of Cloth

Hijab: It’s More Than a Piece of Cloth

- Ustadha Zaynab Ansari

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds and Allah’s peace and blessings upon our beloved Messenger, his family, and companions.

Sometime ago – I am embarrassed to say how long—Shaykh Faraz asked me to write an article on hijab. At the time, SunniPath was getting ready to publish an excellent article by Shaykh Nuh Keller entitled, “Why Hijab?” Shaykh Faraz wanted to know if I could lend a woman’s voice to the discussion. In particular, he requested that I focus on the spiritual and legal bases of hijab. My first response (to myself of course) was: O no, why me? What could I possibly add to the erudite words of our scholars? And who’d be interested in reading yet another piece about hijab? Hasn’t this topic been talked about ad infinitum?

Nevertheless, a promise is a promise and I am suffering from insomnia because I didn’t keep my promise. Here’s my humble attempt to understand why we wear hijab.

My first question is to my dear readers. Why not wear hijab? There is something so natural, so comfortable about wearing hijab that I have a hard time comprehending why it’s become such a contentious issue in some circles.
Some say it’s a political symbol. Some say that it’s a sign that Muslims are planning on taking over the West and imposing Shariah law on hapless non-Muslims. Others argue that hijab is no more than a hang over from the Persian and Byzantine elites whom the unsophisticated Arabs sought to emulate.

Apparently, Muslim women weren’t imaginative enough to come up with their own style of clothing. So they decided to don the veil and enter the harem. (Of course, being victims of patriarchal males, we’re told, they really didn’t have a choice in the matter.) And there’s always the cultural argument. Hijab? O yes, well you see, Muslim cultures are so backwards. All we have to do is modernize Islam, make it a little more progressive if you will, and – voila—the hijab will come flying off. Yes, all the Muslim world needs are some beauty pageants and swimsuit contests, the hallmark of democratic reform.

Please forgive my tongue-in-cheek tone…. [unfinished]

Islam in the NYPD // Current (featuring Ustadh Khalid Latif)

Islam in the NYPD // Current

Call for America’s Imam Day this Friday to Raise Funds for Imam Siraj’s Cancer Fund

26.000 K. for Imam Siraj al-Humdulillah, a Call for an “America’s Imam Day” by Shaykh Suhaib Webb

My dear friend, Shaykh Suhaib Webb had the following Call for an America’s Imam Day, to designate this upcoming Friday (and/or the next one) across different communities (and, I’d add, campuses) to raise funds for Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer and has very high medical bills not covered by insurance…

Shaykh Suhaib wrote:

Asalamu alaykum,

Last week the Muslim youth in America pulled off an amazing fundraiser for Imam Siraj Wahaj. While 26 K. was donated we are still well short of our goal of $125.000.

The Idea:

Muslim organizations could call for “America’s Imam Day” designating a Friday where funds could be raised for the Imam across the country! It would be awesome if others such as our brothers in the U.K got on board as well. Let us all write, call and encourage our organizations like ISNA, ICNA, MAS, MSA,MAP, RIC, MYNA, al-Maghrib, Seekers Guidance and Zaytuna to make this call together.

I fully second this, and would urge those involved in their mosques or MSA’s to take the steps to make this Friday’s fundraising drive directed towards raising funds for Imam Siraj Wahhaj. See: http://www.helpimamsiraj.com/

Faraz Rabbani
Educational Director, SeekersGuidance
(www.SeekersGuidance.com)
faraz@SeekersGuidance.com

To donate now, just go to HelpImamSiraj.com

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The dehijabization phenomenon - Darah Rateb

altmuslim - Identity: The dehijabization phenomenon

After a brief, identity-driven swell in the number of hijab wearers, there now appears to be a decline. Why did women who spent years, or decades, in hijab decide to dehijabize? What is it that women feel must be fulfilled in life without the hijab that is apparently missing while wearing it?

The headscarf was once viewed as a sign of rebellion. Western women fought for their liberation by removing confining corsets and diminishing the amount of cloth clad to their bodies in public: in short, declaring their sexuality to the masses, and inviting their approval. In clear contradistinction to the excessive glitz women are subjected to by the modern fashion, make-up and nip/tuck industry, the modern Muslim woman concealed her sexuality in public, and allowed it to flourish in private. Now, it seems a new rebellion is taking place.

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Sincerity in Calling Oneself to Account - Habib Ali al-Jifri - Spiritual Tendencies

Sincerity in Calling Oneself to Account - Spiritual Tendencies

Both a mu’min (believing man) and a mu’mina (believing woman) are quite content to let a year, another year, the third year, the fourth, indeed the tenth year, pass them by whilst neither of them have called themselves to account with sincerity. They do not examine their states with the passage of time. What have I gained this night? And what have I gained this day? Last night has passed us by and has passed you by - what did we gain last night? Yesterday - the whole of yesterday - has also passed us by, both you and me - in what have we increased? What have we gained? What provision did we make that day?

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My Turn: A Muslim-American on Obama’s Outreach | Newsweek My Turn | Newsweek.com

My Turn: A Muslim-American on Obama’s Outreach | Newsweek My Turn | Newsweek.com

By Hadia Mubarak

Last month, as I was watching the news coverage of President Obama’s visit to Turkey, I thought back to an awkward experience I had as an undergraduate student applying for a job at my university. When I handed the receptionist at the student union my Social Security card, a required form of identification, she told me she needed my passport as well.

Surprised, I questioned the need for it. She brought over her supervisor, who glanced at my hijab—a headscarf worn by many Muslim women—and asked, “Aren’t you an international student?” “No,” I said. “I’m an American citizen. I was born in New Jersey.” Her mouth dropped open and she stammered, “Oh, you’re not a foreigner?”

It was not a new experience for me, as a Muslim growing up in this country. Before people learned my name, saw me run at a track meet or heard me debate an argument, they assumed they knew who I am.
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That’s why Obama’s decision to visit a Muslim country within the first 100 days of his presidency was such a significant moment for me. Hearing his unwavering, unapologetic message to the Turkish Parliament filled me with pride: yes, he told the world, Muslim Americans exist, and our existence has enriched—not impoverished—American culture. His words mirrored what I have long sought to convey to other Americans: that you can be both a devout Muslim and a patriotic American.

I can only hope my fellow citizens get the message. When many Americans see Muslims like me, they tend to define us as something non-American, which forces us to choose between our religion and nationality. As long as Islam is equated with a foreign culture, as opposed to a faith like any other practiced here, then our mosques and our schools and our headscarves will continue to be perceived as a rejection of “American culture.” This idea of Muslims as “other” surfaces every time someone like my friend Kathy, a veil-wearing Muslim American, is told to “go back home” when she and her daughter eat at Subway, or when a man plows his truck into a Tallahassee, Fla., mosque to remind Muslims they’re not safe in this country.

Obama’s public words in Turkey—as well as his January appearance on the Arab television network Al Arabiya—were welcome changes from the behavior of Obama the candidate during the 2008 campaign. Back then, I watched with disappointment as he failed to address the anti-Muslim bigotry underlying rumors that he was a “closet” Muslim who went to an Islamic school. Certainly, I understood that in a post-9/11 America, where one third of the population believes that Muslim citizens are sympathetic to terrorists, the mere hint that Obama practiced Islam was the surest way for him to lose. Still, it hurt me when he didn’t fight back.

But things have changed. Obama is president now, and he has taken important steps to reorient America’s political culture. It was refreshing to hear him speak candidly about his appreciation for Muslims’ contributions to American life—whether we do it as physicians, educators or athletes—and it is was even nicer to see him appoint a Muslim to the White House Advisory Council last week. By insisting that America’s relationship to Muslims across the globe “will not just be based upon opposition to terrorism,” Obama has made me feel that there is a place for my identity within America’s.

Of course, Obama is just one man, and one man can’t erase years of hard-wired prejudice. But just as African-Americans never thought a black man would be elected president, just as Jews once struggled with the same paradoxes of assimilation as I have, Muslim Americans must realize that acceptance will require patience, optimism and, yes, even a little effort on our part.

I have learned to go out of my way to confront the stereotypes brought to the surface by my headscarf. At times, that has meant speaking out in public forums. At other times, it has meant striking up a conversation with anyone who passes by as I walk my baby through our neighborhood. I have learned through personal experience that interaction and kindness can go a long way toward knocking down barriers.

Obama’s gestures make me feel empowered to do more. His words and deeds have given me cause to believe that someday soon, people will look at me and, instead of seeing a woman with a headscarf, they’ll see another American, just like them.

Mubarak is a doctoral student of Islamic studies at Georgetown University and a panelist for the Washington Post/NEWSWEEK On Faith Web site.

Stony Brook MSA In Need of Financial Help to Save Prayer Room - Just $2,500 - Help them, even if with a little

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah. This is one of the active MSA’s on the East Coast, Masha’ Allah. They have a large body of Muslim students, and have held many lectures, programs, and successful campus projects over the years.

They’re in need of a very modest amount to save their prayer room. Remember the tremendous reward of establishing and maintaining mosques and prayer spaces–the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) referred to it as a means of Divine Pleasure and of shelter and mansions in Paradise.

If you can just give them the full amount, don’t hesitate to do so. But if you can’t, give what you can. Even $5 from a few hundred of us would be more than enough.

“Who is he that will lend Allah a good loan, and He will multiply it for them manifold? Allah graps, and outspreads; and unto Him you shall be returned.” [Qur'an, 2.246]

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani

Stony Brook MSA In Need of Financial Help to Save Prayer Room at HAhmed.com

As salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

It was reported by Imam Ahmed that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) (saws) said, “whoever shares in building a masjid for Allah (SWT) (swt), even if its as small as a bird’s nest, Allah (SWT) (swt) will build for him a house in paradise.”

Sr. Sanaa and the MSA are in urgent need of your help! No- we’re not building a masjid here on campus, but our prayer room, wudu stations, and storage/office areas are in danger of being taken away from us due to an issue with insurance payment coverage, and we need financial assistance in paying off that insurance. The funding that was previously used for this has now dried up and we’re in need of your assistance.

As you all know, our prayer room is absolutely essential to us- and this is where you come in. By pitching in and donating whatever amount that you’re able to give, you’ll be giving sadaqah jaariyah and insha’Allah (SWT) the rewards given to us current students for praying, reading the Qur’an, and remembering Allah (SWT) (swt) in that room will be yours to share, too! If you’ve gone to Stony MSA or prayed in the prayer room, you know what a great blessing it is for us and insha’Allah (SWT) anything you give will be useful to us.

You can donate to the MSA via your paypal accounts by going to http://www.paypal.com/ - under the tab “send money,” all you do is put in “sbumsa@gmail.com” and the amount of money, and then send. Our goal is to raise a total of $2500 by Monday, April 27th, so please donate soon!
If you have any questions or would like another way to donate, please contact me directly insha’Allah (SWT) ta’ala.

If you know anyone else who would be willing to donate, please let them know and help us out!

JazakumAllahu khairan to you all for helping us save the prayer room and our other assets, and may Allah (SWT) (swt) reward you all immensely for your help!
Wasalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah,

Stony Brook MSA

Wudu & Rising in Rank with Allah - Understanding Virtue from the Prophetic Teachings - Lesson Three - SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcast

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Release of Torture Memos and Right-Wing Reality-Denial - It’s Not Torture, Really! : NPR

It’s Not Torture, Really! : NPR

The ability to deny reality is hardly unique to conservatives. There are some people on the left, for example, who believe Hugo Chavez is a model democrat, and others who remain convinced that George W. Bush didn’t actually win more votes than John Kerry in the “stolen” 2004 Presidential election.

But the release of the CIA torture memos has caused an impressive uptick of reality-denial on the right, the most notable example being this surreal op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, by David Rivkin and Lee Casey, both of whom served in the Justice Department under George W. Bush. “The Memos Prove We Didn’t Torture,” reads the title of their piece. How do the memos prove this? By showing, for example, that “walling” – that is, smashing a detainee against a wall, which sure sounds like torture – was approved only if a flexible wall was used to reduce the probability of injury. “Their shoulder blades – not head – were the point of contact, and the ‘collar’ was used not to give additional force to a blow, but further to protect the neck,” write Rivkin and Casey in case you weren’t convinced yet.

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Muslim woman’s appointment as Obama advisor draws cautious optimism - Los Angeles Times

Muslim woman’s appointment as Obama advisor draws cautious optimism - Los Angeles Times

Dalia Mogahed, a veiled Egyptian American, will advise President Obama on prejudices and problems faced by Muslims. Many Arabs hope it’s a step toward reversing stereotyping.

Understanding Virtue from the Prophetic Teachings Lesson Two - Excellence in Wudu

SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcast

Understanding Virtue from the Prophetic Teachings Lesson Two: This is a series of daily podcasts in which Shaykh Faraz Rabbani will cover the text Fada’il A’mal by the Great Imam Diya al-Maqdisi. In this lesson Shaykh Faraz examines the significance of wudu.

Direct download: Understanding_Virtue_from_the_Prophetic_Teachings_-_002___Excellent_Wudu_and_Expiation.mp3

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Understanding Virtue from the Prophetic Teachings Lesson One - Faraz Rabbani - SeekersGuidance Podcast

SeekersGuidance Islamic Knowledge Podcast

Understanding Virtue from the Prophetic Teachings Lesson One - This is the first of a series of podcasts in which Shaykh Faraz Rabbani will cover the text Fada’il al’A'mal by the great Imam Diya’ al-Maqdisi. In this lecture Shaykh Faraz sets the context for approaching this work of hadith.
Direct download:

Understanding_Virtue_from_the_Prophetic_Teachings_-_001_-_Introduction.mp3

To subscribe through iTunes, click here.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf - Another Mother of the Believers - On the Death of Maryam Bint Bwayba

Zaytuna Institute & Academy

The land of Chinguett, more commonly known to the English-speaking world as Mauritania, is renowned for producing great scholars, saints, and erudite women of note. Scholars traveling to Mauritania have observed that “even their women memorize vast amounts of literature.” Mauritanian women have traditionally excelled in poetry, seerah, and genealogy, but some who mastered the traditional sciences were considered scholars in their own right.

Maryam Bint Bwayba, who memorized the entire Qur’an and the basic Maliki texts, was one such Mauritanian woman worthy of note. I had the honor of knowing Maryam, a selfless and caring woman, and the noble wife of Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj, having first met both of them twenty-five years ago in a small tent in the remote spiritual community of Tuwamirat in Mauritania.

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PBS: Islamic Financing….

April 10, 2009 ~ Islamic Financing | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

Here at home, amid all the losses in the banking and housing worlds, there is one conspicuous exception. It’s the Islamic practice of doing business without charging or paying interest on a loan. Throughout the recession so far, Islamic financing has been growing at 10 to 15 percent a year. Lucky Severson has the story….

The link between autism and extraordinary ability - The Economist

The link between autism and extraordinary ability | Genius locus | The Economist

There is strong evidence for a link between genius and autism. In the first of three articles about the brain this week, we ask how that link works, and whether “neurotypicals” can benefit from the knowledge

THAT genius is unusual goes without saying. But is it so unusual that it requires the brains of those that possess it to be unusual in others ways, too? A link between artistic genius on the one hand and schizophrenia and manic-depression on the other, is widely debated. However another link, between savant syndrome and autism, is well established. It is, for example, the subject of films such as “Rain Man”…

A study published this week by Patricia Howlin of King’s College, London, reinforces this point. It suggests that as many as 30% of autistic people have some sort of savant-like capability in areas such as calculation or music. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that some of the symptoms associated with autism, including poor communication skills and an obsession with detail, are also exhibited by many creative types, particularly in the fields of science, engineering, music, drawing and painting. Indeed, there is now a cottage industry in re-interpreting the lives of geniuses in the context of suggestions that they might belong, or have belonged, on the “autistic spectrum”, as the range of syndromes that include autistic symptoms is now dubbed.

So what is the link? And can an understanding of it be used to release flashes of genius in those whose brains are, in the delightfully condescending term used by researchers in the area, “neurotypical”? Those were the questions addressed by papers (one of them Dr Howlin’s) published this week in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The society, Britain’s premier scientific club and the oldest scientific body in the world, produces such transactions from time to time, to allow investigators in particular fields to chew over the state of the art. The latest edition is the outcome of a conference held jointly with the British Academy (a similar, though younger, organisation for the humanities and social sciences) last September.

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Sacred Knowledge - Reading of Shama’il al-Muhammadiyyah by Imam al-Tirmidhi, taught by Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

Sacred Knowledge is pleased to bring you video clips from the 4-day intensive reading of Shama’il al-Muhammadiyyah by Imam al-Tirmidhi, taught by Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi in Birmingham in 2007.

Lessons are available to view online at www.sacredknowledge.co.uk since Friday 3rd April 2009. It is completely free of charge and no registration is required. For more details, a short preview, and an introduction to this unique text, please visit:

http://www.sacredknowledge.co.uk/general/shama-il-al-tirmidhi.html

SACRED KNOWLEDGE

www.sacredknowledge.co.uk

In North America:
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Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad - Khutba - The Paradox of Forgiveness

cambridge khutbas etc.: The Paradox of Forgiveness

In this sermon, the sheikh discusses the Divine Attributes of Justice and Forgiveness, and how we can understand the relationship between these two apparently contradictory qualities. We know that God Almighty will manifest both His Justice and His Forgiveness absolutely on the Last Day without compromising either, because He transcends our comprehension. But how can we act upon His Divine Commands to enforce justice or grant forgiveness when they seem to conflict? The sheikh explains how we can try to overcome this through the perfect example of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). In the Qur’an, the Prophet is enjoined ‘Keep to forgiveness, command what is right and turn away from the ignorant’ (7:199). Thus, although he strove to secure justice for others, especially the weak, the prophet in many instances when he himelf had been wronged set aside the case for strict justice and chose forgiveness. Through the profound and subtle wisdom granted to him by God, therefore, the Prophet exemplified the resolution of this apparent paradox, and guided us toward a clearer understanding of the Divine Guidance.

Listen to this sermon

Download this sermon (MP3, 24.5 MB)

Time for an oil change? | Life and style | The Guardian

Time for an oil change? |
Life and style |
The Guardian: “Rapeseed, hemp, red palm, pumpkin … suddenly olive oil has many rivals on the supermarket shelf. But are they healthier - and tastier - than our old favourite? Robert Hudson tries them out
“

Fawakih Institute’s Arabic-Focused Islamic Studies Programs

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Seven Questions - Shams-i Tabrizi

Salikah: A Student’s Digest: Seven Questions - Shams-i Tabrizi

“You must bind yourself to knowing this: ‘Who am I? What substance am I? Why have I come? Where am I going? Whence is my root? At this time what am I doing? Toward what have I turned my face?’”

- From Me & Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrizi. Trans. W. C. Chittick (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2004), 51.

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