Muslim Voice ARIZONA
december 2013
MUHARAM/safar
Monthly Newspaper
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Connecticut’s Muslim Mayor Makes History
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Vol.18 Issue No.209
American Muslims Fight Winter
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s the winter approaches, different Muslim groups across the US have launched special clothing drives to help the needy and homeless in different American states. “As winter quickly approached, during the month of November, ICNA Relief volunteers organized efforts to protect them from the upcoming harsh winter weather,” the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)’s Winter Clothing Drive, said on its website. “Many different winter articles and clothing were distributed among the refugees including but not limited to: Winter coats, jackets, boots, shoes, gloves, long johns, medications for the sick members, comforters, bed sheets and pillows.” During its campaign, ICNA efforts were first launched to serve the local community in various areas. Their efforts were not limited to helping American needy and homeless only. Similar drives were launched to collect aid to Burma Muslims and Iraqi refugees. “While focusing on these Burmese families, ICNA relief also provided help for Iraqi refugee families with winter clothing and their basic necessities,” ICNA was not the only Muslim organization who extended a helping hand. The Maryland chapter of the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations announced its plans to partner with Project Affinity and the Islamic Society of Annapolis to launch the first annual statewide winter clothing drive. Planned on December 2, the winter clothing drive is considered part of its “Faith in Action” campaign. Continued on page
Muslims have warmly welcomed the appointment of M. Saud Anwar to be South Windsor’s first Muslim mayor, making a major milestone for the Islamic community in Connecticut. “Congratulations; may Allah be your help. We need more Muslims in public service like this,” Continued on page
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Will Israel Drag Us Into Yet Another War? by Justin Raimondo, Two factors are simultaneously moving us toward a general cataclysm, and both have to do with the state of Israel: 1) The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pulling out all the stops to sabotage the ongoing peace talks between Tehran and the “P5 + 1”, and 2) Netanyahu is abandoning the Palestinian peace process and moving rapidly toward his goal of a “Greater Israel.” The conjunction of these two aggressive moves by the Israelis is taking the world to the brink of the unthinkable. Let’s be clear about what the stakes are: war with Iran
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Maryland Muslims Denied Texas Video Competition At That Moment I Took Off the Hijab! `Eid Holidays Explores Islam
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Terms used in this paper Alhamdulilah: Praise God Allah: Arabic word for God Fatwa: Islamic decision based on Shari’a Hadith: Sayings of the Prophet Mohammad Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca Halal: Allowed in Islam Halaqa: Group study Haram: Prohibited in Islam Hijab: Head cover for women Hijra: Migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Madina Imam: Islamic scholar Iman: Faith Inshallah: God willing Madina: City near Mecca in Saudia Arabia Masjid: Place were Muslims gather for prayer and studies Mecca: City in Saudi Arabia where Prophet Mohammad was born Pbuh: Peace be upon him Quran: Islam’s Holy book Shahadah: Is saying “I accept Allah as the one God and Mohammad as his messenger” when someone accepts Islam. Sharia’: Islamic law Shura: A council of Muslim scholars (SWT) Subhanahu Watala: Praise be to Allah Taqwa: God consciousness
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Muslim Voice Imam Didmar from the Greenway Masjid attended an Inter-cultural dialogue meeting in Phoenix last month. He gave a speech and participated in the dialogue with other faith leaders who attended the meeting.
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Chaplain Dream for Fairfield Muslims CAIRO – Aiming to attain their religious practices within their campus, Fairfield University Muslim students are demanding more space and full-time chaplain to build a wider community. Having a visiting chaplain can bring “new ideas and new energy, but it’s difficult to begin fresh every single year,” said Sohail Sumra, a junior student at Fairfield University, Fairfield Mirror reported on Wednesday, November 14. “And it would be beneficial to have an established full-time chaplain,” which would allow the chaplain to build more community on campus. Four years ago, Muslim students Association have started the weekly Friday prayer service at the interfaith room in 42 Bellarmine Road. From eight to fifteen Muslims students attend the Friday prayer in the university’s prayer service and about thirty people attend in all. With as increasing demand for the prayer service, the dream of a full-time chaplain was getting closer. “When there’s a greater demand, we might have something greater with the service,” Dr. Martin Nguyen, assistant professor of religious studies. During last Friday’s prayer, Jawad Bayat, a one-year visiting Muslim Chaplain, urged students to keep their ethical spirit and to be proactive in their campus. “I want to remind them that God doesn’t give us a burden we can’t handle, and we need to make the most out of our experiences,” Bayat said. “I’m happy to be here and I’m here to serve.” Speaking about Ashura and the death of imam Al-Hussein (may
Allah be pleased with him) Bayat said, “The best fighting, struggle, in the path of God is to speak justice to an oppressive ruler.” US Muslims are estimated between six to eight million. A growing number of American
“I have always been fascinated by Muslim prayer… [and] the prayer service opened my eyes to the beauty of it.” The prayer service also offered students’ insights to Islam, highlighting the similarities it
universities are hiring full-time Muslim chaplains to help meet their students’ religious needs. Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley was the first US university to appoint a Muslim chaplain in the mid-1990s. Among universities that appointed Muslim chaplains were also Yale, Princeton and Duke. The latest university to join the list is Cornell University, which is planning to recruit a Muslim chaplain soon. Different Attending a Muslim prayer service for the first time, the university students praised it as ‘different’ and non-traditional. “Having attended Catholic masses my entire life, I found it refreshing to attend this prayer service and witness something new,” said Amanda Lajoie ’14.
shares with Christianity. “It was interesting to see how the sermon seemed to be very similar to sermons in Christian church services,” said Lauren Kavanagh, a senior at Fairfield University.
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“[But] I also thought it was interesting how in different parts of the service, participants would pray together, then on their own.” Raised in a Muslim family Sumra used to face many questions about his faith. “Having it be such a part of my life was difficult in that there was more pressure on me to know what I was talking about, to know what I was doing as a hafiz’s son,” said Sumara, the son of a hafiz, someone who has memorized the Quran. At high school, he used to hide and pray at his first days until he got access to place where he could pray freely. “After the first couple of weeks people got used to it, my freshman year of high school, my teacher offered me his room to pray, and at Fairfield I have gotten the same response. You go to Campus Ministry and there are prayer rugs there,” he said. “Luckily I’ve never had any real aversion. “The majority of what I get is a lot of confusion and a lot of questions” about my religion,” Sumra added.
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Connecticut’s Muslim Mayor Makes History
wrote one well-wisher on Anwar’s Facebook page, The Courant reported. “Hats off dude,” wrote another. Three days ago, Dr. Anwar, a Democrat, was elected as mayor of South Windsor to be the first Muslim mayor in Connecticut, and perhaps, in all of New England. A native of Karachi, Pakistan, Anwar, 46, came to the US in 1991, settling first in Illinois, where his grandmother lived, before moving to Connecticut to attend Yale University, where he received a master’s degree in public health and did his training in pulmonary medicine. The history-making selection, however, has passed almost unnoticed in American media. Not only the selection, Anwar’s religion has been scarcely noted during a campaign dominated by taxes, sewer charges and all the typical meat-and-potatoes matters that generally shape municipal elections. Yet, for leaders of the Muslim community, the low-profile coverage reflected a growing acceptance for Muslims in politics. “Our community has been a very accepting community,” said Anwar, a Yale-educated physician who moved to town in 1999. “We live in an embracing town where people are respected for who they are and for what they do rather than what they look like or what
their belief is ... that’s one of the things that makes you fall in love with South Windsor.” Ibrahim Hooper, a national spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), agreed.
“The first of any kind of civic participation is newsworthy, but as more enter the political process, it becomes less newsworthy.” Successful Politician Being a Muslim physician with immigrant heritage, Anwar held
Hooper called it “a good sign for the normalization of Muslims in the American political process.” Coming seven years after Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first Muslim elected to Congress, the political clout of American Muslims has grown, Hooper said. “We’re seeing more and more Muslim public officials around the country,” Hooper said.
a special world view for his new position in South Windsor. “As a physician, every single day you are identifying a problem and creating a mechanism to prevent it or identifying a way of treating it,” Anwar said. He draws a parallel between the health of the human body and the health of a community. “In the ICU when I walk in, I look at
my patient and I see the respiratory organ system, the gastrointestinal organ system, the cardiovascular organ system,” he said, settling into a chair at his medical office in Vernon one morning this week. “You can look at a town as one single, large patient and you can see the public works organ system, the police and safety organ system, the financial organ system ... all of those organ systems need to work collaboratively to make a healthy patient and a healthy town.” Anwar was one of the participants in a group of local physicians who have traveled to Haiti each year since the 2010 earthquake to treat victims and help the nation rebuild. The Muslim physician said he never imagined that he would be active in politics. “But I knew I was going to try and solve problems,” he said. “I’m more interested in identifying what’s wrong in the community, in society,” he said. “Then you can see what role you can play to help make it better.” Although there are no official figures, the United States is believed to be home to between 6-8 million Muslims. A Gallup poll had found that the majority of US Muslims are patriot and loyal to their country and are optimistic about their future.
US Muslims Welcome Iran Nuclear Deal WASHINGTON – Praising the move as a breakthrough in international relations, a leading US Muslim advocacy group has welcomed the deal entered yesterday between Iran and world powers to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions.
“We welcome the agreement signed in Geneva and hope it will reverse the counterproductive decadeslong push toward conflict between Iran and Western nations,” Nihad Awad, Executive Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a press release obtained by OnIslam.net. “We look forward to a time when the Iranian people will no longer suffer under unprecedented international sanctions and in which the international community is satisfied that Iran’s nuclear program is devoted to exclusively peaceful purposes,” he added. Easing a long festering standoff, the interim pact between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia was approved on Sunday. The group has been meeting in Geneva for days in hopes of reaching a diplomatic solution. As part of the deal, Iran will be
required to dilute its stockpile of uranium that had been enriched to 20%. The deal also mandates Iran halt all enrichment above 5% and dismantle the technical equipment required to do that. Before the end of the initial phase of the deal, all its stockpiles should be diluted below 5% or converted to a form not suitable for further enrichment, the deal states. President Barack Obama said the deal is a significant step forward. The deal has also won the critical endorsement of Iranian clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yukiya Amano, director general of the UN nuclear watchdog, has also praised the Geneva 2 agreement as “another important step forward following the agreement reached between the Agency and Iran on 11 November in Tehran.”
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Texas Video Competition Explores Islam
CAIRO – Offering deeper insights on Islam in a creative way, a Muslim students’ group in a Texas university held the first ‘Muslim Voices Film Competition’ at the Campus on Thursday, November 21. “As the name suggests, we want to give our students a platform to express themselves,” Ziad Syer, event coordinator and accounting graduate student at Texas A&M University, told the Battalion Online. “People love movies, so we figured this would be a fun event,” Syer, a member of the university’s American Muslim Students Association (MSA), added. With no guidelines for the unprecedented competition, the
participants were given a month to create short films with duration ranging between 5-20 minutes. Four films are listed for the competition which will be held at 7 PM on Thursday, as the winning movie will be granted $100. Nimrah Riaz, a filmmaker and participant in the competition, said he wanted to explore the perception of Texas students of Islam through her investigative video report ‘Hijab (Un)Veiled: An Aggie Perspective’. “Muslim women, such as myself, often get asked questions like, ‘Why do you wear that?’ ‘What is it called?’ ‘Who can see you with it off?’” Riaz said. The investigation results were astonishing for Riaz and her team as they found that most of the students have a good knowledge of Islam and the reasons behind wearing hijab. However, students in the movie referred to Islam as a culture, not a religion. “[One person we interviewed] went on stating that she doesn’t understand how women who wear
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American flags as bikinis is okay and a Hijab isn’t,” Raiz, the MSA member and junior health major, said. “Another person we interviewed, a member of the Corps [of Cadets], said since Texas A&M University is a multinational, diverse campus, everyone has the right to express themselves the way they would like, “We were very pleased with these responses.” Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations. Creativity The new competition has unveiled creative talents for MSA students. “I’ve been making movies with my personal SLR camera because I enjoy making short films,” Pervez Agwan, a participant in the competition will merge comedy and drama in his film, said. “It’s a great way to get together with your friends and come up with something and put it into film format. All of my films are very amateur and not professional at all, but it’s a hobby of mine.” Under the title ‘ Jummah Night Lights’, Agwan and his team have
videotaped a parody of Friday Night Lights. “It’s a mixture of comedy and drama, but it’s mostly a situational comedy as we depict our MSA members and the struggles of their flag football team,” Agwan said. The Muslim film competition was suggested as a part of MSA’s activities which aims at developing students skills. “The MSA has been working on encouraging creative expressions among our members,” Syer said. “At the beginning of November, we had a Lyrical Art Night where we had a Muslim poet from Houston present his spoken word poetry, and we had a couple of MSA members perform at this event as well.” The United States is home to a Muslim minority of between six to eight million. A recent survey found that American Muslims are the most moderate around the world. It also showed that US Muslims generally express strong commitment to their faith and tend not to see an inherent conflict between being devout and living in a modern society.
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Maryland Muslims Denied “Eid Holidays” CAIRO – Muslim students in Montgomery County in the US eastern state of Maryland have lost their dreams of celebrating their feasts freely, after the country adopted a calendar for next school year that excluded Islamic holidays. “What do we say to Muslim parents who have to explain to their children the intricacies of how this decision is made,” asked Michael Durso, members of the Montgomery County Board, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, November 17. “When in the eyes of those families they’re not being dealt with in the same fashion as others?” The issue of Muslim holidays has been debated for months in Montgomery’s board of education. The county, which offers days off in Christian and Jewish holidays, has denied Muslims a
similar right. Amal Muhtaseb, a Montgomery mother of three, said that she wanted her children to be treated “the same way their Christian and Jewish classmates are.”
Khaled Abuhatab, a parent of Montgomery student, said that his seven-year-old son was absent in `Eid al-Adha but the next day he had complained of a ‘doubled’ homework because he was absent during Muslim holiday. Officials say they cannot simply
recognize a religious holiday with a day off. The United States is home to a Muslim minority of between six to eight million. Muslims celebrate two feasts each year. `Eid Al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice”, is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations, together with `Eid Al-Fitr. The four-day `Eid, which is expected to fall on October 15, marks the end of hajj season. The only other major holiday, `Eid al-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan and currently falls in the summer time when school is out. Absenteeism Adopting the calendar without Islamic holidays, school officials said that high rates of absence are considered a potential basis for adding a holiday to the school calendar. “It has been suggested that we’re
asking for something different from the Muslim community that we did not do for the Jewish community,” said Philip Kauffman, the board’s vice president. “Clearly we did make the decision based on statistics back in 1973.” Citing the district figures the school said that, only 5.6% and 5 % of teachers were absent on `Eid-Al Adha. Montgomery’s absence average falls at 3.2% of students and 4.2% of teachers in normal days. Saqib Ali, a former state lawmaker and co-chair of the Equality for Eid Coalition, expressed his pleasure after two board members, Durso and student member Justin Ki, showed support by voting against the county’s school calendar. “There is definitely some progress since last year,” Ali said. Although member didn’t hold vote on Muslims holiday for next year’s calendar, during the school board meeting, they confirmed that they are mulling the issue. Board members also asked the school stuff to offer rules and mechanism for applying the Muslim holidays.
Muslim Students Change US Stereotypes CAIRO – Portrayed negatively in the US media and American public, Muslim students in the southwest suburb of Chicago have joined hands to change the prevailing misconceptions about their community. “We just felt that we weren’t being represented and that we should have been,” Naimeh Issa, a student at Sandburg High School, told Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, May 22. “In the school a lot of people had negative responses toward us, and we wanted to change that.” Naimeh and fellow Muslim students have joined hands to form a school group to combat wrong perceptions about their community and religion. They hold weekly meetings on Mondays to educate fellow students about their culture and religion. Starting their meetings with the recitation of verses of the Noble Qur’an, the students discuss social issues as dating, school cheating and how to fit in the
community. They also hold sessions to raising
debates about the true meaning of certain Islamic terms such as Jihad as well as the hijab (headscarf). Issa, who dons the hijab, said that she sometimes get looks in the hallways over her headscarf. She had also heard from Muslim friends about how they were sometimes disrespected because of their culture and religion. The group, the Muslim Student
Association, has won popularity among school students, with Muslims and nonMuslims alike join the meetings. Know Islam Organizers say they seek to get their fellow Americans better understand Muslims and their religion. “People usually fear the unknown,” Issa said. “We don’t want that. We have the same ideals, morals and patriotism that our great nation was founded on.” As a way of changing misconceptions, Muslim students try to show American colleagues that they share their values. They have raised funds for a local food pantry and for building wells for the poor in Ghana. Last year, Muslim students raised money for earthquake victims in Turkey.
The group’s members also did an Earth Day project last year, painting pictures of nature on school windows. School officials have praised Muslim students for seeking to present the true face of their faith. “They invited kids from all different arenas of life to teach everyone about their religion and belief system because there’s a lot of misconceptions there,” said Shawn Donovan, who chairs social studies, world languages, art and media and also oversees the group. He said the Muslim students were consistently organized and professional. “To have the numbers they have is awesome.” Although there are no official figures, the United States is believed to be home to between 6-8 Muslims. A US survey has revealed that the majority of Americans know very little about Muslims and their faith.
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Dating: What Does This Mean to You? By Dr. Asad Hussain and Rifk Ebeid The word “dating” stirs a lot of controversy among Muslims, but can and should we work with this term to suit a MuslimAmerican context and facilitate a larger conversation on gender relations? Are expressions such as “talking” and “getting to know each other” euphemisms that limit our ability to fully engage in honest discussion, or are they a useful way of distinguishing courtship practices among Muslims from secular practices usually associated with the term “dating”? The following contributors debate whether using the term and concept of “dating” is a helpful basis for forming a definition that MuslimAmericans can appropriate. Dr. Asad Hussain, a psychiatrist at the Delaware Psychiatric Center: Dating is a Shared Human Experience The term “dating” has a negative connotation primarily due to what it represents within American culture. However,
despite the skepticism the Muslim community has towards dating, there are many positive aspects we can apply within the parameters of Islam. As long as a basic foundation and guidelines are established, appropriating the term and concept of “dating” can bring more benefit than harm. When discussing what dating means to us, we must realize that it is not just about two Muslims getting to know each other, but rather two human beings. According to Erikson’s
theory of human development, adolescence/young adulthood (typically ages 14 to 40) is a time of self-identity and individualization. Individuals shy away from family values during this stage and begin to adapt values similar to their peers.
This is a crucial time for selfexploration, discovering one’s own core values, and pursuing relationships. As MuslimAmericans negotiating our religious beliefs and cultural realities, we are naturally influenced by our surrounding culture’s notion of “dating”. We engage in a similar courtship process, with some distinct differences, but ultimately we are acting in concordance with our natural stage of development and sharing the same basic e x p e r i e n c e . Therefore utilizing our cultural familiarity with the term “dating” and adjusting the concept to fit in an Islamic framework will more strongly resonate with Muslim-Americans and guide us toward honest discussion than substituting other terms just to emphasize differences between us and our nonMuslim peers. The unique emotional involvement of assessing lifelong compatibility with someone is not represented by a term like “talking”. Working through the nuances of appropriating the term “dating” will initiate an honest discussion about the nuance and complexity of the courtship process itself and how it relates to our distinct values as Muslim-Americans. More importantly, we must not get caught up in trivial details such as labels, but instead concentrate more broadly on our guiding principles and ultimate
aims. The fundamentals upon which dating was founded are still useful as guidelines for Muslims when meeting potential spouses in a way that is respectful of our religious values. Times have changed since our parents married, yet one aspect that remains relevant is establishing boundaries from the beginning of a relationship in order to maintain clear and pure intentions. Through balancing our religion and culture, our goal is to guide our community in such a way that two people can grow closer to Islam as they get closer to each other. Rifk Ebeid, a PalestinianAmerican human rights activist and lawyer: Why Should We Use a Word with Such Negative Connotations? No matter how we try to cater the word “dating” to a Muslim standard, the connotation it has in the broader American context will govern. Dating in
America takes many shapes. Some “casually date” while others are “exclusive”. Either way, though, naturally involves both a personal connection and physical interaction that exceed the bounds permitted in Islam. Dating also forces a budding relationship – which may or may not work out – into the public realm. Some argue that being public is good because it creates accountability for both partners; however, being public usually entails using terms like “boyfriend/girlfriend” to describe the couple, accompanied by a prolonged period of courtship without a true commitment towards marriage. Instead, involving the families
and maintaining privacy sets boundaries and holds both partners accountable, because they have a specific purpose for which they are talking. Ultimately, the decision to be public or private is something personal and dependent upon the preferences of the couple, their own unique circumstances, and what they believe their boundaries in Islam are. As long as the families are involved, it should be up to the couple to determine what type of relationship they believe is acceptable. Some Muslim-Americans have suggested we take the word “dating” and make it fit in a Muslim context, akin to “Mormon dating” or other sects of Christianity in which people date but prohibit physical contact. While I understand these arguments, the word still makes Muslims uncomfortable, and will undoubtedly hinder efforts to facilitate our discussions on relationships. I think it is much safer for MuslimAmericans to use the expression “talking for the purpose of marriage”. Some argue that in doing so we are just playing with words, but I disagree. We can’t deny that one’s immediate reaction to the word “dating” is quite different than to the word “talking”. Establishing a dialogue about Muslim relationships that fits in the American context does not mean that we must integrate a term that does not fit a Muslim context. We should be able to apply our own discourse that maintains the distinction between “dating” and “talking”, because it is this distinction that will allow us to effectively approach such a sensitive subject. Why should we use and redefine a word that has such negative connotations for Muslims when we have better and safer alternatives?
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Quebec Profs Don Hijab in Muslim Solidarity CAIRO – Showing solidarity to the Muslim minority, two renowned Montreal professors have donned hijab in a protest against the proposed ban on religious symbols in the Parti Québécois’ secular charter. “I wear it as a kind of sign of solidarity,” Concordia University history professor Nora Jaffary told CBC on Monday, November 25. Recently, Quebec has been the home of religious debates since the proposal of the controversial Parti Québécois charter which claims protecting state secularism by prohibiting public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols in workplaces such as schools, hospitals and daycares. The ban would affect everyone from government workers and doctors to teachers and daycare workers. Rejecting the charter, Jaffary as well as McGill University political science professor Catherine Lu decided to don veil in protest. While Jaffary is still wearing the veil to campus, Lu wore the veil
for a week in September to stir discussion in her classroom. The Concordia professor asserted that veil should remain as a free choice for Muslim women in Quebec. She added that the proposed ban would target a group of minorities in Quebec, singling out Muslim women as a main victim of the charter. Therefore, Jaffary decided to wear the veil to show her support, calling on more people to don veil to add more weight to the protest. “If many people are wearing
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religious signs, it’s impossible to tell who’s wearing them for what reason and so it sort of muddies the waters.” Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada’s 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one nonChristian faith in the north American country. Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one’s affiliations. A survey has showed the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian. In a recent poll, most for the Quebeckers were found not concerned about religious accommodations. Though it has the second largest Muslim population in Canada, the east-central province of Quebec is one of the most Islamophobic provinces in the country, where Muslims are facing different kinds of discrimination and racism.
Continued from p. 1
American Muslims Fight Winter
In this effort, numerous mosques in the area will participate by serving as drop-off locations. Items to be collected include new or gently-used coats, sweaters, gloves, scarves, and hats. Another Warmth drive was launched by New York’s Muslim Giving Back from September 1 till December 21. Statistics show that approximately almost 2,500 people are homeless each night in Baltimore City. In Washington, DC, that number triples to over 6,500 people. As cold weather sets in, they are unable to adequately protect themselves from the elements. The United States is home to a Muslim minority of between six to eight million.
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On ACA Campus 7810 S. 42nd Place, Phoenix 85042
Featuring • Snow Slide • Mobile Rock Climbing • Bungee Run • Joust • Obstacle Course • Laser Tag • Petting Zoo & Pony Ride • Bounce House & Slide • Food & Bazaar • Clown & Animal Balloon • Games & prizes • Face Painting, Henna
Free Tickets for tax donors
Free admission ACA Expansion project phase 4 www.azacademy.org
(602) 454-1222
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INTERNATIONAL
December 2013
www.AZMuslimVoice.com
OIC Probes Facts About Angola Muslims DOHA – With all eyes fixed on Angolan Muslims, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has expressed dismay and shock about the reports of the Angolan Government’s decision to ban Islam and demolish mosques, voicing similar concerns for Burma and Philippine Muslims. “We have clearly expressed our opinion that we cannot accept this [decision],” Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told Al-Jazeera satellite channel in an interview aired on Wednesday, November 27. “After denials from Angolan officials, we are working on dispatching a fact finding team to get an internationally accepted report,” he added. We Are “Safe”: Angolan Muslims Reality behind Banning Islam in Angola Rohingya Muslims...An Open Wound Burma’s Scapegoated Muslims Mindanao’s Forgotten Victims
“We have also launched a diplomatic campaign to ask the United Nations, the African Union, the Southern African Development Community
(CPLP) to take a firm position against any proposed ban.” Reports about Angola Islam ban emerged on Sunday after African and
(SADC) and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries
Angolan agencies and newspapers published an article quoting the Angolan minister of culture, Rosa Cruz, as saying “the process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice.” The minister reportedly said the decision was the latest in a series of efforts to ban “illegal” religious sects. The reports sparked huge reactions from several Muslim organizations including Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world, who asked for dispatching a fact finding team to Angola to investigate the conditions of the Muslim minority. The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has also called on Angola to withdraw its decision, urging moves at the UN, African Union to condemn the unprecedented decision. The reports were denied later by the Angolan officials, including Manuel Fernando, the director of the National Institute for Religious Affairs. However, David Ja, the president of the Muslim Council of Angola, confirmed in an AFP interview that all of Angola’s 60 mosques were closed at present, eight mosques have been dismantled in the past two years. The Muslim leader added that Muslim women are not allowed to wear a veil in public.
Ja emphasized that the action against Islamic institutions had been taken under Angolan law, rather than as a result of random religious persecution. Anyone who practiced the Islamic faith ran the risk of being found guilty of “qualified disobedience” of Angola’s penal code, he added. Burma & Philippine too Thousands of miles away from Africa’s Angola, the OIC head regretted the persecution of Burma’s Rohnigya Muslims. “We saw an unprecedented hatred for Islam and Muslims in Arakan state,” Ihsanoglu told Aljazeera, referring to a recent visit by the OIC to Burma. “Even government officials were reluctant, or even afraid of, the use of the term Rohingya, because of the huge political pressures exerted by extremist Buddhists who prefer the term Bengalis to refer to the Muslim minority.” More than 200 people were killed and thousands of Muslims were displaced from their homes after attacks against Muslims in western Burma last year. More than 42 people were also killed in a new bout of violence against Muslims in central Burma in April. Monks were blamed for inciting hatred against Muslims by preaching a so-called “969 movement” which represents a radical form of antiIslamic nationalism that urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim-run shops and services. The September United Nations humanitarian bulletin reports that 180,000 people in camps and segregated communities in Rakhine state need life-saving assistance — nearly all are Muslim, and a majority, about 103,000, are children. Yet humanitarian agencies increasingly are obstructed from reaching those in need. As attacks were reported in dozens of locations across Burma, the antiRohingya violence has since affected other Muslims in Burma. In September, a Buddhist mob rampaged through a Muslim neighborhood of Kamein ethnicity in Thandwe, a town in Rakhine state. Among those killed was a 94-yearold grandmother. Mindanao Muslims were not any way better, being targeted due to its reach natural and economic resources, Ihsanoglu said.
www.AZMuslimVoice.com Continued from p. 1
OPINION
December 2013
11
Will Israel Drag Us Into Yet Another War?
would mean complete economic devastation, with the price oil skyrocketing into the stratosphere. The effects would be catastrophic: the world economy, already teetering on the brink of implosion, would rapidly deteriorate into a general crisis of confidence that would make the great depression of the 1930s look like a mere blip on the screen. To say nothing of the horrific human costs: Tehran in ruins, many thousands dead and wounded, and a general war of all against all in the Middle East. The conflict would drag in all regional actors: not only the US but also Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and quite possibly even the Russians. It would, in effect, be the beginning of World War III. Let’s also be clear about who wants this war, and is plotting and scheming behind the scenes – as well as calling quite openly – for it to begin a.s.a.p. For what seems like the past decade or so, the Israeli government has been loudly agitating for a US attack on Iran: Netanyahu isn’t shy about his intentions. Nor is he hesitant about calling on pro-Israel groups around the world to mobilize their supporters in his campaign for war, and they are responding with the requisite enthusiasm. The Israel lobby in Washington is pulling out all the stops in an effort to induce Congress to impose even more sanctions on Iran – a move that would put a quick end to the negotiations. The Israel Firsters aren’t beating the war drums exclusively in Washington: Paris apparently has its contingent of drum-beaters as well. Everyone is wondering what suddenly got into the French foreign minister at the Geneva peace talks, one Fabius Laurent, who suddenly accused the other Western negotiators of being too soft on Iran and raising what are clearly dubious objections to what was, after all, an interim draft agreement. This nonsense about the Arak facility – which is not even constructed yet – and the longstanding Iranian claim to the right of enrichment is just a smokescreen. All the representatives at Geneva – including the French – had agreed to put Arak on the back burner, since the issue didn’t require immediate resolution. The Arak facility is being regularly monitored by IAEA inspectors, and would need to be significantly modified before it could produce weapons-grade nuclear materials. As for the enrichment issue, this is nothing new: the Iranians have the right to enrich under the terms of the Nonproliferation Treaty, to which they are signatories. Any move on their part to enrich beyond permitted limits would soon be detected. The real story behind the French turnaround is that Netanyahu’s main man in Paris, Meyer Habib, called Laurent and told him that
if the agreement went forward Netanyahu would strike Iran. The Times of Israel, citing Israel’s Channel 2 News, puts the conversation this way: “’I know [Netanyahu],” the French MP, Meyer Habib, reportedly told Fabius, and predicted that the Israeli prime minister would resort to the use of force if the deal was approved in its form at the time. ‘If you don’t toughen your positions, Netanyahu will attack Iran,’ the report quoted Habib as saying. ‘I know this. I know him. You have to toughen your positions in order to prevent war.’” Nice touch there: you have to stop talking peace “in order to prevent war.” This threat by Netanyahu, delivered by his French messenger, is a bluff: the Israelis will fight to the last American, but when it comes to risking Israeli lives on the battlefield against a formidable opponent like Iran – not so much. This is just another transparent blackmail attempt, but the French have been sidling up to the Israelis for some time now and were eager to do their part. Blackmail isn’t how treasured “allies” treat each other, but then again Israel isn’t really a friendly nation anymore: the “special relationship” has been souring for a long time, and it’s now reached the point of an acrimonious divorce. The Israeli-Palestinian negotiations John Kerry is trying to revive are collapsing in the face of Israeli intransigence: the New York Times reports that a recent session turned into a “shouting match.” As hardly a day goes by without an Israeli announcement of more “settlements” in Palestine – there are to be 20,000 new units constructed in the West Bank – even the normally pro-Israel Kerry went off on Netanyahu: “If you say you’re working for peace and you want peace and a Palestine that is a whole Palestine that belongs to the people who live there, how can you say we’re planning to build in the place that will eventually be Palestine? It sends a message that somehow, perhaps you’re not really serious.” “I mean,” he added, “do you want a third Intifada?” This provoked a furious response from the Israel lobby in this country, with Abe Foxman denouncing Kerry’s “chutzpah” and declaring that the world sees the US as “weak and retreating.” It’s okay, you see, to be seen as “weak and retreating” in the face of Bibi’s tantrums – and if anyone’s a chutzpah expert, it most surely is Foxman. What panics Foxman is that internal political developments in both Israel and the US are driving the two nations apart: in the former, an ultra-nationalist wave is engulfing the Jewish state, destroying any chances of a solution to the Palestine
question. Bibi is playing to– and whipping up – this dangerous trend. In America, on the other hand, a growing popular rebellion against our Middle East meddling – which culminated in the administration backing down on their plan to bomb Syria – is forcing the President to seemingly abandon our traditionally Israel-centric policy and at least give the impression he is actually looking out for American interests. The Israel lobby went all out on the Syria issue – and was handed a rare defeat. This time, however, they are determined to win, and they are mobilizing their considerable resources, both here and internationally, in order to throw a monkey wrench into the works. Given this, and the lack of any countervailing forces, I’d be willing to bet the Geneva talks will end in failure. We can count on Congress to follow Netanyahu’s marching orders and impose new sanctions, just as we certainly can’t count on the Obama administration to stand firm against this kind of pressure. The failure of the Geneva talks will imperil newly-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s position, and give hardliners in his country a powerful bludgeon to beat him over the head with. It will give the Israelis a chance to gin up a provocation that will drag
us into their holy war against Iran, and in the US it will reinforce the erroneous idea that the Iranians are at fault – which is the story the administration is circulating. They’re too cowed to blame the French – or, standing behind them, the Israelis. Nothing is inevitable, not least of all war with Iran: common sense could prevail. When push comes to shove, the American people could rise up, as they did on the eve of our planned bombing of Syria, and cast their veto. That, in my view, is the only way we’ll avoid World War III. But that can’t happen unless Americans are awake and aware of what’s happening – and that is the reason for Antiwar.com’s existence. Since 1995, we’ve been educating the American people about the perils of US intervention in the Middle East and around the world. We’ve been debunking the War Party’s lies, and, recently, scored a big victory when a telephone campaign – launched in conjunction with allies across the political spectrum – forced the Obama administration to back down after the President announced he was going to bomb Syria. That was to be yet another war we were going to fight for Israel’s sake, but the American people said “Enough!”
12
YOUTH
December 2013
www.AZMuslimVoice.com
At That Moment I Took Off the Hijab! Hijab: My Journey to Peace, Serenity & Dignity By Raudah Mohd Yunus My understanding of Islam and my
encounter with hijab (the Islamic dress code for women) are perhaps much different from others. While many people first learn about hijab in various ways when they embrace Islam after being guided to the right path, I, however, have been a Muslim all my life. Also, hijab was never something new to me as I had been brought up in a Muslim family and more or less a Muslim society in Malaysia. Being raised in such a beautiful tropical country where the light of Islam have been shining ever since Arab traders first came to the land and captured the hearts of its people with their beautiful Islamic preaching, even before the first Portuguese man arrived to conquer the nation, I can say that most Muslims around me, no matter how ignorant, have had some sort of emotional attachment to Islam. This went back along the historical route to the Muslim Sultans who were ruling some parts of the land and the many Islamic laws they introduced. However, when the Portuguese, Dutch and British occupied the land, our ancestors were killed, enslaved, forced to accept completely alien life styles and value systems, and finally many were deprived of the guidance and harmony that Islam had brought to them. Avoiding Tensions in My Early Years Spending my early years of education
at a private Islamic elementary school, many Islamic concepts were at tips of my fingers. I knew by heart almost all what was there in the Islamic subject syllabus and even started memorizing few chapters of the Qur’an since I was young. Several years later I decided to move to a public school where nonMuslims and Muslims freely mixed. There, I had two best friends, a Christian catholic and a Hindu. We were good friends. H o w e v e r, never did any of us bring up the subject of religion for fear of being insensitive and disrespectful to each other. It was also here that I began to develop a sense of inferiority as a Muslim due to my lack of adequate knowledge and deep understanding of Islam. Veiled and pious students were perceived as ‘backward’ and ‘less intelligent’ among the students and sometimes even among the teachers. Even though I had two best friends who were very kind and supportive, I tried as much as possible to avoid questions about Islam. My perception of Islam was rather poor. This was because of the mentality and atmosphere of the society I was living in. Despite the multi-racial and multireligious nature of Malaysia, many of us were falsely led to believe that religion was something personal and that no one should talk openly about it, otherwise tension would occur. Also, within the Muslim community itself, superstitious beliefs, racial obsession and conservative tendencies which had nothing to do with Islam were rampant. These altogether gave me the impression that Islam and my adherence to it should be nothing more than merely practicing daily rituals. I saw Islam only in masjid (mosque), on the prayer carpets, and in some other deeds like charity and listening to Islamic talks. Other than these, I did not see much of Islam in my surroundings. During these times of confusion and intellectual destitution, I wore hijab, but honestly, it was mere blind obedience. The cultural
sentiment supporting ‘a decent way of dressing’ was strong in our society so most girls feared being criticized. Some, however, rebelled and took a totally opposite approach. I could say that even up to 70% of my Muslim friends wore hijab; probably less than half were doing it with proper Islamic understanding. And I, unfortunately, was simply following the crowd. Obsessions… Taking Off the Veil! After completing my elementary school education (with excellent results and I was the best student! How I wish I had pride in Islam and my hijab at that time!), I was offered a place in an elite boarding school. I became excited as I saw a bright future awaiting there. The school was one of the best in Malaysia, and only students with excellent academic achievements were offered places. I eagerly accepted the offer, not knowing what was ahead of me… My early years in the elite school were full of educational activities, fun, prestige and pride. My obsession and thirst for knowledge were fully satisfied, and I began mixing with Muslim students from different backgrounds, mostly rich and so-called ‘modern’. Without realizing, I was brought into a world of material obsession, false pride, counterfeit self-
esteem and arrogance. Conscience almost had no place in the ‘elite’ society and religious inclinations were considered taboo, outlawed and sometimes even became the laughingstock. Hijab was silently seen as ‘second-class’ and a sign of lowliness. Peer pressure was immense and I did everything possible to fit in with the society and its trends. I knew I had to act ‘modern’ and ‘elite’ to be accepted, although deep inside, I could feel that there was something wrong with the way things were going. Finally, I decided that my hijab was not so important anymore and I gradually took it off, though on certain occasions I tried to wear it. Having left the hijab, my feelings were mixed. I felt free to some extent, and that I was no longer restricted to anything but on the other hand, continuous guilt overwhelmed me. Without the hijab, I began to feel vulnerable, unprotected and undignified, despite the fact that I was doing so well to fit in, and I was highly accepted by my friends. Again and again, I pushed the feelings of guilt away from my mind as I tried to believe that I was simply going through a new phase in life, and that I would eventually get used to life without hijab.
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ISLAM
www.AZMuslimVoice.com Continued from p. 1
December 2013
13
Why are we so ANGRY??
By Lolita V Jefferson Ed.D You’re sitting at a red light, and it turns green. In the millisecond before you step on the gas, the guy behind you honks his horn and makes an obscene gesture at you. You’re with a bunch of people when someone mentions the name, “Osama,” so then people’s faces turn red and hate spews out of their mouths. Or, you’re with people when someone says, “Islam,” and hate spews out of their mouths. The waitress mistakenly brings you your hamburger with the tomato you didn’t want, and you react as if the burger were covered with hemlock. Why are people so mad these days? Where did all this anger and impatience come from? Why are so many people walking around with such short fuses? Is it the war that everybody wishes were over? Is it still a reaction to 9/11? I wouldn’t rule out these possibilities. Daily expressions of anger could be symptoms of the anxious times we live in. Perhaps people are living in a constant state of tension and fear about the world. But we feel frustrated and angry because we don’t know what we can do to change things. And these feelings have to go somewhere, so we vent our anger at the old lady in front of us in the grocery store express line who has 11 items instead of 10. Everywhere, someone seems angry at somebody or something. I think the reasons are more fundamental than the economy, political brinksmanship, and unstable international politics. Perhaps we’re also angry because we’ve
lost track of whom and what we are, and how to balance contemporary lifestyles with our fundamental “humanness.” The trouble is, anger doesn’t get us anywhere and it doesn’t make us feel good for very long. It just intensifies the misery and compounds the negativity. The reasons for our increasing rage are, in my view, twofold; on the one hand our expectations have risen steadily and on the other hand, so have our stress levels. Our raised expectations mean that we, as a society, have much higher expectations of our world; we believe we have the right to expect things to go well, indeed, to be perfect. Part of this raised expectation is fed by the ‘customer charter’ culture which has mushroomed over the past decade; this is a charter for our ‘rights’ and leads us to have high expectations that we receive superlative service in all aspects of our life. When, as is inevitable, reality falls short of these expectations, we feel that we have the right to get angry about it. At the same time that we have become more demanding as a nation, we are also living a more frenetic and frantic pace of life, which means our stress levels are raised. This raised stress means that our tolerance for things going wrong is dramatically reduced. Things that go wrong often appear to conspire to stop us achieving some objective whether that be work or pleasure-based. The customer taking too long in front of us is stopping us do our shopping quickly, the staff member who won’t give us a refund is stopping us getting access to the justice we
think we deserve, and the colleague who is interrupting us with minor queries is stopping us get our work done. Because of our stress levels, our tolerance for such obstacles is low....and we get angry. This combination of raised expectations and stress levels gives rise to the ‘angry personality’; and there seem to be more Mr. and Ms. Angrys about these days. Islam teaches us about anger and what we should do if we become angry. “If any of you becomes angry, let him keep silent.” (Ahmad, al-Musnad, 1/329; Sahih al-Jaami‘, 693, 4027) We have been commanded to so self – restraint in anger. The statement “Do not get angry” can be understood in another way. Instead of commanding us not to experience the emotion of anger in our hearts, it is telling us not to act upon that emotion when we are beset by it. There is no doubt that this hadith is commanding us to, at the very least, exercise selfrestraint when we feel angry. This much is obligatory upon us. Allah describes the God-fearing as those who restrain themselves in anger. He says: “And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden whose width is that of the heavens and the Earth, prepared for the God-fearing. Who spend in times of ease and times of hardship and who restrain their anger and who pardon people. And Allah loves those who do good.” [ Sûrah `Âl `Imran : 133-134] He also says: “And what is with Allah is
better and more enduring for those who believe and who rely upon their Lord. And those who avoid the major sins and indecencies, and when they become angry, they forgive.” [ Surah al-Shûrâ : 36-37] The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The strong man is not the one who can throw another down. The strong man is the one who can keep hold of himself when he is angry.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim ] We should seek refuge with Allah when we become angry. Two men began hurling insults at one another in the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him), each one insulting the other with such anger that his face had turned red. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “I know a word that if one were to say it, what stresses him would go away. If he would but say: ‘I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the Accursed’.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim ] The Prophet (peace be upon him) advised us not to speak when we are angry. He said: “If one of you gets angry, he should be quiet.” [ Musnad Ahmad ] The Prophet (peace be upon him) gave us other practical advice. He said: “If one of you gets angry and he is standing, then he should sit down until his anger subsides. If it does not, then he should lie down.” [ Sunan Abî Dâwûd ] Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
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December 2013
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Chicken Peanut Curry Today’s recipe comes from the Thai kitchen. Thai food is definitely the best when made by your own palette, so you can add your touches and enrich the taste of your own dish. In this dish, you might add ingredients like coconut milk or red curry paste. Try it and you will enjoy the spicy flavor and the fantastic mix of delicious ingredients.
Ingredients 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken pieces, cut into strips 2/3 cup flour 4 Tbsp curry powder 2 teaspoons Kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground peppercorns 1/3 cup olive oil 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced 2 Tbsp garlic, minced 2 serrano chili peppers, seeded, de-veined, minced 4 cups chicken broth 2/3 cup peanut butter (if using freshly ground peanuts, add 2 teaspoons of sugar)
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds 8 green onions, chopped, greens included 1/3 cup each finely chopped mint and cilantro 3 Tbsp lime juice
Method 1. Rinse chicken and pat dry. In a large bowl, combine the flour, curry powder, salt and pepper. Toss the chicken pieces to coat. 2. Heat oil in a large, heavy pot on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces in batches, but be careful not to crowd the pan. Cook 2-4 minutes per side or until the coating sets and browns a little. Remove the chicken from the pot as it cooks and set aside in a bowl. 3. When the chicken turns browned, add the ginger, garlic, chili pepper and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the saucepan. Cook for a minute or two, scraping the pan with a spatula and stirring to combine everything well. Whisk in the peanut butter, and the remaining
3 1/2 cups of broth slowly, stirring continuously to maintain an even texture. 4. Return the chicken to the pot and simmer for 15-25 minutes. Right before serving, add the ground coriander, cilantro, mint and green onions. Add salt and lime juice to taste. Serve with white rice.
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CALENDAR / ANNOUNCEMENTS
Phoenix Prayer Times
December 2013
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Tucson Prayer Times
December 2013 • Muharam/Safar 1434 H
December 2013 • Muharam/Safar 1434 H
ISLAMIC WEEKEND SCHOOLS
Directions to the Islamic Cultural Center Cemetery
Islamic Community Center of Phoenix: Islamic Cultural Center: Muslim Community Mosque: Masjid Omar ICNEV Weekend Islamic School ACA Weekend School Sultan Education in Chandler Greenway Islamic Academy
Sunday at 9:45 am-1:20 pm. Sunday at 10:00 am Sunday at 10:00 am until 2:30 pm. Saturday & Sunday from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm. Tel: (480) 346-2081Classes held on Sunday K thru’ grade 12 from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Sunday 10:00 am-1:15 pm. www.azacademy.org/weekend Saturdays & Sundays - children/adults 480-593-7066 Tajweed, Islamic Studies, & Arabic Language 602-565-0500
From the Islamic Cultural Center (ICC):
Check our website for up to date information www.tempemasjid.com
1) Go South on Forest to University Drive. Turn right. 2) Go West on University to the I-10 highway. Take I-10 East. 3) Proceed on I-10 East (~12 Miles). Exit at Queen Creek Rd. (EXIT #164). 4) Turn right on route 347 South. Proceed for about 14 miles. 5) Turn right on route 238 West. Proceed for about 8.7 miles. 6) Turn right on unnamed/unpaved street after you see the street sign which reads “36 miles” and proceed to the cemetery.
IN CASE OF DEATH • Call Sandy at Angel’s Burial, at 480-962-6435 • Total cost is $1,800.00
ISLAMIC CENTERS IN ARIZONA
PHOENIX Arizona Cultural Academy 7810 S. 42nd Pl. • Phoenix 602-454-1222 Islamic Center of Arizona 9032 N. 9th St. • Phoenix
Islamic Center of N. Phoenix 13246 N. 23rd Ave. 85029 602-371-3440 Islamic Comnty Ctr of Phx 7516 N. Black Canyon Hwy. Phoenix • 602-249-0496 Muslim Community Mosque 1818 N. 32nd St. • Phoenix 602-306-4959 Masjid Al-Rahmah 2645 E. McDowell Rd. • Phoenix 602-275-5493 Masjid Muhammad Ibn Abdullah
5648 N. 15th ave. Phoenix, AZ 85015 602-413-5279
Al Rasoul Mosque 5302 N. 35th Ave. • Phoenix 602-864-1817
CHANDLER Masjid AsSalam 1071 N. Alma School Rd.• Chandler 480-250-7522
PEORIA Greenway Islamic Center 6724 West Greenway • Peoria, Islamic Center of East Valley AZ www.greenwaymasjid.com 425 N. Alma School Dr. • Chandler TEMPE 602-388-9900 Islamic Comnty Ctr of Tempe LAVEEN 131 E. 6th Street • Tempe 480-894-6070 Islamic Center of Laveen P.O. Box 1107 • Laveen Masjid Al Mahdi 602-361-4401 1016 S. River Dr. • Tempe MARICOPA 480-557-9699 Masjid Bilal Ibn Rabah Masjid Omar Bin Al-Khattab 44370 W. Arizona Ave. Maricopa Arizona 85138 6225 S.McClintock • Tempe contact# (602)312-7913 480-775-6627 MESA Masjid-el-Noor 55 N. Matlock • Mesa 480-644-0074 SCOTTSDALE Islamic Center of N.E. Valley 12125 E. Via Linda • Scottsdale 480-612-4044
CASA GRANDE Masjid Sajda is located c/o: The Legacy Suites 540 North Cacheris Court Casa Grande`, Arizona 85122 480.332.8618
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