Islamic Horizons

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FAITHFUL in Seattle

How a diverse community of Muslims is making this evergreen city a major hub of Islamic activities in the Pacific Northwest

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CONTENTS 36 38 COVER STORY: Faithful in Seattle

VOL.39 NO.6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

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The growth of the Puget Sound region’s diverse Muslim community is evident beyond mosques and covers a widerange of activities.

Talking to Neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Student Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

FEATURE: Marriage Guide . . . . . . . . . . . 17 A ten-step guide to prepare young men and women for the reality of an actual and long-term marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Perfectly Charming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Learning From Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Why Doctors Marry Doctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 A Tale of Two Marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

SPIRIT FOOD FOR THE

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DEPARTMENTS Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 ISNA Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 National News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Food for the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Matrimonials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

ISLAM IN AMERICA A Legacy Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Black America’s Path to Islam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Toronto Forgotten First Mosque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The Immigrant Imam and his Family in America . . . . . . . 51

PROFILE: Dr. Qaisar Shah - Expert Healer . . . . . . . . . 52 QUR’AN: The Early History of the Mushaf . . . . . . . . . . 54 TRIBUTES: Dr. Fathi Osman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

DESIGN & LAYOUT BY: Omar El-Haddad, DesignWorks Copyeditor: Jay Willoughby The views expressed in Islamic Horizons are not necessarily the views of its editors nor of the Islamic Society of North America.

Islamic Horizons does not accept unsolicitated articles or submissions.

All references to the Qur'an made are from The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Amana, Brentwood, MD.

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EDITORIAL PUBLISHER

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) PRESIDENT

Keep Pandora’s Box Closed

Mohamed Hagmagid Ali SECRETARY GENERAL

Safaa Zarzour

______________________

EDITOR

Omer Bin Abdullah ______________________

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Susan Douglass (Chair); Dr. Jimmy Jones; Dr. Sulayman Nyang; Dr. Ingrid Mattson. ______________________

ISLAMIC HORIZONS

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ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

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During Ramadan, a passenger in a New York City taxi decided to slash the neck of a driver with a knife upon learning that he was a Muslim. In Queens, a man walked into a mosque and disrupted the prayer assembly by urinating on the prayer rugs while yelling “terrorists.” Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey claimed that First Amendment religious rights may not apply to Muslims and that Islam may not be a real religion. At the site of a planned Islamic center and mosque in Murfreesboro, TN, Muslims reported hearing gunshots as they inspected construction equipment that was damaged by an arsonist’s fire the night before. The FBI invited Robert Spencer, cofounder of “Stop the Islamization of America,” to train state and federal law enforcement officers. Terry Jones, the pastor of an approximately fiftymember non-denominational church dominated the mainstream media for weeks by threatening to burn the Qur’an on 9/11.

The proposed Park51 project in lower Manhattan has provided Islamophobes with new opportunities to exploit 9/11-related sentiments. Having failed to stop the project, they are now asking that it be “moved” further away from the “hallowed ground” of Ground Zero. In short, they want to create a “no mosque” zone. If this Pandora’s Box is opened, mosque-free zones will spread across the nation as more and more mosque applications are rejected. To prevent such a tragedy, Muslims can neither surrender their First Amendment rights nor make any compromise.

This is not the America that the world knows and respects.

In his iftar speech, President Obama firmly reiterated his support for the rights allowed by the First Amendment to all citizens, irrespective of their color, race, and religion: “As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure.”

New York mayor Bloomberg told the iftar audience members at Gracie Mansion: “[L]et me declare that we in New York are Jews and Christians and Muslims, and we always have been. And above all of that, we are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose. There is nowhere in the five boroughs that is off limits to any religion. By affirming that basic idea, we will honor America’s values and we will keep New York the most open, diverse, tolerant, and free city in the world. Thank you.”

Dean Rusk (d. 1994), who served as secretary of state under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, once explained to Congress why it is so important for us to live up to our ideals here at home: “The United States is widely regarded as the home of democracy and the leader of the struggle for freedom, for human rights, for human dignity.

We are expected to be the model.”

As Muslim citizen of this great country, we have the obligation to see that America retains its status as a model nation. This is the true “American exceptionalism.”

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ISNAMATTERS

ISNA President:Imam Mohamed Magid; ISNA Vice President-USA:Azhar Azeez; ISNA Majlis Members Dr. Ihsan Bagby and Asma Mirza; ISNA Vice President-Canada:Dr. Mohamed Bekkari

ISNA Elects New Executive

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SNA has elected Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali as its new president.

Imam Magid, who acquired his religious education as a resident scholar at Al-Medina Institute, is the executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), located in Sterling, VA. Prior to his election, he served as ISNA’s East Zone representative and vice president.

The new president has a long history of public involvement: the Peaceful Families Project, the Annual Twinning of Mosques and Synagogues, the Fairfax Faith Communities in Action, the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington Assembly, the Buxton Interfaith Initiative, and with similar organizations. He is also well known for his family counseling expertise. Honored as a “2009 Washingtonians of the Year,” he has been recognized by the State of Virginia and other government agencies for his exemplary community service on the behalf of Muslims and encouraging a better understanding of Islam.

“ISNA has grown tremendously under the leadership of [two-term] president Ingrid Mattson, with whom Imam Magid worked closely for two terms as ISNA vice president, and we look forward to the same kind of dedication and positive direction in leadership and organizational changes from Imam Magid in his term as president,” said ISNA secretary general Safaa Zarzour. “He will bring consistency to the organization, as he helped shape many of the positive changes initiated

by President Mattson, such as term

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limits for ISNA leaders, and we know he will move forward with these changes with the able assistance of his new vice president.”

Azhar Azeez, the new vice president of ISNA-US, currently serves as the national head of Islamic Relief USA’s community fund development. In addition to chairing the ISNA Youth and other committees, he has been a zonal representative and a member of ISNA’s Executive Council for the Central Zone.

A founder and president of the Islamic Association of Carrolton, as well as the founder and past president of CAIR’s southwest chapter, Azeez has worked with the Muslim Community Center for Human Services, been the founder and moderator of the weekly “Global Newsletter,” and authored articles for several newspapers and magazines.

The elections returned three new Majlis al-Shura members: Asma Yaqub

‘‘

ISNA has grown tremendously under the leadership of president Ingrid Mattson, with whom Imam Magid worked closely for two terms as ISNA vice president, and we look forward to the same kind of dedication and positive direction in leadership and organizational changes from Imam Magid in his term as president.”

ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

—ISNA SECRETARY GENERAL SAFAA ZARZOUR

Mirza, an American-born Muslim with an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland, is the youngest person ever elected to an ISNA leadership position.

She currently works as a strategy consultant. She also has a track record of successful leadership in her roles as founder of the MSA Legacy Fund and as a founding member of Georgetown University’s “Campaign Civil Rights.”

Mirza actively supported ISNA’s growth as the 2007-09 MSA president and a former committee member on the ISNA Majlis Youth Committee, the Annual Convention Program Committee, the Secretary General Search Committee (2007-10), and as an ISNA convention and conference speaker.

Dr. Ihsan Bagby, a well-respected scholar and a University of Kentucky professor of Islamic studies, has numerous publications and research projects related to mosques in America to his credit. He currently leads the 2010 Mosque Study in collaboration with leading institutions of research, education, and religion. Dr. Bagby has served the Muslim community for decades as a committed ISNA member, a previous ISNA acting-secretary general, a CAIR National board member, and a MANA secretary general. In addition, he sits on the ISNA Chaplain Endorsement Board and the Fiqh Council of North America.

Dr. Mohamed Bekkar, an Ottawa, Ontario-based child clinical and school psychologist, as well as the current president of ISNA Canada, has spent more than thirty years on various ISNA committees, MSA boards. Fully engaged at the national level, he still finds time to remain actively involved in the local communities of Ottawa and Edmonton (Canada).

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Ft. Hood Victims Honored

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA

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National Recognition for Muslims

President Barack Obama delivers remarks during an iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room of the White House, Aug. 13, 2010

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In Washington, DC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO) paired for an iftar on 31 Aug. This event was preceded by a workshop at which leaders from Muslim organizations around the nation, particularly social service organizations, were addressed by representatives from, among others, the DOA, Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Health and Human Services, the White House, the Department of Education, and the Department of Homeland Security.

They learned how Muslim nonprofits, mosques, Islamic centers, and social service organizations can strengthen their communities through acquiring more direct access to those opportunities provided to federal-level social service agencies.

Also on 31 Aug., Imam Magid and Monem Salam (West Zone Representative, ISNA) joined a select group of Muslim leaders for an iftar hosted by the U.S. Department of Treasury. They met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and discussed issues facing the Muslim community.

In Indianapolis, Gov. Mitch Daniels hosted the state’s sixth iftar, which was sponsored by the Muslim Alliance of Indiana at the Indiana Statehouse on 26 Aug.

ftar receptions hosted by the White House and various federal agencies and departments and state governments are now a regular feature of Muslim American life.

The first one for 2010 was the iftar hosted by President Obama on 13 Aug., where guests included [outgoing] ISNA president Dr. Ingrid Mattson and ISNA vice president Imam Mohamed Magid.

Muslim diplomats from around the world, as well as political, religious, and community leaders, also attended.

President Obama informed the gathering of a little-known fact of American history: President Thomas Jefferson hosted the first White House iftar over 200 years to honor the first Muslim ambassador to America — he was from Tunisia — during Ramadan.

Responding to Obama’s assurance that Muslims have the same right of all other Americans to practice their religion, Dr. Mattson thanked him for making it “clear that the right to religious freedom for all, including Muslim Americans, is supported by our President.”

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his iftar speech to remind everyone that Muslims are entitled to the same protection of their religious freedom as are all other Americans.

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afaa Zarzour joined Abed Ayoub (CEO, Islamic Relief USA), Dr. Mohamed F. Ashmawey, and Azhar Azeez on 29 July for a visit to Ft. Hood, TX, the nation’s largest military base. Accompanied

by Chaplain Lt. Col. Abdul Rasheed Muhammad, the group was welcomed by Lt. Gen. Donald Jones (ret.; a former deputy secSafaa Zarzour retary of defense under Reagan) and Ron Taylor (president, Association of the US Army; AUSA). While touring the base, they visited the chaplaincy, the spiritual center, the hall of remembrance, and other facilities.

They also met with Egyptian-born Wagdy Mabrouk, a 27-year army veteran who now serves as a lay leader at the base. He leads the Friday congregational prayer, provides counseling, and conducts Ramadan-related activities.

Senior military officers, city council members, local leaders of the Killeen mosque, and other AUSA members joined them for lunch at the clubhouse.

Chaplain Abdul Rasheed stated that there are currently 5,000 Muslims in the US armed forces as well as eleven Muslim chaplains.

The officers lauded the Muslim servicemen and women and expressed their highest respect and regard for them and their faith.

They also remarked upon their great pride in the diversity of religions represented in the US army.

Ayoub and Zarzour presented checks on behalf of the delegation for the victims’ families of the Ft. Hood tragedy and spoke about the work of ISNA and Islamic Relief. The delegation from the Army thanked both groups for their support.

The group also visited Masjid At-Taqwa, Killeen, and met with members of the local community.

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ISNAMATTERS ISNA’s Timely and Effective Response to Bigotry

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Faith Leaders Join ISNA to Address Islamophobia

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he nation’s top faith leaders joined ISNA at an emergency interfaith summit on 7 Sept. to address the surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobia. Following this event, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faith leaders held a widely covered press conference — telecast live on CNN and C-Span — to inform the general public on how they plan to address these worrying trends, which have only intensified during the debate over the Park 51 project. They also discussed the threatened burning of the Qur’an in Gainesville, FL. Attorney General Eric Holder also met with them to address the same issues.

ISNA convened the meeting to raise a shared religious voice underscoring the clergy’s moral responsibility to communicate the need for solidarity and compassion, devise a plan of action for interfaith collaboration, and discuss the state of interfaith solidarity and solutions to these trends. Their statement declared: “Religious leaders denounce anti-Muslim bigotry and call for respect for America’s tradition of religious liberty. As religious leaders in this great country we have come together in our nation’s capitol to denounce categorically the derision, misinformation, and outright bigotry being directed to the American Muslim community. We bear a

sacred responsibility to honor America’s very favorite traditions and to promote a culture of mutual respect in assurance of religious freedom for all. In advance of the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, we announce a new era of interfaith cooperation ... silence, silence, silence is not an option.”

Safaa Zarzour remarked: “America is a country built on [the] freedom of religion, and it is unfortunate that so many Americans are now afraid to enjoy that freedom and pray. The meeting with the attorney general sends a message that intimidation, hate, and violence against any member of any religion is intolerable [to] the U.S. government.”

Participants included Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, DC), Bishop Mark Sisk (Episcopal Church Bishop of New York), and Rabbi David Saperstein (the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism). Leaders from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, the Archdiocese of New York, and the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. _______________________________________________

BEYOND PARK 51: Religious leaders denounce anti-Muslim bigotry and call for respect for America’s tradition of religious liberty

10 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

his year’s Ramadan came with many challenges. “As we examined our lives as Muslims, we also had to worry about events in New York, Tennessee, Florida, and elsewhere in the country that are impacting upon mosques and Muslim communities,” said Safaa Zarzour. ISNA sought to be proactive and positive in its response.

ISNA’s leadership held several consultative meetings to search for a better way to address the growing anti-Muslim bigotry. In the spirit of bringing America’s faith leaders together to discuss this alarming phenomenon and to form a unified response to it, ISNA organized an emergency interfaith summit in Washington, DC, on 7 Sept.

The resulting turnout represented the largest and most diverse religious gathering around a single issue in recent memory. The joint statement expressed profound distress and deep sadness over incidents of violence committed against Muslims and by the desecration of Islamic houses of worship. Religious leaders shared this statement in local diocesan and ecumenical agencies nationwide. All media outlets carried positive accounts of the summit; CNN and C-Span provided live coverage. The media coverage decidedly changed the national scene from one of Muslims having to debate the merit of a given project into people of faith in America standing together in support of religious freedom and the right of Muslims to be free from bigotry and hate rhetoric.

U.S Attorney General Eric Holder declared: “Americans of every faith have the right to worship and practice their religion in peace, and the Department [of Justice] will continue to work with its state and local partners to ensure that this right is upheld.”

From Vatican City to small farms in Georgia, our fellow citizens began issuing statements supporting the Muslims’ religious rights. They launched their own initiatives in their local communities — all the while looking to ISNA as a resource. Also, many state-level Muslim communities organized similar interfaith gatherings inspired by our summit. In Illinois, Zarzour participated in a gathering after the Eid al-Fitr prayer, where sixteen speakers from different religious denominations voiced their support for Muslim American rights. In addition, hundreds of articles, blogs, and requests for interviews with ISNA leaders were made.

By undertaking this emergency interfaith summit, ISNA answered the call from our community to safeguard our rights to practice our religion freely.

ISNA, however, must now implement the next steps and actions suggested by the summit’s participants, which requires continued financial support.

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NATIONALNEWS

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oronto-based Queen’s University Alma Mater Society (AMS) has elected Safiah Chowdhury (class of 2011) president for the 2010-11 term. Chowdhury, along with running mates vice-president (operations) Ben Hartley (class of 2011) and vicepresident (university affairs) Chris Rudnicki (class of 2011), captured 54.5 percent of the undergraduate vote, even though they were all from one faculty. She is the second Muslim woman to serve in this capacity — Taz Pirmohamed (class of 1995) was the first (1994-95).

Now responsible for a Can$14 million budget, she hopes that people will come to know her for what she accomplishes during her tenure rather than for her religion.

An involved person since her high school days, Chowdhury has also served as MYNA-Canada president (2006-07) and volunteered with the campus MSA and the AMS Social Issues Commission.

She hopes to use the society’s leverage to induce a positive atmosphere on campus, one that reflects students’ views in administrative decisions.

Chowdhury told Jane Switzer (class of 2010) (“Queen’s Alumni Review,” 2010, Issue #2): “I think that there are certain things you can do by ensuring all programming is accessible to everyone, and ensuring all students feel represented in AMS programming. When the AMS president sits on so many boards and attends so many meetings, I think it’s important that he or she knows what the students’ interests are and keeps them as their Number One priority, beyond any of the other bureaucratic stuff.”

UNITY: Imam Talib AbdurRashid, second vice president of Majlis Shura, calls for unity among Muslim organizations to counter Islamophobia

Muslim American Leaders Stress Rights

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ome twenty Muslim American leaders representing national Islamic organizations met in New York City on 19 Sept. to discuss the rising wave of Islamophobia and how to protect the community’s constitutional rights.

Organized and hosted by the Majlis Ash-Shura of Metropolitan New York (the Islamic Leadership Council of New York), which comprises more than fiftyfive area mosques and Islamic organizations, the group drafted and approved a six-point “Core Principals of Cooperation.” The participants included Imam Mohamed Majid (ISNA president), Dr. Ahmed Elbendary (president, Muslim American Society), Dr. Zahid Bukhari (president, Islamic Circle of North America), Nihad Awad (executive director, Council on American Islamic Relations), Imam Siraj Wahhaj (amir, Muslim Alliance in North America), Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi (chairman, Islamic Fiqh Council of North America), Imam Ashrafuz Zaman Khan (president, North American Imams Federation), Imam Mahdi Bray (executive director, MAS Freedom and Justice Foundation), Abdul Malik Mujahid (board chairman, Parliament of World Religions), Imam Asim A. Rashid (amir, Majlis Philadelphia), Haris Tarin (director, Muslim Public Affairs Council), and M. Salim Akhtar (executive director, American Muslim Taskforce.

Zaheer Uddin (executive director, Majlis Ash-Shura NY) urged attendees to

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PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK STRODL, © MAJLIS ASH-SHURA OF METROPOLITAN NEW YORK

The President Wears a Hijab

find ways to deal with bigotry and Islamophobia as a short-term goal and figure out how to pool their resources and coordinate their efforts effectively. Imam AlAmin Abdul Latif (president, Majlis AshShura NY) stated that the last time such a high-level meeting had been convened was in 1991 to discuss the first Gulf war.

There was not enough time to formulate the specific shape of unity platform. However, some points of cooperation were discussed and approved by the attendees.

One of the important points that related with the cooperation that was adopted, reads: “We agree to an enhanced level of national communication, cooperation, coordination and support for each other on issues of common concern that impact the Muslim community.”

The leaders also expressed their outrage and condemnation of those who are intentionally engaging in this “un-American” bigotry. One after the other, they all emphasized that Muslims must be proactive, present an accurate picture of Islam and Muslims, and invite non-Muslims to mosques and community centers.

This latter effort will be inaugurated on 17-24 Oct. by a “Week of Dialogue,” during which the country’s mosques will organize open houses and feature special seminars and programs.

The 20 Sept. press conference held in front of the Park 51 project site was covered by more than fifty media organizations. The leaders met with project members and assured them of their support and reiterated the Muslims’ right to build their mosques in places of their own choice.

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IMANA Installs New President The Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) installed its new executive committee during its 43rd annual conference in Istanbul. Dr. Abida Haque has served on its executive and other committees for several years. A professor of pathology at Houston’s Methodist Hospital, she has dedicated her professional life to educating medical students and residents while practicing pathology. She has to her credit more than 100 publications, many coedited books on pulmonary pathology, and close to 100 papers and abstracts presented at national and international events. In addition, she has served on ISNA’s Bylaws and Election Committee.

In her new capacity as IMANA’s president, she will be a member of ISNA’s Majlis al-Shura for the duration of her term (2010-11).

A charitable, nonprofit, and educational organization of Muslim American physicians and allied health professionals established in 1967, IMANA promotes the understanding and appreciation of Islamic medicine and encourages collegial professional interaction among all health professionals.

Catovic Joins GreenFaith Fellowship

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affet Abid Catovic (ISNA East Zone Rep – US) will join the 2011 class of the GreenFaith (greenfaith.org) Fellowship, America’s only comprehensive education and training program designed to prepare lay and ordained leaders for environmental leadership. This class consists of twenty-five Jewish, Muslim, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, and Unitarian Universalist fellows. Always active in his community, Catovic is the founder and current chair and chartered organization representative of Boy Scout Troop #114, New Jersey’s first official Muslim Boy Scout Troop; it is chartered by Noor-Ul-Iman School and the Islamic Society of Central Jersey.

The program includes education and training in eco-theology, “greening” an institution’s operation, environmental advocacy, and environmental justice.

Each fellow writes a personal eco-theological statement and undertakes a community leadership project that will mobilize religious leaders around an environmental issue. Upon graduating, he/she will join the fellowship’s alumnae network and mentor other emerging leaders.

Catovic, who serves on the board of several religious and civic institutions, including the Islamic Society of Essex County, said: “We need to contextualize ‘green activism’ in our own religious traditions and, more importantly, explore areas where we can work together in concrete ways towards a more sustaianable environment for our coming generations. As they say in scouting, ‘Leave more wood on the pile than when we found it.’”

Founded 1992, GreenFaith is an interfaith environmental coalition dedicated to educating religious communities for environmental leadership.

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NATIONALNEWS Zarinah Nadir Joins Prestigious Institute

Stars” was installed in Sept. by Urban Trees 7 at the Port of San Diego, and her four pieces of Arabic calligraphy are featured in a group exhibition at Berkeley’s Doug Adams Gallery.

Attorney and long-time metropolitan Phoenix activist Zarinah Nadir has been selected to participate in Valley Leadership’s Class 32 Leadership Institute.

Nadir, managing attorney and founder of Mesa’s (AZ) Zarinah T. Nadir, LLC law firm, is secretary of the Islamic Social Services Association-USA’s board of directors; a member of the executive committee of AlMu’minah, Arizona’s longest running Muslim youth association; first vice-chair of Legislative District 21; and sits on the committee of the Arizona Muslim Police Advisory Board. She previously served as the director of admissions at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she earned her law degree (2006). Most recently, she joined the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture’s American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute as a fellow in its 2010-11 class.

Valley Leadership, metropolitan Phoenix’s oldest and largest leadership development organization, engages, educates, and challenges current and emerging leaders to actively strengthen and transform their communities.

Each year fifty individuals are selected through a competitive process to participate in the nine-month institute.

^ Faithful Democracy, a national interfaith coalition that promotes appropriate civic participation among people of faith and religious organizations, has joined the interfaith coalition. Strongly grounded in the firm belief that its members’ Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist values call for them to be “respectfully and responsibly involved in public life,” it provides guidance about appropriate electoral activities and offers helpful resources and opportunities for coordinated action. The full statement, as well as resources on civility and civic participation, are available at www.faithfuldemocracy.org.

NEWS BRIEFS ^ Alton, IL has recognized Dr. Sadiq Mohyuddin by dedicating an oriental garden in his honor. Laid out in five-acre lot landscaped and developed by Dr. Mohyuudin to benefit the bi-state Illinois-Missouri residents, the estimated $300,000 twenty-year project was opened on 9 June by Alton mayor Tom Hoeschst in the presence of Rep. Jerry Costello, St. Louis mayor Francis Slay, and Illinois state senator William R. Haine. ^ The Chicago-based Muslim Women’s Alliance (MWA) continued its Ramadan Rush for Rewards campaign. Launched in 2009 by Sabina Abdul-Qadir (director, community service), participants in its five events logged over 1,000 hours of hands-on community service.

The alliance again partnered with the UMMA Center’s “Adopt a Refugee Family Initiative” by welcoming the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society’s thirty refugees in early June and helping them become familiar with their new country.

Anisha Ismail Patel (founder and executive director) applauded the volunteers for rolling up their sleeves and actively contributing to the community.

^ Michigan State University’s (MSU) Muslim Studies Program is now endowed.

Created as the Muslim Studies initiative shortly after 9/11, it quickly grew into an undergraduate Muslim Studies Specialization (2004) and a Muslim Studies Program (2006).

The Muslim Benefactors of the Muslim Studies Endowment was started to demonstrate support for Muslim Studies at MSU. The endowment will support program and faculty research. At least sixty students have graduated from this program; seventy students are currently enrolled in it. Dr. Mohammed Ayoob (Distinguished Professor of International Relations; MSU James Madison College, Department of Political Science) serves as the program’s coordinator.

How to Submit a Letter to the Editor “Islamic Horizons” welcomes letters about any article that has appeared recently in the magazine. A letter must include the writer’s mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail. We may edit letters for clarity, civility and accuracy, and they may be shortened for space requirements. We regret that we are unable to acknowledge letters.

E-mailed to: horizons@isna.net.

Tips on Writing a Letter to the Editor:

^ Salma Arastu, a Berkeley-based artist, had

her works exhibited in Russian and American galleries. Her 3’ tall aluminum sculpture, “The Family,” was displayed during the Sept. opening of an international exhibition organized by Russia’s Ekateringburg Art Foundation. Initiated in Russia by the foundation in 2005, this exhibit focused on “In Family Unity — Unity of the Nation.”

Arastu’s 6’ tall steel “Allah” is currently part of Sonoma Valley Art Museum’s “Visions of Paradise” exhibition, which will run from 21 Aug. to 7 Nov. Her 8’ tall steel “Dancing with

14 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

• Write concisely and clearly.

• Keep it to 150 words at most.

• Letters are not rejected for publication because of their political coloration. On the contrary, Letters to the Editor is a forum for a variety of voices. Some criticize, some seek to set the record straight, some want to add a different perspective or expertise to an issue.

We welcome them all: the agreers, the dissenters, the critics, the curmudgeons, and even those who are happy with us.

• “Islamic Horizons” and its parent, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), reserve the right to include a response to any letter they deem.

• We do not accept open letters, and we do not publish letters sent in a coordinated letter-writing campaign.

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New Chairman for Ohio Public TV and Radio The board of directors of The Public Broadcasting Foundation of Northwest Ohio (WGTE Public Media) has elected Dr. S. Amjad Hussain chairman of its governing board.

A nonprofit organization that has provided broadcasting and educational resources to northwest and west-central Ohio and southeast Michigan for more than fifty-five years, WGTE Public Media operates The Educational Resource Center and The Early Learning and Outreach Center.

Dr. Hussain is an award-winning photographer, internationally recognized explorer, awardwinning author, and a surgeon-teacher-researcher. For the past sixteen years, he has used his op-ed column in the “Toledo Blade” and other American and international newspapers to bring a moderate voice of reason to otherwise contentious and polarizing geopolitical issues. He currently holds an emeritus professorship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the University of Toledo and is a member of its board of trustees.

Imam Receives Human Rights Award Imam Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad of Masjid Al-Ikhlas, Newburgh, NY (third from left) has received the Orange County (NY) 2010 human rights award for “promoting communication, cooperation, and respectful coexistence among faith-based religions” in the county.

In addition to serving as chaplain at the Fishkill, NY, medium-security correctional facility and president of the Newburgh Community Action Committee, his active engagement with others has been recognized via the Orange County Legislative Outstanding Community Service and Commitment to Human Rights Award, Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the Community, and the New York State Assembly Certificate of Merit. Imam Muhammad, 59, is a doctoral candidate at Hartford Seminary.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ISLAMIC HORIZONS 15

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Mr. &Mrs.

Perfectly Charming  Here’s my ten-step guide to a real successful marriage.

Yours truly,

Hiba Masood

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

tatistics on the state of Muslim marriages in North America, even if readily available, would not represent a complete picture. If they show that divorce is rapidly increasing, what they do not show is the countless individuals trapped in unhappy marriages. Such statistics would also prove to be pointless because our first instinct is to say “Not in my home” or “Not to my children.”

When I graduated from university, many of my friends and colleagues were recently married, about to get married, or looking to get married.

Soon enough, I began hearing of all the weddings that took place and happily attended the requisite bridal showers and gushed over the pictures of wedded bliss. It seemed as if they had all found their life partners and were setting up house and beginning their families. In the intervening six years between then and today, more than eight of the girls I

had known were divorced. No real reasons were given, but in the general scheme of things that did not matter.

The reality was — and is — that Muslim North American marriages are more vulnerable today than ever before.

For Muslims, marriage is the second most important relationship of life; the first and most essential is one’s relationship with God, for that relationship directly affects every other relationship. If they are steadfast in faith and obey the directives of God and His Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), then they will be more able to embody love, kindness, honesty, and justice in their daily dealings with others.

This narrative can be applied to marital relationships. If a couple’s marriage is thriving, each spouse will be a positive force in all other human and divine relationships. A healthy and thriving marriage makes the world a beautiful place.

When they feel loved by the other, they love their children even more. When they feel respected by the other, they respect their parents more. When they feel appreciated, they pass on their joy to the larger community. Unfortunately, the converse also holds true. In short, each spouse must strive to make the marriage survive and flourish.

Islam views marriage as being based on the following premises: (1) marriage is highly encouraged and considered an obligation that fulfills half of one’s faith; (2) the stronger one’s relationship with God, the better one’s marriage; and (3) the keys to a long-lasting and healthy relationship can be found in the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the ways of the scholars. Thus, much of what has been said will be familiar to the average Muslim. We know the requisite Qur’anic verses and hadith; however, mere familiarity is not enough for the day-to-day, mundane, rollercoaster ride that is marriage. Though our youth may be well versed in the theory and

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have earnestly attended and taken notes at marriage lectures, nothing can prepare them for the reality of an actual and long-term marriage.

Ten Steps to a Successful Marriage

LASTING LOVE The hope to be intensely in love with a prospective partner is practically universal. Historically, marriage was a rational decision based on tribal alliances, procreation, money matters, and more.

Islamically, marriage fulfills half of our faith, guards us from sin, and is the Prophet’s sunnah.

Up until our grandparents’ or even our parents’ time, a marriage between two suitable individuals in terms of age, education, class, and common values was decided by family members. It was assumed that if both individuals came from a “good family” and had a “good character” and a kind heart, then love would develop and the marriage would endure.

Today’s youth find this idea abhorrent. They are increasingly desirous of marrying and remaining married for one single reason, one that the West embraced just two centuries ago: love should be the fundamental reason for marriage and they should be free to choose their spouse based on this feeling alone. Sociologists the world over have bemoaned this development, viewing marriage as something far too vital to be left entirely to the young people involved, especially if their decision was based on something as unreasoning and transitory as love.

As the reasons behind and demands for marriage become increasingly sentimentalized and sexualized, marriage itself suffers. For example, according to the US Census Bureau nearly 10% of all women are divorced by age thirty; 20% of all marriages fail within five years; and of that 20%, fully

one-quarter end within two years. America now has the highest divorce rate in the world. Experts blame this on an instant-gratification, throwawaymentality culture that serves up such matchmaking rubbish as “The Bachelor” as well as an adolescence that may extend into one’s twenties.

Not surprisingly, we see the same patterns among our own young people. As they have increasingly made notions of love, soul mates, and emotional fulfillment primary reasons for getting and staying married, divorce rates among us are also shooting up. The exaltation of romantic love within a marriage also makes them hesitant to marry for fear of making a mistake. “Better to be single than miserably married” is a common refrain. When Muslims place such a high premium on love, so much so that they are willing to leave when the feeling is absent, it breeds a selfish individualism that is contrary to Islam’s teachings.

Islam encourages controlling the self (nafs) and places a significant value on communal well-being. The doctrine of love leads us to forget that we are servants of a higher power, that there are rules and higher values to which we must bow.

Our children can be guided to pursue the kind of stable love that results from long-term commitment. We can gently warn them against striving for the intense, hormone-driven, exciting love in the beginning of a relationship and gladly acknowledge that feeling while it is there — and then just as gladly and wisely make way for a deeper, quieter love that develops over time and through shared experience; a mixed bag of respect, appreciation for the other’s positive attributes, and a concerted effort at forgiving the negative qualities.

Questions to Consider: Is the decreased intensity of the initial feeling of love a good indication that your marriage is in trouble? Should it end because there is no feeling? Can one increase this feeling? Can loving actions help rekindle it?

How can you look for more lovable qualities in your spouse?

WE WILL HAVE CHOSEN TO SPEND OUR LIVES TOGETHER. Ask any marriageable young people today if they would rather have a “love” or an “arranged” marriage, and almost instantly the former is chosen — decisively. What exactly are these two types of marriages and what are they in the minds of our youth? It may surprise us to discover how very different the answers are.

A “love” marriage is limited to the desires and marital notions of two individuals. After somehow meeting each other, they establish a connection, eventually conclude that they are “in love,” and tell

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When Muslims place such a high premium on love, so much so that they are willing to leave when the feeling is absent, it breeds a selfish individualism that is contrary to Islam’s teachings.

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

Children are always observing their parents.

They pay attention to when and how you disagree, notice how both of you react to each other, and form impressions about the rules of married life and of being a parent.

their parents that they want to get married. The basic premise is that they have freely chosen each other without any familial involvement.

Defining an arranged marriage is harder because it is a continually evolving idea with roots in centuries-old practices. It may be easiest to first explain what it is not. In the North American context, as opposed to other areas of the Muslim world, it is not a forced marriage and does not involve beatings, kidnappings, selling girls, or marriage to maintain the family honor.

Arranging a marriage involves one’s parents letting it be known that their child wants to get married. Suitable individuals, vetted by the parents, are then presented to the prospective bride or groom. Once a consensus has been reached, both families and the principals agree to the proposed marriage.

Essentially a social act between two families, arranging this union is a most important social skill. The burden for finding a candidate acceptable to both the families and their children is never far from their parents’ minds. Considering each prospective spouse demands time and a subtle reading of character and insight into the needs of those involved — not just at one stage of their lives, but as it bears on the entire journey of their lifetime.

The terms “love marriage” and “arranged marriage” present a challenge, particularly to western Muslim parents. Living in a society saturated with notions of love and romance, it is very hard to make an “arranged marriage,” as it has been historically defined, palatable. Everyone involved needs to realize, however, that these two types of marriage are not mutually exclusive. If one is “love,” the other is not, by default, “loveless.” If one is arranged, the other one also needs to be blessed by the parents and families to fulfill the religious requirements. Furthermore, parents should discuss how an arranged marriage is flexible and adept, malleable and serviceable to time and changing circumstances. While the underlying principles and objectives are always the same, almost everything else is negotiable.

Today, marriage falls somewhere between these two types. If a love marriage is a young person’s liberal, left-leaning hope while an arranged marriage is the right-leaning, conservative approach, then perhaps we can negotiate a centrist, albeit slightly right of center, approach. Since we live in a culture saturated with notions of individual freedom, having your family find your spouse may seem archaic and “uncool” to our children.

Many of our children, firmly entrenched in the MSA culture of their schools and universities, have a slightly naïve impression of the criteria essential for a successful marriage. Certainly, a Godconscious individual is held in the highest regard, and no doubt this is the most important ingredi-

20 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

ent. But to presume that differences in race, age, class, social status, education, career prospects, beauty, and language do not play a role in life even for the most devout is ignorant. Throwing caution to the wind, following your heart, and finding your own spouse irrespective of your family’s opinions — these are all actions that are easier said than lived. Maybe the message we can communicate to our youth is that there is little to gain and much to lose in fighting the custom of a family-approved marriage.

Questions to Consider: What do you think is meant by the two types of marriage? How can we create an amalgamation of the two, keeping both of our goals in mind for your marriage?

WE WILL BE COMFORTABLE IN TALKING CANDIDLY ABOUT ANY PROBLEMS THAT MAY ARISE AND DECIDE ON A COMMON VISION BEFOREHAND. Young Muslims sustain their relationships by sharing their feelings and thoughts. Some may even suggest that Facebook, Twitter, and instant messaging have made them a generation of oversharers. As very little is considered personal anymore, it follows that this vision of sharing problems and discussing solutions will form their approach toward marriage. In theory this is excellent. A husband and wife team in which problemsolving is approached in calm, professional manner, where opposing viewpoints are heard and common ground is sought, sounds ideal. However, theory often differs from reality.

First, women almost always want their husbands to be of the talking/sharing variety. The media has driven this image of a sensitive/strong man, equally comfortable with chopping wood and a heartfelt conversation, to an unrealistic level. While a good and noble man should be comfortable with such things, a fixation on these requirements can cause problems for a couple if the man does not measure up. We can keep this in mind and cultivate this character while raising our children. The key here lies in guiding young men and women to understand that expectations can frustrate and acceptance can be the key to contentment.

Second, believing that future contentious issues — “Where will we live?”, “Will the in-laws be living with us?”, “Can I (the wife) work outside the home?”, “How will money matters be decided?”, “When will we start a family?” — can be worked out by having a few solid conversations is not realistic. Perspective spouses must realize that people and their ideas change, that some might just

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say what they know the other wants to hear without worrying about the consequences. For example, “If my parents become ill or one of them dies, will I still be willing to live by my initial promise that we would have our own place? I don’t think so,” says “Faisal,” 31, from Detroit.

Too much discussion of these key issues smacks of a prenuptial business agreement.

Furthermore, verbalizing possibly contentious answers not only forces a rigid statement of a theoretically unknown future, but also makes the relationship ripe for argument. “Shaheen,” 25, from Toronto, agrees: “I made a really big deal about my right to work and we had a few arguments as well. I regret that now because later I myself chose to stay at home to focus on some other projects. Those tense moments at the start could have been avoided. I think too much discussion can sometimes provoke people into saying things they don’t even really mean.”

This is not to say that communication is a bad idea; rather, it is a reminder that opinions and situations are transient and that any resulting agreements need to be flexible.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WILL BE THE TOP PRIORITY. It used to be that marriage was a coming together of families, tribes, clans, and communities. Thus the betterment of that tribal or communal alliance was identified as the primary force. Men and women were committed to the family’s overall well-being, and that was given priority. Each person had clearly defined roles and expectations. But today, there is more emphasis on personal fulfillment, satisfaction, stimulation, and gratification. Today’s youth expect to be the center of each other’s universe. This single-minded obsession with being “the most important” can cause problems, such as breeding self-absorbed people, which conflicts with Islam’s emphasis on community well-being, or ignoring the multi-dimensional nature of each person’s existence.

A good husband or wife has to balance four distinct identities: (1) The Worshipper or Slave.

The life of this world and its attached loves, hates, relationships, trials, and tribulations are temporary. Our eternal abode is in the Hereafter, and so our lives need to be geared toward attaining the Garden; (2) The Self. Those who do not have a healthy relationship with their selves are in danger of becoming over-reliant and needy partners.

Such people can never be strong spouses. Low self-esteem or a weak sense of self are just as bad as an over-inflated ego; (3) The Spouse and Parent. Good partners realize their duties to these

two roles and encourage the other spouse to fulfill them; and (4) The Child and Sibling, often the most contentious identity in a marital relationship. A good life partner does not forget his/her original family and thus cares for his/her parents and siblings according to Islam’s teachings. This can be contentious because one spouse often forgets that the other is also somebody’s child. Men are frequently stigmatized if they do not behave aggressively enough or are somehow “too attached” to their mothers. This latter stigma is based on North American society’s belief that one’s “misplaced” loyalties to one’s parents signifies character maladjustment. Our young women must be encouraged to shun this twisted mindset and especially to recall the hadith that while a wife’s first obligation is to her husband, the latter’s obligation is also to his parents.

MASTER OF OUR LIVES._ Many parents feel that they are kept at arm’s length. The supposed reason for this is that limiting contact is the best and easiest way to avoid any conflicts with or among the in-laws.

But this alienating attitude also has its downsides, such as the loss of possible learning from the grandparents’ experiences. This is the result of generational differences. For example, young people have an inherent distrust for the elder generation.

Young Muslims are growing up with instant messaging, Facebook, and Twitter and thriving on sharing pictures, ideas, rela-

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Verbalizing possibly contentious answers not only forces a rigid statement of a theoretically unknown future, but also makes the relationship ripe for argument

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

Interestingly, the more an individual searches for hope and happiness inside a relationship, the more one is likely to become critical and aware of what it lacks rather than what it possesses.

tionship statuses, and answering the arguably intrusive question “What’s on your mind?” several times a day. The lines between personal and public have been blurred like never before. Given this cultural mentality of over-sharing, the contrasting closed doors between youth and elders present multiple challenges to agreeing on a suitable marriage partner. Muslim youth frequently connect more with their favorite sheikhs or scholars because they speak their language. The parents come across as old-fashioned and unaware of what growing up in the West is like, often condemned as never-learning FOBs (fresh off the boat). In that sense, parents must find a way to understand the feelings and emotions driving many of their children’s desires and decisions.

Mutual understanding leads to openness to advice; being too quick to judge leads to closing the doors of communication.

Children are always observing their parents.

In fact, most of them are aware of many of their parents’ “private” exchanges — a small gesture of comfort or a hostile glance. While they may not be talking to you about what they are learning, they are drawing conclusions about “what happens” to people who are married — conclusions that they will draw upon when preparing for their own marriage. Even very young children turn to their parents to make sense of the world.

Highly sensitive and reactive to the immediate emotional climate, they are very attuned to any surrounding conflict and tension.

They pay attention to when and how you disagree, notice how both of you re-

act to each other, and form impressions about the rules of married life and of being a parent.

WE WILL BE BEST FRIENDS AND SOUL MATES, SHARING ALL OUR FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS. According to Stephanie Coontz, author of “Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage” (Viking: 2005), a 2001 poll conducted in America showed that a man who talks about his feelings is more important to women than someone who makes a good living. This is an eye-opener in terms of what today’s youth are looking for in a marriage. People, but especially women, expect marriage to satisfy more of their psychological and social needs than ever before. Research has shown, however, that divorce rates increase when love becomes the center of people’s emotional lives. We are seeing the truth of this, for more Muslims are getting divorced because of one or both of the spouses is emotionally unfulfilled, not because of cruelty or failure to provide.

Most of us carry a deeply held image of the perfect partner to which we end up — unfairly — comparing the real people we meet throughout our lives. This can leave us blind to the opportunity right in front of our eyes. “Khaled” from Ottawa suggests he nearly made the same mistake: “If I had gone with my gut reaction that she wasn’t ‘the one’ only because she didn’t fit the precise image I had been carrying around of my ideal wife, I would have missed out on the ‘soul mate’ that my wife has become after twelve years of hard work on ourselves and with each other.”

Each of us has our own image of our “dream” partner, most likely formed from a blend of conscious needs and unconscious desires. Some aspects draw us to another person in full awareness: “I find her very physically attractive ... He is clearly intelligent ... I like the way he takes care of me.” All of these are wonderful qualities in any potential spouse, but any disliked qualities need to come secondary to what is pleasing.

Women fall prey to emotional dissatisfaction more quickly than men do. W. Bradford Wilcox (director, National Marriage Project, University of Virginia) says: “While men tend to be more content with the status quo, women now place more of a premium on being fulfilled in their marriages — having their dreams for intimacy, for sexual satisfaction, for challenge, all wrapped up into their marriage. That’s a hard order to fill, and these people are likely to end up on the rocks because they learn pretty quickly that

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Learning from Their Parents’ Marriage

BY HIBA MASOOD atching how parents interact with each other can be an excellent way for young people to learn how to respect and love others. Children learn best by observing what their parents do, not what they are told what to do. If they see their parents treating each other with respect and kindness, they will be more likely to do so in their own relationships with others.

Ahmed, 28, agrees wholeheartedly: “I think my wife will confirm this to you. One of her favorite things about me is that I thank her for everything. When she cooks for me or irons my shirt or spends the night taking care of our colicky baby, I thank her. For this habit I owe my father. He always made it a point to appreciate my mother in front of us, and I really respected him for it. It was such an ingrained habit with him that even when they were clearly upset at each other, he would still say ‘thanks’ for some little gesture like clearing the table, and she would always acknowledge that thanks.”

W

Some Conflict Is Normal. Very new couples consider conflict to be a devastating emergency.

While it may be true that some conflicts are seriously abhorrent, most tend to be part of any longterm relationship. This is an important area that parents can model for their children. Tomorrow’s parents need to see how their parents deal with minor disagreements. This is not to say that issues should be discussed in front of the children; however, children need to realize that people don’t always see eye to eye and that, despite this fact, they can work things out and still remain close.

Sometimes people say and do things to their loved ones that they later regret. Instead of sweeping it under the carpet and pretending it didn’t happen or, even worse, holding a long-time grudge, parents can show their children how to say a heartfelt “I’m sorry” to each other. Taking ownership of mistakes and forgiving others

makes it easier for their children to implement such practices in their own lives. Teaching children how to resolve conflict in a healthy manner will be a life lesson for them.

Kareem from Virginia suggests that his parents might have missed out on this opportunity: “My parents argued their fair share. And even though they never got very hostile in front of us, we were aware of the tension in the atmosphere over a discussion or a decision. However, I never saw them resolve things in front of me. I have no idea how they solved their problems. Who apologized?

Who forgave? No clue. Just two or three days later, everything seemed back to normal. No idea how they got there, though.”

Good Relationships Take Time. “When I think about my parents’ marriage, I always wonder how they balanced their roles and duties. I find it amazing that my father was undoubtedly the head of the household, and yet it wasn’t beneath him to be scrubbing the floors on the weekend. And my mother, she was the ideal wife — obedient, respectful — and yet when she wanted to be, she was in charge. I find it wonderful that they lived like equals in some ways and still maintained that slightly uneven relationship that encourages the man to be one level above the woman. It made them respect each other a lot, I think,” says Fatima from Houston.

Many of us, if we are blessed to come from homes in which our parents are happily married, begin our own marriages with a vision of what a good relationship looks like. Without realizing it, we begin holding our spouses to the barometer of our parents’ marriage, forgetting that they are often twenty to thirty years ahead of us in the game.

Sania, 22, has been married for three years and remarks: “I used to fight with my husband, telling him that my father would never do that, and he would respond that his mother would always do this or that for his father. We were competing with our parents’ marriages and, it seemed, failing horribly! It is only when my parents heard about this and sat me down for a talk that I realized how silly I had been in comparing a fledgling relationship to a fully developed one.

They told me how in the very beginning they had had troubles too, but that slowly, over time, they had figured each other out and that what I see today is the result of twenty-five years of hard work. I guess I have a lot to look forward to.”

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

no one person is capable of delivering all their deepest hopes for meaning and purpose and happiness” (“Women’s Health,” Mar. 2010). Interestingly, the more an individual searches for hope and happiness inside a relationship, the more one is likely to become critical and aware of what it lacks rather than what it possesses.

Parents must tell their children that one person cannot — and should never be expected to — fulfill their every emotional need. Not only is this too much of a burden for one individual to carry, but it also reduces the first person emotionally. We are multidimensional communal beings who need multiple close relationships. Of course the privacy of the marital sphere should be respected and one should always avoid bashing his/her spouse to others; however, sharing in the other little joys or trials of life can be divided among many people.

EQUALS PARTNERS.

Sociologists the world over view marriage as something far too vital to be left entirely to the young people involved, especially if their decision was based on something as unreasoning and transitory as love.

Young couples have to deal with notions of equality. As North American society places a high premium on gender equality in the workplace and the private sphere, both the society and its media outlets consider every aspect of life to be equally the responsibility of men and women. Islam, however, emphasizes equity and not equality and thus does not give identical rights and responsibilities to men and women. This is not because one gender is somehow inferior or superior to the other, but rather because each gender is uniquely suited to different roles. The resulting very different approaches to gender has led to confusion and conflict among Muslim spouses.

Studies have shown that in a society with a high degree of gender equality, birth rates fall and continue to fall until the culture collapses. One could argue that the West is moving toward this as we speak, as our young women are increasingly entering the workforce. While this has many beneficial aspects, such as higher aspirations, increased confidence, a boost to self-esteem and self-respect, it is also creating a troubling reality. Nowadays, it is quite common for married women to work in the labor market and contribute to the household income. Thus one would assume that the traditional division of labor should be less prevalent and, consequently, less relevant for marital stability. It turns out that some traditions die hard and not just in Muslim cultures, where it has actually been recommended that women stay at home unless absolutely necessary. Oftentimes, the woman ends up earning more than the husband. A study of German society has some enlightening results regarding this. Kornelius Kraft and Stefanie Neimann, who analyzed 1,128 German relationships from 1984 to 2007 (representing 8,758 total

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couple-years), interpret their results starkly: Frustration of one or both spouses that the wife is the main earner and not the husband, as traditionally expected, is the explanation for the findings (“Effect of Labor Division between Wife and Husband on the Risk of Divorce: Evidence from German Data,” IZA Discussion Papers, no. 4515, Institute for the Study of Labor [Bonn: 2009]).

With the advent of women’s “liberation” and the growing economic advantage of both spouses working, there was a gradual, if largely unspoken, evolution in the terms of the marriage contract toward gender equality. As women became less submissive, the marital ideal shifted somewhat in the direction of sharing household responsibilities, including more paternal involvement with children. It also led to a shift in decision making and who had the final say.

Women, used to recognition and respect in the workplace, began finding it difficult to acknowledge that in the household it is the man who dictates and has the final say. That this shift in assumptions about marriage paralleled an increase in the divorce rate can be seen as the inevitable “good news, bad news” quality of most changes in life, whether individual or societal.

Couples are less likely to get divorced if husbands help more with housework and childcare, says a London School of Economics study (13 May 2010) of 3,500 British couples after the birth of their first child. Economists have argued that rising divorce rates since the early 1960s are linked with steady increases in the numbers of married women working. It was claimed that marriages where men take responsibility for paid work and women stay at home leave both better off (“The Guardian,” 13 May 2010).

SUPPORTIVE IN HOPES AND DREAMS A new couple can and does frequently pledge this to the other member. Yesterday’s pattern of the husband going out and earning money while the wife stays home is not a reality for many of our youth. Thus it seems quite logical that each spouse should be free to pursue his/her own goals and ambitions. It needs to be realized, however, that the birth of a child frequently reinforces old roles. Everyone falls back into experienced stereotypes and, at least in the beginning, the wife is expected to stay at home and care for the child.

This situation can breed frustration and resentment, which can cause havoc in a fledgling relationship. By being at least mentally prepared for this eventuality, our youth can begin to understand that hopes and dreams are dynamic and can — and must be — revised as life progresses.

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PRIVATE AND PEACEFUL HAVEN Conflict between spouses is normal and to be expected. Too often, young couples mistake the normal strife involved in getting to know and live with each other for something more serious. Ego raises its head and compromise is forgotten. We live at a cultural time when winning the final rose has replaced celebrating the golden anniversary. “Many people have bought into the eHarmony message that marriage will be all connubial bliss — no hard work necessary — if only they find the perfect person,” says Diane Sollee (founder and director, Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education).

She adds: “Couples who understand that disagreements are normal are the ones who are going to make it. The ones who think it’s going to be a lifelong honeymoon are hit hard by the realities of being married. That’s why the divorce rate is highest during the first two years of marriage” (“Women’s Health,” Mar. 2010). She quotes marriage therapist Michele Weiner-Davis, author of “Divorce Busting: A Step-by-Step Approach to Making Your Marriage Loving Again” (Simon & Schuster: 1993): “Too often, today’s young newlyweds crash and burn because ‘this generation is clueless about what to expect from marriage.

When they hit up against highly predictable bumps in the road, they say to themselves, I obviously made a bad choice. There’s something wrong with my partner and my marriage, and I need to get out.’ It is one of the primary reasons for the early death of a marriage.”

A Muslim’s home can indeed be a sphere of privacy, where peace reigns; however, unrealistic expectations can cause misery. How many mothers have received sobbing phone calls from their daughters about frequent arguments with their husbands? The key here is to teach, after proving that there is no serious issue, that conflict is normal. It takes time to smooth out the character clashes that result from two fully formed individual personalities living together.

happiness and peacefulness so profound that a Disney cartoon would pale in comparison. The key is to remember that in the language of Muslims there is no “ever after” on this Earth. Our marriage is important, but far more important is our relationship with God. If we remember that we are first and foremost His servants, we gain some perspective and become more capable of handling the troubles that occur in our daily lives. A wise person remembers that the trick is in striking the right balance between his/her goal of happiness in a marriage and committing not to leave if expectations of love and happiness are not fulfilled.

A popular T-shirt refrain states that “Happiness is a state of mind.” This is even truer in the context of marriage. We can choose happiness and contentment, to see only the positive in our spouse and pray that he/she forgives our negatives, and to make loving actions and words part of our repertoire and not chase after that elusive feeling of love. Barring any serious problems involving abuse, infidelity, alcoholism, and the like, we can choose to see the daily ups and downs of a marriage as part and parcel of two good and noble people making a home, raising a family, and living a life together till death do they part.

______________________________________ Hiba Masood is a Mississauga, ON, Canada-based freelance writer and blogger who focuses on life, marriage, and parenting as a Muslim in the West. Her articles can be found at halfyourfaith.com.

LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Will Prince Charming and Princess Beautiful ride off in to the sunset? In a novel or movie, yes. In real life, there is no such thing. That is not to say that there is no happiness. On the contrary, a longterm marriage that begins with finding the right spouse in an approach rooted in our Islamic tradition and in which two people make the time and effort to care for each other can result in a

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The key lies in guiding young men and women to understand that expectations can frustrate and acceptance can be the key to contentment.

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WHY DOCTORS MARRY DOCTORS Are parents truly helping their children find the perfect spouse by placing “doctor only” advertisements?

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

BY MAJID MOHIUDDIN

S

ome people claim that “Islamic Horizons” is the only Englishlanguage periodical read from right to left. The reason — matrimonial ads that run like this: “Sunni Muslim parents of slim, fair, US-born daughter, (age), (height), who is a medical student, are seeking US-born/practicing Muslim physician or medical student.” Why do so many Muslim doctors seek other doctors for marriage? Are they trying to form a clinic?

I wonder about this while I rock our two-year-old son to sleep on a Saturday night. I have given him dinner, a bath, and a bottle of milk. As he nestles into the crook of my elbow, he will soon be snoring on his pacifier. I am tired. For the past three days his mother has seen him only while he is sleeping angelically in the crib at the day’s end. A few hours earlier her pager went off ... again. Right now she is at the hospital peering into the eyes of a motorcyclist injured in a drunken brawl. After our son falls asleep, I will watch television and periodically call or text my wife to make sure she is okay. I can’t sleep until she’s safely home. She will come home around 4:00 a.m. and then head back the next day for an eighthour stint. She is a resident physician, and this is a typical weekend for us.

I am also a physician. Some days we look at each other and wonder how this is working out — did we know what we were getting into? The first year we were married, we lived apart. She finished medical school in Chicago and I finished my residency in Boston. Last year I left a productive academic practice on the East Coast when my wife found a position in Texas. Currently, having no immediate family support in Texas, we are trying to find a balance. While working many hours at the hospital, she worries that our son will forget “his mother” and that she will miss his first “anything.”

I’m no longer in academics.

The “Islamic Horizons” ads make me wonder if we fell into the same naïve trap.

Most ads come from immigrant parents looking for suitable spouses for their children. Along with their good intentions comes their imported cultural baggage: mainly the perception that medicine is a stable, lucrative field with a more prestigious social status. This viewpoint seems particularly true of South Asians. Some Muslim parents are more broadminded, expanding their views to the “Holy Trinity” — a physician, engineer, or corporate lawyer.

Cultural Data Is this a good way to choose a spouse? Are we defined by our professions? A global survey conducted by Synovate (www.synovate.com) in 2008 of 5,500 people living in Brazil, Canada, France, Malaysia, South Africa, and America seems to confirm this current perception (or misconception, depending on your view). When asked from which “single profession a person would choose a life partner” (see “Which Profession for a Life Partner?” chart), most chose medicine (16%). When asked “who they trust,” people chose medicine (86%) and education (87%);

homemakers (84%) was also popular.

Another interesting question showed that different cultures defined themselves by their work differently. On the extremes were Malaysia and America.

The data (see “Perceptions from Abroad” chart) indicates that Malaysians place far more emphasis on how jobs affect their perception of their spouses (highest among the five countries surveyed – Malaysia, and then, in decreasing order, South Africa, France, Canada, and America). Where do South Asians fit into this spectrum? Likely somewhere close to the Malaysians, but certainly higher than the Americans. Assuming that South Asians think like Malaysians, they define their son/daughter-in-law by their profession. Their children (who are Americans), however, might share the American viewpoint that their spouse’s (and their own) job does not define the person nearly as much. Basically, we don’t define ourselves or our spouse by our jobs as much as our parents do. My aunt might describe my friend as “Asma, that doctor from Michigan.” Meanwhile I might think “Asma, Kashif’s younger sister who ran the marathon last year.”

So while parents certainly want the best for their children, are they truly

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE helping them find the perfect spouse by placing “doctor only” advertisements in “Islamic Horizons”?

Which Profession for a Life Partner?

Generational Disconnect Many successful immigrant doctor-doctor couples have thrived in this country. Based on their experience, they feel confident that their doctor kids can also succeed.

Unfortunately, they fail to acknowledge that while both generations are indeed doctors, their traditional understanding and acceptance of their spousal roles may have changed dramatically.

Our parents had more traditional expectations of their spouses.

What made them happy was raising a family in which each parent fulfilled his/her expected role as husband and wife, father and mother. While we also strive for a balanced family life, we place a premium on companionship and compatibility. I would rather go jogging with my wife than watch her cook a warm meal for me after a long day of work. Undoubtedly, every parent wants what is best for his/her child, but if immigrant parents think they know what is best for their child, they may be seriously mistaken.

Studies suggest that the ten to fifteen years training regimen it takes to get from college to actual practice creates a psychology of postponement. As the physician strives to make it to the next level, the supporting spouse is drawn into the imbalance as well — both thinking that all difficulties will magically vanish when training is done. This may be a misconception, as a certain pattern has been set. Divorce rates for physicians are 10-20% higher than the general population, and couples with a physician spouse that do not divorce report more unhappy marriages, write Drs. Wayne and Mary Sotile, codirectors of Sotile Psychological Associates and coauthors of “The Medical Marriage: A Couple’s Survival Guide” (New York: Carol Pub. Co., 1996). A Johns Hopkins study found that the cumulative incidence of divorce for physicians was 29% after thirty years of marriage (B. L. Rollman et al., “Medical specialty and the incidence of divorce,” New England Journal of Medicine 336, no. 11 [13 Mar. 1997]: 800-03).

Perceptions from Abroad

Relative Work Hours

One reason why physicians may have more psychosocial problems than other high-stressed professionals is that being healers themselves, they are less likely to admit and seek help with personal problems. To do so sounds like an admission of professional failure (M. N. Miller et al., “The painful truth: physicians are not invincible,” Southern Medical Journal 93, no. 10 [2000]). Over time, sleep deprivation, working long hours without complaint, and coping with intense patient emotions on a daily basis may cause doc-

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tors to become emotionally distant. The harm of ignoring these stresses can be seen in the many studies of physicians that reveal higher rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide, and marital problems. The rate of depression among interns has been reported to be as high as 30%, with 25% having thoughts of suicide (R. J. Valko and P. J. Clayton, “Depression in the internship,” Diseases of the Nervous System 36 [1975]: 26-29). Physicians are more likely to commit suicide than other professionals. Women may be particularly vulnerable; 51% of all female physicians will report a lifetime incidence of depression (A.Welner, S. Marten, E. Wochnick et. al., “Psychiatric disorders among professional women,” Archives of General Psychiatry 36 [1979]: 169-73).

What to expect from the young, would-be suitors in some of these “Islamic Horizons” ads? The Sotiles, in their article that appeared in the “Journal of the American Medical Association,” 227 (April 1997): 1322 (based on their above-mentioned book), reported that half of all medical students marry during medical school and residency, but that 60% of them divorce within ten years of their residencies. Marital discord is often the result of work-related stress and the inability to wind down after work or the lack of energy to engage in social or leisure activities. The training years, in particular, are not a time for marital growth; rather, this period requires a martial mentality for personal survival in the hope that the marriage will somehow survive along the way. “Their reactions to spouses are not due to their having married the wrong person, but are normal reactions to stress,” they write.

Married doctors need to seriously readjust their expectations about balancing their career, family life, and leisure — even after their training finishes.

Doctor-Doctor Data One imagines that such difficulties only compound when doctors marry other doctors. So why are so many doing so?

Dual-doctor marriages used to be rare in America, for male doctors had home-

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maker wives who supported them and bore the brunt of child rearing and homerelated issues. Other male physicians tended to marry the women they interacted with most in professional or social settings, like nurses. Today, however, half of all medical students in America are women. In 1999, 22% of all male physicians and 44% of all female physicians were married to other physicians. Trends predict that soon half of all physicians will be married to each other.

Women. Interestingly, twice as many female than male doctors are married to other doctors — it seems like they are a driving force toward the MD-MD marriage! A closer look at these marriages shows that female physicians garner many benefits from such a marriage.

Aside from sharing in an overall joint income, they work fewer hours, have more children, and are generally more involved in childcare (N. W. Sobecks et. al., “When doctors marry doctors: a survey exploring the professional and family lives of young physicians,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 130 [1999]: 12-19). Female physicians, however, have additional stresses and a higher risk of divorce. With most female students graduating by 25-26 years of age and residency entailing another three to seven years during their child-bearing years, the reality of medical training is that delays or gaps can become major setbacks for reaching professional benchmarks. Some choose to finish their training without “distractions”; others do not have a real opportunity to find a spouse.

Parents assure their daughters that despite their advancing age, the more educated and qualified they become, the more eligible and bigger “pay-off” they will find in a comparable spouse.

Men. The benefits of marrying a physician are very different for male doctors.

The New England Journal of Medicine study mentioned above also showed that when male physicians choose to marry female physicians, they generally work the same hours and have fewer children, and yet are still required to be more involved in childcare. Unfortunately, many men are intimidated by female physicians who may potentially earn more than they do (an unfair “disadvantage”). Conversely, the women and their parents wish to find an educated breadwinner equal to or greater than themselves, thereby disqualifying many potentially good candidates.

This scenario may lead them to conclude that only another physician will suffice, further winnowing the field of perfectly good, potential spouses.

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE The conclusions of this (see “Relative Work Hours” chart) and other studies can be broadly summarized as follows: ^ Male doctors may feel that they are “better off” with non-doctor wives (more kids, more personal single income, less sharing of childcare); ^ Female doctors may feel better off with doctor husbands (more kids, more total income, fewer hours worked, more shared childcare); ^ Both are at an increased risk of divorce or unhappy marriages; and when it does work, both enjoy shared work interests, a perception of greater success in achieving the spouses’ career goals, an equal sense of personal career success (despite the female physicians’ admitting more work limitations), and a higher total income.

However, is this data meaningful to the Muslim community — specifically the “Islamic Horizons” audience?

I would be surprised if the ads in “Islamic Horizons,” which simply mirror the greater Muslim community’s preconceptions, come from a detailed analysis of the situation as opposed to a romanticized vision of dual prestige and making lots of money. I know that I didn’t initially. The reality is that medical students or residents wanting to get married need to make major mental adjustments away from their parents’ preconceptions and the preconceptions of professional training programs, and toward their own sense of self, or their marriages may be headed for the rocks. It is easy to quote studies that generalize trends, however, for the truth of the matter is that we all know unthinkable relationships that work wonderfully and perfect match-ups that don’t last. The only thing that can be stated with some certainty is that the best key to success is honesty — being brutally honest with yourself and your loved ones.

Parents who think they are acting in their children’s best interests need to be completely honest with themselves and their child. They should ask themselves such questions as: “Does my daughter want to advertise for doctors-only, or is it I who demands a doctor son-in-law?”; “Do I think my physician daughter is ‘too qualified’ for a lawyer, engineer, teacher, or journalist?”; “What if my physician daughter is happy with a non-doctor? Is that happiness enough for me?”; “Do I want my child to marry another physician because I think it will make him/her happy?”; “Am I okay with having a daughter-in-law physician less involved in raising my grandchildren because she

works too much?”; and “Am I okay with helping my children raise their children because they are at work all the time?”

Young Muslims seeking marriage need to ask themselves several questions: “What do I want out of my life?”; “How important is my career to me?”; “How much money do I need?”; “How much help do I expect from my spouse?”; and “How many children would I like to have?”

Like all things statistical or based on large groups, there is a grave danger of making particular assumptions about a person based on the generalized results of surveys or studies. An understanding spouse is an understanding spouse, regardless of profession. Many dual-doctor families do not work; others succeed because both spouses have a healthy understanding of give and take. The issue at

The reality is that medical students or residents wanting to get married need to make major mental adjustments away from their parents’ preconceptions and that of professional training programs, and toward their own sense of self, or their marriages may be headed for the rocks.

In addition, they need to engage in serious discussions with their significant others. Consider the following: “Is it fair to ask your spouse to curb his/her career aspirations after logging in a decade of tireless work?”; “Is it fair to tell your husband that you do not want to start a family until you have finished your residency or been made partner?”; and “Is it fair to tell your wife that you don’t want her to apply to a specific medical specialty because it keeps her away from the family or even postpones having children?”

Finally, young Muslim couples interested in marriage need to think about their children’s needs as well: “How many children do we want to have?”; “How many children could we have?”; “How often do we want to see our kids?”; “Are we comfortable with our children spending half of their day with a nanny or at daycare?”; “How important is it to us to raise our kids with a consistent Islamic upbringing?”; and “Is it harder to nurture an Islamic upbringing if we are both working long hours?”

Muslims need to engage in a real conversation with their spouses about reallife issues — work schedules, job relocations, finances, childcare, spousal roles, and so on. One thing is for sure: one can’t just assume everything will work itself out magically once he/she gets married.

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hand, really, is that the marriage of two demanding professionals may result in particular and undue stresses upon the marriage — to the detriment of both spouses and their children. Being married to another physician can either ease that stress through shared understanding, or exacerbate it through career demands. While the homemaker spouse provides some flexibility for the professional, both are still vulnerable to the same emotional pitfalls and burnout that can ruin a marriage.

My baby is asleep. As I said before, it’s been a good weekend so far. My wife expresses her “mother guilt” and “wife guilt” when she comes home, and I try to reassure her. She wonders if I can take a day off next week to take our son to the playgroup, but I can’t. I rant about my hospital CEO’s short-sightedness, and she sighs. Our joint clinic involves a lot of diaper changing, and neither of us is a pediatrician.

_______________________________ Majid Mohiuddin, MD, is an oncologist and author of “An Audience of One: Islamic Ghazals in English” (Olive Media Services: 2004). He is happily married to a physician-resident in ophthalmology, largely because both of them constructively help each other (having become aware of these issues).

Meraj Mohiuddin, MD, an anesthesiologist and Ironman triathlete in Scottsdale, AZ, contributed to this article and generated the graphics.

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

Do pot-boiler love stories really lead to successful and lasting marriages? (As told to Hiba Masood)

g

A TALE OF TWO MARRIAGES: ALIYAH FURQAN’S STORY

Growing up in North America today, there is no escaping

romantic love. It breathes from every billboard, magazine, song, shop window, and movie. Like other girls, I grew up fantasizing about the prince who would one day sweep me off my feet. Like other Muslims, my dream of living happily ever after had a distinctly Islamic flavor. Through volunteer work at conferences and executive positions in my MSA, I would be immersed in serving the ummah. Through that noble cause, I would meet my soul mate. We would slowly and appropriately develop an understanding, and he would ask for my hand in marriage. Our families would be jubilant at the match, and our friends would tell us what a “cute couple” we were.

Of course, you can imagine the thrill I experienced when the MSA president of my college and I, vice president of the same, began developing that sought-after understanding. Ours was just another MSA romance and followed the same patterns; but for me it was novel, unique, not experienced by anyone else.

Surely no one else had the intense discussions we had. Surely no one else’s heart fluttered and stomach sank like this. When, one afternoon in the most normal of settings — outside the door of my chemistry lecture hall — he proposed marriage, I thought my prince had come. Surely no one had a love like this.

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A GUIDE TO REAL SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE I took the proposal to my parents. But contrary to my earlier dreams, they did not greet this news with jubilation. They had reservations: “Irresponsible, unserious, immature,” they said. When they relented, we had ourselves a wedding. The fairy tale had come true. We had a glorious first year, full of the kind of love and laughter that every girl’s vision of married life is made of. He was everything I thought I wanted. He brought me flowers and chocolate, wrote me love notes, and took me shopping. We talked at all times of the day and spent every minute together. We were madly in love, as only new lovers can be.

I think it was during the second month of the second year that the colors of my world blurred for the first time. My husband suggested that I refrain from visiting my parents too often because of the impact it would have on my deen. He said that my mother watches Indian movies during the weekend — “Why should you subject you ears and eyes to that? And your father, you know he will just ask me about my job prospects. Let’s not go, sweetheart.” Of course I agreed, for I would do anything for my prince.

But then this began to happen again and again. My family became a source of contention. I started feeling like something was always stuck in my throat. We began arguing — not very terribly, because that was not our style. Mild bickering was all it was, and we would always make up afterward. I was convinced that all of this was normal. It just meant that our bond was getting stronger, right? But the shine was wearing off, and both of us knew it. I was still unconcerned, though, for didn’t we still love each other crazily?

So what if, when I threw up after food poisoning, he almost imperceptibly shifted his foot to avoid getting any spittle on him and didn’t help me clean it up? It didn’t mean anything.

Then one morning as we were eating breakfast — maybe both of us had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed — a chance remark led to a little back and forth and my husband remarked that perhaps “if we’re going to argue so often, we should just get divorced.” I think that was the exact instant my world shattered. I remember that precise moment. We were in the kitchen. There was a fire truck going by outside. I remember watching him mouth those words and not hearing him.

All I could hear was a dull roar in my head, and all I could think of, again and again and again, was “I do not know this man.”

That was the first time he suggested

divorce — casually, almost flippantly — but it was not the last time. When he said it for the last time, I left. Our divorce was finalized three months later, and I never heard from him again.

Two years later I married my cousin from back home. Our parents arranged the match. I remembered him vaguely

This is not an advocacy for cousin or arranged marriages. Instead, it is about acknowledging the urgent need to adjust our notions of what “love” really is.

from my childhood. He was good at school, had a nice laugh, and I thought he liked books. I didn’t know much else about him. We talked a little bit between our engagement and wedding, but I was too wary, weary, and disillusioned to put forth any real effort to get to know him. It was decided that he would move to America and that we would settle here.

When I first saw him, my heart did not race. There was a calm acceptance on my part, and an almost shy hesitancy on his.

After our wedding, we spent the next weeks and months beginning the quiet journey of the slow and almost unbelievable process of getting to know the person with whom we were already sleeping. It was painful at times, but his calm strength and my determination to get it right kept us going. His English was accented and his taste in clothes was more Danny Tanner than Brad Pitt. Culturally we were worlds apart. He didn’t understand my jokes or aphorisms or social references, and I didn’t care for any of his interests or speak his language very well.

But slowly, over time and beyond any expectations, the magic somehow began.

Today I am a happily married woman.

My husband still speaks with an accent,

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doesn’t buy me flowers or chocolate, and has never thought to write me a love note.

We don’t spend all our time together or talk incessantly, and he doesn’t make my stomach flutter. But he makes me breakfast on the weekends, takes care of the bills, plays ball with our children, and is kind to my parents and serious about his responsibilities. And yes, he also holds my hair and wipes my mouth when I am throwing up. Our life is not the stuff of which romance stories and Hollywood chick flicks are made; rather, it is a series of small, insignificant, mundane events that weave together the fabric of our lives, making our bond stronger than I could ever have imagined.

This is not an advocacy for cousin or arranged marriages. Instead, it is about acknowledging the urgent need to adjust our notions of what “love” really is. I have come to understand that what ultimately served as the deal breaker with my first husband was the gnawing realization that he would end it whenever he wanted. We fell in love hard, and whenever the love ended for him the marriage would end, for there was nothing else holding it together. The resulting atmosphere of uncertainty eventually ended it.

When I married my second husband, we grew into love. I knew, without knowing anything else about him, that he would stay with me forever, in good times and bad. He would never be looking to trade up or consider divorce an option simply because we were arguing in our second year. For him, love really was forever, come what may.

I need that. I need that fundamental conviction that my partner has my back, is on my side, can be trusted out of sight, and will never leave me. Ever. I need that knowledge more than I need some twisted notion of Disney princess love. We may not have the stomach sinking, heart fluttering, romantic falling in love that I had imagined as the ideal when I was a young girl, but we do have a love into which we have grown — and keep on growing into. It is a love premised on a deep and unshakeable, unbreakable foundation of mutual respect, kindness, goodness, and commitment. I know which one I want, for myself and for my daughters.

And so this is my story, and this is what I learned: My love marriage, the stuff of girlish dreams, proved to be a terrible arrangement. My arranged marriage, on the other hand, gave me a love so significant and so satisfying that little girls don’t even know how to dream of it. ^

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ISLAM IN AMERICA

FAITHFUL in Seattle A diverse community of Muslims is making this evergreen city a major hub of Islamic activities in the Pacific Northwest. BY S. M. OWAIS JAFREY

Ten years ago, Phuong Le of the “Seattle Post-Intelligencer” (7 Sept. 2000) noted: “Call it a sign of the times. From Seattle-Tacoma (SeaTac) to Bellevue, the Puget Sound’s Muslim community is expanding faster than mosques can accommodate. … Seven mosques built or established in recent years are already overwhelmed. New ones are planned for Kent and Everett.” Aziz Junejo, host of a public-access cable show “Focus on Islam,” informed Le that “we’re outgrowing every mosque in Seattle. Every mosque is brimming.” The growth of the Puget Sound region’s Muslim presence is evident beyond mosques — from a preschool to the public-access cable show, a Muslim-owned slaughterhouse and halal restaurants. Le remarked: “An average of 10,000 to 12,000 people move into the Puget Sound from overseas each year, often from countries such as Cambodia, India, Pakistan, and Somalia which have large Muslim populations.”

“The community has established itself. It has its own infrastructure and is honoring its own tradition and culture,” Greg Gourley, a Bellevue immigration specialist who has observed the dramatic growth of the Eastside Muslim community, told Le. There is more to Seattle than coffee and rain, and, of course, Microsoft and Boeing. The metropolis is home to major refugee populations: the shah’s fall brought Iranian refugees; genocide in Cambodia brought Cham refugees, who settled in a mobile home park in south Puget Sound; and chaos in Somalia and war in Iraq led to thousands of their citizens ending up in the area. Most of the Middle Eastern engineers came in the 1970s to work for Boeing; they were followed in the 1980s by South Asian Muslims looking for high-tech jobs (they even built a mosque in Seattle) and, during the early 1990s, Bosnian Muslims.

Seattle’s Idris Mosque (left), established in 1981, was funded by the late sheikh Abdul Kadir Idris of Saudi Arabia and was the first Mosque west of the Mississippi River that had the Arabesque architecture style; (right) The Space Needle, a symbol of Seattle, was designed for the 1962 World’s Fair and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest

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Community picnic at the Idris Mosque; Muslim sisters at the Seattle waterfront; Jawad Khaki praying at the ceremony establishing a “pillar of friendship” between Christians a

Such demographic variety has created a unique Muslim experience. A community formerly comprised of a few technology experts, it now includes taxi drivers, cashiers, and other workers.

Nazeer Ahmed, editor of the “Northwest Islamic Journal,” told Le that a study conducted by the journal had revealed that almost 90 percent of the area’s Muslims are immigrants. Seattle’s welcoming presence challenges the community as its members continue on their journey of learning, sharing, and caring.

Seattle is a young city — the first boatload of White settlers only docked here in 1851. One of America’s most livable cities and its largest container handling port, Seattle is surrounded by snowcapped mountain peaks, spectacular dawns and stunning sunsets, tranquil lakes and majestic flower gardens. With Snoqualmie Falls (beating Niagara by 100-plus feet) in its backyard, it is also known as “Emerald City” and the “boating capital of the world.” For manufacturing transportation equipment, aerospace, and advanced computer software technology — not to mention biotechnology, electronics, and their satellite industries — the city maintains a healthy economy and attracts new inhabitants. Due to its many academic institutions, especially the University of Washington (UW), it has been ranked as one of America’s most literate cities.

According to the 2007 census, Greater Seattle’s population rose from 557,087 in 1960 to 3,525,000; during the same period, the Muslim population grew from a mere 20 families to over 80,000, according to a conservative estimate. Miriam Adeney and Kathryn DeMaster note in their “Muslims of Seattle” (Muslim Com-

ACCORDING TO THE 2007 CENSUS, GREATER SEATTLE’S POPULATION ROSE FROM 557,087 IN 1960 TO 3,525,000; DURING THE SAME PERIOD, THE MUSLIM POPULATION GREW FROM A MERE 20 FAMILIES TO OVER 80,000, ACCORDING TO A CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE. munities in North America” (Yvonne Haddad and Jane Smith, eds. [SUNY Press: 1994]): “Estimates of the number of Muslims in Seattle vary from 4,000 to 10,000. Of these, a masjid spokesperson estimates that there are 1,500 ‘committed’ Muslims” and “African Americans in Seattle number only about 50,000, and many are dispersed throughout the general population.” There is also a sizable Turkish population, and thus this happy change in demographics has made this evergreen city a major hub of Islamic activities in the Pacific Northwest. The community is doing its best to create the infrastructural framework needed to ensure that Islam is passed on to future generations and shared with non-Muslims. ^ The Muslim Students’ Association of the University of Washington (MSAUW; islamichouse.org), formed and mentored

by Ismail Ahmad in the mid-1960s, played a pivotal role in creating a sense of

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communal unity. Friday prayers and evening Qur’anic study circles were held in a rented room at a local church. This changed under S. M. Owais Jafrey, a former president of the group, when the community purchased a large fraternitystyle house near UW to serve as a mosque and community center known as the Islamic House. It continues to thrive in the hands of young and spirited budding leaders of our tomorrow, headed by current MSA president Khaled Zaki, and provides temporary housing for arriving students and visitors. ^ The idea of the Islamic Center of Seattle (ICS) was conceived by the few pioneering families: Dr. Joseph DiCaprio (professor and lab supervisor, UW Medical Center), Adnan Bakkar, Munir Qureshi, Khalid Blankenship (now a professor at Temple University), Dr. Charles Kunkel, and Siddiqa Kunkel (a former long-time president), Jamil Abdul Razzaq, (the late) Mohammad El-Moslimany, and Mushtaq Junejo joined with others to buy an old house near SeaTac airport on 15 March 1974. Its garage was used for prayers and the Sunday halaqa.

Prior to its purchase, meetings and other educational activities were held at Abdul Razzaq’s house. ICS continues to thrive under Imam Sheikh Ali Grad.

As the community continued to grow, ICS pioneers built a new and easily accessible mosque. Fortunately they were joined by Adnan Idris, a Saudi Airlines representative at Boeing, and his wife Amira, who persuaded her philanthropic father to donate some money. In recognition of his generosity, the community named it the Sheikh Abdul Kadir Idris Mosque. It became fully operational in

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hip” between Christians and Muslims at the Northshore United Church

Aug. 1981. Reflecting the traditional Arabesque architectural style, its crescent decorated copper-covered dome is flanked by a slender minaret. Tung A. Mudah served as the first president of its very diverse congregation. The mosque also hosts the “Sisters United through Islam” association.

Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul, the current imam who carries an old head on his young shoulders, is a former MSA president. Listed by UW as an expert on Islam, he has attended institutes of higher Islamic learning in Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Syria, and the UAE and is the founder of Bellevue’s Thawr Institute (http://thawr.org/), which seeks “to disseminate Islamic knowledge using classical techniques and provide an academic environment where traditional Islamic scholarship can thrive in the Pacific Northwest.”

Dr. Ann El-Moslimany and her (now late) husband Mohammed helped to realize the dream of a group of women by purchasing the Seattle Hebrew Academy and, in Feb. 1980, incorporating is as the Islamic School of Seattle (ISS; islamicschoolofseattle.com). This “long-standing jewel in our community … [seeks] to unleash the creative potential of our students, nurture Allah-consciousness, and develop intrinsic motivation and guide them to global citizenship.” The daily and congregational prayers are held, and qualified teachers run this exemplary school with devotion and dedication. Dr. El-Moslimany, who took direct control of the administration after the school was briefly closed in 1987, has expertise in curriculum development and has authored several scientific papers and

books, among them “Zaki’s Ramadan Fast” (Amica Pub House: 1994). ^ The Cham Muslims of Cambodia (fleeing genocide) and of Vietnam (fleeing war-fatigue and oppression) began arriving in the late 1970s. Out of the 1,000 to whom our country gave asylum, 400 families made Seattle their home in 1978 and more arrived during 1979-82.

Currently over 180 Cham families live in Seattle. Early settlers experienced a major hardship: the language barrier. In downtown Seattle’s Pike Place Market, some of them saw a store with an Arabic sign “Souk.” Thrilled to have found customers from many Muslim countries and delighted to discover that they were not alone, they were warmly welcomed by their coreligionists. By 1982 they had established Masjid Jamiul Muslimeen (jamiulmuslimeen.org), where Imam Abdulbary Yahya looks after their religious and social needs. ^ Lynwood is home to Masjid DarAlarqam (daralarqam.org; the Evergreen Islamic Institute, founded 1991) and its weekend school, which is “committed to providing quality Islamic education by meeting human needs in conformity with Islamic beliefs, contributing compassion, wisdom, and quality leadership in society,” writes founder Nasir Dakhil. According to the City of Lynwood diversity report (2006), an estimated 26 percent of the nearly 35,000 residents are minority and immigrant residents who “are very much on the conservative side.” ^ Perceiving the community’ future needs, in the early 1990s Saifur Rahman Khan (president, Sheikh Idris Masjid) raised funds to establish a new mosque in

north Seattle. Fortunately, in 1994 the Unity Church in Mountlake Terrace was for sale: it is now the Masjid Umar Al-Farooq (farooqmasjid.org). After Saifur Rahman Khan moved to Texas, Zafar Naseeb Khan took over as president during its early critical years. Later on Mohab Zaki, Eijaz Samad, and members of the board of directors (headed by Moosa Mehtar) extended and upgraded this once-dull structure into a pulsating nucleus of Islamic activities. The board is now pursuing a three-phase $1.1 million expansion project designed by internationally known architect and calligrapher Mamoun Sakkal. It includes two floors, an approximately 2,700 sq. ft. addition to the existing building, associated parking and driveways, a larger women’s prayer area, classrooms, a guest/study room, a new large kitchen, a washroom for funeral services, and wheelchair ramps. The recently added minaret and dome, calligraphy on the entrance, and elegantly carved imported doors from Egypt provide additional grace to its attractive architecture.

Anwer Mangrio, Murtaza Junejo, Nasir Junejo, Shahzad Qureshi, and Zia Khan look after its daily operations.

Masjid Umar Al-Farooq serves over 200 immigrant families. Full-time imam Maulana Ahmed Mujeeb Nadwi, who graduated from Nadwatul Ulema (Lucknow) and Darul Uloom (Deoband), runs the daily Qur’an classes and Friday study sessions for tafseer, fiqh, and hadith. He is a member of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America and the North American Imam Federation, as well as president of Seattle’s Darul Uloom. The mosque, managed by the Muslim Association of Northwest (MANW), prides itself on ar-

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COVER STORY ranging lectures and programs of spiritual significance. Its interfaith committee actively participates in events designed to create better understanding between Islam and other religions.

The youth group led by Mohammad Sarhan and mentored by Shaykh Hamza Maqbul discusses a wide range of topics each Tuesday night and organizes regular sporting events, as well as summer camp-

ing and hiking trips and year-round educational activities. The recently formed Mihraab Foundation seeks to bring young Muslims from diverse ethnic groups under one umbrella. Abdelkrim Zebdi conducts a study circle each Thursday evening on the essentials of Islam, stories of the prophets, the biographies of the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and his Companions. The weekend

Islamic school, initiated by Irfan Qureshi, is kept in full swing by its dedicated teachers, led by Syed Faisal Ahmed.

In 1995, the Islamic Center of the Eastside (bellevuemosque.com; ICOE), popularly known as the Bellevue Masjid, moved to its own spacious facility. Serving about 1,000 families, it has full-time Qur’anic-memorization classes, education programs for adults and new Mus-

Talking to Neighbors Muslim Seattleites reach out to share Islam with their neighbors. BY S. M. OWAIS JAFREY Muslim Seattleites have always maintained close ties with their neighbors by sharing in community service projects and creating opportunities to meet and hear each other. The story of Greater Seattle’s Islamic activities would not be complete without mentioning Aziz Junejo, Jafar Siddidqui, Jawad Khaki, and Syed Arsalan Bukhari — each of whom has sought to explain Islam to nonMuslims by the written and spoken word. The exemplary dynamism and passion for change in such people is gradually impacting Americans’ perception of Islam and its political scene.

Aziz Junejo Junejo, a communications major from the University of Washington (1989), has served more than twenty years as a community spokesperson via his regular contributions to local and national newspapers, radio and television programs, and panel discussions. He arrived in the area as a toddler when his father, an air force veteran and engineer from Pakistan, moved the family here in 1962 to work for Boeing — they were one of only three Muslim families. Later they established a mosque in a house at Sea-Tac. It still exists, and is so crowded during the Friday prayer that people pray in the yard.

In 1989, when he conceived the cable television program “Focus on Islam” (scantv.org) to address

the media’s misrepresentation of Islam, little did he know that two years later 9/11 would push him into the spotlight. His talk show features interviews that give guests the chance to define their faith and way of life in their own words. Junejo uses local Muslim experts; however, he also hosts young Muslims in order to provide an accurate reflection of a vibrant and diverse Muslim community. With a decade of community presence, after 9/11 he was viewed as someone who could be trusted. Indeed, he is now flooded with speaking invitations by schools, youth groups, and other community organizations. In addition to all of this, he still finds time to present an Islamic viewpoint of faith and values in a regular column for a local newspaper and a monthly column in “The Seattle Times.”

Mohamed Jawad Khaki Tanzanian native Mohamed Jawad Khaki (president and a founding director, the Ithna-asheri Muslim Association of the Northwest), has been an active community worker since his early teen-aged years. He has volunteered in community organizations in Tanzania, Pakistan, Britain — and now in Greater Seattle. In Oct. 2003, Khaki, a computer engineer, was appointed honorary professor of post and telecommunications by Beijing University.

40 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

Khaki, a speaker and writer, is always out front defending Islam and Muslims against attacks. He envisions an America that, with its rich tapestry of ethnic and religious pluralism, inspires not only those within its borders but all those who inhabit this troubled planet of ours.

He was nationally recognized with the Interfaith Alliance Foundation’s sixth annual “Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom” award. Upon receiving it, he prayed: “Almighty God, give us the inspiration and strength to build bridges of understanding between humanity — moving from tolerance to respect, from mere acceptance to love and compassion for all that reside on this planet. Our dignity is in working towards dignity for all in this global society. It is through open hearts and minds that we can effectively communicate and reach understanding, strengthening our bonds and achieving unity as we focus on common causes.”

Jafar “Jeff” Siddiqui Jafar “Jeff” Siddiqui (former chairman, Islamic School of Seattle; founder member of American Muslims of Puget Sound) is a guest commentator on a local television show and a dozen radio stations, where he promotes an accurate understanding of Islam.

He also visits mosques to lecture on the need to vote and how voting helps people secure justice

JAFAR “JEFF” SIDDIQUI and equality.

Born and educated in Pakistan, Siddiqui pursued his education in Britain and, in 1983, joined the University of Washington (UW). A human rights worker, he has always championed the cause of justice. For example, he participated in anti-apartheid campaigns in South Africa and to free Nelson Mandela. In America, he joined campaigns designed to protect the rights of workers at the Gallo vineyards, create awareness of Chile’s Pinochet regime, and spotlight American activities in El Salvador.

In addition, he was involved in programs to help people understand the genocides in Bosnia and then in Kosova. His work picked up after 9/11, when he began to speak at community groups, churches, synagogues, schools, and colleges — even to the Seattle FBI. The content of his presentations consists of faith, social and cultural facts and issues so that the audience can get a full picture of Islam and Muslims.

A gifted writer, Siddiqui contributes articles to newspapers and magazines, gives radio com-

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lims, weekly study circles for women, tafsir classes, and the regular prayers.

The mosque has a strong outreach group that disseminates Islamic knowledge through the Internet. Da‘wah groups from local mosques, not to mention from Australia, England, and South Africa, are always welcomed. Imam Shaykh Hafiz Fazal Hassan, an ardent scholar from Madrasah Ashrafia (India), also serves as

AZIZ JUNEJO mentaries, and is interviewed by local radio and television shows.

One of his articles received second prize in “Pacific NW Excellence in Journalism 2003.” He helped rewrite “Terrorism Today” (Simonsen & Spindlove), a book used widely as an education tool, and receives regular invitations to numerous discussion groups and panels.

Siddiqui has been striving to involve Muslims in local politics by convincing them to register and vote. His message is right to the point: “Vote! Or nothing will change.” He believes that those groups with a political profile are less likely to be targeted by politicians and government agencies.

In the 2008 elections, he was elected to the Democratic Electoral College, becoming one of the first Muslim Electors ever.

S. Arsalan Bukhari Another highly visible Muslim is S. Arsalan Bukhari (executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR-WA]). The only full-time staff member, he leads some fifteen active volunteers in his effort to secure civil

vice president of the Imam Fatwa Committee. ICOE, which holds open houses and greets visitors, is pursuing plans to double its men’s and women’s prayer areas. The four-level plan includes new classrooms, a children’s activity area, a community hall, and a fourth floor rooftop deck and social area.

After renting an apartment for about ten months, the number of Muslims in

S. ARSALAN BUKHARI rights for Muslims and convey the truth about them and their religion. A Seattle-area resident since 1990, he holds a B.A. in business finance from Seattle University (2004).

By mid-2010, CAIR-WA had received well over thirty civil rights complaints from Muslims in the Northwest. CAIR-WA meets regularly with local Muslim and secular organizations, among them the ACLU, Puget Sound Sage, and One America. On 18 Jan. 2010, CAIR-WA held what might have been the largest Muslim lobbying day in the nation.

Rizwan Samad Rizwan Samad, president and CEO of International Trade Consulting, an international business consulting firm based in Seattle, came to this country as a young man and has been involved in the mosques and issues. He says that “living in America, I always thought a Muslim should have power and a voice; but the only way they can achieve that is by being united and getting involved in local politics, with one voice.

We become American; but we

the Kent area could no longer be accommodated, especially during the Friday prayer. The community purchased a 3,500 sq. ft. house on a half-acre lot in the heart of Kent to set up the Islamic Center of Kent (ickent.com; ICK). A full-fledged mosque by 2000, it now serves over 200 families. According to Present Saraj Khan, “1.5 acres of land was recently purchased and expansion of the current

MOHAMED JAWAD KHAKI

never get involved. And then we complain about America.”

Instead of complaining, Samad became actively engaged. In 1988 he became a delegate for Jesse Jackson, always introducing himself as a Muslim. In 1996, when his friend Gary Locke announced his gubernatorial run, he got involved in his campaign, and helped elect the first first-generation Chinese immigrant as governor in America. Samad, who attributes his humanitarian activism to the inspiration that he found in his father’s example, has been active in humanitarian causes such as Palestine and Bosnia, and helped raise more than $600,000 for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital being built in Pakistan, named for the mother of the legendary cricketer Imran Khan.

Samad helped organize the first united Eid Prayer in 1994 at the Seattle Center which was attended by some 5,000 people.

Samad, who is fully supported by his wife Jessy, is also a founding member of the Muslim Family and Children’s Services that has helped several families.

Munir Rizvi Another community dynamo is Munir Rizvi. An engineer at Boeing, humble and unassuming, he is always available and on the front line volunteering for any philanthropic cause. Working for Greater Seattle’s Muslim community for the last 20 years, he was recognized by the Pakistan Association for his meritorious services in arranging programs to create political awareness among Muslim Americans and helping Muslim immigrants at the Tacoma Detention Center.

Active in the World Education Foundation, using the network of mosques and he is instrumental in raising funds for establishing schools in Pakistani villages catering to the educational needs of 400 kids from 1st to 10th grade. As a Human Development Foundation team member, he was in Kashmir to help build homes for the 2005 earthquake victims. Hidaya Foundation has found in him an enthusiastic volunteer cum truck driver who collects clothes, medicines and other essential items for victims of the recent floods. ^

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PHOTOGRAPH BY SAMIA EL-MOSLIMANY (©)

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At the Islamic School of Seattle, Asmaa Ahmed helps classmate Omar Dyles with his schoolwork; Sheikh Idris Mosque, Northgate; Fundraising dinner for Masjid Al-Noor, the

facility is underway. In addition to daily prayers, regular halaqas teaching the Qur’an and Hadith are held, communitybased Islamic functions and religious seminars are organized.” The center serves about 1,000 families living in Kent, Renton, Federal Way, Auburn, and Tukwila. The original structure could only hold about 200 congregants, and so a two-stage expansion plan was launched to bring the existing prayer buildings into full compliance with the county building code and then to build a new multipurpose mosque to serve as the centerpiece of all Islamic activities in years to come.

The $250,000 remodeling increased the current capacity to 500 people. ^ The Ithna-asheri Muslim Association of the Northwest (iman-wa.org; IMAN) of Greater Seattle was formed in Aug. 1997 to promote the teachings of the Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt (Allah be pleased with them). This association, which provides a platform for both intrafaith and interfaith dialogue, also builds homes for low-income families in East King County. The Interfaith Alliance Foundation recognized IMAN president and founder/director Mohamed Jawad Khaki’s contribution to interfaith understanding with its Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award. ^ The Muslim Association of Puget Sound (mapsredmond.org; MAPS), founded in 2006, has blossomed into a dynamic organization that features structured Islamic study programs for young people and a six-week summer study program. On the social front, summer picnics, ski outings, and Eid gatherings are organized. It recently bought a 46,000 sq. ft. property for $3.1 million to establish

THE GROWTH OF THE PUGET SOUND REGION’S MUSLIM PRESENCE IS EVIDENT BEYOND MOSQUES — FROM A PRESCHOOL TO THE PUBLIC-ACCESS CABLE SHOW, A MUSLIM-OWNED SLAUGHTERHOUSE AND HALAL RESTAURANTS. Masjid Al-Rahmah. Efforts are underway to raise a further $1.3 million for the needed renovation, and hopes are high that the community will move into the new facility by early 2011.

Full-time Imam Mohamed Joban, a graduate of the Islamic University of Jakarta and al-Azhar, has established an Islamic Center at Olympia for the Cham community. He also serves as president of the state’s Imam Fatwa Committee.

The MAPS board has a cohesive team of young people: Hyder Ali (president), Kabir Jeddy (treasurer), and Nisreen ElSaadoun (education secretary). Greater Seattle has always witnessed the generosity of its Muslim community. The 17 Apr. 2010 fundraising dinner for Masjid AlNoor, the Islamic Center of Olympia (ICO; islamiccenterofolympia.org) attested to this generosity, raising close to $80,000. The construction is being supervised by Syed Jamil Ahmad and ICO

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president Osman Yusuf. ^ The Islamic Center of Redmond (ICOR; redmondmosque.org) started as a musallah in 1999; by 2008, it had developed into a mosque that looks forward to providing a gym, a children’s play area, a multipurpose room, and a school as well as holding the daily prayers and Islamic education classes. Imam Sheikh Ameen Hussam has many ongoing Islamic education programs. Amal Abdelgaber teaches Qur’an to women, and Sheikh ElGhazali conducts a Sunday seerah program after the isha’ prayer.

Seattle Muslims were proud to embrace 500 Muslim Bosnian families who had fled the Serbian-imposed holocaust in their homeland. The vigor and foresight of Imam Abdullah Polovina, a graduate of the Islamic Academy of Bosnia and a student of Islamic studies at Cloverdale College (South Bend, IN) and comparative religion at UW, galvanized the scattered Bosnian community into a dynamic force. He recalls their trials with great pain, along with the massacres and genocide that still haunt all of them. Dr. Mustafa Ceric (Grand Mufti of Bosnia) and Dr. Haris Silajdic (member of the presidency) flew in to lay the foundation of the first Bosnian Masjid in north Seattle on 26 May 2007. Every Bosnian turned into a mason, carpenter, painter, constructor, and laborer to build the 2.5-level mosque to accommodate around 800 people. Granite and special stone from China, as well as a dome designed to allow natural light to filter through, were further enhanced by hall glass windows. Eye-catching calligraphy by Turkish artists Akin, Gazanfer, and Hamza, has made this mosque a

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE SCHWARTZ

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er for Masjid Al-Noor, the Islamic Center of Olympia for the Cham community

piece of architectural beauty. The dream is to expand the current facility into a grand Islamic center with a larger prayer hall, classrooms, a library, a gym, and a restaurant. ^ Masjid Ibadul-Rahman (aka the Gambian Mosque), established in July 2008, serves over 200 Gambian families.

Imam Abdlahe Bayo conducts weekly Islamic education sessions, which include interpretation of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, in Soninkey. Some fifty students attend the school, and women-only programs are held on Saturday and Sunday mornings. ^ Somali refugees began arriving in America in the 1990s. About 35,000 of them chose to settle in Seattle. This growing community of hard workers bought a big casino for $3.2 million and converted it into the Abubakr Islamic Center of Seattle (AICS; abubakarmasjid.com) — the city’s largest mosque.

Inaugurated in 2009, it offers many religious activities and the daily and Friday congregational prayers. Imam Sheikh Ahmed Abdulkadir also holds weekend Qur’anic classes, delivers evening lectures, and provides counseling on social issues. ^ Many musallahs (prayer places) currently housed in apartments/houses have bright prospects of flowering into fully operational mosques in the near future.

Some already have taken the shape of a traditional mosque, like the thriving Islamic Center of Bothell (ICOB; bothellmosque.org) managed by Jeremy Mseitif, which features lectures by visiting scholars and prayers. The Islamic Center of Everett (ICEWA: icewa.com) is the realization of Aurangzeb Akbar’s dream;

Sheikh Usman is its imam. The Islamic Center of Renton is managed by Ahmed Zayan; Sheikh Hasan Rabi leads the prayers. Sheikh Khalid Yasin has recently stepped in as the imam of the mosque/da‘wah center of the Sammamish Muslims’ Association (sammamishmosque.com). Sheikh Yasin Omer leads the prayers at Masjid AtTaqwa, Sheikh Raid at Masjid AlTawheed, Sheikh Yasin Tufa at Masjid AlEDITOR’S NOTE: “Islamic Horizons” invited S. M. Owais Jafrey – a deeply committed community worker – to share with our readers the founding, growth, and future of the Seattle Muslim community.

A graduate of Aligarh Muslim University (Aligarh, India), Jafry received two MAs from Punjab University (Lahore, Pakistan) before securing an MA from the University of Washington.

During his term as UW-MSA president, the Islamic House was purchased; he was actively involved in fundraising and managing of the project. He is also involved in humanitarian projects such as helping refugees and other affected persons. He is a former vice president of the Afghan Relief Committee and of the Sheikh Idris Mosque, as well as board member of Masjid Umar Al-Farooq. A founding member and secretary of the Urdu Literary Society of Washington, Jafrey is the editorial board advisor of “Al-Aqreba,” an Islamabad-based Urdu-language literary, academic, and research journal, as well as of “Irtebaat,” an Urdu-literary and academic journal published by the University of Istanbul.

Tawfeeq, Sheikh Idris at the Ethiopian Muslim Association’s mosque (EMAS; emasseattle.com), and Sheikh Nathir Kalil at the Masjid Ibaddur Rahman.

The Islamic school at the White Center is in its infancy. The Medina Academy of Redmond was started as an Islamic preschool in 2000 by Salah Dandan and his wife, who moved to Bellevue in 1998.

There is also a musallah for Muslims who work in downtown Seattle. This is run by the Downtown Muslim Association (dmaseattle.com), which rents space from the Plymouth Congregational Church. These musallahs and schools are managed by dedicated leaders who have optimism, passion, and vision. ^ Samir Sarhan oversees the Islam Presentation and Invitation Center (IPIC; ipicseattle.org; est. 1996), a nonprofit organization that provides free Islamic literature to anyone who asks for it.

IPIC volunteers visit the state’s correctional facilities to introduce Islam and organize lectures in schools and colleges. Al Sadaqa, a nonprofit organization, has many participating mosques that provide housing, food, utilities, and transportation to the needy. The Muslim Housing Services (MHS), founded in 1999, helps find homes for homeless families living in rent-subsidized housing and mentors the needy to help them find better ways of living and becoming self-sufficient. ^ The Seattle Muslim community is very proud of Faheem Siddiq, an unassuming and experienced African-American Islamic worker and chaplain in Washington’s prisons and correction centers.

Many prisoners have been guided to Islam through his efforts. He runs training courses for volunteers to make da‘wah in

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ISLAM IN AMERICA prisons and ensures that prisoners receive halal food, copies of the Qur’an, books on the Prophet’s life, and prayer rugs. He involves the Muslim community in arranging iftars during Ramadan and arranges for gifts and dinner on both Eids for the inmates. Yet another unassuming brother, Pervez Romani, donates his technical expertise, time, and even electrical and AC appliances to the mosques of the Greater

Seattle area and beyond, and looks after their ongoing maintenance.

A UNIFIED VOICE. Another Muslim American trend came to fruition in March 2003, when administrators representing the Puget Sound area mosques created the Islamic Council of Washington State (ICWS) to unite and give a common platform to the area’s and the state’s

Muslims. Formalized on 18 Sept. 2003, area mosque administrative representatives (aka “council members”) reaffirmed each mosque’s responsibilities.

They agreed to abide by the method of local moon sighting in North America, start Ramadan and Shawwal on the same day, and follow the dates of Arafat and Eid al-Adha as observed in those places in which they occur. ICWS mem-

Student Power Muslim students at the University of Washington worked with philanthropic MSA alum to create permanent infrastructure. BY S. M. OWAIS JAFREY “The history of the Muslim Students’ Association of the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, is the chronicle of the work of da‘wah in the Pacific Northwest” says founder and mentor Ismail Ahmad. Since its inception in 1965, MSA has focused on maintaining its members’ Islamic identity by holding Friday prayers and evening halaqas at the Campus Christian Ministry (CCM) building. Dr. Joseph DiCaprio (professor, UW Medical Center) helped MSA draft its constitution and get it registered

by UW’s dean of student affairs as a legal student body. Due to the legal separation of church and state, MSA held most of its prayers, study groups, lecturers, and other activities in nearby churches. As the number of Muslim students increased, it began including the wider Muslim community in its day-to-day activities.

In the mid-1960s, the community consisted of only a dozen or so families living from Olympia to Bellingham. To facilitate their children’s education, a house was purchased to serve as a school in South Seattle. Dr. Muhammad Elmuslimany, a pioneer in Seattle’s Muslim community, made a down payment on a building to be converted into a mosque; the community was responsible for paying the rest.

MSA participated in the fundrais-

ing, and the Islamic Center of Seattle (ISC) was established.

Since ICS was located in the south, far away from the University District, MSA activities were mostly organized in the north.

The Friday prayer was held at the University Methodist Temple; Friday halaqas at different venues. As the Campus Christian Ministry offered MSA the most, it gradually moved there. When the CCM relocated, it graciously gave MSA the key to the building so that the community could use its library for the Friday halaqas and isha’ prayers.

Over time, MSA activities have expanded greatly. Eminent scholars and speakers, among them Dr. Hassan Hathout and Dr. Kamal Abul Majid (cultural attaché of the Egyptian Embassy and later cabinet minister in Egypt) lectured to large campus audiences. Every year it participated in the MSA National West Coast conference, usually held in San Francisco or Los Angeles, and held large popular Eid celebrations featuring dinner, cultural events, and entertainment programs for children.

As membership continued to increase, the need to have a permanent place to pray, educate the community, and hold social activities became ever-more apparent.

MSA started seeking donations from alumni who had returned to the oil-rich Gulf countries. The

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goal was to purchase a building close to the campus. Wa‘il Al-Issa, a Kuwaiti who was studying urban planning at UW, presented this proposal to his philanthropic father and received $55,000 as the initial down payment. Tradi-

At this stage, MSA began to present Islam to the wider nonMuslim community. Members participated with other religious groups in founding the Interfaith Council, and ISC also became an active and full participating

Many of Seattle’s MSA members actively joined hands with the community to establish new mosques and prayer-places in Greater Seattle. tionally, community members had always taken care of the day-today expenses. Now, a monthly pledge system was set up to collect donations and contributions.

Saudi students Umar Mash’abi, Muhammad Sarhan, and others put about $25,000 each toward the project, while Abdul Wahhab Al-Zughaibi, who had studied structural engineering, provided the rest. Finally in Dec. 1979, about $220,000 was paid to close the deal.

Adnan Idris, the Saudi Airline representative at Boeing, used to join the MSA Friday prayers at the University Methodist Temple before the Islamic House was purchased. Realizing the need for a mosque, he persuaded his generous father-in-law to donate the funds to establish the Sheikh Idris Masjid at Northgate, which opened in 1981.

member. MSA received — and continues to receive — many invitations from churches, colleges, high schools, and other interested parties to lecture about Islam and take part in interfaith dialogues.

Many of Seattle’s MSA members actively joined hands with the community to establish new mosques and prayer-places in Greater Seattle. Many alum now hold important positions in their home countries and, at times, get in touch with the old timers. All MSA presidents and office bearers have contributed a lot to the flourishing of the student body.

Among them is Shaykh Hamza Maqbul, a two-time MSA president known for his infectious zeal and enthusiasm for da‘wah.

UW’s MSA continues to thrive in the hands of dynamic leaders, the builders of our tomorrow. ^

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(clockwise from above) Dr. Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, and Dr. Haris Silajdic (member of the Bosnian presidency) flew in to lay the foundation of the first Bosnian Masjid in north Seattle on 26 May 2007; Imam Abdullah Polovina; Interior and exterior the 2.5-level new Bosnian mosque

bers include the Idris Mosque (Northgate), Masjid Omar Al-Farooq (Mountlake Terrace), Masjid Jamiul Muslimin (Cham Masjid), Eastside Masjid (Bellevue), Masjid Al-Taqwa (Downtown Seattle), the Redmond Musalla (Redmond), Majid Al-Tawheed (West Seattle), Islamic Center of Kent (Kent), the Downtown Muslim Association of Seattle, and the Islamic Center of Everett.

Social institutions are sprouting in noticeable ways. In Aug. 2000, a group of South Seattle Muslims purchased a U.S. Agriculture Department-inspected slaughterhouse in Sumner. Several halal meat stores and restaurants are also flourishing.

Seattle’s Queen Anne cemetery had reserved a small plot for Muslims, but they did not own it. In accordance with the late Ihsan Samad’s wish, his son Eijaz joined with Mehboob Ahmad in the early 1990s to negotiate with Woodlawn Cemetery, located on Seattle’s outskirts, for a

Muslim section; 1,400 lots were acquired, and roughly 400 deceased Muslims have already been buried there.

Political leaders have recognized the Muslims’ contribution to the state. Gov. Christine O. Gregoire sent Eid greetings to the Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle and lauded the contributions of the Muslims to the greater community; Rep. Jay Inslee (D - WA) attended an Eid dinner and greeted the audience with “Eid Mubarak.” King County Council’s chairman Dow Constantine observed the Eid prayer at the Qwest Field arena attended by some 20,000 Muslims.

A CONNECTED COMMUNITY Muslim2Muslim (muslim2muslim.us), formed in Feb. 2009, is a Puget Sound matchmaking service that seeks “to provide a resource and assistance to the local masaajid and their respective communities by offering a personal and comprehensive match making program…” In a

recent lecture, Imam Mohammad Joban and Shaykh Hamza Maqbul discussed at length the challenges, realities, and solutions of finding a spouse according to Islamic norms and answered questions on love relationships, and the responsibilities, that marriage entails.

Events in the Puget Sound area are regularly announced at muslim-calendar.com (MC). Up since 2001, this onestop website for Muslims in North America and the United Kingdom lists the ongoing programs of a given location and helps to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Over 200 administrators from various mosques and organizations add their events for free. Once an event is added, MC sends weekly reminders to over 50,000 subscribers. More than 10,000 people per month use MC, which hopes to unite Muslims on one site; people visited it over 100,000 times per month. To add an event, visit muslim-calendar.com and click “add an event.” ^

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ISLAM IN AMERICA

A Legacy Revisited Did Elijah Muhammad’s teachings provide a way to an acceptable understanding of Islam? BY MICHAEL SAAHIR

E

lijah Muhammad is probably one of the most misunderstood persons in America.

Even among the two groups who may have benefited the most from him — African Americans and the overall Muslim American community — he has yet to receive the credit he deserves.

A poor southern Georgian who had relocated to Detroit in 1929, he encountered a foreigner named Fard Muhammad (aka W. D. Fard), who was promoting an unorthodox brand of Islam. In 1933 Fard left his community, the Nation of Islam (NoI), in Elijah’s care after giving him the surname “Muhammad.”

Over the next forty-two years, Elijah Muhammad led the NoI. Facing great odds, he transformed hundreds of thousands of down-trodden African Americans into respectful and productive citizens and achieved something unique in the annals of history: he produced internationally renowned men, namely, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Not even his contemporary, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or past leaders like Marcus Garvey, Charles Daddy Grace, or Booker T. Washington — nor their organizations — can claim such success. As a result, many remember him as the “Honorable Elijah Muhammad.”

Even though his leadership was in constant transition, he remained faithful to Mr. Fard and his charge of improving the conditions of African Americans. The resulting benefits also extend to the overall Islamic community in America.

Elijah Muhammad himself was recognized internationally. But his non-traditional practice of Islam presents a challenge of how to best record his life and legacy in the Muslim American mosaic.

Most Muslims in America, both indigenous and immigrant, in many ways are

Elijah Muhammad with his son Imam W. D. Mohammed holding the Quran

____________________________________________________

standing on the legacy of his work. Regardless of his unorthodoxy, Elijah Muhammad remains the one individual who introduced more Americans to the name “Muhammad” and “al-salaam ‘alaikum” than anyone else. A study of his unique teaching vis-à-vis unlettered African Americans as well as of the eschatology he inherited from Mr. Fard might be overdue.

The dismal condition of African Americans at the advent of Elijah Muhammad’s mission qualified them to be prime candidates for God’s direct help. His followers proudly and boldly rejected their last names, assigned by their ancestors’ slave masters, in hopes of one day receiv-

46 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

ing a “righteous Arabic holy name.” Simultaneously some immigrant Muslims, particularly those who wanted to assimilate, were adopting European names or Anglicizing their Arabic names. Elijah Muhammad’s success strongly supports the belief that God must have been with him, not necessarily because he properly understood Islam, but because of his sincere efforts to improve his people’s condition while bringing them closer to Islam. The fact that the vast majority of his followers eventually embraced mainstream Sunni Islam strongly indicates that God rewarded his sincere efforts.

Elijah Muhammad, who never claimed to receive revelation from God and established Mr. Fard as his teacher, often said: “Allah, in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad”; he never asserted

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that Fard was Allah, the creator of heaven and Earth. In his book “Message to the Blackman in America” (1965), he stated: “A Muslim is one who believes in One God. It is forbidden by Allah (God) for us to believe in or serve anyone other than Himself as a god. He warns us not to set up an equal with Him, as He was the One in the beginning from whom everything had its beginning and will be the One God from which everything will end. He is independent, having no need of anyone’s help, but on the other hand, upon

Him we all depend. It is the highest of ignorance for us to choose a God or attempt to make something as an equal to Him.” The year 1974 saw two major developments in his leadership: he told his son Wallace (Warith Deen Mohammed), who believed in traditional Sunni Islam: “Son, you can go anywhere and teach that gospel” and, at his final Saviour’s Day address in 1974, he openly praised the achievements of White people, thereby exonerating them of causing the African-Americans’ dismal state.

Although he passed away over thirty years ago, his contributions remain appreciable. For some he may remain an enigma; nonetheless, notwithstanding his racial stances, Elijah Muhammad’s achievements for African Americans and his sincere efforts to spread Islam are undeniable.

_______________________________

Michael Saahir, imam of the Nur-Allah Islamic Center (Indianapolis, IN) and prominent student of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, is the author of a forthcoming book on Elijah Muhammad.

Black America’s Path to Islam ver dinner with three other men, one a Middle Eastern Muslim attorney, our conversation somehow shifted to the Nation of Islam (NoI) and Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. He quickly dismissed the prominent figures of African-American Islam as heretics, cultists, and sectarians. I, on the other hand, responded immediately and identified the virtues of modern African-American Islamic thought. He, like many mainstream Muslims, was unaware and quick to judge.

Perhaps three books can serve as an introduction to Black America’s path to Islam: “The Autobiography of Malcolm X as dictated to Alex Haley” (Ballantine Books: 1987); Edward E. Curtis IV’s “Islam in Black America” (SUNY: 2002); and Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.’s “The Measure of a Man” (Augsburg Fortress Publishers: 2001). Dr. King was one of the few Christians who have managed to articulate the plight of America’s Blacks with such clarity and urgency. The political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation, coming on the heels of centuries of enslavement interwoven into social customs and law, make their plight unique. It would take Islam’s unifying qualities to bring together large numbers of Blacks and set them on a path that would first address their sense of self-rejection before setting many on a journey that would lead to orthodox Sunni Islam. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

O

Despite his initial aberration, Elijah Muhammad should be recognized for leading a people to the dignity of orthodox Sunni Islam.

BY AHMAD DANIELS Dr. Curtis acknowledges a tension common with the history of religion: “The tension exists between the idea on one hand, that a religious tradition is universally applicable to the experience of all human beings and the idea, on the other hand, that a religious tradition is applicable to the experience of one particular group of human beings.”

Dr. John Henrick Clarke writes: “Had Elijah Muhammad tried to introduce an orthodox form of Araboriented Islam, I doubt if he would have attracted 500 people. But he introduced a form of Islam that could communicate with the people he had to deal with. He was the king to those who had no king; he was the Messiah to those some people thought unworthy of a Messiah” (africawithin.com/ malcolmx/ make_it_plain.htm). Dr. Clarke knew, as did Edward W. Blyden, Noble Drew Ali, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Wallace D. Muhammad (later Imam Warith Deen Mohammed), and other prominent Black figures, that religion exists to address a people’s

social needs. Black America’s social needs could not have been addressed by an Islam imported straight from the Middle East.

In referencing C. Eric Lincoln’s classic “The Black Muslims in America,” 3d ed. (Eerdmans: William B. Pub. Co., 1994) Dr. Curtis writes: “Viewing the Nation of Islam from a functionalist perspective, Lincoln argued that religious elements of the movement, including its Islamic ‘mystique’ were incidental to its success.” The practices and dictates of Elijah Muhammad, the NoI’s founder and once spiritual leader, did what social agencies could not, such as removing heroin needles from the arms of Black men and convincing Black women to abandon prostitution. The originator of the respected street saying “You can’t lead where you don’t go — you can’t teach what you don’t know” must have had Elijah Muhammad in mind. The man’s vision of an earnest and self-sufficient Black nation, what he referred to as the “Lost and Found Nation,” set in motion an embryonic religious movement that continues to send waves throughout Black America — a Black community striving to achieve selfempowerment and self-respect.

A major difference between traditional Islam and the NoI was the exclusion of Whites. If Prophet Muhammad’s (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) purpose was to proclaim God’s unity to a polytheistic people, Elijah Muhammad’s reason for being was to help Black people reconnect with their God-like qualities. He was

very clear on how he envisioned his life’s work: “My people must be dealt with on a special basis, because their background and circumstances are different from those prevailing elsewhere in the world. You cannot use the same medicine to treat altogether different diseases.”

The legacy of the NoI and its forerunners in a real sense parallels the conditions of Black America. While many of the maladies that plagued twentieth-century Black America are no longer as dangerous to the body politic, certain challenges continue to call for creative and dedicated people willing and able to make a difference in Black America.

Many present-day African-American practitioners of traditional Sunni Islam are over fifty and very likely to have been NoI members prior to Elijah Muhammad’s passing. In the interest of full disclosure, I was a “first-generation” (under the spiritual leadership of Elijah Muhammad) member of the NoI. Foreign Muslims would benefit from studying Black America’s journey throughout American history, for many lessons can be learned from the holocaust of enslavement and subsequent decades of de jure and de facto apartheid. Perhaps if that attorney had done his “homework” he would have been more knowledgeable of the NoI’s effectiveness and similarity to traditional Islam. There is ample room at the table for all. History reveals that if we are not at the table, we might end up on the menu.

To your journey!

_______________________ Ahmad Daniels, M.Ed., is transformation facilitator at creative-interchange.com.

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ISLAM IN AMERICA

TORONTO’S FORGOTTEN

First Mosque

T The Jami Mosque was not, as many people assume, Toronto’s first mosque. In fact, that honor belongs to an old leather shop that was purchased by the Muslim Society of Toronto in 1961 and transformed into the Dundas Street Mosque by a small hardworking team of Muslims.

This fact was discovered through an oral history project undertaken by the Toronto-based Tessellate Institute (tessellateinstitute.com) during the summer of 2009. The story of this mosque and the community that sustained it is an untold chapter of the history of Canadian Muslims — a history that itself lies cloaked in obscurity. Imaan Communications, which filmed and edited the project, has created an open access website (mosqueone.com) that contains video clips of the founders as well as photographic and legal documents.

Kathleen Wynne, then Ontario’s Minister of Education, speaking at the web launch last Nov. 2009, said that the online archive serves as an “amazing educational resource.” The oral history project was funded by The Olive Tree Foundation (olivetreefoundation.ca) and cosponsored by the International Development & Relief Foundation (idrf.com).

By 1968 the community needed more space, and so the shop was sold and the mosque moved to an old church, renamed Jami Mosque, from which the legend of it being the city’s first mosque sprang.

The first mosque was situ-

ated in one of Toronto’s business areas. As Talat Muinuddin (a member) noted: “People didn’t have cars, and the location [of the mosque] was [ideal] … so that they could come by streetcar and buses.”

Toronto’s diverse cultural and religious population was reflected in this original community. Its members came from Albania, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, and even a few White converts. The driving force was Regip Assim, the

48 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

Albanian founder and president of the Muslim Society of Toronto. Assim, a quiet and dedicated man who used to tell amazing stories of being among revolutionaries in Albania, is described by compatriot and vice president Bedri Bylykbashi as a “very honest man, [who] was working with the heart … only for Muslim faith.”

To transform the shop into a mosque required basic repairs, such as fixing a leaking roof, and many other renovations. Hasan Karachi provid-

An oral history project undertaken by the Torontobased Tessellate Institute uncovers an untold chapter of the history of Canadian Muslims.

By Aziza Hirsi and Katherine Bullock

PHOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT DR. RAHMAN SYED, COURTESY TTI

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PHOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT MARY KARIM, COURTESY TTI

ed the paint, and Mustafa Djukic helped retile the roof.

Together they “worked [for] almost two years without any pay,” as a form of sadaqah.

Soon the place was transformed into a home away from home for the rapidly growing number of Muslims, a place that helped them overcome homesickness and isolation and provided solidarity, networking, job assistance, and long-lasting friendships. The mosque functioned as a place of prayer, social and educational gatherings, Eid dinners, and a Sunday Islamic School for children.

The community’s strong bonds and tight-knit atmosphere encouraged Dr. Fuad Sahin and his wife Solnaz to make the one-hour journey from Hamilton to Toronto every Sunday just to be part of it. Solnaz remembers how

(top) Regip Assim, Founder of The Muslim Society of Toronto, in Sept. 1965 (left) Malik Shabazz (Malcom X) visits the Dundas St. Mosque

Ramadan was a special time that brought the community together — despite the lack of a kitchen. She and others would prepare food at home.

“We cooked here [at home] and take it there [to the Islamic Centre],” she reminisces.

“We ate together. It was nice.”

While the need to self-identify as Muslim was not so important in their native lands, the community’s small size and its members’ minority status made it more important here. Amjad Syed noted that in Canada his faith and skin color set him apart from others. Yet he remembers vividly the first time he prayed with

Muslims from all different backgrounds: “I tell you I was so thrilled, especially for the first time in my life. I was standing in the row of salat aldhuhr. There was a white person, black person, brown person, in my — in my lifetime I had never come across a thing like that … I tell you, literally, I remember there were teardrops in my eyes because of this kind of situation…with a white Muslim and a black Muslim standing in the same row with — with me. It was amazing, it was amazing.”

Among the pioneers were women who played signifi-

cant roles in fundraising, educating the children, and other mosque activities. Solnaz notes that she and others were motivated “to do something [like] raise money” for the Islamic center. Concerned with passing on their faith to their children, they worked hard to establish a Sunday school.

Naturally, there were many setbacks. “Well, one of the first things of course is that there weren’t any books. The classes were very small — very haphazard — not very organized,” recalls Alia Hogben.

“But we cared a lot about the children, so they were involved in a lot of things.”

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ISLAM IN AMERICA

Toronto’s first mosque was in fact a converted leather shop that was transformed into the Dundas Street Mosque by a small hard-working team of Muslims.

Dr. Rahman Syed and Dr. Afzalunnisa Syeda visit the Dundas St. Mosque with their family; (below, from left) Amjad Syed, standing, Regip Assim, Imam Khattab, Murray Hogben, during a fundraising dinner hosted

by The Muslim Society of Toronto, at Hart House, University of Toronto, April 29 1966, and attended by several local politicians

Dr. Sahin agrees, noting that he “was concerned about the future of young Muslims born and raised [in Canada]. But all my worries — like the worries of most of my friends there — were futile because we discovered that all of these children whose parents were involved in the Islamic movement grew up to be wonderful Muslims, wonderful citizens of Canada and well educated and respected.”

The Islamic Centre, the heart of the Muslim community, was the scene of many noteworthy historical events, such as the visit by Malcolm X. Murray Hogben, who had arranged the speech, invited Malcolm to dinner at his home first. “We talked […] and had a nice time. We ate and […], put [Malcolm] in the car and took him to the Centre,” he said. “He spoke [and then] we were photographed with him. I had framed [a] paper, [… with] Arabic inscription [in] one of these gold frames, which were available then and that was our little gift to him.”

Sadly, soon after that Malcolm X was assassinated; the brief encounter so many years ago still brings tears to the eyes of those who remem-

ber his visit to Dundas Street.

Other historical nuggets have been discovered, such as the fact that Dr. Hussain Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani, Iraq’s current oil minister, was the center’s Sunday school teacher while earning his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. The Muslim Student Association of Toronto was founded by people who were also active at the center.

As the need for more space became urgent, the community sold the Dundas Street Mosque and purchased a former church (now the Jami

50 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

mosque). “[It] cost us $150,000.00, and that was a lot of money then,” Mrs. Hogben says. “But we were so excited you know, and so this was going to be the new place.”

But there were also divisions and disagreements within the rapidly expanding community. Before long, these differences of opinion created splits within the community. “[A]nd then the community decided to split off … instead of staying together,” she laments, “… so now the Albanians have their own mosque, the Bosnians have their

mosque, and so on and so forth. … For me, it has been one of the tragedies.”

In the end, less than ten years after its establishment the center closed its doors and its members went their separate ways. Yet each group has, in its own way, carried the spirit of Islam through its own community, carving a niche and making a rich contribution to Canada’s diverse religious and cultural landscape.

_______________________ Aziza Hirsi is a senior at the University of Toronto. Katherine Bullock, Ph.D., is the president of Tessellate Institute.

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF WWW.MOSQUEONE.COM

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The Immigrant Imam and His Family

BY JOHN H. MORGAN ≠ Being an imam is about religious performance and the domestic context within which it occurs. Americans are fully cognizant of the profound pressures and expectations that characterize the professional ministry. In fact, medical and psychological studies consider it to be the country’s most stressdriven career, for the expectations that come with this profession are profound.

Muslims inevitably and understandably will adopt the attitudes, feelings, and expectations that their Christian and Jewish neighbors place upon their own clergy. And these, in turn, will be placed upon imams and their families. The Muslim Education Council on Clergy in America project, a national databased study of immigrant American imams, sought to learn about the typical immigrant imam’s wife and children, home life, general demographics, and social environment.

Only 75% of the wives claim English as a viable second language. Ten percent also claim Arabic; however, this generally means that they can teach children how to recite their prayers.

On average, wives are thirty-six years old (two years younger than their husbands); 45% of them are American citizens; and they have been married for sixteen years and have two children.

These numbers are in keeping with the statistical norm for professional Americans generally. Three-fourths of them can drive, which gives them substantial mobility as both mothers and members of a social network of activities and responsibilities. Those who cannot are substantially cut off from much of that which clergymen’s wives are supposed to know, do, and be. This implied isolation could cause loneliness, isolation, and a sense of inferiority with other Muslims and people in general.

The fact that all of them have a high school diploma speaks well of their educational background; 40% hold a university degree (60% of the imams do).

Education opens American society, and the more education these women

Will Muslims adopt the attitudes, feelings, and expectations that their Christian and Jewish neighbors place upon their own clergy? have, the greater their mobility within its social structure. Since 60% of them are actively involved in the wider community’s social affairs, it seems that they are taking the initiative when it comes to opening doors and widening the Muslims’ social presence. There is cause to worry, however, that 40% of them are not socially involved in the wider society, for this lack of engagement harms the imam, his family, and the community. In fact, socially engaged wives cause their husbands to be better known and make the community more visible.

Some 55% of them are employed outside the home, which translates into increased family income, more personal mobility, and rearranging traditional family life to accommodate their work schedules. Half of them work in banking, finance, and accounting; the other half are in health-related professions.

Outside employment is made somewhat easier because the children of those 70% who have children are, on average, thirteen years old and 60% are boys. Older children can help out by taking care of the children and making appropriate decisions while their mothers are working.

Like most immigrants, Muslims desire to maintain contact with their homeland. Seventy percent of the imams’ wives have gone back to visit their parents within the last three years. This speaks well for maintaining close family ties and reflects their traditional culture. Clearly a major expense, such trips represent a major family decision not to purchase other items.

Of the 40% of wives who hold university degrees, 85% of them earned their degree(s) before they immigrated. Of these, 30% are in various medical fields and 70% are in some branch of banking and finance. They earn roughly $25,000 per year. While 55% of them work outside the home, only 40% say they wear western-style clothing while 85% wear hijab.

This shows a degree of resistance to “westernizing” their personal appearance, despite their adoption of western manners and lifestyles in other areas. _______________________________ Editor’s Note: Author’s summary of part 2, chapter 4, of “Muslim Clergy in America: Ministry as Profession in the Islamic Community,” 2d ed. (South Bend, IN: The Victoria Press, 2010).

Dr. John H. Morgan, a visiting scholar at the New York University’s Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Karl Mannheim professor of the history and philosophy of the social sciences at the Graduate Theological Foundation, is a summer tutor in the international programs division of Oxford University.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY DANISH SHAH

PROFILE

Expert Healer Neurointerventional neurologists are a rarity; Dr. Qaisar Shah is one of the nation’s approximately twenty practicing specialists in this area. BY NABEELAH NAEEM

O

ne night, a loud thump shook the house at 3:30 a.m.

Oddly it was neither of Dr. Qaisar Shah’s children falling off the bed; rather, it was Shah himself. One of the challenges of being on call 24/7 is that you do not know when you will receive a call. In his rush to reach the phone, he fell out of bed. The specialist answered the hospital’s call, not even sparing a moment to shake off his pain.

Neurointerventional neurologists are a rarity; Shah is one of the nation’s approximately twenty practicing specialists in this area.

His unyielding persistence, hard work, and dedication certainly have brought him success, as “Philadelphia” magazine (2009) indicated by ranking him as one of the “Best Physicians Age 40 and Under.” During his career, this now sought-after expert has also earned medical licenses and certification from Pakistan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Virginia; secured residencies at Flushing Hospital and Medical Center (internal medicine) and

52 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

Dartmouth University School of Medicine (neurology); and obtained fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (cerebrovascular disease and critical care), the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (endovascular neurology), and the University of Minnesota (endovascular surgical neuroradiology).

What motivated him throughout the years of his studies? What made him so determined to chase his dream? Shah credits his faith, inner strength, and support from his friends and family with helping him learn how to deal with challenges that would overwhelm many others. At seven, he already knew that he wanted to be a physician; he never had second thoughts about it. His childhood role model was his uncle, a general practitioner: “I was inspired by my uncle and wanted to be like him. I thought this profession was an innovative profession, [one] which could treat everything that no one else could do.”

During his medical school years in Pakistan, Shah and his two close friends studied together and motivated each other. Al-

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Shah credits his faith, inner strength, and support from his friends and family with helping him learn how to deal with challenges that would overwhelm many others

though students usually take the United States Medical Licensing Examination after graduation, the three friends took it — and passed — two years early. The first in their class to do so, they were accepted into different American medical programs.

Citing his most valued possessions as his medical school degree and unbounded determination, Shah dedicated himself completely to his work. Some months went by until he discovered his “destined” specialization during his neurology rotation: neurology. Drawn by the neurological cases in New York’s Flushing Hospital, he realized that “the brain was an exciting field in itself surrounded with a lot of mystery.”

That choice behind him, he now had to pick a specialization. While wrestling with the available options, he attended a talk given by neurologist Dr. Anthony Furlan (chairman, Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University) on interventional neurology. Captivated by this cutting-edge and unique field, Shah set out to become a neurointerventionalist.

Repairing aneurysms and blood vessel

malformations, as well as unclogging arteries and removing blood clots in the brain without even opening the brain, fascinated him. Radiology and innovative technology enable neurointerventionalists to see inside blood vessels and treat the blood vessels supplying one’s brain. Inserting a thin, flexible tube known as a catheter through a small incision in the groin area and through an external control, the neurointerventionalist carefully guides the catheter through the blood vessel to the problematic area in the brain. Depending upon the problem, different techniques are used to enable the blood to flow to the brain. If an aneurysm exists, coils are placed in it via the catheter. Great care has to be taken not to rupture the aneurysm, as this could lead to sudden death.

Neither disheartened by the perseverance and persistence that would be required, nor his subsequent discovery that this was not considered a neurology specialty, Shah researched and found that Dr. Adnan I. Qureshi (director, Cerebrovascular Program and professor, Department of Neurology and Neurosciences, New Jersey Medical School; chair-elect, the Interventional Neurology Section, American Academy of Neurology) had become the first neurologist interventionalist. Realizing that his goal was possible, during his residency training he spent two weeks with Dr. Qureshi getting to know him, learning how things work, and determining whether he really wanted to pursue this specialization.

Proving his qualifications, he applied for and successfully completed the two-year neurointerventionalist program.

Dr. Qureshi, his mentor and source of inspiration who has published more than 300 articles, stresses that writing in one’s field is very educative: “When you write you read, and when you read you explore, in order to be the most authentic and reliable doctor you can possibly be. Thus, when you read you improve your clinical skills, stay up-to-date with the technology and literature, and increase your knowledge.” So far Shah has published twentyfive articles in national, international, and peer-reviewed journals.

Upon entering the room where Shah does his procedures, I seemed to have stepped into the future of science. It was far more fascinating than any scene from

“ER” or “House, M.D.” I tried to imagine the screens displaying Shah maneuvering the catheter cautiously through the maze of blood vessels — standing alert and warily for hours, feeling neither sleep nor hunger, with only one goal: to heal the patient. With God’s help, not to mention his knowledge and mastery of innovative technology, he has performed over 500 successful procedures. Every patient brings a different challenge. The day I visited him, he had been on his feet for six hours — and it showed.

When he finally goes home, he usually has dinner with his family and plays with his two children, aged three years and five months, respectively. Upon being asked, he said that his busiest day was the fourth day after his daughter’s birth, a day on which he did six procedures — three of which were emergency cases and all of which were suc-

‘‘

If you believe you can do something you must pursue the task, continue the struggle, and trust in God and yourself. Then one day you will achieve it.”

cessful. Starting that particular day at 7 a.m., he finally called it quits at 3 a.m. the next day.

The hospital’s only neurointerventionalist and neurointensivist, Shah rarely takes any time off. He is on call 24/7. He strongly believes the “most important thing in patient care is to actually spend time with the patient and family. Eye contact, humility, and compassion are the traits that will make you a successful physician. If you go around you will find hundreds and hundreds of physicians who will be better technically and education-wise, but they will not necessarily be the best doctor if they lack compassion and humility. Those are qualities you need to be the best doctor.”

Shah advises other students facing obstacles in their career path to be persistent: “If you believe you can do something you must pursue the task, continue the struggle, and trust in God and yourself. Then one day you will achieve it.”

_______________________________ Nabeelah Naeem is a freelance writer.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ISLAMIC HORIZONS 53

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PERSPECTIVE

BY CELENE AYAT LIZZIO

Calligraphy has long been esteemed within Islamic cultures, and thus ornately penned copies of the Qur’an represent its apogee. Despite the dearth of extant samples of the Qur’an from Islam’s earliest years, prized Qur’an folios and entire codices can be found in museums, libraries, and archives all over the world. Mushaf, (pl. masahif), the term for a codex of the Qur’an, is derived from the word suhuf (Qur’an 80:13-16), a term that suggests loose pages, leaflets, or small pamphlets.

The Early History of the Mushaf Accordingly, textual and archaeological evidence of early Qur’an copying reveals irregular scripts squeezed onto even unlikely writing surfaces, such as bone. Due to weather, heavy use, and a host of other considerations, however, early Qur’an folios are limited in comparison to later samples. As a result, scholars do not agree on when, and under what circumstances, the Qur’an first took codex form.

The study of extant Qur’ans in research universities is one area of specialty within the vibrant field of Islamic art history. Qur’anic research specialists not only study isolated folios and manuscripts to identify historical data (e.g., the calligraphers, illuminators, patrons, dates and locations of production), but also use extant samples of the Qur’an to highlight the wider artistic, cultural, intellectual, and even political contexts.

The study of Qur’an copying within nonMuslim research universities goes back at least as far as the eighteenth century, when George Christian Adler of the Royal Library in Copenhagen coined the now popular term “Kufic” (after Kufah, a medieval city in present day southern Iraq) to connote the dominant script style used during the height of the Abbasid dynasty, circa eighth and ninth centuries ce.

Most recently, such scholars as Nabia Abott (“The Rise of the North Arabic Script and its Kur’anic Development, with a Full Description of the Kur’an Manuscripts in the Oriental Institute” [The University of Chicago Press: 1939]), Annmarie Schimmel (“Calligraphy and Islamic Culture” [New York University

Press: 1984]), Oleg Grabar, François Déroche (“The Abbasid Tradition: Qur’ans of the 8th to the 10th Centuries, A.D.” [Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press: 1992]), D. S. Rice (“Commentary on the Complete Facsimile Edition of The Unique Ibn al-Bawwab

54 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

Manuscript” [from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Manuscript K.16.

Akademische Druck - u. Verlagsanstalt, 1983]), Martin Lings (“The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination” [Art of Islam Festival Trust: 1976]), Sheila Blair, and Yasser Tabbaa (“The Transformations of Islamic Art During the Sunni Revival” PHOTOGRAPH BY A. GUDE, CC-BY-SA-2.0

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[University of Washington Press: 2001]), have contributed greatly toward mapping developments within the industry of high-end Qur’an production. In addition to providing rich comparisons between Qur’anic specimens and other calligraphic forms, these academics are developing diverse and intricate strategies for approximating dates and places of origin.

While their exacting ability is impressive, across published collections certain evolutions of script and ornamentation catch the attention of even a non-specialist. For instance, the earliest extant Qur’an folios from the late seventh to early eighth centuries show great variation in script styles and feature decorative elements that were removed from standardized copies in the mid-eighth to ninth centuries. One published early Qur’an folio even contains an impressionistic illumination of paradise, a scandalous illumination by later standards. While the script of the mid-eighth to late-ninth centuries exhibits some regional variation, it is on the whole surprisingly uniform — large, angular script that is quite distinct from what the modern reader of the mushaf encounters today. Mid-eighth- through ninth-century folios do not usually contain colophons (pages stating the patron, copyist, place and/or date of production).

If colophons are present, however, they often state dates that are far earlier than would otherwise be plausible, judging from scholarly analysis of the style of script and illumination. Clearly, the older editions carried special value.

Toward the end of the ninth century, Qur’an copying began to see new developments. Script transformations introduced diagonal characteristics and thinner, elongated decorative heads on certain letters to adapt the previous thick, angular, and rigid scripts. The developing script, referred to by scholars as “bent Kufic,” “East-Persian Kufic,” or simply “the new style,” provided a softer, more yielding appearance and allowed for more words on a given page. The concessions made toward the new style may have appealed to patrons seeking a more modern, more elegant presentation of the Qur’an compared to the wide angular script that is reminiscent of Arabia’s rock inscriptions. By maintaining some angular forms, the new style was still linked to Islam’s Arabian

roots, yet it drew closer to the mundane cursive scripts used for bureaucratic purposes throughout the Baghdad-based Abbasid Empire. The gradual change to paper as a medium for writing during this period also facilitated the use of thinner, curved characters. Previously, parchment and papyri had proved more suited for wider, thicker pen strokes.

Over the course of the early tenth century, Ibn al-Muqla received the majority of credit for developing the cursive “proportioned script” (khat al-mansub) used in governmental affairs. Unfortunately, no confirmed samples of his writing are currently known, and only textual descriptions remain. In any event, scholars suspect that the circular letters developed by him were not used within any published extant Qur’ans during his lifetime due to the possible use of two script styles during this period: bureaucratic “cursive” and “monumental,” the latter being used on coin and building inscriptions and within Qur’ans. Each style had its own exacting standards of perfection.

By the turn of the first Christian millennium, the two distinct styles began to merge, and codices had assumed an ornamentation and script far removed from the earlier angular styles. The common orientation of the page in the tenth century shifted from a horizontal to a vertical format, likely mimicking the format copyists would be accustomed to using for secular bureaucratic matters. Codices developed a highly ornate script, numerous ornamental additions, and a marked increase in extraneous material preceding and following the text (e.g., colophons, verse counts, letter counts, and decorative frontispieces). Voicing and diacritical marks became present with more regularity. The late tenth century also saw the near complete shift in materials; high quality codices are almost exclusively copied on paper, rather than parchment or papyri.

The emergence of new script and illumination styles for codices may be attributed, at least in part, to a wider cultural renaissance during the Buyid regional supremacy. This period, often consumed by the greater grouping of “latter Abbasid caliphates,” deserves special attention for the proliferation of novel artistic designs within regional courts. As the provincial

courts of local rulers and viziers in Hamadhan, Isfahan, Rayy, Shiraz, and other western cities became increasingly wealthy and prominent, they undertook an unprecedented level of sponsorship of the arts in an atmosphere that was ripe for innovation and development. These wider phenomena are echoed in the new decorative forms of the mushaf.

Conquering Baghdad in 954, the nonArab Buyids were Shia Muslims from the region of Daylam, approximately 500 miles northeast of Baghdad on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Their stronghold on Baghdad exasperated the already growing inability of the Islamic caliphate to control the provinces. In this political environment, the new Buyid elite and their extensive courtly entourages turned political hubs into centers for the collection of erudite and artistic personalities.

Arguably due to this political distancing from Arab origins, certain cultural forms, among them the more plainly monumental style of Qur’anic script, lost their import. Reminiscent of Arabian rock inscriptions and leadership, that particular script was replaced by a calligraphic hand closer in form to the familiar script of the growing class of chancellery secretaries in court entourages. In fact, several highly skilled copyists were also excellent diplomats, epitomized by the famed Ibn al-Bawwab, who produced the first fully preserved Qur’an in the cursive script to reach the modern era. His manuscript, now housed at the Dublin (Ireland)’s Chester Beatty Library, is evidence of a flourishing new style of copying and illumination. If it were an anomaly in its time, historians would expect to find evidence of monumental or angular styles well into the second Christian millennium. But given the absence of any such physical evidence of monumental or angular scripts from this period, it is likely that this manuscript signals a watershed period in Qur’an copying. While many developments in Qur’an script and illumination have taken place since then, the present day common mass-printed Qur’ans have many stylistic features that echo those of the Ibn al-Bawwab manuscript.

_______________________________ Celene Ayat Lizzio, a Master of Divinity candidate at the Harvard Divinity School, is an ISNA fellow.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ISLAMIC HORIZONS 55

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF GADA FATHI OSMAN

TRIBUTE

Another Light Fades Out F ATHI O SMAN (1928-2010) Cut down by congestive heart failure on 11 Sept. 2010, Dr. Fathi Osman left behind an intellectual legacy that few contemporary Muslims can match. One of the main focuses of his adult life was trying to explain to non-Muslim Westerners that Muslims were not a monolithic antiWestern bloc driven by “fundamentalist” or “radical” Islam, and to Muslims that Islam’s long and rich global and intellectual heritage is naturally flexible enough to retain its relevancy in the contemporary world.

During his long career he published some forty books to make his case. Among them are such classics as an authoritative guide to the Qur’an for non-Arabic readers, the al-

most 1,000-page subject-listed “Concepts of the Quran: A Topical Reading” (English; 1997), “The Individual in Muslim Society: Mutual Rights and Obligations” (Arabic; 1963), and “Human Rights in Western Thought and Islamic Law” (Arabic; 1981). Among his other English-language publications are “Muslim Women in the Family and the Society” (1990), “Islamic Law in Contemporary Society: Shari’a Dynamics of Change” (1995), and “Children of Adam: An Islamic Perspective on Pluralism” (1995).

In 1981, Dr. Osman became editor of the newly launched London-based “Arabia, the Islamic World Review”, a monthly English

56 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

language magazine dedicated to Islamic issues. He reached out to young journalists as well as to experienced academics and leaders. He believed the more the name of the organization disappears from its magazine, the more chance the magazine has for success. “Arabia”, often banned by Muslim countries for its outspokenness, finally ceased publication in 1987.

Osman also traveled far and wide to speak on the rights of women, democratic pluralism, the Shari‘ah and civil law, and why Muslims in the West should internalize Western civic values. In one of his articles on Islam and human rights he went so far as to say: “We have to realize that God’s law is not an alternative to the human mind, nor is it supposed to put it out of action. Openness is life, while being closed off and isolated is suicidal.”

A firm believer in Islam’s eternal relevance, he did not shy away from trying to determine which elements of traditional Muslim practice were permanent and which were only temporary. It is a loss for the entire ummah that he was unable to fulfill this vital task before he died. He also spent his time explaining more “practical” matters: human dignity, peace, pluralism, democracy, freedom of expression, gender equality, interfaith cooperation, social change, advocating for a jurisprudential school of thought designed specifically for Muslim minorities, and using the methodologies found in the contemporary social science disciplines. All such undertakings were, of course, based upon the Qur’anic text and the Prophet’s Sunnah.

Born in Egypt, Osman earned a degree in history (Cairo University, 1948), a law degree (Alexandria University, 1960), and a master’s degree in Islamic-Byzantine relations (Cairo University, 1962).

A firm believer in Islam’s eternal relevance, he did not shy away from trying to determine which elements of traditional Muslim practice were permanent and which were only temporary.

In the 1940s he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, an anticolonialist and Islamist group, and helped edit its weekly newspaper. Although a friend and colleague of Sayyid Qutb, the newspaper’s editor-inchief, he broke away in the 1950s. His “Islamic Thought and Change” (Arabic; 1960) presented a more moderate version of Islam. Other Arabic-language books on Islamic thought as it pertains to human rights and legal systems followed. During that same decade he also held several posts at al-Azhar and worked on reforming the Islamic curriculum at Egyptian universities. After teaching at various Algerian and Saudi Arabian universities, he enrolled in Princeton and earned a doctorate in Near Eastern studies (1976). His topic was Islamic land ownership and taxation.

He then joined the history department at Ibn Saud University in Riyadh.

In 1987 he became a scholar-in-residence at Los Angeles’ Islamic Center of Southern California. Over the years, he founded the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, part of the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation, and served as a senior scholar at the University of Southern California’s Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement.

In addition to his daughter Ghada, he is survived by his wife Aida Abdel-Rahman Osman. ^

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BY IMAM MOHAMMED IBN HAGMAGID ^ WITH SAMUEL ROSS

What’s your stress level? If it’s like many Muslim Americans’, it’s quite high. Daily we read news stories of humanitarian crises, hate crimes, environmental destruction, and home foreclosures. In our own lives we may face financial hardships, family tensions, and fears about the security of the Muslim community. The effect can be overwhelming. How do we respond? And where can we turn for comfort?

The first and most important step is, as always, to turn to the example of the blessed Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), where we find an example of one who was never fazed, despite tribulations far worse than we can imagine. The Prophet’s father died before his birth; his mother died six years later. He endured extreme hunger, and at times he and his wife Khadija subsisted on nothing but dates. At least once he had to tie a stone to his stomach to ease the pangs of hunger. His own people mocked and assaulted him, imposed sanctions and eventually declared war against him. From the desperateness of their situation, many of his Companions sought refuge in other cities. He would see all but one of his own children die.

Yet despite all of this, Ali (radiya Allahu ‘anhu) described him as one who smiled constantly (“Shama’il al-Tirmidhi,” no. 352).

How can we achieve a measure of his happiness and calm?

First and foremost, the Prophet chose the path of optimism. As his Companion Abu Hurayra reported: “The Prophet, (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), loved optimism and hated pessimism” (“Musnad Ahmad,” no. 8194). Despite all of the troubles that he faced, every night the Prophet would spend hours in prayer, standing until his feet would swell. When Aisha once asked him why he did so, he replied: “Should I not be a grateful servant?” (“Sahih al-Bukhari,” no. 1130).

Let’s not lose sight of the good around us. As God states in the Qur’an: “If you

Food for the Spirit

Worried about the World would count the favors of God, never would you be able to number them” (16:18). The news reported by the media outlets is not an accurate representation of the world; rather, it is the result of preferring the sensational. A man driving safely to work, after all, is not news, but his dying in a lurid car crash certainly is. Yes, there are many divorces every year, but there are many more couples getting married. Yes, there are botched surgeries, but there are

58 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

In the Prophet’s example, Muslims have way to achieve a measure of his happiness and calm. ______________________________________________________

Imam Mohammed ibn Hagmagid, vice president of ISNA, was educated by his father, an al-Azhar graduate and a leading scholar in Sudan, and other notable scholars, and earned the ijazah (permission to teach) in several disciplines.

Samuel Ross is a student of the Arabic language.

many more successful ones. Yes, some people oppose building mosques in their communities, but many more welcome them.

Second, let’s not forget that God has made oppression unsustainable in the long run: “Falsehood is ever bound to perish” (13:17). Where is apartheid South Africa?

Where is the segregationist South? Where is Nazi Germany? God removed these blights from the surface of the Earth and, one day, will remove all of those now beleaguering humanity. Of course this is not to say that all oppression will one day disappear, for as long as we have free will some of us will pursue evil. But Allah will not permit them to do so forever.

Third, when thinking about the pain of our brothers and sisters, remember that God says: “Verily My mercy surpasses My wrath” (“Sahih al-Bukhari,” no. 7404).

This neither denies their very real suffering nor our obligation to help them, but tells us that our finite suffering here is nothing compared to the eternal joy that God offers from His infinite mercy.

So overwhelming will this joy be that once experienced, nothing here will seem to be of any consequence. After tasting Paradise we will be asked: “O human being, have you ever seen any bad at all; have you

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ever experienced a single misery?,” to which they will reply: “No, by God, my Lord, I have never seen any bad or suffered a single misery” (“Sahih Muslim,” no.

2807). Commentators explain that this does not mean that those in Paradise will lie, but rather than no trials in this world can compare to the joy in of the next.

Moreover, in Paradise the duration of our earthly trials will seem insignificant. As the mathematicians say, any number divided by infinity still approaches zero.

All of this, however, does not mean that the Prophet was carefree or did not worry about his fellow human beings. In fact, he worried about them tremendously. But this never led him to despair; rather, it led him to action backed by his firm trust in God’s ability to bring success.

Given this reality, what are some of the steps we can take amidst our own tribulations?

One is to act. The Qur’an states: “Were it not for God repelling some people by means of others, Earth would have been corrupted” (2:251). Rather than merely lamenting environmental degradation, for example, let’s advocate for its protection, even if only in our own homes. What

WHAT SPIRITUAL TOPICS MATTER MOST TO YOU? Please help “Food for the Spirit” better meet your needs by completing a two-minute survey at: www.isna.net/foodforthespiritsurvey changes can we make to our lifestyles?

Rather than being merely saddened by epidemics, let’s help the sick. As many diseases are completely preventable with inexpensive vaccines, let’s donate money for their distribution. Rather than being merely worried by negative views of Islam, let’s share with our neighbors the mercy that defined the Prophet and seek to educate extremists within our own communities.

Sometimes people ask: “What can we do? The situation is intractable; nothing will make a difference.” But this misses the point. We are not, as individuals, responsi-

ble for effects — for personally eradicating hunger or saving the environment. We are only responsible for our own choices.

Moreover, our scholars teach that if we do not help those in need, then Allah will test us as they have been tested. By giving to the poor we protect our own wealth. Indeed we increase it, for as the Prophet taught, wealth is not decreased by charity.

But in our efforts, we must be wary of activism without spirit, for the Qur’an states that God is only “with” the mu’minun (the believers), the muttaqin (the Godconscious), the sabirin (the patient), and the muhsinin (those who, in the words of Gabriel, worship God as if they see Him, and if they do not see Him, as if He sees them). God does not say He is with those who merely secure positions of power or out-shout their opponents.

May God give us the wisdom to see the world for what it really is — an abode of tests — the patience to endure, the strength to act, and the comfort of nearness to Him. Please send your feedback and questions to: foodforthespirit@isna.net. Visit us at our website, where you can download this and previous columns at: www.isna.net/foodforthespirit.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 ISLAMIC HORIZONS 59

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REVIEWS

Short Takes

Young Muslims Speak Up

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his book is far more than the usual lip-service and clichés so often applied to young Muslims’ aspirations and issues. The contributors analyze the politics of young people’s dissent, their livelihoods and lifestyles, strivings for citizenship, navigation of identities, and musical politics. Often in conflict with long-standing cultural and religious traditions, not to mention oppressively conservative political regimes that allow them Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural few outlets in which to express Politics in the Global South and North themselves, youth dissatisfaction Linda Herrera and Asef Bayat, eds.

2010. pp. 428. PB. $29.95 with the status quo is on the rise Oxford University Press, New York, NY all over the Muslim world.

What does this mean for the future, for they are the ones who will be the rulers, scholars, teachers, and majority population — if they are not already — in the not so distant future. It is time that we try to understand them as they “migrate, forge networks, innovate in the arts, master the tools of new media, and assert themselves in the public sphere.”

The valuable contributions in this book can help us do just that. A thoroughly engaging read.

Muslims in America

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he result of the author and his team of young researchers’ year-long odyssey through more than seventy-five cities all over America tells us a great deal of who we, as Americans, really are. During their visits to homes, schools, and over one hundred mosques, they sought to discover what Muslims are thinking and how they are living every day in America.

Journey into America: The Themes addressed include Challenge of Islam Akbar Ahmed defining and searching for 2010. pp. 528. HB. $29.95 Brookings Institution Press, American identity; AfricanWashington, DC American Muslims, immigrant Muslims, and converts in America; and how Muslims are adjusting and adapting to their lives here in terms of their relationships with Jews and Mormons, as well as with post-9/11 mainstream America and its ongoing Islamophobia.

Journey into America explores and documents how Muslims are fitting into American society, placing their experience within the larger context of American identity. This eye-opening book also offers a fresh and insightful perspective on American history and society. The most comprehensive study to date of America’s Muslim community.

60 ISLAMIC HORIZONS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

Barefoot in Baghdad: An Aid Worker’s Journey through Chaos with the Women of Iraq

Without either of them, there would have been no Renaissance in Europe. And yet this legacy remains largely ignored and unknown. This book seeks to correct this glaring oversight by western historians and other scholars.

Islamic Natural Law Theories

Manal M. Omar 2010. pp. 272. PB. $14.99 Sourcebooks, Naperville, IL

A Palestinian who grew up in America, the author lived in Iraq from 2003-05 to help as many women as she could to rebuild their lives. Armed with her American passport, she was allowed access to the representatives of the American-led coalition in the Green Zone. Her adherence to Muslim dress and fluent Arabic also allowed her the unique opportunity to live in an Iraqi neighborhood with no armed security, where she witnessed an Iraq that was accessible to few others.

Anver M. Emon 2010. pp. 200.

HB. $80.00 Oxford University Press, New York, NY

By recasting the Islamic legal tradition in terms of legal philosophy, the author sheds substantial light on an uncharted tradition of natural law theory and offers critical insights into contemporary global debates about Islamic law and reform.

A History of Islam in America Kambiz GhaneaBassiri 2010. pp. 456.

PB. $27.99 Cambridge University Press,

Edward Said: The Charisma of Criticism H. Aram Veesser 2010. pp. 272.

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This candid tale of Said’s rise from elite academic precincts to the world stage transforms not only our own understanding of Said — the man and the myth — but also our perception of how intellectuals can make their way in the world.

Studies in Islamic Civilization: The Muslim Contribution to the Renaissance Ahmed Essa with Othman Ali 2010. pp. 312. PB. $18.95 The International Institute of Islamic Thought, Herndon, VA

For almost a thousand years Islam was one of the world’s leading civilizations and Arabic was the international language of science.

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The author tells the often deeply moving stories of individual Muslims and their lives as immigrants and citizens within the broad context of the American religious experience, showing how that experience has been integral to the evolution of Muslim American institutions and practices.

Iqbal’s Concept of God Salman Raschid 2010. pp. 150. HB. $20.00 Oxford University Press, New York, NY

Raschid examines Iqbal’s thoughts about God by discussing the following issues: Iqbal and the Western Tradition, Iqbal and the Muslim Tradition, and Beyond Iqbal: The Nature of the Problem of God.

215476_001-064:IH 10/6/10 12:46 PM Page 61

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MAIL TO: ISNA, Dept. M, PO Box 38, Plainfield, IN 46168-0038. FAX TO: (317) 839-1840.

TO RESPOND/ANSWER TO A MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENT: Write a letter about yourself, include your return address. Place the letter & photo (if requested) inside a STAMPED, SEALED envelope with CODE # of the AD your are responding to WRITTEN in the LOWER LEFT HAND CORNER of the envelope.

Mail this envelop(s) IN ONE LARGER ENVELOPE to: ISLAMIC HORIZONS, Dept. M, PO BOX 38, PLAINFIELD, IN 46168-0038.

FOR CANADIAN/OVERSEAS RESPONSES ONLY, forwarding postage will be provided. All other letters for forwarding within the US or not specified must have correct postage or forwarding will be delayed until postage is received. Editors reserve the right to

dispose/return any ad or response deemed in violation of Islamic principles or American or Canadian laws in any manner whatsoever.

Solicitations of any kind are prohibited.

ISNA, “Islamic Horizons”, or it’s employees are not liable in any manner whatsoever for any problems or claims arising as a result of the correspondence generated from these advertisements, or any actions of the advertisers or those responding to the ads.

215476_001-064:IH 10/6/10 12:46 PM Page 62

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215476_001-064:IH 10/6/10 12:46 PM Page 64

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) P.O. Box 38 • Plainfield, IN 46168-0038

NON PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE

PAID PERMIT #15 KENT, OH