The Muslim Link - May 11, 2012

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ICM Set To Break Ground May 13

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

Drone Summit : US Killing Machines Gathering of Anti-Drone Activists in DC Coincides Illegal, Immoral with First US Admission of Drone Usage >>PG 9

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Harassed At the Airport?

Click Here. | pg 4 Statistics Can Drive Youth Program Planning | pg 5 New Civil Freedoms Coalition First Banquet Sells Out | pg 5

Institute Seeks To Fill Leadership Void| pg 10

New Islamic School Announced for Howard County

By Muslim Link Staff Citing the growing Muslim population of Howard County, Maryland, and the need for “high quality Islamic education”, a group of Muslim mothers this month announced plans for

Region Gears Up for Annual Mega Carnival

NATL NEWS: ‘12 Candidates Leery of Muslim Vote | pg 19 wpress: West Looks to Islamic Fin For Growth | pg 20

a “ground breaking” new full-time Islamic school in the county, set to open its doors in September 2013.

ISLAM: Preparing for the Month of Mercy | pg 25

Tarbiyah Academy, the planned International Bac-

The Muslim Link

>> school Pg 11

>> carnival Pg 6

Coupons PG 34

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

INDEX

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

4 | COMMUNITY NEWS

Community News Harassed At the Airport? Click Here.

By Wafa Unus

Muslim Link Staff Reporter Feel like the TSA overstepped their bounds during a security check? There’s an app for that.

On Monday April 30th, the Sikh Coalition released a mobile phone application that allows individuals to report complaints to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in real time.

“The idea came from Sikh entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who were facing profiling...Somebody literally said ‘there should be an app for that’ and we ran with it,” said Rajdeep Singh, the Sikh Coalition’s Director of Law and Policy.

The app, called FlyRights, allows indi-

viduals instant access to a form requesting the same information as complaint forms available through the TSA and DHS websites. Once information is entered into the form and submitted, an email, containing the information, is sent to both of the departments for review.

Upon receiving the complaint, it undergoes the same process that all other complaints registered with either the TSA or DHS. While individuals can file complaints through forms on both departments websites, the app allows them to do it almost instantly. Crucial details, or even the motivation to file a complaint can be lost between the time of an incident and the time a traveler reaches their destination or has access to the Internet.

click Pg 14

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

COMMUNITY NEWS

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Researchers Say Statistics Can Drive Youth Program Planning Panel of Experts Discusses Findings At “Power In Numbers” Forum at ADAMS Center

By Wendy Diaz

Muslim Link Contributing Writer

Dr. Husain mentioned that other groups, such as members of the Jewish faith, have established their own fact finding methods and surveys, rather than relying on mainstream polling, while Muslims are still in the beginning stages of developing such programs.

45% of Muslim adolescents suffer from symptoms of depression. 86% of Muslim youth experience racial teasing. In 1999, 44% of Asian boys and 77% of Non-Asian boys had intimate relations by the age of 18-20.

These are just some of the findings of numerous studies conducted by a team of experts in social work as part of an ongoing project that seeks to bring to light issues that affect Muslim youth in the West.

On Saturday, May 5, 2012, the Youth Committee of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Sterling, Virginia, hosted the forum entitled, “Power in Numbers: How Research About Our

Community Can Guide Youth Program Planning.”

cial Work from Howard University and is well known for his advocacy of social

Among the panelists were Dr. Altaf Husain, who holds a doctoral degree in So-

>> Statistics Pg 11

New Civil Freedoms Coalition First Banquet Sells Out

By Muslim Link Staff The National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF), a civil rights coalition made up of Muslim and non-Muslim

advocacy groups formed last year to push back against the rapid erosion of civil freedoms in the United States, held their first annual banquet on April 15, 2012 in Northern Virginia.

Banners on display at the NCPCF banquet, some advocating for particular Muslim prisoners caught up in what civil rights activists say is an overzealous government crackdown on ‘homegrown terrorists’. A survey of ‘home grown terrorism’ convictions has shown that most successful government prosecutions involve paid informants of ill repute who work to entrap young American Muslims men in fake FBI concocted terror plots. Photos by Muslim Link.

The banquet, which had a strong attendance particularly from the Dar AlHijrah Muslim community, featured prominent civil rights activists including keynote speaker Glen Greenwald, an activist constitutional law attorney who

Glen Greenwald, author of “With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful”, addresses the audience while a volunteer (to the right) in an orange jumpsuit listens in a cage built to mimic Guantanamo cells.

On the reasons most Americans are apathetic to the stunning loss of civil freedoms, he gave three main reasons: 1) The perception that the assault is on different people (Muslims) and not ‘average’ Americans; 2) Both Republicans and Democrats are engaged in illegal and oppressive civil rights violations; and 3) with a deep fear of ‘terrorism’ kept alive by the government, average Americans no longer believe in the maxim ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’.

is a widely read blogger and author, and former Army Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay James Yee. Below are some photos from the fundraising banquet.

Dr. Sami Al-Arian, still under house detention in Virginia for what supporters say was his outspokenness on behalf of Palestinians, addresses the audience via an internet connection.

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

6 | COMMUNITY NEWS

Region Gears Up for Annual Mega Carnival Muslim FunFest Expected to Attract 12,000 Guests On May 26

Right, the newest addition to the Muslim FunFest experience is the Roundup Ride which might be the closest most people get to zero gravity. Bottom, the massive congregational prayer will take place again at the center of the carnival, In Shaa Allah.

By Muslim Link Staff Organizers are making final preparations for what they say is the largest annual Muslim social event in the region – the Muslim FunFest Family Carnival.

This year the 5th annual fun-filled event will take place memorial day weekend on Saturday, May 26 starting from 12 noon. As in previous years, the venue will be High Point Farm in Clarksburg, Maryland.

Based on car counts by parking attendants, last year’s crowd was estimated at well over 10,000 guests. This year organizers are hoping for 12,000 carnival goers.

The carnival began in 2008 as a project of the Washington DC area Muslim Link newspaper with the goal of bringing area masajid closer together. About 2,000 guests attended the first carnival which took place on a cloudy day beginning with light rain.

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“We are grateful to Allah for the success He allowed [Muslim FunFest]. The carnival is now an exciting and highly anticipated part of the annual DMV landscape. Believe it or not, some people are actually planning their trips around FunFest because their kids refuse to miss it,” said Minhaj Hasan, editor of the Muslim Link.

Virginia, we haven’t looked into reserving hotel rooms, but as the event grows we might have to,” said Hasan.

Although still under the Muslim Link umbrella, FunFest is now managed by dedicated event staff and over one hundred volunteers. “The [Muslim Link] has only three full-time employees, and

“These larger rides are very expensive,so we take our time in choosing the best ones for our guests which will be fun as well as high capacity. Cutting down on long lines is a priority for us,” said Zafer Eroglu, a member of the FunFest organizing team.

Organizers said they’ve received several calls from families in outlying states wanting information on hotels rates for FunFest guests. “Since most of our guests come from Maryland, DC, and

we are busy running the newspaper, so it was a natural and necessary hand-off in order for the carnival to grow,” said Hasan, who expects to sit in the carnival’s “command center” booth again this year.

In addition to the mechanical, inflatable, and other rides from years past, the 2012 Muslim FunFest includes the “Roundup” ride, a large spinning wheel which gives riders a zero-gravity sensation. All of the rides are rented by FunFest organizers. Also, a third camel will be at FunFest for the camel ride. The helicopter ride sold out last year, and organizers are expecting it to do very well again this year.

“These larger rides are very expensive, so we take our time in choosing the best ones for our guests which will be fun as well as high capacity. Cutting down on long lines is a priority for us,” said Zafer Eroglu, a member of the FunFest organizing team.

Two years ago, after guests gave feedback about the long wait times for food, FunFest organizers redesigned the entire food ordering and delivery process mega Pg 7

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

COMMUNITY NEWS

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Documentary: Yearning to Be Free Documentary project by a local Muslim woman on the historic case of Ahmed Abu-Ali launched in Washington DC aims to build awareness, seek justice for Northern Virginia youth serving life

is 20 meters under ground, 8 feet long, and 12 feet wide.

The film will bring Ahmed to life. It will illustrate the effects of Ahmed’s incarceration on his family, friends, and community; and our cherished American values that we take for granted.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT With your support, we will make a short film to tell the world about my friend Ahmed Abu-Ali: Yearning to Breathe Free.

About My Friend Ahmed is an American victim of the War on Terror. He once had a regular life as a youth group leader at my interfaith group, teacher at the weekend school, and American Red Cross Blood Donor. Now he is in Solitary Confinement at ADX Supermax prison. He has been wrongfully incarcerated since he was 22; now he is 31 years old.

Why his case matters His case set many disturbing precedents: It is OK to arrest an American citizen based on secret evidence alone It is OK to use a video recorded in a foreign country as the sole piece of evidence in a U.S. courtroom It is OK to admit evidence obtained by torture in a US courtroom

mega

>> continued from pg 6

resulting in dramatically shortened wait times. “We put some of our best volunteers to head the food area because its such an important part of the FunFest experience, and we want every guest to have a great experience In Shaa Allah,” said Eroglu.

Each year has seen the carnival get

Northern Virginia youth Ahmed Abu-Ali, left, is serving a life sentence under especially harsh federal “special administrative measures” at the underground Supermax prison in Colorado. The government based his terrorism conviction solely on testimony from anonymous Saudi intelligence agents and a coerced, video taped confession Abu-Ali made after months of beating and torture by Saudi officers. At left, a still from the upcoming documentary on his case.

It is OK for witnesses to testify anonymously

precedents for Ahmed, and all Americans now and in the future.

Ahmed’s case made it OK to deny an American of his basic rights as an American citizen—the right for a Miranda statement, the right to an attorney, the right to a speedy trial, the right to know your accuser, the right to know the evidence against you, and the protection from cruel and unusual punishments. In our U.S. courts, under the banner of liberty and justice for all, Ahmed has been stripped of his 4th, 5th and 6th amendment rights.

Yearning to Breathe Free will tell his story with the hope of reversing these

Ahmed was sentenced to life in solitary confinement even though his so called “conspiracies” in the words of judge Gerald Bruce Lee “did not result in a single actual victim.”

closer to financially breaking even; last year organizers say they met expenses.

Both entry and parking are free at FunFest, while ride tickets, food, and vendor fees generate revenue to run the carnival which is a non-profit project.

FunFest provides several hundred “unlimited ride wristbands” to needy children throughout the region through the zakat committees of local masajid.

To learn more or purchase tickets, visit www.muslimFunFest.com.

The Film In less than 10 minutes, the film will take you on Ahmed’s journey. Everyday, Ahmed still resides in a place only a few feet wider than a grave, and many times deeper: A grave is 6 feet deep 8 feet long and 3 feet wide. Ahmed’s cell

Technical Note: Ahmed is under Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) a highly restrictive security measure on top of solitary confinement, which prohibits him from speaking, writing to, or seeing friends or reporters. Under U.S. law, SAMs are only allowed to be imposed for a maximum of 4 months, but a recent amendment has allowed these measures to be renewed.

Ahmed has been under SAMs since he was first arrested (before he was tried), and these measures have been continuously renewed since. Therefore, we will not be able to film Ahmed directly. We will instead hear the voices and see the faces of those closest to him.

Support Yearning to Breathe Free and together we can make our pledge of allegiance something that we can all wholeheartedly believe in. Let’s bring to life liberty and justice for all. Please pledge today by visiting http://www. kickstarter.com/projects/1700876626/ yearning-to-breathe-free For details on the case, visit http://writ. news.findlaw.com/cassel/20051107. html

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

8 | COMMUNITY NEWS

Youth – Not Construction – Is Focus At ICM Fundraiser Ground Breaking On May 13 Will Be Done By ICM Youth

By Muslim Link Staff If people think the upcoming masjid ground breaking at the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg is all about more room for prayer, they must have missed ICM’s fundraising dinner on Saturday, April 28, 2012.

ICM youth opened the program held at the Bohrer Park Activity Center gymnasium with a recitation and translation of the Qur’an. Afterward, host for the evening and ICM trustee Sayed Naved invited another youth to take the podium.

Shafiq Ahmad, who recently graduated from George Washington University with a biology degree, and the head of the MY ICM (Muslim Youth if ICM) program, began by recognizing and congratulating the youth from the ICM community who participated in the DC Muslim InterScholastic Tournament (DC MIST) last month.

“Our programs cannot succeed without our youth, both inside and outside the masjid, and we need parents to encourage their children to [participate],” said Ahmad. Speaking to the youth, Ahmad said “this is your masjid, you need to be as engaged as your parents.” Ahmad then called up Zaid Bilgrami, one of ICM’s youth leaders who led the effort to develop a winning entry into the DC MIST film competition. Bilgrami was given a certificate in recognition of his great contributions to the youth programs at ICM. Fittingly, the DC MIST film entry was about a youth who did not spend time with his father who passed away. The film showed the youth growing up and becoming a father who spent time with his children.

Referencing the film, Sayed Naved asked one of the youth in the audience to stand.

“Brother Wali grew up in the ICM community. I was his Sunday school teacher. He recently graduated, and now he is married [so] the cycle you just saw in the film is beginning all over again [here at ICM]. We need to build a place that will cater to the entire cycle … we

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are all working towards the future,” said Naved. Turning to Zaid Bilgrami, the youth who was presented the award, Naved said “I attended the University of Maryland with his father”.

Speaker after speaker repeated the real importance of tonight’s gathering: building a place for the youth to grow into tomorrow’s ICM leaders.

Even during the overview of the upcoming construction --- a ground breaking is set for May 13 and will prominently feature members of ICM youth – construction sub-committee member Nadeem Ahmad said that even though the “masjid remains at the heart of the community” the Islamic center has “evolved tremendously” and in order to keep people attached to the masjid it must be “multifaceted” and serve their social and educational as well as spiritual needs.

Having received an approved building permit, Nadeem Ahmad described the process going forward and all the parties involved including county departments, engineering firms, architects, fund managers, and ICM management.

So far ICM has spent over $400,000 on plans and engineering alone; About $2 million was raised for construction over the last three and a half years and the total cost of the project is estimated to be $6 million.

Sayed Naved told the audience before the fundraising portion of the evening that now the questions need to be posed to all ICM members.

“For so long [ICM management] was asked ‘when are we starting construction’. Now the question of ‘when’ is over and the question is to you – how much are you going to be involved and engaged? This is truly your opportunity.”

Imam Jamil Dasti conducted the fundraising. After reminding the audience of what Allah says about giving for His cause, Imam Jamil asked the audience if someone was willing to donate $5,000.

A hand went up. It was a young man.

Top, an artists rendering of the new ICM once construction is completed was on display at the fundraiser. Middle, Shafiq Ahmad encourages the youth to take the ICM as their own project as board members and the Imam listen. Bottom, ICM youth take part in handling the donations during the fundraising portion. Photos by Muslim Link.

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

COMMUNITY NEWS

|9

At Summit, Minority Viewpoints Dead Against Drones Antiwar Group organizes summit, but most speakers preaching to choir

By Amali Rehman

stan, and Rafia Zakaria, an attorney advocate for drone victims.

“I don’t see what the down side of drones is,” says Chad Waldo, a former US Navy sailor. “They are a necessity for today’s time. Modern warfare requires drones in certain situations. They keep our soldiers out of harm’s way, especially when military missions require them to be behind enemy lines.”

He continued. “I know drones are at the cutting edge of modern warfare, but I have heard that they have gotten us into some trouble with other countries,” said Ramona, a health industry employee.

What was unusual about the summit was the audience. It consisted of about 90% media professionals, many of whom were journalists and photojournalists. The rest included advocates, representatives from other advocacy groups and a number of retired government employees; like one individual who stood up and stated that he had 45 years’ experience in espionage policy.

He went on to say, “The government is weakest on this issue in transparency…

If you want to fight this issue successfully, you need to move on the issue of transparency and accountability.” Per-

Muslim Link Contributing Writer

This may be the opinion of many Americans in the United States, but on Saturday, May 4th, a summit was held in the heart of Washington DC, regarding

drones and the threat they pose to modern society. This event was organized

by CodePink, a women’s antiwar group, which was founded by Medea Benjamin, a journalist and anti-war advocate.

At this event the speakers were impressive and diverse. Speakers included Shahzad Akbar, a Pakistani lawyer recently made famous by the media uproar that followed when the US barred him from entering the country to speak

on the topic of drones at Columbia University Law School and this summit in DC. He represents noncombatant victims of the CIA’s covert drone warfare program in the Khyber Pakhtunkwa province. Later he was granted a visa.

Also amongst the exemplary speakers in attendance were James Cavallaro from Stanford University Law School, Amna Buttar, a medical doctor and a Parliamentary Representative in Paki-

>> drones Pg 18

Drone Summit : US Killing Machines Illegal, Immoral summit

>> continued from pg 1

By Wafa Unus

Muslim Link Staff Reporter

On April 29th and 30th a women-initiated peace and social justice organization CodePink held a two day summit on drone warfare. White house counterterrorism advisor John O. Brennan made the first official admission by the Obama administration of drone usage, a topic that has been both highly controversial and highly secretive.

The summit hosted speakers from various fields of study and industries to raise awareness for the increased use of drones by the United States government and to urge attendees to demand transparency and ethical standards.

“One big problem with the use of U.S. drones is that it’s very secretive and so just getting information out there is quite a hassle,” said Ramah Kudaimi, an organizer of the event. “We were hoping this summit would get this information out there.”

ing. They fuel anti-american sentiment and backlash.”

Approximately 230 people attended the summit in D.C. aiming to rally support against drones but recent Washington Post-ABC poll statistics show that 83 percent of Americans support the Obama administration’s use of drones.

“I realized in the last year that the way that the U.S. makes war was really transforming in a very real way, from boots on the ground to special operations and drones,” said Madea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink and author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. “If we were going to be aware of the evolution of warfare then it was important to learn about the drones.”

Benjamin, a long time human rights activist said her interest in drones began when troops landed in Afghanistan following the events of September 11th.

What she saw on the ground, she said, made her question the information that was being presented to the American public.

“I think most of the American public thinks that drones are good, that they are a more humane way of killing our enemies without putting our [military]

Incidents where drones have killed, injured or displaced civilians has activists around the world demanding U.S. accountability and compensation for the victims of the attacks.

The U.S. government has been secretive regarding the use of drones. Brennan gave a speech on APRIL 30th, openly admitting their use by the Obama administration for the first time and asked the public to trust the judgments of the government while ensuring that an ethical standard was being adhered to.

Tariq Aziz, a young activist in Pakistan attending an anti-drone meeting with tribal leaders. He became “collateral damage” and died in a drone struck after this picture was taken.

Photo courtesy of REPRIEVE. at risk,” she said. “They are not going to meet an end to the wars that we have been waging but that they are going to ensure that they are going to keep go-

“So let me say it as simply as I can...

Yes, in full accordance with the law — and in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save American lives — the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific al-Qaida terrorists, sometimes using remotely piloted aircraft, often referred to publicly as drones,” said Brennan in his speech as reported by the Washington Post. >> summit II Pg 13

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

10 |COMMUNITY NEWS

HoCo Institute Seeks To Fill Leadership Development Void

By Wafa Unus

Muslim Link Staff Reporter The Islamic Leadership Institute of America (ILIA) held a private meeting for its supporters this week to discuss the Institute’s goals and progress.

Since its inception in ILIA has been working to develop strong leadership in Muslim communities around the country.

However, the seeds of ILIA were planted long before its creation in 2009.

“I think this started really when I was very young, around the age of 13 [living in overseas at the time],” said Ayman Nassar, the founder and chair of the board of directors of ILIA. “My friends and I would complain about the streets not being clean...At the end of the discussion we’d say ‘what can we do, we can’t fix the world.’ I knew the world is broken and people should be doing something about it and at that young age I wasn’t sure what could be done.”

After finishing engineering school and managing technology projects for high profile companies including IBM and AT&T, Nassar started to rethink his contribution to society.

“I worked in the profession and developed some of the coolest stuff. I asked myself the question, ‘what’s so good about it if most of the world’s population can’t use it,” he said.

As an educated adult, he now knew more and could do more but he looked back at his thirteen year old self for inspiration. He found that youth today struggled with the same questions as he did when he was younger. Nassar began to mentor youth and help them realize their capabilities as young leaders who could instigate change in their own lives, and in their communities.

“I started to get more involved with young people and I started to understand the issues that surround them and realizing that a lot of these issues are a result of the environment they live in,” said Nassar.

As he became more involved with youth, he subsequently became more >> leadership Pg 12

The Islamic Leadership Institute of America runs programs throughout the year for Muslim youth, often including problem solving activities involving robotics and other types of engineering. Photos courtesy of ILIA.

Aqabah Karate Graduates Six More Black Belts, Including Three Girls

By Wendy Diaz

To achieve such a rank is no easy endeavor. Depending on the type of martial art being practiced, earning a Black Belt can take anywhere from three to ten years. In the Korean art of Tang Soo Do, practiced at Aqabah Karate, it requires an average of 3-5 years. For the newest Black Belts or Cho Dans; Talha Muhib, 11, Adnan Zaber, 13, Muhammad Zakariya, 9, Ayisha Korme, 13, Nur Siddiqui, 14, and Tasneem Mansour, 14, the journey has been tedious.

Mansour, one of the three first female Black Belts relates, “Over the years I have gone (to Aqabah Karate classes), my parents have encouraged me when I felt like quitting, to always come back

Muslim Link Contributing Writer The musalla of Dar-us-Salaam in College Park, Maryland has accommodated many an event, from weekly classes and commencement ceremonies to congregational prayers and Ramadan iftars, but only once had it served as the venue for a black belt graduation; until Saturday, April 28, 2012. On that day, Aqabah Karate Academy hosted their Second Annual Awards Ceremony in conjunction with the historic promotion of six students, three of whom were female, to the prestigious rank of Cho Dan, totaling the number of black beltbearers to a whopping ten. This was the very first time a woman has been promoted to Black Belt in the history of Aqabah Karate.

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Black Belt boys, in foreground from right to left, Talha Muhib, Muhammad Zakariya, and Adnan Zaber, cut the cake with Instructor Muhib Rahman.

Photo by Fuad Kamal, Anaara LLC.

>> dan Pg 16

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

COMMUNITY NEWS | 11

New Islamic School Announced for Howard County school

>> continued from pg 1 calaureate (IB) school, will grow to a pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade institution with low student-teacher ratios, affordable tuition, and highly qualified certified teachers. The elementary through high school IB program, used by over 4,000 schools across the world including about 40 public and private schools in Maryland, has a reputation as an academically rigorous, internationally-minded educational program.

“We are excited to launch this school.

Our name ‘tarbiyah’ refers to the ideal approach to developing human nature – the heart, mind, and body, and spirit – and this is what we are trying to achieve,” explained Lailaa Jazouli, President of Tarbiyah Academy and a teacher in the Montgomery County School system. The school will soon be in the process of applying for non-profit status.

The school’s six member board will meet with community members interested in the project at three town hall meetings statistics

>> continued from pg 5

services in Islamic communities and his interest in Muslim adolescents in the US; Dr. M Taqi Tirmazi, who holds a PhD in Social Work, as well, and is a professor at Morgan State University, and Fatima Mirza, MSW, who is currently completing her PhD in Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Together they co-authored the fourth chapter in the book, Muslim Youth: Challenges, Opportunities and Expectations, entitled, “Identity and Belonging,” which focused on acculturation and psychological adaptation of Migrant Muslim youth based on their investigative work.

The experts presented power point slides which highlighted some of the information from the Muslim Youth book.

Dr. Husain expounded on Muslim immigration and ethnic distribution in the West, and Dr. Tirmazi and Mirza discussed their existing research methods.

The three also presented some of their

“Tarbiyah Academy provides the highest caliber of education and a solid Islamic foundation to develop socially responsible well-rounded American-Muslim children. Our children learn and grow in a nurturing, creative environment, focused on healthy child-development. Our mission is to shape productive leaders of society.” – Tarbiyah Academy Mission Statement later this month: on Tuesday, May 15 from 6:30-8:00pm at the Ellicott City Senior Center; Wednesday, May 16 from 6:30-8:00pm at the North Laurel Community Center; and Thursday, May 17 from 1:30-3:00pm at the Miller Branch Library The board is made up of mothers – both working professionals and stay at home moms with diverse backgrounds in fields like education, business, and the sciences – all of whom have young children in Islamic school, private school, or home schooling programs.

The town halls are not being held to decide whether or not to open the new school, said Jazouli, but rather to “help shape the school around [the Tarbiyah Academy] vision and what we hear from [community members].”

findings on the psychological functioning of Muslim youth, depression, intergenerational conflicts within families and Islamic groups, identity development, gender differences, risk behaviors, Muslim gangs, tobacco use, substance abuse, and dating.

Dr. Tirmazi described one of his studies conducted in California, in which he surveyed over 200 Muslim youth and found that 45% display some symptoms of depression. Those who did not reported that they had more parental support and family cohesion, as opposed to those who did.

One major factor that contributes to the presence of depressive symptoms is perceived discrimination from peers due to their faith. Other findings showed that while alcohol use was not very common in Muslim adolescents, tobacco use, often a topic of debate, was most prevalent. Dr. Tirmazi explained that many Muslim youth frequent “shisha” bars and hold the false notion that hookah is not as unhealthy as cigarettes, a belief also perpetuated by adults.

The board is working with education consultant Reed Sumida from the Independent School Performance Group to develop a business and marketing plan for the school. Sumida will be present at the town hall meetings. “[Sumida] has helped start IB schools across America, Canada and the Middle East, helping [schools] build on sound business practices,” said Sarah Gowayed, Vice President of Tarbiyah Academy. “The school has to be sustainable.”

According to Gowayed, there has been a rapid growth in the number of children involved in one Muslim home schooling group in Howard County, almost tripling in size to about 60 children over the last five years. Currently, the board’s plan is to start the school with pre-Kindergarten through 5th grades.

After the presentation, panelists opened the floor to questions and suggestions about how to maximize the efficiency of their studies and increase participation. The interactive discussion, which was held in the ADAMS Youth Room, only attracted a small fraction of community members. The small turnout of 13 attendees, although due in part to a limited amount of time for advertising, is reflective of the apprehension many Muslim communities exhibit when approached by researchers. This trend may be the result of a lack of awareness of the realities the youth face outside their homes and a denial of behavioral and social issues amongst the Muslim community as a whole.

These are the barriers that Muslim examiners are tackling as they continue to gather information on the dynamics of Islamic centers and Muslim families. Dr. Husain mentioned that other groups, such as members of the Jewish faith, have established their own fact finding methods and surveys, rather than relying on mainstream polling,

Asked what would be different about Tarbiyah Academy compared to neighboring Islamic schools like Al-Rahmah School in Baltimore and Al-Huda School in College Park, Gowayed noted both the community service and project based learning approach, and also the leadership structure.

“Our school will be independent from any masjid, and that is very important to us in order to give priority to what’s in the best interest of the school and the education of its students,” she said. “Our goal is to teach kids how to learn and apply their knowledge beyond the classroom.”

For more information and to RSVP to the town hall meetings, email tarbiyahacademymd@gmail.com, or visit our facebook page.

while Muslims are still in the beginning stages of developing such programs.

“Unless we have a system in place, mere numbers will not do much for us in conducting research,” he said. This became the main topic of conversation, as the panelists engaged the audience members in an open discussion of what research methods may be most effective for Muslim congregations.

Mirza described the difficulty in obtaining consent from parents of teens for studies and participation in surveys, even though she ensures anonymity and confidentiality. Oftentimes parents not only want to see the overall results of her studies, but also demand access to their child’s individual responses to personal questions, something that is unethical in this type of investigative work. “We are at that edge, asking communities the questions that are relevant to them. It becomes an ethical challenge to gather the data without sharing it with parents,” she said.

>> statistics II Pg 12

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>> continued from pg 11

Mirza, who was formerly involved with ADAMS Youth Committee, is working on her dissertation project entitled “Mosaics,” in which she hopes to collect a total of 360 completed computerbased surveys from Muslim youth from ages 12-17 living in the DC Metro or Baltimore Metro areas. She hopes to

leadership

>> continued from pg 10

involved in local masajids and communities.

“I realized [lack of successful framework] throughout the whole community. Our Muslim community at large has ways to go to bring [leadership] capacity into our communities,” he said.

Nassar began work on ILIA in hopes of redefining the way that leadership was approached in the Muslim community.

Leadership was not a privilege of the elite, but a necessity for all.

ILIA offers leadership training programs for students, incarcerated youth, masajid and organizations and a variety of seminars and lectures on the subject as well as additional programs on family services and career mentoring.

“The portfolio of projects we offer spans a big broad spectrum not only of ages and demographics but [in situation] from gifted and talented youth to incarcerated youth,” said Nassar.

Lana Umm Ahmad, found out about ILIA from a friend when she was seeking guidance for her son.

“My son had always been a good child until his junior year in public high school. He mixed with the wrong crowd and was influenced by their typical de-

gain insight about what programs and resources are most vital to the Islamic communities and to form a support network for these teens. “Each perspective is important in building a picture of what we as a community look like – our strengths and our challenges – and that’s why I chose a ‘mosaic’ of people as my dissertation project’s logo,” she explained. The goals of Mosaics are to build understanding, learn from diversity, capitalize on community strengths,

and create plans to work on weaknesses.

linquent behavior. I never believed that my son would fall into the same adolescent delinquency as his non-Muslim peers. Considering that I thought I had taught him better,” she said.

While Nassar advocates the traditional leadership training, he emphasized the need for practical application as well.

Ahmad said the resources provided to her son not only taught him important lessons in dealing with his life at that point, but also provided him the confidence and skills to continue down a more healthy path.

“Their complete service in providing guidance, self esteem, motivation, mentoring and interaction with successful role models was invaluable, mashaAllah. They put my son back on track and he has created a lasting bond and confidence that I believe will always carry him, through, inshaAllah.” said Ahmad.

While there has been opposition to some of the surveying and polling within some Islamic centers, others such as ADAMS welcome the research as constructive. Deputy Imam Abdul Rafaa Ouertani, one of the outspoken audience members, was pleased that the experts visited to share their findings.

During an exchange with Dr. Tirmazi, Imam Ouertani mentioned the effect

“Leadership touches people. It’s not a science,” said Nassar. “In order to master it, you have to practice it.”

ILIA seeks to take students from the classroom, into the field to finish their training. Some of its programs requires young leaders to successfully manage real-world projects before they are eligible to complete their certification.

“You can’t grow leaders in a classroom.

We understand that problem,” said Nassar. “The void that we are filling is growing leaders, growing leaders under a comprehensive framework of leadership.”

ILIA also provided services for Ahmad herself so that she could develop a better relationship with her son.

With masajids sprouting up around the country, Nassar has his work cut out for him.

With diversified programs for various relationships, communities and from different perspectives, ILIA approaches the concept of leadership in a way that Nassar claims is the most comprehensive.

When local D.C. area communities contact him, he first offers a review of their current leadership and then derives the appropriate plan of action.

“Business schools teach leadership from a textbook,” he said. “The model that’s out there even at the biggest business schools across the country is incomplete.”

“We have programs that are coach the leaders. We do an assessment of strength, weaknesses and things that threaten the community. We give them feedback and recommendations,” said Nassar. “What’s the impact of what they’re doing really on their community? We’ve got to peel the onion and

numbers have on the human mind, citing Islamic history and Qur’anic verses about the Battle of Badr. He applauded the Youth Committee for arranging the panel. “Alhamdulillah, we should have done it a long time ago. There is a lack of this type of research. We need to move to another level of strategic planning. This was the way of the Prophet, peace be upon him,” he said.

see what’s happening.”

What he often finds is a seemingly timeless clash between the existing leadership and new potential leadership. While this division often takes the form of old versus young, “back home” versus “home grown,” Nassar said both sides need to realize not only their strengths, but their weaknesses as well.

“It’s very, very important that it’s not either or, it’s not old people or young people,” said Nassar. “Youth bring vision, courage, risk taking, but also we need a little bit of maturity from the older generation.”

It’s not always about age, said Nassar.

“I think it’s more about about the open mindness of that person in charge. We have older people in their 60s who are willing to engage with us. They ask us to come give classes and about opportunities. On the other hand you have people regardless of their age that are not open to it. They feel they don’t need anything,” he said.

ILIA offers programs in six states including Maryland and Virginia as well as D.C. “We are here to partner with all of these groups, our schools our masjids, community centers to bring the best to the communities,” said Nassar. “We have treasures that are just sitting idle.”

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>> continued from pg 9

Benjamin, who was in attendance, interrupted Brennan’s speech.

“How many people are you willing to sacrifice? Why are you lying to the American people and not saying how many innocents have been killed? I speak out on behalf of Tariq Aziz, a 16-year-old in Pakistan, who was killed because he wanted to document the drone strikes. I speak out on behalf of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a 16-yearold born in Denver, killed in Yemen, just because his father was someone we don’t like. I speak out on behalf of the Constitution, on behalf of the rule of law. I love the rule of law. I love my country. You are making us less safe by killing so many innocent people.” she said, her back toward Brennan.

She was escorted out of the room by security, handcuffed and taken down to a police station located inside the Woodrow Wilson building.

“I was questioned on my motive and my background. They decided not to arrest me. I think it would not have looked good for the Wilsons Center to arrest me for exercising free speech,” she said in regards to the incident.

Benjamin hadn’t planned the protest.

She wasn’t’ even aware of Brennan’s speech until the day before it was set to take place. CodePink had connected with the local Occupy DC movement to pass out flyers in front of the Wilson Center on drone warfare. She had arrived for that purpose but at the last minute decided to see if she could get into the invitation only event.

“I thought, [why not], I’ll try. I gave my name and they said go ahead and have a seat up front,” said Benjamin.

“I couldn’t help but get up and speak up for the innocent lives that have been taken by the US and how that too has tarnished our reputation,” said Benjamin.

“It’s particularly horrifying that we can kill an American teenager because his father is someone we don’t like,” she said of Al-Awlaki’s son.

Controversy still shrouds the use of

COMMUNITY NEWS | 13 drones in the death of Anwar Al-Awlaki last September, a U.S. citizen who was not tried in the judicial process.

While Benjamin argues the morality and oversight of drone warfare by the United States, the government is breaking no “rules of law” by using them said David Glazier, Professor of Law at Loyola Law school in Los Angeles, California.

“The use of armed drones as such does not pose a problem under the law of war. The history of warfare has seen a steady evolution of weapons, as militaries have continually sought to develop ways to inflict damage on an adversary while keeping their own forces beyond their enemy’s reach,” said Glazier.

Innocent victims of drone attacks in states of war, are not legally entitled to compensation, however numerous drone attacks in regions not in conflict with the United States have suffered casualties as a result of these attacks.

“There is probably no current consensus that a state must compensate innocent victims when military action takes place on the party of a state party, although the U.S. typically has elected to do this I don’t think international law requires compensation to innocent victims when conflict takes place on the territory of a state party, but logically does when the harm occurs in a “neutral” state like Pakistan,” said Glazier.

as a natural evolution in warfare, she is committed to demanding government transparency and ensuring that ethical standards are followed in their use. Standards that Glazier said are likely not being followed by the United States, primarily because drone warfare is managed through the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, a secretive, non-military government agency.

“First, legitimate participation in warfare is limited to members of the military, not civilians like the CIA. Second, armed conflict is generally limited to international waters and airspace. The authority to strike adversaries sheltering in “neutral” countries is strictly limited to situations of imminent threats and where the country where the threat is located will not or cannot take effective action. It is unlikely that too many of the U.S. strikes really measure up to this standard,” said Glazier Drone warfare, as it is being conducted, not only sets a dangerous precedent, he said, but the CIA’s controversial involvement further blurs the lines

in the rules of war.

“I don’t see drones themselves as a major issue of concern, but rather the widespread use to conduct attacks in the territory of third party nations.

Drone technology is proliferating, and it is very likely other states will follow the example set by the U.S. It is not in our best interests to see other states freely conducting attacks across national borders; we would surely consider it unacceptable if another country conducted an attack on U.S. territory. And U.S. use of civilians to conduct warfare only further muddies the line between combatants and civilians,” said Glazier.

Benjamin agreed. Drones themselves have their place in the evolution of warfare, but if their use is to be continued and increased, regulation is imperative, she said.

“This technology will come around to haunt us unless we start regulating it,” said Benjamin.

Weeks ago, Pakistan’s parliament denounced U.S. drone attacks in the country as a violation of sovereignty.

Despite the issue of legality, Glazier said that it was in the United States best interest to compensate whether legally bound or not.

“In any event compensation for innocent victims is clearly the right thing to do even where not legally required.

And it serves our national interest by reducing the amount of support these attacks generate for U.S. adversaries like al Qaeda and the Taliban,” he said.

Benjamin said education is the first step to raising public awareness of drone attacks. While she regards them

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14 |COMMUNITY NEWS click

>> continued from pg 4

“The app really bridges the gap between the time an issue is had and the time a complaint is filed,” said Singh.

Singh said he and others at the Sikh Coalition found particular pleasure in the universality of the app.

What we are particularly happy about

is that we have created a tool for people outside the Sikh community.. The whole purpose of this app is to empower people to file official complaints.... it cuts across religious categories,” he said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the application. “[The concept of] ‘flying while Muslim’ is a phenomenon that has arisen since September 11th and has really become part of the American Muslim experience,” said Gadeir Abbas, a staff

attorney at The Council of American Islamic Relations.

CAIR, a civil rights organization, is no stranger to complaints regarding the TSA. However, making a case for profiling has its obstacles without documented patterns.

“When you’re trying to get a government agency to act that government agency will not necessarily act unless there is a documented pattern of activity occurring,” said Abbas. “The absence

of that documentation is an impediment to [getting rid of] some of the profiling that is occurring at the airport.”

While those impediments may be removed, the app does not guarantee action by the TSA or DHS. “What’s left to be seen is if the government will take the information and [use] it in an effective manner to put a stop to profiling,” said Abbas.

Singh hopes the popularity of the app, with over 3000 downloads in its first few days, and its universality will not only make it a useful tool for travelers but a step toward addressing racial profiling in the United States.

“I think it’s going to make the TSA and DHS much more accountable. At least that is our hope,” he said. “At the very least this application will create a dialogue about whether the DHS or TSA have sufficient internal controls on how it handles profiling.”

Just a few days after its launch the app recorded five unique complaints filed.

“If because of this app [the TSA’s] complaint volume goes up exponentially the Congress will be asking them questions,” said Singh.

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16 |COMMUNITY NEWS what I am capable of.”

dan

>> continued from pg 10

in. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it this far.”

Before this day, the six students were subjected to a grueling examination of strength and discipline called the Dan classing, held from March 31st to April 1st, where they drilled everything they have learned since the initiation of their training. Ayisha Korme said about her test, “It was horrible! I blanked out and couldn’t remember anything, but once the ball was rolling, I got the hang of it.” Now that she is one of the first female Black Belts in Aqabah Karate, she feels an overwhelming sense of pride.

She said, “(The promotion) is definitely a big milestone in my life. Now that I have earned my Black Belt, I know

In the company of family members, friends, and supporters of Aqabah Karate, Instructor and Director, Muhib Rahman, lectured his skilled students on the responsibility that accompanies achieving such a status in the martial arts. Each student sported a new, crisp white uniform with black trim, decorated with the Aqabah Karate patch and logo, the girls donning light-colored hijabs (Islamic veils) to match. Emotions were high, as Instructor Muhib awarded each new graduate with their custom, gold-embroidered black belts and Dan certificates. When his eldest son, Talha, stood to receive his award, they shared a loving embrace in front of the roaring crowd.

Instructor Muhib’s wife Ayesha Akhtar, who is only one rank away from Cho

Dan, herself, said about her son, “Alhamdulillah for the opportunity and blessings that Allah has opened for my family. It is a tremendous gift that Allah has bestowed on (him).” Talha, who is one of five martial arts practitioners in his home, now understands the significance of patience and perseverance.

He said, “During my training it felt like it was taking forever to get my black belt. But now it feels like it (only) took a couple of months, Alhamdulillah.”

The audience was also moved by the story of Adnan Zaber, who worked towards receiving his Black Belt, simultaneously while completing the memorization of the entire Qur’an in the Al Huda Hifdh School. He said about his accomplishment, “Aqabah Karate not only kept me fit physically, it also kept me fit mentally. To me a black belt means a great achievement and success

because of the mercy of Allah.”

Among the recognitions presented during the Awards Ceremony were the Family of the Year Award, given to the Ali family, Most Improved Student Award given to Nadia Ali, the Rookie of the Year Award went to Tahir Ismail, and the Student of the Year Award was presented to Ayesha Akhtar for spearheading the adult women’s classes on Wednesday evenings. Akhtar is expected to be promoted to Black Belt, along with five others, including two more female students from the adult women’s class, by the end of this year. Aqabah Karate staff are diligently preparing to hold another graduation in December.

As always, it promises to be an exciting and inspiring event for the Dar-usSalaam community.

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18 |COMMUNITY NEWS drones

>> continued from pg 9

haps, the audience was an indicator of how limited the understanding of drone warfare is amongst the general public.

Although it is true that drones were used after the earthquake in Japan to observe radiation levels at the Fukushima nuclear plant, that after a massive flood in Australia, drones were used to observe the effects of the flood, that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

that patrols the seas for illegal whaling activities uses drones to help them cover vast areas of the ocean, and even Occupy Wall Street, in New York, built their own $300.00 dollar drone to observe police activity. These “positive” uses of drones are insignificant in number compared to the number of covert activities and strikes made with drones throughout the world.

In the opinion of the great majority of those in attendance at the drone Summit, such activities are simply state-

sponsored assassinations with a significant degree of collateral damage. These drones have no discerning capabilities.

They cannot assess a situation and correct for any mistakes like a human being may do. They simply complete the mission with no consideration to diplomacy, capture, or negotiation. They allow for no human risk on the part of the US government and their clandestine nature allow for no review or accountability. They are referred to as “clean” strikes which are intended to kill and extinguish the target and any public re-

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It is interesting to note that shortly after this summit, there seems to have been an explosion of drone awareness on twitter and other social media and news outlets. The Pakistan Foreign Ministry condemned US drone attacks recently conducted in North Waziristan on Saturday, May 5th. “Pakistan has consistently maintained that these illegal attacks are a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and are in contravention of international law,” Ten people were reported killed in the latest attack and a house was completely destroyed in the attack. The attack was located less than 2 miles from the Afghan border. The Foreign Minister went on to say, “It is our considered view that the strategic disadvantages of such attacks far outweigh their tactical advantages, and are therefore, totally counterproductive,” What is so disturbing about this and other drone attacks is that rescue workers fear being killed because they have entered the strike zone. This results in additional “collateral damage” and/or delays rescue work. Just in this one attack, it is stated that four drones were seen flying in the air shortly before the strike.

The case of Anwar Al-Awlaki, his assassination and the assassination of his 16 year old son, (both US citizens) was discussed at the summit. It was stated that his son was claimed to have been a 21 year old terrorist by the US government, but later documents like a birth certificate were brought forth by the family to show that this was not true.

Not only were these individuals killed without due process, proving in a court of law that they were guilty of any crime, but the court system is granting immunity. In essence it was argued that the judicial branch of the government is not fulfilling its mandate and preserving the balance of power.

Also discussed was the issue of what has been termed “signature strikes”.

The individuals targeted in these strikes are targeted based on patterns of behavior. An example may be if an individual is known to frequent a mosque that is thought to be a known gathering place for terrorists and has other patterns of drones Pg 19

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

National News

NATIONAL NEWS| 19

‘12 Candidates Leery of Muslim Vote

By Stephanie Czekalinski

ing election, especially in key swing states like Florida and Michigan.

American Muslims will be an important voting bloc in the 2012 presidential election, but some politicians have been hesitant to reach out to the community for fear of a backlash, said Corey Saylor, spokesman for the Council of Islamic-American Relations.

The U.S. census didn’t ask about religious affiliation, so estimates regarding the size of Muslim communities living in Michigan and Florida are imprecise.

But as minority voters become increasingly important in elections, Muslim political importance increases too, the report says.

“People want us to be a part of their movements but sort of toward the edge of stage,” Saylor said. “Often times what we see is that if someone is getting close to the Muslim community, they get attacked for being weak on national security.”

“Because of numbers in Ohio, Florida, Northern Virginia, that’s going to make it a community whose concerns are a little more important to pay attention to this election cycle,” Saylor said.

National Journal, May 4, 2012

of the American Islamic Congress. “It would be great to start looking at understanding the constituency.”

Policy decisions like the USA Patriot Act and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed the 9/11 attacks that caused American Muslims to abandon the Republican Party after supporting George W. Bush in the 2000 election, the report said.

Between 2001 and 2004, the percentage of American Muslims dissatisfied with the country’s direction increased from less than 40 percent to more than 60, according to the report. In 2008, 89 percent of Muslims who voted supported Barack Obama. In 2011, more than three quarters of Muslims approved of Obama’s performance, the report said.

Muslims want to participate in the political process, and they’re paying attention to domestic and foreign events, according to a report released last month by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington.

In 2010, the Pew Research Center estimated that nearly 2.6 million Muslims lived in the United States, representing less than 1 percent of the population.

By 2030, the number of Muslims living in the U.S. is expected to more than double, according to the Pew Research Center.

The report recommends that politicians engage Muslim Americans because they could play key roles in the upcom-

“It’s clear that they’re going to continue to grow and become a bigger piece of the electoral puzzle,” said Aimee Chiu

The Muslim population in the U.S. is very diverse, said Aimee Chiu of the American Islamic Congress. Muslims

drones II

ism with terror… Imagine yourself a 20 year old man or a 30 year old woman …walking in the street and always wondering if a silent drone will come and blow you up. What greater terror is there?” She went on to say that “Killing at the press of a button is immoral and unethical.” But she did not explain what form of killing, if any, could be acceptable. Is it implied that if a cause is worth fighting for it means that you should be prepared to kill in person and be prepared to die for it and give your opponent the chance to do the same. On the other hand, one may ask, is she of-

fering her son to go into warfare? Is she expecting my son to go?

>> continued from pg 18

behavior that coincide with other suspicious activity, that individual may become a signature target. “Guatanamo Bay is considered an “illegal detention” facility, it does allow for some recourse, but illegal killing allows for no recourse” stated James Cavallaro of Stanford University Law School.

Amna Buttar, a Pakistani Parliamentary representative, stated, “I cannot understand how you can wage war on terror-

But Muslim support for Democrats isn’t a sure thing. Forty percent of Muslims identified as independent in 2004, according to the report.

In the opinion of Medea Benjamin, in her book “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control”, the course of international engagement changed dramatically after 9/11. Gone from the landscape was negotiation, peace talks, reconciliation and, except for the military, the other branches of government have gone silent. The book ends with a warning that drone warfare will spread worldwide. Already over 50 nations have this technology and use

care about what’s going on abroad, but they also care about a wide variety of issues, she said.

Muslims are interested in domestic issues like the economy, health care, and civil liberties, Saylor said. Either party could cultivate support among Muslims if they engage with the community and address issues that they’re concerned about, the report said.

Meanwhile, American Muslims can work to show campaigns that engaging with the community is vital to winning elections, Saylor said.

“The people who organize the best and deliver, they’re more likely to get their issues listened to,” he said.

---------------------------------------------In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

it. The world is looking to the United States for setting the bar on what are acceptable rules of engagement when it comes to drone warfare. She also closes with a suggestion that drones will become commonplace even here in the United States where our lives will become transparent and our most private moments can be monitored, all for the precious gift of national security. If we don’t set enforceable rules now, it may be too late to stop the powers that be from doing whatever they like.

....

20 | WORLD PRESS

World Press

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

West Looks to the East for Growth as Islamic Finance Comes Center Stage

By Fiona Reddan

Irish Times, May 1, 2012 As the Muslim population is expected to rise twice as fast as the non-Muslim population, financial products to service this market could be in line for dramatic growth WITH WESTERN financial markets still suffering the after-shock of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the resulting credit crunch and Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, attention is now turning to the Middle East.

While Dubai may have been caught up in the global asset bubble, the region has emerged largely unscathed from

the recent crises, paving the way for dramatic growth in Islamic finance. But what is Islamic finance and what does it mean for Irish investors?

WHAT IS ISLAMIC FINANCE? In short, it involves the application of Sharia law, the moral code of the Islamic religion, to financial services.

According to Farmida Bi, partner and Islamic finance specialist with UK law firm Norton Rose, the following are the main rulings of Islamic finance: Riba: this is the prohibition against charging interest, but also applies to usury or unjust enrichment

Maisir (speculation or gambling): this refers to obtaining something easily or becoming rich without hard effort

The principles of Sharia law are applied to financial services in varying ways.

With regards to deposit accounts for example, rather than earning interest, savers share in the profits and losses made by the institution from the use of this money. From an Irish context, this “return” would be liable to DIRT, much in the same way as if it was interest.

Unethical investment: under Sharia law, certain products are prohibited such as alcohol, armaments or pork, as well as activities such as gambling, entertainment and hotels.

When it comes to mortgages, as it is against Islamic law to receive or pay interest, prospective homeowners may enter into a lease agreement with their lender.

HOW DOES THIS WORK IN PRACTICE?

finance Pg 30

Gharar (uncertainty): there must be full disclosure when it comes to investments, such as certainty as to the subject matter or price of a contract

8 Things You Need to Know About America’s Private Prison Industry

By Russ Baker

WhoWhatWhy.com, May 4, 2012 Crime is going down in America, but more Americans than ever are in prison—and more and more money is being spent and made, turning this country into a giant armed camp. Here are some key points about the private prison industry: 1. America’s system of detaining and monitoring “criminals” impacts more people than ever before. Including those who are either in some form of incarceration or in the parole and probation process, you’re looking at an affected population of….six million. One

....

out of every 100 Americans is behind bars now. And every year, about 13 million Americans spend some time in jail for at least a brief spell.

2. State legislators faced with dwindling revenues are eager to offload inmates to “cheap” private facilities 3. The private prison industry grew 350 percent over the past fifteen years.

4. Two private companies – Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group– dominate the private prison industry. The biggest company, Corrections Corporation of America, is offering to buy prisons from states as long as

they can promise an adequate supply of prisoners to make the deal worthwhile.

5. Studies show that private facilities perform badly compared to public ones on almost every metric—prevention of intra-prison violence, jail conditions, rehabilitation efforts—except reducing state budgets and adding to the corporate bottom line.

To keep their gravy train rolling, private prison companies need a few things from state and local government: 6) Lots of people arrested and convicted (often of essentially victimless crimes) and given long sentences. This most

heavily impacts young black males— about one in nine of whom is in prison, many for using or selling marijuana, or, to a lesser degree, harder drugs. (Although whites have comparable drug use rates, their prosecution rates are dramatically lower.)

7) Opposition to the decriminalization of drug use, which would cut sharply into prison industry profits. (As a result, it ain’t going to happen.)

8) The continued criminalization and detention of undocumented foreigners. prison Pg 31

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

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22 | CIVIL RIGHTS

Civil Rights

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

Muslim Woman Gets Huge Award In Workplace Discrimination Case She says she endured religious bias at AT&T, which plans to appeal the jury’s verdict

By Mará Rose Williams

The Kansas City Star, May 5, 2012

in his office, snatched her scarf and exposed her hair.

Her face framed by a white scarf covering her head and hair — considered “a private part” for Muslim women — Susann Bashir grew sad Friday afternoon recalling her final encounter with a former boss.

Bashir sued, and this week a Jackson County jury awarded her $5 million in punitive damages against Southwestern Bell/AT&T, where she worked as a fiber optics network builder for more than 10 years.

She said she had already endured years of harassment by co-workers and had started pursuing a religious discrimination case against her employer when the supervisor, during a routine meeting

Bashir said she endured religious discrimination nearly every day of the last three years she worked in the company’s downtown Kansas City office.

AT&T said Friday that it disagrees with the verdict and plans to appeal. AT&T is a “nationally recognized leader in workforce diversity and inclusion,” a spokesman said.

The amount Bashir stands to receive will be much less than $5 million, however, because Missouri law caps such awards at five times the actual damage amount plus attorney fees.

The jury awarded Bashir $120,000 in lost wages and other actual damages.

Attorney fees will be determined lat-

Torture Chamber, U.S.A.

er by the judge, said Amy Coopman, Bashir’s lawyer.

Thursday’s overall award appears to be the largest jury verdict for a workplace religious discrimination case in Missouri history, Coopman said.

The previous largest such verdict came in 2009, when Mohamed Alhalabi, an Arab-American Muslim, was awarded $811,949 in St. Louis County Circuit award Pg 24

In CIA secret prisons, American interrogators abused prisoners in ways that Western nations once considered unconscionable

By L Arry Siems

SLATE, APRIL 30, 2012 It began with one document.

On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., president George W. Bush sent a 12 page Memorandum of Notification to his National Security Council. That memorandum, we know now, authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to set up and run secret prisons. We still don’t know exactly what it says: CIA attorneys have told a judge the document is so off-limits to the courts and the American people that even the font is classified. But we do know what it did: It literally opened a space for torture.

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Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit - a lawsuit The New York Times has called “among the most successful in the history of public disclosure” - we now know much of what happened in those secret spaces the Bush administration created. Under that litigation, the American Civil Liberties Union gathered nearly 140,000 formerly classified documents from the Department of Defense, the Justice Department and the CIA that detail the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in the “War on Terror.” My job, as the author of the website Thetorturereport.org and then of the book The Torture Report: What the Documents Say About America’s

torture Pg 23

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012 torture

>> continued from pg 22

Post-9/11 Torture Program, was to dig through that incredible trove of documents and figure out for myself what, exactly, my country had done.

Here is what I learned.

The highest U.S. government officials, up to and including president Bush, broke international and U.S. laws banning torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Worse, they made their subordinates in the military and civilian intelligence services break those laws for them.

When the men and women they asked to break those laws protested, knowing they could be prosecuted for torture, they pretended to rewrite the law. They commissioned legal opinions they said would shield those who carried out the abuses from being hauled into court, as the torture ban requires. “The law has been changed,” detainees around the world were told. “No rules apply.”

Then they tortured. They tortured men at military bases and detention centres in Afghanistan and Iraq, in Guantanamo, and in U.S. Navy bases on American soil; they tortured men in secret CIA prisons set up across the globe specifically to terrorize and torture prisoners; they sent many more to countries with notoriously abusive regimes and asked them to do the torturing. At least twice, after the torturers themselves concluded there was no point to further abuse, Washington ordered that the prisoners be tortured some more.

They tortured innocent people. They tortured people who may have been guilty of terrorism-related crimes, but they ruined any chance of prosecuting them because of the torture. They tortured people when the torture had nothing to do with imminent threats: They tortured based on bad information they had extracted from others through torture; they tortured to hide their mistakes and to get confessions; they tortured sometimes just to break people, pure and simple.

And they conspired to cover up their crimes. They did this from the start, by creating secret facilities and secrecy

CIVIL RIGHTS | 23 regimes to keep what they were doing from the American people and the world. They did it by suppressing and then destroying evidence, including videotapes of the torture. They did it by denying detainees legal process because, as the CIA’s Inspector General put it in a 2004 report, when you torture someone you create an “Endgame” problem: You end up with detainees who, “if not

The documents are full of these voices.

In fact, it is thanks to these dissenters that much of the documentary record exists. From emails among FBI agents sharing their shock over scenes they had witnessed in interrogation booths in Guantanamo, to letters and memoranda for the record, to major internal investigations, the documents show that those who ordered and carried out the

those whose humanity we recognize.

In joke-filled letters to their attorneys, in frank and vivid testimony in tribunal transcripts, in startlingly naive and in powerfully emotional exchanges with interrogators, images emerge not of the maniacal and monolithic and monstrous, but of distinct and recognizable individuals. To hear these voices is to begin to reverse the terrible dehumanization the documents chronicle.

“The law has been changed,” detainees around the world were told. “No rules apply.”

Last month, I was once again in a federal courtroom in New York, watching one of the last chapters in the remarkable Freedom of Information Act saga that has unearthed those 140,000 torture documents. The argument that day centered on whether the CIA would finally be required to release a single photograph of Abu Zubaydah, who was captured 10 years ago last month and who became the first subject of the Bush administration’s experiments with “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.”

kept in isolation, would likely divulge information about the circumstances of their detention.”

They managed all this, for a time, through secrecy - a secrecy that depended on the aggressive suppression of two groups of voices.

Over and over again, in Afghanistan

torture did so despite constant warnings and objections that their actions were ineffective, shortsighted and wrong.

It is no wonder that so many of these documents were suppressed.

Alongside the dissenters, another group of voices surfaces in these once-classified materials: the men we tortured.

Theirs are the voices the entire system

It is one thing to be in the dark; it is another thing to have the record of what happened in the darkness right in front of us, and fail to reckon with it. That, sadly, is the situation in the United States today. and Iraq, in Guantanamo, in secret CIA black sites and at CIA headquarters, in the Pentagon, and in Washington, men and women recognized the torture for what it was and refused to remain silent.

They objected, protested and fought to prevent, and then to end, these illegal and immoral interrogations. While the president and his top advisers approved and encouraged the torture of prisoners, there was dissent in every agency, at every level.

of incommunicado detention and closed tribunals was constructed to censor, and it worked: To this day, few Americans can identify more than a handful of detainees by name. Fewer still know how far from the “worst of the worst” the vast majority of those we tortured turned out to be.

Torture dehumanizes. But that only extends a process of dehumanization that must take place in order for abuse to happen: It is impossible to torture

The CIA has gone to extreme lengths to conceal images of Abu Zubaydah and his treatment first in a secret CIA dungeon in Thailand and later in another CIA black site in Poland - lengths that include destroying 92 videotapes of his interrogation and torture. It has paid no price for destroying those tapes, or for holding Abu Zubaydah for more than four years in its network of secret prisons, or for his welldocumented White House orchestrated torture, which included 83 episodes of waterboarding, the last one overseen by a Washington official who flew to the black site because the administration refused to believe his interrogator’s conclusion that he was not withholding information.

The court has not yet ruled on the question of the photograph. But there is little reason to believe the CIA will now be required to turn over a picture that very well may offer graphic evidence of abuse - and at the very least would drive home the simple fact that the target of so much calculated and extreme mistreatment was a single, and at the time utterly defenseless, human being.

But we should hardly need that photograph. We already have Abu Zubaydah’s own descriptions of his ordeal, in his statement to the International Committorture II Pg 24

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

24 | CIVIL RIGHTS Award

>> continued from pg 22

Court in a case against the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

That same year a Jonesboro, Ark., jury ordered AT&T to pay $1.3 million to two former employees fired for attending a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention.

Bashir was living in North Kansas City in 2005 when she converted to Islam.

According to court documents, that’s when her troubles at AT&T began. Just months before she converted, she had been commended in the company newsletter for doing good work, she said.

In court documents, Bashir said her work environment became hostile when co-workers made harassing comments about her religion and referred to her hijab as “that thing on her head.”

torture II

>> continued from pg 23

tee to the Red Cross and in his testimony (still heavily redacted) to the Guantanamo tribunals. Those descriptions match exactly the treatment the CIA proposes and Bush’s lawyers approved in the infamous Aug. 1, 2002 torture memos. We don’t have the videotapes, but we do have the list of cables that flowed back and forth between the Thai black site and Washington reporting on the progress of Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation. And we have the CIA Inspector General’s appalled reaction after he flew to Thailand to view those tapes.

It is one thing to be in the dark; it is another thing to have the record of what happened in the darkness right in front of us, and fail to reckon with it. That, sadly, is the situation in the United States today.

“I was shocked. I thought, ‘What is going on?’ ” she said during an interview at her lawyer’s Kansas City office. “Nobody ever cared what I wore before.

Nobody ever cared what religion I was before.”

Bible verses were left on her desk. Coworkers asked if she was going to blow up the building and called her a “towelhead” and a terrorist.

Bashir said she called an employee help line in March 2005 and asked that sensitivity training be provided for her coworkers.

“It was a worthless call,” she said.

“Nothing ever changed.”

When the harassment continued, she said, she complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March 2008 and it launched an investigation.

In March, the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported that prosecutors in Poland have charged the country’s former top intelligence official with depriving Abu Zubaydah and others of their freedom and allowing corporal punishment in the secret prison the CIA set up and ran near the village of Szymany.

The CIA shipped Abu Zubaydah from Thailand to Poland on Dec. 4, 2002.

When he arrived in Szymany - hooded, diapered, shackled - and stepped onto the tarmac with his armed, CIA-contracted escorts, he was setting foot in a country with one of the newest constitutions in the world, a nation that in the moving words of that document’s preamble, remains “mindful of the bitter experiences of the times when fundamental freedoms and human rights were violated in our Homeland.” Ratified in 1997 - barely five years before the CIA’s plane landed - Poland’s constitution declares simply, “No one may be

Bashir said that made some workers angry. The final encounter with her boss “happened after the EEOC investigation had started,” she said.

Bashir said she was so stressed that she was unable to return to work. She asked that her boss be removed or that she be transferred, but neither happened. After she did not return to work for nine months, she was fired from her $70,000-a-year job.

“By firing me, they stole my ability to work at a job I liked,” Bashir said.

Bashir said the entire incident was mentally and physically taxing for her and tore her family apart. She is going through a divorce. In October, she moved with her daughter to Anchorage, Alaska, where she is an apartment manager.

subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

The application of corporal punishment shall be prohibited.”

That the United States operated secret prisons anywhere on Earth just so we could place our prisoners and jailors outside the reach of U.S. laws prohibiting torture is outrageous, of course.

But there’s something especially perverse about basing one of these facilities in a country whose “bitter recent experiences” include first Nazi occupation and extermination camps and then four decades of communist oppression.

Out of those experiences, the people of Poland created a state that embraces, without reservation, the absolute ban on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the first thing the United States does is degrade that state by setting up and running a secret torture chamber on Polish soil.

“I have mixed feelings,” Bashir said.

“I’m happy not to be reporting to that management structure. But it’s hard in this economy to find a job with that level of compensation. I didn’t want to lose my job, because I felt I was doing good work.”

Bashir said she hopes her case will make other employers more sensitive and quicker to respond to complaints like hers.

“I hope others who get discriminated against won’t feel so vulnerable,” she said. “They will know they can speak up.”

----------------------------------------------In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

learned our government had secretly allowed a foreign government to violate some of our most basic laws and fundamental principles on American soil?

Shouldn’t we be just as outraged to know our government conspired to violate those laws and principles abroad?

That it did so in secret no longer absolves us: Plenty of the record is public now; now we know. And with Poland’s former spy chief under indictment for facilitating the CIA’s torture, and with similar investigations under way in several other countries, we, and the world, will soon know more.

Source: National Post ----------------------------------------------In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

ISLAM | 25

Islam

Preparing for the Month of Mercy

By Maryam Amirebrahimi www.suhaibwebb.com

A lot of us yearn to prepare for Ramadan, but we have no idea how to start.

Below are a few tips to insha’Allah (Allah willing) help prepare our minds and hearts for this upcoming Month of Mercy.

Make the Intention Simple to do, with a powerful impact.

Maybe you want to prepare for Ramadan, but between school, work, family, and your other activities, you just have no idea how to fit in ‘prepare for Ramadan’ time. Instead of separating ‘prepare for Ramadan’ from your daily activities, make your daily activities a MEANS of preparation for Ramadan.

For example, perhaps your mom asked you to pick up your brother from school

on the day you finally had time to read a few extra pages of Qur’an. Instead of feeling upset as if you have lost a great opportunity to prepare for Ramadan, make the intention that you are picking up your brother to please Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (exalted is He) and prepare for Ramadan by obeying your mother, helping your family members, building ties of kinship…and the list continues.

The point is that preparing for Ramadan does not have to be some magnificent, enormous, extra-special thing that needs to be done at a certain time of the day. Many of your daily actions can be turned into Ramadan preparation actions with a sincere intention insha’Allah.

and sisters. “Whoever seeks forgiveness for believing men and believing women, Allah will write for him a good deed for each believing man and believing woman.” [at-Tabarani, classed as hasan by al-Albani] 2. It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah radi allahu `anhu (may Allah be pleased with him) said “The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa salaam said: ‘Whoever says subhan Allah wa bi hamdih (praise and glory be to Allah) 100 times, morning and evening, his sins will be erased even if they are like the foam on the sea.” [Bukhari, Muslim]

Do these Easy-to-Reap-Reward Actions

3. If a person says, “Subhan Allah (glory be to Allah),” 100 times, a thousand good deeds are recorded for him and a thousand bad deeds are wiped away.

[Muslim 2073]

1. Ask Allah to forgive your brothers

4.

Remember Allah (Subhanahu wa

ta’ala) when you go shopping. “Whoever enters a market and says: “Laa ilaha illallah wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul mulku wa lahul hamdu yuhyi wa yumeetu wa huwa hayyun laa yamoot, bi yadihil khair, wa huwa ‘ala kulli shayin qadeer.” [There is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, alone without partner, to Him belongs dominion and praise; He causes life and death and He is the Living and does not die; in His Hand is all the good, and He is over all things competent] Allah will write for them a million good deeds and erase a million bad deeds and raise him a million levels.” [at-Tirmidhi, classed as hasan by al-Albani] Up Your Worship To help condition your heart for this ready Pg 29

What You Need To Build a Were Prophets Sent to Relationship with the Qur’an America and Europe?

Certain basic states and attitudes of heart and mind are a necessary prerequisite to any fruitful relationship with the Qur’an. Develop them as much as you can. Make them part of your consciousness, keep them ever-alive and active. Integrate them in your actions.

Let them penetrate the depth of your being. Without the help of these inner resource you will not receive your full measure of the Qur’an’s blessings. They will be your indispensable companions, too, throughout your journey.

These inner resources are neither difficult nor impossible to find. Through constant awareness and reflection, through appropriate words and deeds, you can acquire and develop them. The more you do so, the closer you will be

Question: Why did all the Prophets appear in one part of the world, and no Prophet appeared in any other regions such as Europe?

Answer from Islam-QA.com overseen

by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Munajjid. able to come to the Qur’an; the closer you come to the Qur’an, the greater will be your harvest.

1. Faith: The Word of Allah: First Come to the Qur’an with a strong and deep faith that it is the word of Allah, your Creator and Lord. This book is no ordinary book; it opens with the emphatic quran Pg 28

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: One of the basic facts that are affirmed in our religion is that Allah, may He be exalted, has established proof against His slaves by sending the Messengers and sending down the Books. They were not sent to one nation to the exclusion of others, or to one continent to the exclusion of others. Rather they were sent to all nations, in different places and at different times, as Al-

lah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Verily! We have sent you with the truth, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner. And there never was a nation but a warner had passed among them.”

[Faatir 3524] “And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): Worship Allah (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Taghoot (all false deities, etc. i.e. do not worship Taghoot besides Allah)” [anNahl 16:36].

Hence it is part of the justice of Allah prophets Pg 26

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

ISLAM

Salaah times for May 11th - May 24th, 2012 If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it fi ve times a day, do you think he would have any fi lth left on him?” The people said, “No filth would remain on him whatsoever.”

The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “That is like the fi ve daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.”

---Hadith in Sahih al Bukhari and Muslim

Prayer times generated from www.islamicfinder.com for the WASHINGTON, DC area.

propeht

>> continued from pg 25

that He has decreed that He will not punish anyone whom the call of the Prophets and Messengers did not reach, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “And We never punish until We have sent a Messenger (to give warning)” [al-Isra’ 17:15] “This is because your Lord would not destroy the (populations of) towns for their wrongdoing (i.e. associating others in worship along with Allah) while their people were unaware (so the Messengers were sent)” [al-An ‘am 6:131].

But Allah has not told us the stories of all the Messengers; rather He has only told us the stories of some of them. He has not told us the stories of most of them, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “And Messengers We have mentioned to you before, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you” [an-Nisa’ 4:164].

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Based on that, the idea that the Prophets were only sent to one region of the world is not correct; rather Allah sent Messengers to all the nations of the earth.

See the answer to question no. 95747 for important details about the hadeeths that speak of the number of Prophets and Messengers, and comments of the scholars on this issue.

Secondly: It is well known that most of the civilisations that were established throughout history were in this area, which is known as the Mediterranean basin, and nearby, in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Arabia. Hence the most populated areas were mostly in these lands. So it is very appropriate that most of the Messengers should have been sent to the people of these lands.

As for the wisdom behind Allah telling us the stories of the Prophets and Messengers of these regions and not others, we may note the following: 1- The people of these lands were the most highly developed in terms of reasoning and morals. Allah, may He be

exalted, praised the Children of Israel of that time as being the best of nations.

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “O Children of Israel! Remember My Favour which I bestowed upon you and that I preferred you to the ‘Alameen (mankind and jinns) (of your time period, in the past)” [al-Baqarah 2:47].

And Allah praised the ummah of Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) as being the best of nations until the Hour begins. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “You (true believers in Islamic Monotheism, and real followers of Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sunnah (legal ways, etc.)) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin AlMaroof (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam has ordained) and forbid Al-Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden), and you believe in Allah. And had the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) believed, it would have been better for them; among them are some who have faith, but most of them are Al-Fasiqoon

(disobedient to Allah - and rebellious against Allahs Command).” [Aal ‘Imraan 3:110].

2- The lessons and exhortations to be found in the stories of those Prophets and Messengers are greater than others.

At-Taahir ibn ‘Ashoor (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Allah did not tell the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) the names of many of the Messengers, and only told him the names of a few, because those who are mentioned are the greatest of the Messengers and Prophets and greater lessons may be learned from their stories.”

-- At-Tahreer wa’t-Tanweer, 6/35 3- Because those Messengers had lived in the region inhabited by the Arabs and thereabouts, their stories were known to the Arabs and to the People of the Book who lived in those regions. This was more effective in establishing proof against them and the lessons of what befell those people has a greater impact. And Allah knows best. [Answer taken with edits from Islam-qa.com]

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

OPINION | 27

Opinion

The Vicious Cycle of Jihadism and Patriotism

By Ross Caputi May 02, 2012 “Information Clearing House” -- Many in the U.S. believe that we are locked in a clash of civilizations with the Islamic world, meaning that the American (Western) and Islamic conceptions of the world are so fundamentally different that conflict between us is inevitable. There are obvious differences between the Islamic world and the U.S.—linguistic and cultural differences (although it is hard to say exactly which cultural differences doom us to conflict). Perhaps the greatest perceived difference, from an American perspective, is the Islamic belief in jihad. “Jihad” is a very scary word in America. It is widely believed that jihad is a call for Muslims to wage holy war against infidels, and it is quickly associated with terrorism.

Unfortunately jihad is pitifully misunderstood in the U.S.. The widespread belief that jihad sanctions terrorism is completely false. I remember when I was in Marine Corps boot camp my drill instructors told us that we were fighting terrorists because Islam taught them (“terrorist” was nearly synonymous with “Muslim”) that if they killed an American they would go directly to heaven when they died and receive 72 virgins. For a while I believed it. I believed it all the way to Fallujah, where my command told us that Fallujah had been taken over by terrorists and we were going to “liberate” the city by killing everyone who picked up arms against us. Evidence of their acts of terrorism was lacking (and attacking U.S. troops when we were clearly the aggressors was not an act of terrorism), but the fact that they believed in jihad and fought back against us was enough to condemn them.

Jihad is a broad and complex topic in Islamic theology. It literally means “struggle” or “effort”, and it is a duty for all Muslims. Jihad usually takes on

Most Americans would be surprised to learn that jihad shares many values with our concept of patriotism, and that it is a religious analogue to Western just war theory. three forms: an internal struggle to refrain from sin and be the best Muslim one can be (which is often referred to as Jihad Al Akbar, the greater jihad); an external struggle for justice and to build a good Islamic society; and a holy war, which most Islamic scholars today agree can only be a war of self-defense and cannot harm civilians. Most Americans would be surprised to learn that jihad shares many values with our concept of patriotism, and that it is a religious analogue to Western just war theory. There are considerations of jus

triotism as love or devotion for one’s country, and generally hold that patriotism is not a duty, nor does it consist of duties. However, in the popular use of the term, duty is an integral part of what average Americans mean when they use the term “patriotism.” To love one’s country is an internal state that requires no outward behavior. And what is “devotion” if it is never manifested in behavior? Most Americans would not deem a closet patriot to be a patriot at all. Most expect love and devotion for one’s country to be manifested outward-

It is of the most bitter irony that those who have responded to our aggression by shouting “jihad” in the name of self-defense were condemned as our enemies and were met with more aggression. ad bellum (just cause for war) and jus in bello (just conduct in war) in jihad, as well as the notion of a duty to defend one’s community when it is under attack.

“Patriotism” is an equally broad word that gives rise to intellectual debates about its ideal meaning, use, and virtues. Such debates usually define pa-

ly for it to be considered patriotic. Most Americans use the term “patriotism” to refer to behavior, not internal states. So to be patriotic is to do things or make statements that demonstrate one’s love or devotion to their country. Some demonstrate their love for their country by putting up flags in front of their house, by teaching their children about the American forefathers, or by supporting

the troops with either care packages or moral support. Others demonstrate their devotion to their country by enlisting in the military and being willing to die in the name of national defense.

Professor Andrew Bacevich wrote that “patriotism,” up until the Vietnam War “implied, even required, deference to the state, shown most clearly in the willingness of individuals to accept the government’s authority to mandate military service. GI’s, the vast majority of the them draftees, were the embodiment of American patriotism, risking life and limb to defend the country.” But the Vietnam War caused many Americans to question the conventional meaning of “patriotism”, and led some to try to redefine it as opposition to state policies that are “misguided, illegal, or immoral.” This debate has continued into the current War on Terror. Anti-war figures like Howard Zinn, who said, “dissent is the highest form of patriotism,” have harshly criticized our government for committing war crimes in Iraq. Yet their advocacy for international law and human rights has been called “unpatriotic” by the more militaristic segments of American society.

There are very obvious differences between the concepts of “jihad” and “patriotism” and these differences should not be ignored, because they tell us important things about each community’s conception of authority and how morality is justified. However, three common values shine through these differences: devotion, duty, and self-defense. Devotion to a certain set of values and teachings (neither of which exclude the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ), duty to one’s community, and the right and virtue of defending oneself or community when under attack. Furthermore, “jihad” is no less reflective about the moral issues sur-

cycle Pg 29

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

28 | continued quran

>> continued from pg 25

statement: ‘This is the Book [of God], there is no doubt in it’ (al-Baqarah 2:2).

Your purpose in reading and studying it is no ordinary purpose; you seek from it the guidance that will transform your whole being, bring you and keep you on the Straight Path: ‘Guide us on the Straight Path’ (al-Fatihah 1:5) is the cry of your heart to which the Qur’an is the response.

2. Purity of lntention and Purpose: Secondly Read the Qur’an with no purpose other than to receive guidance from your Lord, to come nearer to Him, and to seek His good pleasure. What you get from the Quran depends on what you come to it for. Your niyyah (intention and purpose) is crucial. Certainly the Qur’an has come to guide you, but you may also go astray by reading it should you approach it for impure purposes and wrong motives. ‘Thereby He causes many to go astray, and thereby He guides many; but thereby He causes none to go astray save the iniquitous‘

....

(al-Baqarah 2:26).

3. Bringing Gratitude and Praise: Make yourself constantly alert with intense praise and gratitude to your Lord for having blessed you with the greatest gift – the Qur’an – and for having guided you to its reading and study. Once you realize what a priceless treasure you hold in your hands, it is but natural for your heart to beat with joy and murmur, and for your tongue to join in: ‘Thankful praise be to Allah, who has guided us to this; [otherwise] never could we have found guidance had not Allah not guided us’ (al-A’raf 7: 43).

4. Acceptance and Trust: Accept and trust, without the least doubt or hesitation, every knowledge and guidance that the Qur’an conveys to you. You have the freedom to question whether the Qur’an is the word of Allah or not, and to reject its claim if you are not satisfied. But once you have accepted it as His word, you have no basis whatever to doubt even a single word of it. For to do so would negate what you have accepted. There must be total surrender and abandonment to the Quranic teach-

ings. Your own beliefs, opinions, judgements, notions, whims should not be allowed to override any part of it.

5. Obedience and Change: Bring the will, resolve and readiness to obey whatever the Qur’an says, and change your life, attitudes and behavior-inwardly and outwardly-as desired by it.

Unless you are prepared and begin to act to shape your thoughts and actions according to the messages you receive from the Qur’an, all your dedication and labour may be to no avail. Mere intellectual exercises and ecstatic experiences will never bring you anywhere near the real treasures of the Qur’an.

6. Hazards and Obstacles: Always remain aware that, as you embark upon reading the Qur’an, Satan will create every possible hazard and obstacle to stalk you on your way to the great riches of the Qur’an.

7. Trust and Dependence: Trust, exclusively and totally, in Allah to lead you to the full rewards of reading the Qur’an 8. Participation of the Inner Self: Reading the Qur’an, the tilawah, must in-

volve your whole ‘person’. Only thus will you be able to elevate your encounter with the Qur’an to the level where you can be called a ‘true’ believer in the Qur’an (al-Baqarah 2: 121).

What is the Heart?

The more important part of your ‘person’ is your inner self. This inner self the Qur’an calls the qalb or the ‘heart’.

The heart of the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, was the first recipient of the Quranic message: ‘Truly it has been sent down by the Lord of all the worlds, the Trustworthy Spirit has alighted with it upon your heart [O Prophet], that you may be one of the warners . . .’ (al-Shu’ara’ 26: 192-4).

You will therefore reap the full joys and blessings of reading the Qur’an when you are able to involve your heart fully in your task, InshaAllah.

May Allah always guide us to the right path and be pleased with us. Ameen.

------------------------Source: www.alquranclasses.com

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012 cycle

>> continued from pg 27

rounding war than our own tradition of just war theory.

Certainly there are some crazies out there who have twisted the notion of jihad to condone terrorism against Muslims and non-Muslims alike—Al Qaeda immediately comes to mind. Yet jihad under it’s most extreme and violent interpretation seems no worse than patriotism under it’s most extreme and violent interpretation, which requires obedience even when we are committing war crimes and human rights violations.

ready

>> continued from pg 25

blessed month, intensify your worship before Ramadan begins. Just a small, consistent amount is enough. The Prophet Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa salaam told us: “The deeds most loved by Allah are those done regularly, even if they are small.” (Bukhari, Muslim) For example, say I always pray 2 rak`at (units )of sunnah (compulsory prayer) after ishaa’ (the night prayer) from this day until Ramadan begins—and even through Ramadan, let me make the intention that I will now pray 2 extra rak`at of sunnah after ishaa’. And every time I pray these extra 2 rak`at, which are more than what I normally pray, let me remember that I am doing these with the intention of asking Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) to help me be prepared to strive and exert my utmost effort during Ramadan.

Make a Du`a’ (prayer) List Today This is THE MONTH to ask for EVERYTHING, both related to this life and the Next. Let us not wait until the

continued | 29 All of these considerations raise the question, “what is so scary about jihad?” I don’t believe that we have asked this question seriously as a society. Our collective misunderstanding of this concept has led us to nearly equate it with terrorism, and the War on Terror in reality has been a war on jihad. It is of the most bitter irony that those who have responded to our aggression by shouting “jihad” in the name of self-defense were condemned as our enemies and were met with more aggression.

The circularity of our justifications for our aggression and the Islamic justification for self-defense has spun us into a bloodbath that has shown little sign of abetting. The recent sentencing of Tarek Mehanna has brought us to an even scarier phase of the War on Ter-

ror, because jihad is closer than ever to becoming a criminal idea in the United States. And Islam is now actually under attack.

last 10 nights to make special du`a’, and then once `Eid passes realize that we completely forgot about fifty other things we needed to make du`a’ for.

Let’s start making our lists now, and add to it as more things come our way.

Insha’Allah this should help us remember to make constant du`a’ in this month where dua`a’ is accepted, and help our hearts pour out to the One Who can make those du`a’ happen, subhanahu wa ta’ala.

out how to realize them in this month.

For example, perhaps you are really struggling to pray your sunnah prayers.

In this month, realize the enormity of the ajr (reward) of praying the sunnah prayers. Think that perhaps these sunnah will be the deeds that will be heavy on your scale of good deeds when you are intensely in need of them—on Yawm al-Qiyamah, the Day of Judgment. Therefore, fight to keep doing them all throughout Ramadan. If you can’t pray your 2 rak`at after dhuhr (the afternoon prayer) right away, make sure to do them as soon as you get the chance.

Write out Your Objectives for Ramadan Praying all of your fard (obligatory) prayers? Praying all of your sunnahs?

Reading the entire Qur’an? Giving $1 in charity a day? Making itikaaf (a time for reflection and prayer in seclusion) in the masjid? Leaving one serious sin that you’ve been trying to get away from for some time now? Sincerely turning back to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala)? Write out a list, put it somewhere you will see it, and make du`a’ for your success in fulfilling your objectives.

Make a Plan!

Look at your objectives and try to plan

Whether or not we will be able to sensibly remove ourselves from the vicious cycle of violence that has been the War on Terror remains to be foreseen. Nevertheless, anyone still clinging to the analysis that the War on Terror is a clash of civilizations is going to have to contend with the possibility that we may not be so different after all. It appears to be just the foreignness of the word “jihad” that scares Americans, and not the concepts it invokes.

Ross Caputi, 27, served as a US marine from 2003 to 2006. He took part in the

Your plan might look something like this: Objective: Pray all of my fardh prayers.

Method: Envision myself on the Day of Judgment seeing the weight of praying my sunnah consistently during this month. Make sure to pray sunnah immediately after salah (prayer). If I cannot, do it as soon as the opportunity arises—don’t let myself put it off!

second battle of Fallujah in November 2004. He became openly critical of the military and was discharged in 2006.

Ross is currently a student at Boston University and is founding director of the Justice for Fallujah Project. He is working on a book working on a book currently entitled Both Ends of the Gun, with Feurat Alani.

----------------------------------------------This article was first published at the Common Dreams.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

Objective: Finish the entire Qur’an in this month.

Method: Read 4 pages of the Qur’an after every salah. 5 prayers X 4 pages = 20 pages. 20 pages= about 1 juz. 1 juz X 30= the entire Qur’an.

So many Muslims have passed away since last month. So many people have not made it to Ramadan this year. Last year was their very last Ramadan. Will you make it to this Ramadan? Will this be your last Ramadan?

Aim to strive this Ramadan. With a very small amount of effort, such as just making a small intention or adding a few extra acts of worship, we pray that Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) will help our hearts soften and honor us with making it easy to turn to Him and open up to Him. May Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) make us of the successful in Ramadan, and make it easy for us to turn to Him completely and perpetually. Ameen.

Another example is that of finishing the Qur’an:

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May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

30 | continued finance

>> continued from pg 20

HOW BIG IS IT? The UK Islamic Finance Secretariat has estimated the value of Sharia-compliant assets to be in the region of about $1.3 trillion. While this may only account for about 1 per cent of the global financial system, it is growing at a rate of about 15-20 per cent a year, up from about $150 billion in the mid 1990s.

The main centres for Islamic finance are largely concentrated in the Middle East and Gulf region, with Malaysia another hub.

Andrew Quinn, head of tax at Maples and Calder, puts this growth down to a number factors, such as “greater sophistication in the Arab world” and the opening up of countries in this region, both economically and politically, since the Arab Spring. Moreover, the Muslim population is expected to grow twice as fast as the non-Muslim population up to 2030.

But it is yet a burgeoning industry, which is largely dominated by banking.

As of the end of 2010 for example, Islamic banking assets represented 83.4 per cent of overall Islamic assets, followed by Sukuk (11.3 per cent) and Islamic funds (4.6 per cent).

WHY AM I HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT IT HAPPENING IN IRELAND? Despite the fact that Ireland still has a relatively small Muslim population – at about 50,000 according to the 2011 census – Ireland has nonetheless emerged as a major global centre for Islamic finance.

Earlier this year Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the Government was “determined to ensure that the IFSC is a centre of excellence for Islamic finance”.

About 20 per cent of all Sharia funds located outside of the Middle East are now based in Ireland, while the industry here services about €2.5 billion worth of funds. In 2010, the Government pub-

....

lished extensive tax legislation in the Finance Act to facilitate a wide variety of Islamic finance, such as debt capital markets, securitisation and investment funds. Moreover, Ireland has double tax treaties in place with 67 countries including Turkey, Malaysia, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait.

according to a spokesman for the IBF, this is currently constrained by demand, which is subdued in line with overall mortgage market demand. Moreover, to facilitate an Islamic mortgage product, legislative change will need to happen in relation to taxation matters such as stamp duty, tax relief at source, etc.

More recently, it has positioned itself in the debt space, with Goldman Sachs listing a $2 billion sukuk on the Irish Stock Exchange late last year. The Sharia-compliant bond acts as a trustee and seller of “murabaha” trust certificates. Murabaha is a contract whereby the seller must disclose its profit to the buyer.

CAN I INVEST IN SHARIA PRODUCTS EVEN IF IM NOT MUSLIM?

But despite the hype, Islamic finance still remains a small segment of the overall international financial services market in Ireland, given that the total funds industry is worth about €2 trillion. “It’s a reasonable number but is growing,” notes Quinn.

IS IRELAND FACING OTHER COMPETITION FOR THIS BUSINESS? Given the potential growth prospects for the industry, it is not surprising that other centres in Europe are also trying to cash in. Luxembourg for example, is also aiming to position itself as a centre for offshore Islamic funds and debt issuance, while Switzerland is looking to cover the private banking angle.

London is also very active in the sector.

Most major UK banks now have opened “Islamic windows”, which are treated as independent departments within the banks, in order to reassure customers that they fully respect Sharia law.

Moreover, the UK is home to the first wholly Sharia-compliant retail bank in the West, the Islamic Bank of Britain.

ARE ANY PRODUCTS AIMED AT THE IRISH MARKET? Despite the growing Muslim population in Ireland, as of yet there are no specific Sharia-compliant products available here.

According to the Irish Banking Federation (IBF), the most likely area of activity will be mortgages. However,

Given the all-important diversification benefits that can be had by spreading your investments, exposure to the Middle East might be a good thing for some investors. According to Quinn: “There is nothing to stop a non-Muslim investor from investing” in Sharia products and he notes that it can help an investors’ diversification.

Moreover, Sharia-compliant funds might appeal to investors with specific ethical concerns, given that they don’t invest in gambling or alcohol-related stocks, and short-selling is banned.

For Irish investors, exchange-traded fund (ETF) specialist iShares offers the MSCI Emerging Markets Islamic Index, which offers exposure to stocks from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which comply with Sharia investment principles.

However, given that other opportunities exist to invest in the region, if you’re looking for exposure to the Middle East it might be easier to do so through a traditional investment product. For example, Rabodirect has an “Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa” fund managed by Fidelity you could consider, while the iShares MSCI GCC Countries ex-Saudi Arabia ETF is another option.

Indeed depending on market conditions, being able to short-sell can be a better option for a fund. For example in the year to March 31st, the Dow Jones Islamic Market USA Index, which tracks Sharia-compliant stocks was up by 7.43 per cent. The SP 500 on the other hand, grew by 8.54 per cent. When looked at over a five-year period however, the Sharia index slightly out-performed the SP 500.

COULD ISLAMIC FINANCE BE A

SOURCE OF NEW FUNDS FOR IRELAND? With traditional credit lines squeezed in the West, countries in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), such as Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, offer the possibility of a new form of funding from wealthy investors in this region such as sovereign wealth funds and family offices.

As a result, European companies have increasingly started to look to this region for funding by issuing sukuk bonds that are Sharia-compliant.

In 2010, International Innovative Technologies (IIT), a maker of industrial milling machines located in the northeast of England, launched this market when it funded its expansion plans by raising $10 million through a private sukuk.

Global giant GE has also raised $500 million through a sukuk which it listed on Dubai’s Nasdaq. Indeed HSBC recently forecast that global sukuk issuance will jump by 50 per cent this year.

Moreover, in a time of much volatility on the debt markets, many sovereigns have also considered this route. The UK has repeatedly considered it, although continues to rule it out on the basis that it does not offer “value for money in the current low interest rate environment.

For Ireland however, it could prove a source of much-needed funding whenever it gets back to the debt markets. Indeed two weeks ago, Tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore told the International Fiscal Association conference in Dublin that the Government was “open to considering such an option in the future”.

----------------------------------------------In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

OBITS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Request For Dua’s

{ To A llah We B e l o n g , an d t o Hi m i s Ou r R e tu r n }

“Everyone is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and good, and to Us you will be returned.” (Surah Al-Anbiya:35)” 5-3-12 The Board of Directors, Imam, Executive Director, the staff of Dar Al-Hijrah and the muslim community in Northern Virginia extend its deepest condolences to the family of our Sister Kariman Mohammed Nasr Al-Deen.

The Janazah Prayer was on May 4, 2012 in Falls Church, Virginia. (Source: Dar Al- Hijrah) 5-6-12 Br. Arif Iqbal has passed away. The Janazah prayer was on May 6, 2012 in Manassas,Virginia. May Allah (swt) forgive his sins and may He give sabr to his family. (Source: M. Baig)

prison

>> continued from pg 20

With serious crime rates dropping, the US has fewer and fewer of the hardestcore (mostly male) criminals who were once prime targets for incarceration.

To replace them, the private prison industry needs more young people, more women and (thanks to the immigration snatch game) more children as fodder for detention facilities.

The privatization of prisons is yet another instance of how small-government advocates are driving more and more of our lives into the hands of companies whose only objective is to turn a profit – without concern for larger social consequences. When public services like incarceration are handled as cheaply as possible, terrifying outcomes can result, including, in this case, unnecessary harm to minor offenders, the hardening

of minor offenders into serious criminals, and calls for still more draconian law enforcement and punishment protocols, whose main justification is to keep those for-profit prisons filled.

How bad can it get? A private detention company in Pennsylvania bribed two judges to order youths imprisoned.

Russ Baker is editor of WhoWhatWhy. com and author of “Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years.”

---------------------------------------------In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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| 31

Upcoming Events In Your Area --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EPC/Debate Appreciation Fundraising Dinner Saturday, May 12 2012, 4:00pm - 7:00pm Last January, we successfully had our Essay competition Alhamdulillah! We again thank you for your cooperation and time for helping it reach its success. Please Join us in celebrating the achievements of our participants and to appreciate the generous contributions and efforts of our patrons, judges, and volunteers!

All participants, judges, and volunteers get free dinner ticket, the guest pays $10 per person prepay, $15 on site. You register, but pay on site. Hope to see you there! Location: Dar Al-Hijrah, 3159 Row Street, Falls Church, VA 22044 Contact: For prepaid guest, please mail check to: Mafiq Foundation P. O. Box 4916 Silver Spring MD 209144916 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Al-Rahmah School Fundraiser Saturday, May 19 2012, 6:00pm - 9:00pm Please join us for the Al-Rahmah School Fundraiser. Guest Speaker: Mufti Yusuf Bin Yaqub. Tickets: $20 per person, $50 per family of five. Children under age 4, Free. Tickets available with all teachers.

Location: Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB), 6631 Johnnycake Rd, Baltimore, MD 21244 Contact: For tickets, call 410-719-0921 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Build Peace by Building Homes in Jordan Friday, May 25 2012 Build Peace by Building Homes in Jordan. Wouldn’t you like to spend one week in Jordan ‘building peace through service’? In May 2012, AUA will lead a delegation of peace building volunteers to build homes with Jordanian families in the village of Al Taybeh. As one of America’s Unofficial Ambassadors, you will: Work side-by-side with Jordanian villagers to build a home; Immerse yourself in Jordanian culture and engage in cross-cultural dialogue with university students, families and other members of civil society to build mutual understanding between America and the Muslim World; Hike through Petra (one of the new 7 Wonders of the World), and explore the Dead Sea, and Mt. Nebo. Date: May 25 - June 3, 2012. The deadline to apply is March 16, 2012. Peace building begins with you! Location: The village of Al Taybeh in Jordan. Contact: For more information, please contact AUA trip leader Gideon Culman at GideonC@creativelearning.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Muslim FunFest ‘12 Saturday, May 26 2012 FREE ADMISSION. Come our for a day of rides, games & lots of fun for the whole family! We have Rides that will thrill you, a veriety of delicious HALAL food and wide variety of bazaar vendors. Purchased an unlimited rid wristband for $23 dollars today! ($29 at the door). We also have a special Helicopter ride (pre-registeration ONLY, register online at muslimfunfest.com), a camel ride and zipline ride. For more information please visit our website at muslimfunfest.com or call us at 301-982-2061. VENDORS SPACE AVAILABLE! LOCATION: High Point Farm, 23730 Frederick Rd, Clarksburg MD. Contact: For tickets, & vending, : visit www.muslimfunfest.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Muslim Women United 21st Annual Conference Friday, June 08 2012 We invite you to join us again for our 21st Annual Sisters Conference. We have planned an enjoyable and pampered weekend with all sisters who wish to join us. June 8-10 2012. Friday, 7PM to 9PM, Meet and Greet.

Saturday, 9AM to 5PM, Conference. Keynote guest speaker and workshops: Taubah, HOV-The Company you Keep, No U Turn Licensed Expired, Youth-Stay in your lane Learners Permit. Continental breakfast and Halal gourmet luncheon. Saturday, 7PM to 12 Midnight, Dinner & Evening Entertainment, MWU Original Play & Showcase. 10PM to 12 Midnight, Swimming and Film Festival. Sunday, 10AM to 12 Noon, Breakfast Buffet.

Vending Available for $95 per table.

Location: Holiday Inn Koger Conference Center, 1021 Koger Center Blvd, Richmond, VA 23235 Contact: To register and for more info, go to http://www.muslimwomenunited.org/Registration.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2012 Gaza Summer Games Solidarity 5K Walk/Run Saturday, June 09 2012 American Friends of UNRWA (AFU) and KinderUSA invite you to be a champion to the children of Gaza by signing up for the Gaza Summer Games Solidarity 5K Walk/Run in Washington, DC. What are the Gaza Summer Games? Every year The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees holds the Gaza Summer Games, a 6-week summer recreational and educational program organized for the children of Gaza. Funds raised by the Solidarity 5K will go to UNRWA to directly benefit the Gaza Summer Games. Starts at 7:30AM. Location: Rock Creek Park by Picnic Grove #24, Washington, DC Contact: Sarah Lisenbe at 202-223-3767, or email: sarah@friendsunrwa.org

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MASJID LISTING

32 |

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

Do you have additions, changes, or corrections to the event listings in the Muslim Link? Email us at events@muslimlinkpaper.com, or call us at 301-982-1020.

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NORTHERN VIRGINIA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------All Muslim Brothers Association 3900 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22302 Tel: 703-647-0515 Jumma Prayer Only - 1:15 P.m --------------------------------------------------------------------------Icna VA Center: 2913 Woodlawn Trail, Alexandria, VA 22306.

Tel: 703-660-1255 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Idara Dawat-o-irshad: 4803 VAlley St, Alexandria, VA 22312 Tel: 703-256-8622 ww.irshad.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Mustafa Center: 6844 Braddock Rd., Annandale, VA 22003 Tel: 703-658-7134 www.mustafacenter.org E-mail: Mustafacenter@gmail.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Baitul Mukarram: 2116 S Nelson St., Arlington, VA, 22204, Tel: 703-778-1550 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Zakaria Islamic Academy: Galesbury Lane, Chantilly, VA 20151 Tel: 571-969-2123 www.ziacademy.org E-mail: Contact@ziacademy.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Badr Community Center Of Dumfries: 17794 Main Street, Dumfries, VA 22026 Tel: 703-585-1689/703-554-7983 www.bccd.org E-mail: Info@bccd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar Ul-ghuraba (Masjid Ur Rahmah): 155 Baker St., Emporia, VA 23487 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar Al Hijrah: 3159 Rowe St., Falls Church, VA 22044, Tel: 703-536-1030 www.hijrah.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Center Of Northern VA Trust (Icnvt): 4420 Shirley Gate Road, Fairfax, VA, 22030 Tel: 703-591-0999 www.icnvt.org E-mail: Info@icnvt.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar Al-noor (Muslim Assoc. Of VA): 5404 Hoadly Rd., Manassas, VA 20112, Tel: 703-580-0808 Fax: 703-221-8513 www.daralnoor.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Manassas Mosque: 12950 Center Entrance Ct, Manassas, VA Tel: 703-257-5537 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Center Of Virginia: 1241 Buford Rd.,

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Richmond, VA 23235 Tel: 804-320-7333 www.icVA1.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Greater Richmond (Isgr): 6324 Rigsby Road, Richamond, VA 23226 Tel: 804-673-4177 www.isgr.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al Rahman: 1305 Hull St., Richmond, VA 23224 Tel: 804-232-7640 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjidullah Of Richmond: 211 North Ave., Richmond, VA 23222 Tel: 804-321-8864/804-647-4297 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar-ul Huda: 6666 Commerce St., Springfield, VA 22150, Tel: 703-922-0111 www.darulhuda.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Foundation of America: 6606 Electronic Drive, Springfield, VA 22151 Tel: 703-914-4982 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Noor: 8608 Pohick Rd, Springfield, VA 22153 Tel: 703-451-7615 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Adams Center: 46903 Sugarland Rd, Sterling,VA 20164, Tel: 703-433-1325 www.adamscenter.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Heritage Center (Ihc): 262 A-3 Cedar Ln., Vienna, VA 22180 Tel: 703-206-9056 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON D.C.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------First Hijra Muslim Comm. Center: 4324 Georgia Ave, NW Washington, D.C. 20011 www.firsthijrah.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Ivy City Masjid: 2001 Galludet St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 Tel: 202-904-9668 E-mail: masjidivycity@yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-islam: 4603 Benning Rd., SE, Washington, D.C. 20019 E-mail: Imammusa@hotmail.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Muhammad: 1519 4th St. NW, Washington D.C. 20001 Tel: 202-483-8832 | www. masjidmuhammad.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Muslim Society Of Washington, D.c.

(MswDC): Howard Center, Room 805 (Above Hu Bookstore) Tel: 202-328-3236 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Islamic Center: 2551 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20008 Tel: 202-332-8343 www.theislamiccenter.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

MARYLAND

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Annapolis (Isa): 2635 Riva Rd. Suite 110, Annapolis, MD 21401 Tel: 410-266-6660 www.isamd.org Email: Info@islamannapolis.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Bait-Allah Masjid of Baltimore Inc 1935 Frederick Ave Baltimore, MD 21223 Imam’s cell: 571-721-9938 email: baitallahmasjid@yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Bilal Dawah Center, Inc: 1910 Frederick Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21223 Tel: 410-945-1515 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar ul Uloom: 6334 Dogwoood Rd, Baltimore, MD 21207, Tel: 410-493-0785 Email: Darululoommd@aol.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Ul-haq: 514 Islamic Way (Wilson St. ), Baltimore, MD 21217 Tel: 410-728-1363 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-mumineen: 2642 Harford Rd., Baltimore, MD 21218 Tel: 410-467-8798 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Jamaat Al-Muslimeen: 4624 York Rd., Baltimore, MD 21212 Tel: 443-622-2962 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-rahmah/isb: 6631 Johnnycake Rd., Baltimore, MD 21244 Tel: 410-747-4869 | www.isb.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid As Saffat: 1335 W. North Ave., Baltimore, MD 21217 Tel: 410-669-0655 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Easton 126 Port Street Unit # 1 Easton, MD 21601 Tel: 410-829 7924 islamicsocietyofeastonmd.yolasite.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Irhsca (Islamic Research And Hum. Services Center Of America): 1 Chambers Ave, Capitol Heights, MD Tel: 301-324-5040 www.irhsca.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Southern Pg County (Isspgc): P O Box 99, Clinton, MD 20735 5410 Indian Head Hwy, Oxon Hill, MD 20745 Tel: 240 603 4618

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar-us-Salaam: 5301 Edgewood Rd., College Park, MD 20740, Tel: 301-982-9848 www.duscommunity.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Zamzam 1510 Lynch Road, Dundalk, MD 21222 Tel: 410-284-2840 www.masjidzamzam.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------Dar al-Taqwa: 10740 Rte. 108, Ellicott City, MD 21042, Tel: 410-997-5711 www.taqwa.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-Hikmah: 11064 Livingston Road Unit L (101) Ft. Washington, MD 20744, Tel: 301 292-9009 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Frederick (Isf): 1250 Key Parkway, Frederick,md 21702 Tel: 301-682-6090 www.isfmd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Center Of Maryland (Icm): 19411 Woodfield Rd. Gaithersburg,md 20879 Tel:301-840-9440 www.icomd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Makkah Learning Center (Mlc): 814 Brandy Farms Ln., Gambrills, MD 21054 Tel: 410-721-5880 www.isamd.org Email: Info@mlcmd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Germantown (Isg): 19900 Brandermill Rd., Germantown, MD 20876 Tel: (240)-277-7758 www.isgtown.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Ibn Taymiyyah: 8000 Mlk Highway, Glenarden MD Tel: 301-461-9325 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society of Western Maryland: 2036 Day Rd., Hagerstown, MD 21740 Tel: 301-797-0922 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Southern Maryland Islamic Center (Smic): 1046 Solomons Island Rd, Huntingtown, MD, 20639 Tel: 410-535-0000 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Avondale Islamic Center: 4637 Eastern Ave., Hyattsville, MD, 20782 Tel: 301-779-9292 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Prince Georges Muslim Assoc.(Pgma): 9150 Lanham Severn Rd., Lanham, MD, 20706, Tel: 301-459-4942 www.pgmamd.org

Imam’s Office: 301-459-1441 E-mail: Imam@pgmamd.org.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Turkish American Community Center 9704 Good Luck Rd, Lanham, MD 20706 Tel: 301-459-9589 www.taccenter.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------La Plata Masjid: 111 Howard Street, La Plata, MD 20646 Tel: 301-609-8769 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Com. Center Of Laurel (ICCL): 7306 Contee Rd., Laurel, MD 20707 Tel: 301-317-4584 www.icclmd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-Ghurabaa: 8220 Washington St., South Laurel, MD 20724.

Tel: 301-604-3295 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Center Of Lexington Park 22583 Three Notch Road, Lexington Park, MD 20619 Tel: 240-538-7839 or 561-414-0994 www.iclpmd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Medina Center: 11600 Falls Road, Potomac MD 20854 www.medinacenter.net E-mail: Admin@medinacenter.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------Randallstown Islamic Center 9019 Marcella Ave. Randallstown, MD 21133 Tel: 410-971-4018 www.ricbaltimore.org E-mail: Info@ricbaltimore.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of The Washington Area (Iswa): 2701 Briggs Chaney Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20904 Tel: 301-879-0930 www.iswamd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Muslim Community Center (MCC): 15200 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20905 Tel: 301-384-3454 www.mccmd.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Imaam: (Jumuah Only) Jumuah: 12:50pm 3201 Randolph Rd, Wheaton, MD 20906 www.imaam.org Email: Fridayprayer@imaam.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid An-nur: 5418 Ebenezer Road, White Marsh, MD 21162 Tel: 410-663-9637 Fax: 410-663-9817 --------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-inshirah: 7832 Fairbrook Road, Windsor Mill, MD 21244 Tel: 410-298-2977

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

| 33

Editor-in-Chief: Minhaj Hasan Office Manager: Stephanie Benmoha Layout & Design: Fadlullah Firman Staff Writers: Fatimah Waseem Wafa Unus Rashad Mulla Sharia Advisors: Sheikh Salah as-Sawi Imam Safi Khan The Muslim Link (TML) is published every other week on Fridays and distributed throughout the Washington, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia Metropolitan Areas. TML is a non-profit publication and is based at Dar-us-Salaam in College Park, Maryland, USA. Staff and contributors are not necessarily affiliated with Dar-us-Salaam.

The views expressed in The Muslim Link do not necessarily reflect those of Dar-us-Salaam or TML management or their underwriters. Dar-usSalaam and TML are not responsible for the accuracy of information presented by advertisers, or for the religious compliance of events, products, or services published in TML. This publication contains the names of ALLAH (Subhanahu wa ta’ala).

Please keep, recycle, or share it with others The Muslim Link 5301 Edgewood Road College Park, MD 20740 Phone : (301) 982-1020 Fax: (240) 209-0702 editor@muslimlinkpaper. com Advertising: 301-982-1020 or email us at office@ muslimlinkpaper.com The Muslim Link.

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Family Law Attorney Helps Parents Through Custody Fears About

By Muslim Link Staff Sarah Malik’s client emails can be very personal.

They are about divorce, alimony, parental rights, child custody, child support and even domestic violence.

“Guiding a parent through the legal process so Attorney Sarah Malik they can have a relationship with their children is not something you can put a value on.” family law after graduating from George Washington University Law School and spending two years practicing corporate law.

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And so, opening her inbox at “He was already giving up, the start of her day can often ready to give his [estranged] wife whatever she was be unpredictable. asking for,” Malik told But this day, she received the Muslim Link. Among an email which hit home, other demands, his spouse r e m i n d i n g h e r o f w h y was limiting her client’s she decided to focus on visitation with their child in

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46 | MP - Advertisement

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

Honey Heals Skin Disease and Hair Loss Every Muslim has read

that the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa sallam told his ummah about the wonderful nature of honey.

In the Qur’an in Surah An-Nahl, Allah described honey as a “drink of varying color wherein is healing for men”.

Its no wonder that scientists are spending more and more resources examining, testing, and developing honey-based medical treatments.

As early as December 26, 2007, the Associated Press ran a story titled “Honey makes medical comeback”.

One company that has believed in the restorative power of honey for a long time is HoneyDerm, Inc., a Lansing, Michigan based company that spent years bringing the healing power of honey to people suffering from hair loss, dandruff, and skin disease.

Their most famous product line is Hairback Lotion and Hairtonix Shampoo, that “helps stimulate new hair growth and thicken existing hair”. Honeyderm, Inc also claims the products solve dandruff and scalp psoriasis.

The Muslim Link requested access to some of Honeyderm’s customers, and Brother Mahmoud from Honeyderm gladly offered us some phone numbers.

Brother Hasan, in his late 30’s is from Maryland and suffers from the common skin disease eczema. “I’ve had eczema

since high school, and it got worse as the years went on. I went to a dermatologist and he recommended a cortisone-type prescription cream.

It did stop the itch, but my skin was still dry and tight. I’ve tried lotions and shampoos from Aveeno, Lubiderm, Vaseline, and others.

Alhumdulillah, I found Honeyderm’s Dermatonic-P, and it is really, really a blessing for people with Eczema or other skin illnesses. I no longer wake up sweating at night! AllahuAkbar!.”

We called Abdurihman Khalil from Chicago. He did not know we were going to call. Abdurihman started losing his hair when he was about 28. He discovered the Hairback product line at a convention and decided to test its claims. “The hair loss stopped completely,” said Abdurihman. “It’s excellent, and I’ve been using it now for 6 years.”

We also called Brother Mustafa Al-Omary in Sterling Heights, Michigan. He decided to do something about his thinning hair at age 40 and tried the Hairback treatment. Asked how long it took for him to see results, he told us “Oh gosh, less than a month. My thin spots filled in within 3 months,.”

He said he would “absolutely” recommend the product to anyone.

“It’s not a fly-by-night product, its awesome,” said Mustafa.

We

also called Najeebudheen Appat, a 30-year old living in Los Angeles, CA. He’s had a severe dandruff

“Alhumdulillah, I found Honeyderm’s

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I no longer wake up sweating at night!

Allahu-Akbar!.” -- Br.Hasan, Maryland problem for a long-time, and had been searching for a solution. “I tried so many different products like tonics and shampoos, I can’t even remember them all, until I found this product around 2002. My problem was solved completely, the entire thing is taken care of. I even called [Honeyderm] with the great feedback,” recalled Najeebudheen.

He told us that Allah creates shifa in many things, and Honeyderm’s products are a part of that. “For dandruff problems, this is the total solution,” he told us from his mobile phone.

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

On Honeyderm’s website, there are many more testimonials from Muslims and non-Muslims from around the nation and the world.

There is also a gallery of “before and after” pictures of both hair loss treatments as well as skin treatments. And best of all, for those of us who’ve “tried it all”, there is a full money back guarantee.

Allah said honey heals. The Prophet Sallallahu’alyhi wa sallam said honey heals. The people we called said honey heals. With a money back guarantee, there is absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain – your hair and skin!

BEFORE

AFTER

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HoneyDerm is very confident that its products will definitely help you. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the product, we offer you a full money back guarantee with the return of any remaining portion of the product in their original containers. See our website for time restrictions.

All products are 100% drug free and are not intended to change any of the body physiological functions or treat any disease or possess any drug claim.

....

May 11th 2012 - May 24th 2012

MP - CLASSIFIED ADS | 47

Place a personal classified ad. Call us at 301-982-1020. Office@muslimlinkpaper.com We invite you to place a classified on the web FREE of charge at www.muslimlinkpaper.com. Classifieds in the print edition of the Muslim Link newspaper are only $1 for every 3 words. All classifieds run for 3 issues in the Marketplace section. Get started by emailing your exact text to office@muslimlinkpaper.com and then call in your credit card payment to 301-982-1020 or send a check or money order payable to: The Muslim Link, 5301 Edgewood Rd, College Park MD 20740.

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Employment LOOKING FOR HIFZ TUTOR Looking for an experienced Hifz teacher to work with our 2 boys in Greenbelt, MD. Needs to be available weekday afternoons/ evenings. Please contact sufs520@gmail. com or 301-768-4435.

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Matrimonial MOROCCAN BROTHER FOR MARRIAGE Good Moroccan Muslim brother in Morocco seeking good American Muslima for marriage, please contact Sister Fatima for more info 410-988-0705 or fatima1984@live.com -------------------------------------------------SEEKING PIOUS RELIGIOUS MUSLIMAH American citizen, widower, welleducated, retired, religious Sunni Muslim of Pakistani-origin for marriage to religious Muslimah of similar background.

Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. areas preferred for easy contact but not required. Please call 540-533-7391.

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Services HOME SERVICES Licensed contractor. Home Improvement work, interior/exterior painting, drywall install/repair, brick/concrete repair.

License #30385946 Estimates done.

Contact Br. Allen Scott at 410-467-1259 or 443-538-7643(cell) --------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------LICENSED PLUMBER Reduce Major Plumbing Bills. Give TwirlA-Drain a call at 410-963-5807 for sewer and water pipe replacement underground.

Free estimates given, Michael D. Shahid.

-------------------------------------------------LOVING HOME CARE Providing elder and child care you can trust and afford. Companionship, hygiene care, meal preparation, housekeeping, shopping, doctor appointments. Loving, dependable caregivers for Live-in, Full, Part time. Call: 301-490-1146 www.lovinghomecare.org.

Miscellaneous SEEKING PEN FRIEND Pakistani Sunni Muslim Male, age 43, incarcerated. Funny, understanding, and easy-going. Seeks pen friend. Nadeem Khan # 1113005 Box 1900 Pound, VA 24279.

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Grove Dental Clinic, P.C. 3400 Payne Street | Suite 101 | Falls Church, VA 22041

70 3 . 578 . 0 0 0 0 One Visit Root Canal and Crown IMPLANTS & RESTORATION INVISIBLE BRACES CERAMIC BRACES METAL FREE BRIDGES COMPUTERIZED CROWN COMPUTERIZED INLAYS/ONLAYS ONE HOUR WHITENING 3D ROOT CANAL TREATMENT COSMETIC DENTISTRY

Free Consultation for Ortho and Implant

Too Busy For Two Dental Visits?

VEENERS/DIGITAL X-RAYS COMPUTERIZED ANESTHESIA SMILE MAKE OVER DENTAL LAB ON PREMISES FINANCING AVAILABLE FREE CONSULTATION ACCEPT MOST INSURANCES

We know you’re busy. That’s why we offer CEREC restorations.

One Day Dentistry

With no temporaries needed, CEREC is absolutely the fastest way to

CEREC has helped millions of smiles around the world. CEREC enables us to quickly and economically restore damaged teeth using a durable porcelain material

you time in your busy life. The one and only for one-visit dentistry.

receive crowns, fillings and veneers. All can be done in one visit, saving

info@grovedentalclinic.com www.superdentist.com

The Adams Smile Center: a brighter, healthier smile is just one call away!

Call (703)-430-1212 for appointment availability.

Dr. Sultan Chaudhry

Doctor of Dental Surgery

We offer the following services: • • • • • • • •

Restorative Dentistry (fillings, crowns, bridges, etc.)

Pedodontics (including sedation) Endodontics (root canal therapy) Orthodontics (braces, invisalign, etc.)

Prostodontics (dentures) Periodontics Implant Dentistry and much more....

We use the latest technology including digital xrays, high definition oral cameras, and CEREC computer fabricated crowns Expert care with a gentle touch. Even if your visit is for a cleaning, it will be scheduled with one of our dentists

Call Now (703)-430-1212

46161 Westlake Dr, Suite 220 Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165

adamssmilecenter@gmail.com