The Muslim Link ~ July 23, 2010

RAMADAN POSTER CALENDAR INSIDE ! PG 14

Shaban 11 - Shaban 24, 1431 A.H.

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July 23rd, 2010 - August 5th, 2010

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DOMESTIC TERRORISTS HAVE NO PROFILE, SAY EXPERTS Seminar on Identifying, Preventing, and Responding to Domestic Terrorism Held in DC

Muslim Link Staff On July 14, 2010, a DC based progressive advocacy group convened policy makers, researchers, and security experts to discuss the roots of “Islamist radicalization” and how best to respond.

Called “Strengthening America’s Security: Identifying, Preventing, and Responding to Domestic Terrorism”, the two hour seminar began with a keynote address from Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) followed by a

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moderated panel discussion and audience question and answer period.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Baltimore Muslim Vies For Pepsi Funding | pg 4 Looking for Guidance: D.C. Hidayah 2010 | pg 5

Ellison, the first Muslim Congress, elected to began by recalling how a friend approached him on November 5, 2009, the Muslim-American day soldier Nidal Hassan opened fire on fellow US soliders at Fort Hood.

After telling Ellison about the shootings, the friend

ICCL Pushes for Parking Lot

By Ramadan | pg 5 Robots Rule at PGMA Summer Camp | pg 6

>> DOMESTIC Pg 10

Islamic Finance Tour Stops in VA

By Muslim Link Staff An Islamic Finance National Tour made a stop in Northern Virginia on July 15, 2010, aiming to connect Islamic finance firms with potential clients in the DC region.

About five firms selling “sharia compliant” financial products like loans, insurances, and retirement About 50 people attended a seminar on Islamic finance packages came out to the in Herndon where companies showcased their Islamic Embassy Suites Dulles financing products including loans and insurance.

Airport hotel along with around 50 area Muslims.

The event was organized by New Jersey based Mlink, which also organizes an annual American Muslim Consumer conference in New Jersey.

After a youth from New Jersey recited a verse from the Qur’an condemning

>> FINANCE Pg 8

Twelfth Grade Capstone for Al-Huda High | pg 6 MCC Camp Qiyam Student Standing Tall | pg 7 ICM Gets $75k Homeland Security Grant | pg 9 The Muslim Link

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4 | COMMUNITY NEWS

Community News Baltimore Muslim Vies For Funding from Pepsi for Social Ser vice Project

By Zunara Naeem Muslim Link Staff Writer A Baltimore based Muslim social services organization is trying to spread its work nationally by entering a widelycontested competition for the best community building ideas run by softdrink giant Pepsi-Cola.

In an announcement by Imam Hassan Amin, the Executive Director of the Muslim Social Services Agency (MSSA) in Baltimore, Maryland, the MSSA submitted their program idea “Project H.O.M.E (Housing, Opportunity, Medical, Employment)” to the Pepsi Refresh Project, as one of the 1102 competing to be considered “refreshing ideas that will change the world.”

The competition is one amongst a recent plethora of do-good programs designed by rich and famous companies, like Pepsi, for establishing a platform to help others put their compassion to work.

Imam Amin’s idea is aimed at providing housing and job training to the homeless, especially homeless women. Pepsi Refresh lists three deliverables for Imam Amin’s project should it get funded: finding permanent housing for 60 families; placing or training 60

individuals in jobs; and setting up after care services for settled individuals for up to one year.

voting under categories like health, neighborhoods, education, arts and culture, food and shelter, and the planet.

Pepsi has been running the competition since February 1, 2010, accepting submissions from schools, non-profit organizations, museums, community

This month’s competition will end July 31, 2010. The competition will open again August 1st. So far, the Pepsi Refresh Project has granted around $ 1.3 million

Some projects which won the $250,000 Pepsi Award this year include distribution of abduction prevention safety books and DVDs to families; providing healing, hope and possibility to sur vivors of violence and abuse; and rebuilding a damaged rural elementar y school. Up to two projects received the $250,000 award each month. centers, and individuals. Competitors send their ideas from the 1st until the 15th of every month to Pepsi Refresh, during which a board of ‘ambassadors’ with backgrounds in health, education, social services, environment, and the arts choose about 1000 ideas. All chosen ideas are posted on the Pepsi Refresh Project’s competition website for public

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every month, $250,000 for the top-two most voted for ideas that applied for that allotted grant, and $50,000, $25,000, or $5000, for the ten most popular ideas battling for those respective grants.

Over $4M has been granted to 96 of the competition’s winning projects since the competition began.

Project H.O.M.E, the only Muslim-led project for this month’s competition, has applied for the quarter million dollar grant. If they receive enough votes by the end of the month and win the grant, Imam Hassan Amin said $200,000 will go towards establishing the project and $50,00 as salary to the workers involved.

Ideas that do well in the competition vary, as one of May’s top-two placers was an education program on distributing abduction prevention material to families, while the other was a youth-organized food and shelter project for building foster homes. The Pepsi Refresh website presents a breakdown of the competition and where the prize money is going.

Project H.O.M.E was placed in “The Planet” section by Pepsi Refresh, but Imam Amin is trying to get the project recategorized under “Food and Shelter”.

In a study conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless, in 50 cities, virtually every city contains far more homeless people than spaces available at shelters and transitional housing.

In addition, from the 3.5 million homeless

>> PEPSI Pg 9

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July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

COMMUNITY NEWS |

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Looking for Guidance: D.C. Hidayah 2010

By Hamza Ghaznavi On any given night, mosques in Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas are buzzing with young students eager to attend lectures on Islamic ethics, Shariah finance and the history of prophets.

Most of these lectures take place in the most unpretentious of manners, with perhaps a few pots of coffee and a handful of brochures available for even the most premier of speakers. For over half a year, the local youth have worked tirelessly to bring a large-scale conference into the D.C. metropolitan area to help foster collective faith, unity and networking towards a stronger local Muslim community. On August 7th and 8th of this year, the hard work of those youth will be on display at the first ever DC Hidayah Conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. More than a dozen speakers, including local imams and Islamic activists will be headlining the event, which has over

1000 confirmed registrants and more than fifty volunteers. Expected topics of discussion will cover mainstream issues like environmental policy and the global financial crisis to more faith specific issues like spirituality in the modern era and the importance of education in Islam.

Potential lecture topics include: “The Concept of Qur’anic Revelation in Contemporary Thought”, “English Translations in the Quran: Some Essential Points to Remember”, and “Letting the Quran shape your life”. Registrants range in all ages, however the biggest block of interest seems to be from younger enthusiasts, who have already invested countless hours in getting this vast

initiative off the ground. DC Hidayah Conference coordinator Farooq Yousuf adds, “Alhudmulillah, the youth are literally planning every phase of the conference. From the venue to registration, logistics, speakers, the bazaar, funding, and marketing – they’ve done an exceptional job from conceptualization to delivery.

The initial idea was even formulated by the youth. The idea started out as an email that was sent to many youth in the DC metro area – the rest is history.”

What makes this 2-day event truly unique is that the DC Hidayah will be a joint effort with varying members of the Washington D.C. area Masaajid (network

of mosques) and Imams, thus helping area Muslims to come together and work on many projects that may benefit greatly from increased cooperation. For example, many local mosques conduct cleanup and re-beautification efforts for their nearby parks; DC Hidayah offers a venue to network, allowing mosque goers the opportunity to team up and share ideas and information to better continue their missions of public service.

The event will also include an area for area vendors to market and sell their products and services. From traditional Islamic clothing to new media solutions for Muslim businesses, DC Hidayah is sure to set precedent as the new standard of networking, education and development for the Muslim community in Washington, D.C. for many years to come.

For more information, be sure to visit dchidayah.org or facebook DC Hidayah.

ICCL Pushes To Complete Parking Lot By Ramadan

By Hayder Qaadri President, ICCL Since the Islamic Community Center of Laurel’s inception, nearly thirty years ago, it has always been under Allah’s bounty. This bounty, as reflected in our community, has aided this Islamic community and center to move to the next level. As you may know, the Muslim community of Laurel, MD has expanded.

To complement this community’s expansion, ICCL’s administrations for the past few years has made it a priority to expand the Masjid in order to better serve this growing community.

One of the chief priorities of this expansion project is the parking lot in order to alleviate traffic concerns and improve safety. After years of petition, pursuing permits, consulting civil engineers and architects, the construction of the parking lot is underway, alhumdulillah. And, we have, with the support of your duas and donations, inaugurated this project and achieved in excess of $450,000.

However, given that our goal is to have the parking lot project completed by the month of Ramadan, 2010, we still require a final push for only $160,000.

I am confident that you, your family, and friends can all assist in achieving this final goal. This urgent call will complete a project that was begun nearly a decade ago and will conclude the first phase of the overall expansion project of ICCL. Additional information on the expansion project, including pictures, can be found on ICCL’s website (www.icclmd.org), and to introduce your family and friends to our Masjid we have a produced a short video which you can watch and share, found at: http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=QKd6kPkzhVs. Indeed like any community in transition, we expect to experience growing pains, but, rest assured that Allah rewards and replenishes any charitable gifts; additionally, ICCL is incorporated as a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization, therefore, all charitable gifts are tax

deductible.

with the next expansion phase project.

You can fulfill your donation by either accessing the ICCL website (www. icclmd.org) and generously donating through Paypal (found at the lower left of the webpage), or you can mail your check to address to below, making it payable to ICCL.

In closing, we all strive to one day bask under the shade of our charity on the day of resurrection, the words of the Messenger of Allah indicate such a promise:

My faith in Allah is unshakable that through your donations we will be able to complete this parking lot expansion project on time, and enable us to continue

“The believer’s shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his charity.” - AlTirmidhi, Hadith 604 Source: ICCL News List

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

6 | COMMUNITY NEWS

Muslim Robots Rule at PGMA Summer Camp

By Saudah Ahmad

succeed by offering a helping hand wherever and whenever needed.

June 21, 2010 marked the fifth year Prince Georges Muslim Association’s (PGMA) organized it’s An-Nur Academy Summer Camp.

The CIT (Counselor in Training) Program is open to high school juniors who want to take on the role of leading the younger campers. They are trained to assist both the campers and the staff with activities, interacting one-onone with the campers and being a role model. While learning how to properly interact with the children is one of the main responsibilities of a CIT, they are also trained on how to cooperate with other youth leaders and their elder staff, as well.

Muslim Link Contributing Writer

The An-Nur Academy is two summer camps in one. The first being an intensive hifz program where students not only learn the Quran but also Islamic studies, as well as lessons on the Salah.

The second half of the camp consists of all other subjects such as languages arts, math, science, visual arts, and sports.

An-Nur Academy does something not common among area Muslim summer camps – they have a theme for every summer; this year the theme is Robotics.

The six week camp is divided into three, two week sessions: Challenger Rocketry, Recycling for Robots, and Design Squad.

The cost of a single session is $200 and $500 for them all. Approximately 60 students are enrolled ranging from ages of four to eighteen. It would seem an estimated eight teachers would not be sufficient. However, many of the high school youth, about 15, have devoted their summer break until the final day July 30th to helping the Summer Camp

The An-Nur Academy summer camp strives to improve every year. “We do our best to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his companions,” said Br. Abdul Hakeem Leveille. “We take the feedback we get from the community and use that to make improvements for the following year.” he explained.

“PGMA summer camp has gone through many changes to get where it is now. I am happy to be here helping these kids

>> PGMA Pg 21

Top: Model Robots stand on display at PGMA’s Summer Camp. Bottom: Nazeerah Hassan, 2nd grade, displaying her robotic creation. Photos by Saudah Ahmad

Addition of Twelfth Grade Capstone for Al-Huda High

By Saudah Ahmad

Muslim Link Contributing Writer Al-Huda School in College Park, Maryland is just a month away from becoming what many area Muslims couldn’t have imagined – a full fledged high school.

The pre-K through 11th grade school began in 1995 with around 25 students.

This August, they will welcome their first seniors, completing a long road to the twelfth grade.

Principal Brother Imad Tibi and the rest of the school’s administration and staff are excited and grateful to be able to take such a big step forward. “It is a dream come true, by the Help and Mercy of Allah,” said Brother Imad.

Vice-Principal for Girls Aisha Elahi said Al-Huda was able to progress as far as it has because of Allah’s help and also the support of the Dar-us-Salaam community.

The school is the centerpiece project of the Dar-us-Salaam community.

Though a major milestone for the Muslim community in the Washington DC metropolitan area, school administration and staff members acknowledge a high school poses its own challenges.

“With blessing come great trials [as well],” said Sister Faiza Coleman-Salako, who teaches Advanced Placement (AP) Government and also Islamic Studies. AlHuda School adminstrators scan resumes and conduct interviews all year long, as teachers with specialized knowledge in the sciences, math, and other core high school subjects are difficult to find. An

accredited private school, Al-Huda only hires Muslim teachers and positions its teachers as role models.

“Our teachers need to have a certain level of Islamic character and knowledge, in addition to being good educators and grounded in their content areas, so finding the right candidate – especially male teachers – is a challenge we face year after year,” conceded Vice-Principal Aisha Elahi, who helped conduct a summer teacher’s training institute at the school two years ago.

This fall, three AP courses await the inaugural senior class. Currently in the process of being approved by the College Board -- the creators of the AP and SAT exams – Al-Huda aims to be competitive with the best area high schools by offering AP English

Language and Composition, AP Biology, and AP Calculus explained Sister Rasha El-Haggan, the AP English teacher. Last year the class – then 11th graders – took AP Government and Politics alongside their core subjects which include Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies. College preparation workshops are also a part of the academic schedule.

For parents of students who have yet to graduate, this is the moment they’ve been waiting for.

“I’ve been waiting for Al-Huda to establish the 12th grade since 1999, when my daughter began first grade there,” commented Sr. Naadira Fitzgerald, mother of two students, one who is an >> AL-HUDA Pg 11

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

COMMUNITY NEWS |

MCC’s Camp Qiyam Student Standing Tall

By Saudah Ahmad

Muslim Link Contributing Writer The Muslim Community Center (MCC) in Silver Spring Maryland has amped up its summer camp with the introduction of this years Camp QIYAM 2010. The two-fold camp has its mornings filled with the voices of the children reciting Quran and learning about Islam while the afternoons are full of sports activities, preforming and visual arts, and special interest clubs for math and reading among other subjects.

Camp QIYAM has an organized Sports Program, for both the brothers and the sisters involved in the camp, to help introduce campers to different sports and physical activities. Weekly themes such as “A Muslim’s Duty” allow all those involved in the camp to come together no matter their age as they all work towards the camps ultimate theme – Living the Quran and Sunnah.

With one senior director in Kamila Barbour, a head counselor in Omnia Joehar, four senior counselors, two assistant counselors, and about 15 high school and junior high school Counselors in Training (CIT’s), Camp Qiyam is able to properly maintain an estimated 50 student campers per week. Since the enrollment schedule is flexible, it allows those traveling in the summer a chance

to enroll their child in a camp without having to fully commit to it the entire six week program. Camp QIYAM began on June 28th and continues on until August 6th. The enrollment fee for a week is $100 and for all six weeks it’s $550 along with an activity fee and included after-care program.

The Counselors in Training program is for youth ages 14+ who aren’t able to enroll as campers. Counselors get handson-training dealing with boys and girls, and are able to earn volunteer hours for their graduation. They are challenged with helping create fun and creative activities to help incorporate the weekly and overall theme of Camp QIYAM into the daily lessons of the campers.

They also help organize events such as the Open Mic sessions where campers, staff, and the community at large express their love of Allah and Islam through poetry, nasheed, and through reciting Qur’an.

campers, parents and staff are expressing their pleasure with this year’s summer program. As a new member to the MCC community, I was grateful for the overwhelming support from everyone. All of these components reinforce the children’s place and the family’s co-commitment to community,” Camp director Kamila Barbour told The Muslim Link.

To learn more about MCC and Camp QIYAM visit www.mccmd.org.

“Alhamdullilah,

Top: Camper, Nida Shah making her mark with a chalk drawing. Right: Camper Jasmine Abdul Kareem picking blue berries at Butler’s Orchard on Field trip, photos by Kamila Barbour. Far Right: Counselor in training, Wali Khan demonstrating prayer, Photo by Br.Ridwan.

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July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

8 | COMMUNITY NEWS FINANCE >> continued from pg 1 usury or interest, Faisal Masood of Mlink welcomed guests and sponsors.

“I’m surprised because at [our] New York and New Jersey [events] there is a lot of mingling and networking and people have to [be forced] to sit down … here everyone is kind of sitting my themselves,” he said to the small gathering. Masood spoke briefly on the need to give exposure to Muslim businesses.

The first presenter was Ali Farooq representing Amana Mutual Funds.

Started in 1986 as a small investing club, the fund now manages about three billion dollars, investing for clients in the stock market but avoiding investing in insurance, alcohol, gambling, pork, and pornography. If a business has income coming from one of these areas, it must be less than 5% of their total income for Amana to invest in its stock. Also, less

than 33% of the financing can come from debt to meet Amana’s investment criteria. Farooq said about 80% of Amana investors are non-Muslims. Morningstar investment research firm gave Amana the highest rating it has – 5 stars.

Wesam Berjaoui spoke about University

Amana Mutual Funds. Started in 1986 as a small investing club, the fund now manages about three billion dollars, investing for clients in the stock market but avoiding investing in insurance, alcohol, gambling, pork, and pornography.

Islamic Finance’s offerings, including both residential and commercial financing.

A representative from UK based Iman Insurance said his firm – which provides

Ramadan in Gaza

By Ibrahim Abusway

Muslim Link Contributing Writer Two years ago in Gaza during Ramadan, 9-year-old Sujood walked into a KinderUSA sponsored Iftar (dinner) to have a bite to eat. Someone in the dinner hall noticed that Sujood was a new face and decided to inquire about her. What we found out was heart-breaking.

“My name is Sujood. I am in fourth grade. My father recently died and left me, my mom, and my 9 siblings.”

Let us pause here for a moment.

Our brothers, sisters, and children in

property and other types of insurance to about 600 masajid in the UK – open their first US office in New York this past May. With over 30 employees in New York, Iman Insurance hopes to expand nationally before the end of this year.

Conceding the western world doesn’t yet have a framework to implement a full

Gaza have been under siege and under a blockade for nearly 4 years. Very little is getting into Gaza, be it medicine, food, or clothes; forget about building materials and electrical equipment, most of that is banned. Nearly 75% of all factories are shut down in Gaza, and those that are functioning struggle to find spare parts or even electricity to operate. People are struggling to find bare necessities.

The dire situation in Gaza would devastate any adult, both psychologically and emotionally. Most of us here in America would not survive one week in Gaza. So what about 9-year-old Sujood?

What about 9-year-old Sujood without a father? What about Sujood’s mother?

“takaful” model of Islamic insurance, Iman follows conventional insurance models but strives to “work within the confines of the sharia.” Iman Insurance says they donate 50% of all profits into charitable community projects. About

$14 billion in premiums have been placed with Iman thus far.

Soho Properties, a small real estate asset management firm operating exclusively in Manhattan, also presented their projects, showcasing their higher risk projects which return up to 40%, and their more stable, income producing properties which return about 10%.

Soho manages about $165 million in Manhattan real estate. Only two people raised their hands when the Soho representative asked who in the audience came to tonight’s event to invest.

Guidance Financial presented last, followed by a question and answer period. An audience survey showed most attendees came to learn about Islamic investing and what Islamic loan products are available.

Mlink partnered with the ADAMS Center to bring the Islamic Finance National Tour to Virginia. The tour goes to Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles later this year.

Sujood’s mother had no time to grieve, she had no time to cry, she had no time to complain. Upon the death of her husband, Sujood’s mom had to find work; she had to find work in a city with 75% unemployment! She found work, for $2 per day.

As for your daughter Sujood; well, she could not be a child anymore. She could not do what 9-year-olds do. No time to surf the Net. No time for television.

No time to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Sujood has to be an adult because now she has adult tasks: she has 9 brothers and sisters to help raise; she has no father to lean on, but at least her younger siblings will lean on her in their time of weakness.

>> GAZA Pg 11

A KinderUSA aid worker gives a young Palestinian in Gaza a new pair of sneakers.

Gaza continues to be cut off from basic supplies by an Israeli blockade. Photo courtesy of KinderUSA.

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

COMMUNITY NEWS |

9

ICM Receives $75k Homeland Security Grant in putting the proposal together - Br. Sayed Naved for leading this effort and developing the proposal, Br. Aslam for doing the leg-work and attending the meetings, and Br. Abu Khan and Br. Abdullah Shamim for providing valuable comments based on their experience with Federal grants.

Insha Allah we will now work on the details of the implementation plan for improving ICM’s physical security.

domestic violence, or just a safe haven... until they are independent from their abuse and safe from their abuser” as well as countless other social services, depending on the needs of applicants.

helped individuals and moved on….

The main thing is is that they want to maintain their dignity, instead of calling them up and reminding them about it [problems] over again.”

the expenses of items such as fire extinguishers and alarms so that they may pass their inspection.

What makes Project H.O.M.E different from the MSSA and other projects like it, however, is that it will be offering those same services on a national level, with a 1-800 number, website, and a central headquarters called “Muslim A Center (MAC)”.

The Muslim Link spoke to Abdulmuhsiy Abdurrahman Khayr, a Baltimore area Muslim aided by the MSSA. After injuring his back, Abdulmuhsiy found himself without a job and mounting medical bills. MSSA provided Khayr with financial resources to help him get through that difficult period.

Alhamdulillah, ICM received the good news on July 20, 2010 from DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) that it was awarded the full amount of $75,000 to improve ICM’s physical security. The grant is awarded through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NGSP)

administered by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

PEPSI >> continued from pg 4 in the United States, 36% of the children representing that statistic live in shelters, and children and families are the largest growing segment of homeless in the nation, according to a 2002 study by the National Coalition for the Homeless.

That is twice the amount of poverty for any other age group, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Poverty rates in the United States have also spiked from 12.5 percent in 2007, to 13.2 percent in 2008, precursors to a long string of disturbing numbers after an economic recession hit the U.S. in 2007.

In Baltimore, over 3000 men, women, and children can be found on the streets on any given night. In the United States as a whole, over fourteen thousand people sleep on the streets each night.

Lack of affordable housing and poverty are the biggest factors driving families onto the streets according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. In addition, 56% of cities surveyed by the US Conference of Mayors in 2000 agree that domestic abuse is a primary cause of homelessness.

Project H.O.M.E is an extension of the MSSA, an already well established social services agency. The MSSA has been offering aid in the Baltimore region since 2003. So far, it has given aid and support for around 3000 people, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Imam Amin says that the agency has helped those who have been “evicted, stranded, are in need of medicine and/or clothing, counseling services for drug abuse,

ICM was one of the 13 awardees among the 40 who applied through the National Capital Region (NCR) State Administrative Agency (SAA).

We thank the team which took the lead

For the MSSA to achieve this goal, they need votes. “It would be helpful,” said Br. Amin, “to get as many people on board to make these dreams come true for other people.”

Project H.O.M.E also hopes to establish a masjid with an intake person who will verify applications filled out by people needing the agency’s services, and send it to MAC where they will again verify the application. After approval, funds would be sent directly to the final recipients – in the case of housing, funds would be sent directly to land lords. The masjid will also provide a 24-hour service “because people need help 24 hours a day,” states Imam Amin.

Imam Amin also aims to renovate a building or complex for “services that people need...like drug help, job training, [and] health care needs.” Imam Amin figures it will be like a “one stop shop for all their needs and cares.”

He went on to say, “We just want to improve people’s lives… [and help] them do better for themselves”.

When asked about her experience with the MSSA, Sr. Asma Hanif, the executive director of Muslimat An-Nisaa, a women’s shelter that also operates in Baltimore, Maryland, said, “They’ve

Abulmuhsiy said that the organization was very “astute as far as needs being legitimized” and has a “strict adherence, even if Muslim, to verify sources.”

The agency’s policy to maintain that applicants were in the situation they described themselves to be in was one the brother “admired very much.” “They cross their t’s and dot their i’s and put themselves out there in doing that,” he went on to say.

Sr. Asma made similar comments: “[The] organization doesn’t cater to those who use and abuse a system.” She continued however, saying that the organization “provide[s] the gap from being homeless to becoming sufficient.”

The Muslim Services Social Agency also deals with delivering aid and support to not only individuals, but organizations as well. Women’s Affairs of Al-Mumtahinah Home Inc, a nonprofit organization that provides social services to Muslim and non-Muslim alike, has been operating since 2007, beginning at Masjid Al-Haqq. Since its start-up in 2007, the shelter has has helped over a hundred people, and runs an all-volunteer staff.

The organization received monetary funds from Imam Amin to cover

Jazakum Allah Khair. On behalf of ICM Board of Trustees – Nadeem Ahmad, Chair. [Source: ICM News List]

Of Imam Amin, Sr. Nadia McIntosh, the organization’s President, said, “He is a true supporter of women and Muslims.”

She went on to say that the Imam was the shelter’s “go-to person for counseling services.”

If the MSSA’s noble endeavor to establish Project H.O.M.E on a countrywide scale is successful, Allah Willing, it will become the first national social services agency dedicated to Muslim services and concerns, says Imam Amin in an email. The project will also be on par with some of today’s successful Christian and Jewish social services agencies.

As of this report, Project H.O.M.E is #256 for the grant the MSSA is hoping for. In contrast, “Save the Music”, an “Education’s” program by the Hip Hop Academy for artists to have a business school, is #1 in the $250K bracket, and has been, for over two weeks. Number 2 is the “Complete the Dream” project which works by building “Legacy Gardens” for the community; it can be found under “Neighborhoods” on Pepsi Refresh’s website. Only the top two projects get funded.

When asked why the MSSA decided to extend into Project H.O.M.E, Br. Amin expressed, “It’s just a really good feeling…to help others. Really, you live it.”

Imam Amin is a former principal and volunteer social worker at the Islamic Community School of Baltimore. He is also a Licensed Graduate Social Worker in the State of Maryland, and has over 25 years of experience in social work.

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

10 | COMMUNITY NEWS DOMESTIC >> continued from pg 1 asked rhetorically “you know why I’m telling you this, right?” Ellison knew what it would mean for Muslims in America if the shooter turned out to be Muslim.

Reiterating the stance of the major Muslim American community organizations and leadership against terrorism in all forms, Ellison emphasize the need to have an “open door” to the conversation about radicalization and terrorism. “People who cherish individual liberty … and due process must be involved in the conversation or it will go on without them,” he said.

Ellison cited the arrest of five Alexandria, Virginia Muslim-American youth in Pakistan as a good example of how Muslim Americans are “collaborating” with intelligence and law enforcement agencies to prevent violent acts. The five youth were arrested by Pakistani police in late 2009 after their families made it known to the FBI that their sons left without notice to Pakistan, leaving behind a video message.

Ellison returned to the controversial technique of racial profiling throughout his approximately twenty minute speech, saying profiling is an ineffective tool to prevent terrorist acts.

Panelists visible from right: Professor David Schanzer, Special Envoy to the OIC Rashad Hussain, Pradeep Ramamurthy, and moderator Faiz Shakir. On left, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) American young man seemingly integrated into American society who attempted to set-off a bomb in New York’s Times Square earlier this year, was worrisome because it showed there is no profile for who might be prone to violent acts. Ellison called on Congress to setup a committee to study the “roots of radicalization.”

American-born Islamic lecturer Anwar Al-Awlaki was mentioned several times in Ellison’s speech, and by many guests during the subsequent panel discussion.

Ellison called Al-Awlaki – whose CD sets on Islamic history are popular among English speaking Muslims around the world – an “influential, persuasive

On the Muslim-American community’s response to some local youth gravitating towards radicalization, Ellison said the community must move beyond slogans like “Islam is peace”. Recognizing many Muslim youth are angered at the US for its foreign policy and frustrated at on-going, large scale civilian deaths in Muslim lands, Ellison said the community must have answers to their questions. “We have to confront the moral logic [of these radicalized youth],” he said. These youth are expressing their feelings through “rage” rather than through a “process” like political engagement or social activism, said Ellison.

Questions for the congressman included

“[Our] communities are in a pressure cooker, under a spotlight, and in a petri dish all at once .. [there are no] safe spaces to have this discussion.” – Nadia Roumani from the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute on why there isn’t a lot of talk on violent extremism within the Muslim-American community

“Focus on behaviors, not worry beads, beards, or turbans … behavior is the best guide, not race or religion,” he advised the attendees, numbering close to one hundred people representing think tanks, security agencies, government workers, and other interested parties.

Ellison admitted the recent case of Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized Pakistani-

manipulator” who needs to be “taken in”.

Through all efforts to ensure national security, Ellison said the government should never move away from constitutional principles. “Civil liberties …and public safety … it’s not an either or,” he said.

what Ellison thought of Dr. Yusuf AlQaradawi, a world renowned Egyptian scholar, who advocates waging jihad against Israel. Ellison said he will not comment on particular scholars, saying the “people most versed in Islamic jurisprudence will almost never” be found advocating “violent extremism”.

hour-long panel discussion took place moderated by Faiz Shakir, Vice-President of the Center for American Progress and Editor-in-chief of Thinkprogress.org.

On the panel were former New York Police Commissioner Wiliam Bratton; Rashad Hussain, US Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference; Pradeep Ramamurthy, Senior Director for Global Engagement at the National Security Council; Nadia Roumani, Director, American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, and David Schanzer, Associate Professor of the Practice for Public Policy, Director, Triangle Center of Terrorism and Homeland Security, Duke University.

Pradeep Ramamurthy said although domestic terrorists are not always Muslims – case in point Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh – national security experts say Muslim extremists are different in that they all subscribe to a “unifying narrative” that the West is at war with Islam.

Rashad Hussain represented President Obama’s Cairo message where the President emphasized the west is not at war with Islam. “The future belongs to those who build, not to those who destroy,” Hussain quoted from the President’s speech. Hussain, who has the Quran memorized and who quoted from it in arabic during the panel discussion, said “qualified Muslim scholars need to acknowledge the [foreign policy] grievances [of the Muslim youth] but reject the violence.”

Following the keynote address, an >> DOMESTIC II Pg 21

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010 GAZA >> continued from pg 8 KinderUSA continues to feed some of the poorest families in Gaza. This Ramadan, we will continue to provide iftar (dinner) in various communities in Gaza. We continue to support women’s co-ops and small farmers in Gaza, both of whom provide food for those most in need.

Just like Gaza, KinderUSA is supporting farmers in the West Bank with a goal of feeding 1000 needy families during the AL-HUDA >> continued from pg 6 Al-Huda Middle School alumni. There are several schools in the DC region, but for parents who entered their children into Al-Huda earlier on, the Islamic environment was the decision maker, explained Br.Abdul Baig, parent of two Al-Huda attendees, one of whom is an alumni.

The first batch of seniors say they are prepared to move on to college.

“Yes I do believe we’ll be prepared to enter into college. The work level is going to grow but I feel after 6 years with AlHuda, I am ready for college. I just want to graduate already!” exclaimed Zahra Salhan, 17, an up and coming senior.

For students who have been with AlHuda since their early elementary years, graduation will be a bittersweet moment, but for all it promises to be an honor to be part of the historic graduation, set to take place June 2011.

While the seniors have mixed feelings

COMMUNITY NEWS | 11 month of Ramadan. All of KinderUSA’s projects are legal and transparent. We are a 501 c3 nonprofit charity in good standing with the US Treasury Department and registered in the European Union as an Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif (AISBL). All of our projects fall under the umbrella for zakat ul maal and of course zakat/sadaqah in general. We are also accepting zakat ul fitr. Muslim scholars (ulamaa’) say that Muslim in America who give any zakat or sadaqah can declare this as a tax deduction.

What is important is that you help.

about graduating this year, juniors feel sad about being left alone. “Al-Huda will feel so immensely lonely without the present 12th graders. Without them school will feel really different,” said 16 year-old Sana Farooqui.

to always help me reach success through Islam and throughout my life,” she commented proudly.

As the first batch of students to graduate from Al-Huda, the seniors will be setting a precedent for the following years not only in how they continue to progress outside of Al-Huda but also during the school year. “I feel the 12th grade at Al-Huda is a transitioning year where we are treated differently. We are being prepared to enter a new phase of life,” said Mohammed Hijazi, 17, who entered Al-Huda as a toddler, spent less than two years in Dar-us-Salaam’s full-time hifz school and completed the memorization of the Qur’an and then joined his classmates back in Al-Huda School.

Sana Nazar, an Al-Huda Middle School Alumni now enrolled at a community college in Maryland, wasn’t given the opportunity to benefit from Al-Huda High School but it hasn’t stopped her from coming back for advice. “One thing I can count on is for my teachers

Remind your children of their struggling brothers and sisters in Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere. Make duaa’ (prayers and supplications) for them and give from what Allah has given you.

For $110, you can help feed a family of 7 during Ramadan, providing them with fresh produce, dairy, and poultry.

Please consider giving a one-time or monthly donation of any amount to support KinderUSA’s relief efforts. And remember that whoever brings relief to

“Al-Huda school is truly a blessing.

Make the best out of your years at AlHuda. Whether it be the friendships you build or the environment you’re in, just know [that] some people would do anything to have the opportunities you have being in an Islamic school. The friendships I had at Al-Huda are still with me years after I left Al-Huda school and I’m grateful every single day,” advised Al-Huda School alumni, Nimat Baig, now attending the University of Maryland College Park.

Despite the anticipation of accomplishment, opening the 12th grade is not the end of building education at Al-Huda School say administrators.

Adding competitive sports programs, elective classes, and starting a university are in the short-term plan for Al-Huda, now serving about 600 students.

When asked by the Muslim Link what constitutes “success” at Al-Huda School,

a struggling person in this world, Allah will bring them relief in this world and the Hereafter. To learn more or to support, please visit www.kinderusa.org or call 1-888-451-8908.

-------------Ibrahim Amin Abusway is KinderUSA’s Development Coordinator and can be reached at Ibrahim@kinderusa.org or (703) 981-2856.

administrators, parents, teachers, and students alike agreed that success cannot be measured according to the worldly gains of the students.

“It doesn’t matter what you do or how much you make ... it’s all based on how much you give back, for the Sake of Allah,” explained founder Imam Safi Khan.

Al-Huda school senior Feisel Abdelrahman, 16, agreed. “If I am able to view my life [going forward], Insha’Allah, I will rate my success based on how much I give back to the community for the Sake of Allah,” he said.

“A student with a strong Muslim identity will have the confidence and ability to be a productive member of our society and will be able to lead our communities to next level of success,” said Vice Principal Aisha Elahi on what she hopes will be the fruit of an Al-Huda education.

For more information on Al-Huda School, please visit www.alhuda.org.

VOLUNTEER TO DISTRIBUTE THE MUSLIM LINK IN YOUR AREA

If you would like to earn blessings from Allah and help the Muslim Link, consider helping us with our distribution. To learn more, email office@muslimlinkpaper.com or call 301-982-1020

12 | WORLD PRESS

v

World Press

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

Top Secret America Washington Post Publishes Investigative Report on “Fourth Branch” of the Government

long documentary on the investigation that will run in October.

DemocracyNow July 19, 2010 AMY GOODMAN: “Top Secret America.” That’s the title of an explosive investigative series published in the Washington Post this morning that’s already creating a firestorm on Capitol Hill. It starts, quote, “The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”

Some of the findings of the two-year investigation include more than 1,200 government organizations and nearly 2,000 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States. An estimated 854,000 people— nearly one-and-a-half times as many as live in Washington, DC—hold top-secret security clearances. Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste.

The series by Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Bill Arkin includes an online searchable database and locator map. PBS Frontline is producing an hour-

The investigative series is already creating waves in the intelligence community. More than two weeks ago, the director of communications for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Art House, sent a memo to public affairs officers in the intelligence community warning about the series. He wrote, quote, “This series has been a long time in preparation and looks designed to cast the [intelligence community] and the [Department of Defense] in an unfavorable light. We need to anticipate and prepare so that the good work of our respective organizations is effectively reflected in communications with employees, secondary coverage in the media and in response to questions,” he wrote.

Well, Bill Arkin is the co-author of the piece. He’s joining us now from the offices of the Washington Post in Washington, DC. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Bill.

Why don’t you first lay out the scope of this series and why you started this two years ago?

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, two years ago, Dana and I got together, and we were actually just talking to each other about various things that we were working on, and we realized very quickly that we were looking at something that was very similar and that we had both detected in our long years of work in the national security world that something had been created since 9/11 that wasn’t normal, that wasn’t on the books, that looked like it was a gigantic superstructure on top of regular government. And we started our

investigation to try to figure out what it is that we were looking at, and here we are two years later revealing our conclusions.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about what those conclusions are. What did you find, Bill?

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, really, the most significant thing that we found, Amy, is not that the intelligence agency or the vast homeland security apparatus does work in this field and that is—and that they are engaged in counterterrorism.

Really the most significant finding, to me, is the number of private companies in America who have been enlisted in the war on terrorism and who have now become an intrinsic part of government, really where the line is blurred between government and private sector. And the fact that there are almost 2,000 companies that do top-secret work in— for the intelligence community and the military is not only surprising to me as someone who actually put together the data, but it really asks some fundamental questions about the nature of government and the nature of accountability.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about these 2,000 companies.

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, you know, it’s funny. We think of the military-industrial complex in a sort of old-fashioned way still. In fact, we don’t even have an appropriate word to describe what this enterprise is today, and we’ve struggled ourselves to try to figure that out. You know, the military-industrial complex of the Eisenhower era was one that produced massive amounts of capital goods for the military—bombers, missiles, nuclear weapons, etc. But today’s national

security establishment really values information technology more than it values weapons. And really, one of the things that was most surprising to us, but maybe not so surprising given the nature of society, is that a half of the companies in this particular area are really IT companies, information technology companies, and support companies.

The domination of this world of topsecret contractors over the traditional world of the military-industrial complex is huge. And we see very clearly that the megacorporations which have always been the powerhouses in the defense industry—Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics—they are moving more and more of their business from production to the provision of services—that is, providing staffing for the government.

And so, what you see is that we are increasingly a national security establishment that’s producing paper rather than producing weapons. And the question is, with the production of all that paper, whether or not we have either an effective counterterrorism operation or whether or not we’re even safer.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what about the privatization of top-secret information or the people around the country who have access to top-secret information, especially when they’re working in a private corporation?

WILLIAM ARKIN: You know, one thing that we found in the evidence, Amy, is that people who are in business are in business. I’m not going to say that they’re not good Americans, any less than we are, but it seems to me that >> SECRET Pg 13

WORLD PRESS | 13

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010 SECRET >> continued from pg 12 their fundamental mission is to make money for their businesses. And that is not the same as being a public servant.

And as you can see from our articles, we have quotes from all of the principals involved, on the record—Secretary Gates; Leon Panetta, the CIA director; the Director of Defense Intelligence and the former Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Blair—essentially agreeing with us that this crazy, out-of-control system accreted after 9/11, and here, two years into the Obama administration, it is essentially in the same form that it was when the Bush administration left office.

But there is something fundamentally wrong in America if you have people who are working in a for-profit environment caring for our national security and engaged in what we consider to be the inherent functions of government.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it is amazing that there are more people who have topsecurity clearance in this country than live in Washington, DC—more than 850,000 people.

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, it is. It’s a good comparison. But I also think that what we find is that, more and more, Washington is not just the hub of government, but it is also the hub of this sort of intelligence information enterprise. You see gigantic companies like SAIC and Northrop Grumman moving their headquarters from California to the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and you know that with that comes not only thousands of workers and thousands of people whose job it is to secure contracts to do government work, but also the vast infrastructure that is required in order to secure the secrets and to do all of those things that are necessary in order to be in this hidden world. And so, more and more is being concentrated in Washington. And that’s undeniable. We show it very clearly in our series, and the data really backs it up. And I think it’s probably part of why there’s such an enormous groundswell throughout the United States that is so anti-Washington these days.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill Arkin, what’s a Super User?

WILLIAM

ARKIN:

Well,

what

we discovered in the course of our investigation is that not only are there top secrets, but there are various compartments above the level of top secret which are utilized by each of the intelligence agencies and the military commands to compartment what they do. And intrinsically, that’s supposed to be to protect information, but in reality, what it does is it keeps programs from being revealed to other agencies. And

that you and Dana Priest are doing.

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, let me just make it clear, Amy, we’ve been working on this for two years. We’ve been engaged in interviewing people from the government and inside this world for two years. We’ve conducted over a thousand interviews, talked to hundreds of people, many multiple times. They were well aware of what we were doing, and we

But there is something fundamentally wrong in America if you have people who are working in a for-profit environment caring for our national security and engaged in what we consider to be the inherent functions of government. in theory, above it all is supposed to be the Director of National Intelligence, an office created in 2004 to finally solve the problems of 9/11. But what we found was that even the Director of National Intelligence and even the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, the top intelligence official in the government, that they don’t have full visibility on each other’s programs, and they don’t have full visibility on everything even within their own agency.

And there’s this thing called Super Users, people who are designated specially who have the ability to reach into all of the programs of all of the government.

They actually have special logins. They actually have special computers. And there’s only a few dozen of them, as far as we can determine, throughout the entire government, only a half-dozen or so in the Defense Department and only a half-dozen in the Director of National Intelligence. And we’ve spoken to some of those Super Users who themselves say, “I don’t have enough hours in the day to look at all the programs of the US government. I don’t have enough—I don’t have enough time to read all of the material that I am authorized to read.”

And so, you can really see in a very vivid way the dysfunction of government through this little anecdote.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill Arkin, talk about the warning, the letter that was sent around to the intelligence community from Art House—and explain who he is—warning them of this series of pieces

formally briefed them about this earlier this year. So for them to come out at the eleventh hour and somehow say that they are alarmed by what we’re going to put out, to me, seems to be classic cover-your[back]. I can’t take it in any other way, because we ourselves have gone through a massive internal review process, both fact checking and also looking at anything that could be detrimental to the national security interest and to the national interest, and I’m completely confident that we’ve done a rigorous job. I’m completely confident, through the use of numerous outside counsels at the Washington Post, people who are insiders to the system, helping us to make sure that we were able to produce the most granular picture we possibly could of this gigantic organization, but yet at the same time not put anybody’s life at risk. And I have to say at this point, I feel like the Washington Post has a better understanding of this overall problem than the government does.

AMY GOODMAN: What is it they did not want you to print, Bill?

reasonable argument to the editors, and the editors decided that we wouldn’t.

This is such a rich area that we felt that really to diminish it by somehow not looking at these requests from the government seriously was a mistake.

We’re giving you information on 1,931 corporations, on 1,271 government entities across forty-five different departments and agencies. I mean, this is an enormous amount of information.

And Secretary Gates himself said to us in an interview that he can’t even get this type of information about his own office and who contracts all of the contractors within his own office. People recognize that this is a problem, and I think that the Washington Post should really be given an enormous amount of credit for putting the resources into this over a two-year period in order to present something that I hope will be the foundation of a new national debate about this whole question.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill Arkin, what’s Liberty Crossing?

WILLIAM ARKIN: Liberty Crossing is the name, the nickname, for the new complex of buildings that has gone up in McLean, Virginia, that is home to the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA’s National Counterterrorism Center, other counterterrorism task forces, and the National Counterproliferation Center.

We highlight the buildings around Washington that have been created since 9/11, because we thought that it was a very tangible representation of government. It’s often hard to really talk about government in terms of money, because the billions, after a while, begin to just glaze over. But we thought—you know, our approach was going to be, we know that everything that happens happens somewhere, and we’re going to find out where it happens. And lo and behold, as we began to map this alternative geography of America, one of the things we discovered was that these guys have been on a fabulous building spree since 9/11. There have been over thirty-three buildings in the Washington, DC area alone, encompassing 17 million square feet, which is four times the size of the Pentagon, and there are more underway. The NSA and others are building and planning to build even more

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, they always don’t want you to do whatever it is that’s going to bring them—you know, that’s going to disrupt their day. You know, the government, we asked them repeatedly to give us specifics, to tell us what it is that they didn’t want us to show. And only one government agency was actually able to come back to us and specifically explain to us why they didn’t want us to reveal something, and they made a >> SECRET II Pg 18

HOW TO USE YOUR RAMADAN CALENDAR 14 | |ISLAM 12

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July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

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16 | ISLAM

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

Islam

The Other Fasting Month – Sha’ban Sha’baan is the name of the (eighth) month, and it is so called because in this month the Arabs used to disperse (tasha’’aba) in search of water, or it was said that they dispersed to carry out raids and forays. Or it was said that it is so called because it sha’aba (branches out or emerges) i.e., it appears between the months of Rajab and Ramadaan. The plural forms of the word Sha’baan are Sha’baanaat and Sha’aabeen.

narrated from ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), who said: “I never knew of him – meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) – fasting for any entire month apart from Ramadaan.” According to another report also narrated by Muslim (no. 1955), ‘Aa’ishah said: “I never saw him fast for any entire month from the time he came to Madeenah, apart from Ramadaan.”

Fasting in Sha’baan

Usaamah ibn Zayd (may Allaah be pleased with them both) said: “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Sha’baan.’ He said, ‘That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadaan, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up

A group of scholars, including Ibn alMubaarak and others, thought that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not fast all of Sha’baan, but he fasted most of it. This is supported by a report in Saheeh Muslim (no. 1954)

to the Lord of the Worlds. I like for my deeds to be lifted up when I am fasting.’”

(Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, see Saheeh alTargheeb wa’l-Tarheeb, page 425) ...

Ibn Rajab (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Fasting in Sha’baan is better than fasting in the Sacred Months, and the best of voluntary fasts are those that are (observed in the months) closest to Ramadaan, before or after. The status of these fasts is like that of al-Sunan alRawaatib which are done before and after fard (prayers) and which make up for any shortfall in the number of obliagtory prayers. The same applies to fasts observed before and after Ramadaan.

Just as al-Sunan al-Rawaatib are better than other kinds of voluntary prayers, so fasts observed (in the months) before

and after Ramadaan are better than fasts at other times.

The phrase “Sha’baan is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadaan” indicates that because it comes between two important months, the Sacred Month of Rajab and the month of fasting, people are preoccupied with those two months and they do not pay attention to Sha’baan.

Many people think that fasting in Rajab is better than fasting in Sha’baan, because Rajab is one of the Sacred Months, but this is not the case.

In the hadeeth quoted above there is an >> SHA’BAN Pg 17

Be War y of Publicizing Your Good Deeds

By Sheikh Salman al-Oadah People often deceive themselves by becoming show-offs under the pretense of making casual conversation. There are people who cannot sit with others without saying: “I did this and I did that… I spent so much in charity.”

Sometimes they can be a bit more subtle – usually deceiving themselves more than those with whom they are speaking – saying things like: “Actually, I cannot stay up in prayer at night more than two hours…” or: “Unfortunately, I cannot cope with fasting every day, so I must suffice with fasting on Mondays and Thursdays…” By saying these things, they want to show others just how much they are praying and fasting.

The reason people fall into this trap is an inward desire to earn the people’s praise.

This is why it is preferable for most acts of worship to be done in private. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “O

people! Pray in your homes, for truly the best prayers are those that a person prays at home, with the exception of the prescribed prayers.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (731)] It is, therefore, preferable for voluntary prayers to be made in the privacy of one’s own home. This protects the worshiper from the whispers of Satan and makes certain that the prayers are not being performed for show. It also prevents the home from becoming like a graveyard where no prayers are made.

A further benefit of praying at home is that it impresses upon the children of the house the importance of prayer.

However, voluntary prayers that are supposed to be made in congregation are an exception to this rule, like the eclipse prayers, the prayer for rain, the Tarâwîh prayer, and the two `Îd prayers (if we deem the `Îd prayers to be voluntary).

The same goes for charity. Allah says:

“If you make public your charity, it is well, but if you conceal it and give it to the poor, then it is better for you.” [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 271] This is why a person should generally give charity in secret and not give it publicly unless he or she can make sure not to fall into showing off and sees that making it public will bring about some greater good. Sometimes public charity can encourage others by example.

However, some people do charitable works publicly out of a desire for public approval. Some even do so hoping to get their names printed in the papers or to receive official recognition for their works. If the intention of such individuals is to garner more public support for the charitable efforts in question, then it is good. Otherwise, it is merely showing off.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Actions are but by intentions, and every

person will only get what he intended.”

[Sahîh al-Bukhârî (1)] Allah says: “Whether you hide your words or make them known, He certainly has full knowledge of what is in the hearts. Should He who created not know, and He is the Subtle, the Aware?”

[Sûrah al-Mulk: 13-14] Some people fall victim to the opposite affliction. They become so scared of showing off that they avoid performing good deeds because of it. They have jumped from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak.

True sincerity is to be concerned with Allah and to disregard the people altogether, neither performing deeds because of them nor abstaining from deeds on their account.

[Source: Islamtoday.net]

ISLAM | 17

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010 SHA’BAN >> continued from pg 16 indication that even though certain times, places and people may be commonly thought to posses a particular virtue, there may be others that are better than them.

It also indicates that it is mustahabb to make good use of the times when people tend to be negligent, by doing acts of worship. A group of the Salaf used to fill the time between Maghrib and ‘Isha’ with prayer, saying that it was a time when many people were negligent. Another example is the remembrance of Allaah (dhikr) in the marketplace, because this means one is remembering Him in a place where people tend to be negligent and among people who are negligent.

There are a number of benefits that come from making good use of times when people are often negligent, and using these times for worship, including the following:

indications of how virtuous a deed is, is how difficult it is: if everyone is doing a certain action, it is easy, but if most people are negligent, this makes it more difficult for those who do remember Allaah. Muslim (no. 2984) narrated from the hadeeth of Ma’qil ibn Yassaar: “[The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:] ‘Worship at times of tribulation (fitnah) is like Hijrah to me.’” (The phrase “worship at times of tribulation” refers to times of upheavals and trials, when people follow their own desires, and those who adhere to Islam

The second scenario is when a person fasts with the intention of fulfilling a vow or of making up a day of Ramadaan that he missed or as an act of expiation (kafaarah), etc. This is permissible according to the majority.

Sha’baan is like an introduction to Ramadaan and it has some things in common with Ramadaan, such as fasting, reciting Qur’aan and giving in charity. Salamah ibn Suhayl used to say: “The month of Sha’baan is the month of reciters (of the Qur’aan).”

It is more concealing of one’s good works, and hiding and concealing naafil actions is better, especially fasting, because it is a secret between a slave and his Lord. Hence it was said that there is no element of showing off in fasting. One of the Salaf used to fast for years without anybody knowing about it; he would go from his home to the marketplace carrying two loaves of bread, which he would give away in charity, and he would fast. His family thought that he ate the bread, whilst the people in the marketplace thought that he had eaten at home. The Salaf thought it was mustahabb for a person who was fasting to do things that would conceal the fact that he was fasting. It was reported that Ibn Mas’ood said: “When you get up in the morning and you are fasting, then apply perfume.” Qutaadah said: “It is mustahabb for the [man] who is fasting to apply perfume so that there will be no sign that he is fasting.”

are doing something difficult.) ...

By the same token, doing righteous deeds at times when people are distracted and negligent is more difficult. One of the

...In brief we may say that there are three scenarios for fasting at the end of Sha’baan.

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The first scenario is when a person fasts at the end of Sha’baan with the intention of being on the safe side and not missing the first day of Ramadaan. This is forbidden.

Another benefit of fasting in Sha’baan is that it is a kind of training for the Ramadaan fast, in case a person finds it difficult to fast when Ramadaan starts; if he fasts in Sha’baan he will have gotten used to fasting and he will feel strong and energetic when Ramadaan comes. Sha’baan is like an introduction to Ramadaan and it has some things in common with Ramadaan, such as fasting, reciting Qur’aan and giving in charity. Salamah ibn Suhayl used to say: “The month of Sha’baan is the month of reciters (of the Qur’aan).” Habeeb ibn Abi Thaabit used to say, when Sha’baan came, “This is the month of reciters (of the Qur’aan).” When Sha’baan came, ‘Amr ibn Qays al-Malaa’i used to close his store and devote his time to reading the Qur’aan.

Fasting at the end of Sha’baan

The third scenario is when this is purely a voluntary fast. This is regarded as makrooh by those who said that we should differentiate between Sha’baan and Ramadaan by not fasting for a while.

Among those who said this was al-Hasan.

If it happens to coincide with a day when a person habitually fasts, Maalik and those who agreed with him permitted this, but al-Shaafa’i, al-‘Oozaa’i, Ahmad and others made a distinction between cases where it is a fast which a person habitually observes or otherwise. ...In conclusion, the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah quoted above is what we should follow according to the majority of scholars. It is makrooh to observe a voluntary fast one or two days before Ramadaan for those who do not habitually fast on those days and who have not previously fasted until the end of Sha’baan. It may be asked: why is it makrooh to fast just before Ramadaan (for those who do not have a prior habit of fasting)? The answer is that there are a number of reasons why this is so, such as:

Firstly: lest extra days be added to the fast of Ramadaan that are not part of it.

Fasting on the day of Eid is prohibited for the same reason, lest we fall into the same trap as the People of the Book with regard to fasting, as they added to their fasts because of their own whims and desires.

For the same reason it is also forbidden to fast on the “day of doubt”. ‘Ammaar said: whoever fasts on this day has disobeyed Abu’l-Qaasim (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

The “day of doubt” is a day when people are not sure whether it is Ramadaan or not, when news of the sighting of the crescent moon comes from one whose word cannot be accepted. As for a cloudy day, some of the ‘ulamaa’ said that this was also a ‘day of doubt’ and said that fasting was not allowed on this day. This is the view of the majority.

Secondly: to make a distinction between fard (obligatory) fasts and naafil (supererogatory) fasts, because making a clear distinction between fard actions and naafil actions is prescribed in Islam. Hence it is haraam to fast on the day of Eid, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade following an obligatory prayer immediately with another prayer unless they are separated by saying salaam or speaking, especially in the case of the Sunnah prayer performed just before Fajr.

It is prescribed to make a clear separation between this prayer and the obligatory prayer. Hence it is prescribed to pray it at home and to lie down afterwards. And Allaah is the Source of strength.

References: Lataa’if al-Ma’aarif fimaa li Mawaasim al-‘Aam min al-Wazaa’if,

by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali; Al-Ilmaan bi shay’in min Ahkaam al-Siyaam, by ‘Abd al-‘Azeez al-Raajihi.

Source: islam-qa.com original)

(edited

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July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

18 | SALAH TIMES

Salaah times for July 23rd - August 5th, 2010

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

SECRET II >> continued from pg 13 office space. So the reality is that—I think in my research I found that there was only one civilian agency that’s had the privilege of building a new headquarters since 9/11 in Washington, and that’s the Department of Transportation. But this is a very tangible way of seeing this in your backyard, in reality, in a real physical location.

And one of the phenomena that is also associated with 9/11 is that these locations, like Liberty Crossing, are undisclosed locations, meaning you can’t look them up in a phone book. It has a cover address. It’s not publicly bragged about, in terms of where it is, although it’s obvious where it is to anyone who goes by. And that in itself is sort of an odd manufacture from 9/11, which is that these government agencies, on their own, with really no consideration of national security, can just decide what’s going to be disclosed, what’s going to be undisclosed. And as far as I can see, it’s random to the agency and its power, and it has nothing to actually do with the security of the buildings or the people who work inside them.

AMY GOODMAN: The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the new $1.8 billion headquarters, the fourth-

Day Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

Date 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5

Hijri 11/8 12/8 13/8 14/8 15/8 16/8 17/8 18/8 19/8 20/8 21/8 22/8 23/8 24/8

Fajr 4:34 4:35 4:37 4:38 4:39 4:40 4:41 4:43 4:44 4:45 4:46 4:47 4:49 4:50

Sunrise 6:01 6:02 6:02 6:03 6:04 6:05 6:06 6:07 6:08 6:08 6:09 6:10 6:11 6:12

Dhuhr 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15 1:15

Asr 5:09 5:09 5:08 5:08 5:08 5:08 5:08 5:07 5:07 5:07 5:06 5:06 5:06 5:05

Maghrib 8:28 8:27 8:26 8:25 8:25 8:24 8:23 8:22 8:21 8:20 8:19 8:18 8:17 8:16

Isha 9:56 9:55 9:54 9:53 9:51 9:50 9:49 9:47 9:46 9:45 9:43 9:42 9:41 9:39

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

largest federal building in the area, in Springfield, right near Dulles Airport?

WILLIAM ARKIN: No, in Springfield, Virginia, it’s down south near Fort Belvoir. This is a gigantic facility that’s going to—that’s going up right now.

It’s going to house 8,500 workers of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

I mean, they are going to leave their older buildings that are scattered throughout Washington. But you know what? They’re going to be in well-appointed offices, and they’ll be in one facility in Washington, and they will obviously, I assume, be able to do their work better. But it’s just one of many. It’s just one of many agencies that probably most Americans have never heard of within the national security and intelligence establishment.

And as we found, you know, there are thirty-nine new construction starts this year alone nationwide of buildings going up for various pieces of the intelligence, homeland security and military communities.

AMY GOODMAN: The growth of the military budget, Bill Arkin, since 9/11?

WILLIAM ARKIN: Well, you know, it’s hard to say even what we spend on national security anymore, Amy. I guess we say we spend a half-a-trillion dollars now on national security. But with supplemental budgets and secret budgets and all that, I mean, it’s really impossible to be able to put a true figure on it. And

more importantly, it’s really impossible to gauge where this money is actually going and how effective it is. We’ve talked to people on the Hill who have said to us that the budget documents get thinner and thinner as the budget gets bigger and bigger. There’s no way that Capitol Hill has the resources or the ability to oversee all of this activity. And all sorts of workarounds and devices have been created since 9/11 to essentially put as much as possible into secret programs or off-the-books programs so that they’re beyond scrutiny. Maybe there’ll be eight people in the Congress who have the authority to see the information, but, you know, that’s not oversight as it’s written in the Constitution. Those are people who are co-opted into the system. And I think that really this is an issue that we, as Americans, need to ponder, that we have created a government apparatus that really does not comply with our very precept of the balance of powers.

And that’s something that I hope that our series will provoke Congress to take a hard look at, in terms of thinking about better ways in which it can exercise its oversight responsibilities over the executive branch.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill, you’ve been doing this kind of work for years. What were you most shocked by in this latest investigation?

WILLIAM ARKIN: I remember having a conversation with Dana, my writing

partner, in the summer of 2009. We had sort of started by looking at the government and then shifted our attention to looking at the contracting base. And I said, “Wow! There’s 200 companies that do top-secret work for the government.”

And now we’re at 2,000. I mean, it is the sheer magnitude of it, Amy, that is stunning. And to me, you know, it’s not that there might not be redundancies that are necessary or that there might not be overlap which is necessary and disparate departments doing disparate things.

And many of the conclusions that we draw, I think, are ones that your viewers and listeners would accept readily and are part of their normal discussions of government. But the truth is that no one really has a handle on it all. No one really does. We’ve talked to the people at the highest level. We’ve talked to the principals involved, and they have all readily admitted that, yes, this ad hoc crazy system was created after 9/11. We threw money at the problem. We did it the American way, Admiral Blair said to us. You know, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. I mean, ha ha, but the truth of the matter is that now we’re two years into the Obama administration, and the basic system really has not been reformed at all.

Source: July 19, 2010 edition of democracynow.org (edited). For more information, see the Washington Post’s project website at Topsecretamerica. com.

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

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Staff needed for Muslim Community Center‛s 2010-2011 Sunday School Principal and Vice Principal must have sound knowledge of Quran and Sunnah with 3-5 years teaching experience, be adept at planning, possess excellent communication and interpersonal abilities, and have strong organizational, leadership and problem solving skills.

Quran Instructors must have correct pronunciation and tajweed, 2-5 years Quran teaching experience, and excellent classroom management skills.

Islamic Studies Instructors must be enthusiastic and creative, have basic knowledge of the deen, classroom management skills, and at least 2 years teaching experience.

Teaching Assistants for Quran and Islamic Studies are also needed with some teaching experience and age in the range between 15 and 22.

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July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

20 | OBITS & UPCOMING EVENTS

Request For Dua’s

{ To A ll ah We B e lo n g, an d t o Hi m is Ou r R e tu rn }

“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)” 7-2-10 What Allah takes is His and what He gives is His and every matter is as He decrees. The Janaazah Namaaz for Ansoumana Diallo was on Friday, July 2, 2010 at PGMA. May Allah accept all of Asoumana’s good deeds and make them a witness for him on the Day of Judgment (ameen). May Allah make it easy for the family. Please keep the deceased and his family in your prayers.

Wa Inna Lellahi wa Inna Lalayhi Raji’oon To Allah we belong and to Him we return. (Source: PGMA) 7-4-10 To Allah belongs what He takes and to Him belongs what He gives.

And there is a set time by Him for everything. Do exercise patience and expect reward (from Allah). The Board of Directors, Imam, Executive Director and the staff of Dar Al Hijrah and the muslim community in Northern Virginia extend its deepest condolences to our sister Um Mohammad, Samira Alyazigi, and to Omeish family for the death of her mother Aisha Altaher Alyazigi on July 3, 2010 in Libya. My Allah grant her with Jannah, and give family patience.

(Source: Dar Al-Hijrah) 7-4-10 Muhammad Hammad Chaudhry, son of prominent Pakistani-American community leader Dr. Nisar Chaudhry, passed away in a tragic mishap Sunday, July 4, 2010 after a large vehicle collided with his motorbike in Columbia, Maryland, his family said. The sudden death of 25-year-old Hammad plunged the family in deep grief and shock, and many members of the community and American friends of Dr. Nisar Chaudhry expressed their sorrow over the sudden loss and sympathized with the family. Islamic funeral prayer (namaze-janaza) was on Monday, July 5, 2010 at the Masjid (Mosque) Al-Rahmah of the Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB) in Baltimore, Maryland. (Source: ISB) 7-10-10 What Allah takes is His and what He gives is His and every matter is as He decrees The Janaazah Namaaz for Brother Zaid Abdullah (Stephen Morales) was on July 11, 2010. May Allah accept all of Zaid’s good deeds and make them a witness for him on the Day of Judgment (ameen). Please keep the deceased and his family in your prayers. Wa Inna Lellahi wa Inna Lalayhi Raji’oon To Allah we belong and to Him we return. (Source: PGMA)

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Upcoming Events In Your Area Mustafa Center Youth Group Presents: Boonaa Mohammed Thursday, July 22 2010

The Mustafa Center Youth Group will host the famous spoken word poet and performer Boonaa Mohammed. Starts @ 9:00 P.M. Admission will cost $5.00 per person. Dubbed the “voice of a generation,” Boonaa Mohammed is a critically acclaimed award winning writer and performer with accolades including a playwright residency at Theatre Passe Muraille, a short story published in a Penguin Canada anthology called “Piece by Piece” and various slam poetry titles credits including winner of the 2007 CBC Poetry Face-Off “Best New Artist” award. As an Artist he has toured and traveled across the world and frequently conducts writing workshops and seminars, sharing his experience and expertise in social justice based story telling with mainly youth from all walks of life. You must be 12 years or older to attend this event. You will be turned away if you are not of age. LOCATION: Mustafa Center; 6844 Braddock Road; Annandale, VA 22003 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADAMS Center: American Muslims and American National Security “Where Do We Stand?” -- Friday, July 23 2010

The ADAMS Center will host a Community Discussion entitled “American Muslims and American National Security: Where Do We Stand?” The Community Discussion will be held from Maghrib Prayer until Isha Prayer. The Community Discussion will be moderated by Kamran Memon. Kamran is the founder of Muslims For A Safe America, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Chicago. Muslims For A Safe America encourages honest and informed discussion about how to make Muslims and America safer. Muslims For A Safe America receives no funding from any government or foundation; Muslims For A Safe America is funded entirely by small contributions from individuals.

LOCATION: ADAMS Center; Main Hall; 46903 Sugarland Rd; Sterling, VA; 20164 CONTACT: For more information, see http://muslimsforasafeamerica.org/ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADAMS Support Our Sisters Expo Saturday, July 24 2010, 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Support Our Sisters Expo, Free to the Public. Do you have your own business? Are you part of an organization and you want to let others know about your work? If you answered yes to either of these questions, SISTERS wants to let you know about an exciting event they are hosting in July. Support Our Sisters (SOS) is a mini expo where you can let the community know about your business or organization. This is the first of what we hope will be an annual event to showcase all the great efforts of our sisters. If you don’t have a business, but would like to support our sisters, please come and browse the booths. We will also have interesting workshops focusing on women, business and saving money. We will also be giving away door prizes to attendees! Please mark your calendar and join us in supporting our sisters. We are asking for a fee of $25 per table space (proceeds will go to the SISTERS Scholarship Fund). SISTERS’ Members pay only $15 for a table. Registration Deadline: July 15th. Table space is limited. LOCATION: ADAMS Center (main hall); 46903 Sugarland Road, Sterling,VA 20164 CONTACT: If you are interested in reserving a table, Contact Sr.Laurie 571-217-1436 or email us at sistersinformation@gmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Washington Kashmir Conference From Thursday, July 29 2010 To Friday, July 30 2010

The Kashmiri-American Council and the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers are to hold their ‘11th Annual International Kashmir Peace Conference’. The principal theme of the conference this year will be “India-Pakistan Relations: Breaking the Deadlock over Kashmir.” The primary objective of this conference is to explore various possibilities to set a stage for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

LOCATION: Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADVERTISEMENT | 21

July 23rd - August 5th , 2010 Editor-in-Chief: Minhaj Hasan Office Manager : Stephanie Benmoha News Desk: Rashad Mulla Layout & Design: Fadlullah Firman Staff Writers: Farkhunda Ali Farha Marfani Rashad Mulla Yaman Shalabi Sharia Advisors: Sheikh Salah as-Sawi Imam Safi Khan The Muslim Link (TML) is published on the first Friday of every Islamic month (Hijri calendar) 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 ads@muslimlinkpaper.com The Muslim Link. All Rights Reserved 2010

DOMESTIC II >> continued from pg 10

Nadia Roumani said one reason the Muslim-American community might not be engaged in discussing extremism openly is that the “conversation between the government and the Muslim community has been one-way … and a lot is framed as ‘monitoring’ … we need less monitoring and more conversation,” she said. “[Our] communities are in a pressure cooker, under a spotlight, and in a petri dish all at once .. [there are no] safe spaces to have this discussion,” she added.

Professor David Schanzer studied domestic terrorism cases in-depth and conceded each one is different. “There is no profile .. some [of the terrorists] are successful, some are not, some are white, some black … there seem to be some dissatisfaction with people’s lives, but we don’t really know why one radicalizes and another does not,” said Schanzer.

He also said the “tone of the discourse” about Muslim-Americans and terrorism in the public arena is “disturbing” and “not good” for Muslim-Americans.

Commisioner William Bratton, now heading the Los Angeles Police Department, said lessons from dealing with gangs can be applied to some aspects of domestic terrorism. He said “community policing” has opened up channels of communication between local law enforcement and Muslims in Los Angeles.

A brief question and answer period followed the panel discussion. Organizers thanked the audience and were hopeful the seminar was the start of more engagement on discussing the causes of and remedies for domestic terrorism.

PGMA >> continued from pg 6 who don’t get much Islamic education during the rest of the year, and to be honest I learn a lot from them, as well,” commented 16 year-old Fatma Abukar, a Counselor in Training.

When asked what camp staff are trying

to achieve, director of the Hifz program Br. Abdul-Hakeem Leveille told The Muslim Link, “personally, this summer camp is our attempt at giving students a crash course in Islam, and to give them as much basic information [as we can] about their religion in six weeks.”

To learn more about PGMA and An-Nur Academy visit www.pgmamd.org.

AL-RAHMAH SUNDAY SCHOOL IS LOOKING FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS:

• ISLAMIC STUDIES/SEERAH TEACHERS • QURAN/ARABIC TEACHERS • WEB PAGE DESIGNER

INTERESTED? PLEASE APPLY TO

AL-RAHMAH SUNDAY SCHOOL ATTENTION: Nasrin Rahman ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF BALTIMORE 6631 JOHNNYCAKE ROAD BALTIMORE MD 21244 OR EMAIL TO: NASRIN107@GMAIL.COM ---------------------------------------ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY JULY 27TH, 2010

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July 23rd - August 5th , 2010

22 | Masjid Locator

MASJID LOCATOR ADAMS CENTER: 46903 Sugarland Rd, Sterling,VA 20164, Tel: 703-433-1325, www.adamscenter.org.

ALL MUSLIM BROTHERS ASSOCIATION 3900 King Street Alexandria, VA 22302 703-647-0515 Jumma Prayer ONLY - 1:15 p.m AVONDALE ISLAMIC CENTER: 4637 Eastern Ave., Hyattsville, MD, 20782, Tel: 301-779-9292.

BADR COMMUNITY CENTER OF DUMFRIES (BCCD) 17794 Main Street Dumfries, VA 22026 Tel: 703-585-1689, 703-5547983 www.bccd.org E-mail: info@bccd.org BAITUL MUKARRAM: 2116 S Nelson St., Arlington, VA, 22204, Tel: 703-778-1550.

DAR AL HIJRAH: 3159 Rowe St., Falls Church, VA 22044, Tel: 703-536-1030, www.hijrah.org.

DAR AL-SALAAM: 15250 Dumfries Rd., Mannassas,VA 20112.

DAR AL-NOOR (MUSLIM ASSOC. OF VA): 5404 Hoadly Rd., Manassas, VA 20112, Tel: 703-580-0808, Fax: 703221-8513, www.daralnoor.org.

DAR AL-TAQWA: 10740 Rte. 108, Ellicott City, MD 21042, Tel: 410-997-5711, www.taqwa.net.

DAR UL ULOOM, 6334 Dogwoood Rd, Baltimore, MD 21207, 410-493-0785 Email:darululoommd@aol.com DAR UL-GHURABA (Masjid ur Rahmah): 155 Baker St., Emporia, VA 23487, DAR-UL HUDA: 6666 Commerce St., Springfield, VA 22150,

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.

Tel: 703-922-0111, www.darulhuda.org

info@icnvt.org | www.icnvt.org

DAR-US-SALAAM: 5301 Edgewood Rd. College Park, MD 20740, Tel: 301-982-9848, www.darussalaam.org.

ISLAMIC COM. CENTER OF LAUREL (ICCL): 7306 Contee Rd., Laurel, MD 20707 Tel: 301-317-4584, www.icclmd.org

FIRST HIJRA MUSLIM COMM. CENTER: 4324 Georgia Ave, NW Washington, DC 20011 www.firsthijrah.org.

ISLAMIC FOUND. OF AMERICA (IFA): 6606 Electronic Dr., Springfield, VA 22151 Tel: 703-914-4982, www.ifa.ws.

ICNA VA CENTER: 2913 Woodlawn Trail, Alexandria, VA 22306.

703-660-1255

ISLAMIC HERITAGE CENTER (IHC): 262 A-3 Cedar Ln., Vienna, VA 22180 Tel: 703-206-9056.

IDARA DAWAT-O-IRSHAD: 4803 Valley St, Alexandria, VA 22312 703-256-8622, www.irshad.org.

INDONESIAN MUSLIM ASSOC. IN AMERICA (IMAAM): 1611 Veirs Mill Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20851 Tel: 240-453-0808, e-mail: fkadir@imaamnet.org.

INST.OF ISLAMIC AND ARABIC SCIENCES IN AMERICA (IIASA): 8500 Hilltop Rd., Fairfax, VA 22031 Tel: 703-641-4890, www.iiasa.org IRHSCA (ISLAMIC RESEARCH AND HUM. SERVICES CENTER OF AMERICA): Chambers Ave, Capitol Heights, MD Tel: 301-324-5040, www.irhsca.org.

ISLAMIC CENTER OF GREATER SOUTH EAST (FORMERLY MASJID ASH-SHURA) 3109-B Martin Luther King Ave., S.E.Washington, DC 20032 202-506-7235 ISLAMIC CENTER OF MARYLAND (ICM): 19401 Woodfield Rd. Gaithersburg,MD 20879 Tel:301-840-9440, www.icomd.org.

ISLAMIC CENTER OF NORTHERN VA TRUST (ICNVT): 4420 Shirley Gate Road, Fairfax, VA, 22030 Tel: 703-941-6558,

ISLAMIC SOC. OF ANNAPOLIS (ISA): 2635 Riva RdSuite 110 Annapolis, MD 21401 Tel: 410-266-6660 www.islamannapolis.org, Email: info@islamannapolis.org ISLAMIC SOC. OF FREDERICK (ISF): 1250 Key Parkway , Frederick,MD 21702 Tel: 301-682-6090, www.isfmd.org.

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF GERMANTOWN (ISG): 19900 Brandermill Rd., Germantown, MD 20876 Tel: (301)-972-0504, www.isgtown.org.

ISLAMIC SOC. OF SOUTHERN PG COUNTY (ISSPGC): P O Box 99, Clinton, MD 20735 5410 Indian Head Hwy, Oxon Hill, MD 20745 Tel: 240-253-4217 ISLAMIC SOC. OF THE WASHINGTON AREA (ISWA): 2701 Briggs Chaney Rd. Silver Spring, MD 20904 Tel: 301-879-0930, www.iswamd.org.

ISLAMIC SOC. OF WESTERN MARYLAND: 2036 Day Rd., Hagerstown, MD 21740 Tel: 301-797-0922.

IVY CITY MASJID: 2001 Galludet St. NE, Washington, DC 20002 Tel: 202-529-3100.

LA PLATA MASJID: 111 Howard Street, La Plata, MD 20646 Tel: 301-609-8769.

MAKKAH LEARNING CENTER (MLC): 814 Brandy Farms Ln Gambrills, MD 21054 Tel: 410-721-5880 www.mlcmd. org, Email: info@mlcmd.org MANASSAS MOSQUE: 12950 Center Entrance Ct, Manassas, VA Tel: 703-257-5537.

MASJID AL-GHURABAA: 8220 Washington St., South, Laurel, MD 20724.

Tel: 301-604-3295.

MASJID AL-HIKMAH: 11064 Livingston Road Unit L (101) Ft. Washington, MD 20744, Tel: 301 292-9009.

MASJID UL-HAQ: 514 Islamic Way (Wilson St. ), Baltimore, MD 21217 Tel: 410-728-1363.

MASJID AL-ISLAM: 4603 Benning Rd., SE, Washington, DC 20019 Tel: 202-581-1616, e-mail: imammusa@hotmail.com

Baltimore, MD 21244 Tel: 410-747-4869, www.isb.org MASJID AS SAFFAT: 1335 W. North Ave. Baltimore, MD 21217 Tel: 410-669-0655.

MASJID BAIT-ALLAH: 1910 Frederick Avenue (2 Floor) Baltimore, MD 21223 Tel: 443-224-4423, E-mail: info@masjidbaitallah.org. www.masjidbaitallah.org MASJID IBN TAYMIYYAH: 8000 MLK Highway, Glenarden MD Tel: 301-461-9325.

MASJID ZAMZAM 1510 Lynch Road, Dundalk, MD 21222 Phone: 410-284-2840 MEDINA CENTER: 9426 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda MD 20814 www.medinacenter.net MUSLIM COM. CENTER (MCC): 15200 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20904 Tel: 301-384-3454, www.mccmd.org.

MASJID AL-INSHIRAH: 7832 Fairbrook Road , Windsor Mill, MD 21244 Tel: 410-298-2977, Fax: 410298-0266, www.al-inshirahweb. net.

MUSLIM SOC. OF WASHINGTON, D.C. (MSWDC): Howard Center, Room 805 (Above HU Bookstore) Tel: 202-328-3236, www.mswdc.org.

MASJID AL-MUMINEEN: 2642 Harford Rd. Baltimore, MD 21218 Tel: 410-467-8798.

MUSTAFA CENTER: 6844 Braddock Rd., Annandale, VA 22003.

MASJID JAMAAT ALMUSLIMEEN: 4624 York Rd., Baltimore, MD 21212 Tel. 410-891-8451 MASJID MUHAMMAD: 1519 4th St. NW, Washington D.C. 20001 Tel: 202-483-8832.

MASJID AL-NOOR: 10012 Harford Rd., Carney, MD 21234 Tel: 410-663-9637, Fax: 410-663-9817.

MASJID AL-RAHMAH/ISB: 6631 Johnny Cake Rd.

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, imam@pgmamd.org.

SOUTHERN MARYLAND ISLAMIC CENTER(SMIC): 1046 Solomons Island Rd, Huntingtown, MD, 20639.

Tel: 410- 535-0000 THE ISLAMIC CENTER: 2551 Mass. Ave. NW Washington D.C. 20008 Tel: 202-332-8343

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• When you place a print ad with us in Main or Marketplace you can request a FREE coupon in each issue your ad runs.

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Place a personal classified ad. Call us at 301-982-1020 $1 per 3 words. You may place a classified on muslimlinkpaper.com free of charge. All classifieds run 3 issues in the marketplace section. To place a classified, email office@muslimlinkpaper.com with the exact text of the classified, and send a check or money order payable to the Muslim Link to: The Muslim Link, 5301 Edgewood Rd, College Park MD 20740.

CHILDCARE EXCHANGE DAYCARE IN MUSLIM ENVIRONMENT

Full-Time, Part-Time, Before and After Care. 7:00AM-6:00PM MonFri; Weekend Occasionally; Breakfast, Lunch and Snack included. Weekly charge. 410-281-7155 or 410-292-9274. ________________________________ FULL TIME CHILDCARE IN FAIRFAX, VA HOME NEEDED Fairfax family seeks a full time live-out nanny to take care of 2 children in home.

The children are 1-year old and 2 months old. Hours are weekdays only from 8:00 – 6:00 PM. Duties include taking care of children, basic housekeeping and food preparation. Applicant must be nonsmoker, reliable, punctual and willing to make long term commitment. Resume and references are required. Please call 703-362-0770. ________________________________ HOME AWAY FROM HOME IN MUSLIM ENVIRONMENT Licensed, operated by a pre-school teacher; Full-time, Part-time, Before

and After Care; Weekends and Extended Hours; Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks Provided; Near MCC; Must See & Compare with Others; 301-570-4245 or emails_qureshi786@yahoo.com

EMPLOYMENT ILLUSTRATOR WANTED Children Book Author seeking creative Artist for Children Books. Please contact Zubair at 202-419-9356 or zubbusiness@gmail.com

FOR SALE SALWAR SUITS 3 piece Salwar Suit Special Eid prices 301-598-0055 ________________________________ MOVING AWAY SALE All household items for sale, including heavy and light furniture: great condition 1 king size bed set with dresser and 2 side tables, queen size bed set, bunk bed, kitchen table, book shelves, futon, writing desk, computer desk, plasma tv - 52” (with 1 yr warranty remaining),

satellite dish, deck table and chairs, all kitchen appliances, table ware, serve ware, rotisserie, crock pot, adult bicycle, lamps, wall decor including calligraphy, books, plants etc. If interested, please call 443-562-9430 or email at miyian@aol. com ________________________________ COMMUNITY THRIFT STORE Store hours Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, 5115 Park Heights, Baltimore, MD 21215.

Donation accepted or pickup. Slighted worn items only. Call 410-542-6925 or 443-531-9353 (cell)

RENTAL Room to share in house in College Park MD. Close to Al-Huda School, Greenbelt Metro, and UMCP. Call 301-345-5850 or 240-271-9552.

SERVICES HANDYMAN AVAILABLE Assalamu’alaykum! My name is Varga Syahroni. I am an experienced technician in D.C. and Maryland. I offer service and

repair for cooling, heating, plumbing, refrigerator, dish washers, dryer machines and much more. Call me for reliable service! Free estimates (301) 792-1004 or email varga_syahroni@yahoo.com ________________________________ WE ARE HERE TO HELP FAMILIES IN NEED Family Home Health Agency provides professional personal care and companionship services for senior citizens. We also provide customized care and help with daily living tasks for disabled and injured individuals of any age. Our experienced caregivers provide up to 24 hour service in the comfort of your own home. We accept Medicaid and private pay. Call Family Home Care Services Inc. at 703-933-2223. ________________________________ 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 443-531-9353 (cell)

To Advertise Call 301-982-1020 STAFF WRITERS WANTED

The Muslim Link newspaper is looking for full and part-time candidates to fill upcoming staff writer positions.

The ideal candidates are committed Muslims who have a penchant for good writing, are involved in community work, have a strong work ethic, and believe in establishing Muslim media.

To join our team and start on a job which offers ground breaking opportunities and excitement, send your resume, cover letter, and a writing sample to the editor.

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