Muharram|Safar|Rabi Al-Awaal |Rabi Al-Thani|Jumada Al-Awwal|Jumada Al-Akhir|Rajab|Shaban|Ramadan|11 SHAWWAL, 1432|Thul-Qedah|Thul-Hijjah
IN GOLDEN YEARS, ISB SENIORS STILL WANT TO DO FOR THEMSELVES PG 10
CARRYING THE TORCH OF RAMADAN FORWARD PG 20
11 S h a w w a l - 2 4 S h a w w a l , 1 4 3 2 A . H . | w w w. M u s l i m L i n k P a p e r. c o m MD, VA, and DC Metropolitan Area Bi-Weekly Newspaper | FREE
September 9th 2011 - September 22nd 2011
We Also Faced A National Tragedy
here – someone has to stand up and ‘We really have to solve the Palestinian defend Islam. I have been explaining problem.’ In the first wave of actions to people where the truth lies -- not after the Patriot Act was passed, at either extreme, but in the middle. “my accounts were frozen.” Various I have gone to synagogues, churches, national organizations including CAIR “I remember my mother crying in the H e r eto amobilized r e s otomaddress e the situation. “I masajids, communities meetings corner, I was sitting next to the sofa. share the true face of Islam. r e Ichave o l l eseec this t i oissue n sas, being two fold: one I didn’t understand then because they also tried to disseminating info via is the response of the government didn’t tell us in school [the female Facebook. Islamaphobiarise fonl ethe and ctio n sthe, second a n dis denial within our student was in kindergarten at the rise and Muslims are losing the battle. own community. We have to take time].” Now, the 15-year old high tives that There is a political agendaperspec behind it responsibility and in our own capacity schooler says: “I think the Muslim I feel lthat dMuslims i d n ’ t and g e It urge t hour e i rcommunities to reach h a all t and do o cAVERAGE al and non-Muslim debate takes W away have to mobilize and get involved out, get involved, put our money and from the tragedy of it. People died and share the major Muslims about in ourfeel society around us. This isof support to our words. I am a Muslim instead of focusing on that primarily, happening to a great degree but I would American from Pakistan and I would 9/11 as the 10th h eadlin es. Th ese we got caught up in discussing the like to see more people be involved like us to own the values [outlined in “Muslim” issue. I wish we could’ve and communicate the true message of the Constitution] are the voices of and work on making year anniversary just stayed focused on the tragedy of Islam. Every average Muslim knows it real - build on what the founding it. We should have been treatedalike u r n e i g h b o r s , as those principles p p r the o abasic c h etenants s a nofdIslam. yo You don’t fathers espoused people who were facing a national have to be an Imam to do this.” don’t contradict Islamic principles.” c o - wo r ke rs, and how tragedy instead of being cast the has that event guilty.” – Haytham Younis, an friends. American These – Nadeem Ahmad, are the a Telecommunication woven our history Muslim architect living in Montgomery Engineer in Clarksburg, Maryland – A teenager from Montgomery County, voices of ___________________________ the Muslim here County, as Americans Maryland MD ___________________________ ____ in the and shaped our lives community _____________________________ ____
an average of three hours waiting after everyone else was done. When it expired, I didn’t dare travel abroad for fear I wouldn’t be issued a new visa. I didn’t visit family for my last 4 years of study and I couldn’t travel to international conferences. I know Muslim students who were never able to renew their expired visas and were not able to pursue their studies. I even know a Muslim friend who was not allowed in the US even though he had a valid non-expired visa! He was returned back to his native country to re-apply for another visa. He was lucky to get one after three months of interruption in his studies. In all cases, inquiries about the reasons why your visa request is rejected or delayed go unanswered.” – H. A., graduate student in Maryland from 2001-2009 ___________________________ ____
and directions? nation’s capital. Even With a Da’wa Is Not Just We Should Own Valid VISA, the Imam’s Job the Values In the I Feared Being “I was in Saudi Arabia, having an espresso coffee on my way back to the Constitution Denied Entry office for the afternoon shift. I watched
time that’s past since that awful event seems to have been in a much shorter span of time. “I was at work when the first bit of news filtered down to us. My co-workers and I worked in the basement (that I jokingly refer to as “the dungeon”) of the Dept. of Energy (in Washington, D.C.) where there are no windows and where no radio wave or cell service signals dare travel. When we got word of the service first plane hitting Tower 1, my initial thoughts were that it was a single engine plane or it was some type of “urban legend” rumor. If only it had been. I tried to access the Internet to see if there was any news about this occurring when we began to notice no one was gaining access to the Net.... for any website! “Later, we heard that another plane had hit the Tower in the World Trade Center. Again, knowing how slowly information travels to “the dungeon”, we all assumed that this person had just heard the news that we’d all heard early. Again, we could not verify anything, but we were getting spotty reports from government employees who worked on upper floors and could get TV and radio signals.
Muslims Must Respond to Islamophobes Exploiting 9/11 for “I came to the US as a PhD student in shock and in denial – we continued “I was working for [a large defense we heard of the plane hitting less than a month before the tragic Their Hate Filled “When that denial for weeks and weeks.” He contractor], and it was my boss who the Pentagon, the decision was quickly The way I was affected was asked me ‘did youOF hear about the event. VOICES THE MUSLIMS IN MD, DC and VA returned to the US two years later and made to release all government and by the change in the procedure for Agenda settled in cosmopolitan Germantown, kamikazes?’ We watched and became contract employees, not knowing the issuing entry visas to the US and the Maryland, not experiencing much glued to the coverage on TV.” As the of the fourth missing plane. >> PAGE special registration system which “The tragedy of 9/11 still seems like target 6 horror unfolded, “we had a truly open of the prejudice he and his family
REFLECTIONS ON 9/11
feared. “It is clearly my motivation factor for continuing my da’wah work
discussion about US foreign policy that I remember to this day. One of the program managers commented,
affected mainly citizens of Muslim countries. When my visa was not expired, entry through a US port took
a scene from a disaster movie, even though it took place ten years ago. The
It wasn’t until much later that day that we learned of the passengers who’d fought the terrorists on the
Why I Became Muslim On September 11, 2001 By Hernan Guadalupe
>> WHY Pg 14
ICM Eid Fair a Celebration of Diversity | pg 4 Ellicott City Teenager Arrested In Suspected Terror Plot | pg 5 Woodbridge Man Arrested for Jihadist Video | pg 5
Americans Uncomfortable With Muslims | pg 11 Obama’s Outreach Toward US Muslims Limited | pg 11 WORLD PRESS: Palestinian Children Jailed | pg 17
Muslim Link Contributing Writer
Prior to 9/11, I had been searching for the “truth”, meaning the proper way to worship God. I grew up in a Catholic home, served as an alter-boy, attended Catholic school, and studied a good portion of the Bible in my youth. I always believed in God no matter what stage of
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
ISLAM: Virtue of Fasting Six Days of Shawwal | pg 20 Hernan Guadalupe, second from left, poses with friends in front of the pre-9/11 New York skyline. On 9/11/2001, Guadalupe watched the same skyline crumble from his campus across the river. He became Muslim later that day. Photo courtesy of Hernan Guadalupe.
The Muslim Link
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