Are You Muslim?

One day I got into a cab and found that the taxi driver was Muslim.  It was early in the summer, but warm enough for everyone around to have already shed most of their clothing.  I was wearing hijab and unquestionably conspicuous, yet I still was asked the question that is always irritating, “Are you Muslim?”

I have never known how a Muslimah could not be recognized by another Muslim simply on the basis of ethnicity, yet the question comes from immigrant Muslims time and time again. This time, the injury was further compounded with the cabbie’s statement,” If I saw someone dressed like you at home, I would think that they were a religious Muslim, a good Muslim”. Really? Sometimes we give little thought to how hurtful our words can be, but it is not uncommon in the interactions between African-American Muslims and Muslims of other ethnic origins.

These misunderstandings are decades old. In the 1970’s a Muslim in Detroit told me that he and some other brothers went to an unfamiliar masjid. The men inside actually broke their salat in order to confront the African-American Muslims as intruders.  The fact that these misunderstandings are still occurring is unfortunate and damaging to the Muslims in America of all races and national origins.

Islamic Summer Reading Program for Children

A valuable online resource for muslim parents is American Muslim Mom.  The site is sponsoring its first summer reading program for Muslim children reading Islamic fiction. The program runs from July 1, 2009 to August 15, 2009.  Children register with adult permission and fill out a book review form for each book read.  Participants will recieve prizes.

Three sites for finding Islamic fiction for all ages are the Islamic Writers Alliance Bookstore, the Islamic Bookstore, and the Online Islamic Bookstore

Use Vacation Time to Make Ramadan Easier

Ramadan starts in August this year.  We can expect long, hot days of fasting.  Some of us have never fasted in the summer, some of us are thirty years older than the last time we had to fast during the summer.  Young and new Muslims may be wondering how to fast in summer.  Older Muslims who fasted during summer Ramadans of the 1970’s may be wondering how their aging bodies are going to hold up (Muslims living in the southern hemisphere are undoubtedly having the same concerns about fasting during the harsh winter seasons they are now facing).

One thing many of us can do to make it easier on ourselves is to schedule some vacation time during Ramadan.  You can take a week or two off at the end, when you can expect to be getting tired. You may prefer taking time off in the middle of Ramadan in order to break the month up.  You may even want to take the time off in the beginning so you can more easily get adjusted to fasting during the summer.

If you can’t take a lot of time off, how about just one day mid-week, so you don’t have to work more than 2 or 3 days at a time without getting a break? It makes it a lot easier mentally to get through Monday and Tuesday for example, if you know that you will be off on Wednesday.  And it’s easier to get through Thursday and Friday knowing you will have the weekend free.   Or you may want to take Friday off each week and go to Friday prayer while enjoying the benefit of a whole month of 3-day weekends.

If you are looking for more information on fasting, you can find tips on how to fast year round.  You can also read an excellent article on the physiology of fasting by Dr. Suriya Osman.

One final note: you may also find that if you try fasting before Ramadan begins, you will be able to figure out what works best for you when fasting during this time of year.  Not having to go through a prolonged trial-and-error period at the beginning of Ramadan will make that fast that much easier.

Don’t Just Give Charity-Buy Palestinian Goods

Many of us over the past couple of months have given money and goods to the fundraising events and the charities that are helping to support Palestine and rebuild Gaza.  It is hard for many of us who want to do more, but have to work within the limits of our own funds.

But there is another, crucial way to lend support. In addition to aid, Palestinians also need jobs.  We can also help by supporting the Palestinian businesses.  Books, clothes, purses,  olive oil, calendars, key chains and many other items are available online in price ranges from $1.50 to more than $200.

Many of the items that we shop for–for ourselves, for others, for our homes or for gifts can be purchased through these sites. Ownership and use of these items take on more significance when we are able to reflect that the money from our purchases did not just disappear into anonymous corporate coffers, but went toward rebuilding the shattered dignity of other Muslims.

Try some of the sites listed below.  Find new ones, pass them on, but most importantly, use them and purchase Palestinian goods. Thanks to the blog Raising Yousuf and Nor-A Mother from Gaza for the following information:

Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children (Gaza Strip); a stunning array of hand-crafted items made by deaf men and women; proceeds go to support the Gaza Strip’s first and only school for deaf children and to continue the vocational training provided for the deaf there. The building was damaged in the recent Israeli bombing but they are up and running nevertheless.

Mountain High Imports

Olive Branch Olive Oil

Holy Land Olive Oil
Palestine Online Store

Sunbula Products (at Fair Trade Online Store)

The Palestine Shop

Palshirts (CafeExpress)

Twinning with Palestine is a UK site that discusses the hows and whys of twinning with Palestine as a sister city.    The site also lists a number of online sites for shopping for Palestinian products such as Camden-Abu Dis Friendship Association (based in the UK),  Zaytoun (olive oil)  and Hadeel.

 

A Saudi Hajj Transportation Survey

The Ministry of Hajj has a questionnaire for Muslims who have made hajj posted on its website. The questions have to do primarily with transportation and levels of service. Click here to participate.

How Much is the Truth Worth to You?

Here is something to consider: an online biography of Bukhari, the compiler of hadith, relays an incident in which Bukhari was travelling by boat and threw his own money overboard rather than risk being falsely accused of theft by a con artist.  Why?  Because that is how much his reputation and unquestioned integrity meant to him as a compiler of hadith.  That is how much he was willing to give up to protect his own name and his life’s work–not just for himself, but for future generations of Muslims.  For us.

 Here is the Bukhari’s story:

During his studentship al-Bukhari had to sail in a boat on a river. He had a thousand ashrafis (golden coins) in his possession. He was joined by someone who also boarded the boat and met him reverentially, and gradually developed cordial relations so that al-Bukhari happened to mention to him about the money he had with him. One morning the man began to raise hue and cry, saying that his bag containing one thousand ashrafis was missing. The passengers began to be searched and al-Bukhari, appraising the situation, threw the bag into the river. The Imam’s belongings were also searched but the money could not be found… When the journey was over the man asked al-Bukhari about the bag of money. Al-Bukhari replied that he had thrown it away into the river. When the man asked him why he thought it necessary to jettison it into the river and sustain such a big loss, al-Bukhari said,

  “All my life I have spent in collecting and compiling the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and my integrity has assumed proverbial proportions. How could I afford to lose the far greater wealth that I have acquired against my life’s blood by acquiring the taint of a theft?”

In American culture, there are so many names for lying, the little white lie, the fib, the whopper, an omission, disinformation, misinformation–virtually everyone expects everyone else to lie sometimes.  Lying is accepted and often condoned in the slippery realm of “situational ethics”.  Indeed lying, for the most part, has become pretty much divorced from personal integrity–unless there is a crime is involved. 

Muslims get caught up in that aspect of American culture as well.  Unfortunately for the Muslims, however, there is the sometimes overlooked detail that our angels are recording our every utterance–each of which will count as a good deed or bad deed–and will hit the playback button on the Day of Judgment.  We joke about the “stories” we tell and get away with, with little regard for the consequences to our own integrity and none at all for the consequences we may face in the hereafter. 

Imam Bukhari’s biography is posted in 4 parts on Islaam.net.

Native Deen Gaza Fundraiser in Atlanta

This announcement is from the Islamic Center of Marietta Masjid al-Hedaya–Please go to their site for contact information and tickets.

Native Deen: Live in Atlanta
A Benefit Concert for Gaza 
Sunday, January 25, 2009 -6pm

 Location:
Georgia Tech Ferst Center for the Arts
349 Ferst Drive NW
Atlanta, GA 30332-0468
Phone: 404-894-9600
www.ferstcenter.gatech.edu

The Native Deen site is here.  You can also find many of their nasheed posted on www.youtube.com.