avari | haroon moghul

Interfaith Internship Opportunity in New York City

PART TIME INTERN

The Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) is a secular non-profit educational organization. Our goal is to create understanding and respect among the different religious groups of New York City as well as to encourage members of all faiths to get involved in civic participation. We work with religious leaders to address social issues through the fields of education, law, social work, the arts, and culture.

Hours: Part-time (10 hours per week)

Salary: Semester stipend, $1750

Start date: February 1, 2010       

Job Description: This part-time internship is for a highly motivated and organized individual with strong outreach skills to assist in the research, outreach and implementation phases of an innovative program that seeks to develop partnerships between Catholic and Muslim social service providers.  The Catholic and Muslim Social Service Project will develop ongoing relationships between Muslim social service providers and Catholic Charities through shared projects that serve both groups.  Muslims and Catholics will learn about each others’ faiths and how to work together while servicing the needs of their communities.  The program will operate in Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island. 

·         Conduct outreach to Catholic and Muslim religious leaders and social service providers through phone calls, emails, and/or meetings

·         Maintain database of contacts and notes about outreach and meetings

·         Assist in development of partnerships

·         Assist in monitoring and tracking the implementation of projects designed by partners

Qualifications:

• Academic study and/or professional experience working with Catholic or Muslim communities
• Clear and effective writing and communication skills
• Computer proficiency
• Ability to work independently
• Strong administrative and general office skills
  

Interested individuals should forward a letter and resume to Sarah Sayeed at:
ssayeed at interfaithcenter dot org

From Leopold Weiss to Muhammad Asad: The Movie

A Screening of "A Road to Mecca: The Personal Journey of Muhammad Asad"

Post Screening Discussion with Professors Talal Asad and Joseph Massad

Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 7:00pm
 
At Alwan for the Arts

Free and open to the Public.  (Donation suggested)

By Georg Misch, Austria, 2009, 92 minutes, Color, Digital

In the early 1920s Leopold Weiss, a Viennese Jew, alienated by the materialism and spiritual emptiness of the West, travelled to the Middle East, visiting Jerusalem, Egypt, the Transjordan and Saudi Arabia. After studying the Koran, he left his Jewish roots behind, converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Asad.

Asad (1900-1992) became one of the most important Muslims of the 20th century, spreading its message of peace and brotherhood as a journalist and author of books such as Islam at the Crossroads, The Principles of State and Government in Islam and his autobiography, The Road to Mecca. He served as an advisor to the royal court of Saudi Arabia and was a co-founder of Pakistan and its Ambassador to the UN.

In portraying the lifelong evolution of the philosophy of Muhammad Asad, who sought to be a mediator between East and West, A ROAD TO MECCA provides a portrait of contemporary Islam, challenging deeply rooted Western prejudices by revealing the distance between fundamentalist beliefs that support terrorism and the core beliefs of a profoundly humane religion.

The Global Financial Crisis and the Persian Gulf: Dubai's Debt and the Future of Islamic Banking

The Global Financial Crisis and the Persian Gulf: Dubai's Debt and the Future of Islamic Banking

A roundtable discussion at Princeton University,

Feb. 24, 2010, 2pm-6pm
Jones Hall 202

After initial hopes of decoupling, the Global Financial Crisis has hurt countries in the Persian Gulf considerably. Oil prices declined from record highs and budget surpluses turned into deficits. Financing conditions for domestic companies deteriorated, while the sovereign wealth funds of the region suffered tremendous losses. Furthermore, the eruption of Dubai’s debt crisis in December 2009 has cast a light on shortcomings in the business environment and raised questions about the viability of Islamic banking securities such as the Nakheel sukuk, which became a bone of contention.

The roundtable will gather distinguished academics and practitioners to take stock of the current situation in the Gulf and discuss future scenarios. After assessing the impact of the global financial crisis on the Gulf a particular focus will be on implications for Islamic banking whose growth prospects have dimmed while a possible global leadership role of the Gulf in this niche industry has been compromised.

Program below.

Sermons on Sex, Marriage and Decline (Due to Popular Demand, Yes, I Talked About Sex at a Khutbah)

Have you ever wished an Imam would actually talk about sex, sexuality and how to relate our Islam to those very obvious realities?  Well, I'm not really an Imam, but still.  The challenge of marriage may well be the greatest challenge facing many Western Muslim communities, and isn't yet discussed nearly as regularly or directly as necessary.

Back in September, I gave two khutbahs at ICNYU, which have now been made available on our podcasts page, respectively titled "Sex and the Muslim Soul" and "Baby Steps" (9/20/09 and 9/25/09). 

In the first of these, I discussed the challenge of college life, sexuality and relationships, including what I felt was some necessary perspective on the institution of Muslim marriages in an American context.  I'd intended to follow up with a second on the topic, but my next scheduled khutbah (which was in November) coincided with Tunku Varadarajan's article and so that khutbah, to be released soon, is on Islam, democracy and the necessity of diversity.  It's about time we heard an Islamic defense of democracy.

The khutbah "Baby Steps" is the Eid al-Fitr khutbah, although it focuses more largely on narratives of decline and restoration from the perspective of Ramadan and the perspective of us, as an Ummah.  I followed this up with a related khutbah, to be released soon, which I gave on Eid al-Adha, which is on the heroism and moral courage (and, indeed, value) of everyday Muslim life.

Economist: Haroon Was Right

I mean, sort of, but you have to feel a tiny bit flattered when you're on point according to the capitalist newspaper of record:

Whatever motivated Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to become a terrorist, it was not material deprivation; he came from a rich family. The biographical detail that fascinated many terrorism-watchers was his record as president of the Islamic Society at University College London, where he had studied engineering.

Some found his choice of subject significant. A forthcoming book by Steffen Hertog, a sociologist, will argue that terrorists include a high number of engineers—not because of their need for bomb-making skills, but perhaps because of a mindset that likes rigidity and binary choices.

In the young man’s homeland, meanwhile, people noted that for all their problems—including the existence of rival, armed fraternities known as “cults” but unconnected to faith—Nigerian universities are not known as hotbeds of Islamic extremism. It was apparently the loneliness and confusion of life in Britain that set this student on a path that led to terror.

An Introduction to Islam

Starting this Sunday, I'll be teaching a 4 week course on Islam at All Souls' on 80th and Lexington.  You can see the lecture topics at this .pdf (See pg. 2).  The lectures are open to the public, and run from 10am to 11am every Sunday from January 10th to January 31st.

The Triple Threat: Double Agents, Underwear Policies and Bad Decisions

Check out my new essay, on Religion Dispatches: The Undergarments of Absolutism.  I cover, in far too brief a format, some of my thoughts on the latest wave of radicalization, its causes and the simultaneous counter-movement against it, born of exhausted Muslims tired of their faith, abused (though, still, conscious that abuse is not solely a product of domestic or foreign policy).  I do moreover feel that the latest essay should be read alongside my most recent post below, on conspiracy theories and al-Qaeda, and alongside this essay which further elaborates on the points I made below and at RD.  Namely, Professor LeVine is pointing out that there is an al-Qaeda strategy, and I do believe Obama has uncritically made the leap into involvement with yet another country without engaging the al-Qaeda strategy (his response, and our response, has been made to tactics, which are not strategy).  This is an example of what I said below.

Powerful nations have more interests than insurgent forces, or rising powers, for which reason we have longer supply lines to cover -- so to speak.  Now, we cannot retreat without "losing face," an emotive factor to foreign policy that should be counted; however, we cannot engage forever, in a war in which the enemy poses less of a structural challenge to us than the challenge of tying us down so that we cannot face other structural challenges (China, the global economy, our weak infrastructure, education quality, global warming, etc.) as effectively as we might do otherwise.  This is key: al-Qaeda's strategy is death by a thousand cuts, and by throwing our support so quickly behind Yemen, we have enabled a boost to their war there and made a commitment from which we cannot easily back down (but how far, really, can we afford to ramp up? Would we ever have troops on the ground?)  

Withdrawing from Iraq will help, but being led into Yemen without a critical national debate -- which I have not yet heard -- may not be the best way to run a foreign policy.  It's deeply disappointing that we are allowing the dialogue to be dominated by the initial panic, as opposed to a more sober assessment of what al-Qaeda wants and what we can do to stop them.  For, it's easier to get in than get out.

Or, as Colin Powell had put it, once it's broken, it's ours.  Yemen's already pretty broken.

Could al-Qaeda Be a Western Conspiracy?

The question, posed in recent comments and elsewhere, suggests a number of connections founded on a problematic logic.  This has persuaded me to reply in some detail, although my argument only responds to the relevant comment on some points.  I am not therefore accusing my commenter of holding all the opinions I am arguing with below.

The problematic logic: Because similar phenomena have happened elsewhere, or in the past, does not mean they are happening right now by that fact alone.  Just because the CIA and British intelligence kindled resistance to Mossadegh, in 1953, and led to his overthrow (democracies attacking a democracy -- there goes that Eurocentric theory), does not therefore mean that today's protests against Iran's government are therefore a Western conspiracy.

Secondly, al-Qaeda does have Western roots.  That's reality.  Go ask Stephen Coll.

The C.I.A., the ISI and Saudi intelligence, all agencies of allied nations, worked together to create an Afghan anti-Soviet resistance, to arm and train it in terrorist and guerrilla actions, and to fund it with huge sums of money.  Pakistan's government went on to transfer its own fighters and allied fighters to other arenas and contexts, in the pursuit of, frankly, remarkably stupid foreign policy objectives (hence the crisis today.)  Therefore, it is not an argument against al-Qaeda's existence or actions to say it had "Western" roots, at least to some extent.  Israel encouraged Hamas as an alternative to the PLO, to factionalize Palestine, but then saw Hamas become ever more formidable (though present paralysis in Palestinian politics might suggest that, however indirectly, an Israeli objective was achieved -- although Israel's policies have harmed its strategic interests in other ways.)

Muslims Are So Hot

I've figured it out.  See, Muslims are just so unbelievably hot, European governments and leaders are willing to put the State to work to prevent us from covering up too much: No "visible" religious markers.  Yeah, sure, that's the lamest come-on ever.  (Sarkozy's maybe just flirting collectively with every high school French Muslim girl: I can make the State make you take your clothes off.  Want to see my other house?  He is also flirting collectively with thousands of teenage girls, which is creepy and should be, in his case, illegal.)  And next up: The Swiss, banning minarets?  After Umar Farouk Abdul-Muttallab, they'll probably demand every Muslim goes sans undergarments -- or at least all the guys will have to go commando -- you know, for the public's "safety" and "peace of mind."