avari | haroon moghul

Friday, May 28th: Join Me and Khalid Latif for an ADAMS Workshop on Media

This summer, insh'allah, Imam Latif and I will be teaching at all three Fawakih course locations: Virginia, Boston, Massachusetts, and Fishers, Indiana.  (Fawakih's an amazing organization and offers a strong Arabic program to a very diverse student population.)  As part of our workshops, we will be providing specially-geared introductions to media and public engagement.  Tomorrow, insh'allah, Imam Latif will give the khutbah at ADAMS and then we will jointly present at 5:00p.m. at ADAMS (in Herndon, VA).  I'll post more info to here, Facebook and Twitter as it becomes available.  Do join us if you can.

LOST Finale

That was an awesome episode! I'm still settling things in my head, but wow. Damn. On the edge of my seat on numerous occasions, and I knew I loved it when I realized, with 5 min. to go, that I didn't want it to end. The final scene, in the house of worship, was tremendous; it answered many questions, and was just beautifully shot (especially as the doors opened behind them -- who or what had they been waiting for? Why did Christian go first).

So here are my thoughts and reflections. Please share your ideas.

All this time, I'd thought the flash sideways was a product of the bomb Juliet set off. Now it seems it was that, for her, since it killed her, but since it happened outside time, it succeeded everyone's life individually.

So for Jack, it came as he passed away on the island - how beautiful that as he closed his eyes in life, he was overwhelmed by light on the way to the next life - but Hugo, like Jacob, could've lived many centuries before showing up. Does that then mean the most important part of his life was the "lost" period...? Based on his amicably failed relationship in the flash sideways, and his finding Kate as the condition for moving on, yeah. People have to "get" their lives to leave them, remember them in order to let go...

The larger moral theme, which was done amazingly with a Ben deceased but still wandering, still struggling, brings the show to really talk about what it is to be Lost in life, time and space, and beyond all three, on a different level. In my reading, the only ones left on the island are Hurley, Ben, Rose and her husband, and Jack though he dies. Desmond's there but it is suggested he'll leave somehow (Jacob often left, after all.)

Ben seemed to imply that Jacob kept people on the island. But he also brought people to the island. But judging by the construction, especially at the light source, it seems people had been coming for a long time, but it was in Jacob's "mother's" character to keep people away, or to keep to herself. And since Jacob had no experience of the outside world, of anything except his brother, his brother's betrayal and his mother's death, you can see how it is only slowly he opens up, but nevertheless knows he is not meant to last. He is not meant to live forever. (Why isn't Jacob at the meeting?) Hurley, on the other hand, has numerous formative experiences. He will be a different kind of protector...

(And did anyone else find it weird that Sayid, tormented by violence all his life, dies as a kind of suicide bomber?).

Some questions:

Was Richard Alpert at the final meeting? Does Hugo inherit Jacob's powers of touching people and giving them life - a connection to eternity that suggests an avatar, angel or prophecy? Of course, being dead at the very end, we assume someone unknown has taken his job of protecting the island; I also loved that Jack's dad, whom he was looking for on multiple levels, guided him, and we also know finally who Kate really loved.

I had a sense all along Hurley was the real candidate; he was to me the obvious choice. Was Jack the protector only to take on Locke and save Desmond and see the survivors off? Or was it -- and was it? -- that Hurley would've never realized it on his own, never would have had the self-confidence to understand his role, unless Jack, whom he looked up to and then wanted to honor, made him believe he could it? And Desmond's 'see you in another life' line suggests he can see beyond death, and knows all along he will see Jack again; he knew that the persons he met, he would always know.  But it is Charlie who first makes him remember, isn't it?  Because of what Charlie meant to him.

Avatar, Allah and the Planet: A Khutbah Based on Lessons from the Movie

I mentioned, some weeks ago, that I'd be giving a khutbah on Avatar.  That khutbah is now up; you can find it on the ICNYU Khutbah page, titled "Allah, Avatar and the Planet" (04-09-2010) or listen to it through this direct link (mp3).  As always, you can find all our khutbahs on our iTunes podcast page, too.

Thank God Jesus Christ Wasn't French

Take a look at this picture. It's from a NY Times article about a town in Germany that has, since 1634, put on a passion play -- and how that town's Christian heritage is affected by the current crisis of the Catholic Church. Thank God, for these Germans at least, that they 1) don't dress like this everyday and 2) aren't French. (Because, if they were, they would have conquered themselves three times in seventy years.)

But not just because of that. If they were in France, neither these men nor these women (and look, they've oppressed their children too!) would be allowed to attend public school. They are after all dressed in obviously religious garb, oozing their Islamist allegiances and broadcasting their stern opposition to the Christian and secular identity of Europe (sorry Sikh and Jewish students: you got screwed over because the French government wanted to pretend there was some principle behind their bias.) This is just too funny.

You heard it here first.

Since When Did FIFA Take Sarkozy's Place?

After all, it makes sense for a sports body to determine what religiosity is legitimate (or not) -- from ReligionDispatches:

Meanwhile, Fifa and the Iranian girls’ football team reached an agreement about wearing headscarves: “the girls can wear caps that cover their hair but not their necks.” This was after Fifa declared that the headscarves were both a safety issue and an unnecessary statement of religion during games.

But they can wear signs of national affiliation?

Rearrange Your Head | Interview with G. Willow Wilson, Author of "The Butterfly Mosque"

Check out my interview of G. Willow Wilson.  Then buy The Butterfly Mosque, an awesome gift for anyone interested in Islam, the Middle East, faith, love, family or a very good read. 

She's one of my favorite authors, and this memoir makes for a nice Eid present, a gift for someone learning more about Islam, or just a fun, thought-provoking, out-of-the-ordinary on the beach in your burqini summer read.  The book is to be released in early June.

It's only $16.32 on Amazon, and eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping.

A Hispanic President... Inshallah...

The Times has a profile of San Antonio's young, talented mayor, Julian Castro, asking whether he might be America's first Hispanic President.  It's an interesting article, and exciting to hear about potential upcoming national talent for the Democratic talent (esp. since, after Arizona, the right has decided to alienate America's fastest-growing population -- not that I mind if they want to use their second amendment rights to shoot themselves in the foot):

Whatever their racial and geographic differences, Americans from Spanish-speaking cultures in different parts of the country increasingly see one another as sharing a common identity and interests. Partly this is a result of astute marketing by Spanish-language mass media. But politics plays a major role. “The pan-Latino proc­ess in the U.S. encompasses everyone, though the Cubans lag behind,” says Antonio Gonzalez of the William C. Velasquez Institute. “And the biggest single unifier among subgroups across the Latino community is compatibility on issues.” Roughly 60 percent of Hispanics identify themselves as Democrats. And because Mexican-Americans dominate the national pan-Latino community through sheer numbers — they make up about 60 percent of the total Hispanic population — and they are concentrated in key electoral states like Texas and California, simple arithmetic and political logic make it very likely that one of the next national political leaders of Hispanic America will be a Mexican-American Democrat.

CAIR to Honor Muslim New Yorker's Vigilance

Join us in Honoring A Muslim New Yorker for His Vigilance
in Times Square Plot

I AM MUSLIM, I AM AMERICAN:

Building Community, Serving Country

 

CAIR-NY is proud to announce Aloune Niass as recipient of the “Good Samaritan Award” at this year’s Annual Banquet and Fundraiser at the Faculty House, Columbia University (116th St.) on Saturday, May 15th. Buy your tickets here today!

 

Mr. Niass, a Muslim immigrant from Senegal, was the first vendor to notice and speak up about the smoke rising from the parked vehicle used in the Times Square plot.

 

Watch his interview on Democracy Now! here.

The Islamic Center at NYU Needs Summer Interns

This position is open to persons affiliated with NYU and otherwise.

Interested applicants from NYU can apply for this position via NYU's Careernet by searching for job ID #793868

Employer: The Islamic Center at NYU
Division: Student Affairs
Title: Summer Intern

Organization Description : The Islamic Center at NYU functions within the Division of Student Affairs at New York University, a private institution of higher education and research located in lower Manhattan.

Description:
- Interns will be expected to research specific topics and assist in specific projects that ICNYU will identify as beneficial to the growth and development of the organization. The research will result in papers, projects or events, which will be finished by the end of the internship term. Each intern will have a different topic.

- Interns will attend seminars, meetings and lectures, as they become available. Interns will also participate in regular educational sessions to better understand institution building and development as well as gain a deeper understanding of how activism relates to Islam.

-Interns will be expected to perform administrative duties.

-At the end of the internship, the performance of each intern will be measured based on reports as well as staff experience, and a letter of recommendation will be provided accordingly.

-If students would like to have their internship count for school credit, they will need to provide the appropriate papers for ICNYU to sign

Qualifications:
-A candidate must be a graduate student, an undergraduate student, or have graduated from college within a year of beginning the internship.

-Interns are expected to commit 10 to 15 hours per week during an 8 to 12 week internship period.

Location:
City: New York
State: New York
Country: United States


Position Type: Part-Time, Internship, On-Campus Non Federal Work Study, Paid, Unpaid, Spring, Summer
GPA: 3.0
Salary Level: possible stipend/ for credit if available
Job Function: Administrative & Support Service, Communications - Media, Non-Profit, Social, Community Sv, Religious Services

Desired Start Date: June 1st, 2010
Approximate Hours Per Week:
10 - 15 hours per week

If interested in the above position, please submit resumes to kl442 @ nyu . edu

Contact Information
Khalid Latif
60 Washington Square South, rm 806
New York, New York 10012
United States
kl442@nyu.edu
(212) 998-4712

On China, Islam and Democracy at Huffington Post

My first piece for Huffington Post's religion section is up.  Future posts will be found under my author page.  I hope to do most of my formal writing, from here on out, for Huffington Post and Religion Dispatches.