avari | haroon moghul

The Colbert Imam

Maybe cool Imam would've been a little bit of an oxymoron.

But not anymore.  My good friend Khalid Latif, Chaplain and Executive Director for the Islamic Center at New York University, appeared on Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report last night, in a segment called "Fear for all".  It's absolutely hilarious.  I'm just wondering how he went through it without falling on the ground laughing.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Fear for All Pt. 1
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Fear for All Pt. 2
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Why It Hurts to be Muslim

I read a book recently that just made me need to write something. I love books that do that. That's why I wrote "It Hurts to be Muslim, Too," for the Huffington Post. It's about pain, about suffering, and about finding meaning in hardship. Check it out.

At Hofstra

I'll be part of their day of dialogues, speaking on a 2:55-4:20(pm) panel on Islam in America, taking place in:

Plaza Rooms
Mack Student Center
North Campus

Here are directions.

What is the Point of Attacking Islam in America?

On October 6th, 2010, I was fortunate to be a part of an Auburn Seminary panel on Islamophobia and the role of religious leaders in a time of crisis.  Although a link was posted previously, the event is now embedded here.  Below is a short clip of me discussing why Muslims are on the receiving end of so much misunderstanding and deliberate misinformation:

And below is the full panel.

 

What is Islamophobia?

Please join me on Thursday, October 28th at 5pm for the event below.  Adelphi University is located in Garden City, Long Island.  Click here for directions. 

 

Hallowed Ground: American Islam and the Politics of Space

Monday, October 25 | 3-5 pm
Harkness Hall, Room 309
100 Wall Street, New Haven, CT

A scholarly panel will examine, contextualize, and historicize underlying assumptions about space and belonging vis-à-vis Islam in the United States. Sally M. Promey, Professor of Religion and Visual Culture and Professor of American Studies, will offer words of welcome.

Moderator:      Perin Gurel, American Studies, Yale University

Paneslists:       

Zaheer Ali, History, Columbia University

Rosemary Hicks, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Humanities, Tufts University

Haroon Moghul, Middle East and South Asian Studies, Columbia University

Matthew Jacobson, American Studies, Yale University

Presented with the Yale Initiative for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion, the Office of the Chaplain, the Program in American Studies, Public Humanities at Yale, and the Department of Religious Studies

 

For, Against and Mosques: Wagner College on October 18th

I'll be speaking next Monday at Wagner College (Staten Island) at 7:00pm in Spiro Hall (not Spiro Sports Center, right next door) Room 2.  The panel is titled "Mosque Building in Community," and will discuss and present arguments against and in favor of mosque-building in certain locations, as well as an outline of the Muslim community as it stands today.  The other two panelists are Jane Eisner, a columnist from the Jewish Daily Forward and Abe Greenwald, a contributor to Commentary Magazine.

Auburn Seminary's Religious Leader of the Week (Plus Video From Last Week's Event)

I'm honored to share with you some wonderful news: Auburn Seminary has chosen me to be their religious leader of the week (featuring a short video clip about why I think the right is targeting America's Muslims, and the larger purpose -- often invisible -- at work). 

Last week, I spoke at the Seminary as part of an incredible panel, including Rabbi Visotzky from Jewish Theological Seminary, Reverend Dr. Forbes and filmmaker and activist Valarie Kaur, titled "Take the Bully Out of the Pulpit".  That's now now available to watch or download (for free) as an (audio) podcast.  I hope you'll share widely, and appreciate my (restrained) comments on Glenn Beck and the far right's one-sided conversation about Islam.

 

Jihadis Killed 270 Million People!?

In a series of fascinating interviews with the New York Times, somebody says:

And I’d say, well, you know, if it was really about healing, why isn’t it a shrine dedicated to the victims of 9/11 or the 270 million victims of over a millennium of jihadi wars, land appropriations, cultural annihilations and enslavements?

That is to say, over 1,000 years of "jihadi wars" and so on and so forth, jihadis (Muslims?) have allegedly killed 270 million people.  This is an amazing claim, and never mind parsing whether jihadi means Muslim, which for this person, according to her own interview, does and does not.  It is at the end of it all inaccurate, because it is inconceivable.

If Society Fails: From Domestic Violence to Social Justice

I began this khutbah based on an incident of domestic violence in Texas not too many weeks ago.  It got me thinking, and I've been thinking about this a lot lately, but what is Islam's attitude to collective institutions?  People are talking about shari'ah all the time these days, as if it's a dirty word.  Now, I do not believe that there is one constant and unchanging Islamic social philosophy, which can be applied abstractly -- that contradicts the tradition and form of Islamic law.  But, I look to the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the different ways in which he sought to establish justice and protection for the poor and vulnerable.  My conclusion?  Islam is real, and the Prophet (pbuh) supported institutions of justice and fairness where he found them.

 

If Society Fails by Haroon Moghul from ICNYU on Vimeo.