avari | haroon moghul

Update.

Just a little note: I've now enabled full posts through the feed option.  You should now get not an excerpt, but the whole thing (preventing you from coming back here if the post is longer than the excerpt.)  My apologies for the delay.

Brass Crescent Awards 1429/2008

The nomination process for the 5th Annual Brass Crescent Awards is now open.  (Once, a long time ago, I was a princess.)  (My wife made me write that.)  (By "made," I mean she said it, and I wrote it.)  (Taqlid.)  (Last year's winners.)  (Parenthesis.)  (Stop.)

Turning Point's Iftar, in Queens, Tonight

Turning Point's 3RD ANNUAL RAMADAN IFTAR!

She speaks! Voices of Hope, Strength, and Courage!

Event Info

Host:	Turning Point for Women & Families
Type:	Other - Ceremony
Network:	Global

Time and Place

Date:	Sunday, September 14, 2008
Time:	6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location:	The Queens Museum of Art
City/Town:	Queens, NY

Description

Turning point is delighted to invite all our friends and supporters to a special evening of entertainment, inspirational speeches, delicious food and fantastic company at our 3rd Ramadan Iftar!

This year's special surprise is a video presentation which was written, directed and produced by our talented Youth Group members, under the guidance of Nsenga Knight ("As the Veil Turns" http://astheveilturns.blogspot.com)

The key-note speaker will be Azizah Al-Hibri, Founder and President of Karamah, an organization of Muslim Women Lawyers advocating for human rights, and empowering muslim women by educating them about their legal rights, promoting leadership development and much more

Our special guest speaker will be Haroon Moghul, the Director of Public Relations at the Islamic Center of NYU

Other details:
Date: September 14th, 2008
Time: 6:30- 9:00PM
Venue: Queens Museum of Art
**FREE shuttle service will be available from the subway

Admission fee:
Adults: $25 and up
Students: $15

My Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Updated, Saturday 9.41 am.

Upcoming:

September 11th at the new location of the Islamic Center at NYU: 371 6th Ave, at the corner of 6th Ave and Washington Place, in the basement of St. Joseph's Church. Enter through the staircase on Washington Place side.  I will be speaking informally to the student population about what it was like to be President of the Islamic Center (then our equivalent of an MSA) during the year of 9/11 over iftar dinner; our second or third day of class, the Towers fell and life for America changed irrevocably.  The event is free and open to the public.

September 14th at the Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, doors opening at 6.30pm.  Iftar dinner with Turning Point for Women and Families, a fundraiser and a highlight for this wonderful organization. I will give a brief address; Azizah al-Hibri is the main speaker. Fatima Ashraf is the moderator. $25 donation to attend; $15 for students with I.D.

September 23rd at E&L Auditorium, on the 4th Floor of Kimmel Center, at the Islamic Center's annual Fast-a-Thon.  Doors open at 6.30pm. The event is a fundraiser for Stop the Traffik. Free and open to the public. 

October 17th and November 21st I will be giving the khutbah at NYU, at the new location of the Islamic Center at NYU (see above for location.)  Khutbahs are open to the public, and non-Muslims are always welcome.

Leave comments if you want more details.

On Talk Islam

Have you been reading Talk Islam?  If you haven't, you have (to).  (Why does that verb make no sense?)  A collaborative project that I've been invited to join, I anticipate trying to post there from time to time -- oh if I had more time! -- and posting to there, too, to draw your attention to things I judge worthy.  Because I judge, and judge on a daily basis.

Should I Go Back?

I used to write introductions to Muslim countries "through" and "about" their flags.  I stopped, last, at Azerbaijan; I am thinking of reproducing the two I saved (Albania and Azerbaijan) and then reproducing the list, to encompass all 57 varieties of Islamic national ketchup.  Maybe 58 if I count Kosovo (but since most Muslim countries don't, that ruins the whole Heinz thing.)  Also, in a bid to publicize in this small forum my unyielding impulsiveness, when I first closed Avari/Nameh (reborn as an entirely new and completely fresh Avari), I saved all my posts.  Except the Colors of Afghanistan and Algeria. 

Is there anyone amongst us who might have saved these?  (I would owe you too much!)  If not, "sigh..."  What is done before can be done again.  Hence the nahda, too.

Explanations

Finals time, so busy.  Many comments.  Must respond soon.  Eventually.  Interview on Democracy Now with Debbie Al-Montaser; worth hearing.  (Follow up to this post.)  More of this type of mongering targeting Islamic banking industries.  Will touch on that soon I hope.  But not before Guam helps the cause.

Next

I made a legit suggestion in the post previous (aka below); MSAs need to identify strong speakers, intellects and the like, who can clearly, cogently and excitingly dismiss the claims of Islamo-fascism and MSA-5th Columnism (which sounds like Communism. Bad! Boo! Scary!) In my next post, I'm going to dig deeper and rail against the kinds of attacks these Islamo-fascist-inventors have been all about. I'm going to give some insights, insh'allah that MSA leadership and dynamic young and engaged persons of all backgrounds can hopefully benefit from and reflect on. Because one shouldn't let the nonsense go nonsensing things up, without sensible response...

"I've always been smart, brother. I've just lacked self-confidence." (Rom, in DS9)

Like that.

remembrances of ummahs passed

It is important to remember, from time to time, that our time is limited. And that every moment of it is watched, recorded, weighted and will be recalled. Sometimes this scares me into inaction and apathy, which are after all ways through which we defuse great fears.

Just as the thought of the inevitability of global warming can produce, in people, total indifference or helplessness; so too the thought of passing (the fact of it! the inevitability!), but more than that the later judgment on what transpired, can leave us feeling down. The ways in which we react morally and mentally and emotionally to faith and fear need to be talked about, more and more. That we should become capable of facing our ultimate end, the circumstances of life and the necessity of death, and do something about it.

Not everything. For grandiosity is as damning as apathy.

But something. To say, at the end, "I tried." At least I tried.

the 1st column to your right

There, on the right -->

Now you can hear my most recent sermons, as well as those of all khateebs at NYU's Islamic Center.

My next khutbah will be Fri., Apr. 18th. Save the date. 1.20pm start time, and we're out the door by 2pm at the latest. (We are punctual, masha'llah.) 238 Thompson Street, btw West 3rd and Wash Sq Park South. The nearest subway is the West 4th Stop, and you can take most orange or blue lines.

Come by.