avari | haroon moghul

New Khutbah

This time around, I devote my entire sermon to the final verse of Surat al-Kafirun; "to you, your religion, and to me, mine."  The sermon is titled, "Everyone Has a Religion," and can be found on the Islamic Center's main page (or here, at the podcast link; see 7/17.)

I had an absolutely wonderful time speaking at a conference sponsored by a number of centers at the University of California-Berkeley.  This conference will be made available via webcast and Berkeley's iTunes channel.  When this is released, I will be sure to let you know; for anyone interested in Islam and new media, this represents a really amazing discussion with participants from the Bay Area, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and of course New York City.

The Bay Area itself is unbelievably gorgeous.  Turns out all the hype is true.  One smart thing this region did is not overrun all its waterfronts with freeways, like New York has unfortunately.  Of course New York is a lot more crowded, dirtier, and also more caffeinated; but beyond that, the natural landscape of the bay area is far and away more moving and compelling than anything in New York City.  I recall at one point we were driving south on the Golden gate Bridge, and so to my right I could see the bay opening up into the Pacific, the sun almost setting over the horizon, and a fully loaded tanker ship slowly moving into the distance, and I remember thinking that the Pacific looked so absolutely enormous, so gently and overwhelmingly sublime, that I felt as if that actually gigantic ship were about to disappear into nothingness.

I have a strange attraction to water; I can actually sit down by an empty beach, or along any kind of waterfront (of course, it has to be a nice one), and there, in silence, I could probably spend hours simply staring into the distance.  I find it has a calming influence, as if it simply sucks out all the stress and anxiety and negative energy inside ourselves and takes it into itself.  It is a kind of paradise, or at least the kind of serenity that every side of Paradise should be surrounded by.  So the only downside, I imagine, to living in the Bay Area -- other than fun at events like earthquakes -- is that I simply may never get anything done.  As a New Yorker, I would either collapse into internal anarchy, or melt away into someone else entirely.  Because the frenetic and nervous energy of the East Coast makes it seem as if everyone on the West Coast is sleeping.  But it seems like a very happy sleep.

Old, Yes, But Still Worth Watching: Istanbul's First Mosque Designed by a Woman

Grey Dey Relief

So crummy and cloudy crumbly outside.  Just listen to Javed Bashir and pretend you're at Coke Studio.  Mmm, Coke.

Tonight is Night No. 27, overwhelmingly practiced as the most likely night of Qadr (of the last 10, odd nights.)  God is Odd. 

What Kanye West, Ramadan and Shaytan Have Taught Me (Beyond [Internal] Rhyme)

Every year, I get some kind of cold or flu in the month of September.  It definitely has to do with the weather changing.  It works like clockwork, too, which is both reassuring and alarming.  Because I know it's coming, but I also know there's not much I can do about it.  I suppose you could say it's a small version of death.  That leads me to think, in a ridiculous way, about this Ramadan, and what makes it different from last year's.  Last year, if you remember, the month began on the first day of the semester.  Because I was teaching two Urdu courses, I was pretty much freaking out hardcore: how was I going to teach a language course?  How was I going to handle nearly 35 students?  Most of them desis calling me Haroon Ji and making me think of Uncleness (which is a progress to the end of all things here.)  Nothing in my research, nor in my academic plans, had factored in teaching a language course, let alone two courses of students simultaneously taking Hindi.  Looking back, it was an amazing experience, and I wish I had the chance to do it again this year, as it did wonders for my Urdu and my Hindi (not to mention it would've been a lot easier with a year's experience under my belt.)  This year, though, it's a Persian FLAS.  Khayr.

But I couldn't get into Ramadan because I never really prepared myself.  It's like school started and the month started and in between juggling all my academic responsibilities, Ramadan got put on the back burner.  This year, thank God, things have been a lot better.  I notice then how faith fluctuates; in some weeks or months, sometimes even just for a few days, you hear something or you read something or you see something or you experience something which either causes your faith to go out or causes your faith to rise.  This year my Ramadan has been apparently more productive.  Of course, only God knows what is accepted and what is not, but I feel that -- I know that -- I have done a lot more this time around than I did last year.  More time in the masjid, more reading of the Qur'an, more du'a period a lot of it, surprisingly and unsurprisingly, has to do with attitude.  I'm not saying this to show off, but rather to provide some insight.  Into how attitude works: Am I going to allow myself to take advantage of this time?  Does it mean something to me?  Even though other people's words and actions may sometimes turn us, including me, off from some part of our religion (or, God forbid, the whole edifice -- and that's happened at times in my life), do I let that person or those persons deny me this month and the opportunity to pray for all the things I want to pray for?  Do I allow myself to lose the chance to giving charity, to stand in prayer, to read what God has to say to me?  I could, and I have.

Going into the month with a positive and eager frame of mind has made a huge difference.  I have to say I'm a little bit terrified about what happens the day after: how much of this is just the fact that Satan is not able to influence us (apparently, he got Kanye West at the VMA's).  By no means do I suggest that I've been a saint.  I found that many negative aspects of my personality remain, and frustrate me, even in this holy month, and finding what is wrong with me internally is somehow more disheartening -- it's easier to fight the other than to fight my own self.  But what I have found, and I have found it to be very interesting, is that the main thing that Satan has over me is his ability to sap me of my drive, of my motivation.  I would not go so far as to say I am a particularly religious person, but my commitment to wanting to live Islam is real, and feeds off of a sense of community and a sense of contribution.  When I'm active with other people, and surrounded by people who take their religion seriously, I find myself more and more eager to be a part of religious practice.  To incorporate faith into my daily routine.  To have that opportunity, late at night, to turn to God in prayer.  This seems to have more of an effect on me than anything else, even nature.  And what Satan does is he makes me feel that these things are a priori negative.  While we should not discount the importance of purified intention in our practice (riya), we should also not discount the importance of being around people whose social pressures push us in a positive direction.  And in this month, I have been far more active, as a person and as a Muslim, and that activity is itself good for me, in a human capacity and in a spiritual capacity.  It's going to be a lot harder when the month is over.  It's very hard to lose that feeling of community.

That's why we have to make its a matter of attitude, a decision of our frame of mind, to continue.  To keep on being a community, to look after each other, to take care of each other.  That takes a lot of work.  But that is in the nature of Islam.  Paradise is worth a lot of work.

this is without a doubt the Eid gift you were looking for

So Religion Dispatches has put up my review of Dave Eggers' Zeitoun.  Read the review to get my full opinion, but suffice it to say, this is a book you should buy, you should gift, and you should recommend.  I only wish I had reviewed earlier, but the book is still getting a lot of press and doing quite well, alhamdulillah.  Simply wonderful.  And I don't usually say that about books.

This being the last 10 nights, I don't want to gloat or anything, but I am so happy that I got the front page and the main graphic.  Yay!  OK, that's all.  Please remember me in your prayers for these nights, and please ask God to bless us in our efforts to help build a stronger Muslim community in New York City, and please remember in your prayers all those people who are suffering for their beliefs, for the color of their skin or the sound of their language.  Please ask God to help this country help its own citizens, to make religion a source of compassion and forward thinking movement, and not a force that seeks to punish people because they are economically disadvantaged or socially marginalized.

Our President did an amazing job last night.  What a wonderful speech.

Muslims Drive Differently

As this map shows, overwhelmingly the world's countries and peoples drive on the right-hand side of the road.  However, the Muslim population of the world differs: Probably half of the Muslim world drives on the left-hand side of the world (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and then smaller populations in places like Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.)  This map also indicates that far too many Muslims are Republican.

Okay, give me a break.  It's not even 7:30 a.m., and this is what has to pass for today's post.

Come by the Islamic Center at NYU tonight.  We're having an alumni-sponsored iftar, with kabab king food, milk and cookies for dessert, and special presentations, including one by our own American Muslim superstar, Wajahat Ali.  He'll be talking about "Domestic Crusaders"; speaking of which: which day are you going?  I'm thinking of late September/early October, but I really need to buy tickets.  The Islamic Center at NYU is organizing trips on Thursday, September 24th and Thursday, October 1st.  Come through.

Khalid Latif, CNN and Ramadan + A Few Weeks

An Uyghur Primer: The Roots, Realities and Consequences of China's Policies in Xinjiang

City of Brass has put together a fantastic primer on the long-suffering Uighur population of East Turkistan (or, in Chinese officialese, "Xinjiang"), its history, the human rights restrictions it currently faces and the meaning of the recent violence that has erupted there.  I strongly encourage each and every one of my readers to review this primer, to familiarize yourself with the issue and to share this link with anyone and everyone: This is a human rights issue that, at the very least, ought to be on our moral radar.

The Islamic Republic (You Know Which One) is Speaking Up

Seems I was wrong.  It takes a lot of courage for a country as internationally isolated as Iran to speak up, especially against such a close ally.  (And Turkey?  There's a reason they descend from Ottomans.  Our steppe brothers can really get agitated.)  Check out this article:

Iran has been one of the few Muslim countries to speak out on the crackdown. On Sunday, the official IRNA news agency reported that Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had discussed the ethnic clashes in a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart and "reflected concerns among Islamic countries."

High-ranking clerics also condemned the crackdown and urged the government to complain to China.

"Silence and indifference toward such oppressions on the people is an unforgivable vice," said Grand Ayatollah Youssef Saanei, a major religious figure who has criticized his own government's violent response to mass protests over the disputed June 12 election. Iran's crackdown on protesters has drawn international condemnation from both Western governments and human rights groups.

The most powerful response from the Muslim world came from Turkey, where some 5,000 people protested in Istanbul on Sunday to denounce the ethnic violence and call on their government to intervene.

Turks share ethnic and cultural bonds with the Turkic-speaking Uighurs. The Chinese violence has sparked almost daily protests in Turkey, mostly outside heavily guarded Chinese diplomatic missions in Istanbul and Ankara where some protesters have burned Chinese flags or China-made goods. Sunday's protest, however, was the largest.

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has compared the situation in Xinjiang to genocide, the foreign minister has conveyed Turkey's concerns to China, and Turkey's industry minister has urged Turks to stop buying Chinese goods. The government, however, has no plans for an official boycott.

Job Opening and Uighur Discontent (Related, But Only Sort of)

EurasiaNet has a position open for web manager in New York City, and that same site also features a decent commentary on the sources of Uighur discontent.  Thanks to Faraz for linking to a Boston.com photo feature on the ethnic clashes in Urumqi.  The Times reports that China is banning mosque meetings.  In other words, public spaces are being closed off; the clampdown on mosques is brutal, but I am sure it will succeed.  The Uighur simply do not have the numbers to create a no-win situation for China.  Keep them, at least, in your prayers; add something this Friday to your sermons.  Your prayers will reach them -- trust me.  They will give them strength and solace and comfort.  It's the least we can do (and the most powerful thing we can do, if we are sincere).

This is what Urumqi has become (from Boston.com: Uighur woman carries a metal rod as she walks down a main road in Urumqi on July 8, 2009. Urumqui's Uighur and Han residents have taken to carrying metal rods and sticks for protection against attacks. (REUTERS/David Gray)):

Iran protests continue, with thousands on the street.  Insh'allah they are able to find a peaceful means of establishing a more democratic and accountable Islamic Republic, which is guided by the principles and ideals of the religion and respects all citizens as human beings, creations of God; as 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (r) said, and I paraphrase for fear of misquote, our souls are worth paradise, so they should not be sold for less than that.  Every government should respect that value and honor that destiny.

al-Qaeda is stepping up operations in the Maghrib.  Great.  They're always looking for new Muslim-killing markets.  Can't they all just blow up alone, in the desert?  That way everyone's happy.

Ongoing clashes in Kashmir, over an alleged incident of molestation.

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