ibnabeeomar at MuslimMatters writes:

 It’s with great sadness that we heard about the verdict of the Holy Land Foundation trial. I find it absolutely appalling that they can convict someone based solely on circumstantial evidence and an anonymous witness. It really begs the question if such a witness would be allowed to testify, in an expert status no less, if the accused had been anything other than Muslim.

Umar Lee writes:

 I am asking all of my readers to make a sincere duah for the brothers from the Holy Land Foundation who were convicted yesterday in a federal court in Dallas, Texas. Let it be known that this prosecution by the federal government, one of the last evil acts of the Bush Administration, was not just an attack on the HLF, but an attack on the entire Muslim community of America. The Justice Department under Bush has been highly politicized and it does not help matters that rank and file FBI agents largely come from the white Christian- right. I encourage all Muslims in America and people of good will to send the Feds a message that we will not be intimidated, by writing a check today or donating online to an Islamic charity, and sending a big F you to the Justice Department.

UPDATE: What saddens me is that this comes after a raging debate whether holding a administrative position with a fascist organization (the Vishwa Hindu Parishad) with a successful genocide in it’s list of “achievements” is or not enough to disqualify somebody from the US administration. Turns out, it is not.

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 Today’s teens have different issues facing them. They have lived their entire lives here, with an occasional (sometimes frequent) trip back to their parent’s birth countries as visitors. They have identified, and been encouraged by us as parents and community elders to identify, rightly so, as American Muslims. What we didn’t realize when we encouraged them to develop this new identity is that new questions come along with this new identity. Some of our kids are going to want know what it feels like to be a punk rocker. Some of our teens are going to want to know what it feels like to go on a date…and how can it be wrong when so many of their friends in the neighborhood/school are doing it. Those same teens may never give you the slightest idea of what is going on behind their innocent eyes and sweet smiles. It is your duty as parents to let them know that bringing those questions out in the open is ok, that nobody will have a heart attack just because an otherwise sweet child asks some not-so-sweet questions.

Read the whole post here.

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Twenty years ago, I left Lahore. Excited by prospects of quality higher education and the adolescent yearning for freedom, this was a moment that only with age I have understood. A flash that alters the life-path even when one is not aware of it. As I grew up and visited Lahore from a multitude of cities and continents, Lahore’s provincialism and inward-looking ethos irked me. However, the splendour of its lived history and multi-layered present fascinated me endlessly. A false sense of fatalism whispered that my exile was going to cover a life-span.

The last few years were spent abroad: so dejected I was that not living in Lahore would mean living just anywhere. When I decided this summer to return to Pakistan, I was astounded by the reactions from all and sundry. I was told that I am ‘mad’ to have chosen to return to a burning, imploding and crashing Pakistan. Such is the power of global corporate media that even the discerning and schooled Pakistanis have started to believe in the failed state mantra scripted outside Pakistan.

My own parents, temporary residents of Islamabad, scared by the blasts advised me against it. Others from the more indulgent school of thought were aghast with my decision to return to a country where power outages, crumbling urban infrastructure and pollution define urban living. Of all the nightmares cited was that who knows if the country would survive? Such cynicism and unmasked pessimism about Pakistan is always disturbing, yet familiar. My question is when was the country not about to unravel since 1947?

Continue reading.

[Image coutresy: fredericknoronha]

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 Firstly, I did read a few Amar Chitra Katha comics in my childhood. And I have absolutely no problem with a publisher only printing comics on Hindu culture, as I grew up as much on Khilauna (Urdu) and Champak, as much as Nandan, which focused on Hindu mythology.

I loved Nandan and I owe a lot to these magazine. It was Nandan that introduced me to the fascinating Hindu mythology. Nandan chiefly borrowed from Hinduism and avoided Islam but there was nothing that would unsettle a Muslim kid let alone offend his sensibilities.

Similarly, Chandamama, which I loved, was also a magazine that focused on Hindu mythology and the stories of Hindu gods abound. And it was brilliant. On the pages of Nandan and Chandamama, I discovered the world of Rishis, Vidyadhars, Kapaliks, Asuras et al.

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“In Amar Chitra Katha (86) featuring the novel Anand Math, the heroic Hindu Bengali freedom fighters do battle with the evil British officers who command highly stylized but Muslim-looking troops!”…..Strange isn’t it!

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 The residents of Jamia Nagar today foiled a kidnapping/encounter attempt by some policemen in plainclothes in Shaheen Bagh area under the Jamia Nagar Police Station in Delhi.

It was around 8 in the night when a black Hyundai car with tinted glasses but with no number plates entered Shaheen Bagh. Five persons, maybe ATS sleuths in plainclothes, came out and tried to drag a youth named Amir into the car. He resisted and asked them why they were dragging him. They said they will tell him soon.

As the Jamia Nagar encounter and subsequent indiscriminate picking of locals were fresh in people’s mind, locals began gathering. The plainclothes people threatened them but as mob got thicker, some of them slipped away. The locals, however, were able to catch one who later turned out to be an ASI of Noida Police. The public brought both the policeman and Amir to Jamia Nagar police station.

Hundreds of people gathered around the police station and demanded action against the ‘kidnapppers’. They alleged that their plan was to encounter the person and later declare him a terrorist.

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Friends and family of 21-year-old Etidal Abdullah are asking your help in finding the missing woman.

She was last seen on September 5, 2008 around 2:30 pm in the Save-A-Lot parking lot on Abbott Road in Lackawanna, NY.

Etidal is described as being 5 feet tall and an approximately 95 lbs.

Her family is offering a $15,000 reward for any information leading to her whereabouts.

Anyone with information is asked to call the

Lackawanna Police Department at 716-822-4900 or the tip-line at 716-563-0081

or email at findmydaughter[at]gmail.com

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In university, I was indoctrinated with the notion of individuality, empowerment and self-determination. I was taught that what and who I wanted to be, was completely in my hands. So I made myself in those four years, out of a combination of valuable personal relationships and classroom education.

For example, if a woman of education reaches her late 20′s and is still unmarried, it seems there is suddenly a “too-empowered” stigma attached to her name. It’s as though marriage defines women, and without it we are unnatural. I do not deny there is a natural desire for partnership, but I question our community’s perception of what a woman is without it.

I often feel frustrated being in a Muslim family. I’m not proud of these frustrations of mine. Believe me, it’s a conflicting and negative feeling to have. (Perhaps the phenomenon is also found in non-Muslim families, but I speak from experience only.)

Though we’ve been taught to make decisions on our own, I find that being female and Muslim sometimes means some of our decision are made for us, and not by us. And thus there can only be one product of that: an ever-increasing frustration with the situations we find ourselves in.

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Muslimah Media Watch comments on this disturbing phenomenon and commends a grassroots effort to combat it and educate youth:

The slogan of the group’s campaign is “Respect yourself: Egypt still has real men.” I love this slogan for two reasons. The first is that it challenges one of the core values of traditional notions of masculinity: sexual power over women. Harassing women is not a sign of masculinity; it’s a sign of cowardice. It’s great that Muslims are beginning to recognize this.

Another reason I love this slogan is because it brings the responsibility for sexual harassment back on men. For too long, sexual harassment has been considered the responsibility of women. “Real men” take the responsibility in treating women with respect and sexual autonomy and they also take responsibility in stopping other men from disrespecting women’s sexuality. This is why the campaign not only focuses on getting men to stop sexually harassing women, but to also stop other men from doing it, too. This is especially important when a lot of sexual harassment in Egypt takes place in public.

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“Tarek*,23, has been searching for a wife since his first year in college. With his parents� full support and a steady job under his belt, Tarek began meeting girls through relatives, friends, and online. None proved a match.

A few years ago, Tarek was perusing material in a masjid bookstore and saw a girl there he thought could be a potential candidate.

�She seemed to be waiting around the place almost as if she wanted me to say something, but I just didn�t know how to approach her,� Tarek recalls. �Was she interested, or was it just my imagination? I didn�t want to make it seem like I was hitting on her because it would probably turn her off. It was mind-boggling and disappointing because I didn�t know what to do.�

Truly, Muslim men and women � especially those in the West � are missing opportunities to get to know one another in informal, yet religiously acceptable forums. With unplanned socializing out of the question, youth are scrambling for an alternative that will allow for careful interaction between genders. Often times, men and women are completely separated to the point where they find it awkward to interact on a basic social level.

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