TMO 5/21/15

Volume 17, Issue 21 The Muslim Observer — May 22 - 28, 2015 — Shaban 4 - 10, 1436 

Anwar and Mohammed Qazzaz, Photo credit: Sameed Khan 

Qazzaz Coffee looks 

to take higher ground 

By Sameed Khan 

TMO Contributing Writer 

It was 1955 when the 16- 

year old Anwar Qazzaz found 

himself in Brazil, seeking to 

make a living and provide 

for his family back home in 

Jerusalem. He eventually 

found a small, local gig, but 

was more interested when 

his friend introduced him to 

Is your mosque 

really successful? 

Page 2 

Saudi Arabia the 

Incredible Hulk? 

Page 3 

Prsrt std 

U. S. Postage 

PAID 

Royal Oak, MI 

48068 

Permit#792 

coffee. His pursuit of a perfect 

recipe cost him many sleepless 

nights, but he finally achieved 

his goal—a brew unmatched, 

its secrets locked within a zealously 

guarded technique. 

The economy soon became 

favorable in Kuwait, and 

Anwar soon became the proud 

owner of a highly successful 

business: Al-Anwar coffee— 

but it was not to last. The Gulf 

By Brian Pellot 

Religion News Service 

Hundreds of thousands 

of Rohingya Muslims live in 

squalor in Myanmar’s western 

Rakhine State. That number 

has been falling fast as thousands 

flee by land and sea in 

War arrived, and 30 years of 

hard work and dedication were 

a moot point. Seeking prosperity, 

Anwar took his family 

overseas to America—his son, 

Mohammed Qazzaz, a former 

pharmacy student, inherited 

his business. 

The shop itself is a small 

place on Wyoming Road, 

in Dearborn—the walls are 

(Continued on page 22) 

Who are the 

Rohingyas and why 

are they fleeing? 

search of better lives and basic 

survival. Here’s a look at who 

the Rohingyas are and why 

they’re leaving Myanmar in 

droves. 

Q: Who are the Rohingyas? 

A: The Rohingya people 

are a predominantly Muslim 


Redoing Ramadan 

By Carissa D. Lamkahouan 

TMO Contributing writer 

This year, inshallah, I’m doing 

Ramadan right. I’m not 

talking about the fasting part. 

Alhamdullah I have the no eating, 

no drinking think down 

pat. In fact, as much as I love 

partaking of food and drink on 

a regular basis, when Ramadan 

comes around I seem to go into 

kind of strange state where I sail 

(somewhat!) easily through the 

hunger and the thirst and I just 

get it done. It’s in that spirit that 

I say again, this year I’m doing 

Ramadan right. 

Let me explain. 

Last year, as in the past few 

years and the ones to come, 

Ramadan fell in the summer 

months. That being said, we 

all know what summer’s supposed 

to be about, right? It’s 

supposed to be about vacations, 

playing outside until the street 

lights come on, and, for those 

us of parents who hang with the 

kids all day, taking them out on 

special outings. At least, that’s 

how summers usually go down 

in my house. But last summer? 

Last Ramadan? It was a sad and 

much different story. 

Last year I stayed up way too 

late at night and slept in way too 

long in the mornings. And what 

were my kids doing during my 

late-morning snooze fests? They 

were soaking up an endless 

stream of readily available cartoons. 

Gotta love Netflix right? 

Uh, not so much. Each morning 

as I dragged myself out of bed, 

lethargic from a late night spent 

eating, followed by sleep and 

then an early-morning suhoor 

spent eating again, I would be 

dismayed to see my little ones 

splayed on the couch with vacant 

expressions on their faces 

as they shoveled dry cereal into 

their mouths. 

The guilt was strong, and it’s 

not happening this year. This 

year I’m doing Ramadan right. 

Of course some things will 

stay the same. I will take time 

to make a nice iftar meal for my 

husband and I to enjoy, and I will 

allot some quiet moments for 

prayer and spiritual studies after 

the kids are tucked away in bed. 

However, I will not be lingering 

long into the early morning to 

snack or do petty things because 

I feel I have to make the most of 

my non-fasting time. Not only 

does this have absolutely nothing 

to do with the importance of 

Ramadan, but, in doing so last 

year, it amounted to mommy not 

accomplishing much during the 

day. Our Ramadan was sorely 

lacking in quality summertime 

fun. Sure I made efforts to bring 

the kids swimming, but how did 

that differ from any other day 

when I was feeling lazy and my 

only requirement to ensure my 

kids’ enjoyment was to park myself 

poolside? As I recall there 

weren’t many trips to the library 

or afternoon outings to our favorite 

indoor playground. And 

why? Because I had wasted half 

the morning lazing around and, 

after taking my sweet time to get 


An abandoned boat which carried migrants from Thailand is 

found near Indonesia, May 20. Beawiharta / Reuters 

A publication of Muslim Media Network, Inc. • Tel: 248-426-7777 • Fax: 248-476-8926 • info@muslimobserver.com • www.muslimobserver.com

2 — The Muslim Observer — May 22 - 28, 2015 — Shaban 4 - 10, 1436 

opinion 

Five ways to tell if your mosque is successful or just big 

By Maher Budeir 

Muslim Strategic Initiative 

The American Muslim 

Community is making a shift 

and is generally moving towards 

professionalizing the 

operation of our institutions. 

More and more, I am hearing 

the right questions being asked 

about the desire to run things 

better and to operate masjid 

finances, facilities and other 

services better and with more 

accountability. More and more 

institutions are hiring specialists 

to do facility maintenance, 

office work, in addition to hiring 

more paid Sunday school 

teachers, counselors and youth 

directors. While many have 

started this transformation, the 

majority of the mosques in the 

US are experiencing growth. 

Unfortunately growth, by itself, 

is often mistaken in many institutions 

to mean success. 

The reality is growth in 

some cases is one of many indicators 

of success, but in other 

cases it is not even that. For 

most mosques growth comes 

because of the geographic monopoly 

most mosques naturally 

have. Meaning the mere fact 

that people would go to a specific 

mosque because it is the 

one mosque that happens to be 

within 10 minute or 20 minute 

drive from their home. Most 

Muslims in the US may not have 

the option to choose among different 

mosques based on quality 

of services. Only in larger 

metro areas where multiple 

mosques exist within a reasonable 

driving distance do parents 

have a choice to select the 

higher qualitySunday school 

or the Friday sermon that normally 

delivers more relevant 

and interesting topic. But, the 

majority of mosque goers do 

not have much choice. This dynamic 

allows many mosques 

to grow in number of participants 

and worshippers regardless 

of the quality of services, 

or the level of success of the 

organization. 

So, if growth is not the sole 

accurate indicator of success, 

what is? 

1. Does your Masjid have 

a good connection to the 

community? 

A well run organization is 

one where activists, volunteers, 

and participants are comfortable 

communicating and sometimes 

disagreeing within civil 

norms and in a positive atmosphere. 

Worshippers should 

know whom to ask what question, 

and know why things are 

done in a certain way. 

2. Does your Masjid 

Provide Quality services? 

From the relevant Friday 

sermon, to the interesting 

Weekend school format and 

content, all programs and services 

must be deliberately designed 

and thoughtfully developed 

to suit the users and serve 

the constituents in the best 

way possible. Services must 

be delivered with excellence 

(Ihsaan) and an attitude of service 

by all service providers. 

Whether they are volunteers or 

paid employees, the commitment 

and superior customer 

service must stem from the 

spiritual and moral commitment 

to serve our Creator. 

3. Does your masjid attract 

users who may otherwise 

not be active in the Muslim 

community? 

If items 1 and 2 above are 

done well, this normally leads 

Hagia Sofia. Photo credit: Clipart.com 

to growth in the community. 

Not just growth in numbers, 

but growth in the wider circle 

of participants in the Masjid 

services and activities from 

those who otherwise do not 

participate. Well run institutions 

are likely to attract the casual 

visitor to become a regular, 

and the Muslim who is on the 

fence to become more comfortable 

in the community, and feel 

that they belong. 

4. Is your Masjid an accepted 

destination for non-Muslim 

leaders in the area to seek 

information about Islam, and 

to reach out to Muslims? 

A successful masjid is one 

that is well known by the broader 

community as the place 

in the area to represent local 

Muslims. The local government 

leaders must know your leaders 

by first name, and leaders 

in other places of worship must 

have at least visited the Masjid 

and made connections with 

your Masjid leaders. A masjid 

is part of the larger community 

and leaders of the larger community 

should know what happens 

in their community and 

what their local Muslims are 

like. This is easier to achieve 

in some communities over others, 

but the Masjid leadership 

and community must make a 

genuine effort to give the larger 

community no excuse to characterize 

the masjid as an unknown 

entity. 

5. Are your Masjid leaders 

strong spiritually? Are 

they representing your 

community? 

The last important sign of a 

successful Masjid is when the 

leaders of all aspects are in tune 

with their personal connection 

with Allah (SWT), have good 

overall relationship with His 

creation. They should not be so 

overwhelmed with running the 

Masjid Operations that it consumes 

their lives and it impacts 

the balance in the different aspects 

of their lives. 

Lastly, the Masjid leaders 

must represent the diversity 

that exists in the community. 

This means, if you look around 

during a Friday sermon and see 

high level of diversity, brothers 

and sisters of different ethnic 

background and different age 

groups, then your Masjid leadership, 

including the Imam, 

board members, management 

team members, and volunteers 

should have the same level of 

diversity you see in the community. 

A diverse leadership team 

means a broader view, a richer 

experience, and a welcoming 

culture. 

Editor’s note: Maher Budeir is 

a partner at Balance Leadership 

Institute, a firm committed to 

helping nonprofits reach their 

potential. You can visit their 

website at masjidboard.com. His 

views are his own. 

AEC Green Lighting Co. 

Residential—Commercial Lighting 

including: 

• Lighting 

• Solar 

• & New Construction 

“Go Green” 

Licensed & Insured, offering 

5-year WARRANTY 

Maintenance-free lighting 

“Green” Lights can save on your energy cost 

2983 Tall Oaks Ct., #10 Auburn Hills, MI 48326 

248-636-8955

By Juan Cole 

The Muslim Observer — May 22 - 28, 2015 — Shaban 4 - 10, 1436 — 3 

opinion 

Saudi Arabia as the Incredible Hulk: 

King Salman snubs Obama’s summit 

29004 W. EIGHT MILE ROAD 

FARMINGTON, MI 48336 

TEL: 248-426-7777 

FAX: 248-476-8926 

E-MAIL: info@muslimobserver.com 

www.MuslimObserver.com 

Established in 1998 

FOUNDER and CEO 

A. RAHEMAN NAKADAR, M.D. 

ceo@muslimobserver.com 

EDITOR-AT-LARGE 

ASLAM ABDULLAH, Ph.D. 

editor@muslimobserver.com 

Managing EDITOR 

AATIF ALI BOKHARI 

me@muslimobserver.com 

LAYOUT & DESIGN 

ADIL JAMES 

manager@muslimobserver.com 

SALES MANAGER 

KEITH FARMER 

sales@muslimobserver.com 

734-327-1800 (mobile) 

Account MANAGER 

SYED ASHRAF 

accountant@muslimobserver.com 

TMO Inc. Board of Directors 

President: Dr. Iltefat Hamzavi, MD 

Vice President: Dr. A. Majid Katranji, MD 

Secretary: Dr. Muzammil Ahmed, MD 

Director: Dr. M.A. Salim, MD 

REPORTERS & CONTRIBUTORS 

Mohammed Ayub Khan 

Ilyas Choudry 

Karin Friedemann 

Geoffrey Cook 

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin 

Haroon Moghul 

Sajid Khan 

Sameer Sarmast 

Amnah Ibrahim 

Jennifer Zobair 

Nadirah Angail 

Noor Salem 

Dr. Fasiha Hasham 

Sabiha Ansari 

Faisal Masood 

Dr. Hesham Hassaballa 

Hina Khan-Mukhtar 

Laura Fawaz 

TMO welcomes Letters to the Editor and written compositions 

relevant to the subject matter of this newspaper. 

Address them to “The Editor” at the above address. We 

reserve the right to edit for clarity and content. Major editing 

is consultatively done. 

Submissions: We welcome submissions. Please send 

to submissions@muslimobserver.com, subject “submission.” 

We ask that no submissions be made on behalf of 

others. By submitting articles you are promising us that 

you are the author of the article, and granting us a license 

to print it without paying you. Any items received by us, 

whether pictures or text, become the property of The 

Muslim Observer. At your request, we will try to return 

them, but if we do not return them we incur no liability. 

We reserve the right to make [sometimes extensive] edits 

— both in body and in title, before any submission goes 

to print, and by sending us your article you assent to this. 

TMO does not necessarily agree with the opinions of its 

writers. Contents © 2015 The Muslim Observer. 

Disclaimer: Between the front and back pages of the 

Muslim Observer are printed the varying and sometimes 

controversial views (whether in text or graphics) of people 

who have submitted articles - not every word of these articles 

has necessarily been reviewed for content, and the 

views submitted and expressed herein do not necessarily 

reflect those of the Muslim Observer or its principals, 

staff, independent contractors, or advertisers. 

Watching Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia nowadays, is 

like Kremlin-watching in the old days of the Cold War. It is 

not as if most Western journalists have a really good idea of 

the maneuverings inside the Saudi palace or know why exactly 

things happen. 

Since King Salman succeeded the late Abdullah this winter, 

Saudi Arabia has become a different country with regard 

to foreign policy. Abdullah was known for being cautious and 

diplomatic. He appears to have attempted to head off the Iraq 

War at the Arab League meeting in 2002 by kissing Saddam 

Hussain on both cheeks as a sign to Washington that he wasn’t 

on board with an invasion. Even in the darkest days of tension 

with Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he invited the 

quirky Iranian president to Riyadh. He wanted Bashar al- 

Assad of Syria gone after the latter started massacring that 

country’s Sunni rebel strongholds, including civilians in rebel 

zones, but he was uncomfortable with the rise of al-Qaedalinked 

groups and Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in Syria and threw support 

instead to a southern front of moderates in cooperation 

with Jordan and to Zahran Alloush’s Army of Islam (a component 

of the Islamic Front). 

Since Salman came to power, it is as though Bruce Banner 

got angry and turned into the Incredible Hulk. Wahhabi 

Saudi Arabia has been palpably uncomfortable with the campaign 

against Daesh in Iraq, which has seen Iran-linked Shiite 

militias take the lead in conquering Sunni Arab centers like 

Tikrit. Saudi Arabia is afraid of Daesh too, but not nearly as 

afraid of it as it is of Iran and Iran’s Shiite allies in the region. 

Riyadh appears to have suddenly been willing to aid the new 

coalition of rebels in north Syria, the Army of Conquest, even 

though one of its major members is al-Qaeda in Syria (the 

Support Front or Jabhat al-Nusra). And then without telling 

the US it was going to do so until the last minute, the Saudi 

Air Force began a massive bombing campaign on Yemen in 

a bid to destroy the rebel Houthi movement of Zaidi Shiites 

that was taking over that country, Saudi Arabia believes, as a 

proxy of Iran. 

I think we may conclude that something has changed. The 

hawks have taken over Saudi Arabia and it is newly militarily 

assertive and the long-standing paranoia about Iran has spun 

out of control. 

Enter President Barack Obama, who wants to do a deal 

with Iran to allow it to enrich uranium for electricity generation 

but to forever forestall an Iranian nuclear weapon (which 

Iran in any case says it does not want and considers a tool of 

the devil). A nuclear settlement is not a threat in itself, as 

common sense should make clear, but it would entail an end 

to the severe sanctions that have somewhat constrained Iran’s 

economic growth and technological development. 

Iran, if it came in from the cold and could freely do commerce 

and technological exchange with the West, could become 

the giant of the eastern reaches of the Middle East. 

Its population is nearly that of Germany, whereas Saudi 

Arabia’s citizen population is closer to that of Romania. 

And the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are 

tiny principalities. The citizen population of Qatar is less 

than 300,000 and even the United Arab Emirates has a citizen 

population of only a couple of million – we are talking 

about Iceland and Slovenia here. Population is important in 

geopolitics because it determines the size of the army that 

can be fielded and it also usually has implications for size of 

gross domestic product. Here, however, Iran has about the 

same nominal GDP as the United Arab Emirates, because 

the former’s oil sales and financial transactions have been 

throttled, whereas the UAE freely sells its petroleum and 

also rivals Switzerland as a banking and investment center. 

That is, Saudi Arabia and its GCC allies believe that we 

are in a moment like that of the 1860s, when the German 

principalities were coming together as modern Germany. 

The first big sign of the new kid on the block was the defeat 

of Napoleon III’s France at Sedan in the Franco-Prussian 

War of 1870-71. Since then, Germany has usually been 

dominant, either as a powerful enemy or as a senior partner 

in Europe after WW II. Saudi Arabia distinctly does not 

want to play France to a Bismarckian Iran. 

One thing you could do as Lilliputians to constrain the 

Iranian Gulliver is tie it down with lots of small constraints and 

alliances. Hence, Obama’s summit with the Gulf Cooperation 

Council (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, 

Bahrain, Qatar and Oman). They want, AP reports, a security 

deal with the US similar to the special relationship with Israel. 

Perhaps something less than a formal NATO treaty alliance, 

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is seen during U.S. President 

Barack Obama’s visit to Erga Palace in Riyadh, January 

27. Jim Bourg / Reuters 

but much more than a vague commitment to be supportive 

and friendly. They want lots of American weapons and trainers 

and they want an iron clad security shield from Iran. 

In the absence of many public statements, I can only speculate. 

But I think Obama’s priority will be to convince the GCC 

that: 

a) The Iran deal makes them safer, not more exposed, with 

regard to Iran 

b) This Yemen scorched earth aerial bombing campaign 

cannot solve the Yemen crisis and needs to be replaced with a 

diplomatic and political negotiation process 

c) The new Saudi (and Turkish) willingness to support coalitions 

in Syria that include al-Qaeda is unacceptable 

d) Daesh has to be rolled back and defeated, even if that 

strengthens the Shiite, Iran-backed government in Baghdad 

of Haydar al-Abadi of the Islamic Call Party (Da’wa), which 

is generally fiercely anti-Wahhabi (Wahhabism is the Saudi 

state church, and it has a history of being fiercely anti-Shiite). 

This list appears to have angered King Salman, so that 

he canceled his trip to Washington and sent his new crown 

prince, Muhammad bin Nayef, instead. Likewise, Bahrain’s 

king did not attend (his Sunni court has been repressing a 

political movement of the Shiite majority that he believes 

is stirred up by Shiite Iran). Other absences, the top leaders 

of the UAE and Oman, are probably health-related and 

not, as with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, intended to send a 

signal of displeasure with Obama’s complaisance toward 

Iran. In fact, Oman has been a mediator with Iran and its 

foreign office approves of Obama’s outreach to that country. 

Dubai in the UAE is also reportedly happy about the Iran 

rapprochement. 

The NYT quotes a UAE professor who maintains that the 

GCC countries were upset when Obama said that they faced 

more internal problems than they did from Iran. The GCC 

states are mostly absolute monarchies, with the exception 

of Kuwait, and many do face popular discontent, as with 

Bahrain. Many also have enormous guest worker populations 

that dwarf the citizen population and who are trapped 

in sweat shops without rights. Obama is right that they 

need substantial reforms if they are to avoid potential severe 

unrest, but maybe it wasn’t the right time to say it. 

In short, Obama’s GCC summit was not the high-powered 

equivalent of a G7 meeting, where the top leaders hobnob 

and make personal understandings. It was largely a summit 

of crown princes, the people typically sent to the state funeral 

of lesser world leaders. And that should tell us something 

about Gulf-US relations right now. 

Editor’s note: This article originally ran on juancole.com. The 

author’s views are his own. 

The Muslim Observer ISSN 1531-1759 (USP.S. 018-739) is published weekly for $100 per year by Muslim Media Network, Inc., 29004 W. 8 Mile Rd., Farmington, MI 48336. 

Periodicals postage paid at Farmington Hills, MI, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Muslim Observer; 29004 W. 8 Mile Rd.; 

Farmington, MI 48336. Subscriptions: $75/1 year; $140/2 years; Advertising: for rates contact: advertising@muslimobserver.com


advertisement

advertisement 

The Muslim Observer — May 22 - 28, 2015 — Shaban 4 - 10, 1436 — 5


sports / international 

Sports and 

Consequences 

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin 

Time to dust off 

that racket 

and hit the courts! 

Tennis season is here and 

it’s glorious. It is one of a few 

sports where you can start very 

young and continue playing 

into your old age. Swimming, 

yoga, cycling, and golf are others. 

When was the last time you 

played tennis? Try it this weekend. 

I dare you! 

If you need inspiration, 

check out the French Open, 

starting this Saturday. For 

the next two weeks the sports 

world will be riveted by tennis 

masters on the famous clay 

courts of Roland-Garros in 

Paris. The clay surface causes 

the tennis ball to bounce in odd 

ways and at funny angles. For 

this reason, the French Open 

can be the most entertaining 

because the surface is the most 

unpredictable. 

The French Open is the second 

of four grand slam tennis 

tournaments to take place this 

year. The Australian open was 

in February (Novak Djokovic 

and Serena Williams were the 

men’s and women’s singles 

competition winners respectively). 

Wimbledon will be at 

the end of June and into July 

and the US Open will happen 

in August. While these are the 

grand slam events, hundreds 

of smaller tennis tournaments 

happen all summer long, all 

over the world, at all levels. 

From the low-income communities 

of Arthur Ashe’s hometown, 

Richmond, Virginia to 

the secluded country clubs of 

Bellair, California, modern day 

tennis is played and enjoyed by 

all. Most of you are familiar 

with the famed Williams sisters, 

Venus and Serena, who 

learned tennis in the sun-beaten 

streets of Compton - a neighborhood 

of Los Angeles known 

for its homeless population and 

gang violence. 

Tennis is a physically demanding 

sport. Tennis players 

are among the most athletic in 

the world. But it’s also a sport 

that deeply connects body to 

mind. Much of it is mental, 

about inspiring confidence in 

yourself and shaking confidence 

in your opponent. 

I played tennis on Saturday. 

I had not played in a very long 

time. Before heading out to the 

courts, my wife (a former tennis 

player) asked, “Do you even 

know how to play tennis?” I 

shrugged it off. “Of course! I’m 

an athlete. I can play anything.” 

Then I told her a story about my 

childhood where the neighborhood 

kids and I would go to local 

tennis courts and organize 

and play entire tournaments in 

the summer. We would even 

chip in money so the winner 

would walk away with a real 

prize. My wife, unimpressed, 

said, “you’ve told me that story 

before and that was 100 years 

ago.” “I’m an athlete - It’s in my 

bones,” I responded and left 

the house, racket in hand. 

As usual, my wife was completely 

right (hey, she might 

be reading this!). I had no 

idea what I was doing. I was 

hitting forehand strokes with 

two hands and badly shanking 

backhands. My footwork was 

way off. I often found myself 

in the middle of the court - no 

man’s land - and get jammed 

up when a volley was returned 

to me. The guys who maintain 

the courts were thoroughly 

entertained, laughing and joking 

at my expense. 

I did improve over the 

course of the afternoon. I 

started to hit forehands 

with one hand. I adjusted 

the amount of force I put on 

the racket. I stayed near the 

baseline and kept my feet in 

a “ready” position. I focused 

on getting the ball over the net 

and inside the lines. I also developed 

a confidence to hush 

the laughter - inside and outside 

of my head. I got a great 

workout and had a great time. 

Too often, we watch sports 

on television, we follow them 

online, and we chat about 

them with our friends. But 

summertime is when we have 

the freedom to play, to enjoy 

the sports we watch. Definitely 

watch to see if Rafael Nadal 

will overcome the complications 

from a wrist injury to 

win his tenth French Open 

Photo credit: Photodune 

title. Will Serena Williams 

continue her winning streak 

and claim 18 overall titles to 

catch Martina Navratilova and 

Chris Everett? 

But also, dust off the rackets, 

lace up the sneakers, and 

hit the courts. Remember, I 

dare you! 

Editor’s Note: Ibrahim Abdul- 

Matin has worked in the civic, 

public, and private sectors and 

on several issues including sustainability, 

technology, community 

engagement, sports, and 

new media. He is the author of 

Green Deen: What Islam Teaches 

About Protecting the Planet and 

contributor to All-American: 45 

American Men On Being Muslim. 

From 2009 to 2011 Ibrahim was 

the regular Sports Contributor 

for WNYC’s nationally syndicated 

show The Takeaway. Follow him 

on twitter @IbrahimSalih. The 

views expressed here are his own. 

Our no-load mutual funds follow a value investment style, 

diversify across industries, and choose equities in accordance 

with Islamic principles. Isn’t it nice to know there’s a Sharia 

compliant mutual fund with a low minimum investment of 

$250? (It’s even lower for IRAs, Health Savings Accounts or 

Education Savings Accounts.) Open an account today and start 

investing in your future. 

Amana Income Fund seeks current income by investing 

primarily in dividend-paying stocks. The Fund seeks capital 

preservation as a secondary objective. Established: 1986 

Amana Growth Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by 

investing in companies expected to grow earnings and stock 

prices faster than the economy. Established: 1994 

The Amana Funds limit the stocks they purchase to those consistent with Islamic principles, which limits 

opportunities and may increase risk. Please consider an investment’s objectives, risks, charges and expenses 

carefully before investing. To obtain a free prospectus that contains this and other important information about 

the Amana Funds, please call toll-free 888/73-AMANA or visit www.amanafunds.com. Please read the 

prospectus carefully before investing. Distributed by Saturna Brokerage Services, member FINRA/SIPC. SBS and 

wholly-owned subsidiary of Saturna Capital Corporation, adviser to the Amana Mutual Funds Trust. 

ISIL insurgents 

storm ancient 

Syrian city 

By Sylvia Westall 

and Tom Perry 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic 

State stormed the historic 

Syrian city of Palmyra on 

Wednesday, seizing parts of 

it from government forces in 

fierce fighting as civilians were 

evacuated and Syria’s antiquities 

chief called on the world to 

save its ancient ruins. 

If the al Qaeda offshoot 

takes over Palmyra it would be 

the first time it has captured 

a city directly from President 

Bashar al-Assad’s forces, which 

have already lost ground in 

northwest and southern Syria 

to other insurgent groups in recent 

weeks. 

The central city, also known 

as Tadmur, is built alongside 

the remains of a oasis civilization 

whose monumental colonnaded 

streets, temple and theater 

have stood for 2,000 years. 

It is home to modern military 

installations, and sits on a desert 

highway linking the capital 

Damascus with Syria’s eastern 

provinces, mostly under rebel 

control. 

“Praise God, (Palmyra) has 

been liberated,” said an Islamic 

State fighter speaking by internet 

from the area. He said 

Islamic State was in control 

of a hospital in the city which 

Syrian forces had used as a 

base before withdrawing. 

Syrian state television said 

pro-government National 

Defence Forces (NDF) had 

evacuated civilians after large 

groups of Islamic State fighters 

entered the city. 

“The news at the moment 

is very bad. There are 

small groups that managed 

to enter the city from certain 

points,” Syria’s antiquities chief 

Maamoun Abdulkarim told 

Reuters earlier on Wednesday. 

“There were very fierce 

clashes.”


opinion 

Does science show spirituality benefits your child? 

By Michael Schulson 

Religion Dispatches 

Editor’s Note: The following is 

reprinted with permission from 

Religion Dispatches. Read more 

at www.religiondispatches.org. 

“Spirituality may not speak 

to you at all,” Lisa Miller writes 

near the beginning of her new 

book, The Spiritual Child. 

“But it is foundational to your 

child.” Miller is a psychologist 

at Columbia University whose 

research focuses on how personal 

spiritual experiences 

shape the development of children 

and adolescents. 

In The Spiritual Child, 

Miller draws on decades of research 

to argue that spirituality 

is important for children’s 

well-being and protective 

against depression, substance 

abuse, and other dangers. 

Miller approaches spirituality 

with a tactical pragmatism. 

The question here isn’t whether 

or not spiritual experience 

is verifiable. Instead, the questions 

are: does spiritual experience 

have verifiable benefits? 

And, if so, what should we do 

about that? 

That can be contentious 

territory, and Miller is keen 

to emphasize that this is “all 

in the science”—specifically, 

“established scientific fact” 

that’s “grounded in the science” 

and “the picture created 

by science,” now made available 

so that parents can make 

decisions “grounded in science 

and in our natural love.” In the 

book’s 20-page introduction 

(from which all five of those 

quotes are pulled), Miller uses 

variations of the word “science” 

sixty-eight times. 

Unfortunately, the book’s 

sourcing doesn’t entirely bear 

out its own claims to scientific 

rigor. Shortly after The 

Cubit spoke with Miller, The 

Daily Beast published a review 

of The Spiritual Child 

highlighting errors and shaky 

interpretations. As reviewer 

Vlad Chituc (who, in full disclosure, 

is a friend) points 

out, Miller misrepresents key 

details of a study by the psychologist 

Paul Bloom. She also 

cites a pair of studies from The 

Journal of Alternative and 

Complementary Medicine— 

one involving psychic communication, 

and the other 

discussing energy fields—neither 

of which is an acceptable 

source for a work that purports 

to be scientific. 

For an academic researcher, 

this presents serious questions, 

and we considered not 

publishing the following Q&A. 

But these missteps don’t involve 

Miller’s own research, 

and, despite the dubious 

sourcing, a number of Miller’s 

claims are persuasive. There 

is evidence—much of it from 

Miller’s own, peer-reviewed 

work—that self-reported spiritual 

experience lowers the 

risk for substance abuse, depression, 

and unprotected sex 

among adolescents. There’s 

also plenty of evidence that 

adolescents can use spiritual 

experiences and techniques to 

navigate emerging adulthood, 

a process Miller discusses in 

depth. 

Over the phone, Miller 

spoke with The Cubit about 

adolescence, definitions of 

spirituality, and the reframing 

of spiritual experience as a 

pragmatic tool. 

This interview has been edited 

for clarity and length. 

So how are science and spirituality 

interacting here? 

Science is actually an elegant 

way for understanding 

spirituality. It connects what 

so many devout people have 

known through the heart with 

what we can collectively witness 

through the lens of science. 

In the same way that we 

honor and listen to the testimony 

of [individuals], when 

we look through the lens of 

science we’re listening to a 

whole chorus of voices—to 

a whole group of people expressed 

through a collection of 

data of points. It’s a chorus of 

voices offering witness. I view 

science as essential on my own 

spiritual path. 

When we think of science 

tackling spiritual topics, it’s 

usually in the context of Big 

Questions about life and the 

cosmos. Looking at the effect 

of spirituality on an individual 

is a very different kind of 

approach. 

What I am looking at in The 

Spiritual Child is a very powerful 

body of science on spiritual 

life. 

Looking at hundreds of 

studies, we can say three 

things. They are not my opinion. 

They are in the science. 

The first is that human beings 

are born innately spiritual. 

We have a natural capacity 

through which we experience 

transcendence and the relationship 

with the higher power. 

[Second], we look at optimal 

functioning and we see that we 

are healthier at every level of 

analysis. Whether we’re looking 

at the brain, the cell, or the 

whole human life course, we 

are healthier and function optimally 

with a strong spiritual 

life. The third way is we can 

look at markers of health and 

wholeness, for instance in the 

brain. In JAMA in 2014, I was 

the first author on an article 

that showed a thicker cortex, 

which is processing power associated 

with IQ and health, in 

people with a strong personal 

spirituality over time. 

Spirituality is an extraordinary 

protection against the 

most prevalent forms of suffering. 

Young people in the 

first two decades [of life] very 

rarely die of cancer or diabetes. 

They die of risk-taking and 

suicide, things like that. And 

there’s nothing in the medical 

sciences as robust and protective 

against the most serious 

forms of suffering and risk as a 

personal spirituality. 

There’s the term “spirituality,” 

as we use in ordinary 

conversation, which is fairly 

vague. But for research, you 

need to have the term locked 

down. How does our day-today 

use of “spirituality” differ 

from the definition you use in 

the lab? 

Spirituality comes for many 

people within their religious 

tradition, and for many other 

people spirituality comes outside 

their religious tradition. 

There’s a very broad range 

of spiritual experiences. The 

piece that I focus on in The 

Spiritual Child is a direct relationship 

with a higher power, 

whether that is in the language 

of God, Allah, Hashem—whatever 

the language may be, 

whether it’s Judeo-Christian 

at all. 

That living transcendent 

relationship is, according to 

science, where the greatest 

protective benefits are found. 

There are other spiritual and 

religious paths that support 

that, and interact with that. 

For instance, going to church 

or temple supports the development 

of a personal relationship, 

a transcendent relationship. 

A parent supports the 

relationship. 

But at the end of the day, 

the strongest source of thriving 

and health, the dimension 

of spirituality with the greatest 

footprint on our health 

and thriving, is specifically the 

transcendent relationship, the 

relationship with the higher 

power. 

In the lab, how do you 

determine that someone is 

having what you would call 

a “transcendent spiritual 

relationship”? 

The transcendent relationship 

was first measured 

starting in the late ‘90s. The 

Human beings 

are born innately 

spiritual. We have 

a natural capacity 

through which 

we experience 

transcendence and 

the relationship with 

the higher power. 

best study to come out was 

Kenneth Kendler’s in 1997, 

and then again in 1999. They 

simply asked people to selfreport, 

which turned out to be 

extremely valid when you’re 

talking about self-experienced 

spirituality. 

One thing we found was 

that a sense of living in a sacred 

world, or simply saying 

spirituality is important to me, 

is always highly correlated 

with that personal relationship. 

It’s the portal through 

which opens a sacred world. 

That’s the sense, in the West. 

Again, in the East, it’s often 

a sense of oneness, of feeling 

part of the life force, part of a 

way. 

Dozens and dozens of studies 

send a clear signal that that 

personal relationship with God 

is 80% protective against risky 

sex in girls. It’s 40% protective 

against substance abuse in 

kids, as compared to someone 

who’s just average. A highly 

spiritual kid, as compared 

to someone who doesn’t feel 

any spirituality at all, is 80% 

protected against substance 

abuse. There’s nothing like 

this in the epidemiological or 

clinical research. It’s jaw dropping. 

And it drove me nuts, as 

a parent, that I didn’t see other 

parents benefiting from this. I 

could see it clear as day every 

day in my lab, and it wasn’t 

crossing the barrier of the lab. 

I grew up in the Bible Belt. 

There were lots of opportunities 

to cultivate “transcendent 

spiritual relationships,” and I 

think we probably didn’t use 

quite as many substances, or 

have quite as much premarital 

sex, as kids growing up in, say, 

New York. But I’m not sure that 

had to do with spiritual experience 

so much as a less permissive 

(or more repressive) 

culture. How do you separate 

out the effects of personal 

spiritual experience from the 

effects of the broader culture? 

Correlation from causation? 

This personal transcendent 

relationship happens within or 

without of religion. It is part of 

our birthright, it is part of our 

nature. The rigid adherence 

to creed was also identified in 

the 1997 paper by Kendler—a 

close and rigid adherence to 

creed. And that is not protective 

against substance abuse. It 

has a small effect in preventing 

kids from ever trying substances, 

but once that boundary 

is crossed, it is not protective 

against heavy use, it is not protective 

against downward slide 

or abuse. 

Similarly, in our study, we 

look at a large study of adolescent 

girls. That deep spiritual 

piece puts sex in the context 

of relationships and love. Girls 

who have a strong relationship 

with a higher power tend to 

have more stable ongoing relationships, 

fewer partners, and 

less exposure to dangerous 

sex. However, rigid adherence 

to creed actually poses risks 

for some girls to end up in situations 

that they weren’t ready 

for. Once the line is crossed, 

science does not show a protective 

benefit. 

So you can separate it out? 

You can. Yes, you can statistically 

separate them out. 

Overall, the personal relationship 

with God is deeply protective. 

The rigid adherence to 

creed has no protective benefits 

except first time exposure. 

All it does is slightly mitigates 

the likelihood that a teen will 

try substances, try sex, be in 

a dangerous place. But once 

they are, and they often are, 

there is no protective benefit 

against deep danger and slide 

into profound problems. 

Do you think that spiritual 

people are ever uncomfortable 

seeing belief described in such 

pragmatic terms? 

The person who was most 

moved by this of anyone was 

a deeply devout priest. I think 

it’s a tribute to the hunger of 

people to understand spirituality 

through our lived human 

existence. 

I just wonder if I’ll be standing 

in synagogue one day and 

suddenly think, “Hey, this 

is making me 40% likelier 

to avoid drug addiction,” or 

whatever. That seemed like it 

might be a jarring experience. 

Well, “its ways are ways of 

pleasantness, and all its paths 

are peace.” [Ed. –Proverbs 

3:17; the verse is used widely 

today in Jewish liturgy, in reference 

to the Torah]. Those 

who keep Shabbat, Shabbat 

keeps them, right? I think it’s 

deeply entrenched in spiritual 

and religious life that the spiritual 

life, that the spiritual path, 

is also the path of thriving and 

flourishing and healing. 

I don’t think it diminishes it. 

I don’t think it’s sacrosanct. I 

think it’s testimony. 

How can parents balance 

the desire to have critical, 

questioning kids with a wish to 

encourage thinking that may 

not be entirely rational, or that 

may involve perceptions of entities 

that can’t be materially 

explained? 

We have multiple ways of 

knowing: we have intuition, 

we have rigorous logic, we 

have investigation. We need to 

use them all. They’re all important, 

valid forms of perception. 

We see epidemic rape on 

campuses, of depression that 

is not major depression, it’s 

not clinical major depression, 

it’s a developmental growing 

depression. It’s the moving up 

and asking, what is my meaning, 

what is my purpose? And 

you can run that question in 

your head for 70 more years 

and not get an answer. 

But if you allow the question 

of what is my meaning, 

what is my purpose, what’s ultimate 

meaning and purpose? 

to be responded to by the 

heart, there can be a synthesis 

of deep-felt wisdom, a deepfelt 

clarity. That’s real. That’s 

not less real because it involves 

multiple forms of knowing. It 

makes full use of the human 

instrument to engage in life.


community / national 

California official 

apologizes over 

‘ban Islam’ post 

OnIslam & Newspapers 

CAIRO – A US Muslim advocacy 

group has called for the 

resignation of an El Monte, 

California, official who posted 

an Islamophobic comment, urging 

world countries to ban Islam 

on social media as discriminatory 

and un-American. 

“While [Art] Barrios has the 

right to his bigoted views, it is 

unacceptable for a person who 

holds such views to be in a position 

of public trust and authority,” 

Haroon Manjlai, the Public 

Affairs Coordinator of Greater 

Los Angeles Area office of the 

Council on American-Islamic 

Relations (CAIR-LA), said in a 

statement obtained by OnIslam. 

net. 

“Discrimination against 

building of mosques is widespread 

and well documented, 

and therefore it is unacceptable 

that a planning commissioner 

of any city, who ought to be fair 

and neutral, would hold such 

hateful views. 

“We urge Barrios to resign his 

post on the planning commission, 

or failing that, for the city 

council to vote to remove him 

at their next meeting,” Manjlai 

added. 

Controversy started when 

Barrios, a former El Monte city 

councilman, shared a news article 

on Facebook with the headline 

“China makes major moves 

‘Discrimination 

against building 

of mosques is 

widespread and 

well documented, 

and therefore it 

is unacceptable 

that a planning 

commissioner of any 

city, who ought to be 

fair and neutral, would 

hold such hateful 

views.’ 

to ban Islam.” 

The article, posted on the 

website Louder with Crowder, 

details anti-Islam steps the 

Chinese government has taken 

recently, including banning 

hijab for Muslim women and 

imprisoning men who grow 

beards. 

Sharing the article, he added 

a comment saying: “Sounds 

good maybe the rest of the world 

should do the same.” 

Facing outrage from the 

Muslim community, Barrios 

claimed that his Facebook post 

was in reference to Islamic extremists 

“that are going out and 

killing other people.” 

“I thought it was about time 

that we stop kowtowing to the 

Islam that’s doing the racist 

things and doing the things that 

are bad for any religion,” Barrios 

said about the post. 

“I’m an American citizen. I 

have the right to think anything I 

want to think … I have the right 

to do what I want to do. [CAIR] 

has the right to do what they 

want to do.” 

Apology 

CAIR rejected Barrios argument, 

calling for his apology and 

resignation. 

In a Los Angeles Times report 

Manjlai was stated, “Neither the 

article nor Barrios’ comment 

on the article give any indication 

that he was talking about 

Muslim extremists. 

“It sounded like he was talking 

about the religion as a whole 

and that is extremely insensitive 

and un-American.” 

Manjlai said CAIR was reaching 

out to Muslims who live in 

the area to see how they would 

like to proceed. 

The group also urged available 

individuals to attend El 

Monte’s next city council meeting 

to express their views on the 

matter. 

“It is extremely alarming 

when somebody in such a position 

expresses their bigoted 

views against any minority,” 

Manjlai said. 

“Next time there is a matter 

involving the Muslim community 

in the city of El Monte it’ll 

be very hard for Muslims to believe 

that any decision rendered 

against them was not driven 

by this bias that Barrios clearly 

holds.” 

Though Barrios said he has 

no plans to resign, he edited his 

post to specify that he was not 

referring to “Islam the religion.” 

“I am sorry if I have offended 

anyone, particularly those who 

practice Islam,” Barrios wrote in 

the edited post. 

“As an American, I welcome 

all and encourage open discussion 

and I do not wish to belittle 

the freedom that we have. 

Lastly, I wrote hastily and my 

point was far off from my intended 

thought and I’d like to 

apologize for it.” 

Community newsbriefs 

By Mohammad Ayub Khan 


Atif Qarni runs 

for Virginia 

Senate 

DALE CITY,VA--Atif Qarni, 

a math teacher and former 

marine, is seeking a seat in 

Virginia’s senate for the 29th 

district. So far he is the only 

Democrat in the race to replace 

Chuck Colgan, a fellow 

Democrat who had held the 

seat for four decades. 

He had worked in a 

Washington law firm for eight 

years and earned a master’s 

degree in history from George 

Mason University and a master’s 

degree in education administration 

from Strayer University. 

He had earlier sought a 

seat in the Viriginia House of 

Delegates in 2013.He had lost 

to his Republican opponent by 

less than 500 votes. 

Qarni’s campaign platform 

includes more resources for 

education, seeking solutions to 

reduce traffic congestion, such 

as more teleworking; expansion 

of Medicaid; support for 

the working poor; and passage 

of common sense legislation 

to prevent violent felons and 

the mentally ill from acquiring 

firearms. 

Muslim 

students among 

recipients 

of Gates 

Scholarship 

UNCF’s (United Negro 

College Fund) flagship scholarship 

program, the Gates 

Millennium Scholars (GMS) 

Program, has announced its 

Class of 2015 high school student 

recipients. Each of the 

1,000 students will be awarded 

a scholarship that can be used 

to pursue a degree in any undergraduate 

major and selected 

graduate programs at accredited 

colleges or universities. 

Established in 1999 with the 

goal of developing Leaders for 

America’s Future, the GMS 

program is funded by a $1.6 

billion grant from the Bill & 

Melinda Gates Foundation. 

The GMS program removes 

the financial barriers to education 

for high-performing, 

low-income students. Each 

year it enables 5,000 students 

to attend and graduate from 

800 of the most selective private 

and public schools in the 

country, including Ivy League 

colleges, flagship state universities, 

UNCF member institutions 

and other minority serving 

institutions. 

This year’s list has many 

Muslim students from across the 

country. Some of them are as follows: 

Ifrah Abdullahi (Clarkston, 

GA), Mohamed Abdelmelik 

(Indianapolis, IN), Walid Abu 

Bakar (Minneapolis, MN), Fatah 

Adan (Roxbury, MA),Hassan 

Aden (Saint Paul, MA), Fatema 

Akhtar (Hamtramck, MI), Bisma 

Ali (Rockledge, Fl), Ibraheem 

Alinur (Oviedo, FL),Mohammed 

Bappe (Lansdowne, PA),Ibrahim 

Batar (Salt Lake City, UT) 

,Ahmed Elbanni (North 

Brunswick, NJ), Ahmed Gedi 

(Portland, OR), Umar Hassan 

(Minneapolis, MN), Eliyas 

Hassen (Minneapolis, MN), 

Faria Hoque (New York, NY), 

Mohamed Mohamed (Denver, 

CO), Amina Sahibousidq 

(Naperville, IL), Mahad Sheikh- 

Abdullah (San Diego, CA), Ayub 

Sharif (Boston, MA), Khadija 

Snowber (Oak Lawn, IL), Ayesha 

Wahidi (Florissant, MO), Nadia 

Zaidi (Arlington, TX), and 

Ahsan Zaman (Torrance, CA). 

Mosque 

proposed for 

Wausau area 

WAUSAU,WI--The growing 

Muslim population in Wausau 

has made the current mosque in 

the area inadequate for them. 

The Islamic Society of Central 

Wisconsin has now purchased 

a building and hopes to convert 

it into a mosque in the next two 

years to meet the demand. 

Adeel Aslam, a member and 

general secretary of the Islamic 

Society of Central Wisconsin, 

told the Daily Herald that the 

population now is large enough 

to have a second mosque. 

The Rev. David Klutterman 

of Wausau’s St. John the Baptist 

Episcopal Church said he welcomes 

the group. 

“It represents that Wausau 

and this area will have representation 

of the larger world 

and therefore the challenge will 

always be before us to somehow 

see what unites us instead of divides 

us,” Klutterman said. 

Rabbi Dan Danson of Mt. 

Sinai Congregation said a 

mosque in Wausau will enrich 

the cultural life of the 

community. 

Motive sought 

behind man 

filming mosque 

SAN DIEGO,CA--The Council 

on American Islamic Relations 

has asked the authorities to seek 

the motives of a man seen photographing 

the license plates of 

vehicles parked at the Islamic 

Center of San Diego. 

According to a press release 

when members of the mosque 

approached him to ask about his 

intentions, the man claimed he 

did not speak English. 

CAIR is urging Islamic institutions 

to implement safety 

measures outlined in its booklet, 

“Best Practices for Mosque 

and Community Safety.” 

Najeeba Syeed 

receives Faculty 

Award 

Najeeba Syeed, assistant 

professor of interreligious education 

at Claremont School of 

Theology, received the Fisher 

Faculty Teacher Award at the 

annual commencement this 

week. She was nominated by 

her students for the award. 

She is a prolific practitioner 

and effective educator in 

the area of conflict resolution 

among communities of ethnic 

and religious diversity. Her 

involvements range widely, 

including conducting gang interventions, 

implementing diversity 

training in universities 

and public agencies, conflict 

resolution in public schools, interreligious 

dialogue among the 

Abrahamic traditions, and environmental 

conflict resolution. 

U.N. announces Yemen talks, 

Iran to allow ship inspection 

By Louis Charbonneau 

and Sam Wilkin 

UN/DUBAI (Reuters) - UN 

chief Ban Ki-moon Wednesday 

announced talks between warring 

Yemeni parties in Geneva 

on May 28 to end war, as Iran 

agreed for inspections of an aid 

ship sailing to Yemen. 

The moves are aimed at 

defusing the deepening crisis 

in the southern Arabian 

Peninsula, where Saudi-led 

forces killed at least 15 Houthis 

in the latest air strikes in a 

campaign to restore President 

Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. 

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia 

and regional Shi’ite powerhouse 

Iran are in a tussle over 

influence in the Middle East, 

where sectarian tensions are 

fuelling civil strife in Syria and 

Iraq that has killed hundreds 

of thousands of people. 

“The Secretary-General is 

pleased to announce the launch 

of inclusive consultations starting 

on 28 May in Geneva to 

restore momentum towards a 

Yemeni-led political transition 

process,” the U.N. statement issued 

in New York said. 

It said the initiative, which 

would bring together the 

Yemeni government and other 

parties, including the Houthis, 

followed extensive consultations 

by the secretary-general’s 

special envoy to Yemen, Ismail 

Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Raising 

Our Ummah 

Nadirah Angail 

How I prevent my 

daughter from 

becoming a 

Muslim mean girl 

My daughter is observant, 

very observant. And because 

I’ve made it clear that I don’t go 

outside in revealing clothes, she 

feels the need to point out every 

person who does. “Mommy, she 

has belly out,” she always says 

with slight alarm, pointing out 

every woman in a midriff shirt. 

“Yes, I see that,” I say. 

“People are different. Not everyone 

dresses like us.” I keep 

it light, nonchalant. I’m not 

trying to get into a lengthy conversation 

about why others can 

wear tube tops while she has 

to wear leggings under everything. 

For now, I just want her 

to know that not everyone is 

going to dress like us, and that’s 

ok. 

As she gets older, we’ll talk 

about beliefs, understanding, 

internal trials, and how 

the interplay of those factors 

affects the way people present 

themselves. And kindness, 

too, we’ll also talk about kindness. 

Because I know her nowinnocent 

observations can soon 

turn into rushed judgements 

and dismissive appraisals of 

Muslims and non-Muslims 

alike. 

Can’t have that. 

It’s not that I want her to 

have a “anything goes” attitude 

when it comes to dress, but I 

also don’t want her to become 

a Muslim mean girl. You know, 

someone who believes she’s 

above reproach, a horribly 

abrasive sister who seems to 

take pride in writing other sisters 

off because of her style of 

dress. Arrogance is a trick of the 

shaitan that we always have to 

guard against. We can’t let our 

scarves and skirts lull us into a 

sense of complacency. May they 

be guided? No, ma’am, may we 

be guided. All of us. 

The problem of Muslim 

mean girls is not just that they 

think too highly of themselves, 

but that they make it harder on 

other sisters who are struggling 

to find their way. I’m reminded 

of a woman I met years ago who 

was Muslim in belief only. She 

gave up the practice after being 

repeatedly criticized for her 

clothing. She was new to the 

religion and needed desperately 

to connect. She needed to 

replace the relationships she’d 

lost when she left Christianity. 

But instead of friendship, she 

received judgement and loneliness. 

It didn’t take long for her 

to rethink her conversion. 

But most of us don’t see 

that. We don’t see the heart 

that longs for companionship. 

We just see the clothes, which 

apparently are more telling 

than any conversation we 

could have had. Meanwhile, 

we all lose. 

Kindness toward our fellow 

sisters (and fellow humans) is 

not an option. It’s not something 

we can choose when the 

feeling is right, when the hijab 

style is right. It is a right others 

hold over us. If Allah (swt) is 

The Most Compassionate, The 

Loving One, The Pardoner, 

The Most Kind, The Patient 

One, should we not make an 

effort to be similar? Should 

we not increase our compassion 

and love, our pardoning, 

kindness, and patience? If not, 

can we really say we are in 

submission? 

These are the things that 

run through my mind when 

my kindergartener points 

out someone’s mini dress or 

someone’s plunging neckline. 

I think about how that woman 

would be received by some 

Muslims women and how that 

reception could put a strain 

on her relationship with her 

Creator. But I also think about 

the lesson my daughter learns 

when she sees me being just as 

kind to a woman in a halter as 

a woman in hijab. I make no 

distinction. I can’t, because I 

know I am no different. Who’s 

to say that her current trial 

won’t be mine next? Who’s to 

say that she may not be the one 

to lift me up in a time of need? 

If I allow myself to believe I am 

better than anyone, I am most 

certainly beneath them. That 

is what I want my daughter 

to know. That is what I want 

Muslim mean girls to know. 

Editor’s Note: Nadirah Angail 

is a family therapist turned blogger 

from Kansas City, Mo. In 

2006, she began working as a 

therapist with a wide variety of 

families and couples who suffered 

from issues ranging from 

depression and drug addiction to 

infidelity and marital discord. In 

2009, she had her first child and 

decided to (temporarily) leave 

the professional world to focus 

on motherhood and writing. She 

has self-published two books and 

enjoys writing about relationships, 

family, parenting, and her 

particular perspective as a Black 

American Muslim woman. Learn 

more at nadirahangail.com and 

strugglinghijabi.tumblr.com or 

@Nadirah_Angail. The views 

expressed here are her own. 

opinion / national 


Easter Market’s Annual 

Flower Day 

By Laura Fawaz 


Detroit, MI–The Sunday after 

Mother’s Day is a day when 

Detroit’s Eastern Market is 

transformed into a colorful array 

of flowers, food and clothes. 

2015 was the 49th annual 

Flower Day. When driving to 

the Eastern Market for the flower 

day, you’ll be stopped by the 

large crowds of people walking 

to their cars with wagons full 

of beautiful annuals, perennials, 

herbs, shrubs, and trees. 

From begonias, to marigold 

flats, six-foot dahlias, fragrant 

jasmine, daisies, and succulents, 

most anyone can find all 

that their looking for to fill their 

garden needs. The 15 acres of 

the Eastern Market are filled 

with all of these at low prices, 

and with most vendors who are 

willing to haggle for multiple 

purchases. This one-day brings 

in thousands of shoppers and is 

the largest, outdoor flower market 

in the country. 

Be prepared to maneuver 

through the narrow aisles of the 

market though, they are definitely 

not designed the same 

way as your average grocery 

store. This is old school shopping 

at good prices, but does 

require some thoughtfulness 

in regards to scheming through 

the people, the wagons, the 

flowers, and the tall carts of 

back stock herbs and vegetables. 

The one-day event went 

from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., though 

there were people parked, 

lined up and ready by 4 a.m. to 

get their first pick on stock. 

As the wind and the temperatures 

rose, the shoppers 

still kept coming, pushing their 

wagons and carts. The estimated 

almost 250,000 Metro- 

Detroiters in attendance came 

to spruce up their yards and 

to buy them directly from the 

growers. Vendors from the 

Metropolitan Detroit Flower 

Growers Association (MDFGA) 

members arrive every year from 

Michigan, Ontario and neighboring 

states to share 15 acres 

of the heartiest varieties for 

this region, and they’re ready 

to answer questions about how 

to help them thrive, as well as 

to give expert tips that pertain 

Photo credit: Laura Fawaz 

to your specific garden needs. 

The myth goes that the annual 

Flower Day originated 

from the psychedelic ‘60s and 

the flower power. Eastern 

Market’s first official Flower 

Day began in 1960’s, and then, 

flowers were everywhere. 

Flowers were in people’s hair, 

their clothes, and painted on 

their cars. And Southeastern 

Michigan was the country’s 

largest producer of bedding 

flowers, though two-thirds of 

that flower crops was shipped 

out of state, at least until the 

MDFGA formed and kept more 

flowers local, and moved to the 

Michigan State Fairgrounds. 

In 1967, they expanded into 

Eastern Market to make room 

for thousands of the area’s 

most stunning flowers.


opinion 

Photo credit: Photodune 

Living 

Well 

Noor Salem 

Are protein shakes 

in fact good meal 

replacements? 

By Noor H. Salem 

You probably didn’t see this 

coming; someone telling you 

that the protein shake you’ve 

been consuming may not be 

that healthy after all. Yes, you 

see the advertisement with the 

bulky men, you see it trending 

amongst your friends or at the 

gym, and you’ve come to believe 

that it’s nutritious. Do note 

though, I cannot generalize; 

there are many great companies 

now that produce protein 

powders with organic and pure 

ingredients. For that, again, I 

cannot generalize, but will simply 

make you aware of what’s 

lurking in the popular protein 

powders out there. 

First off, all of the soy ingredients 

on the ingredient list should 

scare you away. Soy is one of the 

main crops that are most likely 

genetically engineered, unless 

labeled otherwise really. Why 

are GMOs an issue, well that 

needs an article of its own. To 

sum it up though, genetically 

engineered crops are said to 

cause numerous health effects, 

like cancer, intolerances, birth 

defects, infertility, and more. 

They have not been around long 

enough for them to be tested. 

Must I mention, more than 26 

nations globally ban the growing 

or selling of any genetically 

engineered ingredients, while 

another 64 nations require labeling 

of any product that contains 

genetically engineered 

ingredients. 

True, protein powders contain 

no added sugar, but instead 

the majority do contain artificial 

sweeteners; another reason 

you should opt them out of your 

diet. Artificial sweeteners have 

negative connotations on your 

health, one of the major ones 

being brain tumors. They are 

manmade in a chemical lab, not 

found anywhere in nature. Sure, 

avoiding sugar is a great habit 

to follow, but not by replacing 

it with these chemicals instead. 

If you see sugar alcohols on the 

nutritional label and no sugar, 

be comfortable putting that 

product back on the shelf. 

When it comes to the whey, 

another main ingredient in 

protein powders, you should 

question if it comes from cow 

or livestock that were raised 

with hormones, antibiotics, 

and genetically engineered 

feed. These hormones and antibiotics 

excessively given to 

the livestock undoubtedly leak 

into the dairy by-products they 

produce. Don’t doubt that these 

cause sickness in the long run, 

because they may. 

I’ll end with some good 

news in case I just destroyed 

your hope with these concerns. 

Today, there are companies 

that sell protein powders with 

organic grass-fed whey, pure 

and natural ingredients, and 

instead of artificial sweeteners, 

they use stevia extract (look 

for alcohol free). Try finding a 

product you like that is pure in 

ingredients, or skip the protein 

powder and aim for a high protein 

meal instead. That can 

include fish, meat, or chicken 

and vegetables, quinoa pilafs, 

or even a homemade smoothie 

with hemp seeds for a boost of 

protein. 

Staying fit is undoubtedly 

essential, and working out is 

great. Just don’t sabotage all 

that weight lifting by consuming 

these chemicals in your 

shake afterwards. Lastly, make 

your goal better health and 

strength; don’t obsess with a 

bulky look. Being healthy begins 

from within, not without. 

Editor’s Note: Noor Salem is 

a Certified Integrative Nutrition 

Health Coach, and is CEO of her 

own wellness practice, Holistic 

Noortrition, LLC. Noor specialized 

in women’s health, weight 

loss, and food intolerance versus 

allergies. She offers individual 

and group health coaching programs, 

and is a speaker on the 

topic of holistic health at workshops 

and seminars. The views 

expressed here are her own. 

For Competitive Fares for Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, 

and Middle East 

ACCESS TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL 

35384 Northmont Dr. Farmington Hills, MI 48331 

For Pakistan - India - Bangladesh: 

Phone no: 248 225 5731 

Fax no: 248 489 8646 

Email: accesstravel@hotmail.com

advertisements 


 

A full time position available for 

Executive Director 

Muslim Community Center for Human Services 

(501c non profit organization) providing medical 

and social services to indigent residents in Dallas 

Fort Worth, Texas. 

We are looking for a dynamic and committed person 

for full time position. 

Duties include: Administrative, Fundraising 

through grants, fundraising activities and individual 

donors. Networking with Islamic centers, healthcare 

and social welfare agencies. 

Pay commensurate with experience. 

Please send your resume to Dr. Basheer Ahmed M.D. 

PO BOX: 153098, Arlington, TX 76015 

Email:


opinion 

DEARBORN 

JUST 

Charming 

GOT A LITTLE MORE 

In His 

Love 

Hesham Hassaballa 

Sunnis and Shias 

must unite against 

sectarianism 

Announcing the GRAND OPENING 

OF OUR BEAUTIFUL NEW STORE! 

Thank You! 

FAIRLANE MALL LAUREL PARK PLACE 

OAKLAND MALL LAKESIDE MALL 

Fairlane Mall • Laurel Park Place 

Oakland Mall • Lakeside Mall 

313.441.3620 

Some jewelry displayed patented (US Pat. No. 7,007,507) • © Pandora • PANDORA.NET 

Last weekend, we were 

making S’mores (don’t worry...Halal 

marshmallows) in 

our backyard, and we called 

our neighbors over to join us. 

Their kids played with our 

kids, and we enjoyed a nice 

evening together. Our conversation 

varied from school, to 

cars, to food - you know, normal 

stuff - but it also touched 

upon religion. This could have 

been touchy, because they 

were Shi’a Muslims, and we 

are Sunnis. 

But, there was no tension 

whatsoever. They left our 

house as beloved a neighbor 

as they were when they first 

arrived. We discussed religion 

because one of their children 

had a hoodie that read, “Who 

is Hussain?” And about this, I 

commented to his father, my 

friend: “I am still baffled that 

anyone could have the audacity 

to kill the grandson of the 

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).” 

A sentiment with which he 

agreed completely. 

After a conversation about 

the murder of Imam Hussein 

(r), we prayed Maghrib together 

and continued to discuss 

Islamic history and politics. 

And we both decried the terrible 

division between Sunnis 

and Shias that is rocking the 

Islamic world today, especially 

in the Arab Middle East. We 

also decried the fact that, unfortunately, 

many Muslims 

bring the divisions over there 

to their communities over here. 

This should not be so. 

Yes, there are theological 

differences between Sunnis 

and Shias. I neither dismiss nor 

belittle them. There are some 

things in that theology with 

which I do not agree. And I am 

against the extremists among 

the Shia who attack the veracity 

of the Companions of the 

Prophet (pbuh), whom I revere 

and greatly respect. 

But I am equally against the 

savages among the Sunnis who 

call the Shias “infidels” and kill 

them at will. I hate them with 

every fiber of my being, and 

they must be opposed at every 

turn. No matter what the differences 

between our two communities, 

nothing should rise 

to the level of murder. Nothing. 

And we Muslims in the West 

should not seek to bring that 

conflict here. 

In fact, the bond that can 

bind us together is the love we 

both have for the Family of the 

Prophet (pbuh). Even though 

I am Sunni, I have a deepseated 

love for the Family of 

the Prophet (pbuh), all of the 

Family of the Prophet (pbuh). If 

I love the Prophet Muhammad 

(pbuh) with all my heart, then 

how can I not love his family, 

which he loved with all of his 

heart? 

I have written, literally dozens 

of times, that the mutual 

love for Jesus Christ (pbuh) 

should bring the Muslim and 

Christian communities together. 

The same sentiment is even 

more true for Sunnis and Shias: 

our mutual love for the Family 

of the Prophet (pbuh) should 

bring our communities closer 

together. 

We both worship the same 

God; we both follow the same 

Prophet (pbuh); we revere the 

same Book. There should be 

no reason why our two communities 

should be against 

one another. We should pray 

at each others’ mosques. We 

should break bread with each 

other, and with Ramadan 

coming up, we should break 

our fasts together. We are all 

Muslims, and we need to come 

together as one, our differences 

notwithstanding. 

Our faith and our community 

is under attack, and there 

are so many people who profit 

handsomely from demonizing 

us and our faith. In the Middle 

East, this “centuries-old conflict” 

between Sunnis and 

Shias is threatening to tear 

apart the very fabric of the 

Muslim communities who live 

there. If we can’t change what 

is happening over there, then 

the very least we can do is not 

emulate the madness. 

We must heed the call of 

our Lord who says, “Verily, [O 

you who believe in Me,] this 

community of yours is one 

single community, since I am 

the Lord of you all: worship, 

then, Me [alone]! (21:92) We 

are all Muslims, and we need 

to come together as one. There 

are forces that want us to fight 

one another, for their own interest 

and benefit. We should 

never let them win. 

Editor’s Note: Hesham A. 

Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor 

and writer. He has written extensively 

on a freelance basis, 

being published in newspapers 

across the country and around 

the world. His articles have been 

distributed worldwide by Agence 

Global, and Dr. Hassaballa has 

appeared as a guest on WTTW 

(Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, 

Fox News, BBC, and National 

Public Radio. The views expressed 

here are his own.

Saudis 

refuse 

Chinese 

requests 

for oil 

international 


By Chen Aizhu 

and Henning Gloystein 

BEIJING/SINGAPORE, May 

20 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia 

and its main Middle East OPEC 

partners are turning down 

Chinese requests for extra oil 

as they hold back fuel for their 

own refineries just as demand 

from the world’s biggest crude 

importer hits new records. 

While the Saudi and other 

refusals for additional crude 

supplies may not be part of a 

new pricing strategy, the rejections 

to their biggest client help 

explain a 40 percent rise in oil 

prices this year as Chinese importers 

have had to seek more 

oil from other suppliers in what 

analysts say is still an oversupplied 

market. 

Senior Chinese oil traders 

told Reuters the Saudis 

have turned down requests 

from Chinaoil and Unipec - 

the respective trading arms of 

PetroChina and Sinopec - for 

extra cargoes of crude for May 

and June loadings, forcing 

them to seek supplies from producers 

in West Africa, Oman 

and Russia. 

Saudi Arabia “used to provide 

as and if we asked for extra 

cargoes on top of contract 

during the first four months of 

the year, but not for May and 

June,” said a trader with one 

of China’s biggest oil importers 

on condition of anonymity as 

he had no permission to talk to 

media. 

Another source with a 

Chinese refinery that takes 

Saudi oil said Saudi heavy 

crude was “a bit tight” in May 

and June.


opinion 

The Last 

Moghul 

Haroon Moghul 

Islamophobes are 

not fair about who 

supports violence 

By Haroon Moghul 

There are different ways to 

murder a person. In moments 

of hot rage, some people not 

only ruin lives, but takes lives. 

Others are cold, calculating. 

They believe revenge is best 

served belayed. But then there 

are the people who don’t intend 

to kill people, or at least have a 

kind of alibi. They might climb 

into a car, drunk, only meaning 

to head home. It’s not that they 

want to destroy others’ lives, it’s 

that they only care about their 

own. 

Noted ‘New Atheist’ thinker 

Sam Harris’ bizarre exchange 

with Noam Chomsky reveals 

that some people consider some 

kinds of murder to be acceptable. 

But not just some people. 

Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush 

stumbled over a predictable 

question on the Iraq war, as indeed 

most American politicians 

do; they struggle with how to 

answer, it seems, because they 

do not really struggle with the 

war except that they prefer not 

to dwell on it. 

Is it worse to kill people because 

you intended to, or because 

you simply did not care 

what happened to them—other 

people never registering, except 

when they are obstacles in the 

way? In an email exchange he 

himself released, Harris attempted 

to engage famed linguist and 

scholar Noam Chomsky on this 

issue, though he was thoroughly 

outclassed. (Andrew Aghapour’s 

summary is wonderful.) Not that 

we should be overly surprised. 

One of Harris’ points was 

intentionality: making our violence 

is better than “Muslim” 

violence. Therefore even if we 

cause more harm, Harris argued, 

it is less outrageous. But 

what if we turned the comparison 

away from the Shifa pharmaceutical 

plant, and towards 

Operation Iraqi Freedom? When 

first proposed, the war left me 

not just angry, but confused. 

What possible reason could 

there be to fight? 

If we wanted to control Iraqi 

oil, we could’ve very well struck 

a deal with Saddam, or sponsored 

a coup from within— 

that’d be the smarter, securer 

option. It turned out worse than 

it could have been expected 

to—and I was expecting it to go 

badly. We invaded Iraq with no 

plan, and then made it worse, by 

disbanding its military and letting 

its state, and then society, 

collapse on our watch. 

We lost hundreds of billions 

of dollars. Thousands of 

American soldiers died, tens of 

thousands were (and are) injured, 

hundreds of thousands 

of Iraqis died, countless more 

were harmed, ISIS has emerged, 

and Abu Ghraib has stained our 

reputation. It is a war often described 

as a “mistake,” although 

that is far too lenient a term. 

Nobody describes terrorism as 

a “mistake.” But that’s because 

we believe our intentions were 

good. 

In his exchange with Harris, 

Noam Chomsky argued that the 

Clinton administration’s attack 

on a pharmaceutical factory in 

Sudan reveals a different kind of 

violence. 

Indifference. 

And while that may not seem 

like a sufficient or satisfying 

explanation of the Iraq War, I 

think it the most plausible. We 

simply didn’t care what happened 

to Iraq except that we 

wanted to show the world we 

were strong. We did not and 

do not care about Iraqi lives in 

the way we care about our own. 

We do as we will, and express 

astonishment if things don’t 

go our way, if others get in the 

way, or most incomprehensible 

of all, if they behave towards us 

as we behave towards them. But 

don’t worry: That’s when Sam 

Harrises are called upon to explain 

away what least needs an 

explanation—that some people 

respond to violence with violence 

doesn’t seem particularly 

hard to grasp. 

But it is for Harris, even as he 

is no different than the barbarians 

he alleges are at the gate. 

Harris has justified torture, for 

example, as a “necessity”. He 

uses secular reason, which is 

in fact just secular prejudice, 

to arrive at conclusions little 

different from extremists. He 

is even vile enough to pretend 

his murdering a Muslim is not 

as bad as a Muslim murdering 

someone else—can you imagine 

this man in a murder trial? If 

any kind of atheism is brought 

to mind, it is Nietzsche’s superman, 

the belief that a man freed 

of gods is freed of constraints, 

and therefore cannot be expected 

to be restrained by the same 

standards. 

It may not be Islamophobia. It 

may be that Muslims are merely 

bumps in the road; we don’t really 

care what we run over, because 

we don’t really believe 

anyone else has a right to be 

on, or near, the road—which is 

paved with, you guessed it, secular, 

rational, reasonable, democratic, 

enlightened intention. 

Perhaps looking to blame this on 

Islamophobia is granting such 

persons far more sophistication, 

Noam Chomsky. 

specificity, and intentionality 

(sic) than they are capable of, 

or conscious of. Perhaps they’re 

just indifferent to anyone or everyone 

who is unlike them, and 

uninterested in applauding their 

every idea. 

Now, let us not be unfair or 

imbalanced. I believe radical 

Islam is a real problem. That 

threat should not be dismissed, 

nor needlessly belittled. But 

it can be subjected to secular 

reason. Parsed, and appropriately 

weighed. We’re confused 

for radicals, even as the greater 

threat comes from those doing 

the confusing. ISIS has no traction 

among serious American 

Muslims, never mind American 

Muslim institutions or organizations. 

Further, there are very few 

nationally prominent American 

Muslim talking heads—say, 

Reza Aslan—but none of them 

espouse militant, radical, even 

particularly exclusivist views. 

Our teetotaler President still 

had a few too many. He got in 

his car, which is to say our car, 

and he didn’t care what happened, 

because he—they, our 

power elite, our enablers and 

justifiers—only care about 

themselves. But when you drive 

drunk, you don’t just put everyone 

else on the road at risk. You 

put yourself, too. Maybe it’s not 

Islamophobia that drives Sam 

Harris. Maybe it’s not racism, 

bigotry, or prejudice. Maybe 

it’s blinding pride, about which 

something should be done. New 

Atheism, after all, has no tazkiyyat 

al-nafs. It worships its own 

conclusions. Or it simply derides 

anyone who has any different. 

There is a House of Reason, 

and a House of Superstition, 

and upon the latter, nearly any 

good intention can be visited. 

We killed you, but our heart was 

in the right place. I’d say it’s the 

road to hell, but Iraq is nearer at 

hand. 

Editor’s Note: Haroon Moghul 

is the author of “The Order 

of Light” and “My First Police 

State.” His memoir, “How to be 

Muslim”, is due in 2016. He’s a 

doctoral candidate at Columbia 

University, formerly a Fellow at 

the New America Foundation and 

the Center on National Security at 

Fordham Law School, and a member 

of the Multicultural Audience 

Development Initiative at New 

York’s Metropolitan Museum of 

Art. Connect with Haroon on 

twitter @hsmoghul. The views expressed 

here are his own.

opinion 

There are more Baltimores: 

America’s legacy of hollowed-out cities 

By John Rennie Short 

Now that the dust has settled 

and the media have moved 

onto the next crisis, we can 

ponder what the Baltimore riots 

tell us about broader and 

deeper issues in the US. 

Using a stress testing approach 

I developed for other 

major social events helps reveal 

the many forces at play. 

Among them are decades of 

biased economic policies, class 

differences as well as racism, 

structural problems in metropolitan 

America, the consequences 

of aggressive policing 

and the geography of multiple 

deprivations. 

Long time coming 

The fundamental problems 

faced by Baltimore and other 

industrial cities are a result of 

decades of economic change 

stemming from policies that 

promoted deindustrializationand 

job losses for the semiskilled 

and unskilled. 

In 1950, Baltimore had a 

population of 950,000 and, like 

may cities in the US, a vibrant 

manufacturing base providing 

jobs and economic security. 

The magnet of jobs attracted 

black migrants from the South. 

Since the mid-1970s, though, 

there has been a steady loss of 

manufacturing jobs due to offshoring, 

relocation to suburbs 

in non-union areas of the US 

and increased productivity. 

This is a trend across the 

US and across the world but 

in Baltimore, as in so many industrial 

cities in the US, there 

were few employment alternatives 

or attempts at retraining. 

The result is pockets of poverty 

in neighborhoods across the 

country where there are concentrations 

of the unskilled 

and limited opportunities for 

retraining older workers or education 

for younger people. 

It is ironic that at the same 

time that President Obama was 

sympathizing with the plight of 

Baltimore, he was also promoting 

a free trade agenda. Even 

more ironic, he made the announcement 

at the headquarters 

of Nike, a company that 

last made a pair of shoes in the 

US in 1984 and makes all of its 

apparel in the cheap labor areas 

of East and Southeast Asia. 

There are benefits to free 

trade, but we need a honest 

assessment of their redistributional 

consequences and a 

much greater commitment to 

job training and help for those 

displaced when manufacturing 

jobs are lost. 

And while the Baltimore riots 

focus attention on race, we 

also need to consider the issue 

of class. It is so much easier to 

talk about race in the US than 

class, and so the the debate 

is easily racialized while the 

wider issue of restricted opportunities 

for the semi- and unskilled, 

black as well as white 

and brown, is ignored. 

There is a squeeze on the 

semi- and unskilled, with the 

squeeze all that much tighter 

on the minority groups. The 

events in Baltimore, often seen 

through only the prism of race, 

are also freighted with concerns 

of class. The sociologist 

William Julius Wilson showed 

that the disappearance of work 

is the central cause of social disorganization 

in the inner city. 

Geo-economic 

disconnect 

There is also the balkanization 

of metropolitan America 

by which declining central cities 

are cut off from the economic 

benefits of suburban growth. 

Baltimore’s population declined 

from almost a million 

in 1950 to just over 622,000 

in 2013. The wider Baltimore 

metropolitan area, which includes 

Baltimore and surrounding 

suburban counties, 

has grown from 1.1 to 2.7 million 

in 2010, with the fourth 

largest median income in the 

US. I examined this hollowing 

out of central city cores in my 

book, Alabaster Cities, and a 

series of recent papers. 

County governments, not 

the city, reap all the benefits of 

this increased property and income 

taxes. There is a fiscal disparity 

between central city and 

suburbs, with the city pressed 

hard to meet the mounting social 

needs of an increasingly 

impoverished population with 

a diminishing tax base. 

This fiscal squeeze promotes, 

in Baltimore as in other similar 

cities, an emphasis on flagship 

downtown developments such 

as football stadia, ballparks, 

race car events and convention 

centers. These benefit downtown 

business interests but fail 

to do much for the stubborn 

poverty in the inner city. 

Cities concentrate on attracting 

middle- and upper-income 

groups because they provide 

revenue. And across urban 

America, we sees pockets of 

gentrification and gleaming 

downtown towers beside these 

persistent pockets of poverty. 

Yet hamstrung by job loss, declining 

revenue and population 

loss, many cities across the US 

still have the heavy lift of making 

up for decades of federal 

neglect and lack of a coherent 

and well-funded urban policy 

program. 

Policing in America 

The policing of the cities in 

the US is dominated by what 

amounts to a war against lowincome 

minority neighborhoods. 

In 1980, the US had a 

prison population of 500,000, 

but by 2013 this increased to 

2.5 million as more young men, 

especially young men of color, 

were caught up in an expanding 

web of criminal incarceration 

as minor infractions became 

felonies. The narratives 

of tough on crime, broken windows 

theory, war on drugs and 

The Muslim Observer — May 22 - 28, 2015 — Shaban 4 - 10, 1436 — 15 

A Maryland State police trooper stands guard in Baltimore, Maryland April 28, 2015. Eric Thaye / 

Reuters 

militarization have all escalated 

into an aggressive policing 

and a fractured trust between 

residents and police. 

To compound problems, 

these neighborhoods also 

suffer from multiple deprivations 

that include abandoned 

dwellings that are sites of 

fires, disease, criminal activity 

and unhealthy environments. 

Elevated lead levels in inner 

city Baltimore make it difficult 

for children to learn and concentrate. 

So it is not just limited 

employment and educational 

opportunities but also 

a complex web of multiple deprivation 

that effectively traps 

people. 

There are many Baltimores. 

Within the city boundaries, 

there are old established elite 

areas such as Roland Park and 

more recently gentrified areas 

such as Federal Hill. The 

Baltimore of the riots was only 

part of the city, a swath of inner 

city neighborhoods impacted 

by job loss, poor education 

and aggressive policing. 

But there are other 

Baltimores outside 

of Maryland. They include 

Akron, Birmingham, 

Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, 

Pittsburgh and Toledo. It is 

not just an inner city problem. 

Along with Bernadette Hanlon 

and Tom Vicino, I have documented 

the problems of inner 

ring of suburbs. 

There are also the bleak 

areas in the cracks of the metropolis: 

the trailer parks and 

suburban rental units that 

house those pushed out of 

the city by gentrification and 

redevelopment. Baltimores 

of economic neglect, massive 

job loss, aggressive policing 

and multiple deprivations are 

found throughout metropolitan 

regions across the country. 

They are the places of despair 

that house the voiceless 

of the US political system, the 

marginalized of the US economy 

and those left behind in 

the commodification of US 

society. 

The remarks of Martin 

Luther King Jr made in 1966 

still have resonance: “A riot is 

the language of the unheard.” 

Editor’s Note: This article 

originally appeared on 

TheConversation.com and is reprinted 

here with permission. All 

views expressed here are solely 

those of the author.


international 

10 Beautiful Oud Perfume Mixes—Women & Men 

By Dustin Craun 

One of the many things I 

love about traveling to the 

Gulf is shopping for oud (aloeswood). 

While I have 

yet to find pure 

oud wood or 

oud oil that 

matches what 

I can get locally 

here in 

California at Oudimentary. 

During my travels (almost all 

the Oud I have seen in the 

Gulf is waxed, which ruins the 

natural smell of burning oud) 

I always enjoy smelling the 

new Oud mixes by regional 

and global perfume houses. 

Three years ago I visited Saudi 

Arabia and you could see the 

beginnings of the big global 

perfume companies making 

oud fragrances for middle 

eastern markets. Today you 

would be hard pressed to find 

a major player in the global 

perfume trade who does not 

have at least one oud fragrance 

on the market. 

Like most things in life my 

tastes have changed with age, 

I used to love pure oud and 

would wear it almost daily, 

but as I started to get into the 

mixes I found them to be more 

balanced as a daily fragrance. 

This is a short list of ten of my 

favorites as of now, almost all 

of which could be worn by men 

or women and are sold generally 

as unisex perfumes. While 

it is easier to find these scents 

because they are concentrated 

together at shops like Areej 

or in the Duty Free shops in 

the airport in the Gulf, in the 

United States you can find 

most of these fragrances at 

Neiman Marcus. Click on the 

name of the perfume in each 

section to see more in depth 

reviews by Fragrantica. 

Leather Oud — 

Christian Dior 

On this trip, my favorite 

Oud mix was surprisingly 

Leather Oud. I say surprisingly 

because when you first spray 

it the leather notes are very 

strong. I sprayed this for the 

first time before a short flight 

and I spent the next hour and 

a half smelling my hand and 

was amazed by the depth of 

this fragrance. It is such an incredible 

fragrance because it 

transforms every 15–20 minutes 

and the Oud base notes 

stand out beautifully. It is also 

one of the longest lasting oud 

mixes I have ever worn. 

Oud Royal — Giorgio 

Armani 

Oud Royal was by far my 

wife’s favorite fragrance on 

our trip, this unisex perfume 

has long lasting but light oud 

notes. However, because of 

the amber and floral notes you 

could say that this fragrance 

leans towards a feminine 

smell. More than anything 

I think it is a balanced and 

beautiful fragrance. 

Mukhallat al 

Shams — Ajmal 

The strongest Oud fragrance 

of all the perfumes on this list 

and also the hardest one to find 

in the United States, Mukhallat 

al Shams is a classic fragrance. 

Founded in India, Ajmal is today 

headquartered in Dubai. 

Mukhallat al Shams is the lightest 

of three perfumes in this 

series with each step up representing 

a more pure oud smell 

(try Dahn Oud al Shams if you 

want something stronger). We 

also like the new series from 

Ajmal called W, especially the 

Amber Wood. 

Check out this video on the 

future of Oud and the competition 

of all these international 

brands featured in this article 

by Abdulla Ajmal the general 

manager of Ajmal perfumes. 

Amouage — Honour 

Woman 

We spent a lot of time in the 

Amouage shop in Abu Dhabi 

that was attached to our hotel, 

while the range of this Oman 

based perfume company is incredible, 

this scent stood out 

as my favorite. In Amouage’s 

general line of perfumes they 

use one color and one name 

and then make different Men’s 

and Women’s fragrances tied 

to each of these. Honour for 

women stood out as a soft floral 

scent that was beautiful in 

its depth. 

Oud Maliki — Chopard 

I received Oud Maliki as 

a gift after I first fell in love 

with it back in 2012. Chopard 

is known more for its over the 

top watches and jewelry than 

its perfumes, but this is a long 

lasting beauty with deep oud 

notes. While I really do like this 

perfume the spicy cinnamon 

like notes in it make me take 

long breaks from wearing it. 

Oud Tobacco — Tom 

Ford 

Like most real oud enthusiasts, 

one of my favorite things 

is to wear oud in layers where 

you dab the oil and then burn 

oud wood on top of it for an 

entirely deeper and transformative 

smell. I knew I loved 

Oud Tobacco by Tom Ford the 

first time I tried it precisely because 

it smelled like this long 

lasting fragrance of oud wood 

burned over oud oil. I am also 

a fan of oud fleur in this collection, 

and less so of Tom Ford’s 

oud wood. 

Oud Ispahan — 

Christian Dior 

Oud and rose mixes are one 

of the oldest combinations in 

the long history of perfume. 

Oud Ispahan is a deep oud and 

rose fragrance that has a balance 

in a way that other oud/ 

rose mixes cannot come lose to. 

The key with this type of mix is 

not allowing the rose to totally 

over power the fragrance as 

is most often the case. That is 

what makes this perfume special 

as the oud stands out especially 

as it dries down. 

Precious Oud — Van 

Cleef & Arpels 

Precious Oud is another floral 

fragrance that we recently 

ran into at Nieman Marcus after 

we returned home. The oud 

balanced with jasmine, tuberose 

petals, amber, vetiver and 

sandalwood create a beautiful 

fragrance that is more likely to 

be worn by women. 

10 Corso Como 

10 Corso Como was one of 

the first European based fragrances 

to really embrace the 

power of oud. This perfume 

was first released in 1999 and 

is considered a classic with its 

notes of rose, geranium, vetiver, 

musk, sandalwood, oud 

wood resin and incense. 

Amouage 

A number of fragrances from 

Amouage caught our attention, 

from their library series, to epic 

man, interlude man, and one of 

their newest fragrances journey. 

Definitely worth a visit to 

one of their shops if you are in 

the region though we have also 

seen their perfumes at specialty 

perfume shops throughout the 

United States. 

Editor’s note: This article first 

appeared on Ummah Wide.

international 


Muslim hero saves 

woman in Rome 

A Rohingya migrant child, who arrived in Indonesia by boat, carries belongings while walking 

to a bigger shelter inside a temporary compound for refugees in Kuala Cangkoi village in 

Lhoksukon, Indonesia’s Aceh Province, May 18. Beawiharta / Reuters. 

International newsbriefs 

Iraq deploys 

tanks around 

Ramadi 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi 

security forces on Tuesday 

deployed tanks and artillery 

around Ramadi to confront 

Islamic State fighters who have 

captured the city in a major 

defeat for the Baghdad government 

and its Western backers. 

U.S. hones 

Ukrainian 

fighting skills 

YAVORIV, Ukraine (Reuters) 

- Tense Ukrainian soldiers with 

assault rifles creep stealthily 

around mock houses before 

bursting in to clear out gunmen, 

while others practice setting 

ambushes or infantry assaults, 

all under the watchful 

eyes of U.S. Army trainers. 

Saudi air strikes 

hit Sanaa 

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi-led 

air raids hit the Yemen capital 

Sanaa overnight, targeting 

forces loyal to former President 

Ali Abdullah Saleh in the east 

and south of the city, residents 

said on Tuesday. 

U.S. charges six 

Chinese with 

espionage 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 

The U.S government charged 

six Chinese nationals with economic 

espionage, saying they 

stole secrets from two companies 

that develop technology 

often used in military systems, 

the Department of Justice said 

on Tuesday. 

Kabul: bomb 

outside Afghan 

Justice Ministry 

KABUL (Reuters) - A car 

bomb exploded in the parking 

lot of Afghanistan’s Ministry of 

Justice on Tuesday, killing at 

least five people and wounding 

dozens as civil servants in 

Kabul were leaving work for 

the day, officials said. 

Battle erupts in 

eastern Ukraine 

KIEV (Reuters) - Fighting 

erupted between Ukrainian 

government forces and 

Russian-backed separatists in 

eastern Ukraine on Tuesday 

and four Ukrainian servicemen 

have been killed, the regional 

administration chief said. 

Germanwings 

crash victims 

sent home 

PARIS (Reuters) - The 

bodies of the victims of the 

Germanwings crash over 

southern France in March have 

all been identified and can be 

sent home to their families, the 

Marseille prosecutor said in a 

statement on Tuesday. 

Burundi 

protesters 

gather 

More than 100 protesters 

chanting slogans against 

Burundi’s President Pierre 

Nkurunziza and his bid for a 

third term in office gathered in 

the capital on Tuesday in defiance 

of government threats of a 

crackdown. 

Vatican: Pope 

meant no harm 

calling Abbas 

‘angel of peace’ 

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) 

- Pope Francis meant no offense 

to Israel by referring 

to Palestinian President 

Mahmoud Abbas as being “an 

angel of peace” and intended to 

encourage harmony between 

the two sides, the Vatican said 

on Tuesday. 

Pentagon says 

Iran warships 

‘linked up’ with 

cargo vessel 

WASHINGTON/LONDON 

(Reuters) - The Pentagon said 

on Tuesday that two Iranian 

warships have “linked up” with 

a cargo ship that Iran has said 

is carrying humanitarian aid to 

Yemen, as activists on board the 

vessel said it was due to arrive 

at the Yemeni port of Hodaida 

on Thursday. 

OnIslam & Newspapers 

CAIRO – A homeless Muslim 

man has been widely hailed as 

a hero after he braved the heavily 

polluted River Tiber to rescue 

a woman who jumped off 

a bridge in the center of Rome, 

Haaretz reported on Satuday, 

May 16. 

“I am not a hero,” the 

32-year-old Bangladeshi, Sobuj 

Khalifa, told Italian television 

TV2000. 

“God wants us to help 

everybody.” 

The story unfolded last 

Tuesday when Khalifa spotted 

a woman jumping off a bridge 

of the River Tiber under which 

he had found refuge. 

Taking the decision in seconds, 

he quickly dove after the 

woman into the river, which 

cuts through the center of the 

historic city and is notoriously 

polluted. 

Video of the rescue shows 

Khalifa holding on to the woman 

with one arm and swimming 

for the riverbank with the 

other, while rescuers arrived 

on the scene and people atop 

the bridge clapped and shouted 

“bravo!” 

“I saw her fall from the 

bridge, I thought she was 

dead,” Khalifa is heard saying 

in a video shot by passerby 

which showed the rescue. 

“But when I reached her I 

saw her eyes moving, I thought 

she could be still alive.” 

Italian authorities said the 

Israeli woman, 55, jumped off 

the bridge in an apparent suicide 

attempt that may have 

been triggered by the end of a 

love story. 

The unnamed woman was 

taken to hospital and is in 

good condition, a spokesman 

for Italian police in Rome told 

Haaretz. 

Widely reported in Italy, the 

rescue comes in the middle of 

a stormy debate on immigration, 

as thousands of people 

attempt to flee war-torn regions 

of North Africa and the 

Middle East by crossing the 

Mediterranean Sea in rickety 

boats. 

Authorities rewarded 

Khalifa by granting him a permit 

to stay and work in Italy. 

He had been living illegally in 

Italy for eight years and has 

been homeless for the past four 

years. 

.Rome Mayor Ignazio 

Marino wrote on his Facebook 

page that he had spoken to 

Khalifa to thank him for his 

“heroic and humane” act. 

Riccardo Pacifici, the head 

of Rome’s Jewish Community, 

told Haaretz that the city’s 

Jews want to thank Khalifa for 

his bravery. 

Italy has a Muslim population 

of some 1.7 million, 

including 20,000 reverts, according 

to the figures released 

by Istat, the national statistics 

agency. 

Place your ad here! 

734-327-1800


national 

Linda Sarsour: a true NY Muslim (exclusive) 

By Sarah Harvard, 

OnIslam US Correspondent 

NEW YORK – With conflict 

in the Middle East making 

headlines and anti-Muslim 

backlash a nationwide concern, 

the public discourse around 

Islamophobia has grown considerably 

in the US, and NY’s 

Linda Sarsour is unstoppable 

on the subject. 

“I let the Brooklyn out of 

me,” Sarsour laughingly admitted 

to supporters outside 

the Brooklyn Academy 

of Music (BAM)’s forum on 

Islamophobia where she joined 

a six-panel discussion on 

Islamophobia in Brooklyn, New 

York. 

The New York flagship public 

radio station WNYC 93.9 FM 

hosted event, moderated by 

Brian Lehrer, led to a lively discussion 

with influential commentators 

and scholars including, 

Al Jazeera America co-host 

and digital producer Wajahat 

Ali, British journalist Douglas 

Murray, Iraqi filmmaker Faisal 

Saeed Al Mutar, author Asra 

Q. Nomani, Arab American 

Association of NY (AAANY) 

director, social justice activist 

and media commentator Linda 

Sarsour, together with senior 

Middle East correspondent 

for The Daily Show with John 

Stewart – Egypt’s own – heart 

surgeon, turned political commentator 

Bassem Youssef, to 

explore how we can collectively 

move toward a more informed 

conversation about the issues 

at stake. 

Intrinsically involved in the 

Muslim community through 

her work with AAANY and 

as the advocacy and civic 

engagement coordinator of 

the National Network for 

Arab American Communities 

(NNAAC), Sarsour’s work transcends 

boundaries and her 

persona shatters stereotypes of 

Muslim women. 

Sarsour more than held her 

own against panelists al-Mutar, 

Nomani, Murray when they coopted 

the BAM discussion on 

Islamophobia into a condemnation 

of Islam, identifying it with 

the acts of a few extremists. 

OnIslam was honored to be 

able to engage in an exclusive 

interview with Linda Sarsour. 

OnIslam: You just finished 

your discussion, or debate, on 

Islamophobia, any remarks 

or comments on how that 

transpired? 

Linda Sarsour: I think it’s 

a debate that doesn’t happen 

often. I welcome it. I wish that 

they would have more true New 

Yorkers in places like Brooklyn. 

They had to bring a guy from 

London (Douglas Murray) to 

tell me what it’s like being an 

American-Muslim, I do find 

that a bit disingenuous, but I 

welcomed the entire debate. 

OI: We heard Asra talk a bit 

about free speech, but we’ve 

seen it become a recurrence 

when anti-Muslim polemics 

pain themselves as free speech 

martyrs when in actuality, they 

are advocating on trampling the 

free speech rights of Muslims 

as in the case of Pamela Geller, 

Geert Wilders and the Garland 

shooting. What do you make of 

this sort of hypocrisy? 

LS: They are definitely not 

free speech advocates. They are 

anti-Muslim activists. That’s 

what they do for a living. For 

Asra to point out that she’s a 

feminist, to make the assumption 

that I am not a feminist 

or make the assumption that 

a Muslim woman cannot be a 

feminist. I’m a feminist and I 

also exercise my free speech. 

So, she has to acknowledge 

my story as I acknowledge her 

story. What do they do? They 

try to discredit the majority of 

Muslims in the world and say 

that we are irrelevant, and the 

next breath, they would say 

“where are all the moderates 

Muslims in this conversation? I 

think they are a bit disingenuous 

and try to paint their experiences 

as the experiences of all 

Muslims— which is not true. 

OI: Contrary to 2000, when 

George W. Bush was trying 

to court the Arab-American 

vote by speaking against racial 

profiling and policing the 

world, we’ve seen a turn in the 

Republican Party. Many 2016 

presidential election candidates 

are engaging in Muslimbashing 

to garner support from 

neo-conservatives and those 

in the far-right alike. How do 

Muslim-Americans see this as 

election season begins ramping 

up? 

LS: We are already seeing it 

way before the 2016 elections 

with people like Bobby Jindal 

and many others who are trying 

to buy their way into becoming 

the next President of the United 

States. If we’re monitoring it a 

little bit more closely, I think 

our community is used to it 

now and are addressing it in a 

more proactive and also reactive 

way, because we have to 

push back on it, but it’s going 

to happen. It’s going to be ugly, 

because people in this country 

have set up a precedent of 

where you will win elections or 

you will fundraise on the backs 

of vilifying Muslims. We’re saying 

enough is enough, but I 

think we’ll be more prepared to 

see that in the 2016 elections. 

OI: How are Muslims viewing 

the situation in Baltimore? 

From an outsider perspective, 

we’re seeing some within the 

Muslim community taking 

part in the #BlackLivesMatter 

movement and in Baltimore, 

but it seems as if Muslim organizations 

have kept their 

distance. What do you have to 

say about that and what can 

people within the Muslim community 

do to engage with black 

communities? 

LS: I want to clarify that a 

lot of those in the Muslim communities 

are actually a part of 

the #BlackLivesMatter movement, 

because they are black 

and Muslim. So that community 

hasn’t really been talked 

about. And there are some 

other Muslim advocates that 

Linda Sarsour. Photo credit: Al Jazeera English 

are taking part. When I went 

to Ferguson, there were many 

Muslim advocates and there 

are many of them here in New 

York City for the police reform 

movement who work really 

close with the black communities. 

Can the Muslim do more 

to help black communities? 

Mostly the immigrant communities? 

Absolutely. I think 

they’re able to build coalitions. 

And it’s taking a few of us to do 

it to show the benefits of it and 

to show how important it is for 

us to have justice for other communities 

just as much as we 

need justice in our community. 

I’ll be in Baltimore again working 

at a justice concert and a 

town hall meeting supporting 

the people of Baltimore–which 

includes many Muslims like 

the Nation of Islam and many 

of those on the ground. I think 

we are seeing a lot more progress 

in our community and a lot 

more intersectional ties happening. 

I think there needs to 

be more of a priority in us doing 

it. 

OI: For a while, the 

Palestinian-Israeli conflict has 

been a center-stage issue for 

the Muslim community. What 

do Muslims think about the 

recent developments and is 

this still a top priority for the 

community? 

LS: I think peace in the 

Middle East, specifically 

Palestine-Israel, impacts the entire 

world and it’s a very important 

issue to Muslims. Many of 

them see the kind of holy land, 

Dome of Rock, Masjid al-Aqsa 

as very symbolic for Islam. It’s a 

very important issue for me as 

a Palestinian–as someone who 

is an Arab-American. But I’m 

also seeing Muslims care about 

healthcare, education, law enforcement 

accountability, and 

national security issues. We’ve 

been painted as a one issue 

community and we’re not. We 

care about Pakistan also and we 

care about what’s happening in 

other Muslim countries like in 

Syria, for example. Palestine- 

Israel is an important issue, but 

it’s not the only issue. And I’m 

not sure if the priority for all 

Muslim communities, but definitely 

for Palestinian-Muslim 

communities. 

OI: I have to ask you one 

more question–a bit personal. 

A lot of people know you for 

your phenomenal work as a 

social justice activist, a crusader 

against racial injustice, 

and a media commentator. Not 

many people know that you’re 

a mother of three. Some people 

are at amazed at how you’re 

able to do all of that? What 

keeps you going and how do 

you do it? 

LS: I am who I am and I want 

to be acknowledged for who 

I am as a mother, as a daughter, 

as an activist, as a nonprofit 

leader, and as a Muslim 

leader, and as someone who is 

proud to be Muslim and that 

Islam has given me the opportunities 

that I have now. I have 

never been shunned from any 

part of the Muslim community 

and I have been to some of the 

most conservative mosques 

in America and have been respected. 

Are there issues with 

individuals in the Muslim 

community? Absolutely. The 

problem is not with the faith 

of Islam, but those who follow 

Islam. So, I’m very proud of 

my children. I’m living by example. 

If I want my children to 

be productive members of society 

and to be active Muslims, I 

need to be that and that’s what 

I’m being right now.


national / international 

Interview with Carla Power on an unlikely 

friendship and journey to the heart of the Quran 

By Joseph Richard Preville 

and Julie Poucher Harbin 

ISLAMiCommentary 

Great journalists invite us 

to be companions with them 

on their journeys to extraordinary 

places. Carla Power offers 

such an invitation in her 

new book, If the Oceans Were 

Ink: An Unlikely Friendship 

and a Journey to the Heart of 

the Quran (Holt Paperbacks, 

2015). 

The daughter of professors, 

Carla Power grew up in the 

Midwest and the Middle East & 

Asia, and later went back overseas 

to work as a foreign correspondent 

for Newsweek. Living 

in Iran, Afghanistan, India and 

Egypt shaped her global outlook 

and openness to the diversity 

of cultures and religions 

around the world. 

Educated at Yale, Columbia, 

and Oxford, Power currently 

writes for Time and other publications. 

Her essays have appeared 

in a range of newspapers 

and magazines including 

The New York Times Magazine, 

The Guardian, Foreign Policy, 

O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue 

and Glamour. 

In her book Power describes 

how and why she embarked on 

an intensive one-year course 

of study of the Quran with 

distinguished Islamic scholar 

Mohammad Akram Nadwi. 

“As a journalist,” she 

writes, “I’d spent years framing 

Muslims as people who 

did things – built revolutions, 

founded political parties, 

fought, migrated, lobbied. I 

craved a better understanding 

of the faith driving these 

actions. I’d reported on how 

Muslim identity shapes a woman’s 

dress or a man’s career 

path, a village economy or a 

city skyline. Now I wanted to 

explore the beliefs behind that 

identity and to see how closely 

they matched my own.” 

If the Oceans Were Ink is 

a beautiful story about how 

the sacred words of the Quran 

can bring two people together 

in study, understanding, and 

joyful friendship. Carla Power 

discusses her new book in this 

interview. (This is a slightly 

modified version of the original 

interview, to read a longer 

version visit http://islamicommentary.org/2015/05/ 

carla-power-on-an-unlikelyfriendship-journey-to-theheart-of-the-quran-book-q-a/) 

How did you choose the title 

of your book? Does it hold 

special meaning for you? 

It’s from the Quran: “If all 

the trees in the earth were 

pens, and the ocean, with seven 

more seas to help it, were 

ink.” Allah’s words would not 

be exhausted. I chose it not just 

for its beauty, but because I like 

its message of limitless words 

— fitting, I thought, for a book 

about a year-long conversation 

between friends! 

How did you come to meet 

Sheikh Mohammed Akram 

Nadwi? Was he the first person 

to teach you the Quran? 

How did his teachings inspire 

you? 

The Sheikh and I were colleagues 

at a think-tank in 

Oxford more than twenty years 

ago, when we were both in 

our mid-twenties. We worked 

together on an atlas on the 

spread of Islam in South Asia. 

I had read bits of the Quran in 

college and grad school, but it 

was only with the Sheikh that 

I was able to bore down into 

parsing crucial verses. 

I wanted to try to understand 

how he read it, as both 

a believer, and as a classicallytrained 

Islamic scholar. My real 

interest was not in doing an exegesis, 

but in watching how the 

text shaped his life and worldview 

on issues, whether gender 

or migration, or sex or the 

Islamic State. 

Your book description says 

you engaged in debates with 

the Sheikh “at cafes, family 

gatherings, and packed 

lecture halls, conversations 

filled with both good humor 

and powerful insights.” Was 

your Quranic education with 

the Sheikh mostly outside the 

classroom? Did you travel – 

“go on tour” – with the Sheikh 

and where did you go? What 

were some of the highlights? 

Writing the book, I was a bit 

like the Sheikh’s groupie: In addition 

to meeting him for oneon-one 

discussions of the Quran 

at Oxford cafes and kebab 

houses, I trailed him around the 

United Kingdom for his lectures 

and classes. On weekends, he 

teaches 8 hours a day, Saturday 

and Sunday. It was fascinating 

seeing the wide range of people 

that gathered at his lectures. 

One time a fiercely political and 

slightly menacing crowd came 

to hear him speak on jihad and 

sharia in East London. His regular 

Quran classes in Cambridge 

were full of young professionals 

and families, who posed questions 

on everything from hellfire 

to the Arab Spring. 

Part of the book’s aim 

— combatting flattened stereotypes 

of Islam — meant 

portraying him as a rounded 

human being. So I’d shadow 

him doing other things, too — 

heading for the gym, going to 

buy sewing supplies with his 

wife, letting his daughter go 

shopping in the Oxford mall. … 

My favorite trip was following 

him back to his village in 

Uttar Pradesh, India, where I 

stayed in his parents’ home, 

and I gave a lecture to an allmale 

crowd at a madrasa he’d 

built there. Seeing the Sheikh’s 

highly conservative familial 

home, was a reminder of just 

how far he had come, from a 

tiny village to being a worldclass 

scholar, and champion of 

Muslim women’s rights. 

Some say the Quran 

preaches violence, not peace, 

and oppression of women, 

not respect. How would you 

respond to these “experts” 

and the people that believe 

them? 

I think there’s great confusion 

in the Western media 

between what some Muslims 

do — or in the case of the oppression 

of women, how many 

Muslim-majority societies function 

— and what the Quran and 

hadith say. I would refer them 

to what Sheikh Akram always 

stressed: context! context! 

context! 

In his view, the verses that 

jihadis and Islamophobes alike 

love to cite about killing infidels 

refer to very specific moments 

in early Islamic history. They 

are to be read through the prism 

of the moment they came down 

to the Prophet Muhammad, according 

to the Sheikh, and are 

not blanket injunctions. 

In the case of Islam’s treatment 

of women, the Sheikh believes 

many modern Muslims 

have forgotten the basic rights 

Islam gives them. When societies 

feel scared and weak 

— whether because of political 

or economic enfeeblement 

— they don’t give women and 

minorities justice. 

How much were non- 

Muslims’ perceptions of the 

Quran informed by 9/11, 

terrorism, and the “clash of 

civilizations” rhetoric that 

followed? 

The loudest voices, both 

from within Islam and outside 

of it, tend to be the extremist 

ones. The men dropping bombs 

or beheading make news, so it 

goes that their interpretations 

of the Quran gain traction. The 

Californian mystic poet, the 

Iranian quietist, the French human 

rights activist — we don’t 

hear their interpretations of the 

Quran. 

With a wife and six daughters 

he must have learned a 

lot about women. What is the 

Sheikh’s view of the role of 

women within Islam? Do his 

views derive from his interpretation 

of the Quran or his 

interpretation of the hadith? 

Or, are his views cultural? 

He tries as much as possible 

to adhere to textual, rather 

than cultural interpretations. 

Indeed, when he’s pointed out 

that practices like the niqab 

or, for men, skull-caps worn 

for prayer, are cultural rather 

than textual, he’s ruffled 

feathers in various Muslim 

congregations! That said, I’m 

aware that the Sheikh’s adab, 

or gentle etiquette, means that 

he’s very sensitive to trying to 

force change on a community, 

just because he knows many of 

their practices aren’t Islamic, 

but cultural. 

What is the importance 

of Sheikh Akram’s book, Al- 

Muhaddithat: The Women 

Scholars in Islam (2013)? Is 

it influential outside of scholarly 

circles? 

Al-Muhaddithat is the first 

volume of a 40-volume biographical 

dictionary of Muslim 

women scholars. When the 

Sheikh began work on it, he 

figured it would be a slim pamphlet 

— a matter of 30 or 40 

women since the 7th century. 

Now, his findings number more 

than 9,000 women. But it’s not 

just about numbers: he’s found 

women were riding camelback 

on lecture tours throughout 

Arabia, who were issuing their 

own fatwas, who taught caliphs 

and male scholars. His work — 

most of which, sadly, remains 

in his computer hard-drive to 

this day — not only suggests 

the rights and freedoms earlier 

generations of women enjoyed. 

It also sheds new light on how 

much more inclusive Islamic 

scholarship was than it often is 

today. 

What was it like to grow 

up partly overseas and how 

did it affect your career decisions 

? 

A childhood spent shuttling 

between St. Louis and Muslim 

countries put both American 

and foreign cultures in relief. I 

keep thinking of the old quote 

from Kipling, which goes something 

like: “What do they know 

of England, if only England 

know?” 

I’m also conscious that being 

in Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran 

in the 1970s was to witness the 

region at a crucial time. 

Where the Islamic societies 

of my father’s generation 

had been relatively distant and 

self- contained, various events 

— the Iranian Revolution, the 

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 

and mass Muslim migration — 

mean that the Islamic world 

is no longer ‘out there.’ It’s us; 

we’re them. 

How has your Quranic 

journey changed your life? 

Would you recommend this 

journey to other people? 

Aside from motherhood, it 

was the most profound journey 

I’ve been on. It was not 

the text itself that I responded 

to — I found the Quran itself a 

real challenge. The best thing 

about the journey was getting 

the chance to have an extended 

conversation with someone so 

different from myself. 

Here I was, an American 

feminist, the daughter of a 

lapsed Jew and a non-practicing 

Quaker, with carte blanche 

to ask a conservative madrasa 

trained Indian male Muslim 

any question under the sun. 

Editor’s note: Joseph Richard 

Preville is Assistant Professor of 

English at Alfaisal University 

in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His 

work has appeared in The 

Christian Science Monitor, San 

Francisco Chronicle, Harvard 

Divinity Bulletin, Tikkun, The 

Jerusalem Post, Muscat Daily, 

Saudi Gazette, and Turkey 

Agenda. He is also a regular contributor 

to ISLAMiCommentary. 

Julie Poucher Harbin is Editor 

of ISLAMiCommentary. This 

report originally appeared in 

ISLAMiCommentary (www.islamicommentary.org) 

and is republished 

here with permission. 

ISLAMiCommentary is a 

public scholarship forum that 

engages scholars, journalists, 

policymakers, advocates 

and artists in their fields of 

expertise. It is a key component 

of the Transcultural Islam 

Project; an initiative managed 

out of the Duke Islamic Studies 

Center in partnership with the 

Carolina Center for the Study 

of the Middle East and Muslim 

Civilizations (UNC-Chapel 

Hill). This article was made possible 

(in part) by a grant from 

Carnegie Corporation of New 

York. The statements made and 

views expressed are solely the responsibility 

of the authors. 

Pentagon says Iran warships 

‘linked up’ with cargo vessel 

By Phil Stewart 

and Jonathan Saul 

WASHINGTON/LONDON 

(Reuters) - The Pentagon said 

on Tuesday that two Iranian 

warships have “linked up” with 

a cargo ship that Iran has said 

is carrying humanitarian aid to 

Yemen, as activists on board the 

vessel said it was due to arrive 

at the Yemeni port of Hodaida 

on Thursday. 

“We’re not overly concerned 

at this point,” Pentagon spokesman 

Colonel Steve Warren told 

a briefing, adding that the ships’ 

locations were being monitored 

“every step of the way.” 

Warren said the warships 

“linked up” with the Iranian cargo 

ship as it passed an area where 

the Iranian warships were, according 

to Tehran, conducting 

counter-piracy operations. 

It was not immediately clear 

whether the warships were now 

in close proximity of the cargo 

vessel. A U. defense official said 

the warships were accompanying 

the cargo ship, language that 

would allow for the ships to simply 

be in the same general area.


national 

Boston Marathon bomber 

sentenced to death 

USA Today 

BOSTON — A jury has 

sentenced Boston Marathon 

bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to 

death by execution. 

Tsarnaev looked straight 

ahead, showing little emotion. 

The jury’s decision closed 

one of the most painful chapters 

in Boston’s history. 

The judgment comes from 

the same group of seven women 

and five men who found 

Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts 

related to the April 15, 2013, 

bomb attacks and four-day 

manhunt. The jury found him 

responsible for killing four people, 

seriously maiming 17 and 

injuring hundreds more. 

In the end, it all came 

down to one question: Should 

Tsarnaev be put to death or 

spend the rest of his life in a 

federal prison with no possibility 

of parole? 

In reaching their verdict, the 

jurors weighed 12 aggravating 

factors against 21 mitigating 

factors. They were charged to 

consider the suffering Tsarnaev 

caused, his intent, his character 

and his relationships, among 

other things. 

The verdict ends an extraordinary 

trial that brought amputee 

victims and a bereaved 

father face-to-face with the 

21-year-old man who tore their 

bodies and lives apart in an act 

of terrorism two years earlier. 

In the first phase of the trial, 

as jurors considered guilt or innocence, 

they visited the boat 

where he hid, bled and carved 

in wood what prosecutors 

called his manifesto. 

“Stop killing our innocent 

people and we will stop,” 

Tsarnaev wrote in a reference 

to Muslims’ suffering around 

the world. 

From the trial’s courtroom 

start on March 4, the defense 

team acknowledged his involvement 

in the bombings, 

which he planned and carried 

out with his older brother, 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died 

during the manhunt after 

Dzhokhar ran over him fleeing 

police. The big question from 

day one was which sentence 

the jury would choose. 

Only two options were available 

because Tsarnaev was 

charged under federal law, 

which requires at least life in 

prison for 17 of the counts. 

There is an option of death if 

the jury finds that circumstances 

warrant it. Because the case 

was tried in federal court, the 

jury could choose execution, 

even though Massachusetts 

state law prohibits the death 

penalty. 

Even defense attorney Judy 

Clarke acknowledged that aggravating 

factors did indeed 

exist. 

“Check them off,” she told 

jurors in her closing statement. 

She explained there should be 

no doubt his crimes met the aggravating 

criteria because they 

were premeditated, cruel, depraved 

and especially heinous. 

Clarke went on to emphasize, 

though, that any mitigating 

factor could outweigh all others, 

and any single juror could 

be “a safeguard against the 

death penalty.” She urged jurors 

to consider that “Dzhokhar 

never would have done this but 

for Tamerlan” and said now he 

regrets following his brother to 

such a violent end. 

“The critical thing is that 

Dzhokhar is remorseful today,” 

Clarke said. “He has grown over 

the last two years. He is sorry. 

And he is remorseful.” 

Prosecutors weren’t buying 

it. In the government’s rebuttal, 

Assistant U.S. Attorney 

William Weinreb looked closely 

at what Tsarnaev reportedly 

said about his victims in a recent 

meeting with Sister Helen 

Prejean, a Catholic nun who is 

an anti-death-penalty activist. 

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his defense attorney Judy Clarke (2nd 

R) are shown in a sketch after sentencing at the federal courthouse 

in Boston, May 15. Jane Flavell Collins / Reuters 

She testified that he told her, 

“No one deserves to suffer like 

they did.” 

“That doesn’t tell you 

much,” Weinreb said. He said 

the sentiment is consistent with 

statements Tsarnaev wrote in 

the boat: “I don’t like killing 

innocent people, but in this 

case it is allowed” and “I can’t 

stand to see such evil go unpunished.” 

He said Tsarnaev’s 

belief system justified killing 

innocent people to avenge the 

deaths of other innocents and 

consequently prevents him 

from feeling remorse. 

Only three criminals have 

been executed under federal 

law in the past half-century: 

Oklahoma City bomber 

Timothy McVeigh in 2001, 

drug trafficker and murderer 

Juan Raul Garza in 2001 and 

kidnapper, rapist and murderer 

Louis Jones Jr. in 2003. 

Sixty-one convicts are on federal 

death row, according to 

the Death Penalty Information 

Center. 

Business Opportunities 

FAMILY PRACTICES 

Commerce Area: (OAKLAND COUNTY) High Traffic area shorter 

hours, still produces $500,000+. We offer one year transition 

period, 30 year of office. Real estate also offered priced right. 

Mexican Town: (DETROIT) Mostly hard working Latino practice, 

40 patients per day. Hired Doctor works with Physician Owner, 

could be your part time or full practice, approximately 

$700,000+ gross. Call for pricing of Practice and Building. 

Lincoln Park: Walk-in clinic very visible, long established, seeing 

approximately 40 patients daily approx. gross income 

$800,000 asking $250,000 for practice and $350,000 for real estate. 

Mack Ave. Detroit: High volume primary care clinic, under 

served area, Medicaid and Medicare pay a bonus fee schedule 

receive up to $25,000 annually for your medical school loans, 

gross income is approximately $880,000 annually asking 

$250,000 for practice and $260,000 for real estate. 

Farmington Hills: Long established Internal Medicine Practice, 

10 Mile Middle belt area - Free standing bldg., 5 exam rooms, lab, 

xray, very close to Botsford, St. Mary’s, and Providence 

Novi. Asking $175,000.00 for practice. 

Garden City: Internal Medicine/Pediatrics practice for sale spacious 

bldg, 6 exam rooms, large common waiting room. Priced 

very reasonable for practice asking $70,000.00. 

MEDICAL BUILDING FOR SALE OR LEASE 

Far West Side Detroit: 

Multi suite property fully leased, $60,000. Positive cash flow for 

owner. Very good condition, Brick and Single story. One suite 

opens for practice. 8000 sq. ft and private parking. Asking 

$525,000, or lease at $1 sq.ft / mo + utilities 

Garden City: 

Medical Practice Building still has equipment, exam tables and 

EMR. About 1200 sq. ft. 3 exams, basement storage and private 

parking. Asking $129,800 or $900/mo and lease. Seller will 

finance. 

Pontiac: 

Large professional Medical Building. 3 story suites, 500-5000 

sq. ft. Across from Hospital and acres of parking. VERY REA- 

SONABLE RATES/TERMS or buy building for $250,000. 

Keego Harbor/Orchard Lake. 

Urgent care center - willing to sell all or part of the practice. 

Asking $117,500.00 for entire practice. Excellent location, 

totally remodeled 4 exam rooms, x-ray, easy access. Real estate 

also available. Three adjoined buildings, flexible terms. 

Allen Park: 

Retired Orthopedics Surgeon offering turn key operation full 

P>T> Lab, active patient files, lots of potential for a very low 

price asking $50,000.00 . 

For more details, contact our practice specialist at Union Realty: Joe Zrenchik/Broker 

Cell: 248-240-2141, Office: 248-919-0037 Joezrenchik@yahoo.com 

Thinking of Retirement, Relocation or Expansion of your Practice? 

We have Buyers & Sellers for Primary Care, Internal Medicine & Cardiology Practice

Matrimonial 

A compatible match required for my son, 

graduated from UK’s renowned university, 

aged 26+, belongs to respectable family in 

international business from Pakistan, seeking 

US national girl. Interested parents may 

contact sbh57@outlook.com 

Education/Career Training 

MEDICAL BILLING TRAINEES NEEDED! 

Become a Medical Office Assistant! NO 

EXPERIENCE NEEDED! Online training can 

get you job ready! 

HS Diploma/GED & PC/Internet needed! 

1-877-253-6495 

For Sale—Miscellaneous 

SAWMILLS from only $4397.00- MAKE 

& SAVE MONEY with your own bandmill- 

Cut lumber any dimension. In Stock, 

ready to ship! FREE Info/DVD: www. 

NorwoodSawmills.com. 

1-800-578-1363 Ext.300N (MICH) 

HOMEOWNERS WANTED! Kayak Pools is 

looking for demo homesites to display our 

maintenance-free pools. Save thousands of 

$$$ with this unique opportunity. 

CALLL NOW! 800.315.2925. 

kayakpoolsmidwest.com disocunt code: 

522L515(MICH) 

classified / Advertisements 

The Muslim Observer — May 22 - 28, 2015 — Shaban 4 - 10, 1436 — 21 

The Muslim Observer 

Classified Marketplace 

Reach 15,000 readers 

throughout the United States! 

Sell real estate, goods or services, you name it! 

Our rates are reasonable. As low as $20 a week. 

We gladly accept ads by e-mail at: 

classifieds@themuslimobserver.org. 

or mail to: The Muslim Observer Classifieds, 

29004 W. Eight Mile Road, Farmington, MI 48336 

or fax to: 248-476-8926 

For more information call: 313-600-9987 

All credit cards accepted. 

The Muslim Observer reserves the right to refuse to accept a 

ny classified ad, paid or unpaid, at its sole discretion. 

Payment must accompany order with all paid ads. 

Help Wanted-Skilled Trades 

Can You Dig It? Heavy Equipment Operator 

Career! Receive Hands On Training. 

National Certifications Operating Buldozers, 

Backhoes & Excavators, Lifetime Job 

Placement. VA Benefits Eligible! 

1-866-362-6497 (MICH) 

Help Wanted—Truck Driver 

$5000 Sign On Bonus! $65-$75K Annually, 

Plus Bonuses! Home Weekly and Excellent 

Benefits, CDL A and 6 Months Experience 

Required. Call 888-409-6033, Apply Online 

www.DriveForRed.com (MICH) 

Hiring Company Drivers and Owner 

Operators for Flatbed or Dry Van. Tan Tara 

Transportation offers excellent equipment, 

pay, benefits, home weekly. Call 800-650- 

0292 or apply www.tantara.us (MICH) 

Instruction, Schools 

AVIATION Grads work with JetBlue, Boeing, 

NASA, others- start here hands-on training 

for FAA certification. Financial aid if qualified. 

CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance 

1-877-891-2281 (MICH) 

Miscellaneous 

This classified spot for sale. Advertise your 

EVENT, PRODUCT, or RECRUIT an applicant 

in more than 130 Michigan newspapers! 

Only $299/week. 

To place, Call: 800-227-7636 (MICH) 

Stop OVERPAYING for your prescriptions! 

Save up to 93%! Call our licensed Canadian 

and International pharmacy service to 

compare prices and get $15.00 off your first 

prescription and FREE Shipping: 

1-800-259-4150 (MICH) 

Steel Buildings 

PIONEER POLE BUILDINGS-Free 

Estimates-Licensed and insured-2X6 

Trusses-45 Year Warranty Galvalume 

Steel-19 Colors-Since 1976-#1 in Michigan- 

Call Today 1-800-292-0679. (MICH) 


Women in LA 

start a mosque 

of their own 

Volume 17, Issue xx Month xx - xx, 143x n Month xx - xx, 201x $2.00 

8 Muslims on Forbes 

30 under 30 list 

Uzma Rawn 

Abe Othman 

Headline here for compelling 

story 

on an inside page 

Page PB 

Headline here for 

compelling story 

on an inside page 

Page PB 

Shama Hyder 

Minhaj Chowdhury 

Ali Khan 

Ali Zaidi 

Karim Abouelnaga 

Fiza Farhan 

Eight Muslims made Forbes 

Magazine’s renowned 30 under 30 

lists. Leaders in their respective 

fields, none of them has reached 

30-years-old yet. 

Abe Othman is the co-founder 

of Building Robotics, a company 

that helps buildings be more 

energy efficient. 

Ali Khan is one of two 

managers on Select Software 

and Computer Services Portfolio, 

worth more than $2 billion. 

Ali Zaidi works on strategies to 

help the US government increase 

American energy security and cut 

carbon emissions. 

Fiza Farhan runs a 

microfinance organization, the 

Buksh Foundation, to bring solar 

lighting to rural Pakistan. 

Karim Abouelnaga is working 

on building a network to redefine 

the summer learning experience 

for low-income children 

nationwide. 

Minhaj Chowdhury is cofounder 

and ceo of Drinkwell, 

which delivers clean drinking 

water through water filtration 

technology. 

Shama Hyder is CEO of the 

award-winning Marketing Zen 

Group, averaging 400% growth 

annually since its start in 2009. 

Uzma Rawn has brokered 

a number of high-level sports 

sponsorship agreements at 

Premier Partnerships. 

By MARIAM SOBH 

(Religion News Service) — A 

downtown Los Angeles interfaith 

center that once served 

as a synagogue was the site of 

a historic worship service last 

week, as dozens of women 

gathered for Friday Muslim 

prayers in what is 

being dubbed the 

first women’s-only 

mosque in the 

United States. 

M. Hasna 

Maznavi, founder 

and president 

of the Women’s 

Mosque of America, 

and co-president 

Sana Muttalib, 

said they 

are following the 

example of women 

pioneers at 

the forefront of Islamic education 

and spiritual practice. 

“Women lack access to 

things men have, professional 

or religious,” said Muttalib, a 

lawyer. “I think this is our contribution 

to help resolve that 

issue.” 

Maznavi, a filmmaker, said 

women-only spaces have been 

part of Islamic history for generations 

and still exist in China, 

Yemen and Syria. In the United 

States, nearly all mosques separate 

the sexes. Women pray in 

the rear of the prayer hall or 

in a separate room from male 

congregants. 

About 100 women attended 

the jumah or Friday prayer on 

Jan. 30 in a rented space at 

the Pico Union 

Project, just a few 

minutes from the 

Staples Center. 

Edina Lekovic, 

director of policy 

and programming 

at the Muslim 

Public Affairs 

Council, gave the 

sermon. 

Several women 

tweeted after 

the event, conveying 

their enthusiasm. 

But some questioned 

the propriety of women leading 

prayers that have traditionally 

been performed by men. 

Muslema Purmul, a chaplain 

for Muslim students at 

UCLA, wrote a post on her 

Facebook page that there isn’t 

such a thing as a womanled 

Friday prayer. 

“A women’s jumah is legally 

invalid according to all the 


Social media sensation sends $1 million to Africa 

By Carissa D. Lamkahouan in only a few months. 

A graduate student in science 

and social media at the 

In today’s world, no one can 

deny the power and ever-expanding 

reach of social media, fornia in Los Angeles, Diane 

University of Southern Cali- 

least of all Karim Diane, who’s is also an aspiring singer and 

online “singing in the shower” songwriter. Looking to gain exposure 

for his talents, he creat- 

bits not only gained him a 

large virtual following on Instagram 

and YouTube, it also profile in 2013 and began uped 

his “Team Karim” Instagram 

provided the means for him to loading short videos of himself 

raise enough funds to send $1 singing covers of popular songs 

million worth of medical supplies 

to the West African nation 

— from his shower. 

“I wanted a way to differentiate 

myself (from other sing- 

of Ivory Coast. 

ers), and this was a fun way to 

“It’s super cool,” Diane said 

do it,” said Diane, 24. 

of the recent campaign, which 

managed to secure the money (Continued on page 14) 

Iman Fund 

Allied Asset Advisors 

Organizers 

envision 

programming that 

includes men, but 

the prayers will 

remain for women 

and children, 

including boys 

Karim Diane’s Instagram photo. 

Investing with Islamic Values 

(877) 417-6161 | www.imanfund.com 

To open an IRA, Roth IRA, 401k Roll Over Call an Advisor 

The fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The statutory and summary 

prospectuses contain this and other important information about the investment company, and it may be obtained by calling (877) 417-6161. 

Read it carefully before investing. Mutual fund investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. It is possible that the Islamic Shari’ah restrictions placed on 

Quasar Distributors, LLC., Distributor 

Iman Fund 

Allied Asset Advisors 

investments and reflected in the main investment strategies may result in the Fund not performing as well as mutual funds not subject to such restrictions. 

A publication of Muslim Media Network, Inc. • Tel: 248-426-7777 • Fax: 248-476-8926 • info@muslimobserver.com • www.muslimobserver.com 

Attention Advertisers! 


has a special Ramadan 

offer. 

Please call Mr. Keith 

Farmer at 734-327-1800 

Yes, please sign me up for a subscription: 

o1 yr @ $100 o2 yrs @ $185 o3 yrs @ $270 

oLifetime @ $1,200 oBenefactor @ $1,600 

oI am enclosing payment oPlease charge my: 

oAmex oVisa oMastercard oDiscover 

Card No. ________________________________________________ 

Expiration Date ___________________________________________ 

Address ________________________________________________ 

City,State, Zip ____________________________________________ 

Phone __________________________________________________ 

E-mail __________________________________________________ 

Send this coupon to The Muslim Observer, 

29004 W. 8 Mile Road, Farmington, MI 48336 

Thank you!


continuations / international 

Israel says Iran 

violated sanctions 

by buying aircraft 

Coffee beans. Photo credit: Clipart.com 

Legacy: Qazzaz coffee 

(Continued from page 1) 

suffused with the hearty smell 

of coffee while the back contains 

a few coffee-related contraptions: 

several grinders 

and two gargantuan roasting 

machines. Mohammed, the 

owner, is a tall man with callused 

hands and a large smile. 

Qazzaz Coffee is the rebranded 

American successor to Al- 

Anwar Coffee, specializing in 

a unique blend of Turkish coffee, 

the “Abu Dawood Turkish 

Coffee”—with a heritage of 50 

years, the business ships to 27 

states, household by household, 

through phone and online 

orders. The selection is vast, 

from a cardamom-infused mild 

mix to an authentic Arabian 

blend. What’s amazing, however, 

is this man’s singular drive, 

passion and an astounding attention 

to detail. 

“I spent two years designing 

this bag,” Mohammed gestures, 

pointing to the packaging 

for the coffee grind, “You 

see, the logo—the cup has a Q, 

for Qazzaz, the bottom, darker 

half of the circle represents the 

coffee, the top, white part is the 

cream, the cup is shaped like 

a bean—there’s a whole story 

here, man!” 

“We opened shop in 2010.” 

“And it’s all been you, then? 

No help, really?” I ask. 

“Yeah. Just me, for the most 

part.” Mohammed answers. 

He does all of his grinding by 

hand, and keeps no back stock. 

To ensure freshness, he won’t 

sell or ship out any product 

that’s more than a day old. With 

three grinders in the back, he 

loads them up with coffee beans 

and turns them into grind—500 

pounds a week. Pound by 

pound, every bean ground with 

sheer will and monstrous effort. 

He pays a premium price to import 

handpicked beans from 

coffee bean farms overseas. He 

cuts no corners if it means compromising 

on his coffee’s taste. 

It’s strange—in a market where 

his competition is taking every 

measure to stretch their dollar, 

you’d think that a business 

owner, especially a small business 

owner, would be loath to 

let a single dollar slip by. 

“I’m here because I want to 

serve these people quality. I 

wouldn’t be doing this if I knew 

my coffee was cheap.” He recounts 

being approached by 

several other coffee merchants 

during a factory visit. 

“They recommended changing 

the recipe, using cheaper 

beans or something—and we’re 

like, no way in hell are we ever 

doing that. This was my dad’s 

recipe, it’s 50 years old, and 

we’re never going to cheat 

the customer.” His eyes shine 

furiously. 

He also has some words to 

say about his competition. 

“What does Starbucks have? 

Just a name. What does Tim 

Hortons have? Just a name. I 

just—I want people to realize 

what we have, that we have one 

of the best coffees in the world.” 

The recipe is one that enjoyed 

roaring success in Kuwait. It’s 

hard to doubt his words—the 

only problem is, only a scant 

few know of this hidden treasure 

trove. 

“There are people here who 

emigrated from Kuwait who 

used to drink my father’s coffee 

then. They tell me, even now, 

the taste hasn’t changed.” 

It’s a true reflection of Islamic 

principles in a business—a profound 

and moving commitment 

to service, rather than the dollar—a 

cup of 50 years, made at 

the hands of a man who fights 

tooth and nail to fulfill a family’s 

dream. Thoroughly moved, 

I’m about to leave—but there’s a 

question remaining. 

“Why? What drives you to do 

all this?” I ask. 

“I want my father to stand 

next to me, and be proud of me 

because he saw his son expand 

his vision and that he made it 

into a world brand, not just a local 

brand.” 

Editor’s note: Qazzaz Coffee 

accepts orders by phone at 313- 

585-1739 and online (qazzazcoffee.com). 

It also sells its 

packages in local markets in 

Dearborn, Sterling Heights, 

Lansing, Flint and all around the 

metro Detroit area. Mohammed 

is currently looking for a serious 

investor who will help him take 

his business to the next level. 

By Jeffrey Heller 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A 

senior Israeli official took a 

swipe at the United States on 

Tuesday over Iran’s reported 

purchase of second-hand civilian 

aircraft, saying the acquisition 

violated international 

sanctions and went ahead despite 

a tip-off from Israel. 

Iranian Transport Minister 

Abbas Akhoondi was quoted on 

May 11 by the Iranian Students 

News Agency as saying Tehran 

bought 15 used commercial 

planes in the last three months. 

He did not say who sold them 

or how they had been acquired. 

A long-standing ban on the 

export of aircraft spare parts 

to Iran was eased under an interim 

nuclear deal between 

Tehran and world powers in 

late 2013, but the sanctions regime 

continues to restrict sales 

of planes. 

“Israel learned from intelligence 

sources about this very 

significant breach of the sanctions 

in advance of it occurring,” 

the Israeli official, speaking 

on condition of anonymity, 

told Reuters. 

“We flagged the issue to the 

U.S. administration,” the official 

said. “Unfortunately, the 

deal still went through and 

there was no success in preventing 

it.” 

In Washington, a U.S. State 

Department official, speaking 

on condition of anonymity, 

said the Obama administration 

was aware of the report and “if 

there is sanctionable activity, 

we will take action”. 

He said that while the export 

to Iran of U.S.-made 

spare parts needed for safe operations 

of Iranian civilian airliners 

was now permitted with 

a U.S. Treasury Department 

license, the sale of U.S.-origin 

Redoing Ramadan 


dressed for the day and putter 

around on the Internet or complete 

necessary housework, I’d 

find the afternoon had nearly 

evaporated and it was soon time 

to start preparing dinner. The 

cycle was endless. 

However, because of the 

unique circumstances a summer 

Ramadan brings, I suspect I’m 

not alone in my failings. I think 

a summer Ramadan brings difficult 

challenges to those us of 

who are fasting and faced with 

the prospect of entertaining kids 

all day long. Don’t get me wrong. 

I’m not saying children have to be 

engaged every moment of their 

waking hours, but my lethargy 

and inactivity last year were extreme 

and, not only did it bring 

us all down, it most certainly 

didn’t lend itself to creating any 

special Ramadan memories. 

aircraft was not. 

Iranian officials could not 

immediately be reached for 

comment. 

But the Iranian state news 

agency IRNA said on May 12 

that Iran’s Mahan Air -- which 

is blacklisted by Washington 

-- recently acquired nine used 

Airbus commercial aircraft. 

Airbus, a European consortium, 

does not sell planes to 

Iran, and IRNA did not identify 

who supplied the aircraft. 

Nuclear negotiations 

The Israeli official’s comments 

appeared to be an attempt 

to portray the United 

States as being lax in enforcing 

current economic restrictions 

even as it promises to 

reimpose them if Iran fails to 

honor terms of a nuclear deal 

now under negotiation with 

six world powers including 

Washington. 

Israel views the United 

States, its main ally, as the lead 

Western player in the talks and 

as a watchdog over international 

sanctions imposed on 

the Islamic Republic. 

Officials in Israel, Iran’s arch 

regional adversary and widely 

believed to be the Middle East’s 

only nuclear power, say Tehran 

cannot be trusted to honor a 

nuclear agreement. 

The official said the aircraft 

were sold to an airline that 

had been blacklisted by the 

United States “because of its 

involvement with the Iranian 

Revolutionary Guards” and 

Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas. 

The official did not name 

the company. 

London’s Financial Times reported 

last week the deal was 

brokered through a complex 

series of arrangements with apparently 

unwitting companies 

across Europe. 

That is the part that hurts 

the most. I fear my kids’ earliest 

memories of Ramadan, 

this most special of times for 

Muslims, will be punctuated by 

a picture of their mom shuffling 

to the kitchen only to belatedly 

remember there is no coffee to 

be had at 10:37 in the morning 

no matter how much she wills it 

to be so. 

So yeah, this year’s it’s going 

to be different. I’m going to sleep 

at night a little earlier, limit my 

slumber to light snoozing after 

suhoor, and I’m going to do my 

best to generate some energy to 

spend some quality, summertime-style 

fun time with those I 

love the most. 

Inshallah, this year I’m doing 

Ramadan right. 

Editor’s note: the author’s 

views are her own.

continuation 

Who are the Rohingyas? 



ethnic minority group. An estimated 

800,000 Rohingyas live 

in Myanmar’s western Rakhine 

State; an additional million 

are scattered across Saudi 

Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, 

Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere. 

Most practice a unique 

blend of Sufi-infused Sunni 

Islam. More than 140,000 of 

Myanmar’s Rohingyas were 

pushed to dire displacement 

camps in 2012 amid regional 

conflicts. More than 120,000 

have since fled the Myanmar/ 

Bangladesh border to escape 

violence, persecution and 

economic hardship. The 

United Nations has called the 

Rohingyas one of the most persecuted 

minorities in the world. 

Q: Why are they being persecuted 

in Myanmar? 

A: It’s complicated, but some 

of it boils down to superstition 

and the politics of fear. 

Myanmar is between 80 and 

90 percent Buddhist. Despite 

this majority, many believe 

in a scripturally shaky prophecy 

that claims their faith will 

disappear in the coming millennia. 

They also point to the 

number 786, a common numerological 

abbreviation for 

the Arabic phrase “Bismillah 

al-Rahman al-Rahim” (“In 

the name of God, the Most 

Gracious, the Most Merciful”), 

as evidence of a plot for 

Muslim domination in the 21st 

century (7 + 8 + 6 = 21). The 

number 786 is often posted 

outside Muslim-owned businesses 

in the region. 

Buddhist nationalists such 

as Mandalay-based monk 

Wirathu, whom Time magazine 

has called the “Face of 

Buddhist Terror,” are amplifying 

these “Islamic invasion” 

fears and inciting anti-Muslim 

violence through unsubstantiated 

Facebook posts. Economic 

and other political factors are 

also at play, but Myanmar’s 

government is only making 

things worse. 

Q: What’s the government 

doing? 

Quick field trip: The 

National Museum of Myanmar 

in Yangon features dozens of 

mannequins wrapped in traditional 

clothes representing 

the country’s diverse ethnic 

groups. Notably absent? The 

Rohingyas, who don’t even exist 

as far as the government is 

concerned. 

Government officials categorize 

the Rohingyas as “Bengali,” 

implying that they are in 

Myanmar illegally from neighboring 

Bangladesh. A 1982 law 

excludes Rohingyas from citizenship, 

leaving most stateless. 

Their ethnicity was left off last 

year’s landmark census. 

The government has long 

denied Rohingyas access to basic 

public services, education 

and health care. Burdensome 

laws restrict their travel, marriage 

and childbearing rights, 

and the government has even 

blocked them from receiving 

humanitarian aid. 

Q: That sounds bad, but 

how bad do the Rohingyas 

really have it? 

A: The United States 

Holocaust Memorial Museum 

issued a report earlier this 

month titled “They Want Us 

All to Go Away: Early Warning 

Signs of Genocide in Burma,” 

which says it all. The report 

documents how the Rohingyas 

are subjected to dehumanizing 

hate speech, physical 

violence, segregation, dire living 

conditions, restrictions on 

movement, land confiscation, 

sexual violence, arbitrary detention, 

voting restrictions, 

loss of citizenship, extortion 

and countless other human 

rights violations. Other 

ethnic minority groups face 

persecution in Myanmar, but 

Rohingyas seem to have it the 

worst. 

Q: Isn’t Nobel Peace laureate 

Aung San Suu Kyi a politician 

there now? What’s she 

doing to help? 

A: Little to nothing, it 

seems. Aung San Suu Kyi leads 

Myanmar’s main opposition 

party, the National League 

for Democracy. When pressed 

on the Rohingya issue, she 

often slips into vague declarations 

about the rule of law. 

She won’t even utter the word 

“Rohingya” at press conferences. 

A political analyst with 

access to the Nobel laureate 

quoted her on the subject as 

saying, “I am not silent because 

of political calculation. 

I am silent because, whoever’s 

side I stand on, there will 

be more blood. If I speak up 

for human rights, they (the 

Rohingyas) will only suffer. 

There will be more blood.” 

National elections are 

scheduled for later this year, 

and Aung San Suu Kyi is very 

much in politician mode, remaining 

silent on the Rohingya 

situation despite a recent 

surge in international media 

coverage. Look to see whether 

she loosens her tongue on the 

subject post-election. 

Q: This is embarrassing … 

but where is Myanmar? Is it 

near Burma? 

A: Myanmar and Burma are 

two names for the same country. 

The capital is Naypyitaw, 

(Your mosque can do it, but you can do it by yourself ! 

Today, the image of Muslims is under attack. However, we should not forget, that it is our responsibility to correct it collectively and 

individually: it is every Muslim's responsibility. YES, if we do it seriously we can see positive results emerging in a few years. 

Muslims, who are spread out across the United States, should place this ad. in their local newspapers and magazines. 

Below is a sample text for the ad. that you can use. 

Islam is a religion of inclusion. Muslims believe in all the Prophets of Old & 

New Testaments. Read Quran - The Original, unchanged word of God as His 

Last and Final testament to humankind. More information is available on 

following sites: www.peacetv.tv, www.theDeenShow.com, 

877whyIslam, www.Gainpeace.com www.twf.org 

Such ads are already running in many newspapers in the United States but may not be in your area of residence yet. Placing 

these ads can be a continuous reward (sadqa-e-jaria) for yourself, your children, your loved deceased ones and with the prayer 

for a sick person that Allah make life easy here and in the Hereafter. Please Google the list of newspapers in your state and 

contact their advertising departments. 

Such ads are not expensive. They range for around $20 to $50 per slot and are cheaper if run for a longer time. Call your local 

newspaper and ask how many print copies they distribute, and run it for a longer period of time to get cheaper rates. 

Don't forget that DAWAH works on the same principles as that of advertisement, BULK AND REPEATED EXPOSURE CREATES 

ACCEPTANCE. Printing continuously for a long period of time is better than printing one big AD for only once. Let your 

AD run for a longer time even if it is as small as a business card. 

NOTE: If you are living East of Chicago, Please call 877WHYISLAM and check if someone is already running an AD in the same 

news paper as yours. If that is the case chose another newspaper. And if you are living West of Chicago, please check with 

www.Gainpeace.com before putting your AD. Also, after the ad appears, please send a clipping to the respective organization. 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 

If you have any questions, or want copies of the ads that others have already placed in their area newspapers/ 

magazines, please contact me, Muhammad Khan at mjkhan11373@yahoo.com so that I can guide you better. 

You can also contact 1-877-why-Islam or Gainpeace.com 

but it used to be Yangon, 

which used to be called 

Rangoon. Stay with me. In 

1989, the ruling military junta 

changed Burma and Rangoon 

to Myanmar and Yangon. 

The Associated Press goes 

with Yangon and Myanmar. 

The British government still 

uses Rangoon and Burma. 

President Obama likes to mix 

and match. Choosing one 

word over another is far less 

of a political statement today 

than it would have been in the 

1990s and early 2000s. One 

perk of going with Myanmar 

is that you can use the same 

word for nationality, language 

and country: The Myanmar 

people speak Myanmar in 

Myanmar.


advertisement 

What Will Your Iftar Table Look Like This Year? 

For many around the world, it won’t be better than this. 

“Whoever feeds a fasting person will have their reward without decreasing from the fasting person’s reward.” 

Your gift of just $120 provides a month of iftar meals for a needy person 

in nine different countries this Ramadan. 

During the blessed month of Ramadan, Allah (SWT) provides the 

believers with increased opportunities to gain rewards and come 

closer to Him. Answering the call of someone who is suffering 

and in need is one of the most beloved of these opportunities. 

 

You can sponsor one or more needy fasting persons for the entire 

blessed month in any of these nine countries where we work: 

• Albania 

• Bosnia & Herzegovina 

• India 

• Indonesia 

• Kenya 

• Lebanon (including 

Palestinian Refugees) 

• Somalia 

• Syria 

• USA (Baltimore) 

Mercy-USA will ensure that your iftar gift feeds a truly needy 

person, and your Zakat or other donation will be used to relieve 

suffering, restore dignity and support the needy in their efforts to 

become more self-sufficient. 

Mercy-USA for Aid and Development has a new look 

for the same vital work we’ve been doing around the 

world since we were founded in 1988! 

Donate Online: www.mercyusa.org 

Call Toll-Free: 800-55-MERCY (800-556-3729) 

Mercy-USA for Aid and Development® 

44450 Pinetree Dr., Ste. 201 • Plymouth, Michigan 48170-3869 

Like us on Facebook! 

facebook.com/MercyUSA 

@Mercy-USA 

Enclosed is my Ramadan Gift 

A month of Iftar for _____ persons X $120 = 

Zakat ul-Mal 

Donate Online: mercyusa.org • Call Toll-Free: 800-55-MERCY (800-556-3729) 

Clip and Mail this Donation Form to Mercy-USA • 44450 Pinetree Dr. Ste. 201, Plymouth, Michigan 48170-3869 

In Canada: Fiesta RPO, PO Box 56102, 102 Hwy #8, Stoney Creek, ON L8G 5C9 

Zakat ul-Fitr for ______ persons X $10 = 

$_________ 

$_________ 

$_________ 

TMO:05/15 

Name (Please print) 

Address 

Apt. 

IH 

General Sadaqa / Other Gift* 

My check is enclosed. 

$_________ 

City State/Province Zip/Postal Code 

Please charge my gift using: 

 

Daytime Telephone 

Evening Telephone 

Credit Card No. 

E-mail 

Security Code 

Expiration Date 

*Many companies match their employees’ donations; ask your employer if they have a 

“Matching Gift Program”. 

Authorized Signature 

US Tax No. 38-2846307, Canada Tax No. 89458-5553-RR0001 

Date 

**Automatic Giving Program: A gift of your choice can be automatically deducted monthly 

from your bank or major credit card account. Please call us toll-free at 800-556-3729 for 

details on how you can make an easy and sustaining gift.

TMO 5/21/15

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?