December 2009
You are browsing the archive for December 2009.
“Trees for Life” Campaign comes to UCLA
By Afnan Shukry
The “Trees for Life- Planting Peace in Palestine” initiative was launched in the summer of 2006 with a clear goal in mind: to offset destruction caused onto olive groves in Palestine by replanting olive trees, a symbol of peace. Better yet, to replant hope into the hearts of Palestinians who lost it when [...]
Balance – Al Murasalah
Balance
suspended have we been
since our brother Qabil (Cain)
the dastardly deed did do
between the vicissitude scales
of war and peace
a sinful legacy from him
bequeathed to us unwittingly
encouraging some to murder
and some to peace attain
misguided s/he who knows not
this historical fact
while riding thru life
on steeds of love and hate
struggle therefore daily for peace
prepare diligently for war
on the battlefield [...]
A letter from Al-Murasalah
As Salaamu Alaikum
I wrote to you recently but briefly and I felt I should write and explain to you a little of what this experience is about. Surely most people here claim innocent many also become religious after they get here. That is not the cse with me. I backslid as a muslim and made [...]
A Stormy Forecast for Student Tuition
It’s not always sunny in California.
Few were spared from the Governor’s drastic budget cuts. $6.5 billion slashed from K-14 education. $2 billion from UC and CSU. $1.3 billion from Medi-Cal. $1.8 billion from municipal government funds. $1 billion from social services for the elderly, disabled and uninsured.
That, and the Legislature is now trying to sue [...]
Insights and Reflections on Surah Al-Fatihah
By Naqib Shifa
The Post-Modern era consists of copious ethical discord due to its declining religiosity and lack of distinction between morality and immorality. Moreover, the rapid and time-eroding lifestyle that is propelled by incessant consumerism and affluence is -in large part- a stark hindrance toward religious growth and development. The symptoms of this religious stagnation [...]
Time: A Divine Covenant
By Fatema Kahil
They are indeed infamous: individuals who are always late. It seems that no matter what the circumstance or the occasion, they just can’t appear to be on time. Some even attempt to justify their chronic tardiness with a litany of excuses: traffic on the Interstate-5, a sick relative, or even DNA tuned to [...]
Muslim Celeb-Mania: Obsessiveness
By Sumaya Bezrati
Less than a minute after the news broke about Michael Jackson’s passing, one of my relatives posted a video link on Facebook of what appeared to be Michael Jackson singing an Islamic nasheed called “Give Thanks to Allah.” Thousands of comments poured in from Muslims ecstatic to hear the “proof” that confirmed that [...]
Separated By Bars: The Mousavi Family Endures
By Maral Ali
Al-Talib meets with former UCLA graduate student Zeinab Mousavi to talk about the Mousavi family’s experience of having their father be imprisoned in the Terre Haute, Indiana CMU.
Al-Talib: Since his transfer to the Terre Haute CMU, how often has your family been able to visit Mr. Mousavi?
Mousavi: A couple times. My mom [...]
Inside the Counter-Terrorism Unit: The Case of Seyed Mousavi
By Maral Ali
The Terre Haute CMU contains a mostly Muslim prison population. One such case is Seyed Mahmood Mousavi, a Muslim community leader in Southern California who founded Masjid Al-Nabi in West Covina. He is the father of four children (the youngest is a sophomore at UCLA) and an active member of the local community. [...]
“Little Guantanamo”: Secret Prisons in America
By Maral Ali
Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay have come to symbolize the face of the “War on Terror” and the many abuses that took place in that era, yet even with the end of the Bush Administration, a silent legacy remains in the form of secret illegal prisons in the United States designed to hold [...]
