Archive for February, 2010

10Feb
2010

A Request for help from the Brothers and Sisters at UC Irvine

-In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful- Assalamu alaykum (peace be upon you), You may have heard of the recent event at UC Irvine with Michael Oren, the ambassador of Israel to the US. While he was invited by a student organization to speak on US-Israeli relations, the UCI Law School and the Political Science Department cosponsored the speech by Oren, a public figure who represents a state that continues to commit more human rights violations than any [...]

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8Feb
2010

Thank You Howard Zinn

I first picked up Howard Zinn’s A People’s History when I was eleven years old. I had been dared to do so by a friend of mine who declared that if I successfully completed it, I’d go down in history as the biggest bookworm that ever walked the halls of our school. 675 pages of history. Definitely a huge undertaking, or so it seemed at the time. But I finished it regardless, not really comprehending its profundity and underestimating its [...]

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4Feb
2010

LAPD Sponsors Dialogue with Muslim Community

Last Monday January 25th the LAPD sponsored a Muslim Community Forum at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Mosque near USC. A diverse group of Los Angeles Muslims filled the room to capacity to hear perspectives on the ideal relationship between law enforcement and the Muslim community the new Los Angeles Police Department, as presented by (LAPD) Police Chief Charlie Beck and Deputy Chief Michael Downing. Recent history provides us with a model for what we would not want a “relationship” [...]

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1Feb
2010

Al-Murasalah

As Al-Murasalah takes a new direction, insha’Allah for the better, I would like to aid the effort and provide my own opinion to the prompt that has been presented to those that in the program and now to the general MSA population.  The prompt goes as such: “Some have used the argument that if Allah (swt) existed, there would be no ills in this world. Why has Allah (swt) allowed for such evils to exist in this world? The first [...]

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1Feb
2010

Reflections from a Muslim Convert: Shahada

I texted Neda when I was outside of Haines. She met me outside. I didn’t know how to put on a Hijab and asked her if she could help me put it on. She said that it wasn’t necessary and I began to wonder if she was pulling my leg. She dragged me into the room where the Imam was lecturing and I eyed the individuals in the room. I recognized several people immediately: Amina, Nader, Farhat, and many more. [...]

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