Hamdan Azhar (Graduate Student in Biostatistics at the University of Michigan)

Posted: November 5, 2009 08:01 AM

Death of a Detroit Imam Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

DETROIT — Six days have passed since his father’s untimely death, and Omar Regan’s eyes betray a hint of moistness. It is a chilly Tuesday morning, and the Detroit diner at which he has agreed to meet – Superior Coney Island on Wyoming St. – is only two miles from the warehouse where Luqman Ameen Abdullah was killed by FBI agents in a hail of gunfire.

“My father was really, truly a great dude,” he tells me. “Straight-forward, he would say what was on his mind…he taught us to be straight up.” Mr. Regan, 34, an actor and motivational speaker, was at home in California when he started receiving frantic phone calls last Wednesday afternoon. The national media quickly caught wind of the story – “FBI raids in Detroit, dog shot, airlifted to hospital.” He called his father – “when he didn’t pick up, I assumed they were holding him.” Then one of his sisters called. “They’ve killed Abu,” she screamed hysterically. “And that’s when it hit – it hit me hard,” he says, “when you hear them crying and screaming in shock.”

We have just ordered breakfast when we are joined by one of Mr. Regan’s brothers – there are 13 siblings in all. “This is my brother Mujahid,” he says by way of introduction. The shock on my face is palpable, and they exchange a knowing laugh. Mujahid Carswell, 30, is one of the eleven individuals charged in the criminal complaint; the initial press release from the US Attorney’s Office calls him “armed and dangerous.” He lives in Windsor, Ontario – across the river from Detroit – and was at home with his family when he found his house surrounded by heavily-armed agents. He voluntarily surrendered himself and a federal judge approved his release with a monitoring device on Friday. But the official responsible for fitting the device went home early, he says, so he wasn’t released until Monday, and missed his father’s funeral.

The waitress brings us our scrambled eggs with grits and halal bacon (made with beef instead of pork.) I confess to never having tried grits, and Mr. Carswell looks at me in mock disbelief. “You have to try some,” he insists, “but not the sweetened version” as he glances disapprovingly at his brother who is pouring spoonfuls of sugar into his bowl. “Look, I don’t care about what my father said. People say stuff all the time. What did he do? He fed the people every Sunday for 30 years.”

Mr. Regan joins in, “The non-Muslims in the neighborhood call us and they’re in tears. If someone on the street would ask him for food, he’d go in the house. I have to feed them – that was his attitude.” “In the snow”, interjects Mr. Carswell, “with no money to do it with. People have to be fed. The government isn’t doing it, it’s up to you.” At the end of the day, asks Mr. Regan, “If he was such a bad guy, why did people love him so much?”

The funeral service for Mr. Abdullah, affectionately known as Imam Luqman in the community, was held this past Saturday morning at Detroit’s Muslim Center, with an estimated 1500 individuals in attendance. “There were Muslims of every race, of every denomination; there were Evangelicals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, atheists, men, women, and children…The funeral procession stretched for four miles,” says Mr. Regan. I arrived just as the procession was departing for Knollwood Cemetery in Canton – over 25 miles away. At the burial ground, the atmosphere seemed rich with emotion, yet oddly festive at the same time, with children running around and women chatting in small groups. Ron, 31, a white cemetery employee, estimated the crowd of 1000 as the largest he had ever seen. “He must have been well-liked.”

“My whole life,” says Mr. Regan, “I’ve seen police bother him.” He recalls a particular incident when the call to prayer (adhaan) was being broadcast at the mosque and the police came. “They drove the car onto the sidewalk, and the cop got up on the roof and broke the speaker. They handcuffed my father. He didn’t bother nobody.” Eventually, the non-Muslims petitioned to get the speaker back. “They said, ‘Why ya’ll stopped singing those songs in the morning?’”

The government accuses Mr. Abdullah and his followers of seeking to “establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States.” Mr. Regan offers a different perspective. “My father wanted a decent neighborhood, without liquor stores, drugs, gangs, and violence. He wanted children to grow up in a good environment.” Mr. Carswell takes issue with the government’s portrayal of his father as a danger to the community. “Have you ever been to my community?” he asks angrily. “What have you done for my community?”

I ask about the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, the much-discussed 45-page document that details the government’s grounds for obtaining arrest warrants for Mr. Abdullah, Mr. Carswell, and nine others. “This is character assassination,” argues Mr. Regan. “They want to say Muslims are terrorists so they can look justified in doing what they’re doing. All they have to do is sway public opinion. People say, ‘I seen it on TV’, and they believe it.” “It’s not just character assassination,” adds Mr. Carswell. “They shot him 18 times.”

I ask if the government has officially contacted his family. Mr. Regan offers a wry smile: “To express their condolences?” No, he responds, nor does he expect them to. “I couldn’t have listened to them talk about my father anyways. ‘You liars’, I would have said.”

How has the family been handling the situation? “We’re taking it day-by-day,” answers Mr. Regan. “We’re not excited and over-emotional. We know that Allah is in control, and Allah called him home. We’re hurt because we miss him. Insha Allah (God Willing), he’s in paradise. He was always doing something for somebody.” As the brothers get up to leave, we shake hands and I thank them for their time.

The Community

The interview has gone much better than expected – not bad for a biostatistician, I think. All I need to do is make some quick phone calls and get some statements, and I would be done. As I pull out of the parking lot, however, an alternate plan comes to mind. I quickly plug in the intersection of Joy and Dexter into my GPS, and soon I am off to the heart of Luqman Abdullah’s neighborhood.

I drive the three miles and watch the neighborhoods around me go from bad to worse. Entire blocks are deserted, and homes and businesses are boarded up and rotting away. The constant din of construction in Ann Arbor seems like a blessing in comparison. Hardly anyone can be seen walking on the street by the time I arrive at Eagle’s Coney Island diner. I have heard that the Imam used to get coffee here, and I am anxious to meet ordinary people who knew him.

The cold air hits my face as I get out of the car. I enter and find about a dozen men, ranging in age from late teens to senior citizens, seated in booths eating lunch. Trying not to feel self-conscious, I walk up to the thick bullet-proof glass which separates the attendants from the customers. The menu advertises a “recession special” of a “Coney egg sandwich” for only 99 cents. I glimpse a “No Loitering” sign and approach the counter. “Do you – take credit cards?” I ask falteringly, the words barely having left my mouth before I wish I could take them back. I have four dollars in my pocket, and I order coffee and a side of French fries for $2. (As any true New Yorker will tell you, street coffee beats Starbucks any day.)

I select a table in the corner, and start toying with my fries, wondering what I am doing with my life. As a biostatistics graduate student, I should have been in class learning about Cox survival models at that moment. Instead I approach a wrinkled gentleman who looks to be in his late 60s. “I’m a writer,” I announce, hoping he can’t see through the deceit. “The guy who got killed a few days ago, Imam Luqman, did you know him?” He smiles politely back at me. “I don’t know anything about that.” I walk up to the cashier, a pretty white girl only a little older than me. “Yes, he used to get his coffee here regularly,” she tells me. “Good man.”

Everything seems to be just around the corner – Mr. Abdullah’s residence, the former location of Masjid Al-Haqq that he had been evicted from earlier in the year, and the makeshift mosque his followers had been using since. I decide to leave my car at the diner, hoping it won’t get towed or broken into, and cautiously start to walk around the neighborhood. I overcome my initial hesitation and interview over a dozen people, mostly on the street, but also in some of the stores in the area. While some are hesitant to talk and deny knowing anything, most are happy to share their recollections of Imam Luqman. From no less than nine individuals, I hear a consistent story of a peaceful man who lived an otherwise unremarkable life and was known for feeding the hungry and homeless.

I catch Toby, 11, and Martin, 8, playing basketball on the street on Holmur Ave. “I remember him coming to our block and giving out bread,” Toby tells me. “No one else did that.” Matt, 57, is raking his neighbor’s lawn on Hazelwood St. when I approach. When I mention the Imam’s name, he scratches his head. “Oh, are you talking about those Muslims?” he asks suddenly, pronouncing the word ‘Moozlum’. “I’ve lived here for twenty years. They were good people – generous people.”

Nate, 61, has a stand outside the Thrifty Scot Supermarket on Joy Rd. where he sells incense and DVDs. He remembers Mr. Abdullah as a regular shopper at the store; “he was very distinctive,” he tells me, in his robes and garments. “Used to feed the poor from his mosque. Never bothered nobody.”

D., 34, is a barber at No Limit Cuts. After I’ve left, I notice the sign at the entrance -”In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” He is chatting casually with an older gentleman when I walk in. He tells me that people are angry and upset about what happened. “Only the Muslims?” I ask. “It’s not just about Muslims,” he insists. “It involves the whole community.”

I meet Al, 77, further down Joy Road. He tells me he knew Imam Luqman well. “How do you feel about what happened?” I ask. “They fucking shot someone who fed kids, that’s what they did.” He becomes emotional, as he tells me that “they were afraid of him and they killed him.” When I ask him about his religious affiliation, he tells me that he’s Baptist.

More common than anger, however, is bewilderment. Many people ask me for the inside scoop of what happened – everyone wants to know why he was killed. Anna, 80, has lived in Detroit all her life. When I ask her about the allegations in the media, she responds, “I never heard nothing like that about them.” “What I know is that they were generous, he was always helping people.”

I drive two miles to the local police precinct on Livernois and Elmhurst. The desk attendant refuses to comment and asks me to call the Detroit Police Department’s Public Information office. I ask to see a superior, and eventually a lieutenant agrees to speak to me off the record. I ask if there have been incidents in the past with Imam Luqman and his followers. She shakes her head. “As far as we were concerned, they were good neighbors.”

I have spoken to Mr. Abdullah’s family, and have tried to gauge community sentiment to the best of my abilities. I head towards I-96 for the 40-minute drive back to Ann Arbor. As the decaying remnants of Detroit fade into a blur in my windshield, I am left with more questions than answers.

The Complaint

The US Attorney’s office has released a 45-page affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint before a magistrate judge. After a finding of probable cause, arrest warrants were issued last Tuesday. The next stage of the process – when the evidence is presented to a grand jury and indictments are handed down – has yet to take place.

The complaint against Mr. Abdullah and ten others formally alleges six crimes: possession of firearms and body armor by a convicted felon, providing firearms to a convicted felon, tampering with motor vehicle identification numbers, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and conspiracy to sell or receive stolen goods. The evidence was obtained through an “undercover operation” involving at least three “confidential sources” and at least two “undercover employees of the FBI.” The substance of the criminal activity alleged involves, among other things, dealings in supposedly stolen fur coats, laptops, and LCD TVs.

The bulk of the document (29 pages) consists of a background section which accuses the defendants of far more serious offenses. Based on informants’ statements, these include an alleged plot to violently overthrow the government. However, since this information is only “background”, no formal charges have been filed based on these accusations.

Critics have taken issue with the layout of the affidavit itself. They accuse the government of using unethical means to introduce unsupported innuendo into the public debate – including information that fails to meet proper evidentiary standards and would not hold up in a court of law. While a judge has found probable cause to believe the defendants committed crimes, these are limited to the six offenses listed above and everything else is merely speculation.

“If the government doesn’t have solid evidence, they’ll do everything they can to convict you in the court of public opinion” says a distinguished professor of criminal procedure at the University of Michigan Law School who agreed to speak off the record. “It’s wrong, but that’s how they do it.” The Associated Press headline on Wednesday – “Leader of Radical Islam Group Killed” – indicates that they may have already succeeded.

The AP story goes on to say, “No one was charged with terrorism. But Abdullah was ‘advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States.’” When asked about such contradictions, US Attorney Terrence Berg told the New York Times that “the charges speak for themselves.” Several legal scholars I spoke with disagreed, however, calling the affidavit “bizarre” and “unusual.” Why was no one charged with terrorism? Is the government making a distinction between “terrorism” and promoting violence against the United States? Or is there simply no substantive evidence to support such a charge?

The government has tried to assuage concerns of Muslim and Arab leaders in Southeast Michigan by referring to this as an “isolated incident.” Irregularities in the government’s account, however, and its handling of the case suggest otherwise. For example, the affidavit is signed by an agent who is part of a “counter-terrorism squad.” Why is a counter-terrorism squad investigating tampering with VIN numbers and the sale of stolen furs in the first place?

Inquiries to Mr. Berg’s office were directed to Public Information Officer Gina Balaya. “The affidavit speaks for itself,” she tells me. When I ask her to clarify the terrorism angle, she refuses, citing an “ongoing investigation.” When I press her further, she says that her job isn’t to answer questions, but merely to distribute copies of the press release and affidavit to interested parties. “That’s all I can do.”

Special Agent Sandra Berchtold, spokesperson for the Detroit division of the FBI, was more responsive. She defends the alleged innuendo in the background of the affidavit as necessary to justify the “armed and dangerous” designation made in the warrants about the suspects.

The American Muslim Taskforce (AMT), a national umbrella organization of major Islamic organizations, has long been critical of dubious FBI tactics that target underprivileged individuals within the Muslim community. Dr. Agha Saeed, AMT chair, attacks the FBI’s continued use of agent provocateurs. “The task of a civilized government,” he tells me, “is not to trick people into doing something wrong, and then say gotcha.” Rather, the government should “always encourage people to do the right thing at the right time.”

Asked about infiltration of houses of worship and monitoring of religious services – both of which were significant components of the FBI’s investigation – Ms. Berchtold directs me to the publicly available portions of the Domestic Intelligence and Operations Guidelines (DIOG). Just because something is legal, though, doesn’t make it right. Omar Regan grew emotional when he asked me, “What world are we living in?” “The government is supposed to serve and protect the people,” he said. “Instead, they use scare tactics that build mistrust in the community.”

Abdullah Bey El-Amin, imam of the Muslim Center – one of Detroit’s largest and most influential mosques – accuses the FBI of preying on the weakest segments of the population. “You go to the poorest part of town,” he says, “where people don’t have jobs, they don’t have running water, they don’t have heat, and you say ‘I have a fur coat you can sell.’” “They weren’t even sophisticated enough to get this stuff and steal it,” he continues. “The FBI had to bring them stuff.” What about media reports of a dangerous plot to take over the United States, I ask. “They couldn’t even take over their own block. And the FBI knew this, and they let it go on for three years.”

“We don’t condone the type of behavior that is alleged,” he reiterates. But in three years of investigation, the strongest case the government could build involved allegedly changing the VIN number on a used truck. “It wasn’t even a new truck,” he exclaims. “Why doesn’t the government sic dogs on the crack importers and drug dealers who are destroying our communities instead?”

The Investigation

The circumstances of Luqman Abdullah’s death continue to be a topic of speculation throughout the community. One widespread narrative maintains that the FBI had Mr. Abdullah cornered in a warehouse and then dispatched a dog to subdue him. When he shot the dog, agents returned fire, killing him. Mr. Regan, who washed his father’s body in preparation for the funeral, confirms the presence of 18 gunshot wounds. He also says the coroner told him that his father’s body was handcuffed when it arrived.

The US Attorney’s press release describes “an exchange of gunfire” after Mr. Abdullah fired the initial shot. However, the Associated Press quotes the FBI’s Agent Berchtold as saying “Abdullah fired a weapon and was killed by gunfire from agents.” Paul Chevigny, Professor Emeritus at the New York University School of Law, was unfamiliar with the facts of the case, but when the above scenario was presented to him as a hypothetical situation, his response was unequivocal. “Killing a dog,” he said, “is certainly not grounds for killing a person.”

The FBI Shooting Incident Review Team is conducting an internal inquiry. Meanwhile, since the incident occurred in the city of Dearborn, the Dearborn Police Department is handling the criminal aspects of the investigation. While a press release from Chief Ronald Haddad states that his department is “the lead investigative agency in this incident”, his office is nevertheless referring all media inquiries to the FBI. (Interestingly, the mayor’s chief spokesperson, contacted on Tuesday afternoon, seemed to suggest that the FBI was calling the shots and seemed unaware of Dearborn PD’s leading role.)

Ms. Berchtold was asked about how many FBI agents had been involved in the incident, and if they had been suspended pending investigation or if they were still on duty; she refused to comment. She confirmed that a K-9 was involved and was airlifted for emergency veterinary assistance. She was unable to discuss why a K-9 unit was involved in the first place or whether that was standard FBI procedure in such situations. (An FBI press release indicates a memorial will be held for the dog in Quantico, Virginia.)

Meanwhile, numerous organizations, including the American Muslim Task Force, the Muslim Alliance in North America, and the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, have joined Mr. Abdullah’s family and continue to call for an independent investigation.

Post-Script

Something Omar Regan told me during our interview sticks with me. “They forgot about the people in the hood,” he had said. From the comfort of my well-lit, secure, heated office on the medical campus of the University of Michigan, I look up the statistics. Detroit is officially the poorest city in the United States. Nearly 34% of residents and 48% of children live below the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that comes to $22,000 — most graduate student research assistants here are paid more than that.

A black man, a Muslim, and a community leader is shot 18 times in an FBI raid amidst allegations of entrapment and unethical conduct. The media frenzy drives the story for a few days and we are inundated with talk of nefarious Muslim plots to take over the United States. Meanwhile, the struggle to survive continues in the inner city and somewhere a child wonders what happened to that guy who spent thirty years feeding the poor and hungry.

This is a story about the death of an Imam, a family’s mourning, and a community’s search for answers. But it is just as much a story about the greater issues of race, religion, poverty, authority, and justice in society. If we can understand that much, then perhaps we will have learned something from the unfortunate death of Imam Luqman Abdullah.

Hamdan Azhar is a graduate student in biostatistics at the University of Michigan. An accomplished writer on international affairs, his works have been published in the Huffington Post, Counterpunch, and the Asia Times.

TV presenter covered from head to toe
Fatima Sidiya | Arab News

http://arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=128058&d=4&m=11&y=2009  

UNCOMPROMISING: Sawsan Salah Al-Deen and her colleagues present an episode of Asrar Al-Banat (The Secrets of Girls) on Awtan TV. (AN photo)

JEDDAH: A new TV show that discusses issues concerning teenage girls and female university students was recently broadcast with Saudi presenters dressed in black from head to toe.

The show — named Asrar Al-Banat (The Secrets of Girls) — is broadcast on Awtan TV, a Saudi religious channel that was first aired in August 2008 and has women broadcasters who are covered in the all-enveloping abaya and niqab.

There are over 60 religious satellite channels that are broadcast across the Middle East via Arabsat and Nilesat networks. The channels represent different extremes when it comes to women presenters. Channels such as Iqraa and Al-Resalah have women presenters who do not cover their faces and dress in different colors, not necessarily black. On the other hand, channels such as Al-Majd have no women presenters. Awtan is perhaps one that toes the middle line by allowing women to appear but only when covered from head to toe.

Presenting Asrar Al-Banat is Sawsan Salah Al-Deen, a 26-year-old Saudi BA graduate in Media and Guidance.

Sawsan presents the show with her sister, Sarah, a specialist in blood diseases, and psychologist Nawal Dawood.

Sawsan, who is from Riyadh, said she has long been looking to work as a journalist and has previously tried writing for the print media. She, however, finds TV shows effective in conveying her message. Asrar Al-Banat was the idea of Sa’ad Al-Obaid, the program’s director, who wanted a program that provides an insight into girls’ issues.

“He presented the idea to me and I liked it. He gave me the main points and I’ve been preparing the discussions ever since,” she said.

Commenting on how she looks on TV, Sawsan said, “Basically, this is my hijab and I don’t wear it because of the channel. The channel is an Islamic one and has a rule that I appear in full hijab.”

Sawsan, who is appearing on TV for the first time, said she was initially anxious. Her family has, however, been supportive, particularly since “people will not see me” and the program reaches out to young women.

Something that has also appealed to her family is the fact that her work environment is women-only; male technical assistants do not enter the studio while women are inside and carry out their duties from outside.Commenting on feedback on the program, Sawsan said, “I’ve seen comments on the Internet, spoke to my friends and heard varying opinions in my community in Riyadh. You can’t please all — everything new is refuted by some and welcomed by others.”

Speaking about a woman who criticized her appearance on TV she questioned why would people criticize her while she is in full hijab and leave other women who appear in improper dresses on various channels.

Sawsan added that in addition to compliments from the channel’s owner and the program’s director, the support of religious scholars — such as Sheikh Salim Al-Gadani and Sheikh Ghazi Al-Shammari — has been very encouraging for her.

Answering a question about some opposing religious views that regard the voice of women as Awrah (something that cannot be revealed in the presence of men), Sawsan said that scholars deem women’s voices as Awrah only if they are speaking softly or on immoral topics.

She added that the Prophet’s wife Sayyidatuna Ayesha (may Allah be pleased with her) would verbally issue religious rulings (fatwas) to men and that none of the Prophet’s companions criticized her at that time.

Commenting on whether her appearance on TV would now lead to women appearing on cooking and children programs, she said, “When it comes to cooking, men can present them. However, there are some issues relating to women which men cannot handle in the way we can.”

Asrar Al-Banat, which discusses different issues relating to teenage girls, has so far broadcast four episodes. It is aired from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Friday and receives live phone calls from members of the public.

Asalamu Alaikum

This is the unborn baby of a friend’s friend.

“We got curious about what our son does when we play Quran to him in the womb. Here’s what we were surprised to find. You will see how active he was before the Quran was recited to him. A fetus prostrates to God (Allah s.w.t) at the sound of the Quran. Another proof of how Islam (Submission to God) is our natural state.”

May Allah make their baby amongst the saliheen ameen.

FiAmanAllah, Tara Umm Omar

EVERYTHING PROSTRATES TO ALLAH

Allah informs us about His might, majesty and pride, meaning that all things submit themselves to Him and every created being – animate and inanimate, as well as the responsible – humans and Jinns, and the angels – all humble themselves before Him. He tells us that everything that has a shadow leaning to the right and the left, i.e., in the morning and the evening, is by its shadow, prostrating to Allah. Mujahid said, “When the sun passes its zenith, everything prostrates to Allah, may He be glorified.” This was also said by Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and others.

﴿لِلَّهِ وَهُمْ﴾

(while they are humble) means, they are in a state of humility. Mujahid also said: “The prostration of every thing is its shadow”, and he mentioned the mountains and said that their prostrations are their shadows. Abu Ghalib Ash-Shaybani said: “The waves of the sea are its prayers”. It is as if reason is attributed to these inanimate objects when they are described as prostrating, so Allah says:

﴿وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَا فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ مِن دَآبَّةٍ﴾

(And to Allah prostrate all that are in the heavens and all that are in the earth, of the moving creatures) As Allah says:

﴿وَللَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَـلُهُم بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالاٌّصَالِ ﴾

(And to Allah (alone) all who are in the heavens and the earth fall in prostration, willingly or unwillingly, and so do their shadows in the mornings and in the afternoons.) (13:15)

﴿وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ وَهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ﴾

(and the angels, and they are not proud.) means, they prostrate to Allah and are not too proud to worship Him.

﴿يَخَـفُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِّن فَوْقِهِمْ﴾

(They fear their Lord above them) means, they prostrate out of fear of their Lord, may He be glorified.

﴿وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ﴾

(and they do what they are commanded.) meaning they continually obey Allah, doing what He tells them to do and avoiding that which He forbids.

﴿وَقَالَ اللَّهُ لاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ إِلـهَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلـهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَإيَّـيَ فَارْهَبُونِ – وَلَهُ مَا فِى الْسَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ وَلَهُ الدِّينُ وَاصِبًا أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَتَّقُونَ – وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ إِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الضُّرُّ فَإِلَيْهِ تَجْـَرُونَ – ثُمَّ إِذَا كَشَفَ الضُّرَّ عَنْكُمْ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْكُم بِرَبِّهِمْ يُشْرِكُونَ – لِيَكْفُرُواْ بِمَآ ءاتَيْنَـهُمْ فَتَمَتَّعُواْ فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

(51. And Allah said “Do not worship two gods. Indeed, He (Allah) is only One God. Then fear Me Alone.) (52. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth and the religion. Will you then fear any other than Allah) (53. And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah. Then, when harm touches you, unto Him you cry aloud for help.) (54. Then, when He has removed the harm from you, behold! some of you associate others in worship with their Lord (Allah).) (55. So they are ungrateful for that which We have given them! Then enjoy yourselves but you will soon come to know.)

Source: Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Asalamu Alaikum

ALERT FOR THE BLOG FUTURE HUSBANDS AND WIVES OF SAUDIS: We are preparing a series of posts on the step-by-step marriage
permission and iqama processes in Saudi Arabia, with the lists of documents that are
required. The idea… is to centralize and continually update the
knowledge gained about the processes from official sources, and
posters’ and commentators’ experiences. We would like to make this
information more broadly available to people who may not be comfortable
in either Arabic or English, and so plan posts in a number of
languages, especially those relevant to non-Arab Muslims, but also to
the other foreigners who might want to know about this: in other words,
the major European and Asian languages (Malaysian, Indonesian and Polish are highly desired right now). Anyone who would like to help/volunteer
as a translator, please contact Tara AND Chiara at: taraummomar at
gmail dot com AND chiaraazlinquestion at yahoo dot com.

Please forward to your contacts that you think would be interested in assisting with this project.

JazakumAllahu khair, Tara Umm Omar

BEST PLACE FOR MUSLIMS TO LIVE? AMERICA

Muslim nations could learn a lot from the US.
By Merve Kavakci
from the September 28, 2009 edition

Washington – This summer Muslims were murdered in Holland, Germany, and Belgium – four victims of hate crimes.

Dr. Merve Kavakci is a lecturer of international affairs at George Washington University.

Asalamu Alaikum Yaa Muslimeen,

Does anyone have any daleel/fatwa that the action of writing the Qur’an on eggs is disliked or haram?

JazakumAllahu khair, Tara Umm Omar

Source: http://www.hallagulla.com/urdu/snap-shots-50/its-amazing-%E2%80%8F-346749.html

(CNN) — Nearly one in four people worldwide is Muslim — and they are not necessarily where you might think, according to an extensive new study that aims to map the global Muslim population.

Nearly two out of three of the world’s Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia.

India, a majority-Hindu country, has more Muslims than any country except for Indonesia and Pakistan, and more than twice as many as Egypt.

China has more Muslims than Syria.

Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon.

And Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya put together.

Nearly two out of three of the world’s Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia.

The Middle East and north Africa, which together are home to about one in five of the world’s Muslims, trail a very distant second.

There are about 1.57 billion Muslims in the world, according to the report, “Mapping the Global Muslim Population,” by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. That represents about 23 percent of the total global population of 6.8 billion.

There are about 2.25 billion Christians, based on projections from the 2005 World Religions Database.

Brian Grim, the senior researcher on the Pew Forum project, was slightly surprised at the number of Muslims in the world, he told CNN.

“Overall, the number is higher than I expected,” he said, noting that earlier estimates of the global Muslim population have ranged from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.

The report can — and should — have implications for United States policy, said Reza Aslan, the best-selling Iranian-American author of “No God but God.”

“Increasingly, the people of the Middle East are making up a smaller and smaller percentage of the worldwide Muslim community,” he told CNN by phone.

“When it comes to issues of outreach to the Muslim world, these numbers will indicate that outreach cannot be focused so narrowly on the Middle East,” he said.

“If the goal is to create better understanding between the United States and the Muslim world, our focus should be on south and southeast Asia, not the Middle East,” he said.

He spoke to CNN before the report was published and without having seen its contents, but was familiar with the general trends the report identified.

The team at the Pew Forum spent nearly three years analyzing “the best available data” from 232 countries and territories, Grim said.

Their aim was to get the most comprehensive snapshot ever assembled of the world’s Muslim population at a given moment in time.

So they took the data they gathered from national censuses and surveys, and projected it forward based on what they knew about population growth in each country.

They describe the resulting report as “the largest project of its kind to date.”

It’s full of details that even the researchers found surprising.

“There are these countries that we don’t think of as Muslim at all, and yet they have very sizable numbers of Muslims,” said Alan Cooperman, the associate director of research for the Pew Forum, naming India, Russia and China.

One in five of the world’s Muslims lives in a country where Muslims are a minority.

And while most people think of the Muslim population of Europe is being composed of immigrants, that’s only true in western Europe, Cooperman said.

“In the rest of Europe — Russia, Albania, Kosovo, those places — Muslims are an indigenous population,” he said. “More than half of the Muslims in Europe are indigenous.”

The researchers also were surprised to find the Muslim population of sub-Saharan Africa to be as low as they concluded, Cooperman said.

It has only about 240 million Muslims — about 15 percent of all the world’s Muslims.

Islam is thought to be growing fast in the region, with countries such as Nigeria, which has large populations of both Christians and Muslims, seeing violence between the two groups.

The Pew researchers concluded that Nigeria is just over half Muslim, making it the sixth most populous Muslim country in the world.

Roughly nine out of 10 Muslims worldwide are Sunni, and about one in 10 is Shiite, they estimated.

They warned they were less confident of those numbers than of the general population figures because sectarian data is harder to come by.

“Only one or two censuses in the world … have ever asked the sectarian question,” said Grim.

“Among Muslims it’s a very sensitive question. If asked, large numbers will say I am just a Muslim — not that they don’t know, but it is a sensitive question in many places,” he said.

One in three of the world’s Shiite Muslims lives in Iran, which is one of only four countries with a Shiite majority, he said. The others are Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain.

Huge as the project of mapping the world’s Muslim population is, it is only the first step in a Pew Forum undertaking.

Next year, the think tank intends to release a report projecting Muslim population growth into the future, and then the researchers intend to do the whole thing over again with Christians, followed by other faith groups.

“We don’t care only about Muslims,” Grim said.

They’re also digging into what people believe and practice, since the current analysis doesn’t analyze that.

“This is no way reflects the religiosity of people, only their self-identification,” Grim said. “We’re trying to get the overall picture of religion in the world.”

Eid Mubarak!

TaqabAllah minaa wa minkum.

May you have the most enjoyable Eid ameen.

Tara Umm Omar

*New RUQYAH SHARIYAH link added under the “Groups” category*

Asalamu Alaikum

Only Allah knows our end. All sins are forgiven except shirk, fear Allah’s punishment while hoping for His mercy. Always thank Allah, beg His forgiveness and ask Him for janat al-firdaws, safety from the hellfire and punishment of the grave. In the evening, don’t expect to arrive to the morning and in the morning don’t expect to make it to the evening. May Allah forgive us and grant us a good end while He is pleased with us, we die with the kalimah on our lips and the angels of mercy take our souls ameen.

June 28, 2009: I have taken down the article on Michael Jackson’s reversion to Islam by the Sun because it was inaccurate. I hope the Jackson family, especially Jermaine, will release a statement that Michael was indeed a Muslim. I also hope that he gets a proper Muslim burial insha’Allah.

July 18, 2009: A friend sent me a link stating that Michael Jackson will be given a Muslim burial wallahu alim…

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00025411.html#

FiAmanAllah, Tara Umm Omar

Imam Zaid Shakir has now amended his original article: An earlier version of this article mentioned that Dawud Warnsby had assisted in Michael Jackson’s conversion to Islam. He has denied that. This article has been amended to exclude that claim. In writing this essay, I was given information from sources I considered reliable that Michael had indeed become Muslim. Obviously, the part about Dawud Warnsby is not true. However, there have been many reports throughout the media concerning Michael becoming Muslim. Allah knows best as to their veracity. (Taken from Muslim Matters)

Imam Johari Abdul Malik: Imam Visits Michael Jackson’s Family to Discuss Funeral Arrangements

UPDATE: Many have asked concerning the below. I heard the report on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s show “The Situation Room”. He briefly mentioned it during the coverage of Michael Jackson.

—

Al-Hamdulillah, CNN reported that the Jackson family is meeting with an imam to make the funeral arrangements for the janazah (Muslim funeral prayer) for Michael Jackson. I pray that Allah will have mercy on his soul and grant the family some privacy as they make the plans for a Muslim funeral. I ask Muslims to reserve their judgement and pray for him and his family. Please send your condolences: http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=5875644172354 .

I pray that Muslims will respond to this loss our brother in every loving way possible. I do not know when and were the prayers will be. I trust that the masjid that Jermaine Jackson attends will handle the prayers and preparation. The West Coast Muslims in LA and Imam Zaid Shaker or Sheikh Hamza are hopefully in the loop? May Allah help them. We have not had a major figure in the pop world pass away before Micheal Jackson. I pray that we will do our best and that Allah will have mercy.show

Asalamu Alaikum

A show like this is needed in America! Proves to me that Canadians are way more open-minded than Americans when it comes to Muslims.

FiAmanAllah, Tara Umm Omar

ISLAMIC MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE

By Nazi (Canadian Hijabi)

If you want to follow the show you can always watch it on CBC or may be you can follow it on YouTube. Enjoy!!!

Introducing Native American Muslims Of Turtle Island

TI_Muslims-owner@yahoogroups.com

We are a group of Turtle Island Muslims and we are looking for a better understanding between us and the First People in US and Canada rather than allowing ourselves to be part of a conflict made by people with intrest to create such a conflict between Natives in US and Canada and billions of Muslims worldwide.

Turtle Island Muslims On Facebook

A Hijama Experience From Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

By Tara Umm Omar
Interview by Shuaib Suria of Ahealth

If you are a hijama therapist or patient and are happy to share your knowledge or experience via a guest blog-post like the one above, please send me an email to: hijama.mail@gmail.com

Asalamu Alaikum

The BestofMen.org is pleased to announce that the following 10 candidates have been nominated  for the final round of the Best of Men of All times. The listing is in alphabetical order, and visitors can vote for any one of them as the Best of Men. Winner and results will be announced on 02/02/2010. Voters may find a breif history of the candidates in the Profile section.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was one of the men chosen masha’Allah.

FiAmanAllah, Tara Umm Omar

Asalamu Alaikum

For those hijabi sisters living in the West. Please reply to muslimah_amrikiiya at yahoo dot com

JazakumAllahu khair, Tara Umm Omar

I know when Allah remembers me, its when I remember Him
http://islamicarticles.wordpress.com
http://taraummomar.blogspot.com/
http://www.worldofislam.netfirms.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Women_Learning_Islam/

— On Wed, 4/15/09, Amal <muslimah_amrikiiya@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Amal <muslimah_amrikiiya@yahoo.com>
Subject: Urgent Help needed to complete thesis project on converts in the West
To: “WLI” <women_learning_islam@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: islamisno1@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 12:33 AM

Asalaamu alaykum sisters,

My name is Amal (Emily) and I am a revert to Islam since 2 years, al7amdulillah. I’m working on an undergraduate thesis on Muslim revert experiences in the USA. The thesis is titled Hijab-ify My World and talks about some of the difficulties and experiences of applying Islamic practices or “hijab-fying” ones life in the West.

I need help with the survey section though. If there are any sisters who are reverts living in the USA or any “western” country (this also includes any reverts who have spent time in the West even if they aren’t living there now), could you please fill out this survey? The answers can be as brief or as detailed as you have time for. It’s a little bit urgent, if I could possibly get some responses on these by this weekend or next weekend, I would really appreciate that. Jazakum Allahu khairan.

Thesis Survey: Hijab-ify my World:

What is your name?

Where are you from?

Where are you currently living (country or state)?

What is your religious background?

What is your ethnic background/ethnicity?

How long have you been a Muslim?

What drew you to Islam?

What was the easiest aspect of Islamic practice for you to apply?

What was the most difficult aspect for you to apply?

How did your family and friends react to your reversion/conversion?

Do you  have any other comments you would like to share about your reversion/conversion to Islam?

Again, Jazaki Allahu khair and insha’Allah once I have finished my thesis, I’ll have it available on PDF as well if you would like a copy.

Fiii Aman Allah,
Amal

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim

Asalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh

Does anyone have any daleel or fatwa on public backbiting/slander? What is the hudud for that if found guilty…lashing? Is the expiation that the backbiter/slanderer has to make tawbah and publicly apologize to the victim?

JazakumAllah khair,
Tara Umm Omar

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia

TWO years ago, Sheik Adil Kalbani dreamed that he had become an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

Waking up, he dismissed the dream as a temptation to vanity. Although he is known for his fine voice, Sheik Adil is black, and the son of a poor immigrant from the Persian Gulf. Leading prayers at the Grand Mosque is an extraordinary honor, usually reserved for pure-blooded Arabs from the Saudi heartland.

So he was taken aback when the phone rang last September and a voice told him that King Abdullah had chosen him as the first black man to lead prayers in Mecca. Days later Sheik Adil’s unmistakably African features and his deep baritone voice, echoing musically through the Grand Mosque, were broadcast by satellite TV to hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.

Since then, Sheik Adil has been half-jokingly dubbed the “Saudi Obama.” Prominent imams are celebrities in this deeply religious country, and many have hailed his selection as more evidence of King Abdullah’s cautious efforts to move Saudi Arabia toward greater openness and tolerance in the past few years.

“The king is trying to tell everybody that he wants to rule this land as one nation, with no racism and no segregation,” said Sheik Adil, a heavyset and long-bearded man of 49 who has been an imam at a Riyadh mosque for 20 years. “Any qualified individual, no matter what his color, no matter where from, will have a chance to be a leader, for his good and his country’s good.”

Officially, it was his skill at reciting the Koran that won him the position, which he carries out — like the Grand Mosque’s eight other prayer leaders — only during the holy month of Ramadan. But the racial significance of the king’s gesture was unmistakable.

Sheik Adil, like most Saudis, is quick to caution that any racism here is not the fault of Islam, which preaches egalitarianism. The Prophet Muhammad himself, who founded the religion here 1,400 years ago, had black companions.

“Our Islamic history has so many famous black people,” said the imam, as he sat leaning his arm on a cushion in the reception room of his home. “It is not like the West.”

It is also true that Saudi Arabia is far more ethnically diverse than most Westerners realize. Saudis with Malaysian or African features are a common sight along the kingdom’s west coast, the descendants of pilgrims who came here over the centuries and ended up staying. Many have prospered and even attained high positions through links to the royal family. Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, is the son of Prince Sultan and a dark-skinned concubine from southern Saudi Arabia.

But slavery was practiced here too, and was abolished only in 1962. Many traditional Arabs from Nejd, the central Saudi heartland, used to refer to all outsiders as “tarsh al bahr” — vomit from the sea. People of African descent still face some discrimination, as do most immigrants, even from other Arab countries. Many Saudis complain that the kingdom is still far too dominated by Nejd, the homeland of the royal family. There are nonracial forms of discrimination too, and many Shiite Muslims, a substantial minority, say they are not treated fairly.

“The prophet told us that social classes will remain, because of human nature,” Sheik Adil said gravely. “These are part of the pre-Islamic practices that persist.”

BLACK skin is not the only social obstacle Sheik Adil has overcome. His father came to Saudi Arabia in the 1950s from Ras al Khaima, in what is now the United Arab Emirates, and obtained a job as a low-level government clerk. The family had little money, and after finishing high school, Adil took a job with Saudi Arabian Airlines while attending night classes at King Saud University.

Only later did he study religion, laboriously memorizing the Koran and studying Islamic jurisprudence. In 1984 he passed the government exam to become an imam, and worked briefly at the mosque in the Riyadh airport. Four years later he won a more prominent position as the imam of the King Khalid mosque, a tall white building that is not far from one of the Intelligence Ministry’s offices.

Theologically, Sheik Adil reflects the general evolution of Saudi thinking over the last two decades. During the 1980s he met Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, a leader of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He initially sympathized with their radical position and anger toward the West. Later, he said, he began to find their views narrow, especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Now he speaks warmly of King Abdullah’s new initiatives, which include efforts to moderate the power of the hard-line religious establishment and to modernize Saudi Arabia’s judiciary and educational establishment. He reads Al Watan, a liberal newspaper.

“Some people in this country want everyone to be a carbon copy,” Sheik Adil said. “This is not my way of thinking. You can learn from the person who is willing to criticize, to give a different point of view.”

His life, like that of most imams, follows a rigid routine: he leads prayers five times a day at the mosque, then walks across the parking lot to his home, which he shares with two wives and 12 children. On Fridays, he gives a sermon as well.

HE expected it to continue that way for the rest of his life. Then in early September he woke up to hear his cellphone and land line, both ringing continuously. Stirring from bed, he heard the administrator of the Grand Mosque leaving a message. He picked up one of the phones, and heard the news that the king had selected him.

Two days later he walked into a grand reception room where he was greeted by Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca Province. Sheik Adil tried to introduce himself, but the prince cut him off with a smile: “You are known,” he said.

Next, Sheik Adil was led to a table where he sat with King Abdullah and other ministers. He was too shy to address the king directly, but as he left the room he thanked him and kissed him on the nose, a traditional sign of deference.

Remembering the moment, Sheik Adil smiled and went silent. Then he pulled out his laptop and showed a visitor a YouTube clip of him reciting the Koran at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

“To recite before thousands of people, this is no problem for me,” he said. “But the place, its holiness, is so different from praying anywhere else. In that shrine, there are kings, presidents and ordinary people, all being led in prayer by you as imam. It gives you a feeling of honor, and a fear of almighty God.”

Muhammad al-Milfy contributed reporting.

A version of this article appeared in print on April 11, 2009, on page A6 of the New York edition.