No, Not By Any Means Necessary, Please

Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness of the station manager: “He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired uneasiness…”

Even though I agree with many of the sentiments expressed in the post “Obama and The Lesson of The Two Hijabis” by Umar Lee, I disagree with his view that it was “smart politics” or some how justified to exclude these women. That the Obama campaign should be lauded or excused for its lack of principle and its flip-flopping and distancing itself from issues that are no longer viewed as politically expedient.

Immorality, lack of principle, and cowardice often masquerade as “smart politics”.

Lawyers from the Bush administration have been testifying before Congress in the last few weeks to say that it was “smart politics” or due to the circumstances, the fever of the moment, etc. that caused them to ignore the Geneva Conventions, the treaty against torture, U.S. and international law, legal precedent, and morality to justify torturing prisoners at Guantanamo. They have used arguments that would not have stood up at Nuremburg.

Praying on Mountaintops in New Zealand

I received one of the more interesting responses to the British documentary “Women Only Jihad” and a related post entitled “Women’s Jihad - Praying in the Masjid” from a sister in New Zealand. After encountering resistance from brothers at certain masajid and due to the lack of prayer space accommodations for women, some sisters have taken to praying outside at fajr on a mountaintop.

From Sister Fiona in her own words:

My story is from New Zealand.

A couple of us decided we’d pray on one of the beautiful mountains in our city (how appropriate to be on the sides of a volcano as the dawn light breaks into the sky). Most of our mountains scattered through the city are reserves and parks and public spaces.

We were seeking some way to show solidarity with, and respect for the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand as their forefathers lost substantial amounts of land in the early years of European settlement. Auckland itself is built on 25,000 misappropriated acres.

Most of our Muslim population has arrived in the last decade and so this history is not known to them. It’s like the butler (the European style government) has opened the door and presented himself as the owner, so we want to get past that to meet with the host. As Allah (subhana wa ta ala) has said, we are made of many tribes and nations so we can come to know one another.

A Mosque Grows in Virginia

Who says Muslims cannot integrate into American society,  can’t get along with their neighbors, can’t get along with Jews and and Christians, or the FBI?

Some people might not like the ADAMS‘ approach but it has certainly been effective in building bridges on all levels in the local community.

Video: A Mosque Grows in Virginia

Racial Divide Remains Deep and Solid

This is an editorial by my father Dr. F. Nwabueze Okoye that was published in the Democrat and Chronicle in response to an editorial by Cal Thomas entitled “Typical” or “Race Divide Can Be Bridged“.

The most charitable thing that can be said about “Race divide can be bridged” (Cal Thomas column, March 26) is that it does not inform. Readers would not know that so-called white men have had affirmative action for the longest period in this land.

Or that the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action that was begun during Richard Nixon’s administration are Euro-American females rather than African Americans. Or that slavery legally ended in the United States on Dec. 18, 1865.

Thomas accepts as gospel truth professor Henry Louis Gates’ claim that slavery USA “was more about economics than race.” The writings of colonial Americans who waged a pamphleteering war with Englishmen in England, between 1760 and 1776, because they dreaded being on a footing od equality with the Africans in their midst, reveal that the Harvard University don is mistaken.

The George Washingtons and the John Adamses made their pitch for equality with Englishmen in England by insisting that only Africans deserve being in chains! Racial physical characteristics were, for these men, the things that mattered in determining who is and who is not a slave.

Hijabis for Obama? Maybe Not Anymore

The Obama campaign has apologized to two Muslim women excluded by campagin volunteers from appearing on stage at a campaign event this week at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena so that the candidate would not be photographed with supporters that are visibly identifiable as Muslim.

The next day, Obama did appear in this photo-op at a community college with a hijabi. Disappointing to say the least.

Politico: Muslims Barred from Picture at Obama Event

Even though these incidents are being blamed on misinformed campaign volunteers, it reminds me of the coolly political way he threw the Rev. Jeremiah Wright “under the bus” and his church when it became politically inconvenient for him and gives me pause to think what the next campaign issue or policy will get the same treatment but given the alternatives, I’m still not voting for McCain or Barr.

Obama’s Blackness, The Convert’s Muslimness Part 2

I’m Muslim, yet I find the incessant attention paid to the Palestinian conflict by Muslims off all stripes particularly converts to be overbearing and the current political stalemate over there has turned me off that conflict. There are horrible situations everywhere in the world, many worse that those in Gaza and the West Bank.

It seems that for some converts, attention and emotion and talk of Palestine and identifying with the issues of Palestine becomes a litmus test for one’s Islam. If you are a true believer you should be at the marches, wearing protest clothing, support the evil of suicide bombing and terrorism, dislike like Jews who if you refer to as “yehud” garners bonus points.

To me, Palestine is just one of many conflicts in the world where there is great injustice and suffering, I hope and make dua that there will eventually be a more just and equitable solution, but I don’t hate Jews. I think oppression, injustice, terrorism, and anti-semitism are rank and vile and no one should be given a pass to get away with this kind of stuff.

I changed my birth name to a stereotypical Muslim sounding one because of the incessant questions and pressure of my new found, well-intentioned, and sometimes misinformed brothers and sisters in Islam.

Obama’s Blackness, The Convert’s Muslimness Part 1

In the questions raised about Barack Obama’s blackness or his appeal to various segments of the electorate, I see a reflection of my own experience as a young black woman that was born and raised in a predominantly white college town suburb in upstate Western New York that later converted to Islam. I have faced and continue to encounter questions from various sources about what others perceive as my blackness, my Iboness my acting whiteness, my Muslimness.

Criticism of race is mostly subjective and prone to stereotypes, which negate the individuality of life experience and personal choices. Barack Obama is biracial, yet is seen by most people as a black man, and he himself identifies as black. His family background has traces of Muslim, Christian, and secular atheist beliefs yet he sees himself as a Christian and belonged to black church until it became politically unpalatable for his political ambition and aspirations.

In the children of the African immigrants that I grew up with and continue to be surrounded by, I saw three distinct patterns. Those who try to assimilate wholly into white culture and aspire to become honorary whites through imitation and a rejection of their background, those that try to assimilate wholly into black culture and aspire to become honorary blacks through imitation and a rejection of their background, and those that try to merge the disparate influences by trying to take the best of their experience and leaving off the worst.

I like to read, reading was always emphasized in my family, from books to newspapers to whatever, the process of reading, comprehending, and writing well formed a pivotal part of my upbringing. I was sometimes criticized by black students bussed in from a nearby city at school about my reading habits and my speech pattern, and my taking of Advanced Placement classes. I can remember the exclamations and surprised looks by more than one teacher when they realized that I read, that I had read many of the books they had read or were currently reading and could converse fluently with them about those books. On the phone, people sometimes think I am white until they hear my name and then they get confused.

I also love some of the speech patterns, mannerisms, and slang of the black city kids I grew up with and from listening to hip-hop back in the day, and the pidgin English spoken by Africans so I incorporated some of that into my speech, sometimes deliberately but mostly unconsciously. I could never stand the word “ask” mispronounced. And of course, the politics of who and what determines “correct” and “incorrect” speech is another discussion.

Why I Love AlMaghrib Institute Reason #1

Love of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam and his companions

I credit AlMaghrib Institute through each seminar but specifically through the Conquest: History of the Khulafaa seminar with simulating my love for and interest in learning about the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam and his companions (may Allah be pleased with them all).

I converted to Islam simply because I believed in my heart that Allah the Exalted was true, one, undeniable, the creator and sustainer and not because I understood the role of the Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. I could accept that the Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam was another prophet and man sent by Allah similar to Jesus, Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

Although my previous experience in Christianity had taught me about some other prophets, I knew next to nothing about the Prophet Muhammad sal Allahu alayhi wa salaam, his companions, and the those that followed them, and our scholars. And I had no great affection for them and wasn’t sure why I should pay particular attention to any of them.

“Muslim Apple” on Terrorism Resources?

UPDATE: I deleted that nonsense about my blog being Masaud Khan’s personal website.

It has always fascinated me how people find my blog and so a few days ago as I was scanning the list of link referrals to my blog I noticed one link from the wikipedia-esque Terrorism Resources website entry on Masoud Khan in the “homegrown terrorist database” section.

The entry states that: “This dossier was compiled by WM and MJ. The final editing was done by Crystal Ball. Copyright 2008 TerrorismResources.Org”

I don’t know who WM, MJ, or Crystal Ball are but their entry is skewed and inaccurate. It seems that they make up for their lack of information by making it up as they go along. My blog Muslim Apple is listed as the personal website of Masaud Khan simply because I posted two statements by him and one from his family. The statement he read at the original sentencing hearing, and later, a letter he wrote from prison, and an update from his family on the status of his case.

I thought about creating an account on that site so I could login and try to update and correct the misinformation but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Masaud Khan was sentenced to life plus 65 years and then had the sentence reduced by twenty years to life plus 45 years.

Please remember those caught up in this unjust war on individuals and their families in your prayers.

Talaq Ruled Invalid in Maryland

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled this week that the Islamic divorce method of talaq by which a man can divorce his wife simply by saying “I divorce you” three times, unsurprisingly, fails to meet the state’s definition of “due process” and awarded a Muslim woman divorced after 20 years of marriage by this method the legal entitlement to about half of her ex-husband’s assets and half of his $90,000 a year World Bank pension.

Washington Post: Islamic Divorce Ruled Not Valid in Maryland

Triflin’ brothers beware, if neither your deen nor your intelligence restrains you, the state of Maryland has the back of the sisters and will keep you in check.