the muslim link 03.12.2010

March 12th - March 26th, 20102

16 National News

| INDEX

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

04 Community News

20 Islam

27 Marketplace

18 World Press

26 Salaah Times

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23 Civil Rights

V

Civil RightsCivil RightsCivil Rights

��The Islamic Society of Annapolis (ISA) is looking for a

full time paid Resident Imam who will oversee the religious affairs at the two centers that are affiliated with the organization (Makkah

Learning Center in Gambrills & the Annapolis Center in Annapolis).

The qualified candidate will work side by side with the executive council and is expected to have a degree in Islamic Studies, be

knowledgeable about Qur’an and fiqh, competent and fluent in English and Arabic, leadership qualities, able to engage in interfaith activities, capable of interacting with the youth, dedicated to build

the community and be a legal resident in the US.

Interested candidates are asked to email their resume and references to ISA through through Dr. Mohammed Dughly at [email protected]

Application deadline, April 4th, 2010

��

www.ISAMD.org

V

INDEX |

PG 27

The Muslim Link Coupons

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

27 Marketplace

OPERATION

for more informationsee page 14

MD Masajid Join for Janaza Projects | pg 6

ICCL Donates House for Fire Dept Training | pg 7

Seminar Identifies Torture in U.S. Prisons | pg 8

Hoarding Task Force Created In Fairfax County | pg 10

Free Bus Service Starts for Elderly Muslims | pg 12

Rabi Al-Awaal 26 – Rabi Al-Thaani 9 1431 A.H. | www.MuslimLinkPaper.com

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>> CREDENTIAL Pg 6

A Foreign Language Close to Their Hearts| pg 12

Khushoo’: The Main Ingredient of Salah| pg 20

Muslims Discuss Solutions to Radicalization of YouthBy: Farkhunda AliMuslim Link Staff Writer

D.C.-area Muslims tackle concerns underlying the radicalization of Muslim youth in a new television series, “Living Islam in America,” produced by Inner-Attainment Production Company. During the March 8 taping, the program host, Imam Johari Abdul Malik, outreach director of Dar Al-Hijrah in Falls Church, Va., spoke to guests currently involved with youth groups in the D.C. area.

The show’s panelists discussed the reasons leading to what are often labeled as “radical” views among young Muslim Americans.

In December of 2009, five local Muslim youth were arrested after fleeing to Pakistan to allegedly join a terrorist organization. “Radical views are not religiously motivated,” said Yusuf Khan, a dental student at Howard University and one of the panelists of the program. “Often times, these are factors of [the] socio-political and economic status of these youth.”

Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation said Muslim leaders must address Islam and the Quran from a contextual point of view. Religious leaders must get

involved with the youth to address their emotional and psychological problems, he said.

The best way to address these

issues is to have an open discussion about problems of the youth, said Alexandro Beutel, government liaison

>> RADICALIZATION Pg 14

From left, host Imam Johari discusses youth radicalization with area Muslims Alexandro Beutel, Yusuf Khan, Sadia Ali Aden, and Mahdi Bray. The session was taped at a studio in Fairfax and will air on television soon. (Photo by Farkhunda Ali)

IIIT Pushes New Certified Imam CredentialPilot Program Aims to Qualify Imams Who Can Succeed in the American Context

By Muslim Link Staff

At several masajid in the Greater Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area, its hard to keep up with who’s the current Imam.

As masjid board members know, finding a capable Imam is often a painful process of trial and error. After all, there is no recognized qualification for an Imam who can meet the many demands of the American

Muslim community. Not only must the Imam have religious knowledge, but also he needs an understanding of the American culture and society, and he must be able to communicate effectively with American Muslim

youth.

In response, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a Northern Virginia Islamic think tank,

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March 12th - March 26th, 2010 4 | COMMUNITY NEWS

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MAS Freedom and ICNA Conduct Workshop for Palestine-Israel Lobby Event in Washington, D.C.WASHINGTON, DC (MASNET) Mar. 08, 2010 - On Sunday March 7th, MAS Freedom and the Islamic Circle of North America contributed to a day long program at American University in Washington, D.C., organized by Interfaith Peace Builders, to support more than 100 people from around the United States who will visit their congressional representatives on March 8th, 2010, and call for a new American foreign policy that recognizes the human and democratic rights of the people of Palestine.

The workshop presenters, Naim Baig of ICNA and Ibrahim Ramey, who represented MAS Freedom, provided facts about the history, structure, and current attitudes of Muslims in America, and their own insights related to opportunities that Muslim activists and non-Muslim organizations have to forge stronger, and more mutually successful, partnerships that supportmany dimensions of social change in America.

But while the issue of support for broad Palestinian rights, including an end to the embargo of Gaza, was the central theme of the gathering, both Naim Baig and Ibrahim Ramey emphasized the

importance of knowing more about the identity of Muslims in America.

Baig’s presentation featured a power point description of major Muslim organizations in the United States and the relationship between these organizations and local mosques and community-based groups. Muslims are the only major religious group in America without a single racial majority community. It was noted by both presenters that Islamic roots in this hemisphere pre-date the arrival of Christopher Columbus by nearly two centuries.

A number of the workshop attendees had experience working with local Muslim groups on the issue of Palestine, but some expressed concern that they want to build more substantial long-term relationships with the American Muslim community. Both presenters commented that Muslims are becoming active in a wider variety of social issues, including immigration rights, labor issues, and even the issue of nuclear weapons abolition. Both MAS Freedom and ICNA maintain numerous working relationships with national Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish leaders and organizations.

Also, work related to issues of social concern for Muslim-American individuals and communities are resulting in the creation of a culture with less insularity and more openness to collaboration with not only other religious forces, but with secular and non-religious groups as well.

Also, in response to one participant who expressed concern that Muslim women were not so evident in the leadership of the community, both presenters, and Muslim women participants, spoke about the numerous examples of outstanding Muslim women leadership in every area of community life, including in academia, social service organizations, and especially within Muslim Student Association groups on college and university campuses.

Ibrahim Ramey then emphasized the centrality of values as a cornerstone in building coalitions. While Muslims base our understanding of social activism and responsibility on the revelation of the Holy Qur’an and the life of Prophet Muhammad ( Peace be Upon Him), he said, we recognize that we also share common values with non-Muslim actors-including the value of human rights, environmental stewardship, peace,

and economic security. Those shared values should be paramount in building coalitions of mutual respect.

Finally, the presentation mentioned the work that the Islamic Circle of North America and MAS Freedom do, respectively, to support broad social justice and constructive social change, not only for the people of Palestine, but throughout the world. More than 40 people were introduced to the MAS Freedom Let Gaza Live national postcard campaign, and a number of persons attending the workshop, including several who had traveled to Gaza and the Palestinian Occupied Territories, voiced interest in supporting this initiative.

For more information on the Let Gaza Live initiative, and to find out how you can support it, please call Ibrahim Ramey at MAS Freedom- (703) 642-6165.

Source: MAS Freedom (MASF) -- a civic and human rights advocacy of the Muslim American Society (MAS), the largest Muslim, grassroots, charitable, religious, social, cultural, civic and educational organization in America - with 55 chapters in 35 states.

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partnered with the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut to offer the first Imam certification program in the nation.

Managed by the Fairfax Institute – IIIT’s professional teaching arm – the Graduate Certificate in Imam Education aims to “prepare Muslim religious leaders for service in mosques and community agencies throughout the Greater Washington, D.C. area”.

“We are looking for people who really see [Imamship] as an honorable profession.” said Dr. Iqbal Unus, Director of the Fairfax Institute and one of the lead organizers of the certification program.

Targeted towards current Imams, aspiring Imams, and men or women who serve in an Islamic counseling or social service roles within the Muslim community, the 24-credit program comprises of four basic components: History, Theology and Ethics for Imams in America; Scriptural Knowledge for Imams; Practices of Ministry for Imams in America, including Interfaith Dialogue, Spirituality and Religion in Society; and Field Experience for Imams.

Classes are condensed into week-long or multi-weekend formats; the entire program takes about 15 months to complete, including a summer residency requirement in Hartford, Connecticut.

Additionally, students must complete field work in an institutional setting like a hospital, prison, or university and in a community setting.

Professors from the Hartford Seminary – all of them Muslims including Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) President Dr. Ingrid Mattson – will teach classes on site at the Fairfax Institute in Herndon.

The first course is a one-week intensive starting March 29, 2010 titled “Major Themes in the Bible and the Qur’an” taught by Professor Mahmoud Ayoub, a Faculty Associate in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary and Professor Emeritus of Temple University. The professor is also a member of the Council of Scholars for IIIT.

Students accepted into the program receive generous scholarships. A 24-credit course of study at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut costs approximately $13,000, but together the Seminary and IIIT provide most of the tuition.

Each class can seat about 15 students; currently there are about 10 applications for the program which starts at the end of March. “It’s a competitive process,” said Dr. Unus.

The program targets local students, but a few students commute from Philadelphia

and New York, and one student is from Georgia. Dr. Unus said about half the applicants are already Imams – some African-Americans and some Somali. The age and educational background also varies; there are two female applicants.

At this time, web-casting the classes is not in the short-term plan, but Dr. Unus said the program might be replicated in other major cities if it goes well in Herndon.

A bachelors degree is an admission requirement; there are no Arabic language entry requirements, but students will take classes on Arabic in the program and be tested prior to graduation.

“We use the term ‘imam’ for lack of a better word … since [the program] also [caters] to functions like counseling, social services, and chaplaincy,” explained Dr. Unus, adding that the two female applicants are not intending to be formal Imams.

With the Hartford Seminary’s strong reputation and track record in chaplaincy training, Dr. Unus hopes government and large organizations like hospitals and universities begin to use the certification credential as a way to identify candidates for Imam, chaplain, or counseling positions. “We are also approaching [masjid] communities … overtime it’s good if masajid realize [the value] of asking for credentials,” he said.

Dr. Unus said the Muslim community

doesn’t take the Imam role seriously, and that’s reflected in how Imams and Islamic social workers are compensated. Besides the certification credentials, IIIT is working on ideas for pensions and retirement packages for Imams, as well as standards – performance and otherwise -- for Imams.

“[The Imam position] does not get the respect it deserves. This is the first step in creating an honorable profession,” said Dr. Unus. “If Muslims want to be taken seriously in America, they need to be able to produce their own Imams and scholars in America.”

Some Proposed Courses for the Imam Certification

• Introduction to Islamic History and Cultural Islam in Contemporary North America• The Qur’an and Its Place in Muslim Life in America• Major Themes in the Bible and the Qur’an • Introduction to Islamic Theology• Contemporary Islamic Ethics• Introduction to Islamic Law• Global Ethics• The Art of Preaching• Pastoral Care and Counseling• Understanding Congregations & Organizations in North America• Muslim-Christian Relations & Interfaith Dialogue

CREDENTIAL>> continued from pg 3

IIIT Pushes New Certified Imam CredentialPilot Program Aims to Qualify Imams Who Can Succeed in the American Context

MD Masajid Join for Janaza ProjectsBy Muslim Link Staff

With the large Muslim population in the region, funeral prayers are a weekly occurrence at area masajid.

With a standard plot and burial costing as much as $6,000, several masajid in Maryland are joining together to better negotiate with cemetery owners.

The Inter-Masjid Janazah Committee includes representatives from the Muslim Community Center, the Islamic Community Center of Laurel, Dar Al-Taqwa, Prince George’s Muslim Association, Islamic Society of Annapolis, and Idara Jaferi.

Prince George’s Muslim Association

owns a herse and is already approved for building a ghusl facility at the masjid so area Muslim can avoid dealing with funeral homes outright. The masjid congregation also includes a licensed mortician, a required functionary for conducting funeral activities.

Cemetery plots cost between $1750 and $3000 in the local area including

vault and opening and closing fees. The Islamic Center of MD in Gaithersburg, Islamic Society of Western MD in Hagerstown, and the Islamic Society of Frederick combined resources several years ago to purchase a site for burial. The all-Muslim cemetery, Al-Firdaus Memorial Gardens, opened in 2008 and has the capacity for 7300 burials.

7TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 COMMUNITY NEWS |

MD MSA Not Perfect, But Still Home Say StudentsBy Mehreen RasheedMuslim Link Contributing Writer

The Muslim Students’ Association at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., raised about $17,536 at their annual fundraiser hosted on campus Mar. 6.

Students showcased the services and benefits the MSA provides to its members throughout the evening through speeches, testimonials and entertainment. The organization hosts jummah Friday prayer services on campus, daily congregational prayer, Islam and Qur’an classes, as well as general campus outreach events.

“We’ve created a place where Islamic etiquette is pushed,” said MSA President Adam Stephenson. “This is important to me because there are many fitnahs [trials] on our campus and we’ve created a place where we can feel protected from them and…feel confident in our beliefs before we go out again to be active citizens in the larger community around us.”

Muslim students first established the organization in 1969, and secured a full time prayer hall on campus in 1997. It provides students not only a place for daily congregational prayers, but a library and a space to spend time during the day. The MSA now has about 50 students attending general body meetings and up to 300 attending the weekly jummah prayer service, according to Stephenson. Speaker Yusuf Silitine, director of the Arabic Program at Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., said he was touched when he saw the talents and potential of the MSA.

“People [at the mosques] always ask me, ‘where are the youth?’, and now I see they’re here, thriving in the MSA,” Silitine said. “You’ve built a sanctuary for yourself here where you are benefitting from the company of other Muslims.”

The students presented a short film to

further illustrate the different aspects of the MSA. While parents were generally receptive to the students’ vision, some felt that they could have done more to reach out to the surrounding communities and parents.

“I wish more parents had come,” said Halima Quasem, a mother from Silver Spring, Md. “[The MSA] could have had more personal calls and ways to get people to come.”

Mumtaz Jahan, a Germantown, Md. mother, felt that the evening itself could have been more inclusive.

“The events were of interest to the students, not attractive to the parents,” Jahan said. “The video was funny, but parents would be more interested in learning about the Islamic things they do, like Qur’an classes.”

The MSA worked to contact as many people as possible, according to Event

Organizer Karam Hijji, 21, a material science and engineering major.

“We mainly reached out to parents through the students,” said Hijji. “We also sent out emails to the local mosques.”

However, one of the biggest obstacles was the tight time constraint, Hijji said.

More than the activities and services the MSA provides, many students described it as fostering a close-knit community feeling of brotherhood or sisterhood.

For biology major Habiba Wada, 20, joining a Muslim student group in college was a welcome relief from being the odd one out in public school.

“It brings us Muslim students together on campus to allow us to feel like we belong to a community,” said Wada.

>> MSA Pg 14

ICCL Donates House for Fire Dept TrainingBy Muslim Link Staff

When the Islamic Community Center of Laurel (ICCL) finalized plans to expand their parking lot to a newly acquired adjacent property, their thoughts turned to charity.

Not just the charity they needed to finance the expansion, but also the charity they can give to the surrounding community.

Instead of simply demolishing a single family house sitting on the new property, they decided to donate the house to the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department for training purposes.

“We thought they could set it on fire and practice putting it out, but new state restrictions only allow for other types of training ... the fire department was super excited and called us back right away,” recalled ICCL President Hayder Qaadri.

ICCL decided to offer the house for

training in January of this year, and signed a general understanding agreement with the fire department by the end of that month. Due to the snow storms, the fire department didn’t start using the house until late February.

Now, prayer attendees can see fire fighters running into and out of the house, setting up and executing rescue scenarios on mostly weeknights. ICCL requested the department refrain from training during juma time and during the hours when Sunday school is in session.

The house is located a few hundred feet from the main masjid building.

Fire fighters are using the house to practice techniques like cutting holes through the roof and through floors and breaking in doors and windows.

ICCL hopes to start expanding the parking lot this year, at which time the house will be demolished.

The parcel of land located to the right of ICCL will be part of the parking expansion. A single family house sits on the plot. (File photo)


Left, Ramsey Clark meets with Law professor Dr. Natsu Taylor Saito. The MANA event had a speaker list which included human rights activists, legal scholars, and others with a long history in the civil rights movement. (Photo courtesy of MANA)

Seminar Identifies Torture in U.S. PrisonsOn February 13, 2010, the Muslim Alliance in North America’s (MANA) Social Justice Task Force held an extremely successful seminar on the human rights violations committed in the U.S. Prison System.

The Seminar – held in snow covered Washington DC at Howard University -- brought together a wide array of prominent activists and experts who riveted the crowd of about 75 participants with history, analysis and first-hand accounts of the U.S. Prison system’s use of the inhumane punishment including 23-hour lock-down in Super Max prison, control units and administrative segregation.

Bonnie Kerness of the American Friends Service Committee’s Prison Watch recounted how 24/7 solitary confinement and sensory deprivation was adopted in the early 1980s as a means of breaking the revolutionaries and activists who were jailed in the 1970s. Soffiyah Elijah of Harvard’s Criminal Justice Institute described the many horror stories of the psychological and physiological torture of long periods of isolation. Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. Attorney General, recounted the many past missteps and abuses of the U.S. government and paid tribute to the heroic example of Imam Jamil Al-Amin who now suffers in a Super Max prison under 23-hour lock-down.

Natsu Saito, law professor at Georgia State University, detailed the international path that can be taken to put pressure on the U.S. government to end torture.

Masai Ehehosi of the Republic of New Afrika and Jihad Abdul-Mumit reflected on their own experiences in the prison system and reminded the audience that many of the political prisoners who suffer this form of torture are Muslims. Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation and Mauri Salaakhan of the Peace and Justice Foundation urged Muslims to become involved, and cited the many recent cases, such as that of Aafiya Siddiqui, where Muslims are suffering through the criminal justice system.

Resolutions of the Seminar on U.S. Prison System

The MANA Social Justice Task Force Seminar on the U.S. Prison System:

1) Calls upon the U.S. Congress and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation and to hold hearings on the practice of 23-hour isolation in Super Max prisons and control units to determine whether such practices are inhumane and as such deserve to be eliminated.

2) Calls for an independent investigation of the practice of 23-hour isolation in Super Max prisons and control unit to determine whether such practices are inhumane and as such deserve to be eliminated. 3) Calls upon the U.S. Congress to launch

The US Prison System: Muslim & Human Rights Violations: Quotes from Speakers“We have to organize. Look at [Sami] Al-Arian. For helping poor, starving Palestinians … he is in prison, in large part because he is Muslim. We have to persevere in the struggle …. we’ll give up if we don’t.” – Ramsey Clark, Former US Attorney General

“What’s happening here and around the world is genocidal. When the object is elimination – when we survive, we win. [We win] by keeping our identity, our history, and our culture … and we’re still here.... In the mind of the colonizing power, law is very important. It’s used to justify their actions. The law is not applied reciprocally because the colonized are ‘others’. Did the natives have souls? That was a big debate going on [when Europeans first came to America].... If we don’t continue to resist, power will continue to encroach. Resistance puts up a barrier. Even if full victory is not achieved, it gives us enough ground to survive and continue on.” – Dr. Natsu Taylor Saito, Law Professor at Georgia State University

>> Torture Pg 14


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Hoarding Task Force Created In Fairfax CountyBy Yaman ShalabiMuslim Link Staff Writer

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) announced in February that hoarding, which some experts believe is a subset of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, will be one of many disorders added to the 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V (DSM-5).

Fairfax County, Va., is one of many regions to take a proactive approach against hoarding, a psychological disorder marked by the excessive collection and storage of items and the inability to get rid of them.

In 1998, four people died in an abandoned Fairfax County house vacated by a hoarder. The county assembled the Hoarding Task Force shortly afterward to combat and prevent similar disasters.For every 100,000 people, there are an estimated 350 cases of hoarding, according to the Fairfax County web site. Based on these estimates, Fairfax

County itself could have more than 3,500 cases of hoarding. Most cases are reported through neighbors’ complaints or by emergency personnel.

The Hoarding Task Force will only address the most severe hoarding cases, in which “the hoarder can’t get out the door,” said Christina Sadar, Task Force chairman.

In 2009, 52 hoarding cases from the 146 reported in Fairfax County were classified as severe cases.

Each hoarding case is different and there is no cookie-cutter approach, Sadar said. The Task Force works alongside law enforcement agencies in severe cases of hoarding in Fairfax County. The Task Force also has a mutual agreement with the towns of Vienna and Herndon.

In older districts like Mount Vernon, hoarding is typically found among older age groups. However, hoarding can affect individuals of all ages, Sadar said. Hoarding increases the risk of fire and

structural damage to buildings, and disease to the hoarder and surrounding community. It also limits an individual’s ability to function properly on a daily basis. In emergency situations, hoarding hinders emergency personnel from getting inside buildings and providing

immediate help. To report cases of hoarding, call the Fairfax County Task Force at: (703) 324-1300 or email to [email protected].

One of many homes the Taskforce on Hoarding visted in Fairfax County. Such homes are sanitation and fire hazards and pose risks to the people who live in them and around them. Photo courtesy of Fairfax County Taskforce on Hoarding.


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Free Bus Service Starts for Elderly MuslimsBy Muslim Link Staff

Much is made of the need to invest in the youth of the Muslim community. But in a nation whose elderly population growth rate is outpacing the rest of society, the need to service the older generation is being felt in masjid communities everywhere.

For some Muslims in Montgomery County, Md., serving the elders of the community has been a rallying call.

“The idea to serve our senior community [was there] since [our] inception,” said Irma Hafeez, president of the non-profit Montgomery County Muslim Foundation. The grassroots organization recently launched a free bus service to

provide transportation to Friday prayers for elderly Muslims. Still in its initial stages, the service only serves the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg.

“We have been actively working on [the bus service] since last year,” Hafeez said. “This is the first step towards our overall plan of eventually creating a cultural and social center for our seniors.”

The bus cost MCMF about $24,000, which is being raised through donations from the Muslim community and from MCMF board members.

The United States Census Bureau

projects the number of people 65-years-old and over will “more than double by the middle of the next century.” The bureau estimates about one in eight Americans were elderly in 1994, but about one in five will be elderly by the year 2030.

Hafeez and the MCMF recognize this trend and are hoping to be ready to serve.

“[Our] short term plan is to provide our isolated seniors a means for social networking, independence and dignity,” she said. “[Our] long term plan is to provide mobility for [elders] to promote independence, self worth and happiness.”

For now, the bus service is limited to round trips from homes to the ICM and back. Hafeez says services will be expanded as the needs become clear. MCMF estimates the free bus service for Friday prayer costs about $60 per hour to operate.

MCMF is asking the community to spread the word about this service, particularly to residents of Montgomery County. The MCMF is a sister organization to the Montgomery County Muslim Council, a group formed in 2002 to promote Muslim political involvement and civic engagement at the local level.

To donate or learn more, email [email protected] .

A Foreign Language Close to Their HeartsStudents Struggle to Learn Arabic at Local InstitutesBy Yaman ShalabiMuslim Link Staff Writer

During his elementary school days, D.C.-native Sulayman Kokayi was the child who always had to struggle and give triple the effort to learn the Arabic language. On several occasions, he was asked to leave the classroom. According to teachers, he was not up to par with the rest of the students.

His solution: transliteration.

It didn’t solve his problem, it just elevated it. He learned that the hard way.

“You will never be able to memorize the Quran!” his third-grade teacher said.

Already behind his classmates and feeling frustrated, the comment stung, Kokayi said. However, his dedication and commitment to learn the language of the Holy Quran was not thwarted. Shocked at such a blatant remark, Kokayi set out to prove his third grade teacher wrong. And so, he moved to Canada and enrolled

in a boarding school, Al-Rashid Islamic Institute, where his studies focused on Islam and the Quran.

“It was a pretty good experience; I learned a lot,” said Kokayi. “I was able to mature pretty fast.”

Swept into an intense program, Kokayi’s daily routines and activities began after the Fajr prayer. He focused on Arabic and Quranic studies until the noon lunch break. For three hours after Dhuhr, he

worked on his math and English studies. After Maghrib, it was back to Arabic and the Quran, working on the next day’s assignments. He had a little reprieve on Saturdays and Sundays when the school days were cut short.

Immersing himself in his studies, Kokayi was able to get the help he needed from teachers who were “focused on the students,” he said. Teachers often remained after class hours to go over and answer any problems students had.

Living within close proximity to the teachers allowed for a more personal relationship, said Kokayi.

Separated into a group based on his skill level, Kokayi started off learning the alphabet, going over vocabulary and perfecting the grammar. He was bumped up and went on to read the Quran proficiently until he finally began

>> LANGUAGE Pg 15

Converts and non-Arabs are not the only ones struggling to learn Arabic; children of first-generation Arabic-speaking parents have lost their grip on the language, Ilias said.


Civic Participation Unveils Divisions for College Park MuslimsBy Muslim Link Staff

For the past 10 years, Muslims in the Dar-us-Salaam community in College Park, Maryland were steadily increasing their level of civil engagement.

Starting with hosting open houses and picnics, the community – which is home to Al-Huda School -- hosted local politicians, invited the city’s mayor to speak, and accepted many invitations to churches and area schools to talk about their faith.

In last years election for city council, a member of Dar-us-Salaam ran for one of two positions. Many Muslims assisted his campaign, and scores of Muslim voted – many for the time first.

But now, some College Park Muslims are learning too much civic engagement can lead to civic estrangement.

Motivated to represent the growing Muslim population around Dar-us-Salaam, community members began attending the monthly meetings of the North College Park Citizen’s Association (NCPCA).. In 2006, the NCPCA created a diverse committee of Muslim and non-Muslim residents to study and recommend solutions to the high volume of traffic around Al-Huda School. The NCPCA voted to adopt the committee’s report, the affirmative vote bolstered by the relatively large number of Muslims attending the meeting. The NCPCA checked that all of the voters were residents of North College Park.

Since then, a few long time residents of the neighborhood began feeling “disenfranchised”, complaining in meetings and on neighborhood email groups that the NCPCA had been “hijacked” by “certain groups”. The

emails went so far as Prince George’s County officials and other elected officials who asked that special measures be taken to ensure all the voters are legitimate.

“Some of the mostly older, white residents in North College Park are afraid of the new faces. We are a diverse group, but our women dress in hijab, and many of us are immigrants. But North College Park is our home. Unfortunately, our involvement [in NCPCA] is being seen by some neighbors as a takeover,” said

one Muslim neighbor who requested anonymity.

Fears of a Muslim takeover came to head in January when some NCPCA officials pushed an amendment to the association bylaws which would change voting rights from one vote per adult to one vote per household. Area Muslims saw the proposed change as an attempt to disenfranchise their votes; most Muslim households are larger than the average College Park household.

At the January 14, 2010 NCPCA meeting, a packed room voted almost down religious lines, with Muslim residents opposing the proposal and most non-Muslim voting to adopt it. By the sheer numbers of Muslims present, the amendment was voted down 47-15.

For one long-time resident, it seemed like the last straw. Marcia Booth motioned that the NCPCA be dissolved. That

>> PARTICIPATION Pg 21


“[It] is important especially for students who live on campus and away from their families.”

Sehar Maruf, 18, a biochemistry major, was involved in her high school’s MSA, and had heard before starting at college that U-Md.’s had a good reputation.

“It’s a really good support group,” Maruf

said. “We’re all there for each other and everyone’s really understanding.”

Others, however, have pointed to deeper problems amidst apparent unity.

“On the surface it seems strong but we have internal divisions amongst ourselves, divisions based on which scholars we follow, how religious we are, and what sect we belong to,” said Ghazal Kango, 18, a bioengineering major.

Hammad Rasul, a junior economics and

English major, said that minorities such as Shiite or Sufi Muslims have faced exclusion or prejudice at the hands of some MSA members.

“The only unity that is encouraged in the MSA is after everyone decides to conform to the beliefs of those students in charge and those who don’t are forced out,” Rasul said. “The MSA leadership puts people such as myself in a difficult situation where it makes me choose between MSA and my friends.”

Stephenson said he has not received any complaints about this matter during this year, but does not want the MSA to push people away and is attempting to create an open environment for all Muslims and non-Muslims.

“I feel as though we are better this year than we’ve been in the past…[but] I’m not going to say we’re perfect or even good on this matter,” Stephenson said. “If there is any issue, then…I am open to criticism, and happy to look into anything to make our MSA better.”

at the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington

“Don’t shut down the free market of ideas in the Masjid,” he said.

Bray said the mainstream media portrays the “simplest agenda,” and that they are not calling terrorism what it is. Americans of other faiths engaging in violent acts against the government are not called terrorists, he said.

Dr. Sadia Ali Aden, founder of the Adar Foundation, said the government needs to do a better job of investigating the reasons behind radicalization among Muslim youth, just as it investigated the psychological state of students who were affected by the deadly April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University.

During the show, the panelists described the meaning of radicalization from a contextual point of view, differentiating their definitions from the popular notion

linking terrorism to Islam.

“All of the prophets were radicals because they brought change against the status quo,” Bray said.

Other panelists agreed, saying buzz words like “radical,” “fundamental,” and “extremists,” are used as synonyms for Muslims.

“I wear a beard, and that is considered radical in America,” Khan said. “Radical is an ambiguous term which needs to be better defined by the American government.”

The Department of Homeland Security guidelines are so strict that they are “criminalizing free speech,” Beutel said. Muslim leaders, he said, need to advocate a change in these guidelines to have better governance of informants. Radicalization can be prevented if the Islamic centers have the opportunity to freely discuss ideas without fear of spies in their centers, he said.

Beutel said distress arises when one’s distasteful ideas are connected to criminal

activity. He said organizations like MPAC have launched outreach programs to introduce youth to civic engagement, a field lacking Muslim participants, according to a 2009 Gallup study.

Starting in April, MPAC will recruit volunteers from Islamic centers across the county for its “I Am Change” community outreach program. The program aims to get Muslims involved in their communities.

“We found there is willingness for civic engagement,” Beutel said. “But we just need to educate the youth on how to get involved.”

Similarly, the MAS Freedom Foundation started its “Straight Path” program recruiting Muslim males between the ages of 18 and 29.

Producer Hassanah Thomas-Tauhidi is a television veteran. She previously produced Washington D.C.’s first award winning Islamic television series, “Islamic Perspectives,” which aired from 1996 to 2004.

She has been working on Living Islam in America since 2006, but she put the project on hold due to a lack of funding. The program will air in April and will be available to everyone in the D.C. area with basic cable. The show will air at 3 p.m. on Sundays.

“I want Muslims to be proud of this show just like any other primetime show. We want people of all faiths to watch this show,” Tauhidi said. “I hope people will rush home to watch the show just as they would do with any of their favorite primetime programs.”Tauhidi is looking for underwriters willing to align with her on this mission to create a positive dialogue about major issues facing Muslims living in America.

“Muslims have saturated the print media, but we are rarely seen in television,” she said. “This is where the real cost comes in, but this is where we can easily access a large audience.”

Please visit www.ia-tv.org for more information and to view the schedule.

RADICALIZATION>> continued from pg 3

MSA>> continued from pg 7

an investigation and hold hearings on the practice of the FBI’s COINTELPRO to determine if misconduct and legal violations were committed.

4) Calls upon MANA’s Social Justice

Task Force and other groups to work together to go to UN bodies to make the case that Super Max prisons and 23-hour isolation is a violation of international law.

5) Calls upon the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons to end Imam Jamil Al-Amin’s unwarranted and inhumane incarceration in a federal

Super Max prison where he is locked up in complete isolation for 23 hours.

6) Calls upon the American Muslim community to develop working relations with activists and activist organizations to jointly address issues of social justice.

7) Calls upon the American Muslim community to become more aware and

involved in issues of community service and social justice in America, in order to be an instrument of change.

Calls upon MANA to form a broad-based task force which will focus on ending the practice of 23-hour isolation.

Source: MANA

TORTURE>> continued from pg 8


IMAFoundation

info@imafoundation

Incarcerated Muslims of America Foundation (IMAF) is anon-profit organization that reaches out to the Incarcerated

Musilms in America by the way of Dawah and Sadaqa.

“And whatsoever you spend of anything in His cause,he will replace it.” As Saba:39

To Inquire or Donate please email

memorizing. After completing the memorization of the Quran in 2002, he returned to the area, where he now leads prayers at many masajid.

There is an overwhelming number of Muslims in the D.C. area striving to perfect the language of the Prophet. Locals from all age groups are united to achieve one common goal: learning Arabic.

Nauman Ilias, the director and chair of education at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., presides over the masjid’s Arabic classes, in which he is also a student. The rigorous weekend program has been “a personal sacrifice” for him.

“You wake up on the weekends wanting to spend time with your family,” he said. Consequently, Ilias has given up the joy of being with his wife and children on weekends in exchange for Arabic.

But Ilias and other local Muslims are united on a journey to embrace a language so ancient yet replete with magnificence, radiance and divinity. Why?

It is the language of the Quran.

“There is no better way to fully learn and understand the Quran than in Arabic,” Ilias said. And although this holy text is found in different languages “a lot is lost in translation.”

Kokayi agreed, believing that Arabic was essential in understanding the Quran.

“You are more in touch with the Quran [knowing Arabic],” he said. “The fact that it was revealed in Arabic shows just how great the language is.”

Ali Alatharee, 33, began learning Arabic in 2004 at the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, Va. After it was shut down, he joined an Arabic institution at Dar-us-Salaam in College Park, Md., but the program eventually died down, he said. He finally came across MCC in 2006 and has been continuing his Arabic education since.

A full-time working adult with a family,

Alatharee was often discouraged because of the difficulty and sacrifice that comes with learning Arabic. At times he wanted to give up, he said.

“There is no opportunity to practice speaking Arabic in the West as opposed to the East,” said Alatharee. You can learn the concepts and grammar, but having someone to talk to is the best way to master the language, he said. Alatharee would often go home and recite to his children sentences he learned in class. He would repeat them until his kids picked up on the Arabic.

One student living in Maryland is grateful that her parents put her in a private Arabic Islamic school, regardless of her Turkish background. Disappointed with the educational standards at school, she spent four years “being taught Arabic as if she was already expected to know it.” Not until she decided to pursue her education elsewhere did the school implement a program for non-Arabic speaking students. Although for her it was too late.

Converts and non-Arabs are not the only ones struggling to learn Arabic; children of first-generation Arabic-speaking parents have lost their grip on the language, Ilias said. There is an increasing need among Muslims to fully understand the complexity of the Quran and this can only be done by tackling the language of Islam, he said. Mariam, daughter to first generation Arabic speaking parents from Fairfax, hopes that a better understanding of the Arabic language will help her to better communicate with her family and help her to live independently in Saudi Arabia.

“I can understand Arabic but I have to think about what to say,” she said, regretfully. “English, it’s easy, you can blurt it out.”

She explains that Arabic at her school “was a task needed to get out of the way.”

“Teachers didn’t know how to assign work,” Mariam said. “[We] had more important things to do. Arabic was nothing.”

Mariam still struggled and put in more

effort than her classmates did, she said. In class, she would attempt to speak Arabic with the teachers “to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere.” Her teachers would correct her if she spoke incorrectly. To make sure the basics were still engraved in her, she and a friend would jokingly converse in Arabic.

Often, beginners to Arabic don’t realize that with learning this language they are actually learning about a precious culture and invaluable religion rooted in ancient times, explained one Virginia resident. Tehseen Raza, a volunteer and fourth-year student at the MCC Arabic Language Center, was surprised at the increase in students registering to learn Arabic - between 22 and 25 students signed up in the past three years. A total of 42 students registered in 2010.

“I was first like a parrot reciting what I knew [from the Quran], but now I can dissect it,” Raza said proudly. “People come thinking they’ll learn [to speak] fluently within one year; it’s a long process and you need patience.”

Despite its complexity, Ilias thinks Arabic is a relatively easy language to learn.

“It’s an easy language with many rules and few exceptions whereas English has few rules and many exceptions,” he said. Apart from Arabic being the language spoken by Prophet Muhammad (SAW), many adherents deem it a necessary and practical skill to have, especially in society today.

“It’s useful,” said Mona from Lanham,

Md. “It’s not just a language of the Book but [a language] we use every day. You shouldn’t give up.”

In school, Mona and her friends learned Arabic through songs.

Mona was once called the Deeko (rooster) girl after having to memorize an Arabic song by the name of “Ana Al-Deeko” (I Am the Rooster) for one of her classes. She enjoyed the song so much that after memorizing it, she began reciting it non-stop.

“You feel a form of success and it’s something to be proud of,” she said. As exams neared, Mona and friends would form little study groups of five people. They created flashcards with a picture of a word and its Arabic spelling. This made it easier to grasp the information instead of having to write the word in English and translate it into Arabic.

According to Ilias, learning Arabic is essential.

“You have Muslims from all over the world speaking the same language when offering prayers to Allah,” he said. “It’s a common denominator among Muslims.” Now, Mariam’s grandfather hates when she speaks English, she said.

“Araby, Araby” (Arabic Arabic) he yells at her.

------------------

Note: Several names of people and places have been either changed or left out due to requests of anonymity.

LANGUAGE>> continued from pg 12


National NewsFamous Caller to Islam Returns to AllahAminah Assilmi, an energetic caller to Islam who traveled around the nation giving lectures and inspiring other, and President of the International Union of Muslim Women once said:

“I am so very glad that I am a Muslim. Islam is my life. Islam is the beat of my heart. Islam is the blood that courses through my veins. Islam is my strength. Islam is my life so wonderful and beautiful. Without Islam I am nothing, and should Allah ever turn His magnificent face from me, I could not survive”

Sister Aminah died in a car accident in the early morning of March 5, 2010, outside of Newport, Tenn. She was returning with her son from a speaking engagement in New York. Her son, who was injured in the accident, was taken to a hospital in Knoxville. She was 65. . To Allah we belong and to Allah we will return. The following write-up is excerpted from a longer write-up on Sister Aminah’s biography. -- TML

------------------------------------------------

It all started with a computer glitch.

She was a Southern Baptist girl, a radical feminist, and a broadcast journalist. She was a girl with an unusual caliber, who excelled in school, received scholarships, ran her own business, and were competing with professionals and getting awards – all these while she was going to college. Then one day a computer error happened that made her take up a mission as a devout Christian. Eventually, however, it resulted into something opposite and changed her life completely around.

It was 1975 when for the first time computer was used to pre-register for a class in her college. She was working on her degree on Recreation. She pre-registered for a class and then went

toOklahoma City to take care of a business. Her return was delayed and she came back to college two weeks into the class. Making up the missed work was no problem for her, but she was surprised to find that the computer mistakenly registered her for a Theatre class, a class where students would be required to perform in front of others. She was a very reticent girl and she was horrified to think about performing in front of others. She could not drop the class for it was too late.

Failing the class was also not a choice, for she was receiving a scholarship that was paying for her tuition and receiving an ‘F’ would have jeopardized it.

Advised by her husband, she went to her teacher to work out some other alternative to performing, such as preparing costumes, etc. Assured by the teacher that he would try to help her, she went to the next class and was shocked by what she saw. The class was full of Arabs and “camel jockeys”. That was enough for her. She came back home and decided not to go back to the class anymore. It was not possible for her to be in the middle of Arabs. “There was no way I was going to sit in a room full of dirty heathens!”

Her husband was calm as usual. He pointed out to her that God has a reason for everything and that she should think

about more before quitting. Besides, there was the scholarship that was paying her tuition. She went behind locked doors for 2 days to think about. When she came out, she decided to continue the class. She felt that God gave her a task to convert the Arabs into Christianity.

Thus she found herself with a mission to accomplish. Throughout the class, she would be discussing Christianity with her Arab classmates. “I proceeded to explain to them how they would burn in the fires of hell for all eternity, if they did not accept Jesus as their personal savior. They were very polite, but did not convert. Then, I explained how Jesus loved them and had died on the

cross to save them from their sins. All they had to do was accept him into their hearts.” They still did not convert, and so she decided to do something else: “I decided to read their own book to show to them that Islam was a false religion and Mohammed was a false Prophet”.

At her request, one student gave her a copy of the Qur’an and another book on Islam. With these two books she started on her research, which she was to continue for the next one and half years. She read the Qur’an fully and another fifteen books on Islam. Then she came back to the Qur’an and re-read it. During her research, she started taking notes that she found objectionable and which she would be able to use to prove that Islam

was a false religion.

Unconsciously, however, she was changing from within which did not escape the attention of her husband. “I was changing, just in little ways but enough to bother him. We used to go to the bar every Friday and Saturday, or to a party, and I no longer wanted to go. I was quieter and more distant.” She stopped drinking and eating pork. Her husband suspected her of having an affair with another man, for “it was only for a man that a woman changes”. Ultimately, she was asked to leave, and she soon found herself living in a separate apartment

“When I first started to study Islam, I did not expect to find anything that I needed or wanted in my personal life. Little did I know that Islam would change my life. No human could have ever convinced me that I would finally be at peace and overflowing with love and joy because of Islam.”

Throughout these times, she continued studying Islam and although she was changing subtly from within, she remained a devout Christian. Then one day, there was a knock on her door. It was a man in traditional Muslim robe, who appeared to her as a “man in a long white night gown with a red and white checkered table cloth on his head”. His name was Abdul-Aziz Al-Sheik and he was accompanied by three other men in similar dress. She was very offended by Muslim men coming to her in nightgowns and pajamas. She was further shocked when Abdul-Aziz told her that he understood that she waited to be a Muslim. She replied that she was a Christian and she did not have any plan to become a Muslim. However, she had some questions to ask if they had the time.

During her research, she started taking notes that she found objectionable and which she would be able to use to prove that Islam was a false religion.

>> RETURNS Pg 17


At her invitation, they came inside. She now brought up the questions and objections that she noted down while she was researching. “I will never forget his name”, she said of Abdul-Aziz who proved to be a very patient and soft-mannered person. “He was very patient and discussed every question with me. He never made me feel silly or that a question was stupid.” Abdul-Aziz listened to every question and objection and explained it within the proper context. “He explained that Allah had told us to seek knowledge and questions were one of the ways to accomplish that. When he explained something, it was like watching a rose open – petal by petal, until it reached its full glory. When I told him that I did not agree with something and why, he always said I was correct up to a point. Then he would show me how to look deeper and from different directions to reach a fuller understanding.”

It would not be long before she would externally submit to what she had already been submitting to internally during the last one and half years. Later in that same day, this Southern Baptist girl would declare in front of Abdul-Aziz and his companions: “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Mohammed is His Messenger.” It was May 21, 1977.

Conversion to Islam, or to any other religion for that matter, is not always a simple thing to do. Except for a few fortunate ones, a new Muslim usually face consequences. The convert may face isolation from family and friends, if not pressure to go back to the family faith. Sometimes, a convert may even face sever economic hardship, as in the case of those who are asked to leave the house because of converting to Islam. Some converts are fortunate to continue to be well respected by family and friends, but most of them face minor to severe hardship especially during the first few years after the conversion.

But the difficulty that Aminah Assilimi had to go through and the sacrifice that she had to make for the sake of her conviction and faith is almost unheard of. There are few who could rely so much on Allah as she did, standing firm

and meeting the challenges, making sacrifices, and yet maintaining a positive posture and influencing people around with the beauty of what she found and believed in.She lost most of her friends, for she was “no fun anymore”. Her mother did not accept her becoming a Muslim and hoped that it was a temporary zeal and that she would soon grow out of it. Her “mental health expert” sister thought that she lost her mind. She attempted to put her in a mental health institution.

Her father was a calm and wise man. People would come to him for advice and he could comfort anyone in distress. But when he heard that his daughter became a Muslim, he loaded his double-barrel shotgun and started on his way to kill her. “It is better that she be dead rather than suffering in the deepest of Hell”, he said.

She was now without friends and without family.

She soon started wearing hijab. The day she put it on, she was denied her job. She was now without family, friends, and job. But her greatest sacrifice was yet to come.

She and her husband both loved each other very much. But while she was studying Islam, her husband misunderstood her for her apparent changes. She became quieter and stopped going to the bar. Her changes were visible to him and he suspected her of having affair with another man, for whom she must have been changing. She could not explain to him what was happening.“There was no way to make him understand what was changing me because I did not know.”Eventually he asked her to leave and she started living separately.

After she openly accepted Islam, it went worse. A divorce was now inevitable. This was a time when Islam was little known, much less understood for what it is. She had two little children whom she loved dearly and whose custody should have rightfully be given to her. But in a grave violation of justice, she was denied their custody just because she became a Muslim. Before giving the formal verdict, the judge offered her a harsh choice: either renounce Islam and get custody of the children, or keep Islam and leave the children. She was given 20

minutes to make a decision.

She loved her children very dearly. It is perhaps the worst nightmare that a mother can have: asked to willfully leave her child - not for one day, month, or year, but forever. On the other hand, how could she keep the Truth away from her children and live as a hypocrite? “It was the most painful 20 minutes in my life”, she said in an interview. Those of us who are mothers and fathers, especially of young children, little imagination is needed to feel the pain and torment that she must have passed every second in those 20 minutes. What added further to her pain was that according to doctors, she could never bear another child because of certain complications.

“I prayed like I had never done before … I knew that there was no safer place for my children to be than in the hands of Allah. If I denied Him, there would be no way in the future to show my children the wonders of being with Allah.”

She decided to retain Islam. Her two dear children – one little boy and one little girl – were taken away from her and given to her ex-husband.

For a mother, is there a sacrifice greater than this – a sacrifice that is done for no material reason but only for faith and conviction?

“I left the court knowing that life without my babies would be very difficult. My heart bled, even though I knew, inside, I had done the right thing” . She found comfort in the following verse of the Qur’an:There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory). (Quran 2: 255)

Perhaps the air of Colorado was too thin for justice. Or perhaps there was a plan in Allah’s greater scheme of affairs. Aminah Assilimi later fought back and

took her case to the media. Although she did not get custody of her children again, a change was made in the Colorado law that one cannot be denied child custody on the basis of his or her religion.

Indeed Allah’s love and mercy engulfed her so much that, as if, she has been granted the touchstone of Islam. Wherever she goes, people are touched by her beautiful words and Islamic manners and become Muslim.

By accepting Islam, she became a changed person, and a much better person. So much so that her family, relatives, and people around her started appreciating her mannerism and the faith that brought about such changes in her. Despite her family’s initial reaction, she remained in touch with them and addressed them with respect and humility, just as the Qur’an enjoins the Muslims to do. She would send cards to her parents on different occasions, but she would always write down a verse from the Qur’an or the Hadith without mentioning the source of such beautiful words of wisdom. It was not long before she started making a positive influence among her family members.

The first to become Muslim was her grand mother. She was over 100 years old. Soon after accepting Islam, she died. “The day she pronounced Shahada, all her misdeeds had been erased, while her good deeds were preserved. She died so soon after accepting Islam that I knew her “book” was bound to be heavy on the good side. It fills me with such a joy!”

Next to become Muslim was her father, the one who wanted to kill her after she became Muslim. Thus he brought alive the story of Umar ibn Khattab. Umar was a companion of the Prophet (peace be on him) who persecuted the early Muslims before he converted to Islam. When he heard one day that his sister became a Muslim, he went out with an open sword to kill her. But upon hearing some of the verses from the Qur’an that his sister was reciting, he recognized the truth and went straight to the Prophet and accepted Islam.

Two years after she (Assilmi) accepted Islam, her mother called and said that

RETURNS>> continued from pg 16

>> RETURNS II Pg 19

March 12th - March 26th, 2010 18

World Press | WORLD PRESS

Hate 2.0: Islamaphobia and the InternetTuesday 09 March 2010By: Barnabe F. Geisweiller t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

In July of last year, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, organized a mass wedding celebration for hundreds of couples in the Gaza Strip. The happy adult grooms, immaculately dressed in black suits and colorful ties, received $500 each from Hamas, no small sum in the besieged territory.

It might have been a joyous event if not for the fact that the brides were “pre-pubescent girls, dressed in white gowns and adorned with garish make-up,” according to the article written by author and journalist Paul L. Williams, and republished by right-wing pundit David Horowitz’s Frontpage Magazine, who regularly appears on mainstream news networks such as Fox and CNN.

The photos show young girls holding hands with the grooms, and the article goes on to explain how pedophilia is inherent to Islam. It would have been a sordid tale were it not for the fact that the article is a hoax. The married couples were, in fact, consenting adults, but this did not stop the story from being widely disseminated via a vast network of web-based publications, blogs and mailing lists, and hundreds of readers left online comments.

The Internet is considered by many to be an information Wild West, where anyone can publish stories, often anonymously, and no matter how derogatory their opinions may be. False stories and hateful opinions about Muslims abound on the Internet and have begun to appear prominently in the mainstream discourse, said American Muslims and groups that monitor the media. Many worry that what one sociologist has termed “respectable racism” is having a corrosive effect on American society, and that hate expressed online has real-world

implications. Right-wing, extremist ideology is now the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

“Islamaphobia has moved to the mainstream in the years following the 9/11 attacks,” said Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), based in Washington, DC. “Things that would have been completely outside the pale, like a letter to the editor saying that Islam is intrinsically evil, that would have never been published before 9/11. Now it’s published almost on a daily basis.”

Public figures such as politicians and pundits have used their status in society to confer a certain degree of respectability to racist discourse, according to Canadian sociologist Rachad Antonius. He believes the negative connotations attached to being Arab in mainstream culture have made it acceptable to publicly stereotype or disparage Arabs.

There is, in any case, no law against expressing racist opinions or what many would consider to be hate speech.

“There is no particular definition of hate speech since we don’t ban it,” said Floyd Abrams, an attorney and expert on constitutional law. “We ban speech which constitutes an imminent threat of violence. We allow the marketplace of ideas to decide who is worthy of being credited with truthful information and who is not.”

Racist opinions are being voiced loudly and publicly. Xenophobia was rife at the Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee, February 4 to 6, where some speakers railed against multiculturalism, accusing immigrants of threatening Judeo-Christian values. Talk of “white culture” and chants of “Take it back!”

are common at gatherings of Tea Party members, now a force to be reckoned with in American politics, and pundits such as Fox’s Glenn Beck or Ann Coulter have helped stoke the flames.

A newspaper can be held liable for defamatory statements made by others within its pages. But the Communication Decency Act passed by Congress in 1996 offers protection to online publishers who put out content created by third parties.

The article alleging mass pedophile weddings took place in the Gaza Strip, “Hamas Plays Host to Pedophilia,” was first published on Williams’ web site thelastcrusade.org on August 7, 2009, and generated nearly 500 reader comments. It was republished in Frontpage Magazine, the online publication of conservative activist Horowitz.

Williams, an American Christian minister and author, has written extensively about Islam and terrorism. In his book “The Dunces of Doomsday,” he claimed that lax security and Egyptian-born professors working at McMaster University’s nuclear reactor in Hamilton, Canada, had led to the theft of more than 180 pounds of nuclear material to be used by terrorists in American cities. The university is suing Williams and has called the allegations false and defamatory.

Rachel Ehrenfeld defended Williams in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on December 21, 2009, referring to the legal action as a “frivolous foreign libel” suit. This despite the fact that Williams’ own publisher has issued a retraction, saying in a statement that the allegations about the university being infiltrated by terrorists and the theft of nuclear material were “without basis in fact.”

Ironically, Williams claims on his

web site and in numerous other online publications to have penned at least one feature article for the Wall Street Journal, but does not say when. Database searches going as far back as 1976 turned up nothing, and Timothy Lemmer of the Journal wrote me, “I don’t see a ‘Paul L. Williams’ in our archive, searching by byline back to 1984.”

He also claims to have been published in USA Today. Database searches did not turn up anything, and Michelle Poblete, the assistant reader editor, wrote me in an email, “I did a search in our archive, but I did not find any articles written by Paul L. Williams.”

Williams said that he “served as a consultant on organized crime and international terrorism” for the FBI, though this could not be confirmed. Williams maintained that, for over a decade, he “has taught philosophy, religion, and the humanities at The University of Scranton and Wilkes University.” Wilkes University has record of him working there one year, 1998, teaching philosophy, while The University of Scranton has record of him teaching an interdisciplinary class there 25 years ago, but could not say for how many years he was a professor.

Williams lifted the first few paragraphs and quotes of his article from an Agence France-Presse (AFP) article he did not write, “Hamas sponsors mass wedding in Gaza,” published a week earlier on July 30, 2009. But he stopped plagiarizing when he reached the following phrase: “The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.”

>> ISLAMAPHOBIA Pg 19

19TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 WORLD PRESS |

In his own article, Williams went on to explain how pedophilia is commonplace in Islam, basing his analysis on the traditions of the Middle Ages, and apparently unaware that marrying young, and what would be considered child abuse by modern standards, was a normal occurrence at the time in the ancient world of East and West.

The children holding the hands of the grooms at the celebration in Gaza were not their brides, as he alleged, but their relatives. This was confirmed by other news sources such as Sky News, a sister channel of Fox News. It was also not the first mass wedding to be organized by Hamas in Gaza, where the legal marrying age is 18 or 16 with parental permission if Egyptian Sharia law is followed.

Taghreed El-Khodary, who writes for The New York Times and is considered balanced even by conservative author and activist Daniel Pipes, covered a

similar wedding for the paper on October 30, 2008.

“These kids on the stage are the nieces or sisters of the grooms,” she said in an email, referring to the young girls in white dresses. “It is a mass wedding in conservative Gaza; hence brides are sitting with their families. It’s a symbolic party to give credit to Hamas or whatever institution is funding it.”

Williams and Horowitz did not respond to emailed inquiries about the article and requests for interviews.

Muslim groups and media watchdogs say that this is not a simple question of free speech, noting that people with radical views about Christianity, Judaism or Israel are not given prominent platforms on mainstream networks as is Horowitz.

“It’s a double standard,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “The media wouldn’t bring on anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, overt racists, but they will bring on these Muslim-bashers or anti-Arab individuals. They shouldn’t bring on anti-Semites or

neo-Nazis, and I don’t think they should have on these Muslim-haters either.”

Norman Finkelstein, an American political scientist and author, has written extensively on the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is fiercely critical of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, and his books have generated controversy as well as received praise from prominent historians and public intellectuals. Yet, he has never been invited to appear on a mainstream American network.“I have never been on American television (not even the cable networks) and the only national radio program I have been on is Democracy Now!,” he wrote in an email. “To my mind, the interesting fact is that not even liberal radio programs and moderators would have me on. It is for example unthinkable that I would be on a National Public Radio program. It’s the usual stuff: career and funding.”

Conservative groups are waging a war of ideas online with players such as Horowitz’s Frontpage Magazine and Williams’ thelastcrusade.org supplementing right-wing materials that are widely diffused via blogs, chat

rooms, mailing lists and other web publications. This network has facilitated the free flow of ideas, and created virtual havens in which people vent their collective disillusionment or rage. But the connections made there have shifted from the virtual to the real world.

Elements of white nationalism are fusing with right wing ideology, as supremacist groups like the Council of Conservative Citizens and the National Socialist Movement have made inroads into mainstream culture by exploiting contentious issues such as the economy and immigration. The Tea Party movement may now be, by some accounts, one of the most potent political forces in America. What that will translate to in the future remains to be seen. But many Muslims and other minority groups are fearful.

“It has a very corrosive effect on our society,” said Hooper of CAIR. “Whenever you legitimize, even through your silence, attacks on a religious or ethnic minority, we are all hurt by that. It’s not something that helps our society in any way.”

she appreciated her faith and hoped that she would keep it. Couple of years later, she called again and asked her about what one would need to do to become a Muslim. Assilmi replied that one had to believe that there is only One God and Muhammad was his Messenger. “Any fool knows that. But what do you have to do?”, she asked again. She replied that if that is what she believed, then she was already a Muslim! At this, her mother said, “Well … OK. But let’s not tell your father just yet”.

She was not aware that her husband (Assilmi’s step father) had the same conversation with her a few weeks earlier. Thus the two lived together as Muslims for years in secret without knowing that the other was also a Muslim. Her sister who wanted to put her in mental institution accepted Islam as well. She must have realized that becoming Muslim is indeed the most healthy and sound thing to do.

Her son, upon becoming adult, accepted Islam. When he turned 21, he called her and said that he wanted to become a Muslim.

Sixteen years after the divorce, her ex-husband also accepted Islam. He said that he had been watching her for sixteen years and wanted his daughter to have the same religion that she had. He came to her and apologized for what he had done. He was a very nice gentlemen and Assilimi had forgiven him long ago.

Perhaps the greatest reward for her was yet to come. Assilmi later married another person, and despite the doctors’ verdict that she could never conceive another child, Allah blessed her with a beautiful boy. If Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala makes a gift to someone, who can prevent Him? It was truly a wonderful blessing from Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala, and so she named him Barakah.

The sacrifice that Assilmi made for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala was tremendous. And so Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala turned in mercy to her and rewarded

her with enormous blessings. Her family discarded her after she accepted Islam, and now by Allah’s mercy, most of them are Muslim. She lost her friends because of Islam, and now she is being loved by so many. “Friends who loved came out of nowhere”, she said.

Allah’s blessings came upon her so much that wherever she goes people are touched by the beauty of Islam and accept the Truth. Both Muslims and non-Muslims now come to her for advice and counseling.

She lost her job because of wearing hijab, and now she is the President of the International Union of Muslim Women. She delivers lectures nationwide and is on high demand. It was her organization that successfully lobbied for the “Eid Stamp” and had it approved by the United States Postal Service, but it took many years of work. She is now working on making the Eid Day as a national holiday.

She has tremendous trust on Allah’s love and mercy and she never looses faith

on Him. She was once diagnosed with cancer some years ago. Doctors said that it was in an advanced stage and that she would live for another year. But her faith in Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala remained strong. “We must all die. I was confident that the pain I was experiencing contained blessings.”

As a brilliant example of how much one can love Allah, she mentions about a friend of her named Kareem Al-Misawi who died of cancer when he was in his 20’s: “Shortly before he died, he told me that Allah was truly Merciful. This man was in unbelievable anguish and was radiating with Allah’s love. He said: “Allah intends that I should enter heaven with a clean book.” His death experience gave me something to think about. He taught me of Allah’s love and mercy.”

All praise is due to Allah, she continues to live in good health. She now thinks that having cancer was the greatest blessing that she ever had. [Source: famousmuslims.com]

ISLAMAPHOBIA>> continued from pg 18

RETURNS II>> continued from pg 17

March 12th - March 26th, 2010 20 | ISLAM

IslamBy Sheikh Muhammad b. Àbd Allah al-Qannâs

Allah says: “And those who, when they commit an indecency or do injustice to their souls, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins – and who forgives sins but Allah – and (who) do not knowingly persist in what they have done. For such the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and Gardens with rivers flowing underneath – an eternal dwelling. How excellent a recompense for those who work (and strive)!” [ Sûrah Al Ìmrân : 135-136]

This is one of the many passages of the Qur’ân that discusses sincere repentance, informing us that when a person repents sincerely and fulfills the conditions

of true repentance, then his reward is forgiveness for his sins, atonement for his mistakes, and admission into Paradise.

In the same vein are two other passages of the Qur’ân that we should make note of.

Allah says: “And those who do not invoke any other god along with Allah, nor take the life which Allah hath forbidden save in (course of) justice, nor commit adultery - and whoso does this shall pay the penalty; The punishment will be doubled for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein disdained for ever, unless he repents, believes, and works righteous deeds, for Allah will change their evil deeds to good deeds, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [ Sûrah al-Furqân : 68-

70]

Allah also assures us: “Say: O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [ Sûrah al-Zumar : 53]

Ibn Àbbâs relates to us the context in which these two passages were revealed. We can see in this account a firm assurance of forgiveness for those who repent sincerely. Ibn Àbbâs says: A group of people had killed and been excessive in killing, had committed adultery and been excessive in doing so, and had committed heinous crimes. They came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: “O Muhammad! What you say and what you call towards

is something good. If only you could inform us of some atonement for what we have done.”

Then Allah revealed: “And those who do not invoke any other god along with Allah…” up to the point “...Allah will change their evil deeds to good deeds.”

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Allah will change your polytheism to belief and your adultery to chastity.”

Also revealed at this time was: “Say: O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all

>> INJUSTICE Pg 21

“And those who, when they commit an indecency or do injustice to their souls…”

Khushoo’: The Main Ingredient of SalahPraise be to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds, Who has said in His book (interpretation of the meaning), “…and stand before Allaah with obedience” [al-Baqarah 2:238] and has said concerning the prayer (interpretation of the meaning): “… and truly it is extremely heavy and hard except for al-khaashi’oon…’ [al-Baqarah 2:45].

And peace and blessings be upon the leader of the pious, the chief of al-khaashi’oon, Muhammad the Messenger of Allaah, and on all his family and companions.

Salaah is the greatest of the practical pillars of Islam, and khushoo’ in prayer is required by sharee’ah.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Successful indeed are the believers, those who offer their salaah (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness.” [al-Mu’minoon 23:1-

2] – i.e., fearing Allaah and in a calm manner.

Khushoo’ means calmness, serenity, tranquillity, dignity and humility. What makes a person have this khushoo’ is fear of Allaah and the sense that He is always

watching. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Daar al-Sha’b edn., 6/414). Khushoo’ means that the heart stands before the Lord in humility and submission. (al-Madaarij, 1/520).

It was reported that Mujaahid said: “’…and stand before Allaah with obedience” [al-Baqarah 2:238 – interpretation of the meaning]’ – part of obedience is to bow, to be solemn and submissive, to lower one’s gaze and to humble oneself out of fear of Allaah, may He be glorified.” (Ta’zeem

Qadr al-Salaah, 1/188).

The site of khushoo’ is the heart, and its effects are manifested in the physical body. The various faculties follow the heart: if the heart is corrupted by negligence

or insinuating whispers from Shaytaan, the worship of the body’s faculties will also be corrupt. The heart is like a king and the faculties are like his troops who follow his orders and go where they are commanded. If the king is deposed, his followers are lost, which is like what happens when the heart does not worship properly.

When Iblees, the enemy of Allaah, vowed to mislead and tempt the sons of Adam and said“Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left…” [al-A’raaf 7:17, interpretation of the meaning], one of his most significant plots became to divert people from salaah by all possible means and to whisper to them during their prayer so as to deprive them of the joy of

The heart is like a king and the faculties are like his troops who follow his orders and go where they are commanded.

>> KHUSHOO Pg 22

21TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 ISLAM |

motion was tabled in February and will be taken up again at a later meeting.

“It seems like people that have been here the longest are no longer having a voice,” Booth told a local newspaper.

Fazlul Kabir and other Muslims say the divisions are unfortunate, and are probably due to a lack of mutual

understanding.

“Pointing fingers to the old and the new generations will only widen the gulf between the two. Recognizing and respecting the needs of these two generations can bring them together,”

Kabir wrote on his blog.

The Muslim community in College Park plans to have picnic and other ‘get to know your neighbors’ events this coming Spring and Summer.

sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî (3855) and Sahîh Muslim (122)]

The conditions of repentance, as can be understood from the texts, are as follows:

1. Abstinence from committing the sin 2. A firm resolve never to return to the sin 3. Regret for having committed the sin in the first place

If his sin involved any injury to another party, then one or both of the following two conditions may apply:

4. Restoring the rights of others that may have been violated 5. Redressing the wrong or the injury that he may have inflicted upon others

There are those who transgress the limits

of Allah and die in such a state without ever bothering to repent for their sins, or who offer repentance without fulfilling its conditions. They meet their Lord carrying their sins upon their backs unatoned for, and when their deeds are weighted in the balance, their evil deeds outweigh the good that they have done.

Abû Hurayrah relates how the Prophet (peace be upon him) described such people to his Companions:

Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) asked: “Do you know who is bankrupt.”

They replied: “The bankrupt person is one who has no silver coin and no provision.”

He said: “In fact, the bankrupt person from among my people is the one who comes to the Day of Resurrection with prayers, fasts, and charity to his credit, but he had spoken ill of someone, slandered someone else, misappropriated someone’s money, shed someone’s blood, and assaulted someone else. Thereupon his good deeds will be given over to this

one and to that one. If his good deeds run out before his account is complete, then some of their evil deeds will be taken and cast upon him. Then he will be cast into the Fire.” [ Sahîh Muslim (2581)]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) also said: “Whoever has upon his account some injustice that he has perpetrated against his brother, then he should free himself from it, for there will be no gold or silver coin (in the Hereafter) that will avail him against his good deeds being taken from him and given to his brother. And if he has no good deeds, then his brother’s sins will be taken and foisted upon him.” [ Sahîh al-Bukhârî (6534)]

Worse than that are those who commit evil deeds while construing them as lawful, who feel secure in what they are doing from Allah’s scheme and His punishment.

Thawban relates a discussion the Prophet (peace be upon him) had with him wherein he describes some people whose transgression against Allah’s limits is most severe:

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “I know of a people from within my Ummah who will come on the Day of Resurrection with good deeds like the Tihama Mountains in quantity, pure and white. Allah will make those deeds like dust scattering in the wind.”

Thawban then said: “O Messenger of Allah! Describe them to us. Make them known to us so that we will not be of them without realizing it.”

He said: “They are your brethren and your countrymen. They take from their nights (for prayer) as you do. However, they are people who when they are alone with the limits of Allah, they violate them.” [ Sunan Ibn Mâjah (4235) – authenticated by al-Bûsîrî]

And Allah is the one who grants success and who guides to the path of true guidance.

Source URL: http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-263-3153.htm

INJUSTICE>> continued from pg 20

PARTICIPATION>> continued from pg 13

After printing on a once per month schedule for 2009, the Muslim Link is resuming its normal bi-weekly (every other week) publication schedule as of the March 12, 2010 issue.

The newspaper, the largest English language publication serving the Muslim community in the greater Washington DC and Baltimore metropolitan area, went monthly last year as part of a cost-cutting strategy

needed to keep the paper afloat. The paper, based in College Park, Maryland and affiliated with the Dar-us-Salaam organization which operates Al-Huda School, also laid off almost half of its employees.

“It’s a tough time for all newspapers. Not having a full-time writer on staff makes it near impossible to cover all the things happening in the region. The Muslim community in the DC region is

one of the most active in the nation,” said Editor Minhaj Hasan. “But we are trying to develop a good group of citizen journalists who can report from their communities. The Muslim community needs to take media in their own hands.”

The newspaper used a reader survey to help determine if they should resume a bi-weekly print schedule. Most readers felt the paper should continue bi-

weekly and even move up to a weekly cycle, said Hasan, who added an email newsletter goes out each Friday to keep area Muslims abreast of regional news.

“We’ve taken a big step in resuming a bi-weekly print. We hope our readers will continue supporting us and come out for our March 27 fundraising dinner,” said Hasan.

Muslim Link Resumes Bi-Weekly Publication

March 12th - March 26th, 2010 22 | ISLAM

this worship and cause them to lose the reward for it.

As khushoo’ will be the first thing to disappear from the earth, and we are living in the last times, the words of Hudhayfah (may Allaah be pleased with him) are particularly pertinent to us: “The first thing of your religion that you will lose is khushoo’, and the last thing that you will lose of your religion is salaah. There may be a person praying who has no goodness in him, and soon you will enter the mosque and not find anyone who has khushoo’.” (al-Madaarij, 1/521).

Only the parts of your prayer where you focused and concentrated properly will be of any avail to you. It was reported that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “You will only have from your prayer that which you focused on.”

Increase your Khushoo’ by knowing that Allaah responds to prayers

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah, the Blessed and Exalted has said: ‘I have divided the prayer between Myself and My slave, into two halves, and My slave shall have what he has asked for.” When the slave says ‘Praise be to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds,’ Allaah says, ‘My slave has praised Me.’ When the slave says, ‘The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy,’ Allaah says, ‘My slave has extolled me.’ When the slave says, ‘Master of the Day of Judgement,’ Allaah says, ‘My slave has glorified me.’ When the slave says, ‘It is You alone we worship and it is You alone we ask for help,’ Allaah says, ‘This is between Me and My slave, and My slave shall have what he asked for.’ When the slave says, ‘Guide us to the Straight Path, the path of those whom You have favoured, not the path of those who receive Your anger, nor of those who go astray,’ Allaah says, ‘All these are for My slave, and My slave shall have what he asked for.’” (Saheeh Muslim, Kitaab al-Salaah, Baab wujoob qiraa’at al-Faatihah fi kulli rak’ah). [Words in italics are the translation of the meaning of Soorat al-Faatihah – Translator].

This is a great and important hadeeth. If everyone kept it in mind when he prays, he would attain immense khushoo’ and

al-Faatihah would have a great impact on him. How could it be otherwise, when he feels that his Lord is addressing him and giving him what he is asking for?

This “conversation” with Allaah must be respected and accorded its proper value. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When any one of you stands to pray, he is conversing with his Lord, so let him pay attention to how he speaks to Him.” (al-Haakim, al-Mustadrak, 1/236; Saheeh al-Jaami’, 1538).

Increase Your Khushoo’ by placing the right hand on the left hand on your chest.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), when he stood up to pray, used to place his right hand on his left hand(Muslim, no. 401), and place them on his chest (Abu Dawood, no. 759; see also Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 2/71). The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “We Prophets were commanded… to place our right hands on our left hands in prayer.”(Reported by al-Tabaraani in al-Mu’jam al-Kabeer, no. 11485. Al-Haythami said: Al-Tabaraani reported it in al-Awsat and its men are the men of saheeh. Al-Majma’, 3/155).

Imaam Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the meaning of placing one hand on top of the other when standing in prayer. He said: “It is humility before the Almighty.” (Al-Khushoo’ fi’l-Salaah by Ibn Rajab, p. 21).

Ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “The ‘ulamaa’ said: the meaning of this posture is that it is the attitude of the humble petitioner, it is more likely to prevent fidgeting, and it is more conducive to khushoo’.” (Fath al-Baari, 2/224).

Increase your khushoo’ by thinking of how the previous generations were when they prayed

This will increase one’s khushoo’ and

motivate one to follow their example.

“If you were to see one of the pious people from the early generations when he stood up to pray and started reciting the words of his Master, it would cross his mind that he was standing before the Lord of the Worlds, so he would be filled with overwhelming awe.” (Al-Khushoo’ fi’l-Salaah by Ibn Rajab, p. 22).

Mujaahid (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “When one of them stood in prayer, he would be too fearful of his Lord to allow his eyes to be drawn to anything, or to turn aside or to fidget by playing with pebbles or anything else or to think of any worldly matter, unless he forgot, during prayer.” (Ta’zeem Qadr al-Salaah, 1/188)

Muslimah ibn Bashshaar was praying in the mosque when part of it collapsed, and the people got up [and fled], but he was praying and did not even notice. We have heard that one of them was like a garment thrown on the floor; one of them would end his prayer with the color of his complexion changed because he had been standing before Allaah.

One of them would not know who was standing to his right or left when he prayed. One of them would go pale when he did wudoo’ for prayer, and it was said to him, “We see that when you do wudoo’ a change comes over you.” He said, “I know before Whom I am going to stand.”

When the time for prayer came, ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib would be visibly shaken, and the colour of his face would change. It was said to him, “What is the matter with you?’ He said, “By Allaah, there has come the time of the amaanah (trust) which Allaah offered to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it, but I bore it [cf. Al-Ahzaab 33:72].”

When Sa’eed al-Tanookhi prayed, there would be tears rolling down his cheeks onto his beard. We heard that one of the Taabi’een, when he stood up to pray, his

colour would change, and he would say, “Do you know before Whom I am going to stand and with Whom I am going to talk?” Who among you has fear and respect like this? (Silaah al-Yaqazaan li Tard al-Shaytaan, ‘Abd al-‘Azeez Sultaan, p. 209)

Haatim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “I carry out what I am commanded; I walk with fear of Allaah in my heart; I start with the [correct] intention; I magnify and glorify Allaah; I recite at a slow and measured pace, thinking about the meaning; I bow with khushoo’; I prostrate with humility; I sit and recite the complete tashahhud; I say salaam with the [correct] intention; I finish with sincerity towards Allaah; and I come back fearing lest [my prayer] has not been accepted from me, so I continue to strive until I die.” (Al-Khushoo’ fi’l-Salaah, 27-28).

Muhammad ibn Ya’qoob al-Akhram said: “I have never seen any prayer better than that of Muhammad ibn Nasr. Flies used to land on his ears, and he did not shoo them away. We used to marvel at how good his prayer and khushoo’ were. His fear [of Allaah] in prayer was so great that he would put his chin on his chest as if he were a piece of wood standing up.” (Ta’zeem Qadr al-Salaah, 1/58).

Compare this with what some of us do nowadays, looking at our watches, adjusting our clothes, fiddling with our noses, thinking of deals and counting our money whilst praying, or tracing the patterns of decorations on carpets and ceilings, or trying to see who is beside us. Think of how anyone would behave before some great leader of this world – would he dare to behave in such a manner then?!

Khushoo’ is a serious, major issue, which is impossible to achieve without the help of Allaah. Being deprived of khushoo’ is nothing short of a calamity. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to say in his du’aa’: “Allaahumma innee a’oodhu bika min qalbin laa yakhsha’… (O Allaah, I seek refuge with You from a heart that has no khushoo’…).” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 5/485, no. 3482; Saheeh Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 2769).

Source: excerpted from “33 Ways of developing Khushoo’ in Salaah” by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

KHUSHOO>> continued from pg 20 It was reported that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be

pleased with him) said: “You will only have from your prayer that which you focused on.”

23TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 CIVIL RIGHTS |

Civil RightsCivil RightsCivil RightsSeven Muslims Detained in Nevada for Praying OutsideThe Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a misconduct complaint against police officers in the Nevada city of Henderson after seven Muslim men were detained for praying in public.

The men had stopped at a shopping center at sunset to pray in the parking lot. One of the men used his cell phone

to videotape the police officer explaining why they were being detained.

Muslim Man: “You, knowing that we’re just Muslims here praying…”

Police Officer: “But I don’t know that.”

Muslim Man: “Well, we are praying. You know there’s a Muslim prayer. Is

that enough for you to say that it’s a suspicious activity?”

Police Officer: “Well, that’s why I’m checking it out.”

Muslim Man: “So you think it is?”

Police Officer: “Do I think it is? I think that somebody out there called us and

said, ‘Hey, check this out.’ Did I see you guys praying? No. Do I know what you were saying. I mean, I don’t know if you guys repeat the same thing or if you’re actually over there going, ‘I hope I don’t kill a police officer today.’ I don’t know that you’re not saying that.”

Source: democracynow, March 5, 2010

Senators McCain And Lieberman Introduce Bill To Authorize Indefinite DetentionLegislation Would Also Create New System Of InterrogationMarch 4, 2010 -- WASHINGTON – A bill introduced today in the Senate would hand the government the power to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without charge or trial, dealing a swift blow to due process and the rule of law. The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act of 2010, introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), would also create an entirely new system of interrogation by requiring intelligence officials to be consulted about how to handle terrorism suspects after their capture. The bill was precipitated by misguided objections to the Obama administration’s correct decision to charge accused Christmas Day attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the criminal court system. The legislation would have a “high value detainee” team, made up of members of different intelligence agencies, interrogate and determine whether alleged terrorist suspects are “unprivileged enemy

belligerents.” If so, and if the suspect is then charged, the legislation would mandate the use of the discredited and unconstitutional military commissions. The American Civil Liberties Union vigorously opposes the Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act. The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office: “The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act is a direct attack on the Constitution. “Indefinite detention flies in the face of American values and violates this country’s commitment to the rule of law. Over the last decade, we have seen how disregard for the rule of law has disastrous results for America’s standing in the world, and it is unfathomable

that Senators McCain and Lieberman would forget so recent a lesson. We must forever put an end to the false and dangerous assumption that sacrificing our principles makes us safe. We should never conclude that our ideals are not strong enough to withstand these threats. “Contrary to what some in Congress may believe, there is no significant class of prisoners who simultaneously cannot be prosecuted or safely released. If evidence is too unreliable to prosecute someone, it is certainly too flimsy to detain them for the rest of their lives without an opportunity to defend themselves.” The following can be attributed to Christopher Anders, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel: “Like indefinite detention, using military commissions is an abandonment of American values. Our time-tested federal courts have proven themselves capable of handling terrorism cases while upholding

due process. Federal courts have produced over 300 terrorism-related convictions while the discredited military commissions have produced only three. Using the commissions will result in years of delay due to legal challenges and will yield results mired in doubt. Americans deserve better. “When it comes to terrorism, some lawmakers continue to underestimate the competence of our criminal justice system. Our criminal justice system has proved repeatedly that it is capable of obtaining reliable intelligence from terrorism suspects, while that has not always been the case when we throw detainees into secret detention and discard all the rules. Denying due process rights to our enemies defies the values we are fighting to protect. The Constitution is not optional despite the efforts of these senators to render it so.” Source: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) www.aclu.org


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| OBITS & EVENTS

Request For Dua’sRequest For Dua’s{ To A l lah We Be long , and to Him i s Our Return }

“Everyone is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and good, and to Us

you will be returned.” (Surah Al-Anbiya:35)”

2-22-10 The janaazah for Br. Mirza Aftab Ahmed of Dumfries, VA was prayed at Dar-Alnoor Islamic Community Center in Manassas, VA. May Allah (SWT) forgive his sins, place him in His mercy and give sabr to the family to bear this loss.

2-26-10 Sis. Umm Hamdan, mother of brothers Abdullah and Ammar Eljerjawi ofGermantown, MD, passed away at Shady Grove Hospital. May Allah (swt) forgive her sins, accept her good deeds and enter her into Jannaat-ul Firdaus, aameen. Salaat ul Janazah was held at the Islamic Center of Maryland. She was buried at Al Firdaus Memorial Gardens in Gaithersburg, MD. (Source: ICM)

3-7-10 It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of Dr. Sulman A. Bhutta - who returned to Allah(SWT). He was the son of Br. Abdul Qayyum Bhutta and Sr. Rukhsana Bhutta ,who are active leaders in ADAMS community. Br. Sulman’s Janazah was held at ADAMS Main Center. He was buried at Al-Firdous Memorial Gardens, Frederick MD. (Source: ADAMS Center)

3-7-10 It is with deepest sorrow that we announce that our dear brother Sylvester Jordan Jr. passed away. Inna lillaahi wa innaa ilaihi raji’oon. Br. Sylvester had taken his shahaadah at Dar-us-Salaam and gave his “Journey to Islam” story as part of the Ramadan program organized by the Islamic Information Center of Dar-us-Salaam. (Sr. Halimah Jordan, his daughter, is a former student of Br. Safi Khan, and was in the group that founded Al-Huda School. She had also contributed the slogan “Guidance is Part of the Curriculum” and the logo. She was also the fi rst writer of our Al Huda School newsletter.) His janazah prayer was at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, MD. He was buried was at Al Firdaus Memorial Gardens in Frederick, MD. (Source: ICM)

Upcoming Events In Your Area

Make the Click - Bridge the Gap: Adult-Teen CommunicationsMar. 13 2010 8:30 am to 5:00 pmThis 7 -r intensive workshop will provide insights into the lives of teens, and provide parents and educators with tools and approaches they can use to deal effectively with diffi cult situations. Will use a mix of presentation, group activities, exercises, assessments and case study analysis from real situations in our Muslim communities in North America. Workshop includes a 60 minute exam at the end of the day. Financial Aid available for eligible applicants: Complete form and email prior to registration for a discount code. To register; visit http://www.islamicleadership.org. Location: College P ark, MD Contact: [email protected]

Archangel Jibril (as): An Islamic PerspectiveMar. 13 2010 11:00 am to 3:00 pmKnown as Exalted Messenger of God, chosen Commander of the angels, mediator between Heaven and Earth. The Archangel Gabriel. Many Abrahamic Faiths believe that this Angel was given a special task in communicating Allah’s will to mankind. Join us as we explore his role from the perspective of the Qur’an and the teachings of Muhammad (saw). Please invite your non-Muslim friends, neighbors and colleagues to this great event as well, inshaAllah. All are welcome to attend and those present will receive a free book! After the discussion, there will also be a guided tour of the mosque. Lunch and refreshments will be served. The agenda for the event can be viewed here: http://www.icclmd.org/Archangel_Gabriel.pdf. The live audio broadcast will also be available on our website at www.icclmd.org. Location: Islamic Community Center of Laurel, 7306 Contee Rd., Laurel, MD 20707 Contact: 301-317-4584 or [email protected]

A Model for Mankind – Prophet Muhammad (SAW)Mar. 13 2010 4:45 pmLearn specifi c facts about our beloved Prophet’s appearance (saw), his life from birth to prophet-hood, love for the Ummah, behavior towards kin, friends/enemies, role as a da’ee, manners, and his Qur’anic description as “a mercy to mankind”.You’ll also have a great opportunity to make a contribution in supporting a wonderful orphans program of the sponsor, Helping Hand USA. Speakers are from Dar al-Hijrah, Dar Al T qwa, Dar us-Salaam, MCC, MAS and Council of Muslim Organizations. Location: Islamic Center of Northern Virginia, 4420 Shirley Gate Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030 Contact: 240-855-4777 or visit www.hhrd.org.

27th Annual Womens’ ConferenceApr. 3-4 2010The Women’s Committee of Masjid As Saffat’s will be hosting its 27th annual women’s conference “Allah: Seeking His Face”. We look forward to this gathering of our sisters from Muslim communities around the globe, anticipating a spiritual awakening as we engage in conversation and exchange of information regarding our Deen. Young sisters’ program held concurrently with the Women’s Committee program, conducted in separate sessions for sisters age 12 or older. Vendors welcome. Tickets are $75 before March 13. Register online at http://womens_committee.tripod.com/index.html Location: Turf Valley Inn & Conference Center, 2700 Turf Valley Rd., Ellicott City, MD 21042 Contact: Registration, Hafi za AbdurRahman 410-916-3337; Vending, Zakia Amin 443-379-2351

25TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 MASJID LOCATOR |

ADAMS CENTER:46903 Sugarland Rd, Sterling,VA 20164, Tel: 703-433-1325, www.adamscenter.org.

ALL MUSLIM BROTHERS ASSOCIATION3900 King StreetAlexandria, VA 22302703-647-0515Jumma Prayer ONLY - 1:00 p.m

AVONDALE ISLAMIC CENTER:4637 Eastern Ave., Hyattsville, MD, 20782,Tel: 301-779-9292.

BAITUL MUKARRAM:2116 S Nelson St., Arlington, VA, 22204, Tel: 703-778-1550.

DAR AL HIJRAH:3159 Rowe St.,Falls Church, VA 22044, Tel: 703-536-1030, www.hijrah.org.

DAR AL-SALAAM:15250 Dumfries Rd., Mannassas,VA 20112.

DAR AL-NOOR (MUSLIM ASSOC. OF VA): 5404 Hoadly Rd., Manassas, VA 20112, Tel: 703-580-0808, Fax: 703-221-8513, www.daralnoor.org.

DAR AL-TAQWA:10740 Rte. 108, Ellicott City, MD 21042, Tel: 410-997-5711, www.taqwa.net.

DAR UL ULOOM, 6334 Dogwoood Rd, Baltimore, MD 21207, 410-493-0785 Email:[email protected]

DAR UL-GHURABA (Masjid ur Rahmah):155 Baker St., Emporia, VA 23487, Tel. 434-348-786.

DAR-UL HUDA:6666 Commerce St., Springfield, VA 22150, Tel: 703-922-0111, www.darulhuda.org

DAR-US-SALAAM:5301 Edgewood Rd. College Park, MD 20740,Tel: 301-982-9848, www.darussalaam.org.

FIRST HIJRA MUSLIM COMM. CENTER:4324 Georgia Ave, NW Washington, DC 20011www.firsthijrah.org.

ICNA VA CENTER:2913 Woodlawn Trail, Alexandria, VA 22306.

IDARA DAWAT-O-IRSHAD:4803 Valley St, Alexandria, VA 22312703-256-8622, www.irshad.org.

INDONESIAN MUSLIM ASSOC. IN AMERICA (IMAAM):1611 Veirs Mill Rd,Silver Spring, MD 20851Tel: 240-453-0808, e-mail: [email protected].

INST.OF ISLAMIC AND ARABIC SCIENCES IN AMERICA (IIASA): 8500 Hilltop Rd., Fairfax, VA 22031Tel: 703-641-4890, www.iiasa.org

IRHSCA (ISLAMIC RESEARCH AND HUM. SERVICES CENTER OF AMERICA):Chambers Ave, Capitol Heights, MDTel: 301-324-5040, www.irhsca.org.

ISLAMIC CENTER OF GREATER SOUTH EAST (FORMERLY MASJID ASH-SHURA)3109-B Martin Luther King Ave., S.E.Washington, DC 20032202-506-7235

ISLAMIC CENTER OF MARYLAND (ICM):19401 Woodfield Rd. Gaithersburg,MD 20879Tel:301-840-9440, www.icomd.org.

ISLAMIC CENTER OF NORTHERN VA TRUST (ICNVT):4420 Shirley Gate Road, Fairfax, VA, 22030 Tel: 703-941-6558, E-mail: [email protected] www.icnvt.org

ISLAMIC COM. CENTER OF LAUREL (ICCL):7306 Contee Rd., Laurel, MD 20707Tel: 301-317-4584, www.icclmd.org.

ISLAMIC FOUND. OF AMERICA (IFA):6606 Electronic Dr., Springfield, VA 22151Tel: 703-914-4982, www.ifa.ws.

ISLAMIC HERITAGE CENTER (IHC): 262 A-3 Cedar Ln., Vienna, VA 22180Tel: 703-206-9056.

ISLAMIC SOC. OF ANNAPOLIS (ISA): 2635 Riva RdSuite 110Annapolis, MD 21401 Tel: 410-266-6660 www.islamannapolis.org, Email: [email protected]

ISLAMIC SOC. OF FREDERICK (ISF):1250 Key Parkway , Frederick,MD 21702Tel: 301-682-6090, www.isfmd.org.

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF GERMANTOWN (ISG):19900 Brandermill Rd., Germantown, MD 20876Tel: (301)-972-0504, www.isgtown.org.

ISLAMIC SOC. OF SOUTHERN PG COUNTY (ISSPGC): P O Box 99, Clinton, MD 207355410 Indian Head Hwy, Oxon Hill, MD 20745Tel: 240-253-4217

ISLAMIC SOC. OF THE WASHINGTON AREA (ISWA):2701 Briggs Chaney Rd. Silver Spring, MD 20904Tel: 301-879-0930, www.iswamd.org.

ISLAMIC SOC. OF WESTERN MARYLAND:2036 Day Rd., Hagerstown, MD 21740Tel: 301-797-0922.

IVY CITY MASJID: 2001 Galludet St. NE, Washington, DC 20002 Tel: 202-529-3100.

LA PLATA MASJID:111 Howard Street, La Plata, MD 20646Tel: 301-609-8769.

MAKKAH LEARNING CENTER (MLC):814 Brandy Farms Ln Gambrills, MD 21054Tel: 410-721-5880 www.mlcmd.org, Email: [email protected] MANASSAS MOSQUE: 12950 Center Entrance Ct, Manassas, VATel: 703-257-5537.

MASJID AL-GHURABAA: 8220 Washington St., South, Laurel, MD 20724. Tel: 301-604-3295.

MASJID AL-HIKMAH:11064 Livingston Road Unit L (101) Ft. Washington,

MD 20744, Tel: 301 292-9009.

MASJID UL-HAQ:514 Islamic Way (Wilson St. ), Baltimore, MD 21217Tel: 410-728-1363.

MASJID AL-ISLAM: 4603 Benning Rd., SE, Washington, DC 20019Tel: 202-581-1616, e-mail: [email protected]

MASJID AL-INSHIRAH: 7832 Fairbrook Road , Windsor Mill, MD 21244Tel: 410-298-2977, Fax: 410-298-0266, www.al-inshirahweb.net.

MASJID AL-MUMINEEN: 2642 Harford Rd. Baltimore, MD 21218Tel: 410-467-8798.

MASJID JAMAAT AL-MUSLIMEEN: 4624 York Rd., Baltimore, MD 21212Tel. 443-869-5233.

MASJID MUHAMMAD: 1519 4th St. NW, Washington D.C. 20001Tel: 202-483-8832.

MASJID AL-NOOR: 10012 Harford Rd., Carney, MD 21234Tel: 410-663-9637, Fax: 410-663-9817.

MASJID AL-RAHMAH/ISB: 6631 Johnny Cake Rd. Baltimore, MD 21244Tel: 410-747-4869, www.isb.org

MASJID AS SAFFAT: 1335 W. North Ave. Baltimore, MD 21217Tel: 410-669-0655.

MASJID BAIT-ALLAH: 1910 Frederick Avenue (2 Floor) Baltimore, MD 21223Tel: 443-224-4423, E-mail:[email protected]. www.masjidbaitallah.org

MASJID IBN TAYMIYYAH: 8000 MLK Highway, Glenarden MDTel: 301-461-9325.

MASJID ZAMZAM1510 Lynch Road,Dundalk, MD 21222Phone: 410-284-2840

MEDINA CENTER:9426 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda MD 20814www.medinacenter.net

MUSLIM COM. CENTER (MCC): 15200 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20904Tel: 301-384-3454,www.mccmd.org.

MUSLIM SOC. OF WASHINGTON, D.C. (MSWDC):Howard Center, Room 805 (Above HU Bookstore)Tel: 202-328-3236, www.mswdc.org.

MUSTAFA CENTER: 6844 Braddock Rd., Annandale, VA 22003.

PRINCE GEORGES MUSLIM ASSOC. (PGMA):9150 Lanham Severn Rd. Lanham, MD, 20706, Tel: 301-459-4942, www.pgmamd.org.Imam’s Office: 301-459-1441, [email protected].

SOUTHERN MARYLAND ISLAMIC CENTER(SMIC): 1046 Solomons Island Rd, Huntingtown, MD, 20639.Tel: 410- 535-0000

THE ISLAMIC CENTER:2551 Mass. Ave. NW Washington D.C. 20008Tel: 202-332-8343.

Do you have additions, changes, or corrections to the event listings in the Muslim Link? Email us at [email protected], or call us at 301-982-1020.MASJID LOCATOR


Farewell and Good Wishes to the Muslim Link Offi ce ManagerSister Jann McClary recently married and is relocating to another state. The Muslim Link wishes her well in this new phase of her life, and thanks her for her excellent service and contributions to the Muslim Link. Our advertisers will miss surely miss Sr. Jann as she was their link to the Muslim Link. We thank Sr Jann and ask Allah to reward her for all her good work! -- TML

Editor-in-Chief:Minhaj Hasan

Offi ce Manager :Jann McClary

News Desk:Rashad Mulla

Layout & Design:Fadlullah Firman

Staff Writers:Farkhunda AliFarha MarfaniRashad MullaYaman Shalabi

Sharia Advisors:Sheikh Salah as-SawiImam Safi Khan

The Muslim Link (TML) is published on the fi rst Friday of every Islamic month (Hijri calendar) and distributed throughout the Washington, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia Metropolitan Areas. TML is a non-profi t publication and is based at Dar-us-Salaam in College Park, Maryland, USA. Staff and contributors are not necessarily affi liated with Dar-us-Salaam.

The views expressed in The Muslim Link do not necessarily refl ect those of Dar-us-Salaam or TML management or their underwriters. Dar-us-Salaam and TML are not responsible for the accuracy of information presented by advertisers, or for the religious compliance of events, products, or services published in TML.

This publication contains the names of ALLAH (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). Please keep, recycle, or share it with others

The Muslim Link5301 Edgewood RoadCollege Park, MD 20740Phone : (301) 982-1020Fax: [email protected]

Advertising:301-982-1020 or email us at [email protected]

The Muslim Link. All Rights Reserved 2010

Subscribe to the Muslim Link!To get the Muslim Link print edition in the mail, send $5 for shipping and handling per issue ($60 for the year) using check or money order payable to: The Muslim Link, 5301 Edgewood Road, College Park MD 20740. To make payments over the phone using a credit card, call the Muslim Link offi ce at 301-982-1020.

Subscribe to the online version of the newspaper so you get it in your email inbox FREE each issue. To subscribe for free, go to muslimlinkpaper.com.

ATTENTION INMATES: As much as we would like to, we are unable to honor requests for free subscriptions at this time.

Salaah times for March 12th - March 25th, 2010Day Date Hijri Fajr Sunrise Dhuhr Asr Maghrib IshaFri 12 26/3 5:12 6:25 12:18 3:38 6:11 7:25

Sat 13 27/3 5:09 6:22 12:18 3:39 6:13 7:27 Sun 14 28/3 6:07 7:20 1:17 4:39 7:14 8:28 Mon 15 29/3 6:05 7:19 1:17 4:40 7:15 8:29 Tue 16 30/3 6:04 7:17 1:17 4:40 7:16 8:30 Wed 17 1/4 6:02 7:16 1:17 4:41 7:17 8:31 Thu 18 2/4 6:01 7:14 1:16 4:41 7:18 8:32 Fri 19 3/4 5:59 7:12 1:16 4:42 7:19 8:33 Sat 20 4/4 5:57 7:11 1:16 4:42 7:20 8:34 Sun 21 5/4 5:56 7:09 1:15 4:42 7:21 8:35 Mon 22 6/4 5:54 7:08 1:15 4:43 7:22 8:36 Tue 23 7/4 5:52 7:06 1:15 4:43 7:23 8:37 Wed 24 8/4 5:51 7:04 1:14 4:44 7:24 8:38 Thu 25 9/4 5:49 7:03 1:14 4:44 7:25 8:39

Prayer times generated from www.islamicfi nder.com

If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it fi ve times a day, do you think he would have any fi lth left on him?” The people said, “No filth would remain on him whatsoever.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “That is like the fi ve daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.”

---Hadith in Sahih al Bukhari and Muslim

If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it fi ve times a day, do you think he would have any fi lth left on him?” The people said, “No filth would remain on him whatsoever.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “That is like the fi ve daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.”

---Hadith in Sahih al Bukhari and Muslim

| SALAAH TIMES

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marketplace Your Guide to Products and Services for Your Muslim Lifestyle

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The Muslim Link Coupons

MAURYA KEBABS & CURRIES

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RestaurantHealthcare Professional Services

Clothing & Accessories

• When you place a print ad with us in Main or Marketplace you can request a FREE coupon in each issue your ad runs.• For businesses not currently in the paper, coupons are just $10 each issue, paid in advance.• All coupons are one size (approximately half the size of an 1/8 page ad) and are text-only, no images.• You tell us the deal you are offering, and the expiration date • The section will be promoted on the front page of the newspaper, directing readers to the actual coupon page inside.

Now is the time to take advantage of this great advertising savings. Drop us an email at [email protected], or give us a call at 301-982-1020 to get in on it today!


Now serving Frederick, Hagerstown and Eastern Shore, MD

| MP - Professional Services

29TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 MP - Tax & Accounting |

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VOLUNTEER TO DISTRIBUTE THE MUSLIM LINK IN YOUR AREAIf you would like to earn blessings from Allah and help the Muslim

Link, consider helping us with our distribution. To learn more, email [email protected] or call 301-982-1020

Place a personal classified ad. Call us at 301-982-1020$1 per 3 words. You may place a classified on muslimlinkpaper.com free of charge. All classifieds run 3 months in the marketplace section. To place a classified, email [email protected] with the exact text of the classified, and send a check or money order payable to the Muslim Link to: The Muslim Link, 5301 Edgewood Rd, College Park MD 20740.

CHILDCARE EXCHANGEBABYSITTING IN MY HOME I am a licensed childcare provider available to babysit at my Silver Spring home. Children age 1 and up. Snacks provided. Overnights available. Can teach Qur’an and Arabic. For information. 301-593-4769.------------------------------------------------LICENSED BABYSITTERFor infant - 10 yrs. In my home in Annandale, VA. Flexible hours. 15 years experience. Call 703-256-1175, or 571-308-4295.------------------------------------------------LIVE-IN NANNYNeed a live-in nanny for 15 month girl. some light house work. Please contact 443 708 5183.

EMPLOYMENTSERVICE REPRESENTATIVEGreat communications $. Typing skills needed to work on behalf of a company. This service representative will earn up to $2000 monthly. Any job experience needed. Email to representative1000@gmail.com------------------------------------------------DOMESTIC HELP NEEDED Experienced house keeper and cook. Live in McLean, VA. Tuesday-Saturday with flexibility. Energetic, trustworthy, and gentle person with recent references. English-speaking preferred. Driving a plus. Starting salary from $350-400 a week. Call 703-851-7979------------------------------------------------

HOME HELP AVAILABLEHelping hand/companion seeking work. Dependable, have own transportation. Part-time days or weekends in your home. Contact 202-450-4144

MATRIMONIALSEEKING SALAFI SISTERIncarcerated Salafi Muslim (28) in search of Sunni/Salafi sister for marriage with good family values. Contact Tavon Sands, #310580, N.B.C.I. McMullen Hwy, S.W., Cumberland, MD 21502-----------------------------------------------RARE BELIEVER WANTING RELIGIOUS WIFEHello. How are you? I feel great because I’m reading Islamic books. After 21 months of my release, I plan to continue to live a fully Islamic life. I was wondering if you have time to connect with someone wonderful. Think about it and when it’s appropriate send me a letter. Perry McDonald, #240535, RMSI Unit 6-B-204, 7475 Cockrill Bend Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209-1048------------------------------------------------BROTHER SEEKING WIFEGentleman, 57, from Iran, no children. Non-smoker, taxi driver. Seeking Muslim lady for marriage. For more information call Ali from 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week. 202-669-5699.------------------------------------------------WANT TO CORRESPONDIncarcerated Sunni Muslim, 49, looking for devoted Muslima for correspondence/marriage. Please contact “Abdul Malik” Rudolph Barbot, #05A2129, Eastern

NY Correctional facility, P O Box 338, Napanoch, NY 12458-0338------------------------------------------------SEEKING MUSLIMAStudious Muslim in North Carolina looking for a Muslima to seriously communicate with, insha Allah. Please mail inquiries to Kerry Morston, #0257064, PO Box 1808, SCI, Laurinburg, NC 28353

MISCELLANEOUSLOOKING TO CONNECTCorrectional inmate, Afro-American, physically fit, 50, 5’10”, 200 lbs, who believes in Free Thinking, Harmony, Peace and Balance, with balance being a priority. Seeking anyone who can imagine how it feels to be loney. Age, race, unimportant. Lonliness is! LaVonn Macon, #108634, P O Box 900, Portage, WI 53901------------------------------------------------COMMUNITY THRIFT STOREStore hours Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, 5115 Park Heights, Baltimore, MD 21215. Donation accepted or pickup. Slighted worn items only. License #30385946. Call 410-542-6925 or 443-531-9353 (cell)

RENTAL 2 separate rooms for rent in College Park close to Al Huda, University of MD, close to Greenbelt Metro. Call 301-345-5850 or [email protected]

SERVICESLOVING HOME CARE ELDER CARE/ NANNY SERVICEAt Loving Home Care we provide care you can trust and afford all from the comfort of your home! Our services are for seniors and loved ones needing assistance with activities of daily living. We also provide Mother’s Helpers for that mother in need. Companionship, Hygiene Care, Meal Preparation, Errands, Grocery, Light Housekeeping, Grooming, Dressing, Medication Reminders, Doctors Appointments. *Low Rates* *No Deposit* *Bonded & Insured* www.lovinghomecare.org FOR YOUR FREE CONSULTATION CALL: 301-490-1146 ------------------------------------------------HANDYMAN AVAILABLE Assalamu’alaykum! My name is Varga Syahroni. I am an experienced technician in D.C. and Maryland. I offer service and repair for cooling, heating, plumbing, refrigerator, dish washers, dryer machines and much more. Call me for reliable service! Free estimates (301) 792-1004 or email varga_syahroni@yahoo.com------------------------------------------------HOME SERVICESLicensed contractor. Home Improvement work, interior/exterior painting, drywall install/repair, brick/concrete repair. Estimates done. Contact Br. Allen Scott at 410-467-1259 or 443-531-9353 (cell) ------------------------------------------------

| MP - Classified Ads

35TML, March 12th - March 26th, 2010 MP - Advertisment |

5th Annual Fundraising Dinner

the muslim link 03.12.2010

Documents

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