IQRA

Former 'brown kid' writes book to aid newcomers

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Rukhsana Khan and her three siblings grew up in the 1960s in Dundas, Ont. as the only "brown kids" in the school.

"No one knew anything about brown people then. The white kids would say we're not clean, that's why we're brown and dirty. We'd go home and take many showers," she recalls with a chuckle. "When that didn't work. We tried to get rid of the brown by putting baby powder on. It still didn't work." (READ ARTICLE)

A Muslim poet gets political

For Sofia Baig, putting on a Muslim headscarf for the first time was a political statement. She was 13 years old and the Twin Towers had just come crashing down. Raised in a secular suburban Quebec household by a Pakistani father and a Chinese-Spanish mother, Baig went to a private Catholic school in Montreal. She didn’t even know how to pray. But, she recalls, wearing the hijab just felt right—even if her parents didn’t like the idea. (READ MORE)

Working for the Common Good

By MUNEEB NASIR

When Craig Kielburger was twelve years old, he was shocked by a newspaper story about the murder of a young Pakistani boy crusading against child labor in his country.

Moved by the story, Craig educated himself about child exploitation around the world and made a presentation to his class, asking for volunteers to fight for children’s rights.

Eleven of his classmates stepped forward and along with Craig formed Feed the Children, an organization working to end exploitation by promoting children’s rights and educational programs.

The organization began as a small group of youths and quickly evolved into an international phenomenon.

Free the Children has now changed the lives of more than one million young people around the world and Craig Kielburger has become a Canadian celebrity.

The Obama Phenomenon

By Michael Lerner

The phenomenon in question is this: the intense desire of every human being on this planet to overcome and transcend the materialism and selfishness that shape the global economic arrangements and permeate the consciousness of all people, to overcome the looking-out-for-number one consciousness that divides us and the technocratic language that shapes our public institutions and denies us access to our common humanity, and to overcome the alienation from each other that this way of being has created so that we might once again recognize each other as embodiments of God or Spirit (or however you want to talk about the force-field of goodness, generosity, kindness, justice, peace, nonviolence, and care for each other and nature and the entirety of all that is). -READ MORE

DEBU: 'AMANAT' - On Global Warming

China's Battle Against the Uighurs

The way China is treating the Tibetan uprising has outraged the West. The suffering of the Uighurs, on the other hand, receives little attention. Beijing defends the suppression of the Muslim minority as fighting terrorism. (READ)

Scouting and the Muslim Community

(Presented by Muneeb Nasir on April 8 as part of the Scarborough Missions' Interfaith Education Series workshop titled 'The Multicultural and Multifaith Journey of Scouts Canada')

The Scouting movement has been successful over the last century because of its brilliant principles, mission and practices which has allowed it to appeal to a wide cross section of people.

My presentation this evening will provide a perspective on how Scouting is compatible with our faith community.

Life is all about relationships.

From a religious perspective, a successful life is one in which we develop, maintain and nurture meaningful relationships to God, to our fellow humans and other creation, and to our selves.

Olive Tree Foundation Announces 2008 Grants

Olive Tree Foundation has announced that it will provide grants to support innovative projects within the Canadian Muslim community - the MuslimFest 2008 Arts Exhibition and the Muslim Education Project at the University of Toronto/OISE. 

"The Olive Tree Foundation is pleased to once again fund these leading edge projects," said Muneeb Nasir, President of the Foundation, in announcing the distribution of grants. "These initiatives are important for the development of the Muslim community."

“MuslimFest 2008 will benefit greatly from the support of the Olive Tree Foundation,” said Amer Meknas, Chairperson of MuslimFest.

Muslim groups: 'Arab League must act on Darfur'

The Arab League must do more to address the killings in Darfur according to an appeal issued today by an unprecedented coalition of Muslim groups.

The appeal comes as Arab League Foreign Ministers meet in Damascus and is contained in an open letter that was delivered to the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa earlier this week.

Arzu Merali, Head of Research at the Islamic Human Rights Commission - one of the organisations in the coalition - said, 'Arab nations must take a stand to prove their claim that they are not taking 'ethnic sides' in the violence in Darfur. The voice of Arab populations that have deplored the 200,000 deaths of Darfurians needs to be heard by their governments and acted upon. Today we urge the Arab League to act urgently to address the crisis by contributing more aid, demanding an end to the obstruction of peacekeepers, supporting a real ceasefire and promoting the peace process.'

No faithfulness without evolution

By Tariq Ramadan

Muslims today are facing two fundamental problems: the first directly related to the founding texts themselves; the second, to differences in interpretation shaped by the societies in which they live. For Muslims, the Qur’an is the word of God; yet it is a word revealed over a period of 23 years in a specific socio-historical context. Several Qur’anic verses can be interpreted only in the light of that context. A literal, ahistorical reading has the effect of making the text rigid, and in turn of preventing us from grasping the objectives of Revelation. Only by carrying on the task of reinterpretation in the light of new geographical and historical contexts can Muslims to be faithful to the ethics and the finalities of the revealed message.