Mason Muslimah

YEAH REPRESENTIN'!

Faith & the First Amendment: "Balancing Fundamental Freedoms"

In light of the recent controversy over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) there has been a growing concern of how we in the United States can balance between the two fundamental rights, of religion and speech.

Please join the Christian Legal Society and the Muslim Law Students Association this Thursday at 7pm in room G-12 (at the Barco Law building) for:

Faith and the First Amendment: “Balancing Fundamental Freedoms”

Portions of the PBS documentary about the life of Muhammad will be shown followed by a panel discussion composed of students and led by Prof. Fein.

Pizza will be served.

GO PATRIOTS!

An improbable, yet worthy contender.

April 1, 2006

Mason v. Florida

6pm

Get your patriot on!

Friendship

I realized that I don't say it much, but I'm blessed to know the people that I know, and to have the friends I have, Alhamdullilah. Whenever I have a cause for concern, I am reminded of my friends and the blessings that they bring ... every single day.

I just read this article about Islam and Friendship - excerpted here:

"Friends on that Day will be enemies one to another, except al-Muttaqoon (i.e. those who have Taqwah)." [Quran 43:67]

Hafidh Ibn Katheer, commenting on this verse, relates a story on the authority of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (r.a.a.) and says that any friendship for other than Allah is turned into enmity, except what was in it for Allah the Mighty and Majestic: Two who are friends for Allah's sake; one of them dies and is given good news that he will be granted al-Jannah, so he remembered his friend and he supplicated for him, saying: O Allah, my friend used to command me to obey You and to obey Your Prophet (s.a.w.) and used to command me to do good and to forbid me from doing evil. And he told me that I will meet You. O Allah, do not let him go astray after me, until you show him what you have just shown me, until You are satisfied with him, just like You are satisfied with me." So he is told: "Had you known what is (written) for you friend, would you have laughed a lot and cried a little." Then his friend dies and their souls are gathered, and both are asked to express their opinions about each other. So each one of them says to his friend: you were the best brother, the best companion and the best friend."

I have often lost out when I moved away from my friends because we had different experiences when we were apart ... it is Allah's will, but it also serves as a reminder that I am a product of the people that I have surrounded myself with. This past year has been difficult with so much moving around, and so much craziness in my life - i.e. Law School! And I have allowed some friendships to deteriorate, while others continue to stay strong. More than ever, this year I have depended on those near and dear to me to keep sane and to keep on track ... they often remind me why I'm here, even if they don't know realize it.

Sealing a friendship for Allah's sake will result in one's receiving protection of Allah (s.w.t.). And as Ibn Abbas said: "No one may taste true faith except by this (i.e. building relationships for Allah's sake), even if his prayers and fasts are many. People have come to build their relationship around the concerns of the world, but it will not benefit them in any way." A scholar has said: "To seal a friendship for Allah's sake indicates the obligation of establishing relationships of love and trust for His sake; this is a friendship for the sake of Allah. It also indicates that simple affection is not enough here; indeed what is meant is a love based upon alliance. This entails assistance, honour, and respect. It means being with those whom you love both in word and deed." Loyalty for the sake of Allah really means to love Allah and to come to the assistance of His Deen; to love those who are obedient to Him and to come to their help. Moreover, the Shahadah "La Ilaha Illa Allah" requires us to ally ourselves for the sake of Allah, and it requires us to ally ourselves to the Muslims wherever we find them

Dear friends ... through you, I have tasted true faith. I pray that I have been a trustworthy friend, and one that has helped keep you on task, and on the path - for so many of you have done it for me, and continue to everyday. So I pray that we may continue these friendships, in the tradition of the Prophet (saws) and that we may continue to be friends fisabillilah.

"It is from Allah's blessings upon a youth when he turns to worship that he is given brother who is a follower of the Sunnah encouraging him upon it".

UVA-MSA in the HOUSE!

[Author's edit - Imam Siraj's lecture is available via podcast ]

UVA-MSA kicked off IAW with a BANG!

Imam Siraj, making' waves in the CAVALIER DAILY and in the 'ville for the second time in three years!


Also, the CavDaily has a special spread in its life section about Islam.

Ma'shaAllah - the muslim hoos have come a LONG way! May Allah keep them striving forward!!!

- A very proud UVA-MSA alum

ten things that I miss about DC

1. Chipotle
2. the Metro, and the AMAZING accessibility that is inherent in DC
3. diversity ... of food, ethnicities, thoughts, ideas ... aaah, the melting pot!
4. the cherry blossoms, and the festival
5. zabihah options ... east west, ravi, oh's ... the list goes on
6. the fact that the coolest people on EARTH are minutes away ... even if they do live out in the boonies. [some moved away, but Philly is still closer to DC than the 'burgh]
7. politics and prose, amazing conversations rising from events there AND Borders on every corner!
8. the choice of three different airports to fly from/to
9. entertainment options ... i opened up the newspaper (the express!), and four pages were dedicated to movie listings!
10. the fam, the friends ... the ballers.

... *sigh* ...

livin' it up while I'm here ... ballin' w/dr. j in the am.

new a-r-e-na...

Just got back from my very first NHL game!! Pittsburgh Penguins v. Toronto Maple Leafs! Gotta say it was AWESOME! Quick highlights coz I gotta hit the sack

- we got jipped of a goal at the end of the first period -- stupid refs said that time had expired. BOOOOO!
- 9.19minutes left in second period - and the lights go out. complete BLACK OUT! as the lights slowly come back on the entire arena begins "NEW ARENA!" yes folks, Mellon Arena - home to the Penguins is the OLDEST arena in the NHL.
- ten minutes later, they get the lights back up - not even two minutes after they resume play - IT BLACKS OUT AGAIN! Third period ended up being 27 minutes long essentially!
- Score was 0-0 until the last five minutes of the third period, when the refs (LOSERS!) gave the Maple Leafs a penalty - ggr.
- several fights almost broke out, two players on two different occasions - lost their sticks, the goalie Fluery almost scored in his own goal and we made friends with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra!

All in all - a very cool introduction to the NHL. Plus - it might be the Penguins last season - there are rumors of the team being up for sale. So, thanks to PLISF and PL, my partner in NHL crime henceforth :-)

After a super exciting weekend, time for me to hit the hay!

[Note - Account from the game here. Obviously biased coz its Canadian ;-) However, note the portion talking about the black out, apparently the second black out was caused by a fire - that the attendees were NOT told about!!!!Bizzare game indeed!]

The battle continues

I've been waging a constant battle with myself ever since I move to the U.S. Where does my future lie, where will I establish my career, family, life, etc. I came here with the intention of going back at some time - get a Business degree, work for a bit - pay off the loans, maybe get a cushy job back in the homeland, live the good life - sundays at the club, and all that jazz. And then the bubble burst. Alot of things happened at once in the Fall of 2001. Confused and disoriented, the future began to look a little fuzzy - geographically, and professionally. The Comm school wasn't doin' it for me, and the MSA (and its crew) opened up avenues that I never thought I would choose to go down.

Why does this matter? Well, I watched this movie - Rang de Basanti - last night. Its about a British film maker that goes to India to make a documentary about four freedom Indian freedom fighters that her grandfather, an officer in the British Army, had written about in his diary. She comes in with some very romanticized views of India and Indians, and is rather disappointed when her search for the perfect actors comes up with nothing. She finds that most Indian youth greatly lack the patriotism of their forefathers and have allowed government bureaucrats to run the country in any way they please, watching in disbelief as corruption reigns supreme. A dramatic event changes her cast from a complacent bunch of losers into modern day versions of their historical characters.

Overall it was a well made movie, but what I realized something - and this is related to George Clooney's acceptance speech at the Oscars two weeks ago.

"... we are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talk about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. And we, you know, we bring up subjects. This Academy, this group of people ! gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud to be a part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch."

Similarly, I think Bollywood is going down the same road. Taking on the challenge of addressing issues that are not normally addressed in India. Especially in the last 10 years, I've noticed that there are a lot of films coming out that talk about the British Raj and Independence. For a coutry that collectively took a leap in time over that short period that was partition - and for the most part ignored the violence, and the reasons why that violence occurred ... in short, as a nation, India ignored its history.

Most of my education took place in India - and I'll tell you - my high school history text books went like this - first there the Aryans came, next the Rajputs, followed by the Moghuls [my timeline maybe off] --- a rather detailed and monotonous account of all the successes and failures of the various empires. And then the British entered ... and a century or so later - India was independent. What happened in between the entry of the Raj to their exit? I never knew. All I knew was that partition occurred, never knowing what the deal was. You'd think that the future citizens of a nation should know where they came from? The result was a generation of mostly complacent and uneducated youth - and I am a part of that generation. Most people have a very warped view of what happened in 1947 - and how modern day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were formed. I personally had little to no understanding - no clue why everyone was so hot and bothered about Kashmir, why Muslims and Hindus had such antagonism for one another (not so much where I grew up, but in the North). Oddly enough, it wasn't until I came to the US that I began to explore my heritage - as a Muslim and an Indian. Unfortunately, most people in India are not as fortunate - which is why films like Rang de Basanti are so important. While this particular film doesn't talk about partition, it does talk about making politicians accountable, and taking a stand.

Why does any of this matter -and why have I shared this with the virtual world? I guess I'm just sharing my entirely confused state of mind, and the fact that my battle continues ...

The last stand.

"Since the dawn of existence, there have always been moments when the course of history shifted. Such a turning point is upon us now. The conflict between the better and worse angels of our very nature, whos outcome will change our world so greatly, there will be no going back. I do not know if victory is possible. I only know that great sacrifice will required. And because the fate of many will depend on a few, we must make the last stand."
- X3

Got my life back!

It's done. No more writing about Hosty and Carter, public forums and pedagogical concerns. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm really looking forward to having my life back! I know, I know - it wasn't much of a life to begin with, but it was mine!

My next fun project, two weeks from yesterday, is arguing in front of a 3 judge panel on the 7th inshaAllah. If anyone cares - I'm terrified. Mortified. Petrified. Stupefied... The glimmer of hope is that I'll have a friendly face on the panel ... T-Mc. Alhamdullilah, for the small mercies.

Just a short recap of the 72 hours before the beast was due.

Tuesday - met w/Prof. B to go over it to make sure I didn't have a glaring problem. The meeting went pretty smoothly, and I spent the rest of the evening fixing a few things before I had to send it off to PAS in anticipation of our meeting on Wednesday.

Wednesday - met w/PAS around mid day ... and got some solid guidance on where it was going, and discussed some changes as to how to get it to flow better. I expected, and to some extent hoped, that the beast would get ripped apart - because essentially, what doesn't kill you will make you stronger - right? Well PAS didn't rip it apart. Somewhere along the line, between my first meeting w/PAS last semester and this meeting, there's been a huge change. Last semester - it was all about him ripping it up and me rebuilding it from scratch. This time it was more of a discussion and a joint decision to rip stuff ... and while I'm usually one for solid guidance, making decisions for myself really helped! Stayed up half the night to make the changes and attempt to perfect the citations for T-Mc.'s meeting - haven't seen 5am in a while - but I saw it on Thursday.

- Oh funny story ... I've been working at Hillman for the past few nights - its actually more conducive to work than Barco, and its open later. I got to the point where I was pacing in the stair well reading my brief outloud to myself ... over and over and over again. Lunacy I tell you.

Thursday - woke up at 8 (after passing out at 5) to meet w/a couple of people about a possible program at Pitt - "Faith and the First Amendment: Balancing Freedoms" which was very fruitful, considering my state of mind! Met w/T-Mc. and read through the entire thing - all 15 pages of it ... outloud again - which is actually a great strategy. I've used it before, but its never really worked until now ... although some parts did get "weird" and "akward" comments - which are actually really constructive ... so that went well ...

Most of thursday was spent procrastinating, and falling asleep at random times - at one point I passed out for 40 minutes and didn't even know it. Passed out exhausted, and got back up to polish it up over coffee and turned it in right before Noon.

And now, I have my life back. And all I want to do is sleep. dannnnng!

Note to prospective law students - catch up on all the sleep you can RIGHT NOW.

Some really cool stuff!!

I said I wouldn't blog this week because I have this brief to offload on Friday, and have tons to do. HOWEVER, I am making this exception coz of these three cool things!!

First up, HUGE shout out to amnarani - she won her case today - excerpt from her email:

"... basically the government was trying to deport our client, a Somali refugee whose family was brutally attacked when he was only 15, forcing him to flee to refugee camps, eventually making his way to the U.S. as a teenager, alone. He had no help or support and fell off track... the basis for his deportation was a couple of criminal convictions..... It was an uphill battle, with all of the odds stacked against us, but subhanAllah, we won!!!!! It was a huge victory, considering we thought our chances were so slim.

Just goes to show that there is some justice left in the world-- we just have to fight for it! Our client is now free to go home. He has been in detention for over 4 years, and is ecstatic about the prospects of going home. He knows he just dodged a bullet--- but, it's just the beginning for him. He has many, many problems to overcome! So, remember him in your du'as if you can."

Second, to all my baller buddies ... here's a great story.

ESPN recently featured The Lady Caliphs of W Deen Mohammed High School in Atlanta, Ga. An all muslim womens basketball team that just completed an outstanding basketball season, winnig 21 games and only losing 1.

Here's a 7 minute clip of that show: http://taqwatv.blip.tv/file/18075

It may take a bit to load, but its well worth it.

Finally, "Good news for the Zabiha eaters!"

I pulled this off of a fellow-1L-blogger from UPenn (I hope she doesn't mind!), but this news was too good to keep to myself!!!!

[Excerpt of Letter from Michelle Robinson, Outback Steakhouse Inc., Purchasing/ R & D/ Communications]

"Lamb served in all of the domestic Outback locations in the United States is imported from New Zealand. The lamb has received its Certification of Halal Accreditation from The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand."

WOO! WOO!

Other relevant points, for the full text, click here

• Make sure to ask that the lamb be prepared in separate sauté pan instead of on the grill in order to make sure there is no cross contamination from other products. Note: this method will take longer.
• Ask that the steamed vegetables be prepared without the "seasoned butter", which contains bacon in the seasoning.
• The steaks and chicken used at Outback are NOT Halal.
• Order your lamb WITHOUT the cabernet sauce.
  

See! I told you this was cool!

Back to the brief. Due in approximately 43hours.

rain check

Returned from Spring Break last night - it was quite the trip, but oh so worth it! I didn't even mind sitting in Philly airport for 4 hours reading (and napping)!

Quick recap - and pertinent highlights!

Tuesday - hopped on a plane to Philly, met up w/Aly - dug into some AWESOME philly cheesesteaks, met up w/MZ for coffee and then drove like the wind to VA. After searching frantically for [a] "Red Robin" - we happened upon a group of cool muslimah that we proceeded to eat with. Mm - redrobinburgersrock.

Wednesday - my crazy day, including - "the-shortest-interview-in-history" and suit-shopping-galore. Ended the day w/some California Pizza kitchening w/the fam, and my Spring Break buy ... THE HARRY POTTER DVD! WOO!

Thursday - Chilled, worked, went to a lecture at AU [yes I am a nerd] and guess what? I am absolutely FASCINATED with Immigration Law now. Yes, I am. It really is awesome!

[Author's Edit] - Aly has reminded me that I forgot to write about the HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK - ballin' w/Aly-oop, Dr. J and Huda in Hoya-quarters! It was AWESOME! Huda and I were the "dream-team" =0) I haven't balled since the summer, and we're in preparation for the much awaited Mason-Hoya show down scheduled for April 8. Watch this space for the post-game-de-brief.

Friday - chilled at the DC Superior Court, sat in on proceedings - which was suuper cool!


Friday-Sunday - Proceeded to College Park to partake in some reviving of the Sunnah. Over all the conference was great - I loved the theme, and I loved the speakers - I'll write more about them later, share some of the knowledge inshaAllah! As always, EZ was also awesome because I got to see all my favorite muslimah that I never get to see on a regular basis. Shoutouts to - all the FOB impersonators (you know who you are), cool Mason and G-town peeps, weird highschoolers, muslim-hoos, Aly, LinaMustapha and Dewy! and of course all the randoms I always run into. :-) Good times ya'll - alhamdullilah!

Okie doke - gotta run and deal w/the crazy week ... peace out.

Much to be done ...

I watched "The Constant Gardener" last night. It isn't often that a movie pushes me to think so deeply about the journey we are embarking upon. This one, and Hotel Rwanda are two the the few. I suspect that Crash will provoke many of the same thoughts.

I found myself asking over and over through the movie - God, what have we done? There is so much wrong in the world ... there is so much to do. Does anyone care anymore? Are there only a handful of dreamers left that think that something can be done to stop this downward spiral of hate, greed and spite. I'm not being a pessimist ... it is just overwhelming that we have inherited a world that has little justice left, and I don't know if we're doing enough to pass on a better one to the next generation.

Aids. Famine. War - oh so many kinds - civil war, nuclear war (on the brink?), gang war. Poverty. Human trafficking, drug trafficking. Racial tension. Deforestation. Extinct Species - mutating species (snake heads in the Potomac?). Global warming.

I think about my friends ... our generation, the generation that is responsible for fixing this mess. Do I sound like I'm taking on too much on behalf of a generation? Well, I look at my friends - soon-to be lawyers, film makers, writers/journalists, social workers, linguists, artists, doctors, engineers, businessmen (and women) ... people that care deeply no matter that field they're in. My little circle isn't quite representative of an entire generation ... but I want to think that we are taking responsibility. And I pray that we can do some good with the letters that we are adding to our names. I pray that we are successful advocates of our chosen trades - but that we are also responsible citizens of the world that we have inherited. Can we use our talents to take on this challenge that we are faced with - and inspire a generation that is in dire need of hope. Can we convince enough people that this is worth fighting for and there is a way to help ... one by one.

Ah, I've revealed my inner dreamer. These are big dreams, big hopes.

what will we do with our dreams?

inspire ... motivate ... challenge ... provoke ...

Will we be successful?

maybe.

maybe not.

but at least we would have tried - at least we would have hoped....


Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him, was asked how one should respond to injustice. In short, his response (paraphrased) was that when one witnesses an injustice, he must attempt to stop it from occurring either through action or by speaking out against it. If he cannot do either, he must know in his heart that it is wrong, but this is the weakest of faith.

Take another look at "World on Fire"

Break. YEAH.

The snow is just beginning to fall outside ... doesn't seem much like Spring Break. However, I don't have class on Monday, nor on Tuesday, or Wednesday, in fact - no class all week. While I will be at the library reading this weekend - I'll live coz on Tuesday ... I GET TO GO AWAY!

YESSSSIRREEE BOB - I get to go away for FIVE WHOLE DAYS! Ah-ma-zing.

I've got BOB on the radio, oreos in the hand, lasagne in the works ... the crew is comin' over for some chow. Life is good.

Alhamdullilah.

Yep - Spring break is here ... there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And, it sure is lookin' bright from here!