The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Fareeza Ali

I’ve tried teaching my friends about Islam, but it seems like even though they accept me, they’re unwilling to accept my religion.

Recently, a guy from my school started an Islamic Club and asked people what they’d be interested in learning about. I heard one girl tell him she wanted to learn how to make bombs.

WHAT!? The thing that killed me is that I think she was actually serious. It made me think different about my peer’s jokes. Jokes, I admit, I used to make sometimes. But they seemed more hurtful after I heard this. The fact that she felt this way about Muslims made me question what she thinks about me.

The way I see it, Islam is not just a faith, it’s away of life because devout Muslims are dedicated to living a life incompliance to their religion.

It seems like because I don’t fit the stereotypes of the violent Muslim, my peers accept me, but not my religion. What they don’t get is that because it’s such a big part of the way I live my life, the religion is me.

By: Danial Shahbaz

The Muslim community center being built in New York has sparked debate around the world, including within my own home.

I first learned of the controversial plan just before my mother traveled to Pakistan to visit our extended family. While I was there, I lightweight started discussing the issue of the community center with my mom. When I first heard about Park51, I thought it was supposed to be a mosque, which I fully supported because Islam promotes peace. But later I when I discovered it was planned as an entire community center where Muslims and non-Muslims could gather, my support went rock solid.

It basically sounded like a YMCA and a church built together, which was very appealing to me because a rec center implies a da’wa - an invitation for non-Muslims to attend as well. We need community centers like this all over the country, where people can talk together about their issues, their fears, and what problems they’re having. And if this community center is built in New York, I believe you’ll see a push for similar projects in many cities across the US.

When I brought the Park51 issue up with my mom, she came right out and said it was a bad idea. She said it gives the non-Muslims whose families had died on 9/11 another reason to be enraged. She said they may believe that the Muslims are trying to say, “Look, we attacked your land, and now we are building upon it.”

She argued that Ground Zero is sacred land for Americans, where those so-called Muslims had attacked. But my parents have always taught us that we’re American first, and then Pakistani. So I found my mom’s statement hypocritical. They’ve always told me I’m American, but when it comes to this issue, their treating me as if I’m not an American?

She thinks the center being built will give the people more justification to criticize Muslims. Jalti pay tayal dalna. In Urdu, that basically means, adding fuel to the fire. That pretty much sums up my mom’s agreement with people who oppose Park51.

When I got involved with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and started teaching at Islamic school, my mom was always supportive. She was very pro-activism. But this issue is too touchy for her. My generation has grown up here with the ideas of freedom of speech, and freedom to practice our religion. In Pakistan, where my mom spent her youth, they haven’t grown up with equality, especially for women, and that’s probably why our parents and elders disagree with us on some political issues like Park 51.

For now, within my household, I will have to disagree with my mother. But Inshallah when this project gets pushed through, I hope people like her may realize that every single right granted to individuals in America is granted to Muslim’s too.

Danial Shahbaz is the Muslim Student Association President at San Francisco State as well as the MSA West events co-coordinator. Read more...

By: Ghadah Jawad

My name is Ghadah and I am a youth radio blogger. I am a young Palestinian girl that lives in the United States.  Ramadan is coming up so I thought it would be interesting to share it with everyone. I think its good for everyone to learn more about it. What does Ramadan mean? Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It comes from the word “ramida” which is intense heat and sun.

Thursday marks the 31st anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Iranians gathered in Tehran to hear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announce the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program while others showed their disapproval of Ahmadinejad's regime in violent clashes with police.

Once again the breaking news is reaching the mainstream through social networking sites like Facebook. Iranians have posted updates on their pages saying that militia members beat the wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi with batons. Opposition leaders have been prevented from getting near Azadi Square in Tehran where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is addressing his supporters.

CNN reports that in the chaos members of the Basij, the paramilitary force loyal to Iran's hard-line leadership, have been attacked by militia members. CNN quotes Mohammad-Taghi Karrubi son of one the leaders of the Basij about the attack his father faced from militia members.

"The guards attacked and the crowds came to him. When the crowds started to come, and surrounded him, again the guards attacked with tear gas, tear as well as the batons and different kinds of weapons against the people. And unfortunately my father received very bad gas tears and his face is burned,"
 

We have sacrificed a lot for a false sense of security. We, as a nation,  have allowed the fear of terror attacks to justify all sorts of invasions of privacy, as well as some of our constitutional rights.

 I have lost ounces of refreshing beverages, hygiene products, and even a little dignity to air safety.  But the agony and audacity of traveling has made me believe that we are sliding on a slippery slope towards a total police state. Recent suggestions from a retired US military general confirmed my fears.

On a Fox News program, retired Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney suggested that all Muslim men ages 18-28 be strip searched before boarding planes.  The Fox News Host did call the idea outrageous.  

More after the jump...

Swiss voters approved a ban on building minarets — reflecting an alarming hostility to a rising Muslim minority.

Fifty-seven percent of voters in a referendum supported the direct democracy initiative. Muslims account for four percent of the Swiss population. Only four modest-sized or small minarets exist in Switzerland.

A large majority of the 27 cantons supported the move, with opposition strongest in the German-speaking part of the country. In Geneva, home to the United Nations, the voters rejected the initiative by nearly 60 percent.

(via Times Online)

Previously:

• Forum On Muslim Youth & New Media
• Don't Pin Fort Hood on Islam
• Praying for Prosperity

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent out an official statement regarding the Fort Hood shooting. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. They want the media and the general public not to hold this one incident as precedent for all Muslim Americans. While investigators are searching for a motive, CAIR does not want the fact Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a Muslim to take precedence over any other evidence. CAIR’s Executive Director Nihad Awad says,

“We reiterate the American Muslim community’s condemnation of this cowardly attack. Right now, we call on all Americans to assist those who are responding to this atrocity…The motive of the attacker is not yet known. We urge all Americans to remain calm in reaction to this tragic event and to demonstrate once again what is best about America – our nation’s ability to remain unified even in times of crisis. We urge national political and religious leaders and media professionals to set a tone of calm and unity.”

CAIR doesn’t want investigators and the media to pin the Fort Hood shooting on the Islam religion and continue the “Muslim terrorist” stereotype.” This may create Muslim backlash leading to harm of innocent Muslim Americans. CAIR urges American Muslims, and those who may be perceived to be Muslim, to take appropriate precautions to protect themselves, their families and their religious institutions from possible backlash.

Islam Today, a new UC Berkeley based program that looks at how Muslim youth are "using new media, politics and popular culture" to reshape their self-image, holds a forum tonight on Politics & New Media in the Muslim World at the David Borwer Center in Berkeley, CA :

This forum brings together a unique group of experts to discuss the transformations that have occurred following the rapid expansion in the use of technology and new media in talking about political issues and political change in the Muslim world.

EVENT DETAILS:

Thursday, October 15, 2009
5:00 pm ~ 7:30 pm
David Brower Center
2150 Allston St., Berkeley CA

By Ali Zafar

Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia

For miles, rippling-golden sand dunes and rocky fields surround the sleepy city of Al Kharj, located in the province of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Everything shuts down here five times a day when the call to prayer blares from the many minarets in the city as worshippers flock to mosques.

These days, those flocks have grown larger with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in full gear.

According to Muslims, Ramadan is the time when the Qur'an--the Islamic holy book--was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia over 1400 years ago.

In honor of that, Muslims fast daily from dawn to sunset, refraining from eating or drinking anything. It's also a time when Muslims fervently pray for spiritual growth.

Among those Muslims is 26-year-old Ryed Sunaid, a resident of Al Kharj who is using this month to pray for not only a place in heaven, but also for prosperity here on earth. Sunaid was born in Dilliam, a Bedouin village located just outside of Al Kharj.

Sunaid comes from a large family with 10 siblings--five of them sisters who are all married now. His father is an elementary school teacher and his mother a homemaker. Paying the bills is a difficult task.

The stress and complexities that celebrity life in the music industry, and specifically the hip-hop portion of it, are enough to drive a sane man mad. Artists who once starred in music videos surrounded by scantily dressed women and expensive cars, have turned to religion to help keep some sort of balance and self-understanding in their hectic and at times, superficial lives. Imagine the pressure of living up to an image that was created and molded like a gob of clay. Read more...