Revealing Ramadan

My dear friend Jen let me know about this fabulous website for NPR's Speaking of Faith program. They're doing a "Ramadan special" where they've asked Muslims to write in with their personal reflections on Islam and/or Ramadan. Some were chosen to air on the radio. Others were chosen to show on the site where you can read them. Jen's is here.
Mine was sent in, but doesn't seem to have made the cut. Since I liked it though, I decided I'd share it with you here.
Don't forget to check out the rest of the stories and reflections on the site. I really enjoyed seeing so many different perspectives.


When I think of Ramadan, I think of many things, but the first is almost always my mother, up before the rest of us an hour and a half before dawn to prepare the food we would sleepily consume in the last half hour before the fast began.
My mother, a doctor with a strong interest in nutrition, was always sure to get as much protein into our systems as possible: there were scrambled and boiled eggs, fava beans slow-cooked the traditional Egyptian way, tuna salad. But there was always something for our teenage taste buds: My mother would wake us up with home-cooked french fries, still sizzling on the plate. Into our bedroom she would sweep, singing “wake up, wake up, your food has come to you” in a jolly voice, and as I rolled over on the top bunk to face her, I would find a handful of hot, salty fries stuffed into my mouth before my eyes were even open. It certainly was an effective tactic.
When we were younger, we would “fast” from breakfast until lunch and then from lunch until dinner, feeling for the first time what it was to have sustained hunger, to not cure it immediately with a stop at the fridge or the cupboard. The pangs in our stomachs would knot first, then twist, and there was something so satisfying about not succumbing, about defeating that part of ourselves that cried out to be served, to be given now now NOW!
Experience is learning, is knowledge, and the value of that knot in the pit of my stomach can never be underestimated. I knew, ever so briefly, what it was to want; knew the slight pain, the slight light-headedness that came with it; but more than anything, knew the gratitude of sunset, of taking that first sip of water, that first sweet bite of a date, sweet and soft and buttery, melting on my tongue. And as I got older, I knew too the gratitude of having that water, that date, having what so few have, and especially what so many everywhere can't reach: a fridge full of food; a house with a roof; a blanket to cover my bed; a loving mother who would wake up in the middle of the night to make sure her daughters were well-fed before the fast began.
My father broke his fast with a glass of hot milk, heated to the point of scalding in the microwave, nearly foaming at the top, and three or five dates to go along. It was my father who taught us the supplication to make when breaking our fast:
“Oh God, for you I have fasted, and from your blessings I have broken my fast, and on you I depend, and in you I believe”. And then each one of us would turn inward and think of what she wanted and pray a private prayer, just between her and God, before that first bite, that first sip. It could be anything: I would pray for a good grade on an upcoming test, for a class trip somewhere fun, to get out of babysitting that Friday at the mosque, for forgiveness for my sins – a rude word, a look of ridicule, the missing of one of the five daily prayers.
After the dates and milk we would pray our sunset prayer before having a proper meal, and there we would stand, my mother, my three sisters and I behind our father, reciting the Quran, choosing, somehow, the verses that would nudge our hearts that particular day, his words poetry, a calling to God.

Let's Play 5 Questions!

So, the latest Blog "meme" comes via XUP, and is called 5 questions. She did such a great job explaining how it works on her blog, so I'm just going to go ahead and steal the instructions:

It’s kind of a fun interview exercise because fellow bloggers can email you asking to join in and then you have to email them back 5 interview questions - things you’d like to know specifically about them. Then they answer the questions on their blog and invite other bloggers to join in which means they have to come up with 5 questions for those bloggers. Get it? (Complete instructions are at the end of this post).

On with the show. Here are the questions XUP posed to me, as well as my answers (as usual, extremely run-on-sentency).

1. As a Muslim and a woman in Canada, do you face any additional challenges in the workplace and/or socially?
   I really think that if you want to look at them as "challenges", you could, but that in essence, we live is such a pluralistic society that it's hard to say there's a "standard" any more, so I probably face as many challenges as anyone else, except mine can be categorized under one lump sum of "this is because she's Muslim"... For example, I don't drink, nor do I attend social events where alcohol will be served. What this means is that if I'm going out to dinner with some friends, no one at the table can order a drink... At work, I'll skip the group lunches if I know that some of my colleagues are going to be drinking, but we end up doing a lot of "in office potlucks" instead, and the formal lunches are only 1 or 2 times a year. A few of my good friends from high school and university have gotten married recently, and for their weddings, I attended the ceremonies, but not the receptions, because of the alcohol thing. I explained it to them and they didn't mind. The important thing was to see them on their special day in some way or another.
   Honestly, I don't mind. I probably face more challenges dealing with other things that make me unique or different, like my food sensitivities (try avoiding wheat, dairy, and sugar in an office that ADORES all of the above. I have no will power. I break down. I eat it. I get sick. I chide myself and promise I'll never do it again... And then someone buys a box of Laura Secord Chocolates and puts them next to the photocopier that afternoon, and it's breakdown of will power all over. You get the drift).
   Other adjustments? I pray 5 times a day, but I'm pretty flexible about the specifics. If the nurse's room is in use, or we've got a lot of back to back meetings, I'll just use my office.
   I've had the very very rare situation pop up where someone is down right discriminatory, but then who hasn't? If I wasn't Muslim (and Arab: double-whammy!) I'm sure it would be something else, like sexism, or some other form of discrimination. Honestly, I've been a minority for so long that it's what I'm most comfortable with. I don't think any of it is insurmountable. You just have to explain to people why you're doing "thing x" some other way...
   
2. You commute regularly between Ottawa and Montreal. If you both could have the same or better jobs in the same city, which one would you choose to live in?
   Hmmm... I have to say that right now, even though commuting is hard, I get the best of both worlds. I live in downtown Montreal and get to work at home 2 days of the week, and I live in the 'burbs in Ottawa and work in downtown the other 3 weekdays. I love the vibe of Montreal. I love the vibrant spirit that's just there. I love the "bigness" of it. But I love the quiet of Ottawa, and the kind of unobtrusive beauty, and until last February, Ottawa was my whole life. The overwhelming majority of important memories in my life took place in Ottawa. My sisters and I tobogganing in our back yard in our old house in the winters when we were little; biking with my dad in the summers along the Ottawa river bike paths; going to the Public Library as a teen and coming home with more novels than I could carry; babysitting at the mosque on Fridays; going to Canterbury High School and finding out there that, no matter what I did with my "working hours" in my life, I would always really be a writer; there are too many... Ottawa will always be home. If my husband could work there, I would probably choose to live there. That said, I'm sure my parents missed Egypt like crazy when they moved to Canada for my dad to finish his PhD. and that was over 35 years ago.
   
3. What is the hardest decision you've ever had to make all on your own?
   This is the hardest question. I put off answering this meme while I tried to think of an answer for this, and the bottom line is that I couldn't come up with anything profound at all because any hard decision I have to make, I don't make on my own. I'm very fortunate that some of the people closest to me are actually exceptional people that others look up to and seek out for advice constantly, and that are only ever, at worst, a phone call away. Case in point: my parents. My mother has been part of every big decision I've ever made. She's a details person, and she will sit through every last point and review things until I'm no longer lost. My father is a great sounding board, and when he's done listening to me rant about something, he can usually, in one or two sentences, give me a "grand scheme of things" reminder that helps clarify my position and re-orients me. My sisters are all incredibly supportive and know me insanely well. My husband is super-patient, non-pushy, and brings to my decisions a different perspective since, unlike everyone else I've listed, he hasn't lived in my immediate family unit for the last 25 years. I know this sounds like I'm gushing about these people ridiculously, but it's the truth. And while they'll all tell you I'm a bit stubborn and hard-headed when I want something (albeit using nicer words), it's usually when I want something small, like a chocolate bar, or to watch movie X instead of movie Y.
   So, the hardest decision I ever made on my own? Pretty anti-climactic, but it was probably to go to Arts Canterbury High School for the Literary Arts program, even though it would mean an extra 2 hours on the bus each day, and an extra hour at school, for 4 years. And even that, I asked what my family thought about it. If you want something COMPLETELY independent, it would be something ridiculously minuscule, like buying a bike. Not a hard decision.
   
4. What is there about you that you think makes you just a little bit different from anyone else you know?
   I have a ridiculous memory for completely useless trivia facts and words/lyrics. Anything from the fact that retired hockey player Dave Andreychuk and my uncle have the same birthday (September 29th) to lyrics of "Over my head" by the Fray, to the lyrics of a spoof version of Bohemian Rhapsody that Flogo posted on their website during the 2004 Presidential election, to whole sections of dialogue from Lord of the Rings. I'll correct my sister if she's singing a song and changes some obscure line by one word in the bridge... Also, I have yet to meet another Muslim woman who loves hockey as much as I do.
   
5. You are granted 10 minutes to go back in time, meet up with one person and tell them something. Who would it be and what would you tell them?
   I thought about going back to some famous historical figure and telling them something that could have changed the outcome of the world, but I wrote this off because it strikes me as hubris, and I just don't' think that little old me, given ten minutes, could really accomplish some huge, global thing. So, I'll go for something more personal.
   I'd go back in time to when my maternal grandmother was alive and tell her thank you and how much I love and appreciate her. She lived in Egypt for almost all of her life, but came to stay with my mom when my mom was pregnant with my sisters and I, and we formed a very very tight bond. When I was a baby, she called me her little Cinderella and wouldn't let me sleep in the crib (which caused all sorts of "adjustments" when she had to go back to Egypt and I was used to cooing in the bed with a grown up. She'd make sure my older sister didn't jump on the bed if I was napping. When she came back for the birth of my younger sister, I was already so used to her that she mostly took care of me to free up my mom for my younger sister.
   She came back and stayed with us again for about a year when I was around 10, but I don't think I truly realized just how much she did for us. I loved her, but I loved to go out and play more, and by then, she wasn't as mobile. The next couple of times I saw her on visits to Egypt, she was getting older and starting to forget things. But she had a beautiful, warm heart, and it wasn't until after she died by a few years that I really, truly thought about her more deeply as her own person and not as simply my grandmother. I'd tell her that I included her in my prayers every day, and I'd give her a hug.

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Here are the rules if you want to participate in 5 Questions.

1. Send me an email saying: ”Interview Me” to hummingintheshade@gmail.com
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You can then answer the questions on your blog.
4. You should also post these rules along with an offer to interview anyone else who emails you wanting to be interviewed.
5. Anyone who asks to be interviewed should be sent 5 questions to answer on their blog. I would be nice if the questions were individualized for each blogger.

The Best Reminder

We're in TO for the week, visiting with M's family, and we spent the weekend at the RIS conference, listening to a lot of great speakers talk about the importance of contribution and involvement, how being a Muslim is all about giving and serving. We heard a lot of great things, but one of best reminders I heard was the mention of this hadeeth (prophetic saying). So simple and succinct, but so clear in its message.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, will say on the Day of Rising, 'Child of Adam, I was ill and you did not visit Me.'

The man will say, 'O Lord, how could I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds?'

The Lord will answer, 'Do you not know that My servant so-and-so was ill and you did not visit him? Do you not know that if you had visited him, you would have found Me with him?

O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you did not feed Me.'

The man will answer, 'O Lord, how could I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds?'

The Lord will say, 'Do you not know that My servant so-and-so asked you for food and you did not feed him? Do you not know that if you had fed him, you would have found him with Me.

O son of Adam, I asked you for water and you did not give it to Me.'

He will say, 'O Lord, how could I give You water when You are the Lord of the worlds?'

The Lord will say, 'My servant so-and-so asked you for water and you did not give it to him. Do you not know that if you had given him water, you would have found that with Me?'

So often, we make religion so complicated that we forget the essence. Visit the sick, feed the poor, care for those who need to be cared for. This we can do. This we should do.

Hijabi Swimwear Hullabaloo

First, to set the tone, I wear something that looks like this when I go swimming:

I bought it from a swimsuit store. You can buy it online. You can buy it around the world. It's made from the same material as any other swimsuits. My sister has one just like it, but don't worry, they're different colours and different patterns. We're not trying to look like twins.
So, today we went for a swim in our condo's pool. It was pretty quiet and uneventful, until 3 minutes before we were planning on leaving anyway, a custodian approached us and told us we weren't allowed to swim here anymore.
Excuse me? Sorry? What's that? I pay condo fees like anyone else. I hurt no one by wearing my fabulous hijabi swimsuit.
The bottom line is that apparently, someone complained about our attire and she came to tell us we had to go. Sorry but no... We stayed, we discussed, we explained, we had her call a member of the condo board, and before it was time to go, we were told we could swim in our hijabi swimsuits without any problem (which we already knew, but now they knew too).
So, the sweetness of victory, or the bitterness of feeling the sting of ignorance? Well, a bit of both... I have to admit that it hurts when I find someone out there is still determined to limit my abilities to enjoy my basic rights just because I'm a Muslim woman who chooses to demonstrate my faith. Live and let live. We're in a pluralistic society, which means we all have the right to go on and act on our beliefs, so long as they don't hurt other members of that society. Hopefully, everyone comes to that conclusion soon.

Are You an Aquavore? (Or "I'm all talk")

I got this in my work newsletter today. It's a water-use calculator that helps you figure out how many litres you use a day on average. I filled out the questionnaire to find my numbers and it's embarrassing how much I use... Changes must be made. Low-flow taps must be sought out. Dishes and glasses that don't need to fill the dishwasher must be rinsed quickly and set aside, taps must be turned off while toothbrushing, and shower times must be limited...
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has a hadeeth (saying) that says to conserve water, even if you're doing your wudu (ablution) in a river. Conservation is important, and that's not just a theory.
Check it out yourself. There's nothing like finding out how much water you waste to shake you into action.

Bouchard-Taylor Get it Right

The report is in, and the Bouchard-Taylor commission agrees: My hijab is not a threat to anyone. Barring me from wearing it anywhere but home or in public places in Quebec would be contrary to the values of freedom and integration. Way to go Bouchard-Taylor! Read the full article here.

Are we good?

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry for the last week plus of neglect. I know I got your hopes up with constant writing and then kinda just left you hanging with no explanation. I know your number of hits have suffered as a result and there was little you could do without my getting back to it. I guess the following is a series of excuses for my erratic writing behaviour.

• Wedding planning: A couple of months ago, M and I sat down and came up with everything we needed to do, and then saw that we had "so much time" left to do it all and Ramadan was coming up, and in general things were just busy on other fronts so… we let it slide a little. And rightfully so. But now, the wedding is not getting any farther away and the stuff still needs to get done. It's fun, but very very time consuming (and I like to think we're keeping it pretty low-key and I'm not being an insane Bride-zilla, but it's just something that takes A LOT of time)


• I can't wear my hijab because WHAT?: So, lucky for me, I'm a federal government and not a provincial government employee. The Quebec provincial government is considering passing a law to disallow "ostentatious religious symbols" a la France, in public life. So my fellow hijabi's would be told to take off their hijabs or not come to work. Same with Orthodox Jews who cover their heads. Same with Sikhs. Same with Christians wearing crosses. Oh wait, what's that you say? Christians with crosses are welcome to keep wearing them? Well, then, I guess this isn't about keeping society secular after-all… Needless to say, I've very very concerned, upset, hurt about this whole debacle. I'm not sure what's so threatening to Quebec society about little old me in a headscarf, (or any other piece of clothing for that matter) or how it would interfere with my ability to do my job as a public servant, teacher, etc… And whatever happened to a woman's right to choose what she wore? Why doesn't forcing me to take off my hijab equate to oppression the same way forcing someone to wear one would? ... So, I've been trying to let as many ppl know to write their MPP's about it if they live in Quebec, and just generally to spread the word and stay on top of the issue.


• Hockey: Ramadan is over, and the hockey season is young, and for a Habs fan like me who's been starving for good old Canadiens' hockey since that dreaded game last April (which they lost, resulting in their missing the play-offs), the time is NOW to catch up on what Les Boys are up to. So far so good. We have a young team (note the use of "we". I often talk as though I, not Guy Carbonneau, am the coach of the team) and we're still making lots of mistakes, but our young guys are a year more experienced, our overall level of effort is much more consistent than last year, and our newbies (rookies and free agents) are turning out to be an overall improvement over the bunch that left at the end of last year. Overall, I like the class of 2007-2008, though I wish Carbo would stop giving Kostopoulous so much ice time.


• Rain, Baaaaaaah!: Yes, I know this is a lousy excuse, but I'm anti-rain, and when it rains I lose all creative/expressive abilities… and we've been getting a lot of rain lately, so…

I hope these excuses are enough for you to sort of forgive me. I don't really promise I'll be writing all the time any time soon again. And I'm sorry if I mislead you with my little spurt of posting pre-Eid, but time is just gonna continue to be tight for a while… Are we good?

Be happy (but don't mind if noone notices) & Little Mosque

I love reading these funny little articles about the human brain and how it acts in certain social situations. Came across this one today, and apparently, the brain often ignores, or reacts much more slowly to smiles than it does to frowns, or even neutral expressions... Don't let that stop you from smiling though! Remember: Your smile in the face of your brother/sister is charity :D

Totally unrelated, but I'm loathe to post two threads in the same day, Little Mosque on the Prairie is winning a humanitarian award for addressing conflicts in a creative way and encouraging harmony. Way to go, my fellow Canadians and Muslims! That's how it's done!

Worst Confession Ever

There's a McDonald's across the street from Work, and on my way home today, I had the HUGEST craving. Thankfully, it's the last day of Ramadan, and so the craving could not be acted on. See why fasting is good for you?

p.s. Happy Eid to all!!

Coffee Dilemna

If you recall, ages ago (aka roughly last year) I planned to quit coffee, and successfully did so... for 2-3 weeks, before work/life got hectic again and I just needed one which eventually spiraled into just needing another, and another, and, well, you get the picture. Earlier this summer, I copped to my addiction and faced the fact that for the time being, I'm not going to stress myself over quitting and feel bad for something for no good reason (it's like, either fix it or forget about it. Guilt without action is pointless, even destructive as far as I'm concerned, at least for a measly coffee addiction that's hurting no one but me, and even that only a little bit.)

All of this, of course, is a prelude to a "but..." - 'what's the 'but', Noha?' you ask? Well, the but is that Ramadan is soon, as in tomorrow, and during Ramadan we don't eat or drink between dawn and sunset, and that, of course, includes not drinking coffee. For a few years, the first few days of Ramadan have always been difficult for me for this reason - not because I can't eat, or because I don't drink water, but because I don't get my caffeine fix, and so it would only be logical that as Ramadan approaches, I phase coffee out gradually, so the lack of caffination doesn't hit me like a ton of bricks tomorrow.

Now, ask me if I phased out the coffee gradually over the last few days. Go ahead, ask: Did you phase the coffee out, like a reasonable, future-looking person would, as the inevitable approached?

NO! No, I didn't phase it out. I drank my usual mug every morning. In fact, I even went from a medium to a large the last couple of days, not because I'd gotten especially less sleep than usual, but just on a whim, just because I figured I was gonna miss the coffee.

So there. There's my confession. If I seem groggy or just kind of out of it if you run into me over the next few days, you'll know why...

Ramadan Kareem

Insha Allah on Thursday September 13, Ramadan will once again be upon us! I just wanted to say Ramadan Kareem to everyone, and to wish everyone good fasting and increased spirituality over this beautiful month.

ISNA Canada - this Weekend

The Islamic Society of North America's annual Canadian spring convention is this weekend in Ottawa (it's almost always held in TO, so this is big news for the capital, and a small victory for us Ottawans and our inferiority complex).
I'll be talking on a panel about my experiences as a second generations Muslim Canadian, under the heading: "From Integration to Contribution". M and I were discussing yesterday, and he made a good point (which I think I'll steal for my talk) that Contribution, in some ways, has to come before real integration comes. Until you care about the society to contribute to it, you haven't truly integrated. I think he's right.

The other thing that comes to mind when I think of Integration is the following Quranic verse:

"O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another..." (49:13)

It doesn't say to ignore one another. Integration is a basic concept in Islam.

Remembering Remembrance

after prayer at my house
we sit
heads down
in not so proper rows – the feet
no longer tucked beneath us
the hands keeping count -
fingers dancing
to the beads of remembrance
sung in silence
from our lips

the silence
interrupted
by a one-year-old’s
intended shrieks and kisses
(waiting patiently for salaam
to begin her play again)
by the laugh
caught in the throat
of a memory
by the continuance
of a conversation

Stealing (not plagiarizing) from a friend

I recently discovered an old friend who used to live in Ottawa out on the blogosphere, and am glad for her insightful words... To read what she's got to say, you can follow Sajda's link from my Favourite Blogs on the right. I am taking the liberty to copy in and give full credit for one post which I truly truly loved, relating to Islam and music. Being someone who loves music myself, and who struggles with just how much of it to listen to, and to avoid the negative messages in a lot of contemporary music, this post really really spoke to me.
Link to original, and my copy of the whole post:

To Nasheed or not to Nasheed…
January 16th, 2007
The first English nasheed I ever heard was “A’ is for Allah” sung in a clear tone by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens. A cozy setting: it was just Yusuf Islam and the gawking small crowd at my mosque, a converted old church (just like in Little Mosque on the Prairie!) We young ones had been let out of Sunday school early to witness history in the making - Yusuf Islam was softening his stance against music - a little…The song went on to become #1 on mosque announcement boards across North America. (Right under the parking regulations - see comedian Azhar Usman’s take on that).
Until then, until Yusuf Islam opened his mouth and sang in ENGLISH, Islamic music was mostly sung in Arabic or your indigenous language if you happened to come from a part of the world that had a tradition of Islamizing the local culture and arts. My family fortunately came from a culture which had encountered and embraced Islam from the 7th century - our locale being prominent on the trade route; Muslim music has its own name there and on my visits “back home” as a child, the beauty and the meaning of the songs I heard my cousins singing stayed with me even though I wasn’t fluent by any means in the language. I particularly remember a hauntingly beautiful melody about a song-bird which awakens at the break of dawn to flitter around the minarets and rise, soaring into the dark sky as the souls rise to meet Allah for morning prayers. I still sing it to my daughter to sleep.
Music and the arts was so prominent a part of my background culture that it was commendable for children to master them. My teenage male cousins were just as likely to spontaneously sit around and sing together as my female cousins were. On my summer visits, hardly a night would go by without a nasheed-a-thon under the flickering lights of rationed electricity.
Back home in Canada, music to me meant stuff you listened to on your favourite alternative radio station, 102.1 CFNY, even though you had a vague idea your dad might not approve of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle. Back then, lyrics didn’t matter - just that your best friend kept going on and on about the Housemartins until you started singing Caravan of Love in the shower - with the vague idea that your dad might approve of a song with “my brother” and “my sister” in it. Your clique at school decided what kind of music you listened to - and for me that meant British invasion - New Order, Depeche Mode, the Cure, the Smiths - was the order of the day. (Though I secretly liked some of the top 40 hits; but, in the interests of keeping my ultra cool friends from fainting, I refrained from singing Phil Collins).
Later as I opened my eyes to the world beyond my high school halls, I started to actually listen to lyrics. The meanings of meaningless songs bothered me. Somebody singing Sunday Bloody Sunday about finding peace was more worth listening to, I felt, than someone singing Somebody about finding love. Meaning mattered to me and the meaning of a song like Mr. Wendel by Arrested Development - about a homeless man - was more my cupa’ tea now that I had become awakened to the realities of the world beyond suburban comfort. You guessed it, I was in university. My friends and I were going to save the world.
Now, the explosion in English Islamic/Muslim songs from around the globe is such that it’s hard to keep up with. We are witnessing the Islamizing of the arts and culture of a part of the world which until more recently we regarded as not “our” lands even if we were born and bred here. It’s like we just remembered that to God belongs the East and the West.
Consider whole websites devoted solely to nasheed artists and the huge interest in their products. And as many Muslim English musicians there are, there are the same number of opinions regarding them - from the view that they can only sing on Islam, they can only use voice, no - they can use the traditional duff, they have to market solely to Muslims etc. And then there’s the whole question posed out there - just what can be called nasheed and what can‘t? Is nasheed to be defined as “Islamic oriented music”?
My view has always been to support (through the purchase of original works) any Muslim musician who wishes to get across the message that Islam brings to the world - God-centeredness, peace, kindness, justice, brotherhood, remembrance of our role models (both Prophets and Islamic personalities) etc. And if they’re doing this in English, even better. Any Muslim musician who is able to get this message across in such a beautiful way that their songs actually travel across the bridges of faith, culture, identity and nationality is to be especially commended. I particularly think Yusuf Islam (I like his remake of Father and Son with Ronan Keating), Dawud Wharnsby (who actually is a formidable pioneer - the 2nd most I would say after Yusuf Islam - in Islamic music) and Kareem Salama (his work is one of the most well-written I’ve seen and the music and voice are especially bridge-crossing) are mention-worthy in this regard. By the way - the video for Midnight on Dawud Wharnsby’s site has got to be watched until the end - it’s very moving. With Zain Bhika’s latest CD, Allah Knows, he seems to be breaking ground as well.
That’s not to say groups like Native Deen (who I really enjoy listening to) don’t cut it. Their focus seems to be on the Muslim youth in our communities - a commendable goal in itself. Of course I’m not going to forget seven8six, Shaam, Sami Yusuf, Aa’shiq-al-Rasul et all who are doing the same sort of thing. Oh, and Raihan (the Malaysian group) with its feel-good, sway-to music (and am I ever glad that their latest offerings have had more English - my Malay and Arabic were getting confused). And one more, I’m not going to forget brother Mustaqiim Sahir (there’s a long wait for the link) from the early days of English Islamic music, who uses only his voice to make a range of instruments.
And Outlandish? They harken back to my university days: save the world while humming. Are they nasheeding? Well, do they promote Islamic ideals? I just think if everyone asks themselves that question each time they listen to a Muslim artist, they’d be able to ascertain who’s nasheeding and who isn’t. Just make sure you listen with the heart of faith yourself and not the heart of judgement based on a fortress of fear. Because, really, the amount of people who tsk tsk at Muslim musicians producing works with beautiful messages while back at home or with friends, they (the same people) bob their heads to songs with dubious content by non-Muslims is just too sad of a topic. Sad enough that I wish someone would make a nasheed on it.

Muslims in the Mainstream

A couple of things that really got my interest in politics / pop-culture this week:

• Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to U.S. Congress started work this week, by using a Quran that used to belong to Thomas Jefferson at his swearing-in. This makes me very, very happy, on so many levels. First, it's great that there's a Muslim in Congress, participating in the political process on a daily basis, making his voice known, and proving that Muslims can be active partners in running a county like the U.S., whose history and culture is so often incorrectly seen as clashing with Muslim values and culture, that this clash is too big to overcome, etc, etc.. Second, the fact that he used a Quran for his swearing-in is a beautiful symbolic gesture of his identity as an American AND a Muslim, and the fact that that Quran at one point belonged in Thomas Jefferson's personal library shows that a founding father of the States was not afraid of other, different religions. (A neat quote from Jefferson to prove this point: "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.") I find it laughable but sad that Virgil Goode, a Congressman, tried to tie this to stricter immigration laws, so because you know, otherwise the Muslims will take over the U.S. and they'll ALL want to be sworn in with Qurans instead of Bibles! Oh Horrors! The funniest part of this is that Ellison was born Catholic and converted to Islam in college. For further reading, here's a great article point out Goode's excruciatingly flawed logic, better written than anything I can come up with...
• The other neat thing, north of the border, is the upcoming premiere of a
• comedy called Little Mosque on the Prairie. This is a CBC television show about a small fictional Canadian town with a growing Muslim population and the ensuing hilarity of conflicts of understanding and culture that take place between them and the rest of the population. All I've seen thus far are teaser clips on the website and on TV, but right now, I've got a good feeling about this. I don't mind laughing at ourselves at all (see Allah Made Me Funny), and I encourage a more prominent Muslim presence in the mainstream media, after all, how do we expect people to relate to us if they don't have the first clue what we're actually like? I'm just hoping the show is fair, and doesn't go for too many low blows. There's enough negativity out there about Muslims in the mainstream media as it is... For more on the Little Mosque hype, see this.

Oh, yes, and on a totally unrelated note, I should point out that I'm feeling quite a bit better today in terms of the cold. I'm still not totally out of the woods, but my head's no longer in a complete fog, and by around 2 pm today, I was able to breath through my nose again. But the improvement sadly took place only after my sister caught it from me :(

My New Year's Resolution

There's a beautiful hadeeth (saying / teaching) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) on the topic of patience, which says:

"How wonderful is the case of the believer; there is good for him in everything he does, and this applies only to the believer. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to God and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is better for him".

My new year's resolution is to implement this gratitude and patience in my life on a daily basis, whether with blessings or disappointments, both big and small. Those of you who know me know I wear my heart on my sleeve, which in itself is not a problem, but which of course has the sometimes-effect of higher-highs and lower-lows than necessary for life's everyday happenings. If you see me getting out of hand, remind me to be good. Please and Thank you.

CBC Radio Tomorrow Morning

I'll be on in town and out as part of the Neighbourhood Chat Group on CBC radio tomorrow after the 8:30 news. If you're awake that early on a saturday morning, go back to sleep! But if you absolutely can't, and you want to listen to Rob, Sharon, Jean, and I discuss Ottawa's loss of Light Rail Transit, Ottawa's loss of the National Portrait Gallery, Ottawa's loss of cold weather, and Christmas, you can listen on 91.5 fm if you're in Ottawa, or go here if you're not, select Ottawa from the list of locations, and it should give you live streaming to the show.

A Note on Saying "Merry Christmas" (or "why can't we all just get along?")

I had a conversation with a co-worker today about the use of the term "Happy Holidays" and how it's almost politically incorrect for people to use the term "Merry Christmas" for fear of offending those who don't celebrate it. She mentioned that she thinks "it's" been decided by the powers that be at work that no one should say "merry Christmas" any more, that "they" have decided that's excluding to some... I certainly have not heard this from anyone, and I don't know who "they" are (the bosses at the top of the work food chain? HR? Communications?) but here's my two cents on the whole issue...

Part of what makes Canada so special is that I, as a Muslim, can remember that you, a Christian, have a big holiday coming up (and really, how could I miss it, there are lights on every house, decorations in every store, and Santa corners in every mall) and tell you Merry Christmas, the same way you can tell me (as some of my co-workers and friends did this year, and have in many years past) Happy Ramadan, or Happy Eid, the same way that we can tell our Jewish friends Happy Hanukkah, and the list goes on and on...
My being Muslim does not preclude that I refuse to recognize that you have a joyous occasion coming up, I would have to be blind to miss it. Respecting multiple religions and traditions is not disrespectful to any one of them. So please, don't worry that you're going to offend me by saying Merry Christmas around me. Say it all you want. I'll be happy for you that you're happy; and by the way, Muslims have a holiday coming up soon too: we're celebrating "Eid Ul-Adha", or "the Celebration of the Sacrifice" on December 31st this year. If you wanna tell me happy Eid, I'll be happy to hear it.