Upcoming Event: Know Your Rights and Responsibilities Workshop
January 30th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Islamic Society of Delaware, Masjid Ibraheem
(28 Salem Church Road, Newark, DE 19713-2934)
With more and more negative news, an increase in law enforcement encounters and an increasingly hostile environment for Muslim Americans at the workplace, school, airports, and in public accommodation, it is crucial for us to know what our rights are as citizens of this country, given to us by the Constitution of the United States. It is also important to know that with those rights, we have the responsibility to claim equal citizenship and treatment, and we have the responsibility to teach others.
Join CAIR-PA and ISD for an interactive workshop. You will be given the knowledge and tools (including literature) to stand up for yourself and others should any act of discrimination occur, including with law enforcement. Please bring family and friends. This is also a great learning opportunity for high school students. See you there!
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Focus Article: Muslim religious guides only men? Think again
by Moha Ennaji
Common Ground News Service
In recent years, Morocco, Egypt, and Turkey have trained and appointed a new group to the ranks of religious guides: women. Women religious guides, referred to as murshidat in Arabic, reach a demographic that might otherwise not be available–or receptive – to male imams, such as women and children, particularly those in poorer neighbourhoods. The efforts are an attempt by these countries’ governments to democratise and to curb extremism by reaching out to women, who can be a moderating voice in their families, and to youth, who are introduced to a tolerant and mainstream version of Islam at a young age.
The idea of the murshidat in Morocco took off after the terrorist attacks in Casablanca in May 2003, which claimed 45 lives and left dozens wounded. The government subsequently decided to reform religious affairs and the leadership structure of the country’s mosques. Read more…
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World Commentary
- Yemen: Another US Battleground? by Stephen Zunes
- The Fundamental Unreliablity of America’s Media by Glenn Greenwald
- Bring Back Glass-Steagall by Thomas Frank
