insh’Allah I hope I can attend this or Ilmfest this year, both events look hot.
Al Maghrib is making power moves right now, Mash’Allah.
If you live in the VA or D.C. area don’t miss out!
Chill Yo Islam Yo
The Official Muslim Blog
Islam on Capitol Hill
I wasn’t able to go, but I heard and read a couple of thousand Muslims came through. 
Not as much as they anticipated which was about 50,000, but it’s all good.
It was still an historical event mash’Allah.
“In addition to being an historic event I think it’s just a matter of all the Muslims coming together in one location to perform what is our obligation for the Friday prayer,” said one of the participants Lonnie Shabazz.
“The message was clear. I think the message basically was to let the American public know that all the stigmas that are attached to Muslims are not true.
“There is no White God, Black God, a Christian God, or a Jewish god. In America there is One God, One Humanity and all the Prophets (peace be upon them) came with one message. We have nothing to hide, this is our nation and we love the American people” - Imam Abdul Malik
Here are some highlights from the event
Jumu’ah Time
Preview of Imam Abdul Malik’s Khutbah and Prayer
Grow the beard! How to Give Dawah and Not Scare Muslims Away
A while ago when I first started this blog, I wrote a post about why growing the Beard for a brother and wearing the Hijab for a sister is beneficial. 
I provided some proof and like every post, I was faced with criticism. To me it is what it is, if something is clear in the Qur’an and Sunnah then we should follow it. Haters? uhh well they are always going to come.
However on the other end of the spectrum, we have a problem with many Muslims today, who have a weird way of spreading Islam and encouraging people to follow the Sunnah and the commandments of Allah (swt).
To me it’s so backwards, I often see brothers with this failed method of giving daw’ah. What I’ve come to notice is some brothers and sisters only focus on appearance when it comes to Islam. So if they don’t see a brother with a beard or a sister wearing Hijab, all of a sudden that person is eliminated from their interpretation of “believers”.
Now what begins to happen is people become arrogant because all of a sudden they feel like they are too religious to give attention to a particular person or spend time with them.
Not only do they look at you like your an alien, but all of a sudden your not being invited to Islamic events or offered to pray salat in congregation just because you don’t look “religious”.
The other day we were getting ready to pray Salat, and the brothers were looking around to see who leads. One brother grabbed me and “said you lead you have a beard”. Since when did that become the criteria for leading the salat? Chill yo.
Robina Niaz: Her ‘duty’ is helping Muslim women heal after abuse
Mash’Allah, what an inspiring story, May Allah swt reward sister Robina Niaz, Ameen.
Iqbal, a native New Yorker, had a strict Muslim upbringing. Her parents immigrated to the United States from the tribal areas of Pakistan and when she was 16, they arranged her marriage to a 38-year-old man. She claims her husband turned violent during their 10 years of marriage.
When she finally left him, she did not know where to turn. Going home wasn’t an option, she said.
“My parents … made clear that they would disown me,” Iqbal said. “My father even said … ‘You’re lucky you live in America because if you lived back home, you would have been dead by now.’ ”
She was hiding out in her office at work when a friend put her in touch with Robina Niaz, whose organization, Turning Point for Women and Families, helps female Muslim abuse victims.
“It was such a relief … to speak about things that … I thought no one would understand,” said Iqbal, who has received counseling from Niaz for more than two years and calls Niaz her “savior.”
A devout Muslim, Niaz stresses that there is no evidence that domestic violence is more common among Muslim families.
“Abuse happens everywhere,” said Niaz. “It cuts across barriers of race, religion, culture.”
But, she said, Muslims are often reluctant to confront the issue.
“There’s a lot of denial,” she said. “It makes it much harder for the victims of abuse to speak out.”
Muslim Family Day 2009 NJ Pictures
Jazaks to brother Saad Malik from HilalSpark for sharing these high quality pictures.
See the rest of the album here
Alhumdulilah over 20,000 Muslims came this year! Everything went well except the food lines which were more like immigration lines. =)
Abercrombie & Fitch Faces Lawsuit Over Muslim Headscarf
This reminds me of when I was working at H & M and I started growing my beard, one manager had a problem with it.
I bet if I had the beard during the interview, I wouldn’t have gotten hired. What can you expect though, most of these stores are all about “Sex Appeal” and want clean shave men or women who dress loose because the customers they attract have that type of mentality. To them it’s just a business, but they don’t care about business ethics.
A & F sales are down, by cases like this coming out. It’s only going to hurt Abercrombie and Fitch even more, they are losing out on the purchasing power of the Muslim Market.
Elauf, who had experience working in retail, interviewed for a position at a Tulsa Abercrombie Kids store in June 2008. During the interview, she wore a black hijab, or headscarf, in line with Muslim religious tradition. According to the EEOC, Elauf got word through a friend, who worked in the store, that the headscarf cost her the job. The EEOC alleges that during its investigation, Abercrombie & Fitch flatly told the agency, in a position statement, that “under the Look Policy, associates must wear clothing that is consistent with the Abercrombie brand, cannot wear hats or other coverings, and cannot wear clothes that are the color black.”
Athens still without Mosque
I thought every city in the world had a mosque, guess I was wrong?
The Muslims in Athens made their Eid al Fitr salat in the Olympic stadium!
The Frame: Eid al-Fitr Pictures
Click here to see them
