Muslims Face Backlash After Terror Attacks

An interview of Interfaith Houston editor Saadia Faruqi with Art Rascon of ABC13.

The Day my American-Born, Muslim Son Asked for a Christmas Tree

By Mansoora Bhatti

Source: Brown Girl Magazine

 

I’m so excited mama!’ exclaims my 3-year-old son, after an exhausting day of shopping. ‘I’m just so excited for Christmas!’

These words bring a flood of thoughts to my mind. Being a Muslim American, this is the first time I will have to explain to him the Muslim perspective on the most prominent display of religion in the U.S., Christmas.

This Holiday Give the Gift of Muslim Cultures

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Huffington Post

 

If I know one thing as an author, it is this: fiction has a unique way of breaking stereotypes and showcasing the naked truth in more ways than one. In my book Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan, I use every story to advance a non-stereotypical agenda. Yes, it has oppressed Muslim women, but they rise to challenges and break free of their oppression. True, there is a terrorist, and even mention of the Taliban, but accompanying those men are others who possess amazing courage and hope for a better future. Bottom line: as an author, I know how important it is to change mainstream media narratives and tell our own stories.

My Muslim-American Thanksgiving

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: NBC Asian America

 

"Amma, will we have to eat turkey?"

"Amma, are you sure we can celebrate Thanksgiving even though we're Muslim?"

 

The questions start even before Thanksgiving break comes around, usually around the time of the fall party at school and the coloring papers with Mr. Turkey who begs to be hidden so that nobody eats him. My first generation Pakistani-American children, now 9 and 6, struggle with much these days, and Thanksgiving is just another worry as they try to live life with dual identities. Imagine how much harder it is for an immigrant like myself.

Muslim Reaction after the Paris Attacks

Source: Houston Matters

 

Why I Turned to Fiction

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: The Story Prize

 

Since Brick Walls has been published I’ve had the opportunity to visit a lot of cities and give a lot of talks. I’ve spoken to a diverse audience about my interfaith work, my article writing, my non-profit consulting. The most frequent question I get asked, though, is why I decided to write fiction. I’ve been writing for years, and it’s mostly been boring, technical, non-creative work. Where did the sudden urge to write not one but seven short stories come from?

Can Interfaith Dialogue Lead to Racial Justice?

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: State of Formation

 

 

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. – The Holy Quran 49:13

 

I was born and raised in Pakistan, a country predominantly Muslim. I never knew about lofty ideas such as interfaith dialogue, although I had friends who belonged to other faiths. Religion wasn’t really discussed, it made us all uncomfortable and slightly offended. How do you talk about different beliefs if everybody thinks they have a monopoly on the truth?

Inclusion & Dialogue During Ramadan

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: State of Formation

 

The holy month of fasting for Muslims, called Ramadan, is finally here and there has never been more media publicity about it. Have you noticed how even mainstream news publications are writing about Ramadan these days? From photo essays of fasting scenes around the world, to op-eds about what it means to fast and how the act of fasting can bring everyone closer together, everyone seems to be writing about Ramadan.

It's Time for Community in Ramadan

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: ABC Religion & Ethics

 

Last Friday at congregational prayers, I had an eye-opening experience. As I entered my mosque parking lot, I saw two Caucasian women, possibly a mother and daughter, holding up a sign that read, "Please Help, Need Money for Food and Rent." I found it disturbing, even though my hometown of Houston is ridden with poverty and homelessness. So what was wrong with this picture? The mosque I attend is a Pakistani community, with the occasional Indian or Bangladeshi standing out like a sore thumb. Yet here were two white women standing outside practically begging.

Getting to Know Our Neighbors

By Nancy Agafitei

 

About five years ago, I was visited at the library by Saadia, one of the Muslim ladies in our community who used the library with her young children. She came with a request to hold a book fair at the library. She wanted to display books that informed people about her faith, and to offer short talks that addressed topics of current interest about Islam. I think she expected me to decline, or at least debate, her request. For me, though, it was a simple choice -- public librarians are all about giving people access to all kinds of information. I got out the calendar and booked a room for them on a Saturday afternoon.

Taboo Topics

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: State of Formation

 

I’ve been working in the field of interfaith dialogue for more than a decade. On good days it’s a lot of fun, and I really see the benefit. On bad days, it’s nothing but headache and heartache. Why? Maybe because there are some topics that are off-limits, and so become the elephant in the room in a very difficult way.

Quba Islamic Institute Rebuilding

By Bishop Michael Rinehart

 

As you may recall, on February 13 a fire was started at the Quba Islamic Institute in Houston. Christians and Jews rallied around leaders at Quba, who eventually asked for the charges to be dropped. 

A Muslim's Reflections on Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Tikkun Daily

 

Shalom and Peace! Today on Holocaust Remembrance Day I would like to share a recent experience that changed my perspective in an unexpected way. My perspective about Jews, about the Holocaust, about myself. Sounds mysterious? I didn’t mean it to be. Let me go back a couple of weeks and start again.

Can We Just Love Each Other?

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: State of Formation

 

Today is Valentine’s Day and as a Muslim I’m expected to write terrible things about it. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that the whole concept of sexual promiscuity dressed up as “love” is pretty awful and sends a very negative message to younger generations. I’m appalled at the seasonal displays at Wal-Mart and CVS and all the other stores where alcohol, chocolate and sexy nightwear jostle for space as if one cannot be used except with the crutch of the others. I am horrified when my five year old daughter comes home from kindergarten telling me some boy is always trying to kiss her but she’s not interested because he’s not handsome. Yet today all the parents of my children’s classmates sent home 26 Valentine’s Day cards and candy and little hearts because it’s so cute.

Yezidi’s State their Plight in Houston

By Jawahar Malhotra

Source: Indo American News

 

 

At the fundraiser for the Hindu American Foundation held this past Saturday, November 15, the plight of the tiny Yezidi community which has lived for generations in the northeastern portion of Iraq, bordering on Kurdistan and Turkey, was brought out and the HAF taken on their cause and vowed to help in whichever way they can.

 

Finding Common Ground in Grief

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: State of Formation

 

 

The last month has been a roller coaster for me personally. A friend, who became a friend only through interfaith dialogue, was grieving. Her younger sister had suddenly been taken to the hospital with several imminent health concerns, and finally after about three weeks of ups and downs, hope and despair, she passed away. I don’t need to explain how my friend felt; grief translates across boundaries of geography, culture and faith. What was interesting to me was how I felt, and how I reacted to this illness and death. How, even in the midst of grief and pain, I could learn an interfaith lesson.

 

The New God of Football

By Saadia Faruqi
Source: Sacred Matters

The NFL made headlines yet again earlier this week, for imposing a penalty on Muslim football player Hussain Abdullah and then promptly retracting the penalty and issuing an apology. Most people like myself heard of the apology before the penalty and had to backtrack to find out exactly what occurred on Monday night. I think Abdullah was confused by all the attention as well. His offense: prostrating in prayer after a touchdown in a game against the New England Patriots. 

9/11: Never Forget

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Tikkun Daily

 

Do you remember where you were, what you were doing that fateful morning on September 11, 2001? A Pew survey shows that 97 percent of Americans remember exactly where they were when 9/11 occurred, the highest percentage, followed by JFK’s assassination (95 percent) and Pearl Harbor (89 percent).

 

Was Being Brown Michael Brown's Problem?

By Pastor Keion Henderson

 

It was a warn sunny day in July of 1999. The city was Fort Wayne, a medium sized town in the northeastern corner of Indiana. My mother saw me off and wished me well, as I drove due east to visit a college in an effort to ascertain a basketball scholarship. Paying for college was not even an option. If it were not for this great nation, and it’s commitment to higher education, I would have never been able to attend. 

 

Fasting for Peace

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Tikkun Daily

 

If you live in a major U.S. city chances are that you’ve heard of Ramadan, the sacred Islamic month in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan used to be a strange and unknown religious celebration in the United States a few decades ago. Now, thanks to the negative and positive publicity American Muslims have received in recent years, everybody knows when and why we are fasting. Everyone from the White House to the local church and synagogue is holding interfaith iftar events (breaking of the fast) for their Muslim friends and neighbors. I should be proud and happy that my esoteric religious ritual is no longer looked upon as an undue hardship forced upon me by my religion. That finally the American public is ready and willing to accept me, with my five daily prayers and my fasting and my hijab, as one of them. I should be attending those interfaith iftar events with happiness and fervor. But I’m not.