(Get ready for a long read) (wish I could share some pics but I didn’t take any 
)
Peace and Welcome back,
I know I’m LATE, my apologies. So we enter the first Islamic conference held in NY (or at least the first one that I’m aware of) hosted by the Islamic Center of NYU and co-sponsored by Islamic Relief (for their $1 Million for Haiti Campaign.) This year the topic was ICNYU Conference 2010: Building Momentum in Mainstream Culture. It lasted two days beginning on Friday, January 22nd and ending on the 23rd at 10:30 pm. I originally wanted to go through everything session by session but that would take way too long. So here’s a list of the speakers:
Day 1: Qur’an Recitation by Asad Baig
Speakers: Haroon Moghul, Aliya Latif (CAIR-NY), Faiza Patel, Abu Yousef, Shayana Kadidal, Imam Zaid Shakir, Raymond Brock Murray, Ali Shehata, and Khalid Latif (Chaplain of NYPD and NYU)
Day 2:
Qur’an Recitation by Ebadur Rahman
Speakers: Haroon Moghul, Ali Reza Malik, Shahed Amanullah, Khalid Latif, Ingrid Mattson (President of ISNA), Maryam Khawja, Imam Zaid Shakir, Mokhtar Maghraoui, Bassam Tariq & Aman Ali(30 Mosques in 30 Days), Madeehaa Mir, Gaith Adhami, G. Willow Wilson, Musa Syeed, Dr. Ali Shehata, Yaser Birjas, Raymond Brock Murray
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* 2 Days, 21 Speaker, 400+ Attendees!*It was an amazing conference and I really enjoyed being there. Serious topics and issues were covered and there were so many lessons to learn.
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Just some things that really stuck out for me:
I know I learned a lot from that the Second Panel (consisting of Aliya Latif, Faiza Patel, Abu Yousef, Shayana Kadidal, and Imam Zaid Shakir) of Day 1. They discussed the importance of being politically active, civically engaged, knowing your rights, and also discussed some major cases including those Aafia Siddiqui and Fahad Hashmi (two cases that every person should be aware of.) One part that I found interesting was when Aliya Latif was talking about “glasses being ½ empty and ½ filled.” A little boy she knows reacted to the glass being “½ empty” by asking why she doesn’t just go to the sink and fill it. I don’t know why but that’s something that really stuck with me. I mean if you really look at it the kid has a point. If you’re going to be pessimistic or so to speak, then instead of complaining or not being aware or what not, why don’t we go out and try to make a difference. “Be the change you wish to see in the world”~Gandhi
Just for the record every Monday there is a vigil for Fahad Hashmi. I’ll post a link at the end of this post.
One thing that Haroon Moghul and several others of the speakers mentioned was that yes we should congratulate and keep track of how much progress we, as a community, have been making, but at the same time we should note our shortcomings and remember that there is still much work that needs to be done.
You’re community has done a lot for you and it’s important to give back so give back with the three “T”s. Talent, Time, and Treasure (because we are all treasures and have a gift to offer)
“What humans have done, humans can do” ~Zaid Shakir (and that works for both the positives and the negatives)
“Focus on your own responsibilities rather than your rights” Ali Shehata
Khalid Latif mentioned in one of his speeches a story about a father, a son, and a wooden bowl and I’ll try to paraphrase it. Basically there is an elderly man who moves in with son. He is in a weak state and so the daughter in law is the one who has to take care of him. After a while though she can’t take it anymore and when in his fragility the father accidently makes a mess when the plate falls from his hand and breaks the son tells his father that he isn’t allowed to eat at the table with the family anymore and that he can’t eat from the china. He gives his father a wooden bowl to eat from. One day when he comes home from work, he sees his young son whom he loves dearly playing with some wood. He asks his son what he is doing and the son says that he is making his father a wooden bowl so that he can eat from it in his old age. Do you understand? What goes around comes around and the innocent child is doing what he saw. He saw the way his father had treated his grandfather and in this way, his making a wooden bowl for his father is justified. We have to recognize the responsibility that is placed on us. We are all examples for someone else. There will always be an individual who looks up to us to provide them with an example of how to act, to care, and how to be a model human being.
Someone had asked about the issue of Domestic Violence and what a person in that relationship should do and I loved the reply that Ingrid Mattson gave. She brought up the Hadith about helping your brother who is oppressed as well as the brother who is an oppressor. Here: “Help your brother whether he is an oppressor or an oppressed,” A man said, “O Allah’s Apostle! I will help him if he is oppressed, but if he is an oppressor, how shall I help him?” The Prophet said, “By preventing him from oppressing (others), for that is how to help him.” She pretty much said that if we really care about the oppressor the right thing to do would be to leave that relationship and seek help for that person. By staying in the situation you are helping the abuser oppress and indirectly are helping him/her in sinning. I thought that was the perfect to reply. For those who were there on Day 2 there was an organization that was present that helps Muslim women who are in DV relationships. I’ll post the website at the bottom.
Something Br. Raymond mentioned (and I know that it’s true in our community and therefore something that we need to change) is that we’re really bad at giving advice, but also on the other end we’re bad at taking advice.
Never underestimate the worth of a kind word or a smile.
Zaid Shakir had a lot to say. I learned a lot from him and have many quotes from him but I think the best was “brother and sister will always get their due, because they say ‘its not about me, its about you’” (He was talking about marriage)
Ingrid Mattson had said “A strong man is a strong woman and that makes a strong family and a strong family makes a strong community.”
I believe it was Aman Ali or Bassam who had said people don’t just want your money (when your providing aid) but try and extend a hand to them also. (FYI: Next Ramadan they want to do 30 Mosques in 30 countries. Check out the link for more info)
The topic of media communication is I think one that I’d like to dedicate a whole post to and so for now this is it.
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The conference was an amazing experience MashaAllah and if you missed it, you missed out on a lot! The speakers were all amazing and had so much to teach. InshaAllah next year two amazing events won’t be happening at the same time so more people will be able to make it. The fundraising raised mashaAllah a lot of money and inshaAllah provided much needed relief to the people of Haiti. May Allah reward all those who worked so hard to put this event together. May He reward those who spoke, taught, and all those who attended and inshaAllah learned something. May He give us the strength to implement the knowledge that we learned into action inshaAllah. Ameen!
*Links:*
Islamic Center of NYU: www.icnyu.org
CAIR-NY (Council of American Islamic Relations): http://www.cair-ny.org/
Muslim Justice Initiative: (for more info on the court cases) http://www.muslimsforjustice.org/
The Fahad Hashmi Vigils: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLExpt1Njv4
Gaith Adhami (Spoken Words Artist): www.gaithadhami.com
Haroon Moghul (Executive Director of The Maydaan Institute) maintains a blog: http://avari.typepad.com/
The Fawakih Institute was also present: http://fawakih.com/web/2008030617/Legacy-Institute.html
Turning Point for Women and Families (the DV organization I had mentioned): http://www.turningpoint-ny.org/
Islamic Relief: http://www.islamicreliefusa.org/Page.aspx?pid=183
30 Mosques in 30 Days: http://30mosques.com/
Definetly check out his work –>>Musa Syeed (an independent filmmaker and writer.) Musa recently completed production on THE CALLING, a miniseries about young religious leaders in America. The program will be broadcast on PBS next year. (I believe he said it airs Fall 2010)I’m pretty certain that there are many more links and people that I should’ve mentioned but it being a while since the conference…
Anyhow take care and Was’salam,
Your sis in faith and humanity,
poeT91 aka “sanechange” 
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