FAITH HOUSE Manhattan

Park51 Fast-a-Thon

*Due to inclement weather, this event has been postponed to Monday, August 29th.*

 

Park51 invites you to help fight hunger and raise awareness by participating in their Fast-A-Thon. People of all faiths are invited to come and fast, while sharing ideas and strengthening diversity.

 

Samir Selmanovic is speaking, St. Francis Xavier is the church that hosts our annual Interfaith Seder, and all of Faith House is invited! 

 

What: Fast-A-Thon and Interfaith Iftar   How: Fast from dawn to dusk - and come for a free dinner that evening!   When: August 28, 2011 - dinner at 7:35pm sharp   Where: 51 Park Place New York, NY 10007  

To RSVP, please fill out a pledge form 

 

A Rabbi, Imam, and Knitter at the First Wild Goose

Bowie, Samir, and other Faith House participants
have just returned from the
very first Wild Goose Festival!

 

Read About the Interfaith Events In the News!

 

"Wild Goose Day 3: mingling of faith traditions"    
The National Catholic Reporter

"The Wild Goose Revival for Doubters and Jesus Victims (Like Me)" 
The Huffington Post 

"Progressive Christians Flock to Wild Goose Festival"

The Associated Baptist Press

 

2011 Interfaith Guests

Our interfaith panel at the festival!

 

Imam Abdullah Antepli, Muslim Chaplain at Duke University and Adjunct Faculty of Islamic Studies; Rabbi Or N. Rose, Associate Dean and Director of Interfaith and Social Justice programs at Hebrew College; and Paul Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary

 

2011 Interfaith Events

• "What Does God Whisper to Christians: Models of Living Passionately in a Pluralist World" With Paul Knitter and Samir Selmanovic
• "Kabbalah Beyond the Headlines" Rabbi Or N. Rose 
• "A Conversation with Islam" With Abudullah Antepli
• "Walking More Than One Path: Is Religious Multiple Belonging Possible?" With Paul Knitter 
• "Going Deeper Through Inclusion: Perspectives on Religious Pluralism" With Imam Abdullah Antepli, Rabbi Or Rose, and Paul Knitter. Moderated by Bowie Snodgrass.

Wild Goose Festival 2011 Bowie & Samir Curate Interfaith Events!

June 23-26, 2011 

   

Shakori Hills, North Carolina

 

Wild Goose Festival  

 

Bowie, Samir, our families, and friends from around the country will be gathering next week in North Carolina for the first annual Wild Goose festival. As of yesterday, over 1200 people had made plans to join us for this collaborative extended weekend of art, music, justice, and spirituality.  

 

If you have not bought your ticket yet, TODAY ONLY buy one and "share one free"! You don't need a special discount code to take advantage of this offer. Go to http://wildgoose.eventbrite.com and you will see this special at checkout.

 

If you are going, please email with your cell phone so we can meet up and mark the following events on your calendar!   

 

2011 Interfaith Guests

Imam Abdullah Antepli
Muslim Chaplain at Duke University and Adjunct Faculty of Islamic Studies
Rabbi Or N. Rose
Associate Dean and Director of Interfaith and Social Justice programs
at Hebrew College
Paul Knitter
Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture
at Union Theological Seminary

 

Thurs, June 23 @ 4 pm
Opening Ceremony
Niggun lead by Rabbi Or N. Rose

Thurs, June 23 @ 7 pm 
"What Does God Whisper to Christians: Models of Living Passionately in a Pluralist World"
With Paul Knitter & Samir Selmanovic

How do you balance your Christian identity, practice, and experience with inclusion and openness to other faiths?  You don't.  Forget the balance and radicalize instead.  Prof. Paul Knitter, the greatest living theologian of Christian pluralism (and one of the kindest and most amusing Roman Catholic teachers) will lay out our options of living as passionate Christians in a world where conflict, triumphalism, isolation, and indifference have failed us. Samir Selmanovic of Faith House Manhattan will comment with questions, insights, and stories from his experience with Faith House Manhattan and other inter-religious co-laboratories.  

 
Fri, June 24 @ 4 pm
"A Conversation with Islam"
With Abudullah Antepli

Sat, June 25 @ 2 pm
"Walking More Than One Path: Is Religious Multiple Belonging Possible?"
With Paul Knitter

Sat, June 25 @ 3 pm 
"Going Deeper Through Inclusion: Perspectives on Religious Pluralism"
Be prepared to move beyond the superficial and be surprised by the conversation between three leaders in the modern interfaith movement: Imam Abdullah Antepli, Rabbi Or Rose, and Paul Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary.  This panel will explore Pluralism, the idea of more than one path to the divine, in the context of the modern quest to be deeply committed to one's own faith in a world of many religious paths. Moderated by Bowie Snodgrass, Executive Director of Faith House Manhattan.

Sat, June 25 @ 5 pm
"Kabbalah Beyond the Headlines"
Rabbi Or N. Rose

The 9th Annual City Wide Interfaith Teach-In on Approaching the Anniversary of 9/11

Join an open conversation among New Yorkers brought to you by The Dialogue Project, co-sponsored by Faith House, and co-chaired by our very own Samir Selmanovic!

 

Sunday, May 15, 2011, 1:30pm-4:00pm  

 

199 Chambers at West Street-BMCC Richard Harris Terrace (A,C,E,1,2,3 to Chambers or 4,5 to Brooklyn Bridge)  

 

RSVP to [email protected] or 718-768-2175

*$10 suggested contribution

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Haroon Moghul and Joshua Stanton with the Peace of Heart Choir

 

Explore with a teacher of a different faith or ethnicity:  

* Community Trauma & Healing * Transforming & Resolving Conflict * Stereotypes * Concepts of the Stranger and Other in our texts and cultures

 

Teachers and Leaders: Imam Shamsi Ali, Rev. Haifa Bint Kadi, Chloe Breyer, Raymond Brock, Lisa Bellan-Boyer, Prof. Brigitte Kahl, T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, Marcia Kannry, Maryum Khwaja, Sally MacNichol, Rabbi Simkha Weintraub, Rabbi Serge Lippe, Imam Khalil Abdur Rashid, Syed Sayeed, Rori Picker Neiss, Rev. Peter Sabune, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei.

 

Co-sponsors: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Arab American Association of New York, Bay Ridge Jewish Center, Brooklyn For Peace, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, Buddhist Council of NY, CAIR New York, Community Church, Congregation Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, CONNECT Faith, Grace Church, Faith House Manhattan, The House of Peace Inc., The Interfaith Center of New York, The Iqra Mosque, The Islamic Center of New York, JStreet NYC, Muslim Consultative Network, Park 51 Community Center, Park Slope Jewish Center, Pax Christi Metro New York, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, Progressive Muslims Meet Up New York, Rabbis for Human Rights, NA., Religious Freedom USA, Romemu, Union Theological Seminary-Interfaith Caucus, and The Zen Center of New York City.

 

The Dialogue Project promotes encounters among new immigrants, and long time residents of diverse faiths and ethnicities, and with Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers. We create face to face engagement where difficult subjects are explored and our personal narratives are shared. We learn how to listen actively and reflect each other's story.

Join Us at the "I Am a Muslim Too" Rally!

A broad coalition of interfaith, nonprofit, governmental, and nongovernmental groups, are joining forces for a rally in resonse to Congressional hearings assessing "the radicalization of Muslim communities in America." Join us in protecting religious freedom! 

Sunday, March 6th at 2pm
42nd Street and 7th Avenue
Times Square, New York City

Please see the event flier here: http://bit.ly/mrally
Sign a petition authored by Religious Freedom USA here: http://bit.ly/msignon
Read Josh Stanton's take on the hearings: http://bit.ly/gbZaD5

RSVP to the event on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/exDoq9

In response to Congressional hearings assessing “the Radicalization of Muslim communities in America,” members of diverse faith communities throughout New York City will join in unity in support of American Muslims. Stand with us on March 6th to show Congress that we are all together, that we share friendship and trust and cannot be divided. Such hearings will send the wrong message, alienating American Muslims instead of partnering with them, and potentially put lives at risk by stirring up fear and hatred.

Speakers to include leaders from the Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other faith communities, along with members of the entertainment industry. Thus far speakers include Russell Simmons, Rabbi Marc Schneier, Imam Shamsi Ali, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Rev. Bob Chase, Rev. Chloe Bryer, Rev. Katherine Henderson, Rabbi Burt Vitzosky, and UN Goodwill Ambassador Salman Ahmed of Junoon Music Band.

Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), writes:

"The March 6 rally is centered around the slogan “Today, I Am A Muslim Too”. Muslim and non-Muslim alike will stand together in solidarity, speaking out as a collective American voice. Concerned Americans will take a unified stance against a rising Islamophobia caused by anxiety, misinformation, and ignorance. Despite best efforts to engage and integrate into American society, certain leaders nonetheless, continue to see Muslims outside of the American family portrait. Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) for example, will hold congressional hearings addressing “The Radicalization of Muslim communities in America”, with testimony solely focusing on the communities of Muslim community. Though the United States Constitution declares that all Americans should be treated equally and granted the freedom to practice their religion without prejudice, Congressman King’s forthcoming hearings challenge this notion by pronouncing that Muslims are not currently, nor are they capable of, being as equally American as members of other faiths or cultures

...We uniformly declare an alternate position to this rhetoric, one that reaches across religious lines for all who seek to live in peace and brotherhood.

...We hope to welcome you in joining us and making your voice heard, towards the increased harmony of our nation, and the embracing of our common humanity."

Sidewalk Salat

The opening of a chapter I wrote about the first year of Faith House for the recently released book Discovering the Spirit in the City, Edited by Andrew Walker and Aaron Kennedy (Continuum 2010)

Experience Your Neighbor's Faith: Faith House Manhattan

By Bowie Snodgrass

SIDEWALK SALAT

My husband, George, and I were rushing between errands on a Tuesday afternoon in Manhattan. Walking and talking and carrying heavy loads, we turned onto a broad empty street and became present to calm spaciousness. A Halal food cart at the corner had no person standing guard, but coming closer, we noticed a man on the sidewalk. We could only see his bent back. His knees and forehead touched a small blue carpet, he was prostrate in prayer, facing Mecca from Manhattan.

We slowed down and slipped by in silence, aware of prayer in the air and feeling blessed by his practice of faith. In the past, I might have felt awkward or concerned about intruding. Instead, I opened my soul for a minute to remember that “Glory be to God, the Most High” and that people were praying all over the city.

I remember a college professor writing down the Five Pillars of Islam on a blackboard during a Religious Studies class, telling us that one pillar was Salat, the prayers practiced five times a day by observant Muslims. But I never grasped the prayerfulness, the inherent value of religious veneration, of doing Salat until I was invited to try one myself at Faith House.

Our second year began with a Ramadan Iftar, the meal where Muslims break their daily sun-up-to-sun-down fast during the month of Ramadan (another Pillar of Islam).  Mujadid, a Sufi dervish, invited everyone to perform Salat. Some watched, but almost fifty people – Mulims, Jews, Christians, agnostics and others – arranged themselves into five rows. Mujadid translated the words that would be chanted in Arabic into English and invited non-Muslims to participate in the body movements. You are welcome, he said, to pray to Jesus or Moses or simply be present to the moment. 

That invitation to try Salat, to experience it with my body and offer prayers to God and Jesus alongside my Muslim friends, opened my heart. There was no attempt to convert me to Islam, but I was converted in that instant to the profound beauty and humility of Salat, of submitting before God with my forehead upon the ground, this faith practice of my neighbors.

There is urgency in Faith House’s mission to be: “an experiential inter-religious community that comes together to deepen our personal and communal journeys, share ritual life and devotional space, and foster a commitment to social justice and healing the world.” Samir Selmanovic, who founded Faith House, says we can’t wait for the 2–3 billion Christians and Muslims in the world to become secular to have world peace. Faith House calls us to “dig further into our texts, traditions, and practices to help us experience, understand and actually learn to need one another.” 

... with the following sections                                                    

TRYING ON TAGLINES 

LIVING ROOM 

FAITH TIME

GOD IN SPACE 

LENT: A CASE STUDY 

OUT INTO THE CITY

 

Imam Feisal's Cordoba House Update

Samir Selmanovic and Faith House are both mentioned in the letter below

Dear All,

Assalamu Alaykum - Gods Peace and Blessings be with you!

It has been a whirlwind month, one in which we have worked tirelessly to realize an American Dream which so many others share.

Indeed, the outpouring of support exceeded all of our expectations. We have received endorsements from the Community Board, city officials, and interfaith allies such as Reverend Robert Chase of Intersections, Reverend Chloe Breyer of the Interfaith Center of NY, President Katherine Henderson of Auburn Seminary and Joyce Dubansky of the Tanenbaum Center publicly acknowledged our challenges through their full support of the Cordoba House. We are overwhelmed and our hearts are filled with gratitude for all those = who have voiced their support from our neighborhood, our city, our nation, and from other parts of the world.

The vision to build the Cordoba House has also met with some resistance. Perhaps this was inevitable, but we take every concern seriously. In doing so, we learn from our own mistakes along the way and communicate our convictions.

 Cordoba House will be a home for ALL people who are yearning for understanding and healing, collaboration, and interdependence. Indifference is not an option. We are ever more determined to take this opportunity and responsibility to restore and heal our community in Lower Manhattan. We are creating a new space where fresh stories of cooperation, democracy, and service can be lived out.

Prominent politicians and media outlets have been among those vocal in expressing support for the Cordoba House Project. Mayor Bloomberg heralded its advent when he said the following in his weekly radio address: "What is great about America and particularly New York is we welcome everybody" [Read more] The Economist's article, "Hallowed ground: A row over a planned Muslim Community Center" profiles the protests and highlights the Community Board's and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tremendous support for Cordoba House. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said: "By voting to support this multi-faith community and cultural center, they sent a clear message that our city is one that promotes diversity and tolerance. " [Read more] Read the Press Release of the Community Board Meeting Approval, here.

A diversity of religious leaders are also taking a stand. Joshua Stanton, who is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, along with Zeeshan Suhail of the World Bank write in the Washington Post: "Global significance aside, just imagine the local impact of Cordoba House: the community centre would provide, in its creators' words, a "cultural nexus" for New Yorkers to come together for education, performances, sports and person-to-person interaction." [Read more]

Julie Clawson wrote a compelling article in Sojourners, which illustrates just one example of the support the project is receiving from Christian Americans. [Read more]. Dr. Samir Selmanovic, author and minister who is a member of the National Council of Churches, stated: Knowing many Muslims through my work in the city and nationally, I am utterly confident Muslim Americans will rise to this moment of history and make the United States an even better country than it is today. [Read more]

The Jewish Forward published an editorial defending Cordoba House: "This is how we respond to bigotry and hatred - by turning instruments of death into the building blocks of community." [Read more]

Here at Cordoba Initiative, we have been flooded with media inquiries. Locally, our story has been covered by Downtown Express, NPR, The Brian Lehrer Show, and The New York Times among many others. Internationally, Imam Feisal, the project's leader and visionary, has appeared on BBC and was interviewed by The Economist. We continue to welcome media engagement as a vital component of our mission. It is an exciting time. Our dedication and hard work - and YOUR support - will pay off. At this vital juncture in our growth, we therefore ask you to make a step and become an integral part of this venture. Here are three ways you can help right now:

1. Our office work is rapidly becoming more demanding in terms of staff, resources, communication, and space. Help us keep the momentum and make a generous donation. [Read More]
2. Ask how you can volunteer at Cordoba Initiative in our various projects and programs such as Cordoba House.
3. Spread the news about Cordoba House and the positive message that Cordoba Initiative embodies. Keep yourself informed through our website at http://www.cordobainitiative.org.

Then tell your family and friends and interconnect via Facebook and the Cordoba Initiative Blog. With gratitude and excitement about the future,

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and The Cordoba Initiative Team

Additionally, we appreciate the support received from the following organizations:

9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrow, The Arab American Family Support Center, Cause New York, Chautauqua Institute, Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, Faith House Manhattan, Friends of the Arava Institute, Interfaith Youth Core, The Interfaith Alliance, Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Lutheran Seafarers and International House, New Seminary, One Spirit, St. Bartholomew's Church, Same Difference Interfaith Alliance, The Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, The Healing of the Nations Foundation, The Migration Policy Institute, Union Theological Seminary, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, UJA Federation of New York.

Anglican Theological Review article by Bowie Snodgrass

This article was written last summer and published in the Winter 2010 issue of the Anglican Theological Review.  It captures my thoughts about Faith House's first year and this community's larger contribution.  Although it was written for an Episcopal (Christian) audience, it makes central use of a text from the Qur'an and would be of interest to anyone in the Faith House and interfaith community. 
* Download formatted PDF of published article, with footnotes

Anglican Theological Review
Winter 2010 • Pages 175-181
Volume 92 • Number 1

“Has the story reached thee, of the honored guests of Abraham?”

Bowie Snodgrass

Has the story reached thee, of the honored guests of Abraham? Behold, they entered his presence, and said: “Peace!” He said, “Peace!” (and thought, “These seem) unusual people.” Then he turned quickly to his household, brought out a fatted calf, And placed it before them . . . he said, “Will ye not eat?” (When they did not eat), He conceived a fear of them. They said, “Fear not,” and they gave him glad tidings of a son endowed with knowledge. But his wife came forward (laughing) aloud: she smote her forehead and said: “A barren old woman!” They said, “Even so has thy Lord spoken: and He is full of Wisdom and Knowledge.”

Holy Qur’an, Surah 51:24–30 
(translated by Hafiz Abdullah Yusuf Ali)

Being a guest in the home or religious space of the “other” can be awkward. The story of the visit of the honored guests to Abraham’s tent (Gen. 18:1–15) reminds us of the awkwardness that can also accompany being a host. In Genesis, Abraham has to hurry about after offering food to the strangers, asking Sarah to make bread and the servant to hurriedly prepare a tender calf. In Surah 51 of the Qur’an, Abraham becomes fearful when the guests do not eat the slain calf. In both stories, the hostess, Sarah, laughs aloud when the guests foretell that she will bear a son.

In interfaith relations, whether we are present as guest, host, or on neutral ground, there is at first a degree of awkwardness. At Faith House Manhattan, “an experiential inter-religious community that comes together to deepen our personal and communal journeys, share ritual life and devotional space, and foster a commitment to social justice and healing the world,” we embrace the gift of encountering God in the other as “holy awkwardness” and an indispensable spiritual discipline of the twenty-first century.

I. Behold, they entered [Abraham’s] presence, and said: “Peace!” He said, “Peace!”
 
“Peace!” was at the center of a twenty-minute presentation Faith House Islamic co-leader Juliet Rabia Gentile and I gave to a group of African-American seminary students at New York Theological Seminary. I began by telling them about Faith House for five minutes. Then Rabia taught us that As-Salaam, “the source of peace,” is one of the ninety-nine sacred names of Allah. As-Salaam Alaykum, “Peace be upon you,” is the traditional Muslim greeting. When Muslims greet each other, she told us, they are invoking the presence of God. Rabia then read us a passage from the Qur’an about God’s peace.  Next, we both led the group in saying “As-Salaam Alaykum” and responding, “Alaykum As-Salaam,” meaning “And upon you peace.” We asked for volunteers to model this and four clergymen in suits came to the front and wished Rabia “As-Salaam Alaykum.” She graciously replied, “Alaykum As-Salaam.” I explained that when one says a word or phrase out loud five times, one absorbs it and can use it confidently, without awkwardness. So we invited the sixty people present to “pass the peace” to five other people in Arabic. Rabia closed our time together by chanting a beautiful selection from the Qur’an in Arabic. A woman present asked why Rabia was allowed to chant the Qur’an; Rabia replied that her Sufi lineage, the Turkish Nur Ashki Jerrahi Order, allows female dervishes with the permission of the Shaykh or Shaykha to chant Qur’an in public. When we do not enter “holy awkwardness” regularly, we are often left with simplistic certainties and generalized views of other people’s faith and practice.

Later, during a period of sharing, an older woman told me that she was thankful that she had learned “how to greet a Muslim.” In a tenderly awkward moment, a man shared with me that he had once visited a masjid and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit there. I felt our Faith House demonstration had succeeded in creating a safe, shared space in community for people to enter into the religious sphere of the other, knowing God is there too.

II. And [Abraham] thought, “These seem unusual people.”

Faith House is not literally a house, but rather a community of “people of all faiths and no faith at all.” We rent space twice a month to host our Living Room Gatherings, with attendance ranging from twenty to sixty-five people, where we share holy days, learn other people’s spiritual practices, and address current cultural and societal issues.

Living Room Gatherings create a safe space where we can experience another person’s or community’s ritual life and devotional space, where we can learn not only about the other but also about our own tradition through the eyes of the other, and where new friendships can begin and thrive. Our “living room” ethos means that you are never asked to leave who you are at the door, and are welcomed into a comfortable space where common courtesy creates “room” for us to delve deeper into our shared reality of “living” together in a world of many faiths.

On our website, there is a link to a full list of all our Living Room Gatherings, with descriptions and some titles linked to full programs of what we have done. Examples of Christian Living Rooms I have led for this group include: “St. Francis: Becoming Instruments of Peace,” “Advent: Season of Waiting,” “Lent: 40 Days for Learning to Let Go,” a service for Holy Saturday, and a ritualized reading of the Song of Songs. We also practice being guests once a month by going on a group field trip, where we step out of our comfort zones and enter diverse spiritual spaces in the city, visiting religious services, lectures, rituals, concerts, and other events. Most of our field trips so far have been to visit communities involved with Faith House, such as the Progressive Muslim Meetup; a Jewish Renewal congregation called Romemu; and the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order. When my husband and I had our marriage blessed in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on January 3, 2009, we invited the entire Faith House community for a celebratory field trip. Faith House also sets up opportunities for people in our community to engage in social justice,  such as participating in a Habitat for Humanity build last winter. Faith House has an active online presence through our website (www. faithhousemanhattan.org), Facebook, Meetup.com, and flickr.  And Faith House also builds relationships with other faith and interfaith communities in the city.

III. Then he turned quickly to his household, brought out a fatted calf, And placed it before them . . . he said, “Will ye not eat?” (When they did not eat), He conceived a fear of them. They said, “Fear not,” and they gave him glad tidings of a son endowed with knowledge.

In the Genesis account of this story, the three guests eat what Abraham sets before them (18:8), but in the Qur’an account, Abraham is disturbed to the point of fear when his guests will not eat. When I was a child, my parents insisted that we try three bites of everything served to us. “There will be times in your life and places you will go,” they said, “when people will serve you food you don’t want to eat, but if you eat their food, they will trust you and let you into their hearts.” This advice has served me well, but what about Jewish people who keep kosher, or Muslims who are halal, or Hindu vegetarians, or people with allergies? How is it different for them to be hosts and guests? How do we find a way forward when we are afraid to offend?

Sabeeha Rehman Talk & Program "Salat: The Beauty of Prayer in Islam"

Our April 28, 2010 Living Room was led by Sabeeha Rehman and her husband, Khalid.  Sabeeha Rehman is the Director of Interfaith Programs at the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), and is a member of the Shura Council of the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), a program of ASMA. Below Sabeeha's talk is the program that followed it.  Our full event was 90 minutes.

Photo, left to right: Samir Selmanovic, Khalid Rehman, Sabeeha Rehman, Bowie Snodgrass

SALAT: THE BEAUTY OF PRAYER IN ISLAM

~ Sabeeha Rehman (opening talk, 20 minutes)

Once upon a time, I was a little girl, growing up in a far-off land, in a newborn nation- Pakistan.  I went to a Catholic school and we began the day with the Lords prayer.  That was my introduction to prayer. 

History
In my formative years, I got my schooling in Islam 101 from my grandparents.  I would stand on the prayer rug with them, I had my little scarf, which I would wrap around, and I prayed, essentially by watching and observation.  I did not know what my grandparents were silently reciting, but at that tender age, I felt the awe of prayer.  I knew that this was a time to be still, to be good, and knew that in these moments, I had to be respectful.

The Pillar of Islam
Prayer is one of the 5 pillars of Islam; we refer to it as salat.   Muslims are ordained to pray 5 times a day.  And the ritual of prayer has to be performed precisely, with standard movements.  Why 5 times a day?  Why not more?  Why not less?  And why the precise movements?  There is a tradition that explains that.

Around the year 621, the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH) made a night journey to the heavens with the Archangel Gabriel.  As he ascended through the heavens, he spoke with earlier prophets – Abraham, Moses, Jesus  - and at different heavens, he observed the angels in a perpetual movement of glorification of God.  He observed them in different postures.  At one level, they were standing; at another level, they were sitting; and at the highest level, they were prostrating.  The Prophet, PBUH, adopted these movements for the prayer.

Angel Gabriel then took the prophet, PBUH, in the presence of God.  God instructed Prophet Muhammad, PBUH,  that Muslims must pray fifty times a day. Prophet Muhammad, PBUH, took that instruction, and departed.  On his way back, he met Prophet Moses, PBUH, who told him,
“Your people will never be able to do it.  Go back and ask for a reduction”
Prophet Muhammad, PBUH went back and asked for a reduction.
God reduced the number of prayers.
Prophet Moses, PBUH asked him to go back, and ask for a further reduction.
Prophet Muhammad, PBUH went back and forth until God reduced the number of prayers to 5 times day, and instructed Prophet Muhammad, PBUH that this was His final number.
So it was decreed; so it was done.
Thank you, Prophet Moses!

What Are The Times for the 5 prayers?
The compulsory 5 prayers are offered at 5 different times of the day:
The morning prayer, at dawn; 2. noon; 3. Mid-afternoon;  4. sunset;  and 5. Nightfall.

The prayer times shift every day, with the earth’s rotation and as seasons change.  Morning prayer is at 6 am in the winter months, and at 3 am in the summer months; night prayer is at 5pm in the winter months and at 9 pm in the summer months.
This synchronization of prayer with the rising and setting of the sun puts one in touch with the cosmos and with nature.  It keeps us alert to the universe of God and keeps us in touch with it.
It also makes us cognizant of the fact that always, someone, somewhere in the world, is praying, because somewhere in the world, it is the time for morning prayer, at another place, it is time for noon prayer, and so on.  At any given time, a Muslim in our world, is asking for mercy and forgiveness, and asking God for blessings on the progeny of Prophet Abraham.

One can offer compulsory prayer anywhere, in the privacy of one’s home, out in a public park, on a street corner, or in a mosque.  One can pray in solitude, or in congregation.  If you are sick, you can sit and pray; if you are traveling, you can shorten your prayer, if you forget, you can offer make-up prayer. 

Newsletter: Our First 19 MonthsLeaders, Programs & a Pregnancy

Faith House launched on September 27, 2008, nineteen months ago. The world has changed since - with a new president, the financial crisis, recession, and now a season of renewed hope. The need for Interfaith initiatives is in the news and public consciousness more every month while Faith House has grown from an idea to a young organization making an impact in New York City and beyond.

This newsletter is an update on what's been happening and the community of leaders at Faith House. The people and events that have shaped Faith House have increased inter-religious understanding, empathy, and connections, meeting needs in our communities.

Please read on, give us your feedback, and share your ideas with us!

PROGRAMMING

Faith House's primary contribution is planning events to "experience your neighbor's faith."  Since our launch in September 2008, we have hosted 40 Living Room events, with five more scheduled this season, plus 10 Field Trips and 10 Serve Together opportunities.  Together we have built real bridges of religious literacy, compassion and a network ready for action. 



Habitat for Humanity (Serve Together), 2nd Annual Interfaith Seder (Special Event), Salat (Living Room), Chogyesa Zen Temple (Field Trip), Queen Esther (Purim Living Room), Holy Family (Immigration Advocacy Serve Together), Islamic Day of Dignity (Serve Together)

We have also facilitated Interfaith Prayers for Peace at Storahtelling's Yom Kippur services and two Interfaith Seders hosted by St. Francis Xavier Church and led by Romemu's Rabbi David Ingber (50 people attended the first year and 150 the second!).

Visit our website and eNewsletter archive to check out all we've done.Email Bowie Snodgrass [email protected] with what you've liked best and what you would like to see in our next year. 

LEADERSHIP

Faith House Manhattan has grown to have a community of leaders including our Board of Directors, "Kitchen Table" team of volunteers, and many local religious leaders who have served on our Advisory Council and as Living Room guest hosts.  Faith House's leadership has been supported by a hard-working staff and visionary donors. 

Our mission statement says "We are an experiential inter-religious community that comes together to deepen our personal and communal journeys, share ritual life and devotional space, and foster a commitment to social justice and healing the world."  The Faith House Community is all the people mentioned above, everyone who has attended our events, and the 3,000+ of you reading this newsletter.

Community of Leaders

Our Living Rooms events have been led by a diverse range of guest hosts: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Zoastrian, Lakotan, Buddist, Atheist and leaders in the Interfaith Movement, young adults and wise elders. Check out the long list of Living Room Hosts and Musicians on our Leadership page.



Sundeep Sonny Singh, Amichai Lau-Lavie, Emily Scott, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Paul Knitter, Rathi Raja, Myong Haeng Sunim & Marcia Kannry

To nurture the community and assist with hospitality at our events, we started the "Kitchen Table" team this fall.  Andy Padre, the chair of this team, also raised money for Faith House by creating and selling his original MetroCard Art at the Easter Parade this year!. 

Many members of our Advisory Council have been guest hosts at our Living Rooms, invaluable mentors, and friends. We want to grow this community of leaders this year.  Do you know local religious leaders who would be excited about getting involved with Faith House?   

Perhaps our most momentous step forward as a community this year came in the formation of our founding Board of Directors, who met in November to sign our by-laws for incorporation as a non-profit in New York State, review our budget, and begin work on fundraising. The Board met again in March and will meet twice more this year. 

Become or nominate a Faith House volunteer leader!

Email Samir Selmanovic [email protected] to:

• Learn more about the "Kitchen Table" team of volunteers who nurture community growth and hospitality
• Nominate a religious leader in the New York City area to join our Advisory Council.  Please include their contact information and basic biographical information. 
• Learn more about becoming a member of our Board of Directors; we will send you the Guidelines and set up a time to discuss this possibility over the phone or in person. 

Staff Transitions & a Pregnancy!

Faith House has been blessed with hard-working staff who deeply believe in the vision of Faith House.

In March 2009, Bowie Snodgrass became the Executive Director of Faith House and is now 20 weeks pregnant with her first child!  Her primary focus for this spring and summer is getting Faith House ready for its third year and her maternity leave. 

From June through August 2009, Leah Varsano was in invaluable summer intern, helping us prepare for our second year.  Bara Levitt has been our Social Justice Intern during this academic year, organizing our monthly Serve Together events and supporting Faith House in many other ways.  Congratulations to Leah and Bara who are both graduating from college this year! 

In January 2010, our founding Islamic Co-Leader, Juliet rabia Gentile, ended her tenure with Faith House after blessing us with amazing programs and helping to shape the ethos of Faith House. 

Samir Selmanovic also transitioned into a new title this year: "Founder and President of the Board."  He is still integrally connected to all aspects of our present work, vision, and operations.



Bara Levitt, Leah Varsano, Juliet rabia Gentile, Samir Selmanovic

Thank You Donors!

None of this would be possible without our Donors!  Thank you again to everyone who has supported Faith House since we began, our 2009 Donors, and all who have given generously in 2010!

COMMUNICATIONS

Our website and eNewsletters got a new look this fall thanks to Mairim Pina.  We send out Weekly UPDATES with information about our upcoming events to people in the New York City area and periodic NEWSLETTERS to people all over the country and globe. 

3,000 people on our email lists and 287 in our Facebook Group.  Since January 1, 2010, we have had 6,300 unique visitors to our website from 6 continents and 117 countries/territories. 

Samir Selmanovic's book published in September 2009, It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian, is helping to spread the larger idea of interdependence among faiths and the work happening at Faith House. 

Finally, we've been getting some media mentions!  Check out our appearances In the Media and keep your eyes out for more to come. 

The world can change for the better. It is people like you who believe in the power of ideas, relationships, and acts of service. Let us all dream, serve, persevere, and celebrate what we can do together.

With love from New York City,

Faith House Manhattan community of communities

LIVING ROOM Green Deen:What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

With Ibrahim Abdul-Matin

From childhood, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin was taught that “the Earth is a Mosque,” leading him to his belief that the planet is a sacred place where prayer and worship happen and therefore, we are responsible for protecting every aspect of it. You are invited to an interactive evening with the author of “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet,” Ibrahim Abdul-Matin. The evening will include his story of becoming an environmental justice activist and organizer, discussion of Islamic scriptural passages that describe a faith-based mandate to protect the planet, role plays and story telling on how faith relates to waste, water, watts (energy), and food.

Bio:
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is the author of “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet,” coming to you in Fall 2010 by Berrett-Koehler publishers. He is currently a Senior Policy Advisor in the New York City Mayor’s Office on issues of long term planning and sustainability. Most recently, Ibrahim was a consultant for Green City Force, a green jobs training program for young people of color living in economically depressed neighborhoods of Brooklyn. He is also a member of the Interfaith Leaders for Environmental Justice and frequently represents the environmental viewpoint on faith-based panels. His interest in environmental justice began as Director of Youth Programs with the Prospect Park Alliance where he was instrumental in establishing the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment, a charter school by New Visions. His skill working with youth led him to Outward Bound - an organization dedicated to developing young people’s self esteem and appreciation for the Earth.

In 2007, Ibrahim was accepted into the National Urban Fellows program, completing a Masters in Public Administration from Baruch College and a fellowship with SchoolNet where he learned vital product marketing skills. He then joined Green For All to organize the “National Day of Action” resulting in the inclusion of green jobs and environmental policy in the Obama campaign platform. In college, Ibrahim was an all-star linebacker, Political Science major, and finalist for the prestigious NCAA scholar-athlete award in 1998. Today, he is the sports contributor on WNYC’s nationally syndicated news show, “The Takeaway.” He continues to intersect sports, politics, and the environment on his blog, Brooklyn Bedouin.

 
RSVPs welcome, but not required, on Facebook or Meetup.com

LIVING ROOM Salat: The Beauty of Prayer in Islam

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

With Sabeeha Rehman
Five times a day, Muslims around the world turn towards Mecca and perform Salat - the ritual of prayer to God. Men, women, and children - they pray in mosques, they pray in public places, and they pray in the privacy of their homes; they pray in congregations, and they pray in solitude; they pray at dawn, and they pray at dusk. Throughout the centuries and across the globe, the ritual of prayer has remained constant and uniform. What is the genesis of prayer in Islam? What does the performance of prayer signify? Join us with our host, Sabeeha Rehman, and through her lens, visualize the beauty of salat, listen to the voice of recital, and experience the ritual of prayer.

Sabeeha Rehman is the Director of Interfaith Programs at the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), and is a member of the Shura Council of the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), a program of ASMA.
 
RSVPs welcome, but not required, on Facebook or Meetup.com

Juliet rabia Gentile: Faith House Staff Transition

Faith House has been blessed for the last eighteen months by Juliet rabia Gentile's work as a founding staff member and Islamic Co-Leader.  Rabia, a Dervish of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order, is a person of spiritual depth who has helped shape Faith House conceptually in its first stages of development, contributing to the Mission, Vision, Principles, website content, as well as the design and "feel" of our Living Room gatherings.

In mid-February, Rabia will begin a traveling sabbatical away from New York, where she will be working on a new book about her journey on the path of Sufism. 

Rabia has been a friend, a budding mystic in our midst, and we look forward to her continued participation in the community, including opportunities for her to guest host future Living Rooms. For the next couple months, you can continue to email any messages to [email protected]

Living Room Gatherings Designed by Juliet rabia Gentile

Islamic Themed
Banquet of Love: A Ramadan Feast with the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Community (September 2009)
The Garden of Union: Ancient Sufi Ceremony of Dhikrullah (May 2009)
Holy Journey: Hajj and Eid al-Adha (December 2008)

Islamic and Interfaith (organized with Jewish and Christian collaborators)
Seeding the Heart & Harvesting Intentions (July 2009)
Mother, Prophet, Mystic: Mary In New Testament, Holy Quran, and Beyond (January 2009)
Renewals of Life: Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah (September 2008, Launch!)
Breathing in... Faith House (June 2008, First Preview)

Other Faiths (with Zoastrian and Buddhist guest hosts)
Rebirth of the Sun: Nowruz and the Spring Equinox (March 2009)
Selflessness: Buddhism and Social Justice (November 2008)

Message from Rabia

Dear Friends and Members of the Faith House Community,

When I first joined Faith House Manhattan a year and a half ago it was like entering a new experiment in religious life. Each one of us had a vision for Faith House, but that vision had not yet taken form. The journey that unfolded in the doing, the reaching out, and the effort of shaping spiritual community in New york City was an invaluable experience that has enriched my life in myriad ways. Every moment of my time at Faith House has been precious and has taught me about myself, it has been a beautiful journey of discovery and learning for me. 

It is an honor to know each of you and to have watched you grow and push yourselves out of your comfort zones to experience the "other." It is in these places of vulnerability, when we are pushed beyond our limits, that we experience true generosity of spirit.

I want to thank you for your generosity and your friendship. I look forward to watching this beautiful community blossom and grows in the coming years.

May God's light guide you and inspire you in every moment and with every breath!

-Rabia  

Your Religion IS Changing (Probably for the Better)

Here is an article I have recently written for the 4th anniversary of The Porpoise Diving Life titled: "Does Biblical Worldview Emerge?" I hope you enjoy it (note: it is not only about Christianity). Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment. ~ Samir Selmanovic

Millennia ago when Shamanism was the prevalent religion in the world, the cushiest job could have been the Shaman. Imagine having the responsibility to interpret reality for your people, blaming the spirit world (or your personal enemies) when things go bad and taking the credit when things go well. In his recent book The Evolution of God, Robert Wright makes a reference to a particular tribe whose Shaman could have all the food he wanted, all the land he wanted, and all the women he wanted, as long as he could make any solar or lunar eclipse eventually go away! He delivered a stellar job performance. Unlike those who had to deal with managing the diseases, enemies and weather. As strange as this sounds to our modern ears, Shamanism actually helped people develop a working relationship with the mystery of human experience, and people not only survived, but thrived. Shamans would occasionally get out of hand with their pronouncements, but eventually people would make course corrections by instituting new contextual rules and systems of order. Wright describes a Shaman prone to declare wars with neighboring tribes. Eventually the tribe required him to take a piece of wood, make a hole in his penis and run a rope through it before declaring a new war. A period of peace ensued. However painfully, religion does change.

The three Abrahamic religions, although based on unchanging texts, did and still do change. The creation, maintenance, and interpretation of these texts has always depended on the context of people’s lives. At times when the people of God found exclusion to be advantageous or an imperative for their survival, the texts that required the exclusion, isolation, or destruction of others provided the rationale. At other times, when the people of God had to learn to live in the diverse context of a diverse empire like Babylon or Persia, and taking over was not an option or to their advantage, the texts that required inclusion, cooperation, and relational healing provided the inspiration. Today, monotheistic religions have texts to justify both. More than any time in history, the ethics of the interpreter have become the ethics of the text. In the case of Christianity, the way we read the Bible is always emerging along with a renewing biblical worldview that accompanies it. Part of what it means to be a Christian is to struggle with the way we read our Scripture. The living word requires a living relationship. There must be a distance and not only an embrace—a tension. If we read the Bible faithfully for our time and place, it will demand the engagement of our entire being, requiring more from us, not less.

In the case of Shamanism, changing times required changing the ways people dealt with authority. Shamanistic religions are still with us, and in some important ways they are better attuned to life on earth than religions that developed later. As for monotheism, our formative texts are still around going strong, and have been instigating much beauty and justice in this world for thousands of years. But we live now now. The present moment, where God is fully present—as God was present during the creation of our texts—demands our faithfulness not only to the God of the past, but also to the God of now. If we are to stay faithful, the ways we understand authority, texts, rituals, and practices today, are to change.
 
Different authors have attempted to give different names to the interpretative shift we are presently experiencing. In her latest book The Case for God, Karen Armstrong frames the discussion as the “return of the mythos” to the center of religious experience, displacing the logos that usurped the place after the Enlightenment. In The Future of Faith, Harvey Cox dubs the coming era as “the age of the spirit” that follows “the age of belief.” Other authors talk about our spiritual journey to non-duality, a correction that current and healthy interest in the mystical aspects of religion can bring. In addition, one of the most important insights into our current context of faith comes from behavioral science. We are discovering that most people’s beliefs and practices do not neatly fit into conventional categories. A growing number of us hold hybrid worldviews made, at times, from seemingly incompatible or even contradictory beliefs or practices. We do what works, because life has the power to change the rules, break the hierarchy of authority, alter the meanings of our texts, and interrupt our theologies. We cannot but honor what life insists on.
 
In her book An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor has named the shift in very helpful terms. She says that our sense of the “geography of faith” is changing. Boundaries of brick and mortar that attempt to hold in the sacred, “501c3” status (US government law code that regulates non-profit organizations) that attempts to say who is in and who is out of God’s crowd, and books that systematize the Kingdom of God into propositions, are losing their power to delineate the geography of God. God spills over. God is not only within us, or among us. God is also outside of us. God is everywhere.
 
We tend to forget, however, that “everywhere” includes our religion.
 
I think the people that embrace the slogan “spiritual but not religious” tend to miss this point. God is on the outside, but once you are outside, God turns out to be on the outside again, which is inside. Religion can be defined as the “spirituality of others” or the spirituality we hold together. That’s why to be spiritual but not religious can be not only lonely but frighteningly undemanding. To disregard religion is to disregard the discoveries of our spiritual predecessors, close our ears to our spiritual contemporaries, and refuse to deliver our spiritual experience into the future. Religion does all of that and more. Religion organizes our individual spiritual selves into spiritual communities. Religion gives voice to what matters to us, offer stories, histories, communities, group impact, and a long catalogue of teaching, experiences, and practices that have both served us well in the past, or that have miserably failed us.
 
Religion refuses to live in the right brain only. Budgets, salaries, deadlines, plans, and committees are human realities, and therefore spiritual realities. A spirituality that cannot be sustained in a community is not spirituality at all, for we humans are communal. Organized community exists so that we can make an impact together. It also exists to cross my individual will at times. If I do only what I want to do, I wind up in a place I don’t want to be. Religion is there to rescue us from the illusions of spiritual self-sufficiency. And by religion, I don’t necessarily mean traditional religion, but any “system of meaning” that has a story, community, and a way of being in the world. It can even be an atheist community, a humanist church, or a community of people who want to be spiritual but not religious!
 
Which brings us to “hybrid spirituality” that so many contemporary people practice. It has been there for a long time, sometimes as a welcome guest, sometimes as a helpful stranger, and sometimes as a parasite or plunderer. It is a form of religious life that fits the current way we live, our nomadic selves. However, in a world where the necessity of going local is becoming ever more important for survival, we may be required to go local in the geography of faith. We not only travel through the world, we abide in it. How do we do both?
 
In his paper The World in a Wafer, theologian William T. Cavanaugh draws on Michel de Cereau’s helpful distinction between itineraries and maps. Pre-modern geography marked out itineraries which told “spatial stories,” with specific instructions for journeys such as pilgrimages, with reports from previous travelers about where to pray, where to cross the river, where to stay for the night, where to ask for help. In contrast, Cavanaugh explains that modernity has mapped space into a grid, in which an abstract geographical knowledge and universalizing description supplant the stories of the itinerants. On maps, space is rationalized as homogeneous, divided into similar units, organized on a grid. The map user is detached and universal. Itineraries on the other hand are not only told, but also performed; they represent bodies in movement, immersed instead of detached. As such, these individual and localized stories have no territory to defend, boundaries to maintain, or divisions to die for. Perhaps that’s a way we can envision our religious future. While the whole territory of being human is a cosmic and sacred experience, we are not there to defend this territory, but to live in it, to be guests, and hosts, both traveling and abiding, both giving and receiving.
 
A biblical worldview in the recent past meant clinging to the maps at any cost. People are done with such idolatry. They are interested in the landscape itself, walking, praying, staying for the night, coming home, building homes, serving as a host, taking care of other pilgrims, traveling again. Every religion holds maps, but it is the stories that hold every religion.
 
None of us possesses a perfect map. That perfect map would be identical to the landscape itself—life. And life is not ours to posses.
 
Our Scriptures have spoken to us, and our lives ought to speak back. That's how we love our religions, not only by studying the itineraries of the Bible, but by adding our own. As it has always been, so shall it be: stories of our generation can, should, and will change our religion.

LIVING ROOM God Our Stranger: Why our faith, devotion & practice can't thrive without "the other"

Wednesday, January 13, 2009

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts
New York, NY 10001

With Samir Selmanovic

Through the media, in our workplaces, and even in our families, the stranger has come close. Now, the other is not “out there.” They have moved into our physical, intellectual and emotional neighborhoods. We are confronted not only with a new view of those we used to consider “outsiders,” but with a new view of ourselves. We will explore the reasons why the stranger has an exulted status in ancient religious writings. Is it simply because religion teaches us virtue, or do the reasons go much deeper? And what does that have to do with our daily lives in the city?  This will be a mid-week evening of respite with texts, a talk by author Samir Selmanovic, discussion, and music.

Samir Selmanovic, Ph.D., author of It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian, is founder and Christian co-leader of Faith House Manhattan. Samir is also the director of a Christian community in New York City called Citylights and serves on the Interfaith Relations commission of the National Council of Churches and speaks nationally and internationally.

Read the Spirit Interviews Samir Selmanovic

Read the Spirit is an online home for readers who believe that diverse spiritual connections between people of faith build stronger communities. Their online magazine includes inspirational stories, fresh voices, reviews of books and films—and much more. Click HERE to find out why we in Faith House think David Crumm and Read the Spirit are likely the best online resource for all things inter-religious.  

- - -

Meet a religious peacemaker who wants to celebrate our uniqueness

 Some of us call it "The December Dilemma"—because so many of us feel torn each holiday season about how to properly honor our diverse religious traditions without trampling anyone in the process.

    It's easy to leap enthusiastically from celebrating religious diversity—to a kind of wholesale consumption. That kind of eclectic approach to spirituality can quickly erode the authenticity of any one tradition.

    To which we quickly add with Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" Come back tomorrow and you'll read what we think is a wonderfully thoughtful essay by a writer who—like millions of Americans right now—is indeed mixing and matching her religious inspirations.

    That's why we call December a "dilemma." What's a writer to do? How do we weave our way through Jewish, Christian and Muslim holidays, not to mention Kwanzaa and traditions in other religions that tend to vanish in an American landscape that's pushing "all Christmas all the time."

- - -

TODAY, we're introducing an important new voice on the national scene, speaking out about these thorny challenges.

    Samir Selmanovic was born into a secular-Muslim family in eastern Europe, then converted to Christianity thanks to a friend he met while serving in the army. Later, he immigrated to the U.S., became the pastor of a small congregation in New York City and eventually founded Faith House Manhattan to explore interreligious relationships. Finally, he began writing about his many adventures.

    Samir takes a distinctive approach to religious diversity that we think is helpful in sorting out dilemmas like December in America. In his quest to clarify these issues, Samir uses terms like "urban laboratory," "interdependence" and "strangeness."

   In a nutshell: Samir argues that we should not try to homogenize the "strangeness"—or uniqueness—of our distinctive religious backgrounds. Samir agrees with ReadTheSpirit that strong, healthy communities depend, today, on celebrating our diversity. But, Samir also insists that we avoid trying to blend, or even soften the edges, of our unique perspectives on faith—including atheism as one perspective. The key to recognizing our interdependence, he argues, comes from learning the value of defending our neighbor's religious perspective.

CONVERSATION WITH SAMIR SELMANOVIC
ON "IT'S REALLY ALL ABOUT GOD"

DAVID: Since we’re talking here about preserving the distinctiveness of our religious traditions, I have to note for our readers that you’re the first Seventh-day Adventist I can recall featuring in one of our Wednesday author interviews. Your denomination has a long and proud tradition in American life, including the fact that the Kellogg brothers were Adventists and changed the way we eat breakfast.
    But, considering your background in a Muslim community in Croatia in the former Yugoslavia, I was surprised when I first learned that you are an Adventist minister. Seems remarkable, considering your family background and homeland.

SAMIR: Well, that is the door through which I entered the Christian faith. The counter-cultural aspect of Adventism and its emphasis on holistic living attracted me. I also appreciate that some of our practices connect with Eastern traditions. I appreciate that our Sabbath on Saturday is rooted in Judaism.  . . .

TO CONTINUE READING THE INTERVIEW:  http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/2009/12/581-interview-samir-selmanovic-faith-house-manhattan.html

Sabbath Poem (Mansour - 2)

THE EAST WEST
~ Ali Mansour

Between the east and the west — there is a hole
I found my self in it
I couldn’t reach the west — neither could I go back to the east
All I can do — I scream and say
YA ALLAH (OH GOD) ALLAH hay ALLAH hay (GOD is a life)
Every body heard me —
And all came running … looking at me
From the edge of the hole
I hear them saying SUBHAN ALLAH (GOD IS GREAT)
WLA HAULA WLA QOHWATA ELA BELLAH
(GOD holds all the power)
The haven is here … the haven … the haven is here 
I raise my hands and say … take me with you … with you … you
Everybody tries to grab one of my hands and pull me up
But I didn’t go anywhere
I felt crucified ... like JESUS had been
Trying to unifying east and west
Oh God is this punishment or praise?
I’m screaming from the pain … Or
I’m cheering for the praise !
I don’t know any more
I mumble with voices no one can understand
Neither from the east nor from the west
But they are still trying to reach my hands
In order to save me … Or to be with me
And no one can do
Except you — the one up there
The one in the center
The one and the only one ... can pull me out of the hole
…or push them down with me
So we all can sing for you  
Anta el HADY anta el HAQ lis la hady il ALLHA
(YOU are the truth and the One can show us
the real road “direct path”)
La ILLAHA … il ALLAH … La Illaha … il ALLAH
(there is no God, but Allah the unique, and the only one)
YA HU   
             YA HU                                      

             YA HU           YA HU                    

Ali Mansour wrote this for our Living Room on "Walking More than One Path"                              

An Urban Laboratory of Interdependence

Dear Friends of Faith House, In times past, strong cities were walled. Our religions developed in similar contexts of defensiveness, isolation and conflict.  The times have changed.  Today, bridges, airports, roads, cell phones and the internet help cities survive and thrive on a connected planet. Religion, one of the most potent forces to mobilize human hearts and communities, has yet to catch up in our newly interdependent world.   The world is hurt not only by the actions of religious extremist minorities but by the religious ignorance and indifference of the majority. Tolerance and appreciation between religions is simply not enough. We all must dig further into our texts, traditions, and practices to  help us experience, understand and actually learn to need one another.   Nothing happens alone.  The promises our religions make - to  love our neighbor, empower the poor, pursue justice, and care for the planet - cannot be fulfilled when our groups act alone. To fulfill the promises of our own religions, we need each other. That's why we have Faith House. This is a unique organization.  Hearts and minds change through experience, community, and sustained action. While most interfaith work happens as dialogue, Faith House provides a space where people can experience "the other" and form long-lasting relationships in a sustained "community of communities."   Faith House is an experiential urban laboratory.  Instead of believing in the self-sufficiency of our religions, we serve the city and the world with fresh ideas and expressions of interdependence, exploring possibilities for passionate belief in a pluralist world, insisting that new practices can be discovered, discussed, developed, and spread.

LIVING ROOM Speaking the Unspoken, Naming the Unnamed: Israel & Palestine Dialogue

Wednesday, Nov 11, 2009
6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

With Marcia Kannry, The Dialogue Project & other guests

Come explore how we can create an opportunity, a space where we can risk to speak the unspoken about our connections, histories, and the wounds of Israel and Palestine.  We will cultivate a place where we learn how to listen, actively and generously.  We will address the needs all humans have to be seen and acknowledged.  We will share stories, surface differences, and have a difficult conversation around the hot words of home and homeland, justice and peace.  Chanting, niggun, poetry, and prayer will begin and end the dialogue.

Marcia Kannry, Founder of The Dialogue Project, with other Palestinian Americans and Israelis will create a dialogue circle with all of us.  Learn more about The Dialogue Project

RSVPs welcome, but not required, on our Facebook Event or Meetup Event.  Vegetarian snacks to share also welcome!   

Sabbath Poem (Mansour)

WHO ARE WE?
~ by Ali Mansour

who am I?
and who are you?
I’m drops of rain in the air!
I can not count nor calculate either of you
you see through it
and when collected
I become the river going through rooks and sand
sometimes the raging one  I come with destructions
but most of the time I’m calmer and gentler
when you ride me I take you places
you never dreamt about
I will show you the wonderland
I’m the life table for you
and when you’re hot and dirty
I clean and cool you
say I you
I say stop  — to all those drops and dust
but they keep moving  — with all its particles
forming that great ocean with all its creations
is that where I come from?
no wonder that they call me the ocean
I’m the falcon flying over you
catching the fish swimming in you
So say I’m you
I’m all the order of being
the tree on the embankment
the fish and the mammal
I’m the reef  — silent  — thoughts  — inelegant
I’m the screaming wind creating the clouds
the hurricane coming to shore
to be drops of rain again
to become a life after death —
or death after life! —
what it is? And what it isn’t?
what is right and what is wrong
Say I am
I say  —  I — you
YA HU  YA HU   YA HU

Ali Mansour is a Sufi Dervish who regularly attends Faith House Manhattan and sometimes reads us poems.  Thank you, Ali, for sending this text for us to publish!

Stories from Global Victims of Climate Change — And an Interfaith Call to Action

~by Juliet rabia Gentile

Reprinted from GOD'S politics on Sojo.net

What if the soul of the world had an alarm clock and it began ringing … would we wake up and listen? This was the question that came to my heart at the Global Interfaith Gathering and Call to Action to the UN Summit on Climate Change, which I attended with my Sufi friend, Khabir John McGeehan, at Tillman Chapel in the UN Church Center on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace. As we sat in the chapel that morning and “bore witness” to the harrowing stories of the victims of climate change, this question repeated itself over and over in my mind like a mantra.

The Qur’an states: “Behold, thy Lord declared to the angels: I will create perfect humanity to be My mirror on earth” (Holy Qur’an, 2:30).  Another verse relates that in pre-eternity God offered the Khalifat (viceregency) of the earth to the mountains and the stars, but it was the primordial human being who accepted the responsibility. That’s right folks; the buck stops with us.  We are the ones to blame for the glaciers melting, for the rate at which species are disappearing off the face of the earth never to be seen again, for the poisoning of ancestral lands that have fed generations and wells, which once gave fresh water.

Modern civilizations have lived as if they are the center of the universe. Pre-modern man had no such illusion, hunter-gatherer societies knew that if they hunted a species into extinction they would have to move on in search of more food sources or perish. Subsistence, not domination, was the necessary relationship to the earth, its creatures and gifts. Today we see anything but, with endless consumption of the earth’s resources continuing unabated.  What must God think of his “mirror” upon the earth? Qur’an states that God is All Compassionate and All Merciful, I ask myself, are we being compassionate to those who are suffering from climate change?

The stories that were shared in Tillman Chapel that day were shocking: standing in front of me were real people who lived close to the land and who followed centuries old traditions of protecting and working with the earth, seas, and rivers that in turn, provided their sustenance. What has changed? What has disrupted that fragile balance? Tears flowed down the cheeks of Constance Okollet, a woman from Uganda, as she told her story of how singeing heat caused the seeds that she planted to “just dry up right there in the ground” followed by three months of rain that caused flooding so bad that she and all her relations had to flee the rising waters, leaving their homes and food crops behind. Another woman, Ulamila Kurai Wragg, from the Cook Islands spoke of how five cyclones hit her hometown in three weeks and how rising sea levels have claimed land the her family has tended for generations — bit by bit, day by day.

We all sat silently, bearing witness. Some cried silent tears. As I listened I wondered to myself how many other nameless and faceless men, women, and children are suffering around the world, how many countless numbers are living in fear that one more flood, drought, tsunami or cyclone will obliterate their lives and livelihood forever. How we respond in front of those in need, those suffering and asking for help means everything. It is what reminds us of our common humanity, our sacred pact. It is incumbent upon us to ask ourselves what is at stake. How long are we willing to wait before taking action? In what ways can we be conscientious objectors to further destruction of the earth’s resources? Finally, we must ask ourselves: What will our children say if we do nothing?

In grim reflections, several religious leaders issued “responses” to the victims. Archbishop John Onaiyekan, RC, of Nigeria issued a call to action. He stated that we are all “brothers and sisters in one boat,” calling on the biblical image of Noah’s ark in order to remind us that change is possible, but requires action. Like Noah, we can survive. We can bind together to help each other. Many religious and indigenous elders spoke of the responsibility we must bear as westerners in the forefront of creating the problem, in repairing the world.

In the words of Swami Agnivesh, a Hindu elder, which my dervish brother Khabir John McGeehan wrote in his notebook:

The Earth is our Mother.
With 6 Billion humans, and billions more other children,
we cannot afford to be anthropocentric.
View all creation with the Eye of the Friend.
Instead of Love of power, we need the Power of Love.

To take a Compassionate Action: please join the Oct. 24 International Day of Climate Action, sponsored by www.350.org.  Or incorporate “green” action into your religious gatherings.  At an event I organized this summer at Faith House on “Seeding the Heart, Harvesting Intentions”, after reading stories of seeding and harvest from the Muslim and Jewish traditions, and a seed meditation, we practiced planting seeds and blessing the earth with some “guerrilla gardening” in our neighborhoods!  Everyday, we are God’s “mirror” with responsibility to the earth.

Islamic Relief USA "Day of Dignity" 2009Faith House Was There

Report by Bara Levitt, Faith House Social Justice Intern

Photos by Alvin Poblacion

On October 3, a group of 12 Faith House volunteers gathered in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn as a part of Islamic Relief's National "Day of Dignity" program to serve America’s most needy in 19 cities across America. 

The amount of goods Islamic Relief and its partner organizations purchased and received through donations was vast, of high quality and very much needed.  By 11:15 the line of people began to stretch down the block and by twelve I could not see the end of it from where I stood.  The mass of people remained for the next 3.5 hours despite heavy rain. By the end of the day we had distributed goods to more than 400 people. 

So you have a sense of how many wonderful items were distributed I have included  a list here: a full hot meal and prepackaged groceries, sweatshirts, socks, gloves, knit caps, scarves, t-shirts, bed sheets, deodorant, flashlights, emergency preparedness kits, towels soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  In addition to these great items, basic medical and dental screenings were also available for those interested. 

At the end of the day we took off our shoes and entered the Masjid Taqwa to gather with the other volunteers and organizers to debrief the day.  We were in the company of volunteers from World Faith, the Progressive Muslim Meetup, the Islamic Center at NYU, Islamic Relief, the Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development, and the Masjid Taqwa among others.  One of the Islamic Relief staff people commented that the effort was truly interfaith and engaged many different members of our community.  Not only did we come together as a greater community, brought together by a desire to help and serve, but we were part of a larger national effort of Islamic Relief which was bringing the event to 19 different locations.

We definitely made a difference and were left with much to think about. 

What really struck me was the make up and number of the individuals in attendance to receive the day’s services.  The people we served did not fit any mold!  They were young and old, singles and families, they represented many different ethnic groups and spoke many different languages, some came with large carts, while others had small children by the hand and a quite a few were pushing strollers.  There were even a few children who came by themselves.  There is no way in observing and interacting with a line like this that I could pretend that there is any mold for what in need looks like. 

Living in New York City has had a large role in shaping my conception of what a person in need looks like.  Traveling on the subway, I am, as I assume many of you can relate, constantly faced with individuals selling their wares or appealing to their fellow travelers for food or money. In addition to lived experience, popular culture has also influenced my understanding of what a person in need looks like and acts like.  I have consciously made an effort over the past few years to shake these stereotypical assumptions, in order to be better open to and aware of different people in need. The first Serve Together was an experience that helped me on my way to doing so.

Ways to Serve Together

Our Serve Together opportunities this year are set up in order to give you a taste of the amazing work being done around the city and the countless social justice issues being tackled by that work.  We hope that you will find an issue you are interested in and passionate about, an issue you feel you can and want to contribute to, and get involved. 

I am here as a Social Justice intern to facilitate these "tastes of social justice", but also to help you become more involved with Social Justice work on a regular basis.  Please contact me about ways you can become involved in social justice issue on a regular basis or to suggest a Serve Together opportunity for the future.  If you are a member of an organization that is looking for regular volunteers please let me know as well.  

I hope you will join us for future Serve Together opportunities.  Please mark your calendar for October 25 when from 12:30-3:00 we will be carving pumpkins, visiting and serving snacks to members of one of the Metropolitan Council for Jewish Poverty’s low income senior residences in Manhattan.

Bara Levitt
Social Justice Intern
[email protected]

All photos on this page by Alvin Poblacion.
Slideshow of three dozen photos from the Day of Dignity
View All Faith House Manhattan Photos by Alvin Poblacion

A Profile Video and a Book Review - "It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian" by Samir Selmanovic

“Samir Selmanovic is asking the right questions at the right time, and refusing the consolations of certainty at a time when strident orthodoxies--atheist as well as religious--are perilously dividing us.”
—KAREN ARMSTRONG, author, A History of God and The Case for God

"On Learning to Love Well"

(a book review by Claudia Rozas Gomez, "It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian," by Samir Selmanovic, Jossey-Bass/Wiley 2009)

Samir Selmanovic is just a man and he has come to the conclusion his religion is imperfect. That this personal discovery has contributed to an unwavering faith in God may come as a surprise to some, but this is a book about faith. Although it would be cringingly cliché to say that this is a book about faith, hope and love. It is. Strikingly, it’s a bold faith that openly embraces the reality of ‘difference’ in a 21st century context and unequivocally affirms the presence of God. Not so much a ‘how to’ but a ‘why we need to’ book, Selmanovic uses autobiographical sketches to construct ontological and epistemological arguments about what it might mean to be human, what we can know about God and the nature of Divine knowledge. 

His central premise is simple: “That which separates us from each other separates us from God.” Selmanovic’s call to mutuality is not new in Judaeo-Christian thought, what is distinct about his position however, is that he does not invoke this call because others need ‘us’ but because we need ‘them’. A blurring of boundaries for where ‘we’ begin and ‘they’ end, such is Selmanovic’s yearning for the Other it’s almost as though the scriptural imperative to love others as we love ourselves becomes a conviction that to love others is the only way to love ourselves. Nevertheless, the invitation is clear: seek God in others and you will find Him, “because where people dwell, God dwells.”

The personal stories range from the achingly sad: a young man is rejected by his father, a city grieves in the aftermath of 9/11; to the humorous: a Christian pastor makes futile attempts to avoid the onslaught of evangelical missionaries in a street market and a longing groom waits for a wedding night that takes two weddings to arrive. Yet despite the sad and farcical nature of some of the stories there is no hopelessness here. Instead these stories reek of affirmation, constantly reminding us that we are all just people, nothing more, but nothing less also. And, if God dwells resolutely in and around us then perhaps our preoccupation with our reward in heaven needs to be steadied by a desire for God here “in the landscape”, in our own stories and in each other.  

For anyone alarmed at the increasingly frayed edges of contemporary Christianity this book provides reassurance that despite Christianity’s inevitable evolution over time, God is still here. For those who recognise the urgent need to address religious diversity this book provides a picture of what it might look like through one person’s journey. And for those of us who have had the audacity to question sanctioned truths about God and traveled the lonely path of dissent, this book is for us because Selmanovic aptly demonstrates that pain and doubt can be allies of growth and hope.  
 
But perhaps the biggest strength of this book is that the collection of stories is held together by the author’s most compelling argument: that our religious diversity is not a problem to be overcome. Instead, diversity is the solution (read: blessing) we are offered. As he clearly states at the outset of his book, It’s Really All About God is not a discussion about religious pluralism, it is a discussion about interdependence. About recognizing that only an intentional dream which acknowledges the cumulative histories and aspirations of all of us has the hope of bringing us closer to God. In this manner, Selmanovic transforms difference from a stubborn complication to an abundant set of possibilities for coming together in community; an emphatic declaration that we must offer no more than ourselves to each other but nothing less either. (THIS REVIEW CAN BE RE-POSTED AND RE-PUBLISHED WITHOUT PERMISSION)

Claudia teaches courses in Teacher Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, Aotearoa-New Zealand. Her interests are in social justice issues in education as well as sociological and philosophical approaches to education. She has a six year old son with whom she travels the universe and back several times a week and two lovely parents of whom she is immensely proud. They are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Papatoetoe Community Church, where in spite of her outrageous ideas, they love her anyway.

Author's Website (endorsements, reviews, links, press kit, resources): 

www.itsreallyallaboutgod.com

The Gifts of Islam

Dear Friends & Supporters,
 
As Salaam Alaikum, Ramadan Karim!
 
Summer is drawing to a close, the last days of Ramadan are passing too quickly! Fall is a time of reflection and rumination, a time to take stock and count our harvest from the year's intentions. This fall, Faith House Manhattan is beginning the journey of our second year together and the story of Islam is a significant part of that journey.
 
The winds are changing in America for Islam, after years of distrust and paranoia.  In New York City, Faith House is working to open the minds and hearts of Americans and faithful people from all walks of life to the gifts of Islam.
 
At Faith House, we have built a community based on trust. Non-judgment is our practice. Truth is our creed. Love and friendship are the stuff that holds us together. We provide a safe space where non-Muslims can experience Islam, as well as a place where progressive-minded Muslims can voice their opinions, interpret and re-interpret their texts and traditions, and meaningfully engage with people of other faiths. Faith House exists so that we can discover ways of knowing each other more deeply and serving the world in synergy instead of competition.    
 
Where We Have Been
 
Year One meant laying down the foundation for our "house," exploring who we are and how to serve. We strive to make the idea of a multi-faith, interdependent community a reality. My primary focus over the last year has been planning and implementing Islamic themed Living Room gatherings, as well as encouraging Muslims to attend and contribute to Non-Muslim themed events.
 
For our launch on 9/9/09, "Banquet of Love: A Ramadan Feast" we were blessed to have 55 people attend our Ramadan Iftar, including members of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Community, other Muslims, and many non-Muslims.  It was a night of amazing energy and prayerfulness, including five rows of people performing Salat, followed by Indian food.
 
Our grand launch in 2008 was a collaboration between myself and our Jewish Co-Leader Jill Minkoff entitled, "Renewals of Life: Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah." The highest attendance of last year was for a Living Room entitled, "Holy Journey: Hajj and Eid al-Adha" on Dec 6, 2008, an exciting event featuring many guests including a talk on Abraham hosted by the Progressive Muslim Meet-up, spoken word by poet-ess TAMIR, a musical performance by Persian Sufi-rocker Haale, and a Sufi dhikr service led by Shaykha Fariha al-Jerrahi. Another event entitled "Mother, Prophet, Mystic: Mary In New Testament, Holy Quran, and Beyond" was a rich experiential journey into the Marian tradition in Islam and mystic Catholicism. Finally, "The Garden of Union: Ancient Sufi Ceremony of Dhikrullah" was an in-depth look at the central sacrament of Islam: la ilahe illallah.
 
In addition to these living rooms the Faith House community made field trips to visit the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi dergah, as well as a discussion at the Progressive Muslim Meetup. We also served together at Habitat for Humanity, as well as attending various events devoted to Islamic topics throughout the city.
 
Where We Are Going
 
For our second year, Faith House has made the decision to add an additional element to our Mission Vision Principles: "Islamic Involvement: At this historical moment, we place a special emphasis on the value of leadership and participation of diverse local Muslims in all aspects of the life of Faith House." 
 
As part of this focus I will be building stronger bridges with the Muslim communities of New York City and beyond by organizing leadership meetings, planning field trips to visit other communities, and continuing the innovative Living Room gatherings. Among our upcoming events is an invitation to lead Peace Prayers at the Storahtelling Yom Kippur Services this month and an upcoming discussion on Israel/Palestine with Marcia Kannry of the Dialogue Project and Sammer Aboelela of Progressive Muslim Meetup.
 
Support the Gifts of lslam at Faith House
 
What better time to join this effort, through your support, monetarily or energetically, to Faith House?  Our goal is to raise $5,000 by September 25, the Friday after the end of Ramadan, as a foundation for the $20,000 in this year's budget dedicated to Islamic Involvement. 
 
Your contribution of $50 supports our online communication and print materials, $100 provides an honorarium for a visiting artist or musician, $300 covers the expenses for one of our twice-monthly Living Room Gatherings, and $500 or more contributes to the Islamic Co-Leader stipend.  Any and all amounts are welcome! Please spread the word to friends and family members who might be interested.
 
Thank you in advance for your commitment and ongoing support to help New Yorkers experience their Muslim neighbor's faith through Faith House Manhattan. Please send your tax-exempt contribution today to:
 
Faith House Manhattan
P.O. Box 552
New York, NY 10028

For more information on Faith House Manhattan's Mission, Vision, Principles and Programs, visit our website www.faithhousemanhattan.org or email [email protected]. 
 
May you taste the brilliance of the Blessed Night of Power. May your every Prayer be answered!
 
Heart in Heart,
 
Juliet Rabia Gentile
Islamic Co-Leader, Faith House Manhattan

Giving Across Boundaries: A Note from Faith House Founder Samir Selmanovic

Religion at its best crosses one's own boundaries with acts of love, service and blessing for "the other." Faith House Manhattan exists as a safe space where we can begin to practice some counter-intuitive ways of living out our faith. After twenty years of my work in Christian religious circles, I have rarely if ever seen Christians blessing people on other paths. I always see Christians collecting money for Christians, Muslims collecting money for Muslims, and Jews collecting money for Jews, or all of them collecting money for a general need, and so on. But the promise of our religions is not a mere promise to our adherents but to the world.  

That is why I think that giving money across religious boundaries is one of the most potent way to sabotage the efforts of fundamentalists of all stripes. For Christians, Jews, and Humanists, this Ramadan is an opportunity not to be missed!  So, this is my appeal to all non-Muslims: Let's help Rabia and Islamic Involvement at Faith House get a strong footing and thrive. Let's reach across the boundaries that differentiate our precious stories and support our Muslim friends in the hard and creative work of making this city and this country a better place for all of us. Perhaps, helping those who are not part of our religion is, in the eyes of heavens, the greatest test of loyalty to God.

Support The Gifts of Islam at Faith House Manhattan. 

$50             Support our online communication and print materials
$100           Provide an honorarium for a visiting artist or musician
$300           Cover the expenses for one of our twice-monthly Living Room Gatherings
$500           Contribute to the Islamic Co-Leader stipend

Other Amount - Any and all contributions welcome!

Please mail your tax-deductible contribution to:
Faith House Manhattan PO Box 552 New York, NY 10028  

Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Karim!

A Ramadan Greeting from Faith House Islamic Co-Leader, Rabia Gentile

O blessed month of Ramadan, welcome. 

Welcome, majestic month when God’s community comes forth and gathers together, leaving the worries of this world behind in favor of worship and devotion, of giving alms, of fasting from the limited self, from food and drink.

Oh blessed month when it is said God’s mercy pours down upon humanity in abundance: a month in which supplications are answered ten-fold. 

Oh blessed Ramadan, hidden within you is the exalted Night of Power or Layl’ tul Qadr, the night that Holy Quran tells us is worth more than a thousand months; the mystical night during which the revelation of Holy Quran was sent to the Prophet Muhammad. 

During this month we empty ourselves out, let go of our limited “i,” of limited ideas and merge with the One. While holding the physical fast, we become acutely aware of the reality of our condition- one of total reliance on God. We become aware that only God’s presence can provide us with the sanctuary we are longing for. 

During the month of Ramadan, the lover of God strives to be a vessel of God’s Mercy on earth, aspires to be transparent to God’s presence in every moment, with every breath, and longs to encounter Paradise on the earthly plane.

Through the openings that come during this holy month, each one of us manifests as a channel of divine Rahma or Mercy, as we live our day-to-day lives. Shaykh Nur al-Jerrahi writes in his book, Atom from the Sun of Knowledge; “The hands of the perfect human being are ya Rahman and ya Rahim, the continuous invocation of Divine Mercy and Compassion.” During this month we strive to be insan kamil or Perfected Human Beings. 

Inshallah, each one of us will taste the beauty and breadth of this Ramadan and realize our true nature.

Ya Hu, (In the Name of Essence)

Rabia

BACKGROUND NOTES from CommonTables.org

The traditional greeting during Ramadan is "Ramadan Mubarak" (RAH-mah-dahn moo-BAR-ahk , “May God give you a blessed month") and the reply is "Ramadan Karim" (RAH-mah-dahn KA-reem, "May God give you a generous month").

In 2009, for much of the world, the observance of Ramadan [begins today] Friday, August 21st and will continue for 30 days until Saturday, September 19th. In North America Ramadan will start a day later - on Saturday, August 22nd.  Muslim holidays begin at sunset on the previous day, so this year observing Muslims will celebrate Ramadan beginning at sunset on August 20th/21st.

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and is observed by more than one billion Muslims. During Ramadan, Muslims around the world get up before sunrise to eat Sahur, the pre-dawn meal. They then stop eating and drinking before the call for Fajr (first) prayer starts and continue fasting until the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib.

Subscribe to free Interfaith eLerts from CommonTables.org

A Muslim Response to a Bombing Plot This Week

~ Sammer Aboelela, one of the leaders in Faith House community of communities and contributor to this website, is Community Organizer with the NYC Community of Muslim Progressives. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Muslims for Progressive Values.

Sammer just left for Cairo, Egypt to visit his family. Couple of days before he left, he and I (Sammer and Samir) met in a coffee shop on the West Side and spend some time discussing the latest in Middle East and then dreaming, hoping, reminding one another why we are doing this community organizing thing. Soon after arriving to Cairo he heard the news about the bombing plot in New York and emailed this letter to us, his Jewish and Christian friends in New York sharing his personal thoughts. Some of the people who live near Riverdale Temple synagogue have been our guests at Faith House and we both met many of our caring and concerned Jewish friends through Marcia Kannry and The Dialogue Project.

Dear friends,

I’m sitting in Cairo now as I write this letter, at the home of relatives with whom I was reunited yesterday after nearly a decade of separation.  I went to sleep last night with a feeling of peace that I haven’t felt in a long time, and woke early this morning to the sound of the Azhan, the Islamic call to prayer, as it sung its way across the neighborhood and through the open window over my bed.

But as I was sharing hugs with my Muslim family here in Egypt, four very disturbed Muslim men were planting bombs in an effort to tear apart Jewish families in New York.  Early news reports suggest that these men were “upset about the war in Afghanistan,” so with a deranged rationale of misanthropic nihilism they somehow concluded that planting bombs in front of two Bronx synagogues and recreating the atmosphere of bloodshed, fear, and loss we experienced during and after 9/11 would provide some personal cathartic release.

I want my friends in the New York Jewish community to know how deeply I sympathize with the emotional anguish that is sure to pervade in the wake of this failed plot.  While we’re all concerned for the wellbeing of our families in this period of economic insecurity, none of us should carry the additional burden of being potential targets of violent acts of hate and terror.  You have no idea how relieved I am that you are all safe from the will of these would-be terrorists, and how concerned I am for your (and our collective) ongoing health and safety.

In all honesty, it is times like these that I wish Islam had some mechanism for excommunication.  I wish that my non-Muslims friends and acquaintances would see me, my family, my Muslim friends, and the American Muslim community as representative of Islam rather than the headline grabbing sociopaths who act in our name.  I’m so sick of finding myself ashamed of something I didn’t do, by someone I do not know, with motives I do not share, against people for whom I care.

Please know that you are not alone in the shock of this news… that good everyday people whom you have never met, and will likely never meet, as far away as Egypt are also distressed by this story.  My thoughts and their thoughts are with you.  My prayers and their prayers are for you.

Peace,

Sammer Aboelela
Organizer, New York Community of Muslim Progressives

Living Room Gathering - Between Death and Resurrection: Where Did Jesus Go?

Between Death & Resurrection: Where Did Jesus Go?

Faith House Living Room, April 11, 2009

Follow the program online at home or feel free to adapt it for your local community. 

Welcome & Announcements

1st Silence – 1 Minute

What does the Bible tell us? 
Ephesians 4:4-10
Mark 15: 25, 33-39
1st Speaker –  Reflections from John Snodgrass
2nd Silence – 2 Minutes

What about Christians who follow Jesus’ way and don’t believe in the resurrection?

Reading from an Ikon Service from How (Not) To Speak of God, by Peter Rollins

It has been said that on the day Christ was crucified a group of followers packed their few belongings and set off to find a new home.  They were so distraught that they could not bear to stay in the place where Jesus had been executed.  So they left, never to return, and after travelling thousands of miles, they set up an isolated village far from civilization.  Once settled, they each took an oath to protect the memory of Jesus and live by his teaching.

Then one day, after 300 years of solitude, a small band of Christian missionaries reached the isolated settlement and were amazed to find a community of people living the sacrificial way that Christ had taught, yet who possessed no knowledge of his subsequent resurrection and ascension.  Without hesitation the missionaries called the entire community together and taught them what had occurred after the crucifixion.

That evening, there was a great celebration in the camp.  Yet, as the night progressed, one of the missionaries noticed that the leader of the community was absent.  This bothered the young man and so he set out to look for the community elder, whom he eventually found in a small hut on the fringe of the village, praying and weeping. 

‘Why are you in such sorrow?’ asked the missionary in amazement.  ‘Today is a day for great celebration!’

‘A day for great celebration and great sorrow,’ replied the elder, who was all the while crouching on the floor.  ‘For over 300 years we have followed the ways taught to us by Christ.  We followed his ways faithfully, even though it cost us deeply, and we remained resolute despite the fear that death defeated him and would one day defeat us also.’

The elder slowly got to his feet and looked the missionary compassionately in the face.

‘Each day we have forsaken our very lives for him because we judge him wholly worthy of the sacrifice, wholly worthy of our being.  But now I am concerned that my children and my children’s children may follow him not because of the implicit value he has, but because of the value that he possesses for them.’

With this the elder left the hut and made his way to the celebration, leaving the missionary to his thoughts.  

2nd Speaker – Pastor Samir Selmanovic

3rd Silence – 3 minutes

Upcoming Events, Newsletter & Weekly Update

Twice a month, Faith House hosts LIVING ROOM gatherings where we share holy days, learn new spiritual practices, and address current cultural and social issues. Each gathering has a specific theme and participatory elements.

Faith House Manhattan also arranges monthly group FIELD TRIPS to sacred spaces in New York City and provides opportunities to SERVE TOGETHER to fight poverty, increase environmental justice and sustainability, and promote peace in New York City and globally.

LIVING ROOM GATHERINGS
2nd and 4th Wednesdays each month

Doors at 6 PM, Program at 7 PM
Intersections, 274 Fifth Ave, between 29th and 30th

All programs free & open to the public. Donations welcome.

Sign up for Email Newsletter & Weekly NYC Updates

Answering Christian Critics of Faith House (Part 2): God Our Stranger

~ by Samir Selmanovic

Throughout the history of human interaction, we have been faced with the problem of the stranger. For every “us” there has to be “them.” To describe ourselves, we have to differentiate ourselves—me and you, kin and non-kin, friends and enemies, neighbors and foreigners. Without dividing the world, we would have no identity. Since the beginning of humanity, belonging to a group has been a matter of survival and, over the ages, multiple identity boundaries have been drawn—gender, tribe, race, religions, nations, possessions, political parties. The stranger is different from us.

We are engaged with strangers in inverse proportion to the distance that separates us. With globalisation, however, the distance between “us” and “them” has been rapidly vanishing. Through the media, in our workplace and in our families, the stranger has come close. Now, the other is not only “out there.” They have moved into our physical, intellectual and emotional neighborhoods. The distance that used to separate us is being abolished and our perspectives are changing.

In this new relationship, we are confronted not only with a new view of those we used to consider “outsiders” but with a new view of ourselves. They see in us what we could not recognize in ourselves and, when we let them, they tell us what we cannot tell ourselves. They have arrived into our daily lives with their beauty, wisdom, and vulnerabilities, as well as their suffering, grievances and aspirations. Like an uninvited company consultant who can see what the company cannot see, the stranger reveals. And that’s the problem of the stranger. To survive we need to protect ourselves from the stranger; to survive we need the stranger to help us see.

In the Scripture, this problem has been inversed and transformed into one of the most potent commandments for God’s people. While the Hebrew Bible commands, “you shall love your neighbor” only once, it commands no less than 36 times to “love the stranger.” For example, it demands, “When a stranger lives with you in your land, do not ill-treat him. The stranger who lives with you shall be treated like the native-born. Love him as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33). In the New Testament, Jesus insists the ultimate judgment of our acts will come from the way we treat the stranger (see Matthew 25:31-46). In the Muslim world, informed by the Quranic texts, one is expected to take a stranger into one’s home and treat him with honor and care no less than three days, even when one is considered an enemy. This may seem as nothing but a simple invitation to a virtue of neighborly love, but there is far more to this insistent call of God.

Abraham, the father of three monotheistic faiths, was ordained by the priest Melchizedek, an outsider to the covenantal family. Although a stranger, he was called “the priest of the Most High.” We have no idea where and how he became a priest before Abraham was called to follow God. Later, Abraham and Sarah were visited in their tent by three strangers to whom they offered hospitality, only to discover they were God’s angels. In what is generally known as the Christmas story, “wise men” from the East who look to the stars for answers—outsiders to the race and religion of Israel—after following an unusual star to Bethlehem, visited baby Jesus to confirm the identity of Jesus as Messiah. The entire history of people who follow God has been held together by the visits, wisdom and care of strangers, people who were not “us” but “them”—the other. Why the other? Why does God insist on speaking to his followers through strangers?

Because understanding our relationship and life with the Divine Other—the Holy One who will always confound us—is inextricably intertwined with our relationship and life with the human other—humanity that also confounds us. God comes in the form of and works through a stranger because the otherness of a stranger is akin to the otherness of God. The human other is a trace of the Divine Other in whose image the stranger has been made. The challenge God poses to us is to see God’s image in one who is not in our image. The less strangers we know the more truncated out vision of God will be.

The blessings and corrections of God come to us from the outside of the boundaries we have made for our groups, through those who can tell us the truths we cannot tell ourselves.  If we could know these truths on our own, they would not be strangers. Strangers bring not only danger to us, but also advice, solutions, beauty, opening for us new vistas into understanding the humanity, the world and God. But the blessing of the stranger goes deeper. When encountering another, we also encounter ourselves in a new way. Each encounter challenges our isolated and ingrown ideas and helps us become our better selves. And this is where the grand invitation of God to humanity lies: without knowing and caring for the other, we cannot know neither God nor ourselves.

Religion has been one of the most potent identity-forming mechanisms. It has bound people together in common purpose, joy and action as well as contributed to the prejudice, exclusion and violence toward the outsider. Now when globalization has turned our societies into societies of strangers, every religion has a chance to transcend its own limitations. We live in a society where relativism—claim that no differences really matter—is too weak to stop the aberrations of religious or anti-religious fervor. Mere tolerance of the other will not do. As Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of England, points out, “Only an equal and opposite fervor can do that. Healing . . . must come, if anywhere, from the heart of the whirlwind itself.”

We are all part of a larger web of life in which “the other” is part of our own life. Those not in our image are, however, in the image of God. In the past, the whirlwind of religious passion came from our experiences of being visited, corrected, and blessed by God. Today, God has not withdrawn Himself. He is calling us to a profound experience of meeting Him in a stranger. For those open to the strangers, the whirlwind never stops.

(from Signs of the Times, Australia, adapted by the author)

The Story of "God In the Other"

~ by Sheryl Fullerton (article from www.readthespirit.com)

It seems everywhere I look these days, there is talk of interfaith this or that, for or against. The impulse either to strengthen boundaries or breach them seems intense, maybe because of the general feeling that change is in the air, that an era is ending and we need new ways forward—or, as some feel, we need to do everything in our power to resist the changes.

It’s from such times of tension and uncertainty and passionate discussion that books are born. And that is the case with a new book we’re publishing next fall by Samir Selmanovic, tentatively titled for now “God in the Other.”

I remember when I first opened up Samir’s proposal. His opening statement hit me right between the eyes: “For years I’ve been talking about three monotheistic religions to nonbelievers. And here is what I hear: ‘At best, Jews, Christians, and Muslims look like three religious stooges in a slapstick comedy. At worst, they look like three brothers with hands clasped in prayer and soaked in blood.’ We have littered history with incredible amounts of stupidity, injustice and suffering. The world has simply had it with us. They are not listening anymore… Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have painted a picture of God that is difficult to admire, much less worship….Either monotheism will die, or evolve.”

When I read that, I nodded.

To continue reading The Story of "God In the Other" click HERE.

The Invitation Home (Part 2)

~ by Juliet rabia Gentile

(This is a continuation of the last week's article. To read Part 1 click HERE.)       

 Konya is a small industrial town set like a dusty jewel in the crown of Central Anatolia. It is famous and widely visited only due to the fact that it holds the tomb of Mevlana Jelaladdin Rumi. Over the years since Mevlana Rumi’s death on December 17th 1273, a mystical order based upon his teachings called the Mevlevi order grew. The ritual practice called Sema that one associates with Mevlevis or whirling dervishes – think spinning figures in generous white gowns with funny tomb stone shaped hats whirling for hours - developed out of an incident in a marketplace right there in the town square in Konya. Everything that we know about Rumi has been preserved by his students and family members and can be found in the landscape or in the hearts of the people of Konya.

My flight from Istanbul touched down several hours late due to a burgeoning fog that wrapped itself around Konya’s empty streets like an old friend. Soon after my arrival the phone began to ring and plans mounted up. The celebrations in Konya were well under way despite the cold and fog: there was no time to rest!

It is tradition that Sufis gather together from across the globe every year for seventeen days leading up to the Shebi-Arus celebration which culminates on December 17th. This event known as the “wedding night” commemorates the time when Mevlana Rumi went to join his Beloved. The anniversary of his death is celebratory rather than somber. In fact Rumi wrote in one of his poems, “if you harvest the wheat growing over my grave and bake bread with it, it is sure to intoxicate!” So strong was Mevalana Rumi’s love for God that his fragrance still attracts lovers of all walks of life, religions and nationalities, some 800 years after his death, like bees to honey.

My first stop in Konya was the informal headquarters of the trip: Dervish Brothers Center. DBC was the place of beginning and ending of all journeys and adventures and was visited by many dervish sisters despite its name. It was a place to make and break plans, listen to music and poetry, sip endless cups of tea and have intimate discussions extending into the morning. Before long I had lost track of the number of dhikrs, impromptu musical gatherings, meals and endless prayer vigils I had attended. One highlight of historical importance was a Sufi dhikr held at the tomb of Shems i Tabriz (the mystic thought to be responsible for the full flowering of spiritual wisdom in Rumi’s adult life). This beautiful prayer ceremony which somewhat spontaneously coalesced after the afternoon prayer in the Mosque of Shems was well attended and miraculously accepted by the Mosque authorities, a quiet, though great victory for Sufi activity in Turkey.

One of curiosities of traveling to Turkey is that everywhere you go you encounter people and businesses selling Sufism and Sufi paraphernalia (not always authentic) to tourists, even while its practice is illegal under Turkish law. You may ask yourself why, at a time when Islam is weighed down with fundamentalisms of various stripes and colors, would anyone want to suppress an interpretation of Islam based upon the principle of universal love? Well, despite changing public and political opinion in favor of Sufism, its practitioners are still vulnerable to law enforcement, therefore making the beautiful that day a great triumph towards further opening the gates of understanding and tolerance. 

Perhaps more than any other lesson this journey to Konya taught me the importance of tolerance and understanding, even when I fell short. When you are in a strange country, speaking a new language the importance of open heartedness and true understanding become crystal clear. You become acutely aware of your utter dependence on the kindness of others and their willingness to cover your faults. It takes truth, sincerity and perseverance to navigate cultural divides and find common ground with the other in often difficult or awkward circumstances.

At home, surrounded by the comfort of “my family, my city, my country” it is easy to become complacent and intolerant. It is harder to extend a hand of guidance, friendship, or love. We think our lives don’t depend on it.

In a rapidly shrinking global world colored by increasing violence and polarization, perhaps now more than ever we are challenged to open, rather than shut down, to question and learn, rather than judge. This realization, which I experienced directly rather than ‘thought about’ was one of the most precious gifts I received from Mevlana Rumi and my journey to Konya. In the shadow of His light I witnessed the power of personal connection. The soul stirring invitation afforded by a warm glance, a smile, a prayer – signals that reach across language, race and religion.

In the airport on the way home we encountered that divine fog once again, hemming us in as we waited for hours in the small Konya airport. In the huddled masses there were various fellow pilgrims from England, Pakistan, South Africa and Iran. As the hours wore on and we shared stories, fruit, tea and tears it became crystal clear that we were all drawn to Konya from our various far-flung destinations for one reason: love.

Despite what shade our skin was, what language we spoke or what lives we were returning to, we were all, in our essential natures, one. In those hours of listening to the stories of my fellow pilgrims, the inner meaning contained in Rumi’s famous verses - the importance of extending the invitation of love to others, despite what we think of them - was revealed. This is true Godliness, this is the invitation Home.

"Come, come again
Whoever you are.
Pious one, infidel, heretic, fire worshipper.
Even if you promised a hundred times
And a hundred times you broke your promise,
This door is not the door
Of hopelessness and frustration.
This door is open to everyone.
Come, come as you truly are."

The Invitation Home (Part 1)

~by Juliet rabia Gentile

Since July my colleagues at Faith House Manhattan; Samir, Bowie, Jill, Lauralea and I have put much energy and thought into building a brick and mortar Home for people of all traditions or faiths, or of no particular faith at all. In early December, following a successful Faith House Living Room gathering entitled, Holy Journey: Hajj and Eid ul Adha, where we hosted various leaders from the Muslim Community in New York City, I departed to Turkey for both a personal, spiritual journey and a ground-laying expedition for an International Conference of Sufi women.

On the lengthy plane ride it dawned on me: Istanbul is my spiritual Home. Home is a laden word. For some it conjures happy memories and warm feelings while for others, like victims of violence or exile, the word signals profound grief and longing for what once was. Growing up in and around New York City, a place forever in flux and transition, the word has meant many things to me at different times. Over time I learned not to settle into one set notion of home. Therefore this thought came as a surprise. Perhaps all of us have at one point or another felt a longing for a physical home-land and similarly have felt a pull inward, a longing to find a personal sanctuary, a spiritual home to bring peace, balance and rooted-ness to our life.

Being a student of mysticism I have been taught to seek and find this center in the locus of my “heart.” Called qalb in Arabic and gunul in Turkish, the heart I speak of is not the physical heart but your emotional center where your soul resides, where one’s true essential humanity is to be found. The door to this home is always open, the entrance always immediate.

Despite this fact, on this bitterly cold day in early December I was decidedly on an outer journey into space and time. I was set to arrive in Istanbul, Turkey for a few days and then make my way to Konya, in Central Anatolia, for the Shebi-Arus (literally, wedding day) festival in honor of the poet Mevlana Jelaladdin Rumi, known as “Rumi” in the west. This trip was a long anticipated pilgrimage which I had dreamt of for years.

Islamic tradition relates that the Awliya or (Saintly friends of God) never spiritually die and therefore old cities like Istanbul and centers of spiritual learning, like Konya –places where many Awliya lived and died, are potent places to visit. Therefore I always prepare spiritually and mentally to receive whatever teachings these visits have to offer. You could say I use these travels as litmus tests or sign posts for my own spiritual journey. Spiritual pilgrimage in all traditions is like a continual Sabbath, a state in which your mind and heart are at peace and open to receive the treasures placed before you by God. In this state of openness, every person you meet, every place you visit has something to teach you.

When I arrived in Istanbul, the city was windswept and subdued by rain. The streets were virtually empty as people took a much needed rest after a week of Eid ul Adha (feast of sacrifice) celebrations. That first morning I met up with a young dervish (spiritual initiate), Kemal, who is a life-long member of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi order (a Sufi order founded in the 17th century in Istanbul). That day Kemal took me around to some of the sights of Istanbul including Topkapi Palace, which holds Holy relics of the Prophet Muhammad and my favorite Tea garden, the ‘Mystic Water Pipe.’ I ask you where else one can sip Turkish ‘cay’ and smoke a ‘narguila’ (a popular water pipe for scented tobacco in flavors ranging from rose to mint) all the while surrounded by floor to ceiling carpets, lamps and stray kittens cozying in warmth? This is perhaps the best way to adjust to a slower pace of life and to take in the ambience of the old world. After a few days of paying my respects and sending salams to the various Sheikhs of different Sufi orders and branches, it was time to prepare for the real adventure. I was soon to depart to that blessed city, Konya that I had long heard about and longed to visit. What I would find there, of course, defied my expectations and proved to be a memorable and life-changing experience.

(for Part 2 click HERE)

Living Room Gathering - Holy Journey: Hajj and Eid al-Adha

~ by Bowie Snodgrass

Last Saturday, December 6, our Living Room gathering was an amazing and inspirational day at Faith House. Thirty-five people came for a discussion about the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son in the Muslim tradition, led by Community of Progressive Muslims! Sixty-five people gathered for a Living Room, where we were blessed by Rumi's poetry performed by Tamir, Persian singing of Haale, wisdom of Andrew Vidich, and stories of Hajj shared by Maisah Sobaihi. Forty people stayed afterwards for chanting, dancing, and prayer in a Dhikr led by Shaykha Fariha al-Jerrahi.

The experience was fabulous, plus a few attendees expressed their desire to come again on the 20th for our big Channukah party after experiencing Romemu's Rabbi David's energy. A feast of food showed up and that night brought the first snow of the season! A day of overflowing, abundant hope, generosity, curiosity, and seeing the dream of Faith House further unfold before our very eyes.

To see more photos of this event and other Faith House Living Rooms, click HERE.

Hip Hop In Thick Arabic

~ by Bowie Snodgrass

Where is the Love?  When Faith House gathered last Saturday to honor veterans, there were mixed feelings about the military and war (not unexpected in spiritual circles), but people dug in during our discussion time and spoke from their heart.  They shared stories about people they knew and loved who were veterans, their own internal tensions about service and pacifism, and the ways in which veterans need support back home... and sometimes provide it, like when a group of vets spent the night in a park in Newark, NJ to watch out for a traveling exhibition of boots. 

One of the most magical and surreal moments came at the end of our time together when a Muslim gentleman who attends regularly pulled a page from his pocket and said he wanted to share a beautiful and appropriate poem emailed to him by a friend.  In his thick Arabic accent, he began to read the words below... The younger people in the group recognized these lyrics from the Black Eyed Peas' breakthrough single, "Where is the Love?"  In that moment, and even as I type these notes, my heart wells up as I start to crack up...  and I feel the love. 

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin'
Selfishness got us followin' in the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids act like what they see in the cinema
Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead in spreading love we spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down
There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under
Gotta keep my faith alive till love is found

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love? 

Transcending Partisan Politics

~ Sammer Aboelela, a friend of Faith House, is Community Organizer with the NYC Community of Muslim Progressives. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Muslims for Progressive Values.

“Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be President?”

With this simple rhetorical question, Colin Powell concisely expressed the frustration felt by many Americans toward the use of the American Muslim identity as a foil for partisan fear-mongering.  In case you missed it, during the lead-up to his widely publicized endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President, Powell cited the rumor campaign against Obama, which claims him to be Muslim, as one of the factors weighing in his decision to endorse Obama over McCain.  Choosing not to simply disavow the claim of the rumor, Powell challenged the underlying bigotry by openly rejecting the notion that being Muslim would somehow disqualify a Presidential candidate.

(the whole thing is 7 minutes, Powell speaks about Muslims at 4:25 point)

As a Muslim myself, I am grateful to hear an acknowledgment of this nature from a figure such as Colin Powell, and was genuinely moved by the way he framed his message.  The optimistic image of a Muslim child hoping to someday lead our country truly caught me off-guard, as did the story Powell relayed of a young Muslim American soldier laying down his life for his country.  Through these twin images of hope and sacrifice, he was able to convey that Muslims share fundamental American ideals – a point that many of us in the Muslim community have been struggling to make for years.

Still, I feel compelled to point out one implication of the rumor campaign that I don’t believe Powell addressed directly enough.  It has become clear to me over the past several years that my religious identity is being used as a wedge to cleave many non-Muslim Americans away from their political interests.  As those Americans who would benefit more from Barak Obama’s proposed tax and health care plans choose to vote against him based on the possibility of his being Muslim, they might just be voting against their own futures, the futures of their children, and the well-being of the country at large (this is just an example of course - not a political endorsement of one candidate over another).

The price of bigotry, therefore, is not simply borne by its targets.  Indeed, bigotry is a form of self-inflicted collective punishment upon a society, and can only be effectively confronted through interdependent action and willful introspection.  As a prominent non-Muslim standing against Islamophobia, Colin Powell demonstrates this point.  For that, I thank him.

As Salaamu Alaykum, Eid Mubarak (Peace and Happy Eid!)

~ by Samir Selmanovic

For the last thirty days our Muslim brothers and sisters have been spiritually on the move, experiencing hunger and thus empathizing with those who are hungry, gathering together and celebrating their community, bowing to God in gratitude for the gift of life. Faith House wishes you joyous Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations with family and friends!

On this occasion, now for the second year, the Empire State Building will shine its world-famous tower lights in green on Tuesday, September 30 and Wednesday, October 1, 2008 for the annual celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr. The lighting for Eid is an annual event in the same tradition of the Empire State Building's yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah. Alhamdullilah!

We are elated about this recognition of the American Muslim community by one of the United States’ most cherished landmarks. In celebrating together with the Muslims of New York City and the United States, the Empire State Building once again shows itself to be a powerful symbol in America’s most culturally vibrant city.  

For those of you who are not Muslims, this would be a good time to turn to your Muslim neighbor, friend, coworker, or schoolmate and tell them, "I am glad for you. Eid Mubarak!" 

Talk to Your Enemy: A Wish for the New Year

~ by Amichai Lau-Lavie, Faith House Advisory Council member, and founder, executive, and artistic director of Storahtelling Inc.

Things got heated during the first televised presidential campaign when Iran was mentioned. Will the future president of the United States sit with the present president of Iran, whose hateful words towards the US and Israel just echoed in NYC? Does talking to the enemy legitimize the other’s views? 

 McCain and Obama probably didn’t know it but their debate on this issue touched on the core issue of the High Holy Days: the art of talking to the enemy.  In the classical Judaic liturgy for this season of reflection, the enemy is often described as a voice within--our personal demons, nay-saying selves that lead us into thought patterns and behaviors we later regret. How does one deal with these inner enemies? Meet them at the table, say the sages: confront, converse, come to terms--but do not avoid that which holds you back from becoming all that you wish to be in the world.

But the enemy is not just an internal voice. One of the demands this season is to confront real-life enemies and do what we can to amend conflict. Atonement with God is not possible until one is reconciled with fellow human beings, says the Talmud. Go through your address book, highlight those with whom you have unfinished business, then take the plunge and meet them at the table: initiate a conversation--no matter what. I know: easier said than done.

To give us inspiration and to make that point clear, our ancestors chose really challenging Torah stories to accompany these days.  On the first day of Rosh HaShana, we will meet Abraham and Sarah and witness as they deport Hagar and Ishmael, the no-longer-wanted-at-home surrogate mother and firstborn child. On the second day, we will accompany Isaac to the mountaintop on which his father expects to sacrifice him in the name of God. On Yom Kippur we will hear the silent scream of Aaron, the high priest whose two sons’ die while on duty, and we will spend three days inside the belly of a big fish, trapped with Jonah, a reluctant social activist.  None of these biblical tales are simple, and all point us in one direction: we need to show compassion for the other in our lives, to learn from and with the other, and even to reconcile with the other--both within ourselves, and within the full ranks of humanity. 

The Torah Service, invented by Ezra the Scribe in Jerusalem, 2,500 years ago on Rosh Ha’shana (Happy Birthday, Torah Service!)--was meant to accompany our lives with the values, found in stories, that will chart our growth and guide our way. The stories chosen for the High Holidays are no exception:  inside each and every one of them hides a coded call for awareness and action, potentially personalized by each one of us, if we pause to listen.

This year, the second day of Rosh HaShana, October 1st, coincides with Eid Al Fitr--the Holiday of the Sacrifice,  the festive conclusion of Ramadan. On this day, as Jews chant the Torah tale of Abraham binding his son Isaac, Muslims recall the Koran’s version,  in which the son bound is believed to be Yishmael. What a grand opportunity this can be for dialogue, for conversation--with preparation, but without pre-conditions--between the children of Isaac and the children of Yishmael, children in bitter conflict nowadays, but whose origin story and legacy of pain is one and the same: the raised knife of their father. How do we get beyond that pain and all those that followed and chart a peaceful and respectful co-existence?  Set the table: start with a conversation--on this New Year’s Day, and beyond. 

May this year bring us closer to having uncomfortable conversations with all respected others, inside ourselves and out in the world.  May we all have the courage to face the rage and hurt, pleas and passions, and invite ourselves to a table with our enemies, laden with nourishment for a well earned feast of peace.

Shana Tova & Eid – al - Fitr Said!

May Peace Prevail!

A New York Event: A Conversation on Muslims in the Media

Intersections is a wonderful new institution concerned with common ground and global social justice.  Together with Faith House they are co-sponsoring an event on Sept 25 in New York City.  Come for insight from the experts, new friends, and human stories that you can't hear on the network news!

The Cost of War at Home & Abroad:  Muslims in the Media
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008 7–9 p.m.
A panel discussion by Muslim leaders, academics, and journalists on the media’s portrayal of Muslims since 9-11 and how it has affected the Islamic community.

DEBBIE ALMONTASER
Founding and Former Principal, The Khalil Gibran International Academy

DAISY KHAN
Executive Director, American Society for Muslim Advancement

ANISA MEHDI
Emmy award-winning journalist and filmmaker

HUSSEIN RASHID
Founder, www.islamicate.com

For a digital flyer click HERE.

All events will be held at Intersections
274 Fifth Avenue (between 29th & 30th Streets) New York, NY 10001
Space is limited; please RSVP at [email protected]

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Also in this series: The Cost of War at Home & Abroad

SEARCHING FOR AMERICA’S NEW FOREIGN POLICY
• OCTOBER 23, 2008 (Thursday) 7–9 p.m.
A moderator-led conversation of diplomats, academics, and practitioners on the political opportunities and challenges the United States will face in the coming years as a result of the War on Terror.

IRAQI VOICES
• NOVEMBER 13, 2008 (Thursday) 7–9 p.m.
A discussion with Iraqi-Americans and recently resettled Iraqis regarding their experiences in Iraq, their new lives in the United States, and their hopes for their country.

THE MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF RETURNING VETERANS
• JANUARY 21, 2009 (Wednesday) 7–9 p.m.
A conversation with the Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, on the challenges veterans face upon returning home from combat.

Ramadan Begins

~ by journalist David Crumm

On Monday, on the first day of Ramadan, a new month-long Web page launched at www.SharingRamadan.info to share uplifting stories about everyday Muslim life during Ramadan. The site is part of the larger and extraordinary online magazine www.ReadTheSpirit.com co-founded by longtime journalist David Crumm. David writes:

    Can you feel it in the air?
    A major portion of the world -- a billion of our neighbors -- are spiritually on the move this month. Their faith calls on them to devote this entire month to prayer and fasting and kindness toward everyone they meet. And, in the end, the month is supposed to draw people closer to God and to compassionate concern for the world's neediest men, women and children.
    If you're not Muslim, this is a wonderful time to wish your Muslim friend, neighbor or co-worker well during the next four weeks. Keep an eye out for colleagues who may be trying to fast right through a challenging day at school or work. Lend a friendly word of encouragement -- and ask a question, if you're curious. I have spent more than two decades visiting Muslims around the world and I have yet to meet a Muslim who wasn't gracious in responding to sincere questions. 

David emailed us today at Faith House and welcomed our sharing a sample of this new series with you. The team behind SharingRamadan invites readers to visit the site and add their comments or contribute their own stories.

Faith is the strongest glue in our lives. It forms our values, connects us with other people and builds strong communities. I am not a Muslim, but I have devoted more than 30 years to reporting on the changing lives of Americans and occasionally on cultures in other parts of the globe as well. I know first hand that the world’s 2 billion Christians, who form the majority of the population in the U.S., and 1 billion Muslims, millions of whom are Americans as well, all play major roles in shaping our future.

In this rapidly changing era, we have the impression that we can connect with the latest news 24 hours a day. In fact, what we see is mostly American pop culture, sports and the latest violent news rocketing from some corner of our planet. In fact, with the crumbling of traditional news media, it is becoming harder and harder to see our world clearly – and it is often just as tough to see and hear our own neighbors much closer to home.

That is why I was thrilled to work with Raad Alawan in collecting stories for this first-of-its-kind Ramadan project, which we will be publishing online at www.SharingRamadan.info On that Web site, we welcome you to add your own stories and your own reflections about the series. As a longtime journalist himself, Raad immediately understood the need for all of us to explore this life-affirming month that is experienced each year by our Muslim neighbors here and in distant lands, as well.

Visiting mosques with Raad and other journalists, we were warmly greeted by men, women and young people wherever we traveled. These neighbors were proud to share their inspiring stories with us – and with you as well. They described their prayers in this holy month as focusing on patience, compassion, kindness and opportunities to serve others – values we all can celebrate, whatever our individual approach to faith.

So, enjoy these uplifting stories and think about all the ways that these men, women and young people are as eager as you are to strengthen our communities.

---------------------

A Sample from SharingRamadan.info:

Bruce Kadoura: "I guess you can call me a born-again Muslim ..."

RAMADAN begins September 1 for more than a billion of our Muslim neighbors around the world. Each day throughout the month-long fast, you'll find uplifting stories here from the lives of Muslim men, women and young people. Please, enjoy these voices -- and share your own comments and stories (we've got convenient links at the top of this page to help you). We begin, today, with a story from Bruce Kadoura, a business consultant living in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Here are Bruce's words ...

You’ve heard of born-again Christians? Well I guess you can call me a born-again Muslim. I’m 60 and like a lot of Muslim people my age in this country, I had the experience of growing up at a time in the 1950s and early 1960s when our Islamic education wasn’t the best.

I’m part of one of the older families that moved originally to Dearborn, Michigan. My father was involved in building one of the first mosques near the Rouge plant in the southeast end of Dearborn. Back then, everything had to be within walking distance of our homes because nobody owned cars. The mosque was a very small building. My family had a two-story flat and we lived in the lower floor, but rented out the upper floor, which was a prudent thing for families to do back then.

Growing up at that time, our religious teaching came partly from various people who would come from other countries and try to enforce their rules about our schools or how we should learn Arabic or how we should follow Islam. They would come and go and this system didn’t work very well. I remember fasting back then during Ramadan, but it was hit or miss. I really didn’t understand it completely.

Muslim Youth Organizes to Defend Baha'is

~ report compiled by Samir Selmanovic

How many times have you heard people ask, where are the Muslim voices against discrimination and oppression? Here is a group of Middle Eastern youth who have come together in defense of minorities within their communities. We (Faith House Manhattan) have already shared with you an interview with Arab atheist posted by this vibrant group of people from Mideast Youth (www.mideastyouth.com). Their most recent effort is the creation of a video to bring attention to the rights of the Baha'is, a religious minority that has often found itself persecuted in predominantly Muslim countries.

Nowhere is the persecution worse than in Iran and Egypt where they have been denied basic rights and seen their sacred places destroyed and vandalized. In Iran, where the Baha'i Faith first emerged, Baha'i schools are shut down, leaders of the faith are arrested, executed, or harassed, and Baha'is are denied the right to higher education. In Egypt, Baha'is are not given identity papers, thus preventing them from attaining the basic rights of citizenship.

A group of predominantly Muslim youth have banded together to speak out against the discrimination. They formed a website, www.BahaiRights.org, which catalogues abuses against Baha'is and have now released a video which uses images from the film Persepolis to make a powerful statement against the persecution of the Baha'is. "When minorities are not given their rights, how can we ever expect to exercise our own?" says Kawthar Muhaib, a member of the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights.

Censeo Productions
Safeguard The Innocent: Video in Defense of the Baha'i Minority

When I was in Europe this Summer, Egyptian Tourism Ad was on CNN International and BBC all day long, after every news. Mideast Youth's first video, called "Egyptian Tourism Ad,"  edited this popular TV advertisement into an awareness campaign for the condition of Baha'is in Egypt. It has been written about in a prominent Egyptian paper, Al Masry Al Yowm.

Egyptian Tourism Ad (Remake)

So there you have it.  Muslim youth is inspiring us Christians and Jews, to act on behalf of Baha'is!  Thank you Jeeeesus! Hallelujah! It is wonderfully interdependent new world. May our efforts help bring freedom to our brothers and sisters in Iran and Egypt.

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To watch the video in Farsi: http://tinyurl.com/63kpze

For more information contact:
Esra'a Al Shafei, Director, www.MideastYouth.com, [email protected]
Kawthar Muhaib, Project Coordinator, MideastYouth.com, [email protected]

More about our efforts to defend the rights of the Baha'i minority:

BBC Persian:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2007/07/070719_si-wkf-bahaiedefence.shtml

Muslim Arab Youth Defend Baha'i Rights:
http://tinyurl.com/6odhqw

MideastYouth.com in the Press:
http://www.mideastyouth.com/press-room/

Burning Rage Meets Burning Grace

~ John Hubers is currently a PhD student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago concentrating his studies on the history of Christian-Muslim relations.  Prior to this he served as the Director of the Reformed Church in America's mission program in the Middle East and South Asia as well as pastor of international congregations in the Arabian Gulf states of Oman and Bahrain.  I (Samir) met John in Boston at the meeting of Interfaith Relations Commission of National Council of Churches held at Harvard University this past June. He told me this story and later send it to me.  It first appeared in a shortened form in the Other Side Magazine, October, 1997.

It’s the summer of 1981. I’m sitting with my missionary mentor in the book- smothered office of a Coptic Orthodox bishop downtown Cairo, Egypt.  He is speaking of the riots still smoldering in a slum not far from where we were sitting. 

He tells us how it started. 

A fanatical faction of the Ikhwan al Muslameen (Muslim Brotherhood) discovered that a Christian landowner had not properly registered a piece of property in the local deeds office. Seizing the moment, they occupied the land, planted a flag on it and announced their plans to build a mosque.  The Christian went to the police to protest.  They made noises, but did nothing.  The stage was set for a drama that no one saw coming and few wanted. 

It happened when the heated exchange reached a boiling point.  The spark was the squatters gathering a mob at the owner’s home with hostile intent.  The owner came to the door with a pistol in his hand.  He said, “leave!”  They said, “no!”  He fired a shot in the air.  Someone shouted:  “Christians are killing Muslims, Christians are killing Muslims.”  And the fires started burning.

For three days violent gangs bearing the name, but not the spirit of Islam, ran wild through the warren of streets targeting Christians and their shops.  A priest from Upper Egypt in Cairo visiting his brother had his head split open with an ax.  It was a low-level massacre.

At the height of the riots a gang approached the local church with gasoline cans in their hands and arson on their minds.  The parish priest saw them out of his office window.  And there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop them.  He had been praying for an end to the destruction and murder; now he prayed for a miracle. 

As they got closer he noticed another group of men gathering in the street; neighborhood shopkeepers, Muslims he knew as friends. His heart sank.  “Dear God, not them, too!”

Then he noticed that the shopkeepers weren’t joining the mob.  Instead they were forming a phalanx around the church.  He opened his window to listen to the exchange.  What he heard assured him that God is good . . . God and his neighbors.

“This is our church,” said the shopkeepers, “these are our friends.  If you want to burn it down, you’re going to have to kill us first!” 

Burning rage met burning grace.  And grace won.  The church was spared.

Our First Preview Gathering: Breathing in ... Faith House

~ by Juliet rabia Gentile

Outside the lavender gray sky opened and a torrent of rain poured down, inside all who were gathered moved and swayed to the sound of the affirmation of unity, La illaha ilallah, there is no reality apart from God. This was the auspicious beginning of the first of three inaugural preview gatherings of Faith House Manhattan.

We began with a suggestion from life: breathe. What does it mean to breathe? In this frenetic place of paradox and contradiction, this city we call home: Manhattan, all those gathered collectively took a breath of fresh air, put aside our certitudes and concepts and moved towards a new vision of what it means to be:  Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or another sojourner. We all embarked upon a journey to find something new: the other.

The Stranger, the guest at the table, these are concepts that play a central role in the mystical traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What does it mean to be a guest? What does it mean to open one’s home to the other? Islamic oral tradition relates that it was the practice of the Prophet Abraham to abstain from eating unless he had a guest at his table. At one time he even waited an entire month without food because no guest or beggar came to his house seeking a meal. In this way Abraham is an example of the most extreme form of hospitality, that which seeks the other in order to survive. Abraham, the father of monotheism, had a tent in the deserts of Arabia, a tent that was open on all sides. Under this tent he invited all to join him and to pray, to feast and to learn from one another. Each one of us has followed his example in answering the invitation of Faith House: by inviting each other to be guests at our house, to seek shelter under our tent.

Just one week ago we gathered and watched as this creation took form, as a modern tent of Abraham was erected in mid-town…

The day began at 4pm with a sound of shofar. The program began with Samir Selmanovic, our coordinator, extending an invitation to all those gathered. This invitation was to enter Faith House with an open mind, to experience “holy awkwardness.” By accepting this invitation, each one of us entered the “living room” of Faith House, a place where one can share a meal, a thought, a dream with friends. A place where one can share a concern, ask a question, ask for help. A place where everyone is welcome to be themselves, to live…

Reflecting this plurality, the three co-leaders, Jill Minkoff, Bowie Snodgrass and myself came forward to each recite the central prayers of our traditions (The Shema, The Lord's Prayer, and Al Fatiha). Lauralea Banks led the group in a moment of silence to honor the multiplicity of spiritual traditions that were not formally represented that day.

Following this prelude of unity, the afternoon progressed with a short guided meditation on ”breath” from the Islamic tradition. This prayer, known as dhikr kafi or silent remembrance, consists of sitting silently and focusing on the heart while repeating the name Allah with each breath, Al- on the in-breath, and -Lah on the out-breath. The goal of this prayer is to drop away from the mind-space, to leave behind the have-to’s and must’s of daily life, and enter the Heart. The Heart or qalb in the Islamic tradition, is a place one can enter at any time and be with the Lord and Beloved alone, a place of refuge, of silence. From this space of embodied prayer we moved into a brief explanation of the common types of prayer practiced in the Islamic tradition. This explanation flowed naturally into another experiential exercise. This time we plunged into the prayer known as dhikr jali or audible remembrance. Those gathered began chanting, La illaha ilallah or there is no reality apart from the One. As the intensity of the chanting increased I began to sing a kaside or traditional improvisational song. After the chanting finished we all sat in silence for one moment before Jill led us in the fun and spirited exercise of “breathing life into Faith House,” along with the children.

This concluded our experience of reflecting on the foundation of our community: Life. This experience opened up new horizons and questions about what it means to be connected to each other and to our common Source of Life, as the life-breath which sustains us without question, distinction or hesitation. 

We can only experience this community with your participation. Without the other, we cannot fully know ourselves. It is the goal of Faith House to invite everyone to this banquet table, to this tent of Abraham, to enjoy spiritual fellowship, to learn together, to grow together. There is so much yet to discover and to share.

Mevlana Jellaludin Rumi writes in his poem, The Guest House:

The human being is a Guest House
every morning there is a knocking at the door
a new arrival: joy, anger, sadness
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor

Welcome and entertain them all
even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of all its furniture

Treat each guest honorably,
for He may be clearing you out for some new delight
The dark thought, the shame, the malice
meet them at the door laughing
and invite them in

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

In this poem Rumi suggests that even what appears to be bitter may be inwardly sweet, may hold some hidden gold, some hidden wisdom for us. It is with this openness, with this sense of hospitality that we wish to invite you to be our Guest. We invite you to bring your hopes, fears, and questions to the door of Faith House, so that we may all learn together, the secrets that have been sent from beyond…

Thank you to all those who have brought Faith House into the world and to all those who will contribute in the future.

The doors are open. Enter in. Welcome to the adventure!

Thank you!

The first big news is that on June 14 about sixty of us had our first preview gathering!  Next week, expect a special newsletter about the event. For information on July 26 and August 23 preview sessions click HERE.

Secondly, after four months of searching, processing a number of applications, and conducting interviews, we have found our three co-leaders!

After the last phone call of this exhilarting and exhausting process, I went to my bedroom/office, sat down and cried. They were tears of happiness and gratitude to God. And to you.

Their names are Jill, Bowie, and Rabia--yes, all women! Click below to read their bios, see their pictures, sense their dreams. They are responsible for guiding, nurturing, and growing individual members and our community as a whole.  Below is a picture taken in my apartment on May 28, 2008, when three of them met for the very first time.

Jill Minkoff (Judaism), READ BIO

Bowie Snodgrass (Christianity), READ BIO

Rabia Gentile (Islam), READ BIO

To support Jill, Bowie, and Rabia, click HERE.

Those of you who have been thinking about contributing but never took time to do it, please take time right now. Click on the link below and help us move the heart all the way across the city!

Samir Selmanovic and Lauralea Banks, New York City

Advisory Council Expands

We are delighted to introduce to you Imam Khalid Latif, a brand new member of our Advisory Council. Imam Latif is a Muslim chaplain at New York University. Under his leadership, the Islamic Center at NYU became the first ever fully established Muslim student center at an institution of higher education in the United States. Imam Latif's exceptional dedication and ability to cross interfaith and cultural lines brought him recognition throughout the city, so much so that in 2007 Mayor Michael Bloomberg established Imam Latif as the youngest chaplain in history of the New York City Police Department at the age of 24.

Imam Latif's numerous speaking engagements and awards have kept him in the public eye as one of New York City's most promising and well-known young Muslim leaders. He has been a speaker at the United Nations, Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall and a number of prestigious universities, including Princeton, Harvard, the University of Massachusetts, Stonybrook and the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, he has done consultation work for the State Department's International Visitors Program and its Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the British Consulate and Parliament.

He has worked tirelessly to foster dialogue with people of other faiths in order to clarify misconceptions and encourage mutual education. In the process he has begun to carve out a much-needed space for young American Muslims to celebrate their unique identity and have their voices heard in the larger public sphere. And our city is better for it! Alhamdulillah (الحمد لله or "praise to God")! 

Imam Latif will also teach Quran and speak at Faith House several times a year. For his full bio click HERE. To read about our Advisory Council click HERE.

Article in New York Times: Young Muslim Video Makers

When Ali Ardekani started fishing around on the Internet a couple of years ago for video blogs about Muslims, he did not like what he found: either the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims were depicted as bloodthirsty zealots, or they were offering defensive explanations as to why they were not.

Scenes from a variety of videos made by young Muslims. From top, “I Am a Muslim,” “Who Hijacked Islam?” and “A Land Called Paradise.”

“Arabic sounds foreign and scary — you don’t know what is going on,” Mr. Ardekani said in an interview at his small Sherman Oaks apartment, its walls decorated with Koranic verses. “Or they show a woman with the veil, who doesn’t speak, and it is assumed if she did speak she would say, ‘Help me!’ ”

So Mr. Ardekani, a 33-year-old Web designer, cast himself on his video blogs as Baba Ali, an outsize character with a serious religious message who both dissects and lampoons the lives of American Muslims.

Mr. Ardekani is among the most visible of a new wave of young American Muslim performers and filmmakers trying to change the public face of their religion. His most popular video posting — “Who Hijacked Islam?” — has garnered more than 350,000 hits on YouTube since July 2006. Of course the uphill battle such efforts face is reflected in the comments section. One viewer remarked darkly, “It’s Muslims that do the hijacking.”

These video pioneers’ arena of choice is mostly YouTube and similar Web sites, which young Muslims extol as a new way to take their arguments public. The role model is Bill Cosby, who young Muslim filmmakers believe changed the perception of African-Americans by depicting them as ordinary.

“They are deprived of any type of representation in the media which isn’t a terrorist or an extremely pious Muslim,” said Lena Khan, 23. So whenever an image to the contrary is seen “on YouTube or the Internet or on a TV show, it just spreads across the Muslim community like wildfire, because everyone wants to support it.”

Ms. Khan has placed several short videos on YouTube, among them “A Land Called Paradise,” which shows a variety of Muslims holding up signs. The sign held by a young boy says, “Broccoli is my personal jihad” — jihad meaning a personal, spiritual struggle rather than its more notorious translation as holy war.

To continue reading this article in New York Times click HERE.

Faith House has published a post where you can view A Land Called Paradise video. Click HERE. 

Islam: Three YouTube Videos to Begin

~ by Samir Selmanovic

The more deeply people know about religions and cultures other than their own, the less perturbed they are be about the idea of Faith House. Our recent Sabbath poem by William Stafford begins with the words:

If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star

The chasm of ignorance about our religions as well as our cultures at times seem insurmountable, even to those who are eager to learn. Those of us in the west might know more about the fantasy worlds of reality shows, Lord of the Rings, or Desperate Housewives than about real communities that surround us.

However, to love our friends, family, neighbors, enemies, anyone at all, we have to know them. One cannot respect what one does not know. So it is with our religious worlds. We fear what we don't understand, and what we fear we avoid. This isolation is a form of spiritual laziness, a failure to become fully human by learning about humanity through humans other than ourselves, it is subsistence really. When we don’t know the Other, we fear the Other, and when we fear the Other, even their words of blessing sound harsh and their words of peace threaten us.

This chasm between cultures is so huge that for many of us this learning task that comes with globalization seems too daunting to start.

But a start is much more than just a beginning. I realize this every time I find the courage to step into an experience with the Other. Most of the time, awkwardness quickly gives way to kindness, generosity, laughter, and blessing. So when I found a saying from Horace (65 B.C.E.) printed on a tea bag paper tag, I tore the tag and put it into my wallet to remind me that entering the experience of a relationship with the Other goes much farther than merely crossing a starting line. Wise old Horace wrote :

    "He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!"

The beauty and depth of our individual lives, cultures, and religions is so vast, I don't think we will ever be anything but beginners. But again, to begin is to make a great progress. If you have never begun learning about Islam (or any of our religions) and people who embody it, reject fear. I invite you to take some time to begin by seeing these three short videos. They are not expensive productions designed to wow you, but simple samples of spiritual, social, and global experience of the Muslim members of our human family.

VIDEO 1: One of the ways we learn about the Other is through their songs. Congregational hymns tell us about the heart of a congregation. Popular songs tell us about the heart of a population. Here is a song video I got from Lauralea Banks, titled Al Mu'allim, which means Teacher, by Sami Yusuf. The video is followed by the lyrics. As you listen and read, feel free to enter a new experience. You don't have to agree with everything you hear in order to feel empathy, get inspiration, and thus finally begin to know!

VIDEO 2: In December 2007, over 2,000 American Muslims were asked what they wished they could say to the world and this is their reply. This informative and at times humorous production is an unofficial music video for Kareem Salama's A Land Called Paradise, produced and directed by Lena Khan.

VIDEO 3: This is a song by Yusuf Islam, known as Cat Stevens. This grand performance of Peace Train was recorded at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, December 11, 2006.

AL MU'ALLIM

Al-Mu'allim (Teacher)

We once had a Teacher
The Teacher of teachers,
He changed the world for the better
And made us better creatures,
Oh Allah we’ve shamed ourselves
We’ve strayed from Al-Mu'allim,
Surely we’ve wronged ourselves
What will we say in front of him?
Oh Mu'allim...

He was Muhammad salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam,
Muhammad, mercy upon Mankind,
He was Muhammad salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam,
Muhammad, mercy upon Mankind,
Teacher of all Mankind.
Abal Qasim [one of the names of the Prophet]

Chorus:
Ya Habibi ya Muhammad
(My beloved O Muhammad)
Ya Shafi'i ya Muhammad
(My intercessor O Muhammad)
Khayru khalqillahi Muhammad
(The best of Allah’s creation is Muhammad)
Ya Mustafa ya Imamal Mursalina
(O Chosen One, O Imam of the Messengers)
Ya Mustafa ya Shafi'al 'Alamina
(O Chosen One, O intercessor of the worlds)

He prayed while others slept
While others ate he’d fast,
While they would laugh he wept
Until he breathed his last,
His only wish was for us to be
Among the ones who prosper,
Ya Mu'allim peace be upon you,
Truly you are our Teacher,
Oh Mu'allim..

Chorus . . .

He taught us to be just and kind
And to feed the poor and hungry,
Help the wayfarer and the orphan child
And to not be cruel and miserly,
His speech was soft and gentle,
Like a mother stroking her child,
His mercy and compassion,
Were most radiant when he smiled

Chorus . . .

Lyrics and Composition: Sami Yusuf
Producer: Sami Yusuf

FOR VIDEOS 1 AND 2 CLICK THE LINK BELOW

Four Stories of God

~ by Samir Selmanovic

For more than 20 years since my baptism (a ritual by which one signals publicly that one has become a follower), people have often given me the opportunity to “tell my story”—to “give a testimony,” as we Christians like to call it. Despite the fact that my life with God was not only passionate but also conflicted and complicated, the story itself was easy to tell. It was all one story. One life. One song. 

But it is not that easy anymore. Today, as early Hasidic Rav Kook did long ago, I find myself wondering which song I should sing. Should I look into my own soul and sing the song of the struggles and joys I encounter within? Or should I move beyond myself and sing the song of my people, my religion? Or maybe I should rise above my Christian story and sing a song of all songs of humanity? Or should I spread my heart still wider and sing a song with all creation?

Is the story of God a story of my own soul, a story of my religion, a story of humanity or a story of all that is? To accept all these stories as the stories of God is to imply that my religion then becomes only a part of the ultimate story of the world, not the ultimate story itself.

Orthodox rabbi David Hartman, concerned with the perennial conflict in Jerusalem, insists that different melodies of one God must be cherished: “Each group feels that its way is the only way: there is one God, therefore there has to be one truth. Christians build their story on the Jewish story and therefore feel they are inheritors of Judaism. Muslims built their story on the Bible, and therefore they feel that they are the perfect expression of monotheism. Now, we’ve got to get out of each other’s story. We can’t feel that in order for me to tell my story, your story has to end. . . . In other words, affirmation [of my story] does not require that I demonise those who are different from me. I don’t have to build conviction out of hate and fear.” If my identity depends on annihilation of other stories, I cannot really sing all four songs of God.

What if God measures our religion by the way it contributes to stories other than one’s own? What if our religions will be judged by the good they bring to their non-adherents? Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says this succinctly: “When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.”

In the same vein, The Quran reads, “Had God willed He would have made you into one religious community; but it was his will to test you in what He gave you. So compete with each other in doing good works” (Quran 5:48). Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University contends that “there’s no more crucial problem for our day than to be able to cross religious frontiers while preserving our own integrity. In fact, I think this the only exciting intellectual adventure of our times.”

So I find it hard to “give a testimony” today without offending people of my own religion whose identity depends on a divided and conflicted world. As a follower of Christ, I have grown to believe in a world that is larger than Christianity. Jesus called this larger world the kingdom of God. It is the symphony made of all stories, individual and communal, our magnanimous God is involved with in this world.

Only God is God. And Christianity is not. Nor Judaism. Nor Islam. Paradoxically, this realization about the greatness of God is a deeply Christian, Jewish and Muslim teaching.

When I pray the Lord’s Prayer, I begin with the first word, “Our . . .” (see Matthew 6:9) and I stop and ask myself, “Who do I include in this Our?” I remind myself that the story of God is bigger than my personal story, bigger than the story of my religion, bigger than the story of all humanity, and bigger than the story of all creation. In the kingdom of God, these four stories are all really my stories—all at the same time—woven together, giving meaning and life to each other.

(from Signs of the Times, Australia, September 2007, adapted by the author)

Introduction to Muslim Spirituality: The Sufi Way

SUFISM MAY BE POWERFUL ANTIDOTE TO ISLAMIC EXTREMISM

(an article by Jane Lampman, staff writer of the CSM, Dec 5, 2007)

Images of Islam have pervaded the news media in recent years, but one aspect of the faith has gotten little attention – Islamic spirituality. Yet thousands in America and millions in the Muslim world have embarked on the spiritual path called Sufism, or the Sufi way. Some see its appeal as the most promising hope for countering the rise of extremism in Islam.

In recent weeks, celebrations in cities on several continents have marked the "International Year of Rumi." Sept. 30 was the 800th anniversary of the birth of Muslim mystic Jelaluddin Rumi, who is a towering figure in Sufi literature and, paradoxically, the bestselling poet in the United States over the past decade.

. . .

to continue reading the article click HERE (Thank you Sylvia for the link!)

Faith House Writing Awarded

~ by Nathan Brown

An article written for the Faith House website has been awarded by a Christian publication in Australia. "A Letter to the Three Friends I Wish I Had" by Roy Naden was awarded the Hindson Award for "Best devotional article" in Record in 2007. The article was originally posted on the Faith House web site on March 6, 2007, and was reprinted in Record with permission of Dr Naden and Faith House.

The Record editors' comments with the award read as follows:

"As one of our editorial team commented after reading this article at the time of its publication, 'That article made me want to become a better person.' Now retired, Dr Naden reflected on his working years, both professionally and personally, and expressed regrets for some of the opportunities and friendships missed, before committing to using his remaining years to make the world a better place and support younger people who are now trying to live in a different way."

Dr Naden is originally from Australia, but in retirement lives in Seattle area, Washington. Record is the weekly news magazine of Adventist Church for the South Pacific region, based in Melbourne, Australia.

NOTE: To read "A Letter to the Three Friends I Wish I Had" click HERE.