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Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/24/01 at 21:13:52
Check out yesterday and today's Times Union as well. A Show of Faith Metroland Residents of the Capital Region flock to vigils, prayer services and memorials for victims of the World Trade Center tragedy A Show of Faith Residents of the Capital Region flock to vigils, prayer services and memorials for victims of the World Trade Center tragedy A silent, somber mood swept over most of the nation on Tuesday. While most people didn t know what to do after learning about the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., many Albany residents took comfort in the various vigils and prayer services in and around the Capital Region on Tuesday evening. At the University at Albany, where more than half the students are from downstate, hundreds of people gathered around the fountain for a candlelight vigil. Most stood silently, many cried, and others said prayers as university officials and students gave speeches in an effort to comfort those who had come out to seek some relief from the day s horrific events. Karen Hitchcock, the University at Albany president, said that she was touched by the number of students who showed up for the vigil. She said that everyone was doing the best they could to comfort one another, and to reach out to those who have not yet heard from their loved ones. Some students, Hitchcock said, had received shocking news about family members who had fallen prey to the unforeseeable events that took place earlier that day, while others were still waiting for news of family and friends. This is a savage, cowardly act that is beyond anything that this country has ever experienced,  said Hitchcock.  Our response certainly needs to be wise and balanced.   Many students from the university s Muslim Student Association were shaken up as well. They consoled one another during the vigil and offered support to other students. Many expressed concerns that others will target them as a result of the terrorists  acts. They fear that some will project their fear and anger against all Muslims in America. We are worried that people will speculate and condemn us all,  said Huma Ahmad, an advisor for the group,  Our beliefs have nothing to do with violence. Obviously the people who did this have a twisted understanding of what they are following.   Soumaya Sebkhaoui, the secretary for the group, said that we all must pull together during this time because it is all of us who are suffering. Our prayers,  said Yaser Hussain, president of the club,  go out to everyone. . . . We are all in grieving over what s going on.   Simultaneously, across town, the Capital Region Prayer & Healing Center in Albany held a prayer meeting. Dr. Bob Paeglow, a member of the center, said that the group prayed for the country and the people who lost loved ones. He said he hopes that people do not attempt to take the law into their own hands in their search for vengeance. I think that as a nation we need to turn to God and come together and pray,  said Paeglow. The Karuna Tendai Dharma Center in Canaan held a Buddhist meditation at its temple. The service consisted of a memorial for those who were killed that day and a meditation period. The evening also included various readings from Buddhist and Native American literature. We want to begin to transform our anger and suffering into a degree of understanding, compassion and forgiveness,  said Monshin Naamon, abbot of the center.  We recognize the suffering of those who committed the violence as much as those who experienced the tragedy.   N.G.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/14/01 at 03:40:18
Times Union Region's Arabs confront tension Schenectady -- Their hope is that Afghanistan will give up bin Laden By THEOLA S. LABBE, Staff writer First published: Thursday, September 13, 2001 Abdul Osmani is used to questions from customers in his Crown Fried Chicken and Pizza restaurant on Albany Street. But there was one recent inquiry the Afghan immigrant refused to answer. "So, buddy, what's the next target?'' one customer asked in a clear reference to Tuesday's attacks and Osmani's Middle Eastern heritage. The customer was black, Osmani recalled Wednesday, still stunned by the overt bigotry. "If a black man kills two or three white people, I'm not going to say, 'Hey, buddy, what's the next target for white people?' '' The exchange went no further. This time. But there is concern that such incidents could become more commonplace for the roughly 1,000 Afghans living in the Capital Region as speculation grows that accused terrorist Osama bin Laden was the brains behind the attacks in New York and Washington. Bin Laden is a wealthy Saudi Arabian, a pariah in his native country and most of the world. Yet the Taliban, the ruling body of Afghanistan that adheres to a strict code of Islamic fundamentalism, has given bin Laden refuge since 1996, much to the dismay of Osmani and other Afghan-Americans interviewed Wednesday. "I want the U.S. to get him and take my country's name out of it,'' said Osmani, who emigrated to New York City in 1989 before moving upstate a few years later. With President Bush vowing to retaliate against those who harbor terrorists, Osmani said, "I'm concerned about innocent people dying in my country because of this.'' A cluster of Afghan families live in Schenectady, where some have carved a niche with ownership of fried chicken or fast-food stores. Others have established themselves in the professions, including a 49-year-old Albany County physician who is so fearful of the Taliban's reach that he declined to be identified. Several of his relatives still live in Afghanistan, he said, and he is able to talk with them only once or twice a year. "The Taliban should not let (bin Laden) use Afghanistan for their base,'' the doctor said. "They should give up this guy.'' Patients know he's from Afghanistan, but he said he's been treated no differently than usual this week. "There is a mutual respect,'' he said. Nasratullah Nematy, 17, is a sophomore at Schenectady High School, where he is one of many Muslim students. He said he has not experienced any hatred from his classmates because of his Afghan heritage. Sami Qasimi, 16, an Albany High School student who came to the United States with his family when he was 2, said he wants people to know that not all Muslims, or Afghans, are killers, and that not all of them hate the United States. Muslim students at the University at Albany have started taking precautions because of incidents at other SUNY campuses. Huma Ahmad, adviser to the Muslim Students Association, said the estimated 250 Muslims on campus were encouraged to walk in groups instead of alone, and women with at least one man. The students, especially women, also have been advised to carry cellphones, and those who dress in traditional clothes or head scarves should stay inside if possible, she said. Women at SUNY Stony Brook reported being harassed, and some had bottles thrown at them. "We don't want anything like that to happen here,'' Ahmad said. Yasir Hossain, a UAlbany junior from Bangladesh, said a rush to judgment in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters is understandable, even expected. "I just hope that people have the patience to find the real people who have done this.'' Staff writers Alan Wechsler and Rick Karlin contributed to this report.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/14/01 at 03:41:42
'Nobody knows who did it' Members of region's Arab community worry that Americans will jump to conclusions By KATE GURNETT and THEOLA LABBE, Staff writers First published: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 Times Union A prayer rug faces Mecca in the library at Hudson Valley Community College. Abdul Haleem walked toward that rug at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday. "I'm just going to pray,'' he said. He didn't get there. The school was shutting down, and a librarian asked him to leave. Haleem, 30, headed to his Albany apartment. He wished to speak with his family but couldn't. Haleem's parents and six siblings are all in the Sudan. He wondered who was responsible for Tuesday's attack, but regardless of that he is convinced it will be bad for Arabs worldwide, including people like him in America. "Here the people, they look to Arabs like terrorists, and we're not,'' he said. "Nobody knows who did it.'' Haleem echoes the sentiments of other Arab Capital Region residents, who expressed concern that Americans might jump to conclusions about who executed the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. Mohammed Ismail, president of the Islamic Center of the Capital District, estimates that 3,000 to 4,000 Muslims live in the Capital Region. The center, in Colonie, ministers to Muslims from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Many have lived in America for decades and are now established in the community as engineers and doctors, he said. Islam, Ismail said, is a peaceful religion and it would be wrong to condemn an entire people, and their religion, because of the alleged actions of a few. "That's the kind of wrong idea,'' said Ismail, a doctor in Waterford. "We don't want to hurt any person and we are among this community. We are law-abiding people,'' Ismail said. "We have sympathy for the people who got hurt and died. That is our concern.'' Rashad Haei, who runs the Twins Deli & Grocery at Clinton and Lexington avenues in Albany, said he often hears customers blame "you people'' for such acts. Haei hails from Yemen, where last year's Oct. 12 attack on the USS Cole killed 17 sailors. "With Oklahoma City, they straight-up said a Muslim did it. And they find out it's an American. Muslim people don't kill kids or women. Impossible,'' he said. Americans, he said, remain ignorant of Arab history or current events. He displayed a copy of the Arabic newspaper Al Hayat, which detailed recent suspected crimes of Osama bin Laden. His customers have no idea that a civil war in Yemen, on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, killed 45,000 people several years ago, he said. "They have to know what's going on around the world,'' he said. "The Jihad people love to die more than they love to live. I wish they catch who did it.'' Farther down Clinton Avenue, residents said they're giving the Saudi corner store the benefit of the doubt. "Some people won't,'' said Shaheim Leigh, 28, a customer at the R & J Grocery & Deli at Clinton and Lark Street. "And some people will. People who have sense, will.'' "I would hope that people would use their heads and not project their hatred onto other people,'' said Denise Watso, 39, a Native American HVCC student. "There will be finger-pointing at several groups,'' said A. Rauf Imam, who was born in Delhi, India, and is an associate chemistry professor at HVCC and adviser to the Muslim Students Association. "To blame anybody, that would be the most stupid thing to do. You just can't jump to a conclusion. The question is: Can we stop it?''

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
Kathy
09/14/01 at 08:26:43
slm Thanks for posting these articles. Our university is primarily Downstate Jewish Students. I wonder if a vigil would go so well that we would be able to show up. It was good of you to go.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/14/01 at 10:53:36
Suny Albany is made up of 1/2 downstate/NYC students. Alhamdulillah the vigil was very peaceful and most of the speakers spoke about tolerance.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/23/01 at 23:50:03
TU Interfaith appeal for tolerance Albany -- At memorial service, representatives of four faiths reflect on losses, lessons By ALAN WECHSLER, Staff writer First published: Saturday, September 22, 2001 Representatives of four religions came together Friday at the University at Albany to memorialize those who died in last week's terrorist attacks -- and ask that Americans not take out their rage on Muslim citizens. The memorial service, which attracted more than 2,000 students and university employees, included representatives of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism. After the one-hour service at the Recreation and Convocation Center, two college presidents and Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings spoke at a news conference to encourage tolerance in the community. Karen Hitchcock, president of UAlbany, started the ceremony by telling the crowd not to forget the values of America -- that everyone is created equal. "Now more than ever before we must speak out and stand up for those beliefs,'' she said. "If we don't seek to understand the context of this tragedy ... then we will have lost ourselves.'' Participants were greeted at the door with American flag stickers, which many people stuck to their shirts. The service began with the sound of the Albany Police Pipe & Drum Band, marching behind a row of the ROTC color guard. Speakers included the executive director of Hillels of Northeastern New York, campus chaplains, a local Hindu, and Djafer Sebkhaoui -- the leader of a Troy mosque. Sebkhaoui read a selection from the Koran that promised the people that their character and faith would be tested. "These are moments of tests, of trials,'' he said. "I'm sure it will make us stronger and better.'' Bishop Howard Hubbard, speaking for 20 minutes, told the crowd how the tragedy had touched UAlbany -- one student from New York had a firefighter father killed in the line of duty; three other students' fathers were missing; and others had missing relatives. "Today we gather in solidarity to pray for those killed, for those who are missing, and for their family or friends,'' he said. Echoing the theme of the program, he told the crowd that hundreds of acts of violence against Muslims already have occurred across the country. That includes Albany, where two Muslim students walking down Madison Avenue last Saturday around 4 a.m. were attacked by six people. One man, a 24-year-old laborer, was arrested. After the program, President Hitchcock joined College of Saint Rose President Mark Sullivan and Mayor Jennings for a press conference decrying violence against Muslims. "We have to teach students to respect each other, every day of the week,'' Sullivan said. Many students said the program helped them feel connected to each other. According to the Muslim Student Association, nearly 50 Muslim students also attended. Many of the women still wore the traditional long clothes and head scarves, though they say they are still subject to "hard stares'' and comments occasionally. Huma Ahmad, a former UAlbany student who attended the program, noted that a number of Muslims were killed at the World Trade Center. "We just don't want what happened in other communities to happen here,'' she said, referring to anti-Muslim acts around the country. "The patriotism that's going on is very good, but people should live up to the patriotism.''

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/23/01 at 23:51:07
TU How many foreign casualties will it take to even the score? First published: Saturday, September 22, 2001 Since this country is apparently organizing its own jihad, its own holy war of vengeance, it is appropriate enough that we calculate precisely how many eyes are required to compensate for an American eye, how many teeth for an American tooth? An American life is obviously worth more than an Afghan life, right? The Afghans are not Arabs, by the way. Neither are the Iranians, but that doesn't matter. Afghans are poor, illiterate peasants. They live in caves and tents and survive by simple farming and grazing, as their ancestors have done for thousands of years. About a quarter of them may starve to death this winter. They don't bathe often or use deodorant. They are dirty, smelly, unkempt and uncivilized. They don't live very long. So clearly one of their lives is not worth an American life. Nor is the death of one of their children a fit recompense for the death of an American child. Hence we must establish for our revenge an appropriate ratio of value. Let's say for the sake of an argument that we will have to kill six Afghans for every American who died in the terrorist raids. That means our righteous revenge will require the death of perhaps 40,000 Afghans. The U.S. military, which desperately wants to even the score for the damaged Pentagon, can easily dispose of 40,000 of them. We will have our revenge and the world will be a better place. Who will miss the smelly, dirty Afghans? None of the 40,000 we kill may be terrorists. Indeed, the terrorists have probably disappeared already. So we will have to kill a lot of the Taliban to make up for that, even if we create new terrorists. However, our leaders have more in mind. Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, has told the world that if a country doesn't cooperate with us, we will "end'' it. That would be a real challenge for our generals. How does one go about ending a country? We would have to wipe out their government completely and any possible successors it might have. We could spray tactical nuclear weapons all over the Afghan countryside, killing millions of people and still not collect any terrorists or Taliban leaders in our net. Then we would have to send in massive ground forces to do what the Russians or British have never been able to -- bring the Afghans under foreign rule. So such a plan imposes another calculation on our revenge. How many American lives are we willing to spend to kill one terrorist? How many body bags with young American men and women will have to arrive before we begin to wonder whether we are accomplishing much with these tactics? It took more than 50,000 deaths for the country to pull out of the Vietnam War. Would that be enough this time? Or will the public decide it wants to reject the war it so enthusiastically supports now? Our leaders tell us that we will have to "sacrifice,'' by which they mean partly that we will have to slip a little in the direction of a police state, but more that a lot of young people will have to sacrifice their lives -- even if a strategy of "ending'' countries doesn't work. President Bush has taken advantage of the fury of Americans to decide that we will fight the first war of the new millennium and that he will be a successful war president, indeed the Franklin Roosevelt of the new millennium. The final result may well be that he becomes the Lyndon Johnson of the new millennium -- a man who used the wrong strategy and the wrong model and the wrong motivation for a new kind of conflict, one that required a more deft, nuanced and sophisticated strategy than unilateral American brute force. It would be much wiser of him to remind the bloodthirsty element in our population that vengeance still belongs to God and that He will repay. God is not likely to approve of a country that tries to usurp his role, especially if we invoke repeatedly His blessings on our revenge.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
Saleema
09/24/01 at 10:09:41
They are dirty, smelly, unkempt and uncivilized. They make wudu 5 times a day and they are not smelly! Nor uncivilized! Good for the westernized world that they use deoadrant for their underarms! The afghans wash themselves after they use the restroom, can't say the same thing for these people. [wlm]

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
bhaloo
09/24/01 at 15:43:51
slm Alhumdullilah good to see people I know expressing their views in the media and setting the record straight.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
se7en
09/24/01 at 21:19:52
[quote] She's a practicing Muslim, identified by her traditional clothing and especially the scarves around her face.[/quote] Umm.. as far as I know Shazia usually just wears one scarf around her face :-)

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
Kathy
09/25/01 at 12:15:46
[quote] Umm.. as far as I know Shazia usually just wears one scarf around her face :-) [/quote] I actually went to the newspaper site to see if they had a photo of her with the article... wanted to see how many scarves she wore! Is she a niqabi?

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
jannah
09/25/01 at 12:16:54
Nope.. she was wearing the ONE regular tablecloth type scarf... non-muslims always get confused...they always ask us.. how do you wear it.. it looks so complex.. etc :)

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
se7en
10/01/01 at 17:04:28
[quote]Ahmad wears long, flowing gowns [/quote] [quote]She's a practicing Muslim, identified by her traditional clothing and especially the scarves around her face.[/quote] [quote]Is she a niqabi? [/quote] Hahahahahha.. I see how you could get that impression :) She wasn't even wearing a jilbab the day of that interview ??? just a skirt and a shirt, hijab and her thug boots.   Reporters are wierd man...

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
se7en
10/21/01 at 22:12:47
[url]http://www.poststar.com/news/local/story07.shtml[/url] Erin R. Coker Photo Ali Reifenheiser gave up his career as a stock trader and moved his family to an Argyle farm. Blue-eyed Muslim Islam's diversity gets overlooked By STACEY MORRIS morris@poststar.com ARGYLE -- Ali Reifenheiser sat cross-legged on a couch in his living room deep in thought as he recalled the circumstances that led him to become a Muslim. The bleating of goats from the nearby barn pierced the sun-drenched silence of the room as he pondered the last 10 years of his life. The blue-eyed blonde Reifenheiser, who grew up in Connecticut, bears little resemblance to the image of Muslims cast across newspapers and TV screens nearly every day during the past several weeks. But he said that Islam's multiculturalism is one of the most overlooked aspects of the religion. "It's a religion, a way of worshipping God and it can be interwoven through many different ethnic groups and cultures," he said. For Reifenheiser, it all began during a high school world religions class, when verses from the Koran, Islam's holy text, first caught his attention. "It answered some questions I was having, like the basis for a belief in God," he said. "The first page of the Koran challenges you to become a believer. It forces you to look deep inside yourself in terms of who you want to be." And he said the message came at the right time in his life. "At 18, I didn't know why I was living, what my purpose was," said the 30-year-old. "Spiritually, I felt empty, this gave me a sense of peace and foundation." Reifenheiser said that specifically, the Koran explained God in a way he'd never seen before. "Previous explanations of God weren't easy to understand -- this was. The Koran tells you things like look at the change of season, the change of night to day, you'll see the presence of God in that. It was written from a different level than other religious texts." His parents were Christians, but their religious convictions were amorphous. "My parents didn't encourage me to be religious ... I never understood the religion, never connected to it." He said he didn't experience a magic moment of conversion to Islam, but underwent a gradual process of assimilating its principals and making them part of his life. "What I read back then always stayed with me. I didn't all of a suddej become a Muslim." College and career It was while earning his history degree at Wesleyan College in Connecticut that Reifenheiser first began actively to practice Islam. His interest in Islam led him to study Arabic in Egypt and Jerusalem for several months. One day on a visit to Jerusalem, Reifenheiser met his wife Jawahir, a Palestinian. The two eventually married and settled in Brooklyn, and he took a job on Wall Street as a stock trader. "An unbelievably draining profession," he said, shaking his head. "A life built on risk." His transition from the heart of the world's financial district to a rambling farm upstate was a gradual one, but with interesting beginnings. Reifenheiser looked back on a wordless premonition he says he got during an unusually ferocious electrical storm over the city in 1999. "I just got a very strange feeling ... that I had to get out of there," he said. "And there was a strong sense of doing what was best for my family." Reifenheiser, like most Americans, was anguished at the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, but as a Muslim, his distress was all the more profound. "I was so upset when the World Trade Center was bombed the first time," he remembered. "I had just become a Muslim. "I felt like someone just took a black marker to Islam and went like ...," he said, gesturing a series of slashes. And Reifenheiser fears the gulf of understanding between Muslims and the rest of the world will grow wider. "How is anyone going to understand Islam or get along now?" he said, shaking his head. Free to worship Reifenheiser and his family live on a 230-acre Washington County homestead, where flocks of sheep, goats, chicken and ducks roam freely. "This is where we want to raise our children," he said of their two daughters and one son. Out of the stock trading business now, he keeps busy tending his farm while deciding what his new career will be. One of the concessions that comes with living a rural life is not having a Muslim community nearby. But Reifenheiser said it's Islam, not its followers, that is the key component of his faith. "Sometimes it's hard to find common ground with other Muslims -- there are so many different countries and cultures," he said. "I pray at home, I go to the Mosque in Troy sometimes ... I give to charity and fast during Ramadan." He also abstains from alcohol, a requirement of his religion which he has never looked at as a loss. "A lot of people who are 'free' are slaves to different things and they don't know it," he said. "What does freedom mean? I can do whatever I want ... I can destroy myself if I choose to. "Everything you're supposed to do as a Muslim is for your own good ... but it's flexible -- you don't have to abandon everything, it leaves room for your identity. The main things is, you're basically freeing yourself to worship God." Reifenheiser said that he and his family have received nothing but support from their neighbors following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In some parts of the country, and the state, the attacks have led to a backlash against Muslims. "I wear my hijab (head covering) when I go out," said Jawahir. "One day I was out walking and saw some neighbors coming towards me and I was scared at first. They told me 'Be yourself ... don't change who you are just because someone did something stupid.'" Both Ali and Jawahir say they don't consider the 19 hijackers who turned four airplanes into weapons of destruction in the name of Islam to be true Muslims. "They used parts of the Koran for their own purposes," she said. "They were not soldiers, there was no war declared. They attacked people who were not prepared -- it was the worst thing to do against humanity." Reifenheiser said that, for him, the true reflection of the religion is in the Koran, not necessarily in its followers. "I think if you judge Islam by just looking at Muslims, you don't get an accurate picture." And it is his religion's principals, said Reifenheiser, that keep him rooted to Islam. "Islam is a very peaceful religion, and it's a challenge," he said. "Being a Muslim will challenge every facet of your life."

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
se7en
10/21/01 at 22:14:21
[url]http://www.poststar.com/news/local/story06.shtml[/url] Stacey Morris Photo From left, Imam Djafar Sebkhaoui of the Masjid El-Hidaya Mosque in Troy talks with students Faisal Ahmad and his sister, Shazia Ahmad, on the campus of Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy following Friday morning prayers. Days that begin and end in prayer Peace is the goal, ignorance the enemy, cleric says By STACEY MORRIS morris@poststar.com "Oh Mankind, we created you from a single pair of male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other) verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is he who is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things." -- Chapter 49, verse 13 from the Koran. TROY -- It's Friday afternoon and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is swarming with students making their way across campus. The theater in the Academy Hall building at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute soon begins filling with students, but not for class. Every Friday afternoon, about 200 Muslim students from RPI and other area colleges gather for prayers on Friday, the Islamic Sabbath. From the theater's balcony overhead, a young man begins tossing prayer rugs onto the hardwood floor below. Following the shower of prayer rugs, they are laid out neatly, diagonally and end to end until the theater's floor is a mosaic of brightly colored rugs. "Allah Akbar..." The Islamic call to prayer begins with the statement that is the foundation of their belief -- that God is greater than anything. The crowd is turned to the northeast corner of the theater, facing the Kabba, the black cubic edifice in Mecca, which Muslims believe was built thousands of years ago by Abraham and later restored by Mohammed as a house of worship. "We are not worshipping the Kabba, but the fact that it is a sacred place because God said so," said Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui, an Islamic cleric at the prayer service. All cultural extractions, it seems, are present at Friday Prayers: Asian, Middle Eastern, European and African, all there for the singular purpose of worship. The majority of the faithful this Friday are men, seated in rows on the floor. The comparative handful of women have taken their place on prayer rugs placed on the theater's stage. The separation, said Sebkhaoui, is for purposes of proper focus. "So their heart and mind does not get distracted on who is beside them." He said that modesty is a principal in Islam that applies to women and men and that both genders are encouraged to dress and behave modestly, especially during prayer. "It's not just the women who cover themselves, men wear long clothing and head coverings also. And in general it's not recommended to touch someone who is not your wife or your sister, like shaking hands. Sometimes it is misunderstood in this culture, but it's meant as a gesture of respect." A prayerful life Standing in the theater's northeasternmost corner are the leaders of the prayer service, Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui and Imam Mokhtar Maghraoui of the Masjid El-Hidaya Mosque in Troy. Following a 20-minute khutba (sermon), the call to prayer sounds again and the occupants of the room shuffle toward the front, standing shoulder to shoulder to begin the prayers recited in Arabic. No matter the culture or country in which Muslim prayers are recited, Sebkhaoui said they are always in Arabic, the language through which the word of God was revealed to Mohammed. For Friday prayers, a succession of two rounds (rakaas) of prayer is mandatory; those who wish may stay longer. When the prayers are completed, most of the crowd scatters, making their way back to everyday life. But a few remain on the prayer rugs, standing silently. Ten minutes later Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui still remains prayerful -- a means, he said, to remain more connected to God. Sebkhaoui was raised a Muslim in his native Algeria and came to the United States 24 years ago. He's been praying daily since he can remember. "People who don't pray miss out on peace," he said. As one of the Capital Region's earliest Muslim residents, Sebkhaoui knows what it is to look a little different from his neighbors, but he's gotten used to it. Sebkhaoui often dresses in the traditional Muslim attire of a kucci (head covering) and kanee (robe or jacket, knee-length or longer); after Sept. 11, he said, the scrutiny has been stronger. "It's common to get looks from people, usually it's out of curiosity," he said. "Now after Sept. 11, you don't just feel curiosity ... you sometimes feel anger." Sebkhaoui said that, locally, he's seen little of the backlash against Muslims that has recently filtered through parts of the country, but he still thinks more understanding and information is needed between the Islamic community and non-Muslims. Surprises all around "They think you are such a stranger," he said of non-Muslims. "They are surprised that it is so similar to Christianity and Judaism, but I am surprised that they are surprised." Sebkhaoui said that Abraham is the father of monotheism and his sons, Isaac (from whom Israelites descended) and Ishmael (from whom Arabs descended) are the tie that bind the two faiths. Muslims believe in all prophets from the Bible, he said, including Moses and Jesus. The main difference, said Sebkhaoui, is that Muslims believe that Mohammed is a prophet of God and received God's word in a divine revelation which is now the Koran. He said the core of Islam is prayer, done five times daily in order keep the follower's connection to God as clear as possible. "There is a wisdom to the times at which prayers are conducted," he explained. "It's distributed throughout the morning, afternoon, evening and night so a person is always in contact." Sebkhaoui said that, in some ways, the devastating events of Sept. 11 have been even more hurtful to Muslims. "Our immediate reaction to it was like everyone else's: pain, hurt, sorrow, anger, because it's a tragedy against innocent people and of humanity," he said. "But when the name of Islam is used for this and fingers start pointing towards Islam, our reaction is 'Why do we suffer twice?' We are being accused and it is very painful." Sebkhaoui said, more than anything, he would like non-Muslims to investigate Islam before they draw any conclusions about it. "I would like them to know that Islam is a religion of peace, that it stands for that which is moral, dignified and honorable -- it works for the well-being of humans in their relationship to God. Muslims are also very sensitive about the pain and hurting of others. "I would like people to learn not to fear and be suspicious ... and that can only be done through proper education and people's willingness to learn. And I would invite people to work hard to learn about others -- not just Muslims but all cultures and religions. "Our enemy is ignorance -- that is the enemy we should fight."

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
se7en
10/21/01 at 22:16:32
[url]http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=68125&BCCode=&newsdate=10/21/2001[/url] 'Jihad' is a path of virtue and not a call to holy war By MOKHTAR MAGHRAOUI, Special to the Times Union First published: Sunday, October 21, 2001 A man journeyed from Yemen to Medina in northern Arabia. He came to join the prophet and messenger Mohammed (peace be upon him and all the prophets and messengers of God) in his jihad against the hostile tribes of Mecca. The prophet asked him, "Do you have living parents?'' The man replied, "Yes, Oh Messenger of God.'' The prophet then said to him, "Go back to your parents and be in jihad (by caring for) them, and by living in beautiful companionship with them.'' Mohammed taught that the most fundamental and virtuous jihad is the jihad against the self. There is always anger, greed, prejudice, hate, arrogance and other destructive ailments to conquer. They are at the root of human miseries. The Koran teaches that sharing the word of God with those hostile in the face of their hostilities is jihad. Speaking a word of truth in the face of a tyrannical authority is a most virtuous jihad. Spending of one's wealth in the causes of truth and justice, and for charitable uses is jihad. The combative aspect of jihad is one other dimension, not all of jihad. Mohammed exhorted his people to be kind to parents, neighbors, women and orphans; to be balanced in their lives; and to avoid harmful elements in their habits, customs and social conduct. He conveyed the divine message that forbade use of intoxicants, honor killings, vengeance, infanticide, abuse of orphans and abuse of women's rights pertaining to education, property and inheritance. The people responded with incessant persecution. Finally, divine permission was given to the believers to fight oppression against a simple choice of faith. This divine decree gave a most curious and solemn reason: "... Were it not that God checks one set of people by another, then surely many monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques in which God's name is mentioned abundantly, would be pulled down ... .'' The Koran teaches most solemnly, "Let there be no coercion in faith!'' This analysis of jihad leads to these conclusions: Holy war is not jihad and is never mentioned in the Koran. When jihad is used without specific context, the meaning could be any or all of the dimensions mentioned above. The motive behind combative jihad can never be to forcefully convert others or to usurp territory and resources. Noncombatants are never to be harmed. No fruit-bearing tree, crop or animal is to be destroyed. Other textual evidence shows that punishing or killing with fire is strictly forbidden. Many are now asking: If these are Islam's teachings, why did the Muslim suspects commit or approve of or incite others to commit the horrific acts of Sept. 11? It is axiomatic to people of sound reason that the acts of a few do not identify an entire group or faith or ideology. When Baruch Goldstein in the West Bank and Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City acted with religious conviction, neither Judaism nor Christianity was put on trial. Hundreds of Muslims and Arab-Americans perished in the Sept. 11 attacks. The attackers' inner motivation was therefore not religious or racial intolerance. Some humans, with or without moral values, actualize their anger and perceptions of justice through immoral and destructive ways against their perceived enemies. They do so by interpreting the texts of their faith or ideology in the most extreme and improbable ways. They do so because their hearts are not at peace. The one who does not have peace cannot give peace. Peace of the heart is attained by faith in God and a constant jihad against the inner ailments of self, such as anger, greed, envy, arrogance and prejudice. If the heart is at peace, then the limbs are at peace. If the heart is in turbulence, then the limbs are violent. All Muslim scholars of the world with public influence have unequivocally condemned the Sept. 11 attacks. (They have spoken individually because Islam has no concept of a church with one representative voice.) At times, however, reaction in the Muslim world can be affected by what is said elsewhere. Although President Bush, to his credit, has said many words to reassure Muslims, he also used the word crusade to describe America's counteroffensive. Italy's prime minister recently said, "We must be aware of the superiority of our civilization ... the West will continue to conquer peoples, like it conquered communism.'' There are, in Europe and the United States, individuals and institutions of intellectual and political influence whose words are heard and analyzed in the Muslim world and the Middle East. They advance a worldview in which Islam and Western civilization are to clash violently. Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter wrote, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war.'' Leonard Peikoff, founder of the Ayn Rand Institute, says that this war "must be fought in a manner that secures victory as quickly as possible and with the fewest U.S. casualties, regardless of the countless innocents caught in the line of fire ... .'' Suspicions and fears exist on both sides. It takes two hands to clap. The mightier bears more responsibility than the weaker. It is imperative to improve intelligence and logistics to combat terrorism, and it is imperative for America to embrace the grievances of the Muslim peoples of the world. America's global leadership role requires it; its ideals of freedom and liberty demand it; and the history of the great civilization of Islam deserves it. Mokhtar Maghraoui, Ph.D., is a spiritual teacher in the Capital Region and is associated with the Muslim community of Troy.

Re: Articles around the Capital Region
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10/21/01 at 22:18:32
[url]http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=68115&BCCode=&newsdate=10/21/2001[/url] Peace and tolerance are hallmarks of great faith By SHEIK MOHAMMED AL-HANOOTI, Special to the Times Union First published: Sunday, October 21, 2001 Islam is not a new religion, but a complete way of life, exemplified by all of the prophets God has sent with guidance to mankind, from Adam to Mohammed. The Arabic word Islam means peace through submission to God, the almighty, the creator and sustainer of the worlds, and the owner of our souls. One who submits his will to Allah is a Muslim and his act of submission is called Islam. One of the greatest duties of believers is to constantly purify their intentions so that their subsequent actions will be noble. The word jihad means struggle, effort or striving with all your energy, spending your wealth for the cause of Allah. "Holy war'' is a term coined by the West in the context of the Crusades and is a concept alien to Islam. Contrary to what has been erroneously recorded by some overzealous writers of the past, Islam was generally spread through trade, communication of literary works and peaceful assimilation. In his 1923 work "Islam at the Crossroads,'' historian De Lacy O'Leary stated, "History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping throughout the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.'' The Koran allows violence only in self-defense: "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you. But do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not the transgressors,'' and "If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace, and trust in Allah: for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things.'' Terrorism is "the use of terrorizing methods of governing or resisting a government.'' Thus, it can be applied to a tyrannical government or to private individuals who commit it without legal or constitutional foundation. The understanding of what entails terrorism is subjective, changing with time. Yesterday's freedom fighters are today's terrorists and vice versa. Terrorism is criminal, but it is a political problem that requires a political solution. The perpetrators must be brought to justice, but military reprisals do not work, traditionally. Violence will only beget more violence, death and destruction. All religious communities must unite under the banner of peace and justice, while calling for a return to international law and due process. The Koran says we must be "firm and patient in pain or suffering, in adversity and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-conscious.'' (2:177) As Muslim citizens, it is our duty to enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, adhering faithfully to the laws of this land, while actively participating in the political process. If there is anything in society that oppresses man and keeps him from realizing his full potential as a cultivated, intellectual and progressive being, we must join the family of believers in whatever society we find ourselves, in eradicating it -- be it pornography, drug trafficking, racism, poverty, subversion of our government's constitution, sexual perversion and corruption in general. One societal ill that Islamic society is relatively free of is racism. Islam has a long history of religious and racial tolerance, which could ultimately benefit any public policy. As Malcolm X stated in his 1964 letter from Mecca, after making his first pilgrimage, "America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim word, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would've been considered white, but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all together, irrespective of their color. Because of the spiritual enlightenment which I was blessed to received as a result of my recent pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of any one race.'' As for religious tolerance, Islam has always been a champion of personal conviction. The Koran states in unequivocal terms, "There shall be no coercion in the matter of faith.'' (2: 256) Islamic society has throughout history protected the rights of its minorities to practice their religion, ensuring that their religious sentiments were respected and not encroached upon or threatened in any way. The Koran elucidates so beautifully in what light the adherents of other faiths are perceived. "Those who believe in the Koran, and those who follow the Jewish scriptures and the Christians and the Serbians and any who believe in Allah and the Last Day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.'' Where did the Jews of Spain flee when they escaped the Spanish Inquisition? The Muslim lands, especially Palestine, welcomed them and afforded them, not only protection, but in time, positions of power and influence. Far from being incompatible with the West, Islam shares the same values as the "People of the Book'' and draws its inspiration and teachings from the same source, the One God, the Creator and Cherisher of the Universe. There is no conflict between science and theology, revelation and reason; they are all branches of the same tree. It is present-day ignorance of Muslims in their interpretation and practice of their faith that has caused their humiliation and demise. Sheik Mohammed Al-hanooti is the imam at the Islamic Center of the Capital District in Colonie.
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