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| American Islamic College in Chicago... |
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| UmmHurrairah |
| 04/26/03 at 19:48:09 |
| [slm] :-* Before I get to the subject at hand...just would like to introduce myself, a little bit... since I'm a newbie. ::) I'm Sis Sarah :-) from Chicago, a student in high school. It's nice to meet you all. Pepsi for everyone... [] MashaAllah, I love reading the posts people put up. You all really do brighten my day. :-* Allah ya barak lik... May the blessings of Allah (swt) keep you happy... :) I also wanted to inquire...does anyone know much about American Islamic College in Chicago? I have been to their website and I'm very much interested in being a student there. I know there is one member on the message boards, named HIMY, who is an alumni from that college...he or she posted it up on one of the boards. Does anyone know who HIMY is and how I could contact he or she? JazakAllah khair. Tawakkal AlaAllah.. Allah is the Sole disposer of all affairs... [wlm] Sis Sarah aka UmmHurrairah >^o.o^< |
| Am. Islamic College in C'go. http://www.AICusa.edu |
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| SuperHiMY |
| 04/27/03 at 15:55:17 |
| . AsalamAlayKum Sister Sarah. Nobody EVER asks me what you just asked me, You being a high school student, Perhaps If I go back and recall what was going on in HiMYworld when I was a high school student and trying to decide about college, you might find something of value to help you now...? Let's have a go... A.I.C., or American Islamic College, is in the North Side of Chicagoland at '40-hundred' (as ChicagoLand People say) north at Irving Park and Marine Drive. You know that 'OTHER' building with the white band of light, just like at the top of the John Hancock Tower? But it's an apartment building in the near north side? AIC is right across the street from that building. AIC is Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Building, hence the architecture is protected as a National Historic Site, meaning the city can't 'destroy' the building though they may dislike the fact that it is an Islamic Institution right in the heart of one of the best middle to lower-middle class neighbourhoods in the City. It was founded by Professor T.B. Irving in 1983/1984. Prof. T.B. Irving passed away only months ago, (May Allah, Glorified and Praised be He, mave mercy on T.B. Irving's soul, amen.) http://tyo.ca/islambank.community/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=973 In many ways, A.I.C. as an institution reflected the frustration that T.B. Irving experienced in his own life. ([i]in my opinion and to the best of my personal knowledge.[/i]) T.B. Irving,(R.A.) was born in Hamilton Ontario. At age 14, he experienced an event that echoes the acceptance of Islam by the fourth Caliph of Islam, Ali (R.A.) at age 9. At age 14, by himself, T.B. Irving rejected the Trinity and went looking for Tauhid. He found it in Qur'anic Islam. Fast forward, after getting his Ph.D., he went on to found 'spanish studies' departments at three different universities. Well, to understand Spanish History, you have to learn about the 'Islamic Presence' in Spain. To understand that Islamic Presence in Spain, well then, you hafta learn 'ARABIC'. ....hmmm...really? oh. (hehehe) As each university ended up with an 'islamic' curriculum, though labeled as Spanish studies, or Spanish Language, or Spanish/European History, He would move on to the next university and duplicate his quiet-silent-dawah-program. It was his 'American English' Translation of the Qur'an where I found on the flap jacket of the beautiful blue dust cover of the hard bound copy, the words 'American Islamic College'. Hunh? What? What's that? A 'Muslim' College? In ...Chicago...? Al Capone? Islam? Hunh? A year later I'm sitting in the admissions office of A.I.C.. It was March Break. My final final final final final Year of High School in Ontario. ( I dropped outta high school three times intentionally, then decided to drop back in). I took that march break as an opportunity to visit Chicago and the College. Hundreds of students, or so I understood, attended. It was 1989 and they'd already graduated two classes of students. Granted the college was founded only 4-5 years before, yet those baker's dozen of students stuck it out and graduated with degrees in Islamic Studies and degrees in Arabic Studies, and certificates that they were all qualified to be an Iman for any given Masjid. MashAllah, this sounded cool.... Many of the students were on 'scholarships' with money being sent from Saudi. Okay, low tuition, $2,140.00 for the ENTIRE YEAR. Books totaled a coupla hundreds bucks! Dang! this got better and better! Having basically walked off the street, the professors I met rather 'recruited' me to attend their college rather than the usual way of student begging the school to accept [i]them[/i]. A warning flag SHOULD have gone off in my head. But I was too inexperienced in life to understand something was incorrect here. Why were they soooo enthusiastic about getting me to be a student? I was very clear, I only wanted to learn 'Islamic-Banking'. Interest-Free Banking. Even as a 7 or 8 year old, I just instinctively knew 'Interest' was stupid. I had applied to Jeddah, Riyadh, Cairo, other universities in the muslim-populated world, for the sole intention of learning 'islamic-economics'. Strange eh? All the students in the Muslim-East ARab world and Pakistan and Africa do everything they can to leave and study in the NOrthern World's Universities, yet here I was trying to do the opposite. People could not understand why I wanted to do such a thing. As the 'rejection' letters would arrive, I realized NONE of the letters I were getting back from the arab world's univerisities were 'rejection letters' at all. It was just that NOBODY EVER applies TO their Universities FROM Canada. They had no mechanism to handle my application. So I kept getting back handwritten arabic language letters saying all kinds of stuff that didn't really help. I'd take those letters to the Jami MOsque here in Toronto and ask whichever arabic speaker was in the masjid office at the time to translate those letters as I only spoke english/french and a splattering of desi-lingo (yaaarrrr). It was during one of those times that Sheikh Abdullah Hakim, who was the imam of the Masjid, found out for the first time what I wanted to do, learn islamic interest-free banking. He revealed to me that the economics taught over there was basically Keynesian (Riba-Interest) economics which was the same as was taught at the U of T (University of Toronto), but only in Arabic. Abdullah Hakim Quick was one of the FIRST americans to travel to Madinah and earn a masters degree in Islamic Studies from Madinah University. He KNEW exactly the frustration I was feeling.... I asked how I should learn what I wanted to learn? He hinted to skip college and just get a job, any job, with an 'islamic bank' and since they were all just figuring it out at the time, this was 1987-1988-1989, I'd be learning real islamic banking on the job, which was NOT being taugh anywhere in the world at the time. 1989. Strange year. Chicago, with its hundreds of thousands of Muslims living there, did NOT support the American Islamic College. I learned personally about it so what I am typing out here has to be said somewhere... Muslim Families in Chicago could have sent their college aged kids for ONE semester or ONE YEAR or ONE SUMMER or even ONE NIGHT CLASS.... they did not. What they did do, is send the 'stupidest' kid in their family to learn Islam. They sent, and still send, their smartest child(ren) in the family to DePaul University or NorthWestern or UC on the SouthSide, or even Truman College just off the El Stop north of Sheridan avenue. But teach their kids Islam? At the College Level? No. When I got there in the fall of 1989, I wondering where everybody was? Oh they said I was 'early'. All the students would be coming in the next few days or a week's time. Well, I got my choice of Dorm rooms, since I was first, I chose well... Close to the Wudu facilities and near the steps and main door and cafetaria... Still Cool I thought. But where was T.B. Irving? Still listed as the 'Dean' of the College, I wanted to meet this great Muslim Scholar who translated the Qur'an into an english I grew up with, not a translation with all the bible-language 'thous' and 'thees'.... What happened inbetween my March interviews and August arrival at AIC? Somebody, I never found out who or exactly what the issue was, someone wrote a letter to the saudi money backers, who were underwriting many of the scholarships for the hundreds of students working towards their Bachelor's in Islamic Studies or Bachelor's in Arabic Studies.... Now back up a moment, AIC in 1989 had a YEARLY TUITION including books, of less than $2,500 ! It wasn't that much money! Really, it wasn't. Kids with part time jobs, could actually complete a degree in Islamic Studies, and graduate debt-free. BUT, once the magic-money-faucette of Saudi scholarships was turned off, the local ChicagoLand muslim families withdrew their kids from AIC. ....uuhhh... and [i]where[/i] did those kids go? OH. Their muslim parents got them into secular state univerisities, private and public and they PAID for it too. Maybe that's why the muslim community in Chicago...well.... sucks is not the correct word... but Sister Sarah, I am sure you know what I mean.... NOT the african-american-muslim community of chicago, mind you, i always encountered sincerity from this local part of the ummah. As for the (cough cough) desi and arab (cough cough) muslims in Chicagoland supporting the American Islamic College? .....I still need cough syrop. What did that letter say? The one that got the money turned off? I dunno. Though I can guess that some of the Professors were trying to teach Islam, and NOT 'Saudi-Islam' aka wahhabi stuff, mighta been the issue. I was NEVER exposed to anything 'wahhabi'-related during my time at AIC. maybe that WAS the problem? That whoever was underwriting all the scholarships was disappointed that AIC was taking the money, and teaching Islam instead of a politcal position...? Again, this is only a guess... SO it takes me a full week or ten days to figure all this out...Now what do I tell my parents? do I Drop out of THIS situation too? The semester had begun and well, Sometimes what you learn in College is not taught IN the classrooms. I took that realization and made the best of it... The college, The American Islamic College, the FIRST Muslim owned and operated Degree-granting educational institution to be established in the Western World in the last five hundred years, not since before the Spanish Inquisition, had muslims owned an independent college or university that was truly theirs INSIDE the Western World. The College, AIC, never recovered from that summer before I arrived for my first semester.... Epilogue: My dear young looking-for-a-muslim-college, sister-in-Islam, Sarah. Visit AIC and attend Juma Salat there just once. Talk to the few sisters there. Walk around the halls, wander into the library then walk out....the doors are always unlocked. From the MuSalah-Masjid on the second floor of the Dorm building, walk to the 'common room' and look out over Marine Drive, beyond the golf course and to Lake Michigan... Feel the warm fresh water air as the breeze weaves its way into the common room's giant Frank Lloyd Wright designed windows and look at the strange shapes that spot the orange carpeted floors as sunlight trickels through the architecture of the open windows... Look back out the window, this time to squint your eyes and look south down Marine Drive and Sheridan Avenue to distant Michigan Avenue and the Loop. Then walk down the stairs, exit the AIC campus, hop on to the 141 or 140 bus south to Michigan Avenue South.. Pass over Wacky Drive (okay, it's called WACKER, but I just could never say wacker drive without thinking how stupid that road was with all its twists and turns...). Exit at the 800 Block South on Michigan, and walk right into . . . . . EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY. Ask for and then Fill out the Application forms, pay the 30 bucks app fee.. Sign where it says X._______________. ONCE you're IN, then ask for a tour of the school and talk to the students. InshAllah, you will discover East-West University is one of the best kept secrets of the Islamic World, and it is right downtown, in your very own backyard, ChicagoLand, across from Grant Park and in walking distance to the Downtown Islamic Center. InshAllah, you'll find yourself scratching you head and thinking, How come nobody told me about East-West U ? For me, I guess my head wasn't itchy enuff when I was 19 and in Chicago. Your bro in T.O. (toronto ontario) ~ HiMY! ~ p.s. [url=http://tyo.ca/islambank.community/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1196]CLICK HERE[/url] to read the complete story, but here's an excerpt: Open Admissions [i]Khan ... put together $50, 000 in seed money to start a new inner-city college. As such, it was designed to serve the most disadvantaged of students through an open admissions policy, and by helping them obtain financial aid. The university's first graduating class of 1983 had 9 members; its last in June 2001 had 75. Of the school's eight degree granting programs, computer science and business administration rank one and two in popularity. Full- and part-time university-wide enrollment now exceeds 1,000 students for the first time. The majority, 68 percent, are African-American. While Saudi oil money may have gotten Khan's East-West University started, today "we're a tuition driven school," he said.[/i] That excludes, however, the Institute of Islamic Studies program, which is free. [i]In fact, students are basically paid to attend.[/i] Those who complete the program's coursework receive a $2,610 tuition credit, explained Zafar Abbas Malik, the university's Director of Publications.[i] During the Fall 2001 term, Islamic studies drew 72 students, 25 of whom Khan estimated were Muslim. (While there is no official census data regarding the number of Muslims that reside in the six-county Chicagoland area, Khan organized an extensive demographic survey in1994 - 1995which put the estimated Muslim population at285 ,126. Statewide, the study found320 ,744. The largest ethnic Muslim groups represented in the Chicago-area were African-American, 46 percent; Arab, 20 percent, and South Asian,19 percent.) [/i] |
| Re: American Islamic College in Chicago... |
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| UmmHurrairah |
| 04/27/03 at 20:52:22 |
| [slm] :-* JazakAllah khairun brother for your long, 5-page, thorough response. It was a joy to read. :-X I feel blessed... I was very glad that you replied, Alhamdulillah. So, now I guess I have to check out East-West University. I tried going to their website, but it seems it isn't working. I'm not sure why... ??? Oh well...I think I'll take my parent's out to Chicago and check out both colleges, inshaAllah. It be neat to follow the steps you showed me, will keep it in mind and let you know if it ever happens. :) Brother, just wondering.. did you go to school at East-West University? Do they have anything else besides computer science and business degrees... I'm more into english communications and psychology. See.. I'm not quite sure what major I want to do yet. I really want to strengthen my eeman first, so I can atleast put some things into perspective..like what profession is best for me. It would be neat to go to a school that incorporates Islam into Psychology... or English Communications into Islam... I'm not sure.. all I know is... I want to have some kind of Islamic Studies and Arabic degree.. inshaAllah.. My mother thinks otherwise though.. I printed out your response and showed my mom.. and she misconstrude most of what you said. It's alright though, she wants me to go to a secular university as you said.. a state school. Honestly, I'm not interested in going to University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.. I don't know.... I feel those schools wouldn't help me much with trying to strengthen my eeman...I really want to know what Islam is about, and I do know.. that there is a complete difference between book smart and actually acting upon what you learn. I'm thinking, inshaAllah..if there is some kind of Islamic atmosphere, support, then it's got to help me with implementing the deen more..that, and myself too, got to motivate myself. That's what I'm looking for inshaAllah. Shookrun ikteeeeeeeer. Allah Ya Barak Lik brother... [wlm] :-) Sis Sarah aka UmmHurrairah >^o.o^< |
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