RAmAdAn kAReem!PosteR cAlendARsinside this issuePG 6

exPAnded RAmAdAn content PG 16

Muharram|Safar|Rabi Al-Awaal |Rabi Al-Thani| Jumada Al-Awwal|Jumada Al-Akhir|Rajab|23 Shaban, 1433|Ramadan|Shawwal|Thul-Qedah|Thul-Hijjah

PG 27

The Muslim Link Coupons

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

ISLAM: Crying in Front of Allah - It’s Not impossible | pg 16

ISLAM: Facebook Fasting | pg 16

ISLAM: What The Prophet Did In Sajdah | pg 17

CIVIL: Islamophobia: A Bipartisan Project | pg 15

Muslim Authors Invest In Future With Children Books | pg 5

MIST Diaries: D.C. Takes Third Place Overall in Toronto | pg 4

>> blackout Pg 20

Shedding Light On A 6-Day Black OutBy Yaman ShalabiMuslim Link Staff Reporter

It was Friday night, and all I could think about was get-ting through the last week of summer session one classes. My weekend was planned out:

Saturday: Read a 400-page book about the 1972 elec-tions and work on my final 6-10 page paper for Politi-cal Reporting for the 2012

Maryland Resident Reflects On June 29 Derecho Storm

Dar Al-Hijrah Oasis of Light During Power OutagesBy Mahmood KibriaMuslim Link Contributing Writer

On Friday, June 29, 2012 one of the strongest sum-mer storms in years hit the DC region leaving more than one million homes without power. Fuel by the high temperatures and hu-midity, the storm generated winds of up to 80 mph.

In Falls Church, Virginia, tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power, but the Dar-Al-Hijrah Is-lamic Center was not one of

them. All around the masjid houses were dark, but the lights remained on at the masjid.

The masjid leadership de-cided to extend their neigh-borly help to those who needed it, sweltering in hot homes with the tempera-tures into triple digits. The masjid would be a regional “cooling center”, open for the general public all day from fajr until 11 PM. Cold drinks and snacks were of-

>> outages Pg 21

WPRESS: Morsi Takes “Servant” Leadership of Egypt | pg 8

WPRESS: Islamic Personality ‘12: Sheikh Yusuf Estes | pg 9

2 3 S h a b a n - 7 R a m a d a n , 1 4 3 3 A . H . | w w w. M u s l i m L i n k P a p e r. c o m July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 md, VA, and dc metropolitan Area Bi-Weekly newspaper | FRee

Like & Follow us

The Muslim Link

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 2 | ADVERTISEMENT

I S B S U M M E R F E S T 2 0 1 2 S a t u r d a y ,   J u l y   1 4 t h     1 2 PM   –   8 PM  

Islamic  Society  of  Bal=more  6631  Johnnycake  Road    Bal=more,  MD  21244    

F r e e A d m i s s i o n !  ¥  Call  of  Duty  –  

 MW3  Tournament  ¥  Laser  Tag  Arena  

¥  Grand  Bazaar  –  70+  Vendors  ¥  Boot  Camp  Obstacle  Course  

¥  Talent  Show  ¥  Rock  Climbing  ¥  Rep=le  Show  

¥  The  Wrecking  Ball  –    18  Person  Ride!  

¥  Pony  Rides  ¥  Interna=onal  Food  Vendors  ¥  Bumper  Cars  &  Carnival  Games  ¥  Face  Pain=ng  &  Henna  ¥  Ul=mate  Volleyball  ¥  …and  much  more!  

Purchase  Wristbands  Online  @  isb.org/summerfest  For  more  informa+on,  sponsorship  or  vending  inquiries  please  contact  summerfest@isb.org  

Special thanks to our sponsors for giving back to the community:

Helping Hand USA www.hhrd.org

www.azzad.net

www.irw.org

www.dashuran.com

www.accessdentalcare.com  

410.719.0063

www.pizza786.com 410.242.4342

443.200.3671

CPA Muhammad A. Khan

443.743.2525

Diamond Security 410.455.9791

Rolling Road Pharmacy!410-788-8149!

Sign Xpert!410-764-2240!

Fahad Y. Naroo CPA

410.630.0033

Get  Your  Ramadan  &  Eid  Shopping  Here…!  

410.298.4500  

....

| 3July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 INDEX

inside This issue03 Community News

14 Civil RightsAccess Dental Care

c a r i n g f o r y o u r c o m f o r t

Mujtaba Yahya, DDSAamir Sheikh, DDS, MSSeema Bateson, DDS

Your family dentists

Call 301.776.6666 | 9105-0 All Saints Road, Laurel, MD 20723 www.AccessDentalCare.com

08 World Press

03 Islam

16 Opinion

Investing involves risk. The Azzad Mutual Funds are not FDIC Insured and you may lose money. The Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the Funds and may be obtained by calling 888-350-3369 or by visiting www.azzadfunds.com. Please read it carefully before investing. The Funds are self distributed. Azzad Asset Management is the investment adviser. The services and products described here are intended to be made available only to persons in the United States. This advertisement should not be considered an offering or solicitation for non U.S. persons.

Azzad Wise Capital Fund (WISEX)first halal fixed income fund

Azzad Ethical Fund (ADJEX)halal equity mutual fund

Available at Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab & More!Invest for a child’s college education, your retirement or any

other long term savings goals. Learn how the funds can help you meet challenges in different market environments,

call us at 888.862.9923 or visit us online at www.azzadfunds.com

Diversify your halal portfolio with the Azzad Mutual Funds.

CORRECTIONIn our story “Maryland Leadership Organization Launches Na-tional Scholarship Program” (June 29, 2012 issue of the Muslim Link), we incorrectly stated that Scholars for the World is a project of the Islamic Leadership Institute of America. In fact, Scholars for the World is an individual organization partnering with the Islamic Leadership Institute of America, not a branch of ILIA. Scholars for the World is the primary fundraiser for the scholarships discussed in the article, while ILIA is a partner who will hold and distribute the funds collected for the scholarships. We regret the error.

.... .

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 4 | COMMUNITY NEWS

AdvERTIsERs INdEx To Advertise Call 301.982.1020ACCOuNTING & FINANCEAzzad Asset Management | 3

CLOThING & ACCEssORIEsRahma International Store | 31

dINING OuTAntonios NY Pizzeria | 28Planet Pizza | 28Pizza 786 | 28Pizza Roma | 28Silver Spoon Kabobs | 28Food Factory | 36

EvENTs & ACTIvITIEsIslamic Relief USA | 39Fundraising Islamic Society of

Annapolis | 7IRHSCA F-raising Honors Dinner | 13ICM Bazaar, Eid boutique, Sale | 9Balady Farm LLC | 33ISB - SummerFest 2012 | 2MWB - Rise for the Brave | 10

hEALTh CAREWilloughby Beach Pediatrics | 31Fazil Alie & Assoc Dentistry | 32Little River Chiropractic Clinic | 32Access Dental | 3Honeyderm Inc | 38

hOME & REALEsTATEMuslim Ali | 31

LEGAL sERvICEsMelvin Bilal | 35Kemet & Hunt LLC | 35Sarah Malik | 35Wani & Associates | 5Law Office of Khalid Mahmood | 8

PROFEssIONAL sERvICEsAP Quality Training Inc | 29Vima Jewelry | 12Pro Home Service and Repair | 31NOA Consulting Group LLC | 8Sanjar Media LLC | 29Mass Accounting & Tax Corp | 311 4 Muslims | 29PHD Salon Barber Shop | 31

RELIEF ANd AIdHelping Hand | 11Zakat Foundation | 5

TRAvELRendezvous Travel | 40Aqra Travel | 34Zam Zam Travel and Tours | 15Worldwide Travel | 30

-------------------------------------------------------------------To advertise in the Muslim Link please call 301-982-1020 or email us at office@muslimlinkpaper.com

MIST Diaries: D.C. Takes Third Place Overall in TorontoBy Aisha Khatib, Urooj Fatima, and Anhar KarimMuslim Link Staff Writers

The 2012 Muslim Interscholastic Tour-nament (MIST) Nationals tournament took place this weekend, ranging from July 6-8, 2012 in Toronto. The Wash-ington D.C. region sent a team of more than 90 high school competitors, coach-es, organizers and volunteers to the competition, hoping to win first place overall for the third year in a row. In the end, the bright young competitors of D.C. took home the third place trophy, with New York winning second and To-ronto taking first.

All in all, the students enjoyed the expe-rience, and three interns from the Mus-lim Link, Aisha Khatib, Urooj Fatima, and Anhar Karim, documented their thoughts in diaries all weekend.

Friday, July 6th, 2012

Anhar Karim:MIST Nationals 2012 in Toronto, Can-ada. It was finally here. I’d been wait-ing for this event ever since regionals. MIST offered bus transportation there,

but I ended up driving there with my parents. On the way there we met up with some of our cousins and other family in New York. As I spent time with them I thought about the history of our family and everything that we were. I thought about how because of my family’s past, I am what I am today. At that moment my family amazed me, and that is exactly the spirit behind this year’s MIST theme: Family.

Aisha Khatib:We make pit stop number one at Fajr

time, about three hours from the Univer-sity of Maryland. The lady behind the counter at the convenience store ogles us as the 90-person strong MIST crew descends upon the aisles and the bath-rooms to make wudu. We pray in the parking lot, foreheads on the gravel, as curious early-morning visitors look on.

After Fajr, the bus rockets down the highway, streetlights whizzing by the windows and sending flashes of light in every direction. Slowly, one by one as the dawn progresses, each girl drops off

to sleep, and silence over takes the bus.

Anhar Karim:After what seemed like 37 years, and after some particularly unkind border patrol treatment, we arrived in Toronto, Canada. But where on Earth was the hotel we were staying at? Our family, stressed to get there in time for jumah, spent over an hour going up and down one street looking for it. Finally we asked the help of one Canadian human rights group that had an office nearby. They looked up the place online, and it turned out that we had the wrong ad-dress.

After some confusion, finally we had reached the Seneca Newnham Resi-dence. We were sure that at this point, jumah was long gone. But when we drove up to park, we saw many Muslim looking people surrounding the area. We quickly went in to see jummuah happening in the room to the right. It was literally a miracle of God, and it set the scene for the rest of MIST.

>> mist Pg 6

Photo courtesy of MIST

....

Community News

| 5July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 COMMUNITY NEWS

Photo: SalamStock

At ZAKAT.ORG easy zakat calculator, zakat FAQs, and ask an imam

e Leader in Empowering Lives rough Zakat

1.888.ZAKAT.US | PO Box 639, Worth, IL 604821.888.ZAKAT.US | PO Box 639, Worth, IL 60482

RAMADANSHARE THE BLESSINGS

1 in 7 people will go to bed hungry tonight

LAW OFFICES OFWANI & ASSOCIATES, P.C

We Do Cases in VA, MD, & DC

8020 New Hampshire Ave, Suite 108 Langley Park, MD 20783

7777 Leesburg Pike Suite 307N Falls Church, VA 22043

PHONE NUMBER:301.434.1666

PHONE NUMBER:703.556.6626

Call Toll Free: 1.866.755.WANI (9264)

$50off with this ad

BANKRUPTCYDIVORCE

IMMIGRATIONPERSONAL INJURY

wani@wanilaw.com | www.wanilaw.com

>> books Pg 12

Local Muslim Authors Investing In Future With Books For ChildrenBy Yaman ShalabiMuslim Link Staff Reporter

One night as Sam’n (pronounced “Sum-mun”) Iqbal was watching her daugh-ter look through pictures in her alpha-bet books before bedtime, a thought crossed her mind: why not incorporate basic Islamic concepts and ideas into everyday children’s alphabet books.

And that is exactly what she did.

Now two years later, her first book, Al-lah to Z: An Islamic Alphabet Book, from Broyhill Publications, LLC, will debut during the month of Ramdan, July 2012.

Sam’n Iqbal born to Pakistani immi-grant parents, now living in McLean, Va., remembers learning a lot about the Quran and Islam at a young age but never recalls it ever being “fun”. And so when she had her daughter, she de-cided to make it her goal to make learn-ing interesting and engaging especially for 2nd and 3rd generation kids, but it was difficult, she said, to find books for a preschooler that taught Islam in a fun way; “either the language was too hard or the illustrations too boring…and so I began writing this book to fill this hole.”

“I am American, my children are Amer-ican, but we are Muslims. I know I would not be able to teach my children the way my mother taught me,” said Iqbal. “I was hoping to come up with a way to provide a service, a product, to other American-born Muslim parents so they may find a way to teach their chil-dren about Islam in a fun, contemporary

way, similar to the way they would be learning in school.”

The book includes 26 mini-Islamic les-sons aimed for preschool and elemen-tary children. It looks at basic Islamic elements such as: Allah, Kaaba, Eid and Wudu. Iqbal explains that choosing the words was a big process. By making a list of possibilities for all the letters of the alphabet, she narrowed it down to words that had “a positive connotation and were common.”

“I also chose words based on it being an AMERICAN Muslim book - so for “I”, I chose Isa since I wanted non-Muslims to relate and N for Noah because it is such a common story that most faiths believe in. But mostly [I choose] words that I would want my children to learn.” Top, the cover and an inside spread of locally authored “Allah to

Z”. Bottom, the husband of author Wendy Diaz reads her book to their sons.

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 6 | COMMUNITY NEWS

Aisha Khatib: After a long, 12-hour bus ride, the girls file in to the hotel. Tired, sleep-deprived, and anxious, we wait for the bathrooms to prepare for jumah.

Anhar Karim:As soon as the prayer ended, a man got up, and, in just the Canadian accent I would imagine, he said, “Welcome to Toronto.” He explained how soon buses would be coming to transport the bas-ketball players to the Hoopdome sports center (or “centre” I suppose).

He said that those not in the teams didn’t have to go, but could come to watch. But of course Tara Mohammed, the associate director of D.C. MIST, made sure that D.C. came to support our teams. This was the first example of why you just could not compete with the DC MIST spirit.

My excitement was heavily countered by the exhaustion of my fellow team-mates. Apparently it had been a long and exhausting bus ride with only a slice of pizza for food and no sleep. Although this did not damper the awe-someness that was MIST, we would soon learn that Team D.C. ran on spirit. Food or sleep was unnecessary.

Aisha Khatib:“Hustle, get to it! D.C., let’s do it!” chant the spectators. We’ve overtaken the bleachers, and it’s as if no other team can get a cheer in edgewise. Shrieks fill the air as the ball whooshes the net and cameras flash in the bleachers. After the games, which end in disappointment, D.C. MIST director Adam Kareem gives us a pep talk: “We’re a family,” he tells us after the brothers have gotten off the court. “We need to support each other.” Encouraged and determined, the girls head to the court.

Urooj Fatima:At the basketball tournament, there was no air conditioning, and we suffered de-hydration in the blazing and sweltering heat, but we still chanted for 6 hours!

Anhar Karim:As soon as me and two friends entered the courts to watch the teams play, I was informed that my own Montgom-ery County team was already out. We

still had a DC team to cheer for. We were playing against a New York team, and our crowds were going ballistic cheering. On the first day of MIST, and even after an exhausting bus ride, you couldn’t stop the power of DC MIST spirit.

Finally the time came for D.C. brothers lunch! We got our burrito/sandwich/rea-sonably edible substance and devoured it. To be honest, most of the brothers weren’t quite sure what the strange sub-stance was, but we were sure that we were hungry.

During lunch I met up with a brother

from Boston, Shareef. He told us how Boston only came with five people. I was amazed; I guess I just assumed that the other regions would be as large as D.C. was. But quickly, me and Shareef got to talking, and I understood how great MIST was. This event brought Muslims together from all over North America, and I began to meet people I would have otherwise never heard of. I began to see talent I would have otherwise never noticed. And I learned things I would have otherwise never cared about.

Off in a corner, a crowd was coming to-gether in a circle. When we went over,

we saw that a rap battle had begun be-tween Boston and New York. Boston soon left the field, and that’s when D.C. stepped in. The rap battle between DC and New York was intense. The two teams were definitely a match for each other, by size and talent. My friend Shahzeb stepped in many times to de-fend the great D.C. name. On the bus ride back to the hotel. there was a senti-ment among the D.C. brothers that New York had won this battle. There must be retaliation. Aisha Khatib:It’s been a long, long day and we’ve just gotten to our rooms. However, none of us consider going to sleep. We’ve got projects to review, Bowl to study for, and a long day of competitions to get excited for.

Anhar Karim:Once we got back to the hotel, we en-tered the rooms and, to our surprise, they were actually very nice. Then my dad called and I went down to the parking lot to meet him. My parents had brought me Bengali food for din-ner. Being Bengali I knew I could not have survived the night with the strange burrito meal I had been fed, and I was glad to have some rice for dinner. With-out it I don’t know if I could have gone on. Once I went back inside the hotel, the time was already passed midnight, and all of us MISTers had no apparent plans on sleeping. People were running around, talking, and practicing for the next day’s competitions. Among them were groups of people trying to see if there was any way of finding food.

Saturday, July 7th, 2012

Anhar Karim:At 2 a.m., we again attempted to rest, but then my friend Rakeen entered with two boxes of pizza. We followed Ra-keen downstairs to the lobby and still found that many people were awake and active. We ate two slices of pizza, talked with some people, and then fi-nally, after watching some strange Ca-nadian television, retired for the night.

Aisha Khatib:It is 3:30 a.m., and I’m swaying in my seat down....

Read the Rest of the diaRies at muslimlinkPaPeR.com and seaRch foR “dc mist diaRies”

mist>> continued from pg 4

d.C. Mist’s 23 Awards Were:Brothers most disciplined team: Moco Rockets3rd place 2D art: Tubah Shafi3rd place 3D art: Safiyah Cheatam1st place Photography: Ali Waseem2nd place Knowledge Test 2:Danish Akbar1st place Knowledge Test 2: Zaid Bilgrami3rd place Brothers Tajweed: Naeem Baig1st place Brothers Tajweed: Abdullah Ahmad1st place Sisters Advanced Memorization: Mamata Abdou1st place Brothers Advanced Memorization:Usman Qadri2nd Place Prepared Essay: Ali Waseem3rd Place Original Oratory: Adib Laskar1st Place Extemp Speaking: Faraz Ahsan3rd Place Short Fiction: Aisha Khatib1st Place Short Fiction: Amina Iro2nd Place Spoken Word: Azizah Abdul-Samad1st Place Newsletter: ERHS2nd Place Sisters improv: Bowie HS3rd Place Sisters Nasheed: ERHS1st Place Sisters Nasheed: Hammond HS2nd Place Brothers Nasheed: DUS2nd Place Debate: Faraz AhsanWinner of Best Chant

Photo by Aisha Khatib

....

| 7July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 ADVERTISEMENT

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 8 | WORLD PRESS

Law Office of Khalid Mahmood

12 years of Litigation Experience

Bankruptcy - Chapter 7 & 13, Stop the foreclosure. In chapter 13 bankruptcy you can remove second lien on your house and still may keep the house if house is under water

Licensed in Virginia and Maryland

www.KhalidLaw.com 703-385-1135301-841-0167Maryland Location Virginia Location

immigration - Family & Business based Immigration. All non immigration visas. Removal and deportation proceedings.

Family matters - Divorce, Custody, Support & property issues Haq Mehr & Muslim Marriage contract Disputes

Consulting Group, LLCCivil Engineers • Land Planners • Construction Managers

Birame Kandji, PE

phone: 240-361-7895 email: info@noa-group.com website: www.noa-group.com

Serving MD/DC/VA

ServiceS provided:■ Civil Engineering■ Site, Grading, and Erosion Plan■ Building and Demolition Permit ■ Planning and Zoning■ Boundary and Topographic Survey■ Construction Management and Inspection CALL FOR FRee COnsuLtAtiOn

>> egyPt Pg 10

....

World PressI Have Today Become The President Of All EgyptiansIn a speech to the Egyptian people, Newly Elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi emphasizes the importance of national unityMohamed MorsiSource: Guardian UK, June 25, 2012

Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the focus of Egypt’s revolution, is the scene of cel-ebration on Sunday after Mohamed Morsi is confirmed as president. Link to this video

My people of great Egypt, who today celebrate democracy in our country; those of you standing in the public squares, in Tahrir Square, and all the public squares of Egypt; my dear peo-ple, big family, brothers and sons, you who are awaiting the future, who want security and safety, goodness and re-vival, and development and stability for our country, I turn to you praising God for having brought about this historic moment.

This is a shining course written by the hands of Egyptians, by their will, their blood, their tears and their sacrifices. I would never have been able to stand be-fore you today as the first elected presi-dent by the will of free Egyptians in the first presidential elections after the revolution of 25 January, nor I would have been able to stand before you now with this overwhelming happiness that extends to the four corners of our be-

loved country without the support of God almighty and the sacrifices and precious blood of our noble martyrs and the noble, wounded citizens.

I give my thanks and greetings to the martyrs, to their souls, to the mothers and fathers of the martyrs, and all my people who lost their dear ones and sacrificed for Egypt. I offer my sincere prayers for them and for the wounded who watered the tree of freedom with their blood and cleared the way for us to arrive at this moment.

We are grateful to the families of all, who taught their sons the meaning of

patriotism and true martyrdom. They have shown steadfastness and courage in confronting the great loss of their own flesh and blood, the price of free-dom.

I renew with them the pledge that this sacred blood would not be lost in vein. I salute the great Egyptian people, and salute the army, the best soldiers on earth, our armed forces, wherever they are. I offer my heartfelt greetings and love to them. I value their role and I am keen to strengthen and secure them and their esteemed institution which we all love and value.

I also extend similar greetings to the honourable police, whose role many people wrongly perceive that I appre-ciate less than others. This is not true. Whoever committed a crime would be held accountable before the law. As for the honourable policemen, who make up the majority among the police in Egypt, they are entitled to the highest expressions of appreciation. They have a great role in the future to maintain in-ternal security and peace in our nation.

We are duty bound to acknowledge the judges of Egypt who supervised the elections of revolutionary Egypt.

Even those who did not participate [in the electoral process], we equally hold them in a position of esteem and love. Our judges make up the third source of authority, which would always remain strong and prominent. Our judiciary owns its will; it is separate from the ex-ecutive and it must remain so in the fu-ture, to be independent of the executive and by necessity the legislative powers.

I affirm to all segments of the Egyp-tian people that I have today, by your choice and your will, through the fa-vour of Allah, become the president of all Egyptians, wherever they are, at home or abroad, and in all the provinces of Egypt, on its eastern borders and the west, and in the south and north and central Egypt.

I turn to you all on this historic day, in which I have become president of all Egyptians, equally. Everyone will be afforded due respect, without any privi-lege, except that rendered by their ser-vice to our nation and their respect for the constitution and the law.

It is not possible to forget the members

| 9July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 WORLD PRESS

....

Dr Shaikh Yusuf Estes Named Islamic Personality of 2012By Ahmed ShaabanKhaleej Times, July 9, 2012

Dr Shaikh Yusuf Estes, an American Muslim preacher who reverted from Christianity to Islam in 1991, has been named the Islamic Personality of 2012 by the 16th session of the Dubai Inter-national Holy Quran Award for spread-ing the teachings of Holy Quran, and for his services to Islam, Muslims and humanity.

Making the announcement at the Cul-tural and Scientific Association in Dubai on Monday, Ibrahim Bu Melha, Chairman of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award, said: “Dr Shaikh Yusuf Estes, born in 1944, is often fea-tured as guest presenter and keynote speaker at various Islamic events. He

frequently appears on various Islamic satellite TV channels, in addition to his personal websites yusufestes.com and islamtomorrow.com.”

Several scholars, scientists, presidents and institutions have won the Islamic Personality Prize over the past 15 ses-sions. The first winner was Late Shaikh Mohammed Metwally Al Shaarawy of Egypt in 1997 while the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was the last winner in 2011.

Dr Shaikh Estes, who earlier served as a music minister became a Muslim in 1991 after meeting an Egyptian named Mohammed. Following his reversion, Estes entered the field of Dawah, or spreading the Islamic faith.

“After embracing Islam, Dr Estes pur-sued Arabic language and Quranic studies in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. From 2004, Dr Estes regularly appeared

on the Islam Channel, as well as Peace TV and Huda TV,” Bu Melha said.

Dr Estes has started a free-to-air In-ternet and satellite TV channel called GuideUS TV which currently broad-casts commercial-free programming on Islam 24/7.

He has also set up various websites directed toward English speaking Muslims which include TubeIslam (a Muslim video sharing site), ChatIslam (a Muslim chat room), and WorldPre-school (a learning site for young chil-dren).

“Dr Estes is highly loved by young Muslims,” Bu Melha said. [Source: KhaleejTimes.com]

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 10 | coNtINuED

egyPt>> continued from pg 8

>> egyPt i Pg 11

....

of the diplomatic corps, and those who work in it, as well as the members of the general intelligence; I will not forget any of them.

My beloved Egyptians who astonished the world with their revolution and whose youth surprised the world by standing in long lines to vote – whether in the referendum for the constitutional proclamation, the parliamen-tary elections, the elections of the consulta-tive assembly, or the presidential elections – Egypt today is the Egypt of the entire nation. Our country is in urgent need at this moment for the consolidation of ranks and unity of purpose so that our great and patient people would reap the rewards of their sacrifice to live with dignity.

Social justice, freedom and human dignity are our basic slogans. These are the main goals for which the revolution was started in all the squares of Egypt on 25 January 2011 and the strong voices which demanded them still do so in every expression of our ongoing revolution.

The revolution will continue until it realises all its objectives. Together we will complete this process. The Egyptian people have been patient for long, enduring tyranny, oppres-sion, marginalisation and forgery of their will and elections.

We used to look around us and say: when will Egypt and its people become the own-ers of their destiny? Today you have become the source of authority and the world bears witness to your endeavour for a better future.

O people of Egypt, you have bestowed upon me a heavy trust and great responsibility. I say to all of you, by the grace of Allah and your will, that I have been entrusted with this and I am not best of you. I will sacrifice all my efforts to be loyal to the duties and pledg-es which I made before all of you, and that all would be equal in rights and duties.

As for myself I have no rights but I have du-ties; so I call upon you my people to support me as long as I establish justice and righ-teousness among you, and as long as I obey God in your affairs. If I don’t do so, and I disobey God and I do not adhere to what I promised, you are not obliged to obey me.

| 11July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 coNtINuED

egyPt i>> continued from pg 10

....

At this historic juncture, I call upon you the great people of Egypt to strengthen our national unity and close our ranks and stand together. We are all Egyp-tians. Even though we differ in our views we are all citizens of this country, even if our parties are different. There is no room for the language of confronta-tion and there is no room to accuse each other.

National unity is the way to lift Egypt out of the present situation and to em-bark upon a broad project of renais-sance, one that is truly Egyptian, leading to real development of our resources. God has blessed us with much, but as you know [our wealth] was squandered and not put to proper use. We are today about to use these resources to realise our interests.

I call upon you to begin this renais-sance project. We Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, are harbingers of de-velopment and civilisation and we will remain so. We will meet the trials and schemes which are aimed at undermin-ing our resolve and national unity as we did during the revolution. I am de-termined with you to astound the world with the Egyptian revival that realises prosperity, dignity and stability.

I am determined, with your help, to build a new Egypt, a civil state, which is democratically constituted. All my energies will be devoted to this great project. I will work to preserve Egypt’s national interests on all fronts, Arab and African, regional and international.

We will respect the international trea-ties and conventions we signed, and we will work to have a system of Egyptian values, especially in the area of free-dom and human rights, and women’s and children’s rights, and to remove all forms of discrimination.

We will establish balanced relations with the entire world community, rela-tions based on mutual interests and re-spect between equal parties.

We will not allow ourselves to inter-vene in the internal affairs of any coun-try and we will not allow interference in our affairs.

We will preserve our national sover-eignty and the borders of the Egyptian state and everyone must know that Egyptian decisions will come from with-in and by the will of its people.

Egypt is capable with its people and its forces and history to defend itself and to prevent any hostility or anyone from contemplating aggression against it or its people, wherever they are in the world.

My Egyptian people, we recognise the challenges of the moment. I am con-vinced that with help of God we will to-gether be able to pass through this phase

quickly so that Egypt becomes stronger and assumes its leadership role. This is the destiny of Egypt and what awaits it in the future.

We all are happy and we celebrate this great democracy, the elections and tri-umph of the will of our nation. I reaf-firm what I announced before, that I will never betray Allah in your affairs, or dis-obey Him in the affairs of my nation. I place before me His saying, “Fear a day when we will return to Allah”.

Therefore, say with me together my be-loved people, by our will and our unity

and our love for each other, we will be able to make a great future. My beloved people some may see these hopes as distant, but we, together, see them very near, by the grace of God and “He is able to enforce His will but most people do not know”.

• This is a translation provided by the Muslim Brotherhood of a speech made in Tahrir Square on Sunday following Mohamed Morsi’s confirmation as presi-dent as Egypt. The sentences in italics are Qur’anic verses.

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 12 |coNtINuED

Vima JewelryWe Buy Gold, Silver, Diamond & Rolex Watches

w w w. v i m a j e w e l r y. c o m

10K Gold....$20.35 GR 22K Gold.....$44.65 GR

14K Gold....$28.55 GR 24K Gold.....$48.80 GR

18K Gold....$36.60 GR Sterling Silver..$29.00 OZ

How Much We Pay for Gold

We Buy & Sell Louis Vuitton, Chanel BagsWe Buy Signed Pieces like Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Chopard

Products & Services

Custom Design | All Jewelry RepairsRepair Watches & Batteries | Jewelry Appraisals

Phone: 703-657-0400 | Cell: 703-853-9597 | 1025 Seneca Road Great Falls, Virginia 22066

We Pay Highest $$ Guaranteed for Gold

e m a i l : r o b e rt m i k a i l g m a i l . c o m@

books >> continued from pg 5

Reem Saadeh, a Greek Orthodox Chris-tian living in McLean, Va., and a friend of Iqbal’s believes this book could be-come “an invaluable asset” to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. “It is exactly what was needed and what was missing in the teachings of young children about religion,” she said. “I am not just talk-ing about Islam; it gives even us non-Muslims the ability to understand Islam and a method by which to teach our own children about our own religion. It gives us the avenue to talk about reli-gion in general and in specific terms.”

Following a similar path but with a dif-ferent goal in mind, Wendy Diaz and her husband Hernán Guadalupe, Span-ish-speaking Latino converts from New Jersey, did not learn about Islam until later in life, and so it was important to them that their children learn about Is-lam at a young age while retaining their Spanish language. After a search for Spanish Islamic books in New Jersey, New York, online, South America and even in Spain, they were surprised to only find two books. Realizing the need for such books, they created their own website- Hablamos Islam Niños (We Speak Islam, Kids) and began writing and publishing their own books after several publishing companies turned them down or didn’t respond at all.

“I wanted to offer my own children a chance to learn Islam from an early age, something that as a convert, I was not able to do,” said Diaz. “And I wanted to give them the opportunity to do so in their own language... Of course, we didn’t stop at just our own kids, we began printing our books and offering them to other parents like us so that their children can also benefit.”Because Hablamos Islam Niños is a small family-run operation, their big-gest challenge has been lack of funding, whatever money Diaz and her husband make goes straight into printing more books. However, they pride themselves on being the only “bilingual English/Spanish publisher of Islamic children’s books in the world.”

Unlike Diaz, Iqbal found it easier to find publishing companies, since many began reaching out to her instead. How-

ever, she said that because she wanted to control how the book was repre-sented and sold, she decided to start her own company- made easier with her background in Public Relations.

She has shared her book with friends and family and made a few sales this month. “It has only been a few weeks but I already see how powerful this book is and how much it was needed.”Saira Sheikh, a mother of 2 from Ash-burn, Va., thinks Allah to Z is a won-

derful book and, with her six-year-old son read “one letter a day as an intro-duction to a vital Islamic concept.” She hopes this book and others are one day incorporated into public libraries so that children “can grow up being proud and confident of Islam.”

Iqbal has had schools contact her to in-corporate this book into their curricu-lum. She is currently focusing on mar-keting this book as much as she can all across the country, hoping it will make

it into every Muslim home.

“We are going to have more and more American-born Muslim generations in this country - so if we want to keep the spread of Islam strong, we need to adapt to teaching the new generations in a way they will understand and most importantly, enjoy.”

to purchase the books visit, www.allahtoz.com & www.hablamosislamninos.com

....

| 13July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 ADVERTISEMENT

RESPECT, TOLERANCE, AND COLLABORATION

by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullahi(Imam of Muslim Community Center (MCC))

For tickets call (301)-324-5040 or visit irhsca.org, Pizza Pike, Sweet Tooth Bakery, IRHSCA, ISWA, or MCC

IRHSCA cordially invites you to their

Islamic Research & Humanitarian Service Center of America

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 14 | CIVIL RIGHTS

Civil RightsCivil RightsCivil RightsIslamophobia: A Bipartisan ProjectDeepa KumarThe Nation, July 2, 2012

When the New York Times ran its story on Obama’s “kill list,” show-ing the president poring over names of people to potentially assassinate in drone strikes, it sparked a controversy. The content of that controversy was not over this extraordinary revelation about Obama’s use of power but rather over the leaking of state secrets, which Republicans accused him of doing to bolster his re-election campaign. Some liberal commentators (at Salon, The Na-tion etc.) were rightfully horrified and condemned such activity. But the Dem-ocrats—and much of the liberal estab-lishment—remained silent.

Deep in the Times article, another shocking revelation that hasn’t received as much attention as the “kill list” is the Obama administration’s effort to erase the deaths of some innocent victims by categorizing “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.” This ex-cludes them from the civilian casualties count, allowing the administration to claim that civilian casualties have been minimal. All Muslim men in “combat zones” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, So-malia and Yemen have been presumed to be terrorists, and therefore worthy of death, simply for being of “military age.”

How did we get to a place where in-nocent Muslim men can be killed with impunity around the world with little public outcry? The short answer is that Muslims have been long been constructed as “terrorists” upon whom righteous terror can be rained. The im-age of the Muslim enemy in the US is not new. While Hollywood and televi-sion play a key role in conveying that image to the public, they did not create it. The “Muslim enemy” is inextricably tied to a long history of US imperialism.

The US and the Middle East

After World War II, the United States began take control of the Middle East from France and Britain. In so doing, all forces that stood in the way of US hegemony were cast as enemies, using the language of Orientalism developed in Europe. (I discuss this in greater de-tail in my book, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire .)

Through much of the 1950s and ’60s, secular Arab nationalists and leftists who failed to cooperate with this US

agenda were seen as stooges of the USSR or as “terrorists.” The latter im-age intensified with the birth of the Pal-estinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its use of armed struggle. The PLO was coded as “terrorist” because of the close relationship between the United States and Israel.

Following the infamous incident at the 1972 Munich Olympics in which a group of Palestinians took Israeli ath-letes hostage and murdered them, the Nixon administration launched “Opera-tion Boulder,” giving law enforcement agencies carte blanche to investigate Arab immigrants and Arab American citizens in search of connections to “terrorist” activities related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Thus, a violent act com-mitted in Munich by a handful of Pal-estinians became the basis on which all Arabs were designated as “suspicious”; the process of racial profiling had begun in earnest.

The “Arab terrorist” morphed into the “Islamic terrorist” after the 1979 Iranian revolution. When US embassy person-nel were taken hostage in Iran for 444 days, the crisis generated daily front-page and headline news that effectively associated Islam with terror. Ayatollah Khomeini became the personification of all things evil, and all things Muslim. The Middle East henceforth would be seen through the lens of “Islam,” a dis-torted construction of the religion and the people who practiced it.

Under President Jimmy Carter Iranians were targeted, but it was for Reagan to take this much further though his coun-ter-terrorism policy. He issued a secret National Security Directive designed to create a network of agencies that would prevent “terrorists” from enter-ing or staying in the US. One program by the Alien Border Control Committee called for mass arrests of immigrants from Iran and from Arab nations. Dur-ing the first Gulf War, in 1991, the elder Bush launched a surveillance program against Arab Americans, which Bill Clinton would take to an entirely new level with the passage of the Antiter-rorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), a precursor to the PATRIOT Act, which, among other things, made it legal to deport immigrants based on secret evidence.

Post-Cold War Politics

The 1990s witnessed a decade between what professor and Middle East expert

Fawaz A. Gerges refers to as the “con-frontationists” and the “accomodation-ists” in the American foreign policy establishment. The confrontationists argued that Islamism was the new post–cold war “Other” and that the United States needed to confront and challenge this adversary in the “clash of civiliza-tions” that was to follow. The key ideo-logue leading this charge was Bernard Lewis (a close associate of the neo-cons), who penned his views in 1990 in a now-famous essay titled “The Roots of Muslim Rage,” in which he raised the alarm about an impending “clash of civilizations.” Samuel Huntington then popularized this concept in an es-say titled “The Clash of Civilizations?” in Foreign Affairs, followed by a book with the same title (minus the question mark). Huntington put forward the the-sis that in the new post–cold war era, conflict would be characterized by cul-tural differences between various civili-zations. He named about seven or eight such civilizations, arguing that the Is-lamic civilization was among the more dangerous threats to the West.

This view was reflected in a slew of other articles. Journalist Judith Miller argued in Foreign Affairs that US poli-cymakers should not try to distinguish between “good” and “bad” Islamists be-cause there was a consensus among all Islamists to defeat the West. Confron-tation, rather than co-optation or dia-logue, was the only way to thwart this new enemy. Daniel Pipes, Martin Indyk (who served on Bill Clinton’s National Security Council), Jeane Kirkpatrick (a one-time Democrat turned dogged cold-warrior Republican) and others added their voice to this chorus. The “clash” thesis was not a partisan position; con-frontationists belong to both political parties. The difference between the ac-commodationists and confrontationists was not over the goal of US hegemo-

islamoPhobia Pg 19

How did we get to a place where innocent Muslim men can be killed with impunity around the world with little public outcry? The short answer is that Muslims have been long been constructed as “terrorists” upon whom righteous terror can be rained.

....

| 15July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 ADVERTISEMENT

Hajj 2012Experience the Journey of a Lifetime with Br. Safi Khan of Dar-us-Salaam, Maryland and others.

Program a Program B Program C Program D

Date Oct 16 – Nov 4 Oct 16 – Nov 4 Oct 16 – Nov 4 Oct 16 – Nov 4

Quad ( 4 people per 1 room ) $7,600 $6,600 $5,600 $4,600

Double ( 2 people per 1 room ) $8,600 $7,600 $6,600 n/a

madinah: Oct 17/18 – 21 | Zul Hijja 1/2 – 5 Holiday Villa Madinah Holiday Villa Madinah Ramada Al-Qibla Ramada Al-Qibla

makkah: Oct 21 – 24 Zul Hijja 5 – 8 Aziziah Aziziah Aziziah Aziziah

mina: Oct 24 – 29 | Zul Hijja 8 – 13 VIP Tent North American Tent North American Tent North American Tent

makkah: Oct 29 – 30 | Zul Hijja 13 – 14 Aziziah Aziziah Aziziah Aziziah

makkah: Oct 30 – Nov 4 Zul Hijja 14 – 19 Al-Safwah Al-Safwah Ramada Ajyad Aziziah (no meals)

For registration:

Daily multiple lectures throughout the trip | All ground transportation by A/C busesVisits to historic sites in Madinah | Gift of ihram for brothers and prayer rugs for sisters

Saudi SIM card provided for each pilgrim

Package price does NOT include Hajj draft and visa fee (approximately $275. Price subject to change per Saudi Embassy). Sacrifice (Hady) fee ($125). Package price includes air fare from Washington DC (IAD). U.S. domestic add-ons are extra. Tentative departure is on 16 OCT arriving in Madina on 17/18

OCT. Return from Jeddah on 4 NOV with a same day arrival in Washington. Add-ons to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, Middle East, and other destinations are also available at additional cost. Alternate routes also available.

��������א������א��������

ZAMZAMTRAVEL & TOURS

��������א������א��������

ZAMZAMTRAVEL & TOURS

202.631.1505 | www.zamzam-travel.com | sales@zamzam-travel.com

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 16 | ISLAM

Islam

facebook Pg 18

Facebook FastingYour Heart Will Like It this RamadanBy Rasheed RabbiMuslim Link Contributing Writer

Ramadan is right around the corner and that means the first thing that enters our minds is the worry that we will not be able to eat or drink. In fact these wor-ries bother us so much that by the end of the fast all we’ve achieved is absti-nence from food. But it seems that in our modern online society, people ac-tually devote more time to Facebook than they do to food. So this, along with other meaningless daily habits, tend to leave our Ramadans empty and mean-ingless.

This article is not meant to bash tech-nology nor to attack the virtual society. So before giving it a “thumbs down”, read on. While it’s true Facebook gives

us a new way to communicate, it also leads to obsessions with our own lives and the lives of others. According to the Time Magazine 2012, 48% of 18-34 year-olds check Facebook right when they wake up and 250 million pictures are uploaded every day. Such obses-sions are obstacles to a clairvoyant mind.

Impulse indulgence: Posting and shar-ing tidbits of our lives become habitual, and after posting something we watch the likes and responses attentively for the coming days. This Indulgence into abrupt whims distracts us and our de-votion to God. Active Facebook par-ticipation hinders human intellect and results in useless habits. So instead of being distracted by the idea of connect-ing with people at a distance, we should

connect with the Creator during this holy month.

Involvement in Vain talk: Socializing via Facebook is a shallow experience; it is too superficial to be real. We read streams of brief messages from a vari-ety of people, but the messages barely contain any depth. Most are trivial and mundane and some are clever or witty; but little of the information on a Facebook wall could actually touch our hearts and make a difference in our lives. Such vain communication is against Quranic teaching. The Qur’an clearly describes that the doomed are preoccupied with idle talk and are therefore deprived of God’s blessing. Using Facebook might provide a feel-ing of connectedness, but it engages us in vain emotionless talk. Our beloved

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Fasting is not [only] ab-staining from eating and drinking, but abstaining from vain and obscene talk, so if someone insulted you or wronged you, say: I am fasting.” Applying this lesson, our silence on Facebook during Ramadan could be an eloquent move-ment towards spreading Islamic teach-ing.

False sense of self-importance: The more visible our life is through Face-book, the more our desire to display ourselves grows. Slowly a self-centered world is fabricated in the virtual nook of Facebook where every experience, ev-ery photo, every inconsequential move and thought is extravagantly displayed. Thus the false sense of self importance grows on the deathbed of humbleness. This lack of humility leads us to numer-ous misdeeds and deprives us from the blessings of the most Benevolent. Be-cause of this we neither can correct our own hearts nor can we acknowledge the

Crying in Front of Allah - It’s Not impossibleBy Abdul Malik Mujahid

When was the last time you cried? Not a few drops of salty water from your eyes, or the odd tear that slipped down your face while watching a tragic event.

I’m talking about warm tears of the heart. Tears that sting your face because they’ve been there so long, their bitter saltiness hurts your skin.

When was the last time you cried like a baby?

Aisha, may Allah be pleased with our mother, relates that: In the last ten of Ra-madan, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to tighten his waist belt, pray all night, and wake up his fam-ily for the night prayers (Bukhari and Muslim).

Almost two thirds of Ramadan is gone. We powerless people will soon be look-ing for the Night of Power (Laylatul Qadr), which we are advised to seek in these last ten nights of Ramadan.

Aisha related that the Prophet said: Look for Laylatul Qadr on an odd-numbered night during the last ten nights of Rama-dan (Bukhari).

We can’t afford not to be crying in front of Allah, the Merciful, All-Aware.

Tears flow when we remember how much Allah has blessed us with and how much we disobey Him. We can never repay Al-lah for everything we have, yet we still blatantly commit sins both big and small: whether it’s backbiting, hurting other hu-man beings, not standing up for the truth, treating our family badly, lying, doing good deeds to show off, cheating, etc.

Allah opens ways out of problems for us, easing our burdens. Yet, we still disobey Him and take His Mercy for granted.

Abdullah ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said he would rather shed two tears from the fear of Allah than give a thousand dinars in charity.

And the most telling example of a man who few would think would cry because of Allah is Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. He was known for being strong, fearless, and uncompromising when it came to matters of faith. Yet, Abdullah ibn Isa said that Umar had two black streaks on his face because of con-stant weeping.

He feared Allah so much that he once said, “If someone announced from the heavens that everybody will enter Para-

dise except one person, I would fear that that person would be me.”

Umar was one of the strongest believers. Yet he cried and feared Allah. And Abu Bakr, he was simply known for his cry-ing. These people loved to serve human beings in the day and spent time begging God to save humanity at night. May Al-lah be pleased with them.

Let’s be more contemplative and pray for an awareness of and forgiveness for our sins, as well as softness in our hearts. If Umar the brave and pious did it, we have even more need and urgency to do it.

Human beings are in turmoil. Connect-ing with God with our hearts and beg-ging for His Mercy for His Creation will bring us Closer to Him and human be-ings. [Source: Soundvision.com]

....

| 17July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 ISLAM

The Nurse and the Muslim Patient – A True Story from the United KingdomMy name is Cassie, I am 23 years old. I graduated as a qualified nurse this year and was given my first position as a home nurse.

My patient was an English gentleman in his early 80s who suffered from Al-zheimer’s. In the first meeting, the pa-tient was given his record and from it I could see that he was a convert to the religion of Islam, therefore he was a Muslim.

I knew from this that I would need to take into account some modes of treat-ment that may go against his faith, and therefore try to adapt my care to meet his needs. I brought in some ‘halal’ meat to cook for him and ensured that there was no pork or alcohol in the premises as I did some research which showed that these were forbidden in Islam.

My patient was in a very advanced stage of his condition so a lot of my colleagues could not understand why I was going through so much effort for him. But I understood that a person who commits to a faith deserves that com-mitment to be respected, even if they are not in a position to understand.

Anyway after a few weeks with my pa-tient I began to notice some patterns of movement.

At first I thought it was some copied motions he’s seen someone doing, but I saw him repeat the movement at partic-ular time; morning, afternoon, evening.

The movements were to raise his hands, bow and then put his head to the ground. I could not understand it. He was also repeating sentences in an-other language, I couldn’t figure out

what language it was as his speech was slurred but I know the same verses were repeated daily.

Also there was something strange, he didn’t allow me to feed him with my left hand (I am left-handed).

Somehow I knew this linked to his reli-gion but didn’t know how.

One of my colleagues told me about paltalk as a place for debates and dis-cussions and as I did not know any Muslims except for my patient I thought it would be good to speak to someone live and ask questions. I went on the Is-lam section and entered the room ‘True Message’.

Here I asked questions regarding the repeated movements and was told that these were the actions of prayer. I did

not really believe it until someone posted a link of the Islamic prayer on youtube.

I was shocked.

A man who has lost all memory of his children, of his occupation, and could barely eat and drink was able to remem-ber not only actions of prayer but verses that were in another language.

This was nothing short of incredible and I knew that this man was devout in his faith, which made me want to learn more in order to care for him the best I could.

I came into the paltalk room as often as I could and was given a link to read the

What The Prophet Did In SajdahBy Abdul Malik Mujahid

“I happened to pray one night with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The Prophet started reciting al-Baqarah chapter of the Quran and I thought he would stop after 100 verses.

But when he went beyond it I thought that he may want to recite the whole chapter in one Rakah.

When he finished al-Baqarah I thought he would do Ruku but then he immedi-ately started reciting al-Imran and when he finished he started reciting an-Nisa.

The Prophet was reciting very slowly with enough pauses and would do Tas-bih (praising God) and Dua (supplica-tion) according to the subject being dis-cussed in the relevant Ayah.

After that the Prophet did Ruku (bo-womg). In Ruku he stayed as long as he did when he was in Qiyam (standing in

prayer). After Ruku he stood up for al-most same time and then he performed Sajdah (prostration) and stayed there as long as he recited Quran while doing Qiyam”. (Hudaifa, may God be pleased with him, narrated this hadith as in Sa-hih al Muslim, Nasai)

Of course, not all the Prayers of the Prophet were this long. In public he would pray for a shorter period of time and ask other imams to do the same. The Prophet use to make dua in Sajdah not just tasbeeh as we do in obligatory prayers. He used to cry in Sajdah. He would spend an extended amount of his time in Sajdah whenever he was pray-ing on his own. Many times, however, Muslims would join him when they found him praying alone.

Aisha, may God be pleased with her, mentions that: the Prophet one night stood up for Salah and he stayed in it for so long that I thought the Prophet had passed away or died. When I felt

that way I stood up shook his toe and I felt the movement then I laid down again and I heard the Prophet saying in Sajdah “I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath, and in Your pardon from Your punishment, and in You from You. I cannot enumerate Your praises as You praise Yourself.” (Transliteration: Audhu bi ridaka min sakhatika, wa bi muafatika min uqubatika wa bika min-ka, la uhsiy thana’an alayka, anta kama athnayta ala nafsika).

When he stood up from the Sajdah he asked Aisha, “do you think God’s Prophet has betrayed you?” Aisha re-sponded “No Preophet of God, because of the long Sajdah I thought you had died.” (hadith from Baihaqi but Dua wording from Muwatta Imam Malik)

One of the Prophet’s companion, Abdullah ibn Zubayr, would pray with such concentration that when he was in Sajdah the sparrows would come flying and sit on his back. In a separate narra-

tion, Abdullah ibn Abbas, another com-panion, said if you want to see how the Prophet of God used to pray, you should copy how Abdullah ibn Zubayr used to pray.

And consider these two Hadiths from the Sahih Muslim:

Ma’dan b. Talha reported: I met Thau-ban, the freed slave of God’s Messen-ger, and asked him to tell me about an act for which, if I do it, God will admit me to Paradise, or I asked about the act which was loved most by God. He gave no reply. I again asked and he gave no reply. I asked him for the third time, and he said: I asked God’s Messenger about that and he said: Make frequent prostra-tions before God, for you will not make one prostration without raising you a degree because of it, and removing a sin from you, because of it. Ma’dan

sajdah Pg 21

nuRse Pg 21

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 18 | ISLAM

Salaah times for July 13th - July 26th, 2012If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it fi ve times a day, do you

think he would have any fi lth left on him?” The people said, “No filth would remain on him whatsoever.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, “That is like the fi ve daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them.”

---Hadith in Sahih al Bukhari and Muslim

Day Date Hijri Fajr Sunrise Dhuhr Asr Maghrib IshaFri July 13 23/8 4:24 5:53 1:14 5:10 8:34 10:05Sat 14 24/8 4:25 5:54 1:15 5:10 8:34 10:04Sun 15 25/8 4:26 5:55 1:15 5:09 8:33 10:03Mon 16 26/8 4:27 5:56 1:15 5:09 8:32 10:03Tue 17 27/8 4:28 5:56 1:15 5:09 8:32 10:02Wed 18 28/8 4:29 5:57 1:15 5:09 8:31 10:01Thu 19 29/8 4:30 5:58 1:15 5:09 8:30 10:00Fri 20 1/9 4:31 5:59 1:15 5:09 8:30 9:59Sat 21 2/9 4:32 6:00 1:15 5:09 8:29 9:58Sun 22 3/9 4:34 6:00 1:15 5:09 8:28 9:57Mon 23 4/9 4:35 6:01 1:15 5:09 8:28 9:55Tue 24 5/9 4:36 6:02 1:15 5:09 8:27 9:54Wed 25 6/9 4:37 6:03 1:15 5:08 8:26 9:53Thu 26 7/9 4:38 6:04 1:15 5:08 8:25 9:52

Prayer times generated from www.islamicfinder.com for the

WASHINGTON, DC area.

facebook>> continued from pg 16

mercy of the most gracious deity. The goal of this life is to internalize our per-sonal insignificance in front of God’s greatness. But Facebook works against this eternal truth and prevents us from submitting to God with humility.

Unconscious control over life: Face-book obliges us to share updates fre-quently with “friends”, most of whom we’ve never even met in person. These so-called friends either compliment our posts or complain; they also grumble if they find us updating our profile ir-regularly in . Thus this distant virtual community conditions us to behave in a certain way without a conscious choice of our own. Being soaked with other people’s thoughts, feelings, and beliefs on a daily basis can be pleasing and inspiring, but the endless repetition of empty emotions can easily turn into

resentment. Facebook fasting will free us from these lame obligations and help us regain control over our lives.

Illusion of unreal socialization: We are deceived into imagining an active so-cial life via a few clicks on Facebook. We tend to forget that a Facebook hug is not a real hug and a smiley isn’t a real smile but a symbolic imitation on a dig-ital device. Thus this virtual life merely displays witty banter, wastes our time with each click, and the deceives us into thinking we are being social. According to Facebook there are 2.7 billion daily “likes” and comments. One could sur-mise that much of this is not really in-tended for socialization. Rather this is simply an illusion that enfolds us into a fog full of thoughts, words, actions, behaviors, and attitudes that are empty in essence and keep us away from self-awareness.

Parched productivity: most often we only intend to spend a few minutes

on Facebook, but we end up stay-ing for hours. We forget that this time is what determines our destiny on the Day of Resurrection; we are account-able for every moment we spend in this world. Keeping this in mind, we need to be cognizant of social networking and whether or not it is making a posi-tive difference in our lives and in the lives of others. It might be difficult to reconsider our daily habits, however the month of Ramadan could be a good time to start spending our hours more wisely in order to secure a better here-after.

Intrusive externally: Facebook culture is heavily focused on the affairs of others, what they’re doing, what they like, or what they think of one another, and so forth. If we are so intrusive into other people’s business, their spiritual progress during Ramadan will be hin-dered. It is baffling to find people wast-ing hours reading comments on others’ walls or viewing pictures of people

people who they barely know. Although no one is watching or questioning us for being so inquisitive about others’ affairs, we are still compromising our own ethic of manners and morality. Early scholars used to say ‘Whoever busies themselves with that which does not concern them misses out on much of that which does concern them.’ Thus spending time involved in the affairs of others instead of our own brings no benefit to us.

Have any of you started defending yourselves against the above aspects yet? If you have, then your heart has al-ready been corrupted with one or anoth-er. Don’t delay any further to discipline these digressions. We need to use this blessed Ramadan to beat our bad habits. Ramadan requires rigorous reflection and steady self-persuasion. We have to be careful that our human (nafs) soul does not give into the self-deception and self-indulgence that is Facebook.

301-982-1020C a l l T o d a y T o A d v e r t i s e i n T h e M u s l i m L i n k

....

| 19July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 coNtINuED

ny; it was about strategy and rhetoric. During the 1990s, the accommodation-ist line dominated in Washington. The Bush père and Clinton administrations sought to win over Muslim-majority countries by appealing to universal values and, under Clinton, free market policies.

Domestically, however, the hysteria against Muslims mounted during this period. The fear generated by the at-tempted bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 ensured that in 1995, when white right-wing Christian ter-rorist Timothy McVeigh bombed a fed-eral building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, Arabs and Muslims were immediately blamed. Congress passed AEDPA in 1996. In short, even before the events of 9/11, the groundwork had been laid for the legalized targeting of Muslims and Arabs.

The “War on Terror” Decade

The events of 9/11 brought this legal apparatus in line with the foreign policy establishment. Barely had the ashes set-tled from the Twin Towers when loud proclamations that “Islamic terrorists” represented existential threats to the United States began to echo in the pub-lic sphere. From then on, US policy was geared towards “keeping Americans safe” from Muslim “evildoers.” The “clash of civilizations” rhetoric became the ideological basis for the wars in Af-ghanistan and Iraq as well as domestic attacks on Muslims and Arabs.

The war on Iraq, however, did not go the way the neocons wanted it to. In-stead of greeting US forces as libera-tors, the Iraqi people resisted and re-jected US hegemony. During his second term, Bush moved away from “hard” power and toward winning “hearts and minds.” But by the end of his second term, the failing occupations in Afghan-istan and Iraq—as well as an economic crisis of proportions not seen since the Great Depression—meant that it was time for a changing of the guard. Obama was voted into power by an electorate disgusted by the hubris and arrogance of the Bush regime. The ruling elites also gave him their blessing, hoping to put a friendlier face on US imperialism.

The Democrats were ready to take on this role.

In January 2007, a leadership group on US-Muslim relations headed by Madeleine Albright, Richard Armitage (former deputy secretary of state un-der George W. Bush) and a number of academics produced a document titled “Changing Course: A New Direction for US Relations with the Muslim World.” The document, which received high praise, argued that distrust of the United States in Muslim-majority countries was the product of “policies and actions—not a clash of civilizations.” It went on to argue that to defeat “violent extrem-ists,” military force was necessary but not sufficient, and that the United States needed to forge “diplomatic, political, economic, and cultural initiatives.” The report urged the US leadership to im-prove “mutual respect and understand-ing between Americans and Muslims,” and promote better “governance and improve civic participation” in Muslim majority countries. The report’s call to action stated that it would be vital for the next president to reflect these ideas in his/her inaugural speech and to reaf-firm the United States’ “commitment to prohibit all forms of torture.”

Barack Obama has proven brilliantly effective at embodying such a posture. In one of his first speeches, in Cairo , Obama rejected the “clash of civili-zations” argument, emphasizing the shared common history and aspira-tions of the East and West. Whereas the “clash” discourse sees the West and the world of Islam as mutually exclusive and as polar opposites, Obama empha-sized “common principles.” He spoke of “civilization’s debt to Islam,” which “pav[ed] the way for Europe’s Renais-sance and Enlightenment,” and ac-knowledged Muslims’ contributions to the development of science, medicine, navigation, architecture, calligraphy and music. This was no doubt a remark-able admission for an American presi-dent, but one that Obama clearly saw as vital to bolstering the United States’ badly damaged image in the “Muslim world.” Indeed, this speech marked a significant rhetorical shift from the Bush era; a shift to the language of lib-eral imperialism and liberal Islamopho-bia.

The key characteristics of liberal Is-lamophobia are the rejection of the

“clash of civilizations” thesis, the rec-ognition that there are “good Muslims” with whom diplomatic relations can be forged and a concomitant willingness to work with moderate Islamists. Lib-eral Islamophobia may be rhetorically gentler but it reserves the right of the US to wage war against “Islamic ter-rorism” around the world, with no re-spect for the right of self-determination by people in the countries it targets. It is the “white man’s burden” in sheep’s clothing.

“The truth is that my foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional bipar-tisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, of, in some ways, Ronald Reagan,” Obama once said. Since taking office, he has em-braced and expanded Bush’s second-term policies. He has deployed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, expanded the war into Pakistan, tried to bully Iraq into granting an extension of the US occupation (which failed), carried out drone attacks and “black ops” in Yemen and Somalia and participated in the NA-TO-led war in Libya.

Domestically, Obama has continued Bush’s policies of torture, extraordi-nary rendition and pre-emptive pros-ecution. American Muslims continue to be harassed and persecuted by the state. Obama has even gone further than Bush in several ways, not only by securing the power to execute US citizens sus-pected of ties to terrorism without so much as a trial but also by signing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which, among other things, allows the military to detain indefinite-ly without charge “terror suspects” who are US citizens. His 2011 “counter-rad-icalization” strategy document elicits the help of Muslim American teachers, coaches and community members, who are to be turned into a McCarthy-type informant system.

Yet liberal Islamophobia does not target all Muslims. It acknowledges that there are “good Muslims.” The report heaps praise on Muslim Americans who have cooperated with the state arguing that “we must counter al-Qa’ida’s propagan-da that the United States is somehow at war with Islam” and instead affirm that “Islam is part of America, a country that cherishes the active participation of all its citizens, regardless of background and belief. We live what al-Qa’ida vio-

lently rejects—religious freedom and pluralism.” Obama added that “our rich diversity of backgrounds and faiths makes us stronger.” This is the modus operandi of liberal Islamophobia: to roundly reject Islam-bashing—and then proceed to institute proposals that target Muslims

When Representative Peter King held his McCarthy-style hearings in March 2011 to determine the extent of “Mus-lim radicalization” in the United States, he was rightly criticized by liberals. However, that August, when Obama in-stitutionalized this process through his “counter-radicalization” strategy, there was nary a peep.

At the end of the day, the fear of “Is-lamic terrorism” is manufactured to grease the wheels of empire. Statistics show that Americans are more likely to die from lightning strikes and dog bites than an act of terrorism. In the ten years since 9/11, a comprehensive study shows that of the 150,000 mur-ders in the United States, eleven Mus-lim Americans were responsible for the deaths of thirty-three people (besides themselves). Yet, this did not stop King from starting yet another hearing on Muslim American “radicalization” in June 2012.

Complaining that his earlier efforts had been “vilified by the politically correct media, pandering politicians and radi-cal groups” King squawked that his ef-forts were intended to “protect America from a terrorist attack.” While his anti-Muslim racism is thoroughly disagree-able, he is not incorrect when he states that this is a “nonpartisan” issue and “of serious concern to national security and counterterrorism officials in the Obama administration.” Indeed. King is simply continuing what is a bipartisan policy with a long history. The mistake that progressives make is to focus on the most rabid Islamophobes, while giving liberal Islamophobia a pass. Whatever form it takes, racism should be called out for it is.

Source: [www.thenation.com/arti-cle/168695/islamophobia-bipartisan-proj-ect]

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included informa-tion for research and educational purposes.

islamoPhobia>> continued from pg 14

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 20 | coNtINuED

Presidential Campaign class.

Sunday: Start gathering information for my 10 assigned Maryland delegates, also for my political reporting class.

Sounded fun…

The weekend passed, and I managed to do nothing, all because of an unex-pected visitor.

It was sudden and short, but the Friday June 29 storm left us without electricity for six sweltering days and scorching nights. I was sitting in my room, un-aware that we were expecting a storm, when the lights began flickering. As I opened the door to my room to see what was wrong, I saw everyone from my parents, aunt and uncle, siblings and cousins hurriedly walking around, and by the time it hit me that there was a severe thunderstorm, the lights went out and everything went dark.

“Everyone to the basement!” my father yelled out. Back in my room, I told my husband, Alaa, to hurry downstairs as I fumbled around for my phone. I had finally found a use for the flashlight ap-plication I downloaded a year ago.

With the only available flashlight on hand, I made my way back and forth from the kitchen, garage, utility room and basement as I lit the way for my father who was worried that the stove might have been accidently left on and for my mother who was placing dry towels all around the windows in case any water should start dripping in. Our utility room and everything in it was drenched in water by the time the storm passed.

Every so often, when we are hit with brutal storms, for a household with 17 family members, we realize just how unprepared we are for any dangerous or disastrous situation. We had a radio but no batteries. The internet wasn’t work-ing on any of the phones and within 15-minutes many of them had died. And we had no fuel for our generator.

We were cut off from the world and did not fully realize the extent of the dam-age until the next morning.

We all awoke the next morning in puddles of sweat. My husband left to Panera Bread with his laptop and col-lege books in hopes of getting his as-signments completed for his 11:59 p.m. deadline, while my father left for an early meeting and on his way back stopped at a gas station for some fuel to fill up our small generator. It later took him and my uncle, who also went to look for gas, over four hours to find a working station. By noon, I had de-cided to go out and get some bagels and coffee for a small breakfast. I took my sisters along, and in the car blasted the air conditioner.

Driving along rural Bowie, it looked like a ghost town. The roads were cov-ered with tree branches everywhere; light signals were out and signs were blown away. About 300 feet from our house, I noticed an entire electric pole had been uprooted. This, I thought was a good sign, for the electric company would realize how dangerous it was and quickly fix it. I was wrong.

All it took was seconds, but the 60-70 mph “derecho” storm fueled by the 100-degree temperature left a path of destruction so great that about three million customers across the Mid-Atlantic had lost power. Electric com-panies were estimating repairs to take well over a week to complete. To put the damage into perspective wrote Jeannette M. Mills, Customer Opera-tions & Chief Customer Officer for the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, this sudden storm caused about “two-thirds of the total outages caused by last summer’s Hurricane Irene.”

Panera was packed and the A.C. was at-tracting dozens of people creating a line beyond the front door. I made my way to the bathroom to wash up and was grateful for the running water, while my sisters waited in line. They were out of bagels, so we bought two baguettes and a cinnamon crumb cake and made our way back home to the heat. Later in the day, the generator was finally started to get only our refrigerators working. The A.C. takes up too much power,

my father constantly reminded us, and so we had to bear through the heat for the week. My aunt later went out and bought five fans to help cool us down.

Our week was pretty much unproduc-tive. The heat and humidity made it impossible to work. We were all feel-ing lethargic. Mornings were spent on the front porch as the sun was rising and later in the day we would move to the back porch, where we’d have din-ner and stay there until about eleven at night. It was impossible to sit inside.

“The electricity should be back on to-morrow,” everyone would say, although we sensed that we were wrong; we were still hopeful. Once I was able to access the internet on my phone and saw that the number of customers BGE had with-out electricity was over 600,000, I knew we’d be one of the last to get help, and we were, with only 1,000 left after us. Now all I could think about, of course other than the unbearable weather, were my papers that I hadn’t even started. “One more week, one more week, I constantly reassured myself.” And re-alizing I wasn’t going to be able to do much of anything at home, for the next few days, my husband and I would head to the University of Maryland to study in the morning and then head to Prince George’s Community college –where Alaa was taking classes- in the evening.

As much as I hated being without air condition, the storm wasn’t without its benefits. For one, it brought me closer to God and made me feel extremely blessed for all that He has given me. It is the small things that make you realize His strength and capabilities, like a cool breeze or a nice drizzle of rain. Grow-ing up in America, you take for granted the basic essentials of life such as clean running water and a readily available supply of food.

My mind continued to go back to the people in the drought-stricken part of East Africa and to the people in Syria who were not only suffering from lack of electricity, food and water but are also constantly bombarded with rock-ets and mortar shells. It also brought us as a family closer as we were forced to spend much more time together-with there being no internet or T.V. Being

of Syrian descent, at night we would blast Syrian revolutionary songs from my phone, and we would have our own semi-protests.

While we must always remember God’s might and power, it is in the times of hardships that we feel nearer to Him. With every action, I remembered how grateful I needed to be. To be able to escape to a cooled restaurant, go to school, or just sit in a car with A.C. reminded me of the countless things I take for granted on a regular basis, which is why I took the storm to also be a blessing. It reminded me to always be humble and more aware of those less fortunate than me. However, as lucky as we were to be safe with no ruined food or damaged goods and property, the 34 people that the Federal Emergency Management Agency attributed as casualties of the storm were sadly not as fortunate. BGE was calling the June 29 storm as “one of the most damaging storms in the company’s nearly 200-year history.” Downed trees and the widespread dam-age were not only the source of deaths but a consecutive 12-day heat wave with temperatures over 90-degrees led to several other fatalities. And accord-ing to a CNN article, “experts are esti-mating that it should take about a month to assess the amount of damage caused by the severe storm and resulting power outages.” However, Michael Hicks, di-rector of Ball State’s Bureau of Busi-ness Research told the Journal Gazette that based off of anecdotal testimonies; the damage from Friday’s storm could add up to $20 million.

On Thursday, BGE crews were working along our street. It was finally our turn. I couldn’t head home just yet though as I had a 12:00 class and still needed to finish my papers that were, thankfully, due by midnight. At around 9:39 p.m., I hit the send button and was officially done with class. Now I waited an hour for my husband to finish his final class for the summer before heading home to a working A.C. Finally.

That night, I woke up to grab an extra blanket to keep me warm.

blackout i>> continued from pg 1

....

| 21July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 coNtINuED

translation of the Quran and listen to it.

The chapter of the ‘Bee’ gave me chills and I repeated it several times a day.

I saved a recording of the Quran on my iPod and gave it to my patient to listen to, he was smiling and crying, and in reading the translation I could see why.

I applied what I gained from paltalk to care for my patient but gradually found myself coming to the room to find an-swers for myself.

I never really took the time to look at my life; I never knew my father, my mother died when I was 3, me and my brother were raised by our grandparents who died 4 years ago, so now its just the two of us.

But despite all this loss, I always thought I was happy, content.

It was only after spending time with my patient that felt like I was missing something. I was missing that sense of peace and tranquility my patient, even through suffering felt.

I wanted that sense of belonging and a part of something that he felt, even with no one around him.

I was given a list of mosques in my area by a lady on paltalk and went down to visit one. I watched the prayer and could not hold back my tears.

I felt drawn to the mosque every day and the imam and his wife would give me books and tapes and welcome any questions I had.

Every question I asked at the mosque and on paltalk was answered with such clarity and depth that could do nothing but accept them.

I have never practiced a faith but al-ways believed that there was a God; I just did not know how to worship Him.

One evening I came on paltalk and one of the speakers on the mic addressed me. He asked me if I have any ques-tions, I said no. He asked if I was happy with the answers I was given, I said yes.

He asked then what was stopping me accepting Islam, I could not answer.

I went to the mosque to watch the dawn prayer. The imam asked me the same question, I could not answer.

I then went to tend to my patient, I was feeding him and as I looked in his eyes I just realized, he was brought to me for a reason and the only thing stopping me from accepting was fear.... not fear in the sense of something bad, but fear of

accepting something good, and thinking that I was not worthy like this man.

That afternoon I went to the mosque and asked the imam if I could say my declaration of faith, the Shahadah.: lā ilāha illà al-Lāh, Muhammadun rasūlu Al-Lāh. There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.

He helped me through it and guided me through what I would need to do next.

I cannot explain the feeling I felt when I said it.

It was like someone woke me up from sleep and sees everything more clearly.

The feeling was overwhelming joy, clarity and most of all.... peace.

The first person I told was not my broth-er but my patient.

I went to him, and before I even opened my mouth he cried and smiled at me.

I broke down in front of him, I owed him so much.

I came home logged on to paltalk and repeated the shahadah for the room.

They all helped me so much and even though I had never seen a single one of them, they felt closer to me than my own brother.

I did eventually call my brother to tell him and although he wasn’t happy, he supported me and said he would be there, I couldn’t ask for any more.

After my first week as a Muslim my pa-tient passed away in his sleep while I was caring for him. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon.

He died a peaceful death and I was the only person with him.

He was like the father I never had and he was my doorway to Islam.

From the day of my Shahadah to this very day and for every day for as long as I live, I will pray that Allah shows mercy on him and grant him every good deed I perform in the tenfold.

I loved him for the sake of Allah and I pray each night to become an atoms weight of the Muslim he was.

Islam is a religion with an open door; it is there for those who want to enter it.... Verily Allah is the Most Merciful, Most Kind.

* Note * Our sister Cassie passed away October 2010 Inna lillahi wa inna il-ayhi rajioon, after she gave da’wa to her brother, who had accepted Islam Alhamdulillah. [Source: a da’wa orga-nization in the UK]

nuRse >> continued from pg 17

said that then he met Abu al-Darda’ and when he asked him, he received a reply similar to that given by Thauban.

In the second Hadith, Rabi’a b. Ka’b said: I was with God’s Messenger one night and I brought him water and what he required. He said to me: Ask (any-thing you like). I said: I ask your com-pany in Paradise. He (the Prophet) said: Or anything else besides it. I said: That is all (what I require). He said: Then help me to achieve this for you by de-

voting yourself often to prostration.

Sajdah is truly a humbling experience. We can beg for God’s forgiveness and cry by thinking about our misdeeds, as well as seek refuge in God from the Hellfire. We are in one of the most sub-missive physical positions when in Sa-jdah. It is one of the best occasions to

ask God for forgiveness, guidance, and all that we want. It is one of the best po-sitions in which to talk to God. Seeking God’s pleasure and forgiveness need to be given top priority in these remaining days and nights of Ramadan. [Source: soundvision.com]

sajdah >> continued from pg 17

fered to all free of charge. Outlets were

available for people to recharge their phones and other devices, and space was plentiful for those who wanted to settle into a corner and get some work done or read a book. The showers in the bathrooms were also available for use.

Both the courtyard and the carpeted masjid area were part of the “cooling center” area.

“Roughly 100 people [used the cool-ing center] some were neighbors, and

others were people who attended the masjid”, said Imam Johari. He received letters from local churches thanking the Muslim community for its generosity.

outages >> continued from pg 1

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 22 | OPINION

OpinionEvolution of the Muslim Vote in AmericaBy Ramy Osman A number of surveys and studies clearly show that historically, Muslim Ameri-cans lean more towards the Democratic Party. By looking at Muslim voting behavior over the years, we can try to identify patterns. We can also pose some questions and try to guess what is needed in the evolution of this be-havior. Is the Muslim American vote the result of a well organized effort of forming a bloc vote? Or is it more hap-hazard, where as members of a minor-ity group, we independently arrive to similar conclusions? Do Muslims vote based on “lesser of two evils”, or based on principles and values? It seems to be a combination of all these factors. But as of yet, there seems to be no coherent platform that one can identify as being “Muslim”, whether on the national or local levels.

Local elections are important, but vot-ing trends in Presidential elections are a good way to gauge the collective mind-set of communities around America. The first attempts at organizing Mus-lim Americans into a national bloc vote probably occurred in the 1990’s. In 1992 a handful of Muslim leaders and organizations recommended that Mus-lims vote for the Republican candidate George Bush Sr, and then in 1996 they supported Democratic candidate Bill Clinton. In 2000, a better organized Muslim community rallied around the domestic policies and social values of the Republican candidate, George W Bush. Muslims correctly identified the Republican Party as standing for is-sues we can identify with: social and economic conservatism, support for en-trepreneurship and family values, and high regard for religion. These were all things that attracted a large portion of the Muslim vote. Bush’s outreach to the Muslim communities, a pledge to pur-sue a “humble foreign policy”, and an agreement to end the government’s use of secret evidence solidified commit-

ment of Muslims to support him. There are estimates that as much as 75% of Muslim voters voted for Bush in 2000, despite less than 25% of them being registered Republicans.

Bush’s extremely narrow win in Flori-da, by just a few hundred votes, put him into the White House in 2000. 60,000 Muslims in Florida voted for him. They were considered the swing vote that put him over the top because it was the first time the Muslim community united politically in such an organized and effective manner. Muslim Americans prided themselves on placing a vote that “counted”. But Muslim leaders and communities failed to realize that they were officially inducted into the politics of pandering. Bush and his election cam-paign had agreed to adopt the demand of Muslim political leaders, which was to end the use of secret evidence. But Bush adopted this not because he was a principled individual who thought it

was the right thing to do, but rather be-cause he found it politically expedient. His desire to get elected pushed him to persuade Muslims, and others, to vote for him by saying things that will guar-antee their vote. And because of the desire of the Muslim community to be recognized and have influence on an election, many ignored Bush’s personal and family history (which includes in-volvement in war and big business).

This type of mutual political pander-ing turned out to be detrimental to the Muslim community. The community was not prepared with the type of politi-cal infrastructure and influence needed to maintain any sort of national pres-sure beyond an election season. With-out any significant lobby group, policy think-tank, media resource, or insider access, the Muslim community was in no position to compete with other communities. This was especially true with right-wing power elites, such as

AIPAC (American Israeli Public Af-fairs Committee), PNAC (Project for a New American Century), and Fox News channel. It was difficult for the Muslim community to realize that a neo-conser-vative takeover of the Republican Party was in progress. And it was almost im-possible to foresee the types of difficul-ties that Muslims were about to encoun-ter over the next 10 years.

After 9-11, Muslims reacted to the over-aggressive military and security poli-cies by vowing to never vote Repub-lican again. It seemed like a justified reaction to the right-wing power elite that started the wars and oppressive policies against Muslim people. It was also a reaction to the increasing intoler-ance and hostility of some Republicans towards Muslims and the Islamic faith. The 2004 presidential election saw many Muslims placing a protest vote against Bush by voting for John Kerry, who did no direct outreach to Muslim voters. They viewed Kerry as a “lesser of two evils”. This was despite Senator Kerry voting in Congress for the wars, the Patriot Act, the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), and other bills that started and expanded the “war on terror”. But Muslims ignored the fact that the Democratic Party was just as responsible as the Republican Party in enabling the transgressions of gov-ernment.

By shunning the Republican Party, many Muslims thought that the only alternative was the Democratic Party. They focused on finding a political home in the liberal inclusiveness of a party that now prides itself on its diver-sity and appeal to people turned off by Republicans. After all, the Democratic vote includes black, Jewish, gay and pro-choice voting blocs, among oth-ers. So why not include another group who are unwelcome in the Republican Party? Muslims engaged and supported

Do Muslims vote based on “the lesser of two evils”, or based on principles and values?

vote Pg 23....

| 23July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 OPINION

the Democratic Party despite the con-servative nature of Muslims, which puts them at odds with the party’s sup-port for some socially controversial is-sues, and also puts them at odds with the party’s overwhelming support for the wars and unconstitutional laws. The only real agenda Muslims seemed to be pursuing was finding acceptance in a political party.

By the 2008 presidential election, Mus-lim Americans became even more disil-lusioned with the policies and rhetoric of the Republican Party. Public displays of Islamophobia had increased and were mostly coming from Republicans. But the Democrats had candidate Barack Obama who had qualities which super-ficially made him an attractive choice. Obama had a Muslim father, estranged Muslim family members in Kenya, and Hussein as a middle name which was all endearing to the Muslim commu-nity. 80-90% of Muslims voted for him in 2008.

After Obama was elected, Muslim Americans felt some hope that he would bring about the “change” he elo-quently campaigned for. They thought that their vote “counted”. But Obama proved that he lacked principles and the moral resolve to make any change or to challenge the status quo. He extended the Bush policies of bailouts to big-business, continued war, and expansion of a domestic police state. He signed off on unconstitutional laws like the Patriot Act, NDAA and CISPA, which all embolden law enforcement in their profiling and targeting of Muslims. He escalated the war in Afghanistan and Yemen. He continues to sign off on a kill list which resulted in the assassina-tion of three Muslim US citizens and hundreds of innocent people. And he approved sanctions on Iran, which col-lectively punishes all its citizens, even though Iran never attacked or instigated threats against America. Muslim Amer-icans were let down in a way similar to what they experienced in 2000. Once again, Muslim leaders and communities failed to recognize signs from Obama’s past (like his Senate voting record, and associations with big business and lob-byists), which would have warned of things to come. But his after-election

behavior was the clear proof the Mus-lim community needed for them to con-firm that the Republican and Democrat-ic parties are two sides of the same coin. Both parties have the same corrupt ten-dencies. What Bush and the war-party set in motion in 2000, Obama and the big-government party re-enforced in 2008.

One can only speculate as for the rea-

sons of this level of unpreparedness on the national level. But a major factor was that the vast majority of Muslims who were involved in supporting the Republican presidential campaign in 2000 were from an immigrant genera-tion who were new to this country. They were very successful at laying a foun-dation by building mosques, Islamic centers and schools, but they didn’t yet have a social infrastructure that can sup-port long term political involvement. Without a historical context in Ameri-can politics, they lacked the knowledge and experience needed to recognize po-

litical trends and know what role they can play. They also didn’t share the po-litical identity of the indigenous black Muslim community who are well-estab-lished and have first hand knowledge of the psychology and history of America. The black Muslim community didn’t seem to participate in the political flip-flopping that the immigrant community has been part of for the past 20 years.

In previous years, the Muslim vote ap-peared unified simply because we inde-pendently reacted to events in a similar way. But after learning that both parties perpetuate the same harmful policies, it’s now time to re-evaluate things and face the challenge of how to engage this negative landscape. Do we ignore these negative aspects, and focus instead on playing the political game of pandering and lobbying? Do we try to compete

with the other interest groups and in-dustries in pressuring and embarrassing political leaders into listening to us? Or do we take a different approach where we stand on uncompromising principles of things like no war, no corruption, no reckless budget and no police state? Are principles and values prioritized over access and acceptance? Which one is worth it?

Where we go from here is up to us. By being relatively young in the American political scene, Muslims still have an opportunity to create an identity that is

unique and that does not get absorbed into the status quo. It’s a chance to de-velop a communal voice that can be called Muslim and American. But there are many questions we need to answer. Is there a way to participate in politics and voting, while not compromising our morals and values? Is there a way to preserve our identity while improv-ing American society? What are our goals of political involvement and what

should shape these goals? Are we more concerned about pursuing “liberty and justice for all” (which is something America’s founding fathers dreamed of but no generation has been able to achieve), or more concerned about pur-suing the American dream (by fight-ing for a “piece of the pie” and laying a claim to politics just for the sake of inclusion)? What is the role of govern-ment to begin with? Does the protec-tion of “inalienable rights”, which is rooted in American governance, have any commonality with the intentions of Islamic law (maqasid al-shariah)? Is there a way to harmonize these two con-cepts so that we have some guidance in our involvement in politics? What role does the pursuit of ideals such as justice and liberty play in guiding our involve-ment? Without having clear answers, then our political involvement will be haphazard and ultimately misguided. If we don’t challenge ourselves by explor-ing these questions, then our condition will never change, and we’ll have only ourselves to blame.

For the Muslim vote to evolve into something productive, the first step that is needed is for us to abandon the de-featist attitude of “lesser of two evils”. It doesn’t make sense for people with morals and values to constantly ra-tionalize endorsing evil, even if it’s a supposed “lesser evil”. To use this as a standard strategy of political involve-ment is a stark contradiction to the Is-lamic precept of ‘forbid evil’. It’s also time to stop thinking that winning is everything. Is it more important for us to be on the winning side rather than the principled side? We should remem-ber that a vote is a reflection of your opinion, morals and values. Voting is your chance to give naseeha (advice) to those in power. If you resign yourself to continuously voting lesser of two evils, then you are voicing your acceptance of it. Nothing will change and you will actually contribute to perpetuating evil, which is forbidden for us to do. But if you disapprove of what those in power are doing, then elections provide an op-portunity to give naseeha by registering your disapproval.

When it comes to voting at the presi-dential level, a vote for Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Ross Perot or any other non-es-tablishment candidate is a vote of con-

The only real agenda Muslims seemed to be pursuing was finding acceptance in a political party.

After learning that both parties perpetuate the same harmful policies, it’s now time to re-evaluate things and face the challenge of how to engage this negative landscape.

vote i Pg 26

vote>> continued from pg 22

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 24 | oBItS & uPcoMING EVENtS

iCM Bazaar, eid Boutique & Yard sale saturday, July 14 2012, 10:00am - 6:00pmEid Outfits, Accessories, Household items and much more! Yard Sale: 1 table/family (no charge). Eid Bazaar: 1 table/vendor ($25/table - first come first served). If Possible Please Bring Umbrellas and/or tents for shade. Mark your calendars and reserve a table!Location: ICM Masjid, 19411 Woodfield Rd., Gaithersburg MD 20879 Contact: For more info, please contact: Mohammed Aslam at icmadmin@icomd.org Shahnaz Baten at shahnaz_baten@yahoo.com-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------isB summerFest 2012 saturday, July 14 2012, 12:00pm - 8:00pmFeaturing: Call of Duty- MW3 Tournament, Laser Tag Area, Grand Bazaar with over 70 vendors, Boot Camp obstacle course, talent show, Rock climbing, reptile show, The wrecking ball- 18 person ride, pony rides, International Food Vendors, Bumper Cars, Carnival games, face painting, henna, ultimate volleyball and much more. Purchase wristbands online at www.isb.org/summerfest. Get your Ramadan and Eid shopping here.Location: Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB), 6631 Johnnycake Road, Baltimore, MD 21244 Contact: For more info, sponsorship, or vending inquires, email: summerfest@isb.org-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------iRhsCA 12th Annual Fundraising dinner saturday, July 14 2012, 7:00pm - 10:00pmIslamic Research and Humanitarian Services of America (IRHSCA) cordially invites you to the 12th Annual Fundraising Honors Dinner. Respect, Tolerance, and Collaboration by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullahi, Imam of MCC. Speakers: Safi Khan, Dar-us-Salaam; Imam Faizul Khan, ISWA; Imam Aqil Ingram of Ahil Quraan wa Hadith; Imam Abdul-Rahman M. Yaki of IRHSCA and Mayor Kito Jones. Honorees are: PGMA, Prince Georges Muslim Council, Muslimat Al Nisa, Milati Islami, M.I.S.T, Al Huda School, and Muslim Link. Special presentations by Naeem Baig, Azizah Bint Abdul-Samad, and IRHSCA Weekend Islamic Academy Students.Location: Suitland High School, 5200 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, MD Contact: For tickets, call 301-324-5040 or visit irhsca.org, Pizza Pike, Sweet Tooth Bakery, IRHSCA, ISWA or MCC-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------iCM Ramadan Fundraising dinner sunday, July 29 2012, 6:30pm - 9:30pmInsha’Allah ICM will be hosting its Ramadan 1433 Fund Raising Dinner. The purpose is to raise money for building ICM youth & community center complete with sports facilities, reception hall, health clinic, library, class rooms, book store, commercial kitchen, and other facilities. Once completed Insha’Allah, it will be a 40,000 square feet facility; one of the biggest in the region. This new facility will accommodate bigger congregation, significantly increase our capacity to serve the community and to expand social services. Please plan to attend the fund raiser and inform others. You can also donate online at www.icomd.org.Location: Bohrer Park Activity Center, 508 S Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 Contact: For questions or suggestions, please contact Br. Iqbal Yousuf at (301) 742-1147 or via e-mail at fr@icomd.org-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Muslim Family day 2012 saturday, september 15 2012ICNA Washington DC cordially invites you to Muslim Family Day for the greater Baltimore/Washington DC/Virginia area at Six Flags America. For the first time we were able to reserve the entire park for this event on SATURDAY! Please stay tuned for discounted ticket pricing and Family- Pack deals.Location: Six Flags America, Maryland Contact: For more info and how to buy tickets, please visit our website: www.MuslimFamilyDay.com Or call us at 1-866-DIAL-MFD-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upcoming Events In Your AreaRequest For Dua’s{ To Allah We Belong, and to Him is Our Return }

“Everyone is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and good, and to Us

you will be returned.” (Surah Al-Anbiya:35)”

6-28-12 It is with regret we announce that mother-in-law of Br. Anwer Goheer, Director of the MCC, has returned to Allah (SWT). May Allah (SWT) bless her soul and grant her the highest place in Jannah, Ameen. (Source: MCC)

7-4-12 There was a Janazah for Brother Kamil Muhammad. May Allah SWT grant him Jannatul Firdaus, and make it easy for the family. Ameen (Source: PGMA)

7-4-12 The Board of Directors, Imam, Executive Director and the staff of Dar Al Hijrah and the muslim community in Northern Virginia extend its deepest condolences to our brother Mohammed Elkot for the death of his Mother. My Allah grant her with Jannah, and give his family patience. (Source: Dar Al-Hijrah)

7-4-12 It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Seyed Abdol Hossein Hejazi, Father of Sr. Minoo Hejazi. Janazah Prayers were on July 6th, 2012 in Laurel, Maryland. We ask Allah SWT to forgive him, have mercy on him and give him Jannat ul-Firdous. We also ask Allah SWT to give patience to his family during this difficult time. Allahumma Aameen. (Source: ICCL)

7-6-12 Salatul Janazah of Br. Ali, brother of Professor M M Ali, S & Y Ali and Sr. Sultana Kamal (ADAMS Fairfax Co-Chair) was on July 6, 2012 in Sterling, Virginia. May Allah SWT forgive him and rewards him a place in Jannat ul Firdous - Ameen. May Allah SWT Grant Sabr to family - Ameen. (Source: ADAMS)

301-982-1020To Advertise in the Muslim Link Call

....

| 25July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- NORTHERN VIRGINIA

----------------------------------------------------------------All Muslim Brothers Association3900 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22302Tel: 703-647-0515Jumma Prayer Only - 1:15 P.m----------------------------------------------------------------IcNA VA center:2913 Woodlawn Trail, Alexandria, VA 22306.Tel: 703-660-1255----------------------------------------------------------------Idara Dawat-o-irshad:4803 VAlley St, Alexandria, VA 22312Tel: 703-256-8622ww.irshad.org----------------------------------------------------------------Mustafa center:6844 Braddock Rd., Annandale, VA 22003Tel: 703-658-7134 www.mustafacenter.orgE-mail: Mustafacenter@gmail.com----------------------------------------------------------------Baitul Mukarram:2116 S Nelson St., Arlington, VA, 22204,Tel: 703-778-1550----------------------------------------------------------------Zakaria Islamic Academy:Galesbury Lane, Chantilly, VA 20151Tel: 571-969-2123www.ziacademy.orgE-mail: Contact@ziacademy.org----------------------------------------------------------------Badr community center Of Dumfries:17794 Main Street, Dumfries, VA 22026Tel: 703-585-1689/703-554-7983 www.bccd.orgE-mail: Info@bccd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Dar Ul-ghuraba (Masjid Ur Rahmah):155 Baker St., Emporia, VA 23487----------------------------------------------------------------Dar Al Hijrah:3159 Rowe St., Falls Church, VA 22044,Tel: 703-536-1030www.hijrah.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic center Of NorthernVA Trust (Icnvt):4420 Shirley Gate Road, Fairfax, VA, 22030Tel: 703-591-0999www.icnvt.orgE-mail: Info@icnvt.org----------------------------------------------------------------Dar Al-noor (Muslim Assoc. Of VA):5404 Hoadly Rd., Manassas, VA 20112,Tel: 703-580-0808Fax: 703-221-8513www.daralnoor.org-----------------------------------------------------------------Manassas Mosque:12950 Center Entrance Ct, Manassas, VATel: 703-257-5537----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic center Of Virginia:1241 Buford Rd.,

Richmond, VA 23235Tel: 804-320-7333www.icVA1.com----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of GreaterRichmond (ISGR):6324 Rigsby Road, Richamond, VA 23226Tel: 804-673-4177www.isgr.org----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al Rahman:1305 Hull St., Richmond, VA 23224Tel: 804-232-7640---------------------------------------------------------------------------Masjidullah Of Richmond:211 North Ave., Richmond, VA 23222Tel: 804-321-8864/804-647-4297----------------------------------------------------------------Dar-ul Huda:6666 Commerce St., Springfield, VA 22150,Tel: 703-922-0111www.darulhuda.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Foundation of America:6606 Electronic Drive, Springfield, VA 22151Tel: 703-914-4982----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Noor:8608 Pohick Rd, Springfield, VA 22153Tel: 703-451-7615-----------------------------------------------------------------Adams center:46903 Sugarland Rd, Sterling,VA 20164,Tel: 703-433-1325www.adamscenter.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Heritage center (IHc):262 A-3 Cedar Ln., Vienna, VA 22180Tel: 703-206-9056----------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON D.c.----------------------------------------------------------------First Hijra Muslim comm. center:4324 Georgia Ave, NW Washington, D.C. 20011www.firsthijrah.org----------------------------------------------------------------Ivy city Masjid:2001 Galludet St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002Tel: 202-904-9668E-mail: masjidivycity@yahoo.com----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-islam:4603 Benning Rd., SE, Washington, D.C. 20019E-mail: Imammusa@hotmail.com----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Muhammad:1519 4th St. NW, Washington D.C. 20001Tel: 202-483-8832 | www.masjidmuhammad.com----------------------------------------------------------------Muslim Society Of Washington, D.c. (MSWDc):Howard Center, Room 805 (Above Hu Bookstore)Tel: 202-328-3236----------------------------------------------------------------

The Islamic center:2551 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20008Tel: 202-332-8343www.theislamiccenter.com----------------------------------------------------------------

MARYLAND---------------------------------------------------------------- Islamic Society Of Annapolis (ISA):2635 Riva Rd. Suite 110, Annapolis, MD 21401Tel: 410-266-6660www.isamd.orgEmail: Info@islamannapolis.org----------------------------------------------------------------Bait-Allah Masjid of Baltimore Inc200 S. Calhoun StreetBaltimore, MD 21223Imam’s cell: 571-721-9938email: baitallahmasjid@yahoo.com----------------------------------------------------------------Bilal Dawah center, Inc:1910 Frederick Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21223Tel: 410-945-1515----------------------------------------------------------------Dar ul Uloom:6334 Dogwoood Rd, Baltimore, MD 21207,Tel: 410-493-0785Email: Darululoommd@aol.com----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Ul-haq:514 Islamic Way (Wilson St. ), Baltimore, MD 21217Tel: 410-728-1363----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-mumineen:2642 Harford Rd., Baltimore, MD 21218Tel: 410-467-8798----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Jamaat Al-Muslimeen:4624 York Rd., Baltimore, MD 21212Tel: 443-622-2962 ----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-rahmah/ISB:6631 Johnnycake Rd., Baltimore, MD 21244Tel: 410-747-4869 | www.isb.org----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid As Saffat:1335 W. North Ave., Baltimore, MD 21217Tel: 410-669-0655----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Easton126 Port Street Unit # 1Easton, MD 21601Tel: 410-829 7924 islamicsocietyofeastonmd.yolasite.com----------------------------------------------------------------IRHScA (Islamic Research And Hum. Services center Of America):1 Chambers Ave, Capitol Heights, MDTel: 301-324-5040www.irhsca.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Southern Pg county (ISSPGc):P O Box 99, Clinton, MD 207355410 Indian Head Hwy, Oxon Hill, MD 20745Tel: 240 603 4618----------------------------------------------------------------

Dar-us-Salaam:5301 Edgewood Rd., College Park, MD 20740,Tel: 301-982-9848www.duscommunity.org----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Zamzam1510 Lynch Road, Dundalk, MD 21222Tel: 410-284-2840www.masjidzamzam.com----------------------------------------------------------------Dar al-Taqwa:10740 Rte. 108, Ellicott City, MD 21042,Tel: 410-997-5711www.taqwa.net----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-Hikmah:11064 Livingston Road Unit L (101) Ft. Washington, MD 20744,Tel: 301 292-9009----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Frederick (ISF):1250 Key Parkway, Frederick,md 21702Tel: 301-682-6090www.isfmd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic center Of Maryland (IcM):19411 Woodfield Rd. Gaithersburg,md 20879Tel:301-840-9440www.icomd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Makkah Learning center (MLc):814 Brandy Farms Ln., Gambrills, MD 21054Tel: 410-721-5880www.isamd.orgEmail: Info@mlcmd.org------------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of Germantown (ISG):19900 Brandermill Rd., Germantown, MD 20876Tel: (240)-277-7758www.isgtown.org----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Ibn Taymiyyah:8000 Mlk Highway, Glenarden MDTel: 301-461-9325 ----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society of Western Maryland:2036 Day Rd., Hagerstown, MD 21740Tel: 301-797-0922----------------------------------------------------------------Southern Maryland Islamic center (SMIc):1046 Solomons Island Rd, Huntingtown, MD, 20639Tel: 410-535-0000----------------------------------------------------------------Avondale Islamic center:4637 Eastern Ave., Hyattsville, MD, 20782Tel: 301-779-9292----------------------------------------------------------------Prince Georges Muslim Assoc.(PGMA):9150 Lanham Severn Rd., Lanham, MD, 20706,Tel: 301-459-4942www.pgmamd.orgImam’s Office: 301-459-1441E-mail: Imam@pgmamd.org.

----------------------------------------------------------------Turkish American community center9704 Good Luck Rd, Lanham, MD 20706Tel: 301-459-9589www.taccenter.org----------------------------------------------------------------La Plata Masjid:111 Howard Street,La Plata, MD 20646Tel: 301-609-8769----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic com. center Of Laurel (IccL):7306 Contee Rd.,Laurel, MD 20707Tel: 301-317-4584www.icclmd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-Ghurabaa:8220 Washington St., South Laurel, MD 20724.Tel: 301-604-3295----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic center Of Lexington Park22583 Three Notch Road, Lexington Park, MD 20619Tel: 240-538-7839 or 561-414-0994 www.iclpmd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Medina center:11600 Falls Road, Potomac MD 20854www.medinacenter.netE-mail: Admin@medinacenter.net----------------------------------------------------------------Randallstown Islamic center9019 Marcella Ave. Randallstown, MD 21133Tel: 410-971-4018www.ricbaltimore.orgE-mail: Info@ricbaltimore.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Society Of The Washington Area (ISWA):2701 Briggs Chaney Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20904Tel: 301-879-0930www.iswamd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Islamic Education Society of Maryland11504 Veirs Mills Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20902Tel: 301- 933-3838----------------------------------------------------------------Muslim community center (Mcc):15200 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20905Tel: 301-384-3454 www.mccmd.org----------------------------------------------------------------Imaam: (Jumuah Only)Jumuah: 12:50pm3201 Randolph Rd, Wheaton, MD 20906www.imaam.orgEmail: Fridayprayer@imaam.org----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid An-nur:5418 Ebenezer Road, White Marsh, MD 21162Tel: 410-663-9637Fax: 410-663-9817----------------------------------------------------------------Masjid Al-inshirah:7832 Fairbrook Road, Windsor Mill, MD 21244Tel: 410-298-2977

MaSJID LISTInGDo you have additions, changes, or corrections to the event listings in the Muslim Link? Email us at events@muslimlinkpaper.com, or call us at 301-982-1020.

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 26 |

Editor-in-Chief:Minhaj Hasan

Office Manager:Stephanie Benmoha

Layout & Design:Fadlullah Firman

staff Writers:Urooj FatimaAnhar KarimAisha KhatibYaman ShalabiFatimah WaseemWafa Unus

sharia Advisors:Sheikh Salah as-SawiImam Safi Khan

The Muslim Link (TML) is published every other week on Fridays and distributed throughout the Washington, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia Metropolitan Areas. TML is a non-profit publication and is based at Dar-us-Salaam in College Park, Maryland, USA. Staff and contributors are not necessarily affiliated with Dar-us-Salaam.

The views expressed in The Muslim Link do not necessarily reflect those of Dar-us-Salaam or TML management or their underwriters. Dar-us-Salaam and TML are not responsible for the accuracy of information presented by advertisers, or for the religious compliance of events, products, or services published in TML.

This publication contains the names of ALLAH (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). Please keep, recycle, or share it with others

The Muslim Link5301 Edgewood RoadCollege Park, MD 20740Phone : (301) 982-1020Fax: (240) 209-0702editor@muslimlinkpaper.com

Advertising:301-982-1020 or email us at office@muslimlinkpaper.com

The Muslim Link. All Rights Reserved 2012

ATTENTiON iNMATES: As much as we would like to, we are unable to honor requests for free subscriptions at this time. To subscribe, follow the instructions above.

SUBSCRiBE TO THE MUSLiM LiNK! To get the Muslim Link print edition in the mail, send $5 for shipping and handling per issue using check or money order payable to: The Muslim Link, 5301 Edgewood Road, College Park MD 20740. To make payments over the phone using a credit card, call the Muslim Link office at 301-982-1020.

Subscribe to the online version of the newspaper so you get it in your email inbox FREE each issue. To subscribe for free, go to muslimlinkpaper.com.

science. By simply changing your vote to a non-establishment candidate, it will go a long way in developing ourselves as informed ethical voters. By raising the bar regarding the way we vote, it will make us more critical of the people we support and the issues we advocate. Maybe Muslims should vote for any one of the third party candidates. One exam-ple is Gary Johnson. He is a libertarian with some principled positions such as: immediately end all wars, reduce troop levels from bases around the world, end all foreign aid (including to Israel), end the Patriot Act and indefinite detention, reduce the powers of the TSA, reduce the federal budget, and oppose bailouts and lobby groups. Are these positions that an American Muslim should sup-port? If you don’t support any of the third party candidates, then maybe join the write-in campaign for Ron Paul who has a proven track record of challenging the transgressions of the federal gov-ernment on so many levels.

Another alternative for Muslims is to

not vote at all. This can be just as pow-erful as a principled vote. A non-vote doesn’t mean political disengagement. You can still be a registered Republican or Democrat and be involved in politi-cal discourse. But a non-vote is an ex-pression of dissatisfaction with the poor quality of available candidates. It’s a statement of ‘no confidence’ in the op-tions presented to us. A non-vote can also be a disapproval of the political process as a whole. It can be a refusal to take part in electing a person who will legislate convoluted and unneces-sary laws which effectively restrict your freedoms or someone else s freedoms in some way.

Whatever strategy one decides, it will be an approach based on principles and responsibility. An approach like this will help restore some dignity to our community and will train us to be more critical about the political process. We need to be resolved enough not to com-promise our votes.

Come this November, and for most presidential elections to come, the choices of the two-party system will

most likely be evil #1 or evil #2. Al-though many people feel a personal responsibility to vote in presidential elections, it’s actually more important to participate and vote in local and state elections. Our numbers are insignificant in most states for us to be a swing vote and have any bearing on a presidential election (the 2000 Florida election was a unique exception). But our numbers in many states are significant enough to sway local elections which are more relevant to our everyday lives. How-ever, since the presidential election is fast approaching, and if you feel com-pelled to vote, then your best strategy is to vote by writing in the person whom you endorse and have faith in. Vote for someone who you believe can faithfully strive for justice and peace. If there is no one who meets your criteria and you have to write in Imam Al-Mahdi or Je-sus Christ son of Mary (peace be upon them), then so be it. But whatever you do, do not endorse evil.-----------------------------------------------

Ramy Osman lives in Northern Vir-ginia. This essay appears on www.mus-lims4liberty.org.

vote i>> continued from pg 23

301-982-1020C a l l T o d a y T o A d v e r t i s e i n T h e M u s l i m L i n k

coNtINuED

....

TheMusl mL nkbrought to you by

LITTLE RIvER ChIROPRACTIC CLINIC

DR. RAMIN AFZALY, D.C., 703-941-4464 6601 LITTLE RIVER TURNPIKE, SUITE

310, ALExANDRIA, VA 22312

FREE CONsuLTATION, FREE ExAMINATION

(For new patients only)

Auto accident? Sports or work-related injury?

We offer comprehensive imaging studies and rehabilitation

PLANET PIZZA819 Hungerford Dr. Rockville, MD

Phone (301) 762-9400

sPECIAL$5.00 off

16” Pizza with One Topping

Pick-up onlyTheMusl mL nkbrought to you by

Start your involvement in Muslim media today!

Email editor@muslimlinkpaper.com

Write baby Write...

coNtINuED | SALAAH tIMES |marketplace Your Guide to Products and Services for Your Muslim Lifestyle

health RestaurantProfessional Services

the Muslim Link Coupons

Clothing & accessories

TheMusl mL nkbrought to you by

Phd sALON BARBER shOP216 Main Street, Laurel, MD 20707

301-604-6980Mon - Fri 10am to 7pm; Sat 10am to

pm; Sun 10am to 5pm$10 WITh ThIs COuPON,

(REGuLAR hAIR CuT)We Cut All Types of Hair!

TheMusl mL nkbrought to you by

• When you place a print ad with us in Main or Marketplace you can request a FREE coupon in each issue your ad runs.• For businesses not currently in the paper, coupons are just $10 each issue, paid in advance.• All coupons are one size (approximately half the size of an 1/8 page ad) and are text-only, no images.• You tell us the deal you are offering, and the expiration date • The section will be promoted on the front page of the newspaper, directing readers to the actual coupon page inside.

Now is the time to take advantage of this great advertising savings. Drop us an email atads@muslimlinkpaper.com, or give us a call at 301-982-1020 to get in on it today!

RAhMA INTERNATIONAL sTOREIslamic Society of Washington Area (ISWA)

2701 Briggs Chaney Road Silver Spring, MD 20905

sPECIALSpend $50 and get 15% off

additional purchase (check with store for details)

Direct line 240-305-6354TEL: 301-879-3598/301-879-3596,

hours: Mon, Wed, Fri - 11am-5pm | Sat - 10am-4 pm

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 28 |

819 Hungerford dr.ROCKVILLE

301-762-9400Please visit our website:

www.PlanetPizzaandSubs.com

WE DELIVER!11AM- 11PM

DAILY

HALALPIZZA

& SUBS

GLUTEN FREE PIZZAS! ASK FOR DETAILS

QUALITY, VARIETY,

LOW PRICES!

WE ACCEPT COMPETITOR

COUPONS FOR PICKUP

ORDERS!

FAMILY SPECIALLarge 14 Inch Pizza with 1 Topping,

Your choice of either Chicken or Buffalo Wing Order, 2 Liter Soda

$1899+Tax

LUNCh SPECIALTwo 8” Subs, Two Cans of Soda

and Two Bags of chips

$1299+Tax

PICK-UP SPECIAL3 Large Cheese Pizzas

$1999+Tax

NEW ITEMSCharcoal Broiled Chicken $7.99

Hummus or Falafel sandwich $5.99Beef, chicken, or lamb kabob $7.99

Kabob combo $10.99Triple kabob combo $13.99

ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER. NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS. LIMITED TIME OFFERThe Muslim LinkPlanet Pizza & Subs • 301-762-9400

ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER. NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS. LIMITED TIME OFFERThe Muslim LinkPlanet Pizza & Subs • 301-762-9400

ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER. NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS. LIMITED TIME OFFERThe Muslim LinkPlanet Pizza & Subs • 301-762-9400

ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER. NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER OFFERS. LIMITED TIME OFFERThe Muslim LinkPlanet Pizza & Subs • 301-762-9400

Tel: 410-242-4342 Fax: 410-242-0891

5209 East Drive, Arbutus, MD ( East Drive Shopping Center)

HOURS: Mon-Thurs 11:00am-10:00pm

Friday & Sat 11:00am-11:00pm Sun 12:00pm-10:00pm

Our menu includes appetizers, pizza,

strombolis, subs, sandwiches, hot dogs,

pasta, platters, wraps, salads, wings, and

desserts. Come try our HALAL diner!

strombolis, subs, sandwiches, hot dogs,

pasta, platters, wraps, salads, wings, and

desserts. Come try our HALAL diner!pasta, platters, wraps, salads, wings, and

NOW SERVING PAN PIZZA IN

8” PERSONAL & 14”Pepperoni, Bacon, & Ham Made from HALAL BEEF

WWW.PIZZA786.COMfor detailed menu, go to:

CONVENIENT TO UMBC CAMPUS

....

MP - Advertisements

301-982-1020

office@muslimlinkpaper.com

or Email us at

To Advertise in the Muslim Link Call

| 29July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012

• Obtain the CPFM License required by all Health Department at the time of Inspection• Classes in English and Spanish • 20 years Food Safety teaching experience• Easy monthly classes with Satisfaction Guaranteed !!!

Restaurants, Grocery Stores, Chefs, Day Care Centers, Supervisors , Kabob Places, Cooks

CLASSES VALID FOR VA, DC AND MDFee : $ 139.00

Includes, classes, book and National Exam

FOOD MANAGER LICENSESAP QUALITY TRAINING

For registration and Information please call:

Al Patino. InstructorAP Quality TrainingOffice: (703) 333-5707 Cell: (703) 309-8447www.Foodsafetyandsalud.com

....

MP - ADVERTISEMENT

301-982-1020

office@muslimlinkpaper.com

or Email us at

To Advertise in the Muslim Link Call

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 30 | ADVERTISEMENT

....

| 31July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012

HVAC Division

Phone: 301-408-8283 - Address: 4121 Sampson Road Silver Spring, MD 20906 Email: ben@prohomeserviceandrepair.com - For further information visit: www.prohomeserviceandrepair.com

Service & Installation Management - Furnaces - Air Conditioning - Heat Pumps Air Handlers - Duct Work Installation - Humidifiers - Thermostats - Boilers

Specializing in Natural Hair CareSpecializing in Natural Hair Care

PHD Salon Barber ShopSpecializing in Natural Hair Care

PHD Salon Barber ShopSpecializing in Natural Hair Care

PHD Salon Barber Shop

Braids, Twists, Locs, Press & Curl, Shampoo & Conditioner,Corn Rows, Weaves, Set-Roller Wrap, and much more...

216 Main Street (Off Route-1) , Laurel, MD 20707

For Men and Boys1st Floor LevelWalk Ins WelcomePhone # 301.604.6980

For Sisters: Private Area on 2nd FloorAvailable by Appt. OnlyCall Sylist Cealia at 240.501.3985

Rahma

Join our Facebook page and group: Rahma International Store

International Store

We sellE-Qur’an Device with E-Pen Pointer for easy listening and learning, Hajj and Umrah

Dua’s E-Device for easy memorisation, Islamic Clothing (men’s, women’s and children’s), Ihram’s for Hajj, Long shirts and skirts for women, Sleeves, Pashmina Shawls, Elegant

African Lace Materials, Bakhoor/Incense/Churai, 21 karat Gold jewelry, Guaranteed Gold plated jewelry, Silver Jewelry and ankle rings, Men’s silver rings with real Stones, and Much MORE. You will be pleased with our Very Unique Quality Products. Come in and enjoy

our Signature Hospitality, Insha’Allah, you will return.

location:Islamic Society of Washington Area

(ISWA)2701 Briggs Chaney RoadSilver Spring, MD 20905

HoursMondays: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Wednesdays: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PMFridays: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Saturdays: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

inquiries? contact raHma GHanimDirect line: (240) 305-6354 | Store: (301) 879-3598 or (301) 879-3596

Fax: (301) 879-3597 | Email: rahmainternationalstore@gmail.com

Abayas

E-Quran

Thoubs

Hajj and Umrah Dua’s E-Device

Mass Accounting & Tax Corp.

Mohammad Al-SuqiCell: 703-861-1625Office: 703-237-4299Fax: 1-800-857-6580Email: talsuqi@gmail.comAddress: 701 W Broad StreetSuite 205B, Falls Church, VA 22046

Quality Service - LOW COST! Serving the Community since 1991

www.idealaccountingsvc.com

Your Trusted Realtor in Suburban DC AreaServing since 1989 ( licensed in MD, DC, VA )

Muslim Ali, M.S, GRI, SFR, e-Pro

Fairfax Realty, Inc.1725 Elton Road, Silver Spring, MD 20903,

Phone: (301) 439-9500, Fax: (301) 439-8050

For fast Contact: (301) 503-0403, Muslimali@MRIS.com**Your best compliments to me is your referral to your friends and relatives **

��

�������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������� ����

����������� ��� ������������� ����������� ������ �

��������������®������������������������������

������������������������������������������������������� �!��"!�#$�%! & �������'(�"!�#$�%! &)���

������������������� !"#$�%"!�"&"!��������������������

''(�)��*������+���+��������+�������)�����������������)��������������������,���''

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

��

�������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������� ����

����������� ��� ������������� ����������� ������ �

��������������®������������������������������

������������������������������������������������������� �!��"!�#$�%! & �������'(�"!�#$�%! &)���

������������������� !"#$�%"!�"&"!��������������������

''(�)��*������+���+��������+�������)�����������������)��������������������,���''

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

Associate Broker® | Foreclosed Property Specialist

....

MP - ADVERTISEMENT

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 32 |

Oral ExaminationOral Cancer ScreeningPeriodontal EvaluationRoot CanalsCrownsBridgesVeneers

SealantsTeeth WhiteningProphylaxisWhite fi llingsExtractionsDenturesRestore Implants

6201 Greenbelt Rd, Suite U8B College Park, Md 20740

301.220.7260

616 Charles Street, Suite 201 La Plata, Md 20646

301.870.3367

Over 25 years in private practiceMember of ADA, MDA, SMDS, ADHA & MDHA

Two Locations

Over 25 years in private practiceFazil Alie D.D.S., P.A.

Riyad F. Alie R.D.H., B.S.Riaaz N. Alie D.D.S., B.A.

Services We Offer:

General Dentistry

BACK PAIN?

6601 Little River Turnpike, Suite 310, Alexandria, VA 22312Call today for a FREE CONSULTATION 703.941.4464

HEADACHES KNEE PAIN

LEG PAINSHOULDER PAIN

NECK PAIN

If you’ve been injured in a car accident or at work, relief is just one visit away ...

LITTLE RIVER CHIROPRACTIC CLINICDr Ramin Afzaly

LITTLE RIVER CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC

....

MP - Advertisements

| 33July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 ADVERTISEMENT

....

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 34 |

....

MP - Advertisements

| 35July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012

301-982-1020To Advertise in the Muslim Link Call

phone: 301-424-7207 | email: smalik@maryland-familylaw.comwebsite: www.maryland-familylaw.com

Law Office of John S. Weaver

Attorney Sarah MalikFamily Law Litigation, Mediation and Appeals

Maryland and Washington, DC

....

MP - ADVERTISEMENT

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 36 |

....

MP - Advertisements MP - ADVERtISEMENtS

| 37July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012

Place a personal classified ad. Call us at 301-982-1020. Office@muslimlinkpaper.comWe invite you to place a classified on the web FREE of charge at www.muslimlinkpaper.com. Classifieds in the print edition of the Muslim Link newspaper are only $1 for every 3 words. All classifieds run for 3 issues in the Marketplace section. Get started by emailing your exact text to office@muslimlinkpaper.com and then call in your credit card payment to 301-982-1020 or send a check or money order payable to: The Muslim Link, 5301 Edgewood Rd, College Park MD 20740.

EMPLOYMENTOPENING FOR OFFICE COORDINATOR Open position for full time Office Coordinator for local Project Management Company in Greenbelt, MD. Must have excellent communication and organizational skills, and be proficient in Microsoft Office applications including Outlook, Word, and Excel. Salary based on experience/capabilities starting at $9-$12/Hr. Email resumes to cmclp@mail.com--------------------------------------------SEARCHING FOR EMBASSY LIAISONS If you like challenges and enjoy meeting new people, we are looking for you. We are looking to hire Embassy Liaisons to help increase Study Sparkz awareness in the community of embassies within the DC Metro Area. Set your own schedule and work from home. Base stipend with great commissions. Call 703.649.2795 or email Suhany@studysparkz.com

--------------------------------------------SEEKING PART-TIME NANNYLooking for a part-time nanny for after-school care of our two children (ages 8 and 3) between 12 and 5 pm, five days a week, in Bethesda, MD. Household work, and light cooking; must be able to drive; good hourly pay; call 240-475-6108.06-20-12

MATRIMONIALSEEKING DEVOUT MUSLIMAH 28 year old Muslim seeks devout Muslimah for marriage. She must love Allah and His Messenger, and be willing to lead a responsible loving life observing all the correct tenets of Al-Islam. If interested, please contact the following: Lasana Philbert (Abdus-Salam), 07A2541, Eastern New York C.F., P.O. Box 338, Napanoch, N.Y. 12458-0338.

MIScELLANEOUSSEEKING PEN FRIEND

Pakistani Sunni Muslim Male, age 43, incarcerated. Funny, understanding, and easy-going. Seeks pen friend. Nadeem Khan #1113005 Box 1900 Pound, VA 24279

RENTALGREENBELT CONDO FOR RENT Recently Renovated, 2 Bedroom 1 Bath Condo available immediately. Appliances includes washer/dryer too. All utilities are included for a fee. Please call 240-441-8907 for more details.--------------------------------------------ROOM FOR RENTRoom available to rent for any single brother or sister. Close to Muslim Community Center, Wheaton Mall, and less than 1 block from Wheaton Metro. Available anytime. $400 per month, all included. 301-922-1839.

SERVIcESHOME SERVICESLicensed contractor. Home improvement work, interior/exterior

painting, drywall install/repair, brick/concrete repair. License # 30385946 Estimates done. Contact Br Allen Scott at 410-467-1259 or 443-538-7643 (cell). --------------------------------------------LOVING HOME CAREProviding elder and child care you can trust and afford. Companionship, hygiene care, meal preparation, housekeeping, shopping, doctor appointments. Loving, dependable caregivers for Live-in, Full, Part time. Call: 301-490-1146www.lovinghomecare.org. --------------------------------------------QURAN AND ARABIC TUTOR As’salamu alaikum. I’m a high school student. I memorized Qur’an in eight months when I was eight, alham’dulillah. I’ve also memorized Sahih al-Bukhari. I can teach Qur’an with tajweed, Hadith, and Arabic. I live in Fairfax, VA and offer tutoring at home or nearby public places. Rate is negotiable. Please contact me at 703-822-7755. Jazakum Allahu khairan.07-05-12

....

MP - cLASSIFIED ADS

GET INVOLVED WITH THE MUSLIM LINK

BECOME A REPORTER

hELP us dIsTRIBuTE

GIvE us FEEdBACk

dONATEGENEROusLy

EMAIL US AT EDITOR@MUSLIMLINKPAPER.COM

July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 38 |

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE HoneyDerm is very confi dent that its products will defi nitely help you. If for any reason you are not satisfi ed with the product, we off er you a full money back guarantee with the return of any remaining portion of the product in their original containers. See our website for time restrictions.

All products are 100% drug free and are not intended to change any of the body physiological functions or treat any disease or possess any drug claim.

Honey-Based Healing for:Hair Loss, Hair growth, Itching, dandruff, and Scalp Psoriasis. Acne, Wrinkles, Psoriasis, Eczema, Dermatitis, and Rosacea. Plus Supplements for Diabetics, Immunity, and Liver Health.

Order Risk Free Today by calling (800) 424 - 7710 or buy online at www.honeyderm.com

2522 East Michigan Ave Lansing, Michigan 48912

“Alhumdulillah, I found Honeyderm’s Dermatonic-P, and it is really, really a blessing for people with Eczema or other skin illnesses. I no longer wake up sweating at night! Allahu-Akbar!.” -- Br.Hasan, Maryland

AFTERBEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Every Muslim has read that the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alyhi wa sallam told his ummah about the wonderful nature of honey. In the Qur’an in Surah An-Nahl, Allah described honey as a “drink of varying color wherein is healing for men”.

Its no wonder that scientists are spending more and more resources examining, testing, and developing honey-based medical treatments. As early as December 26, 2007, the Associated Press ran a story titled “Honey makes medical comeback”.

One company that has believed in the restorative power of honey for a long time is HoneyDerm, Inc., a Lansing, Michigan based company that spent years bringing the healing power of honey to people suffering from hair loss, dandruff, and skin disease.

Their most famous product line is Hairback Lotion and Hairtonix Shampoo, that “helps stimulate new hair growth and thicken existing hair”. Honeyderm, Inc also claims the products solve dandruff and scalp psoriasis.

The Muslim Link requested access to some of Honeyderm’s customers, and Brother Mahmoud from Honeyderm gladly offered us some phone numbers.

Brother Hasan, in his late 30’s is from Maryland and suffers from the common skin disease eczema. “I’ve had eczema

since high school, and it got worse as the years went on. I went to a dermatologist and he recommended a cortisone-type prescription cream. It did stop the itch, but my skin was still dry and tight. I’ve tried lotions and shampoos from Aveeno, Lubiderm, Vaseline, and others. Alhumdulillah, I found Honeyderm’s Dermatonic-P, and it is really, really a blessing for people with Eczema or other skin illnesses. I no longer wake up sweating at night! Allahu-Akbar!.”

We called Abdurihman Khalil from Chicago. He did not know we were going to call. Abdurihman started losing his hair when he was about 28. He discovered the Hairback product line at a convention and decided to test its claims. “The hair loss stopped completely,” said Abdurihman. “It’s excellent, and I’ve been using it now for 6 years.”

We also called Brother Mustafa Al-Omary in Sterling Heights, Michigan. He decided to do something about his thinning hair at age 40 and tried the Hairback treatment. Asked how long it took for him to see results, he told us “Oh gosh, less than a month. My thin spots filled in within 3 months,.” He said he would “absolutely” recommend the product to anyone. “It’s not a fly-by-night product, its awesome,” said Mustafa.

We also called Najeebudheen Appat, a 30-year old living in

Los Angeles, CA. He’s had a severe dandruff

problem for a long-time, and had been searching for a solution. “I tried so many different products like tonics and shampoos, I can’t even remember them all, until I found this product around 2002. My problem was solved completely, the entire thing is taken care of. I even called [Honeyderm] with the great feedback,” recalled Najeebudheen. He told us that Allah creates shifa in many things, and Honeyderm’s products are a part of that. “For dandruff problems, this is the total solution,” he told us from his mobile phone.

On Honeyderm’s website, there are many more testimonials from Muslims and non-Muslims from around the nation and the world. There is also a gallery of “before and after” pictures of both hair loss treatments as well as skin treatments. And best of all, for those of us who’ve “tried it all”, there is a full money back guarantee.

Allah said honey heals. The Prophet Sallallahu’alyhi wa sallam said honey heals. The people we called said honey heals. With a money back guarantee, there is absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain – your hair and skin!

Honey Heals Skin Disease and Hair Loss

....

MP - ADVERtISEMENt

| 39July 13th 2012 - July 26th 2012 ADVERTISEMENT

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A BETTER WORLD.IRUSA.ORG

®

FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012 7:00 p.m.

WESTIN TYSONS CORNER7801 Leesburg PikeFalls Church, VA 22043

TICKETSPrice in advance: $35Price at door: $45

GUEST SPEAKERDR MOHAMMED ZAHER SAHLOULSYRIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY

BABYSITTING & FOOD PROVIDEDBabysitting: $5

CONTACT Belkacem Nahibnahi@irusa.org 703.370.7202

Tarweeh prayer willbe held on location.

ISLAMICRELIEF

USAPRESENTS

SYRIA IFTARRELIEF FOR REFUGEES

ISLAMIC RELIEF USA•3655 WHEELER AVE., ALEXANDRIA, VA 22304

....