tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post1788149492373691636..comments2024-03-27T15:36:44.737-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Obama’s Challenge to Muslim Americans Begins at HomeRiaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-73120643400083969622016-05-10T14:06:19.728-07:002016-05-10T14:06:19.728-07:00#American #Muslim Leaders Wage Theological Battle,...#American #Muslim Leaders Wage Theological Battle, Stoking ISIS’ Anger, tiggering #FBI protection. #Islamophobia<br /><br />There are many Muslim scholars who are risking their lives to counter radicals within their faith. I know many in Pakistan who have either been killed (example: Dr. Shakil Auj) or fled for their lives (example: Dr. Ghamdi). Even in the US, there are significant threats requiring FBI protection for Hamza Yousuf and Suhaib Webb and other scholars<br /><br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/us/isis-threatens-muslim-preachers-who-are-waging-theological-battle-online.html?_r=0<br /><br />Here's an excerpt from NY Times:<br /><br /><br />As the military and political battle against the Islamic State escalates, Muslim imams and scholars in the West are fighting on another front — through theology.<br /><br />Imam Suhaib Webb, a Muslim leader in Washington, has held live monthly video chats to refute the religious claims of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In a dig at the extremists, he broadcast from ice cream parlors and called his talks “ISIS and ice cream.”<br /><br />Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, an American Muslim scholar based in Berkeley, Calif., has pleaded with Muslims not to be deceived by the “stupid young boys” of the Islamic State. Millions have watched excerpts from his sermon titled “The Crisis of ISIS,” in which he wept as he asked God not to blame other Muslims “for what these fools amongst us do.”<br /><br /><br />It is a religious rumble that barely makes headlines in the secular West since it is carried out at mosques and Islamic conferences and over social media.<br /><br />The Islamic State, however, has taken notice.<br /><br />The group recently threatened the lives of 11 Muslim imams and scholars in the West, calling them “apostates” who should be killed. The recent issue of the Islamic State’s online propaganda magazine, Dabiq, called them “obligatory targets,” and it said that supporters should use any weapons on hand to “make an example of them.”<br /><br />The danger is real enough that the F.B.I. has contacted some of those named in the Islamic State’s magazine “to assist them in taking proper steps to ensure their safety,” said Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the F.B.I.’s field office in Washington.<br /><br />The death threats are a sign that Muslim religious leaders have antagonized the Islamic State, according to analysts who are studying the militant group. Their growing influence also contradicts those who claim that Muslim leaders have been silent in the fight against violent extremism.<br /><br />“This is what hurts ISIS the most. It is Muslims speaking out,” said Mubin Shaikh, a Canadian who once joined an extremist Islamist group and now advises governments on countering radicalization. “Fear-mongering is what ISIS is trying to do, whether to silence these people or to silence others as a deterrent.”<br /><br />Several of the targeted Muslim leaders said in interviews that, while they were taking the threat seriously, they had no intention of backing off. They have hired security guards and fortified their workplaces, and some keep guns at home.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-41117011314194167392016-03-24T10:01:12.379-07:002016-03-24T10:01:12.379-07:00#Georgia parents offended by the 'Far East rel...#Georgia parents offended by the 'Far East religion' of yoga, get 'Namaste' banned from school. #USA #Hindu #Bigotry http://wpo.st/D3wO1 <br /><br />“We need to direct our attention inward and connect to the breath,” yoga instructor Rachel Brathen writes in her New York Times best-selling book about the practice. “Focusing on our breath keeps us present, calms the mind, and allows us to develop the awareness of the body we need to practice with care and compassion.”<br /><br />Since the ancient discipline with roots in Hinduism and Buddhism became a popular exercise in the West, yogis have inundated popular culture with their pursuit of that elusive “calm” in a rapidly spinning world.<br /><br />“Mindfulness,” the meditative state associated with yoga, has likewise been adopted as a way to clear the mind.<br /><br />So when administrators at Bullard Elementary School in Kennesaw, Ga., implemented yoga and other mindfulness practices in the classroom to reduce students’ stress, they probably envisioned peace and relaxation in their future.<br /><br />Instead, they received a flurry of complaints — from parents who felt yoga represented the encroachment of non-Christian beliefs.<br /><br />According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bullard’s principal, Patrice Moore, sent parents an email last week announcing changes to its yoga program.<br /><br />“I am truly sorry that the mindfulness/ de-stressing practices here at Bullard caused many misconceptions that in turn created a distraction in our school and community,” Moore wrote. “While we have been practicing de-stressing techniques in many classrooms for years, there have been some recent practices associated with mindfulness that are offensive to some.”<br /><br />Among the elements of the program that will be eliminated: the Sanskrit greeting “Namaste,” placing hands “to heart center” and coloring pages with the symbol of the Mandala (a spiritual symbol in Indian religions representing the cosmos).<br /><br />Moore noted that a rumor had also spread about using or teaching “about crystals having healing powers.”<br /><br />“We will ensure that nothing resembling this will be done in the future,” she said.<br /><br />[University yoga class canceled because of ‘oppression, cultural genocide’]<br /><br />Parents were concerned about yoga’s spiritual origins.<br /><br />“No prayer in schools. Some don’t even say the pledge of allegiance,” Cobb County mother Susan Jaramillo told NBC affiliate WXIA. “Yet they’re pushing ideology on our students. Some of those things are religious practices that we don’t want our children doing in our schools.”<br /><br />Christopher Smith, whose sons attend Bullard, shared a similar sentiment on Facebook.<br /><br />“Now we can’t pray in our schools or practice Christianity but they are allowing this Far East mystical religion with crystals and chants to be practiced under the guise of stress release meditation,” he wrote. “This is very scary.”<br /><br />Smith directed people to “google ‘mindfulness indoctrination.'”Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-32921969640638874372016-03-18T17:23:01.517-07:002016-03-18T17:23:01.517-07:00An example of what Athar Javaid is suggesting is a...An example of what Athar Javaid is suggesting is a recent case in Fremont California. 22-year-old Adam Shafi's father reported to US authorities that his son might be influenced by radicals and may be headed to join them in the Middle East.<br /><br /><br />Here's an except of a local news story:<br /><br />After his disappearance in Cairo, Shafi’s father and another relative contacted the U.S. Embassy, and the relative relayed a text message in which Shafi said he had gone to “protect Muslims,” Monika said. He said Shafi’s father was concerned that his son may have been following “some extreme imams online,” in the agent’s words.<br /><br />Shafi returned to his family the next day, Monika said. He said a friend of Shafi, described by the friend’s brother as a possible terrorist recruit, told the FBI later that he and Shafi had traveled to Turkey but decided to return because Shafi “wasn’t feeling it.”<br /><br />http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/East-Bay-man-indicted-for-trying-to-join-Syrian-6705641.phpRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.com