A good friend of mine recommended that instead of just complaining about it, that we take the time to write to the Congressman so that he hears our opinion. According to that excellent recommendation, I have done so.
Here's my letter:
Dear Congressman Walsh,
As you're aware, you managed to upset many Americans with your recent comments. While you acknowledged that most Muslims are
peaceful, most people -- especially non-Muslims -- are not going to hear
that. What they will hear are your
comments about immediate threats to our security and automatically equate that
to Islam and its followers - Muslims.
This is unacceptable and unfair.
It also speaks to a clear lack of leadership on your part in
representing Americans.
The problem is that you have radicals from every religion. Unfortunately, there are those few people who
misinterpret religious teachings and leverage that religion for their own
personal gain. This is an issue that
impacts ALL people, not just Muslims. So
the right thing would have been to speak about radicals in general and not have
people subconsciously associate "radical" with
"Islam." What you have done is
a great disservice to our Beautiful Nation by encouraging paranoia, mistrust,
and prejudice.
I really wish you would have responded by saying that Muslims are not
radicals. That people of any religion
unfortunately fall into traps and become misguided and therefore do unthinkable
things. Unthinkable things like killing
people in a movie theater, or killing innocent American Sikhs, or gangs taking
innocent lives – a prevalent problem in my home state of Illinois and
specifically in the Chicago area. These
people are the real radicals. We live in
chaotic and confusing times where misguided individuals or groups take action
into their own hands. In times like
these, we Americans rely upon our leaders to provide us hope. To open dialogue across communities. To provide good education to all
citizens. To provide us safe streets. To
remind us that Americans of all faiths share a basic human connection with one
another.
I would ask that why have you not actively engaged yourself in Muslim
communities so that you can get a better understanding about us? Why not visit local Muslim leaders to see and
"live" what Islam really is; the beauty of its brotherhood that
appeals to people beyond race, color, or nationalities. And why does Islam have such an appeal? It's because the teachings in Islam provide a
foundation to where its true follower is a caring individual who struggles to
improve upon oneself whilst serving the community in an effort to please God. It's why Muslims are perfect examples of
being Americans. We are one nation,
under God.
But you, Sir, have simply added to the ocean of mistrust and fear
instead of providing -- as a leader -- our communities strength. If you worked in any Corporate America setting,
your comments would have been inappropriate.
You would have been fired or, if not, enrolled into a class teaching the
importance on diversity and becoming aware of the unconscious bias you have now
added to.
The entire Muslim ummah went
ablaze yesterday as a storybroke out about Liam Neeson’s interest and
consideration of converting (reverting) to Islam. I received several emails throughout the day from
friends and family about Liam, with many adding in an “insha Allah” to their message.
Facebook postings went off like fireworks as we Muslims became smitten
with the idea of a Hollywood celebrity embracing our beautiful deen.
When I came home from work yesterday, I asked my wife, “Did you hear about…”
and was interrupted because she assumed I was referring to Liam, and she was
correct. Looks like her Facebook newsfeeds
were filled with the story, too. I didn't even bother checking twitterverse, as I’m sure a similar reaction followed. When really thinking about it, I suppose on one hand I find it funny
that our community is so taken with this idea because who, in the grand scheme
of things, is Liam? But on the other
hand, I don’t blame them...
In fact, I have to admit that Liam’s curiosity in Islam does make for
an interesting possibility especially considering his alleged strong Catholic rearing. What I find fascinating, though, is that he came about
this consideration for conversion by spending time in Turkey surrounded by beautiful
masjids and listening to the azaan five times a day. And why that particularly makes it fascinating
for me is what it reminds me of: teachings
from our parents and scholars on the importance of surrounding yourself with
good company. It reminds me specifically of when my mom would endlessly request
me throughout my academic career to surround myself with friends who were like
my brother, Umar, which, put more accurately, is to say that she wanted me to surround
myself by nerds. Umar himself was always
a nerd regardless of his peers; so much so that he could probably mandate a
manifesto on how to embrace being one. A
manifesto that iconic nerds like Bill Gates or Lewis Sklonik would admire. As a result of his nerdiness, he naturally inclined towards his
own nerd ilk (strength in numbers, I suppose), creating a lifetime of close
friends who shared his same taste for extreme studying and other pocket
protecting adventures. Indeed, he
exemplifies the culture of nerds to this day.
And with the supplementary nerdiness of his wife, he can never actually
leave the confines of Nerdia even if he tried.
Ok, so back to my point…
I am also reminded of what scholars in Islam have recommended: to surround yourself with learned, pious people, which will in turn, at one point or another, insha Allah, penetrate your heart and
open it to the splendor of contentment and peace that those pious mumins experience by way of desiring to
please our Creator and follow in the blessed footsteps of The Rasool (sw). Much like the idea of dhikr, the constant remembrance of Allah that creates a noor inside and outside of the body and
soul, the blessings that the righteous people are gifted with eventually come
your way, too. It’s literally a
shower of blessings: if someone stands in the rain and you stand next to that
person, the raindrops will inevitably bounce off that person and hit you or, if
you’re fortunate, some of it may just fall on you directly. Similarly, the environment Liam was immersed
in and observed, based on the articles I’ve read, had a similar effect. Liam was quoted to say that he was initially
annoyed by the azaan, but eventually
by hearing it often and then taking in his environment, his eyes opened to the wonders
and happiness that Islam provides. Subhan Allah. I find it to be beautifully awesome and a lesson to remember...
But, for now, let’s jump ahead of ourselves and assume that Liam does (insha
Allah) become Brother Liam (Liaquat) Neeson (Nisa). How exactly would he impact our community? The answer is of course subjective to whom
you ask, so let’s break it down according to the following madhabs, if you will:
The Qui-Gon Jinn Madhab:
Br Liaquat will inevitably embrace the path of tasawwuf / purification
/ Sufism and become a Jedi-Sufi Master. Jedi Knights, his students who have taken bayyah with him, will come far and wide to seek his counsel and ask for his
help via duas. In his early years, Liaquat will be initially taken by
his power and abuse it, but for the good of all. He will wave his hand across a congregration at Jummah and say, “You will all donate
$100 to the masjid,” which will be
met with the entire group all responding in unison, “I will donate $100 to the masjid.”
Eventually, he will realize that he was being tested with this power and will
immediately stop and engage in deep dhikr.
The Taken Madhab:
Look out, brothers and sisters.
It’s the white brother turned hardcore and potentially Wahhabi. Despite this, no one has ever been a more
effective and serious fundraiser than Br. Liaquat.
His "motivating" talk is simple and to the point. And if you do not donate money to the masjid, he
will leverage his past skills and remind you that it’s important to donate:
I don’t know who you all are
and how much money you have. You
should all donate and keep in mind that what I do have are a very particular
set of skills. Skills that I have acquired over a very long career of
fundraising. Skills that make me a nightmare for people who don’t donate. If
you donate now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you.
Extreme? Sure. Effective? Oh, absolutely. I mean, you would be amazed at how quickly people’s hearts change and how the
masjids that Br. Liaquat Nisa gives these heart-felt lectures at never have money
management issues again. (Except for
maybe having too much?)
Well, I guess one can dream. Now,
ultimately, the decision for him to fully embrace Islam and take the shahada comes only from Allah’s Will,
but if we should take anything away from this, perhaps it is the reminder that
surrounding yourself in good company and a positive environment can only help. We should endeavor to take it upon ourselves
to strive for such opportunities by going to the masjid more and increasing the time you spend with pious brothers/sisters, scholars, nerds, etc.
Some friends had suggested that I write a recap on HP's recent visit to Do-Me-Bury. As a resolution to blog more, I'm using this as an opportunity to post something here for the world to enjoy en masse. The same group of friends also requested HP to write his recap of the weekend. I've included it at the end.
And now the recap...
HP came in late Thursday night after hitting up Fatima's Halal Chinese. He arrived at the chateau around 11pm and his kids were wired. Uh oh, I thought to myself. They'll wake up Suhaylah. Frick. As the kids (I include HP and his wife in this category) began to unwind, so did the peace and quiet in my home. I checked our video monitor hoping that somehow S-Pie was sleeping through the noise, but, as anticipated, I saw her eyes wide open. Her eyes glared into the camera as if she were saying, "I know you guys are up. I also know there are people in my house. I want in." I quickly had the wife go into our bedroom to relax her and get her to sleep, but it wasn't working even after I locked up -- lovingly -- all my in-laws into the other bedroom. Frick x2.
"Just wake her up," HP said nonchalantly.
Wake her up? Oh, I guess a toddler doesn't need sleep and can party into the night like a college student. Cool. Fortunately, I kept those thoughts in my head, though I continued to surmise that HP made that suggestion fully realizing that it wasn't going to be him that would have to deal with S-Pie struggling to go back to sleep. Oh, MBN being here for five minutes and dictating what my daughter can or cannot do. This is going to be a great weekend where all our parenting rules will be thrown out the door. Hooray.
Being a good sister, the wife complied with HP's request. At first, S-Pie was shocked to see her mamu in person versus the usual FaceTime medium. Then she got super excited seeing her cousins -- especially Lil Z, who she finds to be totally entertaining. Before I know it, the apartment is a mad house of kids yelling, playing, and crying. S-Pie didn't seem to mind Lil Z's antics, but if Yusra tried to do anything like play with her toys, there was drama. At one point, Urooj waved her finger towards Yusra saying, "No," but it proved ineffective as Yusra started to quickly copy her mother and then proceed to go around to everyone doing the same thing. Ha, gotta love kids and the things they do. Except, perhaps, all the yelling. To be honest, I'm not too pleasant to deal with when I'm faced with unsolicited commotion, but I guess this is what I have to prepare for now, so I went with it.
Oh, I almost forgot something: I should note that when HP first entered the crib, it took what seemed several hours for him to enter beyond the foyer area. You see, HP was pissed off since the East Coast welcomed him, under my direct orders, with a speeding ticket. He stood in our small foyer with his coat and shoes staring and analyzing the ticket. I started to think of two possible scenarios that would shortly ensue:
HP demanded that I pay for the ticket
HP was going to pull a Liam and track down the officer who gave him the ticket and "Memon" his way out of it
To my surprise, HP did none of that, but he did unleash all the kids in the house as a means of releasing that stress just to mess with me, which probably gives all brother-in-laws some level of happiness...
So the next day was THE DAY. Yep, Alhamdullilah, the day my son was born, ma sha Allah x100000000. The day that my family upgraded to Family v2.0.
And since I was in this hospital this day, I saw very little of HP. The only interaction I had with him was early in the morning around Fajr prayer. He was sleeping on the floor in the living room and so I took it upon myself to lay beside him, making myself comfortable. Very comfortable. Here, too, I began to think of two possible scenarios that would shortly ensue:
HP would jump out of his blanket yelling AstaghferAllah!
HP would knee me in the balls for what was now my unsolicited commotion for him
Again, HP surprised me and instead he lovingly wrapped his arm around me. It seemed so natural on his part, too. I was elated. Years of wooing men with the inexplicable and inevitable removal of my shirt and yelling of "DM!" had finally nestled into HP's psyche. I started to wonder, as I laid there with his hairy arm around me, if my impact was felt across the nation with my other friends. Would RGs soon welcome me the same way HP did? Would...
B A M !
My deep, intimate thoughts were suddenly slammed as soon as HP spoke and I got a whiff of his morning breath. What a buzz kill. Anyway, that's all I had of HP on Friday.
The next day was pretty much the same thing. He came by to see his nephew, but he had to cut his trip short because, unfortunately, his daughter threw up on the way to the hospital and wasn't feeling well (Alhamdullilah, she's better now, but the poor girl also threw up on the way back to the apartment). But even while being at the hospital for a short time, HP brought it upon himself to dictate the parenting of my child by forcing us to allow S-Pie to eat chocolate chip cookies while strategically playing the "Hey, I'm the mamu and can spoil my niece" card. Oh ok. Guess that means whatever you say, goes. All Praise is due to Allah.
HP's last day in Do-Me-Bury was Sunday and I think he tried to make amends by coming to the hospital with a box of DD donuts and coffee. It was another short visit as HP had a flight to get to that day to return to his town of Elgin (the largest city in Iowa).
Taking a cue from myself by using the point system I created in my last post, I'm going to do the same here to provide you an overall score of HP's visit:
Bringing Fatima's Chinese takeout: +10
Keeping S-Pie awake: -2
S-Pie not sleeping well: -10
Making S-Pie eat cookies: -2
"Babysitting" S-Pie by making her watch TV: -10
S-Pie wanting to watch TV really badly post-HP visit: -10
Bringing me DD coffee and donuts at the hospital: +10
Making fun of himself about me coping with the in-laws for so long: +10
Babysitting and being there for his niece, nephew, sister, and BIL: +10
Total: +6 points. Looks like you've scored positively, so a big time JZK to you, HP, and your fam!
Oh, as promised, here was HP's recap of his visit:
Thurs night: Flew in, ate Chinese at Fatima's Kitchen, drove to DoMeBury and got a fat ticket by the cops
Fri: Babysat, Ismaeel born!
Sat: Visited Ismaeel
Sun: Grabbed Chinese, flew home
Whoa, HP! Leave out some details for when they write a book about you.
Actually, if HP were to write an autobiography, it'd be:
Chapter 1: Birth. I was born, ate, pooped, and slept a lot.
Chapter 2: Childhood. See Chapter 1, but I also played with toys a lot.
Chapter 3: Teen years. See Chapter 2.
Chapter 4: College days. I got a degree. Otherwise, see Chapter 2.
Chapter 5: Adulthood. I got a job, got married, had some kids. See Chapter 2 for more details, though.
Anyway, as AJ and Zoobear mentioned when they saw his recap, it was quite possibly the worst recap that was ever offered. To the point? Yes. But also unimaginative and utterly boring. I'll give him points on using the exclamation point for mentioning my son, but otherwise a total #fail on his part.
As per my recap above, HP, please take notes for next time.
Alright, folks. A little late, but as promised in the last entry, this is 2011's Power Rankings of Friends. Now keep in mind that there's no way I could factor in all my friends (referred below as "players"), so I selected certain ones at my discretion (ten friends total for convenience). The order of names below corresponds to the #1 spot and downwards to #10.
.
Players
Away Record
Most Improved
Quality Bang
Milestones
Show-Me Factor
Avg Score
.
KR
10
5
10
10
10
9
.
A2
9
9
9
6
10
8.6
.
Thabraize
8
4
6
10
7
7
.
Soddick
0
8
7
9
10
6.8
.
Fas
0
10
8
5
10
6.6
.
Omar
7
7
5
5
8
6.4
.
Zoobear
1
6
2
5
7
4.2
.
Sayeed
0
2
3
11
0
3.2
.
B2
-1
1
4
5
5
2.8
.
Princess
-3
3
0
10
3
2.6
Note: Excuse any crude formatting above. Disappointingly, Google doesn't offer an easy copy & paste function of a table, so this is via HTML. Anyway...
Ok, so first thing is first: Explaining the point system and areas of analysis...
Points: Very simply, 10 points is the highest. You can deduce from there. But also, for something spectacularly phenom, I can award 11 points or conversely negative points for those who have disappointed phenomly.
Away Record: Correspond's to the player's record for visiting me.
Most Improved: This looks back at a player's 2011 season (aka "friendship") and assess objectively how much they improved from the prior season.
Quality Bang: Bangin with da homies is a must and the quality of a bang session is huge in a given season. In-person bangs are obviously worth the most, but being that I'm on the threshold of civilization, I also have to factor in phone, text, FaceTime, and email bangs.
Milestone: Look, we're all team players vying for the championship (me), but individual milestones/achievements/etc. are critical, so this measures the big happenings in a player's season.
Show-Me Factor: I added this one for a couple reasons: (A) I wasn't too thrilled with some of the results that initially came out when I didn't have this column and (B) related to that, this is more of an emotional "what feels right" category.
OK, now explaining how freakin KR claimed the #1 spot. Something I really, really tried to change. I even assigned him all negative ten points in all categories at the onset, but at the end of the day, my obvious objectivity and current nauseating headache took over and blinded my gut decision. A pretty monumental achievement when you factor in just how big my gut is...
KR is ranked highest in Away Record because he went out of his way to hang out with Panda, AJ, and me during the ad hoc guys weekend in Do-me-bury. Specifically, while being out here on the East Coast, he initially planned to hang out just for a night, but once he got word of Panda's and AJ's pending visit, he changed his schedule at Lens Crafters to get out of work on a Friday so he could hang out from Thurs night -- Sunday afternoon. Pretty legit move. Of note is having A2 as #9 as this was something I went back-n-forth on. He could very well be #10 here given that the weekend he chilled with me, he was accommodating of everything and anything I threw at him. And it was a lot: spending most of Saturday with the wife + baby when it was previously assumed that it'd just be him and me and also spending Sunday with some of my family at a masjid due to a Quran khatm for my uncle. A2, in an MVP-like fashion, was all for it and very supportive. For a single dude coming to visit his boy, that's ultra legit. Usually the host has to accommodate, but this guy killed it with a role reversal. Now I'm regretting not putting him here as #10 or even #11. Hmm, I'll mull that one over tonight...
Players with zero points in Away Record earned it by not making any effort to visit me. Zoobear gets 1 point because on at least a couple occasions he made an effort to at least feign interest in wanting to visit. Negative one point goes to B2 simply because I regard him as a usually good player so the expectations are big. And Princess utterly bombed this category because he promised calling me on my sal gira to set-up a DM date with T for some playtime in February, but I found out that he's going on the IR list with T in February instead (some tropical vacation). Thanks, buddy! The 2012 season isn't looking good for you!
Most Improved top dog goes to Fasman. Fasman really stepped up to the plate starting strong about this time last year on the amazing Irvine (aka Irwine) trip. He busted out of his RG shell with some legit jokes, some naat singing, and some more legit jokes which continued throughout the year. It was unexpected and in some ways I'm almost in disbelief. Kudos, Fas. A2 and Soddick (aka Socks) also ranked high due to some email correspondences that have been utterly phenom. Of note here is also Omar, who has warmly welcomed me to the EC and specifically to NYC. Even though we used to live only minutes apart from each other back in Chicago, Omar and me have def had a couple good bang sessions with Omar actively trying to set-up more throughout the year. Props, kid.
Once again, KR edges A2 in another category, this time Quality Bang. Mad rivalry between these guys. Good thing they're on the same team. But still. Anyway, this area of analysis definitely ties into Away Record, but also factors the virtual hangouts (email, text, etc.). Both have been extremely active on text and email, but ultimately the edge is slightly given to KR in this area due to KR's willingness to fly me and fam back out to Chicago for his wedding. Princess almost got negative points here, too, because the only time he ever wanted to be a virtual presence is when he annoyingly emailed anyone and everyone: STL >>>>>> Chi. As another player, Kamran Ch (not KR), noted in a recent email, Princess adds as many ">" signs to compensate...anyway...
Milestones is an area I really like because it rewards the good stuff - glad tidings, if you will - that these gents were blessed with. Sayeed, as much as I really tried to fight to get him to tie with Princess for the tenth spot, earned an unprecedented 11 due to his remarkable journey for his adorable son, Yusuf, to Pakistan. Just read this legit blog Sayeed and his wife created. Ma sha Allah. May Allah reward what they have done immensely in this world and the Hereafter. Aameen. KR got a 10 due to his long-awaited marriage and Tabz and Princess earn 10 for the births of their baller lil sons. Alhamdullilah all around. Everyone else earned a five instead of zero because we all have things to be grateful for at some level. A2, however, got a six because of his good looks, ma sha Allah.
Finally, the Show-Me Factor: I guess I should justify the low-ranking scores here. Princess earned a three despite all predictions of him earning negative three thousand. In fact, when I entered a positive three into the spreadsheet, Google Spreadsheets auto-updated his score to -3000. Amazing how everyone on Earth has the same worldview of him. Fortunately for Princess, I am buddies with Panda, who created technology and was able to use his Data-like pasitronic neural network to tap into Google's network and manually modify the data entry to +3. In fact, the recent Mission Impossible was loosely based on Panda's work to pull this off. OK, so anyway, Princess gets positive ranking here only because he's a dad now, ma sha Allah, and has notably been in more contact with me to improve his game in 2011 than T, who is currently under review for having a rule/exception for him as per prior entry. Sayeed is rewarded a zero simply because he has on more than one occasion regarded himself as the Grand Mufti of the US, Spiritual Master & Healer to All, believes anyone who meets him has taken bayyah with him, etc. Soddick once referred to Sayeed's bravado as "confidence factor," but I'd like to simply call it ECJBness (East Coast Jag Bag-ness).
And that, ladies & gentlemen, concludes 2011's PR of Friends - our very first edition and potentially last depending on fan (and player) reaction. But if we do return, let's see how things change up in 2011. Congrats to all and, notably, KR. (Ugh, so that's what it feels like to vomit in your mouth.)
Player Notes: You know, I really thought my Top 3 picks were going to be Soddick, Fasihuddin, and A2 simply based on how much these three chaps have come out of the wood works. They did it big. But then I decided that if I'm going to do a PR of Friends, I may as well go all out and do it big with a point system and everything. I was really surprised that Tabz found his way to the top, but being more active on and the latest/last member of an elite email list, having a baby (ma sha Allah), and visiting me proved to be huge for this dude. Meanwhile, KR must've made some dua when he was in Ramadan KR mode to get the top spot. In some cases, I think this guy should be ranked lower than Princess, but, alas!, he is a fellow TB and I enjoyed sleeping alongside him at The Retreat. Props go to Omar as well for his efforts in '11; he's a rising star in reality and, it seems, fantasy football. B2, if only your wife and mine were friends, maybe it'd make it easier for you to visit me... And Sayeed, while you also deserve similar recognition as Princess and KR, we know you're Muslim, ma sha Allah, so please calm down.
I really hope no one is offended and if you are, then I'm def noting this for 2012's PRs...
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