GOATMILK: An intellectual playground edited by Wajahat Ali

A City So Big You Gotta’ Say It Twice

Wajahat Ali and Ishmael Reed
 
I am at the 9/11 memorial.
2 presidents and their first ladies are holding hands.
Yo-Yo Ma is playing Bach on the cello.
I look to my right, I’m standing next to a Marine.
I look to my left, a man in a FDNY shirt is crying.
I look in front of me, a man in a yarmulke is capturing the scene on his iPhone.
I look behind me, there’s a New York crowd.
 
I am with our NHK film crew, who are following me around.
All this footage will appear on Japanese television.
I am in New York for our play “The Domestic Crusaders.”
It’s not only the tenth anniversary of 9/11,
It’s also the tenth anniversary of this play’s birth.
Yesterday was our premiere.
We received a New York Welcome.
New York has always overdosed us with love.
 
Returning from Ground Zero –
I’m in a New York State of Mind.
 
A city so big you gotta’ say it twice.
A big town with an even bigger heart.
The city that took it on the chin for the rest of us -
And the city that never backed down.
 
She’s the city that wears the most visible scar of that tragic day.
Maligned by some, hated and abused by others.
Some wish that she would be sawed in half like one of Houdini’s models
And set afloat in the Atlantic.
 
But she rises above the Bronx cheers
And pursues a nobler course.
Because she represents America,           
Because she has to.
 
She’s the great, steaming cooking pot of the world.
She’s the bouillabaisse of all its flavors.
This ongoing experiment named 346 years ago.
This unfinished draft still being polished
This perpetual work in progress .
                                                                 
New York, New York.
 
Her spirit is big enough and strong enough
To carry the rest of us with her –
Forward –
Together
-As one.
 
11:03 am,  9/11/11

Wajahat Ali and Hussein Rashid, inspired by the late Omar Ahmed

We are Muslim Americans. We are American Muslims. We live as your neighbors, friends, doctors, lawyers, police officers, soldiers, cab drivers, newspaper vendors, teammates, co-workers, and family — seamlessly and without conflict. We are fully immersed in the American mosaic, and we are proud.

Our Muslims forefathers have been here since the founding of this country and we proudly continue upholding our legacy of investing in and contributing to America’s successes from culture to politics, medicine to business, law enforcement to philanthropy.

As Muslims, we believe there is only one God, the God of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Noah, Moses, Joseph, Jesus and Muhammad (God’s peace be on them all).

There is no country on earth that can boast as wide a variety of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians and Atheists as America can. As citizens of this country we feel truly blessed to be able to worship as we please, whatever our beliefs. The diversity of the American landscape is mirrored within each of its faith communities; our individual uniqueness, talent and energy make us stronger as one nation.

As Muslim Americans we also share a cultural and spiritual DNA with our fellow citizens and proudly celebrate our common values and ideals.

Our faith teaches us to be honest, hard-working, productive members of society. Compassion and ethical living are core foundations of our beliefs and an integral part of American character. We ask of ourselves what we ask of others, we seek the good in and for everyone and strive to be well-intentioned in our endeavors.

We are loyal to our country and our faith and rely strongly on God’s gift of intellect and reason to guide us toward moral and ethical standards of behavior. We look to the wisdom of our past to benefit the present and future of all mankind.

Regardless of whether we were born in this nation or have recently adopted it as our home, we are committed to working with our fellow Americans to create a more perfect union for we, too, want a better life for ourselves, our children and our communities. In order to achieve these standards, we must all strive to understand and cherish the freedoms expressed in our Constitution and ensure none are denied these privileges.

Our respect for the Constitution allows us to appreciate the range of opinions that come with our freedoms. We welcome the ensuing debates, disagreements, and exchange of ideas because we believe this is the best way to understand one another and truly grow together as a community.

While these exchanges have the potential to uncover difficult and complicated subjects, we recognize that all Americans, regardless of their religious backgrounds or otherwise, have as much a right to participate and express their opinions in the name of making our country better. It is our responsibility as citizens to be educated, engaged and civic-minded.

We are today’s Muslim Americans. We are striving toward building a better and more just society for all Americans and trust our collective action will result in the greater good: by us, for us all.

Current Signatories
1. Wajahat Ali, Playwright (“The Domestic Crusaders”), Essayist and Attorney
2. Hussein Rashid, Contributing Editor of Religion Dispatches and Professor at Hofstra University
3. Reza Aslan, Scholar and Author (“No God but God”)
4. Zeba Iqbal, Executive Director, CAMP (Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals)
5. Imam Plemon T. El-Amin, Resident Imam of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam
6. Shaikh Faraz Rabbani, Educational Director and Instructor at Seekers Guidance
7. Mona Eltahawy, Journalist and Public Speaker
8. Honorable Mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin of Teaneck, New Jersey
9. Sarah Sayeed, Program Associate at Interfaith Center of New York
10. Linda Sarsour, Director of The Arab American Association of New York
11. Aziz H. Poonawalla, Ph.D., and Blogger at City of Brass
12. Imam Faheem Shuaibe, Resident Imam/CEO of Waritheen Mosque & Director of the Clara Mhammed Schools & Warith Deen Mohammed high school in Oakland, California
13. Randa Kuziez, Faiths Act Fellow at Interfaith Youth Core
14. Irfan Rydhan, Public Relations Director, ILLUME Magazine
15. Haroon Moghul, Executive Director of The Maydan Institute
16. Anisa Mehdi, Journalist and Fulbright Scholar
17. Fatemeh Fakhraie, Founder and Editor of Muslimah Media Watch
18. Haris Tarin, Director of Muslim Public Affairs Council, Washington D.C.
19. Imam Johari Abdul-Mailk, Director of Community Outreach for the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center
20. Dilshad Ali, Editor at Patheos.com
21. Willow Wilson, Novelist (Alif) and Journalist
22. Svend White, Writer
23. Debbie Almontasser, Founding and Former Prinipal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy
24. Ayesha Mattu, Blogger
25. Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s International Security Program and a World Fellow at Yale University
26. Zahra Suratwala, Co-editor of “I Speak For Myself: American Women on Being Muslim”
27. Khalil Abdur Rashid, Muslim Religious Life Advisor for Columbia University
28. Imam Tahir Anwar, Islamic Center of San Jose
29. Megan Putney, Program Director, Muslim Consultative Network
30. Zaheer Ali, Writer and Doctoral student in history at Columbia University
31. Aman Ali, Writer and Comedian
32. Bassam Tariq, Filmmaker
33. Zahra Somani, Writer and Editor
34. Zahed Amanullah, Editor of Altmuslim.com

Great piece in The Guardian. Read it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/10/john-walker-lindh-american-taliban-father

MARIAM AZAM

I have been living away from home for the past four years. Post my recent completion of graduate school, broke and jobless, I moved back with my parents (no shame). For the time being, I’m trying my best to shift from my stimulating, fast-paced life in NYC to the hum drum and simple charms of suburbia. Most of my time is now spent catching up on the neighborhood elementary school girl drama via Manal, my 9 year old sister, and indulging on my mom’s much missed Hyderabadi cooking.

To make my adjustment to being back home more interesting, looks like I’ll soon be spending the first Ramadan in years with my family. Complete with ‘Family Ramadan Goals’. My dad convened my three sisters and I for an impromptu meeting this morning and proposed the idea. It was too cute to pass by.

This is what we came up with:

1)      Add khushoo in our prayers (beautify our prayers)

2)      Stop Ghibat (backbiting)

3)      And…make Ramadan fun for Manal

My dad also added that Manal, although typically enthusiastic about getting into her cute pullover hijab and glittery jani namaz to join the family for prayer, could get better about meeting the five dailies.

He then reminisced about his visits to the mosque as a young boy. Early morning, while it was still dark out, my dad would get up to walk down to the mosque for Fajr prayer, but scared silly of stray dogs that could be out (this is India and he was a kid) he would hurry up to walk aside his neighbor ‘booda nana’ (translation from urdu-‘old grandpa’-and, yes, this is how my dad literally references him). To add to it, ‘booda nana’ wasn’t really a friendly guy.

After prayer, my dad would take a trip to the nearby cemetery to visit the graves of his maternal ancestors. He added that one time he stopped by the grave of his mother’s so-and-so but scurried away after being spooked by the corpse in the neighboring grave which had risen enough from the ground to be partly visible. What happened to ‘6 feet under’ I wondered? I can’t explain exactly how, but apparently, the surfacing of the corpses had something to do with the overcrowding of the cemetery and nearby roadside construction.

My dad’s story got me thinking. He mentioned that he was around Manal’s age, or younger, when this happened. So, approximately 7 to 9 years old. I tried to imagine myself going through the same experience with religion that my dad did at such a young age. Fajr trips to the mosque with ‘booda nana’ where I feared for the safety of my life from stray, possibly rabid dogs, followed with trips to the cemetery with sneak peeks of corpses sounded somewhat dramatic. Not to mention, terrifying. Read the rest of this entry »