Lifting weights is not easy. Competition isn’t easy. Competing to be the world’s strongest… yup, not easy. But doing either while wearing the hijab scarf, the Islamic head covering for women? Well, wow!!
And that is exactly what Kulsoom Abdullah is doing. Born and raised in Georgia and with a PhD in computer networking, this super-woman will compete at the U.S. Weightlifting championships in July.
We’ll be rooting for you, Kulsoom!!
Read the full article here on NBC News.
One of the basic principles of Islam is the giving of charity. This manifests itself in many forms, whether donating money and other items, or time to charitable causes and services.
A Muslim community in Canada recently donated both time and money to a shelter serving food to more than 300 people – on Christmas Eve.
The Islamic Community Centre of Brossard donated $2000 and sent 20 community members to serve food for 2 hours. And though Muslims don’t celebrate Christmas, charity is a year-round event for members of the Islamic faith.
“We don’t celebrate Christmas, but serving humanity is serving God. That is what our teaching says,” said Ismail Mohammed, a member of the community.
Read the full story on the Montreal Gazette.
And it’s delicious!!
A lot of our recent posts have featured the accomplishments of supposedly “oppressed” Muslim women. But what better way to debunk stereotype than the truth, right?
This young Syrian American Muslim woman has been making headlines with her sweet entry into the world of high-fashion sweets.
Nadia started her Middle-eastern sweets company, Sweet Pillar & Co., in 2009 with her decadent chocolate-covered dates. She started sharing and perfecting her creations with her friends and family, combining luxurious packaging with a decadent sugary treat.
Sweet Pillar & Co. chocolate-covered dates can be ordered on the company’s website and can also be found in several boutique shops in Southern California, and are expanding nationally in the coming year.
Nadia sat down for an interview with the online magazine, Elan. Read the interview and visit Sweet Pillar’s site to order yours!
A group of Saudi Arabian women have made history for writing the first TV drama / comedy – called a “dramady” – to be written exclusively by women in their conservative country.
Aysha AlKusayer, an American-educated Saudi woman, headed the project that included 14 other female Saudi writers and artists.
She recently took some time and sat down with American Bedu for an interview about the project – read all about it at Muslimah Media Watch!
Phew! We dodged another terrorist attack in New York! Only this time, the little-known hero of the story is a Muslim man from Senegal!!!
What’s that? You haven’t heard of him? No, you probably haven’t, because as the news opinion networks in this country focus on the background of the attacker, the man who reported the smoking vehicle in Times Square is simply referred to as “street vendor.”
That’s right, as we breathe a sigh of relief that lives were saved in New York and disaster averted, we’re getting a dosage of domestic media-terrorism for our brains.
So who is the real hero of Times Square? His name is Aliou Niasse, a Muslim Senegalese immigrant who came to the United States eight years ago. Aliou saw the smoking vehicle and contacted a neighboring vendor, who suggested they alert a nearby officer instead of calling 911. This man, Lance, has gotten all of the attention in the media, including a personal “thank you” call from President Barack Obama himself.
But what about Aliou? If he’s not going to get a call from President Obama, can he at least get his name mentioned in the story? Can we at least hear the story of how as one psychopath attempted to set off a bomb in Times Square, a Muslim man foiled the plot? I daresay most Muslims would agree that Aliou Niasse is far more representative of the true religion of Islam than the other guy. Why, then, do we hear about the Muslim attacker but not the Muslim hero who saved everyone there? “Street vendor,” indeed.
Regardless of how it plays out in the media, or whether the American public at large will ever actually know that it was a Muslim man that foiled that bombing, it doesn’t change the fact that Aliou Niasse saved a lot of lives that day, and in so doing held true to the principles of the Islamic faith and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. That’s what I like to refer to as an “American Muslim Hero.”
Dr. Muhammad Abdo practiced medicine in New Jersey until 2002, when he gave up the comfortable and lucrative medical world in his East-coast home for a life of travel as a humanitarian doctor. He dedicated his time to some of the poorest nations and war-torn countries, helping the victims of war and disaster.
Dr. Muhammad Abdo went to Indonesia after the tsunami. He went to Pakistan after the earthquake. He went to Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leona, Malawi, Turkey and Zambia. Days before he passed away in a car accident, he was in Kenya helping Somali refugee women.
Dr. Muhammad Abdo has achieved the ultimate legacy: the world’s neediest people will miss him now that he is gone.
Read more about Dr. Muhammad’s work in a letter by his friend at the organization where he volunteered his time, the Zakat Foundation.
Muslims have been in America long enough for the second (and for some even third) generations of their children to be graduating from universities and entering public life as educated professionals.
This generation of Muslims in America speak the language, know the culture, and, indeed, don’t even really consider that they belong anywhere else but in America. They are American Muslims, and they’re making their presence known in a big way.
Several of them have already started making waves in the media, showing up in television, comedy tours, musical events, and movies. Two American Muslims have been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. All around America, Muslims are stepping into public life in a big way.
The latest generation of Muslim youth around the country are not even waiting till after college for their “coming out” party into the American landscape. They are interning in companies, starting non-profits, and volunteering on political campaign committees. And these activities are finally starting to get attention in the mainstream media.
MSNBC picked up an article written by the Associated Press about the political activities and aspirations of Muslim youth around the Chicago area. It should be no surprise that the rise of President Obama to power has energized minority communities around the country, and especially those from the area where he himself hails.
Read the excellent article to learn more about the political activities of the next generation of American Muslims in Chicago and around the country.
Too often we hear in the Western world that women are oppressed under the Muslim faith of Islam. Stories are passed virally by evangelists who try to capitalize on the prevailing ignorance, or by those with all sorts of personal agendas.
And yet the evidence speaks to the contrary. Whether you meet Muslim women and talk to them in person, or simply do some research, you’ll find that Muslim women are contributing and active members in society in all parts of the world.
The Vital Voices Global Partnership, an NGO dedicated to recognizing, training, and empowering emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, has selected three Muslim women as recipients for the 2010 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards.
Afnan Al Zayani, Bahrain – Leadership in Public Life Award
Andeisha Farid, Afghanistan - Rising Voices / 10,000 Women Leadership Award
Roshaneh Zafar, Pakistan – Economic Empowerment Award
This trio of Muslim women leaders were among six winners in various categories that received their awards from United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a ceremony attended by people of global influence in the media, entertainment, and government sectors.
Congratulations to the winners! Read more about the awards and get details on the winners at the Vital Voices Global Partnership site.
When you think of basketball, you don’t normally think of any players under 5 feet 4 inches. You especially don’t think of any of that size that can average 42 points per game.
And if there was a player that could do that… well, it would probably be a male player, right?
Wrong – Meet Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a female high school basketball player from Springfield. And if that wasn’t amazing enough, Bilqis does it all while wearing the Islamic headscarf.
It is impressive that the league would allow it. It is doubly-impressive that NCAA Division I basketball is also allowing it, so that Bilqis can start for Memphis next season. But before the politics, you have to recognize that Bilqis is playing basketball – and averaging 42 points a game – without exposing a calf or bicep.
Following the teachings of Islam, Bilqis donned the scarf and covered her body to force society to deal with her mind, not her body. But she wasn’t content with academics alone. In addition to making the Honor roll at school, Bilqis smashed the state scoring record – for males or females – by over 300 points, passing the 3,000 point mark in her senior year.
Read her amazing story now on Sports Illustrated online.
Indian film legend Shah Rukh Khan takes on the role of “Rizvan Khan,” an Indian Muslim living with Asperger’s Syndrome who crosses America on a journey of discovery in the name of the woman he loves.
It is rare to have the lead hero role in a movie be that of a Muslim, and especially amazing to have someone as talented as Shah Rukh Khan play the part in front of mainstream, Western audiences.
The film is now in theaters – watch the trailer!