Eid Prayer

Eid Aladha inshallah, will be on Monday December 8, 2008. Eid prayer will be performed at the Islamic center of Maine in Orono at 9 am.

Eid Mubarak

Assalamu Alaikum,   The following are details regarding our upcoming Eid ul-Adha party insha'allah.  The party will include a small Eid program presented by our very own Sunday School students, a catered dinner/dessert, and entertainment for the children. Hope to see everyone there...and may Allah (swt) grant us a very joyous and blessed Eid insha'allah!   When: Tuesday, December 9th   Time: 5pm-9pm   Fee: $50/family, $5/student (or whatever you can donate)   Where: Spectacular Event Center 395 Griffin Rd Bangor,  Maine 04401  

Announcements

Dear brothers and sisters, Alsalamo alikom   The timing for the Weekly Halaqa (study circle) for brothers and sisters has been changed. it will be held on Friday of every week at 7 pm, starting this Friday October 31st. This change from Saturday was intended to free saturday especially for families who send there children to Sunday school.   Insha allah, we intend to have a monthly day of Qiyam, where we will spend most of the night to pray, reed quran, and other islamic activities. this is very important for us, adults, to recharge our iman. And for older children to learn this Sunnah. this will be held the first friday of every month. next qiyam will be on friday November 7th, inshaallah. The monthly potluck will continue. it will now be the last Friday of every month at 7 pm.   The up coming Eid Aladha party will be held inshaallah on Tuesday December 9th at 5 pm. details and location will be announced when finalized by the social committee.   Eid prayer will be held in the masjed in Orono at 9 am. Exact day of Eid will be known only 10 days prior to that date.   Last but very important is that our long awaited expansion project is progressing. the plan is to build a new building on the same location we have in Orono. the current building will be used until the new building is finished then the old one will be removed to allow the new building to visible from  Park street. the land survey which was the initial step has finished. two engineers from Michigan who built 2 different islamic centers in Michigan are working on the design of our building. I will provide you with more details about the design when it becomes available to me.  the next step would be to get the city of Orono approval of the project before we can start the actual building. We have already been in contact with the city and there approval should not be a problem. It is just a matter of providing them with the site plan and other routine things.   The limiting factor would be the financials, although I am very optimistic inshallah.  this is something we all need to work on together to be able to accomplish. we need to depend on our selves first and show our commitment to our community before we can ask other communities to help us.  any financial contribution, or an idea or activity that can help in this matter is direly needed. especially if you have personal connection in other communities please contact them and let them know about our project and needs.  I estimate the cost to be around $500,000, currently we have close to $200,000.   alsalamo alikom   Mohammad Tabbah    

Message from Dr Jalal

Dear brothers and sisters alsalamo alikom   On December 26 a combined meeting of the board of trustees and the executive committee of the Islamic center of Maine was held.  The following is a synopsis of important changes and announcements.   1-      General body meeting will be held on Friday November 28th at 7 pm, after the Halaqa. Members and non members are welcomed. 2-      Membership renewals are due by January 1st, 2009. New members need to fill a membership application (attached).  Old members do not need to do that.   3-      Membership dues are donations to the Masjid and will be used for the up-keep of the Masjid.  Membership dues  are graded as follows:      $20 per student      $150 per couple (husband and wife) with a household annual income of less than $100,000      $400 per couple (husband and wife) with a household annual income of more than $100,000      Members who do not pay their dues by January 15th will forfeit their right to vote in the upcoming election. 4-      Election for one seat of the board of trustees for a 6 years term will start on January 15th 2009. Only members who paid their membership dues and have been members for more than 2 months are eligible to vote. Any member 35 years or older is eligible to be nominated to the board. For details please review the attached ICM constitution.   Alsalamo alikom

Islamic Center of Maine (EID Celebration)

Area Muslims mark end of Ramadan at Orono celebration BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSS Yazan Abdulrahman, 2, looks curiously at the photographer as his father, Aymn Abdulrahman (next to him), of Orono and other observers bow and recite prayers at the Islamic Center of Maine in Orono during Tuesday morning?s service to mark the end of Ramadan. Buy Photo By Judy Harrison BDN Staff ORONO, Maine — Colorful balloons and festive signs that declared, “Eid mubarik,” decorated the walls of the Islamic Center of Maine to mark the end of Ramadan. Worshippers gathered Tuesday morning to pray and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the feast days that begin after a month of fasting, prayer and study. About 100 people, many of them students, gathered at the mosque on U.S. Route 2 in Orono just north of the entrance to the University of Maine. They greeted each other with the traditional salutation, “Eid mubarik,” which means “May God make it a blessed feast.” Others responded with “Eid karim” or “May God make it a kind feast.” Ramadan is the ninth month of the year for the followers of Mohammed, who observe a lunar calendar. The holiday takes place 13 days earlier each year according to the solar calendar. Ramadan began at sunrise Sept. 1 and ended with the sighting of the new moon on Monday. During Ramadan, all healthy adult Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sexual activity from sunrise to sunset. The month is to be devoted to reflection and spiritual discipline, as well as the reading of the Quran, which was revealed to the prophet Mohammed by Allah during the final days of Ramadan. Followers also are expected to perform good deeds and pray more often than the usual five times a day, including each evening in a mosque with other Muslims, if possible. Muslims believe fasting teaches patience and compassion and also earns them special favor with Allah. Any good deed done during Ramadan is amplified in the eyes of God. Britney Harris, 20, of Brunswick observed her third Ramadan last month. She converted to Islam from Christianity about three years ago. The junior, who is majoring in child development, said that the rigors of Ramadan are rewarding but also challenging. “It slows me down,” she said Tuesday. “I find that when I’m thinking about being hungry, I look at what I have and I take the things I have and cherish them more than I take them for granted. I see the things that I have every day and I appreciate them.” Harris said that she found it was difficult to study during the afternoon while she was fasting, but enjoyed gathering at the mosque every evening at sundown for a meal with other Muslim students and community members. “The whole experience of Ramadan is rewarding to me,” said Omar Conteh, 23, of Bangor. “I appreciate everything about it, from the spiritual experience to people being together, learning, teaching and advising each other.” A student at University College of Bangor, Conteh has lived in Bangor for more than 10 years. He played soccer for Bangor High School before graduating. “This year was the easiest Ramadan for me,” he said. “Maybe it is because I’ve gotten a little older, but it’s been a very pleasant Ramadan. I enjoyed it a lot.” The Muslim community in Greater Bangor is flexible about when and where it observes the community feast day that marks the end of Ramadan. The mosque, a doublewide pre-fabricated building, is not large enough for the event since family, friends and people wanting to learn more about the faith attend. This year, the Eid al-Fitr celebration party will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Isaac Farrar Mansion at Second and Union streets in Bangor. The public is invited.

Islamic perspective on meltdown in US markets

Islamic perspective on meltdown in US markets The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily Monday 29 September 2008 (29 Ramadan 1429) Islamic perspective on meltdown in US markets By: Liaquat Ali Khan — (Liaquat Ali Khan is professor of law at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.) Call it the consequences of irresponsible American invasions, call it the irrational exuberance of short sellers, call it the catastrophe of subprime lending, call it the mismanagement of leveraged products, blame it as you may, American markets are facing unprecedented meltdown and doomsayers see little promise in the federal bailout package. Ironically, the Wall Street has noticed that Shariah-compliant investments - which avoid speculative risk and debt-ridden greed - have fared much better in these troubled markets. In the past few years, Shariah-compliant investments in Western markets have grown to more than half a trillion dollars. Islamic financing is attracting huge academic curiosity. Many experts participating in the 8th Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance held this past April wondered if Islamic financing could have prevented the meltdown that American markets are facing primarily due to mortgage debt and mortgage-backed securities - now known as "toxic investments." High risk investments The Qur'an prohibits al-maysir or speculative risk, warning the faithful to avoid games of chance in which the probability of loss is much higher than the probability of gain. Shariah-compliant investments, therefore, avoid speculative risk, including interest rate options, naked equity options, futures, derivative and numerous leveraged products purportedly designed to hedge investments. Many of these financial products attract speculators in hopes of making quick money. When trusted fund managers, under institutional pressures to show profit, resort to speculative risk, hedge investments turn into suicidal strategies for financial destruction. In pursuit of greed and thrill, straightforward investments in companies engaged in socially useful activity has become unattractive, even boring, because of their presumably lower rate of return - frequently a self-fulfilling prophecy. Billions of dollars are dumped into companies that promise huge profits but produce nothing. While Islam would allow risking investments in socially beneficial research projects, it prohibits investments in companies peddling alcohol, tobacco, pornography, debt, and weapons-products that undermine our health and safety. Some investment strategies rampant in the markets are not only morally corrupt but socially harmful. Short sellers, for example, make money when companies collapse and close. Turning the conventional logic of investment on its head, short sellers wish companies to crash rather than prosper for they make most money when companies go bankrupt, workers and employees lose jobs, and pension funds evaporate through declining company stock. Such cynical investments, touted as useful forces that balance the market, are contrary to Islamic law. Interest-bearing debt In addition to prohibiting high risk investments, the Qur'an also prohibits no risk investments. The prohibition against riba, interest on loans, is strictly forbidden. Islam does not prohibit passive investments. Nor does it prohibit giving interest-free loans. Debt is not contrary to Islamic law. Charging interest is. Although some experts argue that usury, and not interest, is prohibited under Islamic law. Most Muslim scholars agree, however, that interest on loans is contrary to the Shariah. Refuting arguments that money has time value or that interest is analogous to profit, the Qur'an offers a categorical principle that "trade is permitted but interest is not." The prohibition against interest was revealed not only to save the poor from unscrupulous lenders but also to deter investors who demand a set return on their investments and decline to take the risk of engaging in useful trade. Contrary to Islamic principles, lending in general and subprime lending in particular was predestined to harm American financial markets for two distinct reasons. First, debt braced with high interest was being extended to persons who simply could not afford to pay back loans. This was usury. Second, the real estate mortgage was no longer a prudent investment decision, since numerous investors were trading in real estate with inflated prices. Investment bankers and other geniuses on Wall Street were securitizing mortgage debts, turning them into interest-bearing securities. These fancy securities began to fail when their underlying assets were foreclosed or deflated. The debt turned deadly and its holders bankrupt. Shared destruction Between the prohibited limits of al-maysir (speculative risk) and riba (no risk), however, Islamic law permits creativity in financial markets where investors mobilize surplus monies for the production and distribution of halal (Kosher) goods and services. These permissible markets are neither risk-free nor prone to irresponsible risk. Though innovative and authentic, the markets are infused with the values of fairness, transparency, and reasonable profits. They are free of predatory practices that corrupt transactions with greed and inflict hardship on the poor, the elderly, and the novice. The federal bailout package that the Bush administration is selling as a quick cure of all problems will only aggravate the underlying cancer of interest-bearing debt. It is unlikely that the infusion of more money will reform institutions and companies built on layers of interest-bearing debt. When the best and the brightest are engrossed in finding ways to make money with money, and no more, the system may look creative and intelligent but it is geared toward shared destruction. Copyright: Arab News (c) 2003 All rights reserved. Site designed by: arabix

Eid information

Eid prayer will be held at 9:00 AM in the Masjid on September 30th or October 1st. Check back for the exact date. Eid Party Information Date: Sunday, October 5th Time: 3-6 (dinner and fun for our kids!) Place: Isaac Farrar Mansion - Bangor YWCA, Second St., Bangor Directions: From South of Bangor: Take I-95 North to Union Street, Exit 184. At end of the exit turn right onto Union Street. Continue straight through two lights. Three blocks from the second light is Second Street. The facility is on the corner of Union and Second Streets. From North of Bangor: Take 1-95 South, Union Street, Exit 184. Turn left at the end of exit onto Union Street. Continue straight through three lights. Second Street is three blocks on right after the third light. The facility is on corner of Union an Second Streets. All are welcome. Come in out of the cold.

Muslim Sholar of the Month

Assalama Aleykum Short Biography. Abdullah Hakim Quick was born in the United States of America and accepted Islam in Canada in 1970. He pursued his study of Islam at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia where he graduated and received an Ijaza from the College of Da’wah and Islamic Sciences in 1979. He later completed a Masters Degree and a Doctorate in African History at the University of Toronto in Canada. His thesis was an analysis of the early life of Sheikh ‘Uthman Dan Fodio, a great West African Scholar, Mujaahid and social activist. Shaykh Abdullah has served as Imam, teacher and counselor in the USA, Canada and the West Indies. For three years he contributed to the religious page of Canada’s leading newspaper. He has traveled to over 55 countries on lecture, research and educational tours. Presently he is a Senior Lecturer at The True Dawn Institute (Islamic Training & Development)  in Cape Town and a member of the Muslim Judicial Council, Cape Town, South Africa. Shaykh Abdullah is also the Director of the Discover Islam Centre (Cape Town) and Ameer of the Dawah Coordinating Forum of South Africa. Today’s world is in need of innovative rethinking based on original, authentic sources. Dr Abdullah Hakim provides an example of this new, progressive thinking. These are the links for Dr Abdulhakim Quick http://www.hakimquick.com/about-2/biography/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsPUG6AQS_w&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xhQ_pGvR1w&feature=related

Muslims in Maine

Mursal Habibzai, 4. models a scarf at Amei Halaal Market on St. John Street in Portland BY Janet Blevins PHOTOS BY Jesse Stenbak, Brita Zitin & Jason Hjort First of all, Islam is not ‘new’ to Maine,” says Jamar Nor, 47, a local Somali-American Muslim who teaches children’s classes at the Brackett Street Mosque. “A common misunderstanding is that Islam ‘arrived’ in Maine with the most recent wave of immigrants,” says Dawud Ummah. “Actually, we’ve been here for quite some time.” Ummah serves as an imam – leader, teacher, advisor – for the small community of Portland Muslims descended from African slaves. He’s also a maintenance worker for the City of Portland. Ummah, 47, says his group sometimes meets in private homes in an attempt to preserve their unique history, but they also pray with the greater Muslim community at the mosque on Brackett Street. As early as 1915, Turkish and Albanian immigrants are said to have created one of the first mosques in the United States, in the Pepperell Counting House in Biddeford, according to Images of America, by Charles Butler, Jr. Most of the worshipers were men who came to work in the factories, facing east at designated times to pray across the sea. Today, no mosque exists in Biddeford, but a section of West Street Cemetery with the stones facing Mecca stands as testimony to the presence of these early Muslim groundbreakers. Later in the 20th century, another groundbreaking Muslim won a world title in a town that now has a thriving mosque and a large, active Muslim community. “Here in Maine, people tend to forget Muhammad Ali won his title in Lewiston [see “102 Seconds of Lewiston,” interview with Ali, Portland Magazine, February/March 2002],” Ummah says. “Questions open the door.” How do Muslims pray? At the Brackett Street Mosque, men and women pray in separate rooms divided by a curtain in the doorway. Both groups can hear the Imam reading from the Quran, and they all face Mecca [across downtown Portland]. All Muslims are supposed to wash their hands, feet, and face – an ablution to purify them before prayer. How do children learn the Quran? Children attend Madarassa, or Islamic school, at the Brackett Street Mosque where, no matter what their native language is, they learn to read and write Arabic so they can read the Quran. They also learn Muslim history, geography, prayer, and behavior. Are there food restrictions? Muslims are forbidden from eating pork or drinking alcohol. Seafood seems to be a personal choice. According to Aziz el Madi of UMaine Orono and Farmingtion, they do not eat animals which display excessively aggressive behavior – for example, lions or sharks – because they do not want to acquire these behaviors from the meat. Pigs are viewed as ‘dirty’ animals who live in an unclean environment and eat unclean food, so Muslims do not want to ingest their meat. Halal is meat that’s been lawfully slaughtered and butchered. Any Muslim can do it, as long as he or she uses a sharp knife and does not cause stress to the animal. They acknowledge the “sacrifice for the sake of God,” according to el Madi. Since a Muslim “commits himself to the commands of God,” and drinking alcohol may result in uncontrolled behavior, there is a prohibition on drinking. Aziz el Madi says, “A person can lose consciousness, become violent, aggressive, not behave well.” What is the purpose of Ramadan? El Madi says Ramadan allows Muslims to “be free from their own desires, to exercise self-control. If we take things for granted, how can we appreciate what we’ve got? We learn how the poor feel, and then we can help them. From sunrise to sunset, we eat no food, abstain from sex, do not argue. This helps to solve defects in our manner; we improve ourselves, become a better person.” Do Muslims have a celebration like Christmas? Eid is the big family holiday celebrated after the month of Ramadan – pray at the mosque and have breakfast in the morning, then spend time with family, friends, and food, including an exchange of gifts. El Madi says, “Ramadan is like a dear friend who helps you control yourself, helps you be a better person. Then, when your ‘friend’ leaves, you feel sad, so you are surrounded by your friends and family at Eid to help you feel happy again.” “The first thing I wish Portlanders would understand is, not all Muslims are immigrants,” he says. “When I go to worship as a Muslim in Portland, I become a world citizen. I meet people from Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Iran, you name it. But in spite of our differences, we are all ‘from here,’ too – we live here, love here, and worship here.” Nor, who loves Maine the way Ummah does, believes the fastest way to demystify Islam here is through direct and friendly discourse: “Questions open the door.” Habib Sayed Habib Sayed is a 23-year-old Muslim from Afghanistan who lives in Portland and works at Idexx. He cracks the ‘door’ open a bit further when he says, “Ask why we fast. Ask about the deeper reasons behind all of the things we do. Ask about why we pray.” Ask where: the Brackett Street mosque, Warren Avenue mosque, Lewiston mosque, the Muslim student organization at UMaine Orono. Ask how many Muslims there are in Portland alone: “At least several thousand,” says Rachel Talbot Ross of the city manager’s office. As for prayer, some Maine Muslims find it difficult to follow one of the major tenets of Islamic law: “I still find it difficult to pray five times daily,” Sayed says. Muslims are supposed to wash their hands, face, and feet before praying, and sometimes that’s hard to do at work. “I try to as much as I can, especially during Ramadan. Then for a month we fast from dawn until dusk. It is a time of purifying yourself.” So, how does Sayed view the Christmas retail promotions that assault all of us at this time of year? He says it’s a big holiday, like Eid, celebrated by Muslims after the month of Ramadan ends. “We pray at the mosque in the morning, visit with relatives and friends. There’s lots of food.” Sayed’s family moved to Portland from Afghanistan in 1992 “when I was just 13. It was a total culture shock. I was surprised to see women wearing skirts and shorts and bikinis at the beach because in Afghanistan women are mostly covered, but you get adjusted to it.” He spent eighth grade at King Middle School and then graduated from Portland High School where he played soccer all four years. He also played varsity in college, and now plays in a men’s league – his outdoor team is The Foreigners. Being a teenager in Portland prepared him for the experience of being the only Muslim student at the 1,200-student Catholic College of Anna Maria in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he majored in business administration, concentrating on management information systems. “It was not that difficult; I was already adjusted to American society. I even gave a presentation on Islam in my World Religions class.” “Miss Awralla, Miss Awralla!” Teenagers try to get the attention of Awralla Hashi-Aldus, 33, as she walks the halls of Portland High School. Hashi-Aldus, a language facilitator at Portland High School, is divorced with two children ages 7 and 12, was born in Somalia, and now lives in Portland. “Portland High has always made accommodations for us. During Ramadan, they reserve a quiet place for Muslims to go so we don’t have to go to the cafeteria.” Since Muslims fast during Ramadan, praying someplace other than the cafeteria seems logical. “The school districts in southern Maine are really good about being sensitive to Muslims.” “They [the students] pull me in different directions all the time,” she laughs. Hashi-Aldus translates Somali and Arabic during classes for as many as 100 foreign-born students. “I have ‘acculturated.’ I have my Somali culture but have taken on American styles.” Hashi-Aldus loves turquoise and wears five different pieces of jewelry with the gem. Wearing Portland High’s blue and white in her dress-and-scarf combination for a school pep rally, Hashi-Aldus says, “The best is to find a balance. One should keep one’s own culture but take the good things from your new environment. You’ve got to choose the good aspects of the two different cultures. It’s hard for teenagers. Either they completely abandon their heritage and customs or completely shy away from the new.” Portland High School Language facilitator Awralla Hashi-Aldus wears a blue and white scarf during Bulldog pep rallies Hashi-Aldus is from the town of Hargeisa in northern Somalia, in the area known as Somaliland. She came to the United States on a student visa to Connecticut 1988. She left before the war started in Somalia, living in India for two years and Egypt for eight years before immigrating to this country. Hashi-Aldus is concerned about how the next generation will keep the language and culture alive. “Our native languages are in danger. When the children get here their lives are suspended, there is no language growth. That’s why I wish we had native language classes. These teenagers will thrive in their new environment if they are more sophisticated in their native language.” Did Sayed experience any of these cultural adjustment problems? He says he was successful at resisting the temptations of teenage and college drinking because of his religion, but he never has a problem with his friends drinking around him, even though in college everyone drank around him. “It’s not my life. I cannot tell them what to do.” Sayed also does not eat pork or seafood. No lobster? “Muslims don’t eat pork. I personally don’t eat seafood. Beliefs about food change a little from group to group.” While he was in Maine, Muhammed Ali conspicuously refused to eat lobster because of his religious beliefs. Several markets, including Amei Halaal on St. John Street and Kenya Restaurant/Discount Grocery Store at 30 Washington Avenue in Portland provide halal, or lawful meat, and other foods as well as beautiful scarves from all over the world. Others sell the scarves from their homes. Jamar Nor, 47 delivers newspapers for the Press Herald That “all Muslims oppress women” is a common misunderstanding. The hijab, or traditional headdress, Muslim women wear makes those who wear it visible and has become controversial among some Muslim communities. “My sisters don’t cover their hair,” Sayed says, because “they are still young.” He thinks they will start to wear the hijab when they are old enough, even in this country. “For many Westerners some Muslim countries are judged by whether women wear the hijab, but [it’s not that easy]. One of the most brutal dictators in Iran, Shah Reza Pahlevi, made it illegal for women to wear [hijab],” says Wells Staley-Mays, 55, a former Unitarian-Universalist who converted to Islam three years ago. A volunteer at Peace Action Maine, Staley-Mays works at the nonprofit agency Ingraham. In early Islam there was equality within the mosque. Now many mosques separate women and men by rooms or on differrent sides of the same room. Hashi-Aldus says, “Wearing hijab is a personal choice of mine. Islam requires all people to be modest. You must respect yourself and others. Some people are more extreme. I have not experienced discrimination [from wearing hijab] personally, but some of my friends have.” She has heard of people shouting at Muslims, “Go back to your country,” and last year a family she knows was shopping at Hannaford when someone knocked down their grocery cart. “A big misconception [about Islam] is that women are not free. A lot of people think that,” says Hashi-Aldus. “A great deal of the Quran talks about women’s equality, rights for women to own and sell property. Many people think that Muslim women are oppressed, not educated. The Quran encourages people not to be ignorant. The Quran encourages all people to be educated.” Hashi-Aldus feels that a Muslim must learn Arabic so that he or she can interpret the Quran in its original language. Staley-Mays shares this pro-woman interpretation of the Quran. “The prophet Mohammed through revelations talked about protecting women’s property rights 1,300 years before Britain and the United States.” “Since 9-11 Islam is seen as negative when in fact the word ‘Islam’ means peace. Islam is associated with terrorism and the media is responsible for that. That’s what worries me. There are fanatics in every faith.” Hashi-Aldus addresses how politicized Islam has become for certain groups in the world. “After 9-11 people changed in this country. Mainstream Americans are not as sure; everybody’s cautious, and people’s attitudes toward me have changed. It’s a weird, terrible feeling.” Hashi-Aldus is no more concerned about her children’s safety than any other parent. “I do not judge and I do not want to be judged. The Quran says Lakum diinakum waliya diini, which means I have my beliefs and you yours,” Hashi-Aldus says of the misunderstandings that do occur about Muslims. “I would rather have people ask me questions than assume.” Ummah for his part feels the insults he suffers have more to do with his being African-American than being Muslim. “I’m walking down the street one day and someone yells from a car, ‘Go back to Africa.’ I’m from Cleveland, not Africa. I say, ‘Please don’t make me go back to Cleveland.’” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------