ICLI News May 2004

I.C.L.I. News

ICLI Holds Its Strategic Retreat

Asalamu Alaikum,

Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. Q 13:11.

I am pleased to inform you that a large and diverse group from ICLI had an informative, interactive and productive strategic meeting from April 16 - 18 2004.

Dr Rafik Beekun - Professor of Management at University of Nevada and a former Fulbright scholar conducted this meeting.

ICLI--GOALS

1. Strengthen Islamic Educational Programs

2. Focus on Young Adults.

3. Provide spiritual guidance and consultation 4. Involve Youth

5. Project Islam in a positive manner with outreach 6. Formalize Infrastructure and Governance process 7. Build a social support program 8. Develop a sound financial base for ICLI. Thereafter, goal- based task force was formed for each of the eight goals and each task force developed objectives and strategies with time lines for the individual goals. We welcome your participation in implementing the goals set for ICLI and if you have a keen interest in working with any of the eight groups listed above, do let me know and I will be pleased to direct you to

Here are some highlights for your information and follow up:

ICLI-- VISION STATEMENT (Tentative)

To be a center of excellence for developing and sustaining a progressive, vibrant Islamic community and a nurturing environment for the society at large.

ICLI--MISSION STATEMENT (Tentative)

To serve and engage Muslims by promoting the progressive values and teaching of Islam and to advocate inter-faith harmony in a multicultural environment in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah.

After completing the vision and mission statement the group developed the following goals for ICLI and prioritized them after a secret ballot.

the appropriate individuals. This retreat at ICLI was another example of the American Muslim community planting and strengthening its roots and traditions in America and in my mind brought

A Publication of The Islamic Center of Long Island, Westbury.

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

Dr. Beekun with members of ICLI at the Strategic Retreat

ICLI Members still smiling after a grueling two day schedule.

(Continued from page 1)

into focus the verse from Quran 14:24-25:

Art Thou Not aware how Allah sets forth the parable of a good word? It is like a good tree, firmly rooted, (reaching out) with its branches towards the sky, yielding its fruit at all times by the Sustainers leave..

With my best wishes, Faroque A. Khan Email: faroquekhan@yahoo.com

In Summary

ICLI-- VISION STATEMENT (Tentative)

To be a center of excellence for developing and sustaining a progressive, vibrant Islamic community and a nurturing environment for the society at large.

ICLI--MISSION STATEMENT

(Tentative)

To serve and engage Muslims by promoting the progressive values and teaching of Islam and to advocate inter-faith harmony in a multicultural environment in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah.

ICLI--GOALS

1.Strengthen Islamic Educational Programs 2.Focus on Young Adults. 3.Provide spiritual guidance and consultation 4.Involve Youth 5.Project Islam in a positive manner with outreach 6.Formalize Infrastructure and Governance process 7.Build a social support program 8.Develop a sound financial base for ICLI.

Newsletter Created by:

Managing Editor: Mohammed Sohail Nabi email: m.nabi@verizon.net Youth Section: Emraan Khan email: ekhan17@hotmail.com

Printed By: Five Star Printing (Flushing) (718)-353 4711

ICLI members trying to enjoy the sun whilst busy working on the Vision & Mission statements as well the creating the goals

The Kids played whilst the parents worked

ICLI Profit & Loss Statement 2003

Statement from the Accountant on behalf of the Treasurer is as follows:

ICLI has undergone many renovations in 2003:

1. Development of additional classroom spaces in the administration building, new classroom furniture, fixtures and equipment were purchased to boost our educational experience at ICLI.

2. Added office space for our Domestic Harmony Committee (DHC).

3. The bathrooms were painted and upgraded with modern fixtures.

4. Refurbishment of the basement area of the masjid. Even though we have incurred heavy repairs and maintenance expenses - the renovations were desperately needed.

Our financial team has been hard at work cutting down on costs and are pleased to announce that in the 2004/05 fiscal year; ICLI will reduce it's real estate tax expenses by $8,000 and was successful in reducing admin telephone charges by an additional $3,000 per year.

Charity contributions have declined in the past two yearsdue 9/11 - however, distributions have remained steady. ICLI is the forefront in outreach in this area for the tristate community.

While this is all good news, I am disappointed to say masjid contributions have hit an all time low. Your membership dues and weekly contributions is what makes ICLI function day to day. All of this would not be possible without your continued support. Remember to send in your membership renewal!

Islam: The Next American Religion?

The U.S. began as a haven for Christian outcasts. But what religion fits our current zeitgeist? The answer may be Islam. Americans tend to think of their country as, at the very least, a nominally Christian nation. Didn't the Pilgrims come here for freedom to practice their Christian religion? Don't Christian values of righteousness under God, and freedom, reinforce America's democratic, capitalist ideals?

True enough. But there's a new religion on the block now, one that fits the current zeitgeist nicely. It's Islam.

Islam is the third-largest and fastest growing religious community in the United States. This is not just because of immigration. More than 50% of America's six million Muslims were born here. Statistics like these imply some basic agreement between core American values and the beliefs that Muslims hold. Americans who make the effort to look beyond popular stereotypes to learn the truth of Islam are surprised to find themselves on familiar ground.

Is America a Muslim nation? Here are seven reasons the answer may be yes.

Islam is monotheistic . Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christians. They also revere the same prophets as Judaism and Christianity, from Abraham, the first monotheist, to Moses, the law giver and messenger of God, to Jesus-not leaving out Noah, Job, or Isaiah along the way. The concept of a Judeo-Christian tradition only came to the fore in the 1940s in America. Now, as a nation, we may be transcending it, turning to a more inclusive "Abrahamic" view.

In January, President Bush grouped mosques with churches and synagogues in his inaugural address. A few days later, when he posed for photographers at a meeting of several dozen religious figures, the Shi'ite imam Muhammad Qazwini, of Orange County, Calif., stood directly behind Bush's chair like a presiding angel, dressed in the robes and turban of his south Iraqi youth.

Islam is democratic in spirit. Islam advocates the right to vote and educate yourself and pursue a profession. The Qur'an, on which Islamic law is based, enjoins Muslims to govern themselves by discussion and consensus. In mosques, there is no particular priestly hierarchy. With Islam, each individual is responsible for the condition of her or his own soul. Everyone stands equal before God.

Americans, who mostly associate Islamic government with a handful of tyrants, may find this independent spirit surprising, supposing that Muslims are somehow predisposed to passive submission. Nothing could be further from the truth. The dictators reigning today in the Middle East are not the result of Islamic principles. They are more a result of global economics and the aftermath of European colonialism. Meanwhile, like everyone else, average Muslims the world over want a larger say in what goes on in the countries where they live. Those in America may actually succeed in it. In this way, America is closer in spirit to Islam than many Arab

countries.

Islam contains an attractive mystical tradition. Mysticism is grounded in the individual search for God. Where better to do that than in America, land of individualists and spiritual seekers? And who might better benefit than Americans from the centuries-long tradition of teachers and students that characterize Islam. Surprising as it may seem, America's best-selling poet du jour is a Muslim mystic named Rumi, the 800-year-old Persian bard and founder of the Mevlevi Path, known in the West as the Whirling Dervishes. Even book packagers are now rushing him into print to meet and profit from mainstream demand for this visionary. Translators as various as Robert Bly, Coleman Barks, and Kabir and Camille Helminski have produced dozens of books of Rumi's verse and have only begun to bring his enormous output before the English-speaking world. This is a concrete poetry of ecstasy, where physical reality and the longing for God are joined by flashes of metaphor and insight that continue to speak across the centuries.

Islam is egalitarian. From New York to California, the only houses of worship that are routinely integrated today are the approximately 4,000 Muslim mosques. That is because Islam is predicated on a level playing field, especially when it comes to standing before God. The Pledge of Allegiance (one nation, "under God") and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (all people are "created equal") express themes that are also basic to

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Islam.

Islam is often viewed as an aggressive faith because of the concept of jihad, but this is actually a misunderstood term. Because Muslims believe that God wants a just world, they tend to be activists, and they emphasize that people are equal before God. These are two reasons why African Americans have been drawn in such large numbers to Islam. They now comprise about one-third of all Muslims in America.

Meanwhile, this egalitarian streak also plays itself out in relations between the sexes. Muhammad, Islam's prophet, actually was a reformer in his day. Following the Qur'an, he limited the number of wives a man could have and strongly recommended against polygamy. The Qur'an laid out a set of marriage laws that guarantees married women their family names, their own possessions and capital, the right to agree upon whom they will marry, and the right to initiate divorce. In Islam's early period, women were professionals and property owners, as increasingly they are today. None of this may seem obvious to most Americans because of cultural overlays that at times make Islam appear to be a repressive faith toward women--but if you look more closely, you can see the egalitarian streak preserved in the Qur'an finding expression in contemporary terms. In today's Iran, for example, more women than men attend university, and in recent local elections there, 5,000 women ran for public office.

Islam shares America's new interest in food purity and diet. Muslims conduct a month long fast during the holy month of Ramadan, a practice that many Americans admire and even seek to emulate. I happened to spend quite a bit of time with a non-Muslim friend during Ramadan this year. After a month of being exposed to a practice that brings some annual control to human consumption, my friend let me know, in January, that he was "doing a little Ramadan" of his own. I asked what he meant. "Well, I'm not drinking anything or smoking anything for at least a month, and I'm going off coffee." Given this friend's normal intake of coffee, I could not believe my ears.

Muslims also observe dietary laws that restrict the kind of meat they can eat. These laws require that the permitted, or halal, meat is prepared in a manner that emphasizes cleanliness and a humane treatment of animals. These laws ride on the same trends that have made organic foods so popular.

Islam is tolerant of other faiths. Like America, Islam has a history of respecting other religions. In Muhammad's day, Christians, Sabeans, and Jews in Muslim lands retained their own courts and enjoyed considerable autonomy. As Islam spread east toward India and China, it came to view Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism as valid paths to salvation. As Islam spread north and west, Judaism especially benefited. The return of the Jews to Jerusalem, after centuries as outcasts, only came about after Muslims took the city in 638. The first thing the Muslims did there was to rescue the Temple Mount, which by then had been turned into a garbage heap.

Today, of course, the long discord between Israel and Palestine has acquired harsh religious overtones. Yet the fact remains that this is a battle for real estate, not a war between two faiths. Islam and Judaism revere the same prophetic lineage, back to Abraham, and no amount of bullets or barbed wire can change that. As The New York Times recently reported, while Muslim/Jewish tensions sometimes flare on university campuses, lately these same students have found ways to forge common links. For one thing, the two religions share similar dietary laws, including ritual slaughter and a prohibition on pork. Joining forces at Dartmouth this fall, the first kosher/halal dining hall is scheduled to open its doors this autumn. That isn't all: They're already planning a joint Thanksgiving dinner, with birds dressed at a nearby farm by a rabbi and an imam. If the American Pilgrims were watching now, they'd be rubbing their eyes with amazement. And, because they came here fleeing religious persecution, they might also understand.

Islam encourages the pursuit of religious freedom. The Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock is not the world's first story of religious emigration. Muhammad and his little band of 100 followers fled religious persecution, too, from Mecca in the year 622. They only survived by going to Madinah, an oasis a few hundred miles north, where they established a new community based on a religion they could only practice secretly back home. No wonder then that, in our own day, many Muslims have come here as pilgrims from oppression, leaving places like Kashmir, Bosnia, and Kosovo, where being a Muslim may radically shorten your life span. When the 20th century's list of emigrant exiles is added up, it will prove to be heavy with Muslims, that's for sure.

All in all, there seems to be a deep resonance between Islam and the United States. Although one is a world religion and the other is a sovereign nation, both are traditionally very strong on individual responsibility. Like New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die," America is wedded to individual liberty and an ethic based on right action. For a Muslim, spiritual salvation depends on these. This is best expressed in a popular saying: Even when you think God isn't watching you, act as if he is.

Who knows? Perhaps it won't be long now before words like salat (Muslim prayer) and Ramadan join karma and Nirvana in Webster's Dictionary, and Muslims take their place in America's mainstream.

By Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe is the author of books of poetry, fiction, travel, and history. His most recent works are a pair of books from Grove Press on the pilgrimage to Mecca: "The Hajj" (1993), a first-person travel account, and "One Thousand Roads to Mecca" (1997), an anthology of 10 centuries of travelers writing about the Muslim pilgrimage. In April 1997, he hosted a televised account of the Hajj from Mecca for Ted Koppel's "Nightline" on ABC. He is currently at work on a four-hour television documentary on the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad.

Water

Five Smart Ingredients

By Dr. Isma Chaudhry MD

What is the secret to staying healthy as you get older? Exercise, of course. These five ingredients help you to stay healthy.

With the popularity of fruit and health drinks, the power of water is generally underestimated. Water is a basic requirement for a healthy body; it not only washes the toxins away but also acts as an essential nutrient for the body.

Calcium

For strong bones and decreasing the chances of fractures, add calcium-rich foods such as low-fat cheese and milk to your diet. Calcium also keeps teeth strong, helps your muscles contract, and your heartbeat. With age, the amount of minerals in the bones decreases. Too little calcium increases your risk for osteoporosis and, with it, disabling or life-threatening fractures.

Dairy products are the best source of calcium. Skim milk, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat cheese can be used to avoid saturated fats. A single serving can provide you with 20% of the 1,200 milligrams a day you need. Calcium to the diet can be added with calcium-enriched cereals and orange juice. Foods such as dark green vegetables, dried beans, and sardines also contain calcium. Calcium supplements and exercise help slowing down the process of calcium loss from the bones.

Soy for Lowering Cholesterol

Adding soy to your diet has been shown to significantly lower cholesterol, which can reduce your risk of heart disease. In addition, soy is high in iron, which many women need. The right diet can lower cholesterol as much as medication, according to a study reported (July 2003) in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The study found that a diet of soy fiber, protein from oats and barley, almonds, and margarine from plant sterols lowered cholesterol as much as statins, the most widely prescribed cholesterol medication. Soybean has low saturated fat, contains no cholesterol and is a balanced source of high protein.

Fiber

Now in our current busy lifestyles, we are more likely to grab fast food or use prepared foods at home that have very little content of dietary fiber. The average American eats 12 grams of fiber a day; most health organizations recommend 20-35 grams.

Studies have shown that dietary fiber -- including foods such as apples, barley, beans, and other legumes, fruits and vegetables, oatmeal, oat bran, and brown rice -- clearly lower blood cholesterol. High-fiber foods are also digested more slowly, so they do not cause spikes in blood sugar levels like white bread, potatoes, and sweets do. Of course, everyone knows that fiber helps keep you regular, but so do laxatives. Fiber, however, has another advantage: High-

fiber foods help us feel full, making it easier to control weight.

Antioxidant

That means foods that are deep blue, purple, red, green, or orange. The carotenoids and anthocyanins that provide the color for these foods contain health-enhancing nutrients that protect against heart disease and cancer, and improve our sense of balance, our memory, and other cognitive skills.

Some of the Antioxidants:

Vegetables like broccoli may help prevent colon cancer, while spinach and kale are good sources of calcium. In addition, kale helps fight against age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older Americans.

Red tomatoes, especially when cooked, are beneficial sources of lycopeine, which helps protect against prostate and cervical cancer.

Squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and yams promote healthy lungs and help fight off skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma.

Eggplant, plums, blueberries, blackberries (strawberries, raspberries, and cherries come under this category as well) lower your risk of heart disease by helping lowering the cholesterol, as well as improve mental function.

Reference: Scientific American Web MD.

Educational Section

Sunday School News

Asalamu Alaikum.

During the beginning of March, the Sunday School Education Committee underwent a reorganization with Brs. Rizwan Qureshi and Mohamed Sohail Nabi heading the committee as Co–Chairpersons.

Along with the other members (Br. Nasir Farooqi, Sisters Cathy Khalifa, Laura Maksood and Ellen Brollosy) the Education Committee has been actively working on the Sunday School Resource Document which will outline the following:

1. Sunday School Charter and Mission

2. Education Committee Members and their responsibilities

3. Teacher Listings by Class

4. Teacher Code of Conduct

5. Approved Curriculum/Books by Class

6. Key Contacts: Members, Teachers and Volunteers

7. Listing of Islamic audio tapes/videos/DVDs

8. List of Forms and Formats.

In line with the Strategic Retreat Goals and the above Sunday School Resource Document, the Education Committee is in the process of recruiting more teachers and reviewing class structure and curriculum. If you have any suggestions or questions please contact the Co-chairpersons on m.nabi@verizon.net

A few announcements:



On Sunday May 2nd at 11AM, Class E will present: "Islamic Scholars" during the Adult Session in the Masjid. ALL CLASS E PARENTS ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND!

Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) News

Don’t Get Upset. Get Involved!

Many of our children or our friend’s children are in high school. Usually, this is when Global Studies Curriculum is introduced. This may be the first time that our children’s non-Muslim peers are being introduced to Islam, usually through literature and history books. It is an incredible opportunity for others to know us, but one that is wrought with challenges as the material presented may misinform or misrepresent Islam. As our children bring home such material we have many choices, we can become irritated, distressed, or…see this as an incredible opportunity to educate.

Educators usually welcome source material that will help expand upon or clarify a theme that is being covered in your child’s classroom. So get involved, if your child is reading a book that puts forth a negative image of Islam, offer to visit the classroom to provide additional information that will lend a different perspective and therefore will bring balance to the material being covered. If visiting the classroom is not possible, sending in written material or reading suggestions are equally good methods of clarifying mis-information. Two good sources of information for a secular environment are Michael Wolf’s article in this Newsletter, as well as Symbols of Islam by Barnes and Noble Publishers.



Graduation and Annual Day will be on May 23rd. All parents please attend and join in the special occasion.

 All interested in the ICLI Summer Camp (Ages 6yrs16yrs), please contact Br. Hansen Lee via email hansen803@aol.com.

Teachers Wanted

Recently, ICLI has been involved with the Herricks School District and Mineola High School for the purpose of educating on Islam. In the case of the former we are involved in an ongoing series of educational sessions for teachers on Comparative Religion. In the case of the latter, we were involved in a book review of Honor Killing by Norma Khouri, (for a copy of our book review, from an Islamic perspective, please contact margaretaiamunno@msn.com) for a 9th grade Global Studies program.

Both programs provided a wide range of opportunities to discuss Islam and topics such as cultural misinterpretations, tolerance, acceptance and humanitarianism. Each of the audiences was happy to have received information about Islam from Muslims. In sha Allah, we will all be aware of what are children are learning and take every opportunity we can to clarify and balance, where necessary materials that are being presented in our schools.

PTO Meetings

PTO meetings are a great forum for parents to provide support to their children and community. It is in this meeting that we decide upon and coordinate social, cultural and spiritual activities for the students. As well, concerns and suggestions regarding curriculum can be provided here for submission to our Education Committee. Please, join us and have your voice heard.

Some of the projects we are working on are:  School wide Charitable Project.  Field Trips.  Student art and writing contests.  Graduation Ceremony and festivities.  PTO Fund raising to pay for student, social, cultural and spiritual activities.  Student Council and Youth Group Support.  Development of Eid packets for secular schools (similar to Kwanzaa, Hanukah and Christmas packets our stu-

Jummah Khutbahs

Khutbahs on the dates below will be performed by the following brothers:

May 7th Br. Rafiq

May 14th Dr. Maher Hathout

May 21st Dr. Yusuf Din May 28th Br. Nouman Ali Khan

dents learn from now).

PTO Meeting Schedule

5/2, 5/16

Sunday School Media Project

The Sunday School is asking for donations of new or used Islamic Videos and DVDs that can be used by the teachers to supplement their lesson plans. If you have material, please drop it off at the Education Office or contact Sr. Isma Chaudhry at kair4211@aol.com for further information

ICLI Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Meetings will be held on Friday evenings from 78:30 on the following dates: 5/7, 5/21, 6/4, and 6/18. Girls learn to be leaders while having fun and adhering to their faith framework. We participate in many Nassau County Girl Scout Trips and offerings. If your daughter is interested in joining, please contact Sr. Peggy Iamunno at margaretaiamunno@msn.com or Sr. Seema Rahman @ seemarahman@aol.com.

Time: 10:00 - 11:00 Tafseer Qur’an by Dr. Mozaffar Partowmah

Time: 11:00 - 13:00

Various Adult Sessions with Guest speakers from within and outside the community.

Qur’an Education Classes

Classes are offered from beginners to Hifz level and are held weekdays (Monday to Friday) from 4pm till 8pm.

For more information, please contact Dr. Samina Qureshi (516) 364 9082

LETTER

Y Y outh outh Section Section

APeriodicalNewsletterBytheYouthof,TheIslamicCenterofLongIsland

FROM

THE

EDITOR

This past Saturday I had the wonderful privilege of waking up at 6:30 in the morning and dragging myself to the Mosque to attend a thirteen hour strategy “retreat” with thirty adults. The day was filled with strategic goals, opportunities of the Mosque and one boring mission statement after another. I was eighteen years old, I was basking in the joys of the last year of high school and it was a beautiful 70 degree weather… WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME?

For those of you kids reading this (and I sure hope there are some of you), I’m sure this is one of the many questions you would have like to ask me. But I can assure you there is nothing wrong with me; I whole-heartedly agree with every other kid that Saturday afternoons should be spent playing basketball with friends in the beautiful 70 degree weather as I worry about nothing else but what movie I want to watch tonight.

But where I do disagree is on the basis of a thought process that I believe has been recently circulated around by Muslim youth; the idea that our voices, opinions, and even actions have little or no impact on the decision making process of our parents, our mosque, our community, our nation, or even our Ummah. I realized something on that Saturday that made me understand the absolutely erroneous nature of this assertion, and that more often than not we don’t realize that the exact opposite is in fact true.

On that Saturday I went in with the notion that I would just sit there as the hours passed, watching the adults chat away on boring topics. But when the topic of issues facing the Mosque came up, I listlessly raised my hand and said “More focus needs to be placed on youth projects.” There, I thought, I just put in my two sense.

But it was more than that. Afterwards when the committee voted on the most crucial objectives, the issue of the youth came out as number one every time! When thinking about it later, I thought that the most astounding part of all this was the fact that here I was, an 18 year-old nobody, who has come into this room filled with people who have devoted nearly half their lives to this Mosque, said one thing, and change the future of the center for the next ten years!

So if anything can be taken from this it is that no matter what you do, whether it be a car wash or advising the President on the situation of Muslims in America, you never know what effect it will have. So whatever you do, just remember to keep in mind that what you do can make a difference and I guarantee it will certainly be worth you while.

-Emraan S. Khan Managing Editor of Youth Section

Many Faces of Islam

Saad Sarwana: Physicist by day, comedian by night. He’s a 25 year old Muslim, who uses comedy to relate Islam and his Pakistani background. Originally from Pakistan, he came to the United States on a student visa attending the State University of New York where he earned his masters degree in physics. Along with being a physicist, he brings comic relief to different comedy clubs in New York City. He says, “Comedy is very personal, you have to talk about your own pain and suffering,” therefore after the tragedy of September 11th, he incorporates Muslims, Afghanistan, and racial profiling into his act.

Dr. Azizah al-Hibri: She is an activist and a law professor who teaches courses on corporate law and Islamic jurisprudence. She is known as an expert of Islam at the University of Richmond in Virginia. She established and is President of an organization called Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. Her goal with this organization is to help Muslim women around the world achieve rights. She is the co-Founder of the Muslim American Bar Association. She is also the member of the advisory board of American Muslim Council, and the Virginia State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She had also practiced law on Wall Street before she returned to teaching in Virginia.

A culture shock by Mohsen Malik

adith of the Month H

A reflection by Anbia Gul Awan

In this Tradition, we are told that anger is roused by the influence of Satan. When a person loses his temper, he goes beyond the limits laid down by Allah (swt) and is under the influence of the Satan. Rasulullah (pbuh) has suggested ways to control our emotions and keep control over our feelings when

provoked. It is more effective than all other methods of controlling one’s feelings of anger.

Hadith of the Month

If a person keeps this Hadith in mind when he is angry, and gets up and performs Wudu thoroughly, his anger will subside and he will cool down.

Anger is roused from the influence of Satan, and Satan has been created from fire, and fire is put out with water. So, when any of you is seized with anger, let him perform Wudu.

Ignorance, Hatred, Violence Bloodshed and Revolutions

The Modern Day Solutions Babies Dying, Mothers Crying A World of confusion

One question Is it worth it?

An Answer; It’s worthless Liberty and Justice for all Turned into Liberty and Justice for Most What ever happened to the golden rule? Do what to others as you would want to you Regardless if you’re a Muslim, Christian or a Jew Humanity Is wracked

With Insanity People say one thing And do another The thirst for riches Is greater than the thirst for peace Change

We have a strong say but we don’t use it They have a lot of power and they love to abuse it No longer is this a war on terror But more like a war against mankind …If only man was kind

Sarah Khan (Class E)

Community Round-up

Ask The Imam?

If you have any religious questions or would like to clarify any issues please email the imam at imam.icli@usa.com

A: It was proven in al-Saheehayn and elsewhere, in the hadeeth of Abu Qutaadah that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) used to pray whilst carrying Umaamah, the daughter of Zaynab, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). When he prostrated, he would put her down, and when he stood up he would pick her up again.

Al-Nasaa’i (1141) narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Shaddaad that his father said: “The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) came out to us for one of the evening prayers (Maghrib or ‘Isha’), carrying Hasan or Husayn. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) came forward, put the child down and said Takbeer (“Allaahu akbar”) to start the prayer. Then he prostrated during the prayer and his prostration lasted for a long time. My father said: I raised my head and saw the child on the back of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), so I went back to my prostration. When the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) finished praying, the people said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allah, during your prayer you prostrated and it took a long time, until we thought that something had happened, or that you were receiving Revelation.’ He said, ‘Nothing happened, but my son was riding on my back and I did not want to hurry him up until he had had enough.’” (Saheeh al-Nasaa’i, 1093).

Services Offered By ICLI (516)-333 3495

Marriage/Nikah - Performance of Marriage/Nikah ceremony and Matrimonial Service Funeral Arrangements for Islamic Burial

Hall Rental - For family and community functions

Qur’anic Discussion - Sundays Interfaith Meeting and Seminars - To promote better understanding of Islam as a complete way of life

Distribution of literature on Islam and Muslims

Public Lectures on Contemporary Topics Every Sunday 10AM - 1PM. September to June

Visits to ICLI - First hand introduction to Islam and Muslims offered to groups or individuals

Media Consultation - On Issues relating to Al-Islam and Muslims

Letter Writing Campaign - Every Friday during Salaat-ul-Jummah and Sunday 12 noon on human rights or other issues of concern to Muslims, (MAKING OUR VOICE HEARD).

Library - Has a large selection of books

Prison Support Group for Muslim Inmates

Youth Programs - Organized by Muslim youth of ICLI throughout the year

Planning for College Seminar - An Annual event for High School students and their parents in November

Al – Zakat - Collection and Distribution

Community Iftar - Every Saturday evening during Ramadhan

Domestic Harmony Committee (DHC) Hotline (516) 942 2081 Free and strictly confidential counseling

Q: Is there a Sunnah of the holy prophet regarding him allowing children to climb upon him during prayer and where can I find it?