We also condemn this attempt to hurt people and destroy lives and families and buildings and cities. These people are terrorists. These people are not people of Faith. They are deranged individuals who are supported financially by hateful characters. These people do hate our freedoms but also hate our success. They hate our courage. They hate our Spirit’s and Strength’s. They will never succeed. They will ultimately fail as did their bomb.

We also condemn what is happening to Muslims World Wide by these people. Everyday these people conduct suicide bombings and kill Muslims by the dozens in various countries especially Pakistan. We just heard the latest number is over nine thousand Pakistanis have died since these suicide attacks started.

We need to annihilate these people and I am positive that we will. Our great Armed Forces and our Law Enforcement can and will do the job.

We stand with those who watch over us and protect us on a daily basis. We thank all our Law Enforcement and All our Armed Forces. May God Bless them. May God Bless US. May God keep the entire Nation Safe and Sound. Thank You.

“When I got home, I went to the Imax theater at the Smithsonian and bought a ticket to “Journey to Mecca.” I was surprised when the movie said that the Kaaba was built by “Abraham, the father of the Jews” — a reminder that the faiths have a lot to learn from each other. We can’t afford to be too closed even in our most sacred spaces.”

read full article > Pilgrim Non Grata in Mecca

Wow I could not believe that Maureen Dowd did not know that the Kaaba was built by Abraham. If Maureen who is a world traveler and educated does not know this fact, then why would we American Muslims expect everyone else in America to know about this.

Maureen Dowd is correct that the faiths have a lot to learn from each other. As a Muslim, I not only try but all I have to do is read my Holy Book The Koran and can read about Moses and The Jews. I can also in the Koran read about Jesus and the Christians. I feel very close to the two religions and I respect the two religions because my religion asks me to.

I wish the Jews and Christians would try to learn a little about my religion. After all, my religion was in a way started by Abraham’s first son Ishameel.

Our three faiths are much closer than we realize.

A friend of mine said to me, I am comfortable with people of other faiths because they believe their Freedoms come from God and not a man or a government. That is a start. We all need to come together because there is a great deal of common ground in out three faiths.

Seeme Hasan

I have always thought they were doing a great job of informing us on important issues. I always like to read two sources to confirm something is true or close to true. I have always wondered about this site and then I read a blog today that shed more light on this website.

Nabil Echchaibi who lives in Boulder, Colorado and is an Assistant Professor in the school of Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder also writes a blog. In his latest blog he talks about the website. You are welcome to read his exact words below.

I agree with him, we should encourage more Muslim media so there can be more discussion by Muslims about their religion.

There are some organizations and people in United States whose mission is to discredit anything Muslim. My message to those people and organizations is - Tolerance is better than Hate. Instead of lecturing to Muslims, let them debate amongst themselves their issues and their problems. This is a better way of letting people come to much needed conclusions. Happy Spring everyone.

IslamOnline Journalists Risk Mass Firing March 17, 2010

If you visited IslamOnline recently, you may have found dead links to many articles and fatwa answers. That’s because hundreds of workers in the site’s editorial office in Cairo have been staging walkouts and sit-ins accusing their managers in Qatar of plotting to replace them with a team of religious hardliners. The managers are allegedly unhappy about a recent trend at the site to run more articles and advice columns about social issues, art, and youth-related topics. IslamOnline has become over the years an important reference stop for thousands of Muslims who are looking for pragmatic answers to practical questions ranging from relationships and homosexuality to banking and parenting. In the last few months, the site has loosened its range of topics even more by including reviews of films, articles on Valentine’s Day and sexuality, and giving reformist Muslims a larger space. This is apparently not what the managers had signed up for, prompting them to adopt cheap censorship measures like shutting down the site’s servers and changing the passwords so the editors in Cairo can’t update the content.

This is precisely why I’m a big supporter of Muslim media because a growing audience forces content producers to explore and accommodate alternative views, ultimately enriching the discussion about what constitutes Islam today. The more Islam is discussed, the more likely its boundaries (often set by rigid interpretations of the texts) will be relaxed. This of course is not always a sure bet, but as the evolution of IslamOnline shows, you can objectify the dogmas and start asking tougher questions. The despicable censoring tactics of the site’s managers are so 20th century. The Web is full of reformist Muslims (the journalists at IslamOnline are actually the least progressive of the bunch), and the interpretation wars of Islam are already underway online. There is nothing these conservative managers can do to stop that.

On Sunday Night PBS will show a one hour film of a concert celebrating the interconnection and diversity of Sacred Sounds in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

While world events often divide communities, members of the Abrahamic faiths in Chicago have drawn together to explore the common ground of sacred sound. Sounds of Faith - Chicago documents a remarkable event which took place in November 2009 at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, on the campus of the University of Chicago. Against the architectural and acoustic backdrop of a space designed for inter-religious inquiry and introduced by journalist Bill Kurtis, 250 leading practitioners and artists shared joyful and meditative sounds ranging from shofar and tar to sacred recitation and chant and the swelling calls of choir, organ, and bells.

Conceived by Dr. Shakeela Hassan — professor emeritus of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Chicago — as a means for sharing ideas of sound, rhythm and movement to build mutual respect between the interfaith communities of Jews, Christians and Muslims, Sounds of Faith.

Shakeela is my friend and someone I look up to for her dedication to the cause of Multi Faith. I thank her for her time and dedication to this cause. Shakeela is also showing through her activities every day how moderate American Muslims are trying to show the true image of the religion of Islam.

I would ask everyone to try to take the time to see this show.

Thank you.

Sunday, April 4, 2010, at 6:00 pm Central Time on WTTW 11 (PBS Chicago)