by Bushra on January 11, 2010
On Thursday, March 11, City Arts & Lecture of San Francisco is presenting author Dave Eggers on stage with Abdulrahman & Kathy Zeitoun in conversation with Wajahat Ali.
Eggers wrote the best selling nonfiction book about the Zeitouns, who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. While Kathy evacuated the city with the couple’s kids, Abdulrahman elected to stay in the city. Zeitoun is their incredible story.
Not too many seats are left at the event so I advise anyone just to get their tickets soon.
I’m not just saying that 
by Bushra on January 2, 2010
Children of Dust is about the evolution of the author from Abir, Amir, and then finally, into reformist blogger Ali Eteraz. In his first book, this former blogger takes the reader through his childhood from a village in Pakistan to his life in the United States.
His father had promised Allah (swt) a servant in the form of his son if he and his wife were granted a boy. Born with that covenant hanging over his head, Abir Ul Islam, now known as Ali Eteraz, did strive to be the best Muslim he could be while growing up in Pakistan.
In the United States, he tries his best to fit in, even changing his name upon excessive teasing from classmates - Abir= “A Beer”, etc. Ah, the creativeness of classmates when it comes to foreign names. I know that pain so well. Second graders can be so cruel.
But I digress…
In college he focuses back to religion. He dodged non-Muslim girls until he came to the realization that he needed to find himself a nice, pious Muslim girl which ultimately leads him on a trip back to Pakistan. His trip to Pakistan becomes a defining event. Due to events detailed in the book, he came back a different person.
That episode is what fuels another part of Eteraz, the part that slides away from Islam. This part was … interesting to say the least. Here is a guy with a lot of knowledge about Islam who stopped believing while giving the outwards appearance that he was, in fact, a pious Muslim brother. Out of all the less than stellar acts he shares in his book, this is the one that really made me wary of Ali Eteraz. I mean, he was pretending to be a good Muslim, even going as far as getting himself elected president of his college’s Muslim Student’s Association. He only seemed to do things to get attention, for people to notice and respect him.
Due to the aforementioned, I couldn’t really decide how I felt about the author. I didn’t appreciate the kind of person he described himself to be. However, I did appreciate his honesty. We can clearly see his motivations in his life and what drives him to do what he does. You may not agree with his actions but either way, Eteraz is a gifted writer. He could have sugar-coated events and periods of his life but instead he writes a memoir that I could respect even if, at times, I didn’t really respect the man himself.
This is not necessarily a memoir of Pakistan like it says on the cover, but more like a memoir of a Pakistani- American. Read Children of Dust with an open mind to find about how Eteraz coped with too-strict imams at the madrasas in his village in Pakistan, how he escorted the Tablighi Jamat around the United States much to his embarrassment, the intense situation he found himself in while in Pakistan, and how after 9/11, Eteraz’s life took yet another turn. This book is by no means the end of the story that Ali Eteraz and so it will be interesting to see what his future writing projects entail.
by Bushra on October 8, 2009
The Center for Southeast Asia Studies at UC Berkeley is hosting a panel discussion titled Politics and Media in the Muslim World.
From the website:
This forum will examine the new forces that have emerged, and transformations that have occurred, following the rapid expansion in the use of technology and new media, particularly by younger people, in talking about political issues and political change in different parts of the Muslim world.
Lawyer and playwright Wajahat Ali will be moderating the panel consisting of a mix of activists, scholars, and journalists: Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Program Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Committee to Protect Journalists; Haroon Moghul, Director of Public Relations, Islamic Center of New York University; Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, legislator, Selangor State Assembly, Malaysia; Muhamad Ali, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, UC Riverside; Huma Yusuf, journalist, Pakistan.
The forum takes place on Thursday, October 15 at 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 from 5pm-7:30pm. The event is only $5, to be paid at the door. See the site for registration information.
by Bushra on September 6, 2009
If you happen to be in New York City, you should be aware that the play Domestic Crusaders is premiering at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe this Friday, September 11.
From the website:
The Domestic Crusaders focuses on a day in the life of a modern Muslim Pakistani-American family of six eclectic, unique members, who convene at the family house to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of the youngest child.
With a background of 9-11 and the scapegoating of Muslim Americans, the tensions and sparks fly among the three generations, culminating in an intense family battle as each “crusader” struggles to assert and impose their respective voices and opinions, while still attempting to maintain and understand that unifying thread that makes them part of the same family.
Playwright Wajahat Ali discusses the evolution of his play at the Huffington Post: Making History With Muslim American Theater. I got a chance to see it back when there were a few shows at San Jose State University so I have to recommend this play to anyone who has a chance to see it in New York City.
Get tickets here. Tickets for the 9/11 show have already been sold out so get tickets soon!
by Bushra on August 13, 2009
by Bushra Burney
I remember back when Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005 in New Orleans. I heard about the lawlessness that took over New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit and I saw the images of destruction on TV, but in no way was I prepared for Dave Eggers’ new book Zeitoun. Syrian born Abdulrahman Zeitoun, or ‘Zeitoun’ as he is called, and his family were among the New Orleans residents whose lives were affected by the flood and its aftermath. In his latest work of nonfiction, Dave Eggers chronicles the Zeitoun family through Hurricane Katrina, the days leading up the event, and the ensuing weeks that forever changed them.
Eggers opens the book with Zeitoun and his wife Kathy as they go about the day to day. Together, they have raised a family while establishing a successful business in New Orleans. When we are first introduced to these characters, the hurricane has yet to strike. However, the ominous warnings regarding the increasing strength of the hurricane are prevalent throughout New Orleans media, ensuring Zeitoun, Kathy, and all of the New Orleans residents become aware at the dire nature of the situation, especially with the news that the levees may breach. And yet, Zeitoun elects to stay in the city as his wife and kids evacuate despite his wife’s pleas for him to join them in the exodus to a safer area.
When speculation becomes reality and the levees break, the city is flooded and Zeitoun somehow makes the most of it. He navigates the city with his second hand canoe and becomes a savior of sorts to people around the city as he rows around, offering his help when he can. At first, he embraces the calm spell the city falls under. Then, the unthinkable happens and Zeitoun finds himself apprehended and placed in a makeshift prison. Meanwhile, Kathy goes through her own personal hell as she can’t contact her husband and is left to wonder if he is among the rising number of dead bodies floating around New Orleans. One will feel a rise of indignation as they read on about the atrocities committed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, all in the name of justice.
In the end, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Not only was I completely immersed in the story, but it’s important that we learn about one of the most defining events in recent U.S. history. Also, I loved how Eggers goes back and forth from the present to the past with events that provide insight on the people he documents throughout his book. The reader learns about Zeitoun growing up in Syria and his life at sea, what led Kathy to Islam, how Zeitoun and Kathy met and got married, and a multitude of other events that truly define these people and make them easy to relate to, making their struggle our struggle, whether one is Muslim or not.
Further reading: - Check out Wajahat Ali’s interview with Dave Eggers: Dave Eggers Interview: Zeitoun - An American Muslim Hero. This interview has also been featured in Huffington Post and Variety.
by Bushra on June 15, 2009
The new documentary The Mosque in Morgantown, premiering on PBS tonight, features the internal battled in the Muslim community revolving around the opening of the mosque in Morgantown in 2003 and what happens when one woman stands up for what she believes is right.
Morgantown resident and journalist Asra Nomani, upon the opening of the new mosque, found that the women had a separate entrance in the back. The day she went in through the front door to pray right behind the men in the men’s section was the day she began her ordeal with the mosque, directly going against the conservatives of the mosque while using this issue as a platform for women’s rights in Islam.
Nomani’s methods to bring awareness of how she felt about the mosque included trying to pray behind the men in the men’s section, airing her grievances in front of the mosque, organizing a protest march with a group of activists, and even posting her very own 99 precepts on the front door of the mosque, all in front of the media.
While the creators of the documentary could have just shown Nomani’s side, they also talked to those who did not share in Nomani’s view, creating a balanced documentary. Various people who were part of the mosque were interviewed, such as Hazem Bata, a moderate Muslim. He wondered why Asra Nomani went to such extremes to air her issues. Why not talk to the Muslims who belong to the mosque before going right to the press? Bata wondered. I have to say, I agree with Bata’s point of view. It’s too late to say how things would have turned out had Nomani picked another way to fight her battle but one would think that sitting down and having a proper discussion with the community before going straight to the media may have fared a better outcome.
The Mosque in Morgantown isn’t necessarily about who’s right and who’s wrong but instead offers an interesting look into the events that highlight an issue that is still being debated today in the United States. However, this documentary isn’t just about the issue of barriers in the mosque and women’s rights. It also documents the struggle that a Muslim community faces and how they all go about trying to solve it. The Muslim community is far from perfect and it’s definitely intriguing to see how one such group deals with dissent. At one point, the Muslims of the Morgantown mosque even discuss banning Nomani from the mosque, which seems to be a bit extreme.
The Mosque in Morgantown premiers tonight on PBS at 10 pm. Check your local listings since timings may differ in your area.
I also recommend Zarqa Nawaz’s Me and the Mosque for a documentary that really explores the theme of women’s place in the mosque (Asra Nomani appeared in this documentary as well). It doesn’t appear to be readily available, but if you have a chance, watch it.
by Bushra on May 21, 2009
Faith Complex, as part of Washington Post’s On Faith section, features an interview with journalist and activist Asra Nomani, hosted by Professor Jacques Berlinerblau of Georgetown University. In this first segment, Nomani discusses growing up Muslim, how Wahabbism changed her community, and the murder of her friend journalist Daniel Pearl while he was in Pakistan. Check out the video below or here.
Part 2 of this interview will be posted on the site on Friday.
by Bushra on April 30, 2009
In New Muslim Cool, filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor presents a look at the life of Puerto Rican American Hamza Perez over a period of a few years in Pittsburgh as he and other members of the community work to establish a Muslim community.
Born Jason, Hamza used to be a drug dealer in Massachusetts before he found Islam and turned his life around at the age of 21. Although only 83 minutes, New Muslim Cool covers many aspects of Hamza’s life: how he fits in with his (mostly) non-Muslim relatives, his marriage, his work as an activist, his hip hop career, even how he and the rest of the Muslim community deal with an uncalled for FBI raid on their mosque.
Taylor and editor Kenji Yamamoto worked well to make the film as cohesive as possible. Despite the fact that one is watching scenes that have been filmed over a few years, the documentary has an underlying theme. It’s about Hamza maturing, becoming a better person, understanding who he is, and embracing the responsibilities he feels are incumbent on him.
The great thing about New Muslim Cool is that you don’t have to be a Muslim or a convert to appreciate this film. The message given is universal and Hamza is entirely relatable. Check it out if you can. There’s one more screening in San Francisco at the Sundance Kabuki Theater on May 4 and screenings in other parts of the country as well. In addition, New Muslim Cool also has the distinction of airing on June 23 on PBS to start off the new season of POV.
by Bushra on April 26, 2009
The premise of the new book Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha is a familiar one: the book is about one of the most beloved wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Aisha. There was a book last year that was released under much controversy, Jewel of Medina, which focused on Aisha’s relationship with the Prophet (peace be upon him).
The book is told from Aisha’s perspective under the guise of writing a journal for her nephew Abdullah as a way to recount the events of her life. We are there from her birth, her childhood as part of the persecuted group of Muslims, the migration to Medina, her marriage to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and so on and so forth. Pasha touches on many of the significant events that are representative of the time of the Prophet (pbuh) while including a cast of characters who are familiar to many Muslims. However, while Kamran Pasha has obviously spent a great amount of time researching the life of Aisha, Mother of the Believers is not exactly a book I would recommend for those who wish to learn about Islam due to the manner in which this book is presented and the lack of true understanding of the religion that may come from reading Pasha’s novelized account.
Pasha telling the story from Aisha’s eyes and as a form of communication to her nephew doesn’t work too well here. First of all, there are too many scenes without Aisha in them where the first person point of view can’t even come into play, never mind the fact that there would be no way she would be able to relate these scenes to her nephew in her journal. Second, if Aisha is writing with the her nephew as the audience in mind, there would be no need to explain the Islamic concepts that she does for the benefit of the reader. I mean, why should she have to define such terms as hadith for someone like Abdullah? I realize that many may look at these as minor grievances, but these alone made this book hard for me to digest.
In addition to the aforementioned contentions, the actual topic of this book did not sit too well with me. In the Author’s Note in the beginning of the book, Pasha writes “My intention in writing this novel has been to give Westerners a glimpse of the richness that exists within the Muslim historical tradition and invite all my readers to learn more about Islam and draw their own conclusions.” That is definitely noble. Yet, despite these intentions, I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the novelization of the most revered Prophet for Muslims and other people that are held in high regard, like Aisha herself.
The reader may come away from this book without being able to distinguish what was real or not. One may believe that some of the more fantastical elements that Muslims believe happened are the work of Pasha’s imagination while thinking other events and pieces of dialogue are true when it’s something that Pasha added to give more color. It is not up to the author to add his own elements to true accounts (for Muslims anyway) that may end up misrepresenting the actions of historical figures or even Islam itself.
In the end, I don’t believe that fictionalizing these religious icons is in the best interest of one who wants to learn about Islam. I understand that not everyone may agree with me and that’s fine, but hopefully if someone really wants to learn about the religion, he or she will go to a different source.
Also check out:
Kamran Pasha recently wrote an article about the controversy that he expects to face with his new book.
by Bushra on April 6, 2009
The Washington Post has an article today about how Americans believe improving relations with the Muslim world is an important goal. However, the article mentions a recent poll conducted regarding American’s perception of Islam and Muslims. The overall consensus is:
There is still a broad lack of familiarity with the world’s second-largest religion — 55 percent of those polled said they are without a basic understanding of the teachings and beliefs of Islam, and most said they do not know anyone who is Muslim. While awareness has increased in recent years, underlying views have not improved.
In fact, 48% of those polled view Islam negatively and 29% overall think of it as a violent religion. Funny enough, those who do not hold Islam in a positive light are people who do not know too much about
the religion itself and most likely have never even met a Muslim.
Apparently despite all the work Muslim Americans have done in this country in terms of public outreach, it is clearly not enough.
