Community News North America, Vol. 8 Iss. 40

Wayne County recognizes Ramadan

DETROIT, MI–The start of Ramadan has been recognized by the Wayne County Commission in a Resolution introduced by Wayne County Commissioner Gary Woronchak (D-Dearborn).

After a motion by Woronchak, seconded by Commissioner Philip Cavanagh (D-Dearborn Heights), the Commission unanimously approved the Resolution at its Sept 14 meeting.

In part, the resolution states, “Whereas, we recognize that Islam is a religion of peace, family and community, and we further recognize that our Muslim brothers and sisters are good neighbors and an important part of the diverse fabric that is Wayne County, therefore be it resolved that the Wayne County Commission honors our Muslim residents during the holy month of Ramadan and commends them for their faith.”

City of McKinney welcomes Dr. Amanullah Khan and Rena Tarbert Cancer Center

McKinney, TX–The Rena Tarbet Cancer Center was inaugurated this week in the city of Mckinney. The Rena Tarbet Cancer Center is located in a 58,000-square foot multi-specialty medical arts building at 4201 Medical Center Drive.

“We welcome Dr. Amanullah Khan and the Rena Tarbet Cancer Center to McKinney,” said Mayor Bill Whitfield. “This center is the latest addition to one of the most impressive health and wellness corridors in North Texas. It stretches from Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s facilities at Craig Ranch down SH 121 to this area, which is also home to the Medical Center of McKinney and a growing number of medical practices.”

“Dr. Khan and his staff bring a level of expertise to McKinney that is simply unparalleled,” Whitfield added. “In the long term, these facilities will mean a healthier McKinney.”

The facility is a full-service cancer treatment center that includes Medical Oncology, Infusion Chemotherapy along with Radiation Oncology services such as Brachytherapy, IMRT, and the newly emerging image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) technology, PET/CT scanning, and diagnostics, and other cancer focused support services. The center’s qualified staff includes Dr. Khan, Dr. Sultan Chowdhary, Dr. Akbar Rizvi and Dr. Ratna Sajja.

The center is home to one of five Varian On-Board Imager IGRT systems with cone-beam CT in the state of Texas, and the only one of its kind in the North Texas area. The IGRT technology improves the precision and effectiveness of cancer treatments by giving Radiation Oncologists the ability to accurately track and adjust for tumor movements at the moment of treatment. This enables doctors to deliver higher doses to the tumor itself, while reducing the dose to nearby critical structures.

The center is headed by Dr. Khan, President of Cancer Center Associates. Dr.Khan has a rich background of teaching, research, and clinical experience. He received a medical degree in 1963 from King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan. He completed his internship at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, New York. He obtained his PhD from Baylor University in Immunology through the Department of Microbiology in 1968. Fellowships in Oncology and Hematology were completed at Wadley Institutes of Molecular Medicine in Dallas in 1970. He also served as Chief Research Fellow at Wadley and later as Chairman of the Dept. of Immunotherapy. Dr. Khan is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and has more than 100 publications in scientific journals in the fields of Oncology, Hematology, and Immunology.

“Our doctors at Cancer Center Associates have proudly served the people of Collin County since 1988. The decision to expand our services was the result of the growing needs of the community. Cancer treatment requires multiple disciplines, and we are pleased to work with area physicians to provide comprehensive care,” said Dr. Khan.

“In recent years, numerous cancers have become curable and, in many cases, are now treated as a chronic disease. At the Rena Tarbet Cancer Center, we work as a team and remain focused on our mission, ‘To serve our patients with compassion and hope through individualized, professional care.’ We have named our center in honor of Rena Tarbet, who has survived a 30-year cancer journey while remaining fully active in her career and family life, and as a symbol to all of our patients who will participate in their own journey. Our goal is to help our patients live their lives to the fullest,” Dr. Khan added.

Religions unite on global warming

Faith leaders across the country have joined together to mobilize a religious response to global warming. On October 1st–8th, in churches, mosques, synagogues and halls of worship across the nation, congregations are participating in an unprecedented inter-religious screening and discussion of educational films about global warming, featuring Paramount’s An Inconvenient Truth, HBO’s Too Hot Not to Handle and the independent documentary Lighten Up.

The event, called “Spotlight on Global Warming” is being organized by Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) a nationwide movement to engage people of faith in the urgency to address global warming.

“Global warming is harming God’s creation: first the poor of the world and eventually all of us and all life,” said the Reverend Sally G. Bingham, founder of IPL and an Episcopal priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA.

“With these screenings and discussion, we hope to inform and inspire people of faith to take personal and collective action to reduce global warming emissions,” said Rabbi Daniel Swartz at Temple Hased of Scranton Pennsylvania’s oldest synagogue.

“I have spent my life fighting for civil rights and human rights,” said Pastor Gerald L. Durley of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia. “After I saw The Great Warming and An Inconvenient Truth, I have taken on yet another mission. We are destroying our earth. We can’t protect human rights if we aren’t here.”

“Everyone has a stake and a role in reducing global warming emissions. Working together we can change history,“ said Souleiman Ghali, a Muslim leader and founder of the Islamic Society of San Francisco. The Islamic Society is is currently transforming their energy use by employing new conservation measures.

U.S. denies entry to Egyptian Muslim clerics

The United States has denied entry to four Egyptian Muslim clerics sent to Florida to officiate at religious events during the month of Ramadan, Cairo airport officials said on Friday.

The last of the four, Zain El-Abdin Mohamed El-Sayed, returned to Cairo on Friday after U.S. immigration authorities refused to let him enter the country. The others flew home over the past two days, said the officials who asked not to be named.

All four had valid U.S. visas and were going to Florida as part of an annual program organized by the Al-Azhar University.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel quoted American Muslim community leader Sofian Abdelaziz as saying the U.S. immigration held the clerics for 24 hours without providing beds or access to phones and then deported them without explanation.

“I consider this a big disaster for our community this year,” said Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North America in Miami.

“We are against extremism and we are not dealing with sheikhs and imams who have a policy to teach extremism … We lost four good educators,” he added.

Canada–Abdul Hai Patel runs for City Council

TORONTO, ON–Toronto area’s well known Muslim community leader Imam Abdul Hai Patel is running for Toronto City Council from Ward 43. He has a solid record of active community work including interfaith dialogue, homeless shelters, and children’s advocacy.

Among the several voluntary posts he has held are: Human Rights Commissioner for the Province of Ontario from 1999-2005; Member of the Board of Governors of Scouts Canada; Founder of the Ansaar Foundation in 2000 to address the problem of Homelessness; Member of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair’s Community Advisory Council; Served on the Board of Governors of Riverdale Hospital on behalf of the City of Toronto; Moderator for the Spicer Commission’s Citizen’s Forum on future Constitution for Canada; Member of the Campus Chaplain Association at University of Toronto for the past 10 years

He says Scarborough needs a fair share of the city’s budget to improve TTC services, the learning environment for children and youth and to help create more green space in Ward 43.

As a member of the Advisory Council of the Toronto Police Chief since 2003, Abdul Patel knows what the problems are. He says, “We all have a role to play in ensuring the safety of our community.”

Arson at Muslim school in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ON–Ottawa police say a fire at a private Islamic school in the city’s west end early Saturday morning was not a hate crime–but the chairman of the school’s board disagrees.

The fire at Abraar School on Grenon Avenue broke out around 3 a.m. EST. The fire caused $100,000 in damage and destroyed part of the roof. There were no injuries.

Police said the fire was the work of arsonists but added that they found no indication it was motivated by hate.

“At this time, we haven’t got any evidence pointing towards a hate crime,” Det. Will Hinterberger of the Ottawa Police Hate Crime Unit told the Ottawa Sun. But Abdala Kheireddine, the chairman of the school board, told the paper he disagreed with the police assessment. “As far a we’re concerned, it’s still under investigation [as a hate crime],” he said. “In my time [at the school], neighbourhood kids would disturb some of the playground toys and things like that but never anything of this magnitude.”

Canadian Federation of Students launches task force on the needs of Muslim students

TORONTO, ON–The Canadian Federation of Students launched a Task Force to examine the needs of Muslim students at Ontario colleges and universities. A series of informal hearings will be conducted on campuses across Ontario to provide an opportunity for Muslim students and those that have experienced Islamophobia to share their experiences and report on the challenges they face.

The Task Force is comprised of 10 Muslim and non-Muslim panelists from the student movement and the broader community who will receive statements from participants at the hearings. “The goal is to generate a much more comprehensive picture of the needs of Muslim students and how well our institutions are addressing those needs,” said Jesse Greener, Ontario Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students.

“After touring the province the Task Force will compile the statements received and release a report of findings to be released on March 21, 2007, the International Day to End Racism.”

The Task Force’s mandate originated from the Federation’s response to serious incidents involving hate-based graffiti and posters targeting Muslims at Ryerson University nearly 2 years ago. “When Muslim students at Ryerson were targeted, students across the province realised that we needed to come together to promote inclusive campus communities, so we launched a campaign against Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Racism,” said Greener. “The more we became familiar with the challenges facing Muslim students, the more it became apparent that issues like access to suitable prayer space and halal food options have received little attention. Even the financial barriers to education are magnified for Muslim students whose religion can prohibit taking interest-bearing loans.”

Task Force members are charged with documenting successes and recommending proactive solutions to make Ontario campuses safer and more receptive to the day-to-day needs of Muslim students. “Striking this Task Force is a necessary step toward ensuring better learning conditions for the arge and growing Muslim student population,” said Greener. “We hope these lessons can be generalised to communities off-campus as well.”

The Canadian Federation of Students, Canada’s national student organisation, has more than 500,000 university students from coast to coast, and over 250,000 students in Ontario.

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