Community News (V10-I10)

Funeral held for Muslim pilot killed in training exercise

TAMPA FL– A funeral was held last Friday for an Air Force pilot killed during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico.

The Tampa Bay Muslim community in cooperation with the American Legionheld the services for Air Force Pilot 1st Lt. Ali Jivanjee.

He was a young American Muslim and Tampa resident killed in a mid-air collision while conducting training exercises outside Eglin Air Force Base.

The service was held at Sunset Memory Gardens in Thonotosassa.

Harvard accomodates Muslim women students for gym use

CAMBRIDGE,MA– In an effort to accomodate Muslim female students Harvard University has begun instituting women only access times six hours a week at the Quadrangle Recerational Athletic Center. The move came after the Harvard Islamic Society and the Harvard Women’s Center petitioned the university for a more comfortable environment for women.

Harvard Islamic Society’s Islamic Knowledge Committee officer Ola Aljawhary, a junior, said the women-only hours are being tested on a trial basis. The special gym hours will be analyzed over Spring Break to determine if they will continue, she told the Daily Free Press.

Aljawhary said that she does not believe that the women-only gym hours discriminate against men.

“These hours are necessary because there is a segment of the Harvard female population that is not found in gyms not because they don’t want to work out, but because for them working out in a co-ed gym is uncomfortable, awkward or problematic in some way,” she said.

Though the policy was in part initiated by the school’s Islamic group, Aljawhary said women-only hours are not a case of “minority rights trumping majority preference” and said women of different faiths have showed interest in the hours.

“We live together in one community, it only makes sense for everyone to compromise slightly in order for everyone to live happily,” she said. “This matter is simple: Can’t we just display basic decency and show tolerance and inclusion for people not a part of the mainstream majority?”

Teacher Samina Khan finalist for Golden Apple Awards

CHICAGO,IL– Grade school science teacher Samina Khan has been nominated to the Golden Apple Award. She is one of 31 finalists who were selected out of 850 teachers from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will counties. Khan teaches science (6-8 grades) at the Clark Magnet School.

The Golden Apple Awards, instituted in 1986, are given for excellence in teaching for teachers from grades 4 through 8.

Rochester Mosque Open House

ROCHESTER,MN– The Masjid Abu Bakar in Rochester, Minnesotta, holds an open house on the last Saturday of every month. Questions related to Islamic beliefs and Muslim culture are answered. No appointments are required. For information, call 529-1478 or e-mail Rochester.Mosque@gmail.com.

Imam Paul Hasan tackles violence in Lorain

LORAIN, OH–Imam Paul Hasan is waging a war against violence in Lorain, Ohio. He recently organized a vigil for a a slain grocer who was killed in a robbery. Imam Hasan, one of the organizers of the vigil sponsored by the Interfaith Against Violence, Task Force for Community Mobilization and Gentlemen of the Same Mind, prayed for the quick healing of the Gonzalez and Rodrigues families. Good people in Lorain outnumber evil people, he said.

Hasan read a red poster created by young children given to the Gonzalez family.

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