Community News (V15-I17)

4 US Muslims Named Harry S. Truman Scholars

Four American Muslims have been awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, one of the nation’s top academic awards bestowed on college juniors. They are four from a list of 62 recipients nationwide selected by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. Madeleine Albright, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation and former U.S. secretary of state, announced the names of the 2013 scholarship recipients today. Each scholar receives $30,000 for graduate study along with priority admission and additional aid at premier graduate schools.

Azeem Ahmed is a Finance and Economics double major at Auburn University with a passion for public health. He interned with the World Food Program in Egypt and conducted malnutrition research at the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Bangladesh. He plans to work as a Foreign Service officer for USAID.

Cadet Ahmad Nasir is an American Politics and Arabic double major at the US Military Academy and a member of the West Point football team. A native Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi speaker, Ahmad has studied abroad in Morocco and Oman and aspires to serve as a soldier-diplomat focused on the Middle East and South Asia.

Rahaf Safi is an honors student majoring in political science and philosophy and receiving a certificate in Political and Civic Engagement (PACE) at Indiana University. She is passionate about protecting human rights. After law school, Rahaf plans to work with reform leaders seeking to design a constitution for their country.

Mohammad Zia is pursuing an individually created major in Global Diplomacy & Development at the University of Maryland College Park and he has volunteered in Morocco, Tanzania, Uganda, and Senegal. Mohammad hopes to work on improving diplomatic and economic relations between the U.S. and Muslim majority nations. Mohammad is also a Rangel Scholar and a PPIA Fellow.

Wajdi Said to receive award

Wajdi Said, co-founder and president of the Muslim Educational Trust, will receive the Two Pauls Award for his work in creating and sustaining interfaith dialogues and relationships.He is one of the five recipients of this year`s community awards given out by the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

Med School recognizes honorary inductees

HUNTINGTON,WV–Five third-year medical students and five residents, faculty members and alumni with the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine are being inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha, the nation’s medical honorary.

The inductees were selected based on academic achievements and contributions to medicine.

Among the student inductees are Saqib R. Ahmed and Zubair A. Ansari.

Among the other inductees is Dr. Farouk H. Abadir, Department of Anesthesiology at Cabell Huntington Hospital.

Jersey City community leaders Boggiano for council

JERSEY CITY,NJ–Muslims and other immigrant community representatives are backing Rich Boggiano, 69, a retired police detective, in his bid for city council. “Rich has been a voice for our community,” reads the April 9 letter. “Time and again he has come to our aid when we needed it.”

The letter is signed by Ahmed Shedeed and Raafat Boles, of the city’s Egyptian community; Rafiq Chaudhry, of the city’s Pakistani community; and Raju Patel, of the Indian community.
Boggiano currently serves as President of the Hilltop Neighborhood Association,

Imam Sohaib Sultan dispels myths at interfaith event

VOORHEES, NJ–Imam Sohaib Sultan dispelled the myths about Islam that are being propagated by many Islamophobes that Muslims are trying to impose their faith on others. He was speaking at an interfaith event hosted by  Jewish Catholic Muslim Dialogue of Southern New Jersey, the philly.com news portal reported.

“It’s illogical. It’s a fear tactic. It’s stupid,” Imam Sohaib Sultan told the gathering. “Let it be clear in this room and beyond this room: When people talk about regulating and imposing bans on sharia, they are regulating and imposing bans on Islam itself,” he said.

Sharia is often described as Islamic law, but it is not a legal system in the Western sense. Sharia is more about how to live according to the will of God. It’s “an ethical system of life, a moral way of being in the world,” Sultan said. He said Muslims had drawn upon various sources to understand sharia – including the Quran, the main religious text in Islam – and interpreted sharia differently, although scholars have agreed on six principles, including the protection and preservation of life and religion.

Sultan also said that shariah had been misconstrued by some Muslims who invoke sharia when “in reality, they are discriminating against the rights of women,” he said. “There are too many instances of societies that do that.”

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, a Democrat from Haddon Heights, in his speech invoked the history of the Pilgrims to argue for religious freedom and tolerance.”Many of our Muslim brothers and sisters feel unwelcome at times in their own country,” Andrews said. “Our goal as a country is to eliminate the need to have meetings like this.”

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