Community News V16-I50

Asma Hanif named Raven’s Community Quarterback award winner

The Baltimore Ravens have selected Asma Hanif as one of the three 2014 Community Quarterback Award recipients.  Funded by NFL Charities and the Ravens Foundation, Inc., the Community Quarterback Award recognizes individuals who exhibit leadership, dedication and commitment to bettering their local communities.

Since its inception in 1987, Muslimat Al-Nisaa continues to offer a holistic approach to serving marginalized communities of Baltimore. Its mission is to provide health, education, shelter and other social services to the underserved population in general, and to Muslim women and children in particular. The organization is based on the principle that every woman, man and child has a right to receive quality care regardless of race, creed or socio-economic status.

As a result of her work as an advanced nurse practitioner, Hanif witnessed religious discrimination while treating sexual assault and domestic violence cases in the female Muslim population of Baltimore. In 2007, she began opening her home to help these women and their children. Her home has been converted into a shelter and has grown over the past seven years to include job training and educational programs for shelter residents, feeding the homeless on the streets through their “Chili Bowl Sunday” program, as well as providing free physicals to those individuals wishing to participate in the Special Olympics.

For her continued dedication, Hanif was invited to be a panelist on and is still a current member of the Governor of Maryland’s Domestic Violence Community Initiative. In January, she was invited to speak at the United States Attorney Office’s “Protecting Our Diversity” forum on violence and hate crimes.

Family of university shooting victim seeks help

Tragedy can strike anyone and anywhere. Friends of one of three Florida State University students shot by an alumnus at the main campus library have created an online fundraising account to help his family pay for medical expenses and long-term care, according to Local 10 TV news.

Farhan Ahmed, 21, was one of three students wounded after Myron May opened fire at the Robert Manning Strozier Library on Nov.20.

Friends said Ahmed, whom they call “Ronny,” was shot three times and remains in the intensive care unit at a Tallahassee hospital. They said he was paralyzed from the waist down and isn’t expected to walk again.

To help with his recovery, his friends created a YouCaring.com account. The goal is to raise $100,000.

Dr. Mustafa Ahmed, Zabeer Brothers get Spirit of Gainesville Awards

Dr. Mustafa Ahmed and the Zabeer brothers received the Spirit of Gainesville Awards hosted by the Gainesville Sun in the medicine and youth categories respectively.

Dr. Mustafa Ahmed, a UF Health cardiologist and transplant specialist, and a group of Muslim health care providers founded the RAHMA Mercy Clinic to counter the propaganda unleashed against Muslims when an infamous preacher urged his followers to burn copies of the Holy Quran in 2010.

The clinic located at  the Hoda Islamic Center and is run by Ahmed and 21 other volunteers. This year, they have treated around 300 disadvantaged residents, regardless of faith.

The youth award went to  twins Zain and Aman Zabeer whose late grandmother,  instilled in them a love of reading.

To honor her, the 17-year-old brothers founded Kids Inspiring Thought — Alive Through Books. The acronym, KITAB, means book in Hindi.

The organization has collected and given away 3,000 books to area schools and 1,000 books to the Teach for India program. In addition, it has set up reading nooks in public housing complexes.

Azzad participates in Manama conference on Islamic finance

epresentatives from Azzad Asset Management joined leading scholars and senior representatives from central banks, financial institutions, and regulators from over 35 countries this month in the Kingdom of Bahrain for an annual conference on Islamic finance organized by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). Organized in cooperation with the World Bank and under the auspices of the Central Bank of Bahrain, the conference focused on integrating Islamic finance into global reporting standards and its compatibility with the legal systems of non-Muslim majority countries, including those in the West.

“As an AAOIFI member, I am pleased to attend this important gathering of practitioners and thought leaders,” said Azzad President and CEO Bashar Qasem, CSAA, who attended the conference. “And as the president of a company dedicated to the strict adherence of AAOIFI standards in the way we do business, we are supportive of their efforts to harmonize Islamic finance standards across borders and to promote greater transparency. Both are of critical importance to our industry.” Mr. Qasem is one of the few Islamic finance professionals in the United States to have earned the Certified Shariah Adviser and Auditor (CSAA) accreditation from AAOIFI.

Azzad is an outspoken advocate of the Seven Tenets of Halal Investing, which follow AAOIFI guidelines in screening out stocks of companies in unethical lines of business. The investment advisory firm regularly educates others about how to invest in accordance with AAOIFI standards.

Opportunity for K-12 teachers for study of Muslim American identities

INDIANAPOLIS — The academic study of Muslim American history and life is the focus of a summer seminar open to K-12 teachers.

Applications are now being accepted for a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, “Muslim American Identities, Past and Present,” to be held July 12 to Aug. 1, 2015, in Indianapolis.
Sixteen teachers from across the country will be selected for the three-week seminar during which they will discuss the racial, ethnic, religious and gender identities of U.S. Muslims.

Directed by Edward E. Curtis IV, an award-winning scholar of Islam in America and holder of the Millennium Chair of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, the seminar will focus on the academic study of Muslim American identities, not the religious or spiritual beliefs or habits of the participating teachers.

Participants will study 30 primary source documents written by Muslim Americans, listen to distinguished guest lecturers Kambiz GhaneaBassiri and Juliane Hammer, and visit two local mosques. They will also work on individual research projects on topics such as Muslim American slave narratives, Islamic hip-hop, Muslim American food cultures and Muslim American political engagement.

“My primary aim is to nurture an environment of deep intellectual engagement and active learning in which teachers try to answer a key question of our time: What does it mean to be both Muslim and American?” said Curtis, who is the author of  “Muslims in America,” among other books.

The seminar will meet almost daily in the Campus Center on the IUPUI campus. In addition to meeting rooms, the IUPUI Campus Center houses a bookstore, a credit union and a food court.

As one of seven campuses administered by  Indiana University, IUPUI is known as Indiana’s premier urban research and health sciences campus. IUPUI has more than 30,000 students enrolled in 17 schools, which offer more than 250 degrees. IUPUI awards degrees from both Indiana and Purdue universities. The campus is near the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Several major cultural attractions and affordable restaurants are within walking distance or a brief bus ride.

All seminar participants receive a $2,700 stipend to help cover transportation, food, housing and other costs. Housing is available on campus. Teachers in public and private schools are encouraged to apply.

Funding for the summer seminar comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency that supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation.

Deadline for applications is March 2.

For additional information about the seminar, teachers should address their questions to Edward E. Curtis IV by phone at (317) 278-1683 or email:ecurtis4@iupui.edu.

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