The Arab American News
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Interfaith dialogue
Earlier this year, I attended the Ottawa convention of the Islamic Society of North America. One session was on interfaith dialogue, with presentations by Abdul Rashid, an Islamic scholar, and Sister Jean Goulet, a Catholic nun. Rashid emphasized the Qur'anic basis for the practice of dialogue: "O mankind! We created...
Politics, distress as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha
December 23rd, 20070 It was a typical holiday of Eid al-Adha, the biggest Muslim holiday of the year. Two men in paper overalls placed the struggling sheep in the direction of Mecca before taking a shiny blade to its throat and unleashing a fountain of warm blood that quickly filled the floor of the small cement courtyard. Half a dozen small...Honor killing in Canada needs denouncing
On December 10, a man in Toronto's suburb of Mississauga called 911 to report that he had just killed his daughter. Muhammad Purvez, the father, has been arrested, along with his son Waqas, who has been charged with obstructing police. Sixteen-year-old Aqsa Purvez had been in constant conflict with her family over matters such...Donors back Palestinian economy, urge Israeli ease-up on restrictions
WASHINGTON (IPS) — International donors pledged billions of dollars this week to shore up peace prospects amid warnings no amount of money can help if Israel keeps the Palestinian economy in a stranglehold. Donor countries and agencies promised 7.4 billion dollars to the Palestinian Authority at a pledging conference in Paris Monday....
Why American troops can’t come home
December 23rd, 20070 A very week or so, the Department of Defense conducts a video-conference press briefing for reporters in Washington, featuring an on-the-ground officer in Iraq. On November 15th, that briefing was with Col. Jeffrey Bannister, commander of the Second Brigade of the Second Infantry Division. He was chosen because of his unit's successful...Can religion improve peace prospects in the Middle East?
A council of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders devised a six-point plan to help bring about reconciliation. For some 60 years, attempts to craft a lasting peace for the Holy Land have fallen woefully short. As a new round of Israeli-Palestinian talks gets under way, some leaders from the region are insisting that it's time to...Depending on paper police for security
'Power in Iraq will soon be turned to tribal leaders' BAGHDAD (IPS) — In a country with no security and no jobs, just about anyone can work as a policeman. "To survive in Iraq under U.S. occupation, there are only two jobs; police and garbage collection," Baghdad journalist Mohammad al-Dulaymi told IPS. "Unemployment is leading many...
Arabs and Muslims do Christmas too!
December 23rd, 20070 DEARBORN — As much as parsley and tomatoes match traditional Christmas colors, giant bowls of tabbouli are not the only holiday trimmings found in the average Arab American household this season. Both Christian and Muslim Arab Americans decorate for Christmas with the best of them. The East Dearborn home of Haysam and Kelly Sleiman, who...A Jewish Israel needs a wholesome, healed Palestine
One of the most complex and confounding elements that emerged during the run-up to the Annapolis meeting was the demand by several senior Israelis, and its parallel rejection by Palestinian officials, that the Palestinians recognize Israel as "a Jewish state" as a precondition for the start of talks. Israel's demand that the Arabs...ADC outlines achievements, challenges
Organization honored as it honors others DEARBORN — At its annual fund-raising gala Dec. 7, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Michigan chapter received as many honors from government officials as it presented to activists and leaders. As it offered awards to six different people, the group accepted six certificates and...Sorry performance by Quebec unions
It was not the unions' finest hour. Quebec union federations made their presentations to the Bouchard-Taylor hearings on "reasonable accommodation." The presentations of the two largest union organizations reflected a lack of tolerance for diversity. Claudette Carbonneau, president of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux...Canadian census immigration statistics released
Canadians use a bit of jargon that would typically be part of a linguist's vocabulary. There are anglophones, francophones, and allophones. Then, there are saxophones — an ill wind that no one blows good. Anglophones and francophones are speakers of English and French, and allophones speak another language. On December...Darkness over Islam
As a take-off on the title of the popular CBC program "Little Mosque on the Prairie," the Toronto Globe and Mail entitled its article "Little mosque on the tundra," all about Muslims in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories. Because of the very limited amount of sunlight during the winter months, prayer schedules are taken from...No-fly list stops Muslim
Back in May, 2004, Shahid Mahmood was prevented from boarding an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Victoria because a name similar to his was on a no-fly list. This was before Canada's official list was put in place this year. Just last month, he filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, as he believes...Imam lectures on terrorism
Dr. Syed Soharwardy, who heads the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, a Sufi organization located in Calgary, is traveling to several cities across Canada on a monthly basis to give lectures on behalf of Muslims Against Terrorism (MAT). According to Soharwardy, "Islamophobia is the fastest growing irrational fear in the world."......
Socialists hedge on voting bill
The socialist New Democratic Party (NDP) is hedging on its support of the Conservative minority government's bill to forbid people to vote without showing their faces. The NDP joined the MPs from other parties in Parliamentary committee in badgering the Chief Electoral Officer for refusing to bar people from voting while hiding...Asylum agreement hit by court
The United States and Canada have an agreement providing that people applying for refugee status must seek asylum in the first country they reach. That agreement, the Safe Third Country Agreement, was challenged in court by the Canadian Council for Refugees, and Federal Judge Michael Phelan ruled for the Council. Phelan pointed......
Is ‘Kite Runner’ anti-religious?
When Mr. Banks sings "Let's go fly a kite and sends it soaring up through the atmosphere" at the end of the movie "Mary Poppins," he is abandoning his workaholic, unimaginative ways and bonding with his children Jane and Michael for perhaps the first time. But they can frolic in and out of chalk drawings and on detachable carousel...The algebra of occupation
On 1805, the French Army out-maneuvered, outsmarted and out-fought the combined armies of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz. Three years later it would founder against a rag-tag collection of Spanish guerrillas. In 1967 it took six days for the Israeli Army to smash Egypt, Jordan and Syria and seize the West Bank, the Golan Heights,...Stop the murder in Gaza
Everyone must act now to stop this collective punishment. It is the only ethical, just and humane thing to do. The siege must stop. Now. People are dying in Gaza. Patients die in their hospital beds because they are denied permits to access life-saving treatments abroad. Patients with such permits die at the Erez crossing because the...Christians in Gaza: An integral part of society
Gaza — Abu Saeed, a vendor selling electrical appliances in Gaza City's Rimal district, says that it only occurs to him that the vendor selling foodstuffs next door, Abu Hana, is Christian during the Christian holidays. They have been working together in their neighboring shops for over 30 years, exchanging greetings and pleasantries, as......
Clergy join ‘Tapegate’ battle
NEW YORK (IPS) — A coalition of more than 130 religious organizations has joined a growing chorus calling for appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations regarding the Central Intelligence Agency's destruction of videotapes and its use of "harsh" interrogation techniques. In a letter to Attorney-General Michael Mukasey,...
Bombing kills Lebanese general, deepens crisis
December 15th, 20070 The assassination of Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj may have been revenge for a summertime campaign against Islamic militants. Beirut — The political crisis here deepened this week when a senior Army general was killed in a powerful car bombing, the ninth high-profile attack on a prominent Lebanese in a sporadic campaign of assassinations......
Heard at Mecca: ‘Are you single?’
Matchmakers ply their trade at Islam's holiest site Mecca — In the midst of overlapping murmurs of prayers in a sea of white-cloaked worshippers, a woman's voice interrupts the collective trance as she asks: "Are you single?" For hundreds of years, Mecca has been the sacred meeting point of millions of Muslims from across the world....Hamtramck fails to pass anti-profiling ordinace
The Hamtramck City Council did not pass an ordinance brought to vote Tuesday that would prohibit police from profiling people based on their appearance, immigration status or other factors, because they said what they had in front of them was the wrong version of the measure they intended to vote on. City attorney Jim Allen told the......
