IN THIS ISSUE
Voice of America interviewed Shariq Siddiqui, Executive Director of Muslim Alliance of Indiana on election night to get further insight on Muslim Hoosiers perspectives on election 2006. The program was broadcast live to the Muslim world sought leadership from all 50 US States to discuss election 2006. Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) was requested to provide information about key Indiana races as well as more information about the 280,000 Muslim Hoosiers.
"They were surprised to hear that Indiana Muslims for the most part tend to be independent supporting political campaigns that seek to engage with the Muslim community of Indiana, stated Siddiqqui. "This year Indiana was a key state with 4 of 9 congressional seats in play and with Democrats picking three seats from Republicans in Indiana."
"We are happy to assist those that seek to learn more about the important role Indiana Muslims play in Indiana society and politics," stated Dr Ibad Ansari, President of MAI. "As a nonprofit organization it is not our role to endorse any candidate but do help candidates and the media learn more about the Muslim community of Indiana as well as assisting Muslims to learn more about the political process," stated Alia Shah, Director of Outreach of MAI.
Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) is offering free websites to Indiana Muslim organizations. The service will include free hosting and design. "These websites will further connect Muslims of Indiana to their organizations," stated Shariq Siddiqui, Executive Director of MAI. The websites will feature a centralized statewide calendar for all organizations taking advantage of the fee sites allowing access to information to Muslims events all across the state as well as in the local community. For further information contact siddiquisa@gmail.com
Indianapolis Muslim attorney, Sara Siddiqi Kokan, filed suit against Indianapolis Police Department and Marion County Sheriff Department for violated constitutional rights of Indianapolis resident, Venus Jones. Jones was arrested mistakenly and was extradited to Tennessee before it was discovered that she was the wrong person. Attorney Kokan questioned why it took so long for the police to determine that they were mistaken. "That's the whole point," she said. "It's something that could have been very easily determined.
Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) commended Kokan for standing up for a fellow Hoosiers constitutional rights. "It is important that Muslim Hoosiers stand up for the constitutional rights of all Hoosiers." stated Shariq Siddiqui, Executive Director of MAI. "We are lucky to have talented attorneys like Sara in the Muslim community in Indiana to show how Muslims play positive and important roles in society."
"Muslims believe in justice for all regardless of their faith," stated Dr Ibad Ansari, President of MAI.
Muslim Alliance of Indiana (MAI) will establish an Indiana wide hate crimes and civil right reporting mechanism in 2007. "This system will allow Muslim Hoosiers to report hate crimes or civil rights violations to MAI" stated Shariq Siddiqui, Executive Director of MAI. "These reports will allow MAI to follow up with law enforcement and civil rights agencies to insure that we fight for the rights of affected Muslim Hoosiers."
The reporting system will initially allow Muslim Hoosiers to report through the MAI website but there are plans to operate a toll-free phone line to report incidents of hate crimes and civil rights violations. Upon receiving reports Muslim attorneys will review the information before referring the matters to agencies like the FBI, EEOC or Civil Rights Commission.
Shariq Siddiqui was a former employee of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission and a member of the Indiana Hate Crimes Task Force. "Shariq's experience as an attorney as well as his previous employment as a Civil Rights Specialist has really helped us move this initiative forward and will allow us in serving more Muslim Hoosiers," stated Dr Ibad Ansari, President of MAI.
Indiana Muslim Political Action Committee Task Force (IMPACT) is the first Indiana Muslim PAC. Election 2006 represented the first year in which IMPACT was active. IMPACT supported candidates in local and national elections. IMPACT was an important element in the Baron Hill campaign. IMPACT provided financial as well as volunteers for Hill campaign. IMPACT also endorsed Muslim candidate for Congress, Keith Ellison, and provided financial assistance. The only candidate that IMPACT supported that did not win was Indianapolis Deputy Mayor Melina Kennedy who was running for Marion County Prosecutor. Kennedy lost a close election to incumbent Carl Brizzi and had promised support on hate crimes legislation had she succeeded.
"IMPACT is a dynamic organization that has been able to galvanize Muslims in key elections," stated Shariq Siddiqui, Executive Director of MAI.
"It is important that Muslims of Indiana become more involved in politics through organizations like IMPACT," stated Dr Ibad Ansari, President of MAI.
"While we are not a part of IMPACT, as we are a nonprofit organization and cannot endorse their activities. We feel that they are an important development in the Indiana Muslim civil society," stated Alia Shah, Director of Outreach for MAI.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- In a political first, a Muslim has been elected to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Keith Ellison, a Minnesota state legislator and lawyer, reached the political milestone by defeating two other candidates in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, which covers the Minneapolis area.
His victory was part of the Democratic wave that seized control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans.
Ellison won 56 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Alan Fine and the Independence Party's Tammy Lee, both of whom garnered 21 percent of the vote. A Green Party candidate received 2 percent.
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Ellison received 135,519 votes, Fine 51,896, and Lee, 51,250.
Ellison is also the first African-American from Minnesota to be elected to the U.S. House. He ran on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor ticket in a district that is heavily liberal.
Members of that party, a uniquely Minnesotan movement, describe the DFL as the state chapter of the Democratic Party.
Ellison's views reflect Democratic ideals and discontent. He is opposed to the war in Iraq and on his Web site, he has called "for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq." "I opposed the war before it began. I was against this war once it started and I am the only candidate calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops."
His religious message is one of inclusiveness. Regarding his Muslim faith, he said, "people draw strength and moral courage from a variety of religious traditions." "Mine have come from both Catholicism and Islam. I was raised Catholic and later became a Muslim while attending Wayne State University. I am inspired by the Quran's message of an encompassing divine love, and a deep faith guides my life every day."
Ellison's position on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is supportive of the two-state solution and the road map to peace process. He has been critical of the Hamas movement.
"Peace is necessary for both Israeli and Palestinian people, and I wholeheartedly support peace movements in Israel and throughout the region," he said in a statement on his Web site.
He was endorsed by the Twin Cities newspaper, the American Jewish World, which said, "In Ellison, we have a moderate Muslim who extends his hand in friendship to the Jewish community and supports the security of the State of Israel."
Ellison is pro-choice and pro-labor, and supports "universal single payer health care" -- long popular stances among liberals.
The seat Ellison won had been held by Rep. Martin Olav Sabo, the longtime Democratic incumbent, whose retirement sparked a wide-open race. Sabo won 70 percent of the vote for the House seat in 2004.
Evansville's Reitz Home Museum, built in 1871, has long ruled as the stately queen of the grand dowagers in the city's Historic District, and Victorian Christmas tours through the house have been a tradition for 26 years.
According to executive director Tess Grimm, during the holiday season thousands of people pass through the glowing stained- glass doors of this well-preserved Victorian home to get a glimpse of what Christmas may have been like for the Reitz family that lived there in the late 1800s. But this year visitors are in for a surprise, because Grimm has put a new twist on the tradition.
"Celebrations Around the Globe" is this year's theme, and Tri-State residents will learn how cultures around the world celebrate Christmas and other holidays that are an integral part of their heritage. Each room will represent the traditions of a specific country, and as a result, the Reitz Home will be a mosaic of celebrations that includes Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Chinese New Year as well as examples of various European Christmas traditions.
"I grew up in New York City, and most of my young friends' parents were from countries from all around the world," Grimm says. "I learned at a young age that they had customs that were as much fun as my Christmas celebration."
Grimm wanted to include Evansville's growing international community in Reitz Home holiday festivities, so she invited some of its members to assist local decorators with the home's holiday transformation and encouraged them to incorporate some of their native countries' traditions.
When Bushra Saqib, a Pakistani-born Muslim, was asked to help decorate Christina's Bedroom, she was delighted at the opportunity to share some of her customs with the community. She says in an age when Muslims are increasingly associated with terrorism, she was pleased to have the chance to "present the beautiful side of Islam."
For Muslims, Eid ul-Fitr is the most celebrated holiday of the year. It marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, and the beginning of a joyous three-day feast. Wearing new clothes at Eid is a time-honored tradition, and Saqib is organizing a display of festive, hand-embroidered dresses that are often worn for the occasion.
To illustrate the diversity of culture in the Muslim world, Saqib asked Iranian and Syrian friends to contribute Eid clothing to the exhibit as well.
"I wanted to show that Islam is very diverse; it doesn't belong to one country," Saqib says. "We dress differently, and we have different languages and different food. The only thing we have in common is the faith."
Down the hall in Wilhemine's Bedroom, a group of Ivy Tech Community College design students are barely visible as they sit huddled in heaps of Christmas flowers, fruit and garlands that they are using to create an Italian Christmas exhibit.
Lindsey Miller, the student chairperson of the Ivy Tech Reitz Home decorating committee, says there is one big difference between an American Christmas and an Italian Christmas.
"Our focal point is the Christmas tree, but their focal point is a Nativity scene and the baby Jesus," she says.
In keeping with that tradition, a delicate porcelain Nativity scene is displayed on an antique dresser.
Downstairs, Gina McCalister, owner of Mulberry Jean's Accents in Newburgh, takes her responsibility of transforming the parlor into a frosty French fantasyland very seriously. She likes the "elegance and romance of Christmas in French Victorian times," and her goal is to re-create that ambience in the Reitz Home. She has done her homework and learned that during the Victorian era, the French lavishly decorated their homes at Christmas, covering every nook and cranny with snowy white decorations.
"They used things found in nature, like pine cones, and they would roll them in sugar to make them glisten," McCalister says. "They did the same thing with fruit. They called it candied fruit."
McCalister comes prepared with an arsenal of sparkling, glittering items from her Newburgh gift shop. She displays a certain savoir-faire as she places Pere Noel, the French equivalent of Santa Claus, next to the all-white Christmas tree, then nestles one of several snow-covered birds' nests into the frosty-looking branches.
"It was considered good luck to put a bird's nest on the Christmas tree," says McCalister.
Surrounded by so much wintry white, visitors may feel like Clara in the Nutcracker Suite as she embarks on her journey through the Land of Snow.
With a nod to Reitz Home tradition, the opulent drawing room will still feature Victorian Christmas decorations, including a 7½-foot Christmas tree decked out in classic red bows. Nick Williams, a designer from Lea Matthews Furniture and Interiors, is an old pro at decorating the Reitz Home. He always looks forward to coming up with new ideas to outdo his decor from the previous year. But he's careful not to get too over the top.
"I believe in enhancing what's already here," Williams says. "We don't want to compete with the beauty that's already at the museum."
To enhance the atmosphere of cultural diversity, international music and dance performances will be scheduled at the Reitz Home on weekends. Visitors will be serenaded by University of Southern Indiana faculty and students singing French carols and will be entertained by lively Chinese and Polynesian dances.
Grimm says she is excited about showcasing holiday decorations, clothing and entertainment that represent the increasingly diverse people of the Evansville area.
"We have visitors that come from all over the United States and from all over the world," she says, "and to us it seems appropriate to embrace our international community and give them an opportunity to show us their celebrations."
TERRE HAUTE - Almost 30 Muslims prayed on one side of the Dede I room in the Hulman Memorial Student Union on Tuesday evening as others watched.
Members of the group took off their shoes and lined up behind one person who led what would be their fourth prayer of the day.
After a few minutes of standing, bending over and kneeling with their heads to the floor with some calls and responses added in, their evening prayer was finished.
Showing the public their prayer was part of Indiana State University's Muslin Student Association chapter's program to educate people about Ramadan and the Muslim community.
Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, a lunar calendar. It lasts about 30 days but falls about 15 days earlier each year, said the association's secretary Aliyah Dastour.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. They also do not smoke, use bad language or allow themselves to enjoy some of the "worldly pleasures you don't usually think of," such as wear perfume, said Terre Haute senior Dastour during the presentation.
Before the prayer, everyone "broke the fast" with dates and milk, which is what the prophet used to use to break his fast.
One thing encouraged during Ramadan is to give to the needy and help the poor, so $2 is going to be donated to the Grumbling Tummies Cafe program for each person who attended the program, Dastour said.
Senior exchange student Simon Lange from Germany was invited to attend the presentation by a friend who is observing Ramadan.
He said he was most surprised to learn that 7 million Muslims live in the United States.
The presentation pointed out that anybody can be Muslim, not just someone from the Middle East, he said.
"Events like this do away with stereotypes," Lange said.
Dastour said she hopes the program made people more confident to approach Muslims and gave them some knowledge about Ramadan.
She said they are going to try to do this program every year and other programs they have planned are about promoting more awareness.
"I think it's important for all of Terre Haute to realize that we're here and trying to become more active," she said.
Olive Line has always done her own hair. These days, though, her arthritis sometimes prevents her from being able to put it in rollers herself.
Enter Pat Hosea, owner, manager and (so-far) lone employee of Have Blow Dryer Will Travel.
Hosea is making a business of traveling to clients' homes to perform cosmetology services.
From haircuts to shampoos and sets to manicures and pedicures, the Granger woman does it all, or close to it all.
Perms and color treatments are on her menu of services, though hair weaves are not."I try to keep it simple," she said.
Line, of South Bend, said having Hosea come into her home to wash and set her hair has worked out well.
Despite sometimes feeling poorly, she said, she's been able to keep up her hairstyle without the hassle of making an appointment at a salon.
Originally from Bloomington, Ill., Hosea has been a licensed cosmetologist for three decades.
Previously, she even owned her own hair salon. She moved to Granger recently, she said, to be nearer to family, particularly two young grandchildren.
So far, Hosea's been pleasantly surprised by the area's response to her business.
Since arriving, she's served elderly and ill people who find it difficult to leave home.
Local clients have also included several Muslim women who are more comfortable removing their head scarves at home for haircuts, Hosea said.And, large families can also benefit, she said.
All services include a 50-cent-per-mile charge for Hosea's travel, when accompanied by an adult haircut purchase, which is $12.50. Children's cuts are $6.
Have Blow Dryer Will Travel is not a new concept for Hosea.
She started it on a part-time basis years ago in Illinois after a regular client of hers became chronically ill and couldn't leave home to have her hair done.
"It's a service to the community," Hosea said.If people are sick, on oxygen or otherwise not well and can't make it to a hair salon, she can come over.
"I've even gone to hospitals," she said.
Ron Horgan, a pastor in the peaceful rural Indiana community of Warsaw, might seem far removed from the riots that erupted this year over a cartoon that insensitively depicted the prophet Muhammad or the furor over Pope Benedict's quotation of a 14th-century source critical of Islam.
But Horgan is not far off from one of the thornier questions facing Christian denominations today: how best to relate to members of the Muslim world.
Horgan leads a congregation of a conservative branch of Presbyterianism, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a denomination that conducts missionary work among Muslims.
According to the denomination's Office of the General Assembly, 70 its missionaries are engaged in bringing Christianity to Muslim communities in the United States and abroad - a task that less than four percent of Christian missionaries of all denominations attempt.
Horgan knows some of the missionaries personally, and he supports their efforts.
"I have friends right now in (the former Soviet republic of) Kazakhstan working among Muslims there. They are actually involved in planting a whole denomination of churches, to reach three different kinds of Muslims," he says. "In fact, my one friend who works over there has been trying to get me to come."
That, Horgan says, probably won't happen soon, unless he could serve in a temporary role.
But he sees witnessing to Muslims in the hope of converting them to Christianity as a necessary part of his religion and firmly based in the New Testament's Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.
"After all, Jesus said, 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel,' Horgan says. "We just had the sense in our denomination that that part of the world had been written off."
He adds: "I personally think the Gospel is for everyone. You can't exclude anyone."
Other area denominations echo Horgan's views.
At First Assembly of God in Fort Wayne, an invitation to pray for Muslims during Ramadan was included in the church bulletin. Ramadan is a holy month of fasting among Muslims. The invitation at First Assembly is in line with the Assemblies of God's longtime, and increasingly difficult, missionary presence in Iran, where Islam is the state religion. Some missionaries there have been imprisoned or executed, and pastors and members have faced more restrictions on practicing their religion since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
National Assembly of God leaders say they believe some of the government's actions result from the church's success in converting Muslims over the years. Ron Williams, a pastor at First Assembly, said the content of the local prayers would be for Muslims to receive "a revelation of God through Christ," but declined to comment further based on "the sensitivity of the issue" abroad and locally.
At Fort Wayne's Concordia Theological Seminary, members of a small Lutheran Church-Missouri synod group called People of the Book Lutheran Outreach, or POBLO, have been taking classes to enable them to minister among Muslims.
"People of the Book" is a term used in Islam to refer to Jews and Christians.
All of the POBLO members have converted from Islam to Christianity, says William C. Weinrich, the seminary's academic dean who has taught POBLO students.
He says their native countries include Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Lebanon. None has come from Fort Wayne.
Often the students have "a remarkable set of life experiences," Weinrich says.
"They are incredibly well-versed in the Quran, and they have deep respect for their Muslim roots, but they have found that Christianity gives them something more, and they want to present that to the people from whom they themselves come."
POBLO members work in churches in the Dearborn and Detroit areas of Michigan where there are large Islamic and Arabic communities as well as in the Chicago, Dallas and New York City areas, Weinrich says.
And Fellowship Missionary Church in Fort Wayne has made many contacts with local Muslims through its work with refugees and new immigrants.
"We're trying to help them get situated, find housing and a job, just to help them, to love them," says Beverly Martin, a church member.
"We don't specifically preach to them. What happens, though, is that because of that help we are winning them. … They see we have the love of Jesus."
Conversion is a problematic subject among Muslims because it is considered an ultimate sin, a deliberate turning away from God. In some cases, it has been punished by death.
Imam J. Tamir Rasheed of Fort Wayne's Al-Fatihah Da-Wah Center on the south side of Fort Wayne, disputes whether Muslims were truly following their faith when they impose that punishment. He also doubts a true Muslim, strong in the faith, would ever convert.
"The Quran says there is no compulsion in Islam. A person cannot be forced to stay in the faith. And if a person leaves, do I have a right to take his life? No, I don't. I'm not God," he says.
But Rasheed says conversion efforts may not be in the best interests of Christians.
"The best thing Christians can do is to be good examples of what Christ told you to do, which is to correct in yourself what needs to be corrected," he says, "before the thought of trying to convert or bring someone else into the faith enters your mind."
And not all Fort Wayne-area Christians would agree that converting Muslims should be an aim of members of their faith.
"I as a Christian would find it offensive," says Michael Spath of Fort Wayne, visiting professor of religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and director of the city's Middle East Peace Education Project. "All it does is add to the mistrust and distance between us."
A better strategy, Spath says, might be stressing the connections between Christians and Muslims and Jews as "fellow monotheists" and members of faiths that all trace their roots to the Old Testament patriarch Abraham.
Amina Advany, a 25-year-old Muslim born in Fort Wayne and now working in retail while completing a communications degree at IPFW, says she often has been on the receiving end of conversion efforts.
On her job, she says, she has been given religious tracts by Christians. Once, as a teenager, a Christian friend was in tears because she believed Advany would go to hell because she didn't accept Jesus. And, recently, a woman at a salon where Advany was having her nails done remarked that Muslims "should be accepting that Jesus Christ is coming again" and "want to be saved."
"I told her I'm Muslim," she says. "Who can say I'm not saved?"
Advany says has no trouble standing for what she believes because her religion was her free choice.
"A lot of people question me about my religion because I tend to wear it on my sleeve," she says. "But I'm proud of it."
Of the "hundreds and hundreds" of Muslims she knows, Advany says, only two or three have converted to Christianity. And she thinks that a Christian praying for her conversion is "kind of strange."
"If a Christian prayed that I would be a stronger Muslim, that would be flattering to me," she says. "A family friend once said, 'It doesn't matter what path you take to God so long as you follow it.' I think that is really true."
Aisha Batwol, a Muslim of Pakistani descent who moved to Fort Wayne from New York about three years ago, says she finds relationships among members of different faiths here "very nice."
"They receive you very well," says the 20-year-old woman from behind the counter of the Islamic speciality food market she runs with her husband at Hobson Road and East State Boulevard. "Not like New York."
Asked how she would feel about Christians praying that she convert, she pauses.
"I cannot give an answer," she says. "That is their religion, ours is ours. We cannot force them, and they cannot force us, because religion is religion. It's in the heart."
Erik Ohlander, assistant professor of religious studies in the philosophy department at IPFW, says he has never seen any direct confrontations on the issue of conversion. "It would surprise me if I did," he says.
Attitudes locally tend to fall along denominational lines, he says, with Catholics and mainline Protestants as tending to want to "engage in dialogue" while evangelical Protestants take a harder line and tend to see Muslims "as they would anyone who hasn't accepted Jesus."
Horgan, who notes that his denomination was witnessing to Muslims well before Sept. 11, 2001, says that missionaries are "only the messengers." The Holy Spirit, not the Christian doing the witnessing, determines whether conversion happens, he says.
"Outreach to Muslims is a difficult thing. It's important that it be done in a way that does not ignite fire in these tender times," he says. "But I think we're excited to be part of a church involved in outreach."
Weinrich says that it's difficult to walk a middle ground when Islam and Christianity have fundamental theological differences and make "universal, all-encompassing claims."
But many Christian leaders try to walk a middle ground.
The Rev. Fred Hasecke, senior pastor at Fort Wayne's Trinity English Lutheran Church, which has sponsored educational events about and including Muslims, says his denomination, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, would not pray for the conversion of Muslims - but would hold them in prayer.
"We want to bear witness to our faith in Jesus Christ, just as Jews and Muslims and others bear witness to their faith, but we don't want ever to demean anyone because their faith," he says.
"Our prayer would be for everyone's welfare - for everyone to share in God's blessings and the love and peace of God."
SOUTH BEND -He lined up in the drill, a mirror trying to beat Dan Santucci.
When teams recruited Ryan Harris out of high school, some looked at him as a defensive lineman. He grabbed and pulled back then, using a swim move consistently.
Looking back now, it wouldn't have been pretty. Had he been a defensive lineman, Harris would have walked around with bruised ribs, a side effect of using the swim move too much.
"I would be bad," Harris said. "I would have been a bad defensive lineman. We just did a drill today where you mirror somebody, and I was lying to him, telling him, 'Whoo, I got my moves back,' but it is stoic, the speed of my moves. Offensive line was the right place for me."
Michigan, Stanford and Iowa looked at Harris to play defensive line, but instead he went to Notre Dame and became one of the most dominant left tackles in college football, protecting the blind side of Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Brady Quinn.
On the surface, staunchly Catholic Notre Dame would be an awkward choice for Harris, a devout Muslim. Harris didn't have doubts, though, and doesn't regret going to Notre Dame.
"It's nice to be in a community where faith can be a part of your everyday activities and not looked down upon or cast out," Harris said. "A lot of state schools do their mission and separate their faith from things, and I'm a man of faith, and I believe in God, and that plays in my everyday activities, so it is nice to be in a community that understands that."
On the Notre Dame campus, faith intertwines with football, from the tradition of Touchdown Jesus to the walk to the stadium from the Mass in the Basilica.
At Notre Dame, religion is an expectation, something worked into daily life. On Saturdays here, football is part of that religion and Harris - its star offensive lineman - is one of its leaders.
Expectation is the reason Harris plays offensive line. He enjoys knowing what the play could do before his team runs it. Most times, too, he has a large part in making any Notre Dame play successful.
Every Sunday, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis runs through his list of standout performers, and almost every week, Harris' name is on the list. Weis continually says Harris can play left tackle in the NFL, too.
Part of the reason for his professional potential plus his consistent nature for the Irish relies in his athletic ability.
"He is one of the most athletic linemen I've ever been around," offensive line coach John Latina said.
"Linemen who are real athletic, you aren't always in the perfect position, and how you recover from a bad position is real important.
"Usually the most athletic kid does it the best. Being so athletic, he can recover out of bad situations as well as anybody I've been around."
No specific instances stick out to Latina. Or to senior center John Sullivan or left guard Santucci, who has played next to Harris for the past two seasons. There is a reason for it - he does it right every game.
Sometimes the 6-foot-5, 292-pounder is so good that Santucci will notice it in games, although most of the time it happens the next day on film. He said it is Harris' footwork that stands out among other linemen.
"He makes it look so easy," Sullivan said.
About the only time Harris appears unathletic and slow is the same reason he would be a poor defensive lineman. Good offensive linemen, Sullivan said, have limited vision when it comes to blocking and the play. A wide vision of the field can be a detriment to a blocker but is something needed to be good on defense.
So when a team intercepts Quinn - a rare occurrence the past two seasons - look out, Harris.
"He would probably get blindsided quite a bit on the defensive side of the ball," Sullivan said. "On interceptions in the past, he's been known to get lit up by the defensive players quite a bit,although he goes after the player hard to make the tackle.
"If he gets laid out on tape, usually he gets it. That's the thing: He lets those things run off his back."
Luckily, he doesn't have to play defense. He can focus on protecting Quinn and opening up holes for junior running back Darius Walker.
Bridges TV, the first English language American Muslim television network, is now reaching a wider audience of non-Muslims in the United States. It began in 2004 as a premium pay channel, but has now been picked up as a free service by several cable and satellite systems. The move will help advance the major purpose of this network -- to build bridges between American Muslims and their neighbors.
Citizens offers different perspectives of culture and media coverage:
Woman: "Because of the media, what you see on TV and what you see in newspapers, I think to a certain extent, again, it seems like an aggressive culture."
Man: "I heard some speakers on TV making the point that, in point of fact, at the core, some of the teachings of the Islamic faith are in fact violent and intolerant towards people from other religions."
It's perceptions like this -- about Islam and Muslims among average Americans -- that led Muzzammil Hassan to launch Bridges TV two years ago. "There were some comments being made," he said, "that were pretty negative about Arabs and Muslims. So my wife, being a mother, said: 'This is not a very good environment for children, or to raise children and there should be some kind of a media that lets American know who Muslims are, who Arabs are and that we are good people.' "
With generous contributions from American Muslims, Bridges TV was able to give that community a voice of its own, broadcasting nationwide from Buffalo, New York.
Two years later, the network is expanding, as major cable systems in the United States and Canada have agreed to include Bridges TV in their basic packages.
Ahmed Suleiman, Bridges TV's news anchor, says the network is serving as a real bridge between the estimated eight million American Muslims and the rest of the country. He says he is contributing to that mission through his program "Building Bridges".
"Each episode, I have a different topic. It could be about abortion, it could be about Jerusalem, it could be about violence in the name of religion, and we get the different perspectives and feedback of the Rabbi, the Priest and the Imam. What you realize is that while we differ in some opinions, we also have a lot in common."
One common thread is laughter. Recognizing that Americans like comic relief, the network offers a comedy show with two stand-up comics -- an Arab and a Jew:
One comedian, Rabbi Rob Alper says, "The original idea was to have a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian, but we could not find any Christian comedians."
Another comedian, Ahmed Ahmed remarks, "Both Jews and Muslims have a lot in common. Jews and Muslims do not eat pork, we do not celebrate Christmas, we both have "KHAH" in our pronunciation. We both are hairy creatures of God. The only difference between Muslims and Jews is that Jews do not like to spend any money and Muslims do not have any money to spend."
The newsroom staff reflects the network's inclusive philosophy. It includes the first ---and only -- national news anchor to wear the hijab -- the Muslim head cloth.
Sana Beg, who came to the United States from Kashmir, says Bridges TV brings a unique understanding to the day's headlines. "You have a lot of people that make it to the news, who claim to be Muslims. In actuality they use faith as a justification, as a crutch to justify their actions and what we are trying to do here is that if ordinarily a TV station would call somebody an Islamic extremist, an Islamic militant, we try to stay away from that because they are not Islamic in the first place. Because what they are doing is not really with the tenets of Islam. We are not trying to use terms like 'waging a holy Jihad' too loosely because we actually come from the faith so we understand what it really means."
Not all the staff is Muslim. News Director Nancy Sanders, a veteran journalist, is Catholic and is married to a Jew. She says she tries to present the many faces of American Muslims in Bridges TV's news programs. "We talk to a lot of different people living the American Muslim lifestyle and we present that as much as we can. For instance, Muslims celebrating the Fourth of July; Muslims who were affected by the 9/11 tragedy; we profile people who are business owners; we talk to people who want to see peace initiatives."
Bridges TV Chairman, Muzzammil Hassan says that by using different program formats that portray Muslims in everyday life, he can correct some of the misperceptions he believes Americans hold about Islam and Muslims.
He also believes the programming needs to be as accessible as possible. "By being in English, and by being on basic cable, it becomes viewable by mainstream Americans and that is where a building-bridges opportunity comes."
Hassan says that over time, he believes non-Muslim Americans will come to realize they and their Muslim neighbors share many of the same values -- raising families, pursuing careers, and finding peace.
PLAINFIELD, Ind. -- Imam and scholar Muneer Fareed, who led a program to teach Muslim youths about their religion, has taken over the day-to-day operations of the largest Muslim group in the U.S. as the new secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America.
Fareed, who began work Tuesday at the society's Plainfield headquarters, taught at Wayne State University in Detroit until earlier this year. He earned a doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan and also has studied in South Africa, Saudi Arabia and India.
"He was an excellent teacher, an excellent administrator, and a very good colleague," said May Seikaly, chairwoman of the Department of Near East and Asian Studies at Wayne State.
The Islamic Society, formed in 1963, is an umbrella group that represents Muslim associations for youth, college students, engineers and others, and provides support to Muslim chaplains and North American mosques.
Fareed also has served as an imam, or prayer leader, at Detroit-area mosques.
"He brings both practical knowledge of lived Islam, as well as a depth of scholarship to this position," Ingrid Mattson, who was elected the society's first female president in August, said in a news release. "In addition, Dr. Fareed has a good understanding of the challenges faced by youth."
Fareed was one of the founders and core scholars of the American Learning Institute for Muslims. The program based in the Detroit area is geared toward Muslim high school seniors and college students and "seeks to produce Islamically literate members of society that will have a positive effect on Muslim society as well as the society at large," according to its Web site.
Fareed also might be expected to reach out to black, U.S.-born Muslims. In a September 2005 speech to the United Muslim Association of Toledo, Ohio, he said American Muslims had a moral responsibility to strengthen ties with black Muslims.
Fareed succeeds Sayyid M. Syeed, who will head ISNA's new Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington, D.C., after holding the secretary general's post since 1994.
The Associated Press left a message Thursday at the Islamic Society seeking an interview with Fareed.
This coming Sunday, November 12, 2006, Legacy Institute will begin Lighthouse Series - Defining Youth Identity. This class is designed especially for the youth (ages 13 and above) and is meant to be an insightful, engaging, and interactive series.
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The Lighthouse Series - Defining Youth Identity
A program focused specifically on the youth. A wide variety of contemporary issues facing Muslim youth in America will be dealt with in this course.
Ages 13 and above only.
Topics covered
- Foundations of Islamic belief
- Stronger Muslim identity
- How to apply Islam in your daily life
- Islamic perspective on current events
- Presentation and public speaking skills
- Much more
Instructor: Shaykh Tewfik Choukri
Cost: $40
Sunday evenings starting November 12th
5:00 - 7:00pm
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For more information, please contact info@legacyin.org or call at (317)842-7300.
9721 Kincaid Drive Fishers, IN 46037 o 317-842-7300 o info@legacyin.org o www.legacyin.org
MUSLIM ALLIANCE OF INDIANA is dedicated to empower Muslims through social engagement and developing awareness of public issues among Muslims and connecting 280,000 Muslim Hoosiers with the leadership.
To learn more about past activities and accomplishments, please visit at www.muslimalliancein.com
To be involved with MAI mission, please contact muslimalliancein@yahoo.com
To strengthen and disseminate the vision, please forward this message to others in Indiana or send email list to muslimalliancein@yahoo.com
This is intended for Muslim Hoosiers and friends promoting peace and harmony, mutual respect and making Indiana strong. If you want to be off this list, please advise.
Thank you.
