Diffused Congruence: The American Muslim Experience

Cure4Aasim: Help Save a Life

Co-host Omar A. Ansari's brother-in-law, Aasim Syed, was just diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which impacts the bone marrow. He has already received an initial round of intense chemotherapy and the doctors have now said a blood (stem cell) transplant is required ASAP.

We also learned that there is NOT A SINGLE MATCH in the entire registry for him right now. Unfortunately South Asians (which have the highest chance of matching with him) are overwhelmingly underrepresented in the registry.

If you can register to see if you're a match, you could save a life.
Register at:

USA:  my.bethematch.org/aasim, OR at www.aadp.org
INDIA: www.datri.org
OUTSIDE of THE USA please go to www.swabtheworld.com
If you’re above 44, register here: https://www.dkms.org/. This also works for India, Germany Poland, Chile and the UK.

Registration takes <5 minutes. You will receive an oral swab in the mail. Follow the directions then send it back in right away. If you happen to be a match with Aasim (or anyone else in need) the donation process involves just taking some of your blood and extracting the stem cells. It’s that simple to literally give the gift of life.

The key is to get college age students and younger professionals to share with their networks. They are the most connected and also a fit from an age perspective. So ask your kids, nieces, nephews, etc. to help spread the word as well.

Aasim is one of the most kind hearted, selfless, and generous people you will ever meet and he can really use our support and prayers right now so please come on through!  Thank you for your support! Please repost and share widely.

Episode 113: Two Gods - Zeshawn and Aman Ali’s Documentary about Community, Faith, and Healing

Zeshawn and Aman Ali join us to discuss their new documentary, Two Gods.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY

An intimate documentary about faith, renewal, and healing, Two Gods follows a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer in New Jersey, as he takes two young teenagers under his wing to teach them how to live better lives.

Shot in a striking black-and-white, Two Gods explores the juxtaposition of grief and the rituals of death with the vibrancy and potential of adolescence. The documentary turns an empathetic lens on Muslim American stories, ultimately crafting a moving portrait of both the intimate moments and the complexities of the everyday Muslim American experience.

About the Filmmakers

Zeshawn Ali was born and raised in Ohio. He moved to New York to study film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he concentrated on directing and cinematography. He directed the short film Shallows and short documentaries for the 30 Mosques series which were featured in festivals and publications across the country. He's currently based in New York.

Aman Ali is an award-winning storyteller in New York City. He’s made appearances on dozens of media outlets including the NY Times, CNN, Buzzfeed, NBC News, and HBO to tell stories about the Muslim American community. He is also one of the brains behind the social media phenomenon 30 Mosques in 30 Days, a 25,000 mile road trip he took to all 50 States in the U.S. with the mission of telling profound stories about Muslims in America.

 

Episode 112: Women & Gender in the Qur’an, with Dr. Celene Ibrahim

Parvez and Omar discuss Dr. Celene Ibrahim's works on women and gender in the Qur'an

About Dr. Celene Ibrahim

Dr. Celene Ibrahim is the author of Women and Gender in the Qur'an from Oxford University Press (2020) and the editor of One Nation, Indivisible: Seeking Liberty and Justice from the Pulpit to the Streets from Wipf & Stock Publishers (2019). Her current book project on the concept of monotheism in the Qur'an and Islamic intellectual history is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Ibrahim holds a doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Civilizations and a master's degree in Women's and Gender Studies and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, a Masters of Divinity from Harvard University, and a bachelor's degree with the highest honors from Princeton University.

As a trusted public voice on issues of religion and civic engagement, Dr. Ibrahim is deeply committed to counteracting bigotry and fostering values of pluralism, integrity, and civic responsibility. She offers lectures, workshops, and educational seminars around the world and is a graduate of the United World College of the American West.

 

About the Book

Stories about gendered social relations permeate the Qur'an, and nearly three hundred verses involve specific women or girls. The Qur'an features these figures in accounts of human origins, in stories of the founding and destruction of nations, in narratives of conquest, in episodes of romantic attraction, and in incidents of family devotion and strife. Overall, stories involving women and girls weave together theology and ethics to reinforce central Qur'anic ideas regarding submission to God and moral accountability.

Celene Ibrahim explores the complex cast of female figures in the Qur'an, probing themes related to biological sex, female sexuality, female speech, and women in sacred history. Ibrahim considers major and minor figures referenced in the Qur'an, including those who appear in narratives of sacred history, in parables, in descriptions of the eternal abode, and in verses that allude to events contemporaneous with the advent of the Qur'an in Arabia. Ibrahim finds that the Qur'an regularly celebrates the aptitudes of women in the realms of spirituality and piety, in political maneuvering, and in
safeguarding their own wellbeing; yet, women figures also occasionally falter and use their agency toward nefarious ends. Women and Gender in the Qur'an outlines how women and girls - old, young, barren, fertile, chaste, profligate, reproachable, and saintly -enter Qur'anic sacred history and advance the Qur'an's overarching didactic aims.

Episode 111: Immigrant Stories, with Habibe & Ishrat Husain, from the Rahima Foundation

Parvez and Omar are joined by Habibe and Ishrat Husain, from the Rahima Foundation.  They tell the story of their immigration to the United States, their (inter-cultural) marriage, their migration out West, and the forming of Rahima Foundation.

About Habibe

 

Habibe came to the United States in 1962, as a high school foreign exchange student from Turkey. After completing high school, she went on to earn a degree in Pharmacy from Temple University in Philadelphia. In Pennsylvania, she met and married Ishrat Husain and, in 1973, they moved to the Bay Area. While being a mother and wife, she started and ran the first Weekend Islamic School in the Bay Area for many years.

 

On the 21st night of Ramadan in 1993, she was inspired to start Rahima Foundation to provide groceries to the local, underserved community. As the work grew, the organization was registered as a 501 c(3) Charitable and Educational Foundation in 1997. Her vision was to establish an institution of charity to serve the financial, educational, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the communities. In the last 25 years, the organization has impacted over half a million lives through food and financial assistance. Habibe Husain specializes in serving indigenous people, refugees, and immigrants who are struggling to meet their basic human needs. Inspired by her faith, her relentless service is a testament to her compassion and dedication.

 

About Ishrat

 

Ishrat was born in Aligarh, India, grew up in Karachi, Pakistan, and migrated to the US in 1966. He has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Karachi and a Masters Degree in Physics from University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, Ishrat earned a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Farleigh Dickinson University. After decades of working in the tech industry, Ishrat retired from IBM in 2013 and joined Rahima Foundation in 2014 as its Executive Director and President. Ishrat is married to Habibe Husain, the founder of the organization, and has been involved with Rahima since its inception in 1993.

Episode 110: Disney Film Director, Lena Khan

Parvez and Omar are joined by Lena Khan, to discuss her latest achievements in directing films.

About Lena Khan

Lena is a Canadian American writer and director. Her first feature film, THE TIGER HUNTER, released in over 60 cities nationwide and garnered effusively positive reviews from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and more. Fresh off of her first film, Disney tapped Lena to direct FLORA AND ULYSSES, a live action family comedy.

With a background from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and experience at noted production companies such as Participant Media, Lena spent years directing short films, commercials and music videos before embarking on her first film. Lena and her work have been profiled in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Teen Vogue, USA Today and The New York Times. She was also listed as one of the 25 Screenwriters to watch in MovieMaker magazine.

Lena recently sold a television show, directed multiple episodes of Netflix's "Never Have I Ever," and is overseeing development on a few feature projects.

Episode 109: Fifty Years of Community Work in Chicago’s Far South Side, with Imam S. T. Ibrahim

Parvez and Omar welcome Imam Ibrahim to talk about his youth, his transition to Sunni Islam, and his nearly 50 years of needs based community work in the Chicago area for the past 50 years.  

About Imam S. T. Ibrahim

Imam Ibrahim served as the founding Imam of the Mosque of 'Umar, Inc. on Chicago's Far South Side in the Roseland community from 1973 to 2009.  He led prayers and all related services, coordinated needs based programs (food panty, youth, voter registration, job training, etc.) and partnered with Muslim merchants to establish a sense of brotherhood in the inner city.  From 2009 through 2018 he operated Masjid Khalil'ullah in Chicago's Morgan Park community. He also served as the Director of the Transitional College Prepatory Program (TCP) at Chicago State University from 1992-2009.  Imam Ibrahim was a participant (along with Imam Siraj Wahhaj) in the 1st Imam Training Program in Saudi Arabia in 1978 sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education.  

Episode 108: Politics, Religion and Culture, with Sana Saeed from AJ+

Parvez and Omar are joined by Sana Saeed from AJ+ to discuss, among other things, social media culture, holding Muslims leaders to a standard, the "akh-right" and the transition to the Biden administration.  It was an engaging, no holds barred conversation that we hope you'll join us for.

About Sana Saeed

Sana Saeed is a Host and Senior Producer who has been with AJ+ since 2014, helping launch the channel. A Canadian who has spent most of her life in the United States, she’s interested in politics, religion, culture and working very hard to stay out of arguments on Twitter. She has a background in media critique and analysis, with her work having appeared in The New York Times, LA Times, Quartz, Guardian, Salon and AJE.

Sana is currently working on ‘Pop Americana’ - a show that looks at American pop culture as a vehicle for politics. In reality, she’s really just living out her ‘VH1 Behind The Music’ remake fantasy. She’s also usually the one in the room who sounds like that reading you kinda, sorta skimmed in your elective liberal arts class.

Episode 107: CelebrateMercy, with Tarek El-Messidi

Parvez and Omar are joined by Tarek El-Messidi, founder of CelebrateMercy.  They look back to the inspiration behind the organization, discuss its genesis and initial launch, and touch on some of the team's current initiatives.

About CelebrateMercy

CelebrateMercy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that teaches about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ’s life and character – to Muslims and the general public. They do this through short films, online campaigns, traveling conferences, and webinars that feature world-renowned speakers and scholars on Islam.

In 10 years, CelebrateMercy has: 

• • Reached 300 million people through national media coverage
• • Held 25 events for 200,000 participants in 115 countries
• • Produced 200+ videos with 7 million views on YouTube & Facebook
• • Generated social media posts leading to 700,000 subscribers

 

About Tarek El-Messidi

Tarek El-Messidi is a Muslim-American speaker, activist, and social entrepreneur. In 2012, he was listed by Georgetown University in the Muslim500 as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims worldwide. He has pursued Islamic studies in the United States, Morocco, and Jordan and served for 10 years on the boards of multiple mosques, including as President and Vice-President of two Islamic centers.  

In 2001, while serving as President of the Muslim Student Association at his university, Tarek co-founded Fast-a-thon: an event that raises money to feed the hungry when non-Muslims try fasting with their Muslim peers for one day. Fast-a-thons at 300 universities have raised over $2 million total to feed the hungry across America.

In 2010, after earning an MBA and working as a supply chain manager at Procter & Gamble, Tarek founded CelebrateMercy.  

Episode 106: Premarital Preparation, Healthy Marriages, and Divorce in the Muslim Community, with Sadia Jalali, LMFT

Parvez and Omar welcome Sadia Jalali, LMFT to start a conversation on marriage and divorce in the American Muslim community.  They discuss the importance of premarital counseling, of nurturing marriages from day one, and of getting help before it's too late to save a marriage.

About Sadia Jalali 

Sadia Jalali is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). Sadia holds a BA in Psychology from U of Houston and MA in Psychology/Family Therapy from U of H-Clear Lake. In her over 14 years as a counselor, she has worked with hundreds of clients specializing in relationships, parenting, anger management, divorce care, self care, and being Muslims in America. Active in the Houston Muslim Community for over twenty years, she has held workshops and speaking engagements for many local and national Muslim organizations. She founded Muslim Bliss, which is  dedicated to bringing issues of mental health and relationships to the forefront in the Muslim community. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Islamic Studies from Bayan Claremont to better serve the community.

Episode 105: Parvez joins "Sultans and Sneakers" to discuss "Podcasting, Platforming, and Politics".

Parvez joins Mahin Islam on Episode 036 of the Sultans and Sneakers podcast to talk about "Podcasting, Platforming, and Politics".

The Sultans and Sneakers podcast, based out of Chicago, is a podcast, according to Mahin, which asks "WHY do we believe the things we do?"  Mahin regularly interviews "interesting people to understand the WHY behind their beliefs."  He has interviewed athletes, entrepreneurs, professors, and artists to discuss belief systems around sports fandom, politics, religion and personal development.