Macedonian Muslim looks to L.A.

The Jewish Journal looks at the invitation to Macedonian Muslim Ismail Bardhi to teach at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and his troubled past in Skopje. Bardhi was a peace activist who tried to bring together the Orthodox and Muslim communities in Macedonia. Bardhi is a polyglot and a scholar and received a rifle butt in the face for his troubles. But his move to LA seems very hopeful:

"If we want people to get a more three-dimensional aspect of faith in the modern world," she added, "especially these days when it comes to Islam, there is no better place to get it than the horse's mouth. Everybody asks, 'Where are the moderate Muslims?' Well, it's great that there is one right at HUC."

Bardhi plans to stay through the spring semester, which ends in May, and then return home. Why? So he can teach his compatriots how to live in an ethnically and religiously diverse community, something he hopes to learn a lot about in Los Angeles.

I love that last bit, looking to Los Angeles for inspiration. So many see Los Angeles as a place devoid of culture, but really the city is a fascinating mosaics of people from everywhere. Much luck to Bardhi in the future!

via Progressive Muslima News.

Ahmadiyya Mosque Building in Berlin

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community has been building a new mosque in Berlin. The reporting has been mostly focused on how non-Muslims react. The mosque is being built on a cheap piece of land in the Eastern suburbs of Berln and the people in the neighborhood (mostly non-Muslim) have had some sadly uninspired reaction to the mosque:

"The mosque is supposed to go up right here," says Günter Bronner, a blustery white-haired man with glasses pushed up on his forehead who's lived in the neighborhood for 42 years. He points to a drab piece of land at the end of the street where a defunct sauerkraut factory stands. "They want to have a minaret with a muezzin who gives the call to prayer five times a day. Can you imagine? Five times a day over our rooftops."

Heinersdorf is one of those sad and dying old East Berlin suburbs that got the short end of the reunification stick. Most investment, economic and cultural, has been fleeing such places. They have mostly used the building of this mosque as chance to show off old prejudices and give Neo-Nazis a chance to show up at their anti-Mosque rallies (Where, bizarely, people also chanted anti-Communist slogans). All bad for Heinersdorf.

Hopefully, with the mosque almost complete the Heinersdorfers could use this as a chance to reach out to a new group that is actually somewhat under threat in certain parts of the Islamic world (Pakistan does not grant Ahmadis the right to call themselves Muslims. This stems from Ahmadiyya belief in a prophet who arrived after Mohammad. Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims). The could join in the festivities, welcome their new neighbors. Maybe even use the mosque, meetings of old FDJ (the East German Communist youth groups) friends in the banquet hall, or simply show up to learn more about the Ahmadis. The Ahmadis were one of the first Muslim groups that many African Americans came into touch with in the USA and in a sense were one of the early influences on the civil rights movement, with their insistence on racial equality. Lastly, any Berliner who's been awoken early on a Sunday morning by the tremendous clanging of bells from churches echoing through the neighborhood - and has ever heard a call to prayer, instantly longs for the soothing singing of the muezzin every time.

European Muslims look to Obama for Hope

The Voice of America reported an interesting story from Thiais, France about Muslim and other minority politicians in Europe who are looking to Barack Obama for hope in their own campaigns. European minorities (like American minorities) are woefully underrepresented in their political systems, but the idea that a person of color can transcend the racism and prejudice of society to achieve the most powerful office in the world is causing a stir of excitement. Zohra Bitan, a Socialist candidate in Thiais regards herself as fully French. Her parents were economic migrants from Algeria.

In Thiais, Bitan is also following Barack Obama and his chance of becoming America's first black president. But she doubts a Barack Obama will emerge in France anytime soon.

Bitan says France is ready to elect mayors or members of parliament who are a racial minority. But she says the country is not ready for an ethnic minority as president.

Coskun Coruz, a member of the Dutch Parliament, also thinks that an Obama presidency could send a powerful "signal" to Europe. But he also notes that immigrants to Europe (Coskun migrated from Turkey to the Netherlands when he was 6, but now feels "%200 Dutch") must become active European citizens and "work for change."

via Islam in Europe.

Buy U A Drank

T-Pain, the Grammy Award-winning rapper/singer from Florida has become a near ubiquitous in pop music, from his frequent collaborations (most recently with Flo Rida on "Low") to his own hits ("Buy U A Drank", "I'm In Luv Wit A Stripper"). T-Pain was born near Tallahassee as Faheem Najm to Muslim parents. There are a large number of Muslim entertainers in the US and Europe, many of them involved in Hip-Hop and RnB. We will feature many such entertainers on this site, but I thought T-Pain would be good introduction precisely because there is nothing obviously evident of his Muslim background in his familiar prescence. Muslims are a diverse and complictated group of humans like any other and their faith isn't always at the forefront of their identity. Or as Faheem told the Australian News in an interview when asked what is like to be Muslim in America:

"It's like being any other person," he says. "I'm still a person, a human being, no matter what religion I am."

But has the war on terror changed perceptions about Muslim faith?

"People don't even know," T-Pain says. "Me, Busta Rhymes, Lupe Fiasco - they don't even know we are Muslim. People think a Muslim has to have a turban or a big beard. It's stupid."

To explore the mysterious world of T-Pain you can visit his official website here http://www.t-pain.net/

Kosovo - Europe's New Addition

The Khaleej Times, a daily English-language paper in Dubai published an interesting opinion piece about Kosovo by Claude Salhani on the 22nd of Febuary called "Europe’s new addition — a Muslim country without a veil". Salhani notes that a new European country has been added, and the maps must be withdrawn. But it's not just any country, it's a Muslim-majority European country. Salhani believes that Kosovo will be a ray of light for moderate Muslims:

To those who believe that a milder, kinder form of Islam cannot exist, allow me to paraphrase former US president John F Kennedy by saying, "Let them come to Pristina."

The Kosovo situation is complex, but I believe Salhani is making a very interesting point here. As Christian-majority European countries continue to interact with their Muslim citizens they could look to Pristina to understand the fundamental compatibility. As one Kosovar journalist explained her identity:

"I am a Muslim, but in my own way," she said. "We belong in Europe. But still, I consider myself a Muslim."

That compatibility is a theme we will explore much more in Green Shade. Bosnia was perhaps even of a "ray of light" than Kosovo. It was committed to an ambitious cosmopolitanism (influenced by a long Islamic flavored notion of he "common life" and "neighborliness") when it declared independence in October of 1991. That dream was almost entirely destroyed by war and genocide in which the Bosnians were the overwhelming victims. Now the same dangerous Serbian rhetoric of nationalism and Christian religious mythology that perpetuated those crimes in Bosnia to a large extent threatens the Balkans once again. Let us hope its influence is checked to a few burnt embassies.

A note on Claude Salhani: He is an editor with The Middle East Times, a Cairo-based paper funded by the Unification Church founded by the Reverend Moon (a.k.a. the "Second Coming of Christ"). Reverend Moon made some news in 2000 when he teamed up with Minister Louis Farrakhan, the acting head of the Nation of Islam to co-sponsor the Million Family March in Washington D.C.

Welcome To Green Shade

This is a forum for looking at the deep and broad impact of Muslims and Islam in Europe and America by examining a variety of ongoing political, cultural and religious interactions. Enjoy the journey!