Build Your Body … not your Mosque – ahmediatv – Open Salon



Build Your Bod but not your Mosque – ahmediatv – Open Salon

On September 28th of 2000, then the prime minster of Israel Aerial Sharon visited the Islamic holy site, Temple Mount, also known as AL Haram Elsharif” in Jerusalem , unleashed the second Palestinian intifada that lasted for moths and caused tenths of death. The Israeli general confrontational visit to the Islamic holy site was looked at as insensitive to Muslims not so much that the site was holy , but occupied, adding insult to injury. Now and 10 year later, we have the American intifada against the so called “Ground Zero Mosque” A whooping 70% of Americans oppose the building of the Mosque in lower Manhattan. Thos are the same people who rallied around the Bush family to liberate Muslims in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, and assured their religion freedom. Recently America crowned a Muslim American to the beauty pageant. Muslims Americans are free to build their body, but not their Mosques. Most of the Muslims I talked to don’t care one way or another about the Manhattan Mosque. Muslims look at Mosque as a place of worship, however aren’t fixated on the divine place, Muslims don’t need a Mosque to pray, “The Earth is a Mosque” the prophet teaches us. American sudden idolatrous. obsession of the Ground Zero hallowed site has a long history of merican sense of exceptnalisim as the new chosen people. Americans Intifada turned the secular site of ground zero to a holy place, at the same time turned Muslim holy place to a scary one. This extreme love and extreme hate to places is a dogma found only in sects and Taliban like extremists; who also has an avid hate to place and statue. So many Americans are afraid of Mosques, and most of Americans never been in a Mosque , and without any evidence or rational think Mosques are center command for terrorists. Where in fact Mosques are the ones been threatened and terrorized in this country. I have been going to Mosques all my life, here and abroad, after each visit, the only people I would like to terrorize is the Mosque Imams themselves with their incoherent boring sermons, and my biggest concer is to find my own shoe among hundreds of other scattered shoes outside the Mosques door. Mosque is the most diverse place in America where people from all walks of levies with and backgrounds come together and practices Islam based on their own unique customs, and ethnicities; which makes it a very hard place to agree on anything let alone plot to hurt America. The 19 hijackers of 9/11 tragedy were plotting at bars in Florida not in mosques, bars are the places that should be barred from the hallowed site in Manhattan. Americans seem to blame the 1.5 Billion Muslims for a single act by a few criminals on 9/11, this guilt by association and the collective punishment that Americans have toward Muslim Americans,. Muslim Americans are actually the most moderate Muslims population in the Muslim world, who incidentally were victims themselves of 9/11 have become the American new bogyman in post 9/11 paranoia. The irony of all this, the Ground Zero Mosque intifada is taken place during the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, at the end of this fasting month comes the celebration of Eid Elftr (Breakingfast feast) which will be for the first time on 9/11, an anti-Muslim church community in Florida is celebrating on that day by planning to publicly burn copies of the Islamic Holy book, .You would never see a Mosque no matter how radical or wacky it is reciprocate to a such pervert behavior. Here is my advice to Muslim Americans on 9/11, abandon your Mosques, celebrate Eid Eftar only in shopping malls, Americans would be more likely to accept you as a faithful consumer but not as a faithful Muslim.
Ahmed Tharwat/ Host
Arab American TV show BelAhdan
Airs on MN Public TV , Saturday 10:30pm
Blogs at www.ahmediatv.com

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American Intifada against a Mosque

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwaNRWMN-F4&fs=1&hl=en_US]

On September 28th of 2000, the prime minster of Israel then Aerial Sharon visited the Islamic holy site, Temple Mount, also known as AL Haram Elsharif” in Jerusalem , unleashed the second Palestinian intifada that lasted for moths and caused tenths of death. The Israeli general confrontational visit to the Islamic holy site was looked at as insensitive to Muslims not just in the occupied territories, but all around the Muslim world. Now and 10 year later, we have the American intifada against the so called “Ground Zero Mosque” has been shaped mainly by irrational and out of control anti-Islamic movement that is sweeping the nation; Thousands of average Americans all over the country are marching daily in the street and town-halls to vent their anger against the proposed Mosque (Islamic culture center) in a rundown section of lower Manhattan, Islamophobia in America is going mainstream, anti Islamic slurs and derogatory comments of the right wing fanatics have been a fix on the evening daily news, a media frenzy of fear mongering misinformation about Islam and Muslims every way you look, the Islamic advocate group CAIR reported a dramatic rise in threats and attack on Muslims and Mosques in recent years, Muslims don’t need a mosque to pray, “the earth is a Mosque” the prophet advises us. This anti Mosque intifada has nothing to do with ground Zero hollowed site, Americans are opposing mosques all over this heartland; in Wisconsin, New Jersey, California and elsewhere. As the New York time reported “While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities across the country where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations”. “No more licenses for Mosques” shouted a patriotic American in one of the numerous anti Muslims rallies. The right wing extremist Pamela Geller an obscure blogger has become the darling of mainstream media promoting her ant-islamic hysteria that sweeping the nation. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg calls Geller a “lunatic racist,” and illuminate the “very depressing” fact that despite being “a marginal nutbag… it seems as if she’s setting the national agenda now on matters related to Islam and religious freedom”. Lunatics organizations like the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamisation of America (SIOA) have become increasingly influential as politicians exploit anti-Islamic rhetoric in an election year. The frantic hyped debate on the so called Ground Zero Mosque, has moved from freedom of religion to freedom from religion, and a referendum on Islam as a religion and not on a Mosque location. The most ridiculous politician in America, Newt Gingrich wasting no time to further his battered political career equating the building of the Islamic culture center in lower Manhattan to building of a Nazi Museum at the Holocaust site. The former house speaker once again has shown his bankrupt and childish demeanor pondering to American ignorance to world affairs and adopt Saudi Arabia brand of religion freedom. The fear mongering Fox News lunched their well funded 24/7 anti-Muslim Misinformation propaganda machine to the point that it won’t be a far fetch for Muslims to prevent Fox News organization from near all the bombing sites in Iraq and Afghanistan; Insensitive to the families of the Muslims victims of war propaganda. The audacity of President Obama support Muslims rights to worship at it, but not the wisdom to build it, didn’t not save him from Americans deep suspicion of his faith, according to the latest Pew Polls shows that the number of Americans who believe of his Islamic faith myth has increased than a year ago and 1 in each 3 Americans don’t even know his religion faith at all. American strong xenophobic aptitude is deep and widespread in its short history, started with the natives culture genocide, to blacks enslavement, Japanese Internment, the Catholics inquisition in the sixties, the Jews, and now the Hispanics are experiencing this ethnic hostility, but nothing is so ridiculous and erratic than this Americana intifada against a Mosque. A whooping 70% of Americans oppose the building of the Mosque in lower Manhattan . Those are the same people who sent their sons and daughters to liberate Muslims in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, and assure their freedom of religion. Recently America crowned a Muslim American the beauty pageant, Muslims American are free to build their body, but not their Mosques. Americans Intifada turned the secular site of ground zero to a holy place, at the same time turned Muslim holy place to a scary one. This extreme love and extreme hate to places is a dogma found only in sects and extremists like Taliban. So many Americans afraid of Mosques, and most of Americans never been in a Mosque, and without any evidence or rational think Mosques are center command for terrorists. Where in fact Mosques are the ones been threatened and terrorized in this country. I have been going to Mosques all my life, here and abroad, after each visit, the only people I would like to terrorize is the Mosque Imams themselves with their incoherent boring sermons. Mosque is the most diverse place in America where people from all cultures and backgrounds come together and practices Islam based on their own unique customs, and ethnicity; which makes the Mosque a very hard place to agree on anything let alone plot to hurt America. Americans seem to blame the 1.5 Billion Muslims for a single act by a few criminals on 9/11, this guilt by association and the collective punishment that Americans have toward Muslim Americans, is a birth right that Americans keep only for themselves , no Muslim is allowed to talk about American unconditional support to Israeli aggression and occupation of Palestine, or even questioning the wisdom of American Military expansionism in the Muslim world, causing the death of 100,000’s of Muslims, the world most powerful mercenaries of Backwater private company whipped out a whole city in Iraq, and they still operate in Muslim countries near mosques. American fixation with 9/11 and their sudden obsession of the Ground Zero hallowed site is idolatrous. With all due respect to the victim’s families who lost loved ones in 9/11 tragedy, it is not the only tragic single event in the history of the world. In the Muslim world everyday is a tragic event cause by American military intervention and support of Muslim dictators in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Afghanistan …; These are the same so called moderate Muslim countries that have become breeding ground for terrorists and centers of Bin Laden and El Qaida recruits. Muslim Americans are actually the most moderate Muslims population in the Muslim world, who incidentally were victims themselves of 9/11 have become the American new bogyman in post 9/11 paranoia. “ The “Ground Zero Mosque” Controversy, “has the Spanish inquisition feel to it, now they tell us where to worship, and what to wear and eventually Muslims would be asked to eat pork to be accepted” explained Professor Fouzi Slisli, who teaches in multicultural education at St. Cloud university. The irony of all this, the Ground Zero Mosque intifada is taken place during the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, at the end of this fasting month comes the celebration of Eid Elftr (Breakingfast feast) which will be for the first time on 9/11, an anti-Muslim church community in Florida is embracing Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch politician who advocates banning the Qu’ran, celebrating on that day by planning to publicly burn copies of the Islamic Holy book, .You would never see a Mosque no matter how radical or wacky it is reciprocate to a such pervert behavior. Here is my advice to Muslim Americans on 9/11, abandon your Mosques, celebrate Eid Eftar only in shopping malls, Americans would be more likely to accept you as a faithful consumer but not as a faithful Muslim.
Ahmed Tharwat/ Host
Arab American TV show BelAhdan
Airs on MN Public TV , Saturday 10:30pm

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Holidiversity: Ramadan dinner with the inspection team

Holidiversity: Ramadan dinner with the inspection team
A few years ago and as an Egyptian Muslim living in America, I celebrate the holy month of Ramadan during the winter month of December — fasting during the shortest days of the year it was a blessing from the sky. As a Muslim who has been married to an American woman for 20 years, I wanted to celebrate Ramadan and Christmas at the same time. Wow, I thought to myself, what an occasion: our two religious celebrations combined into one magic evening in my house, an evening of transformation that would symbolize our great, diverse life in America. A Ramadan-Christmas dinner would bring a real meaning to our two rich cultures.
Then came the sound of my wife’s warning: “We usually celebrate Christmas at my parents’ house . . . we can always invite them to celebrate the Ramadan-Christmas evening with us this year,” she added with a smile.
Invite your parents to our house? Your parents, who each time they visit spend months recovering from clutter shock? Honey, I screamed, this is like inviting the U.N. Special Commission WMD inspection team in Iraq! They come, they inspect, and then they give you a lengthy report of noncompliance. We are talking about a rigorous inspection of our house, then lengthy telephone calls of violations.
Your parents, whom I love dearly, have a talent for pointing out the most minute imperfection in our house. And they look at it as not just un-American but as a sign of mental illness. If they come, we have to declare half of our house a no-fly zone.
Your parents, I pleaded, go to great lengths to mispronounce my family’s names, as if it is their way of Americanizing them. Even our own daughter, whom they madly love and cherish — her biblical name Sara was not spared and became “Saaara,” and my own name Tharwat became “Somewat.”
To keep peace in the family, and in the spirit of the holidays, I finally agreed to have a Ramadan-Christmas dinner with my in-laws in our house. First, to get ready for the UNSCOM inspection team, I would have to make some changes in the menu.
First, there wouldn’t be any Egyptian food of mass destruction, or any garlic dishes that could constitute chemical warfare on the dinner table. That meant getting rid of my homemade pickles. And forget about my favorite Egyptian national dish, mulloklicia with rabbits, which, my wife protested, has too much garlic. “Besides, rabbits are our cute Easter bunnies,” she explained with a shrug. It is ironic that people in the East don’t share the same feeling toward these cute eastern bunnies.
After two weeks of ethnic food cleansing in our house, we finally were ready for our Ramadan-Christmas dinner. Thanks to our President for not invading a Moslem country and not spoiling our dinner.
At the table, it was reassuring to see that some of my favorite Ramadan dishes had survived the inspection process. There was a sense of harmony and understanding.
My homemade katife and konaffa dessert dishes sat side by side with the fruit cake and apple pies. My homemade fattah dish peacefully coexisted with the turkey stuffing. On the tree, Ramadan lantern ornaments cheerfully danced with Christmas ornaments.
We made sure that we started eating at Iftar’s time (breaking of the fast meal). As the in-laws met the outlaws together at the same dinner table, and as I patiently waited to break my dawn-to-dusk fast, my mother-in-law did what she usually does when we eat at her house. She asked us to pray, a prayer that usually involves asking God to take care and bless the relatives who were not invited to dinner in the first place.
When I was growing up in a family of eight children, we didn’t go into a great length of praying every time we ate; there was a brief whispering of God’s name, the merciful and the most compassionate, then a quick jump to the serious business of gobbling the food before it was all gone.
As I was refraining from exercising my First Amendment right about the long dinner prayer, something wonderful happened to me. Spending Ramadan here in my new home America usually brings memories of the past, of my family back home, of my mom and dad, who passed away a few years ago. Sitting at the table with everyone else, wondering about my missing family and listening to my mother-in-law’s routine dinner prayer, I remembered that my mom used to ask us to pray — not because it is a religious requirement, but to slow us down a little before we started grabbing at the food.
As I looked across the table at my mother-in-law, I saw my mom’s face, and I even joined in the prayer: “AAAAmen.”
After enjoying our Ramadan-Christmas dinner, we proceeded to the opening of our Christmas gifts. My first gift was from my daughter, and there was a note on the box that said, “From Sara to the best dad in the world.” In the box was a can of my rejected Egyptian fava beans. It was the best gift I ever had.
Ahmed Tharwat, Minnetonka, is host and producer of BelAhdan, a Middle Eastern television variety show in the Twin Cities, which airs at 10:30p.m. Saturday on Ch. 17.

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