Alhamdulillah. We couldn’t have done this without the help, guidance, and support of Allah, our parents, and our community. Our parents sacrificed much to give us hope, love, and the ability to follow our dreams. We will never be able to repay them for that.

Also, as my friend Sophia mentions, this cultural and educational movement takes on a similar form in today’s Muslim students going into medicine: “While our parents encouraged science careers or medicine for the monetary stability and gain, their children who are pursuing such a career might not be doing it for those reasons– and while the shift the kids are making isn’t in careers to another field, it is an ideological shift as to why they are pursuing such a career– i.e. medicine as a means of empowerment, being a poor doctor by passing up lucrative specialties for something like family medicine, and then using that career in ways to help the community that hasn’t been done before. again, this kind of shift also requires the stability that comes with being a second generation . . . so hopefully in the future this shift that is occurring towards non-science careers will be accompanied by a paradigm shift in what a science career can be used for. i think the key is for people to realize that the possibilities are endless. we have to get past a “survival” mindset and think bigger.”

A particular moment comes to mind when I think about why I came to law school. Once, I was at the masjid after I had started my first year of law school. An older brother who was active in the Muslim political action sphere stopped to talk to me. He is a Palestinian who had to leave his homeland. He said Salaam and asked me how I was doing, what I was up to. I told him I was in law school. We were both walking away, but he stopped and smiled brightly. “You make us so proud, Sister Taiyyaba,” he said, “we are so proud of you.” That’s when I realized that going to law school isn’t just about doing it for me….it’s about doing it for them - for our parents who sacrificed for us, for our community who gave us a home. Inshallah, all of us youth who are working in any field now have to keep ourselves grounded in our roots and remember who we are.

And we don’t just have to work for “Muslim” issues to be true to ourselves. Being who we are makes us uniquely situated to empathize and sympathize with other communities who are finding themselves victim to the same discrimination and struggles. Being empowered by our careers makes us able to do something about it for all of us. We have to be fighters for justice for all.

O ye who believe! Stand out firmly For justice, as witnesses To Allah, even as against Yourselves, or your parents, Or your kin, and whether It be (against) rich or poor: For Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (Of your hearts), lest ye Swerve, and if ye Distort (justice) or decline To do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted With all that ye do. (The Noble Quran, 4:135)

Shout out to Natasha, Saja, Yasmin Amer, Shahid, and all the other Muslim liberal arts students who were interviewed in the article! Thanks also to Nigel Edwards, whose picture is in the article in the center of the section; he was also part of our group of four Muslim law students from UNC who interviewed for this article.

Students on course for empowerment
More young Muslims gravitate toward careers in law, journalism, acting and filmmaking
By Yonat Shimron, Staff Writer
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1274326.html

Growing up in Cary, Taiyyaba Qureshi spent her summer vacations in research labs “filling petri dishes” for her immunologist father and microbiologist mother.
Her parents, natives of Pakistan, expected her to become a scientist, just like them.

But by the time she took an advanced placement physics class, Qureshi had other notions. Active in her mosque and always willing to represent Islam at churches and schools, she dreamed of a larger public role.

Her venue? Law school.

“Our parents were focused on economic stability,” said Qureshi, a second-year law student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

“Our needs are not economic stability but social and political empowerment.” [Our needs are not *now* economic stability, because our parents and support structures have allowed us to go beyond that.]

Qureshi is one of a growing number of educated, middle-class Muslims who are venturing into law, journalism, filmmaking and acting. They have seen firsthand the difficulties of being a Muslim post-9/11, and they want to ensure that America’s values of equality, freedom and opportunity are extended to all.

Whether it was the roundups of U.S. Muslims after the 2001 terrorist strikes, the perceived racial profiling at airports or the employment discrimination experienced by some women wearing the veil, these young Muslims think America needs more vocal representation from their ranks.

“We’re trying to make sure every American is entitled to civil rights guarantees in the Constitution,” said Abbas Ravjani, president of the National Muslim Law Students Association and a student at Yale Law School. The organization was formed six years ago and now has 300 students on its electronic mailing list.

In some ways, it’s the typical immigrant story. Members of the first generation spend their lives making a living and providing a safety net for their families. Members of the second generation want a greater hand in helping shape the society of the future. They are more willing to engage in political causes and fight for social justice.

Often, though, these young Muslims must confront parents who devoted their lives to science, engineering or computer programming — professions that travel well from one country to another.

Natasha El-Sergany’s Egyptian-born father expected her to become a doctor like him. When she was 10, he gave her a stethoscope. He expected her to take the Medical College Admission Test while she was in college. So when El-Sergany finally mustered the courage to tell her father she wanted to go to law school, she braced for a struggle.

“The way I ended up convincing my dad is that I told him J.D. [the law degree] stands for ‘juris doctor,’ ” said El-Sergany, 22, a law student at UNC-Chapel Hill. “He came around.”

Why pursue a law degree?

To be sure, not every Muslim entering law school wants to change the world. [Not so sure I agree with this statement - I'm sure Kamil and Shahid want to change the world in their own way.]

Kamil Chaudhary, a Duke Law School student, expects to work as a corporate lawyer at a venture capital firm when he graduates in spring. Shahid Khan, a first-year law school student at UNC-CH, is interested in patent or business law.

But there’s no denying that the number of Muslims entering law school is rising. Although there are no reliable figures because many schools don’t ask students about their religion, law schools are finding a few Muslim students where they once had none.

Farhana Khera, president and executive director of the Washington-based National Association of Muslim Lawyers, said the organization started 12 years ago with only a dozen lawyers exchanging e-mail. It now has a membership of 500.

Media majors appeal, too

Young Muslims are also studying journalism.

Yasmin Amer said she was tired of seeing Muslims misrepresented in the media. On Tuesday, Amer, a third-year journalism and Arabic double major at UNC-CH, organized a panel discussion of an inflammatory DVD called “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.”

When she graduates, Amer imagines herself working in the U.S. or in her native Egypt reporting on social and gender issues for radio or TV.

N.C. State University’s student newspaper, Technician, has its first Muslim editor, Kuwaiti-born, American-raised Saja Hindi. The 20-year-old English and political science major was also editor of the student newspaper at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh.

“A lot of people were hesitant to go into [journalism] because they were afraid of a backlash or of not being accepted,” she said. “Now it’s becoming more of an option for people.”

But the greater numbers are in law schools.

Joel Mahmud Bhuiyan became interested in the denial of legal guarantees for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

After graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut two years ago, he interned at the Center for Constitutional Rights. The New York-based nonprofit represented Guantanamo detainees before the Supreme Court.

Now Bhuiyan, 24, the son of Bangladeshi immigrants, is cramming for the Law School Admission Test and plans to apply to Duke Law School.

For Bhuiyan, it was international issues, including the imprisonments at Guantanamo or the torture inflicted by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, that led him to consider law.

“We need more Muslims to go into international human rights work,” Bhuiyan said. “That’s one field where we need more of a presence.”

Bhuiyan’s idealism is similar to Qureshi’s. She is not just interested in law.

“For me,” Qureshi said, “it’s as much about community empowerment as litigation. If I don’t like the result, I want to fight to change the law.”

One year ago: Muhajjibah = 1, Robber = 0

For those of you who have not been so fortunate as to hear about this shirt or know its creator, Mike Mallah, let me introduce you!

Mike is one of the most humble, polite, and caring people I’ve met. He has faced the kind of challenges that would break most people. But Mashallah, not only has he dealt with them all with grace and gratitude, he has used them to project himself into, Inshallah, a successful medical career. I’m lucky to know him.

Mike is a Palestinian who got sick of stereotypes and decided to do something about it. He realized that the root of most stereotyping is ignorance, so he started the Not A Wear company. At www.NotAWear.com, he sells this phenomenal tshirt - simple, black, with a message in red and white:

You should by this shirt, and you should wear it. The portion of the proceeds goes to Seeds of Peace and United Palestine Apparel.

Today, I was wearing my Not a Terrorist shirt in a very serious manner - black pants, black long sleeved shirt underneath, topped with a red hijab to highlight the colors (Sarah L. called it “blood red). It just looked like I was making a statement.

Today, I got a “look” - you know what look I mean - the “whoa…uh…okay….” kind of deer-in-headlights look when you’re wearing an emphatic t-shirt. I instinctively held my Evidence book so that it covered the message…..and then called myself a cop-out for doing that.

For some reason, the “looks” bother me more than they used to when I wore emphatic shirts in high school or college. (I had one from MuslimBasketball.com that was just a black tshirt with MUSLIM in big white letters across the chest. I loved that shirt. My mom, probably for my own good, hid it for a little while after 9-11 so I wouldn’t wear it to my high school). Maybe it’s because today I feel very strongly about presenting a professional appearance while in law school because it adds credibility to my external professional image, which might be a little hampered in some circles because of my hijab. I think twice about wearing this shirt every time, wondering what my professors will think. It could also be because today is the Law Review Symposium and there are legal professionals in suits walking around everywhere.

But, I want to get over that. I spend too much time sometimes thinking about what other people think of my professional appearance (though, you have to fairly grant me that in my profession, that is quite important in most circumstances). I find this shirt increasingly powerful as we move towards the election, and I’m going to wear it on Nov. 4th.

What a great speech by Powell today, eh?

Colin Powell during his interview with Tom Brokaw, speaking of his endorsement of Democratic Senator Barack Obama for President and his disappointment with the narrowing of the Republican Party:

“Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That’s not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards — Purple Heart, Bronze Star — showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old.

And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross; it didn’t have the Star of David; it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.”

Also see Arsalan Iftikhar’s interview on Al-Jazeerah English on General Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama today. [And check out www.theMuslimGuy.com!]

Also look at this article:

Muslims applaud Colin Powell for defending them
October 23, 2008

Lepers. Untouchables. Politically radioactive.

These are ways American Muslims describe their status in an election year when Barack Obama’s opponents are spreading rumors that he is Muslim, when he is Christian, and linking him to terrorists.

So when Colin Powell, a Republican, condemned using Muslim as a smear — a tactic he said members of his own party allowed — there was an outpouring of gratitude and relief from American Muslims.

‘‘That speech really came out of left field and really shocked us,’’ said Wajahat Ali, 27, an attorney and playwright from Fremont, Calif. ‘‘The sense is that it’s about time. He said something that needed to be said.’’

The retired general, who was President Bush’s first secretary of state, made the comments on NBC’s ‘‘Meet the Press,’’ as he broke with his party to endorse the Democratic nominee for president. Powell noted in last Sunday’s broadcast that Republican John McCain did not spread rumors about Obama’s faith, but Powell said he was ‘‘troubled’’ that others did.

‘‘The correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America,’’ Powell said.

‘‘Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, ‘He’s a Muslim and he might be associated (with) terrorists.’ This is not the way we should be doing it in America.’’

Powell said he felt especially strongly about the rumors because of a photo he saw in The New Yorker magazine of the mother of a Muslim soldier in Arlington Cemetery embracing her son’s grave, which was marked with a Muslim crescent and star. The solider, Kareem R. Khan of New Jersey, was 20 when he was killed in Iraq.

‘‘We American Muslims have talked about our patriotism and the heroism of some American Muslims till we were blue in the face, and neither the media nor the people listen,’’ said Seeme Hasan, a Pueblo, Colo., Republican whose family has given tens of thousands of dollars to the GOP.

‘‘Gen. Powell made people listen and at a very humane level,’’ said Hasan, who is backing McCain. ‘‘More people in leadership positions need to say this and recognize this — that American Muslims have worked very hard to fight this war on terror.’’

The inaccurate claims that Obama is secretly Muslim started as soon as he was mentioned as a potential presidential candidate.

There were false rumors that he was educated at a radical Islamic school as a child in Indonesia and that he was sworn into the Senate on the Quran.

His opponents emphasized his middle name — Hussein — and circulated a photo of him wearing traditional tribal garb on a 2006 visit to Somalia.

Kari Ansari, a mother of three from Villa Park, Ill., said the allegations upset her 10-year-old son.

‘‘It sort of made him feel like, ‘If they won’t elect him president just for trying on Muslim clothes, they will never elect me because I’m a real Muslim,’’’ said Ansari, a founder of America’s Muslim Family, a quarterly magazine. ‘‘That’s heartbreaking for us as Muslim parents.’’

Obama has combatted the claims in speeches and on a campaign Web site dedicated to debunking inaccuracies about him. But the belief persists.

A poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found 12 percent of voters believed the Illinois senator is Muslim. That poll was released Tuesday — coincidentally, the same day the head of a New Mexico Republican women’s group called Obama a ‘‘Muslim socialist’’ and said ‘‘Muslims are our enemies.’’ County and GOP officials condemned the statements.

‘‘Muslims feel jaded by the 2008 election precisely because they see the smearing of their identity,’’ Ali said. ‘‘Muslim or Arab is seen as a scarlet letter, political leprosy, kryptonite. There is that taint there. We’re the lowest of the low.’’

The experience isn’t entirely new for American Muslims, who have struggled for acceptance in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The major parties have quietly courted them for years, yet presidential candidates have refused to publicly associate with them, leaders say.

The exact number of U.S. Muslim voters is not known. But many are wealthy professionals who came to the country to earn graduate degrees in engineering, medicine and business. They settled in significant numbers in key states including Michigan and Florida.

Presidential candidates ‘‘are not willing to have their photo taken, they don’t meet with Muslim organizations, and they shy away from any issue that may link them to the Muslim community,’’ said Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a Los Angeles advocacy group leading a national Muslim voter registration campaign.

‘‘We’re treated as untouchables in politics,’’ al-Marayati said. Yet, this year has been especially painful because of the attacks on Obama.

Hesham Hassaballa, a physician and author from Chicago, said this month he formally left the GOP, partly because of the allegations. Like many other Muslims, Hassaballa had joined the Republican Party because of its small-government philosophy, social conservatism and pledge to limit taxes.

In 2000, he supported McCain in the primaries, then Bush in the final election. Four years later, he backed Democrat John Kerry for president, partly to protest Bush policies on detaining and interrogating terror suspects, but remained Republican.

Now, he says the party has abandoned its principles. ‘‘The McCain of 2008 is not the McCain of 2000,’’ Hassaballa said. ‘‘With the way the campaign has been going and a lot of the anti-Muslim rhetoric, just how the McCain campaign has conducted itself, just really turned me off.’’

The McCain campaign did not respond to requests for comment. In defending himself, Obama has rejected the idea that being called Muslim is an insult. His campaign also has an outreach coordinator to the Muslim community.

Some American Muslims said they wished the Illnois senator would say more forcefully that their religion should not be used as a smear, but said they understood that it could damage his presidential bid in this political climate.

‘‘I don’t think there could have been any better messenger than Colin Powell, being someone who is a well-respected Republican, a former secretary of state and an army general,’’ said Arsalan Iftikhar, a Washington, D.C., civil rights lawyer and writer who supports Obama. ‘‘American Muslims feel slightly politically radioactive at this time. This sends a resounding message of inclusiveness.’’

One year ago: Jalaibi

I’m usually pretty good at standing up for myself with respect to making my personal religious boundaries known to those around me. It’s a deliberate action I think every Muslim in a majority non-Muslim society has to decide to do (or not, I guess, if that’s how you feel). Non-Mahram contact issues are especially predominant: Do I shake hands with someone of the opposite gender? Do I accept hugs from someone of the opposite gender (and how do I escape surprise hugs?) Then there’s the wudu and prayer time issues (getting caught with your foot in the sink).

Lawyers like to network. Networking means contacts, and contacts means jobs and referrals. But in the legal career, networking happens in places that I’m not to happy to be.

The newest thing I’m facing in law school is debating whether or not to attend social or professional events that significantly involve drinking. In college, I’d avoid having to make this choice by not involving myself with social groups that drank. Lawyers “network” by going to bars, cocktail parties, or hanging around the cash bar that inevitably operates at every legal event. Case in point: UNC Law School organizations have “Bar Review” every Thursday night. Ten points for guessing what that means. Clue: it’s not a study party.

Needless to say, the legal profession has a disproportionately high level of alcoholism.

They ask you (O Muhammad SAW) concerning alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: “In them is a great sin, and (some) benefit for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit.” And they ask you what they ought to spend [in charity]. Say: “That which is beyond your needs.” Thus Allâh makes clear to you His Laws in order that you may give thought.” Surat Al-Baqarah, v. 219

A recent decision I had to make was when the legal journal I work for, the North Carolina Journal for International Law and Commercial Regulation was planning an alcoholic social event after the first day of orientation. The plan was that the staff would interact off-campus to build collegiality before all the work started.

Naturally, I was uncomfortable with this. For me, it doesn’t cut it to just hang around the bar and not drink, to go just for the socialization. That’s not okay. I emailed the managing editor with my concern, telling her that I wouldn’t be attending this event because of my religious beliefs. (I wanted them to know that the reason I wasn’t attending was because of my faith, not because I’m antisocial).

I was surprised, quite surprised, when she and the staff responded by completely changing the location to a popsicle shop. I told them that they didn’t have to change the location just for my sake, on such short notice, but they assured me that it was fine. I was impressed.

I know that I’ll have to face this choice more often than I’d like. I don’t know what kind of effect it will have on my “legal network.” Part of me thinks that I wouldn’t want to be working with lawyers who spend so much time around alcohol anyway, and that most of this is “big firm” life, which I am not particularly interested in. Another part tells me that I should not judge people’s alcohol consumption (and their corresponding legal skills) by my own Muslim standards.

O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), gambling, Al-Ansab, and Al-Azlam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Satan’s handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful. Satan wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So, will you not then abstain? Surat al-Maidah, v. 90-91

But the loudest voice in my head is telling me that even though I will not always be able to avoid these situations, I’d rather carve out a kind of personal life and legal career for myself that does not depend on success at a cash bar networking event. It’s not worth it. It’s not worth compromising my faith or personal convictions. I want to have the kind of personal control over my career where I can make people remember me not by how we socialized at a cash bar but the kind of work I do. It may be against the grain, but hey, that’s what law is about - fighting for and enforcing your legitimate point of view for a good reason.

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

what does a food blog do during Ramadan? it fasts, obviously, just like its author. for this month, at least, food will take a back burner in my life. this is a month, like my teacher once explained, where a muslim intentionally creates a physical void inside his or her body and tries to fill it instead with an increased awareness and connection to God.

ramadan represents chance - a chance to focus on all aspects of yourself and your life. ramadan represents choice - the choice to use this blessed month to strike a balance between self-denial and self-fulfillment. instead of waiting around for something dynamic to happen in your life, waiting for a catalyst to push you into self-renewal - ramadan is a time for each person to take his or her life into their own hands - grasp every day and every night and throw themselves entirely into this life to transform it into a preparation for the hereafter.

there are a lot of things i want to change about myself. i’ve noticed myself slipping into a bare-bones minimum religious life (from what i tell myself is busy-ness and fatigue) and i’m not happy with that. i know where my mind and heart used to be, and i want to get back there and go beyond it to a higher level of spiritual strength.

i want to use this month to increase my patience and focus in many areas - faith, family, school. i want to make myself think more deeply about who i am (i.e. expand my mind beyond where law school has confined it for the past year), spend more time immersed in thought and exploring inside my own mind. i want to read more Quraan and spend time learning the words and meaning of the verses and thinking of ways to apply them to my life.

i’m not even sure why i’m writing this in a blog post. this really is a private matter, but i think if i post it and see it over and over, i’ll feel more of a sense of dedication to my goals. making myself write it down and put it in a place where i can see it is important to me.

my Lord has never turned His back on me. He’s always given me more than I could ever think to ask for, bestowing bounty and mercy on me without me even asking for it. even though i am not where i should be right now, i know that He will guide me once i make the intention and effort to learn and open my heart.