This summer, Zaytuna Institute presents an 8 week long intensive program to teach the Arabic language.

 Zaytuna Summer Arabic Intensive : A Complete Immersion Experience

Zaytuna has gathered some of the best Arabic language teachers in the West to teach this program:

• Abdullah Ali
• Dawood Yasin
• Usama Canon
• Khalil Moore
• Nethal Abdul-Mu’min
• Qari Amar Bellaha

Read their bios here:  http://arabicintensive.org/faculty.html

There will be some enrichment lectures conducted by:

• Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, “Secrets of Arabic Vocabulary Acquisition”
• Imam Zaid Shakir, “The Role of Arabic in the Islamic Sciences”
• Dr. Hatem Bazian, “The Arabic Roots of Al-Quds (Jerusalem)”
• Ustadha Intisar Rabb, “Authenticating Qur’anic Texts and Variant Readings”
• Dr. Sulayman Nyang, “The Impact of Arabic in Africa”
• Dr. Khalid Blankinship
• Dr. Kenneth Honerkamp

Bios here: http://arabicintensive.org/lectures.html

Basing their program on the “Complete Immersion Experience”, students will be living in the Westminster House in Berkeley, where they have the option of completely immersing themselves in a Arabic-only environment or a partial Arabic environment (Elementary Arabic level).

We are pleased to announce that our parent company, MQu.be, designed and developed the site. We are honored to have Zaytuna as one of our esteemed clients.

Our friends of Nasheeds.com have a special bonus for all IslamCrunch readers. Use the code below to receive a 15% discount on all purchases! Some CDs are already on sale. Use the code to receive an additional 15% off on sale items!

ST32IC1439*

Pre-order the upcoming Native Deen album, Not Afraid to Stand Alone. This album has been highly anticipated. Anyone who has seen Native Deen recently will know that they have grown artistically, creatively and spiritually. When our brothers from Native Deen visited San Jose this year, their set was a m a z i n g.

Click on the CD cover to read more about the album.

Another album to add to your collection is Hamza Robertson’s Something About Life. Hamza may not be a household name yet but he has already toured with Sami Yusuf, Native Deen and other well-known nasheed performers. Use the special code above to add an additional 15% to the current discount of 10% off. That’s 25% discount!

Click on the CD cover to read more about the album.

Out Seeing the Fields by singer/songwriter Dawud Wharnsby is an intimate collection of songs underscored by acoustic guitar and the intricate piano work of US based composer Idris Phillips. Wharnsby’s poetry and voice are in the foreground as usual, with subject matter addressing honesty of faith, quest for identity, spiritual growth, and love. Other elements include a tribute to peace activist Rachel Corrie and a semi-autobiographic look at balancing faith with the egocentric music industry. Another opportunity to purchase this album at 25% discount.

Click on the CD cover to read more about the album.

Nasheeds.com has been very gracious to showcase IslamCrunch on their site and our relationship continues to grow, which all began here: http://islamcrunch.com/archives/ramadan-competition/

Please support them, tell all your friends about this offer and purchase your ‘Eid gifts now. Share this article by clicking here!

* = valid until December 31, 2007.

Amal Press has just released a new video that showcases their latest book title, In The Land of the Ayatollahs, Tupac Shakur is King.

Link to the video: Muxlim.tv - In The Land of the Ayatollahs, Tupac Shakur is King

You can read an interview with Amal Press’ Editor-in-Chief, Aftab Malik and our exclusive announcement here: http://islamcrunch.com/archives/book-launch-in-the-land-of-the-ayatollahs-tupac-shakur-is-king/

Please vote for the video and add it to your Favorites, so that the video will be placed on the front page.

Exclusive!* Imam Zaid Shakir has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Cordoba Center Ramadan fundraising event: Feeding The Soul. This event is an annual fundraiser that the South Valley Islamic Center/Cordoba Center conducts during the month of Ramadan. Imam Zaid has blessed the small (but growing) community with his participation at the inaugural and second Feeding The Soul event. We** are ecstatic to have Imam Zaid and his wife, Umm Hassan, with us again this year for the 4th annual event.

Following last year’s tradition, the community plans to finish reciting the Quran during the nightly Tarawih prayers after the fundraiser.

Imam Zaid has just published an article titled Ramadan Lessons: Lesson One. Imam Zaid has also initiated a new endeavor: The Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, California. Check out the Facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5069346607

Check Imam Zaid’s upcoming events and programs here: http://www.newislamicdirections.com/nid/programs/

* As of this posting, no announcements have been made on Imam Zaid’s site, Zaytuna or Cordoba Center.

** Most of the IslamCrunch team reside and contribute to the community.

Always looking for new technology, we recently discovered Pibb, a new communication utility. We found Kevin Fox online and pulled him aside, Pibb style (you can do this by clicking on a username and having a private chat discussion). Kevin handles Product Development at JanRain, the developers of Pibb, Jyte and MyOpenID. Kevin has graced us with an interview; this the first ever interview discussing Pibb. We are honored with this opportunity to showcase Pibb.

Two things to watch for: an embedded chat here on IslamCrunch and apps for many social network sites.

IslamCrunch challenge: Using Pibb to communicate with others during an Islamic event. Pibb can be used to document what transpires at an event, anyone can log on and read/interact with the attendees.

Here is the interview with Kevin of JanRain:

IslamCrunch: What is your web application/service about?

Pibb is about making it easy for people to communicate online. It has a unique feature set that brings together the familiarity of forums, power of blogs, flexibility of email and convenience of instant messaging all in one browser window.

Pibb is a comprehensive solution for all your communication needs; one-on-one chat, communication backchannel for conferences, support tool, or for community based private/public discussions, Pibb is the answer.

If you have something to say, we want you to ‘Say it on Pibb’.

IslamCrunch: Why did you start this project?

There was a need for an OpenID communications platform to complement our Jyte (claim and credibility engine) and MyOpenID (OpenID account provider) products. The communications space is very interesting and has lots of room for growth.

IslamCrunch: How much time do you devote to its growth?

As much as possible, if you can’t find me on Pibb (https://pibb.com/me/kfox.myopenid.com) there is likely a another JanRain’er who can help on the ‘Pibb Discussion’ channel (http://archive.pibb.com/Pibb+Discussion/General/)

IslamCrunch: How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?

12 people (http://janrain.com/about). Varying backgrounds, I have a Computer Science degree and an MBA, Jason Mckerr has an background in finance and an MBA, tons of awesome engineering talent (Python, Ruby, Perl, Ajax, etc.), Michael Graves and Larry Drebes have both done successful startups in the past.

IslamCrunch: What is your design/service philosophy?

Our goal is to create products that are valuable to people and help to grow communities. Always engage and listen to the community, they are our biggest asset. Our philosophy is to keep things open and make Pibb as intuitive to use as possible. Specifically we want users to own their content and we try to always make it easy for people to get content in and out of Pibb.

IslamCrunch: What technologies are you currently using?

Pibb is built using GWT (Google Web Toolkit), Python, Ruby on Rails

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