Taken from the conference: “Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed: Implications for Muslims and Christians” hosted by the Yale Divinity School, July 2008.

With Shaykh Al-Habib Ali Al-Jifri and Rev. Dr. Robert Schuller
Wednesday, July 30

Introduction by Joseph Lombard, author of Submission, Faith & Beauty*.

Live translation by Ustadh Yahya Rhodus.

The video player above is an interactive video (place your cursor over the dots in the timeline). Add text comments, video comments, tags and share the video with your friends and family.

More videos here: http://www.yale.edu/divinity/video/commonword/video.shtml

Also available: a video with Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad Winter

* Published by Zaytuna Institute, co-edited by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir

"Thumbing through the Saturday morning program, I finally decided to attend the 75-minute workshop titled "Thinking Outside the Mosque: How Muslim Institutions Can Change America."

Little did I know that I would hear one of the most compelling and significant Muslim American leaders—Hamza Yusuf—who converted to Islam as a teenager and co-directs the Zaytuna Institute. Much of what he said would resonate in Baptist churches."

Full article here: http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10976

Just noticed some decent traffic coming in from this site: Best Religion Feeds. Apparently, IslamCrunch was picked as one of the best feeds showcasing the Islamic religion, alhamdulillah.

Faraz from Ijtema wrote a thorough and easy-to-understand article about feeds, RSS and XML. Check it out here: Complete Beginners Guide to RSS

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Here is the video of the interview conducted on live television on May 12, 2008 at the Noor TV studios for the FALAH TV program. This is my abridged ‘conversion to Islam’ story.

To view the full interactive video, please click on the speech bubble icon next to the time code (00:21:49). You can add comments and tags at specific points on the video by mousing over the large white and gray circle. A green ‘plus’ icon will show, click on that to add your comments and tags. You can mouse over the small black and gray dots on the progress bar to see comments and tags from others.

Click here to see a larger version video: http://www.viddler.com/explore/islamcrunch/videos/1/

I would like to thank Sidi Feraidoon Mojadeddi for inviting me for the interview. I would also like to thank Sidi Fahim Mojadeddi for taking care of me during the interview. Most importantly, I would like to thank my wonderful Su for her support, patience, love and companionship.

For Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day, we decided to give a little spin on the event. Here is our perspective on what we can do to be aware about Human Rights.

There is no doubt that we need to be concerned about others who are suffering and who are less fortunate than us. We should definitely educate ourselves and make ourselves aware of the human rights situation in Darfur, Guantanamo, China and elsewhere. We need to start with ourselves. Therefore, we would like to offer these suggestions:

1. Return to your original state (known as fitrah in Islam). Return to your state before there was greed, jealousy, hatred, anger, prejudice and malice. You did not come into this world with blackness in your heart. Somehow, somewhere, the little spots of blackness were introduced into your heart. By removing the blackness, we can learn to have concern for others, we can learn to care and love others regardless of status, race, religion, wealth, etc.

2. Follow your role model. If you are Muslim, follow the exemplary qualities of the Beloved Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). Do not disregard the sunnah of the Prophet. Learn about his characteristics at home, at work, in the community and throughout society. Learn how he dealt with others from different faith communities. Be a reflection of the Best of Creation.

If you are a Christian, embody the qualities and characteristics of Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him). Coming from a Catholic background before I converted, I learned the qualities of Jesus. He was kind, gentle, patient and caring. He had concern for everyone in his environment. He worked hard for his parents, there was no Hallmark or purple roses to ‘show’ his feelings. He didn’t hate. His parents did not avoid or exclude any of the 3 wise men who visited their baby (the 3 wise men were from different regions, thus of different races). 

If you are Jewish, look to Moses for inspiration. Look at how he withstood trials and tribulations. May you all live to 120.

And so forth. Whatever your belief system or lifestyle is, follow the true, beneficial teachings within that system. 

God taught us in the Quran:

O humankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other, not that you may despise (each other). Verily, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). 

Chapter 49, verse 13

We should compete to do righteous acts. We should all strive to help the people suffering. We should all do our part to raise awareness of human rights for everyone.

Check out our BlogCatalog profile here: http://www.blogcatalog.com/user/islamcrunch

Peace.