Master Calligrapher, Haji Noor Deen, has collaborated with the M.E.C.C.A. Center to produce a calendar for the 2008 calendar year. The calendar will be produced by Andalusian Arts, the producers of the award-winning ‘Longing For The Divine’ calendars. The calendars will be launched at the ISNA 2007 convention in early September, insha’Allah. After that, the calendars should be available at your favorite Islamic bookstore.

Already there are have been early discussions to bring the calendars to mainstream bookstores. As soon as we receive sample images and other updates, we will post them here. We would like to thank Sidi Tariq Subhani, Vice-President of M.E.C.C.A Center for the news. Please support M.E.C.C.A. Center by purchasing your copy of the calendar (or several copies!)

Imam Zaid Shakir views Haji Noor Deen’s calligraphy scrolls.

“The Muslim Education and Converts Center of America (M.E.C.C.A.) was founded in January 2006 by Nur Aisha Samat, Thomas Wilentz and Sara Umm Zaid, with the goal of providing quality education and support to new Muslims, while building bridges with non-Muslims in American society.

To learn more about M.E.C.C.A. Center, please visit their site: http://www.meccacenter.com/

In regards to our earlier post about the Zaytuna community announcement, here is an update from the Zaytuna website: http://www.zaytuna.org/zrelocation.asp 
Answers for the following questions are provided:

• Question: Why is Zaytuna Institute moving?
• Question: Isn’t this move sudden?
• Question: When and where will Zaytuna be moving to?

Zaytuna’s new address after September 1st, 2007, insha’Allah:

2070 Allston Way, Suite 300, Berkeley, CA 94704

I just returned from the Zaytuna gathering where they made their community announcement. There have been a lot of rumors distributed via emails and forums. So, here are the key points that were mentioned tonight:

• Zaytuna is moving from their present location
• Effective September 1, 2007
• Community classes will continue through December 2007
• Classes will be mobile, held in different locations throughout the Bay Area during this period
• Zaytuna will be working with University of California, Berkeley to achieve accreditation for their courses
• Classes will be shorter in duration (Previously, classes were about 10 weeks long. Future classes will be approximately 5 weeks in length)

Even though not explicitly mentioned, references were made that Zaytuna would be moving to Berkeley, California.

Sidi Yahya Rhodus is currently on a sabbatical, expected to return to Zaytuna in 1 - 2 years, insha’Allah. A new scholar will be joining the staff, Ustadh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali - He is the only American to attend and graduate from the University of Al-Qarawiyyin’s Faculty of Shari’ah in Fez, Morocco. Ustadh Abdullah has also studied traditionally with some of the top scholars of Morocco and other notable scholars in North America. He works as a chaplain in the Pennsylvania prison system, has participated and conducted many seminars, lectures, and classes at mosques and universities in the Philadelphia and East Coast region, and translated several traditional Islamic texts.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Abdurrahman Tahir, Imam Tahir Anwar, Shaykh Ilyas Anwar, Imam Abdurrahman Anwar, Qari Amer Bellaha were in attendance.

After posting some information about IslamCrunch on one of our Linkedin profiles, there has been a lot of speculation about IslamCrunch. Well, the time has come to unveil this project.

IslamCrunch was developed to showcase businesses, organizations and projects that involved Muslims. All of us here at IslamCrunch have been involved with a variety of projects in the Muslim community and have amassed a large network. Through this network, we receive a continuous flow of information about new projects. IslamCrunch plans to to deliver the information and content in a centralized location, insha’Allah.

Creativity plays a big role in our daily lives, so we decided we would not exclude any information that we share. We look forward to discussing new technologies, media stories, cultural events and more. If we feel it should be ‘crunched’, we will post it.

Why IslamCrunch? Simple. The name sounds cool. Crunch into something, you get a flavorful sensation. Crunch some numbers, you get some data. Crunch an object, you show how resilient it is.

However, IslamCrunch is more than that. Explore with us.

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