Community News (V9-I47)

Razvis score at Texas Senior Games

SUGARLAND, TX–Dr. Khalid Razvi and his brother Mahmood Razvi won an amazing tally of nine medals at the Texas Senior Games held in Temple last month.

Dr. Khalid Razvi (66), a professional geophysicist, won gold in badminton singles, mixed double and shuffle board singles and doubles and silver in badminton men’s doubles.

Mahmood Razvi won gold in Badminton singles and shuffle board singles, silver in men’s doubles badminton and gold in shuffle board men’s doubles.

Columnist award with “Building Bridges Award”

ATLANTA, GA–Columnist Sally Satterthwaite was honored by the Islamic Speakers Bureau (ISB) for promoting inter-religious and multi-ethnic dialogue in Georgia. The ISB is one of the largest Muslim organization in Atlanta.

Dr. Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi of Columbia Theological Seminary, Trickum Middle School also received the award. Both Satterthwaite and Cardoza-Orlandi are being recognized for their active roles in breaking stereotypes and improving relations among Georgia’s ethnic and religious communities.

“This event is a great opportunity to give due respect and honor to those who, everyday, try to strengthen the diverse fabric of our society through education and understanding,” says Soumaya Khalifa, ISB Executive Director.

ISB is an apolitical, non-partisan educational organization and a local affiliate of ING (Islamic Networks Group), the leading outreach institution providing education about Islam and Muslim culture since 1993, with affiliates both nationally and in England.

Sohail Khan, CEO SiGe Semiconductors

Sohail Khan is the CEO of Canada based SiGe Semiconductors. He has more than 25 years of experience in the communications and semiconductor industry, with a track record of building large, successful global businesses, creating new products, and developing new markets. Khan comes to SiGe Semiconductor from Bessemer Venture Partners, where he served as an entrepreneur in residence and operating partner, responsible for evaluating communications deals and providing assistance to portfolio companies. Previously, he helped to execute Agere’s IPO spin-out, and held the positions of executive vice president of Infrastructure Systems and chief strategy and development officer.

Khan increased the company’s profitability through expanding market share and entering new markets through acquisition. During his career, Khan served as president of Lucent’s Integrated Circuits – Microelectronics division, where he grew the company’s market position in cellular handsets and base stations through collaboration with some of the industry’s leading names in this segment.

Khan has also held various management positions at NEC Electronics, Intel and the National Engineering Services of Pakistan. Sohail sits on the board of directors for both LightPath Technologies, a public company traded on NASDAQ, and GainSpan Corporation, a venture funded private company. Khan holds a master of business administration from the University of California at Berkeley, and a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Engineering in Lahore, Pakistan.

Politics of immigration panel at Pace University

Pace University School of Law professor Vanessa Merton says the dialogue on immigration the school will host Nov. 28 is not the typical panel of “talking heads.”

Jane Guskin and David Wilson, authors of the book Politics of Immigration, will tackle such tough questions as: Are immigrants really a drain on social services? and Are the lowest-paid US-born workers really hurt by immigration?

The free event begins at 6 p.m. on Nov. 28 in Judicial Institute Room 105 at Pace Law School at 78 North Broadway in White Plains.

It is hosted by Pace Law School’s Immigration Justice Clinic, Asian American Students Association, Muslim Law Students Association, Latin American Law Students Association and the International Law Society.

Muslim dentist sues over citizenship delays

MINNEAPOLIS, MN–Dr. Atif Rizvi’s dentist who serves the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. The latter are an impoverished and underserved community were most other medical professionals try to avoid. Despite his impeccable services Dr.Rizvi has faced an incredible amount of delay in getting his US citizenship. Instead of waiting the normal four months, he has waited for three years and is now taking legal action.

A graduate of a dental school in Karachi, Rizvi moved to the United States as a permanent resident and applied to become a naturalized citizen while living in Los Angeles. Later on he moved to Minnesota and obtained his license to practice dentistry here during the summer of 2006. He went to work at the Mille Lacs band’s Ne-Ia-Shing Clinic, the first full-time dentist the clinic on the impoverished reservation had in quite some time.

“I know over the years, we’ve had real problems trying to get dentists,” said Don Wedll, the band’s head of long-range planning. “Having dentists work here has been a real struggle.”

Wedll on Monday told the Dispatch that though Rizvi’s lawsuit doesn’t have anything to do with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the band was supporting him because he was an employee they’d like to keep.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis last week said Rizvi was told in August 2004 that he had passed the English language and civics tests required for naturalization, but that a “background check” was pending.

He was told the same thing in 2005, when he was fingerprinted again. And again in June 2006 he was told the background check was pending, the lawsuit states. In July, Rizvi’s attorney inquired about the delay and was told yet again the background check was pending. In August, Rizvi was fingerprinted a third time.

Rizvi claims in the lawsuit that doing the background checks after he passed the initial examination “is neither appropriate nor authorized under the law.”

Loyola College’s Week of Dialogue highlights Muslim-Christian relations

BALTIMORE, MD–On November 7th, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) co-sponsored a panel discussion with the Student Government Association (SGA), entitled “Beyond Stereotypes: Moving Forward from 9/11.” Featured during Loyola College’s Week of Dialogue, the panel included Loyola students Soad Mahfouz, Asad Jabbar, AJ Olesh, Ashya Majied and MSA president and founder Iman Awad, the Greyhound reported.

The first panelist, Mahfouz, discussed problems with the Arabic Koran’s English translation. “With any translation, there is the problem of missing the full impact,” Mahfouz said. She also discussed the similarities and differences between Christianity and the Islamic faith. In particular, she stated that the Koran views Allah, or God, as the all-powerful being, Jesus as the messenger from God, and “the Holy Spirit is the angel which brought revelation.”

Jabbar focused on the political and social implications of Islam in the post-9/11 world. He defined martyrdom as the “ability and the willingness to sacrifice in the name of a greater cause.” With suicide bombings depicted everywhere from CNN to the hit TV drama 24, “the implicit assumption is that this one act is more religious than political.” However, Jabbar argues that this is not the case. The correlation between Islam and extreme violence is not one of causation, said Jabbar, and “Islam in itself is completely about supporting and sustaining life in itself and never about…aggression or denying and rejecting this life.” Jabbar emphasized the importance of separating politics from religion in this era.

Olesh, who is not Muslim, discussed the controversial term “fundamentalism” and its semantics. The word connotes all fundamentalists as violent which is an unfair assumption, according to Olesh. “There are extremists who do extreme things and that’s why we call them extremists,” he said, “but a fundamentalist is not necessarily this person.” There are also instances of extremists throughout history for many different religions, such as the self-proclaimed Christian Ku Klux Klan, Olesh pointed out.

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