Community News, Vol. 8 Iss. 43

Muslims speak out on global warming

PHILADELPHIA, PA–Dr. Syed Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was one of the keynote speakers at the Sacred Seasons, Sacred Earth Interfaith Celebration, organized by the Shalom Center in Philadelphia. The event marked the coinciding of Ramadan, the sacred Jewish month that includes Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. October 1 was Worldwide (Protestant/ Orthodox) Communion Sunday. October 2 is Gandhi’s birthday. October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This confluence will occur again in 2007. Thereafter, it will not recur for thirty years.

The event in Philadelphia called for urgent action to fight global warming.

“Many of the resources are vanishing and that is not what God intended for us,” said Dr. Mohammed Almashhadani, of Al-Aqsa Mosque and former imam of the Albanian American Muslim Society mosque, both in North Philadelphia.

Participants observed the Jewish tradition of building a Sukkah, a hut that brings the community into close with the earth and listened to meditations offered by Buddhists. They later joined together for Iftar.

Cavium Networks Receives 2006 Excellence in Technology Alignment Award

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA–Cavium Networks, a world leader in networking, security and embedded processor solutions, has received the Excellence in Technology Alignment award from Cisco Systems, Inc. Cavium Networks was selected based on its currently shipping products. This prestigious award recognized significant Cavium technology that has met Cisco’s product requirements and positively impacted the satisfaction level of Cisco’s customers. The award presentation was done at the Cisco 15th annual supplier appreciation event keynoted by Cisco’s President and Chief Executive Officer, John Chambers.

“Cavium Networks is honored to receive top recognition from Cisco,” said Syed Ali, CEO and President of Cavium Networks. “This recognition reinforces Cavium’s solid commitment and dedication to developing market-leading technologies and exceeding our customers’ requirements.”

Syed Ali has over 23 years of management and engineering experience in the semiconductor area. Prior to Cavium Networks, Syed Ali was a founding management team member and VP Marketing/Sales at Malleable Technologies , a communication chip company focused on developing Voice over Packet processors. Malleable was acquired by PMC-Sierra in June 2000. Earlier, he served as Vice President, Marketing at I-Cube which developed switch fabrics and chipsets for networking. He also spent 4 years as Executive Director, Samsung Electronics, where he started the Flash memory and CPU businesses and put together the business plans and strategies that drove sales in each line to over a $100M in less than two years. Syed also spent over 10 years at WSI/SGS-Thompson, and Tandem where he was involved with product line management and product design. He earned a MSEE from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1981 and BSEE from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India in 1980.

LA Muslims reach out to the homeless

LOS ANGELES,CA– Muslims in Los Angeles reached out to the homless by distributing food, clothing, books, toys and other items to around 3000 people. The drive was organized by the Coalition to Preserve Human Dignity, which is comprised of more than 40 mosques and Muslim organizations.

More than 300 volunteers had helped feed several hundered people by mid-day. Free HIV and diabetes tests were also made available.

Other branches of the group were holding similar outreach efforts in 14 U-S cities.

Islamic Relief, an international aid organization, and I-L-M Foundation, an L.A.-based group, were coordinating the efforts.

Obstetrician/gynecologist joins Caritas Norwood Hospital medical staff

BOSTON–Caritas Norwood Hospital has added a new obstetrician gynecologist to its medical staff.

Amna H. Khan, MD, of Dover has a special clinical interest in treating adolescents, and before coming to Caritas Norwood Hospital was administrative chief resident in the OB/GYN department at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y.

Dr. Khan also completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where she was executive member of the advisory committee on medical education and a member of the graduate medical education committee.

She received Rochester’s 2004 Berlex Teaching Award and Medical Student Teaching Award and has served as co-president of the American Medical Women’s Association and research assistant to the Women’s Health Project, both at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.

Dr. Khan received her medical degree at the Medical University of South Carolina and her bachelor’s degree in biology and economics from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley.

She is accepting new patients. Her practice is located at Caritas Foxboro, 70 Walnut St., Foxboro, 781-698-2229.

The 264-bed Caritas Norwood Hospital provides emergency, cardiology, advanced surgical, endoscopic, ob/gyn and Children’s Hospital Boston pediatric services and is a member of Caritas Christi Health Care, the second largest health care system in New England.

Books for Baghdad Announces Second Drive

JACKSONVILLE,AL– Jacksonville State University’s Books for Baghdad project (www.booksforbaghdad.org) has announced a new drive for books, supplies, and cash donations to help rebuild the war-torn library at Baghdad University.

Dr. Safaa Al-Hamdani, JSU biology professor and founder of the project, said, “Our objective includes collecting recent editions of textbooks in math, science, medicine and technology to be sent to war ravished Iraq. Books are being accepted now and may be dropped off at JSU. We can also make arrangements to pick up large contributions. In addition, we are planning to collect computers and refurbish them. They will be sent to the Baghdad Library to be used by the students.”

“Jeff Spurr from Harvard University and Dr. Anwar Diab of Baghdad University will be involved in this project,” said Al-Hamdani. “Furthermore, a committee was established in western Massachusetts by a group of librarians to help in accomplishing the same objective. If all comes about as I expect it, we will have enough material to be shipped from Massachusetts to Baghdad in the near future. We should do what we can to help and I can not emphasize the tremendous need for the books and computers in Iraq.”

Anyone who would like to contribute books and other gifts should contact Dr. Al-Hamdani (256-782-5801; sah@jsu.edu). Cash contributions can be made to the JSU Foundation, 700 Pelham Road North, Jacksonville AL 36265.

Dr. Safaa Al-Hamdani and a small group of faculty volunteers established the Books for Baghdad project in 2004 as an international humanitarian effort to help reestablish the war-torn Baghdad University library. Local volunteers were soon joined by faculty and students from throughout the U.S. Thanks in part to international media coverage, including special reports on CNN, the project far exceeded its goal of 5,000 books with a total collection of more than 11,000 textbooks and $6,500 in school supplies.

Statement from State Senator Peter Roskam on the Holy Month of Ramadan

“I would like to wish the Muslim Community in the 6th Congressional District and across the nation the very best during this holiest time of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan. This important holiday is a time for family and friends to come together to express their faith.

Muslims across our nation continue to enrich our communities and our nation and we value their contribution to our society.” Senator Peter Roskam, Congressional Candidate for the 6th District of Illinois

Recently, State Senator and Republican Congressional candidate Peter Roskam attended an Iftaar event at the residence of Moon Khan, York Township Trustee and Founding President of Asian American Caucus of DuPage, where a large number of American Muslims of the 6th Congressional District attended it.

Yusuf Islam still faces difficulties coming to US

Yusuf Islam still faces difficulties entering the United States–two years after being refused entry into the country because of national security fears. In 2004, after flying to the United States from London, the Muslim convert, formerly known as Cat Stevens,was barred from entering after US security officials said his name was on list of banned individuals. Now plans to tour America promoting his comeback album AN OTHER CUP could be in jeopardy for the same reason. ANN DAVIS, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Agency, told the New York Daily News, “The TSA does not confirm whether any name is on or not on the ‘no-fly’ list. But Mr Islam was a positive match on numerous watch lists when Customs and Borders Protection agents interviewed him in Maine. “They refused him admission to the United States based on national security grounds.” However, SHEILA RICHMAN, spokeswoman for Islam’s US record label Atlantic, remains optimistic: “We don’t yet have firm touring plans for Yusuf. We hope he will be coming here in mid-November.”

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