Islam Awareness Month at Stanford

[superwizard]

Hey everyone.
Many of you expressed interest about learning more about Islam and so it is with great pleasure that I introduce Islam Awareness Month! There will be four events all hosted on Sundays starting this Sunday.
The first event will be Islam 101 which is really an introduction to Islam and its basic principles. The second will be a panel of 3 Muslim women who have excelled in their fields of civil engineering, science research and medicine. The third event (and the one I'm in charge of) will be about how love plays a crucial role in Islam. The last one is about The Shariah and whether it is a system of justice or oppression. Free dinner will also be provided.


If anyone is thinking about coming just let me know and we can meet up.

Note to Sheriffs: I didn't know where to put this thread so i just put it in Bag End. If you feel it would be better placed somewhere else please feel free to move it .

[nerdanel]

Hi swiz,

I am interested in all of them but have a busy month ahead so must pick one. Unsurprisingly, I am interested in the one on Feb 18, on women in science. Will you be at that one? If not, I might be able to come instead on the following week if you will only be at that one.

[JewelSong]

Well, I can't come to ANY of them, what with living in the UK and all...but they all sound interesting! The poster looks very attractive and compelling. I think it's great that you are doing this, superwizard!

Also, the free dinner is a great incentive. Nothing brings 'em in like food, I always say!

Please be sure to report back on how the events went...and Nel, I hope you get to go to at least one!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm tempted to move this to Tol Eressëa, but since people are talking about meeting up, perhaps I should leave it here.

S'wiz, I would love to make it to the one that you are in charge of on the 25th, but I am teaching a class until 5:30 that evening, so there is no way that I will be able to make it. In fact, there is almost no way that I will be able to make it to any of them, because I am also teaching on 11th and March 4, and will probably be out of town on the 18th. There's a small chance that those plans will change, in which case I will definitely come then.

Darn!

[superwizard]

I am interested in all of them but have a busy month ahead so must pick one. Unsurprisingly, I am interested in the one on Feb 18, on women in science. Will you be at that one? If not, I might be able to come instead on the following week if you will only be at that one.

I'll be at all of the events so don't worry!

Jewel Song thanks for your support! It's too bad you live so far away

V it's sad that you won't be able to come but don't worry I still have 3 (potentially 4!) years left at Stanford so I'm sure there'll be some other time

[Primula Baggins]

S'wiz, those all look fascinating and I wish I could come to all of them. I look forward to hearing how they went, at least.

The one you're running looks the most interesting of all.

I hope it all goes well!

[superwizard]

Thanks Prim
I have to say that I'm grateful for all the support everyone here has given me. It really is quite heartwarming.

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

I thought February was traditionally Black History Month in the U.S.

[Primula Baggins]

Months have to be shared, there being only twelve of them.

[Rowanberry]

It would be really interesting - unfortunately, I live on the other side of the world, and even if I didn't, I have to hobble with crutches at the moment...

Let us know how it went.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

S'wiz, I can't tell you how pleased I am, both that these programs exist in the first place, and with your participation in them. I am particularly chuffed about the particular program that you are involved with. So many people in America have the mistaken impression that Islam is all about hate, so I think that learning about the role of love in Islam is particularly critical.

Tell me, how long do the programs last. If I could be there by say 7:00 p.m., would there still be value to my coming?

[superwizard]

Thanks for your encouragement V.
I will have to get back to you about the duration of the events. I know for sure that the main speaker for the Love in Islam event has to leave at 7:30 (last flight out of here to El Paso Texas is at 8:30) and the event has been moved to 5pm because of this. The other 3 events however start at 6 (or slightly afterwards) and I can ask the main organizer what time the events roughly ends and if it would be worth it to come at 7. It really would be delightful to see you there!

[Athrabeth]

I wish I could attend, S'wiz. Such intriguing topics - I hope they generate a lot of interest that will in turn foster deeper understanding. I would especially LOVE to go to the discussion on the importance of LOVE in Islam.

I don't know if I've read a more wildly romantic poet than Rumi. Two of his short "ecstatic love" poems that are favourites of mine:

Your love lifts my soul from the body to the sky
And you lift me up out of the two worlds.

I want your sun to reach my raindrops,
So your heat can raise my soul upward like a cloud.

And:

The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,
they're in each other all along.

So many people in America have the mistaken impression that Islam is all about hate, so I think that learning about the role of love in Islam is particularly critical.

Rumi, once again:

Only Breath

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the Beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one, and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[nerdanel]

Hey s'wiz -- one of my Vietnamese friends is telling me that next Sunday is the Lunar New Year, and I may be required to attend some of the Bay Area festivities for said new year. If that is the case, I'll try to come the following week. I really want to come for one of the next two, because I can tell you right now March 4th is out (for reasons that have very much to do with certain very important coming of age rituals...probably a Napa trip. )

[superwizard]

That's cool nel!
Ath those where amazing poems!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

s'wiz, I wanted to ask you how the programs have been going, particularly the one that you organized for yesterday? I'm sorry that I was not able to be there (particularly since I was actually on the Stanford campus the day before).

[superwizard]

Thanks for asking! They went fine (you shoulda told me you were on campus I would have loved to see you!)
Yesterday was ridiculously hectic. Nothing seemed to be going right. To explain: the person in charge of all the event was in New York for an interview and wasn't reachable, the head of the organization was stuck in LA because of car problems and the vice president had an interview with Johns Hopkins. Who did that leave in charge? Me! (Please note that I'm a freshman with almost no experience whatsoever). The speaker missed his first flight and he couldn't find another one (this was at 6:50am West Coast time so naturally I was sleeping like a rock-my phone rang 10 times and I never felt it!). Luckily the guest called one of my friends and he fixed the problem and found him a ticket. Our brunch event had to be cancelled because the guest was late but that was ok (it wasn't the main event after all). After that things went a lot smoother. The talk went fine and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it. So to conclude the event was a success! Yay!