ISNA 39th Annual Conference

``the horrible hindoos in hindustan forgot to put heeng in their dal ......... ``

Hey dude, we only put heeng in One type of Dal. The yellow one. Most Indians, or should I say, Punjabis, eat Maa kee Daal, which is dark and we do not put heeng in it. We also eat Rajma, again, no heeng...

What;s the Paki fetish on Hindus and heeng anyways??? HamidM, Ayesha Sarwari etc etc...we don`t give you hell about putting cardomom or saffron in everything do we????

``i did not go to the gathering``(hamidm)

a sigh of relief!

For those of you who attended, was there any self-criticism on part of Muslims? self-criticism of islam, and the members of the community on a whole? if so, what was proposed as a process to a solution?

Is the purpose of ISNA gatherings merely a `get-together` event, or do those gatherings take up religious reformist agendas or do they aim to maintain conservative ideals?

sameerjb

.... sorry to disappoint you, but i did not go to the gathering of arabs and arab-wannabes who claim to be americans but yearn for an islamic state ...... it is shameful how these munafiqs and hypocrites showed up on the hallowed grounds of washington to claim their ``rights`` ..........also, mrs hamidm does not think it is a good idea to be exposed to these people more than twice a year lest i become a wife-beater, or give up shaving, or start belching at the dinner table, or become convinced that foreplay is haram ..........astaghfirllah!

This conference sure got a lot of attention.
Thanks for witing this piece on CHOWK.

Ras

samina
No.

Sameer,
The way you put it, I have to agree with you.

btw, post 9/11, didnot the FBI chief Louis Mueller attend a meeting of one of the `Muslim` associations and make a speech which said some harsh things. He still got criticised for attending the meeting, though. Was it an ISNA meeting he attended..?

``balehbaleh: you know hamidm if i ever see you remind me to cap your punk-ass.......................``

LOL, Somebody should knock u the fukk out for thinking that.

In response to PM, who wrote in #21:

``digit,
Well spoken there! (you know which number :)). I`ve always admired your great articulation. ``

Umm...I haven`t interacted yet! Heck, I just re-registered today for the snazzy new get-up here. Thanks for the compliment though! Back at you.


He further wrote:

``though, i would have to say, there was an oddly high number of people in the audience who, when taking the floor, referred to the Old Country as `home`-- a conflict there?``

This is an interesting thing you point out here. I`ve noticed that among Pakistani ex-pats, many have this notion that they have simply migrated to the US or Canada, and fantasize of returning back ``home`` one day. Perhaps what you were observing was a manifestation of this.

hamidm: Did you really go to ISNA meeting?
How come wives do not realize that once in heaven, their husbands will forsake them for 72 virgin houris? They should keep their husbands from becoming too good Muslims. Hell is the place where love from family will conquer fire and other hardships.
balehbaleh: What is good for you is not necessarily good for me and what I say is not for the sake of telling anybody what to do; I say what I believe!!!

Sadna,
Are you back from the motherland?

......... so after the ritual sacrifice of sheep and camels at the lincoln memorial, the 32,000 brothers and their sisters in deen raised the heavens with deafening takbeers and allah-0-akbars ........ it is said that the jews in haifa and their supporters on capitol hill shook in their shoes and the horrible hindoos in hindustan forgot to put heeng in their dal .........

......... isna 2002 passed many resolutions to create an islamic society in america :

.....yusuf islam`s committe on islamic music passed a resolution condemning britney spears for unislamic behaviour and asked for a ban on eminem........eminem quickly embraced islam and hugged yusuf islam and his mother .... mariah carey cried and retained a new fashion consultant from jiddah .........

.... the islamic sports committee presented a petition to the baseball commissioner asking for a sixth inning break for maghrib prayers - the players have threated to strike; they also asked the nba to lengthen basketball shorts by another ten inches and put an end to the nonsense of wnba ...... kobe bryant is moving to china ......

......... hot-dogs were baned for lewd presentation and halwa will replace apple-pie as the national desert; camels are being considered to replace chevrolet .............

....... the abaya and the hijab were recommended as the national dress for all americans .........the amish protested and moved to mexico ........

.......... a resolution was presented to place hazrat omar`s face on mount rushmore - this resolution was rejected and the presenter was reprimanded for this silly idea ....... an alternate proposal to blow up mount rushmore like the bamiyan buddhas was passed and will be presented to john ashcroft ..........

........ i also met temporal at the meeting - he has become a born again muslim and is moving to a madrassa in utah to teach grammer and study polygamy ..... we will miss him .......

balehbaleh,
Dude, I`m not the ``pc police``; there is no such thing as the ``pc police``.
The writer made his/her case, and people responded. It seems what bothers you is that the people asking these questions about the efficacy and insight of Pakistani-Americans organizing through religious beliefs are Pakistani Americans themselves....If you`ve noticed, so far no Hindu interactor has posted messages about the ISNA-its all coming from within....so bro, deal.

sadna: I agree that organizations enhance individual and group interests. But when group is made up of diverse individuals with only one thing in common, the focus is limited to the common interest.
Pakistani-Indian-Bangladeshi Muslims is the largest immigrant Muslim group, perhaps largest or second largest group of Muslims behind African American Muslims. Both of these groups can serve their common interests in many other ways. Although Arabs are more in numbers than desi Muslims but Arab immigrants to USA and Canada are predominantly Christians. For its 39 year of existance, ISNA is an Arab and Arab affairs dominated organization. Its literature usually talked about basic tenets of Islamic religions and its explanation ( a sort of tablighi jamaat) plus Palestine and later Bosnia. Nobody can provide a list of ISNA accomplishments of last 39 years because there are none. During Iranian Islamic revolution, ISNA was opposed to it, not because it was anti-American; because it was Shia Islam and ISNA and another student organization, MSA both were pro-Saudi and perhaps funded also by Saudis.
ISNA made no attempts to make Muslims adjust to USA/ Canada culture until 9/11 last year. Even then Arab-American organizations were leading the efforts to make USA public understand Arab and Islam better as ``peace-loving`` people and religion respectively. It is funny to know but couple of Pakistani students of Ohio State University did more to make a case against attacking Iraq during a debate with Madeleine Albright, Bill Cohen and Sandy Weinberger than all of ISNA and MSA combined.
Moreover, if benefits of an organization are practically nill and disadvantages many, why half a million Pakistanis should associate with such an organization? It is same one religion, one nation - Ummah concept that pulls Pakistanis towards or into it.
I said earlier and I repeat, Pakistani Americans are better off without ISNA and other anti-American organizations - if Pakistani Americans are pro-Pakistan before pro-Islam. Being pro-Islam is counter to being pro-Pakistan under the umbrella of MSA, ISNA and NOI of Louis Farakhan.
The problem with such people is really the reverse preferences. These full-time Muslims, part-time Pakistanis are real enemies of Pakistan both at home and abroad. Unfortunately they are blinded to an extent of not even considering this possibility. Can you imagine the amount of money spent by Pakistanis on this three day event could have been used to lobby Pakistan in Washington or better given to Edhi Foundation in Pakistan.

digit,
Well spoken there! (you know which number :)). I`ve always admired your great articulation.
I watched one of the symposiums of the conference on C-Span. The speeches were both pragmatic and inspiring, suggesting ways to counter the post-9/11 discrimination as well as ways to co-operate with the `mainstrem`, asserting one`s identity as American (though, i would have to say, there was an oddly high number of people in the audience who, when taking the floor, referred to the Old Country as `home`-- a conflict there?)
SammerJB: Brother, you... you.. overcompensate!

you know hamidm if i ever see you remind me to cap your punk-ass.......................

sameer

you should be ashamed of yourself, inferiority complex etc what garbage ................if people are practicing muslims who cares some pakistanis identify themselves as muslims some as south asians.................both are equally valid for you to denounce one and not the other shows only your bias and hatred toward islam.................i personally could care less for south asian american org.s or muslim american im asian american but thats my choice..............u know bashing islam is popular on this forum and what u know sameer ur posts sound like ursltruly jay arjun etc welcome to the club .............and where is the samina shah pc patrol ? oh yeah i forgot its ok to bash islam and practicing muslims and not everybody else.................................

````So Hamidm is after all a closet mullah```` (American Express)

Not hamidm -- he went to that Assembly of Misplaced Fools called ISNA(Islamic Society of Neanderthal Americans) -- as a chowk`s Investigative Reporter cum connoisseur of bizarre --- with his probably god-fearing wife and agnostic children:-