Friday at Masjid Muhammad

Usually cities are full of lights, fast cars, music and latest fashion. Few would argue that Washington DC is also same but there are city within cities, which remain hidden from the usual sight of visitors. I happen to be in one of such parts of DC, It is an African American Mosque on New Jersey Avenue named as ‘Masjid Muhammad’. I am doing a lot of generalization on the basis of my ‘Jumah’ (weekly Friday prayers) visits to this mosque. I was surprised to see the amazing full of life culture this small mosque presents to me. Here is what I found interesting:


Cafe
There is a cafe, kitchen, and a bookstore in the basement. The group is so vibrant and active that they utilize not only the space of Mosque but also build network to promote business, Raise funds for community needs like Education through selling game tickets and a lot more. Not to forget the DVDs and journals of Imam Muhammad who is the Man behind this community.

Changing roles and speakers
Each week a new person takes over the dice for Khutba (Sermon & speech), which is recorded. And it’s amazing to hear them, one of them referred to Science fiction films and Quran at the same time while describing the concept of time in his speech, other day our Imam made some good boxing moves to explain how Muslim should face the world. And theatrical stories of various people and prophets are a common act with voice modulation and tone control. after the parayers you see that same person is selling Oil aur pumpkin pie.

Business
After the prayers one can meet a lot of people in the basement while having delicious lunch, Salmon kebab sandwich and apple cobbler is my favorite. Then there are few stalls of tickets for fund raising, collecting zakat, pumpkin pie and Oil and thermal wear etc. the mosque has its in house café, which produces all the food, and sometimes it also sought services from the volunteers.

Flea market
Its parking space is used as the weekly flea market for the local goods. Flea market is very similar to weekly Bazaar's in India. I plan to write more on it soon.

Slavery
This would require another full post, for now just sleep over the comment that slavery is the most talked issue in the masjid and also in the city, during the khutba I feel it is this ‘collective deprivation’ or shared history that binds this community together and also excludes me at the same time.

Film Promotion
Few weeks ago film produce Alex Wolf came to masjid Muhammad during Jumah prayer took part in prayers and promoted his new film on Slavery, he has produced the famous film on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ‘legacy of prophet”.

Documentation
Imam Muhammad’s DVD’s, weekly Khutba & journals and more than a dozen publications record the changes brought and sought by the community. Imam Muhammad is also mobilizing resources to make a museum of Muslim history in America. Currently its in the form of “ Collection & Stories of American Muslims Inc. Traveling exhibition Archives and museum.”

Workshops & Readings

Each month Atlas Service corps organises training and workshops for the fellows. the set up is good because it gives a unique theory -practical - transition and also takes care of our learning needs.

First we were given "How to change the world" the famous book in citizen sector, written by David Bornstein, it gave us an overview of the 'Social Entreprenuerism' and some very good stories of people who are changing the world around them.




Then we met Mark the founder of genocide International network, This guy is awesome in terms of how he mobilises support from people, we learned about how he built his network based on a simple idea and strong compassion.

I like the genocide hotline started by him, its number is 1800-genocide ! easy to remember.



Grant seeking basics were another workshop, that we attended in Foundation Centre, I was amazed by the detail and data about grants available in the center. one can easily use the online resources on a very reasonable rates. visit http://www.foundationcenter.org/ for more detail.

Budgeting and financial management was the recent one, where talked mainly about personal budget, but I am looking forward to the institutional budgeting workshop, to be organised soon.

So basically if you see the pattern of all these trainings and workshops, its a vary rich and composed input we are getting here. It would be very useful when we will get back to our countries to start our own projects or organizations.

Take The challenge Head-On !

Recently launched America’s Giving Challenge is very exciting for me, it urges me to use technology as a way of inspiring people to support causes they care about. The Case Foundation and Parade Magazine started this challenge, which runs from now through January 31, 2008.
The challenge is motivating individuals to champion causes they care about and raising donations online using Web 2.0 tools. What you see in the upper right corner of this page is a widget, one example of Web 2.0 tools. Now it is very easy to spread the word about your cause.
Better get your tool box ready with latest and fine tools if you want to make BIG things happen!
What is exciting about the challenge is that the eight “fundraisers” attracting the greatest number of donations for their causes will each get $50,000 for their chosen cause, and the 100 causes that receive the most donations will each get $1,000.
Global Giving & Network for Good are the two partners selected by Case and Parade to support the Challenge.
You can take this challenge if you want support an international cause.

Go ! Get a Google Reader

Let me tell you about my latest experience of "learning to learn”.

I wanted to read about the latest things in the citizen sector as there are so many so many things happening in DC. Specially at this time of the year, when so much Giving takes place because of religion festivals and tax benefits etc.

So I was struggling with whether I should use the search engines or subscribe news letter or ask somebody what to read My house mate Sergio told me about Craig list foundation, Robert told me about a couple of news letter and blogs & every day we encounter on or two good websites to keep us abreast about the new trends in the sector etc so I was regularly saving links and useful mails. As a result my mail box started filling with unread mails why? Because I never used to get enough time to read all that I wanted to read.

Then today I finally explored the Google reader! (After hearing its name from three or four people) it’s simply great to have all your reading supply on a single window.

Through the Reader you can subscribe to your favorite blogs and websites and whenever there is a new content on it you can see a summary and read full text if you want to. You will get daily dose of tips about its features,(if that works for you!) and you also get Reader recommendations based on the content you decide to subscribe.
Now probably you want to know more about it BUT I’m not going to waste any more words to tell you about the various other services of googles that makes your life easier. there are two reasons behind that. First, you must explore it by yourself & Second because recently I read somewhere ( & heard a good blogger) that your blog post should not be long.
How long is long? Believe me it is long if you have to scroll down in order to read it.

You see! I got a READER and it works!

Thanks Giving !

Solitude is the sole companion these days. two of my house mate are out of city and third one usually comes late. These days most of my time in home is spent on internet or cooking. and Im lookin at the next holiday vacation to beat the stress. During thanks Giving, I went to Morgan town west verginia to see a family friend and have some real cooked food.

I liked the whole process of making this trip happen. actually it was a four day vacation and every body was going out! I thought it be foolish to be at home when the whole city is partying, eating Turkey and doing alot of shopping. but i wasn't sure about how to go ? where to find right information? then Gargi's mausa and mausi, who were visiting us gave me quick tips to plan atrip in US. so finally after struggling to find a suitable travel option, I hooked up with amtrack thanks to all my friends who helped me in doing so.

One thing I dont like about thanks Giving is the wastage of food and why only one day to express thank!