Category: Past Events Published Date
Date: 23 Nov 2007
Title: Reaching Muslim 2.0: Community Development and the Wired Urban Generation
Speakers: Sheikh Faraz Rabbani (Sunnipath, Toronto), Rami Nashashabi (IMAN, Chicago)
Event: Details
City Circle in association with the Radical Middle Way invites you to an evening about cutting edge social activism and new horizons in online religious learning for the Muslim 2.0 with Sheikh Faraz Rabbani of Sunnipath and Rami Nashashabi of the Inner City Muslim Action Network on Friday 23 November 2007 at 6.45pm at Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, off Edgware Road, London W1H 4LP.
Often we hear that relevant civil activism and Islamic education are only the distant dreams of the thwarted second generation when in fact innovative and new working models are springing up the whole time in our midst. For insight and inspiration please join Rami Nashashabi of IMAN and Faraz Rabbani of Sunnipath to talk about the work they are now advancing.
From its headquarters on Chicago's South Side, IMAN began serving the inner-city community with a series of projects funded by private donations, including a food pantry, GED classes and a free health clinic. These efforts have since expanded to include campaigns for legal reforms, regular outreach and awareness events, and issue-based community mobilization. These projects bring IMAN's passion for social justice and mutual understanding to places as diverse as jails, churches, courthouses and coalition meetings. IMAN also works in the struggle for immigrant and day labourer rights, coalition building and has created public forums. Called Community Caf?s, these forums are one of IMAN's most popular endeavours and unite artists, activists and religious scholars.
IMAN celebrated its 10th anniversary with a festival "Takin' it to the Streets," that brought thousands of people from the greater Chicagoland area to the South Side for a day of service, learning and entertainment. For inner-city residents, the event was a chance to break down social, cultural and religious barriers. For Nashashibi, it was another milestone in his efforts to reshape how we think about the intersection of race, religion, culture and service. By inextricably and successfully linking local community service and activism with Muslim identity, IMAN is treading a path few other Muslim organizations have treaded.
Sunnipath has quickly evolved to be one of the leading English-medium platforms for Islamic online learning, designed for the Muslim 2.0. Its teachers have been formally trained and authorized to transmit knowledge by leading scholars of the Muslim heartlands. While schooled in the time-honored orthodoxy of Sunni Islam they are attentive to the circumstances of Muslims living in the modern world. Sunnpath's focus is to promote relevant and beneficial knowledge in a positive manner that inspires students and encourages practice. Sunnipath implements the principles of traditional Islamic education using the latest techniques of online learning to connect students all over the world with qualified teachers.
Rami Nashashibi is the Executive Director of IMAN (Inner City Muslim Action Network) in Chicago. He and a dedicated team founded IMAN in 1995. Born in Amman, Jordan but raised in America, Rami graduated from DePaul University in 1995. He is currently a Sociology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago. His work has been profiled around the world including feature profiles in the Chicago Tribune and major US publications.
Shaykh Faraz Fareed Rabbani was born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Toronto, Canada and went to Damascus, Syria, to formally seek Islamic knowledge. In Damascus, he studied Arabic, Aqida, Mantiq, Hanafi Fiqh, Shafi'I Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, and Hadith with traditional scholars. In the Summer of 2000, he moved to Amman, Jordan. Upon moving to Jordan, his teachers advised him to focus on teaching what he had covered, for which they gave him encouragement and permission, and to continue his personal research and study. As the founder of the original Hanafi fiqh list, Shaykh Faraz has been involved with SunniPath since its beginning. At SunniPath, an online Islamic academy, Shaykh Faraz teaches fiqh, aqeeda, and other subjects. He also serves as Director of SunniPath's Answers Service. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and three children.
Free entrance. All welcome