Muslim

Danette Goulet NEWPORT-MESA -- With the first ray of dawn this morning came the start of the Muslim fast of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during whichMuslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from the break of dawn to sunset. Through the fast, Muslims hope to learn discipline, self-restraint and generosity. For the Pierstorff family of Costa Mesa, it is an exciting and spiritual time. "It's incredible," said 25-year-old Ahmed Pierstorff.

Amy R. Spurgeon NEWPORT BEACH -- Mona Bennani may be the only Muslim in her school, but that didn't stop the 7-year-old from sharing the end of Ramadan with her Girl Scout troop. The Newport Elementary second-grader talked about her religion and Ramadan with more than 15 girl scouts as they sat in a circle in the Girl Scout House on the Balboa Peninsula. Ramadan, the holy month during which Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, ends Saturday.

Lolita Harper COSTA MESA -- Freckled faces sat next to bearded faces, who sat next to scarf-covered women, who sat next to blue-eyed men. The mosque at the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County was filled with a wide variety of people who came together Saturday afternoon for one reason: To learn. Hosting an open mosque day, members of the Islam Educational Center invited members of surrounding communities over to try to answer questions about the Islamic faith -- a hot topic after the terrorists responsible for the Sept.

Elia Powers Three years after his son was kidnapped and murdered while on a reporting assignment in Pakistan, Judea Pearl continues to pay his respects in a very public setting. He chose the UC Irvine campus as the latest stop on his tour to discuss his Jewish faith, to promote tolerance and to encourage frank conversation on delicate political topics. He thanked the audience of more than 400 people Monday evening for joining in the dialogue and taking the first step toward easing Jewish-Muslim tensions worldwide.

The American public's questions and doubts about President Barack Obama's religion continue to dog him nearly two years after his election. For example, a new poll by the Pew Research Center shows that nearly 1 in 5 Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim, although in fact he is a Christian. According to the Pew survey, the percentage of Americans thinking that he is a Muslim increased from 12% to 18% between March 2008 and August 2010, while the percentage of those thinking that he is a Christian dropped from 47% to 34% during that period.

Imam Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini in Friday's commentary discusses the need for Americans to carry the torch of religious diversity high and proud, and for the good of mankind, to practice respect and peace ("Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities," Community Commentary, May 25). He concludes by saying: "It is our duty, as representatives of faith, to continue to reach out to others, to find amicable solutions through dialogue and to heal and strengthen the common bond of man."

One of the reasons I enjoy a happy and fulfilling life is because of the people in it. They are a people who fear God, lead by example and strive, in their own way, for a better world. And last week, I was reminded once more how lucky I am when a few of them gathered for a Ramadan iftar/dinner at my home. My mom, Shadia, who is an excellent cook (I say this with total objectivity), prepared our food, and among her creations was one of Egypt's most popular dishes: kushary.

John Depko The film industry of India is known for its prolific output and standard plots centering on historical epics or musical romance. "Lesson One: A Wail" is a clear departure from this formula of moviemaking. This documentary-like film presents a harsh look at a dark reality of rural Indian life: the virtual selling of Muslim teenage girls into forced marriage and sexual slavery. The story centers on a beautiful and intelligent 15-year-old girl who excels in her studies at school.

At the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, there are signs scattered throughout the venue reading, "Patrons disrupting the performance for others will be subject to removal from the theater. " Many other venues throughout the region offer similar warnings. Get too loud and you are kicked out and not allowed to return. At UC Irvine, though, disruption gets you a national platform for your pet cause. Last week, 10 of the so-called "Irvine 11" were each convicted of conspiring to and then disrupting the Feb. 8, 2010, speech of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

Lea Alfi During a class discussion at Orange Coast College on Sept. 18, four students complained of being insulted by government professor Kenneth Hearlson, who was subsequently placed on paid leave. One student was allegedly accused of being a terrorist during the discussion, which occurred exactly one week after the World Trade Center Twin Tower tragedies. The Foundation for Individual Liberties in Education, a national organization that defends the right of free speech for professors in the classroom, immediately demanded that the college restore Hearlson to his position.

In so many ways, one of the biggest civil rights issues of our day is the way we treat Muslims in our country. Yes, 9/11 was an act of war against the United States, and yes, it was carried out by radical Muslims. But it is our obligation to realize that it simply is not appropriate to stereotype classes of people, be they Muslims or anybody else. Many Muslim traditions seem a bit strange to many of us, and thus it is natural to be somewhat fearful. But as I noted in a 2011 column , in more than half of the dialects of the world's languages there is no distinction between the word for "stranger" and the word for "enemy.

Attorneys have filed an appeal in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of 10 of the so-called Irvine 11 convicted in 2011 of two misdemeanor charges to conspire and then disrupt a 2010 speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UC Irvine. The 10 defendants, Muslim UC Irvine and UC Riverside students, were sentenced to three years of informal probation and 56 hours of community service. Charges against an 11th student were dropped after he agreed to 40 hours of community service at Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa.

One of the reasons I enjoy a happy and fulfilling life is because of the people in it. They are a people who fear God, lead by example and strive, in their own way, for a better world. And last week, I was reminded once more how lucky I am when a few of them gathered for a Ramadan iftar/dinner at my home. My mom, Shadia, who is an excellent cook (I say this with total objectivity), prepared our food, and among her creations was one of Egypt's most popular dishes: kushary.

The other night I struggled to come up with a simple way to describe the magnitude of "taraweh" — the extra prayers performed nightly during Ramadan. And then an enigmatic Muslim poet I know compared it — perfectly — to opera. There's standing in place in awe of the eloquence of God's words and their melody. There's simultaneous bowing. There's kneeling and prostrating in unison. There's dramatic begging, hands raised toward the sky. There are trembling voices, tears. There are no instruments, but who needs them?

I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy reading Mona Shadia's weekly column in the Daily Pilot. I grew up here in Southern California and had never spent much time with people from the Middle East, or people of the Muslin faith. After 9/11, my feelings for Muslims went on a downhill slide in a big way. I wanted nothing to do with Muslims. Then, five years ago, my wife and I went on a cruise from Barcelona across the Mediterranean to Alexandria, Egypt. As we docked, I heard the evening call to prayer, and I thought, wow!

Can't some of your readers get enough of bashing and trashing Muslim Americans? You have a seemingly innocuous columnist writing about her experience as a Muslim (Mona Shadia) and getting a full onslaught of hate mail from narrow-minded bigots, of which Newport Beach has its fair share, and it just keeps coming. Not all observant Muslims are radical subversives trying to bring down America. Many, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, are just as American as the rest of us. Islam has been with us in America since the first Africans were shipped here — under deplorable conditions, I might add — and then enslaved by God-fearing Christians.

Recently I attended a fundraising dinner for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel. This stimulating and uplifting event involved more than 1,800 mostly Muslim people celebrating the theme of "Making Democracy Work. " Had you been there, you would have been just as proud of these loyal Americans as I was. The program was based upon the fact that a real and common enemy of us all continues to be fear, intolerance and ignorance. And in fact the enemy of radical Muslims is not so much America as it is moderate Muslims, and other moderates all around the world.

At the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, there are signs scattered throughout the venue reading, "Patrons disrupting the performance for others will be subject to removal from the theater. " Many other venues throughout the region offer similar warnings. Get too loud and you are kicked out and not allowed to return. At UC Irvine, though, disruption gets you a national platform for your pet cause. Last week, 10 of the so-called "Irvine 11" were each convicted of conspiring to and then disrupting the Feb. 8, 2010, speech of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

Ramadan began Monday with special significance for Orange County Muslims, who celebrated the democratic tide washing over Egypt and Tunisia but also expressed concern for those who remain in peril in Syria, Libya and other Middle Eastern dictatorships. "It's definitely a Ramadan with a different taste," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area, in Anaheim. "It comes as the first Ramadan under freedom to tens of millions of Muslims around the world, but who are still dealing with the challenges of instability and the unknown.

Every few years, we all end up at the DMV, the great leveler, where ethnicity, income or community standing is inconsequential. In a recent visit, amid a crowd of every age and personal background, I was struck by how similar we all are — both in dealing with passing driver exams and coping with life. Everyone in that DMV hall, besides needing to get the coveted license, had challenges — some physical, some psychological, some financial, some social and some about making sense out of life.