COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FOR THE UNMOSQUED – ART OF CONNECTION WITH BELAL KHAN (VIDEO)

I read an interesting article recently by Mohamed Abdul-Azeez, the former head of the Salam Center in Sacramento on the “Crisis of Imams in America”

Source: muslimmatters.org

By: Belal Khan

Due to the way Muslim communities have been developed, the challenges they face are different from that of other faith communities.

Among the Christian community you find one of two types of models.

Model 1 – Corporate Franchise Clergy Structure

Model 2 – Local Visionary

The American Muslim community for the most part doesn’t follow any of these two models.

Typically you have a bunch of local folks that want to establish a place to pray. They come together, form a board, write out the policies, buy some real estate and make that a place to pray.

Then they realize they need to get an imam, and they end up hiring one of two types.

Why Is Jerusalem Always On Edge? (Video)

 It seems like every violent incident in Jerusalem could spark another massive flare-up in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But what are the policies keeping the city on edge?

The Trews: Russell Brand – Should Obama Return His Nobel Peace Prize? (Video)

 5 years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and campaigning on a platform that endorsed having “a nuclear-free world” in the not so distant future, Barack Obama’s policies will now reportedly see $1 trillion in new nuclear defence spending over the next 30 years.

How To Make Money – Ibn Khaldun and Taxes

Source: http://lostislamichistory.com/

The 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan famously stated in a piece in the New York Times in 1993,

“May I offer you the advice of the 14th century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, who said: “At the beginning of the empire, the tax rates were low and the revenues were high. At the end of the empire, the tax rates were high and the revenues were low.”

And, no, I did not personally know Ibn Khaldun, although we may have had some friends in common!”1

Although one may agree or disagree with the conservative economic policies of Ronald Reagan, there is no denying the genius of the man he is quoting – Ibn Khaldun. He was centuries ahead of his time. His monumental work, the Muqaddimah, published in 1377, is hard to categorize. All at once it is a resource on history, Islam, science, sociology, economics, politics, warfare, and philosophy. One article on the entire book would be a disservice to Ibn Khaldun and the great amount of knowledge he left for subsequent generations. Instead, this article will focus only on some of his economic ideas, which centuries later form some of the basic ideas we use in government taxation today.

Apartheid Explained (Video)

 Nelson Mandela is remembered for his legacy in fighting apartheid and helping South Africa seek healing and forgiveness. But what exactly was apartheid? We break down its roots and what it was like for South Africans living under the discriminatory policies.

Fake facts in US media affecting White House policies (Video)

 US media coverage has been running hand in hand with the revolutionary ideology of Kiev’s interim leaders. And brushing aside contradictions to its reasoning, the White House is relying on verified data. Or, as Anastasia Churkina finds out, their interpretation of that.