Thank you Marilyn Lewis-Alim (and The Huntsville Times) for this inspired essay.

“With reference to a saying of the Holy Prophet, your Imam calls attention to the fact that Muslims are to contribute to the wholesomeness of Christian religious holiday festivals. An indication of the Muslim role in promoting respect for wholesome and sacred celebrations is found in the teaching of Prophet Muhammed, which prohibits arbitrary fasting during the holidays of people of the Book. The purpose serves to preserve and to promote solemn respect for G-d and for the sacred devotion of all people.”

My thoughts in that spirit, in my latest Florida Weekly commentary:

“We need no labels to reflect on traditions, values at Christmas“

The column’s here. See the entire digital edition here. Or keep reading:

Amid all the joys of Christmas, most folks find time for reflection, if only for a moment, seeking meaning in the holiday season. So, dare I wade into the social and political swamp of (yikes!) “meaning” in this winter holiday season?

You betcha. Because despite rampant commercialism, Christmas is a spiritual commemoration of the miracle birth of Christ Jesus, peace be upon him, and of that great teacher’s way of bringing the light into the world.

Of course, a lot of folks these days are scared of spiritual. That’s largely due to the tumult throughout history and throughout the world in the name of spiritual.

Yet the horrors that have been done in Jesus’ name — and those of many other great lights throughout the ages — hardly are representative of them. It’s worth noting that the Bible-totin’, cross-burning Ku Klux Klan and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. both claimed guidance from the same holy book.

One result today is that people increasingly aren’t inclined to consider themselves aligned with any particular religious label. More and more, it seems, people are spiritual independents, so to speak. Not affiliated with any particular… er, party.

And that’s fine. It’s way past time for quibbling over how good people conceptualize their spirituality.

In fact, we’d all be better off if the world could grasp the simple concept that there should be no compulsion in matters of religion.

I’m finding that more and more people, some more actively than others, are trying to learn what other folks are spiritually about — or not — and honor that.

Given the occasion, I keep thinking back to what I wrote a few years ago in a column titled, “This Muslim Honors Christmas.”

“I hardly claim to speak for all Muslims, who are as diverse as humanity. But count me among those for whom this day highlights the spirit of love and humility that Jesus taught and lived, and of whom God says in the Quran (57:27): ‘We gave Jesus the Gospel and put compassion and mercy into the hearts of his followers.’ ”

I mentioned that for decades it has been my practice to bestow ribbon-bedecked bottles of Martinelli apple cider upon friends, a token of both the season’s joy and sober reflection.

I cited, though not by name, my dear now departed friend Stebbins Jefferson’s query: “I thought you didn’t celebrate Christmas.”

I don’t, was my reply, but I honor it because she — and so many others whom God has made the repositories of so much grace and good in America and the world — do.

A lot has changed since then, of course — and little has.

Roberta Popara, associate director of Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center in North Palm Beach, said that being in Iraq for Christmas in 2003 “gave me an opportunity to see how a Christian minority and another culture celebrate one of the most important feast days second only to Easter.”

Most countries don’t observe the cultural Christmas that Americans do, said the Dominican Sister. “Rather the religious significance takes precedent. Even so, in homes and shops there are modest displays for this holiday. Even some Muslim shopkeepers display Christmas lights and images of Baba Noel, as Arabic speakers call our Santa Claus. Special foods such as kibbi and pasha become usual fare for the holidays. There is some gift giving but again, very simple. The Christian community gathers for plays and pageants as well as prayerful observance of the holy season.”

“Even so,” she said, “since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the rise of counter insurgency, holy seasons such as Christmas bring their own fear upon this minority community as certain groups, claiming they are doing God’s will, bring terror and death by targeting Christian churches and gatherings.

“This needs to be understood in balance with the continued experiences of terror for the ordinary Iraqi citizen regardless of religious identity.”

Methinks Muslims and others should be more aware of an episode in the early history of the Muslim community.

Severely persecuted in Mecca, some left to Ethiopia, whose Christian Negus sheltered them. The Meccans pursued, seeking their forced return. The Muslims appealed to the king that they once had been steeped in ignorance, worshiping idols and committing abominations, but had turned to worship only the creator. They recited the opening verses of the Quran’s chapter 19, named for Jesus’ mother Mary, at which the ruler wept.

The Meccans then claimed that Muslims disrespect Jesus, to which the reply came that the prophet taught that Jesus was a creature of God and his prophet, as well as his spirit and his word, which was cast unto the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon which the king said he would never give up the Muslims to their persecutors.

There’s been way too much suffering among religious folk since. Witness “An Advent Evening of Commemoration and Reflection” for the four U.S. churchwomen martyred in El Salvador on Dec. 2, 1980.

The Dec. 14 advent program, hosted by Pax Christi Palm Beach at St. Ann Church in West Palm Beach, remembered Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel and lay missioner Jean Donovan.

They had accepted dire risk in choosing to remain and serve as a shield for El Salvador’s persecuted poor. What else would his sincere followers do, than what Jesus would do?

Hearing their stories, my sense is the sisters would have appreciated a moment of levity from several Sundays ago, courtesy of the Rev. Carol Yorke of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Palm Beaches.

“So, you do know what would have happened if it had been three wise women instead of men, don’t you? They would have asked for directions. Arrived on time. Helped deliver the baby. Cleaned the stable. Made a casserole. And brought disposable diapers as gifts.

Rev. Yorke went on to remind that, “Horror and tragedy do not mean the end of meaning, unless we choose to view it that way.”

Instead, she said, “We can choose gratitude.”

There’s room to remember that meaning of this day and season.

Christmas, as someone once said, is what you make of a reflection of your values, desires, affections and traditions.

With spiritual label or not.

— C.B. Hanif

Documenting Muslim American History: No fuss, no muss — and thus, no news media that I could see. Meanwhile, dozens of representatives of the Muslim men and women who have served in our armed forces and/or in civilian capacities (such as police, fire chiefs and one of the first African-American paratroopers), were being recognized during Day 4 of The Mosque Cares 2010 Annual Muslim Convention & Ramadan Session, Sunday at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, NJ.

Not far away,  The New York Times’ editors cluelessly were proclaiming, American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?, even as the largest community of Muslims in the United States of America was celebrating our existence here before Columbus, our service to our native country since, and our seamless, productive participation in the fabric of our nation.

Our news organizations’ promotion of ignorance is especially  shameful in a time when demagogues and political opportunists are exploiting the vacuum in which — again, aided by media culpability — most Americans know the stereotypes, but don’t know Muslims.

For decades, however, many others have come to know these All-American Muslims who are advancing the legacies of giants such as Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, the Blessed Lady Chiara Lubich, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., El Hajj Malik Shabazz and others, and upholding the standard of all the Bright Lights who — through the ages — have focused attention on, and  exemplified, the excellent human being that our Creator is making.

More Day 4 scenes (click to enlarge):

— C.B. Hanif

Islam, by defintion, rejects terrorism

By C.B. Hanif

The Palm Beach Post

October 15, 2006

As one who grew up rooting for Tarzan and Cheetah to whip up on my Afro-wigged cousins portraying Hollywood’s idea of Africans, I can understand how people buy into social myths of one sort or another. And having been as clueless as most folks regarding religious traditions beyond the ones with which we grew up, I am not surprised to hear certain perceptions some folks have of Muslims.

But it is curious to observe otherwise rational people defining Islam by those who behave opposite of what the faith prescribes. To confuse the lunatic fringe with Islam’s mainstream is where much of the discourse on significant current events gets off track.

So as a Muslim heading down the home stretch of our month of rededication and dawn-to-dusk fasting called Ramadan, it is heartening that despite the barrage of guilt by association of Muslims as terrorists, many people know better.

Newsweek reports (http://www.msnbc.msn.com) that thousands of members of the Roman Catholic peace group Pax Christi USA are fasting for Ramadan. And that especially since 9/11, “non-Muslims have fasted to express political solidarity with Muslims, to increase awareness of global hunger, as a spiritual discipline, or to strengthen interfaith friendship.”

Rather than campaigning for folks to change their religion, that sounds like encouraging more who claim one to live their religion.

It also suggests fewer folks are buying when a Tom, Dick or Hanif claims the cultural practices or politics of his native Egypt, Sudan or Brooklyn represent Islam. And that more people are correctly associating Muslims with the authentic sources of the faith: the Quran and true example of Mohammed the prophet.

Another take on fasting friends came in the letter my close friends in the Focolare lay Catholic community (www.focolare.org) just shared from their Center for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome. It announced that members of the movement, along with fellow Christians and folks of other religions and convictions who would like to do so, will “be united with you in a day of prayer and fasting for peace,” as proposed by other organizations, on Oct. 20, the last Friday of Ramadan.

The letter also conveyed the hopes of Focolare leader Chiara Lubich that, “as our spirituality suggests, every obstacle may become a springboard toward a much deeper brotherhood among us.”

The statement exemplifies how when I’m among members of that worldwide, multiethnic, multi-religious family that lives like the first Christians, I hear the articulation of my own spirituality as a Muslim coming back at me in different language. So much so that I realized days after a recent Focolare meeting in Hialeah that Pope Benedict XVI’s comments on Islam had not even come up.

I’m with the Muslims who join the pope in calling for an end to all religiously motivated violence and persecution in some so-called Muslim societies.

One interesting analysis, however, comes from journalist, peace activist, former member of the Israeli Knesset and self-described atheist Uri Avnery. On “Mohammed’s Sword” (http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/ view/full/35746), he wrote that:

“The story about ‘spreading the faith by the sword’ is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims — the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions.”

But those are points for dialogue among our responsible religious leaders. Down on our level, familiarity is breeding knowledge, respect and love. The talk is of family, cultivating the human spirit, building our communities and maybe a bit of World Cup soccer. Through the fog of old assumptions comes clarity and even agreement on what we believe. Such as that there should be no compulsion in matters of faith, as the Quran prescribes.

When others take such verses out of their historical context, I am reminded that both the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Ku Klux Klan taught from the Bible. And Mohammed of Arabia wasn’t the first prophet contradicted by alleged followers of the principles he taught. Moses stepped away for a talk with God and his followers, despite all the miracles they had seen, began worshipping a golden calf.

Anyone seen all-American icon Muhammad Ali rioting over the pope’s comments? With his annual appearance at our Muslim Convention, which took place last month in Chicago, the increasingly frail former heavyweight champ makes clear that he’s standing with Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the son of his former teacher the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and sincere people of other faiths who are advancing these sentiments among Muslims and humanity.

This year, our scintillating banquet speaker, the Rev. Dr. Annie O. Oliver of Milwaukee, said well what applies to Muslims and anyone who claims a particular faith or philosophy: “If I was accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me?”

C.B. Hanif is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post.

Copyright (c) 2006 Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.

For more on Baku, switch channels to HanifOnMedia. From here in Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic, I see that my latest InterFaith21 essay, on the Dalai Lama’s message at Florida Atlantic University, is on tap back home in the new March edition of The Coastal Star.

There wasn’t space to mention my late blessed mother taking me to hear the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak years ago at then-Coppin State College in Baltimore. Or  the numerous giants I took my own children to hear. But Tibet’s great Buddhist leader left me with good thoughts of what’s to come from the kids in whom he planted his seeds of compassion.

Here are some scenes, and some other Dalai Lama @ FAU links:

I hardly have a great camera, and wouldn’t yet know what to do with one, but I like composing shots such as this of audience on the right and reflections on the left.

Dalai Lama Tells Crowd of 3,000 at FAU: ‘Change Oneself and Change the World’

Cerabino: (Part of) Dalai Lama’s message: You’ve got to be able to laugh – at yourself

Dalai Lama: Message of internal compassion comes to South Florida

Dalai Lama Speaks At Nova Southeastern, FAU

The Coastal Star Interfaith21: Pensive student crowd hears message of peace

Listening in as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet spoke at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, it didn’t take me long to decide on nuances to share that might be different from others in the crush of media. Among the most striking was the juxtaposition of the man and the kids.

Students comprised the majority of the 3,000 at the FAU Center Feb. 24. Elsewhere on campus, another 2,500 students and faculty watched a simulcast in the auditorium. What a good thing, I thought as I watched them pay rapt attention, that they are getting to hear this wonderful human being.

The 74-year-old exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader is the personification of humility spawned of wisdom. “Some people regard me as all-knowing,” he said. “But I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.”

Most pleasantly surprising was the sage’s humor. No stuffed robe he. That became apparent a few minutes into his hour-long talk-and-question session as he removed his shoes to adopt a lotus position in the oversized chair.

This was not the occasion to discuss Tibet’s occupation by China that has made him an exile. His message was about how compassion leads to peace and begins in each individual. “We need peaceful resolution,” he said, “in order to carry out real dialogue.”

I was aware that as a result of meetings of major world religious leaders, the Dalai Lama was close with two of my recently deceased heroes: Chiara Lubich, who became known as the “Blessed Lady” of the worldwide Catholic lay movement the Focolare, and Imam W.D. Mohammed, who was eulogized as “America’s Imam.”

I wished I could have asked him about the loss of his friends. I also lamented who could replace such spiritual giants among humanity including him, who many call “His Holiness.”

Initial cloudy thoughts quickly gave way to sunshine musings about the kids who shared such a rare space with him.

It was a joy to see the students’ pensive faces as His Holiness the Dalai Lama planted good seeds for what comes next.

Not to make any comparisons, but who, when he was in college, predicted the presidency of Mrs. Obama’s son? The message of the sage of Tibet, and the students’ respect for it, served as yet another reminder that for humanity, the best is yet to come.

C.B. Hanif is a writer, editor and media and inter-religious affairs consultant. Find him at www.interfaith21.com.