Category: local

shooting for my new film begins

today we shot the first interview for my new film on racism in america. talked to a brilliant young muslim woman who’s studying whilst also working with refugees. she herself is a refugee from somalia who moved to the US in 2004. thx rajesh barnabas and arleen thaler for being my collaborators on this project. couldn’t ask for more talented or upstanding people ♥

an important busy time

it’s been a busy few days. on saturday, i took the kids to rochester’s main cultural attractions and we roamed around in the neighborhood of the arts. on sunday, we took zooz to canandaigua lake and had lunch at bristol harbor while we enjoyed a beautiful view of the lake. later that evening, i was honored to speak at a rally in solidarity with charlottesville, in washington square park, and feel the solidarity with activist friends and our community at large. over the weekend, zooz made us some delicious shakshuka – so much more delectable than the thick-tomato-soupy shakshuka i’ve had in restaurants here. reminded me of the delicious breakfast my dear friend Nihal cooked for me when i visited her in amsterdam. on monday, i met with two spectacular artists whom i’m looking to collaborate with – a brilliant dance choreographer and photographer. such talent in this city! i made sindhi biryani for zooz and we compared notes on how it’s similar to/different from iraqi biryani. today, zooz left for washington dc. the iraqi young leaders (IYLEP) will be there for a week and then they will be off to turkey, followed by iraq. we will miss zooz so much. she has become part of our family. it’s good to know what a global family we have and it’s good to have an important reason to visit iraq 🙂

shakshuka

rally in solidarity with charlottesville

rally in solidarity with charlottesville

eastman school of music concert

wonderful evening spent at eastman school of music with 3 bright young ladies. today’s peformances were by the community music school, so a bit uneven, but the baroque music mostly by henry purcell was lively and fun. the musicians were accompanied by the meryton assembly dancers and the kids got to join in at the end. prior to the concert we had coffee and hot chocolate at java’s. a woman complemented me on my beautiful girls. are u all related she asked? no, but we’re from the same part of the world, i said. iraq, pakistan – not so close geographically, but here in the US is all seems incredibly familiar 🙂

iraqi and pakistani

pittsford library and mutanabbi street

yesterday, after dinner, we took zahraa to pittsford dairy for some ice cream and then walked around schoen place. she told me how the smell of the trees, late in the evening, reminded her of the parks in baghdad. we showed her the pittsford library and she told us about mutanabbi street, located in baghdad’s old quarter, filled with book stores and book stalls and named after the great arab poet, al-mutanabbi, who was born in kufa (iraq) in the 10th century. later zahraa showed me pictures of sulaymaniyah in the northern kurdish region of iraq. she and her family had vacationed there over the summer. we also talked about basra, a city known to me through its frequent mention in islamic history, literature and folklore. it’s located in the south of iraq. she told me about shatt al-arab, a river formed in basra, by the confluence of the euphrates and tigris, which eventually empties itself into the arabian gulf. this part of iraq has one of the largest date palm forests in the world, zahraa shared with us as we ate dates covered in belgian chocolate and stuffed with almonds 🙂

symposium on women and gender in religions

on monday july 31st, i attended a symposium on “women and gender in religions” at naz. got to engage with some interesting papers and discussions. here’s one.

hussam timani (christopher newport university) talked about “the feminine in the quran: reading mary in light of adam” and described mary’s pure nature and absolute obedience to god, qualities that endow her with angelic traits.

mary (maryam in arabic – the only woman identified by name in the quran) is considered “muharrara” or free from the taints of wordly associations. she devotes herself to god by secluding herself in the temple. her story is full of miracles including the birth of her son jesus.

the great sufi scholar, ibn arabi, considered mary the prototype of all mystics. as the mother of the one who sought union with god, she becomes a perfect human being and the manifestation of divine love.

adam, on the other hand, has a lower soul. he is disobedient, inconsistent. obedience is considered a higher virtue than monotheism. obedience is a choice whereas monotheism is understood to exist naturally in human beings.

there is a “hijab” or veil that protects mary and her son from satan’s corruption, while satan has access to adam.
dr timani sees mary as being a bridge between christians and muslims. he ended his talk with the need to recognize, acknowledge and pay attention to contemporary embodiments of mary.

i had some questions about mary’s free will as described in this paper. is obedience to god simply her nature (is she stripped of agency) or is that her choice? since mary is being compared to adam, i guess that their volition must be equally operative.

obedience itself is problematic for me but then i thought about how we are talking about obedience to god and conceptions of justice, mercy, beneficence and love. not that different from the reasoning behind social justice movements.

i find mary to be a powerful icon. during our travels to mexico, not only did we find mary’s presence (as our lady of guadalupe) to be ubiquitous, we also learned how some indigenous religions have absorbed the figure of mary and reconfigured it as the goddess of fertility. fascinating.

mara ahmed at symposium on women and gender in religions

leadership program for iraqi youth

our wonderful iraqi student is here. today’s the first day of the leadership program at allendale columbia in which my daughter is also participating. saw some beautiful pictures of baghdad last night and learned how the city is divided by the river tigris into an eastern half (rusafa) and a western half (al karkh). also discussed the differences between pakistani and iraqi biryani and what’s considered the ultimate breakfast in both countries: kahi and geymar in iraq (flaky pastry soaked in syrup and served with cream derived from buffalo milk) and a rich omelette with onions and tomatoes served with paratha in pakistan (crispy, layered, shallowly fried flatbread). so many deep and distinct and vibrant histories, cultures and peoples in asia.

The Muslims I Know at the Dharma Refuge

Today I led a discussion after the screening of The Muslims I Know at the Dharma Refuge. It was one of the most effortless post-screening Q&As I’ve ever done: 1) because I felt accepted and the questions were more a way to engage rather than confront and challenge, and 2) because it was a surprisingly woke audience that understood the mechanics of racism and American foreign policy. This was the first screening I did since a 17-year old, beautiful Muslim kid was beaten to death with a metal bat in VA. I couldn’t discuss it in any detail – it makes me too emotional. But it was lovely to be embraced by people who were as shocked, heartbroken and angered as I. Thank u Sue Gaile for organizing everything and for the gorgeous flowers and thx to my friend Milo Lomi for being there – wish we had taken this picture earlier, before you left!

Mara Ahmed at the Dharma Refuge