‘Oppenheim’ sweeps the Oscars as the holy month of Ramadan begins
Interfaith Iftar: Living in the Shadow of the War During the Fourth Jewish Mass Mass Shooting. A Californian-American Muslim Activist’s Story
“The main purpose of this interfaith Iftar is to create and send the message that the Muslim community is peaceful,” he says. “We want peace with every nation.”
Muslims give to charity during the holy month of Ramadan, says Hussam Ayloush, head of the council on American Islamic Relations in California.
“One of the exercises meant in Islam by God during the month of Ramadan is to teach us to feel empathy toward those who have less privileges than we have,” he says.
The war is affecting the ability of Muslims to live out their faith. Since the war started, Muslims in the U.S. have been unable to send care packages to their loved ones in Gaza.
“No matter how much we raise,” he says, “whether it’s millions and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of food and drinks, it is almost impossible to get it into Gaza.
She has been affected deeply by the war between Israel and Hamas. More than 31,000 Gazans have been killed according to health officials there, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200.
Rania Sbaita of Lake Forest, Calif., will continue her activism in support of her family and friends in Gaza, as well as doing acts of charity and praying. She wears a black sweatshirt that says “Gaza:soul of Mysoul” and it is white.
“We went to a march in San Francisco to join the West Coast contingency of a national March for Palestine,” she says, picking up a hand-drawn placard she made for the rally in Northern California a few weeks ago.
Rania Sbaita’s cultural pride, she says, comes from her father, Marwan Sbaita. During the holiest month of the year, he would usually call his relatives in central Gaza to talk about what he was eating that night.
He’s only had sporadic communication with them since the war began, sometimes only a short text message at night. Marwan’s family haven’t been able to call him in weeks. He knows their hunger this Ramadan is fundamentally different from the hunger he feels during daytime fasting.
“They will not have a meal, so it shatters me,” he says. When I eat, I’ll be eating with a lot of pain, suffering, agony, and guilt.
Source: Muslims prepare for a more somber Ramadan due to the Israel-Hamas war
The Muslim-Fractional Iftar: Islam, Islam and the World – Its Implications for the American Civil Liberation Process and the Second Iftar
Waqar Khan invited more than 400 people from different religions to his event, which will take place on March 17 in suburban Los Angeles. He plans to acknowledge the war during the celebration.
“We’re preparing to welcome as many people as we can, it’s the month of Al-Aqsa mosque, and we considered it to be the month of Al Quds (Jerusalem),” said the director of Al-Aqsa.
The Pakistan American Chamber of Commerce in Southern California is planning a second annual Iftar for people of many faiths.
Muslim communities in the U.S. are diverse, with countries of origin spanning the world, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. There are different ways in which those communities are engaging with the war.
“God tells us that fasting is for him. “So, we usually fast to get closer to God knowing that God will reward us after we fast.”
“It is not as hard as I’ve experienced before, including the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War that followed,” she says.
Tarifi was born in Gaza and raised there until she was 4 years old, before her family moved to Kuwait. She moved to the Los Angeles area more than three decades ago.
The Temple of the Rock: Israeli police enforce the right to see the holy site of the Al-Aqsa mosque before Ramadan begins
50,000 people attend Friday prayers at the site, most of them come dressed in their best clothes and linger after the prayers. But on the Friday before Ramadan began, Israeli police heavily restricted entry for worshippers. There was also an unusually large police presence close to the worshiping sites, where normally, they would be positioned further away. All of this has heightened anxiety and fear among Palestinians that they will be barred from exercising their right to worship.
Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Israel has restricted Palestinian access to Al-Aqsa. Men and teenage boys under the age of 45, and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, have not been allowed for months. Some have been praying outside the walls of the old city.
As part of a longstanding agreement aimed at maintaining religious balance since Israel captured the old city from Jordan in 1967, Muslims pray at Al-Aqsa, while Jews pray at the Western Wall, the base of the ancient second temple. But a growing movement of ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist Jews have been going to the compound to pray, accompanied by Israeli police. A small group of people talk about building a temple near the Dome of the Rock.
The role of Israeli police has changed over the past 10 years, as they now are often seen as less important than they used to be.
The police were a referee between the sides and their goal was to maintain order. They are now in league with the Temple Mount movement,” Seidemann said. Israel violates the status quo by interpretation on a daily basis.
Source: As Ramadan begins, uncertainty and anxiety surround the Al-Aqsa mosque
The Fate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque: Reflections on a “Seadiac” of the Gaza Strip
Rushdiyyah said she had never seen a mosque so empty, especially for pre-Ramadan Friday prayers, because she was afraid of Israeli police.
Zakariya Al Qaq said that this is what is left for the Palestinian as a kind of identity. This is very crucial. They believe it is in danger. And if they lose it or something happens to Al-Aqsa mosque, then everything is lost.”
Hamas often invokes Al-Aqsa in order to galvanize support or incite an uprising. The group called the October 7 attack on the mosque “Al-Aqsa flood” because of threats to the mosque.
There are several Ramadan-specific activities that take place at the compound, including the breaking of the fast, lectures and nightly prayers. Fridays and other days that are considered especially holy can attract over 200,000 worshippers.
Even though those activities will still take place, the war in Gaza is overshadowing the celebrations of the holy month for many Palestinians. Normally, the mosque area is decorated with lights and lanterns, but not this year.
Now, at a time when the region is already on edge over the war in Gaza, and with more than 31,000 Palestinians killed, experts warn the slightest tension over the mosque could have the power to engulf the whole region in a bigger war, possibly even a religious one.
Tenorio’s Best Picture: The Oscar Night that Came Back in Mexico for a New Look at What Happens If You’re Bullfighting
Matadors are back in Mexico City, after Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned a 2022 ban on bullfighting in the capital. The tradition faces declining popularity, animal rights protests and outright bans in several countries. The modern era sees a growing number of female bullfighters who desire to be treated equally in the arena. Tenorio is one of them. Read the story and give it a listen.
“Round-up” campaigns have become ubiquitous at grocery chains, gas stations and stores in recent years, and raked in millions of dollars annually for everything from scholarships to cancer research. Donations at check-out nearly doubled between 2012 and 2022, when charities raised $749 million nationwide through so-called point-of-sale fundraising campaigns. Marketing and management experts vary in their theories, but they all agree on this: it’s not because of consumer generosity.
The best picture trophy was one of seven awards taken by Oppenheimer on Sunday night. Poor Things won the design categories for makeup/hair styling, costumes, and production design, which the academy liked. Emma Stone won her second Oscar and Cillian Murphy won his first, Da’Vine Joy Randolph stood up for publicists and Robert Downey, Jr. completed a long, long comeback story. John Cena presented an award without any clothes, while Ryan Gosling showed up with his Kenergy. All in all, it was a satisfying Oscar night, even if there weren’t many big surprises. As it turns out, you can like Oppenheimer and you can like Barbie, and you can like some other movies too — even as an Oscar voter.
Source: Ramadan begins without a cease-fire; ‘Oppenheimer’ sweeps the Oscars
The Up First Newsletter – the First Seven Days After the Operation ‘Twas Good to Wake Up’ in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
After releasing thousands of prison inmates earlier this month, armed gangs have started attacking government buildings in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and the country has extended a state of emergency. They struck when de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry was out of the country, and he is now blocked from entering both Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic.
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