Monthly Archives: April 2011

the Islamic Cultural Center, Oakland: Hadith talk

18 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by in ICCNC, Mayor Jean Quan, Sufi, Uncategorized, Untold

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children's art: Islamic Cultural Center

A comprehensive book on HADITH in an easy-to-read format. That is, the transmissions of what Prophet Muhammad did and said. This was compiled and written down centuries ago and is now revisited by an American man born in 1977. I ordered the book and then went to hear him speak.

Jonathan A.C. Brown

Jonathan A.C. Brown was invited to the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (the ICCNC), an impressive building near Lake Merritt in Oakland. I had never been there.

main hall ICCNC

An old Maonic Lodge, what a cool place!

Hamza (Jason van Boom) is Director  of Developing and Marketing for the ICCNC and interviewer for the series: Islam and Authors.  Sounds promising; Islam and Authors.  I like the sound of that series. Hamza said they are considering my book, UNTOLD for a future talk.

Jonathan A.C. Brown, assistant professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Washington, is fluent in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Latin, French, and German. He studied Arabic in Cairo Egypt, has a Ph.D. from University of Chicago and a magna cum laude Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University.

Brown's talk on Hadith In his talk Brown said, “The real discourse in Islam is what you do with the hadith. Look at it as something alive even if you don’t agree with it (a particular hadith).”

I liked this: “Imagine you are talking for 23 years and someone kept track of what you said.” That describes the context for the hadith quite well. It would follow that there would be contradictions, as happened with Prophet Muhammad.

I look forward to reading this book, Hadith, Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, Oneworld (Foundations of Islam series), 2009. Chapter seven is about Hadith and Sufism.

~After the talk my friend Hadia and I went to Pho 84, a small Vietnamese Restaurant on 17th street.

with Her Honor the Mayor

Mayor Jean Quan  and her husband Floyd Huen and a congressman arrived. I introduced myself, and Floyd took the photo of me and  the first woman mayor of Oakland ­– a no-nonsense, friendly person. I wanted a photo to go with the one I have with Mayor Gavin Newsom of SF!

I enjoy the quirky randomness of attending a serious lecture in a city just an hour from my home and ending the evening with Hadia discussing the good old days in Maroc –– then a photo–op with the Mayor of Oakland.

Life is good. <>

Poetry Night at Lincoln High~

09 Saturday Apr 2011

Posted by in A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad, Events, Poetry, Untold

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Poetry Night at the Black Box Theater

Last night Rachel and I drove to San Jose. I’d been invited to read six minutes of Spoken Word poems at the Black Box Theater at Lincoln High School. Jael and Anthony invited me back in January, when I read at Willow Glen Library. I said YES! without hesitation.

Tamam and Jael Cruz, the host

Some of the SJ Poetry Center folks were reading there: Pushpa, Dennis, and a couple others. The rest of the poets were students from Lincoln. This may have been the inaugural Poetry Night – benefiting the center for the arts. I donated 11 CDs with poetry and spoken word to be sold for $5. with proceeds going to Lincoln High Arts!

The Black Box Theater is a well designed space and I guess there were more than 60 students there, Gimo was the MC, and the event began a short while after the “sound check” and earlier than the announced time. There was a camera crew, and we signed release forms, but there was no mic. Didn’t need one.

I was lucky to go early in the evening, after 4 or 5 students, and announced as the first “special guest.” I told them “I like history and I do spoken word, so I’m putting them together tonight. About your own history –– once it may have been heartache and pain. Later it became something to talk about!” I introduced “Uncle Waraka”  and shouted it out, talking about Muhammad as “the Propheci’d Man.” Next came “Aisha and the Battle of the Camel.” This poem begins : “Hey Euphrates, I’m your tigress! I don’t digress but I risk speaking of the year 656….”

The audience was asked to click their fingers instead of clapping, so the recording people didn’t have to deal with  bursts of sound.  Pushpa read some good poems. One line of hers was: “I’d rather have poetry than oatmeal for breakfast.”

I felt it was an honor to read there. I hope this becomes a regular event. Thanks Jael and Anthony. Lets hear it for Lincoln High poets!<>

CDs for sale, "The Women with Muhammad"