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.

 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. <>