Insights on Ramadan, Mary Poppins Style

Mary_Poppins5

Right now nearly 2 billion Muslims are celebrating Eid.  Is it just a holiday name on a somewhat inclusive calendar for you? Does the description, “festival of the breaking of the fast” marking the end of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims fast from before dawn until sunset actually give you any insights or make you think, “Clearly going 17 hours with no food or drink is an occasion for JOY!”?  Do you observe Ramadan and want to share your own comments?

Well DePaul’s Muslim Chaplain and Assistant Director of the Office of Religious Diversity, Abdul-Malik Ryan, just published a blog piece originally posted on Medium.com entitled “Ramadan is like Mary Poppins” in which he paints a picture of what Ramadan means to him as seen through the lens of Mary Poppins.

I’ll share a portion of the writing as a warm-up, but give the entire text a read when you have a chance, and feel free to share comments below:

In Ramadan we do things we never knew we could
If we were asked before we experienced Ramadan, when we might have tried fasting once on a relatively short day and found it difficult, whether we could fast a month straight of nearly 17 hour days, while standing to pray in the nights, maintaining our work schedule, spending significant amounts on numerous worthy causes, while maintaining a cheerful attitude with a range of people we don’t always spend time with…we would surely not think it is possible. Yet, many of us have found we can do that with the help of faith, hope, and the special conditions of Ramadan. The Banks family would never have imagined they could do the special things they did with Mary Poppins, whether it was hopping into chalk drawings, dancing on the rooftops of London, or telling off their boss when he deserved it, but with Mary Poppins around accomplishing what they would have thought impossible became a regular occurrence.

Ramadan brings joy into our lives
It is most famously in the scene where the children go to the chalk drawing in the County Fair that one sees the enormous joy Mary Poppins brings into their lives, as the song says “It’s a jolly holiday with Mary, no wonder that it’s Mary that we love.” This is of course also seen in making a task like cleaning the nursery fun, or spending an afternoon laughing themselves up to the ceiling. Although it is filled with fasting and other forms of worship, Ramadan is a time of joy for most Muslims. Most of us have some of our fondest memories in this month and we look forward to it. Routines are changed, families spend more time together, people visit each other more often. While excessive feasting in the evening is not recommended, even a small meal after fasting brings a person pleasure and tranquility. The Prophet (saw) told us that the fasting person has two joys; one when breaking the fast and one when he or she meets God. The month is filled with joy for many and culminates of course in Eid, where one relishes in the accomplishments of a month of getting closer to God and to each other.

Katie Brick is the Director of the Office of Religious Diversity

https://medium.com/@abunoorabdulmalikryan/ramadan-is-like-mary-poppins-6c598669bde8

Dignity and the Death Penalty

by Fadya Salem

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The Journal for Social Justice, University Ministry, and the Center for Public Interest Law had the honor and privilege of hosting Sister Helen Prejean for a roundtable discussion with students, faculty, and alumni in April.

Sister Helen, Nobel Peace Prize Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of the academy award winning movie, Dead Man Walking, is an anti-death penalty advocate who has served as a spiritual advisor to death row inmates.

As a law student, I was eager to join the discussion with Sister Helen. After having studied wrongful convictions in an undergraduate course, I came to law school with the desire to advocate for those who have wrongfully fallen victim to the criminal justice system. I learned from Sister Helen the importance of not only fighting for the people we believe are innocent, but to advocate for the rights of those who have done something wrong, because they too should still be treated with dignity.

My religion, like some others, teaches that there are certain acts that are punishable by death. I sought to participate in this discussion in hopes to reconcile my religion’s views with my moral belief that the death penalty is wrong. I was moved by Sister Helen’s discussion on Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whom she spoke on behalf of during his trial, and her insistence that, although his actions caused three people’s death, he still has human dignity.

Sister Helen began her anti-death penalty advocacy while living in the St. Thomas housing project in inner-city New Orleans.  It was there that she became aware of the harrowing connection between poverty and oppression and prison.  While in St. Thomas, she became pen pals with a Louisiana death row inmate.

The roundtable conversation began with Sister Helen describing her first experience as a spiritual advisor for a death-row inmate.  She described it as a “secret ritual” that much of the rest of the world renounces.  This experience became the subject of her first book, Dead Man Walking.  The book was published in 1993, a time when 80% of Americans supported the death penalty.

Despite the large number of death penalty supporters, Sister Helen knew the story needed to be told.  She finds that many people who support the death penalty do not know much about the process and what it entails.  She works tirelessly to resist the death penalty and educate the public as a lecturer and writer.

When asked how she chooses inmates to work with, Sister Helen said it is a decision that she can’t explain. She has been a spiritual advisor to five death-row inmates, visiting with them from throughout their time in prison and to their execution.  She also counsels the families of murder victims as the founder of “Survive,” a victim’s advocacy group in New Orleans.

A powerful point in the conversation came when Sister Helen pushed the group to think about how we treat a human with dignity.  With the firm belief that “everyone is better than the worst thing they’ve ever done,” she reminded attendees that, despite their actions, people in jail are still human, which is the same value that St. Vincent advocated in his work.

I recall a discussion in my criminal law course about different methods of executions, when a fellow student asked, “If they killed someone, why do we care how we treat them?” For many people, the death penalty is such an abstract phenomenon that may be difficult to conceptualize. Sister Helen adamantly believes that if people knew what happens at executions, there would not be as many supporters.

Sister Helen described the important role lawyers play in anti-death penalty work: Lawyers are critical in framing the story told about inmates and furthering the idea that they are better than their crimes. For death-row inmates, lawyers and advocates are often times the only human dignity they have left. It is the passion for human dignity that keeps Sister Helen moving forward in her fight against the death penalty.

Fadya Salem just completed her first year of law school at DePaul.  A Chicago native, she is an alum of the University of Illinois and hopes someday to practice law within the public interest arena.   

An earlier version of this piece was published online by the Center for Public Interest Law at DePaul University in May.

Interfaith Jokes

JOKES

Religion is no laughing matter. It’s too often true, particularly of late.  So this feels a little frivolous, but I’ve been compiling a few religious jokes (related to me by people WITHIN that tradition, fyi) and am hoping for just a little universal healing through chuckles.  Here goes.

BUDDHIST

Q. Why couldn’t the Buddhist vacuum behind his couch?

A. Because he had no attachments.

JEWISH

A Jewish mother is walking with her small son along the shore, enjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean. Suddenly, without warning, a huge wave comes in and washes the boy out to sea. The woman screams, but no one is nearby, and she can’t swim. She sees her son’s head bobbing up and down as he cries for help and moves farther and farther from shore.

Desperate, she sinks to her knees in the sand. Pleading with God for mercy, she swears she will devote herself to good causes and be faithful in attending synagogue if God will spare her only child.
Suddenly another huge wave crashes in, and deposits her son, wet but unhurt on the sand.

She lifts her face to the heavens, extends both arms and cries… “He had a HAT!!!!”

CHRISTIAN

Jesus is talking with his disciples before heading up a mountain to give a big talk to the multitudes who have gathered.

“So,” he says, because the disciples are looking a little distracted. “Listen up! This is a big afternoon for me and I want everyone to pay attention! I don’t want to end up with, like, four versions of this, OK?”

MUSLIM
And in honor of the holy month of Ramadan, which concludes this week, here is one from my Muslim brothers and sisters (followed by the explanation that I needed after hearing the joke).

Stan and Bob were two non-Muslim friends who got lost hiking out in the desert. After days walking without food and water, they noticed a Mosque on the horizon one morning. They felt uplifted at the sight and got a burst of energy.

“Thank God!” said Stan. “Look – I’ll walk in and say my name is Mohammad and say your name is Ahmed and this way they are sure to give us some food. Deal?”

Bob replied. “No. I’m sticking with my own name.”

They finally got to the Mosque and walked in. A sheikh saw them and said, “Welcome! May I ask your names?”

Stan said, “I am Mohammad” and Bob said, “Hi. My name is Bob.”

The sheikh called across the room and said, “Guys, bring some food and water for Bob immediately. And for you, Mohammad – Ramadan Kareem!”

(Ramadan Kareem is a greeting that is telling someone to have a blessed or generous Ramadan – so “Mohammad” is not going to get any food or water until sundown when Muslims break their fast).

Katie Brick is the Director of the Office of Religious Diversity at DePaul. She likes to laugh – so share your interfaith jokes on the thread below.

Vincentian Moments

Part of our work with the Interfaith Scholars is to make moves to draw people closer together through our different faiths. Our purpose is to transcend differences and better understand one another and the role that our faith plays in our day to day lives. One of the ways that the scholars do this is by creating what we call Vincentian Moments. These moments take an aspect of each faith tradition and draw a comparison to an aspect of St. Vincent Depaul’s teachings. 

The first installment comes from Scholar Thano Prokos who decided to on his own background in the Greek Orthodox Faith.

St. Vincent says,

 “Our Lord humbles in order to raise up, and allows the suffering of interior and exterior afflictions in order to bring about peace. He often desires some things more than we do, but wants us to merit the grace of accomplishing them by several practices of virtue and to beg for this with many prayers.”

In “Taking the More Excellent Way,” Fr. Anthony Hughes talks about the story of St. Mary of Egypt and uses it to explain on how we make use of personal suffering. He argues that our trials and suffering are the things that make us grow and we become beautiful human beings.

St. Vincent stresses the same idea, that when we are humbled in our lives it’s our duty to rise back up.  What both men are saying, is that the hardships we face are not necessarily what we should focus on. We shouldn’t be consumed by our grief. Rather, it’s important to focus on what the next step is. How do we respond to tragedy? Both men encourage a detachment from the experience of grief and a focus on the divine through prayer.

Vincent asks us to say our own personal prayers to God with the hope that our prayer focuses our attention on what is good and how we can strive to be better. Fr. Anthony asks us to pray for others, particularly those who hurt us. The goal of this practice is less “divine intervention” but more to remind us that those who hurt us are every bit as human as we are. It changes our perception of them from the evil other into someone that we can be compassionate towards in the hopes that in the future, we can demonstrate our growth by meeting  hostility with love.

Pope Benedict’s Resignation

Pope Benedict during his Resignation Speech
Pope Benedict during his Resignation Speech

The Pope Resigned?

Wow. This is all I have to say.

I was getting out of class and I checked my Facebook newsfeed. All the statuses dealt with Pope Benedict XVI and his resignation. I was shocked, there was no way this was happening, I checked CNN’s website and read this: Too tired to go on, Pope Benedict resigns.

As a Catholic, I panicked a little. Who will be our next pope? When will this be decided? I had so many questions and then I started to really think about the pope’s decision. As Pope Benedict gets older, it is only obvious that he would like to rest and enjoy his life. Still, I did not see this coming especially because Lent is around the corner. No pope has resigned in over 600 years. I didn’t even think it was possible for a pope to resign.

I remember seeing him when I went to World Youth Day a couple years ago; I was astonished at the whole experience. I was only a few feet away from him!

We’ll see what the next few weeks bring. Until then, if you are interested read Pope Benedict’s full statement.

Peace,

Laura Mena ’14

Being Present as a Form of Healing: QIRC Reflection

Dialogue in the happening...
Dialogue in the happening…
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Vincentian Art Exhibit

I think I’m getting the hang of Quarterly Inter-Religious Celebrations (QIRC). This was my second QIRC on staff, and 4th or 5th QIRC overall, I believe. It was very different going from hosting to presenting on the evening’s theme, Healing A Wounded World Through Art, – I found the former to be significantly less challenging than the latter, which is stressful for obvious reasons. That said, I had a fantastic time.

One of the things that caught me off guard was how empowered I felt in my religious identity while speaking about it to others. In the past, I have been unwilling to identify with a specific tradition or faith because I had been unwilling to claim ownership over what I believed. I understand now that this is because I had been looking for the ‘perfect’ religion. Without ever realizing it (and, indeed, oftentimes hiding behind a mask of feigned ambivalence), I was hailing religions like cabs – only to leave each taxi the second that their route to my destination varied from the one I desired. ‘There’s got to be a cabbie that has thought about this route before, someone who knows exactly what it is that I should do,’ I thought to myself. Since then, I have come to understand that only I can chart this route, because only I have had my life of experiences. As a result, I’ve begun to take ownership over what I believe; love it even. And it seems as though now that I love what I believe, people are more interested in hearing me talk about it – and now that people want to hear what I have to say about Buddhism rather than what others have to say,  it is easier for me to find delight in my identity. I want to hear what I have to say. I suppose that is the healing that I will take from the QIRC as a whole.

Islamic Art Exhibit
Islamic Art Exhibit

I also couldn’t possibly write a reflection without commenting on Morgan Spears’ performance. God, what a stupendous, brave, and vulnerable piece of art. And how much more challenging and perfect could it have possibly been for our night’s theme? I had personally invited her to perform, but had no idea that her poem would be so personal and self-revolutionary. I think the most powerful part of the entire evening for me was when, after Morgan performed, she came over to my booth to thank me for asking her to be a part of the evening. She looked me in the eyes with an expression that said ‘sorry if that got out of hand…I kind of lost track of myself’, and I told her that she was incredible, and then she just smiled and we both laughed and hugged. She said that she was super nervous to open herself up the way she did, but I could see in her face how grounded and lucid the experience had left her feeling. Morgan’s performance, more than perhaps anything else at the QIRC, invited the audience to engage in radical transparency, heartfelt expression, and most importantly, the kind of listening that one can only learn by calling out for God and enduring the silence before Her/His reply.

Until next quarter!

Josh Graber ’14

“Meeting Minutes” – Interfaith Scholars Out For Dinner!

Interfaith Scholars Out For Dinner at Cozy Noodles near Cubs stadium!
Interfaith Scholars Out For Dinner at Cozy Noodles near Cubs stadium!

This past week, the DePaul Interfaith Scholars traded in their typical weekly meeting for a ‘Cozy’ dinner together. We ventured to Cozy Noodles a thai restaurant in the Wrigley neighborhood – just north of the DePaul Lincoln Park campus around the corner of the red-line Addison el-stop. The dinner was an opportunity for us as scholars to simply ‘hang out’ and be in good company. A casual atmosphere sparked segmented stories of each other’s lives: bits of our daily triumphs as well as pieces of family traditions.  I learned that I should not expect to see a Jewish man waiting at the end of the aisle at his wedding, but I might more likely find him walking down the aisle with his parents.

 

I don’t think that we always realize the fun facts, heartfelt stories, or shared experiences that we exchange with one another, in the passing of laid-back conversations. What can also slip by is the unintentional ‘ouches’, assumptions, and generalizations that can easily weave their way into chit-chat.  Even the dialogical training and insight of interfaith scholars can get away from us. We can easily forget challenges that come with intentionality and consciousness. But it is talking with friends – the time we spend listening, questioning and sharing – that shape the foundation for inter-religious dialogue we seek to foster.

 

Caelin Niehoff ’14

 

The Beauty of Sharing Thoughts

I hope that this blog post is brought to you in good health and spirits. Being a DePaul University student entitles one to have a seven-week break. With that being said, I was blessed and privileged to attend several spiritual and faith-based events, lectures, conferences, and a convention. Sometimes we can’t help but jot down the phrases and concepts that scholars throw at us. And surprisingly as I took a moment to look through my notes, I noticed that these quotes and phrases that were mentioned could relate to any person: religion, or no religion. Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder the impact my experience can have on another individual, below I share with you my many moments of inspiration.

“A beliver will never view the glass as half empty because he or she knows that the other half will be filled by God.”

“The Great, the King, if it wasn’t for You, we would not be here…”

“The heart constantly waivers and turns, and that is where the problem is.”

“The beauty is that God does not judge by outer appearance, he looks within.”

“A heart that has no desire to sin, but falls into sin without it intending it.”

“We fear everything else… as if our bosses are paying our salaries, we forget that we work for God and God pays our salaries.”

“Our reliance on placebo medicine far out weighs our reliance on God…”

“Sometimes religions make it a point that rituals are an end rather than a means.”

“Ignorance breeds fear!”

“Everyone has a form of spirituality whether it is formerly religious or some-other sort of spirituality…”

“Religious defamation exists, and free expression can be upsetting… but then ‘ethical people’ of religious and non-religious backgrounds will need to stand up for their fellow citizens and stand out against extremism.”

“Looking at the world in the eyes of the Hereafter is a vantage point which we all should take advantage of. Where did I come from? Why am I here?  Where will I go when I die?”

“You should stay here and stand up. But to stay here and to sit down is not an option.”

“A true leader is a servant of his people.”

“That which you have given away stays with you forever.”

“That which you give is your wealth and that which you leave behind is your inheritance.”

“Let us reflect on our relationship with God. Can we believe in God if we do not have a relationship with God?”

Happy New Year’s!

Dana Jabri ’15

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Quarterly Inter-Religious Celebration: “Healing a Wounded World Through Art”

I am excited to announce that next week DePaul’s University Ministry will be holding their Winter Quarterly Inter-Religious Celebration! After holding our Fall Quarter “QIRC” which revolved around the theme of restorative justice and engaging one’s faith through a service-based lens – I hope that this upcoming QIRC will allow for a space where conversations about restorative justice and art can be intertwined.

The DePaul Vincentian Society, state that “Through prayer and careful reflection on the current broken state of the US criminal justice system, Vincentians guided by the legacy of Frederic Ozanam should begin to see their role as change agents and implementers of restorative gospel values. Recognizing that the dignity of the human persons applies to both the victim and the offender.”

If you’re in the city please feel free to stop by and check out this event!

Follow us for live updates on twitter:  @dpu_interfaith

Follow us on Facebook: DePaul Interfaith

 

Many Blessings,

Dana Jabri’15

* Apologies for spelling error*
* Apologies for spelling error*