The Department of Religion at the Chautauqua Institution examines "The Ethics of Leadership" from the perspective of well-known civic and religious leaders. These leaders share angles of vision that define ethical leadership as a social responsibility that safeguards the foundations for the flourishing of civil society. This talk features Daisy Khan.
Bio
Daisy Khan
Daisy Khan is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing an American Muslim identity and to building bridges between the Muslim community and general public through dialogues in faith, identity, culture, and the arts. Ms. Khan mentors young Muslims on challenges of assimilation, gender, religion and modernity, and intergenerational differences. In the aftermath of 9/11, she created interfaith programs to emphasize commonalities among the Abrahamic faith traditions, such as a groundbreaking theater presentation, Same Difference, and the interfaith Cordoba Bread Fest.
To prioritize the improvement of Muslim-West relations and the advancement of Muslim women globally, Ms. Khan has launched two cutting edge intra-faith programs to start movements of change agents among the two disempowered majorities of the Muslim world: youth and women. The MLT: Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow and WISE: Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality programs were launched on an international scale in Doha (MLT) and in Malaysia (WISE). Both programs seek to convene, empower, and build networks in their target groups, and to facilitate the emergence of a leadership that speaks with a credible, humane, and equitable voice in the global Muslim community.
Ms. Khan frequently lectures and debates in the United States and internationally, having debated Christopher Hitchens on National Public Radio. After the Danish cartoon crisis, she moderated a discussion in Denmark between young Muslims and Flemming Rose, the original publisher of the controversial cartoons. In May 2007 she became the first Muslim woman to speak at Thanksgiving Square in Dallas, Texas on the National Day of Prayer. Ms. Khan frequently comments on important issues in the media, and has appeared on ABC, PBS, BBC World, CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, Al Jazeerah, and the Hallmark Channel. She has also been quoted in numerous print publications, such as Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Saudi Gazette, The National and Khaleej Times. In July 2007 Ms. Khan appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine along with 40 members of ASMA. In the same issue of the magazine, she also co-wrote an article on the symmetry between core Islamic values and the constitution of the United States.
Daisy Khan is the recipient of many awards, including the Interfaith Center's Award for Promoting Peace and Interfaith Understanding, the Auburn Seminary's Lives of Commitment Award, Hunt Alternatives Prime Movers Award, and Women's E-News 21st Century Leaders for the 21st century. Born in Kashmir, India, she spent the first 25 years of her career as an interior architect at various Fortune 500 companies. In 2005 she decided to dedicate herself fully to elevating the discourse on Islam, and to improving the lives of Muslims and non-Muslims globally through ASMA and its sister organization, the Cordoba Initiative.
Major world religion founded by Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century AD. The Arabic word islam means “surrender”—specifically, surrender to the will of the one God, called Allah in Arabic. Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion, and its adherents, called Muslims, regard the Prophet Muhammad as the last and most perfect of God's messengers, who include Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. The sacred scripture of Islam is the Qur'an, which contains God's revelations to Muhammad. The sayings and deeds of the Prophet recounted in the sunna are also an important source of belief and practice in Islam. The religious obligations of all Muslims are summed up in the Five Pillars of Islam, which include belief in God and his Prophet and obligations of prayer, charity, pilgrimage, and fasting. The fundamental concept in Islam is the Shari'ah, or Law, which embraces the total way of life commanded by God. Observant Muslims pray five times a day and join in community worship on Fridays at the mosque, where worship is led by an imam. Every believer is required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city, at least once in a lifetime, barring poverty or physical incapacity. The month of Ramadan is set aside for fasting. Alcohol and pork are always forbidden, as are gambling, usury, fraud, slander, and the making of images. In addition to celebrating the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate Muhammad's birthday (seemawlid) and his ascension into heaven (seemi'raj). The 'Id al-Adha festival inaugurates the season of pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims are enjoined to defend Islam against unbelievers through jihad. Divisions occurred early in Islam, brought about by disputes over the succession to the caliphate (seecaliph). About 90% of Muslims belong to the Sunnite branch. The Shi'ites broke away in the 7th century and later gave rise to other sects, including the Isma'ilis. Another significant element in Islam is the mysticism known as Sufism. Since the 19th century the concept of the Islamic community has inspired Muslim peoples to cast off Western colonial rule, and in the late 20th century fundamentalist movements (see Islamic fundamentalism) threatened or toppled a number of secular Middle Eastern governments. In the early 21st century, there were more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world.
"Sadly, it seems to be far sexier for the media to report the message of two extremists rather than the tempered and tolerant message of the majority of millions of American Muslims."
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In another recent news story, an under-reported one that was more significant than the whole "South Park" debacle, the U.S. Army rescinded its invitation to the Rev. Franklin Graham -- the former spiritual adviser for George W. Bush -- to the upcoming National Day of Prayer at the Pentagon over remarks he has repeatedly made about Islam over the years.
"True Islam cannot be practiced in this country," Graham told CNN's Campbell Brown in December. "You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they've committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries."
During a November 2001 broadcast of "NBC Nightly News," Graham told news anchor Tom Brokaw that Islam is "a very wicked and evil religion ... not of the same god ... [and] I don't believe this is this wonderful, peaceful religion."
Even though he has never apologized, it was his father -- the Rev. Billy Graham -- who finally addressed his son's remarks about Islam during an August 2006 interview with Jon Meacham of Newsweek magazine.
The elder Graham said, "I would not say Islam is wicked and evil ... I have a lot of friends who are Islamic. There are many wonderful people among them. I have a great love for them. ... I'm sure there are many things that [my son Franklin] and I are not in total agreement about. ..."
Sir Winston Churchill once said that "a fanatic is one who cannot change his mind and will not change the subject." All of this anti-Muslim rhetoric over the last few years has led to political whisper campaigns and public opinion polls that show 57 percent of Republicans, and 32 percent of Americans overall, believe that President Obama is a Muslim, according to a March Louis Harris poll.
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On the issue of the U.S. Army disinviting Franklin Graham, I do think it was perfectly fine to disinvite him to play a prominent role at the National Day of Prayer at the Pentagon. Just as Graham has the First Amendment right to hate and defame Islam, the Army and Pentagon also exercise their own free speech by not giving an anti-Muslim evangelist a platform on their turf.
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Sadly, instead of dealing with the real cases of racism, bigotry and xenophobia regularly injected into our public airwaves by some of our political leaders and opinion makers, we have instead allowed ourselves to get sucked into a faux controversy involving two no-name idiots with a radical website taking on four pre-pubescent, fictitious cartoon characters from South Park, Colorado.
her spin is terrific. First things first: Are all human beings equal in koran? "
Yes, The quran says, "There is NO compulsion in religion".
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Does islam command you to respect "kuffars"? why is this term "kuffar" derogatory? go amend koran first
Leave the Quran to the scholars to interpret. You are nobody to be telling others what to do with the Quran. You are foolish to think tht you can just erase 1400 years of a history.
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and suggest to muslims that koran is imperfect before asking others to be compassoinate. Where is your compassion for the kuffars?
There have been many examples of that via action. Learn the facts about Islamic history - it have good and bad just like anyone else because it's human who dois the good as well as the bad but there was more good things than the bad -
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when it is clealry going to hurt only the non-muslims, then why are you adamant on hurting kuffars only? and pleasing only the muslims?
Why are you adamant on hurting the Muslims by asking them to dsicard their whole history among other things?
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there are already over 100 mosqques in NY preaching hatred and venom for kuffars? if you can mange to get all these mosques to agree that ALL human beings are equal, then and only then you can ask "kuffars" to show consideration towards your "ummah".
Who are you to inist that all these mosques have to agree to anything?
her spin is terrific. First things first: Are all human beings equal in koran? Does islam command you to respect "kuffars"? why is this term "kuffar" derogatory? go amend koran first and suggest to muslims that koran is imperfect before asking others to be compassoinate. Where is your compassion for the kuffars? when it is clealry going to hurt only the non-muslims, then why are you adamant on hurting kuffars only? and pleasing only the muslims? there are already over 100 mosqques in NY preaching hatred and venom for kuffars? if you can mange to get all these mosques to agree that ALL human beings are equal, then and only then you can ask "kuffars" to show consideration towards your "ummah".
Sure, Israel could do dialogue with Hamas but Israel will NEVER give Palestianisn what's belong to Palestinians.
And all these Zionists in the audience acting like saints. Why don't they go tell the same to Israeli government and the White House and 10 downing Streets.
I am not saying the extremists do not exist but Hamas and Hezbollah are fighting for what belong to their people. There is a differnce but these Zionist supporters pretnd like ther's isn't.
I can't believe about this woman asking Daisy about ameliorating Hamas and Hezbollha, totally ignoring what had been done to the Palestinains and Lebanon by Israel. What about ameliorating Isael and its Zionists puppets in the White House and 10 Downing Road? Talk about bias.
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