Search Results for Iranian Muslim Association of North America

Iranian Muslim Association of North America videos

	Davos Open Forum 2008 - The Comeback of Religion http://www.weforum.org/openforum/ 24.01.2008 Open Forum - Welcome & The Comeback of Religion: A Potential Danger for the Secular State? Introducing the Open Forum 2008 With André Schneider, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, World Economic Forum Thomas Wipf, President of the Council, Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, Switzerland The Comeback of Religion: A Potential Danger for the Secular State? Secularization was a decisive step towards peaceful cohabitation of different religions in Europe. However, not every religion considers the separation of state and religion as a natural course of action. For example, Islam is a unity between the sacred and profane spaces of society. Thus, Islamic states claim that the state represents Islamic communities and that state law is rooted in religious law. 1) How can states in Europe guarantee religious plurality and freedom while simultaneously maintaining their own way of life and culture embedded in Christian values and traditions? 2) How does Islam see the relationship between state and religion? Are there any repercussions on the cohabitation of different religions in secularized states? 3) Does Islam face a similar question to the one Christians have intensely struggled with since Enlightenment, namely, recognition of a separation of state and religion? Mohammad Khatami, President, Foundation for Dialogue Among Civilizations; President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2005) Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America, USA Ulrich Schlüer, Member, Foreign Affairs Committee, National Council of Switzerland, Switzerland Thomas Wipf, President of the Council, Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, Switzerland Moderator Marco Meier, Journalist, Swiss Television SF, Switzerland
	Hamza Yusuf: Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity Pt 3/4 This is an Extremely interesting lecture MUST SEE! Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf recorded at the 44th Annual ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) Convention, 9/01/07.
	Hamza Yusuf: Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity Pt 4/4 This is an Extremely interesting lecture MUST SEE! Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf recorded at the 44th Annual ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) Convention, 9/01/07.
	Inside IRAN's underground billion-dollar art gallery It's one of the finest collections of modern art anywhere in the world, but you won't find it in New York or Paris. Dozens of works by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock — together valued at roughly $3 billion — are locked in a basement in Tehran. Only a handful of westerners have had an up-close look at the underground archives in Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art. ABC News was granted exclusive access inside the vault that holds a priceless collection Iranian authorities choose to keep locked away. What was revealed was astonishing: a series of paintings by Picasso; a wall's worth of pop art by Roy Lichtenstein; Warhol portraits of Jackie Onassis, Mick Jagger and Marilyn Monroe; a Diego Rivera self portrait; and a painting many consider to be the best Jackson Pollock outside of North America. The collection was supposed to be a gift to the Iranian people. It was assembled by the Shah of Iran and his wife using public funds during the oil boom of the 1970s. Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art was inaugurated in 1977, designed to be one of the world's landmark modern art institutions, with an international collection worthy of that ambition. But just months later came the Islamic Revolution. The Shah was deposed, Ayatollah Khomeinei was became the country's leader, and in the Revolutionary, anti-American climate the museum's western art was banished to the basement. Why aren't the pieces shown to the public? The reasons are a mix of ideology and practicality. The collection is huge and the museum small. Museum director Dr. Habibollah Sadeghi, himself a painter appointed by conservative President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, says there is no space to properly put the works on display. Others question whether the museum could properly protect the valuable pieces from theft or damage were they displayed openly. Conservative Muslim ideology — a powerful governing force in Iran — has played a similarly forceful role in keeping the pieces underground. Aside from the anti-Western overtones of Revolutionary Iran many of the pieces are considered too racy for a conservative Muslim society. When some of the collection briefly went on display in 2005 Andre Derain's "Golden Age," a 1905 painting of female nudes, was notably absent. Also hidden was the centerpiece of a Frances Bacon painting triptych. The center panel could be taken as homoerotic, showing two naked men asleep in bed. There are plans to display the collection permanently once museum space is expanded, Sadeghi said. If those plans materialize — full-time public access to view the pieces — it would fulfill the dreams of art lovers worldwide. "In two or three years we can improve the museum and have a permanent exhibition," said Sadeghi, adding that the museum is hoping to buy more Western works in the coming years to fill out the collection.
	Inside IRAN's underground Billion-Dollar Art Gallary It's one of the finest collections of modern art anywhere in the world, but you won't find it in New York or Paris. Dozens of works by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock — together valued at roughly $3 billion — are locked in a basement in Tehran. Only a handful of westerners have had an up-close look at the underground archives in Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art. ABC News was granted exclusive access inside the vault that holds a priceless collection Iranian authorities choose to keep locked away. What was revealed was astonishing: a series of paintings by Picasso; a wall's worth of pop art by Roy Lichtenstein; Warhol portraits of Jackie Onassis, Mick Jagger and Marilyn Monroe; a Diego Rivera self portrait; and a painting many consider to be the best Jackson Pollock outside of North America. The collection was supposed to be a gift to the Iranian people. It was assembled by the Shah of Iran and his wife using public funds during the oil boom of the 1970s. Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art was inaugurated in 1977, designed to be one of the world's landmark modern art institutions, with an international collection worthy of that ambition. But just months later came the Islamic Revolution. The Shah was deposed, Ayatollah Khomeinei was became the country's leader, and in the Revolutionary, anti-American climate the museum's western art was banished to the basement. Why aren't the pieces shown to the public? The reasons are a mix of ideology and practicality. The collection is huge and the museum small. Museum director Dr. Habibollah Sadeghi, himself a painter appointed by conservative President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, says there is no space to properly put the works on display. Others question whether the museum could properly protect the valuable pieces from theft or damage were they displayed openly. Conservative Muslim ideology — a powerful governing force in Iran — has played a similarly forceful role in keeping the pieces underground. Aside from the anti-Western overtones of Revolutionary Iran many of the pieces are considered too racy for a conservative Muslim society. When some of the collection briefly went on display in 2005 Andre Derain's "Golden Age," a 1905 painting of female nudes, was notably absent. Also hidden was the centerpiece of a Frances Bacon painting triptych. The center panel could be taken as homoerotic, showing two naked men asleep in bed. There are plans to display the collection permanently once museum space is expanded, Sadeghi said. If those plans materialize — full-time public access to view the pieces — it would fulfill the dreams of art lovers worldwide. "In two or three years we can improve the museum and have a permanent exhibition," said Sadeghi, adding that the museum is hoping to buy more Western works in the coming years to fill out the collection.
	A Jihad for Love (2007) - Movie Trailer In a time when Islam is under tremendous attack from within and without, "A Jihad for Love" is a daring documentary filmed in twelve countries and nine languages. Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma has gone where the silence is loudest, filming with great risk in nations where government permission to make this film was not an option. "A Jihad for Love" is Mr. Sharma's debut and is the world's first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Parvez enters the many worlds of Islam by illuminating multiple stories as diverse as Islam itself. The film travels a wide geographic arc presenting us lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. Always filming in secret and as a Muslim, Parvez makes the film from within the faith, depicting Islam with the same respect that the film's characters show for it. "A Jihad for Love" is produced by Sandi DuBowski (Director/Producer of the award-winning "Trembling Before G-d") and Parvez Sharma in association with ZDF-Arte, Channel 4, LOGO, SBS-Australia, The Sundance Documentary Fund and The Katahdin Foundation. In Western media, the concept of 'jihad' is often narrowly equated with holy war. But Jihad also has a deeper meaning, its literal Arabic being 'struggle' or 'to strive in the path of God'. In this film we meet several characters engaged in their personal Jihad's for love. The people in this film have a lot to teach us about love. Their pursuit of love has brought them into conflicts with their countries, families, and even themselves. Such is the quandary of being both homosexual and Muslim, a combination so taboo that very little about it has been documented. As a result, the majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a twisting, lonely and often dangerous road. The majority of Muslims believe that homosexuality is forbidden by the Qur'an and many scholars quote Hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) to directly condemn homosexuality. Islam, already the second largest religion in the world is also the fastest growing. 50 nations have a Muslim majority. In a few of those nations laws interpreted from alleged Qur'anic prohibitions of male homosexuality (lesbianism is allegedly absent from the Qur'an) are enforced by religious, tribal or military authorities to monitor, entrap, imprison, torture and even execute homosexuals. Even for those who migrate to Europe or North America and adopt Western personae of "gay" or "queer," the relative freedoms of new homelands are mitigated by persistent racial profiling and intensified state surveillance after the attacks of 9/11 and train bombings in Madrid and London. As a result, many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion completely. But the real-life characters of A "Jihad for Love" aren't willing to abandon a faith they cherish and that sustains them. Instead, they struggle to reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being. The international chorus of gay and lesbian Muslims brought together by "A Jihad for Love" doesn't seek to vilify or reject Islam, but rather negotiate a new relationship to it. In doing so, the film's extraordinary characters attempt to point the way for all Muslims to move beyond the hostile, war-torn present, toward a more hopeful future. As one can imagine, it was a difficult decision for the subjects to participate in the film due to the violence they could face. It took the filmmaker six years to finish this film and he like those who have stepped forward to tell their stories feel that they are Islam's most unlikely storytellers. All of them feel that this film is too important for over a billion Muslims-and all the non-Muslims in the world-for them to say no. They are willing to take the risk in their quest to lay equal claim to their profoundly held faith. A Jihad for Love's characters each have vastly different personal takes on Islam, some observing a rigorously orthodox regimen, others leading highly secular lifestyles while remaining spiritually devout. As the camera attentively captures their stories, the film's gay and lesbian characters emerge in all their human complexity, giving the viewer an honest rendering of their lives while complicating our assumptions about a monolithic Muslim community. Crucially, this film speaks with a Muslim voice, unlike other documentaries about sexual politics in Islam made by Western directors. In the hope of opening a dialogue that has been mostly non-existent in Islam's recent history, and defining jihad as a "struggle" rather than a "war," the film presents the struggle for love. Plot Keywords: Muslim, Trial, Gay Islam, Gay, Turkey, Gay Interest, Homophobia, India, Lgbt, South Africa, Gay Rights, Iran, Lesbian, Islam, Homosexuality, Paris France, Prison Rape, Religion, Pakistan, Imam, Religious Fundamentalism, Egypt, Imprisonment.