PRAYER TIMINGS Effective 06/22 MCA NOOR Fajr 4:40 4:50 Dhuhr 1:30 1:30 Asr 5:45 6:30 Maghrib Sunset Sunset Isha 10:10 10:10 Juma 1 12:15 12:15 Juma 2 1:30 1:30 Newsletter Published Weekly by the Muslim Community Association of San Francisco Bay Area Shawwal 17, 1440 June 21, 2019 AL-QURAN “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, who, when disaster strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return.’ Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the [rightly] guided.” Quran . 2:155-157 Join the MCA Mailing List and Stay Connected HADITH Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Shall I not tell you about the worst servants of Allah? They are cruel and arrogant. Shall I not tell you about the best servants of Allah? They are weak, persecuted, and down- trodden, yet if they swear an oath by Allah, Allah will fulfill their oath.” Musnad Ahmad 2904 SINGLE-USE PLASTICS By: The MCA Sustainability Committee Saying ‘no” to single use plastics Is really hard to do It’s like a fatal attraction It just calls out to you It presents itself in seductive forms To aesthetic sense appeals There’s gilt-edged plates and serving ware And beautiful cutlery The designs of drinking goblets such Your heart will miss a beat In elegance they’ll leave behind Any crystal you may see And the plastic table-covers They’ll put damask to shame The colors and designs you’ll see Are such, you’ll be amazed As for plastic water bottles You feel they’re God’s gift to you Drink it up and throw it out No washing you need to do But where’s our conscience gone my friend Why don’t we feel the shame? Of cluttering our planet And putting money down the drain Plastics do not decompose They just break up and stay In small and tiny bits for decades A huge price we then pay Animal life on them it chokes It’s really inhumane They leach chemicals into water supply And we’re the ones to blame This is just the iceberg’s tip We could go on and on Our laziness and carelessness Has caused our planet harm Think of the world we leave behind It’s really not too late Let’s change the life we’ve lead so far Of wastefulness and waste So this is what we say to you Please make this sacrifice Use more sustainable alternatives To plastics in your life 2 3 State of Muslim mental health Abdul Malik Mujahid | SoundVision The first time I realized that the state The second key was the accounts of the U.K. is not the U.S., as a country of Muslim mental health in the United Muslim social service providers I was with a Muslim minority population, I felt States is at a crisis level was when I hearing from. In their encounters with the experience of Muslims in these two wrote an article featuring tips on how clients, these experts found more cases countries was similar enough to warrant to deal with stress and anxiety. I started of domestic violence in the Muslim comparison. receiving an extraordinarily high amount community than in the past. I also The latest cause of alarm was a of feedback about it, and the article discovered that there is an organization study published last December in the became one of the most popular ones devoted to this called Muslim Mental American Journal of Public Health, on the Sound Vision website. Health, Inc which publishes a journal on http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/ this topic. I began to wonder: why are so media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1415 many people responding with such I gleaned more disturbing information which noted that about 25 percent of enthusiasm? during a visit to the U.K. a few years Arab adults in greater Detroit reported back, while attending a meeting at a abuse after 9/11. The lead researcher of That was my doorway into the world think tank. There, some of the high- the study, Dr. Aasim Padela, also noted of Muslim mental health. The first key level participants and members of that Muslim Arabs reported higher was a Yale University study by Dr. Mona parliament revealed that 24 percent rates of abuse than Christian Arabs. He Amer in 2006 that noted that 50 percent of Muslims in England cannot work added that those who reported abuse of all Arab-Americans surveyed had because of mental health issues, as showed a higher probability of having clinical signs of depression. determined by their physicians. While psychological distress, lower levels of 4 happiness and poorer perceptions of by their racial counterparts in other also use our article on how to deal with health status. faiths. In addition, Muslim Americans stress and anxiety as part of another are the least likely religious group Khutba. This issue becomes even more serious surveyed to be “thriving,” especially when we factor in the backdrop of 3. Masjids must be the first institution when compared with Jewish Americans America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Muslims can turn to in times of crisis. and Mormon Americans. At the same as well as the threat of terrorism to This is not just in the spiritual realm, time, 56% of Muslim Americans say they the United States. The response of but in that of mental health as well. In are “struggling.” the U.S. government to its Muslim practical terms, this can mean hiring community since the 9/11 terrorist Second, that Muslim youth aged 18 to a social worker, counselor or therapist attacks has been frightening, fraught 28 are the least happy and the most who can work with the Imam to identify with suspicion, surveillance and secrecy. angry compared to the youth of other and handle mental health crises in the More than 500,000 American Muslims faith groups in America. Twenty-six community. have been interrogated by the FBI; percent of young Muslims, compared It can also mean breaking the mental mosques throughout the country has with 14% each of young Protestants and health taboo in the Muslim community been checked for nuclear devices and Mormons, say they experienced anger.” through programs like lectures and tens of thousands have been detained This indicates not only that our adults workshops on these issues. Special or deported while many linger in prison are facing challenges like depression emphasis should be made on seeking sentenced with the secret evidence and anger, but these difficulties have professional help for problems like stress not shown to them. http://www. already trickled down to our youth. and depression, for instance. A number soundvision.com/info/islamophobia/ This is why it is so important that all of Imams, community leaders, students, usastatistics.asp stakeholders in the Muslim community, artists and parents have confided that There are a number of cases in the U.S. parents, teachers, Imams and Muslim they are suffering from depression but in which Muslims who have mental artists be aware of mental health issues, were not seeking any professional help. health issues have responded violently understand the phenomenon and make 4. Muslim schools (full time and to these external pressures. In one of an effort to deal with it. weekend) must urgently hire these incidents in California, a man professional counselors and establish who was actually a former Muslim who What we can do mentorship programs for Muslim had converted to Christianity, attacked 1. The Muslim community in general children, which will offer students a a Jewish organization. In another case and Muslim psychiatrists, psychologists way to share their stress or concerns in Colorado, a Muslim who had been and social service providers in particular, with qualified personnel who can taking medication for mental illness must urgently begin a mental health help them. If this is not possible, then went on a rampage at a mall. awareness campaign. Through online Muslim psychiatrists, psychologists and outreach via websites, articles and Not all people who have mental health counselors in the community should social networking, as well as speeches, issues become violent. But some do. step forward and volunteer their workshops, lectures, multilingual However, there hasn’t been much services, even if this is on a part-time brochures and other means, these discussion about why this is the case, basis. professionals must educate the larger and even less so when it involves Muslim community about exactly what In addition, teachers should be trained Muslims. This indicates that there is an mental health is, why it is important and in a special seminar or workshop urgent need to pay attention to this. how it affects us. on recognizing the signs of stress, Last year, Gallup’s Center for Muslim depression and other mental health 2. Imams must present Khutbas on Studies released its report “Muslim challenges in their classrooms. the topic of Muslim mental health, Americans: A National Portrait” with a special focus on breaking down As well, schools should incorporate describing itself as an in-depth report the taboo nature of this issue. Here short lectures in their morning on the nation’s most diverse religious is a guideline provided by a Muslim assemblies on the themes we have community.