The Agha, The Architect and The Mosque

July 7, 2011 By 7 Comments
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I originally wrote this interview for ILLUME magazine here.  Below is the full and un-edited version of my interview with Maryam. Maryam Eskandari, an architect at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT, currently has a traveling exhibit on American Mosques. Her exhibit, Sacred Space: (Re) Constructing the Place of Gender in the Space of Religion is touring the nation.  ILLUME recently conducted an exclusive interview with Maryam  to get her views on the design of … [Read more...]

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The Halal Carts of New York

June 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Originally posted on ILLUME magazine: http://www.illumemag.com/zine/articleDetail.php?Halal-Carts-New-York-13699#/6 Over the last 5 to 6 years, New York City has seen an exponential growth of it’s “Halal Food” industry. One element is the very visible “Halal Food” carts, which number well over 200 all across New York City and the surrounding areas. The majority are located in Manhattan, but I also came across one in the Chinatown section of Flushing, NY on my recent trip – which … [Read more...]

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May 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Recent reviews by Irfan R. What's this? … [Read more...]

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Star Wars: An Islamic Perspective

April 29, 2011 By 2 Comments
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As most “Star Wars” fans know, director George Lucas took spiritual elements, which are common in most major world religions to create his epic saga of good vs. evil.  As a Muslim, I always thought of the “Jedi” as what a true follower of Islam should be like.  Never mind the fact Jedi masters with their North African style cloaks and scruffy beards look like Sufi Sheikhs, but they way they are taught to respect a greater power, fight for the defense of the innocent and honor a code of … [Read more...]

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Pakistani-American Playhouse Breaks New Ground

February 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

BY IRFAN RYDHAN for ILLUME MAGAZINE http://www.illumemag.com/zine/articleDetail.php?Pakistani-Playhouse-Breaks-New-Ground-13490 Imran S. Javaid and Imran W. Sheikh, two young Pakistani-American Muslims, started “Parwaz Playhouse” – the first major Pakistani Theatre Company in the Fall of 2009.  ILLUME caught up with them as they prepare for their latest production – an adaption of Eugene O’Neill’s “Beyond the Horizon”, which will begin performing to audiences on Feb. 25, … [Read more...]

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2010 Food in Review

January 3, 2011 By 2 Comments
Double Halal Bacon Burger from Falafel Corner in Fremont, CA

With close to 600 food reviews across several different websites (Zabihah, Yelp, Google, JustSayGo, etc.) many consider me to be one of the most Prolific Halal Food reviewers online today! I have a large collection of pictures (mainly taken from my iPhone) of my favorite food dishes on Facebook and twitter.   Many people enjoy seeing and commenting on my latest food photo online, so I decided to pick a few of my favorites from 2010 and post them here on my … [Read more...]

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2010 in review for Al Mihrab

January 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,900 times in 2010. That's about 14 full 747s. In 2010, there were 7 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 22 posts. There were 13 pictures uploaded, … [Read more...]

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Rizwan Manji: Taking Jobs From White America

December 18, 2010 By 4 Comments
Rizwan Manji

I interviewed actor Rizwan Manji from NBC's "Outsourced" for ILLUME Magazine (www.IllumeMag.com). He talked about what its like to be Muslim in Hollywood and the importance of  'good Muslim' roles. How did you get the part of Rajiv Gidwani on NBC’s “Outsourced” ? I was sent the script for the Pilot and thought it was hilarious.  As an Indian, I could relate to some of the characters who share the same culture as me, and this was the first time that I have heard of a major TV … [Read more...]

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Islamic influence on American Architecture (Article)

October 8, 2010 By 4 Comments
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    Islamic influence on the Design of the World Trade Center Spanish Moor (Islamic) Influence on the Alamo Lately, there has been a lot of misinformation and hatred toward Islam and Muslims being spewed out by major media outlets, which in turn has caused a lot of fear in the minds of many Americans about Muslims and thus many mosque projects across the country from New York to Tennessee to California are being criticized and sometimes even attacked by arsonists and … [Read more...]

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Islamic Influences on American Architecture

August 31, 2010 By 2 Comments

Below is the power point slide show from a presentation I made in May 2009 to a group of Architects, Engineers and other interested people before a tour of the ISEB mosque in Fremont, CA Because of all the recent Mosque controversies across the country, I thought some people may be interested to learn more about Mosques in general and Islamically influenced Architecture in the United States.  I think some of you may be pleasantly (or not ) surprised! Check it out and let me know if you have … [Read more...]

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