Teaching Social Media to Al Azhar University

Teaching social media to Egyptians seems a little silly. Remember, their entire revolution was not televised, it was instead broadcast through YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Al Jazeera did a little leg-work too, but not much.

Nonetheless, I was given the opportunity by Imam Mohammad Bashar Arafat and his organization, the Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (CECF) to do just that: give a presentation about social media and its impact on Muslim Youth in America, and the world.

Imam Bashar receives a gift from a visiting Malaysian delegation. The Imam travels across the world to help promote dialogue and understanding between Muslims and America.

Earlier this year, I gave a social media seminar to a group of clerics visiting the U.S. from Morocco. Following a really positive response from the clerics, Imam Arafat asked me to give another presentation about social media in September, to a delegation of clerics and seminarians from the prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

Al Azhar University is the oldest institution of Islamic learning in the world. It is also arguably the oldest continuous university in the world. In other words, it was a great honor to get to present to them!

Watch my slideshow presentation to the Al Azhar delegates here:  

Al Azhar Presentation

One of the big things I talked about in my presentation was the effect of social media on helping young Muslim American thinkers like me bond with other Muslims who think like me.  Connecting locally to like-thinking Muslims is usually exasperated by old-world battles and prejudices that our parents’ wage on each other, and us as their children. Social media creates a digital version of the Boys Town, allowing Muslim youth with great ideas and drive for civic engagement–not old-world us vs. them life narratives–could connect to each other and role models across the country.

I also talked about some young people making a huge difference in our society everyday thanks to social media. Al Azhar graduate Suhaib Webb’s social-media powered website suhaibwebb.com offers succinct Islamic religious counseling through informative blog posts and interesting articles targeted towards Muslim youth in America.   Saad Malik, Arif Kabir, and Javed Ali are amongst a few youth lay Muslims I spent time talking about also.

One of the Al Azhar University seminarians and I hang out in Crystal City

I also talked about that topic all Muslim parents dread: sexuality amongst youth. In a lot of the Arab world, liberal sexual attitudes have come to be normal with the rise of material wealth and economic prosperity. Social media in Indonesia has played a positive role in helping young people deal with their sexual issues, and get questions answered about sexuality that they just can’t get answered at home.

I ended the presentation with a call to action for Islamic clerics to use social media to talk about religious issues with young people. We went over strategies and tactics that can help make young people feel more comfortable reaching out to clerics online, and how the digital ‘wall of seperation’ can help make it easier for youth to reach out to clerics over Facebook or Twitter.

I am keeping in touch with my new friends over at Al Azhar University through a special Facebook group (shh! it’s secret!). Hopefully there will be great synergies between us in the future, insha’Allah (God willing).

9/11, American Islam, and Generation Change

This Ramadan, Muslim Americans reflected for 30 days leading up to September 11th on themselves, their country, and their faith.

Today, across America, we mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks carried out by enemies of Islam and enemies of America, or more simply put: enemies of Good. But while many millions of Americans will mark the day with a somber moment, or a short prayer, many more millions of Muslim Americans will mark this tragedy of tragedies by doing good works and community service. I myself will be giving blood to the Red Cross, after spending the morning volunteering for causes I believe in.

We have a lot of obstacles to face as a community. Many of us face identity crises, or questions of faith and morality. Others face xenophobia from fellow Muslims, or outcasting for being a Republican or Democrat. Still many more face religious intolerance and ignorance from our fellow citizens to whom we have not yet reached out.

But we are learning and responding to the changes and questions in our country today. While much is left to be desired, I am proud of where my community is today, and the ways we have come from the turmoil and confusion that immediately followed 9/11. Muslim America is the one of the youngest American faithful communities, but it is also one of the most proud and most dedicated minority community to be found anywhere in the world. All of us rejoice in the very special gift of being Americans, and many of us have dedicated our lives to public service, and through that service, to our country. We are school teachers, poets, professors, developers, marketers, lawyers, but most important of all: we are Americans.

And while I spend my day remembering and reflecting on the terrible events of nine years ago, I will be proud and ever so thankful to be born and raised an American. I will pray for those who died on 9/11, for those who are dying still to this day in its aftermath, and for those who might yet be spared the anguish we all felt when we learned that Terror had come to our homes and into our cities. Most of all, I will pray that my country–our country, be kept safe and that our children grow up in a world cured of Hate, blessed with peace. I won’t be the only one. As Muslims mark the second day of Eid ul Fitr, all of us will pray for a better future, and a stronger, happier America.

Generation Change

Last Tuesday, I was one of 70 Muslim American youth leaders invited to the State Department as part of a new generation of Muslim thinkers: Generation Change. (Twitter tag: #GenChange). We came together on the heels of the Park51 and the Koran burning scandal in Florida, with days to go before the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

All of us spoke of the pressures at home from inside and outside our community. Our parents wanting us to be remain culturally attached to their ethnic homeland, our friends wanting us to hit the clubs with them, and ourselves wanting to find the perfect balance of culture, religion and identity.

We talked at length about our frustrations with the greater world, about how no matter what we did it wasn’t enough to make people understand: Muslims do not support terror, Terrorists support terror. We struggled to explain to relations abroad, living in the Old Muslim World, that America loves all peoples, all creeds, and all religions. That we are a tolerant bunch, with a few crazies here and there. That we’re Muslims just like them.

But we really aren’t the same. we’re Muslim Americans-a group of people who are uniquely poised to communicate across the global divide. We’re more tolerant, more wealthy, and more educated than many of our old world counterparts. We’re also more willing to admit the wrongs and mistakes our religious community has done, and more willing to resolve them.

And so, all of us Generation Changers agreed to launch initiatives of varying purpose and commitment to begin the process of changing our community, and of helping all Muslims, American and otherwise, become productive members of our global society.

In the months and weeks ahead, you’ll hear more about Generation Change, and about the amazing personalities behind it. Some of us are diplomats, others are fashion designers, others are philanthropists and playwrights. Some of us, like me, are political consultants and public relations specialists. All of us have one purpose: to better America, to better Muslims, and to better our world. Tikkun Olam.

Here are some links about Generation Change

Generation Change Event Gathers Future Muslim-American Leaders

New Generation of Muslim Youth Praised at State Department Iftar

Secretary Clinton’s Iftar Remarks

In memory of the lives of all Americans, please donate blood to the American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/en/

"It’s a PEOPLE DRIVEN economy, stupid."

-Erik Qualman, 2009.

Social Media  is Generation Y‘s printing press.
It isn’t a fad. It isn’t temporary. It’s the beginning of the people driven economy.

What does that mean?

By the end of this decade, consumers and electorates will access in real-time to just about all the information they need to make a decision about who to vote for, and what child-labor backed companies to boycott. And they’ll be getting this information through word of mouth, blogs, Twitter and yes, even Facebook.

This poses a huge problem for corporate giants and “election-favorite” candidates.

Why? 

Because now people can organize and respond to something they don’t like in real time.
That means a serious restructuring of our economy and political culture in the next 30 years, and that small businesses and dark horse candidates have a much more equal playing field if they’re aimed at becoming regional powerhouses and world leaders.

Mr Smith and Mr. Bailey Finally Have A Chance.

This video is from the activist website MOVE YOUR MONEY. MOVE YOUR MONEY focuses on getting Americans to take action against what it perceives as gross excesses by banking giants by getting everyday Americans to move their money to local community banks. It focuses on the theme that community banks look out for the little guy, while large banks have only one rationale: greed.

It’s hosted on the popular social/new media site, YouTube, where it has around 500,000 views from site users with and without YouTube accounts.

What’s so important about it?

About a month later during the State of the Union, President Obama announced his intention to divert TARP funds to help community banks lend more to “the people who need it most”. We can only wonder where the administration might have gotten that idea. The otherwise neglected industry of community banks and savings & loans now have regular meetings with administration officials, as well as national attention to their brand(s), in part because of social media tools like the YouTube video above.

Social Media tools allow for the dissemination of information in real-time. Better than any other mode of communication we have out there (unless you believe in telepathy). It means that we’re becoming a people-driven economy, where the consumer has a lot more power than the institutions they interact with.
Companies and politicians who don’t take heed of that do so at their own peril.

What is Gen Y?

Just What is Generation Y?

Social scientists like to categorize people born within a 15-25 year period as a “generation“. 

Sociologists do this by looking at the major social and behavioral trends that were happening during the formative years of the lives of the people in the generation. 

Generation Y (also called Gen Y) is the generation of young adults born between the mid-1970′s through 1990 (though sometimes it’s extended through 1996 in research). This generation grew up with the development of the modern day computer, the internet, and most importantly social media. Generation Y therefore encompasses nearly all young Americans alive today.

Gen Y’ers, Social and New Media are the innovation of our generation. Almost all Gen Y’ers–especially those of us born in the late 80′s, have multiple social networks subscriptions. Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs are our versions of the printing press. We use them quickly, efficiently, and for free to disseminate research, news, gossip, and our personal feelings. 

Researchers predict that sometime in 2010, there will be more members of Facebook than citizens of the United States. That’s over 300 million people, “throwing sheep” at each other or “posting gifts” on their sweetheart’s Facebook accounts this Valentine’s Day. And for the most part, only Gen Y knows how it works. 


Gen Y’ers grew up with different ideals than our parents. Our first ‘defining’ national trauma was 9/11, and we’ve only gotten to know three Presidents: Clinton, Bush, and Obama (most of us were too young to remember much about Reagan or Bush Sr.). For the most part, Gen Y’ers support cultural diversity and tolerance, open communication, and social justice and entrepreneurship. 

A good example of a Gen Y company is Google. Google’s mission statement reads, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. (google.com) Almost all of Google’s products have scalable and reliable free or open source versions. This reflects the nature of Gen Y’s business culture: collaboration and open communication.

Another significant difference about Gen Y is our commitment to the public and social service. Between 2006 and 2009, nearly 1 in 5 of my most academically qualified and charismatic friends from college graduate with a Bachelors of Social Work. That alone speaks volumes about the practically-focused ideals of Gen Y’ers. 


Between 2004 and 2008, according to TIME Magazine, youth participation in the political process tripled (Click here for Citation). 


Many politicos (including myself) believe Generation Y won the presidential election for Barack Obama in 2008. Many also believe that in 2010, Gen Y will vote out the Democrats from Congress if they are dissatisfied with the message of “Change We Can Believe In” Obama campaigned on.

In short, Generation Y is the upcoming generation of leaders and professionals  of the coming three decades. Their defining value sets as a generation include focus on providing opportunities to others to excel, and the need for greater cooperation and “socially-responsible” institutions. They are best characterized as frontier-explorers of the coming “Net Age”, where the internet will be supreme as a mode of communication and sharing of information. Gen Y’ers are more politically aware and active than previous generations, and largely committed to practically promoting the attainment of their ideals both in the political arena and the workplace.


To me, and many in my generation, we will be the “fixers” of today’s world problems, as well as the best chance the world’s had yet to achieving world peace.




For more reading on Generation Y:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-generation-y.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm

Today, there are (mainly) four generations of Americans alive:

The Greatest Generation

The Silent Generation

The Baby Boomers

Generation X

Generation Y