Mahasin D. Shamsid-Deen

Clichés express our common belief and ideas.

Shaban is the eighth month on the Islamic calendar. Rajab is the month of Isra and Miraj, the night journey and ascension and is just before the blessed month of Ramadan. The auspiciousness of both Rajab and Ramadan can sometimes overshadow Shaban.

Al-Isra wal Miraj is one of the most notable events in the history of Islam. It was miraculous in the same way the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, God’s peace and blessings be upon him. It was during this event that the Prophet traveled from Makkah to Jerusalem in one night.

The month of Rajab contains one of the most notable and miraculous events in Islam.  Although no one knows the exact date, many scholars have estimated that it was possibly the 27^th of Rajab around the year 621 AD that Al-Isra’ wal Mi’raj took place.  

On December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Naval Station Pearl Harbor Military Base by the Japanese military, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) made the famous statement declaring December 7, 1941, as a ‘date which will live in infamy.”.

Americans define themselves as a melting pot of people from all parts of the world and different ethnicities who came together to form a new country. The U.S. government has designated specific times of the year to acknowledge the various heritages within America.

The August 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom gathered more than a quarter of a million people to draw attention to and protest segregation, lack of voting rights, unemployment, institutionalized racism, and other civil inequities that African-Americans still faced 100 years after