I love Islam and cream soda

This past February, our Community hosted Imam Siraj Wahaj, a prolific Muslim activist and Imam from New York. It was a good time for me personally, because I know Siraj and have been able to hang out with him a bit whenever he comes to town. Whenever I go to New York I visit his masjid and always catch him in town for Jumuah Salat and or to be kidnapped by him for a few hours to chew the fat, trash talk about hoops or to be treated for lunch. He came this time to CO in order to host a fundraiser for the Fort Collins New Masjid project - a worthy cause and a successful event that raised about $100k. During his keynote speech, Siraj asked, "Does anyone know what month this is?" It was a question that made me both smile at where Siraj was going in his speech and cringe at knowing what the answers would - and would not - be. On cue, Muslims shouted, "February!" "No!", was Siraj's reply. "Ashura!", came another reply. It was wrong since the day...

On Saturday (3/15) I competed in the Pancrase World Submission Wrestling Championship held in lovely Broomfield Colorado. I have been training pretty steady since my last tourney (where I gold medaled in the Masters beginners division) and really wanted to do good since I was moving up a division and in a big time tourney. I went in feeling great and even better knowing that one of my jiu-jitsu idols was actually joining our team: Ricky Lundell . Dude is an amazing practioner and the youngest American black belt. It was very cool to meet him and right off the bat we hit it off - Ricky’s personality is great, very humble but very personable - he’s a world champion for Team USA, of which a couple of our guys/gal from the Edge are too... In my first match, I got a great take down - at 6’4 people hardly think I am going to drop level and shoot but I been training at Grapplers Edge homie!!! hahahahaha The coaches and fellas there know a little bit of everything, and I am like a sponge... ...

Wow...time really flies don't it? I have been busy with work - working as a polling director for the Obama campaign (read: busy as heck)...training for a submission grappling/jiu jitsu and boxing tournament in March...taking over operations of my company after a promotion... so... not a lotta time for writing (ugh)

I promise that I will post/update my blog more regularly...lol

A talk with The Rev By Taj Ashaheed The Denver Post - May 2006 I called my grandfather in Florida a couple weeks ago, just after his 90th birthday. I told him I would be down to see him soon. "Great!" he said, "And we can have that talk." I chuckled in agreement, despite the silent "Uh-oh" in my mind. "That talk" has been promised for quite some time. It is going to be about religion; more specifically, my religion. I am a Muslim convert and my grandfather, who we call "The Reverend" (or simply, "The Rev"), has spent much of his nine decades of life as a Baptist minister. My apprehension isn't so much from thinking that we will have a confrontation or that he will make some last-ditch effort to "save" me, as much as it is the challenge I face balancing respect for my elder and confronting misconceptions about my faith. I will have to share with him my own experiences with anti-Muslim anger, prejudice and bigotr...

By Taj Ashaheed August, 2006 “Know your rights”. I can’t count the times I’ve heard this mantra time and time again, in context to either my race or my religion. On a hot night two weeks ago, an encounter I had with members of the Denver Police Department brought that lesson to life. I was returning to work late on a Thursday (by “late”, I mean just after 2 am). Since I happen to work next door to one of the most popular nightclubs in Downtown, I parked behind my building and was talking to the club owner as I made my way to the entrance of my building. Out of nowhere, it seemed, several police officers flew around a corner and surrounded me, requesting a pat-search. Now, it’s night and I am stuck near a pitch dark alley with a bunch of cops, so I had no problem complying. I was then told I “fit the description” of a recent gunfire report, wherein the suspect car matched the color and make of my wife’s Land Rover which I had just parked. After finding nothing on me, the lead officer, ...

By Taj Ashaheed June, 2006 In an ever-tightening market, a job seeker in Colorado faces stiff competition from over 100,000 other people looking for jobs. As someone who helped employ over a thousand people and having turned away many from interviews, it often seems that the stiffest competition many job seekers face is from themselves. It is pretty much a given that people want to work, and given the fact that food isn’t free, people certainly need to. But all the desire and need in the world doesn’t compensate for the fact that too many people simply don’t know how to work. Allow me to share a few points that might explain why interviews are just no fun for HR managers or even perhaps why you might not have gotten that call back after submitting an application. Speaking of applications, here’s where the first “shoot-myself-in-the-foot” occurs: Requesting to fill out an application and not bringing a pen. I used to think that this was a personal pet peeve of mine, but even my friend...