MANA Conference 2007: The State of Blackamerican Islam
November 03, 2007 | 22 Shawwal 1428
It’s amazing that it’s already November. This year has just flown by. So last night had me in gracious company, photographing the first day of MANA’s conference here in Philadelphia: The State of Blackamerican Islam. Such keynote speakers included Dr. Aminah McCloud, professor Amir al-Islam, and of course, the esteemed Dr. Sherman ‘Abd al-Hakim’ Jackson. For more info in the event, see MANA’s web site. Here’s short photo gallery of some images from last night.
Enjoy
Update
I have posted the final version of the web gallery - you can take a look here. Imam Johari also has some thoughts.
I also wanted to say thanks to MANA for letting me come and shoot and for all the MANA volunteers who, when I didn’t know where I was going, they did!
Like many of you, I had high hopes going in to this conference and I have to say that I’ve left with some additional high hopes as well. One aspect of this conference that really sank in to me last night was how happy and motivated people seemed to be after coming out of the various workshops. That is a commendable achievement on behalf of MANA and the workshop leaders, speakers, and coordinators. Hat tip to Muhammad Khalifa, who besides looking dapper in his suit, really ran around and seemed to glue stuff together.
I saw a lot of old, friendly faces. And by old, I mean OLD!! Damn!, what happened? I moved away from Michigan about eight years ago and it’s funny - when you leave a place, it has a tendency to remain a time capsule for you. And so do the people you know there. Many were shocked to find that I even live in Philadelphia now, many of us having lost contact through the years. This provided a great way to reconnect. I also had a chance to meet many new faces. I guess I should put up a better looking picture of my self as people kept saying, “oh, you’re Manrilla. I saw your picture online”. It’s amazing how well read this blog is sometimes. I enjoyed meeting other fellow bloggers, Tariq and Umar. I hope we can do so again.
One last thought; we really need to hang out more often. I say this as I saw so many people who were overjoyed at seeing faces that they hadn’t seen in years. I think the other part about this conference that gave me some more food for thought is the need for Muslims to really associate and get out and spend time with one another. And we don’t always need a conference for that. Though I am happy to hang out in Reading Terminal eating sandwiches that’ll drive my cholesterol through the roof. See you next year
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Great work my friend!!!!
November 4th, 2007 at 11:22 am
You really captured my husband’s personality.:grin:
November 4th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Salams Bro! As usualgreat pics! May Allah reward you for this sadaqah (charity).Consider this thought; the prophet Muhammad pbuh him said: “whoever directs (leads) people to good will receive a reward that’s similar to those who do the good except that their reward is in no way diminished”. Now you Marc by taking these photos are sharing the spirit of the moments that were captured on film on the wonderful, good occasion. May Allah bless you for that. Word.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:07 am
[…] We will see how it goes from here…You can view pictures here from Marc Manley and thoughts from Imam Johari here […]
November 5th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
[…] Dr. Jackson, along with many other esteemed speakers, gave an enlightening and erudite speech to a captive audience, Friday, November the 2nd, at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Here’s a link with some info and images from the event. « ALIM Course Now Offered […]
November 5th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
[…] For pics and a more in-depth run down of the conference check out these sites Manrilla, Umar Lee and Tariq Nelson. […]
November 7th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Great work, thanks for the coverage. You really have captured the spirit of the occassion.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Masha’Allah, awesome coverage and amazing pictures!
Check out our post about the MANA conference as well:
http://muslimthought.com/2007/11/08/reflections-on-the-1st-annual-mana-conference/
December 25th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I was only able to attend the opening evening (Friday) of the MANA conference. Nevertheless, I was inspired. I plan to attend the entire conference next year. I want to be of assistance to MANA in some way this year.