The First North American Muslim Pow Wow was held in June 1993 in New Mexico, United States. The event brought together Muslims of diverse backgrounds to know one another, to increase trust, and to discover a common voice. The original Pow Wow was largely the result of efforts by Sheila Musaji and Hakim Archuletta.
'Pow-wow' is a native Algonquian word, and was used to indicate a desire for Islam to become native to the American Continent. The word further expressed the intention of the gathering, as a conference, a council meeting, a caucus, a time to hear each other out. The gathering was a grassroots, three day camping event which took on a spirit of celebration.
Annual gatherings continued over the next three years, and within the last decade such transformative study & worship circles have become formalized into what are known as “Deen Intensives”.
Deen Intensives have spread to different places in North America and as far abroad as England. The Pow Wow is currently inactive.
Famous quotes containing the words north, american, muslim and/or wow:
“The English were very backward to explore and settle the continent which they had stumbled upon. The French preceded them both in their attempts to colonize the continent of North America ... and in their first permanent settlement ... And the right of possession, naturally enough, was the one which England mainly respected and recognized in the case of Spain, of Portugal, and also of France, from the time of Henry VII.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For my part, I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station . . . if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their woman.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“For the salvation of his soul the Muslim digs a well. It would be a fine thing if each of us were to leave behind a school, or a well, or something of the sort, so that life would not pass by and retreat into eternity without a trace.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“And wow he died as wow he lived,
going whop to the office and blooie home to sleep and
biff got married and bam had children and oof got fired,
zowie did he live and zowie did he die,”
—Kenneth Fearing (1902–1961)