If you are in the Chicagoland area, come and check out this fashion show and bazaar put on by an amazing group of people. While you’re at it, check out and bid on some of SHUKR’s latest designs!

Above: Sheykh Faraz Rabbani wearing one of our Cotton Pleated Hats (US, UK).

Shaykh Faraz was born in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in Toronto, Canada. He entered the University of Toronto with a full scholarship and completed his Bachelor’s in Economics & Commerce in May 1997. While in Canada, Shaykh Faraz was involved with various organizations and projects, including founding and running the monthly The Muslim Voice and acting as the Vice-President of the University of Toronto MSA from 1994-1996. While in Toronto, he was involved in various Islamic study circles and educational programs, including those of Shaykh Ahmad Talal al-Ahdab, Shaykh Faisal Abd al-Razzaq, and Shaykh Muhammad Zahid Abu Ghudda.

After graduation, Shaykh Faraz traveled with his family to Damascus, Syria, to formally seek Islamic knowledge. In Damascus, he studied Arabic, Aqida, Mantiq, Hanafi Fiqh, Shafi’i Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, and Hadith with a number of scholars including Shaykh Haytham Idilbi, Shaykh Abd al-Rahman Kharsa, Shaykh Abd al-Haleem Abu Sha`r, Shaykh Umar al-Sabbagh, Shaykh Jihad Brown, Shaykh Mu’min al-Annan, Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, Sayyidi Shaykh Adib Kallas, Shaykh Muhammad Jumuah, Sh. Abd al-Razzaq al-Halabi, Shaykh Haytham, Shaykh Abd al-Haleem Abu Sha`r, and Ustadh Mahmud al-Bayruti. In the Summer of 2000, he moved to Amman, Jordan. Upon moving to Jordan, his teachers advised him to focus on teaching what he had covered, for which they gave him encouragement and permission, and to continue his personal research and study.

He has two published books: Sufism & Good Character and The Absolute Essentials of Islam: A Basic Hanafi Primer on Faith, Prayer, & the Path of Salvation. [White Thread Press, 2004.] He also runs the blog Seeker’s Digest and has a regular column in Islamica Magazine. Encouraged by his instructors to return to the West to teach, he now lives in Toronto with his wife and three children.

We are happy to announce that last Saturday, we were blessed to open a new store location in Aleppo, Syria. Alhamdulillah!

Above:  the courtyard and front entrance.

Above: the entrance.

Above: the front of the store.

Above: the front window display.

Above: Imam Ali Siddiqui at Manzanar Internment Camp in California on “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance Day”. He’s wearing the Aligarh Jacket (currently out of stock, but a picture can be seen here). The Manzanar Pilgrimage takes place to remember the Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated by the US government during the World War II. This photo was also carried by AlJazeera.

Imam Ali Siddiqui is a peace and labor activist and an advocate for justice who is immersed in the Liberation Philosophy of Islam evident through his 35 years of community service including spiritual/educational development and service to low-wage workers, the sick, and the incarcerated.

He is a recognized Friday Khatib, Islamic teacher, Muslim Chaplain, Family Councilor and youth adviser, poet and writer, involved in the teaching of Islam, comparative religion, history and contemporary issues to Muslims and non-Muslims. He frequently delivers invocations including City Council and School Board meetings of Corona, Pomona, and Chino, CA; Democratic Party of Orange County, CA; PwJ Center; UN Association; CLUE-LA; Manzanar Pilgrimage; and UN International Day Peace.

Imam Siddiqui is one of the Founding Directors (along with the Congresswoman, Hon. Linda Sanchez) of Orange County Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. He is also a One-Nation-for-All expert and a member of the Speakers Bureau of MSA of US & Canada.

He has been on speaking tours to Belgium, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Iran, Pakistan, and Switzerland and across the USA including the 2006 tour organized by Piedad and Latino Muslim Association to mobilize Latino Muslims across Florida. He frequently presents the Islamic perspective and a Muslim point of view on current affairs to non-Muslims and Muslims. He has been very active in organizing seminars, workshops, teach-ins, retreats and conferences to promote justice, Islamic awareness and interfaith understanding. He has also organized special programs during the month of Indigenous People, Black History, Women, Labor and Humane Immigration, Ramadan, and Hajj in California, Indiana, Colorado, Chicago, and New York.

As a Guest Lecturer, Imam Siddiqui also teaches various aspects of Islam, Islamic Civilization and Religions in America including History of Islam in America, Islamic Institutions in America at the Claremont Graduate University, School of Religion, Claremont, CA; Cal Poly University, Pomona, CA; California Baptist University, Riverside, CA; Disciple of Christ Seminary, Urban Ministry Program, Claremont, CA; University of La Verne, La Verne, CA; Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA; and Santa Rosa College, Santa Rosa, CA. He has also taught Workshop on Islam at the Denver Free University, Denver, CO.