Maryam Shakir Miller

"The Prophet ﷺ said, 'The souls are like aligned soldiers joined in the world of spirits. Whichever souls knew each other there attract each other in this world, '" The Arabic teacher crooned through the voice note. "So yeah, if there's good energy you may be soulmates but not necessarily sole mates, if you catch, my drift." He concluded. "No, I don't," Erma replied. ~ Loveletters are a curious camp- just Erma's type. There's blood and spiritual soulmates she can't live with or without. Then one in dozens of teachers at seminary tops them in Loveletterism. One lesson stands out in this satire about people of Allah: appearances may change but love remains.

This study details the political climate and logic priming the termination of Mexican American Studies in elementary and high school programs within the state of Arizona. The author applies conceptual content analysis and intertextuality to decode euphemisms incorporated by opponents of the program. Primary sources by the state’s Attorney General Tom Horne and school board Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal are examined for rationales used in the elimination of a pedagogically empowering program for Latina/o students within Tucson Unified School District. Repetitive paradoxes in arguments against Mexican American Studies are found to have implicitly formed a threat to the majority. Reasoning in public statements by the aforementioned politicians and frames for discussion of the program are concluded to have appealed to mainstream audiences as a decoy from alternative motives of maintaining current power structures with Latina/os subjugated to lower socio-economic statuses compared to White counterparts.

Just like letters that go together in a word, there are soulmates who came in the symbolic “Be.” Spiritual partnership found in soulmates are far from foreign to Islam: to the contrary The Quran and Prophetic Tradition are replete with them. The need for heart based self-study and self-discovery beyond (including but not limited to) family of origin, into the Muslim meta-history is evident in the erasure of this truth from mainstream narrative. When applied with intellect The Quran and Prophetic Tradition stand well on their own for depth in understanding relationships. Guidance from the Quran and Prophetic Tradition simultaneously make connections to the perennial wisdom of all faiths and spirituality of the Prophetic inclination to love and the Divine Reality of simply being.