Challenges of Women Space in Masjids

This is worth reading and quoting in its entirety.

Last Friday, I was all set to give a Khutba about the need for Muslims to plan ahead on an individual and community level. My notes were ready and I was in full "Khutba mode". But before sermon time, I decided to change the topic completely -- to talk about the exclusion of Muslim women from the mosque and community life.

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It wasn't an earth-shattering event that made me change the topic. It was an email. And it proved to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. It was one of five emails I received last week about Islamic events with a clear "brothers only" statement. One notice for a regional conference even stated categorically that there was no space for women and children under 15 at the event.

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But the emails were only part of the story. A week before, I had given a Khutba in another, brand-new mosque in the heart of Chicago. After the prayer, while in the elevator, I overheard four Muslim sisters speaking angrily about their experience in the Masjid.

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"If I wanted to watch TV, I'd stay home," said one of the women, disgusted. I asked them what was wrong, and they told me how they could only see the Imam through a TV system set up in the women's section. Moreover, the space was inconvenient, uncomfortable and was changed twice that day. This was despite the fact that months ago, the leadership of this mosque had promised me that they would involve sisters in decision-making about how the women's space would be set up.

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The Khutba

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I was speaking in Chicago's oldest mosque where the main prayer hall accommodates about a thousand people. It has a small, curtained off space in the corner for about 40 or so women. Due to the sensitive nature of my topic, it did occur to me before the Khutba that I might not be invited to give a Friday sermon there in the future. Nonetheless, I made the following points and asked these questions:

Who decides how women's space in the mosque is allocated and organized?
How many women sit on the Board of Directors of our mosques?
If women are part of the Board of Directors, are they elected, chosen by women, selected by both men and women or are they simply the wives of male board members?

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I also reminded the audience that in the Prophet's mosque, women could hear and see the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings are upon him, and later, the leaders of the Muslims (Khulafa) when they spoke from the pulpit. Actually there are reports of interaction with the Prophet when women raised questions. Caliph Omar even went back to give another sermon to withdraw his opinion when a women from the audience gave him critical feedback after his Khutba.

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Moreover, when the Prophet felt that the women were too far away to hear or he had specific points to make, he would walk over to their section and present a Khutba for them.
Examples from Islamic history
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Women in early Islamic history were active not just as "mothers and wives" but contributed as individual Muslim women in all aspects of the community.

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On a scholarly level, there was Aisha, may God be pleased with her. She is credited with disseminating the knowledge of Islam and information about almost all aspects of Islamic life. Today, nearly half of the Islamic jurisprudence of the Hanafi school of thought (which is followed by about 70 percent of the Muslim world) comes through the students of Aisha alone.

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On a political level, there was Umm Salama. During the signing of the Treaty of Hudaibiya, when none of the Muslim men agreed to forego Hajj due to the demands of the pagan Meccans, the Prophet consulted Umm Salama. Her advice to him was to perform the rituals indicating that they would not be performing the pilgrimage, and the Muslims would follow. He heeded her advice, and as she suggested, the Muslims accepted this.

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After the death of the Prophet, one major issue was how to preserve the authenticity of the Quran. Although the Quran had always been committed to memory and writing, the written pages were scattered. When a master copy was put together at the time of the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr, that copy was not kept with him or any other Muslim man. It was kept with a woman -- Hafsa (may God be pleased with her).

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Finally, in Madina during the leadership of Omar (may God be pleased with him) Al Shifa Bint Abdullah was made in charge of trade and commerce in the city.

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These are just a few examples of the dynamic role women played in early Islamic history. But they are of no use if the inclusion of Muslim women in the mosque and community is reflected only in theory.

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"Men's Islam" or Islam for All
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While sisters are a full part of the community, many mosques are run as though Islam is just for men. This is evident by looking at women's spaces, their decoration, their uncomfortable size and design, the absence of women from the Board of Directors of most mosques and the relegation of their activism and ideas to a "women's committee".

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Muslim women in North America are as professional as Muslim men and contribute as generously. I remember fundraising in a New Jersey Masjid. Five Muslim women contributed $25,000 each within the first 12 minutes. It inspired me to ask the audience: is there a man who can match these donations?

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And that's how women's participation is. They know they will not get to Jannah because of the good deeds of their husbands. Each man and women has to find his or her own way to success in this world and next, knowing that God's promise is this:

"I will deny no man or woman among you the reward of their labors. You are the offspring of one another." (Quran 3:195).

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"Each person shall reap the fruits of his/her own deeds: no soul shall bear another's burden." (Quran 6:164)

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The Reaction to the Khutba

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Normally, two or three people will approach me after a Khutba to thank and compliment me for it. This time, ten times more people came over, appreciating what I had said, Alhamdu lillah. That's one of the most positive instances of feedback I've ever gotten in years of giving Khutbas! Although I have yet to hear the response from the leadership of the Masjid, this gives me hope that the community is ready for change.

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A few board members also spoke very positively about the points I raised, including one of the founding members. The question is, who is stopping the change?

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Current Chicago Masjid Spaces for Women

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In Chicago, I estimate that in about ten percent of the Friday prayer locations, there is proper space for sisters' participation. In these places men and women are in the same location without a curtain or wall separating them. In terms of the remaining 80 percent of mosques that do have a space for women, these are often cramped and inconvenient. By inconvenient, I mean that women cannot see the Imam or do not know what is happening in the congregational prayer. In about 10 percent of the Chicago-area mosques there are no spaces for women.

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One Muslim sister in the city related to me her experience after visiting one of the largest mosques in Chicago that had an inconvenient room for women. When she entered the women's area, a group of sisters was standing in line, thinking prayer had started because the recitation of the Quran could be heard. Taking Quran recitation as a cue for congregational prayer, the sister joined the others in line. After several minutes, when the man ended his recitation without calling for the next step of prayer, Ruku, the women learned that it was not a prayer. Needless to say, the women were humiliated and upset about this confusing situation. This is just an example of the practical problems this segregation in prayer places causes.

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An additional problem in mosques where women cannot see the Imam is the fact that the noise level often becomes unacceptable. This tends to be because most men dump the responsibility for taking care of their active children on their wives when they go to the men's section of mosque. Also, since women can't see what's going on, they end up talking to each other. This leads to the Imam asking women to "be quiet please," furthering tension and exclusion.

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When women are out of sight, it's also more likely that they will be out of mind. That means their discourse and participation are ignored on a Masjid and community level. Moreover, few women have easy access to the Imam, which worsens the problem, since the Imam is the one man who can make a significant difference in bringing women's issues and problems to the attention of other Muslim men in the community. This perhaps explains why you don't normally hear many Khutbas on women's challenges here in America or abroad.

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Negative Dawa

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The situation becomes worse when non- Muslims visit. They see there are hardly any women present in the mosque. Or, if there are a few, they are confined to a small and less ceremonious corner. What kind of Dawa is this? What kind of impression does this give in our current context, where the battle against stereotypes is ten times harder than it was pre-9/11 America? This visual impact is far greater and far more lasting then tens of books lauding the status of women in Islam. Since Shahadah (witnessing) is the first pillar of Islam, this obstacle to outreach must be dealt with.

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Of course, women, unlike men, are given a choice by the Prophet to pray at home or in the mosque. But the Prophet was categorical in telling men "do not stop women from coming to the Masjid." Friday prayers are also optional for women. But considering that Friday sermons are the only Islamic educational opportunity available to most women in the North America Muslim women should attend Friday prayers. This is especially important because we do not yet have a widespread tradition of female teachers, as is the case in the Muslim world. I am pretty sure Caliph Omar would have encouraged Friday prayer attendance by women if he was alive today in the United States, may God be pleased with him.

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Who is stopping women from the Masjid

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Knowing both of these Masjids, their volunteer leadership, and the fact that women are on their boards, I don't think either of them stops women from attending and participating. The first Masjid's president did make an announcement twice in front of me inviting women to visit the new location to help determine the sisters' space. I think, perhaps, need sisters taking these issues more seriously instead of accepting the current situation.

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In the second Masjid, I learned that some sisters prefer to pray behind a curtain. An easy solution could be to make a larger area where women who do not want a curtain between the men and women, as was the practice in the mosque of the Prophet, can pray. Behind them, women who are comfortable praying behind a curtain can do this.

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With lower donations as a result of donor chasing by the FBI, extra expenses for security and legal battles, which six or seven Masjids in the Chicago-area are going through, the last thing on the mind of Muslim leadership is women's space. About 80 percent of the Masjids in the Chicago area do not have any permanent Imam. Volunteers like me are asked to offer the Friday sermon on a rotational basis. Almost all of these Masjids' leaders are busy professionals who volunteer their time to run the community centers, schools and Masjids. Unless someone is pushing for something, things will continue as they have been.

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This is why I have come to the conclusion that the agenda of women's space will not come to the forefront unless Muslim women take it upon themselves.

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Establishing a Muslim Women's Caucus

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It is time that sisters come together and provide leadership in clearly defining a Muslim women's manifesto for change in mosques in North America. If these sisters are practicing Muslims, they will have a far higher level of success in demanding change and leading it.
I would like to make a plea to leading Muslim women in North America who are respected and honored by the community to call a national women's caucus on these issues. In this conference, the following things need to be discussed and tackled:

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1. An agenda outlining change in the Muslim community centers and Masjids in which
Each Masjid should formally declare that it is unIslamic to stop women from attending a mosque

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The need to restore women's space in the mosque as it was at the Prophet's time (i.e. without a curtain or a wall separating men and women) is stressed

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Develop a welcoming space where they have a clear view of the Imam

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2. One-third of Masjids' Board of Directors should be composed of sisters, one-third of brothers, and one-third of people born in North America.

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3. A mechanism for an ongoing Muslim Women's Caucus needs to be developed

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On the issue of women's exclusion from the mosque, this Muslim Women's Caucus may want to do the following:

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Invite the leadership of major mosques, as well as national and continental Muslim organizations to a closed-door dialogue with an equal number of Muslim women leaders present.
Give a deadline to all Masjids that do not have a space for women to allocate one in consultation with women.
If space is extremely limited and there is no cultural and ideological objection to it, then allocate time for additional congregational prayer for women lead by women as was done by Umm Waraqa with the Prophet's permission when she lead her staff regularly in prayers in her own home as reported by Sahih Abu Dawud. (If thousands of women lead other women in prayers throughout Pakistan, it can be done in a mosque here as well).

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Shura (consultation) has been a way of life for Muslims (42:38). If our families and our communities are not run on Shura, open communication and proper representation, how will we grow?

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"The true believers, both men and women, are friends to each other. They enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil; they attend to their prayers and pay the alms and obey God and His apostle. On these God will have mercy. He is Mighty and Wise." (Quran 7:71)

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Source: soundvision.com

Islam, the American way

Although America has plenty of Islam-bashers ready to play on people's fears, it offers better protection to the mosque builders.

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The American way? Compared to the ways or Eurabia, which presumably means the European way ...

I am still waiting for Islam - the Islamic way!!

Egypt adjourns Muslim converts' appeal

An appeal by 12 Egyptian converts to Islam who wish to return to the Coptic Christian Church convened briefly on Saturday before being adjourned to November 17, a judicial source told AFP.

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In April, a lower court ruled that reversion to Christianity by the 12 converts would amount to apostasy under Islamic law and constitute a "manipulation of Islam and Muslims."

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What's there to ponder? Why 3 months?
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So much for [2.256] There is no compulsion in religion;

Muslim world not a monolith

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The Muslim world is not a monolith, and Muslim understanding of their faith-tradition -- Islam -- in lacking a centre analogous to the Vatican, remains widely dispersed.

The differences among Muslims on how the Koran should be read and Islam practised reach back to the earliest years of Muslim history and have been the source of much internal conflict. These differences are compounded by the convulsions in varying degrees the Muslim world is experiencing presently from the effects of the fast moving global economy.

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Muslims ethnically are a diverse people, and Islam is no more an Arab religion than Christianity is a Jewish heresy. More than 80% of over one billion Muslims are non-Arabs, and most Muslims are located in south and southeast Asia

Don't you just love it when someone reinvents the wheel or discovers something so self-evident and that has been matter of fact for years. Check out Amazon.

Why can't anyone come up with something new? WHy do we have to rehash everything over and over, even the protests over stuipd cartoons?

Amnesty condemns Egypt's treatment of Muslim Brotherhood

Human rights group Amnesty International said Friday it was "greatly concerned" by the arrest of two Egyptian lawmakers from banned Islamist opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood.

The London-based organisation condemned the detention last week north of Cairo of Ragab Abu Zeid and Saber Amer, who had their parliamentary immunity lifted earlier this year.


"Amnesty International is greatly concerned by the recent arrests, detention and prosecution on terrorism-related charges of leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, apparently because of their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of association and assembly," it said in a statement.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main opposition group, describes itself as a moderate Islamic organisation that wants to bring Islamic law to Egypt.

Amnesty said the crackdown on the movement, which has more than a fifth of the seats in Egypt's parliament despite being banned, coincided with the trial of 40 other Muslim Brotherhood members.

"These arrests are the latest in a long-standing pattern of repression by the Egyptian authorities against the Muslim Brotherhood," its statement added.

"More than 500 members are believed currently to be detained, many of them without charge or trial."

Shades of Guantanamo?

Amnesty called on the Egyptian authorities to release prisoners being held "for their non-violent expression of their political beliefs" and to stop holding civilian trials in military courts.

Yeah! and Egypt will bend over backwards to comply ...

Bashing the Muslim Brothers

Egypt's rulers are giving their Islamist compatriots an even worse time than usual.

Worse than usual? What can be worse? Hanging them like Qutb was?

There are understandable reasons not to love the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt's oldest and largest Islamist group did eschew violence in the 1970s, and now proclaims a belief in freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Yet the Brothers still declare that death in the cause of God is a wonderful thing. Their enthusiasm for violent jihad and their constant framing of Islam as a faith threatened by vicious enemies have helped spawn more radical Islamist groups, from Hamas in Palestine to the suicidal mass-killing zealots of Iraq.

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Violence alone is hardly the reason!!

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This is why quite a few Egyptians nodded agreement when their president, Hosni Mubarak, recently chided the Brothers for “hiding behind religion to turn back the clock”.

Turn back the clock indeed!! Back to the dark ages!

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So the current campaign against the Brotherhood, which remains officially outlawed despite members having won a fifth of seats in the last parliamentary elections as independents, has brought the group widespread sympathy. Aside from the mass arrests, the crackdown has included the transfer of some 40 leaders to trial before military courts, bans on travel for other leaders, confiscation of personal assets, and harassment of Brotherhood-affiliated schools, summer camps and clinics.

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I suppose it is just the panic resulting from them winning all those seats which caused the recent crack-down, but they won them because the voters were grateful for schools, clinics, housing etc in their areas, a void the government can't / wont fill.

New Muslim cartoon protests in Pakistan and Iran

Fears grew of a new confrontation over images deemed blasphemous by Muslims as Pakistan joined Iran in protest over a sketch by a Swedish artist portraying the prophet Mohammed as a dog.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said it had summoned the Swedish charge d'affaires to condemn "in the strongest terms, the publication of an offensive and blasphemous sketch of the Holy Prophet".

A rerun of last year's incidents? Isn't there anything new?

The move adds to a chorus of criticism over the series of drawings, by artist Lars Vilks, one of which was published earlier this month by a regional Swedish newspaper.

Artist Lars Vilks has not confined his provocative cartoons to Islam however. Another drawing, featured on his website, features a giant hook-nosed pig looming over hillside houses.

The caption reads: "Modern Jew sow, swollen by capitalism, on her way to tear apart some peaceful villages".

Looks like he just wants to be in/famous for something and the easiest way is to offend ...

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On another take, artworks depicting Osama bin Laden in a Christ-like pose and a statue of the Virgin Mary covered in a burqa have caused a stir in Australia after they were showcased in a prestigious religious art competition.



Why aren't there any protests about that? And to call this art? Bit far off ...

Israeli soccer fans filmed cursing Prophet Muhammad

Turkish reporter who joined Maccabi Tel Aviv's trip to Turkey records group of fans singing songs against Muhammad, Muslims. TV channel decides to shelve video in order to avoid possible flare-up.

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The network decided to shelve the tape following appeals from senior government officials. The video was filmed by a Turkish reporter of Channel 24, Elif Ural, who accompanied the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team on its flight from Israel to the Turkish town of Kayseri, where it is scheduled to play against local team Erciyesstor Thursday evening.

A group of fans who were on the plane with the team were caught on video singing songs against Muhammad and Muslims. Ural, who has been living in Israel for the past three years as the network's Mideast correspondent, was deeply offended by what she witnessed and heard, and by the club's officials' failure to intervene and put an end to the offensive behavior.

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"The decision not to broadcast the video was the right one and I don’t have a problem with it," Ural said. "There is really no need to risk relations between Israel and Turkey because of 10 idiots. I understood that if the incident is published, the potential for a violent outbreak at the stadium and in the city could grow significantly. But what I felt on the plane would be very hard to forget."

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Just what is cursing the Prophet going to accomplish?

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Only 10 idiots?

Obstacles Keep Iraqi Refugees From U.S.

Despite a stepped-up commitment from the United States to take in Iraqis who are in danger because they worked for the American government and military, very few are signing up to go, resettlement officials say.

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The reason, Iraqis say, is that they are not allowed to apply in Iraq, requiring them to make a costly and uncertain journey to countries like Syria or Jordan, where they may be turned away by border officials already overwhelmed by fleeing Iraqis.

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Not allowed to apply in Iraq??? Jeez, what a strange requirement or rather constraint! No wonder!

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This year, for the first time, administration officials began publicly discussing the special dangers faced by Iraqis working with Americans here and acknowledging the need to grant them safety in the United States.

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For the first time??? pecial dangers faced by Iraqis working with Americans??? acknowledging the need to grant them safety??? Doesn't take much to figure that out now does it?

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A spokesman for the United States Embassy In JOrdan said all Iraqis who had worked for the United States would have their refugee applications sped up once they fled Iraq and reached neighboring countries like Jordan or Syria.

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Sure thing! flee first and then Insha Allah everything will be in order!!!

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“The big question mark is for those who can’t reach us here,” said Rafiq A. Tschannen, chief of the Iraq mission for the International Organization for Migration in Amman, Jordan.

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Indeed! What about those who can't / won't leave?

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Well, they are only Iraqis I guess, children of a lesser God!

Muslims celebrate Raksha Bandhan

Forgetting religious barriers, Muslims here have also come forward to celebrate Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu festival that celebrates the bond between a brother and a sister.

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"I do not have a sister. But there are two Hindu girls in my locality who love me like their own brother. I go to their house on Raksha Bandhan and present gifts," said Mohamad Salman.

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Well Done! And no bidaa, because Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever believe in Allah and in the Last Day, should be kind to his neighbour." And after all aren't all humans brothers and sisters in humanity?

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Happy Raksha Bandhan to everyone, celebrating or not, Hindu, Muslims, Jews or Christians!

Israeli anger over holy site work

A group of Israeli archaeologists is protesting about fresh excavations at Jerusalem's holiest religious shrine, saying it threatens priceless relics.

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Kind of funny if one considers the history, ranging from accusations of plots to using a third party for verifications after widespread anger in the Muslim world caused by fears that the site is being damaged by Israel's excavations there, which even had the UN getting involved, providing loads of headlines.

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Amusing really if it wasn't so sad!

A Religious Candidate Is Ascendant in Turkey

After being shut out of the presidency last spring, Abdullah Gul, a religious man in the assiduously secular realm of Turkish politics, allowed himself a little soul-searching.

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“Has the government limited women’s rights?” Mr. Gul, 56, asked a panel of newspaper editors on national television, hoping to persuade Turkey’s establishment that it had nothing to fear from his candidacy.

After all, he argued, his party was already in power, but “has the government closed down places where young people or modern people go? Has the government done some secret things and those been disclosed? What happened?”

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As he saw it, he had done everything right.

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But for Turkey’s secular class, all that was beside the point. Mr. Gul came from a party that espoused political Islam, his wife wore an Islamic head scarf and the fear that inspired outweighed his accomplishments. A high court blocked his candidacy at the request of the main secular opposition party.

So Turkey is suffering from its own kind of Islamophobia?

Why doesn't anybody want to give the man a chance? Why is he judged and sentenced before anything happens?

In another article Gul asks to trust in democracy.

"The democratic system within which citizens elect their own representatives is a structure based on the universal principles of law where ways of legal recourse are open and fundamental rights and liberties can be thoroughly enjoyed both individually and collectively," he said. He also said Turkey should set becoming an open society as a priority for itself. "Becoming an open society is the bare minimum for the development of countries and the fulfillment of individuals," the newly elected president said, adding, "The freedoms of thought, expression, religion and conscience stipulated in our Constitution are, at the same time, the guarantee of a dignified life for our people."

He said fundamental freedoms were the most "vital values under all circumstances" and that change and diversity should be celebrated rather than feared. Gül also stated that ensuring complete gender equality and active participation of women in all fields of life should be a primary objective for Turkey. He expressed that "a prevailing sense of justice among citizens is one of the most important elements for ensuring sustainable economic development and continued social harmony."

Does that sound like a fanatic speaking?

So words are cheap and he can say anything and then change his mind later on, but actions speak louder than words, so give the man a chance to become active before branding him a backward Chauvinist Islamist!!

A Small Dictionary of Middle-East Stereotypes

This list of sarcastic definitions is the epitome of phobias, with a definite slant towards appologetics for Zionism, but hey there is nothing on earth that can't be used to laugh about, for example:

Budget: What for? Are you kidding? Are we in Ramallah (Gaza) here?

Occupation: The reason for which this Palestinian has just had his finger jammed in the door. Anyone who does not see the causality is Islamophobic.

Orchard (see also olive grove): A sacred place for journalistic worship of the peasant innocence trampled under foot by army rabble, as in: "The Israeli troops cut down the trees in the orchards".

Muslim-American cartoonist throws his Fez into the Ring

“Muslim American cartoonist launches satirical campaign to make Americans question Islamophobic stereotypes”

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First Muslim American Ever to Run for President by Khalil Bendib.

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Who says there is no humour in the Muslim World?

Anger over 'blasphemous' balls

A demonstration has been held in south- east Afghanistan accusing US troops of insulting Islam after they distributed footballs bearing the name of Allah.
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The balls showed the Saudi Arabian flag which features the Koranic declaration of faith.
The US military said the idea had been to give something for Afghan children to enjoy and they did not realise it would cause offence.
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Mullahs in Afghanistan criticised the US forces for their insensitivity, and around 100 people held a demonstration in Khost.

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Afghan MP Mirwais Yasini said: "To have a verse of the Koran on something you kick with your foot would be an insult in any Muslim country around the world."

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Someone did NOT do their homework!

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Saudi Arabia has complained to the World Cup's ruling body in the past about the use of its flag on footballs.

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A spokeswoman for the US forces in Afghanistan said they made "significant efforts to work with local leaders, mullahs and elders to respect their culture" and distributing the footballs was an effort to give a gift the Afghan children would enjoy.

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So much for winning the hearts and minds! More like an own goal here!!!

Transforming Islam's Holiest Site

A huge project is under way near the Kaaba, in the Grand Mosque, altering the skyline at Islam’s holiest site. The Abraj al Bait Mall will bring an amusement park ride, fast food and a lingerie shop to the neighborhood.

A definitely needed addition ... amusement park ride, fast food and lingerie ... How come the Committee for prevention of vice doesn't object to that?

The Abraj al Bait Mall — one of the largest in Saudi Arabia, outfitted with flat-panel monitors with advertisements and announcements, neon lights, an amusement park ride, fast-food restaurants and a lingerie shop — has been built directly across from Islam’s holiest site. Not everyone considers this progress.

Oh really???

When the project is completed in 2009, it will include the seventh tallest building in the world, its developers say, with a hospital, hotels and prayer halls.

Prayer halls? When the Ka'ba is right there?

So it is permissible to flatten the historical sites in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere because they are bid'a, but then what is that:

The building will house a total population of 65,000

The towers have a combined floor area of 1,500,000m² and a site area of 34,794m²

The building will cost an estimated US-$ 2 billion

The towers include:

- 6 residential towers (27-33F) 302,000m² 864 units

- 60F 5* 2,000 key hotel

- convention centre for 1,500 persons

- prayer hall for 3,800 persons

- 4 story parking for 780 cars and 10 busses

- 2 heliports

This complex directly across from the main gate of Makkah's mosque features as its centerpiece a hotel geared towards the profitable Muslim pilgrimage business. The hotel boasts direct views into the courtyard of the mosque itself.



Aside from the 5-star hotel itself, there are also apartments, a convention center, an intermodal transit station, and a 4-story shopping mall which features themed areas resembling traditional markets in different parts of the Arab world.



Construction is estimated to cost $1.6 billion US dollars and will be done by the Saudi Binladen Group.

Muslim carnival entry creates controversy

A dispute over an "insulting" carnival procession entry has developed into a row over political correctness. Locals dressed as Muslims took part in the carnival in the Cornish market town of St Columb Major in protest over plans for a mosque. A group of students visiting the area thought the act was offensive to Muslims, and called in police.

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The group, calling themselves the Page Three Beauties from the Ramalamadingdong Times, carried placards with names including "Miss Poppadomistan" and "Miss Reallyamanistan". A home-made banner read "Join the Kernow Mosk drekly and become a Musli" over a picture of a Cornish pasty. Kernow is the Celtic name for Cornwall, while drekly is Cornish slang for "get it done quickly". The group knelt down in mock prayer, using fake compasses to "find" the correct direction to locate Mecca.

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The stunt was apparently intended as a harmless send-up of the Prince of Wales's plan for a mosque in his nearby "Surfbury" model settlement. The plan has been criticised because there are only 33 practising Muslims in a population of 22,000.

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She said the act was "all in good fun" and involved "just a group of local lads, mostly in their thirties". She added: "The crowd seemed to love them. It just offended this small minority."

The Word's Religious Culture and Richness of Faiths

Conflicts among the "Abrahamic faiths" of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have shaped the history and culture of much of the world for centuries. But a new exhibition at London's British Library is highlighting their similarities in a bid to promote mutual respect and understanding.

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"We can remind people just how much they do share in common," says Graham Shaw, the library's head of the Asia, Africa, and Pacific collections and the chief curator of the exhibition. "That the Old Testament of the Christian faith, for instance, largely equates with the Hebrew Bible. And in the case of Islam, in the Koran, we find many of the stories and the characters and the messages from the Old and the New testaments retold. So, they share so much in terms of stories, in terms of message, in terms of ethics, in terms of moral teachings that it's good to remind ourselves of that."

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A good start for understanding one another!

Israel to End Care of Paralyzed Girl

Gravely injured in an Israeli missile attack, a 5-year-old Palestinian girl is at the center of a fight over whether Israel should continue to provide treatment.

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Confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed from the neck down, the Palestinian girl is at the center of a legal fight over whether Israel should continue to take care of her treatment. Back in May 2006, an Israeli missile attack on an Islamic Jihad activist's car in war-torn Gaza left the Aman family, traveling close behind, in ruins. Mariya's mother, brother, grandmother and uncle were killed, and Mariya, thrown out of the car into a ditch, sustained serious injuries. Today Mariya is kept alive by an artificial respirator at the Alyn Children's Rehabilitation Hospital in Jerusalem.

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Collateral damage I suppose!!!

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Although it has never formally accepted responsibility, the Israeli government has largely sponsored her complicated medical rehabilitation for the past 15 months. But now her father has been told by the Israeli Ministry of Defense that his daughter must leave Israel and return to the territory of the Palestinian Authority.

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Guilty feelings? But then you'd have to have a heart!

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A court decision in favor of Mariya Aman could set a precedent and trigger other court appeals from Palestinians injured by similar acts of the Israeli military.

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How many would there be???

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It's not difficult to understand why Mariya's father is so worried. She will need around-the-clock specialized medical attention for the rest of her life. She is catheterized every four hours to avoid the buildup of urine in the kidneys, and her respiratory tract is regularly cleaned of secretions. She will never be able to dress herself in the morning or comb her hair. But since arriving at the hospital, she has learned to use a computer and to deftly steer her wheelchair using her chin. She has also learned to chatter away in fluent Hebrew to her dedicated Israeli therapists. "I have always avoided telling Mariya who aimed that missile at us," says Aman. "How can I explain that the people who hurt us are the same people who are helping us now?"

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And for what I ask?

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An Israeli law passed in 2002 states that in an act of warfare the state has immunity and does not necessarily have to pay compensation to Palestinians, and the Justice Court has ruled that targeted assassinations are normally an act of warfare. Moreover, Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedman has long argued that there are no grounds to compensate a people that Israel is in conflict with.

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Nice cop out! How come then the Holocaust is still a means to get compensation, even half a century later!

US Sikhs angry over turban plan

US Sikh organisations have expressed anger over changes allowing airport security staff to "pat down" turbans.

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...

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The Transportation Security Administration insisted the new policy was necessary to counter the threat of improvised bombs and chemical weapons.

In Britain, the government said recently that private searches of turbans might be necessary as part of airport security.

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Now waiting for the reaction by Muslims...

TSA Changes Rules for Headdress Searches at U.S. Airports

Transportation Security Administration has changed its airport screening procedures as of August 4, 2007. The sudden change in policy includes, as we understand it, mandatory secondary screening for all travelers wearing any form of headgear - including religious headdress. In addition, secondary screenings of religious headdress are now permitted even if a passenger has already been cleared by a metal detector.

Millions of Sikh, Muslim, South Asian, and Jewish passengers worldwide will be affected by the new process. Still, the TSA not only sprung this on our communities without warning, but now refuses to inform the public of what the new policy entails, on the grounds of security concerns. It took Sikh Coalition staff members almost 36 hours simply to get a confirmation that the policy had indeed been changed, let alone details of the new procedure.

The possibilities are endless ...

Nigerian Islamic court tries 18 for cross-dressing

Eighteen Nigerian men accused of dressing up as women during a party at a hotel went on trial on Tuesday before an Islamic sharia court in the northern state of Bauchi.

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Dozens of residents shouted abuse and hurled stones at the men as they were escorted into an armoured prison vehicle after the hearing, prompting police to fire tear-gas at the crowd.

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The men, mostly in their 20s, were arrested in a Bauchi hotel on Aug. 4. Police say they were dressed as women, which is illegal under the state's sharia penal code.

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The offence is punishable by up to a year in prison and 20 lashes by cane.

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Following from that, any male (terrorist or criminal or jihadi) who hides under a burqa or niqaab is also a cross-dresser and should be punished for doing something illegal?

West underestimates the 'evil of Islam'

The West was still underestimating the evil of Islam, an influential Muslim thinker has warned, insisting that Australia and the US have been duped into believing there is a difference between the religion's moderate and radical interpretations.

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Influential Muslim Thinker?

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On a two-week "under the radar" visit to Australia, Syrian-born Wafa Sultan secretly met both sides of federal politics and Jewish community leaders, warning them that all Muslims needed to be closely monitored in the West.

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So Wafa Sultan is an influential Muslim Thinker????

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In an interview with The Australian, Dr Sultan - who shot to recognition last year following an interview on al-Jazeera television in which she attacked Islam and the prophet Mohammed - said Muslims were "brainwashed" from an early age to believe Western values were evil and that the world would one day come under the control of Sharia law.

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So if one attacks Islam one becomes an influential Muslim thinker? Influencing whom exactly? And recognition seems hardly the correct word here!

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The US-based psychiatrist - who has two fatwas (religious rulings) issued against her to be killed - warned that Muslims would continue to exploit freedom of speech in the West to spread their "hate" and attack their adopted countries, until the Western mind grasped the magnitude of the Islamic threat.

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So a degree in psychiatry elevates one to being a thinker? And renouncing the faith makes one an influential Muslim thinker?

Devout Muslim closer to Turkish presidency

To me the headline sounds bad. It sounds as if the word "devout" suddenly became an insult.

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The first sentence reads: "Abdullah Gul's candidacy is causing discomfort in nation that stresses secular values over religion."

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That too bothers me, because if it really did cause such a discomfort he wouldn't have managed almost two thirds of the votes, just a few short of what would have elected him president.

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Detractors say Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul threatens to undermine secular principles enshrined in the constitution, while allies – including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan – say he's a reformer who has worked hard to bring Turkey into the European Union.

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Tried and sentenced already?

Islam’s war on sin dims bright lights in a nation torn between cultures

Over a drink of green coconut at what used to be called the Passionate Love Beach until his Islamist party came to power and scrapped the name, state minister Takiyuddin Hassan outlines the victories in the war on sin.

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War on sin? New one!

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To the south, in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, celebrations are starting for Malaysia’s 50th year as an independent state. Its proud achievements are modern universities, a buoyant economy and a respected place in the world as a moderate Islamic nation.

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State minister Takiyuddin Hassan's party boasts a different set of achievements: banning mini-skirts, chastising unmarried couples and renaming Kota Bharu’s favourite beauty spot. They also closed down nightclubs, banned nearly all bars except a few Chinese restaurants, where no Muslims are allowed, and refused to let a proposed cinema open unless there were separate sections for men and women.

In a sign of their clout, the American pop diva Gwen Stefani has agreed to wear traditional costumes in her Malaysian concert next week after conservative Muslim youths protested at the “indecent dressing and obscenity” of her skin-baring act. An Islamic opposition party demanded that her show next Tuesday should be cancelled.

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...

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As it celebrates 50 years of independence on August 31, Malaysia is once again debating just how Islamic it should be. Older Malays bemoan a younger generation that has become puritanical, self-righteously declining to attend social functions where alcohol is served. Headscarves, rare 20 years ago, are worn by almost all Malay women now, although often in combination with tight jeans.

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...

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Some of the comments say it all: I would just like to point out one misrepresentation. It is true that religions lay down rules and regulations which they apply to their own members and - unfortunately - often enough attempt to inflict on other people as well.

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I wonder what Mahatir would say to this ...

Reforming Islam or Reforming Muslims?

However, many Muslims have long believed that Islam itself does not need to be "reformed," but that Muslims' attitudes toward their faith are what must be changed.

I wholeheartedly agree.

The compelling need facing Islam today is for Muslims to regain their collective self-confidence and learn to deal effectively and constructively with the demands and challenges of the real world around them.

In fact, the Qur'an insists time after time that Muslims cannot expect God to support them utterly, and it points to the example of ancient nations who disappeared before them.

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Thus, we Muslims need not search for new principles of conduct from outside, but have only to apply our old and forsaken ones in order to launch a modern and moderate reformation movement. We certainly may use new methodologies gained from the experience of others, but we must not displace the essential fabric of Islam, as some commentators seem intent on doing. They are trying to address a so-called "crisis of modernization" by blaming Islam instead of Muslims.

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A reformation there must be: but it should be a reformation of Muslims from within, not of Islam itself.

Seven-year-old Muslim boy stopped in US three times on suspicion of being a terrorist

For seven-year-old Javaid Iqbal, the holiday to Florida was a dream trip to reward him for doing well at school.

But he was left in tears after he was stopped repeatedly at airports on suspicion of being a terrorist.

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The security alerts were triggered because Javaid shares his name with a Pakistani man deported from the US, prompting staff at three airports to question his family about his identity.

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His father Nadeem Iqbal, 48, a consultant anaesthetist, said: "My son is psychologically traumatised by this experience and said he doesn't want to fly to America again.

"They really should have known he was only a seven-yearold child. I do understand the reasons but this was over the top. I can understand the safety aspect but it doesn't help relationships with different faiths."

International airports will not discuss security policies and anti-terrorism measures and all those involved refused to comment on this case.

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Does this look like a terrorist to you?

With friends like these…

WAS it George Bernard Shaw who argued that Islam is the world’s best religion and the Muslims are the worst followers?

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I have often wondered what might have prompted Shaw, a diehard socialist with a life-long affair with Islam, to reach this conclusion.

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But you don’t have to be Bernard Shaw to know that if Islam is constantly under fire around the world, it is not entirely because of some elaborate Zionist conspiracies or Western machinations.

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If Islam faces an acute image crisis today with every imaginable atrocity attributed to it, you need not look too far to see who really is responsible for this state of affairs. Trust me, we Muslims are as responsible as Islam’s enemies, if not more, for discrediting our noble faith.

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This is what we do to Islam day after day, from one end of the Muslim world to another. We dump all our insecurities, our wretchedness, our sins and all our crimes in Islam’s account.

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Islam suffers daily at the hands of its followers.

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This distortion and misrepresentation of Islam and Muslims has been going on for years. But Muslim intellectuals and leaders have been mostly silent, except for some lone and feeble voices here and there, over this continuing atrocity against their faith.

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Do Muslim leaders and Ulema realise what our silence means to the rest of the world? It means we implicitly support and justify what is being perpetrated in our name by desperate and self-seeking men.

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This is no time to remain silent. If we care for Islam and genuinely believe in what it stands for, then we must speak out and speak out now. We can take on the enemies of Islam by presenting the true face of this great faith. We must fight the falsehood being purveyed in the name of Islam by taking the true message of the religion to the world. As the Quran suggests, let us “Repel evil with what is better,” — not with greater evil.

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No further comment required!

Taslima undeterred, writing sequel to 'Lajja'

Undeterred by the attack on her by radical Muslim fundamentalists in Hyderabad and a fatwa against her, exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin is busy penning the sequel of "Lajja", 14 years after the book annoyed clerics in her country.

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"Sharam, the sequel of Lajja (Shame), has the principal characters of the first novel who came over to India from Bangladesh in 1993 and is set in the backdrop here," Taslima told PTI here.

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Speaking about the attack on her at Hyderabad, Taslima said "I had seen demonstrations against me in India. I have heard people issuing fatwas for beheading me and to blacken my face.

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"But this was the first time here that I saw some people trying to harm me physically. I could read their murderous intention in their expressions. For some time when I hid in a room in the press club as they banged the door from outside. I saw death staring at me."

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While expressing gratitude to the Andhra Pradesh government for ensuring her safety, she said the threats by MIM leaders would not deter her as a writer.

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I guess we should all be looking forward to the new "literary" work of hers then!

In an article in the Times of India we learn that the Taslima attack un-Islamic! I liked that line: "All this in the name of Islam, as though Islam stands for such hooliganism."

Gwen Stefani to cover up

There will be no revealing costumes at US singer Gwen Stefani's concert in Malaysia this month, a newspaper said on Saturday, after a Muslim student group demanded that the event be cancelled as being too obscene.

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Although Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country with sizeable non-Muslim minorities, conservative groups often frown upon departures from strict Koranic injunctions.

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Cover up!! Halal Costume?

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This is how she normally dresses up (un?) on the stage:

Risks in a Muslim Reformation

Diana Muir writes: 'Salman Rushdie, Thomas Friedman, Nicholas Kristof and Mansour al-Nogaidan are among the well-intentioned people who have called for an Islamic Reformation. They should be careful what they wish for."

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Wow! What an interesting selection she picked! And to talk about their "niyyat" just like that, more interesting!

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And yet, even as some hope for such a turn of events -- presuming, it seems, a certain conclusion -- a Reformation is sweeping through the Muslim world.

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Depends really on "what" one sees as refore. Wahhabism is considered a reform in some places!

In some European countries, the Reformation or the Counter-Reformation produced a rigid orthodoxy that stifled development for generations. In other countries the wars of religion were followed by the Enlightenment. Muslims might not follow a European course. They will choose whether they prefer societies shaped by Sayyid Qutb, who advocated closing the Islamic mind to everything but the ancient texts, or Ibn Rushd (also known as Averroes), who preferred the open embrace of all knowledge.

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Interesting selection again, Sayyid Qutb, 20th century figure standing opposed to Ibn Rushd! I wish everything was as simple as that! Comparing apples and oranges just does not cut it because everything is different from historical, to social, to political, to economical conditions. Plus there were plenty reformers in the late 19th century to draw on. Muhammad Abduh, Jamal Eddin Al Afghani etc etc

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In the near term, though, the Islamic Reformation will divide Muslim society as the Reformation divided Europe.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

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A fervent minority in many countries is already pressing for narrow interpretations on issues such as veiling, whether to listen to music and replacing secular laws with religious codes. As we have seen in Europe and more recently in Afghanistan, Muslim Puritans are likely to take over communities where they are far from being the majority. Meanwhile, the majority has yet to construct an effective ideological defense of moderation.

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Back to calling Wahhabism reform! I think that people need to familiarize themselves first with the topic they intend to write about! And then they are most welcome to write instead of ramble!

Brussels banned protest against Islam

Brussels mayor Freddy Thielemans has banned a planned protest against the so-called "Islamisation of Europe" on September 11, the 6th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States.

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Thielemans said that the planned September protest would alienate Muslims in the city. "The danger to public order is too high," to allow the Brussels protest to go ahead, said the mayor's spokesman Nicolas Dassonville, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) late last Thursday.

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But the SIOE hit back at the mayor's stance. "The mayor in Brussels is not fully aware of his responsibility," it said on its website. "For as a mayor at EU’s capital you cannot simply forbid ordinary European citizens to express their constitutional freedoms."

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No comment!

First Victims of Freedom

For someone who faces death threats, swaps apartments regularly and hides the location of her organization from authorities, Yanar Mohammed, one of Iraq’s leading feminists, hasn’t lost her sense of humor. Even during a recent conversation about the demise of women’s rights and safety in post-war Iraq, her wry perspective asserted itself in small ways, revealing her humanity and suggesting a certain defiance. She laughed at her English on the rare occasions that it proved faulty, and poked fun at Islamist attire as worn by women in Baghdad’s fundamentalist neighborhoods, likening the all-black, body-concealing uniform to radioactive protective gear.

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In 2003, Mohammed founded the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), which shelters Iraqi women targeted in honor killings and sectarian violence (both on the rise since the war and occupation). It also monitors women in jail and assists formerly detained women, such as prostitutes. And, most visibly, OWFI speaks out loudly and insistently for women’s legal rights and secular law in opposition to Iraq’s growing Islamism. Her demands shed light on the precarious position of women under radical Islamism but, perhaps more to the question at hand, they confirm the disastrous consequences of the Iraq war and the political repercussions of occupation, which, according to Mohammed, has unleashed militant fundamentalism that is proving impossible to subdue.

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Read the interview with Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed.

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For a good analysis about the demise of women’s rights and safety in post-war Iraq see here.

Yazidis fear annihilation after Iraq bombings

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Estimates of the death toll varied from 175 to 500.

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"Their aim is to annihilate us, to create trouble and kill all the Yazidis because we are not Muslims," said Abu Saeed, a grey-bearded old man in Kahtaniya.

What can I say? Doesn't the Quran say:

[2.256] There is no compulsion in religion;

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[10.99] And if your Lord had pleased, surely all those who are in the earth would have believed, all of them; will you then force men till they become believers?
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[18.29] And say: The truth is from your Lord, so let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve;
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[109.6] You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion.

When you can't go home

I think the best line in this article is :

God is right there, right now, with each refugee.

Millions of displaced persons today can't go home, or they have no home to return to. Political situations and wars, as well as floods, droughts, and similar conditions abruptly force people into refugee camps or make them seek refuge in what is to them a foreign country.

U.S. set to brand Iran's Revolutionary Guard as terrorists

A U.S. decision to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization fuelled speculation Wednesday the White House is laying the groundwork for air strikes against the hardline Islamic nation before President George W. Bush leaves office.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

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Foreign policy analysts were surprised Wednesday by the reported White House decision, which would mark the first time in history that the U.S. has formally declared the armed forces of a sovereign nation to be terrorists.

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Whatever next?

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The Revolutionary Guard operates its own naval, land and air forces independently from the Iran's regular armed forces, but has expanded its domestic operations recently to include commercial ventures ranging from oil production to infrastructure.

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Did I imagine the word domestic here? How does that make them terrorists?

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In another article it said: “Maybe the Revolutionary Guards have done certain things in their own backyard,” said Saeed Leylaz, an economist and a reformist political analyst, referring to Afghanistan and Iraq. “But they have also cooperated with Americans there.”

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So cleaning up your own backyard to sort out your business is terrorism? Helping out in the process is also terrorism? What about invading other countries miles away just on a flimsy excuse which proves later to be a lie?

Shakes my head!

Ben-Eliezer: Nasrallah has never lied

Forget the rest of the news item, but this bit threw me:

"Nasrallah has never lied. He is cocky, he is arrogant, but at least from our experience with him, to my regret, what he has said, he has done. And when he says 'I have 20,000 missiles' I believe him," Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio on Wednesday.


John Milton once said: "Praise from an enemy smells of craft." But I think that there can be no better compliment to Nasrallah than that.

Halal Flying!!

The other day I joked about Halal Flying and apparently someone heard me and initiated it. Well not exactly Halal Flying but close!

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The Guardian reports that the Vatican plans airways to heaven and will be launching its first charter flights for pilgrims from Rome to Lourdes, with some of the world's top religious destinations to follow, including the shrine of Fatima in Portugal and the shrine of the Madonna of Guadalupe in Mexico.