Is Islamic Law an Answer for Humanitarians?...
DUBAI, 24 April 2014 (IRIN) – Humanitarian action today is largely taking place in Muslim-majority countries where some combatants turn to Islamic law, among other sources, to guide their military behaviour. As a result, in the last decade, aid and advocacy agencies have increasingly tried to understand Islamic law in order to use its humanitarian provisions as tools of negotiation with armed groups in the Muslim world. This is particularly helpful in engaging Islamist armed groups, some of whom reject international humanitarian law (IHL). Some aid agencies try to situate their arguments for access or protection of civilians within a religious context, sometimes using scholars, mullahs or other religious figures as liaison with Islamist armed groups. Others, like...
Muslims Help Repair Buddhist Temple Damaged By Volcano...
CENTRAL JAVA – Dozens of Muslim students in Central Java’s Magelang have participated in cleaning the world’s largest Buddhist temple that had been distorted with volcanic ash earlier this month. “Around 50 students from our boarding school spent their Friday holiday to clean Borobodur Temple of the Keluds ash together with other volunteers,” Muhammad Dimyadi, a teacher from the boarding school, told Republika Online on Saturday, February 22. Muslim students from the Mistakhurrohman Islamic boarding school have joined hands with hundreds volunteers who came to clean Borobudur Temple. Students’ effort was part of a voluntary campaign to remove the volcanic ash caused by the eruption of Mount Kelud on February 13, promoting authorities to close the temple and...
Interfaith Program Joins Muslims and Jews in Prayer...
On Feb. 7, at Shabbat services at Temple Beth Hillel (TBH) — a Reform shul in Valley Village — a small, attractive woman sang religious songs she had coauthored. In a sweet, self-assured voice — with undertones of depth and strength — Ani Zonneveld, brimming with heartfelt energy, sang about light and prayer and soul, words the 50 or 60 congregants had often heard during Jewish services. There was one word, however, that stuck out, one word that most weren’t used to hearing in the shul’s sanctuary: Allah. “Oh, Allah, increase my light everywhere. … Oh, Allah, Oh, Allah.” TBH Senior Rabbi Sarah Hronsky — flanked by overhead screens projecting Zonneveld’s lyrics — suggested that congregants, if they...
Islamic Scholars Call for Access to Vaccinate Children...
Amman, Feb.27 (Petra) – Protection against diseases is obligatory and admissible under the Islamic Shariah, and that any actions which do not support these preventive measures and cause harm to humanity are un-Islamic, Islamic scholars said Thursday. During the first meeting of the Global Islamic Advisory Group for polio eradication, religious leaders denounced violence against health workers involved in polio vaccination campaigns, saying that such violence caused lasting harm to children and communities. The scholars led by the Grand Imam of the Holy Mosque of Mecca, adopted a strong “Jeddah Declaration” and a focused six-month Action Plan to address critical challenges facing polio eradication efforts in the few remaining polio-endemic parts of the Islamic world: a ban on...
Dallas Mosque Feeds the Hungry at a ‘Day of Dignity’...
Not even the recent furlough of federal workers was enough to snuff out the latest community outreach effort of Masjid al Islam mosque in Dallas. On a weekend in early October, the mosque was participating in a national initiative known as the Day of Dignity, an annual event during which mosques feed, clothe, and equip people living in poverty. But federal workers who had been scheduled to attend to speak about the details of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) healthcare legislation had been forced to cancel because of a partial federal government shutdown. It was a blow to the mosque’s boosters, says Muhammad Abdul-Jami, treasurer of Masjid al Islam and coordinator of the Day of Dignity event. But...
Muslim Students Help Stock Food Pantry at Episcopal Church...
Nameera Perwez picked up on her lesson fast, and she was eager to put it in action. This is the season for sacrifice in the Muslim community, and the fifth-grader from the Iqra Academy of Virginia had something in mind she wanted to share: food. For more than an hour Friday, she and 10 classmates from the small Muslim primary school in South Richmond were at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church helping sort canned goods and other nonperishable items they’d just donated to the community food pantry. “Other people need your help, and you need to help them,” Nameera said as she and classmate Fatin Salman prepared paper grocery bags. “You can’t be greedy. You need to help them.”...
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