Muslims in Brazil
Muhammad Mumtaz Brazil, a country of 200 million people, is well known for its leading economy in the world. It is famed for its diversity in culture, people, faith, religions and much more. The constitution of Brazil adopted a secular government system, where people are free to choose and practice their religions. There is no official religion in Brazil; majority of Brazilian follow Roman Catholicism. Various other religions, including Islam, are also practiced in the country. Islam is one of the earliest religions in Brazil. It is believed that the earliest significant Muslim presence was the result of African slaves in the 16th century. In the 19th century, a large number of immigrants traveled to Brazil from the...
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...
London Jews Host Islam Awareness Week
LONDON – Joining hands to help poor and needy, a London Jewish group announced plans to host Islam awareness week to showcase some of the social action projects taking place across the country. “It seemed appropriate to use JW3 as a venue to launch Islam Awareness Week this year,” Julie Siddiqui, executive director of Islamic Society of Britain, told Jewish News on Wednesday, February 19. “The Jewish community have done a brilliant job at putting faith into real action with projects that really help others who need it.” Culminating on years of positive cooperation between the two faiths, this year’s Islam Awareness week will revisit the most important achievements in offering help to the community. Siddiqui – who...
Haitians Find ‘Peace, Guidance’ in Islam...
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Schoolteacher Darlene Derosier lost her home in the 2010 earthquake that devastated her country. Her husband died a month later after suffering what she said was emotional trauma from the quake. She and her two daughters now live in tents outside the capital of Port-au-Prince, surrounded by thousands of others made homeless and desperate by the disaster. What’s helped pull her through all the grief, she said, has been her faith, but not of the Catholic, Protestant or even Voodoo variety that have predominated in this island country. Instead, she’s converted to a new religion here, Islam, and built a small neighbourhood mosque out of cinderblocks and plywood, where some 60 Muslims pray daily. Islam...
Former Gitmo Guard Now Proselytizes for Islam...
(POCATELLO, ID) – A former Guantanamo Bay prison guard shared his experiences with a small group of Pocatello residents Sunday night. Terry Holdbrooks lectures against American foreign policy at various venues around the country. Holdbrooks, who converted to Islam after supervising detainees, says Guantanamo needs to be closed, citing concerns about due process and the possibility of innocent people being kept behind bars. About 160 detainees are still held at the prison. According to the U.S. State Department, an estimated one in four detainees released will eventually return to terrorist and insurgent...
China’s Female Imams Carrying on Ancient Islamic Tradition...
China isn’t the heartland of Islam, but it is the only country in the world to have a long history of female imams. A small group of women in central China’s Henan province have been imams in their community for centuries. This part of China is home to less than four per cent of China’s roughly 23 million Muslims. The believers are from an ethnic minority known as the Hui. A group of Muslim grandmothers wander into a mosque behind an ancient city wall shortly before noon prayers on a Friday. A crowd of 50 soon fill the prayer room. Ge Caixia is their religious leader, a female imam in the mosque that’s dedicated only to women. She...
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