Targeted Islamic Outreach to Hispanics Achieving Results...
PEARLAND, Texas • Carlos Lopez works in the United States to earn money and send it back home to his family in Mexico. But he sends back something else, too: pamphlets and personal testimonies about his new faith. On Dec. 22, 2013, Lopez took the “shahada” — the profession of the Islamic faith — and joined the ranks of what the American Muslim Council estimates is a 200,000 strong Hispanic Muslim community across the U.S. Unlike previous generations of Hispanic Muslims who were attracted to the faith by their own spiritual explorations, Lopez and many others like him are converting as a result of targeted Islamic outreach efforts. This new form of Islamic “da’wah,” or outreach, aims to...
Iraqi Cleric: Suicide Operations Tarnish Islam...
A prominent Iraqi cleric on Thursday (March 20th) slammed those who promote suicide operations and claim they are “jihad” and self-sacrifice, saying they tarnish Islam and are not in any way connected to religion. A picture of a boy who “blew himself up in western Ramadi” in a group of people was posted to the Twitter account “Rashidun Caliphate”, which bears the black flag of al-Qaeda, on Sunday. “Al-Qaeda’s posting of a picture of a child younger than 12 years old who was wearing an explosives vest is a criminal, heinous act unacceptable according to any belief, monotheistic religion or any ideology,” said Anbar Iftaa Council member Sheikh Nasser Khalil al-Dulaimi. “Suicide operations carried out by al-Qaeda or...
I Wish All Americans Received the Message of Islam...
Diane Charles Breslin is an ex-Catholic Christian living in US. She lost faith after reading the Bible but her continued belief in God led her to explore other religions including Buddhism and Hinduism. In this concluding part of her series, Breslin recounts her Irish Catholic background and says it was only by instinct that she always would pray to God — the One and Only — before going to sleep. It took three full years of my searching and studying Qur’an before I was ready to proclaim that I wanted to be a Muslim. Of course I feared the changes in clothing and habits, such as dating and drinking to which I had become accustomed. Music and dancing...
Women in Early Islam
The fact that the marginalisation of women in many Arab societies has no religious background can come as a surprise to many, discovers Farah El-Akkad Judge, minister, scholar and scientist were just some of the professions engaged in by women during the early age of Islam. Yet, today some women are still not aware of the freedom Islam has given them, and for some it comes as a surprise to learn that the contemporary marginalisation of women has no background in religion. 29-year-old pharmacist Hoda Gamal believes Islam has developed through the years and that today’s world is very different from the early days of Islam. It is for this reason that today women should focus on their...
Islam, the American way
Listening to immigration attorney Muna Jondy talk about growing up in Flint, Mich., it’s easy to imagine her as a teenager, eyes ablaze, hands on hips, confronting her Syrian-born parents with her all-American attitude. A petite woman with a strong, expressive face, she sits cross-legged on her couch and leans forward to recount the day, at age 13, that she wanted to go to the movies with a friend. Ms. Jondy says her mother, a devout Muslim, responded “like I had asked to snort cocaine.” She was incredulous, and Jondy recalls her asking: “Did you just ask that? Did you just say that out loud?” Jondy had already started to cover her hair with a head scarf...
Study: Wearing Hijab Helps Body Confidence...
The research, conducted by Dr Viren Swami from the University of Westminster and colleagues looked at body image issues amongst British Muslim women. Dr Swami explained: “In the West anxiety about body image, for women, is so prevalent it’s considered normal. This study aimed to explore how these attitudes differ within a British Muslim community.” A total of 587 Muslim women aged from 18 to 70 years from London participated in a number of tests. From this group 218 women stated they never used the hijab and 369 women said they used some form of the hijab at least now and then. Participants undertook a number of questionnaires that asked them to rate their own feelings of body...
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