RECENT FROM Attitudes
Study: Radicalized Muslims Have Little Actual Knowledge Of Islam...
Extremists and Islamophobes alike have attempted to paint violent factions within Islam as the true expression of the faith. But a new study gives credence to what countless Muslim leaders, activists and scholars have argued: that groups like the self-proclaimed Islamic State are Muslim in name alone. A group of German scholars at the Universities of Bielefeld and Osnabrück analyzed 5,757 WhatsApp messages found on a phone seized by police following a terrorist attack in the spring of 2016. The messages were exchanged among 12 young men involved in the attack. The attack itself was not identified in the report. Deutsche Welle noted that the timeframe suggested it may...
RECENT FROM Sports
Boxing Champ Launches Sports Hijab...
A boxing champion from the East End has created a sports hijab to help more Muslim women get into combat sports. Ruqsana Begum (below) – who is the current British female Atomweight Muay Thai boxing champion – runs personal training sessions and women-only sessions in the sport at the Osmani Centre in Whitechapel. She said: “I came up with the idea during the Olympics. I was interested in the story of an American athlete who was told she couldn’t compete wearing her hijab due to health and safety reasons, so her father created one that was approved for her to fight in. “I thought if they can create one...
RECENT FROM Service
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...
Census Figures Show Christianity in Sharp Decline While Belief in Islam Dramatically Increases...
A fresh analysis of the 2011 census has shown that Christian faith in the UK is declining rapidly amongst the British-born population, whilst belief in Islam has dramatically increased. A report published by the Office for National Statistics revealed that the percentage of people following a Christian faith dropped from 71.7 per cent in 2001 to 59.3 per cent in 2011. More than one in 10 under 25s in the UK now describe themselves as Muslim. Figures for Christianity were boosted however by the 1.2 million foreign-born Christians residing in the UK, such as Polish Catholics and evangelicals from countries such as Nigeria. Meanwhile, the percentage of the people who have no religion rose from 14.8 per cent...
Female Converts to Islam Considered in New Study
Yasir Suleiman – founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge – explained that researchers had set out to explore “the paradox of women converting to Islam despite the negative image that it is all about the oppression of women”. They had therefore joined forces with the New Muslims Project to bring together around 50 converts for frank in-depth discussions over several days. The results have now been published as Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain: Female Perspectives. Chairing a launch event for the project at Soas, University of London, earlier this month, journalist Kristiane Backer estimated that 5,000 British people convert to Islam each year, three-quarters of them...
UAE distributes Braille Quran in Palestine
Jerusalem, June 4 (IANS/WAM) The UAE’s Human Appeal International (HAI) has launched a campaign under which Quran books in Braille are being distributed in Palestine. Under the “Braille Quran for Every Visually Impaired in Palestine” campaign, 300 Quran books in Braille have been given out till now. Ibrahim Al Rashid, director of the HAI in the West Bank, said the Braille Qurans are being given to universities, schools, public libraries, mosques and visually impaired students. He said the campaign is aimed at over 1,000 visually impaired people in need of Braille Qurans. The books come in six volumes per Quran. –IANS/WAM...
Islamic finance ready to move into fast lane
Ethical banks could grab half of regional market within years Islamic banks are set to have the same share of the Middle East’s banking industry as their conventional rivals by the end of the decade, a major international lender has said. Leading executives at global institution Standard Chartered say Sharia-compliant banks are on track to boast around half of the region’s banking assets by 2020 – on the back of surging growth which has seen the industry expand by 30 per cent in the region in just two years. Standard Chartered say Islamic banking now accounts for 25 per cent of the UAE banking industry. “It’s not niche any more – it’s becoming part of regular banking,” Khalid...
In Australia Islam defies the slow loss of faith
SUSANNAH MORAN From: The Australian June 22, 2012 12:00AM AUSTRALIANS are losing their faith with religion, census figures reveal, with close to 4.8 million people saying they have no affiliation. For those who do believe, the greatest growth is among followers of Islam, with the number of Muslims up 40 per cent since the 2006 census. The figures confirm the long-term trend in declining religious affiliation and the fall in Christian faiths. In 1911, 96 per cent of people identified themselves as Christian. In 1976, 89 per cent did so. Thirty-five years later, that figure has fallen to 61 per cent. The number of non-believers continues to rise, with 22 per cent of Australians saying they have “no...
Arab Women As Likely As Men To Support Islamic Law In Middle East After Arab Spring
By Jaweed KaleemPosted: 06/25/2012 5:27 pm Updated: 06/25/2012 5:50 pm As Islamist political parties have gained influence across the Middle East since the Arab uprisings, activists and pundits have questioned the role religion will play in new governments, including how religiously influenced law will affect women’s rights. A Gallup report released Monday found that Arab women are as likely as Arab men to want Islam to play a role in their countries’ laws and that religious Arab men are more likely to support certain women’s rights than men who are less devout. The report, “After the Arab Uprisings: Women on Rights, Religion, and Rebuilding,” draws upon polls of men and women in six countries that experienced political upheaval in recent years...
Number of Muslims in the U.S. doubles in last decade
BY MEGHAN NEAL / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, May 3, 2012, 12:49 PM A new survey reveals the dramatically changing face of religion in America, with the number of Muslims in the U.S. soaring 67% in the decade since the 9/11 attacks. Data released Tuesday from the 2010 U.S. Religion Census shows Islam was the fastest growing religion in America in the last 10 years, with 2.6 million living in the U.S. today, up from 1 million in 2000. Mormonism too saw remarkable growth, with a 45% increase in adherents. It added nearly 2 million members since 2000, bringing their number in the U.S. to 6.1 million. “Both of these groups entered more than 200 counties that...
Muslim Mall Security Officer Helps Save Woman from Abduction
BY JENNA MCMURRAY ,CALGARY SUNFIRST POSTED: MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012 04:11 PM MDT | Khalid Shahid says he didn’t think twice about the authenticity of a stranger’s hand-scrawled note pleading for help. And one month after he helped save her from an alleged abductor, Mounties recognized Shahid’s bravery and quick thinking. March 28 was a normal day for Shahid, assistant site supervisor for security at CrossIron Mills shopping centre, until a Good Samaritan passed him the note. It had been written by a woman claiming to be with her alleged kidnapper and begging for someone to call 911. “Even if it’s a joke, even if it happens 100 times, we’ll respond to it again because should there be...
On being Muslim in Montana
Published 04/30/12 Raima Amin answers questions about representing Islam, excellence and the meaning of home It is not easy to be a practicing Muslim in Montana, nor is it easy to be consistently at the top of your class. MSU’s Raima Amin talks more about why she chooses to wear a hijab, what drives her excellence, and the meaning of home. M&M: As an accomplished, modern American woman, why do you choose to wear a headscarf, or hijab? Amin: All my life, but especially when I was a child, I never felt that I was much different from my peers. Perhaps it is because from my viewpoint I was unable to see my own brown skin. All my...
Islamic banking grows 10 to 15% annually: IF chairman
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWS STAFF Published: Apr 22, 2012 01:27 Updated: Apr 23, 2012 21:50 JEDDAH: Islamic banking and finance, with total assets of $1.4 trillion and more than 1,000 institutions operating in many countries worldwide is all set for a big take off, says Professor Khurshid Ahmad, chairman of the Islamic Foundation UK and the Institute of Policy Studies in Pakistan and author of several books on the topic. Speaking to Arab News after giving a lecture on “Global economic crisis and the role of Islamic Economics” at the Islamic Development Bank headquarters here, Ahmad said Islamic banking and finance makes an annual growth of 10 to 15 percent when conventional banks make less than one percent....
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