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...
I’m Muslim, I’m English, and I’m a Westerner
Monday, 30 April 2012 00:00 I think it’s hard for Muslims if you are brought up within a Pakistani tradition, Arab tradition or Indonesian tradition, you are used to having your faith and your culture interwoven. But actually they are distinct things: Islam is a faith and a culture is a culture. Cultures change and evolve, but faith has its permanence; things which are rooted within. And I think it’s very difficult to imagine when you don’t express it that you can have that faith expressed within a different culture, particularly a culture you are not necessarily used to seeing as a Muslim culture. So, I’m an English woman, I’m a Westerner, and I’m a Muslim. They are...
Cardinal Dolan on Brookfield Mosque: Muslims Deserve Worship Space
April 29, 2012, by Ted Perry, updated on: 11:06am, April 30, 2012 New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan supported the Islamic Society of Milwaukee’s efforts to build a new mosque, telling Fox6now.com’s Ted Perry that Muslims deserve spaces to worship. In Milwaukee to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at Holy Hill Saturday, Dolan sat down for a one-on-one interview with Perry that touched on a variety of issues, including a question on the Brookfield mosque. Perry said some have said they object to the proposed mosque construction due to zoning and traffic issues, while others are opposed to Islam. “What do you say to those who say they are Christians but have no tolerance for another religion?” Perry asked. “Yeah, I’m uncomfortable with...
Holocaust survivor finds haven as Muslim in Israel
For more than five decades, Leila Jabarin hid her secret from her Muslim children and grandchildren — that she was a JewishHolocaust survivor born in Auschwitz concentration camp. Although her family knew she was a Jewish convert, none of them knew of her brutal past. It was only in the past week that Jabarin, who was born Helen Brashatsky, finally sat down and told them the story of how she was born inside Auschwitz, the most notorious symbol of Nazi Germany’s wartime campaign of genocide against Europe’s Jews. In an interview with AFP to mark Holocaust Memorial Day which begins at sundown on Wednesday, Jabarin, now 70, chuckles as she talks about what to call her. Her Muslim name is Leila, but in this Arab town...
BHJ Targets Halal Market
Ingredients firm BHJ UK has received halal certification for its SCANPRO Beef 95 functional protein product. Audits were carried out by the Islamic Centre Archen (Germany), making the texture-enhancing ingredient available for UK and global meat processors looking to specialise in halal beef-based products. “With around 2.5 million Muslims in the UK and 1.6 billion halal consumers globally, this is a growing consumer market and certification is essential for gaining access,” said sales and marketing director Richard Parnell. “Now, customers manufacturing beef based products for the halal food industry have full access to our SCANPRO Beef 95 protein and its added benefits. With increasing demand, it has never been a better time for us to ensure our...
Zahra Lari, the ‘Ice Princess’ in the hijab
By EMMANUEL BARRANGUET AFP CANAZEI From the sand dunes of the Rub al Khali desert to the snow-capped peaks of the Dolomites in northern Italy, Emirati teen Zahra Lari made figure skating history this week. The 17-year-old not only became the first figure skater from the Gulf to compete in an international competition but the first to do so wearing the hijab, an Islamic headscarf. “In my country women don’t do much sport and even less figure skating,” the quietly-spoken teenager told AFP after competing alongside skaters from 50 countries in the European Cup. A practicing Muslim, her black headscarf and sober costume, stood out among the flashy orange tutus and fluorescent pink tights. “I skate with the hijab,...
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 10 quotes on his birthday
1. No ‘i’ in team “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.” 2. Hit the books “I’m not comfortable being preachy, but more people need to start spending as much time in the library as they do on the basketball court.” 3. Attention to detail “I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.” 4. A key difference “I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.” 5. A matter of faith “My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a...
Muslim Women Slowly Breaking Sports Barrier
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–The women entered the brightly colored room with sets of kickboxing equipment lined up on the side. Some slowly took off their scarves, also known as a hijab, and jilbab, revealing their workout gear underneath. Their fitness instructor, Phalestinah Abdo, welcomes them with the words, “Assalamu ‘alaykum” (Peace be with you). Responding with the words, “Wa ‘alaykum salaam,” they began stretching their arms, starting their cardio kickboxing routine with two sharp jabs and a hook. Although there is nothing in the Quran that forbids Muslim women from exercising, they are not allowed to exercise uncovered or have physical contact with men. However, there are many stories well known to Muslims about women going to battles....
Islamic singers rewrite western hits to find new audiences for ‘faith-inspired’ songs...
Omar Shahid, Friday 13 April 2012 12.19 EDT There is something slightly different about the version of Chris Brown’s With You sung by Raef, a new signing to Awakening Records. In his rendition, Raef replaces Brown’s lyrics expressing love for a woman with his love for the Lord. “My Lord, no one else will do/ With every test you put me through, miracles you help me do/ If I have you, I don’t need money, I don’t need cars, Lord you’re my all.” “There is a huge thirst from people who want to listen to music which is not of a detriment to their heart, soul or relationship with their Lord,” says Raef, of the music he and his...
Muslim women take a lead in their community with Texas tornado relief
On Easter Sunday morning, several teams of volunteers headed to tornado-hit sites in Arlington and Lancaster, answering the call of several disaster relief organizations. Locally, Irving based Muslim non-profit humanitarian relief organization OneNation Relief and Charity, an operating arm of Baitulmaal USA for local US-based relief work, started mobilizing their volunteers after the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex was hit by devastating tornadoes last Tuesday. Last night, Baitulmaal and One Nation pulled a crew of volunteers to help clear tornado debris in an Arlington neighborhood on Hidden Oaks Lane this morning. More than twenty five volunteers with work gloves started picking up debris and loading them onto trailers and pick-up beds. When rain started pouring down around 2:00 pm, the volunteers continued working till 3:00...
Airborne prayers problem solved for tech-savvy Muslims
By Martin Abbugao | AFP – Thu, Apr 5, 2012 As a frequent flier and devout Muslim, businessman Abdalhamid Evans always comes up against the same challenge in the air: when to say his prayers. Muslims are required to pray five times a day at certain hours, but this schedule becomes complicated when crossing various time zones at thousands of metres above sea level. “I usually don’t pray when I am in a plane,” said Evans, the London-based founder of a website that provides information on the global halal, or Islam-compliant, industry. “But lately I have been thinking that it is probably better to do them in the air than make them up on arrival,” he told AFP. The problem may be solved for travellers such as...
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