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...
UK Muslim Girl to Carry OIympic Torch
Published on Wednesday 28 March 2012 16:37 Several well deserving people have been given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch. Dinnington Comprehensive’s Dana Abdulkarim and Jack Waring were both overwhelmed when they discovered they had been chosen. Jack, 17, was left paralysed when he collapsed after taking ear drops for a suspected infection several years ago. Since then he has taken up wheelchair basketball now trains with the GB as well as playing for various others, as well as studying for his A Levels. “I am just overwhelmed. It’s really, really exciting and I’m honoured to be chosen for such a thing,” said Jack, who will carry the torch in Scunthorpe. “I’m looking forward to watching...
Egyptians bid tearful farewell to Pope Shenouda III
By Ashraf Sadek – The Egyptian GazetteWednesday, March 21, 2012 02:04:37 PM Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, was laid to rest at St. Bishoy Monastery in Wadi el-Natroun to scenes of searing emotion from hundreds of thousands of Egyptian mourners. Many wailed in an outpouring of grief as the casket was flown from the Orthodox Cathedral in the Cairo neighbourhood of Abbasiya to Wadi el-Natroun by military helicopter after the ceremony. Earlier in the day, Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, many openly sobbing, paid their last respects to Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III, popularly known as ‘Baba Shenouda’ who died on Saturday night aged...
Egyptian Muslim and Christian Mourners Flock to Funeral of Much-Loved Pope Shenouda III
source Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered Tuesday morning at St Mark’s Cathedral, in Abbassiya, Cairo for the funeral of much-loved leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, who passed away Saturday. Mourners attempted to enter the cathedral grounds as prayers started at 10am, to pay their respects to the spiritual leader whose body lay in an open casket. However, many were prevented from entering the cathedral grounds, which have been shut since the early hours of Tuesday morning following an announcement by the heads of the Coptic Church that the funeral would be invite-only. Thousands of key politicians, national and international religious leaders and public figures attended. Members of the ruling Supreme Council of...
Those Defending US Constitution from Sharia Must Have Failed High School Civics
LOS ANGELES AND PORTLAND, ORE. There are those who would have you believe that Islamic law, or sharia, is taking over America. They seem to allege that the 1 percent of the American population that is Muslim is on the verge of a total takeover of the United States, and if Americans are not vigilant, soon we’ll all be stoning adulterers and chopping off the hands of thieves. Take Rep. Allen West (R) of Florida, who recently alleged that, “there is an infiltration of the shariapractice into all of our operating systems in our country as well as across Western civilization. So we must be willing to recognize that enemy.” If that kind of hyperbolic statement sounds ludicrous, it’s because it...
Obama apology to Afghans for Quran burning: All forgiven?
An apology, as a parent might tell a child, isn’t very sincere if it is meant only to gain forgiveness. Saying “I’m sorry” must be heartfelt, not mere words to avoid consequences. That lesson is helpful in assessing the “sincere” apology that President Obama made last Thursday toPresident Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Mr. Obama formally apologized as commander in chief for a few American soldiers who had burned copies of the Quran at Bagram Airfield on Feb. 20. The holy books had “extremist” language written inside them, perhaps by Afghan prisoners suspected of terrorism. RELATED: A quality of mercy in pardons Given how sacred any copy of the Quran is to a Muslim, the insensitivity of the soldiers was remarkable. And their actions violated...
Oscar Winner ‘A Separation’ – Iranians Celebrate Historic Award
By Scott Peterson, Staff writer / February 27, 2012 ISTANBUL, TURKEY The first-ever Oscar victory for an Iranian film is being hailed by many Iranians, both inside and outside the country, as a humanizing antidote to pervasive talk of war over Iran‘s nuclear program. A Separation grapples with universal themes, from troubled relationships and their destructive impact on ordinary families to class divisions. Taking place under the shadow of an unbending and grinding Islamic regime, however, it also uses a failing marriage as a metaphor for Iranians who desire to leave their country for a better life. 5 ways Iranians and Americans are similar Elation erupted across Iran at the Oscar announcement, as Iranians stayed up into the early hours...
Malaysian Prime Minister Says He Upholds Islamic Faith in Respecting Other Religions
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (Bernama) — Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today his every action at religious celebrations of non-Muslims in the country is in accordance with the permissible tenets of Islam. The prime minister said he emulated the example set by Prophet Muhammad in showing respect for other religions without any breach of the Islamic faith. “I uphold my faith. I also uphold my role as a Muslim leader. We must follow the ways of the Prophet in respecting the religions of other people without failing in terms of our own faith,” he said when closing the 2012 National Assembly of Muslim Scholars, Intellectuals and Virtual Writers...
US, Canadian imams issue fatwa against honor killings
Over 30 American imams signed a fatwa Saturday condemning honor killings, after a Canada court convicted Afghan immigrants for murdering four female relatives accused of damaging the family’s reputation. “There is no justification for honor killings, domestic violence and misogyny in Islam,” according to the religious order issued by the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada (ISCC) and signed by 34 imams from Canada and the United States. Such violence, including spousal abuse and child abuse in all forms, is “forbidden,” it said. “The relationship between the husband and wife is based upon mutual love and kindness.” Imam Syed Soharwardy, the ISCC’s founder, said the group put out the fatwa “because of the Shafia trial, because it has...
No space for violence in Islam, says Gilani
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that there is no space for terrorism, militancy or extremism in Islam and those involved in such activities cannot even claim to be Muslims. The prime minister, in his message on the occasion of Eid Milad-un- Nabi (PBUH) being celebrated on Sunday, said: “Those, who spread disorder and chaos, cannot even claim to be Muslims as the scourges of terrorism and extremism are incompatible to the essence of Islamic teachings.” Gilani said Islam, a universal religion, guides the humanity to the path of peace, security and welfare. He said Islam does not allow anyone to spread violence and strife on the face of earth and...
Muhammad, a consistent protector of minority rights
Moh Yasir Alimi, Semarang | Sat, 02/04/2012 1:58 PM During this month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims are celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was born in the sixth century in the middle of a culture of ignorance, when people fought because of their tribal affiliations and religious beliefs and women were treated like camels. Amid such a poor condition for humanity, Muhammad came to teach humanity, tolerance, humility, equality, justice and compassion. He always emphasized consciousness of God and the divinity of human life as the gate of enlightenment, so that human beings would not enslaved by their own ego and bodily impulses. Karen Armstrong describes Muhammad as...
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