Islamic Finder - Lectures Khutbas: News

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Englishman John Fontain calling the Adhan in Badshahi Mosque, Pakistan

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The Adhan is the Muslim call to prayer which is traditionally done 5 times a day to remind people of their obligation to pray to Almighty God.<br />
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John Fontain embraced Islam in 2008 after coming into contact with Muslims in West Africa. John was raised as a Christian but never accepted the doctrines of Christianity.<br />
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John is the Author of “Jesus and the Injeel” outlining the correct beliefs of Jesus and his message and his latest book “The God Solution” answering Atheism. He has delivered talks throughout the UK in many universities including events at Oxford and Cambridge. He has also worked internationally visiting over 40 countries with many of his videos widely watched online.<br />
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For speaking requests please contact: mrfontain@hotmail.com<br />
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Englishman John Fontain calling the Adhan in Badshahi Mosque, Pakistan

The Adhan is the Muslim call to prayer which is traditionally done 5 times a day to remind people of their obligation to pray to Almigh...

Thursday, March 03, 2016

"Some Muslim teaching is closer to Christ than some churches" remarks Pastor

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Steve Chalke, pastor and founder of the Oasis charity, has told Christian Today he believes parts of Islamic theology better reflect God's character than some Christian teaching.<br />
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In an interview to coincide with the release of his new book Radical, Chalke explained how he had come to the conclusion "Muslims and Christians worship the same God".<br />
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Within Christianity there are vastly different interpretations of God, Chalke said, citing issues such as human sexuality, women bishops and speaking in tongues on which he disagrees with some other Christians.<br />
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"As individuals we all worship different shades of the same God," he told Christian Today.<br />
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"There are Christians who worship a militant, violent God. There are Christians who worship a God who doesn't want women in leadership. There are Christians who worship a God who says if you are gay you will burn in hell. There are Christians who worship a God who does not believe in global warming."<br />
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He added: "I don't separate from them even though they have a very different take on God's character from me."<br />
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He cited the theologian Miroslav Volf, who took a similar line in his book Allah: A Christian Response.<br />
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Chalke went on to describe certain elements of Islamic belief such as the theology of ummah or community, which he found "very attractive".<br />
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"I know some emphases in Islamic teaching come closer to the teaching of Christ and the Bible than some teaching in Western churches," he said.<br />
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He made it clear he did not believe Christianity and Islam were the same but said they worship different interpretations of one God, or Allah (the Arabic term for God).<br />
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"Ultimately the full interpretation of who Allah/God is can be seen through Jesus," he told Christian Today.<br />
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"Islam and Christianity are two very different faiths and there are huge differences between the two."<br />
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But Chalke insisted there was significant common ground that must be explored.<br />
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"If we say Islam is an evil religion and they worship a different God and Christianity is the only way to heaven then we are heading for World War Three," he said.<br />
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He said "tabloid" representations of Islam were permeating the Church. <br />
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"If we went into a pub tonight and asked people what Christians believe they would say six-day creationists, anti-gay, anti-abortion, boring, if you die before you're baptised you will go to hell. The tabloid media have led people to misunderstand Christianity and pastors now have to spend half their time de-mythologising Christianity.<br />
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"What we don't realise is the media are selling us the same lie about Muslims," he said. He added: "The problem is we don't know any Muslims. Everyone is scared of Muslims except the one who sits next to them at work".<br />
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Chalke's new book explores how people are radicalised and defends Islam, arguing "negative radicalisation is not an Islamic problem but a human one". He calls for a different approach where young people are given a story "as radical as that of the extremists' story".<br />
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"The answer to radicalisation is radicalisation," Chalke said, explaining he wanted to "radicalise every young person" with a positive story of "belonging, identity, self-worth, and purpose".<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/steve.chalke.some.muslim.teaching.is.closer.to.christ.than.some.churches/79712.htm" target="_blank">http://www.christiantoday.com/article/steve.chalke.some.muslim.teaching.is.closer.to.christ.than.some.churches/79712.htm</a><br />
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"Some Muslim teaching is closer to Christ than some churches" remarks Pastor

Steve Chalke, pastor and founder of the Oasis charity, has told Christian Today he believes parts of Islamic theology better reflect God...

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

School raise a staggering £40,000 by taking part in Art Exhibition (UK)

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Four schools have collaborated with an international charity and helped raised over £40,000 to provide education and care to young refugees in Jordan.<br />
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The Manchester schools participated in the 99 Names Art Exhibition, hosted by Human Relief Foundation (HRF), an international aid organisation, and its Manchester branch.<br />
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Around 400 pieces of art were submitted by the schools and put on display at the 99 Names Art Exhibition, held at the British Muslim Heritage Centre.<br />
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The artwork was then auctioned, with funds going to help build and maintain a rehabilitation centre within the Za’atari refugee camp.<br />
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It is one of the world’s largest refugee camps, and accommodates over 80,000 Syrian refugees among which are many orphans and disabled children.<br />
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Working alongside Jordanian authorities, HRF is to build the centre and provide a space for children with various types of disabilities, providing a suitable place for children and youth with various types of disabilities including physical, sensory and mental impairments.<br />
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The four schools taking part in the initiative were: Manchester Islamic High School for Girls, KD Grammar School for Boys, Manchester Muslim Preparatory School and Afifah School.<br />
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North West Fundraising Manager at HRF, Sairah Zafar, said, “The 99 Names Art Exhibition was a huge success in every way.<br />
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"We had a brilliant turn out and a fantastic concept for a heartwarming cause. We would like to thank everyone involved including the four schools we were working in partnership with, our donors, our invited guests and of course our very trusted volunteers.”<br />
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The event featured an award ceremony for the best paintings, a bazaar, a fundraiser, live calligraphy, as well as vocal performances by Kamal Uddin, and spoken work poetry by Naveed Ahmed.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/14289164.School_raise_a_staggering___40_000_by_taking_part_in_Art_Exhibition/" target="_blank">http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/14289164.School_raise_a_staggering___40_000_by_taking_part_in_Art_Exhibition/</a> </div>

School raise a staggering £40,000 by taking part in Art Exhibition (UK)

Four schools have collaborated with an international charity and helped raised over £40,000 to provide education and care to young refug...

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Muslim woman donates $1 to charity for every hate tweet she receives

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A Muslim woman in Australia who is a convert, has decided to donate $1 to charity every time she receives hate messages on Twitter.<br />
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Susan Carland started the campaign a few months ago and has already "raised" more than $1,000. <br />
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 “I regularly get tweets and Facebook messages from the brave freedom-fighters behind determinedly anonymous accounts telling me that, as a Muslim woman, I love oppression, murder, war and sexism," she wrote in<br />
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She says the deed was inspired by writings in the Koran which say to “Repel evil with what is better.”<br />
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She explains: “I felt I should be actively generating good in the world for every ugly verbal bullet sent my way.”<br />
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Ms Carson says the abuse she has received “ranges from requests to leave Australia, hope for my death, insults about my appearance (with a special focus on my hijab), accusations that I am a stealth jihadist, and that I am planning to take over the nation, one halal meat pie at a time.”<br />
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Since setting up the donation scheme, Ms Carland says she now “barely bats an eyelid” when she receives trolling messages as “it represents nothing more than a chalk-mark on my mental tally for the next instalment to UNCIFE”.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/muslim-woman-donates-1-to-charity-for-every-hate-tweet-she-receives-a6731701.html" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/muslim-woman-donates-1-to-charity-for-every-hate-tweet-she-receives-a6731701.html</a><br />
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Muslim woman donates $1 to charity for every hate tweet she receives

A Muslim woman in Australia who is a convert, has decided to donate $1 to charity every time she receives hate messages on Twitter. Su...

Monday, February 29, 2016

Why give to charity? What Muslims and Catholics have in common

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Organized religions have traditionally played a major role in charitable works — Christian and Muslim organizations have long established schools, hospitals and social service organizations.<br />
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Catholic Charities USA reported that it spent more than $4 billion to serve over 10 million people in 2013 alone.. Social services have similarly been a central focus of Islamist social and political mobilization for decades.

The willingness of religious individuals to contribute to these charitable activities poses a little recognized challenge to conventional social science explanations, however.<br />
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One of the most influential political science approaches to such contributions highlights the need for monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms in groups in order to elicit the contributions and cooperation of individuals towards a public good.<br />
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But our recent article offers evidence that this is not in fact how religious individuals understand why they give. To find out how members of different religious communities think about their charitable giving, we conducted 218 semi-structured interviews in Catholic parishes and Muslim associations in four cities (Paris, Milan, Dublin and Istanbul). For Catholicism, we focused on a parish in each city. For Islam, we chose a cultural association affiliated with the Turkey-based Gülen movement in each city.<br />
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Read entire article here: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/03/why-give-to-charity-what-muslims-and-catholics-have-in-common/" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/03/why-give-to-charity-what-muslims-and-catholics-have-in-common/</a> </div>

Why give to charity? What Muslims and Catholics have in common

Organized religions have traditionally played a major role in charitable works — Christian and Muslim organizations have long establishe...

Monday, February 29, 2016

New Design - 2016 Eid Stamp USA Postal Service

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U.S. Postal Service has just introduced its annual batch of 2016 stamps.<br />
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Among the stamps is a purple-and-gold stamp celebrating the two most significant festivals in Islam: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.<br />
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The stamp’s gold calligraphy (by Mohamed Zakaria of Arlington, Va.) reads Eidukum mumbarak, which translates as: “May your Eid be bountiful (or blessed).”<br />
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The stamp features no actual imagery.</div>

New Design - 2016 Eid Stamp USA Postal Service

U.S. Postal Service has just introduced its annual batch of 2016 stamps. Among the stamps is a purple-and-gold stamp celebrating the t...

Friday, February 26, 2016

Hijab a form of ‘passive terrorism,’ says US Air Force paper

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A US Air Force policy paper alleges that the hijab Muslim women wear as part of their religion represents a type of “passive terrorism.”

Titled Countering Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods & Strategies, the publication has dedicated a chapter to unsubstantiated theories of radicalization, with scholarly merited articles written by academics and researchers in the field of counterterrorism, the Intercept reported Tuesday.<br />
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One of the articles has set forth a number of bizarre solutions to overcome terrorism.

It claims that “hijab contribute[s] to the idea of passive terrorism” and represents an implicit refusal to “speak against or actively resist terrorism.” However, its authors never make it clear how they have reached that conclusion.

The article also argues that addressing the lack of sexual activity among young men is key to reducing support for militant groups.

The strange assertions have drawn criticism from terrorism experts and academic figures, who dismiss them as baseless.<br />
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“This characterization of the hijab demonizes millions of women whose reasons for covering have nothing to do with the advocacy of political violence,” says Arun Kundnani, a lecturer on terrorism studies at New York University.

He said the paper’s theories of terrorism are not “genuine” and are rather a poor effort “to supply national security agencies with bogus surveillance rubrics.”<br />
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Amarnath Amarasingam, a fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, also rejected the theories.

“There is virtually no evidence that sexual deprivation is somehow a cause of radicalization, or suicide attacks,” he said.

Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Western Ontario, pointed out to the diverse array of women who choose to wear hijab, citing 2014 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai as an example.

Yousafzai was the subject of a Taliban assassination attempt in northwest Pakistan after campaigning for women’s rights.<br />
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The policy paper, first published in 2011, was reissued by the Air Force last summer, after President Barack Obama announced his national counter-extremism strategy. The revised copy was published online this January, by Public Intelligence, an open source research website.<br />
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Sources:<br />
<a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/24/452147/USAF-Hijab-Extremism" target="_blank">http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/24/452147/USAF-Hijab-Extremism</a>

<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/6-women-terrorists-wearing-hijab-202300514.html" target="_blank">http://news.yahoo.com/6-women-terrorists-wearing-hijab-202300514.html</a>

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Hijab a form of ‘passive terrorism,’ says US Air Force paper

A US Air Force policy paper alleges that the hijab Muslim women wear as part of their religion represents a type of “passive terrorism.”...

Friday, February 26, 2016

Experience the journey to Mecca in 360 degrees

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Source: <a href="http://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/hajj360/index.html" target="_blank">http://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/hajj360/index.html</a><br />
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<b>What is Hajj?</b><br />
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The Hajj (/hædʒ/;[1] Arabic: حج‎ Ḥaǧǧ "pilgrimage") is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support their family during their absence.[2][3][4] It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, and Sawm. The gathering during Hajj is considered the largest annual gathering of people in the world.[5][6] The state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called istita'ah, and a Muslim who fulfills this condition is called a mustati. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah).[7][8] The word Hajj means "to intend a journey", which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions.[9]<br />
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The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th (or in some cases 13th[10]) of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the Islamic year is about eleven days shorter than the Gregorian year, the Gregorian date of Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of seamless cloth and abstain from certain actions.[7][11][12]<br />
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The Hajj is associated with the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of Abraham. During Hajj, pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals: each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Ka'aba (the cube-shaped building and the direction of prayer for the Muslims), runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, spends a night in the plain of Muzdalifa, and performs symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing stones at three pillars. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three-day global festival of Eid al-Adha.[13][14][15][16]<br />
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Pilgrims can also go to Mecca to perform the rituals at other times of the year. This is sometimes called the "lesser pilgrimage", or Umrah. However, even if they choose to perform the Umrah, they are still obligated to perform the Hajj at some other point in their lifetime if they have the means to do so.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj</a></div>

Experience the journey to Mecca in 360 degrees

Source: http://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/hajj360/index.html What is Hajj? The Hajj (/hædʒ/;[1] Arabic: حج‎ Ḥaǧǧ "pilgrimag...

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Did you know .. First Islamic college in the USA was established in March 2015

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In March 2015, <b>Zaytuna College</b> (<a href="https://www.zaytuna.edu/" target="_blank">https://www.zaytuna.edu</a>), a liberal-arts school based in Berkeley, California USA, announced that it was formally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), one of the six official academic bodies responsible for the authorizing public and private colleges and universities in the United States.<br />
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<b>This is the first Islamic college in the USA.</b><br />
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“Today, Zaytuna’s accreditation roots this vision in a reality recognized within American higher education,” Hamza Yusuf, president of the college, said in a statement celebrating the announcement.<br />
The statement also added, “[Accreditation] helps ensure that Zaytuna successfully fulfills the objectives outlined in its curriculum, which grounds its students in both the Islamic and Western scholarly traditions.”<br />
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According to the school’s website, Zaytuna was founded in 1996 as an institute and briefly operated as an Islamic seminary before dedicating itself to becoming a Muslim liberal arts college in 2009. It welcomed its first freshman class in 2010, and conferred its first undergraduate degrees in 2014. It has a student body of around 30 students, and offers a B.A. in Islamic Law and Theology and courses in politics, astronomy, and American history, among others. In a video chronicling the school’s pursuit of accreditation, Colleen Keyes, vice president of academic affairs, explained that the school’s goal is “to prepare and educate students, who are morally committed spiritual, intellectual, and professional leaders who are grounded in the Islamic tradition and conversant with … modern society.”<br />
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Religiously-affiliated colleges are plentiful in the United States, but the vast majority are Christian, such as Liberty University, the University of Notre Dame, Kenyon College, or Boston College. There are a few Jewish higher education institutions such as Brandeis and Yeshiva University, and even some Buddhist schools, but there were no accredited American Muslim colleges until Zaytuna was recognized by WASC on Sunday. The school says it does not discriminate in admissions on the basis “of age, race, sex, religion, or national/ethnic origin in the admission of applicants.”<br />
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In its letter granting Zaytuna accreditation, WASC lauded the school for its “rigorous and high-quality learning experience, one that… can be viewed as an exemplar in the liberal arts tradition.”<br />
Zaytuna was co-founded by Hatem Bazian, who doubles as a senior lecturer at UC Berkeley, as well as Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir, both prominent American converts to Islam. Yusuf, an influential Muslim scholar who was granted the title of Sheik at 28 in Mauritania, in West Africa, has been called “the most influential Islamic scholar in the Western world.” Similarly, Shakir who earned degrees from American University and Rutgers before pursing Islamic studies in Syria, was lifted up by Jewish magazine Tikkun as “one of the most thoughtful and dynamic teachers about the true nature of Islam in America today.”<br />
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All three men have been the subjects of minor controversy in decades past, but have become passionate defenders of moderate Islam in recent years, with Yusuf and Shakir often traveling together to give talks to Muslim students across America denouncing extremism. According to a 2006 New York Times profile of Yusuf and Shakir, they reportedly see Islam not as a monolithic entity, but a tradition that “is open to a diversity of interpretations honed by centuries of scholars.” The Times also reported that Yusuf hosted a popular TV reality show in the mid-2000s in which he bussed groups of Arabs across the United States to break down Arab stereotypes about Americans, introducing the travelers to people such as antiwar protesters demonstrating outside the Republican National Convention.<br />
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Administrators say that while being the first accredited Muslim school is an honor, they hope their success leads to greater acceptance of their style of Islamic education — and Muslims at large.<br />
“[Accreditation] gives our community its first accredited academic address in the United States,” Yusuf said. “And we hope, God willing, that there will be more such Muslim colleges and universities to come.”<br />
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<a href="https://www.zaytuna.edu/" target="_blank">https://www.zaytuna.edu</a> </div>
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Source: <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/education/2015/03/10/3632189/america-just-got-first-accredited-muslim-college/" target="_blank">http://thinkprogress.org/education/2015/03/10/3632189/america-just-got-first-accredited-muslim-college/</a> </div>
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Did you know .. First Islamic college in the USA was established in March 2015

In March 2015, Zaytuna College ( https://www.zaytuna.edu ), a liberal-arts school based in Berkeley, California USA, announced that it ...

Thursday, February 25, 2016

"1st in Flight - 1st All Women Flight Crew" ... In the World

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Royal Brunei Airlines.<br />
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RB's first ever female trio at the flight deck; Captain Sharifah Czarena, Senior First Officer Sariana and Senior First Officer Dk Nadiah in the flight deck prior to operating flight BI081 from Brunei to Jeddah wishes Brunei Darussalam a "Happy 32nd National Day" . We are the Nation's "Generation with a Vision"; we are the tomorrow.<br />
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The photo was taken before flight BI081 took off from Brunei to Jeddah.<br />
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"1st in Flight -- 1st All Women Flight Crew"<br />
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Muslims are accused of oppressing women - right?<br />
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So how come The Very First All Woman Flight Trio - in the cockpit of this huge airliner - Of All Women are - MUSLIM WOMEN!<br />
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By the way, the 1st Woman Deen of a university (Azhar in Cairo) was a Muslim woman over 1,000 years ago.<br />
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Islam's women have always been at the forefront of medicine, science and technology even at the time of prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, over 1,400 years ago.<br />
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Well the non-Muslims have only recently started giving women respect/rights (less than 100 years). However they do like Greek history (heritage), leaving out things like the men treating women as play things.<br />
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<a href="http://www.worldbulletin.net/asia-pacific/169785/brunei-national-airlines-all-female-flight-crew" target="_blank">http://www.worldbulletin.net/asia-pacific/169785/brunei-national-airlines-all-female-flight-crew</a><br />
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"1st in Flight - 1st All Women Flight Crew" ... In the World

Royal Brunei Airlines. RB's first ever female trio at the flight deck; Captain Sharifah Czarena, Senior First Officer Sariana and ...

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Islam is Deen of Discipline

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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.<br />
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The regulation of man's conduct within one system of life is one of the most important reasons of success and stability. The absence of this regulation is one of the greatest crises a man suffers from in his life. This happens when man is left without guidance from Allah (S.W.T.) or without proper upbringing based on that divine guidance. Under these circumstances, man's life becomes miserable on this earth and he will be amongst the losers in the Hereafter.<br />
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The Noble Qur’an teaches us about the nations of people and individuals that were blessed with financial wealth, and physical strength, but they refused to live their lives according to the regulations of Allah (S.W.T.), so He destroyed them and their wealth. This happened in the past it is happening now, and sure it will happen in the future until the Day of Judgment.<br />
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From the mercy of Allah (S.W.T.) is that He did not leave man without a system to regulate his conduct and behavior. So, He (S.W.T.) sent legislation to make man's life the best on this earth so that he will be happy in this life and in the Hereafter. Allah (S.W.T.) says about Qur'an in surat At-Takwir, (verse 27&28), which is translated as, "Verily, this (the Qur'an) is no less than a reminder to (all) the Alamin (mankind and jinn), to whomsoever among you wills to walk straight."<br />
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Allah (S.W.T.) ordered His prophet (S.A.W.) and the believers to be disciplined based on Islam and taught them not to transgress: Allah (S.W.T) says in surat Huod, (verse 112), which is translated as, "So stand (O Muhammad) firm and straight (on Islam) as you are commanded and those who are with you (your companions) and do not transgress…" Ibn Abbas (R.A.) said: "There was no verse in the Qur'an harder on the prophet (S.A.W.) than this verse." For this reason, when the companions of the prophet (S.A.W.) said: "Your hair is getting gray early", he replied: " Surat Hood and its sisters made my hair gray.”<br />
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Allah (S.W.T.) ordered His prophet (S.A.W.) in another verse in surat Ash-Shuora, (verse 15), which is translated as, "So unto this (Islam) alone then invite (people) (O Muhammad) and stand firm and straight (on Islam) as you are commanded…"<br />
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Imam Muslim reported that a man said O Messenger of Allah; tell me something of Islam, which I will not ask anyone else about it. He (S.A.W.) said: "Say, I believe in Allah and then be steadfast.” Imam An-Nawawi said: "This hadith is one of the great ones that Islam is based on." To be steadfast is to abide by Islam and it is a high degree that shows complete belief and great strength. Omar (R.A.) said: "Steadfast is enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil and not deceit like the deceit of the fox." This means discipline according to the Islamic system.<br />
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Islam teaches us how to regulate our behavior and conduct in all aspects of the Deen; in the Aqeedah, in the Ibadat, in human relations, and in the rules of Halal and Haram.<br />
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In the Aqeedah, We must believe what Allah (S.W.T.) requires us to believe without additions, deletions, or changes.<br />
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In the Ibadat, Islam teaches us how to perform Ibadat. Islam did not leave the Ibadat to be performed according to someone's whims and desires. The person cannot worship Allah (S.W.T.) in whichever way he chooses, nor can he worship Allah (S.W.T.) whenever he wants. This is the best discipline. The prophet (S.A.W.) says: "Pray as you see me pray." He also said: "Take from me your rituals of Hajj.” Islam also clarified to us the rules of Zakah and fasting.<br />
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If we take, as an example, Salah, which is a frequent Ibadah one that is performed 5 times a day, we will find it to be a set of specific acts that were handed down to us from the prophet (S.A.W.). So, it is not allowed for anyone to add to it, or delete from it. This teaches us to discipline our life because Ibadat is to follow and not to invent.<br />
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If we look into the prayer of Jama'ah (prayer in congregation) and its rules, we will find a great lesson of discipline. The Imam stands in front of the people, lines the people in straight rows. If he says Allah Akbar, they say Allah Akbar, and if he says Ameen, they say Ameen. If he bows down, they bow down. If he prostrates, they prostrate. If he stands up, they stand up. If he says Assalamu Alaikum, they say Assalamu Alaikum.<br />
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There are many authentic Ahadiths that order the Muslims to follow the Imam and order them not to differ with him during the prayers and not to perform any act of the prayer before he does. All this shows that Islam teaches us discipline and regulates our conduct, actions and behavior. This is one of many benefits we derive especially from the prayers. However, it does not end there, discipline involves all acts and worship.<br />
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Islam also taught us to be precise with the time of all Ibadat. Allah (S.W.T.) did not order us to perform prayer only, but He (S.W.T.) ordered us to perform it at specific times in surat An-Nisa', (verse 103), which is translated as, "…Perform As-Salat. Verily, As-Salat (the prayer) is enjoined on the believers at fixed times." Jibreel clarified to the prophet (S.A.W.) the beginning time and the ending time of every prayer. If someone wanted to pray prayer only minutes before it is due, it will not be accepted. This is a great lesson. It occurs five times a day and teaches us discipline.<br />
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The same thing applies to fasting. Allah (S.W.T.) ordered us to fast the month of Ramadan. The prophet (S.A.W.) told us how to begin fasting the month of Ramadan and how to end it. He also forbade us to start fasting the month of Ramadan before it is due and forbade us to fast the day of Eid. He specified to us that fasting is from dawn to sunset. The prophet (S.A.W.) commanded us to delay Souhoor (special meal before dawn) till sometime before dawn, and commanded us to break fast immediately after sunset. All of this injunctions aid to the disciplining process.<br />
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The same thing applies to Zakah. If it is the Sadaqatal fitr (break fast charity), the prophet (S.A.W.) specified the time when it should be given away, and that it must be paid before the prayer of Eid. He also specified all the kinds of things from which we can give Sadaqatal fitr. If it is the Zakah of Money, he (S.A.W.) specified to us that it be once a year upon the rich. He also specified to us the amounts of Zakah prescribed for gold, silver, farm, animals and all kinds of monetary possessions. Islam specified to us whom Zakah should be given to. So, none of us can spend it as he wishes. This teaches us discipline.<br />
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As to the Udhiah (sacrificing animal), Islam specified its rules to us all. It is to be done after the Eid Salah, and if it is done before the Salah, it will not be accepted. This teaches us discipline.<br />
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As to Hajj, it is an obligation that cannot be performed except within a certain period of time and in a specific place. If someone wanted to perform Hajj when it is not due or in a different place, it will not be accepted. This teaches us discipline.<br />
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These examples show that Islam teaches us to discipline ourselves and to regulate our actions, sayings, conduct and behavior so that we become disciplined individuals, families, and societies within the system of Islam.<br />
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Islam also taught us to abide by all its rules concerning human relations, and business transactions. Some of them are not allowed. They have conditions that must be met before they become valid. The same applies to the rest of the rules of Halal and Haram. This teaches us discipline.<br />
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Islam also taught us to discipline ourselves through its political system that is followed by the Islamic state, starting from electing the ruler, his conditions, qualifications, responsibilities, to appointing governors, judges to their positions, responsibilities and how to terminate them and so on. All this teaches us discipline.<br />
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Islam is the Deen of Allah (S.W.T.) and it is a complete way of life to all humanity. Whoever believes in it and acts accordingly will be raised to discipline his life and regulate his actions and stay away from chaos.<br />
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So, it is a must on all of us, (old, young, parents, children, male, and female) to be disciplined and our conduct is to be regulated and also to call others to do the same.<br />
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Friday speech delivered by Imam Mohamed Baianonie at the Islamic Center or Raleigh, NC on June 9, 2000<br />
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<a href="http://www.islam1.org/iar/imam/archives/2000/06/09/islam_is_deen_of_discipline.php#more" target="_blank">http://www.islam1.org/iar/imam/archives/2000/06/09/islam_is_deen_of_discipline.php#more</a><br />
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Islam is Deen of Discipline

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. The regulation of man's conduct within one system of life is one of the most i...

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

The Relationship Between Muslims and Non-Muslims

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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.<br />
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Today, our topic is about one of the most important Islamic topics because it answers many questions we often raise. This is a practical topic because we interact with Non-Muslims on a daily basis. We should understand the nature of the Muslim/Non-Muslim relationship, and its goals and guidelines.<br />
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We touched upon this topic many times in the past. But today, we will talk about it again because of its importance. When we understand it clearly, it will affect our behavior and presence in this country, and it will guide our relationship with Non-Muslims.<br />
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We must first ask ourselves, what is the Islamic goal behind our relationship with Non-Muslims?<br />
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It is, “To convey the message of Islam to all people, to deliver it freely, to insure the freedom of religious beliefs, and to establish justice on earth within the system of Islam.”<br />
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This goal is a divine obligation prescribed by Allah (S.W.T) upon us. He (S.W.T.) holds this Ummah responsible and accountable for establishing these goals. Allah (S.W.T) said in surat Al-Baqarah, what can be translated as, "Thus We have made you (Muslims), a just (and the best) nation, that you be witnesses over mankind, and the Messenger (Muhammad) be a witness over you…”(Verse 143)<br />
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Allah (S.W.T.) also honored this Ummah when He made it the best Ummah to rise to perform this obligation. Allah (S.W.T) said in surat Al-Imran, what can be translated as, "You (Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind, you enjoining what is good (Al-Ma'roof) and forbidding what is evil (Al-Munkar), and you believe in Allah…”(Verse 110)<br />
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Each relationship with Non-Muslims, whether they are on the personal or state level, should be to achieve this goal. Islam orders us to strengthen this relationship with Non-Muslims and to eliminate anything that will weaken or make it harder to achieve this goal.<br />
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The life of the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) and the lives of his companions are full of great examples that promote good relationships with Non-Muslims. Islamic history is full of evidence that shows that Muslims have maintained good relations with Non-Muslims for many centuries. Because these Muslims dealt with others in good manners, they were able to conquer nations and lands. Muslims did not overcome these nations with the strength of weapons and large armies. Some lands were conquered without a single soldier—in fact, they were conquered by Muslim merchants who carried goods and good manners. These manners opened the minds and hearts of the people who came into Islam by the masses. Because of the good manners of these merchants, today we witness the largest Muslim populations in Indonesia and Malaysia.<br />
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Peace, tolerance, compassion, and good relationships are the normal, and original state between Muslims and Non-Muslims. Islam promotes and protects this good relationship. Animosity and war are exceptions to this original state, when these exceptions do not exist, then we should return to the original peaceful state.<br />
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Allah (S.W.T) said in surat Al-Mumtahinah, what can be translated as, "Allah does not forbid you (Muslims) to deal justly and kindly with those who have not fought against you in accounts of your religion and who do not drive you out from your homes. Verily, Allah loves those who deal with equity.” (Verse 8)<br />
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This great verse clearly states the normal and original state for a good relationship between Muslims and Non-Muslims. Allah (S.W.T.) did not prevent us (Muslims) from establishing good relationships with Non-Muslims. He clearly says that our relationships with Non-Muslims should be based on the best morals and justice with those who declared peace upon us and did not fight us.<br />
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The Noble Quran uses the word, “Bir,” which is typically used to describe the highest relationship one could have with parents. The Quran also uses “Bir” to describe the type of relationship we should have with Non-Muslims. “Bir” includes all the good things that a relationship should have, and excludes all the bad aspects of a relationship. For that reason, Muslim scholars said that “Bir” is the foundation of the relationship between Muslims and Non-Muslims.<br />
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This verse was revealed after the story of Asma’ and her mother. Imams Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad reported that Asma’ the daughter of Abu Bakr (R.A.) said: “My mother came to me while she was still a polytheist, so I asked Allah’s Messenger (S.A.W.), “My mother, who is ill-disposed to Islam, has come to visit me. She wants something from me. Shall I maintain relations with her?” He (S.A.W.) replied, “Yes, maintain relations with your mother.”<br />
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After Imam At-Tabari mentioned various opinions for the explanations of this verse, his final conclusion was that: “The most correct opinion in understanding this verse is that Muslims should be just, fair, and have the best relationship with all Non-Muslims who ‘do not fight against us on account of our religion and do not drive us out of our homes.’ This includes people of all faiths and sects and the support of this correct opinion came from the story of Asma’ with her mother.”<br />
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Sayyid Qutb also attempts to explain this verse, saying that:<br />
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“Islam is a Deen of peace and a conviction of love. It is a system that has compassion to all people. It gathers all people (Muslim and Non-Muslim) under the banner of Allah like brethren in accord and love. There is no obstacle that prevents this from happening except an aggression from its enemies against it and its people. If those enemies show peace, Islam does not want animosity or to start it. Even when the enemies still show animosity, Islam always looks for ways to bring the relationship to normalcy through great conduct and justice.”<br />
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He continues: “Islam allows Muslims to seek accord and love with Non-Muslims who did not fight them for their religion and expel them from their lands.”<br />
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He continues: “Islam makes peace as the normal relationship between Muslims and Non-Muslims. This relationship is not distracted except with an aggression that must be dealt with, a breaching of truce, an obstacle in the face of delivering the message of Islam, shackling the freedom of religion. Other than that, the relationship is a relationship of peace, love, justice for all people.” {In the Shade of Al-Qur’an, 6:3544.}<br />
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From all that we have just heard, we should understand that the normal relationship between Muslims and Non-Muslims should be based on the best morality and justice, except with the exceptions mentioned. If we fail to establish this relationship, then we are committing aggression and injustice, and Allah (S.W.T.) does not love transgressors and unjust people.<br />
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There are many things that we can do to establish tolerance, compassion, and justice in relationships with Non-Muslims. Some of these things are:<br />
{See the book Fiqh of Muslim Minorities. By Khalid AbdulQader, from pages 574 to 591}<br />
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<li>Greeting, handshaking, hugging, and exchanging visits with them in their homes and places of worship. Also, welcoming them in our homes and our mosques.</li>
<li>Accepting their invitation, offering them a meal.</li>
<li>Offering congratulations in happy occasions like weddings, having a newborn, and etc…</li>
<li>Exchanging gifts with them, but not giving them gifts during their holidays.</li>
<li>Tashmeetu Al-Ates: If a non-Muslim sneezes and says, “Allah be praised” Then we should say, “May Allah guide you and make you in a good condition.”</li>
<li>Visiting their sick people, and asking Allah (S.W.T.) for their recovery and their guidance.</li>
<li>Offering condolences when they are struck by any disaster, tragedy, or death. But, do not ask for Allah’s mercy on their death.</li>
<li>Collaborating with them in all good things.</li>
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We must also pay attention to the following when we deal with Non-Muslims:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>We must not be pleased with their disbelief.</li>
<li>We must not give them support against a Muslim when that is done unjustly.</li>
<li>We must not imitate them in their rituals, or in what is considered specifically from their own characteristics like clothing, hairdos, etc…</li>
<li>We must not congratulate them on their holidays or their rituals with any statements that may give acceptance to their practices. Other statements are permissible.</li>
<li>We must not participate or give them gifts on their holidays.</li>
<li>We must not attend any event where there is blasphemy against Allah (S.W.T.) and His verses.</li>
</ul>
Lastly, bear in mind that everything I mentioned here is based on evidence from the Qur’an or the Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.). If we keep these things in mind in our relations with Non-Muslims then we reflect a brighter picture of Islam and Muslims. This is the key to giving successful dawah.<br />
<br />
<i>Friday speech delivered by Imam Mohamed Baianonie at the Islamic Center of Raleigh, NC on March 29, 2002</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.islam1.org/iar/imam/archives/2002/03/29/the_relationship_between_muslims_and_nonmuslims.php#more" target="_blank">http://www.islam1.org/iar/imam/archives/2002/03/29/the_relationship_between_muslims_and_nonmuslims.php#more</a></div>

The Relationship Between Muslims and Non-Muslims

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Today, our topic is about one of the most important Islamic topics because it answ...

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

“I will complain about you to God; I will tell him everything!”

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While in the hospital, the little Syrian boy felt that soon he would give his soul to God…<br />
[Ed. – The article below is from a Russian language website here. It has been translated into English by Nina Sidorova ]<br />
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War is a destructive force that spares no one and nothing in its path. Especially scary when the war takes lives and distorts the fates innocent civilians.<br />
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Willy-nilly, one wonders: Who gave the right to political leaders to solve their conflicts through ordinary civilians? Why hundreds, thousands, millions of people have to die because of that insatiable politicians who want to catch and take more and more from the world pie. What is terrible in this creepy, inhuman, bloody cycle that this often affects children …<br />
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On this sentimental picture shows the three-year Syrian boy. He has received numerous severe injuries that led to internal bleeding. Doctors desperately fought for his life of the crumbs. But, unfortunately, those injuries that this little child received were incompatible with life – to save the baby’s life failed …<br />
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While being in the hospital, the boy felt that soon would give his soul to God. Dying, he uttered the words that hooked not only the hospital staff, but also shocked the world.<br />
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Choking with tears and exhausted from the incredible pain, the little boy said, “I will complain about you to God; I will tell him everything!”  Shortly thereafter, the baby’s heart stopped beating … Many believe that this cry from the heart a little sacrifices great misfortune was a kind of sign from above that people have thought again. After all, as they say, truth is the mouth of babes.<br />
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Share this:<br />
<a href="https://richardedmondson.net/2015/04/23/choking-with-tears-dying-syrian-boy-says-i-will-complain-to-god-about-you/" target="_blank">https://richardedmondson.net/2015/04/23/choking-with-tears-dying-syrian-boy-says-i-will-complain-to-god-about-you/</a><br />
<br /></div>

“I will complain about you to God; I will tell him everything!”

While in the hospital, the little Syrian boy felt that soon he would give his soul to God… [Ed. – The article below is from a Russian l...

Monday, February 22, 2016

Spying on Muslims By Ustadh Uthman Lateef

Spying on Muslims By Ustadh Uthman Lateef

Sunday, February 21, 2016

An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values

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In the 17th century, when some Iranian mullahs were trying to limit freedom of expression, Mulla Sadra, the great mystical philosopher of Isfahan, insisted that all Muslims were perfectly capable of thinking for themselves and that any religiosity based on intellectual repression and inquisitorial coercion was “polluted”. Mulla Sadra exerted a profound influence on generations of Iranians, but it is ironic that his most famous disciple was probably Ayatollah Khomeini, author of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.<br />
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This type of contradiction is becoming increasingly frequent in our polarised world, as I discovered last month, when I arrived in Kuala Lumpur to find that the Malaysian government had banned three of my books as “incompatible with peace and social harmony”. This was surprising because the government had invited me to Malaysia, and sponsored two of my public lectures. Their position was absurd, because it is impossible to exert this type of censorship in the electronic age. In fact, my books seemed so popular in Malaysia that I found myself wondering if the veto was part of a Machiavellian plot to entice the public to read them.<br />
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Old habits die hard. In a pre-modern economy, insufficient resources meant freedom of speech was a luxury few governments could afford, since any project that required too much capital outlay was usually shelved. To encourage a critical habit of mind that habitually called existing institutions into question in the hope of reform could lead to a frustration that jeopardised social order. It is only 50 years since Malaysia achieved independence and, although the public and press campaign vigorously against censorship, in other circles the old caution is alive and well.<br />
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In the west, however, liberty of expression proved essential to the economy; it has become a sacred value in our secular world, regarded as so precious and crucial to our identity that it is non-negotiable. Modern society could not function without independent and innovative thought, which has come to symbolise the inviolable sanctity of the individual. But culture is always contested, and precisely because it is so central to modernity, free speech is embroiled in the bumpy process whereby groups at different stages of modernisation learn to accommodate one another.<br />
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It has also, as we have been reminded recently, become a rallying cry in the escalating tension between the Islamic world and the west. Muslim protests against Rushdie’s knighthood have recalled the painful controversy of The Satanic Verses, and last week four British Muslims were sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison for inciting hatred while demonstrating against the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.<br />
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It would, however, be a mistake to imagine that Muslims are irretrievably opposed to free speech. Gallup conducted a poll in 10 Muslim countries (including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) and found that the vast majority of respondents admired western “liberty and freedom and being open-minded with each other”. They were particularly enthusiastic about our unrestricted press, liberty of worship and freedom of assembly. The only western achievement that they respected more than our political liberty was our modern technology.<br />
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Then why the book burnings and fatwas? In the past Islamic governments were as prone to intellectual coercion as any pre-modern rulers, but when Muslims were powerful and felt confident they were able to take criticism in their stride. But media and literary assaults have become more problematic at a time of extreme political vulnerability in the Islamic world, and to an alienated minority they seem inseparable from Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the unfolding tragedy of Iraq.<br />
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On both sides, however, there are double standards and the kind of contradiction evident in Khomeini’s violation of the essential principles of his mentor, Mulla Sadra. For Muslims to protest against the Danish cartoonists’ depiction of the prophet as a terrorist, while carrying placards that threatened another 7/7 atrocity on London, represented a nihilistic failure of integrity.<br />
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But equally the cartoonists and their publishers, who seemed impervious to Muslim sensibilities, failed to live up to their own liberal values, since the principle of free speech implies respect for the opinions of others. Islamophobia should be as unacceptable as any other form of prejudice. When 255,000 members of the so-called “Christian community” signed a petition to prevent the building of a large mosque in Abbey Mills, east London, they sent a grim message to the Muslim world: western freedom of worship did not, apparently, apply to Islam. There were similar protests by some in the Jewish community, who, as Seth Freedman pointed out in his Commentisfree piece, should be the first to protest against discrimination.<br />
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Gallup found there was as yet no blind hatred of the west in Muslim countries; only 8% of respondents condoned the 9/11 atrocities. But this could change if the extremists persuade the young that the west is bent on the destruction of their religion. When Gallup asked what the west could do to improve relations, most Muslims replied unhesitatingly that western countries must show greater respect for Islam, placing this ahead of economic aid and non-interference in their domestic affairs. Our inability to tolerate Islam not only contradicts our western values; it could also become a major security risk.<br />
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This article was first published in The Guardian, Saturday July 21, 2007.<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/21/religion.comment" target="_blank">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jul/21/religion.comment</a> </div>
</div>

An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values

In the 17th century, when some Iranian mullahs were trying to limit freedom of expression, Mulla Sadra, the great mystical philosopher o...

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Jews and Christians refused to consider them as part of the Abrahamic family

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Ever since the Crusades, when Christians from western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the near east, western people have often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant faith – even though when this prejudice took root Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity. Recent terrorist atrocities have seemed to confirm this received idea. But if we want a peaceful world, we urgently need a more balanced view. We cannot hope to win the “battle for hearts and minds” unless we know what is actually in them. Nor can we expect Muslims to be impressed by our liberal values if they see us succumbing unquestioningly to a medieval prejudice born in a time of extreme Christian belligerence.<br />
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Like Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Sikhs and secularists, some Muslims have undoubtedly been violent and intolerant, but the new exhibition at the British Museum – Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam – is a timely reminder that this is not the whole story. The hajj is one of the five essential practices of Islam; when they make the pilgrimage to Mecca, Muslims ritually act out the central principles of their faith. Equating religion with “belief” is a modern western aberration. Like swimming or driving, religious knowledge is practically acquired. You learn only by doing. The ancient rituals of the hajj, which Arabs performed for centuries before Islam, have helped pilgrims to form habits of heart and mind that – pace the western stereotype – are non-violent and inclusive.<br />
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In the holy city of Mecca, violence of any kind was forbidden. From the moment they left home, pilgrims were not permitted to carry weapons, to swat an insect or speak an angry word, a discipline that introduced them to a new way of living. At a climactic moment of his prophetic career, Muhammad drew on this tradition. Fleeing persecution in Mecca in 622, he and the Muslim community (the umma) had migrated to Medina, 250 miles to the north. Mecca was determined to destroy the umma and a bitter conflict ensued. But eventually Muhammad broke the deadly cycle of warfare with an audacious non-violent initiative.<br />
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In March 628, to general astonishment, he announced that he was going to make the hajj. This meant that he had to ride unarmed into enemy territory, yet 1,000 Muslims accompanied him. The pilgrim party narrowly escaped being massacred by the Meccan cavalry, and eventually entered the sacred territory of Mecca where they simply sat down beside their camels and refused to move. Knowing that they would lose all credibility if they slaughtered pilgrims on this holy ground, the Meccans negotiated a truce and Muhammad accepted humiliating conditions that filled the Muslims with dismay. But the Qur’an proclaimed that this apparent defeat was a “clear triumph” because, like Jews and Christians, the Muslims had acted in a spirit of peace, self-restraint and forbearance. Two years later, hostilities ceased and the Meccans voluntarily opened their gates to the prophet.<br />
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Clearly the Qur’an did not despise Jews and Christians; this affinity with “the people of the book” was also central to the Muslim cult of Mecca. The Arabs firmly believed that they, too, were children of Abraham, because they were the descendants of his eldest son Ishmael – a regional view shared by the Bible. It was said that Abraham and Ishmael had rebuilt the Ka’bah, the sacred shrine of Mecca, when it had fallen into disrepair, had dedicated it to their God, and then performed the rites of the hajj. Many Arabs thought that Allah, their high God, was the God worshipped by the people of the book, and Christian Arabs used to make the hajj pilgrimage to the Ka’bah alongside the pagans.<br />
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The Arabs had no conception of an exclusive religious tradition, so they were deeply shocked when they discovered that most Jews and Christians refused to consider them as part of the Abrahamic family. The Qur’an still urged Muslims to respect the people of the book and revere their prophets, but decreed that instead of facing Jerusalem when they prayed, as hitherto, they should turn towards the Ka’bah built by Abraham.<br />
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Like Abraham, who had not belonged to a closed-off cult, they would take no pride in an established institution and, as Abraham had done, focus on the worship of God alone. Hence the Muslim hajj is all about the Abrahamic family – not Muhammad himself. Pilgrims re-enact the story of Hagar and Ishmael, symbolically returning to the era that preceded religious chauvinism.<br />
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Alas, all traditions lose their primal purity and we all fail our founders. But the British Museum’s beautiful presentation of the hajj can help us understand how the vast majority of the world’s Muslims understand their faith. Socrates, founder of the western rational tradition, insisted that the exercise of reason required us constantly and stringently to question received ideas and entrenched certainties. The new exhibition can indeed become a journey to the heart of Islam and also, perhaps, to a more authentic and respectful western rational identity.<br />
<br />
Karen Armstrong</div>

Jews and Christians refused to consider them as part of the Abrahamic family

Ever since the Crusades, when Christians from western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the near east, western people ha...

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Debates about faith are drowned by the Atheists' foghorn voices

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This is Holy Week. It started yesterday with Palm Sunday and continues through Holy Thursday, Good Friday and culminates this Sunday with Easter Day. One can no longer assume most people will be aware of this, let alone the events these days mark; in a recent UK poll, only 22% could identify what Easter was celebrating. What other system of belief has collapsed at such spectacular speed as British Christianity? One can only presume that the New Atheists are organising a fabulous party to celebrate. Richard Dawkins could stump up for the crates of champagne out of his sumptuous royalties from The God Delusion.<br />
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But I'm curious as to how many of the country's finest minds would join the celebrations. Increasingly, one hears a distaste for the polemics of the New Atheist debate and its foghorn volume, and how it has drowned out any other kind of conversation about religion: what it is, the loss of it, whether it matters, and what happens in a post-religious society? From sometimes surprising quarters there is an anxiety about the evangelical fervour and certainty of the New Atheists: they are so sure they are right, but there are plenty of people - and many of them would not count themselves as believers - who can't share their contempt for religion.<br />
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Just this week, AN Wilson announces in a thoughtful cover article for the New Statesman that he has apostated, abandoning his fellow atheists. Or take another example: in the Third Way, a Christian magazine, the poet Andrew Motion reflects wistfully, "I don't believe in God - though I wish I did, and I can't stop thinking about it so who knows what might happen one day?" Wilson and Motion talk of uncertainty, doubt and faith in terms that are probably far more familiar to the vast majority of the British - many of whom still describe themselves as believing in God, whatever they mean by that - than the certitudes used by Dawkins. New Atheism may come to be regarded as winning a battle but losing the war.<br />
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What many argue is that the New Atheist debate has ended up down an intellectual dead end; there are only so many times you can argue that religion is a load of baloney. Ask a philosopher like John Gray or a historian of religion like Karen Armstrong and they are simply not interested in the debate; they bin the invitations to speak on platforms alongside New Atheists. Gray dismisses them as offering "intoxicating simplicity"; Armstrong is appalled by their "display of egotism and arrogance". Both are deeply frustrated by a debate inflated by the media that generates heat but no light. They see the New Atheists mirroring a particular strain of fundamentalist Christianity with no knowledge of the vast variety of other forms of religious faith. In common with their Christian opponents, they share "the inner glow of complete certainty" - as Wilson describes his atheist conversion.<br />
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Armstrong and Gray converge again on where they pinpoint the key mistake. Belief came to be understood in western Christianity as a proposition at which you arrive intellectually, but Armstrong argues that this has been a profound misunderstanding that, in recent decades, has also infected other faiths. What "belief" used to mean, and still does in some traditions, is the idea of "love", "commitment", "loyalty": saying you believe in Jesus or God or Allah is a statement of commitment. Faith is not supposed to be about signing up to a set of propositions but practising a set of principles. Faith is something you do, and you learn by practice not by studying a manual, argues Armstrong.<br />
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"We need to get away from the endless discussion about wretched beliefs; religion is about doing - and what every faith makes clear is that the doing is about compassion," she argues. To try and shift the debate about faith into more fruitful territory, Armstrong came up with the idea of a global Charter on Compassion for all faiths (and none), which she is drafting and planning to launch later in the year.<br />
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From a different perspective, Alain de Botton, the philosopher and writer, has also been trying to broaden the conversation. He has founded a School of Life in London, which runs courses and events reflecting on how to live. He describes himself as "definitely an atheist", but readily admits he borrows plenty from religions. His team have instituted the idea of Sunday sermons, and organise contemporary "pilgrimages". "Even if you're an atheist, there are a huge number of insights in religion," he says. "We're in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater."<br />
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De Botton argues that the decline of religious faith has left behind a real and widespread need for wisdom and insight; the media offers only a "cruel sentimentality" and gives little space to the most difficult of our life experiences, such as failure, death or envy, nor does it offer ways to deal with them. The author Mark Vernon teaches on some School of Life courses. A former priest and atheist, he now advocates a principled agnosticism rooted in an understanding of the limits of human knowledge. He argues that the most interesting conversations about faith are among those just outside religious traditions and those just inside - along the borders of belief, if you like.<br />
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It's a perspective that Gray shares. Describing himself as a sceptic, he looks to another border of belief for deeper insight into the nature of faith: the dialogue between the theistic and non-theistic. Intriguingly, where Gray, Armstrong and Vernon all end up is with the apophatic tradition of theology. Apophatic is a word no longer even in my dictionary, but it's a major tradition of Christian thought, and central to the thinking of St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas: it is the idea that God is ineffable and beyond powers of description. S/he can be experienced by religious practice, but as Armstrong puts it: "In the past, people knew we could say nothing about God. Certain forms of knowledge only come with practice." It makes the boundary between belief in God and agnosticism much more porous than commonly assumed.<br />
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But the modern distortion was to make God into a proposition in which you either did or did not believe. He was turned into an old man in the sky with a long white beard or promoted as a cuddly friend named Jesus. Arguing about the existence of such human creations is akin to the medieval pastime of calculating how many angels could fit on the head of a pin.<br />
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So the media has been promoting the wrong argument, while the bigger question of how, in a post-religious society, people find the myths they need to sustain meaning, purpose and goodness in their lives go unexplored. What worries Gray is that we forget at our peril that all systems of thought rely on myth. By junking the Christian myths, the danger is that the replacements are "cruder, less tested, less instructive". At times of crisis - such as the economic recession - the brittleness of a value system built on wealth and a particular conception of autonomy becomes all too apparent, leaving people without the sustaining reserves of a faith to fall back on. The consequences of that will certainly not be cause for celebration, he warns.<br />
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m.bunting@theguardian.com<br />
<br />
Published: April 2009<br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/apr/05/christianity-new-atheism-faith" target="_blank">http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/apr/05/christianity-new-atheism-faith</a> </div>

Debates about faith are drowned by the Atheists' foghorn voices

This is Holy Week. It started yesterday with Palm Sunday and continues through Holy Thursday, Good Friday and culminates this Sunday wit...

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Bank of England to establish Shari’a-compliant borrowing facilities for Islamic banks

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A new Bank of England consultation, which closes on 29 April, builds on a feasibility study carried out last year and sets out two possible deposit facilities, and two possible liquidity insurance models. The idea behind the proposals is to help firms that are prevented by Shari’a law from undertaking activities involving interest to manage fluctuating liquidity demands and ride out periods of particular stress.<br />
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Islamic finance expert Amir Ahmad of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that publication by the Bank of England of its plans was a "positive step for the UK Islamic finance market".<br />
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"The introduction of the proposed deposit facility models by the Bank of England has the potential to significantly aid those UK firms who cannot engage in interest-bearing activity," he said.<br />
"The consultation process also highlights the practical steps taken by various UK bodies to attract investment from the 'Muslim world', following prime minister David Cameron's 2013 statement outlining his desire to make London ' one of the greatest centres for Islamic finance anywhere in the world'," he said.<br />
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The UK government announced its intention to raise London’s profile as a western ‘hub’ for Islamic financial transactions in 2013. In 2014, the UK became the first non-Muslim country to issue sovereign ‘sukuk’, the Islamic equivalent of bonds.<br />
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Islamic, or Shari’a, finance refers to financial products which adhere to the principles of Islamic law. Transactions are often structured in a very different way to conventional western financial products in order to comply with Shari’a principles, such as the ban on allowing one party to make money unjustly at another’s expense. Wealth can only be generated through trade and investment in assets, providing that those assets are not banned by Shari’a. Interest, known as ‘riba’, is also banned.<br />
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Read entire article here:<br />
<a href="http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2016/february/bank-of-england-to-establish-sharia-compliant-borrowing-facilities-for-islamic-banks/" target="_blank">http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2016/february/bank-of-england-to-establish-sharia-compliant-borrowing-facilities-for-islamic-banks/</a><br />
<br /></div>

Bank of England to establish Shari’a-compliant borrowing facilities for Islamic banks

A new Bank of England consultation, which closes on 29 April, builds on a feasibility study carried out last year and sets out two possi...

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

America’s First City With a Muslim-Majority City Council

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<b>What’s Life Like in America’s First City With a Muslim-Majority City Council?</b><br />
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While the media highlight “conflict,” residents say there’s not much ethnic tension worth mentioning.<br />
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Just after the Paris attacks, right before the San Bernardino shooting, and during a campaign season in which Donald Trump has made bigotry a pillar of his candidacy, Hamtramck, Michigan’s residents voted in the nation’s first Muslim-majority city council in its November elections.<br />
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With that news, the international media descended on Hamtramck, a dense and shabby postindustrial town physically surrounded by Detroit. The Washington Post presented a picture of a “tense” city where the “the influx of Muslims…has profoundly unsettled some residents.” CNN asked Hamtramck’s mayor if she’s afraid of her Muslim neighbors, and The Telegraph wrote of the election’s stoking “tensions” in the community. Other news sources recycled and embellished upon those reports, and suddenly Hamtramck became “Shariaville, USA” and “Muslimville, USA,” enacting booze bans and Sharia law.<br />
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In reality, there’s not much tension worth mentioning in Hamtramck (pronounced Ham-tram-ick), my home for five years. To the contrary, many of the city’s non-Muslim residents are proud to be a part of a historic first, and reports of tension and conflict are the work of those with an agenda or reporters capitalizing on a hostile national discourse.<br />
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Now the elected government’s makeup reflects the changing demographics in the two-square-mile city. Hamtramck’s Polish population rose rapidly when Dodge opened its headquarters in the city in 1914. The plant closed in 1980, and while the Polish represented some 75 percent of the population at its peak in the 1970s, today they make up just 10 percent of the city’s 22,000 residents. As the Polish left for wealthier suburbs, new immigrants moved in. Muslims from Bangladesh, Yemen, and Bonsia now account for around 60 percent of residents, according to the Piast Institute, a local US Census partner that tracks the city’s population.<br />
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The only legitimate sources of “tension” are the loud 6:30 am calls to prayer, which many non-Muslims have complained about, and proposals to build mosques downtown, since the law allows imams to block bars from opening within 500 feet of their building. But that’s a state law that applies to churches and mosques everywhere, not a Hamtramck or Muslim law, as reports fail to mention. It should also be noted that a Polish Catholic majority council stamped those projects.<br />
<br />
Read entire article here:<br />
<a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/whats-life-like-in-americas-first-city-with-a-muslim-majority-city-council/" target="_blank">http://www.thenation.com/article/whats-life-like-in-americas-first-city-with-a-muslim-majority-city-council/ </a></div>

America’s First City With a Muslim-Majority City Council

What’s Life Like in America’s First City With a Muslim-Majority City Council? While the media highlight “conflict,” residents say the...

Monday, February 15, 2016

USA: Top Good Muslim News Stories of 2015

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Sure, we could talk about the Paris attacks, Charlie Hebdo, Isis, San Bernardino, Donald Trump, Islamophobia, anti-Muslim rhetoric and other things that made 2015 a difficult year for Muslim news, but why not end 2015 and look to 2016 by focusing on the positive? Because a lot of good things happened in 2015, from charity initiatives to the recognition of Eid as a holiday in various school districts to Muslim heroes responding to terrorism and violence to Muslims taking center stage in Hollywood to a big step forward for women-friendly mosques. It was a year in which we took bad situations and drew something good out of it, as well as several bright lights in our community that shined. In a year when fear was threatening to take over the collective world narrative, hope and good fought back. And we’d always rather end on a positive note. So, in the fine tradition of Altmuslim, here are the top ten Good Muslim Stories of 2015 (in no particular order)! Read, reflect and be happy.  (See altmuslim’s “Top Ten” lists for<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2014/12/year-in-review-top-ten-good-news-stories-of-2014/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2014</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2014/01/year-in-review-top-ten-good-muslim-news-stories-of-2013/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2013</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2011/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2011/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2011</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2010/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2010/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2010</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2010/01/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2009/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2009</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2008/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2008/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2008</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2007/12/top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2007/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2007</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2006/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2006/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2006</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2005/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2005/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2005</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2005/01/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2004/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2004</a>, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2003/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2003/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2003</a>, and <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2002/12/the_top_ten_good_news_stories_of_2002/" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">2002</a>.)</div>
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<b>1. Muslims Crowdfund for Black Churches, Water Initiatives and More</b></div>
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In a year when Muslims were the scapegoats for Donald Trump and much of the GOP, when terror attacks involving a few Muslims put an entire community of billions under the microscope, American Muslims fought to take the narrative back to one of hope and good by involving themselves in charity and crowdfunding initiatives. When more than 31,300 Detroit residents had their water turned off in January of 2013, Islamic Relief USA and the Michigan Muslim Community Council banded together to donate $100,000 to the Detroit Water Fund and Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/08/muslim-group-detroit-water_n_6437506.html" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">saying </a>“it is important to us in our faith to help our neighbors. It is part of our faith to help our friends.” Later that month, in response to a string of black churches being destroyed by fires and in the days following the shooting of nine people inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, Faatimah Knight started the <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/muslims-raise-over-100000-to-help-rebuild-black-churches-in-the-south_55ad4be7e4b0d2ded39fac57" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">“Respond with Love” campaign</a>, rallying people and three Muslim organizations to raise more than $100,000 to rebuild the churches. And, just last month a campaign organized by Dr. Faisal Qazi in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings — before it was even known that the shooters were Muslims — caught the attention of Muslims across the country. More than $200,000 was raised and donated to the victims’ families. <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://ktla.com/2015/12/11/american-muslims-fund-help-san-bernardino-attack-victims/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">Said Qazi</a>, “My faith is the biggest inspiration for the work I do.”</div>
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<b>2. The Year of the Muslim Hashtag</b></div>
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For too long, Muslim communities have let the media define their narratives, but in 2015, that all changed.  Muslims on social media, from multiple backgrounds and life experiences, took to Twitter to take on current events with hashtags that conveyed far more meaning than their somewhat few letters would indicate.  The #MuslimID hashtag took on 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump’s suggestion that there be a database of Muslims by <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/world/muslim-id-hashtag/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">showcasing the ID cards & badges</a> of American Muslims serving in the military, government, and other forms of public service. The #IStandWithAhmed hashtag <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/16/istandwithahmed-obama-zuckerberg-internet-rally-texas-student" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">brought global attention</a> (and support from Silicon Valley, Hollywood and the President) to the plight of Ahmed Mohamed, who was briefly detained by police who felt that his hacked clock posed a threat.  Within Muslim communities, hashtags like #BeingBlackAndMuslim sought to tell the stories of Muslims whose life experiences have been <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/muslimantiracismcollaborative/71-tweets-from-beingblackandmuslim-2015-12b87" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">long ignored</a> by larger Muslim audiences.  And, the #OurThreeWinners campaign turned the tragedy of the murder of three young American Muslims in North Carolina into a <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.ourthreewinners.org/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">showcase of hope, philanthropy, and positivity</a>.  These hashtags not only bring nuance to mainstream news stories (or just get mainstream news to pay attention), but they encapsulate a new way of engaging the public – with humanizing narratives, humorous defiance and a richness that the media has struggled with since the days of 9/11.</div>
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<b>3. Recognition of Eid as an Official Holiday in Various School Districts</b></div>
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<i>We no longer have to choose between our education and our faith! – </i>tweet<i>.</i> March saw the culmination of a project years in the making – getting New York City to add Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha to the public school calendar. New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio announced that schools in the five boroughs would now be closed for the two major Muslim holidays, <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/muslimahnextdoor/2015/03/new-york-city-to-add-muslim-holidays-to-public-school-schedule/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">saying </a>“We’re here today to make good on a promise to our Muslim brothers and sisters that a holiday of supreme importance to the Muslim community will be recognized in our school calendar so that children can honor the holiday without missing school.” Several months later, Montgomery County, Maryland also followed suit when the board of education <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/muslimahnextdoor/2015/11/maryland-school-board-designates-muslim-holiday-a-day-off-from-school/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">voted 6-2</a> in support of a measure to schedule a professional work day for administrators and teachers on September 12, 2016 to coincide with Eid ul Adha. “It’s huge,” said Saqib Ali, a former state lawmaker who had been a leader of the effort. Without the change, “my daughters are not equal to all of their little playmates in the neighborhood, their Christian friends, their Jewish friends.” It was a beautiful example of religious pluralism in areas where a significant Muslim population rightly warranted the holiday designations.</div>
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<b>4. Muslim Heroes Respond to Terrorism & Violence</b></div>
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You wouldn’t know this from what the media focuses on, but Muslims have not only been the primary victims of Islamist violence, but have been on the front lines in trying to discredit, marginalize, and physically fight against them.  Earlier this year, we saw both Muslim police officer <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/13/charlie-hebdo-attack-ahmed-merabet-buried-bobigny" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">Ahmed Merabet</a> give his life to protect others, as well as <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/cover_story/article/lassana_bathily_the_muslim_who_saved_french_jews_in_hyper_cacher" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">Lassana Bathily</a> save the lives of multiple Jewish customers (and subsequently earn French citizenship) at a kosher grocery store in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. And just last month, Muslims <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/22/africa/kenya-bus-attack-al-shabaab-muslim-christians/index.html" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">shielded Christian passengers</a> from attack by al-Shabaab militants who stopped their bus in Kenya.  In between these two visible examples, you have had Muslim soldiers (Kurds, Iraqis, and others) on the front lines against ISIS and other related groups. Here at home, Muslims have responded to homegrown violence by <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://time.com/4143416/san-bernardino-shooting-muslims-donald-trump-fundraising/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">raising over $200,000</a> for victims of the December San Bernadino shootings.  “It’s really all about helping your neighbors here,” explained Meraj Mohiuddin, a 38-year-old trauma anesthesiologist in Phoenix, Arizona who donated $15,000 to the project.  “What we can do as Muslims is be that much more graceful and better versions of ourselves.”  Finally, Muslims are responding directly to ISIS calls to join their fight – by <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/world/middleeast/muslims-on-twitter-say-they-have-better-things-to-do-than-join-isis.html?_r=0" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">ridiculing them mercilessly</a> on social media.  “Too busy being part of a civilized society,” <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ozzypotato/status/681133102119436288" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">went one example</a> that typifies the <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.newsweek.com/young-british-muslims-use-notinmyname-denounce-isis-272254" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">global Muslim response</a> to ISIS on social media.</div>
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<b>5. Outpouring of Support for Refugees</b></div>
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In the wake of a flood of refugees coming from Syria in the wake of ISIS, Assad, and related military actions, we have seen another flood – one of support and compassion that <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/shocking-image-of-drowned-syrian-boy-shows-tragic-plight-of-refugees" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">accelerated after seeing photos</a> of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed ashore after an unsuccessful attempt by his family to reach safety.  While governments had varying responses to the refugee crisis (Syria’s immediate neighbors take in the lion’s share, Western countries have a more ambivalent stance, and Gulf countries are keeping their doors closed), there have been notable personal expressions of support.  For example, one Turkish couple spent their wedding day <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/11783353/Meet-the-Turkish-couple-who-spent-their-wedding-day-feeding-4000-Syrian-refugees.html" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">feeding 4,000 refugee families</a>, European citizens acted where their governments couldn’t and <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/11/the-arms-outstretched/416916/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">organized relief for families</a> traversing Europe looking for safety, and Hollywood star Sacha Baron Cohen (perhaps trying to make up for portrayals in movies like “The Dictator” and “Borat”) <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2015/12/28/sacha-baron-cohen-isla-fisher-donate-1-million-for-syrian-refugees/77983010/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">donated $1 million</a>for refugee relief.  Hundreds of U.S. churches – even evangelical ones ones that lean conservative – are <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/11/politics/national-refugee-sunday/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">actively supporting</a> the effort as well.  With respect to politicians, attitudes toward refugee resettlement grow more positive as you get to the local level (where the impact is felt most profoundly), and mayors around the world are <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.citylab.com/politics/2015/11/governors-who-dont-want-syrian-refugees-versus-mayors-who-are-asking-to-take-more/416718/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">offering to take in</a> more refugees. “Not allowing refugees makes America look weak,” Houston Mayor Annise Parker told reporters. “It is the only humane thing to do.”</div>
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<b>6. Defense of Muslims in the Wake of Trump Comments</b></div>
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At first it seemed like a joke – real estate mogul Donald Trump running for presidency? He had mounted campaigns in the past, so most likely his bid in for the 2016 presidency would be the same crash and burn, right? Except it has been far from that. Touching a nerve and thousands in the GOP base, Trump has emerged as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential candidate, much to the horror of the American Muslim community, which has been on the receiving end of his most vicious attacks and anti-Muslim rhetoric. From saying that Muslims are not fit for office to suggesting that American Muslims need to carry identification cards, to finally saying that all Muslims should be stopped from entering the U.S. for a period of time, Trump’s last round of anti-Muslim attacks drew many community responses against him as well as pushback from within the <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/paul-ryan-denounces-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-plan-n476201" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">Republican Party</a>. Presidential candidate Lindsay Graham <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/lindsey-graham-apologizes-to-muslim-world-for-donald-trumps" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">apologized to Muslims</a> in the last Republican presidential debate, saying “To all of our Muslim friends throughout the world… I am sorry. He does not represent us.” The South Carolina senator went on to say that framing the fight against terrorism as a fight against Islam was dangerous and “counterproductive.” Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has been quiet in the past on the Republican presidential candidates, <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/paul-ryan-denounces-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-plan-n476201" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">broke his silence</a>, saying “This is not conservatism. What was proposed… is not what this party stands for and more importantly, it’s not what this country stands for.”</div>
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<b>7. Visible Muslims take over Hollywood</b></div>
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2015 saw an unprecedented visibility of Muslim characters on mainstream television, and while many continue to be in roles that are related to geopolitics, several of them portrayed Muslims as everyday citizens.  Yes, you still have the typical portrayals from shows like “Homeland” and “Tyrant”, which aside from a few attempts at balance are still <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/im-sick-of-seeing-arab-stereotypes-on-television" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">drenched in stereotypes</a>, but there is a clear pattern of trying to normalize Muslims in society with more complex and – dare we say it? – average roles.  One such role, the African-American Muslim woman Aliyah Shadeed from “<a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://abc.go.com/shows/american-crime/cast/aliyah-shadeed" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">American Crime</a>”, won actress Regina King a <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://abc.go.com/shows/american-crime/news/updates/american-crime-regina-king-wins-2015-primetime-emmy-supporting-actress-limited-series-150921" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">primetime Emmy</a> for her portrayal.  Other shows that portrayed Muslim characters include ABC’s “Quantico”, which featured <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/12/14/459670190/we-asked-young-muslim-women-to-weigh-in-on-quanticos-hijabi-character" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">twin Muslim women</a> who were two FBI agents-in-training (portrayed by Yasmine Al Massri), intrepid journalist Ayla Sayyad on the Netflix series “House of Cards” (which interestingly has <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.commdiginews.com/entertainment/tv-cable-streaming-video/muslim-actors-marno-ali-jaffrey-star-on-house-of-cards-9709/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">three Muslim actors</a> on its cast), and USA Network’s “Mr. Robot”, which <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/2015/07/mr-robot-fact-check/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">has in its cast</a> a Muslim woman hacker. 2015 also saw an effort by Muslim entertainers to <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/apr/21/halal-in-the-family-muslim-american-aasif-mandvi" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">take control of their own narrative</a> with Aasif Mandvi’s “<a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://halalinthefamily.tv/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">Halal in the Family</a>”, a straight-to-web series that played with a wide range of stereotypes and situations that American Muslims find themselves in.  “The comedy,” explains Mandvi, “comes from the fact that they’re so afraid of being misidentified or misunderstood.”</div>
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<b>8. ISNA’s Women Mosque Inclusion Statement</b></div>
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Last August, a few weeks before the 52nd annual Islamic Society of North American annual convention was to begin, Patheos Muslim blogger Hind Makki <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hindtrospectives/2015/08/a-mosque-the-prophet-would-recognize/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">wrote a piece</a>imagining a mosque the Prophet Muhammad (saw) would recognize, asking Muslim communities to “learn about women’s mosque experiences during the Prophetic era, to excel at the innovative use of architecture and inclusive space, and to share best practices around good governance. We are rooted in the Prophetic model.” She was referring to ISNA’s <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.isna.net/isna-statement.html" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">Women’s Mosque Inclusion statement</a>, launched a few weeks later at the convention, which laid out a number of points to make mosques more inclusive and women-friendly. The initiative was spearheaded by several hard working Muslim leaders, including Makki, who worked through a less-than perfect system of engagement to bring about this landmark step. And, though it seemed to some like just words, the statement was an important step in showing the <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/muslimahnextdoor/2015/08/engaging-v-disengaging-when-working-with-isna-means-the-push-for-women-friendly-mosques/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">power of engagement</a>and the importance of pushing forward on women-friendly mosques.</div>
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<b>9. Islamic scholars declaration on climate change</b></div>
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The issue of climate change has not been on the front burner for many Muslim communities (save for those who are directly affected such as the Maldives, which may be the <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/22/maldives-underwater-climate-change/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">first country to disappear</a> as a result of changing weather patterns), but that all changed in August when a <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/18/islamic-leaders-issue-bold-call-rapid-phase-out-fossil-fuels" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">gathering of Muslim scholars</a> in Istanbul issued a call to the world’s Muslims to <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/18/islamic-scholars-issue-climate-change-declaration.html" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">join in an effort</a> to work towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and helping push for a 100% renewable energy strategy.  Unlike a<a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Seven_Year_Action_Plan_on_Climate_Change" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">previous</a> “seven year plan” issued by Muslim leaders in 2000 that went nowhere, this statement joins with <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/15/popes-climate-encyclical-calls-for-urgent-action.html" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">similar statements</a> made by the Pope and other religious leaders to create a consensus of global religious opinion on the matter.  <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://islamicclimatedeclaration.org/islamic-declaration-on-global-climate-change/" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">The statement</a> is seen to have helped drive the December 2015 agreement at the Paris climate talks. “Islam’s teachings, which emphasize the duty of humans as stewards of the Earth and the teacher’s role as an appointed guide, <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/18/islamic-leaders-issue-bold-call-rapid-phase-out-fossil-fuels" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">illuminate pathways</a> to take the right action on climate change,” said UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.  The declaration <a class="ext-link" data-wpel-target="_blank" href="http://www.nature.com/news/can-islamic-scholars-change-thinking-on-climate-change-1.18203" rel="external nofollow" style="color: #0066cc;" title="">calls on</a>wealthy Muslim countries to provide financial and technical support to less-affluent states so they too can work to eliminate pollution, reduce consumption of finite resources, work to stabilize the Earth’s temperature, abandon “unethical profit from the environment” and help create a global green economy.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/altmuslim/2016/01/year-in-review-top-ten-good-muslim-news-stories-of-2015/</span></span></div>
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USA: Top Good Muslim News Stories of 2015

Sure, we could talk about the Paris attacks, Charlie Hebdo, Isis, San Bernardino, Donald Trump, Islamophobia, anti-Muslim rhetoric and o...

Monday, February 15, 2016