VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 24, April 21, 2008

Editor: Hajji Mohamed Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficient and the Most Merciful

"DECLARING ALLAH'S TRUTH, ONE SURAH AT A TIME"

"O HUMAN KIND, WE HAVE CREATED YOU FROM MALE AND FEMALE, EVOLVED YOU INTO A VARIETY OF PEOPLES AND ORGANIZED COMMUNITIES IN ORDER THAT YOU MAY KNOW AND RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER. CERTAINLY THE MOST HONORABLE OF ALL OF YOU (IN THE ESTIMATION OF ALLAH) ARE THOSE WHO ARE MOST SINCERE & DUTIFUL AND GOD-CONSCIOUS. SURELY, ALLAH IS ALL-KNOWING, BEST INFORMED.
(Holy Quran 49:13).

PART A:

ISLAM: THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD RELIGION:

WORDS OF THE BLIND AND IGNORANT - "Mecca: Center of Evil"

"Already more than a billion-people strong, Islam is the world's fastest growing religion". ABCNEWS, Abcnews.com

"Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States"...NEW YORK TIMES, Feb 21, 1989 and TIME MAGAZINE

"Moslems are the world's fastest-growing group..." USA TODAY. The population reference bureau, Feb 17, 1989.

"MUHUMMED IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OF ALL PROPHETS AND RELIGIOUS PERSONALITIES". Encyclopedia Britannica.

"There are more Muslims in North America than Jews now". Dan Rathers, CBS NEWS

"The religion of Islam is growing faster than any other religion in the world". MIKE WALLACE, 60 minutes.

"Muslims in America already outnumber Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Mormons, and they are more numerous than Quakers, Unitarians, Seventh-day Adventists, Mennonites, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Scientists combined. Many demographers say Islam has ovetaken Judaism as the country's second-most commonly practiced religion; others say it is in the passing lane". Johan Blank, US NEWS (7/20/98)

ITALY SEIZES QURAN PRINTED TOILET SEATS:

Following Muslim complaints, police raided the four branches of the company in the town of Latina, 60km south of Rome, and seized 2,000 such pieces on sale.

Interior minister Giuliano Amato met Friday with Italian Muslim leaders at the main Rome Mosque to reassure them that Italy would not tolerate such outrageous acts.“This is an insult to the Muslim faith,” The Imam of the Lazio town of Latina’s mosque, Sheikh Yusuf, told Amato. Amato reassured Yusuf, saying: “I would like to tell our friends from Latina that we have been informed of this matter and are taking action because it is offensive.”

(sheikermami.com)

Part B:

FOCUS OF THE WEEK:

Our Ummah in Germany

EDITORIAL NOTE:

Many of our Muslim brothers and sisters settled in the western world experience a similar set of problems while at the same time have their own unique political, legal and social challenges based on their respective western country of residence. For reasons not clearly known, our Ummah in Germany has been off the Global Ummah's radar screen for too long and we thought it best to put them as our spotlight in this issue.

INTERVIEW WITH ISLAM EXPERT DIETRICH REETZ:

(Only part of the interview published below).

Interview conducted by Norbert F. Pötzl and Rainer Traub

'Muslims Have a Right to Be Different'

INTERVIEW WITH GERMAN ISLAMIC EXPERT DIETRICH REETZ (4-18-08)

Islamic expert Dietrich Reetz of Berlin's Center for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO) speaks to SPIEGEL about Muslims in Germany, social tensions and the prospects for dialogue between the communities.

Students at a class in Islamic School in Berlin, Germany.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Reetz, recently the debate about the propensity to violence, among young Muslim men in particular, has heated up in Germany. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung co-editor Frank Schirrmacher wrote that, “the mixture of youth criminality and Muslim fundamentalism” is “the closest thing today to the deadly ideologies of the 20th century.” He is drawing an analogy to fascism and Stalinism. Is that excessive dramatization or is there a real threat?

Dietrich Reetz: The incidents have been exaggerated. The negative images that are projected on Islam have little to do with religion, but instead are largely a result of the political problems and social situation of the people in question. Before immigrants’ beliefs came to the forefront, the same problems were treated mainly under terms such as immigration, integration, and multicultural society.

SPIEGEL: Muslims are often perceived as aggressive, demanding, and intolerant.

Reetz: First we need to take note of the fact that the vast majority of Muslims in Germany behave peacefully. Furthermore, not everyone who comes from a Muslim-influenced cultural group is religious or Muslim. So we can’t ascribe the problems that occur in socially troubled areas to religion or Islam.

SPIEGEL: Muslims in Germany mostly live in urban areas with social problems: unemployment, political discrimination, societal stigmatization. In this context, what is the significance of young Muslim men’s identification with Islam?

Reetz: Recourse to religion offers young immigrants a cultural foothold when they feel excluded from society or sense that their chances of advancement are slight. The youth who increasingly turn to religion belong to a generation that was born and grew up in Germany, but asserts its right to live its own culture and religion self-confidently and without restrictions.

SPIEGEL: Is publicly and demonstratively declaring oneself a Muslim intended as a rejection of European values?

Reetz: Islam has contributed to European identity since the early Middle Ages and was present in Spain for centuries. Moreover, Islam grew from the same historical and cultural roots in the eastern Mediterranean as Christianity and Judaism. In this respect it too belongs to the heritage of the European West. However, after being separate so long, Islam seems alien to many Europeans. The new generation wants to be considered European Muslims.

SPIEGEL: .....You’re counting on a resolution from within Islam?

Reetz: Islam is easier to deal with, the less you interfere. Attempts to reform from the outside only lead to strange developments, make things more complicated and get things even more mixed up with political problems. What is important is that everyone complies with the legal system, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims, immigrants or have German ancestry. For me the keyword is mutual trust.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Reetz, thank you for speaking with us. (Norbert Potzl & Rainer traub).

PART C:

Teaching Islamic religion in German schools:

Few schools offer religious education for Muslim students. This question is of particular interest to Germany's Muslim community. The country's three million Muslims are also guaranteed freedom of worship under German law. But there are still some difficulties when it comes to religious education for Muslims. Only a few federal states in Germany currently have pilot projects for Islamic religion classes in schools. This is partially due to a lack of initiative on the part of the German school system. But another challenge is the high number of Muslim umbrella groups and different Islamic religious denominations in Germany. Government officials say it is difficult to find a consistent representative for the entire Muslim community who can decide on a fixed curriculum for Islamic religion classes. But this will likely be resolved in the near future. At the same time, the influence of churches on German society continues to decline. While churches were an especially strong political force in the early days of the federal republic, their role is fading increasingly into the background, said church historian Michael Basse. "The times in which politicians had to fear the power of the churches are long gone," he said.

DW staff

PART D:

SPECIAL GYM IN GERMANY CATERS TO MUSLIM WOMEN, BANS BODY CULT:

Even swimwear is created for Muslim women

A gym in the city of Cologne has made many Muslim women feel at home. After a successful year in business, others want to open up more fitness centers where devout women can get a great work-out while remaining modest.The city of Cologne is a true melting pot, with one of the largest Muslim populations in Germany. In the Ehrenfeld city district, Muslim women who want to be physically fit can follow the lead of female personal trainers at the "Hayat" (which means "life" in Turkish) gym and still keep their clothes on. Whether it's running on the treadmill, rowing on a machine, or doing aerobics to Turkish pop music, trainers Emine and Yasmin do their best to help modestly dressed Muslim women get in shape. The fitness crowd does not just have access to a full range of gym machines and exercise bikes, they can also take a break in the prayer room.

Pumping iron doesn't always have to mean showing a lot of skin But, you won't find these women wearing short shorts, flashing skin or working out for the sake of being seen. Many even don headscarves while they work the machines. Customers from different countries Emine Aydemir, the 39-year-old owner of the fitness club now celebrating its first anniversary, knows why her business has been a success. "Many women who wear scarves come here because so many other gyms treat them badly," she told DPA news service. "At Hayat, they feel at home and nobody stares at them because of what they're wearing."She said she has around 350 customers; 90 percent are Turkish, or Turkish-German, the rest are from Morocco, Tunisia, Romania and Egypt. The average age is 30, and some non-Muslim German women are also members, since being Muslim is not a requirement."We Muslim women don't envy one another's bodies," Aydemir told DPA. "We don't stare at each another and compare our figures. We accept each other as we are," she said.

Muslimas on the move

The Hayat fitness club in Cologne DSSV, an organization representing fitness and spa-industry employers throughout Germany, said only one other gym -- in the northern city of Hamburg -- caters specially to Muslimas.

DSSV's Refit Kamberovic said it was an opportunity for investors in other urban areas in Germany to develop the market niche. Aydemir also said she believes others are gearing up to imitate her idea. "I've fielded a lot of phone calls from people who ask exactly how they should go about setting up a gym like this," she said. "I tell them the recipe for success is to ban the cult of beautiful bodies and to emphasize health, enjoyment and sharing." Even so, being among other Muslims is what attracts many women to "Hayat." Hatice Aydin, a 27-year-old who works out every day, told DPA: "Before I came here, I used to go to another women-only gym, but I was the only one there wearing a headscarf. They were always giving me funny looks."I had to go into the toilet cubicles to get undressed and dressed," she said. "A lot of German women don't know our etiquette and they were always staring at me if I got dressed in the group changing rooms."

Respecting modesty "The recipe for success is to ban the cult of beautiful bodies and emphasize health" Aydemir explained that she was taught that Islam forbids exposing any part of the body between the bosom and knees, even to other women.So, changing rooms and showers at Hayat are divided into cubicles to respect this rule of modesty, and women who want to use the saunas wrap up in towels. Even busy mothers can get their work-out. They can drop off their kids at a playroom in the gym.

PART E:

THERE IS NO OTHER PIECE OF CLOTH IN THE WORLD THAT HAS GAINED AS MUCH INDIVIDUAL, NATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, LEGAL AND GLOBAL ATTENTION AS A POWER OF IDENTITY AS THE LOVELY - HIJAB.

German Court Upholds School Ban on Muslim Headscarf:

3/18/2008: A German court has rejected a bid by a Muslim teacher to wear her headscarf during lessons who argued she be treated the same as nuns at a state school who are permitted to teach in their religious habits.

The headscarf issue is a hot topic in Germany, a country with many Muslims

A German court has rejected a bid by a Muslim teacher to wear her headscarf during lessons who argued she be treated the same as nuns at a state school who are permitted to teach in their religious habits. Upholding a regional ban on teachers wearing the Islamic headscarf in public schools, the administrative court in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg ruled that a teacher who converted to Islam will not be allowed to wear her headscarf in the classroom, The court in Mannheim rejected a bid by 58-year-old Doris Graber who converted to Islam to wear her headscarf during lessons, saying the teacher was violating her obligation to keep religious expression out of the classroom and that the ban fully complied with the country's Basic Law."The directive issued by the school administration for those working at the school not to wear such a head covering is lawful," the court said in a statement, summarizing the ruling made Friday. "This also applies when the teacher in question is an employee with tenure who has worked at a school for several years with such a head covering without complaints from pupils or students."No to headscarves, yes to habits?

The judges overturned a ruling by a lower court that allowed Graber to wear a headscarf because nuns who taught at state schools were permitted to do so in their religious habits. The administrative court however rejected Graber's argument that she should be treated the same as three nuns in a public school elsewhere in the state on the grounds of religious equality. The judges however did not give a reason for rejecting the argument. Graber argues she should be treated the same as nuns. The state attorney spoke of a "historic exception" in the aforementioned public school where the nuns still teach in habit. The public school, which was formerly a monastery, was taken over by the state and authorities are bound to a contract governing the "exceptions status" of the school, he said. Graber, who has taught at a joint elementary and secondary school for more than three decades, converted to Islam in 1984. She had worn a traditional Muslim headscarf in the classroom since 1995 during which time no objections were raised. But in December 2004, the school board in the state capital Stuttgart ordered her to stop covering her head in the classroom on the grounds that it could influence impressionable children, prompting her to go to court. "I've been wearing a headscarf for 13 years and nobody has taken offence until now," Graber said at a court hearing.

Differing laws on headscarf Baden-Württemberg was the first of Germany's 16 states to ban the headscarf in schools after it was outlawed in France in 2004. The French ban sparked a heated debate in Germany and the federal constitutional court, the country's top court, finally ruled that each region had the right to make its own law in this regard. So far eight out of Germany's 16 states have ordered teachers not to wear the headscarf at schools, though Muslim pupils are generally allowed to do so. Germany is home to three million Muslims, the majority of them Turkish.

German State Court Upholds Headscarf Ban for Teachers

Teacher Brigitte Weiss, who converted from Christianity to Islam, lost the case.

A court in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia has upheld a ban on female Muslim teachers wearing headscarves in schools.Wearing a headscarf violated a state regulation against religious symbols in public schools, the administrative court in the western city of Düsseldorf ruled on Tuesday.The case was brought by a 52-year-old secondary school teacher, who said she would appeal Tuesday's ruling.The teacher had argued that her headscarf was a "fashion accessory à la Grace Kelly" that was in line with Christian-Occidental values. The judges did not accept the argument, pointing out that since the teacher always wore the scarf, it was a symbol of her religous beliefs. Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia imposed a ban on headscarves in June 2006. A similar ban was introduced in the southern state of Bavaria in 2005 with the aim of protecting children from the influence of Islamic fundamentalists.

A German flag as headscarf

Headscarves are banned in eight of Germany's 16 states, but laws vary about other headdress. After the headscarf prohibition came into effect in June 2006 in North Rhine-Westphalia, one teacher appeared at school wearing a beret. A court said the beret fell under the headscarf rule and asked the teacher to consider wearing a wig instead, which she refused.

In Bavaria, on the other hand, teachers may wear hats in school. At an administrative court in Stuttgart in the state of Baden-Württemburg, judges in July 2006 reversed an earlier decision. There, Muslim teachers may now wear headscarves since nuns are also permitted to wear their habits in public schools.

GERMANY (09/25/06)

Study Challenges Widely-held Notions About Islamic Headscarf

An instrument of suppression or harmless clothing of choice?

The headscarf is widely regarded in German society as a religious or political symbol that stands for the suppression of women or Muslim fundamentalism. A new study dismantles some of the clichés. The familiar thinking regarding the Islamic headscarf in Germany goes something like this -- it's a symbol of female suppression, a badge of sexual inhibition as well as a protest against Western cultural and moral decadence.

For those who thought they knew everything there is to know as to why certain Muslim women opt to cover their hair, a study published in Germany is likely to give them some food for thought.

Called "The Headscarf -- Unveiling of a Symbol?" and conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the study polled 135 religious women of Turkish origin between the ages of 18 and 40 in various conservative and liberal Muslim communities across Germany. The interviews were conducted by bilingual volunteers. "Our aim was to gain access to how such women think and find answers to the question of what the headscarf means for the women who wear it," said Christoph Kannengiesser, the deputy secretary general of the foundation, which has close links to the conservative Christian Democratic Union political party.

Far from being suppressed and intimidated

Some 97 percent of the women polled said they wear the headscarf for religious reasons. For most, the decision to don a headscarf is personal and one that -- contrary to widespread perception -- is hardly influenced by the father, brother or husband. Instead, female role models within the family played a larger role in the decision, according to the study.

Headscarf-wearing Muslim women often say they feel discriminated against. Nine out of 10 women said the headscarf gave them self-confidence -- a point that the authors of the study say is "needed" because more than half the women feel discriminated against on account of their headgear at the work place or during a job search. Half of Germany's 16 federal states have already banned the wearing of a headscarf in public buildings and while performing state jobs.

However, 85 percent of those polled said they were friends with women who didn't
wear headscarves.

More importantly, for a society which to a great extent believes the headscarf to be an instrument of suppression and those women who wear it to be uneducated, most of the Turkish women said that it was "feeling like a free person" was more important than marriage and home. On questions of financial independence, male partners and children, most of those polled displayed attitudes similar to German women.

Irrespective of whether they had German citizenship, 90 percent said they are
in favor of a democratically elected government.

An ambivalent picture: However, there were big differences when it came to matters of faith. Some 32 percent said they believed that Islam was superior to other religions. Most of the headscarf-wearing women said they did not feel at home in Germany. About 71 percent said they felt more affinity with Turkey, while 80 percent said Turks in Germany are treated like second-class citizens. The authors of the study stress that on account of the low number of women surveyed and the fact that almost half of them had at least a high school diploma, the report is not representative and highly subjective.

The study offers an ambivalent picture of Muslims in Germany The study, however, remains the most comprehensive to date. It also finds no proof for the widely-held view that the headscarf stands for patriarchal suppression or domination or Muslim fundamentalism. The authors point out that the majority of those surveyed were convinced of the equality of the sexes. Kannengiesser said the study offered a slightly ambivalent picture. "There's a surprising similarity between the attitudes of headscarf-wearing women and the majority of the population," he said. "But there's a series of revelations, where you do have to say that it's given us something to think about. The latter shows that it's necessary to initiate an intensive dialogue because those are attitudes that aren't conducive for integration."

Study underlines need for better integration

At the same time, the authors point out that the study demonstrates that the integration of foreigners, particularly Germany's 3.2-million strong Muslim population needs to be improved. "It's clear that we can't allow such women or other groups to be isolated in Germany," Kannengiesser said. "This is a call for German society and also an appeal to the group surveyed here to be more open to integration. Muslims are now a part of German society. And that includes headscarf-wearing girls and women."

GERMANY April 29.2006

School Suspends Burka-Clad Students

School authorities say turning up for class clad like this is unacceptable

A high school in the German city of Bonn has suspended two Muslim girls for wearing a burka, an all-enveloping cloak worn by women in central and south Asia. The two teenagers who returned to school following the Easter holidays dressed in burkas were considered to have disturbed the peaceful running of the school and were handed initial suspensions of two weeks, a school official said.

The Muslim council of Germany too has criticized the schoolgirls' decision to attend school in burkas. It said it was necessary for teachers to have eye contact with pupils in classes.

August Gmünd from the local government, which supports the suspension, said the action had caused disruption throughout the school.

“A heated discussion broke out in the school the instant the two girls turned up, not just amongst the kids, but also the teachers," said Gmünd. "It was just impossible to maintain a controlled environment in the school.”

The girls have been suspended from school for two weeks, for disrupting lessons. Officials say they are welcome to return to school, if they shed their all-enveloping garb. At the school playground, the appearance of the covered girls confused and annoyed pupils. "Provocation" and "fundamentalist character"

“One of the girls was in class with me," said a student. "I find it very strange: before the Easter holidays, she was personable and outgoing. Now, after the holidays, she turns up in a Burka.” Ulrich Stahnke, head master at the school in Tannenbusch on the outskirts of Bonn, said he spent days considering whether to suspend the girls. He added he and his colleagues had tried to convince them to discard their Burkas, without success. Some say turning up for class like this in Germany is a provocation “For me, this is a new development in Central Europe, which one is either aware of, or consciously brings into school as a provocation," Stahnke said. "Or, one takes a religious angle with it, which, in a very specific way, has a fundamentalist character.”

The two girls have cited freedom of religion in defense of their outfits. Their families have hired a lawyer, who has yet to issue a statement.......

Not helping integration

For head master Stahnke, the girls are harming the school’s integration policy. Around 30 percent of pupils either come from migrant families, or are themselves migrants. Stahnke said the school ‘wants to show these children that they can follow their religion without wearing Burkas’. He now hopes the girls will participate in counseling sessions with a theological expert, and reconsider their decision. The case follows moves by France, home to Europe's largest Islamic minority, to ban Islamic headscarves and other "conspicuous religious signs" in state schools in 2004. The measures is aimed at stemming what it said was the rising influence of radical Islamists among youths.

PART F:

GERMAN MUSLIMS IN PICTURES: