VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 187, June 12, 2011
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

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

(www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

Editorial Note:

In this E-Zine, we have initially touched on the positive aspects benefiting the Ummah from Russia, Iran, England, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Kazakastan followed by ruthless actions by extremists, diversity in the Muslima's workforce, diversity in the global ummah et.c

PART I

POSITIVE NEWS:

RUSSIA:

Muslim Priests To Give Spiritual Guidance To Servicemen

www.rt.com
08 June, 2011

photo(RIA Novosti / Mikhail Fomichev)

Muslim muftis will soon be sent to the Russian Army for spiritual guidance of Muslim servicemen, according to Russia’s Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin. Currently, only Orthodox priests are present among Army staff.

In an interview to the Echo of Moscow radio station, the Supreme Mufti said that the Russian Muslim University has launched a special course for priests who will work in the Army.

Soon, around a dozen Muslim priests will start their jobs in various military units. But this is only the beginning as more will follow. The work in the Army requires some special skills so this category of clergy should have specific training, Tadzhuddin explained.

“We think that retired officers could take special-purpose courses in the Russian Muslim University,” he said. “We should send to the Army those people who understand its specifics. At the same time, they should be able to make their spiritual contribution.”

He added that heads of regional spiritual centers have already started attracting people.

Talgat Tadzhuddin also said that those priests and their activities will be controlled by Russia’s Interconfessional Council.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s public relations, said on Wednesday that it is a common world practice to send representatives of major religions to the Army. He observed that the Church is now renewing the practice of assigning staff spiritual counselors to the military. He added that around 1,000 Orthodox priests have been working in the Army as volunteers.

Deputy head of the State Duma Committee for Defense Yury Savenko told Echo of Moscow that representatives of the main confessions in the Army can reduce the number of interethnic and inter-religious conflicts.

Islam is the second largest religion after Orthodox Christianity in Russia, with around 8 million believers. Most of them are concentrated in the North Caucasus, the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Western Siberia and also Moscow.

Talgat Tadjutdin, the Supreme Mufti of Spiritual Directorate of Russia’s Muslims

IRAN

International Summit on "Islamic Awakening" Held in Tehran, Iran
June 10, 2011

ENGLAND

(Ed Note:

We fully support the position of INSPIRE (below) and hope that they spread their positive message not only within UK but across the Muslim world - GLOBAL UMMAH)

UK: Women's Group Launches 'Jihad Against Violence'
www.guardian.co.uk
June 6, 2011

British Muslim women's group has launched a "jihad against violence", in a bid to reclaim the term jihad from extremists.

The campaign, launched by INSPIRE at City Hall in central London on Sunday, aims to combat all forms of violence but with an emphasis on crimes, including terrorism, domestic abuse and female genital mutilation, that some perpetrators attempt to justify in the name of Islam.

Although jihad means a struggle in the way of God, it has been hijacked by extremists, who have attempted to use it to justify holy war, the group says.

"People think 'jihad against violence' is a contradictory statement but our jihad is for peace," said Inspire's director, Sara Khan.

"Islam has become synonymous with all things violent and the repression of women. We thought we couldn't sit back and stay silent while our religion is being used to carry out acts of violence." Khan has previously advised the government on tackling radicalisation and was critical of the government's Prevent programme for combating extremism for not including enough input from women.

Inspire intends to make information refuting the arguments of those who purport to use the Qur'an to justify terrorism and domestic violence against women and children more widely available – information it says is lacking in many Islamic bookshops. It also wants to put pressure on Muslim leaders to confront what Khan says are currently "taboo" subjects and is encouraging organisations and individuals to sign up to the declaration of jihad against violence on its website.

AUSTRALIA

Hijab House was held in Australia
www.abna.ir

ATHLETIC HEADSCARVES
(www.trendhunter.com)
June 08, 2011

(www.trendhunter.com)

Denmark:

Parliamentary candidates campaigning in Arabic
06 Jun 2011

Via Avisen (Danish, h/t Hodja):

Trine Mach (Socialist People's Party) has started off her parliamentary election campaign, in Arabic. Her posters speak of more and better places for internship and the Palestinian cause. The Danish People's Party says it's submission to the parallel society and that Danish citizens should know enough Danish to be able to follow an election campaign, but Trine Mach rejects the criticism, and says that the most important thing is for as many people as possible to participate in democracy. Her posters are in both Arabic and Danish.

Sweden:

Newspaper Celebrates Multiculturalism by Photoshopping Flag on Minaret

june 6, 2011

In an editorial on integration on Sweden's National Day, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet Photoshopped a Swedish flag on the minaret of Grand Mosque of Malmö, which is owned by the Libyan organization World Islamic Call Society. (h/t Muslimska friskolan).

KAZAKASTHAN

President Nazarbayev: Muslim world should defend Islam’s image

Staff Report
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
June 8, 2011

ASTANA

The Muslim world must launch a media campaign to create a more positive image of Islam, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev told participants at the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum June 8, according to Novosti-Kazakhstan.

The Islamic world needs to reinforce the image of Islam as a religion of peace, kindness, tolerance and justice, he said, adding that the Islamic world is itself a target of terrorism.

Terrorism is linked not only to trans-national crime but to geo-political sources too, he said.

Nazarbayev also called for the Islamic world’s 10 largest economies to form a group for dialogue, akin to the Western world’s G8. The Islamic world has the resources to back substantial investment in its own countries, he said.

PART II

EXTREMISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN:

Russia

Theology professor shot in Russia's Dagestan
en.rian.ru
June 07, 2011

Maksud Ibnugadzharovich Sadikov

Photo The Theology and International Relations Institute

The rector of a theology institute in Russia's mainly-Muslim Dagestan republic was shot by unknown assailants near his home on Tuesday, local police said.

Rector Maksud Ibnugadzharovich Sadikov was one of the founders of the first academic institutions in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region to offer both secular and religious teachings.

"According to preliminary information, Sadikov and the person accompanying him were shot by and unknown assailant by the entrance of his house, when they were getting out of a car," the source said.

Local police later confirmed that the person accompanying Sadikov was his nephew.

Sadikov had been rector of the Institute of Theology and International Relations in Dagestani capital Makhachkala since 2003 and tried to promote education as the greatest weapon in the fight against religious extremism.

He also headed a project to translate the Koran into Russian and the editorial board of the Imam Shamil encyclopedia.

He was involved in politics and held various federal government posts in the 1990s.

Terrorist attacks and shootings are common in the North Caucasus, were the Kremlin is fighting an Islamist insurgency, which led to two wars in Chechnya in the 1990s.

MAKHACHKALA, June 7 (RIA Novosti)

PART III

DIVERSITY OF THE MUSLIMA WORKFORCE:

MUSLIM FEMALE BODYGUARDS:

BREAKING THE CULTURAL GLASS CEILING ONE SMALL STEP AT A TIME

LIBYA

LIBYA'S VIRGIN BODYGUARDS

www.bharatchronicle.com

Qaddafi's Female Bodyguards
FILM REVIEW

PHOTO
Qaddafi's Female Bodyguards
USA 2004, 59 min.

A Cipher Production
by Rania Ajami

This documentary investigates the phenomenon of Qaddafi's elite female bodyguard corps and the tensions these women embody: tensions between Islam, modernization in a nomadic society, militarist feminism and an urban dictatorship. What sort of life do these women lead, what is their political position, and how has it evolved?

The female guards in Libya are unique as modern Islamic women that challenge Western stereotypes of the repressed Arab female. Using original and archival footage, and being the first to be allowed access to sites and persons in Libya, this two-year effort goes beyond existing representations of the Muslim woman by elucidating and criticizing a complicated ideal of a modern day Amazon warrior.

Montreal World Film Festival, Avignon/New York, Strasbourg, Mid-East Film Festival, Raindance - London, Fort Lauderdale Int'l Film Festival Student Comp. (Best Doc)

EGYPT

SCHOOL FOR MUSLIM FEMALE BODYGUARDS

remusicas.org

remusicas.org

Egypt's "Lady Guards"
February 9, 2010
Haley Blake

www.globalenvision.org

Photo: DruhScoff (flickr)

Egyptian women typically work at home or in agriculture.

An increase in the number of working women in Cairo is giving rise to a new niche within the local security industry: female bodyguards, or "lady guards."

In this part of the world, the mixing of single men and women is highly discouraged. So, according to the Christian Science Monitor, Egypt's leading security company has created a new division of "lady guards" to help these wealthy women feel more comfortable while being guarded.

The Falcon Group, as the Egypt-based security company is known, is pioneering a new model of protection that both signals and supports the rising status of women here. Falcon’s female-guard unit, the first of its kind for women clients, is creating an empowering new career for its employees while capitalizing on the demands of an increasingly conservative society.

These newly trained lady guards say they feel empowered by their work. Amine, a twenty year old "lady guard", tells the Jakarta Globe that "her work has given her a sense of power and status in a country where women often fall victim to male discrimination or harassment."

PART IV

DIVERSITY OF THE GLOBAL UMMAH

(Ed Note:

We would recommend that www.englishrussia.com get an award for their exceptional work on highlighting the history of Islam in the former USSR. When you talk about Russia in historical terms, most of the people across the globe including Muslims immediately tend to connect Russia with Communism and many have no clue of the historical and cultural aspects of Muslims in the former USSR.)

PART IV

AN ANCIENT CITY OF UZBEKISTAN
June 7, 2011
By Kulichik

Khiva is an ancient city of approximately 50,000 people located in Xorazm Province, Uzbekistan. It’s abundant with historical places of interest.

The city was built over two thousand years ago. Its constructions are dated to the beginning of the 18 century

The city of Khiva was first recorded by Muslim travellers in the 10th century, although archaeologists assert that the city has existed since the 6th century.

In 1919 the Russians deposed the khan of Khiva, dissolving the khanate, and in 1920 Khiva became the Khorezmian People’s Soviet Republic. In 1924, after the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed, the Khorezmian People’s Soviet Republic was split between two of the constituent republics, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) and the Turkmen SSR.

The old city is walled.

That’s what the wall looks like.

This is what was seen by the local Khan standing on the high tower. Swallows make their nests inside the walls.

The highest minaret of the city.

Climbing the minaret is still allowed. But it’s not allowed to climb the minaret of the same located in Bokhara.

There is not much pleasure in climbing spiral stairs of the minaret where it’s always dark and one has to move by feel. Though local children will definitely disagree with that as investigating the space is their favorite thing.

Everyone enjoyed taking part in our photo session.

Look, how the column is decorated

The large blue tower in the central city square was supposed to be a minaret, but the Khan died and the succeeding Khan did not complete it, perhaps because he realized that if he would complete it, the minaret would overlook his harem and the muezzin would be able to see the Khan’s wives. Construction was halted and the minaret remains unfinished to this day.