VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 188, June 19, 2011
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

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

(xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

EDITORIAL:

In this E-Zine, we have first highlighted the positive news, followed by interfaith relations, extremism, challenges faced by Muslims et.c.

PART I

POSITIVE NEWS:

PART I-A

(Ed Note:

Knowing the politics and history of Turkey, we believe that the overwhelming majority of the global ummah would be in favor of the electoral victory of President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK party. President Tayyip Erdogan is one of the few Islamic leaders in the contemporary period who could lead his democratic country TURKEY to be a role model for the Muslim world through the political process of being socially distilled in the twin refineries of ISLAM and DEMOCRACY. Our special thanks to all Turkish Brothers and Sisters who voted for above true moderate Muslim leader).

(www.worldatlas.com)

www.telegraph.co.uk

Below is condensed version of article from www.telegraph.co.uk:

"It (Turkey) has one of the world's fastest-growing economies, it is a European Union candidate and a regional heavyweight, and religious Turks have displaced the secularist elite from power.

An autocrat and a dangerous Islamist to his enemies, a hero and a man of the people to his admirers, Erdogan has transformed this Muslim democracy since his AK Party swept to power in 2002, on a scale unseen since Kemal Ataturk founded the Turkish republic in 1923 out of the ruins of a defeated Ottoman Empire.

"And he wants to prove to the world that you can be a global player and a Muslim at the same time," Barkey said.

A hot-tempered but charismatic politician, Erdogan has taken risks as he has challenged the secularist military and the judiciary, while power has shifted from the Westernised, urban elites to a new class of observant Muslims from the heartland.

Microphone in hand and pacing the stage at rallies of enthusiastic supporters, Erdogan knows how to work a crowd.

He quotes local religious philosophers, slams his enemies as "dark forces" resisting change, lists public works completed under his government and adorns his speeches with streetwise vernacular the secular elite in the capital Ankara frowns upon.

Lately, he has been reciting the lyrics of a popular Turkish folk song to frenzied audiences who roar the words back to him as if in a declaration of love.

"We walked together on this path, we got wet together under this rain, now whenever I listen to a song, everything reminds me of you," Erdogan and the crowd chant at each other.

Many Turks respect Erdogan for restoring stability in a country plagued by decades of chaotic coalitions, coups and failed international financial bailouts, and for giving them confidence in their country".

According to Sandeep, in his article: "Overwhelming victory of Erdogan’s party in the parliamentary elections in Turkey", (pisqa.com) Erdogan, a former Islamist activist, also said that with the victory of the AKP, “Gaza, Palestine and Jerusalem were also won,” showing once again his sympathy for the Muslim world.

PART I-B

Europeans Against Islamophobia:
Taking a Stand Against Bigotry
by Guest

www.islamineurope.blogspot.com

Europe today is the scene of extremely xenophobic anti-Muslim and populist forces bent on confrontation with the continent’s Muslim citizens. The main reason for the continuing rise and growth of this hateful force is the position Europe finds itself in today, a crossroads in which it is grappling with its identity as well as how to deal with its growing minorities.

Javier Solana, formerly the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy wrote that in the next forty years Europe’s workforce will decrease by 70 million and migration is the solution to maintaining its economy.

A major challenge that Europe must still face is migration, which will only become a bigger problem over time. Between now and 2050, Europe’s workforce will decrease by 70 million. Maintaining our economy requires migration and open EU borders – and facing down the populist movements in Europe that would shun “outsiders”.

One can assume that a significant percentage of the migrants will be Muslims, this will be especially true if Turkey eventually accedes to the EU. This will have dramatic effects on politics in Europe, one can foresee the rise of many more Geert Wilders and Le Pen’s, as well as organizations such as the EDL, BPE, SIOE, etc.

One of things needed to insure that Europe successfully maintains its economy, strengthens its cohesion while maintaining the universal values it proclaims is for it to overcome the hateful forces pushing nativist tendencies and Islamophobic rhetoric.

As Tariq Ramadan has mentioned this requires a commitment from all citizens and the realization of a new “WE.” One way in which to “face down” the haters is to actively be informed, as well as to participate in combating Islamophobia, racism and bigotry much in the way that thousands of anti-fascist protesters did when they rallied against Robert Spencer and the BPE in Stuttgart, Germany.

In this regard there is a relatively new Facebook page, "Europeans Against Islamophobia" , which collects up to date and breaking news in regards to anti-Muslim hate, Islamophobia, racism, violence and activities to combat these forces. I suggest everyone like the page, suggest to friends (especially Europeans) and join the discussion there.

Europeans Against Islamophobia is also joined by other Facebook pages that are worth joining:

-We are European non-Muslims and Mosques don’t bother us

-Americans Against Islamophobia
-Christians United Against Islamophobia

-United Shades of Britain

-Brigitte Gabriel Review

PART I-C

GERMANY

Hamburg: Wind-turbines Planned in Mosque Minarets
June 15, 2011

Via the Guardian:

A small Muslim community in northern Germany is pioneering renewable energy sources by planning to build a mosque with wind turbines in its minarets.

The €2.5m (£2.2m) project would see the mosque in Norderstedt, near Hamburg, become one of the first to turn the minaret, the place from which the muezzin called the faithful to prayer, into a wind-fuelled power source.

The eco-friendly building is the brainchild of the Hamburg architect Selcuk Ünyilmaz, who has long incorporated energy efficiency into his work. "I thought about how we could give sacral architecture an ecological focus," he said. "My design combines the modern with the traditional, so I wanted to give the minarets a contemporary function."

The wind turbines will be housed in two 22-metre-high minarets and Ünyilmaz plans to install a pair of 1.5-metre glass rotor blades in each tower. At certain times of the day light will be beamed at the blades to create a kind of light show.

PART I-D

(ED NOTE:

For too long, negative cultural forces had restricted Muslim women to freely involve in exercises and other sports activities. We fully support and encourage the active participation of Muslim females who maintain their Islamic identity while at the same time be involved in sports activities).

MUSLIM WOMEN ON THE PLAYING FIELD

Germany:
Sports Clubs Seek to Attract Young Muslim Women

By Lukas Eberle, Sebastian Eder and Cathrin Gilbert

www.spiegel.de
June 16, 2011

Stefan Thomas Kroeger/ DER SPIEGEL

Via Spiegel:

Although many top German athletes come from immigrant families, very few Muslim girls and women in Germany play sports. Many parents see Western sports culture as a threat and keep their daughters away from coed athletic clubs. But some forward-thinking initiatives show how young female Muslims can be encouraged to take part in sports -- and how it can change their lives.

Many Muslim girls who grow up in Germany are taught that sport isn't for women. Some 68 percent of 15-year-old Turkish boys are involved in organized sports. More than 30 percent of players on the under-17 national soccer team in the German Football Association have Turkish roots. Muslim men wrestle, box and do martial arts. Muslim women, on the other hand, are often told that physical exercise is a waste of time. Particularly fathers from poor backgrounds, who themselves have low educational levels, view sports clubs as places of shameless freedom -- places where their daughters don't belong.

Muslim women are the lost daughters of sports. They are also a good example of how difficult integration can be when people belong to different groups that have widely diverging worldviews.

According to a 2009 study by the Technical University of Dortmund, only 20 percent of 15-year-old Turkish girls in Germany belong to a sports club, compared with 42 percent of German girls in the same age group. In the language of social science, young Turkish women are referred to as a group that is "distant" from sport.

Although many top German athletes come from immigrant families, very few Muslim girls and women in Germany play sports. Many parents see Western sports culture as a threat and keep their daughters away from coed athletic clubs. But some forward-thinking initiatives show how young female Muslims can be encouraged to take part in sports -- and how it can change their lives. Here, two young female football players with the club Borussia Hannover.)

Despite her parents' opposition, Sara K. (seen here in a 2010 photo) has been playing basketball and football secretly for years.
Sibylle Fendt/ DER SPIEGEL

Sibylle Fendt/ DER SPIEGEL

Heather Cameron founded a boxing club for women, "Boxgirls", six years ago. She says boxing is the kind of sport that Muslim parents are most likely to tolerate for their daughters --for practical reasons. "It's different from other sports because the parents don't see boxing as a game or an entertainment sport. For them, boxing gives their daughters the chance to defend their honor."

Many Muslim girls wear "burqinis" to take part in swimming lessons.
DPA

PART I-E

UK: Sharia-compliant pension fund launched

Via the Independent (h/t Shariah Finance Watch):

The first Sharia-compliant pension fund has been launched in the UK.

The fund which does not invest in companies that trade in guns, alcohol, gambling, tobacco or pornography, nor does it receive interest, has been launched by Pointon York and the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB).

Investors will be able to save in a self-invest personal pension and choose from a range of Sharia-compliant assets. These could include cash, funds and property.

PART I-F

Tony Blair: The Qur'an is immensely instructive

14 Jun 2011
(condensed version)

Via Observer Magazine:

"To be faith-literate is crucial in a globalised world, I believe. I read the Bible every day. I read the Qur'an every day. Partly to understand some of the things happening in the world, but mainly just because it is immensely instructive" .

PART I-G

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SISTER'S CONFERENCE 2011,
LONDON, UK

"As-salaamu Alaikum Wa'rahmatullahi Wa'barakatuh

We invite you to the inaugural Mercy Mission Sisters Conference 2011!

There are many challenges for the contemporary British Muslimah. Successful careers, focused paths to pursuing knowledge and the real world pressures of playing an active role at home and trying to find a suitable spouse are all real issues which we all face.

In order to have some genuine dialogue recognizing the pressures of the time and respond to the issues that all of us face in the pursuit of happiness; we invite you to attend this conference by sisters for sisters, taking place:

16th of July 2011

0930 am - 1830 pm.

@ The Grange City Hotel, London.

Join us at the 5 star prestigious London hotel where we will take a journey exploring the realities of contemporary life in the light of the divine decree of Allah and focusing on how to make the most of our every moment.

Speakers include: Na'ima B. Robert, Fatima Barkatulla, Sayyidah Zayidi, Umm Raiyaan, Zohra Sarwari and many more inspirational speakers.

Seats are very limited, so buy tickets now for this unique event, which will be a great source of spiritual enlightenment and phenomenal networking.

SEE YOU THERE INSHAA ALLAH"

For information call:
Sister Jabeen: 07737631190
www.sistersconference.com

PART II:

BUILDING INTERFAITH UNITY:

Oxford: Faith Groups Unite For Peace Walk

www.bbc.co.uk

Via the BBC:

More than 700 people from 15 different faith groups have walked through the centre of Oxford to demonstrate their desire for peace and respect.

The walk took place on Tuesday evening, starting at the synagogue on Richmond Road in Jericho, passing the University Church and finishing at the mosque in Manzil Way.

Reverend Charlotte Bannister-Parker started the inter-faith walk seven years ago during the Iraq War.

PART III:

EXTREMISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN:

PART III-A

BULGARIA:

Muslims Say Bulgaria Plagued with Islamophobia, Vow to Defend Themselves

www.novinite.com

Via Sofia News Agency:

Part of the Bulgarian society is plagued with islamophobia, the Bulgarian Chief Mufti's Office has declared in a special statement urging the Bulgarian Muslims to take measures to defend themselves against attacks.

Bulgarian Muslims are pictured praying at the Sofia Mosque at the end of May 2011. Photo by BGNES

The Chief Mufti's Office, however, complains that numerous similar incidents have followed ever since, and that the Bulgarian state institutions have failed to protect the Muslims in Bulgaria and their temples.

"After this next case of violence against a Muslim and the desecration of a mosque, the Bulgarian Muslims community has received a clear message that the state is either unable to protect us, or doesn't want to do that, which leaves us in a very hard situation as citizens of the EU who were still hoping that there are sufficiently good democratic mechanisms for preventing repressions against us," reads the statement of the religious leadership of the Bulgarian Muslims.

Sofia Mosque Warden Assaulted, Beaten – Chief Mufti

The warden of the main mosque in downtown Sofia has suffered a brutal assault at the hands of unidentified attackers just minutes before the start of the morning prayer on Sunday, the Chief Mufti‘s Office announced.

“Today we witnessed yet another attack against Sofia mosque. This morning, 20 minutes before the morning prayer, the warden of the mosque in Sofia was cruelly beaten. Unknown people have jumped over the fence of the mosque, beaten the keeper, destroyed the security room and burst into the mosque,” says the statement.

The man was found by worshipers who came to the mosque for the morning prayer, covered in blood and unconscious, it said. He has been taken to the emergency Pirogov hospital. “Hate crimes, acts of xenophobia and Islamophobia have risen dramatically in recent months,” says the statement of the Chief Mufti‘s Office.

The news comes just a month after a Muslim man and five policemen were hurt in clashes between supporters of Bulgaria’s ultra-nationalist Ataka party and worshipers outside the Banya Bashi mosque in Sofia on May 20.

The incident was condemned by authorities and human rights groups as an example of a worrying escalation of xenophobia and religious hatred.

PART III-B

UK: Mosques Targeted in Fake Anthrax Attacks

www.thisislondon.co.uk

Via the London Evening Standard:

(Photo: Frightened: Imam Ahmed Saad was sent powder at Finsbury Park mosque)

MUSLIM leaders across London are on high alert after fake anthrax was posted to five mosques by suspected far-Right extremists. Detectives from Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command are investigating after imams at the mosques received bags of white powder.

One package, sent to the Finsbury Park mosque, also contained "evil drawings" of the Prophet Mohammed similar to cartoons published in Denmark.

The Evening Standard understands up to five other mosques in pockets of extremism outside London - thought to be Luton and Birmingham - were targeted in the past 10 days.

PART IV

CHALLENGES FACED BY MUSLIMS:

France is the first country in European to implement a full ban on covering up faces in public Photo: REX

(www.telegraph.co.uk)

By Peter Allen in Paris 17 Jun 2011

Hind and Najet, who keep their features hidden at all times and refuse to identify themselves beyond their first names, were due to appear before a judge outside Paris.

Both are accused of violating France's so-called "burka ban", which came into force earlier this year and prevents anyone covering up their faces in public.

But when Hind, a 31-year-old mother, tried to enter the court building in Meaux on Thursday, police held her back, telling her to take her head-covering off.

Najet, meanwhile, simply stayed at home, with the 34-year-old saying she knew she would be stopped from entering.

"For the hearing to go ahead, you must remove the veil. Justice must be administered in a calm atmosphere," police commissioner Philippe Tireloque told Hind.

Soccer v. Headscarf: 0-1
Lesley Hazelton.
June 10, 2011

(www.accidentaltheologist.com)

(www.accidentaltheologist.com)

More absurdity this week: FIFA, the international governing body of football, banned the Iranian women’s soccer team from an Olympic qualifying event because the players wear hijab — Islamic headscarves. The official reason: safety. Wearing a hijab while playing “could cause choking injuries.”

Yeah, sure. As one commenter noted, Google “hijab soccer choking deaths” and the search engine doesn’t exactly hum.

These aren’t just any hijabs, mind you. They have to be the coolest ones ever. They’re like speed-skaters’ hoods, and the players look like white-clad ninjas. I’ll bet they can move like ninjas too. Clearly FIFA has no sense of style.

Correction: FIFA has no sense, period.

The decision to ban the Iranian team was made by FIFA head Sepp Blatter, who’s apparently one of those Berlusconi-type men who’ll tell you how much he loves women, by which he means how much he loves looking at female flesh. No, I’m not making assumptions. The arrant hypocrisy of this ban is clear when you consider the fact that Blatter proposed in 2004 that women players wear plunging neckines and hot pants on the pitch to boost soccer’s popularity. Tighter shorts, he said, would create “a more female esthetic.”

I guess it was kind of amazing he didn’t propose wet tee-shirts.

And if you believe that Blatter is for a moment concerned about women being injured, his response to requests by human rights organizations to take a stand against the sex trafficking that accompanies the arrival of the World Cup was this: ”Prostitution and trafficking of women does not fall within the sphere of responsibility of an international sports federation but in that of the authorities and the lawmakers of any given country.”

PART V:

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE OF LIFE

Below from e-mail forwarded by Dr. Lewis:


"WHY I MAY BE DIVORCED" (BY MY HUSBAND)


Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up on that morning.

I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my husband would be pleasant and say, 'Happy Birthday!', and possibly have a small present for me.

As it turned out, he barely said good morning, let alone ' Happy Birthday.' I thought....

Well, that's marriage for you, but the kids.... they will remember.

My kids came bouncing down stairs to breakfast
and didn't say a word.

So when I left for the office, I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office, my handsome Boss Rick, said, 'Good Morning, lady, and by the way Happy Birthday! '

It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.

I worked until one o'clock, when Rick knocked on my door and said, 'You know, It's such a beautiful day outside, and it is your Birthday, what do you say we go out to lunch, just you and me..'

I said, 'Thanks, Rick, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go!'

We went to lunch. But we didn't go where we normally would go. He chose instead a quiet bistro with a private table.

We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.

On the way back to the office, Rick said, 'You know, It's such a beautiful day... We don't need to go straight back to the office, Do We?'

I responded, 'I guess not. What do you have in mind?'

He said, 'Let's drop by my place, it's just around the corner.'

After arriving at his house, Rick turned to me and said, If you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for just a moment. I'll be right back.'

'Ok.' I nervously replied.

He went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes, he came out carrying a huge birthday cake ...

Followed by my husband my kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers, all singing 'Happy Birthday'.

And I just sat there....
On the couch....Naked.

THE END