VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 195, August 7, 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, our focus is on interfaith relations, training of Imams in Finland, Europe and fighting injustice against Muslims in the United States.

PART I

INTERFAITH RELATIONS:

(ED NOTE:
ISLAM STANDS FOR PEACE: Yes, we have heard that before, but in reality, what specific actions are you and other Muslims taking in your personal and social lives to work for peace that the beautiful religion of Islam stands for. We believe that building strong interfaith relations between the children of ADAM and EVE is a major step towards working for peace. We appreciate the University students in below article for not only TALKING THE TALK but also WALKING THE WALK).

Kosovo: University Students Across Religious Lines Unite to Restore Jewish Cemetery
27 June 2011
by Amago
(www.islamineurope.blogspot.com)

A Muslim predominant country preserves a Jewish cemetery that dates back to the late 19th century.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)

American and Kosovo students have cleared out debris out of the neglected Jewish cemetery, a lone remaining sign of the dwindling community in this predominantly Muslim country.

Kosovo’s Jewish Cemetery Restored By University Students (PHOTOS)

The students said they spent a week to uncover graves left unattended since the end of the 1998-99 Kosovo war and restore the writings on the tombstones, most of them dating from the late 19th century.

The American students came to Kosovo after a trip to Poland where they saw the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp as part of their studies into genocide.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia has vowed never to accept Kosovo’s statehood.

PART II

Interfaith Service at Washington National Cathedral Promotes Religious Tolerance
(www.washingtonpost.com)
(condensed version)
By Isaac Arnsdorf,
June 26, 2011

As worshipers entered Washington National Cathedral for Sunday morning’s service, some crossed themselves and some took photographs, some wore ties while others wore shorts and a few even wore yarmulkes.

In the center aisle, in place of the baptismal fountain, candle-lit stands bore three books: a Bible, a Torah and a Koran. When a visitor asked a nearby usher what to do, the usher replied: “This is a totally different service than what we usually do. There’s no wrong answer.”

( Linda Davidson / THE WASHINGTON POST )

Imam Khalifa El-Krif from the Islamic Center in Washington performs a Muslim call to prayer in an interfaith service aimed at combating anti-muslim bigotry held at The National Cathedral in Washington on June 27.

Instead of Communion, the service featured readings from each of the three Abrahamic faiths, part of a project to promote religious tolerance through similar interfaith services at about 70 churches nationwide. The effort aimed to counteract negative stereotypes and hostile rhetoric targeting American Muslims in the past year, notably the controversy about plans for an Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York and the burning of a Koran by the Rev. Terry Jones in March in Florida.

“What we have done together in this great cathedral this morning, along with others in similar services in houses of worship across our nation, can alter the image and substance of our nation, as well as our religion,” said the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, one of the organizations that sponsored the project. “Today’s beautifully written liturgy, informed by Islam, Judaism and Christianity, declares unambiguously . . . we are not scripture burners, rather, scripture readers.”

The service began with a traditional call to prayer in the three religions’ terminology — a Hebrew “Bar’chu,” an Arabic “Azan” and a Latin “Spiritus Domini” — all sung in ethereal tones that swirled through the cathedral’s soaring nave.

Then Rabbi Amy M. Schwartzman of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church read a passage from Deuteronomy about showing kindness to strangers. Imam Mohamed Magid, the president of the Islamic Society of North America, chanted a passage from the Koran about the value of diversity.

“God could have made all of us look the same and go to the same temple or same church,” Magid explained. “But God willed that humans are diverse.”

PART III

ISLAM IN EUROPE:

FINLAND:

State Training for Finland's Imams?

The time is ripe for considering imam training in Finland, says Archbishop Kari Mäkinen. Home-grown imams could help Finland's Muslims feel more at home, according to the head of the country’s dominant Evangelical Lutheran Church.


Image: YLE

“It’s important that members of the Islamic community—as those of other faiths—have strong ties to Finnish society, its language and culture,” said Mäkinen, speaking on Wednesday at a seminar in Turku on religious literacy and interfaith cooperation.

Finland has no ready formula for national imam training programmes, though it could look to the Netherlands, which launched government-funded imam training initiatives five years ago to promote the integration of its Muslim citizens.

Rimke van der Veer, who heads such training in the Netherlands, said Dutch imams often act as part social worker, which requires deep knowledge of the local culture

PART IV

FIGHTING INJUSTICE AGAINST MUSLIMS

UNITED STATES

Anti-Islam Campaign Galvanizes US Muslims
(www.onislam.net)
July 10, 2011

Getting involved in the political process and state legislators, Muslims are more committed now to defending the US constitution.

CAIRO – Facing repeated attacks on their worship places and religious rituals by an anti-Islam group, Muslims in Nashville, the capital of the US state of Tennessee, are joining hands to face the growing intolerance in the United States.

“We are not afraid of this ACT [ACT! for America’s] group,” Rashed Fakhruddin, a member of the Islamic Center of Nashville, told The Tennessean on Sunday, July 10.

“But we are concerned about the climate of fear they are trying to create.”

Spreading its message to Bible Belt Christians, ACT has been gaining a growing support, opening nine chapters in Tennessee, the largest of which is in Nashville.

The group also managed to use the current anti-Muslim atmosphere in the US to propose a controversial bill that aims to ban Shari`ah in Tennessee, a move that sparked heated debates in the south-eastern US state.

The uproar started when two local representatives have presented a bill that would make the practice of Shari`ah in Tennessee a felony.

But under growing protests against the bill, the sponsors removed all references to Shari`ah and Islam. The group has also championed protests and marches against mosques and Islamic centers in the United States.But the hostile practices have prompted the Muslim community to join hands.

“It made us a stronger group,” Fakhruddin said. “We will not tolerate any acts of injustice. Not just to Muslims, but to all Americans.”

Ignorance:

Many critics accuse ACT of distorting the nature of Islam and tarnishing the image of Muslims.

“It’s framed as this real fear of outsiders,” Julie Ingersoll, associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, told The Tennessee.

Attending ACT’s recent national convention, Ingersoll made it clear that the group focused on an “us versus them” approach to Islam, confusing radicals with moderates. “It’s tied to all of the tea party rhetoric about the real America,” she said.

Page Brooks, assistant professor of theology and Islamic studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, agrees. Working as a chaplain in the Army National Guard, Brooks spent 2010 in Iraq during which he faced moderate Muslims. “Even the average Iraqi knew the difference between the radical jihadists and the average Muslim walking around the street,” he said.

“We have to be careful about who we label as a radical Muslim.”

Brooks also attacked ACT's labeling of Islamic Shari`ah as a threat to America that would replace US constitution. In Islam, Shari`ah governs all issues in Muslims’ lives from daily prayers to fasting and from, marriage and inheritance to financial disputes.The Islamic rulings, however, do not apply on non-Muslims, even if in a dispute with non-Muslims. “A lot of it has to do with religious compliance and personal holiness,” Brooks said. Yet, such repeated attacks offered Muslims a better opportunity to engage in political life.

Getting involved in the political process and state legislators, Muslims are more committed now to defending the US constitution.

“People know us a little better than they did in the past,” Fakhruddin said.

“People will see what we stand for and who we really are now. We are Americans. We are not some other group. We stand up for America"

PART V

CANADA

Allow hijabs, say Quebec soccer players
July 8, 2011
www.cbc.ca

Women protested the recent firing of a hijab-wearing referee

A group of Montreal women gathered Thursday to protest a Quebec soccer association's decision to sack a referee because she wears a hijab.

The protesters also called for the end of a controversial policy that bans headscarves during soccer games.

The demonstrators – who played a pickup game near Montreal's old port – said the association's position is unacceptable.

Headscarves are also banned by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which governs international soccer.

"We're asking FIFA and any other organizations to get out of women's wardrobes," said Sana Saeed, who organized the protest.

Hijabs and soccer compatible, say protesters

Saeed was one of about a dozen women who wore hijabs Thursday afternoon as they played soccer to protest the firing of Sarah Benkirane – a 15-year old who officiated soccer games for two years in the West Island area of Montreal, and off island in Vaudreuil.

They also held their protest to show that it is possible to play soccer safely while wearing a headscarf. FIFA bans the hijab on the field, saying it restricts a player's breathing.

Naajia Isa, who has played soccer in Singapore where she said the hijab is more widely accepted, disagrees. "They don't look at you and see the headscarf… they see a student, a mother, a daughter," said Isa.

It was the Lac St. Louis Regional Soccer Association that fired Benkirane in June. At the time, it said it follows FIFA rules and won't reverse its decision on hijabs.

The province's soccer federation said Tuesday that Canada's parallel organization also follows the FIFA rule prohibiting the hijab, and to change the rules, Benkirane would have to address the world soccer association.

In February 2007, five teams from across Canada walked out of a soccer tournament in Laval, Que., because a Muslim girl was ejected for wearing a hijab.

FIFA upheld its rule banning the hijab the following week. In early June, FIFA upheld a decision to prevent Iran's women's team from playing a 2012 Olympic qualifier game wearing headscarves.

THE END