3/11/2013

 VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
March 10, 2013
Editor: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

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




 

 (www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)
  
EDITORIAL:

Our sincere apologies for an extraordinarily long delay in continuing this E-Zine due to certain unavoidable extenuating circumstances. However alhamdulliah this E-Zine is back and will inshallah continue its publication. 
 
The feedback from the readers is very valuable and therefore you are encouraged to contribute towards this E-Zine - VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH because YOU are an important part of it. Please do not wait for somebody else to speak for you because, you may never be heard and your valuable opinion may be lost. We have never expected all readers to agree with us and welcome difference of opinions and in fact celebrate diversity in terms of perspectives. While we very strongly support healthy exchange of different ideas and opposing opinions but at the same time in the above process, we encourage you to be free of verbal attacks, expression of intense hate, obscene words and threats. 
 
Muslims across the globe are facing daunting challenges in various ways. But this is nothing new. The birth of Islam itself took place in one of the most challenging times. As Muslims we need to do our best to move forward as individuals, members of family, local community, nation and global ummah at large with increased energy, zeal, enthusiasm and vigor through the corridors of time to implement what Islam really stands for – Submission to Almighty Allah, Universal Brotherhood and Peace. 
 
Almost everyday, it is painful to note that besides Muslims being hurt and killed by non-Muslims, Muslims are also hurting and /or killing other Muslims either in the context of Shia-Sunni conflict or due to various other reasons. While as individuals we may not be able to make any immediate difference in international or national conflicts or civil wars, we sure can make a difference in our interaction with other Muslims within our own family, relatives, friends and local community. Unfortunately domestic violence, abuse and harassment perpetrated by Muslim males against Muslim females continues to remain a major problem and let's not dismiss it as a trivial issue and push  it under the rug so to speak, because it involves victims who compose half the global ummah. 
 
This current E-Zine begins with highlighting a letter written by an Afghan sister to her harasser and later followed up by another article regarding the country of Mali, where there continues to be injustice perpetrated on our sisters. "During the conflict that has ravaged Northern Mali for over a year, women and girls have been particular targets of violence: rape and other forms of sexual violence, forced marriage, sometimes to several men, public floggings, and beatings as punishment for "immoral acts". Given the title of our E-Zine VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH, we have attempted to briefly touch news pertaining to different continents – Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and Australia. We have concluded by nominating Sr. Ameena Qazi as the Star of the American Ummah for this issue.


 PART I:
ASIA:
(Afghanistan)

 AFGHANISTAN: A Letter to My Harasser
www.worldpulse.com
 Sr. Noorjahan Akbar
February 25, 2013

Harassed in the streets of Afghanistan, Noorjahan Akbar fights back.



 
Hello sir,

I do not know your name, but you passed by me a week after Eid-ul-Fetr in the Bazaar in Kabul. You might remember me. I was the young woman wearing a white scarf and a long red embroidered tunic with dark pants. I was standing by a vegetable stand and bargaining the price of fresh mint when you passed me and nonchalantly pinched my bottom. I turned red. The old man who was selling vegetables noticed but didn’t say anything. He probably sees this every day.

I ran after you and grabbed your wrist. Scared and sweating I started yelling, “Why did you do that? How dare you? Do you do this at home to your family members too?” and you started yelling back louder, “You crazy woman! I haven’t done anything. You are not worth doing anything to.”

I was still ashamed to tell people what you had done. You probably remember how everyone was watching us. Other women advised me to keep calm, that this would only ruin my reputation, but I wasn’t going to give up now. I started yelling. Soon the police arrived and took us both to the station.

A tall man in uniform asked me what had happened. I told him. You opened your mouth and the police officer yelled, “You, shut up!” Next thing I knew he was beating you. You were on the floor and he was kicking you with his gigantic shoes. Sweat was dripping off his thick eyebrows. He must have been as angry as I was.

I didn’t see you again, but the friend who was walking with you followed me all the way home. He told me, “What is the big deal?! It is not like he f***ked you.” But I was too tired for a second fight that day.

You and your friend probably both claim to be Muslims. You probably even pray at the mosque every Friday or more often. You probably tell your wives that they should not get out of the house because the world out there is filled with horrible men who will disgrace them. You probably even believe that you had a right to touching my bottom because you think a “good” woman would never be out on the streets without a man. Your sisters are “good.” They stay at home when you pressure them to. If I were a “good woman” I would do the same. These streets belong to men.

I am writing this letter to tell you that I never intended for you to get beaten and humiliated, but I am not sorry for speaking out. I am writing to tell you that I know what you are up to. You want to threaten me, scare me, and keep me shut at home where I will learn to tend to many children and cook food for your kind and be submissive to a man that might someday marry me. You want me to be terrified of the world outside and to not find my way and my place in it. You want me to believe that the only safe and “decent” place for me is in the kitchen and the bedroom. But I am writing you to tell you that
I am not buying that ever again. Not you, not the Taliban, not this government, not my brother or mother, nor can anybody else convince me that I am less than a man, that I cannot protect myself, that I cannot be what I want to, and that the best life for me is in a “safe” kitchen where a man or a mother-in-law has control over my every move. I am not buying that. Not ever again.

I will come out of the home every day and walk bravely down the streets of my city, not because I need to, but because I can. And neither your harassment or sexual assault nor an oppressive government will ever be able to take that ability from me again.

With Defiance,

A Woman You Harassed
 

 PART II:
AFRICA:
(Mali)
 
Mali - Women's Rights Must Be At the Core of the Transition
(www.allafrica.com)
6 March 2013

On the eve of International Women's Day, FIDH joins human rights and women's rights organizations in Mali and the Coalition of the Campaign "Africa for Women's Rights: Ratify and respect !" to call for the full participation of women and the protection of their rights to be at the centre of the process towards peace and democracy in Mali.
During the conflict that has ravaged Northern Mali for over a year, women and girls have been particular targets of violence: rape and other forms of sexual violence, forced marriage, sometimes to several men, public floggings, and beatings as punishment for "immoral acts". Islamist armed groups occupying the region focused attacks on the status of women, preventing girls from going to school, preventing women from working and moving freely in public spaces, obliging women to wear the veil... Thousands of women and children are among those who fled the violence and who now find themselves displaced within the country or across its borders.
Justice is a priority. Durable peace cannot be achieved without justice for the victims. Those responsible for crimes against the civilian population must be prosecuted in conformity with international standards. There must be no impunity for crimes of violence against women, in accordance with victims' right to justice and reparation and to deter the commission of future crimes. Our organisations underline that rape and other forms of sexual violence can be qualified as crimes against humanity and war crimes under the Statute of the International Criminal Court, which in January 2013 opened an investigation into crimes committed in Mali since January 2012. As affirmed in UN Security Council Resolutions 1820, 1888 and 1889, there must be no amnesties for the perpetrators of crimes of sexual violence. We call on the Malian authorities, with the support of the international community, to ensure that victims have access to legal, medical and psycho-social support.
We also call on the Malian authorities and the international community to guarantee the effective participation of women in the peace process, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2085 (authorising the deployment of an international mission in Mali), as well as Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Full representation of women in the new political bodies, including the forthcoming Commission for Dialogue and Reconciliation and the National Commission on Negotiation, must be ensured. We also call for the "Road map for the transition", recently adopted by the Malian government, which currently contains no mention of women's rights, to be amended into order to integrate these obligations.
The future of Mali must be built on the foundations of respect for human rights, in accordance with the Constitution and international and regional obligations.
Joint Press release : FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights Association malienne des droits de l'Homme (AMDH) FEMNET- Mali WILDAF- Mali Association pour le Progrès et la Défense des Droits des Femmes (APDF) CNDH MALI Union interafricaine des droits de l'Homme (UIDH) Coalition of the Campaign "Africa for Women's Rights: Ratify and respect!"

 PART III:
NORTH AMERICA:
(USA)



Group Launches Grassroots Campaign To Counter Anti-Muslim New York Subway Ads
(www.loonwatch.com)

By Hayes Brown 
(condensed version) 
Mar 5, 2013

 


A grassroots campaign aimed at countering hateful anti-Muslim ads in New York’s subway system has gone live, placing posters in ten locations across New York City.
“I started the project because, like many people I’ve spoken to, these ads feel like an attack on our most basic communal values,” Akiva Freidlin, the creator of the project, said in an interview with ThinkProgress at the time. “They’re doubly offensive, for both attempting to demonize and intimidate individual members of a particular religious group, and trying to exploit the city’s grief and anger.”
Campaign donor Omar Gaya is an American Muslim who moved to NYC about 2 years ago from California to work at a bio-pharmaceutical company. He calls TalkBackToHate.org “the voice of a formerly ‘silent’ majority.”
“We must raise our voices,” Gaya notes, “or else we risk letting the hatred of a few well-resourced individuals dominate the discourse and hijack the values of freedom and tolerance that we hold dear.”
Jessica Nepomiachi, a public policy & community outreach consultant, said that she gave in appreciation for the complexity and diversity of New York. “The NYC transit system carries millions of people a day through one of the most diverse cities in the world,” Nepomiachi says. “Our transit system should be a place of pride, a place to encourage thoughtful and peaceful dialogue, not hatred.”
The spark that launched the campaign was a series of Islamophobic subway ads funded by Pamela Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative that ran in New York City and Washington, DC last year. Much as in the case of the ads that inspired Talk Back to Hate, the original series of ads from Geller — which referred to Muslims as “savages” — were likewise countered by various religious and civil groups.

    
     PART IV:

 EUROPE: 
(SPAIN)

Spanish City’s Ban on Islamic Veils Overturned

02 Mar 2013




 

A Spanish court has overturned a city’s ban on wearing face-covering Islamic veils in municipal buildings, saying it infringes religious liberties.
In 2010, Lleida, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, became the first Spanish town to impose such a ban. It was temporarily suspended by a regional court following an appeal by a Muslim association but then later upheld.
Spain‘s supreme court on Thursday accepted a second appeal and said the city was not entitled to order such a ban.
It said that in line with Spanish and European rulings, such a prohibition must be based on a law, which does not exist in Spain at present.
The Lleida ban was largely symbolic since only about 3% of its population are Muslims and very few wear such garments.

PART V:  

AUSTRALIA:

Australian Muslim Activists Lose Free Speech Case
By Rod McGuirk, Associated Press 
Feb 27, 2013
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's highest court on Wednesday narrowly rejected the case of two Muslim activists who argued they had a constitutional free-speech right to send offensive letters to families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Iranian-born Man Horan Monis, a Sydney cleric also known as Sheik Haron, was charged with 12 counts of using a postal service in an offensive way and one count of using a postal service in a harassing way over three years until 2009. Amirah Droudis was charged with aiding and abetting the offences. They face potential maximum prison sentences of 26 years and 16 years respectively if convicted.


PART VI:

An Unusual Muslim Man with an Unusual message for International Women's Day
(www.carribeanmuslims.com)
03/8/2010

In his message and in his practice the Prophet Muhammad (s) elevated the status of women in the context of his time and our time. Here are some quotes from the Qur'an, the revealed words of God:
  • Women are a garment for you and you are a garment for them...(Qur'an 2:187)
  • Our Lord! Grant us comfort of our eyes from our wives and offspring and gives us all (the grace) to be those who are examples of the righteous. (Qur'an 25:74)
  • Consort with them (your wives) in kindness, for if you dislike something in them, it may be that you dislike a thing wherein God has placed much good. (Qur'an 4:19).
  • Men are the protectors and maintainers of women....(Qur'an 4:34)


In his own words the Prophet (s) said:-
  • The believer who has the most perfect faith is the one whose behaviour is best and the best of you are the ones who are best to their women. (At-Tirmidhi)
  • No believing man should dislike a believing woman. If he dislikes one of her characteristics, there will be others that please him. (Muslim)
  • The best of you is the best to his family and I am the best among you to my family (Imam Ahmad)
  • Paradise lies at the feet of mothers (Nisa'i, Ibn Majah)
  • It is the generous (in character) who is good to women and it is the wicked who insults them.
International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. 

PART VII:

 STAR OF THE AMERICAN UMMAH: 


Ameena Qazi

 Ameena Qazi: Sister Lawyer
                                                           Gustavo Arellano, March 7, 2013
                                                                    www.ocweekly.com
 …...The daughter of a Pakistani immigrant and Wisconsin native of German-Scotch-Irish descent who converted to Islam, she's naturally unassuming and soft-spoken, and she looks far  younger than her 31 years. "I'm a young woman who wears a headscarf. It's hard to get  people to see what you offer," she admits. But beneath that soft demeanor lies a lawyer  who has been at the forefront of civil rights in Southern California the past couple of  years, especially when defending Muslims. In her five years at Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Qazi and her staff have done everything from run civil-liberties workshops to help a woman who claimed discrimination at Disneyland to going after the federal government over its role in the Craig Monteilh mosque-spy case.

….Qazi takes strides to diminish her influence. "I'm just a drop in the ocean of this  movement," she insists. But she does take pride in letting Muslims know that their lives in this country shouldn't be one of fear. "When you use all these 'nots' to define you—not  terrorists, not a religion of hate, not foreigners—it chips away at who you are," Qazi says. "But helping people stand for who you are—citizens, Americans, neighbors—that's an  act of empowerment, and has a huge effect on everyone." 


THE END

















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