8/17/2013

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 238, July 28, 2013

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin 

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




 (www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)



EDITORIAL:

In this issue, our focus continues to be on Ramadan. When anti-Islamists continue to spew venomous hatred of Muslims in different ways  and are blinded to see anything positive about this great and fastest growing  religion, it is really awesome that President Obama who holds the most powerful position on planet Earth had stated that "Islam has contributed to the character"  of US and also his appreciation of  the positive contributions of Muslim Americans is truly reflective of ISLAM IN AMERICA. We also wanted to share other positive news including  Mehdi Hasan's argument at Oxford House about Islam being a religion of peace, Muslims ranked as the most generous donor group  in a  British survey, Hollywood actor Ben Youcef who gives eloquent call to prayers three times each week at his Mosque, and many had come just to hear his voice, interfaith issues and last but not the least, Kazakhstan recently opening one of the largest Mosques in Central Asia.   


PART I



Obama celebrates Ramadan: 'Islam has contributed to the character' of US
By Kyle Balluck 07/25/13



President Obama late Thursday celebrated Ramadan with a traditional dinner in the State Dining Room, saying that throughout the nation's history, “Islam has contributed to the character of our country.”

In remarks before the Iftar dinner, eaten by Muslims after sunset to end the day of fasting, Obama quoted from the Koran, according to a White House pool report. "As the Koran teaches, whoever does an atom's weight of good will see its results."

"Muslim-Americans and their good works have helped to build our nation, and we've seen the results," he added.

Obama, who has hosted five Iftar dinners, focused on entrepreneurship during much of his speech.

Every day, Muslim-Americans are helping to shape the way that we think and the way that we work and the way that we do business," he said. "And that’s the spirit that we celebrate tonight — the dreamers, the creators whose ideas are pioneering new industries, creating new jobs and unleashing new opportunities for all of us.”

Obama recognized three entrepreneurs, including Shazi Visram, the founder and chief executive of Happy Family Organic Superfoods; Aunim Hossain, chief executive of Tista Games; and Iya Khalil, who co-founded GNS Healthcare, a biotech research company.

So Shazi, Aunim, Iya and so many of you who have traveled here tonight — each of you have traveled your own path, but each of you have also lived out an American story.

And of course, this isn’t just the American Dream; it’s the aspiration of people around the world. It’s the basic human desire for progress, to find dignity that comes from work, to give our children something better.”

Members of Congress, local elected officials and dozens of ambassadors were on the White House guest list.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/313665-obama-celebrates-ramadan-with-white-house-dinner#ixzz2anz7MKst
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook


THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release July 25, 2013


Expected Attendees at the White House Iftar Dinner
This evening, the President will continue a White House tradition of hosting an Iftar celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room. This is the fifth Iftar hosted by the President. The Iftar is the meal that breaks the day of fasting, when Muslim families and communities eat together after sunset.
Below is a list of some of the expected attendees at tonight’s White House dinner celebrating Ramadan:


Members of Congress:
The Honorable Debbie Stabenow, United States Senator, Michigan
The Honorable André Carson, United States Representative, Indiana
The Honorable John Dingell, United States Representative, Michigan
The Honorable Keith Ellison, United States Representative, Minnesota
The Honorable Eliot Engel, United States Representative, New York
The Honorable Dan Kildee, United States Representative, Michigan


Local Elected Officials:

Mayor Arjumand Hashmi, City of Paris, TX
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, 6th District, Michigan House of Representatives


Diplomatic Corps:

Suleiman Salem Hammad Abulhul, Charge d'Affaires of Libya
His Excellency Lukman Al Faily, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq
Her Excellency Hunaina Al Mughairy, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman
His Excellency Mohamed Abdullah M. Al Rumaihi, Ambassador of the State of Qatar
His Excellency Mohammed Al-Hussaini Al Sharif, Ambassador of the League of Arab States, Arab League Mission
His Excellency Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
His Excellency Yousef Mana Saeed Alotaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates
Adel Ali Ahmed Alsunaini, Charge d'Affaires of the Republic of Yemen
His Excellency Abdallah Baali, Ambassador of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
His Excellency Othman Bin Hashim, Ambassador of Malaysia
His Excellency Seydou Bouda, Ambassador of Burkina Faso
His Excellency Rachad Bouhlal, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco
Her Excellency Alia Mohamad Bouran, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
His Excellency Antoine Chedid, Ambassador of the Lebanese Republic
His Excellency Blaise Cherif, Ambassador of the Republic of Guinea
Kais Darragi, Charge D'affaires of the Tunisian Republic
His Excellency Maitine Djoumbe, Ambassador of the Republic of Chad
His Excellency Muktar Djumaliev, Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic
His Excellency Mohamed El Haycen, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
His Excellency Bienvenu Joseph Charles Foe-Atangana, Ambassador of the Republic of Cameroon
His Excellency Gilbert Galanxhi, Ambassador of the Republic of Albania
His Excellency Bakhtiyar Gulyamov, Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan
His Excellency Eklil Hakimi, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Baboucarr Jallow, Charge d'Affaires of the Gambia
His Excellency Bayney Karran, Ambassador of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
His Excellency Al Maamoun Keita, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali
Asad Majeed Khan, Charge d'Affaires of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
His Excellency Michael Moussa-Adamo, Ambassador of the Gabonese Republic
His Excellency Stanislas Moussa-Kembe, Ambassador, Central African Republic
Her Excellency Liberata Rutageruka Mulamula, Ambassador of the United Republic of Tanzania
His Excellency Cheik Niang, Ambassador of the Republic of Senegal
Her Excellency Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain
His Excellency Segbe Oguin, Ambassador of the Republic of Benin
His Excellency Roble Olhaye, Ambassador of the Republic of Djibouti
His Excellency Akramul Qader, Ambassador of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
His Excellency Ebrahim Rasool, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa
His Excellency Maman Sidikou, Ambassador of the Republic of Niger
His Excellency Elin Suleymanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan
His Excellency Namik Tan, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey
His Excellency Mohamed Mostafa Mohamed Tawfik, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt
His Excellency Kairat Umarov, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Her Excellency Oliver Wonekha, Ambassador of the Republic of Uganda
His Excellency Dato Paduka Yusoff Abd Hamid, Ambassador of the State of Brunei Darussalam
His Excellency Adebowale Adefuye, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
His Excellency Daouda Diabate, Ambassador of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
His Excellency Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait




PART II
 
Mehdi Hasan at Oxford Union: “Islam is a religion of peace”

09 July 2013 
(www.loonwatch.com) 
by Emperor
 

A brilliant argument by Mehdi Hasan for the affirmative side of the debate on the motion: Islam, a religion of peace.

Update: The motion, “Islam is a peaceful religion” passed: 286 to 168.

http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/07/mehdi-hasan-at-oxford-union-islam-is-a-religion-of-peace/




PART III:

 
Muslims Rank as Most Generous Donor Group in British Survey

23 Jul 2013
PHILANTHROPY TODAY


A U.K. poll found that Muslims in that nation donate more on average to charity than other religious groups, NBC News reports.

Adherents of Islam gave an average of $567 to charity in 2012, according to the survey of 4,036 U.K. residents by ICM Research. Jews gave $412, Protestants $308, Roman Catholics $272, and atheists $177.

The U.K. findings follow a recent international survey by the Pew Research Center that found that 77 percent of Muslims give to charity, and data from philanthropy Web site JustGiving.com show nearly 70 percent growth in the last two years in Muslims’ use of online methods for Zakat, the Islamic practice of donating to charity.

 
PART IV:
  
Ben Youcef: The Hollywood Actor Who Gives the Call to Prayer
24 Jul 2013 
www.loonwatch.com


 Ben_Youcef_Hollywood


NPR has a story on a Muslim actor from Algeria who gives a sonorous rendition of the Islamic call to prayer (Adhan) three times a week at his mosque; many come just to hear his voice.

For the next year, NPR will take a musical journey across America, which is one of the most religiously diverse countries on earth. We want to discover and celebrate the many ways in which people make spiritual music — individually and collectively, inside and outside houses of worship.

It is said, in Los Angeles, that Abdulwahab Benyoucef’s call to prayer is so lovely and so clarion that Muslims come to the mosque just to hear him. About three times a week, the Algerian actor — who has shortened his name to Ben Youcef — comes here in his traditional tunic to stand before the men kneeling toward Mecca. He closes his eyes, holds one hand over his ear, leans into a microphone and sings out the Arabic words in extended phrases.

It’s a way to call people to come to worship God,” Ben Youcef says. “That’s the purpose of the adhan [the Arabic name for call to prayer]. I bear witness that there’s no God except God. I bear witness that Muhammad is a messenger of God. Come to what’s good, come to prayer.”

In his other life, the 34-year-old Ben Youcef is one of Hollywood’s A-list Muslim actors. Lately, because of his complexion, he’s been getting more and more generic ethnic roles. “Because in commercials,” he says, “a lot of times I’m actually playing a Latin guy or an ethnically ambiguous guy.”

While the story is feel-good it does oddly descend into a bit of Orientalism. For some reason writer John Burnett could not type up an article on a Muslim without including a reference to “Aladdin.”

Ben Youcef, with his Aladdin-like good looks and mellifluous voice, has the goal of becoming Hollywood’s most recognizable Arab actor — the next Omar Sharif — just so long, he says, as he can remain true to Islam.



 PART V:

INTER-FAITH ISSUES:

St.Louis Church Sign: Ramadan Mubarak




PART VI:

Kazakhstan Opens Huge Mosque
 By James Kilner, Almaty
www.telegraph.co.uk
09 Jul 2012

Kazakhstan has opened one of the largest mosques in Central Asia to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Kazakh capital’s switch to Astana.
 


(Mosque photo) The Hazrat Sultan Mosque in Astana, Kazakhstan Photo: AP


The mosque, called Khazret Sultan, is big enough to take 5,000 worshippers and stands on a 27 acre site, roughly the size of 18 football pitches.

This celebration is a celebration for all Kazakh people. I congratulate you on opening Kazakhstan’s biggest mosque,” AFP news agency quoted Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying when he opened the mosque on Friday.

Kazakhstan, the largest economy in Central Asia, is predominantly Muslim.

Mr Nazarbayev, who has ruled since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, switched the Kazakh capital to Astana from Almaty in 1998.

Astana, which lies on the windswept steppe, has since become Mr Nazarbayev’s pet project and new, ornate buildings rise up into the city’s skyline every year.



 (www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

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