Swiss Muslims Rise Against Islamophobia.

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

Over the past years news stories about Muslims in Switzerland were widely highlighted in the media, shedding some light on a community that was not fairly introduced to either the Swiss or the international societies.

Before the big fuss about the minarets ban, there was little information about Muslims in Switzerland, in terms of their challenges and contributions to the society which they are living in and belonging to.

Today, October 29, Swiss Muslims are demonstrating against Islamophobia and racism in the city of Bern by hosting a conference which is expected to be the largest Islamic festival to have occurred in Switzerland.

The conference is organized by The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) under the theme, “Day Against Islamophobia and Racism”. This conference is supported by a wide variety of groups both in Switzerland and across Europe, to ensure the basic human rights of Muslims in the Swiss society.

As highlighted on the official website of ICCS, speakers of the conference include Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair- a well-known British journalist who converted to Islam in 2010, two prominent and influential leaders of Islamic communities - Sheikh Abdullah al-Samit Frank Bubenheim from Germany and Mufti Muamer Zukorlic from Sandžak.

On the other side, it is planned to include in the conference schedule special performances from Labbayk, an Islamic vocal group from the as well as one of the most popular singers in the Muslim Albanian Diaspora in Western Europe, Adem Ramadani.

One of the event's supporters is Yvonne Ridley, a well-known British journalist made famous for her capture by the Taliban in 2001 and her subsequent conversion to Islam.

Anti- Islam Agenda

The conference comes as an outcry from the Muslim community in Switzerland against what they define as "shocking attitudes" towards them directed by some political parties.

The conference comes as an outcry from the Muslim community in Switzerland against what they define as "shocking attitudes" towards them directed by some political parties like the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) - which was behind the referendum of banning the building of new minarets in the European country.

On November 29, 2009, The Swiss electorate voted in favor of the far-right call for a blanket ban on the construction of minarets, the issue that made Muslim leaders fear that the minaret ban would only be the first step to undermine their presence in Switzerland.

However the anti-Islam move in Switzerland have other manifestations, like ostracizing of Muslim women in the workplace because of wearing the veil (headscarf) and numerous debates surrounding the banning of the face veil (the niqab).

A bill initiated by the SVP far-right party entitled “Masks off”- which was approved on September 28, 2011 by Switzerland’s lower house of parliament - called for the ban of wearing face-veils in public places.

"At a time when insecurity is growing in our streets, more and more people are hiding their faces behind a balaclava, a mask or a burqa,” said Oskar Freysinger, a lawmaker of the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"This makes it impossible to identify these people, a fact that is particularly troublesome in case of violence or identity checks."

Move!

"Day Against Islamophobia and Racism" conference comes as "a chance for Muslims and non-Muslims to stand together and support one another to ensure a fundamental human right: the freedom of religion."

"It is an ideal chance for attendees to gain a closer insight into the life of Muslims in Switzerland," as mentioned on the official site.

It is highlighted through the conference posters and brochures that the day aims to stifle the growth of Islamophobia ideology that has the capacity of destroying the framework of a social order where Muslims can both exercise their religious rights and function as part of the Swiss society without discrimination or fear of reprisals.

http://www.indianmuslimobserver.com/2011/10/swiss-muslims-rise-up-against.html

Amah bint Khalid.

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

Her father was Khalid ibn Saeed ibn Al-Aas, one of the very early Muslims. She is reported to have said that he was the fifth man to embrace Islam. She reports: “Sometime before the start of Islamic revelations, my father saw in a dream as if Makkah was engulfed in total darkness to the extent that one could not see one’s own hand. Then suddenly a light came out of the well of Zamzam, going up into the sky and enlightening the Kaaba and the Haram. It spread further and enlightened the whole city of Makkah before moving much further away to enlighten Yathrib, i.e. Madinah. He could see its date trees. He reported his dream to his brother, Amr, who was a man of wisdom. Amr told him that such goodness will come out of the clan of Abd Al-Muttalib (the Prophet’s grandfather). He added: ‘Did you not see the light coming out of the well dug by their grandfather?’ Later, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) received his message, my father mentioned his dream to him. He said: ‘Yes, Khalid. I am that light, and I am God’s messenger’. He mentioned to him the main principles of Islam, and my father immediately accepted Islam.”

Her mother, Umaymah bint Khalaf, was also an early believer. Both her parents were among the Prophet’s companions who immigrated to Abyssinia, when the Prophet sought to establish a new base for Islam, away from the tyranny of Quraysh. Indeed, she was born in Abyssinia. She remained there until that immigration ended. The total duration of that immigration was 15 years. So, she was not more than 13 when she joined the Muslims in Madinah. She spoke the Abyssinian language, as a second mother tongue.

After the conclusion of the peace agreement between the Muslim state in Madinah and the Quraysh, the Prophet sent an envoy to Negus, the King of Abyssinia, to repatriate his companions who were in his country. Negus arranged their trip in two boats. As he bid them farewell, Negus asked them to give his greetings to the Prophet. Umm Khalid reports: “I was among those who gave Negus’ greetings to the Prophet”.

The Prophet was delighted when his companions who were in Abyssinia rejoined him in Madinah. They were on a mission of spreading Islam among non-Arabs. Therefore, he looked after them when they returned, and ensured that they would settle well in their new environment. Once he received a gift of clothes that included a small black dress with a yellow or red stripe. He asked those who were with him: “To whom shall I give this one.” No one answered. Perhaps they had their own young daughters, but they did not wish to claim it. Therefore, he said: “Bring me Umm Khalid”. She reports: “I was carried to be brought to him. He dressed me with his own hand. He said: ‘May you wear this and others to follow’. He repeated this two or three times. He looked at the strip and said to me: ‘This is fine, Umm Khalid; this is fine.’ She wore that dress while it fitted her. She then kept it with her for the rest of her life. Who would not keep a gift from the Prophet?

Sometime later, she married Al-Zubayr ibn Al-Awwam, one of the ten of the Prophet’s companions who were given the assured promise of being in heaven. She gave him two sons: Amr and Khalid.

When the Prophet said a prayer to any of his companions, that person lived to enjoy the answering of that prayer in the best possible way. As the Prophet prayed that Umm Khalid would wear other clothes after the dress he gave her, she lived long, perhaps reaching ninety years of age. Indeed, she was the last of the Prophet’s women companions to die. May God bless her soul.

http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/islam/article512769.ece

Islam & Da'wah in Ghana.

Al Salamu ‘Alaykum

A Jama’h left from Bombay for Ghana on Sunday for 4 months. A dear friend, who also happens to be a Consultant Ophthalmologist left with the Jama’h of 11 people. May Allah protect them all, make their Islaah and Da’wah easy and make them a source of enlightenment for everyone they meet.

Since, I did not know much about Ghana, I thought about reading up about it and about the condition of Muslims over there. According to Ghanaian Muslims, they account for about 45% of the total population of the country. According to Wikipedia, Muslims account for only 16% of the population. What is pleasantly surprising is that Muslims and Christians in this African nation have always had cordial relations with one another despite tensions in the Middle East and other parts of Africa itself. Most Muslims are Sunnis who follow the Maliki school of Fiqh. The Firaaq-e-Baatila have also set up shop here with Lebanese businessmen bringing the Shi’a faith with them. The Ahmadiyya (Qadiyaniyya) – a frankly non-Muslim group- have also made inroads in this country. May Allah protect the Ummah from the heterodoxies that are sprouting everywhere.

Those who want to read about Islam in Ghana can see the following links:

http://www.islamicpopulation.com/africa/ghana/islam_in_ghana_report.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Ghana

‘Alaykum Salam.

Western Bullying At Climate Talks.

Leading figures in western governments have been accused of using bullying tactics with developing countries during climate change summits.

The criticisms will cast a shadow over the climate conference in Durban, South Africa, which begins tomorrow, in the latest attempt to stabilise greenhouse gas levels around the world.

A new report, published by the World Development Movement, contains previously unpublished testimonies from insiders at both the Copenhagen and Cancún climate summits in 2009 and 2010. Officials of developing countries complain of divide-and-rule tactics and threats to withhold vital funds unless agreements are signed.

In one section the report criticises threats by richer countries to withdraw funds to help poorer nations cope with climate change if they failed to sign up to the accord. It says: "The US and the UK openly stated that climate finance would be limited to those that signed up to [it]. Ed Miliband, the UK minister, was blunt about linking the funding of developing countries with accepting the accord. The concerns he raised must be duly noted, he said, 'otherwise we won't operationalise the funds'."

The authors add: "The US said they would deny climate finance to Bolivia and Ecuador because they had objected to the Copenhagen accord proposal. The EU's Connie Hedegaard had also suggested that the small island-state countries "could be 'our best allies because they need finance'."

One diplomat from the tiny Polynesian island of Tuvalu said at the time: "Can I suggest that it looks like we are being offered 30 pieces of silver to betray our people and our future? Mr President, our future is not for sale."

It is a standard tactic at UN climate meetings for rich countries to try to divide and rule developing countries' negotiating groups. Developing countries admit they are bamboozled by the tactics and are often unable to keep up with the negotiations.

One diplomat told the report's authors: "At one point in Copenhagen there were 26 meetings taking place simultaneously. How can a developing country delegation of two people possibly hope to cope? These numbers are life and death. There is no intention to agree a fair scenario, whether voluntary or by obligation. It's so clear: we only need your signature here, we have figured out everything, we have designed the role of your country, there is no more time, please sign here now.

"Developed countries sit down and delay, and just repeat inanities, and then they go out and tell the media that the developing countries are blocking the negotiations, and all the world believes it, even developing countries!"

Another diplomat said: "There is the small stuff, like travels, scholarships, jobs, but the favours are also small stuff, or so it seems, until the implications come in, especially for developing countries' interests in general. And then there is always the threat to cut off funding for a project, or something, if one gets too aggressive."

In Cancún last year the rich countries created a new system of meetings. "It created confusion, it was so hard to challenge this and to say procedurally this is wrong. Procedures were totally ignored. If this would happen in Fifa the whole world would be scandalised!" WDM was told.

Bolivia felt particularly aggrieved by UN tactics in Cancún, where its representatives lobbied for deeper cuts in emissions than richer countries were prepared to accept.

According to a Bolivian diplomat, their delegation agreed to participate in a side-meeting on condition that no plenary meeting took place at the same time.

The diplomat said: "Three minutes after they left the hall, an official plenary [to adopt the outcomes of the Kyoto protocol] started. It was a deliberate trick! We could only lodge reservations, and run to try and find our senior negotiators and get them back in to the room."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/26/climate-change-talks-durban?newsfeed=true

Iran Will Strike Back Hard At Israel.

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the Islamic Republic's armed forces will respond most powerfully to the “slightest mistake” by the enemy.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the Army, and the Basij forces are completely vigilant and will respond to the slightest mistake by the enemy in the severest manner, Fars News Agency quoted Brig. Gen. Vahidi as saying on Thursday. 

The Israeli and US authorities have in recent weeks stepped up their aggressive war rhetoric against Iran. 

On November 6, Israeli President Shimon Peres threatened that an attack against the Islamic Republic was becoming 'more and more likely.' 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak have also reportedly been lobbying the Israeli cabinet to approve of a military strike on Iran. 

Similar calls, ranging from executing covert operations such as terrorism and assassinations to launching a military strike on Iran, were also made during a November 12 US presidential debate by a number of Republican candidates. 

These threats have no effect but to strengthen us further, the Iranian defense minister pointed out. 

Earlier on Monday, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Division Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said that Iran would “dump Israel into the trash bin of history,” should the Tel Aviv regime commit the folly of launching an attack against the country. 

The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Tehran with the "option" of a military strike, based on the allegation that Iran's nuclear work may consist of a covert military aspect. 

Iran has strongly rejected the allegations, saying that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. 


http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211880.html


'Alaykum Salam.

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

Islam in Romania

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY WWW.EMINETWORK.EU ON DECEMBER 27, 2008 

Yusuf Fernandez

Islam in Romania is followed by about 70,000 people, about 2% of the country´s 22 million population, who have become citizens of the European Union since the 1st January of this year. There is an important Muslim community in the Constanta Country. There are also many Muslims living in Bucharest and other big cities. Ethnically, most Muslims are Tatars, although there are also Turks, Albanians and some Muslim Roma, as well as immigrants of some Middle East countries. Muslim Gypsies identify themselves as “Horahane Roma” – Horahane meaning Turkish in the Romani language. Islam first entered Romania in the 13rd century at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

In 1990, the Muslims who studied in Romania founded the Muslim Students Association of Romania with the purpose of protecting the rights of students and to inform Romanians about the Islamic religion. In 1999 the association changed its name into the Cultural Islamic League of Romania. Its headquarters is in Bucharest, but it has offices around the country, in cities such as: Timisoara, Iasi, Cluj Napoca and Constanta.

There are also some Muslim charities in the country, such as the International Tiba Charity in Constanta. This charity organized a charge-free Hayy for Muslim youths who won a series of cultural and religious competitions. “We organized religious and cultural competitions for youths, offering the winners charge-free trips to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj,” Kareem Anjin, the representative of the International Tiba Charity, told Islamonline.net. The number of pilgrims have doubled last year to 350 people compared to 180 in 2005.

The charity co-organized the International Conference on Islam in Europe in October 2005 and brought together representatives of Muslim minorities in up to 40 European countries. The charity has translated dozens of Islamic books into Romanian and issued the first magazine on Islam in Romanian, Islam Today. The magazine comes in 36 coloured pages, Islamonline.net says.

The charity have also launched a campaign to distribute clothes donated by rich Muslims among the poor of the country. In order to promote this campaign, the organization has posted adds in Internet and leaflets inside mosques. “Mosques have been receiving generous donations from remote areas ever since,” said a responsible for the charity to Islamonline.net.

Many Rumanian Muslims have had to fight to overcome some difficulties. One of them is Istan Liliana, who embraced Islam three years ago. Liliana lost her job when she became Muslim and her family and friends abandoned her due to her new religion. She was one of the Romanian pilgrims that visited Mecca last year.

However, Muslim leaders think that there is now religious freedom in the country. “Romania provides an example of religious tolerance and co-existence,” the country´s Islamic mufti, Iusuf Muurat, was quoted as saying by the Ziua daily newspaper on 29th November. Speaking about a controversy on religious symbols at public schools, Muurat said, “Muslims have lived for more than eight centuries in these lands. The existence of other religious symbols in public institutions never bothered us and does not bother us now.”

http://www.eminetwork.eu/news/islam-in-romania/

A Son For God?

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

"And they said, 'The Most Merciful has taken (unto Himself) a son. Surely you have advanced something most hideous. The Heavens could well-nigh explode thereby, the earth split asunder and the mountains collapse into ruins. That they should attribute to the Most Merciful a son. It behooves not the Most Merciful that He should take a son."
(Surah Maryam verse 88-92)

Qurtubi writes: Muhammad ibn Ka'b has said that the statement about Allah taking a son is so heinous that those who uttered it almost broke the Last Hour on human beings. And Ibn al 'Arabi said, "If not for the fact that Allah is neither affected by the disbelief of the disbeliever, nor is He elevated by the belief of the believer; neither the former decreases His Kingdom by aught, nor does the latter increase it by aught, such a blasphemy would not have been allowed to roll off tongues. But the thing is, Allah Most High takes no notice of what the misguided ones have to utter about him.
Taken from Sayyid Iqbal Zaheer's Tafseer Ishraq al Ma'ani.(shortened and adapted slightly).
Wa salamu 'alaykum.