Reflecting on 7/7 in Leeds

The Guardian (8th July 2010) writes about one masjid's attempt to reflect on the events of 7/7 in the UK and bring the local community together in the process:

"People of different backgrounds came together yesterday afternoon in a show of unity at Makkah Mosque in Hyde Park. The event was organised to remember those who lost their lives in the London bombings on 7/7 and also to remember the lives still being lost throughout the world due to violent extremism.

The Imam of Makkah Mosque, Qari Asim, said: "The event was a chance to reflect on the past five years and on how communities have worked together to make Leeds a better place. There is still fear and mistrust, but we have a lot to celebrate in this city."

"Today the message is that this area - this city - is linked through tolerance and we can be a model of how we can all live together in peace and ensure that something like this will never happen again."

You can read the full article here.

A show of unity at Makkah Mosque in Hyde Park Photograph: John Baron/guardian.co.uk (image source)

Malaysia Appoints Female Shariah Judges

The Miami Herald reports that Malaysia has appointed its first female judges in its Shariah courts:

"Suraya Ramli and Rafidah Abdul Razak, formerly officials at the government's Islamic judicial department, were named Shariah court judges for Kuala Lumpur and the administrative capital of Putrajaya in May, but the appointment was only announced in the past week by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Najib said the step was meant to "enhance justice in cases involving families and women's rights" in Malaysia, where nearly two-thirds of the country's 28 million people are Muslims.

Norhayati Kaprawi, a prominent Malaysian Muslim women's activist, said the appointments were long overdue.

Female judges are common in Malaysia's secular courts, though most top posts are held by men."

You can read the full article here.

Beautiful and Islamic - Modest UK Fashion

The Independent (2 July 2010) interviews Muslimah designer Hana Tajima as part of an article on the rise of modest fashion in the UK:

"Frustrated by this lack of variety, a small number of devout young Muslims are making their own way into the fashion industry to try and provide a middle road – sleek, elegant clothing that is both beautiful and Islamic.

The seeds of this particular sartorial movement have only just begun to be sown and the number of Hijabistas in Britain can probably be counted on one hand. But their arrival heralds a shift reflected in the wider Muslim demographic of a community making their way towards the mainstream and forging their own indigenous identity.

“Islam has a really amazing definition of beauty,” she says. “Hijab is about how a woman can be beautiful without placing overt emphasis on her sexuality. In western society it’s quite difficult to separate the two. I design clothes that are beautiful in the way that women find each other beautiful.”

“Despite what some people may claim Islam is not a religion that tramples over culture,” she says. “In China, mosques reflect the indigenous culture. In India the clothes that we now think of as Islamic were originally taken from the Hindu culture. It’s only natural that British Muslims will begin to make their own creative choices that fuse both their nationality and religion. It’s not about choosing one or the other.”

You can read the full article here.

Hana Tajima, founder of Maysaa, on a shoot in north London for her new collection (image source)

Mike Tyson to Perform Umrah

The Boston Herald (6 July 2010) reports that former Boxer Mike Tyson, known as Malik Abdul Aziz, is performing Umrah:

"Mike Tyson reportedly is visiting the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina on pilgrimage, the Saudi newspaper Okaz reported. Tyson, world heavyweight champion from 1986 to 1990, arrived Friday in Medina with the Canadian Dawa Association for the umrah, or minor pilgrimage. From Medina he will travel on to Mecca and also reportedly plans to visit other Saudi cities"

Arab News (4 July 2010) also states that:

"While in Madinah, Tyson met Dr. Muhammad Al-Oqala, president of the Islamic University, who briefed the world heavyweight champion on the services being rendered by the university to students from across the world.

From Madinah, Tyson will travel on to Makkah to perform Umrah, press reports said. He will also visit Jeddah, Abha and Riyadh as part of his Saudi tour. His visit to Saudi Arabia was arranged by the Canadian Dawa Association (CDA) as part of visits it organizes for new Muslim celebrities to the Islamic sites in the Kingdom. Shazad Mohammed, president of CDA, was present at Prince Muhammad International Airport in Madinah to receive Tyson.

Mohammed, an ambassador of peace with the United Nations, said Tyson would be in the Kingdom for one week, visiting the holy places as well as important landmarks in the country and meeting with Saudi people to get to know their culture and traditions."

image source

An American Muslim Sporting Legacy

AltMuslim carries an article entitled An American Muslim Sporting Legacy: the Riyaadah and the Islamic Games (14th June 2010) by Su’ad Abdul Khabeer which explores the role of sports in bringing the Muslim community in the US closer and creating a sense of pride and belonging amongst Muslims:

“Despite their different trajectories, the Islamic Games and the Riyaadah share many of the same goals. Both competitions seek to give Muslims the opportunity to participate in an athletic environment that conforms to Muslim social norms. According to Imam Nadim Ali of the Atlanta-based Community Masjid part of the impetus behind the Riyaadah were the many new Muslims who were athletes before conversion and wanted to continue to their athleticism as Muslims. These sports competitions also provide opportunities for Muslim women to, as the President of the Islamic Games Salaudeen Nausrudeen, remarked “compete, in hijab or not, with full glory of the game.” In fact, at the Islamic Games women are the fasting growing sector of participants, with a 40% increase in 2010 in comparison to a 20% increase in overall participation. These specific outcomes are tied to an overarching theme of these games: building relationships within an American Muslim community that is deeply divided by race, class, politics, and ideologies. Perhaps the hope is that through a mutual love for “the game” we will rediscover our love for each other.”

You can read the full article here.

Mum and Muslim Request

Mum and Muslim magazine are now online at http://www.mumandmuslim.com/ We have had fantastic feedback from readers both positive and constructive alhamdulillah and are keen for more.

Better yet we are re-launching the magazine shortly with a new title and an updated new website insh’Allah. We are keen to make the magazine inclusive to fathers as well as mothers and we are eager for the magazine to reach as wide a readership as possible, so that the wider world can see how positive, effective and spiritually-rich parenting based on the Quran and Sunnah can be.

Why am I telling you this?
Because we would like the voices represented in the magazine to be as varied as possible. We want to embrace the full beauty and diversity of our ummah and learn from as many people as possible and hopefully pass that wisdom on to others.

Accordingly we need new contributors – anyone keen to share their experience or their literary work – articles, poems, short stories, how-to-tutorials are all of interest to us. Although our magazine is centred around parenting, we also publish material that may not be directly related to parenting but may be useful to parents – so recipes, lifestyle, product reviews, crafts and creative writing, again, are all of interest to us.

We would also love to get on board photographers – you don’t have to be a professional, you just have to have some clear, crisp shots that we can use to liven up our pages.

So, if you are interested in writing for us (fi’sabillah for now), submitting something you have written or sending us some photographs that we can use, please e-mail us at editor@mumandmuslim.com. Bloggers are welcome to send us material they have used before if they think it is particularly relevant and we will link back to your blogs insh’Allah.

Please do have a look around our website and get a feel of what we are aiming to do and take a look at the sections to see if there is knowledge, experience or wisdom that you have to offer. If you aren’t able to contribute at this time, please do have a browse and leave a comment. Your feedback is invaluable to us so that we can learn what is useful and interesting to readers and what is not.

Bloggers – we will soon have a button for our site to place on your website or blog and we would love if you could mention our site or display the button. More news on this once it is ready insh’Allah.

In the meantime, jazakh’Allah-khairun for your support, ideas, kind comments, e-mails and enquiries, please do keep them coming.

American History and Islam

The chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington DC, scholar Akbar Ahmed, writes for the Guardian 2 June 2010 about the role US history could play in bringing greater understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims in America and the challenges facing Muslims today:

"America has a strong foundation in which to solve the challenge of the Muslim community if Americans look to their past and revive the spirit of some of their truly great leaders. Roger Williams, in the 17th century laid the groundwork for separation of church and state and welcomed people of other faiths. The state, said Williams, should allow all religions, including the "Turkish" (Islamic).

Thomas Jefferson owned a Qur'an and we found a statue of Jefferson advocating "Religious Freedom, 1786" with the words God, Jehovah, Brahma and Allah carved on the tablet he embraces.

A treaty, which was sponsored by George Washington and signed by John Adams in 1797, pertained to Tripoli and assured that the United States "has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen." Even the Prophet Muhammad was praised by the founding fathers; Adams called him one of the world's "sober inquirers after truth" alongside such figures as Confucius and Socrates, and Benjamin Franklin cited the prophet as a model of compassion

Our findings from the field bring both bad news and good news. The bad news is that every one of the major American Muslim categories – African Americans, immigrants, and converts – has been involved in recent violence-related cases in the United States. In view of the bankruptcy of Muslim leadership and American failure to truly understand the Muslim community, it is not difficult to predict that violence will increase in both frequency and intensity. I am sorry to say that the government and its various agencies still do not have an adequate policy towards the country's Muslim population. Some Muslims are affected by US actions taken in response to 9/11, which included the arrests and deportation of thousands, prompting many others to flee the country. These realities have reinforced the sense of being a mistrusted community. Others resent the Islamophobia they see in the media.

The good news is that American and Muslim leaders alike are now conscious of the problem of terrorism and its scale and are actively discussing the position of Muslims in America. Some of our findings challenge the received wisdom telling us that most Americans are hostile to Muslims. Of those questioned for our study, 95% said that they would vote for a Muslim for public office, for example, and an equally high number of respondents had no problem with Muslims being "American", although some inserted "if" clauses. We found a patriotic and vibrant Muslim community committed to contributing to the country. Dialogue and understanding are urgently recommended."

You can read the full article here.