Thursday 26 May 2011

Bernard Hopkins Becomes Oldest Boxing Champ

Muslim boxer Bernard Hopkins became the oldest boxing titlist in any division in any era on Saturday with a unanimous decision over Jean Pascal in Montreal, Canada. Hopkins won the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight belt by winning all three cards after 12 rounds, by the scores of 116-112, 115-114, and 115-113. At the ripe old age of 46, no one had won a boxing title at such an advanced age since then 45 year old George Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer in 1994. Saturday's fight was a rematch of the first Hopkins-Pascal fight that took place this past December and ended in a draw.


Hopkins improved his record to 52-5-2. He is now likely to defend his belt against former light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson who won in a unanimous decision in Saturday's undercard against Adrian Diaconu. However, Dawson lost his title against Pascal in August. Another possible opponent is undefeated super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, who originally hails from Romania but now resides in Canada.

Article source here.


Friday 20 May 2011

Beautiful Recitation of Al-Fatihah

I came across this beautiful recitation of the first surah of the Quran called Al-Fatihah by Shaykh Fahd al Kanderi, possibly at Masjid al-Kabeer in Kuwait ( I am not 100% sure on the masjid - correct me if I am wrong).

Thursday 5 May 2011

At Our Mothers Feet Campaign

The Muslim Agency for Development and Enterprise have launched their "At Our Mothers Feet" campaign.  The website states:

"Every day, 1000 mothers die during pregnancy or childbirth because they can’t access the healthcare and support they need. That’s 358,000 mothers dying every year.  99% of these deaths occur in the developing world. Yet 8 out of 10 times, it’s possible to prevent a mother dying. All it takes is access to free healthcare and assistance from a trained health worker during childbirth.  Thousands more could be saved by communities supporting the rights of women – this means promoting education for all and empowering women and girls to make healthy choices.

Mothers have the highest status in Islam. They are the core of our families and our ummah. Without them, society would be unable to sustain itself or develop. Islam celebrates their central role in society and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught us to serve and look after our mothers – ‘Be at your mother’s feet and there is Paradise’ (Ibn Majah).

Muslim communities have the power to make a difference. Our faith inspires us to take action, and our communities and charities have strong links with many countries where maternal mortality rates are highest, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Bangladesh. This means that we have the opportunity to influence attitudes, share life-saving knowledge and help provide vital healthcare to women around the world.

We want to show that we are at our mothers’ feet by celebrating motherhood and coming together to make our local and global communities aware of what needs to be done to prevent these needless deaths.

We want to show charities that we will support them in helping to provide the resources they need to make maternal health a priority."


You can visit the website here for ways you can do your bit
image source


Discussing Green Deen

Guernica Magazine has published a conversation between Imam Khalid Latif, Imam of the Islamic Center at NYU and Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, authour of “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet”. The conversation is an interesting and useful one, giving lots of good advice and food for thought about the importance of being a green Muslim. Below are a few excerpts from the magazine, I would definitely encourage readers to visit the site and read the full piece:

"What we know from our deen, the path or way of Islam, is that we are not the owners of anything in the universe. 

The conviction that the earth is a mosque is rooted in some core, ethical Islamic principles that we should comprehend when attempting to live a green deen

The earth is 70 percent water, and the somber trust that we have with our creator, to be stewards, khalifah of the earth, means we will be held accountable for our actions. These actions include those related to water. If the earth is a mosque, then 70 percent of our mosque is water. Our mosque is oceans and springs and rivers, lakes and springs and wells. It is our right to benefit from water. Indeed, we need it for sheer survival. However, we negate that right if we contaminate, poison, or withhold water from plants, animals, fellow humans, all of whom also need water for survival.
I say, we can “turn your Green Deen ‘blue’ by setting up a water recycling station in your mosque so the water used for wudu,” wudu is a ritual ablution before you pray, “can be used to water the plants and grass outside.

So the other section that I want to jump to is waste. What I discovered when I was thinking about this was that, really, what we’re talking about is consumption and over-consumption and the patterns of consumption and how do we use things and let them go and, then, what we do with them? What happens to things? What happens to ourselves when we use and consume things? Because things define who we are.

Islam teaches that we come with intrinsic value, we do not need to produce or acquire anything to be valuable, we are innately valuable from birth to death. We all have the noble beginning and noble end, our soul has value because it is made by God. And when we recognize our own value and nurture the relationship with the creator, we begin to take better care of ourselves, we see ourselves as a beautiful part of creation."

You can read the full discussion here.


image source