Clipmarks | arifsali's 'muslims' clips

Change the Story

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:11:11 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Huge numbers of Americans profess to having little knowledge of Islam despite the fact that there may be as many as five million Muslims living in the U.S. ChangeTheStory.net is an on-line resource aimed at transforming harmful stereotypes about Muslims that persist in society.

The site offers an interactive experience where users—Muslim and non-Muslim alike—can meet their neighbors, learn about Islam and apply techniques of interfaith dialogue and action to local communities. Here you will find tools and helpful information for educators, religious leaders and individuals concerned about building bridges of understanding across lines of faith and culture.

Tags: islam, muslims, united states

Judge orders Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo freed

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:22:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Earlier related clip

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the release in the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, a landmark ruling that dealt a major setback to the Bush administration.

The Uighurs remain at the prison even though the U.S. military no longer considers them "enemy combatants." The United States has been unable to find a country willing to accept the Uighurs.

Tags: chinese, united states, muslims, uighurs

Newspapers get complaints for DVD ad on Muslims

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:07:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Muslims can't be the only one complaining to make this the "heaviest reaction"

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

NEW YORK – Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

Although a few papers refused to carry the DVD, about 70 including The New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor's right to free speech. The decision generated letters, cancellations and even a protest.

"This is definitely the most feedback that I've gotten to an ad," said Ted Vaden, public editor for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. "It's among the heaviest reaction I've gotten to anything. The great majority of the reaction was negative."

Tags: propaganda, advertising, free speech, religion

A must see: Bahraini Author

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:06:15 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: You should listen to the whole tape and pass it on. I wish there are more Arabs like him.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

We Hang Our Thinkers on the Gallows of Ideology. I Listen to Music and Placed Pictures of Jesus and Martin Luther King in My Home.
Following are excerpts from an interview with Bahraini intellectual Dhiyaa Al-Musawi, which aired on Abu Dhabi TV on December 29, 2006.
http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcrip...

Bahraini Liberal Author Dhiyaa Al-Musawi

[Video]

Tags: video, islam, muslims, author

Marking the End of Ramadan

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:48:48 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Muslims around the world have been celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival which signifies the end of the holy month.

Clip Source: www.time.com

Let Us Pray

Clip Source: www.time.com

Paying Respects

Clip Source: www.time.com

Light of their Lives

Clip Source: www.time.com

Community Spirit

Clip Source: www.time.com

Remembering Relatives

Clip Source: www.time.com

Peace in our Time

Clip Source: www.time.com

The Horrors of War

Clip Source: www.time.com

Bowing Down

Clip Source: www.time.com

Telling Stories

Clip Source: www.time.com

Bearing Fruit

Clip Source: www.time.com

In Bloom

Clip Source: www.time.com

Meating Point

Clip Source: www.time.com

All Aboard

Clip Source: www.time.com

Fun for all the Family

Clip Source: www.time.com

Fathers and Suns

Clip Source: www.time.com

The Circle of Life

Clip Source: www.time.com

Street Games

Clip Source: www.time.com

Gift of Peace

Tags: photography, ramadan, muslims, islam

'There Is Absolutely No Reason for Islamophobia'

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:29:27 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Calls like that are welcome news to Yunus Ulusoy from the Center for Turkish Studies in Essen, which keeps track of the religiosity of Turkish Muslims. It's a demand, Ulusoy says, "that we've been making for decades because, for Muslims, faith is a very important part of their identity." In his opinion, if the school system doesn't pay any attention to this fact, it only hurts the chances of successfully integrating Muslims into German culture.

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

Germany's Muslims are pious and yet more tolerant than most assume, a new study has found. Its authors are urging authorities to draw the country's Muslim children away from Koran schools by offering public religious instruction.

Dr. Martin Rieger of the Bertelman Stiftung thinks Muslim children should have their own religion classes. Rieger was the director of the study "Muslim Religiosity in Germany," which was provided to SPIEGEL ONLINE ahead of its scheduled publication on Friday.

The study reveals that 90 percent of Muslims define themselves as religous. In contrast a separate survey by the nonprofit German think tank found that only 70 percent of the entire population admitted to being religous. "We need to get the younger Muslims out of the Koran schools," Rieger urges, "and offer them professionally taught classes on Islam."

Tags: germany, islam, muslims, education

Grief, despair at Marriott

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:10:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: While politicians are playing with politics and their ego, let us not forget the human tragedy in this unfortunate event.

Clip Source: www.dawn.net

ISLAMABAD: The streets outside Islamabad's Marriott Hotel were littered with bodies and burned-out vehicles, while weeping survivors in blood-soaked clothes searched for friends and relatives.

An AFP photgrapher who reached the hotel minutes after Saturday's huge truck bombing heard cries for help from inside the burning building, where many people leapt to their deaths from upper floors trying to escape the flames.

The restaurants of the five-star establishment had been packed with Muslims breaking the daily Ramadan fast, and with foreigners who considered the hotel one of the few safe places to dine in the Pakistani capital.

‘It was like the hotel collapsed, and the roof of the kitchen fell with a huge bang,’ said a stunned chef sitting among the debris, his white overalls stained red with blood. ‘There were lot of people working in the kitchen and many customers in the restaurants, I don't know what happened to them.’

Tags: pakistan, terrorism, marriott hotel, bombings

Observing Ramada | Boston.com

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:50:19 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Has anyone noticed that Boston Globe has been doing phenomenal job with their photographic section lately?

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Muslim faithful throughout the world are currently observing the holy month of Ramadan. Observant Muslims participate in fasting (sawm), one of the five pillars of their faith, this entire Lunar month (this year it extends from September 1st to the 30th). Eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activity is prohibited from dawn until sunset, when the fast is broken with the evening meal called Iftar.

Tags: photography, ramadan, islam, muslims

One of the few signs of "freedom of speech" coming out of Arab world

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:13:15 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Arabs denounce cleric's fatwa on 'immoral' TV

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Even conservative clerics who agree that Arab satellite networks show too many "indecent" programs said al-Lihedan had gone too far.

"Our religion prevents Muslims from watching films that provide seduction, obscenity and vulgarity," said Sheik Hazim Awad, an Iraqi cleric, who, like al-Lihedan, is Sunni Muslim.

But "the real Muslim can just cancel (subscriptions to) these channels," he said.

Tags: free speech, entertainment, religion, arab

Crescent Sun

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:11:20 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

The crescent moon, a symbol of the Muslim faith, is seen at sunset on top of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan. For practicing Muslims during most of September this year, sunset is a happy time -- it means they can eat and socialize after fasting all day to observe Ramadan.

Tags: picture, sun, muslims

True Muslims DO NOT Support Terrorism

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:43:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: From onlinedesign's clips

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

How a Pakistani protest song is redefining Islam as anti-terrorist

More than 60 million people have responded to an Islamic protest song. By Photini Philippidou

In a country where religion is capable of suspending war – Pakistan's security forces declared a ceasefire with the Taliban for the holy month of Ramadan – it might also have the power to stop it. That's what the stars behind the song "Ye Hum Naheen" were thinking in their quest to redefine Islam as anti-terrorist.

The song triggered a world-record-breaking petition in which 62.8 million Pakistanis united behind its title-message – Urdu for "This is Not Us". Over the course of five weeks this July and August they have by email, SMS, signature or thumbprint sent an impassioned missive declaring that true Muslims do not support terrorism.

Tags: islam, moderates, muslims, pakistan

Comedy show plays on Danes' fears of Islam and terrorism

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:19:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Osama is a businessman who sees terrorism as a profit center, selling terrorism-themed T-shirts, caps and ballpoint pens. Abdul, a convert to Islam, acts as if he cannot kill enough people, or make bombs big enough. Ali, a Pakistani, has won a competition for the honor of avenging the cartoons published in Denmark that disparaged Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Despite the threat they seem to present, the men have so far eluded the Danish police - not because they run such a sophisticated operation but because they are the principal characters in a situation comedy, "The Terror Cell."

The show, about a bunch of losers in a gang that can't shoot straight, is scheduled to debut on Danish television next year. Its creator, principal writer and star is Omar Marzouk, a Muslim and one of the best-known stand-up comics in Denmark.

Tags: cartoons, muslims, comedy

Al-Qaeda faces Islamist backlash

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:01:51 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Slowly and surely...

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Al-Qaeda's violent methods and tactics have been coming under mounting criticism this year from Islamist scholars who once supported it.

One by one they have been coming out in public to denounce the organisation's actions as being counterproductive.

But at the same time, a leading British de-radicaliser says the number of young British Muslims attracted to violent extremism is growing - and, he claims, the UK government is partly to blame.

In the living room of his London home, the Libyan former jihadist Nu'man Bin Othman reads out part of the open letter he sent recently to al-Qaeda's no 2 and chief strategist, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri.

He tells him that al-Qaeda's tactics have been a failure and - most damningly - its methods un-Islamic.

He even questions its very claim to speak for Muslims.

Tags: muslims, fundamentalism

Islamic world should learn from Turkey court ruling

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:00:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: its relations with the United States have frayed over the past few years.

CNN: Why is that?

Zakaria: Mostly because of the Bush administration. The Pentagon never forgave Turkey for not allowing a second front (through Turkey) for the invasion of Iraq.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

The battle threatened to throw the country into turmoil. Now, it seems that stability has been restored. The party won't be banned, but it will curtail some of its more overtly Islamic activism. (Which was not very Islamic, in my opinion, anyway.)

CNN: Is this important beyond Turkey?

Zakaria: Yes, Turkey is the only genuinely liberal democracy in the Muslim world. If it appeared that it could not strike a balance between religion and politics, it would send a terrible signal.

People around the Islamic world should now take a hard look at Turkey, where the AK Party, which is full of very religious Muslims, is also the most progressive party in the country, passing dozens of liberal, European-style reforms of the economy, legal and social system. Turkey under the AK Party shows the most inspiring combination of Islam and democracy in the world.

Tags: turkey, democracy, muslims

Saudi king asks for religious reconcilliation

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:15:54 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: feeds.bignewsnetwork.com

At an interfaith conference, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has exhorted followers of the world's leading religions to shun extremism and embrace reconciliation.

King Abdullah's comments came at the start of a Saudi-sponsored gathering in Spain, that aims to bring Muslims, Christians and Jews closer together.

King Abdullah said that history's great conflicts were not caused by religion itself but by its misinterpretation.

He said: 'The tragedies we have experienced throughout history were not the fault of religion but because of the extremism that has been adopted by some followers of all the religions, and of all political systems.'

The Saudis have billed the gathering as strictly religious, with no political leanings.

Tags: religion, extremism