Clipmarks | arifsali's 'islam' clips

Fighting for Muslim women's rights

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:51:38 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Some of the world's leading Islamic feminists have been gathered in Barcelona for the third International Congress on Islamic Feminism, to discuss the issues women face in the Muslim world.

Some of the women taking part in the conference explained the problems in their home countries, and where they hoped to make progress.

ASMA BARLAS, Author, Pakistan

Religions always come into cultures, they don't come into abstract and pure spaces. Islam came into a very patriarchal, tribal and misogynistic culture. One of the deepest damages to Islam has been its reduction to "Arabisation".

Islam is influenced by the culture of the country it enters

Tags: women, islam, muslims, culture, religion

District of Columbia proclaims October "Islamic Heritage Month 2008"

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:29:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.islamicate.com

Tags: islam, culture, united states

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

Harmony among the three most important religions of Indonesia: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:47:24 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.paulstravelblog.com

A parade float on Flores suggesting harmony among the three most important religions of Indonesia: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism

Tags: islam, indonesia, christianity, hinduism

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

Islam: Past, Present and Future by Hans Kung

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:32:21 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: revelation-online.blogspot.com

For more than two decades the world religions have been a central topic for Hans Kung. In books which have inspired millions throughout the world, he has pioneered work towards a new dialogue between cultures. In this extraordinarily comprehensive book, he gives an in-depth account of Islam, the second largest world religion after Christianity. Describing paradigm shifts in its 1400-year history, outlining the various currents and surveying the positions of Islam on the urgent questions of the day, few people alive today could have written such a complete analysis.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Küng studied theology and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained in 1954.

In the late 1960s Küng became the first major Roman Catholic theologian after the late 19th century Old Catholic Church schism to reject the doctrine of papal infallibility, in particular in his book Infallible? An Inquiry (1971).

In 2007, he received a Masonic award for his entire life's work.

Tags: books, islam, theology

Can you find a single verse which specifically sanctions the use of violence

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:02:37 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Interesting article, at the source

Clip Source: blogs.guardian.co.uk

One of the peculiar features of the recent rise in Islamophobia is the manner in which so many opponents of the Muslim faith try to pass themselves off as experts on the Qur'an. In the wake of the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, It shouldn't happen to a Muslim, which I commissioned for Channel 4, numerous critics on Comment is free and on the channel4.com viewers' forum tried to convince me that the Qur'an preaches violence, terror and holy war. In my experience, such critics tend not to have actually read the Qur'an in its entirety, let alone in its original Arabic script, and prefer to rely on a rather disingenuous combination of mistranslation and misquotation.

A few years ago, the prominent Canadian-Muslim scholar, Dr Jamal Badawi, offered a prize of $1 million to anyone who could find any verses in the Qur'an which referred to "holy war". The prize remains unclaimed, as the Arabic translation of "holy war" - "harb muqaddasah" - appears nowhere in the Quran.

Tags: quran, islam

German minister says schools should teach Islam

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:52:13 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Offering Islam in schools will be "a very, very considerable contribution to integration and peaceful coexistence," said Bekir Alboga, a spokesman for the Muslim participants.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Schools in Germany should offer Islam - along with Christianity and Judaism - as a required religion class in the future, the interior minister said Thursday, but he insisted that the courses be taught in German.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that it would take a while before Muslim community leaders worked out a legally binding agreement with the state, but that an agreement on the issue had been reached.

"It will take some time, but we are moving ahead," Schäuble said after a third conference with representatives of Germany's estimated three million Muslims. Other participants said it would take several years before the classes became available.

Both sides have wrangled for years over the teaching Islam in state-run schools, where religion classes are required by law. Pupils now only have the choice of Roman Catholicism, Protestantism or Judaism. Many schools also offer ethics classes as an alternative.

Tags: germany, islam, schools

Islam and Hinduism's blurred lines

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:16:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Mr Singh is a member of the Kathat community in Rajasthan and follows what his community believes is a pledge undertaken by their forefathers.

Legend has it that the Mehrat, Kathat and Cheeta communities - with a combined total of one million people in four districts of central Rajasthan - are the descendants of the Hindu ruler of the warrior caste, Prithviraj Chauhan.

The three communities also have strong Islamic connections, because many centuries ago, their forefathers undertook a pledge to follow three Muslim practices.

These include the circumcision for the newborn male children in the community, eating halal meat and burying their dead.

That is the tradition many have followed, keeping the word of their ancestors. But it has also led to them facing something of a faith-based identity crisis.

A majority of them are poor and illiterate. They are people with a mixed Hindu-Muslim identity.

"We don't care about being Hindu or Muslim. It is sheer politics," he says.

Tags: islam, hinduism, india, culture, religion

The Islam you don't hear about

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:27:04 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

A trip to Indonesia — home to more than 200 million Muslims — reveals a faith that hardly resembles the one Americans have come to know in the blood-soaked years since 9/11.

After the 9/11 attacks, Americans put out a call for moderate Islam. Many Muslims answered that call, but few Americans heard them. Early this month, I traveled to Asia to see what Islam looks like on the ground there, and to listen to what Muslims themselves have to say about their religion, terrorism and the United States. What I found surprised me.

I went to Asia because Islam is by no means a Middle Eastern phenomenon. In fact, Asia is home to most of the world's Muslims. I focused on Indonesia because there are more Muslims in Indonesia than in any other country — roughly three times as many as in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

Tags: indonesia, islam, muslims

Against Islamic Extremism

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:30:10 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: It is for this reason that one must approach Islam from Islamic sources if one wants to understand it. This doesn’t mean one will have to accept all that one reads, nor that one can’t be critical after you have studied it: but you will then be able to be critical of something which is true and representative of the faith, not something made up.

Clip Source: vox-nova.com

What has become one of the most difficult things for Westerners to understand is that Islam is not a monolithic religion. There are many ways Islam has manifested in history, both in its normative forms, but also in its secondary and under-represented forms. Just as it would be wrong to form one’s understanding of Christianity by looking to Christian slave-owners in the 19^thcentury (even if they could have appeared as normative to many looking to the Christian faith at that time), so it is wrong to form one’s understanding of Islam based upon 21^stcentury radicals.

Just as it is wrong to read an anti-Catholic polemical tract to understand Catholicism, so it is wrong to read anti-Muslim polemical tracts to understand Islam (even though the tracts will indeed “quote from legitimate sources” they will do so carefully, cherry-picked for the most shock value, and without a legitimate hermeneutical approach to help the readers properly understand the context of the quotes themselves).

Tags: islam, religion, faith, culture

The paradox of Muslim weakness

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:51:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Interesting article

Clip Source: www.iht.com

In the years since 9/11 two broad narratives have emerged in the West to explain the nature of the so-called war on terror.

On the right it has become commonplace to equate Islamism - the ideology that seeks to order 21st century societies by the medieval norms enshrined in Islamic Shariah law - with a long line of totalitarian threats to liberal democracy. Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution, for instance, calls it a "foul apparition that has succeeded fascism, Nazism, and communism as the world's next bane."

The left sees the issue as a product of poverty or flawed policies toward the Middle East. Robert Fisk of The Independent blames Islamist terrorism on "political situations and injustice in various parts of the world."

Both views are flawed

Tags: islam, west

Indonesians use Koran to teach environmentalism

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:52:18 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Whatever works!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Sitting cross-legged in the dirt beneath a canopy of jungle vegetation, Nasruddin Anshory, with his Koran open in front of him, was telling a group of visitors about their ordained responsibility to protect the environment.

"As a Muslim," he said, "you have to do something."

His visitors were a mix of people from universities and mosques all over the island of Java, seeking to broaden their understanding of Islam. Off to the side were several students from Gajah Mada University nearby, eagerly taking notes in preparation for their dissertations, all of which will focus on promoting conservation through Islam.

Nasruddin founded Ilmu Giri, an Islamic school devoted to environmentalism, five years ago. But in the past couple of years, as global awareness of climate change and related problems has increased, interest in the school has swelled.

Tags: environment, muslims, islam, quran, indonesia

Islamic body issues fatwa against terrorism

Sat, 31 May 2008 20:38:02 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: Thousands of Muslims gathered in New Delhi on Saturday to denounce terrorism, with leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom issuing a fatwa declaring it as the "most inhuman crime".

"In its (Islam) eyes, on any part over the surface of the earth spreading mischief, rioting, breach of peace, bloodshed, killing of innocent persons and plundering are the most inhuman crime," read the fatwa, issued here at an Anti-Terrorism Conference.

The conference, organised by Jamiat-Ulma-I-Hind, saw the participation of clerics, scholars and religious leaders of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs besides 70,000 people from across the country.

Reading out the fatwa, Deoband's cleric Riyasat Ali Bijnouri, quoted Holy Koran as saying: "Do not mischief on the earth after it has been set in order."

"Islam loves peace. Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence... and does not allow it in any form," the fatwa said.

Tags: islam, terrorism, peace

See what Arab women are up to...

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:50:58 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Via Eboo Patel's blog

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

What are Arab women up to? Well, every day they're making bold choices. Their participation in the workforce is increasing, and the fields that they are going into are sometimes even groundbreaking...

[Video]

Tags: arab, islam, muslims, women