Dead Sea: Symbol of Destruction

With its high mineral and salt content, the Dead Sea is known as a place of healing. It is visited by thousands each year seeking spa treatments, therapies, and relaxation. According to Islamic tradition, however, it also stands as a sign of God's punishment.  Should it be seen, then, as a prime vacation spot?

Dead Sea: Symbol of Destruction originally appeared on About.com Islam on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 04:30:25.

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

Attempted Times Square Bombing Condemned

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

Police probe Facebook page attacking Wrexham 'super mosque'

Police are investigating a sick anti-Muslim website set up on Facebook to stir up tensions over fake claims a 'super-mosque' was being built in Wrexham.

The site "No to the super mosque in Wrexham" on the social network site wrongly claims permission has been given for a mosque at the Miners Institute in North Wales's largest town. And the website, which bears the Welsh Defence League logo, is also filled with hateful messages against Muslims, which North Wales Police are now investigating.

The web group has more than 2,800 members and this follows a march by the Welsh Defence League designed to stir up tensions in the town.

The Wrexham Muslim Association (WMA) has denied there are any plans to convert the town's Miners Institute building into a mosque but said there were plans to lease a small building in the town for worship.

Daily Post, 3 March 2010

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

'Muslim police club nets £10,000 public cash', Express reports

An exclusive association for Muslim police officers, backed with £10,000 from the SNP Government, was extended across Scotland’s eight police forces yesterday. Despite having only 46 members, with just another 90 Muslims among more than 17,000 officers in the country, the association could get more taxpayers' cash.

Black and ethnic minority officers already have their own organisation, Semper Scotland, which has around 130 members – many of them Muslims – and receives £51,000 a year from the taxpayer. But the Scottish Police Muslim Association (SPMA), launched at the police training college at Tulliallan, Fife, is the only faith-based police group to get Government funding.

Harry Pearson, Strathclyde Police branch leader of the Scottish Christian Police Association, which has around 200 members, said: "There is a clear disparity between the way we are treated compared to Muslim colleagues. It would be nice if the Scottish Government treated us even-handedly. We have to manage on donations from our members."

Laura Midgley of the Campaign Against Political Correctness said: "I don't see why separate groups are needed. The police should be there to catch criminals, as simple as that. Setting up groups such as these simply creates tensions and division. Equality should mean equality. It flies in the face of everything politicians lecture us about."

Daily Express, 18 March 2010

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Muslim Americans Reject Al-Awlaki Call

CNN reports that Anwar Al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical Muslim cleric, has issued a call for "jihad against the U.S." and questioned American Muslim loyalties.

In response, several Islamic leaders and organizations in the U.S. have rejected his call and issued statements of condemnation of his views.

Who is Anwar Al-Awlaki?  How have Muslim Americans responded?

Muslim Americans Reject Al-Awlaki Call originally appeared on About.com Islam on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 10:15:30.

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

'Britain must end the appeasement of Islamist terrorists: the Human Rights Act should be scrapped '

Nile Gardiner denounces the ruling by the Special Immigration and Appeals Commission that two terror suspects could not be deported to Pakistan on the grounds they might be tortured there.

His colleague Douglas Murray goes with "Why do al-Qaeda's rights trump those of the British people?"

Neither Gardiner nor Murray bothers to mention that the two individuals have not been convicted of any offence – or indeed allowed to hear, still less to challenge, the evidence against them.

See also ENGAGE, 19 May 2010

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Niqab vs. Burqa

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

Andrew Gilligan ? not a harmless democrat

What is going on at the Guardian? Following on from the paper's full-page splash on the "hijab gates" myth, it now gives space to Andrew Gilligan at Comment is Free to continue his witch-hunt of the Islamic Forum Europe.

And speaking of the "hijab gates", over on his Telegraph blog Gilligan reports that Tower Hamlets Council has temporarily suspended plans for the Brick Lane arches, described by Gilligan as "a £1.85 million exercise in 'religious triumphalism'", pending further consultation. Gilligan interprets this as a sign that "cracks have started to appear" among the "Islamic fundamentalists" who have supposedly seized control of the council.

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Earth Hour 2010

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

'Pawn of Islamism' ? now Gilligan witch-hunts a Tory parliamentary candidate

Witchfinder General Andrew Gilligan now shifts his attention to Tim Archer, Tory PPC for Poplar and Limehouse, who is speaking at an IFE meeting "Confronting Anti-Muslim Hatred in Contemporary Britain" on 30 March at the London Muslim Centre.

In fact, if you read the leaflet advertising the meeting, you'll see that the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Respect candidates for Poplar and Limehouse have all agreed to speak there. The only candidate who has not accepted his invitation is Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour candidate.

What this would seem to indicate is that, with the obvious exception of Fitzpatrick, not one of the main candidates in that parliamentary constituency has bought into Gilligan's campaign of smears against the East London Mosque.

This is not the first time that Tories have been condemned by right-wing Islamophobes over their links with the mosque. London mayor Boris Johnson has been attacked by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens of the Centre for Social Cohesion on this issue, as has London Assembly member Andrew Boff.

We hesitate to give advice to our political opponents, but if Gilligan or Meleagrou-Hitchens possessed a grain of tactical sense they'd see how counterproductive this is from their own witch-hunting standpoint.

Denunciations of Ken Livingstone or George Galloway as pawns of Islamism might find traction in some quarters. But Boris Johnson, Andrew Boff, Tim Archer? In attacking these individuals Gilligan and Meleagrou-Hitchens destroy any shred of credibility they might have left.

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Homosexuality in Islam

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

Quebec: 'secularists' demand that religion should be excluded from the public sphere

Quebecers fought hard to free themselves from the Roman Catholic Church's control during the Quiet Revolution and they must prevent newcomers from imposing religious values here again, speakers said last night at the start of a three-day conference on secularism.

"We must not let other religious groups bring back religious practices," said conference organizer Djemila Benhabib, co-founder of the Collectif citoyen pour l'égalité et la laïcité (CCIEL). "The rights of women, children and homosexuals are threatened by the demands of reasonable accommodation," Benhabib told an audience of about 225 at the Bibliothèque Nationale.

Her group is part of a diverse coalition of feminists, Quebec nationalists, defenders of gay rights and anti-immigration activists calling on the government to ban all religious symbols and teachings from the public sphere.

Quebec's Conseil du statut de la femme helped pay for the conference along with the French consulate. The movement also has support from public-sector unions and media personalities including columnists Marie-Claire Lortie of La Presse and Richard Martineau of the Journal de Montréal, who moderated panels at the conference. In March, 100 intellectuals signed a manifesto calling for Quebec to adopt a charter of secularism that would ban all vestiges of religion from the public sphere.

Montreal Gazette, 20 May 2010

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Cures From the Sea

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Source: Islam About Dot Com

Ask your MP to sign EDM 1079

Please ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 1079 – Muslims in Britain.

You can do this easily by clicking on this link. It takes less than two minutes.

The motion follows rising concerns about negative portrayal of Muslims in sections of the media and anti-Muslim demonstrations by extreme right wing groups such as the English Defence League, which recently marched on Parliament demanding the closure of the East London Mosque. If they had singled out a Church or Synagogue, there would rightly be an outcry.

We believe the targeting of communities in this way is creating a climate of fear and division, and undermines civil liberties and the right to freedom of expression. The motion welcomes the contribution of Muslim communities and their full participation in British society, including in politics.

EDM 1079 – Muslims in Britain:

"That this House opposes the increased demonisation of Muslims in sections of the media; expresses its deep concern at the recent visit to the House of Lords by the far right politician Geert Wilders; condemns the English Defence League demonstration outside Parliament in support of Geert Wilders and their slogans and placards inciting hatred, such as their demand for the closure of the East London Mosque, that will only lead to a climate of fear, division and disharmony; welcomes the participation and contribution of Muslims in British society, including in politics; believes that the full participation of all communities in the forthcoming general election is in the interests of democracy."

Take action and click here to urge your MP to sign this important motion.

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Ek Aarabi Allah Taala se

Ek Aarabi Allah Taala se Dua kar raha tha k A Allah mujhe sabr ata kr. Hazrat Muhammad(Sallallaho Alaihe Wa Aalihi Wasallum) ne is dua ko suna or farmaya”Allah Talah se sabr mat mang Q k sabr musibt par kia jata hai,pahly musibat aaygi,phir sabr ki tofiq milegi.Tu Allah se shukr [...]
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Student files complaint, claims hijab cost her fast-food job

Troy, Michigan — A 19-year-old college student has filed a federal complaint against the McDonald's after she says she was turned down for a job at the restaurant for wearing a hijab, a religious head scarf.

Nasihah Barlaskar said she went to a job interview on March 27 and was surprised when a white female supervisor asked if she intended to wear "that thing" at work, referring to the hijab.

"I said, 'Yes I do. It's part of my religion'," Barlaskar said. "She said I would not be able to wear it (the hijab) while working. I told her I could wear the (McDonald's) cap over my hijab."

Barlaskar said she was surprised by the treatment from the supervisor since she has friends who work at other local fast-food restaurants including McDonald's that allow female employees to wear hijabs.

Barlaskar said she needs to work to help pay for college expenses and to help her family since her father lost his cab driving job last fall. But Barlaskar found out she didn't get the job when she called the supervisor three days later.

She suspects she didn't get it because of her decision to wear the hijab at work. "She told me she decided to go with someone else but I think I was discriminated against because of the hijab," Barlaskar said.

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission complaint was filed today by the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Barlaskar's behalf.

"We urge McDonald's to take immediate action to bring its hiring policies into compliance with long-established legal guidelines on reasonable religious accommodation in the workplace," said Dawud Walid, CAIR-Michigan's executive director.

Detroit News, 13 April 2010

See also "EEOC complaint filed against Mich. McDonald's over hijab", CAIR news release, 13 April 2010

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Source: Islamophobia Watch

Aminah Assilmi: A Leader Lost

To God we belong, and to Him we all return.

Aminah Assilmi, a prominent Muslim lecturer, writer and women's rights advocate in the U.S., died Friday morning in a car accident in Tennessee. She was returning with her son from a speaking engagement in New York.  Sister Aminah was reportedly killed instantly; her son was injured and taken to hospital.

Sister Aminah, who was 65, served as the Director of the International Union of Muslim Women.  Despite previous health setbacks, including battles with cancer, sister Aminah continued to be active and maintained a rigorous schedule of speaking engagements around the United States. 

Sister Aminah is survived by her children Amber, Whitney, and Mohammad, and by several grandchildren. May Allah show mercy to sister Aminah, and strengthen her family in their time of sorrow.  She will be sorely missed by Muslims in the U.S. and around the world.

Aminah Assilmi: A Leader Lost originally appeared on About.com Islam on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 13:41:47.

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Islam in Zimbabwe

Islam in Zimbabwe By Ali Risimati Mathonsi During the consultative conference of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) some years ago, it was indicated by the officials that Islam was a threat in southern Africa. This was followed by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe’s slam on Islam. According to Umar Phiri of Iqra Ilm Center (Harare), [...]
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