Muslims in Ramallah turning back to Allah

 

Faced with a down-at-heel life and little hopes for peace with Israel, thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are increasingly turning to God.“I’m not a fanatic but I have some religious feelings inside me and I wanted to try fasting this year,” Huda, a liberal young Palestinian woman, told Reuters on Wednesday, October 3.

Her friends could hardly believe she has decided to fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

“My friends are astonished at this sudden change,” said the 24-year-old.

Unlike previous years, many West Bankers are now observing the dawn-to-dusk fast, an obligation on adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling.

Muslim ‘peace’ adverts launched in UK

An advertising campaign promoting British Muslims as integrated citizens who reject extremism has been launched.

Islam is Peace – formed after the bombings in London in July 2005 – has initially placed adverts on the capital’s buses and Underground trains.

They show a range of Muslims – including a policewoman, a Scout group and the chef Michael Barry – with the slogan “Proud to be a British Muslim”.

Organisers say research shows many Britons associate Islam with terrorism.

The group insists that the religion demands that its followers live in peace with their neighbours within non-Muslim societies.

But it says it recognises that Muslims have a duty to show that the vast majority of them wish to do so.

After the initial London campaign, Islam Is Peace intends to launch a nationwide tour.

Ifhat Shaheen-Smith, one of the campaign organisers, said: “In the current atmosphere of suspicion and fear about Islam and British Muslims, truth is often confused with fabrications and stereotypes.

“Prejudice has become entrenched and sensationalistic media reporting is creating a climate of paranoia.

“There is a desperate need for openness, mutual understanding and a mature debate.”

Following the 7 July bombings, the group has spent tens of thousands of pounds placing adverts in national newspapers in which Muslims reject extremism.

Sadiq Khan MP said: “This is a fantastic initiative. Islam is a faith whose primary focus is peace and submission to one God.

“This campaign will help to bust some of the myths about Islam and allow the true face of Islam to reach all parts of our country.”

Secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain Muhammad Abdul Bari said: “The silent majority of Muslims are coming forward and now challenging the islamophobia in sections of our media – it is a brave undertaking.”

The campaign is launched as a new law banning incitement to religious hatred comes into force.

McCain Says Muslims Less Fit to Lead

 

Senator John McCain said in an interview posted on the Internet on Saturday that the Constitution established the United States as a Christian nation and that his faith is probably of better spiritual guidance than that of a Muslim candidate for president.

“I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, that’s a decision the American people would have to make, but personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith,” Mr. McCain said in response to a question about the possibility of a Muslim running for president.

The interview was conducted by beliefnet, a Web site that writes extensively about religious issues of virtually every denomination. After the interview, Mr. McCain contacted the Web site to rephrase his remarks, saying, “I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values.”

Really, McCain? Would you vote for a Muslim candidate even if he`s best able to lead the country? I don`t know why I find this hard to believe.

Video clips and excerpts from the interview are posted on www.beliefnet.com.

Ahmed Ismail is Back !!!

Dear readers,

I am so glad to announce that I am coming back. I am now in a totally different  country. I felt bad when I stopped writing here but I did not know if I could access the internet from the place I am in right now. Well, internet here is expensive actually and my job here does not pay that much but I will try to cut some of my expenses to continue my blog. I know that I am not going to be here all the time as I used to in my own country but what I know is that I will keep coming here from time to time to continue doing one of the things that make me happy. I have a mission which I will not rest till it`s accomplished.

I know that I came to this country to change so many things in my life. I wanted to be free. I am so happy here actually but I am home-sick most of the time. However, I know that being here is temporary and it will be, in shaa Allah, for a few years.

I am going to continue seeking the truth and revealing some of the ugly truths of the world we`re living in.

There`s a conspiracy against our freedom and this conspiracy must be stopped  before it`s too late. Islam is under attack all the time and only few people are standing up against that attack. I decided to be one of those few people. I can`t shut up and do nothing while innocents are hurt and while my own religion is threatened by those who know for sure that Islam is the right religion and that it`s the religion everyone should follow but they abhor this religion and do their best to fight it because it contradict with their malicious agenda.

This is why I am back and no matter what happens and wherever I go, nothing will stop me from seeking the truth and showing it to everyone.

                                                                  Ahmed Ismail

Fears grow over mega mosque in UK

“Gordon Brown is under pressure to block a £75 million ‘mega mosque’, amid claims one of the suspected Glasgow Airport bombers belongs to the radical Islamic group behind it. More than 200,000 people have signed a Downing Street petition calling on the Prime Minister to intervene over plans for the mosque near the Olympics site in east London. It is being funded by the fundamentalist Tablighi Jamaat sect. One member of the sect is said to be Kafeel Ahmed, who was engulfed in flames when a Jeep laden with gas canisters crashed into a Glasgow Airport building two weeks ago.”

Sunday Express, 15 July 2007

In an accompanying editorial (“Probe this mega-mosque”) the Express insists that “the Government must call a halt to plans to build a mega-mosque in East London” and calls for a judicial inquiry to assess the “potential security issues”.

Of course, the Express fails to mention that the petition against the mosque was initiated by a British National Party supporter named Jill Barham who blogs under the name of “English Rose“.

92% of European Jews, were originally Khazars (Videos)

Of course this undermines the Jewish claims that Jews are from Palestine.

Jews always lie to get what they want. They repeat these lies over and over again to themselves and their children till they convince themselves that those lies are actually the truth.

Jews took the land they`ve never owned.

Here is a collection of four videos that illustrate the truth about Jews unravelling their repeated lies:

See the videos inside:

Over 450 embrace Islam at Saudi health care centers in 2006

Over 450 non-Muslims working in local hospitals and medical centers supervised by Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry have embraced Islam in the past year, thanks to the efforts of the Islamic Guidance Department, the Health Ministry announced.

Employees working for the Islamic Guidance Department visited 235,000 patients last year and distributed 67,000 gifts to special care patients in various parts of the Kingdom. In addition, the department distributed 1.5 million Arabic booklets for patients and visitors at hospitals and health care centers. Another 48,000 booklets were printed in English for non-Arab readers.
The Islamic Guidance Department was established in 2001. Officials in the department coordinate with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Guidance and Endowment and the Supreme Council of Islamic Scholars. Among its several missions is to illustrate to non-Muslims working in the health sector the noble teachings of Islam. It also creates awareness among Muslims about cleanliness and shows disabled and sick people the method of performing prayers.

Officials from the department also visit critically ill patients, encouraging them to keep faith and maintain high spirits. The department also arranges symposiums on religious topics for health employees.

Troops Arrest 40 Praying in Mogadishu Mosque (So this is a world-wide move to prevent Muslim prayers?!!)

Somali troops raided a mosque in Bullo Hubey neighborhood, south of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, on Tuesday. Witnesses said at least 40 people saying their prayers in the mosques in early morning were arrested.

A witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was afraid of reprisal, told Shabelle that more than 40 people in the mosque. He said an explosion occurred the area of the mosque, sparking the presence of Somali and Ethiopian forces areas closer to the mosque.

Four policemen and a civilian were wounded last night after insurgents hurled a grenade at the police in Median district, south of the capital Mogadishu.

Witnesses said the police were telling shop owners to close their businesses when the blast occurred.

Abdulahi Moalim, the district commissioner, told Shabelle that that the grenade was hurled at a shopping zone where a large number of residents were shopping in the evening hour when the night-time curfew was about to be observed.

“The police immediately began searching shops and houses nearby to seize the criminals and they are till continuing the investigations and they will find the perpetrators,” he said.

So, this is what happened in Somalia. Yesterday in UK, a Muslim passenger was kicked of a plane and detained for wanting to pray. Are Muslim prayers going to be illegalized? What is terroristic about Muslim prayers?

US Christian tells Muslim women what they can wear

At Comment is Free Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, defends Jack Straw’s offensive and insensitive statements on the niqab:

“Straw defended women’s right to wear less intrusive headscarves; yet he also argued that something is seriously wrong when, in conversation with another person, one cannot engage in face-to-face interaction. Straw was saying that to wear the nijab is a decision to close yourself off from everyone around you….

“As he pointed out, wearing the nijab is not commanded by the Koran and represents a cultural choice, not a religious duty. So long as other ways are available for Muslim women to cover their heads, agreeing not to wear the nijab is a way of signifying one’s membership in a liberal society at minimal cost to one’s religious commitments.”

So, problem sorted then. Though some of us might note the quite stunning arrogance of Christians like Wolfe lecturing adherents of another faith on the nature of their religious duties.

Interviewed in yesterday’s Daily Mail, the Tories’ new shadow minister for community cohesion, Sayeeda Warsi, answered this sort of arrogance rather well: “… when Jack Straw stood up and said, ‘You should not wear the face veil’ I thought, oh my gosh, we now have white men standing up and telling us what to do. And I really thought that men should just butt out of women’s wardrobes.”

Switzerland wants to ban Minarets

A few weeks ago the Cihan news agency reported a story about a debate in Switzerland over the construction of a minaret in Langenthal. 

According to the story Muslims using an old paint factory for worship asked permission from the local administration to build a five-meter minaret on the roof of the factory. After the local administration approved, people began to speak out. Claiming that minarets are not necessary for worship, the Swiss People’s Party, a right-wing group holding a majority in the country’s parliament, launched a campaign to ban minarets. They tried to collect signatures for a general referendum on the ban, but the Berne administration cancelled the campaign indefinitely. 

Oskar Freysinger from the Swiss People’s Party said, “If you want to live here, you have to accept our laws. Otherwise go back to your country.” Some Cabinet ministers opposed this campaign, taking into consideration the possibility that it could anger Muslims. According to one Swiss newspaper, 43 percent of the population there is “against minarets”.