For Muslim women, respect cuts both ways, Islam, Women and Feminism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam, Women and Feminism

For Muslim women, respect cuts both ways

For Muslim women, respect cuts both ways

When you think of Buenos Aires you're more likely to envision Catholic churches and Virgin Marys, not so much minarets and Muslims. But, much to my surprise, South America's largest mosque can be found in Palermo, one of Buenos Aires's most fashionable districts.

The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Centre is an enormous structure surrounded by sweet smelling jasmine flowers and heavy-duty security.

I hadn't come to Argentina to go to mosque but out of a mixture of journalistic curiosity and tribal obligation I decided to pay a visit. Catholics aren't the only ones ridden with guilt.

But unlike the Catholic churches all around the city, you can't just enter King Fahd's mosque whenever you feel like it.

You have to answer a series of questions posed by the guards at the security barrier. And you can only visit two days a week, at noon, for a brief, guided tour.When I arrived at the King Fahd, the tour group had already entered the mosque. The security guard asked me a few questions and, upon realizing that I was a Muslim, said that I would have to cover up with a Saudi-issued cloth.

Out of respect for the institution, I took the black, polyester garb he gave me and proceeded to drape myself.

Then another man, maybe an imam, maybe an overzealous congregant, came over and pointed at my feet. I was wearing sandals and my feet were exposed despite my new black tent.

He told me first in Spanish and then again in English for effect, "I shouldn't see your feet." I told him, if I cover my feet then I can't walk.

http://newageislam.com/for-muslim-women,-respect-cuts-both-ways/islam,-women-and-feminism/d/2143

An Islamic rule of law for Lebanon?, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

An Islamic rule of law for Lebanon?

By Muhamad Mugraby

October 15, 2008

The central role of the Maronite Church, before and after Lebanon achieved statehood, and its political leadership of a distinctly Christian political establishment, cannot be ignored. The rise of the power of the Maronite Church must be seen in its historical perspective. This church started as independent and outside the mainstream before reaching full affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church had little or no presence in the Middle East until the Crusades. The first crusade commenced in 1096 on the calling of Pope Urban II in the Council of Clemont which he had convened on November 25, 1095. It took two centuries for the various crusades to be finally defeated. Within that period, the Roman Catholic Church established increasingly strong links with various independent Middle Eastern churches, including the Maronite Church, leading, by the 18th century, to the full incorporation of the Maronite Church as an autonomous unit of the Roman Catholic Church and, by the 20th century, to the patriarch of the Maronite Church becoming a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

http://newageislam.com/an-islamic-rule-of-law-for-lebanon?/islam-and-politics/d/885

Religion has a huge part to play in shaping society, Islamic Ideology, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Ideology

Religion has a huge part to play in shaping society

By Catherine Pepinster

September 3, 2008, The Guardian, London

The reason Miliband was so keen to court believers was because - contrary to Grayling's claim that "atheist leaders are more likely to take a literally down-to-earth view of the needs, interests and circumstances of people in the here and now" - believers don't expect people's hopes to be fixed on the afterlife and put up with the imperfections of this one. Vast numbers of believers are committed to the betterment of society through volunteering, politics and work in the public sector. They work for the relief of poverty, and for social justice. In the Roman Catholic church, liberation theology has highlighted the injustices of structural sin, such as poverty, and encouraged Catholics to act for social change. Its influence can be found in movements such as Make Poverty History and the Jubilee Debt Campaign. All the modern popes have urged Catholics to make social justice as much a part of being Catholic as going to mass.

As environment secretary, Miliband also understood that the Catholic church is a key ally in convincing people about climate change. He, like many in the church, sees combating this and preserving the planet for future generations as a moral cause. That is why the Vatican held its summit on climate change last year and why Miliband was a key speaker.

http://newageislam.com/religion-has-a-huge-part-to-play-in-shaping-society/islamic-ideology/d/705

Tutsis and Hutus from Rwanda: Living with the Enemy, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Tutsis and Hutus from Rwanda: Living with the Enemy

By Fatima Najm

17 Aug 2008

Just before the genocide began in April 1994, national radio broadcast pumped listeners with vitriol, claiming the Tutsis were denying economic prosperity to the majority Hutus, and urging Hutus to show no mercy to them when the time came to "wipe out the Tutsi cockroaches who will take the food from Hutu children's mouths". Kassim Ndayambaje, 28, cannot forget the horror of that April when his countrymen traded the blood in their veins for venom. "My father begged his killers to use bullets," he recollects. "He had a little cash put away so that he and his family could die a quick and dignified death." His killers considered his request for a few minutes while he grovelled at their feet. They then took the money and proceeded to hack him to pieces with a machete in front of his children.

The killers had lists, says Kassim. "Teachers would register pupils by ethnicity. Catholic priests would hand over lists of the Tutsis who came to their church to the Hutu Power leadership. The people that you turned to for protection were the one who turned you over to be killed. The radio called for all Hutus to rise and kill the Tutsis," he says. "The politicians went on the radio and told Hutus to take power back from the Tutsis."

http://newageislam.com/tutsis-and-hutus-from-rwanda--living-with-the-enemy/islam-and-pluralism/d/570