A Jewish Voice Against the Burqa Ban, Interfaith Dialogue, NewAgeIslam.com

Interfaith Dialogue

A Jewish Voice Against the Burqa Ban

By Joshua Stanton

Even as a Jew in New York, I know of what it is like to be Muslim in France.

While studying abroad in the French city of Strasbourg in 2007, I decided to grow a bushy beard. Little did I know that in France, only traditional Jewish and Muslim men don anything but the most finely trimmed mustache or goatee. Since I did not wear a yarmulke or other head covering, people who saw me on the street assumed that I was Muslim.

I felt that police officers and passersby treated me with suspicion, and even on the crowded rush hour bus, few chose to sit next to me if they could avoid it. On one occasion someone followed me home and tried to start a fight, only to find that I was a bewildered American, not a French Muslim.

Never before, and never since, have I experienced disdain of this sort. On a daily basis, I was made to feel badly because of my appearance -- and what was presumed to be my corresponding religious affiliation. So when I read of the effort by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supporters to criminalize the burqa (and other garments that fully cover a woman's body, head, and face) in France, I understood it to be far more than a measure to protect women's rights or preserve the concept of a secular society, on which the modern French state is built.

In my opinion, it is easy to see how the "burqa ban" might be misused as a part of a broader effort to stigmatize a religious population, one that already perceives itself to be on the margins of society.

Admittedly, I am fundamentally opposed to any garment or religious practice -- including those found in my own Jewish tradition -- that suggests that women hold a different or subservient position. But the burqa ban in France will not achieve the aim of gender equality. If anything, it will strengthen religious conservatives in France's Muslim population by convincing members of the moderate majority of Muslims that the rest of French society will never accept them.

http://newageislam.com/a-jewish-voice-against-the-burqa-ban/interfaith-dialogue/d/2751

UN rights body to condemn Swiss ban on minaret,

Islamic World News

UN rights body to condemn Swiss ban on minaret

The United Nations Council of Human Rights is intended to condemn a move by Switzerland to impose a ban on the construction of new minarets in the Alpine nation, characterizing the measure as "Islamophobic."

A draft resolution proposed by the Muslim states for consideration in the 47-member council, "strongly condemns ... the ban on construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures," AFP said.

Such actions are "manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religion, belief, conscience and expression."

They "fuel discrimination, extremism, and misperception leading to polarization and fragmentation with dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences," cautioned the draft resolution.

The draft resolution is to be put to the Council for adoption by the end of the month.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has described the ban as a "deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take."

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has also called on Swiss officials to abandon the move.

In a referendum last year the Swiss voted to stop Muslims building more minarets, a move that met with global condemnations.

http://newageislam.com/un-rights-body-to-condemn-swiss-ban-on-minaret/islamic-world-news/d/2565

The shame of terror: Father knows best, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

The shame of terror: Father knows best

By Thomas L. Friedman

January 7th, 2010

Surely, the most important, interesting — and, yes, heroic — figure in the whole Christmas Day Northwest airliner affair was the would-be bomber’s father, the Nigerian banker Alhaji Umaru Mutallab.

Mutallab did something that, as far as we know, no other parent of a suicide bomber has done: He went to the US embassy in Nigeria and warned us that text messages from his son revealed that he was in Yemen and had become a fervent, and possibly dangerous, radical.

We are turning ourselves inside out over how our system broke down — and surely it did — in allowing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be suicide bomber, to board that airliner. But his father, in effect, told us something else: “My family system, our village system, broke down. My own son fell under the influence of a jihadist version of Islam that I do not recognise and have reason to fear”.

The Times, quoting a cousin, said the son had sent the father a text message from Yemen in which he declared that “he had found a new religion, the real Islam” and that he was never coming home again. A February 20, 2005, Internet posting attributed to the son and quoted by the Associated Press said: “I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the Muslims will win ... and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!!!”

http://newageislam.com/the-shame-of-terror--father-knows-best/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/2341

Are Saudi Wahhabis themselves worshipping graves now?, Letter to the Editor, NewAgeIslam.com

Letter to the Editor

Are Saudi Wahhabis themselves worshipping graves now?

DEAR ALL,

Look at this image. Is it shirk? Why are all of the imams and ulama facing the muwajaha with the king? If not, then why are muslims stopped from this and even physically harmed at the muwajaha?

http://newageislam.com/are-saudi-wahhabis-themselves-worshipping-graves-now?/letter-to-the-editor/d/2402

Bangladesh's 4 million Muslim pilgrimage calls for peace, stability, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Bangladesh's 4 million Muslim pilgrimage calls for peace, stability

January 24, 2010

Some 4 million Muslims took part in a mass prayer in Bangladesh on Sunday, the final day of an annual three-day event that is among the world's largest religious gatherings.

Tens of thousands walked overnight to reach the site of the World Congregation of Muslims, or Biswa Ijtema, with authorities closing access to the grounds to traffic until the final prayer was concluded Sunday afternoon. The gathering, held each year since 1966, aims to revive the tenets of Islam and promote peace through prayer.

Biswa Ijtema, which shuns politics, has no history of violence, but security was tight, with watchtowers and security cameras installed around the 190-acre (77-hectare) grounds in the industrial town of Tongi.

With nearly 20,000 security personnel keeping guard, President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia attended the final prayer on the sandy banks of the River Turag, just north of the capital, Dhaka.

Many devotees were overwhelmed by the gathering.

"It's a sea of people," Mohammad Ramzan, a college student, told The Associated Press by phone from the scene. "This is huge. This is difficult to explain."

A police official, Mizanur Rahman, estimated the final day's crowd at 4 million. About 87 percent of Bangladesh's 150 million people are Muslim.

In addition to Bangladeshis, the gathering also attracted several thousands of foreigners from countries including the United States, Canada, India, Indonesia and Britain.

During the three days, participants discussed the Quran and listened to sermons by Islamic scholars from around the world.

Women are not allowed at the main venue, so instead gathered at nearby villages and stood on rooftops during the concluding prayer.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1163581&lang=eng_news

http://newageislam.com/bangladesh-s-4-million--muslim-pilgrimage-calls-for-peace,-stability/islamic-world-news/d/2413

Kalam, Shah Rukh in most influential Muslims list, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Kalam, Shah Rukh in most influential Muslims list

NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind survey of the world’s most influential Muslims, Georgetown University has come out with a list of 500 among

whom are prominent Indians like former President A P J Abdul Kalam, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and music maestro A R Rahman.

What, however, has come as a surprise is the choice of an Urdu professor at Aligarh Muslim University for his propagation of moderate Sufi views in a region being blighted by jihadi terror.

Professor Sayid Ameen Mian Qaudri, ranked 44 on the list, is a “leader of a South Asian Sufi movement based in a volatile region where religion has been used as a platform for violence”, the editors said in their comment.

Another interesting selection is that of Maulana Mahmood Madani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and MP, who has campaigned against Islamic terror. “Madani has been outspoken in his opposition to the misuse of the term ‘jihad’ as a tool of terrorism in India,” the university said justifying the highest rank — 36 — given to him among his compatriots on the list.

Noted Islamic scholar Asghar Ali Engineer, leader of the progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement, finds space for his “take on Islam and contemporary issues”.

Another choice for the ‘scholarly’ category is spiritual leader Wahiduddin Khan, hailed by the volume as “Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world”. His approach, it is pointed out, is “popular among Indians, both Muslim and non-Muslim”.

http://newageislam.com/kalam,-shah-rukh-in-most-influential-muslims-list/islamic-world-news/d/2213

Dressing to Impress Aceh's Shariah Police, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Dressing to Impress Aceh's Shariah Police

In Pasar Rakyat, a market in Meulaboh in Indonesia's West Aceh, a young woman busily browses through a rack of skirts. She is wearing a loose, long skirt, a tight, long-sleeved T-shirt and a jilbab that comes up to her chest. She analyzes the material of the skirts, touching them to feel the texture.

“I have to replace my clothes with skirts and Muslim outfits [that are long-sleeved and loose],” 20-year-old Rahma said last Tuesday. “I don’t want to be arrested by the Wilayatul Hisbah [Shariah police] when they really implement the new law.”

The district of West Aceh will begin enforcing a new regulation in January that will strictly forbid Muslims, especially women, to wear tight clothes. M Nur Juned, head of West Aceh district’s Shariah division, said in a telephone interview with the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that authorities would regulate the clothes that people were allowed to wear.

“For women, the clothes should not be skintight, see-through, show the contours of their bodies or be boyish. The jilbab should be long so it can cover their chest,” he said. “Women can still wear trousers as long as they are not tight.

“As for men, they can’t wear shorts when they are out in public. And they can’t dress up like a woman, either. Allah hates such a thing.”

Juned said that in 2008, the West Aceh government had advised Muslims in the area regarding their manner of dressing.

“We [the district-level office] circulated letters to subdistrict offices on how people should dress. But since this was only an appeal and there were no sanctions, people didn’t take it seriously,” he said. “We decided to make it more serious by issuing this new regulation.”

http://newageislam.com/dressing-to-impress-aceh-s-shariah-police/islamic-world-news/d/2249

Telangana and Muslims: Old Uncertainties, New Worries, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Telangana and Muslims: Old Uncertainties, New Worries

By Ayub Khan

December 12, 2009

As the Telangana cauldron boils over moves are already afoot to paint the dispute in communal colors and make the region's Muslims the proverbial sacrificial lamb. The mainstream media has been a party in this mis-characterization of the entire Muslim community as opposed to the the separate state. The two most widely repeated allegations are : 1)The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is stridently opposed to the concept of a separate Telangana; 2) Telangana Muslims have not played any role whatsoever in the movement for separate state. However, an analysis of the historical and contemporary trends reveals that both these assertions are incorrect.

Since the amalgamation of the erstwhile Hyderabad state in the Indian union in 1948 and the its subsequent breaking apart in three linguistic states the Muslims of the region have suffered the most. They were resigned to their fate and accepted the new regional configuration. They sought to protect and advance their interests in the existing framework. In this endeavour sections of the leadership sought support in all political and social organizations which appeared to be non-communal.

http://newageislam.com/telangana-and-muslims--old-uncertainties,-new-worries/current-affairs/d/2262

Why Should Any Muslim Object To Pranab Mukherjee Attending An Ahmadiya Convention?, The War within Islam, NewAgeIslam.com

The War within Islam

Why Should Any Muslim Object To Pranab Mukherjee Attending An Ahmadiya Convention?

New Age Islam has received a press release from some organisation called Shariath Protection Council based in Chennai that says, inter alia: ... “But if the Hon’ble Minister (the Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee) intends to interact with Qadianis, taking them to be Muslims, then it is incumbent on the Council to correct his wrong assumption and to make known that, his participation in the said Convention, despite their protests, will wound the sentiments of Muslims, as a result of which Muslims will cease to take his Party as their ally.”

I would have thought that we Indian Muslims are not Pakistanis and that we have not declared Ahmadis non-Muslim. In our view anyone is a Muslim who says la ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasoolullah (There is no god other than the one God and Muhammad is his prophet) and Ahmadis do that. Indeed, I had the personal experience of seeing their love for Prophet Mohammad and belief in his finality as a law-bearing prophet when I spent a few years in Suriname, South America where the majority of Muslims are Ahmadis. They differentiate between law-bearing prophets and people who are renewers of Islam (mujaddedeen) coming every new century or so and who are inspired by God to say things that they didn’t know they had in themselves.

Yes, some Ahmadis do call Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani Saheb a prophet, albeit a non-law-bearing prophet below the status of law-bearing prophets like Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Ram or Krishna, etc. We have our differences with them and of course, the majority of mainstream Muslims do not agree with them. Indeed many Ahmadis, the so-called Lahori group of Ahmadis, led by as great a scholar of Islam as Maulana Mohammad Ali, too do not agree with them and merely consider Mirza Saheb a mujaddid (renewer of Islam). Indeed if we go by the logic of Ahmadis we would have to consider not only Mirza Saheb but also people like Ghalib, Iqbal, Shakespeare, Keats, Einstein, etc. as prophets. These people were indubitably inspired to say things that they did not know the source of. They only knew that they did not know the things they said in a clearly altered state of mind – in some cases like that of Ghalib, for instance, an altered state of mind produced by the influence of liquor. Similarly, some of them consider Mirza Saheb a reincarnation of Jesus Christ who is supposed to come back at the end of history. I am sure many Qadianis themselves consider this rather absurd.

http://newageislam.com/why-should-any-muslim-object-to-pranab-mukherjee-attending-an-ahmadiya-convention?/the-war-within-islam/d/2285

World's Greatest Showman: Zakir Naik

Books and Documents

World's Greatest Showman: Zakir Naik

The Qur'an and the Bible in the Light of Science

Ali Sina on Zakir Naik: A review of

Muslims are convinced that Dr. Naik won that debate. In fact once you watch the video, unless you know the Quran and Islam fairly well, this is the impression that you get. Dr. Naik was so confident and so boisterous throughout the debate that anyone watching would think the same.

Or did he? I went through this debate and have analyzed the talk of Dr. Naik paragraph by paragraph. In this paper I have shown that Dr. Naik misrepresented every statement he made on the Quran. There is not a single claim that Dr. Naik has made about the Quran being miraculous or scientifically accurate that is true.

I have entitled this paper, World's Greatest Showman, because after watching his performance, in my opinion, it describes him best. Dr. Naik is a magician. Magicians make you believe they cut people in two, make objects disappear and reappear and make rabbits come out of an empty hat. But in reality none of that happens. The ability of the magician is to make you believe in things that do not happen. Dr. Naik uses a different kind of tools to perform his magic. He uses words. He can make his audience believe in things that are not true. In this paper, I am going to show his tricks and what he uses as setup to make things look differently. By the time you finish reading this paper, you'll be able to detect them too. But that is not all. Since all the Muslims use the same tricks, although not with the same proficiency of Dr. Naik, you'll be able to detect their tricks too.

http://newageislam.com/world-s-greatest-showman--zakir-naik/books-and-documents/d/2032

Toronto Imam Preaching 'Hate Instead Of Harmony', Islam and Tolerance, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Tolerance

Toronto Imam Preaching 'Hate Instead Of Harmony'

By Charles Lewis, National Post

October 22, 2009

Professor Amir Hussain, who teaches theology at Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles, but grew up in Toronto, said he does not read the word “destroy” in a literal way.
“For me, I don’t see the remarks ‘destroy them from within themselves’ as hoping for violence. Rather, I see it as him asking that the group implode from within. Granted, implode and destroy are of course violent metaphors, but I liken it to him asking for the organization to disintegrate.”

Earlier this month, the Canadian Muslim Congress called on Ottawa to ban the wearing of the burka or niqab in public. They said the right should not be protected by the Charter’s guarantee of religious freedom because nowhere in the Koran is there a requirement for women to cover their faces in public. They argue that the burka “marginalizes women.” The Koran does call for modesty.

Much of Mr. Rageah’s address questions why the liberty of certain Muslims should be infringed upon. He even berates fellow Muslims for being far too passive in the face of attacks on their freedom.

“I’m appealing to the congregation not [to] allow such foolish people to be in charge of the affairs of the umma [family of all Muslims] to the point they would make such serious decisions for us. Our wives have the right to wear it. We should not allow them to dictate how we live. What we should do. Where we should eat. Enough is enough.”
Walid Saleh, professor at the centre for the study of religion at the University of Toronto, said much of what Mr. Rageah said must be taken in the context of how Muslims may use terms in the midst of a religious service.

http://newageislam.com/toronto-imam-preaching--hate-instead-of-harmony-/islam-and-tolerance/d/2108

The Quranic Islam versus the ‘Religion’ of ‘Islam’: Yoginder Sikand on Syed Akbar Ali’s vision of Islam, Ijtihad, Rethinking Islam, NewAgeIslam.com

Ijtihad, Rethinking Islam

The Quranic Islam versus the ‘Religion’ of ‘Islam’: Yoginder Sikand on Syed Akbar Ali’s vision of Islam

By Yogi Sikand

A second major aspect of Ali’s understanding of Islam is his insistence that Islam is not a religion, in the sense of a cult and a set of beliefs about the supernatural. Rather, it is a complete way of life, ad-din in Arabic, which has been taught by all the many prophets that God has sent to the world, the last of whom was the Prophet Muhammad. ‘Islam’, he points out, simply means ‘to surrender’ to God, and this has been the way of life that all the prophets. As he puts it, ‘Islam is not a religion or agama. There is no such thing as a religion of Islam […] Islam is a deen or way of life, a good way of doing things. Deen can also imply an Order—an ordered way of life.’[1] In these two senses, then, he argues, Islam represents true universalism. In contrast, he claims that Muslims have reduced Islam from a way of life to a mere religion, a narrow set of laws and beliefs. In his view, they wrongly understand Islam as a cult that is in fierce completion with other cults for supremacy. In this way, he claims, they are not ‘true’ Muslims, in the literal sense of the term (which means to ‘submit’ to God’s Will). Instead, he generally refers to them as ‘deviationist religionists’ [2] and ‘cultists’.

http://newageislam.com/the-quranic-islam-versus-the-%E2%80%98religion%E2%80%99-of-%E2%80%98islam%E2%80%99--yoginder-sikand-on-syed-akbar-ali%E2%80%99s-vision-of-islam/ijtihad,-rethinking-islam/d/1845

ولی رحمانی مدرسہ بورڈ کے مسئلے میں قوم وملت کو گمراہ کررہے ہیں: امام کونسل, Urdu Section, NewAgeIslam.com

Urdu Section

ولی رحمانی مدرسہ بورڈ کے مسئلے میں قوم وملت کو گمراہ کررہے ہیں: امام کونسل

New Delhi: 2 Oct. Hindustan Express (News Bureau): A like-minded group of people like Wali Rahmani are misguiding Muslims on the issue of establishment of a Central Madrasa Board. They are trying to drag an age-old demand of Muslims into a controversy and also trying to frighten innocent people by imaginary dangers looming ahead. By this malicious act, the character and the nature of madrasas will become suspicious and mystifying. This opinion is expressed by an eminent member of Muslim scholars’ group in reaction to the statement of Maulana Wali Rahmani, Sajjada Nashin of Khanqah Rahmani, Munger and the organizer of Madrasa Modernization Committee of central government that “the formation of Central Madrasa Board is no panacea for any disease; this idea is the brain-child of Mr. L.K.Advani”.

Another group of scholars and intellectuals is supporting the idea. Maulana Maqsoodul Hassan Qasmi and Maulana Mahmoodul Hassan Nadvi, the president and the vice-president of Imam Council of India respectively, have asserted in a joint statement without naming anyone: “Imam Council condemns the blind opposition of Central Madrasa Board expressed by an eminent Islamic scholar in an interview to a newspaper”. This interview was published in the 30th Sep.2009 edition of Hindustan Express. The leaders of Imam Council are trying to save the innocent Muslims of India from being betrayed by some selfish people. They are always obedient to serve for their personal gains, in exchange of the membership in different committees or to get a ticket to parliament. They have also questioned him for being the chairman of the Madrasa Modernization Committee of central government formed by Mr. Arjun Singh. Why is he still continuing on the post if the Central Madrasa Board is of no use?

http://newageislam.com/urdu-section/ولی-رحمانی-مدرسہ-بورڈ-کے-مسئلے-میں-قوم-وملت-کو-گمراہ-کررہے-ہیں--امام-کونسل-/d/1864

Why do Muslim women have fewer rights in secular India than in numerous Muslim countries?, Islamic Sharia Laws, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Sharia Laws

Why do Muslim women have fewer rights in secular India than in numerous Muslim countries?

Listen, Mister

Javed Anand

Aug 25, 2009

In case you didn’t know it already, scriptwriter, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar can do many things with words: entertain, enthral, entrap. “If Muslims were to fear Allah even 10 per cent of the fear they have of fellow Muslims, it would make them better Muslims and more sensible human beings too,” I have heard him say in public gatherings of Muslims in Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Hyderabad, Aligarh Muslim University. The spontaneous response to this apparently provocative statement everywhere is assenting nods, sheepish smiles, loud guffaws.

What Javed Akhtar keeps saying in public, a top drawer maulana from the Jamiat-ul-ulema-e-Hind told me in private last year. “The biggest hurdles before us,” he said, “are the Urdu press (read Muslim media) and Muslim leaders.” In the name of Islam anything goes. And he who dares utter the dissenting word had better beware!

But if Muslims are so terrified of fellow Muslims, what so frightens the Law Commission of India as to prefer public embarrassment to plainspeak? The commission’s 277th report, recently made public, observes that the “traditional understanding of Muslim law on bigamy is gravely faulty and conflicts with true Islamic law in letter and spirit”. Well said. But look where it goes from there. It proposes a new clause in Hindu family law to abort sham conversions purely for bigamy’s sake but, mindful of something called “religious sensibilities”, stays totally mum about what must necessarily be done with the country’s Muslim Personal Law.

http://newageislam.com/why-do-muslim-women-have-fewer-rights-in-secular-india-than-in-numerous-muslim-countries?/islamic-sharia-laws/d/1683

US gets Indian-origin envoy for Muslim world: Farah Pandith to work at solving pressing problems of Muslims, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

US gets Indian-origin envoy for Muslim world: Farah Pandith to work at solving pressing problems of Muslims

Washington: Farah Pandith, sworn in on Tuesday as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s envoy to Muslim communities, said she would broaden ties with the world’s Muslims to help solve “pressing” problems.

Clinton “has asked me to find ways to build strong partnerships and create new connections and join together with grass roots organisations to effect positive change,” she said after swearing on the Quran to carry out her duties.

“Under the leadership of Secretary Clinton, the Department of State is recalibrating the way in which we work with Muslim communities around the world,” Pandith said.

“Through this office, we will engage Muslim communities to solve collaboratively the most pressing problems facing these communities around the world,” Pandith said.

Clinton said Pandith’s office, which will both advise the secretary and the State Department, will focus on a broad array of issues.

“This is a dialogue that is not going to focus solely on terrorism or radicalisation, but instead, focus on what all of us have in common, what we all hope for our children,” Clinton said at the ceremony.

“It will also deal with broader problems like poverty, hunger, climate change and corruption which are “not unique to any part of the world,” Clinton said.

“In addition to these broad challenges, we have to focus on concers of specific Muslim communities,” she said.

http://newageislam.com/us-gets-indian-origin-envoy-for-muslim-world--farah-pandith-to-work-at-solving-pressing-problems-of-muslims/islamic-world-news/d/1757

Night of mystic power, the Lailat-ul-Qadr, Islam and Spiritualism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Spiritualism

Night of mystic power, the Lailat-ul-Qadr

By Syed Zafar Mahmood

17 September 2009

Divine announcement says that this night is better than one thousand months, a normal human life span. The prayers made during this night have greater value than an entire life of supplication. On this night angels descend to earth carrying God’s bounties and instructions. Talking about the glory of this night, the Holy Message in the Qur’an clarifies that it is He who revealed the message through Mohammad and other prophets.

Some commentators are of the opinion that the process of sending down the scriptural amalgam from the Preserved Tablet to the worldly sky began during mid Sha’baan, the month preceding Ramadan and the process concluded during the Night of Power. Well-researched scholarly opinion simultaneously converges around the belief that the revelation of predecessor scriptures by God to the earlier alshets also occurred during Ramadan nights. And, there is consensus that all these were different editions of the same message.

Multiple scriptures were revealed to the series of recipient prophets during various phases of human history and in different parts of the world. It is ordained in the Qur’an that a believer is expected to equally revere all the prophets and scriptures including those not mentioned by name in the Qur’an. This is indeed a strong directive for maintaining interfaith bonhomie. In the Indian context, many Muslims including the author are of the conviction that the great spiritual names occurring in Indian mythology like those of Rama, Krishna, Mahavira and Buddha, were among those messengers whose names are not mentioned in Qur’an. Yet the believers are duty bound to equally respect them. So is the case with the Vedas.

http://newageislam.com/night-of-mystic-power,-the-lailat-ul-qadr/islam-and-spiritualism/d/1759

‘Shoot us, but we will never go back to Pakistan', Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

‘Shoot us, but we will never go back to Pakistan'

Rana Ram carries a bit of his pained past in a weathered wallet that's always close to him. It's a photocopy of a grainy clipping from an Urdu newspaper that shows a woman and her child. The caption reads: 'Impressed by Islam, the woman with the baby became a Muslim'.

"This isn't true,'' says Rana, a lean man with expressive eyes. For the last 18 months, he has been crying himself hoarse that the newspaper lied. "No, that's not why Samdi Mai, my wife of 10 years, changed her religion. Ever since my father-in-law switched his faith, we were under pressure from the maulvis and others to become Muslims too."

But Rana, of Sadiqabad tehsil in Pakistan Punjab's Rahimyar Khan district, resisted. Then one day, when he was away tending goats, a fleet of cars filled with bearded men arrived at his house. On his return, he found his wife gone.

The 30-year-old farmhand rushed to the police station only to be told that his wife had converted of her own will.

Someone passed on a message a few days later. It said, "To get her back, you also must become a believer."

Rana, though, wasn't ready to give up. He managed to get back his three-year-old daughter at a village 'court' after paying off the decision-makers. But his wife was 'out of the question'. That's when he decided to take the weekly Thar Express to Rajasthan.

http://newageislam.com/%E2%80%98shoot-us,-but-we-will-never-go-back-to-pakistan-/islamic-world-news/d/1805

In spite of Islam: Can Muslims ever join the democratic mainstream?, Islam and Politics, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Politics

In spite of Islam: Can Muslims ever join the democratic mainstream?

Moataz-Bellah Abdel-Fattah

As a firm believer in the benefits of democracy, Moataz-Bellah Abdel-Fattah attempts to find answers to the tough question of whether the attitude of ordinary, educated Muslims constitutes a barrier to the adoption of democracy. Abdel-Fattah is the author of eight books and several academic and journalistic articles in Arabic and English, but what is interesting about Democratic Values in the Muslim World -- and was probably the reason why the study was chosen as one of the most outstanding books in 2006 by Choice Academic Review -- is the fact that Abdel-Fattah allowed Muslims to speak for themselves rather than draw conclusions about them by equating all Muslims to "a group of extremists and anti-modernity radicals" who, according to Abdel-Fattah, "have been very vocal in their criticism of democracy".

"I used several empirical tools, such as survey and focus-group discussions, to colour a picture that has been brush-stroked in black and white in the West thanks to the Western neo-orientalist scholarship that does not distinguish between different Muslim sub-cultures and societies," Abdel-Fattah said. "Colouring the picture of Muslims' perception of democracy is analogous to breaking down the big stereotypical picture into its original components."

The book concludes that Muslims are so diverse that they defy any one-size-fits-all characterisation regarding their attitudes towards democracy. Some Muslim societies are in a struggle between the sub-culture of "democracy-as-a-must" versus the sub- culture of "dictator... but" that justified autocracy (example: Pakistan and Algeria). Other Muslim societies (Turkey, Mali, and Malaysia) have already settled this debate by respecting democratic values and institutions. Other cultures, (Saudi Arabia and the UAE) still perceive democracy as an alien concept or a solution to a problem they do not have.

http://newageislam.com/in-spite-of-islam--can-muslims-ever-join-the-democratic-mainstream?/islam-and-politics/d/1821

Islam's holy month of fasting begins as US recognizes the growth of the religion, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Islam's holy month of fasting begins as US recognizes the growth of the religion

Through the hunger that comes from observing Ramadan, Austin engineer Clay Smith said he feels the tug of compassion in his soul. That's also how he first learned about Islam, he said.

"Someone told me that if I wanted to understand what it means to be Muslim, I should fast during Ramadan," said the 49-year-old Smith, who had been a Christian until several years ago, when he started considering converting to Islam.

Trying the annual fast once wasn't enough, so he tried it two years in a row. "I thought I'd be irritated by this whole fasting experience," he said, "but what it taught me was compassion."

Austin Muslims say learning through the challenge of hunger is a crucial part of Ramadan, a ritual obligation for the world's estimated 1.5 billion Muslims. The 30-day fast begins today and ends Sept. 20.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the "five pillars" of Islam. The others are belief in God and his prophets, ritual prayer, payment of charity tax and pilgrimage to Mecca.

During Ramadan, Muslims must fast from the first light of dawn, about 1 ½ hours before sunrise, until sunset. Fasting means abstention from sex, food and drink.

Imam Islam Mossaad, who leads Austin's largest Muslim congregation of about 500 families at the North Austin Muslim Community Center, said that Muslims will mark the beginning of the religion's holiest time on Friday night when they see the crescent moon right after sunset. Mossaad says there are about 10,000 Muslims in Austin.

http://newageislam.com/islam-s-holy-month-of-fasting-begins-as-us-recognizes-the-growth-of-the-religion-/islamic-world-news/d/1673

A solution for Babri Masjid - Ram Mandir Tussle proposed, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

A solution for Babri Masjid - Ram Mandir Tussle proposed

This issue cannot be resolved by the archaeological/historical evidences in favour of any community. It is not possible for historians to tell the "most accurate" truth about any event, as there is always room for different interpretations. (The only archaeological tool that probably would have worked is a time machine, to go back to the past to know the truth, which is rather unthinkable anyway). As the religious zealots themselves point out rightly, it is a matter of sentiments rather than archaeology. Even if you bring the most convincing evidence that Ram was not born there and Babur did not demolish any temple, most believing Hindus will not budge from their stand. Similarly, if you prove that Ram was certainly born there and Babur did demolish the temple, most believing Muslims will not care. Therefore, we have to simply forget about proving or disproving the historical facts now.

· The Judiciary too (with all due respects), is not likely to find a win-win solution for both parties. Courts (if they remain unbiased) would continue to postpone taking any final decision, or (if they get politically influenced) would end up taking an unwise decision, which might upset one of the parties. However, the judiciary can certainly remain an active part of the larger conglomerate of institutions and individuals who wish to bring a resolution to the issue.

http://newageislam.com/a-solution-for-babri-masjid---ram-mandir-tussle-proposed--/islam-and-pluralism/d/1196