Muslim women stage a march against terrorism in Agra, Islam, Women and Feminism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam, Women and Feminism

Muslim women stage a march against terrorism in Agra

Hundreds of Muslim women took to streets in Agra on Sunday against the terror menace.

The rally was a part of the three-day National Women Muslim Conference, which concluded at Mathur Vaishya Bhavan in Agra.

carrying banners and placards with messages against terrorism, the participant said that the aim of this march is to create awareness among women especially Muslim women against the terror menace.

Shahzad Khan, organiser of the event, said that this was a three-day campaign to create awareness among the educationally backward sections of the society.

"This campaign was to create awareness among the Muslims who are educationally backward. National Muslim Front has begun this door-to-door campaign today along with Muslim women to guide children towards education," said Khan.

http://newageislam.com/muslim-women-stage-a-march-against-terrorism-in-agra/islam,-women-and-feminism/d/2728

A Musical Tryst With Sufi Legacy, Spiritual Meditations, NewAgeIslam.com

Spiritual Meditations

A Musical Tryst With Sufi Legacy

By Neha Mathur

But that’s what the event held at Select City Walk, Saket, on Monday, to formally announce the launch of this year’s Sufi music festival, Jahan-e-Khusrau, succeeded in achieving. The young brigade of shoppers at the city’s busiest mall stopped by for more than just curiosity’s sake, to appreciate Radhika Chopra’s Sufi songs and the performance by the Japanese dancer Masako Ono, both of whom are part of the upcoming festival, to be held at Arab Ki Sarai, Humayun’s Tomb, from February 25 to 28. Some such shoppers even purchased tickets for the festival from the counter at the mall.

The eighth edition of the festival returns to the city after two years as the venue, with which the festival has become synonymous, wasn’t available to the organisers. “Delhi government realised the importance of the festival by not having it for two years,” said Muzaffar Ali, the designer/ filmmaker whose brainchild the festival is.

One of the most regular names at Jahan-e-Khusrau, the sensational Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen, as expected, is part of this edition too. Parveen, known for her throaty voice, will perform on the concluding day of the festival at the UNESCO World Heritage site that dates back to 1562 AD.

Ono, who is slated to perform on February 26, is a first-timer at the festival. “A lot of people can’t differentiate between Sufism and Islam,” she said. “ They think it’s the same thing and don’t often come to see the performance.” Hopefully, Delhi will give a memorable reception to Ono.

http://newageislam.com/a-musical-tryst-with-sufi-legacy/spiritual-meditations/d/2498

Just let me be: Continual celebration of victimhood isn’t the answer, NGOs need to understand, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Just let me be: Continual celebration of victimhood isn’t the answer, NGOs need to understand

By Ayesha Khan

Friday, August 29, 2008

What was the idea? Fostering secular bonding? Who can argue against that? But one can and must point out that life, and life in Gujarat, is not Amar, Akbar, Anthony. Manmohan Desai had the three brothers of different faiths united via an impossible conjunction of medicine and maa — siblings simultaneously donating blood to their mother, tubes running from their arms to their mother’s. Such ideas of the heroic potential of inter-faith bonding seemed quite apt when the organisers of the Quresh Hall meeting said that the attempt was to “bridge the gap” and “get them talking to each other in empathy, with sympathy”. “Our grief is same, our pain is same, our tragedies are similar, even if our faiths are different.”

Read the subtext. Riot victims of 2002 are Muslims who were victims of the state, the system and the majority Hindus. Victims of the Ahmedabad bombs in 2008 are Hindus, the perpetrators are Muslims. So, Muslims are victims, Hindus are victims, the bad guys may be different, but we all stand united — in fear, in tragedy. In Gujarat, it seems only fear and tragedy can secure the bonds.

http://newageislam.com/just-let-me-be--continual-celebration-of-victimhood-isn%E2%80%99t-the-answer,-ngos-need-to-understand/islamic-society/d/657