The Problem with White Guilt

The Problem with White Guilt

By Aki Muthali

March 29, 2015

While privileged Muslims like “Jihadi John”, or his real name, Mohammed Emwazi, run off to join the Islamic State because they felt “discriminated” by equal treatment under British law and society – ignorant people like Russell Brand will concede to their fascism by claiming the lack of special accommodations Muslims receive is an act of racism and “intolerance”. And the privilege experienced by people like Brand is toxic ignorance compounded by an inferiority-complex induced by white guilt which prevents them from grasping the absolute fact that acts of racism, violence, oppression and cruelty are not limited to just white people – and that people like Emwazi and the Kouachi brothers [who committed the Charlie Hebdo massacre] are dictators of society rather than some disenfranchised victim of western intolerance.

Sharia courts were not enough [yes, U.K. has multiple Sharia courts!] for Muslim extremists like Emwazi – they want every single western citizen, just as Brand, to fully renounce their common sense and submit to the “logic” of Sharia and if they refuse such fascist demands – they will stomp their feet, fly off to La-La-Land [Middle East], join a terrorist organization and behead a bunch of infidels to express how oppressed they are by the westerners’ rejection of Islamism.

The lack of reformation in Islam creates worshippers who are loyal to a violent fault. The holy book has not evolved since it was created and when a modern reader submits themselves to antediluvian text – it makes sense that they are actually submitting to 7thcentury mentality which dangerously conflicts with modern values of liberal democracy.

On March 24, 2015, it was reported that Boko Haram had kidnapped approximately 500 children under the age of 12 – a count that adds to an already growing number of children kidnapped under the insurgency.

Thousands of Nigerians have lost their lives and many more have been displaced by the atrocities committed by Boko Haram whose sole purpose is the establishment of an African Islamic State [yes, Reza Aslan, it’s an African problem as FGM but fully rooted in Islam too!]. They continuously kidnap hundreds of boys and girls – while the girls are “married off” and/or sold into sex slavery, the boys are placed in madrassas to be trained as future armed Jihadis – and without such mass indoctrination and abuse of children, Islamism will cease to exist.

What’s incredible is that western media, the so-called liberals and “peace activists” and the United Nations (UN) have [dubiously] disregarded the consequences faced by the Islamist terror in both Nigeria and Syria/Iraq.

UN has singled out Israel with every opportunity – on March 20, 2015, its Commission on the Status of Women’s Rights (CSW) named Israel the most dangerous place for women when reality is far from it – apparently, the UN forgot all about Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Indonesia, etc. – all Islamic nations where systematic gender-apartheid heavily restrict fundamental human rights for all women and girls, especially the non-Muslim population.

During the Gaza conflict last year, medical professionals were sent out to determine the mental health of Gazan children and it was confirmed they all suffered from PTSD – alas, the Syrian, Iraqi and Nigerian children barely ever get a mention – their mental and physical state neglected, and no hashtags and protests trended to show that the lives of these children being terrorized day and night by Muslim extremism matters.

The western liberals refuse to consider the dangers of armed ideological fanatics gaining momentum in the insurgency – so while these western liberals roast marshmallows, singing Kumbaya and calling the criticism of Islam and Islamist violence “gross and racist” – hundreds of thousands of families are being displaced, raped, maimed, enslaved, sold, indoctrinated and converted into militants to fuel the growth of radical Muslims.

The keyboard [peace] activists with selective outrage forget that all children’s lives matter – not only when Israel and US drones are the ones threatening their safety. How despicable that many of these activists are mere tribal opportunists that will only milk human-rights and PTSD to slander Israel and US but remain mum about the torture, murders, rapes, kidnapping and slavery faced by millions of people under the grip of Islamist violence. Boko Haram’s barbarism is so terrifying that with the limited communication resources situated in Nigeria – it poses incredible threat for any first hand reporting from the conflict zones – meanwhile, the phony activists and majority of leftists deliberately turn a blind eye to the terrors and maintain an attitude that undermines the barbarity faced by the victims, all in the name of ideological tolerance.

The inconceivable terror one would only read in the chapters of the bronze and iron ages are being witnessed in the 21st century under the global armed Jihadi movement and the UN itself chooses to ignore this devastating reality to concentrate every stroke of blame and outrage on Israel. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has long failed my country [Sri Lanka] where over 40, 000 Tamils were slaughtered under 5 months by the brutal Singhalese supremacists [the Rajapaksa regime] under the guise of eliminating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). UNHRC used every vote possible to undermine a third party investigation into the war crimes – and when a great body of international politics condones the slaughter of 40, 000 innocent people while outraging over 2000 people dying in an oil-rich country – it reeks of remorseless corruption.  

Islamists’ ability to seize great swathes of land is evidence of their growing number of militant power and resources – it’s certainly frustrating and suspicious that the UN has not yet declared a state of emergency to combat the insurgents in Nigeria and the sectarian violence in Iraq and Syria. 

The Nigerian, Iraqi and Syrian nightmare is fully credited to the notorious need for Islamism among Muslim extremists. The white guilt presented by people like Russell Brand, Glenn Greenwald, Noam Chomsky, et al, is a viable threat to liberalism itself as it inflames the sentiments necessary for the manifestation of Islamism from being a remote terror in Muslim-majority nations into a tolerable reality in the western secular nations.

The sheer volume of racism, gender-apartheid, modern slavery and intolerance faced by non-Muslims in Islamic nations is barely reported. From the 200 schoolgirls to the bombing of boys’ schools to the 500 more children kidnapped by Boko Haram among the Syrian and Iraqi children maimed, impaled, beheaded, slaughtered and enslaved from left to right by the Islamic State are all unimportant in the eyes of western liberals who uphold their phony tolerance above the lives terrorized by Islamists. We are at an intersection and it’s terrifying that this is the dice liberals would rather roll than eliminate the madness in its infancy.

The accountability of Islamic sectarian conflict in the Middle East falls fully on Muslims who want their appropriate sect to achieve supremacy over all others – but since every Islamic nation also wants Sharia and follows the same scriptures, fanaticism continues to be instilled in the minds of practicing Muslims everywhere and the violence rages on and will not cease until Muslims themselves take responsibility for their own fundamental flaws and accept reformation – the west cannot spoon feed them into becoming a tolerant society that will not erupt in violence every time they felt “offended” over harmless matters like satire, legitimate criticism of ideologies, and the choice of different faiths and opinions. 

Those who whine about racism also whine even more loudly about “cultural appropriation” and demand racial segregation in cultures by assigning what is “white” or “black” or “brown” all the while demanding not to be profiled – which is disparaging to their own demand for tolerance and acceptance. Every border, every behaviour, every tradition and beliefs were adopted by colonialism and appropriation – but to turn colonial and imperial barbarism the trademark of European Caucasians [as if people of colour have never done that!] is a phenomenal state of narcissism and ignorance.

When Islamists have the ability to incorporate tolerance of fascism with liberalism – and liberals actually surrender their values to such bigotry – in the wise words of thegreatest unicorn, Reza Aslan – I would call that “unsophisticated”! When the disclosure of facts pertaining to Islamism is ever presented to the mass liberal audience – they immediately cite colonialism and the KKK, etc., hoping their white-guilt will somehow deliver justice to the victims of Islamist occupation.

When pseudo liberals use their ignorance to levy tolerance for the intolerable – it’s as maddening as the cognitive dissonance suffered by religious fanatics who claim to be of a peaceful religion while simultaneously beheading the “dirty kafir”. White guilt delivers the same mental incapacitation but expresses it with an unsophisticated submissive quality.   

Every Islamic nation was established through Islamic colonialism where zero tolerance was granted for non-Muslims and minorities who were either slaughtered, forced into conversion or pay the jizya to remain alive – and the fact that intolerance towards minorities/non-Muslims in the East still persists in the 21st century in a far more intense capacity than the racism faced in the West [because the West actually has a standard of human rights than all Islamic nations combined with a strong voice against human rights abuses] – it’s irrefutable evidence that Islamism is alive and well and is dying to spread itself into new territory – and white guilt is a great perk to its cause as it seems white pseudo liberals and Islamists have a mutual understanding on how badly the West must accept the position of Sharia or else everything is simply too gross and racist.

Aki Muthali is a freelance writer, who's a feminist. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, she currently lives in Canada. She’s also an illustrator and a painter.

Source: http://nation.com.pk/blogs/29-Mar-2015/the-problem-with-white-guilt

URL: http://newageislam.com/islamic-sharia-laws/aki-muthali/the-problem-with-white-guilt/d/102188

The Changing Face of Britain: Islamophobia

The Changing Face of Britain: Islamophobia

By Sabena Siddiqi 

Mar 27, 2015

Islamophobia is back again in British politics. More frequent attacks on mosques and gradual, growing support for far-right groups reminds us that anti-Muslim feeling is on the increase. The perspective on Islam has changed since 9/11, it is simply not so easy anymore for Muslims living in the West.

Britain has always been one of the most tolerant countries to live in, nobody wanted to be called a racist living in a British society. People had a liberal approach towards other religions and ethnicities, in fact immigration was made very easy in the 60s to make up for the lack of educated professionals and labour force.

Doctors from India and Pakistan worked in the NHS, the government health service, and helped make it a success, similarly in other professions the immigrants made a significant contribution.

British people generally take pride in their liberal and tolerant outlook, but gradually, attitudes are undergoing a slow, silent change as terrorism increased in the world, specially 9/11 exacerbated this change of attitude.

In today’s Britain, parties like UKIP or smaller groups like the EDL or Britain First have signalled a retrogressive downslide in British society. In Scotland, there is the SDL, another far-right group.

The UKIP is the largest party in this category, most of its supporters are conservative, distrustful of the government and inclined towards tougher attitudes towards immigrants, the annual British Social Attitudes Report found.

More than two thirds of UKIP supporters said they believed migrants from outside the EU should never be eligible for welfare benefits.

“The Muslims are breeding ten times faster than us,” said UKIP peer and former leader Lord Malcolm Pearson in 2009.

“We see large and growing Muslim communities which are set against integration with the rest of us. We see thousands of home-grown potential terrorists,” Lord Pearson reiterated in 2013. Senior UKIP member of the European Parliament Godfrey Bloom is recorded on film in 2013 criticizing aid being sent to “bongo bongo land”.

In 2014, UKIP candidate William Henwood tweeted that comedian Lenny Henry “should emigrate to a black country” and compared Islam to the Third Reich.

UKIP councillor Chris Pain was forced to resign in 2013 after his racist Facebook posts came in public knowledge. He had written that immigrants are “free-loading, benefit-grabbing, resource-sucking, baby-making, non-English-speaking…bomb-making, camel-riding, goat f— …” and also that there were “too many Muslims” in the UK.

The UKIP is overflowing with racism and it can be called a party of extremists, it is incredible that they do find supporters and a voter base.

Britain First is another highly publicised group with twenty million followers on Facebook alone, they have a slick social media campaign. Recently, they posted a photograph of a funeral in Birmingham, Yorkshire, in it thousands of Muslims are saying their prayers, the deceased was a World War 2 veteran who was also a religious personality.

Supporters of the Britain First page commented that they wanted to drop napalm bombs on mourners praying at the funeral.

People criticized the far-right group for disrespect, the funeral was of mosque leader Sufi Muhammed Abdullah Khan, who was the founder of the Central Jamia Masjid Ghamkol Mosque in Birmingham.

Britain First made it to the front pages for its ‘invasions’ of mosques or driving military armoured cars to appear aggressive.

Its toughies initially soared to fame for loitering outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, pretended to counter the crackpot Anjem Choudary’s “Muslim patrols”, with their own “Christian patrols”.

Its simple messages against dog fighting, against child molestation, loving British soldiers, attracted the public in general and their page on Facebook would ask people to click “like” if they were wore a poppy for Remembrance Day. This way it became Britain,s foremost political group on Facebook, nobody knew what the group was or who was behind it. It came across like some popular street campaign, it was formed by Jim Dowson, a Protestant preacher and former member of the British National Party.

He formed Britain First in 2011, as the English Defence League (EDL) and BNP had lost popularity. Dowson quit the group in claiming that he was shocked to discover that Britain First was full of “racists and extremists” after his workers started falsely collecting money for British heroes like Lee Rigby. Since then Britain First has become the self-appointed defense force of UKIP.

The English Defence League (EDL) is also another far-right street protest movement which opposes the spread of Islam and Sharia in the United Kingdom, EDL is definitely Islamophobic. Their marches are heavily promoted on the fascist, white supremacist website “Stormfront.” The EDL tries to provide the exact anti-Muslim, provocative narrative that would push young Muslims into extremist religious Islamic groups. It is a very dangerous situation and needs to be watched.

The English Volunteer Force is a small right-wing street protest movement, a splinter group of the English Defence League. This group calls for the halting of all Muslim immigration, prohibitions on the building of mosques and sale of halal meat, the rejection of multiculturalism, and rejection of what they call the ‘Islamification’ of Great Britain. The group plans to ‘Unite the Right’which essentially means all these parties amassing resources to drive out Muslims.

The EDL is reported to be developing links with right-wing elements within America.

Florida pastor Terry Jones, whose calls to burn the Quran had provoked violence resulting in numerous deaths, was invited by the EDL to a rally in Luton in February 2011 “to share his views on Islamic extremism.” He was banned from entering the UK.

In October 2010, American Tea Party activist Rabbi Nachum Shifren, travelled to England to speak at a rally where he proclaimed that Muslims are “dogs” and praised the EDL that “history will be recorded that on this day, read by our children for eternity, one group lit the spark to liberate us from the oppressors of our two governments and the leftist, fifth column, quisling press, and that it was the EDL which started the liberation of England from evil.”

The Canadian Jewish Defense League also held a demonstration supporting the EDL, announcing that the two groups will “take a stand against the forces of political Islam”. The EDL has established links to the Danish Defence League which is growing fast with 10 chapters in one year. The Norwegian Defence League is also a sister organisation of the EDL with strong links between the leadership of both, NDL members often travel to the UK to participate in EDL protests.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Breivik, perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks claimed that hundreds of EDL folk are his Facebook friends and that he had links with senior EDL members. Breivik wrote online that he once attended an EDL demonstration in Bradford.

In 2011, Interpol got Paul Ray, a former member and co-founder of the English Defence League investigated, he blogs under the name “Lionheart” and may have been Brievik, s inspiration.

Journalists that have written about EDL marches and their inflammatory speeches have received death threats. Jason N. Parkinson from The Guardian wrote about receiving a death threat by email from an EDL organiser, death threats were also sent to Marc Vallée, a fellow journalist. The heavy policing of EDL demonstrations usually costs from £300,000 to £1 million.

Mehdi Hasan, a Huffington Post UK journalist says that after 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings, the UK press has been “given free rein to effectively target, distort, misrepresent and demonise the Islamic faith and its 2.7 million adherents in this country,”.

In May 2013, a poll by the British research firm, YouGov concluded that nearly two-thirds of Britons believe there will be a “clash of civilizations” between British Muslims and white Britons, and 34% believe that Muslims pose a serious threat to democracy.

Verified data collected by Tell Mama (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) on attacks on Muslim women accounted for 58% of all reported incidents by Muslims in the UK. Policies for Engaged Citizens the Open Society Institute (OSI) observes ‘Muslim women suffered the highest levels of discrimination in the aftermath of 9/11, encountering greater hostility from students, lecturers and employers due to widespread anti-Muslim hate reinforced by stereotypes that existed about Muslim women, and that these stereotypes were having an impact on their lives.’

Muslim school children in Britain are on the receiving end of a bullying and violence backlash, specially after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

There is a marked rise in Islamophobia in British schools and the government is helpless. A UK charity which monitors anti-Muslim hate crimes has recorded a “significant” increase in incidents in schools after the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris, frequent verbal and physical attacks are taking place against Muslim students.

Britain has a large anti-Islam propaganda machine, its print media and television media both have this anti Muslim slant.

No chance is spared to put Muslims on the defensive, eg. once it was debated that Pizza Express might be “secretly” using Halal meat in  their stores, suddenly Muslims at all levels of society had to defend Halal meat even to those who hunt for fun.

Being both British and Muslim is a potentially impossible identity in todays Britain. It is believed that a Muslim cannot be loyal to Britain if loyal to religion, is it ever going to be possible to assimilate and absorb into the British scene ?

Will Muslims settled in UK ever be forced to leave like once Kenya had expelled all immigrants ?

Every Muslim is seen as a possible threat, if a Muslim is somewhere at the wrong place, wrong time, the Muslim is nearly always responsible.

Source: http://www.alrasub.com/the-changing-face-of-britain-islamophobia/

URL: http://newageislam.com/muslims-and-islamophobia/sabena-siddiqi/the-changing-face-of-britain--islamophobia/d/102189

Syria to Yemen

Syria to Yemen

By Yusuf Kanli

30 March, 2015

Could there be that much of a difference between how developments of this “Greater Middle Eastern Area” are perceived in Ankara, Cairo or Kuwait? Listening in a Kuwait hotel room to a political analyst on a Saudi news channel reporting live on the Cairo meeting of the Arab League, the difference of perception was crystal clear. “The Iran-backed terrorists in Yemen and the American-backed terrorists in Syria…” the analyst said, “cannot be tolerated.” What a correlation. Obviously things did not appear as such when viewed from Ankara.

From Ankara’s perspective, the “people of Syria” are struggling against a “ruthless dictator” and peace can be restored only if the Bashar al-Assad regime is terminated. In Cairo, and apparently in most parts of the Arab world, there is a perception that those fighting al-Assad’s government are no different than the rebels fighting the Yemeni government. Yet, while in Syria the “rebels” are condemned at the same time al-Assad’s legitimacy is questioned, Yemen’s president, Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, is considered the legitimate president who should be protected against the “Shiite insurgency.” Many analysts are now rightly asking the key question: Saudi-led Arab strikes apart, will the U.S.-led “coalition of the willing” supporting and conducting the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda or Sunni extremism in Iraq and Syria help protect the same evil elements in Yemen?

Yesterday Turkey was accused of discreetly supporting ISIL militants and not effectively helping out the defense of Kobane in Syria. Now, the same Turkey and its Western allies are accusing Iran of messing up Yemen and praising the Saudi-led operation. Naturally there cannot be “absolute white” and “absolute black” in this “black and white” Middle Eastern painting, yet “what is what” is becoming all the more difficult to identify, is it not? What is the fallout of the Syrian quagmire which has now entered its fifth year with no end in sight on the Yemeni sectarian civil war? What will be the other repercussions of the Syrian menace on regional balances? The Saudi-led “united Arab military undertaking” in Yemen has already started talks of “one nation, one military, one resolve” rhetoric on the Arab street, or at least there is such a climate in the Arab media. Whether that is even possible is of course something totally different but with the exclusion of Qatar in the Yemen operation, the Saudis managed to bring under its military leadership the entire Sunni Arab fold. That is a reality. Arab unity, a rare phenomenon, might of course be a blessing for a quick resolution to the problems of the region, but could also be a curse if the “external powers” accused of stirring and spreading up sectarian problems indeed actively engaged in the Yemeni conflict. The Syria quagmire was feared might evolve into a regional war. The al-Assad regime did its best to make it so, and failed so far. On the other hand, the time-off in the nuclear standoff with Iran is fast approaching its end and there is no compromise in sight from the key positions of Tehran on the issue. Can Iran use the Yemen crisis and evolve into something sufficiently bigger to make difficulties in the nuclear arena and become secondarily important for global power brokers?

With this bleak picture and the gloomy atmosphere created by a Security Council statement that an appeal for $2.9 billion for Syria’s Response Plan generated only about 9 percent of funding, and Syria’s Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan’s appeal for $4.5 billion was so far only 6 percent funded, Kuwait will be hosting Tuesday the “Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria.”

The cash-strapped U.N., struggling to reach out to millions of displaced Syrians as well as refugees with food, medicine and shelter, has been desperately in need of funds. Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are flooded with Syrian refugees and all are complaining the international community has not been doing enough to share the burden. The last two pledging conferences were held in January 2013 and January 2014. The total pledged in 2013 was about $1.5 billion and in 2014 about $2.4 billion. The largest contributions came from the host country, Kuwait, which pledged $300 million in 2013 and $500 million in 2014.

When asked about the rate of delivery, Kuwaiti government sources said the Gulf state had delivered 100 percent of its pledges to the U.N. and the Red Cross. Some 78 countries and 40 mostly international organizations are slated to participate in Tuesday’s “Kuwait III” conference chaired by the U.N. secretary-general and hopefully will help raise some of the resources required to meet the daunting tasks.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syria-to-yemen.aspx?pageID=449&nID=80333&NewsCatID=425

URL: http://newageislam.com/islam-and-politics/yusuf-kanli/syria-to-yemen/d/102190

Political Opposition in Islam

Political Opposition in Islam

By Ahmet Kurucan

March 29, 2015

The headline “Political opposition in Islam” is wrong. It should really be “Political opposition in the history of Islam.”

I have always opposed categorical titles for political, economic, military and legal comments based on historical examples and cases in Islam. What I opposed in these titles was the reference to Islam in the discussion. My argument goes as follows: Islam is the name of a religion; by virtue of being in this category, it is thus all about the content of the Quran and the binding Hadiths from the Prophet Muhammad as well as his practices. Whatever remains outside this definition is not religion, but interpretation of the religion. No matter who does the interpretation, the case remains or should remain the same.

Under this approach, reference to Islamic sociology or Islamic economy is just wrong. Likewise, any title referring to the state in Islam or political opposition in Islam is also wrong because what is discussed under such a title reflects the views, suggestions and analyses of the writer or the author based on his/her own observations, knowledge and experiences. For this reason, it is proper to use titles referring to the history of Islam instead of Islam itself in cases where commentary and a personal approach are involved.

As you may see, there is a huge difference between these two. But when these comments are presented as if they rely on the proper definition of Islam to those who are unable to discern this difference, they may assume that what they have as a commentary or personal view is Islam itself. Bigotry naturally comes out of this approach and anything that opposes them is criticized; those who raise this opposition are strongly condemned, and sometimes even accused of heresy.

After this brief introduction, we may ask the following question: Are there legitimate grounds for political opposition in Islam? Yes, there are and they are limited to the binding Quran and hadith norms for which I tried to offer a general framework. When it comes to the history of Islam, starting from the era of the Righteous Caliphs, the opposition exhibited in every period in this history has had its own form based on the political, economic, military and cultural conditions of the time. And the name of this opposition is not Islamic opposition, but opposition in the history of Islam. Or if a more specific era is covered, then reference should be made to opposition in the era of the Umayyads, etc.

So what are the bases of political opposition in Islam? Based on the Quran and the practices of the Prophet Muhammad, whose actions guide us in interpreting the Quran, we could focus on two major elements: consultation and the promotion of good deeds. There are two verses in Quran that emphasize the importance of consultation: “And those who have responded to their Lord and established prayer and whose affair is [determined by] consultation among themselves, and from what We have provided them, they spend.” (42:38) This verse refers to consultation as the main form of dealing with world affairs. The other reads: “So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter.” (3:159) In this verse, the Prophet Muhammad is directly addressed.

When we look at these two verses, relaying on the Prophet's practices and the context of the verses, we see that, in every matter, the views of the ruled are forwarded to the rulers. It does not matter whether or not these views are in line with those of the administrative mechanisms because the goal is to attain what is right and good. Promoting good deeds is enshrined in the verse that reads: “And let there [arise] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.” (3:104)

Verses on Consultation and the Promotion of Good Deeds

If we analyze these two verses on consultation and the promotion of good deeds with respect to their relevance to state administration, we cannot possibly argue that what is referred to in these two verses is objections raised by a few people. We are not talking about managing a company or taking care of familial relations. Instead, we are talking about a comprehensive state system and how it should be administered given that it affects the lives of the entire nation and the future of our children. We should note that there are some interesting analyses suggesting that consultation should be implemented by a parliament and the promotion of good deeds by a judicial system authorized to implement sanctions in a parliamentary system.

Let me repeat what I said because of its importance: Consultation and the promotion of good deeds should be incorporated into the political system and institutional design because what Islam provides is general principles and norms. The implementation of the norms or principles is done by the will of the people. What has been done in our history is this, nothing else. But implementation of the norms has been unsuccessful most of the time.

Is declaring this process unsuccessful an exaggeration? I do not think it is. You will also join me if you see what has been happening in our country over the last few years. Let me ask a simple question: How many people and institutions act in line with the content of the hadith suggesting that the most virtuous jihad is to raise a voice against a brutal ruler for the sake of attaining the truth? Maybe a few. And because their numbers are so few, we boast about and suffice with the reaction of the companions of the Prophet who said to Caliph Omar, "If you become crooked, we will set you straight with our swords." But there is also more. At a time when the caliphate was evolving into a sultanate, a hadith suggesting that the people should obey the ruler even if he is an oppressor was fabricated. Even the warnings against the misdeeds of state administrations were criticized and ruled out to silence opponents. Patience, referred to in the hadiths as half of the religion, has been misinterpreted to promote submission to the rulers, as if the Prophet Muhammad had never stood against injustice in his whole life.

The right thing to do is to create an institutional mechanism where objections and criticisms would be raised to draw attention to what has been done wrong without causing safety problems and turmoil. Such a system is an indispensable part of participatory democracy and is in conformity with the fundamental values of Islam.

As the government does its job, the independent checking mechanisms should also be allowed to do their job; at the same time, individuals and civil society groups will be able to express their views on different matters. This is their right and duty as well.

Does the type of opposition I refer to in this piece bear relevance to civil disobedience? Yes, it does. But I will discuss that in another piece.

Dr. Ahmet Kurucan is a theologian.

Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/op-ed_political-opposition-in-islam_376631.html

URL: http://newageislam.com/debating-islam/by-ahmet-kurucan/political-opposition-in-islam/d/102191

Islam Requires Muslims to Protect Christians

Islam Requires Muslims to Protect Christians

By Kashif N. Chaudhry

30 March, 2015

Five years ago, I lost close friends in one of the most gruesome terrorist attack on Pakistani soil. In twin attacks on two Mosques in Lahore, 88 Ahmadi Muslim worshippers were killed at the hands of the Taliban. It was a painfully bloody day. This last weekend, I woke up to sad news from Pakistan that made me relive some of that pain.

Fourteen worshipers were killed, and more than 70 were injured, when two Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up outside churches in the Youhanabad neighbourhood of Lahore, Pakistan.

These attacks on Pakistan's Christian community are not a sporadic event. They are a part of a very tragic trend. Just over a year ago, another suicide attack at a Peshawar church claimed 78 lives. Not long before this, an angry mob torched over a hundred houses in Lahore's Joseph Colony, following blasphemy allegations against a Christian man. Another Christian couple -- Shama and Shahzad -- were recently lynched and burnt alive in a kiln on similar blasphemy charges. As in the Joseph Colony rampage, this mob violence was also led by a local cleric.

While Pakistan's minority communities are frequently attacked by religious extremists, the state does very little to protect them. Even in the rare instance that the perpetrators of such attacks are caught alive, they get away with a mere slap on the wrist. Pakistan's ruling party, the PML-N, is especially notorious in sponsoring hate against minority communities in an attempt to appease extremist elements that serve their vote bank. In fact, we now know that the Punjab Government under Mr. Shahbaz Sharif reportedly carried out negotiations with al Qaeda.

The reaction from the masses in Pakistan is not very encouraging either. The majority continue to remain apathetic to the ongoing persecution of minorities. The few that speak up are threatened and intimidated into silence. All this, while the Islamic faith requires that all Muslims stand up to such injustice.

Islam repeatedly mandates the protection of minorities. So much so, that one of the few times the Holy Quran permits fighting is to uphold religious freedom -- including that of fellow Christians, Jews etc. -- with specific mention of the protection of churches and synagogues. Extremists who act to destroy these places of worship act in complete opposition to the Quran.

Prophet Muhammad expressed great contempt for a Muslim who mistreats a non-Musim. He warned:

He who unfairly treats a non-Muslim living in a Muslim State, or undermines his rights, or burdens him beyond his capacity, or takes something from him without his consent; I will be his opponent on the Day of Judgment.

What a strong warning!

It is well-known that Islam equates the killing of one person to the killing of all humanity. In addition to this generic prohibition of murder, Prophet Muhammad is reported to have specifically forbidden paradise to those who hurt non-Muslims. He cautioned:

Whoever kills a non-Muslim citizen under a Muslim government shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise.

Yet, in their own perverted understanding of Jihad, extremists act against these clear injunctions of Islam. Even Muslims from minority sects are not spared of their wrath. Pakistani Muslims must stand up to this ongoing injustice and extremism. They must stand in solidarity with their Christian community, just as Prophet Muhammad stood by all Christians for all times to come.

In his covenant with the Christian monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery, he declared:

Christians are my citizens, and by God, I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.

The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. No one of the Muslims is to disobey this covenant till the Last Day.

He clearly warned in the covenant:

Whosoever shall annul any one of these decrees, let him know positively that he annuls the ordinance of God.

Whenever a Christian is persecuted in a Muslim land, this sacred covenant is broken. Those who willingly remain silent on this persecution contend with such violations of God's ordinance. In this regard, Pakistan, an "Islamic republic," has an added obligation to lead by example. If it claims to be the slightest bit Islamic, it has to raise itself to these basic standards of Islam. The government must protect its Christians and stop trying to make under-the-table deals with those who seek them harm.

As for Pakistan's silent majority, how many more times will they witness the covenant of God being trampled before finally speaking up?

Kashif Chaudhry is a physician, currently completing his Cardiology fellowship in Boston. He is a registered first responder with the international charity Humanity FIRST. Kashif has been published in various American newspapers and foreign publications. His interests include Medicine, Human Rights and the fight for universal freedom of conscience.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kashif-n-chaudhry/islam-requires-muslims-to-protect-christians_b_6961230.html?ir=India

URL: http://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/kashif-n-chaudhry/islam-requires-muslims-to-protect-christians/d/102192

Getting Into the Yemeni Storm

Getting Into the Yemeni Storm

By Mshari Al-Zaydi

27 March 2015

What is currently happening in Yemen is not the first problem Saudi Arabia has faced with respect to its neighbour to the south. But the current problems don’t just concern Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is of course the most affected out of the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, but it is by no means alone in being impacted. Other Gulf countries, as well as those along the Red Sea, and those countries whose ships pass through the Bab El-Mandeb strait and the Cape of Good Hope, will also be affected by the crisis.

In fact, what is happening in Yemen poses a problem for the whole world, politically, strategically, and in terms of global security. This is especially true when bearing in mind how Yemen is currently being transformed into a regional base for the Persian–Khomeinist camp and a rebel stronghold for Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia is the country most affected by the current Yemeni crisis, due to its geographic proximity to Yemen and the nature of the terrain on the borders between the two countries, from mountains and valleys to plains and steppes — not to mention the close links that exist between the peoples of these two countries.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members have been attempting to lay out a political road map for Yemen according to specific criteria, which are based on the outcomes of the Gulf Initiative, the legitimacy of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the unity of the country and its security.

The Iran-backed Houthi movement, which has staged a coup in Yemen, refuses all of this, however. Working alongside the Houthis is the country’s ousted former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and his General People’s Congress (GPC) party, both pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, Iran continues its meddling in the north-western corner of the Peninsula, using its proven and poisonous abilities in subterfuge and divisiveness, spreading sedition and fomenting revolution in the happy land of Yemen and ruining the lives of its good, kind-hearted people.

But Iran was angry after calls were made to hold a conference on Yemen in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The request came from President Hadi himself, Who fled a Houthi-imposed house arrest last month, later moving his Cabinet to the southern port city of Aden. He was soon followed by his Defense Minister Mahmoud Al-Subaihi, who also fled Houthi captivity in the Yemeni capital.

After their escapes, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi was livid with rage, refusing to attend the Riyadh conference and using the threat of force to push his agenda. He launched attacks on Taiz and Aden, the heartland of anti-Houthi sentiment in Yemen. The south is opposed to the Houthi movement’s deviant ideology, one far removed from traditional Zaidism in Yemen, which the movement claims to follow, though it is in fact closer to Iran.

Abdul Malik Al-Houthi also announced a “mass mobilization” of forces against the Taiz, Aden and Lahj provinces and any other regions of the country opposed to his coup and his dependence on Tehran.

The Houthi leader launched an attack on the presidential palace in Aden as well as the city’s airport. He also provoked the people of Taiz. And now the country has reached boiling point.

It was for this reason that Yemen’s new Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin told the Al-Arabiya news channel that the current crisis in Yemen threatens a host of different countries. He said that Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi called on the UN and the GCC’s Peninsula Shield Force to intervene in order to counter Houthi efforts, adding that the GCC countries were already considering the move.

UN Special Adviser on Yemen Jamal Benomar has recently said that the current events are now pushing the country “to the edge of a civil war,” and to eventual partition, unless some kind of miracle occurs.

And during his meeting on Monday with his British counterpart Philip Hammond, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned that unless the Houthi coup ends peacefully, Saudi Arabia and the GCC would be forced to take the necessary measures to protect the rest of the region.

A storm is brewing in the southern Arabian Peninsula, heading northward and outward. Stopping it from spreading is no longer a choice.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/columns/news/723861

URL: http://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/mshari-al-zaydi/getting-into-the-yemeni-storm/d/102193

UK: Whatever Happened to That Muslim Brotherhood Review?

UK: Whatever Happened to That Muslim Brotherhood Review?

By Douglas Murray

March 30, 2015

What has happened to the British government's "review" into the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK?

The "review" (officials have been careful not to refer to it as an '"inquiry") into the Muslim Brotherhood's "philosophy and values and alleged connections with extremism and violence" was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron almost a year ago. At a press conference, he said that Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, would lead the review. Explaining the need for such a process, Mr. Cameron said:

"What I think is important about the Muslim Brotherhood is that we understand what this organisation is, what it stands for, what its beliefs are in terms of the path of extremism and violent extremism, what its connections are with other groups, what its presence is here in the United Kingdom. Our policies should be informed by a complete picture of that knowledge."

This is indeed something that is important. So why, a year later, have the findings of this review still not been published?

From the outset, the whole process has been subject to considerable public and private criticism, not to say opposition. Those people in the commentariat and political class who are generally uncritical of non-violent extremism (or rather "not violent, here, for the time-being" extremism) protested against conducting the Muslim Brotherhood review from the outset. Last year, for instance, the Financial Times quoted a "senior government figure," saying that the investigation "Cuts against what the FCO has already been doing in this area... It risks turning supporters of a moderate, non-violent organisation that campaigns for democracy into radicals."

This was a particularly revealing statement: it showed that apart from anything else, there were, from the outset, people at the very top of government who think that the Muslim Brotherhood is a harmless, pro-democracy group that is being unfairly and unhelpfully maligned. This is not the view of many experts on Middle Eastern politics. And it is certainly not the view of the former head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, who has described the Muslim Brotherhood as "at heart a terrorist organisation." It also revealed the thinking in at least part of Britain's political class.

There were also complaints from those who saw the review as only having been ordered because it was in fact some type of political or religious sectarian set-up. There were claims that the UK government had only ordered this process at the behest of the Egyptian government – which branded the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group again in 2013, after the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood-run government. Others claimed that the review had been ordered at the behest of the Saudis – a line bolstered by the appointment of Sir John Jenkins.

Despite these objections, Sir John got on with his review. Experts were called in over the course of several months and the review itself was finished some months ago. So why has nobody seen it?

For some time, the stalling has been put down to an issue of "sensitivity." There are allied countries, potentially banks and certain figures in authority in allied countries, who may not come out well from Sir John's review. It is also likely that prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures in the UK have been identified by name. Any and all of these people could have objected to being identified. One rumour in Westminster for some time has been that Muslim Brotherhood leaders, or the organisation as a whole, had considered issuing an injunction against the Prime Minister to prevent the publication of the report. How the Muslim Brotherhood could issue an injunction against a British Prime Minister in the British courts is uncertain, but there are certainly likely to be libel and other issues around.

Of course, these problems are fairly easy to get around by issuing a heavily redacted version of the report while keeping the full version for official use only. Indeed, before the latest stall it was expected that there would be a publication only of a two-page summary of the review's main findings. But now it seems that even this will not be able to be released. So what is going on?

The UK government is running close to the period in which no more releases of potentially political information can be presented from Whitehall. This period, before the election, is generally referred to as "purdah." The UK is about to enter this period, and the Muslim Brotherhood review is not the only document likely to become a victim. The British government has yet to release its new counter-extremism strategy. This long-awaited document was meant to be launched in January, but infighting at the top of the coalition government has delayed it. Credible reports say that the coalition has stalled over the refusal of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (leader of the Liberal Democrats) to endorse measures which would, among other things, stop extremist preachers and recruiters touring UK universities.

The counter-extremism strategy was meant to be released on the same day as the Muslim Brotherhood review. But now both are about to fall afoul of the pre-election deadline, and thus fall into post-election publication. That, of course, is precisely what Nick Clegg and other officials who are soft on extremism would like. Their hope is that the Conservative Party does not become the largest party after May 5th, so that both the extremism strategy and the Muslim Brotherhood review are not merely being kicked into the long grass but will, in fact, never see the light of day.

This is, it must be said, politics at its very worst. The Muslim Brotherhood has wreaked havoc for decades. Its desire to carry out coups and to rule Middle Eastern countries according to the rule of a hard-line interpretation of Islamic law is not ancient history – it is very recent history. Britain has for some years now been the major global hub for these revolutionaries to fundraise, organize and dip in and out of whenever they are in or out of power.

A decent democracy would not behave towards its public, allies and friends like this. When countries harbour Britain's enemies, we rightly regard those countries as less than friendly toward us. If Britain fails to publish the Muslim Brotherhood review, it will not just show that the country is unreliable to its friends and even to its own citizens. It will show that it is outstandingly weak in the face of our society's most obvious enemies.

Source: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5459/muslim-brotherhood-review

URL: http://newageislam.com/islam-and-the-west/douglas-murray/uk--whatever-happened-to-that-muslim-brotherhood-review?/d/102195

Indian Muslim Women Praise ‘Imam-e-Hind’ Shri Ram

Indian Muslim Women Praise ‘Imam-e-Hind’ Shri Ram

Muslim women praise ‘Imam-e-Hind’ Shri Ram (Representative photo)

Saudi Women in Security Positions Challenge Stereotypes

Overcoming Challenges: 'Pakistan Girls Have To Walk the Extra Mile'

Syria Trio’s London School Linked to More Girls Trying to Join Daesh

Banned in Kenya, LGBT Film Tells Tales of Taboo Love

IS Female Brigade Packed With British Jihadi Brides and Sex Worker

Saudi Women Voice Their Importance in Times of Instability

Why It's Wrong To Underestimate the Islamic State's Female Recruits

Pittsburgh Muslim Women’s Association Holds Fundraiser for Needy Women

South Africa: Multi-Party Women's Caucus Says SA Must Be Rid of Homophobia

Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2015: Meet the Accomplished Females Who Are Flying High And Mighty

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL: http://newageislam.com/islam,-women-and-feminism/new-age-islam-news-bureau/indian-muslim-women-praise-‘imam-e-hind’-shri-ram/d/102163

----------

Indian Muslim Women Praise ‘Imam-e-Hind’ Shri Ram

Binay Singh, TNN | Mar 29, 2015

VARANASI: Several Muslim women here on Saturday offered prayers to Lord Ram on the occasion of Ramnavmi and claimed that he was their imam and Ayodhya was their place of pilgrimage.

"Ayodhya Hai Hamari Ziyaratgah Ka Naam, Rahte Hain Jahan Imam-E-Hind Shri Ram (Ayodhya is the name of our pilgrimage, where our Imam Shri Ram lives)," they recited while praising Lord Ram during Ramnavmi celebrations. The women, associated with the Vishal Bharat Sansthan (VBS), have been celebrating Ramnavmi for years to give a strong message of communal harmony.

Taking the 'Thaal' of Aarti, these women sang in praise of Lord Ram at Varunanagaram Colony, Hukulganj. They also wrote 'Ram Naam' in Urdu on pieces of paper and deposited in 'Rurdu Ram Naam Bank'.

Nazneen Ansari, who has scripted 'Shri Ram Aarti' and 'Shri Ram Prarthana', said: "Lord Ram is the ancestor of all of us. Everyone should take part in his Aarti, breaking the barriers of caste, creed and faith."

Being a Muslim, Nazneen has no hesitation singing in praise of Hindu deity and she believes that the name of Rama is enough to end all adversities. "That's why a bank of 'Ram Naam' in Urdu has also been created by these women at the VBS. Anyone can deposit Ram Naam scripted paper in this bank," VBS founder Rajiv Srivastava said.

"Ram Humare Purvaj Hain Aur Duniya Ke Liye Adarsh Hain. Humein Is Baat Ka Fakhr Hai Ki Hum Ram Ki Santan Hain. Ram Nam Hi Nafrat Mita Sakta Hai (Ram is our ancestor and ideal for the world. We are proud of it. It is the only name which can eliminate hatred)," said Nazneen, who has also translated Hanuman Chalisa into Urdu.

She is working on the translation of Ramcharitmanas after scripting 'Durga Chalisa' in Urdu.

Nazneen also presented a 'Ram-Naami Dupatta' to former central information commissioner O P Kejriwal, who was present on the occasion. Other members like Najma Parveen, Mohammed Azharuddin, Razia Begum, Shams-un-Nisa, Hajra Begum and Bilqis Begum also took part in Ramnavmi celebrations.

They believe that the message from Kashi will be instrumental in bringing peace and communal harmony in other parts of the country and advocate for construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. Nazneen and her fellow members had also sent a petition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.

They believe that Ayodhya belongs to Lord Ram and if Muslims want respect from Hindus, they should come forward to build the temple at his birthplace.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Muslim-women-praise-Imam-e-Hind-Shri-Ram/articleshow/46732836.cms

-----------

Saudi Women in Security Positions Challenge Stereotypes

29 March, 2015

With a growing number of facilities in the Kingdom, a need for female security guards arose. More women are joining this field and are taking their spots in private offices run by women, banks, malls and other social, educational and health facilities.

Warda Al-Yani recently decided to become a guard and says people were sceptical at first, telling her she was taking up a man’s job. Al-Yani said there’s more acceptances of women in this job after many women in this profession have proven their excellence.

However, workers in this domain say this job is not for men alone. “On the contrary, these guards have access to zones men can’t enter like female prayer rooms or toilets,” Khalid Al-Fehaid, manager at a commercial mall, told Arab News.

He said women need to be over 26 years old and have enough confidence to do the job with its security aspects and accompanying problems. “We face sensitive issues like women fainting or fighting, and women security guards are the only people who can deal with these problems, carrying the women or touching them,” Al-Fehaid added.

Economist Fadl Al-Bouainain, said work in security will definitely take Saudi women out of traditional jobs in the health and education sectors and into other fields. He explained that this new direction will give women a greater opportunity to fight unemployment.

Al-Bouainain clarified that the Saudi women have started branching out to include working as lawyers, cashiers, marketing personnel and even in real estate, adding that Saudi women have proved to be up to the new challenge, and “woman’s persistence will lead them to prove their excellence in many fields not only this one,” he added.

“The female security sector will need thousands of women applicants,” he reports, stressing the importance of training to achieve the desired goals and meeting the job’s requirements.

Ali Al-Zahrani, general supervisor in a security company at a commercial mall, told Arab News that more women are applying to work as security guards adding that a majority of them hold university degrees. Al-Zahrani said that some malls have a quota for the number of women they employ.

Khaled Al-Mashaan, owner of a security company in Asir, said that women have proven their excellence in the security field and have shown to be patient amidst the pressure and workload. He has employed women in the security sector at parties, schools, universities and other private events.

Al-Mashaan added that there’s a need to spread awareness in society regarding women working in this job and create an understanding on the nature of the job. “There should be cooperation by all members of the community to achieve success,” he explained.

Fatima Al-Zamil, working security at one of Asir’s malls, said that security guards need to have specific qualities to carry out the difficulties of this job.”A woman in this job needs to have a strong personality and to be bold, patient, quick-witted, smart, detail-oriented and a fun person, and at the same time able to deal with people,” she noted adding that a security guard needs to be able to maintain security which she described as a difficult job.

On the other side, there are many skeptical and unsupportive people, says Security Guard Turkiyyeh Hamed. “We face a lot of underestimation, especially from women who look on us as inferior,” she claimed.

“Sometimes they swear at or criticize us.” Hamed hopes society will accept them working in these positions which will help them perform their duties.

http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/724776

-----------

Overcoming Challenges: 'Pakistan Girls Have To Walk the Extra Mile'

29 March, 2015

KARACHI: In an attempt to help Pakistani women overcome challenges to achieve success, Chief Executive Officer of Taneez, Zeenat Saeed, says girls need to convince and impress their parents with their ability to perform well in their places of interest.

“It is for you to prove that you are able and capable to do it,” she said, while addressing a panel discussion organised by the US Consulate, moderated by the Consul General in Karachi Brian Heath and attended by more than 100 women.

Creative Director for FnkAsia Huma Adnan, who was also one of the panellists at the event, added that the child needs to bring the trust element in their parents. “If you are very sure of what you want to do, do that but let your parents know that you will not break their trust.”

Sharing her words of wisdom, Head of Emergency at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical College Dr Seemin Jamali said it’s a man’s world and women don’t have space.

“Dreams do come true but these young girls need to be resilient, work a mile extra,” she said, while motivating the audience.

Adding to the pieces of advises, Chief Executive Officer Teach for Pakistan Noorul ain Masood said you should be able to draw boundaries in a man’s world.

“No means no … I wish someone told me that 10 years ago,” she spelled out.

Masood also underscored the significance of exploring unique character traits in oneself, saying that these can be deployed in a profession, and not just the skills, to show their strengths in a patriarchal society like Pakistan.

Suggestions like coaching and training younger boys to get rid of stereotypes as well as learning various self-defence techniques forming a part of Taekowndo and Karate were also made during the discourse.

Turning the tables, one of the members of the audience said women alone are to be blamed for making men feel more superior and referred to the kind of attitude mothers and sisters adopt towards their sons and brothers respectively.

Singer Tina Sani also said that women fail to work hard and are lazier than men. “They don’t like to work on their own and need constant guidance. Men have the pressure to take it, have a career.”

Appreciating the amount of respect given to women in Pakistani society, Huma said we are privileged than women in other parts of the world and this needs to be acknowledged.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, the US consul general said he is convinced that the discourse has started to generate ideas and it will help more women to engage in workplaces, making Pakistan a stronger nation.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/860341/overcoming-challenges-girls-have-to-go-the-extra-mile/

-----------

Syria trio’s London school linked to more girls trying to join Daesh

29 March, 2015

LONDON — A group of London teenage girls barred from traveling abroad attend the same school as three others who are thought to have gone to Syria, the High Court has heard.

Last week High Court judge Anthony Hayden barred five teenage girls from going overseas due to concerns they too would flee to Syria to join militants.

He made the girls from east London — two aged 15 and three aged 16 — “wards of court,” a legal move that prevents them leaving the jurisdiction of England and Wales without judicial permission.

He confiscated their passports and also those of a number of adults involved in caring for them, noting that in at least one other case a young girl traveled on a relative’s passport.

Hayden said Friday it could be revealed that four of those girls were pupils at the Bethnal Green Academy in east London.

Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, who also went to the school, left their homes in February and flew to Istanbul, from where they are believed to have joined Daesh (the so-called IS) in Syria.

They followed a classmate who left about two months earlier.

“All involved must recognize that in this particular process it is the interest of the individual child that is paramount,” the judge said.

“This cannot be eclipsed by wider considerations of counter terrorism policy or operations, but it must be recognized that the decision the court is being asked to take can only be arrived at against an informed understanding of that wider canvas.”

The British authorities are increasingly concerned by the numbers of young people heading to join militants in Syria, after a string of high-profile cases in recent weeks.

Three teenage boys and a 21-year-old woman were stopped in Turkey in the past week on suspicion of trying to cross the border.

About 700 people are thought to have gone to Syria from Britain, of whom almost half are reported to have returned. — AFP

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20150329238543

-----------

Banned in Kenya, LGBT Film Tells Tales of Taboo Love

29 March, 2015

London — A schoolgirl struggling with her sexuality is suspended for kissing her classmate. A woman and her partner dream of fleeing home as angry mobs gather to oust gays. A young man walks past a gay bar and says "I could burn them".

These personal accounts from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Kenya inspired the anthology film "Stories Of Our Lives", a centrepiece screening at LGBT film festival BFI Flare, which wraps up on Sunday in London.

Produced by a group of artists, social workers and entrepreneurs in Nairobi called the NEST Collective, the film explores sexual orientation in a country where homosexuality is punishable by law with up to 14 years imprisonment.

While Kenya's anti-gay laws are rarely enforced, the collective knew the film would be a challenge to cast and shoot.

LGBT people in Kenya are routinely abused, assaulted by mobs and even raped by police, vigilantes and organised criminals, rights groups say.

Having spent months conducting interviews across Kenya, the collective, led by director Jim Chuchu, decided to turn some of the collected stories into short films - shot with just one DSLR camera by a team with no training in filmmaking.

"We wanted to do this project for many reasons, but mostly because we wanted to tell stories that are not often heard, stories that characterize the queer experience in Kenya," the collective said.

"Stories Of Our Lives" tells five separate tales of the internal struggles faced by LGBT people in Kenya, and the burden of hiding their sexuality from friends, family and society.

In 'Ask Me Nicely', two schoolgirls are hauled into the headmistress' office and questioned about their "peculiar" relationship. "Which one of you is the man?" she asks of the teenage girls, before suspending them and sending them home.

Another story titled 'Run' focuses on a young man called Patrick who is insulted and savagely attacked by his homophobic friend Kama after visiting a gay bar. "You have a dick, why can't you use it?" Kama screams as he kicks Patrick and threatens to kill him.

BANNED

The cast and crew chose to remain anonymous during filming due to fears of legal action and personal attacks, only revealing their identity at film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in October last year.

Having also screened in Germany, South Africa and the United States, the film has received plaudits worldwide, but unfortunately for the collective, it also drew the attention and ire of the Kenya Film Classification Board.

The board banned the film for showing "obscenity, explicit scenes of sexual activities" and "promoting homosexuality which is contrary to our national norms and values".

While the decision to ban the screening, sale and distribution of the film was predictable, the collective has continued to exhibit their work at festivals around the world.

"We made this film to open dialogue about identities, what it means to be Kenyan, and what it means to be different," the collective said. "By placing a restriction on this film, the board has chosen to delay this inevitable conversation.

"We hope Kenyans will get to see this film one day, because we made it for Kenyans."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201503271633.html

-----------

IS Female Brigade Packed With British Jihadi Brides and Sex Worker

29 March, 2015

The Islamic State's (IS) female army, called the 'Al Khansaa Brigade' has reportedly been composed of British Jihadi brides and prostitutes.

An activist with the 'Raqqa is being slaughtered silently' resistance group said that, the majority in the brigade were British women, while others were being women of ill-repute, the Daily Star reported.

These women are being paid 1,000 pounds a month, have been given plum apartments and are the only women allowed to drive there. They have enforced strict Sharia laws on females in Raqqa, the regime's capital in Syria.

The International Committee for the Red Cross has warned that IS has been trying to hold water resources in the desert regions for ransom.

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-is-female-brigade-packed-with-british-jihadi-brides-and-sex-worker-2072634

-----------

Saudi Women Voice Their Importance in Times of Instability

29 March, 2015

RIYADH — Women social activists, writers, and businesswomen voiced their role in forging national unity while weathering instabilities triggered by terrorism or crises surrounding the Kingdom, Al-Riyadh reported.

Social activist Nailah Al-Attar said women in the Kingdom are praying for their families and relatives in Yemen.

“Many may overlook the role women play in times of wars and instabilities. We have a powerful role in such crises. We teach our children that wars and instabilities are an inevitable part of life and we teach them to react sensibly in these situations,” said Al-Attar.

She added that she understood how crucial the role of women is after she attended an international conference on the role of women in war and peace in Paris.

“The speakers at the conference were women who saw the war and the bloodshed through their eyes. They said women are the prosperous aftermath of wars. After the men have fought and wounded one another, it is up to us to come out and build the nation once again,” said Al-Attar. She also added it is very important for women to instill patriotism in their son’s hearts because after the war is over, the children must feel responsible to rebuild their country.

Writer Nabilah Mahjoob said women have a big responsibility to stabilize the household despite the external instabilities.

“Women should teach their children to be loyal to their leadership in order to avoid national revolutions and extremism. We have already witnessed the ramifications of extremism in Syrian, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and many other examples throughout history,” said Mahjoob.

She added the Saudi woman should be thankful to have a leadership, which invests in peace and values stability.

“The Operation Decisive Storm the Kingdom initiated received a sigh of relief from many households in the Kingdom. Women, now, know they can trust their government and focus on building a safe haven for their men,” said Mahjoob.

She also added the weight of building the post-war generation lies on women.

“Let’s not forget the role of women in the Gulf War I. They opened their houses to Kuwaiti families and their role extended beyond preparing the dinner table to raising the next generation. Our absence from the media does not mean our ineffectiveness. We simply never sought the spotlight,” said Mahjoob.

Journalist Dalal Dhiaa said the women’s role is to remind the coming generation that the Kingdom never initiates war but defends the victims of terrorism.

“With war comes destructive rumors spread through social media and women need to be aware of that and warn their children against it. Women need to refer to credible sources of information and know no to believe everything they read on the Internet,” said Dhiaa.

Businesswoman Ghadah Ghazawi said herself and a group of women will launch a social media campaign “We are with you and with our homeland”.

“The campaign is tweets and messages on the importance of our leadership, the great veterans of our nation and the Kingdom’s efforts for national peace. We hope to raise awareness against the negative rumours being spread against our government,” said Ghazawi.

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20150329238608

-----------

Why It's Wrong To Underestimate the Islamic State's Female Recruits

29 March, 2015

Umm Jihad may very well be who she claims to be, a 20-year-old American university student who was studying business in Virginia until she left to join the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, in Syria.

When she is asked in a private online chat how she should be identified, she sends a photo of four women hanging out of a white Beemer and hoisting AK-47s in the air. Their hair faces and bodies are completely shrouded in black robes and veils so they cannot be identified.

She responds: “Me and some Aussies.”

It is easy to ridicule as the Islamic State equivalent of Girls Gone Wild. Much of the Islamic State’s chatter on social media seems more laughable than serious, leading a CNN host to say last month that the group lured women with kittens, Nutella and emojis. Then CNN’s Carol Costello’s suggestion was then widely mocked by Islamic State supporters.

“There are very facile reductions, especially TV sensationalism of tropes like kittens and Nutella pancakes, and it is really problematic because it is not getting at understanding the nuanced, complex factors that lead women from Western nations to go and join forces with groups like ISIS,” says Jasmin Zine, an associate professor of sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Zine has been researching the impact of the “war on terror” and Islamophobia on identity and citizenship, as well as radicalization among Canadian Muslim youth.

“Highlighting only the absurd glosses over the reasons why women are drawn to the group or the real risks they face,” she said.

Much of what we have learned about the Islamic State comes from its members, although most of what they post online is to praise the group.

The risks of moving into a war zone and being caught between warring factions or aerial strikes are rarely mentioned. In addition, there are reports of sexual abuse or teenage girls forced to move from one husband to another as their fighter husbands are killed.

Clearly what is never mentioned in the propaganda is that joining the Islamic State may be easy — getting out is hard.

Since most online posting is anonymous, it is hard verify identities.

One of the Islamic State’s most influential online voices used to be a Twitter account under the name Shami Witness. Last year, Britain’s Channel 4 uncovered that Shami Witness was not a holy warrior, or pro-ISIS analyst, but a 24-year-old businessman from Bangalore, India, who apparently had a lot of time on his hands.

But if Umm Jihad is not who she purports to be, her statements still echo hundreds of others online and provide insight into what women drawn to ISIS are either reading or writing.

They talk about the Islamic State’s higher calling, the sense of sisterhood and they romanticize their marriages, or becoming young mothers.

Zine says some are driven by a humanitarian impulse, a need to do something in response to Muslim deaths of the so-called war on terror. “It has a lot to do with what’s happening in the world these youths are seeing in alternative media. They see death and destruction in a way the normal consumer of Western media culture doesn’t see because it has been mainly a nameless, faceless war,” she said.

Only a few voices from women inside can be heard online about how bad it can be for these young women. Some complain that there is tension between those from Western countries, versus locals in Syria and Iraq, where the group has declared its Caliphate.

One woman, claiming on Twitter that foreigners are “subjected to mistreatment and discrimination from the locals,” describes an incident where a foreign woman was left to bleed at a hospital during a miscarriage, while doctors tended to local patients.

Most foreign women come from European countries, Australia and, to a lesser degree, Canada and the U.S. Umm Jihad posted a photo on Twitter of four gloved hands holding Canadian, American, Australian and British passports.

“Bonfire soon, no need for these anymore,” she wrote.

A 23-year-old woman from Edmonton is believed to be among the recruits. She reportedly left for the Islamic State last summer after enrolling in an online course to study the Qur’an taught by another woman based in Edmonton, according to a CBC television report.

In January, Shayma Senouci, a girl from the suburbs of Montreal was reported missing to police and is presumed to have left for Syria. Her Facebook account rages against a 2013 proposal by the Quebec government to ban religious symbols and calls Israel's shelling of Gaza last summer a “genocide.”

“How can we stay impassive when faced with this?!!” she wrote last July.

Three other Canadian teenagers also tried last year to join, abruptly leaving their Brampton homes and making it as far as Istanbul, Turkey, before authorities turned them back after being alerted by their parents.

Umm Jihad says she misses nothing about the West and she believes it was her obligation as a Muslim to join the Islamic State. A British woman she met online helped her leave Virginia last November for Raqqa, Syria, where she says she now lives.

When we started talking a couple of weeks ago, she was living alone with her husband, whom she did not identify.

But she said women were happiest when their husbands died in battle and became a shahid, or martyr. The widows then “have to wait four months and 10 days before they’re allowed to leave the house, remarry, go shopping etc.,” she wrote in a text. “It’s not hard because it’s for the sake of Allah and we are happy to observe it . . . When one husband gets martyred, it’s like a celebration.”

The next day, she got her wish, posting on Twitter that her husband, Abu Jihad Al Australi was killed, waxing poetically of his death. “My husband had a dream a week before he went to battle. He dreamt that he got shot in the head and it felt like a pinch,” she wrote.

“He saw a bright light that he was trying to go towards; as he was getting closer n closer to it it got brighter n brighter until he couldn’t . . . handle it. I remember him tell me his dream and laughing.”

If true, she was married to a man from Melbourne, Australia named Suhan Rahman. Photos of his blood-soaked body were posted alongside other fighters killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters earlier this month, including the body of what is believed to be Ahmad Waseem, who was from Windsor and was known by the kunya, or nickname, of Abu Turab al-Kanadi.

Umm Jihad’s posts on Twitter grew more strident after her husband’s death, urging attacks on the West, or “that treacherous tyrant” U.S. President Barack Obama.

But she is polite and conciliatory when answering questions on the social-messaging app KIK, unlike her Twitter account, which was suspended Saturday. When asked about disconnect, she responds: “Oh lol. Not like I can tell u to go kill kuffar,” using the word for the non-believers.

Umm Jihad had earlier made her intentions clear on why she’s responding to a journalist’s questions. “These journalists think they’re using us when they message us nicely,” she wrote last week on Twitter. “Little do they know we’re using them for a means of spreading our Da’wah,” using the Arabic word for an “invitation.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/03/28/why-its-wrong-to-underestimate-the-islamic-states-female-recruits.html

-----------

Pittsburgh Muslim Women’s Association Holds Fundraiser for Needy Women

29 March, 2015

The Muslim Women’s Association of Pittsburgh sponsored a fund­raising event in support of their newly opened Guest House for women.

The association is a Muslim Charitable Association comprised of Muslim women from all over the city. It has been in continuous operation since the1900s.

The Guest House was established to provide temporary housing for needy women and children. It began operating in 2014. It also helps women and children to access resources that meet their needs, such as job training and affordable housing.

Currently, the Muslim women volunteers support the work of the house. The fundraising event was held at Salem’s conference centre located at 2911 Penn Ave., in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District, on March 14. Dinner was catered by Salem’s. There was a $20 donation payable at the door.

Invited speakers included Adrianne Lane, residential services supervisor from Pittsburgh’s Women’s Centre &  Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh; Susy Robison, director of Outreach and Volunteer Services at the Homeless Children Fund;  and Arshad Hafeez, a  motivational speaker.

Donated funds went to maintain the guest house, provide security  and pay the employees.

The event was open to everyone.

http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2015/03/28/muslim-womens-association-holds-fundraiser-for-needy-women/

-----------

South Africa: Multi-Party Women's Caucus Says SA Must Be Rid of Homophobia

29 March, 2015

The Multi-Party Women's Caucus has emphasised that the South African society needs to be rid of homophobia. A culture of equality must also be promoted.

Committee Chairperson, Ms Masefele Storey Morutoa, said a strong message of tolerance and respect needed to be sent out. Ms Morutoa's response comes after the Committee received a briefing from the Department of Justice on the protection against violence and other human rights violations against persons on the basis of their real or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Committee also received a briefing from the Department of Health on increasing access to HIV and sexual and reproductive health services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons.

The Committee heard that government intended to introduce the concept of hate crimes into the criminal law. One of the key motivations for the proposed changes to the law, included in a draft policy framework, was the violent targeting of LGBTI persons based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, the so-called "corrective rapes" and murder of lesbian women and transgender men, especially in townships. Other motivators included a number of recent racist attacks, violence against foreign nationals as well as vandalism targeting religious institutions.

Ms Morutoa said the Committee welcomed the policy framework. "It will make hate speech a crime. It will further provide for the development of measures to combat hate crime and unfair discrimination." The Committee expressed serious concerns about the use of word "corrective rape" as this remained rape. The Department of Justice agreed and said that is why they used the term so-called corrective rape.

The Committee further heard that only 14 million female condoms were distributed yearly by the Department of Health compared to the 800 million male condoms. The cost involved in procuring female condoms was highlighted as the reason for this.

Committee members commended the Department of Health for yearly increasing this amount but found the lower number unacceptable as women were a vulnerable group.

ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES

For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:

Name: Rajaa Azzakani

Parliamentary Communication Services

Tel: 021 403 8437

Cell: 081 703 9542

Email: razzakani@parliament.gov.za

http://allafrica.com/stories/201503261528.html

-----------

Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2015: Meet the accomplished females who are flying high and mighty

29 March, 2015

Fifty accomplished women, including a stand-up comedian, a TV star and a senior executive at the world’s first Islamic branding agency, have been shortlisted for the 2015 Asian Women of Achievement Awards. Now in its 16th year, the event aims to highlight the often overlooked contribution that Asian women make to sectors including business, sport and culture.

This year’s shortlist includes Shelina Janmohamed, vice-president of Ogilvy Noor, the world’s first Islamic branding agency. Lucy Choi, the entrepreneurial niece of shoe tycoon Jimmy Choo, is also shortlisted, along with Farah Dakhlallah, Arabic spokesperson for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

The awards, which will be held in London on 19 May, were founded by Pinky Lilani, who received an OBE in 2007 for her work to celebrate women’s achievements. Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, she said she set up the Asian Women of Achievement Awards to “break the stereotype that Asian women were just at home, cooking onion pakora. I wanted to find some amazing stories”.

Referring to this year’s shortlist, she said: “What really makes me happy is seeing these women who are hugely talented but are so collaborative, very kind and humble. They all seem so honoured to be involved.”

Social and humanitarian category nominees

Myira Khan

Counsellor, lecturer and founder, Muslim Counsellor & Psychotherapist Network

Ms Khan is a Leicester-based counsellor and founder of the Muslim Counsellor & Psychotherapist Network. She works to break down the stigma attached to mental illness within Muslim and South Asian communities. She was awarded the Mental Health Heroes Award by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg earlier this year.

Parmi Dheensa

Executive director, Include Me TOO

Ms Dheensa set up a national charity dedicated to supporting disabled children from ethnic minorities and their families. She has created a range of initiatives, such as peer and ambassador programmes, to increase  disability awareness within a cultural context.

Kulvinder Kaur

Fostering service manager, Foster Care Associates

Ms Kaur, who qualified as a social worker in 1994, has raised funds for many causes. She slept rough in winter to highlight homelessness, and climbed Kilimanjaro to help young people with experience of care.

Pooja Naidu Kingsley

Manager, Coffey International

Ms Kingsley, a rising star at Coffey’s international development business, ran a £25m peace-building programme in Pakistan. She now runs a programme in Kenya dedicated to improving security for the poor, and reducing violence against women and girls.

Balvinder Sandhu

Doctor, NHS

Ms Sandhu has been a diabetes dietician for the past 17 years, helping make healthcare more accessible for ethnic minority groups. Her work has been recognised by Parliament as an example of best practice. She also leads humanitarian relief agency Khalsa Aid.

Camilla Bowry

Founder, Sal’s Shoes

Founded Sal’s Shoes – a charity that redistributes children’s shoes outgrown by their owners – in 2012. In its first year, Sal’s Shoes collected 4,805 pairs and found new owners in eight countries, including the UK.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/asian-women-of-achievement-awards-2015-meet-the-accomplished-females-who-are-flying-high-and-mighty-10141487.html

-----------

URL: http://newageislam.com/islam,-women-and-feminism/new-age-islam-news-bureau/indian-muslim-women-praise-‘imam-e-hind’-shri-ram/d/102163