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Telegraph | News | Police seize long lost Islamic treasures of the Java Sea

The implication is that instead of being spread across the Indian Ocean by Arab traders, as previously thought, the religion of Mohammed could have been brought to what is now the world’s most populous Muslim nation from China, where there was already a Muslim presence.

Aljazeera.Net - Morocco introduces women preachers
Morocco introduces women preachers

Friday 28 April 2006, 11:50 Makka Time, 8:50 GMT

The idea took off after the May, 2003 attacks in Casablanca

Morocco has just graduated its first team of women preachers to be deployed as a vanguard in its fight against any slide towards Islamic extremism.

“This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world,” proudly stated Muhammad Mahfudh, director of the centre attached to the Islamic affairs ministry that trained this first class of 50 women.

Ministry spokesman Hamid Rono said it was the “first (of its kind) in the Islamic world”.

This pioneer group of Murshidat, or guides, who finished a 12-month course in early April, were trained to “accompany and orient” Muslim faithful, notably in prisons, hospitals and schools, said Mahfudh.

They will earn a salary of 5,000 dirhams ($560) a month.

Samira Marzouk, in her 30s like most of the others, exclaims how “proud” she is to be part of this first group.

She sees their mission as one to “fill in the gaps that prevent a solid framework for religion”. Continue Reading »

Malaysia’s Top Court to Decide If Muslims Can Leave Islam without Shariah Approval | Christianpost.com- Christian News Online , Christian World News
Malaysia’s Top Court to Decide If Muslims Can Leave Islam without Shariah Approval
Friday, Apr. 21, 2006 Posted: 9:35:22AM EST

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia’s highest court has agreed to decide whether the country’s Islamic court has the exclusive right to deal with Muslims who renounce their faith.

The Federal Court ruling, which could take months, is a rare step into the highly sensitive area of conversions – and a test of religious freedom in this majority Muslim country.

The Federal Court’s April 13 announcement came in the case of Lina Joy, who converted from Islam to Christianity in 1998. She applied to the National Registration Department to change her Muslim name, Azlina Jailani, on her government identity card, which also identifies the cardholder’s religion. The agency agreed to change her name, but would not remove “Islam” as the religion, saying it needed permission from a Shariah court, which handles Islamic issues.

Muslims, who comprise 60 percent of Malaysia’s population of 26 million, are governed by Shariah courts on civil and family matters. Chinese and Indian minorities are under civil court.

But there are no clear jurisdiction guidelines about which court should handle a case like Joy’s.

Joy’s lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, contends Malaysia’s Constitution does not require Shariah court approval to convert out of Islam. It would violate her religious freedom to deny the conversion, he said.

“She wants to get married to a non-Muslim, but cannot because the civil registry only marries non-Muslims, which she officially isn’t right now,” he said.

WorldWide Religious News-Can Muslims be allowed to pray under the Acropolis, Greeks wonder
“Can Muslims be allowed to pray under the Acropolis, Greeks wonder”

(AFP, April 02, 2006)

Athens, Greece - A solidly Christian country with a sizeable Muslim community, Greece has spent years debating the establishment of a mosque somewhere in its capital — without success.

A new round of debate on the topic opened this week, with Greek lawmakers discussing whether to reinstate a former mosque in the Athens tourist district of Monastiraki, currently used as a folk art museum.

Attributed to new Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis — who was mayor of Athens until February — the proposal appeared in the Greek press one day before the Council of Europe issued a report bemoaning the lack of sanctioned Muslim prayer sites in Greece.

In his report, the council’s Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles said the Greek authorities had not kept a promise to create a mosque in the rural Athens district of Peania ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympics, leaving Muslim believers to still “meet in secret, in locations unsuited to prayer”.

“Building a mosque in Peania could take 2-3 years … but the Monastiraki (building) is ready to go,” said pro-opposition Ta Nea daily, which broke the story on March 28.

A lively debate has begun, with both proponents and detractors noting that the proposed site in Monastiraki, built in 1759 during the Ottoman occupation of Greece, is a stone’s throw away from the Greek Orthodox Church cathedral in the city centre.

“Restoring the functions of a former mosque at the foot of the Acropolis, and next to churches, would serve as proof of our city’s tolerance,” said Marios Begzos, professor of religion philosophy at Athens University.

“I have no objection to a mosque in Monastiraki as long as Turkey gives the keys of Haghia Sophia to the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate,” countered conservative MP Stelios Papathemelis, referring to the iconic church of the old Byzantine capital of Constantinople (Istanbul) that was turned into a mosque when the Ottoman Turks captured the city in 1453.

The government insists that no decision has been taken on the issue.

Greece’s Muslims currently have no sanctioned prayer sites outside Thrace, the Greek region closest to the Turkish border that is the home of a 100,000-strong Muslim community of Turkish origin.

The influential Greek Orthodox Church has made no official comment on the Monastiraki proposal, though its leader Archbishop Christodoulos in December expressed support for a mosque in the Athens area.

“It is our desire to create a mosque, but without creating religious opposition and fanaticism,” deputy education minister George Kalos said recently in parliament.

Greek television stations echoed the sentiment, airing complaints by local shop owners who said a mosque would threaten the district’s tourist character.

Noting that “dozens of churches are in operation in Istanbul,” independent liberal deputy Stefanos Manos protested that the government is happy to hear the views of the Orthodox Church on the issue, but has not bothered to consult the Muslim community living in Greece.

“Nobody has asked us anything,” confirmed Sudanese community imam Monir Abdeltrassou.

Questioned by AFP about the Monastiraki proposal, Abdeltrassou said the former mosque could only provide a “temporary solution” due to its small size. He added that the whole initiative could have been intended to placate Muslim states such as Saudi Arabia, which have spent years lobbying for a mosque in Athens.

Trouw, deVerdieping| religie_filosofie - Het ontstaan van de islam

Trouw heeft een serie waarin ‘dissidente islamologen spectaculaire vraagtekens plaatsen bij het traditionele verhaal over de begintijd van de islam. Volgens hen staat de tekst van de Koran niet vast. En ook de archeologie vertelt een ander verhaal dan de islamitische orthodoxie; vermeende bronnen van de islam zijn mogelijk zelfs christelijk.

Een serie artikelen over een groot wetenschappelijk avontuur.’

Een zeer slappe en on-kritische serie, maar de moeite waard om kennis van te nemen, al is het alleen maar vanwege de discussie die het oproept.

Brabants Dagblad - ’s-Hertogenbosch, regio nieuws, regionale actualiteiten - Offerfeest vieren in een ’Nederlands keurslijf’

door Bram de Vrind

Donderdag 12 januari 2006 - Moslims in Den Bosch vieren de laatste dagen van het offerfeest op ingetogen wijze. Want er moet gewerkt worden en de kinderen gaan gewoon naar school. „Wij hebben geen tijd om uitgebreid te koken.“

„Wij hebben het dinsdag uitgebreid gevierd, maar de rest van de week doen we het soberder. We hebben geen tijd om ’s avonds uitgebreid te koken. Ik moet de hele dag werken hè, en de kinderen gaan naar school“, vertelt Turgut Biliser. De Turk die in Den Bosch een slagerij heeft, viert de laatste drie dagen van het offerfeest stukken minder uitgebreid dan op de eerste dag. Anders dan in Turkije of Marokko krijgen kinderen hier op school doorgaans maar één dag vrij en de ouders willen het islamitische feest niet met een incomplete familie vieren. Zij moeten zich voegen in het Nederlandse keurslijf. Bij het Offerfeest eren de moslims oervader Abraham, die zich bereid toonde om voor God zijn zoon Ismaël te offeren. De engel Gabriël bracht Abraham toen een ram, die in plaats van zijn zoon ter dood gebracht mocht worden.
Moslims herleven deze gebeurtenis door het slachten van een dier bij het Offerfeest.
De eerste dag gaan de gelovigen doorgaans naar de moskee en naar de slachterij, de dagen erna wordt er gegeten met familie.Dat laatste geldt niet voor de Marokkaan Mourad Majaiti, die in Den Bosch woont. Hij heeft alleen de eerste dag doorgebracht met familie en zegt zelf ook zelf minder tijd voor het feest uit te ruimen. „Je past jezelf ook aan aan deze tijd. Het is gezien werk en school niet te doen om vier dagen voor het feest uit te trekken.“
Turgut Biliser ontving zijn familie gisteren thuis met koffie, thee en kleine lekkernijen. Zijn kinderen en kleinkinderen kregen cadeautjes. Het geslachte dier wordt bij het feest doorgaans in drie stukken opgegeten. Een deel is voor eigen consumptie, een deel gaat naar familie en er is een stuk bestemd om weg te geven aan de armen. Billiser vindt het niet nodig om zelf een geofferd schaap te eten. „Wij hebben hier al genoeg vlees. Als ik wil kan ik tien keer per dag eten. In Pakistan of Soedan is dat niet zo. Daarom geven wij die mensen daar liever geld, zodat zij een schaap kunnen kopen.“

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Hundreds killed in Hajj stampede

At least 345 Muslim pilgrims have been killed in a crush during stone-throwing ritual at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, officials say.

Hundreds of pilgrims have also been injured. A BBC correspondent at the scene in Mina saw dozens of bodies lined up on the ground.

The ritual has seen many lethal stampedes but the number of dead this time is the highest in 16 years.

After a crush in 2004, barriers and stewards were added to improve safety.

Soms is internet toch wel erg leuk. Op Lifemakers NL, een site van Nederlandse Amr Khaled bewonderaars, kun je live de Hajji volgen via Nile Helpdesk. Soms is de beeldkwaliteit wat vaag en moet je even opnieuw op -play- drukken, maar dan heb je ook wat: beelden van het tentenkamp, mensen op weg naar Arafat. Erg de moeite waard.

Je komt er via de hoofdpagina: let op kan zijn dat het geblokkeerd wordt als je een pop-up blocker hebt. Schakel deze uit van Lifemakers.nl en ververs de pagina; dan komt alles goed. Veel kijk plezier!

Let’s provide some service through About.com: Hajj Manuals

If you plan on traveling for Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) in the near future, these books and multimedia presentations are handy guides. The rituals of Hajj are complex, the schedule very demanding, and easy-to-read guides in English difficult to find. We’ve done the searching for you — here are our picks for the best Hajj manuals in English.

An article on Hirsi Ali in the Free New Mexican: Dutch women’s rights activist says Islam dangerous to women

“Muslim religion is many things but it’s certainly not friendly to women,” she said at the European Parliament, warning the West that it “shouldn’t indulge in and buy fallacies from Muslims.”