Closing the week 14
News international
Pickled Politics » Policy Exchange forced to apologise for report
The Hijacking of British Islam:
Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage CentreIn this report we state that Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre is
one of the Centres where extremist literature was found. Policy
Exchange accepts the Centre’s assurances that none of the literature
cited in the Report has ever been sold or distributed at the Centre
with the knowledge or consent of the Centre’s trustees or staff, who
condemn the extremist and intolerant views set out in such literature.
We are happy to set the record straight.
Gay rights remain a taboo in Morocco – Feature : Africa World
Rabat, Morocco – “This is our love story,” two gay men, whose faces were not visible, said on the cover of the Moroccan weekly al-Michaal, which published a story on their wedding. The simple prayer ceremony had no legal value, but the report by the small publication nevertheless apparently annoyed the authorities. It followed several similar ones, including a series of interviews by the daily Assabah with Samir Bargachi, a Moroccan living in Spain who heads Kifkif, the first association of Moroccan-born homosexuals.
The government was “firmly determined” to combat “ignoble behaviours… contrary to our religious and moral values,” the interior ministry said in an unusual communique.
Shortly afterwards, the Superior Council of Oulemas (Islamic scholars) issued a fatwa (religious opinion) against homosexuality, urging the state to have “a policy of fighting such deviations.”
The militant Islamist Somali group Shabab al Mujahedeen Movement has released a new video featuring a man identified as Sheikh Abu Mansour the “American,” who was seen giving a study circle in fluent Arabic and English.
Palestinian orchestra shut after Holocaust concert
JENIN, West Bank – Authorities in an impoverished Palestinian refugee camp have shut down a youth orchestra, boarded up its rehearsal studio and banned its conductor from the camp after she took 13 young musicians to perform for Holocaust survivors in Israel, an official said Sunday.
The costs of Obama’s new strategy–both human and financial–will be immense. But President Obama’s insistence on measuring the degree to which his strategy is succeeding or failing suggests a president willing to re-evaluate his positions and assumptions if they prove wrong. In a counter-insurgency campaign–especially when waged against an enemy like the Taliban who pursues a strategy of exhaustion–if you’re not winning, you are losing. If momentum has not demonstrably shifted 12 months from now, then, it will be time to question again our position in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The New Press – “Kill Khalid” by Paul McGeough
Little public notice was taken of a 1997 attempt on the life of the Hamas leader Khalid Mishal by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency—even though the audacious hit took place in broad daylight in the streets of Amman, and even though the bungled poisoning immediately set into motion a flurry of international diplomacy, culminating in the direct intervention of then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.
A series of tense, high-level negotiations saved Mishal’s life, as the Israelis reluctantly handed over the antidote. But Hamas was saved as well. With his new lease on life, Khalid Mishal became—and remains—the architect of the Hamas organization’s phenomenal ascendancy in the intervening decade. Mishal orchestrated the deadly bombings on targets in Israel and, from his bunker in exile in the Syrian capital of Damascus, continues to pull in donations and support from the Islamic world while directing Hamas’s vital social welfare programs.
New found websites
Zaad, A Specialized Palestinian Directory Search Engine – StartUpArabia
Zaad, A Specialized Palestinian Directory Search Engine
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | April 2, 2009 – 2:26 pm |ZAAD
Zaad is a local Palestinian directory search engine that serves up search results from specialized databases, currently covering the Palestinian private sector and NGO sector databases.
altmuslimah.com – exploring both sides of the gender divide
By Asma T. Uddin, March 8, 2009
The editors at Altmuslimah.com, a partner site to altmuslim.com, have embarked on an ambitious project: providing a space for compelling comment on gender in Islam, and building a platform for intra- and inter-community dialogue on a wide variety of gender-related issues
Islam and Gender
altmuslim – The dehijabization phenomenon
The dehijabization phenomenon
After a brief, identity-driven swell in the number of hijab wearers, there now appears to be a decline. Why did women who spent years, or decades, in hijab decide to dehijabize? What is it that women feel must be fulfilled in life without the hijab that is apparently missing while wearing it?
I want to blow bubbles for ever « Outlines
Abu Oreo loves his baby girl. He’s in love. As I watch him cuddle her and whisper to her in Arabic I see a new side to him and I love him even more.
I’m wondering why I’m writing this. I’m not the most sharing type of blogger. I guess it’s because you read so much about the downside of parenting, I just wanted to talk about the positives.
Islamically, mothering is seen a an important role, but too often it’s made to sound like a grim duty, rather then the joy and form of worship that it is.
So I’ve decided to host a blog carnival. The theme is Muslim motherhood. Any submissions dealing with being a Muslim mother or having a Muslim mother are welcome. Leave me an email, comment or trackback and on 25th April 2009, insha Allah, I’ll put up all the links.
Gulfnews: Dubai appoints 27-year-old as first woman judge
Dubai: Women can achieve just as much as men, Dubai’s first woman judge, Ebtisam Ali Rashid Al Bedwawi, told Gulf News on Thursday.
In Pictures – Most Powerful Arab Women – ArabianBusiness.com
The 13 Most Powerful Arab Women
Breaking a Stalemate
ZEBA IQBAL
Mysincere request to the Muslim American community, namely eligible men
and their mothers, matrimonial sites and event organizers, and rishta
aunties everywhere: ‘Please stop ignoring me, and many others like me.
I am part of a growing population of single women over 35 in our
community, and we are not going away.’
Part of the Contemporary Muslim Woman Series
Islam General
What is the importance of spirituality in articulating Islam in the West? | MR’s Blog
Giles Fraser has articulated the modern Western understanding of ‘spirituality’ as ‘not about believing in anything too specific, other than in some nebulous sense of otherness or presence. It offers God without dogma’. Now one sees that Islamic spirituality is actually quite opposite to this. However, one should not see the contrast to the modern norm, as presented in Islam, as being an inhibiting of one’s freedom of expression. Indeed, the truth is that it is the liberation of any fancifulness that is, of a necessity, harmful to the true spirituality craved by every person, including those of the West.
Op-Ed: The Real Muslims? | Religion and Theology | ReligionDispatches
when it comes to Muslims there is no agreement about who gets to speak for us. There are some self-proclaimed “Muslim” activists (with decidedly dubious connections to Islam and Muslims), defining themselves entirely by strident opposition and visceral hostility to both, that get inexplicably hailed by outside observers as the vanguard of progress in contemporary Islam.
Dutch news
‘Angst voor Salam ongegrond’ – Brabant – Regios – Brabants Dagblad
Hij is recht in de leer en zijn houding is anti-integratief. Maar een potentieel gevaar voor de samenleving is de Tilburgse imam Ahmad Salam niet. Dat is in een notendop de conclusie van Aan de hand van de imam, een
nog vertrouwelijkrapport van het onderzoeksbureau IVA.
Sekseloze emancipatie | Thema Detail
Er zijn meerdere zaken in het leven die veelal (misschien onbewust) gelinkt worden aan het verkeerde groepje. Een aantal voorbeelden op een rij: terrorisme en moslims, dierenactivisten en geweld, feministen en tuinbroeken én emancipatie en vrouwen. Waarom wordt emancipatie toch in hemelsnaam altijd aan de vrouw gekoppeld? Want laten we even eerlijk zijn… Als er één groep is in de hele wereld die een emancipatiecursus kan gebruiken, dan is dat wel het mannelijk deel dat wandelt op deze aardbol.
Nederlands Dagblad – ‘Parallel in visie SGP en salafisten’
‘Parallel in visie SGP en salafisten’
Dit artikel komt voor in dossier: SGP
Geplaatst: 28 maart 2009 06:00, laatste wijziging: 27 maart 2009 21:57
van onze redactie politiek
AMERSFOORT – Er zitten overeenkomsten tussen de overheidsvisie van de SGP en het radicale, sektarische salafisme, van waaruit moslims worden aangezet tot het plegen van gewelddaden.
Thanks for collating all these great links!