Protest Against "anti-Islam Film"

In order to protest against the film titled 'Innocence of Muslims'
produced in the USA and condemn the resulting violence the Muslims of
Leicester are organising a public meeting outside The Leicester
Central Mosque, Conduit Street, Leicester, LE2 0JN on Friday 21st
September 2012 at 14:30.
The Islamic Centre and The Leicester Central Mosque, one of the
largest mosques in the UK, has condemned in its strongest possible
term this inflammatory and inaccurate film.
Maulana Shahid Raza OBE, Head Imam of Islamic Centre said, "This film
has caused global unrest in the Muslim world and is the worst possible
violation of freedom of expression. We firmly believe that Prophet
Mohammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon Him and His family)
always taught and practiced peace and tolerance, and throughout his
life he always upheld universal human values. To depict him as a
violent extremistis disgusting and reprehensible. Muslims consider it
a gross insult to the Prophet and we call upon all faith leaders to
condemn this unjustified action and show their solidarity with the
Muslim world in respect of safeguarding the honour and sanctity of all
faiths and their founders.
At the same time we condemn the violence and evil actions of a few
that led to the tragic killing of the US ambassador to Libya,
Christopher Stevens. This vile film was intended to provoke exactly
the kind of reaction it received in Benghazhi and other places."
Malik M Salim MBE, Chairman of the Islamic Centre appealed the Muslim
Community to remain calm and stick to the values advocated by the
Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon Him and His family) and
at the same time exercisetheir legitimate right of peaceful protest.
He said, "We would like to record the protest and wish to communicate
to those extremists that the hatred of Islam through such movies would
not harm the great personality of the Prophet (peace and blessing of
Allah be upon Him and His family) or any aspect of Islam but would
only backfire on the people who spread venomous ideas."
The Islamic Centre PR officer Mustafa Malik said, "This film should be
banned across the world and the filmmakers should be punished. We also
appeal to the international community to take steps to criminalise any
act of abusing great prophets and messengers such as Abraham, Moses,
Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon Him and His
family)."
We expect Muslim community leaders, Imams of local mosques and
representatives of other faith communities to come together and
participate in this protest.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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TO VEIL OR NOT TO VEIL, THAT IS THE QUESTION

The Oprah Show did an introduction of Islam on October 5, 2001, which
was called Islam 101. Oprah, whose program is broadcast to most of the
world, wanted to introduce Islam to the American public. "Since our
world was horribly shaken three weeks ago," she told her viewers, "all
eyes have focused on a part of the world and a set of beliefsthat many
of us know very little about. We're told that terrorism violates the
teachings of Islam, but what is Islam? Who are Muslims? What are their
practices?"
This was promising. Moreover, Oprah was friendly and open to what
Muslims, who constituted the majority of the audience during that
show, had to say. Even the expert she had asked to the show,
anthropologist Akbar Ahmed, was Muslim. But did we discuss the meaning
of being Muslim, or the problem ofviolence, or even the rage caused by
American foreign policy in the region? No, the Muslim audience had
more pressing things to discuss. The show provedto be a mirror of our
intellectual bankruptcy, amirror of our true obsessions and fixations,
because after a quick discussion of what Islam was about, the show
veered off to discuss women in Islam, particularly the dress code. The
"after show" segment, which the program puts daily on its website
after the live recording in the studio, was entirely about "Hijab."
This was both insightful and disheartening. It seemed that the gender
question in Islam had become the central issue and what Muslim women
wear the core of the debate on Islam, both internally andexternally.
It was disgraceful to see how our contemporary discourse as "modern
Muslims" has become so focused on the scarf at the expense of the real
paradigms that define Islam, its history and its universal values.
It is truly sad to see a certain culturally and historically specific
edict with controversial roots and implications--becoming the raison
d'être for contemporary Muslims while the larger parameters of Islam
and its challenges are rendered into obscure shadows in the
background.
In a pervious show, a woman from Oprah's audience, asked if
Muslimwomen could take off their scarves, at least until things calmed
down. Oprah had to apologize in this show for that question after a
big amount of mail from Muslims was sent to her (When did Muslims
start writing so much mail? If it is about the Hijab, I guess, we will
write). But,Oprah did not have to apologize for something the very
religious establishment in the Middle East had raised in the last few
weeks. This was a legitimate question, although it wasreceived with
hostility, even when it came from Imams in the form of affirmative
fatwas in the larger community, published in Al Majalah magazine a
couple of weeks ago-- allowing women to remove their scarves in the
wake of recent events.
I understand Muslim women's sensitivity regarding the recent fatwas or
the question on Oprah's show. They feel this is who they are and they
are not about toquit when the going getstough. They perhaps even feel
somewhat betrayed by such fatwas, since wearing the Hijab has not
always been easyanyway in a society which has equated it with gender
oppression and fanaticism. But for Muslim women living in North
America, keeping the Hijab in the current crises has also represented
a spirit of defiance against racism and ignorance. This shows the
contextual nature of Hijab, which could be a symbol of oppression or
courage and independence, depending on the circumstances. In fact, an
American women organization called for American women to cover their
hair on October 8th as a sign of solidarity and protest against racial
harassment.
Nevertheless, it is obviousthat the scholars acted out of concern and
open mindedness. But I also find it interesting how, for the first
time since the Hijab has become central to our identity in the last
few decades, the scholars suddenly realized the relativity
andconditional nature of the verses dealing with covering, and the
principles of recognition and safety implied in them. --In the case of
early Islam, free women were asked to cover to be distinguished from
slave women while slave women were not allowed to. I do not thinkthe
well-meaning Muslim women in Oprah's audience knew anything about this
or even wanted it aired in front of Oprah.
I have always hesitated to discuss the issue of Hijab in public, or
its controversial historical roots I had come across in my reading of
classical Islamic texts for fear of falling into the same holeof
centralizing this marginal edict of Islam. I also did not want to
associate myself with an issue that I consider marginal, yet so
sensitive to the entire Ummah. In fact, I adopted a culturally
specific code ofdress for myself. I cover in Muslim circles and the
Middle East and do not in the West. If I do otherwise, I will put too
much time into having toexplain why I am not wearing it or why I am
wearing it, depending onwhere I am. By adopting a chameleonic way of
dressing, --and not a chameleon character-- I have reduced the amount
of time and energy spent discussing the scarf while creating
adifferent context to discuss things other than what I am wearing. I
alsodid this because, while I believe in modesty, I do not define
myself through the scarf, nor shy away from it. It is simply a way of
dressing that can be beautiful, empowering and protective but also, at
times, limiting, misleading and impractical. In addition, I felt, by
discussing the juristic and historical facts, which informed
mydecision, I would be digging out some trivial nuance while invoking
tremendous opposition from the community.
But after the Oprah Showlast Friday I was so disturbed that I realized
this issue, at least regarding its centrality inour contemporary
discourse, has to be questioned. Muslim women are still forming their
identities and no one should have the finalword on how we should come
to terms with beingMuslim in this age.
It was interesting to see the Muslim women in Oprah's audience appeal
to the ideals of pluralism and civil liberties in defense of their
visibility and difference. However,when Queen Rania of Jordan appeared
via satellite, there was a murmur in the audience and some of the
Muslim women said that the Queen should be covered. Is it possible
that Muslims think it is acceptable to use civil liberties to practice
their truth, but if given the power to decide, they will coerce others
to wear and do what Muslims want? These kinds of questions are farmore
pressing. We have to create internal debates about liberties,
democracy and the need for various efforts of interpretation within
theMuslim communities. Such debates should replace the non-issues of
dress codes and small edict matters in mainstream Muslim communities.
We can no longer afford to have the scarf as the core of the debate on
Islam, nor as the symbol by which the level of a Muslim woman's piety
or commitment to Islam is measured. We can no longer afford to have
every opportunity and discussion about Islam turn into a conversation
on dressing, nor can we afford as Muslim women, in our communities, to
bejudged and awarded degrees and ranks of religiosity according to the
level of the dress code we abide by. The darker the color the better,
the bigger the garment the more pious. The race of ranking morally
high through fabric has no end in a path where the Taliban model seems
to be the only logical conclusion. It makes more sense to judge women
on mattersrelating to the basic tenets of Islam: regular prayer,
fasting, paying alms. But even such things were not acceptable to the
Prophet as criteria for assessing a person. Whenone of his companions
praised another companion, the Prophet said to him it was not enough
to see him going up and down in prayer atthe Mosque. The Prophet asked
him: Have you traveled with him? Have you seen him angry? Have you
dealt with him in matters of money?
When people are not noble enough to resort to the Prophetic method of
assessing a person, I try to bring them back to the basic
requirements, without getting lost in juristic and historical details,
by citing the storyof the Bedouin man who came to the Prophet and
asked him what makes a good Muslim. The Prophet then listed for him
the five tenets of Islam, while the Bedouin was saying, at each
tenet,he would do it, but would not do more, nor less. After the
Bedouin left, the Prophet said, "The Bedouin will succeed if he is
truthful."
Interestingly, an African American woman in the "after show" segment
asked precisely about this, how the list of the basic commands and
prohibitions of Islam, which the show presented at the beginning, did
not deal with the scarf, and I guess for her, did not reflect the
level of Muslims' obsession with it. But it is not enough to have such
questions thrown at us from others.Muslim women need to start thinking
for themselves and learn the difference between a command and what a
social practice open to different interpretations.
The challenge, however, is that most Muslim women are not equippedto
stand up and provide an alternative juristic view of the matter, and
the scholars who do are not willing to discuss it inpublic out of
concerns of inflaming Muslim sensitivities about an issue which they,
and rightly so, believe is not apressing one. Even those who are brave
enough todissent like Jamal Al-Banna face rejection and opposition
from mainstream Muslims, despite being a scholar whose views are
rooted within traditional Islam.
The centrality of the scarfreduces Islam to a piece of garment and
places Muslims perpetually on the defensive explanatory panel.
De-centralizing and de-romanticizing the scarf, I am afraid, is fast
becoming increasingly urgent and necessary. The recent fatwas are
revealing. The scholars would not ask Muslim women or men, to
compromise easily in something they believed to be a core command of
Islam. The events of the last week have, it seems, started to urge us
to rethink our priorities andwhat defines being Muslim. This is in
itself a big step.
However, for the moment, until those who are politically and
juristically mature and sophisticated want to discuss this matter
openlywithout getting bogged down by the many implications and
problems it will raise, we will remain hostage to the centrality of
the scarf.And until something is done, we will be stuck with the rosy
and romanticized views of the sweet Muslim ladies on Oprah's show and
forever caught up in the centrality of the scarf.
For eternity the question will not be for us, Muslims, why our young
men are turning themselves and others into bombs, or why we do not
have democracy in Muslim societies, or whether American foreign policy
is based onprinciples of equality andliberty for all. The question
will be, it seems,for a long time: To veil or not to veil.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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Free Muslim Women

If the media and its ensuing stereotypes are to be believed then Islam
does not have very much to offer women, except for a life of misery,
oppression and slavery. However, if one bothers to look closely at
Islam then it has an abundanceto offer men and women alike.
There is little doubt that many Muslim women are subject to abuse and
subjugation - without making sweeping generalizations, many women in
some so called Muslim lands are denied the rights given to them by
Islam - rights to which they are entitled as human beings and as
women. However we must separate Muslims from Islam; we must separate
theory from practice. In Islam this separation is possible - Islamic
legislation has given women unprecedented status, even if Muslims did
not always live up to these amazing standards.
Let us take a quick look at some of the rights of women in Islam,
comparing them with some of the legislation relating to women in
Britain:
Education
Considered by many these days as a basic human right, in Islam both
men and women are duty bound to seek education for the Prophet
Muhammad said:"The search for knowledge is a duty on every Muslim."
(Bukhari) So, while there were no places at British Universities until
the late 1870s (Ox. Ill. His. Brit. p493), there have been records of
Islamic Universities with women students throughout the history of
Islam: Nafisah was an early 8th century hadith scholar and the great
jurist Shafi participated in her circle at Al-Fustat. Shaika Shuhuda
another 8th century scholar was a lecturer at Baghdad University - the
Oxford and Cambridge of its time. Nazhun was a 12th century scholar
and of course we cannot forget Ayesha, the wife of the Prophet who in
the 7th century was one of the greatest relaters of hadith.
So, whilst Muslim women were attending universities and were lecturers
and scholars in the 8th century, 80% of London Women and 100% of East
Anglican women were illiterate in 1640 - figures taken fromA. Fraser
page 129 and D. Cressy page 178.
Political Participation
Women in the UK managed to gain the right to vote in 1918, but that
was only for women over thirty. They did not manage to gain full
voting rights equal with men until 1928. These gains were not achieved
easily though - to gain the vote the Suffragettes marched, rallied,
chainedthemselves to railings, went on hunger strike and eventually
one of them jumped in front of the Royal Horse on Derby Day. Muslims
women however each had the right to give or not to give their
allegiance from the beginning - andthis right was given themwithout
them having to march, rally, not eat or jump in front of a horse.
Property
Up until 1801 British women did not have the right to own anything -
not even themselves. For up until this time a husband had the right to
sell his wife. In Sweden in 1984 a man was entitled to half his wife's
earnings. Islam though has allowed women to own their own property
from the outset. Everything a woman earns belongs to her. Sheis not a
chattel to be bought and sold, but rather an individual human being,
responsible to no one forher income except for God. A married woman
may remind her husband:"What's his is theirs, what's hers is her own!"
It would be easy to go onwith a list of the rights ofwomen in Islam -
but how does Islam really benefit women?
Islam has given women the right to be themselves! They are equal
before God - on theDay of Judgment they will be answerable as
individuals and cannot say "my husband told me to do it", "my, father,
brother, uncle - led me astray". Nor will they be treated unfairly
because they are women - women have souls in Islam - and there has
never been any debate about that in Islamic history unlike in
Christianity!
Islam offers to women, asit does to men, a belief inGod, and this
upholds everything. Belief in the Creator gives life a wholeness, and
a balance, for it means thatwe do not look at everything in the short
term - the intrinsic wholeis this world and the Hereafter. This belief
in God, this taqwa - God consciousness - thus shapes everything in
Islam.
Men and women in Islam are protecting friends of one another; they are
garments of each other hiding each other's faults. The Qur'an says:
"Verily, for all men and women who have surrendered themselves unto
God, and all believing men and believing women, and allmen and women
who are true to their word, and all men and women who are patient in
adversity, and all men and women who humble themselves before God, and
all men and women who give in charity, and all self-denying men and
self-denying women, andall men and women who are mindful of their
chastity, and all men and women who remember God unceasingly: for all
of them has God readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward"
(Surah 33: verse 35).
This verse offers women so much; it offers them paradise on the basis
of their own actions. It demands of them good character, tells both
men AND women to be active; and instills in them the sense of
individual responsibility.
So, Islam offers to women, as it offers to men - paradise as a reward,
it offers a complete picture which considers both this worldand the
hereafter - built solidly upon the foundation of a believe in The
Creator. A relationship with one's Creator brings untold peace - for
men and for women.
Islam allows women to know themselves as they are. Thus in Islam
womenare equal to men, but they are not the same. Men and women are
equal before God - they are the protecting friends of one another,
they are garments of oneanother, hiding one another's faults; but they
are not the same. In Islam- imitation is not liberation.
Women are not men - an obvious statement, but one which is often
overlooked. Islam offers a balance - which can be seen if one looks to
nature - black and white, up and down, day and night etc. etc. Two
halves to form a whole. Balance is absolutely vital. But, after the
industrial revolution women and men are becoming more and more alike.
Men havebecome cogs in the system. Women have alsobeen pulled into the
consumerism of an industrialized society andhave been forced into the
work place, but still receive no help at home -a recent study showed
that 9 out of 10 men were not 'New Men' and did not help out at home
(The Times, Nov. 1995).
Western society has ignored the balance and told women that for them
to have status they must achieve what men achieve. Western society has
created a new image for women based on the male - and this is very
objectionable. Rather than highlighting her individual strengths, she
is told to compete according to male criteria in order to have value.
But she is not given any help to cope with her additional
responsibilities. "Work, have a career to achieve status - but we will
not provide crhche facilities, or time off during school holidays." We
are now facing a situation where, as the President of Bosnia, Alija
Ali Izebegovic, said:
"Modern civilization has disgraced motherhood... It has preferred the
calling of a salesgirl, model, teacher of other people's children,
secretary, cleaning woman and so on to that of mother. It has
proclaimed motherhood to be slavery and promised to free women from
it." (Islam Between East and West p.144-145)
So, we have put down the feminine and are saying: 'masculine criteria
is the best, indeed only thing to judge by, feminine criteria is
second class - useless'.
But in Islam both are equal, but they are different. So in Islam we do
not have the situationwhere: -the logical is perceived as better than
the lateral; the firm is perceived as better than the tender; the
analytical is perceived as better than the intuitive. In Islam women
do not say:"I'm only a housewife" - Where did this ONLY come from? -
It came from taking the masculine criteria as best.Why is being in the
rat-race superior to being a mother? Because we see the masculine as
superior to the feminine. Where is the spirit of the Malcolm X (Malik
El Shabazz) quote:
"If you educate a man you educate one person; if you educate a woman
you educate and liberate a nation".
Women in Islam of coursehave a role beyond that of motherhood - one
does not spend 25 years preparing for and another 25 years recovering
from motherhood - but the point is do not demean motherhood; and do
not demean and belittle the feminine. Islam offers to women pride in
the feminine. The equal but different roles of men and women in Islam
haveto be understood, and in understanding - individuals can be
themselves, and thus finda balance and true happiness.
And this peace and security allows and gives room for the development
of a woman's potential based on her own strengths.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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What to do if you miss Eid Salah

Question:
Is this information correct? When Eid falls onFriday then it is not
compulsory to do Friday Jum'a, instead one can just perform Zuhr.
Answer:
This claim is totally baseless. Jum'a is compulsory upon every male,
adult non-travelling Muslim, irrespective of whether the same day is
Eid or not. In fact, it is a day of extra virtue because Muslims will
be celebrating two Eids, Eid al-Adha and Jum'a, whichhas also been
described as an Eid by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him). In Hanafi Fiqh, Eid Salah is Wajib (proven by the
Sunna) whereas Jum'a is Fard (proven by the Quran). So if anything,
Jum'a is more important that Eid.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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