Hello my dear readers!  Sorry being away from my blog so long, I have been somehow busy otherwise.

Here we go again, Ignorance is the root of all evil.

What can I say.  I will quote the whole article, I hope Al-Jazeera doesn’t mind:

“ Churches firebombed in Malaysia 

January 10, 2010

Two more churches and a Catholic convent school in Malaysia have been targeted by arsonists, amid a row over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

Police said there were no reports of injuries in Sunday’s incidents, which brought the total number of churches attacked since Friday to six.

Molotov cocktails were hurled at the All Saints church and the school in Taiping in Perak state.

“There were black marks on the wall [of All Saints]. We believed there was a small fire earlier but there was no damage as the wall was intact,” Zulkifli Abdullah, the state police chief, said.

He said a broken bottle filled with the inflammable liquid paraffin was found inside the compound of St Louis Catholic Church.

Muslims protesting

Muslim groups have staged protests in response to a court ruling last week that gave a Catholic newspaper the Herald the right to print the Arabic word for God, Allah, following a long-running dispute with the government over the issue.

Thousands of Malaysian Christians turned up to Sunday services, despite the recent tensions.

Four churches in the Kuala Lumpur area have been hit by firebombs since Friday, leaving one badly damaged with its ground floor gutted, and prompting Najib Razak, the prime minister, to promise to crack down on race crime.

Hermen Shastri, secretary-general of the Council of Churches, said officials had stepped up security in the wake of the attacks.

“The attacks show they are more just a prank as it does not appear to be a major [attack], someone is trying to send a signal that they are unhappy,” he said.

The word Allah has been used by Malay-speaking Christians for centuries, as well as by Christians in Arabic-speaking countries and in Indonesia.

Rev Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, has said there is no other appropriate term for God in Malay.

About 10 per cent of Malaysians are Christians, including about 850,000 Catholics. Around 60 per cent of the population are Muslims.”

 *   *   *   *

The same news article on BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8447450.stm .

Allah is the word Jesus used to address God in his mother tongue Aramaic and there is still a small community speaking that language in today’s Syria. They were also engaged as actors for the well known 2004 Movie   “The Passion of the Christ”.

Arabic speaking  Christians do not have another name for God, either.  Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew are all Semitic languages and very close to eachother.

There is only One God, The Almighty, The Merciful  no matter with what names we call and pray to  Him.

Hoping this drop of information in the ocean of Ignorance could do some good.

Salaam,

wish my readers a prosperous and happy 2010.

Mona

Obama reaches out to Muslim world       

Pres. Obama gave in Turkey a remarkable speech .   

What can I say, there is still hope that things will turn better in the future!  Please watch the video  which is behind that  link.

Quote:    Barack Obama has declared that the US “is not at war with Islam”, in a major speech during his first visit as president to a mainly Muslim country.

Addressing the Turkish parliament, Mr Obama called for a greater partnership with the Muslim world and said the US would soon launch outreach programmes.

“America’s relationship with the Muslim world cannot and will not be based on opposition to al-Qaeda,” he said…

“Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not and will never be at war with Islam,” he stated.  ”In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject.”

He said: “The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country - I know, because I am one of them.”

“And when people look back on this time, let it be said of America that we extended the hand of friendship,” he said.

“There is an old Turkish proverb: ‘You cannot put out fire with flames.’” …

It was about time. The longer the so called war on terrorism continues the way it was done till today the more terrorist will be created.  In countries like Afghanistan or Iraq they fighting invading foreign forces on their own soil and that kind of war cannot be won militarily (it’s common sense!). It was lost in Vietnam and it will be lost in Iraq as it is seen as a Crusade.  Pres. George W. Bush said so himself. Until yesterday I thought the word “Crusade” was a propaganda invention until I was told to search for a  quote.  

 “This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while.”    – George W Bush, using a loaded term which recalls the Christians’ Medieval wars against Muslims in the so-called Holy Land, after stepping off the presidential helicopter on Sunday, September 16, 2001, quoted from Jonathan Lyons, “Bush enters Mideast’s rhetorical minefield ” (Reuters: September 21, 2001). Bush later apologized for this remark. 

“God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.”       — George W Bush, according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, from minutes acquired by Haaretz from cease-fire negotiations between Abbas and faction leaders from the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular and Democratic Fronts (circa, June, 2003), quoted from Arnon Regular, “‘Road map is a life saver for us,’ PM Abbas tells Hamas” (Haaretz.com: June 27, 2003), quoted from EvilOz (The Iterative Record)

Pres. Barack Obama is a new kind of US leader and I wish him success, I know I’m not alone!

Salaam, Mona

Yesterday we celebrated the International Woman’s Day.

The following news article, once again, one cannot read without wondering and getting really upset. This is NOT  Islam!

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling

(CNN) — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, “Fahd” and “Hadian.”

Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism  and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man’s permission to travel.

Al Watan obtained the court’s verdict and reported it was partly based on the testimony of the religious police. In his ruling, the judge said it was proved that Fahd is not Sawadi’s son through breastfeeding.

The court also doled out punishment to the two men. Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes; Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes. In a phone call with Al Watan, the judge declined to comment and suggested the newspaper review the case with the Ministry of Justice. Sawadi told the newspaper that she will appeal, adding that Fahd is indeed her son through breastfeeding…

Please read on the right Panel also my other topics, like Women and Islam.

In Islam there is a punishment for adultery which must be witnessed by four people, a practical impossibility. But even then it is not a death penalty, or corporal punishment:

“And as for those who are guilty of an indecency from among your women, call to witnesses against them four (witnesses) from among you; then if they bear witness confine them to the houses until death comes close to them or God opens some way for them.” (Q.4:15)

The punishment by flogging comes from the Hadith’s  and as my readers must know by now,  I am quite critical about  them.

Therefore modern scholars argue that Islam does not favor a harsh punishment, which was practiced before Islam. Like stoning to death was common as it was in  Christian Palestine, too.  We all are responsible for our deeds on the last day, when our good deeds are weighed against our bad deeds. Grandma mingling with two boys who go shopping for her is not a grave sin, in my humble opinion (sorry my sarcasm, cannot help it!)   

BUT:  there is a hash punishment for accusing chaste women, and I wish these religious fanatics will get their share on the last day:

Qur’an 24:23: “Surely those who accuse chaste believing women, unaware (of the evil), are cursed in this world and hereafter, and they shall have a grievous chastisement.”

Qur’an 24:2-4: “Those who accuse married women of adultery, then fail to produce four witnesses, you shall whip them eighty lashes, and do not accept any testimony from them; they are wicked.”

Qur’an 33:58: “And those who speak evil things of the believing men and the believing women without their having earned (it), they are guilty indeed of a false accusation and a manifest sin.”

While reading this article I had to think of the gravest sins in Islam:

an invention (which is NOT based on the Quranic teaching) to the practice of faith is one of them.

I cannot imagine that God would not allow women to drive   or grandma to send her neighbor’s boys for shopping or stopping by for a chat -   a case like this, where she knows him all his life. In fact I believe the reason for not allowing women to drive  has not so much to do with them but much more with men, who harass women  - it is quite common in Saudi Arabia.

I pray to God to guide Muslims back to the right path!

HE gave us a free will and the ability think, and we should use that gift.  Common sense is all I wish.

Salaam

Mona

 How bad can it get?

“Uncertainty, violence darken Afghans’ hopeBy Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY

DOAB, Afghanistan

— For the first time, the girls in this village were starting to learn — reading, writing, geography, history, math, science. They were starting to dream, too: Star student Roya Noori, 15, illiterate two years ago, wanted to become an architect. Harzoo Mohammedy, 14, planned to go to medical school.  And Zuhal Noori, 12, saw herself at the controls of a commercial jet.  Then the learning stopped.  The new schoolhouse came under rocket fire last spring from the surrounding hills. Mysterious letters turned up at night, threatening to kill any girls who stayed in school and their principal…”

These days one cannot read world new without getting really upset about the state of the Muslims and their ever-worsening image due to ignorant self-tought extremists.    .Yesterday the Taliban announced on their (banned) radio station in Northern Pakistan (which is in fact Taliban controlled territory) that they are going to kill girls who go to school.

“Taliban extremists in Pakistan’s troubled northwest Swat Valley have banned girls from attending school, threatening to kill any female students.The threat was delivered this week by local Taliban commander Shah Durran in an address carried on an illegally-run radio station in the area……Swat residents said Taliban fighters had already destroyed scores of government-run schools, leading some to set up private schools in their homes to educate girls.An official at the Pakistani education ministry said there are more than 1,580 schools registered in Swat - once known for its top-flight schools.”Already Taliban militants have destroyed 252 schools, mainly those where girls and boys were studying together,” he added…. “

This campaign against girl’s schools has been going on for some time. 

Once more fear stalks the streets of Kandahar.

Al Jazeera network reports of  acid attacks on school girls.

“Afghan girls scarred in acid attack Five Afghan schoolgils have been attacked with battery acid by suspected Taliban fighters in the southern city of Kandahar.The attack on Wednesday occurred when two men on motorbikes confronted the students outside the Mirwais Nika Girls High School.Two girls were seriously injured by what was discovered to be battery acid.School girls in Kandahar are easily identifiable by their uniform - black trousers, a white shirt, black coat and a headscarf.”

VIDEO 

Where did the Taliban come from?

This is a crucial question. Before the invasion of Afghanistan by communist Russia it was despite of grave poverty a striving country, almost a role model for other backward countries with almost a half of the people on government payroll were women, mostly women teachers.

“The government began to bring in much-needed reforms, but with restraint and prudence. Labour unions were legalized, a minimum wage was established, a progressive income tax was introduced, men and women were given equal rights, and girls were encouraged to go to school.

On September 1, 1978, there was an abolition of all debts owed by farmers. A program was being  developed for major land reform, and it was expected that 

all farm families (including landlords)  would be given the equivalent of equal amounts of land… “   

During the Russian occupation thousands of “Quran schools” were established close to the Afghan border in Northern Pakistan in order to educate “mujahedeen” (freedom fighters). Religion was a very powerful motivation as communists are known atheists.  Generations of students  (meaning “Taliban” in Arabic) have graduated from them by now. After they had successfully driven “the infidel Russians” out of the country they turned to other threats to their ideology . And it was the Western interests in their strategic position in the middle of an oil and natural gas rich region. 

Taliban are the most strict and extreme interpretation of  Wahhabism coming from Saudi Arabia.    In Islam  the education is one of the most important duties for both sexes (as it is stated in the Quran and which should be the first and foremost source of understanding) .  These extremists get their ideology of  the Hadith’s,  traditions of which I am quite critical about  (human memory can fail even with best intensions). They were collected and selected only after 250-300 years after the death of Prophet Mohammed.  In many cases they contradict direct advice found in the Quran.

Since in Saudi Arabia the first girl’s schools opened just 2 years after the opening of the first boy’s school they  have never been closed.   Building Bridges: A Conversation with Princess Loulwa Al-Faisal Question: What concerns you about the perception among Americans about the role of women in Saudi Arabia?Princess Loulwa al-Faisal: Well, if they were to listen only to the media they would think that the women in Saudi Arabia are completely suppressed, not educated, and don’t have any jobs. The reality is that while education started for men in 1960, it started for women just two years later in 1962. Actually, prior to the start of the Ministry of Education there already were schools for women, private schools, including Dar-Al-Hanan which my mother [Queen Effat] opened in 1955.You should also know that at that point in our history we were a country of 5% literacy and at the moment we’re a country of 5% illiteracy. That shows how far we have come in just seventy years - even less if you consider that formal education started 50 years ago.”

From another article about schooling in Saudi Arabia we learn, that the government did not interfere in teaching methods or in the content of the school books for a very long time, it was left to the Muslim clerics alone:

“The Saudi government has allowed Muslim clerics to control education for many years and it’s modern version is The Ministry of Education, founded during the reign of King Saud and with the current King Fahd as the first Minister and he was responsible for the creation of the education system and curriculum. What went on in the classrooms, though, was largely invisible to the government bureaucracy. The curriculum itself was modeled on traditional education methods, emphasizing memorization at the expense of critical thinking. The texts, heavily influenced by religious authorities, compounded the narrowness of the education. No outside analysis of the Saudi textbooks had been made before 2002, so the content of those books is not really known. Following analyses in 2002, however, the Saudi government concluded that there were problems with the books…”Yet from another article I learn that “Saudi Arabia Discovers School Busing for Girls”

While researching for this theme I became a little more optimistic after all since Saudi Arabia, which has an enormous influence in being a role model, have started to show the way for the radical elements within the Muslim community. Too long these matters were left to the Clerics alone.

The world changes and Mulims must adjust to it, otherwise we will have  enormous problems when modernity and tradition collide. There is no other way than building bridges and find a way to live peacefully in a shrinking world.

Muslims hate dogs?

In the news, again, are Muslims and how “narrow minded they can be!”:    “Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman’s hat.”

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman’s hat advertising a Scottish police force’s new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.   Tayside Police’s new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer’s hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

Tayside Police caused uproar in the Muslim community after they released this advertisement featuring police puppy Rebel sitting in a hat         

“The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.   Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif said:  ’My concern was that it’s not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards.  ‘It was probably a waste of resources going to these communities.  ’They (the police) should have understood.   Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part, and that if they’d seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn’t have done it.’   Councillor Asif, who is a member of the Tayside Joint Police Board, said that the force had a diversity adviser and was generally very aware of such issues…..”

Since beginning of time, well since man started to domesticate animals for company, for protection, as working animals, milk and meat produces  dogs were first domesticated  from wolf ancestors about 15,000 years ago.    It is widely  known as mans best friend as it defends its owner unconditionally.

In my experience and understanding/knowing dogs are not filthier or dirtier or anything worse than other animals either.  The same goes for pigs.  

Animals should not be kept in houses, because the daily prayers are done on a clean floor or a mat.  At least that one room should be kept out of reach of  pets. The floor must be clean, also of  toddler’s waste (“accidents” happen) and other impurities .          “Cleanliness is part of faith” (Quran)  

Muslims are not allowed to eat dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine. Also animals that eat other animals or especially dead meat are forbidden as are meat eating birds.  Only grass eating animals having hoofs and only one set of jaws are allowed. In fact in the Jewish religion the food law is even stricter.

Anyone who ever visited the Middle East must have seen shepherds wandering around with their flock of sheep and a dog or two guarding them. You must have noticed, how friendly there are with their dogs and the vast majority of them are Muslims.

As far as I know most Muslims in Britain are of Pakistani origin. I have heard some strange beliefs from them which have nothing to do with Islam but very much with Culture and their own tradition.  Only recently I read a newspaper article mentioning, that the most radical Muslims preachers in British mosques are of Pakistani origin.

I do not know what to say. May God grand them wisdom and insight.  From the article above I understood that the British police  is aware of the problem with Cultural sensitivities, but they are human and make mistakes.

In this case, I think they did not do any mistake. The majority of the British love cute little dogs and there is nothing wrong in putting a puppy in a police hat.  And if a Muslim finds the postcard offending he or she does not need to look at it,  as simple as that. 

The Adoration, by Domenico Ghirlandaio. 

Newborn Jesus child surrounded by animals, a donkey, a cow and most probably  by sheep and  a sheep dog.T

.

As the Christmas Holiday nearing I would like greet my Christian readers with wishes of peace and tolerance!

Eidkum  Mubarak,

Festive  Greetings  to  all  my  readers!

It  is  Hajj  time  again,  once  in  a  lifetime  obligation for Muslims   to  visit   the   holy  places  in  Mecca  and  Medina ,   if  they  can  afford  it. 

May  God,  the  Almighty,  show  all  human  kind  His  Wisdom,  bring  us  together,  and  forgive  us  our  mistakes.

Mona  

  Since the latest feedback from the Wahabi corner I started thinking, that maybe I am doing more harm than good. Although I still think we cannot ignore criticism and should examine our behavior  and interpretation of Islam in a changed world.   Today I received a heartwarming Email, that I wish to share with you:  

Assalaam Alaikum!

I’ve found your blog browsing blogcatalog and it is one of the best muslim blogs I’ve found so far!

I’m from Moscow, Russia and it is not easy to find information about islam because of the fact that muslim community here is divided into several ‘tribes’ by which I mean that nationality is more important for them then religion. Me and my husband are jewish but we feel that Islam is the religion that suits our views the best.

Back to your blog: I wanted to comment your latest post about provocative writers and such, but unfortunatelly didn’t find a comment form so I’m writing it here.

About 2 month ago on the second day after my marriage I was arrested by police (forunatelly for 1 night only). I was placed in a waiting caged room with some illegal immigrants from muslim countries (both men and women, but mostly men). After a while a policeman came to us and started abusing islam and prophet Mohammad. One of the men replied to the policeman telling he shouldn’t say such words. After a short conversation the muslim guy shrugged his shoulders and went silent. Later on he explained that it is useless to explain smth to an ignorant person…

With best regards,

Alexandra.

May God, the All-mighty  and Creator of all mankind show us all the right path and bring us Peace!  

Today in the news: Writers Rushdie, Saviano discuss death threats at panel discussion in Sweden

Security high for visit of Rushdie and Saviano    

All these years since The Satanic Verses controversy and the death sentence by Iranian Mullah’s I am wondering how it came exactly like Rushdie had planned. He wanted controversy and he knew that conservative Muslims would be infuriated. The news would go around the globe like a forest fire and he would be famous.

Why are Muslims so easy to trick to do exactly what is the aim of these provocateurs?     The same phenomenon was with the infamous Danish Islam caricatures. They were publishes i.e. in Egypt half a year earlier and nobody bothered to protest. Only after it came international news, when radical Muslims started burning Danish flags and puppets. Governments were forced to give statements that they are powerless, because there is a law for freedom of speech.   Again and again provocateurs are trying the same trick. These days, so I read, in Holland is a new cartoon movie in the making about Islam.     

Fortunately Muslims are awakening and do not react as they wish anymore.  There is a sura in the Quran that advice believers to answer to provocateurs with words of  peace:     

“And the servants of the Beneficent God are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say:   Peace.”  Quran [25.63]     

I am not a literature critic but at the beginning of this all I read several critics which suggested that Salman Rushdie is a mediocre writer at best. Now there are even rumors, that the Swedes would give him a Nobel literature prize soon.  

While reading latest comments to the Queen Rania’s award winning Youtube Video one of them  made me think, is he/she right or wrong?

“zeppelinsteen In Malaysia where I come from, there is approx. 60% Muslims. We have a lot of Christians as well. But the Muslims here are totally different from the Middle East. For example we don’t have any problem with women rights or whatsoever. Yet, other religions are going well with Islam. I think it’s not about challenging stereotypes, it is changing attitudes of the ARABS! “

Yes, he or she is right: the Problem is not Islam.

The problem is,  that some Muslims do not realize that what they believe to be Islamic teaching is in fact tradition. The Hadith’s  (traditions) sometimes clearly contradict the Holy Quran. The best example is the stoning of adulterous women as it still happens in some areas  in the Middle East. It was common practice before Christianity, which Jesus abolished (pls. read the article below “Stoning of a child” ).   

In the Quran there is NO mentioning of it but a sura, that cannot be misinterpreted:  

“And as for those who are guilty of an indecency from among your women, call to witnesses against them four (witnesses) from among you; then if they bear witness confine them to the houses until death comes close to them or God opens some way for them.” (Quran 4:15) 

They somehow manage to distort the Original Message of  Righteousness, Tolerance and Humanity.  It was Islam,  that introduced 1400 years ago all these virtues to then pagan Bedouins, who were warring each other in bloody tribal conflicts.  And it is not solely the problem of the Arabs, who count only around 15 % of  the Muslims worldwide.

The reason  is that many preachers still prefer the Hadith’s,  even if there are clear instructions of tolerance, forgiveness, human rights, even animal rights and  “do not kill” in the Quran. 

Please read the passages of the Quran on the right panel, No. 7  “What the Quran has to say..”

Traditions change last, unfortunately.

The Youtube Video

Queen Rania to win first YouTube Visionary Award

… ” The YouTube Visionary Award was established to highlight those who use YouTube as a global platform for positive social change.

As the site has become a destination for humanitarianism, philanthropy, education and public service, this award pays tribute to individuals whose videos advance these principles in innovative, thought-provoking ways.

“Queen Rania sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes and her YouTube videos are nothing short of inspirational,”   said YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, adding   “It is both a pleasure and an honor to present her with this much-deserved tribute.”

” Queen Rania launched her YouTube channel in March 2008 to foster an open dialogue and combat ignorance and stereotypes.

Her YouTube videos bridge the gap between Eastern and Western cultures by examining the increasing involvement of women in the Middle East workforce and by debunking misguided assumptions about Muslims and Arabs.

To date, Her Majesty’s channel has generated nearly 3 million video views and received more than 43,000 messages from users around the world.

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CONGRATULATIONS, Her Majesty Queen Rania !