Islam for Women

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.

Malaysian Christians have used the word Allah for centuries and a court recently approved the use [AFP]

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

“ Churches firebombed in Malaysia

Two more churches attacked amid row over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

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  at 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. All Muslims learn the Quran verses in the original classic Arabic language regardless their mother tongue.  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.

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

Salaam, wishing my readers a prosperous and happy  new year 2010!

Mona

Ramadan Eid Greetings!

May God, the Merciful,  accept our fasting and show us all the right path!

While searching what to write about today I read an article saved for times like this. I’ve been quite busy lately and still am. So I just recommend you, my dear visitors, to go and read for yourself.

Where is the Moderate Islam?
Undercover Mosque: The Return
A year-and-a-half after the critically acclaimed film Undercover Mosque was first screened, Dispatches goes undercover again to see whether extremist beliefs continue to be promoted in certain key British Muslim institutions.

What can I say, they are right. In my opinion things are just like they are described in this article and there is nothing for me to add to it.

Quote: The film also features interviews with Islamic academics who condemn these messages of intolerance and segregation and warn of the impact this version of Islam is having on British society. One imam at a leading university accuses the Saudi religious establishment of the: “distortion of Islam itself, the abuse and misuse of this great faith of mine and not only mine but of my children as well.”

Islam is an easy religion:

“Say: ‘We believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord; We make no difference between one and another of them, And we submit to God.” (Qur’an 2:136)
“… (God) has not laid upon you in religion any hardship.” (Qur’an 22:78)

Peace!

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.

Quoting:

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.”
“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 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 where  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

The Western media is portraying women in Islam as the symbol of subordination of women ‘par excellence’. This picture is so complete that even an attempt to scratch it is in vain. Unfortunately, many journalists choose to rely on wellknown stereotypes. Muslims count over 1 billion in the world alltogether and naturally many sects, small and large, have split from the moderate mainstream Islam, which constitutes ca. 90 % (called the “Sunni”-Muslims). In most Muslim countries today women are advancing and exercising their rights by participating in politics, education, working as judges, professors, doctors etc.

I warmly recommend the following web site (17 pages long) to all my readers … since you came to my page you should not miss that one. There you will find proof that it was the Judeo-Christian Tradition that truly oppressed women and it is the Islamic teaching where you find equality and companionship between a man and a woman… And the Veil is not an Islamic invention!

“Women in Islam versus Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition” by Prof. Sherif Abdel Azim, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada