THE MUSLIM WORLD

The Indian Muslim Council-USA has launched a new website http://babrimasjid.info to archive the history of the Babri Masjid and to document chronology of events that led to its demolition n the 17th anniversary of the demolition of the 16th century mosque Babri Masjid which was demolished by a
The website hosts a collection of pictures, videos, news reports and profiles of the accused.

The website will allow the global community to keep focus on the Babri Masjid issue and press for implementation of the recently released report of the Liberhan Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry. Liberhan Commission named 68 accused for their role in the demolition of the historic Babri Masjid on Dec 6, 1992. The website attempts to maintain the latest profiles of the accused. The IMC-USA, an advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the US with 10 chapters across the USA is based at 6321 W. Dempster St., Suite# 295, Morton Grove, IL 60053-2848, Tel: 1-800-839-7270, email: info@imc-usa.org

The King Abdul Aziz Foundation here is working on an Encyclopedia of Haj and Two Holy Mosques which will run into 20 volumes. Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Rakeiba is the director of the 30 million Saudi riyal project. The original Encyclopedia would be in Arabic and will be subsequently translated into English and French.

According to Dr. Abdullah, it will carry history and archival material on Hajj pilgrimage and the two holy mosques.

The Project will collect, document and analyse subjects and aspects of Hajj which will be classified into eight parts. It will bring together history of Hajj, histories of the two cities, maps, illustrations, films, pictures and manuscripts, literature, travelogues, institutions, traditions and customs related to Hajj in various countries. The database on Hajj will consist of bibliography, places, terminology, Hajj data, events, figures and statistics about Hajj. The Hajj as performed during various periods like Omayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk, Ottoman will also be covered.

The Foun-dation has taken up the massive project in cooperation with General Presidency of the two Holy Mosques, the Ministry of Haj, Two Holy Mosques Institute for Haj Research at the Ummul Qura University, Makkah and the Ministry of Haj . The King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives can be contacted at P. O. Box: 2945, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ph: 00966-1-4081636, 4013850, www.darah.org.sa n

Nearly 70 per cent of the university students in Iran are women currently but only 17 per cent females are employed. Despite high female literacy, which is currently 85 per cent, their socio-cultural participation is less. Nearly 97 per cent girls are getting enrolled in schools, 71 per cent of girls go to senior secondary level and 65 per cent reach up to university stage. These statistics were revealed by Fatima Sadre Nabawi, an Iranian research scholar pursuing her Ph.D. in women's studies in Mysore University at a discussion organized by Vimochana, a women's rights organization in Bangalore in the second week of November.

Fatima told a gathering of various rights activists that Iranian women have progressed in terms of several educational and social parameters after the Islamic revolution. She however pointed out that several areas still needed to be attended and struggle to seek equity and gender justice was a constant process.

She informed that Iran's current population stood at 70 million and following introduction of family planning, the growth rate had stabilized around 1.7 per cent. She said 80 per cent of Iranian families were nuclear (consisting of parents and kids) and women's life expectancy was 73 years while average men lived till 71 years. She said though the legal age of marriage in Iran was 14, the average age of marriage is currently 22. Except for a minuscule 1.9 per cent, all deliveries are handled at hospitals. She said the nation has adopted family planning as the national programme and contraceptives are made available at hospitals and government run health centres but abortion was illegal.

Referring to a government organized survey conducted in 2004 in all 28 provinces of the country covering 40,000 respondents, 56 per cent married women are subjected to some kind of violence, and 5.23 per cent women are subjected to domestic violence. 8.73 per cent were subjected to physical violence, 7.27 per cent experienced hurdles in education and in pursuing careers, 2.10 per cent suffered sexual abuse, 52 per cent underwent emotional abuse and 9.63 per cent of the women respondents were frustrated enough to wish their spouse's death. She said as the educational level of the couples goes up, the nature of violence shifts from physical to emotional. The survery was carried out on express orders of former President Mohammad Ali Khatami by a government organization known as Behezeti.

She pointed out that urbanization is having its toll on marital harmony and nearly 21 per cent of marriages in the city of Mashhad were reportedly ending in divorce. She however pointed out that legal process was fast and most legal disputes related to marriage were settled within one year. She said, in most cases, the Mehar (dower paid by men to brides at the time of marriage) was exorbitantly high (even to the tune of 550 gold coins) and most men pay it by gifting a house to their wives or gold jewellery. But in several cases, it remained unpaid. She said if the divorce is being sought and Mehar was not forthcoming, most women forego it in order to come out of an inharmonious marriage. On being queried about the incidence of Mutaa (contractual marriage for a specific period under the school of jurisprudence followed in Iran), Fatima said, not more than 2 to 3 per cent marriages are registered under Mutaa.

Former Liverpool and Everton player Abel Xavier has sensationally quit professional football after converting to Islam. The Portuguese defender chose to abandon his livelihood after failing to find a club since leaving LA Galaxy last year.Having now changed his name to Faisal Xavier, the 37-year-old has vowed to embark on humanitarian projects and admits that he has found comfort in his new-found faith.

He said: "It's an emotional goodbye and I hope to participate in something very satisfying in a new stage of my life.

"In moments of grief, I have found comfort in Islam. Slowly, I learned a religion that professes peace, equality, freedom and hope. These are foundations with which I identify."

Xavier spent three years at Goodison Park after arriving from PSV Eindhoven in 1999. In 2002 he became the third post-war player to cross Stanley Park to join Everton's rivals Liverpool, where he only made a handful of appearances despite scoring on his debut against Ipswich town.
Following an unsuccessful loan spell with Galatasaray in 2003, he spent a year with Bundesliga's Hanover 96 and Serie A outfit AS Roma before joining Middlesbrough. During his two-year spell at the Riverside Stadium he was found guilty of using the anabolic steroid Dianabol following a random drugs test in late 2005.

Despite maintaining his innocence FIFA suspended Xavier from professional football for 18 months, however it was reduced to a year-long sentence on appeal.

After leaving the north-east, he embarked on a year-long spell with Galaxy but has hung up his boots after failing to find a new employer.

72% British Muslims feel 'British', Nearly half feel 'French', but Germans lag far behind

Muslims in Britain are the most patriotic in Europe — but more than a quarter in some parts of the country still do not feel British, according to a new study.

The report, funded by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, found that on average 78 per cent of Muslims identified themselves as British, although this dropped by six points in east London where recent police raids on Muslim homes alienated the largely Bengalis. This compares with 49 per cent of Muslims who consider themselves French and just 23 per cent who feel German.
The findings, based on more than 2,000 detailed interviews, suggest that Muslims may be better integrated in Britain than in other parts of the European Union.

The report will reopen the debate about the merits of multiculturalism, a policy that has actively promoted cultural and religious differences among minorities in Britain but has been criticised as a barrier to integration by Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
France prides itself on its secular notion of citizenship and has banned Muslim pupils from wearing the hijab, or headscarf, in classrooms. Yet the study by the Open Society Institute, found only 41 per cent of Muslims in Paris see themselves as French.

The report appears to contradict previous research in the UK suggesting some Muslims are failing to embrace British values. A Populus poll in 2006 claimed that 7 per cent of British Muslims believed suicide attacks on fellow civilians could be justified. The debate about the integration of Europe's 20 million Muslims was thrown into sharp relief last month when the Swiss controversially voted to ban the building of new minarets.

The Soros study, however, found that strength of religious belief made no difference to how patriotic Muslims feel. Conducted over past 40 months, the report involved 2,200 in-depth interviews and 60 focus groups in 11 cities across Europe with large Muslim communities. The cities were chosen to be representative of varying levels of integration and cohesion across the continent.
The survey found that levels of patriotism are much higher among second-generation Muslims. In Leicester, 72 per cent of Muslims born abroad said they felt British; this figure jumped to 94 per cent among UK-born Muslims.

Experts believe that Muslims in Germany may feel less patriotic because they have only been allowed citizenship since the 1990s. France's divisive history with its colonies, such as Algeria, could explain its lower levels of patriotism.

The report also discovered that 55 per cent of Muslims across the EU believe that religious and racial discrimination have risen in the past five years. “There is a disturbing message that emerges from these findings,” said Nazia Hussain, director of the research project. “Even though Muslims overwhelmingly feel British, they're not seen as British by wider society. That said ... there has been a policy of trying to accommodate differences here and it appears to be paying off.” (Abridged from a report in The Sunday Times, London)

The American Federation of Indian Origin (AFMI) will hold its 18th annual conference on January 2 and 3, 2010 at the Rabindranath Tagore Auditorium here. It is being co-cponsored by Taleem Foundation of Madhya Pradesh and Rahat Charitable Trust, Khargone. About 100 toppers in 10th and 12th standard Board exam among students from all across India will be honoured at the conference. Mr Kaku Bhai is the organizer.

Over half of French people believe Islam is compatible with society, a poll showed on December 10, 2009, according to a report by Reuters. The poll has however added fuel to a public row over religion and identity.

The role of Islam in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim population, has come to dominate an increasingly vitriolic debate on national identity launched by President Nicolas Sarkozy, with the poll reflecting the public split. An estimated five million Muslims live in France, making up about eight per cent of the population.

The survey by pollster CSA for Le Parisien newspaper showed that only 54 per cent of French thought Islam was no threat to their values, but it revealed a clear generational rift, with younger French being more open to Islam than their elders.

Among the under 30s, 68 per cent said Islam was compatible with French society, a proportion that shrank with each age category until reaching 36 per cent among those over 75.

The poll of 1,001 people was carried out on December 2 and 3, 2009 after the start of officially sanctioned soul-searching on what it means to be French.

Critics have accused Sarkozy of courting racists and fear-mongerers with the debate, which is played out in town hall meetings and government-backed Internet forums.

"Even though the state is secular, we can't erase 1,000 years of Christianity ... I believe we have to seriously toughen our immigration and integration policy," one of the posts on the website (www.debatidentitenationale.fr) read.

In the poll, 82 per cent and 72 per cent of participants respectively responded that Catholicism and Judaism were compatible with French society.

The discussion has also zeroed in on certain Islamic practices such as wearing veils or headscarves. While some members of Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party have voiced unease with the drift of the debate, others are playing along.

Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie suggested that France should refuse to grant citizenship to men whose wives are fully veiled.

France's ruling party says it plans to present a bill to parliament next month, which would ban the wearing of full Islamic veils in all public places. The party says the move should be seen as "a law of liberation."

France's ruling party, the conservative Union Pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), says it plans to present a bill to parliament in January, which would ban full Islamic veils in all public places. The bill is to be presented in the first two weeks of next month, just before the conclusions of a French parliamentary inquiry on the burqa and niqab are published.

Jean-Francois Cope, the parliamentary party leader of the UMP, said the measure was meant to defend France from extremists.

"There are principles at stake: Extremists are putting the republic to the test by promoting a practice that they know is contrary to the basic principles of our country," he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that veils that hide women's faces in public are "not welcome" in France. Most politicians say they would like to see the results of the parliamentary inquiry on the veils before they decide on the need for a law.

According to French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, about 1,900 women in France wear full Islamic veils. Hortefeux has said that applications for French citizenship or residence by burqa wearing women, along with their husbands, should be "systematically" refused. However, reports by French intelligence services put the number of women wearing burqas at "fewer than 400."

In the Paris newspaper Le Figaro, Cope said that the move was "a law of liberation" and not a ban.
A complete ban on Islamic veils could be met with legal obstacles, in the same way the Swiss ban on minarets was challenged by the European Court of Human Rights. The French government has already been accused of racism with regard to its campaign to discuss national identity.

In 2004, it passed a law banning headscarves and all other "conspicuous" religious symbols in state schools.

Muslims activists from 26 European countries have come together to launch the first rights council to enlighten European Muslims about their rights, monitor rising Islamophobia and defend Muslim rights in European courts of law.

"We think European human rights groups are not doing enough to defend the rights of Muslims," Ali Abu Shwaima, the director of the Islamic Center in Milano, told IslamOnline.net on December 21.
"Therefore we thought that we need this new council, especially that all laws and constitutions in Europe respect freedom of religion and oppose all forms of discrimination and racism."

The Council for European Muslims Rights was launched on December 20, in the Belgian capital Brussels with participation of activists from 26 countries. It proposes to register itself with the European Union. Last week, the international Open Society Institute said Muslims in Europe are facing growing discrimination including social and economic disadvantages.

A recent report by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia said Muslim minorities in Europe face deep-seated discrimination in jobs, education and housing in addition to myriad barriers that give rise to feelings of hopelessness and exclusion.

"The council will also monitor violations of Muslims' rights in view of rising Islamophobia in Europe," says Abu Shwaima.

Imam Zaid Shakir has high hopes for Islamic scholarship in America - aspirations that include the first accredited four-year Islamic college in the United States.

Having gained momentum - and funds - in the past year, Shakir and a group of American Muslims and scholars are now hoping to open the planned Zaytuna College next fall in Berkeley, California.
"Our goal is to attract top students," Shakir told The Jerusalem Post, describing a mission to provide a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. "Where Islam Meets America" is a working motto for the school.

Offering courses in Arabic language and Islamic theology, the college is the brainchild of Shakir, Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Dr. Hatem Bazian, and is based on educational programs they have nurtured in the Bay Area over the past decade. In 1996, Yusuf created the Zaytuna Institute in San Francisco, which offers educational programs and language courses. Five years ago, Shakir created a pilot seminary program that informed the new college's legal and theological curriculum. n

A Malaysian government-backed campaign to popularize a well-known ethnic Chinese soup by making a version that avoids pork and fulfills Islamic dietary rules sparked criticism in third week of December by activists who fear it will confuse Muslims.

A halal version of "bak kut teh," a herbal broth traditionally made with pork ribs, was introduced at a Tourism. Ministry food fair to promote local cuisine. The new version contains chicken, seafood or vegetables instead of pork.

However, some Muslims object to the use of "bak kut teh" to identify the revamped recipe, saying the name is synonymous with pork among people in Muslim-majority Malaysia and neighboring Singapore, where the dish is beloved by the ethnic Chinese community.

A 300-year-old ancestral 'Golden Quran', with its pages in the shape of gold leaves, the most prized possession of a Muslim family, may soon become the centrepiece of Delhi's National Museum. But the family is not complaining about 'losing' the valuable document.

Expressing their happiness, Sajid Hamid, 55, the eldest in the family living in Jaunpur district, some 250 km from here, told IANS on telephone: ''I take pride and feel privileged as our ancestral Quran has been identified as a valuable manuscript and may get a place in the National Museum.''

'Recently, officials of the National Mission for Manuscripts set up by the Union Tourism and Culture Ministry and district authorities, visited my home and told me that my 'Sunheri (golden) Quran' has a unique heritage value and that it could be acquired to enrich the manuscript wealth of the country,'' he added.

The main attraction of the Quran is its pages that are in the form of gold leaves. The holy scripture's cover and back cover are also made of gold and the intricate designs embossed on them are one of the major attractions of the book.

According to the family, the 'Sunheri Quran' has been with them for the last five generations.
'My father used to tell me that the Quran was prepared by a group of artists, who worked mostly for rich people or those belonging to royal families as they used to charge a hefty amount for their work,'' said Hamid, a resident of the Ruhatta colony in Jaunpur who teaches at a school there.
'My ancestors got this Quran prepared after one of their wishes came true. Though they did not have enough money, they decided to get it prepared by mortgaging several valuables, which I believe were later permanently acquired by the moneylenders when the ancestors could not pay back the loans,'' he added.

The 'Sunheri Quran' has become a centre of attraction for the people in not only the Ruhatta colony but across Jaunpur and its adjoining districts. Though Hamid permits everyone to see the Quran, he doesn't allow anyone, including the family members, to touch it.

'It's not that I don't want people to touch the holy scripture...The Quran is an ancient one and even a slight carelessness can damage it. As I don't want to take any chances, I don't allow anyone to read or touch it,'' he said.

Hamid's neighbours don't feel bad about it. 'We know the significance and importance the 300-year-old Quran holds for Hamid. We want that the Quran should get a place in a museum and become a national pride,'' Abdul Ateeq, owner of a mobile phone shop in Ruhatta, told IANS.

Ahmad Raza, another local, said, 'Specially during religious festivals, Muslims of the locality line up outside Hamid's residence to get a view of the holy Quran.'’