Boy in Greece beaten during Gaza demonstration

A 15-year old boy, Yasin, was beaten in the head by the police on Monday during a demonstration held outside of the Israeli embassy in Athens, Greece.  He was among those who were demonstrating and throwing stones at the embassy in response to the Gaza massacre this week.

Three demonstrations were held outside of the Israeli embassy, the first with antiwar Arab activists, the second with the Synaspismos political party and the last with the communist party headed by the Sec. General Papariga herself.

The ambulance took Yasin to the nearest hospital and held him overnight to recover.  Yasin is a Palestinian who has never seen his homeland.  His mother was trapped in Gaza for nine months away from her children and only reunited with them one month ago.  

Another man from Syria was arrested after he climbed up to the tree next to the Israeli flag at the embassy and untied the flag, dropping it. He was brought to court the day after but the trial is postponed until after the New Year. His famous attorney, Ragousis, known for being at the side of the politically persecuted in Greece, was participating in the demonstration and was an eye-witness to the incident. 

Generally, Greece is always at the side of the Palestinians for this vital humanitarian crisis and the Greek press is at the fore-front to condemn this slaughter.  Even the Greek government, who is more conservative could not avoid to say that we must stop this blood bath because the rest of Europe has no pain for the Middle East and does not react, but Greece has traditionally been friends with the Palestinian people.

 

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Global demonstrations have been held all week.  Learn more about the Israeli massacre in Gaza.

A women’s quest to follow Jesus

With Christmas gone, I wonder how many Christians know that Jesus was not born on December 25, or that he didn’t celebrate his own birthday.  I wonder how many know that his birthday was changed as part of the Nicea Council in 325AD under the Roman emporer’s influence to incorporate his pagan religion into the mix.

I just finished reading a novel, Realities of Submission, by Umm Zakiyyah, about a daughter of a Christian pastor who’s church was different from the rest because they did not believe that Jesus was God and they didn’t believe in the trinity.  In other words, indirectly she was denying the Nicene Creed.

She lived a very modest and protected life, who after going through a spiritual quest to practise Christianity in the pure sense, she came to the conclusion that the only way to do that is to accept Islam.

Muslims can learn a lesson from all of this exageration of Jesus (pbuh) that led to the deterioration of Christianity.  In the words of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),

 

Do not unduly praise me like the Christians exaggerated over ‘Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam.  Verily, I am only a servant, so say, ‘Allah’s servant and His Messager’. (Bukhari)

Greek civlization move over; Muslims are ready

In a few days, we will be embarking on the year 1430 in the Islamic calendar.

Some Muslims have adopted the Western tradition of celebrating it and making ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ but I choose to remember that on this day, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) made the momentus migration from Makkah to Madinah, from a land of persecution to a land of freedom.

Freedom to establish a true peaceful and civilized society.

So, Greek civilization, move over. Muslims are ready to show the world what an ideal society should look like.

They say that democracy is an advanced form of civilization (and it may be), but have they studied what some say is the first constitution in human history established in Madinah in 610CE (in context with the times they were living in – persecution, tribal wars, idolatry, division etc.)?

Immediately after being chosen the leader and migrating, he (pubh) did three things:

1. Built a masjid
2. Established brotherhood
3. Created a constitution

Constitution of Madinah

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful. This is a document from Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, concerning Emigrants and Helpers and those who followed and strove with them.

1. They are one nation to the exclusion of other people.
2. The Emigrants of Quraysh unite together and shall pay blood money among themselves, and shall ransom honorably their prisoners. Every tribe of the Helpers unite together, as they were at first, and every section among them will pay a ransom for acquitting its relative prisoners.
3. Believers shall not leave anyone destitute among them by not paying his redemption money or blood money in kind.
4. Whoever is rebellious or whoever seeks to spread enmity and sedition, the hand of every God-fearing Muslim shall be against him, even if he be his son.
5. A believer shall not kill another believer, nor shall he support a disbeliever against a believer.
6. The protection of Allah is one (and is equally) extended to the humblest of the Believers.
7. The Believers are supported by each other.
8. Whosoever of the Jews follows us shall have aid and succor (help), they shall not be injured, nor any enemy be aided against them.
9. The peace of the Believers is indivisible. No separate peace shall be made when Believers are fighting in the way of Allah. Conditions must be fair and equitable to all.
10. It shall not be lawful for a believer, who holds by what is in this document and believers in Allah and the Day of Judgment, to help a criminal nor give him refuge. Those who give him refuge and render him help shall have the curse and anger of Allah on the Day of Resurrection. Their indemnity is not accepted.
11. Whenever you differ about a matter, it must be referred to Allah and to Muhammad.

Now, how’s that for the remembering our glorified history?

Annual Camp for European Muslims

This sounds like an exciting vacation.  Hey, anyone want to meet there?

 

April 10-14, 2009

Istanbul, Turkey

 

Social event for European Converts and Muslims

Full board stay plus tourist day-trip

Featured speaker: Jamal Badawi

 

 

 

 

 

Details:

•  A rare opportunity for European reverts to meet together in a social and cultural event
• An opportunity for European Muslims and their families to enjoy a nice and warm vacation in Turkey
• A fantastic location close to many Islamic heritage sites
• A FREE day-trip to Istanbul, including transportation and access to tourist attractions
• A four-night, full-board stay in a cozy hotel with conference and entertainment facilities, swimming pool and private beach
• The camp program includes a lecture by Professor Jamal Badawi (Canada)

 

The event is highly subsidized. Camp fees are $40/night for adults. Children up to 12 years old are free. Participants should arrange for their own transportation to Turkey. Participants will be collected from Ataturk International Airport.

Registration must be made in advance, and payment is at registration.  Deadline for registration is Saturday, January 31, 2009. To check availability and register, please contact nema.information@googlemail.com.  We highly recommend early booking.  Places are limited!

 

Brought to you by Native European Muslim Assembly  (NEMA), in collaboration with International Association for New Muslims

Are Christians Muslims? And those who think so

 
As ridiculous as that sounds, many Muslims want to include Christians, or People of the Book, as believers because they feel that the term, kafir, or disbeliever, is too harsh of a label.

So, they end up saying things like, People of the Book are believers because God gave them special status. 

At first, I was confused too as many other Muslims.  But if you ask a Christian, Are you a Muslim?  They will say, heck no!  In fact, they think we are disbelievers and they have no quams about telling us that, so why do we hesitate to say that they are not Muslims?

A believer is someone who believes in the saying, La illaha illah Allah, Muhammad ar-rasuluAllah (there is no object worthy of worship except Allah [God] and Muhammad is His messenger).

The truth is that God has told us in the Quran that most People of the Book are disbelievers but there is a party amongst them that are true believers,

“Not all of them are alike; a party of the people of the Scripture stand for the right, they recite the verses of Allah during the hours of the night, prostrating themselves in prayer. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right and forbid evil and they hasten in good works; and they are among the righteous. And whatever good they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for Allah knows well those who are the pious”. (Quran: 3:113-115)

This is why we can’t go up to a single Christian or Jew and say, hey you are a disbeliever (like they do to us), unless they explicitly profess their beliefs.

Some Muslims are uncomfortable with this because the media has painted an ugly picture that Muslims terrorize or spit at disbelievers, but that couldn’t be farther than the truth. 

As Muslims, we must treat everyone with respect and give specific rights to all of humanity and even animals.  And the People of the Book have special rights that must be preserved. But that doesn’t make them believers.

 

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Note: There is a distinction between a Muslim and a Mu’min (a believer) but it is beyond the scope of this post.

Rude, harsh and extreme. Is he a Salafi?

These days, many people equate the term ’salafi’ to being ’rude, harsh and extreme’. 

Unfortunately, this pure word ’salafi’ that refers to following the pious generations has been tainted.  The ironic thing is that people who say they are salafi want to emulate the sunnah as much as possible but some are missing the mark totally.

Many forgot one thing:  The Prophet’s Methods of Correcting People’s Mistakes

There is the title of a book that I am studying. No one wants to listen to somebody correcting their mistakes but more importantly than the message is how you deliver the message.

It is clear that the prophet (saws) used different approaches in dealing with mistakes because personalities and conditions varied.   For example, the prophet’s (saws) sometimes rebuked some of his closest companions  harsher than he rebuked bedouins or strangers.   

We can learn from his wisdom, compassion and understanding of human nature. One of my favourite lessons from the book is,

“The ignorant person needs to be taught;

The one who has doubts needs to have things explained to him;

The negligent person needs to be reminded;

and the one who willfully persists in error needs to be warned.”

Then next time you (or I) correct someone, ask yourself, which category does this person fall into?

Greek Muslims featured in Athens newspaper

The Athens newspaper, Pontiki Global, featured two intriguing news reports on the life choices of Greek converts to Islam while introducing our website to Greek society.  Here are the two excerpts in English (translated by Br. Amir Abdullah) below and the full articles attached.

PUBLISHED DATE: December 4, 2008

SOURCE: Pontiki Global

 

«Islamized» Greeks!

The «Global» infiltrates the world of Greek Orthodox people, all over the world, who decided consciously, as adults, to convert to Islam.

Iman Kouvalis, a Greek descendent, citizen of Canada and ex-Orthodox Christian. She converted to Islam before eight years «It is estimated that every year, just in America, about 20 000 people convert to Islam from other religions. It’s hard though to guess how many Greek Orthodox people there are that do. First of all, not everyone says it, my estimation is that there must be thousands of poeple in Greece and elsewhere.» Kouvalis is the founder of greeksrethink.com , of a site for Greeks all over the world, who, at some moment of their life, decided consciously, as Greeks, to convert to Islam.

Read more…

 

Many all over the world do it. «Pontiki Global» listens to their testimonies, and showing a reality that we didn’t even think of that it exists.

The members of greeksrethink.com are usually very talkative in their internet community: through everyday posts, they share their problems and disagreements in topics about faith («Does the fact that the Greek flag has a cross on it annoy anyone?») or even the everyday mood («Today I fell grateful to be able to have fasted another Ramadan »), but also problems they face when coming in touch with their non-Islamic surrounding («My folks always call me to concentrations that include Haram (forbidden things):Music, Alcohol, Touching people from the opposite sex – members of the family of course»).

 

Note: It takes time to download the full article.
 

 

 

Dark cloud over this year’s Eid in Athens

Men, women and children from many cultures showed up early at the Olympic Stadium on Monday morning for the Eid Al-Adha prayer. Some of them were wearing their traditional outfits like the Africans, Indoniesians etc.

As happy as we were, we prayed together under the dark cloud of the assassination of the teenager and the riots after in the center of Athens just the day before. Many were relectant to come because various roads were already blocked but the metro was open and most preferred it.

It was a day of joy, of family, of brotherhood and a warm atmosphere hugged us all while people exchanged wishes and then left for their festive dinners in their homes. Some had to go back to work as they weren’t as lucky and some of them – the luckiest of all – were absent because they were in Mecca for the Hajj.

Eid mubarak – Hronia Polla and enjoy the photos below.

Q. Do your parents choose your husband?

Q. Do you wear a burqa? Do your parents choose your husband? Are you allowed to go outside without a male relative guarding you? Are you allowed to choose whether or not to go to school?

 

 

A. I was recently visiting a blog and a person threw these questions at me after he stated  “…that [Muslim] women have no choice in their lives.”

Every time I hear questions like this, I burst out laughing.   It makes me wonder if the questioner has every met or spoken to a Muslim woman. 

It seems so obvious (at least to us Muslim women) that his news does not come from looking into our lives but come directly from media propaganda or some soap opera.  I also wonder why all of a sudden men seem so determined to “save us from our oppression”.  This is too funny.

In order to understand the answers to these questions, you must do four things:

• Get rid of anything you learned from the media.
• Talk to a Muslim who is knowledgeable about Islam.
• Learn about Islam from its sources: the Quran and traditions of the prophet
• Separate what Islam is and what Muslims do, since there is a big difference.

Now, to answer your questions,  no I do not wear a burqa (actually only some people in Afghanistan do), no my parents don’t choose my husband as Islamically, the girl must consent to the person she is marrying in order for the marriage to be valid,  yes I go out (often) without a male guarding me, and I already have a university degree, which I chose my field, I chose my school and I chose my career.

Riots in Greece – Are Muslims behind it?

This is a ridiculous claim made by some Islamophobics online (here and here) who are quick to judge but way off the mark. It just shows how someone can put their foot in their mouth.  In fact, this issue has nothing to do with Muslims and all to do with police, youth and government in Greece.  Below, Br. Amir covers the facts of the news report.

  

On the other hand, three eyewitnesses claim that the boy was only with his two friends, both named Nikos, who were just going out to buy their friend a drink to celebrate their ‘Name Day’ as in Orthodox Christian tradition, when they started arguing with the two cops, of which, the one showed his genital organs, and after that, shot the boy in cold blood in the chest.

After this, today is the third day of riots taking place in Athens and other major cities of Greece, with many wounded, shops, houses, banks, the archeological museum and the national library of Athens burned to the ground.  Special forces police hitting innocent demonstrators, and throwing teargas grenades into the demonstrating masses, while not even touching the anarchists who destroy the cities, such are the claims of live radio stations like Skai and so on.

Claims of special forces blocking the exits of the metro stations, keeping large numbers of people kept inside the metro stations and wagons, and people shouting from inside “I am 15 years old, will you kill me?” in response.

The funeral of the child was held today approximately at 3:00 pm Greece time, and was being ‘protected’ by special forces. Demonstrations are being held the entire day, with as reason, not only the death of the child, but also the other scandals of the government in rule as well (the Zachopoulos matter, the economical crisis matter, the Siemens matter and much more). After the starting of the riots, as reported, Greece’s Interior Minister, and the police Deputy tried to resign, but Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis refused to accept their resignation.

Greece has come to it’s peak of reaction, and some think that even a revolution or civil war are to be expected. Officials claim that such an incident has not happened since 1973 on 17 of November, which is still considered a feast day in Greece because of the fall of the Junda of that age.

We can only hope for something good to come out of this, and we all feel the pain and rage that the parents of the child must have.

 

Other news stations covering the story:  Zougla.gr and Yahoo!

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