Euro camp: photos and reflections!

Two weeks have already passed by since the NEMA camp, but I still sense the strong family spirit amongst our Muslim brothers and sisters who attended.  Gosh, I didn’t even attend and I’m feeling the powerful vibes all the way from Canada!

Read a couple of their experiences and see the group photos below.

Well, putting feelings into words is not an easy task but mainly, I met my new family at Istanbul – brothers, sisters and even children and my father and mother. 

 

This event was heartwarming.  Even though I am not European, I felt as if  I am because that what is great about Islam despite the fact that we are 60 participants from different countries all over the world we managed to meet and agree, have fun and make each other smile while getting educated about how to live as a good Muslim in the West and how to be positive active part of the society.

 

In less than a few hours after we met, we clicked directly because we have something in common – we are all Muslim. We start to act like if we knew each other for a million years taking care of each other. We started to know the story behind the story the face behind the face.

 

This camp which was fully organized by NEMA as one of the associations of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE).  I will not talk about the organization because it was so professional and was so organized, actually perfect could be the word to describe it. I would like to take this chance to thank the NEMA team.  I will not mention names because I am sure I will miss someone and I don’t want to miss any.

 

The saddest day was the last day when people start leaving. We did not want to leave I can assure you that. We created a bond and as a family. I will share with you some of my photos even though it will not describe how we felt.

~ Fadi Hasweh

I was so eager to go to Istanbul because I was lucky enough to attend the previous NEMA gathering at the Training Course in Birmingham in August 09 and I met this unique team! That is why I recommended to  all others to attend this camp.

 

Where to start? Dr. Jamal Badawi? He is a brilliant professor with a sparkling mind, a true believer and I was always amazed to listen to him. So humble, so low profile and so effective, ma sha Allah, may Allah grant him a place in heaven.

 

As for the Muslim brothers and sisters from all over the world, this was really exciting and funny. Of course the Greek team that was the largest and was very noisy and full of joy!

 

The camp was very well organized so we had everything in the right proportions. Time for lecture, time for eating, time for chatting at the huge lobby, time for networking, sightseeing, and above all time for SHOPPING! (just teasing, ok?) Ok I shopped a little only because in Greece you cannot find jilbabs and stuff. Istanbul is a beautiful city, you can sense the history, the legacy behind these magnificent mosques and palaces, and of course our soul connection as Greeks.

 

We had a great time, I wish we stayed more!!! Looking forward for the next NEMA gathering!

 

~Anna Stamou

Have an experience you want to share? Post it in the comments. 

Have NEMA photos you want to share?  Email them to me.

 

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No Authorized Imam in Greece?!!

Source:  IslamOnline.net

After several attempts to uncover the Muslims’ status in Greece, IslamOnline.net (IOL)’s Euro-Muslims Page is shedding the light on the role of Greek imams as an alternate solution to many challenges they face in their way to integration into their European society while maintaining their religious Islamic identity.

For that purpose, IslamOnline.net (IOL)’s Euro-Muslims Page hosted Mr. Naim EL-Ghandour, President and Co-founder of the Association of Muslims in Greece, in a Live Dialogue session on April 6, 2009, to talk to IOL’s audience on the status of imams in Greece. 

Naim El-Ghandour was born in Egypt in 1955 and has been living in Greece since 1974. He has the Hellenic citizenship and is a successful businessman. El-Ghandour dreams of seeing the Athens Mosque and the Muslim Cemetery in Athens and he exerted all his efforts for these two main projects.

Accordingly, he has proposed many requests to the Greek Government asking for the Muslims’ rights to have their own official Mosque and cemetery in Greece. His attempts are still going on.

In a response to a question from IOL’s audience during his Live Session about the mosques and its role in Greece, Mr. Naim said, “We, the larger Muslim community, are exceeding 700,000 only at the capital Athens, but we have no official mosque, just unofficial places to pray. We are fighting hard to have our own official Athens mosque and cemetery and en shaa Allah we will succeed. It is essential for us to have a mosque.”

IOL’s audience also raised an important question on what can be done to make it easier for immigrants to feel accepted in the Greek community. Our guest replied, “Greece is the number one destination for the illegal immigrants of Europe, and this is very difficult for all. But education is above our strength as the Muslim countries are not contributing, they may have not realized the current situation in Greece. At a governmental level, we are trying to start contact between the Greek state and the Muslim states to allow Islamic education to be a subject taught at schools.”

What does the Greek Muslim community lack in your opinion? Do you agree with El-Ghandour on his views on Greek Muslims’ challenges?

Read the full Live Dialogue, if you have any comment or suggestion for the coming Live Dialogues’ guests and topics, please write them below or email them to Euro_Muslims@iolteam.com

Greeks Rethink note:  click through to the article to find some juicy comments by the visitors!

Πολιτισμός της πίστης – Civilization of faith

Some of you might have seen this book before.  Translated into Greek by Anna Stamou, now it is available in the mainstream and available for purchase at phigita.net bookstore.

Synopsis

[...] Ο “Πολιτισμός της πίστης” είναι μία φιλότιμη προσπάθεια. Παρουσιάζει τον τρόπο με τον οποίο το Ισλαμικό κράτος και οι Μουσουλμάνοι πολίτες του όλων των τάξεων απολάμβαναν έναν μεγάλο πολιτισμό και μία άνετη ζωή όταν η αφοσίωση στην Πίστη κυριαρχούσε: Πίστη στο Θεό τον Ύψιστο, το Βιβλίο Του και την Παράδοση του τελευταίου Του προφήτη και απεσταλμένου (του ευλογημένου εν ειρήνη από το Θεό). [...]

(από τη σημείωση της αραβικής έκδοσης)

Bibliographic information

Title: Πολιτισμός της πίστης
ISBN: 9789608910768
Publisher: Etra; 1st edition (2006)
Prototype: Civilization of Faith, a Journey Through Islamic History
Author(s): {Μουσταφά Αλ Σιμπαάι} {Άννα Στάμου}
Format: Paperback
Subject: Ισλαμισμός
Πίστη

Dimensions: 21 x 14 cm
Pages: 285

Order now.

Athens: 400.000 euro towards another mosque

Source:  Enet.gr

Muslims from the Bangladeshi community have raised 400.000 euro so far out of 550.000 euro to purchase the building and reconstruction for a new mosque, “Al Jabbar”,  behind the town hall of Athens.

The money comes from either donations or small-interest free loans from young members of the community.

“The members of the community are mostly workers and small traders, who support the exercise of their compatriots to build their own place of worship. Many of these people are those who we see standing at the lights cleaning windows”, says the chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece, Naim El-Ghandour.

In the same way, it is likely to move, as he says, the chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece, and other immigrant communities who live in Athens.  But this is something that worries the Muslim representatives, since instead of a large mosque, three or four will be built as small spiritual centres and more without the cooperation of the Greek authorities.

Φτιάχνουν τζαμί πίσω από το Δημαρχείο

Το «γκέτο» του κέντρου πίσω από το Δημαρχείο της Αθήνας εξελίσσεται και, όσο και αν φαίνεται παράδοξο, βρίσκεται στο κέντρο της προσοχής. Χωρίς κραυγές και με χαμηλούς τόνους, η κοινότητα των μουσουλμάνων από το Μπανγκλαντές σχεδιάζει το δικό της τζαμί.

Η «Al Jabbar» είναι η θρησκευτική οργάνωση των μεταναστών από το Μπανγκλαντές, που ζουν στην Αθήνα και ανέρχονται σε περίπου 45.000. Στη συντριπτική τους πλειονότητα είναι μουσουλμάνοι και, όπως και όλοι οι ομόθρησκοί τους στην Αττική, δεν έχουν ούτε τζαμί για να προσεύχονται ούτε νεκροταφείο για να θάβουν τους νεκρούς τους.

Η «Al Jabbar», όμως, ανέλαβε μια πρωτοβουλία όπως έκανε πριν από δύο χρόνια η αραβική κοινότητα των μουσουλμάνων της Αθήνας, που κατασκεύασε ένα πολιτιστικό κέντρο στο Μοσχάτο, που χρησιμεύει σαν τζαμί. Προετοιμάζει την ανοικοδόμηση του δικού της χώρου λατρείας σ’ ένα κτίριο που θα δημιουργηθεί και επίσημα θα ονομάζεται πολιτιστικό κέντρο.

400.000 ευρώ

Al Jabbar σημαίνει «Ο Κραταιός» και οι Μπανγκλαντεσιανοί, το εννοούν με τον δικό τους τρόπο. Προχώρησαν στην αγορά ενός κτιρίου στην οδό Αισχύλου 37, έναν κάθετο δρόμο της οδού Ευριπίδου. Το εντυπωσιακό είναι ότι ήδη συγκέντρωσαν 400.000 από τα 550.000 ευρώ από τον προϋπολογισμό που έχουν κάνει για την αγορά του κτιρίου και ένα μέρος της ανοικοδόμησής του. Τα χρήματα προέρχονται είτε από μικρές δωρεές είτε από μικρά άτοκα δάνεια των μελών της κοινότητας.

«Τα μέλη της κοινότητας είναι κυρίως εργάτες και μικροί έμποροι, που στηρίζουν το εγχείρημα των συμπατριωτών τους για να αποκτήσουν τον δικό τους χώρο λατρείας. Είναι και πολλοί από εκείνους τους ανθρώπους που καθημερινά βλέπουμε να στέκονται στα φανάρια και να καθαρίζουν τζάμια», λέει ο πρόεδρος της Μουσουλμανικής Ενωσης Ελλάδας, Ναΐμ Ελ Γαντούρ, στην «Ε», που γνωρίζει το θέμα, καθώς η κοινότητα των Μπανγκλαντεσιανών ζήτησε τη βοήθειά του για τη συγκέντρωση των 150.000 ευρώ που απομένουν.

Απευθύνθηκαν, δηλαδή, στην κοινότητα των Αράβων μουσουλμάνων, ζητώντας χρήματα με τη μορφή μικρών άτοκων δανείων. Δηλαδή ποσά των 10, 20 ή και 100 ευρώ ανάλογα με τις δυνατότητες του καθενός. Αφού το κτίριο έρθει στην κατοχή τους, θα προχωρήσουν στην ανοικοδόμησή του ή θα κάνουν τις απαραίτητες αλλαγές για τη διαμόρφωσή του. Για το σκοπό αυτό άνοιξαν λογαριασμό σε τράπεζα και έχουν κάνει μια ανακοίνωση στους χώρους λατρείας των Αράβων μουσουλμάνων στην Αττική.

Με τον ίδιο τρόπο, είναι πιθανόν να κινηθούν, όπως λέει ο πρόεδρος της Μουσουλμανικής Ενωσης, και οι άλλες κοινότητες μεταναστών που ζουν στην Αθήνα. Αυτό, όμως, είναι κάτι που ανησυχεί τους εκπροσώπους των μουσουλμάνων, αφού αντί ενός μεγάλου τζαμιού ή τριών, τεσσάρων μικρών θα ανεγερθούν ως πνευματικά κέντρα περισσότερα και χωρίς τη συνεργασία των ελληνικών αρχών.

Ολα αυτά συμβαίνουν την ώρα που την τελευταία δεκαετία ψηφίστηκαν δύο νόμοι για την ανέγερση τζαμιού, ενώ έγινε και η επιλογή του χώρου. Αρχικά είχε επιλεγεί η Παιανία και τελευταία ο Ελαιώνας. Ωστόσο το θέμα έχει παγώσει, καθώς αν και το υπουργείο Παιδείας έχει στη διάθεσή του 15.000.000 για την ανέγερση τζαμιού, τίποτα δεν έχει γίνει μέχρι τώρα. Και αυτό διότι ο χώρος που προορίζεται για την ανέγερση τζαμιού ανήκει στο υπουργείο Αμυνας, που διεκδικεί χρήματα για να μεταφέρει τις εγκαταστάσεις του.

Οσο για το μουσουλμανικό νεκροταφείο, η κατάσταση είναι ακόμη χειρότερη, καθώς αν και η Εκκλησία φαίνεται να έδωσε οικόπεδο στην περιοχή του Σχιστού, τίποτα δεν έχει προχωρήσει. Η Μουσουλμανική Ενωση Ελλάδας, σύμφωνα με τον πρόεδρό της, Ναΐμ Ελ Γαντούρ, σε όποιον και αν έχει απευθυνθεί, δεν έχει λάβει σαφή απάντηση, εκτός από υποσχέσεις και δεσμεύσεις ότι σε σύντομο χρονικό διάστημα τα προβλήματα θα λυθούν.

tsath@enet.gr

Greek Muslims majority at European camp

Source:  IslamOnline.net

Article:  EU Muslim Converts Sharing Experiences (at NEMA Camp in Turkey)

“Participants are coming from different European countries, but Greek Muslim participants represent the majority.”

Imagine 60 native European Muslims to gather in one place for four days to discuss, learn, and seek beneficial inspiration for overcoming any challenges facing them as European Muslim reverts – that is what the Native European Muslim Assembly (NEMA) current camp looks like.

As one of the associations of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), NEMA organizes its second annual meeting for EU Muslim converts in Istanbul. The camp, which started on April 10 and lasted for three days, aimed at reinforcing a European-scale network for the new Muslims.

“NEMA has already held two important meetings; the first took place in Brussels which aimed at getting accurate view of new Muslims, determining the main challenges, and setting an action plan for NEMA’s task while the second one was in Birmingham, UK, where the reverts’ monitors had a series of training sessions,” said Dr. Hany El-Deeb, NEMA’s president.

“This project came very late as it should have been launched years ago,” said Dr. Ayman Ali, FIOE’s secretary general,referring to NEMA’s recent launch that was founded after the FIOE’s New Muslims Committee (NMC)’s workshop in May, 2007.

Inspiring Models

Over the four-day camp, EU reverts are presenting their successful experiences to set models for the other participants.

Nourdeen Wilderman, a Dutch lecturer within the Dutch Islamic Ummah, is one of the converted presenters who came to Istanbul to share his inspiring experiences with others. His range of activities included delivering speeches, interacting with the media and acting as a stand-up comedian.

Wildeman’s presentation was mainly tackling his well-developed project: “Masjid Finder”, which he hoped to expand with the help of fellow Muslims. Speaking about his project, which serves as a good example for a Da’wah effort carried out by a proactive revert according to NEMA, he says, “My project provides a detailed database of Mosques in the Netherlands.”

“By car, I have visited more than 250 mosques in the Netherlands to confirm their addresses, the services they offer, the languages they use in Friday khutbas, and more detailed information.”

Wildeman, who was officially converted to Islam in December2007, got his project’s idea from what he used to experience when googling the mosques in his region.

“I used to follow the information available online, but unfortunately it was usually out of date.”

Greek Muslims Rethink

Participants are coming from different European countries, but Greek Muslim participants represent the majority.

“The group of Greek Muslims who came here not only for the camp’s activities, but also to discuss serious issues of the Muslim affairs in Greece,” said Naim Al-Ghandour, president of the Muslim Association of Greece who takes part in the camp.

The Greek Muslim group has managed to create a team that would work hard on solving the Muslims’ problems in Greece. The meeting was coordinated by Greeks Rethink, member of the Muslim Association of Greece. “It is absolutely necessary for our team to act radically since the Muslim population in Greece is constantly increasing.”

Networking

While Dr. Jamal Badawi’s lectures were advantageous for many participants who came to learn from him how to respond to controversial questions and how to deal with other non-Muslims in general, networking also was of interest to many of the camp attendants.

“I am attending the camp to do networking with other European converts,” says Alser Ebroothaers, a Belgian Muslim convert. Ebroothaers, who has been a Muslim for almost a year, is looking forward to getting connected with new converts through the camp as she worked with a Belgian organization for converted women. She wants to see how her organization can expand and reach out to new converts in Europe through making use of others’ previous experiences and collaboration.

Non-Membership NEMA

As one of the projects that was founded and operated under the umbrella of the FIOE’s Da`wah department, NEMA camp’s organizers were keen to involve Dr. Jamal Badawi in the camp. Dr. Badawi is a prominent Muslim Canadian scholar and a member of the Islamic Juridical [Fiqh] Council of North America, the European Council of Fatwa and Research and the International Union of Islamic Scholars.

At the camp, a couple of lectures are given by Dr. Badawi on different issues that have to do with European Muslim converts, such as converts’ isolation and the way of integration, balanced Islam, how to deal with controversial questions about Islam, etc.

“This camp is our first experience in gathering Muslim converts from different European countries at the same place and time,” declares Wanees Mabrook, head of the Dua`wah department in the FIOE.

Both Mabrook and Al-Deeb insist that NEMA be a non-membership organization that offers services to any native European Muslims. “We felt happy when we knew that we helped any convert on an educational or a social basis.”

Converts’ challenges range from social, spiritual, to educational ones. Such gatherings are seen as “turning points” in their path to become active European Muslims who can serve their Muslim Ummah and their local European communities.

In your opinion, what are the challenges which the European Muslim converts face? How can they get encouraged to overcome those challenges? Do you think sharing experiences through such camps and events can help them positively?

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Radwa Khorshid is an editor in the Euro-Muslims Zone at IslamOnline.net. She is a graduate of the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Law, Cairo University. You may contact her at radwa.khorshid@iolteam.com.

Live dialogue: Imam’s role in Greece

Br. Naim El-Ghandour, President of the Muslim Association of Greece, held an important live dialogue on IslamOnline.net this week.  

For those of you who missed it, you can read the questions and answers at the link below. Topics about Muslims in Greece include the imam’s role, the make-up of Muslims, the issues of the mosque and cemetery and religious freedom etc.

View the dialogue

Halal hugs and kisses

I can’t believe it’s been one year.  I posted my first blog entry on April 8th, 2008.  Since then we’ve gotten 120 members, 7 admin team members, 62, 939 views to our website and 1604 blog comments. 

This is not counting how many views we get to our forum.  I’m guessing that would bring the number up to 100, 000 views.

It’s wierd to look back at my past posts.  I usually cringe or laugh at what ridiculous things I’ve written!  But here’s what I wrote:

Lately, I’ve been thinking about Greek Muslims more and more. We ARE out there, but where? Every once in a while, I either get an e-mail from a Greek Muslim I’ve never met before or I’ll receive a notice about a new youtube video create by a Greek Muslim. The thing I hate though, is that I try to save all of this stuff in one place but I end up forgetting where it all is.

 

What’s this blog for?

So, I decided to first start a blog for Greek Muslims, if nothing else, where I can collect all of the videos, books, articles etc. about Greek Muslims and post it in ONE place. That’s the purpose of this blog.

 

So, what’s the benefit?

When I first converted to Islam, I wish I had a place to go to online to find out that 1) there ARE other Greek Muslims and 2) connect with them. And so, the benefit of this blog is that this is the online place to find it all.

 

We’ll try our best to keep you updated with all the new videos, articles etc. we find and also try to post up some reflections of what it means to be a Greek Muslim and some of the hardships you might run into with your family.

So, stay tuned and keep coming back for more.

 

We’ve come a long way since then.  Thank God.  And thank YOU for being part of our community.  Halal hugs and kisses.

p.s.  Sorry, but I just couldn’t resist being all lovey dovey for this post!

My Big Fat Greek Project

I was intereviewed by the Queen of Sheba program so I thought I would share my dreams with you too.

I had this insane dream to revolutionize Islam in Greece. I sat down one day and just wrote out a 10 year vision plan. I kept writing and writing and I couldn’t stop. Then I just stared at it and I remember thinking, this is insane! But it was just an exhilarating feeling to even allow myself to take my imagination that far. At that point, I was determined more than ever to go through with it.

I was scared because I was only one person and I barely knew any other Greek Muslims let alone in Greece but I did know that Greece was the only European Union country where there is still no mosque allowed in its capital city. This is the place where every Muslim is called a Turk who “enslaved them for 400 years”. So, you can imagine the mountain of a task in front of me.

On the other hand, practically speaking, it is proven that in order for women to feel stress-free while they are succeeding, they need to feel that they have support (which is not [necessarily] the case for men). I have been blessed to find a team that works with me on the same vision and this is my backbone.

Iman: I want to see religious freedom for Muslims in Greek society as well as mutual respect between people of different faiths. I hope that through our efforts, we will establish a thriving communal system that will become an integral part of Greek society.

 

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