My fashion and my hijab: Greek Muslimahs interviewed

Source:  Veto newspaper

© Translation Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Eλληνικά

It is not only one piece of cloth. The veil that envelopes the faces and the bodies of Muslims, is a symbol of Islam, so charged as the military conflicts that have broken out in the name of the hijab in many European countries. Lately, especially after the ban on headscarves in public places in France, there are more women who started wearing it. The global game industry is aware of this and few months ago, Barbie wore a scarf as well. Religious, political, revolutionary, feminist symbol? Muslim women living in Athens reveal what lies behind their hijab, as they call it.

 

Rabab

The hand of the photographer is on top of the table, with the coffees, tightened by Nashua hand, “I’m wearing gloves. It’s the only way I can touch another man.” Her daughter Rabab is smiling, holding her cup of coffee, smiling and with apologetic. “Sorry I’m not allowed,” as she declines the handshake. On her right shoulder is her baby sleeping. On her left shoulder her hijab falls until her waist. In fact they are to scarves, one pink and one black, both, elaborately braided together-the result is reminiscent braided hair. She was born in Greece, lives in Keratsini and every day, she wears her hijab in different style- which she has copied from a satellite hair channel. She has visited her home country, Egypt, only few times. She has heard though that there are many ‘hijab hair salons.’

Rabab has been wearing the hijab for the past 10 years. She wanted to take it off on her wedding day but her husband didn’t agree. Despite the meaning of her name ‘white cloud’, in her life there are many black clouds. At the age of 26, she must choose between her hijab or her career. “I was working in a telecommunications company. One day, my manager called me into his office and offered me the supervisor’s position. Under one condition: to take off my hijab. I couldn’t take the job wearing hijab. ‘At least wear a wig,’ he told me. So I had to resign.”

In her workplace today – she is an immigration consultant for Athens council- she wears her hijab without having any problems. “I can feel people’s eyes on me when I go to places or use public transportation. Most of them are staring. A few days ago, I was getting off the bus, when an elderly man hit me with his walking stick, so I would hurry.  With his walking stick! Is that possible? I was born here. And I am not taking my hijab off. It is a respect to me and my religion.”

 

Nashua 

Nashua never put pressure on her daughter to wear hijab. “She did it on her own, when she became a little lady.” It came to my mind the little girls with hijabs who were playing under their brothers’ eye, just outside the Libyan school on Kifisias boulevard.

“They are ignorant of Islam when they wear hijabs to kids in primary school,” Says Mrs. Anna Stamou, Marketing and Public Relations of the Muslim community. “A Muslim woman is wearing the hijab so she doesn’t attract attention, the paradox here is that this way she does. If we go out with a mini skirt nobody would look at us. Nakedness doesn’t evoke.” says her mother Nasoua, she has been living in Greece for the past 35 years. She assures me that under her impressive red hijab, which is fastened with a golden broch, has her hair groomed.

As she continues, “I go very often to the hairdresser. At home we don’t wear hijab. You never give up on yourself. I put facial creams and dye my hair, so my husband likes me, but above all so I please myself.”

 

Habiba

Habiba means ‘loved one.’ Habiba was the favourite student of her teachers in Paris. She arrived there from Morocco, to study fashion design. “Paris then was more hijab friendly,” she says, analyses the family tree of Sarkozi, concluding that he has roots in Marolo Jews from his grandparents. Because of her profession- she is a fashion designer in Athens and Paris-“I do not see any particular problem. I have contact with people who have an open mind and get on easily with scarf. Sometimes women say to me, ‘Come now, you are so progressive, you have to be free.’ But I am free. The scarf is my choice. It was never imposed on me. Not even from my husband.” And there is no doubt about that. Anas Habibas husband completes ”I have overcome some crashes. He grew up in Greece, he is from Argentina, but adopted by Greek parents before becoming a Muslim on his own initiative, he was baptised Christian and was called Anastasis. ”When I was little, I was the alter [boy] in church,” he says, laughing.

On his hand is tattooed an alfa capital. “Yes I am an anarchist,” he answers just when he realized that I was looking at it, he listens to rock music, smokes and is a big fan of Jimi Hendrix. ”Jimbo, come here,” he shouts from the living room in the middle of the house and to our surprise, emerging as a tornado, holding a large cat, is his three-year old daughter, wearing a black ribbon on her hair. ”Look my little Rocker,” boasts Anas. “Last year she asked to wear the hijab on her own. She sees her mother and she wanted too,” he says and tells us the story of young Holy, which was adopted from Morocco. Holy, grows up in a home with strong Arab elements, bright colours and smells of Moroccan tea and has her little prayer rug in the mosque built by her dad, in the basement of their house. Answering a question on when their daughter will wear hijab, they started laughing. ”She is such a character that she might never put it on!” says Habiba. ”Everybody does what they like. Many try to hide behind a scarf, to show that they are good people. Like Christians who go to church and start prostrating, looking around to see who is watching them. “I don’t blame hijab. It is just a fabric,” Habiba continues,”a fabric that frightens and unfortunately has baptized terrorism and Al Qaeda. We are Hijab Frappe. It means that the scarf goes everywhere.”

Habiba doesn’t drink frappe, “because it bothers me but I go to the movies, theatre, and I enjoy art as a hobby. I like little taverns.” She is also an amateur actress. After Easter, she will star for a second year on the show “Hijab Frappe”, based on true stories of women. She opens the script book and starts reading: “The hijab is a symbol, no it’s not a symbol, it is responsibility. It is my faith, what I am, what I am not. It is mandatory, it’s optional, it is the law but not here. I wear the hijab for me, for God, for my husband. It is freedom, protection, mystery.”

 

Marina 

Her parents reaction when they heard she will become Muslim “brought trouble at first, but [they] realized that the path was purely my choice and was not influenced and accustomed. What they cannot get used to is the hijab. They are all hesitant with the scarf. The fundamentals of Islam lie beneath. There are Muslim women who do not wear hijab. The substance is not the picture,” says Marina, a Greek who embraced Islam three years ago. Her husband, who she met later, is Palestinian and they have a little boy. ”I became a Muslim from pure curiosity. Reading, I began to realize that Islam covered gaps that could not be covered by my previous religion. Half a year later, I wore the scarf, as required by the Quran. Nobody pushed me; nobody forced me,” says 26 year old girl who studied economics in Aristotle University. ”Since I wore the scarf my friends remain the same because they know me. On the street, they think I am a foreigner. Nobody imagines that I am Greek and only if they hear my accent they suspect it and start asking questions.”

 

Despina Papadopoulou, Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Policy Panteion University

“The headscarf issue is complicated and complex, so we must be careful. As the government attempts to limit religious freedom, the more resistance will be present. If we can express an opinion towards the prohibition of the headscarf or not, a safe criterion is the separation of public and private life. It must not affect the public order of society. And the state should not interfere with private life. Any form of religion must exist, in case of course, it doesn’t affected the person. On the other hand there is a military conflict: Who governs the existence of the hijab? The State or the family? This conflict leads nowhere. Especially if the government draws its legitimacy from religion. If actions are taken for the ban of the headscarf, it will hardly be implemented. The restriction is a simple solution to an issue as so critical.”
The trend is derived from feminist movements, in which any symbol of discrimination and equality in society is racist in nature. In Europe and America, it appears as Islamophobia.

 

—

Translated by Elena Nikolova-Pouliasi

40 Europeans in Kuwait to get to know Islam

Representatives of our Greek team from Greeks Rethink and the Muslim Association of Greece were able to attend this conference.  More updates to come later insha Allah.

© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece

 

Source: islammemo

The Kuwait-European new Muslims meeting started on Saturday evening (28-2-2010) in Kuwait which will continue until March 12, with the participation of 40 European who newly announced their conversion to Islam,  so they can  learn more about the Islamic religion through a series of lectures by a number of preachers.

Jamal Al Nouri, the official for the Islam Presentation Committee, said the Committee aims to qualify those newly European Muslims to be advocates of Islam in their home countries and convey the message of Islam among non-Muslims.

He explained that the Committee relies on them a lot and is keen to establish forums and meetings and lectures for them, referring that this meeting/forum has involvement of the lecturers and scientists from within Kuwait and from outside Kuwait.

 

Misconceptions

Amal Abed-Alwahed, the forum coordinator, said that the forum is a big meeting to discuss ways to communicate with each other and to remove the misconceptions about Islam.

She emphasized that the Committee since it was established in the seventies of the last century set a vision of a clear methodology to strive to achieve this vision and by the grace of God Almighty they made remarkable achievements.

She noted that the Committee was able to make Kuwait in the ranks of a dawah/preaching country as they are keen to communicate with each other and not to impact with, in addition to careful to show the truth and the tolerant image of Islam among non-Muslims.

 

Translated by Fadi Hasweh

Group urges Muslims to avoid body scans

Source:  CBC.ca

 

An Islamic group is urging Muslim travellers to choose to be patted down by airport security rather than go through airport body scanners, a practice that it says violate religious and privacy rights.

The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) said the scanners, which produce a three-dimensional outline of a person’s naked body, are “against the teachings of Islam, natural law and all religions and cultures that stand for decency and modesty.”

“It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women,” the group said in a statement last week.

“The Qur’an has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts. Human beings are urged to be modest in their dress,” the group said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also issued a statement of support of the FCNA’s recommendation.

The United States began using the scanners capable of detecting items hidden underneath clothing at airports as part of new security protocols put in place in the wake of the failed bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.

 

Canada installing scanners

Halifax imam Dr. Jamal Badawi, one of 10 Muslim scholars on the council who made the religious ruling, said the only exception to the rules of modesty are medical necessity or another emergency.

“It has to be a clear and compelling case and only to the extent that it is absolutely needed,” said Badawi. “And that doesn’t seem to apply to these scanning machines.”

Canada is also in the process of installing 44 scanners to be used on U.S.-bound passengers selected for secondary screening at Canadian airports.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has said the scanners would protect the privacy of the passenger, and that the officer viewing the image would do so in a separate room and never see the actual traveller.

Only people singled out for extra screening would be scanned, and they would have the option of getting a physical search instead, according to authorities on both sides of the border.

The Fiqh council, which in 2005 issued an Islamic legal ruling, or fatwa, against terrorism and religious extremism, said it appreciated the pat-down search option and recommended Muslims choose this option.

 

U.S. puts countries on watch list

Canada has not adopted the U.S. approach of requiring additional screening for anyone flying into the U.S. who is a citizen of or is travelling from any of the 14 countries deemed to be state supporters of terrorism or “of interest” to the U.S.

Most of the countries listed are predominantly Muslim, and civil liberties groups say the policy of targeting travellers from specific countries opens the door to discriminatory racial profiling.

Transport Minister John Baird has said that “100 per cent” of Canadian travellers bound for the United States could be subjected to secondary screening.

The focus on security measures stems from the failed attempt by a Nigerian man to set off a bomb on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is accused of trying to ignite the bomb on the Northwest Airlines flight. Officials said he has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

Elena, the Muslim, the mosque and cemetery

Source:  Protagon.gr

© Translation: Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Eλληνικά

I have never met Elena in person. We have been talking on the phone for the past two months. She has a bright smile, nice voice and is very polite. She is 23 years old studying Business in England. The only thing I knew about her is that she was wearing hijab. She started learning about Islam from stubbornness. She wanted to prove to her colleagues at university that they were wrong.  She studied the Quran quickly to gain more arguments against it, but that made her change her own beliefs and religion.

The last emails we exchanged were regarding the French ban of religion symbols. Elena wanted to point out two things regarding that, the cemeteries and the worship places. I am copying what she wrote to me.

“Greece is the only European country that does not have a cemetery and a mosque.  I am a Greek citizen and I pay tax as every other citizen in the country, I obey its laws, I defend its rights when they are correct. What hurts me is the behaviour of the reliable people regarding that matter. What we are asking for is to praise God in its place, to marry and die next to our families as every other human being on that planet.”

 ”The Muslims in Greece are a minority but not only in Thrace, the northern part of Greece, but also in Athens where they are almost 700.000 Muslims working and living. But except the everyday problems they have to deal with, they also have to consider what will happen with their bodies when they will die. And this is because in the European Athens today there is no cemetery, a basic need for a human being and especially a Muslim. And this is because in the Islamic tradition the body must be buried no more than 24 hours after death and under some conditions. Something that Muslims in Athens today cannot even think or dream of. Nowadays the bodies are sent to Thrace or to the country of origin, if that is possible.  What happens though with the many Greek Muslims or with the second generation children that do not know any other country except Greece? Don’t they have that ‘luxury’ or they are excluded from the life circle.”

Revealing the real purpose of fasting

I used to find it odd – if not heretic – to starve yourself from sunrise to sunset.  Anything that went against fasting in the Greek Orthodox way was indeed heretic, or so I thought. 

The first time I heard Muslims fast in a different way, my stomach churned and I thought, man you guys are completely off the mark.  You need to be saved!

At that point, I’d never researched the proofs for fasting in the Bible or the Quran, but it was my pride that would never let a thought into my brain that said that they might have proof for what they were saying while I have absolutely none – or at least knew of none. 

And frankly, I didn’t care.  Fasting was one of the zillion rituals of the Greek Orthodox faith that you ‘just believed in’  and didn’t question.

The weirdest thing to me was that Muslims would not only fast from food but actually from ‘bad’ things like drinking, going to bars or dating.  Now, that for me was completely illogical !  What does food have to do with having fun?

It was normal for all of us Greek Orthodox to fast before Easter and go out and have fun at the exact same time – without feeling an inch of guilt.

Once you find out why you are supposed to fast in the first place (which, as a Christian I never really did), then you’ll understand that it’s not about the food.

Muslims believe that God revealed to mankind to fast because through self-restraint, you can become pious.

“O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious).  (Quran 2:183)

You might be asking, What does piety have anything to do with it?  I was confused at the beginning too but when I started fasting – starving myself from dawn to dusk actually – I realized that it was a true sacrifice.  

It’s like having a close friend that you love more than you love yourself.  You give up something that you love the most to make her happy.  It’s not like you are forced to do this.  You choose this because you love her.  That’s when your relationship has gone to a new level – because she’s seen the proof that you put her before yourself. 

That’s in a way, the purpose of fasting.  When you choose to give up something that is permissible, like food, you realize that you want to because you love God more than yourself.  And you want to show Him that love.  That’s the journey of piety.

So, really, for anyone who is fasting, whether Muslim, Christian or other, fasting was prescribed for all of us as the verse says.  Only when you know what the purpose of fasting is can you really taste the journey of love for God.

—–

  photo credit: opusbloo

Οι Μιναρέδες και ένας Ελβετός πολιτικός που ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ

Διαχωρίζοντας το μύθο από την πραγματικότητα

Source:  Tikkun Daily

© Translation Muslim Association of Greece

Read in English

[Το άρθρο αναδημοσιεύεται στο Αμερικανικό Μουσουλμανικό Ειδησεογραφικό ισότοπο Illume Magazine]

 

Το πρόσφατο ζήτημα της απαγόρευσης της ανέγερσης μιναρέδων στην Ελβετία περιέχει μία πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα παράπλευρη πτυχή. Ένα μέλος του πολιτικού κόμματος που πίεζε για την απαγόρευση των μιναρέδων ανακοίνωσε ότι ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ. Έξω από την Ελβετία τα κυρίαρχα ΜΜΕ το αγνόησαν.

Οι Μουσουλμάνοι σε όλο τον κόσμο ωστόσο άρπαξαν την είδηση, την κυκλοφόρησαν σε μπλόγκς και στο Facebook. Κατά τη διάρκεια όμως η είδηση διαστρεβλώθηκε με περίεργο τρόπο και έτσι προκάλεσε σύγχυση. Στο μεταξύ τουλάχιστο ένα Αντι-Μουσουλμανικό ιστολόγιο ανέβασε την είδηση. Κοιτώντας τα σχόλια φαίνεται ότι κάποιοι ενάντιοι της Μουσουλμανικής μετανάστευσης θέλουν να αντικρούσουν το γεγονός της αλλαγής θρησκεύματος του. Παρόλα αυτά είναι εξακριβωμένο γεγονός ότι ένας Ελβετός βουλευτής του Ελβετικού Λαϊκού κόμματος- του βασικού υποστηρικτή της απαγόρευσης των μιναρέδων – ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ

Ο Daniel Streich, Ο οποίος κατέχει εκλεγμένη επίσημη θέση ήταν για πολλά χρόνια μέλος του Ελβετικού Λαϊκού Κόμματος, ανακοίνωσε την παραίτηση του από το κόμμα. Υπήρξε αφοσιωμένος θρησκευόμενος Χριστιανός. Ωστόσο εδώ και δύο χρόνια ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ. Κράτησε την αλλαγή του μυστική. Η πρόσφατη καμπάνια του Ελβετικού Λαϊκού κόμματος ενάντια στους μιναρέδες όμως ήταν πέρα από τις δυνάμεις του Streich. Δημοσιοποίησε το θρήσκευμά του και αποκήρυξε την καμπάνια αποκαλώντας την «κυνήγι μαγισσών».

Η είδηση βασισμένη σε μία αναφορά των Ελβετικών μέσων πρωτοεμφανίστηκε στην Αγγλική γλώσσα στο Tikkun Daily στις 4 Δεκεμβρίου 2009 με άμεση αναμετάδοση στο Op-Ed News. Αφού η ιστορία βγήκε κυκλοφόρησε σε μπλόγκς και ειδησεογραφικές σελίδες. Στις 30 Ιανουαρίου 2010 η Πακιστανική εφημερίδα The Nation τη δημοσίευσε στη σελίδα του διανθισμένο. Απεικόνιζε τον Streich ως πολύ μεγάλο, σπουδαίο Ελβετό πολιτικό που εξειδικευόταν στις εκστρατείες εναντίον των Μουσουλμάνων και των μιναρέδων! Αφού επιδόθηκε σε ακούραστη αντι-ισλαμική προπαγάνδα ξαφνικά ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ και τώρα αποκηρύσσει τις κακές του πρακτικές.

«Ο διάσημος Ελβετός πολιτικός Daniel Streich, γνωστός για την εκστρατεία του κατά των μιναρέδων στα τζαμιά, ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ. Μέλος του Ελβετικού Λαϊκού κόμματος και πασίγνωστος πολιτικός ο Daniel Streich ήταν ο πρώτος άνδρας που ξεκίνησε τη δράση για την απαγόρευση των μιναρέδων των τζαμιών της Ελβετίας. Η αποκάλυψη για το πέρασμα του στο Ισλάμ δημιούργησε θύελλα στην πολιτική ζωή της Ελβετίας επιπλέον προκάλεσε ρίγη σε όσους υποστήριξαν την απαγόρευση ανέγερσης μιναρέδων. Ο Streich προπαγάνδισε την αντι-Ισλαμική του δράση σε όλη τη χώρα σπέρνοντας μίσος και αγανάκτηση για το Ισλάμ στο λαό και άνοιξε δρόμο για δημοψήφισμα ενάντια στους μιναρέδες των τζαμιών. Όμως τώρα ο Streich έγινε στρατιώτης του Ισλάμ. Οι αντι-Ισλαμικές του θέσεις τον έφεραν τελικά τόσο κοντά στη θρησκεία ώστε την ασπάστηκε. Ντρέπεται για τις πράξεις του και επιθυμεί να οικοδομήσει το ωραιότερο τέμενος της Ευρώπης στην Ελβετία. (πλήρες κείμενο στα αγγλικά).»

Αυτό είναι εντελώς ανυπόστατο. Ο Streich τύγχανε νε ανήκει σε ένα πολιτικό κόμμα που είχε ευρεία πολιτική πλατφόρμα, και διαπραγματευόταν πολύ περισσότερα από «τους μιναρέδες των τζαμιών». Ο Streich δεν απέκτησε τη φήμη του βασιζόμενος στην Ισλαμοφοβία. Και δεν υπάρχει απόδειξη ότι σχεδιάζει να κατασκευάσει ένα τζαμί, ωραίο ή άσχημο.

Ξεκαθαρίζοντας τις στρεβλώσεις αυτό που απομένει είναι τρία σημαντικά γεγονότα. Πρώτον, παρόλο που τα αντι-Ισλαμικα αισθήματα είναι ισχυρότερα στη Δεξιά, οι συντηρητικοί μπορεί να γίνουν ενάντιοι της Ισλαμοφοβίας. Δεύτερον, οι Δυτικοί νέοι Μουσουλμάνοι προέρχονται από όλο το πολιτικό φάσμα όχι μόνο την Αριστερά. Τρίτον, ένας πολιτικός είχε την τόλμη να αφήσει το πολιτικό του κόμμα, βάζοντας σε μεγάλο κίνδυνο την πολιτική και κοινωνική του υποστήριξη, χάριν της συνειδήσεώς του.

Η Εντύπωση ότι ένας συντηρητικός Χριστιανός πολιτικός θα μπορούσε να γίνει Μουσουλμάνος και να αποκηρύξει αντι-Ισλαμικές εκστρατείες δημιουργεί ενοχλήσεις στους Ισλαμοφοβικούς. Για παράδειγμα ένα φόρουμ στην αντι-Ισλαμική σελίδα FaithFreedom.com ξεκίνησε να συζητά το ζήτημα. Κάποιοι από τους σχολιαστές το απέρριψαν καθώς η ιδέα ότι ήταν ένας σταυροφόρος κατά των μιναρέδων δεν ευσταθούσε αφού ασπάστηκε το Ισλάμ πριν από δύο χρόνια.

ΑΝ κανείς έχει αμφιβολία μπορεί να ανατρέξει στις πηγές από τα Ελβετικά ΜΜΕ:

http://www.20min.ch/news/schweiz/story/27286120

http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/sicherheits-risiko-fuer-unsere-armee-134102

Greece: the Church, the Mosque and the lost vote

Source:  Enet.gr

By Thomas Tsatsis

© Translated by the Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Ten years ago, when the issue of the identity cards and the indication of the religion was hot, the former bishop of Alexandroupolis – Anthimos was supporting the position of the official Church in an…unorthodox way.

Referring to a fact that was never clarified if it had a real existence, the bishop was saying that about 70  Muslims that were living in the wider region of Alexandroupolis had asked a “voting paper” to sign their claim to mention religion on the ID cards.

This is the same bishop that gave a battle after – out of solidarity – against the Muslim mosque at Peania, as was ordered by the law that was voted by the parliament.

And now he starts a new battle against the law that gives Hellenic nationality to the immigrants who many of them are Muslims. With a simple argument: “The Church was not asked about that. You can’t bring 700 thousands Muslims in the country and make them Greeks without even asking the Church.”

The Thessaloniki bishop (Anthimos), whatever they charge on him, one must admit that he knows about politics. The governments many times are acting according to the perception of the “lost vote” from the “side-church” that prevails inside the hierarchy. That means that the bishop will shout from the pulpit, the Christian crowd will be terrified, the MPs will feel pressures and they will transfer this to their parties to convey the message.

Thus with the populism of the opposition party and with the fear of the vote that can be lost, the government goes backwards and turns 180 degrees. The issue of the identity cards confirms the above. There were only two or three MPs and ministers of PASOK during 2000-2004 that defended the omitting of the religion from the identity cards publically. The rest had disappeared in order not to be indicated as opponents of the Church.

Four years now the governments do not take over the political cost of the construction of the Mosque at Eleonas as mentions the law of New Democracy government of 2006. But they are also scared to proceed to the construction of the Muslim cemetery in a field that the Church has bestowed! Yes, of the Church!

The government has not many choices. Either they will proceed immediately and solve the problem of the thousands of immigrants – and not only – Muslims that live in Attica and will confront a part of hierarchy in front and behind stage, or they will confront issues that cannot solve.

The scattered mosques-warehouses that are more than 100 in Attica are not under any control. Whatever is heard by “imams” that are self-announced small “prophets” many times are dangerous and cannot be confronted by the police. The legitimacy, the operation of one or more mosques with rules and conditions, official, with moderate imams and not with competing “Mujahidins”, can be a start.

Unless the government is waiting to finish first with the law for the immigrants and after that to take counsel with the Church. And just the day before yesterday the Hoy Synod stated that they believe that the law for the nationalities does not coincide totally with the immigration problem and that the government should consider the opinions of the bishops.

Bishops that “on one hand they preserve the teachings of Christ for love to everyone, on the other hand they do not know the partial national and social sensitivities, thus their opinions should be co-calculated to face such crucial matters.” This is the Holy Synod whose president is Archbishop Ieronymos.

Skit video #2 from the eternal journey

Here’s another skit from the seminar.  Subhan Allah, it’s really moving.  It made me scared and almost sick to my stomach in worry.

Funny video: what NOT to do when giving dawah, especially to converts

Now, I regret missing this seminar! Check out this skit they did in class.   The sad part is that people actually do this for real!

Muslim inventions that shaped the modern world

Source: CNN

 

London, England (CNN) — Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.

But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins.

Along with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in today.

The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects — the basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales — are the focus of “1001 Inventions,” a book celebrating “the forgotten” history of 1,000 years of Muslim heritage.

“There’s a hole in our knowledge, we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks,” professor Salim al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN.

“1001 Inventions” is now an exhibition at London’s Science Museum. Hassani hopes the exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures — like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy and stretched as far as parts of China — to present day civilization.

Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt

Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions:

1. Surgery

Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds — beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps.

2. Coffee

Now the Western world’s drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.

3. Flying machine

“Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly,” said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci’s hundreds of years later, said Hassani.

4. University

In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women around the world today.

5. Algebra

The word algebra comes from the title of a Persian mathematician’s famous 9th century treatise “Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala” which translates roughly as “The Book of Reasoning and Balancing.” Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power.

6. Optics

“Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world,” says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy’s theories that light was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain.

7. Music

Muslim musicians have had a profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.

8. Toothbrush

According to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste.

9. The crank

Many of the basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.

10. Hospitals

“Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt,” explained Hassani. The first such medical center was the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it — a policy based on the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such hospitals spread around the Muslim world.

For more information on muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com. For more information about the exhibition at London’s Science Museum go to: science museum.org.uk

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