Amreeka movie now online for free

A while back, I wrote about a movie called Amreeka that recently came out.  Now you can watch it online for free.  Click on the photo below:

 

A feel-good comedy about a Palestinian mother who moves to rural Illinois with her teenaged son, Amreeka is a kind of stealth political film that confronts issues of ethnic tension and American xenophobia.

 

Bar in Cyprus mosque infuriates Muslims

Source:  IslamOnline.net  (Other coverage in Turkish news)

 

CAIRO – The building of a bar in the garden of a historic mosque in South Cyprus has infuriated local Muslims who warn the provocative action could foment ethnic tensions in the disputed island.

“What they are trying to construct in the garden of the mosque is not in accordance with the values [of Islam],” Hala Mosque Imam ?akir Alemdar told Zaman daily on Monday, October 26.

Greek authorities in South Cyprus announced the construction of a bar in the garden of the historic Hala Mosque to allegedly serve tourists visiting the site. The decision stirred a wave of criticism from local Muslims offended by the provocative action.

“The Greeks know in their territory there are some traces left from the Ottoman Empire,” said Mehmet Dere, the Head of the Religious Worker’s Union. “They should stop the construction.”

Hala Mosque is the most revered Muslim shrine in Cyprus and an important holy site for the entire Muslim world.  It reportedly houses the tomb of Umm Haram, the aunt of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).  Most accounts establish a connection between the site and the death of Umm Haram during the first Arab attempts to conquer Cyprus under Caliph Muawiyah between 647 and 649.

According to these accounts, Umm Haram, being of very old age, had fallen from her mule and had died during a siege of Larnaca in south Cyprus. She was buried near the salt lake and her grave became a sacred shrine. The shrine, and later the mosque and the whole complex, was named after her.

Harmful

Muslim leaders warn the construction of a bar would be hurtful to the relations between Turkish Muslims and Greek non-Muslims on the island.

“Religious values should be respected in order for relations between the two sides to remain positive,” said Yusuf Suiçmez, Director of Religious Affairs Directorate in the Turkish Republic or Northern Cyprus (KKTC).

Cyprus, the Mediterranean’s third largest island, is partitioned into two main parts. The area under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus comprises about 59 percent of the island’s area and is a European Union member.  The Turkish-held area in the north covers about 37 percent of the island’s area and recognized only by Turkey as an independent state.

Suiçmez said his directorate has recently filed a complaint at the state offices in Greek Cyprus, but has so far received no response. Imam Alemdar said the provocation move is offending to Muslims all over the world not just in Cyprus.

“If the construction goes on and officials do not intervene to stop it, we would make this incident more public to the world,” he said. “It is not an issue related to the KKTC but to the entire Muslim world. Every Muslim should be paying attention to this.”

 

 

 

International Conference in Athens, Greece

June 22: Jerusalem event in Athens

Ιερουσαλήμ, Πρωτεύουσα
του Αραβικού Πολιτισμού 2009
H Ευρώπη για την Ιερουσαλήμ και τη Γάζα
Αθήνα 22 Ιουνίου 2009, ώρα 18:30
Ξενοδοχείο Caravel (Β. Αλεξάνδρου 2)

 

Jerusalem the Capital of Arab Culture 2009
Europe for Jerusalem and Gaza
Athens, 22 June 2009, 18:30
Hotel Caravel (2, V. Alexandrou Str.)

Διεθνές Συμπόσιο – International Symposium
Ελληνοπαλαιστινιακή Φιλία – HelenicPalistinian Friendship
Ευρωπαίοι για τα Ιεροσόλυμα – Europeans for Jerusalem

 

For more details about the programme,

download the flyer.

 

Press Release: The Muslim Association of Greece

Athens, 26^th May 2009

The Muslim Association of Greece was present from the first instance the complaint of the ripped Qur’an was reported, when a policeman ripped and treaded on an immigrant’s Holy Qur’an during a police inspection. The complainant surrendered his ripped Qur’an straight to us and with this in hand we went to the police station, where we and the Colonel sent by GADA discussed the incident in detail.

We were assured by him that the name of the police officer involved in the incident will be released to us and that the police force strongly condemns actions such as those that offend the religious feelings of citizens. We stated that we will resort to legal action and that we will wait in good faith for the name of the police officer involved to be given to us before we file for a report.

We strongly condemn the incidents in Central Athens, assuring that our members did not participate in the events and   instead we had moved towards defusing the situation as we had accepted   the promise given to us by the police towards defusing the situation in good faith.

The media (MME) reported our position precisely and broadcasted the message to hundreds of thousands Muslims in the country and abroad stating that calm should prevail and we should allow the issue to be dealt by the law. We submitted to GADA the witness reports and data along with the ripped Qur’an and we continued waiting for the name of the police officer to be given to us before we officially proceed with the submission of  our complaint to the courts.

On Tuesday 25^th May 2009 we submitted to the court the complaint towards “Unknown.” We were pleased with that as we thought we are heading towards a solution of the problem even without us having the name of the police officer.

Unfortunately during the subsequent meeting between The President of The Muslim Association of Greece, Naim Elghnadour our Council Mr Francis Raghousi  along with the Brigadier in charge of the case of GADA it became obvious that the police do not wish for a solution but for a continuation of the issue.

It was explained to us that the officer’s name will not be given, at least not in the near future  and  perhaps a month or more might lapse as the police officer has right to defer and defend.

As you understand this reverses our efforts for appeasement and it could possibly trigger reactions from the entire Muslim population in Athens, who in the meantime have been accepting our urge not to protest and seek solutions through the legal channels.

For this reason the Arabs in Athens will meet with The Muslim Association of Greece on Wednesday at 8.00pm to calmly discuss and plan their next move.

Any possible new peace moves will be made known at a later press release. We repeat that we condemn the incidents in Central Athens, the theft, the damages as we also condemn the violation and attack of religious symbols and sentiments of the people. We condemn the exploitation of a part of the immigrants by political parties, heightening religious faith, multiplying their sense of injustice resulting in uncontrollable consequences. The faith of a Muslim is the most precious possession he has, and we having our faith as driver live in harmony in the society here for decades.

We believe that the police incident was just an isolate incident .We would like to end this matter with a legal solution and not to be exposed and  hanging as a result of the worrying delay by the police, and to the end issue by surrendering the personal details of the officer involved.

Thanking you

The Muslim Association of Greece

Aθηνα
26 Μαΐου 2009

Δελτίο Τύπου

Η Μουσουλμανική Ένωση Ελλάδας από την πρώτη στιγμή ήταν παρούσα στην καταγγελία του περιστατικού όπου αστυνομικός έσκισε και πάτησε το Κοράνι ενός μετανάστη κατά τη διάρκεια τυπικού ελέγχου. Το Κοράνι το παρέδωσε ο καταγγέλων στα χέρια μας και με αυτό πήγαμε στο αστυνομικό τμήμα όπου συζητήσαμε λεπτομερώς με τον συνταγματάρχη που απέστειλε η ΓΑΔΑ για αυτό το λόγο. Μας διαβεβαίωσε ότι τάχιστα θα μας δώσει το όνομα του αστυνομικού και πως η Ελληνική Αστυνομία καταδικάζει τέτοιες ενέργειες που προσβάλλουν το θρησκευτικό αίσθημα των πολιτών. Εμείς δηλώσαμε ότι θα προσφύγουμε στη δικαιοσύνη και πως καλή τη πίστει θα περιμένουμε από την αστυνομία να μας δώσει το όνομα προκειμένου να προχωρήσουμε στην κατάθεση της μήνυσης, έτσι ώστε να παρέλθει και η διαδικασία του αυτοφώρου, όλα αυτά καλόπιστα.
Καταδικάσαμε έντονα τα επεισόδια στο κέντρο της Αθήνας, τα μέλη μας δεν συμμετείχαν, αντίθετα κινηθήκαμε προς εκτόνωση του θέματος καθώς θεωρήσαμε δεδομένες τις υποσχέσεις της αστυνομίας ότι θα κινηθεί ανάλογα προκειμένου να οδηγηθούμε σε εκτόνωση. Τα ΜΜΕ κάλυψαν με ακρίβεια τις θέσεις μας και μετέδωσαν το μήνυμα στους εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες Μουσουλμάνους της χώρας αλλά και στο εξωτερικό που δηλώναμε ότι πρέπει να ηρεμήσουμε και να αφήσουμε το θέμα στα χέρια του νόμου.
Καταθέσαμε στην ΓΑΔΑ τις μαρτυρίες και τα στοιχεία μας καθώς και το σκισμένο Κοράνι, και αναμέναμε το όνομα του αστυνομικού προκειμένου να καταθέσουμε και επίσημα τη μήνυση στο δικαστήριο. Την Τρίτη 25 Μαΐου 2009 καταθέσαμε μήνυση κατ’αγνώστου και δηλώσαμε ικανοποιημένοι γιατί έτσι οδεύαμε προς λύση του ζητήματος έστω και χωρίς όνομα.
Δυστυχώς στη μετέπειτα συνάντηση του προέδρου της Μουσουλμανικής Ένωσης Ελλάδας Ναΐμ Ελγαντούρ και του συνήγορού μας κ. Φραγκίσκου Ραγκούση με τον ταξίαρχο της ΓΑΔΑ που έχει αναλάβει την υπόθεση, μας έγινε σαφές ότι η Αστυνομία δεν επιθυμεί λύση αλλά συνέχιση της παρούσας κατάστασης. Μας εξηγήθηκε πως δεν πρόκειται να μας δοθεί όνομα, σύντομα τουλάχιστον, ότι θα περάσει ίσως και ένας μήνας προκειμένου να απολογηθεί ο εν λόγω αστυνομικός καθώς έχει το δικαίωμα αναβολής.
Όπως αντιλαμβάνεστε αυτό ανατρέπει την προσπάθειά μας κατευνασμού και είναι δυνατό να πυροδοτήσει αντιδράσεις από το σύνολο του Μουσουλμανικού πληθυσμού της Αθήνας που μέχρι στιγμής δεν έχει διαδηλώσει καθώς ακολούθησε την προτροπή μας για λύση μέσω της νομικής οδού.
Για το λόγο αυτό οι Άραβες της Αθήνας θα συνεδριάσουν Τετάρτη ώρα 8μμ με τη Μουσουλμανική Ένωση Ελλάδας προκειμένου να σχεδιάσουν με ψυχραιμία τις επόμενες κινήσεις τους. Τυχόν ειρηνικές κινητοποιήσεις θα γίνουν γνωστές σε επόμενο δελτίο τύπου.
Επαναλαμβάνουμε πως καταδικάζουμε τ, τις φθορές, τις επιθέσεις, τις κλοπές, όπως καταδικάζουμε την καταπάτηση α επεισόδια στο κέντρο της Αθήναςκαι προσβολή των θρησκευτικών συμβόλων και αισθημάτων των πολιτών. Καταδικάζουμε την εκμετάλλευση μερίδας μεταναστών από πολιτικές κινήσεις εγείροντας την θρησκευτική τους πίστη πολλαπλασιάζοντας το αίσθημα αδικίας μέσα τους με ανεξέλεγκτες συνέπειες.
Η Πίστη του Μουσουλμάνου είναι ό,τι ακριβότερο διαθέτει και εμείς έχοντας οδηγό την Πίστη μας ζούμε αρμονικά στην κοινωνία εδώ και δεκαετίες. Πιστεύουμε ότι η ενέργεια του αστυνομικού ήταν ένα μεμονωμένο περιστατικό, θα θέλαμε να λήξει εκεί με τη νομική λύση και όχι να βρισκόμαστε εκτεθειμένοι και μετέωροι από την ανησυχητική καθυστέρηση της αστυνομίας να τελειώσει το ζήτημα αυτό δίνοντας επιτέλους τα στοιχεία του καταγγελόμενου αστυνομικού.

Ευχαριστούμε

Το Δ.Σ. της Μουσουλμανικής Ένωσης Ελλαδος
Επικοινωνία
Ναΐμ Ελγαντούρ
τηλ.6972 008214 – naim_elghandour@yahoo.gr

Exclusive coverage of Gaza demonstrations in Greece – with photo gallery

Muslims, anti-war organizations, students and the general Athens population came together daily to protest in support to free Gaza against this humanitarian tragedy.

 

Main Demonstrations – Saturday, January 10

We participated at a large demonstration brought forth by many organizations, political parties, syndicates and the Arab community at Syntagma square. It was very successful and peaceful although it was crowded and long.  Walking from U.S. embassy to the Israeli embassy, people expressed their frustration and promised not to stop demonstrating until the attacks are stopped and the Israeli troops are withdrawn from Gaza Strip.

 

Children’s Demonstration – Sunday, January 11

In front of the Greek Parliament, Palestinian, Greek and Arab children up to 14 years old stood with their parents in unity to raise their voices in hopes to make a difference. Heading to the U.N. offices and stopping to the E.U. offices, this was the most successful protest, completely peaceful with small children.

 

Blood for Gaza

The Ministry of Health & Welfare along with the Minister Avramopoulos personally responded instantly to the request of the Muslim Association of Greece and organized a two-day blood collection for Gaza on Monday and Tuesday. Many people among Greeks and Arabs donated their blood and as soon as the blood reaches Gaza, they will hold another blood collection very soon, but the ministry needs to assure the route first because blood is a sensitive material and Gaza is a very difficult destination.

 

 Demonstration in Astakos, Greece

On Thursday, the authorities of the region of Etoloakarnania, the mayor of Astakos, political party Synaspismos, anti war coalition, Palestinian community and the Muslim Association in Greece all took part at the second demonstration at the Greek port in Astakos.

The speeches were at the center of Astakos, where the mayor was one of those who acted immediately and dynamically to stop this ship. Everyone spoke with flaming words about the war in Gaza who stood at the side of the Palestinians suffering but still enduring this slaughter.

Protests continued at the port facilities, but we were not allowed to enter because port police and special forces blocked the entrance. The citizens of Astakos were actively following the demonstration, conscious about what was about to happen in their laps.

Next demonstration on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Athens. The demonstrations continue until this brutality in Gaza is stopped.

 

 

—–

Notes:  other coverage in Greece

Μετά την κινητοποίηση στον Αστακό που εμπόδισε την μεταφορά όπλων προς το Ισραήλ συνεχίζουμε με το αντιπολεμικό συλλαλητήριο το Σάββατο 17/1

03-01-2009 ΔΙΑΔΗΛΩΣΗ ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗΣ ΣΤΗ ΓΑΖΑ

Problems with Arab shaykhs in Greek-speaking areas

This post is in response to Mariam’s comment.  I’m moving it here so it’s easier to respond.

Q.  …None of the sheikhs speak greek….and barely english….so in other words our khutbas are in arabic, and all the greeks either sit there like lemons, or we sit next to an arab speaker and they explain wat is goin on…..

thereforeeee…rather than having these problems, could we work together to find ourselves a local greek or cypriot sheikh coz it is kind of crucial.

fi aman allah
mariam

 

My answer: 

Mariam, wow, subhan Allah, sounds like major drama.  I have to say I don’t have a solution to this problem so I’m just going to post some ideas that might help and if anyone else has ideas or feedback, please comment below.

First, as we know, the ideal shaykh would be of course someone who is qualified with knowledge of the deen.  After that, knowing the language of the people plus the cultural norms of the land is of utmost importance.

Let me give you an example.  I was once watching a video of people attending a mosque in Greece.  At the end of the khutbah, while people were leaving, you wouldn’t believe it but they were all lined up (in the masjid!) to greet these two guys who are singing nasheed, then they touch something, make dua, wipe their faces and then leave the mosque.  I was like…. whaaaaat?!! I thought it was a bad rerun of a Greek church service…no joke!

Did the prophet (saws) or the sahaba ever do that? NO! Not that I know of anyway. I showed it to an Arab and we both started laughing out of the ridiculousness of it all but the thing is my Arab friend didn’t really get why they would do such a thing.  Me, being Greek, I understand that they, in essence, just copied what the Greek church does at the end of their service and “Islamified” it with nasheed and dua to replace the the “chanting” of the Bible verses in Greek plus the lining of the people to kiss the priest’s hand and recieve the bread that was “blessed”.

So back to an Arab shaykh who doesn’t speak Greek and wouldn’t really relate to the example above, how do make this situation better?  Here are just a few ideas that I had.  I’m not sure if they are practical to your situation, but it’s worth a mention:

1.  If there is a knowledgeable Greek Muslim that can be assigned as an assistant to the shaykh, that would help because he be an advisor on the cultural norms and the Greek language.  He can also either translate the shaykh’s khutbah’s for him so the shaykh can either do Arabic/Greek or Arabic/English or if this is totally not possible, perhaps the assistant can do the Greek version after the khutbah.  You just have to investigate that becuase there are certain things you can and cannot do during the khutbah.  This can also work for halaqahs or classes.

2. If you can’t find anyone locally, perhaps, someone could contact the University of Madinah or AlAzhar University and see if anyone there is qualified who knows the Greek language, or even English at least who might be willing to relocate to Cyprus.  This might be far-fetched but at least you can try.

3. For long-term planning, your masjid can sponsor a brother to travel to one of these universities to study and return with the agreement to become the shaykh of the masjid a few years later.

Just some ideas… what do you guys think?

“Arab Islam” seeps into the Balkans

 

Surprise, surprise.  Another heavily distorted article on Islam and Muslims but this time it’s about Muslims living in the Balkans.  Sometimes, a feeling of disgust sweeps over me as I read these articles, but at least this one gave us some facts.

Here’s a summary:

Kosovo:

A Muslim majority but the author said it was very rare to see people wearing hijab.  According to the author, it is secular there.

Macedonia:

A good number of hijabis and people wearing abayas even.  About 1/3 of Macedonia are Muslims, mostly of Albanian origin.  According to the author’s interviewee, they are becoming more secular as well and “modern” and the minority is becoming more “radical”.  ( <– what a distorted viewpoint)

(If anyone has anymore facts about these countries, please post in the comment section.)

What was so distorted about the article was the misuse of labels he threw in like Sufis, Ismailis, Wahabi, etc.  Subhan Allah, just because a sister wears an abayah like this one in the photo or someone talks against saint worship and saints’ graves, people are labeled wahabis?

What I don’t like is that the author tries to show that there are two different kinds of Islam: regular/secular and Arab import Islam. Actually, some Muslims also seem to have this viewpoint.  I remember meeting some older Pakistani Muslims who were trying to say there is “Arab Islam” and ”Pakistani Islam”.  I also remember talking to a black lady before I converted to Islam and she told me there is “Arab Islam” and “Black Islam”.

Subhan Allah, this is all truly because of lack of knowledge in Islam. Just a few days ago, our teacher was telling us of many major scholars in Islam were not only Arabic, but Abysinian or from other areas.  After becoming prisoners of war, because of the excellent treatment they were given, many of them converted to Islam and their descendents became scholars.  Did you know that Imam Al-Bukhari, the Ameer Al-Mumineen of hadith, was from the city of Bukhara located in Uzbekistan?

When people start learning the deen, all of these misconceptions will go away.   The only Islam there is, is the Qur’an and Sunnah.

“O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything amongst yourselves refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day.” (Qur’an: An-Nisaa’ 4:59)

Note: Ameer Al-Mumineen = the leader of the believers