Muslim Association of Greece – accomplishments and photos for 2009

We put this together to capture all the key steps we took forward in 2009 toward our mission for Muslims in Greek society that might be missed by your eyes otherwise.

The Muslim Association of Greece annual report highlights its accomplishments throughout the year through photos and descriptions. Click on the photo below to download the annual report.

How Greece welcomes its female Muslims

Source: IslamOnline.net

 

As the first step in our journey to discover the European Muslim women’s opportunities and challenges that are hindering them from integrating into Europe’s different communities, IslamOnline.net (IOL)’s European Muslims Page is quoting Anna Stamou on the status of Greek Muslim women.

Name: Anna Stamou
Profession: Anna Stamou is one of the National Board Members of Muslim Association of Greece (MAG)
Country: Greece

 

IslamOnline.net (IOL): How do you evaluate the Muslim women’s situation in Europe?

Mrs. Stamou: I believe that the Muslim women in Europe have many opportunities to succeed in their fields of interest. However, they still face more challenges since the European atmosphere is not Muslim-friendly, though Europe is a tolerant continent.

IOL: What are the major problems facing Muslim women in the West? And how do you suggest they should react to these problems?

Mrs.Stamou: In this context, I recall a Greek saying “The Muslim woman has to prove that she is not an elephant,” this means that she must change the stereotypes that perceive the Muslim women as being oppressed, hidden behind their veils, brain washed, and with no free will and no rights.

After a Muslim woman manages to prove all these stereotypes wrong, then she has to encounter all major problems that any ordinary European woman has: starting with unemployment and having less career opportunities than men.

However, with faith and high educational level, a Muslim woman is able to cope with all challenges in life and to reflect her true reality.

IOL: What is the status of Muslim women in Greece? Are there any key figures who occupy high positions in society?

Mrs. Stamou:  Greece is divided into two main Muslim communities that rarely communicate. The smaller but the older community is the Greek Muslim minority of Thrace while the bigger but newer is the Muslim immigrants’ community. The later live all over Greece. The Greek converts mingle with the immigrant and mostly with the Arabic-speaking community.

The majority of the immigrant women in Greece are not active, especially for those women who try to provide Islamic education for other women or for their children. The successful women in Thrace have (in the majority) weak religious conscience and they try to manage their lives showing up their secular face.

Though we have some Greek Muslim women working in politics, they don’t wear hijab and they have never demanded any rights for Muslims. They pursue only their local claims (which are really a lot). The active women are the Greek converts who maintain their Greek culture and practice Islam freely.

IOL: What are your contributions in favor of the Muslim women in your country?

Mrs.Stamou: Since I became a Muslim, all my focus was on providing Islamic information, material, and inspiration for fellow Muslims. I started with publishing books and an Islamic cultural newspaper then my efforts included supporting other converts.

Now my responsibilities increased since I joined the Greeks Rethink team. I’m also responsible for the marketing and public relations of the Muslim Association of Greece.
I wish I could have the opportunity to organize a supporting program only for Muslim women, but so far this is not feasible because most of the Muslim women in my area have to reach the first integration step which is to learn Greek.

The Ministry of Education and the local authorities have launched very useful programs for teaching Greek to immigrants. Definitely we support those programs and encourage every Muslim woman who does not speak Greek to go and attend one of these programs. We are looking forward for the coming steps.

In fact, my team and I have many dreams and plans for Muslims in Greece. I strongly believe that all our activities will benefit my beloved country, because we do love Greece and Islam; an irresistible combination!

Greeks rethought and met each other!

Ramadan Timetable for Greece

Our next event: 6th September 2009

Greeks rethought and met each other!

Apprehensive, nervous, excited.

What was the matter? It was our first on line Paltalk gathering. After furious preparations with announcements, giving and receiving instructions of how to use Paltalk, and a lot more, the moment was here. Now we were actually going to hear and speak to our brothers and sisters who were to attend.

What was crossing my mind?

Is my Internet going to let me down? Am I going to overcome my apprehension and be clear and coherent? And am I going to choke and cough? This is the funny side. Sister Anna Stamou who hosted the event had a lot more to worry about. Being in Andros and having fires burning just across from where she was, was wondering if her power supply would be cut off. We all at the Greeks Rethink and Muslim Association of Greece team were holding our breath.

We were all so excited that the pre-gathering nerves and worries were forgotten. At last.  Face to face and personal.

The gathering started with a short dua recited by Br. Naim Elghadour of MAG, then some simple instructions of the use of Paltalk by Br Amir, introductions and we were ready to start and get close and personal….

Sister Anna made everybody feel relaxed and the conversation was just like a river flowing. Also, sister Iman who was supposed to relax and did not, made everybody feel at ease with an amazing voice of a 17 year old (as she was complimented). Masha Allah.

We did not feel like strangers. We all (and I dare speak on behalf of everybody) felt that we knew each other so well.

We shared our stories and Ramadan experiences in our respective countries of residence. The Ramadan spirit and the relaxed mood made me share confidences and Br. Hayrullah was a marvelous shoulder to cry on and also loads of laugh. So much so that we asked him to host our next gathering coming soon.

I have to say that some of my fears became true. At the crucial point of introducing myself I got disconnected. But Alhamdulillah. It all went well. Till next time. Coming on the 6th September 2009. Please use the link for more information.

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.

Islam: It’s all Greek to us

It’s a great pleasure to announce that our team has produced our first professional (hard copy) brochure that is at the printers as we speak.  This is for you to read and distribute either online through forums, blogs, email, websites or offline by passing it out to friends and family.

 

  

 

View online brochure in pdf:          English        Ελληνικά

Obtain free copies of the brochure in the mail:

Contact marketing@greeksrethink.com.

 

 

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