Gold Coast Mosque Annual BBQ and Fundraiser Auction
Don't miss this event on Sunday 28 August. There will be stalls, rides, games, prizes and of course the one, the only, the inimitable Goss.
Give the man a gavel and you'll get him going, going, gone!
Everyone arriving before 11am goes in the draw to win a 51cm TV.
Madame Mumbai's dummy spit has paid off.
Brisbane is set to experience a live theatrical event like nothing ever seen before (or so the advertising blurb will have us believe).
From 15 November The Merchants of Bollywood will fill the Lyric Theatre, QPAC with all of the extravagance, romance and allure that is Bollywood – glitter and glamour, bangles and beads, majestic sets and dazzling costumes.
Tickets
are already on sale and the limited season goes from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 November.
Did you know that it costs as little as $25 to restore the gift of sight in some developing countries?
The Islamic Society of Gold Coast is hosting a dinner and presentation by Dr. Rubina Gillani, Country Manager Pakistan of the Fred Hollows Foundation, who will talk about the Pakistan-Australia District Eye Care Programme operating in many parts of the world.
The talk at the Mosque, on Friday 2 September, will be followed by a dinner. Please RSVP the Society's Secretary, Mr Akthar Shah on 5529-2327, 0412 930 214, or alishah1907@hotmail.com
A brand new low maintenance four bedroom house with en-suite around the corner from Kuraby Mosque. Includes a single lock-up garage, large family room and well-appointed kitchen.
Contact James on 0413 862 882 for more details
At The Brisbane Powerhouse
WHITE MEN WITH WEAPONS
What happens to the minds of men who are forced to fight a senseless war in a foreign land? Sometimes the real terror to be fought is the one inside us…
Hysterical, historical and sometimes harrowing, writer and performer Greg Coetzee’s South African Theatre classic White Men With Weapons has a new relevance in a world gone mad.
Set in the barracks of the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1990, just before the release of Nelson Mandela, Coetzee's 13 white men take the audience on a roller-coaster ride through the brutal militarism of the old SADF and the eventual collapse of the apartheid machine.
Seen by many as the protector of the Apartheid system, the SADF was responsible for the destabilization of neighbouring African states and the crushing of black resistance in the townships of South Africa. Its conscripts were predominantly white men required by law to serve in the defence force for two years.
A foul-mouthed Corporal from hell, a drug-crazed Durban Rambo and an Anglican Chaplain with Tutu-phobia are just three of the thirteen white men you will meet during this journey into the heart of South Africa's forgotten wars with its neighbouring states.
Overnight these white men become obsolete and directionless. Nelson Mandela walks free. And the punch-drunk, blood-shot soldiers are left to face their final battle as the sun rises on a new country.
"The kind of performance that, on film, wins Oscars" Real Time (Australia)
"Hilarious...swaps characters like a chameleon on cocaine " Mail & Guardian (South Africa)
Ourworld Travel Wollongong is sending their representative, Abdul Rahman Talib, to Brisbane on the weekend of 26th to 28th August for consultation and presentation about Hajj 2005/2006.
If you would like an appointment with him you should email Nadimah at nadimah@duniana.com.
Mr. Abdul Rahman will be staying at the Medina Executive Apartments on Ivory Lane, Brisbane and the meetings will be held in his suite.
On Sunday, Abdul Rahman will be at the Gold Coast Mosque.
ICQ Sets Up Media Steering Committee
The Islamic Council of Queensland held a meeting on Friday night at the Kuraby Mosque to continue discussion on the formation of a media liaison committee. KurandaSeyfiSeyit, the President of the Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations was invited over from Sydney to provide guidance on developing a media strategy.
A steering committee was established to create a Media Liaison Committee that would eventually work closely with the Griffith University Islamic Research Centre in dealing with the media and media issues.
About Kuranda Seyit
Kuranda is a Muslim community journalist and advocate. When the federal government’s funding for his position as media officer with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils ended, and with it his revival of the Australian Muslim News, Kuranda Seyit founded his own media vehicle, Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations. FAIR publishes a monthly community newspaper, acts as a conduit for moderate Muslim opinion and nurtures an Islamic think-tank.
Turkish-born Seyit grew up in a family of nine children in Sydney’s outer west. He supported his university drama studies by working as a police officer. He re-discovered Islam during a two-year trip along the Silk Road, and on his
return made Always a Visitor, a film which launched him as a broker between generations of Muslims and other Australians. He is a prime mover in the Goodness and Kindness campaign, an inter-faith project which targets older primary students.
News Cafe Makes It In The News (for all the wrong reasons)
Many readers will have received an e-mail recently detailing an incident that occurred at a South African restaurant in which a Muslim woman was told that she would not be served because she was wearing a head scarf.
CCN's Felicia Mabusa-Blunt sent News Cafe a "please explain" and this is their reply:
Thank you for your feedback. There seems to be a gross misinterpretation of the incident which I wish to rectify. Furthermore we are have been the innocent victim of a slanderous e-mail. Nevertheless I am glad that I have the opportunity to respond and explain the facts.
1. Firstly we apologised sincerely to Zayne and his family for the way in which the incident was handled. We humbly requested him to indulge us another visit so that we could offer him and his family the service and experience that he would expect at a News Cafe. We acknowledge that management should have handled the issue from the beginning.
2. The e-mail that has been circulated was a misinterpretation of what was said on Radio 702 when Zayne phoned in. It was NEVER said that we do not allow ladies with Muslim head gear into the establishment. The fact is that we do enforce a dress code and we generally do not allow casual/sports head gear in the evenings. This refers to caps and beanies. In this case the waitress who enforced the rule did so without discretion or consideration for religious inclination.
3. We also enforce an age restriction in the evening purely because in the evening our cocktail bar environment is not suitable environment for children.
4. The author of the slanderous e-mail stated that this was intentionally "Anti-Islamic". I can assure you that we as a group embrace the changes of a reformed, improved South Africa and we are sensitive to the broad spectrum of cultures to which we offer our hospitality. On behalf of the News Cafe brand I would like to state "WE DO NOT DISCRIMINATE IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER AGAINST ANY PATRON THAT WISHES TO PATRONISE OUR BRAND". I am sure you can understand how damaging a comment like this is to our brand and as such we will be addressing this through legal channels with the author of the original e-mail.
5. On behalf of the News Cafe group and the Rivonia franchise, we humbly and sincerely apologise for the way in which the incident was handled and publicized. We can confidently assure all interested parties that we value your patronage and trust that this will be viewed exactly as it was, a misunderstanding!
We avail ourselves for any further comment or discussion in this regard.
Alan van der Westhuizen
General Manager - Restaurant Division
Algester Announcements
The Islamic Society of Algester invites you to the me'raaj-un-nabi big-night programme on Thursday 1 September. The programme will commence at 8:00 p.m.
Like many Muslims who lived though the apartheid era in South Africa, Faikah Behardien held many reservations about leaving the country of her birth. Giving up the restrictions apartheid imposed, based on your skin colour, the laws that determined where you lived, what education you received, what jobs you were able to get and even who you could marry, should have made the decision to leave easier. It didn’t. She was aware she was also giving up everything she knew and with which she was familiar: the safety and comfort of family and neighbours and community.
But after much soul-searching, she and her family made the decision and came to Australia to make their home here in 1985.
After gaining a Fellowship to the Chartered Insurance Institute (London), Faikah left the world of insurance in 1990 as a qualified underwriter to put her Batchelor of Arts degree to good use as a Training Projects Manager and then developed a passion for facilitating adult learning. She went on to complete a Master’s degree in Adult Education and continues to work in organisational learning and development and change management. She currently heads up the Learning and Development function in an innovative mortgage company
Faikah is very active in community work. During 2003 and 2004, she chaired the steering committee for a Living in Harmony project that built networks between journalism students, journalists and the Muslim community and currently remains in touch with the media.
She joined the Sydney-based Muslim Women's National Network of Australia (MWNNA) in 2001 and is its current Vice President. Some of the work she has been involved with to date include the following projects:
Interfaith dialogue: presenting on Islam to the Catholic Women's League and to teachers of religion at the Catholic Institute of Sydney
Working with the media and presenting to joumalism students at UWS as part of our Living In Harmony project: Building Networks with journalism students, please also see our website: http://www.mwnna.org.au/
Australian
Muslim Newsgroups (compiled by Janette Hashemi)
Email groups are a popular way of communicating and disseminating information.
Some groups are restrictive in their membership and contents, others are not.
Here are some really good open ones:
Comments from the Moderator of Muslim Media Watch are:
- "everyone is welcome to join and contribute to MMW"
- "we encourage comment to encourage clear and analytical thinking"
Comments from the Moderator of Sydney Muslims:
- "I would like to free up sydneymuslims yahoo group list for more debate and discussion on community affairs"
- "articles from local and foreign newspapers are welcome if they are accompanied by a comment and generate a comment"
These are really great groups to get a feel for what is happening interstate and the feelings of other Muslims.
Interpretation and Misinterpretation of Religion
Janette Hashemi delivered a talk at the interfaith meeting at the University of the Sunshine Coast on the interpretation and misinterpretation of Islam last month.
In it she points out the following:
For Arabic speaking Muslims, there is the risk of misunderstanding the Arabic in which the Quran was written. The Quran was revealed in Classical Arabic. Most Arabs today speak colloquial Arabic and do not understand the Arabic of the Quran. Traditionally, Muslims throughout the world used to learn Classical Arabic in order to understand the Quran.
One of the consequences of colonization was the loss of the teaching of Classical Arabic. This presents a problem. How do we understand the Quran correctly?
In my view, the Muslim world is going through a painful metamorphosis. After years of enduring oppressive rulers, Muslims, led by Muslim academics, are guiding the community to a more open, just and pluralistic society, based on the Quran, sunnah and Islamic tradition.
The Sunshine Coast Interfaith Network (SCIN) has scheduled the following talks for the coming weeks:
1. Forum with speakers and debaters at the Multicultural Festuri,
University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunday, 28th August, 11am start.
Organised by John Bass, retired President, Amnesty International, USC.
2. Open Forum, "Why interfaith groups must talk politics - issues of
separation of church and state, spiritual and secular" speaker and organiser Dr. Phillip Mahnken, Thursday, 1st September, 10.30am, Library Seminar Room, University of the Sunshine Coast.
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Gold Coast Mosque Annual BBQ and Fundraiser Auction
WHITE MEN WITH WEAPONS
Getting Geared for Hajj
About Kuranda Seyit 
Australian
Muslim Newsgroups (compiled by Janette Hashemi)