THE register of brothers and sisters leaving for Haj this year has been established and can be found here.
If you are also going for Haj and you have a fair or firm idea of when you will be leaving please email theteam@crescentsofbrisbane.org with the details below for inclusion in the register.
Family Name:
First Names of family members:
Depart on (dd/mm/yy):
Return on (dd/mm/yy):
Travel agent / group:
Departing from (city):
Makkah Hotel:
Medina Hotel:
Email Address (for official use only):
You need only provide those pieces of information you feel most comfortable sharing with others:
Goes Online
RECORDINGS of the nightly Tafseer Program delivered by Imam Uzair Akbar after each Taraweeh are now online from the Holland Park Mosque's recently launched web site at http://hpmosque.qmt.org.au/.
Keep an eye out for the Society's book stand at the Queensland Eidfest on 12 November at the Mt. Gravatt Showgrounds. They will have a collection of high quality Islamic books at very reasonable prices on sale.
Fazeer takes on Kerry - and wins every time
"The ABC team have thoroughly enjoyed having
Fazeer Mohammed as part of the coverage"
Guess Who Came To Ifthar
A surprise guest at the Ifthar last night at the Algester Mosque was West Indian radio commentator Fazeer Mohammed. Joining some 500 other guests to break his fast at the Mosque, Fazeer was introduced to CCN's Man-on-the-Mussallaah who was taken aback by the affable, unassuming nature of the man.
Fazeer provided the call on ABC Sport with Kerry O'Keeffe, Geoff Lawson and Peter Roebuck during the recent Super Series action.
An ABC Grandstand listener Anna Whetton wrote this recent tribute to Fazeer:
-Fazir's a friendly fast thinking bloke
-Articulate on cricket - he doesn't miss a stroke
-Zealous in his sport - at the zenith of his career
-Intelligent, impressive, irresistible dear
-Reflects on responses to our Kerry O'Keeffe
-Masterfully manoeuvres when Kerry gives him grief
-Outgoing in manner we wait for his view
-"Handsome" I believe is also his due
-An alternative voice to the Australian crew
-Masterful insights are given all the way through
-Amiable and active :- to his cricket also true
-Dedicated and delightful as a commentator too.
If you have never heard the lilting voice of the West Indian then have a listen.
Display Debunks Myths About Islam
FIFTEEN undergraduates taking the RELN2307 – Islam in the Contemporary World at the University of Queensland have set up a display in the foyer of the Social Sciences and Humanities Library (Building 1).
The theme ‘Dispelling misconception about Islam’ addresses the various false impressions that the students believed non-Muslim Australians held about Islam. The display will be up until Friday the 28th of October and you are invited to view them and offer the students any constructive criticisms and suggestions you may have on the subject
They addressed the following misconceptions:
1. That Islam is misogynist
2. That Islam is anti-human rights
3. That Islam can not exist within a democracy
4. That Islam = terrorism
5. That Allah is a god of fear and retribution
6. That Islamic law is barbaric
7. That Muslims are uncultured and have not contributed to the advancement of humanity
8. That Islam is intolerant of other faiths
9. That Muslims can not assimilate into society
10. That Muslims are polygamists
11. The effect of Government multicultural policies on Muslims
Included in the display are quotes from famous Australian Muslims. The display has evoked a fair deal of interest on campus and, according to Naadi Omarjee who is one of two Muslims taking this class, the feedback thus far has been very positive.
The First Settlers Arriving in Durban
A report in The Natal Mercury when the first Indians arrived in South Africa in 1860 by ship.
This November 22 article of 1860 is replete with political incorrectness, solecisms, prejudices and malapropisms.
For example, "the children with their meagre, intelligent, cute and humorous countenances mounted on bodies of unconscionable fragility" describes not only the young new arrivals that year but, uncanny as it may seem, CCN's long suffering Editor in his more youthful days. The men are said to "have perambulated the town, for two or three days past to the infinite curiosity of a large crowd of Kaffirs, who dodge their footsteps, and narrowly scan their movements."
So if you thought that the editorializing in CCN was painfully verbose and sesquipedalian (now there's a word worth looking up the dictionary for) then you should read this article and you will soon discover that CCN's deliberate efforts to obfuscate even the simplest of issues with incoherent phraseology, terminology and tropology pales into insignificance when compared to the fare offered by this journalist.
Jazaak-Allah to all those brothers and sisters who gave their Fitrah for the appeal for Zimbabwe. Your fitrah has been forwarded to Zimbabwe and Insha-Allah will be distributed before Eid.
Due to the harsh conditions this year with the shortage of petrol and basic commodities, it was not possible to make and distribute hampers, instead the money will be distributed directly to the needy Muslims.
Jazaak-Allah for your contribution. May Allah reward you abundantly. Aameen.
Faisel Essof
Sneak Preview by Madam Mumbai
"Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" is a new film by Albert Brooks (to be released in 2006) about a comedian — Brooks, playing himself — who takes on the role of a comedian sent by the State Department to India and Pakistan with a couple of minders to find out what makes Muslims laugh, so everyone can get along better in the post-9/11 world.
He says he got the idea before U.S. President George W. Bush appointed close adviser Karen Hughes to be undersecretary of state for public diplomacy charged with countering the negative U.S. image among Muslims.
Brooks says most of the jokes in the movie are aimed at Americans and there are no religious references at all, even though he was allowed to film in a mosque in India.
"I steered clear of religion in this movie. There's no mention of the Koran -- the whole point of the movie is looking for comedy, not looking for God. I was allowed to film in the biggest mosque in India and when I told the imam the plot of the movie he started to laugh."
CCN will keep you informed about its release dates here in Brisbane.
Eidfest2005 Dawa Tent
The count of stalls booked for the day has reached the 60 mark. There will be a range of stalls including a variety of food, information and commercial ones.
In particular the Dawa Tent will be disseminating relevant literature and providing a forum for the general public to discuss any questions they have about Islam and Muslims. If you have any suggestions, literature, posters, software, etc. that would be appropriate for this stall, please contact Faisel Essof on (07) 3800-7811 (work), (07) 3423-0116 (home), 0402 575 410 (mob) or fessof@hotmail.com.
If you are unable to take up a stall yourself then you could consider sponsoring one of the community-based stalls that usually find it difficult to fund them on their own. You will be allowed to place a banner and have any of your promotional material made available there. Please contact Iqbal Sultan on 0412 845 786 if you are able to help.
A Picture is Worth A thousand Words
How Do You Say Homer Simpson in Arabic? "Omar Shamshoon"
Instead of Homer we now have "Omar Shamshoon," and instead of Bart we have “Badr”.
An Arabized "Simpsons" -- called "Al Shamshoon" -- made its debut in the Arab world earlier this month, in time for Ramadan, a time of high TV viewership. It uses the original "Simpsons" animation, but the voices are dubbed into Arabic and the scripts have been adapted to make the show more accessible, and acceptable, to Arab audiences.
When the Arab satellite TV network, MBC, decided to introduce "The Simpsons" to the Middle East, they knew the family would have to make some fundamental lifestyle changes.
"Omar Shamshoon," as he is called on the show, looks like the same Homer Simpson, but he has given up beer and bacon and he no longer hangs out at "seedy bars with bums and lowlifes." In Arabia, Homer's beer is soda, and his hot dogs are barbequed Egyptian beef sausages. And the donut-shaped snacks he gobbles are the traditional Arab cookies called kahk.
[Man-on-the-Mussallaah] All very well and good but I'd like to see them translate 'Hi-diddly-ho, neighbours!' into Arabic!!
And why they didn't simply make a good original show about a Saudi family living in Riyadh, dealing with religion, life and work and trying to keep a family together, I'll never know!
4th Annual Muslim Women’s Games in Teheran
“Sport and physical education is regarded as necessity for women since, they take on their shoulders some specific responsibilities in families and societies, which is very important. Holy religion of Islam deeply concerns sport and advise the training sport activity by parents to children as a religious duty.” Mission of the games
The games were launched in 1993 to give athletes from Muslim countries an opportunity for international competition, while not violating Shari'ah by competing in front of men in inappropriate attire.
"We are seeking to empower and encourage Muslim women, who are absent from the international sports grounds due to their believes," said Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who started the games.
Although Iran has been approached by other Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Qatar wanting to host the games, she sees little chance of them leaving Iran .
"Other countries have different interpretations of Islam. I am not sure they would be able to hold the games like us with such observance of Islamic rules".
Iran sends women athletes to competitions abroad in the few fields where women are able to compete and wear their hijab, such as shooting, taekwondo, fencing, canoeing, chess and horse riding.
In the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Iran had a sole female representative in shooting.
Islam encourages women to practice sport under certain rules to preserve their dignity and honor, safeguard them against immoralities and indecency and preserve their chastity while preserving their right in practicing sports.
Luring Athletes
The week-long event has few sponsors and has been allocated a budget of 10 billion rials (1.1 million dollars), which according to Hashemi "is barely enough" to cover costs.
"The games do not satisfy sponsors as there are no television cameras to show their advertisements," she explained.
In order to attract more athletes, this year non-Muslim women have been allowed to participate as long as they are on the national teams of their countries and agree to compete under the stipulated conditions.
Sportswomen from 48 countries, many of them Islamic, took part in 18 sports.
Athletics, shooting, table tennis and taekwondo attracted the most participants.
Britain's futsal (five-a-side football) team, comprising more than a dozen Muslim women, also took part in the games.
Only in Southern Africa
An Israeli doctor says: "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another and have him looking for work in six weeks."
A British doctor says: "That's nothing; we can take a lung out of one person, put in another and have him looking for work in four weeks."
A Canadian doctor says: "In my country medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another and have them both looking for work in two weeks."
A Zimbabwean doctor, not to be outdone, says: "You guys are way behind. We just took a man with no brain, put him in parliament and made him President and now the whole country is looking for work."
The CCN Corner for Smarty Pants
During the week CCN was inundated with entries to last week's quiz competition. The CCN inbox burst its disk space from the hurricane of emails that poured in. CCN staffers worked flat out to cope with the deluge.
A winner finally emerged from the devastated, virus infected disk tracks and she is Faseeha Peer who gets a Chicken Fiesta voucher from Nandos Underwood valued at $16.50.
Well done, Ms Peer! Your voucher (as they say
in the business) is in the mail, inshaAllah.
Answer to the quiz: 'Byram Mubarak!' is a greeting from Albania and Byram means "Eid"?
PS: The Editor's decision, dubious though many may have been in the past, is still final, and any emails on the subject will be classified as spam and relegated to the ignominy of the CCN Junk folder alongside ones inviting him to enlarge certain of his body parts, strengthen particular tissues and purchase real estate.
A Word From This Week’s Sponsor
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Display Debunks Myths About Islam
4th Annual Muslim Women’s Games in Teheran 
The CCN Corner for Smarty Pants
