......a sometimes
self-deprecating and occasional tongue-in-cheek look at ourselves and
the world around us ......
Sunday, 3 August 2008
.Newsletter
0195
News you won't find on CNN!
This week's CCN is kindly sponsored by
KaraActiv
Zambia
Regains an Aussie Limbada
Nadia, daughter of Ebrahim and FaridaLimbada was married to Mohammed, son of
Ebrahim and FatimaLimbada on Friday
evening at a Nikah ceremony at the Mosque.
The reception was held at the Hilton Hotel last night.
Mohammed is a medical doctor with the United Nations and
is based in Zambia where the Limbada family originates
from. Nadia will be heading back to the Old Country at
the end of the week.
The wedding cake (below) was the creation of two Faridas:
the mother-of-the-bride, FaridaLimbada
and the aunt-of-the-bride, Farida Patel.
Brisbane's Taekwondo Clubs Excel at Queensland
Selections
Rami's
Thunder by Youcef Mesbah
Congratulations to the
Rami's Thunder Taekwondo
Club 2008 Queensland
Selection team for the great
performance on the 27th of
July. Alhamulliah we
preformed well with 10 gold
medals, 10 silver, 1 bronze
and 1 unmatched player.
We also look forward to the
Australia Open which runs
from the 4th to the 6th of
September 2008. There are
approximately 12 players
competing in this
tournament.
Inshallah we will do well
this year.
Rawlins by Haris Olomi
Rawlins does it again!. We
took nine fighters to the
State selection and 8 made
the Queensland Team. One was
too young to make the team
as he is only six years old
(you have to be 8 to make
the team). But he did beat
an 8 year old boy.
The rest of the team winners
were:
Mustafaa Olomi Unmatched
Gold
Jahan Olomi Unmatched Gold
Jacob White Gold
Zulaikha Deen Gold
Bial Deen Gold
Abdullah Houdchia Gold
Mousaab Houdchia Gold and
Silver
Mohammed Deen Silver
Khaaled Olomi Gold and too
young to make the team.
Six of the team members will
be competing at the
Nationals in Sydney on the
5th and 6th of September and
hopefully we will be coming
home with more gold. Good
luck to them all!
The
AMARAH Update
The AMARAH community forum
scheduled for yesterday at
the Garden City Library was
cancelled and instead
replaced by the Kuraby Tree
Planting to be scheduled
Saturday 16th August from
8am-12pm.
This time the venue is the
fields off Beenleigh Road,
Kuraby, between the
Beenleigh & Warrigal Road
intersection and the Gateway
fly-over that crosses
Beenleigh Road at Kuraby (Refidex
page 221 F10)
AMARAH is encouraging all
its members and friends to
participate in this great
community initiative to do
your bit to help the
environment. It is also a
great way to give back to
our local community and
receive many baraakat
(blessings) for it.
As they did at the last tree
planting day at the Wally
Tate Park, the Crescents of
Brisbane Team will be
preparing the sausage
sizzle.
Inshallah we will see you
all there on Saturday 16th
August at 8 am.
We will continue our
community forums after
Ramadhan and Eid Inshallah.
Also, we will be hosting two
iftars during the
month of Ramadhan for the
homeless and disadvantaged
held in West End.
The iftars will be
held on Friday 5th September
and 19th September at St
Andrew's Anglican Church,
West End. AMARAH has decided
to take a different angle on
iftars and is
providing food for the
homeless and disadvantaged
around the West End area.
All of the guests will be
non-Muslim as we know that
the mosques provide
iftars for Muslims in
need.
If anyone wishes to donate,
please have them call me on
0422 349 786 or email at
info@amarah.org.
Any amount will help
inshallah.
Nora Amath
Managing Director: AMARAH
From
the IWAQ Desk
Following the huge success
of the 2007 Ramadan Hamper
Drive, IWAQ is starting
collection of non perishable
goods for distribution from
the 17 August.
Non perishable goods
include: Flour, sugar, rice,
pasta, (preferably 1kg or
2kg bags), cereal, honey,
canned tomato, oil, etc,
money for meat vouchers.
Please call IWAQ Office on
3272 6355 to arrange for
drop off.
We are also inviting
volunteers to help us pack
the hampers. If you would
like to volunteer please
call the office on 3272
6355.
Please note that we cannot
accept used clothing.
However, if you would like
to donate new clothing,
blankets etc. then we are
more than happy to
distribute these as well.
Please ensure that all food
items donated (biscuits etc)
are halaal.
May Allah reward you
manifold for your kindness.
Getting
into the Swim of Things: Women of the Cloth
When they arrive at the Gold
Coast's beautiful beaches,
most tourists naturally want
to take a dip.
But when you are a Muslim
woman, from a culture that
requires you cover up, it is
a little more difficult.
That's where two local
entrepreneurs, Sarah
Blaubaum and Julia Dixon
come in.
They have set up a program
called "S Women" to
encourage Muslim women into
the water, and are now
designing suitable swimwear.
It has been a long process
of trial and error, looking
at designs and fabrics
available in Australia and
overseas and seeking
extensive input from Muslim
women.
One potentially suitable
swimsuit found in Sydney
cost more than an exorbitant
$260.
Another suit from Malaysia
seemed to fit the bill,
until it fell apart after
three washes. In most Muslim
countries, women do not swim
at all, or they swim in
their clothes.
"We found out the cultures
can be very different and
some are a little more
reserved," said Sarah. "So
our design caters to the
most extreme."
Due to be launched next
month, the Muslim women's
swimsuit includes bootleg
pants, a long sleeved top
and a head piece.
Apart from covering the
body, a loose fit was also
essential. So that ruled out
conventional swimwear fabric
such as lycra.
"The whole thing has not
been as breezy as we would
like," said Sarah.
Another curve ball came from
Muslim girls saying they
would like to go surfing.
So the swimsuit design had
to be analysed to see if it
could be used for active
sports.
A student at Griffith
University studying law and
international relations,
22-year-old Sarah is a
member of the Main Beach
Surf Life Saving Club.
She has been involved in
aquatic sports since moving
to the Gold Coast ten years
ago.
While on a stint teaching
English in China, Sarah had
noticed a great interest in
the Aussie beach lifestyle,
so on her return to
Australia she set up a
business, Aqua English, to
involve English language
learners in water sports and
water safety.
The Muslim women's swimsuit
idea was triggered while
conducting Asian students
through a 'Lifesavers for a
Day' program.
Sarah was approached by
visiting Muslim women asking
where they could swim in
private.
"I had a chat to the mosque
and found out a lot of local
women wanted to learn to
swim," she said.
"They had children but their
husbands take them swimming
and they miss out on that
bonding."
So the "S Women" program was
born, at first using local
swimming pools.
Umm Abdullah al-Jibaly,
the wife of Shaykh
Muhammad Al-Jibaly who
will be coming down to
Brisbane this week for a
lecture series, will be
giving a lecture to the
ladies on Friday 8th August
between 1pm and 2pm in the
"white house" alongside the
Kuraby Mosque on Beenleigh
Road.
All ladies are invited to
attend. For more information
contact Ms. Iman Amin
on 0430 444 827.
Louvre
draws a veil over artistic neglect with bold new Islamic
wing
It
is known as the Veil and is described by
its architects as a giant glass Muslim
headscarf in the heart of Paris.
The former French president Jacques
Chirac saw it as one way to avert a
clash of civilisations in the run-up to
the Iraq war. President Nicolas Sarkozy
calls it the symbol of France's
friendship with the Arab world.
The Louvre's bold new Islamic art
wing had its first stone laid by Sarkozy
yesterday , launching the museum's most
daring project since IM Pei created the
giant glass pyramid 20 years ago.
The world's most visited museum will
have Europe's biggest purpose-built
exhibition space for an Islamic art
collection, which France hopes will
reconcile the secular republic with the
world of Islamic heritage.
The €86m (£68m) project will open in
2010, creating 3,000 square metres of
gallery space in one of the museum's
neo-classical courtyards. Rather than
cover the courtyard, a glass "luminous
veil" will "float" above the ground,
covering two floors. The Italian
architect Mario Bellini yesterday
described the undulating roof as "a
headscarf blown in by the wind".
It was a pertinent image, coming soon
after French citizenship was denied to a
resident Moroccan woman who wears a
veil. France has outlawed the headscarf
and other religious symbols in public
schools and yesterday Fadela Amara, a
Muslim and feminist junior minister,
criticised all form of veils.
The project's other architect, Rudy
Ricciotti, said: "It is important for
France, with a Muslim population of 5
million, to create something that speaks
directly to the presence of Muslims in
this country. This is a political museum
in the noble sense of the term, in that
the secular republic recognises all its
people."
The Louvre, which registered a record
8.3 million visitors last year, boasts
one of the world's most comprehensive
Islamic art collections. More than
10,000 pieces range from the 7th to 19th
century, featuring glasswork and
ceramics, Ottoman empire art and one of
the world's most important collections
of carpets.
Yet most of the Islamic works have
been in storage for more than 20 years,
never afforded the same prominence as
western exhibits. In 2003, when Chirac
was setting France apart in the debate
over the war in Iraq, he ordered the
opening of an Islamic art department and
the planning of a wing to do it justice.
Sarkozy used a speech at the Louvre
to position France at the heart of
geopolitics. "France wants peace, it
does not want a clash of civilisations
between east and west," he said.
He was accompanied by the Saudi
prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, whose €17m
contribution to the project is one of
the biggest private cultural donations
made in France. The prince, a
francophile, is a major shareholder in
Disneyland Paris and owns Paris's
exclusive George V hotel.
Sophie Makariou, head curator of the
Louvre's Islamic art department, said:
"Islamic exhibitions have always been a
huge success with the public."
Asked about the funding from Saudi
Arabia, where the Wahabi hardline
interpretation of Islam has often been
blamed for the destruction of artistic
and religious heritage, she said: "We
have to move away from fixed ideas. In
2006, we took a show of 136 works to
Saudi Arabia. There were 400,000
visitors in two months."
Backstory
The Louvre's new
Islamic wing is part of
the museum's development as a major
global art brand. France has cemented a
30-year deal to create a Louvre museum
on an island off Abu Dhabi
in 2012. Abu Dhabi will pay €400m
(£300m)for the Louvre
brand name and for hundreds of loaned
works, shown in a building by the
architect Jean Nouvel.
Meanwhile, Paris wants to cement its
position as a European capital of Arab
and Islamic culture. François
Mitterrand's "grand project",
L'Institut du Monde Arabe (the
Arab World Institute) attracts a million
visitors a year and is reorganising
after financial difficulties. Its
funding is shared between France and the
22 Arab league
countries, some of whom have been
accused of being late in their payments.
Outlandish & Sami Yusuf "Try not to cry" 4 Children
of Adam
The CCN
Centre Link
Access Opportunities in a dynamic community-based
organisation providing services and support to
migrants, refugees and disadvantaged community
members.
Practice Manager -
ACCESS has
a vacancy for an experienced Practice Manager to
join their friendly and professional team. ACCESS
Health Services provides high quality medical and
allied health services to children, young people and
adults. Applicant will have proven work experience
in specialist or medical practices, record
management, medical typing and reception.
Application closes on
30 July 2008.
Manager Employment Division - Senior position
to manage the employment and training division and
its programs. Required significant experience in
managing government funding including projects
development, management and reporting and ability to
manage staff.
Application closes on 04 August 2008.
Project Coordinator - Position required to
manage the Ipswich West Workforce Diversity.
Required experience in managing government funding.
Application closes on
28 July 2008.
Employment Advisor (Ipswich) - Position
required to provide employment assistance to target
customers in the Ipswich area. Required experience
in employment assistance.
Application closes on
28 July 2008.
Employment Advisor (Inala) - Position
required to provide employment assistance to target
customers in the Inala area. Required experience in
employment assistance.
Application closes on 28 July 2008.
An attractive package
will be offered in line with the skills and
abilities of the successful applicant. Position
information including selection criteria is
available by phoning ACCES Services Inc on 3412 8222
or email danielz@asi.org.au. Application closes on
28 July 2008.
`Around
the Muslim World with CCN
South African Muslim Women Can Inherit
Fatima
Gabie Hassam chuckled with joy after a court ruling
granting her the right to claim part of her husband's
estate.
"I'm celebrating on Madiba's birthday," Hassam told
South Africa's The Times on Sunday, July 20, referring
to former South African president Nelson Mandela.
"I'm the happiest woman in the whole wide world."
Hassam, a mother of four, won a court ruling to amend
legislation to allow widowed Muslim women to claim part
of their husbands' estate.
Hassam's
husband died in 2001,
leaving her penniless
and without any right to
his estate.
The
husband had taken a
second wife before his
death.
After the husband's
death, authorities
sought to evict the
61-year-old from her
tiny two-bedroom home in
Cape Town.
"When my husband died, I
didn't get anything,"
said the soft-spoken
woman.
"And then they wanted to
take the roof from over
my head. I lived in that
house with my husband
for 36 years of
marriage."
Polygamy is not
recognized under South
African law.
Islam to become Russia’s predominant religion by 2050?
PRAVDA: Islam is likely to become the
primary religion in the Russian Federation by 2050 due
to the high birth rate in Muslim republics.
The current Chinese-led conquest of Russia’s Far East
already seems to be a matter of immediate concern for
the Kremlin. The ethnic birth rate disproportion in
different regions of the country is another problem. The
Muslim community may become the largest community by the
middle of the current century. Therefore, Islam has all
chances to become the predominant religion in Russia.
Ukrainian scientists of politics, Valery Chaliy and
Mikhail Pashkov, believe that this is not the only
challenge, which Russia has to face nowadays.
First Muslim country singer in America performs in Rome
America's first Muslim country music
singer performed in Italy for the first time on Sunday
as part of a United States Embassy co-sponsored European
tour.
Kareem Salama, born and raised in Ponca City,
Oklahoma in the southern US, is the son of Egyptian
immigrants. He began to get into country music while
studying in graduate school.
He performed in front of a mostly Italian crowd at the
Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival held in Rome. His songs
were well received by everyone, who energetically
clapped after every song.
"People in Europe have strong stereotypes about what
country music is," said Salama in an interview. He
speaks Arabic and English.
In his songs, he draws on elements of Rock, Pop, Country
and Folk music, as well as Islamic themes, Sufism,
poetry and issues ranging from chivalry and nobility to
war.
Kareem Salama, whose name means 'Generous well-being',
performed for 90 minutes and performed his most famous
hits. The songs included 'Baby, I'm a soldier' which
recounts the face-to-face encounter between an Iraqi and
an American soldier who end up killing each other on the
battlefield.
In 2006, he wrote a song called 'Prayers at night' in
order to draw attention to the war that year between
Israel and Lebanon.
The Amana funds, invested according to
Sharia, have more than doubled since 2003, to $1.3
billion.
The big winners in faith funds (if you can be so crass)
are the Islamic funds.
They screen out "sin stocks"—and
producers of pork products.
The profitable difference is riba, or
interest.
The Qur'an strictly prohibits the
borrowing or lending of money at interest: "Whatever you
give as riba so that it might bring increase through the
wealth of other people will bring you no increase with
Allah," it says.
Because of this prohibition, Islamic
mutual funds, like those in the Amana group, don't
invest in financial-services companies: they escaped the
subprime mortgage debacle altogether.
Most energy companies, however, are fine.
"We don't consider ourselves an
environmental or socially responsible fund," says Monem
Salam, Amana's director of Islamic investing.
"Energy was a big part of our growth."
Over the past year, the Amana funds
outperformed the market; their assets have more than
doubled from $400 million in 2003 to $1.3 billion this
year.
Five years ago, most of Amana's investors
were American Muslims, Salam adds. Now, he guesses, 80
percent of new investors are non-Muslims.
Italy: Police guard makeshift Milan mosque for Friday
prayers
Milan, 18 July (AKI) - Police were
deployed on Friday at a disused Milan cycle stadium
after a small crowd gathered to protest its use as a
makeshift mosque by Muslims forced to abandon their
previous place of worship in the city centre.
Organisers said they expected up to 5,000 Muslims to
attend Friday prayers in a disused velodrome after they
were evicted from a converted garage in Milan's central
viale Jenner.
Several dozen protesters, including far-right political
leader, Daniela Santanche, gathered near the Vigorelli
Velodrome.
"We are here to prevent a symbol of Milanese sport from
being transformed into a mosque," Santanche, who leads
the opposition party, The Right.
Earlier this month, Italy's centre-right government
ordered the closure of the so-called Jenner mosque,
which has been linked several times to Islamist
terrorism.
The CCN
Readers' Book Club:
You are what you read!
This week
CCN
recommends
The Jihad Seminar
by Hanifa Deen
Freedom of speech versus freedom from religious
vilification is under the spotlight
In March 2002, three Muslim
converts attend an Evangelical Christian talk on the
inner secrets of ‘Holy Jihad’. Shocked by what they
hear, they convince the Islamic Council of Victoria to
lodge a complaint against Catch the Fire Ministries Inc,
under a controversial new hate speech law.
A case expected to be over in three days
turns into an unholy war of words lasting five long
years – freedom of speech versus freedom from religious
vilification is under the spotlight. Neither side
capitulates: Muslims and the interfaith lobby opposing
Born-again activists and their Australian and overseas
supporters.
Award-winning author Hanifa Deen follows
this case from beginning to end, witnessing the
religious impulse at its best – and worst.
Her very human account focuses on the
personalities and motives of the two religious tribes –
Muslims and Born-again Christians. Real people – on both
sides of the courtroom – express their pain and their
innocence at a hearing that turns into a nightmare.
Would you like to see the cover of
your favourite book on our book shelves below?
Using the book
club you can see what books fellow CCN
readers have on their shelves, what they are
reading and even what they, and others,
think of them.
............and
now a word from this week's CCN sponsor.....
KaRa Aktiv
Kareema's Keep Fit Column
Q: Dear Kareema,
I did your pump class the other day and you mentioned a
few times that we have to feel the burn to achieve
results. I don't always get to do the classes so how
will light weight sessions affect my progress?
A:The
intensity and feeling of the burn are key to exercise
results.
If you don't have time or cannot make it to classes,
light weight sessions with dumbbells will be ideal for
you - simply do more repetitions (you will end up
feeling the burn)!
Remember though that high intensity workouts are best
for quicker results, so try to get to the gym whenever
possible.
It is more important to match your training regime to
your needs as you'll tend to exercise more often and get
the best long term results.
Staying consistent with your workouts will help with
your progress too.
All questions sent in are published here anonymously and
without any references to the author of the question.
KB's Culinary Corner
Delicious
Bhajias
(like
your mother used to make them)
Ingredients
1 cup chicken fillet cut into small
squares
3 tablespoon taystee wheat/Semolina
1 teaspoon ground dry dhannia
1 teaspoon ground dry jeero
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 tsp green chillies
1 tsp ground garlic
1 tsp salt to taste
Method
Marinade meat with all ingredients except
egg and baking powder. Leave overnight.
Before frying add baking powder and beaten
egg and mix well. Deep fry in hot oil.
Do you have a recipe
to share with CCN readers?
Send in your favourite recipe to
ccn@crescentsofbrisbane.org and be our "guest chef" for
the week.
The CCN Chuckle
In a murder trial,
the defense attorney was cross-examining our Mula Nasruddin
the coroner:
Attorney: Before you signed the death certificate, had
you taken the pulse?
Mula Nasruddin: No.
Attorney: Did you listen to the heart?
Mula Nasruddin: No.
Attorney: Did you check for breathing?
Mula Nasruddin: No.
Attorney: So, when you signed the death certificate, you
weren't sure the man was dead, were you?
Mula Nasruddin: Well, let me put it this way. The man's
brain was sitting in a jar on my desk. But I guess it's
possible he could be out there practicing law somewhere.
Venue:
Room S201,
University of Queensland, 323 Hawken Drive,
St. Lucia
Contact: 0421 731 797
Time: 6.45pm to 9.00pm
Sunnah Inspirations is a
non-profit organisation to cater for Muslim
social support and supplying information to
Muslims and non-Muslims. They have
been doing various activities around
Australia, and have organised Da'wah
information stalls at various universities
in Brisbane. More info can be found on
their website above.
Write For Us
The
best ideas and the best feedback come from our community
of readers. If you have a topic or opinion that you want
to write about or want seen covered or any news item
that you think might be of benefit to the Crescents
Community please e-mail
Share
your thoughts, feelings and ambitions for our community
through CCN.
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there is someone you know who would like to subscribe to
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ccn@crescentsofbrisbane.org with the words
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Disclaimer
Articles and opinions appearing in this newsletter do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Crescents of
Brisbane Team, CCN, its Editor or its Sponsors,
particularly if they eventually turn out to be libelous,
unfounded, objectionable, obnoxious, offensive,
slanderous and/or downright distasteful.
It is the usual policy of CCN to include
from time to time, notices of events that some readers
may find interesting or relevant. Such notices are often
posted as received. Including such messages or providing
the details of such events does not necessarily imply
endorsement of the contents of these events by either
CCN or Crescents of Brisbane Inc.
The AMARAH community forum
scheduled for yesterday at
the Garden City Library was
cancelled and instead
replaced by the Kuraby Tree
Planting to be scheduled
Saturday 16th August from
8am-12pm.
omen.
One potentially suitable
swimsuit found in Sydney
cost more than an exorbitant
$260.
It
is known as the Veil and is described by
its architects as a giant glass Muslim
headscarf in the heart of Paris.
Access Opportunities in a dynamic community-based
organisation providing services and support to
migrants, refugees and disadvantaged community
members.
Fatima
Gabie Hassam chuckled with joy after a court ruling
granting her the right to claim part of her husband's
estate.
Ingredients 
