UK: First Muslim women MPs to be elected
 

Up to a quarter of the 16 Muslim females standing as candidates at the next month’s general elections are in prominent positions to win parliamentary seats for the first time, according to an analysis carried out exclusively by The Muslim News.

The total number of Muslim MPs could also continue to double, including at least one of two Conservatives being elected for the first time.

The first Muslim MP was elected in 1997, the second in 2001 and the number doubled again at the last election to four, all have so far been Labour.

Among Muslim women, Yasmin Qureshi, Shabana Mahmood and Maryam Khan have all been selected to defend Labour seats respectively in Bolton South East, Birmingham Ladywood and Bury North. Respect Party – Unity Coalition leader Salma Yaqoob also is seen as having an outside chance of capturing Birmingham Hall Green.

In addition among male candidates, three of the four incumbent MPs, Sadiq Khan, Shahid Malik and Khalid Mahmood are seeking re-election, while in Glasgow Central, Anas Sarwar is seeking to replace his father,

Mohammad Sarwar, who is stepping down.
 

Yasmin Qureshi

Among Conservatives, Sajid Javid has been selected to defend the more than 10,000 majority of resigning MP Julie Kirkbride, while Rehman Christi is standing in Gillingham & Rainham, the party’s number one target seat.

In Bradord West, Zahid Iqbal is seeking to unseat Labour MP Marsha Singh in the constituencies which has changed boundaries.

One seat certain to have a Muslim MP is Bethnal Green & Bow, following George Galloway seeking re-election in the newly created Poplar and Limehouse constituency next door.

Respect’s Abjol Miah is defending the seat, Labour’s Rushanara Ali is trying to regain it, while Ajmal Masroor and Zakir Khan are also candidates for the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives respectively.

The Muslim News 

Burka bullying banned by Bangladesh court

Bangladesh's high court has banned educational institutions in the Muslim-majority country from bullying female employees into wearing headscarves or veils
 

Wearing a burka or niqab in the South Asian country of 144 million is not compulsory, but women are often pressured into adopting Muslim headwear, which is tantamount to sexual harassment, Sara Hossain, a barrister, told AFP.

"It is a woman's personal choice to cover her head or not and nobody can force them to do so against their will," she said, quoting the court ruling.
 

The high court decision on Thursday followed a case lodged by a headmistress who claimed she was verbally assaulted by a government official for not covering her hair during a staff meeting.

The government official has since been ordered by the court to apologise, Ms Hossain said.

In recent years, Bangladesh has seen a rise in reported incidents of sexual harassment at educational institutions.

The country has recently deployed plain-clothed police at schools in the capital to prevent bullying of female students.

Telegraph.co.uk

Egyptians show sense of humour as stand-up comedy gets an Arab twist
 

The room was badly ventilated and swelteringly hot. But, despite the stuffy conditions, raucous laughter filled the room as more than a dozen comedians took to the stage to give an Egyptian twist to a decidedly Western art form.

The scene — the largest stand-up showcase in Cairo to feature local comics — marked a radical social and comedic experiment. Tamer Farag, a 35-year-old tour guide, riffed on the bizarre linguistic games that Egyptians play, incorporating English words into Arabic then randomly applying Arabic grammar rules to them.
 

“So what’s the plural of jacket?” Mr Farag asked the crowd. “No, it’s not ‘jawaacket’. That’s low class! All the chic people say ‘jacketaat’. What’s wrong with you?”
 

Noha Kato, a young comedienne who wears the hijab, joked that because she is 22 her parents are already fretting about her never getting married. “I feel like a yoghurt cup with an expiration date stamped on my forehead,” she said.

By almost any standard, the experiment was a success, with the 500-seat venue sold out for both performances. “This shows people want to laugh. They know stand-up comedy and they love it,” Maha Hosni, the organiser, said. “All the university students know this culture and watch the comedy channels.”

Egyptians are no strangers to comedy. The country is famous for its comedic actors and Egyptians are known for their humour. But that spirit of comedy has, until now, been channelled into slapstick films and plays. “We’ve always had comedy but it wasn’t an individual thing,” Mr Farag said.
 

TimeOnline

The Really Really Long War
 

Let's imagine that the Cold War was a detour. The entire 20th century, in fact, was a detour.

Since conflicts among the 20th-century ideologies (liberalism, communism, fascism) cost humanity so dearly, it's hard to conceive of World War II and the clashes that followed as sideshows.

And yet many people have begun to do just that.

They view the period we find ourselves in right now — the so-called post-Cold War era — as a return to a much earlier time and a much earlier confrontation.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't discrete battles against a tyrant (Saddam Hussein) or a tyrannical group (the Taliban).

They fit together with Turkey's resurgence, the swell of Muslim immigration to Europe, and Israel's settlement policy to form part of a much larger struggle.

Welcome to Crusade 2.0.
 

Foreign Policy in Focus

North America's first Muslim MasterCard due to launch soon
 

A Canadian Islamic financial institution is launching Canada's first "halal-approved" credit card this month and will also offer it to US Muslims by year end, its president told AFP on Tuesday.

The iFreedom Plus MasterCard meets the requirements of Sharia law, which prohibits usury, by being prepaid and therefore interest-free, said Omar Kalair, president of Toronto-based UM Financial.

"Trade is allowed, but usury is not," he explained.

A similar card is already available in Britain, but nowhere else in the West, he said.

Until now, devout Muslims in Canada have either had to do without credit cards or paid off the balance each month to avoid interest charges that go against their faith.

Three Islamic finance experts said in a statement the card "complies with Islamic laws and Muslims can avail of this product."

Of course, non-Muslims may want one too, Kalair said.

Benefits include no monthly fee, no transaction fees and discounts on flights with Etihad Airways, which flies from Toronto to Abu Dhabi.
 

Source

Met allows Islamic protesters to throw shoes
 

SCOTLAND YARD has bowed to Islamic sensitivities and accepted that Muslims are entitled to throw shoes in ritual protest — which could have the unintended consequence of politicians or the police being hit.

News of the concession by the Metropolitan police has come to light amid a series of trials of more than 70 mostly Muslim demonstrators who were charged with violent disorder after last year’s Gaza protests outside the Israeli embassy in London.

Aquib Salim, 21, an IT student at Queen Mary, London University, who was involved in a shoe-throwing incident, is almost certain to avoid a prison sentence as a result.

Chris Holt, Salim’s solicitor, said he was likely to get a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of throwing a stick at police lines.
 

“The court accepted that the earlier shoe-throwing incident was simply a ritual form of protest and therefore not a criminal act of violence,” Holt said.

Judge Denniss agreed that the act of shoe-throwing should not be considered in a charge of violent disorder against the student because it was “a symbolic” political gesture.

Shoes, and particularly the soles of shoes, are regarded as ritually unclean in the Islamic world. An Iraqi journalist became a folk hero for throwing a shoe at President George W Bush during a press conference in December 2008.

The president ducked, but Muntadhar al-Zaidi was jailed for three years and allegedly tortured by the Iraqis. He was released after nine months and his gesture inspired many imitators.

Times Online

Muslim staff escape NHS hygiene rule
 

Female staff who follow the Islamic faith will be allowed to cover their arms to preserve their modesty despite earlier guidance that all staff should be "bare below the elbow".

The Department of Health has also relaxed rules prohibiting jewellery so that Sikh members of staff can wear bangles linked with their faith, providing they are pushed up the arm while the medic treats a patient.

Telegraph.co.uk

Girl, 16, banned from school for wearing hijab in Spain
 

A 16-year-old schoolgirl has been banned from classes in Spain after refusing to remove her Islamic headscarf, re-igniting the national debate over the hijab.

Najwa Malha, who was born is Spain to Moroccan immigrants, has been excluded from classes at the state-run Camilo Jose Cela School in the Madrid suburb of Pozuelo after being told that her hijab was in violation of school dress code.

The decision has sparked debate in Spain where there are no clear guidelines over the wearing of Islamic headdress in state schools.
 

The enforcement of dress codes is left up to individual school boards but previous cases of exclusion have been overturned by the state with the argument that the constitutional right to an educational overrides the school's right to determine its own policies.

"I feel totally discriminated against," said Miss Malha, who said she began wearing the hijab two months ago as an expression of her religious belief. Her father, Mohamed, told Spanish newspaper El Pais that he had originally objected to his daughter wearing the hijab to school.

"I asked her to reconsider [...] because I figured it would cause her problems," he said.

Last November, a Muslim lawyer was ejected from Spain's national court, where she was defending a client, because she refused to remove her headscarf.
 

Telegraph
 

WEEK 3 of our 6-week training program:

Please note that the following program is suitable for beginners. For the more competitive or serious athlete, intensity, duration and frequency of exercises need to be increased!

REMEMBER: NUTRITION IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS YOUR TRAINING REGIME. ENJOY A HEALTHY DIET AND DON'T FORGET TO DRINK YOUR WATER!
 

DAY 1:
Walk/run for a minimum of 50 (10 mins. at a moderate pace, 35mins. at a more brisk pace and 5 mins. cool down / slow pace).
PLEASE REMEMBER TO STRETCH AFTER EVERY WORKOUT!
Healthy Tip: Always keep your body hydrated - carry a bottle of water with you daily!

DAY 2:
Weight training - slowly increase the weight you lift every week or increase the number of reps you do. Remember that your own body is a great tool when it comes to strength and resistance training (push-ups, tricep-dips, etc).
Training Tip: Ensure good posture and technique.
 

DAY 3:
Back to cardio training. Try a 60mins boxing session with your training buddy, or take on your punching bag if you've got one set up.
Training Tip: Do some skipping drills as you go.

DAY 4:
Weight training (see day 2).

DAY 5:
Challenge yourself with an Interval training session. Warm up, walk at a brisk pace for 5mins, jog for 10mins, then sprint for 30secs. Repeat throughout your training session before your cool-down.

DAY 6:
Hit the pool or do a gentle exercise activity to improve flexibility.

DAY 7:
Take a stroll with the kids or have a rest day if you need one!