Part of the organizing
committee (left to right): Yahya Baej,
Basim Alaish, Mohammed Yusuf,
Mabrouk Elsaket
and Ezieddin Elmahjub
Mr. Mohammed Yusuf of the
Islamic Council of Queensland (ICQ)
together with the Libyan students
studying in and around Brisbane and
members of the Islamic Society of the
Gold Coast hosted a fund raiser last
night (Saturday) in aid of the refugees
of the current Libyan crisis. Over 700
attended the dinner in the multi-purpose
hall of the Islamic College of Brisbane.
Mr. Hussin Goss was
Master of Ceremonies as well as
auctioneer par excellence. The fund
kicked off to a healthy start with
Muslim Charitable Foundation president
Mr.Yusuf Khatree presenting a cheque of
$5000 on behalf of the foundation.
Most of the ingredients
that went to preparing the food were
donated by individuals and local
community organizations and societies.
Ms Zuelikha Goss ran a
"Trivia on Libya" session and handed out
prizes to the winners.
Libyan student, Mr.
Ezieddin Elmahjub, talked over a video
presentation depicting the protests and
crackdowns in the various cities and
towns in Libya.
The CCN Photo Gallery
Need help
to plan or promote an event?
The newly formed Muslim Events Forum (MEF) was formerly
structured on Wednesday last week to share and communicate information and
experiences on Muslim events and functions being organized and planned by
various community organizations particularly in Queensland.
MEF aims to promote these events through its
member networks and to provide advice on event management and coordination
to organizations and groups in need of such support.
An events resource
directory specifically catering for the Muslim community is being developed
by the MEF steering committee and will contain information on venues, halal
catering, marketing, equipment hiring, etc.
MEF membership is free and open to all Muslim
organizations. Organizations are encouraged to send a representative to its
monthly meetings which will be held on the 4th Wednesday of every month at
the IWAQ offices at 11 Watland Street, Springwood. The next meeting is
scheduled for 22 June at 6pm.
For more information and to RSVP contact the MEF Secretary
Mr. Ismail Mohammed by email at
i_m_006@hotmail.com.
"He's not
the son of God, just the support act"
Sydney Morning
Herald Saturday 28 May
CHRISTIANS in Sydney will
have their core beliefs challenged by provocative advertisements due to
appear on billboards and buses in the next month.
The ads, paid for by an Islamic group called MyPeace, will carry slogans
such as ''Jesus: a prophet of Islam'', ''Holy Quran: the final testament''
and ''Muhammad: mercy to mankind''.
A phone number urges people to call to receive a free Koran and other
Islamic literature.
The organiser of MyPeace, Diaa Mohamed, said the campaign was intended to
educate non-Muslims about Islam. He said Jesus was a prophet of Islam, who
was to come before Muhammad. ''The only difference is we say he was a
prophet of God, and they say he is God,'' Mr Mohamed said. ''Is it
thought-provoking? Yes, it is. We want to raise awareness that Islam
believes in Jesus Christ,'' he said.
Mr Mohamed said he hoped the billboards would encourage Christians and
Muslims to find common ground. They were not intended to downgrade the
significance of Jesus. ''We embrace him and say that he was one of the
mightiest prophets of God.''
MyPeace plans to extend the campaign, funded by private donations, to
television.
I would be
looking at
this as a
good
opportunity
to explain
what we
mean.
The Anglican Bishop of South
Sydney, Rob Forsyth, said it was ''complete nonsense'' to say Jesus was a
prophet of Islam. ''Jesus was not the prophet of a religion that came into
being 600 years later.''
But the billboard was not offensive, he said. ''They've got a perfect right
to say it, and I would defend their right to say it [but] … you couldn't run
a Christian billboard in Saudi Arabia.''
The bishop said he would pay for billboards to counter those of MyPeace if
he could afford it, and ''maybe the atheists should run their billboards as
well''.
A spokesman for the Australian Islamic Mission, Siddiq Buckley, said the
campaign would increase awareness of the positive facts of Islam. ''I would
be looking at this as a good opportunity to explain what we mean.''
BBC's The
Big Question: Does Britain Have a Problem with Muslims?
Compelling viewing of the BBC panel comprising Dame Anne
Leslie, Maajid Nawaz, Director of the
Quilliam Foundation; Salma Yaqoob,
Respect party councilor at Birmingham Council;
and Dr Taj Hargey of the Muslim
Educational Centre of Oxford, debate the
question here.
An interesting excerpt from the programme
includes Dr Taj Hargey taking issue with
Muslims’ sartorial style, speaking of “pajamas”
and “unkempt beards”.
Maajid Nawaz counters Hargey’s views arguing
that “we shouldn’t be worrying about how people
dress.”
The panel
discusses social conservative attitudes among
certain scholars, the role and influence of
Saudi-financed teachings on UK Muslims,
Islamophobia and integration.
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
Directory
of and for Muslims
Ms Rishka Booran-Johnson
(pictured left at the Muslims & Services Expo (MSEF'2011) held recently)
runs the Muslim
Directory Australia website which plans to provide a high quality A5
size printed directory to be distributed free.
The directory began soon after the founder, Rishka Booran-Johnson, emigrated
from South Africa with her family. The journey began when attempting to find
a Child Care Centre that catered for Halal food, as well as Halal places to
eat. On arrival, it was found that most of the information was spread by
word of mouth, and not everyone knew about what was available with some
online information out of date. With this she knew other people would be
searching for the same information, and decided to start the directory with
the little information she had and AFIC supplying the initial list of
Mosques.
Muslim Directory Australia was established in
October 2008, due to a need when trying to a Mosque and Islamic Schools, in
one place online and with ease to find! And Muslim Directory Australia is a
free service to all who use the website and print versions.
The purpose of Muslim Directory Australia is to provide a simple and
effective way for people to find a Mosque, Islamic School, halal butcher,
etc and their location and contact details. The business listing may also
contain a voucher/coupon for download from relevant business/service.
The vision for Muslim Directory Australia is to be the first place you will
look to find the mosque, Islamic School, halal butcher, halal Restaurant,
Islamic Clothing website.
Information for consumers
(that is, those who are recipients of the directory) can be found
here, and information for businesses who wish to advertise in the
directory is found
here.
The basic online business listing, which includes the business name,
address, telephone number and a description is free, so that all businesses
may have an opportunity to be found online.
SBS
series sets sail for refugees insight 19-21 June
SBS is to tackle the
heated asylum-seeker debate from a bold new angle with a documentary series
it describes as the most ambitious ever made for Australian television.
Go Back To Where You Came
From, which launches on June 21 during Refugee Week, takes six
Australians with deeply differing views on refugees and asylum-seekers on a
real refugee journey in reverse.
They end up where many of our refugees and asylum-seekers do come from: the
dangerous streets of Baghdad in Iraq and Goma in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
The program asks participants and viewers alike to decide just who does
deserve Australia's protection.
SBS commissioning editor Peter Newman says the show was designed to show the
full complexity of the issues.
"I feel it's going to be hugely talked about," he says. "We're not taking
sides. The show itself is editorially neutral.
"What we wanted to achieve
was . . . emotional engagement. It's a subject SBS has a real interest in
but we wanted to make some must-watch television."
About 70 people applied to participate in the program.
The six featured range in age from 21 to 63, come from all over Australia
and differ in their political views from strongly opposing the detention of
asylum-seekers to wanting to send all of them back.
"We've tried to bring all the sides of this debate into one microcosm and
send them on this journey," says Newman.
"In terms of the logistical achievement the production company has pulled
off with this series, it's quite incredible. When you see the participants
ultimately in the Congo and Iraq it is utterly compelling viewing."
They all go
through some
sort of
personal
growth. Some
had big
epiphanies,
Even the
ones who
stuck to
their guns
at the end
of the
journey
would still
say, 'I
learned so
much'.
The six participants start
their journey living locally with recently settled refugees and
asylum-seekers, before being stripped of wallets, phones and passports and
put on a leaky refugee boat.
They end up in Malaysia sharing a flat with 52 refugees from Burma..
Some then travel via a Kenyan refugee camp to Goma and others to the slums
of Jordan and on to Baghdad.
Both journeys were dangerous, with UN peacekeepers and the US military
called on to safeguard the groups.
But the risks paid off, says director Ivan O'Mahoney, from production
company Cordell Jigsaw.
"They all go through some sort of personal growth. Some had big epiphanies,"
he says. "Even the ones who stuck to their guns at the end of the journey
would still say, 'I learned so much'."
SBS radio and the SBS website will examine issues raised by the three-part
series. The Refugee Council of Australia and Amnesty International Australia
plan to develop teaching resources and issue them to 2700 high schools.
The program features a family of Congolese refugees living in Albury-Wodonga
and four Iraqi asylum-seekers who spent time in the Christmas Island
detention centre and live in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool.
"It took a long time before we found exactly the right refugees with the
right stories from the right countries where we were able to go," O'Mahoney
says.
The
second of the Crescents of Brisbane-AMARAH-ICQ Muslim community democracy
workshops was conducted during the week with Years 11 and 12 pupils of the
Australian International Islamic College in Durack.
In addition to engaging in a
lively discussion on Islam and its compatibility with democracy, the
students took part in a few rounds of trivia on the electoral and
parliamentary processes that sparked much interest, entertainment and
interaction.
The sessions were facilitated by Ms Nora Amath
and Ms Riffat Gurdezi.
A series of workshops and trivia nights have
been planned for the Islamic College of Brisbane, Toowoomba, the Gold Coast,
Rockhampton, Mareeba, Cairns and Bald Hills.
Brisbane residents who missed out on the pilot
trivia night held recently can enter a team for the trivia roadshow to be
held at the Islamic Women's Association of Queensland on June 25th.
Dentist
Omar to "extract" every bit of energy on his
uphill "root" for his 6th comrades medal "crown"
The 86th Comrades Ultra Marathon in Natal
Kwazulu, South Africa is on today (Sunday).
This year the race is uphill from Durban to
Pietermaritzburg. CCN readers can follow the
progress of up to 10 friends and family by going
directly to the results page and either
entering a name or pressing the runner tracker
link. There is also a video link that
follows individual runners.
Dr Anver Omar, who left Toowoomba for
South Africa late last week,told CCN's
Man-on-the-Mussallah:
My
training in Toowoomba this year was
interrupted by a bout of pancreitis - a
disease normally reserved for alcoholics.
Mine was of unknown cause.....obviously.
That slowed me up a bit. I'm also carrying
5kg more in weight then last year because of
my enforced training break and that's going
to be like lugging aircraft hand luggage
from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. When I
arrived in Durban last Saturday, the
temperature reached 26oC. The
forecast for Sunday is mercifully cooler.
Runners usually give excuses as to why they
might underperform on the day to reduce
expectations...so that's my excuses out of
the way.
On the positive side, Toowoomba is virtually
the same height, 700 meters (2300 ft) above
sea level as most of the peaks of the "up"
run. I found the Toowoomba hills steeper and
I've done a couple of solo marathons
unassisted on those hills. I feel after a
year of Toowoomba I'm acclimatized and
prepared for my 6th run.
Trying to achieve sub 9 hours. I achieved
that time on last years "down run" but
uphill will be both mentally and physically
challenging. Dua's (prayers) during the day
gratefully received and will be directed to
an ageing pair of 53 year old calves.
Saints
suffer last minute heartbreak
From the Desk of
Sunnybank Saints
The
Sunnybank Saints suffered last minute heartbreak at the hands of Westminster
Warriors as they went down 2-1.
The Saints opened up strongly in the first half and looked to be in early
control. Westminster fought their way back into the game however and began
controlling more of the possession, but were unable to create any noteworthy
chances.
Sunnybank succeeding in creating a few good chances and Mohammed Sabdia
managed to make one count with about five minutes to go into the first half.
The rest of the first half was a quite affair and the Saints, despite not
putting in their best performance, were more than happy to be up at the
break.
The second half began with the same passion as the first as both teams
looked to find an early goal. With the game beginning to get more intense,
tempers threatened to boil over as a few wild tackles began flying in. The
ref tried to get a control of things, but was finding it difficult.
Westminster pulled a goal back half way through the second half to level the
scores at 1-1. They then began to control the game and missed a few good
chances from taking the lead..
The Sunnybank's defence was hanging on and a double goal line clearance kept
them in the game. With both teams pushing forward for a winning goal, both
teams were beginning to tire.
In the last minute of the game, Westminster won a freekick on the edge of
the saints box. The resulting freekick was not cleared properly and a
Westminster header gave the opposition a 2-1 lead and the win.
With no time left in the game to come back, the Saints were left shattered
as a resolute defensive performance was not enough for a share of the
points.
Sunnybank Saints next game: vs West End Partisans. Lister St. 7PM
Basmala
and Bib
"Songs and poems from the
British Muslim tradition. The book contains 22
songs, ideal for schools, music teachers, music
lovers and choirs to sing and perform."
When you
eat chocolates, or strawberries and cream
When you
eat sweeties, both pink ones and green
Say these
four words that will keep your heart clean
Muslim scientists and scholars have contributed
immensely to human knowledge especially in the
period between 8th and 14th century CE.
But
their contributions have been largely ignored,
forgotten or have gone un-acknowledged.
Each
week CCN brings you, courtesy of www.ummah.com,
an account of one of the many talented Muslim
scholars in history whose contributions have
left lasting marks in the annals of science,
astronomy, medicine, surgery, engineering and
philosophy.
This week's Muslim scholar, philosopher
and/or thinker is:
ABU ABDULLAH AL-BATTANI
(868-929 C.E.)
Abu
Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan
al-Battani al-Harrani was born around
858 C.E. in Harran, and according to one
account, in Battan, a State of Harran.
Battani was first educated by his father
Jabir Ibn San'an al-Battani, who was
also a well-known scientist. He then
moved to Raqqa, situated on the bank of
the Euphrates, where he received
advanced education and later on
flourished as a scholar. At the
beginning of the 9th century, he
migrated to Samarra, where he worked
till the end of his life in 929 C.E. He
was of Sabian origin, but was himself a
Muslim.
Battani was a famous
astronomer, mathematician and
astrologer. He has been held as one of
the greatest astronomists of Islam. He
is responsible for a number of important
discoveries in astronomy, which was the
result of a long career of 42 years of
research beginning at Raqqa when he was
young. His well-known discovery is the
remarkably accurate determination of the
solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours,
46 minutes and 24 seconds, which is very
close to the latest estimates. He found
that the longitude of the sun's apogee
had increased by 16° , 47' since
Ptolemy. This implied the important
discovery of the motion of the solar
apsides and of a slow variation in the
equation of time. He did not believe in
the trapidation of the equinoxes,
although Copernicus held it.
Al-Battani
determined with remarkable accuracy the
obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of
the seasons and the true and mean orbit
of the sun. He proved, in sharp contrast
to Ptolemy, the variation of the
apparent angular diameter of the sun and
the possibility of annular eclipses. He
rectified several orbits of the moon and
the planets and propounded a new and
very ingenious theory to determine the
conditions of visibility of the new
moon. His excellent observations of
lunar and solar eclipses were used by
Dunthorne in 1749 to determine the
secular acceleration of motion of the
moon. He also provided very neat
solutions by means of orthographic
projection for some problems of
spherical trigonometry.
In mathematics, he was
the first to replace the use of Greek
chords by sines, with a clear
understanding of their superiority.He
also developed the concept of cotangent
and furnished their table in degrees.
He wrote a number of
books on astronomy and trigonometry. His
most famous book was his astronomical
treatise with tables, which was
translated into Latin in the 12th
century and flourished as De scienta
stellerum — De numeris stellerum et
motibus. An old translation of this
is available of the Vatican. His Zij
was, in fact, more accurate than all
others written by that time.
His treatise on astronomy
was extremely influential in Europe till
the Renaissance, with translations
available in several languages. His
original discoveries both in astronomy
and trigonometry were of great
consequence in the development of these
sciences.
Around
the Muslim World with CCN
Cairo
Muslims help to restore church
A restoration worker gets down to business
inside the church, which was burnt during an
attack by militant Islamists on May 7 this
year.
CAIRO:
Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over
an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus,
removing soot from its surface inside a
church gutted in an attack by Islamist
militants this month.
“It takes a lot of careful work to do that,”
Fathi said. “We have to do a lot of tests
with chemicals to try to restore the icon to
its original condition.”
The 26-year-old is one of a vast group of
mostly Muslim craftsmen tasked with
restoring St Mary's Church in the Cairo
suburb of Imbaba after militants set it on
fire on May 7.
Egypt's military rulers have ordered its
restoration at a time when tensions between
Christians, who account for about 10 percent
of Egypt's population, and Muslims are on
the rise.
Attacks have triggered protests and pose a
challenge for Egypt's new rulers, under
pressure to impose security while seeking to
avoid the tough tactics against Islamists
used by deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
The ground floor of the four-storey church
was gutted in the fire, destroying 10 out of
27 old icons beyond repair.
On Wednesday, a team of mostly Muslim
restorers - working for one of Egypt's
biggest construction firms known as The Arab
Contractors - huddled in one corner, using
special chemicals, paint and brushes to
rescue the remaining paintings.
“My job is to restore historic art pieces,
be they Muslim, Coptic or Jewish,” Fathi
said.
Malak Gerges, a 56-year-old church driver
who was inside the church at the time of the
attack, recalled how bearded Islamists led a
group of young men into St Mary's, opened
fire on icons and set the building ablaze.
We want to
show that no
intruder can
create a
rift between
Muslims and
Christians.
He said he
and his younger brother Saleh tried to hide
in the corridor behind the altar but the
militants found them.
“They dragged me out and threatened and
abused me,” Gerges told Reuters.
He said he did not know what happened to
Saleh, an attendant who helped look after
the church, until rescue workers found his
burned corpse inside the church. According
to an investigation report, there was a
wound on Saleh's throat, he said.
Abdel-Aziz Mohammed, working on another
icon, said he was angry at the people who
burned the church. “I felt this was an act
of vandalism,” he said. “Islam does not
distinguish between church and mosque - both
are houses of God.”
The May 7 attack caused an outcry in a
country grappling with growing crime and
lawlessness after an uprising forced Mubarak
from power in February.
Egypt's ruling military council has vowed to
punish those behind sectarian violence and
promised to protect Christians by tightening
security around places of worship.
Sectarian tension grew during Mubarak's
three decades in office and accelerated in
the chaos that followed his overthrow. Many
Christians say the military-led government
is being too soft on the Islamist radicals
who whip up inter-faith hatred.
The governorate of Giza, where Imbaba is
located, has pledged to pay for restoration
of St Mary's church, expected to cost around
six million Egyptian pounds ($1-million).
For now, workers are busy plastering and
painting its walls and sweeping out the
dust, pushing to finish their work as
quickly as possible.
“This work would normally require up to
three months. We are doing it in 21 days,”
Ibrahim Mahlab, chief executive of The Arab
Contractors, said while inspecting the work.
“We want to show that no intruder can create
a rift between Muslims and Christians.”
The European Union is
emerging as a major centre of Islamic
finance, based on Islamic Shariah law.
The spectacular growth prospects for the
Islamic financial services industry in many
European countries is being fuelled by
Muslim mass immigration; despite a difficult
economic climate on the continent, Islamic
banking is growing faster in Britain, France
and Germany than it is in many Islamic
countries in the Middle East and Asia.
The key role that Europe is playing in
establishing Islamic finance in the West was
the central theme of the 8th Islamic
Financial Services Board Summit, an annual
conference that promotes Islamic banking
around the world. Hosted by the Central Bank
of Luxembourg from May 10-13, 2011, it was
the first time the event was held in a
European country.
The Islamic finance industry is valued at
$1.14 trillion and growing at a rate of 10%
a year, according to the Global Islamic
Finance Report 2011. Britain has emerged as
ground zero for Islamic banking in Europe,
and London as the main centre for Islamic
finance outside the Muslim world.
With $19 billion in reported Islamic banking
assets, Britain's Islamic finance sector
ranks number one in Europe, and number nine
in the world; it dwarfs those sectors of
some states where Islam is the main
religion, including Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Turkey and Egypt, according to a new report
titled "The City UK Islamic Finance 2011."
Muslims
in UK Politics
UK:
24-year-old Sanna Manir (pictured right)
made history on May 6 when she became
Wycombe’s first Muslim female councillor.
Manir
described her election as “surreal” and
telling The Muslim News: “It has been a
tremendous moment to have been elected as
the first Muslim lady Councillor for High
Wycombe at the age of 24. The joy of
succeeding and the response from the public
has been utterly surreal.”
She added, “As the first Muslim lady
Councillor in my home town, High Wycombe, I
am hoping I have set the bar to inspire more
Muslim ladies to get involved in politics at
every possible level and also provide myself
with strong possibilities to develop a
career further in politics. I am here to
support everyone to my utmost strength.”
During her law degree Manir engaged in
tackling local issues including assisting in
the reduction of community crime and
offering improved living standards for
unfortunate residents. She also tutored at
local secondary school.
Two
Muslims were elected in the Scottish
Parliament on May 5. Both were placed on the
list. Humza Yousaf (pictured left)
was second on the Scottish National Party (SNP)
whilst Hanzala Malik was on the top of the
Labour list.
Moments after being sworn in as a Member of
the Scottish Parliament (MSP), Humza Yousaf,
read a prayer for the late Bashir Ahmad.
Ahmad became the first
Pakistani/Muslim (and non white) member of
the Scottish Parliament in 2007. Like his
mentor, Yousaf took his oath both in English
and Urdu.
The 26- year-old is seen as the rising star
of the SNP. In the last two party
conferences he has been the prelude before
the party leader’s speech. He is also an
alumnus of the US State Department’s
International Visitor Learning Programme.
Furthermore a Scottish newspaper has listed
him as one of the faces of 2011.
Long term Labour Glasgow City
Councillor Hanzala Malik (pictured right)
also became an MSP. Malik was instrumental
in twinning Glasgow with Lahore in 2006. He
also recently helped with the transfer of
two fire engines from Strathclyde Fire and
Rescue to the Punjab. “I will continue to do
this over and above my normal work,” Malik
told The Muslim News. He will also focus on
the effect of economic downturn on the
minority communities. “Economic squeeze
hurts minority communities more than anybody
else and they need to be assisted,” he said.
Nigella
Lawson’s burqini debate impact on niqab ban
UK: The Glamorous
British cook Nigella Lawson’s decision to
wear a burqini on an Australian beach last
month elicited an astonishing amount of
public criticism and reflection in the
global press. Rather than a revealing
swimming costume, Lawson was covered head to
toe in a black burqini, the two-piece outfit
and cap designed for Muslim women, leaving
only her hands, feet and face exposed.
Prompted by the press, her spokesman
confirmed that the celebrity chef’s choice
of swimwear was motivated by a desire to
protect her skin from the Australian sun.
“Nigella was protecting herself from
sunburn, nothing more than that,” he said.
Her timing, however, was striking. While a
classic British icon was voluntarily
covering herself in Muslim dress to enjoy
Australia’s golden beaches, Europe’s most
liberal democracy had just imposed a ban
against a few hundred niqab-clad women in
France.
As Madeleine Bunting, a Guardian columnist
observed, “At the heart of both stories is
an obsession with women’s bodies and how
they should or shouldn’t be displayed – and
the fierce patrolling of different social
conventions governing them.”
Lawson’s freely chosen rejection of
society’s demand that she satisfies its
expectations of revealing her body can be
starkly contrasted with the prosecution of
French and Belgian Muslim women who are now
required by law to show their faces even if
they have freely chosen not to do so for own
religious or cultural reasons.
“All that
distinguishes the two cases – Nigella’s on
the one hand and burka-wearing women of
France and Belgium on the other - is our
beliefs about choice,” Bunting says. “The
assumption is that Lawson chose her outfit,
and the assumption is that niqab-wearing
women in France are not making a free
choice.”
Could this
move have
led to some
women to
harbour a
quiet
understanding
or even
admiration
for Lawson’s
gesture?
Particularly
since she
specifically
sought out a
burqini made
by a British
Muslim
woman's
company.
Lawson’s burqini-gate has exposed the
pressure faced by celebrity women in
particular to have slim, tanned, and toned
bodies – be cruelly exposed by the zoom-lens
cameras of the tabloid press. Could this
move have led to some women to harbour a
quiet understanding or even admiration for
Lawson’s gesture? Particularly since she
specifically sought out a burqini made by a
British Muslim woman's company.
Many Muslim women, whether they do or do not
believe in the necessity of burqa or niqab,
cannot fail to appreciate the quality of the
debate Lawson’s burqini has elicited and the
parallels which have been drawn both with
the new bans in France and Belgium and with
Britain’s increasingly vocal criticism of
Muslim’s religious dress. It is a battle
that must be fought now as a national
conversation of banning the burqa and niqab
in Britain has already began.
“So those
people who want to associate themselves with
Israel, Zionism and drape themselves in the
Zionist flag – the flag that has come to
symbolise intolerance, hatred, racism and
brutality – they can feel free to do so. But,
they need to know this: that when the trials
begin and the tribunals take their place, and
when the truth and reconciliation commission
begins its work and they are finally shamed into
admitting they were wrong, they need to remember
to go down on their knees and beg forgiveness
from the people they so greatly wronged.
They need to
realise that we will never forget them and that
their conscience will never allow them to forget
that they supported the killings, that they
draped themselves in the flag and that they
mocked the bereaved. The rest of us will move on
in line with the rest of the Middle East which
will follow the example of the people of Egypt
to create something that will surely be a
tremendous accomplishment – a democratic,
secular state in our own shared homeland – a
state where Muslims, Christians and Jews live as
equals and educate their children to love their
homeland with its multitude of cultures, its
rich history and its promising future.” SO ENDS
MIKO PELED’S NARRATION.
Interview with the author
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.
KB SAYS: I found
this absolutely delicious and refreshing - and I have
baked more than my fair share of pies over the years.
Serve it warm with mango ice cream for the ultimate
desert sensation.
.
Ingredients
4 eggs
80g unsalted butter
150g castor sugar
150g slivered almonds
1 cup toasted desiccated coconut
1 tab lemon zest
1 tab orange zest
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup orange juice
200ml coconut milk
½ cup plain flour
Flaked almonds to sprinkle
Method
1. In a food processor
beat the eggs and then add castor sugar and
beat for 30 seconds.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and process
until its all combined (30 seconds)
3. Pour mixture into a prepared (sprayed
with cooking oil) rectangular (11.5cm x
35cm) pie tin or a similar square pie tin.
4. Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake for
approximately 45mins until set and light
brown.
Q:
Dear Kareema, I love working out, but some days I just
don't feel in the mood. I struggle not only to get out
of bed, but to get going, and then by the end of the day
I regret not putting in the effort, because I seem to
accomplished nothing. How do I tackle these days?
A: Tweak your workout to suit your
mood. On days like these, the first thing that gets
booted of your to-do list is your training session.
Here's how to tailor your exercise session to benefit
the way you're feeling:
- If you're feeling down, or on the days that you just
can't seem to get going, grab a friend - walk, talk and
just enjoy the fresh air.
-
If you're feeling great, try to keep the momentum going
by directing your energy into an intense workout - a run
(along the beach if possible), combined with a weights
session.
- If you're feeling stressed out or tense
- try a two-part workout routine. Start with
high-intensity exercises such as skipping, or hopping on
the cross-trainer, or take on your boxing bag. This will
give you a chance to 'let it all out'. Then settle into
stretching or yoga.
- If you're feeling cranky, tired or
emotional - don't take on anything too active /
high-impact. Stick to weights and do lots of reps.
- Low self-esteem or not happy with what
you see in the mirror - go for a bout of
interval-training. Combine short, intense cardio
intervals with quick body-weight exercises, like running
/ sprinting then doing some squats, sit-ups and
push-ups.
It's always a good time to get physical, just align it
with your mood! You'll flood your body with feel-good
hormones and won't have any regrets...
All questions sent in are published here anonymously
and without any references to the author of the
question.
The CCN Chuckle
Mula
Nasruddin once sat in the audience and cracked a
joke.
All laughed
like crazy.
After a
moment he cracked the same joke again and a
little less people laughed this time.
He cracked
the same joke again and again.
When there
was no laughter in the crowd, he smiled and
said: "When you can't laugh on the same joke
again and again, then why do you keep crying
over the same thing over and over again.”
Gabriel K hair studio is a boutique studio
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Topics that
are relevant, Iman-boosting and
mind-capturing. Where: AMYN Islamic Youth Centre,
16/157 North Road, Woodridge When: Every Saturday,after Maghrib
Info:
www.AMYNweb.com Everyone is invited
Australian Muslim Youth
Network (AMYN)
Find out about the latest
events, outings, fun-days,
soccer tournaments, BBQs
organised by AMYN. Network
with other young Muslims on
the
AMYN Forum
The best ideas and the best feedback come from
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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
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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
libellous, 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
second of the Crescents of Brisbane-AMARAH-ICQ Muslim community democracy
workshops was conducted during the week with Years 11 and 12 pupils of the
Australian International Islamic College in Durack.
Abu
Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan
al-Battani al-Harrani was born around
858 C.E. in Harran, and according to one
account, in Battan, a State of Harran.
Battani was first educated by his father
Jabir Ibn San'an al-Battani, who was
also a well-known scientist. He then
moved to Raqqa, situated on the bank of
the Euphrates, where he received
advanced education and later on
flourished as a scholar. At the
beginning of the 9th century, he
migrated to Samarra, where he worked
till the end of his life in 929 C.E. He
was of Sabian origin, but was himself a
Muslim.
Al-Battani
determined with remarkable accuracy the
obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of
the seasons and the true and mean orbit
of the sun. He proved, in sharp contrast
to Ptolemy, the variation of the
apparent angular diameter of the sun and
the possibility of annular eclipses. He
rectified several orbits of the moon and
the planets and propounded a new and
very ingenious theory to determine the
conditions of visibility of the new
moon. His excellent observations of
lunar and solar eclipses were used by
Dunthorne in 1749 to determine the
secular acceleration of motion of the
moon. He also provided very neat
solutions by means of orthographic
projection for some problems of
spherical trigonometry.
UK:
24-year-old Sanna Manir (pictured right)
made history on May 6 when she became
Wycombe’s first Muslim female councillor. 
Two
Muslims were elected in the Scottish
Parliament on May 5. Both were placed on the
list. Humza Yousaf (pictured left)
was second on the Scottish National Party (SNP)
whilst Hanzala Malik was on the top of the
Labour list. 
Q:
Dear Kareema, I love working out, but some days I just
don't feel in the mood. I struggle not only to get out
of bed, but to get going, and then by the end of the day
I regret not putting in the effort, because I seem to
accomplished nothing. How do I tackle these days? 
-
If you're feeling great, try to keep the momentum going
by directing your energy into an intense workout - a run
(along the beach if possible), combined with a weights
session.
