Muslims in Toowoomba gathered in the first Masjid of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs region to mark the transfer of ownership of the place of worship to the Muslims, and to offer the first congregation Asr prayers at 5:00pm on Friday, 17 January 2014. The celebration continued until Magrib and packaged dinner was served after the prayers.
The Islamic Society of Toowoomba (IST) has completed the purchase of 2765sqm church property on 217 West St, Harristown (Toowoomba) on 16 January. The settlement of the under contract church property on Thursday 16 January has concluded a chapter of the history of Muslims of the city and opened a new era of further commitment and engagement.
The President of the Islamic Society of Toowoomba Inc, Professor Shahjahan Khan welcomed all the participants and thanked them for their spontaneous involvement and sense of belongingness of the Masjid project. He told the worshippers that this is a "new bright chapter in the over 30 years history Muslims in Toowoomba."
He paid tributes to the "extraordinary contribution of the senior community leaders in Brisbane through participation in the series of strategy meetings, generous time, guidance, advice, free legal/accounting support, organizing fundraising dinner, and above all help engaging the Imams of all Masjids and the committee of all Societies."
He recognized all those who were involved in forming the Society in 1994 and served it over the years in various capacities. He emphasized the importance of the teaching and participation of the young Muslims and children the running and activities of the Masjid to ensure the continuation of the spreading the words of Allah in the city and beyond in the years to come.
"The Eid like environment of the men, women, and children in the Masjid was a rare opportunity to express deepest thanks to Allah, and those who have contributed to the project through duwa, advice, volunteering, donation, and organizing various fundraising events," said Prof Khan. He especially thanked the Muslim communities of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, Wollongong, Melbourne, Armidale, Hobart, Darwin, and Perth who organised various fundraising activities for Toowoomba Masjid and made significant contributions. He also thanked all the former residents of Toowoomba and students of USQ who also have made remarkable contributions to the project.
Imam Abdul Kader talked about the essence of Masjid for Muslims and why it is important to take care of Masjid. Quoting from the Qur’an and Hadith he explained the requirements and benefits of a successful Masjid.
Secretary of the Society, Dr Md Shahiduzzaman, Dr Shahbaz Mustaque, Dr Mainul Islam, Br Shahbaz Rafiq and others also addressed the congregation. The children recited from the parts of the Qur’an and various Nasheeds.
Br Abrurahman AlHeweg called the first Adhan for the first prayers for which he delayed his scheduled return to home flight after completion of his PhD degree by one week. "This is an indication of the kind emotion that worked among the Muslims in Toowoomba for their first Masjid," said Prof Khan.
Subject to the completion of planned toilet and ablution blocks and replacement of carpet the full operation of the Mosque is expected to start in early February 2014. A formal opening function is planned to be held in late March with dignitaries from Brisbane, Gold Coast and other cities in attendance.
As part of its ongoing process of engagement, the Islamic Society of Toowoomba invited the neighbours of the church for a meeting and afternoon tea (see pictures above) on Sunday, 12 January at the USQ Islamic Centre. "It was a very cordial and productive meeting, " Prof Khan said.
Based on the feedback from the meeting, the Society plans to invite the neighbours again for another `meet and greet’ session in the Mosque.
"We re-affirm our commitment to work with everyone to build a peaceful and harmonious community through mutual understanding and respect and we seek their support, understanding and cooperation so that people of all faiths and culture in our proud city can together to build and maintain a peaceful and harmonious community," Prof Khan added.
Handing
the keys
over at
2:30pm on
Thursday, 16
January at
23 Blackdown
St,
Toowoomba
On 14
December
2013, the
day before
the funeral
of Nelson
Mandela, and
at very
short
notice,
Maher Zain
turned his
scheduled
concert in
Durban into
a tribute
concert to
the former
South
African
President.
Overnight he
learnt the
words to the
national
anthems and
sang
well-known
songs that
eulogised
Madiba to
audiences of
some 20,000
fans.
The
following
song
describes
Mandelas'
imprisonment
on Robben
Island.
Shaykh
Zulfiqar
Ahmad
(pictured
left) is
one of
the leading shaykhs of
Tasawwuf in
the present
era.
Formally
granted
authorization
(ijazah) in
the
Naqshbandi
spiritual
path (tariqah),
he retired
from his
position as
an
electrical
engineer at
the age of
forty to
devote
himself
entirely to
the service
of Islam.
He regularly
travels to
more than
thirty
countries
transforming
the lives of
people all
over the
world. A
testament to
his deep
love for
Allah, his
uncompromising
dedication
to sunnah of
the blessed
Prophet
(Peace be
Upon Him),
and his firm
adherence to
Islamic Law
(shariah) is
that
thousands of
religious
scholars and
students of
Islamic
learning are
among his
students (murids).
Shaykh
Zulfiqar
Ahmad
regularly
delivers
lectures in
both English
and Urdu
across the
world.
Furthermore,
he has
written
dozens of
books many
of which
have been
translated
into several
languages.
Online
versions of
both talks
and writings
are
availalbe at
the links on
the left.
Sheikh
resides in
Makkah and
is
originally
from
Pakistan. He
has lived in
the US for a
period of
15-20 years
establishing
Islamic
centres
throughout
USA. He is
fluent in
English,
Arabic and
Urdu and he
also speaks
Farsi.
He has a
very large
following
throughout
the world
and this is
a special
opportunity
for us to
host and to
personally
meet with
the Sheikh
and learn at
his feet.
Those who
know him
have
mentioned
that when he
travels it
is almost
impossible
to
personally
meet him due
to the large
crowds of
thousands of
people that
gather for
his talks
and to meet
him.
Kuraby
Mosque
between
Maghreb
and Esha
-
Tuesday
28th Jan
Men and
women
both -
In
English
Darra
between
Maghreb
and Esha
-
Wednesday
29th Jan
Men and
women
both -
In Urdu
Holland
Park
Mosque
between
Maghreb
and Esha
-
Thursday
30th Jan
Men and
women
both -
In
English
Jummah
khutbaa
- Friday
- 31st
Jan
Holland
Park
Mosque -
In
English
1st
ladies
program
-
Wednesday
29th Jan
Kuraby
Mosque -
11:00am
-
12:00am
2nd
ladies
program
-
Thursday
30th Jan
Holland
Park
Mosque -
11:00am
-
12:00am
Mr Mohammed
Yusuf,
president of
the Islamic
Council of
Queensland
(ICQ), has
issued a
warning to
members of
the
community
that from
this month
Nandos have
added bacon
to their
menu and
therefore
are no
longer
halal.
"At some
outlets the
ownership
has changed
and
therefore we
recommend
that you
check and
confirm
whether the
restaurant
is halal or
not before
you eat
there."
Mr Yusuf
told CCN
that Nandos
at Calamvale
is no longer
halal as
they now
have bacon
on their
menu.
"ICQ
constantly
receives
enquiries
whether
chicken from
B & E
Poultry is
halal or
not. We are
aware that
they obtain
their
chickens
from Inghams
(certified
halal by
ICQ) and
also from
Nerang
Poultry.
Chickens
from Nerang
Poultry are
not halal
and
therefore
butchers/restaurants
purchasing
from B & E
Poultry
cannot be
sure that
what they
are being
supplied is
from Inghams
or Nerang
Poultry."
The
Muslim
Business
Network (MBN)
is hosting a
networking
seminar
entitled
“Network and
Prosper” on
Wednesday
5th February
at the
Brisbane
Technology
Park, 1
Clunies Ross
Court, Eight
Mile Plains,
QLD 4113.
The speaker
for the
evening is
Robyn
Henderson -
an award
winning
speaker and
internationally
renowned
Networking
and
Strategies
and a
prolific
author with
over 25
books on
Networking
and Business
Building to
her credit.
Mark your
dairy as it
is going to
be an
entertaining
and
informative.
To find out
about the
magic of
networking
click here.
Over 500
attended the
celebration
of the
birthday of
the Prophet
(pbuh) last
night at the
Islamic
College of
Brisbane
Hall. The
event was
organized by
the Islamic
Society of
Queensland (ISQ).
Palestinian
film Omar
has won the
Best Feature
Film Award
at the
seventh
annual Asia
Pacific
Screen
Awards, the
region’s
highest
accolade in
film,
announced at
the ceremony
at
Brisbane’s
City Hall on
Thursday
evening.
Produced,
written and
directed by
Hany Abu-Assad,
and produced
by Waleed F.
Zuaiter,
David Gerson
and Hany
Abu-Assad,
Omar is the
first film
to be fully
funded by
the
Palestinian
film
industry.
Films from,
India,
People’s
Republic of
China and
Republic of
Korea took
home two
awards each,
films from
Bangladesh,
Islamic
Republic of
Iran,
Russian
Federation
and
Singapore
also
collected
awards, with
a further
two special
mentions
going to
films from
Kazakhstan
and Iraqi
Kurdistan.
Brisbane
Lord Mayor
Graham Quirk
congratulated
all winners
and said the
ceremony
attracted
leading
cultural,
business and
political
figures from
throughout
the Asia
Pacific.
“It has been
an honour
for Brisbane
to host the
Asia Pacific
Screen
Awards and
make welcome
such a
prestigious
group of
internationally
acclaimed
filmmakers
and actors,”
the Lord
Mayor said.
“I
congratulate
all the
winners. It
is wonderful
to see the
2013 awards
go to films
from such a
range of
countries
across the
region, and
many of them
to first
time feature
filmmakers.”
India’s The
Lunchbox,
starring
Irrfan Khan,
Nimrat Kaur
and
Nawazuddin
Siddiqui,
took out two
major awards
at the
ceremony.
First time
feature
filmmaker
Ritesh Batra
won the Best
Screenplay
award and
the Jury
bestowed the
film with a
Jury Grand
Prize, one
of two
awarded.
Television
(Bangladesh)
produced by
Mostofa
Sarwar
Farooki, was
also awarded
a Jury Grand
Prize, the
first time
an Asia
Pacific
Screen Award
has gone to
a film from
Bangladesh.
The award
was accepted
by co-writer
and nominee
Anisul Hoque
and lead
actress
Nusrat
Imrose Tisha.
SINCE the
inception of
the civil
war in Syria
three years
ago more
than 100,000
people have
been killed
and more
than 2.5
million have
fled the
war-torn
nation.
Three-quarters
of the
refugees are
women and
children.
Another four
million plus
are
displaced
within
Syria.
The
complexity
of the war
is
demonstrated
in the
variety of
groups
fighting in
Syria.
First, there
are the
supporters
of the Assad
regime made
up of the
Alawite
minority,
who make up
about 12 per
cent of the
country's
population.
There is
also
Lebanon's
Hezbollah
Shi'ite
militant
group
fighting on
the side of
the Assad
regime.
Then there
is the
Syrian
National
Coalition
for
Opposition
and
Revolutionary
Forces that
intended to
bring
together
members of
various
religious
sects
opposed to
Assad.
There are
also the
so-called
jihadist
groups such
as Jabhat
al-Nusra,
fighting a
war that
they deem as
Jihad
against the
Assad
regime.
Ever
had an
interesting
story you
wanted to
tell but
just never
knew how?
Perhaps you
have an
interest in
animation or
digital
storytelling.
Well now you
have the
opportunity
to tell that
story, or
pursue that
interest,
and best of
all it's
FREE. Monash
University
in
collaboration
with The
Edge in
Brisbane
will be
conducting a
series of
FREE
(emphasising
the point)
digital
storytelling
workshops
for young
Muslims
between the
ages of
18-25.
Over three
days you
will learn
the
techniques
and
technical
skills
needed to
produce a
digital
story. This
includes:
-
Writing
and
Story
boarding
- Video
and
sound
capture
-
Traditional
animation
- Stop
motion
animation
-
Editing
and
Production
When: 28th -
30th January
Where: The
Edge
(Stanley Pl,
Brisbane)
Time: 10am -
4pm
Places are
limited, so
it is
strongly
advised to
RSVP in
order to
secure your
spot. This
is a
fantastic
chance for
the Muslim
youth to
take
advantage of
a great
opportunity
and develop
their
skills.
Myth No.
1:Muslims
have a
higher birth
rate than
other
religions,
and will
take over
the world by
population
Two
generations
ago, it
seemed as if
Islamic
countries
were
destined for
out-of-control
population
growth.
People spoke
of an
“Islamic
fertility
rate” - -
more than 5
children per
family, on
average - -
and
predicted
minaret
spires
foresting
the Earth.
Today, it is
readily
apparent
that Islam
is not
connected
with
population
growth. Just
look at
Iran, the
world’s only
Islamic
theocracy,
where the
average
family had
around 7
children in
the 1980s -
- and has
1.7 today, a
lower rate
than France
or Britain.
Or look at
the United
Arab
Emirates,
with 1.9
children per
family. Or
Turkey,
ruled by an
elected
party of
devout
Muslims for
a decade,
which now
has 2.15
children per
family. Or
Lebanon,
where,
despite
Hezbollah’s
rise, has
only 1.86
children per
family (so
that its
population
will be
shrinking).
2. Mohamed
Bin Issa Al
Jaber
$12.66bn
($7bn) Saudi
Arabia
Prominent
Arab
philanthropist
and
businessman
Sheikh
Mohamed Bin
Issa Al
Jaber has
spent the
last 33
years
building the
MBI
International
Holding
Group Inc
into an
established
collection
of major
international
companies.
Following a
steady
stream of
investments
into
existing
businesses
during 2012,
the group
saw 2013 as
the perfect
time to
invest in
new
acquisitions
and expand:
JJW Hotels &
Resorts,
established
in 1989, has
- amongst
other major
investments
for the year
- recently
taken over
control of
the Penina
Hotel & Golf
Resort from
the Starwood
Group.
This latest
addition to
the 60
hotels
already in
JJW’s
portfolio is
set to be
added to
throughout
the course
of 2014. At
the start of
December
2013, MBI
International
Holding
Group Inc
also
increased
their
interest in
Austrian ski
& sports
equipment
company,
Kneissl to
100 percent
- making it
the sole
owner.
Established
in 1861,
this marquee
brand is set
to bring
another
dimension to
an already
diverse
portfolio.
Sheikh
Mohamed is
also an
active
philanthropist,
funding
scholarship
programmes
at some of
the world’s
top
educational
institutions
through his
own MBI Al
Jaber
Foundation.
NEXT
WEEK:
The Number
3
richest Arab
in the
world.
Saudi Arabia to raze
Prophet Mohammed’s tomb to build larger
mosque
SAUDI ARABIA:
The key Islamic heritage site, including
Prophet Mohammed’s shrine, is to be
bulldozed, as Saudi Arabia plans a $ 6
billion expansion of Medina’s holy Masjid
an-Nabawi Mosque. However, Muslims remain
silent on the possible destruction.
Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, is
planned to start as soon as the annual Hajj
pilgrimage comes to a close at the end of
November.
“After the Hajj this year, in one months’
time, the bulldozers will move in and will
start to demolish the last part of Mecca,
the grand mosque which is at least 1,000
years old,” Dr. Irfan Alawi of the Islamic
Heritage Research Foundation, told RT.
After the reconstruction, the mosque is
expected to become the world’s largest
building, with a capacity for 1.6 million
people.
And while the need to expand does exist as
more pilgrims are flocking to holy sites
every year, nothing has been said on how the
project will affect the surroundings of the
mosque, also historic sites.
Concerns are growing that the expansion of
Masjid an-Nabawi will come at the price of
three of the world’s oldest mosques nearby,
which hold the tombs of Prophet Mohammed and
two of his closest companions, Abu Bakr and
Umar. The expansion project which will cost
25 billion SAR (more than US $6 billion)
reportedly requires razing holy sites, as
old as the seventh century.
The Saudis insist that colossal expansion of
both Mecca and Medina is essential to make a
way for the growing numbers of pilgrims.
Both Mecca and Medina host 12 million
visiting pilgrims each year and this number
is expected to increase to 17 million by
2025.
Authorities and hotel developers are working
hard to keep pace, however, the expansions
have cost the oldest cities their historical
surroundings as sky scrapers, luxury hotels
and shopping malls are being erected amongst
Islamic heritage.
A room in a hotel or apartment in a historic
area may cost up to $ 500 per night. And
that’s all in or near Mecca, a place where
the Prophet Mohammed insisted all Muslims
would be equal.
“They just want to make a lot of money from
the super-rich elite pilgrims, but for the
poor pilgrims it is getting very expensive
and they cannot afford it,”
Dr. Irfan Al Alawi said.
Jabal Omar
complex – a 40 tower ensemble – is being
depicted as a new pearl of Mecca. When
complete, it will consist of six five star
hotels, seven 39 storey residential towers
offering 520 restaurants, 4, 360 commercial
and retail shops.
But to build this tourist attraction the
Saudi authorities destroyed the Ottoman era
Ajyad Fortress and the hill it stood on.
The Washington-based Gulf Institute
estimated that 95 percent of sacred sites
and shrines in the two cities have been
destroyed in the past twenty years.
The Prophet’s birthplace was turned into a
library and the house of his first wife,
Khadijah, was replaced with a public toilet
block.
Also the expansion and development might
threaten many locals homes, but so far most
Muslims have remained silent on the issue.
“Mecca is a holy sanctuary as stated in the
Quran it is no ordinary city. The Muslims
remain silent against the Saudi Wahhabi
destruction because they fear they will not
be allowed to visit the Kindom again,” said
Dr. Al Alawi.
The fact that there is no reaction on
possible destruction has raised talks about
hypocrisy because Muslims are turning a
blind eye to that their faith people are
going to ruin sacred sites.
“Some of the Sunni channels based in the
United Kingdom are influenced by Saudi petro
dollars and dare not to speak against the
destruction, but yet are one of the first to
condemn the movie made by non Muslims,” Dr.
Al Alawi said.
Chechnya gives parents
$1,000 for naming newborns ‘Mohammad’
Chechnya: Families in
Chechnya who name their newborns “Mohammad,”
after Islam’s prophet, will be given $1,000,
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on
Monday.
The initiative was announced to mark the
birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad this
week, according to Moscow-based news site
RIA Novosti.
On the social media image-sharing site
Instagram, Kadyrov said that his mother's
privately-sponsored charity will give away
the money, adding that she was behind the
idea.
The reward is not limited to those who name
their newborns "Mohammad," Kadyrov said,
adding that those who name their infants
after any of the prophet's wives, children
and 10 companions would also receive $1,000.
MOROCCO:
Asmaa Sarah, 19, who hails from the Amazigh
ethnic group, was crowned Miss Amazigh 2014
in the Moroccan city of Agadir on Friday.
The Amazighs are a group of people who
inhabit the area extending from the eastern
Siwa Oasis to the Atlantic Ocean to the
west, and the Mediterranean Sea in the north
to the south of the Sahara.
The contest also came during the occasion of
the Amazigh New Year.
Held at a university in Morocco's southern
city of Agadir, the contest judged the
beauty queens by their mastery of their
ethnic language, and the quality of their
cultural dress.
A group of 10 women aged between 18 and 25
have been selected to line up for the beauty
pageant.
Apart from
their age criteria, the women were expected
to master their Tamazight language, a family
of Berber dialects spoken in North African
countries. A third judging point was related
to their ethnic clothing.
More than 50 percent of the event's proceeds
went to a local charity association.
“I am very happy to win the pageant and be
able to help local charity organizations,
especially the ones that will be held next
month in the Berev province of Agadir,”
newly-crowned Sarah told a reporter from
Anatolia News Agency
Jefferson
Was the First President Defamed for
Mentioning Islam
Love your
neighbor as yourself, and your country more
than yourself,” wrote Thomas Jefferson the
year before his death. Who did he include
among his neighbors in the blueprint for the
nation he loved so much?
Jefferson
implicitly included Muslims in his patriotic
rendering of the Golden Rule. Many may find
this idea startling today, but explicit
proof for it exists.
In 1776, Jefferson inscribed these pivotal
words among his private notes: “(N)either
Pagan nor Mahometan (Muslim) nor Jew ought
to be excluded from the civil rights of the
commonwealth because of his religion.” They
were written a few months after he composed
the Declaration of Independence, when he
returned to Virginia to draft new laws for
his state.
Jefferson borrowed the precedent of “civil
rights” for Muslims from the English
philosopher John Locke’s 1689 tract, A
Letter Concerning Toleration. Locke’s ideas
about the toleration of Muslims and Jews
provoked attacks: One critic condemned him
for having “the faith of a Turk.” His
enemies also charged, rightly, that he owned
a copy of the Quran, which they termed “the
Mahometan bible.”
For centuries, it had been common in Europe
for one Christian to defame another with
references to Islam, a practice that crossed
the Atlantic. Jefferson, for his expansive
views of religious liberty and political
equality, would be attacked repeatedly as an
“infidel,” a word that in his time meant not
just an “unbeliever,” but a Muslim.
And like Locke, Jefferson owned a Quran.
The 22-year-old Jefferson bought his Quran
in 1765, while studying law in Williamsburg,
Va. The local newspaper documented his
purchase of the two-volume translation by
the Englishman George Sale. First published
in 1734, Sale’s version was the earliest
made directly from Arabic to English. It
included a 200-page “Preliminary Discourse”
with an overview of Islamic belief, ritual
and law.
Jefferson may have been interested in the
Quran as a book of law, for at the time he
also ordered many English works of
jurisprudence. He would have been struck by
the translator’s definition of the Prophet
as “the lawgiver of the Arabians.”
Yet while Sale condemned Islam as “a false
religion,” he also took care to praise the
Prophet as “beautiful in his person, of a
subtle wit, agreeable behavior, showing
liberality to the poor, courtesy to
everyone, fortitude against his enemies, and
above all a high reverence for the name of
God.” The translator also refused to define
Islam “as propagated by the sword alone,”
reminding his readers that both Jews and
Christians warred in the name of their
faiths.
Critics accused Sale of being too
even-handed in his depiction of Islam,
resulting in his Anglican missionary
employers distancing themselves from his
translation. Posthumously, he was condemned
as “half a Muslim,” by the British historian
Edward Gibbon in 1788.
Those who appeared to defend Islam, or its
adherents, were harshly criticized on both
sides of the Atlantic.
What did Jefferson think about the Quran and
its contents? He left no notes that capture
his immediate reaction, either because he
never wrote them or because they did not
survive the fire that destroyed his mother’s
house five years later. In the blaze,
Jefferson said he lost “every paper” and
“almost every book.” The Quran may also have
succumbed to the fire, but if it did, he
most certainly bought it again, for it
survives in the Library of Congress.
In the Quran, Jefferson inscribed only his
initials at the bottom of one page of the
first volume.
Jefferson criticized the religion in his
early political debates in 1776 as “stifling
free enquiry,” a charge he also leveled
against Catholicism. He thought both
religions fused religion and the state at
precisely the time he wished to separate
them in Virginia.
Despite his criticism of Islam, Jefferson
supported the rights of its adherents, a
pattern he repeated for Judaism and
Catholicism, moving beyond his hero Locke,
who refused toleration to Catholics and
atheists.
In Jefferson’s 1784 Notes on Virginia, he
published his views on the relationship
between his neighbor’s religion and the
state: “The legitimate powers of government
extend to such acts only as are injurious to
others. But it does me no injury for my
neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no
God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks
my leg.”
With his assertion that government should
never intrude into the metaphysical beliefs
of its citizens, Jefferson provided
unintentional, lasting ammunition for his
political enemies. For many, these words
proved he was not really Christian.
Jefferson’s legal version of the Golden
Rule, combined with Locke’s views of Muslim
civil rights, would echo most potently in
his 1821 autobiography, in which he recalled
the final fight to pass his most famous
legislation, the Statute of Virginia for
Religious Freedom, still in force today.
The Statute proclaims: “(O)ur civil rights
have no dependence on our religious
opinions.” Although Jefferson’s proposed
legislation originally met with resistance
in 1779, James Madison lobbied for its
passage and, finally, achieved victory in
1786 while Jefferson was away in France.
Jefferson recorded happily in his
autobiography that a final attempt to change
his preamble by adding the words “Jesus
Christ” failed. And this failure led
Jefferson to affirm that he had intended the
application of the statute to be
“universal.” By this he meant that religious
liberty and political equality would not be
exclusively Christian, a belief in religious
pluralism that Madison also shared.
Jefferson asserted that his original
legislative intent had been “to comprehend,
within the mantle of its protection, the Jew
and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan,
the Hindoo, and Infidel of every
denomination.”
By the time he wrote these words in 1821,
Jefferson certainly appreciated the
consequences of being labeled an infidel
himself. In the wake of his narrow
presidential victory in 1800, he confided to
a close friend: “(W)hat an effort, my dear
Sir, of bigotry in politics & religion we
have gone through.”
Jefferson would not be the last presidential
candidate to be defamed for referring to
Islam, but he remains the first.
Tragically, though Jefferson championed
Muslim rights, he never knew that America’s
first Muslims — slaves of West African
origin — were denied the freedoms he thought
were universal. The Founder may have even
owned Muslim slaves, but there is no
conclusive proof. There remains no doubt,
however, that Jefferson imagined Muslims as
neighbors in his country’s future, a
forecast that retains signal implications to
this day.
Denise A. Spellberg is associate
professor of history and Middle Eastern
studies at the University of Texas at
Austin. She is the author of Thomas
Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders.
Racists
Vandalized a Stockholm Mosque and the
Community Responded Beautifully
SWEDEN: It's
turns out not everyone is a complete jerk.
On Monday
morning, members of the Stockholm Muslim
congregation arrived at the doors of their
previously defaced mosque in Södermalm to
see that bouquets of pink and white flowers
replaced the black swastikas that vandalized
the mosque's doors last week.
"For every
hate crime there is a flower," read a note
that accompanied the flowers. "An attack on
you is an attack on Sweden! We stand
together!"
The swastika graffiti was discovered
Thursday morning by members of the
congregation. According to the head of
Sweden's Islamic federation Omar Mustafa,
this incident marks the first time the
entrance was defaced with swastikas since
the mosque was built in 2000 (the mosque is
targeted by hate mail or vandalism about
twice a month).
But just as anonymously as the swastikas
appeared, so did the flowers and
accompanying note of kindness. "I thought
society was moving the wrong direction. But
now my view changed 180 degrees," said
Mustafa.
The secret florists also adorned a mosque in
Fittja, which was also vandalized with pigs'
feet in November, and Hagsätra church that
was also graffitied with swastikas on
Friday.
During the
Middle Ages,
when Europe
was plunged
into the
Dark Ages,
Arab
scholars and
historians
translated
most of the
works of the
Greek
scholars,
thereby
preserving
some of the
greatest
intellectual
achievements
that are the
cornerstone
of Western
civilization.
For the next
few weeks
CCN will
offer an
English word
that has, as
its origin,
the Arabic
language:
The Return of a King: The Battle for
Afghanistan, 1839-42
by
William Dalrymple
IN
1842 some 700 European soldiers, 3,800 Indian sepoys and
14,000 civilian staff fled Kabul in the deep chill of
winter. The British occupation of Afghanistan, in place
since 1839, was no longer tenable. A week later a single
survivor from this fleet staggered into view at the
British-held fort at Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. This
lone soldier on a collapsing pony, as depicted in Elizabeth
Butler’s 1879 painting “Remnants of an Army” (pictured), has
become a lasting image of the first Anglo-Afghan war. It is
an appropriately bleak one.
It was “a war begun for no wise purpose”—and
one that need never have taken place. It would stand as the
worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore
exactly a century later. William Dalrymple, a British
historian, recounts Britain’s early misadventures in
Afghanistan in “Return of a King”, a masterful history. This
is a story that hangs heavy with imperial overconfidence,
political incompetence and wilful bureaucratic misjudgment.
And as the latest occupying force in Afghanistan negotiates
its exit, this chronicle seems all too relevant now.
Afghanistan in the early 19th century was insignificant.
Though home to the largest market in Central Asia, it was
wretchedly poor, and its rulers barely clung to power. But
the country was also a vital gateway for invasions into
India. Fearing a Russian attack on its most treasured
possession, Britain looked to secure Kabul.
It would have been easy simply to make a pact with
Afghanistan’s ruler, Dost Mohammad. Instead Britain backed
Shah Shuja, the deposed king, who had been living in exile
in India for three decades. Thus began the “Great Game”, an
entirely unnecessary competition for Afghanistan between
Russia and Britain, conjured up by armchair polemicists in
London.
The war began promisingly. The grandly named Army of the
Indus lumbered off to Afghanistan with 58,000 people, 30,000
camels (300 for the wine alone) and a pack of foxhounds for
hunting. The force took Kabul with relative ease and
restored Shuja to the throne; he was accepted with little
turmoil. But the infidel occupation soon proved unpopular.
Shuja was swiftly seen as a puppet of the invading army. A
local chieftain inquired of the British, “You have brought
an army into the country. But how do you propose to take it
out again?” It remains a tough question to answer.
The occupation grew entrenched. Families joined officers and
tried to make themselves comfortable. In one case this meant
bringing a grand piano; in another a cat, a parakeet and
five maidservants. And the soldiers did little to endear
themselves, but rather meddled in religious affairs, created
a thriving market for prostitutes and helped generate
inflation. Afghans grew restless, and within a year
rebellions started breaking out.
A series of tactical mistakes followed. Assuming the
conquest was complete, Britain withdrew large portions of
the army in preparation for the brewing opium war in China.
Reports of growing discontent were disregarded, and no money
went towards new defences in Kabul. The final straw came
when the British cut payments to the tribes who guarded
vital supply routes, guaranteeing widespread revolts. Much
of the carnage that followed was conducted in the religious
name of jihad—a “relative innovation” in Afghanistan as
previous wars had been largely between Muslims. Ultimately
the struggle ended as it began, with Dost Mohammad in power
at Kabul.
The war cost Ł15m—about Ł50 billion ($80 billion) in today’s
money—and the lives of 40,000 people, 50,000 camels and at
least one cat. That is still a bargain compared with the
current conflict, which costs America more than $100 billion
every year.
“Return of a King” confirms Mr Dalrymple’s reputation as a
gifted historian and an engaging writer. But the signal
achievement of this work is that it makes a nearly
two-century-old war seem disturbingly fresh. It makes for
grim reading. Like the current adventure in Afghanistan,
this first one was undone by the unsustainable cost of
occupation, waning political and public interest, and the
need to divert resources. In the race to secure the country,
the British ambassador in Tehran believed “that he who is
not with us is against us”. “Operation Infinite Justice”,
the abandoned name for the 21st-century war, carries echoes
of the “Army of Retribution” sent in after the disastrous
British retreat.
Yet there is one parallel that Mr Dalrymple leaves his
readers to draw, which is the futility of treating a diffuse
enemy like a traditional state. By using a wealth of unmined
sources, including Afghan epic poetry, official court
histories and Shuja’s own biography, he brings out the
“deeply fractured” nature of the resistance, in which
“different groups under different commanders…acted…with only
the bare minimum of co-ordination”.
Today’s bloody conflict in Afghanistan is scarcely
different, with a complex web of allegiances fiercely
fighting the occupation. Few lessons have been learned from
past mistakes. Mr Dalrymple’s book is a timely reminder of
the way that wars can begin with promise but end in
disgrace.
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: Jardo (or
Zarda) is a a traditional Indian sweet dish
usually served as a starter. Farzana Pandor of
Ellsberg (South Africa) has perfected the recipe
and is happy to share it with CCN readers.
Jardo
Ingredients
1 cup thick grain
rice
1˝
tab ghee
1 stick tuj
1 cup sugar
10 ml lemon juice
few strands saffron
slivered pistachios
Method
1. Boil rice with a
good pinch of turmeric until soft and then
strain.
2. Put ghee in pot
with tuj and when ghee is hot then add boiled rice, sugar,
lemon juice and saffron. Steam very gently with
lid closed but carefully tossing at intervals,
and adding a little water if necessary.
3. Garnish with
slivered pistachios and serve hot.
Mula Nasruddin went to the city to vote in his country's
general elections (in reality, an election of generals)
and returned to his village where his friends were
discussing the vote.
When Mula Nasruddin
told them that he had voted for the democratic party
everyone was shocked and said no you can't do that, you
will get into trouble.
Mula Nasruddin then
returned to the election venue and told the election
officials that he wanted to change his vote as he had
made a mistake.
The officials told
him: "Don't worry we have already changed it for you,
but next time don't make the same mistake.
And do not
eat up your property among
yourselves for vanities, nor
use it as bait for the
judges, with intent that you
may eat up wrongfully and
knowingly a little of
(other) people's property.
International Food Festival hosted by Kuraby Mosque
Kuraby Mosque
Wally Tate Park
0422 191 675
10am to 9pm
25 May
Sunday
Evening
Lailatul Mehraj (27th Rajab 1435)
14 June
Saturday
Evening
Lailatul Bhahraat (Nisf of Sha’baan 1435)
29 June
Sunday
1st of Ramadhan 1435
TBA
Lailatul Qadr (Night of Power)
28 July
Monday
End
of Ramadhan 1435
29 July
Tuesday
Eid-ul-Fitr
5 October
Sunday
Eid-ul-Adha
25 October
Saturday
1st Muharram 1436 (Islamic New Year)
3
November
Monday
Day of Aashooraa (10th day of Muharram)
TBA
Prophet’s Birthday 12th Rabi-ul Awwal 1436
PLEASE NOTE
1. All Islamic Event dates given above are tentative and
subject to the sighting of the moon.
2. The Islamic date changes to the next day starting in
the evenings after maghrib. Therefore, exceptfor Lailatul Mehraj,
Lailatul Bhahraat
and
Lailatul Qadr – these dates refer to the commencement of the event starting in the
evening of the corresponding day.
The weekly program schedule is as follows:
Mondays: Tafseer
Wednesdays: Tafseer
The above lessons will start at 7:30 pm and will go for
approximately 1/2 an hour each day.
All brothers and sisters are welcome.
SeekersPoint BRISBANE
Hosted by SeekersPoint Brisbane
Topic: SeekersCircle - Etiquettes of the Seeker
Commences: 7:30pm Friday 18 October. Every Friday for 10
weeks
Venue: Multi Faith Centre (N35), Griffith University, Nathan
Campus
Queensland Police Service/Muslim Community
Consultative Group
Meeting Dates & Times
Thursday 20 February 2014 Metropolitan
South Regional Office 1993 Logan Road, Upper Mt Gravatt
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
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 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
ccn@crescentsofbrisbane.org.
Share your
thoughts, feelings and ambitions for our community through CCN.
If there is
someone you know who would like to subscribe to CCN please
encourage them to enter their details
here.
.
The
CCN Inbox: Letters
to the Editor
Shaykh
Zulfiqar
Ahmad
(pictured
left) is
one of
the leading shaykhs of
Tasawwuf in
the present
era. 
IN
1842 some 700 European soldiers, 3,800 Indian sepoys and
14,000 civilian staff fled Kabul in the deep chill of
winter. The British occupation of Afghanistan, in place
since 1839, was no longer tenable. A week later a single
survivor from this fleet staggered into view at the
British-held fort at Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. This
lone soldier on a collapsing pony, as depicted in Elizabeth
Butler’s 1879 painting “Remnants of an Army” (pictured), has
become a lasting image of the first Anglo-Afghan war. It is
an appropriately bleak one.
post comments on
our Wall
7
August 2011