BACK ISSUES

Please be informed that Crescents Community News (CCN) will cease publication and distribution after 7 November 2020 with Issue No. 835. 

There are a number of compelling reasons for making this decision at this time - the least of which is the time and effort required to get out CCN each week. 

Most importantly, our reading habits and the way we consume our news has changed radically from paper to static web pages and one way communication (Web 1.0) to user-generated content and social media (Web 2.0). 

A popular old saying goes that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper. This gap has shrunk even more with the dominance of social media where the race is to report the news as it happens, and to discard it just as quickly. (Nowadays even week-old news is the metaphorical fish and chips paper). 

Couple this with the sheer volume of information (customized  and targeted) and the number of channels (everything from WhatsApp, Twitter and FB to Instagram, YouTube and the newly revived take up of podcasts). Then add the ready availability of content at the click of a finger, together with an ever deceasing attention span and a dearth in the desire to read anything deeper or nuanced than a click-bait, sound-bite or sensational heading. 

Just as the printed newspaper industry has been forced to succumb to a digital world, the electronic newsletter is reaching (if not already) its own use-by-date. 

CCN started off in 2004, in an era when people were just getting excited about receiving news via email, and publishers used to be the smartest people in the room.

CCN received a number of awards and honourable mentions over this 16-year period. It attracted local, national and international subscriptions and wide readership amongst non-Muslims, politicians and community groups and organizations.

With sincere humility we can but hope that during this time CCN has played a not insignificant role in building bridges, cementing relationships and opening up windows of opportunities, all in spite of the relentless negativity of the mainstream media. 

While not often being able to reach its own self-imposed standards, CCN has always striven to be rigorous and comprehensive it its research, and professional, fastidious and insufferably pedantic in its reporting and writing. 

Now, when anyone with a keyboard and an opinion, can be a journalist the sad old fuddy-duddies of the online world have become hopelessly outdated and have to give way to new and savvier technologies that allow information and community news and views to spread at speeds much faster than ever before. 

Passing on the CCN baton to continue the same race on the same tired course would be nothing short of stalling the inevitable or attempting to flog a dead horse.

Any current and future need would be better served by re-imagining and re-constructing a new platform and delivery that better services the community.

Sadly, the time has come for CCN to R.I.P. and any proverbial daisies that get pushed up as a consequence will only help create a new and brighter landscape for us all, insha’Allah. 

We take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal readers and supporters, for your interest in CCN and to our contributors for their efforts in making CCN even more informative and readable than it would have been otherwise. 

Editor-in-Chief: Dr Mustafa Ally

editor@ccnonline.com.au

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A delegation from the Cohesive Communities Coalition had a positive meeting this week with Shadow Attorney General David Janetzki MP. The coalition is "proposing modest changes that could make a world of positive difference for Queensland communities."

"AMAN is energised to be part of this community coalition. Today’s delegation alone included IWAA Australia, Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland (FICQ) | Australia, Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies Incorporated (QJBD) Queensland African Communities Council Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland LTD St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and there are many more behind the push," Ms Rita Jabri-Markwell, AMAN's Policy Advisor, told CCN.

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Response from Muslim organisations and community members to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils’ (AFIC’s) press release dated 10 September 2020 and meeting with One Nation’s Mark Latham
 

Assalamu Alaykum Dr Rateb Jneid

We write to you as a collective of Muslim community members and organisations to express our deep concern and dismay at the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils’ (AFIC) press release dated 10 September 2020 and the content of AFIC’s meeting with One Nation’s Mark Latham (the meeting).

As you are aware, many in Australia have been the target of One Nation’s divisive, racist and hate-driven agenda for the last 23 years. One Nation has targeted many groups, including (but not limited to) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Asian community, the African community, the Muslim community and asylum seekers.

Our collective experience as Australian Muslims is of a political landscape where One Nation’s presence has led to increased hostility and Islamophobic attacks towards our community, particularly Muslim women.[1]

AFIC would no doubt be aware of One Nation’s current policies to ban the halal food industry, the ‘burqa’ and the building of mosques and Islamic schools ‘until an inquiry is held into Islam, to determine whether it is a religion or totalitarian political ideology undermining our democracy and way of life.[2]’ One Nation’s current official policy is that Islam is not a religion.

You would also be aware of Mark Latham’s previous comments that Western Sydney had a ‘Muslim problem,’ his accusation that Osman Faruqi was ‘aiding and abetting Islamic terrorism’ and his vilification of poets from the Bankstown Poetry Slam (BPS), which ultimately led to the need to hire security for the BPS.

We were dismayed by AFIC’s most recent press release and related social media posts (including a 40-minute video of your meeting with Mark Latham and later posing for photos with him). This conduct by AFIC is nothing but disrespectful to our community. AFIC’s actions directly undermine the significant community work and advocacy many have undertaken to combat racism and religious discrimination over the years.

AFIC’s Media Statement dated 10 September 2020 and social media activity
AFIC’s media statement dated 10 September reads as an advertisement for both Mark Latham and One Nation. It provides unequivocal support for the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020 (the Bill) and contains quotes from several AFIC members praising Mark Latham. It states that Mark Latham “joined One Nation as an anti-discrimination party and this Bill in the NSW Parliament proves that the party is serious about treating all communities fairly, offering protections from discrimination.”

We are outraged that AFIC could form such a position.
This statement is directly contradicted by official One Nation policy which does not even consider Islam to be a religion. It is inconceivable that anyone, particularly a Muslim organisation, could form such a view.

We are embarrassed by AFIC’s conduct. It is clear that AFIC are not politically astute. It is also clear that your organisation has not engaged in any useful analysis of the Bill and whether it adequately provides for the religious freedoms that Mark Latham claims. AFIC have failed to notice that this Bill does not provide any protection against religious hate speech or other issues, including the fact that secularism would meet the definition of a ‘religious belief’ under the Bill. This would not only allow Muslim organisations to discriminate against non-Muslims, but also secular organisations to discriminate against faith-based people, including Muslims. AFIC made no attempt, either in the meeting or in their press release, to address the inadequacies of the Bill with Mark Latham.

AFIC did not question Mark Latham on One Nation’s policies on Islam nor did it demand change. It was particularly embarrassing when all members at the meeting readily agreed with Latham when he stated: “I’m moving an Anti-discrimination bill, I can’t be part of a party that discriminates.” Any basic level of research into One Nation’s policy before the meeting would have revealed the falsity of this statement. This should have been challenged.

To add further insult to injury, AFIC posted a video of the meeting and photographs of AFIC’s executive posing happily with Mark Latham on your Facebook page. When criticisms were made, the defence provided by AFIC was that it was dawah. It should be understood: we have no objection to you providing dawah to anyone, should you wish. However, this was not dawah – this was a political meeting with a political agenda.

Undertaking political advocacy on behalf of the Muslim community is an amanah. You must ensure that you have the requisite expertise, skills and knowledge to engage in such advocacy, as well as conduct appropriate community consultation. AFIC have proven that they do not meet a basic level of competency required to engage in any political advocacy. AFIC have also proven that they are disconnected from the concerns and lived experiences of Australian Muslim communities.

We do not believe that you are fit to represent us at any level. We pray that you have the community’s best interests at heart, will hear this message and act accordingly.

Action

We do not consider AFIC to be representative of Australian Muslim communities. We therefore request that AFIC:

Withdraw the AFIC press release and related social media posts;
Do not claim or attempt to represent the Muslim community; and
Desist in engaging in any further political advocacy until your organisation attains the requisite skills, knowledge, and experience necessary, and is willing to conduct appropriate community consultation.

List of Signatories

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Last Friday, both the Slacks Creek and Kuraby Mosques, hosted visits from the Director General (Warwick Agnew) the Deputy Director General (Rebacca Atkinson) along with David Forde from the Queensland Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs.

The visit gave an opportunity to hear how the Mosques and community are coping with the new ‘norm’ under COVID-SAFE restrictions and listen to some of the great work the Mosques are undertaking in the community. Discussion also involved hearing from a youth perspective and question about what Government is doing to create a more accepting and equal society especially around employment where a person’s name can be a barrier to acceptance.

A Kuraby Mosque spokesperson told CCN: “the visit was most welcome, as it is important that Government Department’s listen to and discuss the issues that are important to us while learning about the Muslim community.

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ICQ president, Habib Jamal, speaks at the Mental Health Foundation Australia yesterday (Saturday).

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Members of the Islamic Society of Queensland Inc. after the Annual General Meeting on 20th September 2020 with the two retiring members cutting their farewell cake.

Those in the photograph, from left Hj.Sheikh Sahib, Hj.Imam Ali (partially obstructed), Br.Sheikh Saheem, Br.Anwar Ali (Foundation member), Hj.Asgar Ali( retiring Treasurer), Hj.Safiq Mohammed, Hj.Shaiban Ali (retiring Committee member who served the Society for 25 years), Br.Saiyad Pasha(ISQ President), Br.Raj Raaz, Br.Shabi Shah, Br.Mohammad Aslam. Missing from the photo Hj.Mahbub Ali and Br,Aswak Ali.

After the AGM on the 20th September 2020, the newly elected ISQ Executive Committee is gearing to resume their monthly Maulood programs at the Rochedale Mosque, every second Saturday of the month, once the COVID 19 restrictions are lifted.

The new Committee has plans to host the Milad Un Nabi Jalsa before the end of this year, a Volunteers Workshop on managing a COVID safe functions in the early part of 2021, a grand function for the Eid Ul Fitr after Ramadan next year and well as resuming our monthly Maulood programs. Insha Allah.
 

Br.Raj Raaz
ISQ Secretary

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.
We, a humble group of Australian professionals from different cultural and professional backgrounds, have embarked on an annual spiritual journey.
 

Breaking free from our comfort zones and saying goodbye to our loved ones, we've taken the road set for us by Allah -- to connect with regional communities, grow mentally, physically, and spiritually, and to
become better versions of ourselves.
 

Our goal is to share with you and everyone we encounter the key to overcoming our battles which we face every day.
 

We strive to help everyone become closer to Allah.
 

This annual adventure that we've taken is all thanks to Allah SWT.

Because of Him, we were blessed enough to meet some of the most incredible, inspirational community members. Their stories about overcoming adversities have inspired us to do even better and to give more. We are proud to see them defeat nationalist and religious racism and negative community sentiments.

They are, without a doubt, legends of our society. And to see them first-hand and to witness how Allah places them into our lives is beyond words.

It is our job to share these stories and motivate you, Muslim or non-Muslim to live life, grow, contribute and master every aspect of your life.
We hope that through these first-hand interviews, experiences, and documentations from community leaders of Queensland, you will believe in yourself, your potential, and in Allah and His beautiful
Creations.

Through your persistence, patience, and reliance in Allah, you will see success, prosperity, and happiness. We know that as fact, and you will know as well through the stories that you are about to see
from our journey.

Although this annual journey may have ended in Cairns, another one will soon begin. The cycle of learning continues, and our praises to Allah will soar even higher. Moreover, our quest to becoming better, to provide more value, and to show our love will never stop.

We thank everyone who has joined us in this chapter of growth and connection. The priceless destinations, individuals, and experiences we've encountered are second to none. Everything was all possible because of Allah, and to Him, we are most grateful.

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When Nawal Sari began posting pictures of her trendy outfits on Instagram four years ago, she had no idea it would end up becoming her full-time job.

The 21-year-old from Liverpool in Western Sydney is one of a handful of hijabi influencers who cater to Australia's growing "modest fashion" market.

Nawal said she was inspired to start posting after noticing a gap in the market.

"I didn't feel that there was somebody that I could relate to in the sense of fashion or having a Muslim sister that I could look up to," she said.

 

Before her Instagram took off, she was working multiple jobs to make ends meet, but all that changed 12 months ago.

With more than 180,000 followers, Nawal has created a social media presence that's also paying the bills.

"It's been about a year now that I've done this [Instagram] full-time and I've been busy every single day since," she said.

"I booked a few jobs like Nike and Supre, but it wasn't until I got management that they really pitched for me and I really got my foot in the door of a market that I could never get in by myself."
 

to be continued in next week's CCN.....

source

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Aisha is a young, Australian-Muslim woman with Egyptian and Palestinian heritage. She is currently studying a double degree of Law and Arts at the University of Sydney (USYD), with a major in International Relations. Aisha is a publications editor, writer, poet and advocate. She has an interest in history, global politics, and podcasts.
Aisha is a member of the Law Society’s (SULS) Ethnocultural Committee, an editor of the annual SULS MOSAIC Journal and a writer for the USYD newspaper, Honi Soit. She has organised networking events for law students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Aisha is a volunteer at UN Youth Australia and is currently the Funds and Partnerships Officer for their largest annual conference, themed ‘Environmental Justice’. She has also facilitated at state events and judged numerous Model UN competitions. Aisha is part of the ISRA Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program, under the mentorship of Mobinah Ahmed. She teaches and mentors high school students in Humanities subjects.

Aisha was involved in a live interview with NSW Shadow Premier, Jodi Mckay, to discuss the Ramadan experience in the midst of COVID-19. Aisha has published ‘The Quarantine Quandry’ and ‘Ramadan in Global Stasis’ for Honi Soit. She contributed poetry titled ‘Cultures Collide’ to the Law Society’s autonomous publication ‘MOSAIC’. Aisha is part of the team launching Sydney University Muslim Student’s Association’s inaugural blog and has written an article, ‘Islam and the Art of Infinity’ to appear later this year. A passionate spoken-word poet, Aisha has performed at the NSW Art Gallery, the Riverside Theatre and as a Youth Feature Poet in the 2018 Sydney Writers’ Festival. She speaks to issues such as youth suicide and the Palestinian struggle.
Aisha attended James Ruse Agricultural High School where she was elected School Captain in 2019 and was the Editor in Chief of the school magazine. Aisha was awarded the 2019 University of Sydney Leadership Award. In 2017, she presented about selective school education at the Biannual International Gifted and Talented Students Conference. In the 2019 HSC, Aisha ranked 10th in NSW Advanced English and 9th in NSW Extension 2 English.

Aisha’s current area of interest is interfaith history, and is undertaking a ‘History of Jerusalem’ course. In the future, Aisha wishes to further engage with young people and explore how they connect to and seek knowledge regarding faith, politics and the Self. She believes empathy should be at the core of all institutional and interpersonal interactions.
Aisha’s achievements have been numerous and varied, and she is a brilliant example of the future of the Australian Muslim community. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for you, Aisha!

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The singer-songwriter now known as Yusuf Cat Stevens has spoken of the pain of his decision to leave music behind in 1977, when he first converted to Islam, and of the difficulty of being used as a representative of an entire faith.

“It was a hard tug. I felt a responsibility to my fans, but I would have been a hypocrite. I needed to get real. So I stopped singing and started taking action with what I now believed,” he said. The singer, who first performed as Cat Stevens, adopted the name Yusuf Islam when he changed faith. He now uses both first names.

Stevens said he had originally wanted to serve as a bridge between two great cultures, yet, while Islam welcomed its famous convert, western audiences were hostile. “On the other side, people said, ‘He is a bit of a traitor’. He has ‘turned Turk’, if you like. So I was often used as a bit of a spokesman, and I was useful for certain occasions.”

The 72-year-old British musician, still internationally famous for songs such as Father and Son, The First Cut is the Deepest, Moonshadow and Wild World, said he had hoped fans would understand that he felt he had found something more important than music, but he was wrong.

“I thought, ‘Everybody should get this’, but it didn’t work out quite like that. Everyone wanted me to keep on making music.” Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday, the singer, who was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in London’s Soho to a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother, also talked about the joy he felt when he decided to pick up his guitar again after 20 years.

“It was absolute magic. Having laid myself fallow for two decades, I was absolutely flowing with ideas. I knew it was right.”

One of the most upsetting times for Stevens, he reveals, was his portrayal as a supporter of the Iranian fatwa that forced the novelist Salman Rushdie into hiding in 1989.

“I was certainly not prepared or equipped to deal with sharp-toothed journalists,” he said. “I was cleverly framed by certain questions. I never supported the fatwa. I had to live through that.”

In a candid discussion about the impact of the fame that came to him 50 years ago with the release of the acclaimed album Tea for the Tillerman, Stevens recalled the stage fright he felt before going on in front of a large crowd, and of the dubious help he received from fellow performer Engelbert Humperdinck.

“I was very frightened,” he said. “Then Engelbert turned me on to a horrible concoction of brandy and port. You just had to have one glass of that.”

The spiritual journey that led to Islam began with a serious bout of tuberculosis in his teens. In hospital in Midhurst in Sussex for three months, he started to read Buddhist literature. A few years later, his brother gave him a Qur’an and the Muslim teachings, alongside an episode in which he nearly drowned while swimming in the sea off Malibu, this took him to the point of conversion to Islam. “I would never have picked up a Qur’an. But it became the gateway. After a year I could not hold myself back. I had to bow down.”

Stevens emphasised the importance music has in his life once more. “It is a mystical thing still. It is something that permeates our emotion, our soul, sometimes our intellect. Our body moves to it. I didn’t know where I was going but music helped me to get there.”

Writing a popular song in his youth, Stevens admitted, was a conscious process. “I knew when I was writing a hit, and I was excited for other people to hear it. You have to be a fan of your own music, a fan of yourself, in a way.”

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Professor Anna Contadini takes us through an evocative journey to discover the fascination and curiosity that Islamic art and intellectual thought inspired in the pre-modern European thinkers and scholars, and how that fascination—led by wonder and awe—resulted in the creation of some of the most beautiful cultural dialogues in the history of mankind.

This podcast is part of Asia House Arts in Isolation Series and Converging Paths, an initiative organised in partnership with the Barakat Trust that promotes the arts and cultures of the Islamic World.

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A LIVE STREAM WITH FATIMA BHUTTO

This event will be broadcast world-wide live from the UK on Monday, 2 November 2020 at 4:30am AEST and available to view on demand up to 48 hours after the event has ended.

What does it mean to be a citizen? With nationalist politics on the rise around the world, what do we really mean when we speak of extremism? How are these narratives shaped by race and identity? In an age obsessed with “post-truth”, where do the true deceptions lie?

Fatima will deliver a speech originally written for the Sydney Writer’s Festival but never broadcast, reflecting on Islamophobia, Western Feminism and race.

Fatima Bhutto is the bestselling author of Songs of Blood and Sword, a memoir about her father’s life and assassination, and the highly praised The Runaways, an unflinching and moving portrait of radicalism, belonging and Muslim identity.

Don’t miss this important and thought-provoking evening of live conversation.

 

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Dr Kecia Ali is Professor of Religion and Chair of the Religion Department at Boston University. Her research ranges from Islam’s formative period to the present and focuses on Islamic law; gender and sexuality; and religious biography.

Visit www.globalmuslimwomen.com to RSVP and join in on the conversation!

Online Event
Date: Sunday 25th October 2020
Time: 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm AEST
Cost: FREE Virtual Conference

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Topic: “HEALTHY MIND (watching pornography?)
Episode: 15 (part 3 of 4)

In this episode, we are pleased to have SHEIKH AHMED TALAAT as our guest.
Sheikh Talaat hails from Egypt and he is now based in Gold Coast, Australia.

Send your questions to info@BabasHalalKitchen.com

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The violent assault of a pregnant sister is a wake-up call for all of us 

 

A heavily pregnant woman was not punched and stomped on 15 times in a Sydney café because her attacker had mental health issues. It was not an isolated incident as reported by police. The brazenness of the attack, the intensity of his hatred and total disregard for her relationship to him as a fellow human, is part of an established social phenomenon.

Analysing the characteristics of 349 verified hate incidents in 2016-17, that had been reported to the Islamophobia Register in Australia, the Islamophobia in Australia Report found verbal abuse, physical intimidation and acts of physical violence were happening to women and girls in hijab. But the alarming difference between this study and the similar report from 2 years before it, was a 30% increase in the portion of attacks in public places, in full view of surveillance.
The violent assault of our Muslim sister, who had her life, and the life of her unborn child treated as if it was nothing, led to a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm, resulting in a sentence of 3 years prison. He may be out as early as 2 years into that sentence.

Although he shouted abuse and accused the victim of being responsible for an attack on his mother, because of her religion, a racist technique called ‘collective guilt attribution’, the hate elements to this crime were quietly pushed aside. His anti-Muslim beliefs and hatred may be incoherent, but it was clearly present, and the law needed to recognize it.

He wasn’t charged with a hate crime (because the relevant hate crime offences don’t exist in NSW), and early reports from the family indicate that anti-Muslim hate wasn’t factored into his motivation by the sentencing judge. If this is true, then an injustice has been imposed on this victim and her family.
It must not be passed off as an isolated incident. It was a wake-up call to act on the missing laws that are leaving a whole segment of the Australian community in danger, in their own country.

Muslim Australians are being targeted by brazen and intense public hatred because its a great recruiting tool for racist extremists, and sells news, and there appears to be no legal, commercial or political consequence for it.
Being told to ‘f*** off, you’re not wanted here’ or being cornered with someone yelling that they wished you died in Christchurch, are harrowing experiences that feel like violence, but are not treated as such under law.

If someone says online a ‘good Muslim is a dead Muslim’ they are promoting the idea of violence and making whole communities of people easier to target by removing their humanity. This is called dehumanization and it paves the way to atrocities, even genocide, according to established research. Our laws need to find a way to deter this behaviour.

A litany of online accounts produce hate materials perpetuating that we are a subhuman existential threat, because as the Christchurch terrorist argued, we are ‘breeding’ lots of children as part of a ‘covert religious war’. These ideas are now becoming mainstream – we hear them in shopping centre abuse, like that recorded recently on 7 news where a lady referred to a family’s children as ‘rats’.
The Charles Sturt University study statistically found the vulnerability of victims to be no deterrent. The chief investigator, Dr Derya Iner, drew links between the Christchurch Terrorist’s reference to being triggered by big Muslim families in shopping centres in his manifesto with his ultimate crime of mass murder. It is no coincidence that a pregnant woman was attacked so viciously.

Laws are supposed to act upstream and prevent harm from happening. 
After Christchurch, we thought that would be enough evidence – but our fears are not being heard.

Far right movements have become a reality in other countries. Some countries in Europe ban mosques and religious association for Muslims. Could this never happen in Australia? The last election, the Love it or Leave Australia party had a policy of putting all Muslim boys aged 10-14 in a national profiling program to make sure they don’t become terrorists.

AMAN continues to marshal evidence for its actions with lawmakers and tech companies, but the lived experience of sisters and brothers in our community must be reported to the Islamophobia Register (www.islamophobia.com.au/report/). We must move beyond thinking about ourselves and our families, to thinking about the community and future generations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR   Rita Jabri-Markwell is a Lawyer and Adviser to the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN).

 

 

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Crescents Community News (CCN) or any organizations the author may be associated with.

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UK's Muslim News readers nominated illustrious men, women, children and initiatives deemed worthy of short-listing for a Muslim News Award for Excellence. The nominees were short-listed by an independent panel of judges who reviewed, deliberated and mused over the list.

Over the next weeks, CCN presents a shortlisted candidate who will be treated to a gala evening in the presence of their peers and other renowned guests, when the finalists are announced for the [15] coveted Awards for Excellence.

Dr Saeed Al-Shehabi is a London-based Bahraini, journalist, political activist, and commentator.

He is a regular contributor to print and broadcast media and since 2000 has written a weekly column for Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Saeed is a trustee of the Abrar Islamic Foundation and Dar Al Hekma Trust.

In association with other Muslim activists, he set up The Muslim Unity Forum, which has so far held an annual conference for eleven years in parallel with conferences on Christian–Muslim relations.

Previous endeavours by Saeed include founding the Gulf Cultural Club in 1994 and, along with colleagues, the Muslim Solidarity Committee in 1979.

From 1983 to 1999 Saeed edited the London-based pan-Arabic weekly, Al Aalam.

He has authored a number of academic articles in his specialist engineering field and also a book on the documents held by the UK Foreign Office relating to Bahrain.

source

Serialized - to be continued in next week's CCN.

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Click here for list

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Would you like to see the cover of your favourite book on our book shelves below?

Then simply email the title and author to admin@ccnonline.com.au

CCN's Bookshelf

CCN's favourite books »

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Falafel Burgers

served with Sweet Potato Fries

Mula Nasruddin gets an SMS from his bank:

"Your credit card bill payments are outstanding."

 

 

Mula Nasruddin replies to the SMS:

"Thanks for the compliment."

 

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THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET (pbuh)

Victory

With his position in Medina secured, Muhammad could finally deal with Quraysh on an equal level.

Confident in the stability of the Muslim state and inspired by a recent revelation that promised impending victory, Muhammad set out in 628 with an army of 1,500 towards Mecca.

But this was not an army intent on war.

They were clothed in the simple two-garment outfit of pilgrims, and only carried travelling swords.

No armour, no cavalry and no banners of war were brought along.

Muhammad hoped to gain access to Mecca and the Ka’ba peacefully in order to conduct a pilgrimage.

He camped just outside the borders of Mecca, at Hudaybiyyah, waiting for permission from Quraysh to enter the sacred grounds.

The Meccans, no doubt baffled by the audacity of the Muslims, just six years after their escape from Mecca, had a difficult decision to make.

If they allowed Muhammad and his followers to enter Mecca, they would look weak to other Arab tribes, unable to prevent a barely-armed force from entering their city.

On the other hand, their main role in Mecca was to facilitate the pilgrimage for anyone, a duty they took very seriously.

In the end, they negotiated a treaty with Muhammad.

They agreed to vacate Mecca for three days to allow Muhammad and the Muslims to complete the pilgrimage—the following year.

Muhammad would have to return to Medina that year without having visited his hometown.

Furthermore, a truce was agreed to.

Mecca and Medina (and their affiliated tribes) would refrain from fighting for ten years.

Some Muslims were clearly discontented by the terms of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, having hoped for immediate access to Mecca or even a complete conquest of Quraysh.

To be continued in next week's CCN....

Source: Lost Islamic History by Firas Alkhateeb

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to be continued in next week's CCN......

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PLEASE NOTE

1. All Islamic Event dates given above are supplied by the Council of Imams QLD (CIQ) and are provided as a guide and 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, except for Lailatul Mehraj, Lailatul Bhahraat and Lailatul Qadr - these dates refer to the commencement of the event starting in the evening of the corresponding day.

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Disclaimer

Articles and opinions appearing in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the CCN Team, 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 CCN

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