The Islamic Women’s
Association wishes the whole Muslim Ummah a blessed
and fruitful Ramadan.
We pray to Allah to
purify our intentions and accept our fasting,
prayers and duas.
We ask Allah to
forgive us and have mercy on this Ummah in this
month of forgiveness. Aameen.
Ramadan Kareem to all.
From the team at IWAQ
On the arrival of
auspicious Ramadan Mubarak, we would like to take this
opportunity to wish you and your family, friends and all
entire humanity the blessing and Rahmah of Ramadhan
Mubarak. May Allah grant us the Taufik and Hidayah to
serve the Muslim and their humanity.
Your sincerely,
Imam Abdul Quddoos Al-Azhari
Alhamdulillah! Through the unique but Divine institution
of fasting in Ramadaan, we are able to identify with our
brothers and sisters on the Australian Continent.
We commend
highly the outstanding initiatives and achievements of
the Crescents of Brisbane which seem to be the perfect
binding agent of the Community.
Through
your columns, all of the SANHA family of management,
staff, certified establishments, friends and
well-wishers, we pray that all our Muslim brothers and
sisters have a spiritually uplifting and rewarding
Ramadaan of peace and prayer, Aameen.
Ramadaan
Mubarak.
Was Salaam
EBI Lockhat
For South African National Halaal Authority
The Business Network
Are you of a diverse cultural background or a recent
migrant to Queensland and thinking of
starting a business?
Then why not attend one (or all!) of this series of
custom-developed events:
Cultural Diversity Business Seminar 03 October 2007 - 10:00 AM
Venue: Logan Entertainment Centre, 170 Wembley Rd,
Logan Central, LOGAN CITY QLD 4114
Cost: $0.00 (including GST)
Duration: 3 Hour(s) (Ends: 03 October 2007 @ 12:30 PM)
The seminar includes presentations from culturally
diverse speakers giving first hand practical experience
of how they successfully started and established their
own successful businesses in Queensland. If you are
thinking of establishing your own business or are new in
business, this seminar is for you. You will hear from
migrants who own successful businesses but started with
little or no resources. You will also have the
opportunity to learn about the broad range of services
and programs available to assist business owners and
intenders through the Department of Tourism, Regional
Development and Industry (the old State Development)
" What issues you will need to assess and consider
before starting your business
" How to assess the viability of the proposed business
venture
" How to attract and retain customers
" How to utilise the products and services offered by
the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and
Industry (the old State Development)
Contact:
bruce.millar@sd.qld.gov.au Full details and on-line registration:
Click here
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Cultural Diversity
Business Establishment Workshop - 2
" The importance of marketing and market research
" To understand the importance of business and financial
planning
" To understand the costs associated with starting and
operating business
The workshop will also feature video interviews from six
culturally diverse business owners which share the
benefit of their experiences in setting up and operating
a business.
Muslims
in Australia have a proud history - Pat Dobson
Former
Chair of the Council of Aboriginal Reconciliation,
Pat Dodson, delivered the opening keynote address at the
inaugural Muslim conference hosted by the University of
Western Sydney.
These young Muslim men left their homes
in the Dutch East Indies colonies and came as indentured
workers subject to the whim and discretion of the
European Pearling Masters who controlled the pearl
industry at that time.
They were set to work among the Aboriginal people who
had been black birded by the same Pearling Masters and
forced to free dive from the luggers to the bottom of
the ocean so as to retrieve the highly valued pearl
shells.
"............... the most successful encounter
ever between any two cultures on this continent"
Muslim indentured labour and Aboriginal
slave labour – representatives of two ancient cultures –
the visitor and the land owner suborned to the money
making needs of yet another culture.
This unequal, master/worker experience between Muslims
and the colonial Australian society stands in contrast
to the first encounter between Muslim people and the
Aboriginal Australians an engagement that had occurred
300 years before the arrival of the first pearl lugger
off the North West Coast of Australia and established a
relationship that was to last for three centuries.
It has arguably been the most successful
encounter ever between any two cultures on this
continent.
Two cultures who met to trade and
exchange commerce, two cultures that showed mutual
respect and understanding of each others values,
language, customs and laws.
Two cultures that sustained a co equal
relationship for three centuries without ever having
fought a war, they never sought to establish government
over the other, they traded and engaged in commerce as
business partners and never felt so insecure in their
own culture that they needed to destroy or diminish the
cultural symbols of the other.
"The
greatness of the Muslim societies was
underpinned by the skill of your architects and
engineers, the wisdom of your philosophers, the
words of your great poets, the bravery of your
soldiers and the acumen of your businessmen and
women"
By the end of the 19th century the
colonial authorities in Northern Australia were so
worried about the relationship between the Macassans and
the Arnhemlanders (Yolgnu) and its strength that the
Macassans were banned from northern waters and the trade
between the two cultures was deemed illegal.
Perhaps if the model of engagement
established by the Muslims of Macassa and the Aboriginal
people of Northern Australia had been adopted by the
English when they decided to invade in 1788 then the
history between us all over the past 220 years may have
been a very different story.
The language of the Macassans and the
beautiful trees that they planted over three centuries
are part of the lives of the Aboriginal people of
Arnhemland to this day and the descendants of the Afghan
merchants and camel train drivers are represented in our
parliaments and in commerce and industry throughout
Australia.
But in each case these Muslim communities
and the Aboriginal people have sustained their
relationship.
"Muslims
did not differentiate between their
responsibility to their faith and their worldly
profession.
To behave
ethically and honestly in your trade is a
religious responsibility as well as commercial
good practice"
The nature of engagement by different
Muslims groups in this country has varied a great deal.
By and large the experience has enriched all who chose
to engage. In this country, in recent years our capacity
for engaging and embracing the best aspects of the
cultures and values of different societies has been
sorely tested.
Our multi cultural society built on the
back of tolerance, patience and a capacity to see the
worth of our fellow human being has become a point of
mockery and derision for some in our society. They are
so insecure in their own culture and values that they
cannot abide others who value diversity and difference.
The Muslim Community of this country has
a long and proud history which is simply an extension of
a much longer and greater history going back to a time
when Christian civilizations were on the verge of
collapse and entering a period of their own naming - the
Dark Ages.
The greatness of the Muslim societies was
underpinned by the skill of your architects and
engineers, the wisdom of your philosophers, the words of
your great poets, the bravery of your soldiers and the
acumen of your businessmen and women.
Muslims did not differentiate between
their responsibility to their faith and their worldly
profession. To behave ethically and honestly in your
trade is a religious responsibility as well as
commercial good practice.
"If you
choose the path of assimilation into the
Australian society at the price of your Muslim
identity you will perhaps secure your personal
elevation but then be simply an Australian of
Muslim descent"
So for young Muslims in this country you
have come with some very serious responsibilities to
carry on the traditions of a society and a faith that
has set some very high benchmarks.
Benchmarks established centuries ago but
as relevant to your lives today as they were to your
forebears. These are benchmarks that have seen Muslims
as leaders in every sphere of the arts, the sciences,
law and the humanities for centuries.
A failure by young Muslims in this
country today to defeat intolerance and racism and so
become an underclass excluded for a generation is an
unacceptable outcome for yourselves as individuals but
also for our community.
If you choose the path of assimilation
into the Australian society at the price of your Muslim
identity you will perhaps secure your personal elevation
but then be simply an Australian of Muslim descent.
On the other hand if you are able to take
the path that aligns the values of your society and your
faith with your responsibilities as a citizen then you
have an opportunity to establish yourself as an
Australian Muslim citizen with an amalgam of the best
that these two elements represent.
Muslim Aid Australia
Working Little Wonders in South Africa
Where some of your donations go......
A hot Breyani dish for Iftaar for a few hundred
families in Lavender Hill and Tafelsig on the
first Saturday of Ramadan
What your $15 will buy a family in South Africa.
100 parcels were distributed on the first day of
Ramadan
Six pots a week are needed to extend the Feeding
Scheme to Tafelsig and Lost City
Your $100 could buy this 100 litre pot of tasty
chicken breyani
This Muslim Aid Australia Appeal brochure also has well set out
information and explanations on:
Zakat-ul-Fitr
Fidya
Sadaqah
Simplied Zakat Calculation
Visa gets granted
finally
Author Dr Abdel Bari Atwan was
finally granted a visa to attend the Brisbane Writers
Festival last week and even got to the Sunday taraweeh
Ramadan prayers at the Kuraby Mosque.
United by hunger and
prayer in the month of Ramadan
Gold Coast Mosque Imam
Imraan Husain appears on the cover page of
the Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin Ramadan feature
article along with (L to R) Zainuddeen Husain,
5, Jamel Hadi, 6, and Jaeden Hadi,
9.
In the feature article, Imam Husain
explains how the sacrifice during the month of
Ramadan unites Gold Coast Muslims.
He said most non-Muslims would not realise they were
making the sacrifices made during Ramadan in the course
of their everyday lives.
"The thing about Ramadan is that (by looking at you) the
rest of the community doesn't know what you're doing,"
he said.
"You could be standing next to someone on the bus and
they wouldn't know you haven't eaten so far that day.
"You still go to school, you still go to work, students
still go to university. It is just part of your life.
"It makes you a better person."
He said Ramadan was an obligation.
"There are many spiritual benefits because
you are disciplining yourself to control your desires in
your daily routine," he said.
"It takes perseverance and persistence. It
makes us healthy and it unites the community."
The CCN
Book Club
A new book documents the U.S.
participation in 1979 Mosque Siege.
The wave of Islamist violence that culminated in the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks can be traced to a sunny
November morning almost 28 years ago. Then, hundreds of
Islamist radicals from several countries seized at
gunpoint Islam's holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque of
Mecca, with nearly 100,000 pilgrims inside.
As the rebels turned the mosque's minarets into sniper
nests, Saudi Arabia's shaken royal family imposed a
near-total news blackout, and sent in the troops.
The siege lasted two weeks. Crushing the rebels, who
were led by Saudi preacher Juhayman al Uteybi, required
the use of artillery, heavy armor and poison gas -- as
well as assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency
and French commandos. Hundreds, if not thousands, of
people paid with their lives.
Osama bin Laden -- whose family had constructed much of
the mosque -- has cited the bloodbath as a major reason
for turning against the House of Saud. A new book by
Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent Yaroslav
Trofimov tells the story of this drama, and of the
world-wide upheaval it presaged and reveals how
Americans were involved from the first days of the
crisis -- on both sides of the barricades.
Reviews
“Yaroslav Trofimov has written a spellbinding thriller.
Packed with vivid, previously undisclosed details, it
illuminates a little-known hostage crisis in the
closed-off heart of the Muslim world that helped give
rise to Al Qaeda. Once I started reading, I couldn't put
the book down.”
—Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author of Imperial Life in the
Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
The Symposiums and Expos on Australian
Muslims sponsored by the Department of Families,
Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FACSIA) and
held around the country over the past several months has
culminated with the compilation of the highlights,
statistics and selected stories of achievements from
each of the states and territories.
Well known media personality and
former host of ABC Radio National Sandy McCutcheon will
chair a forum on "Muslim Perspectives and Promises"
at Eidfest on Saturday 27 October.
"We are proud to have Sandy hosting the
forum as he is currently sharing his time between
Morocco and Brisbane", a spokesperson for Eidfest told
CCN.
"He obviously now has first hand
knowledge of Muslim culture and will be providing not
only his insightful view, but also an impartial view",
she added.
The forum will include among others,
Dr Mohammed Abdalla, and Ms. Rashida Joseph
and will commence at 3pm at the Mount Gravatt
Showgrounds.
Sandy McCutcheon was brought up in New Zealand and
moved to Australia in the 1970s. Most of his working
life has been spent in either radio or theatre. He has
worked as an actor and director and has written 22 plays
that have been professionally produced. He is also a
best-selling author.
The restored McCutcheon riad
In his broadcasting career, Sandy has
worked in both commercial and public radio with the
highlights being his time on Double Jay and his present
position as the producer/presenter of Australia Talks
Back heard every weekday around Australia on ABC Radio
National and overseas through ABC Radio Australia. He
also presents and produces a monthly book discussion
program on Radio National called Australia Talks Books.
He has produced radio documentaries in many parts of the
world including Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Malaysia, Singapore,
China, Mozambique, South Africa and North and South
Sudan.
Sandy's novels, "Peace Crimes", "Poison
Tree", "Safe Haven" and "Delicate Indecencies" are all
bestsellers. He has also written two non-fiction titles
and an illustrated children's book called "Blik!". Two
new novels are due out next year.
Sandy and his wife - photojournalist
Suzanna Clarke - own a riad in the old medina of Fez in
Morocco which they use as a writing retreat.
Sandy divides his time during the year
between Brisbane and Morocco.
[Editor] A riad is a house with a garden in the
center, usually with orange and lemon trees (the Arabic
word riad means garden). The garden is sometimes in the
center of the house, and sometimes the house is U-shaped
with the garden on the fourth side.
Have you got The
Message?
The latest
edition of The Message Magazine has just been
released.
This issue's theme is
"Your T.V Guide to Ramadan" and discusses numerous
issues and topics relating to this month, including a
twist on favourite shows such as:
Sunrise
Four Corners
Biggest Loser
Better Homes and Fences
What about Fatima
So you think you can Repent
Prison Break
Getaway
Deal or No Deal
What's good for you?
This is an open invitation to you and
your family to attend the breaking of your fast (Iftaar)
on Saturday 29 September at Algester Mosque.
This is a personal invitation to you from
the following families:
MOULANA NAWAZ & FAMILY
YAHYAH HASHAM & FAMILY
YUNIE OMAR & FAMILY
YUNUS PARUK & FAMILY
MOHAMMED HANIEF YUSUF & FAMILY
OMAR KHAN & FAMILY
DIN MOHAMMED & FAMILY
DADO SACUR & FAMILY
The CCN Cut 'n Paste Media Monitor
$1m Saudi gift to GIRU
UP to $1 million will be pumped by Saudi Arabia into an
Australian university, sparking fears the money will
skew its research and create sympathy for an extremist
Muslim ideology espoused by al-Qai'da.
Muslim leaders and academics have attacked Queensland's
Griffith University for accepting an initial $100,000
grant from the Saudi embassy, which they accused of
having given cash in the past to educational
institutions to improve the perception of Wahhabism - a
hardline interpretation of Islam.
The Australian understands the Griffith Islamic Research
Unit will in coming years receive up to $1 million from
Saudi Arabia, which has injected more than $120 million
into Australia's Islamic community since the 1970s for
mosques, schools, scholarships and clerical salaries.
A DOCUMENT describing
Osama bin Laden as a courageous
"resistance fighter" - used by
authorities to portray Guantanamo
Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib as a
terror threat - has been exposed as
a TAFE assignment written by his
wife.
An investigation by The Weekend
Australian into the allegations
against Mr Habib has revealed that
the terrorism file on him held by
authorities contains handwritten
notes from a presentation given by
his wife, Maha, to her classmates in
1999.
At the time, bin Laden was years
away from ordering the September 11,
2001, attacks on New York and
Washington. But the Saudi terrorist
had already issued fatwas calling on
Muslims to kill the military and
citizens of the US and its allies.
"There is a person that I really
admire & wish that one day my family
& I will get to meet him in person,"
Ms Habib wrote in the introduction
to the speech.
The Habibs have only recently become
aware of the documents, and were
shocked to discover they were
selected paragraphs from a speech Ms
Habib gave in her night-school
course, Communications Skills
Certificate III. Ms Habib still has
the rest of the notes for the
speech, for which she received "very
good" marks from teacher Jan Boyd.
QUEENSLAND really is the place to live.
The Sunshine State is the nation's fastest growing
state, has record low unemployment, a strong economy
and, according to the latest Real Estate Institute
of Queensland median house prices, a very solid property
market.
"Population migration into the Sunshine
Coast is continuing and that is having a positive impact
on prices and sales activity," REIQ Sunshine Coast zone
chair Lloyd Edwards said.
The expat community and skilled migrants
from the United Kingdom and South Africa are also having
an impact on the Sunshine Coast market especially in the
areas where private educational institutions are located
such as Buderim, Sippy Downs and Kawana.
"They are predominantly looking to buy a
home in the $800,000 to $2 million price range," he
said.
The story of devout Muslim and the
greatest goalkicker the game has seen Bulldog star
Hazem el Masri.
Tuesday 08:30 pm Cutting Edge: 9 Star Hotel (SBS)
This film follows a group of Palestinian workers living
in hiding for the past four years in the hills between a
pine forest. We meet Ahmed and Mohammad at a turning
point in their lives, as they are forced into a
premature manhood. The harsh reality cannot take away
their vitality and playfulness. Their responsible role
as providers, their frustration, and their emerging
nationalistic awareness. Around a small bonfire at
night, they sing romantic, at times lusty, love songs
intertwined with political rap. Working illegally in
Israel is the only way for them to put food on their
families' tables. (From Israel, in Arabic and Hebrew)
(Documentary) PG CC
Snap to
it!
Entries for the 2007/08 Premier's
Multicultural Photographic Awards are now open.
Your chance to win a total of $25,000!
Entries close 14 November.
The Premier’s Multicultural Photographic
Awards seek entries which respond to the theme ‘New
Beginnings’.
This could be portrayed in a variety of
settings and scenarios, for example:
moving into a new home
starting at a new school, or in a new work environment
meeting new people and making new friends
facing challenges of everyday life in a new environment
assisting refugees/immigrants to settle into their new
lives
linking the past with the present
showing a new element or benefit brought about by
cultural diversity.
Reports of the demise of Nelson Mandela
are highly exaggerated despite what the leader of the
free world might have to say on the subject.
In yet another embarrassing gaffe US
President George W Bush alluded to the former South
African leader's death in an attempt to explain
sectarian violence in Iraq.
"It's out there. All we can do is reassure people,
especially South Africans, that President Mandela is
alive," Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the
Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush's comments
received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his
administration's Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it
impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the
sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern
nation.
I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?'
Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all
the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal
faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington.
ECCQ wishes to give
people from ethnic communities, the multicultural sector
and anyone interested in multiculturalism a chance to
hear the policies of the parties contesting the federal
election.
We have invited all the major parties to address a forum
on Friday, October 5, 6pm to 9pm at the Colossus Hall,
21 Jane St, West End.
We will send out further information once the speakers
are confirmed.
Your informed vote is important so please mark your
diaries to come to this important election forum.
If you are not enrolled to vote it is important to enrol
now as the roll closes at 8pm on the day the election is
called - forms are available at all post offices.
We hope you can make it.
This is also an Anti-Poverty Week Event so make your
vote count
Q: I normally swim on a daily basis,
but cut back significantly during winter
and now of course with Ramadan I'm not swimming at all.
Kareema, what can I do in lieu of
this?
A: A rowing machine will be great for you because it
works both upper and lower body (as swimming does).
If you're lucky enough to have one at home, try rowing
for at least 20 - 30 minutes daily.
The other alternative would be the cross-trainer, which
gives you the 'upper body' option.
Remember, if you don't have any equipment at home, you
can always WALK - it's the cheapest and easiest way to
keep fit!!!
All questions sent in are published here
anonymously and without any references to the author of
the question.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHINESE CHILLI CHICKEN
Ingredients:
½ kg chicken fillet – cubed
1 ½ tsp chillie garlic paste
1 tablespoon pepper steak spice
2 tablespoons steers garlic sauce
1 tsp salt
¼ cup lemon juice
TOMATO SAUCE
MIXTURE:
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoon butter
Method:
• Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients and
leave aside for 1 hour
• Cook on low until chicken is tender
• Combine sauce ingredients together and cook on low
heat until sauce boils
• Add tomato sauce mixture to the chicken and cook on
low heat
• Serve with spring onion pancakes
Source:
Radio Islam Newsletter - Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Do you have a recipe to share with
CCN readers?
Send in your favourite recipe to
theteam@crescentsofbrisbane.org and who
knows, you could be our "guest chef" for a future
edition of CCN.
The CCN Chuckle
Mula Nasruddin and
his wife Mumtazin were having problems at home and
were giving each other the silent treatment.
Suddenly, Mula Nasruddin
realized that the next day, he would need Mumtazin to
wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning caravan trip to
the city.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and
LOSE), Mula Nasruddin wrote on a piece of paper, "Please
wake me at 5:00 AM "
He left it where he
knew Mumtazin would find it.
The next morning, Mula Nasruddin
woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had
missed the caravan.
Furious, he was
about to go and see why Mumtazin hadn't wakened
him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed.
The
best ideas and the best feedback come from our community
of readers. If you have a topic or opinion that you want
to write about or want seen covered or any news item
that you think might be of benefit to the Crescents
Community please e-mail
Share
your thoughts, feelings and ambitions for our community
through CCN.
If
there is someone you know who would like to subscribe to
CCN please encourage them to send an e-mail to
theteam@crescentsofbrisbane.org with the words
“Subscribe Me” in the subject line.
Disclaimer
Articles and opinions appearing in this newsletter do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Crescents of
Brisbane team, CCN, its Editor or its Sponsors,
particularly if they eventually turn out to be libelous,
unfounded, objectionable, obnoxious, offensive,
slanderous and/or downright distasteful.
It is the usual policy of CCN to include
from time to time, notices of events that some readers
may find interesting or relevant. Such notices are often
posted as received. Including such messages or providing
the details of such events does not necessarily imply
endorsement of the contents of these events by either CCN
or Crescents of Brisbane
Zakat-ul-Fitr
MOULANA NAWAZ & FAMILY
Might-Be-Worth-Recording-and-Watching-after-Ramadan.......
Monday 08:00 pm Australian Story (ABC)
Entries for the 2007/08 Premier's
Multicultural Photographic Awards are now open.
moving into a new home 
