Planning for the 5th Annual Fun Walk, the Crescents of Brisbane's CresWalk2008 is well underway for Sunday 18 May.

If you would like to sponsor the event and get you company logo on the famous CresWalk T-shirts email theteam@crescentsofbrisbane.org or call 0402 026 786 to discuss your options.

BRICK LANE

At the tender age of seventeen, Nazneen's life is turned upside down. After an arranged marriage to an older man, she exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London's East End. In this new world, pining for her home and her sister, she struggles to make sense of her existence – and to do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated ideas (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance.

 
Told from birth that she must not fight her fate, Nazneen submits, devoting her life to raising her family and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until the day that Karim, a hot-headed local man, bursts into her life.

Against a background of escalating racial tension, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to take control of her life. Set in multicultural Britain, Brick Lane is a truly contemporary story of love, cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit.

Trailer

Brick Lane is currently showing at the Dendy Portside and Palace Centro and the book by author Monica Ali has been featured on CCN's Book Club Shelves (below) for several months.

Visiting Shaykh Abbas Ali will deliver a series of lectures in Brisbane (see the CCN Date Claimer below for details) and the Gold Coast Mosque (Jumma 28 March) as a guest of Mawlana Imran Hussain and Shakyh Shazad Khan.

Shaykh Ali is here in Queensland from South Africa currently attending the Ijtima at the Darra Mosque.

He has lived in Perth in the past and is the founder of the famous Australian Islamic College there.

Shaykh Ali serves as an advisor to many Islamic School Boards around the world.

He is a well travelled man having delivered talks in a number of countries.

By Fahim Khondaker

Bald Hills Maddrassah’s inaugural event was held on Sunday, the 16^th of March.

Parents, friends and ulama gathered at the Bald Hills Masjid in support of the students of the maddrassah.

Moulana Akram Buksh of Kuraby Masjid, conducted the event admirably as the master of ceremonies.

The performances by students ranged across various categories, including qiraat (Quran recitation), nasheeds (Islamic songs), speeches and even a play, which was an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood – all of which was extremely well received by the audience.

Guest performances included a wonderful nasheed by the students of Kuraby Maddrassah, and two eloquent speeches, which were delivered by Dr Mohammad Abdullah and Moulana Uzair of Griffith University and Holland Park Masjid respectively.

Other highlights of the day included an unique menu which was undoubtedly a crowd favourite, and children’s entertainment.

The main meal included a delectable Malaysian lamb curry, served on a bed of rice with fried chicken as a side.

Free fairy floss, a jumping castle, merry-go-round and a gigantic inflatable slide ensured that the children enjoyed their day too.

Bald Hills Maddrassah would like to thank everyone for their attendance, as well as those who gave generous donations, during the planning stages, to make this event possible.

Particular mention must be made of the parents of our students, and our sponsors: Bracken Ridge Halal Meats, Nando’s Mt Gravatt, ABD Chicken and Everyday Tree Lopping – thank you for your support.

The South Sydney Community Centre is a project established to create mentorship and support for disadvantaged youth in the local area.

The centre now has a fully equipped gymnasium for personal training specific to Rugby League performance enhancement.

According to Abdul Rahman Allam and South Sydney Community Centre Program Manager Adam Bowden this project has been made possible through the generous contributions from the Queensland Muslim community and in particular the TAQCWA committee which promoted and supported the project from its inception.

Rugby League is the most popular sport and pastime among the youth of the South Sydney area, particularly the indigenous population.

Sandamarra McGuinness of the Githabul tribe, from the QLD/NSW border, is one of the many success stories of the centre. “Sandy”, as he is known in the area, a now a role model of sobriety, faith and leadership within the Redfern Aboriginal community through Rugby League and the South Sydney Community Centre.

The Redfern Community Centre is also utilized by a private school, offering personal development programs.

Free tuition is conducted for basic skills such as computer and typing.

For specialised skills students are encouraged to pursue training at the TAFE college in carpentry, electric, plumbing, engineering etc.

Job seeking is facilitated by working together with employment agencies.

Arrangements are being pursued to conduct rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse.

Federal Member for Moreton Graham Perrett invites the Brisbane Southside community to participate in a local 2020 summit, ahead of the Australia 2020 summit.

Mr Perrett and Griffith University will host the summit on 5 April 2008 at Griffith University Nathan Campus to ensure the best local ideas are collected and included in the national process.

Mr Perrett said it was important that local families, business owners, community groups, young people and senior citizens were involved.

“We will achieve the best ideas for our country’s future by including as many people as possible in the conversation,” he said.

“We all have an important role to play in contributing our own ideas and our own perspectives.

“I would urge anyone from the Moreton community to come along and make sure your voice is heard.

“We want to harness and harvest your great ideas to make Moreton and the rest of Australia a better place into the future.

The local summit will discuss the same ten key areas as Australia 2020 – the productivity agenda, the nation’s infrastructure, our environment, our farmers, healthcare, Indigenous Australians, the arts, national security, improving the system of government and strengthening our communities.

The outcomes of our local summit will be formally submitted to the national Summit for consideration in the discussion.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will convene the Australia 2020 summit in Canberra late in April, bringing together some of the best and brightest brains from across the country to tackle our long-term challenges.
 

It will follow a program of school summits to be held around the country, which will give the nation’s youngest citizens a direct say in the Australia of the future.

The topics that will be covered are:

1. The Australian Economy – Human capital
2. The Australian Economy – Economic infrastructure
3. Sustainability and Climate Change
4. Rural Australia
5. Health
6. Communities and Families
7. Indigenous Australia
8. Creative Australia
9. Governance
10. Australia's Future in the World


Moreton 2020 Summit

When: 1.30 pm, Saturday 5 April 2008

Where: Griffith University Nathan Campus

To register, contact the Office of Graham Perrett on 3344 2622 or graham.perrett.mp@aph.gov.au.

Registration form

Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tom Calma, welcomed proposed federal government initiatives which aim to take a more socially-inclusive approach to help address the complex issues faced by many Muslim Australians.

Commissioner Calma said a revival of the Council for Multicultural Australia, as well as a new-look Muslim advisory body that would feature leaders and role models from a cross-section of ethnic backgrounds and focus on everyday Muslim Australians, would be a positive step.

“The level of social alienation faced by many Australian Muslim people, particularly young Muslims, has to be turned around,” said Commissioner Calma.  “Racist, religious or cultural hatred directed towards any member of the community is a breach of human rights and is absolutely unacceptable,”

Commissioner Calma referred to the concerns covered in a 4 Corners television program last week which focused on the need to promote social inclusion, multiculturalism and zero tolerance to racism in order to avoid the continuing alienation of young Muslims.

“Ongoing fear and misinformation in the wider community remains a major threat to social harmony,” said Mr Calma.

“Social inclusion measures are likely to be much more successful at protecting the community from violence than many of the tough security initiatives advocated under the ‘war on terror’.

“Failure to take action to improve social inclusion and combat racism will only fuel frustration within Muslim communities and continue to reinforce discriminatory perceptions of threats to national security among non-Muslim communities.”

Mr Calma noted that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has been working for several years to form strong partnerships between Muslim communities, NGOs, universities and government agencies in an effort to build awareness and engagement with Muslim communities.

“We require whole-of-government and whole-of-community approaches to building community capacity, cross-community and cross-cultural respect and social inclusion,” said Mr Calma.

“The HREOC approach, mixing ‘coal-face’ community partnership projects, with human rights education resources, research, and communications is an important model that complements this targeted approach to working with communities.”

“For these initiatives to work, we require a major rethink on security and social inclusion, which this government appears to be working hard to achieve,” said Mr Calma. 

Ms. Janette Hashemi conducted a workshop on 'The negative effects of religious extremism on interfaith harmony and how to combat them' at the MultiFaith Centre, Griffith University, Asia/Pacific Interfaith Conference on 24th February, 2008.

She covered the 20th century genocides including Bosnia, then Christian extremism in USA, Islamic extremism, Catholic/Protestant in Ireland and the Hindu massacre of Muslims.  

Concentrating further on Islamic extremism Ms Hashemi read quotes from Shaikh Zaid Shakir and Shaikh Abdul Hakim Murad on the damage to the religion of Islam from extremism. 

She followed this with a talk about the negative effects on community harmony highlighting the protests in Camden over the proposed Islamic school and the negative effect on interfaith relations. 

The historical examples of religious harmony she gave included Muslims of Tibet, Muslims in China, Christians and Jews living in Spain and Turkey, and Muslims and Buddhists in S. E. Asia.

A plea from Shajaroh Amath

Last year, over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses turned off their lights for Earth Hour.  

Earth Hour, which began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, is now a global environmental movement that will see millions of people turn off non-essential lighting.

Earth Hour will roll through 14 time zones, starting in New Zealand and ending in the Pacific Time Zone. It will pass through more than 25 cities.

So on Saturday, 29 March at 8pm, for one hour, AMARAH encourages you to turn off your lights!  Taking action isn’t at all difficult! 

It can be as simple as turning off a mobile phone charger when not in use, switching off the television or CD player at the wall, rather than leaving it on stand-by, turning off unused lights or making sure office and home computers are completely shut down. 

Remember that we are all responsible for producing greenhouse gas emissions.  We can easily do our part to make a small difference.

As of 18 March, over 10,000 businesses and 136,000 individuals have indicated their intention to participate at earthhour.org. 

Will that include you, too? 

For more info contact AMARAH at info@amarah.org.

The Holand Park Mosque originated in 1908. This year marks the Centenary Year.
 
The Management Committee is planning a really special Centenary Celebration on a date to be fixed, before Ramadhan.
 
The Management Committee is holding a special meeting for all those interested to provide input, into how the celebrations will be held.
 
Everyone is invited, and if anyone has any special photos or anything of interest about the Mosque, to come to this special meeting.


EVENT:  PLANNING HOLLAND PARK MOSQUE CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
 

VENUE:  HOLLAND PARK MOSQUE
 
DATE  :  SUNDAY 30th MARCH
 
TIME  :  11.00 am.
 

'He is under water diving, it's his work ... he can't leave his job undone...but he can't lose the fajr....so he prayed underwater'

Islamic Posters at http://www.islamicposters.co.uk/ will prepare a poster for you for free if you need an English poster to promote an event.
 

The website is dedicated to designing posters, for the purpose of Islamic Dawaah and Islamic Education for members of a Mosque, Charity or Dawaah Organisation in any country.

Q: Dear Kareema, I’m a working mum in the 40 – 50 year age bracket and work out at least 3 days a week. I’m still struggling with my waistline though, why is it that?

 

A: TAKE THE ‘LIFT’ - Studies have shown that lifting weights can slow the ‘middle-age spread’.

Women who strength trained twice a week decreased their body fat by 3.7%, while the cardio exercise group saw very little change.

Plus, the lifters gained less intra-abdominal fat (the stuff that surrounds organs and is linked to heart disease).
 

Like I said last week, Strength training builds muscle that burns kilojoules from fat stores all day long!! Combining or including both cardio and strength as part of your exercise regime will see you achieve results much faster...
 

Ladies – WE DO NOT BULK UP LIKE MEN DO!! DON’T BE SCARED TO LIFT WEIGHTS....

 

Kareema

My Health and Fitness

Tel: 0404 844 786

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Need an answer to a fitness related matter? Send your question to Kareema at  fitness@crescentsofbrisbane.org.