......a sometimes
self-deprecating and occasional tongue-in-cheek look at ourselves and
the world around us ......
Sunday, 8 March 2009
.Newsletter
0226
News you won't find on CNN!
Queensland Muslim Community Bush
Fire Appeal Raises over $10K
The Victoria Bush Fire
Appeal reached slightly short of
the $12 000 mark yesterday with
donations that included
contribution from the
staff and students of the Australian
International Islamic
College, the KurabyandGold
Coast Mosques, Crescents of
Brisbane, Hope for
Happiness, the Queensland
Muslim Welfare Association,
Queensland Muslim Times, and
many other individuals,
organizations and
businesses who preferred to
remain anonymous.
Pakistan-born novelist Nadeem Aslam in Brisbane this
week
There
aren't many novelists who'll
confess to deciding the
direction of their literary
career on the toss of a
coin.
But Pakistan-born British
novelist Nadeem Aslam
likes to tell people he did
exactly that.
After his award-winning
first novel, Season of
Rainbirds, he says, he had
two novels inside him,
bursting to get out: one a
story set in Afghanistan,
the other about a Pakistani
community in an English
town.
"The Afghanistan story was
important to me, because I
would not be here in the
West if it weren't for
Afghanistan.
I was now living in the West
in an immigrant
neighbourhood and certain
things were happening within
that community the Muslims
were finding it difficult to
fit into the host society
and that to me seemed like
an urgent matter as well ...
and so I tossed a coin and
then began writing my
immigrant novel, which 11
years later became Maps for
Lost Lovers."
Lauded for its prescience as
well as for the lyrical way
it distilled beauty and
sadness on to the page, Maps
for Lost Lovers explored the
tensions within a
working-class Pakistani
community in a northern
English town in the wake of
a double honour killing.
It won him a swag of prizes
and a long-listing for the
2004 Booker Prize.
But all during long years
writing it, Aslam kept a
notebook on events in
Afghanistan and immediately
it was finished began
writing The Wasted Vigil,
his much acclaimed recent
novel.
The Wasted Vigil (reviewed
below in the CCN Readers'
Bookclub) is so much
more than a catalogue of
recent horrors in
Afghanistan. It is that rare
novel that speaks to the
human soul as potently as it
does to the global moment. A
novel of such visual beauty
it brings to mind Ondaatje's
The English Patient.
For Aslam, The Wasted Vigil
is like his previous books,
very much a novel about
love. Yet it is also a
continuation of previous
concerns in that it is an
attempt to illuminate what
he believes to be "the key
battle in the world,
perhaps, at the moment, the
battle between the moderates
and the militants which was
going on before 9/11".
He describes 9/11 as "a
spectacular manifestation of
that thing that was already
happening in the world. You
might say, that I would
still be writing the books
I'm writing if 9/11 hadn't
happened, because I was
articulating something
within my own culture and
within my own religion, that
was already happening
quietly.
But now the world knows
about it."
He recalls a fundamentalist
uncle who, as he described
in an essay "God and Me"
published in Granta, would
wait for his sister, Aslam's
mother, with a cane to beat
her for attending devotional
music for a type of Islam,
he points out, "that he did
not believe [in], the kind
that Saudi Arabia does not
support. He appears on the
pages of my very first
novel, Season of Rainbirds.
He takes toys from
children's hands and he
breaks them and he hands
them back, because toys are
idols. My uncle used to do
that to us, and yet there
were other uncles who
actually would buy us toys,
so I was aware of these
tensions, long before the
world became aware of it."
He notes, "Thirty years ago,
my uncle had links with the
same mosque [in Leeds,
England] where those boys
who blew themselves up on
the London Underground later
became radicalised."
Aslam was 14 when his family
fled persecution by General
Zia ul-Haq in 1982 and
settled in Huddersfield,
North Yorkshire, the model
for the town in Maps for
Lost Lovers.
His family and their friends
were among those who voiced
concerns about the long-term
consequences of the weapons
and money the United States
lavished on Islamic
fundamentalists at that
time, to help defeat the
Soviets and shore up Zia's
regime.
"Some of them ended up in
hospital, some of them ended
up in the graveyards, and
some of them ended up
abroad, so my links with
these issues go very deep."
Indeed, one of the things he
wanted to explore in writing
The Wasted Vigil was
"whether it was possible for
a superpower to go into a
smaller, weaker country,
play its geopolitical games,
then withdraw and expect
there not to be any
consequences.
And I hope I proved that,
no, you can't. In many
ways," he adds, "I wanted to
write it because I thought
that Afghanistan had been
forgotten. Now this sounds
like a very strange thing to
say, because Afghanistan is
in the news every single
day.
But it's in the news every
day for what it is doing to
the rest of the world. So
many American soldiers have
died there, so many Canadian
soldiers, so many NATO
soldiers.
But what the world did to
Afghanistan over the past 30
years seems to be news to
most people."
But he also wanted to
celebrate the beauty of this
world, and ascribes the
lyricism and intense visual
imagery of his writing to
his ambitions to become a
painter, as well as to his
desire to give life to his
father's thwarted ambitions
to become a poet. Indeed,
his father appears in all
his novels as the great
Pakistani poet Wamaq Saleem.
But Aslam wanted to go a
step further than mere
lyricism in The Wasted
Vigil, where the five rooms
of Marcus's half-ruined
house symbolise the senses.
"What I was trying to say is
that we have been given this
instrument called a human
body with which to explore
the world, and it is a thing
of delight here and now, as
opposed to living this life
in a marginal way or
thinking of this life as
something marginal and that
the real life is waiting for
us after death.
My commitment is to the here
and now." For Aslam, even
non-political writing, is
political. "For me it's
about feeling a certain
responsibility toward the
world I live in, and if the
darkness is there it must be
acknowledged." He believes
too that he, like all
moderate Muslims, must speak
up for a moderate Islam.
"The Taliban said that only
one book was allowed and I
wanted to have a house in
which the books were nailed
to the ceiling, so that
there is a constant literary
rain throughout the novel,
so that when the books fall
to the ground and the
characters pull out the
nails there's a hole through
them and then they read
whatever it is.
I wanted to say that I don't
want to live in a world
where the Koran is the only
book ."
And if the book is painful
to read in places, he adds,
imagine how difficult these
things must have been to
live through?
"As Toni Morrison said, 'If
they can live it, I can
write it', and I would say
that if they can live it we
can read it. I think as
writers and artists we can
keep a quiet ledger of the
world's faults. I don't know
if anyone heeds those
warnings but at least on my
deathbed," says Aslam,
"I would know that I did all
I could in trying to roll
back some of the ugliness in
the world."
The Islamic Society of
Algester will be celebrating
the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal
MEELAD-UN-NABI (SAW) on
the 10th of March Tuesday
evening after salaatulEshaa.
The programme will commence
at 8:00 pm with Salaatul
Eshaa, followed by
recitations of Hamd and Naat
and a speech from one of our
guest Ulema.
For more information, please
contact Ml. M. Nawaaz
Ashrafi on 37116097 or
Ml. M. Aslam on
0431620629
Rihal
Programme
The Rihla programme is
organized by the Deen
Intensive Foundation on a
yearly basis.
The programme affords
students the opportunity to
learn directly from scholars
such as Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
and Imam Zaid Shakir and is
usually held in the holy
cities of Makkah and Medinah.
This year’s Rihla will be
held in Baltimore, Maryland
in the United States and an
Australian contingent is
expected to partake in this
programme in joining
students from the US, UK and
Canada.
Confirmed teachers are:
• Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah
• Imam Zaid Shakir
• Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
• Ustadh Yahya Rhodus
Jimad Khan Record sets for NZ's Biggest Ever Cricket Hit
Jimad Khan from
Wellington set the first
ever record for the biggest
cricket hit in New Zealand,
smashing the ball an amazing
98.27 metres.
Khan who plays cricket for
Onslow Cricket Club, is now
an official New Zealand
Cricket record holder, says
he was thrilled to take out
the winning title in the
State BIG HITS competition.
“Going up against a Jacob
Oram and Ian Butler was
extremely nerve racking, I
just smashed the ball as
hard as I could and was
stoked to win on the day” he
says.
The record was set at the
final of State BIG HITS a
three-week nationwide search
for New Zealand’s biggest
hitter. Taking part in the
ultimate show-down to make
the biggest cricket hit in
the country were six members
of the public (regional
finalists) against Ian
Butler from the State Otago
Volts, and top BLACKCAP
batsman Jacob Oram.
Peter Dwan, New Zealand
Cricket Commercial Manager,
says the joint venture
between New Zealand Cricket
and State was not just about
setting a record but
showcasing the best from
cricketers and members of
the public all around the
country.
“Whether you’re playing
cricket competitively, for a
club or in the back yard
cracking a big hit is always
a big adrenalin rush.
“Today’s competition proved
there are a lot of Kiwis out
there who can really smash a
cricket ball and setting a
New Zealand Cricket record
makes it official” he says.
Throughout the competition,
all hits were measured using
technology from Duffill
Watts surveyors.
Suffering from a root canal
last week Ms Debbie Dunne
headed off to her medical
centre in a regional
Queensland town to have it
fixed but was surprised her
dentist Dr. Mohammed didn't
charge her.
In return for the
consultation he requested
she give to those rebuilding
their lives following the
Victorian bushfires.
Ms Dunne said she happily
donated $100. "I thought,
what a lovely man. I was
very surprised, very
pleased."
Note: Names in this story
have been changed to protect
the modest.
Muslim
pug agrees to drug test
A
LIFE-defining chat with
Bulldogs star Hazem El Masri
has helped inspire
controversial Muslim boxer
Omar Shaick (pictured
right) to resume his
career as a pro.
The champion amateur caused
a stir in mid-2006 when he
elected to accept a two-year
ASADA ban rather than expose
his genitals for a urine
sample, claiming that his
religion prevented him from
doing so.
Shaick was poised to appeal
in the Court of Arbitration
for Sport, but suddenly quit
boxing in early 2007. He
began a plumbing
apprenticeship and gave up
training altogether, but
regained his hunger for the
sport when his ban ended
last September.
It was then he turned to El
Masri for advice on how to
resolve religion and the
requirements of the
World-Anti Doping Authority,
which demands that all
athletes must submit to drug
tests in full view of the
sample collector.
"He wanted to know how I go
about it and asked me for
some advice," El Masri said.
"I told him that the tests
are something I have to go
through up to five times a
year and that our religion
is flexible on things that
are necessary.
"For example, people can
break their fast (for
Ramadan) if they are elderly
or ill. There's no black and
white rules. It's the same
for athletes - they don't
have to give up their
careers for something like
this.
"I've found that most
testers are understanding.
It can be done in a discreet
way."
The boxer did not answer
calls last night, but
trainer Chris McCullen said
his charge had overcome his
stance against being watched
while providing a sample.
"It's still not something he
feels comfortable doing, but
when the time comes he
will," McCullen said.
"Omar was only young at the
time and there was a lot of
confusion back then."
Shaick will make his return
at light-heavyweight over
four rounds against Ryan
Coppick in Brisbane on 13
March.
Al Kawthar Publications in
the United States has
developed a software called
SABA which teaches various
aspects of the Quran and
teachings within the Quran.
It includes memorization,
etiquette, games stories
etc. You can check out a
demo at
www.SABACDS.com.
ANIC
Supports Fundraising for Victorian Bushfire Survivors
Executive members of the
Australian National Imams
Council (ANIC) met at the
Ummah Centre in Sydney for a
bi-monthly meeting which
focused on the Victorian
bushfire victims.
The Mufti of Australia,
Fehmi Naji El–Imam led
an invocation, asking Allah
to ease the suffering of the
Victorian bushfire
survivors, members were
requested to work with their
communities for fund raising
initiatives.
Imam of the Gold Coast
Mosque, Imraan Husain said
he encouraged the Jum’ah or
Friday congregation to give
generously, leading to
approximately three thousand
dollars donated.
‘Supporting the victims of
the bushfire in Victoria is
not only our duty but
privilege’, said Sheikh
Imraan Husain.
President of ANIC,"
Sheikh Moez Nafti said.
"Muslims are part of
Australian society and are
obliged to assist fellow
Australians in their time of
need."
Numerous Muslim
organisations Australia-wide
organised fund raising
drives after ‘Black
Saturday’ but fires still
continue to burn throughout
Victoria.
Imam Imraan Husain
ANIC Secretary
Stand
Up: Muslim-American Comics Come Of Age
ABC 2 TV: 8:30pm Wednesday,
11 Mar 2009
ABC PROMO:
A provocative and hilarious
look at five Arab-American
comedians working the
stand-up circuit in the wake
of 9-11.
When people of Middle
Eastern origin were advised
to lay low, these men and
women all chose to stand
up... and crack jokes.
Each comic is at a different
point in their career but
they are all striving for
the same goal: to break
through the typecasting and
achieve mainstream comedy
success.
Their work environment,
however, is far from ideal.
From false arrests and death
threats to audience walkouts
and backstage
confrontations, each of the
comedians faces challenges
from both the mainstream
society and the Muslim
community.
Loaded with performance
footage, this is an
inspiring look at what it
takes to make people laugh -
and have a chuckle yourself
- in the face of adversity.
SBS
Dateline Tonight
A Survivor's Tale
Sunday, 8 March, 2009
SBS PROMO:
Just three weeks ago, the
Defence Department revealed
Australian troops were
involved in a fire-fight in
Afghanistan.
Out of at least six people
killed in the battle, five
were children.
This week Dateline brings
you an exclusive interview
with the family of those
children, who claim it
happened without warning or
provocation.
Find out more this Sunday,
8:30pm on Dateline.
Public
forum on the Israeli-Palestine Conflict
A rare
opportunity to listen to one of the most
respected academics on 'the best prospect
for peace' in this region in the Middle
East.
Muslim
team to debut for Souths Magpies
SHARED values ... Moustafa
Allouche, Ramzan Mohammed and
Khodr Baki. Picture: Derek
Moore
THE famous Southern
Suburbs Magpies will take on
a distinctive Muslim flavour
in the Brisbane Second
Division Rugby League
competition.
The club where Queensland
State of Origin legend Mal
Meninga began his senior
career in 1978, has embraced
a team made up almost
entirely of Muslims who want
to play rugby league while
observing the traditions of
their faith.
Souths chairman Haisam
Allouche said some players
feared their customs and
traditions might look out of
place in other dressingrooms
and were keen to form their
own team.
Allouche, a former Souths
and Wynnum-Manly player,
said the team was made up
largely of players from the
now defunct Islamic Rugby
League, including his
younger brother, Stephen.
"There isn't much difference
to any other league side,"
Allouche said. "It's not as
if the players are going to
stop mid-match for a prayer,
although there will be
prayers before and after the
match.
"But things like short
shorts are not really
acceptable for Muslims, so
we have had special longer
shorts made. And getting
naked in the dressing room
in front of the other
players is also something
that is frowned upon."
Souths player Khodr Baki
said he felt more
comfortable playing league
with teammates who
understood the requirements
of their religion.
Second Division chairman
Mick Tierney said his league
had no objection to a Muslim
team, particularly as the
competition had admitted
Greek Orthodox and Christian
Outreach sides in previous
seasons and also featured
indigenous sides.
A total of 84 teams from 50
clubs will contest the
various grades in Second
Division this year.
When the phrase ‘anger
management’ is mentioned,
images of a psychologist on
a leather recliner are
evoked but at Kingston Park
raceway, male Muslims youth
were counselled about
controlling their anger in
accordance with Islamic
traditions.
Over 30 young Muslim men
attended the ‘Take a Chill
Pill’ session hosted by
Muslim Youth Services,
encouraging the men to
imitate how Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) managed his anger.
Imam of Logan Mosque,
Ahmed Ghazaleh mentioned
the restraint of Prophet
Muhammad when he entered
Mecca unopposed, endowing
amnesty to his tormenters;
mercy as an example of anger
management.
Another
example from the Prophet's
life highlighted by Imam
Ghazaleh was an incident
when a poet defamed him;
angering his companions, and
the Prophet calmed them down
by showing his indifference
to the poetry.
Boystown youth worker,
Ali Ghafoor also spoke
to the boys about the
consequences of mismanaged
anger.
Muslim Youth services
community development
officer, Riyad Rahimullah
said anger management is
part of Islam that could
assist the boys with their
behaviour at school and
encourage them to be
inclusive members of
society.
Brisbane State High School
student, Imraan Omar
said he plays competitive
sport that can create
tension between players and
lead to moments when other
people’s emotions could
affect him.
‘I though this [session]
would help me manage my
anger if I do get angry on
the sports field’, he said.
Imraan Omar said he
experienced offensive racist
and anti-Muslim comments off
the sports field but kept
things in perspective by
dealing with the situation
and not allowing Islam or
himself to be disrespected.
‘Other people [should] end
up with a good impression of
us than a negative one’, he
said.
After the presentations, the
boys performed Dhur
or midday prayers in
congregation, followed by
lunch.
For the remainder of the
day, they raced each other
in go carts, hopefully minus
the road rage!
UK Policewomen
[CCN Editor] Hot on the heels of
The Bill can The Bibi be far behind?
\
Little
Mosque on the Prairie: Season 3 Episode 4
The Ties that Blind
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Around the Muslim
World with CCN
Sheikh says ethanol bio
fuel use prohibited by Islam
An
Islamic scholar in Saudi Arabia said using ethanol
or other alcohol-derived fuels in vehicles may be a
sin for Muslims.
Sheik Mohamed al-Najimi (pictured left) of
the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy told Saudi
newspaper Shams that the prophet Mohammed banned
alcohol for all uses -- including buying, selling,
carrying and manufacturing, Al-Arabiya reported
Friday.
Najimi said Muslims who use biofuel, which is made
from fermented plants, in their cars are violating
the ban since the substance "is basically made up of
alcohol."
The cleric, who said his statements represented only
his personal opinion and not an official fatwa,
called for further study of the issue by Islamic
religious bodies.
Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed off stage at
the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, earning
him praise throughout the Islamic world. Is Ankara
moving away from its Western course in favor of
courting Muslim nations?
There
are roles that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan commands with flying colors. There is
the Erdogan who is filled with concern for his
people, a man who plays the role of the forgiving
father. This Erdogan recently visited a repentant
barber who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy
in Saudi Arabia and was eventually pardoned. The
prime minister picked up the man's young son and
gave him a toy car.
And then there is the Erdogan who plays the
protective brother. He is a man who takes his people
by the hand and gives it new direction in difficult
times. That was the Erdogan who flew to Germany last
year after nine Turkish immigrants had died in a
house fire in the southern city of Ludwigshafen.
Speaking to 18,000 Turks in Cologne, Erdogan warned
them against "assimilation," calling it a "crime
against humanity."
Indonesia holds yoga
festival despite Muslim fatwa
JAKARTA (AFP) - An
eight-day
international yoga
festival opened
Tuesday on the
Indonesian holiday
island of Bali
despite a fatwa
against the exercise
from the country's
top Muslim body.
Organisers said
seminars and
workshops would help
introduce yoga to a
wider audience and
rejected the
clerics' concerns
that some forms of
the popular exercise
were a threat to
Islam.
"The festival has a
universal value. It
doesn't belong to
any religious
teachings,"
International
Bali-India Yoga
Festival spokeswoman
Susi Andrini told
AFP.
Yoga, an ancient
Indian aid to
meditation dating
back thousands of
years, is a popular
form of physical
exercise and stress
relief in Indonesia.
But the Indonesian
Council of Ulemas,
the top religious
body in the mainly
Muslim country,
issued a fatwa in
January banning
Indonesian Muslims
from all forms of
yoga that involve
Hindu religious
rituals such as
chanting mantras.
It said performing
yoga purely for the
physical benefits
was however
acceptable.
Muslim bride 'tricked'
into marriage as Family Court rules it void
A MUSLIM woman tricked into an arranged marriage
presided over by her local imam has had it annulled
by the Family Court of Australia.
She thought she was signing paperwork in preparation
for the ceremony but, because her culture does not
allow her to talk to men other than her family, she
couldn't ask questions.
Her brother said he thought things were not right
but the family's strict Muslim culture meant their
father and the imam could not be wrong.
He said he was asked to be a witness and told he was
signing an engagement certificate - although the
document was headed certificate of marriage.
"We are a traditional patriarchal family and it
would not be appropriate for me to question my
father or the imam," the brother told the court.
Hijablogging: Just another global trend taking the
blogosphere by storm.
All around the world, women who opt to wear hijab (the
Islamic head covering) are also opting to blog about
their experiences, as well as veiled fashion, lifestyle,
experience, and the political and religious issues
surrounding it.
The Hijablog is leading the movement. Based in
Norway, the woman behind the blog writes about
everything from political issues (such as the recent
debate surrounding hijab-clad women joining the
Norwegian police force) to Islamic wedding fashion in
Malaysia.
In one recent post, the blogger profiled Indonesian
designer of Islamic fashion Itang Yunasz.
US: On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee
approved a proposal that would prohibit people from
wearing anything on their heads in their driver's
license photo.
Committee Chairman Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, took
another legislator's bill (that was designed to deal
with a completely different issue) and persuaded the
committee to put in his ban on eyeglasses, scarves
or other head wear in driver's license pictures —
with no exception for things worn for religious
reasons.
Duncan said the proposal started with a recent
Norman incident in which a Muslim woman got into a
dispute with the tag agent over a driver's license
picture involving her hijab — a traditional head
scarf worn by Muslim women. The tag agency wanted
her to push the scarf past her hairline, which she
felt violated her religious practices.
Later, the Department of Public Safety accommodated
the woman in accord with the agency's previous
policy and took a new picture with her hijab at her
hairline.
The situation was resolved amicably: The department
got an identifying picture; the woman got to
maintain her religious practices and obtain a
driver's license.
The situation didn't need legislation, but Duncan
acted anyway.
How's this for an unintended consequence: We're
sorry, Sister Mary, but if you want a driver's
license, you'll have to take off your habit.
Duncan's proposal pushes the bounds of
constitutionality and would, no doubt, get the state
engaged in a long, embarrassing and costly legal
battle.
US: The faces of Muslims are framed in an art
exhibition at Reitz Union that offers a window into
their lives and culture.
University of Florida students Mohamed-Eslam
Mohamed, Asaad Musba, Charissa Dawn Scott and Hena
Waseem and UF graduate Muhsin Aziz Ahmad were asked
to take pictures that documented Muslim life from a
part of Unseen America.
"Unseen America" is a national photography project
originally started in New York to show the lives of
immigrant workers. Then the project expanded to
include people and groups misrepresented, ignored or
stereotyped by mass society.
Liz Gottlieb, coordinator of the Unseen
America project in Gainesville, was
inspired to choose Muslim life as the
topic after talk of President Barack
Obama being a Muslim became a hot
campaign issue.
"People took being
called a Muslim as an insult ... and
that's a lot of what I'm trying to turn
around with this, that being Muslim is
no different than being just another
human being."
Charissa Dawn Scott, 19,
in photo project.
Musba was born in India and
thinks the project was a "wonderful
opportunity for me to portray my
misunderstood religion and people to
everyone." The 24-year-old is a
graduate student studying electrical
engineering. In his series of
photos, he snapped the president of
the Islam on Campus organization
praying and taking a walk. Another
striking photo features his cousin's
wedding in Detroit. A colorfully
beaded, ruby red sari is draped
around her joyful face. She is
holding a colorful bouquet with her
hand, covered in traditional henna
painting.
Waseem, a 21-year-old neurobiological
sciences student, graduates this
semester and is pre-med bound. As an
American Pakistani, she chose identity
as the theme of her photos, which
included portraits of herself and her
friends.
Ahmad recently graduated with a
degree in Food Science and Human
Nutrition. This past summer he visited
his family in Pakistan for the first
time in 15 years. His photos include
sweet and happy family moments taken in
Pakistan and his hometown of Panama
City.
Mohamed, 28, also showed Muslim
family and culture. The husband and
soon-to-be father has lived in Riyadh,
Saudia Arabia, and Cairo, Egypt. In one
photo, there's a group of Muslim men
hanging out at Kanapaha Botanical
Gardens during the celebration of Eid,
the Muslim holiday that marks the end of
Ramadan.
"I wanted to take pictures that when
people see them they see a different
point of view for Muslim life that they
would not normally see in the mainstream
media," said Mohamed, who is receiving
his doctorate in pharmacy.
Scott, 19, is a converted Muslim. She
grew up in a "deep South Mississippi
family" and was raised Southern Baptist.
At 17, she took Islam as her religion.
Two captivating close-up portraits of
Scott's face are the heart of her
pieces. With her wide eyes, she stares
intensely as her eyes peer through the
opening of her black niquab, which
covers the head, neck and lower part of
face. She is majoring in political
science and linguistics.
"People don't know about Islam. They
don't know who Muslims really are and
what type of things they do on a
day-to-day basis," wrote Scott in the
bio accompanying her photos. "The
project gives insight to anyone who is
interested in the perspectives of Muslim
students living in the West."
If you are suffering 'withdrawal
symptoms' after The Kite Runner and A Thousand
Splendid Suns then....
This week
CCN
recommends
The Wasted Vigil by
Nadeem Aslam
Synopsis
A novel—at once lyrical and
blistering—about war in our time, told through the lives
of five people who come together in post-9/11
Afghanistan.
It
tells of a group of disparate people whose paths cross
in the Afghanistan town of Usha. Lara is a Russian woman
looking for her brother, missing in the Soviet
occupation and, unknown to her, a rapist. David is a
former American spy and veteran of Vietnam and
Afghanistan who harbours grief and secrets of his own.
Casa is a young Afghan orphan raised by the Taliban to
be a zealous jihadist, but who passes himself off as a
labourer to avoid the scrutiny of James, an American
whose vigilantism mirrors that of the Taliban. They seek
shelter in the half-ruined home of Marcus, an elderly
British doctor and perfumier, who has lost his hand, his
locally born wife and his daughter to the violence
engulfing the country. But he refuses to give up his
search for his missing grandson, Bizhad, named with the
sad double resonance of history and hope that colours
the novel after the great Afghanistan-born painter of
Islam's golden age. Marcus's scarred house is like an
open invitation into the past and present of
Afghanistan, as if it were another character in the
novel. Nailed to its ceiling are a myriad books, the
collection of two lifetimes, that Marcus's wife Qatrina,
also a doctor, had nailed to the ceiling as she lost her
sanity in the face of the horrors visited on her
country. Daubed on its walls is a thick layer of mud to
hide its hand- painted murals many of lovers from the
Taliban. In its garden lie the ruins of Marcus's once
thriving perfume factory, which in turn houses a giant,
half-buried Buddha's head, a poignant reminder of the
country's ancient past. Rich in metaphor and symbolism,
it is a cannily layered novel that manages to convey
centuries of history in a single moment; a novel as much
about the abiding power of love and beauty as it is
about ugliness and the many faces of brutality. (Source)
In mesmerizing prose, Nadeem Aslam reveals the complex
ties—of love and desperation, pain and salvation,
madness and clarity—that bind the characters. And
through their stories he creates a timely and achingly
intimate portrait of the “continuation of wars” that
shapes our world.
In its radiant language, its depth of feeling, and its
unflinching drama, The Wasted Vigil is a luminous work
of fiction.
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.
Q: Dear Kareema, my baby is
almost 12 months old and I'm really struggling to get
back to my 'old self'. What is it that I can do to get
back into exercising and taking care of myself a little
too?
A: Take some time out of your daily routine to focus on
YOURSELF.
It's important to get out of your head and into your
body.
Train 'in the moment', do what feels good at the time
because that's really what it's all about. If you don't
enjoy
your workout, chances are you're going to cut it short.
Everyday should be a little different when it comes to
your workout routine, this way you're sure to see
results
quicker and your muscles will constantly be challenged!
Start with some short walks (30mins if possible), then
gradually alter your routine, including more cardio and
strength sessions.
It's not easy to take time out when you have little
ones, but it's not impossible!
LIFE IS PRECIOUS, EMBRACE IT, BE THE BEST THAT YOU CAN
BE - AND WATCH YOUR FAMILY BENEFIT!!
All questions sent in are published here anonymously and
without any references to the author of the question.
KB's Culinary Corner
Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
150 g Chicken fillet cut into
strips
1 Tbls Olive Oil
½ tsp ginger
1 Tbls Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbls Soy Sauce
1 Tbls Nandos peri peri sauce
2 Tbls Sweet Chilli Sauce
½ tsp crushed pepper
1 Onion finely sliced
1 red pepper made into juliennes
1 green pepper made into juliennes
1 Carrot made into juliennes
4 mushrooms sliced
60g Whole-wheat spaghetti cooked until al
dente
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt to taste
Method
Heat a wok with olive oil, sauté the ginger,
add chicken, lemon juice and salt, stir fry
on moderately high heat for 2 mins and then
remove the chicken from the pan.
In the juices and oil
remaining, add onion and all remaining
vegetables stir frying quickly under high
heat, cook for approximately 3mins, return
the chicken to the wok, add all the sauces
with exception of the soy sauce.
Mix the soy sauce with 1tsp
corn flour and then add to the mixture.
Lastly add spaghetti and add
more sauces if desired.
Serve hot.
Do you have a recipe
to share with CCN readers? Send in your favourite recipe to
ccn@crescentsofbrisbane.org and be our "guest chef" for
the week.
The CCN Chuckle
A lost Mula
Nasruddin, desperate for water, was plodding through the
Saharan desert when he saw something far off in the
distance.
Hoping to find water, he hurried toward the
object, only to find a little old man at a small stand
selling ties.
Mula Nasruddin asked the man, "Do you have water?"
The man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy
a tie? They are only 50 Geneih."
Mula Nasruddin shouted, "Infidel! I do not need an
overpriced tie. I need water! I should spit on you with
contempt, but I must find water first."
"OK," said the man, "it does not matter that you do not
want to buy a tie and that you hate me. I will show you
that I am bigger than that. If you continue over that
hill to the east for about two miles, you will find a
lovely restaurant. It has all the ice cold water you
need. Salaam to you."
Muttering, Mula Nasruddin staggered away over the hill.
University of Queensland,
323 Hawken Drive,
St. Lucia
Every Monday
Event: Weekly Learning Circle: Sharh
Riyad-us-Saliheen (An Explanation of
'Gardens of the Righteous'
Venue: Prayer Room, University of Queensland
Time: 6.45pm to 7.30pm
Every Friday
Subject:
Fiqh Made Easy
Venue:
Room E215 Building 1 (Forgan Smith),
University of Queensland
Time: 6.30pm to 7.35pm
Every Friday
Subject:
Tafseer al Qur'an (Explanation of the
Qur'an)
Venue: Room E215 Building 1 (Forgan Smith),
University of Queensland
Time: 7.45pm to 9pm
Sunnah Inspirations is a
non-profit organisation to cater for Muslim
social support and supplying information to
Muslims and non-Muslims. They have
been doing various activities around
Australia, and have organised Da'wah
information stalls at various universities
in Brisbane. More info can be found on
their website above.
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
ccn@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 Inc.