Indian-Anatolian Sufism Share Several Connections: Ajmer Shareef’s Successor (Gaddi Nasheen) Prof Dr S Liyaqat Moini
New
Age Islam News Bureau
07
June 2023
Ajmer Sharif Dargah
----
India
• This is India: Muslim Drummer at Jammu
and Kashmir Budha Amarnath Temple
• ‘Gandhi Would Be Ashamed’: Shashi
Tharoor on Posters Threatening Muslim Traders in Uttarakhand
• Uttarakhand Right-Wing Outfits Asking
Landlords to Oust Muslim Tenants
• Pasmanda Muslim Leaders From Across
the Country Make Their Presence Felt In Telangana Ahead Of Polls
• Meerut police register FIR against 2
Twitter accounts for spreading ‘love jihad’ rumours
• Envoy visits Mecca, inspects
arrangements set up for Indian Hajj pilgrims
• Person from Muslim community not
entitled to SC certificate: Punjab and Haryana HC
• No breakthrough yet in mosque attack
case in Coimbatore district
• Allahabad HC Denies Bail to Muslim Man
Accused of Posing as Hindu to Rape, Convert Woman to Islam
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Mideast
• Lebanese party seeks Damascus’s
approval after rejecting Hezbollah presidential candidate
• Dozens of Israeli settlers break into
Jerusalem's Aqsa Mosque
• Islamic State claims responsibility
for killing of deputy governor of northern Afghan province
• Free Patriotic Movement reaffirms
endorsement of Jihad Azour in presidential elections
• Organization of Islamic Cooperation
condemns Israeli occupation’s Killing of Palestinian child al-Tamimi
• Mastercard becomes Aafaq Islamic
Finance’s exclusive partner
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Europe
• Muslim Community Hosts Vigil Marking
Second Anniversary Of Deadly London Attack
• Family Distraught As Muslim Grave
Smashed and Vandalised In Blackburn
• Tributes to ‘loved and respected’
Middlesbrough mum whose Islamic poetry was read ‘all around world’
• Interim manager defends appointment at
Muslim charity after criticism
• Russia warns Belgium over militia
weapons claims
• Russia holds West responsible for dam
disaster – UN envoy
• Russian nuclear giant looks to replace
Western medical devices
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North America
• NYPD Captain Sexually, Religiously
Harassed Muslim Woman Worker: Suit
• 200-Plus North American Muslim
Authorities Join The Sexuality Culture Wars
• A veteran who admitted to mosque
bombing plot stops after turning hate into love
• CAIR Welcomes Charges for Threat
Targeting North Carolina Mosque
• California's First Muslim Assemblyman
Joins Christian Lawmakers In Protesting Democrats' Ceremony Honouring Gay
Pornographer From Anti-Catholic Group
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Southeast Asia
• Warning Letter To Religious Teacher
Was Over Inflammatory Language, Not LGBT Stance: Islamic Regulatory Bodies
• Sultan of Pahang puts on hold the use
of the word 'Allah' by Christians
• Hadi: Non-Muslims Must Be Grateful For
‘Being Given A Place’ Here, Should Just Let Malays Continue Leading Country
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Pakistan
• SC Lawyer Pleading Imran’s Treason
Case Shot Dead in Quetta
• May 9 violence: 52 accused handed over
to army for trial
• SC returns PTI chief’s plea against
‘covert martial law’
• Council of Islamic Ideology convenes
2-day meeting to address pressing issues
• US refrains from commenting on
situation in Pakistan
• CTD kills militant commander in Bajaur
raid
• Pakistan, China sign MoU for
development of water resources, environmental protection
• Pakistan, Norway agree to enhance
cooperation in divers fields
--------
South Asia
• UN Security Council Would Decide
Recognition of Taliban: Pakistani Envoy
• Pakistan: Afghan Detainees Will Remain
in Jail before Being Deported
• Unknown Gunmen Kill Local Singer
‘Muslim Nuristani’ and His Brother
• UNAMA, World Bank Officials Meet
Afghan Authorities, Discuss Economic Challenges
• UNAMA Hails Islamic Emirate Efforts
Fighting Against Drug
• IEA Strives Creating Jobs for Afghan
Cadres in the Country: Acting PM Kabir
• PM pays homage to Bangabandhu on
historic Six-Point Day
• Islamic banking in Bangladesh and the
way forward
--------
Africa
• Unfulfilled Promises, Bane of Nigeria’s
Political Developments — Muslim Youths
• Abuja church alleges transfer of
convention land to Muslim group
• Muslim council oppose Finance Bill,
say it will hurt Kenyans
• Muslim leaders get suspended sentence
for linking Kapsabet trader to radicalization
• Wike kicks against Muslim-Muslim
national assembly leadership
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Arab World
• Saudi Crown Prince, Us State Secretary
Discuss Cooperation
• Saudi Cabinet backs OPEC+ agreement to
stabilize oil markets
• Dr. Al-Rabeeah meets Polish ambassador
to Saudi Arabia
• Ministry of Islamic Affairs Displays
Most Prominent Technologies at Holy Qur'an Exhibition in Brazil
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/indian-anatolian-sufism-ajmer-shareef-moini/d/129943
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Indian-Anatolian Sufism Share Several
Connections: Ajmer Shareef’s Successor (Gaddi Nasheen) Prof Dr S Liyaqat Moini
Ajmer Sharif Dargah
----
6 June, 2023
New Delhi [India], June 6 (ANI): Indo
Islamic Heritage Centre organised a Webinar on ‘Connection between Indian and
Anatolian Sufism’ in which Gaddi Nasheen (successor of a Sufi or Pir) of Dargah
Khwaja Saheb Ajmer Shareef and director of IIHC Prof Dr S Liyaqat Moini said
that Indian and Anatolian Sufism share several connections.
“Indian and Anatolian Sufism share several
connections due to the historical and cultural exchange that took place between
the Indian subcontinent and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) over the centuries,”
Prof Moini said.
He further said, Sufism is a mystical
branch of Islam that spread through various regions, including India and
Anatolia, and developed unique characteristics in each context.
The main speaker of the webinar, Issa
GolitzenFarajaje, a Turkish based US Sufi scholar said that while Indian and
Anatolian Sufism have distinct regional flavors and practices, but they are
interconnected through shared spiritual lineages, cultural exchange, and the
influence of prominent figures like Rumi and the Chishti saints. These
connections have contributed to the diversity and richness of Sufi traditions
in both regions.
“The most significant link between
Indian and Anatolian Sufism is through the influence of the renowned Persian
Sufi poet and mystic, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. Rumi’s teachings and poetry,
compiled in his work ‘Masnawi,’ have had a profound impact on Sufism in both
regions. His writings on love, devotion, and union with the divine resonate
with Sufis in India and Anatolia alike,” Issa said.
He further said that similarly the
‘Chishti Order’, is one of the prominent Sufi orders in India that traces its
spiritual lineage back to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.
“A Sufi saint from the Chishti region in
present-day Afghanistan, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s teachings and practices had
a significant influence on Sufism in Anatolia, particularly through his
disciple Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, who migrated to Delhi and spread the
Chishti order there. The Chishti order became popular in India and later
influenced Sufi traditions in Anatolia,” he added. (ANI)
Source: theprint.in
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https://theprint.in/india/indian-anatolian-sufism-share-several-connection-ajmer-shareefs-successor-prof-moini/1614670/
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Turkiye Jails Teen Who Added Moustache
to Erdogan Poster Scribbling “A Hitler Moustache”
According to
the justice ministry, “insulting the president” is one of the most common
crimes in Turkiye, resulting in 16,753 convictions last year. (AFP)
------
June 06, 2023
ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities on Tuesday
seized and jailed a 16-year-old youth for drawing a moustache on an election
campaign poster showing re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, media
reports said.
Several media close to the opposition,
including daily newspapers BirGun, Cumhuriyet and private TV station Halk TV,
said the youth from the southeastern town of Mersin was accused of defacing the
poster near his home with a pen, scribbling “a Hitler moustache and writing
insulting comments.”
He was arrested after being identified
by CCTV cameras, media reports said. Authorities interviewed him at his home
where he reportedly “admitted drawing the moustache” while denying writing the
accompanying comments.
Taken before the public prosecutor he
was found to have “insulted the president” and was jailed at a nearby youth
facility, according to Halk TV.
Erdogan extended his 20-year rule over
Turkiye after winning the May 28 second round of the presidential election to
embark on a new five-year term.
According to the justice ministry,
“insulting the president” is one of the most common crimes in Turkiye,
resulting in 16,753 convictions last year.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2317256/middle-east
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In France, Secularism Is a Justification
for Discrimination against Muslims
If France
wants to maintain its status as a multicultural democracy, it must reevaluate
whether laïcité and the limitations it enforces work for all French citizens,
not just the white bourgeois. (Getty Images)
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06.06.2023
Outside the Lycée Robert Doisneau in
Vaulx-en-Velin, a suburb of Lyon, France, there is a large circular window that
doubles as a mirror. Every morning, I watch my students gather around it to
remove their hijabs, pin back stray hairs, and tighten loose ponytails before
crossing the border into their high school. Throughout the day, they wrap their
veils around their necks like scarves, ready for the moment they will cross the
border again, crowding around the same mirror to pin it back in place.
This ritual is not unique to the Lycée
Robert Doinseau or the city of Lyon; it is a tenet of the French education
system, the consequence of a 2004 law that banned the presence of “conspicuous
religious symbols” in schools on the basis of the French principle of laïcité
(the oft-forgotten “ité” of the liberté, egalité, fraternité trinity),
translated into English as “secularism,” or the separation of church and state.
The state’s restraining order against religion has been stitched into the
fabric of French society: laïcité dates back to a 1905 law that aimed to
eliminate the influence of the Catholic Church on politics, putting one last
nail in the theocratical coffin. France guarantees freedom of religion, but
institutions of the state — such as public schools — must be religiously
neutral.
As a Fulbright English teaching
assistant in Lyon, I have begun to understand what the French mean when they
claim that “la républiqueestlaïque.” When students and faculty pass through the
school’s gates, their religious, political, and philosophical beliefs are
subordinated to their national identity. The majority of my school’s students are
Muslim. Still, there are no prayer rooms, no affinity groups, and no Halal
meals. If there were a Pledge of Allegiance, there would certainly be no
mentions of God. All instances of proselytizing, prayer, and, as of 2004,
religious signage and clothing are documented and potentially sanctioned.
It is a jarring departure from a country
whose citizens wear their religion on their sleeves. In the United States,
refusing to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs or practices is
prohibited by the Civil Rights Act. Americans understand liberty as the freedom
to pray, assemble, and profess religious beliefs — whereas France
conceptualizes this same liberty as the freedom from religion and the divisions
it may sow.
Like most legislation, laïcité began
with good intentions: places of learning will transcend religious dogma!
Students won’t be discriminated against for their beliefs! But it has expanded
its reach to contract around the lives it aimed to liberate.
One day, our school has a fire drill. I
watch as hundreds of students flood out the gates and dozens of girls wrap
their hijabs as though they’ve been caught in winter without a coat. They do
this even though we will only wait outside for a few minutes, even though they
will inevitably be forced to remove them again.
Until 2004, religious clothing and
symbols were not deemed incompatible with secularism. Yet laïcité gained
renewed prominence with the increase of the country’s Muslim population.
France’s decolonization of Northern African countries in the 1960s precipitated
a wave of Muslim labor migrants throughout the late twentieth century. While
the French government treated these populations as unassimilable and temporary,
many migrants never left, giving rise to new generations of French-born
Muslims.
France now hosts the largest Muslim
population in Europe, half of whom are born or naturalized French citizens.
Most of these families live, work, and attend school on the outskirts of French
cities. These banlieues — a pejorative term for immigrant neighborhoods — are
marked by their looming brutalist structures, a sharp contrast from the
cobblestone streets and Gothic Cathedrals of city centers. Originally conceived
as a haven for workers in postwar France, these neighborhoods have only
isolated and impoverished Muslims and other minority populations.
When I told my host family I’d be
teaching at the Lycée Robert Doisneau, located in Lyon’s largest immigrant
neighborhood, Vaulx-en-Velin, they reacted with sympathy, vaguely alluding to
behavioral issues. Others were more direct: “But that’s where all the Arabs
live!”
A quick scan of an average classroom in
my high school reveals a desk carved with the epithet “1, 2, 3, viva
l’Algérie!” and a heater marked by the word “TUNISIE.” My students are quick to
remind me they are already bilingual (many speak both French and Arabic) and
eager to ask me what I know about Ramadan. They are the second and third
generations French conservatives are so afraid of — the families who not only
stayed in France but failed to sacrifice their religious and cultural heritage
for the republic.
In response, France’s once enlightened
secularism has been manipulated to drag its Muslim population down the long
path of cultural assimilation. Anxieties about Islam overtaking French culture,
a rising climate of xenophobia, and acts of terrorism in the early 2000s have
led the state to encroach more and more flagrantly into the private sphere of
its Muslim citizens. The banning of “conspicuous” religious symbols in 2004
represented the first major effort to strip Muslims of their religious identity
and reassert the power of the French government. While the ban applies to other
religious symbols, its real target is Muslim women. (The government banned
“oversize” Christian crosses but continued to permit the more popular cross
necklace.)
Over the last two decades, the state has
attempted to regulate what Muslims wear to the beach, what they eat, and how
they educate their children. In 2020, French president Emmanuel Macron proposed
“French Islam,” a practice of faith managed by the state, failing to recognize
the irony of a government-run religion in a secular republic. These policies
suggest the French government cannot distinguish between the mundane behaviors
that make up a diverse state and the separatism that might lead to extremism.
When I led an “invent your own country”
activity with my students, they dreamed up places like “Algesie,” a hybrid of
Algeria and Tunisia where citizens are allowed to pray in public, celebrate
both Eid and Bastille Day, and speak French, Arabic, and English. They invented
countries where they could shamelessly express who they are, not obligated to
leave important pieces of their identity at the school’s gates.
In one class of sophomores, I pursued a
yearlong yearbook project. When we voted on a theme, “Origins” won by a
landslide. My students discussed their Algerian, Italian, Tunisian, Congolese,
Moroccan, German, and Angolan roots, but they also highlighted their shared
French identity. They are proof that pride in your home and your origins are
not mutually exclusive; in fact, it is evidence of a healthy multicultural
democracy. Even as the far-right party of Marine Le Pen promulgates claims of
Islamic extremism and radicalization, the Center for the Study of Conflict in
Paris found “massive adherence of French Muslims to the Republic,” its values,
and its institutions.
When I accompanied one of my classes on
a field trip, several female students did not join because they did not want to
be seen in public without their hijabs. My colleagues, accustomed to these
daily injustices, shrugged off their absence. Although the ban claims to
liberate Muslim girls from the influence of family and community, it
effectively restricts their movement, banning Muslim women from public spaces.
Another day, I announced that it was time to take portraits for our yearbook.
The students who wear a hijab initially refused to be photographed, but when I
told them they could wear their headscarves, they reacted with excitement. I
was struck by how rarely they get to decide how they are represented.
Many of the female students at my school
wear an abaya — a floor-length, loose-fitting, traditionally Muslim dress. It
is not unlike a long-sleeved maxi dress. Yet because the abaya is worn by Muslim
women, the French Ministry of Education has begun investigating whether it
violates the principles of laïcité. Regulation of dress would not be
unprecedented: in 2015, a Muslim student was kicked out of class because a
teacher deemed her long skirt too religious. This raises the question of
whether the ban really aims to regulate religious symbols or if it will be
repeatedly reinterpreted to force Muslim students into conformity and
assimilation.
There is still no evidence that wearing
a religious sign constitutes a threat to public order, and the French
government has failed to demonstrate the positive effects of the ban. Still,
the country stubbornly insists on assimilation, squeezing every French citizen
into its framework of “republican values.” Chief among these is universalism: a
belief that one’s Frenchness supersedes one’s class, gender, race, and
religion. To the French, Americans’ obsession with hyphenated identities —
African American, Asian American, Arab American, and so on — only further
divides our citizenry along racial and religious lines. America’s fixation on
race and ethnicity in politics, referred to in French as wokisme, is labeled as
regressive, a serious threat to democracy and fuel for racial strife.
The French take pride in having a
government that does not recognize racial or ethnic distinctions, but
proclaiming equality does not ensure it. Instead, it allows the state to
continue overlooking institutional discrimination. It enables the advancement
of harmful legislation, like the hijab ban, without reckoning with its
repercussions.
France does not collect census data on
race or religion, so the country is not held accountable for economic,
educational, and employment disparities between different populations. It does
not have to reckon with the fact that 42 percent of Muslims report having
experienced discrimination due to their religion, a number that increases to 60
percent among women who wear a headscarf.
Before becoming an English teaching
assistant, I idealized France as a more sophisticated, more progressive version
of the United States. In many aspects, I wasn’t mistaken. Even as an American
living in France, I enjoyed access to the country’s affordable single-payer
health care, and my friends pursuing master’s degrees did not have to budget
more than $400 for their tuition. While access to an abortion in the United
States depends on what state you live in, French lawmakers have made strides to
enshrine reproductive rights in France’s constitution.
Yet while France has proved ahead of its
time on several issues, these cultural scripts have allowed the international
community to turn a blind eye to how France treats its Muslim population. If
the country wants to maintain its status as a multicultural democracy, it must
reevaluate whether laïcité and the limitations it enforces work for all French
citizens, not just the white bourgeois.
The hijab and other religious symbols
that do not disrupt class should be allowed in school, and the 2004 ban should
be abolished. Only then will the young women at the Lycée Robert Doisneau,
forced to remove their hijabs every day before crossing the school’s gates, be
able to participate fully in their own education. Only then will they become
full citizens of the French Republic.
Source: jacobin.com
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https://jacobin.com/2023/06/french-muslim-hijab-ban-laicite/
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US Vice President Kamala Harris: Israel Needs
‘Independent Judiciary’
U.S. Vice
President Kamala Harris speaks during the 2023 graduation ceremony at the
United States Military Academy (USMA), at Michie Stadium in West Point, New
York, U.S., May 27, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
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June 07, 2023
WASHINGTON: US vice president Kamala
Harris said on Tuesday that Israel’s democracy requires “an independent
judiciary,” wading into the controversy over Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul that has drawn mass protests in Israel.
“America will continue to stand for the
values that have been the bedrock of the US-Israel relationship, which includes
continuing to strengthen our democracies, which as the (Israeli) ambassador has
said, are both built on strong institutions, checks and balances, and I’ll add:
an independent judiciary,” Harris said.
The vice president spoke at a reception
celebrating the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding hosted by the country’s
embassy in Washington. Her remarks on the judiciary drew applause.
Harris also reiterated the Biden
administration’s “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel.”
Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said
Harris was perhaps not fully informed about the details of the judicial changes
his government was seeking, which were intended, he said, to ensure a strong
and independent judiciary which was more balanced.
“If you ask her what troubles her about
the reform, she may not be able to cite even one clause that bothers her,”
Cohen told Israel’s public broadcaster Kansas “I don’t know whether she read the
bill, my estimation is that she has not.”
Weeks of unprecedented street
demonstrations followed Netanyahu’s proposed package of reforms of the Supreme
Court, which members of his religious-nationalist coalition accuse of overreach
and elitism.
Under pressure at home and abroad,
including from US President Joe Biden’s administration, Netanyahu has suspended
the overhaul to try to negotiate a consensus with the political opposition.
Critics see a threat to independence of
the courts by the prime minister, who is on trial on graft charges that he
denies.
Top economists and national security
veterans have warned of fallout, saying an independent court system is crucial
to Israel’s democratic norms and economic strength.
Before Harris spoke, Israeli president Isaac
Herzog said in a video address to the crowd that he planned to visit the White
House and address a joint session of the US Congress “in the near future.” The
trip is expected in July.
Biden has yet to extend a White House
invitation to Netanyahu, despite Israel’s status as a key Middle East ally.
The two leaders have had chilly
relations since Biden took office. Biden had pressed Netanyahu in recent months
to drop the judicial overhaul plan.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister for
three years in the 1990s and then from 2009 to 2021, took office again in
December to start his sixth term.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2317296/middle-east
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Malaysian PM: ‘Allah’ Issue To Go To
Rulers in October, Govt Will Take Their View as Final Policy
Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with the Sultan of Selangor Sultan
Sharafuddin Idris Shah, June 7, 2023. — Picture from Facebook/Anwar Ibrahim
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07 Jun 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — The Conference of
Rulers is expected to consider this October the issue of non-Muslims’ use of
the word “Allah” in Malaysia, after an advisory council to the Rulers discusses
the same issue this August, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
Anwar said this after his meeting today
with the Selangor Sultan, who is also the chair of the National Council for
Islamic Religious Affairs.
“After discussing with the DYMM Sultan
Selangor, I respect the view of His Royal Highness in line with the Cabinet’s
May decision that the issue of the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims in
Sabah and Sarawak is more suited to be streamlined and explained to the
National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) which has the role of
advising the Conference of Rulers.
“In relation to that, His Royal Highness
as the MKI chairman has agreed for this matter to be discussed by that council
this August, before it is brought for the Conference of Rulers’ consideration
and scrutiny this October,” Anwar said in a statement today.
Anwar said the federal government’s
stand is to recognise and apply the existing policy which limits the use of the
word “Allah” to Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia and to give conditional relaxing
of this policy for non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak.
“The government also gives the
commitment to streamline the existing policy based on the Conference of Rulers’
decision which will be upheld as a final policy in relation to the use of the
word “Allah” by non-Muslims in Malaysia,” he said.
Source: malaymail.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/06/07/pm-allah-issue-to-go-to-rulers-in-october-govt-will-take-their-view-as-final-policy/73047
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India
This is India: Muslim Drummer atJammu
and KashmirBudha Amarnath Temple
June 06, 2023
The Budha Amarnath temple, located in
the Mandi area of the border district of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, is a
sacred place for the Hindu community.
Every year, pilgrims from all over India
visit the temple as part of the Amarnath Yatra.
According to Hindu belief, the Amarnath
Yatra is incomplete until one gets the Darshan of Budha Amarnath in Poonch.
Pilgrims visiting the Budha Amarnath
shrine are warmly welcomed, regardless of religion and caste.
Abdul Ghani, a resident of Palira
village in Tehsil Mandi, has been playing the drums at the Budha Amarnath
temple for over 20 years.
Ghani plays the drums on the temple
premises from morning till evening and at times till night.
Speaking to the Milap News Network,
Ghani said about 25 years ago, two bears attacked him a few kilometres from the
temple, seriously injuring him.
"The temple management committee,
the priest and the BSF battalion were here. The officials helped me. I received
treatment; the then deputy commissioner also helped me a lot. I sustained
severe injuries on my arms, head and mouth in the bear attack," he recalls.
"After several months I recovered,
but was unable to do any other work. I then preferred to sit in this
temple," he says.
"Allah is one, but his names are
different," he says. "I believe that Baba Budha Amarnath saved me.
This is who I am. The people of the temple trust me a lot and I also trust them
with my words and actions. They trust me, they let me stay in the temple
premises, and they also give me food."
Even when terrorism was at its peak in
Jammu and Kashmir, Ghani says he earned money by playing drums in the temple.
There is no pressure on him from the
people of his village or from the people of the community, he adds, and asserts
that he plays the drums out of his free will which helps him earn and fulfil
his household expenses.
He hopes that the coming Amarnath Yatra
will once again be a source of income for him, as people from all over the
country visit the temple and enjoy him playing the drums and provide him with
financial support.
Source: rediff.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.rediff.com/news/report/yeh-hai-india-muslim-drummer-at-jk-temple/20230606.htm
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‘Gandhi Would Be Ashamed’: Shashi
Tharoor On Posters Threatening Muslim Traders In Uttarakhand
Jun 07, 2023
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor Tuesday
reacted to the posters threatening Muslim traders in Uttarakhand to leave and
called the incident “horrifying”. Tharoor, in a tweet, expressed his
disappointment and remarked that if Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, he would
be ashamed.
“This cannot be what we have reduced
ourselves to. Gandhiji would be ashamed of the India we have created,” the
Congress MP tweeted, quoting a media report.
Tharoor’s comments were in response to
the reports about posters surfacing in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi town Monday,
asking Muslim traders to shut shops by June 15. The incident happened in the
wake of the ongoing tensions in the Himalayan state over the alleged abduction
attempt on a minor girl by two men, including one from the minority community,
last month, the police said.
Tensions erupt in Uttarkashi
Two men, a local shopkeeper Ubed Khan
(24), and Jitender Saini, a motorcycle mechanic were arrested on May 27 in the
case. The locals alleged the incident as a ‘love jihad’ bid - a term used by
right-wing groups to describe an alleged conspiracy by Muslim men to woo Hindu
women. It is to be noted that the courts and the Union government do not
officially recognise the theory.
The posters surfaced in
Uttarkashi’sPurola main market. “Love jihadiyonkosuchitkiyajatahaikidinank June
15, 2023 ko hone walimahapanchayat hone se purvapnidukaneinkhalikar de.
Yaditumharedwaraaisanahikiyajata, tohwaqt par nirbharkarega (Love jihadists are
informed that they should vacate their shops prior to a mahapanchayat to be held
on June 15. If they don’t, it (consequences) will depend on time),” the
posters, calling for ‘Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan’ (campaign for protection of
land) read.
Two days prior to the incident, the
right-wing group members also reportedly attacked shops and houses belonging to
Muslims. The police said that efforts were underway to identify them and also
noted that the posters were removed Monday itself and an inquiry has been
initiated in the matter.
About 40 shops in the Purola market are
run by Muslims.
Tharoor’s salvo at BJP
The Congress leader has been raking up
the issues of hate crimes in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states,
Uttarakhand being one under chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Tharoor’s
reference to Gandhi’s thoughts about the “India we have created” echoed his
earlier statements against the saffron party, whom he has alleged to be
inducing religious tensions across the country through their policies such as
“demolition action” and “inaction on cow vigilantism”.
Previously, during a key party meeting
in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur in February, the former union minister had also
stressed the Congress’ responsibility in strengthening the secular foundations
of the country. “The tendency to downplay some positions or avoid taking a
stand on some issues in order not to alienate what we assume to be the
sentiments of the majority only plays into the BJP's hands," Tharoor had
said on party’s position on issues such as cow vigilantism, Bilkis Bano case
among others.
Source: hindustantimes.com
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Uttarakhand Right-Wing Outfits Asking
Landlords To Oust Muslim Tenants
Jun 7, 2023
DEHRADUN: Amid the ongoing communal
tension in Uttarkashi district following the recent arrest of two men,
including one from the minority community, for allegedly trying to “abduct” a
minor girl of a different faith, members of right-wing groups have been meeting
Hindu landlords in Purola town and asking them to get shops and houses of
Muslims “vacated”. The development comes after notices asking Muslim
shopkeepers to leave or “prepare for consequences” were found pasted on their
shops. They were given a deadline of June 15 to flee or “face action”.
Over 30 shops have remained shut since
last month. Though police have removed some of the posters, Muslims in the
Uttarkashi town have said tactics to intimidate them have only increased, with
even old families settled for decades now being targeted. Earlier, it was the
“outsiders” who were at the receiving end of the threats.
Imran (name changed) told TOI that his
family had been running their shop on rent for over 50 years. He pointed out,
“We’ve three generations of my family in Purola — two of them, including
myself, were born here. Being here for so many years, people know us. We have
no criminal records and are living cordially. Now, the landlord has been asked
by right-wing outfits to get the shop vacated.”
Imran’s family had already “suffered
losses of around Rs 1 lakh” due to the shop closure since May 27. “Our
financial condition has been directly impacted. We are also afraid for the
safety of our children and women. These are our homes and livelihood for
generations. We’ve nowhere else to go, if forced out of our town,” he added.
Like Imran, Sohail (name changed), a
shopkeeper for many years, said, “Those who are threatening us to leave the
town should at least tell us what we have done to deserve all this...” Some of
the landlords, though, are not “giving in to fear”. Dharam Singh Negi, who was
met by a few men of a right-wing outfit on Monday, said, “I didn’t budge. What
they are doing is not correct. These people have been living here for over 40
years with their businesses and homes”. He added: “I refused to get my shop
vacated and dared them to demolish it”.
On Tuesday, protests against the May 26
abduction case spread to Dunda and Chinyalisaur areas of the district. It was
held by local traders led by right-wing activists. Shops remained shut.
The police, meanwhile, said they have
assured the “minority community about their safety and security.” Barkot circle
officer Surendra Bhandari said, “We’ve deployed around 20 PAC personnel in the
area. Also, a probe is underway in the eviction notices case.” Additional DGP,
(law & order), V Murugesan, said, “Directions have been issued to the heads
of all the 13 district police units to take strict action against those trying
to disturb law and order.”
(With inputs from AbhyudayaKotnala)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Pasmanda Muslim Leaders From Across The
CountryMake Their Presence Felt In Telangana Ahead Of Polls
June 7, 2023
With barely six months to go to polls,
politics in Telangana slowly hotting up with all the stakeholders upping their
ante. Hyderabad being the stranglehold of prominent Muslim leader and AIMIM
president Asaduddin Owaisi, it is only obvious that communal issues will take
centre stage in the State's politics in the coming days.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's
alleged Muslim appeasement policy has certainly paid off and helped him retain
power. But it has annoyed not only the majority of Hindus but angered a major
section within the Muslims too. With this section voicing their concerns openly
in his home turf, Owaisi does not seem to get a free hand to play his communal
card so succinctly this time.
The Pasmanda Muslims -- the marginalised
indigenous Muslims who constitute about 90% of the community's total population
in India -- in particular are incensed over the fact that the benefits extended
by the government to the community through various schemes are all gobbled up
by the upper class Ashraaf Muslims within the community, leaving only a meagre
portion for them.
The Pasmanda Muslim leaders from all
over the country recently held a crucial meeting in Hyderabad to chalk out
their next step to address the concerns of the backward Pasmanda communities.
Lawyers, writers, students, social activists and representatives of diverse
Pasmanda communities all participated in this roundtable discussion on June 4
last.
As far as Telangana is concerned,
currently 75.4% of the Muslims belong to Pasmanda Backward Class (BC-E and
BC-B) categories. Despite having reservations, their social and educational
conditions are worse than those of any other communities, including SCs and
STs. The Pasmanda community leaders have often tried to raise the issue that
they are the numerical majority among the Muslim population but that a tiny
elite section (Ashraafs) remained in the leadership position.
According to Adnan Qamar, the Pasmanda
Muslim activist who organised the meeting, Pasmandas currently do not have access
to land, jobs, important positions, education or other opportunities that is
abaduntly available to Ashraafs. Unfortunately, more than 75% of Muslims are
unemployed or do not hold any type of employment in the organised sector, he
rued. After taking over the most important roles, the Ashraaf leaders and
religious clerics ran a narrative of a monolithic Muslim identity forcing
Pasmanda Muslims to give up their caste-based occupations. The plight of
Pasmanda Muslims began to deteriorate over time. As their degrees of poverty
and illiteracy rose, they were eventually forced to give away their expensive
possessions, explained Qamar. Senior Qureshi community leader Imran Aziz
Qureshi stated that Pasmanda communities are misled by Ashraafs by
"instilling fear of Modi, the RSS and the BJP" among them. Pasmanda
Muslims must have to understand this and their thinking should go past these
traps and concentrate on progress and development. The Ashraafs completely
disorganised Pasmandas and profited from it, he said, adding that there is a
need to organise these marginalised communities before it is too late.
According to Sanaullah, a prominent social activist with over 40 years of
experience, Muslims are currently suffering tremendous harm at the hands of
their own community organisations, mostly led by Ashraaf leaders. All such
bodies, whether national or State-level, have transformed into "desk
organisations" who simply issue statements on their letterheads but never
address the practical problems faced by majority Pasmanda Muslims. He advised
the Pasmanda Muslims that the case of Dalits should serve as an example for
them as they battle for their rights. Every Mohalla and community of Pasmanda
Muslims should form a committee of 50 -50 persons each to address their issues,
he added, offering a practical solution to their problems. Mohammed Abbas,
president of 'Awaaz', informed that his organisation have already contacted
with eight Pasmanda Muslim communities like Fakers, Pattarphodulu, Kanchera,
Burewala, PichakuntlaTurkolu, Sapera and Pittala Muslims and are assisting them
in resolving their problems. The social and educational conditions of these
communities are in dire straits, and there is inadequate representation to
address their problems. Hence, Abbas emphasised on the necessacity to make
sincere efforts to develop leadership within these communities. Similarly, Team
NGOs chairman Ilyas Shamsi recommended that Pasmanda Muslims establish their
identity. Quoting verses from holy Quran, he said if the Muslim organisations
and Ashraaf leaders truly believe that the BJP is attempting to win over the
Pasmandas, then they should step forth and support the Pasmandas. "Why are
they not concentrating on Pasmanda Muslims' issues and making BJP profit from
them?" Shamsi asked. Famous Telugu author and poet Skybaba claimed that
many members of the Pasmanda communities added Syed, Khan and Pathan to their
names only to gain social recognition. They must acknowledge and recognise that
they are former SC, ST or OBC members who became Muslims, he advised the
Pasmandas. Pointing out that converted Muslims in India make up 90% of the
Muslim population, and only a small percentage are foreign Muslims, Skybaba
said, "The Urdu-speaking Ashraafs residing in the urban comforts, disrespect
the Pasmanda Muslims for speaking the Telugu language. They consider Urdu to be
an Islamic language and they discriminate against people who speak other
languages." In the meeting, it was decided to establish a 'Pasmanda
Muslims Action Committee' in Telangana soon. The objective of this platform is
to bring about social change within Pasmanda communities. Many activists,
students and young people are eager to join the platform and take up issues
pertaining to Pasmanda Muslims, claimed the organisers.
Source: oneindia.com
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https://www.oneindia.com/india/pasmanda-muslims-make-their-presence-felt-in-telangana-ahead-of-polls-3569593.html
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Meerut police register FIR against 2
Twitter accounts for spreading ‘love jihad’ rumours
On Monday, some of the videos went viral
on Twitter showing a group of men entering a building in Meerut's Shastri Nagar
area and questioning the girl and the boy, who is from the Muslim community.
June 7, 2023
twitterThe Meerut police registered an
FIR against two Twitter accounts for allegedly uploading a video of two minor
students alleging “love jihad”. (Photo via Canva)
The Meerut police Tuesday registered an
FIR against two Twitter accounts for allegedly uploading a video of two minor
students alleging “love jihad”.
The police said the Twitter accounts,
namely @WokePatroller and @Theintrepid, were spreading rumours by sharing
videos of the two minor students alleging “love jihad” even though their
families knew each other.
Upendra Singh, SHO, Nauchandi Police
Station, said an FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 469 (Forgery for
purpose of harming reputation) and 505(1)(Whoever makes, publishes or
circulates any statement, rumour or report) has been registered.
“We have taken suo moto cognizance of
the matter as both minor students were being continuously defamed over social
media. Though the girl’s father gave a statement in writing that they were
studying and both of them know each other, some of the Twitter accounts were
sharing fake news. Now, we will try to nab the accused behind these accounts,”
said Singh.
He also said if the family files any
complaint or the minors record their statement, the police will be able to take
action against those seen in the video.
On Monday, some of the videos went viral
on Twitter showing a group of men entering a building in Meerut’s Shastri Nagar
area and questioning the girl and the boy, who is from the Muslim community.
Later, the Meerut police issued a
statement saying both of them are minors and were studying together for the
NEET exam. “Both are from the same place and know each other. This has been
confirmed in writing by the family members. There is no criminal issue in the
case,” said the police.
Source: indianexpress.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/meerut-police-register-fir-against-2-twitter-accounts-for-spreading-love-jihad-rumours-8649797/
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Envoy visits Mecca, inspects
arrangements set up for Indian Hajj pilgrims
Jun 7, 2023
MECCA: India's ambassador to Saudi
Arabia, Dr Suhel Khan visited Mecca and took stock of facilities set up for
Indian Hajj pilgrims.
The Indian envoy also met with several
Indian Hajj pilgrims who arrived from various states and reviewed the bus
transportation facility them.
India in Saudi Arabia tweeted,
"Ambassador Dr Suhel Khan visited Makkah and met with Indian Hajj pilgrims
coming from various states. Ambassador also reviewed the bus transport arrangements
for the Indian Hajj pilgrims."
The Indian envoy, during his visit, also
visited medical centres, branch offices and dispensaries in the city.
"Three large medical centers with a
total in-patient capacity of 90 beds and more than 15 other dispensaries have
been set up in Makkah for the Indian pilgrims," tweeted India in Saudi
Arabia.
— IndianEmbRiyadh (@IndianEmbRiyadh)
Notably, to ensure quality health
support to Indian pilgrims, India's Ministry of Minority Affairs works in
collaboration with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for
comprehensive health arrangements for pilgrims planning to visit Mecca for the
Hajj pilgrimage.
Each year, Saudi Arabia hosts around 25
lakh to 30 lakh pilgrims from across the globe to visit Mecca and India sends
the third largest contingent of Hajj pilgrims in the world.
Such a large number of pilgrims also
pose unique public health challenges, and the medical requirements of the
pilgrims in Mecca, Medinah, and Jeddah must be well-cared for.
While the number of pilgrims had shown a
decreasing trend in the last three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this
year a larger number of Indian pilgrims are expected to visit Mecca. For the
present year, a quota of 1,75,025 pilgrims has been allotted to India.
With a view to ensuring comprehensive
and quality services to the pilgrims, India's Minister of Minority Affairs and
Minister of Health have undertaken a series of meetings accompanied by
officials from both ministries.
The Ministry of Health accordingly issued
directions to all States on March 21, 2023 wherein States have been advised to
provide Medical Screening & Fitness Certificates for applicant pilgrims and
a detailed format for such screening has been sent to the States.
With a view to aid the applicants, this
year the Medical Screening and Fitness Certificate by the applicant can be
issued by any Government allopathic medical doctor in the States/UTs. This will
ease the process of getting medical screening certificates across the country.
Moreover, Health and Vaccination Camps
have been directed that states and district health authorities will also set up
Camps for the selected pilgrims wherein the pre-departure detailed Medical
Examination and Vaccination will also be provided.
A Health Card for all the pilgrims will
also be issued in these camps which will examine the selected pilgrims for
their present health status, and the existing diseases/co-morbidities, if any.
It is planned that the health status
will be made available to the Medical Teams in Saudi Arabia through digital
means for timely health service delivery in case of any emergency.
Each State has accordingly been advised
to nominate a Nodal Officer for coordinating the activities in collaboration
with the State Minority Welfare Department.
Ministry of Health will procure and
provide the required number of Quadrivalent Meningococcal Meningitis Vaccines
(QMMV) & Seasonal Influenza Vaccines (SIV) to the pilgrims.
Further, Health Desks will also be set
up at all departing airports for coordinating the health needs of the pilgrims
during the departure.
The collaborative efforts by the
Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Ministry of Health are expected to ensure
easing the process of obtaining Medical Screening Fitness Certificates and
vaccination besides timely and quality healthcare services from point of
embarkation till their return back to India.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Person from Muslim community not
entitled to SC certificate: Punjab and Haryana HC
The petitioner, Abid Ali, had challenged
a July 28, 2017 order wherein he was removed by the Haryana-based university
after 16 years of service. He had been working there as assistant Professor
under the self-financing scheme (SFS).
Written by Jagpreet Singh Sandhu
June 7, 2023
Punjab and Haryana High CourtThe Bench
asserted that the interview committee recommended petitioner for appointment
under SC category and therefore, his argument that he was given appointment
against a post of general category is devoid of merit. (File)
Stating that a person belonging to
Muslim community is not entitled to be issued an SC (Scheduled Caste)
certificate, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the petition of a
Muslim man who had challenged his removal as assistant Professor from the
Kurukshetra University — a job that he had obtained under the SC (reserved)
category.
The petitioner, Abid Ali, had challenged
a July 28, 2017 order wherein he was removed by the Haryana-based university
after 16 years of service. He had been working there as assistant Professor
under the self-financing scheme (SFS).
The counsel for the University contended
that the petitioner was offered appointment on the post of lecturer after
furnishing a forged caste certificate. It was contended that Abid Ali had
furnished a caste certificate — Serial No. 2348 — on September 12, 2000.
However, on verification it was found that the the caste certificate was
originally issued to one Sanjeev Kumar and not the petitioner. The counsel
contended that a person belonging to Muslim community cannot be issued an SC
certificate.
Abid Ali’s counsel, however, contended
that he had not sought any benefit of reservation as he had been appointed
under the general category. The counsel contended that the appointment letter
did not mention his category as SC, whereas in the appointment offered to him
for the budgeted post of Lecturer, the SC category was mentioned. It was argued
by Abid Ali’s counsel that the SC certificate issued to the petitioner was
assigned a wrong dispatch number and the similar mistake had occurred in the SC
certificates issued to other candidates in the year 2000.
Submitting that the petitioner belongs
to Julaha caste, the petitioner’s counsel contended that there was no
misrepresentation on behalf of Abid Ali while seeking issuance of the caste
certificate and therefore, removal of the petitioner from service on the ground
that he secured appointment on the basis of forged caste certificate is wholly
erroneous.
The counsel for Kurukshetra University,
however, contended that Abid Ali was offered appointment on the post of
lecturer being a SC candidate — based on certificate he had submitted — and
therefore, issuance of appointment letter to him without mentioning the SC
category is irrelevant
The Bench, after hearing the arguments
from both sides, held that “admittedly, the petitioner, while applying for the
post of Lecturer — both under budgeted and SFS categories — had mentioned his
category as ‘SC (A)’. In fact, the SC certificate as issued was also
attached…Throughout the selection process, the petitioner was treated as a
candidate under SC category. Therefore, the argument of the petitioner that he
contested for the post under general category is of no help…”.
The Bench added that even if it is
assumed, for the sake of argument, that there is no misrepresentation or fraud
on behalf of the petitioner, but the settled position of law is that “a person
to have the status of Scheduled Caste must profess Hinduism or any other
religion” as specified in para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order,
1950.
“In the absence of any material
available before this court that the petitioner is professing Hinduism or any
other religion as specified in para 3 of the Presidential Order, this court is
of the opinion that petitioner was not entitled to be issued an SC certificate,
being a person belonging to Muslim community,” observed HC.
On the argument of the petitioner that
he contested for the post under general category, the bench said, “Had the case
been so, he ought not to have mentioned his category of reservation in the said
column. In the absence of any column in the application form seeking
information whether a candidate is applying under general category or reserved
category, mentioning of category of reservation in the application form itself
is an indication that the candidate is seeking benefit of the reservation”.
The Bench asserted that the interview
committee recommended petitioner for appointment under SC category and
therefore, his argument that he was given appointment against a post of general
category is devoid of merit.
The court, before parting, opined that
even though the petitioner may not have misrepresented at the time of obtaining
an SC certificate or obtained the same fraudulently, but since he claimed and
was given benefit under the said certificate to which he was definitely not
entitled to, he cannot be allowed to continue in service.
Source: indianexpress.com
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/punjab-haryana-hc-sc-certificate-muslim-community-8649555/
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No breakthrough yet in mosque attack
case in Coimbatore district
June 06, 2023
More than three months after two
unidentified men hurled a molotov cocktail at a mosque near Madukkarai in Coimbatore
district, the police are yet to make a breakthrough in the investigation.
As per the First Information Report
(FIR) registered by the Madukkarai police, two men, aged around 30, came on a
two-wheeler and one of them hurled a molotov cocktail at a mosque at Annai
Nagar in Arisipalayam around 10.45 p.m. on February 12 this year. Only a
watchman was on duty at the mosque when the attack took place. Though the
watchman, Thangavelu, chased the two men, they sped away on the two-wheeler.
A complaint lodged by Kizhar Mohammed of
Annai Nagar said that the mosque was built in 2012 for the Muslim residents in
the locality.
The police registered the FIR against
two unidentified men under Section 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance
with intent to cause damage to amount of one hundred or [in case of
agricultural produce] ten rupees) of the Indian Penal Code.
A police officer said the investigation
into the incident was ongoing and the police were yet to trace the attackers.
Man arrested for attack on TNSTC bus
The Ukkadam police in Coimbatore city
have arrested a man for hurling stones at a TNSTC bus on September 22 last
year, following the nationwide arrests of Popular Front of India leaders by the
National Investigation Agency. The arrested was identified as
RahmathullahHarsath (32), a resident of Super Garden at South Ukkadam.
According to the police, Harsath and S.
Shajahan (41) of Anbu Nagar at South Ukkadam hurled stones at a TNSTC bus
plying on Gandhipuram – Narasipuram route (No 21 A) when it reached near the
parking area of Ganapathy Silks on September 22. The rear windscreen of the bus
was damaged in the attack. Shajahan was arrested by the police a week after the
attack.
Source: thehindu.com
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https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/no-breakthrough-yet-in-mosque-attack-case-in-coimbatore-district/article66938727.ece
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Allahabad HC Denies Bail to Muslim Man
Accused of Posing as Hindu to Rape, Convert Woman to Islam
06, 2023
The Allahabad High Court recently denied
bail to a Muslim man accused of hiding his religious identity to trap a Hindu
woman into establishing a physical relationship with him and forcing her to
convert to Islam.
A bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam
Shamshery rejected the argument that it was a case of honeytrap and it was the
woman who had lured the accused into a relationship to later frame him in a
rape case.
The woman filed the First Information
Report (FIR) on August 28, 2022. In the FIR, she alleged the accused, Chand
Babu, introduced himself as Vishal, and when they started talking, he proposed
to her. Subsequently, she started visiting him. Later, the accused threatened
her of making her photographs viral and repeatedly raped her, she alleged in
the FIR.
The woman alleged on August 24, 2022,
when the accused took her to a hotel, she learnt that his real name was Chand
Babu and that he was a Muslim.
She alleged she confronted him as to why
he had introduced himself as a Hindu, upon which, the accused started forcing
her to convert to Islam. Thereafter, she was again allegedly raped at the said
hotel by the accused. She alleged she escaped from the hotel “by luck” and
lodged the FIR under Sections 376(2)(n), 420, 506 of the IPC and 3/5 of the UP
Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act.
The counsel contended that it was
impossible that while the woman was meeting the accused regularly, she remained
unaware of his religion.
However, the high court noted that
except the assertions, there was no material, even prima facie, on record that
the accused had been honey-trapped.
The court noted that in his statement,
the manager of the said hotel had stated that at the hotel, a copy of Aadhar
card of the accused only had been submitted and the signature of the woman was
in the name ‘Seema’ which showed that she did not know that her name in the
register showed her as a Muslim.
Source: news18.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.news18.com/india/allahabad-hc-denies-bail-to-muslim-man-accused-of-posing-as-hindu-to-rape-convert-woman-to-islam-8012965.html
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Mideast
Lebanese party seeks Damascus’s approval
after rejecting Hezbollah presidential candidate
June 06, 2023
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s former president
Michel Aoun has traveled to Syria to shore up relations with Damascus after his
party rejected Hezbollah’s preferred presidential candidate.
The Free Patriotic Movement said Aoun,
its leader, “traveled on Tuesday to Damascus on a visit during which he will
meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.”
It came days after the FPM announced it
backed opposition candidate Jihad Azour for the Lebanese presidency and
rejected Hezbollah’s preference Suleiman Frangieh, who is a close friend of
Assad.
Aoun was accompanied by former minister
Pierre Raffoul. A source close to the FPM stated that Aoun’s goal was “to
confirm the continuation of the relationship and the strategic positioning of
the FPM.
“In return, Aoun will explain to Assad
that the FPM’s rejection of Frangieh has nothing to do with this positioning,
and he will warn that clinging to Frangieh would pose a danger to Christian
consensus.”
Aoun’s presidential term ended on
October 31 of last year, and the presidency has remained vacant since then due
to political jostling that led to the FPM abandoning its alliance with
Hezbollah over Frangieh’s nomination.
Aoun was quoted during a meeting of the
FPM parliamentary bloc on Monday evening as saying that Azour, who previously
held the position of finance minister, “is a technocrat and works at the IMF
(as Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department), which is what
Lebanon needs, while the head of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Frangieh, is an
integral part of the ruling system that has brought Lebanon to where it
is."
Political parties are scrambling to
secure the votes of MPs for the forthcoming presidential contest, set down by
the Speaker of Parliament, NabihBerri, for June 14.
So far, more than 30 out of 128 MPs have
not yet decided on their position regarding supporting Azour. Some independent
and undecided MPs say they are yet to make a decision while others will not
disclose their choice.
The parliamentary bloc of the Democratic
Gathering (the Progressive Socialist Party) will meet on Thursday to discuss
its choice.
Others yet to make their choice public
are the National Consensus (Faisal Karami and his allies), National Moderation
(North), and the Independent Parliamentary Gathering which includes MPs
ImadHawat, Bilal al-Hashimi, Nabil Badr, NeeematFerm, and Jamil Abboud.
Armenian MPs, the three MPs of
Sidon-Jezzine and about 10 MPs from the Change bloc plus some other
unaffiliated independents, make up the list of those undecided.
MP Hassan Fadlallah from Hezbollah’s
parliamentary bloc said it would “exercise its constitutional and legal rights
in full, and we are now in a stage of discussion. We have time until the
session date, and we will take a common position and proceed to implement it at
the designated time.”
“We have not imposed our opinion on
anyone, nor have we imposed a candidate on anyone. Instead, we said that there
is a candidate, and let’s come to the discussion. The natural outcome is
dialogue.”
It is all but guaranteed that 86 or more
MPs will vote in the first round, meaning it will meet the legal threshold for
legitimacy. However, neither candidate is expected to win two-thirds of all
MPs’ votes, meaning a second round will be required where the threshold is
reduced to 65 votes.
Supporters of Azour claim that he has
secured between 65 and 70 votes. However, the second round of voting remains
subject to the possibility of not reaching the quorum.
Previously, a joint-veto was placed on
Frangieh by the Christian parliamentary blocs. There is concern that a
joint-Shia veto will now be placed on Azour, who as yet has no declared support
from that bloc.
The Amal Movement, Hezbollah and their
allies previously resorted to obstructing the quorum of the second round of
voting, as happened in the 11 sessions that were held during the nomination
phase of MP Michel Moawad.
“The second round of voting will be an
opportunity to reveal the limitations of everyone and to move from this stage
to a more serious stage in the search for a moderate presidential candidate,”
said the political observer.
Razi El Hage, a member of the
parliamentary bloc of the Lebanese Forces which supports Azour, said that the
campaign against him by opponents “does not indicate a positive approach to
dealing with the election.
“Azour was not previously a candidate of
any of the blocs that now support him, and he is not a candidate of challenge
or maneuvering. Everyone converged around him to achieve the presidential
mandate.
“They must respect the choice of the
MPs, and let them apply the provisions of the Constitution and allow the
successive rounds of voting, and they will see that the MPs are capable of
electing Azour with an absolute majority.”
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2317021/middle-east
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Dozens of Israeli settlers break into
Jerusalem's Aqsa Mosque
JERUSALEM, Wednesday, June 7, 2023
(WAFA) – Dozens of fanatic Israeli settlers Wednesday morning broke into the
compounds of al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy protection from the Israeli police,
Islamic Waqf confirmed.
The Waqf said that settlers, divded into
groups, raided the holy Islamic Mosque from al-Maghariba gate and took
provocative tours in its compounds.
It added that the extremist settlers
performed Talmudic rituals in the eastern part of the Mosque.
This comes at a time as Israeli forces
intensify measures against Palestinians coming from Jerusalem to enter the
Mosque, inspecting their IDs and briefly detaining them.
Source: english.wafa.ps
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https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/136187
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Islamic State claims responsibility for
killing of deputy governor of northern Afghan province
JUNE 6, 2023
The Islamic State claimed responsibility
on Tuesday for killing the deputy governor of Afghanistan's Badakhshan
province, the group said on its Telegram account.
"Islamic State fighters managed to
detonate a bombed vehicle next to the car of the deputy governor in the city of
Fayzabad," the account said.
Source: jpost.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-745439
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Free Patriotic Movement reaffirms
endorsement of Jihad Azour in presidential elections
2023-06-06
The Free Patriotic Movement's (FPM)
political council announced its endorsement of Dr. Jihad Azour as the consensus
candidate in the upcoming presidential elections during their regular monthly
meeting on Monday.
The meeting was chaired by MP
GebranBassil and attended by President Michel Aoun. In his address, Aoun
underscored the ongoing battle against corruption and the systemic risk of
reform stagnation within the current political structure.
Bassil presented the political
directions of the FPM and discussed the trajectory of the presidential
election. He outlined the decision to support Dr. Azour, a decision backed by a
group of parliamentary blocs that represent a majority among Christians and
enjoys significant national credibility.
The FPM's political council affirmed its
commitment to the decision and called for the FPM deputies to vote for Dr.
Azour in the upcoming electoral session in Parliament. This endorsement is a
strategic move to reject any imposed candidate, from whom no significant reform
or systemic change is expected.
The agreement to endorse Dr. Azour was
made in tandem with an agreement on a reformative, sovereign rescue program.
This coordinated approach ensures a united front, providing Dr. Azour with an
increased chance of success in his pursuit of office and execution of the
reform program.
These principles and strategies were
articulated by the FPM chairman in his latest speech at the annual FPM dinner
in Byblos, reinforcing the FPM's commitment to meaningful change and the fight
against corruption.
Source: lbcgroup.tv
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https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/lebanon-news/707138/free-patriotic-movement-reaffirms-endorsement-of-j/en
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Organization of Islamic Cooperation
condemns Israeli occupation’s Killing of Palestinian child al-Tamimi
06/June/2023
JEDDAH, Tuesday, June 6, 2023 (WAFA) -
The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has
condemned the continuing crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces,
the latest of which was the heinous crime that claimed the life of the
two-year-old Palestinian child, Mohammed Al-Tamimi, who was shot in the head.
The OIC considers that this crime is one
in a series of continued Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people,
including children, with no less than 28 children having been killed at the
hands of the Israeli occupation since the beginning of this year.
The OIC called for conducting an
independent international investigation into this crime and working to hold the
Israeli occupation accountable for all its violations that amount to war
crimes, to provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and to
enforce the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.
Source: english.wafa.ps
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https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/136185
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Mastercard becomes Aafaq Islamic
Finance’s exclusive partner
DUBAI,
Aafaq Islamic Finance (Aafaq), an
award-winning UAE-based firm that provides innovative Islamic financial
products and services, has chosen Mastercard as the exclusive strategic partner
for its credit, prepaid and commercial SME offerings. The agreement was
formalised at a signing ceremony attended by senior executives from both
entities.
As part of the collaboration, Mastercard
will leverage its advanced technologies to strengthen Aafaq’s digital
capabilities and unlock new opportunities for its individual and SME customers
as it supports Aafaq’s vision to be the UAE’s favourite destination for digital
Islamic financing.
“In collaboration with our extensive
partner network, Mastercard is developing locally relevant solutions that
contribute to building robust and inclusive payment ecosystems. Our
collaboration with Aafaq will see the introduction of a full suite of
innovative products for people and businesses in the UAE that match their
requirements and lifestyles,” said Olivia Bellingham, Senior Vice President and
Mastercard Direct Services Lead, EEMEA, Mastercard.
Seamless and efficient
“At Aafaq, we focus on delivering
seamless and efficient customer experiences in the Islamic finance space. We
are confident that our partnership with Mastercard will support our growth and
innovation strategy and enable us to expand our digital proposition to cater to
the evolving needs of our customers,” said Hisham Hammoud, Group CEO of Aafaq
Islamic Finance.
“For more than 35 years, Mastercard has
been supporting the UAE in its digital transformation journey. We are delighted
to join forces with Aafaq as we empower people and businesses through the
latest payment innovations as part of our efforts to create an inclusive and
sustainable digital economy,” said Gina Petersen-Skyrme, Vice President and
Country Business Development Lead, UAE & Oman, Mastercard.
Established in 2006, Aafaq specialises
in offering government-related financial services and Sharia-compliant
solutions in the UAE and the wider region. The full autonomy it enjoys gives it
a unique standing among finance companies in the country.--TradeArabia News
Service
Source: tradearabia.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/BANK_410175.html
--------
Europe
Muslim community hosts vigil marking
second anniversary of deadly London attack
June 6, 2023
LONDON, Ont. - Dozens of people from
many faiths gathered Tuesday night at a vigil organized by members of the
Muslim community in London, Ont., to mark the second anniversary of the worst
mass killing in the city's history.
Salman Afzaal, his wife Madiha Salman,
their daughter Yumna and her grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were run down by a
pickup truck on June 6, 2021. The couple's nine-year-old son was seriously
hurt.
Prosecutors allege the attack was an act
of terrorism targeting London's Muslim community.
Nathaniel Veltman, who was 20 at the
time of his arrest, faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of
attempted murder. He is to stand trial in September.
Tuesday night's vigil on the street
where members of the Afzaal family were killed began with Islamic prayers and
requests from the vigil's hosts for gatherers to get to know their neighbours
by turning to the person beside them and say “As-salamualaykum,” a greeting in
Arabic that means 'Peace be upon you'.
Nida Naved, a Muslim resident of London,
said she decided to attend the vigil because it was important for her to show
her sons and Muslim youth that they should not be afraid.
“I'm here to show that we stand in
solidarity with who we are,” Naved said.
“The (attack) really shook us. We knew
the family personally as well, so having events like this really brings
everyone together and gives you some comfort that you're not alone. We're not afraid
of our identity.”
HadiaFiaz, another Muslim resident of
London, said she still feels scared watching her parents walk on the street in
traditional clothing.
“But having conversations with people,
gathering... I think it helps,” she said.
William Edward Lawrence, another London
resident, said he's not Muslim but he wanted to come out to show the community
support.
“I've come to the understanding that
we're all the same,” he said.
“We're just people trying to make it
through life, live a good life, do the best we can. And unfortunately, this
tragedy happened so I felt a need to come out and show my respect to the Muslim
community.”
London Mayor Josh Morgan, members of the
Afzaal family and Amira Elghawaby, who is Canada's special representative on combating
Islamophobia, were among those who spoke during the vigil.
Source: cp24.com
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https://www.cp24.com/news/muslim-community-hosts-vigil-marking-second-anniversary-of-deadly-london-attack-1.6428885
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Family distraught as Muslim grave
smashed and vandalised in Blackburn
6th June
A man says he has been left heartbroken
after the headstone of his late father was smashed to pieces.
The incident is believed to have
happened over the past fortnight in the Muslim section of Pleasington cemetery.
Police said the incident was being
investigated but would not clarify if it was being treated as a hate crime as
yet.
Naveed Hussain says he initially thought
the damage had been done by the grave collapsing but now thinks it has been
intentionally done.
His father, Syed Itrat Hussain, died in
November 2002. The headstone has been marked to signify it is that of a Shia
Muslim.
Naveed said: “When we checked first we
thought it may have collapsed but then we showed it to a local stonemason and
he said this would have been done by someone. It is a very heavy object and you
can see for yourself it would have taken real intent to do this.
“It appears to have been smashed with an
object of some sort.
“I do not know why anyone would want to
do this. My father was a hard-working simple man who did nothing but good for
everyone.
“This headstone was a double memorial -
one to my father who is buried there and one to my wife who died of cancer aged
only 25. She was buried in Pakistan.”
Shia Muslims make up around 10 per cent
of all Muslims across the world and in the UK there are Shia communities across
towns and cities in the North West.
Grave etchings, like many other Muslim
graves, tend to include the Kalima - a declaration of faith. In this case, it
includes the word ‘Ali’ who was the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law and is
revered by all Muslims but particularly amongst those of Shia Muslim faith.
There is no distinct area for Shia
Muslim graves within the cemetery and people of all Muslim faiths are buried
side by side.
The headstone was the only one damaged
in that small section of the cemetery, said Naveed.
Naveed said: “The only word that
appeared to be damaged is the word ‘Ali’ in Arabic. That is why I think this as a targeted
incident and someone has deliberately done this to the grave stone.
“This has happened before.
“In 2017, the word ‘Ali’ was chiselled
out on the same grave and also on two other Shia Muslim headstones. One of whom
was from the early eighties, which led us to believe it was a targeted
incident.
“The family were distraught they also
had to replace the grave at great cost to themselves.
“At the time people didn’t want to say
anything. People are fearful of repeat damage and are removing specific words
and names from headstones. We should not have to do this.
“We won’t stay silent on the issue
anymore.
“I was born in Blackburn and do not
recognise this town with a rise in hatred and bigotry.”
In a letter to his local MP Kate Hollern
and the Home Secretary SuellaBraverman he wrote: “I am distraught to inform you
of hate crime in your town.
“The current attack is a complete
destruction of the headstone - violation of my father's resting place.
“This is an indication that Blackburn is
not a place where people can tolerate each other or accept each others Islamic
Faith
“Shias as a minority have been
systematically persecuted for following their faith. This is an example of a
continuation of this persecution in Blackburn.
“Islam the religion of peace now has
extremists, residing in Blackburn, amongst it who will not allow the dead to
rest in peace.”
Kate Hollern’s office said they had been
in touch with Mr Hussain.
Police said an investigation had been
launched after it was reported to them over the weekend.
A police spokesperson said: “We have
received a report of criminal damage and we are investigating.
“We take these matters extremely
seriously and we are working with partners to identify those responsible and
establish what the motive for the crime was.
“Anyone with information or footage
which could assist our investigation is asked to call police on 101, quoting
log 1611 of June 3, 2023.”
Source: lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
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https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23567472.family-distraught-muslim-grave-smashed-vandalised-blackburn/
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Tributes to ‘loved and respected’
Middlesbrough mum whose Islamic poetry was read ‘all around world’
6 JUN 2023
The family of a Muslim woman in
Middlesbrough who was well known for her Islamic poetry books have paid tribute
to her after she sadly died last week.
Safia Razzaq, 79, passed away on Sunday,
June 4 after suffering from heart failure. She has left behind her four
children and seven grandchildren.
Many people in the local community and
globally knew Safia for her six Islamic poetry books that she published. She
also taught children in the mosques how to read the Quran and was deeply
devoted to her religion.
Safia’s daughter, Nusrat Razzaq, said:
“We were truly blessed to have the most amazing, talented and inspirational
mother. She was very loved and respected by everyone."
Safia’s Islamic poetry books have been
recited all around the world. Safia shared her poetry online and gathered a
large following. Her poetry was also recited by a CVFM radio presenter during
the Middlesbrough radio station’s Ramadan programme.
Safia had a book launch in November 2021
for her final book that was published called "Sharf'. Aside from her
poetry, Safia felt it was her duty to teach her children not only how to read
the Quran but about Islam as well. She also taught many children in the local
community.
Safia sadly passed away at home
surrounded by her loved ones. "We were blessed to have her as a mother,
she has left a great legacy behind," added Nusrat.
Safia’s funeral was held at Jamia Masjid
Al Madina in Middlesbrough on Monday, June 5.
Source: gazettelive.co.uk
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https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/tributes-loved-respected-middlesbrough-mum-27064953
--------
Interim manager defends appointment at
Muslim charity after criticism
06 Jun 2023
A charity sector lawyer has defended her
appointment as interim manager at the Islamic Centre of England after
campaigners said it had been “politically motivated”.
The Commission has been investigating
the charity since November 2022 and appointed Emma Moody as its interim manager
at the start of May. The Telegraph also reported last month that the charity’s
centre had closed its doors.
Then in a letter sent to the chair of
the Charity Commission last week, 35 civil society groups and individuals
criticised the regulator’s decision to appoint a non-Muslim interim manager to
run the centre while it is being investigated.
Moody has now said she was appointed by
the Commission on the back of her “governance expertise” and “years of
experience advising charities of all faiths across the UK, including a number
of Muslim-faith led organisations”.
“I am committed to working
collaboratively with the Islamic Centre of England, and its trustees, and our
first priority and focus is to reopen the centre as soon as possible,” she said
in a statement.
Civil Society has contacted the charity
for comment.
Response to criticism
Moody, who is head of charities at law
firm Womble Bond Dickinson, said: “I am committed to working collaboratively
with the Islamic Centre of England, and its trustees, and our first priority
and focus is to reopen the centre as soon as possible. I have been appointed by
the Charity Commission on the back of my governance expertise and my years of
experience advising charities of all faiths across the UK, including a number
of Muslim-faith led organisations.
“I always approach my work with
compassion, understanding and a desire to secure the best possible outcome for
the charities with which I work, for the good of the communities they serve.
Media reports on why the centre closed are misleading – the decision was not
made by the Charity Commission nor as a result of my appointment as interim
manager. The trustees and I wish to re-open the centre as soon as possible, and
once we do so, we can then focus on supporting the charity’s future effective
governance.”
The Islamic Centre for England has been
the subject of a statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission since November
2022 due to “serious governance concerns” and following “extensive engagement
in recent years”.
The regulator previously issued an
official warning to the charity after “the trustees allowed a candlelit vigil
to be held at the charity’s West London premises in response to the death of
the Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani” who had been subject to UK financial
sanctions.
Last month, the charity announced that
it was suspending all its programmes “after receiving the concerns of the
community and for their safety,” according to a sign posted on its gates and
photographed by IranWire.
Source: civilsociety.co.uk
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https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/interim-manager-defends-appointment-at-muslim-charity-after-criticism.html
--------
Russia warns Belgium over militia
weapons claims
7 Jun, 2023
The Russian Foreign Ministry has
summoned Belgium’s ambassador in Moscow over claims that Ukraine-based
far-right militias used firearms produced in the EU nation in a recent
cross-border raid.
The ministry issued a “strong protest”
to MarсMichielsen when the Belgian envoy visited on Tuesday, it said in a
statement. Russia “has repeatedly warned of the danger of flooding the
Ukrainian army with Western weapons and military vehicles,” citing the risk of
their diversion to terrorists, it added.
“We have urged Brussels not to turn a
blind eye to the multiple pieces of evidence of the support by the Kiev regime
of terrorists, who target the peaceful population and civilian infrastructure
in the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.
The raid in question happened on May 22
and involved Kiev-backed militias crossing into Russia’s Belgorod Region. The
force was armed with weapons produced by several NATO members, including the
US, Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium, images posted online indicated.
The Washington Post reported on the
armaments in an exposé last week. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said
his government was investigating, but urged against jumping to conclusions.
“Let’s first try to check things
carefully and see if the origin of these weapons is indeed the [Belgian] donations,”
he told the media.
Brussels said Kiev had pledged not to
use weapons received from Belgium for attacks on Russian soil. Ukrainian
President Vladimir Zelensky vowed this week that his government was keeping its
promise.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate
(GUR) claimed that the militias were “autonomous” and had obtained Western
weapons as “trophies.” Russia has accused the Ukrainian agency of staging a
number of terrorist attacks on its soil, including bombings and assassinations.
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/news/577607-belgian-weapons-raid-protest/
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Russia holds West responsible for dam
disaster – UN envoy
7 Jun, 2023
Ukraine destroyed the Kakhovka dam in an
“unthinkable crime” intended to harm Crimea for choosing Russia in 2014,
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, VassilyNebenzia, told the Security
Council on Tuesday.
The Russian diplomat brought up US media
reports documenting Ukrainian attacks on the Kakhovka dam in December 2022,
using US-supplied HIMARS rockets.
“Feeling its total impunity and being
encouraged by Western sponsors, the Kiev regime decided to carry out this
terrorist plot this time,” Nebenzia claimed. He noted that the Ukrainians had
significantly increased the discharge of water from the Dnepropetrovsk
hydroelectric power station, leading to even greater flooding downstream,
“which indicates that this sabotage was planned in advance.”
The “terrorist act” was intended to free
up Ukrainian forces for the “counteroffensive” currently getting bogged down in
Zaporozhye, while inflicting massive humanitarian damage on the population of
Kherson Region, Nebenzia insisted.
Not only did the flood render a dozen
towns along the Dnieper River uninhabitable, it has also reduced water levels
in the North Crimea canal, which supplies water to the Russian peninsula.
Ukraine had shut off the canal after Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in a 2014
referendum. It was only reopened last year, when Russian troops took control of
the area.
According to Nebenzia, Kiev “once again
decided to take revenge on the Crimeans for their choice in favor of Russia and
leave the population of Crimea without water.”
Nebenzia called the claims by Ukrainian,
US and EU officials that Russia was responsible for the dam’s destruction a
“well-coordinated disinformation campaign,” in the same vein as previous
allegations that Moscow was behind the shelling of its own people at the
Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, or the destruction of the Nord Stream gas
pipelines under the Baltic Sea.
According to the Russian envoy, Kiev has
fully embraced terrorist tactics, from the bombing of the Crimean Bridge to the
targeted assassinations of journalists Darya Dugina and VladlenTatarsky, and
the attempt on ZakharPrilepin – which none of the Western governments said a
word to condemn.
“The Kiev regime has good teachers,
responsible for destroying the Nord Stream [pipeline] and the deliberate
targeting of the Tabqa dam in Syria. The West is used to doing the dirty work
with other people’s hands,” the Russian diplomat told the Security Council.
“We also do not rule out an attempt at
provocation against the Zaporozhye NPP,” Nebenzia said, given that the UN has
persistently refused to condemn Ukrainian attacks on the facility, “although it
is obvious to everyone which side they are coming from.”
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/russia/577601-kakhovka-dam-western-sponsors-nebenzia/
--------
Russian nuclear giant looks to replace
Western medical devices
7 Jun, 2023
Russian state-owned nuclear energy
corporation Rosatom has launched a new manufacturing branch that will produce
titanium alloy implants for traumatology and orthopedics, the company’s TVEL
division announced on Tuesday.
TVEL incorporates a metallurgical
subdivision, RusatomMetalltech, which produces titanium, zirconium and other
metals for high-technology products.
“We’ve established a new enterprise, LLC
RusatomImplantat, which will produce import-substituting titanium implants for
osteosynthesis and intraosseousosteosynthesis,” the statement said.
Intraosseousosteosynthesis is the surgical management of bone fractures by the
insertion of a fixing device, usually a titanium implant, into the affected
area.
The new company aims to produce at least
140,000 titanium implants annually and meet at least one third of the demand on
the Russian market. Its products will include plates for osteosynthesis of bone
fragments, intramedullary pins for the treatment of bone fractures and surgical
tools for their installation, extraction and replacement.
“The launch of our own complete
production cycle of implantable products – from raw materials to finished goods
– is the largest investment project of RusatomMetalltech for the development of
the medical industry in Russia. Our plant’s capacity will meet at least 30% of
the demand of the Russian healthcare market in high-quality medical implants
for traumatology and orthopedics, and, in the future, it will completely
replace imported medical products in this area,” RusatomMetalltech CEO
AndreyAndrianov said.
The company is finalizing the necessary
registration procedures in order to supply its products to Russian medical
institutions, and plans to launch its products on the domestic market in late
2024.
“We expect [RusatomImplantat] products
to replace Western analogues in reconstructive surgery, which will ease
consumer access to Russian high-tech medical care and boost its independence
from market conditions,” VladislavOvchinsky, the head of Moscow’s Investment
and Industrial Policy Department, told reporters.
The factory will be located within the
Technopolis Moscow special economic zone.
The company is finalizing the necessary
registration procedures in order to supply its products to Russian medical
institutions, and plans to launch its products on the domestic market in late
2024.
“We expect [RusatomImplantat] products
to replace Western analogues in reconstructive surgery, which will ease consumer
access to Russian high-tech medical care and boost its independence from market
conditions,” VladislavOvchinsky, the head of Moscow’s Investment and Industrial
Policy Department, told reporters.
The factory will be located within the
Technopolis Moscow special economic zone.
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/business/577569-russia-rosatom-medical-devices/
--------
North America
NYPD Captain Sexually, Religiously
Harassed Muslim Woman Worker: Suit
Jun 6, 2023
NEW YORK CITY — An NYPD captain asked a
woman colleague for her underwear, followed her children-filled vehicle and
made a crude joke about animal sacrifice related to her Muslim faith, according
to a recent federal lawsuit.
The woman's $7 million discrimination
lawsuit against Capt. Antonio Pagan in Manhattan federal court accuses the cop
of peppering her with sexual requests and offensive comments about her faith —
sometimes in the same breath — over years.
The complaint filed May 23 also accuses
NYPD brass of failing to address her "harrowing" experiences.
"For us, it’s an issue of
accountability within the NYPD, or lack of accountability,” said Deborah Kick,
an attorney who filed the lawsuit on the woman's behalf.
An NYPD spokesperson declined to comment
on the lawsuit, as did one for the city's law department.
Patch is not naming the woman who filed
the lawsuit as it doesn't identify accusers of sexual misconduct without
consent.
The lawsuit details several accusations
made by the woman against Pagan that she said occurred while they worked in the
NYPD's communications division. Those include:
Pagan told the woman he wished her to be
his “Arab girlfriend.”
He also told her, by text, he wanted to
see pictures of her in “Muslim” dress.
Another text message from Pagan to the
woman referred to her thighs in a crude, sexualized manner.
In a series of texts about a runaway
animal on Long Island, Pagan expressed “the belief the animal was to be
sacrificed for the holiday of Eid Al-Adha, and concurrently expressing concern
that Plaintiff was eating enough.”
At one point, Pagan confronted the woman
and told her not be in the presence of a police lieutenant unless he was there.
He later texted her that he was displeased because she smiled at that same
lieutenant.
While Pagan and the woman were off-duty,
he followed her while she drove her young child and niece. He stopped her
vehicle to stop to her, knowing full well that both children were inside.
After the woman complained to a lieutenant,
Pagan was transferred out of the communications division in August 2021, the
lawsuit states.
But Pagan continued to contact her and
send threatening messages as recently as December, according to the lawsuit. No
NYPD action other than the transfer has been taken against Pagan, the lawsuit
contends.
"Defendants discriminated against
Plaintiff on the basis of her sex (female) and religion (Islam), failed to
precisely respond to both formal and informal complaints of discrimination, and
treated her differently from and less favorably than similarly situated
employees who were not female and Muslim...," the lawsuit states.
Pagan, who currently works in the NYPD's
Brooklyn Court section, faced one misconduct complaint in 2010, which civilian
watchdogs ruled as unfounded, records show. He made roughly $206,000 last year,
according to city payroll records.
Another of the woman's attorneys — Kevin
Johnson — said the lawsuit exposes and aims to fix a disconnect in how NYPD
leadership polices discrimination and harassment within their ranks.
He said the $1 million each sought in
the lawsuit's seven causes of action is a budgetary drop in the bucket, noting
that a bathroom in a city park typically costs $4 million.
“I think my client’s troubles are more
important than a park bathroom,” she said.
Source: patch.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/nypd-captain-sexually-religiously-harassed-muslim-worker-suit
--------
200-plus North American Muslim
authorities join the sexuality culture wars
June 6, 2023
North America’s Christian and Jewish
leaders have long been active, politically and legally, in taking differing
sides on same-sex and transgender issues. Authorities in Islam are
comparatively disengaged. That changes in dramatic fashion with a new
declaration of alarm from a broad group of 59 authorities, quickly joined by
150 further endorsers from Muslim organizations and local mosques.
Journalists will want to ponder the May
23 “Navigating Differences” statement, which is publicized on Muslim websites
and social media, though The Guy has seen no “mainstream media” coverage. Yet?
The ad hoc grouping upholds the
“immutable” teaching on sexuality defined by the Quran and Hadith sayings of
the Prophet Muhammad, then “unanimously agreed upon” in Islamic jurisprudence
over the succeeding 14 centuries.
The newer news is that these scholars
also assert that believers have been unfairly put on the defensive. The signers
acknowledge that North American law and culture have moved away from
traditional beliefs on marriage, sexual relations and gender identity, and
affirm that citizens of a democracy who disagree with Islam have every right
“to live in peace and free from abuse.”
However, they say, religious dissenters
face “unwarranted accusations of bigotry” and, more troubling, “an increasing
push to promote LGBTQ+ beliefs among children through legislation and
regulations, disregarding parental consent” and suppressing Muslims’
“conscientious objection.” This is said to “subvert” parents, worsen
“intolerance” in society and violate citizens’ religious freedom.
“We call on policymakers to protect our
constitutional right to practice our religious beliefs freely, without fear of
harassment, and to oppose any legislation seeking to stifle the religious
freedoms of faith communities.”
These thinkers also urge public figures
who are Muslims to “uphold the sanctity of our faith” and shun “erroneous
pronouncements” on “sexual and gender ethics that contravene well-established
Islamic teachings” and spurn or misrepresent “the will of God.” They
“categorically reject” as indefensible any efforts to reinterpret tenets that
are “not subject to revision.”
Journalists need to assess the
importance of the declaration, which agrees with other religious conservatives.
For instance, could this be considered the most significant unified Muslim
protest since the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks? Yet one Muslim reaction
complains that these authorities are “out of touch” with reality, and
mobilizing “a decade too late.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized
same-sex marriage nationwide (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015), dissenting
conservative justices in the 5-4 ruling warned about threats to religious
liberty. The Guy double-checked and finds that no orthodox Muslim entity filed
a “friend of the court” brief in that case, even though just about every other
sector of American society did so, not to mention 27 lawyers from foreign
lands.
Reviewing Islam’s belief, the group
states that “by a decree from God, sexual relations are permitted within the
bounds of marriage, and marriage can only occur between a man and a woman,”
citing Quran 4:16, 7:80-83, 17:32, and 27:55-58.
As for gender identity, “God defined
humanity as consisting of males and females,” citing Quran 49:13 and 53:45.
Also, the Prophet “condemned imitating the appearance of the opposite gender.”
The text says that “God holds
individuals accountable for their words and actions, not for their involuntary
thoughts and feelings. … The sinful actions of an individual do not and should
not dictate his or her identity. As such it is impermissible for Muslims to
take pride in identifying with labels that categorize them by their sins.” It
adds that Muslims “who struggle with desires that fall outside the boundaries
set by God” always have “the potential to be forgiven.”
Sources:
* Coordinators of the new effort are
reachable at info@navigatingdifferences.com. The names of endorsers posted with
the text would be useful for reporters to keep on file.
* Prominent backers include Muzzamil
Siddiqi, a Harvard Ph.D., former president of the Islamic Society of North
America and chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, which issues rulings that apply Islamic law;
reachable at California’s Islamic Society of Orange County (info@isocmasjid,org
or 714-531-1722).
* Also note Yasir Qadhi, a Yale Ph.D.
who is academic dean of the Islamic Seminary of America (214-484-309 or info@islamicseminary.us).
* Other scholarly signers who’d be adept
at interpreting their religion for North American general audiences include:
* Ihsan Bagby at the University of
Kentucky (ihsanbagby@gmail.com or iabagb2@uky.edu; 859–257-638).
* Jonathan Brown at Georgetown
University (202-687-0293 or e-mail via https://drjonathanbrown.com/contact).
* Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, who teaches
Islamic law at Zaytuna College (aali@zaytuna.edu).
* Zaytuna’s President Hamza Yusuf is a
notable leader whose view would be of interest because (at this writing) he has
not signed on (hyusuf@zaytuna.edu, office 510–356-4760).
* Also absent: Outspoken Muslim-rights activist NihadAwad,
executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (contact via
communications director Ibrahim Hooper, lhooper@cair.com or 202–744–7726). And Executive
Director Basharat Saleen of the Islamic Society of North America
(basharat.saleem@isna.net or 317–839–1808).
* Among champions of LGBTQ+ rights,
Americans United for Separation of Church and State fights “religious
extremists” and “discrimination in the name of religion.” President Rachel
Laser is a lawyer and former lobbyist for Reform Judaism (contact via
media@au.org or 202–466-3234).
* At the Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation (GLAAD), the contact for religious issues is Ross Murray (rmurray@glaad.org
or 646–871-8040), or else
press@glaad.org.
Source: getreligion.org
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2023/6/4/200-plusnbspnorth-american-muslim-authorities-join-the-sexuality-culture-wars
--------
A veteran who admitted to mosque bombing
plot stops after turning hate into love
Jun. 7, 2023
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A former Marine
and Army veteran joins a Madison-based movement against hate, after seeing his
own hatred reach its extremes.
“I grew in this hatred for, at that
time, the common enemy, Muslims, Islam,” Richard McKinney told NBC15,
reflecting on his 25 years in the military.
“I was so miserable in myself because
things had gotten to me. There had been a lot of times where I was numb, and I
think deep down inside, I didn’t like myself,” he said.
His career took him to Afghanistan and
Iraq in the early 2000s. Even after he survived a major blow by a bomb, he kept
at his calling, or at least what he thought it was at the time. In the face of
retirement, he remembered telling someone, “I’m not done killing Muslims.”
When he eventually came back home to
Indiana, the hate materialized.
“I had come up with a plan to create my
own IED, a homemade bomb,” he said, adding it was to destroy a local mosque,
the Islamic Center of Muncie.
By 2009, the bomb was already built,
McKinney said. He decided to go inside the mosque for the first time, under the
guise of wanting to learn more about the religion.
“I was so nervous because here I am in
the enemy’s lair, unarmed,” he said. “And there was a lot of ‘em.”
Secretly, he wanted to prove the people
and their faith were evil. What he found instead was a community and a holy
book that were far from it.
“I was embraced. They didn’t know me
from from nothing, and I was embraced,” he said. While wrestling with the
initial plan for violence, McKinney described weeks of reading the Quran,
researching the religion and going back and forth from the mosque to talk with
members.
“One of the real turning points was when
I got to a point in the Quran where it said that to kill one human being is as
if you killed all of humanity, but to save a human being is as if you saved all
of humanity,” he said.
McKinney’s story has reached a wide
audience, especially after the 2022 release of a documentary about his journey
called “Stranger at the Gate”: A Veteran’s Return from the Brink of Terrorism.
In late May, McKinney joined the honorary board for the nonprofit We Are Many--
United Against Hate.
“I thought it was a perfect match for
what I’m trying to do and what I want to accomplish,” president and founder
Masood Akhtar said. “People are not born to hate. They’re taught to hate. If
they’re taught to hate, we can teach them how to love.”
The now-international movement seeks
“equal protection for all, united against hate, bigotry and racism,” according
to its website.
It took eight weeks, McKinney said, “to
go from wanting to blow this place up to becoming one of the people in it.” He
later went on to become the president of the same mosque he planned to attack.
He now works in Yorktown, Indiana, as a life coach.
According to McKinney, someone turned
him in leading to an FBI investigation of his home. Due to a lack of evidence,
there were no criminal charges, he said.
Source: nbc15.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.nbc15.com/2023/06/06/after-admitting-bombing-plot-mosque-veteran-is-transformed-by-love/
--------
CAIR Welcomes Charges for Threat
Targeting North Carolina Mosque
June 6, 2023
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/6/23) – The Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights
and advocacy organization, today welcomed charges brought against a 19-year-old
man and a juvenile who allegedly communicated a threat targeting the Islamic
Center of Charlotte in North Carolina last month. Both suspects live in the
Spartanburg, S.C., area.
SEE: 2 from South Carolina Made
Threatening Calls to Charlotte Mosque, Police Say
CMPD: Two Suspects Charged with Making
Threatening Calls to Charlotte Islamic Center
Officials with the Islamic Center of
Charlotte said a caller used obscenities and anti-Islam and anti-Arab
statements, and reportedly said, “I’ll blow you worse than 9/11.”
CAIR called on state and federal law
enforcement authorities to investigate the alleged threat as a hate crime.
“We welcome the charges in this
disturbing case and hope that if the suspects are convicted, they will be given
an opportunity learn about the American Muslim community and about why threats
to any house of worship are unacceptable,” said CAIR National Communications
Director Ibrahim Hooper.
He noted that CAIR has recently
responded to a number of attacks on mosques in other states.
Video: CAIR-MN Director Jaylani Hussein
Says Muslim Community Feeling Overwhelmed by Mosque Attacks
CAIR Calls for Hate Crime Probe of
Vandalism Targeting Oregon Mosque
CAIR is urging the local Muslim
community and Islamic institutions nationwide to take extra security
precautions by using advice offered in CAIR’s booklet, “Best Practices for
Mosque and Community Safety.”
Last year, CAIR released a report,
titled “Still Suspect: The Impact of Structural Islamophobia,” documenting more
than 6,720 complaints to CAIR offices nationwide involving a range of issues
including immigration and travel, workplace discrimination, denial of public
accommodations, law enforcement and government overreach, hate and bias
incidents, incarceree rights, school incidents, anti-BDS/free speech, among
other reported issues.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil
rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American
Muslims.
La misión de CAIR
esprotegerlaslibertadesciviles, mejorar la comprensióndel Islam, promover la
justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los EstadosUnidos.
Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational
Subscribe to CAIR’s Email List
https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters
Subscribe to CAIR’s Twitter Feed
http://twitter.com/cairnational
Subscribe to CAIR’s YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/cairtv
Follow CAIR on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cair_national/
Donate to CAIR
https://action.cair.com/a/donate
Do you like reading CAIR press releases
and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of
defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by
making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you
make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable
goal. Click here to donate to CAIR.
If you would like to join CAIR’s media
list, please sign up here: https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters — For more
information, email: info@cair.com, CC ihooper@cair.com
END
Source: cair.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-welcomes-charges-for-threat-targeting-north-carolina-mosque/
--------
California's First Muslim Assemblyman
Joins Christian Lawmakers In Protesting Democrats' Ceremony Honouring Gay
Pornographer From Anti-Catholic Group
June 06, 2023
The Los Angeles Dodgers are not the only
woke outfit paying homage to an anti-Christian group this month. California
Democrats honoured a member of the so-called Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on
the floor of the state Senate Monday.
Republican lawmakers, unwilling to be
party to the endorsement of the group and/or its ambassador, joined the
Catholics, Evangelicals, and real nuns gathered outside the state Capitol in
peaceful protest.
Among those who stood up and walked out
in solidarity was Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, the first Muslim elected
to the California State Assembly.
Essayli held up a sign that read
"Religious bigotry is bigotry," then walked off the Assembly floor in
protest of the ceremony honoring the SPI. He later noted on Instagram,
"This group engages in outrageous displays of mockery and ridicule against
more than one billion Catholics worldwide."
TheBlaze previously reported that the
SPI touts itself as a "leading-edge order of queer and trans nuns."
The motto for the San Francisco-based
group is "go forth and sin some more," an inversion of Christ's
command to "go, and sin no more."
Extra to ridiculing Catholic teaching
and doctrine — the church's orthodox views on marriage, sexuality,
homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion in particular — the group has
defiled the Eucharist and performed public sex acts involving religious icons.
A viral video recently shared on Twitter
by Claremont fellow Megan Basham showed a performance by alleged members of the
group wherein one male stripper writhed and gyrated on a second male stripper
pretending to be the crucified Christ.
KGO-TV reported that Michael Williams, the
Bay Area transvestite who calls himself Sister Roma, was invited to the state
Capitol in Sacramento as part of a celebration of LGBT activism.
Williams, a staunch supporter of both
COVID-19 masking and bringing kids to drag shows, is a gay pornography director
and fetishist who made headlines for his participation in a 2007 BDSM-themed
mockery of Leonardo da Vinci's depiction of Christ's last supper.
He said, "I'm completely floored
that I'm being recognized with this amazing honor."
State Sen. Scott Wiener, who claimed
that "the word groomer is categorically an anti-LGBTQ hate word" then
advanced a law that made California a sanctuary state for child sex-change
mutilations, was the member of the LGBTQ caucus responsible for inviting
Williams to the state Senate.
Wiener, also responsible for a law
enabling judges to keep men who prey on grade schoolers 10 years their junior,
between the ages of 14 and 17, off sex-offender registries, added,
"Catholic organizations that are demonizing the Sisters and saying that
they are somehow hateful or anti-Catholic have it completely backwards."
Jonathan Keller, president of the
California Family Council, said of the ceremony, "It’s disheartening to
see the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now the California Legislature honor a group
characterized by its mockery of Christianity in general and Catholicism in
particular. This promotion of the blasphemous ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’
shows a clear disregard for the religious sentiments of millions of
Californians. Such an act sends a troubling message to our people of faith
across the Golden State."
Republican state senators, less than
enthused about Wiener's nominee and the hate group he hails from, penned a
letter last week to leftist Senate leader Toni Atkins (D), requesting that the
invitation to the hate-group member be withdrawn, reported the Los Angeles
Times.
"The Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence, through their public disparagement of the Catholic Faith, have
displayed a disregard for the principles of tolerance and understanding that
should guide our society. Honoring them in the Senate Chambers would be
inappropriate and contrary to the values we hold dear," said the letter.
Atkins denied the request, writing,
"The request to remove a philanthropic member of our LGBTQ+ community from
the LGBTQ Caucus' Pride Month honorees is a misguided distraction on the first
day of Pride month. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I respect my
Republican colleagues, but I'm extremely disappointed in them for leaning in to
polarization."
While the tranvestic member of the hate
group was ultimately honored, Republicans removed themselves so as not to
endorse the SPI and its anti-Christian message.
James Gallagher, the Assembly Republican
Leader, stated, "I will not be participating in the recognition of a
member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. As a Christian, I love all
people. I believe Christ made a path to salvation for all who want to follow. I
also believe strongly in religious freedom and I have compassion, tolerance and
respect for those who believe differently. No one should be discriminated
against simply because of who they are or what they believe."
"That is why I will not celebrate
those who engage in religious bigotry or attempt to co-opt our faith into
something it is not," continued Gallagher. "Their vulgar mockery of
our Christian faith is extremely insulting and disrespectful. We cannot condone
this."
Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R)
told Fox News Digital, "Senate Democrats have shown a blatant disregard
for the 10 million Catholic Californians in our state," adding, "were
this group to spread hateful messages about Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or any other
religion, Senate Democrats would certainly not extend this invitation."
KNVN reported that Gallagher joined Sacramento
Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto at the prayer protest outside, who recited the Our
Father.
Essayli, an Abrahamic ally, stressed on
Instagram, "An attack against one faith is an attack on all faith. Bigotry
of any kind cannot be tolerated, or worse yet, formally dignified by the State
of California."
Source: theblaze.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.theblaze.com/news/californias-first-muslim-assemblyman-joins-christian-lawmakers-in-protesting-democrats-ceremony-honoring-anti-catholic-hate-group
--------
Southeast Asia
Warning letter to religious teacher was
over inflammatory language, not LGBT stance: Islamic regulatory bodies
06 Jun 2023
SINGAPORE: A warning letter was issued
to a religious teacher who used inappropriate and inflammatory language to
incite hatred and disrespect towards members of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer) community, said the Islamic Religious Council
of Singapore (MUIS) and the Asatizah Recognition Board (ARB).
The joint media statement by the
authorities on Tuesday (Jun 6) comes after a social media post by the religious
teacher on Apr 30 that said “asatizahs who opposed to the LGBT are given
warning letters". The post has been removed.
In their statement, MUIS and ARB refuted
the claims, adding that the board has never issued any warning letter to a
religious teacher, or asatizah, who holds the view that Islam does not condone
homosexuality or that same-sex marriage is a sin in Islam.
MUIS' religious guidance on LGBTQ
developments in Singapore was issued on Aug 22, 2022.
It "explicitly states that marriage
in Islam can only take place between a man and woman, and Islam forbids any
other forms of sexual relationships and unions".
All religious teachers are free to
reiterate this position, said MUIS and the ARB.
They must abide by the Asatizah
Recognition Scheme's (ARS) code of ethics. The ARB, which was formed by MUIS in
2004 and accredits asatizah in Singapore, regulates the ARS.
This code includes provisions that an
Islamic teacher must not do anything that is likely to cause public disorder or
advocate any idea that is likely to encourage extremism or violence, whether
directly or indirectly.
Religious teachers must "exercise
care to avoid actions which might cause disharmony or ill feelings towards
others for their beliefs or orientations", said the statement.
WARNING OVER INAPPROPRIATE, INFLAMMATORY
LANGUAGE
In various Facebook posts from December
2021 to February 2022, the Ustaz "used inappropriate and inflammatory
language that could incite hatred and disrespect towards members of the LGBTQ
community in Singapore".
After determining that his posts had
contravened the ARS code of ethics, the ARB issued him a warning letter on May
13, 2022.
"The ARB warned him, among other
things, that he should not utilise controversial preaching methods that may
lead to hatred and disrespect towards certain (minority) groups in
Singapore," said the joint statement.
"The ARB advised him that he should
address socio-religious issues, including LGBT issues, with wisdom, kindness,
compassion and mercy."
The ARB met with the Ustaz to clarify
his latest allegations, which the authorities said were "clearly
misleading". The board also reminded him of their earlier advice.
Both the board and MUIS added that
religious teachers must comply with the ARS code of ethics and must "treat
others, despite their differences, with love, care, respect and
compassion".
Source: channelnewsasia.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/warning-letter-muis-arb-social-media-post-lgbtq-inflammatory-language-3542306
----------
Sultan of Pahang puts on hold the use of
the word 'Allah' by Christians
06/06/2023
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – Malaysia’s
head of state, Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah of Pahang,
has spoken out on the controversial use of the world Allah, God, in the Malay
language, by non-Muslims.
In Malaysia, the head of state – the
Yang di-PertuanAgong or Supreme Head of the Federation (unofficially the King
of Malaysia) – is chosen for a five-year term by the Conference of Rulers from
among the nine Malaysian states (out of 13) who have a hereditary head of
state. The sultans are also head of religion (Islam).
Yesterday, Malaysia’s national news
agency BERNAMA reported that the Sultan of Pahang was concerned about the
controversy surrounding the use of the word Allah, and that for him, it was not
a debate about terminology or linguistics but a matter of faith for the Muslim
community and that any persistent confusion poses serious risks.
“My government must harmonise the
current situation and at the same time, place the use of the word Allah in the
right context by taking into account national security, the benefit of the
ummah as well as my position and the position of other Malay Rulers as heads of
Islam,” King Abdullah of Pahang said
during a federal awards ceremony on his official birthday at the National Place,
the monarch’s official residence in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The debate revolves around the Arabic
word Allah, God, which has been incorporated into the Malay language. Over
several decades, its use by non-Muslim minorities when speaking Malay has been
opposed by some Muslims, more so in recent years after some radical Islamist
groups sought to ban ethnic and religious minorities from using it altogether.
The latest flareup comes on the heels of
an announcement on 15 May by the federal government that it would withdraw its
appeal against a ruling allowing Christians to use the word Allah, including in
their publications.
A week later, Prime Minister Anwar
Ibrahim said that the government would streamline conflicting regulations
regarding the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.
The government is likely to ban its use
by non-Muslims in Malaysia’s peninsular states (where Islam is the majority
religion), but will allow it in the states – Sarawak and Sabah – located on
Borneo Island, where the Christian community is concentrated.
In the Malay language, the deity is
defined in various ways, but Allah has been in use for centuries, by Christians
as well.
The distinction in the use that the
authorities have pursued in courts stems from the push by successive
post-independence governments to have Malaysia’s Islamic clearly recognised
(even if Islam is the religion of just over half of the population).
In 2009, a court banned Herald Malaysia,
the country’s Catholic weekly, from using Allah to refer to the Christian God.
The ruling was overturned by a higher court, which the government appealed.
Since then, the issue has become highly
politicised, exacerbating a debate that remains ongoing.
Source: asianews.it
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Sultan-of-Pahang-puts-on-hold-the-use-of-the-word-%27Allah%27-by-Christians-58534.html
--------
Hadi: Non-Muslims must be grateful for
‘being given a place’ here, should just let Malays continue leading country
07 Jun 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — In a continuation
of his pro-Malay rhetoric, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang has today
called for non-Muslims to just let the majority ethnic group continue to hold
the reins of the country.
In a lengthy opinion piece, the Marang
MP said non-Muslims should be grateful that they have been given “a place” in
this country through the jus soli citizenship policy that he claimed would not
be afforded everywhere else.
“They must accept the fact that most
countries in the world do not give a place to anybody who is not native and
does not believe in the country’s ideology, but Islam gives fair rights to
non-Muslim residents who do not embrace Islam as the country’s creed.
“The position of Islam embraced by the
Malay community cannot be arbitrarily challenged. Moreover, the tolerance shown
towards them should be respected,” he said.
Despite Hadi’s remark, many countries
grant citizenship to others regardless of their religions. Many countries
continue to be multi-religious, even in those with an “official religion”,
Islam is the religion of the federation
in Malaysia, and other faiths can be practised freely — however, they cannot
proselytise to Muslims.
As such, Hadi said non-Muslims should
just continue with the status quo and not threaten the leadership of Malay-Muslims.
Hadi also said Malay-Muslims have
afforded non-Muslims roles in other aspects that are unrelated to the Muslim
faith, such as “allowing” them to hold positions in the Cabinet, state
executive council, and government departments.
“This is something that all ideologies
have never allowed when governing their respective countries,” he claimed.
The piece also contained lengthy
unsubstantiated and debunked accusations against DAP, as he urged the ethnic
Chinese and Indians to not “be duped” by the PakatanHarapan component.
Just on Monday, Hadi said Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was wrong to say the stability of a government relies
more on its policies rather than its ethnic composition.
The president of the Islamist party
doubled down on his recent racial remarks by insisting that only Malay-Muslims
should lead, rule and administer a pluralistic society that includes
non-Muslims.
Most recently, the PAS president said
the unity government is not fit to lead because it is “dominated” by minorities,
a claim that has been debunked several times.
Last week, Anwar expressed confidence
that many Malays support his administration, saying they care more about good
policies than the racial composition of a government.
Source: malaymail.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/06/07/hadi-non-muslims-must-be-grateful-for-being-given-a-place-here-should-just-let-malays-continue-leading-country/73042
--------
Pakistan
SC lawyer pleading Imran’s treason case
shot dead in Quetta
June 07, 2023
QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: Senior Supreme Court
lawyer Abdul Razzaq Shar was shot dead by armed motorcyclists on Airport Road
on Tuesday. Police said Shar was on his way to the Balochistan High Court (BHC)
when he was attacked by unidentified people on three motorcycles. “According to
eyewitnesses, he was travelling in his relative’s vehicle,” the official said.
Shar was immediately rushed to the Quetta Civil Hospital but succumbed to his
injuries on the way. He sustained 16 bullets. Police have cordoned off the
attack site and an investigation was underway to arrest the suspects. Quetta
Bar Association President Abid Kakar announced a complete boycott of the BHC
and lower courts along with a three-day mourning. Meanwhile, Special Assistant
to the Prime Minister (SAPM) AtaullahTarar held PTI Chairman Imran Khan
“directly responsible” for the murder. He claimed that the targeted killing was
related to a treason case against Imran, which Shar was pleading. A division
bench of the BHC, comprising Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice
Muhammad Amir Nawaz Rana, had heard Shar’s petition on May 29 seeking the
former prime minister’s trial under Article 6 of the Constitution.
Advocate Shar had pleaded that Imran had
violated the Constitution by advising the president to dissolve the National
Assembly, and thus, should be tried under Article 6. The BHC bench, after the
initial hearing, had issued notices to Additional Attorney General Rauf Atta
and Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Naeem Kasi and directed them to submit a
reply on the next hearing scheduled for June 7. Addressing a press conference
in Islamabad on Tuesday, the SAPM alleged that Imran “got the lawyer killed to
protect himself from the treason case”. Terming his killing murder of law,
Tarar lamented that Advocate Shar was gunned down in broad daylight and
promised to conduct a thorough investigation into the murder. “Imran will be
nominated in this murder case,” the PML-N leader said. “The PTI has become a
militant and terrorist outfit… Imran won’t be able to save himself in this
case.” “You will have to come and attend every hearing and also surrender if
ordered by the court,” he asserted.
The SAPM further said that the
Balochistan government and law enforcement agencies had been directed to probe
the killing and leave no stone unturned in the investigation. On the other
hand, the PTI rejected the “baseless and futile allegations” made by the SAPM
against the party chairman and demanded that a case be filed against Prime
Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah for the killing.
In a statement released on Twitter, the party also requested the Supreme Court
to take immediate notice of the incident and dismiss the false accusations
levelled against the former premier.
Source: thenews.com.pk
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1077754-sc-lawyer-pleading-imran-s-treason-case-shot-dead-in-quetta
--------
May 9 violence: 52 accused handed over
to army for trial
June 07, 2023
LAHORE: Some 52 people involved in the
May 9 incidents in Punjab have been handed over to the army for trial in
military courts under the Army Act. According to the documents received, 36 of
them have been handed over by anti-terrorism courts while 16 by police. Out of
the 36 persons, 16 belong to Lahore, 8 to Rawalpindi, 4 to Gujranwala and 8 to
Faisalabad. Among those handed over to the army by police, 5 belong to Lahore,
6 to Gujranwala and 4 to Mianwali. According to the documents, Amjad Kalia, son
of Manzoor, Laeeq Ahmad, son of Manzoor Sheikh, Hamza Sharif, son of Muhammad
Azam, Abdul Jabbar, son of Abdul Sattar, and Muhammad are among those handed
over to the army by the Anti-Terrorism Court, Faisalabad. Ali, son of Muhammad
Buta, Muhammad Farrukh, son of Shams Tabriz, Sulaiman, son of Zahid Nisar, and
Fahad Imran, son of Muhammad Imran, are included among them. Case number 832/23
was registered against them at the Faisalabad Civil Lines Police Station.
The persons who were handed over to the
army by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Gujranwala include Asher Butt, son of
Muhammad Arshad, Rashid Ali, son of Liaqat Ali, Muhammad Rashid, son of Ghulam
Haider, and Muhammad Anas, son of Muhammad Riaz. Case number 823/23 was
registered against them at the Gujranwala Cantonment Police Station.
Ali Hussain, son of Khalid Rehman, Lal
Shah, son of Jahanzeb, Shehryar Zulfiqar, son of Zulfiqar Ahmed, Farhad Khan,
son of Shahid Hussain Khan, Muhammad Idris, son of Muhammad Sharif, Umar
Farooq, son of Muhammad Sabir, Raja Muhammad Ehsan, son of Muhammad Maqsood,
and Muhammad Abdullah, son of Kanwar Muhammad Ashraf Khan, from Rawalpindi were
handed over to the army. From Lahore, Amir Zohaib, son of Nazir Ahmed Sheikh, Ali
Raza, son of Ghulam Murtaza, Muhammad Arsalan, son of Muhammad Siraj, Muhammad
Umair, son of Abdul Sattar, Muhammad Rahim, son of Muhammad Naeem,
Zia-ul-Reham, son of Azam Khurshid, Waqas Ali, son of Muhammad Ashraf, Rais
Ahmad, son of Shafiullah, Faisal Irshad, son of Zafar Ehsan, Muhammad Bilawal
Hussain, son of Manzoor Hussain, Faheem Haider, son of Farooq Haider, Arzam
Junaid, son of Junaid Razak, Mian Muhammad Akram Usman, son of Mian Muhammad
Usman, Muhammad Hasher Khan, son of Tariq Bashir, and Hasan Shakir, son of
Shakir Hussain, were handed over to the army.
Accused Ali Iftikhar, son of Muhammad
Iftikhar, arrested in another case number 852/23, registered at the Police
Station Sarwar Road, Lahore, has also been handed over to the army. Among the persons
who have been handed over to the army by the police in Raiwand, Green Town,
North Cantonment and Badami Bagh police stations of Lahore are Ali Shan, son of
Noor Muhammad, Dawood Khan, son of Shad Khan, Nauman Shah, son of Mahmood
Ahmed, Muhammad Imran, son of Muhammad Mehboob, and Jan Ahmad, son of Toor
Khan. Abdul Sattar, son of Muhammad Sarwar, Muhammad Waqas, son of Muhammad
Khalil, and Muhammad Ahmad, son of Muhammad Nazir, were among those who were
handed over to the army after the registration of 6 cases registered at the
Gujranwala Police Station Cantt.
Sufyan Idris, son of Muhammad Idris,
Muneeb Ahmed, son of Naveed Ahmed Butt, and Muhammad Nawaz, son of Abdul Samad,
were the other accused given into the army’s custody. The accused produced by
Mianwali police included Muhammad Bilal, son of Muhammad Afzal, Anwar Khan, son
of Muhammad Khan, Babar Jamal, son of Muhammad Ajmal, and Faheem Sajjad, son of
Muhammad Khan.
Source: thenews.com.pk
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SC returns PTI chief’s plea against
‘covert martial law’
June 7, 2023
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court registrar’s
office has returned PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s plea seeking an order against the
military trial of civilians and deployment of the army in three provinces.
The registrar’s office, on Tuesday,
objected that the petitioner had not raised questions of public importance with
regard to the enforcement of fundamental rights, to directly invoke the court’s
jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
In his application, moved through senior
counsel Hamid Khan, the PTI chief had requested the court to declare “as an
imposition of undeclared martial law the centre’s action of calling armed
forces in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Islamabad; trial of
civilians in peacetime under the Army Act, 1952 and Official Secrets Act, 1923;
and dismantling of PTI through forcible quitting of party membership”.
In the petition, Mr Khan had contended
that the alleged imposition of an undeclared martial law or calling the armed
forces in Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad in aid of
civilian governments was unconstitutional, unlawful and without any effect.
The petition requested the formation of
a judicial commission consisting of Supreme Court judges to probe the
“horrendous and terrible incidents of May 9 and 10.
While returning the petition, the SC
registrar said it failed to satisfy the requirement for invoking the apex
court’s “extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 184(3)”.
The article allows the court to take
notice of matters involving a matter of ‘public importance’ with reference to
the ‘enforcement of the fundamental rights’ of the citizens enshrined in the
Constitution.
The petitioner didn’t approach any other
forum for relief and provided no justification for not doing so.
Besides the prime minister, foreign
minister, Punjab and KP chief ministers were made respondents when they cannot
be made a party in any case under Article 248.
The petitioner has also raised
misconceiving and multifarious prayers in one petition, the registrar’s office
said.
Imran gets bail
Separately on Tuesday, the Lahore High
Court confirmed Mr Khan’s pre-arrest bail in a case of allegedly concealing
facts and evidence about the death of his party worker, Zille Shah.
The PTI chief appeared before the court
on the expiry of pre-arrest bail.
Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun asked the
prosecutors to establish Mr Khan’s role in the case.
The judge declined the prosecution’s
request to cancel the bail observing that the petitioner had joined the
investigation and there was no ground to entertain the request.
Source: dawn.com
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Council of Islamic Ideology convenes
2-day meeting to address pressing issues
June 07, 2023
ISLAMABAD-The Council of Islamic
Ideology on Tuesday commenced a crucial two-day meeting to deliberate on a wide
range of topics, encompassing the May 9 incidents of mob violence, and the
recent verdict of the Federal Shariat Court regarding the Transgender Act.
Led by Chairman Dr. Qibla Ayaz, the
council aims to address these pressing matters and devise potential solutions.
During the meeting, a comprehensive 26-point agenda will be thoroughly
discussed, reflecting the council’s commitment to addressing critical issues
affecting society.
The session commenced with a solemn
moment of prayer to honor the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives.
Prominent figures attending the meeting
include Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, Syed Ziaullah Shah Bukhari, Justice
Zafar Iqbal, Justice Altaf, Dr. Umair Mahmood Siddiqui, Allama Hussain Akbar,
Pir Syed Muhammad Habib Irfani, Dr. Abul Hasan Shah, Sahibzada Hasan Haseebur
Rehman, and Advocate Muhammad Jalaluddin.
These individuals, renowned in their respective fields, bring a wealth
of knowledge and experience to the council’s discussions.
On the concluding day of the meeting,
Chairman Dr. Qibla Ayaz will deliver a comprehensive briefing, summarizing the
key outcomes and decisions made during the two-day deliberations.
This briefing will serve as a pivotal
moment to share the council’s insights and proposed actions with the public.
As the Council of Islamic Ideology
convenes, expectations run high for impactful discussions and the formulation
of effective strategies to address the prevailing challenges faced by society.
The council’s commitment to fostering an
inclusive and harmonious environment remains paramount as they work towards
promoting peace and understanding within the community.
The meeting’s outcomes and decisions are
eagerly awaited, as they hold the potential to shape future policies and create
a positive impact on the lives of citizens across the nation.
Source: nation.com.pk
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https://www.nation.com.pk/07-Jun-2023/council-of-islamic-ideology-convenes-2-day-meeting-to-address-pressing-issues
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US refrains from commenting on situation
in Pakistan
June 7, 2023
WASHINGTON: The US administration has
said that it engages directly with its Pakistani partners on issues of regional
and security importance, once again refusing to publicly comment on the current
political situation in Pakistan.
The statement, made at a US State
Department news briefing on Monday afternoon, indicates that a PTI-led campaign
to win favours has had little impact on the administration, although it has won
them sympathisers in Congress.
“We engage directly with our Pakistani
partners on the issues that are of importance to the United States and are of
importance to broader regional security and stability,” said State Department
spokesperson Vedant Patel while responding to a question about Pakistan.
The US official, however, focused on the
broader issue of regional security and stability and offered no comments on
Pakistan’s domestic politics. “And as I have said before, we of course want to
see a prosperous and stable Pakistan because it’s in the interest of
US-Pakistan relations.”
Mr Patel said the United States often
engages with Pakistan directly, but not every engagement is discussed publicly.
Khadija Shah
The United States called on Tuesday on
Pakistan to grant consular access to Khadija Shah, a prominent fashion designer
with dual citizenship who was detained after the violence on May 9, AFP adds.
The State Department said its diplomats
have not had access to Shah, the founder of the luxury fashion brand Elan.
“We have asked Pakistani officials for
consular access to her,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told
reporters.
He indicated that more US citizens had
been arrested.
“Whenever a US citizen is arrested
overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate assistance and we expect
Pakistani authorities to respect all fair-trial guarantees owed to these
detainees,” Patel said.
Shah’s family said that she took part
“non-violently” in protests on May 9. She voluntarily showed up to an
investigation only to be arrested, the family said.
Source: dawn.com
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CTD kills militant commander in Bajaur
raid
June 7, 2023
LOWER DIR: The Counter-Terrorism
Department (CTD) Malakand on Tuesday claimed to have killed a wanted militant
commander during a search and strike operation conducted in Mandal Khwar area
of neighbouring Bajaur tribal district.
Briefing journalists here, CTD Malakand
SP Amjad Khan said the outlaw, Subhan alias Usman, a resident of Sheenkot area
of Bajaur, belonged to self-styled Islamic State group.
He said a joint operation was launched
by officials of CTD, police and security forces on a tip-off about the presence
of the militant commander in the area. He said CTD also recovered a
Kalashnikov, three hand grenades, 25 cartridges and a bundle of wire from the
site.
The CTD SP said they had received
information that the militant commander in connivance with his accomplices was
preparing a plan to carry out a sabotage act.
He said the militants opened fire on the
raiding team during a search and strike operation, forcing the personnel to
retaliate, killing the outlaw. The SP said the militant had Rs2 million bounty
on his head, and was wanted by the police and security forces in a number of
cases of target killings and attacks on security forces.
Also on Tuesday, the district
administration fined several nanbais for selling low-weight bread.
Assistant commissioner Shehzad Khan
checked the rates and weight of roti in different markets in the Timergara city
and imposed fines upon several nanbais for overcharging customers.
Source: dawn.com
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Pakistan, China sign MoU for development
of water resources, environmental protection
June 07, 2023
Pakistan and China have signed a
memorandum of understanding for bilateral cooperation in the utilization and
sustainable development of water resources and environmental protection.
The MoU between Chang Jiang Water
Resources Commission and Water and Power Development Authority was signed in a
ceremony at Pakistan embassy in Beijing.
Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin Ul
Haque and Vice Commissioner of CWRC, Wu Daoxi signed the agreement.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador
Moin Ul Haque said that the MOU will pave the way for bilateral cooperation in
the utilization and sustainable development of water resources and
environmental protection.
Source: radio.gov.pk
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Pakistan, Norway agree to enhance
cooperation in divers fields
June 06, 2023
Pakistan and Norway have agreed to work
together for enhancing bilateral cooperation in multiple spheres especially in
higher education, green energy, shipping and blue economy.
The understanding was reached during
meeting between Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway AnnikenHuitfeldt in Oslo today.
Appreciating the 75 years of Pak-Norway
bilateral relations, they agreed on the importance of multilateralism to
address regional and global challenges.
They also discussed investments in micro
hydro power plants in Pakistan.
Global and regional issues including
Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Afghanistan and Ukraine also came
up in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Hina Rabbani Khar also met
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister ErlingRimestad and expressed gratitude for
Norway's support for flood affectees in Pakistan.
Source: radio.gov.pk
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South Asia
UN Security Council Would decide
recognition of Taliban: Pakistani Envoy
By Fidel Rahmati-
June 7, 2023
Asif Ali Durrani, Pakistan’s new special
representative for Afghanistan, stated that the five permanent members of the
UN Security Council would decide to recognize the de facto government in Kabul.
Asif Durrani said this while
interviewing with the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan: “I
think it would be a decision by the major countries, especially Permanent five.
They are looking towards that. If the permanent five members of the Security
Council do either way, that will have an impact.”
Meanwhile, he stressed that the people
of Afghanistan urgently need humanitarian assistance and called the
international community to be “compassionate” with the Afghan people.
“If they are not compassionate to the
ruling dispensation in Afghanistan at the moment, so at least they have to be
compassionate with the people. If the UN statistics are correct, almost 95 per
cent of people are below the poverty line, and they can become a special
liability for Pakistan if the economic situation deteriorates. Their first port
of call would be Pakistan,” Durrani said.
A day before, the Russian FM, Sergey
Lavrov, said that Russia could not begin recognizing the Taliban in Afghanistan
as long as an inclusive government is not formed.
The Foreign Minister of Russia
conditioned the recognizing the Taliban regime including “formation of an
ethically and politically balanced government, more vigorous to combat
terrorism and drug trafficking and guarantees of the basic human rights for the
people in Afghanistan including Tajiks,” he said.
Source: khaama.com
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Pakistan: Afghan Detainees Will Remain
in Jail Before Being Deported
June 7, 2023
Pakistani police has said that all
detained Afghan nationals without valid residence permit will remain in prison
until grounds for deportation is provided.
Pakistan’s counter-terrorism department
on Sunday, May 4, detained at least 175 Afghan citizens through a search
operation in Islamabad.
Islamabad police confirmed that at least
175 Afghans were incarcerated and imprisoned in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi,
according to official sources.
This comes as the police had not stated
that all these individuals were Afghan citizens, in the initial announcement.
According to the Islamabad police, these
people are accused of violating the law, Article 14 of Pakistan’s Foreign
Nationals Registration Act.
On Monday, June 4, Some Afghan refugees
currently residing in Pakistan reported to Afghanistan International that
police entered Afghan immigrants’ homes for inspection and arrested them.
There are women and children among the
detainees, said a representative of Afghan refugees who wanted his identity to
be kept secret.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in
Afghanistan in 2021, new waves of Afghan refugees entered Pakistan in search of
safety and job opportunities. However, Pakistani police has continuously
incarcerated Afghan nationals in large numbers and deported them to their home
country.
These refugees claim that the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan and human rights
organizations have failed to defend refugees’ rights and protect them from
being harassed, detained and forcefully deported.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/pakistan-afghan-detainees-will-remain-in-jail-before-being-deported/
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Unknown Gunmen Kill Local Singer ‘Muslim
Nuristani’ and His Brother
June 6, 2023
Unknown gunmen killed Muslim Nuristani,
a local singer, and his brother on Monday in the Mandol district of eastern
Nuristan province, according to sources.
According to provincial officials, Mr.
Nuristani continued to live a normal life in his village after the Taliban
seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, and imposed restrictions on the music and
entertainment industry.
Relatives of Nuristani say that the
local singer had no hostility with anyone, and his death motives and that of
his brother are still not clear.
Taliban authorities have not yet
commented about the incident as investigations are underway into the targeted
killing of the two brothers.
Prior to the Taliban’s return to power,
Muslim Nuristani used to appear on TV channels and perform local songs. It is
said that Nuristani was a popular local singer of his time in Nuristan and
other parts of the country.
Since the group’s return to power, the
Taliban have imposed strict restrictions on the music and entertainment
industry, which lead to a complete closure of music and entertainment programs
on TV channels and radio stations.
Meanwhile, it is believed that
Afghanistan’s de facto authorities have arrested several artists including
singers, YouTubers, comedians as well as journalists over the past nearly two
years.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/unknown-gunmen-kill-local-singer-muslim-nuristani-and-his-brother/
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UNAMA, World Bank Officials Meet Afghan
Authorities, Discuss Economic Challenges
June 7, 2023
Taliban authorities met with Scott
Smith, a top UNAMA official and representatives of the World Bank for
Afghanistan, and discussed economic challenges and the need for further
humanitarian aid, according to local sources.
Representatives of the United Nations
Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the World Bank stressed on
seeking solution to the existing economic issues through effective and
broad-based mechanisms, a statement from Arg said.
“UNAMA strives to cooperate with the
Islamic Emirate to alleviate poverty in Afghanistan and provide basic services
to Afghans,” Smith said.
He said two separate meetings will be
held in New York and Brussels on Afghanistan, adding UNAMA will try to convince
participants to provide more assistance to the people of Afghanistan during
these difficult times.
Meanwhile, World Bank representative
reiterated that the global body will continue engaging with the people of
Afghanistan in the humanitarian and health sectors.
Mawlavi Zakir, head of the acting prime
minister’s office thanked UNAMA and the World Bank for their continued
assistance and emphasized that currently Afghans are plagued with dire economic
challenges – needing more humanitarian assistance.
Furthermore, Mawlavi Zakir said that
restrictions on Afghanistan’s banking sector is a critical challenge which
should be lifted so that country’s banking sector would be connected to the
global banking system.
Meanwhile, they also discussed the
recent development in terms of security, economy growth, reduction of
corruption, fight against drug trafficking and more.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/unama-world-bank-officials-meet-afghan-authorities-discuss-economic-challenges/
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UNAMA Hails Islamic Emirate Efforts
Fighting Against Drug
2023-06-06
KABUL (BNA) The Acting Prime Minister’s
office, Mawlavi Zakir, met with Scott Smith, a top UNAMA official, and the
representative of the World Bank for Afghanistan here in Kabul on Monday.
The mission of UNAMA and the World Bank
in Afghanistan and other mutual interested issues were the main focus of the
discussions, according to Arg’s statement.
“UNAMA strives to cooperate with the
Islamic Emirate to end poverty in Afghanistan and provide basic services to
Afghans.” Said Smith.
He said, two meetings will be held in
New York and Brussels on Afghanistan adding that UNAMA will inspire the
participants of the meetings to provide more assistance to Afghanistan.
UNAMA hails the Islamic Emirate’s stable
efforts fighting drugs in Afghanistan, he added.
Meanwhile, the representative of the
World Bank said that the Bank continues engaging with Afghans in the
humanitarian and health sectors.
For his part, Maulvi Zakir thanked UNAMA
and the World Bank for their assistance and said that many Afghans are facing
economic problems and there is a need for more humanitarian assistance.
Mawlavi Zakir urged UNAMA to share with
the international community the real image of Afghanistan in terms of security,
economic growth, reduction of corruption, fight against drugs, and other
issues.
He said the removal of restrictions on
the banking sector is an important element for the economic development of
Afghanistan.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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https://bakhtarnews.af/en/unama-hails-islamic-emirate-efforts-fighting-against-drug/
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IEA Strives Creating Jobs for Afghan
Cadres in the Country: Acting PM Kabir
2023-06-06
KABUL (BNA) Acting Prime Minister,
Mawlavi Abdul Kabir said in a meeting with the members of the Consultative
Union of Afghan Figures and Scholars: The Islamic Emirate is striving to create
jobs for Afghan cadres inside the country.
Acting Prime Minister, and Deputy
Political, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, met with the members of the Consultative Union
of Afghan Scholars and Experts who are active in American, Arab, and European
countries, said a statement released by Arg.
They reminded saying after four decades,
an opportunity has been granted to serve the country and vowed to strive to
invite other Afghans living abroad, foreign businessmen, and experts to
Afghanistan, the statement added.
They shared their advice and suggestions
on the economic, political, and reconstruction sectors with Acting Prime
Minister, according to the statement.
The Islamic Emirate welcomes all Afghan
personalities who are willing to return to their homeland, adding that it’s a
great moment that scientific, political, and social personalities are
interested in serving their country said Mawlavi Kabir.
The Islamic Emirate strives to create
job opportunities for Afghan cadres inside the country, said Kabir quoting the
statement.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
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https://bakhtarnews.af/en/iea-strives-creating-jobs-for-afghan-cadres-in-the-country-acting-pm-kabir/
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PM pays homage to Bangabandhu on
historic Six-Point Day
Jun 7, 202
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today paid
tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the
occasion of the historic Six-Point Day.
The PM placed a wreath at the portrait
of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi in Dhaka.
After laying the wreath in the morning,
she stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the
memory of Bangabandhu, the architect of independence.
Flanked by senior Awami League leaders,
Hasina placed another wreath at the portrait as the party chief.
Later, associate bodies of Awami League,
including Dhaka city AL, Chhatra League, Jubo League, Sramik League, Krishak
League, Mohila Awami League and Swechchhasebak League placed wreaths at the
portrait of Bangabandhu marking the historic occasion.
On this day in 1966, Bangabandhu
launched a massive movement against the misrule of the Pakistanis on the basis
of the six-point demand, the Magna Carta of the Bangalees demanding autonomy
for the then East Pakistan.
The Awami League under the leadership of
Bangabandhu called for a day-long hartal on June 7 in 1966 throughout then East
Pakistan pressing the demand for autonomy to end the exploitation, deprivation,
subjugation and tyranny of the then central government of Pakistan on the
people here.
Ten people, including labour leader Manu
Mian, Shafique and Shamsul Haque, were killed as the police and paramilitary
East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) opened fire on the demonstrators on the day in
Dhaka, Tongi and Narayanganj during the hartal.
The Pakistani atrocities intensified the
movement for provincial autonomy turning it into the historic mass upsurge in
1969 that subsequently caused the downfall of the reign of Field Marshal Ayub
Khan.
Source: thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/pm-pays-homage-bangabandhu-historic-six-point-day-3339976
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Islamic banking in Bangladesh and the
way forward
June 07, 2023
Bangladesh, the newly independent
nation, inherited a fragile banking structure. Just after independence,
Bangladesh government nationalised the entire domestic banking system with six
nationalised banks namely Sonali Bank, Agrani Bank, Janata Bank, Rupali Bank,
Pubali Bank and Uttara Bank under Bangladesh Bank Nationalisation Order 1972.
Subsequently, three specialised state-owned banks were allowed to operate for
ensuring adequate credit facilities for agricultural development and
industrialisation of the country. With the passage of time, the size of the
banking sector has been enlarged both in terms of number and volume during its
fifty years' successful journey with many ups and downs. Started a bit later,
the Islamic Banking industry has also passed four decades of its operation side
by side with its conventional counterparts.
Conceptual Framework of Islamic Economic
and Banking: Different economic thoughts had emerged at different times, of
them three schools of economic thoughts are very popular: capitalism, socialism
and communism. None of these three could meet the demand of time and society.
These political, economic and social systems with their inherent weaknesses
have given rise to problems of various nature.
Now, the question comes whether Islam
has any economic thought or not? Indeed, Islam has a complete economic thought
where the concept of ownership belongs to Allah (SWT) and human being are the
'Trustee' or 'Khalifah of Allah(SWT). Allah (SWT) said in the Holy Quran
"I am placing a Khalifah on the planet earth" (Surah Al-Bakarah: Ayat
30). Allah (SWT) also said "Spend out of that in which He has made you
successor" (Surah Al-Hadid: Ayat 7) and "Give them from the wealth of
Allah (SWT) which He has given to you" (Surah An-Nur, Ayat: 33). That
means, concept of ownership in Islam is "Trusteeship Ownership".
Basis of Islamic Economics and Banking:
Islamic economics is derived from answering three basic questions. Although
these questions are also addressed in conventional economics, but Islamic
economics answers the question from a different dimension. These are:
a) What to produce? (Production
Decision): Islamic economics prioritises the need in three broad categories;
these are: Necessity (Daruriyyat), Comfort (Hajiyyat) and Beautification
(Tahsiniyyat).
b) How to produce? (Management
Decision): Islamic economics addresses the permissible modes as well as
environmental protection issues.
c) For whom to produce? (Distribution
Decision): It ensures socio-economic justice and optimum allocation of
resources.
The basic objectives of Islamic
economics are to ensure general well-being (Falah), promote better provisioning
(Hasana) and to ensure justice (A'dl)and excellence(Ihsan). Islamic Banking is
a branch of Islamic economics which is based on 'Maqasid-Al-Shariah' and the
foundation of 'Maqasid-Al-Shariah' are Quran, Sunnah, Ijma (consensus of
Islamic scholar) and Qiyas (interpretation of points of Islamic law).
Islamic Banking: Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC) defines Islamic Bank as "a financial institution whose
statutes, rules and procedures expressly state its commitment to the principles
of Islamic Shari'ah and to the banning of the receipt and payment of interest
in any of its operation."
If we analyse the OIC definition of
Islamic Banking, we can point out two main components:1) Commitment to the
principles of Islamic Shari'ah i.e., Maqasid or Objective part and 2) Banning
of Receipt & Payment of interest i.e., Mechanism part. In this write-up,
Maqasid aspect of Islamic banking has got main focus, as several studies have
been conducted on mechanism part.
Maqasid (Objective) of Islamic Banking:
The broad Maqasid of Islamic banking is to maximise welfare in one side and to
minimise ill-being on the other. Based on these broad objectives, we can set
the priorities of Islamic banking under the following self-explanatory
dimensions:
• Ensure distributive justice in
resource allocation
• Ensure NEED based & welfare
oriented banking instead of GREED based profit-centric banking
• Ensure universal welfare
• Moral filtering in financial
deliveries through ethical banking
• Ensure transfer payments:
a) Compulsory: Zakat, Kaffarah etc.
b) Optional: Waqf, Sadaqah etc.
Savings in the light of
Maqasid-al-Shariah: Islamic banking, as part of its in-built philosophy of
financial inclusion, inspires people to get access to financial net as such it
always encourages small ticket size deposit to bring to the banking net. It
also ensures 'MasalahilMursalah' (benefit that is considered to be good in
reasonable sense) through products & services. In addition to safe custody
of public money, unlike other conventional banks, Islamic banks ensure 'halal'
profit as it provides depositors a portion of investment income that is earned
through deployment of Mudaraba fund.
Investment in the light of
Maqasid-al-Shariah: We have discussed that the objective of Islamic banking is
not maximisation of profit rather maximisation of welfare. As such, it
prioritises the demand for investment and gives emphasis on fulfilling basic
needs of common people and discourages investment in luxurious products that
serves the interest of few people. Driven by ethical aspects of banking,
Islamic banking does not invest in products and services that are harmful for
the society and environment. In order to ensure mass welfare, Islamic banks
invest in industries where more employment can be generated. As part of
philosophy of Islamic economics, the objective of Islamic banking is to
discourage concentration of wealth in few hands and as such it always tries to
diversify investment by size, sector and geographical locations.
Background of Islamic Banking in
Bangladesh: The establishment of Islamic Banking in Bangladesh was first
initiated by the Bangabandhu Government through signing of the IDB (Islamic
Development Bank) Charter by the then Finance Minister Mr. Tajuddin Ahmad back
in 1974. In 1978, Islamic Banking definition was approved at the Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC) held at Dakar, the Capital of Senegal which had
given a conceptual framework to operate Islamic Banking. In the subsequent
year, Ambassador of Bangladesh to UAE recommended the Bangladesh Govt. to
establish a Bank like Dubai Islamic Bank and accordingly the Ministry of
Finance sought opinion from the Central Bank. In 1980, Bangladesh Bank sent a
team of representatives abroad to study on the operations of several Islamic
banks. In the 3rd Islamic Summit held at Makkah in 1981 suggested the Islamic
countries to develop a separate banking system to facilitate trade &
commerce within the Shari'ah framework. Consequently, Ministry of Finance wrote
to Bangladesh Bank to open separate Islamic banking counter in all branches of
state owned banks as a pilot project. In 1982, Islamic Development Bank (IDB)
visited Bangladesh and showed their interest to participate in establishing a
joint venture Islamic Bank herein. Finally, the dream came true on March 30,
1983 when Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. was established and started its
commercial operation as the first Shari'ah based bank not only in Bangladesh
but also in South-east Asia.
Journey of Shari'ah based Banking: After
establishing the first Shari'ah based bank-Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. (IBBL)
in 1983, Al-Baraka Bank Ltd. was given license in 1987. The bank was renamed as
'Oriental Bank Ltd.' in 2004 and subsequently taken over by ICB Banking Group
in 2008 and further renamed as 'ICB Islamic Bank Ltd.'. In 1995, Al-Arafah
Islami Bank Ltd. and Social Islami Bank Ltd. were established to operate under
Shari'ah principles. In 2001, another Shari'ah based bank came into existence
under name and style 'Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited'. EXIM Bank Ltd. created
the first instance in Bangladesh to convert all of its operations of
conventional banking into Shari'ah-based banking in 2004. Subsequently, First
Security Islami Bank Limited and Union Bank Ltd. were given license to operate
Islamic banking in 2009 and 2013 respectively. Due to growing demand of Islamic
banking in Bangladesh, Standard Bank Limited and Global Islami Bank Ltd. were
given permission to convert their operation from conventional banking to
Shari'ah based banking in 2020.
Widening Financial Network: During the
last four decades of its operation, Islami banking in Bangladesh has appeared
not as an alternate banking system rather emerged as a main stream banking
system. Currently, 34 banks are conducting Islamic banking activities of which
ten full-fledged Islamic banks have 1,659 branches all over the country. In
addition, 11 conventional banks have 23 Islamic banking branches and 13
conventional banks have 535 Islamic banking windows. Altogether, Islamic
banking in Bangladesh is currently being operated through 2,217 units of
branches and windows.
In addition to main stream banking, the
agent banking model was introduced in Bangladesh in 2013, to serve
underprivileged people in rural areas across Bangladesh. Islamic banking
industry also came forward in this new avenue of banking. Currently, around
4,000agent banking outlets are being operated under islami banks with a deposit
of Tk.17,880crore having 59% market share among all the agent outlets of the
country. The number of accounts of agent outlets under islami banks stood at
43.63 lac securing 25% market share. During 2022, islami banks' agent outlets
mobilised remittance of Tk.66,796crore which contributed 58% of remittance
mobilised through agent banking.
Mobilisation of Savings and Deployment
of Fund: Total deposit of Islamic banking industry stood at around Tk.410,000
crore at year end 2022 having 26% market share while total investment (loans
and advances) stood at Tk.405,000 crore securing around 30% market share. Total
manpower of Islamic banking industry stood at around 50,000 which is around 25%
of total workforce of the banking industry.
IBBL continues to retain its leadership
in all business parameters in Islamic banking industry. It holds 34.45% of
deposit of Islamic banking industry followed by 11.54% by First Security Islami
Bank, 10.42% by EXIM Bank, 10.25% by Al-Arafah Islami Bank while Islamic
banking branches and windows contribute slight over 7% in the pie. IBBL also
takes the leadership in terms of investment having 33.88% market share followed
by 13.27% by First Security Islami Bank, 10.96% by EXIM Bank, 9.75% by
Al-Arafah Islami Bank while Islamic banking branches and windows contribute
slight over 5% in the investment pie.
Facilitating International Trade and
Remittance: Islamic Banking industry has immense contribution in foreign
exchange and remittance businesses. During 2022, Islamic banks handled Tk.1,687
billion import and Tk.1,171 billion export having 26% and 24% market share
respectively. During the same period, it mobilises remittance of Tk.751 billion
having 39% market share. IBBL alone handled around 25% remittance of the
banking industry during the period.
Financial Inclusion and Welfare Oriented
Deposit: Financial inclusion is the in-built mechanism in Islamic banking. It
strives to bring unbanked population in the banking net. Islamic banks first
introduced small ticket size deposit (Ten Tk. deposit account) in 1995 even
well ahead of Bangladesh Bank's instruction to do so. The number of deposit
accounts of Islamic banks stood at 2.85 Crore which is around 21% of deposit
accounts in the banking industry where IBBL alone contributes 14% of the
deposit accounts pie. In addition to regular Shari'ah compliant deposit
products, Islamic banks have introduced a good number of welfare oriented
deposit schemes like, Mudaraba Cash Waqf Deposit, Mudaraba Hajj Savings Deposit,
MudarabaMohor Savings Deposit etc. which are being replicated by other
conventional banks as well.
Industrialisation and CMSME Development:
Islamic Banking has huge contribution in different branches of investment
including industrial finance, Cottage, Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises
(CMSME) investment, agricultural investment, Islamic micro finance and other
welfare oriented investment schemes. The industrialisation that was started
back in 2004-2005 with the establishment of textile and ready-made garments
(RMG) was propelled by Islamic banking in general and IBBL in particular.
Currently more than 6,000 industrial units are being operated by IBBL of which
more than 1,000 textiles and RMG units are there. Islamic banking industry
contributes around 27% of industrial finance market share while it has 38%
market share in CMSME investment.
Agri and Microfinance: As part of
national priority, Islami banks gives utmost emphasis on investment in
agriculture. Currently, Islami banks have around 17% market share in
agricultural investment despite having a good number of dedicated banks to do
so. In 2022, IBBL alone opened LC for USD 712 million against fertiliser which
was around 63% of total fertiliser import under Govt. subsidy.
In addition to regular Shari'ah
compliant investments, islami banks also work for poverty alleviation program.
The initiative was driven by IBBL back in 1995 through Rural Development Scheme
(RDS) under Islamic Microfinance Model. Currently, there are 16 lac members
having deposit base of Tk.1,560crore. 8.71 lac members have so far availed
investment having outstanding investment of Tk.5,600crore where recovery rate
is more than 99%.
Socio Economic Development: Islami
banking industry has mademention-worthy contribution in socio-economic
development of the country in addition to its regular business operation during
last four decades of operations. Islami banks in Bangladesh have created direct
employment opportunities of approximately 1.20 crore people through their
diversified investment operations across the country. Every year islami banks
contribute handsome amount of fund to the national exchequer. During 2022,
islami banks paid approximately Tk.6,700crore to the national exchequer in the
form of corporate tax, advance income tax, VAT, excise duty etc. Islami banks,
particularly IBBL, have significant contribution in developing foreign exchange
reserve. IBBL alone contributed USD 12 billion by selling foreign exchange to
the central bank since its inception.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is
in-built philosophy of islami banks. Being a responsible corporate citizen,
islami banks in Bangladesh has made CSR expenses of Tk.1,129crore during 2022
which is 50% of total CSR expenditure of banking industry during the period. It
is worthy to mention that IBBL alone contributed around 29% of the CSR
expenditure during the period under review.
Islami Banks also came forward at the
crisis moment of nation in line with national priority. Govt. declared 28
stimulus packages worth Tk.1.92 trillion to tackle with multifarious
devastating outcome of COVID-19as well as retain and accelerate business
growth. Out of the above, 10 stimulus packages worth Tk.1.69 trillion was
implemented by banking sector where islami banks played significant role.
Growing interest of Islamic Banking
Globally: Islamic banking is growing at a faster rate not only in Bangladesh
but also abroad than that of their conventional counterparts. Currently, 526
Islamic banking institutions are functioning in 72 countries around the globe.
The quantum of Islamic finance assets stood at USD 4 trillion of which Islamic
banking assets is USD 3 trillion having 6% global market share. Now the
question comes why Islamic banking is growing at a faster rate than
conventional banking? Is it because of religious emotion or it has some
economic justifications? Definitely, Islamic banking has some inherent beauty
and strengths for which Islamic banking has expanded even in many non-Muslim
countries including UK, USA, Germany, Argentina, Denmark, Luxemburg and
Switzerland. Islamic banking has also been proved to be more resilient during
global financial meltdown. The secrets behind success of Islamic banking are
shown below:
• Money is not used as a commodity
rather a medium of exchange
• Complete avoidance of interest in all
of its activities thus compounding is not allowed
• Operates basically for the welfare of
the people
• Doesn't invest only for profit, but
looks into the need of the society
• Ensures fairness and justice in all
sorts of transactions
• Real assets based and real assets
backed supervised investment
• Encourage socially desirable
enterprises and discourages socially undesirable ones
• Ensures maximum employment and
balanced development
• The relationship between banker and the
client is 'business partner' not lender and the borrower
Prospects and the Way Forward: There are
ample prospects of Islamic banking in Bangladesh. Due to its inherent strength
of mechanism and beauty of Maqasid, Islami banking has become very popular among
all walks of people. As a consequence, around one third of the country's
banking system is currently running under Islamic system. Due to growing demand
for Shari'ah compliant products and services, a good number of private sector
banks are in the pipeline to convert their operation into Islamic system. Both
the stock exchanges have introduced Shari'ah Index in the capital market.
Central bank has also come up with different Shari'ah compliant products in
recent times which includes Sovereign Investment Sukuk, Islamic Bank Liquidity
Facility (IBLF), Mudaraba Liquidity Support (MLS), Pre-finance against CMSME
etc.
Despite having huge prospects, there are
some issues that are needed to be addressed for flourishing Islamic banking
operations. This is the high time to enact a separate Islamic Banking Act
incorporating all the latest developments of Islamic financial market.
Bangladesh Bank is in the process of revising the existing Islamic Banking
Guidelines-2009. In addition to that an independent Shari'ah Board needs to be
formed at central bank for overall supervision of the Islamic financial system.
There is a dearth of Islamic banking
knowing professionals despite having strong demand. Practical aspects of
Islamic banking should be incorporated in educational curriculum of
universities both in graduate and post-graduate level. Continuous research and
development is always the key to success which needs to be ensured through
collaboration with faculty members of universities and practitioners of Islamic
banks. There should have uniform practices among all Islamic banks. And finally
and most importantly we should enrich our international collaboration and
branding.
Khaled Mahmud Raihan is an FCCA and a
Senior Vice President of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. He can be reached at raihan.accaglobal@gmail.com
Source: thefinancialexpress.com.bd
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views-opinion/islamic-banking-in-bangladesh-and-the-way-forward-1686063514
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Africa
Unfulfilled promises, bane of Nigeria’s
political developments — Muslim youths
June 7, 2023
The Youth wing of the Ahmadiyya Muslim
Community, Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya Nigeria, has said that unfulfilled
promises by Nigerian past leaders were the bane of her not making the expected
political developments.
Its National President,
RoqibAkintundeAkinyemi said this while briefing newsmen in Akure, the state
capital ahead of the 49th Majlis Khuddam (Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Organization)
Annual National Convention (Ijtema), holding in Owo between June 7 and 10, this
year.
Over 2000 participants across 16 states
in the country are expected at the convention with the theme” Upholding the
Institution of Khilafah through Activation of Nizam-e-Jama’at.
Akinyemi said, “what has made Nigeria to
lack behind is the lack of fulfilling promises by leaders who have governed
this country.
” The simple way for the developing
nations to get there is for the leaders whom they voted for to leave by their
promises and they should ensure that all what they are doing are done with the
sincerity of purpose.”
” President Bola Tinubu should leave by
the promises he has made to Nigerians and by so doing, Nigeria will move
forward.
“Every stakeholder must be given what is
due to them. So we as citizens of Nigeria are going to obey the authority. At
the same time, our president must also fulfil his promises because it is
because of these promises that Nigerians voted for him.
” There must be justice at the point in
time, and when there is justice there will be peace. If we want peace to reign
in our society, there must be justice.
“The President must be committed to the
development of this nation, he should engage youths of nowadays to move the
country forward through their wisdom and knowledge.
Speaking on the convention, Akinyemi
said; “the convention aims to deepen the participants’ understanding of these
principles and inspire them to play an active role in their implementation
within the Muslim community.
“A good understanding of this theme is
critical to peace and harmony in our community and to our individual moral and
spiritual success.
” The primary purpose of creation is to
serve our Creator as the Holy Qur’an 51 vs 57 states; “And I have not created
the Jinn and the men, but they may worship Me”. It is also our responsibility
to serve humanity and give back to our community.”
Part of the activities lined up for the
convention includes free medical outreach and a public lecture.
Another critical area of the event is
the Awards of excellence to deserving States and Districts of the Majlis based
on their performances.
Source: vanguardngr.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/06/unfulfilled-promises-bane-of-nigerias-political-developments-muslim-youths/
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Abuja church alleges transfer of
convention land to Muslim group
7th June 2023
ECWA Church, in Wuse 2, Abuja, Federal
Capital Territory, has asked the National President of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, Daniel Okoh, to thoroughly probe the alleged
confiscation and reallocation of a land in the FCT, claimed to be originally
meant for “Christian Convention Centre,” to another party.
The church, in a letter obtained by The
PUNCH, directed to Okoh, claimed that the land, with initial Plot Number 575,
Cadastral Zone B00 Kukwaba District, close to the Abuja City Gate, was
reallocated to a Muslim organisation, Sharif Ibrahim Saleh Islamic Centre, by
the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello.
“This is coming as a surprise because
the Federal Government, in recognition of the importance of the two religions,
allocated a similar land in the same axis to our Muslim brothers, with Plot
Number 514 Cadastral Zone BOO Kukwaba, along the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Way
(Airport Road) prominently located closer to the Abuja City Gate where our
Muslim brothers have been using as their Eid Praying Ground since 1990 when the
seat of government moved to Abuja,” the letter written late April and signed by
Musa Amfani on behalf the church, partly read.
They added that the plot originally
planned and retained in the Revised Land Use Plan of Kukwaba Recreational Park
was designed as the Christian Convention Centre.
According to Amfani, in the letter
acknowledged by CAN in mid-May, it was gathered that efforts had been made to
make the FCT minister review the allocation.
He stated that the ex-Minister of
Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had also intervened but to no avail, saying the minister
was reportedly told that another land had been allocated to CAN elsewhere.
“The only land given to CAN is the Papal
Ground in Kubwa, Bwari Area Council. This was during the military regime of
General SaniAbacha, of blessed Memory.
“The allocation of Papal Ground to CAN cannot
be equated to the Christian Convention Centre land at the Abuja City Gate,” the
letter stated.
When contacted, the FCT Administration Director of Information
and Communication, Muhammad Sule, promised to fact-check the matter alongside
the Director of Land, FCDA, AdamuHussani.
He subsequently confirmed that indeed,
land was allocated to Sheikh Sharif Ibrahim Saleh Islamic Centre in 2017.
Sule said, “From our records, the said
Kukwaba District plot 652 was never committed to anybody or organisation, prior
to the subsisting allocation to Sheikh Sharif Ibrahim Saleh Islamic Centre on
October 18, 2017.
“Please note that the FCTA does not
confiscate a land already allocated. You may, however, wish to furnish us with
a copy of their allocation to authenticate their claim.”
Source: punchng.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://punchng.com/abuja-church-alleges-transfer-of-convention-land-to-muslim-group/
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Muslim council oppose Finance Bill, say
it will hurt Kenyans
06 June 2023
The Muslim faithful in Kenya or their
representatives should not be forced to support the proposed Finance Bill,
2023, a Muslim advisory agency has said.
The Kenya Muslim National Advisory
Council on Tuesday said the Bill, if passed, will hurt both the rich and the
poor.
The council has held 47 different
meetings across the 47 counties in the country collecting views from Muslims.
“There are many aspects of the Bill that
are not being talked about that will push the already high cost of living even
higher. People are focused on only the three per cent housing levy but there is
more,” Kemnac chairperson Sheikh Juma Ngao said.
He said if passed, the Bill will push
the cost of fuel up by 16 per cent and this will have a domino effect of
pushing all commodity prices even higher.
Sheikh Ngao said the Bill will also see
more Kenyans get health issues because of the stress of living and there will
be more crime in the country.
The council said the Bill will force
saloon cars, station wagons, mini-buses, buses and coaches to pay Sh100 per
passenger capacity per month, or Sh5,000 per year, whichever is higher.
This means even private car owners will
be forced to pay a minimum of Sh400 per month to the government.
According to the Bill, vans, pick-ups,
trucks, prime movers, trailers and lorries will have to pay Sh3,000 per tonne
of load capacity per year or Sh5,000 per year, whichever is higher.
This means if a lorry’s tonnage capacity
is 20, then the owner of the lorry will have to pay Sh60,000 per year so long
as the lorry is on the road.
“This Bill also forces married couples
to renew their marriage certificates every year. Does this mean that if you
have a marriage certificate and you don’t renew it, you are counted as not
married?” Sheikh Ngao said.
He said before the three per cent is
deducted from every salaried worker, they must be shown where their house will
be built first.
The Muslim cleric also warned President
William Ruto against threatening MPs into voting for the Bill.
He called on Muslim MPs to reject the
bill, saying their fear of Allah should be more than the fear of thePresident.
“Mr Ruto, you have no right to force
anyone to support your Bill. Kenya is a democratic country where citizens can
chose to vote however they like. Why are you and your deputy forcing Kenyans
through their MPs to vote for the Bill?”
Sheikh MshaliKhamis, the Kemnac national
deputy director for legal and religious affairs, said the Kenya Kwanza leadership
is a punishment from God for turning away from Him.
Quoting the Quran, Sheikh Khamis said:
“If you turn away from Allah, he will bring to you a leader who will have no
mercy on you.”
He lamented that MPs are not sensitising
the people they represent o and that is why many are unaware of the many
dangers hidden in the Bill.
“We donated powers to these MPs but they
are betraying us,” Khamis said.
Kemnac secretary general Sheikh
AmadiKhamis said lawmakers are being controlled by a person who should be
following the law. He urged the MPs to reject the bill as it does not favour
anyone in the country.
Kemnac chief adviser Sheikh Mohamed Dima
said President Ruto and his deputy RigathiGachagua are wrong to force their
will on the people of Kenya.
“Just like in the Quran, where it is
forbidden to force anyone into any religion, the President should not force the
people of Kenya to support the bad Finance Bill 2023,” Sheikh Dima said.
Source: the-star.co.ke
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-06-06-muslim-council-oppose-finance-bill-say-it-will-hurt-kenyans/
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Muslim leaders get suspended sentence
for linking Kapsabet trader to radicalization
06 June 2023
Three top Kapsabet mosque officials have
been handed 12 month suspended sentence after being found guilty of providing
police false information on al-Shabaab.
The three, Abubakar Sadala-Jamiah mosque
Immam, Rajab Korir-assistant Immam and Issa Songok-Mosque secretary, appeared
before Kapsabet senior principal magistrate Duke Ocharo.
The suspects who have been out of bond,
were charged that on March 10th 2019, at Kapsabet DCI offices, they informed
Nandi central sub-county C.I.D.O Jett Makana that a businessman was using
wealth to radicalize Kamobo Mosque Muslims children.
They further informed the DCI officer
that the businessman Ahmed Mohammed was using vulnerable mosque members to
destabilize the leadership of KapsabetJamiah Mosque.
The mosque officials also informed chief
inspector Makana in writing that the said businessman was manipulating security
agencies to cause unlawful activities- information they knew was false.
According to the prosecution, the trio
provided the information to have the businessman arrested and investigated over
the allegation of his connection with the radical Islamic group, a fact they
knew to be untrue.
The state lined up six witnesses to nail
the suspects who had been out on bail.
The prosecution said thorough
investigations were carried out by a multi-agency team drawn from the regular
police, D.C.I, an Anti-terror police unit and other state security organs
before reaching a conclusion of the businessman's innocence.
Ocharo found the three guilty of the
offence of “giving the police false information” which carried a maximum
sentence of 3 years imprisonment without an option of fine.
The suspect who was represented in court
by DancunTallam, pleaded for leniency arguing that the first suspect was ageing
and a first offender while the second suspect was a widower with young children
to take care of.
Ocharo agreed with the suspects' counsel
saying they were all Muslim leaders and that a suspended sentence of 12 months
was a conditional discharge under section 35 (2) of the penal code.
They are required to keep peace and
never to commit any criminal offence against the businessman Ahmed Mohammed for
the next one, failure to which they would be committed to serving three years
imprisonment.
Source: the-star.co.ke
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-06-06-muslim-leaders-get-suspended-sentence-for-linking-kapsabet-trader-to-radicalization/
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Wike kicks against Muslim-Muslim
national assembly leadership
June 6, 2023
Former Governor of Rivers State,
NyesomWike, says only those who do not like Nigeria will propose a Muslim
Senate President and a Muslim Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Wike, who made the statement during a
media chat with journalists in his home in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said
though President Bola Tinubu was able to win the election despite campaigns
against his Muslim-Muslim ticket, such a mistake should not be repeated with
the leadership of the National Assembly.
He said such a decision sends the wrong
signal and is an attempt to frustrate the administration of President Tinubu,
as there are already allegations that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was an agenda to
Islamise Nigeria, which is why Tinubu wants to balance the leadership position
across religious lines.
“Only those who do not want the unity of
this country can even have that kind of proposal. If you do that, what signal
are you giving out?
“You are trying to frustrate his
administration because already, there’s been an accusation that why he went to
pick a Muslim, was to run a Muslim agenda, which is not correct.
“It is expected to balance this thing
now, so Nigerians will now see that all these are accusations and rumors by
lazy politicians.
“If you want this country to be
balanced, give hope here, give hope there, and let it not look like we are
running a religious government.
“If anybody loves this administration,
if anybody wants him to succeed, if anybody wants the unity of this country,
you won’t think twice to know that the way it is now, the speakership is north,
you want the Senate President to go to the north, you can’t say that.”
Wike said the notion that the leadership
of the three arms of government cannot come from the south holds no water, as
it was the same in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Wike also took a swipe at the immediate
past Governor of Sokoto State, AminuTamwbual, whom he accused of manipulating
the system to ensure a northern governor emerged as the chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party Governors’ Forum, a position he claimed was meant for the
south.
“You see what PDP did in Bauchi
recently. In our Governor’s Forum, PDP Governor’s Forum, and the Nigeria
Governor’s Forum, if the ruling party becomes the chairman, the opposition
party takes the vice chairman.
“If the chairman is from the north, and
when he finishes his tenure, somebody from the south takes over.
“Tambuwal is leaving office as the
chairman of the PDP Governor’s Forum, who is from the north, now it ought to
come to the south.
“When you do your manipulation, and
you’re happy, you have been manipulated, but you don’t know the consequences of
it tomorrow. Won’t we begin to talk of those consequences?
“They say, oh! He’s doing anti-party.
What is the anti-party? Look at what you did, impunity.
“The chairman of PDP Governor’s Forum
ought to come to the south. Tambuwal hasn’t finished, and he went there,
manipulated the system and gave it to Bala, my friend. I have no problem with
my friend.
“And they know if I were governor, that
wouldn’t have happened. Let the entire heaven come down.
“For Christ’s sake, what is wrong with
people standing by the truth?” Wike said.
Source: dailypost.ng
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://dailypost.ng/2023/06/06/wike-kicks-against-muslim-muslim-national-assembly-leadership/
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Arab World
Saudi crown prince, US state secretary
discuss cooperation
June 07, 2023
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jeddah,
the Saudi Press Agency reported early Wednesday.
The pair discussed ways to enhance
cooperation and bilateral relations in various fields, and efforts toward the
latest regional and International developments.
Senior Saudi and US officials attended
the meeting.
Blinken arrived in Jeddah on Tuesday.
His trip comes as the Kingdom and US
seek to broker a durable cease-fire between Sudan’s warring generals in ongoing
talks in Jeddah.
Blinken will participate in a US-Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) ministerial meeting to discuss growing cooperation
with Gulf partners and how they can promote security, stability, de-escalation,
regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East,
spokesman Matt Miller said.
The state secretary and Saudi foreign
minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will co-host a ministerial meeting of the
Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh “to address the continuing threat of (Daesh)
and reaffirm our commitment to ensure its enduring defeat,” he added.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the
following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2317201/saudi-arabia
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Saudi Cabinet backs OPEC+ agreement to
stabilize oil markets
June 07, 2023
RIYADH: Saudi ministers backed this
week’s oil agreement between exporting countries and supported the Kingdom’s
voluntary production cut.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and allies such as Russia, known as OPEC+, announced on Sunday to
limit oil output in 2024.
Saudi Arabia said it will extend its
voluntary cut of 500,000 bpd until the end of December 2024, in coordination
with some countries participating in the OPEC+ agreement.
The Saudi energy ministry also announced
an additional voluntary oil output cut of 1 million bpd for July, which could
be extended further.
This would mean that the Kingdom’s
production becomes 9 million bpd, and its total voluntary cut will be 1.5
million bpd in July.
Defending the decisions made by the oil
producers’ alliance, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stressed
the need to “trust OPEC+” which he described as “the most effective
international organization” working to restore market stability.
“It was just our sensibility, if you
will call it, that the environment was not sufficiently allowing confidence to
be there. So taking a precautionary measure tends to put you on the safe side.
And it is part of the typical rhythm that we have installed in OPEC, which is
being proactive, being preemptive,” Prince Abdulaziz said.
In other business, ministers at Cabinet
meeting, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, said the
successful Saudi mission to the International Station shows the Kingdom’s
strengthening role in space technologies.
The mission also comes as an extension
of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to empower people, protect the planet, and shape new
horizons through science, research and innovations, the Saudi Press Agency
reported early Wednesday.
The officials reiterated the Kingdom’s
commitment, during the BRICS meeting, to continue working with international
partners to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030, and to intensify
global efforts to enhance food and energy security.
Locally, the Cabinet emphasized the
government’s commitment to improve the level of services provided to citizens,
including enhancing water resources and working on their sustainability through
the launch of many high-quality and efficient projects. This includes the
Jubail 3A Desalination Plant project, which was recently launched and is
considered the largest of its kind in the world.
Ministers praised the comprehensive data
provided by the Saudi census 2022, which will be a pillar for planning,
development, decision-making and economic and social policy-making, in a way that contributes to achieving the
goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 and preparing to create a better future.
Source: arabnews.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2317196/saudi-arabia
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Dr. Al-Rabeeah meets Polish ambassador
to Saudi Arabia
June 06, 2023
RIYADH: Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, general
supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, met with
Robert Rostek, the ambassador of Poland to Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh on Tuesday.
During their meeting at KSrelief’s
headquarters in the capital, they discussed cooperation and coordination on
humanitarian and relief issues.
Rostek praised KSrelief’s role in
providing aid to needy people around the world, which has ensured the center a
prestigious international status in the field of humanitarian work.
Source: arabnews.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2317131/saudi-arabia
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Ministry of Islamic Affairs Displays
Most Prominent Technologies at Holy Qur'an Exhibition in Brazil
06 Jun, 2023
The Holy Qur'an Exhibition, organized by
the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, held in the Brazilian city
of Foz do Iguacu, displays a large variety of Qur'an publications and translations
of the meanings of the words of the Holy Qur'an into more than 70 international
languages. The exhibition includes a presentation of the stages involved in
printing the Holy Quran.
The Visitors to the exhibition praised
the progress achieved by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in all fields,
specifically the field of technology, as well as the role of the Kingdom in
serving Islam and Muslims around the world and their use of these technologies
to serve the pilgrims.
Source: alriyadhdaily.com
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following URL to read the full text of the original
http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/7346c1fad9644612832df6df49b7b33b
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/indian-anatolian-sufism-ajmer-shareef-moini/d/129943