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Treasured Memories: A Lecture By Shaykh Adnan Abdul-Qadir (Kuwait)
A unique inspiring LECTURE IN
ENGLISH & ARABIC PRESENTED BY:
Middlesbrough
Central Masjid
30 Southfield Road
Middlesbrough Ts1 3ex
the cherished memories that
the Companions had of the Prophet:
treasured
memories
By Shaykh Adnan Abdul-Qadir (Kuwait)
on wednesday, 30th june 2010 AT 6PM
Free Admission-Free Islamic Literature-Free Refreshments
Brothers and Sisters welcome
Creche facility available for children
For further information please contact:
01642 221655
Whatever happened to freedom of choice and expression?
Bigotry drives Belgium’s burqa ban
By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal Contributing Writer
May 6, 2010, 00:44
Last week, the Belgian parliament voted to ban women from covering their faces in public places, which means Muslim women in Belgium will be forced to abandon the burqa and niqab else risk imprisonment or fines.
France, the Netherlands and Italy are mulling a similar law, which has been condemned by Amnesty International as an attack on religious freedom. There are also concerns that the ban may infringe international human-rights conventions and laws covering freedom of expression.
I must admit the burqa isn’t my favourite item of clothing. I wore one for a few hours some years ago for purely experiential reasons and couldn’t wait to take it off. It was summer in Cairo and I thought I would expire from the heat at any moment. I hated being shrouded in such a cumbersome garment and disliked my reflection in the mirror. Moreover, I knew I would feel like a non-person were I to cover up for any length of time because in my own mind, rightly or wrongly, my face is inextricably linked with my sense of identity.
Anonymity is definitely not my thing. As I discovered during those fleeting hours, when your face is hidden you almost cease to exist as far as passersby and shopkeepers are concerned. When I popped into a coffee shop for my usual morning café latte I was ignored until I kicked up a fuss. But who am I to tell others what to do? If women choose to wear the burqa for religious, traditional or social reasons or want to avoid being hassled by men in the street, that’s up to them. Or it should be.
As far as I’m concerned the burqa is far more visually appealing than exposed tattooed flesh, nose and lip rings, short shorts and bared pot-belly midriffs. It’s just a piece of cloth. However, the Belgian and French leaderships find it offensive. They believe it denigrates women, which is quite laughable when they are so accepting of street prostitution, nude sunbathers and pornographic magazines openly displayed by newsagents.
Nauseating hypocrisy
The hypocrisy shown by proponents of the ban is nauseating. “We are the first country to break through the chain that kept countless women enslaved,” said Belgian MP Denis Ducarme. I wonder how many Belgian women cheering on the proposed law wore an ‘enslaving’ veil in church on their wedding day!
“It’s a question of human dignity,” said one of his fellow MPs, Daniel Bacquelaine, adding, “The full-face veil turns a woman into a walking prison.” If that’s his judgment, he’s wrong. Most women of cover say they are liberated by the burqa. Those parliamentarians are pretending to care about Muslim women when their opinion hasn’t been sought and little thought, if any, has been given to the trauma experienced by citizens who are life-long wearers of the burqa or niqab. They are sure to feel violated by the prohibition and may feel they have no choice but to return to their country of origin. Perhaps that’s the idea!
When the evidence is pieced together, it’s hard not to reach the conclusion that Europe has replaced anti-Semitism with Islamophobia. In 2004, Muslim girls attending French state schools were banned from wearing headscarves, while a Dutch filmmaker produced Submission, a documentary heavily critical of Islam.
The following year, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons negatively depicting the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), which the Danish government refused to condemn citing free speech.
In 2006, Britain’s Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw described the veil as “a visible statement of separation and difference”, and asked women visiting his constituency office to consider removing it.
Last year, 57 percent of Swiss voters backed a nationwide referendum to ban the construction of new minarets. The Swiss People’s Party General-Secretary Martain Baltisser said at the time that “this was a vote against minarets as symbols of Islamic power”.
Now France is poised to follow Belgium. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has led the charge to ban the veil, saying “it is contrary to the dignity of women”. A survey found that 70 percent of French people agree with him. Under his law, expected to come into force in the autumn, women will be taken to police stations where they will be fined and forcibly unveiled. Now that’s what I call undignified!
It appears that some Europeans consider Muslims fair game. Imagine the outcry if police were empowered to whip off a Sikh’s turban, a nun’s habit or an orthodox Jew’s tallit (prayer shawl). It just wouldn’t happen.
If these bans were based primarily on security concerns, the Europeans would have a stronger argument. But they’re not. Instead, Belgian and French politicians are fierce in their concern for the well-being of Muslim women all of a sudden. Do you seriously buy that? Thought not!
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
The ranks of people in relation to the Prayer
Ibn Al-Qayyim may Allaah have mercy upon him said: “There are five ranks of people in relation to prayer:
The First is he who transgresses against himself by neglecting parts of Wudoo’, its timings, its limits and pillars. This person will be punished.
The Second is he who maintains its timings and conditions, but his mind is occupied during prayer, and he will be asked about this.
The Third is he who maintains its timings, conditions, and all its rights, but spends his efforts struggling against himself not to become busy thinking of something else. He is in a state of Jihaad and prayer. He will be forgiven.
The Fourth is he whose heart is fully consumed by the prayer, and his main concern is establishing it properly and perfectly. He is in a state of servitude to his Lord, and he will be rewarded.
The Fifth is he who does as the fourth, but in addition he sets his heart in the Hands of his Lord, seeing Him through it, watchful of Him, filled with love and magnification as if he is witnessing his Lord. His mind is concentrated on praying. The difference between this level and the others is like the distance between the heavens and the earth. This person is consumed with his Lord in his prayer, bringing him comfort to his eyes. This person is close to his Lord, and his eyes will be comforted in the Hereafter as well by being close to Him.”
Dear brothers and sisters! Which one of these five ranks do you fit in? Hold yourself accountable and weigh it according to your performance of prayer, for indeed the scale of the prayer does not err!
Excerpt from “Respond to the Call for Prayer”, by Khaalid Abu Saalih
Stop Anjem Choudary’s Crusade Against Muslims
| Anjem Choudary has done more to vilify the Islamic religion, than Nick Griffins, Kurt Wilders and Salman Rushdie could have ever have dreamed of. Muslims in the UK
need to make a stand against him. Join the facebook group: uk muslims against islamic extremism. (log into facebook, type uk muslims against islamic extremism, and click on the group to join).
|
| Let the British public know that Anjem Choudary does not represent Islam or the Muslims. |
| Please forward to all your contacts. |
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