Myrtus

Ramadan Karim! Now is a great time to rebember Muslim tolerance towards others

And NOT the other way around like this video from Malaysia suggests:

 

Let's turn "PARK 51" into a "PEACE GARDEN" if we really want healing

Dear Park 51 folks,

Considering that polarizing politics have completely hijacked your noble, peaceful endeavor at this point, this is the perfect opportunity and also the right time to turn a negative into a positive and do something really worthwhile and lasting on a global scale.....to cultivate peace, love, understanding and promote coexistence.

With the commemoration of the painful 9/11 tragedy (that struck us all at the heart) just around the corner, let's honor the victims by turning "Park 51" into a "Peace Garden", where everyone is welcome to pay tribute to the victims and honor them by planting trees, bushes and flowers, for peace sake, instead of building a community center.

Gardening is fun and can do so much good to release tensions, especially if we do it as a community.

And please let's not stop there, we can still raise the 100 hundred million dollars you had planned to do many great things to serve the world community.

Let's raise 100 million dollars for the flood victims in Pakistan.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help rebuild Haiti and other areas truck by disaster.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to build schools all over the world where there are none.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help end violence against women & minorities.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to empower people with disabilities.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to combat human trafficking.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to put an end to malaria

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to combat AIDS.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help end animal cruelty.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help protect human rights.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help protect our enironment.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help end violence in our schools.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to stop/prevent genocide around the globe.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to bring water & clean energy to the poor in remote areas.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to support existing charities that work to eradicate extremism.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to launch a conflict resolution world forum that excludes politicians.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to educate & empower the poor with social entrepreneurship.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to provide food, shelter & education for the homeless.

So you see, if we really want to build bridges, we got our work cut out for us and the possibilities are truly endless!

Thank you kindly & peace be with all of us!

PS ~ Everyone is free to copy this note and post it anywhere.

Let's turn "PARK 51" into a "PEACE GARDEN" | Facebook

To all the girls with the letter "N" ~ "ن" {noon}

Hey did you know that the letter "N" has a spiritual meaning in Sufi philosophy?

Well, neither did I till I stumbled upon the works of Moroccan artist Hakim Ghazali, who has dedicated an entire collection to the letter "N" = "ن", titled "For the Love of Noon" (as the letter is pronounced in Arabic), combining mixed-media and Arabic calligraphy.

Ghazali's artwork has been showcased in many countries and received numerous awards.

Fatwa against terrorism

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Indian Muslims condemn terrorism

A conference attended by thousands of Muslim clerics, scholars and community leaders in India has endorsed a religious ruling against terrorism.

The ruling or fatwa was issued earlier this year by an Islamic seminary.

It said that Islam rejected all kinds of bloodshed and the killing of innocents for selfish and politically motivated gains.

This is great!

Now let's see a universal fatwa against terrorism co-signed by every Muslim cleric who wishes to keep his job and continue practicing his profession in good faith, for the good of mankind and for goodness sake.

News Flash: Fatwa against terrorism

I guess better late than never, but let's be honest, Islam does not mean "peace".

Muslim seminary issues fatwa against terrorism - Asia, World - The Independent

A Muslim Indian seminary which is said to have inspired the Taliban has issued a fatwa against terrorism, insisting that Islam is a religion of peace.

Senior clerics from the 150-year-old Darul Uloom Deoband issued the edict saying they wished to wipe out terrorism. "Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form," said the rector, Habibur Rehman, to the cheers of thousands of students. Many held placards saying "Islam means peace", while others chanted.

"The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace," Mr Rehman added.

The Deoband institute was established in the aftermath of the 1857 uprising against British rule, an uprising that was brutally suppressed by the imperial forces. Highly influential, it controls thousands of smaller seminaries and madrassas around the world, from Britain to Afghanistan.

Of Britain's 1,400 mosques, about 600 are run by Deobandi-affiliated clerics. Seventeen of the UK's 26 Islamic seminaries follow Deobandi teachings, which produce about 80 per cent of all domestically trained Muslim clerics.

Analysts say the move to speak out against terrorism would be welcomed by the overwhelming majority of India's 140 million Muslim population, many of whom believe the image of their religion has been tarnished by the actions of a small number of people.

Muslims reaching out to Jewish community

Read the open letter from Muslims to Jews here.

The Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations

Muslim scholars and leaders from across the world have issued a Letter to the international Jewish community calling for 'peace and understanding'.

This Letter, which has been facilitated by the Muslim scholars of the CMJR is intended as a gesture of goodwill. Its aim is to build upon existing relations in order to improve mutual understanding and to further the positive work in building bridges between Muslims and Jews.

A Common Word - كلمة سواء

Mullahs send Xmas greetings

Published Date: December 25, 2007

PARIS: Leading Muslim scholars have addressed warm Christmas greetings to Christians around the world, a message notable both for what it said and the fact that it was sent at all. The greetings, sent by a group of 138 Sunni, Shiite, Sufi and other scholars who recently proposed a dialogue with Christian leaders, called for peace on earth and thanked church leaders who have responded positively to their invitation. The message, as the dialogue proposal made in October, was unprecedented because there has n ot been until now such a large group of Islamic scholars that could draft a common letter.

Meet the new face of Islam: The Official Website of A Common Word

On October 13^th 2006, one month to the day after Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg address of September 13^th 2006, 38 Islamic authorities and scholars from around the world, representing all denominations and schools of thought, joined together to deliver an answer to the Pope in the spirit of open intellectual exchange and mutual understanding. In their Open Letter to the Pope (see english.pdf), for the first time in recent history, Muslim scholars from every branch of Islam spoke with one voice about the true teachings of Islam.

Now, exactly one year after that letter, Muslims have expanded their message. In A Common Word Between Us and You, 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals have unanimously come together for the first time since the days of the Prophet r to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam. Like the Open Letter, the signatories to this message come from every denomination and school of thought in Islam. Every major Islamic country or region in the world is represented in this message, which is addressed to the leaders of all the world’s churches, and indeed to all Christians everywhere.

Download letter-from-the-vatican.pdf

"If I stay silent I would no longer be an American"

Dr. Jasser, a Muslim American anti-Islamist wants to set the record straight.

Interview on M. Zuhdi Jasser on National Review Online

While I often receive disgusting hate mail, it is far outweighed by the volumes of gratitude and appreciation from Muslims and non-Muslims alike. So many in America have been hungry to hear about devotional Muslims unafraid to build institutions which are leading a counter-jihad. America is hungry to hear Muslims condemn apologetics for terrorism, identify terrorists and their organizations by name, and lead the effort to deconstruct the religious legitimacy of the Islamic state.

This is why I founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. We are not only “at home with American liberty” but, we recognize that our nation is under God and we are all American first and everything else second. We refuse to accept Muslim, Arabic, or any minority collectivism. We look at ourselves as Americans who happen to be Muslim rather than Muslims who demand to be Americans. Our political activism is not about being Muslim, but is guided by the platforms of our individual political party affiliation — not by the agenda of clerics who seek a theocracy. For these beliefs, the Islamist activists ignore real debate and prefer to call me an ‘Uncle Tom’, ‘a sellout’, or a ‘tool of some made up conspiracy theory.”

I’ve never been threatened physically. But if I allow such frivolous attacks or fear of them to modify the intensity of my work, I would dishonor the freedoms which our serviceman and women are fighting to preserve and I might as well take my family back to their motherland of Syria where there are no freedoms and the masses are silent out of fear of the ruling despots. If I stay silent I would no longer be an American.

Read the whole thing, it's worth it.

So you see how Hirsi Ali is in total denial when she keeps making BS statements like this:

It is often said that Islam has been “hijacked” by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates.

But where are the moderates?

Update:

Everything in moderation

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali should note that when addressing injustice in Islam, there is a need for reconciliation between secular humanists and Muslims...." By Ali Eteraz

Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently published an op-ed in the New York Times entitled Islam's silent moderates, wondering where were the Muslims speaking out against the Saudi rape tragedy, the Sudanese teddy bear fiasco, and the persecution of feminist writer Taslima Nasreen in India. Her article makes me think two things.

First, she clearly doesn't read leftwing magazines. Four days before her piece, Mahir Ali wrote in at Znet discussing Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India, and called the Muslim demagogues in each place "dimwits". He is just one example of a "moderate" Muslim speaking out, but it makes one wonder how many other condemnations Hirsi Ali ignored.

Second, her article is about more than condemnation. Her argument is that when Islamic dictates collide with a person's sense of "compassion and conscience", a Muslim should opt for the compassionate solution. She wants a compassionate interpretation of Islam spread "more widely".

Putting aside Hirsi Ali's questionable political affiliation and history of appalling statements - Islam must be defeated - hers is a hopeful piece. It makes me wonder whether she has finally realised that not all people who adhere to Islam are prone to cruelty and violence. If the future Ms Ali is more like this, she might resonate in a community that matters most: Muslims. However, in order to do so, she will need to have a better grasp of how Muslims respond to injustice in the name of Islam.

(read the whole thing here: Comment is free)

Blog Post of the month: Muslim Preacher Preaching Compassion and Tolerance Towards Homosexuals

Muslim Preacher Preaching Compassion and Tolerance Towards Homosexuals!

Want me to say it again?

Discover The American Islamic Congress

Hey what a pleasant surprise! 

You guys probably remember our young friend Nouri who used to guestblog here a while back.

Nouri Writes:

Hello,
Longtime, no write! It's Nouri, now in Boston and still writing. I stumbled across this passage from your response to Ibn Kafka:

What we really need to focus on is Muslim organizations that constantly politicize Islamic affairs on behalf of all Muslims and tell them to shut up already or mind their own business.  Organizations like CAIR and the The Muslim Council in Britain for instance, do more harm than good in representing Muslims.  It is because of their ilk that we now have Islamofascism Awareness Week and the Stop Kuffarphobia! Demonstration.

I agree with your position here. And I think that if you have not already, you should get in contact with the people at the American Islamic Congress, because they are working to create a kind of organization that will fight for human and civil rights for American Muslims and Muslims in the "old" countries, while standing by civilized values and without making judgments as to the "quality" of this or these Muslim or Muslims.

For example, they just put out a press release on the Teddy Bear Muhammad nonsense (you can see it at my blog).

http://www.aicongress.org/

I'm plugging it to you just in case you haven't seen them or are interested in getting involved with them.

Best,

Nouri

Sounds like music to my ears!

Thanks so much Nouri, I wan't familiar with AIC, but I have heard of HAMSA (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance) before and didn't know it was a branch of the American Islamic Congress.

Sounds like they're doing all kinds of great things in terms of building bridges, human rights and interfaith exchange.  Too bad they don't get much media coverage.

Their following statement says it all for me:

* Interfaith dialogue is not about politics. Interfaith exchanges sometimes also become an excuse for advancing political agendas. Muslim spokesmen sometimes use events to push foreign policy positions on Iraq, Israel, Kashmir, and US influence abroad. When this happens, Islam is not engaged on its own terms, but rather becomes a platform for politics - as if all 1.2 billion Muslims share the same political views.