Thursday 21 May 2009

U.S MUSLIM SCHOLARS INCH CLOSER TO FULFILLING THE VISION OF FIRST ISLAMIC COLLEGE IN UNITED STATES

PLAINSBORO, N.J. - A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a "Muslim Georgetown."
Advisers to the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College can open in the fall of next year, a major step toward developing the faith in America.

Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf of California have spent years planning the school, which will offer a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. Shakir, a California native, sees the school in the tradition of other religious groups that formed universities to educate leaders and carve a space in the mainstream of American life.
"As a faith community our needs aren't any different than the needs of any other faith community," Shakir told the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, as he sought donations at a recent conference near Princeton, N.J. "As Muslims, we need to develop institutions to allow us to perpetuate our values."
Others have tried to start Muslim colleges around New York and Chicago, but those schools remained obscure or quickly folded.

Shakir and Yusuf are believed to have a better chance than most to succeed.
Shakir, an African-American Air Force veteran, and Yusuf, a native of Washington state, are converts who spent years studying with Islamic scholars in North Africa and the Mideast. They speak flawless Arabic and have become widely respected teachers. Yusuf draws thousands of people to his talks and tens of thousands of viewers to his online lectures.
In 1996, Yusuf founded Zaytuna Institute, now based in Berkeley, Calif., which is dedicated to classical Muslim scholarship. Zaytuna means "olive tree" in Arabic.
The institute expanded to provide distance learning, workshops in multiple cities and conferences with prominent scholars. Shakir, a Zaytuna teacher for six years, ran a pilot seminary program from 2004-2008, partly to test the viability of a school. An intensive Arabic language summer course, in its second year, has doubled its enrollment.
"It is far and away the single most influential institution that's shaping American Muslim thought," said Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "On the one hand they speak so much about being American. On the other hand, they have also plugged these American Muslim students into the global Muslim curriculum, that has all the rigor of traditional Islamic scholarship."
In earlier years, Shakir and Yusuf had made some anti-American statements, but that rhetoric is not part of their teaching. Zaytuna Institute has clips on its Web site of a lecture by the two scholars called "Curing Extremism." Following a White House meeting with President George W. Bush soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Yusuf made the now widely repeated comment that "Islam was hijacked" by the terrorists and he has condemned the attackers as "mass murderers."
A working motto for the school: "Where Islam Meets America."
Zaytuna College will start with two majors: Arabic language, and Islamic legal and theological studies.
It will not be a seminary, although some graduates could become prayer leaders, or imams. Most U.S. mosques are led by imams from overseas, considered an obstacle to Islam's development in America.
Other students could go on to start American Muslim nonprofits, or become Islamic scholars through advanced study at other schools, said Hatem Bazian, a Zaytuna adviser who teaches at the University of California-Berkeley and Saint Mary's College of California.
But administrators aim to teach analytical skills, along with ethics and theology, that can prepare students for many professional careers.
Zaytuna will start in rented space in Berkeley and will seek accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. All faiths will be welcome, academic freedom will be protected, and there will be no separation of men and women, Bazian said.
"It is a daunting task, there is no question about it," Bazian said. "But I'm completely confident and comforted that almost every major private university began with one classroom and possibly one building and sometimes it was a rented facility to begin with."
The college needs $2 million to $4 million to launch, a fundraising goal Bazian says organizers will comfortably meet by next year. Zaytuna will soon start raising the tens of millions of dollars needed for an endowment and a capital fund to build a campus in the Bay Area years from now, Bazian said.
Mahmoud Ayoub, a retired professor of Islamic studies Temple University, is among those who don't support the idea of a U.S. Muslim college, not only because of the enormous expense and risk involved, but also because he believes Muslims are better off attending established American schools. He said U.S. Muslims badly need a seminary since there are none in the country.
"I don't know that I would send my child to go to a college where they can only learn tradition. Young people have to live," said Ayoub who has worked with the U.S. State Department, representing America in the Muslim world. "I like mixing people. I don't like ghettos."
But Zaytuna considers the state of Muslim scholarship in the West so "anemic" that a crisis is looming. The Muslim community in North America and Europe, now in the millions, is growing, and has few properly trained leaders to guide them.
"Who will talk for the religion?" Shakir asked. "We have to train a generation."

UZBEKISTAN : BIBLE AND MEL GIBSON FILM BANNED IN KARAKALPAKSTAN

Nurulla Zhamolov, the senior religious affairs official for the Karakalpakstan [Qoraqalpoghiston] Autonomous Republic of north-western Uzbekistan, has banned specific religious books and films confiscated from religious believers on at least three occasions known to Forum 18 News Service in 2009.


The confiscations happened during police and National Security Service (NSS) secret police raids. Among works Zhamolov has "banned for import, distribution or use in teaching on the territory of the Republic of Karakalpakstan" are the Bible, a hymn book, a Bible Encyclopaedia, a Bible dictionary, a children's Bible, and the 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson, although this has legally been shown in cinemas in the capital Tashkent.
The bans were set out in "expert analyses" provided for court hearings of local Protestants, and revealed in court documents and a prosecutor's office letter seen by Forum 18. Forum 18 has been unable to obtain copies of Zhamolov's "expert analyses".
The authorities in Karakalpakstan routinely confiscate religious literature they find in the homes of religious believers during raids. It remains unclear what further activity the authorities will undertake in the wake of the bans on specific works.It also remains unclear whether Zhamolov's ban on the Bible includes a ban on the Russian-language Synodal version, a nineteenth-century translation widely used not only among Russian-speaking Protestants but by the Russian Orthodox for private reading outside church services (which are in Church Slavonic).
Forum 18 tried to find out from Zhamolov of the Religious Affairs Committee why peaceful religious communities have been raided, why peaceful religious believers have been detained and fined, why religious literature has been confiscated and why he has issued "expert analyses" banning the import, distribution and use of named religious books in Karakalpakstan. However, the man who answered his phone on 20 May told Forum 18 it was a wrong number.
Subsequent calls went unanswered.Officials in the Uzbek capital Tashkent were likewise unwilling to talk about the raids, the confiscation of religious literature or state censorship of religious literature. The official who answered the phone at the government's National Human Rights Centre of Uzbekistan told Forum 18 on 20 May that its director Akmal Saidov and deputy director Akhmat Ismailov were out of the office, while Ikrom Saipov, who heads the department dealing with citizens' complaints, was on leave.
Asked what the Human Rights Centre has done to defend the religious freedom of Uzbekistan's residents, the official – who would not give his name – responded: "I cannot provide any further information. Come to our Centre and you can read our last annual report in our library." Asked whether the report is available on the internet, he responded: "I'm afraid not."The official who answered the phone on 20 May of the government's Religious Affairs Committee in Tashkent – who gave his name as Murat – told Forum 18 he was a trainee and was unable to answer any questions. He said no other Committee official was in the office.

INDONESIA : MUSLIM GROUP THREATENS NEWLY ELECTED CHRISTIAN TO CONVERT TO ISLAM


JAKARTA – An Islamic group in West Sumatra province, Indonesia, has issued threats against Dominikus Supriyanto, the only Catholic to win a seat in the district legislature in recent general elections, warning him that he should convert to Islam if he wants to retain the seat.
On April 23, after results were announced, a group identifying itself as the Islamic Forum of West Pasaman attacked Supriyanto’s home, slinging stones and breaking several windows. Supriyanto, who was in the house at the time, said the attackers also shouted threats and demanded that he become a Muslim if he planned to stay in politics.
Supriyanto reported the incident to police and requested protection. After a brief investigation, police concluded that the attackers had most likely acted on behalf of unsuccessful election candidates.
Elections took place on April 9, but the election commission has only recently confirmed the names of those who will take up positions at district, provincial and national levels.
Supriyanto stood as a candidate for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in West Pasaman, West Sumatra, and won a seat in the district legislature from 2009 to 2014. The district is 98 percent Muslim, but Compass sources said voters supported Supriyanto because of his rapport with the Muslim community.
Supriyanto’s party supports pancasila, Indonesia’s national policy of tolerance for all religions.
Earlier this year, supporters of other candidates engaged in a so-called “black campaign,” warning that Supriyanto would likely “Christianize” West Pasaman if elected.
Despite such accusations prior to and following the elections, Supriyanto is determined to retain his seat.
“I was elected not just by Christians and Catholics, but by Muslims,” he told Compass. “I’m going to remain Catholic no matter what happens.”
Supriyanto has requested support from fellow party members in Jakarta.
The bishop of Padang diocese, Monsignor Martinus Situmorang, said Supriyanto had won the vote fairly and that if threats continued the diocese would take the issue to a national level.
Members of the Islamic Forum, meanwhile, have pledged to demonstrate publicly against Supriyanto during his inauguration in July.

KIDA SETS CHURCH ON FIRE WHILE 50 PEOPLE WHERE INSIDE THE CHURCH IN NAPERVILLE


Police on Tuesday were continuing their investigation into an aggravated arson where a boy or girl apparently set a fire inside a church while 50 parishioners were socializing in the basement after Sunday worship services.
No one was injured during the blaze, which did about $500 damage to Naperville Congregational Church at 1 Bunting Lane.
Naperville police Cmdr. Dave Hoffman on Tuesday would not reveal the age or gender of the accused youth or say whether he or she is a member of the church. Hoffman would say only "police are investigating an apparent arson involving a juvenile."
The fire was set about 11:15 a.m. Sunday after a church service. A written police report indicated it erupted beneath the pulpit while 50 people were down in the basement.
Hoffman said the flames and damage were confined to the pulpit area. The blaze was extinguished "almost immediately" by either a church staff member or worshipper, he said.
The police report classified the crime as "aggravated arson."

READ THE STORY OF A MAN FROM VARANASI WHO DIDN'T HAD BATH FOR 35 YEARS IN AN ATTEMPT TO HAVE A SON



One of Singh’s neighbors, Madhusudan, says that a seer told Kalau years ago that if he didn’t take a bath, he would be blessed with a male child. It seems that many Indians prefer sons for financial reasons. Sons are breadwinners. Girls have to have the matrimonial dowry for the grooms family when they marry. Also, in Indian culture, all their earnings go to their husband’s family. For those reasons, girl children are considered a burden.
So for 35 years Singh hasn’t bathed. It appears his efforts are not working so far.
This has been costly for him. He used to own a grocery store, but had to go out of business when customers quit coming to his store because of his ‘unhealthy personality’. He now works in the fields. He also incurred the anger of his family when he refused to take a ritual dip in the river Ganges even after the death of his brother five years ago.
In spite of what his neighbors have said, Kalau claims he doesn’t remember how it all began. He claims his pledge to not wash is in the ‘national interest’. ‘I’ll end this vow only when all problems confronting the nation end,’ he said.
Even though he refuses to take water baths, he does take fire baths. That involves standing on one leg next to a bonfire, smoking marijuana and saying prayers to Lord Shiva. He claims its just as good as using water to bath and the fire kills germs and infection in the body.
Oh, and he doesn’t brush his teeth either.
Considering this whole scenario its not surprising that he hasn’t had a male child. The surprising thing is that he’s had any children at all.