IQBAL HUSSEIN'S SITE

Sep 23, '10 11:18 AM
for everyone

As Salaam Alaikum (May Peace Be Upon You),

5 more villages were drowned in Sindh on Monday, and more people were cut off from the outside world by waters splashing down from a full lake that could well overflow and wreak yet more damage on Sindh Province. Meanwhile, UNICEF is warning that 100,000 children made homeless by the floods are in danger of starving to death for lack of food. Some 100,000 more people have been displaced after a lake burst in southern Pakistan where massive floods have already affected millions of people, a UN spokesman said Tuesday,

The United Nations held a high-level meeting on Pakistan flood relief on Sunday. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the great need for the world to come together to help the country recover from the recent devastating flooding.

[Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Secretary General]: "The floods in Pakistan are a global disaster, a global challenge, and a global test of solidarity. This challenge will require our continued focus and commitment to relief, recovery and reconstruction by everyone in the months ahead… The people of Pakistan are counting on the support of the international community. Let us work to help them rebuild their communities, their livelihoods and their lives.”

The floods in Pakistan began more than a month ago and swept through the country, affecting more than 20 million people, damaged or destroyed nearly 1.9 million homes and killed 1,700 people. On Friday the U.N. asked member states for $2 billion to help Pakistan. This is the largest natural disaster appeal in the history of the U.N. and the Islamic Information Center asks you to donate as much as you can to help the innocent people of Pakistan.

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Masalama,
Rahat Husain
Executive Director
Islamic Information Center

The West

DOJ Monitoring 8 Cases Of Alleged Discrimination Against Muslim Institutions, Prisoners

TPM

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has begun monitoring eight separate cases of alleged discrimination against Muslims under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) since May 2010, according to a report issued Tuesday. "We see a spike, regrettably," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez in a speech before the American Constitution Society. A spokeswoman declined to name the individual investigations, but confirmed that the department was monitoring those cases and had not yet opened full investigations. Controversies over the construction of Mosques -- most notably over the Islamic cultural center in Manhattan -- have flared up around the country in recent months. In Tennessee, opponents of the construction of a Mosque have filed a lawsuit to prevent it from being built. The FBI and ATF are investigating a case of arson following a heated debate over the proposed religious center. In California, individuals opposed to the building of a Mosque were asked to bring their dogs to a protest. Another controversy sprung up in Wisconsin.

Anti Mosque Group to Hold Session Discussing Mosques in New York

The Californian

Local authors critical of Islam and a pastor from a church in Simi Valley will speak at a lecture Monday that organizers say will attempt to explain why residents should oppose plans for a mosque in Temecula's Nicolas Valley, a rural community in the northwest corner of the city. The mosque is being proposed by the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley, which serves a group of about 150 Muslim families in the area who have been saving money for years to bankroll the project. The plans could go before the Planning Commission in mid-November if a traffic study is completed on time. Bakh is scheduled to be joined Monday by James Horn, author of a book about Islamic influence in U.S. government, and Kevin Diekilman, a pastor at Simi Hills Christian Church in Simi Valley. Diekilman, who identified himself as a nondenominational Christian, is scheduled to talk about, what he called, the "Christian" perspective on Islam.

Middle East

Bahraini Sectarian authorities in Manama revoke nationality of Shiite ayatollah

Spero News

The decision is linked to a series of measures against the Shiites, who are the majority of citizens. Measures against another cleric and arrests among those who participated in protests against discrimination. Government concern over increasing power of the Shiites in the region. The government of Bahrain has withdrawn the passport of one of the most influential Shiite leaders, Ayatollah Hussein al-Najati, who is also the representative of the Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq, in the small kingdom. The decision to revoke the nationalities of both al-Najati and his family, apparently for bureaucratic reasons, falls within a range of measures that the authorities are taking against the majority Shiite community, in the lead up to parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 23. On Sunday, just hours before the announcement of the decision against al-Najati, another penalty against a Shiite cleric, Sheik Abdul Jaleel Al-Miqdad, was unveiled. He has been banned for two weeks, from leading Friday prayers. The measures appear as a reaction to demonstrations and Al-Miqdad protests in August over the arrests of more than 250 Shiites.

Kuwait strips Shiite of citizenship

M and C

At the recommendation of Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Khaled al- Sabah, the Kuwaiti cabinet decided Sunday to strip Shiite cleric Yasser al-Habib of his citizenship for 'undermining Kuwait's national interests and social system,' according to the English daily Kuwait Times. The government said that his remarks prompted the Ministry of the Interior to ban all public gatherings on Monday. The Kuwait Times reported that Shiite member of Parliament Saleh Ashour warned that withdrawing a citizenship for religious or political reasons was dangerous and would open the door for groups to pressure and blackmail parliament.

Asia
(excluding the Middle East)

Increasing Tajikistan Violence Worries Neighbors

VOA News

A deadly ambush in a remote Tajikistan valley in Central Asia is sending shock waves all the way to Moscow. Helicopter gun ships thundered up valleys of the Pamir mountains looking for Islamic guerrillas who ambushed a military convoy, killing 25 soldiers and wounding another 20. But this military search and destroy operation was not in Afghanistan, it was in its normally quiet northern neighbor, Tajikistan. Observers worry that Afghanistan's deadly mix of Islamic fundamentalism and drug trading is spilling into Tajikistan, the poorest of the five Central Asian nations that once were Soviet republics. Professor Kevin Jones has traveled extensively through Tajikistan: "These are still incredibly porous borders, and there are numerous places where it is quite easy for groups, organizations, individuals, to cross," said Kevin Jones. "So the ability to move from northern Afghanistan to parts of eastern Tajikistan, to parts of southern Tajikistan is quite easy."

First batch of Thai Muslim pilgrims receive Saudi visas to make Hajj
MCOT

Saudi visas have been granted to the first batch of 392 Thai Muslim pilgrims to make the Hajj religious pilgrimage to Mecca, according to Culture Minister Nipit Intarasombat. However, he said the visas for the first batch of pilgrims was ready as the request was submitted last week, but visas for the second batch could not be processed due to a shortage of staff at the embassy, he said. When embassy staff who are currently on leave return to work, the embassy will inform the Department of Religious Affairs, which is in charge of submitting the visa requests for Thai pilgrims. The minister asked the embassy to inform the department immediately when it is able to process more visas. If the embassy can begin handling the documents tomorrow, it will be very good because there will be only 12 working days left as the first group of pilgrims is set to leave Thailand on October 8. One thousand visas per day can be processed, according to embassy sources.

Africa

Shariah Banks Targeted to Lift Senegal, Pakistan Poverty: Islamic Finance

Bloomberg

Senegal, Pakistan and Afghanistan, among the world’s 50 poorest nations, are turning to Islamic banking to spur economic growth by encouraging people to take out loans and open savings accounts. Outstanding domestic bank lending accounted for 3.5 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product in 2008, 25 percent in Senegal, 27 percent in Nigeria and 46 percent in Pakistan, according to data compiled by the World Bank. The rates compare with 224 percent in the U.S. and 115 percent in Malaysia, a global hub for finance that conforms with Shariah principles. Developing Islamic nations have shunned banking in part because of the religion’s ban on interest, limiting access to funds for project financing and stunting business growth, according to the International Monetary Fund. Governments should improve regulations, products and institutions that comply with Shariah law to accelerate the industry’s development, Patrick Imam and Kangni Kpodar, economists at the IMF, said in a telephone interview from Washington on Sept. 14.

Nigerian Muslim Cleric Cautions Against Political Thuggery

All Africa

A Muslim cleric, Malam Abdulbasir Isa Nguwar- Maikawu, Saturday cautioned youths of Abaji Area Council not to allow themselves to be used as political thugs by politicians during the forth coming elections. Maikawu, who made the call during the closing of this year's Ramadan Tafsir organised by the Abaji branch of Jama'atu Izalatul Bidi'ah Wa'ikamati Sunnah (JIBWIS), lamented that majority of youths are being used as political thugs and thereby end up as nuisances to society. He said there was need for youths to engage in trading rather than allow themselves to be used as thugs, adding that Islam advocates for one to stand up for his means of livelihood rather than engaging in immorality. "It is imperative for youths to engage in trading business or learn skills rather than remain idle," he said.