Busana Yang diperagakan di Festival Busana Islam Dipersoal: NGO Islam nak buat apa?

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Okt: Para pemimpin NGO Islam disarankan agar mengkaji tindakan isteri perdana menteri, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor yang disifatkan sebagai menghina Islam ketika menganjurkan Islamic Fashion Festival (IFF).

Bagi anggota Parlimen Titiwangsa, Dr Lo' Lo' Ghazali, IFF jelas menghina islam apabila menggunakan nama agama untuk mengesahkan tindakan penganjuran pertunjukan yang tidak wajar itu.

Lebih malang, tulisan "Muhammad" dalam tulisan Arab secara terbalik diguna dan dipakai di dada salah seorang peraga fesyen yang tidak menutup aurat.

"Kita berarak bantah kartun Nabi yang dibuat di Denmark, di sini di Malaysia, seluruh maruah Islam ditelanjangkan oleh IFF tersebut," kata Lo' Lo' kepada Harakahdaily.

Beliau mengulas IFF yang dianjurkan oleh Rosmah baru-baru ini. Walaupun dinamalkan Islamik tetapi fesyen yang diperagakan tidak sesuai dengan Islam bahkan Rosmah sendiri tidak memakai pakaian yang sesuai dengan Islam ketika merasmikan program IFF itu.

Lo' Lo' juga kesal dengan sesetengah NGO Islam yang dipergunakan untuk menyokong bajet yang dibentangkan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib.

"Saya dapat maklumat ada beberapa NGO Islam diminta membuat memo menyokong bajet PM.

"Saya nak tanya NGO-NGO Islam ni, tak terasa langsung ke nak bantah penghinaan terhadap Islam oleh Rosmah atas penganjuran Islamic Fashion Festival yang penuh dengan kemungkaran dan kemaksiatan terhadap Allah serta pengkhianatan atas muslimah seluruhnya?" tanya Lo' Lo'.

Padri Ektremis Yang Mengancam Pembakaran Al-Quran Sudah Cabut ...

Friend: Pastor who planned Quran burn flying to NY

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer – 27 mins ago

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – An associate of the pastor who once planned to burn copies of the Quran to mark the 9/11 anniversary says the Rev. Terry Jones is headed to New York aboard a Friday night flight.

K.A. Paul, a Christian evangelist who runs a ministry in Houston, says he bought the ticket for Jones to fly out of Orlando and land around 10:15 p.m. in New York. Paul provided The Associated Press with a copy of the itinerary and flight confirmation number.

Jones has said he planned to meet with the imam overseeing a proposed mosque and Islamic center to be built near ground zero.

Paul says Jones was able to sneak out of his Gainesville church without the media noticing.

Earlier Friday, Jones' son, Luke, said that the Quran-burning won't take place Saturday but couldn't say whether there would be a future event.

Yahoo! News

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

Pengurusi

dan

Ahli Jawatankuasa

HIKMAH CAWANGAN WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN

Dengan Hati Yang Tulus Ikhlas
ingin mengucapkan
Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri
Maaf Zahir dan Batin
Kepada
Semua Ahli HIKMAH SARAWAK

di seluruh negara

Malaysia

1 Syawal 1431 Hijriah

bersamaan

Jumaat

10 September 2010

Ancaman Membakar Al-Quran oleh puak Evangelical di Amerika: White House Risau dan OIC akan melihat saja?

White House warns Florida church not to burn Koran - Americas, World - The Independent

Komentar: Pihak HIKMAHWP dengan sekeras-kerasnya mengutuk sebarang perbuatan buruk dan keji mana-mana pihak maupun kumpulan agama yang mempersenda, mempermain, memusnah, mencabuli, mencemar dan menghina Kitab Suci Agama Islam yang telah diturunkan oleh ALlah SWT melalui Rasul dan NabiNya Muhammad SAW. Kami menganggap perbuatan membakar AL-Quran sebagai suatu perbuatan dan tindakan yang provokatif dan bertentangan dengan prinsip-prinsip kemanusiaan, kemasyarakatan dan keagamaan dan lebih-lebih lagi bertentangan dengan perbuatan manusia atau kumpulan manusia yang mengaku diri mereka sebagai mahluk yang mulia, berakhlak tinggi, bertuhan dan bermoral. Kami juga menganggap bahawa perbuatan membakar, mempersenda dan mencemar Kitab Suci Kami Ummat Islam sebagai perbuatan manusia yang tidak siuman dan gila. Semoga ALlah membalas perbuatan manusia yang tidak bermoral, gila dan tidak siuman ini dengan segala kuasa dan kebijaksanaan yang ada padaNYA.

To Pastor Terry Jones and his followers of the anti-Islam Evangelical Christian Church Dove World Outreach Center in Florida may ALlah, the Almighty God the Creator of all mankind have mercy on your long lost souls.

Iklan TV3 Yang Tidak Islamik Ditarik Balik

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 9/6/2010

Malaysian TV pulls Ramadan ad over Christmas links

A Malaysian TV station said Monday it had withdrawn an advertisement marking the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr which was criticised as "un-Islamic' for having a Christmas-like theme.

The private TV3 channel started last week airing the one-minute commercial marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month, showing a man wearing an Islamic skullcap taking children on a magical trishaw for a ride through the sky.

Some viewers in Muslim-majority Malaysia said the character was reminiscent of Santa Claus, and several groups demanded it be retracted. There was also criticism that the ad featured a lotus flower, which is linked to Buddhism.

"TV3 apologises on the airing of the advertisement... which has offended many people," the station said in a statement, adding that it had been taken off air.

"We will be more cautious to avoid similar incidents to happen again in the future," it added.

Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which was hit by deadly race riots in 1969.

Some 60 percent of the 28 million population are Muslim Malays, living alongside large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities who have expressed fear that the country is being "Islamised" and their rights are being eroded.

Berita MSN

SMS harian dan panduan dari Ustaz dan guru saya di Katapang, Kalimantan Barat Indonesia:

Tafakur Dhuha. ALlah SWT berfirman, " Hai insan! Kekayaan-KU tidak akan pernah habis selamanya. Kian banyak kau berinfak, sebanyak itu pula AKU memberi rezekimu. Seberapa pula tingkat kikirmu sekadar itu pula AKU menahan rezekimu" (Hadis Qudsi)

Sumbangan Dr. A.H. Awang Mois

Ucapan Pengerusi Sempena Bulan Ramadhan Al-Mubarak

SALAM RAMADHAN AL-MUBARAK

Assalamualaikum Semua Ahli Hikmah WP,

Sempena bulan ramadhan al-mubarak saya ingin mengucapkan kepada semua ahli HIKMAH WP dan Cawangan2 lain di negeri Sarawak selamat mengerjakan ibadah puasa pada bulan ramadhan tahun Hijriah 1431. Semoga Allah memberikan rahmat dan hidayahnya kepada kita semua.

Pada Bulan Ramadhan Yang Mulia dan Penuh Berakah ini saya juga mohon beribu Maaf dan Ampun kepada semua ahli HIKMAH WP khasnya dan HIKMAH SARAWAK amnya andaikata telah tersalah kata dan tersalah bahasa dalam komunikasi dan diskusi kita.

Sama-samalah kita Mengerjakan Ibadah Yang telah Diperintah ALlah SWT untuk Meraih Pahala dan Barakah

Wassalam,

Pengerusi Hikmah WP

Dr Awang Hasmadi Awang Mois

28 Ogos 2010 bersamaan 18hb Ramadhan 1431 Hijriah

PENGUMUMAN SEMINAR

PROGAM SEMINAR MAHASISWA ISLAM SARAWAK 2010

Tema
CABARAN MAHASISWA ISLAM ABAD KE -21
TARIKH

14 hb MAC 2010 (AHAD)
BANGI, SELANGOR

Semua AHLI HIKMAH WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN
Dan
Pelajar-Pelajar Islam Sarawak di Wilayah Persekutuan
Dan
Semenanjung Malaysia
dijemput
Hadir

Tempat:

Residence Hotel, Universiti Tenaga Nasional

Anjuran
HIKMAH WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN

Dengan
HIKMAH PUSAT

Egypt's New Concept of Islamic and Arab Brotherhood: Egyptian navy boats fired at Palestinian fishermen wounding two! May Allah have mercy on OIC.

Egyptian navy boats fire at, wound Palestinian fishermen

[ 13/02/2010 - 07:18 AM ]

RAFAH, (PIC)-- Egyptian navy boats fired at Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Rafah, to the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip, wounding two fishermen before arresting four others.

Local sources told the PIC reporter on Friday that Egyptian gunboats chased Palestinian fishing boats while fishing at sea.

They added that the gunboats encircled one of the fishing boats and arrested four fishermen.

The sources noted that Egyptian helicopters hovered overhead during the attack.

Source: The Voice of Palestine

AKTIVITI WAJIB DAIE : PROGRAM ANJURAN NABI SAW

AKTIVITI WAJIB DAIE : PROGRAM ANJURAN NABI SAW

ENAM HAK MUSLIM

Hak orang Islam terhadap orang Islam lainnya ada enam:
Apabila engkau berjumpa dengannya, berilah salam kepadanya.
Apabila ia mengundangmu, penuhilah undangan itu.
Apabila ia meminta nasihat padamu, nasihatlah dia.
Apabila ia bersin lalu memuji Allah (membaca Alhamdulillah, maka doakanlah ia olehmu (yarhamukillah = semoga Allah memberi rahmat kepadamu)
Apabila ia sakit, ziarahilah dia, dan
Apabila ia meninggal dunia, maka iringkanlah dia.

JIKA BERTEMU BERILAH SALAM
Mengucap salam langkah pertama.
Lebih mantap jika diikuti dengan berjabat tangan.
Ucapan salam mesti disertai dengan perasaan cinta, senang, wajah yang berseri agar fungsinya akan tewujud.
Saling memperkenalkan diri, nama, pekerjaan, tempat tinggal.
Tapak dalam tahap awal berdakwah.

JIKA TIDAK KELIHATAN , MAKA CARILAH DIA
Watak sebuah perkenalan adalah jika seseorang yang anda kenal itu tidak anda lihat dalam waktu tertentu, maka anda harus bertanya khabar tentang keadaannya, atau menghubunginya, baik lewat telefon/sistem pesanan ringkas (sms) ataupun surat.

JIKA SAKIT JENGUKLAH DIA
Sunnatullah akan berlaku pada setiap orang; gembira, sakit, sedih dan setiap keadaan dan situasi perlu disikapi dengan sikap Islami. Jika anda mendengar bahawa teman anda sakit, anda harus segera menjenguknya, memberi ketenangan dan mendoakan kesembuhannya. Dan sangat baik untuk membawa hadiah yang sesuai.

JIKA DIA MENGUNDANGMU MAKA PENUHILAH
Selepas melewati tahap di atas, hubungan semakin erat. Sahabat anda akan menghadapi keadaan penting seperti naik pangkat, pernikahan, mendapat cahaya mata, lalu dia mengundangmu. Anda harus memenuhi undangannya kerana ia merupakan kesempatan berharga yang tersedia tanpa anda harus rencanakan sebelumnya, serta sebaliknya.

JIKA DIA BERSIN DAN UCAP ALHAMDULILLAH , JAWABLAH YARHAMUKALLAH
Duduk bersebelahan dengan orang belum dikenal di suatu tempat, baik perjalanan, pesta, mahupun tatkala menjenguk orang sakit, lalu orang yang duduk bersin maka hendaklah anda menoleh kepadanya dengan wajah berseri dan berdoa. Tentu hal ini akan menjadikan dirinya istimewa dan sesuatu yang baru dan setelah itu anda dapat bercakap-cakap dengannya.

JIKA DIA MENINGGAL DUNIA MAKA HANTARKAN KE TEMPAT PEMAKAMANNYA
Apa yang dapat ia lakukan setelah meninggalkan dunia dan dikubur?
Pada hakikatnya, menghantar orang lain ke tempat pemakaman adalah menghantar dirinya sendiri, yang ia akan dapat mengambil nasihat, pelajaran dan merenungnya.
Ini sebuah Rasulullah saw, yang menggambarkan persatuan dan kesatuan kaum muslimin.
Jika sebelumnya anda dapat mengenal peribadi yang meninggal dunia, maka sekarang anda menggunakan kesempatan untuk berkenalan dengan keluarganya dan orang-orang yang bertakziah ke rumahnya. Membuka peluang berkenalan dengan ramai orang hasil satu kematian.

Melakukan Segala Kebaikan
“Berbuat baiklah kerana Allah, nescaya kebaikan itu kembali kepadamu di dunia mahupun akhirat”
“Jika kamu letih kerana melakukan kebaikan, keletihan itu akan hilang dan kebaikan itu akan kekal”
Bertasbih, bertakbir, dan bertahlil.
Kekuatan yang dapat membantu daie bersabar dan istiqamah.
Ia merupakan motor yang tiada hentinya bergerak membersihkan jiwa dan hati daripada pelbagai kekotoran.
Menyingkirkan duri di jalan.
Menolong orang yang buta dan tuli.
Menunjukkan orang yang kebingungan.
Menolong orang yang lemah.

PENAMPILAN SEORANG DAIE
Cara bertutur dan personaliti; pendakwah ialah pegawai pemasaran hasil produksi yang semestinya penampilan menarik dan kualiti produk(produk kita terbaik : Islam daripada Allah)
Dakwah adalah menawarkan sebuah risalah dan pola berfikir yang tercermin dalam akhlak, keperibadian dan penampilan.
Imam Hasan al Banna pernah ditanya: kenapa anda tidak menyusun buku?. Jawabnya: “Tugas saya bukanlah menyusun buku, kerana buku biasanya akan diletakkan di perpustakaan dan sedikit sekali yang mahu membacanya. Lain halnya mencetak peribadi muslim, dia adalah ‘buku yang sentiasa terbuka’ ke mana pun dia berjalan,itu adalah dakwah”.
Daie merupakan utusan kepada jemaah, hendaklah dia senantiasa berpenampilan baik dan mulia.
“Keberhasilan sebuah misi akan bergantung pada si pembawa misi tersebut”
Kisah Mus’ab bin Umair ….. Dalam kisah beliau dengan Usaid bin Huhair
“Demi Allah, kami sudah melihat pancaran cahaya Islam, sebelum dia berkata dengan wajah yang ceria”

MELAFAZKAN CINTA KASIH
Dari Anas ra. Bahawa ada seorang lelaki berada dekat Rasulullah saw lalu ada lelaki lain berkata “Ya Rasul, sungguh saya mencintai orang itu”. Rasulullah bertanya “Adakah kamu sudah memberitahunya”. Jawabnya “Belum”. Nabi bersabda “Beritahukan kepadanya.” Lelaki itu mendekatinya dan berkata “Sungguh aku mencintaimu kerana Allah swt”. Lelaki itu menjawab “ Mudah-mudahan Allah yang kerana-Nya engkau mencintai aku mencintaimu.

Sesiapa beriman kepada Allah dan hari akhirat hendaklah ia mencintai Usamah bin Zaid (HR Bukhari)
Taujihat Nabawiyah: Islam tidak menutup pintu kasih sayang dan cinta, tetapi membersihkannya daripada tradisi jahiliah menjadi taman yang indah “cinta kerana Allah”. Kata-kata ini menghiasi hari-hari kami dalam lisan dan tulisan.

DOA DAN SABAR
Rasulullah pernah berdoa “Ya Allah, muliakanlah Islam dengan satu antara dua orang yang Engkau sukai: Umar bin Khattab atau Amru bin Hisyam”.
Tidak mudah bagi seseorang melangkah kepada orang lain tanpa adanya suatu alasan. Oleh sebab itu, harus direncanakan dengan matang dan melalui perantara yang lebih dekat dari segi tsaqafah dan umurnya.
Dakwah adalah seni, bersabar dalam berdakwah adalah jihad
“Hidayah dan petunjuk Allah tidak akan meresap ke dalam jiwa manusia sekaligus, malah ia memerlukan masa, pengawasan dan tenaga yang dikorbankan sehingga usaha-usaha itu mendatangkan hasil dengan izin Allah………..memerlukan kesabaran”Ustaz Fathi Yakan, Konsep penguasaan

NERACA USRAH YANG BERJAYA.
Sejauhmana dapat meningkat kefahaman dan kesedaran Islam.
Sejauhmana dapat meningkatkan kerjasama-ta’awun تعاونdalam menghayati Islam.
Sejauhmana dapat menumbuhkan “masuliyyah fardiyyah” – مسؤولية فردية

Yang salah itu bahasa
Yang benar itu erti
Yang susah itu kerja
Yang senang itu bakti
“Jadikan usrah sebagai medan untuk berbakti kepada agama tercinta”


Kiriman: Usrah Jemaah Anak Muda 13 February at 04:10
Dikongsikan bersama mereka yang berkata mereka mencintai Allah, Rasulallah dan Agama Islam yang telah diturunkan oleh Allah.

Di Negara Belanda: Converts say Islam enriched their lives

Dutch converts say Islam enriched their lives

Religion 2/1/2010 12:42:00 PM

By Nawab Khan UTRECHT , The Netherlands, Feb 1 (KUNA)

More than 500 people attended the 3rd Dutch Annual Reverts Day held at the big Omar Al Farouk Mosque in Utreceht city on Sunday evening. The event was organised by the OntdekIslam foundation and the Dutch National Platform for New Muslims (LPNM).

Waleed Duisters, chairman of LPNM told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that figures released in 2007 showed there were 12,000 Dutch converts to Islam, but added that "probably there are much more." He explained that it is very difficult to give a precise figure of the Dutch converts to Islam because in the Netherlands there is no registration of people on basis of religion. "We have a lot of new converts to Islam so the aim of this conference is try to help them to get to find their way both in the Muslim society and the Dutch society," said Dusiters who himself converted to Islam ten years ago.

He noted that sometimes new converts face problems as families are affraid of it and also the Muslim society does not know how to deal with converts.
"In Dutch society there are people who are sceptical about Islam and sometimes we have cases of new converts facing big problems with their families. We want to help them to lead a life without any problems," said Duisters.

The large gathering of Dutch converts to Islam and Muslims from Turkey, the Arab world and Suriname listend to lectures by renowned international speakers such as Hussein Ye from Malaysia and Pierre Vogel from Germany combined with those of young Dutch speakers as Ali al Khattab and Elsa van de Loo who is the Dutch youth representative to the United Nations.

Seven Dutch including three women converted to Islam during the conference on Sunday.
Duisters said: "Islam enriched my life. I have a stable life. I know what I have to teach to my children to be a good Muslim but also a good Dutch citizen.
" He noted that the number of Muslims in Europe is growing. More people are converting to Islam because people hear a lot about Islam so they want to know about Islam and start reading the Quran and the Hadith.

But he also blamed the Muslims of not doing enough to explain Islam.

"The Muslims in Holland had a lot of chance to give a good picture but most of the time they failed," he lamented.

"There is also another problem that Muslims are not integrated into the Dutch society," he said..

"We must live as Muslims in Holland but also in the Dutch society. If we dont do it we will remain a strange group. We advise Muslims to get involved in the Dutch society," he said.

Marck Reuvers, responsible for the press at the conference and himself a journalist, told KUNA that "this is a very special day. It is the so-called converts day in the Netherlands." "The purpose of the gathering is to show that the Dutch converts to Islam are also part of the bigger Ummah,"said Reuvers who converted to Islam in 2007.

"I was looking for something which made my life more purposeful. After becoming a Muslim I have a goal in life. I feel really happy and comfortable," he said.
Abdel Krim converted to Islam 2008 He is preparing to become social worker.

"I needed God in my life. I love the stories about Abraham, Moses, Jesus but I did not like the pictures in the Church with a white God," he said.

"But I loved Jesus too much and I loved Moses too much and I fond them in Islam. The rules are much more pure. There is no racism in Islam," the young bearded Dutch Muslim told KUNA.

He said one has to do a lot of explanation in the Dutch socity after converting to Islam. "You quit drinking, you quit smoking you quit speaking behind peoples back. So people in the neighbourhood ask why you dont drink, who you have a beard", he said.

Malleen van der Putten also a journalist who works for a Dutch Islamic broadcasts related a strange story of her conversion. She converted to Islam six years ago, she told KUNA. Van der Putten said "one day she said some bad things to a Muslim. Later she said to herself why I said these bad things about Islam and I dont know anything about Islam." She went to a shop and bought some Islamic books and read and read and then gradually converted.

She said Muslims should talk to the people, talk to the neighbours to explain Islam and there should be more interaction.

Elsa van de Loo, Netherlands representative for the youth in the United Nations, told KUNA that she converted to Islam one and a half years ago.

Her father is from the Netherlands and her mother from the Dominican Republic.
"I was raised believing as a Catholic but not practising religion," she said.
The young Dutch convernt said she started reading Quran in Dutch.

"In the beginning ti was difficult for me to understand and I didnt know many Muslims who would explain to me. Then one day I met a Muslim girl from Morocco who began explaining the Quran and Islam," she said.

"A lot of things I was looking for an answer I found them in Islam.
I feel very good.. Islam gave me peace. In the past I was restless I didnt know What I am doing in life. Where I am going. Now I have the answers," she told KUNA.

She said she never faced any problems with the Dutch government for wearing the Hijab but some critics do say how you can represent the Netherlands in the UN wearing a Hijab.

"I tell them my job is separate from my religion. When I am in my job I represent everybody in the Netherlands and what I believe shouldnt matter. I was elected to my post," said Elsa van de Loo. (end) nk.bz.

KUNA 011242 Feb 10NNNN

Reformers Vs Ultra-Conservatives: To Drive or not to Drive

Thorny issues infiltrate Saudi religious establishment
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 17:01

- By Habib TRABELSI

The traditional debate between reformers and ultra-conservatives on issues that plague the lives of many Saudis, like the mixing of women with men or women's right to drive a car, begins to timidly infiltrate the religious establishment, which is one of the pillars of the regime in Saudi Arabia where a battle on the authorization of the cinema, considered by the clergy as "an absolute evil," had raged last summer.

A muttawa official manners: yes to the mixing

Sheikh Ahmed bin Qassim Al-Ghamdi, the Director General of The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also known as the muttawa, in the Mecca region, proclaimed loudly last month that "the preventing the mixing between sexes has never been a Sharia law (Islamic law strictly enforced in Saudi Arabia) and is a natural fact in the life of the country and Companions of the Prophet Muhammad.”

"Those opposed to the mixing are practicing it in their homes that are full of servants working in the presence of foreign men,” Sheikh Ghamdi told the Okaz daily.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict separation of sexes and punishes by flogging and/or imprisonment of "khilwa", a one-to-one meeting between a man and an unrelated woman.

Liberals rejoice

These statements have not fallen on deaf ears. Liberals - represented especially by intellectuals, businessmen and journalists and are accused by the ultra-conservatives of being "lackeys of the depraved West "- claimed victory.

"It is a turning point in the debate on the mixing, a debate that has cost us a great loss of time," said Hmoud Abu Taleb in Okaz, hailing Sheikh Ghamdi’s courage.

Mohammed Abdel Al-Sheikh, a critique of the religious police or muttawa, has reviewed the "mess" caused by the debate over the mixing, in particular "the conviction of many women's skills to idleness or work in an atmosphere full of suspicion and mines, which has created an isolated feminine world in all areas, not to mention the enormous expenses incurred in the national economy.”

Sheikh Ghamdi’s statement, which occurred after the strong criticism of the opening of the first two sexes' university in the kingdom (KAUST) last September, has shaken the media landscape for several days and resulted in an internet campaign for his favour.

The ultras revile

Meanwhile, Sheikh Ghamdi has been disgraced by many guardians of virtue.

Sheikh Mohammed Al-Munajid - who in September 2008 took aim at Mickey Mouse and his fellows, decreeing that they were "soldiers of Satan, corrupting creatures and repulsive" and must be killed - decreed that Sheikh Ghamdi’s "defamatory" statements were "a violation of Sharia."

Sheikh Munajid confirmed that the anti-mixing fatwa, decreed by the former kingdom's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel ziz bin Baz, still serves as a reference.

The preacher Sheikh Abderrahman Al-Atram, considered Sheikh Ghamdi’s remarks "inappropriate", because "they come at a time when the kingdom is facing serious challenges, such as fighting Huthis and dealing with Jeddah disaster" in reference to the Saudi military intervention against Yemen’s Zaidi rebels since last November and the deadly flooding caused by torrential rains on November 25 in this Red Sea city.

The controversy has even spilled over into Kuwait where clerics and preachers have strongly denounced Sheikh Ghamdi’s statements, calling them "heresy."

Ahmad bin Baz: yes to women driving

Sheikh Ahmed bin Baz, the son of former Grand Mufti, advocated on January 14 the "right" of the woman to drive a car.

"Driving is part of the inalienable rights granted by Islam to women, such as property rights or freedom of movement. Rights are not luxuries. They cannot be acquired nor can they be subjected to a vote," wrote bin Baz in an opinion piece published by Al-Watan daily, the strong critique of the ultraconservatives.

Sheikh bin Baz was due to appear January 18 on Al-Arabiya, the Saudi-owned channel based in Dubai, to clarify that his father’s "fatwa" prohibiting women from driving was “a discretionary and debatable appreciation, given that there is no evidence in the Sharia about banning women from driving.”

The fruit of 'freedom'

The day before, Daoud Al-Sharayan welcomed in his tribune in "Al Hayat" daily "the debate on social issues affecting religion have finally infiltrated the official religious institution.”

"Freedom granted in recent years to the press to discuss such topics such begins to bear fruit. It will have a positive impact on the evolution of society. It is not currently a debate between liberals and Islamists anymore, but a debate within the religious establishment, an unprecedented situation in the history of the kingdom," wrote Sharayan.

However, this excess of enthusiasm provokes the indignation of a reader who protested against the emphasis on sheikh Ghamdi and bin Baz "at the expense of the men of the Commission. That's what liberals seek! "

Source: Saudi Wave

Dead Sea Scrolls prove Bible unoriginal

Dead Sea Scrolls prove Bible unoriginal

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For those Who Just Discovered Allah, Still Curious about Allah and Need to Know More about Allah

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah, and His Word, which he bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One God: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.

Al-Koran Surah [4] Al-Nisa': 171

Then those who believe in Allah, and hold fast to Him -- soon will He admit them to mercy and grace from himself, and guide them to Himself by a straight Way.

(ibid: 174)

Malaysia's war of words over God

Malaysia's war of words over God Spurious objections to Malaysian Christians' use of the word Allah must be countered by inclusivist Muslims

by Nazry Bahrawi guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 January 2010 12.00 GMT

In countless tourism adverts, Malaysia asks the world to see it as "Truly Asia". In the past days and weeks, its government's bid to portray the nation as a harmonious multicultural society has gone up in flames.

Since its high court lifted a three-year embargo that prevents non-Muslims from using the Arabic word Allah in their prayers and literature on 31 December, detractors firebombed several churches and vandalised others across the nation. While there were no casualties, several churches have thus far been hit, with one so severely damaged that its members had to conduct their service elsewhere. Eight of the attackers have now been arrested.

Despite these attacks, Malaysia's Christians, who make up about nine percent of the 27 million-strong Southeast Asian nation, are insisting that the use of Allah is not exclusive to Muslims, who account for some 60% of the population.

Last February, Malaysia's Catholic archbishop, Murphy Pakiam, publisher of the Herald newspaper, filed for a judicial review against the ban that was first enforced in 2007 by the then home affairs minister, Syed Hamid Albar, against the Catholic weekly for using Allah to refer to God in its Malay language version.

The rationale behind the Catholic church's appeal was that Allah is a generic word for God that preceded the spread of Islam. After all, the word Allah, when translated from Arabic, comprises the definite article al, and the noun ilah which means God – connoting a singular deity, a belief common to adherents of the Abrahamic faiths.

Indeed, Biblical scholar Kenneth J Thomas outlined evidence in a 2001 research paper (pdf) suggesting that Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Arab world have used Allah when citing and translating the Bible since the first centuries of Islam.

In Malaysia, its use by Christians developed along similar lines. Since Christianity became widespread there in the 19th century, primarily through the missionary efforts of English colonisers, Allah has been used extensively by Malay-speaking Christian indigenous peoples of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

When juxtaposed against the fact that Malay-speaking Christians in neighbouring Indonesia have long used Allah in their worship to no complaint, it is understandable that Malaysia's church attacks have been viewed with much chagrin.

Observers have rightly argued that the rumpus is tied to Malaysia's ethnic-based political landscape. To be more precise, it arises from the form of Islam nurtured by a segment of the nation's Malay political elites.

The country's constitution not only makes Islam the official state religion but also specifies that a "Malay" must be a "Muslim". With ethnicity tied so closely to religion, defending the purity of Islam against corruption by foreigners has become both a religious duty and a matter of national pride.

This dogma has been fostered by the nation's ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), whose popularity is partly derived from its status as a defender of Malay rights.

This would explain Umno's ambivalent stance on the issue. Even as prime minister Najib Razak decried the church attacks as heinous, his Umno colleagues in government had filed an appeal against the high court decision to overturn the Allah ban. Home affairs minister Hishamuddin Hussein even went as far as to allow demonstrations against the Allah ruling in mosques across Malaysia after Friday prayers on 8 January.

Christians were not the only group targeted by adherents of exclusivist Islam following the fallout from the ruling. On 13 January, the country's Sikhs became the latest to suffer attacks when vandals threw stones at a temple in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The Sikhs, who number approximately 120,000, also use Allah to refer to God in their worship.

Even the Hindus are not exempt from this kind of discrimination. Last September, a group of Muslim protestors stamped on a cow's severed head to protest at the building of a Hindu temple in a Muslim-majority neighbourhood.

Yet there is some encouragement to be had in the fact that not all Malays subscribe to this form of exclusivist Islam. Respected Muslim scholar Asri Zainul Abidin, a former state mufti, backs the use of Allah by non-Muslims. Surprisingly, this is the same stance taken by the opposition Islamic party, Parti Islam SeMalaysia, which had advocated the full-blown implementation of Sharia laws in past campaigns.

There are even voices of dissent coming from within Umno itself. Veteran politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who has always been something of a maverick, condemned his party's reactions following the ruling. For Malaysians to stop warring in God's name, this emerging inclusive Malay-Muslim voice must drown out the rallying cries of the divisive vandals. Insha'Allah.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

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