"The proposed styles are inspired by Iranians' complexion, culture and religion, and Islamic law," said Jaleh Khodayar, who is in charge of a Modesty and Veil Festival later this month at which the guide will be promoted.
An interesting development has come about as a result of the UK's rejection of Dr. Zakir Naik to enter the UK for a Muslim event in Sheffield. An email is circulating here in the UAE with this message:
World Briefing - Europe - Britain - No Entry for Preacher With Radical Views on Islam - NYTimes.com
This article above is about Dr. Zakir Naik, an Islamic preacher based out of Mumbai. I heard him speak in Dubai several years ago and I was on some type of Islamic mailing list and was sent an announcement of his Sheffield lectures recently as well. I have some Muslim friends here in Dubai who know him. I'm sure they're disappointed with this outcome.
Very interesting video today on the women of Saudi Arabia. The women of Dubai/UAE have many more freedoms and yet the video is instructive about some of the basic aspects of the lives of women in the Gulf.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
This article published on November 9, 2009 is titled Official Stresses Need for Marital Reconciliation in the GulfNews states this near the end.
According to Sharia, a husband is counselled to adopt a civilised and productive method and to be responsible and patient before divorcing.Is this standard interpretation of Sharia Law?
"We call that ... the gradual edifying reconciliation method … whenever a husband notices a bizarre behaviour from his wife, he can advise her, then avoid sleeping with her in one room and if that doesn't work out then he can whip her gently in a manner that makes her understand the situation.
I'm really curious why this would be allowed for top officials and not for all others in Saudi society? Is there some religious reason this would be allowed for only a privileged few? Also, I had never heard in the first place that this was the policy... that Saudi citizens could only marry Saudis. True?Story out of the GulfNews:
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is exploring the prospect of allowing senior government officials, diplomats and judges to get married to foreigners. The amendments, proposed by the Ministry of Interior and the Expert Authority under the Council of Ministers, in this respect have been okayed by higher authorities, according to a report carried by Al Riyadh Arabic daily. The amendments stipulate that any Saudi citizen, holding key posts such as ministers, members of the Shoura Council, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and judges will be allowed to get married to foreigners. The amendments will be applicable to all government officials in the grades of 15 and 14 and above. The officials also include those working with the Royal Court, Court of the Crown Prince, Court of the Council of Ministers, National Security Council, Ministry of Defence and Aviation, Ministry of Interior among others.
Christmas has past but I wanted to pass on an interesting article that was sent out on a local Muslim email listserve. It's instructions for Muslims about how to respond to Christians during their Christmas holidays or other Christian celebrations.
It might sound harsh to some of you Christians out there but, in all honesty, I think if Muslims are going to be true to their holy scriptures then they should follow these guidelines.
I did have an observant Muslim friend talk to me on chat a few weeks back. He asked me how my Christmas was. I thought this was a very friendly yet perhaps Quranically acceptable way to handle the situation. Although you could possibly argue from the Quran that he is in grave danger having me as a friend in the first place.
See what you think about the article:
AssalamualaykumwarahmatAllah!
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the ruling on greeting the kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas and how we should respond when they greet us on this occasion. Is it permissible to go to the parties that they hold on this occasion?
Is a person sinning if he does any of the things mentioned without intending to, and he only does it to be nice, or because of or shyness or embarrassment or other reasons? Is it permissible to imitate them in that?
He replied:
Greeting the kuffaar on the occasion of Christmas or any of their other religious holidays is haraam according to scholarly consensus, as was stated by Ibn al-Qayyim in his book Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, where he says:
"Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah." End quote.
Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for oneself. But the Muslim should not accept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allaah does not accept any of that at all, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
"If you disbelieve, then verily, Allaah is not in need of you, He likes not disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you. .
[al-Zumar 39:7]
". . .
This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islaam as your religion . .
[al-Maa’idah 5:3]
So congratulating them is forbidden, whether they are one’s colleagues at work or otherwise.
If they greet us on the occasion of their festivals, we should not respond, because these are not our festivals, and because they are not festivals which are acceptable to Allaah. These festivals are innovations in their religions, and even those which may have been prescribed formerly have been abrogated by the religion of Islaam, with which Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to the whole of mankind. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers."
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]
It is haraam for a Muslim to accept invitations on such occasions, because this is worse than congratulating them as it implies taking part in their celebrations.
Similarly, Muslims are forbidden to imitate the kuffaar by having parties on such occasions, or exchanging gifts, or giving out sweets or food, or taking time off work, etc., because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them." Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah said in his book Iqtidaa’ al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat Ashaab al-Jaheem: "Imitating them in some of their festivals implies that one is pleased with their false beliefs and practices, and gives them the hope that they may have the opportunity to humiliate and mislead the weak
End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 3/44.From IslamQA.com
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/69811
Now here's something very interesting. I'll have to catch this somewhere. Combines my interests in Islam and culture.
For those of you not familiar with an Islamic view of what Ramadan should accomplish in a Muslim's life I've cut and pasted an exhortation from a local Islamic learning center near my home. The people there are kind and I've visited a few times before. It will give you a sense of what Muslims feel Ramadan is and should be.
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What a great quote from C.S. Lewis!
A man's physical hunger does not prove that that man will
get any bread; he may die of starvation on a raft in the
Atlantic. But surely a man's hunger does prove that he comes of
a race which repairs its body by eating, and inhabits a world
where eatable substances exist. In the same way, though I do
not believe (I wish I did) that my desire for Paradise proves
that I shall enjoy it, I think it a pretty good indication that
such a thing exists and that some men will. A man may love a
women and not win her; but it would be very odd if the
phenomenon called "falling in love" occurred in a sexless
world.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Weight of Glory, and other
addresses, Macmillan Co., 1949, p. 6
This article in the GulfNews paper highlights the importance of the last 10 days of Ramadhan for all Muslims. I suggest you read the whole (short) article but here are a few interesting quotes:
Article Link
"...The last 10 days of Ramadan have been chosen by Allah to be the peak of self-control, worship and abstinence...Muslims should spend the last 10 days at the mosque if they can possibly do so. This should not come at the cost of slacking on household, marital or work duties. They should spend time reading the Quran, praying with fellow Muslims and refraining from saying any bad or hurtful words to anyone."
"The purpose is to emerge from Ramadan with a cleansed spirit."
"Ramadan is the month that people will be closer to Allah and the rewards are doubled."
"Laylat Al Qadr is a celebration of when Allah bestowed the Quran to the people during that period in Ramadan. This makes devotion in Ramadan equivalent to a thousand months of worship."
Entire article below:
When Ramadan rolls around every year I always endeavor to not be an insensitive expat here in Dubai. I want to not cause offense to my Muslim hosts and friends by not eating in front of them if at all possible. Most restaurants are closed during the day but you can still find some open in the "free zones". Nevertheless, you can be arrested for eating in public during the Holy month.
So as my wife and I got into the car yesterday I thought to remind her about eating or drinking in the car since she had a small package of salted pumpkin seeds in her hand. I didn't say anything and, more than that, began to pop them into my mouth and chew as we drove down the road.
About 10 minutes into the drive I pulled up to a stop light, reached down to grab a few seeds, then began to chew them. I casually glanced to my left and promptly saw a man dressed in dishdasha glaring at me. He raised his hand and wagged his finger at me in disapproval. I was embarrassed and immediately wished to apologize in some way. I stopped chewing and swallowed. As I looked back at him he thrust his hand up in exasperation as if to say, "what are you doing eating during Ramadan?... you're obviously another insensitive non-Muslim unwilling to consider your host culture".
I wish I could apologize to the man. I have no desire to cause offense.
But later I began to think more about it. What is the good of fasting if all the "temptations" to eat are prevented by law or social convention? Why is it considered an offense if I don't participate in the practice of another religion; one in which I don't believe?
Again, I don't wish to offend and yet it seems inevitable that offense will be taken if we believe different things and live by them.
Your thoughts?
Some of you may have noticed that over 2 months ago I spoke on this blog about an upcoming Muslim - Christian Dialogue being held in Knowledge Village. It took place on March 2 and it was attended by close to 300 people. It was a scintillating evening of conversation about "Who is God and how are we saved?".
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| From 2008-10-12 Dubai Beach Volleyball Etc |
There is a fascinating article in The National, a newspaper published out of Abu Dhabi. The article describes ancient ruins of a Nestorian church and monastery discovered on an island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The ruins could date to the 4th century which is pre-Islamic (7th century).
The article is fascinating enough just when considering the finds but it's doubly interesting that the authorities are allowing the discoveries to be published and preserved. These kinds of finds are particularly sensitive in the Kingdom "next door" where freedom of worship is not allowed and the idea of a pre-Islamic "other" religion is not discussed much. The UAE is to be commended for their openness and honesty about the Christian church findings.
Here are some interesting findings related to ancient churches discovered in the countries around here...
A frequent commenter, LDU, recently posted his thoughts on Dawah - the Arabic/Islamic word for Muslims calling those outside Islam to become Muslims. I thought you might like to read what he had to say...
The concept of Dawah is very different to the Christian understanding of preaching or sending missionaries and Christian funded aid in war zones and what have you.
Although Dawah does cover verbal discussions that only comprises a very tiny part of it. Being a good Muslim citizen and fulfilling your civic duties is Dawah; a lady wearing a hijab is Dawah and likewise a man with a prayer cap and a beard is performing Dawah; being good to co-workers and being hospitable is also Dawah.
Allah instruct's Muslims to propogate Islam - that is no secret. The Quran mentions explicitly to let the entire globe know of Islam. I can do that by wearing a prayer cap in Iceland. Allah hasn't set a fixed definition for what Dawah is nor has he set out an exhaustive list - therefore it ends up being a merits based approach and not a "one size fits all". No Muslim caliph sent an army to Indonesia. Indonesia became Muslim because of the honest trade techniques (Dawah in itself) of the Muslim traders who travelled there.
In my opinion its not a matter of inviting people to the truth. Its more of an issue of not intimidating people by preaching. If people are genuinely interested in my faith, I'd be happy to discuss it with them and answer their queries. But would i stand near a train station and hand out DVD's or would I buy airtime on national television? No.
I had a interesting experience earlier this week. The doorbell rang about 7pm and I went to the gate to answer it. Three men in dishdashas were standing there. Two were older with long beards. One was younger; no beard. They asked me if I was Muslim. I replied that I was a "...Christian, a follower of Jesus". They apologized for some reason and then asked me if my neighbor was a Muslim. I replied that both on either side of me were Muslims.
When I inquired in a friendly way what they were doing they told me they were going from house to house trying to get the Muslims to pray with them. I told them I'd like to come see them at the mosque sometime and talk about faith. They welcomed me.
I think these gentlemen weren't thinking of trying to convince me of the truth of Islam but were working to get self-proclaimed Muslims to come and pray regularly at the mosque as it's required in Islam. And I've met many observant Muslims who see their role as trying to "energize" or motivate "lapsed" Muslims.
I'm glad for the introductions to these men and hope to get down to the mosque sometime in the next month.
