Headlines:
• New Mosque Sparks Discussion on Role of Women in Islam
• Anti-Islam Group’s First British March Could Attract Thousands of Protesters
• Anti-Islam Group PEGIDA Is Part of Germany, Vice Chancellor Says
• Why China Is Banning Islamic Veils
New Mosque Sparks Discussion on Role of Women in Islam
A women’s-only mosque launched here last week and believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. has sparked a nationwide discussion among Muslims over the role of women in Islam. “The debate has started that will have monumental consequences for Muslims,” said Aslam Abdullah, the imam and director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, in Las Vegas. “The old establishment will not accept change easily, but I think gradually it will happen as women assert themselves. Things are changing. Women cannot play second fiddle anymore.” Some object to women leading prayer and giving sermons; others worry if women’s-only worship catches on elsewhere, it could divide communities along gender lines, he said. The women’s mosque founders—a comedy writer and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer—said they began to feel unwelcome at their home mosques because of the physical separation of men and women. They said they started the Women’s Mosque of America to invigorate women’s scholarship in Islam and inspire Muslim women to take more active leadership roles in their home mosques.
Secular fundamentalists smitten by Western culture are spearheading efforts to change Islam in the current political climate. Yesterday it was the wearing of hijab and today it is women only mosques. The Muslims in America must stand up against attempts by the American government to change Islam. If they do not do this, then their fate will be similar to the Christians who capitulated to the secular fundamentalists and allowed their religion to be changed.
Anti-Islam Group’s First British March Could Attract Thousands of Protesters
A notorious ‘anti-Islam’ movement is coming to Britain with its first ever demo and a march likely to attract thousands. PEGIDA has sparked huge controversy in Germany. Under the banner of ‘Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West’, it claims it is trying to defend countries from the spread of extremism at the hands of Muslim immigrants. It brought 25,000 to the streets of Dresden in demos backing its cause. But it also sparked huge counter demos, with 100,000 protesting against its stance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described it as racist, and PEGIDA’s leadership was said to be in crisis with “massive hostility, threats and career disadvantages” causing five of its senior members to step down after its founder was pictured dressed as Adolf Hitler. It is advertising its first ever UK demo for Newcastle upon Tyne on February 28, however, with a Facebook campaign expected to attract ‘thousands’. It is the first of a series of demos planned for the UK, with others due to take place in Manchester, Birmingham and London. [Source: Daily Mirror]
Islamaphobia encouraged by Western media is fast gripping western populations in Europe to take action against fellow Muslim citizens. The situation is quickly developing into the repeat of the 1930s where hysteria against the Jews was intentionally whipped up to justify their killing and expulsion. Today, the Muslims have become the new Jews of Europe, and it is only a matter of time before the West turns on its Muslim population.
Anti-Islam Group PEGIDA Is Part of Germany, Vice Chancellor Says
The anti-Islam group PEGIDA, whose weekly rallies have brought up to 25,000 onto the streets in the East German city of Dresden, is a part of Germany and should not be ignored, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview published on Wednesday. PEGIDA, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Polarisation of the West, rattled the political establishment in Berlin but now looks set to fade after most of its leaders quit last week due to infighting. However, Gabriel told Stern magazine on Wednesday that politicians must engage with the concerns that the group and its supporters had raised. “It’s not like these people think differently all of a sudden … They’re still driven by anger, fear, insecurity and sometimes hatred of foreigners,” said Gabriel, who is also head of the Social Democrats, who are in coalition with Merkel’s conservatives. Asked if PEGIDA was a part of Germany, Gabriel said: “Quite clearly. Whether you like it or not, people have a democratic right to be right-wing or nationalist. People also have a right to spread stupid ideas, such as the notion that Germany is being Islamicized.” [Source: Reuters]
Germany’s political establishment is reluctant to disown bigotry against Islam, and instead is justifying Islamaphobia as a legitimate grievance of the German people. Such remarks only serve to underscore the duplicity of the German government in taking action against bigots who routinely terrorize Germany’s Muslim population.
Why China Is Banning Islamic Veils
This week, regional authorities outlawed Islamic veils from all public spaces in the regional capital of China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The Urumqi ban, which went into effect on Sunday February 1 (coincidentally the third annual World Hijab Day), empowers Chinese police to punish violators and dole out fines of up to U.S.$800 for those who fail to enforce the prohibition. In recent years, the veil has emerged as a key battleground in the struggle to regain stability in Xinjiang. Stripping women of their head and body coverings provides the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with a rare measure of what it sees as “progress” in the struggle against “Islamic extremism” in this far western region of China. However, as officials seek to eliminate veiling, they risk further straining an already fragile relationship between the Uighur ethnic minority and a Party machine dominated by the Han ethnic majority and its cultural values. The ban comes amid a marked increase in veiling among Uighur women since the early 2000s. CCP officials have become especially concerned by the popularization of the niqab, jilbab, and heavy-netted veils that cover the entire head (known as tor romal in Uighur), but have also deemed the now highly fashionable hijab—which covers the entire head and shoulders but not the face—as “abnormal” attire. These styles of Islamic veiling, Chinese authorities (and some Uighurs) insist, are alien to Uighur culture and “outward manifestations of Islamic extremism.” The Urumqi ban is the latest in a series of local legislative efforts aimed at compelling Uighur women to de-veil. Last year, officials in Qaramay and Ghulja prohibited the “five-types” (individuals wearing face veils, jilbab, hijab, long beards, and star-and-crescent clothing) from entering public spaces and boarding public buses. In March 2014, authorities in Turpan drafted legislation that would ban the concealment of the face in public. The regulation, which was closely modeled on previous French and Belgian prohibitions, was submitted to the National People’s Congress for consideration. [Source: China File]
Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Quran:
يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِؤُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ
“They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.”
(As Saf: 81)