Rilek1Corner

Author: Rilek1Corner

  • ‘Halal’ Sex Shop Aims to Sell Halal Sex Devices and Props

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    Browsers are directed to different pages for men and women. They are offered a range of condoms, massage oils, sprays, and scents.

    “Despite what outsiders may believe, sexuality is a normal human necessity in Islam,” says the site’s founder, 38-year-old Haluk Demirel.

    “But people, especially women, don’t feel comfortable buying products from pornographic looking web sites. Or they don’t like to go into to Western-style sex shops. So my online shop serves as a comfortable area, where they can easily find something to cater for their natural needs.”

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    Mr Demirel describes his business as the first online sex shop in the Muslim world to operate in line with Islamic teaching – the world’s first Halal sex shop is, reportedly, in the Netherlands – a regular home for sexual innovation.

    He does not have a formal Halal certificate (“Halal”, or “Helal” in Turkish, means permissible under Islamic law), so carries out his own unofficial checks to make sure that the products he sells are allowed in Islam.

    “In Islam, masturbation is forbidden therefore I don’t sell vibrators, dolls or other similar toys for self pleasure,” he says.

    In particular, Mr Demirel hopes to attract to his site women who may be put off by the more direct language of traditional sex websites. So far, around 45% of his customers are female.

    “We use words which are delicate, not pornographic,” he explains. “For example, instead of ‘horny’ we use ‘desiring’. These details are important.”

    In Turkey, public discussion of sex is still a delicate subject. Some politicians prefer to avoid the subject altogether.

    During a recent visit to a new Ankara shopping centre, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced the potential indignity of walking past a Victoria’s Secret shop, a chain most famous for its lingerie.

    Quietly, the owners of the shop pulled down their shutters before the prime minister walked by – avoiding the possibility of mutual embarrassment.

    Here in Istanbul, in neighbourhoods unlikely to be disturbed by prime-ministerial walkabouts, several dozen sex shops operate. None claims to operate in the name of religion.

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    “People come freely to shop here,” says one owner, who preferred not to give his name.

    Does he worry about his customers leaving him for Helal Sex Shop?

    “I haven’t checked their website,” he answers dismissively.

    But many others have. Some accuse the website of taking advantage of a trend for Islamic-approved products.

    “They invented ‘Islamic fashion’,” writes one Turkey’s most-read newspaper columnist, Ahmet Hakan, “Then ‘Islamic hotels’ and ‘Islamic holidays’. Now, finally, they’ve moved into sexual products.”

    On social media in Turkey, Helal Sex Shop is the subject of intense, occasionally mocking and graphic debate – much of it unrepeatable here.

    “Let your Helal shop be for the best… 🙂 The only thing you have not exploited for religion was lubricant,” writes one critic on Twitter.

    “It’s a website that helps people who are having sex with their spouses,” posts another commentator. “Instead of being criticised it deserves to be appreciated.”

    The debate has helped to spread the word. Helal Sex Shop now gets around 50,000 clicks a day.

    The interest has taken Haluk Demirel by surprise. Under the weight of users, his site has now crashed.

    Source: BBC

  • Silk Batik is Haram/Prohibited in Islam

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    The Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) said many Muslims here are unaware of this fact, which it said is enshrined in several hadiths, also known as the collection of words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad.

    “Rasulullah SAW has said that Muslim men cannot wear silk and gold.

    “Hadiths also state that one of the tanda kiamat (signs of the apocalypse) is when pure silk is being worn, and that there is no awareness about this,” PPIM activist Sheikh Abd Kareem S Khadaied told reporters at a press conference here.

    Batik is a form of textile art often marketed as a national heritage in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.

    Government leaders and religious figures here commonly use batik, which comes in a variety of materials, including pure silk, rayon and cotton, for official functions.

    But Sheikh Abd Kareem said pure silk cannot be the way to go for Muslim men and suggested that alternatives to the material be used instead.

    He took aim at the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation, saying that it had not done anything to research on alternative materials besides pure silk to make batik, despite having enough funds to do so.

    “In the current industry most of the silk batik worn by Muslim men is pure  silk. Only about ten per cent is silk mixture,” he said.

    When asked to explain how PPIM might make non-Muslims understand the reasoning behind the banning of pure silk for Muslim men, Sheikh Abd Kareem said it was unnecessary.

    “When the Prophet says it is forbidden, that means it is forbidden, we listen and abide by it.

    “Logic is a (part of human) desire,” he added, saying that when it came to Islam one should not demand a reasoning or explanation on a matter.

    But Sheikh pointed out that PPIM had no problems with batik cloths which used silk mixed with other materials such as linen and cotton as there was no hadith which forbade this.

    He said he had brought the matter up with the National Fatwa Council and the Malaysian Islamic Department (Jakim) but they have yet to provide a solution on the matter.

    “There has to be labelling done on each batik cloth for that people will know it is pure silk and therefore haram,” Sheikh said.

    Source: The Malay Mail

  • Islamic Fatwa says Trip to Mars is Prohibited

    DUBAI: Are you Muslim and looking forward to a one-way trip to Mars? Here’s some bad news for you.
    A fatwa issued by the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment in the UAE says a trip to the red planet is prohibited, local media reports have said.

    “Such a one-way journey poses a real risk to life, and that can never be justified in Islam,” the committee said. “There is a possibility that an individual who travels to planet Mars may not be able to remain alive there, and is more vulnerable to death.”
    The committee warned that those who participate in the “hazardous trip” would likely die for no “righteous reason,” causing them to be liable to a punishment of those who commit suicide.

    Over 200,000 applications from 140 countries volunteered to participate in the mission, including 500 Saudis and other Arabs. The second round of selection will start in 2014, where a Mars One Selection Committee would interview the candidates in person.
    The Islamic committee expressed disdain that some volunteers want to leave the planet in order to escape punishment or evade standing before Almighty Allah for judgment.

    The one-way journey to the distant planet, which is reportedly costing the Dutch company $6 billion, is set to take off in 2022.
    Applicants for the unorthodox trip were required to be between 18 and 40 years old and in good physical condition, said an Al-Arabiya report.

     

    Source: Arabnews

  • BREAKING: People’s Association Gets Adverse Ratings from Auditors

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    Yesterday (19 Feb), Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan requested Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam to direct the Auditor-General to conduct an audit of the opposition-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) financial accounts.

    AHPETC’s auditor, Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton LLP, had earlier submitted a “disclaimer of opinion” on AHPETC’s FY2012-13 financial statements, raising 13 issues of concern over the town council’s accounts.

    Earlier, on 14 February 2014, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said that the auditor’s disclaimer of opinion “is more severe than a qualified opinion” [Link].

    In yesterday’s statement, the PAP government said that the observations in the auditor’s report “raise serious questions about the reliability and accuracy of AHPETC’s financial and accounting systems”.

    “This is the second year that the Auditor has submitted a disclaimer of opinion on AHPETC’sFinancial Statements. Moreover the Auditor has raised several more issues of pressing concern this year, compared to last year. AHPETC’s Auditor’s Report and Financial Statements are cause for serious concern.”

    As it turns out, auditors have been giving an “adverse opinion” on the financial reports from the People’s Association (PA) for several years now.

    PA oversees all the grassroots activities in Singapore. It is a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCCY). The Chairman of PA is none other than PM Lee Hsien Loong himself.

    According to ACRA, there are a few types of audit opinions. A “disclaimer of opinion” means the auditor is unable to express an opinion on the financial statements but an “adverse opinion” means qualification of the financial report is not adequate to disclose the misleading or incomplete nature of the financial statements [Link]:

    Types of Audit Opinion Explanation
    Unqualified Opinion The auditor “concludes that the financial statements give a true and fair view or are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.”
    Emphasis of matter (EOM) This is to “highlight a matter affecting the financial statements which is included in a note to the financial statements that more extensively discusses the matter. The addition of such an emphasis of matter paragraph does not affect the auditor’s opinion.”
    Qualified Opinion* This is expressed when the “auditor concludes that an unqualified opinion cannot be expressed but that the effect of any disagreement with management, or limitation on scope is not so material and pervasive as to require an adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion.”
    Disclaimer of Opinion* It is expressed when the “possible effect of a limitation on scope is so material and pervasive that the auditor has not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence and accordingly is unable to express an opinion on the financial statements.”
    Adverse Opinion* It is expressed when the “effect of a disagreement is so material and pervasive to the financial statements that the auditor concludes that a qualification of the report is not adequate to disclose the misleading or incomplete nature of the financial statements.”

    TRE has gone through PA’s financial reports on its website and found the following:

    FY2007 (07/08) [Link]

    For FY2007, PA did not include the financial statements of grassroots organizations (GROs) operating under itself. The auditor could not “assess the financial impact to the financial statements of the Association arising from the non-inclusion of the financial statements of theGROs”. As such, the auditor gave an “adverse opinion” against PA because its financial statements “[did] not present fairly” the state of affairs of the Association:

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    (published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 15 Sep 2009)

    FY2009 (09/10) [Link]

    In FY2009, a new auditor, KPMG LLP, took over the audit of PA. The new auditor said, “We do not have sufficient information to assess the financial impact to the financial statements of the Association arising from the non-inclusion of the financial statements of the GROs.” As such, the new auditor also gave an “adverse opinion”:

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    (published by KPMG LLP, 15 Jul 2010)

    Then, the format for the online version of PA’s financial reports for the next 3 years (FY2010 – 2012) changed [a href=”http://www.pa.gov.sg/about-us/annual-reports.html”>Link].

    The public could no longer see the detailed opinions of the auditors. PA only published the “financial highlights” in these 3 reports. In other words, the financial reports became just financial summaries:

    TRE then went down to the National Library to attempt to get printed copies of PA’s financial reports but the librarian was not able to find printed copies for the last 3 FYs (FY2010 – 2012). The library only has printed copies up to FY2009. The librarian told TRE to refer to the online versions instead.

    Not giving up, TRE did a further extensive online search and managed to find an online version of PA’s FY2010 financial report. This copy was found on the Parliament website:

    FY2010 (10/11) [Link]

    Comparing this with the online version on PA’s website [Link], they are essentially the sameexcept that the one found on the Parliament website discloses the detailed opinion of the auditor at the end:

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    (published by KPMG LLP, 15 Jul 2011)

    Again, the auditor could only give an “adverse opinion” for PA’s FY2010 financial report because the auditor “[did] not have sufficient information to assess the financial impact to the financial statements of the Association arising from the non-inclusion of the financial statements of the GROs.”

    The relationship of PA and PAP is very close. Mr Lee Kuan Yew once proudly said that the Chinese have been sending teams of officials to learn from Singapore for years:

    They discover that the People’s Action Party has only a small office in Bedok. But everywhere they go, they see the PAP – in the RCs (residents’ committees),CCCs (citizens’ consultative committees), and the CCs (community clubs).

    The operating expenditure of PA is huge. According to its latest financial report (FY2012), PA’s operating expenditure for the year increased by $46 million to $483 million. Government grants which are taxpayers’ money given to PA amounted to $434 million in FY2012:

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    Dr Ernest Kan, President of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and Pasir RisPunggol grassroots leader, had earlier agreed with MND that the audit findings on AHPETC are “serious” (‘President of ISCA: AHPETC’s audit report ‘serious’‘). It is not known what Dr Kan has to say about PA’s audit findings which have garnered “adverse opinions” from auditors.

    It is also not known if the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), Lawrence Wong, will request Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam to direct the Auditor-General to conduct an audit of PA’s financial accounts, since PA comes under MCCY.

    Source: http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/02/20/breaking-auditors-give-adverse-ratings-to-pas-financial-reports/

  • Singapore Muslim Youth Left Islam to Become Atheist

    murtad1

    Hi everyone, I’m a 20-year-old Atheist and former Muslim from Singapore. I’ll be withholding my real name to protect my identity.

    Like many other Muslims, I was raised while being taught Islamic values and attended Madrasah/Sunday school until I was 16. I didn’t wear a hijab/tudung or pray daily but I claimed I was proud to be a Muslim. I defended Islam online whenever it was under attack and ignored all the supposed evils of Islam brought up by people I debated. I looked down on people who left Islam and judged them for it. Now that I think about it, I was blinded by my love for the religion and I did not realise it.

    I first started questioning Islam and religion not long after I stopped attending Madrasah. I did not want to be a Muslim simply because Mummy told me so and because it just so happened I was born into Islam. I was at the age where most teens think about their place in life. I thought about my purpose. I read books on Philosophy which had chapters on God and the logical impossibility of his existence.

    The road to my apostasy was a slow process. I was a self-professed Agnostic for several years. I questioned Islam and religion in general, but I never outright denied the existence of the Muslim God. Looking back, I now see that I was too afraid to leave the religion. I believed in God just in case, as in Pascal’s wager. I didn’t realise back then that I had a 1 in 3000 chance of believing in the right God. After all, who’s to say Zeus doesn’t exist? Or Yahweh? How can Muslims know for sure that Allah is the one true God?

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    I had an irrational fear that something horrible would happen to me once I apostatised. I blame Islam for this – from a very young age, Muslims are ingrained with the fear of Hell, the fear of a vengeful God and the idea that apostasy is unthinkable (God forbid!). That’s Islam for you, using fear as a tool to ensure submission.

    I eventually realised the concept of God is logically flawed. I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, whom I now look up to. I questioned further when I read the following Epicurus quote:

    “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
    Then he is not omnipotent.
    Is he able, but not willing?
    Then he is malevolent.
    Is he both able and willing?
    Then whence cometh evil?
    Is he neither able nor willing?
    Then why call him God?”

    I also love using this argument as believers cannot answer it: If God is as great and merciful, then why does he condemn thinking men and women who question his existence to Hell for eternity (according to the Bible, Quran and Torah, etc)? Why are they condemned just for not bowing down to him, even those who were morally upright in their lifetimes? Is he that petty and narcissistic?

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    The way I see it, if a God really does exist and if he’s everything people claim him to be, I have nothing to worry about. He would recognise that I am not a bad person despite the many mistakes I have committed. Today, I consider myself an Atheist and a Humanist. For those who are unaware, I quote: “Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.”

    I also started to have issues with Islam. One of the things I don’t like about Islam is its treatment of women. Justify it all you want (just as I did back when I believed) but it degrades women. For example, I don’t agree with women having to cover themselves up and take the blame for inciting lust in men.

    When I was 19, I finally declared my Atheism and apostasy. I’m happier now that I no longer have a fear of God and Hell and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I don’t live to please God anymore. Basically, to me that’s all there is to it – we live then we die, so we might as well make the most of it. As of today, I strive to be a good person. You don’t have to believe in God to be morally upright. I knew I no longer had a reason to be afraid.

    Unfortunately, I remain in the closet. It’s especially difficult being an ex-Muslim Atheist. I doubt my family would be very happy to hear the news when I tell them in the future.

    To those of you who believe, do take a moment to question all you have been told. Do not have blind faith. I wish you all the best.

    Source: http://bit.ly/1fBtpFe 

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