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Tag: haram

  • Secret Beauty Pageant For Indonesia’s Transgender Women

    Secret Beauty Pageant For Indonesia’s Transgender Women

    JAKARTA (AFP) – Crowds cheered on Friday (Nov 11) night as a group of Indonesian transgender women showed off glittering gowns in a beauty pageant held almost entirely in secret to avoid unwanted attention from hardliners in the Muslim-majority nation.

    Twenty-eight-year-old Pie Nabh Tappii won the title of Miss Transgender Indonesia, facing off competition from 18 other contestants.

    “I am happy, but I want to cry as well… I didn’t expect this,” Tappii told AFP after being crowned.

    In addition to the crown, Tappii’s prizes included 10 million rupiah (S$1,000) and a 2m-high trophy.

    The pageant in Jakarta was kept mostly under wraps, with just a handful of media invited as organisers warned cheering supporters not to share images of the event on social media as it unfolded, fearing the wrath of religious radicals.

    Hardliners in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country have grown increasingly bold in recent years.

    They have halted a festival focusing on women’s issues and have targeted the Christian minority, seeking to close down churches and stop their community work.

    The Indonesian constitution officially recognises six different religions and most of its 255 million inhabitants practise a moderate form of Islam.

    But critics say the influence of fringe hardline groups, and the authorities’ unwillingness to tackle them for fear of being labelled anti-Islamic, has fuelled a dangerous increase in intolerance, including against the transgender community.

    The parade comes just a week after tens of thousands of Muslims protested in Jakarta against the city’s Christian governor, angered by allegations he insulted Islam.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Cape Town’s Gay Mosque Provides Rare Haven

    Cape Town’s Gay Mosque Provides Rare Haven

    CAPE TOWN — Friday prayers at the People’s Mosque in Cape Town looks like any other around the Islamic world, except in this South African city the imam is openly gay and the teaching promotes homosexual rights.

    It is a stance that provokes outrage from many Muslims, but Mr Muhsin Hendricks has built up a small, loyal congregation by helping worshippers try to reconcile their sexuality and their religion.

    “There is this love-hate relationship from the Muslim community,” Mr Hendricks told AFP.

    “Sometimes they feel that I should be thrown from the highest mountain, and sometimes they appreciate that there is one imam who is willing to work with people who they are unwilling to work with.”

    Cape Town has an active gay scene, and is often described as the “gay capital” of Africa, with a district of gay-friendly restaurants, bars, guesthouses and clubs near the city centre.

    In 1996 Mr Hendricks founded “The Inner Circle”, a support group for Muslims living in Cape Town who felt rejected due to their sexual orientation, which led to him setting up the mosque five years ago.

    In contrast to the emotions that surround the explosive topic of Islam and homosexuality, the mosque offers a calm and open place for gay Muslims to worship together.

    “I got divorced at the age of 29 after being married (to a woman) for six years,” Mr Hendricks, 48, said.

    “That was the point where I just felt — no more double life. I needed to be authentic with myself, and part of that process was to come out.

    “This is who I am and if that means I am going to be killed because of my authenticity, then that is how I choose to meet God.”

    ‘HOMOPHOBIC MESSAGING’

    Today the mosque, located at the Inner Circle offices, has about 25 regular worshippers, and even offers a marriage blessing to gay couples.

    South Africa’s 1996 constitution was the first in the world to protect homosexuals’ rights, and the country is the only one in Africa that allows same-sex marriages.

    But many South Africans of all religious groups are less tolerant, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people are often subject to discrimination and violence.

    There are about 300,000 Muslims in Cape Town and most mosque leaders in the city take a clear stand against homosexuality, even encouraging home imprisonment and “corrective treatment”.

    “Homosexuality is unacceptable and the punishment will be the fire,” Imam Pandy, leader of a mosque in Mowbray, a busy central district of Cape Town, told AFP.

    “How can you be homosexual? It is forbidden. And it is your duty as an imam or as a Muslim to go and speak to them and say ‘no, it cannot be’.”

    The Inner Circle group has worked for 20 years to support gay Muslims, often struggling to survive against overwhelming opposition from orthodox Islamic leaders.

    “The messaging that the Muslim community gets about queer issues comes from a clergy that is completely homophobic,” said Mr Abdul Karriem Matthews, programme manager at the Inner Circle.

    ‘PIONEERS OF CHANGE’

    For worshippers like Mr Zaid Philander, a local art teacher, the mosque provides a welcome refuge, as well as access to counselling after he endured a harrowing “corrective” ritual conducted by a quack “doctor” in Cape Town.

    “There are a lot of lives being destroyed based on sexuality and religion, and that needs to change,” he said. “Here they are the pioneers of this change, and this is a good place to start.

    “I choose to be in a place where I can have a healthy relationship with God, and the Inner Circle gives me the freedom to be the person I am.”

    At one recent Friday prayers attended by AFP a female visitor from the Middle East gave a sermon to about 30 people citing passages from the Koran to promote an accepting version of Islam.

    She asked not to be identified or quoted for fear of hostile reprisals in her native country, where open worship by gay Muslims would be unimaginable.

    Mr Hendricks, whose father was also an imam, travels worldwide to spread his message to other gay Muslims that the answer is to stay positive.

    “I want to… arrive at a point where we can include queer people,” he said. “I don’t see the Muslim community as the enemy.”

     

    Source: www.todayonine.com

  • Islamic Agency Says It Is Empowered To Probe ‘Ninja Joe’ Over Confusing ‘P Ramly’ Burger

    Islamic Agency Says It Is Empowered To Probe ‘Ninja Joe’ Over Confusing ‘P Ramly’ Burger

    KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 ― The Negri Sembilan Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JHEAINS) has powers under the law to investigate Ninja Joe over an allegedly confusing name for the latter’s pork burger, its senior officer has said.

    The officer, who declined to be named, confirmed that JHEAINS had earlier this week inspected a Ninja Joe outlet in the state following public complaints on the “P. Ramly” burger being confusing, saying that the visit was done even without the presence of the officers from the Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK).

    “No, (not with KPDNKK) because the Islamic department’s officers have been given the powers as Assistant Controllers of Trade Descriptions,” the senior officer of JHEAINS’ halal management division told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

    The officer said JHEAINS’ officers holding the position of Assistant Controllers of Trade Descriptions have the “same powers” as KPDNKK officers and can enforce trade description laws ― which are under KPDNKK’s purview.

    “Because halal is part of Trade Descriptions Act 2011, Jakim and the state Islamic councils are the competent authority to certify halal, so based on that, KPDNKK will appoint Jakim and the state Islamic councils’ officers as Assistant Controllers of Trade Descriptions so they can carry out enforcement duties related to halal,” the officer added.

    Jakim is the acronym for federal religious body Malaysian Islamic Development Department.

    The officer did not specify the provision under which JHEAINS officers could be appointed to such positions, but the Trade Descriptions Act 2011’s Section 3 states that the minister may appoint a Controller, Deputy Controller and Assistant Controllers “among public officers”.

    The officer said JHEAINS’ visit to the Ninja Joe outlet was merely an “inspection for clarification and verification” that was done professionally to enforce the Trade Descriptions Act 2011, declining to disclose whether any seizure of evidence was made due to the ongoing matter.

    When asked about the enforcement action on Ninja Joe as a non-Muslim owned business, the officer clarified that it was unrelated to the religious status of the operator.

    “Even those with halal certification, many of them are non-Muslim; this is not an issue of Muslim or non-Muslim, it is an issue of halal or non-halal,” the officer said.

    The officer said that JHEAINS could still probe Ninja Joe despite the latter not claiming to be selling products that are halal, explaining that the ‘halal’ term in the Trade Descriptions (Definition of Halal) Order 2011 extends to phrases that are confusing.

    “It doesn’t hold a halal certificate and it did not claim its product as halal, there are no such issues; the issue is just the use of a confusing name, so when it is confusing, we carry out inspections to see if the matter really happened,” the officer said, referring to Ninja Joe.

    The officer cited the Trade Descriptions Act as the law which JHEAINS officer was investigating Ninja Joe under, specifically citing the Act’s subsidiary regulation of Trade Descriptions (Definition of Halal) Order 2011.

    While the officer did not specify the provision in the 2011 order, its Section 3 makes it an offence to breach a long list of conditions for foods or goods to be either described as halal or described in any other expression to show that they can be consumed or used by Muslims.

    The officer said JHEAINS will be sending its investigation findings to both KPDNKK and Jakim, and may continue taking enforcement action if there are more complaints against Ninja Joe or if new information surfaces.

    When contacted, Jakim’s Halal Hub division director Dr Sirajuddin Suhaimee said the “P. Ramly” burger issue falls under KPDNKK’s jurisdiction.

    “Because it is under the Trade Descriptions Act, it is not under the regulation of Jakim,” he told Malay Mail Online.

    He said Jakim is merely the halal certification body, and is not carrying out its own investigation or coordinating investigations by Islamic departments from other states on Ninja Joe.

    While Jakim and state Islamic departments’ officials can be appointed by KPDNKK to assist the ministry, the state Islamic departments that are probing Ninja Joe will be sending all their findings to KPDNKK, he said.

    Malay Mail Online has contacted Ninja Joe but has yet to receive a response.

    Despite Ninja Joe’s posters on the “P. Ramly” burger clearly stating that it contained pork, several Muslim consumers and the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia were earlier this week reported complaining about the name’s alleged confusing and disrespectful nature.

    Ninja Joe yesterday published an apology on its official Facebook page, reiterating that it has taken down all posters advertising the “P. Ramly” burger and will be renaming it.

    The burger chain previously told Malay Mail Online that the “P” in the “P. Ramly” burger launched on Hari Merdeka stands for pork, while the word “Ramly” was aimed at paying homage to the iconic Malaysian brand “Ramly Burger” and was unrelated to the late Malaysian artiste Tan Sri P. Ramlee.

  • Malaysia Consumer Group Demands Action Over Pork Burger Named ‘P Ramly’

    Malaysia Consumer Group Demands Action Over Pork Burger Named ‘P Ramly’

    KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 ― The Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) has urged the authorities to take action against a restaurant for naming a pork burger “P. Ramly”, claiming it confused the public.

    Malay daily Berita Harian reported today PPIM head Datuk Nadzim Johan as saying that the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) should take action because the restaurant’s actions in purportedly “confusing” consumers were an offence.

    “According to the Consumer Protection Act 1999, action can be taken against businesses who give a confusing picture about their goods or services,” Nadzim was quoted saying.

    The poster of the “P. Ramly” burger placed in front of the restaurant at a shopping centre in Damansara, as shown in the Berita Harian report, however, clearly states that the dish has pork.

    “Introducing P. Ramly ― juicy pork patty wrapped in an omelette, fresh lettuce, pickled onions, Thousand Island dressing, chilli sauce & mayonnaise,” reads the poster.

    A restaurant worker was also reported telling Berita Harian that the “P” in the name referred to “pork”.

    However, the newspaper reported two women who claimed that the use of the name “P. Ramly” was confusing, with one of them saying that it appeared to be disrespecting the late artiste Tan Sri P. Ramlee.

    “Even though the spelling is different, but it sounds almost the same. P. Ramlee is a big name in this country,” shopper Nur Alia Abdullah Tahir, 21, was quoted saying.

    Executive Nurhafeezah Che Haludin, 20, reportedly claimed she almost bought the burger because of the poster.

    “The advertisement was placed where people usually walk, as if they want to attract the attention of all consumers, including Muslims. This causes confusion,” she was quoted saying.

    The report came after a brouhaha over the “pretzel dog” name by US pretzel chain Auntie Anne’s for its hot dogs here that were purportedly one of the reasons its application for halal certification failed.

     

    Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

  • Foreigners Eat BBQ Pork At Halal Section @ Newton Hawker Centre

    Foreigners Eat BBQ Pork At Halal Section @ Newton Hawker Centre

    Hi All Singapore Stuff,

    Over the weekend, myself and a few of my muslim friends was having dinner at Newton food centre. We were having Halal BBQ seafoods.

    During the dinner, I saw a couple was queuing up to buy BBQ suckling pig from this stall named “THE PIG STOP”. After buying, They brought the foods to the muslim section and sit right beside us. As a result, my muslim friends was feeling very uncomfortable. In the end, we decided to move further away.

    I know is free sitting in Newton food centre and taking into consideration that they are foreigners. Just hope that we can respect and be more sensitive towards each other religion in future to prevent such incident from happening again. Thanks.

    Jer
    A.S.S. Contributor

     

     

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com