Rilek1Corner

Tag: Islamophobia

  • Prominent Muslim Scholars Assembling To Discuss Rising Levels Of Islamophobia In Britain

    Prominent Muslim Scholars Assembling To Discuss Rising Levels Of Islamophobia In Britain

    An event due to be held in London and Yorkshire in England has been billed as the event of the year.

    There has been a rise in Islamophobia, Islamic principles and practices are under the spotlight, and Muslims are being subjected to verbal and physical abuse.

    On top of that, Muslims are constantly being asked to prove their loyalty. This has made them feel foreign in their own countries. As Muslims come under pressure to maintain their creed in this difficult time, some are close to losing their faith.

    In response, the ‘Losing My Religion’ conference has been organised to discuss some of the challenges faced by Muslims in Britain.

    Prominent international speakers will be sharing knowledge and guidance from the Qur’an, Hadith and the Seerah to help Muslims preserve their faith during these testing times.

    Speakers include: Imam Omar Suleiman, Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, Dr Tariq Ramadan, Shenaz Bunglawala, Shaykh Abu Esa Niamatullah, Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan, Maryam Amir and others.

    The conference will take place on Saturday 22nd April in Yorkshire and Sunday 23rd April at the Excel.

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: http://ilmfeed.com

  • Muslim Netizens Up In Arms Over Irresponsible Islamophobic Comment

    Muslim Netizens Up In Arms Over Irresponsible Islamophobic Comment

    Some in the Malay-Muslim community are up-in-arms over a comment found in Ambassador-at-large, Bilahari Kausikan’s Facebook post. A Facebook user commenting on the ambassador’s sharing of Reuters article, ‘Trump says new order on refugees is not a Muslim ban’, said: “Who cares! Just kill all these scum with their filthy poisonous religion!”

    Several commenters responding to the user, Lee Chok Yew’s comments expressed strong objections to his remarks. Some felt that it called for genocide of a particular religious group, while the ambassador asked the commenter to “play nice”.

    Facebook user Nizam Ismail flagged Lee’s comment as “irresponsible and probably criminal in nature”, and suggested that he retracted it “with a large dose of contrition”.

    Sharing screengrabs of the conversation in the Facebook page ‘Suara Melayu’, Nizam said that his comments has crossed the line and that “someone is reporting this to the authorities.”

    “The sad truth is that Lee Chok Yew is probably not the only one with such vile thoughts,” he added.

    Some commenters responding to the post in the Facebook page felt that Bilahari’s response to Lee was “awful”.

    Facebook user Syed Alwi Ahmad said: “Bilahari should have been more stern in his response. This just goes to show that the veneer of niceties is just skin thick.”

    Nizam also shared screengrabs suggesting that the user is with Dennis Wee Realty Pte Ltd. He said that the matter has been escalated to the real estate company.

     

    Source: www.theindependent.sg

  • Singapore Must Guarantee Equality To Minorities: Shanmugam

    Singapore Must Guarantee Equality To Minorities: Shanmugam

    Faced with issues such as growing Islamophobia and religious extremism, Singapore must never allow xenophobia and majoritarianism to override the protection and guarantee of equality – particularly to minorities, said Singapore Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on Wednesday (Feb 1).

    “We are all Singaporeans. We guarantee the safety, security and freedom of religion to all, including the Muslim community,” he told a roundtable discussion at a symposium organised by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

    Mr Shanmugam opened his speech by revealing he had initially not been slated to speak. “But events around the world give cause for pause, for reflection,” he said, referring to the likes of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US president.

    “Post-US election, there has been a scramble, to predict the policies of the new Administration and what it means for the world,” Mr Shanmugam said. “We now have had a preview of what might happen … The country whose actions possibly have the greatest importance on the world seeks to change course, and seeks to change course suddenly.”

    Pointing to the US exiting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries within a week of Mr Trump assuming office, he said: “When a superpower moves this fast, the rest of us have to avoid being caught in the slipstream.”

    He warned that events in the US could impact Singapore on a racial and religious front, specifically the “public disagreement” displayed by Mr Trump’s firing of the acting Attorney-General for opposing his travel ban, protests on the streets and deep splits within Congress.

    “There are many consequences to perceptions of the US, its leadership role in the world, and the role the Rule of Law plays and is valued in the US,” said Mr Shanmugam. “One of the consequences … is that it could lead some Muslims around the world to become anti-American, believing that the US has become more Islamophobic.”

    “This has serious risks for a lot of people including us.”

     

    Source: CNA

  • Muslims Must Find Allies Among Non-Muslims In Fight Against Islamophobia

    Muslims Must Find Allies Among Non-Muslims In Fight Against Islamophobia

    Possible lessons from the Linda Sarsour episode:

    (For those who are unaware, she is a Palestinian-American and a social activist who participated in the women’s march held a few days ago. She gave a rousing, inspiring speech. Unfortunately, but predictably, she was slammed by many people; those on the far-right, but also, some Muslims.)

    1) Some men just cannot stand strong women, who have loud voices and are not afraid to articulate their opinions. This is regrettably still true, and it is really futile to pretend that it is not.

    2) As long as Muslims do not conform to certain expectations held by others, there will be efforts to ‘reform’ Islam and ‘modernize’ it. Can’t help but feel there would be fewer criticisms if she had not donned the hijab, or if she was a self-styled Muslim ‘reformer’.

    3) We should always challenge terminologies that are put forth by others. When others use the term ‘moderate’, or ‘progressive’, or ‘conservative’, do not let that slide, or worse, embrace them uncritically. This is not a matter of being an ‘academic exercise’; rather, it could have real-life implications.

    In this case, the term ‘anti-Semite’ was bandied about casually. Is she anti-Semitic because she is Palestinian? Aren’t Arabs Semites in the first place???

    Do not let others define the terms of discourse for us.

    4) Muslims should be aware that many of those who are defending Linda are those from other/no faiths. Yes, in the Western world, there are plenty of Islamophobes who wish to see Islam disappear from the face of the earth, and/or want Islam to be changed wholesale.

    At the same time, there are many who are allies and potential allies, who have stood up and will continue to stand up for us. It is crucial to recognize this.

    Muslims hate it when people paint us with the same brush. We, of all people, should know not to do that with ‘people in the West’, ‘Jews’, ‘the right’, and the like.

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah

  • Normal Americans Show Solidarity With Muslim Neighbours In Face Of Donald Trump

    Normal Americans Show Solidarity With Muslim Neighbours In Face Of Donald Trump

    Today in front of our mosque, the Islamic Center of San Diego, we saw these two men, one with his son and the other with his daughter, holding up signs in support of the Muslim community.

    My girls were very touched by this and we decided to pick something up for them and go back to thank them in person. We opted for a gift for the kids and drove back to the mosque to give it to them. I asked if they were with a faith based group or were there representing an organization and they said, “No, we’re just a couple of friends who want to make sure everyone in our city feels welcomed.”

    While we spoke with them, other people came up to them with cookies, gatorade and other refreshments they had purchased from the mosque store. The feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood on that street corner was tangible.

    Despite what we might see on the news, there is still much goodness in our world–I am very hopeful. I pray such feelings of unity spread throughout our nation and across our world.

     

    Source: Marwa Abdalla