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Chinese Muslims & China-Arab Expo

Mohammed Abbasi

Disparate fortunes in China’s Muslim ‘heartland’By Haiyun Ma  For three years running, the China-Arab Economic Forum has held its annual gatherings in Yingchuan, the capital city of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China – a region with the third-smallest GDP in China.  The meetings, held in this “Muslim heartland”, attracted 18 national leaders, including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, 195 ministerial officials, and 93 diplomats from 76 countries – and resulted in trade contracts worth about US$42 billion. Some 5,000 foreign and Chinese enterprises and 3,000 businesspeople from China and abroad participated in these forums, which were held in … Continue reading Chinese Muslims & China-Arab Expo

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Dancing With Mullahs – Pakistan.

Mohammed Abbasi

  Pantomime of the stooges – continueth   Ayaz Amir Islamabad diary In box office terms this is already a roaring success, the longest comedy show currently running in the country. Three of the four characters tasked by the government to grapple with the Taliban and bring them round to the ways of peace stand retired, replaced by three performers whose names most people would not have heard of and who, I am fairly certain, would not be taken by the Lucky Irani Circus were they to apply there for an opening. These are the new Talleyrands, along with friend … Continue reading Dancing With Mullahs – Pakistan.

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FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) by country

Mohammed Abbasi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   Estimated prevalence of FGM in Africa.[1] FGM is also seen in Middle East and some Muslim populations ofSoutheast and South Asia.[2][3][4] Prevalence of FGM   Country Percentageof womenaffected Type Benin 30–50 II Burkina Faso 71.6 II Cameroon 20 n/a Central AfricanRepublic 43 n/a Chad 60 II, III Cote D’Ivoire 44.5 II Congo 5 n/a Djibouti 90–98 II, III Egypt 97 I, II Eritrea 90 I, II, III Ethiopia 72.7 I, II, III, IV Gambia 60–90 I, II, III, IV Ghana n/a I, II, III Guinea 98.6 I, II, III, IV Guinea-Bissau 50 n/a Indonesia n/a I, IV Kenya 37.6 … Continue reading FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) by country

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Mahmoud Darwish Attacked By Saudi Salafist Police!

Mohammed Abbasi

Palestinian poet’s work removed from Saudi book fair Youths from the religious police complained that Mahmoud Darwish’s work was blasphemous Works by the celebrated Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish have been withdrawn from the Riyadh International Book Fair amid allegations that they contain blasphemous passages, a Saudi news site reported. The publications administration at the book fair, one of the biggest of its kind in the Arab world, ordered the removal of all books containing Darwish’s work after youths from the religious police complained about the content of the books. A verbal confrontation broke out between the youths and a stall … Continue reading Mahmoud Darwish Attacked By Saudi Salafist Police!

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The Kharijites and their impact on Contemporary Islam

Mohammed Abbasi

Shaykh Seraj Hendricks Much of the excesses and extremism that we observe today may be understood in terms of the origins and unfolding of Kharijism during the first few centuries of Islam. While a number of writers – both past and present – are of the opinion that this sect is extinct, others are of the view that its not. I share the latter view. The influences of this sect have always been present, in different guises and in varying degrees, throughout the history of Islam. But it appears to have gained a renewed momentum with the emergence of Muhammad … Continue reading The Kharijites and their impact on Contemporary Islam

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Tahir Alam & The Wobbler Schools Takeover Plot!

Mohammed Abbasi

Islamophobic hoax exposed Tahir Alam – who has been the target of an Islamophobic campaign, originating in the Sunday Times and subsequently taken up by a number of other media outlets including BBC News, which claimed that there was a “Islamic plot” to take over Birmingham schools and even that this was a case of “terrorism in the UK” – has issued a press statement refuting the allegations. Responding to the “leaked” letter outlining the supposed plot, Tahir Alam condemns “the baseless and false assertions that have been made in this anonymous, unsigned and undated document, the authenticity of which any decent and fair-minded person would question … Continue reading Tahir Alam & The Wobbler Schools Takeover Plot!

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Logic before silly fatwa?

Mohammed Abbasi

Listening to your logic to shun fanatical fatwas Badria al-Bishr When cars were first introduced to Saudi Arabia as modernization began with King Abulaziz, people narrated a story that a man placed fodder in front of a car because he thought it was a camel or a ewe in need of food. The car was understood as such. This simple thinking is fitting with the isolation which people lived in during that time and thus the incapability to understand new technologies. This isolation caused an increase in physical objects and concepts being prohibited. New ideas were dealt with in a … Continue reading Logic before silly fatwa?

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Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – Updates

Mohammed Abbasi

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370), also marketed as China Southern AirlinesFlight 748 (CZ748/CSN748) through a codeshare, was a scheduled passenger flight fromKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. On 8 March 2014, the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER operating the flight disappeared with 227 passengers of 15 nationalities and 12 crew members on board, following its last contact with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off. A joint search-and-rescue effort covering an area of 27,000 sq nmi (93,000 km2; 36,000 sq mi) in the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea[1][2] is being conducted by more than 12 countries. Vietnam briefly reduced its efforts on 11 March, but the search area continued to expand and searchers began to look … Continue reading Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – Updates

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U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations

Mohammed Abbasi

New U.S. Muslim Umbrella Organization to Conduct Nationwide Census   A newly-formed umbrella group of American Muslim organizations is planning to conduct a census as a means to help promote the rights and goals of its members.  The leaders of ten Muslim-American organizations on Wednesday announced the launch of the group to better voice the concerns of the country’s Muslim community.  “This is an announcement which has been long-awaited by the Muslim-American community,” said Oussama Jammal, secretary general of the newly formed U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO).  “We’re delighted that these major organizations have gotten together in response to … Continue reading U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations

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The Mullahs of Pakistan are WRONG!

Mohammed Abbasi

The CII ruling is wrong    Imran Ahsan Nyazee The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has issued a ruling to the effect that a restriction placed on the unfettered Islamic right of a husband to take a second (or third or fourth) wife without seeking permission of the existing wife is wrong, and should be removed.  The issue runs much deeper than a mere seeking of permission from the first wife. It involves the methodology of the CII in interpreting the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah. Theoretically, the CII should be following the Hanafi system of interpretation, which … Continue reading The Mullahs of Pakistan are WRONG!