Russian Muslims have set off for Hajj. First flights delivered hundreds of pilgrims to the Saudi Arabia on Saturday, while those who prefer surface transport are leaving on Monday.
A quota for Russian pilgrims, who are due to cross the Saudi Arabian border on 12 November, remains unchanged: 20,500 people.
Traditionally, residents of the Russian southern republic of Dagestan make the bulk of pilgrims travelling to Mecca.
JNN 25.10.10 A labor regulating agency has found seven Romanian children slaves who were forced to work on farms in harsh cold weather in Worcester.
The children, aged 9 to 15, were among the 50 Romanians working on spring onion fields in Kempsey area of Worcester.
The Independent reported that inspectors working for the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) noticed the child slaves last week while they were forced to work from dawn to dusk without proper clothing in freezing weather conditions.
The GLA investigators said they even found boots fit for five-year-olds which indicated children even at younger ages have been exploited on the fields.
The local authorities have taken into care six of the children, some of whom were working as onion pickers on their own and some who worked alongside their parents.
Slavery charges were confirmed when intelligence suggested some 40 workers were paid just up to £100 for one week’s labor.
The investigations are underway by the GLA, West Mercia Police and the UK Border Agency.
“In 2007 we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade, but in 2010 we’ve got people working in appalling conditions who, while not actually being slaves, are very close to it,” GLA chairman Paul Whitehouse said.
This comes as critics say victims of human trafficking in Britain have no choice but to continue in their tormenting conditions as even if they can escape their tormentor masters they will have to tolerate a ‘ruthless and unjust’ asylum system.
One of such high-profile activists, actress Juliet Stevenson, said “if you’re talking about the ‘great’ in Great Britain, let’s look at having some moral leadership.”
This is while the government is coming under growing pressure to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking which facilitates the prosecution of the guilty and protection of victims.
The coalition has so far refused to heed the calls.
JNN 25.10.10 British head coach of Iran’s National Snooker Team David John has embraced Islam during an official ceremony held in the capital city of Tehran.
Chairman of Iran’s Physical Education Organization Ali Saeedlou and the Head of the Friday Prayer Leaders’ Policymaking Council Reza Taqavi attended a ceremony on Monday to congratulate John on his new faith.
John, who changed his name to Davoud (the Islamic pronunciation of David), said he decided to convert to Islam after he came to Iran and visited the shrine of the 8th Shia Imam in the city of Mashhad.
“I was very excited to visit Mashhad,” he said after the ceremony.
“I used to be a coach in Dubai, Qatar and Bahrain for several years and I was familiar with Islam, but it was the Iranian culture and the holy shrine of Imam Reza which encouraged me to embrace Islam.”
Saeedlou promised to send John on his first Hajj pilgrimage and Taqavi offered him a number of books on Islam as well as a Holy Quran with English translation
Organized by Iran Cultural House in Lahore, Imam Reza (AS) Cultural Artistic Festival is now underway at the center.
Organized by Iran Cultural House in Lahore, Imam Reza (AS) Cultural Artistic Festival is now underway at the center.
The 5-day festival includes the Razavi Exhibition as well as poetry recitation ceremonies.
The opening ceremony which was held on Wednesday, October 20, started with the recitation of a few verses of the Quran followed by eulogies for the Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) by a number of religious poets from Lahore.
Mehran Eskandarian, cultural expert of Iran Cultural House, also presented his supplication and poems.
Abbas Famuri, Iran’s cultural attaché and head of the country’s cultural house, was the next speaker who, congratulating Imam Reza’s (AS) birth anniversary, said that Imam Reza’s real name and epithet are Ali and Abu-Al-Hassan respectively, while his most well-known title is Reza meaning ‘contentment’.
He further referred to Imam’s ethical and virtuous characteristics adding that he treated all people with respect and kindness in a way that even his enemies stood in awe of him.
Another speaker was Ghahraman Soleimani, head of Persian Language and Literature Development Center, who referred to the extensive cultural relations between Iran and Pakistan noting that Persian speakers do not have much difficulty understanding the words and grammatical structures in Urdu since the two languages have many rules in common.
People of the Subcontinent used to narrate their life stories in poems and that’s why poetry has always been the voice of spirituality especially in Shia communities, he added.
Poetry had also a lofty status at the time of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) when poets had a grand responsibility to serve Islam through their poems, he went on to say.
In light of the recent controversy over a planned mosque near the site of Ground Zero, MU’s Muslim Student Organization is prepared to set the record straight with Islam Awareness Week.
COLUMBIA
– In light of the recent controversy over a planned mosque near the site of Ground Zero, MU’s Muslim Student Organization is prepared to set the record straight with Islam Awareness Week.
From Oct. 25 through Oct. 28, the organization will host multiple events to spread the word about the religion of Islam and its practices.
Islam Awareness Week is an annual event, typically held in the spring. Because of recent mosque burnings nationally and negative discussion about American Muslims in relation to Ground Zero, however, the group made the decision to move the date of the event.
“We really just want to educate people about what Islam in America really is, especially because nowadays people get the wrong impression of Islam when they only watch 30-second clips on Fox News or CNBC,” said Mahir Khan, the Muslim Student Organization’s public relations chair. “Islam and America are not that conflicting, they are actually more hand-in-hand than most people understand.”
Mark Scott, a religious professor at MU, teaches a class on major world religions.
“It’s important to cultivate appreciation of all world religions,” Scott said. “Every religion has the capacity for peace and the capacity for violence.”
The first event, “Muslims in the Media,” will include a panel of Muslim community members hosting a discussion about the portrayal of Muslims in the news. The event will be held on the MU campus in 110 Memorial Union South.
“Conceptions about Islam are so widespread and often relate to terrorism,” Scott said. “I can see why this event would be very valuable.”
On Tuesday, the group will screen the film “Billal’s Stand,” a Sundance Film Festival selection.It tells the story of Bilal, a young black Muslim, living in Detroit.
“We picked this movie because it portrays a story that a lot of American Muslims go through when they struggle to keep their faith in this environment,” Khan said.
The film will play at 7:30 pm in Ellis Auditorium.
In addition to promoting Islam awareness, the Muslim Student Organization plans to support another cause at its third event on Wednesday. The organization will host a Women in Islam panel, which comprises Muslim women within the Columbia community.
The panelists will discuss their stories of adjusting to Islamic life in the U.S., especially in the context of common stereotypes and negative images that surround Islamic women in America.
Khan said each Muslim woman will be encouraged to wear a pink hijab, in honor of breast cancer awareness. This tradition started in Columbia a few years ago, and has now become a national phenomenon. Each attendee will also be encouraged to wear pink and contribute to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The event will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Mumford Hall, room 133.
The final event for Islam Awareness Week will feature Suhaib Weeb, a former gang member who converted to Islam. Webb is now a prominent Islamic figure, who Khan described as a “huge force in the American Muslim community.”
“He embodies the American values of fixing yourself, getting out of a bad situation and pulling yourself up from your bootstraps,” Khan said. “He also embodies Islamic ideals like dedicating yourself to your religion, and the more you learn about him the more you fall in love with him.”
The Muslim Student Organization expects this to be the most popular event of Islam Awareness Week, and anticipates a crowd of about 100 people.
Khan said he hopes that these events raise awareness and understanding of Muslims as regular people.
German companies offered to implement 1,000 low-cost housing units within an integrated housing neighborhood project for a total cost of $16.5 million, a local spokesman said on Saturday.
German companies offered to implement 1,000 low-cost housing units within an integrated housing neighborhood project for a total cost of $16.5 million, a local spokesman said on Saturday.
“A delegation representing a German consortium offered to Karbala Governor Amal al-Din al-Hirr and Provincial Council Chief Muhammad Hameed al-Moussawi a project of 1,000 low-cost housing units, each consisting of three rooms,” Emad Muhammad
Hussein, the Karbala Province’s information director, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
For his part, the chairman of the board of the German consortium said the delegation was acquainted on conditions in the city and was encouraged to offer readiness to implement the project, which would take place near the green belt southwest of Karbala city.
“The contract will be signed during the next few days to start the project by German technicians while the working hands will be Iraqi,” he added.
The holy Shiite city of Karbala lies 180 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Italy has mounted an exhibition of Islamic artworks in the city of Milan, which features pieces from the dawn of Islam until the modern era.
Italy has mounted an exhibition of Islamic artworks in the city of Milan, which features pieces from the dawn of Islam until the modern era.
Organized by Milan Municipality, the event displays Islamic artworks from Egypt, Iran, India and Spain.
The exhibition aims to provide those living outside the Islamic community with a better understanding of the Muslim world.
Muslim immigrants of Italy were provided with the chance to “show their art and go proud saying that we had and we have a very big civilization and we can show it,” director of the exhibition Giovanni Curatola told Press TV.
Over one million Muslims currently live in Italy where Islam is the second largest faith after Catholicism in the European country.
In recent years many Muslims have immigrated to Italy from Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.
In 2005, the Italian Minister of Interior founded the Council for Italian Islam composed of Muslim people.
“We tend to learn about other people, other religions and other civilizations through our own prejudices and stereotypes,” cultural assessor Massimiliano Finazzer Flory said.
“This is wrong,” he added, saying “Culture is all about questioning our convictions and this exhibition offers people a look at a civilization from a geographical, historical and anthropological point of view but without involving ideologies.”
Milan’s Islamic Art Exhibition will run until the end of January 2011 at the city’s Palazzo Reale.
Written by Hojat-ol-Islam Abdul-Karim Biazar Shirazi, the book “Quran, Embryology and Conversion of Some Embryologists to Islam” was translated into Tajik language and published in Tajikistan.
Written by Hojat-ol-Islam Abdul-Karim Biazar Shirazi, the book “Quran, Embryology and Conversion of Some Embryologists to Islam” was translated into Tajik language and published in Tajikistan.
The book has been translated by Seifollah Monajanov and published in Tajik Cyrillic alphabet by Iran Cultural Center in Tajikistan.
The introduction of the book, which has been published in 1000 copies, is in both Persian and Cyrillic scripts.
Hojat-ol-Islam Shirazi has got a PhD in Quran and Hadith Sciences, an MA in Islamic History and Civilization from McGill University in Canada, as well as an Ijtihad certificate from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
His other published works include the 8-volume collection of “Kashef Exegesis” in Persian and Arabic, “Islamic Sects’ Solidarity”, and “Islam; Religion of Solidarity”.
The opposition has won nearly half of the parliamentary seats in the Saturday’s elections in thePersian Gulf state of Bahrain, the electoral commission says.
The opposition has won nearly half of the parliamentary seats in the Saturday’s elections in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain, the electoral commission says.
Election authorities said on Sunday that Bahrain’s main Shia opposition group, the Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), won 18 of the parliament’s 40 seats.
The 18 candidates of INAA were elected in the first round of the legislative polls, electoral commission chairman Abdullah al-Buainain told AFP.
Nine seats remain up for grabs in the second round of voting which is to take place on October 30, he went on to say.
Earlier, the opposition had criticized the process, saying Shia voters had been turned away from polling booths. The head of the largest Shia bloc lodged allegations of irregularities just less than an hour before voting closed.
Manama rejects the charges, amid concerns that even small numbers of votes could influence the results in a country with fewer than 319,000 eligible voters.
Head of the al-Wefaq party Sheik Ali Salman said that at least 890 voters were turned away from polling stations in mostly Shia areas because their names were not on electoral lists.
“This is not the full number,” Salman said at a news conference. “We expect it to be higher.”
Nabeel Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said the government intended to make sure the country’s Shia majority would not gain power.
Hundreds of Shia people have been arrested since August, and at least 23 top opposition figures have been charged with plotting against Bahrain’s Sunni-dominated government.
Bahrain authorities have not allowed international election monitors, adding to worries among Shias of possible fraud and vote rigging.
JNN 25.10.10 Broadcaster and journalist Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair’s half-sister – said she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’. She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.
Broadcaster and journalist Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair’s half-sister – said she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.
She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.
‘It was a Tuesday evening and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy,’ she told The Mail on Sunday.
When she returned to Britain, she decided to convert immediately.
‘Now I don’t eat pork and I read the Koran every day. I’m on page 60.
‘I also haven’t had a drink in 45 days, the longest period in 25 years. The strange thing is that since I decided to convert I haven’t wanted to touch alcohol, and I was someone who craved a glass of wine or two at the end of a day.’
Refusing to discount the possibility that she might wear a burka, she said: ‘Who knows where my spiritual journey will take me?’
Before her awakening in Iran, she had been ‘sympathetic’ to Islam and has spent considerable time working in Palestine. ‘I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,’ she said of the religion.
Miss Booth, who works for Press TV, the English-language Iranian news channel, has been a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.
In August 2008 she travelled to Gaza by ship from Cyprus, along with 46 other activists, to highlight Israel’s blockade of the territory. She was subsequently refused entry into both Israel and Egypt.
Before her awakening in Iran, she had been ‘sympathetic’ to Islam and has spent considerable time working in Palestine. ‘I was always impressed with the strength and comfort it gave,’ she said of the religion.
Miss Booth, who works for Press TV, the English-language Iranian news channel, has been a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.
In August 2008 she travelled to Gaza by ship from Cyprus, along with 46 other activists, to highlight Israel’s blockade of the territory.
She was subsequently refused entry into both Israel and Egypt.
Booth moved to France with her family – husband Craig Darby and two daughters Alexandra and Holly in 2004.
Her husband was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in April 2009 when he wasd not wearing a helmet.
He suffered a severe brain injury, a fractured neck, damage to his spine and several broken ribs and was in a deep coma for two weeks.
The 42-year-old had to learn how to walk and talk again. He lost much of his memory, has sight problem and cannot work.
The couple decided to move back to Britain to help his recovery and reduce the amount of time Booth has to work away from home.
In 2006 she was a contestant on the ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here!, donating her fee to the Palestinian relief charity Interpal.
She said she hoped her conversion would help Mr Blair change his presumptions about Islam.
Jafria News 
You must be logged in to post a comment.