Iran has warned the US and the Zionist State of Israel against any attacks during the upcoming funeral processions for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was Martyred in the opening strikes of the 28th Feb war, as Tehran prepares for days of heavily secured mourning ceremonies.
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JNN 12 June 2016 Brussels : Muhterem Aras, a Green Party politician, took the post in Baden-Württemberg from a member of a populist anti-immigration party on Wednesday. Continue reading
JNN 03 Aug 2015 Kigali : In one of the largest reversion cases of Christians to Islam, a Rwandan pastor and his entire 480-member congregation have reverted to Islam, as the world fastest growing religion expands its presence in the African continent. Continue reading
JNN 13 Aug 2015 Niger : Changing his popular church to a mosque, a Nigerian pastor has embraced Islam and took Shahadah, attributing his reversion to a divine encounter he had with a strange man in white in his dreams. Continue reading
JNN 09 Aug 2015 MUMBAI – A leader of a far-right Hindu group has called on the government to revoke the voting rights of Indian Muslims, drawing criticism from the religious minority and several political parties in the Indian subcontinent. Continue reading
JNN 30 May 2015 Milan : Italian Muslims are praying in warehouses, parking lots and garages due to the lack of official mosques in the country – and they are not happy about it. Continue reading
JNN 01 May 2015 Tehran: After conversion to Islam, the German newly-Muslim lady introduced the love and affection toward Imams (A.S.) as the source of her calmness. Continue reading
JNN 07 Apr 2015 Baghdad : The Teaching of Islam are being Propagated at their Best as the Conversion to Islam is a Non Stoping affair . Recently an American Young Man and a Well Known Brazilian Kick Boxer also embraced Islam . A Young French Councilor also embraces Islam . Continue reading
JNN 28 Jan 2015 Tehran : A 24-year-old Irish man who studied about Islam and found it a complete religion converted to Islam after traveling to Mashhad and attending in the Razavi holy shrine.
JNN 01 Jan 2015 Stockholm : Swedish police were hunting Thursday for at least one suspect following what is believed to be the third arson attack on a mosque in a week.
“Someone threw a firebomb, a Molotov cocktail at the building,” Torsten Hemlin a spokesman for Uppsala police told Swedish news agency, adding that the bomb did not set the mosque in eastern Sweden alight.
“They also wrote some vulgar racist words,” he said, adding that no one was in the building at the time of the attack.
Police in Sweden’s fourth largest city Uppsala were alerted by passers-by who reportedly saw a man throw a burning object at the mosque at around 0430 GMT.
“The crime has been classed as attempted arson, vandalism and incitement to hatred,” the police said in a statement appealing for eyewitnesses to come forward.
Thursday’s attack came just three days after a late night blaze at a mosque in Esloev in southern Sweden which police suspect was also arson.
On Christmas Day five people were injured when a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of a mosque in Eskilstuna, east of the capital Stockholm.
The country’s leftist Prime Minister Stefan Loefven called the Christmas attack a spurt of “hateful violence” and said Sweden would “never tolerate this kind of crime”.
According to the anti-racism magazine Expo, there have been more than a dozen attacks on mosques in Sweden in the last year.
The attacks come as debate intensifies in the country over immigration and the integration of asylum seekers in the traditionally tolerant Nordic country.
Last month the far right Sweden Democrats — which doubled its support to 13 percent in September elections — came close to bringing down the left-green government over its liberal refugee policies, further boosting its support in opinion polls.
Islamic Center Vandalized in California , USA
A man was arrested for vandalizing an Islamic center in the US state of California, authorities say.
On Saturday, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the perpetrator, identified as 28-year-old Asif Mohammad Khan, caused more than $10,000 in damage at the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno (ICCF).
Khan broke a number of windows, bleached an American flag, and vandalized a nearby medical office among other things, said the police chief.
Police suspects the case might be a hate crime as a mosque has been targeted, Dyer noted.
Samia Khan, the suspect’s sister, said his brother was suffering from a mental illness and therefore not guilty.
Fresno police investigators will notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whether the move was a hate crime after they interrogate the suspect, Dyer said.
Khan’s family has apologized for desecration of the mosque, Samia said adding the family was part of the city’s Muslim community.
Hate Crimes Against Muslims on the Rise in UK
The number of Muslim women reporting hate crime has risen by up to 10%, according to a UK charity.
TELL MAMA, a national project measuring anti-Muslim incidents, has told Sky News that over the last 18 months they have seen a 5-10% increase.
Fiyaz Mughal, director of TELL MAMA, says over the last two years our data has shown that women suffer more incidents of hate and they also suffer more aggressive incidents of hate.
Research has shown that Muslim women are subjected to “opportunistic” verbal or physical attacks, mostly by men, on the street.
Yasmeen Khalid, 21, from Bromsgrove, says she has always faced abuse, but the problem has become worse in recent months.
She says out of 30 different hate crime incidents, she has only ever reported two, and admits wearing a hijab has made her a target.
“By looking, they instantly know I’m Muslim… sometimes people call me a terrorist, sometimes they say ‘Paki’, sometimes someone has called me ‘Taliban’ or stuff like that,” she said.
“Sometimes I walk off humiliated – I shouldn’t be humiliated but I am humiliated.
“Sometimes I speak up, sometimes I just cry, go away somewhere, and cry because I don’t know what to do.”
Fiyaz Mughal, from the TELL MAMA campaign, says there’s “been an enormous shift in the language of anti-Muslim hate. International and national incidents create differences in the way narratives are set.”
Shalina Litt, from Birmingham, has been the victim of racist abuse on the street while wearing the hijab.
“Actually we are mothers, we are daughters, we are sisters,” she said.
“I really just hope that any mothers, any daughters etc., can speak to their sons and say actually it’s not right and we do need to change how we approach this.”
The TELL MAMA project highlights there is still “substantial under reporting” by the Muslim community about hate crime.
Part of their approach involves working with different agencies through community outreach and education.
JNN 11 Nov 2014 Beijing : Whenever one goes to mosques around the world, one expects to see Islamic architectural designs containing minarets with geometrical sequences and a dash of Arabic calligraphy, whether it be in Andalusia Spain, Turkey, or even the outskirts of Africa.
However, in China this is not necessarily the case. We do see traces of Arabic calligraphy yet coupled with Chinese calligraphy a sight of two blended forms of art never thought to be seen. The blend between two cultures does not just stop there, but rather, it is further shown in the infrastructure, where instead of the typical Islamic geometrical minarets, there are tilted tiled roofs that are complementary to the Chinese traditional styled temples that are famously seen in martial arts movies.
The sight not only leaves Muslim tourists awe-struck but rather local non-Muslim inhabitants, as the blend of Arabic calligraphy and designs is something new to them where their land of familiarity becomes a land of ambiguity due to how there is no clear cut answer over which culture is more defined—the one of the Arabs or the Chinese.
The Merge of two artistic cultures
Islam was introduced to China during the 7th century, through some of the companions of the prophet. It was reported that Sa’ad ibn Aby Waqqas, one of the ptophet’s companions was one of the first Muslims to set foot in China in the 630s where he and other Muslims built a mosque in the outskirts of Guangzhou that is known as Huiasheng Mosque.
The mosque was established to commemorate Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Thus, it was given the name, Huaisheng, which means, “remember the sage.”
The mosque has however also been known as the “light tower mosque,” due to the 1300-year old minaret, which was used as a beacon for boats on the Zhujiang river.
It is said that whenever the sailors would see the tower, they would know that they arrived at the “silk road,” which was a place for trade. The tower was also used as a call to prayer, and a means to check the weather conditions.
There have been reports that the mosque was rebuilt twice. The first time in 1350, during the Yuan dynasty, and, the second time in 1965 under the Qing dynasty, after being destroyed in a fire. The 1300 year old minaret was however left the same ever since first built, which has been used to symbolize how Islam was present in China long enough to be considered part of both Islamic and Chinese history.
Characteristics of the mosque
Huaisheng mosque’s Chinese architectural style that complements the Arabic-minaret-mosque-featured style is most specifically from the Tang dynasty. The blend of both Arabic culture and Chinese culture gives the mosque a unique taste, which makes it attractive for both tourists and local inhabitants.
The mosque’s gateway tower has the inscription of Chinese calligraphy that reads, “Religion that holds in great esteem the teachings brought from the Western region.” The Western region in this context means Saudi Arabia—the place where prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) came from—due to the direction of Saudi Arabia being towards China’s West.
The roof of the corridors has Arabic calligraphy containing Qur’anic verses and the Kalimah, which further shows the merge of both Arabian and Chinese culture within the mosque’s infrastructure.
The red-brick gate mosque has 6 important components, one being the light tower, prayer hall, the ablution area, corridors, storehouse of Islamic scriptures, and the stone steles pavilion, which contains manuscripts and calligraphy. All of the corridors and infrastructure consists of a green-sculpted and titled roof, which is both customary and complementary to the Chinese architecture style.
Huaisheng Mosque Today
The mosque was of great benefit for Muslims and sailors in the past that it brings the question of its use today.
There has been the rise of business from traders across the globe that go to Guangzhou via the seaport as it’s near the international financial hub Hong Kong. This has thus brought forth a lot of Muslims from different cultures that take the time to pray in the blessed mosque whenever taking business breaks during the day. Muslims of different races can also be seen in the differed array of cultured food stands that are placed outside.
The streets near the mosque and the mosque itself are usually crowded on Fridays because hundreds of Muslims pray Jumm’ah and later spend time doing Dhikir in circles or who share food from different stalls from across the streets.
This has interested the local non-Muslim inhabitants to be part of the integrated environment where some come to the mosque out of curiosity. Moreover, local Muslim inhabitants and Muslim business tourists usually go to the mosque to either pray or take a break during the day, while attempting to understand the foreign language from the West so that they both could understand the words of Allah and combine two cultured forms of art.
A form of practice that has been followed like generations before them, where some of the companions of the prophet (peace be upon him) came to trade, only to introduce to the local inhabitants an esteemed religion from the West that was to them once unknown.
JNN 08 June 2014 New York : New data released from the US census authority has found that Islam is the second largest religion in twenty American states after Christianity that appeared as the dominant faith across the country. Continue reading
JNN 06 May 2014 Tokyo : A Japanese university Research student announced his conversion to Islam in a ceremony at the Iranian Cultural Center in Tokyo. Continue reading
JNN 06 Mar 2014 Cairo : An official with Egypt’s Al-Azhar Islamic Center said Takfiri ideology has nothing to do with Islam. Continue reading
JNN 22 Feb 2014 Delhi : Conflicting reports about the coneversion of famous Indian singer Hans Raj Hans to Islam has appeared in Pakistani and Indian media, with Most confirming the news and others denying it. Continue reading
JNN 13 Jan 2014 Casablanca : Jennifer Grout, an American singer who fascinated the Arab world after reaching the final three of the talent competition “Arabs Got Talent” has reportedly reverted to Islam during her stay in Morocco to study Arabic language, Morocco World News reported on Monday, January 6. Continue reading
JNN 29 Dec 2013 Tokyo : International airports in Japan are striving to become friendlier to Muslims amid a steep increase in visitors from the Islamic world following the Japanese government’s relaxation of regulations for issuing visas. Continue reading
JNN 22 Dec 2013 Tel Aviv : During a Wednesday football match, fans of Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem burned a copy of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and insulted Prophet Muhammad. Continue reading
JNN 13 Dec 2013 Baghdad : Despite the latest wave of suicide attacks in Iraq, millions of Shia Muslim pilgrims continue to flood to the shrine of Hussein in Karbala. Continue reading
JNN 20 Dec 2013 Baghdad : The number of pilgrims gathering in the holy city of Karbala on the day of Arbaeen is rising every year , since the down fall of the Saddam Hussain’s Government , and this year it is predicted to reach 20 million. Continue reading
JNN 17 Dec 2013 Kualalumpur : MALAYSIA’S Home Ministry on Thursday detailed its allegations that a senior leader of the opposition party, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), is a secret follower of the Shi’ite school of Islam, a controversial accusation in a staunchly Wahabi country that bans the preaching of Shiism. Continue reading
JNN 13 Dec 2013 Riyadh – Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, the highest religious authority in the birthplace of Islam, has condemned suicide bombings as grave crimes, reiterating his stance in unusually strong language. Continue reading
JNN 31 Nov 2013 Tehran The third round of Islam-Buddhism interfaith dialogue titled “Morality in Islam and Buddhism” is to be held in the holy city of Qom with religious clerics in attendance. Continue reading
JNN 01 Dec 2013 Luanda : The government in Angola has reportedly demolished Several mosques in the country after giving the impression that practicing Islam is illegal in the country. Continue reading
JNN 21 Nov 2013 Sydney : Famous Australian rugby league star Blake Ferguson has converted to Islam. Continue reading
JNN 21 Nov 2013 Tehran : Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution urged that the great potentials of Hajj should be activated against plots aimed at provoking sectarian strife. Continue reading
JNN 22 Nov 2013 : The Islamic faith is steadily growing in Zambia, with many new converts crediting the religion’s peaceful teachings for steering them away from vice and crime.
“Islam isn’t a complicated religion. Unlike other religions in Zambia, Islam is easy to master,” new convert Hanif Mumba told Anadolu Agency.
He asserted that many youths like himself had turned to Islam in hopes of attaining spiritual growth.
“In Islam, there aren’t complicated rituals; it’s based on discipline. Provided a person masters the art of pleasing Allah, he will then be happy,” Mumba said.
“I have come to learn that, in life, a person cannot do everything, because life is too short,” he noted.
“Islam teaches us to focus only on doing things that matter the most,” he added. “For me, the thing that matters most is doing the will of Allah every day of my life.”
Mumba is not alone.
Suzgo Zimba, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Zambia, confirmed that many Zambians were embracing the Muslim faith.
As evidence, he cited the increasing number of prayer areas being converted into mosques for congregational Muslim Friday prayers.
Zimba told AA that, in order for a prayer area to be converted into a Friday prayer mosque, it must serve more than forty households.
In Zambia, a standard household has at least six family members, if not more. Therefore, only a mosque that can accommodate at least 240 people is allowed to host Friday prayers.
Chawama, a township in capital Lusaka, has six mosques that have been approved to host Friday prayers, meaning the area contains no less than 1,440 Muslims.
“We have many mosques in Zambia that have been turned into Friday prayer centers,” Zimba noted.
“We have at least four mosques in every urban township across the country that have been turned into Friday prayer centers,” the Muslim leader asserted.
“The situation is also the same in rural townships,” he added, calling the steadily rising numbers of Friday mosques an “unprecedented development.”
“In every district across the country, mosques are being constructed to enable people to gather for prayers,” said Zimba. “This shows the rate at which Islam is growing in Zambia.”
He went on to note that young people constituted the majority of the country’s new mosque-goers.
“In mosques founded in towns, you find more youths attending prayers than elderly people,” he explained. “This shows that the Muslim population in Zambia is composed largely of youths.”
According to the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2012, Muslims make up roughly 1 percent of Zambia’s total population of 13.1 million.
Discipline
Other youths interviewed by AA from different mosques in Lusaka and surrounding areas said they had been attracted to Islam because it is a religion of “many virtues,” designed to instill discipline in its adherents.
Musa Phiri, a 23-year-old Muslim convert from Bread of Life, a Lusaka-based Christian denomination, says Islam teaches people to combat selfish desires and temptations.
This, he believes, can lead a person to become a role model in society.
Phiri, who attends Friday prayers at the LICEF Center in Lusaka, explains that, like many other religions, Islam prescribes certain dos and don’ts regarding dress, social norms, culture and diet.
“At times, these tenets and teachings can be difficult to adhere to, but once you are used to practicing them, you are assured of a good change for life,” he told AA. “This in itself is what we call discipline.”
According to Phiri, Islam instructs young people to be grateful for every aspect of life, encouraging them to pray and seek guidance whenever selfish desires arise.
“Since I became a Muslim, I have made it my business to tell friends about my newfound faith to encourage them to develop courage and foresight,” he asserted.
“I think this will help in shaping the future of their communities,” added Phiri, who was himself drawn to Islam through interaction with Muslim classmates at school.
Adams Musole, a new convert who attends Friday prayers at the Chaisa Mosque in Chawama, stressed that Islam discouraged followers from spending time in unhealthy environments.
His imam, he recalled, had recently advised him to steer clear of surroundings that might negatively affect his new faith.
“Following these directives, I have developed a healthy friendship – not only with my friends, but with the environment as well,” 25-year-old Musole told AA.
He added: “I can now proudly call myself a ‘moderate’ Muslim.”
Musole, who prior to his conversion to Islam had been a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, says that reading the holy Quran had influenced him to embrace Islam.
Aisha Lengwe, another recent convert, was raised and baptized in a Catholic family and bore the Christian name Catherine.
She was introduced to Islam by her friends, who frequently told stories about Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Even before her conversion, Lengwe says she had been overwhelmed by a sense of internal tranquility.
“When I first embraced Islam, I didn’t really think it was going to affect my life very much,” the 23-year-old told AA. “I was wrong.”
According to Lengwe, most of her family did not immediately approve of her decision, thinking her conversion to Islam was not a good idea.
“Some of my Christian friends felt I betrayed them when I joined Islam. As a result, they have isolated me,” she said.
“On days like this, I prefer staying home to read the Qur’an rather than going out with friends, because in the time I spend reading the holy Qur’an, I see the benefits of being a Muslim covert,” Lengwe added.
Although it took her months to explain her new faith to her family, Aisha is happy that she eventually patched things up with her father.
Unlike other converts who are afraid to practice Islamic rituals in front of non-Muslim relatives, Lengwe is free to live the life of a good Muslim anywhere.
She hopes her family will gradually become more receptive to her change of faith.
Hanif Mumba, 37, became a Muslim because he wanted to be part of a bigger family and contribute to its growth.
“Focusing on doing things that will not please Allah will earn a person everlasting fire,” he told AA.
“That’s why a person… should focus on doing good things that will please Allah,” he added. “And this is what I have been doing in my five years as a Muslim.”
JNN 12 Nov 2013 Zurich : Mosques and Islamic centers in Switzerland will open doors to non-Muslims on November 9, in Vaud Canton of Switzerland. Continue reading
JNN 10 Nov 2013 Manama : Bahraini regime forces attacked Shia Muslims marking the Martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain a.s in the Holy Month of Muharram , Commemorating their Religious rites in southern part of the capital, Manama, violating the freedom of religious rights of the majority of the Persian Gulf country. Continue reading
JNN 6 Nov 2013 Abuja : Jolting millions of her fans, Nigerian screen diva Lizzy Anjorin has officially Embraced Islam, a religion she told OnIslam.net had always been her favorite from childhood but which she could not practice in deference to her father who was a Christian. Continue reading
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