by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Makkah : The number of pilgrims arriving in Saudi Arabia via air, land and sea entry points until Friday reached 1.07 million, an increase of 204,302, or 24 percent, compared to the same period last year.
The numbers of pilgrims arriving by air, land and sea were 1.015 million, 50,554 and 4,915 respectively, according to data released by the General Directorate of Passports.
On Sunday, the number of pilgrims arriving in Madinah stood at 32,468, while those leaving the city for Makkah reached 24,073, according to the National Guides Establishment in Madinah.
The number of pilgrims who remained in Madinah up to Sunday evening reached 201,101, compared to 175,676 in the same period last year.
Presiding over a meeting on Civil Defense plans for Hajj, the Director-General of the Civil Defense General Sulaiman Al-Amr emphasised the importance of raising the sense of security, and of not tolerating any excesses or violations of safety requirements.
The commander of Civil Defense forces for Hajj Maj. Gen. Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Mubaddal, gave a visual presentation on the Civil Defense’s preparations and plans, and the readiness and positioning of forces at the holy sites.
—SM/IINA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday by a 3-2 decision struck down the centuries-old practice of instant triple talaq among Indian Muslims as unconstitutional, manifestly arbitrary and void in law.
However, the minority judgment concluded that “talaq-e-biddat” was a matter of personal law of Muslims that does not breach the Constitution’s Article 25 (right to practice one’s religion).
Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer constituting the minority in the five-bench Constitutional bench ordered an injunction on triple talaq at least for six months — by when the government should consider steps to initiate legislation on the issue.
The other three judges disagreed.
“In view of the different opinions recorded, by a majority of 3:2 the practice of talaq-e-biddat – triple talaq – is set aside,” the bench comprising Justices Khehar, Kurian Joseph, Rohinton F. Nariman, U.U. Lalit and Abdul Nazeer said in the concluding para of the 395-page ruling.
The apex court gave its judgment on a petition filed by Muslim woman Shayara Bano, joined by a Muslim group and four other women.
Justice Nariman and Justice Lalit, who were part of the majority judgment, said: “Given that triple talaq is instant and irrevocable, it is obvious that any attempt at reconciliation between the husband and wife by two arbiters from their families, which is essential to save the marital tie, cannot ever take place.
“…This being the case, it is clear that this form of talaq is manifestly arbitrary in the sense that the marital tie can be broken capriciously and whimsically by a Muslim man without any attempt at reconciliation so as to save it.
“This form of talaq must, therefore, be held to be violative of the fundamental right contained under Article 14 of the Constitution,” they said, adding the 1937 Shariah Act must be struck down.
In a concurring but separate judgment, Justice Joseph said: “What is held to be bad in the Holy Quran cannot be good in Shariat and, in that sense, what is bad in theology is bad in law as well.”
He said he found it extremely difficult to agree with the Chief Justice that triple talaq has to be considered integral to the religious denomination and it was part of their personal law.
He said merely because a practice has continued for long, that by itself cannot make it valid if it has been expressly declared to be impermissible.
He said when issues of such nature come to the forefront, the discourse often takes the form of pitting religion against other constitutional rights.
In his minority judgment, Justice Khehar said it would not be appropriate for the court to record a finding whether talaq-e-biddat was or was not affirmed by Hadiths (Prophet’s sayings) in view of the enormous contradictions in the Hadiths relied upon by rival parties.
“Talaq-e-biddat is integral to the religious denomination of Sunnis belonging to the Hanafi school. The same is a part of their faith, having been followed for more than 1,400 years, and as such, has to be accepted as being constituent of their ‘personal law’.”
“The … practice cannot therefore be set aside … through judicial intervention.”
The minority judgment observed that there was seemingly an overwhelming majority of Muslim women demanding that triple talaq, “which is sinful in theology, be declared as impermissible in law”.
The judges noted that during the hearing, learned counsel appearing for the rival parties described the practice as unpleasant, distasteful and unsavoury. Others called it disgusting, loathsome and obnoxious.
The minority judgment said religion was a matter of faith and not of logic and it was not open to a court to accept an egalitarian approach over a traditional practice.
They said it was not for a court to determine whether religious practices were prudent or progressive or regressive.
The judges said the stance adopted by the Union Government supports the petitioners’ cause and observed: “Unfortunately, the union seeks at our hand, what truly falls in its own.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Urumqi (IANS) : Religious leaders, scholars and government officials from China and other countries urged Muslims to resist religious extremism and condemn terrorism at a symposium.
Participants from Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on Wednesday gathered in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to share their insights on Islam and experience in combating terrorism, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
The symposium is hosted by the China Religious Culture Communication Association and China Islamic Association.
Keynote speakers said a surging number of terror attacks in the name of Islam in recent years has made it more important than ever to call on Muslims to uphold the spirit of harmony and unity implied in Islamic thought.
Chen Guangyuan, chairman of the China Islamic Association, said opposition to religious extremism is part of Islamic teachings and required in Muslims’ daily behaviour.
Wang Zuo’an, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, urged effective regional cooperation against terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said people of various ethnic groups in Xinjiang have suffered from terrorism and moved voluntarily to act against religious extremism and maintain social stability.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Lisbon, Portugal (IINA) – It may come as a surprise to many that much of Portugal once lived under prosperity of Islamic rule for over 500 years from the early 8th century during the period when Muslims ruled Spain, Andalusia. At that time, Portugal was called Al-Garb Al-Andalus (the west of Al-Andalus, Spain), Islam21 news reported.
Whilst first Seville and then Cordoba came to be known as the capital of the Muslim Kingdom of Spain, the city of Silves was the capital of the medieval Muslim Kingdom of Portugal.
The Muslim introduction of new agricultural technology and plain hard work made Portugal prosper. To this day, the common Portuguese verb “mourejar” means “to work like a Moor (Muslim),” and it implies unusual diligence and tenacity. Indeed, Portuguese is saturated with thousands of words with Arabic origin.
Antonio Preto da Silva, a former Portuguese tourism commissioner in Canada stated: “A good number of our people, especially educated people, know quite well that the Arabs were part of our history… They contributed to our language, our architecture and especially to our knowledge of navigation. The lateen sail and the astrolabe, introduced by the Arabs, were instrumental in launching our nation into its Age of Discovery.”
Whilst centuries of Muslim rule in Andalusia produced architectural treasures like the Giralda in Seville, Córdoba’s Great Mosque and the Alhambra palace in Granada, the Islamic period in Portugal left few major monuments. The Andalusian cities developed as major centres of Islamic culture to rival Damascus or Marrakesh, but Portugal was always on the outer edge of the Muslim world and its frontier rulers invested little in grandiose construction. Today, the town of Mértola, in the Alentejo, possesses the only partial remains of a mosque, converted to a Catholic Church after the Reconquista. The waterwheel in Algarve today is a descendant of the Muslim waterwheel that helped revolutionize agriculture in Portugal as in Spain.
The Portuguese language is however peppered with words of Arabic origin, often those relating to food, farming and manual work. One commonly used is “oxalá” – a direct descendent of “Insha’Allah”, the term meaning “God willing.” The city we know of as Lisbon, originates from the city once known as Al-Ishbun. The famous city of Algarve, takes its name directly from al-Gharb al-Andalus. These are not the only places to inherit a Muslim name, hundreds of place names in Portugal start with “Al”, the Arabic for ‘The’. The Alfama district in Lisbon is one such example. In fact, all across the Mediterranean this is the case, from Alghero in Sardinia to Algeciras in Southern Spain. The Portuguese language continues to borrow many words from Arabic, such as azeitona (olives) and garrafa (bottle). Others include azenha (water mill), from the Arabic al-saniyah and nora (water wheel), from the Arabic na’urah.
Following the period of Muslim rule, now ruled by Christians, Portugal pursued an aggressive stance towards Muslims, which would see them come into confrontation with the Mughal Empire in India, the Mamluks in Egypt and eventually the Ottomans.
It is noteworthy that Islam is Europe’s second religion.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Le Bourget, France (IINA) – French Council of Muslim Faith President Anouar Kbibeche warned on Monday that Islamophobic attacks in France are on the rise, Anadolu Agency reported.
In remarks made during the 33rd conference of the council in Le Bourget, Kbibeche noted: “The increase in Islamophobia has come after attacks in France last year”. “Attacks on Muslim sanctuaries have gone up despite the increase in security measures. A small mosque in Ajaccio has recently been damaged. Apart from this, a number of attacks have also been launched on individual Muslims”.
The council’s Vice-President, Ahmet Ogras, urged Muslims to make their voices heard. “We are elements of this society as Muslims in France. We should be able to express our opinions and join political parties. We need to increase the power of representation of Muslims by expressing ourselves”.
Amar Lasfar, president of the Union of Islamic Organizations in France, said: “We extend our helping hands to everybody whatever their religion, culture and values are, in the name of togetherness and prosperous future”.
