THE MUSLIM WORLD

The International Islamic News Agency (IINA), the media wing of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), will soon undergo a major face-lift in order to play an effective role in highlighting Muslim causes and bolstering Islamic unity. “We have appointed a specialised company to restructure IINA and have begun the long process of rebuilding the agency,”  stated OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.  Addressing a send-off given to former IINA Director General, Abdul Wahab Kashif, the OIC chief commended the support of Saudi Arabia and other OIC countries to the agency. He noted Kashif’s role in establishing IINA and steering the agency through difficult times. Erdem Kok, who replaces Kashif, spelt out his plan to strengthen IINA, matching international standards. “We have a three-phase strategy to develop IINA. First, restructuring; second, improving news production; and third, expanding to visual coverage,” he said.

A brainchild of four technology-savvy young Saudis, following the teachings of their faith, an online blood bank is assisting thousands of people, Muslims and non-Muslims in desperate need of blood donations. “The website is serving Muslims and non-Muslims alike,” said Khalaf Al-Goudi, one of the founders of the www.freeblood.com. The website was established four years ago by Goudi, his cousin and two friends as a unique electronic blood bank that offers services to patients who need blood donations from around the world. It has built up a worldwide database of more than 15,000 donors. A person can visit the website and register as a blood donor or a patient who needs blood donations, providing information about city and country of residence, exact address, phone numbers and blood type. The website clearly states that donors should not expect to be financially compensated for their donations. The four young Saudis were inspired by a situation they had experienced four years ago. “There was this patient, I and my cousin knew, who needed a donation from a very rare blood type,” Goudi recalls. “When we went to the hospital’s blood bank to ask for donors who can help him, they handed us this huge, tattered donors’ record book. We were supposed to search it for donors who can help the patient. The idea for the online blood bank was born only days after this experience. Six months later, the website was launched.”

Saudi Arabia has been awarded an international prize for best urban work at a global level, in recognition of the efforts of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in providing housing facilities and integrated services to Haj pilgrims in Mina. Saudi Arabia is the first country in Asia that has won the prize among 226 contestants who provided research papers indicating their urban experiences. Dr. Osama Fadl Al Bar, mayor of Makkah, said that this year’s prize has been given exclusively for the “ White Tent City “ in Mina. The SR10-billion city is the first city ever in the world to be fully fire-proof, with the use of non-flammable materials in its entire construction. The combined cost of the White Tent City and Jamrat Bridge exceeds SR15 billion.

Prince Sultan bin Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT), announced plans to establish an Islamic heritage museum in Makkah and a Qur’an museum in Madinah. He said the two museums would be established in cooperation with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The project is significant as it targets nearly 10 million foreign pilgrims who visit the Kingdom every year to perform Haj and Umrah. Plans are on, to establish a large museum in Jeddah, which attracts more than two million tourists and visitors annually. The Jeddah museum will be located at Khozam Palace , Prince Sultan said, adding that it would be similar to the National Museum in Riyadh .

Britain’s Queen  Elizabeth II praised Turkey’s role as a bridge between the West and the Muslim world, during her first visit to the predominantly Muslim country in 37 years, last month. “For us, Turkey is as important now as it has ever been,” the British monarch said at a state banquet. “Turkey is uniquely positioned as a bridge between East and West at a crucial time for the European Union and the world in general.” She referred to the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, a U.N. backed project co-sponsored by Turkey and Spain, aiming to increase dialogue between Western and non-Western cultures and to address the causes of conflict between them.President Gul thanked Britain for backing Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has been named the world’s ‘Best Islamic Retail Bank” by Global Finance magazine for 2008. The prestigious accolade marks the first time DIB has been recognised by the New York-based magazine for its Sharia-compliant offerings. The magazine, which recognises best global performers in Islamic finance across different categories, also named DIB as UAE’s “Best Islamic Financial Institution” for 2008. Khaled Al Kamda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of DIB, said: “ Since our founding in 1975 as the world’s first Islamic bank, DIB has always sought to give customers the highest levels of service and trust possible”.

Grand Mufti of Oman, Shaikh Ahmed Khalili is of the view that discord and disunity among Muslims as well as Muslims’ inability to introduce true principles and teachings of Islam to the world gives the courage to Western extremists to blaspheme Islam. He underlined that the current blasphemies against Islam and its sacred icons and values, especially insults against Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and the Quran originates from hostility of the West towards Islam and Muslims. The Mufti said  enemies of Islam attempt to spread a marred image of Islam through blasphemy and to distort core Islamic values as a means to hurt the feelings of Muslims. He argued  that such sacrilegious actions will, contrary to the intention of Islam’s enemies, motivate Western intellectuals and citizens to closely study Islam, the Quran and Prophet’s conduct, which are all peaceful and justice-seeking teachings.

Qatar Museums Authority has launched its promotion and marketing campaign for the grand official opening of the Museum of Islamic Art on November 22, under the patronage of  Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Presenting the museum as one of the most important archaeological and cultural landmarks due to its distinguished design and collections, the campaign focuses on the museum being a platform of international cultural dialogue and a centre of creative and innovative activities. The Museum is described as the cultural front of Qatar which works for the revival of Islamic civilisation and presenting it to the world in a modern and stylish way. The Museum of Islamic Art aims to transform Doha to a global cultural capital. The 35,500sq m museum stands as an architectural masterpiece 60 miles off Doha’s Corniche on a man-made island.

Two of Britain’s top universities will create research centres for Islamic studies. The move by Edinburgh and Cambridge universities is funded by a £16 million endowment from Prince Alwaleed bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, chairman of the philanthropic organisation, the Kingdom Foundation. The new centres will aim to carry out research and public engagements designed to increase understanding between the Muslim world and the West. The agreement was formalised at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Professor Carole Hillenbrand, head of the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Edinburgh, said: “The centre will ensure Edinburgh’s place as a world-class resource for expertise on Islam in the modern world.”

A study of Haj pilgrims by Harvard Kennedy School in the US has found that Haj promotes tolerance among pilgrims and does not lead to an increase in negative attitudes towards the West. The study, entitled “Estimating the Impact of the Haj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering,” said that the annual pilgrimage develops a tolerant attitude among pilgrims towards other religions and cultures. Researchers, David Clingingsmith, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Michael Kremer, based their findings, which were published recently, on data collected from a survey of more than 1,600 Pakistani pilgrims.

Iran’s value of non-oil exports, taking gas condensates into account, surpassed 1.4 billion dollars in the first month of the current Iranian year (started March 20, 2008), according to  Iran’s Customs Administration. The figure was 18 percent higher compared to that of the same period in 2007, showing 2.5 percent growth in value. The lion’s share of export-bound goods was destined for China, the United Arab Emirates, India, South Korea, and Japan.

Brunei Darussalam presently has the highest human development ranking in the Muslim world followed by Kuwait and Qatar, Dato Paduka Timothy Ong, the Acting Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB), said in his address at the World Islamic Economic Forum in Kuwait last month. However, the rapid economic development of countries like Japan, Korea and Singapore which have no natural resources, in contrast to slow growth in resource-rich countries indicates that sustainable economic growth cannot be based on natural wealth alone.

 Dubai Group, the financial services unit of the government-owned investment company Dubai Holding, has launched the world’s largest Islamic reinsurance company with a paid-up capital of one billion dirhams (272.48 million U.S. dollars).    The newly established ACR Takaful Holdings is a joint venture of Dubai Group, Malaysian investment group Khazanah and Singapore-based Asia Capital Reinsurance (ACR). The deal was completed through Dubai Group’s subsidiary Dubai Banking Group, a sharia-compliant investment company.   The new company will focus on general (non-life), non-cyclical and large specialty risks in infrastructure and transportation industries such as aviation, marine, energy and engineering.

Yemen’s Minister of Information, Hassan Al Louzi has issued a decree to set up a religious television channel that will be affiliated with the Yemen General Corporation for Radio and Television. The channel to be named as Aleman, will be managed by special clerics from the Yemeni Clerics Association and supervisors from the ministries of Information and Endowments and Guidance. It will be dedicated for airing programs that will present Islam and its teachings as well as Islamic and Arabic civilizations.

World renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi said that the history of the world’s wars such as the Crusades proves that Muslims can overcome the enemies if they hold fast to Islam’s principles. “We believe that the victory of Muslims and the defeat of Israel are indispensable, because falsehood will never overcome the truth,” the Qatar daily Al-Sharq reported, quoting him. The aggression policy of the Zionist regime and the US will not last forever, and the spiritual power of Muslims and their return to pure Islam of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) will pave the way for overcoming the fake regime, Sheikh Qaradawi added.

US President George W. Bush has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki over the shooting of a Quran by an American soldier near Baghdad. The prime minister received an apology from US President George W. Bush on the incident of shooting of a Quran by a US soldier,” Al-Iraqia television said. US military authorities in Iraq have apologized to the local community, west of Baghdad where the staff sergeant fired at the Quran during shooting practice on May 11. The unidentified soldier, who pumped bullets into the Quran and wrote an expletive inside, has since been expelled from his unit and sent home. The American military described the incident “as both serious and deeply troubling,” but stressed it was an “isolated incident and a result of one soldier’s actions.” The top US commander for Baghdad, Major General Jeffrey Hammond met with local leaders, issuing an apology and promising strict disciplinary action against the offender. However, the Sunni Muslim Iraqi Islamic Party headed by Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi demanded government action against the soldier. The desecration of the Quran was also strongly condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, which claims to represent more than 3,000 mosques, and which held both the US military and Iraqi government responsible. It said the “heinous crime shows the hatred” that the US military and American leaders had for the Quran and Muslims.

Israel’s most famous Orthodox rabbi believes that the disrespect of the Muslim world by westerners and Jews is the root cause of stalled peace between Israelis and the Palestinians. “There’s no peace in the Holy Land because West does not respect East and the Muslim world,” said Menahem Froman. “Arrogance, haughtiness, loftiness of Americans and Jews as well are unacceptable for me and for Muslims.” The rabbi believes that breaking the ignorance barrier and showing respect to the Muslim world is the only way to bridge the Muslim-West gap and make peace in the Middle East.

“To achieve peace, we should understand Muslims.” Froman, 63, suggests that “representatives of US foreign administration should better take a one-year leave and study Qur’an and Hadith.” Rabbi Froman, who met several times with late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, believes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs a “less political and more spiritual” solution. A maverick political activist often called the Jewish religious peacemaker, Froman wants Al-Quds to become the religious capital of all three monotheistic faiths.

Pope Benedict XVI has paid reverence to the Quran and termed it as precious. Issues discussed about faith and reason in Christianity and Islam were very important and need consideration, said the Pope in a meeting with Mahdi Mostafavi, head of Iran ‘s high-ranking visiting delegation to the Vatican . For his part, head of Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, Mahdi Mostafavi responded that there is an overwhelming need for faith and reason now, compared to the past. Mostafavi also voiced Tehran ‘s readiness to promote cultural and religious cooperation between Iran and the Vatican and offered Pope a copy of the Quran.

The   21st International Conference on Islamic Unity opened here last month  with the participation of scholars and clerics from more than 45 countries. The theme of the conference, was the “Islamic unity charter, criticism and revisionism”.  Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in his speech at the conference’s opening ceremony that Muslims “can be a real power” if they unite. However, he said, unity is not possible if internal conflicts continue. “Islamic unity is a necessity for the Islamic world,” he stated, adding that relations among Muslims are in a lamentable state.

Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Afghanistan are the least peaceful nations, according to a survey of 140 countries by the Global Peace Index (GPI) released last fortnight.

“The ongoing war in Iraq which, since 2005, has taken on an increasingly sectarian nature and left most of the country in turmoil, makes it the lowest-ranked nation of the 140 surveyed in the GPI,” said the report. “The country’s indicators show high levels of political instability, and the number of displaced persons is also very high.” The US invaded Iraq in March 2003 on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and links to Al-Qaeda, allegations later proved ungrounded. The UN estimates four million Iraqis are struggling to feed themselves while 40 percent of the country’s 27 million people have no safe water.

Iceland was ranked the world’s most peaceful country followed by two Scandinavian neighbours along with New Zealand and Japan. Global Peace Index is drawn up by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an indep-endent think-tank, together with the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit. It tests each nation against 24 “peacefulness” criteria, including relations with its neighbours, arms sales and foreign troop deployments.

Somalia came second only to Iraq as the least peaceful state. “Somalia has not had a nationally functioning state government since its descent into civil war in 1991,” said the GPI. The Horn of Africa country has been devastated by deadly conflicts, which claimed up to half a million lives, since the 1991 ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre.

“Sudan’s lowly position reflects the continued bloodshed and deepening humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur, as well as rekindled tensions between the north and south of the country.” The ongoing conflict between US-led foreign troops and the ousted Taliban placed Afghanistan in the 136 rank.