The Muslim World

Determining the exact contents of a meal at a restaurant can be stressful for Muslims who choose to follow their faiths’ dietary restrictions.


American Muslims, for example, now make up 16 percent of the U.S. market.


But there are differences. Alcohol, even in tiny amounts, is forbidden in halal foods. Mixing dairy and meat is prohibited in kosher foods, but is not an issue in halal.


The Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America is the largest issuer of the halal certification in North America. The organisation says requests for halal certification have steeply increased, and it now certifies products for 2,000 companies worldwide. “There are over 9 million Muslims in North America,” the organisation’s Web site says. “The market for halal-certified products is huge.”

Shaikha Mouza bint Nasser Al Misnad, wife of Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has argued Islam has been incorrectly blamed for the rise of extremist violence when the real culprits include poverty, a lack of political freedom and “failed US policies.” Addressing members of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council here, the Sheikha Mouza said, that societies worldwide were failing to provide jobs, hope and a feeling of greater good for their citizens. As a result, youth “are seduced by a global culture of violence that is fuelled by cynicism,” she said.


Further she added that Islam is cynically used as a banner to justify violence and is not a cause in itself. Calling the prevailing attitude of cynicism “a loss of faith, the very paralysis of human development”, she criticised the current climate of distrust. “We live in times when we have to swallow the bitter pill of hypocrisy called western democracy or else be injected with the poison of extremism.”

Muslim-majority Malaysia’s first astronaut will get guidelines allowing flexibility in praying in zero gravity and eating space meals under Islamic rules, the country space chief said.


The government-prepared advice is for a Malaysian joining a Russian scientific mission on the International Space Station in October, Malaysia’s National Space Agency chief Mazlan Othman said.


Malaysia’s two finalists for the voyage, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Faiz Khaleed, are now training in Moscow. They were selected from more than 10,000 candidates.

PA Aviation has recently opened the world’s First Muslim skydiving school in Tehran. Due to the fact that PA Aviation has female instructors, they can uniquely allow Muslim women to experience the thrill and exhilaration of skydiving, in accordance with Islamic regulations.


The company have exclusive use of a brand new Britten-Norman Islander aircraft, (this is the first western made aircraft, factory supplied to Iran since the Islamic revolution).


The school is based at Azadi airport, just 50km from Tehran, on the Tehran-Qazvin Highway. It has British and European instructors with full international certification, ensuring that students will be trained in a safe and highly professional manner.


The school has received approvals from the following organisations: Iranian sports federation, Iranian Civil Aviation Organisation, Iranian women’s institute and the Iranian ministry of culture.

A huge Islamic Center will be built in the Swiss city of Bern at the estimated cost $ 66 million. The center facilities will include a mosque, conference hall, museum and hotel, according to a Swiss newspaper. The Islamic center project, which is located north of the city, will be implemented on an area covering 8400 square meters.


The center’s museum is to showcase major literary and art works that feature Islamic history and characteristics of Islamic arts and culture.

DBS Bank launched ‘The Islamic Bank of Asia’ (IB Asia) after receiving approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a full-bank license. IB Asia’s founding shareholders included majority stakeholder DBS and 22 Middle Eastern investors from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The bank will have an initial paid-up capital of $418 million with DBS contributing $250 million and holding an initial stake of 60 percent.


IB Asia, which started operations recently, will focus on commercial banking, corporate finance, capital market and private banking services. Abdulla Hasan Saif, economic advisor to Bahrain prime minister, will be the chairman and DBS vice chairman/chief executive officer, Jackson Tai, as vice chairman of the new bank.

There are nearly 100,000 historical sites in the Kingdom and the Saudi government has already identified and registered 3,700 main sites. Some of these have 80 to 100 related sites in different localities. Dr. Mohammed Al-Ruwaished, deputy minister of education for antiquities and museums disclosed that the Kingdom retrieved 1,600 rare Islamic coins that were in the process of being smuggled out from the Shuaiba port recently.


Ruwaished said the Agency for Antiquities and Museums, which is under the Ministry of Education, would be merged with the Supreme Commission for Tourism in two months. The SCT wants to make use of the Kingdom’s museums and historical sites to promote tourism.


Prince Sultan ambitious goal is to attract 1.5 million tourists a year by 2020, excluding the millions who come on Haj and Umrah pilgrimages, making tourism to account for 18 per cent of the countries gross domestic product by 2020. (IINA)

Top officials of 205 dawah (propagation) centers across the Kingdom gathered in Jeddah to discuss new strategies aimed at strengthening their activities, especially in taking the message of Islam to thousands of non-Muslim expatriates in the Kingdom.


The conference discussed 14 research papers and the successful experiments of some dawah centers in preparing curricula for teaching Islam to Muslims, non-Muslims and children. More than 500 officials attended the conference.


Saleh Al-Asheikh, minister of Islamic affairs, endowments and guidance, said the activities of dawah centers were not restricted to propagating the message of Islam among non-Muslims. “They make a lot of efforts in providing guidance, organising educational courses and workshops that benefit Muslims, both Saudis and expatriates,” the minister said.


The cooperative offices for dawah and guidance - the official name of dawah centers in the Kingdom - play a significant role in implementing the ministry’s dawah programs, Al-Asheikh said.


He urged dawah centers to propagate the moderate message of Islam. “They should combat extremist and destructive thoughts and ideas that tarnish the image of Islam and endorse terrorism,” he added.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is considering a proposal to introduce basic Arabic language courses.


“We are keen to introduce certificate courses in Arabic language in cooperation with local authorities,” professor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, IGNOU vice chancellor and chairman of its distance education council, said.


“Once this is done students from expatriate communities other than Indian will also get interested in IGNOU’s distance education programs,” he said at IGNOU’s convocation held at the Jeddah Marriott Hotel.


This was IGNOU’s first graduation ceremony at a location outside India in which 28 successful students, both male and female, received degrees, diplomas and certificates from Indian Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed and his wife Farha Sayeed.

Haj Minister Dr. Fouad Al-Farsy and Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed signed an agreement for the facilitating performance of Haj by the Indian pilgrims. Under the agreement, a total of 157,000 Indian pilgrims will perform Haj this year. The Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims who are able must do once in their lifetime.


Speaking at a press conference here after signing the agreement, E. Ahamed said that the management of Indian nationals traveling for Haj is the biggest operation handled by the Ministry of External Affairs, outside the Indian borders. It involves coordination between various agencies in India and abroad. “We have been rated as one of the best by the Saudi authorities,” he pointed out. Referring to transportation problems and the delay in transporting pilgrims back to India during previous pilgrimages, the minister said he has instructed Air-India to make adequate arrangements for the smooth flow of pilgrims both to and from Saudi Arabia. (IINA)

King Abdullah would lay the foundation stone for the 50-km causeway linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The causeway will be built in three years at a cost of $3 billion. It will link Ras Humaid in Tabuk with Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt and pass through Tiran Island. The causeway has been the dream of most Egyptians since it was first proposed about 10 years ago. The causeway would not only facilitate transport between the two countries but would also link the Asian and African continents. It will have a great socio-economic and political impact on the region.


The causeway could be completed within three years with the support of specialized international companies.


The causeway will benefit tens of thousands of Egyptian Haj and Umrah pilgrims as well as an estimated 1.2 million Egyptians working in the Arabian Peninsula.

Saudi Arabia and 20 other members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have backed the International Zakah Fund project, which is expected to bring a complete change to the collection and distribution of Zakah and support efforts to combat poverty and unemployment in the Islamic world.


The project is initiated by Saleh Kamel, chairman of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). According to him measures have been taken to establish an international Zakah commission to streamline the collection and distribution of Zakah, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. “We have signed agreements with Mauritania, Senegal and Malaysia to establish the commission,” said Kamel, who is also chairman of Dallah Al Baraka Group. There are more than 20,000 societies and agencies that are currently involved in the collection and distribution of Zakah in different parts of the Islamic world. The new fund will have offices in all Muslim countries as well as in others that have significant numbers of Muslims, the ICCI chief said.


Kamel said the fund would carry out its activities in a transparent manner. “It will collect both Zakah Al Fitr and Zakah Al-Mal (wealth) and the funds will be distributed under the supervision of the commission,” he explained. The commission includes experts from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Islamic Developme-nt Bank, and the ICCI.

Twenty OIC countries have approved multiple-entry visa, to facilitate travel of Muslim businessmen in OIC countries and expand trade exchange and promote investment. The visa will be valid for five years.


The President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Saleh Kamel revealed that ICCI is now in the process of signing agreements with the member countries. According to him the first agreement on the new visa system would be signed with Saudi Arabia. “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has already given his instructions to the interior and foreign ministries and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) in this respect,” he said.

The IDB Prize worth $ 100,000 for Women’s Non-Governmental Institutions and organisati-ons shared by Al Wafaa Women’s Philanthropic Society of Saudi Arabia and the Women and Child Developm-ent Society (Soul) of Yemen. “This was in recognition of both the society’s efforts to uplift women’s econ-omic and social stat-us through computer skills development projects,” said Dr. Ahmad Mohammad Ali, president of IDB.

MIHAS, which congregates the largest annual gathering of Halal industry players and entrepreneurs to facilitate the sourcing and selling of global quality Halal products from food and beverages, food chemicals and emulsifiers, pharmaceuticals and herbal products to cosmetics, health care and Islamic banking and financial services, were given insights into trade practices and Halal markets in Australia, Holland and Turkey by experts from those countries.

With a headscarf elegantly draped over her hair, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Palestinian-born Dane, has sparked a heated debate in Denmark by declaring that she would wear her veil in parliament if elected in 2009. A member of the ex-Communist Unity List, Abdol-Hamid has a good chance of becoming what could be the first veiled Muslim in Europe to be voted into parliament. The 25-year-old social worker and former television host from the Danish city of Odense is known for her commitment to politics and equal rights, as well as her headscarf and her refusal to shake hands with men.


Muslims make up 3.5 percent of Denmark‘s population of 3.4 million. A recent poll showed 48 percent of Danes believe Muslim women have the right to wear a headscarf in parliament but the same number are opposed to the idea, with four percent undecided.


She was recently designated by her party as a candidate for the Copenhagen constituency ahead of the February 2009 general election, and polls show she is well-placed to win a seat in the national assembly.


Abdol-Hamid is confident that things will turn out better for her, she made Danish headlines last year when she became the first television host in Denmark to wear a Muslim headscarf.

Mosques in Abu Dhabi emirate will go high-tech with the introduction of an electronic network system.


The implementation of the network system, which include electronic screens displaying prayer and prayer call (Azan) timings, titles of Friday sermons and Islamic lectures held at various places in the emirate, is currently under way, a National Consultative Council (NCC) committee said in a report.


The report was prepared in consultation with the General Authority of Islamic and Awqaf Affairs. The authority will also introduce MP3 devices for recording Friday sermons and lectures, as well as store them in electronic archives which will be available on the internet.


A hotline will be available to report poor maintenance and any other malfunction in mosques across the emirate. It will also allow public to register their suggestions and lodge complaints.


To help fully implement the new electronic network system, special training sessions will be held for the employees of the authority and mosques, including prayer leaders (imams) and prayer callers (muezzins), the council was informed.

Saudi women are prohibited from driving, voting, traveling abroad, or working without the permission of a male relative.


But they are joining the work force. A new all-women’s light-fixture factory and a car sales showroom for women indicate the future trends in the Saudi society. Just as in the West, Saudi women are graduating from universities at higher rates than men. And they are demanding opportunities.


They are taking jobs in education, medicine, and banking. Lately, the country’s labour minister has been pushing for legal changes that would allow more women to work in retail jobs and factories.


While most women here say they hope there are fewer obstacles to the success of their daughters, there is no consensus on how far social change should be allowed to go.


Take Amal al-Hazzaa, a molecular biologist and one of the country’s leading cancer researchers. Raised in Tucson, Ariz., until the seventh grade, she returned here to educational opportunities her mother could hardly have dreamed of. “I have never felt barred from getting where I want to be,” she says.


“If you don’t have your husband behind you, it’s hard to get anything accomplished. It’s still a problem. A lot of Saudi men wouldn’t do anything for their wives,” she says.

An international center for inter-faith dialogue was unveiled in the Qatari capital Doha on Wednesday, May 9, to foster better understanding among the world’s three monotheistic religions.


“The Doha International Center for Inter-faith Dialogue is a practical implementation of the recommendations of the annual Doha inter-faith conferences in the past five years.,” Dr Aisha Al Mannai, the conference chair, says “The center will seek contacts with countries all over the globe and will draw up plans for future steps,” she said.


The center’s basic structure will include a five-member board of directors from Qatar and a seven-member international advisory board.


The board of directors will be chaired by Dr. Ibrahim Saleh Al-Nuaimi, former president of Qatar University.


The advisory board comprises three Muslims, three Christians and a Jewish rabbi.


The center, headqua-rtered in Doha, will be financed by the Qatar government but will function as an independent entity.


The advisory board will meet twice a year to provide advices and look into various issues related to inter-faith dialogue and the annual Doha conference.


“The center will seek contacts with all world countries to benefit from previous experiences and to draw up plans for future steps,” Mannai, dean of the College of Shariah and Islamic Studies at Qatar University, says.

In a glittering ceremony, Malaysia declared its new king; the forty-five-year-old Mizan Zainal Abidin, of oil-rich Terengganu state.


The king who is the second youngest king in Malaysia ushers in a new generation of devout Muslim royals by being the 13th king since the country won independence from Britain in 1957.


The ceremony took place at the National Palace where Mizan kissed the Qur’an and the royal kris, a traditional dagger, before taking the oath of office.


The king said “I will hereby rule Malaysia in a fair manner in line with the constitution and the law.”


The king embodies Malaysia’s heritage as a collection of Muslim kingdoms and also serves as head of the armed forces and keeper of the official religion, Islam.


About 60.4 per cent of Malaysia’s population practice Islam, with the remaining being Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.


Malaysia, which has nine sultans who take turn in ruling the country, each for five years, has shown that choosing the king this time was in favor of the young who are devoted to Islam and less interested in the more liberal matters.


Mizan attended Britain’s Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and served as a land administrator before succeeding to the throne of Terengganu.


He is known to be more outspoken in comparison to the preceding kings, working on pushing the government to work on eliminating corruption, which is strictly against Islam.

A Malaysian state has urged Muslim men, who are allowed to take up to four wives, to marry single mothers to reduce the number of women bringing up children alone.


Abdullah Che Muda, who heads the Islamic and welfare committee in northeast Terengganu state, was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying there were 18,000 single mothers in the state alone. “In my constituency alone, there are now some 300 single mothers and those intending to remarry should consider these women,” he was quoted as saying.


“Those who are eligible can look after these single mothers, by accepting them as wives,” he said. Under Islamic laws, Muslim men can take up four wives, but they must be mentally and financially stable, have an in-depth knowledge of Islam and be fair to all wives, Abdullah added.

The Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance Dr. Saleh bin Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh launched a comprehensive site on “The Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and Sciences.” The web-site can be downloaded under www.alssu-nnah.com. The purpose of the portal is to disseminate information about the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammed (Pbuh), and highlight his authenticated deeds and sayings to have a better understanding of them among Muslims and non-Muslims as well.