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MONTHLY * Vol 12-01 No:132 * JANUARY 1998 / RAMADAN 1418H

email: editor@islamicvoice.com

NEWS FROM ISLAMIC WORLD

“Only 2 Lakh Scientists in OIC Nations” : Wasim Sajjad
British Muslims Launch Muslim Council
“Refah Removing Corruption” : Istanbul Mayor
Album of Bosnian Songs Released
First Mosque in Budapest
Second Islamic Centre in Italy
Grant Refusal : UK Muslim Seeking Legal Remedy
Bigamy Ban for Converted Muslims
Muslim Holidays Recognised in Argentina
Japanese Dawah Efforts
Gender Discrimination in Israeli Buses

“Only 2 Lakh Scientists in OIC Nations” : Wasim Sajjad

ISLAMABAD: The Islamic World should have four million scientists but there were only 200,000 in the OIC states. Less than five per cent of scientists OIC countries work in the production sector as against 60 per cent in the Western nations. These statistics were cited by Pakistan’s acting President Wasim Sajjad at the of OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (CONSTECH). Calling upon the Muslim countries to urgently embark on broad-based programme for development through joint enterprises within the OIC countries, he lamented the fact that the Islamic world relied heavily on the Western countries for all their needs of advanced technology.

Mr. Sajjad said the industries in the Muslim world had virtually no research and development units and they failed to utilise their own scientific manpower for improving the quality of products through creative thinking.

The acting President of Pakistan said inspite of 1.3 billion Muslim population, the contribution towards the international scientific literature did not even compare with those from any single major city in the West. He pointed out that 97 per cent of the total expenditure of science and technology came from the advanced countries of the West and less than one per cent is contributed by the OIC nations. He said while the OIC states had approved a budget of US $ 4.7 million for Constech, only $ 108,000 were actually contributed by the member states. He also regretted the fact that IFSTAD (Islamic Foundation for science, technology and development) had to be closed down because of lack of financial support.

Mr. Sajjad, who is also the Chairman of the COMSTECH, said it would launch collaborative programmes in research between Islamic states. It will identify centres of excellence in the states, initiate a scholarship programme for training OIC scientists in institutes of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan and other OIC states. He outlined the programme for preparing an encyclopaedic database of scientists and a separate database of expatriate scientists, engineers, doctors and technologists settled in USA or Europe who can contribute significantly through collaborative programmes in the development of Islamic states.

Mr Wasim Sajjad said bilaterally, Pakistan and Kazakhstan were working jointly on 30 scientific projects and a revolving fund of one million dollars had been created for the purpose.

The COMSTECH award for Biology was given to Prof. Muhammad Mustafa Al-Mufit and Chemistry award went to Dr. Mujtaba of Shamsipur of Iran (IINA).
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British Muslims Launch Muslim Council

LONDON : Nearly 250 Muslim organisations here launched the Muslim Council of Britain. It will be an independent, non-sectarian umbrella body which will combat Islamophobia. Iqbal Sacranie, joint convener of the UK Action Committee on Islamic Affairs (UKACIA), hailed the Council in the following words: “What unites us is far greater and stronger than any ethnicity, geographical origin or school of thought”.

The council’s aims include promoting cooperation, consensus, and unity on Muslim affairs, encouraging and strengthening existing efforts being made for the benefit of the Muslim community and working for a more enlightened appreciation of Islam and eradication of forms of discrimination faced by Muslims.

The Council is the result of a long period of consultation. A survey of Muslim opinion in 1994 had found that 96 per cent of Britain’s estimated two million Muslims felt a need for greater coordination and unity; 75 per cent felt a representative body should be formed; and, 69 per cent were willing to participate in the process.
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“Refah Removing Corruption” : Istanbul Mayor

ISTANBUL : Istanbul’s Refah Party Mayor Ali Tayyip Erdogan has disclosed some of the reasons why the monopolised media of the West is carrying on a campaign against the Refah Party which is emerging as the largest party in Turkey.

In a reception in London last November, Mr. Erdogan said the Refah Party administration in Istanbul had stamped out corruption, bribe, and malpractice. He said the party which rules the Istanbul Municipal Corporation, had democratised various committees by inducting members of other parties in proportion to their overall membership.

Erdogan said before Refah’s arrival, the revenue of the Water Department was only US$ one million. But due to tightening of the administration and honest collection of the levies and charges, the revenue had gone upto US $ 25 million now. He said, in the past, the gap was being covered by IMF loans. “Nowadays we do not wait at the doors of the IMF. They came and tried to lend us some money and we said “no, thank you to them”.

Mr. Erdogan said the Muslim countries did not advance because the people were lazy. “We trust Allah but do not work”, he commented.

Mr. Erdogan has been mayor of Istanbul for the last three years.
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Album of Bosnian Songs Released

SARAJEVO : An album of Bosnian songs entitled “I have no cannons that roar” was released following a’night of Illahis” held at the Skendrija Stadium here on November 15. Former British musician Yusuf Islam also participated in the event and contributed the song Little Ones, a song full of irony about the children dying in Sarajevo.

The album comprises songs from Bosnian singers like Dino Merlin, Burhan Shaaban, Hafiz Aliz Alili, Senad Podojak and Layla Jusic.

Yusuf Islam also sang the famous Tala al badru alayna with Madrassa chorus. Nearly 10,000 people including President of Bosnia and Herzegovina and several ambassadors watched the event.

Yusuf Islam’s album takes cue from a cassette of songs given by Dr. Ifran Ljubijankic, a former hero of the war who worked much of the time in a basement of the Sarajevo Hospital tending to the needs of the sick. (He died when his plane was downed by the Serbs). Dr. Irfan’s song Bosnia my love is included in the album. The launch of the album in England is slated for late January or February.
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First Mosque in Budapest

BUDAPEST : The first mosque and Islamic centre is under construction in the Hungarian capital on a site allotted by the city authorities. It is expected to be ready by next year. The country has a Muslim population of 13,000. A school will be located next to the Islamic Centre, said IINA.
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Second Islamic Centre in Italy

PADOVA : The Muslim community in the city of Padova opened their Islamic Centre on December 20. The Manager of the Centre Ayman Ahmed, said the community purchased a building for the purpose through contributions made by the local Muslims. Nearly a thousand persons are likely to visit the centre with the onset of Ramadan.
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Grant Refusal : UK Muslim Seeking Legal Remedy

LONDON : Parents of Islamia Primary School in the London borough of Brent are seeking legal advice on the continued refusal of grant to the school by the Department of Education. Chairman of the school’s managing body Yusuf Islam, formerly musician Cat Stevens, has warned Education Secretary David Blunkett that the school was actively considering legal options due to “total silence of the Department on all submissions and requests”. The parents of the children at the Islamia School have aired the opinion that the school was being denied the grants from the Department on religious grounds.

It may be recalled that the Department which granted funds to several Jewish schools, has denied the same to Muslim schools arguing that the schools in the concerned borough had enough places to accommodate students and there was no justification for another school. Similar objections to the Jewish school were overruled by the Department, it is pointed out.
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Bigamy Ban for Converted Muslims

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Supreme Court has upheld a bigamy conviction against a man whose first wife says he converted to Islam only because he wanted to marry again.

According to AP, the unanimous judgement on December 15 does not affect the rights of Muslims by birth to have upto three wives in Sri Lanka. The AP dispatch said men here often convert to Islam and marry again if their wives refuse to grant them divorce. Women in Sri Lanka usually resist divorce because they are often dependent financially on their husbands and divorce proceedings can drag on for years, the agency said. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s order convicting Christopher Abeysundara, originally a Christian, of bigamy and sentenced him to 18 months of hard labour.
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Muslim Holidays Recognised in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES : The Argentina Parliament has passed a legislation recognising the three Muslim holidays namely Eidul Fitr, Eidul Adha and the Islamic New Year and has provided for leave for Muslim employees to offer congregational prayers on Fridays. The three lakh strong Muslim community had lobbied for the holidays with the Parliament members.

Sheikh Mohammad Hagir of the Cordoba Mosque has welcomed the legislation and hoped that heretofore the university examinations would not coincide with the Muslim holidays.

The Muslim community in Argentina is of Lebanese and Syrian origin. They had entered Argentina during the period between two World Wars. Nearly 15 organisations in 10 cities are working on different aspects among Muslims.
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Japanese Dawah Efforts

KOBE : The lack of Mosques and Islamic centres is seriously hampering the Islamic propagation work in Japan, said Sheikh Mohammad Ashur Hamza Salama, head of the Islamic Centre here.

Currently Japan has only a single Mosque, in Kobe, which miraculously survived the 1995 quake and served as a food distribution centre. A great deal of relief material was distributed from here and was supervised by the Mosque staff. The Japanese people appreciated the services of the Mosque. According to Sheikh, a lot of Japanese embraced Islam after the disaster.

Sheikh said Japan had 55 Churches and 29,000 preachers of Christianity. He said lack of Islamic schools, a central organisation to coordinate between the disparate Muslim groups and trained ‘dawah’ workers were the reasons why Islamic message is not reaching the Japanese.
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Gender Discrimination in Israeli Buses

Israel will soon introduce segregated seating areas for men and women with Jewish men sitting in front and women in back portion. According to the Transport Ministry, the buses would be introduced in certain routes in Bnei Brak and parts of Jerusalem in keeping with Jewish laws that make the Jewish men believe that contact with women during their monthly periods makes them unclean. The new seating arrangement has angered the women’s groups. They regard it as bigotry and discrimination besides contempt.

(The Muslim World, Karachi.)
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