DUBAI: An influential cleric of Saudi Arabiaâs hardline Sunni school of Islam has denounced Shia Muslims as âinfidelsâ in a new religious edict that comes amid rising sectarian tension in the region. âThe rejectionists (Shias) in their entirety are the worst of the Islamic nationâs sects. They bear all the characteristics of infidels,â Sheikh Abdel-Rahman al-Barrak said in the fatwa, or ruling, distributed on Islamist websites. âThey are in truth polytheist infidels, though they hide this,â the fatwa said, citing theological differences 14 centuries after the death of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), such as reverence of shrines which followers of Saudi Arabiaâs Wahhabi school consider abhorrent. Concern is growing in Saudi Arabia over Shia-Sunni violence in Iraq which has taken the northern neighbour to the brink of civil war. Sunni-Shia tensions are also high in Lebanon, where Shias are leading efforts to bring down a Sunni-led cabinet. âThe Sunni and Shias schools of Islam are opposites that can never agree, there can be no coming together,â the fatwa said. Barrak, an independent scholar, has come to be regarded by many as the highest authority for Wahhabi Muslims. Clerics of the austere Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam have long dismissed Shias as virtual heretics and Saudi Arabiaâs Shia minority complains of second-class treatment. But Barrakâs fatwa was the strongest in recent years. The fatwa, which was published on Barrakâs website in response to a followerâs question, also appeared to criticise efforts by some government-backed Saudi preachers at reconciliation between Sunnis and Shias. reuters <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Another victim complex No pizza deliveries in Muslim areas
New Delhi, Dec. 29:
Prestigious eateries like Wimpyâs, Nirulaâs, McDonaldâs, Pizza Hut and Dominoâs Pizza refuse to do home deliveries to the largely Muslim-dominated population living in Okhla, New Delhi. The sizeable teaching community living on the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus allege that despite repeated requests to these outlets, located in the nearest community centre of New Friends Colony (NFC) market, to change their stand, they have refused to relent.
The ostensible reason why they stopped home deliveries was because a delivery boy got mugged three months ago. He was beaten up and the food and money he was carrying was snatched by some local goons. But residents point out this sort of thing can happen anywhere and is not reason enough to hold an entire community to ransom. Phalak Fatima, a Class 11 student of Delhi Public School, said, âMy friends and I used to love coming home from school and ordering a pizza. We can no longer do that.
And, unfortunately, some of the eateries in NFC do not have a sitting arrangement. They just have outlets. That means we have to specially go there to place an order and then wait outside for almost 30 minutes in order to collect the food. This is extremely inconvenient, especially in the evenings.â
Fauzia Afteen, a schoolteacher teaching at the Jamia Middle School, pointed out, âThis boycott has caused tremendous inconvenience to the residents here. Hamburgers and pizzas are the most popular consumption items with kids today. They donât wish to eat anything else.â Rakhshanda Jalil, a media coordinator at the Jamia university, points out that most service providers, including grocery shops, dry cleaners and video parlours, refuse to do home deliveries here.
âWe noticed the difference when we moved here two years ago from Gulmohar Park, where all one had to do was pick up the phone to place an order. In the beginning we tried to cajole and persuade these people, but nothing worked.â Ms Jalil adds, âOpening a bank account becomes a cumbersome operation if one states one is a resident of Jamia and it is next to impossible to get a loan. This is something which the Sachar Committee report has also highlighted.â
Dr Mushirul Hasan, vice-chancellor of JMI, points out, âThis is one more attempt to target the minority community. Over the years, the civic agencies have systematically neglected this area. As a result, residents here have no facilities whatsoever â no parks, no roads and no markets. It is for this reason that they have to depend on New Friends Colony for everything. We do not possess even a Mother Dairy booth. By contrast, the neighbouring colony of Sukhdev Vihar and Sarvapriya Vihar have been provided with all the facilities,â Dr Hasan adds.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>UK Muslims Refuse to Wash Hands in Hospital</b>Â <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
December 30, 2006 07:53 AM EST
By Sher Zieve â British Muslims are refusing to wash their hands with required anti-bacterial disinfectant gels. The Muslims are protesting the practice on religious grounds, as the gels contain alcohol.
Anti-bacterial gels are used in hospitals to guard against âsuperbugsâ, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL). British healthcare workers said they were shocked to discover the practice of Muslims refusing to disinfect their hands before entering patient rooms.
NHS care assistant Theresa Poupa at London Chest Hospital said:<b> âI could not believe it. The signs are large enough and clear enough but they [Muslims] just took no notice and walked straight onto the ward! I was there almost every day for three weeks and I saw it repeated dozens and dozens of times. When I raised the matter with the nursing staff they just shrugged and said that Muslims were refusing to use the gel because it contained alcohol.â</b>
UPDATED 16:13:25 EST<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why they even see such patients? What they do during surgery?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sunni cleric issues FATWA against SHIA , declares 'infidle'</b>
Saudi cleric labels Shias âinfidelsâReuters: December 30, 2006
DUBAI: An influential cleric of Saudi Arabiaâs hardline Sunni school of Islam has denounced Shia Muslims as âinfidelsâ in a new religious edict that comes amid rising sectarian tension in the region. âThe rejectionists (Shias) in their entirety are the worst of the Islamic nationâs sects. They bear all the characteristics of infidels,â Sheikh Abdel-Rahman al-Barrak said in the fatwa, or ruling, distributed on Islamist websites. âThey are in truth polytheist infidels, though they hide this,â the fatwa said, citing theological differences 14 centuries after the death of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), such as reverence of shrines which followers of Saudi Arabiaâs Wahhabi school consider abhorrent. Concern is growing in Saudi Arabia over Shia-Sunni violence in Iraq which has taken the northern neighbour to the brink of civil war. Sunni-Shia tensions are also high in Lebanon, where Shias are leading efforts to bring down a Sunni-led cabinet. âThe Sunni and Shias schools of Islam are opposites that can never agree, there can be no coming together,â the fatwa said. Barrak, an independent scholar, has come to be regarded by many as the highest authority for Wahhabi Muslims. Clerics of the austere Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam have long dismissed Shias as virtual heretics and Saudi Arabiaâs Shia minority complains of second-class treatment. But Barrakâs fatwa was the strongest in recent years. The fatwa, which was published on Barrakâs website in response to a followerâs question, also appeared to criticise efforts by some government-backed Saudi preachers at reconciliation between Sunnis and Shias. reuters <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
01-06-2007, 11:24 AM (This post was last modified: 01-06-2007, 12:01 PM by Husky.)
Saw the following in the news today. Images of lots of the usual terrorists ('demonstrators') holding up placards with 'Exterminate <people of some western nation>', 'Massacre <repeat last>', and other tokens of islamic love.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1631732006
This is 'Web designer Mizanur Rahman, 23' on 3 Nov 2006:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A British Muslim on trial for inciting murder at a demonstration outside the Danish embassy in London had called for "another 9/11" across Europe, prosecutors said on Friday<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Title 'Briton called for "new 9/11"', not appropriate as he's anti Britain too:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"What he said was this: 'Oh Allah, we want to see another 9/11 in Iraq, another 9/11 in Denmark, another 9/11 in Spain, in France, all over Europe. Oh Allah, destroy all of them, Amen,'" Perry said, describing the remarks as a reference to the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States that killed 3,000 people.
"Bomb, bomb France. Bomb, bomb France. Nuke, nuke France. Nuke, nuke France,'" he quoted him as saying, adding that the reference to France may have been prompted by a French newspaper reprinting the Danish cartoons.
Rahman also called for "indiscriminate killing" of British troops in Iraq, Perry said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> And this is Umran Javed, 3 January 2007: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6227953.stm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Cartoon protests 'just slogans'Â </b>
Umran Javed denies soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred
A British Muslim accused of calling for the murder of American and Danish people says chants he shouted against the two countries were "just slogans". <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Big mistake by Oomran. Britain is not a mosque in India, or heck just the public space in India, where one can openly repeat the local mullah citing the koranic injunctions to jhad, knowing full well the traitor psecs are going to defend you no matter what.
And then of course, when he realised it was Britain and he was caught and shown the video footage of himself spewing islamic love, he took it back: didn't mean it. It was the 'heat of the moment'. Grief. But I forgot lying is ok for christoislamic cause.
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/...63,00.html
January 03, 2007
<b>Muslim on racial hatred charges</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Police video of the protest, played to the jury, showed Mr Javed, 27, leading chants of âBomb, bomb USA. Bomb, bomb Denmarkâ. Officers in charge of monitoring the demonstration told the court that they did not arrest any of the protesters on the day because of fears that it would lead to violence.
Mr Javed, a British citizen, of Washwood Heath, Birmingham, said in the speech that the Western world would pay a heavy price for declaring war on Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
He said that âdisbelieversâ should learn from the murder of the Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, who had made a film critical of Islam. Mr Javed also referred to the slaughter of the Jews of Khaybar, which is recorded in the Koran.
Mr Javed told the crowd that Denmark should watch its back because âZarqawi was coming backâ, a reference to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the dead al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->âHe said disbelievers would pay a heavy price . . . and said Denmark would pay with blood.â
When police searched Mr Javedâs home six weeks after the protest, they found a pamphlet titled <i>Kill Them by the Sword Wherever They Are</i>.
The pamphlet made a case for why those who insulted the Prophet Muhammad should be killed, and criticised Muslims who called for only an apology for the cartoons.
Police seized nine other documents from Mr Javedâs home with titles including <i>The Ruling Regarding Killing Oneself to Protect Information</i>, <i>The First 24 Hours of the Islamic State</i> and <i>Britain and America â Enemy Number One of Islam</i>.
When officers returned to the home two days later to collect copies of the same documents, Mr Javedâs wife said that she had destroyed everything touched by the police because they were âuncleanâ.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And here's the little ditty he sang, filled with islamic peace and love and every good thing for the start of a happy islamic New Year (also http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,...28963,00.html ):
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>âYou will pay with your bloodâ</b>
'My dear Muslim brothers and sisters, we need to understand why we are here today. To declare that we will not stand for what Denmark did . . . We will not stand for what France, for what Europe, for what the whole of the disbelievers and the Western world are united for.
You have declared war against Allah and his Messenger. You have declared war against the Muslim community, for which you will pay a heavy price. Take lesson of Theo van Gogh. Take lesson of the Jews of Khaybar. Take lessons for what you can see, for you will pay with your blood. Denmark, you will pay. Denmark, you will pay, you will pay. With your blood, with your blood, with your blood. Bomb, bomb Denmark. Jihad is the path of God.
Democracy, hypocrisy. Democracy go to hell. Denmark go to hell. Freedom go to hell. Bomb, bomb Denmark. Denmark watch your back. Zarqawi is coming back. Bomb, bomb USA. Bomb, bomb Denmark'.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->At least he's made it clear that islam is against democracy and freedom. Christoislamic theocracy is what they want. Oh, and he's emphasised the imperative of jhad again, just in case our psecs didn't get it.
<b>Nuclear plant target for stolen rocket launchers, police allege</b>
January 6, 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->STOLEN Australian Army rocket launchers are in the hands of a home-grown terrorist group which planned to use them to attack Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, police allege.
The Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, said a man arrested in Leumeah yesterday and charged with possessing stolen weapons was linked to a group that had planned to attack buildings in Sydney, including the reactor.
Mr Keelty would not publicly link the man, Taha Abdul-Rahman, directly to a plan to target the reactor, referring only to "evidence of a proposed target", and saying: "Clearly, there was a plan for the use of the weapon."
But the NSW Assistant Commissioner, Nick Kaldas, said: "There were a couple of sites that were probably being considered and that's one of them."
A source said an informant had specifically suggested there was a plan to attack the reactor with a rocket launcher.
Abdul-Rahman, 28, was arrested yesterday after the third raid on his home since September 30. Police allege he sold seven rocket launchers for $5000 each to Adnan "Eddie" Darwiche, a Sydney drug dealer who is now in prison serving a sentence for double murder.
In September, police from the NSW Middle Eastern Crime Squad bought one rocket launcher from Darwiche for $50,000 during an investigation into a bloody drug war in Sydney's south-west.
They say another five launchers are in the possession of the terrorist group, and that Darwiche has the seventh one hidden.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mr Keelty yesterday said police had established a link between Abdul-Rahman and others arrested under the high-profile Operation Pendennis between November 2005 and March last year.
After the Pendennis raids, investigators said they had foiled imminent terrorist attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. <b>The group of alleged Islamic terrorists</b> was said to have been penetrated by an undercover police agent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->According to court documents, police allege he [Abdul] is a second or third link in a chain that passed the weapons on to others after he acquired them from an unknown source, who got them from within the military. Abdul-Rahman is then alleged to have sold all seven to Darwiche for his alleged use in the drug war.
It is alleged Darwiche, now serving a double life sentence in the supermax high-security prison at Goulburn, sold five of them to the terrorist group with cells in Sydney's south-west and Melbourne.
Abdul-Rahman was taken to Sydney's Central Local Court late yesterday charged with 17 terrorism related offences.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mr Kaldas said there was a wider investigation into links between the criminal world and terrorism in Australia.
"The line between criminality and politically motivated acts of terrorism is blurring worldwide," Mr Kaldas said. "We are open minded on whether other rockets have fallen into the hands of terror groups."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->â<b>You Marry My Daughter and Iâll Marry Yours!</b>
RIYADH, 7 January 2007 â <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>With the aim of strengthening business ties, two Riyadh business partners in their 70s have married their teenage daughters (17-19) to each other, reported Sayidaty magazine, a sister publication of Arab News.</span>
âA man has the right to marry. When it comes to marriage, there is no stopping point,â said Al-Dossary, a man in his 70s with silver hair, a gray beard and gray eyebrows.<b> âWe have followed Islamic principles in the way we conducted our marriages and we are both happy with our wives,â </b>he added.
Al-Dossary married his teenage daughter to his business partner and in turn married his partnerâs teenage daughter. His partner, Saif Al-Qahtani, said: <b>âIt is true that our arranged marriages are strange, yet this does not mean that we are the only people to have married in this way, either in the past or the present. Anyhow, the main purpose of marriage is to protect men and women and we have both achieved this through our marriages.â</b>
He added: âIt took us only two months to decide and then arrange our marriages. It all began when my friend, Al-Dossary, continuously expressed the desire to marry.â
Al-Dossary added:<b> âIt is true that I wanted to marry. I proposed to several girls but all refused. One day I decided to ask Al-Qahtani to give me one of his daughters. He agreed immediately, but in return he asked me for my daughter. I was surprised because he already had three wives; however, I agreed since I had a young daughter who was of marriageable age.â</b>
Al-Qahtani commented: âYes, I asked him to give me his daughter in return. When he asked for one of my daughters, I thought I couldnât refuse him because of our friendship. I knew that if I did refuse his request, our business would be affected. I didnât have any other choice. I agreed to give him my daughter and take his daughter in return. At the time, I remember telling him to give me his daughter and that I would give him mine.â ...
When asked if they had consulted their daughters, Al-Qahtani said: <b>âI did not ask my daughter. I donât have to. I know what is beneficial for her. When I told her what I had planned, she was happy. If she hadnât been, she would have told her mother.â</b>
Al-Dossary said: âIn bedouin culture, a girl does not have the right to express her opinion about marriage, especially if her father and brothers have decided on a particular man. In both our cases, we have been married for a long time and have had no problems with our wives. Although we are much older than our wives, the fact that we are together proves that we are right for each other.â
He added: <b>âSaudi girls, especially bedouins, prefer to marry old men. This is what my third and fourth wives have both told me. They keep telling me they are glad that they did not marry young men.â</b> www.arabnews.com/?page=9&...y=Features <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is Islam or joy of Islam.
WASHINGTON: To go from New Delhi to the Muslim majority area of Mewat in Haryana is to travel from the 21st century into the Middle Ages, according to Dr Omar Khalidi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In an interview to India Abroad, the Indian Muslim scholar who has authored a number of books on Indian Muslims, said that the recent Sachhar Committee report on the economic and social position of Muslims in India is based on âsolid, scientific researchâ. He said as the report had pointed out the largest segment of the Muslim population works in the informal sector and there is âclear evidenceâ that it does not have access to bank credit. Muslims lack employment in central and state governments because of educational poverty. They simply do not qualify for the jobs that exist in government, so they do not even apply for them. It is in the informal sector that they need credit, in the absence of which they will remain at the bottom rung. They need credit to develop their small businesses.
Khalidi said the feeling in the community is that Muslims are not seen as a major partner in governance. Politicians have neglected to provide state assistance to such of their communities as the one in Mewat, which depends on agriculture. He said surprisingly even in West Bengal, where a Marxist government has held power for two decades, Muslims are an underclass. To a question about madrassas, he said, âMuslim children donât go to madrassas because they love to but became of an absence of choice. If there were better schools providing modern scientific education in Muslim-majority areas, Muslim children would go there. If there is nothing else, of course, they will go to madrassas. It is a question of choices. It is better to go to madrassas rather than not to go to any school at all.â
Asked about the BJP allegation that the government is appeasing Muslims, he replied, âThe only way the BJP thinks it can win is to go back to the time of the Ayodhya temple issue when anti-Muslim sentiments were whipped up to a very high degree to help them win the elections. I think the BJP has realised that the Muslims are not going to vote for them anyway, so why bother even paying them lip service? Instead, as reported in the Indian media, they are indulging in inflammatory rhetoric, asking for a âvolcanoâ to âbun and killâ the alleged Muslim appeasement forever.â
He explained that it was wrong on the part of the BJP to see Muslims as a âthreatâ because Muslims in India are so âutterly poor that they cannot pose an economic challenge to any group.â He added, âMuslims certainly are not competing for jobs that upper-caste Hindus aspire to, because they are not advanced enough in education to compete. What the Muslims seek is improvement through education and similar measures that will bring them into the mainstream of Indiaâs economic development. None of them has any politically-related demands. These are demands for bread and butter and (they) are not related to the identity issue.â khalid hasan
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Shi'a believe the leaders should be drawn from the bloodline of the prophet, from his daughter Fatima and her husband, Ali, who also was Muhammad's cousin<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Has anyone read Sir Richard Burton's book "EL Islam"? He traces the origin of Islam from Judaism, Christianity and preIslamic Arabic religions. There is a pdf floating around on the web. Will clarfiy a lot of questions.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Al-Muhajiroun was officially disbanded in October 2004, but it has continued under other names. Right from its start, the group had intentions to be "international". In this, it has succeeded. It established a foothold in the United States, <b>and had a base in Pakistan</b>. Even though the parent group has been abolished, its members continue to promote its message of jihad both in Britain and North America.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mohammed Junaid Babar, a <b>naturalized US citizen of Pakistani descent</b>, is perhaps one of the most interesting members of Al-Muhajiroun in the United States. Babar, a member of Al-Muhajiroun based in the United States is <b>linked with terrorist operations in Pakistan, Britain and Canada</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Australia's controversial mufti Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali has landed himself in hot water again, this time by saying Australian Muslims are more entitled to the country than those with a convict heritage.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Speaking in Arabic on Egyptian television Sheik Alhilali said, according to a Seven Network translation, that white Australians arrived in the country shackled as convicts.
"We (Muslims) came as free people. We bought our own tickets. We are entitled to Australia more than they are," he said.
The mufti was on the Egyptian chat show explaining the controversy last year over his comments likening immodestly-dressed women to uncovered meat.
But according to the translation, he said the controversy was a white conspiracy aimed at terrorising Australian Muslims.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Oh, right. The controversy couldn't <i>possibly</i> be because of what he said right? Because that would be, in all ways, inconceivable. Grief.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But while the convict jibes might be forgiven by some, as they are when levelled by English cricket fans, the sheik's comments are expected to cause outrage in some quarters - especially the claim that white Australians "are the biggest liars".
And then there was his claim that outrage over his controversial meat sermon was "a calculated conspiracy", that started with him, "in order to bring the Islamic community to its knees".
He also said "Australian law guarantees freedoms up to a crazy level", when reportedly referring to anti-Muslim courts and the harsh sentencing of a Muslim gang rapist in Sydney.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know who is funnier, that loser mufti or his apologist:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad criticised and defended his close friend, saying some of his comments were "ill-advised".
"I believe his intention was to indicate that we choose to be in Australia because we love Australia, because his Egyptian interviewers were asking him why he stays and puts up with the controversy here," Trad said.
"He was defending Australia, but saying sometimes democracy fails, and the reaction to his comments put a lie to the democratic principle of free speech.
"But I, as a Muslim Australian, do feel the need to apologise for anyone who is offended by these comments."
Trad also questioned the accuracy of the translation, saying the mufti's opponents were waiting with malicious intent to misrepresent his comments.
"It's evident by the controversy that has erupted again that there are people out there watching every comment he makes," Trad said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->An undercover investigation has revealed disturbing evidence of Islamic extremism at a number of Britain's leading mosques and Muslim institutions, including an organisation praised by the Prime Minister.
Secret video footage reveals <b>Muslim preachers exhorting followers to prepare for jihad, to hit girls for not wearing the hijab, and to create a 'state within a state'. </b>
Many of the preachers are linked to the Wahhabi strain of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia, which funds a number of Britain's leading Islamic institutions.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Let's Burn The BurqaÂ
The Quran does prescribe purdah. That doesn't mean women should obey it.Â
Taslima Nasrin
My mother used purdah. She wore a burqa with a net cover in front of the face. It reminded me of the meatsafes in my grandmother's house. One had a net door made of cloth, the other of metal. But the objective was the same: keeping the meat safe. My mother was put under a burqa by her conservative family. They told her that wearing a burqa would mean obeying Allah. And if you obey Allah, He would be happy with you and not let you burn in hellfire. My mother was afraid of Allah and also of her own father. He would threaten her with grave consequences if she didn't wear the burqa.
She was also afraid of the men in the neighbourhood, who could have shamed her. Even her husband was a source of fear, for he could do anything to her if she disobeyed him.
As a young girl, I used to nag her: Ma, don't you suffocate in this veil? Don't you feel all dark inside? Don't you feel breathless? Don't you feel angry? Don't you ever feel like throwing it off? My mother kept mum. She couldn't do anything about it. But I did. When I was sixteen, I was presented a burqa by one of my relatives. I threw it away.
The custom of purdah is not new. It dates back to 300 BC. The women of aristocratic Assyrian families used purdah. Ordinary women and prostitutes were not allowed purdah. In the middle ages, even Anglo-Saxon women used to cover their hair and chin and hide their faces behind a cloth or similar object. This purdah system was obviously not religious. The religious purdah is used by Catholic nuns and Mormons, though for the latter only during religious ceremonies and rituals. For Muslim women, however, such religious purdah is not limited to specific rituals but mandatory for their daily life outside the purview of religion.
A couple of months ago, at the height of the purdah controversy, Shabana Azmi asserted that the Quran doesn't say anything about wearing the burqa. She's mistaken. This is what the Quran says:
"Tell the faithful women that they must keep their gaze focused below/on the ground and cover their sexual organs. They must not put their beauty and their jewellery on display. They must hide their breasts behind a purdah. They must not exhibit their beauty to anybody except their husbands, brothers, nephews, womenfolk, servants, eunuch employees and children. They must not move their legs briskly while walking because then much of their bodies can get exposed." (Sura Al Noor 24:31)
"Oh nabi, please tell your wives and daughters and faithful women to wear a covering dress on their bodies. That would be good. Then nobody can recognise them and harrass them. Allah is merciful and kind." (Sura Al Hijaab 33: 59)
Even the Hadis�a collection of the words of Prophet Mohammed, his opinion on various subjects and also about his work, written by those close to him�talks extensively of the purdah for women. Women must cover their whole body before going out, they should not go before unknown men, they should not go to the mosque to read the namaaz, they should not go for any funeral.
There are many views on why and how the Islamic purdah started. One view has it that Prophet Mohammed became very poor after spending all the wealth of his first wife. At that time, in Arabia, the poor had to go to the open desert and plains for relieving themselves and even their sexual needs. The Prophet's wives too had to do the same. He had told his wives that "I give you permission to go out and carry out your natural work". (Bukhari Hadis first volume book 4 No. 149). And this is what his wives started doing accordingly. One day, Prophet Mohammed's disciple Uman complained to him that these women were very uncomfortable because they were instantly recognisable while relieving themselves.
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->