Muslim man told Skype divorce joke stands

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Daily Telegraph
By Dean Nelson in New Delhi  | October 29, 2010

A Muslim man who told his wife "I divorce thee" three times in an online Skype messenger conversation has been told the separation stands.

The ruling, made in an online fatwa by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary in northern India, regarded as one of Islam's leading authorities on religious law said that the woman would have to first marry another man before she could remarry her first husband.

The man, from Qatar, wrote to the seminary following his Skype joke to seek clarification.

"Jokingly typed 'talak, talak, talak' (I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee) to my wife on Skype chat. I don't understand Islam very much and did not know about how talaq works. We love each other very much and want to be together but right now [we are] caught in this thing. Want to know a way out," he wrote.

USA: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Oshkosh Chapter mosque plans resisted | Daily prayer services a matter of neighborly concern

Neighboring property owners have filed a petition opposing an Islamic group's request to convert a former west side funeral home into a mosque and community center.

Participants at Oct 14 introductory meeting : Photo Newspaper

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Green Bay Press Gazette
By Jeff Bollier | October 31, 2010

OSHKOSH — The Oshkosh Plan Commission will review the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Oshkosh Chapter's conditional use permit application to convert the former Seefeld Funeral Home, 300 N. Eagle St., into a mosque and community center when it meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Neighbors, opponents and supporters have let the Oshkosh Community Development Department staff know their opinion of the group's request, which elicited mixed emotions during a community meeting on Oct. 14.

Forrest and Beverly Ware submitted a petition opposed to the proposed use that included signatures from every property owner adjacent to the proposed site. The petition indicates the property owners "do not feel this to be an appropriate use of a building in a residential neighborhood."

Faith and Common Sense: Husband Accidentally Divorces Wife on Skype

He tells clerics he didn't mean it, to no avail. What's worse, in order for the Qatari and his bride to be reunited, she must wait three months, marry another man, have [physical relations] with him, divorce him, wait another three months, and then marry her original husband again, the clerics ruled.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Newser | October 29, 2010
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – A Qatar man is paying a heavy price for a joke he made in a Skype chat—his marriage.

He jokingly wrote "talak, talak, talak" ("I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee") to his wife. He then apparently got worried and wrote to Islamic authorities about the matter, admitting that he doesn't "understand Islam very much and did not know about how talaq works."

The authorities told him the divorce stands, reports the Telegraph.


What's worse, in order for the Qatari and his bride to be reunited, she must wait three months, marry another man, have ... [physical relations] with him, divorce him, wait another three months, and then marry her original husband again, the clerics ruled.

Eye on omissions: The glaring gap in Islamic history month

Salam was indisputably the greatest Muslim scientist since the "golden age" of Islamic civilization ended some 800 years ago. The Muslim world has drifted over the past half millennium into its own Dark Age.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | NA Desk
Source/Credit: The Calgary Herald
By Salim Mansur | October 31, 2010

In the book, Einstein Wrote Back, physicist John Moffat devotes a chapter to Abdus Salam. Moffat was one of Salam's students, and fondly recalls the time spent with Salam as a post-doctoral fellow in Cambridge.

Abdus Salam shared with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow the Nobel Prize in 1979 for Physics. The prize was recognition for their work in unifying the two fundamental forces of nature, electromagnetism that lights our homes and the weak interaction governing radioactive decay. Salam was the first Muslim Nobel laureate followed by only the second Muslim scientist Ahmed Zeweil, an Egyptian-American, to win the Nobel Prize in 1999 for Chemistry.

But Salam is not recognized by those Muslim organizations celebrating the month of October in Canada as Islamic History Month. That Salam's name is missing from the list of Muslim Nobel prizewinners prepared for the occasion is not an oversight. It reveals instead the true and ugly nature of the brand of religion and politics the organizers have imported into Canada and about which most Canadians remain ignorant.

Salam (1926-96) was born in Jhang, Punjab, in British India. The 1947 partition of India made Salam a Pakistani. His family belonged to the Ahmadiyya sect in Islam founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908), an autodidact scholar of Arabic and Persian, who claimed to be a messiah or renovator of faith in 1889. The followers of Ahmad grew in number during the British Raj despite the fierce opposition of orthodox Muslims. Their circumstances, however, changed for the worse following India's partition.

Faith and Practice: Why this public obsession with religion?

This public obsession with Islam invariably pushes the perpetrator towards hypocrisy and pulls the masses towards conformity. Evidence would suggest that the cricket team prays to Allah in public and preys on cash in private. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Faheem Younus | October 31, 2010

Lateef Khawaja was a retired man who lived a few houses down the road from us in Lahore. Everyone considered him to be a pious man but there were a few things he would never do: carry prayer beads in public places, compel kids to go to the mosque, or despise the youth for listening to English music. And there was one thing my parents would always do: ask me to request Khawaja sahib to pray for my success before annual exams.

Islam in Pakistan was a private affair back then, not a public obsession. My childhood memories of public display of Islam in Pakistan are limited to a bearded Quran teacher coming to our neighborhood, cricket players prostrating after winning the World Cup and an occasional TV programme answering religious questions.

Pakistan: Action will take place against corrupt officials, but after November 7: Malik

Malik said that the people should identify corrupt elements in the government institutions so that immediate action can be taken against them. [The term 'immediate' here apparently means after November 7]

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Dawn | October 31, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday said that strict action against corruption will be taken after November 7.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad after visiting the FIA headquarters, Malik said that the heads of government institutions have been given a period of one week to take steps to eliminate corruption.

Malik said that the people should identify corrupt elements in the government institutions so that immediate action can be taken against them.

The minister also said that measures were being taken to combat human trafficking and that action will be taken against the staff deployed on checkpoints from where people were illegally leaving the country.

Pakistan: Distorted priorities?

It is a pity that we live in a country where hundreds will march on the streets, calling for an all out ban on social media platforms because of an isolated incident, while horrifying stories of abuse do not merit our anger.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Sana Saleem | October 29, 2010

How many of us remember the three-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and thrown in a sewer, or the 13-year-old boy from Korangi who was gang-raped on Eid-ul-Fitr last year, or the five-year-old girl who was raped, strangled and later recovered from a garbage dump at a ground in Gizri?

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) Annual Report 2009:

“968 children, 285 boys and 683 girls were sexually abused. Around 1,404 women murdered, including 647 in the name of ‘honour’. Around 928 women were raped and some 563 committed suicide.”

Another survey, conducted by Sahil, an NGO which raises awareness regarding child sexual abuse and exploitation, paints a haunting image:

“Out of a total of 1,216 cases reported in six months, 331 boys, whereas 885 girls had been sexually abused, and the percentage of the female cases was 72 per cent as compared to 28 per cent of male cases.”

Faith and practice: The importance of tolerance in society

On 16th November we celebrate worldwide ‘The International Day for Tolerance’ – an annual observance declared by UNESCO in 1995 to generate public awareness of the dangers of intolerance, and to help people understand the importance of tolerance.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: AMJ | Malta | Cross-Post
By Laiq Ahmad Atif | October 29, 2010

In an age where the electronic media has drawn us closer together into what is called a global village, or a global society, its benefits will only be felt when mutual goodness prevails, when mutual respect and understanding prevail. If, instead of good feelings, hatred emerges, if restlessness usurps heartfelt peace, then we must accept that this is not progress, but is something that will take us towards unexpected results.

In this globalization where people of different backgrounds, cultures and religions are living together, and where the world has become multi-cultural and full of diversity, establishing tolerance and harmony has become very crucial and important, and fostering mutual love and affection has become vital. Without tolerance and harmony the lasting peace of societies cannot be maintained, and loyalty for each other cannot be established.

Indonesia: Religious Affairs Minister to ban Ahmadiyah

Suryadharma said that Ahmadiyah should abandon Islam and stop using Islamic symbols such as the Koran and mosques.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Post
By JP | October 30, 2010

GARUT, West Java: Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said he wanted to disband Ahmadiyah but he did not offer timetable for the sect’s dissolution.

He said that after a long period of contemplation and asking for divine advice, he concluded that banning Ahmadiyah would be the best solution for all the problems relating to the group, which mainstream Muslims view as heretical.

Suryadharma said that Ahmadiyah should abandon Islam and stop using Islamic symbols such as the Koran and mosques.

Faith and common sense: What triggers the suicide bomber

The United States has not learned the lessons from Lebanon and is failing to realize that prolonged troop deployments abroad are leading to an increase in suicide attacks and violence against troops and civilians.

Martyrdom Certificate: This certificate is issued to the families
of those who carryout suicide bombings.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Los Angeles Times | Opinion
By Robert Pape | October 22, 2010


Foreign occupation, not religious fervor, is the primary motivation behind this form of terrorism.

On Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber drove a truck laden with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Marines as they slept. This dark chapter of American history was one of the country's first experiences with suicide attack since the Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II. The attack, combined with the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that April and a sustained terrorism campaign waged by the group that came to be known as Hezbollah, was a major reason President Reagan ordered American forces to leave Lebanon in 1984.

Eye on extremism: New Study on Impact of Blasphemy Laws

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former military ruler Pervez Musharraf both expressed their commitment to amending the religious laws, but backtracked in the face of demonstrations by extremists and pressure from Muslim clerics.

File Photo

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Science Blog
By Ed Brayton | October 29, 2010

Less than a month after the Center for Inquiry held its International Blasphemy Rights Day, a new study by Freedom House looks at the impact of blasphemy laws on human rights around the world. The study is entitled Policing Belief: The Impact of Blasphemy on Human Rights.

The study looks at case studies from seven nations -- and no, they are not all Muslim. They are Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Poland. The example of Greece is an instructive one because it shows the connection between religious establishments and blasphemy laws.

Pakistan: Government leaves villages wallowing in neglect: report

Washington has pumped billions of dollars into Pakistan since the country joined the U.S. war on militancy after the September 11 attacks on the United States. Little seems to have trickled down to the poor.

The cash-strapped government slashed development spending
after summer floods caused nearly $10 billion in damages. – (File Photo)

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Dawn News | Pakistan
By Reuters | Dawn | October 29, 2010

NOOR PUR SHAHAN:Less than a kilometer from the sprawling residential complex of Pakistan's prime minister, villagers have to scrabble for firewood in the dirt if they want a cooked meal.

Noor Pur Shahan is typical of many villages in the country, where supplies of cooking gas, clean water, electricity, classrooms, and also hope for the future, are hard to come by.

Improving government services for millions of increasingly frustrated Pakistanis is critical for bringing economic and political stability to a country the United States sees as an indispensable ally in its global war on militancy.

Pakistan: PPP antics | Here’s to you Sherry!

The PPP’s decision to boycott a media group known for bad-mouthing the president and the government may have been debatable, but the decision to turn cannibalistically upon its own members is nothing short of frightening.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | INt'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Faria Syed | October 29, 2010

Earlier this week, MNA Sherry Rehman became one of the many Pakistani politicians to face the consequences of having a brain.

Yes, not only does she have a killer wardrobe, Ms Rehman is also in fact one of the few leaders in Pakistan who does more than steal, bribe or sit on talk shows all day. Ironically, it was exactly for this crime that the ruling PPP chose to penalise her and Senator Safdar Abbasi. How dare they appear on a talk show that would be broadcast on one of the county’s most popular television channels?

Actually, the real question is how they dared to appear on the channel after the party had told them not to.

Eye on Terrorism: Al Qaeda behind airport scares, U.S. says; security tightened; Yemen investigating

A Yemeni diplomat in Washington says the Yemeni government has opened a full investigation into a suspicious device that was shipped from the country to the East Midlands Airport in the United Kingdom.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: CNN | Breaking News
By CNN | Running Update | October 29, 2010

[Update 1:50 p.m.] U.S. officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was behind the plot that caused a security scare at English and American airports on Friday.

A Yemeni diplomat in Washington says the Yemeni government has opened a full investigation into a suspicious device that was shipped from the country to the East Midlands Airport in the United Kingdom.

Security at American airports has been heightened, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday. Some of the increased security will be visible and passengers should continue to expect a mix of security techniques, the department said.

Eye on Terrorism: US Scrambles After Intel Reports Of Bombs Sent on Cargo Planes

Officials said both packages were stopped midway on their trip to Chicago, one at the East Midlands cargo air field outside London and the other at the airport in Dubai.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: ABC News | World News
By Richard Esposito, Pierre Thomas & Rhonda Schwartz
Posted: October 29, 2010

Two Packages From Yemen To Chicago Were Stopped.

An intelligence report that al Qaeda in Yemen may have shipped an explosive device to Chicago led to an international search of cargo planes carrying packages to the United States from Yemen today.

As of noon, American law enforcement officials said no explosive devices had been found after cargo planes were searched at airports in Newark and Philadelphia.

Pakistani-American accused of metro bomb plot trained for Afghanistan: FBI

An American citizen since 1993, Ahmed lived in suburban Ashburn, Virginia. He was arrested Wednesday after several months under surveillance as authorities mounted a sting operation.

Law enforcement investigators leave the home of Farooque Ahmed
in Ashburn, Virginia, October 27. — Photo by AP (DAWN PAK)

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: AFP | The Express Tribune
By AFP/Express | October 29, 2010


WASHINGTON: A Pakistani-American man arrested on charges of plotting to bomb the Washington metro was in training to go to Afghanistan and had experience with firearms, the FBI alleged in a court document released Thursday.

An FBI agent seeking a search warrant told a judge that Farooque Ahmed, 34, “is using his firearms to train for his ultimate goal of travelling to Afghanistan to fight and kill Americans,” according to the document. The agent said that conclusion was based on secretly recorded conversations between Ahmed and people he thought were members of al Qaeda, but who in reality were undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents. ”

UK: Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Organizes National Islam Awareness Week

The Baitul Futuh Mosque, is located next to Morden South Station and 5-10 minutes walk from Morden Underground Station. Buses numbers 80, 93 and 154 stop outside the mosque. Parking is available on site.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Muslim Assoc. | UK
By AMA | UK | October 29, 2010

As part of National Islam Awareness Week the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden will be holding an open day on Sunday 7th November 2010 between 11 am and 3pm.

Visitors will be offered a tour of the mosque, various multi-purpose halls, library and exhibition.

An information pack on various aspects of Islam and the mosque will be available for all visitors.

Those interested in availing the opportunity may pre-book by emailing seminars@ahmadiyya.org.uk or calling 020 8687 7811.  Visitors will be required to provide their name and contact details (phone number and/or email address).

Death toll from Indonesian tsunami tops 400

Mud and palm fronds covered the body of the village's 60-year-old pastor, Simorangkir. He lay on the ground, partially zipped into a body bag. Police and relatives took turns pushing a shovel into the sodden dirt next to him for his grave.

Photo: AP / Yahoo Images

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: AP | Yahoo News | October 29, 2010
By Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press


MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia – Dozens of injured survivors of a tsunami off western Indonesia languished Friday at a sorely strapped hospital alongside a newly orphaned 2-month-old baby found in a storm drain, as the death toll from the disaster rose above 400.

The injured lay on mats or the bare floor as rainwater dripped onto them from holes in the ceiling and intravenous cords hung from plastic ropes strung from the rafters. The baby, its lungs filled with fluid and with cuts on its face, blinked sleepily in a humidified crib.

"We need doctors, specialists," nurse Anputra said at the tiny hospital in Pagai Utara — one of the four main islands in the Mentawai chain slammed by Monday's tsunami.

UK: Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth converts to Islam after a 'holy experience' in Iran

During her visit to Iran last month, Booth wrote a public letter to Mr Blair asking him to mark Al-Quds (Jerusalem) day - a protest at Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Mail On-Line
By Sunday Reporter | 24th October 2010


Broadcaster and journalist Lauren Booth, 43 - Cherie Blair’s half-sister - said she now wears a hijab head covering whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque ‘when I can’.

She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.

‘It was a Tuesday evening and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy,’ she told The Mail on Sunday.

When she returned to Britain, she decided to convert immediately.

‘Now I don’t eat pork and I read the Koran every day. I’m on page 60. I also haven’t had a drink in 45 days, the longest period in 25 years,' she said.

'The strange thing is that since I decided to convert I haven’t wanted to touch alcohol, and I was someone who craved a glass of wine or two at the end of a day.’

Indonesia: Youth Pledge Day points to conflicts

A conflict resolution and security expert at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Samsu Rizal Panggabean, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that a trend towards social segregation had become more marked since the adoption of democracy, as part of a natural process.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Post | Headlines
By Arghea Desafti Hapsari | October 28, 2010

More than anything else, the youth pledge taken by Indonesia’s young leaders 82 years ago stressed the importance of living in unity in a nation with a legacy of diversity.

But the country observes Youth Pledge Day today at a time marked by persecution and ostracism of the Ahmadis, with sharia-based bylaws discriminating against minorities and clashes between church congregations and the Muslim majority.

In a report released in August, the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy recorded 291 incidents categorized as violations of freedom of faith in Indonesia. Of this number, 33 targeted followers of the Ahmadiyah religious sect.

Faith and common sense: Fear Islamophobia, not Islam

This offensive media discourse came to another boiling point during Bill O’Reilly’s Oct. 14 appearance on The View, where he brought up the "mosque controversy." During the discussion, O’Reilly shouted "Muslims killed us on 9/11!"

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Univ of Min. | MN Daily
By Eric Murphy | October 28, 2010

Media outlets have been creating the wrong conversation about Islam in America.

Recent months have seen an abundance of media discussion about Islam in America, and most of that coverage has had a subtle undertone of fear and division. It started with the controversy over the Park 51 Community Center, better known by its doubly misleading nickname, the "Ground Zero Mosque."

As that controversy developed, more and more us-versus-them rhetoric became acceptable in the media conversation. On Oct. 3, ABC’s This Week titled a special edition of its show "HOLY WAR: Should Americans Fear Islam?" That sensationalistic title implicitly claims that Islam and America are mutually exclusive — obviously false.

USA: Prince Alwaleed 'against' Ground Zero mosque

... [T]he mosque has to be in a dignified location. It can’t be next to a bar or a strip club, or in a neighbourhood that is not really refined and good. The impression I have is that this mosque is just being inserted and squeezed over there. So I am personally against putting the mosque over there…"

Prince Alwaleed: "We did not finance this thing [Ground Zero mosque]"

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Arabian Business | News
ByAnil Bhoyrul | 28 October 2010

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed has said he is against the construction of a mosque close to the site of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York. In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business to be published on Sunday, His Royal Highness also said he had no part in financing the controversial project.

In his first public comments on the issue, he said: “I heard and saw a lot of news about me being associated with it and this is all wrong. We did not finance this thing.

“I say that I am against putting the mosque in that particular place. And I’ll tell you why. For two reasons: first of all, those people behind the mosque have to respect, have to appreciate and have to defer to the people of New York, and not try to agitate the wound by saying 'we need to put the mosque next to the 9/11 site'.

Canada: Adding to ignorance about Muslims stifles open dialogue

As a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community I want to declare that we are peaceful citizens and we would love to have a dialogue with anybody interested.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Edmonton Journal
By Mohyuddin Mirza | October 28, 2010

Re: "Censoring honest comment is wrong; Radio analyst who fears Muslims on airplanes speaks for many people," by Lorne Gunter, Oct. 24. 

I had developed great respect for Lorne Gunter, but this time he did not do a good job with the subject of Muslims in Canada.

How he could he even know it was an "honest" comment by this radio analyst? Gunter has expressed his dislike for the religion of Islam in a carefully crafted, poorly written column trying to be politically correct. How do you even identify a Muslim travelling in an airplane?

USA: Pakistani-American arrested in Washington metro bombing plot

According to the indictment, Ahmed, of Ashburn, Virginia, is said to have spent months doing the groundwork for the attacks after an initial meeting in April with a courier he met at a Virginia hotel.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Express | October 27, 2010

WASHINGTON: Federal officials in Washington arrested a Pakistani-American man Wednesday for plotting a series of bomb attacks on Washington’s subway system with people he believed were tied to al Qaeda.

Farooque Ahmed, 34, had been allegedly observing, videotaping and photographing Metro stations in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, including near the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, since April to plan the attacks set for next year.

Over the course of six months, he allegedly told contacts he believed to be linked to al Qaeda that he wanted to ‘kill as many military personnel as possible’ and suggested where bombs should be planted on Metro trains ‘to kill the most people.’

Eye on Extremism: Funding Pakistan’s jihad | View

While the role of Saudi Arabia has been limited to the provision of funds to the Islamist and jihadi organisations, the Kingdom, to this day, is the biggest source of official and private funding to Islamist and jihadist organisations in Pakistan.

File Photo

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Times | Pakistan
By Ali K Chishti | October 27, 2010

While it may be true that over the years the militants have developed a vast and effective network for raising funds by taking as much as a rupee from a poor man to millions from the rich, donations are pouring in for jihad from every segment of society

All the commitment and fanaticism notwithstanding, terrorist operations cannot be run without funds. Funds for jihad are required for procuring weapons, financing training camps, providing logistical support, compensating the families of jihadis, paying instructors and also the wide networks of agents and running recruitment offices.

Eye on Technology: Hey Teach, Get off the Facebook: School Bans Teacher-Student Friendships

Worried about potential inappropriate Internet communications between teacher and pupil, the board made a plea to teachers to avoid social media relationships with students - or else.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: TIME | Yahoo News
By Allie Townsend | October 26, 2010

Online connections? Not in education. Why teachers and students will never be "friends."

School officials in Norton, Mass., having issued a ruling against online connections between teachers and current or former students. Worried about potential inappropriate Internet communications between teacher and pupil, the board made a plea to teachers to avoid social media relationships with students - or else.

As inappropriate teacher-student Facebook scandals have been made public in recent weeks (three in New York public schools alone) school boards are attempting to eliminate the possibility of a problem by issuing rules to faculty and staff forbidding social media connections with students, mainly on sites Facebook or MySpace. "We want to head it off at the pass," one school board member told the Boston Globe. "Teachers know this already, but we wanted to have something official on the books."


Read original post here: Hey Teach, Get off the Facebook: School Bans Teacher-Student Friendships

Faith and common sense: When blasphemy is a crime

Freedom House, a Washington-based human rights organization, demonstrates how such policies have too often been used by countries to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of religion, leading to serious human rights abuses.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Los Angeles Times
By LA Times | October 26, 2010

A study of blasphemy laws and human rights shows why the U.N. shouldn't encourage such rules.

The United Nations General Assembly may soon vote — not for the first time — in favor of a resolution opposing the "defamation of religions." The idea, which may sound appealing at first blush, is particularly championed by Islamic countries, which would like to go even further and have the condemnation enshrined in international law.

But a new report by Freedom House, a Washington-based human rights organization, demonstrates how such policies have too often been used by countries to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of religion, leading to serious human rights abuses.

Pakistan: Justice for sale? PM’s grace bestowed on 16 SC judges

The subject of these official letters issued by the PM’s Secretariat was the allotment of residential plots under the Prime Minister’s Assistance Package. However, no details have been given regarding what prompted the government to float such a scheme, meant exclusively for the Supreme Court judges.

Documents submitted show the scheme is meant exclusively for judges

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Rauf Klasra | October 27, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Sixteen judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan were quietly allotted residential plots worth millions of rupees each in Islamabad’s expensive sectors over the last two years (2008-2010) on the direct orders of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat under a scheme somewhat incredulously called the “Prime Minister’s Assistance Package”.

A list of the names of the beneficiaries, which also includes the name of ad hoc judge Khalilur Rehman Ramday, was recently submitted to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by the federal ministry of housing. The list tops the agenda of the next PAC meeting.

The plots were allotted by the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) after it received official letters containing the names of 16 judges from the PM’s Secretariat.

Pakistan: Human Rights activist Asma Jahangir wins Supreme Court Bar Association election

President Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Chaudray Shujaat Hussain and Pervez Musharraf welcomed Ms Jahangir for winning the presidential seat.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Dawn.com | Pakistan
By Dawn News | October 27, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's renowned human rights activist and advocate Asma Jahangir became the first women president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) after she defeated her opponent marginally by 38 votes in election held on Wednesday.

According to an unofficial vote count, Ms Jahangir bagged 834 votes while Ahmed Owais got 796 votes.

Highest numbers of votes were polled in Lahore where Ms Jahangir received 419 votes and Owais 409.

She was leading in Quetta, Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi while Owais was ahead in Multan.

Pakistan: Supreme Court Bar Association leading candidate Asma Jahangir targeted in Ahmedi hate campaign

Advocate Tahir Sultan Khokhar, vice chairman of the Khatme Nabuwwat Lawyers Forum, who is not a member of the SCBA, said that this was not the first time the group had acted against a ‘Qadiani’. “Since its inception two years ago we have taken significant steps in this regard."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Rana Tanveer | October 27, 2010

LAHORE: One of the leading candidates in the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections is being targeted by a hate campaign that calls her an Ahmedi, pro-American and pro-Indian.

The Khatme Nabuwwat Lawyers Forum based in Markaze Sirajia, a seminary in Ghalib Market, Gulberg, Lahore, recently published an eight-page pamphlet titled Targeted Missile Against Supreme Court that claims Asma Jahangir, a contender for the office of SCBA president, is a Qadiani, a derogatory term for Ahmedis. It also accuses her of being anti-Pakistan and pro-US and pro-India.

The pamphlet has been distributed at the Lahore Bar Association and posted to members of the SCBA.

USA: Pentagon fears Wikileaks has more secret files

WikiLeaks and the Pentagon have been engaged in a war of words over the website's dump of secret military files, with US officials accusing the organization of endangering the lives of troops and civilians who worked with US-led forces.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The News International
By The News | October 27, 2010

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon believes WikiLeaks likely has more secret government documents in its hands, beyond those the website has already released or mentioned publicly, a spokesman said Tuesday.

"We have reason to believe they have other documents as well," Colonel Dave Lapan told reporters, without elaborating.

WikiLeaks, which portrays itself as a whistle-blowing media outlet, released last week an unprecedented 400,000 classified US documents on the Iraq war, and in July posted 77,000 secret US files on the Afghan conflict.

USA: Philadelphia Muslims Celebrate Religious Founders’ Day

Khalil Malik, public relations officer for the Philadelphia Ahmadiyya chapter, says Religious Founders’ Day has been celebrated for about 20 years in Philadelphia, but is especially important this year given the rising anti-Muslim sentiment in the nation...

Philadelphia Ahmadiyya Chapter Imam Bilal Abdus Salam
addressing the panel of speakers

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Philadelphia Weekly | PhillyNow Blog
By Aaron Kase | October 26, 2010

On August 19, former Philadelphian Habib Peer was assassinated in Pakistan when masked gunmen on motorcycles rode up to his car and shot him through the window, instantly ending his life.

According to his brother-in-law Mujeebullah Chaudhary, Peer, who used to run a newsstand in Germantown, was killed because of his religion, a sect of Islam known as the Ahmadiyya movement that rejects jihad and is considered heretical by many mainstream Muslims. “It’s a sad thing,” Chaudhary says. “People call themselves Muslims, but they have deviated from guidance to kill people they call non-believers.”

Ahmadiyya followers worship in relative obscurity in the United States, despite an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 members of the religion nationwide and around 600 in the Philadelphia area. Chaudhary, who is president of the Philadelphia Ahmadiyya chapter as well as a pharmacist and business owner, wants to change that. “We’re Muslims for peace,” he says, promoting a religion that is often persecuted on foreign soils while trying to maintain a foothold in the U.S. “We need to spread the message that we all must work together for peace.”

154 dead as Indonesia hit by tsunami, volcano

Monday’s 7.7-magnitude quake struck in the remote Mentawai Islands, an area popular with surfers, generating waves as high as three metres (10 feet) and sweeping away 10 villages, officials said.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune | AFP
By  AFP | Express | October 26, 2010

Volunteers carry the bodies of those who died after Mount Merapi erupted, at Kinarrejo village in Sleman, near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, October 27, 2010. PHOTO: REUTERS

JAKARTA: Indonesia struggled Wednesday to find bodies and survivors after a tsunami smashed into a remote island chain and a volcano erupted, leaving scores dead and thousands homeless in natural disasters that struck less than 24 hours apart.

An estimated 154 people were killed and over 400 remain missing, officials said Wednesday.

Entire villages were washed away and houses flattened when waves triggered by a powerful earthquake late Monday pounded an area off the west coast of Sumatra on a major fault line in a region known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire”.

Faith and common sense: Why I believe in Islam

Islam teaches that no nation should transgress against another nation, nor should one state transgress against another, but that nations and states should cooperate with each other for the purpose of advancing the interests of the whole humanity.

His Holiness Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad—
the second successor to the Promised Messiah and Mahdi

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Articles
Source/Credit: AlIslam.Org | Archives
By Hadhrat Mirza Bashirud Din Mahmood Ahmad

I have been asked to state why I believe in Islam.  When I put the question to myself, the reply I received was, for the same reason for which I believe in anything else, that is to say, because it is the truth.  A more detailed reply would be that in my view the central doctrine of all religions is the existence of God and man's relationship with Him, so the religion that can succeed in establishing a true relationship between God and man must be true, and the truth of a faith is surely a sufficient reason for believing in it.

First, I believe in Islam for the reason that it does not compel me to accept all those matters the sum total of which is called religion merely on authority but furnishes convincing arguments in support of its doctrines.  The existence of God and the nature of His attributes, angels, prayer and its effects, Divine decrees and their sphere, worship and its need, Divine law and its benefits, revelation and its importance, resurrection and the life after death, heaven and hell -- with regard to every one of these, Islam has given detailed explanations and has established their truth with strong arguments to the satisfaction of human mind.

Islam, therefore, furnished me not only with faith, but also with the certainty of knowledge which satisfies my intellect and compels it to admit the need of religion.

Muslims Against Muslims: The Struggle Between God's Worshippers and God's Warriors

After every terrorist attack, what you see is a breaking news banner on TV coupled with an increasing death toll competition on local channels that creates not so long-lasting sensation, because such terrorist attacks are a common occurrence in Pakistan.

Photo: Fahad Faruqui

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Fahad Faruqui | October 25, 2010

Days after Faisal Shahzad, a married father of two, was sentenced to life in prison for his failed attempt to set off a car bomb in Times Square, twin bombs exploded at a Sufi shrine in Karachi when the throng of devotees was at its peak. The Pakistani Taliban, which used Shahzad as a pawn for the attack, also claimed responsibility for bombings at Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine on Oct. 7. "We are only trying to defend our religion, our people, our honor and our land," Shahzad told the court on Oct. 5, as he complained about the suffering of Muslims. Yet he ignored the behavior of those like himself, who kill without discrimination the very people he claims to be fighting for.

Just months before the Karachi bombings that took eight lives and injured more than 60 people, an ancient tomb of Ali Hajviri, who is lovingly called Data, was shaken by three blasts that killed 35 and left 175 injured. Earlier, in May, two mosques of the minority Ahmedi sect were attacked and 93 worshipers died. The Taliban were suspected for these incidents in Lahore.

Faith and Practice: Serving Two Masters: Shariah Law and the Secular State

On the one hand, there is the liberal desire to accord one’s fellow human beings the dignity of respecting their deepest beliefs. On the other hand, there is the fear that if those beliefs are allowed their full scope, individual rights and the rule of law may be eroded beyond repair.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The New York Times
By Stanly Fish | October 25, 2010

A few weeks ago, the Cardozo School of Law mounted a conference marking the 20th anniversary of Employment Division v. Smith (1990), a case in which the Supreme Court asked what happens when a form of behavior demanded by one’s religion runs up against a generally applicable law — a law not targeted at any particular agenda or point of view — that makes the behavior illegal. (The behavior at issue was the ingestion of peyote at a Native American religious ceremony.) The answer the court gave, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing for the majority, was that the religious believer must yield to the law of the state so long as that law was not passed with the intention of curtailing or regulating his or anyone else’s religious practice. (This is exactly John Locke’s view in his “Letter Concerning Toleration.”)

“To make the individual’s obligation to obey . . . a law contingent upon the law’s coincidence with his religious beliefs” would have the effect, Scalia explains, of “permitting him, by virtue of his beliefs, ‘to become a law unto himself.’” And if that were allowed, there would no longer be a single law — universally conceived and applied — but multiple laws each of which was tailored to the doctrines and commands of a particular faith. In order to have law in the strong sense, Scalia is saying, you can have only one. (“No man can serve two masters.”)

Pakistan rises in corruption, falls from grace

Iraq was fourth from the top of the most corrupt ranking country. Myanmar shared second place with Afghanistan and Somalia considered the world’s most corrupt country.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By AFP | Express | October 26, 2010

Photo: The darkest regions represent the most corrupt countries and the the lighter regions represent the least corrupt countries in the CPI. TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL

Pakistan is ranked 34th on the recently released Transparency International global list of countries perceived to be the most corrupt.

Pakistan’s CPI score for the year 2010 is 2.3, falling 0.2 since 2008. The country worsened by eight places from its previous ranking of 42nd in 2009. Pakistan’s rival India worsened by 0.1, going from 3.4 in 2009 to 3.3 in 2010.

Nearly three-quarters of the 178 countries in Transparency International’s annual survey scored on the sleazier end of the scale, which ranges from zero (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (thought to have little corruption).

Obama’s wars

Bob Woodward’s ability to focus on one specific area and time frame of the young presidency and its workings, without delving into the details of Obama’s historic election and ‘iconic’ status, and the relationships he has formed, make Obama’s Wars a compelling read for people interested in the region.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Saba Imtiaz | October 24th, 2010.

The most damning revelations from what has become one of the most talked-about nonfiction books of the year have already done the rounds on television channels and newspapers. So why should you read Obama’s Wars, by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post correspondent Bob Woodward?

The book takes an in-depth look US President Barack Obama’s biggest quagmire — Afghanistan — and how a strategy for the US involvement and deployment of troops in the country evolved. But more so than Afghanistan, what keeps popping up in the book is Pakistan (right from page 3).

Faith and Practice: Tony Blair's sister-in-law converts to Islam

Booth – who works for Press TV, the English-language Iranian news channel – has stopped eating pork and reads the Qur'an every day. She is currently on page 60.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Guardian | UK
By Helen Carter | October 24, 2010

Iran trip prompted journalist Lauren Booth to become a Muslim and wear a hijab

Tony Blair's sister-in-law has converted to Islam after having what she describes as a "holy experience" during a visit to Iran.

Journalist and broadcaster Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair's sister – now wears a hijab whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque whenever she can.

She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.

Pakistan: Sherry, Abbasi asked to show cause for defiance

“I had no official communication from the party about any ban on any channel, because I had heard several different members speaking on all channels, but bizarrely, I am being targeted.” [Sherry Rehman]

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Express | October 24, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Jehangir Badar, secretary-general of the ruling PPP, has suspended Senator Safdar Abbasi from the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the party.

Badar told journalists that show-cause notices have been issued to Senator Safdar Abbasi and MNA Sherry Rehman for participating in a talk show on a private TV channel in violation of the party’s instructions.

Senator Abbasi confirmed that his membership in the CEC has been suspended. “I sent a reply after receiving suspension orders from the PPP secretary-general,” he said, adding that he would not respond to the show-cause served on him on October 20. “The party leadership is making decisions in haste,” he said. “We have never been asked in writing not to participate in the private TV’s talk show.”

Faith & History: Abraham’s Progeny, and Their Texts

The Abrahamic religions ... believes that God has made himself known to his prophets through acts of revelation. And such revelations shape groups of believers by being incorporated in canonical written texts: the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Gospels, the Islamic Koran.

Images of Mecca and Medina from the Ottoman Empire, circa 1792.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The New York Times
By Edward Rothstein | October 22, 2010

The sweep of the new exhibition at the New York Public Library — “Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam” — is stunning. It stretches from a Bible found in a monastery in coastal Brittany that was sacked by the Vikings in the year 917, to a 1904 lithograph showing the original Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue. It encompasses both an elaborately decorated book of 20th-century Coptic Christian readings and a modest 19th-century printing of the Gospels in the African language Grebo. There are Korans, with pages that shimmer with gold leaf and elegant calligraphy, and a 13th-century Pentateuch from Jerusalem, written in script used by Samaritans who traced their origins to the ancient Northern Kingdom of Israel.

The library’s Gutenberg Bible is here, as well as its 1611 King James translation. The first Koran published in English is shown, from 1649, along with fantastical images from 16th-century Turkish and Persian manuscripts in which Muhammad is pictured with other prophets, his face a blank white space in obeisance to the prohibition against his portrait.

Eye on Extremism: Tennessee newspaper says ‘anti-Muslim crusaders’ make millions | Yahoo News

Emerson's nonprofit and for-profit organizations also share an address in Washington, D.C., and his for-profit enterprise received grants from a foundation that exclusively awards funds to nonprofit organizations.

Photo of protest signs near Manhattan's ground zero and
the site of a proposed Islamic center: AP

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Yahoo News | Blog
By Liz Goodwin | October 25, 2010

The Tennessean newspaper, which has been chronicling the controversy over the construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn.,  has published an investigation into the tax practices of anti-Islamist pundit Steven Emerson, who founded the influential Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation. The nonprofit rakes in millions every year as it works to uncover terrorist ties to American organizations.

The paper found that Emerson's nonprofit organization funneled everything it earned to a separate group, SAE Productions, that does not have tax-exempt status. In 2008, the nonprofit cut a $3.4 million check to the for-profit, even though Emerson told the IRS in 2006 that there would be no financial ties between the organizations.

Emerson's nonprofit and for-profit organizations also share an address in Washington, D.C., and his for-profit enterprise received grants from a foundation that exclusively awards funds to nonprofit organizations.

Eye on Extremism: Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'

Since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, he has pushed a revival of the fundamentalist goals pursued in the 1980s under the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: AP | Yahoo News
By Nasir Karimi | AP Writer | October 24, 2010

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has imposed new restrictions on 12 university social sciences deemed to be based on Western schools of thought and therefore incompatible with Islamic teachings, state radio reported Sunday.

The list includes law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science and the two subjects that appear to cause the most concern among Iran's conservative leadership — women's studies and human rights.

"The content of the current courses in the 12 subjects is not in harmony with religious fundamentals and they are based on Western schools of thought," senior education official Abolfazl Hassani told state radio.

Hassani said the restrictions prevent universities from opening new departments in these subjects. The government will also revise the content of current programs by up to 70 percent over the next few years, he said.

Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam | Exibition

Over the millennia, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have each created a rich body of founding texts and interpretive underpinnings for their respective faiths, each of which derives from the teachings of Abraham.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: New York Public Library
By NYPL | Ahmadiyya Times | October 25, 2010

Three Faiths includes 200 rare and precious works created over the past 1,500 years. Among them, great works of the miniaturist's art and of calligraphy, drawn from all three faiths, delight the eye, as they have done since their creation centuries ago. Manuscript materials are accompanied by some of the most significant printed works of the past 550 years. The scrolls, codices, illuminated manuscripts, and printed volumes are complemented selectively by important bindings, early photographs, prints, maps, and liturgical or ritual objects dating from the fifth century of the Common Era (CE) to the present.

Over the millennia, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have each created a rich body of founding texts and interpretive underpinnings for their respective faiths, each of which derives from the teachings of Abraham. This exhibition treats these three great Abrahamic religions, setting forth in splendid and historic detail the complementarities and differences among them, explaining their development, and exploring their lived experience through public and private prayer.

Eye on common sense: Where's the moral high ground?

America initially supported the idea of an international mechanism for the prosecution of war criminals but when it became clear that the US would not be able to exercise a veto power over it, it withdrew its support.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Op/Ed
Source/Credit: The News International | Pakistan
By Talat Farooq | October 21, 2010

The New York Times (October 21) has quoted senior US administration officials with regard to the Obama administration's refusal to train or equip about half a dozen Pakistani army units that are believed to have killed unarmed prisoners and civilians during the offensives against Taliban fighters in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan in the past year. It goes on to report that in order to avoid embarrassing the Pakistani military during the ongoing Strategic Dialogue, "the administration has briefed a few senior members of Congress, but it has not given them details about which Pakistani units will be affected by the suspension."

In this regard, the newspaper adds, the Obama administration will be acting in keeping with the Leahy Amendment, a law that requires the cutoff of American aid to foreign military units that have been involved in gross abuse of human rights during war. Once restrictions against the said Pakistani units are in place, the US government will carry out inspections to make sure that the sanctioned units are denied access to American training or equipment.

Pakistan: Blast kills five at Baba Farid’s Shrine in Pakpattan

The chairman of the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, Mufti Muneebur Rehman said the government had failed to provide adequate security to shrines in Pakistan.

According to the Regional Police Officer, the shrine has been shut down
and security forces have cordoned off  the area. –File Photo

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Dawn | Agencies | October 25, 2010

LAHORE: A bomb exploded outside the Baba Farid shrine in Pakpattan early Monday morning, killing at least five people, including two women and injuring several others.

The explosion occurred during Fajr prayers near the eastern gate of the shrine in Pakpattan, 190 kilometres from Lahore, DawnNews reported.

The bomb was planted in a milk container on a motorcycle, city police chief Mohammad Kashif told Reuters by telephone.

“According to initial reports, two unidentified men dressed in shalwar kameez came on the motorcycle and parked it near the gate minutes before the blast,” he said.

Faith and history: Albanian Muslims risk their own lives to save Jews from Nazis during World War II

"At this time of tension over Islam in America, there is so much more to understanding Islam." Rabbi Kerber.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: KSDK 5 | St. Louis, Mo
By Leisa Zigman | October 21, 2010

Creve Coeur, MO (KSDK) -- With rising anti-Muslim sentiment across the country, an untold story is raising greater awareness about the Muslim faith and the teachings of the Quran. That awareness comes from an unlikely source: a small Jewish congregation in Creve Coeur.

Temple Emanuel is premiering a groundbreaking exhibit of photos that reveals Albanian Muslims who saved 2,000 Jews during World War II.

It's a story you've likely never heard. It is a story told through the faces of Albanian Muslims who risked their own lives to live by a code of faith and honor called Besa.

Pakistan: Plot to attack Ahmadis’ place of worship foiled, say police

Crime Investigation Department of police had been tasked with the investigation as the provincial police officer had recently mandated the CID with the investigation of acts of terrorism. 

File Photo: 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Dawn Staff Reporter | October 11, 2010

KARACHI: Police on Sunday claimed to have foiled plans of militants to attack a worship place of Ahmadis and a private clinic by arresting two suspects associated with the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.

Both the suspects were involved in several sectarian attacks including the targeted killing of two doctors, said city police chief Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari while addressing his first press conference after recently taking over as the capital city police officer.

He said Naseem Haider alias Ferron and Asif Rasheed alias Dumba were apprehended in Orangi Town. Police also recovered one SMG, two pistols, one 9mm and one repeater gun from their custody, he said.

CCPO Leghari said the suspects were planning to target Dr Naqvi’s clinic, known as health care clinic in Orangi Town, and also a place of worship of Ahmadis in the coming days.

USA: Muslim sect delivers message of peace at Rochester Public Market

Members have been promoting peace since the sect was founded more than 120 years ago, Bashir says, not just since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

(Photo: KRIS J. MURANTE staff photographer)

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
By Alan Morrell | RD&C Staff writer | October 24, 2010

Muslim sect delivers message of peace at Rochester Public Market

Seated at a booth at the Rochester Public Market beside vendors selling produce, clothing and toys, Mubarak Bashir and Mubashir Majoka are on a mission to spread what they call the true tenets of Islam.

Seated at a booth at the Rochester Public Market beside vendors selling produce, clothing and toys, Mubarak Bashir and Mubashir Majoka are on a mission to spread what they call the true tenets of Islam.

Bashir, who was born in Milwaukee, and Majoka, a native of Pakistan, are members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the only sect of Islam that believes the Messiah has come to Earth. As part of their faith, they spread their motto, "Love for All, Hatred for None," through weekly visits to the market for the past four months.

Eye on common sense: The real danger from NPR's firing of Juan Williams

Christians who crave religious conflict; evangelicals who await the Rapture; and Jews who were taught from birth to view the political world with Israel at the center, that the U.S. must therefore stay invested in the Middle East, and that "the Arabs" are the Enemy, all benefit from this ongoing demonization.

Juan Williams, left, and a man wearing "Muslim garb,"
which Williams said scares him

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Salon.com
By Glenn Greenwald | October 22, 2010

I'm still not quite over the most disgusting part of the Juan Williams spectacle yesterday:  watching the very same people (on the Right and in the media) who remained silent about or vocally cheered on the viewpoint-based firings of Octavia Nasr, Helen Thomas, Rick Sanchez, Eason Jordan, Peter Arnett, Phil Donahue, Ashleigh Banfield, Bill Maher, Ward Churchill, Chas Freeman, Van Jones and so many others, spend all day yesterday wrapping themselves in the flag of "free expression!!!" and screeching about the perils and evils of firing journalists for expressing certain viewpoints.  Even for someone who expects huge doses of principle-free hypocrisy -- as I do -- that behavior is really something to behold. And anyone doubting that there is a double standard when it comes to anti-Muslim speech should just compare the wailing backlash from most quarters over Williams' firing to the muted acquiescence or widespread approval of those other firings.