Undercover

Because Allah says so 

Pooky boo !!

Photographer unknown

"If you tickle us,do we not laugh? "  

Muslims come in all colors

Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir practices for her debut with the University of Memphis after a knee injury last year postponed her freshman season. When she takes the floor this year, she will be the only Muslim woman playing Division 1 basketball, while covering her hair and her limbs.

Mike Tyson, like all male pilgrims performing Hajj, wears whatever everyone else is wearing - simple, unhemmed, white cotton cloth, demonstrating equality among Muslims from all their various walks of life. He’s probably the only one wearing a prominent face tattoo, however.

Dressed in black and a humble smile, Albanian Muslim Bahrije Seiti Borici holds the Certificate of Honor awarded to her family - one of 70 known Muslim families (62 of which were Albanian) who risked their own safety to protect Jewish families from persecution during the Holocaust. 

(Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Book: Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II, by Norman H. Gershman)

 Ambreen Sadiq wears some Muslim gloves that she hopes to keep wearing all the way to  the Chicago Olympics.

Amina Tariq is garbed in organic Muslim lettuce.

Betty Shabazz also knew how to accessorize, confidently knowing that sometimes less is indeed, much more.

Green might be a typically “Muslim” color, but Shaquille O’Neal also looks better in it for other reasons.

Kareem Dennis a.k.a. ‘Lowkey’ keeps it punctual with his garb.

Muslim and legendary jazz drummer Art Blakey often wore the traditional suit and tie of his culture.

Muslim Mohammed Abdel Wahab is seen here wearing a fetching suit with his beloved Turkish cümbüş mandolin.

Muslims Isam Bachiri (left) and Waqas Ali Qadri (right)  are perfectly tolerant - even supportive - of their Catholic, Christian group member, Lenny Martinez (center), wearing a cross.

Opponents report that Dinara Safina’s backhand scares them more than her garb.

Physicist and Energy Risk management expert Shezad Abedi takes a little time out to catch up on a trashy novel in the grassy field behind his powerplant workplace.

Sami Yusuf is looking suspicious in a brown t-shirt, holding his dangerous weapon of choice.

Sarah Khoshjamal Fekri is a Muslim taekwondo Olympian, wearing a pose that I did not know was even physically possible.

These are Pakistani policewomen. The lady on the right is wearing delicate henna on her hands, and both submissive Muslim women are wearing a girlish lace-trim on their encumbering headscarve.

This is Farooq Kathwari. Farooq is the chairman and CEO of Ethan Allen furniture, and allows people of all backgrounds to garb their home with stylish Muslim interior design.

UK hip-hop divas Poetic Pilgrimage don’t need bling when they’re wearing funky jewelry and ever-so-modest headscarve.

When not accepting international prizes honoring his contributions to tolerance, peace and the well-being of the downtrodden, Abdul Sattar Edhi wears a distinguished cap and a loving embrace.

* Taken from http://muslimswearingthings.tumblr.com/

H.M King Abdullah II proposes world interfaith harmony week at the UN

Following is the full text of His Majesty King Abdullah's address at the Plenary Session of the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York :
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim President Deiss, Mr Secretary General, Your Excellencies, More than ever before, our world is confronting multiple global crises which cannot be effectively addressed, without a coordinated, multilateral action. No country can face these crises and provide for its future in isolation. The threats are global and so are the solutions. A strong, central role for the United Nations is essential. It is also essential to resist forces of division that spread misunderstanding and mistrustة especially among peoples of different religions. The fact is, humanity everywhere is bound together, not only by mutual interests, but by shared commandmentsة to love God and neighbour; to love the good and neighbour. This week, my delegation, with the support of our friends on every continent, will introduce a draft resolution for an annual World Interfaith Harmony Week. What we are proposing is a special week, during which the world's people, in their own places of worship, could express the teachings of their own faith about tolerance, respect for the other and peace. I hope this resolution will have your support. My friends, Another critical area for UN leadership is peace and one peace hangs in the balance today. With direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, a door opens to a final, two-state settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the establishment of an independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel, will pave the way for a comprehensive regional peace. An end to this conflict is long overdue. No regional crisis has had a longer or broader impact on global security and stability. No such crisis has been longer on the UN agenda or has frustrated peacemakers more. Every resource spent in this conflict is a resource lost for investing in progress and prosperity. Every day spent is a day lost to forces of violence and extremism that threaten all of us in the region and beyond. People are wary of disappointment and spoilers are doing everything they can to make us fail. We cannot underestimate the importance of success or the painful cost of failure. All of us need to support swift action, hard choices and real results. The alternative is more suffering deeper frustrations with spreading, more vicious warfare. Such a catastrophic scenario will continue to drag in the whole world, threatening security and stability far beyond the borders of the Middle East. To prevent that, the talks must be approached with commitment, sincerity and courage. There should be no provocative or unilateral actions that can derail the negotiations. Instead, the parties must work hard to produce results, and quickly. That means addressing all final-status issues, with a view to ending the occupation and reaching the two-state solution the only solution that can work as soon as possible. The status quo is simply unacceptable Enough injustice, enough bloodshed. Jordan and the rest of the Arab and Muslim worlds are committed. In the Arab Peace Initiative, we reach out to Israel with an unprecedented opportunity for a comprehensive settlement. A settlement that will enable Israel to have normal relations with 57 Arab and Muslim states, one-third of the United Nations. Now, we reach out to you, our fellow members of this United Nations. All stand to lose if the talks fail; all gain when peace is achieved. Our global and collective influence is key. Together, we must tip the balance towards peace. Thank you.

For more about World interfaith harmony week,please follow the link http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/ 

Amman message

The Amman Message started as a detailed statement released the eve of the 27th of Ramadan 1425 AH / 9th November 2004 CE by H.M. King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein in Amman, Jordan. It sought to declare what Islam is and what it is not, and what actions represent it and what actions do not. Its goal was to clarify to the modern world the true nature of Islam and the nature of true Islam.

In order to give this statement more religious authority, H.M. King Abdullah II then sent the following three questions to 24 of the most senior religious scholars from all around the world representing all the branches and schools of Islam: (1) Who is a Muslim? (2) Is it permissible to declare someone an apostate (takfir)? (3) Who has the right to undertake issuing fatwas (legal rulings)?

Based on the fatwas provided by these great scholars (who included the Shaykh Al-Azhar;Ayatollah Sistani and Sheikh Qaradawi), in July 2005 CE, H.M. King Abdullah II convened an international Islamic conference of 200 of the world's leading Islamic scholars'Ulama) from 50 countries. In Amman, the scholars unanimously issued a ruling on three fundamental issues (which became known as the 'Three Points of the Amman Message'):

1. They specifically recognized the validity of all 8 Mathhabs (legal schools) of Sunni, Shi'a and Ibadhi Islam; of traditional Islamic Theology (Ash'arism); of Islamic Mysticism (Sufism), and of true Salafi thought, and came to a precise definition of who is a Muslim.
2. Based upon this definition they forbade takfir (declarations of apostasy) between Muslims.
3. Based upon the Mathahib they set forth the subjective and objective preconditions for the issuing of fatwas, thereby exposing ignorant and illegitimate edicts in the name of Islam.

These Three Points were then unanimously adopted by the Islamic World's political and temporal leaderships at the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit at Mecca in December 2005. And over a period of one year from July 2005 to July 2006, the Three Points were also unanimously adopted by six other international Islamic scholarly assemblies, culminating with the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of Jeddah, in July 2006. In total, over 500 leading Muslim scholars worldwide ”as can be seen on this website [click here to see the entire list]”unanimously endorsed the Amman Message and its Three Points.

This amounts to a historical, universal and unanimous religious and political consensus (ijma') of the Ummah (nation) of Islam in our day, and a consolidation of traditional, orthodox Islam. The significance of this is: (1) that it is the first time in over a thousand years that the Ummah has formally and specifically come to such a pluralistic mutual inter-recognition; and (2) that such a recognition is religiously legally binding on Muslims since the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) said: My Ummah will not agree upon an error (Ibn Majah, Sunan, Kitab al-Fitan, Hadith no.4085).

This is good news not only for Muslims, for whom it provides a basis for unity and a solution to infighting, but also for non-Muslims. For the safeguarding of the legal methodologies of Islam (the Mathahib) necessarily means inherently preserving traditional Islam's internal 'checks and balances'. It thus assures balanced Islamic solutions for essential issues like human rights; women's rights; freedom of religion; legitimate jihad; good citizenship of Muslims in non-Muslim countries, and just and democratic government. It also exposes the illegitimate opinions of radical fundamentalists and terrorists from the point of view of true Islam. As George Yeo, the Foreign Minister of Singapore, declared in the 60th Session of the U.N. General Assembly (about the Amman Message): "Without this clarification, the war against terrorism would be much harder to fight."

Finally, whilst this by the Grace of God is a historical achievement, it will clearly remain only principial unless it is put into practice everywhere. For this reason, H.M. King Abdullah II is now seeking to implement it, God willing, through various pragmatic measures, including (1) inter-Islamic treaties; (2) national and international legislation using the Three Points of the Amman Message to define Islam and forbid takfir; (3) the use of publishing and the multi-media in all their aspects to spread the Amman Message; (4) instituting the teaching of the Amman Message in school curricula and university courses worldwide; and (5) making it part of the training of mosque Imams and making it included in their sermons.

God says in the Holy Qur'an says:

There is no good in much of their secret conferences save (in) whosoever enjoineth charity and fairness and peace-making among the people and whoso doeth that, seeking the good pleasure of God, We shall bestow on him a vast reward. (Al-Nisa, 4:114).

Now let's summarize the Amman message in this short video while listening to a lovely Jordanian song 

Azan in custody

Photo taken by Saba Al Muhtaseb 

Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem,behind an Israeli check point

  

Thread of return

Photo taken by Saba Al Muhtaseb

An abandoned sewing factory in Hebron,Palestine 

Take a closer look ! The worker did not leave without 

feeding the sewing machine one more thread,a thread of 

hope,one might say,a thread of return .  

Arachnidian settlement

Photo taken by Saba Al Muhtaseb 

A spider's web taking place inside a door keyhole of an abandoned Palestinian house in Hebron,Palestine 

Is Israel recruiting spiders to build settlements behind Obama's back now ? One may wonder .

Divine architecture

Photo taken by Saba Al Muhtaseb

A mosque looking after a church in Amman,Jordan 

Iftar at king Hussein's orphanage

Aiming to ease their pain, compensate them for what they lost, and reassure them that they are loved, cared for and valued, Naya CC - in cooperation with URI MENA office - held a Ramadani Iftar at king Hussein’s orphanage in Irbid ( A city about 80 km to the north of Amman ), where participants from three different religions and three different cooperation circles sat side by side with the orphans and dined right after Azan was called for by every mosque in the city, in a scene worthy of  a Ghog’s.

After Iftar and Almughreb prayers, orphans of ages 3 – 12 years old could be heard laughing from a mile distance, as Ameenah ( One of the participants from Iris women ) assembled everyone in a big circle, and displayed some of her charisma and quick-wit, teaching them some new games, so amusing, so hilarious that adults could not help but jump in and squeeze themselves among who looked like their age-peers at a time .

It’s worth mentioning that workers from the British embassy who were nearby decided to join URI members in entertaining the kids for about an hour and a half of non-stop fun .

URI CCs in Jordan have pulled off yet another successful activity on their voyage to draw a smile on everyone’s face, and planning for more and more .

Iftar : The evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan .

Azan : Islamic call to prayer .

The coin dealer

An Iraqi refugee, he has been embracing this corner of the world for the past 20 years, I used to buy coins from him when I was a kid. When he asked me about this sudden interest in taking a photo of him, I lied. I lied and told him I was going on a trip to the US and wanted my childhood memories to accompany me all the way over the Atlantic. And then, just at this moment a smile came along to shine his dark rough complexion. He rushed through his rusty, dusty old coins, pulled one out and asked me in kindness to memorize the symbol it carried on it. I observed the symbol and nodded. He then asked, “Can you get me a belt from the US with this symbol carved on its buckle on your way back to Jordan?”

“Would you wait for a year till I get back?” I replied.

“I would, even for five years,” he answered as if he was promised immortality.

“I will get you one,” I lied. I walked away, damned, banned from heaven, hovering in vain trying to recall the directions (North, South, West … East is no longer one of mine).

If you are interested in finding out what symbol he was talking about, check out the picture below !