Tuesday, September 23, 2008

If they rock like Slayer....

It is very likely that some musicians you see on stage are stoned.
Not everyone, of course.


















If people wear the same dress and read the same books, it is very likely that in some instances they will behave in a similar fashion.

Watch the video.
Is your neighbor in the same situation?




Monday, September 22, 2008

Europeans Warned to 'Repent before Allah Punishes You with His Hand and Ours'...

A leader of the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened France and Spain in an audio message broadcast on jihadist Internet forums on Monday.
"To those that are involved in the war against Islam and have betrayed the Islamic nation, we say to them: Repent before God punishes you with his hands and with ours," said Abdel Malik Droukedel, who uses the name Abu Musab Abdel Wudud.
"This is because judgement day is close and punishment is imminent. And whoever among the treacherous apostates thinks that France is in a position to ensure its safety, we tell them they are wrong, because France will not be in a position to do it, and will be worried for its safety.
"In the audio message, entitled "Message to our nation in the Islamic Maghreb", Droukedel reminds his listeners about Spain and Morocco's territorial dispute over the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
"Dear nation, it is not conceivable for any Muslim that loves Islam to speak of the Maghreb without remembering Ceuta and Melilla, occupied by Spain without remembering the injustice suffered by our nation," said Droukedel.

More here at AKI-Adnkronos International

Friday, September 19, 2008

The Quran at face value

For those of simple minds, who take texts at face value, let's look at the Quran, without prejudice, just analyzing what the text says in an unscientific manner. The Quran is the main holy book of Islam. It opens (somewhat illogically) with sura 2:

[002.001] Alif-Lâm-Mîm.[Translators note: These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur'ân and none but Allâh (Alone) knows their meanings.]
[002.002] This is the Book (the Qur'ân), whereof there is no doubt,


Hold it, right there: I am still in doubt what the first verse means! We are only 14 words into the text, and the first thing we're asked to do is to accept an obvious contradiction at face value, and thus implicitly to be willing to abandon logic and critical thinking, as if we were requested to leave shoes outside the door. 2:2 continues:


a guidance to those who are Al-Muttaqûn [the pious believers of Islamic Monotheism who fear Allâh much


The next thing the Quran asks for is fear. That's not a pleasent feeling. Other religions may choose to start with love, but this is Islam. Fear is also more useful for keeping adherents in a state of submission (the word 'Islam', literally translated, means 'Submission').

Now, Allah doesn't do much by himself, locked up in a corner of the Kaaba without means of communication to make his demands known. Thus, we instead have to use complex and frequently even contradictory interpretations of old books.

abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden) and love Allâh much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)].


After requesting to abandon rationality, then stating that the pious are to be in a state of fear, the Quran moves on to declare Islam a guide to the life of all believers, regulating their lives. In other times and places, that would be called totalitarian. Detailed commands follow in sura 2:3:


[002.003] Who believe in the Ghaib (Note 1) and perform As-Salât (the prayers), (Note 2) and spend out of what We have provided for them [i.e. give Zakât (obligatory charity), spend on themselves, their parents, their children, their wives, and also give charity to the poor and also in Allâh's Cause – Jihâd].


A lot goes on here. Let's take it bit by bit:


[002.003] Who believe in the Ghaib (Note 1)


'Ghaib' means all kind of unseen and unprovable things – angles, miracles, books sent down from various places in the universe – and belief in this is a requirement in Islam. As is, according to the footnote, accepting everything in the Quran at face value, including the rather unusual shots at explaining things better left to science to take care of. Rational thinking would require evidence to make the claims to science credible, but the believers are requested to believe without that.


and perform As-Salât (the prayers), (Note 2)


As-Salât, as mentioned before, is the ritual prayer that shows submission and obedience to the 'divine' will. The footnote in the 'Noble' Quraan requests also gender segregation, forcing children to perform the prayers from the age of 7, and to beat the children into performing this religious duty from the age of 10 onwards. This is all explained by the representatives, who benefit from:


and spend out of what We have provided for them


Here's something easily missed: "We have provided"? The underlying principle here is that all things, material, immaterial and living beings, ultimately belong to Allah. This is a despotic point of view, where obedience to the ruler is absolute, including sacrifice of life if needed for the rule of the absolute despot. The contrary principle is that of private property, where individuals are the ultimate owners of what they have, not some abstract or even imaginary deity.


[i.e. give Zakât (obligatory charity),


Hardly surprising, parting with money comes early on the list of religious duties. Fascist regimes need resources to purchase loyalty and implement an effective totalitarian rule. Islam, as a political ideology, is similar.


For those who wondered how long it would be before this would point towards war, comes this:


spend on themselves, their parents, their children, their wives, and also give charity to the poor and also in Allâh's Cause – Jihâd].


First, a list of less important reasons (not 'excuses' according to Islamic tradition), and then comes what matters: Benefiting Islam (and by implication its representatives working for the 'Cause'). That 'Cause' is the expansion of Islamic rule, and 'Jihad' is the effort to do so. As to whether Jihad is violent or not, the best response might be "As required".


[002.004] And who believe in that (the Qur'ân and the Sunnah) which has been sent down (revealed) to you (Muhammad [sal-Allâhu 'alayhi wa sallam]) and in that which was sent down before you [the Taurât (Torah) and the Injîl (Gospel)] and they believe with certainty in the Hereafter. (Resurrection, recompense of their good and bad deeds, Paradise and Hell).


Here it's worth noting that what is in parenthesis has been inserted by the translators to clarify difficult points in the text. Of which there are many, again contradicting the initial statement that this is a book free of doubt. Effectively, books like the Noble Quraan become Quran commentaries in themselves, removing ourselves somewhat from the original (supposedly perfect) text. Removing the comments can be interesting:


[002.004] And who believe in that which has been sent down to you and in that which was sent down before you and they believe with certainty in the Hereafter.

........................


A lot of insight into Islam can be gained from the first few verses of the Qur'an. To read more click here..

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Holy Warriors force WHO to cancel polio jabs for Afghan children

Polio vaccinations for over a million Afghan children have been cancelled, the World Health Organization said Tuesday after two doctors were killed in a Taliban suicide attack.
"Campaigns in the southern region are cancelled," WHO spokeswoman Sona Bari told AFP.
The programme was due to start on September 21 and was intended to reach 1.2 million children aged under five in Afghanistan's southern regions, she said.
Two Afghan doctors working for the WHO were killed in a suicide car bombing in southeastern Afghanistan Sunday that was claimed by the Taliban.
The WHO said that a similar campaign in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman was still likely to go ahead, as were future campaigns in the south in October and November.

GENEVA (AFP)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Mickey Mouse must die, says Saudi Arabian cleric

Mickey Mouse is a corrupting influence and must die, a Muslim cleric has declared.
















Sheikh Muhammad Munajid claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" and makes everything it touches impure.
But he warned that depictions of the creature in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney's Mickey Mouse, had taught children that it was in fact loveable.
The cleric, a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, said that under Sharia, both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed.
Mr Munajid was asked to give Islam's teaching on mice during a religious affairs programme broadcast on al-Majd TV, an Arab television network.
According to a translation prepared by the Middle East Media Research Institute, an American press monitoring service, he said: "The mouse is one of Satan's soldiers and is steered by him.
"If a mouse falls into a pot of food – if the food is solid, you should chuck out the mouse and the food touching it, and if it is liquid – you should chuck out the whole thing, because the mouse is impure.
"According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today – after Tom and Jerry?
"Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children. Even mice.
"Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases."
Last month Mr Munajid condemned the Beijing Olympics as the "bikini Olympics", claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes dressed in skimpy outfits.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Criminalizing Criticism of Islam

There are strange happenings in the world of international jurisprudence that do not bode well for the future of free speech. In an unprecedented case, a Jordanian court is prosecuting 12 Europeans in an extraterritorial attempt to silence the debate on radical Islam.
The prosecutor general in Amman charged the 12 with blasphemy, demeaning Islam and Muslim feelings, and slandering and insulting the prophet Muhammad in violation of the Jordanian Penal Code. The charges are especially unusual because the alleged violations were not committed on Jordanian soil.

Among the defendants is the Danish cartoonist whose alleged crime was to draw in 2005 one of the Muhammad illustrations that instigators then used to spark Muslim riots around the world. His co-defendants include 10 editors of Danish newspapers that published the images. The 12th accused man is Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who supposedly broke Jordanian law by releasing on the Web his recent film, "Fitna," which tries to examine how the Quran inspires Islamic terrorism.

Jordan's attempt at criminalizing free speech beyond its own borders wouldn't be so serious if it were an isolated case. Unfortunately, it is part of a larger campaign to use the law and international forums to intimidate critics of militant Islam. For instance, in December the United Nations General Assembly passed the Resolution on Combating Defamation of Religions; the only religion mentioned by name was Islam. While such resolutions aren't legally binding, national governments sometimes cite them as justification for legislation or other actions.

More worrying, the U.N. Human Rights Council in June said it would refrain from condemning human-rights abuses related to "a particular religion." The ban applies to all religions, but it was prompted by Muslim countries that complained about linking Islamic law, Shariah, to such outrages as female genital mutilation and death by stoning for adulterers. This kind of self-censorship could prove dangerous for people suffering abuse, and it follows the council's March decision to have its expert on free speech investigate individuals and the media for negative comments about Islam.


Given this trend, it's worth taking a closer look at the Jordanian case.

Read on here at The Wall Street Journal

Friday, September 12, 2008

Palestinian father buries his daughter alive

A Palestinian woman died after her father buried her alive claiming he wanted to preserve the "family honor." The father, in his seventies, turned himself in and admitted to killing his 24-year-old divorced daughter.
After investigating the crime scene, the police discovered that the woman’s father had tied her arms and legs and muzzled her before burying her alive. According to press reports on Monday, the coroner was to examine the body to determine whether the woman was also beaten before her death.
The police also detained four of the victim's brothers to investigate their involvement in the crime.

Similar deaths in Pakistan

In a similar incident, tribesmen in western Pakistan buried three girls and two women alive for alleged honor crimes. The three girls, whose ages range between 16 and 18, hailed from the Balochistan province and had expressed their desire to choose their husbands themselves. The two women had supported the girls’ position. But the request, which goes against the tribe's customs, was considered by the tribesmen to be a violation of the tribe's honor.
Local authorities have not arrested any suspect in the crime. Pakistani MP Serdar Israr-Allah brought up the incident in parliament and expressed his resentment towards the crime.
He demanded that the authorities arrest the culprits who murdered the women.

from: Al Arabiyya News Channel

Monday, September 08, 2008

MOROCCO:FATWA IN FAVOUR OF 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL MARRIAGE....

"A nine-year-old girl has the same sexual capacities like a woman of twenty and over". Thus reads a fatwa issued by Skeikh Mohamed Ibn Abderrahmane Al-Maghraoui, according to Moroccan daily 'Aujourd'hui Le Maroc'.
This immediately sparked off a hot debate, with most of the public opinion absolutely against this stance which is a permit for paedophilia, many say, among other things. Among the various stances against the fatwa (in the Islamic culture, a decree of religious character issued by Islamic experts which regulates issues of topical character), the daily reported those of extremist MP Abdelbari Zamzami and the president of association 'No one touches my children', Najia Adib.
Zamzami, referring to the fact that Al-Maghraoui wanted to make his fatwa unassailable reminding that Muhammad "married Aisha who was nine", reiterated that the sheikh used the event as a pretext for this "scandalous practice". "The era of our Prophet is completely different from ours," he said on the issue. "These days a marriage of the kind would be a true injustice towards the girl. A true aberration."
"Aberrant" was also the judgement of Najia Adib ('No one touches my children'), according to whom "this sheikh is simply encouraging paedophilia. If he is so deeply convinced of what he thinks, let's tell him to get his daughter married". But perhaps, she explains, this unknown sheikh was searching a little media attention. And concluded her interview with the Moroccan daily: "This type of people look at Islam from the point of view which is convenient for them. It is a restrictive vision of Islam. And it is bad. Fatwas like these show the lack of reasoning from those who issue them. I cannot understand via what intellectual road or for what mental construction they come to such aberrations".
The law in Morocco envisages the minimum age for getting married at 18 years for both men and women. Marrying below this age requires the consent of the parents and of a judge. But it refers to teenagers not children. (ANSAmed).

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Attempts to shut down criticism of Islam are still on the table at the UN

The National Secular Society, together with the International Humanist and Ethical Union, has been working over the past year to try to raise the alarm about the concerted efforts by Islamic groups to write blasphemy laws into international human rights legislation.
Our efforts seem to be paying off, as other countries and organisations begin to appreciate the profound dangers to free speech posed by proposals from the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
The OIC has sponsored a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council entitled “Combating Defamation of Religion.” It has been approved by the UNHRC every year since 2005, and is coming up for renewal in the next couple of months.
But at last the United States and various human rights organisations have woken up to the fact that the OIC resolution is actually an attempt to make “defamation of religion” (and in particular Islam) into an international offence. “Defamation of religion” is a wide ranging concept and can be used to silence any criticism of Islam.
Now U.S. officials have said they hope to persuade “moderate Muslim nations” — among them Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and Indonesia — to reject the measure, which so far lacks the force of law but has provided diplomatic cover for regimes that repress critical speech. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.
Religious rights groups say other U.N. measures, including statements by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, replicate the language of the resolution.
“Before, it was one resolution with no impact and no implementation,” said Felice Gaer, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan federal body that investigates abuses and proposes policies to advance freedom of thought, conscience and religion. “Now we are seeing a clear attempt by OIC countries to mainstream the concept and insert it into just about every other topic they can,” Miss Gaer said. “They are turning freedom of expression into restriction of expression.”
European governments are also concerned. The European Centre for Law and Justice filed a brief with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in June warning that such anti-defamation resolutions “are in direct violation of international law concerning the rights to freedom of religion and expression.”
U.S. officials working on human rights said the resolutions are being used to justify harsh blasphemy laws in countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Afghanistan.
The American and European governments warn that the resolution — which specifically mentions Islam but no other religions — is “an Orwellian text” that has been used to shut down free speech.
The resolution “replaces the existing objective criterion of limitations on speech where there is an intent to incite hatred or violence against religious believers with a subjective criterion that considers whether the religion or its believers feel offended by the speech,” said the brief by the European Centre for Law and Justice. “In cases we’ve monitored, it’s minority religions — Christians, Baha’i, and non-conforming Muslims” — who are most at risk, Miss Gaer said. “People who want to interpret their religion differently than some of the more orthodox clerics would.”
“This [language] destabilises the whole human rights system,” said Angela Wu, international law director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm in Washington. “It empowers the state rather than individual, and protects ideas rather than the person who holds them.”
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the NSS, who has been particularly active in raising awareness in international forums of the dangers of the OIC resolution, said: “It is gratifying that others are at last taking on board the dire threat the OIC proposals pose to free expression. If they are approved and gain some kind of legal credence, we can expect to see prosecutions for blasphemy (or “defamation of religions” as it will be called) all over the world. The Islamist desire to stop all open discussion of Islam will have been achieved.”

From: National Secular Society

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Lawmaker defends honor killings

A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by southwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament this week to spare him their outrage.
"These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, said Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."
The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch.
They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists, who said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing
Zehri told a packed and flabbergasted Parliament on Friday that Baluch tribal traditions helped stop obscenity and then asked fellow lawmakers not to make a big fuss about it.
Many stood up in protest, saying the executions were "barbaric" and demanding that discussions continue Monday. But a handful said it was an internal matter of the deeply conservative province.
"I was shocked," said lawmaker Nilofar Bakhtiar, who pushed for legislation calling for perpetrators of so-called honor killings to be punished when she served as minister of women's affairs under the last government.
"I feel that we've gone back to the starting point again," she said. "It's really sad for me."
The incident allegedly occurred one month ago in Baba Kot, a remote village in Jafferabad district, after the women decided to defy tribal elders and arrange marriages in a civil court, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.
....
From: The International Herald Tribune.

This is an update on this story. - Five women buried alive in name of honour
Monday August 25, 2008 (1134 PST)ISLAMABAD:

Three teenage girls along with their two close elderly relatives were shot at before being buried alive in a desert of Balochistan by their tribesmen in the name of honour.
The shocking reports of this horrible incident reaching the capital from different quarters revealed that the girls studying in classes 10 to 12 intended to marry men of their choice through a civil court by defying the centuries-old tribal traditions. When the fuming elders of Umrani tribe came to know about the intentions of these girls to appear before a local court, they picked them up from their homes along with two of their elderly women relatives. The crying girls were pushed into official cars and driven to a deserted area. There they were pushed out of the cars, made to stand in a queue and volleys of shots fired at them.
As the bleeding girls fell on the sand, the tribesmen dragged them into a nearby ditch and levelled it with earth and stones before the girls could breathe their last. As the two shocked elderly women tried to rescue the hapless girls, they too were gunned down and buried in the same manner.
The killers after burying these women returned to their tribe like conquerors without any action against them.
......................................................

  • A manual of Islamic law certified by Al-Azhar as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2).

In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law?

Friday, August 29, 2008

Ramadan clock confusion

The start of the holy month of Ramadan next week is causing clock confusion in the Middle East. Egypt and the Palestinians are falling back an hour far earlier than usual, trying to reduce daylight hours for Muslims fasting until sunset in sweltering summer temperatures.

Politics also adds a twist. The Palestinian extremist group Hamas was ending daylight saving time at 11:59 last night in the Gaza Strip, which it controls, while the West Bank, run by the rival Fatah faction, is waiting until midnight Sunday.

The Palestinians have traditionally changed their clocks at different times from Israel in a gesture of independence. Now, for the first time, they are directing the gesture at each other, reflecting the rival claims for power in the year-old split between the Palestinian territories.

"Hamas just wants to show they're different from the Palestinian government, to pretend that they are the real government here," said Jamal Zakout, a spokesman for the prime minister of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. He said the authority chose midnight Sunday because Ramadan is expected to begin Monday.

Egypt was also moving its clocks back one hour at 11:59 last night, a full month earlier than usual. The switch puts Egypt two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and at least an hour later than its Mideast neighbors.

The creeping up of the clock change reflects the complications of the lunar Islamic calendar.

Ramadan arrives about 11 days earlier each year. Currently, that brings it more into the long, hot days of summer, making it particularly tough for Muslims, who abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset during the holy month. Even in September, temperatures in Egypt are in the upper 90s.

Egypt's decision will enable its people to have their iftar evening meal, breaking the fast, an hour earlier.

Israel goes off daylight saving time Oct. 5, before the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. This will not reduce the length of the fast, which goes from sunset to sunset, but will reduce the number of daytime hours observant Jews must go without food or water.

Jordan and Lebanon will switch the clocks back as usual by the end of October. Syria falls back in late September. Saudi Arabia and Iraq don't change clocks.

To go to source click here

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Eight-year-old Saudi girl seeks divorce from a man in his fifties.

The girl, who still does not know she is married, lives with her parents in the town of Unayzah, 135 miles north of the capital Riyadh. The marriage had been arranged in secret by her father.

She is preparing to start the new year at primary school in the town, which is located in the conservative Najd region of the country - the spiritual homeland of the Islamist Wahhabi movement that has long dominated the kingdom.

According to the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Watan, which reported the case, the divorce suit has been filed by the girl's mother.

Her relatives have contacted human rights groups in the kingdom to try to arrange legal help to annul the marriage.

However, the husband has refused, saying he has done nothing wrong.

From : Telegraph.co.uk

Monday, August 25, 2008

Undercover Mosque: The Return. - "Kill him, kill him. You have to kill him, you understand. This is Islam."

Three months after Dispatches: Undercover Mosque won a police apology and libel damages, Channel 4 has announced it is returning to the subject in Undercover Mosque: The Return.

Earlier this year West Midlands police and the Crown Prosecution Service paid out a six-figure sum to Channel 4 and Undercover Mosque Hardcash, the independent producer responsible for the documentary, after falsely accusing the programme of misleading viewers.

The documentary, an undercover investigation into extremism in mainstream British mosques, featured preachers calling for homosexuals to be killed, espousing male supremacy, condemning non-Muslims and predicting jihad.
.....

In the new documentary, a female reporter attends prayer meetings at an important British mosque which claims to be dedicated to moderation and "dialogue with other faiths".
According to Channel 4, "she secretly films sermons given to the women-only congregation in which female preachers recite extremist and intolerant beliefs".

In one scene, as hundreds of women and some children come to pray, a preacher calls for adulterers, homosexuals, women who act like men and Muslim converts to other faiths to be killed, saying: "Kill him, kill him. You have to kill him, you understand. This is Islam."

Channel 4 also said that in the same mosque, "the reporter visits the bookshop and discovers books and DVDs still on sale, promoting extremist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic and intolerant messages".

The undercover reporter also "films inside a key Saudi-funded Muslim organisation, which claims to promote tolerance and integration yet distributes literature which promotes intolerance for non-Muslims, an extreme version of sharia law and teachings which support discrimination against women".

In addition, Undercover Mosque: The Return also "investigates the role of the Saudi Arabian religious establishment in spreading a hard-line, fundamentalist Islamic ideology in the UK - the very ideology the government claims to be tackling"

A former Foreign Office minister tells Dispatches he thinks the government should take a stronger line on the issue.
The film also includes interviews with Islamic academics who condemn messages of intolerance and segregation and warn of the impact they will have on British society.

Dispatches: Undercover Mosque: The Return will air on Channel 4 on September 1 at 8pm.

From : The Guardian

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Mullah says Female Officiated Wedding a 'Cruel Joke on Islam'...

A Muslim marriage in northern India officiated by women has sparked an angry debate, with one of the most influential Islamic seminaries in South Asia calling it an affront to the religion.
Naish Hasan, the 28-year-old bride and a women's rights activist, and Imran Ali, the 41- year-old groom, were married last week in a ceremony that is believed to be the first of its kind in India.
Muslim marriages are traditionally officiated by a man, often a local community leader. The signing of the wedding contract is also witnessed by four Muslim males, two each for the bride and groom.
But the marriage last week in the northern city of Lucknow was presided over by a woman and all the witnesses were female. The only man involved in the wedding was Ali.
Women's rights activists have greeted the marriage as a symbolic step forward for Muslim women, but the ceremony sparked a firestorm of criticism from conservative Islamic institutions, especially the Dar-ul-Uloom seminary in northern India.
The seminary is an intellectual hub for South Asian Muslims. Many of its theologians have publicly denounced terrorism but their work has nonetheless provided the intellectual underpinning for some of the most radical and violent Islamic movements in the region, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan.
An official at Dar-ul-Uloom, Ahmad Khizar Shah Masudi, called the marriage a "cruel joke on (Islamic) laws."
Another Muslim group, the Lucknow Idgah Committee, has said the marriage is invalid under Islamic law.
Hasan, the bride, works for Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Aandolan, or the Indian Muslim Women's Movement, a rights group that seeks a greater role for women in Indian Muslim society.
Hasan brushed off the criticism. "I do not care. Islam says there cannot be anyone between Allah and his disciple. How come these clergymen are interfering in our matter?" she said.
India, a predominantly Hindu country with a sizable Muslim minority, allows marriage, divorce and inheritance matters to be determined by religious laws, and the couple's unorthodox ceremony was approved by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which sets the rules on Muslim religious matters.

Source: The Sudbury Star (Posted by the Associated Press)

Hot Kaafaru Manje'

This posting is dedicated to those girls who have been forced to wear a burugaa and are yearning to break free.. Enjoy and be inspired by the video..





Tal Wilkenfeld's Official Site



Tal Wilkenfeld jammin' with guitar legend Jeff Beck at the Crossroads Guitar Festival