ISLAM IS BRITAIN'S FASTEST-GROWING RELIGION

Islam is Britain’s Fastest-Growing Religion

 

In 1900, almost 80% of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America. Today Christianity has declined in large parts of Europe, its traditional heartland, and is surging in Latin America, Africa and China. More than 60% of the world’s Christian population is now concentrated in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The share of Europe in the world’s Christian population has shrunk to about 26%.

The decline of Christianity in its European heartland is evidenced in the declining fertility rates and the fall in the Christian population, in the falling rates of church membership and attendance, in the diminishing recruitment of the clergy, in the growing loss of faith among European Christians, in the radical changes in codes of personal behaviour in respect of sexuality, birth control, abortion, marriage and living together without marrying. A series of  Eurobarometer surveys since 1970 in five key European countries (France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy) show that regular church attendance has fallen from about 40% three or four decades ago to less than 15% today. In Germany, between 1965 and 1999, the percentage of church-goers dropped from 75% to less than 30% and has now fallen to less than 15%. In 1851 about 60% of the population of England and Wales attended church services. By the end of the 20^th century, the figure fell to about 10%. According to the Church of England, 800,000 Christians attended a Sunday service in the UK in 2013, down from 160,000 in 1968. The available survey data suggest that there is a steady erosion of religious beliefs among Christians and a rapid decline in church membership and attendance. A number of surveys suggest an increasing loss of faith among Christians in several parts of Europe. Almost 40% of the French and 34% of Swedes deny the existence of God.

A rapid decline in church membership and attendance and the escalating costs of maintenance of churches have led to the closure of thousands of Protestant and Catholic churches across Europe. Thousands of churches in Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and other European countries have been converted into restaurants, shopping centres, supermarkets, theatres, banks, offices, libraries, clubs and pubs. Dozens of churches have been sold to Muslims and Sikhs, who have converted them into their respective places of worship.  Between 1990 and 2010, 340 Protestant churches were closed down in Germany, and of those 46 were demolished. In Hamburg, a Protestant church building has been bought by the local Muslim community. It is estimated that out of about 45,000 churches in Germany, some 15,000 will soon be out of use. 

In the Netherlands, almost 60 churches are shut down, sold or demolished every year. There are about 47,000 churches in the UK and thousands of them have fallen into disrepair. Since 1960, nearly 10,000 churches have been closed down in the UK. Many of them have been converted into homes, offices and pubs or sold to Muslim worshippers. Methodist churches declined from 14,000 in 1932 to 6,000 today and closing down at the rate of 100 a year. The 18^th century Huguenot church in the East End of London became a Methodist chapel in 1819, a synagogue at the end of the 19^th century and a mosque in 1976.

                                            Fatih Camii Mosque in Amsterdam, formerly a

                                            Catholic church, which was sold to the local Turkish

                                            community.

In 2005, while lamenting the decline of churches in Europe and Australia, Pope Benedict said, “There is no longer evidence for a need for God, even less of Christ. The so-called traditional churches look like they are dying.” Lord William of Oystermouth, former Archbishop of Canterbury, said in 2013 that Britain was no longer a “nation of believers,” adding that it was now “a post-Christian country.”

The Church of England has lost nearly two million followers in the last two years.

The Church of England has been in decline for the past three decades. The proportion of Anglicans in the country was 40 per cent in 1983. According to a recent survey carried out by the NatCen’s British Social Attitudes Survey, a well-known poll of public opinion, the Church of England has lost nearly two million followers in the last two years. The percentage of people affiliated to the Church of England dropped from 21 per cent in 2012 to 17 per cent in 2014. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has warned that unless urgent action is taken the Anglican Church is “just one generation away from extinction.” According to the NatCen’s survey, nearly half (49 per cent) of Britons (24.7 million people) said they have no religious beliefs, compared with 31 per cent in 1983.   

Muslims in Britain

The global Muslim population is estimated to be around 1.85 billion today. According to the 2011 Pew Forum’s report, Europe is home to over 38 million Muslims, who make up more than 6 per cent of the continent’s population. The largest Muslim populations in Europe are found in France (over 6 million), Germany (over 4 million), UK (2.9 million) and Spain (1.6 million). The population of Muslims in the Russian Federation is over 20 million. Islam is spreading with amazing speed across several parts of Europe and the United States.

Islam is now Britain’s fastest-growing religion.

The 2011 census data showed that Islam was the fastest-growing religion in the UK and estimated the country’s Muslim population at 2.7 million (4.8 per cent of the population). The 2015 survey by NatCen shows that the number of Muslims in the UK during 2012-2014 grew by almost a million and that Muslims now make up over 5 per cent of Britain’s population.

A 2013 study by Faith Matters, an inter-faith think-tank, suggested that the number of Britons who have entered the fold of Islam is as high as 100,000, with 5,000 new conversions each year. A study carried out at Swansea University showed that in the past ten years, some 10,000 Britons have converted to Islam, and three-quarters of them were women. Of the 5,200 Britons who converted to Islam in 2010, more than half were white and nearly 75% of them were women. Despite the wide prevalence of the stereotype that Islam is oppressive to women, a quarter of female converts were attracted to Islam mainly because they felt it treated women with honour and dignity.

White Europeans who have converted to Islam include many prominent persons and intellectuals, including Martin Lings, a former Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts at the British Museum, Yusuf Islam, the former pop singer Kete Stevens, Timothy J. Winter, an Oxford scholar, Yahya Birt, the son of BBC’s former chief, Joe Ahmad Dobson, the son of a former cabinet minister in Britain, Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair, Yuonne Ridley, a British journalist who embraced Islam in 2003 after being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Angela Collins Telles, an American woman who travelled across Egypt and Syria and was impressed by the people’s generosity and kindness there.

Germany’s Highest Court Lifts Ban on Headscarves

Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair

KIMORALI, MBUNDIMBUNDI ZINAVYOVUNJA NDOA WILAYANI ROMBO, TANZANIA !!!

Kimorali, Mbundimbundi ‘zinavyovunja ndoa’ Rombo [Mungu ameharamisha  Ulevi wa aina yoyote katika Kur-an-  blogger]

Na Fina Lyimo, Mwananchi, Tanzania.

Posted  Jumanne, Juni 2  2015  saa 12:1 PM

Kwa ufupi

• Wilaya ya Rombo yadaiwa kuwa na aina 52 ya pombe za kienyeji, Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro waanzisha operesheni kukabili utengenezaji na unywaji uliokithiri.

Wilaya ya Rombo, Kilimanjaro imekuwa na sifa nzuri ya  uchapakazi na kuifanya kuwa na wafanyabiashara pia wajasiriamali wengi hivyo kuchagiza maendeleo ya eneo hilo hata Taifa.

Hata hivyo, sifa hiyo nzuri inaporomoka kutokana na kuingia doa kwa kukumbwa na wimbi la utengenezaji, uuzwaji na unywaji wa pombe za kienyeji ikiwamo maarufu na haramu ya gongo.

Wilayani Rombo sasa kunakadiriwa kuwa na aina 52 za pombe zinazotengenezwa kienyeji bila kuzingatia ubora. Pombe hizo zimesababisha vijana wengi kujiingiza na kuzama katika ulevi uliopindukia hivyo kupoteza nguvu kazi.

Hali hiyo pia imeanza kuibadili sifa iliyokuwapo ya kukubalika kuwa na watu wachapakazi na wajasiriamali. Mtazamo huo umebadilika na Rombo kuanza kutazamwa kama eneo la wanywaji pombe wa kupindukia.

Matokeo ya hivi karibuni ya Ripoti ya Utafiti wa Ukubwa wa Matumizi ya Pombe nchini, yaliutaja Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro kuongoza kwa kuwa na idadi kubwa ya wanywaji huku Wilaya ya Rombo ikitajwa kuongoza hasa vijana na wanaume.

Mbali na matokeo ya utafiti huo uliofanywa na Taasisi ya Taifa ya Utafiti Magonjwa ya Binadamu (NIMR) na matokeo yake kutangazwa Machi,  2015 unywaji uliopitiliza wa pombe haramu umeleta mifarakano ndani ya baadhi ya familia za Wilaya ya Rombo na kuzua malalamiko kutoka kwa wanandoa hasa kina mama, wanaodai kunyimwa unyumba.

Hata hivyo, uchunguzi unaonyesha kuwa matumizi ya pombe hizo yanatokana na wananchi wengi kushindwa kumudu bei ya bia ambayo ni kati ya Sh2,200 hadi 3,500, hivyo kukimbilia pombe za kienyeji na pombe kali (spirit). Hali hiyo ya unywaji wa pombe kupita kiasi, inaelezwa kuwa ilianza takriban miaka 15 iliyopita, ambako pia uzalishaji wa pombe zisizo na viwango ulianza na kudhoofisha baadhi ya wanaume, ambao ndiyo wateja wa kubwa.

Ingawa kina mama pia wa wilayani Rombo wamekuwa wakinywa pombe hizo, lakini hali imekuwa mbaya zaidi kwa baadhi ya wanaume na vijana.

Mkazi wa Kijiji cha Kikelewa kilichopo Tarakea wilayani humo, Germana Kimario anasema awali pombe haramu aina ya gongo ilikuwapo na ilitumiwa na baadhi ya wananume lakini  haikuwa na madhara makubwa kama ilivyo sasa.

Anasema tangu kuanza kuzalishwa aina hizo za pombe katika wilaya  hiyo, baadhi ya vijana na wanaume wamekuwa wakidhoofika siku hadi siku hali inayosababisha wanawake  kufanya kazi ambazo zingefanywa na wanaume kama vile kuchimba mitaro na kubeba zege.

Germana anasema Serikali inawajibika kuangalia namna ya kudhibiti pombe hizo kwa kuwakamata na kuwafilisi wanaozizalisha.

Anadokeza kuwa mara kadhaa wazalishaji pombe haramu wamekamatwa lakini waliachiwa na kuendelea na kazi yao. Anaeleza kwamba vijana wengi katika kijiji hicho wamegeuza pombe kuwa kama ‘wake zao’, wakisahau mambo mengi ya msingi ya kifamilia hata yale ya ujenzi wa Taifa.

“Vijana wengi hapa Rombo wakiamka asubuhi kitu wanachoweza ni ‘kimorali’ au ‘mbundimbundi’, hizo ni baadhi ya pombe zinazozalishwa hapa, ambazo zimekuwa zikiharibu afya za baadhi ya  vijana. Hali imekuwa ngumu kwa kuwa wanaume wakishaanza kunywa  pombe hizo hawawezi kufanya kazi nyingine yoyote zaidi ya kuanza kuuza vitu vya ndani ili aweze kupata fedha za kunywa,” anasimulia mama huyo.

Anaeleza kwamba katika kijiji hicho wanaume walio na nguvu, wengi ni Wakenya na kwamba  ndiyo wanaofanya kazi kutokana na mwingiliano wa eneo hilo la mpaka.

“Ndiyo hao pia wamekuwa wakitoa huduma ya ‘tendo la ndoa’ kwa wanawake wa kijiji hiki kutokana na wanaume kushindwa kutoa huduma hiyo,” anasema Germana.

Mkazi mwingine wa wilaya hiyo, Joyce Shirima ambaye hivi karibuni amehamia Dar es Salaam anasema: “Tatizo hilo linakuwa siku hadi siku kutokana na pombe hizo kupikwa karibu kila nyumba katika Tarafa ya Tarakea   na zinazidi kuharibu wanaume na vijana hapa Rombo.” Anaongeza: “Hali ilivyo sasa baadhi ya  wanaume na vijana wamekuwa wakishindwa kurudi nyumbani na kuishia kulala kwenye mitaro kutokana na ulevi.”

Mkazi mwingine, Athanas Kimario, anasema baadhi ya wanawake kutoka nje ya Rombo sasa hutumia mbinu ya kuolewa na wanaume wa Rombo ili kupata makazi ya kudumu lakini baadaye hufanya mbinu ya kupata watoto  kutoka kwa mwanaume wa nchi  jirani ya Kenya.

“Kuna uwezekano unywaji wa pombe hizo ukasababisha Tarakea ikawa na watoto wenye baba zao nchi jirani kutokana na unywaji wa hizi pombe, kwani hata ukinywa, hutamani tendo la ndoa kabisa,” anasema Kimario na kuongeza: “Kuna pombe nyingine wanaume wanaokunywa wanavimba mashavu, nyingine zinaharibu mwili, kuhakikishia hilo mtu aliyekunywa pombe hizo akikojoa kwenye majani hunyauka, hiyo inaonyesha wanachokunywa ni sumu.S"

“Mimi natumia pombe hizo pia hata tendo la ndoa silitamani kwa kuwa nikishakunywa ‘kimorali’  naishiwa nguvu kwa ulevi na siwezi kufanya chochote, ninalala tu. Sasa mke wangu ameniacha naishi mwenyewe.”

Padri wa Kanisa Katoliki, Kigango cha Kikelelwa, Serafin Kilawe anasema  kiwango cha ulevi katika tarafa hiyo ni kikubwa  na kwamba kimeathiri  baadhi ya vijana na wanaume.

Anasema hali hiyo imesababisha wanandoa wengi hasa wanawake kufikisha malalamiko yao kanisani wakiomba kusuluhishwa kutokana na waume zao kushindwa kuwahudumia katika haki ya ndoa.

“Tumekuwa tukitangaza katika ibada tunazozifanya kutaka watu waache unywaji pombe kupita kiasi, lakini hali hii imekuwa inaendelea kuota mizizi siku hadi siku kutokana na baadhi ya viongozi wa Serikali kugeuza maeneo yanayopika pombe hizo kuwa ‘ATM’ ya kujipatia fedha,” anasema Padri Kilawe.

Uchunguzi wa gazeti hili unaonyesha kuwa baadhi ya wasimamizi wa sheria wamekuwa wakiwatafuta wapika pombe na kuunga urafiki nao hivyo kutowathibiti kutokana na wao kuchukua rushwa  hali inayoruhusu wapikaji kuendelea kutengeneza pombe hizo  zinazoua nguvu kazi ya Rombo.

“Kweli kazi za maendelo sasa zinafanywa na kina mama kwa kuwa ndiyo wenye nguvu na wanaume kuishia kwenye pombe na kushindwa kusaidia familia zao,” anasema Padri Kilawe na  kuongeza:

“Kuna matajiri katika kijiji hiki kazi yao ni kuua watu kwa kuwa ndiyo watengenezaji wa pombe ambazo hazina kiwango. Siasa pia imeingia, viongozi wanaochaguliwa na wananchi hawathubutu kukemea ulevi kwa kuhofia kutochaguliwa.

Huku Tarakea,  baadhi ya viongozi wanafanya kampeni za kuomba kura kwa kusema endapo wakichaguliwa wataruhusu  uuzwaji wa pombe pamoja na unywaji wa pombe hizo. Hali hiyo  inasikitisha, kiongozi kuongoza wananchi wasio na nguvu na kuruhusu wanywe sumu?”

Mwenyekiti wa Kijiji cha Kikelelwa, Justine Shirima anakiri kuwapo kwa tatizo la wanandoa kutopewa haki yao ya msingi kutokana na ofisi yake kupokea malalamiko mengi hasa kutoka kwa wanawake.

“Wanawake wengi wanafika ofisini kuwalalamikia waume zao kutowatimizia tendo la ndoa kutokana na unywaji wa pombe uliokithiri,” anasema Shirima.

Anasema baadhi ya wanawake wanapata huduma hiyo kutoka kwa wanaume wa nchi jirani kutokana na eneo hilo kuwa mpakani na Kenya.

Mkuu wa Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro, Leonidas Gama anaeleza kuwa katika kikao cha Kamati ya Ushauri ya Mkoa (RCC),  mwaka jana ajenda iliyotawala ilikuwa ni unywaji wa pombe uliokithiri ndani ya mkoa na kwamba wilaya iliyokithiri ilitajwa kuwa ni Rombo.

Gama  alitoa agizo la kusambazwa kwa Waraka namba moja wa mwaka 2014 maeneo yote, ambao ulifafanua lengo la Serikali kufanya operesheni ya kudhibiti ulevi wa kupindukia ndani  ya mkoa huo.

Waraka huo uliogiza mamlaka zote za usalama na uongozi wa Serikali kuanza rasmi operesheni maalumu ya kudhibiti matumizi ya pombe yanayokiuka sheria kuanzia Desemba 15, 2014,  ulisomwa katika nyumba zote za ibada, kwenye mikusanyiko na kusambazwa kwa mashirika yasiyokuwa ya kiserikali (NGO) mkoani Kilimanjaro kwa muda wa mwezi mmoja, kuanzia Novemba 15, 2014.

Gama anasema waraka huo ulitokana na viongozi wa dini na baadhi ya wananchi wa mkoa huo kuona baadhi wa watu wakinywa pombe zisizo na viwango.

“Rombo ilionekana kuathirika zaidi hali ambayo ilinafanya nifanye  ziara nikajionee. Nilipokwenda niliwakuta wanawake wakichimba mitaro. Nilipowauliza wakasema wanaume hawawezi kufanya tena hiyo kazi kutokana na kuathirika na pombe zisizo,” anasema Gama.

Anasema pombe zinazozalishwa  ndani ya wilaya hiyo ni sumu kutokana na kuharibu afya za binadamu kwa kuwa  hata ukiwaona baadhi ya wanywaji, wamevimba mashavu na tumbo.

“Naambiwa pombe hizo zinachanganywa na betri za magari, kinyesi cha binadamu na mbolea ya urea. Kwa kweli hali hii isiposimamiwa na kudhibitiwa kwa haraka, kizazi cha Rombo kitakwisha,” anasema Gama.

Anaongeza: “Hali hiyo ilinisukuma kuwaagiza wakuu wa  wilaya kuweka mpango mikakati ya kutokomeza pombe  haramu zinazozalishwa ndani ya wilaya, ikiwa ni pamoja na kudhibiti unywaji wa pombe saa za kazi.”

Mkuu Walaya ya Rombo, Lembris Kipuyo anasema wilaya hiyo imeonekana kuwa na viashiria 10 vya uvunjifu wa amani  alivyovitaja kuwa ni watu kujichukulia sheria mkononi, malumbano ya kisiasa, matukio ya ubakaji, mimba kwa wanafuzi na uharibifu wa mazingira.

Vingine ni dawa za kulevya, pombe haramu ya gongo, utengenezwaji wa pombe ambazo ni zaidi ya aina 52 zisizo na viwango, kukithiri kwa uhalifu wa kutumia silaha na migogoro ya ardhi baina ya wafugaji na wakulima.

Kipuyo anasema kuwa kati ya vyote alivyotaja, kilichokithiri wilayani humo ni utengenezaji na unywaji wa pombe zisizo na viwango hali inayosababisha kuharibu nguvu kazi ya vijana.

Anasema kuwa kutokana na hali hiyo, wameanzisha operesheni endelevu ya kutokomeza pombe haramu ndani ya wilaya na kwamba katika ya miezi mitatu iliyopita, wamefanikiwa kukamata  na kuharibu zaidi ya lita 3,000 za gongo, mapipa  1,200  yenye lita 240  na kisima chenye zaidi ya lita 3,000 za  malighafi ya utengenezaji wa gongo.

Mkuu huyo wa wilaya anasema operesheni hiyo inayoshirikisha vitongoji, vijiji, kata pamoja na uongozi, inabena ujumbe usemao: “Wilaya Rombo bila gongo inawezekana.”

A MUSLIM WOMAN DENIED A CAN OF COKE IN A FLIGHT - THE BACKLASH OF ISLAM IS EVOLVING !!!

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No can of Coke for Muslim woman? American Islamic backlash simmers

Since the aftermath of 9/11, American conservatives and liberals have diverged sharply in what they think about Islam. Two events this weekend, including a spat over an in-flight Coke, hint at how and why a backlash to Islam is evolving.

By Mark Sappenfield,  21 hours ago

 

This weekend, a protest by anti-Muslim demonstrators with military-style weapons and an in-flight disagreement over a can of Diet Coke provided fresh evidence of a mounting Islamic backlash in America.

High-profile incidents have become familiar in recent months, with an outpouring of anti-Islamic sentiment on social media after the release of the surprise hit film "American Sniper," and a protest against an annual Muslim day of outreach at the Texas Legislature. A Mohammed cartoon drawing contest in Garland, Texas, last month, even provoked a failed terrorist attack.

Polls suggest that these flashpoints come from a decisive and growing split in how Americans see Islam. The current backlash is largely among conservatives, and it appears to reflect not just a fear of terrorist attack but also a deeper conviction that the tenets of Islam fundamentally prevent it from living peaceably with the modern world. The result has been a hardening of rhetoric.

Friday's protests were a response to last month's attack in Garland. About 250 demonstrators – many of them armed, some wearing T-shirts with profane anti-Muslim messages – gathered outside the Phoenix mosque where the shooters in the attack had worshipped. The organizer called himself a patriot standing up against the perceived tyranny of Islam.

Meanwhile on Sunday, social media was humming with the story of a Muslim scholar who had been denied a can of soda on a United Airlines flight because the attendant said it could be used as a weapon – though others on the flight had received cans, the scholar said. A fellow passenger also told the scholar: "yes you know you would use it as a WEAPON, so shut the **** up," she added on her Facebook page.

While the incidents point to activity on the anti-Muslim right in America, they also hint at its limits. Pro-Muslim counterprotests in Phoenix were reportedly just as large, and a Washington Post report spoke of anti-Muslim protesters whose minds were changed when they were welcomed into the mosque. Social media hashtags boycotting United Airlines and supporting the Islamic scholar have also sprung up.

In recent years, however, American opinions of whether Islam is more likely than other religions to promote violence have taken two very different tracks. From 2002 to 2003, the share of Democrats with that opinion spiked from 22 percent to 43 percent. But since then, the number has steadily declined to 29 percent in 2013, according to the Pew Research Center for US Politics & Policy.
For Republicans, there was also a spike from 2002 to 2003. But since then, the numbers have continued to climb to 62 percent in 2013.


Earlier this year, Pew reported that conservatives – particularly evangelicals – viewed Muslims more unfavorably than every other religious group, including atheists. On a "thermometer" to measure warmth of feeling, Muslims got a chilly 33 degrees from conservatives; evangelicals a toasty 71 degrees. Liberals had Muslims closer to the middle at 47 degrees.

In this divergence, the rise of Islamic State appears to have acted as a stimulant.

An NBC News poll taken shortly after the Islamic State's beheadings of two American captives last year found that 47 percent of respondents said that America was less safe now than before 9/11. The previous high – in 2013 – was 28 percent.

The spate of recent high profile anti-Muslim events has come since the rise of the Islamic State. But the Islamic State has no known operational capacity in the United States aside from attempts to inspire lone wolf terrorists from afar. And, by the best available data, right-wing extremists appear to have killed more people in America since 9/11 than have Islamist terrorists.

Instead, it is perhaps the Islamic State's apocalyptic brand of Islam – which embraces the notion that Islam cannot reconcile with the West as anything other than conquerors – that has most played into latent American fears.

The winner of the draw Mohammed contest, for example, told Jihad Watch that "any term other than Islam to refer to the enemy's ideology implies that Islam as such is not the problem, that only some deviant form of it is the problem. Every time we use a term other than Islam, we’re helping Islam."

Political activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali also became a frequent guest on conservative media after Brandeis University revoked its plan to give her an honorary degree. She has said "violence is inherent in Islam" and "Islam is the new fascism," according to The New York Times.

A groundbreaking piece on the Islamic State in The Atlantic took on the question of the group's "Islamic-ness" directly, suggesting that the rules of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria are drawn directly from and are consistent with the Quran. Other scholars have challenged that conclusion.
Contact with actual Muslims, however, has at times softened the cutting edges of the debate. In a Washington Post report on Friday's protests in Phoenix, Evan Wyloge writes:

Jason Leger, a Phoenix resident wearing one of the profanity-laced shirts, accepted an invitation to join the evening prayer inside the mosque, and said the experience changed him.
“It was something I’ve never seen before. I took my shoes off. I kneeled. I saw a bunch of peaceful people. We all got along,” Leger said. “They made me feel welcome, you know. I just think everybody’s points are getting misconstrued, saying things out of emotion, saying things they don’t believe.”
Paul Griffin, who had earlier said he didn’t care if his t-shirt was offensive, assured a small crowd of Muslims at the end of the rally that he wouldn’t wear it again.

“I promise, the next time you see me, I won’t be wearing this shirt,” he told one man while shaking his hand and smiling. “I won’t wear it again.”

To some, the backlash against Islam speaks primarily to the rise of Muslims as a visible – and visibly distinct – minority. By 2050, they will be the second-largest religious group in the United States (at 2 percent), outnumbering Jews, according to the Pew Research Center for Religion & Public Life.

"The good news is that everything that is said about Muslims today – that they are not American, that they are fearful, that they don't belong here – everything that was said about Muslims today were said about the Jews in the '40s and '50s, was said about Catholics at the end of the 19th century," Iranian-American author Reza Aslan told "The Daily Show." "And those two religions, through the passage of time, through the slow-building of relationships and the integration of story, became very much part of the religious fabric."

ABERCROMBIE [USA] DENIED A MUSLIM WOMAN A JOB FOR WEARING HIJAB

U.S. Supreme Court rules for Muslim woman denied job at clothing store

May 1, 2015, 1 hour ago

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By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who sued after being denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch Co clothing store in Oklahoma because she wore a head scarf for religious reasons.

On an 8-1 vote in an important religious rights case, the court handed a victory to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency that sued the company on behalf of Samantha Elauf. She was denied a sales job in 2008 at an Abercrombie Kids store in Tulsa when she was 17.

The legal question before the court was whether Elauf was required to ask for a religious accommodation in order for the company to be sued under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which, among other things, bans employment discrimination based on religious beliefs and practices.

Monday's ruling was the second decision by the high court during its current term in favor of a Muslim alleging discrimination. In January, the justices found that an Arkansas policy prohibiting inmates from having beards violated the religious rights of a prisoner who had wanted to grow one in accordance with his Muslim beliefs.

The court has taken an expansive view of religious rights. Last year, it sided with a Christian-owned company that objected on religious grounds to providing health insurance coverage for certain contraceptives.

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A shopper walks down Fifth Avenue with an Abercrombie & Fitch bag in New York October 8, 2009. ( …

 

Abercombie said in a statement that the case will continue, noting that the court had not determined that discrimination took place.


"We will determine our next steps in the litigation," the statement said.

The court, in an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, ruled that Elauf needed only to show that her need for an accommodation was a motivating factor in the employer's decision.

Elauf was wearing a head scarf, or hijab, at the job interview but did not specifically say that, as a Muslim, she wanted the company to give her a religious accommodation.

"A request for accommodation ... may make it easier to infer motive, but it is not a necessary condition of liability," Scalia wrote.

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Zainab Chaudry (C) joins other supporters from The Council on American-Islamic Relations during a ne …

 

Justice Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenter. He said that "mere application of a neutral policy" should not be viewed as discrimination.

The company denied Elauf the job on the grounds that wearing the scarf violated its "look policy" for members of the sales staff, a policy intended to promote the brand's East Coast collegiate image.

Abercrombie said in its statement that in April it replaced the "look policy" with "a new dress code that allows associates to be more individualistic" while also changing hiring practices so that "attractiveness" is no longer a factor.

Muslim groups said in a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Elauf that employment discrimination against Muslims is widespread in the United States. Often, the act of a woman wearing a head scarf is what triggers the discrimination, according to the brief. The EEOC has reported that Muslims file more employment claims about discrimination and the failure to provide religious accommodations than any other religious group.

Groups representing Christians, Jews and Sikhs also filed court papers backing Elauf.

The case involving a young Muslim woman alleging workplace discrimination in the American heartland was decided by the top U.S. court at a time when some Western nations are struggling with culture clashes relating to accommodating Muslim populations. The United States has not, however, faced the same tensions as some European countries including France.

The case is EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, U.S. Supreme Court, No.14-86.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley. Additional reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan; Editing by Will Dunham)

IT'S A NO BRAINER - SMOKING DESTROYS AND KILLS

South African National Halaal Authority (SANHA)
IT'S A NO BRAINER - SMOKING DESTROYS
No.96	May 2015 : Shabaan 1436
		From the “glamour” associated with smoking that hooks teenagers with their first puff to the lag of several years before their health suffers and leads to a painful death, we see an increase in the death toll today. It has caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century and if the trend continues, it will result in one billion deaths in the 21st century. Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death which kills more people every year than all drugs combined, alcohol and vehicle accidents. SANHA has over the years presented compelling arguments with irrefutable evidence backed up by scientific research on the harmful effects which we summarise below:- DIVINE LAW Most of the world’s religions regard smoking to be a sin and forbid it. Islam as the Final Revelation to mankind has condemned smoking and Muslim Jurists have ruled it to be either Makruh (detested and undesirable) or Haraam (forbidden) on the basis of causing harm to one’s health (Qur'an 2:195 & 4:29), danger to your family's health and the environment (Qur'an 33:58), inconvenience, harm and discomfort to others (Hadith), waste of money (Qur'an 17:26-27) and possible ingestion of Haraam ingredients (Quran 7:157). HEALTH The tobacco smoke you inhale contains 4000 different chemicals with known cancer-causing carcinogens. Then there is a poisonous algoid called nicotine whose pharmacologic and behavioural processes that determine addiction are similar to those of drugs such as heroin and cocaine.  It also has substances such as carbon monoxide, acrolein, ammonia, prussic acid, aldehydes and tar that seriously affect the heart, lungs, blood circulation, bones, stomach, mouth and oral, throat, eyes, skin, reproduction and fertility and even Alzheimer’s disease. LOSING YOUR HEAD If all of the above and your own inner voice is not persuasive enough for abstention then here is a new reason to wrap your head around the smoking gun - it damages the brain. Professor Ian Deary from the University of Edinburgh who led the research scientists and Dr Sherif Karama of McGill University of Montreal, found the brain cortex is thicker in non-smokers than smokers. The cortex is the outer layer of the brain in which critical cognitive functions such as memory, language and perception take place. It's the most highly developed part of the brain, often known as grey matter. Most of the actual information processing in the brain takes place in the cortex. Although the cortex grows thinner with normal ageing the study found that smoking appears to accelerate the thinning process leading to cognitive degeneration. The good news that the scientists mention is that “Subjects who stopped smoking seem to partially recover their cortical thickness for each year without smoking.” With all this evidence in front of you, do you really want to subject your family and yourself to a sentence of ill-health in the years to come and painful heartache for your loved ones to bear? Allah Ta'ala has given us intellect which resides in our head. The clear message is: USE IT OR LOSE IT! QUIT WHILE YOU ARE AHEAD…

CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT IN MACCA TO ACCOMMODATE NUMBERS OF EXPANDING PILGRIMS

As the Hajj begins, the destruction of Macca's heritage continues 

By Oliver Wainwright

Pilgrims follow in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad [pbuh], but there is little of his legacy left in Islam's holiest city

The Grand Mosque in Macca, teeming with pilgrims for the start of Hajj this week. Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP

Monday 14 October, 2013 16.54 BST; Last modified on Thursday 22 May 2014 07.11 BST

Two million Muslims have flooded into Saudi Arabia's Mina Valley from Macca for the start of the Hajj pilgrimage this week. Dressed in simple white garments and freed from their worldly possessions, they are following in the footsteps of the prophet Muhammad [pbuh] But in Islam's holiest city, there is increasingly little sign of the prophet's legacy – or the frugal life he espoused.

“The authorities are trying to destroy anything in Macca that is associated with the prophet's life,” says Irfan al-Alawi, director of the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, who recently returned from a trip to the city. “They have already bulldozed the house of his wife, his grandson and his companion – and now they are coming for his birthplace. And for what? Yet more seven-star hotels.”
At the foot of the Khandama mountain to the west of the Grand Mosque, an innocuous white building stands alone, cast adrift in a sea of paving and tarmac. This small library was built to mark the site of the house where the prophet was born, known as the House of Mawlid, the remains of which Alawi says still lie beneath its raised plinth. But it is now in the path of bigger plans.

Under threat … The library built to mark the site of the prophet's birthplace. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi

Across the road, the house of Muhammad's [pbuh] wife, Khadijah, has already been replaced with a block of 1,400 public lavatories. Further up the hill, centuries-old neighbourhoods have been flattened to continue the marching line of steroidal hotel towers. Its neighbours already swept away, the library is next in the firing line, standing in the way of plans for an underground car park and a metro line extension – needed to cope with the huge influx of visitors, set to reach 17 million a year by 2025.

As if to preempt any outcry, the prophet Muhammad [pbuh] was born in this place, so it is forbidden to make this place specific for praying, supplicating or get blessing.” A booth manned by the religious police ensures that no visitors step out of line.

It is, says Alawi, just the latest move in a series of state-endorsed acts of cultural vandalism, urged on by the hardline wahhabist sect, which perceives historic sites and the veneration of the prophet as encouraging sinful idolatry. A 1,400-year-old well, Bir e Tuwa, where the prophet spent a night, now stands alone as another endangered fragment marooned in a rubble wasteland. Its neighbours have been razed for hotels, and it looks to be going the same way.

The Bir e Tuwa well, a holy site associated with the prophet Muhammad [pbuh], is now facing demolition. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi

In the Grand Mosque itself, a group of 500-year-old stone columns and vaults have now been demolished to make room for a vast extension. It is no coincidence, says Alawi, that the columns in the firing sights were inscribed with calligraphic poetry recounting Muhammad's journeys and associated sites of pilgrimage.

Five hundred-year-old Abbasid columns in the Grand Mosque, now destroyed. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi

Encircled by a looming ring of hotels and topped by Big Ben's big brother clock-tower of the Abraj al-Bait complex, the Grand Mosque has been transformed beyond all recognition over the last decade. As reported last year, the view from the open courtyard in the centre of the mosque is now choked with cranes, jostling for position with minarets and towers; but this year there is a new addition just metres from the Ka'aba itself. The holy black cube, around which pilgrims must walk, has now been blessed with an elevated roundabout.

Raised 13m in the air, rising just above the top of the Kaaba, this floating halo provides an extra 3,000 square metres of space for perambulating pilgrims. With priority given to the elderly and disabled, its 12m-wide walkway is big enough to accommodate 1,700 wheelchairs per hour – but it comes at the cost of throttling the Ka'aba in a three-storey cage and blocking the sacred black box from the view of thousands of others on the elevated prayer halls around.

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Floating halo … the temporary Mataf extension accommodates 1,700 wheelchairs per hour. Photograph: Irfan al-Alawi

Authorities say it is only a temporary measure for the next three years, while the £13 bn mosque expansion project is underway, leaving a substantial area out of action. Parts of the ground and first floor of this huge complex are open for the first time this year, welcoming pilgrims into its lofty halls, linked by escalators to 10,000 ablution places. When complete, this gargantuan triangular slab, which sprawls out to the north like a slice of marble-encrusted wedding cake, will more than double the capacity of the mosque to 1.2 million worshippers, with 52 entrance gates, 120 elevators and four new minarets. And the price of this extra space? The wholesale demolition of one of Macca's most historic neighbourhoods – and the forced eviction of its residents.

Earlier this month, senior Saudi cleric Sheikh Saad bin Nasser Al Shathri called on Muslims around the world to support the expansion project. “Co-operating with the expansion of the Grand Mosque is consistent with sharia principles,” he said, “because building mosques is regarded as one of the greatest acts of piety and the best of all mosques is the Grand Mosque.”

The £13 billion mosque expansion project will more than double the capacity to 1.2m worshippers. Photograph: Saudi Bin Laden Group

With the entire city choked by building work, the kingdom has taken the unusual step of urging pilgrims to delay their visit, and numbers are down 20% this year as a result of reduced visa quotas. “If Muslims choose not to travel to the Grand Mosque with the benefit of other Muslims in mind,” said Shathri, “they will be rewarded in the same way as if they had performed the pilgrimage.”

“At times it is appropriate to refrain from performing certain acts of obedience,” he said, “in order to avoid the hardships of others.” At times it may also be appropriate to refrain from certain building projects, to avoid the relentless transformation of Mecca into a luxury pay-per-prayer resort.

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