Terrorism: The unequal treatment of two religiously motivated crimes
By Junaid M. Afeef, June 8, 2009
For two recent crimes, a Muslim, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, is charged with terrorism and murder. In a similar case, a Christian, Scott Roeder, is charged with murder but not terrorism. Yet, there are ample indications that both sought to influence government policy.
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What are your thoughts on cats? Do you have any? Do you like them? Are they hard to take care of? Are they fun to have? Are they high-maintenance? Does anyone have allergies but still have a cat?
What is the Islamic ruling on cats? Is it permissible or not? Please share any hadith on cats.
Please also share your personal cat stories.
JazakAllah khair.
New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church — or to participate in any form of organized religion — than their parents and grandparents.
“It’s a huge change,” says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research.
Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the “nones”) has been very small — hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of “nones” has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans.
Putnam calls this a “stunning development.” He gave reporters a first glimpse of his data Tuesday at a conference on religion organized by the Pew Forum on Faith in Public Life.
You can read more here.
Good or Bad for Islam in America?
I say both. It’s good, because the next generations of Americans won’t care about Muslims as much as the current Christian majority does. They wouldn’t make a big deal if a woman is wearing hijab or a brother rocking a thoub. Plus, Atheists and Agnostics are more prone to be anti-War and pro-Peace.
Unfortunately it can be bad because society will decay with loose morals. Homosexuality will become a norm (if it isn’t already) and young Muslims growing up in the future will find it extremely hard to keep their iman strong. May Allah protect them and us all.
Some could say that this is much better for Islam for dawah purposes since most people will have no belief system inherited so it’ll be easy to spread the message of Truth. This could be true but it could work the opposite way too.
For the most part Atheists/Agnostics are more friendlier to the Muslims than Christians and Jews when it comes to American foreign policy which matters the most to the majority of the Muslims in this world.
Click here to read the entire 31-page article. (PDF)
Update: this is from the 2008 Spring Edition of Zaytuna’s “Seasons” Journal (paid, not free). It was only recently released for free this week and is currently on Zaytuna’s homepage.
Wait what? Israeli official speaking for Muslims and Islam? Uhhhh…
JERUSALEM (AP) — The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed “Mexican” influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and “we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu,” he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel.
Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
Scientists are unsure where the new swine flu virus originally emerged, though it was identifed first in the United States. They say there is nothing about the virus that makes it “Mexican” and worry such a label would be stigmatizing.
Two Israelis who recently visited Mexico have been hospitalized with symptoms of the flu. Health authorities have not yet confirmed whether they actually have the virus.
The current strain of swine flu is thought to have originated in Mexico where more than 100 people have been killed by the disease so far.
Laboratories in the U.S. and Canada have confirmed that of the samples tested so far, the swine flu virus in Mexico and U.S. appear to be the same.
Did anyone else find “swine flu” offensive? I didn’t.
Source
- Author: MR
- Filed under: Islam, Religion
- Date: Apr 24,2009 | 10:52 AM
Check it out here. There may be some minor issues but for the most part everything is sound. I like it a lot because it has information for all the other religions. Great for learning especially those in the field of dawah.
I also love the comparison chart between Sunni and Shia here.
Here is the list of all the religions they have information on.
This is a talk on Biblical manuscript tampering by Bart Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1h40m):
“Know they not that Allah knoweth what they conceal and what they reveal? And there are among them illiterates, who know not the Book, but (see therein their own) desires, and they do nothing but conjecture. Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say:”This is from Allah,” to traffic with it for miserable price!- Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby.” (Surah al-Baqarah, 77-79)
