Myanmar Muslim face uncertain future after attacks
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- Published on Thursday, 02 May 2013 20:58
- Written by BC-Stuff
One day after hundreds of rampaging Buddhists armed with bricks stormed a clutch of Muslim villages in the closest explosion of sectarian violence yet to Myanmar's main city, Yangon, newly displaced Muslims combed through the wasteland where their houses once stood, facing a suddenly uncertain future. Unable to go home, many were too fearful of more attacks to leave.
"We ran into the fields and didn't carry anything with us," Hla Myint, a 47-year-old father of eight, said of the mobs who overran his village.
Tears welling in his eyes, he added: "Now, we have nothing left."
One of the 10 people injured in the assaults died overnight, said Thet Lwin, a deputy commissioner of police for the region. Police have so far detained 18 attackers who destroyed 157 homes and shops and at least two mosques in Okkan and three outlying villages, he said. Okkan is just 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Yangon.
Adhan Allowed in Sweden
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- Published on Monday, 15 April 2013 13:42
- Written by BC-Stuff
In an unprecedented move in the Scandinavian country, Muslims in the Swedish capital have won the right to raise Adhan (call for prayers).
''The authorities will measure the sound level,'' Ismail Okur, chairman of the Islamic Cultural Center of Botkyrka told Anatolia news agency.
Municipal authorities in the southern Stockholm suburb of Botkyrka have approved a request by Muslims to raise the Adhan from the Fittja mosque in the area.
''We thank the members of the council for the approval,'' Okur said.
''We are all very happy.''
Historians scramble to dig up details of America’s earliest Muslims
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- Published on Thursday, 22 November 2012 16:46
- Written by Julienne Gage
For most Muslims, what happens to the body of a deceased person is not quite as important as what happens to that person's soul. Still, historians of all backgrounds are scrambling to locate the body and belongings of a Muslim buried in Washington, DC nearly 200 years ago, for it touches the soul of early American history.
The deceased, Yarrow Mamout, was among tens of thousands – if not millions - of Muslims brought to America during the slave trade, but one of few for which historians have much information.
Muslim student expelled over hijab in Russia
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- Published on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 16:11
- Written by BC & Agencies
Russian prosecutors are looking into a case of alleged expulsion of a female student from a Siberian university over her hijab.
A local TV station in Krasnoyarsk city reported that an unnamed third-year student from Muslim-populated Dagestan had been expelled from the city's medical school for wearing a headscarf.
True inspiring story of Kristiane Backer
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- Published on Thursday, 25 October 2012 03:43
- Written by BC-Stuff
‘From MTV to Mecca’ is the truly inspiring story of Kristiane Backer, who at the height of her career as one of Europe’s leading pop culture icons, converted to Islam, the Middle East Online reported.
In the early 1990s, Backer became one of the very first presenters on MTV Europe. For years she lived and breathed the int’l music scene, quickly gaining a cult following amongst viewers and becoming a darling of the European press. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mick Jagger, Bono, Bob Geldof, Jim Kerr, Take That and Cat Stevens, Kristiane was catapulted to the forefront of popular culture. Through a fateful meeting with the famous cricketer Imran Khan, Kristiane travelled to Pakistan, where she encountered a completely different world to the one she knew: the religion and culture of Islam. She was drawn to this way of life which was dominated by a love of God and began to read the Quran and to study books about the Faith.
The more she immersed herself in the world of Islam, the more she found herself dissatisfied with her own life. With the support of friends she met through Imran Khan, Kristiane began to learn the true values of the religion and, in 1995, decided to become a Muslim.
Malaysia rushes troops to Sabah to hunt for Philippino attackers
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- Published on Monday, 04 March 2013 14:59
- Written by BC & Agencies
The Philippine foreign secretary flew to Malaysia on Monday to urge "maximum tolerance" as Kuala Lumpur rushed thousands more troops to hunt down armed Filipinos who killed eight police in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah.
5,700 km in 314 days: Bosnian Haji crosses 7 countries on foot
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- Published on Tuesday, 23 October 2012 03:57
- Written by BC-Stuff
A Bosnian pilgrim who left last December on pilgrimage to Makkah by foot arrived in the holy city after passing through seven countries including war-torn Syria.
"I arrived Saturday in Makkah. I am not tired, these are the best days of my life," Senad Hadzic, 47, told AFP when reached by phone.
He said he had covered some 5,700 km in 314 days of walking through Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Jordan to Makkah, with a backpack weighing 20 kg.
He charted his progress on his Facebook page, where he posted a picture apparently of an entry/exit card for foreigners issued by the Syrian Interior Ministry.
Turkey and Central Asia: the “Eurasian Law Enforcement Organization of Military Status”
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- Published on Monday, 28 January 2013 00:55
- Written by Bilal Ciplak
Turkey, Kirgizstan, and Azerbaijan have just found a joint military organization, "Eurasian Law Enforcement Organization of Military Status." The purpose of this organization is to foster cooperation between the central Asian Turkish republics, and to prepare a fertile ground for common defense. The organization will be open to the other Central Asian republics. Its center will be in Ankara. This organization is only one in a set of organizations, emerging in the last two decades and promoting positive relations between the Turkish states.
Philippines, Muslim rebels announce preliminary peace pact
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- Published on Monday, 08 October 2012 01:07
- Written by BC & Agencies
"It's been a long journey and this is an important milestone in our search for lasting peace," presidential peace talks adviser Teresita Deles told the media.
The new Muslim region would be built upon an existing five-province autonomous territory, among the country's poorest and most violent, with more than 4 million people.
Latino Muslims carving a new American identity
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- Published on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 14:57
- Written by Erika L. Sánchez
Of Mexican heritage, Marta Khadija, president of LALMA, La Asociación Latino Musulmana de América (The Latino Muslim Association of America - LALMA), converted to Islam in 1983. She had been unhappy with her spiritual life and when she moved to the United States, her Muslim friends began sending her Islamic texts and she visited a mosque. Emotional and powerful, this experience gave her peace.
With no tie, Egypt’s Morsi reveals ‘100 days of achievements’
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- Published on Sunday, 07 October 2012 15:36
- Written by BC & Agencies
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Saturday listed the accomplishments of his first 100 days in office to a packed Cairo Stadium of mainly Muslim Brotherhood supporters bussed in for the occasion.
