SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA- Salam al-Marayati, President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, sent in this piece on the Boston attacks and extremism:

An unfortunate consequence of the Boston Marathon bombings has been this: the sick words and deeds of a tiny, demented fringe of extremists—no more than .1% of Muslims overall—command vast public attention.  The good words and work of all other American Muslims get drowned out.  This happens whenever a violent act’s culprit is identified as a Muslim, even though other religious groups usually are not measured by their extremists.  Instead they are regarded as aberrations—not at all representative of their claimed faiths.

This status quo must change, for American Muslims are invaluable to countering extremists and their narrative.  If the 99.9% is to become more relevant, then it must challenge extremists in areas where they expend their resources.

By now we know well the opposing worldviews that characterize our struggle with extremists.  The latter promote the cult of death, whereas we—the mainstream—promote the theology of life.  They believe that only they know the will of God, which they can impose on people, whereas we believe that the will of God is represented by the will of the people.  They believe Sharia is limited to draconian punishments to terrorize people, whereas we believe Sharia is the path to God—one defined by different groups that adhere to justice, mercy and compassion.  They believe grievances are irreversible facts that should be fuel for political violence, whereas we believe grievances can be redressed non-violently, and in partnership with others who, like us, respect human dignity.  They believe that recruiting young people to serve as their warriors will be their unending revitalization, whereas we believe that the mission of Islam is entrusting Muslim youth to be ambassadors of good will and future leaders.

Islamic thinkers have pushed back against extremists for years.  Fathi Osman, an Egyptian and Islamic scholar who died on September 11, 2010, wrote about human rights as the fulcrum of Sharia in the 1960s.  He also raised the concern that Muslim extremism was an immediate threat to Muslims.  In this way he rebutted the confrontational ideology of Sayyid Qutb, who was radicalized after years of torture under the Nasser dictatorship in Egypt. Dr. Maher Hathout, a colleague of Dr. Osman and a leading American Muslim spokesperson, likewise said, with pithiness: “We are determined to win the ideological battle to discredit and isolate the extremist voices.”

Osman’s words are reflected in the work of American mosques and Muslim communities, which visibly have shunned adherents to Al-Qaeda’s ideology.   Bin Laden had hoped for automatic and widespread recruiting in the mosques, after the deadliest terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.  But that didn’t happen, thanks to American houses of Muslim worship which rightly banned violent rhetoric. According to media reports, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers, shouted at the Imam of the Cambridge mosque for encouraging the message of Martin Luther King. Tsarnaev was booted out.  The same happened earlier, in the 1990s, when Adam Ghadahn was kicked out of a Southern California mosque for his outbursts. He later became a spokesperson for Al Qaeda.

Of course it is not enough merely to displace troublemakers from Muslim worship rituals.  These days, extremists also recruit and radicalize followers online, in a process that has contaminated popular Islamic discourse and inspired lone wolves. That presents American Muslims with a different type of problem: cyberspace.  Thus we must intervene at the earliest stages of cyber-radicalization.  Today there is more information available on the targets of extremist recruiting.  And religious counselors and peers, as much law enforcement or intelligence officials, can discern early indicators of online radicalization—and take steps to counteract it.

So what do those steps look like?  In our Building Bridges policy paper, the Muslim Public Affairs Council argues for a division of labor between Muslim communities and law enforcement. Community jurisdiction is defined by theological, social and religious efforts to prevent violent extremism; beyond this, communities should warn law enforcement whenever they detect imminent criminal activity.  In giving effect to these principles, it is critical that mosques and Muslim organizations not be viewed as mere proxies for law enforcement, lest trust between those organizations and their members be undermined.  Likewise, we must also not stigmatize young Muslims, for that risks alienating a key segment of American Muslim society.  With these parameters in mind, Muslim communities can continue to play an active, important role in stopping radicalization before it is too late.

As American Muslims, we can work in a united front with other Americans in leading our country out of the abyss of terrorism.  We need the American public to realize our role.  That realization will enhance our security, for it will make the mainstream relevant and the extremists irrelevant.  Irrelevance is the nightmare scenario of any extremist group.  But the mainstream’s relevance is our hope for victory.

By Wells Bennett

www.shafaqna.com

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The role of the Muslim community in Canada in aborting a terror plot to attack a transcontinental passenger train is inviting a shower of praise from government officials and politician for their commitment to protecting their country.

“I’d like to begin by thanking law enforcement officials, as well as a brave religious leader from the Toronto Muslim community who, as we learned yesterday, helped to prevent a potentially devastating attack on Canadian soil,” Tom Mulcair, leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, told parliament, reported National Post.

Canadian police arrested two people of immigrant background on Monday on alleged plot to attack on a rail line between Toronto and New York in the United States.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper thanked the Muslim community for their role in helping the police to abort the terror plot.

“I also want to thank the co-operation we’ve received from our American authorities, from the private sector and from Canada’s Muslim community,” he said.

The two suspects, Raed Jaser of Toronto and Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal, were arrested after a tip-off from the Muslim community on their plans to attack the rail line.

“Canadian Muslims have – and will continue to – unequivocally denounce this or any other alleged terror plots by individuals who distort and pervert our faith to further their own political goals or personal agendas,” Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, told a press conference on Parliament Hill cited by The Montreal Gazette.

“Our message to anyone who espouses this ideology of violence is this: you have nothing to do with our faith.”

He said that the role of the Muslim community in aborting the plot shows their loyalty to their country.

"This is a clear demonstration that Canadian Muslims, whose welfare is tied to that of our fellow citizens, are in fact partners for peace," Gardee said.

"We think it's an important thing to acknowledge the role that Muslims are playing and regularly play in outreach work. We have regular contact with security agencies,” he said.

He urged the public not to judge the whole Muslim community through the acts of some individuals.

“We fully trust that our fellow citizens will see this for what it is: the alleged criminal and misguided actions of a few who do not reflect or represent Canadian Muslim communities.”

Patriotic Muslims

Community leaders said that Canadian Muslims have been in the frontline in defending their own country.

“Since 9/11 the Muslim community has been working very closely with government agencies, including the RCMP and police forces,” Yusuf Badat, an imam and director of religious affairs for the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, told CBC News.

“We share the same concerns that Canadians share in the safety and the prosperity of our beautiful country,” he said.

After all, he added, “we are equally affected by any terrorism threats.”

Gardee agrees, saying the Muslim community was aware of the risks of radicalized youth.

"It's a concern that we take very seriously and it's something we're continuously working to address. Can more be done? More can always be done and that's why we're reaching out to security agencies," he said.

Imam Samy Metwally of the Ottawa Muslim Association reiterated that Islam is against doing harm to others.

“There is no justification in Islam to kill innocent people, like what happened in Boston, or to threaten people’s lives in any way like what we see here in Canada,” he said.

He appealed to all Canadians, including Muslims, to report any criminal activity to the police.

“It’s a religious duty from an Islamic perspective … to speak up against anything that might put people’s lives in danger.”

Muslims make around 2.8 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the Roman Catholic country.

A recent survey showed that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian, and that they are more educated than the general population.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – A leading international human rights group has accused Burmese authorities of waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in western Burma by displacing them from their areas and denying them access to humanitarian aid.

“The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement,” Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s Asian deputy director, said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net on Monday, April 22.

“The government needs to put an immediate stop to the abuses and hold the perpetrators accountable or it will be responsible for further violence against ethnic and religious minorities in the country.”

In a 153-page report, the New York-based group accuses Burmese officials, Buddhist monks and community leaders of leading and encouraging attacks on Muslim areas in October to terrorize and forcibly relocate the Rohingya in western Burma.

The report, titled “All You Can Do is Pray': Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State”, says the campaign has led to the displacement of more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims from their areas.

It also says that thousands of displaced Muslims have been denied access to humanitarian aid and been unable to return home.

"Burmese authorities and members of Arakanese groups have committed crimes against humanity in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State since June 2012," the HRW says.

The report draws on more than 100 interviews with Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese who suffered or witnessed abuses, as well as some organizers and perpetrators of the violence.

Described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, Burma's ethnic-Bengali Muslims, generally known as the Rohingya, are facing a catalogue of discrimination in their homeland.

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims were forced to flee their homes after ethnic violence rocked the western state of Rakhine in July after the killing of ten Muslims in an attack by Buddhist vigilantes on their bus.

They have been denied citizenship rights since an amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 and are treated as illegal immigrants in their own home.

Ethnic Cleansing

The HRW accused Burmese authorities of destroying mosques, conducting violent mass arrests, and blocking aid to displaced Muslims.

The "mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents while security forces stood aside or assisted the assailants.”

The report cited incidents in which riot police, local police, and army soldiers participated in killing Muslims rather than protecting them.

One of the deadliest incidents occurred on October 23 when at least 70 Rohingya Muslims were killed in a daylong massacre in Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U Township.

At least 28 children were among the dead, who were hacked to death, including 13 under age 5.

“First the soldiers told us, ‘Do not do anything, we will protect you, we will save you,’ so we trusted them,” a 25-year-old survivor told HRW.

“But later they broke that promise. The Arakanese beat and killed us very easily. The security did not protect us from them.”

In another incident on June 13, a government truck dumped 18 naked and half-clothed bodies near a Rohingya camp outside Sittwe, the state capital.

Some of the victims had been “hogtied” with string or plastic strips before being executed, sending an official message that the Rohingya should leave permanently.

“They dropped the bodies right here,” said a Rohingya man, who saw the bodies being dumped.

“Three bodies had gunshot wounds. Some had burns, some had stab wounds. One gunshot wound was on the forehead, one on the chest.”

These facts were a shocking evidence of the government support for the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims.

“In October, security forces either looked the other way as Arakanese mobs attacked Muslim settlements or joined in the bloodletting and arson,” Robertson said.

“Six months later, the government still blames ‘communal violence’ for the deaths and destruction when, in truth, the government knew what was happening and could have stopped it.”

HRW also accused local authorities, politicians, and monks of acting, often through public statements and force, to deny Muslims their rights to freedom of movement, opportunities to earn a living, and access to markets and to humanitarian aid.

The apparent goal has been to coerce them to abandon their homes and leave the area.

“Local officials and community leaders engaged in an organized effort to demonize and isolate the Muslim population as a prelude to murderous mob attacks,” Robertson said.

“Moreover, since the bloodshed, the central government has taken no action to punish those responsible or reverse the ethnic cleansing of the forcibly displaced Muslims.”

The rights group urged the Burmese government to urgently amend the 1982 Citizenship Act to eliminate discriminatory provisions and to ensure that Rohingya children have the right to acquire a nationality where otherwise they would be stateless.

“Burma should accept an independent international commission to investigate crimes against humanity in Arakan State, locate victims, and provide redress,” said Robertson.

“Burma’s donors need to wake up and realize the seriousness of the Rohingya’s plight, and demand that the government urgently stop abuses, promote the safe return of displaced Muslims, and ensure accountability to end the deadly cycle of violence in Arakan State.”-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The funeral of one of the Boston attackers is posing a new challenge for the Muslim community as several mosques are shying away from conducting the service.

"I would not be willing to do a funeral for him," Imam Talal Eid of the Islamic Institute of Boston, told Huffington Post.

"This is a person who deliberately killed people."

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died Friday in a shootout with police over his involvement in a twin bombing in Boston that killed three people and injured scores.

But several mosques have reportedly refused to conduct the funeral service for the dead attacker.

Eid, whose group arranges funeral prayers and burials in Boston, believes that the attacker Tamerlan Tsarnaev is not longer a Muslim after carrying out his attack.

"There is no room for him as a Muslim. He already left the fold of Islam by doing that," he said.

"In the Qur'an it says those who will kill innocent people, they will dwell in the hellfire."

Suhaib Webb, the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Culture Center, also feels unease at conducting the funeral service for the attacker.

"I don't think I could ethically lead a prayer for him," he said.

"But I would not stop people from praying upon him."

Several mosque leaders said they would first discuss the issue of holding the funeral service for the Boston bomber if contacted.

"We have not discussed it," said a representative from Al-Marhama, an organization that shares space with the Boston Culture Center.

A similar position is taken by Masjid Al-Hoda in Kingston.

"Nobody has asked me, nobody has called me," said a man who answered the phone at the mosque.

Abdula Hameed, the imam of Masjid Al-Kareem in Providence, has the same view on the funeral.

"I'd have to talk to our board members," he said.

Islam calls for respecting human beings whether alive or dead.

A Muslim’s dead body should be immediately taken to a mortuary for washing and preparation.

Two or three adult Muslims should wash the body and then put on the shroud (kafan). Before the burial, the funeral prayer should be done.

The burial should be done as soon as possible. It is makruh (reprehensible) to delay the burial of the dead.

Restrictions

But some mosque officials opine the bomber should get the funeral service regardless of his action.

"We have to confirm if (Tamerlan) was a Muslim," Imam Ikram ul Haq, of Masjid Al-Islam North Smithfield, told Huffington Post.

"If that was confirmed through reliable sources, that he lived a Muslim and died as one, then we (would be allowed) to do a funeral for that person."

Imam Webb agrees.

"He should be buried according to the religious tradition he adheres to," he said.

"His case is with God. We can judge him as best we can according to the savage and insane actions he has done, but in the end, his soul is going to be brought before God."

But the prominent imam believes that Islamic teachings still place restrictions on the funeral service for the attacker.

"In fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), for somebody who has committed a major atrocity, it is recommended that the imam does not pray over him, but that someone else does," he said.

"It's meant to somehow symbolize that there is some grieving with the victims of the person's actions.

"In Islam, if someone is alive and has committed a crime, their opportunity to repent is open until they die," Webb said, referring to the bomber's brother, who is being treated at a Boston hospital after being injured in a shootout with the police.

"We hope this man would be guided first of all to help the investigation and seek the forgiveness of family members and all people he has harmed." -www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Praising the swift and dedicated work of law enforcement officials to identify the perpetrators of Boston marathon bombing, a leading US Muslim organization has rejected the ‘heinous’ attacks as contradicting with Islam and all faiths.

“While we do not yet know the motivation for these heinous attacks, people of all faiths know that the horrific acts committed by these perpetrators go against everything to which God calls us,” Imam Mohamed Magidb, the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net on Friday, April 19.

“It is rather the loving, selfless acts of those who immediately responded on the scene that best uphold His teachings.”

“At times like this, I am reminded by a verse from the Holy Qur’an which is similar to one in the Old Testament: if anyone kills a person, it is as if he kills all humanity, while if any saves a life, it is as if he saves the lives of all humanity.”

Twin bombings rocked Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, killing at least three people and injured scores.

Late on Thursday, the FBI has released several images of two men they were hunting in relation to the bombing.

Suspects include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said to be 19 and of Chechen origin, after he escaped a shootout with police in which a second suspect, named in the US media as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed.

Heavily armed police started a house by house search, urging residents of Watertown and surrounding areas, including the whole of Boston, to stay indoors.

On Friday afternoon, Col Timothy Alben of the Massachusetts State Police said officers in Watertown were searching "door to door, street to street" for the suspect, but there was as yet no word on his whereabouts.

"Things change, they change quickly," the officer said, adding: "We are working on several new leads that have just developed in the last few minutes."

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said there were "continuing developments" in the investigation, and that an order to stay indoors remained in place across the whole of Boston and surrounding suburbs.

FBI Work

As two brothers of Chechen origin were named as suspects of staging the Boston bombings, their father accused FBI of setting up his children because they are Muslims.

“In my opinion, my children were set up by the secret services because they are practicing Muslims,” Anzor Tsarnaev told the Interfax news agency from the North Caucasus Russian city of Makhachkala.

“Why did they kill Tamerlan? They should have taken him alive," said the father.

The father insisted that his sons were innocent, but said he would appeal to his son to "surrender peacefully."

"Give up. Give up. You have a bright future ahead of you. Come home to Russia," the dad said.

The father warned, however, "If they killed him, then all hell would break loose."

"If they kill my second child, I will know that it is an inside job, a hit job. The police are to blame," the father told ABC News.

"Someone, some organization is out to get them."

Friends of his younger son, Dzhokhar, confirmed that the young man was smart and studious.

"He never seemed out of the ordinary at all," high school classmate Sierra Schwartz told "Good Morning America" today.

"This is not someone who seemed troubled in high school or shy. He was just one of us. It's very weird."

Steven Owens told ABC News, "I met him when I was in seventh grade and he was just a great kid. He was fun to be around. Very studious, very smart.”

“I don't remember a time when he was ever having trouble in school. He was a great athlete. Great to be around," he added.

Though there are no official estimates, the US is home to from 7-8 million Muslims.

An earlier Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans Muslims are loyal to their country and optimistic about their future in the United States.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Burma’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has lamented restrictions and estrangement of Muslims, calling for reforming citizenship laws to help the sizable minority to feel more secure in the Buddhist country.

"I've met some Muslim leaders very recently. It is very sad, because none of them has been to any other country apart from Burma (Myanmar),” Suu Kyi told a press conference on Wednesday, April 17 during her visit to Japan, Reuters reported.

“They did not feel that they belonged anywhere and it was sad for them that they were made to feel that they didn't belong in our country either.

"This is a very sad state of affairs. We must learn to accommodate those with different views from ours."

Burmese Muslims have faced repeated bouts of sectarian violence in the Buddhist-majority country.

Earlier this month, more than 43 people were killed and several mosques burnt in sectarian attacks in central Burma after an argument between a Buddhist couple and gold shop owners in Meiktila.

The violence followed attacks on Bengali-ethnic Muslims, known as Rohingya, in a deadly bout of sectarian clashes in western Burma.

Buddhist monks were blamed for inciting hatred against Muslims by preaching a so-called “969 movement” which represents a radical form of anti-Islamic nationalism that urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim-run shops and services.

“There has never been a time when we’ve had complete peace within our land,” Suu Kyi said.

“I’m confident we can achieve economic success, but without peace and unity we cannot expect to get economic success that is sustained.”

Burma’s Muslims -- largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent -- account for an estimated four percent of the roughly 60 million population.

Muslims entered Burma en masse for the first time as indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule, which ended in 1948.

But despite their long history, they have never fully been integrated into the country.

Citizenship

The Nobel laureate called for reforming citizenship laws in Burma to help accommodate Muslims.

"Every country has the responsibility to consider the possibility that the (citizenship) laws are not in keeping with international standards,” Suu Kyi told reporters.

“And this is what the Burmese government should have the courage to do. To face the issue of citizenship fairly.”

Rohingya Muslims have been denied citizenship rights since an amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 and are treated as illegal immigrants in their own home.

The Burmese government as well as the Buddhist majority refuse to recognize the term "Rohingya", referring to them as "Bengalis".

Suu Kyi has earned the ire of Muslims for failing to speak against discrimination facing the Rohingya in Burma.

But the Burmese icon said she was "not a magician" and will not be able to solve long-running ethnic disputes.

"I've said that the most important thing is to establish the rule of law...(it) is not just about the judiciary, it's about the administration, it's about the government, it's about our police force, it's about the training that we give to security forces," she told students at Tokyo University.

She added that Burma’s courts do not meet democratic standards as they are "totally dominated by the executive."

"They wanted me to talk about how to make these communal differences disappear...I'm not a magician,” she said.

“If I were, I'd say 'disappear' and they would all disappear. Differences take a long time to sort out," she told Japanese students.

"We have to establish an atmosphere of security in which people with different opinions can sit down and exchange ideas and think of the things we have in common." -www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Feeling the brunt of the 9/11 attacks, Muslims worldwide have raced to social media websites to pray that perpetrators of a deadly bombing in Boston would not be Muslims.

“Please don’t be a Muslim,” Hend Amry from Libya wrote on Twitter cited by The Washington Post.

Jenan Moussa, a journalist for Dubai-based Al-Aan TV, retweeted the message “Please don’t be a ‘Muslim’” and added that the plea was “the thought of every Muslim right now.”

At least three people were killed and scores injured when two explosions rocked near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 14.

US officials said that there was no information yet available about those behind the attack and their motives.

Yet, Muslims, who still feel the brunt of the 9/11 attacks, were worried that they could be easily blamed for the attack.

“Fact: Terrorism has no religion, race, or nationality. Standing against terror should unite us all,” Nervana Mahmoud, another Twitter user, posted.

Muslim worries maximized after Fox News contributor Erik Rush tweeted that all Muslims should be killed in response to the Boston Marathon bombings.

"Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let's bring more Saudis in without screening them! C'mon! #bostonmarathon,” Erik Rush tweeted on Monday.

When a responder tweeted, "Are you ALREADY BLAMING MUSLIMS??" Rush responded: "Yes, they're evil. Let's kill them all."

Though he later tweeted that he was being sarcastic, he faced a firestorm of condemnations from Americans.

“Apparently someone at Fox News tweeted "Kill All Muslims" after the explosions. As a Boston resident, and as a human being, I'm disgusted,” Chris Stedman tweeted.

“A Black man kills, he's a menace to society. Muslims kill, he's a terrorist. But a White man kills, he's psychologically unstable,” a twitter user @chrisrockoz tweeted.

Prayers

Despite immediate worries, some positive reactions from non-Muslims assured the Muslim minority in the US.

“Non Muslims defending Muslims. I was surprised at all the positive tweets. We've come a long way since 9/11. This really is beautiful :'),” a twitter user @dalu3a_93 wrote.

“I respect all the Non-Muslims that understand that Muslims aren't the ones to blame for the bombing,” another twitter user, @Love_Walaa_, wrote.

A Dubai-based social media consultant named Iyad El-Baghdadi tweeted, “Went to my ‘Islamists’ list; good to know that most comments are sympathetic. Only a couple crazies out of 200-something.”

Other Muslims took to Twitter to pray for victims and show support for fellow Americans.

“As a Marathoner and Human being, I’m devastated. Prayers to the victims,” Qasim Rashid, the chairman of the Muslim Writer’s Guild of America, tweeted.

“Whoever the culprit, no religion justifies this act of violence. We must remain united against extremism.”

Though there are no official estimates, the US is home to from 7-8 million Muslims.

An earlier Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans Muslims are loyal to their country and optimistic about their future in the United States.

Muslim scholars have repeatedly condemned terrorism as running counter against the teachings of Islam.

In 2008, thousands of Muslim scholars from across India denounced terrorism as a violation of Islamic teachings, calling it the “biggest crime as per Qur'an."

Another Britain-based Muslim scholar, Sheikh Tahir ul-Qadri, issued a 600-page fatwa in May 2011, condemning suicide bombings, kidnappings and the killing of innocent people as “absolutely against the teachings of Islam”.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Appealing for UN intervention to stop attacks on Muslims in Burma, a world Muslim body has urged the Burmese government to allow in a ministerial delegation to discuss anti-Muslim violence in the Buddhist country.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation calls on "Burmese authorities to strongly respond to the organization's appeal and allow a ministerial OIC delegation to visit" Burma, the OIC said in a statement cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

More than 43 people were killed and several mosques burnt in a week of sectarian violence in the central city of Meiktila earlier this month.

The anti-Muslim violence started by an argument between a Buddhist couple and gold shop owners and later spread to several towns in central Burma.

Monks were blamed for inciting hatred against Muslims by preaching a so-called “969 movement” which represents a radical form of anti-Islamic nationalism that urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim-run shops and services.

The violence followed attacks on Bengali-ethnic Muslims, known as Rohingya, in a deadly bout of sectarian clashes in western Burma.

“Such violence is a clear indication of the government’s negative approach in dealing with ethnic and religious tensions that erupted last summer,” OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in his speech at an emergency meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Sunday, April 14.

The OIC chief criticized the refusal of the Burmese government to allow an OIC delegation to visit Burma to check on reports of anti-Muslim violence.

“Despite our attempts to establish communication with the authorities in Myanmar (Burma) by selecting a prominent figure from a neighboring country to visit Myanmar and open discussions with officials, the government was not responsive.”

Formed in September, the Contact Group includes 11 of the OIC's 57 members -- Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Djibouti, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sudan and Turkey.

In October, the OIC tried to open an office in Burma to help Muslims there, but the move was blocked by President Thein Sein following massive protests by Buddhist monks.

UN Intervention

The world Muslim body has also appealed to the United Nations to intervene to stop attacks against Muslims in Burma.

"Security Council must protect rights and lives of Rohingya Muslims," Ihsanoglu told the meeting.

He told Saudi Gazette that the OIC will ask the UN Human Rights Council to send fact-finding mission to investigate all human rights violations in Burma.

Wakar Uddin, Director-General of Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU), called for Muslim support to stop attacks against Burmese Muslims.

“This is no longer a Rohingya issue,” Uddin said.

“It’s becoming an Islamic issue because the radical elements in Myanmar are trying to eliminate Islam from the country.”

Burma’s Muslims -- largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent -- account for an estimated four percent of the roughly 60 million population.

Muslims entered Burma en masse for the first time as indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule, which ended in 1948.

But despite their long history, they have never fully been integrated into the country.-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has asked Myanmar to permit a ministerial delegation to visit the country in a bid to discuss the recent outbreak of violence against Muslims.

In a Sunday statement issued following its meeting in Saudi Arabia, the 57-member body also urged the UN Human Rights Commission to send a fact-finding mission to the Southeast Asian country.

The statement urged Myanmarese authorities to “strongly respond to the organization’s appeal and allow a ministerial OIC delegation to visit" the country.

In March, more than 40 people were killed and a number of mosques and homes of Muslims were burned in central Myanmar, indicating a rise in the persecution of Muslims in the country.

Myanmar’s Islamic Religious Affairs Council and the Myanmar Muslim National Affairs Organization later appealed to the government of President Thein Sein to take swift action to stop the ‘violent attacks.’-www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – A British campaign is gaining support to include Islamic history in school curriculum to educate non-Muslims about Muslim contributions to science and philosophy.

"This is not just about educating Muslims," Mohammed Amin, from campaign group Curriculum for Cohesion, told Huffington Post UK.

"This is about those young pupils who hear nothing about Islam at school and grow up thinking Muslims have contributed nothing to the world about from terrorism.

"Those children could grow up to join the English Defence League," he said.

Backed by the umbrella Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the campaign came in response to a draft specification of a new history syllabus published by the Department of Education in February.

But the draft curriculum invited criticism for excluding "all reference to Muslims and Islam."

Faith campaigners have urged teachers and members of the public to appeal to the government to amend the curriculum before consultations end next week.

The campaign was championed by Matthew Wilkinson, a former Eton head boy who converted to Islam, and supported by high-profile patrons, including MP Sadiq Khan and Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger.

The campaign group said a broader curriculum would engage Muslim pupils, 10% of the school population, who may feel excluded from British historical identity.

Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.7 million.

There are 400,000 Muslim students in British schools, according to the MCB.

About 7,000 state schools in Britain are faith schools – roughly one in three of the total – educating 1.7 million pupils.

Of the 590 faith-based secondary schools five are Jewish, two Muslim and one Sikh - the rest are Church of England, Roman Catholic and other Christian faiths.

All Faiths

Supporters say the campaign also advocates for the inclusion of the history for all faiths, not just Muslim history.

"We have asked, for example, for the curriculum to include the persecution of Jews in the Middle Ages, and their eventual expulsion from Britain,” Amin said.

It also calls for the inclusion of the contribution of Indian Muslim, Hindu and Sikh soldiers to the military effort in both world wars.

It also calls for the preservation and enhancement of ancient Greek and Roman learning by classical Muslim civilization and Britain's long history of trade, diplomatic and other relations with Muslim-majority regions.

"These inclusions are required to paint a true picture of the past," the group said in a statement.

"In their absence, British Muslim children will see no place for themselves in their country's history, creating the risk of alienation.

"At the same time non-Muslim children will grow up believing that Muslims have contributed nothing of value to Britain or indeed human civilization, creating the risk of their acquiring anti-Muslim attitudes.

"Neither of these outcomes is good for Britain, or for the ability of Britons to do business in a world economy which is increasingly integrated."-www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: ON Islam