Headlines

• New Mosque Sparks Discussion on Role of Women in Islam

• Anti-Islam Group's First British March Could Attract Thousands of Protesters

• Anti-Islam Group PEGIDA Is Part of Germany, Vice Chancellor Says

• Why China Is Banning Islamic Veils

Details

New Mosque Sparks Discussion on Role of Women in Islam

A women's-only mosque launched here last week and believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. has sparked a nationwide discussion among Muslims over the role of women in Islam. "The debate has started that will have monumental consequences for Muslims," said Aslam Abdullah, the imam and director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, in Las Vegas. "The old establishment will not accept change easily, but I think gradually it will happen as women assert themselves. Things are changing. Women cannot play second fiddle any more." Some object to women leading prayer and giving sermons; others worry if women's-only worship catches on elsewhere, it could divide communities along gender lines, he said. The women's mosque founders-a comedy writer and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer-said they began to feel unwelcome at their home mosques because of the physical separation of men and women. They said they started the Women's Mosque of America to invigorate women's scholarship in Islam and inspire Muslim women to take more active leadership roles in their home mosques.

Secular fundamentalists smitten by Western culture are spearheading efforts to change Islam in the current political climate. Yesterday it was the wearing of hijab and today it is women only mosques. The Muslims in America must stand up against attempts by the American government to change Islam. If they do not do this, then their fate will be similar to the Christians who capitulated to the secular fundamentalists and allowed their religion to be changed.

Anti-Islam Group's First British March Could Attract Thousands of Protesters

A notorious ‘anti-Islam' movement is coming to Britain with its first ever demo and a march likely to attract thousands. PEGIDA has sparked huge controversy in Germany. Under the banner of ‘Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West', it claims it is trying to defend countries from the spread of extremism at the hands of Muslim immigrants. It brought 25,000 to the streets of Dresden in demos backing its cause. But it also sparked huge counter demos, with 100,000 protesting against its stance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described it as racist, and PEGIDA's leadership was said to be in crisis with "massive hostility, threats and career disadvantages" causing five of its senior members to step down after its founder was pictured dressed as Adolf Hitler. It is advertising its first ever UK demo for Newcastle upon Tyne on February 28, however, with a Facebook campaign expected to attract ‘thousands'. It is the first of a series of demos planned for the UK, with others due to take place in Manchester, Birmingham and London. [Source: Daily Mirror]

Islamaphobia encouraged by Western media is fast gripping western populations in Europe to take action against fellow Muslim citizens. The situation is quickly developing into the repeat of the 1930s where hysteria against the Jews was intentionally whipped up to justify their killing and expulsion. Today, the Muslims have become the new Jews of Europe, and it is only a matter of time before the West turns on its Muslim population.

Anti-Islam Group PEGIDA Is Part of Germany, Vice Chancellor Says

The anti-Islam group PEGIDA, whose weekly rallies have brought up to 25,000 onto the streets in the East German city of Dresden, is a part of Germany and should not be ignored, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview published on Wednesday. PEGIDA, which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Polarisation of the West, rattled the political establishment in Berlin but now looks set to fade after most of its leaders quit last week due to infighting. However, Gabriel told Stern magazine on Wednesday that politicians must engage with the concerns that the group and its supporters had raised. "It's not like these people think differently all of a sudden ...

They're still driven by anger, fear, insecurity and sometimes hatred of foreigners," said Gabriel, who is also head of the Social Democrats, who are in coalition with Merkel's conservatives. Asked if PEGIDA was a part of Germany, Gabriel said: "Quite clearly. Whether you like it or not, people have a democratic right to be right-wing or nationalist. People also have a right to spread stupid ideas, such as the notion that Germany is being Islamicized." [Source: Reuters]

Germany's political establishment is reluctant to disown bigotry against Islam, and instead is justifying Islamaphobia as a legitimate grievance of the German people. Such remarks only serve to underscore the duplicity of the German government in taking action against bigots who routinely terrorize Germany's Muslim population.

Why China Is Banning Islamic Veils

This week, regional authorities outlawed Islamic veils from all public spaces in the regional capital of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The Urumqi ban, which went into effect on Sunday February 1 (coincidentally the third annual World Hijab Day), empowers Chinese police to punish violators and dole out fines of up to U.S.$800 for those who fail to enforce the prohibition. In recent years, the veil has emerged as a key battleground in the struggle to regain stability in Xinjiang. Stripping women of their head and body coverings provides the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with a rare measure of what it sees as "progress" in the struggle against "Islamic extremism" in this far western region of China. However, as officials seek to eliminate veiling, they risk further straining an already fragile relationship between the Uighur ethnic minority and a Party machine dominated by the Han ethnic majority and its cultural values. The ban comes amid a marked increase in veiling among Uighur women since the early 2000s. CCP officials have become especially concerned by the popularization of the niqab, jilbab, and heavy-netted veils that cover the entire head (known as tor romal in Uighur), but have also deemed the now highly fashionable hijab-which covers the entire head and shoulders but not the face-as "abnormal" attire. These styles of Islamic veiling, Chinese authorities (and some Uighurs) insist, are alien to Uighur culture and "outward manifestations of Islamic extremism." The Urumqi ban is the latest in a series of local legislative efforts aimed at compelling Uighur women to de-veil. Last year, officials in Qaramay and Ghulja prohibited the "five-types" (individuals wearing face veils, jilbab, hijab, long beards, and star-and-crescent clothing) from entering public spaces and boarding public buses. In March 2014, authorities in Turpan drafted legislation that would ban the concealment of the face in public. The regulation, which was closely modeled on previous French and Belgian prohibitions, was submitted to the National People's Congress for consideration. [Source: China File]

Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

((يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِؤُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ))

"They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it." [TMQ: As Saf: 81]

Talk titled "Attaining Ridwan Allah" given by Sheikh Suleiman Shalabi one of the Shabab of Hizb ut Tahrir Wilayah Jordan at the Azaa' of Al-Fakhuri.

To Allah We Belong and To Him We Return

Wednesday 15 Rabii II 1436 AH - 04 February 2015 CE

While the Western nations are hostile to any movement working for radical change and to overthrow the agent rulers and their regimes and to cut the hand of the Kaffir colonizer and its corporations, embassies and spies in the Muslims countries...

News:

President Tayyip Erdogan, who came to Kırşehir for inaugurals, called for votes in a sufficient number to ensure the new constitution at the general elections on June 7. Erdogan said, "You will show the necessary attitude and display the strength necessary for a new constitution. You will lay the foundation of the New Turkey." [Source]

Comment:

There are lively times in politics with the oncoming elections in Turkey. Wrong or right have no meaning! If you are able to manage perceptions, than you get the majority of the votes. The AKP who came to rule in 2002, has always been the first party in 3 general, 3 local elections and 2 plebiscites. Every election was defined by a "main" theme, by which the society was polarized and the elections won through perception management. Of course also the incompetent opposition parties had a big role in this. The main theme in the elections this year will be "the New Constitution and the Presidency". However, this time, the theme was not put forward by the AKP's Chairman and Prime Minister Davutoglu. It is the first time, that the President - Recep Tayyip Erdogan - called the people to vote for the "new constitution and the presidential system". Public opinion polls show that the people are not very much interested in this subject. During the coming four months, President Erdogan will visit various provinces under the pretext of holding speeches of thanks, and put across the presidencial system. This way it is claimed to build the foundations of the "new constitution", "the presidential system" and the "new Turkey" depending on the results of the elections.

The presidential system is a matter discussed since the era of former president Turgut Ozal. Yet there has never been a serious effort on this before as it is today. This issue, which was made a current issue during former President Suleyman Demirel's times of political congestion, is on Turkey's agenda now. The oppositional parties CHP and MHP make statements repugnating the presidential system. Whereby HDP says it would accept the system if it is one like in America or a semi-presidential system like in France. But asserts that the presidential system presented by the AKP is a "one man" regime.

Throughout his political life, President Erdogan held many positions like chairman of youth sections, provincial chairman, mayor, prime minister and finally President. At the time of founding the AKP, when Abdullah Gül who became Prime Minister due to the political ban upon Erdogan, left his place to Erdogan after the ban was lifted again. After that day, the party completely took shape according to Erdogan. Together with becoming President, Erdogan gave the signal of leading the ministerial cabinet by saying he would "not become an ordinary President", and so he did. At the moment, it seems that Prime Minister Davutoglu is still only "minister", but Erdogan seems to be both, Prime Minister and President. Erdogan did this on purpose. Because he did not give place to a strong leader, but rather to someone who will always be in need for him and who will carry out every work for him. He even assigned the residence which was built for prime ministry for himself after becoming president. Therefore, everything in "New Turkey" is shaped according to Erdogan.

The government argues that the presidential system would not be a dictatorship, but rather the parliamentary system would be a dictatorship. It states that the duty of the parliament under the presidential system is to legislate and the president's duty is one of implementing the laws. The president is neither allowed to make laws, nor to introduce a bill. And the delegates elected to the parliament can not be ministers. The ministers are to be appointed by the president from outside the parliament.

In general, states who conducted a change in their system, had faced huge crises which were followed by another change in the system. It can be said however, that the change in the system in Turkey has been triggered by the corruption in the public institutions, the judicial problems and the developments in the Middle East. Erdogan, is reconditioning this secular democratic system, which became rotten in 90 years, by reinforcing it with columns. In fact, as many have stated, he is establishing the "second Republic". However, no matter how much the secular democratic system is being renewed, quintessentially it remains the same. Its basis is faulty, its method is faulty and it diametrically contradicts Islam. Man-made systems have not brought anything else than chaos and disorder for mankind. Today the Ummah is not in need of a polished and glossed worn-out regime, but instead it is in need of resuming the Islamic life, through which it will receive dignity, and which it will carry to mankind as a guide to the right path. And this is not possible through the presidential system, but solely through the re-establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah upon the method of the Prophethood.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Osman Yeldiz