Register to vote for the UK Parliamentary General Election
A UK parliamentary general election will be held sometime between now and June 2010. To be able to vote, make sure that you have already registered to be on the Electoral Poll. There’s still time to do this. If you are a British citizen or a citizen of a Commonwealth country resident in the UK, you are eligible to vote in the coming UK parliamentary general election. You are a stakeholder in this country and your vote counts! We cannot highlight enough the importance of each vote. It is a civic duty incumbent on every person who is eligible to vote. Take this opportunity! For more details, goto:
We’ve found a great poll site as well. Check it out -
http://clouwd.com/4wdNAh/cloud?gclid=CNP-_Iib158CFcZe4wodlmRobw
See you at the polls!
While in this region of the south of France one cannot avoid the force of the Old Winds -
the katabatic Mistral that blows up to 100 days a year and 
keeps cyclists and joggers indoors. It’s blowing forcefully right now as the sun shines gloriously. The Mistral is a fixture here and has swept up numerous legends and lores in its path. The BBC Weather page for the Mistral notes that “Locals claim that a sudden feeling of dejection sweeps through them just before the Mistral arrives; once the wind gets up, depression gives way to headaches and irritability.” (Ah! I say. Explains the temperaments of people around me this past day.)
About an hour from here another wind is blowing through France at the same time, one that has been whipping up equally forceful reactions. In 2001 the Mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, publicly lent his support to the building of a grand mosque in Marseille. On 6 Nov 2009 the green light was given for the building. The grand mosque has been scheduled to start construction on 21 April 2010 with its doors opening to welcome Eid in November 2011. It will house the largest prayer hall in France – capable of holding up to 7,000 worshippers, and it promises a minaret towering up to 25 metres. It will also house a library, an amphitheatre, a restaurant and a school. It is a mosque Marseille’s 200,000 Muslims are looking forward to. But in these times when the Swiss vote against minarets and the UK government is publicly announcing plans to racially profile travellers as part of enhanced airport security, we can be assured that there will probably be *some* resistance to the building of the grand mosque in Marseille.
Le Front National (founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972) is the most visible opponent to the building of the grand mosque. A party close to the heart of the UK’s BNP (read here for Le Pen and his position on the Holocaust), Le Front’s main stand is that the grand mosque will be an affront to French national identity, further remarking that the majority of French citizens oppose the building of minarets in France. They have demanded a referendum to decide on the construction of the grand mosque. French Muslims are determined to push forward with building plans.
Find out more about the grand mosque from the official website.
Is it just me, or is there a huge fervour, greatly increased and enhanced excitement in anticipation of Ramadhan this year, or is it just that people have more platforms and avenues to express themselves as individuals more than ever now? Everyday now for the past couple of weeks or so, I get numerous tweets about preparing for Ramadhan, about new Muslims encountering Ramadhan for the first time, about how people can’t wait for Ramadhan etc. Then there are the tweets that link to sites, writing about new applications and services designed to help Muslims during Ramadhan (most recently the Ramadhan Alert), youtubing about the merits of Ramadhan, podcasting about taraweeh prayers, exhibiting fancy clothes to look forward to end of Ramadhan, and that’s just what’s coming through on tweeter!
If you’re on facebook you probably get daily status updates calling out to Ramadhan, comments and “likes” in response to Ramadhan-related news and thoughts, and more.
Then there are the emails. My parents updating me about their Ramadhan umrah trip (in sha Allah!), the multitude of emails from various software companies pushing “Islamic” software, online stores like Amazon recommending me books I might like for the coming month etc.
All these have made me, the Muslim living in the UK and away from family and any sizeable Muslim community, feel rather comforted. For the past few years I’ve had to encounter Ramadhan alone for the most part. Fasting, eating, praying and celebrating Eid alone. It’s never bothered me as the good month was always enough to keep me going. This year, though, I feel like I have the entire online community of tweeters, emailers, bloggers, facebookers etc to experience and celebrate Ramadhan with me, and already I feel rather buoyed up!
In sha Allah the good month arrives in a few days and in anticipation of that arrival, let me wish the entire online ummah RAMADHAN KAREEM!
In response to my last post of 18 July (which feels like an eternity away), I did not get the chance to even start the recording of the English translation of the Qur’an. This rather saddens me, but not one to mull in regret, I look forward now to what’s to come.
I flew back into London 7th August, and now sit in some lovely summer sun. Quite a change from 40-degree intense scorching sun on my face.
A former colleague who is still with Islamonline.net and in Cairo wrote and asked “Do you miss Cairo?”. Bibi-Aisha, let’s see:
I miss some things but not most things.
1. I miss everyone greeting me with “As-salaamu alaikum” every ten seconds, and me returning their greetings with “wa alaikum as-salaam”
2. I miss everyone saying “in sha Allah” every ten seconds, and me saying it back to them every 20 seconds (or so…)
3. I miss being able to just get into a taxi to get to wherever I want to get to and knowing that I could well afford it
4. I miss hearing the sounds of the adhaan five times a day, regardless of the vocal talents of the muezzin
5. I miss taking for granted that God, religion, and family are central to everyone’s values and that these are never ever far away
6. I miss fatta and knuckles soup from al-Omda
Bibi-Aisha, that’s all I can come up with for now! We have a saying in Malay that goes “buang yang keruh, ambil yang jernih”, and with that in mind I shall take away with me the good and edge out the bad from the back of my head.
I shall continue to blog, especially while I go through my MBA in Islamic Banking and Finance. I am very much looking forward to that, and in sha Allah I will be able to put the knowledge to some good use! I will try my darnest to blog at least once a week from now on, so watch this space!
Ramadhan is coming up fast, and if you’re in the business of providing Islamic content you’re probably scrambling to prepare for the increased, heightened and intense demand that will no doubt come with the glorious month. As I prepare to leave the company and Egypt, my one and only “big project” for the Ramadhan schedule is the English translation reading and recording. This is by no means an easy task. The Qur’an itself is massive, and it will probably take a good 2-3 weeks to finish the job – only, of course, if we can actually get enough time in the recording studio, then go away to edit the material, putting the English translation reading alongside the Arabic recitation. But before we make our way into the recording studio, we first had to answer two pertinent questions:
1. Which English translation of the Qur’an?
2. Will management pass off a female voice reading the English translation? All the English translation readings that we found online were of male voices. We want to provide a “different voice”, and give women the opportunity to be included in this blessed endeavour.
I had initially selected Yusuf Ali’s translation. Compared with Arberry and Pickthall, it’s an easier read and a lot more “modern”. The sheikh at the company prefers Pickthall, because, as he said, of some of Yusuf Ali’s ideas, and because of Yusuf Ali himself as a person and scholar. As for a female voice for the English reading, the sheikh has no problems with female voices for the reading, but can’t our male colleague do it?
Needless to say, my perspectives on many matters differ with the (a lot) more conservative Islam and Muslim scholarship, and perhaps these issues will be tackled in this space in due time. So let’s start with this post. An attack ad hominem, (and for that satirical effect) and an attack ad feminem, perhaps?
Ibn Tulun Mosque minaret and courtyard. Photo: Katharine Ganly
Ibn Tulun Mosque Domed Sabil, with Muhammad Ali Mosque at the Citadel in the background. Photo: Katharine Ganly
I first visited the Ibn Tulun mosque in 2005, again in 2006, and again this afternoon. Sitting in the central courtyard’s ablution fountain (or domed sabil) I remember why this mosque is my favourite in Cairo. Its walls are so thick that once inside them you don’t hear Cairo’s streets anymore – a welcome respite, even in scorching hot weather.
The mosque was built for Ahmad Ibn Tulun, son of a Turkish slave of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun, and founder of Egypt’s Tulunid Dynasty (868 – 905 AD). It is heavily influenced by the Samarra style, Samarra being Ibn Tulun’s home. The mosque’s original inscription slab identifies the date of completion as 265 AH, or 879 AD, making it arguably the oldest mosque in Cairo still in its original form.
In 2006 the minaret was closed off and I had to pay one of the caretakers to unlock the door at the base. This time round the tourist police at the main door of the mosque informed us that the minaret was open. If you get the chance to go all the way up, you’ll be rewarded with a view of the surrounding district and the citadel. As well, you’ll see lots of graffiti on the walls of the minaret – some written in with ink, others carved into the walls (I had time to take in the graffiti, as I needed a five-minute break after climbing those stairs, which to be fair, weren’t a severe climb, but dehydration and 40 degree heat don’t help). But before you climb all the way up to the minaret, be sure to climb out onto the first floor of the mosque, but hang on to your animals and children or they’ll fall off the open edges! The most memorable aspect of the mosque for me has always been the crenellations. The first time I saw them in 2005 the first thought that came to mind was, “Oh, Keith Haring figures!”
Ibn Tulun Mosque Main Entrance, with distinct crenellations. Photo: Katharine Ganly
But what immediately struck me as a third-time visitor to this calm oasis in the midst of a very dense and congested district is the evident decaying condition of the mosque. I remember a couple of months ago visiting the Citadel, and the Sultan Hassan and Rifa’i mosques for a third time as well and thinking how dilapidated they all appeared, compared with the last time I visited.
Is it just my imagination, or are these important mosques in Cairo not being suitably taken care of?
(For more information on the Ibn Tulun mosque, visit this “Tour Egypt” site)
Welcome to ThinkingMuslim – the blog. We seek to cultivate a spirit of Islam that is subtly bold, lively, curious, questioning, open, engaging & diverse; a spirit based on knowledge, learning, dialogue, shared values & heritage, pride & love of Islam, God & Prophet. We opened our online store in July 2008, and todate we are very humbled to have reached many in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore, France, South Africa, Australia, Denmark, Malaysia, Norway & Trinidad. In terms of our designs, we draw from and are influenced by Islam & Muslims, primarily using the Qur’an & Hadith collections as springboards for thought & conceptualisation.
On our blog, we re-print articles that we have written and that have first been published elsewhere on the internet. We write about and comment on interests, issues and concerns affecting Islam, and Muslims worldwide.
