A private university outside Boston has decided not to award an honorary degree to a Somali-born women’s rights activist who has branded Islam as violent and “a nihilistic cult of death.”

Brandeis University said it had decided not to award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch parliamentarian who has been a prominent critic of the treatment of women in Islamic society.

Hirsi Ali said in a 2003 interview with a Dutch newspaper that by modern standards, the Muslim prophet Mohammed could be considered a pedophile, and in a 2007 interview with the London Evening Standard called Islam “a destructive, nihilistic cult of death.”

“We cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values,” the university said in a statement late Tuesday. “We regret that we were not aware of these statements earlier.”   »»» FaithWorld

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Saudi Arabia is considering ending its controversial ban on sports in girls’ state schools, after the country’s consultative council recommended the ban be lifted over vociferous opposition from traditionalists.

Following a heated debate on Tuesday, the Shura Council recommended that the longstanding ban, already softened in private schools in May last year, be fully ended, the AFP news agency reported, citing state media.

The appointed body, whose 150 members are overwhelmingly male, can only pass on its recommendation to the education ministry and has no powers to impose it.

All education in Saudi Arabia is strictly single-sex, but sports in girls schools remains a sensitive issue in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

Opponents argued that girls’ state schools lacked sports facilities and rejected supporters’ claims that sports provision would help combat rising childhood obesity, an aide to the Shura Council chairman said.

But the council finally approved the recommendation after agreeing that it did not run counter to the strict version of Islamic sharia law imposed in the kingdom, Fahad al-Ahmad told the official SPA news agency, according to AFP.

The council cited a ruling by the kingdom’s late top cleric, or grand mufti, Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Baz, that women were entitled to play sports “within the limits set by Islamic law”.   »»» Al Jazeera English

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Malaysia has joined other Islamic countries in banning the Hollywood biblical epic “Noah” starring Russell Crowe, decrying it as irreligious and saying it violates Islamic law against depicting prophets.

A home ministry official Saturday confirmed that Paramount’s latest big budget film, which has sparked an outcry among Muslim groups worldwide, will not be screened in predominantly Muslim Malaysia.

The film has already angered some Christian institutions in the United States over Crowe’s reportedly unconventional portrayal of Noah, who is regarded as an important figure in both Christianity and Islam.

Neighboring Indonesia, Egypt and United Arab Emirates have banned the film because of scenes they say contradict Islam.   »»» The China Post

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Bishop Camillo Ballin, an Italian-born Comboni missionary, heads the Roman Catholic Vicariate of Northern Arabia. He is overseeing the first-ever building of a new cathedral in Bahrain, on land given to the Church by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah.

The cathedral, named Our Lady of Arabia, will serve an estimated 2.5 million Catholics-the great majority of them foreign guest workers-in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The new structure will be a focal point for the territory’s 10 parishes and more than 100 underground communities. Particularly in Saudi Arabia, the public practice of Christianity on the Arab Peninsula is severely restricted, mostly limited to the grounds of foreign embassies and private homes. Priests are generally not allowed to appear in public dressed in clerical garb; conversions of Muslims to Christianity are strictly forbidden, while Christians are banned from marrying Muslim women.

The building of the new cathedral signals a breakthrough in Church-state relations and is also testimony to what the prelate describes as “the constantly increasing number of Catholics in the region.” Currently only five formally designated churches serve the 880,000 square miles that make up the Vicariate. Bishop Ballin spoke with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need on March 17, 2014, the final day of his two-week trip to the US to raise awareness of the cathedral project.

Bishop Ballin sad, “A large number of Catholics in Bahrain obliged me to ask the king for land. The church that we have in Manama is too small. I asked the king for a piece of land in the south of the country and he granted the request immediately. Since the bishop is in Bahrain, this new church will be the cathedral of the Vicariate of Northern Arabia and it will be dedicated to Our Lady of Arabia, patroness of the Gulf. I think he wanted to prove that Bahrain is a country open to all. In fact, there are Catholics and even Jews who are members of the Council of the king! In this region, where fanaticism is strong in some countries, the example of the king of Bahrain should be considered a model of openness.

“The problems in Bahrain are not between Christians and Muslims but among Muslims themselves, between Shiites and Sunnis. I trust in the good will of the people of Bahrain.”   »»» EWTN.com

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A Muslim victim of the Boston Marathon bombing has sued Glenn Beck for
defamation and slander after the talk show host accused him of funding the
attacks.

Race spectator Abdulrahman Alharbi filed a federal lawsuit against Beck
and his companies, The Blaze Inc. and Mercury Radio Arts, and his radio
syndicator, Premier Radio Networks.

The 20-year-old Alharbi was injured in the April 15 bombings, questioned as
a witness, and consented to a search of his apartment.

Authorities quickly determined that Alharbi, a Saudi national of Middle
Eastern descent, had no involvement in the attacks.

But Beck “repeatedly and falsely” identified Alharbi as an active participant
in the bombings, the suit claims.
   »»» Informed Comment

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Muslims have a problem with domestic violence. Let me be clear – most think it’s a terrible thing. But the troubling fact remains that it’s difficult for Muslims to argue that all forms of domestic violence are religiously prohibited. That is because a verse in our sacred scripture can be interpreted as allowing husbands to hit their wives.

This verse, found in Chapter 4, Verse 34, has been historically understood as saying that husbands can admonish disobedient wives, abandon them in bed and even strike them physically. This verse creates a conundrum for modern Muslims who believe in gender equality and do not believe that husbands have the right to discipline their wives at all, never mind hit them. How can devout Muslims both speak out against domestic violence and be faithful to a religious text that permits wife-beating?

As it turns out, the way out of this problem lies not only in the Koran itself – but in the very verse.

Many Islamic scholars have quietly been offering compelling non-violent and non-hierarchical interpretations of 4:34 for years. One alternate reading posits that if a couple experiences marital troubles, they should first discuss the matter reasonably. If that does not resolve the problem, the couple should experiment with a trial separation. If that fails, the couple ought to separate, but if it works, then they should have makeup sex. This alternate interpretation works with the Koran’s original Arabic, which lends itself to multiple, equally valid readings.

But if it is so easy to come up with new interpretations, why have the non-violent ones not gained more widespread acceptance?

The answer lies in a key truth: Religious texts mean what their communities say they mean. Texts do not have a voice of their own. They speak only through their community of readers. So, with a community so large (1.3 billion) and so old (1,400 years), Islamic religious texts necessarily speak with many voices to reflect the varied histories and experiences of the many communities that call themselves Muslim.

The fact is that 4:34 can legitimately be read both ways – violently and non-violently, either as sanctioning violence against wives or as offering a non-violent, non-hierarchical means for resolving marital conflict. Muslims may follow whichever interpretation they choose, and the inescapable truth is that the interpretation chosen says more about the Muslim in question than it does about the verse. This marvellous agency comes with a heavy responsibility: Rather than holding 4:34 responsible for what it means, Muslims can and must hold themselves responsible for their interpretations.   »»» tabsir.net

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Among the aspiring Asian designers competing for the limelight at Tokyo Fashion Week, one of the most striking was an Indonesian label’s bid to blend a traditional Muslim headscarf with haute couture.

The twice-yearly show, which wraps up on Saturday, saw NurZahra roll out its autumn/winter collection Layers of Fidelity, turning the modest hijab into sophisticated fashion.

The label — whose name means “the luminous light” in Arabic and takes from Fatimah Zahra, the name of the daughter of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed — wanted to prove that the female hair-and-neck-covering wrap, common in the Islamic world, could still take on playful elements.

“The modest hijab is not actually a restriction” in fashion, designer Windri Widiesta Dhari told reporters after her stylish designs hit the catwalk.

“It’s how you cover yourself and look more elegant in a way that has a loose fit.”

Dhari sees the traditional scarf as not just a modesty covering, but also a stylish, comfortable accessory.   »»» The Times of Israel

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More members of Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders’ party abandoned his party on Saturday amid an unprecedented storm of protest after he vowed “fewer Moroccans’ in the Netherlands.

Three councilors quit his Party for Freedom (PVV) party in the northern Friesland province, after similar moves by the head of the party’s bloc in the European parliament and two Dutch MPs.

National news agency ANP spoke of a PVV “exodus” after a jovial Wilders on Wednesday promised his chanting supporters he would arrange for there to be fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands.

The public prosecutor’s office has stopped counting the hundreds of complaints filed against Wilders and police stations have produced partly pre-filled complaint forms targeting Wilders to save them time.

A Facebook page “I’m filing a complaint against Wilders” had over 93,000 likes by Saturday evening.

“Why? Because we’re Dutch like you. We believe in our country and not in sowing hatred,” the Facebook page said.

A similar page entitled “I’m not filing a complaint against Wilders because everyone is entitled to their own opinion” had meanwhile garnered 845 “Likes”.

The entire city council of Nijmegen said they would go to the police station to file a discrimination complaint against Wilders, whose PVV party had been the most popular in the Netherlands, according to opinion polls before the furore erupted.

Television pictures at a post-local election rally on Wednesday showed Wilders in The Hague asking party faithful whether they wanted “fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?”.

“Fewer! Fewer!” the crowd shouted, with a smiling Wilders answering: “We’re going to organise that.”

A court in 2011 acquitted the platinum-haired politician on hate-speech charges, ruling that he had targeted a religion, which is permitted under Dutch freedom-of-speech laws, rather than a specific ethnic group.    »»» Israel National News

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A decade ago, Morocco adopted a family code hailed by women’s rights groups as a big step forward. Three years ago, the country passed a new constitution guaranteeing gender equality. Even so, Moroccan women say that equality is still a long way off, and much of the old order remains untouched, including the inheritance law section of the family code. That law, laid down in the Quran, states that male relatives receive double the inheritance of women.

But the pressure for change is building. “Islam allows for reinterpretation, and it is time for radical decisions to protect women,” said Saida Kouzzi, a founding partner at Mobilizing for Rights Associates, a nongovernmental organization based in Morocco. “This law of inheritance was based on the fact that men were the head of the households, which is not the case anymore as many women are the ones who provide for the family or at least contribute in a significant manner.”

In 2004, Morocco rewrote its code of family law, establishing the right to divorce by mutual consent, placing limits on polygamy and raising the minimum marriage age for women to 18 from 15. But no changes were made with respect to inheritance.

At the time, the Moroccan ruler, King Mohammed VI, had to arbitrate between the demands of feminist organizations, who were calling for an expansion of women’s rights, and the Islamic political parties, who were strongly resistant to change. But terrorist bombings in 2003 that killed 45 people in Casablanca weakened the Islamist parties and paved the way for the adoption of the new family code. The king seized that opportunity to make it clear that he was the country’s top religious authority.

“I can’t in my capacity as commander of the faithful, permit what God has forbidden, nor forbid what the Almighty has allowed,” the king said in an October 2003 address to Parliament about the changes to the family code. He also hinted that he would push to loosen religious rules without completely rejecting them.   »»» NYTimes.com

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Christians and Muslims have joined to try to help free millions of men, women and children held in modern-day slavery, forced to work as maids, prostitutes, child soldiers and manual laborers.

The Global Freedom Network launched Monday at the Vatican aims to eradicate slavery by encouraging governments, businesses, educational and faith institutions to rid their supply chains of slave labor.   »»» Taiwan News Online

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