When you see a woman wearing a scarf on her head, chances are she is a Muslim woman, and that “scarf thingy,” well…that is called a ‘hijab.’

Millions of Muslim women around the world wear it in accordance with the religion of Islam. I’d answer “why,” they wear it, but that reason is different for everyone who puts the hijab on.

Nevertheless, the style of the women who wear hijab is different all over the planet. That is where photographer Langston Hues comes in…

This photographer, from Detroit, Michigan, deferred admission to medical school and has taken this year to travel the world and capture the different styles of Muslim women for his upcoming book “Modest Street Fashion.” The photographs in the book are taken on streets of cities all around the world.   »»» wusa9.com

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Angola has denied recent claims it “banned” the practice of Islam soon after the country allegedly shut down most mosques and led a campaign against veiled Muslim women, according to human rights activists.

On Monday, the Angolan Embassy in Washington issued a statement refuting the claims. “The Republic of Angola… it’s a country that does not interfere in religion. We have a lot of religions there. It is freedom of religion. We have Catholic, Protestants, Baptists, Muslims and evangelical people,” read the statement.

However, the Guardian reported that, under Angolan law, Islam has yet to receive legal recognition, explaining that in order to qualify, a religious organization needs 100,000 members, whereas Muslim Angolans number 90,000 (out of about 18 million). According to the report, the Angolan justice ministry last month “rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from the Islamic community.”

The Islamic Community of Angola claimed that the country’s considerations stem from discrimination and religious intolerance; of the 78 mosques in the country, according to the organization, all have been shut over the past few years, except for those in the capital, and persons who practice Islam risk being found guilty of violating the law.

Earlier in the week, Angola’s minister of culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva, was quoted by Britain’s Daily Mail as conceding that “the legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights,” adding that as a result the mosques would be closed until further notice.

Muslims are usually required to shut down a mosque themselves but if they fail to do so, the government intervenes, Já said.

“They usually issue a legal request for us to destroy the building and give us 73 hours to do so. Failure to do so results in government authorities doing it themselves.”

Já also claimed that Muslim women who wear the traditional veil have also been targeted. “As things stand, most Muslim women are afraid to wear the veil. A woman was assaulted in hospital in Luanda for wearing a veil, and on another occasion, a young Muslim lady was beaten up and told to leave the country because she was wearing a veil,” he told the Guardian.

“Most recently, young girls were prohibited from wearing the veil in Catholic schools and, when we went there to confront the nuns, they simply said they couldn’t allow it. Although there is not an explicit written law prohibiting the use of the veil in Angola, the government has prohibited the practice of the faith and women are afraid to express their faith in that sense,” he added.   »»» The Times of Israel

The Angolan government is playing a game that hides the truth. Although the constitution includes a right to freedom of (private) religious belief, the law requires organized religious denominations to be recognized by the government. If they are not, they are illegal and cannot build or operate public worship facilities. Furthermore, the authorities turn a blind eye on people who harass Muslims and who vandalize or destroy mosques.

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The date palm, mentioned more than any other fruit-bearing plant in the Qur’an, is a symbol often associated with Islam and Muslims. Throughout the month of Ramadan, dates are a common ingredient in the Muslim diet.

The delectable fruit is sourced from the date palms of Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and even South Africa. Muslims begin and end their day of fasting with its sweet and nourishing flesh.

Phoenix dactylifera is the botanical name for the date palm. It is also referred to as nakhl in Arabic, while the fruit of the date palm is called tamr in many Arab and African countries.

The date palm is a tall evergreen and consists of both male and female trees (called dioecious). Only the female trees produce fruit, but one male tree can produce enough pollen to pollinate 40-50 female trees.

The date palm, which is most commonly unbranched, can grow up to 30 meters. Its 4-5 meter long leaves surround the trunk in a spiral pattern. Branched forms of the date palm also occur (See Surah 13 above).

Date palms produce between five and ten bunches of dates per tree. A single large bunch may contain more than a thousand dates, and can weigh between 6 to 8 kg. They begin to bear fruit at 3 to 5 years, and reach full production after 10-12 years. Date palms can survive up to 150 years.

Date fruits vary in size, shape and colour. This drupe fruit is characterised by its thin skin, succulent, soft flesh and hard stone or seed in the middle. Unripe dates are green in colour, maturing to yellow, then reddish-brown when fully ripe. Each of these states (green to ripe) has been given a particular name in Arabic.

The tree is grown in a nearly rainless belt in the Sahara, as well as in the Middle East in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran and Iraq. The variety of dates that are produced amount to 600 according to a report by the Agronomy and Range Science Management Department at the University of California.

In three date-producing countries, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, there is reported to be about 1000 varieties of dates, many of which experience neglect and face possible extinction as efforts are concentrated on prized varieties (Campbell).

The date market in the noble city of Madinah, the Souq al-Tumour, sells about 150 varieties, differing in color, shape, taste and price!

The date palm has a range of uses. High-energy date fruits have been placed high on the diets of the health conscious. Though the fruit still has untapped potential in the food industry, it also lends itself to countless other uses.

Handicrafts, such as ropes and mats can be woven from the branches of the tree, while the bark is very useful as a building material. In early descriptions of the Prophet Muhammad’s (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mosque in Madinah, historians state that the leaves of the date palm were used as a roof covering.

Even the date stone is used as cattle feed, once it has been soaked and powdered. The juice from the date palm is an ingredient in baking and cooking.   »»» Sailan Muslim

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A Muslim religious leader chanted Islamic prayers from the Koran as he often does at the Voorhees Islamic Center mosque in the U.S. state of New Jersey. But Thursday’s event was far from the usual prayer ritual.

Sitting near Muslim leader Imam Riyadh Thabata that night was the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden, Bishop Dennis Sullivan, and other diocesan priests. In the audience, Muslims and Catholics sat side by side.

They gathered for a ceremony praising the new Agreement of Understanding and Cooperation that promotes respect and love between the two religious communities and establishes the Catholic-Muslim Commission of Southern New Jersey.

“Christians and Muslims should live in peace with one another, and as bishop, I support the commission’s work,” Sullivan said in addressing the mosque gathering.

Rahman acknowledged that since 9/11, Americans have not always viewed Muslims in a positive way. She recalled local opposition to the the mosque and that the diocese and other religious groups came to its defense.
   »»» courierpostonline.com

The official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church declares:

“841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. ‘The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day’.”

That Vatican II Council declared the following:

“The Church regards with respect the Muslims, who worship the One, Living, Subsistent, Merciful, Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth, who spoke to men. They strive to submit wholeheartedly to God’s commandments…even as Abraham submitted himself to God, whose obedience is often recalled in the Islamic religion. Although they do not recognize Jesus as God, they do venerate him as a prophet and they honour his virgin mother, Mary…. They await the Day of Judgment, when God will reward all those risen from the dead. They hold in high regard the moral life and worship God,particularly by prayer, charity and fasting.”

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In an apparent attempt to prevent the spread of Islamic extremism, the African nation of Angola has banned Islam and is in the process of tearing down mosques, according to multiple media reports.

On November 24, Angola President José Eduardo dos Santos said the country is working toward putting an end to Islamic influence in Angola once and for all.

The African economic news agency Agence Ecofin notes that, “According to several Angolan newspapers, Angola has become the first country in the world to ban Islam and Muslims, taking first measures by destroying mosques in the country.”

Rosa Cruz e Silva, the Angolan Minister of Culture, said “The process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice.”

   »»» Examiner.com

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Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the contemporary world’s most celebrated icons of human rights, non-violence and reconciliation, crossed the line into Myanmar’s world of “Buddhist” Islamophobia. Disturbingly, on BBC Radio Four’s flagship programme, “Today”, she characterised the waves of organised violence and Nazi-like hate campaigns currently being committed by her fellow Buddhists – the lay public and clergy alike – as violence of two equal sides, claiming that Burmese Buddhists live in the perceived fear of the rise of great Muslim power worldwide.

As a revered dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi’s idea of ‘freedom from fear’ inspired millions both in Myanmar and world-wide. I think she herself has succumbed to a different type of fear, namely Islamophobia.

Far from recent waves of violence being horizontal communal violence, the truth is that the country’s Rohingya Muslims – numbering 1.3 million out of the country’s 60 million people – have been the subject of a slowly unfolding genocide.    »»» Al Jazeera English

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Kosovo’s top Muslim leaders are calling on the country’s youths who have joined rebels in Syria to stop fighting and come back home.

The Islamic Community of Kosovo said in a statement Wednesday that fighting in Syria “has nothing to do with religious principles” and it only prolongs the life President Bashar Assad’s government and the suffering of Syrian people.

Authorities say some 150 ethnic Albanians are believed to have joined foreign rebels in Syria’s and some 12 are believed to have been killed there.   »»» Fox News

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Mohamad Bashar Arafat, president of the Islamic Affairs Council of Maryland, is a Syrian who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. He was visiting the Vatican and speaking to groups in Rome in early October as a guest of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See as part of the U.S. State Department’s international speakers program.

In an interview with Catholic News Service, Arafat said he sees Pope Francis acting as all truly religious leaders should: reaching out with respect for the human person and open to dialogue.

Arafat said the pope’s love and openness were clear not only in his choice of being named after St. Francis of Assisi, but particularly in his decision in July to visit the Italian island of Lampedusa, praying for migrants lost at sea and calling the world’s attention to the need for immigration reform, and in calling on people around the world to fast and pray for peace in Syria in early September when a military strike seemed imminent.

“From my perspective, Pope Francis is really doing a wonderful job in terms of outreach, in terms of contributing to world peace, in terms of contributing to stopping wars and conflicts, praying for better understanding,” Arafat said. “This was the message of St. Francis Assisi and this is the message of Ibn Arabi, the great Muslim scholar and theologian and poet, and this is the spirit of all the Muslim saints and Sufis around the world.”

“St. Francis resonates with the Muslim world,” he said, particularly because he is credited as the first Catholic leader to dialogue with a Muslim leader; in the midst of the Crusades, St. Francis met with Egyptian Sultan Malik al-Kamil in 1219, hoping to bring peace.   »»» catholicglobe.org

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Pavlo Lapshyn hunted down a Muslim to murder before he bombed three Midlands mosques to trigger a race war. Lapshyn came to Britain in April from Ukraine after winning a prize to further his studies, but within days he had stabbed Mohammed Saleem (age 82) in Birmingham.

A white supremacist who hoped to “ethnically cleanse” Muslims, Lapshyn has been told he will serve at least 40 years imprisonment for a terror campaign in which he hunted down a Muslim to murder before he bombed three Midlands mosques aiming to kill and maim worshippers.

His victim was walking home from a mosque with the aid of a walking stick in Small Heath, Birmingham, just after 10pm. Lapshyn approached the grandfather of 23 children from behind, and plunged the blade in so deep it reached the front of Saleem’s body. Saleem collapsed, with one wound 18 cm deep.

Lapshyn had pleaded guilty on Monday at the Old Bailey to the terrorist campaign of murder and bombings across the West Midlands from April to July. He confessed after his arrest that he was a violent racist and had parts for three more bomb attacks.

He placed bombs outside mosques in Walsall and Wolverhampton in June, before packing his final device with nails which was aimed at worshippers entering Friday lunchtime prayers at Tipton mosque.

Three hundred people would have been in the path of the shrapnel that shot across the car park, leaving nails embedded in tree trunks. But the mosque had temporarily moved prayers back one hour.

Lapshyn was sentenced to a minimum term of 40 years, with sentences of 12 years for the three mosque bombings to run concurrently. He was sentenced by the same judge overseeing the case of two men accused of murdering Lee Rigby in May in a London street.   »»» The Guardian

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A Malaysian court ruled on Monday that a Christian newspaper may not use the word “Allah” to refer to God, a landmark decision on an issue that has fanned religious tensions and raised questions over minority rights in the mainly Muslim country.

The unanimous decision by three Muslim judges in Malaysia’s appeals court overturned a 2009 ruling by a lower court that allowed the Malay language version of the newspaper, The Herald, to use the word Allah—as many Christians in Malaysia say has been the case for centuries.

“The usage of the word Allah is not an integral part of the faith in Christianity,” chief judge Mohamed Apandi Ali said in the ruling. “The usage of the word will cause confusion in the community.”   »»» www.irrawaddy.org

Malaysia is the only country to ever make such a ruling. The Qur’an very clearly teaches that Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the God of Abraham, Moses, Muhammad and Jesus. The Aramaic word that Jesus used for God is “Elaha” and one of the Hebrew words for God is “Eloah”. Today, there are about 12 million Arabic-speaking Christians. They and their ancestors have been calling God “Allah” in their Bibles, hymns, poems, writings, and worship for over nineteen centuries.

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