Uttar Pradesh: Muslim women perform Ram Aarti in Kashi
New Age
Islam News Bureau
13 November 2023
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Uttar Pradesh: Muslim women perform Ram Aarti in
Kashi
·
Famed Muslim-turned-atheist scholar: ‘Why I am now a
Christian’
·
Blackburn woman offering support to Muslim LGBTQ+
community
·
Journalists and the hijab debate
·
Maryam felicitates Hindu community on Diwali
·
Shaharzad Akbar from Afghanistan wins the 2023
Friedrich Ebert Foundation Prize
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/uttar-pradesh-ram-aarti-kashi/d/131102
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Uttar Pradesh: Muslim women perform Ram Aarti in Kashi
Nov 12, 2023
The group leader and president of Muslim
Mahila Foundation Nazneen Ansari believes in cultural and social amalgamation
of Hindus and Muslims through such events.
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VARANASI: While celebrating Diwali, a group of Muslim women sang in praise of Lord Rama and performed aarti at Vishal Bharat Sansthan in Lamahi in Varanasi on Sunday.
They sang, "Ayodhya hai humare jiyaratgah ka naam, Rahate hain wahan Imam-e-Hind Shri Ram", (Ayodhya is the name of our pilgrimage, where lives Imam of Hind Shri Ram)".
The group leader and president of Muslim Mahila Foundation Nazneen Ansari believes in cultural and social amalgamation of Hindus and Muslims through such events. "Shri Ram is our ancestor. We can change our name and religion, but how we can change our ancestor," she wondered adding, "Singing in praise of Lord Ram not only bridges the gap between Hindus and Muslms, but also reflects the generosity of Islam."
The darkness of unrighteousness vanishes with the light of Ram's name. There is a need to spread the name of Ram everywhere. Those who are away from Ram are forced to resort to violence. Palestine and Israel are shedding blood among themselves, she said, adding, both need to follow the path of Lord Ram, only then peace can come.
Only "Ramrajya" can take the world towards peace. “We are Indians, hence it is our duty to believe in Indian culture and take it forward. We are Muslims but will never accept Arabic culture. Muslims will be respected only if they remain connected to their ancestors”, she said.
Najma Parveen, a Muslim woman who did her PhD on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that this effort of Muslim women is going to strengthen mutual relations and give the message of peace. "Lord Shri Ram is the only support who can remove hatred from anyone's heart. In times of violence and unrighteousness, only the name of Lord Ram can take one on the path of righteousness," she said.
The event was attended by Archana Bharatvanshi, Razia Sultana, Shabana Begum, Shama Afroz, Reshma Qureshi, Razia, Jaliya Begum, Nagina Begum, Rabina, Shamshunnisha, Sonam, Mridula Jaiswal, Abha Bharatvanshi, and others.
With the "aarti thaal", the women performed aarti of Lord Rama and recited Hanuman Chalisa and prayer to give a message of communal harmony. The tradition of Shri Rama aarti has been continuing since 2006 when the Sankat Mochan temple was rocked by a terrorist blast. Since then Nazneen and her group members have been performing aarti and reciting prayers on occasions of Hindu festivals like Ram Navami and Diwali. These women believe that the message from Kashi can play a vital role in strengthening communal harmony in the society. Nazneen also scripted "Shri Ram Aarti", "Shri Ram Prarthana", "Durga Chalisa" and translated "Hanuman Chalisa" and "Ramcharitmanas" into Urdu.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/uttar-pradesh-muslim-women-perform-ram-aarti-in-kashi/articleshow/105166673.cms
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Famed Muslim-turned-atheist scholar: ‘Why I am now a Christian’
NOVEMBER 13, 2023
JENNIFER KABBANY
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a global women’s rights
activist and outspoken critic of Islam, is now openly professing her faith in
Christianity.
Hirsi Ali, who at one point in her life considered herself a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and also suffered female genital mutilation and a forced marriage at the hands of that religion, wrote in Unherd about her faith journey in a Nov. 13 piece headlined “Why I am now a Christian.”
Hirsi Ali is a Stanford University Hoover Institution scholar and prolific author, whose latest book is “Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights.”
In her column, she wrote that after she rejected Islam she embraced atheism because it “was a relief to adopt an attitude of scepticism towards religious doctrine, discard my faith in God and declare that no such entity existed.”
But it’s not enough anymore. She wrote the current triple threat facing the planet — the rise of communist authoritarianism in Russia and China, global Islamism, and the “viral spread of woke ideology” — demands an answer that unites humanity.
“We endeavour to fend off these threats with modern, secular tools: military, economic, diplomatic and technological efforts to defeat, bribe, persuade, appease or surveil. And yet, with every round of conflict, we find ourselves losing ground. We are either running out of money, with our national debt in the tens of trillions of dollars, or we are losing our lead in the technological race with China,” Hirsi Ali wrote.
“But we can’t fight off these formidable forces unless we can answer the question: what is it that unites us? The response that ‘God is dead!’ seems insufficient. So, too, does the attempt to find solace in ‘the rules-based liberal international order’. The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition.”
Hirsi Ali added that her acceptance of Christianity goes beyond solving temporal problems.
“I would not be truthful if I attributed my embrace of Christianity solely to the realisation that atheism is too weak and divisive a doctrine to fortify us against our menacing foes,” she wrote. “I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable — indeed very nearly self-destructive. Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?”
She wrote that her journey is still underway, but that she has come to understand that “in my own long journey through a wilderness of fear and self-doubt, that there is a better way to manage the challenges of existence than either Islam or unbelief had to offer.”
Source: thecollegefix.com
https://www.thecollegefix.com/famed-muslim-turned-atheist-scholar-why-i-am-now-a-christian/
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Blackburn woman offering support to Muslim LGBTQ+ community
12th November
Natasha Shah, founded Purple Souls in
November last year and also runs the Sultan Trust charity (Image: Purple Souls)
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A woman has launched a charity to provide a support system for Muslim people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Natasha Shah, 40, founded Purple Souls in November last year after a relative came out as transgender but faced challenges.
Recognising the lack of support for many LGBTQ+ individuals within the Muslim community, the charity aims to break the cycle of discrimination through support groups and building connections with other allies.
Natasha said: “There are people out there that need us but are obviously scared to come out, and there isn’t that safety for people in both communities.
"We want people to know that it’s safe to reach out to us and we will listen and understand.
“There are a lot of children and young people in Lancashire that don’t have support at home.
"Like many religions, some Muslims use the Quran to discriminate but nowhere does it actually say that.
"Hate breeds from hate and as a child you just follow your parent’s opinions so we need to break that cycle by raising awareness and educating and just being supportive.”
Natasha runs vacation therapy days which are days trips where groups can learn about each other, gain friendships and build strong connections and also runs a drop in session at Blackburn Rovers community hub every Wednesday.
The charity doesn’t just provide people with support related to sexuality and gender and religion.
Lancashire Telegraph: Purple Souls founder Natasha Shah at the Community Volunteer Awards in Blackburn
Since launching, Purple Souls has helped many individuals who have been ousted by their families navigate systems like immigration apps, find housing, create CVs, and secure job interviews.
Despite the charity’s positive results, Natasha is subject to a lot of negative comments on a regular basis.
Describing the challenges running the charity causes, Natasha said: “I get quite a lot of hate emails from people who think what I’m doing is evil.
"People have accused me of doing work for Satan so it’s clear how much work we need to do.
“I don’t get any funding at the moment and we’re just run on volunteers but if we don’t do this, no one will so it’s important to keep raising awareness and not let hate stop you.”
Source: lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23915921.blackburn-woman-offering-support-muslim-lgbtq-community/
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Journalists and the hijab debate
NOVEMBER 12, 2023
This week for 60 Minutes, correspondent Lesley Stahl met Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist living in Brooklyn who has been targeted by the Iranian regime for encouraging women in Iran to stop wearing headscarves. Protests over hijab laws took hold in Iran last year after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of Iran's morality police. Amini had been arrested on the charge of wearing a hijab improperly.
In Brooklyn, Alinejad's activism has made her a target of the Iranian regime. As Stahl was interviewing her about the threat against her life, Alinejad brought up another subject: Stahl's interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi last year, during which Stahl covered her own head.
Masih Alinejad: I was furious when I saw your interview because I was like, "Why?"
Lesley Stahl: When you saw me interviewing Raisi and I was wearing the headscarf, the veil, you were upset.
Masih Alinejad: Please don't get mad at me.
Lesley Stahl: I'm not mad at you, I'm not mad at you.
Masih Alinejad: I was angry.
Lesley Stahl: But I think you should tell us. You were angry at me.
Masih Alinejad: Oh, thank you so much, actually, for giving me the opportunity to say that. Because a lot of journalists and female politicians, they don't even get it, why I was upset, why I was angry. And can I say something? You're the only one actually asking me this question. Because the rest, they don't even want to hear people like me that why, why I was angry. Because look, I lost everything in my life.
They are dictators. You have to give the platform to women in Iran. You have to hear them. By giving platform to Ebrahim Raisi and wearing hijab, you're legitimizing one of the most barbaric laws, compulsory veiling. One of the clerics in Iran told me on air, " Who are you? How dare you to say no to compulsory hijab?" So clearly when you are wearing hijab in the name of respecting the law of the land, they are using this to put more pressure on us.
Lesley Stahl: But you appreciate, don't you, that if I had said, "I'm not going to wear the hijab, even here in Iran," that they would've said, "Well, you don't get your interview then."
Masih Alinejad: And then you could--
Lesley Stahl: It puts us in this difficult position. And, of course, we did debate it. It's not as if it wasn't an issue that we understand.
Masih Alinejad: Exactly. No, actually you did a great job by challenging him. But this is what dictators are really good at, putting women against women, by forcing you to wear hijab and telling me that, "Look, even I forced this powerful woman to wear a hijab."
Lesley Stahl: I did not feel, in my heart and in my mind, that what I was doing was an act against women.
"You have to decide whether you yourself are an activist and you want to make a statement, or you're a journalist and you want to do the interview," Stahl told 60 Minutes Overtime. "And I definitely fall in the second category. I think there's so much value in going to a place, interviewing officials, that if the price for that is to put that headscarf on—even though I'm opposed to it—I would still want to get the interview, bring it back and put it on 60 Minutes, which is what we did."
Source: cbsnews.com
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/journalists-and-the-hijab-debate-60-minutes/
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Maryam felicitates Hindu community on Diwali
November 13, 2023
LAHORE: Chief Organiser Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) sent ‘Happy Diwali’ wishes to the Hindu community, here on Sunday.
In a statement, she sent her best wishes to the Hindu community on the festival of lights, and said their happiness, peace and development under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif was very dear and important to the PMLN.
“Protecting the rights of non-Muslim Pakistanis has always been our tradition and this tradition will be carried forward with more spirit and in the light of the Constitution,” she added.
Maryam said the PMLN, after coming to power, would give more opportunities to non-Muslim Pakistanis in decision-making and development process. She said development of minorities was development and strength of Pakistan.
“Today we pay tribute to the services of minorities for defence, security and development of our dear motherland,” she concluded.
Source: thenews.com.pk
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1128561-maryam-felicitates-hindu-community-on-diwali
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Shaharzad Akbar from Afghanistan wins the 2023 Friedrich Ebert Foundation Prize
Fidel Rahmati
November 12, 2023
Shahrazad Akbar expressed her mixed feelings about such awards, stating, “I have mixed emotions about these awards because Afghan women are not in a position to celebrate them, but it opens up an opportunity for advocating human rights in Afghanistan on global platforms, allowing us to raise our voices.”
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Germany, the oldest organization in Germany dedicated to promoting democracy, has announced that the 2023 Human Rights Prize has been awarded to Shahrazad Akbar, the former chair of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Germany, the country’s oldest organization dedicated to promoting democracy, announced that the 2023 Human Rights Prize was awarded to Shahrazad Akbar, the former chair of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission.
The organization stated that Ms Shahrazad Akbar is a staunch supporter of democracy and a defender of human rights who has not only condemned the actions of the Taliban towards women but also criticized the previous government.
The organization’s statement further highlighted that awarding this prize to Shahrazad Akbar demonstrates solidarity with Afghan women who have suffered greatly under the dire humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan following the collapse of the republic’s government and the Taliban’s takeover.
The award is set to be presented to Shahrazad Akbar on November 28th, 2023, in a ceremony.
In a conversation with Khaama Press, Ms Akbar expresses mixed emotions about receiving such awards at a time when Afghan women are living in absolute darkness. Still, she sees it as an opportunity to advocate for human rights in Afghanistan on global platforms, allowing their voices to be heard.
Shahrazad Akbar served as the head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission from 2019 to 2021, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Germany recognized her as a genuine human rights defender in 2023.
Meanwhile, Ms. Akbar sought refuge outside the country with the resurgence of the Taliban administration on August 15, 2021. She is regarded as one of the leading human rights advocates who has consistently championed women’s rights, especially during the Ashraf Ghani government, and continues to raise awareness about the conditions of women’s lives in Afghanistan on international platforms.
According to Ms Shahrazad Akbar, the situation for women in Afghanistan amounts to gender apartheid, and the interim government’s actions over the past two years, such as depriving girls of education and banning women from working, have resulted in widespread human rights violations.
She currently works as the head of the human rights organization “Rawadari,” focusing on assessing the human rights situation in Afghanistan and raising awareness about the living conditions of women in the country.
The former chair of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan believes that global community engagement with the Taliban over the past two years has not yielded positive results, and alternative approaches should be considered.
The Human Rights Prize of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung was first awarded in 1994 and has since been given annually, by the will of the Hamburg couple, Carl and Aida Fiest, to prominent figures in the field of democracy advocacy. In their will, the founders stated that the foundation should manage their legacy and award the Human Rights Prize each year.
This award is presented to individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to human rights in various parts of the world.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/shaharzad-akbar-from-afghanistan-wins-the-2023-friedrich-ebert-foundation-prize/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/uttar-pradesh-ram-aarti-kashi/d/131102