Islam for children: Toymaker in Dubai launches Lego-style Muslim Blocks

Miniature structures include the Kaaba and Masjid Al Nabawi, with Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in the pipeline

It was a combination of creativity and paternal instinct that pushed UAE resident Abdellah Zejli to create Muslim Blocks. Made of interlocking bricks, the miniature structures resemble important Islamic buildings that the Moroccan national hopes “can help Muslim families bond over meaningful toys”.

The company has two structures available at the moment: the Kaaba (Dh132), the holiest site in Islam, which is in Makkah; and Masjid Al Nabawi (Dh150), the second-largest mosque in the world, which is in Madinah.

The Kaaba set by Muslim Blocks. Chris Whiteoak / The National

While the toys are similar to Lego, the toymaker in Dubai is not affiliated with the Danish company. His inspiration, he says, stems from the observation that major toy stores do not stock options that are both fun and educational from an Islamic standpoint.

However, Zejli adds non-Muslims have also expressed an interest in the sets, which he began selling earlier this month. Currently in the design phase is a miniature of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, which holds strong historical values for different groups.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about making learning fun,” Zejli says. The educational aspect is immediately apparent. Each set comes with a detailed instruction manual that not only shows children how to build the structures, but also contains facts and backstories about each.

The Kaaba miniature, for example, comes with more than 300 pieces of interlocking blocks. It features the building’s most prominent parts, such as the Maqam Ibrahim, the Black Stone and the Kiswah, or great cloth. While the manual explains each part, Zejli also recommends parents play with their children so as to constructively guide them through the construction process.

“Muslim Blocks is also about spending quality time with children. These days, everyone is on their phone or watching television, so this allows a moment for parents and children to have some fun together,” he says.

The Masjid Al Nabawi set, too, comprises more than 300 bricks, and offers more detail about the mosque’s varying features, from the domes and courtyard umbrellas to the protruding minaret.

The Masjid Al Nabawi set. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Zejli, who spent 16 years in Canada and has three children, draws heavily from his own experience as a father. “Whatever you give your children can leave an imprint in their heads and affect their future,” he says. “Muslim Blocks can be one of those toys parents can use to introduce children to their religion, but in a more fun way.”

Following the brand’s launch on July 1, Zejli says he received more than 1,000 orders in one week.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NATIONAL NEWS

Muslims stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ at largest Islamic convention in UK

The largest Islamic convention in the UK is taking place this weekend where around 40,000 Muslims will gather from at home and overseas.

Muslims spoke about the importance of “standing shoulder to shoulder” as a community as they attended the first day of the largest Islamic convention in the UK.

Around 40,000 Muslims are expected to attend the Jalsa Salana, which began on Friday and ends on Sunday – with some travelling from overseas to reach Oakland Farm in Alton, Hampshire, where the convention takes place.

Fraz Ahmad, 19, a law student from Bradford – who said he journeyed for five hours on Friday morning to reach Alton, told the PA news agency: “I think it’s really important to remove the misconceptions around Islam and change the narrative, change the perspective, that people have upon it.

“By people coming here and having a look at what true Islam looks like, and what we believe Islam is about, that’s the only way that narrative is going to change.”

The convention, which is in its 57th year, was formed with the help of around 5,000 volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which is deemed to be the fastest growing sect within Islam.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE INDEPENDENT (UK)

The Lebanese Saint Who Unites Christians and Muslims

One of the miracles documented by father Matar at the end of December 2018 was that of a 45-year-old Italian woman.

St. Charbel Makhlouf is known in Lebanon for the miraculous healings of those who visit his tomb to seek his intercession — both Christians and Muslims.

“St. Charbel has no geographic or confessional limits. Nothing is impossible for [his intercession] and when people ask [for something], he answers,” Father Louis Matar, coordinator of the Shrine of St. Charbel in Annaya, Lebanon, told CNA.

Speaking in Arabic with the help of an interpreter, Father Matar said the shrine, which encompasses the monastery where the Maronite Catholic priest, monk, and hermit lived for nearly 20 years, receives approximately 4 million visitors a year, including both Christians and Muslims.

Lebanese Catholics pray at the shrine of St. Charbel, the country’s patron saint. EWTN News

Father Matar, who is responsible for archiving the thousands of medically-verified healings attributed to the intercession of the Maronite priest-monk, said that many miraculous cures have been obtained by Muslims.

Since 1950, the year the monastery began to formally record the miraculous healings, they have archived more than 29,000 miracles, Father Matar said. Prior to 1950, miracles were verified only through the witness of a priest. Now, with more advanced medical technology available, alleged miracles require medical documents demonstrating the person’s initial illness and later, their unexplainable good health.

One of the miracles documented by father Matar at the end of December 2018 was that of a 45-year-old Italian woman. Suffering from a neurological disease, she was hospitalized after it was discovered she had tried to commit suicide by consuming acid.
FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER

Sunni Cleric Voices Support for Women Defying Hijab Rules in Iran

A prominent Sunni cleric in Iran voiced support Friday for women who defy rules mandating they wear a hijab in public, saying such women are expressing their discontent and “demonstrating civil disobedience.”

In a sermon, Molavi Abdul Hamid, the Friday prayer imam of Sunnis in the city of Zahedan, said hijabs cannot be imposed on Iranian women through imprisonment, detention or torture.

He also said Iran’s economic problems stem from deep-rooted political issues and asserted that the Islamic republic’s 44-year-old policies have failed to provide solutions. As long as political issues remain unresolved, he said, the country’s economy will not find stability.

Hamid condemned the recent Quran-burning incident in Sweden, saying that disrespect for the sanctities of all religions and denominations is unacceptable. He said the sacred books of Muslims, Christians and Jews should never be set on fire.

FULL ARTICLE FROM VOA

Indonesia’s top court issues circular against interfaith marriage

It contradicts a 1986 Supreme Court ruling that states interfaith marriages are legal by way of a court order

The top court in Indonesia has come out with a circular requesting courts not to grant a nod to interfaith marriages contradictory to its 1986 ruling which makes interfaith marriages legal in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation.

In the July 17 circular, Muhammad Syarifuddin, chairman of the Supreme Court, emphasized the need to establish guidelines to “provide certainty and unity in the application of law in adjudicating applications for the registration of marriages between people of different religions and beliefs.”

The Supreme Court stressed that “a valid marriage is a marriage that is carried out according to the laws of each religion and belief” in accordance with the 1974 Marriage Law.

The circular contradicts a 1986 Supreme Court ruling that states interfaith marriages are legal in Indonesia by way of a court order. The order later became the jurisprudence for judges in deciding similar cases.

This order was banked on by religious institutions, including the Catholic Church, to conduct interfaith marriage ceremonies.

The new circular came after Muslim groups protested against several court decisions that recently granted a nod to marriages between Muslim and Christian couples.

Father Yohanes Aristanto Heri Setiawan of the Missionaries of the Holy Family (MSF), executive secretary of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference Family Commission, said that he was not ready to comment on this circular.

“We are still discussing the response to the circular letter,” he told UCA News on July 20.

Ahmad Nurcholish, a Muslim cleric and program director for the Indonesia Conference on Religion and Peace, said the circular was “an extraordinary setback for the Supreme Court” because it contradicted the 1986 ruling which actually provided a way out for interfaith couples.

“I am disappointed and surprised,” said Nurcholish, who is also a counselor for interfaith couples. He claims to have helped 1,655 interfaith couples marry since 2005.

With the circular, it is possible that interfaith couples will marry abroad only to re-register later in Indonesia, he told UCA News.

“They may also be forced to choose a religion, even if temporarily, just to have their marriage legalized,” he said.

FULL ARTICLE FROM UCA NEWS

Closing Guantanamo Bay Prison Won’t Erase the Crimes Committed Against Muslims

The men who’ve been imprisoned there for decades have been convicted of no crime. But even the ones who’ve been released endure the stain of presumed guilt.

In a speech the first week of June, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asserted the need to close Guantanamo Bay prison, citing the extraordinary costs of keeping the prison open and the lack of justice for 9/11 families as a result of the long drawn out military commissions.

Senator Durbin has expressed similar sentiments before, for example, in a September 2022 interview with The Wall Street Journal when he stated that “holding people without charge or trial for years on end cannot be reconciled with the values we espouse as a nation, and has deprived the victims of 9/11 and their families of any semblance of justice or closure.”

Conspicuously absent from these statements, however, were any clear calls for justice for the men who remain detained. This has been a consistent theme in official and/or mainstream narratives around Guantanamo—neglecting to call for justice for the men detained, as if this is an unreasonable demand that would diminish the legitimacy of the overall call to close the facility.

• Guantanamo Bay, With Legacy of Injustice and Abuse, Turns 20FOOL ME ONCEShannon Vavra

Guantanamo was not created as a place for justice—especially not for the Muslim men detained behind its bars.

Just as soon as these men were captured, they were labeled as suspected terrorists—thus precluding any ability for them to be seen as innocent until proven guilty. From the long years spent behind bars awaiting charges and convictions that never came, to torture, and even murder, the U.S. government has, at every conceivable step of the way, sought to entrench the perception of their inherent guilt. This perception has been shaped by the deployment of strategic narratives that have been carefully constructed and maintained to paint the men as irredeemable terrorists.

Even for the men who are currently in plea deal negotiations, or the few who have been charged and convicted, the establishment of a faux legal system was designed to masquerade the process as justice.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY BEAST

Muslims, Christians urge world to respect holy books

Pakistan’s Muslim, Christian religious leadership sets precedent of religious harmony by holding joint presser along with four holy books

LAHORE: For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the religious leadership of Muslims and Christians together with four holy books appealed to the world to respect all the holy books.

Pakistan’s Muslim and Christian religious leadership set a precedent of religious harmony on Sunday as they held a joint press conference along with the four holy books, the Holy Quran, Torah, Zabur and Bible.

Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council, President International Interfaith Harmony Council Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi was leading the gathering and addressed a press conference with the Muslim and Christian leadership at Jamia Manzoorul Islamia Lahore.

No individual, community, country, or organisation should be allowed to give the right to desecrate any divine book or Prophet and Messenger of Allah Almighty, he said, adding what happened in Sweden was unacceptable. He said they were grateful to all those who did not allow the Torah to burn.

The press conference was jointly addressed by Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, Allama Abdul Haq Mujahid, Maulana Muhammad Rafiq Jami, Maulana Asad Zakaria Qasmi, representative of the Church of Pakistan Pastor Emanuel Khokhar, Pastor Salim, Maulana Nauman Hasher, Maulana Muhammad Shafi Qasmi, Maulana Asadullah Farooq, Allama Zubair Abid, Maulana Aslam Siddiqui, Qari Abdul Hakeem Athar, Allama Tahir Al Hasan, Maulana Muhammad Ashfaq Patafi, Maulana Aziz Akbar Qasmi, Mufti Falak Sher, Mufti Syed Nasimul Islam, Mufti Rehmat Deen, Qari Abdul Majid Haqqani, Qari Kifayatullah, Maulana Abdul Jabar, Qari Muhammad Aslam Qadri, Maulana Qari Mubashir Rahimi, Maulana Abdul Ghaffar Farooqui, Maulana Nasir Haqqani, Qari Faisal Amin, Qari Sajid and others said that it is sad and reprehensible to allow the burning of Torah, Zabur and Injil after the burning of the holy Quran in Sweden.

The religious leaders said the European Union and United Nations should immediately take notice of this and legislate on it and make a law to respect sanctity of all heavenly religions at the global level. They said that Islam and all the heavenly religions teach peace, security, moderation and tolerance, the teachings of any religion were not about violence and extremism and the elements who spread violence and extremism were not representatives of any religion.

The religious leaders said that with the support and coordination of the Church of Pakistan, Pakistan Ulema Council and International Interfaith Harmony Council, a vigorous campaign will be launched across the Pakistan for the promotion of interfaith harmony.

The religious leaders also said that the minorities in Pakistan have full rights, and anyone cannot be allowed to usurp the rights of minorities in Pakistan. The Constitution of Pakistan was the protector of the rights of minorities. The leaders condemned the Israeli delegate’s statement against Pakistan in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

They said for peace and order during the month of Muharramul Haram, all the religious schools of thought will fully abide by the Paigham-e-Pakistan code of conduct and pursue the message which says “don’t leave your religious sect nor intervene in others religious sects”.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NEWS (PAKISTAN)

UN Council Condemns Alarming Rise in Religious Hatred

GENEVA — 

In a rare moment of international accord, dozens of nations attending a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council on the alarming rise of religious hatred condemned the lack of tolerance for the beliefs of others, which they said has led to the incitement of discrimination, hostility and violence.

The debate was triggered by the June 28 burning of a Quran by an Iraqi refugee outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden. The act, which coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, was widely condemned by Islamic and other nations around the world.

“These and other incidents appear to have been manufactured to express contempt and inflame anger; to drive wedges between people; and to provoke transforming differences of perspective into hatred and, perhaps, violence,” said Volker Türk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, who kicked off the debate with an impassioned plea to people of all beliefs to “act with respect for others.”

He said, “Only in this way can we have conduct among human beings that enables us to address together, the challenges we face.”
And those challenges, he noted, were many, adding that provocative speech can often incite discriminatory violence.

“In recent years,” the human rights high commissioner said, “numerous acts of violence, terror attacks and mass atrocities have targeted people on account of their religious beliefs, including inside their places of worship.”

He noted that freedom of speech was a fundamental human right and limitation of any kind of speech or expression must “remain an exception — particularly since laws limiting speech are often misused by those in power, including to stifle debate on critical issues.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM VOICE OF AMERICA

Jews and Muslims come together at Srebrenica anniversary of Europe’s only post-World War II genocide

SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Jews and Muslims came together on Monday in Bosnia on the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since the Holocaust, to talk about ways of using their shared pain to help rid the world of hate and bigotry.

More than 8,000 Bosniak — mainly Muslim — men and boys were killed in July 1995 in Srebrenica, after Bosnian Serb troops took hold of the eastern town. The carnage has been declared a genocide by two U.N. courts.

“It is absolutely critical for the future of both the Jewish people and the (Muslim) Bosniak people, for us to join forces in remembrance in order to make sure that these type of atrocities not be allowed to occur in the future,” Menachem Rosensaft, the general counsel of the World Jewish Congress, told The Associated Press.

Founded in 1936, the World Jewish Congress, or WJC, is the leading international organization connecting and protecting Jewish communities globally, in more than 100 countries.

Rosensaft was leading a delegation of Jewish scholars and young diplomats attending a conference co-organized by the WJC and the Srebrenica Memorial Center on preserving the collective memory of genocide victims and confronting Holocaust and genocide denial.

The day-long conference, held in Srebrenica as part of this year’s commemoration ceremonies, served as a forum for the two communities to talk about living with the pain of being the victims of the ultimate crime of bigotry.

“If we as Jews and as Muslims understand that we are also joined by that pain, we can build on that constructively to also forge the world beyond suffering in which (genocide) becomes unimaginable,” said Rosensaft, who is the son of two Jewish survivors of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen Nazi concentration camps.

The Srebrenica massacre was the bloody crescendo of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, which came after the breakup of Yugoslavia unleashed nationalistic passions and territorial ambitions that set Bosnian Serbs against the country’s two other main ethnic populations — Croats and Bosniaks.
FULL ARTICLE FROM AP NEWS

On LGBTQ issues, my fellow Muslims should balance faith with solidarity

As the Muslim American community grows in size and political activity, we can expect to see members of that community fall along a wide spectrum of political views.

July 9, 2023, 6:00 AM EDT

By Dean Obeidallah, MSNBC Columnist

Last month the all-Muslim, nonpartisan council in Hamtramck, Michigan, which also has a Muslim mayor, opted to remove a Pride flag from public grounds, fulfilling a campaign promise the mayor made last year when he ran for the office. According to a Washington Post story published Wednesday, Muslims (and some Ethiopian Orthodox Christians) in Montgomery County, Maryland, have called on the school system there to restore an “opt-out provision” that allowed parents to withdraw their children from class whenever a particular day’s lessons included books featuring LGBTQ characters.

The all-Muslim council in Hamtramck, Michigan, which also has a Muslim mayor, opted to remove a Pride flag from public grounds, fulfilling a campaign promise the mayor made.

Those two stories have helped intensify an ongoing debate over whether some Muslim Americans are signing on to the GOP’s anti-LGBTQ agenda and knowingly trafficking in anti-LGBTQ bigotry for political gain. In other words, they’re teaming up with the same conservatives who have demonized our communities.

Some people with a different interpretation of what’s happening have gone as far as to strip Muslims of their agency and claim that they are being used as “puppets” of the right. Not surprisingly, that condescending characterization has caused some Muslim leaders to push back.

The Muslim American community is now estimated to be about 4 million people, and as it grows in size and political activity, we can expect to see Muslims fall along a wide spectrum of political views. Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.,  and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a staunch Bernie Sanders ally, have become the most visible faces of Muslim political activism in our nation. The young Muslim Americans I have met who are active in politics are, like me, on the progressive side of that political spectrum.
FULL ARTICLE FROM MSNBC