Netherlands: Minister says imams should speak out against homophobia

Via spitsnieuws (Dutch):

Education Minister Van Bijsterveldt says all imams in the Netherlands should jointly speak against homophobic violence and support respecting gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.

“I would really appreciate it if they do that, just like Christian churches did not so long ago,” she said yesterday during a meeting of SMN (Alliance of Moroccan-Dutch) in Utrecht. The minister said it would be a strong signal that everyone can be part of the Muslim community, regardless of sexual orientation, origin or culture.

Yesterday Van Bijsterveldt received the results of a three-year project of dialog meetings, expert meeting and school meetings that SMN conducted among Moroccans on accepting gays in their community. “It must really come from inside one’s own community, It can’t come from outside. That’s why I have such admiration for the courage of leaders and others who stand up in this community and support accepting gays,” she said.

Some experts say that the curriculum in elementary school should include attention to homosexuality. But Van Bijsterveldt says that’s up to the schools.

It was revealed yesterday that there’s certainly progress in the possibility of discussing homosexuality among Moroccans. More young Moroccan gay are coming out of the closet. Although exclusion and even abuse after ‘coming out’ is still not uncommon. NIP, the Dutch Institute of Psychologists, is concerned about the welfare of these youth.

“There are about 10,000 Muslim gay youth ages 15-25 in our country and they really run a high risk of severe mental, emotional problems,” says Michaël von Bönninghausen, NIP psychologist and head of the Crisis Intervention Network for School Psychologists. “It’s difficult for a Dutch youth to accept his homosexuality. For a Muslim youth it’s 10,000 times harder. Social workers, schools, sports clubs should see these youth and develop the expertise to guide them. These youth suffer more often from psychological problems like depression and drug abuse. They also often go into prostitution.

Germany: Urban slang should be recognized as dialect, says expert

Via the Local:

The street slang spoken by young people in Germany’s big cities is so defined that one language expert is arguing for it to be recognised as a dialect.

(…)

“Kiezdeutsch”, which differs from city to city, is most common in multicultural areas, where different languages are mixed, said Wiese.

Young people of Turkish or Arabic origin seem to dominate the wannabe-dialect, she said.

Dalia Hibish, a 15-year-old from Berlin, has been working on a language project with Wiese.

She said she spoke mostly Arabic yet the majority of her neighbours are English-speaking and is taught in German – but in the school yard she speaks “Kiezdeutsch” – which for her is a mix of all these language.

(source)

Oslo: Students complain school segregates by gender and ethnicity

Via VG (Norwegian):

Ali Hassan, Ali Al-Amin and Ali Hasane, who learn at Ulsrud high-school in the Oslo suburb of Bøler, say their school segregates based on gender and ethnicity.

Ulsrud high-school has two gym classes: one for immigrant boys, and the other for girls and Norwegians.

“It’s not good at all. You don’t get a good learning environment by organizing a class with just immigrants and boys,” Ali Hasane (18) told VG.

Several students tried moving from the immigrant class ot the other gym class, but did not succeed. They say that students only move in one direction: from the Norwegian and girls class to the immigrant class.

Though the school claims they don’t discriminate based on ethnicity and sex, the students say that’s exactly what’s happening.

Ali Hassan and Ali Al-Amin say that the school discriminates the boys class and their achivements are overlooked.

Their class includes students from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Morocco, Iraq, Somalia, Turkey and Sudan. There are no Norwegians in the class. The students ask whether this is legal according to Norwegian law.

They say they’re willing to finish the year in this class, but warn against such immigrant classes in the future.

Principal David Dunlop doesn’t hide the fact that the division of the two classes was controversial. However, he says the division is based on educational principles and not on ethnicity or gender. He says the teachers are ‘color blind’ when they consider the needs of the students.

When asked what educational principles were involved, Dunlop preferred not to say, citing privacy concerns. He said that educational concerns were always considered when it comes to the students’ academic level, group size, subject composition and the teachers’ skills.

Ulsrud school was previously criticized for not allowing students to pray in school

France: Fearing attacks, Jewish students masquerade as Muslims

Via the Jerusalem Post:

2 generations ago, some Jews sought to protect themselves by masquerading as Aryans. In an interview conducted in November, a Parisian mother related how the fear of being physically attacked by Muslim extremist thugs means that it is “not rare at all today” for French Jewish students to attempt to pass themselves off as Muslim – with some even going as far as to fast on Ramadan. One case in point was a Jewish girl of North African descent who for years was successful in this deception, until finally she was “exposed” when Muslim girls caught her eating matzah in the bathroom during Pesah. After her classmates beat her viciously, they invited their male Muslim friends to their school to participate in a gang rape.

(source)

Germany: First university department of Islamic theology

Via M&C:

Germany, home to 4 million Muslims, officially opened its first university department of Islamic theology Monday, with 36 students enrolled for bachelor’s degrees.

The government of Chancellor Angela Merkel faced resistance from conservatives to funding the department, the first of four around the country, but argued that graduates would be the best antidote to self-taught ‘hate preachers.’

Education Minister Annette Schavan, who is herself a graduate in Catholic theology, said at the opening the school was a ‘milestone for integration’ of Muslims who make up 5 per cent of the population.

(source)

Belgium: Self-immolation in apparent attempt to escape forced marriage

Via Het Nieuwsblad (Dutch), RTL (French):

A 16 year old North African girl set herself on fire in the La Louvière hospital Thursday. The girl had felt unwell at the end of the school day and had come to the hospital with her parents.

Shortly before the hospital released her she slipped away. She went up to the eighth floor, where she first tried to jump out of a window. Then she put on disinfectant gel and set a match to herself.

Witnesses say they heard her shouting that this was the only way to escape an arrange marriage. The girl’s mother told journalists on Friday these rumors were untrue.

The girl was brought to burn center in Neder-Over-Heembeek, and her situation has since improved.

Part I

by Hira Amin

Political

From the political front unrest was found both in the provinces and in the elite Janissaries. The Janissaries, who comprised of young Christian boys being conscripted into the dervishme system, were trained to be officers, governors and soldiers. This method of strict discipline and rigorous training provided the government with skilled workers and was the key tool in early Ottoman success. However, the Janissaries who were once part of the most revered army in the world had become militarily ineffectual by the end of the 18th Century. The Crimean Tartars served as a support for this decay however as mentioned above, in 1774 when Crimea became independent they left the army.

The success in the Janissaries lied in their strict obedience to the Sultan, however; their ability to live on military salaries faded due to the costs of warfare and inflation. The government could no longer pay them a sufficient salary, which led them to violate the Janissary principle of only being a soldier and celibacy. They integrated into the urban class and became butchers, bakers, porters, craftsman; many owned coffee shops.[21]They married and their children were recruited and replaced the peasant boys in the divershime recruitment rounds, the last of these rounds being in 1703.[22] Thus by the early 18th century the Janissary corps were hereditary and urban in origin, so as Hourani says “their exclusive loyalties had broken down”.[23]

Due to their proximity to the Sultan and their elite status this had a catastrophic political impact. They had the power to make and break rulers as seen when they denied Sulayman the Magnificent’s son Selim the throne until he paid them extra money.[24] Their integration within the urban classes gave the urban class a voice and power to object. Moreover, as the Janissaries became a hereditary corps – precisely what the prohibition of marriage rule wanted to prevent – this created an elite-popular urban class who had power to overthrow viziers and officials on behalf of the popular classes or due to intra-elite quarrels. It was for this reason in 1826 that Sultan Mahmud II killed and captured them to silence their voices and stabilize the Empire.

Unrest also lay within the province itself. The balance of power shifted from the Sultan to the viziers. At the end of the 17th Century the centre of decisions shifted from the Dome Chamber in the Palace to the Sublime Porte which was the vizier’s house.[25]  However; Hourani asserts this could not change the situation, as the vizier’s role was weak and could be easily dismissed by the Sultan, thus no radical changes were possible. Throughout the 17th and 18th Century the power shifted further into the local elites, decentralizing the system further.

The local elites always played a crucial role in the government and were loyal to the Sultan in providing taxes and recruits for the army. Quartaret claims this was due to the 1695 tax farming system where the government granted the right to collect taxes for a particular land in exchange for cash payments to the treasury. This ensured the central state maintained some control over the local elites as they could remove this lucrative privilege. However, the rising cost of wars and the inability for the government to pay cash back caused the local elites to keep the taxes for themselves. As we saw, above four fifths of the state revenue failed to reach the central government in 1789.

Quartaret emphasizes the lack of economic contingency for the cause of decentralization, but Lieven and Hourani assert this was largely down to ineffective leaders chosen by a hereditary process.[26] It seems that even though the quality of the leaders had declined, they did not simply sit back and watch the Empire fall apart. The leaders tried to modernize the system to try and salvage what was left. For example after the humiliating defeat and the treaties of Karlowitz (1699) and Passarowitz (1718) the Grand Vizier, Damad Ibrahim Pasha, sent an ambassador in 1719 to Paris with instructions to make a thorough study of the means of civilization and education.[27] In 1731, the Grand Vizier, Topal Osman Pasha hired a French nobleman to reform the Bombardier Corps on European lines. In 1734, a new training centre, the school of geometry was opened. The Janissaries found out and forced its closure, however; it re-opened again in 1773.[28] This and many other attempts of reform, such as the Tanzimat and Ghul Hane decree, show that the leaders were not inactive. However; it was the additional external economic factors and the ideological factors which hindered any of these reforms to have a substantial effect.

Ideological

The Ottomans began with a strong ideology; Islam. Islam was defined against the Christian West; it affirmed its many beliefs, but completed the line of Prophethood hence perfected and cleansed it from its adulteration over time. This view was crystallized with the destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the capture of Constantinople. Therefore the Christian West was inferior from every aspect – militarily, socially and above all religiously. This concept of superiority which at first served well for the empire was by time its ultimate cause of destruction. The sense of pride and fear of adulteration prevented them from taking the Western seeds of discovery and allowing them to flourish in the Muslim lands.

A good example of this was the length of time it took for the printing press to become widespread within the Empire. As Lewis says, “the most important technical innovation from Europe outside the military field was undoubtedly printing”[29] The Turks knew about the printing press since the 14th Century but only adopted it in the 18th Century. The delay was due to religious conservatives skeptical of European inventions and its evil effects in society.

Both the Janissaries in 1826 and the Mamluks in 1805 were massacred by the rulers for this very purpose – to clear the way for reformation. The fact that these brutal massacres had to take place to prevent uprisings against modernization and reform shows the superiority of culture, which was prevalent at that time.

Moreover, loyalty to the Sultan suffered greatly from two movements – Wahhabism and Nationalism. In the 18th Century a more conservative religious strand began in Arabia known as Wahhabism. They believed that the Islam the Sultan protected was not the “true” Islam and thus he was not the “true” leader of the Muslim Ummah. The movement spread with Ibn Saud taking Wahhab’s ideology of “true Islam” and he conquered central Arabia, the Persian Gulf, Karbala and Hejaz.[30] They wanted the caliphate to be an Arab as “the Arabs were more worthy of it than the Turks.”[31]

The ideas of the French Revolution infected the Empire – in particular Egypt, which was invaded by Napoleon in 1798. The French left quickly but not before sowing the seeds of nationalism through their propaganda. They spread the message of the Turks ruining Egypt by their greed and the idea that the French will free them. Napoleon said, “It has been said to you that I have only come to this country in order to destroy your religion. This is a clear lie; do not believe it. Say to the slanderers I have come to rescue you from the hands of the oppressors.”[32] The Egyptians were not pleased with non-Muslim rule, however; the hatred towards the Turks developed. Mohammad Ali came into power in 1805 and while he still gave allegiance to the Sultan and supported him in battles, such as the Greek revolt and the Wahhabi revolt, they controlled their own internal affairs and as mentioned above kept their revenues within Egypt.

Conclusion

In conclusion, militarily, economically, politically and ideologically the Ottoman Empire declined from the reign of Sulayman the Magnificent. These factors were of course intertwined, which was why when reforms were made in one aspect the other factors stifled progress. Due to the influx of wealth from the New World they advanced both militarily and economically with the industrial revolution. Even if the Janissaries had not revolted and adopted their advance methods, the industrial revolution and the shift in global trade would have starved the empire from the financial means to survive. The strong ideology which at one point was the impetus to rival and take over the Byzantine Empire became the very reason not to adapt and take from the “inferior” Christian West. Hence the Ottomans were locked in an inextricable knot, thus divide and conquer were inevitable.

Bibliography

Freeman, Edward. The Ottoman Power in Europe.

Smith, Dan. The state of the Middle East.

Hourani, Albert. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age.

Quartaert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire.

J Shaw, Stanford. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey Vol 1.

Mann, Michael. The Sources of Power.

Lewis, Bernard. The Emergence of Modern Turkey.

Lieven, Dominic. Empire.

Marcus, Abraham. The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity: Aleppo in the Eighteenth century.

Barkey, Karen. Bandits and Bureaucrats: Ottoman Route to State Centralization.

]]> http://www.allah.eu/history-and-seerah/part-ii-the-decline-of-the-ottoman-empire.html/feed 0 http://www.allah.eu/general/malmo-jews-march-against-antisemitism.html http://www.allah.eu/general/malmo-jews-march-against-antisemitism.html#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:24:23 +0000 admin http://www.allah.eu/general/malmo-jews-march-against-antisemitism.html Malmö: Jews march against antisemitism Via Världen Idag (Swedish, h/t JIHAD I MALMÖ ): A small group of Jews marched in Malmö last Saturday against antisemitism.

Malmö: Jews march against antisemitism

Via Världen Idag (Swedish, h/t JIHAD I MALMÖ):

A small group of Jews marched in Malmö last Saturday against antisemitism. The Jews walked the kilometer from the synagogue to Malmö’s Triangle square wearing kippahs and Stars of Davids.

Fredrik Sieradzki, spokesperson for the Jewish community, said it was not a demonstration as such, but that they walked with Jewish symbols to show that they don’t accept the antisemitic trends in Malmö. This was the first time that the Jewish community decided to show that they don’t accept the current situation. The walk was the idea of a community member, and information about it was spread by word of mouth, which might explain why just 14 people joined.

In October Världen idag reported the story of Rabbi Shneur Kesselman, who says he’s harassed almost every day. It’s unusual for the ‘normal’ Jew to be harassed like that, and Fredrik Sieradzki himself says he’s never experienced something like that. But this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen.

During the Jewish High Holy Days, a women on her way to synagogue was harassed by a young man. The case was reported to the police, as is now done with every similar incident.

Fredrik Sieradzki says that embarrassments take places in places where one’s Jewish identity is known, and particularly affect the school children.

To the question what’s behind the harassment, he answers without hesitation: “It’s exclusively Muslims. We have a problem in Malmö: there are Muslims who don’t like Jews. It’s something the media choose to hide. It’s considered politically incorrect to speak of it, and they’re afraid to appear racist. But one should tell the truth.”

He does emphasize that one shouldn’t generalize about all Muslims in Malmö. Just a small group is involved. Other Muslims support Jews and the Islamic Center had expressed it’s abhorrence of antisemitism.

]]> http://www.allah.eu/general/malmo-jews-march-against-antisemitism.html/feed 0 http://www.allah.eu/about-islam/denmark-schools-drop-christmas-traditions-out-of-consideration-for-muslim-students.html http://www.allah.eu/about-islam/denmark-schools-drop-christmas-traditions-out-of-consideration-for-muslim-students.html#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:04:41 +0000 admin http://www.allah.eu/general/denmark-schools-drop-christmas-traditions-out-of-consideration-for-muslim-students.html Denmark: Schools drop Christmas traditions out of consideration for Muslim students Via Jyllands-Posten (Danish): Schools are increasingly changing Christmas tradition in order to take into account a growing number of bilingual children. At the Klostervænget school in Copenhagen, the school administration changed a few verses in the ‘A Child is Born in Bethlehem’ hymn sung by the children because they thought it would be preaching too much to the bilingual children. At Møllevang school in Aarhus the school administration asked a music teacher to choose hymns that took into account the Muslim students, after students in a 3rd grade class and their parents protested that the children were expected to sing “Here come your little ones, Jesus”

Denmark: Schools drop Christmas traditions out of consideration for Muslim students

Via Jyllands-Posten (Danish):

Schools are increasingly changing Christmas tradition in order to take into account a growing number of bilingual children.

At the Klostervænget school in Copenhagen, the school administration changed a few verses in the ‘A Child is Born in Bethlehem’ hymn sung by the children because they thought it would be preaching too much to the bilingual children.

At Møllevang school in Aarhus the school administration asked a music teacher to choose hymns that took into account the Muslim students, after students in a 3rd grade class and their parents protested that the children were expected to sing “Here come your little ones, Jesus”.

At the Nørrevang school in Slagelse, the school administration canceled the Christmas ceremony in church, since the priest insisted on saying the Lord’s prayer, and the school administration thought it would insult some of the students.

These examples show that various schools with many students of immigrant background are changing the way Christmas is celebrated. The schools feel they’re in a dilemma between Christian traditions and taking into account the fact that increasing numbers of students are Muslim.

“By us it’s important that all children have the same rights and obligations. Nobody should feel excluded, and therefore we won’t go into a church with some of the children. Instead we’re having the Christmas celebration at school,” says Tom Schultz, principal of the Nørrevang school in Slagelse.

Anders Balle, head of the principal’s union, asks principals to be pragmatic. “We shouldn’t let go of the cultural part of Christmas, but they shouldn’t be preaching either.” He says students should be allowed not to participate in events in churches.

Education Minister Christine Antorini (S) doesn’t want to intervene if schools decide to drop hymns. “But I think there’s a fine balance that parents can ask that their children be exempt from religious events that are not part of the curriculum.”

]]> http://www.allah.eu/about-islam/denmark-schools-drop-christmas-traditions-out-of-consideration-for-muslim-students.html/feed 0 http://www.allah.eu/about-islam/norway-muslim-labour-leader-against-dropping-christmas-traditions.html http://www.allah.eu/about-islam/norway-muslim-labour-leader-against-dropping-christmas-traditions.html#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:11:31 +0000 admin http://www.allah.eu/general/norway-muslim-labour-leader-against-dropping-christmas-traditions.html Norway: Muslim labour leader against dropping Christmas traditions Via Aftenposten (Norwegian): Masud Gharahkhani, head for AP (Labour) in Drammen city council, sees no problem with Christmas celebrations, Christmas hats or school services. Last week the 5th grade at Øren school in Drammen had a ‘winter celebration’ instead of a Christmas celebration

Norway: Muslim labour leader against dropping Christmas traditions

Via Aftenposten (Norwegian):

Masud Gharahkhani, head for AP (Labour) in Drammen city council, sees no problem with Christmas celebrations, Christmas hats or school services. Last week the 5th grade at Øren school in Drammen had a ‘winter celebration’ instead of a Christmas celebration. Drammens Tidende also reported of a girl who was not allowed to wear a Christmas hat during the event, and that traditional hymns were replaced by more neutral songs.

Masud Gharahkhani, who is himself Muslim, says such things are ‘misguided and unacceptable’.

“I myself went to a Norwegian school and experienced Christmas traditions and Christmas season. It’s important that children get to experience Norwegian culture and traditions.”

He will take up the issue with Drammen’s mayor. “If this is about integration, they’ve misunderstood. It’s important to know different religions.” He added that children are healthier by experiencing it.

The Muslim says that Christmas hymns with Christian content are no problem either.

Q: What with services at school?

A: I took part in that, I recommended it for my children, and see no problem with the school arranging services, as long as students and families have a choice not to go.

The school denies that Norwegian traditions were censored and says that the teachers and students had decided on their own to hold a winter-themed event.

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