http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/rss/forum_20/ Latest threads on: Sisters Zone | The Muslim Women - Muslima Social Networking Site http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/saudi-woman-arrested-for-driving/ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_saudi_women_driving
Asalaamu Alaykum sisters,
When I read the news in this article, I just couldn't help but wonder if what the Saudi government is doing is really Islamic? What do you ladies think? Forbidding women from driving, Islamic? I think not! and just think of the inconvenience! you must find someone to drive you everywhere. And of course this gives Muslims and Islam a bad image, and non-Muslims will jump at the chance of pointing out any negative thing about Muslims and blame it on Islam.

Share your opinions please. Especially sisters in Saudi now, how does it make you feel to not be able to drive when there are cars available to you?]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/saudi-woman-arrested-for-driving/ Sun, 22 May 2011 16:31:54 +0000 http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/islam-and-racism/
This article was written by a Non Muslim in 2004, & is still an interesting read!

Islam and racism

Kevin Ovenden (born 1968) is a British, left-wing, political activist and currently a member of the Respect Party's leadership,[1] and an organiser of Viva Palestina.

Here is another written by a Muslim Journalist:

Black racism is every bit as bad as white racism]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/islam-and-racism/ Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:26:09 +0000 Istila http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/black-muslims-blamed-again/
This makes me angry.


For the criminal actions of a few, the whole Pakistani culture and Muslims are being blamed for their crimes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12142177

Does anyone ever hear racist attacks and rapes by white males to blacks ever raising the concern of such MP's? How about priests who commit pedophilia, and how comes the Church & British Christians never get blamed but always get away free, from taking responsibility?

Most Muslims know that rape is a heinous crime, so is why are they against us?

In the first place, it's this government that's allowed the drinking of alcohol, 24/7, they built pubs, night clubs, gave freedom to both sexes to commit fornication, adultery, etc, they have allowed violent & indecent movies to be watched, allowed free mixing, created an environment of disrespect to parents, while irresponsibly teaching sex in schools to young children who get desensitized by their peers. This government allows young girls to have abortion, while in school without parental knowledge & supply the variety of contraceptives including the contraceptive and abortion pills, making it easier for men to manipulate girls & women. After the havoc caused by their governing, with Pakistani boys raised all their life in this country amongst their own criminal minded individuals, how can they question or blame the entire Pakistani community of Muslims!?

Those men's crimes has nothing to do with Islam, and so they should be criminally investigated as any other criminal. These men have nothing to do with the law abiding Muslims in the UK as Muslims who already are well aware about the prohibition of fornication, adultery, rape in the Holy Quran. So those men are no where near acting according to their Islamic beliefs or culture as any other white British rapist is according to Christianity, or the British way of life!

I wish they would focus more on stopping these crimes instead of labeling others for the offenses that they themselves can't blame their own for, which they cause through their own secularist standards, lack of fair judgement & complete negligence. If only they stopped drinking alcohol, perhaps they would then start thinking more clearly, and do justice to those who deserve it, including themselves!

I have yet to see a fair & unbiased perspective taken by this government of the Muslims living in this country.]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/black-muslims-blamed-again/ Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:41:56 +0000 Istila http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/more-white-britons-becoming-muslims/
I found this piece of news which will make you all very happy. There's a nice short clip of an interview with a Muslim convert.




Converting to Islam - the white Britons becoming Muslims

By Catrin Nye

BBC News

White and Muslim

Why are more young British women converting to Islam?

As 22-year-old Aisha Uddin recites Surah Al-Fatiha - the first chapter of the Koran - at home with close friend Sameeah Karim, she my stumble over one word but otherwise the text is perfectly recounted....

Read more here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12075931]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/more-white-britons-becoming-muslims/ Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:17:20 +0000 Istila http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/for-a-laugh/
This was part of an article in yesterday's paper:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/31/656092/guidelines-encourage-minorities.html

"Until this school year, Wake County school teachers had been trained to use Ruby Payne's book "A Framework for Understanding Poverty," which has sold more than 1 million copies nationally. Used in Wake for much of the past decade, it has been hailed as a way to help middle-class teachers relate to low-income students. Teachers were taught about the "hidden rules of survival" needed for different societal classes.



Teachers were told poor parents have skills such as locating grocery store garbage bins for thrown-away food, bailing someone out of jail, getting a gun and using a knife as scissors.



Teachers were told middle-class parents have skills such as setting a table properly, talking to their children about going to college, helping their children with homework and getting a library card.



Teachers were told wealthy parents have skills such as reading a menu in French, English and another language; having at least two homes that are staffed and maintained; flying in their own plane or a company plane and knowing how to enroll their children in preferred private schools"


Poor people sound scary! You shouldn't try to learn more than one language until you become rich - that's what rich people do. I hope one day I can be rich so I can learn the skill of how to enroll my kids in a private school. If you dont have middle class parents, that is too bad - they sound like the best.

Seriously though, I had a good friend who was poor in middle school - she was very intelligent. She invited me over to her house once and I was very happy - the times I was invited to peoples' houses were few...I didn't see any weapons, no knives used as scissors...I knew and liked her Mom and I am pretty sure they didn't know anything about posting bail - or dumpster diving - I am sure they had too much pride for that.

In high school I had a rich friend - she was a very kind girl. If she had more than one house then I don't think she had "staff". I think she was as good at French as anyone else (smile) and as for learning a third language- I think this is based more on interest or need than wealth.

Allah guide them both!

I was raised upper middle class and we had several guns in the house. I remember we had a shotgun behind a door in my parents bedroom, and we had sevral pistols - decorative and otherwise. My grandfather, before he died, also had a pistol on his bedpost and a nice collection of knives (I took one after he died with Grandma's permission) - I have been fascinated with knives and I might use them as scissors if I couldnt find scissors...

Seems like this lauded book just encourages more stereotypes


UmmuKhadijah
North Caroline (USA)]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/for-a-laugh/ Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:54:46 +0000 Umm Khadijah http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/muslim-girl-shaves-head-over-ban/
Cennet Doganay was banned from classes for wearing a headscarf - as it went against the new law banning religious signs in schools, introduced this term.

At school on Friday she said: "I will respect both French law and Muslim law by taking off what I have on my head and not showing my hair."

Many Muslims believe modesty requires women to cover their hair in public.

The issue of wearing the hijab - as the traditional headscarf is called by Muslims - has sparked controversy across Europe, with states taking different approaches.

France decided to ban all religious symbols in state schools, including large Christian crucifxes, Sikh turbans and Jewish skullcaps.

As the law was introduced in September, schools were told not to automatically exclude pupils who arrived wearing headscarves, but to try and avert a showdown through dialogue.

Respect

Cennet, whose family is of Turkish origin, had only been allowed into the study room at her school in Strasbourg since early September, as they negotiated her return to class without a headscarf.

With her newly-shaven look, she was allowed into school on Friday.

She told journalists waiting outside: "I respect the law but the law doesn't respect me."

Her mother said Cennet had tried everything "a beret, a bandana - but they still refused to let her into class".

"She has been traumatised since the start of term. But all she wanted to do was go to school like everyone else," she told French news agency AFP.

Reports say about 120 schoolgirls across France insisted on keeping their headscarves at the start of term, but most have since given in under threat of expulsion.]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/muslim-girl-shaves-head-over-ban/ Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:40:15 +0000 ummhussain http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/iraq-s-widows-a-grim-legacy-for-postwar-iraq/
At 45, with three children, she is part of a vast sisterhood in a tortured land, and for the more than 100,000 who lost their husbands in the U.S.-led invasion and violent aftermath, the struggling postwar government is of little help.

Ayed is entitled to 150,000 dinars (about $130) a month from the government, plus 15,000 dinars (about $12) for each of her children. But after two years of chasing after official papers and signatures on her application, having no friends in high places to grease the wheels for her, she says she is giving up; the endless standing in line was making her neglect the children, aged 10, 12 and 15.

So she makes ends meet by selling snacks and sodas from her home in a Shiite enclave of southern Baghdad where she moved from a Sunni area after her husband died in the tit-for-tat killings of 2007.

"Our life has been turned into misery and desperation," she said. "This is what we got from occupation and the dreams of democracy: orphans, widows, homeless, displaced and fugitives."

Nahdah Hameed, the government's point person on women's social affairs, puts the number of widows at about 1 million, and even though the post-invasion violence has wound down, sporadic shootings and bombings continue to widow Iraqi women.

Besides the invasion, this nation of 27 million has gone through the 1980-88 war with Iran, the 1991 Gulf war, and Saddam Hussein's brutal campaigns against the Shiites and Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s.

The widows gather in dusty cemeteries. They squat on the dirt by their husbands' graves, sobbing and murmuring remembrances under a merciless sun. Children sit in their shadows, clinging to their mothers' flowing black robes.

Back in the cities, the women have to focus on their own survival and chase after benefits that fall short of what they need to stave off destitution. In interviews, several others describe predicaments similar to Ayed's.

"We have a disastrously high number of widows," said Jinan Mubarak, head of a nongovernmental organization that works to educate women and train them for jobs. "It has a serious social dimension and there are also the orphans to worry about."

The question of how to provide for those widows with no source of income has become a major concern for groups like Mubarak's as well as the authorities.

In 2008 the government set up the Directorate of Social Care for Women that is now gradually taking over the payment of stipends from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, which was widely accused of inefficiency and corruption.

However, Hameed, the directorate's chief, complains that she lacks the funds to efficiently serve areas beyond the capital and lacks the authority to introduce reform and eradicate corruption in the ministry departments handling widows.

The post-2003 widows make a sharp contrast to those who lost husbands in previous wars. Saddam, flush with oil money, lavished plots of land, cars and generous pensions on the widows of the Iraq-Iran war, in which half a million Iraqis and Iranians died.

But the widows of the tens of thousands who died in Saddam's internal wars on Shiites, Kurds and political opponents in general usually were left struggling.

Mubarak and other women's activists say poverty is driving some Iraqi women into prostitution, both in Iraq and in neighboring Jordan and Syria, home to the Arab world's largest Iraqi refugee communities.

"Many of Iraq's neighbors are exploiting Iraqi women," said activist Suzan Kazim Kashkoul.

Also, she and other advocates say, the post-U.S. invasion violence has shrunk the pool of potential husbands for widows as well as single women over 30, and in the sectarian-charged postwar atmosphere, Sunni-Shiite marriages have become rare. The economy is in trouble yet the housing market is hot, making housing unaffordable for many.

"The economic crisis is the core cause of all the women's problems in Iraq," said Mubarak.

Iman Kazim, a 40-year-old mother of three, lives in Baghdad's Shiite district of Hurriyah where some of the worst sectarian violence raged.

Kisrah al-Hassani, the retired textile worker to whom she was married, was killed by a mortar explosion in January 2007 as he walked home from a food market. Al-Hassani had two wives, and Iman was his second, living with his brother and his family. After Al-Hassani was killed she married a baker more than 10 years her junior, but the union turned out badly — he beat her and her children — and she now wants a divorce.

Yet she is one of the lucky ones. She has managed to get a monthly pension of about $90 because her late husband worked for a state-owned textile factory, and has a job as a school janitor, which brings in $190 a month.

About $60 a month goes to buy electricity from a privately owned generator because the city experiences power cuts of up to 18 hours or more. Rent is high, and with three mouths to feed, she says she can afford to buy only "what is absolutely necessary."

Mubarak's dream is to get Kazim a job that reflects her high school diploma.

"I want a law that sets aside a percentage of positions for qualified widows in any new private sector project," she said. "I also want a body created to offer funding for small projects undertaken by widows."

___

Associated Press writers Mazin Yahya and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/iraq-s-widows-a-grim-legacy-for-postwar-iraq/ Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:19:11 +0000 ummhussain http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/book-launch-lagos-nigeria/

Different phrases women have had to live with.......




What is infertility?
Who's affected?
What are the causes?
How do I live with it?





What options for the Muslimah?................






Daughters, Wives & Mothers


Invites you
to the official book presentation of




“UMM 'ABDILLAAH; For The Fertility-Challenged Muslim Woman.”
By
Umm 'Abdullaah Muti'ah bint Abdur-Razaaq Badruddeen


(A SISTERS ONLY EVENT)





A seminar on Infertility will be held during the launching




Venue: LCCI Conference & Exhibition Centre 10, Bola Ahmed Tinubu way, behind MKO Garden Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

Date: July 4, 2010

Time: 11:00am prompt

Entry: Booking only





Call or Text the numbers below so that adequate provision can be made.

Invitees will only be allowed into the event if previously booked to attend.


RSVP: Ruqoyyah: 08023736595, Aishah: 07051510565


Donations: Aisha: 08032003238,]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/book-launch-lagos-nigeria/ Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:42:23 +0000 deenprogress http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/shaykh-abdullah-al-ghudayaan-has-passed-away/
May Allah have mercy upon his soul and forgive him his sins and give him the greatest of rewards for his efforts to spread the message of the Prophets (Tawheed) and the authentic Sunnah around the world and warning the people against shirk (associating a partner with Allah) and bid’ah (innovations in legislation of Islaam).

See message below from Abu Khadeejah.

—————-

In the name of Allaah, the most merciful, the bestower of mercy.
As-salaamu `alaikum wa rahmatullaah.

It has just reached me that the Shaikh, the `Allaamah `Abdullaah al-Ghudayaan has passed away.

May Allaah shower him with mercy and forgiveness.

Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilaihi raaji`oon.

Wassalaam alaikum.

Abu-Khadeejah `Abdul-Waahid Alam

(1st June 2010/18th Jamaada al-Akhirah 1431AH)]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/shaykh-abdullah-al-ghudayaan-has-passed-away/ Sun, 06 Jun 2010 03:51:57 +0000 Binth Mohammed Anwar as-salafi http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/cries-of-our-daughters-this-is-not-of-our-deen-2/ Salamu alaikum
I cannot say to you that my eyes tearing because of this, rather I would like to say my eyes bleed out of rage oveer this issue. Weather I have now become a feminist-walyazubillah I don’t know. But indeed I feel much anger for every 8 year old or 9 year old or 10 year old and the number goes on whom has to just one night see a naked man next to her and force himself on her, some have been tied up while others have been held down. And I feel even greater grief for the ones whom have lost their lives because of this. Because a father could sell his daughter!
And yet someone will open their filthy mouth and say this of Islam. But this is not of my deen. For there shall be no harm nor reciprocating harm. And the women should only be married with their consent. This is my deen.
Many have died beccase of the trauma caused to the pelvic wall due to lack of adequate maturity of the tissues there. The implication can go on the whole page but I may end up crying and unable to continue the writing soo I will stop here and not even delve into the psychological issues. And a father will simply accept even 200dolars to sell his daughter.
But even more painful to my heart……is that there is a mother whom will here the scream and cry of her daughter that night, and do nothng! Or will willing allow "marriage" to take place while her child scream in horror and terror of that which will take place by a heartless man. Some how there is soo much jahilliyah that the mother belives this is from her deen and an oobligation of some sort! Subhanallah!

There is NO AGE RESTRICTION to marriage in islam because there is something much greater and wiser than that, there is CONSENT! There is the obligation to have the consent of the WOMAN! You may not marry her or inherit her against her will!

it is not of this deen it is not of this deen it is not of the deen to prevent the woman from seeking knowledge, from getting a legitimate divorce, or to marry the daughter against her will when she has objected, or to cause harm to the women by hitting or anyother form of abuse, to kill the innocent woman...and every bidah-innovation in matters of the deen is a path to jahannam
There is a scholar who gave the opinion that if a girl hasn’t started her period and is not at age of maturity then he the father can marry her off even if she doesn’t approve or refuses, this is barbaric! This is not of this deen! AND May Allah forgive me if I have misdunderstood, I ask every day for hidaya


But what really hurts is the pervert who marries the child, ties her to a bed and rapes her to death and says Ar Rasoolilah SAW did it. He married a young girl, that’s what hurts like there is fire in my veins.
1. He waitied for her consent
2. During consummation there was no force, she was not held down she was not screaming and crying and begging, she gave consent! And when she narrated the story she was pleased meaning it was pleasureable! Meaning there was her consent! And she realized what was happening! Soo it was NOT RAPE OR MOLESTATION OR PERVERSION WAL YAZUBILLAH
3. She was not bought!
4. At that time even in the state of carlifonia the age of consummation in marriage was even lower this states that younger marriage were a world wide practice at the time and not frowned upon by society.
5. now there proof of Harm done to the girl at the time none
6. The human body continues to evlove
7. 1 million babies die every year because of young mothers unable for child birth and close to that number are the number of girls between age 14 and bellow who die in child birth, another number is for those who had premature * intercourse!

There are women whom after there divorce their familes would rather kill them! This is a pagan belief this is not of my deen, there are fathers whom will know of the marital rape and abuse their daughters face but they would rather have them stay in their husbands house or come home in a coffin, This is not of my deen !In islam there is no bride price there is a bride gift. But there is jahiliyah there is bidah there is bidah there is bidah.


and indeed there has been much injustice to the women in the name of Islam, BUT it is not islam. Because of Bidah-innovation, many have died while others are living dead. i dont have the power to change that, and thats a shame....however this deen came and protected the women, but now there is bidah-innovation into Islam and whenever there is bidah the 1st to suffer are the vulnerable, we are the vulnerable.. There is no cure for Bidah and jahiliyah other than Ilm knowlege of this deen and knowing the rights of the mu;minah. There is no teacher but the mother, and we InshaAllah are the mothers of our ummah, so what we teach our babies is what will be society. Soo seek pure and authentic islamic Knowlege soo u can teach society, soo no child will be married against her will, and no woman will suffer abuse and no innocent woman will be killed in the name of honour. soo do not sit in your homes and simply wait for human rights activist, there is no human rights activists like the Quran and sunnah, and only if we seek the knowelege can we use it as a weapon...
many have died and more are living dead becos of jahiliyah- ignorance. And each one of us is responsible for the sister in pakistan, in afganistan in somalia in Niger, in Indonesia in Nigeria in sudan in ethopia in Saudia you and I are responsible because this ummah is one body, when one part hurts the other will feel the pain...and indeed Wallahi many sisters are indeed in pain.
it is not of this deen it is not of this deen it is not of the deen to prevent the woman from seeking knowledge, from getting a legitimate divorce, or to marry the daughter against her will when she has objected, or to cause harm to the women by hitting or anyother form of abuse, to kill the innocent woman...and every bidah-innovation in matters of the deen is a path to jahannam


please sisters the rage over child marriages is eating through me….i feel soo much sadness and anger… when I hear some scholars approve of it and refuse to mention the rights of the woman…by Allah I have soo furious about rights of women as soon as it is covered. Most scholars are male all I seem to see around is how to please your husband or a long list of the types of bad wives! Has no one noticed forced marrages, marital rape and abuse!. It just feels like the rights Allah has given us just seem to be masked and a man will just teach the woman when they remit there rights is better etc I know that but there are somethings that are ours! Soo teach us and we can decide weather to remit it or not.
I cannot even stand looking at the website islamqa after I read that quote he mentioned, and I know this is wrong, but I cant help it. Im just soo angry right now……may ALLAH FORGive me I know a lot of these feelings must be wasawas soo pls help with do also. Because I know the way Im feeling these days is probably not permissible…

Allah subhanaka wa ta'ala promises the believers of tawheed, al mutaqeen, a jannah wherin are gardens beneath which rivers flow, Life with no death, sickness, saddness or grief,A jannah wherein He says no eye has seen,no ears have heard and no mind can imagine ...wa salatuhwa salamu ala Rasoolilah wa habibina muhammadan abdduhu wa Rasooluh. was salatuh ala mursaleen wal hamdulilahi rabiil ala min.. Allahumma ajirnna min nanaar

‘How perfect You are O Allaah, and I praise You. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshiped except You. I seek Your forgiveness and turn on to You in repentance.
Aameen"]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/cries-of-our-daughters-this-is-not-of-our-deen-2/ Sun, 02 May 2010 05:28:25 +0000 Aisha-Firdaus http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/belgium-bans-burkas-women-who-refuse-to-show-faces-to-be-jailed-for-a-week-/ Its parliament approved a draft law which states women can be jailed for hiding their faces in public.
The bill - which must be rubber-stamped by the Belgian senate - is set to become law by July.
Centre-Right MP Daniel Bacquelaine said last night: 'The notion of recognising people in the street is essential to maintain public order.
'It's also a question of human dignity. The full face veil turns a woman into a walking prison.'
The ground-breaking legislation comes just ten days after an earlier vote on banning the burka was scuppered by the collapse of the country's parliament and resignation of its prime minister, Yves Leterme.
Despite the political turmoil, MPs in the fragile five-party coalition managed to push through the controversial law yesterday evening.
It means anyone will be banned from covering their face in a public place, including the street, shops, offices, schools and hospitals.
Women will be fined £110 for the first offence.
If they refuse to pay or are caught a second time, they can be jailed for a week. It is estimated up to 400 of the country's 280,000 Muslims wear the burka in public.
The move comes as other countries consider bringing in similar legislation. There is widespread support for a ban on burkas, or full face veils, and niqabs, which cover the head and face but leave the eyes visible, in the Netherlands.
In Switzerland, voters recently supported a ban on the construction of new minarets, while France is preparing to vote in July on its own law banning Islamic headwear.
Under French proposals, women would be fined up to £600 for hiding their faces, and be 'unveiled' at a police station so they could be identified.
Husband who forced their wives to wear burkas would be sent to prison.
Jean-Francois Cope, president of France's ruling UMP party, said this week: 'The prime minister has told us the new law on wearing burkas would be adopted by mid-September.
'A recent survey found 70 per cent of French people are opposed to the wearing of full face veils in public.'
Despite widespread support for a ban, France's highest legal body, the Council of State, has warned any law could be overturned by EU human rights laws.
Belgium's law could also be challenged by the same legislation.


Daily Mail Uk]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/belgium-bans-burkas-women-who-refuse-to-show-faces-to-be-jailed-for-a-week-/ Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:19:34 +0000 ummhussain http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/naked-scanner-in-airport-trial/
A trial of a scanner that produces "naked" images of passengers has begun at Manchester Airport.

The authorities say it will speed up security checks by quickly revealing any concealed weapons or explosives.

But the full body scans will also show up breast enlargements, body piercings and a clear black-and-white outline of passengers' genitals.

The airport has stressed that the images are not pornographic and will be destroyed straight away.

Sarah Barrett, head of customer experience at the airport, said most passengers did not like the traditional "pat down" search.

At Manchester Airport's Terminal 2, where the machine has been introduced, passengers will no longer have to remove their coats, shoes and belts as they go through security checks.

Ms Barrett said: "This scanner completely takes away the hassle of needing to undress."

Ms Barrett said the black-and-white image would only be seen by one officer in a remote location before it was deleted.

"The images are not erotic or pornographic and they cannot be stored or captured in any way," she said.

Passengers could refuse to be scanned, she added.

The scanners cost £80,000 each. They work by beaming electromagnetic waves on to passengers while they stand in a booth. A virtual three-dimensional image is then created from the reflected energy.

Ms Barrett said the radiation levels were "super safe".

She said: "Passengers can go through this machine 5,000 times a year each without worrying. The amount of radiation transmitted is tiny."

The Department for Transport will decide whether to install them permanently in about a year's time.

The scanners, made by RapiScan Systems, have already been tried at Heathrow Airport from 2004 to 2008.

A BAA Heathrow spokeswoman said the technology had been "very effective" and the airport operator was considering possible wider use of it in the future.

The scanners are being gradually rolled out at airports across the US, after use in Los Angeles and New York.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8303983.stm]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/naked-scanner-in-airport-trial/ Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:12:32 +0000 ummhussain http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/challenges-facing-a-muslimah/

A great event with a great line up of young female scholars:

Ustahda from America / Ustahda from Birmigham / and local teachers from Al Zahra Institute.

Topics:

Happiness and what it entails?
Relationship between the parents and the children
The status of a Mother
Challenges facing a muslimah and solutions
Getting the balance right (between secular and islamic education)
Personal experience of how a sister came into practising deen.

Not to be missed, there will be a Question and Answer session at the end where there will be a panel of scholars to address all questions (including arrangements for asking personal questions)

There are two halls one will be for parents and the senior sisters with their own programme and another hall for the young sisters to listen and consult about all these issues in a youth only environment.

Be there and spread the word through texts and emails.

There will also be food on sale at the end (chicken and chips I have been told!!!)

The venue is off Walthamstow Market, on Truro Road.]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/challenges-facing-a-muslimah/ Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:01:17 +0000 hikmah http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/letter-from-aafia-saddiqui-my-dead-nation/
My name is Dr. Afia educated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) with three children and aim of helping my nation with my high class education is very pleased from your help.

I was kidnapped from my own country by my brothers and sold to America. I was brutally treated, raped, tortured, again and again given name prisoner 650. I prayed for my Muhammad Bin Qasim for every second of my years in prison in a Muslim country Afghanistan.

I am sister of 1/5 world's Muslim population. My nation is historically famous in defending and protecting their citizens right from the beginning. Hazrat Omar (RA) Said, if a dog dies near river Arafat, Omar will be responsible on day of judgment.

At the moment I can't walk on my own, one kidney is removed, bullet wound in my chest, denied any medical and legal aid and not sure whether I will be alive or not.

I would like to revoke my status of sister. I am a proud Muslim, follower of Hazrat Muhammad SAW, daughter of Hazrat Abubakar, Hazrat Umar, Hazrat Usman and Hazrat Ali and Companions and their true followers. I don't want to be your sister.

They are my protectors and I will seek Allah's help not yours.

I don't want to be Pakistani who has 600,000 troops and special force SSG but fail to protect me, they sworn to protect me but refused when I was looking at them for help.
My so called Muslim Ummah having millions of soldiers, guns, tanks. Automatic weapons, fighter plans, submarines and yet they failed to save me.

Don't worry about day of judgment you won't be answerable as you are not my brothers in Islam. You are Arabic, Persian, Palestinians, African, Malaysian, Indonesian, South Asian but not Muslims.

I am sorry if hurts you but you can't imagine how hurt I am.'


[END OF LETTER]]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/letter-from-aafia-saddiqui-my-dead-nation/ Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:27:59 +0000 muwahida22 http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/rock-and-roll-hijab/ I was reading with great saddness the article below and look at the way the heading generalises that Muslim women like rock?


Hijab-wearing women rock!
Why hijab-wearing Muslim women have a real affinity for hard rock


God gave rock'n'roll to you! So US rock band Kiss chanted in the early 90s, a cover of the original song by British group Argent. My relationship with this "divine" gift started early. At 12, I riffled through my brother's vinyl collection and emerged a fan of U2, Faith No More and Led Zeppelin.

Recently, aged 31, I set out in my coolest headscarf to see the best live band in the world: Muse, on their Resistance Tour. I looked around, but spotted not one of my species – an "undercover Muse-lim", as one friend dubs me. But there are others.

Shabana, a solicitor and mother of three, has listened to rock music for as long as she has worn a headscarf. She has dragged her husband to a Jon Bon Jovi gig; her son has taken up electric guitar. "People are always surprised to find out about my rock collection," she says. "They take one look at my headscarf and assume I'll be into choir music!" I know the feeling.

So does Arub, an architecture student and Kerrang! subscriber, who says that she and nearly all her hijab-wearing friends would rather listen to Linkin Park than shallow pop. "Rock appeals because it rebels against the norm, it sells on the angst of not belonging – something women in hijab relate to," she says. "It's the natural choice for a hijabi."

Arub's words strike a chord. When, at 18, I decided to wear a headscarf, some friends said I would belong even less to a country where I was born, bred and buttered. But being in a minority can give confidence: I was surer of my identity and even of my Britishness. I feel the relevance of rock instinctively as lyrics from my album collection pulsate in my head: "I will never know myself until I do this on my own . . . I will break away, I'll find myself today"; "Don't be afraid of what your mind conceives /Stand up for what you believe."

The call of rebellion, the claim for independence: there is an affinity between rock music and those like me, Shabana and Arub – women secure in both their faith and music taste.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/14/why-muslim-women-like-hard-rock]]> http://www.sisterszone.com/forum/news-current-affairs-20/rock-and-roll-hijab/ Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:24:35 +0000 ummhussain