Professional Documents
Culture Documents
March/April
What if we had a
Muslim Manifesto?
vol.3
2015
Editorial team
March / April 2015
Issue 26, Vol. 3
bi-monthly magazine
Managing Director
Chief Editor
Amir De Martino
Managing Editor
Anousheh Mireskandari
Health Editor
Laleh Lohrasbi
Art Editor
Moriam Grillo
Innovative Graphics
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Batool Haydar
Cleo Cantone
Frank Julian Gelli
Hannah Smith
Harun Yahya
Julia Khadija Lafene
Rashid Rose
Sabnum Dharamsi
Back Cover
The Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque
17th century Mostar - Bosnia and Herzegovina
The mosque was seriously damaged
during the war in the 1990s and was
later restored.
Publisher:
Islamic Centre of England
140 Maida Vale
London, W9 1QB - UK
ISSN
2051-2503
Islamic Centre of England
Disclaimer: Where opinion is expressed it is that of the author and does not necessarily coincide with the editorial views of the publisher or islam today. All information in this magazine is verified to the best of the authors and the publishers
ability. However, islam today shall not be liable or responsible for loss or damage
arising from any users reliance on information obtained from the magazine.
20
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Addendum
Illustrator - Yusef Abdul Jaleel
Heritage
21 Medium Photography
Painting
Art
Masked Man
18
In the Spotlight
Playwright - Rohina Malik
Opinion
19 Masterpiece
Painting - Helen Zughaib
22
Cover
46
Faith
30
Interfaith
34
St Bernadette of Lourdes, a
bringer of Hope
St Bernadette believed she saw the Virgin
Mary at Lourdes. Today her visions still
work miracles of healing and hope, says
Frank Gelli
Health
38 Eat right for your type
A diet based on blood group type may
be the answer overweight peopleare for.
Laleh Lohrasbi explains
Places
42 The mosque of Fatima
One of the daughters of Imam Musa Ibn
Jafar Al-Kadhem(a) is believed to buried
in Baku Azerbaijan. Islam Today takes a
look behind the legend of Fatima
From the
Editor
Children and
Mental Health
With mental health disorders rising among children, Sabnum Dharamsi underlines
how correct parenting at an early stage can provide a healthy future for our
children
this issue.
This is because if you are aware, you
can find help or address things before
they get worse. Most of us get very
protective over children. If they fall
over, and bruise their knees, we cradle
them, give them plasters and kiss their
pain better. But mental health is a
hard subject to even contemplate and
when it comes to applying these words
to children, its even harder. We dont
like to think about these young minds
being damaged or hurt in any way. And
when things are hard to think about,
we sometimes ignore or avoid things we
really shouldnt.
So whats going on inside your childs
mind? Its so important to get to know
Raising Thinkers
Not Thoughts
10
11
12
When
our
children
complain
that
theyre
bored, we usually try and
provide them with a list of
things they can do. On the
other hand, our parents
used to react to the same
complaint with a refrain of
children dont get bored.
A balance between the two
would be to challenge your
child to come up with ideas
on their own. This may be
difficult at first if your child has been
used to not thinking but with a bit of
encouragement and consistency, they
will soon thrive on activities of their
own invention.
13
Lofty Proportionality:
Is raising the skyline the way to go?
Pondering over the human obsession to build taller buildings, Cleo Cantone wonders if our past can provide
inspiration to move away from the disproportionate towers made of steel, glass and concrete
14
Rather
than
heeding
the
While it may be difficult to agree on what
Qurans admoconstitutes an excessively tall building, the
nition:
How
many populabody known as the Council on Tall Buildings
tions have we
defines a supertall building as one that
destroyed which
measures 300 metres of which a percentage
were given to
usually consists of vanity height.
wrongdoing?
They tumbled
down on their
roofs. And how
Lumires vision of the horizontal city
many wells are lying idle and neglected?
made up of bungalows, Le Corbusier
And castles lofty and well built (22:42)
profoundly disagreed that this was
or Prophetic traditions about the signs
a valid solution, rather it was the
of the end of the world including when
conquest of height that could integrate
shepherds compete to build tall buildthree essential elements: sun, space,
ings (Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states
greenery.
apparently have an insatiable appetite
Thus if the main consideration is to save
for things vertical).
space as may well be the case in New
While it may be difficult to agree on what
York, can spiky architecture be justified
constitutes an excessively tall building,
in the vast expanses of the Gulf desert?
15
16
17
In the Spotlight
Playwright - Rohina Malik
18
Masterpiece
Painting - Helen Zughaib
19
Addendum
Illustrator - Yusef Abdul Jaleel
The Place to Be
Natural History Museum
Images of Nature
20
Heritage
Kensington,
Medium
photography
The Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) by
Shishir and Shashank Dholakia,
USA, Aged 15.
Painting
Masked Man
Self-portrait
21
Is Democracy the
Modern Colonialism?
22
23
24
25
What if we had a
Muslim Manifesto?
26
27
28
29
It is in
your power
to attain goodness
Human beings are becoming more desensitised towards the suffering of
others. Haroun Yahya believes that the transformative Power of the Islamic
faith can provide us with the necessary tools to achieve true goodness
30
31
Communication
with
God
While we all hope for the mercy of God, our request for help from Him should be put in such a way as to
maximise the chances of acceptance. Julia Khadija Lafene explores the guidelines with which we can achieve
this
32
Quran 2:186).
33
Interfaith
St Bernadette
of Lourdes,
a bringer of Hope
Visions of the Virgin Mary at
Lourdes brought the simple
girl Bernadette many trials but
innumerable miracles of healings
and hope have vindicated her,
says Frank Gelli
34
35
36
37
Health
Health Editor Laleh Lohrasbi
Eat Right
For
Your Type
It is said we are what we eat. However according to Dr DAdamos theory our blood
group actually determines what we should eat. Laleh Lohrasbi puts his theory under the
microscope
38
Eat Right
For
Your Type
39
Blood group A
40
Dr Laleh Lohrasbi is
a pharmacologist. She
has worked as an editor
for the medical section
of Hamshahri, a daily
newspaper in Tehran.
41
Places
The Mosque
of Fatima
Overlooking the port of Baku in Azerbaijan is the Mosque of Fatima. Erected in the 13th century
in honour of a special lady from the progeny of the Prophet Muhammad(s), today the mosque is a
place of pilgrimage and spiritual retreat.
he Bibi-Heybat Mosque on
the outskirts of Baku in Azerbaijan, known locally as the
Mosque of Fatima, was built
to honour the Lady Fatima as-Sughra,
daughter of the 7th Shiite Imam Musa
Ibn Jafar Al-Kazim(a). The mosque, was
the only Islamic building during Stalins
rule that was destroyed.
The origins of this mosque go back to
the 7th century, when many Alids perse-
42
43
44
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general.
For more information on the Hadhramaut
Research Centre (HRC) please visit: www.
hadhramautresearchcentre.com.
4 March
1 March
Poetry and Exile in Works
Poetry and Exile in Works by Abdallah
Benanteur, Ipek Duben, Mona Saudi
and Canan Tolon, drawn from recent
acquisitions of works by artists of the
Middle East and North Africa by the
British Museum, explores the effects of
exile through the eyes of five artists.
There are many forms of exile expressed
here. For Canan Tolon, it is exile from her
home in Istanbul as a result of contracting
polio as a child, the story of which she
evokes in Futur Imparfait. Ipek Dubens
book Refugee, with its delicate gauze
pages, belies the terror and helplessness
of people forced to flee their homeland.
Mona Saudi and Abdallah Benanteur
combine the powerful verses of Palestinian
poet Mahmoud Darwish with drawings.
3 March
Approaching Islamophobia from a
Human Rights Perspective
46
In medieval Islam, the written word assumed many functions and many meanings. In some cases, writing functioned not
in opposition to images, but in relation
to them. In other cases, writing combined
with images and designs. In yet others,
writing, or signs resembling writing, served
an apotropaic function.
This lecture looks at the many functions
that the Arabic alphabet assumed in the
medieval period, considering it both traditionally as a bearer of content and meaning, as well as part of systems of graphemes that carried other meanings and
combined with other visual systems.
7 March
The Islamophobia Awards
Rediscovering Hadhramaut:
Paradigms of Research
The HRC is pleased to announce its first
international conference. Distinguished
academics from across the world will
participate in panels to cover topics on
Hadhramaut in particular and Yemen in
10 March
Diversity in End Of Life Care
The Woolf Institute offers bespoke courses
for nurses, doctors, chaplains, volunteers
and other professionals that address issues of religious and spiritual diversity in
end of life care. This training is delivered
through workshops and presentations.
Expert staff from the Woolf Institute lead
the course in conjunction with a qualified panel, including chaplains and medical staff, from the hospital or institution
in which the course is offered. Dr Philip
Lodge (Consultant in Palliative Medicine,
Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, Marie
Curie Hospice, Hampstead) is the courses
permanent clinical advisor.
12 March
Negotiating covenant,
Prophethood and redemption in
the Quran
The lecture will outline the successive
formation of a new community, and map
the theological negotiations between the
already established liturgical communities in the Arabian peninsula, i.e. Christianity and Judaism. It will be shown that
the Quranic texts write themselves into
an environment infused with monotheistic
traditions, based on the knowledge of an
extensive Biblical heritage, including the
interpretive traditions of Christianity and
Judaism.
Reading the Quran as a documenting text
of the formation of a new community in
negotiation and/or competition with Jewish and Christian traditions, the Quran
can no longer be seen as an insufficient
replica of the Bible, the product of a
confused impostor. Rather, it must be acknowledged as a theologically challenging
Time: 6.00 pm
Venue: Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education,
124 Blackness Road, Dundee, DD1 5PE
Registration: Free, booking required.
Booking: openlectures@almcollege.org.uk
More info: www.almcollege.org.uk
15 March
Saverah Women Expo
Saverah Women Expo is an empowering,
motivational, and entertaining event that
targets the specific needs and interests of
Muslim women.
You can experience spectacular fashion
shows, shop, sample and view products,
discover organisations and services relating to your lives and well-being, attend
seminars, or simply relax in the pampering zone.
17 March
Challenges and Opportunities:
British Muslim Women and Maktab
Education
uk-centre-cardiff-university-public-lectureseries-2015/
22 March
Through April
1 April
7 - 9 April
An Islamic Perspective of
Accounting, Finance, Economics
and Management
The Adam Smith Business School will
host an international conference presenting research on an Islamic perspective of
accounting, finance, economics and management. This two-day conference will provide opportunities for participants to present their current research in this area as
well as build their collaboration network
with other delegates.
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