The most unusual and unexpected Muslim blogging community: Muslim children. In my own conception of the online 'Islamsphere', I don't think of Muslim children as being a part of it, but they are as I keep running across Islam-focus blogs being published by kids who may not be in junior high school yet. Obviously, this is a development limited to the economic class of Muslims who have computers or have enough money to give their children computers.
Aside from questions of parental due diligence, and whether children should even be online in this manner, such blogs give us an insight into minds of the next generation of Muslims when their topics stray out of the realm of childish concerns - though we need to be able to put aside our inherent adult bias against childish modalities of communication to listen. Hal786 for example, was concerned about suicide and depression among nonMuslims and was motivated to Dawah activism among them. And this girl had a complaint about the lack of images of 'action hijabis' online.
Anecdotally, all of the Muslim children's blogs I've stumbled across so far have been published by girls, and I have no idea why such a phenomenon might be 'gendered.' But one could certainly imagine that children with blogs are getting early practice on expressing themselves and community building. To the extent that any are motivated to engage in online activism, as adults they may be more likely to move on to other forms of off-line activism and community leadership.
Islam is the official religion in Malaysia, but non-Muslims are allowed to practice their faiths. Muslims, who make up around 65% of the Southeast country's 27 million population, are bound by Islamic family laws, while civil laws apply to non-Muslims.
KUALA LUMPUR: In an attempt to ease interfaith conflicts that have strained race relations, Malaysia on Thursday banned the conversion of children without both parents' consent.
The predominantly Muslim nation's decision follows the highly publicized case of Indira Gandhi, a 34-year-old ethnic Indian Hindu woman whose estranged husband embraced Islam and then converted their children to the religion as well.
Malaysia's legal affairs minister Nazri Aziz said on Thursday that minors were to be bound by the common religion of their parents while they were married, even if one parent later becomes a Muslim.
Islamic law will also apply only from the point of a person's conversion to the faith and is not retrospective, he told a press conference.
''We have to resolve this once and for all. I don't think we should be deciding on a piecemeal basis every time a conversion issue crops up,'' Nazri said. ''We have decided on a long-term solution because we expect more cases will occur, as we are a multiracial country,'' he added.
Islam is the official religion in Malaysia, but non-Muslims are allowed to practice their faiths. Muslims, who make up around 65% of the Southeast country's 27 million population, are bound by Islamic family laws, while civil laws apply to non-Muslims.
Nazri said the attorney-general had been instructed to look at relevant legislation that would need to be amended to effect the decision. The attorney-general would also be asked approach the Malay ruler's titular heads in nine of Malaysia's 13 states who are in charge of Islamic affairs in their respective states to seek consent for amendments to related state Islamic laws, Nazri added.
There has been growing unease among Malaysia's Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities, who are mostly Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, over numerous complaints of discrimination and unfair treatment by the authorities when seeking legal redress following cases of divorce and religious conversion.
Coming to a household near you - Economic crisis brings the "culture of poverty" into the homes of upwardly mobile, educated suburbanites (of any race):
There was a fairly large layoff at IBM in Armonk, N.Y. The people who were laid off were, for the most part, upwardly-mobile, educated white suburbanites and IBM was considered a lifetime employer. After the layoffs, there was an increase in domestic abuse, drug use and alcoholism - and behavioral problems in children in school. Those are things we associate with the so-called "culture of poverty" that supposedly holds people back from prosperity, especially poor people of color. But there really isn't a "culture of poverty." When you're faced with economic uncertainty, it places you in a position of extreme stress - no matter what your class or race background is. And that anxiety is going to be apparent in the classroom, where more children will be manifesting the signs of a stressful home life. As this crisis unfolds, it's going to become increasingly clear to teachers that the "culture of poverty" isn't a valid idea.
Excerpted from an article for schools on what changes to expect among their students of any economic stratum, and how they can effectively respond - provacative for administrators and teachers in private Islamic schools too.
'The difficult reality is that children can be 'groomed' online - either by would-be sexual predators or people with extremist views - so we want to promote an honest discussion between children and parents about the Internet.'
Muslim mothers are being taught how to spot if their children are being radicalised on the Internet.
Parents will be told to monitor their children's behaviour while they are online to check if they become secretive about their web use, shut down browsers suddenly, delete emails or act withdrawn or difficult after being on the computer.
Harrow Council has set up the e-safety course to give parents advice on how to tell if their teens are downloading extremist material.
Chris Mote, who is responsible for community and cultural services at the London local authority, said it was futile to try and filter or control what children see on the web because children are so adept at covering their tracks.
"We want mums to be aware of the full range of what's available on the web, both good and bad," he said.
"The difficult reality is that children can be 'groomed' online - either by would-be sexual predators or people with extremist views - so we want to promote an honest discussion between children and parents about the Internet."
The course is being funded by the Government under its initiative to prevent violent extremism.
It will also cover more general safety advice on the use of internet messaging, social networking websites and chat rooms, such as the standard guidance not to give out personal details - no matter how friendly an online stranger might appear.
A group of 30 mothers, ranging from people in their twenties to those in their sixties, has signed up for the one-day session.
Leading Saudi psychologist: 'Modern research has confirmed that receiving contradictory messages at the same time will lead to personality imbalances in a growing child. Such conflicts might also lead to mental disturbances, such as depression, a tendency to break away from social customs and norms, and harming oneself.
Salaam writes: The requirement for children to cover both face and head is so deviant that I couldn't even find a picture of a child so dressed on the Internet (except Michael Jackson's children). When rules are established that are obviously arbitrary and random it is likely to discredit the system that sets those rules in the eyes of the child, thereby undermining Islam.
KHAMIS MUSHAYT: When an eight- or ten-year-old girl is told that she should cover her entire body from head to toe - as an adult woman is supposed to do - then immediately the child's mother asks why.
This is exactly what is happening in the southern province of Asir where school regulations stipulate that pre-pubescent girls should dress in such a way that no part of their body, including head and face, is visible.
A child who dares to violate the new dress code faces severe punishment, including a public scolding and deductions from her marks.
This has put parents in a real dilemma. On the one hand, this new dress code is being imposed; on the other, they find it difficult to convince their young daughters that it is necessary for them to be completely veiled.
In addition, the parents have not been able to convince school authorities that little girls are not required to dress as adult women. Though Islam has strict dress regulations for women, they are only applied after girls reach puberty.
Umm Abrar, whose daughter is in Grade 4 at a primary school, went out shopping for a small abaya that would meet the school specifications. The scarf in her school should be worn in such a way that neither her face nor her hair is visible, allowing only her eyes to be seen.
"Until last year, the head scarf for little girls did not mean covering heads and faces. Only girls who had reached puberty needed to cover their faces. But this year the school ordered all girls to cover both heads and faces," Umm Abrar said. "Contrary to social customs and religious regulations, school authorities demand that little girls be completely covered. Girls submit to the regulations only under threat of punishment and therefore when they are outside school grounds they remove the covering," she added.
Umm Abrar finally bought an abaya matching the specifications set out in the school regulations so that her daughter would be spared punishment in school.
Another girl in Grade 6 of a primary school said: "The school regulations make me use two kinds of abayas: One that covers me entirely is for school and the other that shows my face is for family and social occasions."
Umm Abrar also feared that coercing girls to conceal their childhood behind black abayas and live like adults would be damaging to young minds. "Children are children and they should be treated so and not as adults," she said.
The teachers, she added, preached what they did not practice; they demanded that the girls not wear brocaded abayas or abayas made with glitter or sequins when they themselves often wore exactly that.
The mothers in Asir also wonder why school authorities order girls to dress in ways that go far beyond the demands of Islam; on the other hand, schools in the Makkah province allow pre-pubescent girls to dress according to a more relaxed Islamic code. The school authorities in Asir, however, justified their stand by saying that the practice would help develop the culture of Islamic dress at a very early age in girls. A school principal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said young girls who wear full abaya and veil throughout the year are awarded prizes as encouragement to other girls.
The principal also admitted that most girls obeyed the order because they were afraid of punishment, which included the deduction of 10 marks from a total of 100 marks given for good conduct.
Another school official agreed that the practice was not an obligation from a religious perspective. Her view was that the new dress code was an effort to make girls get accustomed to the idea of wearing the complete veil in advance of the time it was actually required.
The school official added that this would prevent the more attractive girls from being harassed by men.
Khayriyah, principal of Al-Manara private school in Asir, said she has not exempted any girl from being completely veiled in the school though she knew that several parents did not approve.
According to a woman supervisor at the Education Department in Asir, the full veil is being imposed to curb girls from showing off hair cut above the ear or hair that has been highlighted with brilliant colors. She said the ministry's guidelines do not in fact specify that the abaya should be black or that it should completely cover the head. The guidelines, however, state that it should not show the body of an adult woman.
Dr. Rajab Barsali, a leading psychologist in the western region, said that the constant conflict between the social dress system and school dress code would have a negative impact on the minds of young girls. "Modern research has confirmed that receiving contradictory messages at the same time will lead to personality imbalances in a growing child," the doctor said. He added that such conflicts might also lead to mental disturbances, such as depression, a tendency to break away from social customs and norms, and harming oneself.
Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, adviser at the Ministry of Justice, said a girl should cover her face and stop displaying her face at 10 because that is the age when her body begins to become attractive.
'These are not antibiotics that they take for seven to 10 days. These are drugs that many are taking for the rest of their lives.'
The number of children who take medication for chronic diseases has jumped dramatically, another troubling sign that many of the youngest Americans are struggling with obesity, doctors say.
The number of children who take pills for type 2 diabetes - the kind that's closely linked to obesity - more than doubled from 2002 to 2005, to a rate of six out of 10,000 children. That suggests that at least 23,000 privately insured children in the USA are now taking diabetes medications, according to authors of the new study in today's Pediatrics.
Doctors also saw big increases in prescriptions for high cholesterol, asthma and attention deficit and hyperactivity. There was smaller growth for drugs for depression and high blood pressure.
"We've got a lot of sick children," says author Emily Cox, senior director of research with Express Scripts, which administers drug benefit programs for private insurance plans. "What we've been seeing in adults, we're also now seeing in kids."
Type 2 diabetes was once known as adult-onset. But Cox says her records show kids as young as 5 being treated with prescription diabetes drugs.
Cox based her study on prescription records of nearly 4 million children a year, ages 5 to 19, covered by Express Scripts. She says her findings may not apply to the 40% of children who are uninsured or covered by government health plans.
Unless these children make major changes - such as eating healthier and exercising more - they could be facing a lifetime of illness, Cox says.
"These are not antibiotics that they take for seven to 10 days," Cox says. "These are drugs that many are taking for the rest of their lives."
Children and Youth Committee in the Danish city of Odense said they wanted to downgrade the number of schoolchildren fasting for the Muslim month of Ramadan, according to press reports.
"We know there some children who aren't eating during the day and it's not possible to learn on an empty stomach without being tired and rundown. That's why we want to stress to parents that it's not an acceptable behavior," Children and Youth Committee Chairwoman Jane Jegind said, according to The Copenhagen Post on Friday.
Principals at area schools are echoing the call for an end to such behaviors, yet are wary of any attempts to dissuade children from embracing their religion.
"I can see that it's sensible to send a signal to the parents in the form of an information campaign and tell them that their children need food to concentrate, but it should be a suggestion," Principal Carsten Hoyer told the Post.
"It can't be a decree because we have no possibility of sanctions. We can't suspend the children or punish the parents."
RIYADH: Saudi society has been recently exposed to a number of marriages that involve elderly men as old as 60 marrying young girls as young as eight. The marriages shocked many people who objected to such marriages, saying that there is no equality in this type of marriage and that there should be a strong law against such marriages. The question that was raised was how have marriage officials approved such marriages in the first place.
Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Belaihi, a member of the faculty at Imam Saud University, has described the practice of marrying young girls to elderly men "a crime against young girls."
A Saudi girl, 16, was admitted to the hospital after trying to end her life when she was forced by her father to marry a 75-year-old man. The girl was a part of an exchange deal between two fathers involving their two daughters. The girl had appealed to officials to block the marriage and bring to an end her father's attempts to marry her off without her consent.
Al-Belaihi agrees totally with the Ministry of Justice's new regulations, which include imposing disciplinary punishment against marriage officials who marry girls without their consent. Al-Belaihi believes that there should a legal liability on the wali - the legal guardian.
"The definition of wali is misinterpreted," said Al-Belaihi. "It does not mean the 'controller' or 'dictator', on the contrary, it means 'the responsible person for the welfare and wellbeing of the woman.'" He explained that in the Saudi society many women and girls are not exposed to men, and due to their limited experience the wali is supposed to examine the most suitable spouse for them to ensure their rights are maintained.
In this regard, consultant to the Ministry of Justice and member of the Shoura Council, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, stressed the fact that should the wali be conspiring to marry his daughter without her consent or approval he should be deprived of the guardianship over his daughter.
Should I send my children to a well established public school or a not so well established Islamic school? I am constantly being told by family members to send my son to a state school as the level education is better, I would prefer to send him to an Islamic school because of the environment, because I don't like the godlessness and immoral environment in state schools.
Answer:
Asalamu alaykum,
I'm not really able to comment on the U.K situation since my experience is in the USA. However, I have found that most of the kids who attend excellent public schools, combined with good parenting, seem to turn our much better than those who attend Islamic Schools who are sub par in their education religious and otherwise. This is my experience and it is not something that is written in stone. However, as an educator, I'm inclining towards sending my own kids to public schools for a number of reasons:
1. Preparation instead of incubation:
I've seen many kids come out of Islamic schools incubated and unable to deal with the drama that awaits them in High School and the Campus. Thus, and I've put this question to Islamic educators before, we need to move from an incubation psychology to one that prepares, empowers and strengthens our young people. By sending children to education reservoirs we are failing to prepare them for what awaits them. Thus, indirectly, we might be creating inverted personalities who fail to connect with the fact that they are part and parcel to the society at large. This effort to "protect them" as I've seen, only increases their hunger to break away from the pride lands and kick it with Beyonce. The most difficult youth I've dealt with were all graduates from such reservoirs. On the other hand, youth who went to public schools, had non-Muslim friends and engaged were far more comfortable with themselves. The others, to put it bluntly were walking Freudian slips.
2. Education standards and Ethics:
So far, and I've taught in Islamic schools for a number of year and have a degree in elementary education, I've not seen, at least in the States, any Islamic school that can educate a child the way public schools do. The latter have issues, but the former have not, in most cases I've seen, lived up to the visions associated with them. When it comes to testing your kids, addressing learning issues and cognitive development, many public schools are setting some amazing trends. Islamic schools are not able to offer the same resources for a simple reason: money.
3. Politics:
Unfortunately Islamic Schools have become the focus of many a political battle in communities. Wives, who are unqualified, of mosque board presidents get hired and some boards have no clue about education. In fact, I remember, during a job interview being asked, "Does one really need a degree to be a good teacher?"
Call your representative and support the No Child Left Inside Act.
A vote on this important education bill could come as early as Tuesday September 9th. This is a huge leap forward for the environmental education movement. Not familiar with the No Child Left Inside Act? You can learn much more here. You can also see what the media has been saying about the bill lately here.
While this bill is expected to pass, it is important to get as many "Aye" votes as possible when this hits the floor next week. That is where you come in. With all of the political press focusing exclusively on the Presidential election, it is hard to break through the clutter. That is why we need YOU to make a big deal of this. We need YOU to push your Representative to vote the right way on the No Child Left Inside Act.
3. Vote for the action alert on Digg.com. This will help us get as much exposure as possible for this important issue.
4. Forward this story to friends and colleagues. As I mentioned before, the focus on Presidential politics makes it difficult to get the message out. That is why we need grassroots supporters like you to spread the word.
5. If you are on Facebook, join the NCLI group. Then, use the link on the right side of the page to invite your friends to join.
Imphal (Manipur): The Manipur Muslim girl students have formed, perhaps first time in the history of the state, a union to wage a war on two fronts: to change Muslim socieity's approach on higher education for Muslim girls and to demand state government reservation for Muslim women.
More than a hundred Muslim girls - from Class XI to graduation level - gathered in the state capital city on August 30 to form the All Manipur Muslim Girl Students' Union - the first-ever union formed by Muslim girls in Manipur, says a report in The Telegraph.
This is the first move from Muslim women towards asserting their rights in matters of education and government jobs.
There are about 2 lakh Muslims, in the state.
"Girls are still discriminated against when it comes to higher education. Their families and community discourage them though there is no restriction as such to a girl going for higher education," said M.R. Choudhary, a BSc final year student of D.M. College of Science, was quoted saying by the daily. Choudhary was instrumental in forming the union.
Seeking reservation for Muslim women in government jobs will be on top of their agenda. "Muslims in Manipur get 4% reservation in government jobs. Of this, we may demand 2 per cent for Muslim women," Choudhary said.
Geneva, 2 Sept. (AKI) - A United Nations human rights body has urged Iran to stop imposing the death penalty on juvenile offenders.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a statement on Tuesday, after reports that two minors were recently put to death in violation of the country's obligations under international law.
Reza Hedjazi is believed to have been executed on 19 August and Behnam Zaare on 26 August. They are reported to have been 15 and 16, respectively, when they committed their crimes.
"These executions appear to be in clear violation of international law which contains an absolute prohibition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders," OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told a media conference in Geneva.
Colville pointed out that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which Iran has ratified, prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18.
OHCHR is also concerned that two other juvenile offenders, Mohammad Fadaaee and Amir Amrollahi, also face an imminent risk of execution.
"We urge the government of Iran to stay the executions of both of them in strict compliance with its international human rights obligations, and not to impose the death penalty for juvenile offenders in the future," said Colville.
The OHCHR is also concerned about reports of a recent increase in the number of executions in Iran, noting that more than 220 people, including six juvenile offenders, are believed to have been executed there this year.
RIYADH: With the arrival of Ramadan, the Ministry of Health is advising parents not to ignore their nonfasting children and is recommending patients who suffer from chronic diseases take medical advice before fasting.
"Parents tend to keep awake throughout the night and sleep the whole day after their suhoor meal, and they often ignore their children," said Abdul Rahman Al-Qahtani, general supervisor of the Health Education Department at the Ministry of Health.
Al-Qahtani said that children who wake up in the morning find themselves alone, as their parents are asleep. "Maids also get used to sleeping long hours following a hard night's work," he said, adding that children are left unattended without being properly washed and fed.
Al-Qahtani said patients who suffer from acute diabetes and hypertension should take medical advice to regulate their intake of medicine, adding that Islam is flexible and exempts the sick from fasting.
"Most health problems are likely to arise from an inappropriate diet, overeating and insufficient sleep," said Al-Qahtani, adding that there is no need to overeat. "During the holy month of Ramadan, our diet should not differ too much from our normal diet and should be as simple as possible. The diet should allow us to maintain our normal weight," he said, adding that if someone is overweight, then Ramadan is the ideal opportunity to lose some extra pounds.
Salaam writes: I hate posting stories like these because they can be useful to Islam attackers on the Web. However, as with Catholics and the pedophilic transgressions of some of their priests, it's up to the adherents of the deen to look at these problems squarely and fix them. We can't fix them if we don't look.
Saudi girl drinks bleach to escape marriage, father was 'swapping' her for a 13-year-old bride
A 16-year-old Saudi girl drank a bottle of bleach in an attempt to commit suicide to escape a forced marriage to a 75-year-old man, press reports revealed Sunday.
The girl identified only as, Shaikha, said her father was forcing her to marry the old man so that he could marry his 13-year-old daughter in an exchange deal, Bahrain's Tribune reported.
Shaikha described how her father took her to meet the old man and his 13-year-old in a marriage office where they all had pre-marital tests done, the Tribune quoted the Saudi Gazette as reporting.
Shaikha told the paper how she begged and pleaded not to be forced into marriage but both of the men ignored her pleas.
The 16-year-old appealed to the National Society of Human Rights to intervene and stop the marriage, the Tribune said, adding Shaikha, whose parents are separated, asked to live with her mother.
Shaikha's mother said she should be protected from her father and demanded the marriage contract be cancelled because Shaikha was threatened to marry the man, the paper said.
"Judges can punish men who force their daughters to marry like this," Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Al Obeikan, Shura Council member said, adding the marriage contract was void because it violated Shariah law, the Tribune reported.
Islamic law states that for a marriage to be legal both parties must consent. If a marriage is performed without consent or under coercion the union is considered void and must be annulled.
Eager to fulfill her daughter's dream of joining an electronics engineering course, a Muslim woman from rural Tamil Nadu has sought judicial help to defy her conservative husband's decision not to send the girl for further studies.
Rubinisha, 16-year-old daughter of Nawabjan and Fathima Jegara, had cleared Plus-II with high marks and wanted to join electronics and communication engineering. However, the conservative Nawabjan refused permission to send her away from home even for studies. Finally, after intense persuasion from his wife, Nawabjan ceded to admit her to an arts and science college-run by his friend-for pursuing BSc Maths. But the situation changed when Rubinisha secured a seat under Government quota at an engineering college in Pudukkottai district.
Nawabjan again refused to give permission to her to join the professional college saying it was away from home. He also instructed the college authorities not to release the original certificates that Rubinisha had submitted at the time of admission. The provisional admission granted to her in the engineering college had clearly stipulated that she should submit all her certificates in original by August 18.
Following this, Fathima approached the Madurai Bench of the Madras HC, asking the court to direct college authorities to release the certificates. In her complaint, Fathima said her husband was adamant against their daughter going away from home for education, and was thus standing against the young girl's dream. The college authorities also refused to consider their pleas though she gave a written affidavit stating the same. Acting on the mother's petition, Justice K Chandru directed Seethalakshmi Aachi College to return all certificates.
