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From what I know of the Qu’ran, again and again it describes the natural world as the handiwork
of a unitary benevolent power. It very explicitly describes Nature as possessing an “intelligibility”
and that there is no separation between Man and Nature, precisely because there is no separation
between the natural world and God. It offers a completely integrated view of the Universe where
religion and science, mind and matter are all part of one living, conscious whole. We are, therefore, finite beings
contained by an infinitude, and each of us is a microcosm of the whole. This suggests to me that Nature is a knowing
partner, never a mindless slave to humanity, and we are Her tenants; God's guests for all too short a time.
If I may quote the Qu’ran, “Have you considered: if your water were to disappear into the Earth, who then could
bring you gushing water?” This is the Divine hospitality that offers us our provisions and our dwelling places, our
clothing, tools and transport. The Earth is robust and prolific, but also delicate, subtle, complex and diverse and so
our mark must always be gentle – or the water will disappear, as it is doing in places like the Punjab in India.
Industrialized farming methods there rely upon the use of high-yielding seeds and chemical fertilizers, both of which
need a lot more energy and a lot more water as well. As a consequence the water table has dropped dramatically – I
have been there, I have seen it – so far, by three feet a year. Punjabi farmers are now having to dig expensive bore
holes over 200 feet deep to get at what remains of the water and, as a result, their debts become ever deeper and the
salt rises to the surface contaminating the soil.....
This, then, is why the wisdom and learning offered by a sacred tradition like Islam matters – and, if I may say so,
why those who hold and strive to preserve their sacred traditions in different parts of the world have every reason to
become more confident of their ground. The Islamic world is the custodian of one of the greatest treasuries of
accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity. It is both Islam’s noble heritage and a priceless
gift to the rest of the world. And yet, so often, that wisdom is now obscured by the dominant drive towards Western
materialism – the feeling that to be truly “modern” you have to ape the West......
I must say, once you do blend the different languages – the empirical and the spiritual together as I am suggesting,
and as I have been trying to say for so long – then you do begin to wonder why the sceptics think the desire to work
in harmony with Nature is so unscientific. Why is it deemed so worthwhile to abandon our true relationship with the
“beingness” of all things; to limit ourselves to the science of manipulation, rather than immerse ourselves in the
wider science of understanding? They seem such spurious arguments, because, as Islam clearly understands, it is
actually impossible to divorce human beings from Nature’s patterns and processes. The Qur’an is considered to be
the “last Revelation” but it clearly acknowledges which book is the first. That book is the great book of creation, of
Nature herself, which has been taken too much for granted in our modern world and needs to be restored to its
original position.
So, with all this in mind, I would like to set you a challenge, if I may; a challenge that I hope will be conveyed
beyond this audience today. It is the challenge to mobilize Islamic scholars, poets and artists, as well as those
craftsmen, engineers and scientists who work with and within the Islamic tradition, to identify the general ideas, the
teachings and the practical techniques within the tradition which encourage us to work with the grain of Nature
rather than against it. I would urge you to consider whether we can learn anything from the Islamic culture's
profound understanding of the natural world to help us all in the fearsome challenges we face. Are there, for
instance, any that could help preserve our precious marine eco-systems and fisheries? Are there any traditional
methods of avoiding damage to all of Nature’s systems that revive the principle of sustainability within Islam?.....
Since I founded it, the School has helped restore these skills in places as far afield as Jordan and Nigeria.
It also helps to build bridges within communities in this country which have suffered the worst fractures.
In Burnley in Lancashire, for instance, project workers have been teaching children from many
backgrounds an integrated view of the world using the patterns of Islamic sacred geometry. This has not
just inspired the imagination of the children taking part, but their teachers too. They tell me they have
discovered a much more integrated approach to education, where maths and art are not alien to one
another, but are seen as two sides of the same coin and directly rooted in Nature's patterns and
processes. – Prince Charles
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lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID= 2988
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Sultan Shahin,
Editor and Publisher, NewAgeIslam. com
Islam and the Environment are in full Harmony: Text of a speech by Prince Charles
My understanding of Islam is that it warns that to deny the reality of our inner being
leads to an inner darkness which can quickly extend outwards into the world of Nature.
If we ignore the calling of the soul, then we destroy Nature. To understand this we have
to remember that we are Nature, not inanimate objects like stones; we reflect the
universal patterns of Nature. And in this way, we are not a part that can somehow
disengage itself and take a purely objective view.
From what I know of the Qu’ran, again and again it describes the natural world as the
handiwork of a unitary benevolent power. It very explicitly describes Nature as
possessing an “intelligibility” and that there is no separation between Man and Nature,
precisely because there is no separation between the natural world and God. It offers a completely
integrated view of the Universe where religion and science, mind and matter are all part of one living,
conscious whole. We are, therefore, finite beings contained by an infinitude, and each of us is a
microcosm of the whole. This suggests to me that Nature is a knowing partner, never a mindless slave to
humanity, and we are Her tenants; God's guests for all too short a time.
If I may quote the Qu’ran, “Have you considered: if your water were to disappear into the Earth, who then
could bring you gushing water?” This is the Divine hospitality that offers us our provisions and our
dwelling places, our clothing, tools and transport. The Earth is robust and prolific, but also delicate, subtle,
complex and diverse and so our mark must always be gentle – or the water will disappear, as it is doing in
places like the Punjab in India. Industrialized farming methods there rely upon the use of high-yielding
seeds and chemical fertilizers, both of which need a lot more energy and a lot more water as well. As a
consequence the water table has dropped dramatically – I have been there, I have seen it – so far, by three
feet a year. Punjabi farmers are now having to dig expensive bore holes over 200 feet deep to get at what
remains of the water and, as a result, their debts become ever deeper and the salt rises to the surface
contaminating the soil.....
This, then, is why the wisdom and learning offered by a sacred tradition like Islam matters – and, if I may
say so, why those who hold and strive to preserve their sacred traditions in different parts of the world
have every reason to become more confident of their ground. The Islamic world is the custodian of one of
the greatest treasuries of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to humanity. It is both
Islam’s noble heritage and a priceless gift to the rest of the world. And yet, so often, that wisdom is now
obscured by the dominant drive towards Western materialism – the feeling that to be truly “modern” you
have to ape the West......
I must say, once you do blend the different languages – the empirical and the spiritual together as I am
suggesting, and as I have been trying to say for so long – then you do begin to wonder why the sceptics
think the desire to work in harmony with Nature is so unscientific. Why is it deemed so worthwhile to
abandon our true relationship with the “beingness” of all things; to limit ourselves to the science of
manipulation, rather than immerse ourselves in the wider science of understanding? They seem such
spurious arguments, because, as Islam clearly understands, it is actually impossible to divorce human
beings from Nature’s patterns and processes. The Qur’an is considered to be the “last Revelation” but it
clearly acknowledges which book is the first. That book is the great book of creation, of Nature herself,
which has been taken too much for granted in our modern world and needs to be restored to its original
position.
So, with all this in mind, I would like to set you a challenge, if I may; a challenge that I hope will be
conveyed beyond this audience today. It is the challenge to mobilize Islamic scholars, poets and artists, as
well as those craftsmen, engineers and scientists who work with and within the Islamic tradition, to
identify the general ideas, the teachings and the practical techniques within the tradition which encourage
us to work with the grain of Nature rather than against it. I would urge you to consider whether we can
learn anything from the Islamic culture's profound understanding of the natural world to help us all in the
fearsome challenges we face. Are there, for instance, any that could help preserve our precious marine
eco-systems and fisheries? Are there any traditional methods of avoiding damage to all of Nature’s
systems that revive the principle of sustainability within Islam?.....
Since I founded it, the School has helped restore these skills in places as far afield as Jordan and
Nigeria. It also helps to build bridges within communities in this country which have suffered the
worst fractures. In Burnley in Lancashire, for instance, project workers have been teaching
children from many backgrounds an integrated view of the world using the patterns of Islamic
sacred geometry. This has not just inspired the imagination of the children taking part, but their
teachers too. They tell me they have discovered a much more integrated approach to education,
where maths and art are not alien to one another, but are seen as two sides of the same coin
and directly rooted in Nature's patterns and processes. – Prince Charles
Continue Reading...
http://www.NewAgeIs lam.com/NewAgeIs lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID= 2988
From last summer through last winter, the hardliners of the Islamic Republic of Iran
were powerfully challenged by reformists, who charged that the June 12, 2009,
presidential election had been marked by extensive fraud. Street protests were so large,
crowds so enthusiastic, and the opposition so steadfast that it seemed as if Iran were on
the brink of a significant change in its way of doing business, possibly even
internationally. The opposition -- the most massive since the Islamic Revolution of
1978-79 -- was dubbed the Green Movement, because green is the color of the
descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, among whom losing presidential candidate
Mirhossein Moussavi is counted. Although some movement supporters were
secularists, many were religious, and so disarmingly capable of deploying the religious
slogans and symbols of the Islamic Republic against the regime itself. -- Juan Cole
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http://www.NewAgeIs lam.com/NewAgeIs lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID= 2987
They are installing a white race, creating an anonymous white identity – and it's
working. And people say "yes, it's an interesting debate." I can't deny what I feel
inside: my disgust with this white race they are suggesting. It's when you hear
people like the interior minister Brice Hortefeux talk about Arabs and say "When there's one, that's ok –
it's when there are several that it becomes problematic. " ----- Magyd Cherfi
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Arab League chief Amr Mussa condemns Gaza siege on landmark visit
In Modi government ad, Azamgarh girls become Gujarat’s new Muslim face
Death is beautiful
Photo: Uzbekistan soldiers help ethnic Uzbeks fleeing southern Kyrgyzstan to cross the border after attacks by Kyrgyz rioters in
Osh. Photograph: D Dalton Bennett/AP
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Two key ideologues were responsible for the invention of this political
interpretation of Islam: the Egyptian Syed Qutb, and Syed Abul Ala Maududi, in
the Indian subcontinent. I can say without any hesitation that this political
interpretation of theirs was totally baseless, and cannot be proven from a proper
reading of the Quran and Hadith. The arguments that these two ideologues
offered are not at all convincing or coherent, and represent unwarranted reading
into the Quran and Hadith of concepts that are totally foreign to these two basic
sources of Islam -- Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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ArticleID= 2982
Malalai Joya was also called ‘Afghanistan’s most famous woman’, by BBC.
However, she hardly grabs headlines in pro-Taliban mainstream Pakistani media
even if she is a household name in Afghanistan. Joya shot to fame back in 2003 at
the Loya Jirga convened to ratify Afghanistan’s new constitution. Unlike US-
sponsored clean-shaven fundamentalists, Joya was not nominated by Karzai but
elected by the people of Farah province to represent them at Loya Jirga. She
stunned the Loya Jirga and journalists present on the occasion (including Pakistan’s
Ahmed Rashid), when she unleashed a three-minute hard-hitting speech exposing
the crimes of warlords controlling Loya Jirga. Grey-bearded Sibghatullah Mojadadi,
chairing the Loya Jirga, called her an ‘infidel’ and a ‘communist’. Other beards present on the occasion
also shouted at her. But before she was silenced by an angry mob of war lords around, she had electrified
Afghanistan with her courageous speech. Ahmed Rashid, in his latest book ‘Descent into Chaos’, narrates
every detail about Loya Jirga but carefully avoids Joya’s mention. During the course of these three fateful
minutes, the course of Joya’s life was also changed. In her native province of Farah, locals wanted her to
represent them in elections. -- Farooq Sulehria
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http://www.NewAgeIs lam.com/NewAgeIs lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID= 2984
The two people who were responsible for starting Pakistan down this ‘slippery slope’ of extremism and
legal discrimination against minorities are both dead and have been for decades, yet their legacy survives
and has become a part of our constitution and our system of laws. It seems that even the most unjust laws,
if based on religion, not only are allowed to exist but seem immune to change.
Interestingly, after the passage of the 18th Amendment to the constitution our apex court seems willing to
examine whether it deserves to exist as an amendment yet no attempt has been made by this independent
court to examine the laws that have made a mockery of the very concept of equality under the law for all
citizens of Pakistan. -- Dr Syed Mansoor Hussain
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http://www.NewAgeIs lam.com/NewAgeIs lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID= 2981
The assumption that Iqbal did not believe in democracy rests largely on a verse he
wrote in which he said that democracy was “that form of government in which
persons are counted, not weighed”. In a democracy, everyone counts for one and no
one counts for more than one. This is both the most obvious advantage (in the sense
that it prevents monopoly of power and privilege) and disadvantage (in the sense
that numerical equality is stressed at the expense of unequal merit) of democracy.
That Iqbal should have pointed out something obvious by no means indicates that
he was against democracy. -- Dr Riffat Hassan
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2980
Munawwar Rana, one of the most popular Urdu poets of our times, has kicked off a controversy by
saying that not a single poetess below the age of 45 is genuine, sparking protests from poets and poetesses.
He also speaks about the commercialisation of the mushairas and its adverse effects on the standard of
Urdu poetry and mushaira. In this informal interview in Urdu with Shabbir Shaad, Munawwar Rana
speaks his heart out.
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ArticleID= 2979
To understand this one has to go to the very roots of Indian way of life, our dharma, that is
now known as Hindu religion but it was always a conglomeration of religions, philosophies,
including atheism and agnosticism. Yes atheism was as much an integral part of Hindu dharma
as was faith in one God or a multiplicity of gods or any particular deity which may have had a
following in only one small locality. So one Hindu family could have had a couple of devout
believers in one God or several gods or atheists or agnostics, all living together under the same
roof, their beliefs causing no hindrance in their lives together. In different parts of India too
there were different religions, different scriptures, and people from different parts used to travel
carrying their beliefs with them and sharing them with one another.
So when beliefs like Islam or Christianity or Judaism came from foreign lands, they hardly faced
any problem in being accepted. In any case the Hindu or more correctly the Indian considered
the whole world as a family, a kutumb. One of the cardinal principles of Hindu philosophy was
that there are many ways to the God and ultimately they all lead to the same divine truth. So
while Islam’s encounter with some other religions was quite violent, Hinduism provided it with a
fertile ground for growth. -- Sultan Shahin, editor, New Age Islam, speaking at Geneva in a
United Nations informal seminar on multicultural experiences on 10 June, 2010.
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http://www.NewAgeIs lam.com/NewAgeIs lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID= 2978
On the whole, the document regulates the status of non-Muslims quite vaguely
but in a spirit of equality. As such, it echoes the sura (chapters) in the Qur’an in
which reference is made to the status of non-Muslims. These sura are also
imprecise and general in formulation, though there is one sura which later became the basis for the legal
regulation of the status of non-Muslims. According to sura 9:29, Muslims should fight the People of the
Book until they willingly pay a special tax (jizya). -- Nushin Arbabzadah
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Islam itself has taught its true followers to reverse any such provocation with an
exemplary head-on approach befitting that time. It is actually quite the holy sin to turn a
blind eye and a much larger, more damnable offence to make the whole community
grope the alleyways of darkness with you. And in times such as these, intelligent,
thought provoking and enlightened manoeuvres aimed at academically amplifying the
Muslim intention ought to have taken the front row in this deliberate farce. Provocation
has endured and we, the sullied Muslims catered to by the mullahs who are forever
appeased, have just given the entire world another reason to scoff at our intolerance for
just about anything. -- Reem Wasay
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http://www.NewAgeIs lam.com/NewAgeIs lamArticleDetail .aspx?ArticleID=
2932
Islam teaches me to learn with other people and other groups. For me, Islam
represents unity, and not just among Muslims. We have to be respectful, tolerant,
and peaceful with others. Lakum dinukum waliyadin means “To you be your way,
and to me mine” (Qur’an 109:06). This verse promotes tolerance toward other
religions and other groups. All human beings are family, and this is my
understanding of the essence of Islamic teaching. -- Nurish Amanah
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