Positive Muslim News

Muslims help build Hindu temple in Bihar, India

SITAMARHI, Bihar – As media continues to focus on claimed tensions between both faiths, Indian Muslims in the northern Bihar's Sitamarhi district have been quietly helping Hindus in constructing a new temple to finish it before their coming Chhath festival in November. "Muslims are not only donating money for temple construction, they are also actively involved in ensuring that it should come up soon," Rajkishore Raut, president of the Shiva Temple Construction Committee, told IANS. Raut, a school teacher, said the construction of the temple was a fine example of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. Read the whole article at: http://www.onislam.net/english/news/asia-pacific/460042-india-muslims-help-building-hindu-temple.html

Imam leads campaign against forced marriages

A Muslim scholar has launched a groundbreaking campaign against forced marriage in Scotland. Shaykh Amer Jamil says the practice has no place in Islam. During the next few weeks leaflets and sermons are being given in mosques as part of an initiative to educate the community. "In the Muslim community there's a misconception amongst some people that religion allows this, that parents have an Islamic right to choose partner of their children, and that they don't have a choice in this," says the Glasgow-based Imam. [...] "The only thing that can break a cultural norm for Muslims is the religion," he explains. "So when you come down and say in Islam the prophet was against this practice, nobody can argue with you," he says. Read the whole article at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17908548

Bangladeshi Muslim Rickshaw Driver Builds Hospital

One rickshaw driver, who saved for 30 years on $6 per day, founded a small hospital in the remote village of Tanhashadia. His efforts have made him a national celebrity and his clinic now treats 300 patients each day.

Watch the video at:
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia/2012/02/2012219114012469822.html

Jewish, Muslim volunteers join to help out during Christmas

Ari Goldberg filled Styrofoam cup after Styrofoam cup with lemonade from a giant jug cooler in soup kitchen at the St. Leo Catholic Church's on Detroit's west side on Christmas morning.

The 13-year-old West Bloomfield resident was one of about two dozen volunteers from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit who helped prepare and serve a festive holiday meal to less-fortunate people.

It was part of the organization's annual Mitzvah Day program, the largest single day of volunteering by the region's Jewish community, which enables Christians to spend the holiday at home with their loved ones, according to the Federation. This year, for the third time, an estimated 1,000 Jewish volunteers joined forces with their Muslim neighbors

Read the whole article at:

http://www.freep.com/article/20111225/NEWS01/312250002/Jewish-Muslim-volunteers-join-forces-to-help-out-on-Christmas

Windsor Islamic Center to produce solar power

WINDSOR, Ont. -- A new solar project on the roof the Rose City Islamic Centre has the potential to produce enough electricity to power 250 homes in the surrounding neighbourhood.

Located on Empress Street in partnership with Solgate Solar, the project will result in the installation of solar panels on about 55,000 square feet of the building's roof.

[...]

It's expected that the project will generate 250 kilowatts of power, reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 371,000 kilograms per year, save more than 500,000 acres of forest and displace more than 4,000 barrels of oil.

Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/Windsor+Islamic+centre+produce+solar+power/
5503673/story.html#ixzz1aO24bQ8b

Ugandan Muslim Religious Organization Launches Safe Motherhood Project

A sh10.5b programme to sensitise Muslim women on safe motherhood and reduce the school drop-out rate among children has been launched in Kabarole district.

The programme was launched on Monday at Toro Main Mosque in Fort Portal town by the Mufti, Sheikh Shaban Ramathan Mubajje.

The four-year project worth sh10.5b was named "Keeping Mothers and Children Alive, Safe and Learning." It is funded by the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Read the whole article at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201107281382.html

Islamic Reality TV show in Malaysia seeks best women preachers

A forthcoming Islamic reality television show in Malaysia aims to find the best women preachers and change conservative mindsets on the role of women in Muslim societies.

The 13-episode prime time program titled "Solehah," an Arabic word meaning "pious female," is a talent contest that will feature charismatic young Muslim women judged by clerics on their religious knowledge as well as their oratory skills and personality.

Although Islam allows both men and women to preach the religion to society, the field remains dominated by males in most Muslim countries, something the show's producers in this mainly Muslim but multi-religious Southeast Asian country hope to change.

"If American Idol can help their contestants develop as singers, our show aims to help Muslim women develop as Islamic preachers," said Zulkarnaen Mokhtar, brand manager at the private television station which produces the show.

Read the whole article at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/18/us-malaysia-islam-idUSTRE75H0RP20110618

Muslim 9/11 hate victim tries to save his attacker from execution

Just 10 days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rais Bhuiyan was working at a gas station in Dallas when he was shot in the face by a man named Mark Stroman.

Stroman was on a shooting spree, targeting people who appeared to be Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent. Stroman is due to be executed July 20; Bhuiyan, the only survivor of the attacks, is fighting to save his life.

When Stroman entered the gas station, Bhuiyan initially thought it was a routine robbery.

"I opened the cash register, offered him the cash, and requested him not to shoot me," Bhuiyan tells weekends on All Things Considered host Laura Sullivan. "In reply he asked me, 'Where are you from?' And the question seemed strange to ask during a robbery. And I said, 'Excuse me?' And as soon as I spoke, I felt the sensation of a million bees stinging my face, and then heard an explosion."

Bhuiyan required medical attention for years after the attack. The bullet hit him on the right side of the face, leaving severe injuries, particularly to his right eye.

[...]

"According to my faith in Islam, there is no hate, no killing. It doesn't allow anything like that," says Bhuiyan. "Yes, Mark Stroman did a horrible thing, and he brought a lot of pain and disaster, sufferings in my life. But in return I never hated him."

Bhuiyan has created a website called World Without Hate to educate others about hate crimes as a means of preventing them. He's also working with Amnesty International and Stroman's defense attorney, who has filed several appeals on Stroman's death sentence.

Read the whole story at:
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/19/137283467/9-11-hate-crime-victim-seeks-to-save-his-attacker