KHUMTAI, May 1 – His name was synonymous with Zikir and Zari songs. Zikir, Assamese devotional folk songs based on teachings of Koran Sharif and Zari are compositions based on legends associated with the Karbala. He was late Rekibuddin Ahmed of Balibat village near Negheriting, who devoted the whole of his life to popularise Zikir and Zari songs.
Ahmed endeavoured to Zikir and Zari songs from rural areas in Golaghat district like Nahorani, Majgaon, Baruahadhap, Gohaimer, Batiporia etc. He roamed around places like Konowarpur, Zengonikotia of Sivasagar, Kakojan of Jorhat, Jajori of Nagaon, Sensowa of North Lakhimpur and Garigaon of Guwahati and recovered many about to be lost Zikir songs.
Needless to mention here that Shah Milon Ajan Peer, the saint who came to Assam from far-off Baghdad during early 17th century with a view to propagate Islam, along with his followers composed Zikir and Zari songs on the line of Vaishnavite holy songs that were prevalent in contemporary Assam, so that the simple local rustics were easily attracted towards them.
Rekibuddin closely observed Zikir and Zari songs which were openly recited by flocks of rural artistes. He learnt all about Zikir from one Gam Phakir (Piarotddin Ali Ahmed) and sang it on public stage for the first time at Dergaon High School in 1952 and at the Asam Sahitya Sabha’s Digboi session in 1962. His Zikir renditions were broadcast by Guwahati and Dibrugarh radio centres since 1964, thereby earning Zikir immense popularity. Rakibuddin and his team sang Zikir in Kolkata in 1981 and in Delhi in 1986. Unfortunately for the fate of Assamese folk culture, Rekibuddin untimely breathed his last in a tragic motor accident on January 14, 2001, along with his wife Khaleda Begum and his accompanists Kutubuddin and Nekibur.
Rekibuddin Ahmed, was not only a Zikir-Zari singer but an active worker in the field of communal harmony and an organiser of Moina Parijat. Though he had been awarded Ajan Peer award and Assam Silpi award by the State government and at present a government award is given after his name, his dream still awaits fulfillment.
He has a dream to set up a Zikir training institute at Dergaon with a view to impart Zikir and Zari songs among upcoming generations which has not materialised till the date. He wrote up Zikir-swarlipis in a book form which remains unpublished after passing eight years of his demise. His son Nekibur has already donated two kathas of land to establish a cultural complex in memory of his father at his birthplace, but our public representatives have not yet sanctioned money for this noble cause. In this situation it is expected that people from all walks of life come forward to materialise the dream of Rekibuddin and to conserve Zikir and Zari songs and keep them from getting lost.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
4,000 Foreigners from 116 Foreign Countries Converted to Islam at Al-Azhar Last Year
By Ahmed el-Beheiri 27/ 4/ 2009
Zakzouk
Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk, Minister of Religious Endowments, said the number of foreigners who converted to Islam at Al-Azhar in 2008 amounted to 3,943 from 116 countries across the world.
In his speech yesterday at the 19th session of the meetings of the Islamic Fiqh Academy held in the Emirate of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), Mr. Zakzouk said: "Islam does not compel anyone to convert, as religious freedom is a deep-rooted principle in the Islamic Law and has been applied for more than 14 centuries.
"Islam is a tolerant religion and covers the various aspects of life. This is why so many people have converted to it."
Zakzouk pointed out that forced conversions fed hypocrisy and destabilized the society.
He called on jurisprudential academies and religious institutions across the Islamic world to deal with thorny and controversial religious issues, such as «freedom of religion, struggling and accepting the others, closing the gap between Islamic schools, financial and economic issues and more modern issues".
Dr. Ali Juma, Mufti of Egypt, stressed in his speech the need to boost the principle of preserving the environment from an Islamic perspective in different parts of the Islamic world.
He emphasized that keeping the environment clean was one of human beings' responsibility.
http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=208810
Zakzouk
Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk, Minister of Religious Endowments, said the number of foreigners who converted to Islam at Al-Azhar in 2008 amounted to 3,943 from 116 countries across the world.
In his speech yesterday at the 19th session of the meetings of the Islamic Fiqh Academy held in the Emirate of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), Mr. Zakzouk said: "Islam does not compel anyone to convert, as religious freedom is a deep-rooted principle in the Islamic Law and has been applied for more than 14 centuries.
"Islam is a tolerant religion and covers the various aspects of life. This is why so many people have converted to it."
Zakzouk pointed out that forced conversions fed hypocrisy and destabilized the society.
He called on jurisprudential academies and religious institutions across the Islamic world to deal with thorny and controversial religious issues, such as «freedom of religion, struggling and accepting the others, closing the gap between Islamic schools, financial and economic issues and more modern issues".
Dr. Ali Juma, Mufti of Egypt, stressed in his speech the need to boost the principle of preserving the environment from an Islamic perspective in different parts of the Islamic world.
He emphasized that keeping the environment clean was one of human beings' responsibility.
http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=208810
Islamophobia on American Campuses
By Karin Friedemann
Khaleej Times, April 26, 2009
Muslim parents from around the world once sent their children off to school in America with simple warnings against wine and song, but now Muslim students must be prepared to face Islamophobic incitement.
While political activism makes college exciting, Muslims need to be aware that autonomously managed local Muslim Student Association university chapters are outclassed by well-funded, hierarchically coordinated Jewish and Neoconservative organisations, which actively work to undermine Muslim student groups.
The Jewish Anti-Defamation League, which blacklists professors for failure to teach the Zionist version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, labels MSA an "Anti-Israel" organisation and keeps detailed files on its activities.
Steve Emerson's Terrorism Awareness Project published a "Student's Guide to Stop the Jihad on Campus" manual for organising "Islam-Fascism Awareness Week," whose stated goal is "to show the connections between the MSA and the international jihad."
IFAW sponsored a panel discussion on "Islamic Totalitarianism's Threat to Civilisation" with the Ayn Rand Institute and screened propaganda films.
MSA chapters deal separately with such assaults on Muslim religious dignity. Usually they hold a protest or a counter-event. No coordinated national plan exists to oppose malicious professional anti-Islamic incitement. Muslim students clearly need protection and guidance from their elders.
An MSA student from University of Texas complains: "David Horowitz and his Islamophobic gang, which include the likes of Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Wafa Sultan, Ann Coulter and many others, have called on student organisations sponsoring IFAW to distribute petitions to MSA members denouncing terrorism and the Hadiths of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him)… these petitions have been written in such a way that no Muslim could possibly sign it without denouncing their religion." The Jewish Organisation of America in consultation with Hillel sued Michigan State University for permitting Muslim students to wear graduation stoles inscribed with the Shahada. They equated the Muslim declaration of faith with support for Hamas and claimed this threatened Jewish students' civil rights.
The Harvard Crimson recently reported Harvard Islamic chaplain Taha Abdul-Basseer came under attack because he addressed a student's questions about apostates "in the context of the evolution of an Islamic legal doctrine." This aggressive, prejudiced dissection of Islam stigmatises the religion as fundamentally different from Judeo-Christianity, intrinsically incompatible with American values, and results in the marginalisation of Muslim scholars.
As a college student, Aafia Siddique was active in MSA and managed a religious information (da'awah) table in the MIT student center. Today Aafia is a US political prisoner because Islamophobes like Nonie Darwish denigrate Aafia's faith as something unacceptable: "They are not trying to be part of the American way of life, they are not trying to be a part of our culture, they are here with an agenda to make Islam the law of the land." Peer pressure has the dangerous effect of rendering Muslim youths vulnerable to Zionisation on American campuses. Muslim students trying to be "progressive" in the eyes of fellow students begin defending Jewish sensitivities against anti-Zionists and acting as spokespersons for the Holocaust or gay rights.
Parents and leaders within communities sending their children to America for school should protect and organise the Muslim students. Wealthy Jews provide Jewish students with campus organisational headquarters, where members create databases of Jewish students' personal information gleaned through friendly phone calls and Sabbath dinner party invitations. The Jewish community arranges free trips to Israel and special access to internships throughout industry and government.
The Muslim Students Association needs both to create similar databases of supporters or of potential supporters and also to make connections with friendly student, religious and professional organisations in order to compete with Jewish social networking. Muslim think tanks need to observe the competition. Harvard University's Catholic Student Center is integrated with the monumental St. Paul's Church, and the Hillel building is modern and glassy, designed by Moshe Safdie, architect of the new Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher Jews have their own Chabad House operating under auspices of Alan Dershowitz and Ruth Wisse.
Harvard, which is the foremost intellectual institution of the US establishment, has no pan-Islamic cultural student building for meetings, prayers, social events, or creating political infrastructure. The Harvard Islamic Society meets in a room near the Buddhist Dharma Society in the basement of an undergraduate dormitory, just past the laundry room, recycling bins, and student lounge.
The wars over global domination and the debates about which races or nations have the right of self-defense and which do not are first fought in academia. As intellectuals poke the surface of pro-Israel bluster, they find there is nothing behind it. Islamophobic ideologies exist in a vacuum of reason. Despite vulgar and hostile pro-Israel campus organisations, many friendly Jews attend pro-Palestine events. For all its drawbacks the USA still offers more freedom of speech and freedom of religion than Europe for those students who want to sharpen their pencils for a battle of ideas.
Karin Friedemann is a Boston-based writer on the Middle East affairs and US politics.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.aspxfile=data/opinion/2009/April/opinion_April123.xml§ion=opinion&col=
Khaleej Times, April 26, 2009
Muslim parents from around the world once sent their children off to school in America with simple warnings against wine and song, but now Muslim students must be prepared to face Islamophobic incitement.
While political activism makes college exciting, Muslims need to be aware that autonomously managed local Muslim Student Association university chapters are outclassed by well-funded, hierarchically coordinated Jewish and Neoconservative organisations, which actively work to undermine Muslim student groups.
The Jewish Anti-Defamation League, which blacklists professors for failure to teach the Zionist version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, labels MSA an "Anti-Israel" organisation and keeps detailed files on its activities.
Steve Emerson's Terrorism Awareness Project published a "Student's Guide to Stop the Jihad on Campus" manual for organising "Islam-Fascism Awareness Week," whose stated goal is "to show the connections between the MSA and the international jihad."
IFAW sponsored a panel discussion on "Islamic Totalitarianism's Threat to Civilisation" with the Ayn Rand Institute and screened propaganda films.
MSA chapters deal separately with such assaults on Muslim religious dignity. Usually they hold a protest or a counter-event. No coordinated national plan exists to oppose malicious professional anti-Islamic incitement. Muslim students clearly need protection and guidance from their elders.
An MSA student from University of Texas complains: "David Horowitz and his Islamophobic gang, which include the likes of Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Wafa Sultan, Ann Coulter and many others, have called on student organisations sponsoring IFAW to distribute petitions to MSA members denouncing terrorism and the Hadiths of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him)… these petitions have been written in such a way that no Muslim could possibly sign it without denouncing their religion." The Jewish Organisation of America in consultation with Hillel sued Michigan State University for permitting Muslim students to wear graduation stoles inscribed with the Shahada. They equated the Muslim declaration of faith with support for Hamas and claimed this threatened Jewish students' civil rights.
The Harvard Crimson recently reported Harvard Islamic chaplain Taha Abdul-Basseer came under attack because he addressed a student's questions about apostates "in the context of the evolution of an Islamic legal doctrine." This aggressive, prejudiced dissection of Islam stigmatises the religion as fundamentally different from Judeo-Christianity, intrinsically incompatible with American values, and results in the marginalisation of Muslim scholars.
As a college student, Aafia Siddique was active in MSA and managed a religious information (da'awah) table in the MIT student center. Today Aafia is a US political prisoner because Islamophobes like Nonie Darwish denigrate Aafia's faith as something unacceptable: "They are not trying to be part of the American way of life, they are not trying to be a part of our culture, they are here with an agenda to make Islam the law of the land." Peer pressure has the dangerous effect of rendering Muslim youths vulnerable to Zionisation on American campuses. Muslim students trying to be "progressive" in the eyes of fellow students begin defending Jewish sensitivities against anti-Zionists and acting as spokespersons for the Holocaust or gay rights.
Parents and leaders within communities sending their children to America for school should protect and organise the Muslim students. Wealthy Jews provide Jewish students with campus organisational headquarters, where members create databases of Jewish students' personal information gleaned through friendly phone calls and Sabbath dinner party invitations. The Jewish community arranges free trips to Israel and special access to internships throughout industry and government.
The Muslim Students Association needs both to create similar databases of supporters or of potential supporters and also to make connections with friendly student, religious and professional organisations in order to compete with Jewish social networking. Muslim think tanks need to observe the competition. Harvard University's Catholic Student Center is integrated with the monumental St. Paul's Church, and the Hillel building is modern and glassy, designed by Moshe Safdie, architect of the new Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher Jews have their own Chabad House operating under auspices of Alan Dershowitz and Ruth Wisse.
Harvard, which is the foremost intellectual institution of the US establishment, has no pan-Islamic cultural student building for meetings, prayers, social events, or creating political infrastructure. The Harvard Islamic Society meets in a room near the Buddhist Dharma Society in the basement of an undergraduate dormitory, just past the laundry room, recycling bins, and student lounge.
The wars over global domination and the debates about which races or nations have the right of self-defense and which do not are first fought in academia. As intellectuals poke the surface of pro-Israel bluster, they find there is nothing behind it. Islamophobic ideologies exist in a vacuum of reason. Despite vulgar and hostile pro-Israel campus organisations, many friendly Jews attend pro-Palestine events. For all its drawbacks the USA still offers more freedom of speech and freedom of religion than Europe for those students who want to sharpen their pencils for a battle of ideas.
Karin Friedemann is a Boston-based writer on the Middle East affairs and US politics.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.aspxfile=data/opinion/2009/April/opinion_April123.xml§ion=opinion&col=
Monday, April 27, 2009
"Pulverizing" Chechens
CAIRO — Breaking limbs with a hammer, administering electric shocks and "pulverizing" detainees are but a few of the atrocities perpetrated by Russian death squads against Chechens.
"We'd beat them to a pulp with our bare hands and with sticks," Vladimir, a Russian Special Force officer, told The Sunday Times on April 26, citing one of a series of brutal methods used against Chechen fighters.
"One very effective method is ‘the grand piano’ - when one by one we’d smash the captive’s fingers with a hammer," he added.
"It's dirty and difficult work. You would not be human if you enjoyed it but it was the only way to get this filth to talk."
Captives were also forced to perform sexual acts with the scenes then circulated among Chechen fighters as part of psychological warfare.
Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first war between Russian forces and Chechen fighters ended in August 1996.
The second war was ordered by late president Boris Yeltsin in 1999, just months before he resigned and was succeeded by Vladimir Putin, now the prime minister.
International human rights watchdogs had said in a joint statement that rape, torture and extrajudicial executions by Russian troops were everyday occurrences in Chechnya.
At least 100,000 civilians -- about 10 percent of the population -- are estimated to have been killed in both wars, though rights groups say the real numbers are much higher.
Pulverization
Death squad officers also gave accounts of a common technique used against Chechens known as pulverization.
In one incident, heavily armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms stormed a single-storey house in a small village deep in the Chechen countryside, arresting three women on charges of recruiting fighters.
"At first the older one denied everything," said a senior Special Forces officer.
"Then we roughed her up and gave her electric shocks. She provided us with good information. Once we were done with her we shot her in the head."
The Russian soldiers then disposed the woman's body in a field.
"We placed an artillery shell between her legs and one over her chest, added several 200-gram TNT blocks and blew her to smithereens," said the officer.
"The trick is to make sure absolutely nothing is left. No body, no proof, no problem."
The technique was known as pulverization.
The two other women were taken away for further interrogation before they, too, were executed.
Andrei, a third Special Force officer, took part in the most brutal revenge operation in Chechnya in 2002, killing 200 people following the killing of two Russian security agents and two soldiers.
In another operation, his unit stumbled across dozens of wounded fighters in a cellar used as a field hospital.
"The fighters who were well enough to be interrogated were taken away. We executed the others, together with some of the women."
Andrei insisted their brutal methods were approved by superiors.
"Our bosses knew about such methods but there was a clear understanding that we should cover our tracks," he said.
"What mattered most was to carry out this work professionally, not to leave evidence which could be traced back to us
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...News/NWELayout
"We'd beat them to a pulp with our bare hands and with sticks," Vladimir, a Russian Special Force officer, told The Sunday Times on April 26, citing one of a series of brutal methods used against Chechen fighters.
"One very effective method is ‘the grand piano’ - when one by one we’d smash the captive’s fingers with a hammer," he added.
"It's dirty and difficult work. You would not be human if you enjoyed it but it was the only way to get this filth to talk."
Captives were also forced to perform sexual acts with the scenes then circulated among Chechen fighters as part of psychological warfare.
Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first war between Russian forces and Chechen fighters ended in August 1996.
The second war was ordered by late president Boris Yeltsin in 1999, just months before he resigned and was succeeded by Vladimir Putin, now the prime minister.
International human rights watchdogs had said in a joint statement that rape, torture and extrajudicial executions by Russian troops were everyday occurrences in Chechnya.
At least 100,000 civilians -- about 10 percent of the population -- are estimated to have been killed in both wars, though rights groups say the real numbers are much higher.
Pulverization
Death squad officers also gave accounts of a common technique used against Chechens known as pulverization.
In one incident, heavily armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms stormed a single-storey house in a small village deep in the Chechen countryside, arresting three women on charges of recruiting fighters.
"At first the older one denied everything," said a senior Special Forces officer.
"Then we roughed her up and gave her electric shocks. She provided us with good information. Once we were done with her we shot her in the head."
The Russian soldiers then disposed the woman's body in a field.
"We placed an artillery shell between her legs and one over her chest, added several 200-gram TNT blocks and blew her to smithereens," said the officer.
"The trick is to make sure absolutely nothing is left. No body, no proof, no problem."
The technique was known as pulverization.
The two other women were taken away for further interrogation before they, too, were executed.
Andrei, a third Special Force officer, took part in the most brutal revenge operation in Chechnya in 2002, killing 200 people following the killing of two Russian security agents and two soldiers.
In another operation, his unit stumbled across dozens of wounded fighters in a cellar used as a field hospital.
"The fighters who were well enough to be interrogated were taken away. We executed the others, together with some of the women."
Andrei insisted their brutal methods were approved by superiors.
"Our bosses knew about such methods but there was a clear understanding that we should cover our tracks," he said.
"What mattered most was to carry out this work professionally, not to leave evidence which could be traced back to us
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/S...News/NWELayout
World on Swine Flu Alert
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
MEXICO CITY — Amid growing panic and fears, governments around the world are on alert, taking urgent measures to head off the spread of the swine flu deadly virus.
"(We are) monitoring minute by minute the evolution of this problem across the whole country," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told a press conference on Sunday, April 27.
He has given the government extraordinary powers to tackle the multi-strain swine flu outbreak that has killed as many as 81 people and infected over 1,000 so far.
This includes measures to isolate those infected with the rare virus and inspect their homes.
The government has already canceled hundreds of public events and closed schools, colleges, theaters and museums in a tireless bid to control the outbreak of the deadly virus.
Churchgoers were told to stay home and follow Sunday services on television and bewildered tourists were made to wear surgical face masks.
The swine flu virus causes flu-like symptoms such as a sudden fever, cough or muscle aches.
It can spread quickly because no one has natural immunity and a vaccine takes months to develop.
Those who are sick with respiratory illnesses should avoid crowded areas and wear masks.
"This virus has clearly a pandemic potential," warned World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan.
The new flu strain, a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, poses the biggest risk of a large-scale pandemic since avian flu surfaced in 1997.
A 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally.
Global
Across the border, health authorities in the United States have taken a number of measures and urged people to take precautions after eleven people were infected.
Argentina declared a health alert, requiring anyone arriving on flights from Mexico to confirm if they had flu-like symptoms.
In Europe, ten New Zealand students who recently returned from Mexico have tested positive for influenza and are "likely" to have the potentially fatal swine flu.
"Ministry of Health officials advise me there is no guarantee these students have swine influenza, but they consider it likely," Health Minister Tony Ryall said.
"I am also informed none of the affected patients are considered seriously ill, and most in fact seem to be on the road to recovery."
Supplies of the medication Tamiflu have been released to treat the students, and although its effectiveness on swine flu was not yet confirmed reports from Mexico indicated it was effective, says Darren Hunt, the deputy director of public health.
The Foreign Ministry has issued a travel health notice for Mexico, California and Texas, where swine flu cases have been confirmed.
It advised anyone who had recently traveled to these areas and developed flu-like symptoms to seek immediate medical attention.
Thousands of miles away in Asia, Hong Kong stepped up surveillance at border control points.
"People who develop respiratory illness within seven days after returning from the affected places should put on a surgical mask and seek medical consultation from public clinics and hospitals immediately," said Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection.
In China, the quarantine authority issued an emergency notice requiring people to report flu-like symptoms at ports of entry when coming from affected places.
Singapore's Health Ministry urged medical staff to be on the alert for any suspect human cases, advising the public to maintain good hygiene and wash hands frequently.
Vietnam launched a disease surveillance system to detect any suspect cases and sought more information from the WHO on the virus and prevention methods.
The Seoul government stepped up quarantine and safety checks on travelers arriving from the US and Mexico, as well as pork imports from both countries.
Narita airport, east of Tokyo, ramped up temperature checks for travelers from Mexico using thermographic imaging equipment.
The Farm Ministry instructed animal quarantine officers to examine imported live pigs to make sure they were not infected.
Malaysia's Health Ministry begun screening passengers travelling to and from Mexico at all border points.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1239888374406&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
MEXICO CITY — Amid growing panic and fears, governments around the world are on alert, taking urgent measures to head off the spread of the swine flu deadly virus.
"(We are) monitoring minute by minute the evolution of this problem across the whole country," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told a press conference on Sunday, April 27.
He has given the government extraordinary powers to tackle the multi-strain swine flu outbreak that has killed as many as 81 people and infected over 1,000 so far.
This includes measures to isolate those infected with the rare virus and inspect their homes.
The government has already canceled hundreds of public events and closed schools, colleges, theaters and museums in a tireless bid to control the outbreak of the deadly virus.
Churchgoers were told to stay home and follow Sunday services on television and bewildered tourists were made to wear surgical face masks.
The swine flu virus causes flu-like symptoms such as a sudden fever, cough or muscle aches.
It can spread quickly because no one has natural immunity and a vaccine takes months to develop.
Those who are sick with respiratory illnesses should avoid crowded areas and wear masks.
"This virus has clearly a pandemic potential," warned World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan.
The new flu strain, a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, poses the biggest risk of a large-scale pandemic since avian flu surfaced in 1997.
A 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally.
Global
Across the border, health authorities in the United States have taken a number of measures and urged people to take precautions after eleven people were infected.
Argentina declared a health alert, requiring anyone arriving on flights from Mexico to confirm if they had flu-like symptoms.
In Europe, ten New Zealand students who recently returned from Mexico have tested positive for influenza and are "likely" to have the potentially fatal swine flu.
"Ministry of Health officials advise me there is no guarantee these students have swine influenza, but they consider it likely," Health Minister Tony Ryall said.
"I am also informed none of the affected patients are considered seriously ill, and most in fact seem to be on the road to recovery."
Supplies of the medication Tamiflu have been released to treat the students, and although its effectiveness on swine flu was not yet confirmed reports from Mexico indicated it was effective, says Darren Hunt, the deputy director of public health.
The Foreign Ministry has issued a travel health notice for Mexico, California and Texas, where swine flu cases have been confirmed.
It advised anyone who had recently traveled to these areas and developed flu-like symptoms to seek immediate medical attention.
Thousands of miles away in Asia, Hong Kong stepped up surveillance at border control points.
"People who develop respiratory illness within seven days after returning from the affected places should put on a surgical mask and seek medical consultation from public clinics and hospitals immediately," said Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection.
In China, the quarantine authority issued an emergency notice requiring people to report flu-like symptoms at ports of entry when coming from affected places.
Singapore's Health Ministry urged medical staff to be on the alert for any suspect human cases, advising the public to maintain good hygiene and wash hands frequently.
Vietnam launched a disease surveillance system to detect any suspect cases and sought more information from the WHO on the virus and prevention methods.
The Seoul government stepped up quarantine and safety checks on travelers arriving from the US and Mexico, as well as pork imports from both countries.
Narita airport, east of Tokyo, ramped up temperature checks for travelers from Mexico using thermographic imaging equipment.
The Farm Ministry instructed animal quarantine officers to examine imported live pigs to make sure they were not infected.
Malaysia's Health Ministry begun screening passengers travelling to and from Mexico at all border points.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1239888374406&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Britons Against Sex Classes for Children
By IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
CAIRO — With the British government planning to offer sex classes in primary schools, a campaign has been launched on the world's largest social network Facebook to counter the move, reported the Rochdale Observer on Saturday, April 25.
"We believe the teaching of SRE (sex and relationship education) in schools is inappropriate, both in terms of the philosophy which underpins the way it is approached as well as the resources used," campaigner Majed Iqbal said.
Iqbal, a British Muslim, has launched a Facebook group themed "Rochdale Muslims against Sex and Relationship Education for 5 year olds" to campaign against plans to introduce sex classes in primary schools.
"There is a misguided belief that children will engage in sexual relations, all of the solutions look at making this behavior ‘safe’ rather than challenging the lack of values which make this behavior acceptable."
The government has unveiled plans to offer sex classes for pupils as part of efforts to protect children from early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and substance abuse.
During the classes, children will learn the names of body parts and about animal reproduction.
Children, between the age of eight and 11, will also be taught about the biological aspects of sex.
They will also be taught to talk about peer pressure and their feelings.
A signature campaign has been also launched by Muslims to demand the dropping of the scheme.
Britain is home to nearly 2.4 million Muslims.
Values
The government argues that the classes are important to shield the children against abuses.
"Effective and early PSHE (personal, social and health education) lays vital foundations for sex and relationships education (SRE) in the future, because it involves the development of the personal and social skills necessary for positive relationships," said Terry Piggott, Rochdale’s executive director of children’s services.
He said all schools are required to set a policy outlining the provision of sex education, but each school creates its own individual program.
"Rochdale primary schools recognize the vital role they play in building on the learning established within the home and early years settings and in laying the foundations for more detailed SRE later on in secondary school.
"Parents and carers who have concerns should contact their child's school if they need further detail with regards to this aspect of the curriculum."
But the Muslim campaigner disputes the argument.
"Children do not need information, they need to be taught what is right and wrong," Iqbal said.
"They need to be shown and taught what the boundaries of acceptable behavior are."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1239888350229&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
CAIRO — With the British government planning to offer sex classes in primary schools, a campaign has been launched on the world's largest social network Facebook to counter the move, reported the Rochdale Observer on Saturday, April 25.
"We believe the teaching of SRE (sex and relationship education) in schools is inappropriate, both in terms of the philosophy which underpins the way it is approached as well as the resources used," campaigner Majed Iqbal said.
Iqbal, a British Muslim, has launched a Facebook group themed "Rochdale Muslims against Sex and Relationship Education for 5 year olds" to campaign against plans to introduce sex classes in primary schools.
"There is a misguided belief that children will engage in sexual relations, all of the solutions look at making this behavior ‘safe’ rather than challenging the lack of values which make this behavior acceptable."
The government has unveiled plans to offer sex classes for pupils as part of efforts to protect children from early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and substance abuse.
During the classes, children will learn the names of body parts and about animal reproduction.
Children, between the age of eight and 11, will also be taught about the biological aspects of sex.
They will also be taught to talk about peer pressure and their feelings.
A signature campaign has been also launched by Muslims to demand the dropping of the scheme.
Britain is home to nearly 2.4 million Muslims.
Values
The government argues that the classes are important to shield the children against abuses.
"Effective and early PSHE (personal, social and health education) lays vital foundations for sex and relationships education (SRE) in the future, because it involves the development of the personal and social skills necessary for positive relationships," said Terry Piggott, Rochdale’s executive director of children’s services.
He said all schools are required to set a policy outlining the provision of sex education, but each school creates its own individual program.
"Rochdale primary schools recognize the vital role they play in building on the learning established within the home and early years settings and in laying the foundations for more detailed SRE later on in secondary school.
"Parents and carers who have concerns should contact their child's school if they need further detail with regards to this aspect of the curriculum."
But the Muslim campaigner disputes the argument.
"Children do not need information, they need to be taught what is right and wrong," Iqbal said.
"They need to be shown and taught what the boundaries of acceptable behavior are."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1239888350229&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
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