Commenting on the murder of British aid worker David Haines, Dr Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said on 14 September: “British Muslims condemn unreservedly the murder of our fellow Briton, David Haines. Our deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of Mr Haines.
“David Haines went out to the region to help the people of the region. That extremists chose to murder him only shows once again the depravity of their warped ideology. They have killed so many innocent people in the region, and they perform such murders only to draw attention to their cause of destruction.
“These extremists in Iraq and Syria claim to be acting in the name of Islam. But there is nothing in our faith that condones such behaviour. Muslims in Britain and around the world have condemned these people, and the arguments they use have been refuted comprehensively as being far from the religion of Islam.”
FUTURE BELONGS TO MUSLIMS: RUSSIAN ARCHPRIEST
In a sermon that reportedly took place in a church in Moscow on 7 September, Russia’s Orthodox archpriest Dmitri Smirnov said the future belongs to the Muslims after comparing them to Christians.
Recalling an experience shared with him by an elderly woman in his congregation, he mentioned that Muslim drivers never took money when taking her to church, whereas Christian drivers were only interested in making money.
‘A child doesn’t take money from his mother, especially if she is going to pray,’ the Archpriest said, quoting Muslim drivers, adding that Christian drivers would say ‘This is my job.’ ‘A Muslim bringing you to Easter or anything else is closer to the Messiah (Jesus Christ) than a Christian who wants money,’ Smirnov told his congregation, ‘because the Christian driver has no mercy, pity or kindness in his heart.’
‘A Muslim is not interested in gaining benefit from the old woman. Rather, the Muslim offers to take her around, take her to the landrette, pay her bills, take her to the market, carry her bags up to her floor or to her elevator (if she has one),’ he said. Smirnov went on to say: ‘For this reason, the future will belong to the Muslims. The future is theirs. They will plough this land, because today’s Christians are not in need of these things.’
CHINA, ARAB WORLD SEEK TO REVIVE SILK ROAD TRADE
China has declared the year 2014 as a ‘year of friendship’ with the Arab world in a ceremony attended by Arab ministers and Chinese vice-premier Liu Yandong at Pekin Tsinghua University. Speaking at the ceremony on 10 September, Yandong called for stronger collaboration between China and Arab countries, stating the importance China has placed on developing friendship and cooperation with Arab countries.
Yandong especially encouraged the taking advantage of opportunities to revive the Silk Road economic belt. According to People Daily, the event was part of the week-long Third Arabic Arts Festival in Beijing and Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
HRW ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES IN GAZA
Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by attacking three U.N.-run schools in the Gaza Strip in fighting in July and August, killing Palestinian civilians who had sheltered there. The New York-based group issued a report on 11 September that it described as the first in-depth documentation of the incidents, which took place during 50-day attacks by Israel that ended in a ceasefire on 26 August.
“Three Israeli attacks that damaged Gaza schools housing displaced people caused numerous civilian casualties in violation of the laws of war,” it said in the report, based on interviews with witnesses and field research in the enclave. The group also said it was sceptical about the credibility of five criminal investigations announced by Israel’s military into its Gaza war operations.
ISRAEL’S LAND GRAB CONDEMNED
Days after a ceasefire was reached in the war in Gaza last month, Israel announced that 400 hectares (988 acres) west of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, was now “state land” – that is territory for Israel, not land that will be part of any future Palestinian state. Peace Now, an Israeli human rights group, described it as one of the biggest land grabs by Israel since the 1980s.
The United States, the European Union, the U.N. and Japan condemned the appropriation, in an area where 20,000 Palestinians live in 10 villages and which Israel says it intends to keep in any final land-for-peace agreement.
GAZA FACES HUGE CHALLENGES TO REBUILD
Fifty days of war in one of the most densely populated parts of the world have left swathes of Gaza in ruins. With the economy reeling under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, the enclave now faces an almost impossible task of rebuilding. To do it, Gaza will have to find billions of foreign dollars, contend with Israeli limits on construction materials entering the territory, resolve internal political strife and keep aid flowing to the battered population as it rebuilds.
One fact stands out: before the war, an average of 30 tonnes of cement crossed into Gaza each week. Now, an estimated 10,000 tonnes will be needed every day for the next six months. In Shejaia, a town near the border hit by heavy Israeli shelling in the war, many homes and factories lie in ruins amid mounds of broken bricks and rubbish festering in the heat.
CHLORINE GAS USED ‘SYSTEMATICALLY’ IN SYRIA
Compelling evidence has been found that chlorine gas was used “systematically and repeatedly” in villages in northern Syria earlier this year, according to research conducted by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Ahmet Uzumcu, Head of the Organisation reportedly said the second report of the fact-finding mission has been completed and the report revealed chlorine was used in attacks on the villages of Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zeta, all located in northern Syria.
In a statement on 10 September, the mission revealed, “the description, physical properties, gas behaviour, and signs and symptoms resulting from exposure, as well as the response of patients to the treatment, lead the fact-finding mission to conclude with a high degree of confidence that chlorine, either pure or in a mixture, is the toxic chemical in question.”
GLOBAL CONFLICTS AMOUNT TO WORLD WAR III: POPE FRANCIS
Pope Francis on 13 September said the spate of conflicts around the globe today were effectively a “piecemeal” World War III, condemning the arms trade and “plotters of terrorism” sowing death and destruction. “Humanity needs to weep and this is the time to weep,” Francis said in the homily of a Mass during a visit to Italy’s largest war memorial, a large, Fascist-era monument where more than 100,000 soldiers who died in World War I are buried.
“Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction,” he said. In the past few months, Francis has made repeated appeals for an end to conflicts in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Gaza and parts of Africa.
NIGERIA MOURNS MUSLIM SCHOLAR SHEIKH AJISAFE
Nigerian Muslims are mourning the death of Sheikh Mustapha Ajisafe, the President of Nigeria’s League of Imams and Alfas in Yorubaland, Edo and Delta states, who passed away at the age of 85, a report said on 10 September. Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola described his death as “a big loss to the Muslim Ummah,” to the Premium Times. “He was no doubt a scholar of higher integrity who touched the lives of many Muslims positively,” he said.
Sheikh Habeebullah Adam, spokesman for the League and Director of the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Agege, Lagos, said Sheikh Ajisafe “was a forthright scholar” who would be sorely missed by all. Dr Khalid Aliyu Abubakar of the Jama’atu Nasrul Islam (JNI) also called the Sheikh “one of the remaining pillars of Islam in Nigeria and a great voice of reason in the fold of Islamic scholarship.”
ISLAMIC ARTS MUSEUM OPENS IN TORONTO
The first ever Islamic Arts museum in the North American continent is set to be opened in Canada’s Toronto on 18 September. Over 1,000 artifacts including rare Qur’ānic manuscripts from the 7th and 8th centuries will be on display at the museum. Although other museums across Canada and the US feature Islamic art sections, this will be the Aga Khan Museum first museum dedicated wholly to Islamic Arts.