ISLAM AND CURRENT CHALLENGES

KUCHING, SARAWAK, 31st July 2010:  ISLAMIC INFORMATION CENTRE, KUCHING in partnership with RISEAP invited Prof. Dr. Muhammad Al-Solah for a day lecture at Dewan Santapan (Banquet Hall), State Legislative Assembly, Petra Jaya, Kuching, Sarawak.  The public lecture was about “Islam and Current Challenges” and the relationship of Muslims of the state with people of other faiths.

Quran 49:13 ALLAH says “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other).  Verily the mostly honored among you in the sight of ALLAH is (he who is) the most righteous of you.  And ALLAH has full knowing.” This verse was one of the premises of the lecture.  About four hundred people came to attend the lecture and the Secretary General of RISEAP  and the mufti of sarawak were among the participants.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Solah is a well-known Islamic scholar and heads of the Islamic Centre of Victoria, Texas, USA.  He was the founder of two Islamic and Arabic schools, Imam Stems and the Muslim Generation.  He is the presenter of “Ask Huda”, one of the most well-known Fatawa programs broadcast at Huda TV.  He works as the religious supervisor of Huda TV.  Dr. Solah had 400 live broadcasting hours in Egyptian, Arabic and American television stations.  He teaches at Al-Azhar University, Shariah Academy and London Colleges.  He presents a famous TV program called “Correct your recitation.”

In his welcoming address, Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman Deen (Chairman of IIC’s Advisory panel) said that sarawak is blessed with a very pluralistic societies with more than 30 ethnicities.  With these colorful cultures, religions, races and ways of life, the Sarawakians are able to live in peace and harmony.  The inherent formula was mutual respect and tolerance of each other differences while sharing each other commonalities.

During this digital era, Dr. Al-Solah felt that Muslim youth (a fair number if not all)  is facing a philosophical dilemma especially those who study or stay abroad (UK, USA, Canada, etc).  He encourages youth to study and practice their own faith first before exploring about other faiths.  There are too much pornographic websites, magazines and videos which are easily accessible by anyone.  These products and services could be addictive to the mind of the young and old.  These could be one of the contributing factors to deterioration of family religious values and traditions.   He suggests that there should be some form of filtering system to curb the negative flow of information the Muslim Umah (and youth in particular).   Dr. Al- Solah observed that in the west the authorities impose 21 years old age limit to buy liquor, entering nightclubs and the like.  Unfortunately, in most Muslim countries such legal requirements (if any at all) are not strictly adhered to.

Asking to comment on the 2010 Miss USA Rima Fakih( a Muslim lady),  Dr. Al Solah opined that Muslims women must observe Islamic decorum where ever they are including the USA and other western countries.   He believed that being modern is being advance in the field of educations, science, technology economic and others while holding true to one’s core Islamic values and etiquette.

VISIT TO PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA 27th March 2010 -   The city is 1,100 kilometres form Kuala Lumpur and takes one and a half hours flight.   The Secretary General of RISEAP and his officer visited the city and   was able to meet some of the local Muslim leaders.  On arrival, Senator Ahmad Marawan was kind enough to receive them at the airport provide transport and other facilities while their stay in the country.  Ustaz Salleh Musa acted as the local liaison officer and he is also acts as RISEAP’s volunteer to do dakwah in Cambodia.

There are about 500,000 Muslim Champs residing in Cambodia.  Most of the Muslims are Sunni (shafies).   The Secretary General have the opportunity to meet the mufti   Hj. Kamarudin Yusof on Sunday, 28^th March 2010, at his residence.   The mufti of Cambodia is appointed by the King and he is (mufti) responsible of the Muslim affairs and welfare of the country.

In the whole of Cambodia there is only one Islamic kindergarten with 90 children with five full-time teachers with a monthly salary US$60-65 each.  The main emphases were Arabic language, Iqraq, Mathematics and Khmer language.  Each student needs to pay US$5 per month with breakfast included.  In order to ease the financial burden of the school, the students are encouraged to fast two days for each month.  This means that the children would not have their breakfasts that saves some expense for the kintergarten.  This also mean that the students need no pay the cost of the breakasft for two days each month.

Ustaz Salleh helped to run the centre together with wife (Ust. Asmah) and children.  He was a graduate from University Al-Azhar with a degree in Arabic literature.  He obtained his Diploma in Arabic Language from University Imam Mohamad Bin Saud, Riyahd.  The physical conditions of the classrooms were quite decent and indeed much more could be done to improve the learning environments of the children.  Incidentally, there are about 20 Cambodian Muslim students studying at the International Islamic University, Kuala Lumpur.   Of course, there are also Cambodian Muslim students studying in the Middle-East’s universities and colleges as well.  God willing, when they come back to Cambodia, they can contribute to the well-being of the umah. RISEAP with the cooperation of  Senator Ahmad Marawan will organised a Youth and Leadership camp In Phnom Penh this year.  RISEAP will send its officers to conduct the program.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MUSLIMS IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES

SINGAPORE – 14^th – 15^th July 2010 – The Senior Minister of Singapore, Mr. Goh Chok Tong was the guest of honour at the International Conference on Muslims in multicultural societies at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore.   In his keynote address, he expressed his view that religious pluralism will increasingly be the norm of the modern world.  This diversity in beliefs presents societies with new challenges.  He commended MUIS (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapore) for organising the conference with the Oxford University, the Department of Malay Studies in NUS  and the National Centre for Excellence for Islamic Studies in the University of Melbourne.

Among the speakers were Ust. Fatris Bakaram, Deputy Mufti of Singapore, Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, Imam, and Chairman of Cordoba Initiative, New York, USA, Prof. Tariq Ramadan, Professor of  Contemporary Studies, University of Oxford, UK, Prof. Sherman A. Jakson of University of Michigan, USA, Prof. Reuven Firestone of Jewish institute of Religion, USA and other speakers of various disciplines.

There were about 200 delegates coming from various countries like USA, UK, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Mynamar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.  RISEAP’s members, associates and friends were also present namely Australian Federation of Islamic council, Japan Muslim Federation, Korea Muslim Federation, Islamic Religious Affairs Council, Myanmar.

The two-day conference was made up of five sessions   -   1.  Past, Present and future of multiculturalism, 2.  Challenges and vision for contemporary Muslims, 3.  Islam thoughts and reform, 4.  Institutions and practises 5.  Contributions of Muslims to societies.  There were also country papers on Canada, Taiwan, The Philippines, Italy and Thailand and Australia.

Prof. Tarik Ramadan who was the conference convenor closed the conference by summarizing the various presentations by the speakers of different backgrounds.  While it was difficult to single out one primary outcome from the conference, nonetheless, the challenges of each country where Muslims are residents somewhat differ (say Singapore, Switzerland, France, Canada, Norway, etc) and must be resolved with wisdom and care.