| Latest Headlines
- Monday 21st February 2000 |
Memon Online UK launches new
matrimonial section
The new Memon Matrimonial section, the first for the
Memons on the web, will allow Memons to find their ideal partner online.
Click here to access the new matrimonial section,
otherwise click on the heart on the home page.
Stay tuned for further enhancements to this website,
including: a Memon Job Database, where Memons will be able to look for jobs in
Memon companies around the world. Also this database will allow Memon-based
businesses to advertise jobs for potential employees.
In the coming weeks (or days), this page [news] will see
a complete face lift. It will become more enhanced with multimedia,
including photos. Keep visiting Memon Online UK for the latest
happenings in the Memon World.
Headlines for Monday 17th January
2000
Eid Celebrations take place in
South London's new Memon Hall
The new hall opened by Mr Iqbal Sacranie on Friday 26th
November 1999, was used yesterday [16/1/2000] to locate the Eid
party/celebrations. A large percentage of Memons in London attended this
happy occasion. More information will be available soon.
Headlines for Saturday 4th
December 1999
New Mosque to be opened near the
Millennium Dome
A new mosque for Muslims to offer their daily prayers
will be opened near the Millennium Dome. The British Government wanted
the religions which make up the United Kingdom, to be part of the Millennium
Dome. Mr Iqbal Sacranie (general secretary of the MCB (Muslim
Council of Britain), objected to the offer due to the fact that the Millennium
Dome is being funded by the National Lottery. He said 'We do not wish to
build a mosque where the foundations are from Haraam (forbidden) resources'.
The prayer hall will therefore be located outside the Millennium
Dome and is funded by Muslims' donations. Muslims in London have raised
over £100,000 for this project to be successful. This funding will pay
for a full-time Imam (residing near to the mosque), where he will lead the
five daily prayers. For more information about the Millennium Dome for
live pictures of the Millennium Dome, go to http://millennium.greenwich2000.com/experience/index.htm
for live pictures (webcam) see Dome Watch.
Headlines for Friday 26th November
1999
Mr Iqbal Sacranie opens new hall
in South London
Mr Sacranie and other colleagues opened a new hall for
Islamic functions and for dinner parties (such as for weddings), for the Memon
and Muslim community of South London. The ceremony for the opening
of the hall was held on Sunday 21st November 1999. The hall is located
in Balham, near Balham Mosque, where there is a large population of Memons.
More on this issue soon..
First Memon to appear in the
Guinness Book of Records 2000
Mr Abdul Sattat Eidhi of Pakistan will be the first
Memon to be printed in the Guinness Book of Records in the 2000th
edition. For his outstanding voluntary work, he has achieved a high
status amongst the Memons and Muslims. He attracts funds which come to
about £3 million per year, for his duty to help the poor, the sick and the
needy. May Allah S.W.T reward him in Akhirah for his outstanding effort
to help these people. The article which will appear in the Guinness Book
of Records will be as follows:
"BIGGEST VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE
ORGANIZATION: Abdul Sattat Edhi (Pakistan) began his ambulance service in 1948
by ferrying injured people to hospital, and has since developed a service
which attracts funds of $5 million (Pounds Sterling 3.02 million) per year,
with no government assistance. His radio-linked network includes 500
ambulances throughout Pakistan, and he has also set up 300 relief centres,
three air ambulances, 24 hospitals, three drung relabilitation centres,
women's centres, free dispensaries, adoption programmes and soup kithcens that
feed 100,000 people a month. He has paid for and supervised the training of
17,000 nurses. The ambulance service picks up corpses, and the organization
arranges Muslim burials. Edhi has not taken a holiday in 45 years."
Other news from
Pakistan
The Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf announced
eight member Cabinet in which a Memon Mr. Abdul Razzaq Dawood (Commerce
Industry and Production), was chosen. [Link to other
Memon sites for Other International Memon News]
Headlines for Thursday 18th November
1999
- Holy row over ‘Blasphemous’
new book - Muslims and Jews unite to condemn slur on prophets
- Muslims protected from Mecca
thieves
Holy row over ‘Blasphemous’
new book - Muslims
and Jews unite to condemn slur on prophets
A new version of three Old Testament Books has caused a
religious storm after labelling two prophets as cheats and pimps.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the Jewish Board
of Deputies have set aside their differences to issue a joint statement
condemning the "sacrilegious" insult to their faiths
Both bodies are calling for the offensive text,
published on November 1st 1999, to be altered to remove the
offending passages or pulped.
They have warned Edinburgh publisher Canongate that they
will take further action if the changes are not made.
The "blasphemous" passages appear in a forward
to the Books of Jonah, Micah, and Nahum written by Glasweigan novelist
Alasdair Gray.
In it, he describes Abraham and Isaac as
"polygamous nomads who get cattle or revenge by prostituting a wife or
cheating foreigners and relatives".
He goes on to talk of "cowardly or childish"
Jonah’s "dismal whimper" and "self-pitying cackle".
Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary General of the MCB, blasted
the "offensive" foreword for "making a mockery" of a Holy
Scripture.
"To use foul and abusive language when talking
about the founders of our faiths is unacceptable," he said.
"And to label their wives as prostitutes is simply
outrageous. Would the author of the publishes be happy for their wives or
mothers to be called prostitutes?"
"There is no such thing as absolute freedom of
speech – that can only exist where there is total anarchy."
"There shouldn’t be a fee-for-all with publishers
using their freedoms to propagte speech like this."
"They seem to think it is hip and trendy to call
these highly revered prophets ‘pimps’ and their wives ‘prostitutes’."
"I think there’s a lesson to be learned from the
Rushdie affair – the publishers must be aware of the strength of feeling
amongst Muslims, Jews and Christians."
"Our religions cannot be mocker willy nilly in this
way."
Canongate boss Jamie Byng defended Alasdair Gray’s
foreword, describing calls to withdraw the book as "a preety warped way
of restricting people’s views".
"I have a serious problem with fundamentalists who
infringe people’s basic human right of free expressions," he said.
"Abraham, Isaac and Jonah are human characters and
we just wanted to show them warts and all for the modern reader."
"The Bible is no more than a text – it’s not a
divine transmission from God and anyone who says that is not living in the
late 20th century.
"We are trying to bring these fantastic old stories
to a young, new audience who would never have come across the otherwise."
"Nobody seems to read the Bible any more and that
is a tragedy because they deal with the human condition."
"The foreword in question is purely the
interpretation of one man – I am 100 per cent behind Alasdair Gray."
By Chintan B Nanavati -Asian Times
Muslims protected
from Mecca thieves
| British Muslims who
undertake the annual Hajj to Mecca are to be protected from thieves and
rip-off merchants by special temporary
consulates to be set up by the Government.
In the last ten years, hundreds of Haji have been
victims of violent and petty crime in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj.
There have also been many complaints against the
Saudi authorities who confiscate all passports on arrival and often lose
them in the process.
Former Secretart Robin Cook is to make an
announcement on the consulates once he has the agreement of the Saudi
authories. The first consulates will open in Mecca for the March 2000
Hajj.
An office in Medina will open in 2001.
Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary-General of the Muslim
Council of Britain, said: "It’s an excellent idea. This is only a
first step, but in the long term, we hope that it leads to proper
facilities all round."
Last year 16,291 British pilgrims made the journey
to Mecca.
|
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Headlines for Wednesday 10th November
1999
MORE! New Features added
More fantastic new features were added today including a
new Chat Zone where Memons can now chat to one another, hold debates etc.
etc. The Chat Zone can now be accessed through the Home
page. Also the Search page is launched, where
Memons can find any articles on this page by typing the keywords in the
box. See Search in the menu above.
Please Please Please keep sending your ideas in, we are
getting a large response already from all over the world. See the counter on
our Home page and click on the little graph under it to
further details and analysis from where those Memons came from.
Don't forget to sign in our NEW Memon
Directory. There are many advantages such as meeting new friends or even
your life partner (the Memon Directory can be accessed from our Home
page). If you want to leave a message for Memons, please use the Message
Centre by clicking on Messages in the menu above.
Headlines for Sunday 7th November
1999
New Features added
NEW - Find out what the Islamic Date is and see the LIVE
moon pictures right from this website. . See Home
for more details.
Add Memon Online UK to your favourites folder with one
click. See Home for more details.
Stay tuned for more interesting tools for Muslims in the
UK including a Salat Timetable for the year 2000 and a special youth section
for our younger Muslim brothers and sisters. Send in your ideas of what
you think should be added to this website at arif2000@mail.com
Headlines for Friday 5th November
1999
Website launched for the Memons of the
United Kingdom at www.memon.cjb.net
UK's Memons can now benefit from their first memon
website. They can now check Memon news only here at www.memon.cjb.net.
Memons can now find their ideal husband/wife
online
Memons, quite soon, will be able to find their ideal
life partner online. A Muslim Memon brother has started to design a new website
called Memon Marriage UK. Memons can then send their photos, interests/hobbies and
email addresses to this website, who will then publish it on their site. The website
may have many exciting features, such as a special search, where memons can match their
requirements for their ideal person. Stay tuned to this site for more information
about this future site.
Do you have any Memon stories, on or off the
web? Send in your stories to the webmaster at arif2000@mail.com
Contact the Webmaster for any queries.
Copyright © 1999 Memon Online UK. All rights reserved.