A very tragic death of a 16 year old Aqsa Parvez in Canada by her father Muhammad Parvez has left most of us wondering why it could not been avoided?  The press and media is depicting it as the ‘honour killing’ and ‘not wearing hijjab’ is highlighted as the prime motive behind this gruesome murder.  The father and Aqsa’s older brother Waqas Parvez are now behind the bar since December 11, 2007 and will face trial in due course of time.
There is nothing to defend such a brutal killing of human being in …

They say, “Oh, poor girl, you’re so beautiful you know
It’s a shame that you cover up your beauty so.”
She just smiles and graciously responds reassuringly,
“This beauty that I have is just one simple part of me.
This body that I have, no stranger has the right to see.
These long clothes, this shawl I wear, ensure my modesty.
Faith is more essential than fashion, wouldn’t you agree?”
This hijab,
This mark of piety,
Is an act of faith, a symbol,
For all the world to see.
A simple cloth, to protect her dignity.
So lift the veil from your …

A hijab only poses a “long-shot” risk of injury to a soccer player, experts said Tuesday, as the debate continued over a 14-year-old Calgary girl’s head scarf.
Both Stephen Brown, a kinesiology expert at British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University, and Maureen Simmonds, director of McGill University’s school of physical and occupational therapy, said it wasn’t impossible a hijab could injure a player.
But the chances of it leading to any significant injury were remote, they said.
“I don’t know what sort of imagination you have to have to see this as a safety …

Almost every year Muslims around the globe have this very disturbing problem of not being able to agree upon the beginning and end of Ramadhan as well the Eid-ul-Adhha. The division is some time so clear that even in one family some member will be fasting and some celebrating Eid.  I like many other Muslims always wonder why we cannot use the mathematically simulated moon sighting when ever there is doubt of moon sighting due to weather conditions.  The websites like moonsighting.com provides very accurate moon visibility maps every month. …

By Khalid Baig
In one of his circulars Sayyidna Umar ibn Khattab, Radi-Allahu anhu, sent instructions to all his administrators saying, “In my opinion, salat (Islam’s prescribed act of worship or prayer. The word prayer, though, is also used for supplication or dua and is therefore avoided in this article.) is the most important of your obligations. Whoever takes good care of it and safeguards it safeguards his religion and whoever neglects it will neglect other things even more.” He then added instructions about the times for the five salats and …

Pray before you will no longer be able to pray.
Your Lord says, “Call on Me and I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell abject.” (Surah Ghafir: 60)

Every Muslim woman is required to wear a scarf or some sort of head covering and loose-fitting, modest attire. This is not a means of controlling a woman’s sexuality or suppressing her but rather, a means for protection. It implies by dressing this way she will not be seen as a mere sex symbol but will be appreciated for her intellect. Furthermore, it will not subject her to harassment. It is interesting to state the head covering for women is not an Islamic innovation but was also practiced by Judeo-Christian …

By Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood 
“We should accept that what is forbidden in Islam is seeking privacy with someone of the opposite sex without a third party present… What we need is firstly to recognise that there is nothing at all wrong with young people meeting in situations where intimacy cannot occur because of witnesses; and secondly to create occasions in which they can meet safely in halal ways, so that they CAN get to know each other.”
 
I am commencing this article with a quotation of a passage that seems to me …