IGIHE

Category: Religion

  • Airtel Rwanda Gives Back to Muslim Community

    Airtel Rwanda Gives Back to Muslim Community

    {{A total of 50 underprivileged Muslim families in Nyarugenge central business district on Friday, July 25, 2014 benefited from a monetary donation of Rwf1.5m from leading telecommunications company, Airtel Rwanda. }}

    The donation, a sign of Airtel’s love for the community is meant to purchase food for the last Iftar (Idi-El-Fitr) which will mark the end of Ramadhan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

    Speaking at the handover, Airtel Rwanda’s Chief Financial officer, Mr. Tano Oware said, “The Airtel family is more than grateful to be a part of this special month on the Islamic calendar. Ours is a small contribution and we hope that the beneficiary families will enjoy Idi-El-Fitr.”

    Imam of Nyarugenge district, Sheikh Issa Hagumimana who received the contribution on behalf of the Nyarugenge Muslim community thanked Airtel for the gesture of kindness.

    In his remarks he said, “We would like to thank Airtel for the heartfelt contribution to our vulnerable Muslim families and I pray that we see this gesture year after another.

    Every year, the Muslim community across the world takes off 30 days of fast in which time they take a step out of their daily routine for prayer, charity and community.

  • Pope Hints on Married Priests Trouble Vatican

    Pope Hints on Married Priests Trouble Vatican

    {{Pope Francis’s hints about a possible opening on the issue of married priests are sowing confusion in the Vatican and among Catholic reformists and conservatives alike.}}

    Twice in three months, Francis has talked about changes to the tradition of celibate priests — although he has never been precise about how exactly this could be reformed.

    On a flight back from his trip to the Middle East, Francis pointed out that there were already married priests in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Coptic Catholic churches.

    “The door is always open but we are not talking about it now as the order of the day,” the Argentine pontiff said.

    It is a priority, however, for the dozens of campaign groups that have sprung up — many formed by men who have been forced to leave the priesthood to get married.

    The European Federation of Married Catholic Priests estimated more than 100,000 former Catholic priests have got married over the years — a figure which would make up around a quarter of the number of current priests.

    Earlier this year, 26 women who said they were in love with priests living in Italy, wrote an open letter to the pope asking for a Vatican audience and speaking of their “suffering” because of the secret lives they have to lead.

    Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli said at the time that Francis was particularly sensitive to the issue as, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was close to an Argentine bishop who renounced the priesthood for love.

    AFP

  • Nigerian Atheist Freed From Psychiatric Hospital

    Nigerian Atheist Freed From Psychiatric Hospital

    {{A Nigerian man detained in a hospital psychiatric ward because he did not believe in God has been freed.}}

    Mubarak Bala was released because of a doctors’ strike which has seen many patients discharged, a charity said.

    Mr Bala said he now wanted to reconcile with his family who committed him to the hospital in Kano where he says he was held against his will for 18 days.

    But he said he wanted to leave the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria after receiving death threats.

    A humanist charity which took up his case said that Mr Bala, a chemical engineering graduate, was freed on Tuesday but news of his release was not made public until he was in a secure location.

    “There are still deep concerns for Mubarak’s safety in a part of the country where accusations of ‘apostasy’ can be deadly,” the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) said in a statement.

    The man’s family is reported to have had him committed to the hospital because it feared for his safety after he publicly stated his atheism.

    ‘Misgivings and misunderstanding’
    In a statement released on Friday, Mr Bala said he was now staying with some of his family, had been assured of his safety and wanted to put things behind him “for the sake of reconciliation”.

    “I have realised that my matter is a family one which requires family resolution… all misgivings and misunderstanding within my family has been resolved,” the statement said.

    He said he retracted “some derogatory remarks I have made online, out of anger”.

    His lawyer, Muhammad Bello Shehu, told the BBC Hausa Service this did not refer to his faith but to remarks he had made about his father who he accused of being an Islamic leader who could not afford to have a non-Muslim in the family.

    After the 29-year-old was admitted to a psychiatric ward at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, he sought help from friends via email and social media until his phone was confiscated, according to IHEU.

    Mr Shehu said that no further legal action would be taken but that Mr Bala wanted another doctor to evaluate him to put it on the record that he was not suffering from a mental illness as the hospital has concluded.

    When Mr Bala was first detained IHEU said his family had asked a doctor if he was mentally ill because he had told relatives that he was an atheist.

    Despite being told that he was not unwell, Mr Bala’s family then went to a second doctor, who declared that his atheism was a side-effect of suffering a personality change, the group said.

    Some states in northern Nigeria adopted Islamic law after the end of military law in 1999.

    BBC

  • Court Upholds French Full Veil Ban

    Court Upholds French Full Veil Ban

    The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a ban by France on wearing the Muslim full-face veil – the niqab.

    A case was brought by a 24-year-old French woman, who argued that the ban on wearing the veil in public violated her freedom of religion and expression.

    French law says nobody can wear in a public space clothing intended to conceal the face. The penalty for doing so can be a 150-euro fine (£120; $205).

    The 2010 law came in under former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

    A breach of the ban can also mean a wearer having to undergo citizenship instruction.

    France has about five million Muslims – the largest Muslim minority in Western Europe – but it is thought only about 2,000 women wear full veils.

    wirestory

  • Nigeria’s Second Highest Islamic Traditional Monarch Dies

    Nigeria’s Second Highest Islamic Traditional Monarch Dies

    {{The Emir of Kano, Nigeria’s second-highest Islamic authority and a revered figure in the largely Muslim north, died on Friday.}}

    Ado Abdullahi Bayero, who was on the throne for half a century, died peacefully in his palace at the age of 83, two palace sources told Reuters.

    Though he rarely spoke publicly, he was seen as a critic of Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram, who were suspected to be behind an attack on his convoy in January last year that killed four of his body guards.

    The palace at the time said he had escaped unhurt, although he was flown to London for treatment shortly afterwards.

    Practicing a Wahabist brand of Islam modeled on the Afghan Taliban, Boko Haram are anti-establishment and often attack Islamic clerics, many of whom they regard as corrupt, self serving and insufficiently strict in their interpretation of the Koran.

    They killed the Emir of Gwoza Alhaji Idrissa Timta in an attack on his convoy last Friday.

    The Emirate of Kano was one of the great Islamic empires that dotted the Sahara from medieval times, profiting from caravan routes connecting Africa’s interior with its Mediterranean coast.

    reuters

  • Christian Writers to Gather at First Baptist Church

    Christian Writers to Gather at First Baptist Church

    {{A weekend conference in Tuscaloosa will offer experienced and novice writers the chance to hone their skills and learn ways to get their work published, organizers say.}}

    The 23rd annual Southern Christian Writers Conference will be held Friday and Saturday in the educational center at First Baptist Church, 721 Greensboro Ave., in downtown Tuscaloosa.

    Organizers say all types of writers, secular or spiritual, are welcome to attend.

    “We wanted to help writers become more professional also and get works published whether it was in Christian magazines or in secular books,” said Joanne Sloan, who founded the Southern Christian Writers Conference with her husband, David.

    Joanne Sloan is a freelance writer who has written for a variety of Christian and secular magazines, while David Sloan is a retired journalism teacher and published book writer.

    The conference is very practical, Joanne Sloan said. There will be workshops where writers will have one-on-one interaction with literary agents, she said. Guest speakers will discuss various topics, such as how writers can use social media effectively.

    “One keynote speaker this year is a New York best-selling author from North Carolina, Patricia Hickman,” Sloan said. “She will be doing a keynote on how to connect with your readers and a workshop on how to develop characters.”

    tuscaloosanews

  • S.Sgt. Robert Drops Music Turns to Preaching

    S.Sgt. Robert Drops Music Turns to Preaching

    {{A serving RDF renowned artist Sgt Kabera Robert is now a preacher at Kigali based “Winners Shaple International Church”.}}

    Robert has released several songs from which his popularity shot up. Songs include; Impanda, Njo kwa Yesu, Kama Jeshi among others.

    In an Interview with IGIHE, Sgt. Robert confirmed that he became a Church Preacher after completion of a one year Bible course.

    “That’s true I am now a Preacher. I was introduced to this duty after completing one year bible course”

    He added that apart from bible course he has been also trained in teaching people who want to be baptized.

    Due to defense and security duties, He said he doesn’t get enough time to preach on daily basis but the church allows him to teach while he gets spare time.

  • Pope Francis Prays at Bethlehem Wall

    Pope Francis Prays at Bethlehem Wall

    {{Pope Francis made a surprise stop at the hulking wall Palestinians see as a symbol of Israeli oppression on Sunday, minutes after begging both sides to end a conflict that he said was no longer acceptable.}}

    In an image set to become one of the most emblematic of his trip to the holy land, a somber-looking Francis rested his forehead against the concrete structure that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and prayed silently as a child holding a Palestinian flag looked on.

    He stood at a spot where someone had sprayed in red paint “Free Palestine”. Above his head was graffiti in broken English reading: “Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto”, comparing the Palestinian plight with that of the Jews under the Nazis.

    Israel says the barrier, erected 10 years ago during a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings, is needed to secure its security. Palestinians see it as a bid by Israel to partition off territory and grab land they want for their future state.

    On the second leg of a three-day trip to the Middle East, Francis delighted his Palestinian hosts by referring to the “state of Palestine”, giving support for their bid for full statehood recognition in the face of a paralyzed peace process.

    But, speaking at the birthplace of Jesus in the Palestinian-run city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he made clear that a negotiated accord was needed, calling on leaders from both sides to overcome their myriad divisions.

    Francis invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to come to the Vatican to pray for an end to the enduring conflict, just a month after the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks.

    “In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace,” the Pope said at an open-air Mass in Bethlehem.

    reuters

  • US Preacher Bynum In Uganda for Christian Event

    US Preacher Bynum In Uganda for Christian Event

    {{Renowned American preacher Juanita Bynum 54, is in Uganda this weekend as a guest speaker at a three-day Christian event dubbed Ugafest (Uganda Festival).}}

    Bynum is popular for her sermons and books on love and relationships, her most famous book being No More Sheets: The Truth about Sex.

    She will speak at an executive business breakfast and a “Single but Whole” conference thereafter, at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

    Bynum, whose sermons are watched on TBN, is a pastor and president of Juanita Bynum Ministries. She rose to fame for her vocal and edgy mode of preaching.

    Her “No More Sheets” sermon, has one million hits cumulatively on Youtube in its five part tabs. She is also a recording artiste, ambassador, entrepreneur, conference, radio and TV show host.

  • Pope Francis Starts Middle East Visit

    Pope Francis Starts Middle East Visit

    {{The Pope is due to arrive in Jordan at the start of a three-day visit to the Middle East which will also take him to Israel and the Palestinian territories.}}

    Pope Francis will first travel to Amman, where he will celebrate Mass in a stadium, and later meet Syrian refugees.

    The official purpose of the visit is to improve ties with the Orthodox Church.

    But correspondents say many will expect Pope Francis to use his influence to try to ease tensions in the region.

    {{Restraining orders}}

    The Pope will be accompanied by a rabbi and an imam – friends from his native Argentina – and hopes to improve relations between Christians, Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land.

    His journey comes only a few weeks after the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed.

    Israel has issued restraining orders against several Jewish right-wing activists this week over concerns that they could try to disrupt the visit.

    Police said offensive “anti-Christian graffiti” was discovered on the wall of a church in the southern city of Beersheba on Friday.

    The Pope’s journey marks the 50th anniversary of the historic meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and the head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Athenagoras.

    The meeting ended 900 years of separation and enduring antagonism between the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity.

    On Sunday, Pope Francis will travel to Bethlehem in the West Bank and preside over Mass in Manger Square, near the site where Jesus is believed to have been born.

    He will also meet the current Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch, Bartholomew, and they will sign a declaration of friendship.

    His schedule on Monday is set to include a visit to the al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem’s Old City followed by the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.

    Pope Francis will be the fourth leader of the Roman Catholic Church to visit Jerusalem, after Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who went there in 2009.

    BBC