Watch the video

The purpose of the Centre is also to attract members of other communities to come and to get to know Islam better.

It is hoped it will to promote friendship and understanding between the communities through interaction.

The centre will be the biggest in New Zealand with living area, auditorium, outdoor sports ground, offices, a two storey school building with 13 classrooms, two specialised teaching rooms, 6 traveller accommodation units, a multipurpose sports hall with indoor swimming pools, conference rooms, and three different parking spaces to accommodate 150+ cars.

The estimated cost of the project is an excess of $15 million with funding coming from within New Zealand and from overseas.

The idea to build the Islamic Centre was conceptualised more than 5 years ago and the land was purchased 3 and half years ago.

The Islamic Centre will be built on 4.5 ha (10 acres) of land which is around 48000 square metres.

Source

• The Indian Weekender
• Image fianz.co.nz

The incident took place on a Valley Flyer bus travelling between Petone and Naenae last Wednesday morning.

Another challenge is the reluctance of employers to hire them are among the issues that will be up for discussion at a Muslim at Work Summit this coming Wednesday.

Many Muslims were getting a better deal in employment here than in their countries of origin, but some employers were still nervous about hiring them says, Auckland University of Technology [AUT] professor of diversity Edwina Pio who is convening the Summit.

"Many employers, with every good intention, are skittish about employing Muslims, based on media pictures and coverage about Muslims globally, which is often linked with violence, gender inequality and extremist jihad."

"The summit aims to dispel myths, shed light on the Islamic culture and create understanding of the diversity within our Muslim workforce," said Pio.

The Summit is being held at AUT and speakers include Equal Employment Commissioner Jackie Blue, Imam Sheikh Rafat and New Zealand's first ethnic police inspector Rakesh Naidoo.

Source

• Scoop
• Image: TV3News

Muslims make up just 1.1 per cent of the 4.5 million people in Ireland, but their ranks are swelling due to immigration, births and, in some cases, conversion.

The 2011 census recorded 49,204 Muslims, nearly a quarter of them school-aged children, but the number is projected to reach 125,000 by 2030.

The first Muslims in Ireland began arriving in the 1950s, most to study medicine. The stream of students continued for decades and some stayed, forged careers, married, and had children.

"When we talk about wider Irish society, there is not that much preoccupation within public discourse with the Muslim presence in Ireland," Oliver Scharbrodt, a professor at University College Cork and an expert on Ireland's Muslim population told The Atlantic.

He suggested this might be because the early immigrants integrated relatively easily.

"The articulation of a religious identity in the public arena is not seen to be that problematic," Scharbrodt said. "In Ireland, religion and politics have always been connected together."

In a 2012 European Commission survey on discrimination, 79 per cent of Irish respondents described discrimination based on religion or beliefs as "rare" or "non-existent" in Ireland. Meanwhile, 66 per cent of French respondents described religious discrimination in their country as "widespread".

"[In France], if you have a beard like this you would never find a job," said Riadh Mahmoudi, a 35-year-old Algerian immigrant, gesturing to his chin. "My wife, for example, wears the full niqab. If she wears the niqab [in France], she would be in trouble. She would be fined. You don't see these things happen here."

Other Muslims said they like the numerous single-sex schools offered by the Catholic-dominated education system, and said that school officials typically accommodate the needs of Muslim students, including dietary restrictions and uniform modifications.

Source:

The Atlantic

Image: Muslim Population