Muslim weddings-Your essential guide to the Muslim wedding ceremony

Islam, the world’s second largest religion after Christianity, was founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century AD. It is still the leading faith in the Arab world, as well as in most of the Middle East. Islam is much more than a religion: it also supplies the guiding principles of political and social life.
Muslim marriages can be conducted in different ways, depending on the culture in which they are arranged. The following information refers, in the most part, to the Asian world. Here, Muslim marriages are generally arranged by the parents, with the bride and groom themselves having the final say about who they will wed. The actual proposal comes from the woman, who contacts the man through an intermediary -- normally a male relative.
Strictly speaking, Muslim women cannot marry outside their faith. Muslim men can, in principle, marry non-Muslims, as long as they are Christian or Jewish and their children are raised as Muslims. Alternatively, it is possible for a woman to convert to the Muslim faith by performing the Shadada, a simple ceremony in which the convert accepts Allah and Mohammed.
After accepting her offer of marriage, the groom must give the bride a Mahar (gift). Usually in the form of money or gold, it is intended as a dowry for her to use as she wishes. The engagement period lasts three months, and if the couple aren’t married by the end of this period, the engagement contract needs to be renewed. During this time, the bride can only be in the same room as her intended if her father or brother is present and she is covered.

What happens at a Muslim wedding?

In Islam, it is considered both a religious duty and a social necessity to get married. Thus there is a great emphasis on the religious and social dimensions of the ceremony, which usually lasts about one-and-a-half hours.
The ceremony is generally a well-attended affair, though to make it official, only two male witnesses are required. The wedding always retains a spirit of simplicity, in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

Planning your Muslim wedding

Setting the date

• The Muslim calendar works on a lunar cycle, so there are no fixed days for weddings. However, it is forbidden to marry on the two days of Eid, which occur after the feast of Ramadan, and the Day of Pilgrimage. It is also impossible to marry on the Day of Ashura, which falls on either the 9th or 10th day of the Islamic first month (Muharran).
• You can marry at any time of the day.
• There is no fixed notice period required before marriage, as, in Islam, there’s no registrar system.

First free school for Muslims gets the go ahead amid fears over 'segregated schooling'

The first free school for Muslims in the country will open in Blackburn, Lancashire, next year. 

The business case for Tauheedul Islam Boys' School in Darwen has been approved by the Government. 

But opponents have described the decision as 'extremely bad news' for community cohesion and claim it will deprive state schools of vital funds. 

First: The Tauheedul Islam School (pictured) already has a girls' school and has been approved
Government for a new boys' school

Simon Jones, national executive member for the National Union of Teachers, and Blackburn with Darwen representative, said: 'It will further undermine much of the progress towards community cohesion.

 We are on our way to a completely segregated schooling system. It is going to develop potential social problems in the future.

This is extremely bad news for Blackburn with Darwen. It is not unexpected, nevertheless it is still a bad day.' 

Councillor David Foster, leader of the Liberal Democrats, who is also a local methodist preacher, said: 'In my view we shouldn't have any religious schools of any faith. One of the problems in Blackburn is the segregation of communities.

'A lot of schools are mono cultural and we need to try to develop ways in which we educate the community as one rather than separately. 

'I hope Tauheedul ensures that it provides a curriculum where pupils are a full part of the community and they continue to develop links with other schools as the girls' school does.'

'We are on our way to a completely segregated schooling system. It is going to develop potential social problems in the future'

Tauheedul Islam Girls' School principal Mufti Hamid Patel, who made the application with governors, has vowed that the school will be a beacon to raise overall achievements in all schools in Blackburn with Darwen.

There is currently a Tauheedul Islam Girls' School they want to open a new Boys' school under the same name, but on a different site. 

Mr Patel said he had developed a curriculum where the school would play an active role in all areas of the community and also had visions to enrol students into university at 16. 

The detailed plan includes all students completing 500 hours of community service throughout their school life, specialisms in sport and the Big Society, outdoor pursuits such as canoeing and mountain climbing more than once a year and a finishing school.

Balanced education: New free schools must admit 50 per cent of pupils without reference to
 their faith

Non-pupils will be able to study GCSE and A-level revision sessions in areas such as Darwen and Shadsworth. And a Sports' Academy for primary school children will be created. 

Since the plan was first mooted around 700 pre-registration admission forms have been submitted by parents - including from London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Dewsbury and Bolton - for the first 150 places. 

Free schools do not fall within local authority control and get their funding direct from the Government, but have greater freedom than academies to set their own agenda. 

Mr Patel said: 'This is a fantastic milestone. We are very excited and think it is good news. The support is generally good from across all the communities. 

'This has been 18 months in the planning and will be the first free school in the town and the first Muslim free school in the country. And we are looking at all sorts of innovations and ideas. 

'Though our intake will be comprehensive with learners from areas which are the most deprived in the country, our school will have an elite, but not elitist, philosophy. 

'It will be a 'grammar' school for ordinary kids. Every young person at Tauheedul Boys' High School will have a sense of privilege and exclusivity.' 

'Providing increased diversity': The Tauheedul mosque is opening a free school, which already
 a large number of Muslim pupils

Free Schools will be expected to have inclusive admission arrangements and while they don't follow the national curriculum, they must provide a balanced education.

If it is oversubscribed then it must allow for 50 per cent of places to be allocated to children without reference to faith.

If a school is under-subscribed every child who has applied must be admitted, whether a faith or non faith applicant.

The school will open in September next year on the site of the girls' school in Bicknell Street, Blackburn, after it moves to its new location in Beardwood Humanities College, Preston New Road, as part of the council's Building Schools for the Future scheme. 

It will have an admissions policy of 75 per year with year's seven and eight starting in September. Only 50 per cent of the admissions will be allocated to members of the school's affiliated mosques. 

Mr Patel said: 'We have interest from everywhere in Blackburn and outside Blackburn but we can't do anything about those outside of Blackburn at this stage. 

'It also means that numbers are going to be limited and we have made a commitment to limit numbers as part of the process to not damage admissions to other schools in the borough. 

'All of our students will be told to aspire to achieve the highest of standards, aiming to enrol at Russell Group Universities, which include Oxford and Cambridge, and become the outstanding innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers and leaders of their century.' 

Councillor Maureen Bateson, Blackburn with Darwen Council's executive member for children's services, said: 'The council didn't support the application for the school to become a free school. 

'However, now that it has been given the go-ahead I would like the school to continue to work in partnership with other schools and the local authority.'

Migrants are having big families to claim benefits, says Asian baroness

Some Asian families in Britain are having too many children in order to claim extra welfare payments, Britain’s first female Asian peer claimed last night.

Baroness Flather accused the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities of failing to adopt the values of British society and said they should have their benefits slashed.

Lady Flather, a former Tory who now sits as a crossbencher, said this abuse of the welfare system has been brushed under the carpet out of political correctness.

She spoke out in the House of Lords during the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill.

Lady Flather, a former barrister who was born in the Pakistani city of Lahore when it was part of India, praised the Indian community in the UK for having taken on ‘the pattern’ of families in their adopted country, by limiting the size of their families.

But she took aim at the Pakistani community, saying uneducated immigrants are still following the traditions of their homeland by having more children because they end up getting a ‘bigger house’.

She told peers: ‘The minority communities in this country, particularly the Pakistanis and the Bangladeshis, have a very large number of children and the attraction is the large number of benefits that follow the child.

‘Nobody likes to accept that, nobody likes to talk about it because it is supposed to be very politically incorrect.’

Lady Flather said parents of all backgrounds who have extra children should have no right to a larger council house. 

She added: ‘It is about time we stopped using children as a means of improving the amount of money they receive or getting a bigger house.

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‘I really feel that for the first two children there should be a full raft of benefits, for the third child three quarters and for the fourth child a half.’

The Welfare Reform Bill aims to cap the amount of benefits one family can received at around £26,000, to ensure claimants do not get paid more than the average income for working families.

In a speech likely to spark a fierce debate,

Lady Flather said: ‘In the countries of origin, of course,
 Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and even Indians have large families
becouse there is no safety net.

‘When you get old it is only your children who are going to look after you. This doesn’t apply here – every old person does have their pension and they will be looked after.’

She said that in education tables, while Indian children came at the top, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis came near the bottom, which she blamed on their families.

She said: ‘Especially after  the recent riots, I think we need to give back the responsibility  for bringing up children to the parents.

 I hear parents say, “But the school should teach them that” and, “But the school should do that”. The school has so much less time with the child than the parents do.’

In this disturbing and brave exposé, a Pakistan-born baroness reveals how some of her countrymen have as many children as possible by several wives so as to milk our welfare system...

Muslim parents of honor killing victim charged with murder 8 years after daughter's disappearance

The parents of suspected honour killing victim Shafilea Ahmed have been charged with their daughter’s murder – eight years after she disappeared.

Shafilea, 17, went missing from her home in September 2003 after complaining that her parents were trying to force her into an arranged marriage.

A massive hunt was launched for the bright A-level student who had dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

Her decomposed body was found in February 2004, hidden near a river in the Lake District.

A coroner ruled that the Muslim teenager had been the victim of a ‘vile murder’.

Iftikhar Ahmed, 51, a taxi driver, and his wife Farzana, 48, were initially arrested on suspicion of kidnapping their daughter in December 2003.

They were questioned by police but were released in June 2004 without charge when the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there was insufficient evidence against them.

The couple were re-arrested on suspicion of murder in September last year but have always denied any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance or death. [...]

The charges are believed to have come after fresh evidence was handed to police by Shafilea’s sister, Alisha, who was two years younger.

She was arrested by police for allegedly masterminding an armed robbery at the family home.

Alisha, who is in the witness protection programme, admitted the charges and is awaiting sentence.

The 22-year-old is believed to have made new claims about her parents’ involvement in Shafilea’s death.

Shafilea, from Warrington, Cheshire, went missing after complaining she was being forced into an arranged marriage.

Police investigating her disappearance discovered she had travelled to Pakistan for what she thought was a family holiday.

But once there she was allegedly told an arranged marriage had been organised for her.

The A-level pupil drank bleach in an apparent suicide attempt while in Pakistan and returned to the UK to continue studying.

Weeks later she disappeared. She was reported missing by a teacher.

After her body was found on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria, an inquest ruled she had been murdered and a pathologist stated she was likely to have been smothered or strangled.

The coroner said at the time: ‘Shafilea was the victim of a very vile murder and there’s no evidence before the court as to who did it. There are things people know that have not been told to this court....

"Muslims Against Crusades" burns American flag in front of U.S. embassy, breaks moment of silence with chanting over megaphone

A number of radical Islamic groups including Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) gathered outside the embassy on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

The group of around 100 men shouted "USA terrorists", brandished anti-American placards and chanted through a loudhailer.

Several members of the Muslim groups made anti-American speeches following the flag burning.

One said: "You will always face suffering, you will always face humiliation, unless you withdraw your troops from Muslim lands."

Another declared that America had been "defeated in Iraq and defeated in Afghanistan".

Members of the group publicly burned a poppy on Armistice Day in a similar stunt.

The photo above may have been from that incident, but accompanied this story at the Telegraph.

However, a small opposing group of Muslims - some of whom had travelled hundreds of miles to rebut the extremists - staged a counter-demonstration nearby, holding up placards reading "Muslims Against Extremism" and "If You Want Sharia, Move To Saudi".

Abdul Sallam, 41, who was waving a sign that read "Keep The Silence", travelled down to London from his home in Glasgow to show the strength of his feelings.

He said: "I'm a Muslim. What they're doing is bringing shame on all Muslims. This is not part of the teachings of Islam.

"Islam teaches you that when you see anything bad or evil, you should speak out against it.

"If the moderate Muslims all came out and spoke out, that would defeat them.

"I am proud to be British. I love my country. All these people are doing is breaking Britain apart."

One of the Grosvenor Square memorial service attendees, who did not want to be named, said the protesters should be stopped from standing just across the road from the embassy and using a loud megaphone.

The man, whose cousin died in the terror attacks, said: "They shouldn't be allowed to do it. It's very disrespectful. It's too loud."

He added: "They can say what they want but not with the loudspeaker."

Two convicted of recruiting for jihad from market stall

A Taliban veteran and a Muslim convert are facing jail after using a Manchester market stall to sign up volunteers to go to Afghanistan and kill British troops


Munir Farooqi, 54, was said to be at the heart of a plot to encourage people to ‘fight, kill and die’ in a conflict with coalition troops.

Beside him in the dock at Manchester Crown Court was Muslim convert Matthew Newton, aged 29, who he was ‘mentoring’.

The pair were stopped when they unwittingly tried to recruit undercover police officers at markets in Manchester city centre and in Longsight. Munir Farooqi, of Victoria Terrace, Longsight, was convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism, three counts of soliciting to murder and one count of dissemination of terrorist publications.

Newton, of Stockport Road, Levenshulme, was convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism and two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. The two men denied the charges during a four-month trial. But after four days of deliberation, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts....

'Holy Man' Jailed for Raping 13-Year-Old Girl...

A self-styled holy man who boasted of magical powers sank sobbing to his knees as he was locked up for nine and a half years for raping a 13-year-old girl in a prayer room.

Syed Bukhari was led weeping to the cells after a judge at Bradford Crown Court said his “wicked” crime fully exploited the vulnerability of his child victim.

Bukhari, 29, of Sewell Road, Laisterdyke, Bradford, claimed he had special powers that could help the girl’s parents overcome their marital difficulties, prosecutor Nick Askins told the court today.

He visited the girl’s mother at her home in the West Midlands and persuaded her to allow the 13-year-old and her younger brother to stay with him in Bradford.

“The defendant held himself out as a man who possessed magical powers and could assist the family with their domestic difficulties,” said Mr Askins.

Bukhari, a factory worker, bought the girl a phone and her brother a toy before taking them to the house in Sewell Road in late December last year.

He and the girl went into what appeared to be a prayer room, Mr Askins said.

Bukhari said he needed to talk to her about magic and told her there was something she needed to do for her own good and that of her family.

He told her to take off her clothes before turning out the light and sexually assaulting her.

He then raped her on a towel, putting his hand over her mouth when she screamed in pain.

Bukhari threatened: “If you tell anyone, something bad will happen.”

Mr Askins said the frightened child, who was previously a virgin, told no-one until on January 20 she confided her ordeal to a police officer.

Bukhari, who was cautioned for kerb crawling on December 16 last year, pleaded guilty to rape.

His barrister, David McGonigal, said Bukhari felt shame and remorse.

He knew he had caused hurt and grief to the girl and her family Judge John Potter told Bukhari his claims to be a holy man who could provide spiritual guidance were “nothing more than a charade”.

He had abused the girl’s trust in a place many miles from her home.

Sentencing him, Judge Potter said: “It was, Mr Bukhari, a most wicked act in which a particularly vulnerable child was raped by you, causing her significant harm.”