US Muslims Go Cyberspace for Soul Mates

In America, a growing number of unwed Muslims resort to matrimonial websites in their pursuit for life partners, seeing the cyberspace as a more accessible way to find Mr/Ms Right.

"We have people accessing our website from all across the US. We have people from Colorado, Missouri, Nevada," Vaseem Ansari, executive director of the Companionships matrimonial website, told IslamOnline.net.

The website was established in 2004 under the direction of Mohamed Majid, the imam of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, to help Muslims looking for marriage partners.

"I got so many requests from young people to help them find the right spouses," recalls Majid.

"When it became so many requests, I reached out to young couples and established Companionships with me and my wife putting the program together."

The goal in Companionships program is to provide a platform for young Muslims to meet and be introduced to Islamic matrimonial education.

"We work professionally," said Ansari, adding that they get many professional, educated and articulate people who just need help finding the right spouse.

"Some of them just do not want to go for traditional marriage and want to try a different thing."

She explained that interested people register online and provide background about them, where they are from and what they are looking for in a spouse.

The matrimonial website then arranges for retreat events where soul-mate seekers get together in a kind of a workshop.

"They meet other participants, do activities together, we ask them provoking questions about social skills, religion and politics so that all participants know each other’s background and priorities in life," explains Imam Majid.

They follow up with those who approach them on proposing to other participants and provide them counseling as well.

"Even if participants do not find spouses, they get to learn abut marriage and what it is about."

Needed, Accessible

Imam Majid says that like Companionships, there are many other matrimonial websites that attract US Muslims.

"There are many Muslim matrimonial websites nowadays and Muslims, especially young people, use them a lot," he asserted.

"They even go to non-Muslim matchmaking websites and participate in it."

Some Muslim organizations like the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has realized that and created its own matrimonial website too.

Imam Majid believes that such websites help meet a need in the American Muslim community, estimated at nearly seven millions.

"They are very diverse, so scattered across the United States," he noted.

"We are creating a virtual community that is more accessible for them."

Ansari agrees that matrimonial websites respond to the community’s needs.

"A lot of people are immigrants from different countries. They do not have big communities as back home and their families are not together," she explained.

"They need this social connection."

She added that they get in their program many professional, educated and articulate people who just need help finding the right spouse.

"Some of them just do not want to go for traditional marriage and want to try a different thing."

Malaysian Women Caning Raises Uproar

The caning of three Malaysian Muslim women for extramarital affairs is stirring an uproar in the Southeast Asian country, with some view it as a bid to court voters.

“There's been more and more debate over the past five years over whether this country is becoming more Islamized,” Azmi Sharom, from the law faculty of Universiti Malaya, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Thursday, February 18.

“So they could be showing their strength just to make a point.”

The government said Wednesday that three women were caned for having extramarital relationships.

Each woman received four to six lashes at a prison near Kuala Lumpur on February 9, the first such move in the country.

* Shari`ah and Punishments
* Be Gentle, Even in Punishment

“The Malaysian government needs to abolish this cruel and degrading punishment, no matter what the offense,” Donna Guest, Amnesty International deputy Asia-Pacific director, said in a statement.

Rights groups lashed out at the government secrecy on the penalty.

“To do this surreptitiously implies that the government wanted to hide this degrading and unjust treatment from public scrutiny,” said Hamidah Marican, executive director of Sisters in Islam.

“This case constitutes further discrimination against Muslim women in Malaysia.”

Muslim Malays form about 60 percent of the 26-million population of multiracial Malaysia.

The multi-ethnic country applies Islamic Shari`ah law only to its Muslim population, while civil laws apply to non-Muslims.

Courting Voters

Defending the caning, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the penalty was meant to purify the women from their sin.

“The punishment is to teach and give a chance to those who have fallen off the path to return and build a better life in future,” he said.

He stressed that the penalty was implemented “softly” that left the women with no physical injuries.

“It was carried out perfectly,” he said.

“Even though the caning did not injure them (the women), they said it caused pain within them.”

Some, however, view the caning as an effort by the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party to win voters by showing off its Islamic credentials.

“This reflects the delicate balancing act that the Government in Kuala Lumpur has to perform," Bradley Allan, director of the Hong Kong-based security company Allan & Associates, told the Times, Thursday, February 18.

“On the one hand there is its international reputation as a moderate Muslim state, a multiethnic community living in harmony, and, at the same time, balancing the more conservative Islamic elements who would like to see Malaysia move closer to more conservative Islamic values.”

The analyst insists on giving the penalty a “nationalist” face rather than a religious one.

“This is as much a Malay nationalist issue as it is religious,” he said.

“Malays are asserting their dominance. They are letting people know they are in charge.”

Anger, Hope Greet Helmand Assault

Six days into the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, US-led troops are being greeted with anger and guarded hope from Helmand residents.

"The Marja operation will bring us nothing," Abdu Ahad told The Washington Post on Thursday, February 18, from his hospital bed.

The villager has lost his mother, father, four brothers and sisters and four relatives in a US rocket attack at the start of the Helmand offensive.

"Now I am alone."

Nearly 15,000 US-led troops launched a massive onslaught - dubbed Mushtarak (Together) - into Helmand on Saturday to root out Taliban fighters.

Although death tolls are impossible to confirm, at least 15 civilians were killed so far in the offensive, in addition to six NATO soldiers and 40 Taliban fighters.

"'We want this operation to be finished as soon as possible. We are in trouble. We don't have enough food. We need help,'" a tribal elder quoted residents as appealing.

Amnesty International says up to 10,000 people have fled the conflict area and thousands more remain trapped by the fighting.

"This is just about the Americans and the British trying to show something to get the support from their own people," fumes Bismillah Afghanmal, a Kandahar politician.

"They are throwing soil in the eyes of their own people. But not in our eyes. We can see the reality."

The politician is sceptical about the outcome of the operation, the biggest since the 2001 US invasion.

"Let's say there were 100 Taliban in Marja, or even 200 Taliban. They're just the local people," he contended.

"They just hide their Kalashnikovs in their home, and, instead of a Kalashnikov, they put a shovel on their shoulder and say they're a farmer. What will you accomplish?"

Guarded Hope

Despite the losses, some residents are greeting the military offensive with guarded hope.

"Fighting is not handing out cookies, it's gunfire and rockets, and there will be casualties," said Haji Khalifa Mohammad Shah, a tribal elder.

"But we are happy about this operation, and it will secure our area."

Mullah Tor Padkai, a Marja resident, shares the same optimism.

"We hope they'll get rid of the oppressors in the district.

"Even though we lost civilians, we are happy that we will have the freedom."

The West-backed Kabul government says the offensive aims to extend its authority to the region.

Its troops on Wednesday raised their flag over a badly damaged market in the Taliban stronghold of Marjah.

The bazaar was a forlorn sight -- shops and buildings were badly damaged from fighting and barbed wire sealed off roads believed to be heavily mined.

But provincial governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal, who toured the battle-scarred terrain, said it was too early to declare Marjah "cleared" completely of militants or their mines.

Lawmaker Haji Mohammad Anwar Isakzai believes the issue goes beyond winning the fight.

"The people of Helmand, the majority of them, welcome these kinds of operations," he noted.

"But what they are worried about is the local government after this operation is over. "Who will be the local authority? How will they treat the people?"

Niger soldiers say coup 'patriotic'

The leaders of a military coup in Niger have defended their "patriotic action" and announced the suspension of the country's constitution and the dissolution of all state institutions.

Colonel Goukoye Abdul Karimou, who identified himself as a spokesman for what he called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD), confirmed on Thursday that a coup d'etat had occurred in the West African nation.

Surrounded by a large group of soldiers and speaking on state television, he said "the security and defence forces have decided to take responsibility and to put an end to a tense situation … suspend the constitution … and to dissolve all the state institutions".

The new military rulers had closed the borders and imposed an overnight curfew, he added.

"We ask the population to remain calm and to stay united around the ideals of the CSRD which will be able to make Niger an example of democracy and good governance, in keeping with other countries and the price of peace and stability," Karimou said.

He gave no indication how long the military intended to hold power but stressed that all of Niger's treaties would be respected and asked that the international community have faith in the CSRD.

"We reaffirm our commitment to the treaties and conventions previously signed by the state of Niger. We call on national and international opinions to support us in our patriotic action to save Niger and its population from poverty, deception and corruption."

President seized

Earlier on Thursday, at least three people were killed after soldiers led by Colonel Adamou Harouna stormed the presidential palace in a four-hour gun battle in the heart of the capital, Niamey, military sources and witnesses said.

A journalist in the capital, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said Mamadou Tandja, the president, was taken captive.

"The rebels have taken the president to a certain place, pending he submits his resignation," he told Al Jazeera. "They want the president to resign by himself.

"Armed soldiers are now controlling the presidential palace and they also took government ministers when they took the president."

A Niamey resident told the Reuters news agency later that calm had returned to the capital and tanks had taken up positions close to a military barracks at Tondibia, about 12 km west of the capital, where Tandja and some members of his government were rumoured to be held.

Rising tensions

Tensions had been high in Niger since Tandja dissolved parliament last year and changed the constitution to extend his rule following a referendum, a move that drew widespread criticism at home and led to international sanctions.

In June, Tandja dissolved the constitutional court that had ruled against him and assumed the power to rule by decree, brushing aside international criticism of the move, saying he was answerable only to the people of Niger.

Tandja was supposed to step down in December following two five-year terms in a row, but his so-called reforms removed most checks on his authority, abolished term limits and gave him an initial three more years in power without an election, an extension he said he needed to complete large-scale investment projects.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Niamey in November, calling for Tandja to resign.

The opposition Co-ordination of Democratic Forces for the Republic (CFDR), which comprises political parties, human rights and labour organisations, denounced the August 4 referendum as a "coup" and called for fresh elections to be organised.

The opposition also boycotted October 20 legislative elections, after which the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) suspended Niger as a member and the European Union put a freeze on its development aid.

The US terminated trade benefits while former colonial power France also criticised the president's actions.

US reaction

In Washington on Thursday, PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the state department, appeared to have little sympathy for Tandja.

"Clearly, we do not in any way, shape or form, you know, defend violence of this nature, but clearly we think this underscores that Niger needs to move ahead with the elections and the formation of a new government," he said.

"President Tandja has been trying to extend his mandate in office. And obviously, that may well have been, you know, an act on his behalf that precipitated this act today."

Themon Djaksam, an African affairs analyst, said there was growing disenchantment among Nigeriens towards Tandja.

"[He has] not been delivering as they had expected," he told Al Jazeera.

"I think the president is going to have a few loyal [supporters]. But there's no doubt that the coup is going to be largely supported [in Niger] because there's a growing disenchantment with the situation generally."

Tandja has ruled the uranium-rich Saharan state since 1999.

And despite the political turmoil, Niger has attracted billions of dollars in investment from major international firms seeking to tap its vast mineral resources.