Ibn Battuta, the great-est explorer of the Old World, following his first pilgrimage between 1325 and 1326 from Tangier to Mecca. Journey to Mecca, which is narrated by Ben Kingsley and stars Chems-Eddine Zinoune as Ibn Battuta, won Best Dramatic Short at the 43rd Annual Hous-ton International Film Festival and the Prix du Public at the La Geode Film Festival in Paris. But the film also has the potential to win hearts and minds and to build greater under-standing between Mus-lims and Non-Muslims. In a climate where Is-lam is often portrayed in the media as being synonymous with ter-rorism, the film, with its stunning visuals and breathtaking scenes, also presents an intri-cate picture of Islamic society and the cele-bration of Islamic cul-ture. According the Sun Me-dia in Canada: “Everyone, no matter their faith, should see it.” And Alan Parker who writes for the Nosey Parker Blog says: “Whether you're Muslim or not, I defy you to see Journey to Mecca and not be deeply, meta-physically touched by the beauty and ultimate serenity of the film."

Cont page 4

The Muslim Seeker in association with People with Voices and SK Films, are giving away three pairs of tickets to see Journey to Mecca

at the BFI Imax on the Southbank in London, on September 19. The film is a documen-tary feature that tells the amazing story of

Special points of interest:

WIN TICKETS COMPETITION

DISCOVER

EID N THE PARK

EID FESTIVAL

MUSLIM DIRECTORY

LONDON APSA

Inside this issue:

9 September 2010

Volume 1 Issue 4

Win a free pair of tickets to see Journey to Mecca at the BFI Imax in

London

IBN BATTUTA 1

COUSIN MARRIAGES 2

COMMENTS FROM READERS

3

JOURNEY TO MECCA 4

WEEKLY NASHEED 5-7

DAYS OF EID 8

MUSILIM COMMUNITY DIRECTORY

9

LATEST NEWS ON LON-

DON APSA

10

Page 2

Razib Khan has a background in

biology & biochemistry. He is an

Unz Foundation Junior Fellow

and lives in the United States.

The individual & social risks of cousin marriage We have extracted some key sections from Razib’s research and

present them in this newsletter.

The map shows the distribution of consan-

guineous marriages. As you can see there‟s a

fair amount of cross-cultural variation.

In the United States there‟s a stereotype of

cousin marriage being the practice of back-

ward hillbillies or royalty.

In South India cousin (uncle-niece) marriage

is practiced, while in the north exogamy is

the norm.

Cousin marriage in parts of Arabia was com-

mon in that culture because Arabs would

marry who they met, and it was difficult in

Arab societies for men to meet women who

were not their cousins.

What may be fit for a cultural kin-unit may not be biological fit for individual lineages. What are the risks of

cousin marriage? Most obviously there are recessive diseases. Those illnesses which are expressed when you carry

two malfunctional copies of a gene. Cystic fibrosis, various forms of deafness. Why is it that cousins have a higher

risk of this occurring? Because two cousins are much more likely than two random individuals to share the same

distinct gene from a common ancestor, because their common ancestors are so much more recent. More precisely

the coefficient of kinship between two first cousins is 1/8. That means that at any given locus there‟s a 1 out of 8

chance that the two individuals will have alleles which are identical by descent, which means that the genetic vari-

ant comes down from the same person in the family line.

What’s the negative?

Pedigree collapse.

Seventeenth-century European noble culture commonly matched

cousin to first cousin and uncle to niece, to preserve a prosperous fam-

ily's properties. Charles's own immediate pedigree was exceptionally

populated with nieces giving birth to children of their uncles: Charles's

mother was niece of Charles's father, being daughter of Maria Anna of

Spain (1606–46) and Emperor Ferdinand III. Thus, Empress Maria

Anna was simultaneously his aunt and grandmother. This inbreeding

had given many in the family hereditary weaknesses. That Habsburg

generation was more prone to still-births than were peasants in local

Spanish villages. King Charles II of Spain

Page 3

For inbred clans it gets much worse because people are related in many different ways, and genetically are far closer than first cousins. That is what happened to the Spanish Hapsburgs. As you can see from the pedigree

of Charles II his parents were closer than typical first cousins. The Samaritans of Israel are a religious sect which

seems to be going through pedigree collapse. Some of them are now proactively marrying outsiders to prevent their

extinction through high infant mortality rates. Others, “traditionalists,” oppose exogamy because intermarriage

within the group is the custom, and diseases are promoted as God‟s will.

Since Britain has the NHS this is a going to be a major public health issue. On the one hand, there is individual freedom

of choice. This is a core Western value. On the other hand, there is the fact that health care costs are a long term struc-

tural issue for the fiscal health of any society. Ethnic Pakistanis are only a few percent of Britain‟s population, so it is

manageable right now, but their proportion will slowly rise because of higher fertility and continued immigration. If

cousin marriage continues to remain popular in the community the later generations are going to have even greater

health problems because of higher inbreeding coefficients (due to repeated cousin marriages across the generations

within the family).

But why should we limit these sorts of social utilitarian considerations to cousin marriage? How about the increased

debilities associated with the children of older mothers? I began the post with a social-cultural narrative, and I end it

Comments from

Readers:

Cousin marriage is allowed in Islam, but it

doesn‟t mean because something is halal

that it should be taken to extremes. Having

first cousin marriages every generation for

hundreds of years inevitably leads not only

to health problems but also creates very

tribal, insular communities. Allah also

allowed marriages between people of dif-

ferent races, but that is hardly practised in

some Muslims communities, even though

it‟s a positive thing. Instead they choose to

marry their cousins.

Cousin marriage is common in all Muslim

countries. It is in accordance with the

teaching of the Holy Quran and our

Prophet had married his daughter with his

uncle‟s son. There were no defects in the

children. Cousin marriage is thought to

generate more stable relationships. I be-

lieve that children are born with defects

whether it is cousin marriage or not.

Iftikhar.

The problem isn‟t marriage to cousins the

problem is the Pakistani Problem of Only

Marrying Cousins.

Salaam

Just a few thoughts on the documentary and refuting articles:

I think there does need to be a conversation about the issues raised by con-

sanguinity, especially over a number of generations but framing this as a

major public expense argument is disingenuous and false. As the article

mentions, other life choices have a far greater impact on the public purse...

It should be noted that if cousins were prevented from getting married,

surely people with any genetic disorder should also be and therefore people

would need to be screened- which strays into eugenics, ableism and view-

ing people with genetic conditions or disabilities and purely a „burden‟ on

society which is deeply offensive and not at all civilised.

The documentary was good in that it raised the issue of many families being

in denial or unconvinced by medical evidence of risk- which needs to be

tackled. The choice of community representatives who spoke poor English,

I feel was deliberate and painted the picture these communities have not

„integrated‟ and are „other‟. There are plenty of Imams and faith leaders

who would accept the science and would have provided an intelligent dis-

cussion and asking just one was ridiculous.

There was no need to ask an Imam, it isn‟t a religious issue. Islam doesn‟t

favour or prohibit consanguinity...it is about cultural and familial organisa-

tion. This should have been pointed out far more as currently it plays into

the „Islam is a problem‟ memes in the press.

There was very little time given to the arguments against the practice from

Muslims themselves...again painting us as the ones who need telling as

opposed to a diverse community with differing practices and opinions.

It would be good if the article could be blogged on certain sites to increase

readership. Not sure if that is possible....?

Thanks

Summereen

Competition Details To win one of three pairs of tickets, simply answer the following question in no more than 300 words: How can the film Jour-ney to Mecca help to build bridges between Muslims and Non-Muslims? Competition Rules

The competition is

open to adults aged 18 and over.

Only one entry per

individual; Entries must be made by email to: edi-tor@peoplewithvoices.com.

All entries must in-

clude the full name of the entrant, a valid email ad-dress and contact num-ber.

If winners cannot be

contacted within 24 hours, the tickets will be issued to the next runner up.

Past and present stu-

dent and writers from Peo-

ple with Voices are not eligible to enter the com-petition, nor employees or owners of any publications associated with the pro-motion of the competition. Closing Date: The closing date of the competition is 12.00pm midday (GMT) on Friday 10 September. The judges’ decision is final. The winners will be an-nounced on Monday 13 September and winners

Page 4

will be contacted with in structions on where to collect the tickets. Judges The competition judges are: Deborah Gabriel, founder of People with Voices Hassan Joudi, author of the Journey to Mecca re-view on People with Voices Imtiaz Nabi, Editor of The Muslim Seeker

Page 4

Page 4

ADVERTS

Page 5

Page 6

ADVERTS

Page 6

ADVERTS

Page 7

Page 8

Nasheeds and Poetry Page

THE DAYS OF EID

These are the days of Eid, Make Takbir wherever you are.

These are the days of Eid, Allahu Akbar.

These are the days of Eid,

Sing together everyone. La Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Lillah Hil

Hamd.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar.

Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.

Allah is Great, Allah is Great.

There is no God but Allah. Allah is Great, Allah is Great,

And all praise to him. Allah is Great, Allah is Great.

There is no God but Allah.

Allah is Great, Allah is Great, And all praise belongs to Allah.

These are the days of Eid,

Make Takbir wherever you are. These are the days of Eid,

Allahu Akbar.

These are the days of Eid, Sing together everyone.

La Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Lillah Hil Hamd.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

La Ilaha Illa Allahu Wallahu Akbar.

Allahu Akbar Wa lillah Hil Hamd.

Allah is Great, Allah is Great. There is no God but Allah.

Allah is Great, Allah is Great, And all praise to him.

Allah is Great, Allah is Great. There is no God but Allah.

Allah is Great, Allah is Great, And all praise belongs to Allah.

These are the days of Eid,

Make Takbir wherever you are. These are the days of Eid,

Allahu Akbar.

These are the days of Eid,

Sing together everyone. La Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Lillah Hil

Hamd.

DAWUD ALI WHARNSBY

If you have a favourite Nasheed by Dawud Ali Wharnsby, please email us at:

info.nmo@gmail.com and we’ll try to print it in our next edition Insha Allah

O you who believe! Eat not up your property amongst yourselves in vanities: but let there be amongst you traffic and trade by

mutual good-will: nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah has been to you Most Merciful. [Al Qur‟an 4:29]

Newham Muslim Community Directory

ACCOUNTANTS Zareef Kahloon & Co. Chartered Certified Ac-countants 343 High Street North Manor Park London E12 6PQ 020 8548 4095

CAR REPAIRS St Stephens Garage 133 St Stephens Rd East Ham London E6 1AT 020 8472 0325

CHARITY Kashmir International Re-lief Fund 577 Lea Bridge Rd, E11 0208 521 3220 07904119954

CITIZENSHIP CTS-UK 806 High Road, Leyton E10 6AE 02085328462

COLLEGE

COURSES BITE British Institute of Technology & E-commerce 258-262 Romford Road, Lon-don, E7 9HZ 02085523071

FURNITURE Al Mirage Furniture 252 High St North Manor Park E12 6SB 02084700099

FASHION Meena Bazaar 341 High St North, E12 6PQ Ready made garments 02084722595

Uzma Creations 145 Green Street, E7 8JE UP TO 50% OFF 02084721313

HEATING AND INSTALLA-TION Flame Heating C/H Systems and Boilers Repair –Service – Installa-tions 0208 552 7698 07774 152272 07903 765755

HEATING, PLUMBING

AND ELECTRI-CAL SUPPLIES Wellworth (London)

Ltd 2-4 Tudor Road

London E9 7SN

Bath Showroom

Trade & DIY Counter

Huge Range of Fittings

Heating & Gas Supplies

Electrical Supplies &

Goods

Pipes, Valves & Pumps

KITCHENS Net Kitchens Direct 87 Wood Street

London E17 3JX 020 8521 2171

MASJIDS

SUPPORT Indian Muslim Federation (Newham Branch) 6 Lincoln Road Forest Gate London E7 8QW

Page 9

MEDIATION Muslim Mediation Service 2a Streatfield Ave E6 2LA 0208 432 2805 Islamic Counselling Mar-riage Mediation Service for Muslims Women 07909941179

PEST

CONTROL Bed Bugz Exterminator Newham Wide 07515424918

SPORTS

Football Muslim5aside Beckton Power league Norwe-gian Playing Fields, Jenkins Lane, Newham, IG11 0AD 07886275209 DM Football Club Plashet Park Manor Park

E12 07515789068

TUITION KiPP2 Tuition Centre 56-62 Church Road, E12 6AF 07886020071

XLR8 Tuition

Home tuition by qualified teachers CRB Checked Strictly 1-2-1 07949641815

If any local businesses or big hearted people wish to support us and believe that we

are attempting to do good for the community, then please contact us and support us in any way

you can.

SWAP SHOP If you have items that you would like to swap or gift then please do email us and we will include in the next edition.

THANK YOU If you wish to send a mes-sage to a family member or someone who works hard in the community then email us with your message.

ADVERTISE If you would like to advertise and support us then please do ring us or email us: 07886020071 info.nmo@gmail.com

FINANCE SA FINANCIAL SERVICE 197 Green Street, E7 8LL Mahmood Akhtar 02084714444

Wrestling USB Leytonstone School Sports Centre 07949588196 07958251945

London APSA

Football Club

Years 1,2,3,5

07956556382

07539647837

TRAVEL Your Travel Shop

197 Cranbrook Road,

IG1 4TA

www.travelshop.com

02085547070

ESTATE

AGENTS

Wisemove London Ltd 250 High St North Manor Park E12 6SB

If any local businesses or big-hearted people wish to support us and believe that we are attempting to do good for the community, then please contact us and support us in any way you can.

We are on the web:

www.newhammuslimorganisations.com

Website still under construction!

Sports Page

NMO are looking for volunteers who wish to make a positive

difference in Newham. Our main aim is to see walls being broken

down, those walls that we have built in our hearts and minds.

Please email us with any feedback: info.nmo@gmail.com

In a thrilling encounter in front

of an 11000 crowd at Ibrox,

APSA were ready to entertain.

APSA started much like they

did throughout the tournament

with much speed and gusto.

Pegging Derby back in their

own half for most of the game

as they took advantage of the

large playing surface. Dakri

came close for APSA as did

Yasir Rashid with tremendous

strikes which were well met by

the Derby keeper.

Derby had chances of their own

and Imran Khan in goal for

APSA stood up well to the task

and ketp it to 0-0 for half time.

On the hour the ever impressive

Zubir Haleem took two on just

outside the derby penalty area

and belted home what should

have been the winner.

APSA looked strong

throughout the game and i

seemed that the first goal

would give way for more,

however the experienced

Derby were not to man-

nered so easily.

They attacked with vigour

and still kept their defen-

sive heads on. Dakri again

received opportunities up

front, but this was not

APSA's day. Derby took

there chance in the 75th

minute. Peppering the

APSA gol with shots, the

first saved by Khan, the

loose ball came flying in

again and this time, Shah,

cleared only to see it

come flying back in third

time lucky to make it 1-1.

The race to the finish line

was on but neither side could

break the deadlock. Having

recently won the Essex Char-

ter Standard Cup on Penal-

ties and then thwarted a semi

final place in the Stephen

Timms Cup there were

mixed feelings in the APSA

camp.

It ended after an exciting 9

penalties each. Derby missed

on penalty number 2 and

APSA's Dakri failed to put

them ahead. Derby scored

their 9th penalty to make it 8

-7 and APSA's Imran Khan

saw his shot saved to give

Derby the 2010 champion-

ship.

APSA will rue the missed

chances and wait another

year to claim this title again.

Manager Anjum Khan

"The boys worked tremen-

dously hard to make it to the

final which is a reward in

itself. Getting hands on the

cup would have been the

ultimate bonus for us. They

were all fasting as we have

been for the last 4 years in

this competition and I can

only say great things about

the whole squad who commit

to the travel and play without

sustenance. It was a fantastic

weekend and my congratula-

tions go to a Derby side who

were very difficult to break

down."

APSA lose out in penalties at Ibrox

Page 10