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“Real followers of Islam don’t dance”

Ramadan posterYesterday was my regular day in Lektiehjælpen i Mjølnerparken, you might have forgotten, since it’s been a while since I wrote something about my work there.

Yesterday we had a rare discussion about religion, and it was triggered by this comment:

Real followers of Islam don’t dance”

I know that it wasn’t to be taken too serious, and that I overreacted by hearing such a misguided statement, but I beg to differ. It really doesn’t get truer to Islam than Maâllem Mokhtar Gania & Gnawa Sufi group, and since Islam Muslim translates to “devotee”, a lot of dancers qualify for the title of being real followers, at least in my book.

On September 29th, there will be Sufi Ensemble performing in Stefanskirken, Nørrebrogade 191. The concert with Maâllem Mokhtar Gania & Gnawa Sufi group was fantastic, and I hope that this will be on par, even though the venue seems to be less suited for dancing (like in not at all – can you dance in a church? I might just give it a try).

ps. One of the children also handed me a copy of “لوسر دمحماللها Muhammed, Guds sidste sendebud” (links to a PDF) – I’ll read it – even though I’m sceptical of the content.

The booklet is available in most major languages from Islamhouse.com – and now seems like a good time to study الإسلام and the القرآن again.

pps. The quote below is true to Islam, again in my book ;-).

[2.112] Yes! whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good (to others) he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for him nor shall he grieve. ‏بَلَىٰ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُۥ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌۭ فَلَهُۥٓ أَجْرُهُۥ عِندَ رَبِّهِۦ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ‎
balay’ man ‘ʔaslama wajhahuw lil:ahi wahuwa muḥsinunm falahuwʔ ‘ʔajruhuw ʕinda rab:ihiy wala’ xawfun ʕalayhim wala’ hum yaḥzanuwna (I hope this was correct, I’m not proficient in Arabic).

Salaam Aleikum and happy Ramadan.

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Min Kompetencemappe – Online database for real kompetencer

REALkompetencer Min Kompetencemappe Logo
REALkompetencer

En god veninde, gjorde mig opmærksom på at Undervisningsministeriet har opbygget en hjemmeside, Min Kompetencemappe, eller REALkompetencer.

Hun sendte mig faktisk bare et link i en mail med emnet “se her…” og uden nogen som helst forklaring på hvad det var for en størrelse. Det er sådan hun er, og det kan vi godt lide 😉

Her er et klip fra hjemmesidens forside, som forklarer hvad det er der er tale om.

Min Kompetencemappe er et personligt redskab til alle, som ønsker at få overblik over hvad de kan og har lært gennem tidligere uddannelse, på jobbet og på højskole, aftenskole og i andre aktiviteter i fritiden. Mappen er udviklet af Undervisningsministeriet som en hjælp til, at du kan dokumentere og få anerkendt din realkompetence.

Jeg må indrømme at var skeptisk, kan en statsinstitution virkelig udvikle noget sådan, og findes der ikke masser af privatudviklede profilsider på Internettet?

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Automonotoni – ‘Ungeren’ er en idé

Der er oprør i Danmark. Det skyldes at en række unge – og “lidt” ældre – mener at de fortsat skal have adgang til en bygning der blev stillet til rådighed af Købehavns Kommune i begyndelsen af 80erne. Takken til politikerne var dengang BUKSEVAND (seriøst Egon Weidekamp fik BUKSEVAND).

Nu står politikerne og velmenende aldrende sympatisører med dybe lommer i kø for at skaffe et alternativt sted, fordi de har solgt huset til nogle mennesker der HADER ideer.

Kære automonotome:
‘Ungeren’…Er en idé! IKKE et hus!
Deltag dog i det “mindst dårlige” demokrati i verden – HEY DET ER “VORES” – lav frivilligt arbejde, start foreninger, “indfiltrer” forvaltningnen der er ret vindunderlige mennesker (ja’ ve’ d’ ja’ har set d’).

I får faktisk lov til at passe jer selv, og jeg glæder mig til at se FLERE af jer f.eks. i min frivilliggruppe, Netværksgruppen i Mjølnerparken, nogle af jer har faktisk allerede fundet vej.

Huse er KONTROL mekanismer! Og det mest tåbelige ville da være hvis Ruth og hendes fundamentalistiske slæng fik deres kamp mod fritænkning og ideer finansieret af “Halal hippier”.

Og så må vi ikke glemme at Jagtvej 69 var et af de steder en af de vigtigeste projekter i menneskeheden var med til at blive startet, “Kvindebevægelsen”. Men huset der står der, er ikke et værdigt monument for kvindebevægelsen. Så riv huset ned, hey det er “os selv” det har misligeholdt det så det er ved at falde sammen, og byg et passende monument til kvinden og kvindesagen i stedet!

Huse kan dog være nødvendige: Det var altså pænt syret at se Björk til Oscar festen for et par år siden, specielt når jeg tænker på hvor jeg så hende første gang: I ‘Ungeren’, da hun var 16 og med i KUKL!

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Bilal Ameen . Info – Jeg vil have en Mac

Kubrickheader
Bilal Ameen . Info
Bilal fra Bilal Ameen . Info vil gerne have en Mac, jeg syntes faktisk han har fortjent en…

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Tip: ny måde at gemme sine Firefox faneblade på!

Så er den klaretHer er et tip til alle Firefox brugere som ikke gider lukke sine faneblade fra en af mine kreative venner.

Jeg har brugt Firefox et par uger, det har været en sjov oplevelse, det kedelige var at jeg ikke kunne få mine faneblade tilbage, når jeg havde slukket for min computer. Men i mellemtiden hørte jeg at der var kommet en ny version af Firefox, og den har jeg lige hentet ned til min computer. Jeg har ikke haft lyst til at lukke mine faneblade, men så ved et uheld gik min strøm mens jeg sad og arbejdede med min midt i min arbejdstid, så jeg var helt ude af den, men heldigvis havde jeg husket at gemme dokumenterne, men hvad skete der med min Internet browser. Så startede jeg min computer årh heldigvis spurgte Firefox mig om jeg vil gendanne den gamle session eller starte en ny session, så kom smilet tilbage i mit ansigte.

Tak til Bilal fra http://www.bilalameen.info.

For andre eksempler på kreativ problemløsning kig her: Barometerhistorien.

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Blogs Bookmarks Design Education/Undervisning Kim Blog (English) Lektiehjælpen (Danish) Open Source Technology

Hands on the Wii | CNET News.com

Hands on the Wii | CNET News.com

YUMMY YUMMY I WANT WII IN MY TUMMY!!!

I’m ordering a classset!

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'i dag' (Danish) Blogs Education/Undervisning Lektiehjælpen (Danish) Open Source

De er gr8!

Kim Bach کیم پاک:
gr8!

en anden:
23.39

hva’

Kim Bach کیم پاک:
23.40

great prøv at udtale gr8 på engelsk!

en anden:
23.40

ok

42:29
er det også opensource

43:09
=?

Kim Bach کیم پاک:
23.47

nej det er et ord

47:41
LOL priceless

en anden:
23.47

ord=

47:44
`

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Blogs Bookmarks Education/Undervisning Kim Blog (English) Lektiehjælpen (Danish)

Dansk Flygtningehjælp (The Danish Refugee Council) – Frivilligbladet (The Volunteer Post) – Interview with yours truly

Dansk Flygtningehjælp - FrivilligbladetDansk Flygtningehjælp (The Danish Refugee Council) – Frivilligbladet (The Volunteer Post)

Dansk Flygtningehjælp (The Danish Refugee Council), has just published the latest issue of Frivilligbladet (The Volunteer Post). This time they have a piece on our trip to Ringkøbing in the western part of Denmark, and I’m very proud to be featured in it.

Besides the fact that the article basically is an interview with yours truly, it’s also accompanied by pictures taken by me. I’m really, really proud and humbled by this.

Since the article is in Danish, I’m hereby publishing an English language translation.

FROM MJØLNERPARKEN TO WESTERN JUTLAND
Frivilligbladet Volume 3, 2006, written by Bente Bækgaard

It’s a long distance from Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen to Western Jutland (the main peninsula of Denmark). Despite that fact a group of volunteers from Mjølnerparken had success going on a trip with 21 children to Hee near Ringkøbing. The trip became a success, in part because it was planned in close co-operation with the volunteer group in Ringkøbing as well as local partners.

Sea, sun and blue skies. 42 brown legs from Mjølnerparken are streaking across the sandy dunes and into the roaring North Sea. In the background is a group of volunteers. They’re also from Mjølnerparken. They’re the organisers of the vacation trip to Western Jutland, aided by two consultants, the volunteers from Ringkøbing and local partners from Mjølnerparken.

Co-operation

“The idea behind the trip surfaced after the yearly assembly in April, where our volunteer consultant had talked to the volunteers in Ringkøbing about the possibility of arranging a vacation trip. We felt that that was a great idea, that we wanted to help realising.” says Kim Bach, who has acted as the co-ordinator of the trip.

Shortly after the yearly assembly of the volunteers in April, he and seven other volunteers from the group in Mjølnerparken contacted the group in Ringkøbing. And the planning of the vacation trip had started.

Aid from the group in Ringkøbing

The alliance with the group of volunteers from Ringkøbing turned out to be a huge asset for the volunteers from Mjølnerparken. The volunteers didn’t have much previous knowledge of the possibilities in the western part of Jutland, so at that point the local partner came to the rescue: “It was a great help having some locals to co-operate with. They have much more knowledge of the area than we do, and besides that, they also know our target group. This means that they quickly can point us in a direction that is interesting for us”, says Kim Bach.

The volunteers from Ringkøbing helped us locate a place to stay, and to find activities for the children. To top this, the volunteers from western Jutland arranged that the children from Mjølnerparken, got access to the control tower in the harbour in Hvide Sande, and they saw how the sluice that give boats access to the harbour is controlled. The local contacts seems to be able to open sluice gates as well.

Klub 36

One thing that the volunteers were aware of, after deciding to go through with the project: it will become a challenge to get the children to sign up for the trip.

In order to avoid the classical horror of volunteer work: that no one shows up, the volunteers chose to co-operate with Klub 36, a local club in Mjølnerparken: “We chose to work with Klub 36, because they have a strong network in Mjølnerparken and a good contact with the parents of the children, there’s no doubt that the many sign-ups also can be attributed to the fact that two workers from Klub 36 took part in the trip, and that the invitations were circulated in their network”, says Kim Bach. He adds that the group of volunteers also leveraged another offer from the group, the volunteers that offer private tutoring in the private homes of the children, “hjemmelektiehjælpen”. “The benefit of our private tutoring offer is that the volunteers have a close relationship with the parents of the children, and the parents are much more inclined to permit their children to take part, if they know the people behind”, Kim Bach adds.

The strategy of the volunteers paid off. The sign-ups poured in, and the volunteers had to create a waiting-list. The only drawback of the strategy was, according to Kim Bach, that the group of children weren’t as mixed as we originally had envisioned: “We would have like to have more children of Danish ethnicity to take part in the trip, but we didn’t succeed,” Kim Bach says and adds, that the volunteers next year will do more to gather a more ethnically mixed group.

Volunteer work in rural areas

It turned out that the trip to Western Jutland did more than open the eyes of the children. The volunteers that took part in the trip, also discovered how the volunteers in rural areas work: “Through the co-operation with the group of volunteers in Ringkøbing, we discovered the great differences between volunteer integration work in different parts of Denmark. It’s my impression that the volunteers in Ringkøbing spends a lot of time doing volunteer work. “Our” volunteers don’t have that much time. On top of that the volunteers in rural areas has a much closer co-operation with the local authorities. While we were in the Western Jutland, a number of Burmese refugees arrived, to be settled in Ringkøbing. It was interesting to hear, how the authorities involve the volunteers in that task. “We don’t do things like that at all” says Kim Bach.

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Blogs Historier/Stories Kim Blog (English)

Am I doing what I’m doing because of 911?

Well the world didn’t end yesterday, the terrorists are holding their breath, the world shouldn’t however, something will happen again. ’nuff said.

Last week I asked myself a question. Would I be doing what I’m doing today if 911 hadn’t happened? It’s possible, but I think that it made me curious to learn more about the reasons behind, and since ignorance is the order of the day, I’ve been trying to swim against the tide.

Mjølnerparken neonsignI now have several Muslim friends, but that wasn’t the reason I started doing volunteer work in a predominately Muslim neighbourhood. It simply felt like the right thing to do, and I also wanted to come to terms with my limitless tolerance, that my friends criticised me of having, calling me naïve and even worse names.

One of the most important things that has happened as a result of my work as a tutor in Mjølnerparken, is that my friends no longer can claim that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

A few weeks after I started as a tutor in Mjølnerparken, I went on a trip to New York. In 2004 I travelled a lot, and most of the times I had a mission. The actual reason I went to New York, was to attend one of the Ladies First Tour dates, but on the night I arrived, I first went to a great musical, and even though it was late, I immediately decided to head downtown.

After a 30 minute walk, I’m obviously not scared – this being after midnight, and I’ve never been to New York before – was standing at Ground Zero at around 1 am, being the only human being around, but probably the most surveilled person on Earth, just looking around saying: “Det er så WTC sitet…Et stort hul i jorden som man kan se” “So that’s the WTC site…A huge hole in the ground”.

It was immediately clear to me that my trip to New York, was much more a pilgrimage to visit the place where it all started, than it was about attending the Ladies First concert (which was great with performances from Missy Elliott, Beyoncé and an impressive Alicia Keys).

Like I wrote several years ago, I find it amazing that there was so little damage. Yes the hole is huge, but the WTC towers were so immense that it’s really a miracle, that a huge part of lower Manhattan wasn’t destroyed, when the towers collapsed. This fact is part of the fuel for several conspiracy theories, and that’s understandable.

One of the most important lessons I learned during my visit to New York, was that the New Yorkers wasn’t exactly suffering, like I wrote yesterday. Another thing I felt on my body was the fact that the war on terror is also about revenge, and that New Yorkers seem quite paranoid.

I felt the paranoia when I went far out in the suburbs to attend the Ladies First concert, basically being the only white person in a venue with something like 5.000 people of colour, might not have been the smartest thing in the world to do, walking home through projects, picket-fenced homes and deserted shopping mall parking lots, was down-right stupid. There are no pedestrians nor street signs in a New York suburb, and I though that locating a train station would be easy, it wasn’t. Working back and forth on the outskirts of the city, I felt the eyes watching everywhere. You know, I even tried to hitch a ride when I was trying to reach the venue an ice-rink..No I was definitely not in Kansas anymore.

So am I doing what I’m doing because of 911? I’m not sure, but it most likely came into play on the subconscious level, because my work in Mjølnerparken wasn’t something that I was shopping actively for. I actually didn’t really grasp the concept of volunteer work until I was actually doing it.

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The Church doesn’t have Wi-Fi

The Church Doesn't Have Wi-Fi15 minutes to go…5 years since Mohammad Atta shouted Allah Akhbar and slammed into the WTC, focused on Jannah and the waiting virgins, and the Church doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

A selection of today’s headlines:

  • The Internet is evil because the terrorists are using it to co-create terrorism manuals.
  • The problems of the Middle East are bigger than ever, but who cares about the people of Lebanon.
  • Danish forces are engaged in Afghanistan and Irak, we’re good at killing people
  • Anders Fogh thinks that Denmark is weak when it comes to foreign policy…We need to do more! OMG!!! Denmark is the 51st State!
  • Documents with lab results from the police investigation regarding the terrorism case from Odense has been found laying around in the open!
  • RFID tags, great Big Brother is watching!
  • Oh it’s so sad for the poor New Yorkers that lost their business! Well others lost their lifes! As far as I could tell when I was in New York in 2004, the New Yorkers aren’t exactly suffering.

Who do you believe? Our media? Their media? Your media!

It’s time to take back what’s rightfully ours, our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.

Forgive me I have to pray, pray for humanity, the jury is still out, but are we going to make it? Only if we wake up!

WAKE UP!!!

And my keyboard switched to Arabic!

Amen!

SLAM!!!!!!

And because the Church doesn’t have WiFi, I can’t access the Sacred Texts Library, to meditate on Surat 2.112, I’ll have to write it down in my own words:

“He who worships his Lord and is a doer of good shall fear nothing!”

Alahu Akhbar…SLAM!!!!

Hey my cell-phone and Google to the rescue…Surat 2.112 al quran…Yielded this page:

The Birth of Islam

It started out with quotes from Al-Quran most of them hinting a violent side of Islam, with quotes like this:

Surat 9, Al Taouba, “Repentance; The Immunity-Dispensation,” verse 29:

[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

This means that Islam must conquer Jews and Christians, and if after being conquered they do not convert to Islam, then they must pay a tribute (head tax). You would either have to convert, or pay an “infidel tax.”

I was quite sceptical, what was the point? But I actually found the correct Surat 2.112 (my all time favorite quote from Al-Quran):

[2.112] Yes! whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good (to others) he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for him nor shall he grieve. ‏بَلَىٰ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُۥ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌۭ فَلَهُۥٓ أَجْرُهُۥ عِندَ رَبِّهِۦ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ‎
balay’ man ‘Ê”aslama wajhahuw lil:ahi wahuwa muḥsinunm falahuwÊ” ‘Ê”ajruhuw Ê•inda rab:ihiy wala’ xawfun Ê•alayhim wala’ hum yaḥzanuwna (I hope this was correct, I’m not proficient in Arabic).

Surat 2.112 is as far from fundamentalism as you can possible get.

Then the text suddenly become much more interesting, and turns into a rather full historical account of the “Birth of Islam”. Very interesting indeed sitting in a Danish Church reading this historical account of the “Birth of Islam” on the 5th anniversary of 911 on a cell-phone using Google, including sentences rendered perfectly in Arabic script. This was not possible to do 5 years ago, there’s still hope for humanity.

BTW the bible quote of the day was from the Letter to the Galatians. Paulus basically says “remember: the ‘books’ aren’t written by men!”…Hmm…I don’t agree – the ‘books’ are inspired, spiritual and ‘eternal’, but they are indeed written by men.

LysglobeI lit all the candles in the “globe” in the Church and prayed some more for humanity. Too bad that the “bowl” with Bible quotes for contemplation were nowhere to be seen! But I welcome that this tradition has reached Denmark, I saw it in Lund 2 years ago, and actually I prayed for it to be adopted in Denmark. My prayers were heard it seems.