An airliner has crashed near the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board.

The plane, a domestic flight from Karachi operated by the private company Airblue, came down in hills just north of the city as it was about to land.

There is no word on the cause of the crash. At the time the area was shrouded in fog.

The government has declared Thursday a day of national mourning for the victims.

Imtiaz Elahi, chairman of the Capital Development Authority, which deals with emergencies, said the crash was "heartbreaking".

"It is a great tragedy, and I confirm it with pain that there are no survivors," he told the Associated Press news agency.

The plane, reported to be an Airbus A321 with 146 passengers and six crew on board, is thought to have left Karachi at 0750 (0350 GMT).

Source: BBC

Al Hidayah 2009:
"The “Muslims in England” team, along with some of the writers, had the privilege and honour of attending this years Al-Hidayah retreat, in the blessed company of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, Shaykh Asad Muhammad Saeed as-Sagherji, Shaykh Abdul Rahman Hammami, Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad and others."

Continue reading last years experience of one attendee here.

Al Hidayah 2010:



MuslimsInEngland.com will be there! Join us, and 1200 other students!

Finally! After all these years that we weren't able to take revenge on Brazil, today is the day that Holland has proven what they're really worth! After seeing weird actions like people smashing their heads on the ground (Yes, I'm talking about Lampard), today, Holland has shown the world what it really can do!

They've sent Brazil home after a dramatic 2-1 victory! As a native Dutch-man and being in Holland at the moment, it's just an indescribable feeling...

Anyway, let's see what happens next! Shame on Uruguay by the way! May Holland take revenge on Uruguay on behalf of our brothers in Ghana! Ameen!

Spearheaded by 25 year old Rehan Iqbal, the Birmingham-based likeMEDIA.tv was launched officially in October 2009 by a group of young social entrepreneurs to help to generate a “portal of high quality Islamic knowledge for the online community”. Rehan and his team were aware that much of the useful information and advice aimed at young people was being lost at one-off events and forums. They decided to create likeMEDIA.tv as a platform from which to film as many of these events and talks as possible and put them online in a fresh, dynamic, and accessible format.

likeMEDIA.tv activities are based around taking 'a fresh approach' to Islam for people who want to ask about religion but may be afraid to ask out loud or in public. It’s not always easy for young people to talk about religion, but likeMEDIA.tv provides an effective and user-friendly solution by harnessing the power of the internet to educate and inform in a format that appeals to young Muslims. For example, their “Now That’s What I Call Islam!” series of events in October last year used popular song titles to discuss issues such as drugs, clubbing and relationships from a religious perspective. They had a succession of events at leading UK universities including Cambridge and Nottingham with titles such as 'Where is the Love?', 'In Da Club' and 'Man in the Mirror'. Continue reading "'A fresh approach' to Islam"...

9th of June, "The Prince of Wales aka Prince Charles delivered a speech titled "Islam and the Environment". He speaks about the inspiration that he sees in Islam to ensure 'the environment'. A passage:

"This ignores the spiritual teachings of traditions like Islam, which recognize that it is not our animal needs that are absolute; it is our spiritual essence, an essence made for the infinite. But with consumerism now such a key element in our economic model, our natural, spiritual desire for the infinite is constantly being reflected towards the finite. Our spiritual perspective has been flattened and made earthbound and we are persuaded to channel all of our natural, never-ending desire for what Islamic poets called “the Beloved” towards nothing but more and more material commodities. Unfortunately we forget that our spiritual desire can never be completely satisfied." Continue reading the full speech here.

A convoy on its way to the Gaza strip was attacked by the Israeli Navy. Shooting and tear-gas was involved. 20 people lost their lives, dozens wounded, and about 16 men ended up in a prison in southern Israel. It’s been reported that most deaths were among the Turks. A demonstration against Israel will take place in Manchester, London, and other major cities.

Demonstration against Gaza
Monday 31st May 2010
5PM
BBC Radio building
Oxford Road, Manchester

This is the Israeli's way of "unarmed" approach. More pictures on BBC.

The Freedom Flotilla action was set up to break open the blockade to Gaza. The convoy consists out of six ships with 750 activists (different nationalities) and fifteen tonnes of supplies such as cement, medical equipment and school supplies. See here the condition of one of the boats. If you feel like following the mission, see below live-stream video by Al Jazeera

Last Wednesday it has been directed by The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (TPA) to block Facebook indefinitely. The reason was an on-line competition to draw The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

This order followed a decision by the Lahore High Court temporarily banning Facebook in Pakistan. Pakistan's media reported that the competition would be held tomorrow.

Pakistan protests:
Reuters/Idrees Boby.

At this moment in time, is there anywhere you can go in the UK where you do not get a whiff of election fever? In my lifetime, I do not believe that it has ever been so. Such excitement and such discussion over a British election? Unbelievable! And in just a day or so we will know the result.

OK, so maybe in 1997 when a young Tony Blair hit the campaign trail there were some similar scenes but such lengthy debate and discussion? Not so in my eyes. If anyone had any doubts about the benefits of the televised debates I think they must have been put to rest a little by the simple fact that they seem to have brought back to life many of those voters who have, for a while now, been sinking into a forever deepening pit of apathy.

“The Foreign Policy”, a newspaper which is accompanied on the desk of every single MP up to The President of US, spent much time covering The Fatwa launched by a well respected Islamic scholar Dr. Tahir ul Qadri last month. Since I'm in Texas these days, I found out that in history the “FP” never used the front-page of the cover for such “activity”. In fact, this time the “FP” covered it on the full front-page, the 11th and 13th page.

Read: Terrorism Haram! 600 pages explain it by Pakistani leader Tahir-ul-Qadri – By Saad Naveed.

This week a fatwa, or religious ruling, has been issued by one of the eminent scholars of our time, Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. A fatwa that is is unique and one of a kind, a 600-page fatwa condeming Al-Qaeda and the terrorists that perform their vicious acts based on the Qur'an and Islam.