ISLAMIC EPAPER

A specially designed mobile phone for Muslims has been offered for sale in Russia. The he chairwoman of Russia's Female Muslims' Union, Nailya Ziganshina, said that the phone has a pre-installed Koran in Arabic and Russian. It has an automated system that reminds the owner about prayer times, the phone also includes a built-in navigator that automatically determines the user’s location and shows the direction to Mecca. The handset, made by Russian company BQ and assembled in China, costs 1,900 rubles ($31). It is available in three colors: green, black and crimson. Reference: http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/154293/mobile-phone-for-muslims-in-russia

Christian Snouck Hurgonje (1857-1936) is the founder of contemporary Islamic studies in the Netherlands, and believed that racial and religious diversity can go hand in hand with peaceful coexistence. His life was filled with still-relevant ideological controversies and revolutionary statements. He traveled to study the Hajj in 1885/1302H on a scholarship from the Dutch government. A report in Muslimmatters explains that Hurgronje, once in Mecca, embraced Islam according to some and was spying according to others  and was known as Abdul Ghaffaar. There he took photographs and made various sound recordings. In this recording of the Qur'an, Surah Duha is being recited using Thomas Edison's newly-invented wax cylinders. He stayed for five months, documenting the run-up to Hajj, but although he had intended to stay for the pilgrimage, he was forced to leave after unfounded accusations of his involvement in an attempt to steal a historical artifact' by the French govern...

For centuries it was believed that Christopher Columbus was the first man from the Old continent to cross the Atlantic to the New World, but new evidence from a research team from the University of Rhode Island suggests Muslim seafarers might just be the first people to have settled on the shores of America, a possibility that could rewrite history as we know it. The discovery completely took the researchers by surprise admits professor Evan Yuriesco, in charge of the research team. “We were expecting to find traces of prehistoric Native American settlements, as we have in the area for the past decades. We were not prepared to find 9th century clay pots containing ancient manuscripts written in the Arabic language” he explains. The team of researchers fell upon what could be the mass tomb of 9th century seafarers. The four skeletons that have been found on the site are in a state of advanced decomposition which could make DNA testing impossible, warns the exp...