A group of women in the Netherlands staged a march on Mother’s Day in support of Palestinian mothers in Gaza.

They gathered at Binnenrotte Square in Rotterdam on Sunday under the banner “Mothers against Genocide,” marching through the city center and assembling in front of the Mother and Child statue carrying baby dolls wrapped in bloody shrouds.

Some mothers held demonstrations outside McDonald’s, Starbucks and Burger King outlets, highlighting the plight of mothers in Gaza.

They chanted slogans against Israel including “Stop killing mothers” and “Mothers against bombs.”

Emotional moments were shared after the march, with participants recounting the suffering of children and mothers in Gaza.

The rally speakers highlighted the right of mothers and children in Palestine to celebrate Mother’s Day, stressing their inability to do so.

Dutch mother Shirley Stout participated in the march along with her baby and expressed solidarity with mothers in Palestine.

“Every day, every hour, at least two mothers die there. Children die and are orphaned. They have lost their homes and security. How can we celebrate (Mother’s Day) here while mothers stand there with their dead children in their arms?” Stout said.

She also emphasized the duty to speak out against genocide and boycott those financing it.

“We are all human, we are all Palestinians, and they are all our children,” Stout noted, underscoring the need for everyone to raise their voices.

“They are all our mothers. This is our future. This is her (Stout’s daughter’s) future. This is for our children. All children deserve to live free rather than under occupation,” she added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Since 1997, the IUR has been founded as a result of initiatives taken by Muslims living in the Netherlands. Since then, the IUR is established as a Dutch University and more importantly as an intellectual contribution of Muslims to the Dutch society.

There has been a general agreement among the founders, being responsible citizens, as regards to the IUR as a social necessity for Muslims and non-Muslims in the Dutch society. There are currently more than 900.000 Muslims living in the Netherlands. With a view to fulfil the social and religious needs of the Muslims, the University contributes with respect to imams and moral guides in the Dutch educational field.

Through academic education and research, the IUR aims to contribute to the concretization of the following anthological synthesis: “Live as a Muslim and as a responsible citizen of the Dutch society.”

For the University to embark on a journey of continuous learning and improvement and thus making a clear and a stimulating course of development. The University is expected to fulfil its vision, by offering quality academic and professional programs that ensures a commitment to and a mastery of lifelong learning skills as well as encouraging a spirit of critical enquiry.

The IUR is a learning organization of life long learners. It will be a center of educational excellence, which provides academic education (both Bachelor and Master training), disseminating knowledge to society, contributing to the improvement of human life.

Education

• Bachelor Islamic Theology NL

• Master Islamic Spiritual Care NL
The Master’s program starts every academic year in September. The master’s degree is awarded upon successful completion of both the course requirements and a Master’s thesis. The curriculum consists of core theory courses (70 EC), capita selecta (5 EC), practical trainings and supervision (20 EC), an applied research course (5 EC) and a research project of the Master’s thesis (20 EC). The requirements should take two years of full-time study. Students who have to complete a pre master preparatory program will need more time, which will depend on the extra requirements to be fulfilled.

• English Master Degree Islamic Spiritual Care (ENG)
The Master program Islamic Spiritual Cares is a pioneering program we offer in the Netherlands at the Islamic University of Rotterdam. Especially those who are engaged in Islamic Spiritual Care serving in the public or private sector, or those who want to deepen their training as well as their understanding of how to guide and professionally aid from the Islamic faith, those who are in need of assistance. Students learn to integrate the theory and practice of spirituality and professional guidance in ways that are meaningful to Muslim life. The program offers a thorough understanding of the consciousness reflected in outward life, where our curriculum supports this desired outcome.

IUR Press Publications

IUR Press has been founded to publish academic researches as books, journals and bulletins on Islam in contemporary context, with the aim of elaborating ethical and intellectual principles of Islam from authentic Islamic perspectives. IUR Press is a multidisciplinary institution which its staff uses a wide range of skills and knowledge of the economy, politics, history and culture of the Islamic world.

Contacts

• Address: Islamic University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam, Bergsingel 135, 3037 GC Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Phone: +31 (10) 4854721 – +31 (10) 4843147
• Website: www.iur.nl

A Muslim leader in Rotterdam has urged the Dutch government to take immediate action against Islamophobic attacks targeting Muslims and mosques in the northwest European nation, Anadolu Agency reported. “We’ve always been uneasy and feel as if someone could throw something in any moment since the attack on our mosque last year,” said Ali Dede Tas, head of Geylani Foundation who expressed in fear that the Dutch Muslim worshippers visit the mosques with anxiety.

A member of the Muslim community, Orhan Keles, said: “the Dutch government must take action against the attacks as soon as possible without waiting until something worse happens…The government didn’t condemn the mosque attack last year, which is a racist approach. It didn’t provide security measures and didn’t even make a reassuring statement…Synagogues are protected throughout the country.” he added.

According to the 2017 European Islamophobia Report, a rising wave of Islamophobia has taken hold in Europe reaching as much as 908 crimes; ranging from verbal and physical attacks to murder attempts. No less than 364 of which were committed in the Netherlands alone.

Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, practiced by 4% of the population according to 2010–11 estimates. Most reside in the nation’s four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.

The early history of Islam in the Netherlands can be traced to the 16th century when a small number of Ottoman traders began settling in the nation’s port cities. As a result, improvised mosques were first created in Amsterdam in the early 17th century.

Source: Aboutislam.net

Less attention has been paid, however, to the dangerous course content of the Rotterdam-based school, which, in 2016, was stripped by the Dutch Parliament of its “university” status for financial reasons.

A 2012 Turkish YouTube video describes the “Islamic University” as a school “established in 2001 to build an aware and cultivated European Muslim identity in Europe and to promote Islam, which is considered by the Dutch to be an unwanted and feared religion, with proper language, and to bring to life the mentality that is ‘to serve humanity is to serve Islam.'” Bahçekapılı’s lectures are in keeping with this mission.

Stripping the school of its university title and investigating its administrators are important first steps taken by the Netherlands to hold such an institution accountable, not only where financial fraud is concerned. Europe might wish to look into what is being taught at Islamic schools, particularly those that receive government money.

Source: Gatestone Institute