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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Muharram 1, 1429, January 10, 2008 # 2
[There were 99 issues in 2007.]

From the Editor:
New Trend wishes its Muslim readers the best for the new Islamic year. Remember, the Islamic Hijri calendar begins with one of the central symbols of Islam, the hijra of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, from Makka to Madinah. Instead of accepting subjugation and suppression by the oppressors, he migrated and started the model Islamic community in Madinah. This month contains great symbolism for Muslims, including the destruction of the power of the Pharaoh, the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, r.a., [the grandson of the Prophet, pbuh] and the martyrdom of Umar al-Khattab, r.a., the greatest Caliph in Islamic history.
Thus the month beckons Muslims to be disciplined, self-sacrificing, ready to give up everything to gain Allah's acceptance and to be SURE that the overthrow of the Pharaoh is inevitable.

Our America: What a Beautiful Match: Obama vs. Hillary: Race vs. Gender. These People are Geniuses!
Don't be fooled by the Hype, says Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin
by Kaukab Siddique

It was almost like a football match [or basketball] as the numbers crunched on the TV screens on January 8. Who would win? Obama [who was 10 points ahead on January 7] or Hillary?
These are beautiful people in some ways. America's power structure has found a creative new way of getting people to vote. Two of the most important issues in American life, Race and Gender have been invoked.

Obama is described as "messianic," brimming with enthusiasm and hope. It's so wonderful to see a Black man aspiring to go right to the top. Wasn't it Dr. Martin Luther King's vision from the top of the mountain that a man should be judged by the quality of his character rather than by the color of his skin.

And then look at Hillary! Who would not admire a woman who is so brainy, so self-respecting, so eloquent. Then she is feminine too! The tears she was going to shed as Obama moved ahead made women [and many men] cry. Isn't she wonderful!

On the other side, we have McCain, a Republican who wants war even in his old age. At least he can claim to be a warrior and not just someone who wants to send others to war. He wants America to be victorious in Iraq and then withdraw. The Republicans like that kind of unattainable dream. He even claims, he'll get Osama!

Before Muslims get swept away by the hype, ponder the words of Imam Jamil, a man, a leader, a man of God, who knows America and follows the Sunnah of Muhammad, pbuh. In a message from prison he said that the people in power use these games of "elections" to release the frustration, the anger, of the masses. The election machine places a vision of better things to come, to distract the people from reality, says the Imam.

Look at what happened in America: The entire intelligence and surveillance system was breached by 19 men who inflicted terrible losses on America's most prestigious economic and military symbols. NO ONE RESIGNED from the Bush administration. NOT ONE PERSON was punished for neglect. Instead America decided to destroy the entire countries of Afghanistan and Iraq in retaliation. Israeli Jews rejoiced and slaughtered several thousand Palestinian children without evoking even ONE WORD of sympathy from America.

Now the Democrats want to use the hurt sentiments of the people to come to power, though they, working as they are for Israel, have already given EVERYTHING Bush wants, and more, to continue the war in Iraq, and if necessary to invade Iran and/or Pakistan.

Obama and Hillary say they will close down Gitmo? When? They have not even taken the trouble to visit the hell hole. [The Republicans think Gitmo is some kind of hotel, too good to be given to the "Moslems."]

Listen to Obama and Hillary carefully. They have swallowed the Zionist story about Darfur. For them, genocide is not taking place in Somalia, Iraq or Afghanistan but in Darfur.

Imam Jamil said it all when he said: It is not about Iraq or Afghanistan. It's about the global victory of Islam which these artists want to stop. [He was speaking about the entire power structure, not just about these two.]

[Sometimes I wonder how ISNA's "Shaikh" al-Alwani, Muzammil, and CAIR et al can live with themselves. Just like Bush refused to think of resigning after the 19 got through his intelligence network, and the Democrats refused to impeach him in spite of his fake crusade in Iraq, these "government Muslims" refuse to resign even after having advocated a bloc vote for Bush. How alike are they in their munafiqat.]

Jamaat al-Muslimeen [News]
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234

"Must Watch" Movie for Understanding America: The Great Debaters starring Denzel Washington

Jamaat al-Muslimeen urges Americans, particularly immigrant Muslims, to watch The Great Debaters. It is a salutary lesson on the roots of racism in America. As Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz has taught again and again, no one can understand America without understanding the racist past and present of this great country. How did the people of African descent deal with this hydra headed monster? The movie is very educational in this matter.

U.S. Muslims have been led far astray by bootlicker, lick spittle groups like ISNA and CAIR. There is no future for Muslims unless they realize that struggle and sacrifice will be essential. The African people brought here as slaves were often of Islamic background. Their struggle is our struggle. We should consider them as potential Muslims and learn the basic lessons.

[Please scroll way down for a review of the Great Debaters by New Trend reader Dr. Marvin X from California.]

100 Books Campaign: Select 12 Books and read One a month

Jamaat al-Muslimeen's National Shoora is urging its supporters to read ONE book each month. The purpose is to equip the developing Islamic movement in America with essential awareness of the issues facing Muslims in particular and oppressed people in general.

Reading the entire Qur'an with translation plus reading all of Sahih Bukhari with translation once a year is REQUIRED for every one of our supporters [in addition to the reading of the Qur'an in Ramadan].

Sis. Karen English, Secretary General, has started off the list of 100 books and inshallah it will be complete within a week.

Br. Aziz has offered to buy all the books and to lend them to interested readers who either cannot afford them or are too busy to buy them.

The choice is very wide as one has to read only 12 books out of 100.

Br. Kaukab suggests that the first book, especially for immigrants, after the Qur'an and Bukhari's Sahih, should be The Autobiography of Malcolm X. This is an easy read but should be required for immigrants who think they have come to paradise. [Email New Trend if you have already read this one and want our next choice.]

If you think a book should be placed on our reading list, please send us the relevant info.

U.S. Jamaat leader reports: Prisoners in Georgia file Suit against Extreme mistreatment

Jamaat al-Muslimeen Shoora leader Br. Sulaiman Solano is asking Islamic activists in Georgia to contact the Valdosta State prison system and protest the extremely oppressive situation in Georgia's prisons. Br. Solano cites this excerpt from Associated Press:

"January 8, 2008: A group of prisoners filed a class-action lawsuit contending that Georgia corrections officers have systematically beaten restrained inmates in prisons throughout the state, leaving two dead and dozens of others injured.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Valdosta, names 25 guards and other corrections officials as culprits in routine beatings and torture of restrained inmates. It also claims they subsequently covered up the abuses by inflicting even more beatings on prisoners who file complaints.
Seven Valdosta State Prison inmates claim in court documents that members of the prison's response team kicked them with combat boots, choked them with night sticks and donned black leather "beating gloves" to carry out the attacks between October 2005 and August 2007.
The lawsuit also mentions the cases of more than 40 inmates in other Georgia prisons who claim, among other abuses, that guards strapped inmates to iron beds and left them without food or water for as long as two days and banned beating victims from seeing family members or being photographed."

With thanks to Andrew Silvera [al-Awda]

If You think Criticism of Zionist Jews is anti-semitism and not related to their support for Genocide, read these two items----Editor of NT

The Murder of Ahmad by the IDF in Hebron
Daily Life of Kawther Salam

August 1, 2007

On July 3, 2007, soldiers of IDF Brigade Commander Yehuda Fuchs murdered the 14-year-old child Ahmad Mohsen Al-Skafi in Hebron. After I called the family last weekend to ask them about the incident, I was shocked not only because of what the family told me, but also by the complete decline in the level of professionalism among the journalists in the area of conflict. The measures of the IDF to restrict the work of Palestinian journalists hinder them in fulfilling their important mission in the Palestinian cities.
http://kawther.info/K20070731A.html

And then something more recent from the same blog:

The Politics of an Israeli Bag Lady Jan 6th, 2008 by kawther.salam

In the videos below, you will see and hear, from the mouth of one of the illegal Jewish colonists in the West Bank, what amounts to the political views of all these individuals, of most Jews in Israel, and of a strong majority of the Jews worldwide. The old woman who speaks in these videos is Miriam Levinger, she is the wife of criminal, terrorist and murderer Moshe Levinger, one of the ideological pillars of the occupation of Palestine.

http://kawther. info/wpr/2008/01/06/ the-politics-of-an-israeli- bag-lady

Understanding Pakistan
Debacle of Secularism: 5 to 15% of Pakistanis rule and play in western hands
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
Associate Professor of English and Mass Communication

Pakistani secularism grew over a period of 60 years in recognizable enclaves all over the country. The Pakistani middle class is the vanguard of national secularism. These are people who are nominally Muslims and in fact would be outraged if their loyalty to Islam were challenged. They consider Islam part of their cultural heritage which is related to symbolic activities at funerals, births, Eid celebrations and random charitable activities.
The defining feature of Pakistani secularism is that secularists place religion at the service of their needs and wishes and thus evade the entire issue of obedience to the Will of Allah and the dominance of Islamic guidance in matters national, economic and international. Here are the major categories of secularists in Pakistan: After 9.11 these groups were most susceptible to American-Israeli foreign policy initiatives. America-Israel saw Islam as the adversary and decided to destroy the havens of "terrorism" which are rooted in Islam. The Bush administration expressed the perception of the entire American power structure that unless Islam is defanged and declawed in its heartlands, opposition to U.S.-Israeli global domination would be impossible to overcome.
Through a steady process of demonization, the U.S. has arrived at the following view of the Muslim world [Pakistan and Afghanistan in particular]: The secularist-Pakistani view of Islam is almost EXACTLY the same as that of the American power structure. Hence it was natural for Pakistani secularists to side with America against their own people especially at a time when Islam is resurgent and the "mulla" reminds the secularists that they are violating the teachings of Islam while claiming to be Muslims. [To be continued in the next issue, inshallah.]

Montreal Perspectives

Aqsa Pervez' Murder Probably owing to Family's Culture Shock was used by Media to Attack Islam

Jalaluddin S. Hussain

Happy New Year!

I wish the readers of New Trend a happy New Year, 2008. I also sincerely apologize for my long absence from New Trend. Now that I am back I will try to keep my readers briefed on the feelings, fear and aspirations of the Muslim communities living in Montreal, Quebec and Canada. The views expressed in this column will be my own but I will still invite my readers to express their frank opinion whenever they feel like disagreeing with me.

Violence must be condemned

Although, the Aqsa Parvez tragedy occurred in Toronto, in the second week of December, 2008, where Muhammad Parvez, a cab-driver, is reported to have killed her 16-year old daughter, in cold blood, because of her alleged abandoning of hijab, the incident was used all over Canada for Muslim-bashing. Some racist souls in Montreal's electronic and print media fully exploited this painful incident and tried to give the impression that it was solely because of the hijab.

Since The Gazette's editorial, dated December 13, 2007, entitled "Murder does not reflect Muslim values", there were letters addressed to The Gazette, like the one from one, Serge Zimmer. He wrote: "This young girl (meaning Aqsa Parvez) was guilty of only one sin: she wanted to live as most Canadian young girls do. Let's honour her memory and let's see how the Muslim community reacts." Contrary to what Serge Zimmer wrongly nurtured, the Muslim communities of Montreal and in fact of the whole of Canada, reacted maturely. Thoughtful people like Shahina Siddiqui, the President of Islamic Social Services (ISS) condemned the cruel attack on young Aqsa and said that there should be zero-tolerance for violence of any kind against women or girls. It is gratifying to note that the Canadian Muslim groups generally condemned the violence against Aqsa Parvez.

I personally feel that Aqsa Parvez's death, though highly tragic, was not because of hijab only but also because of severe culture shock that all the Parvez family members were undergoing, before her alleged strangulation. This tragic incident needed greater understanding on the part of the Muslim and other non-Muslim communities. It has been correctly suggested that those responsible for Aqsa's alleged attempted murder should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Other Muslims, who may find themselves in similar situations, should seek assistance from the many social programs and services of the governmental and non-governmental organizations, well before it becomes too explosive.

Political Will undemocratic

While around 200 members of Montreal's South Asian community gathered in the Park Extension area, north of the city, to condole the untimely death of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and eulogized her as "a champion of justice, democracy and human dignity," the disturbing fact that she reportedly named her 19-year old son Bilawal and her husband as political co-heirs emerged. It boggles one's mind that Benazir could write such an undemocratic will!

A Mystical Journey - a unique devotional experience

The Shia-Ismaili community of Montreal organized an international performance on November 5, 2007, at the Theatre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, in Montreal. The event was organized as part of the international golden Jubilee commemoration of Aga Khan's leadership of his community. This international performance, "A Mystical Journey"- Sufi Music and other Expressions of Devotion, from the Muslim world, featured world-renowned artists from North Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South/Central Asia.

It should be mentioned that music and musicians have played a vital cultural role throughout the Muslim world, including the heyday of the Muslim cultural renaissance. From Indonesia, through South and Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, music serves not only as means of entertainment, for the various Muslim communities, but also as a way of expressing devotion and reinforcing common values and traditions. This Shia-Ismaili event, "A Mystical Journey", brought together artists from diverse Muslim traditions, speaking different languages and performing a range of acts, to play in harmony and demonstrating the strength, diversity and pluralism of the Muslim cultural traditions.

Marvin X Reviews The Great Debaters

The Mind of the Thoughtful African Defeats Racism: Books and Creative Ideas are the Weapons of the Oppressed

This is a coming of age film of the North American African Nation. It is about a people regaining their consciousness after decades of obscurity. This film puts them back properly in the time and space of history, for they present themselves as a civilized people, the children and the adults, thus making it a movie on the goodness of life and the power of consciousness to reveal the very best of a people, thus regaining their self respect before the world community. It shows the intelligence and leadership of American African youth--of adult leadership and intelligence as well, including the radical activist tradition in North American African History.

Every North American African, every Pan African, can be proud that Oprah Winfrey and Denzel Washington produced this. Perhaps we have reached that moment in time when our people have no choice but to be their true selves, their best selves.

For the first time in a long time, we see the intellectual genius of a people during the turbulent 1930s. This should be a lesson to all North American Africans that we have a dignified liberation tradition to uphold, thus we cannot sink into the morass of today, but in the manner of this film, take a great leap forward into dignity, respect, and intelligent behavior.

As a people, we must be proud of the young performers in this drama. They have exhibited the very best in us as human beings, as African people. The children teach us and themselves in this movie. They teach us the worst in human consciousness with their remarks on a lynching.

They repeatedly show us the power of using the black mind for intellectual dexterity rather than barbarity and expressions of animal consciousness.

This film is in the genre of Akila and the Bee, except that it goes deeper socially, intellectually, historically and spiritually. While it reveals the utter racism and white supremacy of this nation, it also depicts the resistance and transcendence to this unique American evil, especially in the present era.

The music is excellent, the visuals as well, including the acting and dance, giving us a sense of the ritual life of our people during the 1930s. The young character Henry who became a debater after a riotous life is exemplary and a clear example to other wayward youth struggling to survive in the hoods of America. You can come up if you get up! Yes, it takes energy: the same energy it takes to stay down it takes to get up!

Denzel Washington must be given kudos for his role as Melvin Tolson, the great poet of our people. Denzel proves his acting ability in presenting Tolson as the intellectual/activist, a tradition often represented by the artists/activists of the 1960s. But in the character of poet Tolson, we see the roots of the Black Arts Movement artist/activism that would emerge in the 60s with Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure,Larry Neal, Marvin X, Haki Madhubuti, Ed Bullins, June Jordan and others. But this tradition had its origins in the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s, and the poets, writers, and artists of the 30s, 40s and 50s, from Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Sterling Brown, Gwen Brooks, Ralph Ellison and others.

Forest Whitaker as the senior James Farmer maintained a certain dignity early on that his character revealed late in The Deacons, his character kept its self respect when confronted by white racists after he accidentally ran over their hog. This scene is a survival lesson for young black men. I tell young black men on the street and in the schools and colleges that they must pass the tone test when confronted by police: depending on their tone of voice, they can be killed, arrested or released.

But imagine, so-called Negroes having an intellectual debate, even a team of debaters with a coach who apprises them on the Willie Lynch syndrome, who tells them straight out white supremacy has them insane, thus confirming the sister who says it is not white supremacy but white lunacy; thus we are victims of an insanity far beyond the economic implications. I love James Baldwin's quote, "It's a wonder we haven't all gone stark raving mad," dealing with white supremacy for four hundred years. The Debaters is a hopeful sign that we can and shall overcome, that we can and shall regain our collective sanity..

Dr. Marvin X's recent book is HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY, Black Bird Press, POB 1317, Paradise CA 95967 , $19.95.

"He's the new Malcolm X! Nobody's going to talk out loud about his book, but they'll hush hush about it. It's very straight and plain. They talked about the things I wrote in my book, but wait til you read Marvin's."

--Jerri Lange, author of Jerri, A Woman's Life in the Media

2008-01-10 Thu 19:38:32 cst
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