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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Rabi' al-Awwal 2,1429/ March 10, 2008, #16

What is Egypt up to on the Gaza border? Scroll all the way down for the Pharoah's dastardly activity.

Health: From a reader who calls himself "The Registrar." We are looking for more information and confirmation by other readers.
Cinnamon & Honey
Bet the drug companies won't like this one getting around.

Facts on honey and cinnamon: It is found that a mixture of honey and cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as a "Ram Ban" (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, in its issue dated 17 January, 1995 has given a list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists

Analysis
U.S. TV Reporting on Jerusalem Attack was a tissue of pro-Israeli Lies

by Badi Ali [North Carolina]

The March 6 strike by a Palestinian in Jerusalem has been presented in the U.S. TV media as a terrorist attack on peaceful Jewish students in an Israeli religious seminary. Such reporting covered up the significance and purpose of the attack for which the Palestinian mujahid sacrificed his life.

It is difficult to believe that U.S. TV channels are unaware of the reality of Mercaz Haraw where the strike took place:

Jamaat al-Muslimeen [news] [Next 4 items only]
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234

Muslim Children Hold Vigil for Gaza in Greensboro, North Carolina

[Jamaat al-Muslimeen Press Release.] Muslims from the Islamic Center of the Triad, ICT, held vigils to create awareness of the massacre committed by Israel in Gaza. The first vigil was in downtown Greenboro on March 5 in front of the Federal Building. The second vigil, on March 6, was at the intersection of Friendly and Guilford College. The college is Quaker oriented and the protestors received "honking" support from numerous passing motorists.
The children of the Muslim community played a central role in creating excitement and involvement in the vigils. The children also displayed and took out a "funeral" of Gaza to highlight the genocidal attacks of Israel on defenseless Palestinians.
The vigils were reported by an African-American publication known as the Carolina Peace Maker.

The Islamic Center of the Triad [ITC] has set a good example for U.S. muslims to follow. Islam does not separate "religion" and "politics." it is a DEEN or complete way of life. [Jamaat al-Muslimeen's National Islamic Shoora leader Imam Badi and his committee of youths and elders deserve congratulations for this successful effort.]

100 Books Project: Malcolm X Autobiography will be Free in March too!

Although we recommended Malcolm X's book to be read only in January, it will be mailed to those who request it in March too. [We got a modest donation for this.] It is a truly inspiring book about the greatest Muslim and human being America produced. Here you see Allah's miracle at work through America's miasmic racial mess. Most amazing is the martyr's progress towards the Sunnah of the best of men, Muhammad, pbuh.

Malcolm gave up this world for the Truth. Can you imagine an American without property and possessions but honored like a sage by Arabs and Africans alike! Owing to his sacred blood, today Islam in America is strongly rooted.

Read the sections on his visit to Makkah. Here is the glory of Allah's living miracle, a man from America almost like Bilal, r.a. Such a humble man yet so radical and so fearless. Surely the Muslims of America are blessed that Malcolm X [Al-Hajj Malik Shabazz] sacrificed himself for the truth.

[Imam Ali Siddiqui's groundbreaking Da'wah booklet Malcolm X: Martyr of Islam in America will be sent as an added bonus to readers who promise to return the Autobiography after reading it.] [Jamaat distributed Br. Ali's booklet by the thousands in America and in communities overseas.]

Follow up Outreach to the Arab Muslim Community in Baltimore: Summary of anti-Rushdie Rally

March 7, 2008: After Juma' salat at the masjid in northeastern Baltimore, a document was given to 92 people. It gave a summary of the Jamaat rally against Rushdie and Zionism on Feb. 26. It included an article titled "Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton: U.S.Muslims have their own Agenda" as well as a report on Israeli-India cooperation in weapons production plus a brief on Mark Weber's analysis titled "The Nuremburg Trials and the Holocaust.This is a largely Arab American community.

The people are very laid back as the mosque organizers have a sufiistic bent of mind. The weather service had forecast heavy rain but the literature was quickly distributed before the downpour began.

Revolutionary khutba: One in a Series: Outreach

Muslim Self-Criticism is Required for Islamic Transformation

Dr. Kaukab Siddique gave his latest Juma' khutba and led prayers at a small masjid on the west side of Baltimore. Here are the main points of the khutba for wider distribution, inshallah:

Text: "Among mankind are those who say 'we believe in Allah' but when they suffer affliction in [the cause of Allah], they treat men's oppression as if it were the Wrath of Allah! And if help comes from thy Lord, they are sure to say 'we have always been with you.' Does not Allah know best all that is in the hearts of all creation! And Allah most certainly marks out those who believe and as certainly those who are hypocrites." [The Qur'an 29:10-11.]

* Our movement towards authentic Islam cannot work if we do not realize our own weaknesses.

1. "From what is left by parents and those nearly related, there is a share for men and a share for women, whether the property be small or large: a determined share." [The Qur'an 4:7]

2. After listing all the shares and blessing those who obey, the Qur'an says: "But those who disobey Allah and His messenger and transgress His limits will be consigned to a Fire, to abide therein: And they shall have a humiliating punishment." [4:14]

3. Addressing men, the Prophet, pbuh, said: "The world is good [in many ways] but the greatest good of this world is the virtuous, pious woman." [Hadith, Sahih Muslim, narrated by Abdullah ibn 'Umar, r.a.] Addressing women and their parents, the Prophet, pbuh, said: "When you get an offer to marry a man who follows the Deen and has good morals/decent behavior, accept him, otherwise the world will be filled with tumult and disruption." [Hadith, Jami' Tirmidhi]

4. "O mankind! Your Lord [Allah] is One and your [original] father is one. Beware! No Arab has superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab over an Arab; no Red ['White'] person has superiority over a Black person, nor a Black person over a Red one, except in Taqwa [God-consciousness and good behavior]. Have I given you the message? They [the assembled Sahaba and new Muslims] said [in unison]: surely you have, o messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be on you." [Hadith, Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, from the khutba at the Farewell Pilgrimage of the Prophet, pbuh.] [Notice the great integrity of the Hadith scholars that Imam Ahmad, himself an Arab, diligently collected this Hadith which struck down the thousands of years of Arab sense of racial superiority.]

5. "... Haya [sexual modesty] is part of Iman [faith]...' [Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira, r.a., collected in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.]

6. "All ate as One, and slept as One. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the One-ness of man under One God.' [p.337] "... praying, chanting pilgrims moving seven times around the Ka'aba... The first prostration, I prayed the Qur'an verse: 'Say He is God, the one and the only'; the second prostration: 'Say: O you who are unbelievers, I worship not that which you worship..." [pp. 343-344] "They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most....I said: 'The brotherhood! The people of all races, colors, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God.' " p.345 [The Autobiography of Malcolm X.] [Emphasis in the original.]

Letter: Re: Here is my pick: an Excellent book on Malcolm X and the unusual rahjx.net web site

assalamu alaikum
I want to submit my book pick :

The Black Book: The True Political Philosophy of Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Paperback)
by Y. N. Kly (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Book-Political-Philosophy-Malcolm/dp/0932863035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205025671&sr=1-1

In this book he lays out the 9 stages of revolution.

http://rahjx.net/links.htm
Webmaster

MY VISIT TO SPAIN: Memoirs of a Dedicated Teacher of Islam

[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York] [Slightly Abbreviated.]

INTRODUCTION: Since the time I studied in the forties of the last century the history of Muslim's conquest of Spain and the epoch making role of Abdur Rahman Al-Dakhil, I had the fascination to visit the remnants of his empire in Cordoba and Granada. Later on when I studied the visit of Allamah Iqbal to the Cordoba Mosque in 1933 and the marvelous long inspiring poem he composed sitting in the shade of the Mosque, I made up my mind to see it sometime by myself its glory and the message it transpires.
Time passed on. I came to the USA and settled here for good. My grand son Dr Jameel Siddiqi is very fond of traveling and visiting historical cities of Europe and the Muslim world. He likes to travel in the company of older people like me. Last year, I visited with him Istanbul and this year I traveled with him on February 6, 08 to Spain along with his father in law, Br Alavi. It was a very good company to travel with. Jameel is well versed with the traveling manners and etiquettes and is fluent in Spanish. We left NY by Air France to Paris and from there to Madrid. We reached there in the morning of Feb. 7. 08.

Besides this historic background, I have a great interest to visit the Islamic Center of Madrid. It was built by Saudi Arabia in 1991 at the cost of 20 million dollars. I wanted to see its activities and envision: Is there any program in the Center to introduce and spread Islam afresh in the 21 century in Europe, the job which Ummayyahs, Abbasides and Ottomans could not do for centuries together at their zenith in spite of the fact that they had the means and the resources to do that? Had they all done their job well as obligation of their Iman, the history of Europe would have been quite different today? I had the expectation in mind that this onerous task could now be undertaken by this IC of Madrid. Let me see the brothers who are running its affairs and exchange views with them. They have the opportunity to prepare the team of Da'ees in Spanish, French, German and English to tour Europe with Dawah literature as their only tool. SA has the means to finance this most innocent activity to do from her Islamic Center, magnificently sitting in the heart of Madrid.

MADRID: Madrid [Majrit during Muslim period] is the capital and a historical city of Spain. It is the most modern city, full of gardens, orchards, beautiful well decorated buildings and humming with civic, cultural and commercial activities all around. The city has a large Central park as that we have in NY. We saw the ruins of a Muslim fort in the vicinity of the palace of the present King of Spain at the mountain top. Walking on the streets, we entered into to a squire size huge housing complex with spacious ground in the center for public entertainments, hotels, tourist shopping centers and sporadic musical concerts. We sat in the front of a running cafeteria and Jameel ordered for our launch. It was a dish of fresh shrimp cooked with rice but it had horrible smell of raw fish and I could not take it. I preferred to take dried bread with water. It was very delicious for me when I recollected the historical event when Caliph Omar (RA) visited Syria and was the guest one evening at the house of Ubaidah bin Jarrah (RA), the Governor and the military Chief of Syria. He served Omar (RA) with some pieces of dried bread and water to eat and said, "Ya Amirulmumeneen, this is my food." Omar cried. Since then, I was thinking to experience this kind of food of austerity. Allah (SWT) provided me this opportunity in Madrid and Alhamdulillah I will never forget the taste and deliciousness of that food ever in life.
In that complex, there was an Information Center for guidance of the tourists. We went there and asked an assistant to locate for us the Islamic Center in Madrid. He took a map of the city, underlined the area where we were standing and then pinpointed the IC and the route to go there. We took the map with thanks, got out of the complex, hired a taxi and proceeded toward the Center. But before getting out of the complex, I purchased a long size pencil and a T-shirt for my sweet Princes Zahra, the little cute daughter of my youngest son Tariq.

ISLAMIC CENTER OF MADRID: While proceeding towards the IC we found that there is an underground road system in the City that goes to different parts of the country. We traveled about half an hour underground and then came up in the daylight and soon entered into the compound of IC. It was about 4 PM when we reached there and to my ill luck, the offices were closed. Only Masjid was open and the cultural center. By chance I met a brother named Muhammad. I introduced myself to him and gave my visiting card. He said that offices are closed by 3 PM and you come tomorrow to see Dr Ibrahim al-Zaid, the Director of the Center. He also gave me his E-mail address and a brief sketch of Centers activities in the field of prayers, sermons on Fridays, Qur'anic sessions, Tajveed classes, matrimonial and burial arrangements. The Center has a mosque, a library and a lecture hall. This is the list of normal routine activities of Islamic centers around the world and it has no trace of Dawah activities on the lines I mentioned above. I wish the leadership of SA would have the vision to make the best use of the IC to fulfill the inherent mission of Islam in the West. [ Later on, I found that E-mail address given to me was not correct as my mail returned "undelivered"]

AN EVENING IN MADRID: During evening hours, we went to a big central place, a public park surrounded from all sides with tall buildings, practically all in equal size, height and shape. The park was humming and jam packed with people of different sex, age, taste and manners, wandering aimlessly in groups in an easy going style. It was a reckless wandering of the Western youth. We occupied an empty bench and felt rested a while. We offered our Maghreb prayers while sitting on the bench under very watchful eyes of the onlookers. With the setting of the sun, the second and fourth floor of each building was illuminated all around, presenting a memorable picture of the public park never to be forgotten. We were watching the movements of each group with appropriate comments. It was a vivid picture of the cultural "waste" that West presents today to the humanity at large. There was nothing to be imitated. It appears to be a total loss of youth of both genders. We had simple dinner in a restaurant and returned to hotel.

A MEMORABLE NIGHT AT HOTEL: We were staying in Hotel Carlton in the vicinity of Madrid Railway station. I am habituated to sleep on hard mattress but in the hotel it was a soft one. As such, I could not sleep. After tossing on the bed for about an hour or so, I got up at around I PM, offered my unfinished nightly prayers, sat down on a chair, stretching my legs on the bed not the body and started thinking over my past, present and future projections of life. I am often worried as how to use the remaining portion of my life known to Allah alone. Alhamdulillah, I am running eighty. Intellectually I feel very sound though physically, many body parts are "insisting" not to come along with me to share the burden of my life-long pursuit of Iqamatuddeen till the last breath of my life. I started thinking what more could I do in the most conservative expectancy of my life that cannot be more than a couple of years or so. "Wal Ilmu Indallah".
My inner self inclined me to plan as what to do now onward, I took a sheet form the writing pad of the hotel and started jotting down the projects to be undertaken henceforth on return to States.

WHAT TO DO?
* Completion of the impending Book – After Becoming Muslim –What Next?
* Muslim Ummah in a Mess – How to get out of it?
* Western Civilization – Where it stands today? [It needs total exposition]
* Muslims Through Crises – A process of Critical Evaluation of our Past, Present & Future];
*.Human Society Needs Justice & Peace: Who can deliver it and How?
HOW TO DO?
* Building the requisite Team of Da'ees in every country where Muslims live;
* Introducing & Preaching Islam as human's need;
* Producing issue-oriented Dawah Literature in different languages for mass circulation;
* Organizing the Institution of Zakah on Global level to help the suffering humanity;
* Opening dialogue with Judeo-Christian community for better understanding of each other and promoting the Abrahamic faith;
* Establishing Model Muslim Communities around the world to present a replica of Islamic system of life in the context of the modern world;
* Establishing an Institution of Fiqh to resolve the growing issues and challenges of modern age in the context of the Qur'an, Sunnah and Ijmaah of the Ummah.
The night passed on in thinking and planning what to do and how to do? I thought to make it an integral part of "My Visit to Spain" with the intention that some brothers/sisters may be thinking like that and would prefer to undertake it as the mission of their life to fulfill. What I am thinking in my humble way, others can build a movement to get the mission accomplished.

PROCEEDING TOWARDS CORDOBA: We were to go to Cordoba by train. We took our continental breakfast in the hotel, checked out in the morning hours of February 8, 08 and walked to railway station of Madrid which was just across the street. It is a huge complex with morning rush hours. Our seats were booked. Trains are most modern, speedy, neat and clean. We boarded in the train, walked inside to our allotted seats and train started for Cordoba on time, a journey of about 280 km. The country side was just beautiful, full of large agricultural farms and big gardens of fruits and vegetables but the train was fast and we could not enjoy it much. We reached Cordoba around 10.30 AM. Before going out of the station, I entered in a store with Jameel and Br Alavi, saw two beautiful Mufflers for girls and purchased them for my grand daughters. When I wanted more as I have seven of them she said, "No more". I decided to give them through "lucky numbers".
IN CORDOBA MOSQUE: After lodging in the hotel, we hired a taxi and proceeded towards the Cordoba Mosque. In Spanish mosque is called "MEZQUITA". This historical place is also called: "The Cathedral of Cordoba". The entrance fee is Euro eight per person and bears the emblem of "CATEDRAL DE CORDOBA [ANTIGUA MEZQUITA]. It is no longer the historic mosques of Abdur Rahman but predominantly a church with some signs of Masjid left here and there and that too are totally guarded with iron fences. You can only envision its grandeur and exquisite beauty through its marvelously decorated pillars, arches and Qur'anic verses written around them. Practically, entire Mosque has been turned into a Cathedral, the "Mother Church of Dioceses". You can go like tourist. roam about here and there, have some sighs of exclamation mixed with sorrow and recite "Inna lillahey wa Inna elahey Rajeoon". On both the flanks of the "Church' [North and South] wooden benches in a long row have covered the area for Christian prayers.

The Cordoba Mosque was the imagination of Abdur Rahman I on the pattern of the Mosque of Damascus which he was missing in the West. However, the Mosque went on progressing and expanding by subsequent rulers, Abdur Rahman II & III, Al-Hakim and Al-Mansur. A Rahman III ordered the construction of minaret which is now "embedded in the tower of the Cathedral". The final extensive expansion was rendered by Caliph Al-Mansur, adding eight aisles along the Eastern side of the Mosque including the courtyard. King Ferdinand III conquered Cordoba in 1236 and started the transformation of Masjid into church. In fifteenth century, the original palm trees in the courtyard were substituted by orange trees and that give its name now.
I had every intention to offer two Rakaah Nafil in the Mosque and read out the poem that Iqbal composed while visited Cordoba Mosque in 1933 but, unfortunately, there was no place for offering the prayers. With the Mashwarah [ consultation] of Br. Alavi, we went to church area which was covered with benches. We sat on one of them and taking the area as that of original mosque, offered our prayers and implored to Allah (SWT) to restore Muslim Ummah and the mosque to its original glories. I took out the poem of Iqbal from my inside pocket of my jacket and recited its concluding portion where he concluded with the following verse:
["Naqsh hain sub natamam khoon-e-Jigar key beghair <> Naghma hai sawdaey kham khoon-e-Jighar key beghair"- Translation: All the imprints are imperfect without the liver's blood <> All songs are uncooked insanity without liver's blood"]
However, while keenly busy in observing the "Mehrab" of the Masjid, to my utter astonishment, a guard approached me from behind and handed over to me that issue of "Messaque", Lahore of November 07 which contains the aforesaid poem of Iqbal saying: "This place is not for prayer. It is prohibited here". Perhaps I could not keep it back properly in my pocket. It fell there where I was sitting for prayers. The guard was watching my movements and delivered a stern message to me in disguise: It is no longer a "Mezquita."

MADINAT al- ZAHRA: After wandering for some more time in the "Mosque-turned-Church" we came out at he back of the "Mosque" to have a look of the of "Wadiul Kabir" [Guadalquivir] on the bank of which the Masjid was established. It is a picturesque site with rush green mountains in the background and beyond that was established the "Madinat-Al - Zahra" [City of Al-Zahra], four miles away from the Cordoba Mosque. We were on the road to go there but there was no taxi available. We walked for about a mile or so and then got the cab. We reached there in the evening. The lush green mountains were now on our back and this City of Zahra was in its lap. The city is now in ruins and only its archaeological remains are the attraction of tourists. Br Alavi and Jameel went to see the remnants of once most beautiful city. I could not go due to my knee trouble and engaged myself in the picture gallery in the information office.

The sun was about to set. Its glow made the entire environment spell bound. We kept our taxi in waiting as there was no chance to get one there. We returned to our hotel, had our dinner, walked awhile in the hotel lobby with Br Alavi and went to sleep after offering our Isha prayers as next morning we were to go Granada. The bed was up to my liking and I had a sound sleep, Alhamdulillah.

ALHAMRA PALACE IN GRANADA: It is at a distance of about 180 km from Cordoba and we had to return to Madrid the same day by train to catch our flight to Paris on way to NY. May Allah bless him! Jameel decided to hire a car and go there by road. We did it and enjoyed the side scenes more than any thing. While driving further south of the province of Andalusia of Spain, we saw the picturesque site of snow clad Mounts of Serra Nevada in the horizon. It presented a beautiful landscape from the mountain top to the valley where the Palace of Alhamra palace was built in the fourteenth century, presenting the most perfect situation from the point of location. It was built by red stones and that is why it is known as Alhamra. The palace is in ruins and Spanish people plundered its charm, beauty and richness. Dr Gustauli Ban of France has given a vivid picture of Alhamra's destruction and plunders in his book: History of Arab Culture [I have its Urdu translation Tamaddun-e-Arab by Sayed Ali Bilgarami].

A COUPLE OF HOURS IN PARIS: We hardly stayed in the Granada for about an hour or so and returned to Cordoba to catch our Train for Madrid as our seats were booked and we could not miss it. We reached Madrid four hour before the flight time for NY. We used this time to have a bird's view of Paris around Eiffel Tower. There I encountered a very sad incident of my life. A poor lady, perhaps from Albania approached us and Jameel gave her sufficient cash. Meanwhile, Br Alavi decided to have ice cream. The moment I had it in my hand, she again came to us and begged. I told her to get out. I immediately realized my mistake by recollecting: "Drive not away the one who asks" [93: 10] and begged her pardon and gave her the ice cream that I had in my hand, a token of compensation for my misbehavior with a needy sister. May Allah forgive me.!
CONCLUDING WORDS: This is what I have seen, felt and experienced during My Visit to Spain– Madrid, Cordoba, Granada and a bit of Paris. I have shared what happened to me. I have expressed meticulously what I envision and have elaborated what is my concern about Muslim Ummah as how can it now be resurrected to regain her past and lost glory amongst the community of nations. It would now be possible only by upholding again the mission of our life that was upper most in our mind when Tariq bin Ziad landed at the coast of Gibraltar and burned his boats as a symbol of determination. But it was simply for the conquest of land not of heart and mind. Now this mission is long over due. We have to undertake it as the challenge of our life and fulfill it in the Continents of Europe and America with the same determination that Tariq displayed but now in a different perspective as envisaged above.
May Allah give us Tawfeeq, courage and means to fulfill it within a foreseeable future! Amen
Shamim Siddiqi
WWW.dawahinamericas.com

Egypt walls up Gaza border

By ASHRAF SWEILAM
Associated Press Writer
RAFAH, Egypt (AP) -- Egypt is building a 13-foot high concrete and rock wall interspersed with watch towers along its narrow boundary with the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas militants from breaching the border, an official said March 6.

The wall, set back nearly 35 feet from an existing metal barrier, has guard towers every 100 yards. With it, Egypt hopes to prevent any future breaches like one in January when Palestinians broke through to escape an Israeli blockade, a security official said on customary condition of anonymity.

India Tries to Link Muslim Students to "Terrorism"
Medressa Convention in Lucknow Opposes Anti-Muslim Discrimination, Condemns Violence
K Hamza [India]

In recent months, hounding of some Muslim professionals, Doctors, Engineers and academics in Indian cities by the police, the intelligence agencies and bureaucracy in the name of "Islamic Terrorism" has gained momentum. A recent case in point is the arrest of a Bangalore-based software engineer, Mohammed Yahya Kammakutty alias Yahya Khan (32) for his suspected terror links, who is said to be a top functionary of the proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for the last eight years. Investigation revealed that his contact with SIMI started while he was studying at the Regional Engineering College in Calicut, Kerala.
In a swift operation following Yahya's arrest, the Corps of Detectives (CoD) sleuths have arrested several other SIMI suspects, Ghouse, Asadullah Abubacker, Mohammed Asif and their associates including four women across the Karnataka State border. Yahya and Mohammed Asif, a final year MBBS student in Hubli were under the surveillance of the intelligence agencies and the Bangalore police since the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science in December, 2005. Sources said these students had been attending Qur'an study classes organized by SIMI. The Police are on the lookout for more SIMI activists for their suspected role in recent terrorist attacks at Makka Masjid in Hydrabad and Uttar Pradesh States by intercepting their satellite phone calls and emails.
It was in the wake of 9/11 terrorist attack and President Bush's "War on Terror" that succumbing to the US pressure the Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) included SIMI in the terrorist list and imposed ban on its activities. The imposed ban was to expire on February 6, 2008, but the Central Government decided to continue the ban on SIMI. The ban had been condemned by Muslim organizations as it appeared discriminatory to Muslims, while no ban on the Hindu fascist organizations like the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS), as it had been involved in various terror related incidents in the country. Further it gives arms training to its cadres.
SIMI was founded in 1977 by the students of Aligarh Muslim University in India. The organization has a good record of moulding students in the right Islamic spirit through the activities of seminars, debates, scholarships, publications and character buildings. They had protested against injustice and oppression of the downtrodden communities in India. It declared its objective as, "Allah's pleasure through re-construction of human life according to principles given by Allah and His messenger". The reason for government's provocation is the term "Jihad" mentioned in its constitution, which was misinterpreted as "war against infidels" by enemies of Islam.
In the wake of series of bomb blasts during 2004-2006, SIMI was allegedly involved and its cadres were arrested.. But the activists were acquitted or released on bail by court for lack of evidence.
On Monday, 25 February an anti-terrorism convention was held at Darul Uloom, Deoband in Lucknow by representatives of some prominent Muslim organizations and about 6,000 madrassas from all over the country, condemned harassment and discriminatory arrest of Muslim youths under suspicion of terrorism. The convention has condemned all types of terrorism committed by people irrespective of religious organizations in the country. The religious heads who attended the Convention pleaded the Muslim community to abstain from destructive activities and remain calm and maintain perseverance. It appealed to "all Muslims to continue, as they always did in the past, their loyalty towards the dear motherland and love and respect towards humanity". But the convention has expressed serious concern on "marginalization" of Muslims by the print and electronic media, in persuasion of the West, particularly the US. It is they who coined the term "Islamic Terrorism". The Convention criticized the West's double standard on democracy and human rights in the case of Israel, Palestine, the Hamas, Iraq and Afghanistan.
General Secretary of the All-India Milli Council Manzoor Alam demanded a judicial commission to conduct an open hearing on the arrests made in the last 15 years in the country. The Hyderabad-based assistant general secretary of the Muslim Personal Law Board, Abdul Rehim Qureishi, said allegations of terrorism were meant to break the confidence of Muslims. The convention demanded a White Paper on fake encounters and urged the government to release the innocent Muslims being held under Police custody on charges of terrorism. Equally bewildering is the government's callous indifference to the anti-terrorist cells' which indulge in fake encounters in which innocent Muslim youths are being killed as terrorists. Such instances are aplenty in Jammu-Kashimir.
More obvious is the pathetic truth that most of the terrorist acts committed in different parts of the world are the handiwork of organized crime syndicate, which indoctrinates and gives training to some lured psychopaths and maniacs with suicidal tendencies, who are ready to do any daredevilry, oblivious of the consequences and damage to humanity. Muslim youths should not be trapped in such vicious network, or not to get swayed by the communal rhetoric of anti-national elements; instead their nerve, verve and resolve are needed in eliminating misconceptions about Islam from the collective psyche of the people. Remember what Holy Qur'an says, " When it is said to them "create not disorder on the earth", they say " we are only promoters of peace". Beware it is surely they who create disorder but they do not perceive it". (Chapter 2, V 11,12).

2008-03-11 Tue 05:20:08 cst
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