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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Jamada al-awwal 7,1431/ April 22, 2010 # 17


A beautiful and inspiring glimpse of Masjed al-Aqsa. Please scroll down.



New twist in the saga of five US Muslims handed over by CAIR to the oppressors. The man who defended them, Khalid Khwaja, has himself been kidnaped. Pakistani regime hand is suspected. Dawn and other regime papers have spread a disinformation blanket. Scroll down for latest.



From Imam Badi Ali [National Islamic Shoora] Jamaat al-Muslimeen

Spotlight #1: It is said that you are what you eat. Similarly it is true that you are what you READ, and you are what you WATCH, and you are what you HEAR.. Think about it. Do you read the Qur'an and the Hadith? How much? Do you watch Islamic videos or only corporate TV? Do you hear Islamic songs and nasheeds or only secular daily chatter? Difficult questions but very important.

Spotlight #2: Israel is directly responsible for the sanctions on Gaza, but Muslim and Arab regimes are also responsible. Which government has taken action to break the sanctions? Why the silence? The people are also responsible. Why is public pressure not exerted on the Arab governments? Why are our people so comfortable? We should understand that if we do not care ENOUGH to change the Gaza collective suffering, Allah will punish us.



A Note on Tariq Ramadan by Imam Badi Ali: Much is being made of the arrival of Tarq Ramadan in America. He is living off the name he gets from being the grandson of Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Most people do not know that not much is left of the Brotherhood movement. After its alliances with the dictator of Egypt and the King of Jordan, it is only a social reform movement, not an Islamic movement as it was meant to be by Syed Qutb [shaheed] and others.

Tariq Ramadan's teacher is Jamal al-Banna, a misleader and an activist for the wrong causes, a "liberal" in the sense of being a westernizer.

Tariq is being presented as a celebrity and a bridge between the East and the West. In fact he treats Islam not as a revealed religion with the ABSOLUTE TRUTH but as if he is a western diplomat trying to please everyone. Tariq Ramadan is a man with two faces. He is said to be the Muslim Martin Luther, which amounts to the blasphemy that perhaps Islam is not the ABSOLUTE TRUTH but needs reform.

Muslims should beware. This man is a tool of the new "Islam": being fabricated in America. It is not surprising that the closest supporters of the White House are welcoming him. Bush had blundered in keeping him out. Obama is much slicker and sees in Ramadan the Muslim who is suitable for American policies to infiltrate the Muslim world.



See also a brief note on Tariq Ramadan and Prof. Akbar Ahmed below from Br. Yusuf Irelandi in Tennessee.



Jamaat al-Muslimeen [News]

Non-Violent Resistance to Oppression

P.O. Box 10881

Baltimore, MD 21234

Outreach: "Unite Against Zionism" Literature given to 142 Muslims

On April 16, 2010 Islamic Shoora resolutions were distributed after Friday prayers at Masjid Rahma in Baltimore. The resolutions focus on the death grip of Zionism on America's throat. Jamaat al-Muslimeen will help the people of America, inshallah, to understand, oppose and defeat Zionism.

Censorship of Gaza genocide shows that Israeli agents in America can hide even the most blatant acts of Zionist terrorism, says Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Shoora.

Resolutions against the bombing of Pakistan and the moves against Somalia, Sudan, Kashmir and Chechnya were also distributed.

Most of the people here are Indo-Pakistanis and Africans. The crowd was large and many could not be reached.



Dr. Siddique's Latest Juma' Khutba

Why is America in such a mess?

Zionism is Eating Away at the Heart of America: Churches are Helpless. Adultery, Fornication, Homosexuality, War, trivia are Extolled by Israel-Firsters.

Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen is a small community center in the heart of Baltimore looking for peaceful means to change the social system within which it gives the Islamic message. The main points of Dr. Kaukab Siddique's latest khutba at this masjid are summarized here for distribution in the Muslim communities of America:

Text: "Think not that Allah does not heed the deeds of those who do wrong. He but gives them respite against a Day when the eyes will fixedly stare in horror." [14:42]


From Br. Yusuf's Facebook [Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Tennessee.]

Who Gave Prof. Akbar Ahmed the right to make Peace with Jews?

Tariq Ramadan is a Zindeeq

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2008/04/An-Olive-Branc-From-Muslims-To-Jews.aspx
www.beliefnet.com


In reply to a question from Sis. Tonya:
Yusuf Padraig O'Corragain El-Irlandi
Hello Tonya, yes, absolutely, these signers [of a letter seeking peace with the Jews] would fall under the catergory of boot licker, uncle tom, or just misguided. The only thing a Muslim should call for is the total dismantlement of Israel (peacefully of course), return of the stolen land, and reparations. For one, the opening ayaat of the letter (Qur'an 2:62) has been abrograted, ...
secondly, there is no dialogue with an oppressor. The problem is clear; why does everyone try to not recognize the elephant sitting in the middle of the room?! It is like our [economic] depression that we are in... we are trying to find all these ways to end it, when all we have to do is end the two wars. We would be out of debt in a month!

Also, Tariq Ramadan is what you call a zindeeq. True, Muslims and jews and christians all lived in peace and Muslims enforced freedom of worship and protected them, before the balfour declaration. There can be no peace without equal rights and justice.

Eyewitness Account : Masjed Al Aqsa, the grey lady of Palestine!

http://asqfish.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/the-grey-lady-of-palstine%E2%80%A6%E2%80%A6%E2%80%A6%E2%80%A6/


I had never thought of her as such..........Masjed Al Aqsa as the grey lady of Palestine!
I am on the bus from Jericho on the West Bank to Jerusalem, clicking photos of every signpost that says Jerusalem. I have no idea what to expect. but cannot contain my excitement. I can feel the suppressed excitement laced with nervousness in my fellow occupants of the bus. Twenty-one young tourists from our group have been detained at the Israeli/Palestinian border by Israeli immigration for no specific reason. We are told it is just a "drag my feet" policy of the Israelis which particularly seems to come into play when processing young Muslims under fifty years of age who are desirous of praying at Masjed Al Aqsa.

One of the Israeli settlements on the hills around Jerusalem

Thus we are on our way from Jericho to Jerusalem. As we weave in and out of lanes on the highway, passing the hills of the West bank I notice each hill surfeit with entire complexes of buildings separated from the West Bank Palestinian towns by high walls. These mini cities surprisingly connect directly to the interstate highway going to Jerusalem..........odd........ I think, and do not at first connect these hilltop-building complexes with the much maligned house robbery based "Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands".
The bus exits the interstate and the driver says "Allah o Akbar." I turn to look at my left.........the stunning panorama spread before me is the city of Jerusalem with its two shining jewels, the glistening golden Dome of the Rock and besides it the Gentle Grey lady of Palestine, regal in demeanor.
I am speechless and before I can say a word, there is a dip in the road and the panorama disappears..........there is a collective sign of disappointment from each person in the bus. " We will see it again soon" reassures our guide.
Ascending to the Mount of Olives the bus stops and we make a running exit. The streets are packed with tourist buses and pedestrians, and the bus cannot wait there. It is Asr and only the Thursday before Good Friday.
Bait Al Maqdis is waiting just around the corner and yet we are unable to get to it just yet; more patience is needed!

We go into the mosque where Salman Al Farsi a Sahabi from Persia lies buried.........I think of his search for the truth that took him from the temple of Fire in the heart of Persia where his father was the chief "keeper of the fire" to lands faraway as Medina. He, stopping and serving in many other lands, searching...searching for the truth! Undergoing human bondage, servitude and finally reaching Medina to be enslaved by a Jew. He, still looking to confirm that the man who is claiming to be the Prophet of Allah truly fits the description he has been given...
I think of him here, thousand of miles from home and away from his beloved Medina; he lies buried near the heart of Jerusalem on a hill that overlooks Bait Al Maqdis...........
I must be patient I tell myself; my time too will come when I pray in the Bait Al Maqdis, but for now I must prepare for Asr prayer in the Masjid of Salman Al Farsi.
After prayer it is an unsaid hurry and everyone is out efficiently.........every foot hurrying to the Mount of Olives to catch a glimpse of one of the holiest city for all the monotheist religions of the world.

I am at the embankment and there in front of me in the evening declining sun she stands a little back from the sparkling golden dome of the Rock.
Regal, holding out her arms to all, inviting all to come pray, offering to hold the afflicted the grieved and the injured close to her bosom and bring them the peace that only being in the Haram can bring.
Her grey dome is outlined by the evening sun and at her feet are little people, chiseling away. They are members of the "chosen people" greedy to find more than what she has to offer..........
They are calling us to the bus as I take my last picture and hold my first glimpse of the Grey Lady of Palestine in my heart. I turn quickly to join my colleagues on the bus and fall on the steps, bruising my knee and stubbing my toe in the process. I pick myself up and limp on to the bus. I feel I have paid my sadaqa for my joints for this evening.
And thus is my first glimpse of the Masjid Al Aqsa and the entire area around it that is called Bait Al Maqdis.



War Related News

Rift in Kyrgiz Views [With thanks to Sis. Hamdiyya, Jamaat al-Muslimeen]

New Kyrgiz Comment on US Air Base and Low Moral Values in US Policies

By YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 17, 8:39 am ET

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - A top official in Kyrgyzstan's interim government told The Associated Press on Saturday that a U.S. air base supporting operations in Afghanistan is "not justified," the first sign of significant divisions over the facility.

Azymbek Beknazarov, the acting prosecutor general, is deputy leader of the interim government and is likely retain a position of power when the permanent government is formed, giving him significant sway over the Manas base.

Since a bloody uprising that culminated in the toppling of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the interim government's leader has announced the Manas air base can remain open for a year after the lease expires in July.

Beknazarov and others in the interim government charge the U.S. with ignoring their oppression when they opposed Bakiyev because it wanted to protect Manas.

"All the Americans care about is that the military base stays," Beknazarov said. "They forgot about freedom, about democratic values. They forgot about Kyrgyzstan — they are only looking at their military base."

"In my opinion, the presence of the Manas center is not justified," he said.

Beknazarov declined to comment on whether he or anyone in the interim government will attempt to initiate the closure of the base. The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek declined to comment.

At Bakiyev's presidential compound near the southern village of Teyit, special forces on Saturday cordoned off the area to allow prosecutors to enter and search for weapons.



Associated Press writers Peter Leonard in Teyit, Kyrgyzstan, and David Nowak in Moscow contributed to this report.


Re: Violation of Afghan Children by NATO's Allies
What you Do to Others, you do to Yourself
by Sis. Sofia New York city]
To the "usual" deadly weapons of war in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been added "weapons" of moral corruption to contaminate and destroy "the enemy." Some might argue that this is nothing new during war-time. Some others might argue that the Afghan warlords have a tradition of using boys for sex.

But the current United State armed forces have been alleged to be moving around Afghanistan with bags full of millions of dollars to pay off criminals such as Afghan warlords and to pay salaries to the Afghan soldiers who are being "trained" by the U.S. army. This further strengthens these Afghans criminal elements (and perhaps even some "embedded men" in foreign armies currently stationed in Afghanistan) to commit crimes of buying and selling helpless Afghan children for homosexual sex.

If these strategies of the U.S. armed forces are being carried out "knowingly and deliberately" could they not be considered as "aiding and abetting" and therefore deemed as human rights violations, and war crimes, and violations of international law?

There are victims on all sides—the innocent Afghan civilians whose homes and way of life are being bombarded from all sides, many U.S and NATO soldiers who are being used to wage a war that is becoming increasingly meaningless and bizarre, and the American taxpayers who are being forced to pay the cost.



HADITH studies

Muhammad's (pbuh) History-Changing Decision on Captive Women
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
Associate Professor of English & Mass Communication

[In this posting I look at an attack on Hadith by a person named Shahid Mahmud which he wrote on line in support of a person named Asif Iqbal.]

Shahid Mahmud quotes this hadith:

"From Anas:
The Prophet stayed for three days between Khaibar and Medina, and there he consummated his marriage to Safiyya bint Huyai. I invited the Muslims to the wedding banquet in which neither meat nor bread was offered. He ordered for leather dining-sheets to be spread, and dates, dried yoghurt and butter were laid on it, and that was the Prophet's wedding banquet. The Muslims wondered, "Is she (Saffiyya) considered as his wife or his slave girl?" Then they said, "If he orders her to veil herself, she will be one of the mothers of the Believers; but if he does not order her to veil herself, she will be a slave girl." So when the Prophet proceeded from there, he spared her a space behind him (on his she-camel) and put a screening veil between her and the people. (Sahih Bukhari, Source, The Alim CD)"
And then adds these comments:
"Examination of this and some related Ahadith reveals:
  1. Captives of war were the property of Mohammed and his supporters. Institutionalized slavery was very much part and parcel of the Islamic emergence.
  2. Earlier, Suffiya Bint Huyai was about to be given to another Muslim as a slave. Mohammed chose her, and according to this report he 'manumitted' her before marrying her. Manumission, hence, is no more than elevating the stature of the woman marrying Mohammed, not an established moral principal. For had that been the case, Suffiya would not have been given to another Muslim earlier. Further, one wonders, what is the worth of this manumission if Suffiya, after taken away from another Muslim, is to become Mohammed's wife? Surely, that is an improvement for her, but not the freedom to choose.
  3. The most important point, and the one most relevant to this thread, are these magic words: ""If he orders her to veil herself, she will be one of the mothers of the Believers; but if he does not order her to veil herself, she will be a slave girl." There are some very sobering conclusions one can draw from this. First, manumission did not mean a thing and the very presence or absence of veil was to determine what happens to Suffiya Bint Huyai. Second, veil was required for Prophet's wives, not other women, especially those who were slaves - exactly the point Asif made."

HERE IS MY REBUTTAL OF SHAHID MAHMUD:
  1. Both the revelation of the Qur'an and the life of the Prophet (pbuh) [as adumbrated in books of Hadith] were part of a process of progressive Islamic development. These must be placed in context to be understood. Random quotation without context can only lead to misunderstanding.


  2. The CONTEXT here is that WOMEN CAPTURED IN WAR had no rights whatever. They were entirely at the mercy of their captors. That was true of the PAGANS of Arabia, the JEWS, the CHRISTIANS and the PERSIANS.


  3. In HADITH, only that which the Prophet (pbuh) said, did and approved of is relevant to what Islam is all about. This is an elementary rule which anyone studying Hadith should know. What a Hadith refers to other people having said, thought or referred to is NOT ISLAM but only the opinion of those people.


  4. Even in what the Prophet (pbuh) said, did and approved of, we have to see the level of development and its place in the emergence of the Islamic community.


  5. In the Hadith quoted by Shahid Mahmud (and other WAR RELATED HADITH), the Prophet (pbuh) REVERSED THE COURSE OF HISTORY IN THE TREATMENT OF CAPTIVE WOMEN.
The HIJAB was a SYMBOL of this EXALTATION of a captive woman.
This was indeed the TRANSFORMATION of deeply accepted ideas about captive women.
This is the SUNNAH of the Prophet, pbuh. Hazrat Ali, r.a., and other great Muslims followed this example to change the fate of captive women. Hence the rapid expansion of Islam as this revolutionary power smashed the slave empires of Persia and Rome after liberating all of Arabia from the dead hand of slave-holding tribes.
Interestingly, it was at Khaibar too that the Prophet, pbuh, finally banned temporary marriage which was deeply entrenched in the Arab culture during war time.

There is no place for slavery in Islam. It is against the Sunnah of the Prophet. Let's conclude with a revealing Hadith which I am sure the likes of Shahid Mahmud will never quote. Here is the Sunnah of the Prophet, pbuh:
"When the messenger of Allah, pbuh, passed away, he had neither a male slave nor a female slave...." [ Sahih Bukhari .]


Pakistan:

US-backed ANP terrorists' bomb Attack on Peaceful Islamic Gathering:
26 killed and scores injured.
Shamsuddin [Lahore]

April 19, 2010. Jamate Islami chief, Syed Munawar Hasan, deputy chief Prof. Khurshid Ahmed and Secretary General Liaquat Baloch have blamed the forces against Islam and Pakistan for the bomb blast at the JI rally in Peshawar and said the ANP government was directly responsible for the tragic incident.

In a joint statement here, they condemned the bomb blast and announced countrywide protest against the killings..
The JI leaders expressed deep grief over the martyrdom of JI deputy chief, Peshawar district, Haji Dost Muhammad Gull and 25 other JI workers in the bloody incident. However, they said the JI could not be cowed down through such tactics and it would continue its struggle for the solution of public problems at every cost.
The JI leaders said that the rulers were living in strong security cordons and had left the citizens at the mercy of the murderers.

They prayed for all those martyred in the bomb blast and for the early recovery of the injured. They also expressed deep sympathies with the bereaved families.



April 22: Syed Munawar Hasan has been receiving leaders of various Islamic groups at the JI headquarters who came to condole about the murder of peaceful JI workers in the ANP bomb attack. Among the leaders were those of Jamat ud-Da'wa and Hizbut Tahrir.



New Trend comment on murder of peaceful Islamic people in Peshawar at JI rally. : May Allah accept their martyrdom and help Pakistan to regain its Islamic identity. In the long run, JI will have to fight back. The murderers who rule Pakistan with full US backing know no decency or values. Our humble advice is that peaceful and unarmed rallies should not be held in Frontier Province. If they are held, police should not be allowed to come near and JI should provide its own security. The genocide General Kayani has carried out in Swat and other Frontier areas has enraged the people and sometimes they may fall into the government's propaganda and see everyone who holds a meeting with police protection as one with the government. There is a stage after which peace is not possible. Remember what happened when Maulana Maudoodi, r.a., went to Dhaka to create a peaceful solution. It was too late. His public meeting was attacked by Indian agents and misled Bangla nationalists. It is the same army committing similar crimes, this time in Frontier province as it did in East Pakistan [now Bangladesh].


From New Trend's Pakistan observer
Khalid Khwaja: Human Rights Advocate Kidnaped. Pakistan regime issues Disinformation

A great hope for human rights in Pakistan has himself been kidnaped. Khalid Khwaja is in the hands of an unknown group in North Waziristan. On April 19, the kidnapers issued a video showing Khalid Khawaja in a haggard condition, seemingly beaten and roughed up. A friend of his was shown with him.

The pro-government media carried out a thorough disinformation campaign on Khawaja. The video issued by the kidnapers claimed that they were demanding the release of three Taliban leaders in Pakistani custody, otherwise they would kill Khalid Khawaja by April 29.

[There are various lawless groups in North Waziristan which are allegedly used by the Pakistani military to commit crimes which the media then attribute to the Taliban.]

Soon after his kidnaping, the five young American Muslims whom he was defending were brought to court and accused of being in touch with a Pakistani terrorist group. Looks like the regime wants to act quickly against them.

Khalid Khawaja had become a thorn in the neck for Pakistani regime after he stopped the return to the US of the five American Muslims handed over by CAIR and MAS to the FBI and Pak police.

He also had the High court place a stop on the handing over of the three peace seeking Taliban leaders to the US.

To top it all he asked the High Court to judge the bombing of Pakistani villages by US drones as an international crime.

The regime wants to confuse everyone by claiming that the kidnapers are holding Khwaja hostage in return for the very same three Taliban leaders he was defending.

Pakistani regime is quite effective in disinformation.



With thanks to Sis. Hamdiya, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Charlotte, North Carolina

BBC Report: April 22

South Park creators warned over Muhammad, PBUH, depiction


South Park has a track record of causing controversy

"This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them," it added.
Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee

Islamists have warned the creators of TV show South Park they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. A posting on the website of the US-based group, Revolution Muslim, told Matt Stone and Trey Parker they would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh".
The Dutch film-maker was shot and stabbed to death in 2004 by an Islamist angered by his film about Muslim women.
A subsequent episode of the cartoon bleeped out references to Muhammad.
Drug-snorting Buddha
The posting gave details about a home Stone and Parker reportedly co-own.
It also listed the addresses of their production office in California and the New York office of South Park's broadcaster, Comedy Central.
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," warned the posting, written in the name of Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee.
Mr al-Amrikee later told the Associated Press the posting was not an incitement to violence. It had been published to raise awareness of the issue and to see that it did not happen again, he added.
This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them

A Comedy Central spokesman said the network had no comment.
In the 200th episode of South Park, broadcast in the US and UK last week, Muhammad appeared several times inside a bear suit. Figures from other religions were also depicted, including a drug-snorting Buddha and Jesus watching pornography.
Wednesday's 201st episode saw any spoken references to Muhammad bleeped out, while a prominent banner stating "censored" was used in the programme.
The images of the prophet in a bear outfit were substituted with Santa Claus in the same costume.
Speaking in an interview with the Boing Boing website before the 200th show aired, the South Park team defended the scenes.
"We'd be so hypocritical against our own message, our own thoughts, if we said, 'okay, well let's not make fun of them because they won't hurt us,'" said Parker.
"It matters to me when we talk about Muhammad that I can say we did this... and I can stand behind that," Stone added.
"I don't think it's going to change the world, but this is how it's got to be for our show."
In 2006, Comedy Central banned Stone and Parker from showing an image of Muhammad in an episode that was intended to be part of a comment on the controversy caused by the publication of caricatures of the prophet by a Danish newspaper.
An earlier episode, Super-Best Friends (2001), contained an image of Muhammad but passed without comment.
"It was before the Danish cartoon controversy, so it somehow is fine," Stone told Boing Boing.
"Then, after that, now that's the new normal. We lost. Something that was okay is now not okay."
Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous. The caricatures published in Denmark sparked mass protests worldwide.

2010-04-23 Fri 18:31:53 cdt
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