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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Safar 19, 1432/ January 24, 2011 # 4



Ya gotta be kiddin' #1

It takes $1 billion a year to run the White House! (Fox Television, January 23, 2011)



Ya gotta be kiddin' #2

Israel's "law" has studied the Israeli attack on a Turkish flotilla which was trying to take life-saving goods to Gaza. The Israeli "law" came to the conclusion that Israel did not break any law in the attack! (Turkey has condemned the verdict as "incredible.")



Jamaat al-Muslimeen NEWS

Be Productive as Muslims and Sources of Honor for all.

Have you ever met him? He loves God and he loves people. Imam Badi Ali frequently gives Juma' khutbas to several hundred Muslims in Greensboro, North Carolina. Here are the main points of his latest Khutba.

  1. Good intentions and sincerity (ikhlas) are required of Muslims [see Hadith].

  2. Make du'a to Allah and be on time. [Ref: 5 daily prayers.]

  3. Live an active life style, be healthy and strong. [Ref: Qur'an]

  4. Listen to your spouse and be supportive.

  5. Sisters, do not be on the phone or shopping. Greet your husband, make eye contact.

  6. Be a good listener. Do not take people for granted.

  7. Do not hold back expressions of love. It is wrong to think it's unmanly to express love.

  8. Be creative. Change will not come through mundane regular rat race.

  9. Engage in useful dialogue. Talk to people about the issues concerning Muslims. Talk about Palestine, Sudan, Chechnya, Kashmir ... otherwise people will get their info from unfriendly sources.

  10. Be highly motivated and excited about your Islamic responsibilities, be cheerful and willing to try new concepts.

  11. Dress up properly for the occasion. Be smart and look smart.

  12. Cleanliness is half of Islam. [Hadith.] Clean your workplace, the inside of your car, your home.

  13. Go the extra mile. Say thank you even for small deeds.


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

Spotlight #1: Do not allow Zionists to use the "minority card." Occupiers in various Muslim countries are using minorities to try and create new political entities. A Coptic activist from Egypt is collecting funds for Israel in USA.

Spotlight #2: Minorities in Muslim countries are our brothers and sisters. They should have equal rights. Allah created them as he created us. No harm should come to them.

Spotlight #3: Mental health services are extremely important in America as the nation is facing serious upheavals. The choice is between services and profits. If America cuts services but not the profits of the providing companies, the results will be serious. If the profits are cut and services increased, things could improve.


Community Service in Boston

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Unite Against Zionism: Jamaat al-Muslimeen Shoora's Call

A Message From Imam Musa in Washington, DC to All Muslims
"We have called out and continue to call out the Steve Emersons and Sean Hannitys of the world"

Our Responsibility

"O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: For Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do." (4:135)

Our Mission

"Who is better in speech than one who calls to Allah, works righteousness, and says, 'I am of those who bow in Islam'?" (41:33)

Our Pleasure

The Holy Prophet (saw) is reported to have said: "The best type of jihad is speaking a word of truth in the presence of a tyrant ruler." (Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi)

Urgent Appeal

For 30 years, Masjid Al-Islam has been carrying on a direct, face-to-face struggle against the monolithic Zionist American regime. We have survived sabotage, agent provocateurs, informants, destruction of property, obstruction of normal operations, and various schemes to destabilize our institution-building projects. Yet with trust in Allah (swt) and the Sunnah of His final Messenger (saw), we have been holding on with tenacity, endurance, bounceability, and stickability.

With a resilient spirit, we are constantly overcoming every obstacle placed in our way by Homeland Security, the NSA, FBI, along with every other oppressive organization. Our optimism remains at a very high level. We are those who make the best of it when we get the worst of it. We are an anti-Zionist American psycho-guerilla warfare movement. We use all available tools found in our environment in exposing the anti-Islamic, anti-human policies of this Zionist American system. Our informed attitude, orientation, and way of thinking come from 500 years of historical experience and memory, in which we have had direct exposure to the U.S.A. and its systematic commitment to injustice and deceit.

Imagination and possibility-thinking tell us that we must rise to the occasion and claim our own future with Allah's (swt) help. Our picture—our vision of the Islamic movement by 2021—sees Islam as the way of global transformation—not boxed within the limits of Islamophobia.

We have called out and continue to call out the Steve Emersons and Sean Hannitys of the world, with their anti-Islamic lies and half-truths! So far, they continue to hide in their towers standing over Zionist American media fortresses. In spite of their efforts, the people of this nation and around the world are beginning to see them as the empty cowards that they actually are. With the purpose of strengthening and consolidating our current efforts, we are in the process of opening up two offices of the Islamic Institute of Counter Zionist American Psychological Warfare—both in Washington, DC, and Oakland, CA. With your help, we can go all the way (insha'Allah). Send all contributions (in the form of check or money order) to: Masjid Al-Islam / 4603 Benning Road SE / Washington, DC 20019. Your generosity is highly appreciated, and we thank you in advance.

Please forward this information to your e-mail contacts, and to any other individuals and groups whom you feel would be supportive of this noble cause. This fundraising effort will, insha'Allah, lead to the breaking of the heart of American Zionism.
Jazakum Allahu khairan!

Imam Abdul Alim Musa
(202) 904-1152

imammusa2009 [at] hotmail [dot] com


Peaceful Islamic Power in Bangladesh
More than 2.5 Million Muslims Pray

AFP report. January 23, 2011

TONGI, Bangladesh — At least 2.5 million Muslims joined prayers on Sunday near the Bangladeshi capital as part of the second largest annual Islamic festival after the Hajj to Mecca, officials said.

The normally congested streets of Dhaka were empty as devotees left work to gather on the banks of the river Turag for the end of the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema, or World Muslim Congregation.

The gathering, at which Muslims pray and listen to religious scholars, was first held in the 1960s at Tongi, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Dhak'0'73865/a.

Dressed in traditional Islamic robes and caps, devotees set up prayer mats beneath a canopy stretching more than a kilometre while hundreds of thousands of people filled the open space available for the final prayer.

District police chief Mahfuzul Haq Nuruzzaman said at least 2.5 million devotees including thousands of foreigners attended a last prayer session lasting 20 minutes and led by a cleric from New Delhi.

"Devotees have filled up every space found on the roads, rooftops, boats and buses," Nuruzzaman said, adding the Bangladesh president and the prime minister joined prayers capping the three-day long first phase of the festival. Bangladesh is the world's third-largest Muslim-majority nation, with Muslims making up nearly 90 percent of its 146 million population.

Launched by Tablig Jamaat, a non-political group that urges people to follow the tenets of Islam in their daily lives, the event is second biggest global gathering of Muslims.

Gazi Mohammad Sanaullah, who edits a special bulletin on the congregation, said the organizers are holding the prayer meeting in two phases to accomodate more devotees some of whom travel from remote villages.

The three-day long second phase will start on January 28.



O Canada!

Momin Khwaja as Seen by an Honest Non-Muslim Observer
Why do Canada's Rulers Hate Muslims so Much?

Excerpted from Stephen Lendmen

Pakistani Canadians Mahboob Khawaja, his son Momin, and family were wrongfully targeted for alleged involvement in terrorism. Mahboob is an "academic specializing in Strategic Studies with special interests in Western-Islamic Civilizations, Change and Conflict Resolution."

While working in Saudi Arabia, dozens of Royal Canadian Mounted police arrested his family at gunpoint in Ottawa. They blew open his door, then searched his home lawlessly with no warrant and found nothing. At the same time, Mahboob was arrested in Saudi Arabia, jailed for two weeks, then released. The affair ruined his academic career as a professor of global politics, and Momin's as a software developer and free man.

In March 2004, he was bogusly accused of a UK bomb plot, becoming the first person charged under Canada's 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act. Though acquitted on that charge, he was held without trial for over four years, then convicted on October 29, 2008, and sentenced on March 12, 2009, after a bench trial, to ten and a half years (above time already served) for allegedly:

Appealing before Ontario's Higher Court from May 18 - 20, 2010, prosecutors restated all trial court charges, including the bogus UK bomb plot. The Lawrence Greenspon-led defense team argued for acquittal on time served.

On December 17, Momin was sentenced to life plus 24 years to be served concurrently, though innocent of all charges. The harsh Appeals Court ruling stressed "the unique nature of terrorism-related offenses," though none whatsoever were committed.

Based largely on thought crime emails, the sentence was politically motivated. Not a shred of evidence justified it. It's the wrong time to be Muslim in Canada and America, with prosecutorial injustice in both countries engineered to convict, regardless of innocence. A Supreme Court appeal is planned, but given Canada's climate of fear and jihad against Islam, victims like Momin stand little chance for justice.

On December 20, Richard Fidler's article headlined "Canadian courts embrace the 'war on terror,' " said:

A three-panel hanging Appeals Court wrongfully punished Momin for his alleged attacks on "Western culture and civilization," what he never did, in fact, or imagined. Yet his life now irrevocably has changed. Minimally, he faces another 10 years in prison before eligibility for parole. Waging war on Islam, Canadian courts rush to convict, replicating the same American injustices. Indeed, it's the wrong time in both countries to be Muslim.



Action Alert

Feb 15 Rally in Baltimore, Maryland

"Greg Berstein Soft on Jewish Hate Crime." Felony Charges Dropped
Israeli Military man & Jews Attacked Black Youth. Protest Jan. 24

Call Issued by: All Peoples Congress.
For more info call: (443) 909-8964

Emergency Press Conference & Protest
Monday, January 24, 2011
12 Noon - 1 PM

Gregg Bernstein, City State's Attorney Office
Mitchell Court House, St. Paul St. and Lexington Street

Press Conference and Picket Line will call for citywide protest on Feb. 15, 2011 when Werdesheim appears in court for misdemeanor charges.

On Nov. 19, a group of men from the Shomrim, targeted a 15-year-old Black youth from Northwestern senior high school who was simply walking from school through the upper Park Heights neighborhood.

Shomrim member Werdesheim, a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces and CEO of the Baltimore-based security firm Sayeret Operational Solutions, harassed the teenager, telling him "you don't belong in this neighborhood", then hit the youth over the head with a radio. Immediately other Shomrim members joined Werdesheim in the racist attack by kneeing him in the back, throwing him to the ground and breaking his wrist.

Werdesheim was originally arrested on five charges, including first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and false imprisonment. But as of January 20, 2011, the City State's Attorney, has dropped all felony charges leaving only misdemeanor charges. Eliyahu Werdesheim is scheduled to be in court on Feb. 15. We will be at the court hearing to protest.

Shomrim, has a five year-long, close knit relationship with the Baltimore City Police Department. This must be severed and Shomrim should be disbanded for promoting hate crimes and conducting vigilante style activities.

The contrast between Upper Park Heights and Lower Park Heights is glaring. Lower Park Heights has suffered from extreme neglect. The need for a jobs program, health care, and services for all must be addressed. The fact that Shomrim has a special relationship with the police department speaks volumes.

It adds insult to injury that now youth from Northwestern senior high school are being targeted and attacked. What they are saying is that Black youth and poor people should not walk in a rich predominately white neighborhood.

All who cherish and stand for justice, of all nationalities and religions, must say no to this racist attack! Please join us and other community groups and activists on Monday and again on Feb. 15. All organizations and individuals encouraged and invited.



Letter

What Future for the Muslims of America [Dr. K.S. in Jan 3 issue of NT. { ntma1368.htm } ]

Brother...the section on ...the future of Muslims in America.....a practical program... is excellent..MASHA-ALLAH MASHA-ALLAH may Allah ta'ala bless your efforts ...brings to mind the hadith... 'a word of truth in the face of a tyrant is the greatest jihad'....i don't remember if those are the exact words...

[Dr] Shaukat Khan

Charlotte, NC



Letter

Scholarly Correction on Hadith. It is Narrated by meaning not by Exact Words
Re: Dr. K.S. article on Hadith in January 10 issue of NT

Just a small point about your translation of "Narrate Hadith verbally from me"
for the phrase: Haddithuu 'Anni in the Hadith from Sahih Muslim:

"Abu Sa'eed Khudri narrates from the Prophet (PBUH): Do not write anything from me and whoever has written anything from me other than the Qur'an should erase it, and narrate hadith verbally from me: there is no harm in that (in Arabic, wa hadathu 'unni wa la haraj), and whoever deliberately tells a lie about me should make his place in hellfire."

Haddatha followed by 'An means :To relate of (someone); cite from (someone).

It was not a permission to narrate "Hadith" (the way they appear in the books),
but a permission to "Talk about the Prophet (SAW) in his absence about him,
or something that he did or told someone).

That was the reason the Prophet (SAW) added "Man Kadhaba 'alaiyya muta'ammindan..."
"whosoever tells a lie "ON ME" knowingly....."
You know that all Ahadith are: Hadith bil-m'ana (only meaning of what
the Messenger (SAW) might have said. Many Sahaba used to add: (Aw kama Qaala Rasul-ullah),
Ahadith are NOT bil-Lafz = exact words of the Prophet (SAW).
Despite tall claims about the memory of .... it is physically impossible to verbally repeat
exactly (in the same tone, etc.) what one has "listened to" from another person minutes ago, not to say of years later from the chain of the narrators.

[Dr] Omar Afzal

Ithaca, NY



Tunisia: Don't be Misled by Western Propaganda

Tunisia's Revolution Has Islamic Inspiration
From the Bastion of Secularism, Islam has Burst Forth, Victorious

By Bilal Abdelwahed

As-salamo Alaykom.

Please read the note provided below in the description. We are not endorsing the use of music or rap etc. But since there is a debate whether this is secular revolution or has Islamic elements, this sort of thing shows what the youth on the ground are concerned about.

http://nahdaproductions.org/in-focus/current-affairs/item/45-allahuakbar-song-of-the-tunisian-revolution-by-tunisian-musim-youth

"Allahuakbar!" Song of the Tunisian revolution by Tunisian Muslim Youth by El General. NOTE: This is not a Nahda Productions item and nor do we necessarily condone all the content and styles used. Rather we showcase this video which is all over the Tunisian Social media scene. It shows the raw love of the Tunisian Muslim youth for their islam. This is a sharp riposte to anyone who claims that the revolution has nothing to do with Islam. This is the CLEAREST answer possible: The youth here are talking about their love of islam, repeatedly say "Allahuakbar" and talking of Islamic liberation and jihad.

Video posted initially on Facebook

With thanks to Br. Abdul-Rashid Hamid, UK



Pakistan
Mass Prayer Gathering

Top Islamic Leader says Muslims Stand United Against Attacks on Muhammad, pbuh: Pope's Outburst Condemned. India's Role

By Sh. Amjad (Lahore)

LAHORE, Jan. 21: The Jamaat e Islami chief, Syed Munawar Hasan, has condemned the government's complete silence on the Samjhota Express fire despite Hindu extremist Swami Anand's confessional statement as also its failure in taking up the case of the Pakistanis burnt to death in the incident, at any international forum.

Addressing the Friday congregation at Mansoora mosque, he said Swami Anand had also confessed planning the Mumbai attacks yet the Pakistani rulers had not tried to shut the mouth of those who were blaming Pakistan for these attacks.
The JI chief expressed complete support for the KESC [electric company] employees and demanded their immediate reinstatement. He said, the mafias controlling all resources and flouting the country's laws had compelled the masses to take to radical measures as they did not expect any good from the rulers.

The JI chief said that in case the Tehrik e Tahafuz e Namoos e Risalat developed into a revolutionary movement, the people would feel honor in laying down their lives for this sublime cause.

He said the western world was demanding amendment in the Blasphemy Law only out of bias although their Think Tanks themselves acknowledged the Holy Prophet's greatness. It was only due to little reaction from the Muslim rulers on this sensitive issue that the US and its allies were repeating their demands.

He said if the secular and so called liberal lobby did not change its attitude and continued to encourage the blasphemers, a strong reaction from those who love the Prophet, pbuh, would be only natural. The JI chief said, it was an irony that in this Islamic country, the people supporting beards as a Sunnah of the Holy Prophet ( pbuh) were dubbed as fanatics whereas the so called peace lovers had shattered peace in the country and had least regard for the country's laws.

He criticized Islamabad's failure to condemn the Pope's outburst and the continued presence of the Vatican's envoy in the country. He noted that Egypt had not only condemned the Pope's statement but had also thrown out the Vatican's representative from their country declaring him persona non grata.

He announced a rally in Peshawar on January 23, to express solidarity with the missing persons' families and in support of the Blasphemy Law.



Our America
The Media in America: Selling Views, Calling it News
"... news anchors are no different than the pretty models used to sell other products"

By Professor John Kozy

Sometime in the 1960s, I took part in a university symposium along with three other faculty members—a political scientist, a historian, and a journalism professor. The topic was Freedom of the Press—Good or Bad.

During the sixties, the Cold War was being fought mightily. The Soviet Union's news agencies, TASS and Pravda, were continually attacked by the American "free press" as untrustworthy. A common claim was that a controlled press could never be trusted while a free press could, and my three colleagues on the panel supported that view. I did too, but only partially.

A controlled press, I argued, most certainly could not be trusted when reporting on governmental actions or policies, but I pointed out that much news is not affected by government, and I saw no reason to be suspicious of a controlled press' reporting on such matters. But I also argued that there was good reason to distrust the so called free press no matter what was being reported.

My argument rested upon the observation that a controlled press, being funded by its controlling government, had no need to attract readers while the so called free press had to rely on readers to remain economically viable. The free press had to market its wares in the same way that any retail company must, and one way to do that was to slant the news in ways that made it attractive to the news organization's target groups which, in a sense, biased all the stories the free press reported. And although the free press claimed to maintain objectivity by balancing the presentation, using two people of divergent political views, I pointed out that it was easy to select the two people in ways that made it seem that one side always prevails, the result being that the media divided itself into ideological groups, not even to mention that large segment of the press openly termed sensational-tabloid.

Although this symposium took place approximately half a century ago, my argument is easier to make today than it was then. The media in America today often openly declare their various points of view, from conservative Fox News to liberal MSNBC.

Distinguished from these "all news" outlets are the more traditional networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. These can be likened to department stores, in which various products are sold throughout each day, so called news being only one of them. These networks have their departments—the game show department, the reality show department, the sports department, the business department, the celebrity department, and, of course, the "news" department.

What either type of medium does, however, is similar. Just as Macy's sells products of various kinds, the news sells stories, and each outlet distinguishes itself from the others by the slant in which each frames their products. Just as McDonalds distinguishes its burgers from those sold by BurgerKing, ABC distinguishes its stories from those told by NBC. In short, in the free press, the news is sold by slanting it in ways that make it appealing to the target audiences, and the slanting often takes up more time than telling the story does. An anchor often tells a story and then so called experts are used to embellish it by providing the slant. Unfortunately, the "experts" used often know nothing more about the issues discussed than the average viewer/listener does. The news, which many believe should consist of facts, becomes mere opinion.

Everyone must remember that there is no Hippocratic Oath for journalists; a person does not have to swear to report events truthfully to be a journalist. In fact, less is required of a journalist than of the plumber you call to unstop your toilet. In short, today's American journalist can be likened to the teenager on roller skates who brings the hot dog you ordered to your car at Sonic or the clerk behind the counter at Macy's. So anyone who criticizes the mainstream press for not being truthful, neutral, or objective is misguided. That's not what the mainstream press sells and criticizing it is as unreasonable as criticizing McDonalds for not selling lamb chops.

That the media need to differentiate products from those of competitors also limits the kinds of stories that can be reported. If adding a bias to a story is difficult because of the story's nature, the "free" press tends to ignore it. For instance, when the Iranian opposition engaged in anti-governmental demonstrations after the last election, the American press made much of it because the story could easily be presented as an oppressive government's suppression of dissent. But the demonstrations against austerity policies taking place in Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, France, and Greece have gone unreported because those demonstrations cannot be presented as demonstrations against oppressive governments. Similarly, the killing of Christians in Iraq and Egypt have gone unreported because they cannot be slanted to make them seem justified. If slanted any other way, they would provide anti-war Americans with another reason to argue against the wars. Furthermore, it is difficult to sensationalize stories about foreigners Americans know nothing of. So, for instance, stories about the antics of Italy's Berlusconi would have little attraction to American viewers/listeners. Ever since it joined Mrs. Merkel's German government, the fortunes of the pro-business Free Democrats have been dramatically changed from a party that won 15 percent during the federal elections of September 2009 to below 5 percent today, because of an increasing negative attitude of Germans for business since the current economic collapse began, a story that cannot easily be told to Americans because of American pro-business attitudes.

Snardfarker.ning.com claims that there are five reasons that the mainstream media is worthless. (1) Self-Censorship by journalists who are afraid to do what journalists were put on this green earth to do. "There's the intense pressure to maintain access to insider sources. . . . There's the fear of being labeled partisan if one's bullshit-calling isn't meted out in precisely equal increments along the political spectrum." (2) Censorship by higher-ups. "If journalists do want to speak out about an issue, they also are subject to tremendous pressure by their editors or producers to kill the story." (3) To drum support for war. "Why has the American press consistently served the elites in disseminating their false justifications for war? One of the reasons is because the large media companies are owned by those who support the militarist agenda or even directly profit from war and terror (for example, NBC . . . was owned by General Electric, one of the largest defense contractors in the world -- which directly profits from war, terrorism and chaos)." (4) Access. "For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post . . . offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to 'those powerful few' Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper's own reporters and editors." And (5) Censorship by the Government. "the government has exerted tremendous pressure on the media to report things a certain way. Indeed, at times the government has thrown media owners and reporters in jail if they've been too critical." These reasons are true to some extent, but the ultimate reason is merely the need to grow the bottom line, to make money which is, after all, the reason the media exists in America.

The consequence of all of this is that Americans have become mentally isolated. The world beyond America's borders is an amorphous, unknown land. As Zbigniew Brzezinski has recently said, "most Americans are close to total ignorance about the world. They are ignorant." What people don't realize is how much of this ignorance is the result of the American "free" press' need to slant its reporting. Brzezinski finds this "unhealthy," and he is right, since America's "foreign policy has to be endorsed by the people if it is to be pursued." And this ignorance makes it easy for the government to convince the people that some disastrous policy is appropriate.

Americans who are critical of the mainstream press have an idealized notion of what the press is. They indict the press for not being what the press should be but is not and never has been. The press' need to sell its products makes it impossible to be what it should be.

Unfortunately, the alternative press has adopted many of the mainstream press' models. There are sites devoted exclusively to ideological stories—conservative, liberal, libertarian, pro and anti war, global warming, carbon taxation, and more—all in an attempt to attract readers. So the truth doesn't emerge there either. How then can we find it?

There was once a small segment of the "free" press called investigative journalism which has now become almost entirely extinct. Perhaps this has happened because of the difficulty of prying information out of governmental agencies and corporate entities. About the only way to get that hidden information is to have it leaked by some whistleblower to some site that can protect the anonymity of the leaker. WikiLeaks is a start, but many such sites are needed if all the lies and disinformation is to be revealed. And, yes, it is likely that governments and even corporations will create pseudo-leaking sites to try to obfuscate the truth revealed by any leaker. But if the sites can, as WikiLeaks does, disseminate actual source documents that any reader can judge the authenticity of for her/himself, much more of the truth will emerge than can emerge now.

Slanted journalism must, of course, be debunked. Many alternative journalists already do this quite well, but sites like WikiLeaks are also necessary to combat the increasing secrecy that even the "free" press must contend with. Slanted reporting must be debunked, and leaking and whistleblowing must be encouraged and protected if the truth is ever to get a change of emerging from the darkness of insidious secrecy.

America's journalists are not "newshounds." Although I suspect that each and every one of them will consider this an insult, they are nothing more than salesclerks, hocking the products their employers want to sell. The pretty faces—well at least not ugly—that now function as most news anchors are no different than the pretty models used to sell other products. The American "free" press is comprised of nothing more than a number of retail outlets which sell stories slanted to please their target audiences. As such, they exist merely to sell snake oil.

Reprinted by special permission



John Kozy is a retired professor of philosophy and logic who writes on social, political, and economic issues. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he spent 20 years as a university professor and another 20 years working as a writer. He has published a textbook in formal logic commercially, in academic journals and a small number of commercial magazines, and has written a number of guest editorials for newspapers. His on-line pieces can be found on http://www.jkozy.com/ and he can be emailed from that site's homepage.



US Mainstream Media Now Admit US Crimes Against Humanity.

US Treatment of Innocent Islamic Scholar in Guantanamo. Egyptian & Indonesian Security played a Criminal Role In "breaking" him.
The Qur'an Kept him Alive



Islamic Scholar's Experience Sheds Light On Counterterrorism Efforts In Wake Of 9/11 Attacks

By Carol Grisanti and Fakhar ur Rehman
NBC News
Updated 1/18/2011 6:19:28 AM ET
Courtesy Of "MSNBC"

Lahore, Pakistan — Saad Iqbal Madni looks decades older than his 33 years when he shuffles into the room, head down and eyes averted.

"There are a lot of times I start to cry. I still feel like I am in Guantanamo," he says, his voice cracking and hands trembling. "I have memorized the torture. I wake up in the middle of the night screaming."

It has been two years since the Pakistani Islamic scholar left Guantanamo Bay. After six-and-a-half years of imprisonment as a suspected enemy combatant he was released without being convicted and without an explanation. According to accounts by Madni and others, his experience involved torture, extraordinary rendition across several continents and five years at the U.S. prison in Cuba.

Mohammed Burki, Madni's physician in Pakistan, describes his patient as a deeply troubled man who is "still far far away from being normal again."

Madni now suffers from a catalogue of ailments, including migraines, paranoia, depression, panic attacks and temper tantrums, Burki told NBC News.

"Before I could treat any of those, I had to try and get him off the morphine," says Burki, who treated Madni for two years after his release. "The Americans had made an addict out of him."

The CIA and the U.S. military did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Madni's detention and subsequent release. The United States has explicitly denied torturing detainees.

While it is impossible to independently corroborate much of Madni's story, experts say it stands up to scrutiny.

"His account is so precise and so detailed and there are enough documents to back up everything he says," says Sultana Noon of Reprieve, a U.K.-based charity that represents prisoners who have been rendered and abused around the world.

Madni was part of wave of men scooped up in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. His story sheds further light on international counterterrorism efforts, when suspected terrorists were transported around the globe, held without trial and allegedly tortured at the hands of foreign intelligence agencies.

Some contend these practices continue.

"Anyone who is sporting a beard is a vulnerable target for the intelligence agencies to pick up," says Pakistani human rights activist Amina Masood. "We are talking about gross violations of human rights in this U.S. war on terror, disappearances, arrests, no courts to hear one's pleas."

"We are dealing with human beings here," she says.

Madni, who was employed to read the Koran during prayer times and religious holidays for the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, says he was picked up by Indonesian authorities during a visit to Jakarta in 2002.

Shoe bomb. Madni says he was told by the officials who detained him that they were acting on CIA instructions after he told an Islamic group that he knew how to make a shoe bomb. Madni denies the charge, saying that nobody ever even questioned him about the alleged comment during his detention.

Even American officials in Jakarta questioned the case against Madni, saying he was a braggart, a "wannabe" and should be let go, according to a New York Times article from Jan. 6, 2009.

Quoting two senior American officials, the newspaper reported there was no evidence that Madni ever met Osama bin Laden or had been to Afghanistan.

"But in the atmosphere of fear and confusion in the months after Sept. 11, 2001, Mr Iqbal (Madni) was secretly moved to Egypt for further interrogation," the newspaper reported.

Madni says he felt his life was over as soon as Indonesian intelligence officials took him from his prison cage to the airport.

"A person from Egyptian intelligence came, kicked and grabbed me and threw me against the wall," he says. "That's when I got a perforated ear drum and started bleeding from my ear, nose and throat."

Madni identified his captors as Egyptian immediately from their accents. He is fluent in nine languages, including Arabic, which he believes made him suspect.

"They stripped me naked, beat me and kicked me," Madni told NBC News. "I was shackled from my neck to my feet and taken to a plane. They put me inside a wooden box, on top of the box is a plastic sheet. My legs were up on my chest and I had to stay like that for an 18-hour flight to Diego Garcia. They didn't allow me to go to the bathroom. They put me in diapers and said, 'your bathroom is with you'."

Diego Garcia is a British territory used by the U.S. military.

Madni says he kept track of the passage of time because he recited the Koran by heart. Anyone who reads the Muslim holy book professionally knows exactly how long it takes to recite each verse.

In Egypt, Madni says his captors put him in a room that he describes as "smaller than a grave, so small I could not even lie down."



Ideology

Islam and Capitalism/Secularism are Not Similar
Islam Denudes the Essence of Capitalism

By Shamim Siddiqui
Long Island, NY

Written in response to an internet item by a Pakistani journalist who insists that
Islam is very close to Secularism and Capitalism.

I am sorry to see this article from a "free-for-all" journalist . It appears that he could not distinguish between human rights that are allowed by Islam and the political rights that are governed by the ideology of the Islamic state and hence are restricted in scope, intent and effect.

Similarly he is confusing between Capitalism and the human right to earn a respectful means of living at personal level. Islam allows an individual to earn to any extent but with the following conditions:

1. No fraud, no greed
2. No fraudulent practices
3. No exploitation
4. No hoarding and no adulteration
5. No interest

You tell me now what remains in Capitalism after these restrictions which are the trading currencies of capitalism. Capital is a means for rendering good to suffering humanity but capitalism is the symbol of greed, fraud and exploitation and is already at the verge of collapse due to its own inherent shortcomings.

My request to the writer is not to follow the path of free liberalism and spoil the fair name of Islam just out of "ignorance". In advocating the liberalism he is presenting a very disfigured and deformed face of Islam. Please have mercy on it. Only then Allah will shower His mercy upon the writer.

The instances of Omar, r.a. that he has cited pertain to human rights, justice and fair play. Unfortunately, they have been quoted out of context.

Hence that writer is totally wrong in passing remarks that Islam is a secular religion. Please be clear that Islam is a Deen and not a religion at all as Judaism and Christianity have become.

In view of the above discussion, please advocate the cause of Islam as a 100 % guaranteed system to get the human rights secured and enjoyed by all and sundry under its domain and the economic system that is based on Justice, equity and fair play with no exploitation at all at any level of human strata.



War News

Snippets of the War in Afghanistan: As Seen by the West

Two Poles killed during patrol in Afghanistan

01/23/11 IAR- A Polish soldier and a civilian medic have been killed as a result of a mine blast during a routine patrol in Afghanistan's Ghazni province. The explosion occured as a Rosomak armoured vehicle drove over a mine in the south-eastern region of the Ghazni province during a joint patrol with Polish soldiers and Afghan police forces. [Western media consider a person helping the military and travelling in an armored vehicle a "civilian." Civilians living peacefully in their villages and killed by NATO and Paki troops are justified as "suspected Taliban." --New Trend media monitor.]

Australian soldier wounded in Afghan blast

01/23/11 AAP- An Australian soldier has been wounded in Afghanistan after his patrol was hit by an improvised explosive device. A local interpreter died and an Afghan soldier was also wounded in the blast that occurred in the Chorah Valley region of Uruzgan Province on Saturday.

In Pakistan, Islamic hard-liners expanding their grip on society

01/22/11 Los Angeles Times- Above a dank, darkened teahouse pungent with the aroma of green chili peppers, a bright blue banner depicts a neighborhood cleric, Qari Hanif Qureshi, declaring: "Anyone opposing laws protecting the sanctity of the prophet Muhammad is condemned!"

Ten Killed including Taliban Commander in Khost

01/22/11 Tolonews- At least ten militants including a Taliban commander were killed in Afghan and Coalition forces' offensive in eastern Khost province Friday night, officials said. The joint operation was conducted by Afghan and Coalition forces on Friday night in Sabari and Yaqubi districts of Khost during which ten insurgents including a Taliban commander were killed in the operation, Isaf Media office told TOLOnews reporter on Saturday. [This is probably Kabul propaganda, the only NATO operation in a month. Vague and hopeful! --New Trend media monitor]

Roadside bomb kills Afghan policeman, nine others injured
01/22/11 dpa- An explosion in southern Afghanistan killed one Afghan policeman and injured nine others, official said Saturday. 'The blast took place in Nahr-e-Saraj district, where a joint operation of Afghan and NATO-led forces is going on,' provincial government spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.
ISAF Casualties

01/22/11 NTAO- Two International Security Assistance Force service members died following an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan today.

Army Casualties Identified

01/21/11 DoD- Pfc. Amy R. Sinkler, 23, of Chadbourn, N.C., died Jan. 20 in Baghlan province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked her unit with a rocket propelled grenade. She was assigned to the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Marine Casualty Identified

01/21/11 DoD- Sgt. Jason G. Amores, 29, of Lehigh Acres, Fla., died Jan. 20 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Navy Casualty Identified

01/21/11 DoD- Petty Officer Dominique Cruz, 26, of Panama City, Fla., was found during search and rescue operations Jan. 19 in the Gulf of Oman after being reported missing Jan. 18. Cruz was assigned as an Operations Specialist to the USS Halsey homeported in San Diego, Calif. Halsey is currently deployed to the Fifth Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations.

Pakistani tribesmen rally against US drone strikes

01/21/11 AP- Some 2,000 people in a Taliban-controlled region of northwest Pakistan demonstrated Friday against American missile attacks pounding the area, calling for an end to the strikes and the arrest of the U.S. officials behind them.

Bomb kills 2 guards protecting Afghan official

01/21/11 AP- A remote-controlled bomb attached to a bicycle exploded on Friday as the vehicle of a provincial leader in southern Afghanistan drove by, killing two of his guards. Amanullah Hotak, the head of the provincial council in Uruzgan province said he escaped injury, but that two other bodyguards were injured in the blast as well.

Bin Laden says France will pay for Afghan policy

01/21/11 Reuters- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden said in an audio-tape recording on Friday that the release of French hostages held in Niger depended on France's soldiers leaving Muslim lands.

ISAF Casualty

01/21/11 NATO- An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today.

Army Casualty Identified

01/20/11 DoD- Spc. Joshua T. Lancaster, 22, of Millbrook, Ala., died Jan. 19, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked the Kandahar airfield with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 184th Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, Fort Campbell, KY.



Hadith Studies

Is there any Validity to the Claims that Khalid ibn al-Waleed (r.a.) Acted unIslamically in the Case of Malik ibn Nuwaira?

by Kaukab Siddique, PhD

(In earlier writings I pointed out that Ali ibn abi Talib (r.a.) as well as those imams who got their wisdom from Ali (r.a.) did not insult, abuse, oppose or attack the sahaba of Muhammad, pbuh. Anyone who insults 'Ayesha, Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Usman (Allah be pleased with them) cannot claim to be a Shia of Ali (r.a.). None of the sectarians tried to answer me. Their response was limited to letters in which they tried to abuse me. So I will go on after quoting from some more of the people they are supposed to respect if they are Shias of Ali (r.a.):

"Abdullah bin Ahmed, in Zawaid al-Musnad narrates from Hasan bin Zayd bin Hasan: My father narrated from his father who reported from Ali, r.a., that he (Ali r.a.) Said: I was with the Prophet, pbuh, when Abu Bakr and 'Umar emerged from in front of us. He (the Prophet, pbuh, said: O Ali! These two are the leaders of all the young and old people of Paradise after the messengers and the prophets."

"Imam Muhammad narrates from Ibn Abi Hafsa that he said: I asked Muhammad bin Ali (Baqir) and Jafar bin Muhammad (Sadiq) about Abu Bakr and 'Umar and both said that Abu Bakr and Umar were 'Adil (just) imams; we love them and despise their enemies."
I responded to the abusive attacks on Khalid ibn al-Waleed (r.a.) by the sectarians. I pointed out that the title of Saifullah (sword of Allah) was given to Khalid (r.a.) by the Prophet, pbuh, himself. I noted out that though the Prophet (pbuh) rejected Khalid's (r.a.) action against the Banu Jadhima, he did NOT reject Khalid (r.a.) and in fact appointed him to command Islamic forces in various fields. The Prophet's (pbuh) understood Khalid (r.a.) as a powerful force for Islam and the greatest Islamic general of all times. The Prophet's (pbuh) vision was true and Khalid (r.a.) combined intense spirituality and tremendous military abilities to carry out some of the greatest victories of Islam, including Ajnadin which changed the course of history.

The Sectarians, however, are not true followers of Muhammad (pbuh). They are followers of Ali (r.a.) (an imagined Ali, r.a., whom they have manufactured through fabricated hagiography as a man who never made a mistake). Hence these people do not accept the Prophet's (pbuh) decision that Khalid (r.a.) is the sword of Allah. Again they are going against Ali, r.a., the real Ali, r.a., because when ALI WAS SENT TO REIMBURSE THE PEOPLE OF BANU JADHIMA , Ali, r.a., did not say a WORD AGAINST KHALID (r.a.). In fact Ali, r.a., never spoke against Khalid (r.a.) because he could see that the Prophet (pbuh) saw a great future for Khalid (r.a.) as the leader of Islamic armies. (Remember that in early Islam, one had to be a great Muslim to be put in command of Islamic armies. It was not a generalship which one got just by being a good soldier.)

Now, our sectarians, faced with Khalid saifullah (r.a.) at Ajnadin and the conquest of Damascus, started another smear campaign. This time their story is that Khalid (r.a.) did great wrong in killing Malik ibn Nuwaira. Some reports indicate that after killing Ibn Nuwaira, Khalid (r.a.) married his widow. Some sectarians are shameless enough to claim that this was rape! (Naudhoobillahe min zalik. Naqle kufr, kufr nabashad..)

Let us take our readers through the story of Malik ibn Nuwaira to help them see how the sectarians distort the truth and how they lie and fabricate in their attempts to abuse the Sahaba:

Readers should remember that the chiefs of Arabia wanted to crush nascent Islam through the "apostacy movement" which was led by a series of false prophets about the time Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) passed away. It was a time of great danger for Islam. Owing to the heroism and incredible military skills of Khalid (r.a.) the powerful uprisings were crushed. [Here we do not see Ali, r.a., taking any important role in the tremendous battles which took place.]

As the Islamic forces advanced, some of the rebels had second thoughts and started retreating. One such group led by Malik bin Nuwaira was captured by Khalid's (r.a.) forces. Tabari narrates in his Tarikh that "it was a bitter cold night" and Khalid (r.a.) gave the call to "warm your prisoners." In the idiom of the Banu Kinana, this also means "kill your prisoners." Among those killed was Ibn Nuwaira. In fact he was killed by Zarar bin al-Azur (r.a.), one of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh). Khalid (r.a.) rushed to stop the killing but it was too late. (According to Tabari.)

Owing to the honesty of our narrators, we are told that there was dissent among Khalid's (r.a.) troops concerning the incident. Abu Qatada (r.a.), one of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) was so distressed that he left the army without permission and went and complained to Abu Bakr (r.a.), the Caliph. Tabari also narrates that some of the troops claimed that Ibn Nuwaira had embraced Islam and hence his killing was doubly reprehensible. Others seem to have disagreed strongly. [It is this difference of opinion during war time which is honestly narrated by our historians and which provides fuel to the sectarians' fire.]

Tabari also narrates that Umar (r.a) objected strongly to the killing of Ibn Nuwaira and urged Abu Bakr (r.a.) to remove Khalid (r.a.) from command of the army. Abu Bakr (r.a.) listened to both sides of the story and ruled that Khalid (r.a.) had made a mistake but he accepted Khalid's (r.a) explanation and decided to keep him in command of the army. [Umar, r.a., based his position on one witness, whose witness was apparently not supported by the rest of the army including sahaba.]

[Incidentally this, among many other incidents, takes the wind out of the sectarian story that Abu Bakr and 'Umar, Allah be pleased with both, were always united and were a "party" among the Muslims. These were two powerful personalities and disagreed strongly on tactics.)

ABU BAKR's r.a., WISDOM in accepting Khalid's, r.a. explanation turned out to be right. In the tremendous battles which followed against the Banu Hanifa and Masailama kazzab (the false prophet), Khalid's (r.a.) achievements were so great that few human beings can be compared to him.
MARRIAGE WITH CAPTIVE WOMEN: The sectarians blame Khalid (r.a.) for marrying the widow of Ibn Nuwaira. Such marriage is taught by the Qur'an itself. See references to "those whom your right hands possess." The purpose of such marriages was to heal the wounds of war and to bring the "enemy" into the family. Khalid (r.a.) was only doing what Allah has permitted.

In one of the victories of Khalid (r.a.) against Masailama kazzab, a woman was captured whom hazrat Ali (r.a.) married and she became the mother of his son Muhammad who came to be known as Muhammad ibn al-Hanfiyya. (See Al-Bidaya wa un-Nihayya, vol.6., by ibn Kathir, chapter on Malik ibn Nuwaira).

Here we see Ali, r.a., doing something which the sectarians are blaming Khalid, r.a., for doing. Can these enemies of Islam still claim to be the followers of Ali, r.a.? In fact, according to the war laws of Islam, Khalid (r.a.) had more of a right to marry the widow of his enemy, because he was involved in that battle and hence the healing was even more important. Ali (r.a.) was not even in the battle.

I hope the sectarians, if they have any Islam in them, will apologize to the Muslim ummah.

2011-01-25 Tue 21:51:01 cst
NewTrendMag.org