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Rabi' al-Thani 1,1432/March 6, 2011 # 10
Spotlights from Jamaat al-Muslimeen Islamic Shoora leader in
North Carolina
Imam Badi Ali Warns: Hands off Libya! No Western
Intervention will be tolerated by the Muslim World.
Spotlight #1: People of Libya should reject outside
interference, whatever justifications are being made for it.
Libyan history itself is a learning experience The Italian
occupation came owing to internal divisions.
Spotlight #2: Revolutions by the people are underway but
forward looking and honest leadership is needed. Without
leadership, the enemies of the people will do serious harm.
Plans seem to be underway to divide Libya into two and Egypt
into three "countries." Sudan has already been divided.
Remember how Iraq was divided?
Spotlight #3: Religious fatwas against demonstrations are
absurd. Some religious scholars are saying "no" because
protests can lead to blood shed! Have'nt the people voted
against the oppressors, LIVE and ON CAMERA, in their
totality, be it in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya or Tunisia?
There can be no greater DIRECT VOTING. Those who give fawas
have forgotten the blood flow which went on for 30 years
under tyranny? Such fatwas are backing taghoot.
Spotlight #4: Pharoah's "scholars" justified his tyranny but
God destroyed him. His name was Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, but
Allah got him known only as Hosni Mubarak. No one called him
Muhammad, the beloved name of the Prophet, pbuh.
Spotlight #5: The Muslims' desire to confront oppressors is
a right given by Allah. Oppressors should always be seen as
defiled and dirty. Don't be fooled by their propaganda to
think they are superior people.
Spotlight #6: The Sign of the Oppressors is that they do not
rule by Allah's law.
Personal note on the 5 prayers: Every now and then I find
myself in a situation where I can't pray on time if I wait
till I find a place where I can do ruku' and sujood. We live
a hectic life in America. Meetings can span prayer times or
travelling precludes finding a mosque or a place for prayer.
I have heard that other Muslims have the same question: How
to pray in such circumstances. Some Muslims, the unwell or
the elderly, face the same problem: How to perform formal
prayers five times a day when it's physically not possible.
The Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, guided us on this a long time
back in answer to a question from a sahabi, r.a., who had an
illness: "You can pray standing up; if you can't then pray
sitting down; if you can't even do thar, then pray lying
down." {Sahih Bukhari, kitab al-taqseer as-salat, Sunan of
Abu Dawood, kitab-us-salat, Musnad of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
4-426} The main point is that the daily worship of Allah, 5
times a day, is the source of our strength and must not be
neglected under any circumstance. [Kaukab Siddique, Editor
New Trend.]
Outreach: Chanting at Islamic Center, Washington, DC
Cutting Edge Info Latest News + Hadith study to 126
Muslims
Palestine : American gave his life: saved Children [to 30
people]
March 4, 2011: Jamaat al-Muslimeen literature taken from New
Trend was given to 126 people at the Islamic Center on
Massachusetts Avenue in Washington. The articles included
Jamaat al-Muslimeen's rejection of US intervention in Libya
and Imam Badi's spotlights on dictators in Arab countries
and his critique of Yusuf al-Qaradawi's opportunistic
fatwas.
Dr. Siddique's article on women and Hadith was included.
Also in the package were three items about German city
Dresden's fire bombing in 1945 by the supporters of Jewish
Zionists.
This chant was repeated during the distribution:
"Muslim world is rising up, Muslim world is rising up."
"Rulers are going down, going down."
Owing to the chant, some people from the embassies of tyrant
rulers like those of Algeria, Syria, Egypt [leftovers],
refused to take the literature.
Separate from the NT articles, an Information card about Tom
Hurndall was given to 30 people. It outlined the Israeli
atrocity when the Zionists shot dead an unarmed American in
Gaza who was helping Palestinian children to reach safety. A
sticker placed on the card says: " The war in Israel is not
between Muslims and Jews: It is a war between Good and
Evil." A young Muslim read the entire card and told the
distributor on the spot: "Thank you and may God bless
you."
A note from Kaukab Siddique CAIR & ICNA Teaching Muslims to
be Slaves.
Prophet, pbuh, abused in California: ICNA remained
Silent
What Should Muslims have Done?
CAIR has been distributing an abusive video full of
pornographic insults against Prophet Muhammad, pbuh. It
looks like CAIR was looking for pity from the American
public and did indeed get a few [very few] sympathetic
comments.
It was a fundraiser by ICNA [not by CAIR] in the town of
Yorba Linda in California. As usual ICNA was raising money:
more than a quarter million dollars, to help America's
people who are so much in need of Muslim money!
These extreme right wing racists turned up in good numbers
and started screaming insults at Islam, the Prophet, pbuh,
and his beloved wife Ayesha, r.a .
Republican officials and the "tea party" group were
co-organizers of the abuse fest. ICNA had no response to the
abuse. See the video: Muslims passing by the racists, heads
bowed, like slaves or lambs going to the slaughter.
ICNA has turned its supporters into spineless and shameless
admirers of American power. They love their DUNYA so much
that even if the Prophet, pbuh, is abused, they will not
respond. This paradise of theirs is so dear to them that
they dare not say a word.
Even more shameful is the attitude of CAIR. It tried to earn
brownie points by posting the video but did not write a word
of advice to its readers. Do Americans pity Muslims if they
behave like slaves? Americans do not pity slaves, as 400
years of slavery has shown. [There are always a few
exceptions: Abolitionists as they were called.] What should
the Muslims have done?
Like all Americans, including those racists at the ICNA
event, Muslims have the right to organize and express
themselves. Here are a few slogans the Muslims could have
shouted back:
"Your ancestors were slave holders: Go back to Europe."
"Genocide of Native Americans and Republicans: Two sides of
a coin."
"Imperialists and warmongers."
How many children have you killed in Afghanistan?
"Christian wife beaters: Countless American women are
battered every year.
"Down with Christian Zionism: Enemies of Jesus
"Jesus wanted Peace: You want war.
"Go to hell
"Stop Funding Terrorist Israel
"Supporters of Dictators and Mass Murderers"
My advice: We should remain peaceful but firm and bold.
Beard and hijab are worthless if you fear the kuffar.
South California's Muslims
Hathout & Muzammil Siddiqui Misinforming Americans on
anti-Blasphemy Law in Pakistan
March 2: Two of California's Muslim "leaders" known for
their support of the US government have condemned the
killing of Pakistan's Minority Affairs minister Shabazz
Bhatti. Seemingly this is a moral statement but it is
extremely misleading and dangerous.
1. It gives the impression that Bhatti was killed because he
was a Christian. This is not true. Earlier Governor Taseer
was killed for the same cause and he was, at least
nominally, a Muslim.
2. The California statement gives the impression that
Americans should intervene in Pakistan's affairs and support
the moves against the anti-blasphemy laws.
Pakistan's Christians are quite safe and prosperous. The
Pakistanis are asking that the honor of Muhammad,
pbuh,should not be attacked. No Muslim is attacking Jesus,
pbuh, or Christianity. Why do Christians have to attack
Muhammad, pbuh? Does Jesus, pbuh, teach them to attack other
religions? Of course not!
Should America join the battle against Pakistan's
anti-blasphemy laws? That would be a serious mistake. No
Pakistani, even the weakest Muslim, will support the
"freedom" to abuse the Prophet, pbuh.
Pakistan is saying that anti-blasphemy laws are necessary to
deter the enemies of Islam from undermining the faith on
which Pakistan is based. If laws are in place, Pakistanis
will not need to take the law in their own hands. Pakistan
wants to be a nation of LAWS [Islamic Laws].
The flyer left by the attackers with the body of Bhatti
indicate that he was targeted owing to his crusade against
the anti-Blasphemy law, not because he was a Christian.
Hathout and Muzammil are by implication suggesting all out
war against Islam.
Out of their love for the American power structure, they are
ignoring the context of the conflict in Pakistan.
These are opportunists. Hathout's family has been friends of
Hosni Mubarak's buddy Amr Moussa. Muzammil has a track
record of support via ISNA for the Zionist power
structure.
Hathout and Muzammil have not condemned the murders
committed by NATO. See the next item.
Nine Afghan Children Murdered by US Air Force
March 1: In the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the US Air
Force killed 9 Afghan children gathering fire wood.
NATO top command claimed that it was a "mistake." However
eyewitness reports say that the helicopters came way down
and shot the children ONE by ONE. [Confirmed by US
media.]
Algeria and Qaddafi
Who Else is Helping the Libyan Leader? Is Algeria Qadaffi's
Ace in the Hole?
By Rob Prince
At this moment when it appears that Muammar Qadaffi's days
in power are numbered, the Libyan leader has made it clear
repeatedly that he will stay and fight. So far he has. His
domestic support is evaporating around him, leaders of the
country's 140 tribes siding with the rebels, military units
siding with the rebellion in larger and larger numbers, air
force pilots and naval vessels defecting to Malta. Much of
his government, other than his sons, has abandoned him as
well. What is left? Those heavily armed private militias
controlled by his sons? The army of mercenaries from
sub-Saharan Africa? Some Mirage jet fighter planes with,
until now, pilots less than willing to bomb rebel
strongholds? All that is true. Yet while the U.S. and Europe
work to isolate Qadaffi, he is not completely alone and
without allies. Given his ever shrinking domestic base, one
has to wonder how it is that Qadaffi can appear so defiant?
It might come from the fact that he is not entirely isolated
and alone. Indeed, the support that Qadaffi is garnering has
stiffened the colonel's backbone. Qadaffi has the support of
at least one important regional ally, the Algerian
government, which has both militarily and diplomatically
thrown its full (and substantial) weight behind his effort
to retain power. In so doing, it would appear that Algeria,
which has long cooperated with the US and NATO on its North
and Sub-Saharan Africa anti-terrorism policies, is breaking
ranks to protect its regime's very survival. Since its
independence, Algeria has been controlled by its military
which lives high off the country's oil profits at the
expense of its own people. Algeria's leaders fear that if
Qadaffi falls, their hold on power will be that much more
fragile. Their support of Qadaffi is very much designed to
save their own skins. If Mubarak saw the writing on the wall
as Ben Ali's little castle in Tunisia crumbled, so the
Algerian military leadership understands that if Qadaffi
falls, it very likely is next in line, or if not, not very
far down the list.
Desperate to cling to power, the Algerian government is -
while offering a few political and economic concessions -
essentially reorganizing the state's substantial repressive
apparatus to weather the protest storm. But in addition, it
is pulling out all stops to support Qadaffi's increasingly
feeble hold on power. Maybe it is the support of its North
African oil producing ally Algeria, that has given Qadaffi
that confident appearance that he can indeed - with a little
help from his friends - hold out longer. An alliance of two
of Africa's most important oil producing countries is
nothing to sneeze at, and could have all kinds of
consequences.
Should the alliance between the two tighten, and they engage
in a common front oil embargo, which some news outlets
speculate could happen, oil prices could jump to as high as
$220 a barrel. Less than a week ago, an Algerian human
rights group based in Germany, Algeria Watch,published a
statement alleging that the Algerian government is providing
material aid - in the form of armed military units - to
Muammar Qadaffi to help prop up his shrinking (and sinking)
regime. The statement opens thus:
"It is with both sadness and anger that we have learned that
the Algerian government has sent armed detachments to Libya
to commit crimes against our Libyan brothers and sisters who
have risen up against the bloody and corrupt regime of
Muammar Kadhafi. These armed detachments were first
identified in western Libya in the city of Zaouia where some
among them have been arrested. This has been reported in the
media and confirmed by eye witnesses."
Zaouia is the site of fierce fire fights between the
residents of Zaouia, now a zone liberated from Tripoli's
control and under the authority of rebel forces on the one
hand, and the military elements still faithful to Qadaffi on
the others. There were recent reports of a 6-8 hour battle
in which Qadaffi's forces, led by one of his sons tried to
recapture the city but were repulsed by the city's defenders
and pushed back after fierce fighting.
Algeria Watch goes on to accuse the Algerian government of
having provided the air transport planes that have carried
sub-Saharan African mercenaries from Niger, Chad and the
Darfur province of Sudan to Libya to strengthen Qadaffi's
position militarily. It goes on to add that Algeria had
played a similar role in transporting troops to Somalia to
support the U.S. directed government military offensive
against rebellious Somali tribes. The statement goes on to
allege that on the diplomatic front the Algerian government
has been lobbying different European powers (which are
presumably France, Italy, German, Belgium, Luxembourg and
Spain) pressing them to continue to support Qadaffi. These
diplomatic efforts are being led by Abdelkader Messahel,
Algerian Minister of Maghrebian and African Affairs.
On the all-European level, Amar Bendjama, Algerian
ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as Algeria's
representative to the European Union and NATO and Belkacem
Belgaid, another Algerian diplomat whose responsibilities
include NATO and the EU, have together opened up an active
lobbying campaign in support of Qadaffi. The political
approach that Bendjama and Belgaid are pursuing echoes
Qadaffi's own statements - that if his government were to
fall, Libya would fall into the hands of radical Islamic
fundamentalists - all this nonsense about Al Qaeda and Osama
Bin Ladin being behind the national uprising. Qadaffi's
argument is identical to what Ben Ali and Mubarak have been
arguing for decades: that they are the alternative to an
Islamic take over. The West might not like them, but better
Qadaffi than Osama.
This kind of fear mongering - the threat of Islamic
radicalism - has lost its appeal in the current protest wave
in which the Islamic fundamentalist element has been
marginalized or irrelevant. The lobbying is similar to what
has happened in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, where the first
offer of concessions consists of ceding as little as
possible. Bendjama and Belgaid appear to be pressing
(unsuccessfully) for a solution that would see Qadaffi's
son, Saif, replace his father. It is not clear if they are
asking for some kind of arrangement that would protect
Qadaffi from prosecution in exchange for stepping down, but
such an approach is more than likely. But as one of the
first demands in the Tunisian, Egyptian and Yemeni protests
was precisely that no family member (sons or family member)
succeed these elder and now disgraced men to power, it is
not likely that such arguments or suggestions will carry
much if any weight. There is more.
Under the direction of Colonel Djamel Bouzghaia, an advisor
to Algerian President Bouteflika on security matters,
Algeria has, according to the statement, `embraced' a large
number of elements of disposed Tunisian president Zine Ben
Ali's private security force and republican guard. These are
the same units that were used as snipers to assassinate
demonstrators in Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid and Thala in
Tunisia. Now in the employ of Algeria, they too have been
sent to Libya to shore up Qadaffi's regime. Bouzghaia works
directly under Major General Rachid Laalali (alias Attafi),
head of Algeria's external relations bureau. Who else is
helping Qadaffi? It will be interesting to see what shakes
out.
Rob Prince lectures in International Studies at the
University of Denver.
2011-03-08 Tue 04:10:37 cst
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