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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Rabi' al-Awwal 11, 1433/ February 4, 2012 # 6

Great photo of Islamic women in Karachi protesting Indian occupation of Kashmir. Please scroll to end.

General Kayani is killing prisoners in Mohmand area, Prof. Ibrahim reveals. Scroll down.

Teaching methodology: If a student is not doing well in his/her studies, it's often owing to the low motivation and negligence of the teacher. Choose your teacher well. A good teacher will not let you fail. There is no such thing as a weak student. It's the teacher who is weak.

Notes from Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz [ DrAAS.info ] , Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, Grambling University, previously Lincoln University, many of whose students went on to become PhDs.He has spoken extensively against racism and Zionism.

Hadith and Women: A DVD of Dr. Kaukab Siddique's speech and Q & A in Augusta, Georgia.

No one did more for the rights of women than Prophet Muhammad, pbuh.
American Muslims, however, are being attacked by anti-Hadith propagandists ranging from neo-cons like Spencer to Perwaizi sectarians who want to discredit the Hadith of Muhammad, pbuh..
Those who have watched this DVD say, anti-Hadith forces don't have a case in the face of Dr. Siddique's elucidation.
Send a small donation and we'll send it to you:
New Trend, PO Box 84, Oxford, PA 19363.

A Victory against NATO's War. Re-supply NATO "Over my dead body" said Munawar Hasan.

On February 1, Jamaate Islami Pakistan's top leader Syed Munawar Hasan stated that any attempt to renew the supply line to NATO occupation forces in Afghanistan would be resisted by peaceful mass action. He was warning the Peoples Party dominated Parliament which had announced that resumption of supplies to NATO would be discussed on February 3.
"Resumption of supplies to NATO would have to be over my dead body" said Munawar Hasan.

The government did not hold the "discussion" on February 3. It would be on February 6, it said. [Now Feb. 4,the discussion has been postponed indefinitely.]

Analysis by Kaukab Siddique for New Trend

Syria: Victim of Assad's Atrocities and American-Israeli Strategies

On February 3 and 4, the tyrant Bashar Assad committed one of the most horrific acts against the people of Syria. His army surrounded the city of Homs and kept firing mortars and machine guns at residential area for 24 hours. At last count by human rights activists, 260 people had been killed and 600 wounded.
People all over Syria were remembering the 1982 massacre of Hama by Bashar Assad's father, Hafez Assad, when this new massacre happened.

On February 4, the UN Security Council tried to pass a resolution condemning the Assad regime. It was vetoed by Russia and China. It was a brilliant tactic by the West which makes the US, Britain and France now appear as the saviors of the Syrian people.
In various cities in Europe, horrified Syrians stormed Syrian embassies. Tunisia has kicked out the Syrian ambassador.

However, the US assured Syria's regime that no military action will be taken against it. Muslims should understand this. The longer Assad continues to kill Muslims, the more Syrians will be alienated against Assad's allies: Russia, China and Iran/Hizbullah. The Americans can keep issuing "nice" statements.

Israel is not doing anything against Syria's regime. The Syrian army has always been a failure against Israel, At this point Israeli armor could easily move into Syria and take over strategic positions. Why is Israel just watching?
This is known as the Warsaw strategy. [ Re: the uprising against German troops while Russian troops watched but did nothing.] The Israelis are thinking: Let the Syrian Islamic opposition be wiped out by Assad, so when Assad collapses, the Syrian people will face a ruined country and will have to depend on the West.

Iran's failure. As usual Iran is in a reactive mode. The more the West issues statements against Assad, the more Iran supports Assad. The Israelis must be laughing at Iran's predictable support for Assad.

Minority groups supporting Assad could be in jeopardy. For decades, the Alawites and the Syrian Christrians, both very small groups, have been supporting and working for Assad's terror machine against the vast Sunni majority. The result is that as Assad collapses, they will be facing revenge attacks from those whom they victimized for decades. Even now they can be seen in the rallies Assad organizes to show that the "people" support him!
Unless the coming Islamic revolution is very disciplined, the West will then condemn the Islamic people for the revenge attacks.

Meanwhile anti-Shi'a and anti-Iran propaganda is swirling across the Middle East as the regime continues to kill Sunni Muslims. The Alawites are a key factor in forces loyal to Assad.

IRAN's PRESS TV has played a thoughtless propaganda role in this situation. It is simply parrotting Assad's claims and conspiracy theories that the mass uprisings in Syria are not genuine and they are being organized by Turkey, Qatar and even Israel! Self-deception for supporters of Iran comes from Press TV stories. Conspiracy theories usually come from an inability to face reality. Poor Qaddafi thought the people of Libya loved him and al-Qaida was undermining him. Hosni Mubarak still can't believe that he is the worst man in modern Egyptian history.
Assad, Mubarak, Ben Ali, Qaddafi, Salleh, they were all secular rulers opposed to Islamic rule. The West loved them.
Assad thinks he can repeat 1982 when his father destroyed Hama and then cut off all internal communication between cities. This is not 1982 and social media, FB, emailing, cell phones, make it almost impossible for information to be stopped.

An Invitation to think.
Spotlights by Imam Badi Ali, National Islamic Shoora, Greensboro, North Carolina
Spotlight #1:
Human minds are vulnerable to deception when deception is repeated and reality is hidden.
Spotlight #2:
Money is the objective of many of our people. They will do anything for it. Money should be in the hand, not in the heart.
Spotlight #3:
The dunya [this world] is not everlasting and the value of money goes down as we read the Qur'an and the stories of the prophets narrated in the Qur'an.
Spotlight #4:
A revolution attended by violence is a defeat. Those who make the people's peaceful revolution impossible will have to pay the price.
Spotlight #5:
It is better to be defeated than to win by evil means.
Spotlight #6:
The first duties of the revolution are to establish justice and equality and go forward with forgiveness.
Spotlight #7:
Revenge is not justice.
Spotlight #8:
Poverty and injustice are the parents of revolution.
Spotlight #9:
Racism is nothing but a mental prison. A racist is captive of his own prejudice. Free yourself by eliminating hate.
Spotlight #10:
It is more difficult to predict the outcome of a revolution than the result of an earthquake.
Spotlight #11:
Scholars who support TAGHOOT [worldy powers] are nothing but dogs eating crumbs from the master's table.

Q & A
What is the concept of God in Islam? Why are you against ISNA's Interfaith work?
[Ms. Carolyn.]

Answer by Kaukab Siddique:
Islam is for peace, compassion, tolerance, decency and humanity based on the fact that ALL people are created by God.

However, Islam is distinct and separate from other religions. It is not just another religion but the absolute truth revealed by Allah Almighty. "God" is not the right word because it has Christian connotations. Allah is the Creator of the universe. He has no partners. He has no son. He is not located at a place and He has no image. Jesus, pbuh, is a great messenger of Allah but the message of Jesus, pbuh, was for his time and his nation. The message of Muhammad, pbuh, known as Islam, revealed in the Qur'an and explained in the Hadith, makes all other religions outdated. Jesus, pbuh, left behind neither Shar'ia [Divine Law] nor Sunnah [the example for every day life]. Little is known about Jesus, pbuh, and other prophets. By contrast, Muhammad's life, pbuh, is a COMPLETE example for EVERY aspect of our life. Jesus, pbuh, did not marry. Muhammad, pbuh, did. Women played a central role in his life, not in that of Jesus, pbuh, though Mary is venerated. Thus half of humanity is left out of Chrfistianity but is central to Islam.

Muslims believe in peaceful coexistence and respectul dialogue with those who do not make war on us. We respect the law of the land where we live. We are neighborly, loving and kind towards those among whom we live. We do not express bigotry or hatred, in words or in deeds, towards anyone, however much they may not like us or our religion, Islam.
However, Islam does not allow Muslims to cooperate with oppressors in any way whatsoever, be the oppressors Muslims or non-Muslims. Such cooperation is not only strictly haram [forbidden], it is a form of kufr [unbelief leading to hell].
ISNA is very friendly and cooperative with the White House, the Pentagon, American Jews and Rabbis supporting Israel, and the Zionist myth and the Zionist media. ISNA's president, a real stooge of the Zionists, has even visited Auschwitz which is the epitome of Zionist-Jewish myth making about the Six Million Jews killed by Hitler. It is the flagship of the Israeli-Jewish victimhood narrative and has been subjected to serious revisionism by Germar Rudolf, Bradley Smith, Mark Weber, David Irving, Thomas Dalton, Prof. Butz and many others.

On the other hand, ISNA is silent about the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Pakistan by US drones, the assault on the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa, the genocide in Swat, Dir, Darra Adam Khel, Kurram, Mohmand, South Waziristan, Orakzai and parts of Baluchistan. ISNA pretends that the attacks by the Nigerian army on mosques and Islamic schools in Northern Nigeria never happened; it pretends that it does not see the ban on Somali American Muslims sending money to their families. The threats to bomb Iran do not touch ISNA's conscience, nor do the murders of Iranian professors.

ISNA is friendly with the Pope though he insulted Islam and refused to offer a clear apology. ISNA is silent about the cartoons of the Prophet, pbuh. It is silent even about Rushdie.

Interfaith activities are absurd and meaningless in the context of the world we live in. We mean no harm to Christians and Jews. We consider it the right of every American to follow a religion or not to follow a religion. However it would be the apex of hypocrisy to say that we who believe in the ABSOLUTE ONENESS of the Creator have something in common with the religion of those who believe in trinity or those who believe the Creator has a son. The greatest sin would be to be friendly to those who believe that they have the divine right to take Palestine by force, establish a terrorist entity there and then use its military might to control the Muslim world.

We do not worship the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh.
Rabi' al-Awwal 12, the birth date of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, is a contentious issue among Muslims because of the formal celebrations connected with it in many countries. Sis. Asma Shameem [Houston, Texas] has written a scholarly and conclusive article on the issue which should close the case for all Muslims who are serious about Islam. Please scroll to end.

Our America
Islam was in America Before Columbus

For the most part, not many people are aware of the Native American contact with Islam that began over one thousand years ago by some of the early Muslim travelers who visited the US. Some of these Muslim travelers ended up living among American people.There are enough authentic and scholarly references to Islamic presence in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus,the murderer

- Rodana Tarwadan [via Sis. Karen English]

Our America
Does America Ever Forgive the Brave and the Uncorrupted?
Over 100 in Prison since the 70s

This is an excellent new page for Sundiata on facebook. Please *like* it to show support and also to keep up with the campaign to free him..

The Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign
Sundiata Acoli is a former Black Panther and human rights activist. He has been denied parole three times in violation of his constitutional and human right to freedom. In January 2012, Sundiata will be 75 years old. Here we will share updates for his supporters to share and information about other prisoners held unjustly due to their political beliefs and past associations. There are well over 100 political prisoners incarcerated as a result of their activism during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1970's.

--Nadrat Siddique

Sundiata was the hero of West Africa's Muslims, reported in African stories as a descendant of Bilal r.a. --- Editor

Our America: Malcolm X Committee in New York: Dhoruba's Speech

I am back from the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee's Annual Dinner Tribute to Political Prisoners.
Iyaluua Ferguson, the activist-wife of former political prisoner Herman Ferguson, chaired a good portion of the meeting with incredible grace, poise, and strength.
Quite a juxtaposition: brave, beautiful people willing to risk life, limb, and liberty in the cause of justice--and the nihilists at Times Square, just around the corner, heedless of every thing. I am enthralled by the youth speaking out for their parents/grandparents/relatives who are political prisoners inside AmeriKKKa's Gulag.
I pray that more adults (outside of the very politically conscious ones at this event) will follow their lead to stand up for justice.
I am still feeling the energy from Dhoruba bin Wahad's brilliant speech at the MXCC political prisoner support dinner in the NYC. I take major issue with the Muslim community in New York, he said. They need to wake up and recognize the role of the police and the military in our communities (paraphrase).
--Nadrat Siddique

Symbolic Action Against Oppression in Baltimore: Concerns of the People
Occupy the courts---shut them down wednesday, February 15!!!!
public event by David Anthony Wiggins, Nadrat Siddique and 3 others
When Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Time 8:30am until 5:00pm
Where North point battle monument / Clarence Mitchell jr. Courthouse, Fayette and Calvert streets, Baltimore, Maryland
Description Occupy the courts to stop foreclosure sales that occur on the courthouse steps.
Occupy the courts to stop tax sales for fraudulent water bills that occur on the court house!
Occupy the courts to disrupt the prison side of the school to prison pipeline!


Canada
Malaysian Woman Defends Niqab: Firm and Clear even With Heavy Accent

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/videos/183423

[Editor's comment: Please ignore the Pepsi ad in the video as well as the half naked images projected by Toronto's City TV.
We urge Muslims to respect all women who are against exploitation, oppression, materialism, consumerism, zionism and imperialism, regardless of how they dress. Sisters should advise women who do not dress decently. This task of advising women is not permitted to men unless they are imams or if the women ask them for advice.
We hail the Malaysian sister because she is making a statement against western hegemony based on sincere interpretation of Islamic dress, though several other genuine interpretations are also possible.. More power to you, sister.]


Yemeni Appeal to Pakistan to Free Shaykh Osama's wife
February 2 [From Reuters and Dawn.]

ISLAMABAD: The brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden has appealed to the government of Pakistan to allow his sister, who was married to the Al Qaeda chief, to return to her home country.
In an interview with a private television channel telecast on Thursday, Zikrian Assada, a Yemeni national and brother-in-law of Bin Laden, quoted his sister as describing how the Al Qaeda chief was killed during an operation on May 2 last year by US commandos in Abbottabad.
During the interview at the Yemeni Embassy, Mr Assada said that his sister, who was with Bin Laden at the time of the US attack, fell unconscious after receiving a bullet in her leg. As a result, she didn't know what happened next.

To Celebrate or not to Celebrate...that's the Question

by Asma bint Shameem

Some of us celebrate it with great devotion and diligence, while some of us are against it with an equally great vengeance. Some say it is our religious duty while others say it is nothing but bid'ah.
People argue about it. Families split up, friends forsake each other. And sometimes people literally fight over it and hurt one another.
So what is it that I am talking about?
I am talking about celebrating the birthday of the Prophet , the Mawlid or Milad, as some of us say.

Yes, the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal is what I'm talking about. But, ever wondered..... what is the reality regarding the celebration of the birth of our beloved Prophet anyway?

Let's examine the facts.

First of all, whenever a Muslim is faced with a problem or confusing situation, what are we supposed to do? Allaah tells us:

"O you who believe! Obey Allaah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allaah and His Messenger, if you believe in Allaah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination" [Nisaa':59]

Referring it to Allaah and His Messenger means to turn to Allaah's Book and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet.

  1. What does the Qur'aan say about the Mawlid?
    Nothing.
    What does
    the Qur'aan say about it?
    Yes that's right.....NOTHING. There is absolutely nothing in the Qur'aan that tells us to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet. Not one single ayah.

    You see, all acts of worship are tawqeefi which means that they are not subject to personal opinion and it is not permissible to do any acts of worship except those which are approved by Sharee'ah.

    So, for example, I cannot pick a special day or time, say the 22nd of every month, and start celebrating that day as a form of worship. Why?
    Because there is nothing in the Sharee'ah that permits me to do that.
    By the same token, I cannot start praying three raka'ah for Fajr from tomorrow, even if I want to worship Allaah more, because Fajr Salah is only two rakaat as commanded upon us by the Sharee'ah.

    And similarly, if there is no order for us to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet , then we don't.

    In fact, the Prophet said: "Whoever innovates anything in this matter of ours (i.e., Islam), that is not part of it will have it rejected." (Bukhaari).
    Now someone might argue that we don't celebrate the Mawlid/Milad as an act of worship. So let's see what other evidences we have.


  2. What does the Sunnah say about it?
    IS IT IN THE SUNNAH?

    Again, there is nothing in the Sunnah of the Prophet that shows us that he EVER celebrated his birthday or that of his wives, children, or Sahaabah.

    There is not one single hadeeth that tells us that he thought this day was significant enough to celebrate it.
    Just think.....if there was any good in doing so, wouldn't he would have done so himself and wouldn't he have ordered the Sahaabah to do so?
    And obviously, it is not possible that he ?? ???? ???? ? ??? forgot to tell us about it, Aoodhu billaah!

    Did the Sahaabah celebrate the Mawlid/Milad?

    The Sahaabah were witnesses to the revelation of the Qur'aan. They had the Prophet right in front of their eyes. They ate, drank, sat, slept, talked, walked, lived with the Prophet . If they misunderstood anything or were mistaken, the Prophet immediately corrected them.

    And thus, their understanding and practice of Islaam was the best.

    Yet, when we look at the lives and practice of the Sahaabah, we find that NONE of them EVER celebrated the birth of their beloved Prophet , whether during his life or even after he passed away.

    Not Abubakr, not Umar, not Uthman, not Ali, nor Aaishah, Ibn Umar, Ibn Masud, Talha, Az-Zubair, Bilal Radhi Allaahu Anhum Ajma'een. Not. One. Single. Sahaabi.

    Doesn't that prove anything?

    The Sahaabah absolutely loved the Prophet . They gave up their homes, families, lives, everything they had... for his sake, in the blink of an eye. Yet this love did NOT promote them to celebrate his birth.
    This love translated into the practical application of his teachings and NOT picking the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal to celebrate his birthday.

    What about the Four Imaams and other Ulama?

    Did any of the Imaams or scholars - Abu Haneefah, Maalik, al-Shaafi'i, Ahmad, al-Hasan al-Basri, Mujaahid, Ibn alQayyim, etc. do this or command others to do it or say that it was good? No. In fact, it was not even mentioned during the first and best three centuries.

    The Prophet said: "The best of mankind are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them." (Bukhaari, Muslim).

    And if the 'best of mankind' didn't celebrate his birth, then why should we?

    Actually, the celebration of the Prophet's birthday appeared many centuries later. By this time, many of the features of true religion had disappeared and bid'ah had become widesprea
    Think about it!

    Can it be possible that the Sahaabah, the Imaams and the people of the best three centuries were unaware of the importance of celebrating the birthday of the Prophet ?? or that they were lacking in their love for him?
    And it was only those who came later who were aware of it or loved him more?!!! How can that be?!!

    Actually, dear brother/sister in Islaam, TRUE love of the Prophet is shown and proven by following the guidance that he brought. So follow his Sunnah to the best of your ability and don't fall into innovated forms of worship. It is nothing but a trap of the Shaytaan.

    "Say (O Muhammad): 'If you (really) love Allaah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Aal 'Imraan 3:31)
    And remember the words of the Prophet when he said:
    "The best of speech is the Book of Allaah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The most evil of things are those which are newly-invented (in religion), and every innovation (bid'ah) is a going astray." (Muslim).

And Allaah knows best.


Pakistanis killed
Pakistan Air Force Attacks Islamic Villages in Orakzai
On February 1, Air Force jets repeatedly bombed Islamic villages in the Orakzai area [Pak-Afghan frontier]. All 4 "compounds" in the area were destroyed, including homes, mosques and medressas. The air force announced that at least 20 Pakistani Taliban were killed. [Dawn report says one of them was an al-Qaidah mujahid from Azerbaijan.]

Taliban Counterattack
On February 3, Pak Taliban overran a Pakistani military position on the Kurram-North Waziristan border. The area is called Shidano Dand. Seven Pakistani troops were killed, 3 wounded and 4 captured by the Pak Taliban who also took away a large cache of weapons before the Pakistanis brought in artillery to drive them away.
The same day, there was an attack on Pakistani police in Lakki Marwat, just outside the tribal areas in which three police were killed and 1 injured.

Pakistani Horrors
Military Executed 28 Muslims and buried them in a Shallow Grave

On February 3, Prof. Muhammad Ibrahim, Jamaate Islami leader for Frontier Province, in an interview with veteran journalist Hamid Mir, stated that the military is indulging in a reign of terror in Frontier. The troops have killed 28 people in Mohmand area and buried them in a shallow grave. A person has just been shot dead on suspicion of being a "militant" at the Kohat tunnel. Extra judicial killings by the military have become common.

Africa in Turmoil : Next 3 items

Scroll down to see what happened after the interview.
First Interview with a western paper ]The Guardian February 3]
Boko Haram has Mass Support in Nigeria. Wants Allah's Will. Stands Against Injustice.

"We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to their knees," spokesperson Abu Qaqa* said in the group's first major interview with a Western newspaper.
"Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah and our members are released [from prison], we will only put aside our arms -- but we will not lay them down. You don't put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside."

Qaqa said the group's members were spiritual followers of al-Qaeda and claimed they had met senior figures in the network founded by the late Osama bin Laden during visits to Saudi Arabia.

The interview comes a week after Boko Haram claimed responsibility for Nigeria's deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 186 people in the northern city of Kano.

In an audio message posted on YouTube last week, the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened to bomb schools and kidnap family members of government officials. "If [security forces] are going to places of worship and destroying them, like mosques and Qur'anic schools -- you have primary schools as well, you have secondary schools and universities and we will start bombing them."

Shekau rejected calls from President Goodluck Jonathan for a negotiated peace, and for the secretive sect to step out of the shadows and enter into discussions.

'Moderate elements'
Nigerian officials have voiced hopes for a negotiated settlement with "moderate elements" of the group. "Under the circumstances, if you look hard enough, you can find moderate elements you can communicate with," said General Andrew Azazi, Jonathan's national security adviser.

Western diplomats say Boko Haram has splintered and the hardliners responsible for the violence that has killed about 250 people this year appear to have rejected any suggestion of dialogue.

The Guardian was able to contact Qaqa through an intermediary from the group's home state. The go-between has been in contact with the group since its inception and met with its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, several times before he was killed in 2009. For most of the interview Qaqa used a voice modulator, but local journalists confirmed that his undisguised voice matched recordings of previous interviews.
Qaqa said Shekau and others had travelled to Saudi Arabia for training and funding. "Al-Qaeda are our elder brothers. During the lesser hajj [last August] our leader ­travelled to Saudi Arabia and met al-Qaeda there. We enjoy financial and technical support from them. Anything we want from them we ask them."

He said recruits from neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger had joined the group. A recent United Nations report said weapons from Libya might have been smuggled to Boko Haram and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb through Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

Security officials and diplomats in the capital, Abuja, said they had no evidence of a link with al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, but an official confirmed that "elements of Boko Haram have made contact with external groups".

In the decade since it first appeared, Boko Haram has graduated from crude drive-by attacks on beer parlours to bombing security buildings in the northern Muslim heartland. It targeted the UN building in Abuja in August, killing 25 people. Christian institutions have increasingly come under fire in recent weeks. A Christmas Day bomb attack on a packed church just outside the capital claimed almost 40 lives.

Stark injustice
But Qaqa said the rights of the country's 70-million Christians, half of Nigeria's population, "would be protected" in the group's envisaged Islamic state.

"Even the Prophet Muhammad lived with non-Muslims and he gave them their dues." But Qaqa said everyone had to abide by Sharia law: "There are no exceptions. Even if you are a Muslim and you don't abide by Sharia we will kill you. Even if you are my own father we will kill you."

Speaking fluent but non-native Hausa, the lingua franca across the Sahelian belt on the cusp of the Sahara desert, he said: "It's the secular state that is responsible for the woes we are seeing today. People should understand that we are not saying we have to rule Nigeria, but we have been motivated by the stark injustice in the land. People underrate us, but we have our sights set on [bringing sharia to] the whole world, not just Nigeria."

Sharia law is already in place in 12 states in the north. Few believe the group's radical ideology has traction in Nigeria's mainly Christian south, which is also home to millions of Muslims and has so far been out of the group's reach.

Raising his voice for the only time during the interview, Qaqa denied reports that some governors in northern Nigeria paid the group monthly allowances in exchange for immunity from attacks.

"May God punish anyone that said so," he said, before adding that the group had popular support in the north. "Poor people are tired of the injustice. People are crying for saviours and they know the messiahs are Boko Haram. People were singing songs in [northern cities] Kano and Kaduna saying: 'We want Boko Haram.'"

He described how the group could blend into the communities in which it operated. "If the masses don't like us, they would have exposed us by now. When Islam comes everyone will be happy." ­-- © Guardian News & Media 2012

*Not his real name

NT editor's note: After the interview, the Nigerian government claimed it had traced Qaqa's location and captured him. It turned out the man they captured was Abu Darda, a Boko Haram teacher who had been given safe conduct to discuss prisoner exchange. Thus the Boko Haram claim that the Nigerian regime cannot be trusted has been confirmed. [Qaqa and Abu Darda are names from the Golden Era Of Islam. Qaqa was a famous commander under Caliph Umar, r.a. who defeated Persian armies. Abu Darda, r.a. was a Sahabi, r.a., of the Prophet, pbuh, who narrated Hadith.]

Kenya
Anwar al-Awlaki Messages started this: Al-Shabab now has a Leader in Kenya

Alarm bells are ringing in Washington that Islamic fighting groups modeled after Al-Shabab now have a widespread network in Kenya. Mosques in Nairobi and and along the coast were distributing Shaykh Anwar al-Awlaki's taped messages. The government planted agents in the mosques, so now the activity has moved to private homes and numerous [new] Islamic medressas.
Most alarming is the fact that the activity is being coordinated by an al-Shabab leader named Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali who has a core group of an estimated 200 to 500 armed fighters with him inside Kenya. [Source:January 25: International Crisis Group, linked to western governments, via AllAfrica, February 1.]
[Al-Awlaki was the Yemeni American Islamic scholar who was killed in a US air strike.]

Somalia
UN Declares Famine Ended! + Army Column Blown up + 9 Pirates killed.

The United Nations has announced that the famine in Somalia has ended! Observers say that the UN wanted an excuse to get European "charity" groups into a country now largely in Al-Shabab control. Having failed in this endeavor, the UN declares that the famine has ended.
Meanwhile, on February 1 al-Shabab struck a military column just outside Mogadishu. It appears that a land mine was used. The explosion was very big and is said to have inflicted heavy casualties on the military force which was in trucks. These are troops from Uganda and Burundi sent in to support the puppet clique set up in a part of Mogadishu by the US.

In another area of Somalia, US Special Forces killed 9 armed Somalis and rescued the two Anglo-American hostages they were holding. [The families of the hostages are rejoicing. The families of the pirates are not recognized by western media.]

[Latest: On February 3, a US drone was either shot down or simply crashed into a refugee camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu.]

Yemen
Successful US Air Strike kills 12+Refugees returning to al-Qaida Stronghold

On January 31, the US carried out a successful air strike in the Lawdar area of Abyan province. At least 12 al-Qaida fighters were killed in the attack. Reports in Yemen Post indicate that three of them were al-Qaida commanders: Ahmad Amiran, Al-Khater al-Sudu and Abdu Munim al-Qahtani.

Meanwhile al-Qaida has stabilized its hold on Abyan province and the population which had fled to Aden is trickiling back home. The first wave to return was 2500 people. Shari'a law has been implemented.

Al-Awlaki's son-in-law al-Dhahab has withdrawn from al-Ra'ada town after freeing his brother and 365 other prisoners.

[Yemen's President has Salleh fled to the US for "medical treatment." There are rallies in Sana'a and Taiz for his trial as a criminal and human rights violator.]

Islamic Women in Karachi, Pakistan, held Mass Rally to Support Kashmir which is under Indian Army Occupation
February 4, 21012
[Photo courtesy Shamsuddin Amjad]


2012-02-06 Mon 19:26:41 cst
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