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Rajab 2,1434/May 12, 2013 # 20
May 8. Journalist MacArthur has been released from a
Baltimore prison. He had to admit to one charge to be able
to get out of the hell hole he was put into after he got
into trouble photographing police atrocities. 20 activists
were in court to support him.
- via Nadrat Siddique
Against death penalty: Full report on Lucasville, Ohio
conference from Ben Turk. Dr. Siddique was there.
Scroll down.
[Photos]
Outreach:
On May 10, Jamaat al-Muslimeen literature was given to 100
Muslims at the Islamic Center of Newark, Delaware, mostly
Pakistanis, Bangladeshis amd African Americans. These were
SIX PAGES, including the following:
-
Mass killing of Bengali Muslims by Dhaka regime's
security forces.
-
Joint statement of Hefajate Islam leaders about the
massacre in Bangladesh.
-
Munawar Hasan shows support for Jamaate Islami in
Karachi, Pakistan.
-
Rebuttal of General Kayani's claim that it is Pakistan's
war.
-
Alawite death squads active in Syria. Why the Israeli air
strikes?
-
Continuing influence of Osama bin Laden. Any evidence?
Pakistan latest
Elections Fit Western Plan: Military, Feudal, Big Money
Worked for West.
Nawaz Sharif in Punjab, MQM in Karachi, Imran Khan in
Frontier.
May 11 was a day of infamy. The supporters of western powers
won. Nawaz Sharif has so much money and landed and
industrial support that it's difficult to count the money
backing him. Pakistan is moving backwards with him.
The most reactionary of them is MQM in Karachi, a network of
gangsters and mafiosi supported by the military.
The most problematic for overseas Pakistanis to understand
is Imran Khan. He fed off the ground work done by Jamaate
Islami, such as drone attacks, the resentment against
America, and the past rule by Nawaz Sharif. This gave Imran
an image of national independence but it was totally
incorrect. Major reactionaries from the political
establishment joined him. Huge sums of money poured into his
campaign. The chance that he will oppose America is low and
most probably will be by way of posturing. All that remained
new in Imran's campaign was himself. He was easily defeated
by Nawaz who is well practiced in deceptive politicking.
Ask yourself dear reader: Have you seen any footage of
Jamaate Islami's election campaign on the western media? The
correct answer is : ZERO. The western powers had seemingly
decided that Jamaate Islami must not be identified as a
factor in Pakistan even when Munawar Hasan was addressing
some of the biggest public gatherings in the history of
Pakistan.
[That's not very different from the TOTAL censorship by the
western media of the massive massacre of Islamic people in
Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 5-6. See more below on this.]
Late report: It appears that Jamaate Islami has won 7
provincial assembly seats and three in the National
Assembly. That's what happens in an election controlled by
foreign powers. The few victories are in areas where fake
results were not possible. In most of the country, the poor
masses are helpless. [This is a lesson again that revolution
must precede honest elections.] [Now the election commission
has admitted that the elections in Karachi were fraudulent.
What about most of the feudal areas? Control by big money is
not a fraud?]
Pakistan's Weird Elections:
On election eve in Karachi, gangsters with guns, supporting
MQM, took over polling stations, driving out representatives
of other parties. When "elections" began on May 11, the
votes had already been marked in favor of MQM. So now MQM
has a "landslide" victory.
Here in photo below a Pakistani woman offers bangles to
shame one of the soldiers who refused to intervene when the
armed gangsters took over. It didn't work because when large
numbers of supporters of Jamaate Islami, including women,
protested in front of the central election office, the
security forces opened fire and beat up the protestors,
forcing them to disperse.
3 amazing Letters: Re: Red Alert: Genocidal Massacre in
Dhaka, Bangladesh [Photos] [New Trend special issue, May 7.]
Astighfirullah! Inna lil lahi wa inna elayhe rajaown.
The soldiers look Burmese and some look Indian
With Best Regards,
Asma
I have seen thousands of scenes of human disaster in my 85
years of life but nothing so much heinous, disgusting,
alarming and inhuman catastrophe of murders, wilful human
slaughter and revengeful cowardice killing of men, women
and children OF THE SAME FAITH in thousands and that too
mostly under sleeping condition. May Allah bless you for
its publicity and display to the "heartless" human beings
for this disastrous and unparalleled Human TRAGEDY.
May Allah give Jannatul Firdaus to these innocent humans
who have been killed for no reason except they were
demanding from their fellow citizens to live, act and
behave like Muslims, curse those who did it and destroy the
secular forces around the world. They are burden on Your
earth. Earlier they are removed, the better it would be for
the human species.
Shukrun wa Jazakallah
Shamim Siddiqi
You don't need to protest; you need Osama Ben Laden's
military mentality!
Curtis Mullins
African American Council
Masses of Bangladesh deserve Our Support: Videos Show
Killings
[New Trend has published 91 photos of the massacre on its
web site. Now NT has received videos of the massacre. You
can hear the security forces going about the deadly business
of killing defenseless people. The videos have been
processed by Bangla intellectuals not part of any group.
Here is their comment, including Dr. Mahbub and Dr. Alam -
Ed.]
The govt. made preemptive statements (Dhaka Metropolitan
Police Commissioner, Prime Minister, Ministers, Awami League
party leaders and leaders of the ruling alliance in press
conferences) that there were no casualties. Then why the
night was darkened deep right after sunset by cutting all
electricity lines off in entire greater Matijheel area at
the center of which is the Shapla Square where the gathering
took place? What these videos tell your good conscience
about what happened that night and what the fascist
ultra-secular fundamentalist government is telling to hide
the heinous crime? This extremely poor country and its
hard-working poor people deserve your attention, help and
action.
Feedback
Sis. Hedaya Jayyousi writes from Detroit on May 3 rally of
prisoners' Families:
Her husband, Dr. Kifah, is in prison.
See New Trend of May 5
First I want to thank all of you for all of the love and
kindness that you have given me. You can't imagine how happy
I am with all of you. Thank you Dr. Kaukab Siddique for the
wonderful speech you gave at the demonstration regarding
Kifah. It will be known in history that you are one of the
few Muslims who stood up with the innocent Muslim political
prisoners from the beginning. Thanks to Mel Underbakke,
Lynne Jackson, Sharmin Sadequee, Aysha, Sonali, Fred,
Steve, Hany and everyone else I might have missed. A big
thank you to my sisters Nahla Al-Arian, Majeda and Faten and
Inas Shnewer and Lamese Shnewer. You are all in my prayers
and please remember us in your prayers. I look forward to
see you in the future family conferences.
With thanks to Br. Ali & Sis. Ayesha in Virginia.
Virginia Imam Opposes Burial of Bomber: Christian Woman
Forgave him.
Text below from CBS 6, May 10. Christian woman is Martha
Mullen
[What kind od dogs are our "imams" that deny even what
non-Muslims permit: A decent burial for the enemy. Even
Hitler, Stalin and Sharon did not behave like these dogs.
--Editor NT]
RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - The leader of one of the largest
Islamic congregations in Central Virginia said he was upset
when he learned Boston terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was
buried in a local Muslim cemetery.
"Nobody cared to consult with us or ask us our opinion or
anything," Imam Ammar Amonette, with the Islamic Center of
Virginia, said. "It was a total surprise and shock to
us."
Imam Amonette called Al-Barzakh Cemetery in Doswell a small,
private location. He said not many Muslims in the community
know about the cemetery.
Still he was not pleased about the decision to bury Tsarnaev
there.
"We don't like it when decisions are made that affect us
without consultation," he said. "We're upset that we were
not given any information or choice in the matter.
Imam Amonette said he would not have approved had someone
asked his opinion of bringing the terror suspect's body
here.
"I don't think it was proper that a body should be taken
from another state far away and brought here," he said. The
person has no association with this area whatsoever."
Christian Woman better than Richmond Imam.
Martha Mullen, a private citizen of Richmond, is credited
with having co-ordinated efforts behind the scenes to
resolve the problem of where to bury Tsarnaev.
"It was an interfaith effort," she told the Associated
Press. "Basically because Jesus says love your enemies."
Archive
WHAT DOES THE QUR'AN MEAN by SAYING that it EXPLAINS ALL
THINGS?
A Refutation of Westernized Pakistanis who Attack Hadith
by Kaukab Siddique, PhD
In 1861 a Christian missionary writer named William Muir
wrote a book titled THE LIFE of MAHOMET in which he attacked
Hadith. A famous Muslim scholar of the time, Sir Sayyid
Ahmed Khan answered Muir in detail. Unfortunately Sir Sayyid
was himself a great admirer of British power and was deeply
overawed by the majesty of the British Empire. He gradually
succumbed to Muir's attack and started casting doubts on
some segments of Hadith. Gradually he narrowed down the
efficacy of Hadith to a very few aspects of life.
Through Sir Sayyid influence on westernized Indian Muslims,
the attack on Hadith gradually entered the mentally defeated
segment of what we today call the Pakistani elites or the
Pakistani ruling class.
In 1896 a Jewish scholar named Goldziher launched a massive
attack on Hadith in his publication Muhammedanische Studien.
It was not translated into English until 1967 but in 1950,
its major thesis was taken up and built on by another Jewish
scholar Joseph Schacht in his book ORIGINS OF MUHAMMADAN
JURISPRUDENCE.
Under the influence of Sir Sayyid, a number of writers under
severe inferiority complex to the west emerged. The most
important of these was Ghulam Ahmed Pervez who carried out
systematic and scurrilous attacks on Hadith. His magazine
Tolu-e-Islam, started in 1938, became a rallying point for
anti-Hadith writings with a clear pro-government bias.
In the 1960s came Dr. Fazlur Rahman who carried out a more
sophisticated attack on Hadith.
All these anti-Hadith efforts were tackled by scholars of
various schools of Islamic thought in Pakistan. Abul Ala
Maudoodi was the most famous of these but there were others
whose rebuttal of the anti-Hadith people was more far
reaching than his. [Maudoodi was too polite towards the
attackers.]
The anti-Hadith people became irrelevant in Pakistan but
they have found some support among Pakistanis in America.
One of them has set up shop in Florida and attracted
admirers by denouncing Imam Bukhari's Sahih. A bunch of
these characters are busy on the Internet abusing the Hadith
under the slogan of "QUR'AN ONLY." Every now and then I
receive their emails.
I am willing to listen to any critique of the Hadith, and
even of the Qur'an, if it is written in scholarly language
and based on honest investigation. It should not take the
shape of abuse, out of context listing of quotations and
downright fabrication. The arrogance and deliberate efforts
of these people to remove Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh)
leadership from Islam forced me to give them some of my
valuable time.
IF THE QUR'AN CONTAINS EVERYTHING and HADITH IS NOT NEEDED
....
I pointed out that the QUR'AN DOES NOT MENTION RAPE. I asked
the anti-Hadith people to give me chapter and verse from the
Qur'an. What is rape, what is its punishment and how is this
punishment to be implemented? Give chapter and verse. I sent
my question to all the Pervaiz followers and other
anti-Hadith people. They are unable to give chapter and
verse.
So the Qur'an does not mention the punishment for rape. It's
given in Hadith. [My book LIBERATION of WOMEN THRU ISLAM is
the only book in English which gives the Hadith on rape.]
Qur'an and Hadith have always been together.
So let's look at the verses of the Qur'an which are misused
by the Pervaizi cult and other anti-Hadith people.
SURA 16 VERSE 89
This is one of the verses which the "Qur'an Only" cult
[Pervaizis] keep repeating. They quote it as follows:
"We have sent down to thee the Book explaining all things."
[16:89]
Actually the whole verse is as follows:
"On the Day we shall raise from all Peoples a witness
against them, from amongst themselves: And we shall bring
thee [O Muhammad] as a witness against these: And WE have
sent down to thee the Book explaining all things, a Guide, a
Mercy, and Glad Tidings to Muslims."
[Note the extra-Qur'anic role of the Prophet, pbuh, as
witness against his people. If Muslims are Muhammad's, pbuh,
people, then he, as leader through his teachings, is a
witness against them till the Day of Judgement.]
NOW FOCUS ON THE WORDS "explaining all things"
["tibyaanal-li-kulli shay'in" in Arabic.] Does this mean
that the Qur'an covers every possible issue and leaves
nothing out, with emphasis on ALL? Other verses of the
Qur'an indicate that this is an idiom which indicates that
fundamental or generic issues of a great variety are
covered. Seminal issues are covered. For instance, harshness
towards women is forbidden, as in Sura Nisa. But it does not
mean that EVERYTHING is in the Qur'an. Let's understand this
terminology from the Qur'an itself. For instance, about the
Tablets or Commandments given to Moses, the Qur'an uses just
about the same words:
"And we ordained for him in the Tablets in ALL MATTERS,
admonition and EXPLANATION of ALL THINGS, (and said): "Take
and hold these with firmness, and enjoin thy people to hold
fast by the best in the precepts: Soon shall I show you the
homes of the wicked.' " [7:145]
[The Arabic for the words I have put in capitals is "min
kulli shay'in' and "tafsillal-li-kulli shay."]
Evidently ALL things could not possibly be written on
explained on the Tablets. It is simply idiomatic expression
for essentials and fundamentals.
Now focus on the word ALL [kull in Arabic]. Does it mean
LITERALLY ALL and EVERYTHING in Arabic? Let's see what the
Qur'an says:
"And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on
trees, and in habitations: Then to eat of ALL ["kull'] of
the fruits (of the earth) and follow the ways of thy Lord
made smooth... [to the end of the verse]" [16:68-69]
Obviously the ALL here is idiomatic and not to be taken
literally. No Bee can possibly eat of ALL the fruits,
literally.
"And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to
thee on foot and on EVERY {"kull} camel lean, through deep
and distant highways." [22:27]
Again the EVERY camel has to be idiomatic. It cannot be
taken literally to mean that every possible camel will be
ridden by the pilgrims!
In the story of the Queen of Sheba (known as Bilqis), the
Hoopoe says:
"I found a woman ruling over them and provided with EVERY
THING {"kull sha'yi"}, and she has a magnificent throne."
[27:23]
Evidently Bilqis did not LITERALLY have every thing. It is
an idiom to indicate that she has all the fundamental riches
of the world.
To conclude this section, the Qur'an includes ALL the
fundamental and seminal issues which humanity needs but
there are many important things not in it which were taught
by the Prophet (pbuh.) [Also, once Qur'an and Hadith are
understood they can be used as basis for Islamic
understanding, BUT BOTH do not cover many things for which
ijtihad, qiyas, and many other forms of reasoning are
needed.]
The Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) explain how Muhammad (pbuh)
understood and implemented the verses of the Qur'an.
Everything he taught is as much a part of Islam as is
anything in the Qur'an.
Rape was defined and punished by the Prophet (pbuh) and he
also indicated that the woman's word be accepted and the man
be punished after proper investigation. It's in the Hadith,
NOT in the Qur'an.
From Re-ExaminingLucasville.org: Re: Siddique Abdullah Hasan
and others on Death Row
On April 19-21, supporters of the Lucasville Uprising
Prisoners held a three day conference to raise awareness and
tell a more complete story about what happened twenty years
ago at SOCF, and the legal repercussions that have deeply
damaged many lives.
The Hunger Strike
On Thursday, April 11th, the 20th anniversary of the first
day of the uprising, Greg Curry, Siddique Abdullah Hasan,
Keith Lamar (aka Bomani Shakur), and Jason Robb began
refusing food, and demanding that the ODRC grant access to
media outlets who've requested on-camera interviews with
them. On the following Monday, three other OSP prisoners
joined the hunger strike in solidarity.
There was significant outside media coverage of the 20th
anniversary, and the hunger strike. The Associated Press ran
3 articles, including an interview conducted by phone with
Siddique Abdullah Hasan. These articles went out on the
wire and were syndicated nationally.
On May 6th, after hearing that the lawsuit would be going
forward, and a final meeting with Warden Bobby (who was
unable to offer anything) Greg and Hasan ended their hunger
strike.
The Conference
The conference started with the world premiere screening of
D Jones' film, The Great Incarcerator Part 2: The Shadow of
Lucasville. Full of great archive footage and interviews,
the film does an excellent job of telling the story and
also offers context and analysis for the events. D was able
to interview special prosecutor Daniel Hogan for this
movie, who admitted that he does not know, and "doesn't
think we'll ever know, who killed the hostage, officer
Vallandingham."
D Jones also videotaped the entire conference and intends to
incorporate some of that footage into the final version of
the Lucasville documentary, for which we hope to raise the
funds to distribute and screen as extensively as
possible.
After the screening, we presented the voices of prisoners.
Alice Lynd introduced archive footage of George Skatzes's
attempts to initiate negotiations with guards. Then
Siddique Abdullah Hasan called in and spoke about
Lucasville, and his case. Then we played pre-recorded
statements from Greg Curry and Jason Robb, while projecting
their photographs on the screen. Keith was supposed to call
in last, but he didn't get the phone until too late, so we
played and projected a statement he had pre-recorded as a
back up. [links to Hasan and Keith's audio coming soon]
Denis O'Hearn also spoke about the current hunger strike,
bringing some of his expertise in supporting hunger
strikers in Turkey and the famous Bobby Sands hunger strike
in Ireland.
Saturday morning, things began with a few interactive
workshops hosted by Alice Lynd where people came up and
acted out portions of the actual trial and investigation
transcripts, so we could more directly see how the state
recruited snitches and how juries were stacked with
supporters of the death penalty.
Next, Vicki Werneke presented on appeals processes. Vikki
is George's Lawyer, and is also an expert on Federal Habeus
Corpus (which is the point in appeals that all the death
sentenced prisoners are at). She presented on changes in the
law and legal precedents which have made it increasingly
difficult to win exonerations for death-sentenced
clients.
Third, a panel of people who were incarcerated at
Lucasville at the time of the riot convened, told stories
and took a few questions. Kunta Kenyatta, Sam Oliver, and
Ishaq Al Khair made up the panel. They discussed the extent
of the racism and lawlessness of staff at SOCF, but also
helped people recognize that correctional officers are in
prison as well, and that the policies that provoked and
endangered the prisoners also endangered the staff.
Lunch, thanks FNB!
We allowed that panel to run overtime, but there were
clearly still a number of people with questions. We took a
quick break and then reconvened, for Staughton Lynd's
presentation of a summary analysis of the primary legal
issues at stake in the court cases as they presently stand.
Then we had lunch, which was provided by Food Not Bombs, an
anarchist project based on acquiring food that would
otherwise go to waste and feeding hungry people (often on
the street, but sometimes for activist gatherings like this
one).
After lunch, the panel of legal experts convened. Mark
Donatelli, who came from New Mexico, described the Santa Fe
prison uprising for whichhe worked on the legal defense
team. He compared what happened in that case to Lucasville.
In brief, there were fewer days, more deaths, more
prisoners involved, better media coverage, and fewer
convictions and no death sentences. Niki Schwartz, who
represented prisoners in Lucasville negotiations, and Rick
Kerger, who represented Hasan in state court until taken
off the case by the trial court judge, shared their
experiences and perspective. Finally Phyllis Crocker, who
chaired the American Bar Association task force on death
penalty, in Ohio talked about recent developments in how
Ohio conducts death penalty cases.
Mark Donatelli, Staughton Lynd, Niki Schwartz, Rick Kerger,
and Phyllis Crocker
Bonnie Kerness and Ojore Lutalo were next on the schedule,
they intended to present art work and a video on isolation
as a tool of political repression in New Jersey prisons, but
their flight was canceled due to weather and they could not
make it. So instead, we extended the question and answer
period, which turned out well, because Keith Lamar got
access to the phone and called in during the Q&A and was
able to make a brief statement and participate in the
questions and discussion.
Then people broke for dinner, off site, and returned for the
screening of part one of D Jones's documentary series, Dark
Little Secrets which discusses the prison system in a more
general sense. We wrapped up with some spoken word poetry
and re-convened on Sunday morning.
First thing on Sunday was Noelle Hanrahan sharing her
knowledge from running Prison Radio and working on the Mumia
Abu Jamal support campaign. Her key lesson was to always
maintain positive relations and coordinate solidarity
between different people who are participating in the
support effort from different perspectives, for different
reasons, and using different tactics and messaging. She also
emphasized that supporters should always speak the truth to
prisoners whose cause they are promoting.
On both Sunday morning and Saturday afternoon the conference
attendees unanimously adopted a resolution calling for
amnesty for all of the Lucasville Uprising prisoners.
Then two friends of Ben's who have a lot of experience
running workshops and facilitating discussions came in to
help us brainstorm and begin thinking about the future.
That conversation was fairly general, but we also provided
a couple of immediate actions people can take, and set a
time and place for more direct and specific planning and
implementation of ongoing support.
Follow up Meeting
On Sunday May 5th, the group convened in Youngstown to
discuss future activities. Actions in development
include:
Distribution and screenings of D Jones' film.
A lawsuit demanding media access to the Lucasville Uprising
prisoners.
Packing the court room at Keith Lamar's oral arguments.
Considering starting a state referendum to abolish the death
penalty.
The group's next meeting will be Sunday June 23rd, in
Columbus, OH. Contact redbirdprisonabolition@gmail.com if
you'd like more information.
2013-05-13 Mon 18:52:50 cdt
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