Rajab 25,1434/June 2, 2013 # 23Our America
Grassroots Groups Meet in Harlem, New York.
by Abu Talib [Brooklyn, New York]
I attended the African liberation day In New York which was sponsored by the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party at City College in the village Of Harlem.The Progran was held from 2.00pm to 6.30pm in which there were discussion and Panel by members of the All African Peoples revolutionary Party with the people who were there from some of the organizations that work in the Community.
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There were people from the Peoples Survival Program who
feeds the homeless in Harlem and elsewhere
and
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students from Medgar Evers College who are trying to save
their College
plus
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Jamaat al- Muslimeen who were there to show our support
for the struggles that are taking place all over the world.
The program ended with dinner and networking with each other and the end of the day.
We as Muslims from the Jamaat must work with others in the community. The people were surprised to hear about Jamaat al Muslimeen, a peoples' movement. We must always stand with the oppressed. Its one struggle.
U.S. Counter-Terrorism Database Now Lists 875,000 Names
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/03/us-usa-security-daabase-idUSBRE94200720130503
The number of names on a highly classified U.S. central database used to track suspected terrorists has jumped to 875,000 from 540,000 only five years ago, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said. Among those was suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whose name was added in 2011 ... Maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, the highly classified database is not a "watchlist" but instead is a repository of information on people whom U.S. authorities see as known, suspected or potential terrorists from around the world. The "Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment" is a master database .
Letter: Critical Comments on New Trend's Reporting on Pakistan & Positive On Khula
Just because people use the name of islam, doesn't make it islamic, does it?
You have said that kingship is haram, yet the kings of the past would have presided over islamic system. If the lynch pin is haram, then how can what follows be halal?
The political system in Pakistan can never bring freedom to the ordinary people of pakistan, in fact it is a distraction. At least democracy in the West is less manipulated than the system in Pakistan. Voting in Pakistant is just a divide and rule tactic, that will prevent the ordinary people from ever uniting. Knowing this the religious parties should eschew it. If the Prophet were alive would he participate in such a system?]
On the topic of Khula, I agree it is absolutely scandalous situation. It clearly shows total hypocracy around the institution of marriage. It reminds me of the sponsorship arrangements they have for maids and nannies in the gulf. They have exclusive contact with their employer. They can't work for anyone else unless their employer agrees. The employer can cancel their residence permit at any time and they have to leave the country.
Shoaib Qureshi
Qur'an on Homosexuality: Setting the Record Straight
By Khalid Baig
In the post colonial world the "civilizing mission" continues and the crusade for civilizing the backward Muslims into embracing the sexual mores of the civilizers is going full speed ahead. Since openly declaring that the Qur'an and Islam are plain wrong does not get you much mileage with the target audience, their challenge is how to perform a perfect inversion of Qur'anic teachings and simultaneously assure everyone that this inversion is in harmony with one's belief in the Qur'an. Consider homosexuality. The Qur'an condemns it in no uncertain terms and calls those who committed it as musrifoon (going beyond limits) (7:81), Qaumun Aadoon (transgressing bounds) ( 26:166), Qaumul Mufsideen (mischievous people) (29:30), and Zalimeen (evildoers ) (29:31). In other words they were extremists to the nth degree. The civilizers' dilemma: How to declare those who want to legitimize this practice in the Muslim society as moderates and those who question this extremism as extremists and hardliners?
It is an impossible task but that has not kept the daring from trying. No wonder the new champions cannot agree on what their argument is. One of them, Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle says "The Koran does not condemn homosexuality." Another pundit, Arash Naraghi, an Iranian academic in the US, says that the Qur'an does condemn homosexuality but it is okay anyway because reason says so. "Verses decrying homosexuality...stem from common beliefs at the time of writing, and should be re-examined," he declares. The Economist, which is searching for "theological latitude," quotes both of them with satisfaction and without the smallest hint that they are mutually contradictory, as means of making "progress". 1
The story of the people of Prophet Lut (Lot) is mentioned in more than ten surahs in the Qur'an. This is a story of crime, defiance, and punishment: Unprecedented crime, extremism in insisting on that crime, and exemplary punishment. Anyone who reads this narrative with an open mind can have not the slightest confusion about Islam's attitude about homosexuality. People do have a right to accept or refuse to accept Islamic teachings, values, and commandments. But no one has a right to lie about them. Unfortunately there are many who are willing to do just that these days. This account is, therefore, offered to set the record straight.
The first thing the Qur'an mentions is that homosexual practice was invented by the people to whom Prophet Lut was sent as a messenger. He is very emphatic about this: "And [remember] Lut, when he said unto his people: 'Do you commit abominations such as none in all the world has ever done before you?'" (Al-A'raf 7:80) The Qur'anic word is al-fahisha, which means lewdness, shameful act, indecency. Fornication and adultery ( zina) are also mentioned as examples of fahisha in the Qur'an. (Isra 17:32). But here the definite article al is added to show the even more serious nature of this act. Homosexual act is not fahisha but al-fahisha. It is not just a shameful act but the shameful act, the lewdness, the abomination.
Secondly in telling that no one before them committed this act, the Qur'an uses the word min in addition to ahadin. Without this, it would still mean that no one did it before you. But with min emphasis is added. In other words, no one whosoever ever did this act among all the creatures. This is an outright rejection of the claim that this tendency is an inborn and ingrained part of nature for which no person should be held accountable. Prophet Lut accuses them of having made this choice. And the Sodomites do not say that they are helpless because it is a call of nature. Rather they say, "You know very well what we want." (Hud, 11:79). And that the Prophet would be added to the list of people who have been expelled from their city for objecting to their practices if he does not cease and desist from criticizing their way of life. (Al-Shu'ra 26:167). They are the inventors of this perversion and fully committed to use of violence to defend it.
This Qur'anic account regarding the genesis of this perversion is attested to not only by the Bible and the Talmud but also by the terms used to describe this act in languages around the world. It is sodomy in English, sodomie and sodomiser (the doer) in French, sodomia and sodomizar in Spanish and sodomi in Norwegian. Sodomie in German and sodomia in Polish also refer to variant forms of sexual perversion. All pointing to the fact that it was invented in Sodom, which was the principle city of these people. In Arabic and languages influenced by it like Urdu the term used is liwatat or aml qaum lut, referring to the practice of the people of Prophet Lut. Again it is pointing to the same date and place of invention.
The date is about four thousand years ago. For thousands of years before that no one ever felt the urge for this perversion. Obviously if it was in human nature then some people in earlier times should also have expressed this inclination. The place is the area now submerged under the Dead Sea. This was a very prosperous and rich fertile land. Then the punishment came in the form of a huge earthquake and rain of brimstones and fires that turned their world upside down. The area then became the lowest point on the face of the earth, being about 1300 feet below sea level. It was submerged under the ocean and turned into a desolate place where little life exists. Its harsh environment permits neither fish or other sea animals nor aquatic plants. It was as the Qur'an said: "And verily of that We have left a clear sign for people who have sense." (Ankabut 29:35).
Sodomites committed other crimes as well like highway robbery and performing shameful acts in public as mentioned in one place in the Qur'an (Ankabut 29:29). But their biggest crime was homosexuality, which is mentioned repeatedly. And then there was defiance. When Prophet Lut warned them about divine retribution, they challenged him to bring it on. (Ankabut 29:29). Their fate was thus sealed by their own demand. That was before the angels arrived at the scene. Their invasion of the house of Prophet Lut for the explicit purpose of molesting the angels who appeared in the guise of beautiful young men was thus just the last nail in their coffin. It was not the primary reason for their punishment.
Some people have tried to distort the Qur'anic account by claiming that their crime was rape not homosexuality. Others have surmised that the problem was that they were targeting young children, otherwise it would be fine. The Qur'an does not leave the slightest possibility of such interpretation. It says: "Verily, with lust you approach men instead of women." (Al-A'raf 7:81). It is rijal (men) not atfal (children). It is for the act itself, without any mention of compulsion, that they are called as musrifoon (going beyond limits).
Also significant is the role of Prophet Lut's wife. While in the entire town only one house was saved, that of Prophet Lut, even in that house there was an exception. It was the wife of the Prophet, who was killed with the rest of the people. Her fate is mentioned repeatedly so it does not remain just a footnote to the story. Why was she punished? Not for committing homosexual acts but for betraying her husband (Tahreem 66:10). She betrayed the cause of her husband by being an active sympathizer with the people and therefore shared their fate.
When the people invaded the house of Prophet Lut, and he was at the point of despair, the people were blinded by the angels (Qamar 54:35). We can see a figurative blindness in the people who try to make a case for approval of homosexuality in Islam. A most bizarre argument that has been forwarded by some of them is that the Qur'an mentions the presence of young boys as servants in Paradise. Interestingly it is the same people who argue that the modern homosexual affair is between consenting adults and that they also agree that sex with young boys is wrong. Yet that is what comes to their lustful minds when they read the accounts of the servants in the Qur'an. If they had maintained their sensibilities, they would have realized that this Qur'anic account actually gives exactly the opposite message. In Paradise women will not be in the public places. They will be in the private space, where they will not face the attention of anyone except their husbands ("houris, cloistered in cool pavilions" Rahman 55:72). Young boys will be in all the public places, because those who enter Paradise will not look at them with any sexual desires. They will have nothing to worry as those who could look at them with desire will not be in Paradise at all. They will be in the exact opposite of Paradise, whose small manifestation was given to the people of Prophet Lut.
May Allah protect us all from the Fire and the acts that lead to it.
1 The Economist, Feb 4th 2012 http://www.economist.com/printedition/2012-02-04
An engineer by profession, Khalid Baig is the editor of Albalagh.net. His latest book is "Slippery Stone: An Inquiry into Islam's Stance on Music."
Pakistan: 2 items from Anwar Niazi.
Islamic leaders Demand Clear Message to Washington: Drone Attacks won't be Tolerated.
Munawar Hasan speaks on Kashmir, Rivers, Electricity, Cooperation with Imran Khan.
LAHORE, May 30: Ameer,. Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Syed Munawar Hasan, has said that the drone attacks were the outcome of Pak slavery to tyhe US and these won't end through the passive, routine protest from the government.
It is time to evolve an independent foreign policy and to send a message to Washington that "enough is enough " and that drone attacks wont be tolerated any more, he said while talking to newsmen at Mansoora on Thursday where the central Shoora of the JI went into session.
Terming May 29 drone attack as the first US "salute" to the incoming government, Syed Munawar Hasan stressed upon the new rulers to reject US dictation of "Do More", by flatly saying "No More."
The JI Ameer said that unfortunately, till now, the Pakistan governments had not been sure that we are an independent, sovereign country, adding that " the day we show our real face to the US, there won't be any more drone attacks."
Answering a question about the JI policy on drones after joining the PTI in the Khyber Provincial government, Syed Munawar Hasan said that it was not within the domain of the provincial government to stop drone attacks. As such, the federal and the provincial governments could frame a policy through mutual cooperation.
To a question about PML(N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif's statements regarding load shedding of electricity, the JI Ameer said obviously, the statements prior to the polls and those after electoral victory were to be different. However, he said, the new government must realize the agony load shedding of electricity had been causing to the people and the huge losses suffered by the country's economy, industry and agriculture, and prepare plans to resolve the issue and provide relief to the people.\
Syed Munawar Hasan told another questioner that the new rulers should not push the Kashmir issue to the back burner for improving ties with India. India, he said was involved in the massacre of the Kashmiri Muslims, its attitude towards this country was hostile, and it was also blocking our share of river waters. All these issues should not be ignored during the talks with India, he added.
Meanwhile addressing the JI Shoora, Syed Munawar Hasaan said that the JI's joining the PTI in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa would mean a new experience as well as a big challenge. This was because the major issues of the province included the drone attacks, military operations, suicide attacks, and terrorism, whose solution lay in the hands of the central government. Therefore, the federal government and the armed forces should frame an independent policy in regard to the war on terror, he added.
Item #2
Education System Can help by Countering Sectarian, Regional, Ethnic Differences.
Western Influences and Pakistanis lack of direction Addressed by JI Sec. General
LAHORE, May 30: Secretary General, Jamaat e Islami, Liaqat Baloch, has said that a uniform education policy, in complete harmony with the country's ideology, could greatly help in creating national unity by downplaying the sectarian, regional and ethnic differences. He was addressing the central education committee of the JI at Mansoora,.
Liaqat Baloch said that the present decadence of the Muslim Ummah was due to the western cultural invasion on one side and the prevailing purposeless education system, love for materialism and our carelessness towards religion, on the other.
He said that greed for power, endless corruption and unscrupulous rulers had led to the demise of self respect, dignity and honour and national cohesion. The Muslims had grouped themselves as Afghans, Iranians, Syrians, Baloch, Pathan, Sindhis, Sunis and Shias, etc. etc.
The JI leader stressed upon the new rulers to develop a permanent and uniform education policy and enforce it even in the private educational institutions. He said that international financial institutions were financing the educational institutions in the country in order to promote secular education.
He said that the importance of the Urdu as national language could be emphasized by holding competitive examinations, delivering court decisions and official correspondence in Urdu.
He also stressed upon the managements of the JI educational institutions run by the JI to play their role in the character building of their wards on true Islamic lines and producing good citizens.
Absurd [popular?] view of Hadith on women rebutted.
Weak Translation of Hadith Misleads Many about Women in Islam.
A Comment on the Meaning of 'Aql and Jariya
by Kaukab Siddique, PhD
In his translation of Sahih Bukhari, Dr. Muhsin Khan translates hadith number 826 (in volume 3, section XVII, on Witnesses) as follows: "Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri. The Prophet said: 'Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?' The Women said, 'Yes'. He said, "This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind." The Arabic is fazalika min nuqsan-e-aqaleha which should be translated as: "That is owing to her lack of understanding." The translation of 'Aql as "mind" is incorrect. The term "mind" is a platonic concept which refers to innate ability. 'Aql is the word for understanding, sense and wisdom which is acquired through experience and development of educational abilities. The mind is fixed and unchanging; Understanding can be developed. The term "mind" has to do with the idea that some people are born with intelligence and some are not: In its essence it is a racist concept. We can try to define the meaning of the word "aql" by looking at its usage in the Qur'an. It is used to refer to an ability which learns from observation and which works though experiencing the wonders of God's creation:
And of His signs is this: He shows you the lightning for a fear and a hope, and sends down water from the sky, and thereby quickens the earth after its death. Surely in that are signs for people of understanding (liqaumin-yyaqiloon). The Qur'an 30:24
And the difference of night and day and the provision that Allah sends down from the sky and thereby quickens the earth after her death, and the ordering of the winds, are signs for people of understanding (liqaumin-yyaqiloon). Sura 45:5
These verses are meant for the general audience of the Qur'an. Anyone who is willing to use his understanding and look at the heavens and the earth can perceive the underlying power which makes the universe possible. These verses are not aimed at some special elite which has a "mind" which others lack. Certainly women are not excluded from the audience of these verses. No honest commentator would be able to claim that the signs of God mentioned in these verses are not available to women because women are deficient in their "minds"! Any person, man or woman, can perceive the ayat (signs) of Allah and arrive at conclusions about God's Oneness, Creativity, Power, and Nurturing Love.
Dr. Muhsin Khan has made a major blunder. He did not realize that the holy Prophet was actually urging the women to gain understanding. He was not saying that they are deficient by nature and will always remain so! When a teacher says to a student: Your understanding of the book is weak, you are deficient in your analysis; think, don't cheat, etc; the teacher is actually urging the student to gain the understanding which he/she lacks. Islam came to educate people, to raise them from out of the marshes of ignorance, not to condemn them.
If Dr. Muhsin Khan had looked at other hadith in the same chapter of Bukhari's Sahih, he would have realized two things: 1. The holy Prophet did not reject the witness of one woman even as opposed to a man's. 2. He did not think that women are deficient in their minds.
In hadith number 827 and 828 we are told that the holy Prophet abrogated a marriage on the basis of ONE WOMAN'S WITNESS who had testified that in their infancy she had suckled both the husband and the wife. The narration indicates that the male narrator did not want to accept the woman's witnessing but the holy Prophet would not countenance his hesitation. (Incidentally the woman was black and a slave from the Era of Ignorance, which also indicates the revolutionary Islamic concepts of equality of all races and peoples along with equality of male and female.)
Further on in the same chapter of Bukhari's Sahih, we have a lengthy narration of the slander which was spread against hazrat 'Ayesha (radi Allahu unha) by the hypocrites. In the narration we find hazrat Ali urging the holy Prophet to ask for one woman's witness and the holy Prophet going through the process of asking one woman without saying that two women are required. (The Qur'an then confirmed this witnessing by affirming the noble character of the blessed 'Ayesha.) The words of the narration are:
"'Ali ibn Abi Talib said: O messenger of Allah! Allah has not put restrictions on you, and there are many women other than she; yet you may ask the young woman (Barera) and she will tell you the truth. On that the messenger of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be on him, called Barera and asked her: 'O Barera! Did you ever see anything which raised your suspicion? Barera said: No. By Allah who has sent you with the Truth, I have never seen anything wrong in her except that she is young and sometimes sleeps after having kneaded the dough and the goat comes and eats it. On that day the messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, stood up to give the khutba and asked the people to support him against Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul. The messenger of Allah said: Who will support me against that person who has hurt me in the matter of my family? By Allah I know nothing but good about my family, and they have accused a man about whom I know nothing except good and he never entered my house except in my company."
Those who have read their hadith books carefully know that Barera was a freed slave woman. In fact, she had been freed by hazrat 'Ayesha and used to spend her time with hazrat 'Ayesha as her companion, friend, and helper. In both hadith the witness of one woman is accepted by the Prophet, and the question of their 'deficient mind' is not raised. The reason for acceptance was that Islamic education had given women mental maturity and understanding. By the time the slander against hazrat 'Ayesha occurred, the Muslim community had strengthened its roots. When the verse about two female witnesses was revealed in Sura al-Baqarah, the Islamic community had just begun in Medina. Our male commentators have built their weak position on Sura al-Baqarah while completely ignoring Surat un-Noor where hazrat 'Ayesha's example was used by Allah to indicate the equality of males and females before the Law for all times to come.
Dr. Muhsin Khan has also slipped in his translation of the word jariya. He translates it as "woman-servant" which though better than laundi (female slave), as some Urdu language translators put it, is still off the mark. The workd jariya simply means a young woman or girl. Barera was not a slave or a servant. (Bukhari's Sahih attests that the holy Prophet's household did not have a servant, male or female) She had been freed by hazrat 'Ayesha. Somehow Dr. Khan could not see that the word jariya occurs three times in hadith 829 referring to hazrat 'Ayesha herself. (As hazrat 'Ayesha points out, she was a young woman at that time and weighed very little; hence the camel driver did not know if she was sitting in the curtained seat atop the camel or not and moved on without her.) Thank goodness that Dr. Khan does not claim that hazrat 'Ayesha was a slave girl too! I hope he will look up the story of Barera and find out that she had been freed. (Freed slaves often lived with those who had freed them in a system of wilayya because they had no family systems of their own.)
I am not trying to condemn all of Dr. Khan's translation. Readers however should notice how many different factors can come in to create misgivings and misunderstanding about Hadith. We all have much to learn. Those who are translating holy books into English are often very deficient in their English; however, they are not willing to face the fact that they are deficient in their understanding of English. Inshallah, we can learn from each other. Let them tell us where we make mistakes in Arabic, and let them listen to us where we point out their mistakes in English. The language of the people is an essential vehicle for the dissemination of a message. The Qur'an was revealed in Arabic to a people who spoke Arabic. Similarly, Islam in America must be conveyed by people who can speak and understand the idiom of the American people.
And if We had sent the Qur'an in a foreign tongue, they would have surely said: if only its verses were expounded (so that we might understand). What! I foreign tongue and an Arab?--Say to them (O Muhammad): For those who believe it is a Guidance and a healing; and as for those who disbelieve, there is deafness in their ears, and it is blindness for them. Such are called to from afar. The Qur'an 41:44
'Christian Zionism' The World's Most Urgent Mission Field
Charles E. Carlson May 28, 2013,
Mainline Christians are beginning to realize that "Christian Zionism" is a misnomer, a sort of faith based oxymoron, an impossibility to those who follow Christ. As of yet, we do not know of a denomination that has declared the Zionist leaning church down the street to be an open mission field, but they should. If "Christian Zionism" cannot be said to be a denomination, an offshoot, branch, or subset, it must then be about world politics, a radical departure from following Christ that is better described as "Israel following."
Increasingly, mainline or traditional churches are speaking out refuting the bazaar interpretive biblical foundations of the John Hagee's, the late Jerry Falwell, and other proud professing "Christian Zionists." Christ following churches should do as Project Strait Gate did, declare "Christian Zionism" to be an apostate pretense at Christ following because it has fallen away from truths. Missionary organizations should declare it an animist belief system, with no basis in Christianity. The next vital step must be for "Christian Zionist" churches in the US to be viewed as a mission field, as much as any animist tribe in a mountain valley of the Andes or China was once considered a mission field. Firm words need to be said to every one of the 50-70 million or more Americans who allow themselves to be associated with the likes of John Hagee and the late Jerry Falwell and many others. The right words are, "you are following something, but you are not following Jesus," Project Strait Gate set this standard almost 10 years ago, and through it we have learned to relate to pastors and congregations, and have uncovered the incredible frailty of their argument in support of the occupier State. Israel is a far more brutal occupier than were the Romans, of Jesus' day, as can be witnessed to by thousands who have lived in Israeli prisons. It is our prayer that church groups like the COS, will take this next bold, but obviously correct step, and we offer suggestions from mistakes we have made.
The Church of Scotland (COS) is the latest, but not the only church organization to recognize that Israel is an occupier and flagrant abuser of the natives in the land of the Philistines. Its statement entitled "The Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the 'Promised Land'," (1) clearly called attention the the role of "Christian Zionists" and their scriptural error, if not deliberate, distortion and abuse of Christian scripture. This report when released a few weeks ago brought down condemnation and wrath from the Israeli Zionists who stoutly defend its much larger American brother, "Christian Zionism". The COS report correctly reminds its members that it is no stranger to the land of the Philistines, having a continuous mission presence there, and a 10 year history of warning its members that they should reject "Christian Zionism," stating clearly in a 2007 plea from their church leaders in Jerusalem, "endorsing their criticism of Christian Zionism and warned their members to reject it." The 2013 report challenges the basic core belief of "Christian Zionists" and indeed all Zionists, stating it, "refutes claims that scripture offers any people a privileged claim for possession of a particular territory." In other words, God did not give any real estate to the state of Israel.
In our own definition of Christian Zionism we have long noted, it is and always has been, the belief that The modern State of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical prophesy. We learn from the COS report the Palestinian member of the COS started taking this exact same position at about the same time we did a decade ago. There is much more in this COS, 2013 Report we could talk about, and thankfully the Church of Scotland is not the only church to take this position, fifteen US denominations have made a very similar statement in a protest to Congress. (2)
One obvious difference between those Protestant churches, including the COS, that has long opposed the acts and the theology of "Christian Zionism," in contrast to those who support it, is that those who oppose Zionism are the those few who have stayed in the land of the Philistines and suffered along with the Philistines throughout the current occupation. They have worked with the Philistines in their tragedy, where in contrast the Zionist leaning denominations, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, have long ago pulled out, leaving the Palestinian Christians side by side with Muslims, to struggle against Zionism on their own. American churches who support Zionism have taken a comfortable, see no evil, speak no evil approach to mission work. A case in point was my own March, 2002 discovery in Gaza City, that the Southern Baptist Convention which then owned a church and office buildings in Gaza, had not only pulled out but had forced the withdrawal of its missionaries from Gaza, even those who wanted to stay among the Philistines; In contrast I found Orthodox and Mainline Protestant churches had stayed on to mission, and send back the few accurate reports we received. Christian Zionist churches do not want to witness Israel's occupation and abuse of the Philistines, so they switch from participants to tourists, taking Israel sponsored and controlled junkets, which carefully and expertly avoid sights and sounds of the occupation. The Southern Baptist leadership in the person of Richard L Land, said officially in 2002, God gave the land to Israel, so for the Palestinians, "it's God's way or the Highway". (3)
In contrast, Church of Scotland challenged the most basic spiritual belief of "Christian Zionism," this being that the ancient Chaldean, Abraham, received the land now known as Palestine from God and passed it along to the present day occupiers, never mind that the occupiers came from Europe only 65 years ago and chose the name "Israel" for themselves. The COS firmly states that no tribe or nation, pointedly Israel, can claim land rights from God based on Scripture. Conversely, the basic tenant of "Christian Zionism" is the belief that the present day state of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical Prophesy, with a right to the land given by God, therefore, the historic occupants have no right to be there. Every follower must believe this, it is the only argument they can find to justify the immorality of the Israeli occupiers.
At this point I must stop to explain why you will find "Christian Zionism" in quotes in this report. We Hold These Truths was one of the first, if not the first, to apply this term to churches who previously had called themselves, dispensational or sometimes evangelical or "fundamentalist." But Zionism, as practiced in church, is such a radical departure from the words of Jesus as to make the term "Christian Zionism" an oxymoron, an impossibility of meaning. We have explained to those entering several Christians United For Israel, Night to Honor Israel meetings that they will not find Christ inside the doors, for there is not a "jot or tittle" of what Jesus or His disciples taught being heard inside. We often ask attendees to count on their fingers every utterance of Jesus' name inside such meetings. Our own friends who attend and observe tell us Jesus is all but forgotten inside. Christian Zionists are so far outside of practicing Christianity as to be a bad joke. One does not have to be a Bible scholar to see this, children can see that the occupation does not equate with "Blessed are the Peacemakers", "Love your neighbor as yourself", or a hundred other teachings of Jesus and those who followed him. There is simply not an ounce of Christ taught in "Christian Zionist" services. We Hold These Truths has practiced our teaching, sponsoring upward to a hundred vigils at "Christian Zionist" leaning churches, and that is why we now put quote marks around that impossible phrase. It would be more accurate to call those who follow this false leadership, apostate Zionists or Gentile Zionists.
Christ following churches should put reclaiming "Christian Zionists" as a first concern. It is without a doubt the largest apostate group in America. It is a larger number than atheists, Jews and Muslims, in America, combined. And, they already believe in going to church. These confused believers in Christ, who swear they are anything but confused. need to be reminded that Jesus, and not political Israel, is the fulfillment of Biblical Prophesy. If they see that "Christian Zionism" is indirectly but clearly responsible for many deaths in the land of the Philistines, and is drawing all of America into one war after another, they can change. I did and so did most member of Project Strait Gate. There is no faction, religious or political, that is larger or more influential in its push for war than is "Christian Zionism." It is, therefore, the World's Most Urgent Mission field.
Notes:
1) The Inheritance of Abraham, a report on the 'Promised Land': http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/000/14050/The_Inheritance_of_Abraham.pdf
2) "Churches Call For Congressional Investigation Into Aid To Israel": http://charlesecarlson.com/churches-call-for-congressional-ivestigation-into-aid-to-israel/
3) "In Front Of A Church That Will Not Take A Stand": http://whtt.org/newwhtt/main.php?mm=155&ncateid=1
Leading Islamic Scholar of Arab World speaks.
Shaykh al-Qaradawi Urges Muslims to join Jihad against Syria's Tyrant.
Expresses Sorrow that he once Praised Hizbullah.
dailystar.com.lb
Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called on Sunni Muslims to join the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, as he lashed out at Shiite group Hezbollah for sending its men to fight the mostly-Sunni insurgents in Syria.
Qaradawi, a controversial figure in the West but who has millions of supporters, mostly from the Muslim Brotherhood, also hit out at Iran for backing the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"Every Muslim trained to fight and capable of doing that (must) make himself available" to support the Syrian rebels, the cleric said at a rally in Doha late Friday.
"Iran is pushing forward arms and men (to back the Syrian regime), so why do we stand idle?" he said, branding Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which means the party of God in Arabic, as the "party of Satan".
Hezbollah, a close ally of Iran and the Syrian regime, is openly engaged in the fight against the rebels in Syria. It has also fought for years against Israel, arch rival of Iran and Syria.
"The leader of the party of the Satan comes to fight the Sunnis... Now we know what the Iranians want... They want continued massacres to kill Sunnis," Qaradawi said.
"How could 100 million Shiites (worldwide) defeat 1.7 billion (Sunnis)?" he exclaimed, "only because (Sunni) Muslims are weak".
The cleric blamed himself for previously backing Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah who gained popularity after steadfastly leading his group in the fight against Israel in 2006.
"I defended the so-called Nasrallah and his party, the party of tyranny... in front of clerics in Saudi Arabia," which is wary of neighbouring Shiite Iran and its allies.
"It seems that the clerics of Saudi Arabia were more mature than me," Qaradawi said.
But the cleric insisted that his call to fight Hezbollah is "not against all Shiites".
Fighters of Hezbollah are engaged in fierce battles against the rebels to capture the Syrian town of Qusayr near the Lebanese borders.
The militant group has already lost dozens of its men in the battle for Qusayr.
Qaradawi hosts a popular show on Al-Jazeera satellite television and has backed the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria.
May 31. BBC
US woman Nicole Mansfield killed fighting in Syria
An American woman has been killed in Syria fighting for opposition forces, her family have been told by the FBI.
Nicole Mansfield, 33 and from Flint in Michigan, converted to Islam about five years ago, her aunt told Reuters news agency.
The family did not know the details of how she died, the agency reported.
State-run TV in Syria showed pictures of a passport and a Michigan driving licence apparently belonging to Ms Mansfield.
She is the only American known to have died in the conflict in Syria. An estimated 70,000 people are believed to have died since violence broke out more than two years ago.
'Known to take off'
On Thursday a monitoring group said three foreigners had been killed in Syria including an American woman and a British man. Both were reported to be Muslims.
They were in Idlib province near the Turkish border, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syrian state TV broadcast footage showing what it said was an American passport belonging to Nicole Mansfield
"They were shot dead during an ambush in the Idlib region and the army found them with maps of military positions," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the monitoring group, told the AFP news agency.
The woman's cousin David Speelman told the Associated Press that FBI agents had visited the family on Thursday to tell them of Ms Mansfield's death.
The Detroit Free Press reported that Ms Mansfield, who was raised a Baptist, had previously been married to an Arab man and had a teenage daughter.
After her marriage ended, Ms Mansfield remained a Muslim and travelled to Dubai to learn about Arab culture, her aunt Monica Mansfield-Speelman told the AFP news agency.
She said she had last heard from her niece in September.
"We didn't know she was over there," Ms Mansfield-Speelman said. "We didn't know she was gone, but Nicole, she was known to take off like that."
The photographs on her ID show her wearing a hijab or Muslim headscarf.
It is reported that Ms Mansfield had dropped out of school after becoming pregnant but later gained her GED or high school equivalency qualification.
She had worked in healthcare for the past decade.
Her father was a General Motors production worker.
Her grandmother told the newspaper that she had "a heart of gold," but was easily influenced by others.
"I think she could have been brainwashed," Carole Mansfield said
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