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29 Muharram,1436/November 23, 2014 Issue # 47, Newsletter # 1577
Hadith of the Week
The Prophet quoted the devil as saying to God: "I shall
continue to lead Thy servants astray as long as their
spirits are in their bodies." God replied: "(And) I shall
continue to pardon them as long as they ask My
forgiveness."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 742
Breaking News
Iraq
New Islamic State Victory: Eastern Ramadi Captured. Attacks
on Erbil and Baghdad.
4 civilians killed by jet bomber.
Nov 21: A day long battle ended with the capture of the
eastern segment of Ramadi by Islamic State [IS] fighters.
The Iraqi regime forces suffered heavy losses.
A western power's air strike hit the town of Hit killing 4
civilians including 2 children. [Nationality of jet bomber
not revealed.]
Nov 22: Iraqi regime forces launched a counterattack to
re-take the eastern tip of Ramadt. Battle is raging but
without success for the regime. Several Sunnis fighting for
the regime were not able to flee and were gunned down.
[Three fourths of Ramadi has been under Islamic control for
months.]
Nov 19: IS hit the military center of Erbil in north east
Iraq causing casualties among pro-US Kurds but missed the US
"advisers" stationed in Erbil.
Nov 22. There were several attacks on Baghdad including a
bomb attack near the international airport.
Syria
by Suleiman Al-Khalidi (Reuters)
Fighters from Al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other insurgents
attacked and briefly entered Baath City in southern Syria on
Thursday, the army's last major bastion in a province
flanking the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The battle is part of a campaign launched by the insurgents
this week to take control of the entire Quneitra province.
Only Baath City and neighboring Khan Arnaba town remain
under President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
"If they fall the rebels will have secured the second
province after Raqqa," said Abu Said Jolani, an activist in
the area.
Raqqa, in northern Syria, is held by the militant group
Islamic State and has been targeted by U.S.-led air
strikes.
The insurgents were locked in street fighting with
government troops in the city centre overnight and were
pushed back to the outskirts on Thursday, activists said.
Thousands of Baath City's 30,000 residents have already
fled.
The city was named after Syria's ruling Baath Party as an
act of defiance after the destruction of nearby Quneitra
city in the 1967 war with Israel. Quneitra was abandoned and
Baath is now the provincial administrative centre.
About 2,000 fighters were taking part in the southern
offensive. Their advances, which expand insurgent control
close to the Golan Heights and Jordan, are also important
because Assad's power base in Damascus lies just 40 miles
(65 km) to the north. The fighters want to open a path
towards the capital and link up with insurgents there.
Before entering Baath City, the insurgents said they had
captured several villages on the outskirts and claimed
control of most of the countryside.
"The rebels are using all kinds of weapons from tank fire to
mortars, as well as raiding groups," said Abdullah Saif
Allah, a Nusra Front field commander in Hamidiya town near
the frontier with Israel.
Syrian state media and pro-government newspapers have said
the army, backed by loyalist militias, had repelled the
rebel push in Baath City. They reported heavy fighting after
a barrage of rebel mortar and artillery fire hit the city
centre and municipality building.
Hundreds of Nusra fighters who fled from the eastern Deir
al-Zor province after being driven out by Islamic State
earlier this year have regrouped in southern Syria, boosting
the rebel presence there, activists say.
"It gave the fighters in the area the upper hand," said Abu
Yahya al-Anari, a fighter from Ahrar al-Sham.
The army depends on aerial bombardments in the area. On the
ground, it has been exposed since moving thousands of troops
from bases to reinforce Aleppo in the north, rebels say.
Insurgent gains since earlier this year have been mainly
achieved by Nusra Front together with other Islamist
brigades and rebels fighting under the umbrella of the
Western-backed Free Syrian Army. Unlike rebel in-fighting
further north, they have coordinated well so far.
Most of heavy weaponry and fighters in Quneitra province are
drawn from hardline Islamist brigades such as Ahrar al-Sham
and al Muthana alongside Nusra, activists and analysts
say.
They have eroded the dominance of the Western-backed rebels
that control areas further southeast towards Deraa city and
along the Jordanian border.
Why People are Confused about Islam?
Excerpt from Shamim Siddiqi's latest book Global Islamic
Movement.
-
Islam is not what is being presented today by the Muslims
around the world through their actions and deeds. It has
taken the format of a "religion", constituting a very small
segment of the whole of Islam and that too is practiced in a
much obscured form, creating and giving an extremely
distorted impression of Islam to the contemporary human
society at different levels.
-
Muslims couldn't produce its Truthful and immaculate
Model so far in the context of modern world anywhere in
their respective societies even where they hold majority. As
such, amazingly, though there are fifty seven Muslim
countries but Islam is nowhere visible as a "political
entity".
-
However, the secular West has been and is opposing tooth
and nail the emergence of Islam anywhere in the Muslim world
as a "political entity" due to its centuries old accumulated
"historical prejudices", self-conceived reservations,
"self-innovated" misinterpretations or distortion of facts,
culminating into a global hate campaign against Islam and
Muslims through its entire print and electronic media.
Shamim Siddiqi
is known as the leader of the da'wa movement in America; he
has a large following all across America.
He is also the adviser of Jamaat al-Muslimeen
Pakistan
50,000 Women Attend Jamaat-e-Islami's Mammoth Gathering in
Lahore.
JI wants to build an Islamic Pakistan wherein the women
enjoy such enormous rights that women in Britain and the US
would envy them.amaate Islami Ameer Makes Specific demands
for Rights of Women. Islam is the only Religion which
Guarantees Inheritance rights for women.
LAHORE, Nov. 22; Ameer, Jamat e Islami, Pakistan, Sirajul
Haq, has said that the JI wanted to build an Islamic
Pakistan wherein the women enjoyed so enormous rights that
the women in Britain and the US would envy them. He was
addressing the participants of an international women's
conference held at the Minar e Pakistan, on the second day
of the JI Ijtema. More than fifty thousand women from all
over the country are attending the Ijtema along with their
small children. The topic of the women's conference was the
role of the women in the changing world.
Sirajul Haq said the presence of such a large number of
women at the Ijtema was a manifestation that the Pakistani
women were not impartial in the war between right and wrong,
between Islam and the forces of Kufr. These women stood with
Islam in its war against hypocrisy. These women believe that
Allah alone was Supreme and none other was supreme. They did
not consider the US, Britain or Russia as supreme, he added.
He said that with such a large attendance of women at the
Ijtema, he was seeing an Islamic revolution as close as the
Minar e Pakistan.
The JI chief debunked the west propaganda that Islam denied
the womenrights and said the fact was otherwise. He said it
was Islam that gave the women the right to inheritance and
ownership of her property.
He said that fourteen centuries ago, Islam had established a
paradise on the earth in the form of a household with the
sacred relationships of husband and wife, mother and son,
sister and brother, aunt and niece and so on. He said that
the west had demolished all these sacred relationships,
denied the women their genuine rights and even thrust upon
her shoulder the responsibility of earning livelihood. In
spite of all this, the west claimed to be the champion of
women rights.
The JI chief said that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was the
greatest benefactor of the humanity as also the women. The
Prophet had said that whoever had two daughters, and he
brought them up with love and affection, would be with him
in the paradise as two fingers of his hand. It was the
Prophet who preached sanctity of the mother for her children
and declared that the paradise for a son lay at his mother's
feet.
The JI ameer said that the women comprised fifty one per
cent of the country's population but the country's banks did
not grant loans to them although they liberally grated loans
to corrupt politicians and industrialists. He declared that
an Islamic government would grant interest free loans to the
women so that they could bring up their children and make
them as useful citizens.
He said some people were of the view that the country could
progress only if its womenfolk worked shoulder to shoulder
with the men as in the west. He said in fact, these people
wanted that the fortress of the home which Islam had given
us, be demolished as in the west. He said this was a Satanic
idea. Satan who had expelled Adam and Eve from paradise, now
wanted to demolish this fortress of the home. However, he
said that the Pakistani women would frustrate this
conspiracy.
Sirajul Haq asked the womenfolk present at the conference if
they would take Hazrat Fatima (RA), as a model or a
Hollywood woman: they shouted that their model was
Fatima(RA).
He said that every movement that had the support of the
women had always been successful in human history.
Therefore, he was sure that the JI's movement for an Islamic
Pakistan enjoying the support of the women folk, would
Inshallah be successful.
Munawar
Criticises Military Operations: General Raheel Should
Present Fact Sheet; Oppression of our own people by
military is creating Chain Reactions: Address to Huge
gathering; Calls for unity with Tablighi Jamaat.
Lahore -Former Ameer of Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Syed Munawar
Hasan has expressed desire for joining hands with
Tebleeghi Jamat for change in the society saying both the
religious parties were struggling for common good and
formation of a just, Islamic society in Pakistan.
"JI and Tableeghi Jamat have very commonalities and
similarities in their beliefs and teachings and both are
struggling for freeing people from the slavery of other
human beings and bringing Islamic rule of law in the
country", he said while addressing on the second day of All
Pakistan Ijtema-e-Aam of JI being held at Minar-e-Pakistan
in Lahore.
Former JI Amir and a harsh critic of prevailing system in
Pakistan, Munawar Hasan said Tablgheei Jamat concentrates on
the moral character of a person and trying to make common
people as better Muslims while JI had the same goal but it
was also struggling for reforming the society through
democratic struggle.
He also called for waging Jihad for elimination of
oppression from Pakistan Society along with democratic
struggle, saying Jihad was the fundamental principle of
Islam, which had nothing to do with terrorism and
militancy.
"Due to propaganda against Jihad, people are now even
ashamed of using this word as Jihad has been declared as
terrorism. We need to wage Jihad in the way of Almighty
Allah along with democratic struggle to eliminate oppression
and injustice", he observed.
Criticizing the ongoing military operations in FATA tribal
areas of the country by the Pakistan Army, he reiterated
that military operations had never been the solution of
insurgency anywhere in the world, adding that military
operations had created more problems and chain reactions
than bringing peace in the country.
"Neither the military operation in Swat nor the ongoing war
in South Waziristan by the Pakistan army is solving any
problems faced by the country. Only people in a large number
are suffering and have become displaced persons in their own
country", he said while addressing the All Pakistan
Ijtemah-e-Aam .
Demanding that free media should be given access to FATA
tribal areas of the country, he said claims were being made
that a large number of terrorists were being killed in
aerial bombing by Pakistani forces and in drone attacks but
nobody had any ways and means to confirm these claims.
He also demanded Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif
to present the 'balance sheet' of war against terror in the
country and said people wanted to know if Pakistan had
gained through this war or the conditions worsened during
last one decade when Pakistan owned this futile war.
He also mentioned the sufferings of people of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas due to insurgency and military
operations and said some groups of people had to migrate
even for three or more times but nobody was concerned
anymore about Pashtuns of KPK and tribal belt of the
country.
JI Naib Amir also praised presence of such a large number of
women, who traveled from across Pakistan to reach Lahore to
attend the JI congregation, saying this shows that Pakistan
women were also determined and ready for the long struggle
for end of oppression, formation of a just society as per
principles of Islamic Shariat.
On the occasion, he urged the participants of the JI
Ijtemah-e-Aam and people in general to intensify struggle
for reconstruction of presence system of governance in
Pakistan, saying current system of governance was highly
flawed and need immediate reforms.
Satanic Forces at Work in the Heart of Pakistan.
Pakistani military's Direct Link to the US: Billions
received to Kill Islamic Resistance
BBC 11/19/14
"One of the biggest concerns for the Pakistani army is to
ensure the continuation of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF),
a kind of reimbursement from the US for the costs it incurs
in military operations.
As per Congressional Research Service reports, Pakistan has
received close to $28.4bn (£12bn) in military and
non-military aid from the US post 9/11. Of that, $11bn came
from the CSF.
Experts say convincing Congress to continue the CSF will be
a tough ask for Mr Sharif. Many of the senators who control
the purse strings have put conditions on the release of
funds to Pakistan. Pakistan also gets close to $300m worth
of military aid per year from the US to buy conventional
weapons"
Army Chief Holds Talks at Pentagon.
Dawn 11/19/14
WASHINGTON: Talks between US and Pakistani militaries moved
to the Pentagon on Tuesday where Army Chief Gen Raheel
Sharif also met his host, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen
Martin Dempsey
Photo: Pakistan army chief and his American buddy; They got
away with genocide in North Waziristan.
Gen Sharif and his delegation received the US Army's full
honour guard when they arrived at the Pentagon for the
second phase of their week-long visit to the United States.
After the ceremony, the Pakistani delegation attended a
roundtable with the US delegation, which included Gen
Dempsey and Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert O. Work.
Also read: COAS in US: Army praised for Zarb-i-Azb, fight
against terror
The army chief and his delegation also had separate meetings
with Raymond T. Odierno, Chief of Staff of the US Army and
Gen Joseph F. Dunford, Commandant of the Marine Corps. They
could not meet US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel as he was
out of Washington.
The talks focused on the situation in Afghanistan and on the
military operation Pakistan launched earlier this year to
destroy militant hideouts in its tribal belt. A
clarification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saved the
Pakistani delegation from possible embarrassment over a
statement by the prime minister's senior adviser Sartaj
Aziz.
In an interview to BBC on Monday, Mr Aziz said that Pakistan
was not going to target militant groups that did not "pose
direct a threat to the state".
The statement, immediately picked by the US media, allowed
some Pakistan experts in Washington to claim that Islamabad
would continue to support the Haqqani network because it was
only targeting US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. Some
also claimed that the statement reflected a growing gap
between the civilian government and the country's defence
establishment over the Afghan issue.
The Pakistani delegation plans to visit Capitol Hill on
Wednesday to deliver the same message to US lawmakers:
Pakistan has no favourites among the militants and wants to
eliminate each and every terrorist group from its territory.
But the US media warned that the Pakistanis might "not find
a particularly engaged audience" on the Hill.
"There doesn't seem to be a huge level of interest in this
trip," a congressional aide told the Congressional
Quarterly news service. But the same report acknowledged
that despite "distractions and distrust", the bilateral
relationship "remains critical to both countries".
The report said that Gen Sharif is expected to update the US
lawmakers on progress in combating terrorists in North
Waziristan and his country's view of the situation in
Afghanistan.
"Lawmakers also will want to hear what the general thinks
about greater civilian control over Pakistan's military,"
the report added.
In an interview to Congressional Quarterly, Maj Gen Asim
Bajwa, the chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, urged
US lawmakers also to remember the sacrifices Pakistan had
made in the war against terrorists.
"No one has given as much sacrifices and has paid as much
cost as has Pakistan," he said. "This is the understanding
that needs to be built here and we only hope and appreciate
if this understanding does exist."
Historic Gathering:
Jamaate Islami Supports Christians & Other non-Muslims.
Also, gives Awards to Youth Group
LAHORE - A representative of the minorities including
Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, including ex-MNA Gopal Singh
Chawla, attending the JI mass gathering on Saturday, called
on the JI Ameer, Sirajul Haq, and expressed their deep
gratitude for the love and affection given to them at the
huge gathering.
The JI chief told the delegation that he was the first man
who had moved a resolution in the Khyber P. assembly that
the non- Muslims living in the country should be termed as
part of the Pakistani community and not minorities. He said
he was the first political leader to visit the house of the
Christian couple burnt to death at kot Radha Kishan,
recently.
Sirajul Haq said that the small elite class ruling the
country had no religion, because no religion- Islam,
Hinduism, Christianity permitted corruption. These rulers
were not human beings as they were sucking the blood of
human beings. He said that such people should be in the
Odyala jail and not in the corridors of power. He also
lashed at the NAB for writing off the bank loans of Rs. one
billion on the recovery of Rs. fifty million only, and said
that the NAB did not have any authority for this.
The JI chief said the non- Muslim Pakistanis were a big
force and the JI would unite and gather this force soon. H
said the JI would hold meetings with the non-Muslim
community in Sindh, the Punjab, the Khyber P. and
Balochistan and announce a line of action for the solution
of their problems.
Speaking for the Christian and non-Muslim community, Younus
Khan advocate lauded the efforts of the JI to eliminate
distances between the believers of different religions.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman, Punjabi Sikh Sangat
Gopal Singh, said that the country needed a leadership that
could see India eye to eye, and said that such a leadership
was available in the person of Sirajul Haq.
Addressing the Youth Convention organized by different
students bodies associated with the JI, Sirajul Haq said
that the west was making every effort to deprive the Muslim
youth from Islamic character. Despite that, the ideals for
the Muslim youth even today even today were Muhammad bin
Qasim, Mehmud Ghaznvi and Salahud Din Ayubi. He said that
one of the motives of the 9/11 was to change the educational
syllabi in the Islamic counties. Huge funds the US had been
allocated huge funds in the Kerry Lugar Bill for the media
and changes in the educational syllabi but the Muslim youth
had foiled all US conspiracies.
He said the Pakistani youth had unlimited talent because
despite lack of support by the government, they were setting
new educational records in the world, and the names of
Pakistani young men were decorating the Roll of Honour of
prestigious universities of the west.
The JI chief also gave awards to several youth for their
achievements in different educational fields. These included
a blind young man who had done his Ph.d. despite being
handicapped.
Hadith Analysis
The Word "Hadith" in the Qur'an
by Kaukab Siddique, PhD
The word "HADITH" occurs in the Qur'an 23 times. It has a
variety of meanings depending on the context. In none of
these references is it related to the role of the Prophet
(pbuh) and definitely not to the Companions of the Prophet
(pbuh) narrating the teachings of the Prophet.
It's part of the trickster role of the Parvezis and their
offshoot rejecters of Hadith that they bring a word fr om
the Qur'an which has no relevance to the issue and try to
fool innocent readers into thinking that the Qur'an is
rejecting the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh) narrated by
the Sahaba (companions of the Prophet)
The use of the word "Hadith" in the Qur'an does show that
narratives outside the Qur'an can have validity. For
instance, the Qur'an says: "Has the Hadith of Musa (Moses)
reached thee?" [20:9] Or the Qur'an asks: "Has the Hadith
reached thee, of the armies - of Pharoah and Thamud?"
[85-17-18
Thus the Qur'an validates narrations outside itself as
truthful. The earlier Prophets like Moses and Salih, for
instance, are known from valid Hadith narrations passed down
for centuries, and the Qur'an is validating them.
The only time the word "Hadith" refers to the Prophet (pbuh)
in the Qur'an, it is a neutral reference: "When the Prophet
disclosed a matter (hadith) to one of his wives, and she
then divulged it (to another), and Allah made it know n to
him, he confirmed part thereof and repudiated a part
......." [66:3
These references have nothing to do with the role of the
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Islam. If the Parvezis had been
honest people, they would have never played these word games
in their attempts to distort the message of the Qur'an
Unfortunately, the people whom the Parvezis address seldom
open the Qur'an and certainly have no understanding of the
Hadith. They do not know that the QUR'AN AND HADITH of the
Prophet (pbuh) are linked to each other.
-
During his life, the Prophet (pbuh) had started
explaining and implementing the Qur'an. His words were taken
as decisive by his Companions.
-
These words of the Prophet (pbuh) were transmitted, both
orally and in writing, by the Sahaba to future generations.
That's what we call Hadith today.
-
Does the Qur'an say anywhere that the Prophet's (pbuh)
teachings are of temporary importance and that the Qur'an
can be interpreted by scholars as they wish regardless of
the words of the Prophet (pbuh)? The answer is a clear
NO.
-
Did any of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh) think
that the Prophet's words and actions were of a temporary
nature, and that the Sahaba could interpret the Qur'an as
they wished after Prophet (pbuh) passed away? Again, the
answer is a clear NO.
The decisive role of the Prophet (pbuh) was enshrined in
Hadith narrations by his Companions. The Prophet's work
which is extra-Qur'anic is validated by the Qur'an as
decisive:
"Similarly We have sent among you a Messenger from among
you, reciting to you our verses, and purifying you, and
teaching you the Book and Wisdom, and teaching you new
Knowledge." [2:151
The Parvezis try to give the impression that the task of the
Prophet (pbuh) was only to recite the Qur'an. This verse
tells us otherwise.
-
He recites,
-
Purifies,
-
Teaches the Book and Wisdom
-
Teaches new knowledge.
The "purification" or spiritual growth is a world in itself
and is exemplified in the life of the Prophet (pbuh). What
did he teach about the Book? What Wisdom did he provide?
What was the new knowledge?
The Companions (sahaba), who were the original audience of
the Qur'an and the Prophet, have preserved all this for us
in the Hadith .
Africa
Kenya:
Non-Muslim Regime Closed down 4 Mosques in Mombasa. Muslims
tried to re-Open them. Clashes and Oppression.
Nov 20 Crowds of unarmed Muslims tried to re-open Safwaa
mosque in Mombasa, one of four mosques closed down by the
regime.
In the clashes which followed, one Muslim was killed and
several injured by Kenyan police. BBC's report says
discontent owing to police repression is spreading in the
larger Muslim community.
A large non-Muslim Kenyan military column invaded Somalia
last year. Ever since then Muslims have started supporting
the al-Shabab movement in Somalia.
Al-Shabab Strike in Kenya after Muslims killed, Mosques
closed in Mombasa.
Kenya - After reports of mosque closings and killing of
several Muslim protestors in Mombasa, al-Shabab raiders from
Somalia entered Kenya and attacked public
transportation.
At least 28 non-Muslims are reported killed in the al-Shabab
raid
A Kenyan military column with tanks earlier this year
captured the Somali city of Kismayo. Al-Shabab, unable to
face tanks, withdrew into the countryside. Most of Somalia
is in their control.
Nigeria:
Back and forth battles in North East. Boko Haram capture 11
towns, lose 2. How and why Boko Haram became so
aggressive.
In the Lake Chad area, extreme north east of Nigeria, Boko
Haram raiders are reported to have killed fishermen who were
working as spies for a united military force from countries
supported by the US, Israel and other western powers. The
attack disrupted the trade in the entire area. The report
could not be verified owing to the remoteness of the
area. [Source:BBC]
Boko Haram guerrilla fighters have captured 11 towns in
north eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian army fled after severe
battles. Christian settlers have been armed in several areas
to fight supporters of Boko Haram as vigilantes.
BBC which listed the 11 towns says the Nigerian army
counterattacked and has retaken Chibok and Mubi. Boko Haram
allegedly kidnaped Christian girls from Chibok months back
and they have not been heard from.
New Trend analysis is that Boko Haram is trying to outflank
the city of Maiduguri, the biggest city in the region, most
heavily guarded by the army.
In Kano, the Emir, the traditional Muslim leader, who
considers Boko Haram "extremist radicals," has called on the
population to fight Boko Haram.
The fighting in Nigeria began several years back when the
Nigeria military summarily executed the leader of Boko
Haram, Yusuf, after torturing him. After that Nigerian tanks
entered mosques controlled by Boko Haram and slaughtered
more than 500 unarmed Islamic people. Since than the army
has carried out more a than a dozen massacres of Muslims
supporting the group which is against western education.
Several thousand Islamic women and children from the Boko
Haram families are in the prisons of the Nigerian army, thus
inciting the "extremists" to capture Christian women for
exchange.
Egypt:
Islamic State flag starts to appear in Muslim brotherhood
protests in Egypt!
YouTube.com/watch?v=Hg1k47N4lDU
War News
Egypt:
Egypt's Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledges allegiance to ISIS.
Egypt's main Islamist militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis,
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), in a recording posted on its Twitter account on
Monday.
The announcement is the most significant pledge of support
for ISIS in the region outside of Iraq and Syria, suggesting
the group's influence over militant groups is overshadowing
its once dominant al-Qaeda rivals.
"We announce our pledge of allegiance to the caliph Ibrahim
Ibn Awad... to listen and obey," the audio recording said,
referring to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
"We call on all Muslims everywhere to pledge allegiance to
the caliph and support him," the recording said.
The militant group posted the clip, which is nine minutes
and 26 seconds in length, early on Tuesday morning on a
Twitter account that calls itself the official mouthpiece of
Ansar.
Especially active in northeastern Sinai, Ansar Beit
al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for numerous
high-profile attacks against police and army personnel in
recent months.
In September, ISIS issued a statement urging insurgents in
Sinai to push ahead with attacks on the country's security
forces. Over the last year, the restive peninsula in
particular has seen a sharp increase in attacks on Egyptian
security personnel, the most recent of which left 31 troops
dead late last month.
The group also claimed responsibility for a failed
assassination attempt last September on Egyptian Interior
Minister Mohammed Ibrahim.
Several of the group's members who conducted attacks fought
in Syria alongside militants before returning to Egypt to
join the group.
The group had previously expressed support for ISIS but
stopped short of pledging its allegiance before Monday, even
denying it last week.
Addressing Egyptians, the group demanded they take up arms
against President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the former army
chief who toppled Mohammed Mursi and unleashed a crackdown
on Islamists.
"What are you waiting for after your honor has been violated
and your blood spilled... by this stupid tyrant and his
soldiers," it said. It also made a thinly veiled appeal to
Mursi's Islamist supporters, who have held regular protests
often quashed by police.
"Humiliating non-violence will not be of use to you, nor
heretical democracy, and you have seen what happened to its
adherents," it said.
Interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif told AFP the
announcement would make no difference to Egypt's fight
against the militants.
"They are just different names for the same terrorists," he
said.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which means Partisans of Jerusalem,
was formed during the security vacuum that followed the
overthrow of longtime president Hosni Mubarak in the
revolution of 2011.
It has said it wants to avenge Islamists killed in the
crackdown that followed Mursi's overthrow.
Egypt has been dogged by turmoil since last year's ouster of
elected president Mursi by the army, which was followed by a
harsh crackdown on Mursi's supporters and members of his
Muslim Brotherhood group.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis's pledge comes a month after six key
Pakistani Taliban commanders, including the spokesman of
Tehrik-e-Taliban - Pakistan conglomerate of various
Pakistani insurgent groups - announced their allegiance to
ISIS in mid-October.
ISIS has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria,
declaring what it calls a cross-border Islamic "caliphate,"
killing thousands and displacing millions in the two
countries.
(AFP, Anadolu, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)
Tunisia:
Tunisian Elections a Farce: 1500 Arrested, Young Women
Killed by Security. Largest Number of Volunteers for ISIS
in Syria are from Tunisia
According to the BBC, among the 16000 volunteers for ISIS
from around the globe, the largest number are from
Tunisia.
Within Tunisia, the farce of elections has covered the fact
that security forces have arrested 1500 people, a large
number for such a small country.
On top of that, security forces attacked and killed a group
of young women who had embraced Islam [or "radicalized"
according to the secularist establishment
Some idea of the tragic murders of these Islamic women comes
out in a New York Times report. The language is misleading
and the perspective anti-Islam. Read it with care and see
what crimes are being committed against the young women of
Islam:
Tunisians Are Shaken as Young Women Turn to Extremism
By CARLOTTA GALL NOV. 20, 2014
TUNIS- Leila Mustapha Saidi returned home on a recent day to
find her daughter Henda missing, along with her computer.
Mrs. Saidi, who had watched her daughter grow religious and
"obsessed" with the conflict in Syria, said she feared she
had run off to join Islamist fighters there.
Instead, the police called four days later. Her daughter
Henda Saidi was holed up in a house outside Tunis with a
group of suspected insurgents. A day later, security forces
stormed the house. Of six people killed in the raid, five
were young women.
"They classified her as a terrorist," Mrs. Saidi said
bitterly.After more than two years of mounting attacks and
assassinations, Tunisians are no longer surprised by
shootouts between gunmen and anti-terrorist units, even in
the capital. But the standoff in which Ms. Saidi was killed
nonetheless shocked many here for the sheer number of women
involved.
It has also driven home the fact that — nearly four years
after events in Tunisia set off the Arab Spring, and with
presidential elections Sunday — the lure of extremism has
touched virtually every part of society, men and women, the
poor and the comfortable alike.
It has reached even the relatively affluent district of La
Marsa, where the Saidis live in a pretty house with arbors
of flowers in an enclosed front garden. Henda was the third
person from her high school to die for the Islamist cause in
the last year, teachers and acquaintances said.
"We are all uncomprehending," said Linda Ben Osman, an art
teacher who worked at the high school several years ago and
knew Ms. Saidi. "These were smart kids, kind kids, ready for
life — very beautiful in the case of Henda."
"The youth are desperate, I think," Ms. Ben Osman added.
"Before Syria and ISIS," she said, referring to Islamic
State militants in Syria and Iraq, "people self-immolated,
or took boats to escape to Europe and died in the sea."
She and others consider the outburst of extremism to be a
reaction to the authoritarianism of Tunisia's former ruler,
President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whose overthrow ushered
in a free-for-all democracy.
Radical Islamists released from prison and returning home
from exile were quick to exploit the new freedoms, taking
over mosques, setting up associations, and recruiting
thousands of young followers. Tunisia has been grappling
with a surge of Islamist extremism since.
"We were in some sort of prison," Ms. Ben Osman said. "The
former president worked to keep our minds closed. When
freedom came, people didn't understand it. And maybe it did
not bring what people wanted, and they look for it
elsewhere."
Young women have been as susceptible as anyone. In an
interview, the interior minister, Lotfi Ben Jeddou, said all
the women killed in the October raid were in their late
teens or early 20s, and had joined the insurgent cell over
the past several months. "They were educated," he said.
Government officials said the women had refused to
surrender, even using two children as shields. One small
girl was shot in the head. Two men were also in the house;
one was killed and one wounded.
Barely a week after burying their eldest child, Ms. Saidi's
parents sat at home stunned at the turn of events.
Mrs. Saidi said she could not bring herself to view her
daughter's body when it was brought home for the funeral.
Her husband, Hedi Saidi, left the house and refused to
attend the burial. "I could not accept the fact that it was
my daughter," he said. He criticized the government for
hastiness in shooting at a house with women and
chiildren.
The Saidis described their daughter as highly principled but
sometimes stubborn. "My daughter was a good girl, a
hardworking student," Mrs. Saidi said. "I do not think she
was unjust. She did not do any wrong to anyone."
Ms. Saidi, a 21-year-old law student, had become
radicalized, and they knew she often hid her true intentions
from the family, they said.
"For a year and a half she kept a system so we would not
notice when she left," Mr. Saidi said. "She was always
reading, on the Internet, painting in her room."
Ms. Saidi's former high school French teacher, Dejla
Abdelhamid, posted a heartfelt message on Facebook lamenting
her death and wishing she had done more to prevent her being
lured into extremism.
"Henda Saidi with her long fair hair, her radiant smile,"
Ms. Abdelhamid wrote. "Her death is our failure, and the
failure of a whole society, and in some part it is my
failure as a teacher who fell short, missed something."
Her post received a storm of comments, some accusing her of
leading Ms. Saidi into radical Islam when they saw from her
photo that she wore a veil. After Ms. Abdelhamid called on
Ms. Saidi's grieving parents, a colleague berated her for
visiting the family of a terrorist.
"People do not know what is happening," Ms. Abdelhamid said
in an interview. "People are scared of each other."
"The youth are lost, they do not have a reference," she
added.
She had met Ms. Saidi on the street a year after she had
graduated from high school, she said. When she saw that she
had abandoned her jeans and makeup and was dressed in the
full black covering and gloves often worn by radical
Muslims, Ms. Abdelhamid burst into tears. Ms. Saidi
nevertheless seemed happy.
"She just smiled," her teacher said. "I did not feel she was
the girl who was lost." Ms. Abdelhamid attributes the turn
to extremism by Ms. Saidi and others to the forced
secularization under the dictatorship, which she says has
left Tunisians ignorant of their religion, and now easily
misled by radical preachers who have rushed in with new
ideas.
"It's like a tsunami we have not had time to understand,"
she said. "We have to teach them to defend themselves in a
solid way."
Syria:
Assad on Defensive as Nusra Front & IS Slowly Advance
Fighting continued all along the fronts in Syria stretching
from Idlib to Quneitra. In Kobani, IS volunteers are
holding 50% of the city in spite of pounding by the US air
force.
Nusra is attacking two heavily defended Shia villages in
northern Aleppo province. In Hendrat, another area in Aleppo
province, is being defended by Hizbullah from Lebanon and
Shi'ite militia organized by Assad.
In Damascus province, Assad's elite troops fell into an
ambush by Al-Nusra [victory] front. 25 of Assad's troops
were killed and the rest are falling back towards the
capital Damascus.
Assad's air force is on the daily attack pattern targeting
Muslim populations in the entire country. When the Syrian
jets attacked targets in Deir Ez-Zor province held by the
Islamic State [IS], one of the jets was shot down by IS
ground fire much to the elation of the people.
This America
Five Gitmo Detainees being released. but being sent to
Georgia [Russia's neighbor]!
Thanks to hard work by Center for Constitutional Rights, New
York.
via Jamaat al-Muslimeen Virginia
CNN -- Five detainees at Guantanamo Bay were transferred to
the nations of Slovakia or Georgia as part of the U.S. plan
to reduce the facility's population of detainees who were
suspected of terrorism after the September 11, 2001,
attacks, officials said Thursday. All five detainees "were
approved for transfer by consensus of" a review task force
that also looked at security issues, the U.S. Department of
Defense said in a statement.
As of Thursday, 143 detainees remain at the U.S. naval base
in Cuba, the
Pentagon said. That number compares to the facility's
population height of more than 750 people after it began
accepting post-9/11 prisoners.
Three of the detainees -- Salah Mohammed Salih Al-Dhabi,
Abdel Ghaib Ahmad Hakim, and Abdul Khaled Al-Baydani -- are
slated to be sent to Georgia, in the Caucasus region at the
border of Europe and Asia.
The other two -- Hashim Bin Ali Bin Amor Sliti and Husayn
Salim Muhammad Al-Mutari Yafai -- are scheduled to be
transferred to Slovakia in Central Europe.
Hakim was represented by the Center for Constitutional
Rights, which identified him as Abd Al Hakim Ghalib Ahmad
Alhag. Alhag (Hakim), who is from Yemen, had been detained
for more than 10 years and been cleared for release "for
years," but his transfer was delayed "as the U.S.
inexplicably opposed his release in court," the center
charged.
"The U.S. finally transferred him on the eve of new
litigation by the Center for Constitutional Rights
challenging his continued indefinite detention based on or
because of his Yemeni citizenship. Such arbitrary detention
violates U.S. and international law, including the Geneva
Conventions, which the U.S. is obligated to uphold," the
center said.
Attorneys for the center praised Alhag's transfer out of
Gitmo.
"We are grateful to the Republic of Georgia for offering our
client a new home where he can begin to rebuild his life
after more than a decade in Guantanamo without charge or
trial," the center said in a statement.
Of the 143 men in Guantanamo, 84 are from Yemen, and 54 of
them have been approved for transfer, the center said.
Alhag's transfer makes him the first Yemeni to be released
since 2010, the center said.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that detainees have a
constitutional right to challenge their detention, and the
following year, President Barack Obama signed an executive
order to close the detention facility within a year, which
has been delayed due to difficulties in relocating the
prisoners.
Last May, the U.S. government transferred five detainees to
Qatar in exchange for the Taliban's release of U.S. Army
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years .
Media, U.S.:
Homosexuals, well organized, trying to shut down
Critics.
Obama has given the LGBT a Big Edge vs Christians.
[The following aggressive language is from aol.com.]
Tens of thousands of people are calling for the cancellation
of a popular reality show because the stars have spoken out
against LGBT people .
The Change.org petition signed by nearly 90,000 people (as
of Thursday morning) demands TLC remove "19 Kids and
Counting" from its lineup immediately on grounds Jim and
Michelle Duggar, both conservative Baptists, and their
family are fear mongering against the community .
"The Duggars have been using their fame to promote
discrimination, hate, and fear-mongering against gays and
transgendered people," Jim Wissick wrote on the petition .
"You need to take a stand on the side of justice and cancel
their show.
A Michelle Duggar robocall trying to sway public opinion
against an anti-transgendered discrimination bill is among
the slights cited by Wissick .
"Males with past child predator convictions that claim they
are female," Duggar insisted in the call. She also called
for transgendered women to not be allowed in female
restrooms .
A picture of the Duggars kissing to celebrate their wedding
anniversary was posted last week to Facebook. John Becker,
of LGBT blog The Bilerico Project, was banned from the page
after posting a picture of him kissing his husband in the
comments. The picture was also removed, Bilerico told E!
News .
The Duggar offspring have also taken anti-gay positions in
the past, and eldest son Josh Duggar currently works at an
organization that routinely denounces gays .
The Family Research Council has previously linked
homosexuality with pedophilia and also trumpets the use of
anti-gay therapy as a solution to the "problems associated
with homo sexual conduct.
"The Learning Channel & Discovery Networks need to separate
[sic] themselves from this bigotry and put an end to the
Duggar's show," says the petition.
Media, Richmond VA:
American Woman trapped and arrested: Fooled by and Lied to
the FBI
WTVR.com/2014/11/17/henrico-woman-jailed-accused-of-attempting-to-aid-isis
New York and Cleveland, OH: Suspicious Arrest of Hijabi
woman+Another Police Kill+ Ferguson tense, Activists
ready.
by Sis. Aisha [New York Jamaat al-Muslimeen]
New York City - A Muslimah substitute teacher has been
charged with sexually assaulting a student at Manchester
Regional High School! According to Prosecutor Carmelia
Valdes, Linda Hardan, 21 years old, sexually assaulted a 16
year old High School student on November 20th and she was
arrested on November 21st after an investigation. She is
charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a
child and criminal sexual contact. That is a very quick
arrest after only a one day investigation. Linda Hardan is
seen in a picture wearing a hijab. There are no further
details about this case. (Courtesy CBS New York News).
Another police shooting. This time the New York Police
Department is claiming that it was accidental. Akai Gurley
was leaving his girlfriend's apartment in the Pink Houses -
a project development. Two officers were patrolling the area
when they came upon Gurley in the stairwell between the 7th
and 8th floors. A rookie officer shot Gurley in the chest.
Rev. Charlatan is already involved calling for an
investigation.
Ferguson, Missouri, where Rev Charlatan [Sharpton] and Uncle
Jessie Jackson were run out of, may very well be the hot bed
for another movement or revolution similar to the Civil
Rights Movement in the 1950s/60s. Michael Brown's Body may
be the catalyst the same way Emmett Till's lynching was for
the start of the Civil Rights Movement. Nothing or no one
has been able to deter or distract the Ferguson Protesters.
Al-humdulillah !
It has been stated that Whites in Ferguson have been buying
firearms in record numbers in anticipation of violent unrest
should the grand jury vote not to indict. The Police Union
has already stated that they do not believe that there will
be an indictment. There was violent unrest when California
officers were acquitted of beating motorist Rodney King in
1992. That lasted for days. A so-called Black militant group
has already put a bounty on officer Darren Wilson's head. He
is the officer accused of killing unarmed Michael Brown and
is in hiding. The group RbG Black Rebels is offering $5000
for Wilson's whereabouts. Many take that as a threat to
officer Wilson's life.
Strange Note (from Sis Aisha): I was looking up information
Online about Halal chickens when I came across comments and
two Youtube videos slamming Halal slaughtering. The
critiques against Halal slaughtering was that the animal is
killed while it is awake. The way non-Halal cows and bulls
are killed is by farmers banging these animals in the head
with a sledgehammer! I believe that these critiques are
unwarranted and biased against Muslim culture the same way
these animal rights activists attack the Lakota Nation for
killing one whale, which feeds them for a whole year. Many
of these activists are White and are just protesting this
whale killing event to attack the Lakota and their ways.
American Dissidence
My friend Commissiong speaks so well on police brutality and
the situation developing in Ferguson, Missouri.
Emmett Till's anniversary was five days back. America is
still victimizing and denying.
"Who ever thought race issues in America would change
because of Obama was delusional"
Just ahead of a grand jury verdict which decides the fate of
the police officer who killed...
YouTube.com/watch?v=euKAuN-HSio&list=UUbGif2gxFLxGDxG9CeA_fvg
Boston: Government Asked him to become an Informant: He
Refused.
Matanov wins lawyer, moved to federal prison
by Sis. Karin Friedeman
Sitting outside the Boston courthouse the morning of
November 20, I saw a black van with black windows drive up
just past 11am. There is a security entrance in the back
that is normally sealed shut. The door opens, and the van
drives into the building. Within moments, the van backs back
out. I looked into the garage type place within two seconds
of the van driving away. There was nobody there. Just some
copy machines and I don't know what else, not much. They
hurried that kid out of there like lightning !
Quincy cab driver from Kyrgyzstan, Khairullozhon Matanov,
charged with obstructing the Boston Marathon bombing
investigation, appeared in court that Thursday with a change
of attorney motion. Matanov has been held in pre-trial
solitary confinement since in May 2014.
In October, reports came out that Matanov was severely
brutalized by Plymouth County prison guards, who kicked him
in the head calling him "Muslim terrorist" while blasting
the US National Anthem on the loudspeakers.
"Matanov has told supporters in letters that he has been
beaten by corrections officers, ridiculed and harassed, and
he watched another inmate attempt suicide," reported Milton
Valencia in the Boston Globe. He has since been moved to
Wyatt, a federal prison in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
His friends also wrote letters to the judge, which ended up
in his docket, mentioning how the government asked him to
become an informant in exchange for his freedom but he
refused.
Entering the courtroom, Matanov kept his eyes downcast. His
hair is longer, and he looked somewhat unkempt. He was
suddenly moved to a new prison yesterday so he was looking
tired and perhaps stunned. His head may still be aching.
Matanov wore olive green prison clothes, which were thin
like hospital garments.
Judge Young began with: "I don't want a discussion of what
happened between Hayden and you, or the charges against you:
Why don't you want Hayden as your attorney?
"I have been working before with Glickman. I felt more
confident while working with him," answered Matanov.
"Mr. Matanov has been a perfect gentleman during these
difficult times at prison. I couldn't do anything to
alleviate his conditions," explained Hayden humbly.
"Mr. Matanov was not a problem client. This is not a complex
case. It is not difficult to get ready for this case," said
Hayden. "Because of the high notoriety of this case, I had
to go to Plymouth two or three times to put out fires.
Judge Young seemed to sympathize with the defendant. "This
young man has the right to a speedy trial. I am ready to
give him a prompt trial.
Glickman agreed to take the case. He assured the judge there
would be no delay.
"There can only be one attorney," said Judge Young to
Hayden. "I do thank you for everything you have done under
these unique circumstances.
At that point the judge allowed Matanov's motion to withdraw
his attorney. "I mean no disrespect. You have been ably
defending your client.
Matanov's previous lawyer, Edward Hayden, said he did not
oppose the assignment of a new lawyer. Hayden was appointed
after Matanov's arrest because Matanov could no longer
afford to pay Glickman, his former immigration
consultant.
Glickman is not on a list of lawyers who represent indigent
clients in US District Court, and Young rejected an earlier
request for him to be assigned at taxpayer expense. But the
judge has now agreed to appoint Glickman. Glickman said he
has been following the case and will be prepared for the
scheduled June 2015 trial.
"The Plymouth conditions are deplorable. I think it's fair
to say that he may not have been treated well. There have
been three suicides. The information the client gave is not
unreasonable," Glickman told reporters after the hearing,
assuring them about how prepared he was for trial and
clarifying the lack of any behind the scenes plea deal.
"This is a very triable case.
When asked, "Is the trial going to get pushed up?
"I don't know," said Glickman
Matanov is not accused of playing any role in the April 15,
2013, Boston Marathon bombing but faces up to 15 years after
he went to the police to identify the Tsarnaev brothers when
their faces came on television.
Judge Young presided over the trial of the notorious "shoe
bomber," Richard Reid in 2003.
Chicago, IL: Rasmea Odeh Imprisoned, US Citizenship Revoked.
Israel Rules US System
by Sis. Karin Friedemann
Palestinian rights activist and organizer, Rasmea Odeh, 67,
was arrested by Homeland Security on October 22, 2013 at her
suburban home outside Chicago, and was indicted the same day
in federal court, where she was accused of responding
incorrectly to a question on her naturalization application
ten years ago. In front of a courtroom packed full of
supporters on November 10, after just two hours of
deliberation, the jury declared Odeh guilty of "unlawful
procurement of citizenship." She was then detained as a
"flight risk" awaiting sentencing to take place on March 10,
2015.
Odeh's attorneys refuted the government attorneys'
assertions that she was a flight risk. Odeh rejected a plea
deal that would have seen her deported without serving jail
time.
She chose to fight to remain in the US where she has strong
community ties.
The case against Odeh centered on her failure to disclose on
her US immigration papers her conviction in an Israeli
military court in 1969, which was based on a confession she
made after 25 days of torture. The US judge refused to allow
Odeh to detail the circumstances of her false conviction.
The jury was not allowed to know. Odeh insisted that she'd
always believed questions she's been accused of answering
falsely were asking about her time in the US, not
Palestine.
"If I knew it was about Israel, I would have said, " Odeh
explained. "It's not a secret that I've been in jail. Even
the embassy knows." The U.S. embassy in Israel became
involved in the initial arrests because her father was a US
citizen.
Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American
Action Network (AAAN) told the Electronic Intifada, "This
was not a full or fair trial.
"Palestinian people around the world are doing effective
work; we're getting stronger and stronger and Israel is on
the ropes. And when Israel is on the ropes, the US
government cracks down," he added.
This targeted prosecution appears to be connected to
Assistant US Attorney Barry Jonas, who led a federal
investigation of Chicago area Palestinian and Colombian
human rights activists in 2010, in which the FBI conducted
simultaneous raids on the homes of seven community members
in the Chicago area, seizing their computers with search
warrants that stated they were looking for hints of
"material support for terrorism." Twenty-three other
activists were subpoenaed by grand jury, as well as a
subpoena of AAAN records.
Jonas, who also prosecuted the secret government case
against the Holy Land Foundation, was seen actively
consulting with the assistant US attorney that presented the
case against Odeh, reported the Detroit Free Press in an
article written by former political prisoner, Angela
Davis.
"As a person with first-hand knowledge of the devastation
wrought by politically motivated prosecutions — during the
era of COINTELPRO, I was falsely charged with three capital
offenses — I see Rasmea Odeh's case as a continuation of the
embarrassing history of decades of suppression of social
justice activists in the U.S.
The courts are being used to retaliate against Palestinian
activism," wrote Davis.
Charlotte Silver reports in the Nation, "When she was 21, in
1969, Odeh was arrested in the middle of the night by
Israeli soldiers at her home, and for twenty-five days her
interrogators tortured her. She was beaten from head to toe
with sticks and metal bars; her body, including genitalia
and breasts, was subjected to electric shocks after she was
forced to watch a male prisoner tortured to death in this
very way. All the while, she was told she would die if she
did not confess. But it was not until they brought in her
father, threatening to force him to rape her, that she
agreed to sign a confession stating that she had helped
orchestrate two explosions in West Jerusalem that killed two
civilians. Even then, her torturers raped her with a thick
wooden stick.
"Standing before a military court less than one month later,
Odeh renounced the confession. But the panel of judges
ignored that, and Odeh was sentenced to ten years plus life
in prison. Ten years later, she was released in a prisoner
exchange, along with seventy-five other Palestinians.
Judge Gershwin Drain forbid Odeh from testifying on her
Israeli torture experience and warned her that mentioning
the forced confession was inadmissible. She however ended up
delivering an impromptu heartfelt speech that left many
people in the audience in tears; detailing her family's
history through the Catastrophe of 1948, the 1967 war, and
the 1969 raid on her home.
When Odeh told the court that she spent 45 days in an
"interrogation center, prosecutor Jonathan Tukel objected.
Judge Drain sustained the objection.
Defense attorney Deutsch asked her if she was convicted. She
answered, "They convicted me falsely.
The government objected and the judge sustained the
objection. Judge Drain barred Rasmea from using
post-traumatic stress disorder as a defense.
University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) professor Nadine Naber,
a leading scholar on Arab women and other women of color,
who first met Rasmea back in 2006, had testified to their
work together, describing Rasmea's organizing resulting in
changing the lives of hundreds of Arab immigrant women by
creating a space for them to face their collective
challenges they experience. She testified about Rasmea's
character, a truthful person and community mentor.
Odeh told her tear-filled supporters: "I don't want to be
weak in this situation. I am strong and I ask you all to be
strong."
2014-11-27 Thu 14:39 cst
NewTrendMag.org
