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28 Safar,1436/December 21, 2014 Issue # 51, Newsletter # 1581

Hadith of the Week

"Allah says: I am just as My slave thinks I am and I am with him if he remembers Me....." [Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, narrated by Abu Huraira, r.a., Sahih Bukhari 9/7405]

Maulana Abdul Aziz answers army linked MQM leader Altaf Hussain's threat to demolish the rejuvenated Red Mosque. Abdul Aziz is the only Pakistani leader who has the courage to say that the attack on North Waziristan is unIslamic.
With thanks to reader Farrukh Abdi in Canada. 29000 views already.

DailyMotion.com/video/x2d16e2_maulana-abdul-azizblasts-altaf-hussain-on-his-statement-to-demolish-lal-masjidnews
It is in Urdu but by reading Kaukab Siddique's article below, readers can understand the courage of the Maulana..

War News: Spectacular Islamic victories in Syria and Iraq. Please scroll way down.

Breaking News: The Pakistani regime has hanged six prisoners who tried to overthrow General Musharraf and were in jail. The regime plans to hang 10 more on December 23.

Christian woman writes with insight about Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, and Maryam [Mary] pbuh. Good gift for Christian friends in this holiday season. Please scroll way down. This is a "must read."

Spotlights and Guidance

Mass Media and Mass Culture have Taken over our Lives:

Seek Allah's Help!

Islamic movement is needed in media and information services. Teach young people how to convey the message, Enemies are active both on the mredia and in the battlefield.
Maiss media are affecting our hearts and minds . This is a new kind of conflict.
Media is like an idol, a false god.
Mass culture encourages purposeless activity focusing, for instance, on nothing but making money.
I like the profession of medicine but I am against it now because it has become a profession of profit, not for helping the poor or even the rich.
The search for justice and truth are out of style. We used to sit around a small TV box and used to eat together and think together. Nowadays, each one has his own TV/video box.
In the same home, each one has his/her own digital gadget which is his/her own world. Even when we are close, we are far away.
Muslims have the Qur'an. If they read it and try to understand it, they will be unfit to be anyone's slaves.
True Faith must bring you to be slaves of Allah. If instead of the Qur'an, you have the Talmud, it encourages you to enslave others. Which book are you reading?
I hate watching American action movies. The leaders of this country don't differentiate between movies and real life. Which is which?
Use any situation, any time on your hands, for da'wah. If someone is late and you are waiting, don't just sit there. Do the Da'wah in the situation you are in .

[Imam Badi Ali is a Palestinian American who leads a large congregation in Greensboro, North Carolina.]

From our adviser in Long Island, New York.
Shamim Siddiqi's devastating answers to Kaukab Siddique's questions
Mohtram Kaukab Bhai, Salaam

All your questions are fundamentally correct, true and there are more examples if you go through the "uncalled for attacks" on Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Palestine and elsewhere in the Muslim World, the human toll will be enormous.

The Anglo-American forces and their henchmen have filled the earth with TERROR , ZULM and Fasa'd by killing hundreds, thousands and millions of INNOCENT and UNARMED Muslim CHILDREN, Women and men. World's conscience was and is dead as it was the cheap blood of Muslims. These forces have filled the world with transgression all around but none is there to put them to account and it will go on till an honest Caliphate is established in the world which holds justice and punish the culprits whether high or low, white or black, rich or poor. JUSTICE is missing from the human abode altogether and its greatest destroyers/CULPRITS are the FIVE permanent Members of the World's Security Council. One day all these tyrants and their camp followers - Hindus, Muslims, Sikh, Jews and Christians all will be put to gallows for their respective crimes against humanity through the ages.

The Creator and Sustainer of this cosmos is very much alive to the situation since Renaissance and beyond and they all will be the fuel of His Hell fire.

The cruel Military of Pakistan has let loose a hell of terror on its own people for the last so many months in Frontier Region. They must now taste its bitter taste a bit.
Had they approached the people of the region with love, care and persuasion and won over their hearts, this tragic day would have never happened. It is the curse of their own behavior that they are playing at the very behest of Uncle Sam. The people of Pakistan are just shedding their crocodile tears and Allah knows best who is at fault.

May Allah forgive the innocents and punish the Zalimeen both here and Hereafter

Wal Ilmu Indallah

Shamim Siddiqi.

[These were the questions widely circulated on the Internet]:

On Tuesday, December 16, 2014, Kaukab Siddique < butshikana@gmail.com> wrote:

Children should never be killed. We denounce attack on Army children's school but ........
Let's check the answers on these statements: [If you don't know the answers, check the end of this posting.]

80 [Eighty] children were killed in a coordinated US-Pakistani air attack on an Islamic school in Bajaur.

The US president and the Pakistani president denounced the killing of children. [True or False.?]
A US/Pakistani attack on the tiny village of Damadola killing 18 civilians, including a grandmother, 2 mothers, a new wife and 8 children.

Again the US President and the Pakistani president denounced the killing of children. [True or false?]
Pakistani tanks, heavy artillery and jet fighter bombers in months of attacks in Swat, Mohmand, Adam Khel and South Waziristan bombed all mosques and schools run by the Pakistani Taliban. Over a year the Pakistani forces killed 30,000 civilians including scores of women and children. Journalists were barred from the entire area. Entire populations were evicted.

The leaders of the world were shocked and denounced these attacks because they are genocidal. under international law. [true or false?].
Last Ramadan, the army evicted majority of the population of North Waziristan, about a million people, and left them without cover in the blazing sun. The children and their mothers cried out for help.

Human rights organizations and the governments of the world cried out in disgust and denounced the action. [True or false.?]
The army went into North Waziristan lead by daily air attacks on every town and village. The army says more than 1200 "suspected extremists" have been killed, mostly in air attacks. It is suspected that women and children were among the dead because about 30,000 civilians did not leave.

The governments of the world condemned the slaughter of 1200 people on suspicion. {true or false?]

The answer to all five is: FALSE.
I urge both sides to stop attacks on civilians. Children in Islamic schools and villages are as precious as the children in the army school.

Pakistan

Pakistan's Rulers Shaken by Taliban attack on Army School: Secularists & Shias call for blood.

"Hang them all."

Maulana Abdul Aziz Condemns Attack on North Waziristan: All other Islamic Groups bow to Regime Propaganda.

New Trend analysis by Kaukab Siddique

December 16 was a terrible day for Pakistan's ruling elites. Six young Pak Taliban jumped over the wall of the army school, adjacent to the military colony in Peshawar, and attacked students holding a western style celebration in the auditorium. They called on students to stand aside if they were from military families, and then shot them. It was horrific: 132 teenagers killed. Blood all over the place.

Troops battled the Taliban youth and by the time the fighting ended all six assailants were dead as were six Pakistani troops and military teachers.

Pakistani elites expressed horror on radio, television and in newspapers and on line. It was described as the biggest crime in the history of Pakistan.

The editor of New Trend engaged numerous writers on the Internet and urged them to condemn ALL attacks on children. All children, he said, are precious, and all children killed should be condoled. The editor also interacted with a group of retired army officers and their supporters. NOT ONE OF THEM was willing to condole the death of Taliban children. They see only the tragedy of the army's children. Thus the moral outrage in Pakistan is very selective and is aimed ONLY at the Pak Taliban.

There is a good reason for this double standard.

The Pak Taliban have no media. The media are controlled entirely by secularists and shias and to a much smaller extent by supporters of Jamaate Islami.

So when the Taliban attacked the school, it was for Pakistanis like 9.11 for Americans, that they were being attacked out of the blue for no reason.

Most Pakistanis do not know what the army has done to the Islamic villages in the Frontier areas which support various factions of the Pak Taliban, The army's propaganda branches have been telling Pakistanis that the Pak Taliban are agents of India and have been funded by the Indian intelligence agency RAW. [Pakistani regime is very friendly with India but Pakistanis do not see this.]

What Pakistanis don't understand about Pak Taliban.

People in the entire Pushtoon culture do not ever try to kill women and children, and Pak Taliban are part of that culture. However, they also believe in REVENGE. So it is futile to bomb the Pak Taliban as the military has been doing. The more the military bombs them, the more they want revenge. They are not scared of the army's firepower.

The Pakistani response is to hang the Pak Taliban. On December 19, they hanged two prisoners who had nothing to do with the attack on the army school. Also, the military is again bombing Taliban areas and on December 18 claimed to have killed another 77 Pak Taliban. All those killed have families who will want revenge. They were not involved in the school attack, so the families feel wronged and that their men were killed for no reason. Taliban don't kill people because they are Pakistanis but the army is bent on killing everyone who is part of the Taliban.

How it all began:

When Pakistan came into being, the founder of the country, Mohomed Ali Jinnah, known as Qaide Azam, promised the tribal people of Frontier province that the military would never enter their territories. They became the trusted supporters of Pakistan and an effective buffer against the designs of hostile Afghanistan.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to the uprising of the Afghan people and the resistance came to be led by Islamic teachers and scholars like Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani. Among those who came to help the Afghans was Osama bin Laden.

Unable to defeat the mujahideen, after 9 years of war, the Soviets withdrew unilaterally. This was a great Islamic victory but American and Pakistani interests would not allow the formation of an independent Islamic government in Kabul. The Afghan groups ended up fighting each other and the result was chaos and collapse. Crimes and drugs became the hallmark of the country.

Mullah Umar who was unknown till then, left the medressa system and went forth to punish the violators of women and stood by the weak and the oppressed. A huge movement developed around him. This was the movement of the Taliban [literally "students."]. Afghans are known for their support for those who seek refuge and protection. That's how Osama bin Laden and Mullah Umar came together and formed the historic alliance which changed Muslim history.

After 9.11, America invaded Afghanistan. The bombing campaign which followed was so devastating that it forced the Taliban to withdraw from the cities, The Northern Alliance took over Kabul and Osama bin Laden barely survived after the unprecedented bombing of Tora Bora.

With 9.11, Pakistan came into the picture. General Musharraf betrayed the Taliban, the best friends of Pakistan. He sent 80,000 troops to seal off the border so that America could thoroughly crush the Taliban. The Pakistani army battled those who wanted to go into Afghanistan to fight the Americans.

The Pakistani opposition to Musharraf was so feeble that he tightened his grip on Pakistan and became a sophisticated but ruthless dictator. The political parties and the Islamic groups in Pakistan could not outwit him and dared not oppose him outright. [US drones flew out from within Pakistan to hit the Taliban. Pakistanis did not know this for 5 years]

The only Islamic entity which opposed Musharraf in the name of Islam was the Red Mosque in Islamabad and the women's seminary Jamia Hafsa next to the mosque. The General became so over confident that he attacked the mosque and the women's seminary. Hundreds of young Muslims, including hijabi women and girls, were killed by the army . The mosque was drenched in blood. The Pakistani troops rampaged through the mosque and used phosphorous in the attack. The leader of the mosque, Abdur Rasheed Ghazi [r.a] was killed along with his mother.

Many of the girls killed were from the tribal areas. The tribes who were already demanding Sharia law were shocked beyond measure by the slaughter of innocent women and girls. Such atrocities are simply unheard of in Islamic culture. The support for the Islamic cause grew exponentially. Huge gatherings were held in the region known as Swat to support Sharia. Among the leaders was Maulvi Fazlullah, an ordinary Pakistani who had dedicated himself to the cause of Allah.

The Islamic wave spread out of Swat and got support in the entire tribal belt. When the Islamic groups reached Buner, only 70 miles from Islamabad, the US government was alarmed and urged [or more correctly ordered] Pakistan to take immediate military action Part of the concern was that various Islamic factions in the mountains had coalesced into an Islamic confederation called the Tehreeke Taliban e Pakistan [ TTP] This movement is distinct from the movement led by Mullah Umar in Afghanistan known simply as the Taliban.

A new Pakistani general, Kayani, was in command and he was ruthless beyond all limits. He ordered the ENTIRE population of Swat to leave their homes. More than THREE MILLION people were made homeless. Swat became a free fire zone. Journalists were strictly not allowed. Those civilians who did not leave were targeted, along with the "militants," by long range artillery, helicopter gunships and jet fighters of the Pakistani military. Pakistani tank columns went into each village in Swat. Maulvi Fazlullah fought the army heroically and inflicted serious casualties on the military but superior firepower prevailed. He was injured and hundreds of his fighters were killed. He retreated into a rugged border area of Afghanistan.

After that the Pakistani military went from area to area of the border populations using control of food supply, bombing from the air and thrusting with tanks All the way to South Waziristan, the army became an occupation army terrorizing the population. At least an estimated 30,000 civilians have been killed by the army. BBC pinpointed mass graves into the which the army dumped the victims of the "extra judicial executions" it was carrying out.

North Waziristan

The only area which remained relatively unoccupied, in part, by the Pakistani army, was North Waziristan. America insisted that al-Qaida had found safe haven in North Waziristan and the Pakistani army must take action. For several years, the attack did not happen because Jamaate Islami's [then] leader Munawar Hasan mobilized Pakistanis against the attack. He held rallies in almost every city urging that North Waziristan not be attacked. He warned that if such an attack took place, the Pak Taliban's response would affect all of Pakistan.

Not only the military did not listen to Hasan, it was alarmed that Imran Khan was taking a similar line on North Waziristan. Meanwhile fighting between the Pak Taliban and the army continued in scattered areas all around the tribal belt. The military coordinated US drone attacks to terrorize Pak Taliban and to kill their leaders.

No one in Pakistan had the courage to openly condemn the military's actions. Munawar Hasan came nearest to it when he said that the leader of the Pak Taliban, Hakeemullah Mehsud, killed in a US strike [coordinated by Pakistan], was a martyr. Not only was Munawar Hasan targeted by almost the entire Pakistani media but the army infiltrated Jamaate Islami and Hasan lost the elections held within the Jamaate Islami itself.

Soon after Munawar Hasan lost, the military decided to invade North Waziristan. The population was ordered to leave. About a million people were put out as internal refugees in the hot plains of the north western Punjab province DURING RAMADAN. [Most of them are still there after 6 months though relief agencies have provided tents to a segment].

ALL the towns of North Waziristan were reduced to smoldering heaps in Pakistani air attacks. Most of the fighters escaped into Afghanistan but several thousand civilians were killed along with the families of the Pak Taliban who still did not think that a "Muslim" army would kill women and children.

Indiscriminate use of jet bombers is the Pakistani military's "methodology." The army claims it has killed 1200 "suspected" "militants."

From this horror emerged the Pak Taliban's attack on the army's school in Peshawar.

Subjugation of Jamaate Islami and Islamic groups.

After the attack on the school, the secularists and Shias launched a campaign to KILL ALL TALIBAN. Not only that, but to KILL ALL SUPPORTERS of the TALIBAN. And even KILL ANYONE WHO SHOWS SYMPATHY for the Taliban.

Jamaate Islami was the most disgraceful in its response, holding funeral prayers in absentia for the army school students and calling for countrywide du'a sessions for them. Calls went forth to punish the perpetrators: "Pakistan is in danger." Jamaate Islami did not have the moral courage to say: Let us also think of the children of the Pak Taliban. [JI has never held salatul janaza for Osama or Abdul Rasheed Ghazi or any of the leaders of the Islamic resistance killed in Pakistani bombing and US air strikes.]

Jamaate Islami has not suffered any losses at the hands of the regime for a whole decade: no injuries, no imprisonment. It has become like Tablighi Jamaat. Gone is the backbone of Maulana Maudoodi who confronted the worst regimes and was often put in prison.

Jamaate Islami still has potential to oppose the power structure more than other Muslim groups but it is now in total retreat and has lost all the momentum which Hasan and, for a while Sirajul Haq, had given it.

Maulana Abdul Aziz:

The only voice of truth turned out to be Maulana Abdul Aziz, the leader of the rejuvenated Red Mosque. He declared that the attack on North Waziristan was unIslamic and the attack on the army school was a consequence of the army's actions. .

Anti-Islamic-Pakistan elements, secularists and Shias, have become so bold that MQM, the fascist group ruling Karachi, called for the Red Mosque to be set on fire. Secularist demonstrators actually gathered at the mosque and were stopped by police from entering.

Not only was Maulana Abdul Aziz unafraid of the rallying cries against him, he reiterated his stand in his juma khutba [December 19].

Crowds of people started gathering from both sides and one of the Maulana's deputies went out and calmed people down by saying that they do condemn the attack on the army school. Maulana Abdul Azis refused to take back his position.

[May Allah keep Maulana Abdul Aziz safe. There is no one like him today at the leadership level.]

[Before these events, the rejuvenated women's seminary, Jamia Hafsa, linked to the Red Mosque, named its library after Osama bin Laden and declared support for ISIS.]

Our America: Boston
Marathon Bombing Case: He didnt Commit the Crime and won't plead Guilty
by Sis. Karin Friedemann

Dzhokhar (Jahar) Tsarnaev's last pre-trial hearing took place Thursday, December 18 at 10am. Drone footage shows him being brought into the courthouse around 6am wearing shackles and an orange jumpsuit. He looked thin and seemed physically weak. The courthouse entranceway was a zoo, with a huge crowd of reporters, Homeland Security, FBI, police and protesters even before 8am. The massive audience filled the courtroom, plus two overflow courtrooms and the jury assembly hall, where the proceedings were shown on livestream video. About a dozen people identifying as victims of the Boston Marathon bombings also attended. Those watching on video were able to hear the judge clearly and see the defendant's face while those experiencing the hearing live saw only his back.

Jahar sported wild, unkempt curly hair that was almost an afro, standing many inches above his head. He has grown a short beard. His eyes were downcast most of the time. He touched his face and nose a lot. His feet remained in shackles, while he sat in a relaxed slouch with his knees open throughout the 25 minute hearing. His facial expression seemed a bit weird and befuddled - quite intense yet not quite there - perhaps a side effect of being kept in isolation for over a year. He seemed almost disoriented, but maybe he was just exhausted from being hauled out of bed in the middle of the night. A supporter later asked his mother if he was taking medication and was told no, he won't even take aspirin for a headache. He was wearing a black sweater over a white button-down shirt and slacks for court.

Judge O'Toole asked Jahar whether he had voluntarily chosen not to be present for any of the previous hearings; whether he had been kept up to date on the proceedings; and if he was happy with his representation. Jahar answered, "Yes, sir" to the first two questions and "pretty much," or "very much" to the last question. This is the first time the public had heard his voice since he pled "Not Guilty" in 2013. The rest of the hearing was nothing special, just going over the motions. Judy Clarke patted him on the back a few times. Until...

As Jahar was handcuffed and taken out of the courtroom after the hearing, a woman in the courtroom started yelling loudly in Russian: "There are many people here supporting you. We are praying for you. We love you. We know you are innocent! Stay strong, my son!"

Onlookers report that he heard these words and smiled, although he did not turn around.

"I'm pretty sure his lawyers were not happy! Lol! I saw Miriam Conrad's face was like a wtf moment ... But I can tell Jahar was relieved. Jahar appreciates It," stated an onlooker.

As the US Marshalls escorted her out, Elena shouted in English, "Stop killing innocent people! Stop killing innocent boys!"

Elena Teyer, US veteran and the mother of Ibrahim Todashev's widow, then suddenly gave an impromptu press conference to hoards of reporters for the next one and half hours outside. Thank God! It worked out very beautifully that way because of the gag order that prevents Jahar's lawyers from even stating that their client is innocent in public. Even the prosecutors made no statement to the press. Elena passionately defended Jahar's innocence and all his friends. She decried all of the lives that have been destroyed because of FBI lies and games.

The ongoing arguments between the defense and prosecution are that the defense wants a "continuance" - in other words, more time to prepare. The government is demanding (and I would say bullying) the defense to provide detailed information about witnesses, even though it has been made clear that the witnesses are feeing too intimidated.

About 8 protesters held up placards after the hearing. About half were from out of state while the rest were local. One sign read: "Got proof? Innocent until proven guilty."

There was a moment where a Bostonian named Marc who had lost half of one leg in the Boston Marathon bombing, waved his empty pant leg at the demonstrators.

"We all wished we could have talked to him longer. He said something about what was found in the dorm room and I said have you never played with fireworks? We have to make sure we got the right guy!! It's important. He told me to get a job LOL," a local supporter reportedly said.

What was most astonishing about this hearing is that the government continues to waste the public's time by insisting that a certain Ms. Vogelbruck be denied as a witness, because as a social worker she has interviewed a lot of people who ever knew the Tsarnaev family. Weinreb argued with his familiar smirk that he needs to know what she might say, in order that he could come up with an appropriate comeback.The government isn't playing fair.

This is a government prosecution that was able to feed HBO and the History Channel all the statements they wanted to make, extra legal. I'd look into the government cable TV link.

The ongoing "live dispute" pertains to the list of witnesses who might testify as character witnesses in the event of a Guilty decision.

Jahar seems resigned as a noble Chechen would be, to the fate of Allah.

He absolutely refuses to plead guilty for a crime he did not commit.

Protestors outside the court.
Sis. Karin in red coat on right.

Ms. Elena Teyer challenges the government's assumptions talking to media.

Our America: Brooklyn, New York
Largest Rally in New York Ever for Eric Garner: Jamaat al-Muslimeen was There.
Support from Palestinians.
by Br. Abu Talib

There was a demonstration on Saturday , December 13, in New York City in which there were thousands of people from all races on the streets of of the city chanting:

"whose streets? our streets"
and also
" hands up don't shoots" in memory of Feguson
and
"black lives matter."

It was the largest demonstration I have seen in New York. Its was led by young people of color, lots of young people and children and the older people standing for Justice for Eric Garner and other who have been killed by the Police.

The Muslims here In New York city are not involved in taking a stand with the poor and the oppressed.They are just in the mosques .

As Muslims we have to learn to be active in the struggle. Other than Jamaat al-Muslimeen, not one Muslim organizations was there though in the city there are lots of Muslim organizations in the African American Muslims and other immigrant who are Muslims.

Fortunately there was a strong contingent of Palestinians.
We Must always stand with the oppressed and support them crying for Justice in this system.

The struggle continues.

Our America:

From New York City: 2 items

Two Policemen Killed in New York: What consequences?
People becoming Desperate? Too many Unpunished killings by Police.
by Sis. Aisha [Jamaat al-Muslimeen, New York]

New York City - On the afternoon of 12/201014, a man walked up to a parked police car and shot the two officers inside. This occurred in the Bedford-Stuyvesant "Do or Die Bed-Stuy" area of Brooklyn. The gunman ran into the subway station and he committed suicide. This was a true suicide mission, not martyrdom since the gunman took his own life. Both officers died.

No motive is known. The description of the gunman has not been stated, yet. He is described as being 28 years old. It is highly coincidental that this execution would occur at such a tense time in America.

This could be like the Christoper Dorner incident in California. He was the former California whistle-blower cop who went on a shooting rampage after being retaliated against by the LAPD. He later committed suicide the California mountains during a police stand-off, in which police shot pyrotechnic tear gas canisters or burners into the cabin where Dorner was barricaded. These canisters caused a fire and his Dorner's charred corpse was found among the remains. Their intention was to kill him but, he committed suicide before the fire overcame him.

Now, someone has taken it into their own hands to take a cop's life and then, took his own life! So, now, law enforcement has been cheated out of torturing and harassing a cop killer.

After the lack of convictions in the Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell murders, and a whole host of other murders at the hands of cops around the country, before and after the aforementioned cases, this type of killing was bound to happen! Although, whether or not it was a personal vendetta surrounding another issue is not known.

I believe that the following will happen as a result of this shooting:

Police will be particularly nasty and uncivil toward members of the Black community, whether the gunman was Black or not. This because we are so vocal in our opposition to police criminal behavior. "Community Leaders" will condemn the killing rather than understand the anger of the Black community at the cops. This condemnation is out of fear of retribution from police.Police will be on high alert all over the country, particularly in "trouble" areas such as, Ferguson and New York City. Of course, Pres. Obama will condemn the killing. He and his wife have an interview in the upcoming People Magazine reflecting on their experiences with racism in America. Do not be fooled! Many Black members of the bourgeoisie is that racism is a bunch of misunderstandings or ignorance of Black people on the part of White people. The root of racism is White supremacy. No Black history course is going to cure this disease of the mind.

The NYPD is the biggest mafia in this country! Very organized and they try to intimidate the people they are hired to serve and protect. The fact that such a brazen execution can occur means that some people now see oppression as worst than death (Holy Qur'an 2:191). The Nation of Islam has always predicted a race war in America. However, El-Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) stated that it would not be a race war but, a war between good-doers and evil-doers.

The civil unrest we are witnessing could very well be the start of a new civil rights movement. The protests could become unruly but, that depends on the police response to future protests. Two out of six people have already been arrested, so far, from the December 13th incident surrounding a fracas with two cops trying to arrest City University of New York Professor, Eric Linkser. Zachary Campbell, 32, and Marcia Garcia, 36, have been charged with resisting arrest, interfering with an arrest and rioting. They are both husband and wife. Another suspect, Robert Murray, surrendered, earlier this week. (Courtesy of Yahoo! News & 7Online.com)

Comment on Pakistan plus US "Justice" in Montana

When I heard this Pakistan report, I thought it was horrific but, I also knew that it had to be in retaliation for something even more horrific! The fact that 30,000 civilians killed by the U.S./Pakistani air strikes and military operations is an incredible number that has NEVER been reported in America!

What is strange is that the Russian government and Putin are struggling now because the value of the ruble is falling quickly. It has been reported that Russia is unable to borrow money from any Western banks owing to a U.S.-led embargo stemming from Russia's Ukraine invasion. The power that human beings have is the power that we give them. It is incredulous how the U.S. government can impose embargoes on other world powers when this country has been involved in so many genocidal atrocities! The entire world is under the U.S. government's thumb.

On 12/17/2014, a Missoula, Montana jury voted for a guilty verdict against 30 year old Markus Kaarma for killing unarmed 17 year old German Exchange student, Diren Dede. Once the guilty verdict was read, the courtroom erupted with applause. Markus Kaarma's defense was that he was defending his home under the "castle doctrine", which allows one to use deadly force in defending his home or property from intruders. His garage had been burgled a few weeks earlier and Diren Dede was found in his garage, in the wee hours that fateful morning of April 27th.

However, neighbors testified that Kaarma's girlfriend, Janelle Pflager, went around telling them that she and Kaarma were going to catch a burglar. This is the ammo the prosecutors used against Kaarma. According to the prosecution, Kaarma left his garage door partially open with a purse inside with the intention of capturing and harming a burglar.

Many people from Kaarma's neighborhood seemed to rally against him. Neighbor Terry Klise said, the verdict was a "huge weight lifted. The man was a threat to our neighborhood." Markus Kaarma appears to be of Central Asian-descent, in spite of his European-sounding name.

Diren Dede's parents, Celal and Gulcin Dede, will read statements to the judge on Thursday, 12/18/2014. These statements are being made in hopes of influencing the judge during Kaarma's sentencing on February 11th. This process allows the Dede's to go back to Germany without having to come back to America. They attended the trial everyday.

Kaarma's attorney's plan to appeal stating their client did not know that Diren Dede was unarmed. These "stand your ground" laws are meant to be used within reason and the jury, in this case, ruled that Markus Kaarma did not behave reasonably. Celal Dede, Diren's father, said, "It is good. Long live justice" when the guilty verdict was read.

There is a picture of Diren Dede's funeral in Hamburg, Germany. It was a janaazah. His coffin is draped by a green throw with Islamic calligraphy on it. His family was Turkish. Many people in Germany followed the trial and was pleased by the outcome.

There are so many unjust verdicts in this "stand your ground" or "castle doctrine" defense cases. Trayvon Martin's murder case is the most well-known. You never know if you will have a jury of American Idiots or a runaway jury capable of thinking on its own and making a statement in the name of justice. It also depends on how determined the prosecutor is to prove a case. Prosecutors are the ones sending society the message that citizens should be punished for gun misuse, while police officers somehow escape justice every time.

Robert Johnson, a Black New York City Bronx Prosecutor, had a difficult time finding assistant district attorneys to try those 4 cops for shooting Amadou Diallo 41 times. These cops claims of self-defense was even more ridiculous once autopsy results revealed that Diallo had bullet holes at the bottom of his feet plus, the number of shots fired indicate that at least one officer had to re-load his gun! Yet, Robert Johnson, the boss of all Bronx County Prosecutors, NEVER fired any of his ADAs for insubordination! Now, how about that! (Report is courtesy of Yahoo! News)

War News:

Iraq

Shi'ite Militias Deserting : 1000 gone home
Baghdad: December 20. Excerpted from AP.

In the upscale Baghdad neighborhood of Harthiya, a representative from al-Sistani's office recently urged his followers to donate food and money to the Shiite militias — warning that many fighters had already deserted.

Al-Moussawi was deployed along with fellow militiamen in Latifiyah, a town 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, with orders to keep the Islamic State group out of Sunni areas along the so-called Baghdad Belt. But over the past two months, the number of men in al-Moussawi's unit has dwindled, with as many as 1,000 deserting over economic hardship, he said.

Surprise attack on Vast air base near Hit.

December 20: Just when regime forces were ready to attack Hit, Islamic State forces attacked the vast US made air base nearby. The regime troops were slaughtered and ran for their lives. Among the dead is their commander, a Brigadier General.

US air attacks stopped the IS advance.

Syria

Victory in Idlib

December 16-20:: Mujahideen from al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa inflicted a major defeat on Assad's forces led by Hizbullah when they captured Wadi al-Deif and Hamdiyah. More than 100 of Assad's troops were killed and 120 captured. The rest fled. The cost was high owing to Assad's air attacks and fighting by Hizbullah. At least 80 mujahideen were killed.
December 21:: Heavy fighting resumed in Kobane around the cultural center with US air force helping the Communist YPG. The IS forces stopped the YPG advance.

North of Aleppo, IS forces have captured new areas and immediately came under US air attack.

Islamic State imposes taxes ( Zakat) on the rich. Photo shows rich people in Raqqa lining up to pay Zakat .

[Source : Syrian Observatory for human rights.]

Messages from Allah
For the first time a Christian writes with authenticity and spirituality about the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, and Mary, [Maryam], pbuh.
With thanks to L, a reader in Iowa.

The Virgin Mary and the Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]

Mediating the Word of God in Christian and Islamic traditions

Mary Joan Winn Leith - 12/16/2014

With another Christmas season upon us and Christmas carols in the air, I am struck anew at how much, within their respective traditions, the Virgin Mary and the prophet Muhammad have in common. I hasten to note that I am not suggesting that Mary and Muhammad are of equal importance in their traditions—just that there are some interesting commonalities; and, of course, both Islam and Christianity honor Mary as the virgin who miraculously conceived and gave birth to Jesus, but I want to pursue a different angle here. The similarities I have in mind first occurred to me when I was teaching the Qur'an's Sura 97 ( al-Qadr, "Destiny"). This is the Sura that extolls the holiest night of the Muslim calendar, the Laylat al-Qadr(Night of Destiny) when Muhammad received the first revelation of the Qur'an. The connection I see between Mary and Muhammad centers on the significance of the Word of God in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Basic to all three religious traditions is the understanding that God, impelled by compassion, reveals to humans the way to salvation. The traditions use different theological terminology (redemption, salvation, eternal life, etc.), but in essence, God's revelation gives humans the knowledge and means to overcome the sorrow, pain and death that constitute the human condition. All three traditions describe this revelation as the Word of God.

From the Jewish and Muslim perspective, this is quite straightforward. Both the Torah, given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and the Qur'an, disclosed by God in visions to Muhammad, are literally words from God. The Christian revelation is also the Word of God, but in Christianity the Word of God happens not to be a text but a person—Jesus. For example, the Gospel of John famously opens with the explanation, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14). For Christians, Jesus is the "Word" that became flesh, or, to use another Christian term, Jesus is the "incarnation" (the "enfleshment") of God. In a very real sense, then, both Mary and Muhammad are the mediators, the "middle person" ("middleman" doesn't work here) between God and humanity. Both are the bearers of a message from God that cannot be delivered to humans on earth without the agency of a human body. Mary literally bears the Word of God in her womb and—to use the archaic sense of the word—Mary is "delivered" of the Word of God when she gives birth to Jesus. Similarly, the earthly human capacity for hearing and speech allows Muhammad to bear and deliver the Word of God to the people of Mecca and Medina. It is significant, I think, that neither "deliverer" is considered to be divine, yet, from the earliest centuries of their respective religions, each was accorded a unique status hovering in the liminal area between human and divine

In a detail of Jean Patinir's "Rest on the Flight to Egypt," the farmer, the soldiers and both the bare and the wheat-filled field are seen. The soldiers, looking for Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, believed no one was hiding in the wheat-filled field.

Because Mary and Muhammad in their roles as mediators by definition experienced a direct encounter with the divine, both faiths came to believe that they must have enjoyed an exceptional degree of purity. Mary's purity of course, is her virginity, a physical state which Christians, under the influence of Greco-Roman thought, associated with spiritual perfection and sinlessness. As for Muhammad, his purity had nothing to do with sexuality; after all, he married a number of wives, including even some widows. Muhammad's exceptional purity has to do with knowledge, which initially may seem to be a peculiar form of purity. However, it is an article of faith in Islam that the words of the Qur'an are God's, not Muhammad's, and the proof of this among Muslims is the conviction that Muhammad could not read or write; he was, so to speak, a virgin from the point of view of education. No human father contributed to the incarnation of Jesus, and no human artistry had any role in the creation of the Qur'an.

Beyond the complexities of theology and belief, surprisingly similar legends—neither story is in the Bible or the Qur'an—arose around Mary and Muhammad stemming from the fact that both had to flee for their lives. According to medieval tradition, as Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus fled from King Herod barely ahead of his soldiers, they came upon a farmer sowing his field. "Please don't tell the soldiers you saw anyone come by," they begged. The farmer, however, was too frightened to help them. When the soldiers arrived and asked whether the farmer had seen the fugitives, the farmer told the truth; "I saw them as I was sowing this field." The soldiers, seeing the field, turned back. The wheat field was ready for harvest so they concluded that no one could have passed by anytime recently (see image above). Muhammad had to elude Meccan authorities who wanted to prevent him from making the Hijra (emigration) to Medina where he would found the first fully Muslim community (and whose date serves as the zero point on the Muslim calendar). Muslims love to tell the story of Muhammad and his companion Abu Bakr who had scarcely entered a cave to hide when the Meccans rode up. Having inspected the cave entrance, the pursuers rode on; the huge spider web across the mouth of the cave told them that no one had entered it in years.

This illustration depicts the Muslim tradition of the "Miracle of the Cave," when Muhammad and Abu Bakr hid in a cave to elude Meccan authorities during the Hijra. The spider webs covering the cave entrance led the authorities to believe no one was in the cave. Photo: Desmond Stewart, Early Islam (Great Ages of Man), (New York: Time, Inc., 1967).

Finally, let me return to the Christmas carols and to Sura 97 that I mentioned at the start of this essay. Consider these lines from "Silent Night":

Silent night, Holy Night
All is calm, all is bright...
Sleep in heavenly peace...
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia.

Or these from "Little Town of Bethlehem":

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie...
But in those dark streets shineth the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Here is how the Qur'an describes the Night of Destiny:

Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Destiny.
Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Destiny is!
The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months.
The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
(The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn.

The peace of the season to all!
Writer's photo.

2014-12-22 Mon 20:29 ct
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