RAMADAN BEGINS OCTOBER 16 [Saturday] in USA

WILL MUSLIMS BECOME INEFFECTIVE IF THEY DO NOT PARTICIPATE in VOTING?

1. ISLAMIC: Clear texts of the Qur’an and the Hadith do not permit Muslims to join an oppressive and exploitative power structure controlled by anti-Islam forces.
2. SECULAR: We also indicated that both Bush and Kerry are identical in their views on America’s intervention in the Muslim world. They compete with each other in their support of Israel. Evidently, even from a secular viewpoint, Muslims do not have a horse in this race.
3. STRATEGIC: After the destruction wrought by Bush, the power structure needs to bring in Kerry to "start anew" in the sense that the oppression carried out may be glossed over. A similar process took place when the one million Iraqi children who died during the Clinton under sanctions and embargo were forgotten as Bush decided to "liberate" Iraq and blame Saddam for the suffering brought about by the sanctions.

1. Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights people marched in the streets and faced police dogs and fire hoses. As the movement grew, the power structure realized that it would have to accomodate the Black community to avoid civil dissidence from turning into revolutionary upheaval.
2. Malcolm X taught separatism and helped African Americans to see that self-respect and economic autonomy are the key to the improvement of the oppressed communities. Black separatism has been much more effective than any right to vote.
3. As Malcolm X noted, events overseas, such as the Vietnam war, bring about changes in America.. In our own times, Israel is the decisive issue. If Israel is defeated and driven out of the Middle East, the conditions of America’s Muslims will improve rapidly. If Israel successfully continues its genocide against the Palestinians, Muslims in America will remain in a subservient condition.

HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE?

1. Muslims in America are highly educated and upwardly mobile. If they get Islamic leadership, they can use communication skills to spread their ideas throughout America. They can create independent newspapers and information channels in radio and TV.
   1. Numerous small radio, TV and print media are available even now for Muslim viewpoints.
      The Muslims who go there should know how to communicate and not try to be defensive.
2. Muslims can use the law to defend themselves. More and more Muslims should become attorneys and use the law to protect Muslims, just as the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions were protected by the tribal system’s honor code when they were vulnerable.
3. Millions of people in America are sick and tired of the exploitation and degradation of humanity being perpetrated by the power structure not only among African-Americans and Hispanics but among large numbers of White people too. Muslims should be supporting all exploited and oppressed people. "Be there, where its happening."
4. The exploitation of women is a horrendous reality in America. More than 4,000,000 women are battered by their spouses and boyfriends every year. Women have been persuaded, on a mass scale, to behave and look like prostitutes in the service of the consumer culture. Women are desperately looking for a way out of this Madison Avenue driven trap. A committed Islamic leadership can bring millions of women into Islam and in support of Islam.
5. American Muslims have tremendous resources. Now that Muslim charities for overseas have been largely blocked by the U.S. government, large sums should be made available to fight for the rights of political prisoners and prisoners in general right here in America.
   1. We must stop the construction of million dollar "White Elephant" mosques and make resources available for street corner mosques in the areas where the people live [not in expensive suburbia].
6. Mosques should be rooted in the communities where they are built. Do not build a mosque where no Da’wah has been done. All these immigrant mosques which do not have even 1% indigenous membership after 20 years of existence should close down. They are no more than social clubs for the "brain drain" of the Muslim world.
   [To be continued, inshallah]