Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Ramadan 26, 1425/ November 10, 2004 #111
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It is LAILATUL QADR TONIGHT. PRAY WITH ALL YOUR HEART FOR THE VICTORY OF ISLAM OVER THE OPPRESSORS in Kashmir, Chechnia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and other places. Pray for the defeat and withdrawal of "Israel" from the Middle East.
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WAR NEWS: Collected by New Trend's media monitor
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Latest: MSNBC TV just reported, November 10, 12.15 PM EST, that a few minutes back U.S. tanks blew up a mosque in Fallujah, firing eight tank rounds into it.
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IRAQ

FALLUJAH: U.S. FORCES OUTSMARTED BY ISLAMIC FIGHTERS:
Tanks Punch Through, Find No One.
Mujahideen Capture Ramadi and Most of Samarrah.

November 9 and 10. Day 2 and 3 of the Fallujah offensive proved quite frustrating for powerful American Marine units advancing under air and artillery cover. The Islamic formations seem to have withdrawn intact from the wounded city, leaving behind die hard mujahideen to slow down the American tank columns.
The ferocious American advance leveled entire blocks of Iraqi homes. Observers say that civilian casualties are feared to be high. At least 50 women and children are already confirmed dead owing to American heavy artillery fire. More than 300 are wounded. Many others are feared buried in the rubble.
The Americans claim to have killed 42 mujahideen and captured 25 suspects. U.S. forces led by tanks have moved into Fallujah and are going house by house looking for Iraqi resistance fighters. The results have been meager. At places, mujahideen held up the advance with rpgs, machine guns and a couple of mortars. The U.S. says 10 of its soldiers were killed in this fighting inside Fallujah and another dozen wounded. At least 12 more mujahideen were killed.

On Day 2, the U.S. admitted that Islamic leader Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi and his fighters have successfully evaded capture and left Fallujah. Non-U.S. reports say that not only did Al-Zarqawi withdraw in good order from Fallujah but 60 of his men carried out a successful ambush of a U.S. military convoy at Taji, 35 miles north of Baghdad. It appears to have been the biggest strike by the mujahideen yet and left 14 oil tankers, 4 tanks and armored cars ablaze.
U.S. media have mentioned very briefly, but Pakistani media reported in greater detail that Islamic forces have taken over the town of Ramadi. A general uprising of the people seems to have taken places there.
The town of Samarra which was captured by the U.S. earlier has been retaken by the mujahideen, or at least 2/3rds of it, with U.S. forces still in occupation of the outskirts.
In Baghdad, the puppet Allawi regime has imposed a night curfew. It is being implemented by Iraqi Shi'a forces trained in Iran
[known as the Badr brigades but supporting the U.S.]
and Kurdish Peshmerga trained and armed by Israel. Fires are burning in Fallujah as the Americans advance into the interior of the city. Islamic Iraq is in its birth pangs. The most powerful military force in the world is trying to smash Islamic resistance. Any other force would have surrendered under the rain of 500 pound bombs, heavy artillery fire and 70 ton tanks advancing into populated areas. Here the lightly armed, the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden are fighting back. In classic guerrilla maneuvers, a force with light weaponry is slowly withdrawing in front of America's best punch, allowing the main Islamic formations to re-group behind the American forces. The remnants in Fallujah might be captured as they run out of ammunition.
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PAKISTAN:
[Strategic Moves after the new BUSH ERA began]

MUSHARRAF'S TROOPS OPEN TWO-PRONGED OFFENSIVE AGAINST PAKISTANI MUJAHIDEEN

On November 8, synchronized with the U.S. offensive in Iraq, General Musharraf's troops launched a new offensive in South Waziristan. Elite Pakistani forces are advancing in the east from Spin KaiRaghzai and from west from Karvan Mana, trying to catch the Mahsud tribesmen fighting for Islam in a vise.
All day there were heavy exchanges of fire between the Pakistani troops and the mujahideen as the troops advanced. Three Pakistani troops were killed and 17 wounded while 9 mujahideen were killed and 8 wounded. Pakistani helicopter gun ships and heavy artillery pounded the Mahsuds and by the end of the day, the Pakistanis had reached their objectives in the hills.
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BUSH, MUSHARRAF, KARZAI to Work in Close Coordination

Pakistan's General Musharraf was among the first to congratulate President Bush on his election victory. The Pakistani coup leader urged President Bush to solve the problems of the Muslim world, such as poverty, so that the danger of terrorism might end.
On his part, President Bush expressed complete confidence in the General, said he was very satisfied with the General's performance and would continue to support him.
After the Bush victory, General Musharraf paid a PERSONAL VISIT to Karzai, the ruler of Kabul and assured him of his full support and complete "coordination" in the war against "terrorism." Pakistan has given Rs. 100,000,000 to the Karzai regime to help it consolidate itself.
[One dollar = 58 Rupees.]

MQM Leader Visits India: Calls for End to Kashmir Issue

[November 8-10] Altaf Hussain, leader of a group in Karachi, Pakistan known as MQM visited India after Bush's election. Hussain [a sectarian name] lives in London, England from where he mobilizes an Urdu-speaking group in Karachi against Pakistan's unity and Islamic basis. Pakistani observers say that Hussain is working for British and American intelligence services. His group, MQM, provides support to General Musharraf in the key Pakistani city of Karachi. Thus the U.S. has successfully planted another "northern alliance" type of entity behind Pakistani lines. Observers say that MQM has numbers of hit squads which can spread death and destruction in Karachi at a signal from General Musharraf [through Altaf Hussain].
Pakistan's Jamaate Islami party, which has effective Urdu speaking leadership in Karachi challenges MQM's hold on the Urdu-speaking population.
During his visit to INDIA, Altaf Hussain met Advani and other Hindu leaders known for their anti-Muslim ideology [who have committed crimes against India's Muslims.] Altaf Hussain then proclaimed a doctrine coming STRAIGHT OUT OF WASHINGTON, that the cease fire line between Indian-occupied Kashmir and Azad [free] Kashmir [administered by Pakistan] should be declared the international frontier between India and Pakistan, thus putting an end to the Kashmir conflict.
Altaf Hussain's statement has been condemned by leading Kashmiri Jihad group, Hizbul Mujahideen which said [Nov. 9] that Altaf is defiling the sacred martyrs of Kashmir who gave their lives to end India's occupation of Kashmir.
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A Lesson in Islam and Hadith for those Who Deny Women their Rights in Mosques

by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D.

I have received a long winded reply from an anonymous student of the mufti in South African whom I corrected when he claimed that women should be excluded from mosques. Whoever this young man is, he needs some basic lessons in understanding Islam and in understanding Hadith. He wants to exclude nearly half of the population of the Muslim world from worshiping Allah in the mosques of Allah and comes up with a lazy attempt to put together a hotch potch of Hadith without understanding and totally out of context.

Here are a few words of advice which might help the Mufti's energetic but misled admirer:
  1. Islam does not see Muslim men and women as separate and segregated from each each in the Islamic struggle. Be it the epic battles of Badr, or Uhud in the Prophet's (pbuh) era, or Yarmouk and Qadisiya's in the time of his best Companions, women were together with men. The idea that Muslim men and women can be together on the field of battle but women will not be allowed to enter mosques is a shameful product of our colonial past and nothing at all to do with original Islam.
  2. Notice the togetherness of Muslim men and women in this verse which is the final verse in the Qur'an on men and women:" The believers, men and women, are protecting friends and guardians (awliyya) of each other: They establish regular prayers, pay the zakat and obey Allah and His messenger. On them will Allah pour His mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power, Wise. [9:71]
Notice that the men are not the awliyya of the women;they are each other's awliyya. Notice the plural "THEY" for the activities which cover the entire range of Islam. The women here ESTABLISH PRAYER (they don't just go home and pray on their own). Iqamat of Salat is a collective, social and congregational activity.
  1. What does the Qur'an say about mosques? Does it leave women out in any way? No. The standard it sets is inclusive and unifies the Muslim community according to standards which have nothing to do with gender:" The mosques of Allah shall be visited and maintained by such as believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish regular prayers, and pay Zakat and fear none (at all) except Allah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance. [9:18]
    Notice the total absence of gender bias in this verse. Mosques and faith are the correct combination.


  2. The obligatory prayer of Juma' again calls ALL believers to the gathering: "O ye who believe ! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday, hasten earnestly to the remembrance of Allah, and leave off business and traffic. That is best for you if ye but knew! [62:9]


  3. The BIGGEST GATHERING of Islam is the Hajj to the biggest mosque of Allah. Are women excluded from there? Who would be so silly as to think of such an exclusion! The Qur'an says: "And proclaim the Hajj among mankind [un-naas in Arabic].
    They will come to thee on foot and on every camel lean through deep and distant mountain highways ..." [22:27]
    Even the bigoted Ale Saud cannot stop this gathering of men and women at the holiest mosque of Islam!


  4. Then come the Sunnah gatherings on EID in Eid Gahs and other places for large gatherings. I hope the Mufti and his student have looked at the Hadith which teach that EVEN MENSTRUATING WOMEN, not otherwise obligated to pray, should come to the Eid gatherings along with ALL other women and men.
    1. Here I want to teach the Mufti's student a lesson in Hadith. If a Hadith is narrated in a variety of ways and under various headngs, one should not start thinking that these are separate and distinct Hadith. Even if the narrators are different, the issue might be the same. For instance Umm Attiya narrates that "we were commanded (by the Prophet, pbuh) to bring ALL women, includig those menstruating to the two Eids so that they may be present with all Muslims in their supplications (to Allah) and in the raising high of the Takbeers (of Allah), so that they may gain the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. One woman said: What if a woman does not have an outer covering? She (Umm Atiyya, r.a.) said: Let her neighbor woman give her one."
      [Sahih of Bukhari, al-haidh, Bab Shahood al-Haidh al-'eidain wa Da'wah al-Muslimeen.]
      This can be seen in Bukhari in Hadith number 324, number 351, number 971, number 972. In Sahih Muslim it appears under " Salat al-'eidain, bab Zikr ibaha khurooj un-Nisa' fil-'Eidain ila al-musalla, hadith number 890].
      Now if I were the Mufti's student, I would write these as separate Hadith. These are separate narrations of the same Hadith.


  5. The Mufti's student did not realize that the story of Umm Humaid, where the Prophet, pbuh, gave her his blessings to pray inside her home, is narrated in a variety of ways, and also relates to similar issues which other individuals had. These were EXCEPTIONS to the rule. So, we find that NEITHER BUKHARI nor MUSLIM bothered to include these "individual case" hadith in their collections. So the poor Mufti's student, hard pressed to find some text to support his teacher, selects from Ibn Khuzaima, Tabrani and others, NONE OF WHOM ARE INCLUDED EVEN IN THE SIHAH SITTAH [the six canonical collections of Hadith] or in the MUWATTA of Imam Malik, which is prestigious in being earlier than the Sihah Sittah. [Only a fragment of the Hadith related to Umm Humaid, r.a., is collected by Abu Dawud which does not even mention her name.]


  6. I quoted Hadith from the Musnad of Imam Abu Hanifa, commanding men not to stop women from going to the mosque. This probably got the Mufti's student's goat. He made the preposterous claim that the Musnad itself is fabricated! without giving any evidence. Poor fellow does not know that the Hadith about women in the Musnad are also available in earlier books of Hadith. For instance the Hadith from Umm Attiya, r.a., I quoted above is also available in Abu Hanifa's Musnad.


  7. Now a word about the value of the Prophet's authentic Hadith. The Mufti should teach his student that anything AUTHENTIC from the Prophet (pbuh) cannot, in Islam, be abrogated by anyone, not even the Sahabah (r.a.). Hence Hazrat 'Ayesha's view cannot become Nass or normative text if it contradicts the Prophet's authentic Hadith.
    [As I pointed out, the narration from 'Ayesha, r.a., which is her view, is not stopping women from going to the mosque. It is only saying that certain kinds of behavior are not acceptable in the mosque.]
    In conclusion, let's see the norm of the Prophet's (pbuh) Sunnah which is the ONLY standard acceptable in Islam. These are the authentic narrations on what the Prophet, pbuh, said and permitted on an ONGOING BASIS:
  1. "Do not stop the maid servants of Allah from the mosques of Allah.
    [Muwatta of Imam Malik]
  2. "When your wife asks of you about going to the mosque, do not stop her."
    [Sahih of Bukhari, kitabun-nikah]
  3. The Prophet, pbuh, permitted women to go forth and take part in fajr and Isha salat.
    [Musnad of Imam Abu Hanifa]
  4. When women prayed Fajr with the messenger of Allah, pbuh, they were enveloped in their outer garments.
    [Bukhari and Muslim]
    [Note the norm: "when," not the exceptional "if."]
  5. One day the messenger of Allah (pbuh) passed through the mosque when a gathering of was in progress there. He waved a greeting to them as he passed by.
    [Jami' of Tirmidhi]
Women were always participants in the mosque in that era of Islam which is the ONLY standard for us. They For instance, Haritha, r.a., the daughter of Umm Fazal says: "I heard the messenger of Allah, pbuh, recite sura al-mursalate 'urfan in the maghrib salat."
[Sahih Bukhari, al-adhan, bab al-qira fil maghrib, Hadith number 763, also in Sahih Muslim, hadith number 462.]

I don't want to shame the Mufti's student, but I hope he will reflect after my final example:
The prophet, pbuh, gave a place to a freed slave, African, woman to LIVE IN THE MOSQUE.
[Study and look it up in Bukhari's Sahih, kitabus Salat.]
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2004-11-14 Sun 08:35ct