Assalamu aleikum.
"Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling." - HELPING DISASTER VICTIMS: How Can I Help? http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/DisasterVictims/Articles/06.shtml Please note that 4 articles follow: *Muslims Rush to Help Devastated Asians *Aid Grows Amid Remarks About President's Absence *ANTICHRIST ORDERS COMPASSION FROM OTHERS *What Bush is probably singing as he rides his bicycle --- (1) Muslims Rush to Help Devastated Asians Additional Reporting By Muneeb Nasir, IOL Canada Correspondent Islam Online December 29, 2004 http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/29/article01.shtml --- photo: An Emirates Red Crescent employee supervises the loading of aid containers. http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/29/images/pic01.jpg Indian people cross by boat after a bridge was destroyed by tidal waves. (AFP) http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/29/images/pic01a.jpg --- CAIRO, December 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Muslims in the four corners of the universe joined the rest of humanity in the world’s biggest ever relief campaign to help the survivors of Asia’s worst earthquake in decades and the resulting tsunami amid warnings that epidemics could multiply the final death toll to over 100,000. Leading US and UK Muslim organizations have launched online donations and appeals to people worldwide to immediately send contributions. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the UK-based Islamic Relief took the initiative, asking “all people of conscience” to offer humanitarian assistance to the survivors and pray for the victims. “We extend our sincerest condolences to the families of those killed and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured as a result of the earthquake,” CAIR Chairman Omar Ahmad said in a press release, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnline.net Tuesday, December 28. Chief among US online donators are Maryland-based Asia Relief and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). More than 68,000 people have been confirmed killed and thousands displaced in walls of tidal waves triggered by a 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake – the world’s biggest earthquake in 40 years – which struck deep in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, according to a Reuters count. Many coastal villages and resorts, now nothing more than mud-covered rubble blanketed with the stench of rotting corpses, remained inaccessible to heavy earth moving equipment needed to clear debris and dispose of bodies. Areas effectively cut off included eastern Sri Lanka, India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Indonesia's northern Aceh province, near the epicenter of the killer quake. British Donations British Islamic Relief has launched an appeal to raise €1,000,000 for the affected population, according to a press release e-mailed to IOL Tuesday. An initial €200,000 has been allocated for relief intervention in the region and to help rehabilitate victims of the disaster. A further €20,000 of emergency aid will be sent to affected people in worst-hit Sri Lanka. IR representatives in Sri Lanka are performing needs assessments, and IR staff will fly out within the next 48 hours to form an Emergency Response Team, the missive added. IR staff from Indonesia will further leave for Aceh to assess the situation, and IR’s partners in India are on their way to Chennai. The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) has further called on British Muslims and non-Muslims alike to help with the massive relief effort needed. “We are profoundly distressed by the massive loss of life and our prayers are with all those who have been afflicted. It would require an unprecedented international effort to coordinate and fund relief efforts to those who need it most and we appeal to the British public to donate generously in this regard,” MAB’s President Ahmad Sheikh said in a press release e-mailed to IOL Tuesday. Canadian Assistance Canadian Muslim and non-Muslim charities also found their phones ringing off the hook over the last few days as people call to make donations of money and supplies. “We have been fielding calls all day at our office from concerned Canadians, particularly those with roots and family and loved ones in the affected countries,” Raza Khan, Vice Chairman of the Canadian Relief Foundation (CRF), told IOL. “Many are requesting personal financial assistance for their families and businesses which have literally been washed away. They are fearful and saddened by the calamitous events, which have occurred out of a bright blue sky, out of nowhere, and without warning,” he added. In Toronto, which has the largest Sri Lankan community outside of Sri Lanka, cultural associations are sending hundreds of youth canvassers door to door, and a Tamil-language radio station has launched a telethon to take in donations from its listeners. The CRF is coordinating its efforts with the Sri Lankan community leaders. “We’ve connected with local Sri Lankan community leaders and are coordinating efforts to fundraise together and work out logistics to get relief reliably to the people who need it most.” Khan said. “We are planning to hold a major fund raising event in Hamilton. It will be a multi-faith effort with several Muslim, Christian and Hindu groups working together,” he said. Other Canadian charities and NGOs included International Development and Relief Foundation, UNICEF Canada and the Canadian Red Cross. Arab Contributions Several Arab countries were also quick to dispatch relief materials to the Asian countries, which took the brunt of the killer quake. The United Arab Emirates Red Crescent dispatched relief materials and transferred money to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh plus a team of 25 trained officers and four police dogs for rescue missions to Indonesia, Reuters said. Qatar has further offered immediate humanitarian assistance to the displaced in Indonesia, Qatar’s English-language The Peninsula newspaper reported. “The Qatar government asked Indonesia to send a list of the material that was required to provide relief to survivors of the tragedy. We conveyed this gesture to Jakarta, which in turn, has forwarded a list of items that are urgently required in the disaster zone,” Gulfam Afero, labor attaché at the Indonesian embassy in Doha, told the daily. Qatar Airways has also joined forces by ferrying stranded passengers affected by the devastating tidal waves that have swept across South and Southeast Asia Sunday, December 26. A special Qatar Airways charter aircraft flew to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean Tuesday morning to pick up 130 stranded guests in the Maldives before returning to Doha in the evening. Kuwait has also said it was sending one million dollars in aid to the governments of the affected countries. Aid from across the globe reach Monday and Tuesday Asia's obliterated villages and resorts. International aid teams further landed in Asia's tsunami-devastated villages Wednesday, December 29, in a desperate race to prevent the spread of diseases in one of the biggest catastrophe relief operations in history. As grief-stricken survivors buried their dead in mass graves, aid teams from Japan, India, Russia, France, Germany and Taiwan worked to restore drinking water and sanitation. You May Also Read… Asia Disaster: How Can I Help? (Special Folder) http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/DisasterVictims/Articles/06.shtml Paying Zakah to Earthquake Victims http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=108711 Earthquakes and Public Health: Myths & Realities (Article) http://www.islamonline.net/English/Science/2004/01/article01.shtml - http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/29/article01.shtml --- (2) Aid Grows Amid Remarks About President's Absence By John F. Harris and Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, December 29, 2004; Page A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32337-2004Dec28.html The Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. As the death toll surpassed 50,000 with no sign of abating, the U.S. Agency for International Development added $20 million to an earlier pledge of $15 million to provide relief, and the Pentagon dispatched an aircraft carrier and other military assets to the region. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in morning television appearances, chafed at a top U.N. aid official's comment on Monday that wealthy countries were being stingy with aid. "The United States is not stingy," Powell said on CNN. Although U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland yesterday withdrew his earlier comment, domestic criticism of Bush continued to rise. Skeptics said the initial aid sums -- as well as Bush's decision at first to remain cloistered on his Texas ranch for the Christmas holiday rather than speak in person about the tragedy -- showed scant appreciation for the magnitude of suffering and for the rescue and rebuilding work facing such nations as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Indonesia. After a day of repeated inquiries from reporters about his public absence, Bush late yesterday afternoon announced plans to hold a National Security Council meeting by teleconference to discuss several issues, including the tsunami, followed by a short public statement. Bush's deepened public involvement puts him more in line with other world figures. In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cut short his vacation and returned to work in Berlin because of the Indian Ocean crisis, which began with a gigantic underwater earthquake. In Britain, the predominant U.S. voice speaking about the disaster was not Bush but former president Bill Clinton, who in an interview with the BBC said the suffering was like something in a "horror movie," and urged a coordinated international response. Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' " Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role. Some foreign policy specialists said Bush's actions and words both communicated a lack of urgency about an event that will loom as large in the collective memories of several countries as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks do in the United States. "When that many human beings die -- at the hands of terrorists or nature -- you've got to show that this matters to you, that you care," said Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. There was an international outpouring of support after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and even some administration officials familiar with relief efforts said they were surprised that Bush had not appeared personally to comment on the tsunami tragedy. "It's kind of freaky," a senior career official said. The president of Bread for the World, a leading advocacy group lobbying for more U.S. assistance to suffering people abroad, did not criticize the Bush administration, but did urge the United States to play a central role in the relief effort. "This is a disaster of biblical proportions and one that calls for a global response, with the United States playing a key role," David Beckmann said. Some of those lost in the carnage were Americans. The State Department, which is in the early stages of estimating both relief needs and the U.S. death toll, has received more than 4,000 inquiries about relatives not yet accounted for, although many may be calls searching for the same people, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials denied that the overnight aid increase was a response to the U.N. complaint Monday that some countries were "stingy" with aid. Usually only about 10 percent of the final aid tally is given in the initial response to a natural disaster, with the bulk of aid provided after an assessment of long-term needs, according to the State Department. "We know the needs will be greater. This was a disaster of almost unimaginable dimension, and it's going to require massive support for some time," State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli said. Gelb said what appears to be a grudging increase in effort sends the wrong message, at a time when dollar totals matter less than a clear statement about U.S. intentions. Noting that the disaster occurred at a time when large numbers of people in many nations -- especially Muslim ones such as Indonesia -- object to U.S. policies in Iraq, he said Bush was missing an opportunity to demonstrate American benevolence. "People do watch and see what we do," he said. "Here's an opportunity to remind people of the good we do, and he [Bush] can do it without changing his policy on Iraq or terrorism." "My initial reaction is that it does not seem to be very aggressive," said Morton Abramowitz, a former ambassador to Thailand who has been active in humanitarian relief efforts, of the administration's response to the tsunami. Besides USAID assistance, the Pentagon dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln from Hong Kong to the region, and three Navy P-3 Orion surveillance planes and six Air Force C-130 cargo planes with humanitarian goods are being sent to Thailand. A regional support center will be established at a military base in Utapao, Thailand, as a staging area for relief flights and for emergency and medical personnel providing assistance throughout the region, the Pentagon announced yesterday. The U.S. Pacific Command will deploy personnel mainly from the III Marine Expeditionary Force to set up the command, control and communication structure. Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who as the military's top European commander helped supervise NATO's efforts to respond to a 1999 earthquake in Turkey, said the United States has unique military capabilities in reconnaissance and logistics management that can be useful in the current crisis. He urged Bush to take a higher profile. "Natural disasters happen," Clark said. "One of the things people look for is a strong response that illustrates America's humanitarian values." Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who is frequently outspoken in favor of U.S. humanitarian ventures, said he believes the initial U.S. response has been appropriate, even without a public role for Bush. "I think the world knows we're a very generous people," he said. Still, the United Nations' Egeland complained on Monday that each of the richest nations gives less than 1 percent of its gross national product for foreign assistance, and many give 0.1 percent. "It is beyond me why we are so stingy, really," he told reporters. Among the world's two dozen wealthiest countries, the United States often is among the lowest in donors per capita for official development assistance worldwide, even though the totals are larger. According to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development of 30 wealthy nations, the United States gives the least -- at 0.14 percent of its gross national product, compared with Norway, which gives the most at 0.92 percent. Staff writer Jim VandeHei in Crawford, Tex., and political researcher Brian Faler in Washington contributed to this report. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32337-2004Dec28.html --- (3) ANTICHRIST ORDERS COMPASSION FROM OTHERS Islamic Community Net December 25, 2004 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamiccommunitynet/message/7541 President's Radio Address The White House December 25, 2004 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/12/20041225.html THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On this Christmas day, as families across the nation gather in our homes to celebrate, Laura and I extend to all Americans our best wishes for the holidays. We hope this Christmas is a time of joy and peace for each of you, and we hope it offers you a chance for rest and reflection as you look forward to the new year ahead. The Christmas season fills our hearts with gratitude for the many blessings in our lives. And with those blessings comes a responsibility to reach out to others. Many of our fellow Americans still suffer from the effects of illness or poverty, others fight cruel addictions, or cope with division in their families, or grieve the loss of a loved one. Christmastime reminds each of us that we have a duty to our fellow citizens, that we are called to love our neighbor just as we would like to be loved ourselves. By volunteering our time and talents where they are needed most, we help heal the sick, comfort those who suffer, and bring hope to those who despair, one heart and one soul at a time. During the holidays, we also keep in our thoughts and prayers the men and women of our Armed Forces, especially those far from home, separated from family and friends by the call of duty. In Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, these skilled and courageous Americans are fighting the enemies of freedom and protecting our country from danger. By bringing liberty to the oppressed, our troops are helping to win the war on terror, and they are defending the freedom and security of us all. They and their families are making many sacrifices for our nation, and for that, all Americans are deeply grateful. The times we live in have brought many challenges to our country. And at such times, the story of Christmas brings special comfort and confidence. For 2000 years, Christmas has proclaimed a message of hope: the patient hope of men and women across centuries who listened to the words of prophets and lived in joyful expectation, the hope of Mary who welcomed God's plan with great faith, and the hope of Wise Men who set out on a long journey, guided only by a promise traced in the stars. Christmas reminds us that the grandest purposes of God can be found in the humblest places, and it gives us hope that all the love and gifts that come to us in this life are the signs and symbols of an even greater love and gift that came on a holy night. Thank you for listening, and Merry Christmas. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/12/20041225.html http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamiccommunitynet/message/7541 --- (4) Artist: B.J. Thomas Lyrics Song: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head Lyrics http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/forrestgump/raindropskeepfallingonmyhead.htm Raindrops keep fallin' on my head And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed Nothin' seems to fit Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin' So I just did me some talkin' to the sun And I said I didn't like the way he got things done Sleepin' on the job Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin' But there's one thing I know The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me Raindrops keep fallin' on my head But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red Cryin's not for me 'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin' Because I'm free Nothin's worryin' me [trumpet] It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me Raindrops keep fallin' on my head But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red Cryin's not for me 'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin' Because I'm free Nothin's worryin' me http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/forrestgump/raindropskeepfallingonmyhead.htm __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Dress up your holiday email, Hollywood style. Learn more. http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give hope to a child. Helping a needy child is easier than you think. Click here to meet someone who needs your help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/hq3f6C/iJlJAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
