Bismillah [IslamCity] 16-year-old Iraqi immigrant in central Sweden tackles centuries old math problem
http://www.thelocal.se/19710/20090528/ -- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves... -- Quran 30:21
Bismillah [IslamCity] An NSA wiretap reveals congressional corruption involving Israel.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-03098436 Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript. In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win. Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.” Unfortunately for you, Representative Harman, it does. On NSA tape. http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-03098436-- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves... -- Quran 30:21
Bismillah [IslamCity] Much Too Accurate
http://usmediaandisrael.com/?p=67 http://usmediaandisrael.com/?p=67[image: Cartoon: Serving the American People] -- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves... -- Quran 30:21
Bismillah [IslamCity] Israeli companies are feeling the impact of boycott
Salaam all WE ARE MAKING AN IMPACT. DON'T STOP. DON'T SLOW DOWN. Jazakallah khair -- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves... -- Quran 30:21 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/03/israel-gaza-attacks-boycotts-food-industry Israeli companies are feeling the impact of boycott moves in Europe, according to surveys, amid growing concern within the Israeli business sector over organised campaigns following the recent attack on Gazahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza . Last week, the Israel http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israel Manufacturers Association reported that 21% of 90 local exporters who were questioned had felt a drop in demand due to boycotts, mostly from the UK and Scandinavian countries. Last month, a report from the Israel Export Institute reported that 10% of 400 polled exporters received order cancellation notices this year, because of Israel's assault on Gaza. There is no doubt that a red light has been switched on, Dan Katrivas, head of the foreign trade department at the Israel Manufacturers Association, told Maariv newspaper this week. We are closely following what's happening with exporters who are running into problems with boycotts. He added that in Britain there exists a special problem regarding the export of agricultural produce from Israel.
Bismillah [IslamCity] Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
South African Dock Workers Refuse to Offload Israeli Goodshttp://www.kabobfest.com/2009/02/south-african-dock-workers-refuse-to.htmlBy Will COSATU House, 3 February 2009 In a historic development for South Africa, South African dock workers have announced their determination not to offload a ship from Israel that is scheduled to dock in Durban on Sunday, 8 February 2009. This follows the decision by COSATU to strengthen the campaign in South Africa for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Apartheid Israel. [...] http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/02/south-african-dock-workers-refuse-to.html -- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - Pray to God but keep rowing to shore. - Old Russian Proverb
Bismillah [IslamCity] Fwd: 60 Minutes dares to report on Israeli occupation (link) -- Robin Young waits for AIPAC permission (link)
CBS News is now taking a great deal of of flack for daring to interview Palestinians whose homes were under active occupation by Israeli soldiers. In this nationally broadcast thirteen-minute segment, reporter Bob Simon broke the unwritten law of American journalism: Thou Shalt Not Embarrass Israel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7XtT91yO6g Meanwhile, supposedly independent journalists like Robin Young maintain prolonged periods of tactful silence about Israel's assaults on civilians -- assaults that have left half the world in fury, flames, or a combination of the two. Perhaps she sees her job as sedating the other half: Her program is now dutifully critiquing Super Bowl commercials for her national radio audience -- not, presumably, not the kind of reporting that won her a Peabody Award. *By contrast, Bob Simon, the 60 Minutes reporter, put his career on the line by reporting frankly on the effect Jewish West Bank settlements have had on the (moribund) peace process. **Please call him at 212-975-2006 to thank him for his extraordinary display of journalistic courage.* Then e-mail Robin Young of the radio program Here and Now ( lett...@here-now.org) and ask her whether she considers the story of the Al-Batran family newsworthy. *In Gaza, a nine-year-old girl, Haneen al-Batran, was fatally shot in the face by Israeli solders while her family sought refuge in a hospital. * The story, linked below, is accompanied by a video featuring the dead girl's older sister. *Warning: AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, will never grant Young or other American journalists permission to click on the link below, no matter how long they may choose to wait for that permission.* *NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL SHOT TWICE BY ISRAELI SNIPERS AS HER FAMILY SOUGHT REFUGE IN HOSPITAL* http://ramallahonline.com/eye-witness-reports/22-eye-witness-reports/2791-nine-year-old-girl-shot-twice-by-israeli-snipers-as-her-family-sought-refuge-in-al-quds-hospital-has-died Forward this e-mail! Yusuf Toropov yusuf.toro...@gmail.com -- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. -- Marcus Aurelius
Bismillah [IslamCity] Controversial Bestseller Shakes the Foundation of the Israeli State
Controversial Bestseller Shakes the Foundation of the Israeli State What if the Palestinian Arabs who have lived for decades under the heel of the modern Israeli state are in fact descended from the very same children of Israel described in the Old Testament? And what if most modern Israelis aren't descended from the ancient Israelites at all, but are actually a mix of Europeans, North Africans and others who didn't return to the scrap of land we now call Israel and establish a new state following the attempt to exterminate them during World War II, but came in and forcefully displaced people whose ancestors had lived there for millennia? [...] http://www.alternet.org/story/122810/ -- -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. -- Marcus Aurelius
Bismillah [IslamCity] If ever anyone deserved a hand and foot amputated from opposite sides...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7747621.stm Police in southern Afghanistan have arrested 10 men in connection with an acid attack on schoolgirls earlier this month, officials say. The men are all Taleban insurgents and some have confessed to taking part in the attack, the authorities say. Several girls received severe burns when acid was thrown in their faces on 12 November in Kandahar city. . . . Gen Daud said the men were Afghans who had travelled from Pakistan. -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. -- SunTzu, Art of War
Bismillah [IslamCity] All Muslims have the same faith, but not all Muslims have the same logic
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/oct/20/muslims-in-memphis-local-mosques-differ-in/ -- Gregory Waleed Kavalec - Surely those who say, 'Our Lord is God' and then go straight, no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow. -- 46.13
Bismillah [IslamCity] The NYT Finds Heroes in Tbilisi — In Baghdad, Only Terrorists
The NYT Finds Heroes in Tbilisi — In Baghdad, Only Terrorists by Laura Flanders The* New York Times* ran a feature August 12http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/world/europe/12civilians.html, on Georgian civilians who've joined the fight against the Russian invasion of that former Soviet republic. The story, by Nicholas Kulish and Michael Schwirtz is full of empathy and heart. Nika Kharadze and Giorgi Monasalidze went to war last week, the Times* *report begins, even though they were not warriors. It goes on to describe how the men's parents have been searching for them ever since. They've gone from hospital to hospital, to the local and International Red Cross. Mom and dad even asked the cellphone company to trace the last known location of their son's phone. No luck. And then there's this line: as parts of the country fell before the Russian invaders, the Times writes, it was not only the army that rose in its defense but also regular citizens. Resistance, we learn, was part of a tradition, inscribed in local history and culture going back to medieval times. To make the point, the writers describe a government employee, standing under a statue of Stalin in the city's main square with a rifle slung over his civilian clothes. The man is part of a group of a dozen locals who tell the reporter they're there to defend their town. The story also describes displacement caused by bombing. The planes came in and they started to bomb. The ground was covered with dead people, and there was nowhere to go, says Goderzi Zenashvili, 48. The people that died, they died from their houses falling in on them, from the shrapnel and from concussions. So now we know! *The New York Times can do it when they want to.* They can paint a picture of war that's hard to shake: heroic, hapless young men who take up arms to defend their homelands; moms and dads and lovers worried sick. The *Times* can explain how invading armies provoke righteous resistance. But they didn't — not when it was Baghdad instead of Tbilisi, and the statue Saddam's, not Stalin's. Then, local people in resistance were called dead
Bismillah [IslamCity] The English translations of the meaning, now Google search enabled
Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu The Quran multiple-translation website IslamAwakened.com has been indexed by Google. This now makes it possible to located a given ayat even if a person only remembers a key phrase, even if only in English, and regardless of whether or not we know which translator's version we heard. Example, if we enter the following in the Google search bar: site:islamawakened.com Ask the followers of the Reminder Google returns Compared Translations of the meaning of the Quran - 21:7http://www.islamawakened.com/Quran/21/7/default.htmPickthal, And We sent not (as Our messengers) before thee other than men, whom We inspired. *Ask the followers of the Reminder* if ye know not? *...* www.islamawakened.com/Quran/21/7/default.htm - 11k - Cachedhttp://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:E9wIHnS5yJkJ:www.islamawakened.com/Quran/21/7/default.htm+site:islamawakened.com+%22Ask+the+followers+of+the+Reminder%22hl=enct=clnkcd=1gl=usclient=firefox-a- Similar pageshttp://www.google.com/search?hl=enclient=firefox-arls=org.mozilla:en-US:officialhs=WaWq=related:www.islamawakened.com/Quran/21/7/default.htm- Note thishttp://www.google.com/search?hl=enclient=firefox-arls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficialhs=luBq=site%3Aislamawakened.com+%22Ask+the+followers+of+the+Reminder%22btnG=Search# Compared Translations of the meaning of the Quran - 16:43http://www.islamawakened.com/Quran/16/43/default.htmShakir, And We did not send before you any but men to whom We sent revelation-- so *ask the followers of the Reminder* if you do not know-- *...* www.islamawakened.com/Quran/16/43/default.htm - 11k - Cachedhttp://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:hVonM3Q-6VMJ:www.islamawakened.com/Quran/16/43/default.htm+site:islamawakened.com+%22Ask+the+followers+of+the+Reminder%22hl=enct=clnkcd=2gl=usclient=firefox-a- Similar pageshttp://www.google.com/search?hl=enclient=firefox-arls=org.mozilla:en-US:officialhs=WaWq=related:www.islamawakened.com/Quran/16/43/default.htm- Note thishttp://www.google.com/search?hl=enclient=firefox-arls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficialhs=luBq=site%3Aislamawakened.com+%22Ask+the+followers+of+the+Reminder%22btnG=Search# Please pass this information along to anyone who can use it Gregory Waleed Kavalec - Perhaps the best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. -- Dean Acheson
Bismillah [IslamCity] Ramadan Donations Needed!!
Salaam all I can and do personally vouch for sister Wendy Tamer and her work for orphanages in Cairo. She is also the original founder of our UK Islam_Muslims group. Please help her cause if you are able. - Gregory Waleed Kavalec - -- Forwarded message -- From: wendyegypt [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 12:47 PM Subject:] Ramadan Donations Needed!! Hi everyone, Its that time of the year again that we start collecting money for the Ramadan food packages. The packages will distributed among the people at the beginning of ramadan inshallah, so please get your donations to us befor then. The packages will be 100Le each. Last year e had 350 bags we hope to have more this year. The bags will contain things such as; oil, rice, flour, sugar, dates , pasta, salsa etc, Please contact one of us when you would like to donate via email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wendyegypt%40yahoo.co.uk Please forward this message to all your friends and relatives, and collect any donations from them and give it to one of us. ( for any of us living abroad you can use western union) Try to contact via email if pos.
Bismillah [IslamCity] FW: A wakeup call for Muslims in America.
*Losing My Religion- a call for help * *6/19/2008 - Social Education Family - Article Ref: IC0806-3597 ** By: Dr. Jeffrey Lang IslamiCity* - * *To the Homegrown American Sisters and Brothers* At present, our community in America, whether or not we are aware of it or acknowledge it, is engulfed in a decisive conflict, and we are taking heavy losses. Mass numbers of descendents of Muslims, converts, and spiritual seekers are forsaking the American Islamic community and many of these will inevitably abandon the religion. The confrontation is of course not military but rather is occurring on the intellectual plane. On one front our religion is being both subtly and overtly demeaned by the media. On another, anti-Islam websites are assaulting the faith with mostly discarded but now resurrected antiquated orientalist criticisms. On another, an extreme, virulent and irrational interpretation of the faith has assumed, with a good deal of outside support, center stage on the world scene. On another, most mosques in this country impose in the name of Islam, traditions and beliefs of questionable necessity that obfuscate the fundamental message of God's last revelation to humanity and that are driving individuals from the faith in droves, and that serve to confirm for too many youth of Muslim parentage and American converts the overriding negative impression of Islam that society seems to hold at large. Instead of seeing a path to spiritual growth, enlightenment and fulfillment many of these disengaged Muslims start to see a stagnant, retrogressive, patriarchal remnant of a lagging culture, mired in meaningless controversies and hollow, lifeless formalism. If this is going to be countered, it will require an immense and courageous intellectual effort, and those upon whose shoulders this challenge and duty primarily rests are the second generation and converts who have held fast to their faith despite the many challenges this has presented. It is you, the activist American Muslim youth and converts, though your numbers are small, who have been placed in a pivotal role. Through your American upbringing, you have come to fully know and understand the surrounding society, and through your love and commitment to God and your religion, in a milieu that constantly tests it, you have by nature and necessity become the crucial bridge between your faith and its future in this country. You are in the best position to rationally respond to Islam's detractors and to communicate and demonstrate to your fellow countrymen and women what it really means to be a Muslim. You think their think, talk their talk, and appreciate their confusions and concerns. You are also in the best position to reassess the vast tradition that has come down to us in the name of Islam. It is precisely because you have not been reared in a traditional Muslim culture and because you have been taught since your first day in school to search, question, critique, and analyze that you are the prime candidates to endeavor to separate religion from culture, to distinguish the essential to Islam from time and place bound interpretations. It is you who are best able to understand and communicate to the disaffected Muslim youth. This is your jihad (struggle), a jihad for minds and hearts, a jihad of intellect and reason. *So I encourage you to arm yourselves, my younger brothers and sisters, with books, and pens and personal computers, and all the other instruments of learning. And arm yourselves with knowledge of your religious tradition and the works and thoughts of its great minds of the past*. But also arm yourselves with modern techniques of critical, analytical, investigative research, so that you can better study and critique past contributions in the Islamic sciences. Learn all you can in your coursework, and especially in such fields as religious studies, history, anthropology, and linguistics. Arm yourselves also, if you have the inclination and aptitude, with advanced degrees in these areas of research so critical to the project of reappraising our community's traditions. And arm yourselves with humility, because it is vital to objectivity, and with courage and perseverance, brothers and sisters, because you will be opposed from without and within the Muslim community. *And remember to always pursue the truth, for God is the Truth, and always pray for and trust in His guidance. And so arm yourselves also with steadfast devotion to your Lord, never forgetting that to Him, and Him only, you have surrendered*-not to a tradition, or a school of thought, or a local community or culture, or scholarly legacy-and that your living, striving, sacrifice and dying, all is for Allah. *The article was excerpted from Dr. Jeffrey Lang's book entitled Losing My Religion, an in depth analysis of the current acculturation of the Muslim American identity. * *Dr. Jeffrey Lang is Professor of Mathematics at The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. He is the author
Bismillah [IslamCity] US Muslim
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-613565976389288490 Forbidden Love - sounds like the title of a bad movie. It isn't - Gregory Waleed Kavalec -- We shall speak to him, of our command, easiness (Quran 18:88);
Bismillah [IslamCity] Quran thought for today
23:57 Truly they, those who dread their Lord and who are apprehensive, 23:58 and they, those who, believe in the Signs of their Lord and they, those who make not partners with their Lord, 23:60 and they, those who give what they give with their hearts quaking because they are ones who shall return to their Lord 23:61 those compete with one another in good works; they are Ones who Outstrip them. 23:62 We place not a burden on any soul, but to its capacity; --
Bismillah [IslamCity] Spending on Happiness
Can money buy you happiness? Yes—so long as you spend the money on someone else. According to new research, giving other people even as little as $5 can lead to increased well-being for the giver. That's the insight into the secret of happiness by HBS professor Michael Norton and two colleagues from the University of British Columbia, Elizabeth Dunn and Lara Aknin. Their article, Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness, appeared in the March 21, 2008 issue of Science. [...] Harvard Business School http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5944.html
Bismillah [IslamCity] obsessed ?
The West is becoming 'obsessed with Islam,' Vatican warns By Daily Mail Reporterhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=yauthornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter Last updated at 6:29 PM on 10th June 2008 The West is becoming obsessed with Islam at the expense of the other world religions, the Vatican has warned. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, said that the Church has to have regard for all religions and that the West's fascination with Islam was putting inter-faith dialogue at risk. Cardinal Tauran said the council had this week discussed new guidelines on how to achieve this. [image: Islam] The Vatican has warned that inter-faith dialogue is being put at risk because of the west's fascination with Islam Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions. Islam is one religion, he reveals on Catholic website Terrasanta.net. He added that Islam should not monopolise inter-faith dialogue and that it was just one of the world's many religions. I'm going to India next month and I want to give this message that all religions are equal. Sometimes there are priorities because of particular situations, but we mustn't get the impression there are first-class religions and second-class religions. The Cardinal also criticised countries such as Saudi Arabia for not allowing Christian worship. What is good for me is good for the other, so if it's possible for Muslims to have a mosque in the West, we should have the same in Muslim countries. This is not the case in many countries, he said. Cardinal Tauran's comments come in the lead up to an inter-faith meeting in Amman, the capital of Jordan, later this month. What was interesting about our discussions was that we did not concentrate on Islam because in a way we are being held hostage by Islam a little bit. Pope Benedict XVI has also convened a Catholic-Muslim forum for October in a bid to compensate for a controversial speech he gave two years ago when he suggested that Islam was irrational and inherently violent. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1025520/The-West-obsessed-Islam-Vatican-warns.html My take: Beney, you go convert the Hindus and such, that will at least get them moving in the right direction. Then we'll take them the rest of the way ;-) Gregory Waleed Kavalec http://IslamAwakened.com/Quran
Bismillah [IslamCity] Just For Today
-- Forwarded message -- *June 7* *Someone who believes in me* * * *Just for today, I will have faith in someone in NA who believes in me and wants to help me in my recovery.* *Basic Text, p. 96* = Not all of us arrive in NA and automatically stay clean. But if we keep coming back, we find in Narcotics Anonymous the support we need for our recovery. Staying clean is easier when we have someone who believes in us even when we don't believe in ourselves. Even the most frequent relapser in NA usually has one staunch supporter who is always there, no matter what. It is imperative that we find that one person or group of people who believes in us. When we ask them if we will ever get clean, they will always reply, Yes, you can and you will. Just keep coming back! We all need someone who believes in us, especially when we can't believe in ourselves. When we relapse, we undermine our already shattered self-confidence, sometimes so badly that we begin to feel utterly hopeless. At such times, we need the support of our loyal NA friends. They tell us that this can be our last relapse. They know from experience that if we keep coming to meetings, we will eventually get clean and stay clean. It's hard for many of us to believe in ourselves. But when someone loves us unconditionally, offering support no matter how many times we've relapsed, recovery in NA becomes a little more real for us. = *Just for today:* I will find someone who believes in me. I will believe in them.
Bismillah [IslamCity] Re: Fwd: FW: PRAYER REQUEST
Lord Please bring our troops home from the 122 degree heat in Iraq. Please consider sending their Commander in Chief someplace even hotter to even things out. Thank you! Prayer request Thanks for joining in and passing it on. 7-Day Forecast for Baghdad,Iraq Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 115ºF 89ºF 117ºF 89ºF 120ºF 90ºF 122ºF 91ºF 122ºF 92ºF 121ºF 95ºF 120ºF 95ºF Prayer request . According to the weather reports, it is our understanding that it is 122 degrees in Iraq right now -- and the low will be 111! Our troops need our prayers for strength, endurance, and safety.. If it be God's will, give these men and women the strength they need to prevail. I am not breaking this one.Let us pray. Prayer chain for our Military..please don't break it... Please send this on after a short prayer. * Prayer* * 'Lord, please hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'* Prayer Request: When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world. There is nothing attached... . Just send this to all the people in your address book. Do not let it stop with you, pleaseOf all the gifts you could give a US Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine others deployed in harm's way, Prayer is the very best one!
Bismillah [IslamCity] THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE FOLKS
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=133_1210305250p=1 You DO NOT have to be sheep!
Bismillah [IslamCity] Our pathology
salaam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDo-5-kZ-c - Gregory Waleed Kavalec - Justice, like lightning, should ever appear To some men hope, to other mean fear. -- Jefferson Pierce
Bismillah [IslamCity] Saudi woman TV anchor OWNS scholar
Salaam http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=489_1211238604 YES ! - Gregory Waleed Kavalec -
Bismillah [IslamCity] Etiquette in the Quran
Peace all I hope you don't mind my sharing this, the original is at http://www.free-minds.org/articles/quranic/etiquette.htm Islamic Etiquette By Layth (e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Besides the laws revealed by GOD that were designed to govern our lives, the Quran has also indicated a list of 'Etiquette' which we are advised to maintain in our dealings with each other on this planet. This Reading (Quran) guides to the best path, and brings good news to the believers who lead a righteous life, that they have deserved a great recompense. (17:9) The below list are not LAWS, but when GOD makes a recommendation, it is always very advisable for us to 'hear obey' in a guarantee that it will lead to happiness for all involved. *Always Respond to a 'Greeting':* When greeted with a greeting, you shall respond with a better greeting or at least an equal one. GOD reckons all things. (4:86) O ye who believe! When ye go abroad in the cause of Allah, investigate carefully, and say not to any one who offers you a salutation: Thou art not a believer!... (4:94) *Always Say 'Good' things:* Do you not see that GOD has cited the example of a good word as a good tree whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches are high in the sky. It produces its crop every season, as designed by its Lord. GOD thus cites the examples for the people, that they may take heed. (14:24-25) *Be 'Humble', and speak 'Lightly': * Walk humbly and lower your voice, the ugliest voice is the donkey's voice. (31:19) *Invite to GOD with wisdom and kindness:* Invite to the path of your Lord with wisdom and kind enlightenment, and debate with them in the best possible manner. Your Lord knows best who has strayed from His path, and He knows best who are the guided ones. (16:125) It was mercy from GOD that you became compassionate towards them. Had you been harsh and mean-hearted, they would have abandoned you. Therefore, you shall pardon them and ask forgiveness for them, and consult them. Once you make a decision, carry out your plan, and trust in GOD. GOD loves those who trust in Him. (3:159) *Be Kind to your parents:* Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship except Him, and your parents shall be honored. As long as one or both of them live, you shall never say to them, Uff (the slightest gesture of annoyance), nor shall you shout at them; you shall treat them amicably. And lower for them the wings of humility, and kindness, and say, My Lord, have mercy on them, for they have raised me from infancy. (17:23-24) *Suppress Anger Forgive People:* who (the righteous) give to charity during the good times, as well as the bad times. They are suppressors of anger, and pardoners of the people. GOD loves the charitable. (3:134) *Counter Evil with Good:* Not equal is the good response and the bad response. You shall resort to the nicest possible response. Thus, the one who used to be your enemy, may become your best friend. (41:34) They steadfastly persevere in seeking their Lord, observe the Link (Salat), spend from our provisions to them secretly and publicly, and counter evil with good. These have deserved the best abode. (13:22) *Do NOT Say 'Bad' things:* And the example of the bad word is that of a bad tree chopped at the soil level; it has no roots to keep it firm. (14:26) *Do NOT be 'Arrogant' or 'Carefree':* You shall not treat the people with arrogance, nor shall you roam the earth carefree. GOD does not like the arrogant showoffs. (31:18) *Do NOT engage in 'ignorant' talk:* The servants of the Almighty are those who tread the earth gently, and when the ignorant speak to them, they only utter peace. (25:63) *Do NOT Curse the Idolaters:* And do not curse those who call on other than GOD, lest they blaspheme and curse GOD, out of ignorance. We have adorned the works of every group in their eyes. Ultimately, they return to their Lord, then He informs them of everything they had done. (6:108) *Do NOT make fun of others, or call them names: * O you who believe, no people shall ridicule other people, for they may be better than they. Nor shall any women ridicule other women, for they may be better than they. Nor shall you mock one another, or call each other names. Evil indeed is the reversion to wickedness after attaining faith. Anyone who does not repent after this, these are the transgressors. (49:11) *Do NOT be suspicious, or spy on one another, or backbite:* O you who believe, if a wicked person brings any news to you, you shall first investigate, lest you commit injustice towards some people, out of ignorance, then become sorry and remorseful for what you have done. (49:6) O you who believe, you shall avoid any suspicion, for even a little bit of suspicion is sinful. You shall not spy on one another, nor shall you backbite one another; this is as abominable as eating the flesh of your dead brother. You certainly abhor this. You shall observe GOD. GOD is Redeemer, Most Merciful. (49:12) *Do NOT be 'Racist':* O
Bismillah [IslamCity] Excellent article from The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH Calcutta THIS ABOVE ALL Saturday , February 16 , 2008 A Messiah for our time Khushwant Singh *Prejudice is like poison. Unless purged out of one's mind in early stages, it can spread like cancer and make one incapable of differentiating between right and wrong. Of the many kinds of prejudice, the worst is to believe that one's own religion is superior to all others, which may be tolerated but never taken seriously or accepted as equally valid as one's own. The most misunderstood of the major religions today is Islam, which, after Christianity, is the second most widely practised religion in the world. It also gains more converts than any of the other religions. Prejudice against Islam was spread in Christendom from the time Muslims gained dominance in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. Christian crusaders failed in their missions to crush Islam in its homeland but continued to vilify its founder, Mohammed. The emergence of militant Islamic groups like al-Qaida and taliban gave them reasons to do so. The attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001 provided fresh ammunition to vilifiers of Islam. Since then Islamophobia has been deliberately spread throughout the non-Muslim world. The two principle contentions of the anti-Islamists are that Islam was spread by the sword and that its founder-prophet was not the paragon of virtue that Muslims make him out to be. It can be proved by historical evidence that Islam was not forced upon the people; it was readily accepted by millions because it offered them new values, principally equality of mankind and rights to women that were unheard of in those times. In countries like Indonesia and Malayasia, Islam was not forced on the population by Muslim invaders but by Muslim missionaries. Muslims are extremely sensitive to criticism of their Prophet. A popular adage in Persian is: ba khuda diwaana basho, ba Mohammed hoshiar! — say what you like about God, but beware of what you say about Mohammed. They regard him as the most perfect man who ever trod upon the earth, a successor of Adam, Moses, Noah, Abraham and Christ. He was the last of the prophets. If you honestly want to know how Muslims see him, you ought to take a good look at his life and teachings, which he claimed had been revealed to him by God. It would be as wrong to judge him by the doings of al-Qaida and taliban or by the fatwas periodically pronounced by Ayatollahs and half-baked mullahs. You do not judge Hinduism of the Vedas and Upanishads by the doings of Hindus who, in the name of Hindutva, destroy mosques, murder missionaries and nuns, vandalize libraries and works of art. You do not judge the teachings of the Sikh gurus by the utterances of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and by the murder of innocents by his hooligans. Likewise, judge Mohammed by what he taught and stood for and not by what his so-called followers do in his name. Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 AD. He lost both his parents while still a child and was brought up by his grandfather and uncle. He managed the business of a widow, whom he later married. She bore him six children. He took no other wife until she died. He was 40 years old when he started having revelations while in trance. They proclaimed Mohammed as the new messiah. Such revelation kept coming at random, sometimes dealing with problems at hand, at other times with matters spiritual. They were memorized or written down by his admirers and became the Quran, which means recitation. It should be kept in mind that Mohammed was not preaching ideas of his own but only reiterating most of what was already in the Judaic creed. Allah was the Arabic name for God before him. Similarly, Islam was 'surrender' and salman was 'peace'. Mecca was the main market city of the Bedouin tribes. They gathered at the Kaaba, the huge courtyard with the black meteorite embedded in it during two pilgrimages — the bigger Haj and the lesser Umrah. Mohammed accepted Judaic traditions regarding food which is halaal (lawful) or haraam (forbidden, such as pig meat), names of the five daily prayers and circumcision of male children. Mohammed only asserted the oneness of God that did not accept of any equal such as the stone goddesses worshiped by different tribes. Mohammed never forced people to accept his faith and indeed quoted Allah's message of freedom of faith. There must be no coercion in matters of faith — la ikra f'il deen. Further: And if God had so willed, He would have made you all one single command; but He willed otherwise in order to test you by means of what He has vouchsafed unto you. Vie, then with one another in doing good works! As might have been expected, Mohammed's mission roused fierce hostility. Many attempts were made to assassinate him but he had miraculously escaped. Ultimately, in 622 AD he was advised to flee from Mecca to Medina. This is know as the Hijra (emigration) and recognized as
Bismillah [IslamCity] America was conned - who will pay?
America was conned - who will pay? The South Sea Bubble ended in riots as trust was lost. Wall Street also duped the public http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/17/economics.useconomy About this article Close This article appeared in the Guardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianon Monday March 17 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/mar/17 on p30 of the Financialhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/mar/17/mainsection/financial3section. It was last updated at 00:05 on March 17 2008. Bear Stearns marks the moment when the global financial crisis went critical. Up until last Friday, it had been possible - just about - to believe that the worst was over and that things were about to get better. That pretence was stripped away when JP Morgan, at the behest of the Federal Reserve, stepped in when the hedge funds pulled the plug on the fifth-biggest US investment bank. It is now clear that no end is in sight to the turmoil, and the reason for that is that the Fed and the US treasury are no closer to solving the underlying problem than they were eight months ago. The crisis will only end when house prices stop falling and banks stop racking up huge losses on their loans. Doing that, however, will require the US government to intervene directly in the real estate market to end the wave of foreclosures. Ideologically, it is ill-equipped to take that step and, as a result, property prices will fall and the financial meltdown will go on and on. Ultimately, though, action will be taken because there will be political pressure for it. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising that there is not already rioting in the streets, given the gigantic fraud perpetrated by the financial elite at the expense of ordinary Americans. The US has just had its weakest period of expansion since the 1950s. Consumption growth has been poor. Investment growth has been modest. Exports have been sluggish. But if you are at the top of the tree, the years since the last recession in 2001 has been a veritable golden age. Salaries for executives have rocketed and profits have soared, because the productivity gains from a growing economy have been disproportionately skewed towards capital. *Patriotic * For ordinary Americans, though, it has been a different story. Real wages have been growing slowly; at just 1.6% a year on average over the latest upswing, well down on the experience of earlier decades. Business, of course, needs consumers to carry on spending in order to make money, so a way had to be found to persuade households to do their patriotic duty. The method chosen was simple. Whip up a colossal housing bubble, convince consumers that it makes sense to borrow money against the rising value of their homes to supplement their meagre real wage growth and watch the profits roll in. As they did - for a while. Now it's payback time and the mood could get very ugly. Americans, to put it bluntly, have been conned. They have been duped by a bunch of serpent-tongued hucksters who packed up the wagon and made it across the county line before a lynch mob could be formed. The debate now is not about whether the US is in recession but how deep and long that recession will be. Super-bears have started to say that this is perhaps The Big One, by which they mean the onset of a new Great Depression. The need to rescue Bear Stearns has done little to still those voices. As the economics team at HSBC recently pointed out, there has been a catastrophic breakdown of trust, and when that has happened in the past - the US in the 1930s, Japan in the 1990s - chucking extra money at the banks in the hope that they will start lending again proves ineffective. It's not hard to see why trust has become such a rare commodity: Wall Street at the height of the securitisation mania had, in effect, become London at the time of the South Sea Bubble crisis in 1720. Vast quantities of funny paper were changing hands even though those involved in the deals had no idea of their true worth. Nor did they care. Inevitably, now the bubble has burst and the huge Ponzi securitisation scam has been exposed, there has been a reaction. The securitisation market is dead, there is less money sloshing round the system, banks are hoarding their cash. Having allowed the housing boom to rage out of control for too long and then delaying cuts in interest rates until the housing market was gripped by recessionary forces, the Fed is now trying to make up for lost time with a burst of hyperactivity. It will cut interest rates on Wednesday and keep cutting them: financial markets expect the Fed funds rate to be 1% by the summer, and they are probably right. In most downturns, easier monetary policy does the trick. Lower interest rates make it cheaper to borrow and also change the trade-off between saving and spending. This may not be the usual sort of downturn, however, with consumers going through a period of debt revulsion after the excesses of recent
Bismillah [IslamCity] America keeps bombing, so our currency does too!
Dollars tough to sell on streets of Amsterdam Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:51pm EDT AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands. Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here, said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office. That's because the smaller currency exchanges -- despite buy/sell spreads that make it easier for them to make money by exchanging small amounts of currency -- don't want to be caught holding dollars that could be worth less by the time they can sell them. The dollar hovered near record lows on Monday, with one euro worth around $1.58 versus $1.47 a month ago. (Reporting by Svebor Kranjc, writing by Reed Stevenson) -- -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing. -- Mark Twain
Bismillah [IslamCity] Fascinating...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/education/21muslim.html?_r=1themc=thoref=slogin [image: The New York Times] http://www.nytimes.com/ [image: Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By]http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=gotopage=www.nytimes.com/printer-friendlypos=Position1sn2=336c557e/4f3dd5d2sn1=e6ef51d3/829d30eccamp=foxsearch2008_emailtools_810898d-nyt5ad=JUNO_88x31_STATIC-1.gifgoto=http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/ -- February 21, 2008 For Muslim Students, a Debate on Inclusion By NEIL MacFARQUHAR SAN JOSE — Amir Mertaban vividly recalls sitting at his university's recruitment table for the Muslim Students Association a few years ago when an attractive undergraduate flounced up in a decidedly un-Islamic miniskirt, saying Salamu aleykum, or Peace be upon you, a standard Arabic greeting, and asked to sign up. Mr. Mertaban also recalls that his fellow recruiter surveyed the young woman with disdain, arguing later that she should not be admitted because her skirt clearly signaled that she would corrupt the Islamic values of the other members. I knew that brother, I knew him very well; he used to smoke weed on a regular basis, said Mr. Mertaban, now 25, who was president of the Muslim student group at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, from 2003 to 2005. Pointing out the hypocrisy, Mr. Mertaban won the argument that the group could no longer reject potential members based on rigid standards of Islamic practice. The intense debate over whether organizations for Muslim students should be inclusive or strict is playing out on college campuses across the United States, where there are now more than 200 Muslim Students Association chapters. Gender issues, specifically the extent to which men and women should mingle, are the most fraught topic as Muslim students wrestle with the yawning gap between American college traditions and those of Islam. There is this constant tension between becoming a mainstream student organization versus appealing to students who have a more conservative or stricter interpretation of Islam, said Hadia Mubarak, the first woman to serve as president of the national association, from 2004 to 2005. Each chapter enjoys relative autonomy in setting its rules. Broadly, those at private colleges tend to be more liberal because they draw from a more geographically dispersed population, and the smaller numbers prompt Muslim students to play down their differences. Chapters at state colleges, on the other hand, often pull from the community, attracting students from conservative families who do not want their children too far afield. At Yalehttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/y/yale_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org, for example, Sunnis and Shiites mix easily and male and female students shocked parents in the audience by kissing during the annual awards ceremony. Contrast that with the University of California, Irvine, which has the reputation for being the most conservative chapter in the country, its president saying that to an outsider its ranks of bearded young men and veiled women might come across as way Muslim or even extremist. But arguments erupt virtually everywhere. At the University of California, Davis, last year, in their effort to make the Muslim association more cool, board members organized a large alcohol-free barbecue. Men and women ate separately, but mingled in a mock jail for a charity drive. The next day the chapter president, Khalida Fazel, said she fielded complaints that unmarried men and women were physically bumping into one other. Ms. Fazel now calls the event a mistake. At George Washington Universityhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/george_washington_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org, a dodge ball game pitting men against women after Friday prayers drew such protests from Muslim alumni and a few members that the board felt compelled to seek a religious ruling stating that Islamic traditions accept such an event. Members acknowledge that the tone of the Muslim associations often drives away students. Several presidents said that if they thought members were being too lax, guest imams would deliver prayer sermons about the evils of alcohol or premarital sex. Judgment can also come swiftly. Ghayth Adhami, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, recalled how a young student who showed up at a university recruitment meeting in a Budweiser T-shirt faced a few comments about un-Islamic dress. The student never came back. Some members push against the rigidity. Fatima Hassan, 22, a senior at the Davis campus, organized a coed road trip to Reno, Nev., two hours away, to play the slot machines last Halloween. In Islam, Ms. Hassan concedes, gambling is really bad, but it was men and women sharing the same car that shocked some fellow association members. We didn't do anything wrong, Ms. Hassan said. I am chill
Bismillah [IslamCity] Pilot wrongfully accused of 9/11 ties can seek damages from Britain
Pilot wrongfully accused of 9/11 ties can seek damages from Britain A British court ruled that the government destroyed Lotfi Raissi's career by imprisoning him for months on terror charges. *By Arthur Brighthttp://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=B2B0B0B5B0B3B2B2B1B7B2B1B2B2url=/2008/0215/p99s01-duts.html * posted February 15, 2008 at 10:10 am EST http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0215/p99s01-duts.html A British man wrongly charged with training the pilots in the Sept. 11 attacks and imprisoned for six months can claim damages from the British government, a British court ruled Thursday. The decision has prompted criticism of Britain's terrorist extradition policies with the United States. Britain's Court of Appeal ruled, writes the *Scotsman*, that the government should reexamine its decision to deny compensation to Lotfi Raissi, in light of the damage it did to Mr. Raissi's career and reputation by arresting him and publicly accusing him of aiding the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Raissi, who attended a flight school in Arizona at the same time as men involved in the attacks, was imprisoned by the British government for four-and-a-half months on terrorism-related charges. The government released him when it could find no evidencehttp://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/39My-life-has-been-destroyed39.3779665.jpto support its accusations. Lord Justice Hooper, giving judgment today, said: The public labelling of the appellant as a terrorist by the authorities in this country, and particularly by the [Crown Prosecution Service, the government's criminal prosecutors in England and Wales], over a period of many months has had and continues to have, so it is said, a devastating effect on his life and on his health. He considers that, unless he receives a public acknowledgement that he is not a terrorist, he will be unable to get his life back together again. The judge said the appeal court, which also included the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke and Lady Justice Smith, considered that there was a considerable body of evidence to suggest that the police and the CPS were responsible for what the scheme describes as serious defaults. *The New York Times* writes that while the court reserved most of its criticism for British prosecutors, it also condemned the United States for its role in Raissi's arrest. US authorities believed that Raissi was a terrorist and requested he be arrestedhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/europe/15britain.html?ref=europeby British law enforcement. Mr. Raissi was picked up by the police at his home near Heathrow Airport 10 days after the [September 11] attacks at the request of the United States, the court noted. During the seven days he was questioned by the British police, an F.B.I. agent observed from a remote location via a television link, the court said. When the seven-day holding period was up, the United States sought to extradite Mr. Raissi after hastily filing what the court called trivial charges: failure to note on his pilot's license application that he had had knee surgery, and that, at the age of 19, he had been arrested for stealing a briefcase at Heathrow and given a false name at the time. The British court said the United States had abused the extradition process, using it as a device to secure Mr. Raissi's presence in the U.S. for the purpose of investigating 9/11 rather than for the purpose of putting him on trial for nondisclosure offenses. *The Times* of London writes that, nonetheless, the court found that primary responsibility for Raissi's treatment lay with Britain, particularly in the case presented by British prosecutorshttp://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article3368163.ece?token=nulloffset=12at the behest of the United States. Mr Raissi, they said, was the lead instructor for the hijackers. The courts were told there was evidence that he falsified flight logs to hide the fact he trained Hanjour. Videotape had been found of Hanjour and Mr Raissi together. A notebook said to belong to Abu Doha, a major terrorist suspect, that had been found in London contained Mr Raissi's phone number. One by one, over the course of ten court hearings, Mr Raissi's solicitor proved that the allegations and the evidence to support them were false, if not fabricated. ... In February 2002, Mr Raissi was released from Belmarsh jail. But neither the British nor the American authorities were prepared to say they had been mistaken. He remained a suspected terrorist, unable to travel outside Britain except to Algeria. The court added that it considered the way in which extradition proceedings were conducted in this country, with opposition to bail based on allegations which appear unfounded in evidence, amounted to an abuse of process. The *BBC* reports that Raissi was elated after the court's ruling, which declared that he should be completely exoneratedhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7244418.stm. I am very
Bismillah [IslamCity] lessons from the Quran
Salaam alaikum Some of the lessons from the Quran that apply to our day to day lives: 1. Respect and honor all human beings irrespective of their religion, color, race, sex, language, status, property, birth, profession/job and so on -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/17/70 2. Talk straight, to the point, without any ambiguity or deception -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/33/70 3. Choose best words to speak and say them in the best possible way -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/17/53 , -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/2/83 4. Do not shout. Speak politely keeping your voice low. -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/31/19 5. Always speak the truth. Shun words that are deceitful and ostentatious -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/22/30 6. Do not confound truth with falsehood -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/2/42 7. Say with your mouth what is in your heart -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/3/167 8. Speak in a civilised manner in a language that is recognized by the society and is commonly used -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/4/5 9. When you voice an opinion, be just, even if it is against a relative -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/6/152 10. Do not be a bragging boaster -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/31/18 11. Do not talk, listen or do anything vain -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/23/3 -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/28/55 12. Do not participate in any paltry. If you pass near a futile play, then pass by with dignity -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/25/72 13. Do not verge upon any immodesty or lewdness whether surreptitious or overt -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/6/151. 14. If, unintentionally, any misconduct occurs by you, then correct yourself expeditiously -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/3/134 . 15. Do not be contemptuous or arrogant with people -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/31/18 16. Do not walk haughtily or with conceit -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/17/37 -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/31/18 17. Be moderate in thy pace -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/31/19 18. Walk with humility and sedateness -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/25/63 19. Keep your gazes lowered devoid of any lecherous leers and salacious stares -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/24/default.htm#024_030 -31 -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/40/19 20. If you do not have complete knowledge about anything, better keep your mouth shut. You might think that speaking about something without full knowledge is a trivial matter. But it might have grave consequences -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/24/15 -16 21. When you hear something malicious about someone, keep a favorable view about him/her until you attain full knowledge about the matter. Consider others innocent until they are proven guilty with solid and truthful evidence -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/24/12 -13 22. Ascertain the truth of any news, lest you smite someone in ignorance and afterwards repent of what you did -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/6 23. Do not follow blindly any information of which you have no direct knowledge. (Using your faculties of perception and conception) you must verify it for yourself. In the Court of your Lord, you will be held accountable for your hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/17/36 24. Never think that you have reached the final stage of knowledge and nobody knows more than yourself. Remember! Above everyone endowed with knowledge is another endowed with more knowledge -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/12/76. Even the Prophet [sallallahu alaihi wa salaam] was asked to keep praying, O My sustainer! Advance me in knowledge. -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/20/114 25. The believers are but a single Brotherhood. Live like members of one family, brothers and sisters unto one another -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/10. 26. Do not make mockery of others or ridicule others -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/11 27. Do not defame others -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/11 28. Do not insult others by nicknames -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/11 29. Avoid suspicion and guesswork. Suspicion and guesswork might deplete your communal energy -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/12 30. Spy not upon one another -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/12 31. Do not backbite one another -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/49/12 32. When you meet each other, offer good wishes and blessings for safety. One who conveys to you a message of safety and security and also when a courteous greeting is offered to you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous or (at least) of equal courtesy -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/4/86 33. When you enter your own home or the home of somebody else, compliment the residents -- http://islamawakened.com/Quran/24/61 34. Do not enter houses other than your own until you have sought permission; and then greet the inmates and wish them a life of blessing, purity and pleasure --
Bismillah [IslamCity] Challenge Respone - The case of anti-Islam movie
Salaam all This article is is too excellent. Highlights mine. -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - -- Forwarded message -- *Challenge and Response: The Case of Islamophobic Wilding * Posted Jan 24, 2008 -- by *Dr. Robert D. Crane** The Center for Understanding Islam The challenge posed by Geert Wilders' ten-minute film attacking the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa salam, is political. He is a member of the Dutch parliament and a leader of a far right party that is trying to gain votes by exploiting the growing alienation and hostility between the minority of Muslims in Europe and the majority population. He hopes to provoke radical responses by Muslims in order to support his party's message that Islam must be purged from Europe and the Qur'an must be banned in public and criminalized even for private reading at home. He knows that some governments and other special interests in the Muslim world will oblige him by using his challenge to the Prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam in order to consolidate their own power by stealing the thunder from their radical opponents. He has learned from the Danish Cartoons affair how tempting it is for unpopular Muslim governments to prove their legitimacy by facilitating and even provoking well-orchestrated and well-controlled violence against the enemy. Some Westerners, of course, have been known to do the same, and Geerts is one of them. The first response that would be natural among Muslims is to fall into Geerts' trap and resort to violent protests. Heavy-handed measures against such protests could merely provoke greater violence. The second response is to do nothing. Many Muslim leaders are trying to avoid violence simply by urging all Muslims to avoid the trap. Perhaps the leading advocate of the do nothing school of thought is Tariq Ramadhan, who knows the situation in Holland and the background of this crisis. In a position paper first published in The Dutch government needs to preempt a vicious circle of radical response by making it clear that the government does not support and even condemns the film but that it is not banning it because this would violate freedom of expression. Wilders should not be prevented from speaking or even jailed, as some have suggested. One responds to him only when there is a legitimate basis for argument, but should simply ignore him when he is mounting an orchestrated provocation. The third response, similar to the second one, is for Muslims around the world to leave the response to the Dutch. Right now, the Dutch seem to be doing a pretty good job without our help in getting popular support for restricting the access of Geert Wilders' film within the Dutch media. The Dutch, however, would no doubt never ban it altogether, simply because the Dutch for decades, if not centuries, have had a reputation of liberality. The Dutch became famous for boldly supporting liberal thought when Cardinal Suenens almost forty years ago led the aggiornimento that led to the Second Vatican Council. In 1972, he became the global Catholic leader of the charismatic movement, otherwise known as Catholic Pentacostalism, which was a somewhat heterodox but much needed reintroduction of spiritual awareness, somewhat resembling the Sufi revival, both orthodox and heterodox, in modern day Islam. The fourth response would be actually to hope that the Wilders film will gain maximum coverage so that it will backfire from its own extremism. In this way, the phenomenon of Islamophobic Wilding might end up with positive results, providing that Muslims do not fall into its trap. I use the phrase wilding as a takeoff on the phrase invented to describe the gang that almost fatally beat the woman jogger in Central Park a few years ago, because this is what Geert Wilders is trying to do to the the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu 'alayhi wa salam, and to the Qur'an. There is a famous precedent for this fourth response in what might be called the boomerang strategy to hang a criminal by his own petard, that is, to exploit his mistakes in order to hang him. This precedent occurred in 1993, when I was contacted as head of the Legal Department of the American Muslim Council. A man from Detroit called me in the middle of the night to say that he would give us any amount of money immediately if we would shut down a radio station in Florida. He happened to listen to it apparently in a hotel room and was beside himself with rage. This station regularly aired the most demonic attacks on Islam and Muslims, which was a trend just then beginning as a professional discipline in a few Evangelical seminaries. My initial advice was to ignore this radio station, but the caller insisted that he would not go to asleep until I had agreed to shut it down. I told him that the American constitution guarantees freedom of speech, limited only by threat to human life or malicious defamation. I
Bismillah [IslamCity] Forgotten champion of Islam: One man and his mosque
*Editor's Choice* *Forgotten champion of Islam: One man and his mosque* *A crumbling house in Liverpool conceals a curious secret: the vandalised remains of Britain's first mosque. Now, finally, the city is set to restore it - and to honour the eccentric lawyer who created it. Michael Savage discovers his remarkable story * ** *Published: 02 August 2007 * *The Independent* Number 8 Brougham Terrace in Liverpool is a derelict semi-detached house. Its whitewashed facade is filthy, its front door scratched and swollen and its rear gates are covered in graffiti. Pigeons have made the roof their home. The condition of the interior is even worse. Large, orange rings of dry-rot fungus cling to the walls. Pieces of the roof are scattered across the floor. There is little to suggest that No 8 Brougham Terrace is anything special. But underneath the dust and the mould is a building of extraordinary historical and social significance. This was Britain's first true mosque. And following years of neglect, it could finally be about to receive the restoration treatment that, given its place in the nation's history, it surely deserves. The Bishop of Liverpool has called for action. The Saudi and Kuwait governments are interested in helping to fund a project that would cost £2.4m. With Liverpool gearing up to be European Capital of Culture next year, the plight of the forgotten mosque is attracting attention again. That, in turn, has shed light on the astonishing character who founded it on Christmas Day 1889. William Quilliam was a solicitor. But in late 19th century Britain there was no other solicitor quite like him. He is said to have appeared in court wearing Turkish ceremonial dress. Others claim he travelled through Liverpool on a white Arab horse, or that he was descended from a first lieutenant who fought with Nelson at Trafalgar. Such stories may well be apocryphal, yet Quilliam was a man whose life needs no embellishing. Few religious figures have championed their faith the way the man who became Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam did. He did so despite often facing hostility from his own countrymen. He was made the Sheikh of Britain by the last Ottoman emperor, converted hundreds to his religion, and was honoured by the Sultan of Morocco, the Shah of Persia and the Sultan of Afghanistan. The mosque at 8 Brougham Terrace was his crowning achievement. Born in 1856, Quilliam was the son of a wealthy watchmaker, and became a solicitor after training at the Liverpool Institute. But life as a lawyer took its toll on Quilliam and in 1882 he travelled to the south of France to recover from stress. While he was recuperating, he decided to cross the Mediterranean to Morocco and Algeria and it was there that his fascination with Islam began. At the age of 31 he converted to the religion, changed his name to Abdullah and bought a marmoset as a pet. He never went anywhere without that monkey, said Quilliam's granddaughter, Patricia Gordon. It used to sit on his shoulder. He had a little fez made for it and would even take it to the British Museum when he was studying there. He was an old Victorian eccentric. He was his own man and he did what he wanted to do all his life. When he walked into a room, everyone would go quiet. He was a very colourful character. His love of exotic animals turned his home into a zoo - he reportedly kept a jackal, a wolf, a fox and even a crocodile. For Quilliam, his own conversion was just the start of his loud and proud association with Islam. He soon found he had the knack of convincing others of its merits. He first began holding lectures on his new religion and then founded the Liverpool Mosque and Institute in the small semi on Brougham Terrace, West Derby Street, in 1889. Within 10 years of his return to the city, he assembled a following of about 150 Muslims, almost entirely made up of British converts. Scientists and professionals were among Quilliam's group, along with his sons and his mother, who had spent most of her life as a Christian activist. He also produced two journals, The Crescent and The Islamic Review, on a printing press in the mosque's cellar. Both were circulated internationally. But Quilliam's misssion did not stop at publishing. He set out to help ease Liverpool's social ills, founding the Medina Home, which cared for illegitimate children and found them foster parents. He set up the Muslim College, a weekly debating society and also wrote a book of Muslim hymns in English. He still found time to write a book. The Faith of Islam was published in 1899 by a small local printer and was translated into 13 languages, with three editions published. Quilliam proudly said that it had been read by Queen Victoria and the ruler of Egypt. But not everyone appreciated Quilliam's vigour. Soon after he converted to Islam, he was evicted from his house by his landlord, who took exception to his rejection of Christianity. The timing of his book on Islam compounded the vitriolic hatred that
Bismillah [IslamCity] Islamic Jesus
The passion for Christ: 'Islamic Jesus' hits Iranian theatres 15 Jan 2008, hrs IST,AFP TEHRAN: A director who shares the ideas of Iran's hardline president has produced what he says is the first film giving an Islamic view of Jesus Christ, in a bid to show the common ground between Muslims and Christians. Nader Talebzadeh sees his movie, Jesus, the Spirit of God , as an Islamic answer to Western productions like Mel Gibson's 2004 blockbuster The Passion of the Christ , which he praised as admirable but quite simply wrong. Gibson's film is a very good film. I mean that it is a well-crafted movie but the story is wrong - it was not like that, he said, referring to two key differences: Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God, and does not believe he was crucified. Talebzadeh said he even went to Gibson's mansion in Malibu, California, to show him his film. But, it was Sunday and the security at the gate received the film and the brochure and promised to deliver it, though the Iranian never heard back. Even in Iran, Jesus, The Spirit of God had a low-key reception, playing to moderate audiences in five Tehran cinemas during the holy month of Ramadan, in October. The film, funded by state broadcasting, faded off the billboards but is far from dead, about to be recycled in a major 20 episode spin-off to be broadcast over state-run national television this year. Talebzadeh insists it aims to bridge differences between Christianity and Islam, despite the stark divergence from Christian doctrine about Christ's final hours on earth. It is fascinating for Christians to know that Islam gives such devotion to and has so much knowledge about Jesus, Talebzadeh said. By making this film I wanted to make a bridge between Christianity and Islam, to open the door for dialogue since there is much common ground between Islam and Christianity, he said. -- -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. -- Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 68
Bismillah [IslamCity] Emergency Alert: Senate Set to Cave on FISA
*The Senate is set to: * * *1. Disavow the will of the people. 2. Ignore the Constitution. 3. Promote fear over common sense. 4. Put its own political gain over our rights and liberties. The Senate is set to do all this starting tomorrow, unless we stop this ill-advised plan today. Call your senators now.http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=iCTmgS1uEmwYrKVsdORVCw.. As soon as tomorrow, the Senate will begin to debate legislation that would give the president greatly expanded powers to spy on Americans. There isn't a moment to lose. Call now.http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=LEOsd6OK4RAHxMh6QjfXjg.. Even though the Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation that provides greater protections for privacy and doesn't give amnesty to telecommunications companies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided to move the bad Senate Intelligence Committee bill. This is not good news for those of us who respect freedom, the rule of law and the Constitution. Tell your senators and Senator Reid to vote against this awful legislation.http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=gwkDaSnRBUceqiol9Tz7mQ.. This Intelligence Committee bill, negotiated closely between the Bush administration and Senator Rockefeller, contains retroactive immunity for the phone companies that illegally turned over private phone and email records to the government and completely eliminates warrants and court review of government spying. Instead of capitulating to the White House, senators should be listening to you. Recent polls show that 61% of American voters believe the government should have to get a warrant from a court before wiretapping the overseas conversations of U.S. citizens. And 59% of American voters reject amnesty for phone companies that may have violated the law. Sadly, Senator Reid is asking senators to decide where they stand on spying after a *secret* meeting taking place today with Attorney General Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, *a day before voting is scheduled to take place*. Director McConnell played a central role in negotiations around the Protect America Act and, acting on behalf of the White House, used questionable tactics and misinformation to convince members to eviscerate the Fourth Amendment. Because this meeting is secret, we obviously don't know what's going on behind closed doors. But if history is any guide, this meeting could be used to provide misleading information about the current threats facing America to scare your senators into continuing the Bush Administration's secret spying free-for-all. There isn't a moment to lose. Call now.http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=sI2Dt34Iy8FfgWaiX99uGA.. We each need to do our part. Senator Reid needs to lead. All of our senators need to vote against the Intelligence Committee bill, anything resembling the Protect America Act or any bill that grants immunity to telecommunications companies that have broken the law over the past six years. We are also asking senators to join the filibuster of any bill with telecom immunity. Your call today could mean the difference between our continued freedom as Americans and a secret government operation with no accountability. Please join us now in fighting this bad bill, which goes against our democratic values. http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=4AftyxSj3b9gONQ5A911LQ.. Your continued actions and support have carried us this far; we cannot give up now. Don't let history repeat itself. Make the callshttp://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=ZCYlvmyoxzhS5fwD6s-Vcw.., tell your friends and family and continue to carry the torch of liberty. Our country is counting on you. Sincerely, [image: Caroline Fredrickson, ACLU] Caroline Fredrickson, Director ACLU Washington Legislative Office --
Bismillah [IslamCity] O Little Town of Bethlehem!
O Little Town of Bethlehem Israel, Palestine and American Christian Hypocrites It was December of 1991 and I was serving as Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations in Washington DC. The Israelis were stalling,not even negotiating in bad faith, and the Americans under Baker and Ross were doing nothing to get the negotiations started. This had been going on for 3 weeks and Christmas was fast approaching. Those of us on the Palestinian Team who were Christian were wondering if we were going to be able to get home for Christmas--many Palestinians are Christian, the original Christians, going back to Jesus Christ and the Apostles themselves. I would periodically check in with my wife and 2 sons at the time--little boys. My poor, sweet wife had to do all the Christmas preparations by herself without me. So the weekend before Christmas I called her up to say I still did not know if or when I would be coming home. My oldest son who had just turned 5 talked to me on the phone: Daddy why aren't you home for Christmas? Well son, I'm trying to help the Palestinians. Daddy, why are you doing that? Hard to explain the entire Middle East conflict to a 5 year old, so I put it into terms he could understand: Son, you know that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem don't you? Yes Daddy. Well I am here with the Mayor of Bethlehem and some other Palestinian leaders. They are my friends and I am their lawyer. I am working with the Mayor of Bethlehem to help all the Palestinian Children have a merry Christmas. Ok Daddy. We got the word we could go home for Christmas on December 23 and I got on the first flight out of DC. getting home just on time for Christmas Eve with my family. Periodically I had attended UCC Christmas Season Church Services in town with my family. When it came time for prayers from the congregation, I always got up and asked everyone to help the Palestinians along the following lines: ...Bethlehem is cut-off and surrounded by the Israeli army--the Church of the Nativity too. The Israelis are inflicting ethnic cleansing upon all the Palestinian, both Muslims and Christians. They are also pursuing a policy of deliberately forcing Palestinian Christians out of Palestine as part of a perverse strategy to turn a war of national liberation into a religious crusade, figuring it would play better in the United States. And these are the original Christians, going back to Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Meanwhile, the United States government is financing it all to the tune of $5 billion per year. Everyone in this Congregation has gifts given to them by God. So go out and do something to help the Palestinians! Despite my best efforts over several years, that UCC Congregation refused to lift one finger to help the Palestinians. So about 18 months ago, I quit their Congregation and severed all ties with them. They are just a gang of moral cowards and hypocrites. They have nothing to teach me or anyone else about Christianity, let alone about peace, justice and human rights. Francis A. Boyle, Champlaign, IL. Professor of International Law Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations (1991-93) . --
Bismillah [IslamCity] Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells it !
Tutu says U.S. and UK policies like apartheid-era government Mon 10 Dec 2007, 14:40 GMT [- javascript:sizeDown();] Text javascript:resetCurrentsize(); [+javascript:sizeUp();] By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu accused the United States and Britain on Monday of pursuing policies like those of South Africa's apartheid-era government by detaining terrorism suspects without trial. At an event to commemorate the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDR), the Nobel laureate said the detention of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a huge blot on a democracy. Whoever imagined that you would hear from the United States and from Britain the same arguments for detention without trial that were used by the apartheid government, Tutu told a news conference in Cape Town. Tutu is chairman of the Elders, a group of prominent international statesmen that includes former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela and his Mozambican-born wife Graca Machel. The group is spearheading a campaign to get one billion people to sign a pledge reaffirming the principles of the UNDR, passed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Tutu, who helped lead the struggle to overthrow white minority rule in South Africa, said he was surprised so many Americans had accepted the argument that the Guantanamo detentions were necessary because of national security. It is exactly what the apartheid government used to say here, the Anglican cleric said. His remarks come amid a growing outcry over alleged abuses at Guantanamo, which in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States was used as a mass detention centre for suspected violent Islamic radicals. Critics have said that the United States has circumvented international law by holding detainees without charge, often for years, and violated their human rights with forced confessions and torture tactics. President George W. Bush says the detentions are lawful, humane and necessary as part of its fight against extremists in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a legal challenge by Guantanamo inmates who are contesting their detention. (Editing by Paul Simao and Elizabeth Piper) (c) Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. -- http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL1097700.html -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. -- Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 68
Bismillah [IslamCity] Please enjoy...
This Iowa student of Arabic became a Muslim in her heart when she started reading the Quran in order do to her university homework and couldn't put it down. I sat in the Alhambra Mosque in Granada, Spain staring at the script that bordered the walls. It was the most beautiful language I had ever seen. What language is that? I said a Spanish tourist. Arabic, they answered. The next day, when the tour attendant asked which language I wanted my tour book in, I answered, Arabic. Arabic? she said, surprised. Do you speak Arabic? No, I replied. Can you give me one in English too? By the end of my trip I had a bag full of Arabic tour guides to all the sites I had visited in Spain. In fact, my bag was so full that at one point I had to give away some of my clothes so I could make everything fit. But, I hung on to my Arabic tour books as if they were made of gold. I would open them every night and look at the letters of the language as they flowed across the page. I imagined being able to write such beautiful script and I thought to myself that there must be something worth knowing about a culture that had such an artistic language. I vowed that I would study this language when I started college in the fall. Only two months before, I had left my family in Iowa to take a trip through Europe, alone. I was only 16 years old and due to enter Northwestern University in the fall and I had wanted to see the world first. At least, that is what I told my friends and family. In reality I was searching for answers. I had left the church only a few months before and did not know where to turn. I knew that I was not comfortable with what I was being taught, but I did not know of any alternatives. Where I grew up, in the Midwest, there was no room for confusion - you were either part of the church or you were not. So, I had no idea there was something else. When I set off for Europe I hoped that there was. In my church we were not allowed to pray to God, we could only pray to Jesus and hope that he would relay the message to God. I had intuitively felt that there was something wrong with that and so, without telling anyone, I secretly prayed to God. I sincerely believed that there was only one entity to pray to. But, I felt guilty because this was not what I had been taught. Then, there was the confusing matter of what to do during one's daily life. I dutifully went to church every Sunday and was very serious about what I learned regarding honesty, kindness and compassion. So, it confused me when I saw people from church acting so differently during the week. Were there no rules during the week? Did they only apply on Sundays? I looked for some guidance...but found none. There were the Ten Commandments that covered the obvious things like killing, stealing and lying, but other than that, I had no guidelines for how to act when I wasn't in church. All I knew was: perhaps there was something wrong with wearing mini-skirts to church and only going to Sunday School because of cute guys that attended. One day, I went to a teacher's house and saw a shelf lined with Bibles. I asked what they were. Different versions of the Bible, my teacher replied. It did not seem to bother him at all that there were so many different versions. But, it bothered me. Some of them were really different and some chapters were even missing from the version I had. I was very confused. I returned to college that fall disappointed that I had not found the answers I was hoping for in Europe, but with a passion for a language I had only just learned about - Arabic. Ironically, I had stared right at the answers I was searching for, on the walls of the Alhambra. But, it took me two more years to realize that. The first thing I did when I reached the campus was...enroll in Arabic classes. I was one of only three people in the highly unpopular class. I immersed myself in my Arabic studies with such a passion that my teacher was confused. I did my homework with a calligraphy pen and I went into the Arab areas of Chicago just to track down a Coca Cola bottle written in the language. I begged him to lend me books in Arabic just so I could look at the script. By the time my second year of college came around, I decided I should consider a major in Middle Eastern Studies. So, I enrolled in some classes focusing on the region. In one class we studied the Qur'an. I opened the Qur'an one night to do my homework and could not stop reading it. It was like I had picked up a good novel. I thought to myself, Wow. This is great. This is what I have always believed. This answers all my questions about how to act during the week and it even states very clearly that there is only one God. It just all made so much sense. I was amazed that there was this book written about everything I believed in and had been searching for. I went to class the next day to ask about the author of the book so I could read more books by them. In the copy I had been given, there was
Bismillah [IslamCity] ACTION ALERT: Keep Stoping Savage Hate
Monday Nov. 19th, 2007 9 Dhu'l-Qa'dah, 1428 * * *Ask ATT to pull advertising from the Savage Nation: * * * The Houston office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) calls on radio listeners of all faiths to contact companies that advertise on Savage's program to express their concerns about the host's anti-Muslim bigotry. CAIR recently reported that Michael Savage on his radio program The Savage Nation screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam, and the Quran, Islam's revealed text, during his October 29, 2007, program. SEE: National Radio Host Goes on Anti-Muslim Tiradehttp://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=2540670msgid=71662act=MRH4c=115994admin=0destination=http%3A%2F%2Fcrm.cair.com%2Fsite%2FR%3Fi%3DKL8ceDL1uecwvHRBVw_CCQ.. *JCPenny* recently responded to request to pull advertising from the Savage Nation radio show. In the response an official stated that the placement of JCPenny ads during the show was unacceptable. Other companies that have responded to requests to drop ads from Savage's program include *Citrix Systems Inc.*, a global leader in application delivery infrastructure and *OfficeMax *, a leading office products retailer. It is encouraging that companies nationwide are choosing not to associate with Mr. Savage's hatred and bigotry, said CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin. CAIR is continuing to ask other Savage Nation advertisers to follow the example set by other companies. ATT is now being asked to discontinue their advertising on the Savage Nation program. *IMMEDIATE ACTIONS REQUESTED: * *1. CONTACT ATT.* Politely request they stop buying air time on the radio program Savage Nation. Please contact company officials to express your concerns about their support of such a hate-filled program. CONTACT: Randall L. Stephenson Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer, ATT 175 E. Houston San Antonio, TX 78205 Tel: (210) 821-4105 Fax: (210) 351-2071 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] COPY TO (Cc): [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * For more information, please contact: Council on American-Islamic Relations Houston Chapter 5821 South West Freeway Suite 304, Houston, Texas 77057 Phone: 713-838-CAIR, Fax: 713-838-2250 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], Website: www.cairhouston.orghttp://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=2540670msgid=71662act=MRH4c=115994admin=0destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cairhouston.org http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=2540670l=5070s=MRH4m=71662c=115994 -- -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Ideology is at the threshold of idolatry.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The Money Party - The Essence of Our Political Troubles
The Money Party - The Essence of Our Political Troubles by Michael Collinshttp://www.smirkingchimp.com/user/michael_collins| Sep 30 2007 - 3:36pm | Michael Collins http://tinyurl.com/yyqnd4 Scoop Independent News http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0709/S00549.htm Washington, D.C. * **The Money Party* is a small group of enterprises and individuals who have most of the money in this country. They use that money to make more money. Controlling who gets elected to public office is the key to *more*money for them and *less* for us. As 2008 approaches, The Money Party is working hard to maintain its perfect record. It is not about Republicans versus Democrats. Right now, the Republicans do a better job taking money than the Democrats. But The Money Party is an equal opportunity employer. They have no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. Democrats are as welcome as Republicans to this party. It's all good when you're on *the* *take* *and* *the* *take* *is legal.* This is not a conspiracy theory. There are no secret societies or sinister operators. This party is up front and in your face. Just follow the moneyhttp://tinyurl.com/yvatp . One percent of Americans hold 33% of the nation's wealth. The top 10% hold 72% of the total wealth. The bottom 40% of Americans control only 0.3%(three tenths of one percent). And that was before pay day loans. The story is as old as civilization but the stakes have never been higher than they are right now. In every campaign for major office, the party passes out money and buys candidates from both parties. Thanks to the candidates who get elected, this *pay to play* system remains perfectly legal. Those elected get luxury trips, sweet jobs for family members, and more campaign contributions for the next round of elections. What they do is *perfectly* *legal* even though it looks like bribery. In return for contributions, the election *winners* come through by fixing the laws so that The Money Party cleans up. Lower taxes, highly favorable business regulations, laws that shield their businesses from real competition all start with the nonstop flow of Money Party funds. Cost is no object, because in the end it's all paid for with our tax dollars. The Money Party gets no-bid contracts as well as the ability to lay off their employees and dump their pension plans just about any time they want. It doesn't get much better than that. It's welfare for big money and survival of the fittest for the rest of us. We are nothing to them. When the White House and Congress ignore the health care crisis year after year, why be surprised? They're not in office to serve you. The drug companies and hospitals had their bid in first. When our public *servants* fail to get us out of Iraq, don't take it personally. That will happen when The Money Party says so. When citizens suffer and starve for days after a hurricane, we're told *they should have been better prepared.* When levees and bridges collapse, it's *an act of God*. But when the fat no-bid contracts show up, The Money Party takes it all. Unreliable election systems, citizens excluded from the vote on the basis of race and class, and questionable results don't matter as long as the *right*candidates get in. We pretend to vote, they pretend to get elected, but there's no doubt who is in charge - The Money Party. It's nothing personal. The party is just doing its job. Why be surprised or disappointed? It's been happening for centuries. The more some have, the more they want, the harder they fight to keep it. Spread some around so they can get even more. It's a rigged game from top to bottom. *We let this happen*. We can change it. The first step is to name it, and we just did. The Irish fought for 800 years to win their independence from the world's most powerful empire. Generations came and went before the goal even seemed possible. They never gave up. Now it's our turn. END Note: This is the first in series of articles on The Money Partyhttp://www.electionfraudnews.com/themoneyparty.htm . Other topics include why we end up with such lousy leaders, why it's so hard to get rid of them, and how the party manipulates the public debate with misleading terms and crackpot ideas that seem legitimate. Special thanks to John Arbuthnot and Jillian Hayroot for their input. *Permission granted to reproduce in whole or part with a link to the original article in Scoop Independent News and attribution of authorship to Michael Collins.* ___ http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10215
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Such an ally we have!
Israel asks U.S. foreign aid be paid in EUROS FYI - the Euro is now worth about 1.4 US Dollars. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Secretary of State Rice has acknowledged a communique from Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Levni which requests that all foreign aid payments and loans from the United States be made in Euros rather than in Dollars. Foreign Minister Levni cited the rapidly declining dollar and it's disfavor as a world currency as reasons for the request. In the spirit of Yom Kippur, the United States will not hold Israel to any agreements obligating them to accept Dollars as payment for their foreigh aid. We will translate our obligations into Euros or whatever currency that best fits Israel's needs Secretary RIce said in the Friday, Sept 21 announcement. We need to place our Israeli obligations at the top of our national prioriy list. Israel should not suffer any inconvenience due to currency fluctuations said Rice before heading off to Camp David. A similar request from Egypt was declined last week. _ [image: unclesam wakeup] [image: Just Foreign Policy Iraqi Death Estimator]http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Salat and Zaqat.
One of the repeated traits of those who work against word of Allah we see often is this: The truth is put before them in clear words, easy to understand, and they go on repeating their shirk or other nonsense as though they never heard a thing. This is in fact inevitable; Allah is Al Haqq, so to work against Him the mus ignore the truth. The shaitan's current campaign against the Quran has cleverly invested its new efforts, not in the miasma of hadith as has been the case for many centuries, but in a clever illusion of anti-hadith and pro-Quran. It is an ILLUSION because as we can CLEARLY see this is not our Quran that is being promoted. Every effort is being made to undermine the LANGUAGE of the Quran in the vain belief that through this mechanism the Quran is vulnerable; as though they think that Allah won't notice if they sneak up this back path. Through the agency of the Mu'mineen a system of government (Salaat) should be established How many times has this FALSE definition of SALAT been disproven in these discussions? How many times has Sajjada and Sohail (and Sohail's sock puppet Yousef) been asked to show us their etymological evidence? All we get back is silence... silence except the continued repetition of the lies. BE ON YOUR GUARD BROTHERS AND SISTERS. It is not only though false hadith and false holy men that the shaitan will attack your deen. Masalaam On 9/8/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: *SALAAT AND ZAKAAT* One effective way of making a man subordinate to another was to deprive him of the means of sustenance by sheer brute force, thus placing him in total servitude. The Quran declared in unequivocal terms: Say: Come! I will recite what your Lord has forbidden to you: associate naught with Him and do good to parents and slay not your children for (fear of) poverty – We provide for you and for them – and draw not nigh to indecencies, open or secret, and kill not the soul which Allah has made sacred except in the course of justice. This He enjoins upon you that you may understand. (6:152, 11:6, 17:31). Through the agency of the Mu'mineen a system of government (Salaat) should be established which ensures an economic system (Zakaat) wherein every soul is guaranteed the basic necessities of life. No one will depend on another for his survival and no one will rule over the other. These are the Quranic concepts and doctrines that gave man an honoured status and superiority over other creations. (17:70). Allah reminds mankind that if it safeguards itself from the pitfalls of wrong paths and evils and watches imbalances in society, then there are glad tidings for it from Him of a blissful life Here, and in the Hereafter. No fear, no constant torment and insecurity will be suffered by them. (2:37-38, 7:35, 10:62-64). In this Quranic society, everyone- irrespective of race, colour or creed-will be equal in the eyes of the law and have an equal opportunity to develop his or her latent potentialities. There would be no favouritism, no partisanship, no nepotism. Whoever wishes to progress in life by toil and endeavour, will achieve his aim; and whoever, owing to his own ineptitude and lethargy lags behind in this temporal life, then that will be to his own detriment. (46:19, 99:7-8). In this just society there will be no distinction made between a child born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and a boy born in a poor family. In a Quranic society there will be no such thing that the former gets the best education and every luxury, whereas the latter cannot even get a rudimentary education because of poverty. This worldly hierarchical class division was created by Brahminism (priestcraft) that kept a section of society in its iron clutches. The Quran made mankind free from all this, and on this very basis proclaimed that: *CELEBRATE AND REJOICE ON RECEIVING THIS CHARTER OF FREEDOM.* Tolu Islam http://www.toluislam.com/
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] 'new Bin Laden tape'
US analysing 'new Bin Laden tape' [image: Image said to be of Osama Bin Laden taken from a banner advertisement on an Islamist website] A website photo showed Bin Laden's beard dark rather than greying *The US administration says it has a new video tape which purportedly shows al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, officials say.* The government says it is studying the video to determine whether it contains new material. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6984102.stm *A undisclosed source in the Dept. of Homeland Security hasn't yet been quoted telling us that the tape has bin Laden saying...* ** * I'm hiding in Iran now... nyah, nyah nyah* ** *...but wait for it.* -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec -
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The New Yorker - a conspiracy-nut rag? Not.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/2007/08/if-there-were-a.html?printable=true
INTERESTING TIMES
August 31, 2007
Test Marketing
If there were a threat level on the possibility of war with Iran, it
might have just gone up to orange. Barnett Rubin, the highly respected
Afghanistan expert at New York University, has written an account of a
conversation with a friend who has connections to someone at a
neoconservative institution in Washington. Rubin can't confirm his
friend's story; neither can I. But it's worth a heads-up:
They [the source's institution] have instructions (yes, that was the
word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a
campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be
coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street
Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects.
It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock
public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained.
Evidently they don't think they'll ever get majority support for
this—they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their
book is plenty.
True? I don't know. Plausible? Absolutely. It follows the pattern of
the P.R. campaign that started around this time in 2002 and led to the
Iraq war. The President's rhetoric on Iran has been nothing short of
bellicose lately, warning of the shadow of a nuclear holocaust. And
the Iranian government's behavior—detaining British servicemen and
arresting American passport holders, pushing ahead with uranium
enrichment, and, by many reliable accounts, increasing its funding and
training for anti-American militias in Iraq—seems intentionally
provocative. Perhaps President Ahmedinejad and the mullahs feel that
they win either way: they humiliate the superpower if it doesn't take
the bait, and they shore up their deeply unpopular regime at home if
it does. Preëmptive war requires calculations (and, often,
miscalculations) on two sides, not just one, as Saddam learned in
2003. When tensions are this high between two countries and powerful
factions in both act as if hostilities are in their interest, war is
likely to follow.
It's one thing for the American Enterprise Institute, the Weekly
Standard, et al to champion a war they support. It's another to jump
like circus animals at the crack of the White House whip. If the
propaganda campaign predicted by Rubin's friend is launched, less
subservient news organizations should ask certain questions, and keep
asking them: Does the Administration expect the Iranian regime to fall
in the event of an attack? If yes, what will replace it? If no (and it
will not), why would the Administration deliberately set about to
strengthen the regime's hold on power? What will the Administration do
to protect highly vulnerable American lives and interests in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and around the world against the Iranian reprisals that
will follow? What if Iran strikes against Israel? What will be the
strategy when the Iranian nuclear program, damaged but not destroyed,
resumes? How will the Administration handle the international alarm
and opprobrium that would be an attack's inevitable fallout?
If this really is a return to the early fall of 2002 all over again,
then I'm fairly sure that no one at the top of the Administration is
worrying about the answers.
Postscript: Barnett Rubin just called me. His source spoke with a
neocon think-tanker who corroborated the story of the propaganda
campaign and had this to say about it: I am a Republican. I am a
conservative. But I'm not a raging lunatic. This is lunatic.
--
--
--
G. Waleed Kavalec
-
http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
***
{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]
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Re: QuranAMP.com CD(s) Shipped
Walaikum asalaam I am writing to confirm receipt of the CD's. I am also bcc:ing several groups. Some good brothers and sisters may be in a position to help, inshallah. On 8/21/07, Basim Mousilli [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Salamu alaykum, Thanks for your QuranAMP CD request(s). I have shipped your QuranAMP.comCD(s) today. You should receive them in the next 3-7 business days. Here is a log of what was shipped: 2 CDs: Sarah Pacha 4 CDs: Noor Al Quddus 1 CD: Sofia M. Adawy 5 CDs: Deena D. Jabr 3 CD: G. Waleed Kavalec 3 CDs: Eman Bahrani Please don't forget to donate if you haven't already. We are in the early stages of this kind of distribution. I had a moment today at the post office thinking we're going to go out of business if we do this as a non-profit. Each CD costs $1...the envelope costs $0.50 and the shipping costs $3 per line item above. That's about $4.50 ~ $8.50 per shipment above. Please donate whatever you can so we can break even+ so we can keep this going...we don't mind paying out of our pockets if we're short on donations...actually we get more reward that way...we just want our work to be sustainable for the long run...especially since we have scaled this to a national campaign. Anyways, that's my rant for today. Thanks for understanding =) Please make duaa' for the anonymous author of this program. Salam...have a great day!! Basim Mousilli e [EMAIL PROTECTED] w http://basim.mousilli.com -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Is it in you?
See this movie. Then threaten your political party with unemployment. Is it in you? Analysis: 'Sicko' numbers mostly accurate; more context needed POSTED: 9:00 p.m. EDT, June 29, 2007 Story Highlights • Analysis: Numbers cited in Sicko are accurate for the most part • Assertions could use more context to flesh out comparisons of health care • Health-care experts focus more on film's errors of omission than incorrect facts By A. Chris Gajilan CNN (CNN) -- Michael Moore's Sicko, which opened nationwide Friday, is filled with horror stories of people who are deprived of medical service because they can't afford it or haven't been able to navigate the murky waters of managed care in the United States. It compares American health care with the universal coverage systems in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Cuba. Moore covers a lot of ground. Our team investigated some of the claims put forth in his film. We found that his numbers were mostly right, but his arguments could use a little more context. As we dug deep to uncover the numbers, we found surprisingly few inaccuracies in the film. In fact, most pundits or health-care experts we spoke to spent more time on errors of omission rather than disputing the actual claims in the film. Whether it's dollars spent, group coverage or Medicaid income cutoffs, health care goes hand in hand with numbers. Moore opens his film by giving these statistics, Fifty million uninsured Americans ... 18,000 people die because they are uninsured. (Review: Sicko a tonic despite flaws) For the most part, that's true. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionexternal link say 43.6 million, or about 15 percent of Americans, were uninsured in 2006. For the past five years, the overall count has fluctuated between 41 million and 44 million people. According to the Institute of Medicineexternal link, 18,000 people do die each year mainly because they are less likely to receive screening and preventive care for chronic diseases. Moore says that the U.S. spends more of its gross domestic product on health care than any other country. Again, that's true. The United States spends more than 15 percent of its GDP on health care -- no other nation even comes close to that number. France spends about 11 percent, and Canadians spend 10 percent. Like Moore, we also found that more money does not equal better care. Both the French and Canadian systems rank in the Top 10 of the world's best health-care systems, according to the World Health Organizationexternal link. The United States comes in at No. 37. The rankings are based on general health of the population, access, patient satisfaction and how the care's paid for. So, if Americans are paying so much and they're not getting as good or as much care, where is all the money going? Overhead for most private health insurance plans range between 10 percent to 30 percent, says Deloitte health-care analyst Paul Keckley. Overhead includes profit and administrative costs. Compare that to Medicare, which only has an overhead rate of 1 percent. Medicare is an extremely efficient health-care delivery system, says Mark Meaney, a health-care ethicist for the National Institute for Patient Rightsexternal link. Moore spends about half his film detailing the wonders and the benefits of the government-funded universal health-care systems in Canada, France, Cuba and the United Kingdom. He shows calm, content people in waiting rooms and people getting care in hospitals hassle free. People laugh and smile as he asks about billing departments and cost of stay. Not surprisingly, it's not that simple. In most other countries, there are quotas and planned waiting times. Everyone does have access to basic levels of care. That care plan is formulated by teams of government physicians and officials who determine what's to be included in the universal basic coverage and how a specific condition is treated. If you want treatment outside of that standard plan, then you have to pay for it yourself. In most developed health systems in the world, 15 percent to 20 percent of the population buys medical services outside of the system of care run by the government. They do it through supplemental insurance, or they buy services out of pocket, Keckley says. The people who pay more tend to be in the upper income or have special, more complicated conditions. Moore focuses on the private insurance companies and makes no mention of the U.S. government-funded health-care systems such as Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Affairs health-care systems. About 50 percent of all health-care dollars spent in the United States flows through these government systems. Sicko also ignores a handful of good things about the American system. Believe it or not, the United States does rank highest in the patient satisfaction category. Americans do have shorter wait times than everyone but Germans when
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Thought / Reminder for the Day
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts... attitudes... prejudices. To be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is... that these things cannot be confined to... The Twilight Zone. -- Rod Serling closing narration to the episode entitled The Monsters are Due on Maple Street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monsters_Are_Due_on_Maple_Street -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec -
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Re: War on Islam ?- Britain KNIGHTS Satanic Salman RushDIE
Tory MP Stewart Jackson, chairman of the all-party group on Pakistan, said: I have tried to read one or two of his books myself, and I would have got more stimulation from the Yellow Pages. The suggestion that the British public have been queueing up to demand that Salman Rushdie is given a knighthood is frankly a joke. A few cappuccino-sipping Lefties in Hampstead may have thought this was a good move, but the idea he is a popular cultural icon is laughable. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23401260-details/Rushdie%20row%20'a%20shock%20to%20knighthood%20committee'/article.do -- Salaam all Seems Muslims in England have a opportunity here to show we are capaple of calmly - and stubbornly - applying political and economic pressure. And media pressure. And - more important - we need those in London and the UK to make an effort to see that these alleged public requests are themselves made public. 1. WHO made such requests, if they were really made? 2. HOW do they stack up against other similar requests? Anyone want to give odds that if we can actually track back we will find the nominators to either be, or be influenced by, those elements who want to see the levels of Islamophobia and/or Muslim unrest exacerbated? Remember, having a them is what keeps certain kinds of people in power. The one thing those kinds are most afraid of - is the simple light of day. G. Waleed Kavalec - There are weapons that are simply thoughts. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. -- Rod Serling On 6/19/07, Alan Border [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: *Boycotting of Non Essential Goods Services from Countries, Communities Organizations Which Are Hostile to Islam Muslim Interests, is an Effective a Non Violent Method of Showing Our Displeasure. This Should Be an On Going Policy By Governments, Businesses Individuals NOT a Knee Jerk Reaction to a Particular Incident or Situation – AB* *Queen Knights Fatwa Author Rushdie* *POSTED: 11:09 a.m. EDT, June 16, 2007 * *http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/16/queens.honors.ap/index.html* *LONDON, England* (AP) -- *Author Salman Rushdie, who was forced into hiding for a decade after **Iran**'**s spiritual leader ordered his assassination, is to receive a knighthood in the latest honors list, ** Buckingham** **Palace** has announced.* The Midnight's Children author, along with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour as well as a KGB double agent and perhaps the government's toughest human rights critic are on the list marking Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday Saturday. *I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honor, and am very grateful that my work has been recognized in this way, Rushdie said in a statement. Rushdie is one of the most prominent novelists of the late 20th century and is known for his unique mix of history with magical realism. His 13 books have won numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for ** Midnight**'**s Children in 1981. In 1993 the novel won the Booker of Bookers, a special award honoring the best novel in the 25-year history of the prize.* He went into hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to kill the author because his novel The Satanic Verses allegedly insulted Islam. The Iranian government declared in 1998 that it would not support but could not rescind the fatwa. Rushdie says he receives a sort of Valentine's card from Iran each year on February 14 letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to end his life. Ian Botham, one of England's most successful 20th century cricket players, was also made a knight. CNN's Chief International Correspondent, Christiane Amanpourhttp://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/amanpour.christiane.html/, government lawyer-turned human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti, Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis and comedian Barry Humphries, who created the character of Dame Edna Everage, were all named Commanders of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE. *One of the most remarkable names on the list is former KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky, who like Rushdie lived for years under the threat of assassination. British intelligence recruited Gordievsky in the 1960s and he later became invaluable when **Moscow** assigned him to its **London**embassy to spy on **Britain** in 1982. But three years later, his cover was blown and he was arrested while in the **Soviet Union**. He was released due to a lack of evidence and he escaped by secretly boarding a train to **Finland**.* Gordievsky was appointed a Companion to the Order of St. Michael and St. George, or CMG, an honor for individuals who have rendered important services related to Commonwealth or foreign nations. Author Ian Fleming wrote in his novels that the queen gave the same appointment to his fictional spy, James Bond. Other famous names on the list include singer Joe Cocker, soccer
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Jesus the Muslim
Jesus, peace be upon him, was a Muslim. It's what millions of people believe. It's what the best New Testament scholarship now suggests. In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful We hear a great deal today about a war, conflict, or clash between Islam and Christianity. The topic is so prominent in the media that many people assume that there is something irreconcilable between these two approaches to God. It is not surprising, then, that so many Christians of good will have concluded that Islam and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible. Yet, if, by Christianity, we mean that which Jesus Christ (pbuh) meant to convey to his hearers, I believe that these people of good will are mistaken when they tell us that Islam is incompatible with Christianity. What's more, I believe we can now prove that the historically oldest Gospel verses reflecting the reported sayings of Jesus (pbuh) are entirely compatible with Islam. A WAVE OF CONVERSIONS If you are a Christian, the idea that Jesus (pbuh) practiced the same faith that today's news broadcasts hold responsible for so many of the world's problems may seem far-fetched to you. It seemed far-fetched to me when I first encountered it, before I consulted the Gospels closely. Yet you should know that many, many contemporary Christians have reached life-changing personal conclusions about the Gospel message and its relation to Islam. There is compelling anecdotal evidence of a surge in conversions to Islam since September 11, not just in Britain, but across Europe and America. One Dutch Islamic centre claims a tenfold increase, while the New Muslims Project, based in Leicester and run by a former Irish Roman Catholic housewife, reports a steady stream of new converts. (London Times, January 7, 2002.) MAINSTREAM MEDIA IGNORES US The Western news media only rarely shares the stories of these individual converts to Islam with the world at large, but I strongly suspect that most of these people -- if they are like me -- found themselves, at the end of the day, concerned about the consequences of calling Jesus (pbuh) Lord without obeying his instructions ... found themselves far more concerned about that, in fact, than about any media coverage of geopolitical issues. This kind of concern causes people to change their lives. THE CHALLENGE OF Q Speaking personally, I changed my own life because I could not ignore the implications of the authentic, stand-alone Gospel passages that today's most accomplished (non-Muslim!) scholars believe to be of the earliest date available. These sayings, which form a reconstructed text known as Q, can all be found in the New Testament. They are almost certainly the closest we will ever be able to come to an authentic oral tradition reflecting the actual sayings of Jesus (pbuh). Q CONFIRMS ISLAM If you are new to Q, you should know what the best New Testament scholars now know, namely that today's scholarship identifies certain Gospel passages as not only instructive, but historically more relevant than other passages. This scholarship has led to some fascinating discussions among scholars (and a comparatively few lay readers). I believe the Q verses tend to confirm Islam's depiction of Jesus (pbuh) as a human Prophet with a Divine mandate essentially indistinguishable from that of Muhammad (pbuh). A HUMAN PROPHET I did not develop the theory of Q. It has been around for years. Traditionalist Christian clergy and theologians are generally hostile to it. They claim that students of Q are somehow eager to diminish the status of Jesus (pbuh). Actually, we are eager to learn what he is most likely to have actually said. Q represents a major challenge for contemporary Christianity, not least because it strongly suggests that Islam's picture of Jesus (pbuh) is historically correct. The fact that Q essentially confirms Islam's image of Jesus (pbuh) as a distinctly human Prophet has not, I think, been widely noticed by today's Christians. And it must be. Because a careful review of the scriptures demonstrates that Jesus (pbuh) is in fact calling his people to Islam. JESUS (PBUH) BROUGHT ME TO ISLAM! I came to Islam, alhamdulillah, after three decades of restless dissatisfaction with conventionial Christianity. Although I've read a lot of conversion stories since I embraced Islam in March of 2003, I haven't found many that cited the Gospels as a point of entry to the Holy Qur'an. This is how it was for me. I was drawn to the Gospels at a young age -- eleven -- and I read them compulsively on my own, despite the fact that I did not live in a Christian household. I soon learned to keep religious matters to myself. EARLY QUESTIONS For most of my adolescence I studied the Christian scriptures on my own. I still have the red King James Bible I bought as a child; my own handwritten note on the front page proclaims June 26, 1974, as the date I accepted Jesus (pbuh) as my personal savior. When I say I read the
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The General's Report
Here I am, Taguba recalled Rumsfeld saying, just a Secretary of Defense, and we have not seen a copy of your report. I have not seen the photographs, and I have to testify to Congress tomorrow and talk about this. As Rumsfeld spoke, Taguba said, He's looking at me. It was a statement. from the issuecartoon banke-mail thisAt best, Taguba said, Rumsfeld was in denial. Taguba had submitted more than a dozen copies of his report through several channels at the Pentagon and to the Central Command headquarters, in Tampa, Florida, which ran the war in Iraq. By the time he walked into Rumsfeld's conference room, he had spent weeks briefing senior military leaders on the report, but he received no indication that any of them, with the exception of General Schoomaker, had actually read it. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh And people wonder why we consider the US elites to be Nazis and thugs. -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Israel as seen by an outsider...
An Icelandic woman writes... In 1994, I travelled to Israel for three weeks and found it very interesting. The next year, I went again, but this time, my curiosity was awakened as regards the troubles between the Israelis and Palestinians. I was also confused about the 1967 and 1973 wars Israel had with its neighbours. On my return to Iceland, my oldest son asked me if I could find him a job in Israel and I did. He got work at a hotel in Eilat. Around nine months later, I visited him and found him with a very good job and a nice salary. But he was not happy. He told me he was very angry at the Israelis. I was very surprised because at this time I really thought they were the good guys, but then my son told me about the differences Israelis make between Jews and the others, i.e. the Arabs, Muslim or Christian. He explained to me, for example, that he, as a foreign young man, a European, was after a very short time put in a job with a lot of power, and at the same time, Arabs that had been working there for years were treated as slaves, as subhuman. He had been told that he needed to be hard on Arabs, treat them like slaves, because, as the Israelis put it, they were lazy. But he had found his Arab friends to be very nice, polite, extremely generous and good, hard workers. In the end, he moved from his comfortable flat in the hotel to their housing, which consisted of just tents and shacks! Their place was far from as nice as what he had been used to, but he wanted to be with them because there, he had found real friends. This was a turning point in my life. I have not been to Israel again. And I refuse to go there until it is Palestine. But I have been able to visit, live and study various Muslim countries. At forty, after raising four sons, I finished my studies, my baccalaureate, so I would be able to go to university. I wanted to study Middle East studies and Islam. Before I went to Denmark to study at Copenhagen University, I tried very hard here in Iceland to find any book about these issues. But I did not succeed. No Qur'ân, nothing at all. But when I had my birthday, I was asked what I wanted for a present. I answered: the Qur'ân. It was nearly impossible to find. But finally an antique bookshop found it for me so the next step was to start to read. This was the year 1989. I had got The Book. This was the greatest gift I have ever received. In 1991, I went to Copenhagen and everyone said that I was crazy. What was a woman over forty doing, leaving her home to study Arabic and Islam? And still today I hear this! Some of my friends left me because of this. Not because I was trying to tell them about Islam, but because I was not normal in their minds. But nothing could stop me. After two years studying in Denmark, I went to Cairo, to learn better Arabic and to study Islam. I was very lucky to find a professor from the Al-Azhar University. Starting in 1993, he taught me all about the Qur'ân, from the beginning to the end. Soon after we began, I told him that I wanted to change my religion and he always said, you don't need to do that because we have enough Muslims. After nearly two years of study, he suddenly asked me if I still wanted to convert. I said yes, I did. He then said I was ready. In fact, I was already a Muslim. He found time in the Al-Azhar University and I became Muslim on 30 January 1995. It was, and still remains, the happiest day in my life. Only Muslims know this feeling. Then I returned to Iceland, where the situation today is not at all as it should be. Over the last ten years, many Muslims have moved to Iceland and live here today with a family. Many have married Icelandic women, who in some cases have become Muslims. They are often not Arabic speaking, so the children have problems with the Arabic language. I see this is very sad, because the basis of their religion, Islam, is in Arabic: the Qur'ân. I believe there should be free education available for these children and even their parents. Of course, there should also be teaching in the Qur'ân and in Islam. I also miss the possibility of listening to a teacher explain the Qur'ân and the Hadith. If we live in an Arabic country, we can turn on the television, go to the mosque, or go to any cultural centre, ask questions, get answers, and learn. We need a teacher, an Imam, or an Imama. I want to mention the Icelandic people. They are open about things that they already know, but when it comes to things like Islam, I find them in fear. They know Islam is a religion and the God is called Allah, but they believe Allah is another God, a Muslim God. And they know the men can marry four wives. That's about it. The fear is clear when they meet somebody like me. When I say that I am a Muslim, they ask me if I am in the Osama Bin Laden group. They ask me how, as a woman, I can dream of having this religion where women have no rights, and no power. But the saddest thing is that they don't want to listen or hear anything, because all
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The Lasting Legacy of King George
A team of militants from Iraq had traveled to Jordan, where they were preparing attacks on Americans and Jews, Mr. Darsi said the recruiter told him. He asked Mr. Darsi to join them and blow himself up in a crowd of tourists at Queen Alia Airport in Amman http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/world/middleeast/28exodus.html?_r=1themc=thoref=slogin
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] World laughing at US: Mahathir
World laughing at US: Mahathir - Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor - December 30, 2006 THE US has become an international laughing stock because of Iraq, and Australia is suffering for its relationship with America, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has said. America has lost, he said yesterday. It used to be a world power. It is no longer a world power. In an exclusive interview with The Weekend Australian in his office near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister said: The whole world is laughing at America, at the stupidity of the decisions they made and at the refusal to recognise the situation. He described US President George W.Bush as being in total self-denial. Dr Mahathir also said Australia suffered from its close association with Mr Bush's policies. He criticised Australia for having a mentality that was too European, always telling people how to behave and what was right and wrong. Dr Mahathir accused the Bush administration of having only a shallow knowledge of the Middle East and hypocrisy about Middle Eastern democracy. In Palestine, because they didn't like Hamas, because Hamas won, they didn't want to recognise them, thus negating the whole idea of democracy. Dr Mahathir retired as prime minister in 2003 having served 22 years in office and overseen sustained economic growth in Malaysia. However, his later years in office were marked by increasingly sharp criticism of Washington and Australia. He had celebrated run-ins with three Australian prime ministers: Bob Hawke, over the Malaysian decision to execute two convicted Australian drug traffickers; Paul Keating, over APEC and the nature of Asian regionalism; and John Howard, over the question of whether Australia was the US's deputy sheriff in Asia. == I have always liked this guy. -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Cordoba
Salaam alaikum all We know that in the days of Al-Andalus (aka Andalusia, aka Muslim Spain) Scholars and students from various parts of the world and Europe came to Cordoba to study. I have heard other sources go further and say that *European royalty* would send their children to Cordoba for higher learning. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any specifics of this; many case of wealty jewish families doing this, but no historical record of European royals. Am I looking in the wrong places? Or was this just hyperbole? JazakAllah khair for any assistance any on these forums can provide: What historical records of European students in Muslim Cordoba have survived? -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Chairman, Public Relations Masjid as-Sabireen 610 Brand Lane Stafford, Texas 77477-5206
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Bush Vs Bush !
W.ho better to tell W ? http://www.infowars.com/articles/bush/video_bush_vs_bush.htm Well worth viewing. It is tragic that this is as funny as it is. -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Why Iran War has been allowed...
*Capuano and Kucinich Come Clean About the Lobby* Why is the Peace Movement Silent About AIPAC? By JOHN WALSH AIPAC! was the forceful one-word answer of Congressman Michael Capuano when we asked him, Why was the Iran clause forbidding war on Iran without Congressional approval taken out of the recent supplemental for the Iraq war funding? I nearly fell out of my chair at his reply - not because this was news but because of who had just said it. Capuano is a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, her fixer and enforcer. That was last Friday morning when a small delegation from Cambridge and Somerville, MA, were visiting the Congressman, known for his bluntness, as part of the nationwide UFPJ (United For Peace and Justice) home lobbying effort during the Congressional recess. Later that day, Dennis Kucinich made an appearance at Harvard, where he was asked the same question, the reason for removing the Iran provision. AIPAC, I volunteered out loud. Kucinich looked my way and said, Exactly. Again my chair almost failed to contain me. A few weeks earlier we had gone to the offices of Senators Kennedy and then Kerry to discuss the war. (My intention was to call their attention to www.FilibusterForPeace.org http://www.filibusterforpeace.org/ to which the Kennedy aide was sympathetic and the Kerry aide predictably hostile.) I raised the question of AIPAC directly with Kerry's aide, inquiring about its hawkish influence on Kerry and other Senators. Suddenly the aide was quite engaged. Leaning forward, he said: That will never be discussed publicly. That will never be discussed publicly. Clearly even Kerry's office is unhappy with the pressure that comes from AIPAC. It is widely acknowledged that the reps and senators are ticked at AIPAC, and their hostility seems to be growing these days. With upwards of 60% of their campaign contributions coming directly or indirectly from the Israel Lobby, the Democratic congressmen are not free to respond to their antiwar base. This opens them to an antiwar electoral challenge on the Left or Right from forces not subservient to AIPAC. And that could cost them their next election, a little thing which has them very worked up. Capuano's cry of AIPAC was no simple outburst of candor but a *cri de coeur** *for his career. So here we have even Congressmen and Senator's aides complaining publicly about AIPAC. AIPAC is being outed all over the mainstream media, largely thanks to the door opening work of Mearsheimer and Walt. AIPAC is skewered routinely by Justin Raimondo on Antiwar.com and by Alex Cockburn and many others here on CounterPunch. But there remains no anti-AIPAC campaign within the mainstream antiwar organizations, like UFPJ or Peace Action. (Even one supposed Congressional ally of the peace movement was announced as a celebrity guest at the recent colossal AIPAC meeting in Washington, where half the Congress shows up and Dick Cheney is a regular speaker. What gives?) I have been told by leaders of the peace movement that AIPAC is a distraction from the main thrust of the antiwar movement. And so we should not engage it; AIPAC is to be immune. But with all due respect to the sentiments of that leadership, immunity for AIPAC is a prescription for disaster. To use a military analogy, which I do not especially like, suppose that we were trying to take a hill in Germany in 1944. And suppose we said that we would not attack one pillbox, which kept devastating our forces. Leave just that one pillbox alone! The result would be devastating; we would be cut down with every succeeding attempt at advance. So it is with AIPAC which campaigns relentlessly for war on Iraq, war on Iran, war on Syria, war on Lebanon and the slow genocide of the Palestinian people. AIPAC constantly puts the peace movement on the defensive while it is free to be on the offensive all the time. AIPAC is not just an issue for Jewish Americans or the Jewish wing of the peace movement like Jewish Voice for Peace; it is a major force, although not the only one, driving the U.S. to wars in the Middle East. AIPAC is no less a force for war than is the Republican National Committee. In fact it is worse, because it sinks its teeth into the foreign policy establishment of both parties, perhaps the Dems more so than the Republicans. If the peace movement is to be worth its salt, then it must take action against AIPAC. (It is marathon season here in Boston and my friend, Israeli expatriate Joshua Ashenberg, tells me that the foregoing thought harbors a logical error. As he says: A 'movement' that does not work against AIPAC is NOT a peace movement by definition. It will not help if I call myself a marathon runner, while I never ran a marathon.) In the Boston area, AIPAC appears to be especially powerful, and so we have a special responsibility to take it on. At the recent AIPAC conference in Washington, the delegates from Boston/New England were the most hawkish toward Iran. Just before the last election a notorious ad
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Protest planned for Jewish National Fund dinner in Vancouver
Protest planned for Jewish National Fund dinner in Vancouver Progressive Vancouver organizations concerned about the situation in Israel/Palestine will hold a protest demonstration at the annual fund-raising dinner of the Jewish National Fund on: Sunday, April 29, 2007, from 4:30 to 6:00 PM. It will take place in front of the Four Seasons Hotel at Georgia and Howe Streets, Vancouver. The Jewish National Fund is charged with being a racist organization that uses its power of land ownership and land management in Israel to discriminate against 20 per cent of Israeli citizens, restricting their right to own and lease land, simply because they are not Jews. The Canadian government is implicated in this charge because it grants the Jewish National Fund charitable status. While the Jewish National Fund actually owns only 13 per cent of the land in Israel, it is land that houses 70 per cent of the Israeli population. Together with the Israel Lands Administration, the Jewish National Fund controls 93 per cent of all land in Israel. The Fund holds that selling and/or leasing land to Arabs would be a violation of the covenant established between the Fund and the Jews who contributed money from 1901, when the fund was started, to 1960 to buy land in Israel. According to Ilan Pappe, an historian at Haifa University: The Palestinian minority in Israel, seventeen per cent of the total population after ethnic cleansing, has been forced to make do with just three per cent of the land. They are allowed to build and live on only two per cent of the land; the remaining one per cent was defined as agricultural land which cannot be built upon. In other words, today 1.3 million people live on that two per cent. The endorsing organizations are: Palestine Community Centre, Canada Palestine Association, No One Is Illegal, International Solidarity Movement - Vancouver, Jews for a Just Peace, Canada - Palestine Support Network, Trade Union Committee for Justice in the Middle East, and Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians. Contacts: Palestine Community Centre, 604-676-3611 Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians, 604-314-5589 -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Re: Quran Translation Pages - temporary alternate URL
Walaikum asalaam After some minor confusion the Islam Awakened site is once again available. Thank you all for your interest! On 4/9/07, G.Waleed Kavalec [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Salaam all We apologize for the inconvenience, but http://IslamAwakened.comhttp://islamawakened.com/is temporarilty offline. You can still access the Quran Translation pages via http://islam-muslims.org/Quran -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Fwd: Patrick boycotts prayer, praises religious freedom
Conservatives show their true colors... Hypocrites or munafiqeen. The language is irrelevant, the odor is the same. -- Forwarded message -- All - I believe we should start a drive to write to this Senator letting him know that we are ANGRY that he would use the first Muslim prayer in the Texas Senate as a means to defame his own constituents. Instead of preaching tolerance and understanding, Patrick has chosen to divide and hate. We need to become more active in the political process so that we have the means to put pressure on these representatives who encourage this kind of intolerance. Here is the article from the Chronicle... *Patrick boycotts prayer, praises religious freedom* By CLAY ROBISON Complete Texas Legislature coverage AUSTIN — Republican Sen. Dan Patrick on Wednesday boycotted the first prayer delivered in the Texas Senate by a Muslim cleric, and then praised religious tolerance and freedom of speech in an address at the end of the day's session. I think that it's important that we are tolerant as a people of all faiths, but that doesn't mean we have to endorse all faiths, and that was my decision, he said later. I surely believe that everyone should have the right to speak, but I didn't want my attendance on the floor to appear that I was endorsing that. Patrick, a conservative radio talk show host from Houston and self- professed Christian, said he wasn't the only senator to miss the invocation — in English and song — by the Imam Yusuf Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque. But he was the only senator known to have passed out to other senators copies of a two-year-old newspaper editorial criticizing Kavakci for publicly praising two radical Islamists. Patrick's political ally, Harris County Republican Chairman Jared Woodfill, had sharply criticized the fact that the Muslim prayer was scheduled during the week before Easter. The timing was coincidental, said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, who sponsored the cleric's appearance at the Capitol on the Texas Muslims Legislative Day. Shapiro is Jewish, and this also is Passover, a major Jewish holiday. Shapiro praised Kavakci's extensive interfaith experience and said he represents a substantial constituency of Texans who deserve to be represented. She said she checked out his reputation with the Anti-Defamation League and other groups to make sure he was not somebody I would be embarrassed by. Shapiro said she never leaves the floor when Christian ministers deliver an invocation in Jesus' name and doesn't consider her presence an endorsement of Christianity. I have a great respect for Christianity. I have a great respect for anyone who comes and prays. That's what this country was based on, its freedom of religion, she said. Patrick and Shapiro met privately during the Senate session. A warning to Shapiro Shapiro said Patrick told her he was concerned because there could be a problem here. She said Patrick wanted to warn her, referring to e-mails that suggested the cleric may espouse things that are wrong. In a personal privilege speech at the end of the Senate session, Patrick called the Muslim invocation an extraordinary moment, coming during Passover and before Easter. In many parts of the world, I know that Jews or Christians would not be given that same right, that same freedom, he said. The imam that was here today, he was fortunate to be in this great country. . -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Quran Translation Pages - temporary alternate URL
Salaam all We apologize for the inconvenience, but http://IslamAwakened.com is temporarilty offline. You can still access the Quran Translation pages via http://islam-muslims.org/Quran -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Hypocrisy your name is Bush
April 8, 2007 North Koreans Arm Ethiopians as U.S. Assents By MICHAEL R. GORDONhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/michael_r_gordon/index.html?inline=nyt-perand MARK MAZZETTIhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/mark_mazzetti/index.html?inline=nyt-per WASHINGTON, April 7 — Three months after the United States successfully pressed the United Nationshttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-orgto impose strict sanctions on North Koreahttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/northkorea/index.html?inline=nyt-geobecause of the country's nuclear test, Bush administration officials allowed Ethiopiahttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/ethiopia/index.html?inline=nyt-geoto complete a secret arms purchase from the North, in what appears to be a violation of the restrictions, according to senior American officials. The United States allowed the arms delivery to go through in January in part because Ethiopia was in the midst of a military offensive against Islamic militias inside Somalia, a campaign that aided the American policy of combating religious extremists in the Horn of Africa. American officials said that they were still encouraging Ethiopia to wean itself from its longstanding reliance on North Korea for cheap Soviet-era military equipment to supply its armed forces and that Ethiopian officials appeared receptive. But the arms deal is an example of the compromises that result from the clash of two foreign policy absolutes: the Bush administration's commitment to fighting Islamic radicalism and its effort to starve the North Korean government of money it could use to build up its nuclear weapons program. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, as the administration has made counterterrorism its top foreign policy concern, the White House has sometimes shown a willingness to tolerate misconduct by allies that it might otherwise criticize, like human rights violations in Central Asia and antidemocratic crackdowns in a number of Arab nations. It is also not the first time that the Bush administration has made an exception for allies in their dealings with North Korea. In 2002, Spain intercepted a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to Yemen. At the time, Yemen was working with the United States to hunt members of Al Qaedahttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda/index.html?inline=nyt-orgoperating within its borders, and after its government protested, the United States asked that the freighter be released. Yemen said at the time that it was the last shipment from an earlier missile purchase and would not be repeated. American officials from a number of agencies described details of the Ethiopian episode on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal Bush administration deliberations. Several officials said they first learned that Ethiopia planned to receive a delivery of military cargo from North Korea when the country's government alerted the American Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, after the adoption on Oct. 14 of the United Nations Security Councilhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/security_council/index.html?inline=nyt-orgmeasure imposing sanctions. The Ethiopians came back to us and said, 'Look, we know we need to transition to different customers, but we just can't do that overnight,' said one American official, who added that the issue had been handled properly. They pledged to work with us at the most senior levels. American intelligence agencies reported in late January that an Ethiopian cargo ship that was probably carrying tank parts and other military equipment had left a North Korean port. The value of the shipment is unclear, but Ethiopia purchased $20 million worth of arms from North Korea in 2001, according to American estimates, a pattern that officials said had continued. The United States gives Ethiopia millions of dollars of foreign aid and some nonlethal military equipment. After a brief debate in Washington, the decision was made not to block the arms deal and to press Ethiopia not to make future purchases. John R. Boltonhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_r_bolton/index.html?inline=nyt-per, who helped to push the resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea through the Security Council in October, before stepping down as United Nations ambassador, said that the Ethiopians had long known that Washington was concerned about their arms purchases from North Korea and that the Bush administration should not have tolerated the January shipment. To make it clear to everyone how strongly we feel on this issue we should have gone to the Ethiopians and said they should send it back, said Mr. Bolton, who added that he had been unaware of the deal before being contacted for this
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Fwd: Churchgoers get a grisly message
Churchgoers get a grisly message *5:00AM* Saturday April 07, 2007 By Lauren Bartlett As parishioners were filing into Parnell's Holy Trinity Cathedral yesterday, Father Peter Murnane waited outside, showing images of deformed Iraqi children. Father Murnane has been protesting against depleted uranium weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the pre-Easter season of Lent outside the United States consulate in Auckland. He chose Good Friday to make a statement about the metal, which can cause birth defects and cancer, as a parallel between Jesus' crucifixion and the devastation in Iraq. Jesus says, 'Whatever you do to the least of my people, you do to me', said Father Murnane, a Dominican friar at St Benedict's Church, Newton. The whole country of Iraq is being re-crucified today with weapons of mass destruction. It is not the first controversial protest for the activist priest. In March 2003 he and Catholic worker Nicholas Drake poured a 1m cross from their own blood on to the carpet in US consul Douglas Berry's office. The move was in protest against the Iraq war. http://ads.apn.co.nz/adclick/SITE=NZH/AREA=CAT.RELIGIONANDBELIEFS.STY/AAMSZ=300X250 Worshippers attending the service yesterday were surprised at Father Murnane's banners and flyers, but many were supportive. Lyn Gorman said: It's a good cause. Maybe someone out of the millions will stand up and do something about it. Father Murnane said he hoped showing the images of severely affected children, including those born with eyes on the outside of their heads, would highlight the cause and help people worship more deeply on Good Friday. He hopes to take his petition to the US Congress. Depleted uranium is a poisonous radioactive metal used by the US in shells and bombs in the Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq war. It can increase the risk of birth defects and cancer. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=301objectid=10432993 . -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - http://www.facebook.com/p/G_Waleed_Kavalec/618860864
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The Final Book - part 4
4. The Presence of Evil Why does God allow men and women to be hurt? There are some people who use the presence of suffering and evil in this world as grounds to lose hope and perhaps even to reject God. However, according to the Final Book, the limited free will and reason of human beings destroys that argument. We are responsible for what we do, and must bear the consequences - that is the liability or price of freedom. The evil that we do and suffer from is chosen by us and not by God, ...God wills no wrong to His creation. [3:108] However, God also guarantees us that aside from our own evil actions and their effects, God Himself will put us through some trials and tribulations here on earth - but the key is they will never be more than we can handle, and they may even be good for us, If misfortune touches you [know that] similar misfortune has touched [other] people as well; for it is by turns that We apportion unto men such days [of fortune and misfortune]: and [this] to the end that God might mark out those who have attained to faith, and choose from among you such as [with their lives] bear witness to the truth - since God does not love evildoers - and that God might render pure of all dross those who have attained to faith, and bring to nought those who deny the truth. Do you think that you could enter Paradise unless God takes cognizance of your having striven hard [in His cause], and takes cognizance of your being patient in adversity? [3:140-142] God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear: in his favour shall be whatever good he does, and against him whatever evil he does... [2:286] An integral part of our being aware of God is hope and patience in times of hardship. In fact, the loss of hope is actually one of the symptoms of rejection of God, [Prophet Abraham] exclaimed, `And who - other than those who have utterly lost their way - could ever abandon the hope of his Sustainer's grace?' [15:56] The greatest source of hope is that God shall allow those people who accept Him to enter Paradise and, more importantly, to be close to Him. The Final Book contains many references on Paradise, and also on Hell, the destination of those people who knowingly reject God. Paradise is quite literally a place of indescribable joy, whereas Hell is its indescribable opposite (both places are given only partial descriptions in the Book). While the inhabitants of Paradise are permanent dwellers, the inmates of Hell are not necessarily imprisoned there forever; there are some who shall ultimately be freed, [But] verily, as for those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds - the gardens of Paradise will be there to welcome them; therein will they abide, [and] never will they desire any change therefrom. [18:107-108] And whoever rebels against God and His Apostle and transgresses His bounds, him will He commit unto fire, therein to abide; and shameful suffering awaits him. [4:14] There shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said `There is no deity except God' and who has in his heart goodness weighing a barley-corn; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said `There is no deity except God' and who has in his heart goodness weighing a grain of wheat; then there shall come out of Hell-fire he who has said `There is no deity except God' and who has in his heart goodness weighing an atom. - the Last Messenger -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - The original is at http://www.imanway.com/en/showthread.php?t=1318 You can see the message of the Quran in many translations at http://IslamAwakened.com/Quran http://islamawakened.com/Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] skewing federal law enforcement - anyone surprised?
*Bush's Long History of Tilting Justice* By Joseph D. Rich The Los Angeles Times Thursday 29 March 2007 *The administration began skewing federal law enforcement before the current US attorney scandal, says a former Department of Justice lawyer.* The Scandal unfolding around the firing of eight U.S. attorneys compels the conclusion that the Bush administration has rewarded loyalty over all else. A destructive pattern of partisan political actions at the Justice Department started long before this incident, however, as those of us who worked in its civil rights division can attest. I spent more than 35 years in the department enforcing federal civil rights laws - particularly voting rights. Before leaving in 2005, I worked for attorneys general with dramatically different political philosophies - from John Mitchell to Ed Meese to Janet Reno. Regardless of the administration, the political appointees had respect for the experience and judgment of longtime civil servants. Under the Bush administration, however, all that changed. Over the last six years, this Justice Department has ignored the advice of its staff and skewed aspects of law enforcement in ways that clearly were intended to influence the outcome of elections. It has notably shirked its legal responsibility to protect voting rights. From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African American or Native American voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout in minority and poor communities. At least two of the recently fired US attorneys, John McKay in Seattle and David C. Iglesias in New Mexico, were targeted largely because they refused to prosecute voting fraud cases that implicated Democrats or voters likely to vote for Democrats. This pattern also extended to hiring. In March 2006, Bradley Schlozman was appointed interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo. Two weeks earlier, the administration was granted the authority to make such indefinite appointments without Senate confirmation. That was too bad: A Senate hearing might have uncovered Schlozman's central role in politicizing the civil rights division during his three-year tenure. Schlozman, for instance, was part of the team of political appointees that approved then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's plan to redraw congressional districts in Texas, which in 2004 increased the number of Republicans elected to the House. Similarly, Schlozman was acting assistant attorney general in charge of the division when the Justice Department OKd a Georgia law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls. These decisions went against the recommendations of career staff, who asserted that such rulings discriminated against minority voters. The warnings were prescient: Both proposals were struck down by federal courts. Schlozman continued to influence elections as an interim U.S. attorney. Missouri had one of the closest Senate races in the country last November, and a week before the election, Schlozman brought four voter fraud indictments against members of an organization representing poor and minority people. This blatantly contradicted the department's long-standing policy to wait until after an election to bring such indictments because a federal criminal investigation might affect the outcome of the vote. The timing of the Missouri indictments could not have made the administration's aims more transparent. This administration is also politicizing the career staff of the Justice Department. Outright hostility to career employees who disagreed with the political appointees was evident early on. Seven career managers were removed in the civil rights division. I personally was ordered to change performance evaluations of several attorneys under my supervision. I was told to include critical comments about those whose recommendations ran counter to the political will of the administration and to improve evaluations of those who were politically favored. Morale plummeted, resulting in an alarming exodus of career attorneys. In the last two years, 55% to 60% of attorneys in the voting section have transferred to other departments or left the Justice Department entirely. At the same time, career staff were nearly cut out of the process of hiring lawyers. Control of hiring went to political appointees, so an applicant's fidelity to GOP interests replaced civil rights experience as the most important factor in hiring decisions. For decades prior to this administration, the Justice Department had successfully kept politics out of its law enforcement decisions. Hopefully, the spotlight on this misconduct will begin the process of restoring dignity and nonpartisanship to federal law enforcement. As the 2008 elections approach, it is critical to have a Justice Department that
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The Final Book - part 1
1. On The Nature of God Who is God? God explains in His Final Book that it is quite simply impossible for us to completely understand Him. We cannot pinpoint a definition of the Creator, Glory to the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth - the Sustainer, in almightiness enthroned - from all that they may attribute to Him by way of definition [43:82] Our inability to completely understand God does not mean that He is completely remote from us. In spite of our limited understanding, we are all quite capable of turning to God, and He is not unaware of our efforts, ...and unto thy Sustainer turn with love. [94:8] Behold, for those who stand in awe of God although He is beyond the reach of their perception, there is forgiveness in store and a great reward [67:12] God has not left mankind entirely in the dark regarding His Nature. He refers to Himself by approximately 100 names in various places throughout the Final Book. Each name is a descriptive attribute of God, and they are all meant to help us understand the Creator. To gain this understanding involves simply thinking about God and reflecting on His names, and this type of awareness is a central pillar of faith (i.e. when one actively remembers God and is conscious of Him). A second benefit of these names is that some of them provide mankind with ideals to try to attain. For example, since God is the Most Forgiving, Most Patient, and Most Knowledgeable, we should each strive to be forgiving, patient, and knowledgeable (educated in our case). Of all His attributes, God emphasizes a single one above all others in His Final Book: that HE IS ONE. God is not two, three, four, or more beings. There is only one deity, and He is God, Say: `He is God, Unique God the Eternal, the Independent. He begets not, and neither is He begotten. And there is nothing that could be compared to Him.' [112:1-4] In other places of the Final Book, God emphasizes His Greatness and the impossibility of fully grasping Him by using the plural sense of pronouns for Himself - but He is strictly One and Unique with no other partners or deities. After this aspect of Unity, God chose to emphasize two of His other names more often than the rest in the Final Book: the Most Merciful, the One who acts Mercifully. In fact, each chapter but one in the whole Book starts with, In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the One who Acts Mercifully. These two names cannot be emphasized enough. They are meant to stress we should not let our sins keep us from coming back to God and calling to Him at all times, in joy or sadness. The Creator is more aware of our imperfections than we are, and so when we stumble and feel bad, God is far more likely to be kind than angry. The Last Messenger and Prophet of God (i.e. the person whom God chose to deliver the Final Book to the rest of mankind) commented on God's mercy by informing us that, When God decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: `My mercy prevails over my wrath.' - the Last Messenger God says: I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with Him when He makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me a hand's span, I draw near to him an arm's length; and if he draws near to Me an arm's length, I draw near to him a fathom's length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him with speed. - the Last Messenger -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - The original is at http://www.imanway.com/en/showthread.php?t=1318 You can see the message of the Quran in many translations at http://IslamAwakened.com/Quran http://islamawakened.com/Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Re: new links to Quran word roots
Naturally it would help if I included the link... ;-) http://www.IslamAwakened.com/Quran Any singly ayat can also be accessed directly, like this... http://www.IslamAwakened.com/Quran/16:125 On 4/1/07, G.Waleed Kavalec [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Salaam alaikum all Deep-links to relevant textinmotion.com pages are now in place at the Islam Awakened Quran Pages. For those of you unfamiliar with the Islam Awakened Quran Pages, they are a Quran study tool for the English speaking world. Each ayat (verse) has its own page, with the original Arabic, then the transliteration in the Roman alphabet, then the literal translation, and finally over a dozen mainstream renditions of the meaning in English. The major translators - Yusuf Ali, Shakir, and Pickthal - were just the beginning of this effort. Let us know if you see any changes you'd like. The deep-links to TextInMotion.com further the usability of these pages. Anyone familiar with OpenBurhan http://www.openburhan.com/ob_main_frame.html will recognize the 'ancestry' of the TextInMotion pages, The difference is that TextInMotion is being underwritten by the Quran Institute http://www.quraninstitute.org ; the new pages are deep-linked back to the corresponding translation page of Islam Awakened. Please visit!
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Former U.S. diplomat interprets Islam
Former U.S. diplomat interprets Islam Newly settled in Montana, Dave Grimland tries to balance negative images of the Muslim world. By Sam Howe Verhovek, Times Staff Writer April 1, 2007 PLENTYWOOD, MONT. — Dave Grimland spent nearly 30 years as a foreign service officer — telling the U.S. side of the story, he says — in Bangladesh, India, Cyprus, Turkey and other nations with large Muslim populations. He wrote ambassadors' speeches, arranged cultural gatherings, and more than once hunkered down as angry mobs gathered outside the embassy to protest American policy. Now retired and living in rural Montana, Grimland is once again telling a side of the story — only this time, in quiet pockets of the Big Sky State, he's trying to tell the Muslim side to non-Muslim Americans. I'm going to ask you, at least for this evening, to try to put on a pair of Muslim glasses and see what the world looks like, Grimland said one recent night to about 40 ranchers, farmers and others in the basement of the county library near the spot where Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan meet. Outside, it was snowing and 16 degrees. The nearest mosque was about 120 miles away, in Regina. Many in the audience said they had never met a Muslim other than Plentywood High School exchange student Alisher Taylonzoda, from Tajikistan. For two hours and 40 minutes — including a brief break for cider and baked goods — the Montanans listened intently as Grimland covered a sweeping amount of history and made a case that the vast majority of Muslims are like the great majority of Christians, Jews or Buddhists. No worse; no better, he said. They want peace. They want to live their lives. A soft-spoken man of 63, Grimland has traveled to dozens of churches, schools, small-town gathering halls and Indian reservations. He brings along a black roller suitcase crammed with books, magazine articles and photocopies of slightly blurry maps, timelines, and further study reading lists for those interested in the history of Islam. Talking to a dozen people there, 40 here, as many as 75 elsewhere, Grimland hardly expects to change the world. But he does feel a calling. I'd been frustrated ever since 9/11 by listening to comments [about] the backwardness of Islam, about the religion's responsibility for the 9/11 tragedy, versus the actions of a small number of Islamic extremists. And so, Grimland said, I just thought maybe I could try to help people who haven't traveled, who haven't had the benefit of having to know this stuff because it was part of their job. He didn't come to Montana to give lectures on Islam. He came here to retire. After the peripatetic life of an embassy public affairs officer, he and his wife, Kathleen, a former UNICEF officer in India, moved in 1995 to Columbus, about 35 miles west of Billings. They have a 15-year-old son, Michael; Grimland also has a daughter, Debra, 36, in Atlanta. Grimland and his wife built a house on land they bought in 1990, after friends visiting India from the States showed them photographs of the Montana property. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, as he watched television news and took in what he describes as irregular coverage of the Muslim world in local newspapers, Grimland felt that Montanans were being given little true sense of that world. Islam, for most of us, didn't really even register on our personal radar screens until Sept. 11, 2001, he said. And since then, we've been assaulted with generally negative, often very violent images of the religion. Grimland does not remotely justify terrorism. He does try to explain what motivates jihadists, and why some Muslims don't condemn the violence. Many Muslims do perceive the U.S. as decadent and degenerate, Grimland told the gathering here, referring to Janet Jackson's exposed breast in the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show and TV's Desperate Housewives. When he filled in as a substitute history teacher at the Columbus high school, he said, he was shocked at how sexually suggestive some of student attire was. Many in the audience here in Plentywood, seated on folding chairs, nodded. Still, when it came time for questions, many also seemed to express polite skepticism about the Muslim world's desire for peace. These moderates you're talking about — is there ever going to be an outcry from them, or do they secretly agree with this? asked Betty Overland, a local banker. The this was the jihadists' violence against Americans. *Grimland said that there were moderate Muslim voices but that they rarely got media coverage.* Bennie Lund, 78, a retired Plentywood elementary school teacher and wheat farmer who also once ran the local General Motors and Dairy Queen businesses, said he had a question. I was wondering about this plan to send 7,000 Iraqis over here now, said Lund, referring to a Bush administration plan to provide asylum from worsening violence in Iraq. I'm wondering whether that's a good idea or not at this particular time,
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Gonzales thwarted Cuban jail closure
Gonzales thwarted Cuban jail closure - - March 24, 2007 WASHINGTON: As the newly appointed US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates repeatedly argued for the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be shut down and for prisoners held there to be tried in a US court. With the support of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Mr Gates told President George W. Bush that the detention centre had become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantanamo would be viewed as illegitimate, The New York Times reported yesterday. Mr Gates suggested that prisoners held at Guantanamo could be transferred to military brigs in the US, where they would remain in the custody of the Pentagon and be subject to trial under military proceedings. The Defence Secretary's appeal was an effort to turn Mr Bush's publicly stated desire to close Guantanamo into a specific plan for action, US officials told The New York Times. But his arguments were reportedly rejected after embattled Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and Vice-President Dick Cheney's office strongly objected to the plan. While Mr Bush eventually rejected the approach, officials at the National Security Council, Pentagon and State Department continue to analyse options for the detention of terrorism suspects, the newspaper said. The base at Guantanamo holds about 385 prisoners, among them 14 senior leaders of al-Qa'ida -- including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed -- who were transferred to it last year from secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21436969-2703,00.html -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not an intended recipient of this document, please notify the sender, delete it and do not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute it. In fact it would be best all around for you to burn your computer then report to the nearest office of the Department of Homeland Security and turn yourself in as a potential danger to the moral fabric of America and a serious risk to the purity of apple pie. If you actually are an intended recipient of this document you are probably far worse than that and had better be making your escape because appropriate authorities have already been notified. We know where you've been.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Germany Cites Koran in Rejecting Divorce - New York Times
Salaam all This needs sharing... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/world/europe/22cnd-germany.html?_r=1hporef=slogin (spoiler: there is a happy ending. maybe.) [image: The New York Times] http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=gotopage=www.nytimes.com/printer-friendlypos=Position1camp=foxsearch2007-emailtools01d-nyt5-511276ad=waitress_88x31.gifgoto=http://www.foxsearchlight.com/waitress/ -- March 22, 2007 Germany Cites Koran in Rejecting Divorce By MARK LANDLERhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/mark_landler/index.html?inline=nyt-per FRANKFURT, March 22 — A German judge has stirred a storm of protest here by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim woman's request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her. In a remarkable ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu, in which she said it was common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse. News of the ruling brought swift and sharp condemnation from politicians, legal experts, and Muslim leaders in Germanyhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/germany/index.html?inline=nyt-geo, many of whom said they were confounded that a German judge would put 7th-century Islamic religious teaching ahead of modern German law in deciding a case involving domestic violence. The woman's lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, said she decided to publicize the ruling, which was issued in January, after the court refused her request for a new judge. On Wednesday, the court in Frankfurt abruptly removed Judge Datz-Winter from the case, saying it could not justify her reasoning. It was terrible for my client, Ms. Becker-Rojczyk said of the ruling. This man beat her seriously from the beginning of their marriage. After they separated, he called her and threatened to kill her. While legal experts said the ruling was a judicial misstep rather than evidence of a broader trend, it comes at a time of rising tension in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, as authorities in many fields struggle to reconcile Western values with their countries' burgeoning Muslim minorities. Last fall, a Berlin opera house canceled performances of a Mozarthttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/wolfgang_amadeus_mozart/index.html?inline=nyt-peropera because of security fears. The opera includes a scene that depicts the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad. Stung by charges that it had surrendered its artistic freedom, the opera house staged the opera three months later without incident. To some here, the divorce court ruling reflects a similar compromise of basic values in the name of cultural sensitivity. A judge in Germany has to refer to the constitutional law, which says that human rights are not to be violated, said Günter Meyer, director of the Center for Research on the Arab World at the University of Mainz. It's not her task to interpret the Koran, Mr. Meyer said of Judge Datz-Winter. It was an attempt at multi-cultural understanding, but in completely the wrong context. Reaction to the decision has been almost as sulfurous as it was to the cancellation of the opera. When the Koran is put above the German constitution, I can only say, 'Good night, Germany,' Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of the main conservative party in the country, the Christian Democratic Union, said to the mass-market paper Bild. Dieter Wiefelspütz, a member of Parliament from the more liberal Social Democratic Party, said in an interview that he could not recall any court ruling in years that had aroused so much indignation. Muslim leaders agreed that Muslims living here must be judged by the German legal code. But they were just as offended by what they characterized as the judge's misinterpretation of a much-debated passage in the Koran governing relations between husbands and wives. While the verse cited by Judge Datz-Winter does say husbands may beat their wives for disobedience — an interpretation embraced by Wahhabi and other fundamentalist Islamic groups — most mainstream Muslims have long rejected wife-beating as a relic of the medieval age. Our prophet never struck a woman, and he is our example, Ayyub Axel Köhler, the head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, said in an interview. The 26-year-old woman in this case, whose name has not been disclosed, was not so fortunate. Born in Germany to a Moroccan family, the woman was married in Morocco in 2001, according to her lawyer, Ms. Becker-Rojczyk. The couple settled in Germany and had two children. In May 2006, the police were summoned to the couple's home after a particularly violent incident. At that time, Judge Datz-Winter ordered the husband to move out and stay at least 50 meters (164 feet) away from
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Cities see rise in black Muslims
Cities see rise in black Muslims in wake of 9/11 Religious leaders report growth in numbers in major American cities PITTSBURGH - Allahu Akbar, the Muslim call for prayer, rings out on a recent Friday and a group of black men and women gather to celebrate the Islamic day of rest. The wooden house in Pittsburgh's rundown Homewood neighborhood looks like any other on the block. But the sign at the door, Masjid Mumin, and the rows of shoes lined up inside on gray, plastic shelves hint of the brand of Sunni Islam its members practice. The mosque is one of seven in Pittsburgh, home to a vibrant community of about 8,000 to 10,000 Sunni Muslims — some 30 percent of them black. [story continues, please follow link] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17722665/ -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec -
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Important New York Times article
Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares, said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I.http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-orgofficial who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14cair.html?themc=th -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - If you are not an intended recipient of this document, please notify the sender, delete it and do not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute it. In fact it would be best all around for you to burn your computer then report to the nearest office of the Department of Homeland Security and turn yourself in as a potential danger to the moral fabric of America and a serious risk to the purity of apple pie.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Check out West Bank Sites on Private Land, Data Shows - New York Times
-- Forwarded message -- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Mar 14, 2007 1:49 PM Subject: Check out West Bank Sites on Private Land, Data Shows - New York Times To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] West Bank Sites on Private Land, Data Shows - New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/middleeast/14israel.html [image: The New York Times] http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=gotopage=www.nytimes.com/printer-friendlypos=Position1camp=foxsearch2007-emailtools01d-nyt5-511276ad=FRI_ITILMW_88x31_7sec.gifgoto=http://www.foxsearchlight.com/ithinkilovemywife/ -- March 14, 2007 West Bank Sites on Private Land, Data Shows By STEVEN ERLANGERhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/steven_erlanger/index.html?inline=nyt-per JERUSALEM, March 13 — An up-to-date Israeli government register shows that 32.4 percent of the property held by Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is private, according to the advocacy group that sued the government to obtain the data. The group, Peace Now, prepared an earlier report in November, also provided to The New York Times, based on a 2004 version of the Israeli government database that had been provided by an official who wanted the information published. Those figures showed that 38.8 percent of the land on which Israeli settlements were built was listed as private Palestinian land. The data shows a pattern of illegal seizure of private land that the Israeli government has been reluctant to acknowledge or to prosecute, according to the Peace Now report. Israelhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html?inline=nyt-geohas long asserted that it fully respects Palestinian private property in the West Bank and takes land there only legally or, for security reasons, temporarily. That large sections of those settlements are now confirmed by official data to be privately held land is bound to create embarrassment for Israel and further complicate the already distant prospect of a negotiated peace. The new data, updated to the end of 2006, was provided officially by the Israeli government's Civil Administration, which governs civilian activities in the territories, in response to a lawsuit brought by Peace Now and the Movement for Freedom of Information in Israel in 2005. When the courts refused the request, the groups filed an appeal, and the earlier data was leaked to Peace Now. In January, the court ordered the Civil Administration to provide the data, in the form of digitized map information. The information will be published Wednesday, and a copy was provided to The Times. Some differences between the new data and the old data complicate the picture. The old data distinguished between private Jewish land, private Palestinian land, state land and so-called survey land, which is considered of unclear ownership. The new data, provided by the government, makes a distinction only between private land and other land. But in the earlier data, the amount of private Jewish land was small, only 1.26 percent of the area of the settlements. The second major difference involves the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, which looks like a suburb of Jerusalem, with a mall and a multiplex and an Ace Hardware store. The Israeli government has said that it will never give up the three main settlement blocks— Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel — inside the West Bank and within the security barrier that Israel built. Information about them is thus extremely delicate, and that was one reason that the government refused earlier requests to provide the data. The earlier data showed Maale Adumim containing 86 percent private Palestinian land, which seemed very high to its residents. According to the new data, however, only 0.54 percent of the settlement is listed as private land. The single case of Maale Adumim represents much of the difference in the total percentage of private land between the old and new data. Without the new Maale Adumim data, the difference between the old and new data is about one percentage point. In settlements west of the separation barrier, which Israel intends to keep and which include Maale Adumim, the amount of private land is 24 percent, compared with 41.4 percent in the earlier data. In settlements that Israel would presumably give up in any peace settlement, the percentage of private land is 40 percent, higher than the earlier data, which was 36.4 percent. In the two other main settlement blocs that Israel intends to keep, Ariel is now listed as 31.4 percent private, compared with 35.1 percent before. Gush Etzion is listed now as 19 percent private, compared with 25.1 percent before. In Givat Zeev, a settlement that Israel also intends to keep, the old data showed that the settlement contained 44.3 percent private land; the new data shows the figure to be 49.6 percent. Dror Etkes of Peace Now, which put together the
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] It's in the water !
Is this how Bush got re-elected in 2004 ? http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070305/full/070305-17.html -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - If you are not an intended recipient of this document, please notify the sender, delete it and do not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute it. In fact it would be best all around for you to report to the nearest office of the Department of Homeland Security and turn yourself in as a potential danger to the moral fabric of America.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] America's Alliance with Bin Laden?
-- Forwarded message -- *AMERICA'S ALLIANCE WITH BIN LADEN *PLAYING THE SUNNI CARD - AND FOOTSIE WITH AL-QAEDA *By: Justin Raimondo* The latest Seymour Hersh piecehttp://e8.octadyne.net/guest/index.cfm?fuseaction=guest.tccgLkID=7556sID=4147054finalURL=http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/070305fa_fact_hersh?page=1has a lot of new information, some of it shocking, some of it not at all surprising to readers of Antiwar.com http://antiwar.com/ and Etherzone.comhttp://etherzone.com/. An example of the latter: *The administration is now examining a wave of new intelligence on Iran's weapons programs. Current and former American officials told me that the intelligence, which came from Israeli agents operating in Iran, includes a claim that Iran has developed a three-stage solid-fueled intercontinental missile capable of delivering several small warheads - each with limited accuracy - inside Europe. The validity of this human intelligence is still being debated.* We can thank Scooter Libby and the vice president of the United States for having blinded American intelligence to Iranian WMD programs - Valerie Plame was reportedly the CIA's resident expert on Iranian WMD, and her outfit, Brewster-Jennings consulting, was the U.S. government's regional eyes and ears on nuclear proliferation issues. I guess that's why we have to depend on the Israelis. The Mossad has been quite busy, not only in Kurdistan but also in Iran. Although the Iranians indignantly deny it, the Israeli presence in Iran may have been responsible for the recent accidental death of a top Iranian nuclear scientist. In any case, the Israelis, according to an earlier report by Hersh, have thoroughly penetrated Kurdistan, where they train the * peshmerga*. Using the Kurdish rebels in Iran, known as Pejak, they have launched sorties into Iranian territory. What is less clear - although I've touched on the subject recently - is the extent to which clandestine activities are being carried out by the U.S. in Iran, and, according to Hersh, Lebanon. The policymakers are taking a new turn, says Hersh, supposedly necessitated by the consequences of the Iraq war. The U.S. invasion turned Iraq over to a Shi'ite coalition of pro-Iranian parties, and now we're playing the Sunni card. Hersh cites a former senior intelligence official as saying *We are in a program to enhance the Sunni capability to resist Shi'ite influence, and we're spreading the money around as much as we can…. In this process, we're financing a lot of bad guys with some serious potential unintended consequences. We don't have the ability to determine and get pay vouchers signed by the people we like and avoid the people we don't like. It's a very high-risk venture.* Doesn't anyone ever learn from history? U.S. aid to the Afghan freedom fighters in the 1980s consolidated the core of what was to become al-Qaeda - a Frankenstein's monster that turned on its creator. Now the U.S. is repeating that blunder, only this time on a much wider scale - with consequences we can only begin to imagine in our darkest, most sweat-soaked nightmares. Once again we are in league with the Saudis, who were instrumental in setting up the Afghan networks that morphed into al-Qaeda. Bin Laden is their errant son, come back to haunt them - and us. The Kingdom is the worst tyranny in the entire region, steeped in a fanatic version of Islam that is, by regional standards, barbaric. Ruled over by a sclerotic aristocracy more decadent and deserving of overthrow than even the haughty Bourbons or the crazed Romanovs, it is precisely our association with these royal kleptocrats that has generated anti-Americanism and killed the possibility of a genuine liberal movement. The Saudis are backing the Siniora government against Shi'ite Hezbollah and its Christian allies, and the U.S. is funneling covert aid that is allowed to end up in the hands of emerging Sunni radical groups in northern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and around Palestinian refugee camps in the south, writes Hersh. These groups, though small, are seen as a buffer to Hezbollah; at the same time, their ideological ties are with al-Qaeda. So let's get this straight: U.S. taxpayer dollars are subsidizing al-Qaeda's emerging Lebanese affiliate. Remember that as you fill out your income tax forms this year. The war on terrorism sparked by al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack has ended with the U.S. in alliance with bin Laden's boys against a supposedly emerging Shi'ite threat. Now how bitter is *that *ironic twist? Forget al-Qaeda: nobody is even trying to capture bin Laden, and no wonder. He's our ally now. That's what Michael Scheuer has always said, but now I see it's official. Bin Laden was yesterday's villain: today's hate figure is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. Although the Iranians insist their nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, i.e., power generation, a full-court propaganda campaign has been ongoing to convince
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Hey, first rule...
A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney, fresh from a visit to Pakistan, was unhurt. Next time don't blow up until you see the whites of his eyes!
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Not ALL of the US is blind to Bush Co.
View this live at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17351284/ *Condi Goes Too Far* By Keith Olbermann MSNBC Countdown Monday 26 February 2007 *Olbermann: Secretary Rice's comparison of Saddam to Hitler is not accurate. * On Fox News Sunday Feb. 25, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paralleled World War II with the state of Iraq when discussing what would happen if Congress were to revise the Iraq authorization: We already know about her suggestion that the president could just ignore whatever congressional Democrats do about Iraq. Just ignore Congress. We know how that game always turns out. Ask President Nixon. Ask President Andrew Johnson. Or ask Vice President Dick Cheney, who utterly contradicted Secretary Rice on Monday when he warned President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan about what those mean congressional Democrats could do to his foreign aid. All of this, par for the course. But about what the secretary said regarding the prospect of Congress' revising or repealing the 2002 authorization of the war in Iraq: Here we go again! From springs spent trying to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11, to summers of cynically manipulated intelligence, through autumns of false patriotism, to winters of war, we have had more than four years of every cheap trick and every degree of calculated cynicism from this administration, filled with Three-Card Monte players. But the longer Dr. Rice and these other pickpockets of a nation's goodness have walked among us, waving flags and slandering opponents and making true enemies - foreign and domestic - all hat and no cattle all the while, the overriding truth of their occupancy of our highest offices of state has only gradually become clear. As they asked in that Avis commercial: Ever get the feeling some people just stopped trying? Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld thought he could equate those who doubted him with Nazi appeasers, without reminding anybody that the actual, historical Nazi appeasers in this country in the 1930s were the Republicans. Vice President Cheney thought he could talk as if he and he alone knew the truth about Iraq and 9/11, without anyone ever noticing that even the rest of the administration officially disagreed with him. The president really acted as if you could scare all of the people all of the time and not lose your soul - and your majority - as a result. But Secretary of State Rice may have now taken the cake. On the Sunday morning interview show Of Broken Record on Fox, Dr. Rice spoke a paragraph, which if it had been included in a remedial history paper at the weakest high school in the nation would've gotten the writer an F - maybe an expulsion. If Congress were now to revise the Iraq authorization, she said, out loud, with an adult present: ... it would be like saying that after Adolf Hitler was overthrown, we needed to change, then, the resolution that allowed the United States to do that, so that we could deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown. The secretary's résumé reads that she has a master's degree and a Ph.Din political science. The interviewer should have demanded to see them, on the spot. Dr. Rice spoke 42 words. She may have made more mistakes in them than did the president in his State of the Union Address in 2003. There is, obviously, no mistaking Saddam Hussein for a human being. But nor is there any mistaking him for Adolf Hitler. Invoking the German dictator who subjugated Europe; who tried to exterminate the Jews; who sought to overtake the world is not just in the poorest of taste, but in its hyperbole, it insults not merely the victims of the Third Reich, but those in this country who fought it and defeated it. Saddam Hussein was not Adolf Hitler. And George W. Bush is not Franklin D. Roosevelt - nor Dwight D. Eisenhower. He isn't even George H.W. Bush, who fought in that war. However, even through the clouds of deliberately spread fear, and even under the weight of a thousand exaggerations of the five years past, one can just barely make out how a battle against international terrorism in 2007 could be compared - by some - to the Second World War. The analogy is weak, and it instantly begs the question of why those of The Greatest Generation focused on Hitler and Hirohito, but our leaders seem to have ignored their vague parallels of today to instead concentrate on the Mussolinis of modern terrorism. But in some, small, You didn't fail, Junior, but you may need to go to summer school kind of way, you can just make out that comparison. But, Secretary Rice, overthrowing Saddam Hussein was akin to overthrowing Adolf Hitler? Are you kidding? Did you want to provoke the world's laughter? And, please, Madame Secretary, if you are going to make that most implausible, subjective, dubious, ridiculous comparison; if you want to be as far off the mark about the Second World War as,
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Can't kill Muslims without a good puppet...
February 25, 2007 Christian Right Labors to Find '08 Candidate By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK New York Times WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 - A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn. The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign. But in a stark shift from the group's influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election. Many conservatives have already declared their hostility to Senator John McCain of Arizona, despite his efforts to make amends for having once denounced Christian conservative leaders as agents of intolerance, and to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, because of his liberal views on abortion and gay rights and his three marriages. Many were also suspicious of former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts; members have used the council as a conduit to distribute a dossier prepared by a Massachusetts conservative group about liberal elements of his record on abortion, stem cell research and gay rights. (Mr. Romney has worked to convince conservatives that his views have changed.) And some members of the council have raised doubts about lesser known candidates - Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Representative Duncan Hunter of California, who were invited to Amelia Island to address an elite audience of about 60 of its members, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who spoke to the full council at its previous meeting, in October in Grand Rapids, Mich. Although each of the three had supporters, many conservatives expressed concerns about whether any of the candidates could unify their movement or raise enough money to overtake the front-runners, several participants in the meetings said. Finally, in a measure of their dissatisfaction, a delegation of prominent conservatives at Amelia Island tried to enlist as a candidate Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a guest speaker at the event. A charismatic politician with a clear conservative record, Mr. Sanford is almost unknown outside his home state and has done nothing to prepare for a presidential run. He firmly declined the group's entreaties, people involved in the recruiting effort said. A spokesman for Mr. Sanford said he would not comment. There is great anxiety, said Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation. There is no outstanding conservative, and they are all looking for that. Mr. Weyrich, a longtime member of the council, declined to discuss the group or its meetings. The council's bylaws forbid members from publicly disclosing its membership or activities, and participants agreed to discuss the Amelia Island meeting only on the condition of anonymity. For eight years and four elections, President Bush forged a singular alliance with Christian conservatives - including dispatching administration officials and even cabinet members to address council meetings - that put them at the center of the Republican Party. But in the aftermath of the stinging defeats in the midterm elections, and with discontent over the Iraq war weighing heavily on the public, some Christian conservatives worry that they may find themselves on the sidelines of the presidential race. Both Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney have worked hard to pitch themselves to Christian conservatives - Mr. McCain by delivering speeches at venues like Mr. Falwell's Liberty University or a recent abstinence-promotion event, Mr. Romney by leading the charge for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. But neither has won over many of the movement's leaders. The conservative concern may also be an ominous sign for the Republican Party about the morale of a core element of its political base. Conservatives warn that the 2008 election could shape up like 1996, when conservatives faced a lesser-of-two evils choice between a Republican they distrusted, former Senator Bob Dole, and a Democrat they disdained, President Bill Clinton. Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family later said in a speech to the council that he voted for a conservative third-party candidate that year rather than pull a lever for Mr. Dole. The Council for National Policy was founded 25 years ago by the Rev. Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians to strategize about turning the
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Yes Virginia, there IS a good George
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWR0tavb-zo -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Top U.S. Bin Laden Expert: Confession Video “Bogus”
*Top U.S. Bin Laden Expert: Confession Video Bogus* by Kevin Barrett, http://mujca.com 2/17/06 Was Osama Bin Laden responsible for 9/11? The Bush Administration says yes, citing a grainy, badly-edited videotape that surfaced in December, 2001. In that tape, a fat guy who vaguely resembles Bin Laden http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/osamatape.htmlchortles about the success of the 9/11 attacks. (In earlier interviews, Bin Laden had denied responsibility for 9/11http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.binladen.denial/, once even deploring the loss of civilian lifehttp://www.public-action.com/911/oblintrv.htmlin the attacks and calling them un-Islamic.) Is the famous confession video genuine? Despite Bush's insistence that the tape is authentic, America's top academic Bin Laden expert has finally gone on the record, joining numerous other expertshttp://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticlecode=SCH20060601articleId=2555. It's bogus, says Professor Bruce Lawrence, head of Duke University's Religious Studies program. Lawrence, author of *Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18750*, offered his historic debunking of the administration's lie in an interview with Kevin Barrett (Dynamic Duo http://gcnlive.com/pgmsDyduo.htm, gcnlive.com, 2/16/2007, first hour). The interview marked Lawrence's first major public statement since he made headlines last yearhttp://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2006/200106faketape.htmby suggesting that recent Osama tapes are hoaxes and that the real Osama Bin Laden may be dead. [...] http://mujca.com/hoax.htm -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The World Can Halt Bush’s Crimes by Dumping the Dollar
**The World Can Halt Bush's Crimes by Dumping the Dollar *by Paul Craig Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Paul Craig Roberts * DIGG THIShttp://digg.com/submit?phase=2url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts195.htmltitle=The World Can Halt Bush's Crimes by Dumping the Dollartopic=political_opinion What would be the consequences of a US or Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear energy sites? At the 2006 Perdana Global Peace Forum, Australian medical scientist Dr. Helen Caldicott provided an authoritative analysishttp://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticlecode=CAL20060728articleId=2843of the devastating impact on human life that would result from the radiation release from such an attack. Dr. Caldicott described the catastrophic deaths that would result from a conventional attack on nuclear facilities and the long-term increase in cancer deaths from the radiation release. Should the attack be made with nuclear weapons – as some of Bush's criminally insane neoconservative advisers advocate – the populations of many countries would suffer for generations from radioactive particles in air, water, and food chains. Deaths would number in the many millions. Such an attack justified in the name of American security and American hegemony would constitute the rawest form of evil the world has ever seen, far surpassing in evil the atrocities of the Nazi and Communist regimes. Dr. Caldicott detailed the horrible long-term consequences for the Iraqi population from the US military's current use of depleted uranium in explosive ammunition used in Iraq. Caldicott explained that depleted does not mean depleted of radiation. She explained that each time such ammunition is used, radioactive particles are released in the air and are absorbed into people's lungs. We are yet to see the horrific civilian casualty rate of the American invasion – or the true casualty rate among US troops. Dr. Caldicott expressed bewilderment why the rest of the world does not stand up to the US and force a halt to its crimes against humanity. One man heard her – Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. On February 10 at the 43rd Munich Security Conference, President Putin told the world's assembled political leaders that the US was trying to establish a uni-polar world, which he defined as one single center of power, one single center of force and one single master. This goal, Putin said, was a formula for disaster. The United States, Putin said, truthfully, has overstepped its borders in all spheres and has imposed itself on other states. The Russian leader declared: We see no kind of restraint – a hyper-inflated use of force. To avoid catastrophe, Putin said a reconsideration of the entire existing architecture of global security was necessary. Putin's words of truth fell on many deaf ears. US Senator John McCain, America's most idiotic and dangerous leader after Bush and Cheney, equated Putin's legitimate criticism of the US with confrontation. America's new puppets – the states of central and Eastern Europe and the secretary general of NATO, no longer a treaty for the defense of Europe but a military force enlisted in America's quest for empire – lined up with McCain's argument that Russia was in fundamental conflict with the core values of Euro-Atlantic democracies. Even the BBC's defense and security correspondent, Rob Watson, jumped on the American propaganda bandwagon, tagging Putin's speech a revival of the cold war. No delegate at the security conference stood up to state the obvious fact that it is not Russia that is invading countries under pretexts as false as Hitler's and setting up weapons systems on foreign soil in order to achieve military hegemony. The reception given to Putin's words made it clear to Russia, China, and every country not bribed, threatened or purchased into participation in America's drive for world hegemony that the US has no interest whatsoever in peace. Intelligent people realize that American claims to be a moral and democratic force are mere pretense behind which hides a policy of military aggression. The US, Putin said, has gone from one conflict to another without achieving a fully-fledged solution to any of them. Putin has repeatedly stressed Russia's peaceful intentions and desire to focus on its economy and to avoid a new arms race. In his speech on the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, Putin said: I am convinced that there is no alternative to our friendship and our fraternity. With our closest neighbors and all countries of the world, Russia is prepared to build a kind of relationship which is not only based on lessons of the past but is also directed into a shared future. In his 2006 state of the nation speech, Putin noted that America's military budget is 25 times larger than Russia's. He compared the Bush Regime to a wolf who eats whom he wants without listening. Putin is being demonized by US propagandists, because he insists upon Russia being a
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Transforming Christ Followers into Christian Zionists
*Transforming Christ Followers into Christian Zionists* Charles E. Carlson The state of Israel has long maintained political power in the US Congress, especially among Democrats. Its brilliantly conceived lobbying rocket ship has an American coat of paint and lots of US citizens fuel it. We have published a book about AIPAC, *One Nation Under Israel,* by Andrew J. Hurley. The title describes the problem. But other, more clever and ominous Zionist fronts operate within US Christian circles. Israel's vast influence with Republicans has been accomplished through its influence over the so called Christian Right. Long before there was an Israeli state, a fledgling and much ridiculed religious movement was being cultured around the notion of a predictable end to the present world. It called for a political state of Israel in Palestine as a Christian imperative. And it did so even before Zionism was formalized as the World Zionist Organization in 1895. They used an American pastor-pretender Cyrus I. Scofield to add hundreds of new pages to the old Authorized King James Version of the Bible by 1908. Ingenious Zionists transplanted their agenda into many Christian denominations amidst the ashes of the two world wars.n bsp; The new Zionist friendly religion was to rewrite the Bible to establish the future racially pure Jewish state called Israel as a vital precursor to Christ's return to earth. Israel was to be a sign of Jesus' second coming. The coveted real estate was to be the ancient land of the Philistines; provinces of Syria. Zionists correctly perceived that American Christianity would someday be strong enough to give the land to them over the objections of the owners, providing enough Christians could be convinced that Jesus expected them to do it. *Unity Coalition for Israel's *stated purpose is to help control and direct the sprawling Christian Right by controlling how church-goers view current events in Israel. It is an umbrella organization of American Christians who are for Israel, right or wrong. UCI's educational fodder for the public is generated by writers at American Israeli-patriot think tanks, including Ed Lasky, Editor of *American Thinker*. The best way to deal with the outrageous dishonesty of Judeo-Christian thought is to quote it, and expose its error. A recent article by Lasky in *American Thinker*, Splitting the Evangelicals from Israel, was republished by *Unity Coalition for Israel* on January 30, 2007. We quote from Mr. Lasky extensively, and link to his complete story. Mr. Lasky seems to be worried about Israel's declining image. He has good reason for this concern. We have taken the liberty of emphasizing some of his text with italics. Ed Lasky: A new strategy seems to be emerging that seeks to weaken American support for Israel. While there has been much attention given to challenges Israel faces on college campuses, in the media, and increasingly in the halls of Congress, the historically solid and *vitally important support given by Evangelical Christians towards Israel is now being threatened. How is this happening and who are the actors?* Evangelicals support Israel for a variety of reasons, among them a belief that Israel is a fellow democracy with which we share a common Western culture and that we value as a friend. Israel has also been victimized by Islamic terrorism, as have we. Israel is also a strategic ally in the war against Islamic radicalism- a lone Western outpost in a faraway land that gave birth to two major religions: *Judaism and Christianity-the foundation of Western civilization.* ** For the full editorial, click here: http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2id=1204http://mail1.whtt.org/12all/lt/t_go.php?i=146e=MTgzNTMxl=http://whtt.org/index.php--Q-news--E-2--A-id--E-1204 For further study of this topic, we also recommend the following books: ** ** *ONE NATION UNDER ISRAEL* *Author:* Andrew Hurley Exposes the power and tactics of the Israeli lobby in the US Congress, and warns of the inevitable backlash to come. Highly recommended to understand the roots of the Middle East agony. Paperback 345 pgs. $14.50 http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=28http://mail1.whtt.org/12all/lt/t_go.php?i=146e=MTgzNTMxl=http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php--Q-id--E-28 * * ** ** *The Incredible Scofield and his Book* * **Author: *Joseph M. Canfield A ten-year comprehensive study of evangelical dispensationalism's most influential figure of 20th century. If you have a friend or loved one caught up in Christian-Zionism, you need to read this book. Hardcover 1988. 314pp $17.50 http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=28http://mail1.whtt.org/12all/lt/t_go.php?i=146e=MTgzNTMxl=http://eshop.whtt.org/eshop.php--Q-id--E-28 -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening thru a cosmic vapor of invention. - Hedly Lamar (Harvey Korman)
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] We are fools if we let this happen
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/us/04muslim.html?_r=1themc=thoref=slogin February 4, 2007 Iraq's Shadow Widens Sunni-Shiite Split in U.S. By NEIL MacFARQUHAR DEARBORN, Mich. — Twice recently, vandals have shattered windows at three mosques and a dozen businesses popular among Shiite Muslims along Warren Avenue, the spine of the Arab community here. Although the police have arrested no one, most in Dearborn's Iraqi Shiite community blame the Sunni Muslims. The Shiites were very happy that they killed Saddam, but the Sunnis were in tears, Aqeel Al-Tamimi, 34, an immigrant Iraqi truck driver and a Shiite, said as he ate roasted chicken and flatbread at Al-Akashi restaurant, one of the establishments damaged over the city line in Detroit. These people look at us like we sold our country to America. Escalating tensions between Sunnis and Shiites across the Middle East are rippling through some American Muslim communities, and have been blamed for events including vandalism and student confrontations. Political splits between those for and against the American invasion of Iraq fuel some of the animosity, but it is also a fight among Muslims about who represents Islam. Long before the vandalism in Dearborn and Detroit, feuds had been simmering on some college campuses. Some Shiite students said they had faced repeated discrimination, like being formally barred by the Sunni-dominated Muslim Student Association from leading prayers. At numerous universities, Shiite students have broken away from the association, which has dozens of chapters nationwide, to form their own groups. A microcosm of what is happening in Iraq happened in New Jersey because people couldn't put aside their differences, said Sami Elmansoury, a Sunni Muslim and former vice president of the Islamic Society at Rutgers Universityhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/rutgers_the_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org, where there has been a sharp dispute. Though the war in Iraq is one crucial cause, some students and experts on sectarianism also attribute the fissure to the significant growth in the Muslim American population over the past few decades. Before, most major cities had only one mosque and everyone was forced to get along. Now, some Muslim communities are so large that the majority Sunnis and minority Shiites maintain their own mosques, schools and social clubs. Many Muslim students first meet someone from the other branch of their faith at college. The Shiites constitute some 15 percent of the world's more than 1.3 billion Muslims, and are believed to be proportionally represented among America's estimated six million Muslims. Sectarian tensions mushroomed during the current Muslim month of Muharram. The first 10 days ended on Tuesday with Ashura, the day when Shiites commemorate the death of Hussein, who was the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad and who was killed during the bloody seventh-century disputes over who would rule the faithful, a schism that gave birth to the Sunni and Shiite factions. The Shiites and the Sunnis part company over who has the right to rule and interpret scripture. Shiites hold that only descendants of Mohammad can be infallible and hence should rule. Sunnis allow a broader group, as long as there is consensus among religious scholars. Many Shiites mark Ashura with mourning processions that include self-flagellation or rhythmic chest beating, echoing the suffering of the seventh-century Hussein. As several thousand Shiites marched up Park Avenue in Manhattan on Jan. 28 to mark Ashura, the march's organizers handed out a flier describing his killing as the first major terrorist act. Sunnis often decry Ashura marches as a barbaric, infidel practice. Last year, a Sunni student at the University of Michiganhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_michigan/index.html?inline=nyt-orgat Ann Arbor sent a screed against Ashura to the Muslim Student Association's e-mail message list. The document had been taken off SunniPath.com http://sunnipath.com/, one of many Web sites of Islamic teachings that Shiite students said regularly spread hate disguised as religious scholarship. Azmat Khan, a 21-year-old senior and political science major, said that she, like other Shiites on campus, was sometimes asked whether she was a real Muslim. To some extent, the minute you identify yourself as a Shiite, it outs you, Ms. Khan said. You feel marginalized. Yet some Shiite students said they were reluctant to speak up because they felt that Islam was under assault in the United States, so internal tension would only undermine much-needed unity among Muslims. At the same time, the students said, the ideas used by some Sunnis to label Shiites as heretics need to be confronted because they underlie jihadi radicalism. At the Ann Arbor campus, Shiite students set up a forum for all Muslims to discuss their differences, but no Sunnis who had
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] What to fear
People are so scared of a nuclear Iran? I am far more frightened of Nazi America http://www.wbir.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=41834provider=gnews -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec -
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Quran translation pages
Salaam alaikum all Deep-links to relevant textinmotion.com pages are now in place at the Islam Awakened Quran Pages. For those of you unfamiliar with the Islam Awakened Quran Pages, they are a Quran study tool for the English speaking world. Each ayat (verse) has its own page, with the original Arabic, then the transliteration in the Roman alphabet, then the literal translation, and finally over a dozen mainstream renditions of the meaning in English. The major translators - Yusuf Ali, Shakir, and Pickthal - were just the beginning of this effort. Let us know if you see any changes you'd like. The deep-links to TextInMotion.com further the usability of these pages. Anyone familiar with OpenBurhan http://www.openburhan.com/ob_main_frame.html will recognize the 'ancestry' of the TextInMotion pages, The difference is that TextInMotion is being underwritten by the Quran Institute http://www.quraninstitute.org; the new pages are deep-linked back to the corresponding translation page of Islam Awakened. Please visit! -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Strive as in a race to achieve the goal of excellence in all that you do. - The Holy Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Sparking debate, SCAI launches divestment push
Sparking debate, SCAI launches divestment push January 25, 2007 By Patrick Fitzgerald STANFORD DAILY http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/1/25/sparkingDebateScaiLaunchesDivestmentPush Deeming it the most moral, effective and nonviolent approach to bringing peace to the Middle East, Students Confronting Apartheid in Israel (SCAI) last night launched its campaign calling on the University to selectively divest from companies with ties to Israel. The campaign, which comes on the heels of successful efforts in 2005 that prompted Stanford to sever relations with corporations connected to Sudanese government, drew the ire of a number of student and faculty members concerned with the use of apartheid in the group's name and its potential to further polarize student dialogue. Speaking in front of a crowd of about 150 students, faculty and community members in Tressider Oak West, senior and SCAI President Omar Shakir, a senior, outlined the group's case for divestment and offered a brief history of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Shakir presented a five-part divestment approach in which he called for the University Board of Trustees to divest from companies that: support Israel's military, aid the construction or maintenance of the West Bank separation fence, operate on occupied land, assist in the demolition of homes or engage in institutional discrimination. He defended the use of the word apartheid, arguing that while the Israeli and South African regimes are different on the surface, their result is the same. No one here is saying what is going on is genocide, he said. But the systemic discrimination and institutional racism is very clear. SCAI's campaign has put campus Jewish student groups on the defensive, and has fostered a divisive atmosphere, said Stanford Israel Alliance Co-President Mishan Araujo, a junior. There's a temptation to use inflammatory rhetoric to get attention, but it comprises a gross misrepresentation and places all the blame on Israel, Aroujo said. We recognize that Israel has faults, but both sides need to own up to their mistakes. Associate Director for Honors Writing Hilton Obenzinger, who participated on the panel and agrees with SCAI's stance despite the fact that he is Jewish, admitted as much. Apartheid is a buzzword and is very upsetting for those who support Israel, he said in his closing remarks. But I think we need to face it. We need to face the hard realities. The campus debate represents a microcosm of deliberations both nationally and internationally over divestment campaigns and the use of the word apartheid in connection with Israel. Former President Jimmy Carter unleashed a firestorm of controversy when he published a book titled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in December. And previous campus divestment campaigns related to South Africa in the 1980s and Sudan in 2005 both enjoyed widespread support that SCAI is unlikely to find in its fight. What separates this from previous divestment efforts is that there is much less — in fact, no prospect — in achieving community consensus toward the goal of divestment, said Hoover Senior Fellow Larry Diamond. In the case of South Africa, I think there was a far, far greater consensus on the issues and the moral imperatives. While SCAI heralds the decisions of the Presbyterian Church and the Academic Union of Teachers in the United Kingdom to divest from Israel, petitions and campaigns on the issue at universities nationwide have struggled to get off the ground. Divestment efforts at several Ivy League schools and the UC system made headlines in 2002 but failed to produce the desired result. In a 2002 speech, then-Harvard President Lawrence Summers characterized Harvard's divestment campaign as anti-Semitic in effect, if not in intent. Where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, Summers said, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities. So far, the University has not made clear its views regarding divestment from Israel. For its part, the Office of Student Affairs has been working to promote discussion that fosters education, learning and understanding through open and respectful dialogue, according to a statement released by the office yesterday. The original Founding Grant composed by Jane and Leland Stanford provides for 'studies and exercises directed to the cultivation and enlargement of the mind,' Dean of Students Maureen Powers said in the statement. It is with this educational goal in mind that we hope to encourage students to share their viewpoints in an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding differences. Without attention to these basic values meaningful dialogue and mutual learning are unlikely to occur. To that end, Assistant Dean for Multicultural Education Thom Massey is working to form a committee of students,
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Ultra-Orthodox Jew Accepts Islam
Ultra-Orthodox Jew Accepts Islam *http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_Ccid=1154701769079pagename=Zone-English-Discover_Islam%2FDIELayout#* By Melech Yacov When I was born I was given the Hebrew name Melech Yacov. Today I still live in the area in New York where I was born. We were a semi-religious family; we belonged to a Chasidic congregation to which we went every Saturday, but we did not keep all the strict observances required in Chasidic Judaism. For those who don't know, Chasidism is known in the mainstream as Ultra Orthodox Judaism. They are called so because of their strict observances of *Halacha* (Jewish Law) and their following of Jewish mysticism (*cabala*). They are the strange people that you see walking down the street wearing black suits and hats and letting their beards and sideburns grow long. We were not like that though. My family cooked and used electricity on the Sabbath, and I didn't wear a yarmulke on my head. Moreover I grew up in a secular environment surrounded by non-Jewish schoolmates and friends. For many years I still felt guilty about driving on Saturdays and eating non-kosher food. Although I did not observe all of the rules, I nevertheless felt a strong sense that this was the way that God wanted me to live, and every time I omitted a rule, I was committing sin in the eyes of God. From the earliest days, my mother would read to me the stories of the great Rabbis like Eliezar, the Baal Shem Tov, and the legends from the *Haggada* (part of the Talmud other than the *Halacha*) and Torah. All of these stories had the same ethical message which helped me to identify with the Jewish community, and later Israel. The stories showed how Jews were oppressed throughout history, but God always stood by His people until the end. The stories that we Jews were brought up on showed us that miracles always saved the Jews whenever they were in their greatest time of need. The survival of the Jews throughout history, despite all odds, is seen as a miracle in itself. If a person wants to take an objective view on why most Jews have the irrational Zionist stance regarding Israel, then they must understand the way by which we were indoctrinated with these stories as children. That is why the Zionists pretend that they are doing nothing wrong at all. All of the *goyim* (gentiles) are seen as enemies waiting to attack, and thus they cannot be trusted. The Jewish people have a very strong bond with one another and see each other as the chosen people of God. For many years I believed this myself. Although I had a strong sense of identity as a Jew, I could not stand going to Saturday services (*shul*). I still remember myself as a little boy being forced to go to *shul* with my father. I remember how dreadfully boring it was for me and how strange everyone looked with their black hats and beards praying in a foreign language. It was like being thrown into a different world away from my friends and the people I knew. This was what I thought I was supposed to be, but I (and my parents) never adopted the Chasidic life like the rest of my family. When I turned 13, I was bar-mitzvahed like every other Jewish boy who becomes a man. I also began putting *tefilin* (Hebrew amulets) on every morning. I was told that it is dangerous to skip putting it on because it was like an omen and bad things might happen to you. The first day I skipped putting on *tefilin* my mom's car got stolen! That event encouraged me to wear it for a long time. It was only a little while after my bar-mitzvah that my family stopped going to synagogue altogether. They could not stand the three-and-a- half hours of prayer and felt that getting me bar-mitzvahed was the most important thing. Later on, my father got into a silly quarrel with some congregation members, and we ended up not going at all to services anymore. Then something strange happened: my father was convinced by a friend to accept Jesus into his heart. God willingly my mother did not divorce my father for his conversion to Christianity, but she has kept a silent hatred of it ever since. This was also a period in my early-teen years when I sought to find something to identify with. My father's conversion helped me question my own beliefs. I began asking questions like: What exactly is a Jew anyway? Is Judaism a culture, a nation, or a religion? If it is a nation, then how could Jews be citizens of two nations? If Judaism is a religion, then why are the prayers recited in Hebrew, prayers for Eretz Israel, and observance of Oriental rituals? If Judaism was just a culture, then would not a person cease to be a Jew if he stopped speaking Hebrew and practicing Jewish customs? If a Jew was one who observes the commandments of the Torah, then why is Abraham called the first Jew when he lived before the Torah came down to Moses? Incidentally, the Torah doesn't even say he was a Jew; the word Jew comes from the name of one of Jacob's 12 sons,
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The Answers Have Changed
The Answers Have Changed *By:Miko Peled (is an Israeli living in San Diego. He is the son of Israeli General Matityahu Peled)* *http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11822http://e8.octadyne.net/guest/index.cfm?fuseaction=guest.tccgLkID=7126sID=3625799finalURL=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11822 * It is said of Albert Einstein that he gave a particular exam to a class that had already been given that exam. Alarmed at what he saw and thinking it to be the result of the professor's absent-mindedness, an assistant warned Einstein of what he was about to do. The Professor just smiled and said: It's alright the answers have changed. The same thing goes for the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the questions remain the same but now sixty years after the establishment of the Jewish State, the answers have changed. Until about ten years ago the answer to the question of how to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East was clear: Allowing the Palestinians to establish a free, independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, alongside Israel. But this answer known as the Two State Solution belongs to a reality that no longer exists. Today, after 40 years of occupation the West Bank is riddled with settlements and highways designated for Jews only; Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza are imprisoned within a wall, impoverished and starved and there is no political will within Israel to partition the land of Israel and allow Palestinian independence - all of which indicate that clearly the answers have changed. So what is the answer to this very difficult question? Ten million people reside between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Approximately 5.5million Jewish Israelis and 4.5 million Palestinians, all ruled by the state of Israel, the Jewish State. The conditions under which Palestinians live range between being third class citizens within Israel, and living under a military occupation with no representation, no human rights and no civil rights. Clearly this cannot go on forever and at some point Israel will be forced to grant the Palestinians equal rights. What remains to be seen is whether this will come as a result of intense violence and bloodshed or a negotiated agreement. Two books that have come out in recent months are relevant to this conflict and both of them demonstrate that there is a tremendous amount of change in the air. The first book that has received a great deal of attention is Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid by former US President and staunch Israel supporter, Jimmy Carter. This book has opened the door for the first time for a serious debate in the US regarding the Palestinian tragedy. In a development that is almost unparalleled, a former US President characterizes Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza as apartheid. Since the book came out the debate has indeed been intense and there are no signs that this will change any time soon. The second book is The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Israeli historian Illan Pappe. Categorizing the destruction of Palestine in the years 1947-1949 as ethnic cleansing is not new perhaps but it is worthy of mention because it is becoming more widely accepted. Pappe's book, difficult though it is due to its detailed accounts, provides an opportunity for an in-depth study of the destruction of the Palestinian people and their homeland at the hands of the Jewish forces during the Israeli War of Independence. What might come as news to many Jewish people around the world and to many non Jewish Israel supporters is that it was in the aftermath of this campaign of ethnic cleansing that the State of Israel was established upon the ruins of Palestine. What becomes apparent from reading the two books is that what Carter describes is congruent with what is described in Pappe's book. In other words, current Israeli policy towards the Palestinians is an extension of the ethnic cleansing policies of the early years of the conflict. One may argue over details in both Carter's book and Pappe's book, but one cannot argue with the facts that the books describe: Between the end of 1947 and the beginning of 1949, a time that Israel calls the War of Independence, close to 800,000 Palestinians were forced into exile and Palestinian identity in Palestine was almost entirely wiped out. Today, Israel continues to deny Palestinian identity, not to mention Palestinian independence both within the boundaries of the State of Israel and within the occupied territories. One possible answer to the difficult question of the Israeli Palestinian conflict could be drawn from the fact that Israel, by ruling over two nations is already a bi-national state. The solution could be to replace the current system whereby only Israeli Jews enjoy the freedoms and rights of full citizenry, with one that will allow Palestinians to enjoy those rights as well. This will create a fully democratic state in which both Israelis and Palestinians live as equals,
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Rose just lost her dad
My father-in-law Henry Lincoln passed away last night. Please send your prayers his way He is survived by his wife Mattie, his son Junior, his daughters Rose. Diane, and Patrica, and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. inna lillahe wa inna illeyhe rajioun -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Strive as in a race to achieve the goal of excellence in all that you do. - The Holy Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Good Morning America turns blind eye to Beck's anti-Muslim smears,
Salaam all ** *Contact information:* *ABC* ABC Newshttp://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.abcnews.go.com/Reference/story?id=54216 http://www.abcnews.go.com/Reference/story?id=54216 ABCNews 7 W. 66th St. New York, NY 10023 When contacting the media, please be polite and professional. Express your specific concerns regarding that particular news report or commentary, and be sure to indicate exactly what you would like the media outlet to do differently in the future. See also http://mediamatters.org/items/200611280014 Those who see this show, please record the names of their sponsor and let us know. This is generally the ONLY kind of pressure the networks recognize. -- Forwarded message -- http://mediamatters.org/items/200701090010 Please go to this page to TAKE ACTION! *Good Morning America* turns blind eye to Beck's smears, hires him as regular commentator On January 9, the Associated Press reportedhttp://mediamatters.org/rd?http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/1401AP_TV_ABC_Beck.htmlABC News' announcement that conservative talk show host Glenn Beck http://mediamatters.org/items/200601200013 will soon join *Good Morning America* as a regular commentator. Glenn is a leading cultural commentator with a distinct voice, *GMA* senior executive producer Jim Murphy told the AP. At times, he is the perfect guest for many of the talk topics we cover on morning news programs. But as *Media Matters for America * has extensively documented, what often distinguishes Beck's voice are his inflammatory and controversial comments regarding Muslims, Arabs, Mexicans, and other minorities. For instance, during a November 14, 2006, interview with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who recently became the first Muslim ever electedhttp://mediamatters.org/rd?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15613050/GT1/8717/to Congress, Beck said http://mediamatters.org/items/200611150004: I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' Beck first appeared on the November 28, 2006, broadcast of *Good Morning America* to discuss Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey that month. As *Media Matters* noted http://mediamatters.org/items/200611280014, during the interview with co-host Diane Sawyer, Beck repeated several comments he has made before, such as: I believe that it is important for all of us to look evil in the eye and crush it; and I believe there is a cancer that is radicalized Islam, and it must be cut out or it's going to kill all of us. A few weeks later, on December 15, Beck againhttp://mediamatters.org/items/200612150006appeared on *Good Morning America* to discuss the so-called War on Christmas and how to greet people during the holiday season. During a roundtable discussion with Sawyer and co-host Robin Roberts, Beck declared that it's time for everybody just to relax and take a chill pill because Christmas is really about ... the death of Jesus, redemption ... and having a second bite at the apple. Beck then asked, [W]ho's offended by that? Beyond the question he posed to Ellison in November, Beck has a long history of making inflammatory statements regarding Arabs and Muslims on both his syndicated radio show and CNN Headline News' *Glenn Beck* -- a matter that the *Good Morning America* hosts have failed to address during his two previous appearances. Following are several examples: - He has declared http://mediamatters.org/items/200608100016 that Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time rather than lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head will face dire consequences. - Beck warned http://mediamatters.org/items/200609070002 that if Muslims and Arabs don't act now by step[ping] to the plate to condemn terrorism, they will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West. - He described http://mediamatters.org/items/200611160005 as surprising a letter criticizing Al Qaeda in Iraq because the man who wrote it -- Islamic Society of Nevada director Aslam Abdullah - is a Muslim. - Beck mocked http://mediamatters.org/items/200606120003 Islam by mark[ing] the death of Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with a Zarqawi bacon cake. - He said http://mediamatters.org/items/200609130010 that [t]he Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians and [i]f they take over ... we're going to have to nuke the whole place. - Beck aired http://mediamatters.org/items/20060813 a segment mocking the names of several missing Egyptian students in which the announcer said that one may or may not be accompanied by his camel. The segment showed pictures of crowds and pointed to random, unidentifiable people as the missing Egyptians. It ended with a reading of the students' names in quick succession followed by the announcer pretending to gag as he struggled to pronounce them. Beck has not reserved his vitriol for Arabs and Muslims alone, however: - Beck
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] cease-fire
IDF will ensure cease-fire goes up in flames By Gideon Levy Here is the forecast: In a few days, there will be a targeted killing operation. The military correspondents will recite: He was one of the senior operatives of Hamas (or Islamic Jihad), and was responsible for producing and smuggling large amounts of armaments. In response, a barrage of Qassams will fall on Sderot. One of the residents might be injured. In the process of the targeted killing operation, some passersby might also be killed; the correspondents will then recite: They were armed. Several days later, there might be a terror attack. The leaders of the right-wing parties and the Labor Party will be interviewed on television and will recite: Abu Mazen has once again demonstrated that he is incapable and unwilling to fight terror. There is no one to talk to. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter will propose turning Beit Hanun into a ghost town. Eli Yishai will suggest bombing from the air. The next day, Qassams will fall again, and the IDF will enter the northern Gaza Strip. The cease-fire will go up in flames. This is not a bold wager. This is almost the exact series of events that occurred in previous cease-fires. What was is what will be. There are plenty of examples. In January 2002, after several months of quiet, the Tanzim activist Raed Karmi was assassinated in Tul Karm. Dichter, who was then the head of the Shin Bet, pushed for this action, of course. Immediately afterwards, Fatah began its suicide bombing attacks. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/795406.html Thank out Creator for those like Gideon Levy.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] South Korean Community Looking for Imam
fyi - please pass along -- Forwarded message -- From: Huq-ul-Islam [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Jan 3, 2007 4:19 PM Subject: South Korean Community Looking for Imam To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Assalaamualaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhuh: *South Korean Community Looking for Imam* ** *A Request from a brother in South Korea:* Christian missionaries are coming from US to Korea in a large number for the past 100 years they have converted 20 to 30% population to christianity. Its easy for US missionaries to come here because they come teach English also spread christianity. So if you know some very good religious brothers, then it will be very easy for them to come here. Inshallah we will arrange for their visa. Also we will provide accommodation. Also we will help them in getting part time english teaching job. Korean people are very nice and they listen to other people. Buddhism is their old religion but now most of the Koreans are becoming christians or atheists. It is very good time for Muslims to do dawah here.We really need some full time Dawah worker here we request you to help us in this regard. JazakAllah Khair for reading this email. Waasalam Aamir Malik Gwangju South Korea ** *CONTACT:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] __. . -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Strive as in a race to achieve the goal of excellence in all that you do. - The Holy Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] We all have those days...
A lady journalist from CNN heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday for a long,long time. Sensing a story she found him, walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched him pray and after about forty-five minutes, when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview. I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. Sir,how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying? For about 60 years. 60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for? I pray for peace between the Jews,Christians and Muslims.I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship. And how do you feel after doing this for 60 years? Like I'm talking to a wall.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] If this offends. you pass it on anyways...
*People That Are Really Very Weird Can Get Into Sensitive Positions Have a Tremendous Impact on History. - George W. Bush, Governor of **Texas* *Nickel Ranttm : We Hung the Wrong Guy!* *by Edgar J. Steele * *December 31, 2006** * *My name is Edgar J. Steele. This is a Nickel Rant. * *Jesus is coming, goes the old joke, and, boy, is he pissed! I**'**ve no doubt. If Jesus really is coming, I can**'**t imagine His being anything but truly and righteously angry about what has been going on lately. * Not that humankind ever has comported itself with anything resembling the behavior of any but the most whacked-out among us. What the religious fundamentalist, dispensationalist, Zionist nut jobs who have hijacked America already have done, and promise to continue doing, all in the name of God, truly boggles my mind. Your mileage may differ, of course. Here's the real irony: These peculiarly Judeo-Christian (their term, not mine) religious zealots somehow think they are hastening the Second Coming and, thereby, Judgment Day. That is the last thing they should want. *I**'**ve Got Your Judgment Right Here * *Regardless of whether one chooses to read from Daniel and The Revelation of **St. John** in the Old Testament (the first five books of which are embraced by Jews as their Torah) or any portion of the New Testament, clearly it is the American Neocon warmongers who are destined to be cast into the lake of fire. To think otherwise is as illogical as thinking that God speaks directly to you and tells you to kill Arabs. * That brings us to the single most whacked-out human being alive today: George W. Bush, alleged President of the United States of America. (In reality, America's last two elected Presidents have been Al Gore and Bob Kerry, but that is another story altogether.) Bush is a self-confessed alcoholic, alleged by many to be both a drug abuser and a homosexual pervert. Incidentally, it seems to me that all too many of America's fundamentalist whack jobs are much too fond of little boys. *Truth is Stranger than Fiction * *George W. Bush quite literally tells other world leaders that God speaks to him. God. A voice in George Bush**'**s head. Honest. Look, I couldn**'**t just make something like this up.* Well, I suppose I could, but I certainly don't have to do so, in the wild and wooly case of George W. Bush. That God speaks personally to George W. Bush is a proposition simply too far-fetched, too ludicrous, for me to expect anybody to believe, had it even occurred to me independently. And I have a very active imagination, folks. Truly, truth is stranger than fiction. George W. Bush really and honestly reports that he hears voices telling him to kill and chooses to believe that it is God providing America's marching orders. I wonder if that will provide a sufficient insanity defense when, finally, he is tried for his uncountable crimes against humanity. Not if, by some quirk of fate, somehow I am sitting in judgment, rest assured. If I have anything to say about it, we won't be seeing just furtive little photos and videos of a noose being dropped over Mr. Bush's head circulating around the Internet, as now is taking place regarding Saddam Hussein's very recent execution by hanging. *At Last: Real Family TV Programming * *After sentencing, I would make George W. Bush**'**s hanging required watching by every man, woman and child in **America**, carried live by each and every broadcast, cable and satellite network. *Nor would Bush be offered a hood, either, as was Saddam. Everybody should see the look of surprise on Bush's face as suddenly he falls, then his surprise at the pain, just microseconds before he loses consciousness. I would want everybody to witness him swaying back and forth at the end of that rope, feet twitching uncontrollably. I want to pull the lever, by the way, but in all fairness perhaps that honor should go to the lucky winner of a national lottery. The wages of genocide should be a lesson imprinted upon the retinas of every person alive. And nobody deserves them more today than does George W. Bush, despite the fact that he is but a dummied-up figurehead, just following orders. Not to say that Bush wouldn't have plenty of company, of course, were I in charge. *I**'**d have Tony Blair up next, followed by a long line of Western leaders who helped, condoned or merely stood aside while Bush helped **Israel** fulfill its bloody ambitions. * *Dick Cheney will get a special prime-time slot, too, of course, even if he has slipped into a coma by then as a result of one of his many heart attacks.* We'll keep him alive, vegetative, just to hoist him up out of that hospital bed by his neck on a gallows built with special handicapped access. *I think I might relegate all the members of Congress who sold us out to the all-night firing squads, along with all the judges who had a chance to say Stop, but chose to go along, instead.* Alberto Gonzales
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] A Gag on Free Speech
http://www.nytimes.com/ -- December 15, 2006 New York Times Editorial A Gag on Free Speech The Bush administration is trampling on the First Amendment and well-established criminal law by trying to use a subpoena to force the American Civil Liberties Union to hand over a classified document in its possession. The dispute is shrouded in secrecy, and very little has been made public about the document, but we do not need to know what's in it to know what's at stake: if the government prevails, it will have engaged in prior restraint — almost always a serious infringement on free speech — and it could start using subpoenas to block reporting on matters of vital public concern. Justice Department lawyers have issued a grand jury subpoena to the A.C.L.U. demanding that it hand over any and all copies of the three-and-a-half-page government document, which was recently leaked to the group. The A.C.L.U. is asking a Federal District Court judge in Manhattan to quash the subpoena. There are at least two serious problems with the government's action. It goes far beyond what the law recognizes as the legitimate purpose of a subpoena. Subpoenas are supposed to assist an investigation, but the government does not need access to the A.C.L.U.'s document for an investigation since it already has its own copy. It is instead trying to confiscate every available copy of the document to keep its contents secret. The A.C.L.U. says it knows of no other case in which a grand jury subpoena has been used this way. The subpoena is also a prior restraint because the government is trying to stop the A.C.L.U. in advance from speaking about the document's contents. The Supreme Court has held that prior restraints are almost always unconstitutional. The danger is too great that the government will overreach and use them to ban protected speech or interfere with free expression by forcing the media, and other speakers, to wait for their words to be cleared in advance. The correct way to deal with speech is to evaluate its legality after it has occurred. The Supreme Court affirmed these vital principles in the Pentagon Papers case, when it rejected the Nixon administration's attempts to stop The Times and The Washington Post from publishing government documents that reflected badly on its prosecution of the Vietnam War. If the Nixon administration had been able to use the technique that the Bush administration is trying now, it could have blocked publication simply by ordering the newspapers to hand over every copy they had of the papers. If the A.C.L.U.'s description of its secret document is correct, there is no legitimate national defense issue. The document does not contain anything like intelligence sources or troop movements, the group says. It is merely a general statement of policy whose release might perhaps be mildly embarrassing to the government. Given this administration's abysmal record on these issues, this case could set a disturbing and dangerous precedent. If the subpoena is enforced, the administration will have gained a powerful new tool for rolling back free-speech rights — one that could be used to deprive Americans of information they need to make informed judgments about their elected leaders' policies and actions.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] YES! YES! YES! John Bolton resigns as ambassador to U.N.
*News Update *from* Citizens for Legitimate Government *04 December 2006 *http://www.legitgov.org/* http://www.legitgov.org/ * **http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news* *John Bolton resigns as ambassador to U.N.*http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news-- *Bush accepts resignation* 04 Dec 2006 Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his recess appointment expires soon, the White House said Monday. Please forward this update to anyone you think might be interested. . -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Strive as in a race to achieve the goal of excellence in all that you do. - The Holy Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Fwd: The New York Times Marginalizes Palestinian Women and Palestinian Rights
-- * *Thursday, 30 November 2006 Palestinian students attend a demonstration against the Israeli attack over Beit Hanoun in the northern of Gaza Strip, November 8, 2006. (MaanImages http://www.maanimages.com//Wesam Saleh) A November 7, 2006 *New York Times* news article about a Human Rights Watch report on domestic violence against Palestinian women*[1] *brings welcome attention to human rights issues. Unfortunately, the same article, viewed in the context of *The New York Times*' reporting on Israel/Palestine over the last six years, provides a powerful example of typical US mainstream media bias against Palestinians. Research shows clearly that *The New York Times*pays little attention to human rights in Israel/Palestine, downplays the larger context in which violence against Palestinian women occurs and generally silences Palestinian women's voices. By omitting crucial details and emphasizing certain others, *The New York Times*, one of the US' most respected and powerful media outlets, has turned a valuable piece of human rights reporting into a tool that can be used to reinforce a Western agenda that has cynically exploited saving Muslim women as an excuse for dominating and abusing the rights of people from other cultures. The Human Rights Watch November, 2006 report, A Question of Security: Violence Against Palestinian Women,*[2] *is important and needed. However, this human rights report received unusual attention from *The New York Times *. Since the current Palestinian uprising began on September 29, 2000, three of the leading human rights organizations focusing on Israel/Palestine - Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli organization B'Tselem - have published 76 reports focused primarily on Israeli abuses of Palestinian rights, and four reports primarily focused on Palestinians abuses of Israeli or Palestinian rights. *[3]* This weighting suggests that Israel has committed a disproportionate share of the human rights violations. Yet, a Lexis-Nexis search reveals that *The New York Times* has published only four articles on those 80 reports, just two full articles on these 76 reports primarily about Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, and two full articles on the four reports on Palestinian violations.*[4]* The other three *New York Times* articles fully devoted to a human rights organization report on Israel/Palestine, were a November 1, 2002 article*[5] * on a Human Rights Watch report criticizing Palestinian suicide bombings,* [6]* a May 3, 2002 article*[7]* on a Human Rights Watch report largely devoted to criticizing Israeli actions in Jenin,*[8]* and a November 13, 2001 article*[9]* based on a B'Tselem report about the Israeli army's exoneration of soldiers who killed a Palestinian child.*[10]* Human rights organizations can serve as a valuable source of information for media covering Israel/Palestine. While the US media sometimes provide conflicting information from both sides, information from independent third parties not involved in the conflict like human rights organizations, governments, international organizations, and researchers can provide important context that helps readers to evaluate conflicting claims. *[11]* The Times may assert that its reporting is balanced because it has published an equal number of articles based on human rights reports criticizing Israelis and Palestinians, and one article criticizing Israel's war in Lebanon and one article critical of Hezbollah. However, balance does not rest on misrepresenting the evaluations of respected third parties, and creating a false parity where it does not exist in reality. Through these distortions, the Times is actively obfuscating reality in Israel/Palestine, rather than revealing it to its readers. The entire 796-word *New York Times* article, Violence Against Palestinian Women Increasing, Study Says,*[12]* is devoted to quoting and paraphrasing the Human Rights Watch report and one of the report's American authors. By itself, this single article on Palestinian women represents a remarkable and disproportionate 13% of all 6256 words that *The New York Times* quoted or paraphrased from the three major human rights organizations in 66 articles since the Palestinian uprising began on September 29, 2000. Most quotes, paraphrases or citations of human rights organizations' findings were very brief. Excluding the four Times' articles entirely devoted to human rights organizations' reports, a Lexis-Nexis search shows that in thousands of articles published on Israel/Palestine in *The New York Times* since the beginning of this uprising in 2000, the Times quoted, cited or paraphrased just 4187 words on Israel/Palestine from human rights organizations in 62 articles, snippets averaging just 69 words per article. The brief citations from human rights organizations are often overpowered by the inclusion of much longer denials from the Israeli government, as
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Terrorism: A Return To Jahiliyya
alt.muslim - Feature Story Terrorism: A Return To Jahiliyya Despite protestations to the contrary, Al-Qaeda and similarly-minded groups are engaged in no more than the old-fashioned tribal warfare, the hallmark of jahiliyya. By Hina Azam One hardly needs to ask al-Qaeda (and al-Qaedaesque) operatives what they think they are doing in their suicide attacks. The pronouncements and writings of Osama bin Laden and Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi make it abundantly clear that they believe they are engaging in a legitimate jihad. Never mind that they break cardinal rules of jihad as laid out in the Qur'an and the lawbooks of Islam. Never mind that they confuse basic distinctions, such as the one between combatants and civilians, and between suicide and martyrdom. No, according to the architects of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11, the ongoing explosions in Baghdad, and the London train bombings, they are engaging in the ultimate expression of human submission to the divine intent. The truth of the matter, however, is that they are engaged in the very behavior that the Qur'an and Prophet came to combat: tribalism. Despite protestations to the contrary, Al-Qaeda and similarly-minded groups are engaged in no more than the old-fashioned tribal warfare, the hallmark of jahiliyya. An examination of al-Qaeda pronouncements reveals this to be true. While the texts of these pronouncements is laden (no pun intended) with religious language taken from the Qur'an, the hadith and classical fiqh, the murderous objectives of al-Qaeda is not what was intended by the authors of those texts. A knowledge of Islamic history reveals that those writings have never before been used to justify the random killing of non-combatants. While Muslim history has seen politically-motivated assassinations and traditional warfare in which armies faced armies, we have never before witnessed armed groups of Muslims who went about intentionally targeting civilians and claiming their actions to be religiously justified. No, the motivation for their actions is not any religious command to engage in jihad as traditionally understood. In their statements and fatawa, argumentation on religious grounds is secondary to their primary argument, which is political. But it is not the political nature of their motivation in itself that is illegitimate from an Islamic perspective. The illegitimacy lies in their methods. In the discourse of the terrorists, religious texts are being twisted in order to support the pre-Islamic practice of vendetta (tha'r) ñ the very approach to socio-political conflict that the Qur'an and the Prophet outlawed. Pre-Islamic Arabia was a society in which there was no central authoritative body to oversee justice or to mete out punishment for injustice. It was a society in which the only commonly-recognized law was the law of tribal vengeance: If someone from tribe A attacked or harmed someone from tribe B, the attack was taken as license by anyone in tribe B to retaliate against anyone and everyone from tribe A. The tragic result was bloodshed that would touch a far wider circle than the original assailant. The Qur'an sought to put an end to this murder and mayhem through a series of moral and legal principles dictating how human beings should live with one another, both inter-tribally and intra-tribally. No longer was it legitimate for anyone from tribe B to kill anyone from tribe A, no matter how great the desire for vengeance. In the civilian realm, this is the principle behind the law of qisas: the only one who could be prosecuted was the one who has committed the crime, whether it be murder or injury. At the level of the state, the Qur'an laid down principles governing warfare, principles that the Prophet and the scholars interpreted as delineating fundamental laws -- such as the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, and the illegitimacy of attacking the latter. The terrorists' deepest deviation from the Qur'an, however, is not at the legal and political levels, but at the spiritual and moral level. Pre-Islamic Arabia was considered to be jahil not because it was ignorant, but because it was crude. In seeking to defend tribal honor at the cost of social justice, it was a society that idealized qualities such as hot-bloodedness, arrogance, quickness to anger and slowness to forgive. In contrast to jahala, the Qur'an advocates hilm, which comprises an attitude of forbearance, patience and humility: The [true] servants of the Merciful are those who walk on the earth humbly, and who, when the jahilun address them, reply, 'Peace!' (Q 25:63) And hilm, it must be emphasized, is a social virtue, a quality of character. It is neither a theological tenet nor a legal doctrine, but is the manifestation of the inner transformation that occurs when the
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] religous materials needed
Salaam alaikum all I was disappointed and embarrassed for our Ummah to read this. -- Forwarded message -- Greetings, My name is Wayne Moore and I am the Coordinator of Spiritual Religious Care at Central East Correctional Center, Lindsay Ontario. I am a Christian Minister and it is my responsibility to care for inmates of all faiths. Our department facilitates all religious material and professional religious visitors to inmates in this very large prison. It is government policy that faith communities, (Muslim, Christian, etc.) provide appropriate religious materials for inmates who are from their faith group. I am sorry to say that the Muslim community is the only group who does not regularly provide us with Holy Writings and other material. We give out thousands of Bibles each year as they are requested. We give out many hundreds of free Christian-based correspondence courses; for Muslims, nothing. Through various means I have even appealed to the Council of Imams, without even an answer. We do have an Imam, Mehmet Gul, who comes when he can and has brought a few Qur'ans, which he paid for himself. I know he cannot afford this. The Holy Month of Ramadan just ended and I am ashamed to say that most of our Muslim men did not even have a Qur'an to read during the month. The local Masjid is well aware of the situation, in the past 3 ? years, (since the prison opened), they have provided us with 6 Qur'ans Here is what we need, in order of priority. Qur'ans: We have 40 Muslims right now who need one. About 30% can read Arabic. We have numerous requests each month from inmates who are from other religious backgrounds but would like to read the Qur'an. We could easily use 200 Qur'ans a year, a mixture of Arabic and English (translations). This prison can hold 1,200 people and the turnover is high. A lot of people come and go through this prison in one year. Basic information about Islam: Inmate from a Muslim background, but never practiced are unable to even do the basic prayers. We need basic materials that can tell them how to perform Wudu. Two months ago, for the first time since this prison opened 3 ? years ago, a person donated a box of books and pamphlets. These pamphlets included much of the basic information about Islam, The Prophet (pbuh) and Salat. This box of books were gone within minutes and numerous Muslims were left without anything. The men who did get some material were very grateful. Note: What we CANNOT give out in a government facility (hospitals, senior's homes and Jails) is any material that degrades any other religion. Video Tapes/DVD's on Islam, The Prophet (pbuh), Salat, Zakat, Hajj, The History of Islam, Conversion process etc. Prayer mats. We currently give out extra bed sheets to be used as a prayer mat. Anything you can do to help us, or who we can contact would be appreciated by myself and every Muslim inmate in the prison. Sincerely, Wayne B. Moore Coordinator of Spiritual Religious Care Central East Correctional Center Lindsay, ON. K9V 4S6 705 328 6000 x 3058 [EMAIL PROTECTED] . -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Strive as in a race to achieve the goal of excellence in all that you do. - The Holy Quran
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Al Jazeera’s English Voice Hits Airwaves
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4section=0article=88874d=16m=11y=2006 Al Jazeera's English Voice Hits Airwaves http://www.arabnews.com/?artid=88874 Siraj Wahab, Arab News — JEDDAH, 16 November 2006 — BBC and CNN beware. Here comes Al Jazeera. The long-awaited English version of Al Jazeera's television channel went on air yesterday amid high hopes and equally great skepticism. Al Jazeera English, a free-to-air channel, the launch of which was repeatedly delayed from its 2005 startup, began broadcasting from the network's studios in the Qatari capital Doha with Shiulie Ghosh and Sami Zeidan as the first news anchors. Employing some of the biggest names in global broadcasting — such as Riz Khan, Sir David Frost, Rageh Omar, Veronica Pedrosa, Darren Jordan, Dave Marash, Josh Rushing and Ghida Fakhry — the channel hopes to reach a potential audience of 80 million viewers by cable and satellite, mostly in Asia, Africa and Europe. Al Jazeera Arabic channel, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Nov. 1, has revolutionized news media in the Arab world, but it has also provoked controversy. Al Jazeera English will have four regional broadcast centers in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington, in addition to 20 bureaus worldwide. It will also benefit from access to the facilities of its Arabic mother channel. Launching the English channel offers the chance to reach out to a new audience that is used to hearing the name of Al Jazeera without being able to watch it or to understand its language, Wadah Khanfar, the network's managing director, told news agencies in Doha. He pledged impartial and balanced coverage by the new channel. In the same way Edward Gibbon wrote 'The Decline and the Fall of the Roman Empire' thus breaking the back of the Church's hegemony in Europe, likewise Al Jazeera English is soon set to break the back of Western media hegemony, said a Saudi academic. Al Jazeera Arabic has shifted public opinion in the Middle East; it is only a matter of time that Western public opinion changes, and the right-wing and pro-Zionist propaganda machine loses ground. The next few years are going to be interesting. Let the media battle for hearts and minds begin. The media is indisputably one of the most powerful and effective ways of shaping people's views and opinions. Hence, media is being manipulated more and more every day for political reasons, said Saudi writer and columnist Mody Al-Khalaf. I, for one, am happy that the West will have an opportunity to see things from a different perspective via Al Jazeera English. It is about time media in the Middle East reached out to people all over the world on a large, international scale. The new English channel will certainly attract viewers in Asia and Europe, who are already curious about Al Jazeera's brand name, and such audiences will be more receptive to its message and a Middle East viewpoint of events, said Mohamed Ramady, visiting associate professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). However, given that there will be no unified managing editor for both the English and Arabic channels, there will be tension between the two channels as to the limit of expressing their independent Middle East viewpoints, since the Arabic channel has made a reputation for outspoken and forthright commentaries and discussion, while the English channel might opt for a more soft-spoken approach to suit the English-speaking market and audiences. Ahmed Al-Sheikh, the mother channel's editor in chief, acknowledged that challenge earlier. Al Jazeera English's audience will be different than ours, but we will coordinate our editorial policy through daily meetings in order to agree on, among others, controversial terms such as 'martyrs', 'terrorism' and 'resistance' in the coverage of regional conflicts, he said. The channel is expected to be accessible through satellite receivers and on the Internet. But Al Jazeera said on Tuesday it will be unavailable on cable in the US for at least a year due to a lack of free space. In Europe, however, it will be accessible on cable. Many observers hope that Al Jazeera English will not follow in its sister's footsteps as a tool for spreading propaganda against Arab states that don't share the Qatari government's point of view. Al Jazeera operated in a vacuum and became very popular. What started as a good source of information soon degenerated into a tool of disinformation, said a leading Saudi media personality. It brought to fore the long-buried sectarian divide in the Muslim world and became a propaganda tool for certain regimes. Al-Arabiya has done wonders in calling its bluff, and I think an English version of Al-Arabiya is required to check Al Jazeera's campaign of disinformation. The Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur is the regional headquarters for the channel's Asian operations, a market of three billion people of which about one-third are Muslims. Al Jazeera vows to provide an alternative
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] MSNBC impeachment poll
Salaam All
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904
I won't giie away the results. But you can find out by entering your vote
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G. Waleed Kavalec
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Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
— Martin Luther King Jr.
***
{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]
--
Recommended:
http://www.ikhwanweb.com
http://www.islamonline.net
http://www.islam-guide.com
http://www.prophetmuhammadforall.org
--
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Boycott Israel [IslamCity] International lawyers file suit against Rumsfeld
International lawyers file suit against Rumsfeld in Germany by Aurelia EndTue Nov 14, 7:12 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061115/wl_afp/usgermanyprisoners An international grouping of lawyers filed a lawsuit calling on German prosecutors to investigate outgoing US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for allegedly sanctioning torture. The 220-page suit is being brought on behalf of 11 former Iraqi detainees of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad and one Saudi currently held at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The suit was filed to Germany's federal prosecutor Monika Harms at her offices in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe. German law allows the pursuit of warcrimes cases regardless of where they originate in the world. A Pentagon spokesman dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous. A similar attempt to prosecute Rumsfeld in Germany in 2004 was rejected, but the German lawyer representing the detainees, Wolfgang Kaleck, said he was confident the complaint would be taken up now. We failed two years ago because there was an ongoing investigation in the United States, but it is now clear that there is no chance of prosecuting high-ranking officials in the US, Kaleck told a press conference in Berlin called to present the complaint. We are not expecting that Rumsfeld will appear in a court, but we are hoping investigators will begin looking into the case, he said. If we fail here, we will try in France, or in Spain. We want to show that there will be no safe haven anywhere in the world for him. A lawyer acting for the Guantanamo detainee, Mohammed al-Qahtani, claims Rumsfeld approved special tactics including sleep deprivation and a prayer ban when he failed to break under interrogation. This is not just allegations, it is supported by government documentation, lawyer Gitanjali Gutierrez said. The complaint asks Harms to open an investigation and, ultimately, a criminal prosecution that will look into the responsibility of high-ranking US officials for allegedly authorising war crimes in the context of the war on terror, according to the lawyers. Rumsfeld resigned last week after Republicans lost control of the US Congress to the opposition Democrats in mid-term elections seen as a referendum on the war in Iraq. The lawyers' star witness is former US Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who commanded Abu Ghraib and 16 other US-run jails in Iraq. Karpinski told the press conference: What I see as my obligation is to provide the truth about what I saw and what I experienced in Iraq. When I was getting too close to what was happening they took me out of the equation -- they removed Abu Ghraib from my control. Hopefully my testimony will stop this sort of thing ever happening again. I feel we have an obligation to the rest of the world because if the US does something it gives permission to the rest of the world, but it doesn't mean it is right. Former White House counsel and current Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet, and other high-ranking US officials are also charged in the complaint. Other groups involved in the suit include the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights and the Republican Attorneys' Association, which has its headquarters in Berlin. The Abu Ghraib scandal erupted in 2004 after photographs were leaked to the press showing US guards mistreating and sexually humiliating prisoners. Naked inmates were shown cowering in front of unmuzzled dogs. Some critics of the US administration have complained that no senior officers have been prosecuted over Abu Ghraib. Antoine Bernard, the executive director of the International Federation for Human Rights, said: We have seen that until now the sanctions have stopped at the rank of staff sergeant. What interests us are the top members of the chain of command. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the United States had already thoroughly investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib. He said the Pentagon had not yet seen the suit and knew of it only through press reports. From what I know, from the press accounts, it certainly sounds frivolous to me, Whitman told reporters.
Boycott Israel [IslamCity] C.I.A. Tells of Bush’s Directive
New York Times November 15, 2006 C.I.A. Tells of Bush's Directive on the Handling of Detainees By DAVID JOHNSTONhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/david_johnston/index.html?inline=nyt-per WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — The Central Intelligence Agencyhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/central_intelligence_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-orghas acknowledged for the first time the existence of two classified documents, including a directive signed by President Bush, that have guided the agency's interrogation and detention of terror suspects. The C.I.A. referred to the documents in a letter sent Friday from the agency's associate general counsel, John L. McPherson, to lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Unionhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_civil_liberties_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org . The contents of the documents were not revealed, but one of them is a directive signed by President Bush granting the C.I.A. the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees, the A.C.L.U. said, based on its review of published accounts. The second document, according to the group, is a Justice Department legal analysis specifying interrogation methods that the C.I.A. may use against top Al Qaedahttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda/index.html?inline=nyt-orgmembers. A.C.L.U. lawyers said they would urge public disclosure of the contents of the documents. We intend to press for release of both of these documents, Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer for the group, said in a statement. If President Bush and the Justice Department authorized the C.I.A. to torture prisoners, the public has a right to know. A spokesman for the C.I.A. declined to discuss the matter. The documents had been sought by the A.C.L.U. in a suit filed in a New York federal court under the Freedom of Information Act. The suit has previously led to the disclosure of thousands of documents from the Pentagon, the F.B.I.http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org, the Justice Department and other agencies. In the past, C.I.A. lawyers have sought to avoid any discussion of whether the agency had documents related to its interrogation and detention practices, the A.C.L.U. said. The group added that the agency had said national security would be jeopardized if it were compelled to disclose in any way its involvement in interrogations. In the C.I.A. letter, Mr. McPherson confirmed the existence of the documents but declined to release them, saying that essentially all of their contents were exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act because release would damage national security and violate attorney-client privilege. The documents are withheld in their entirety because there is no meaningful nonexempt information that can be reasonably segregated from the exempt material, he wrote. The A.C.L.U. sought the documents based on references to them in various news accounts. While both documents have been written about before, the C.I.A. had not previously acknowledged their existence. The directive from Mr. Bush is thought to have been issued shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the Justice Department memo about a year later. The administration has acknowledged the agency's role in handling detainees. Mr. Bush said in September that 14 high-level terrorism suspects had been moved from secret prisons overseas to the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/washington/15intel.html?_r=2ref=washingtonoref=sloginoref=slogin -- LET THE WAR CRIME TRIBUNALS BEGIN. -- -- -- G. Waleed Kavalec - Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. — Martin Luther King Jr.
